"Besides... I can't really trust you."

Swan couldn't believe what in the actual world Jester just said, widening her eyes in shock. 'What's wrong with him?!' She thought. 'They're not our enemy! Why would you-'

However, the little smirk on his face said otherwise, and she realized his reason for fighting them. "...Is it because you're not sure that they could take on kamoshida?"

Jester Pulled the trigger without hesitation, the bullet barely touching Joker's mask. And chaos unleashed between them.

Joker quickly rolling off to his side, touching his mask and summoned his Persona. "Arsene!"

Noting the crimson gentlemen behind him, Jester smirked before summoning Moriarty. "Come, Moriarty!"

"EIHA!"

The two leaders exclaimed in unison. Their Persona fired a burst of curse energy at the same time, the energy clashed with each other and exploded. Jester and Joker got knocked back for a few steps, and Morgana quickly dashed behind him and jumped, holding his bandit sword and swung.

However, the Victorian-looking thief already saw it coming and holstered his revolver, rolling backward and dodged the slash. "If I remember correctly, you're Morgana, right?" He asked, his scythe appeared in thin air and he grabbed it. "I've been wondering, what are you exactly? A living doll, or a mascot coming to life?"

Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Morgana narrowed his eyes at him. "Why would I answer you!"

"You don't need to answer it. I'm just wondering," Jester shrugged, noting Ryuji pumping his shotgun and aimed. "C'mon, I'm not-"

Ryuji pulled the trigger without hesitation, spraying hot lead toward him. However, Jester instantly rolled forward and dodged the shot. "Pixie! Zio!" Taking this as his opportunity, Joker touched his mask again.

However, it wasn't Arsene Jester was expecting. Instead, it was the Pixie he had fought a moment before. "What the hell-" Before he could finish, lighting suddenly struck his body.

And it hurt like hell.

"Ahh!" Exclaiming in pain, the Victorian-looking thief was knocked down and rolled away. "D-damn... Hurt like shit..."

"Lighting is his weakness!" Morgana shouted, and everyone nodded.

Closing his eyes for a second, the fact that Joker suddenly used a different Persona confused him. "How the hell... can you use multiple Persona..."

Ignoring the pain throughout his body, Jester tried his best to stand up. "I guess one vs. four wasn't a great idea at all..." Taking a deep breath, tightening his grip on his scythe. "But I'm not going down that easily."

Without hesitation, Ann swung her whip and tied to the handle of Jester's scythe, pulling back with all her strength. Struggling, he glanced around and noticed Ryuji rushing toward him, and he released his grip on the scythe and rolled away. "Persona! Revolver Shot!"

Moriarty quickly appeared behind Jester and fired, the bullet flew past him and hit the wall behind Ryuji. Widening his eyes in surprise, the ex-runner grunted and summoned his Persona. "Captain Kidd! Zio!"

"Shit!" Exclaiming in shock, Jester quickly shielded his eyes with his hand, expecting the lighting to hit him.

However, the blow never came.

Lowering his hands, Jester only saw the back of a woman in white armor. "Le Pucelle... Swan?" He murmured, turning back to saw Swan emerging from the shadow, the mask reappeared on her face as the Persona faded.

The three thieves, on the other hand, only stared at the white thief in disbelief. "Wha- There's more?!" Ryuji yelled in surprise, taking a step backward.

"Swan, I told you to-" Jester's word was interrupted as she suddenly smacked the top of his head.

"Just stop this stupid fight, OK?" She said unimpressed, taking the map from his coat. "I know you're not sure they would be able to take Kamoshida down or not, but we shouldn't be fighting each other here."

"...It's more than just that..." Jester murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. "But here's not the place to explain it."

Giving him a death glare, Swan picked up the scythe from the ground and threw the map to the table. "You just want the map, right?"

"Swan, we need this map too-"

"Is it worth wasting our time and fight each other?" The white thief retorted, tossing the scythe to its owner. "We're here to take Kamoshida down."

"...You're right," Sighing, Jester fired his grappling hook and pulled the two of them into the shadows, leaving the four thieves alone.

Once the two were gone, silence filled the room for a long while. "Well... at least we got the map," Joker sighed, walking up to the table and examined the map.

Morgana took a look at the map as well, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "It seems like this map is incomplete..."

"So there's more of them?" Ann asked, resting an arm to her hips. "I hate having to fight them if this gonna happen again."

"But there's no other way, there's only one map here," The cat-like thief sighed, shaking his head. "But with that Swan lady here, I think Jester won't fight us again."

"I hope so..." Ryuji trailed off, noticing Ann being unusually silent. "Panther, somethin' on your mind?"

Snapping out from her own thought, Ann, now Panther, furrowed her brow for a moment. "I don't know... but Swan sounded familiar..."

"Familiar?" Joker asked, raising an eye in confusion. "Why?"

"I don't know why... but..." Trailing off, the dominatrix-looking thief quickly shook head and cleared of those thoughts. "We'll probably meet them again later on, let's ask them when it's so."

"Then let's keep going then," Joker suggested, and with a nod from everyone, they continued their infiltration.


On the other hand, the duo dashed across the hallway and avoided the two guards patrolling. Finding themselves in the center hall again, Jester frowned as he noticed the pathway is blocked with steel bars.

"Great, more bars..." Sighing, he looked around only to see Swan still glaring at him. "Um... we need to find another way to get across."

However, Swan didn't answer him, and she just kept her glare at him.

Awkwardly smiling, Jester took out his grappling hook and aimed at the chandelier nearby. "We shouldn't waste more time, like what you said-"

"What's the other reason that you don't trust them?"

Surprised at her sudden question, the Victorian-looking thief paused for a second before sighing. "Well... I don't know why, but Joker's ability to use multiple Persona was... weird."

"Weird? Where?"

"You know, Persona is basically the other you in your heart, right?" He asked, which Swan responded with a nod. "But I just... have a feeling, OK?"

However, Jester didn't, and couldn't mention Elizabeth's request. In all of the Persona-User, Joker was the only one with the ability to use more than one... He needed to ask Elizabeth about this. But where should he go to find her?

Shaking his head to clear his thought, Jester aimed his grappling gun again, awkwardly giggling. "O-OK, I guess you need to hold on to me again..."

Snapping out from her own thought, Swan blinked a few times before sighing. "Note to self, you have to get me a grappling gun," With that said, she put her arms around him and held tight.

Trying his best to keep the blush from forming, Jester fired the grappling hook and swung themselves to the ledge on the other side. Landing swiftly, they noticed a window nearby and checked it. It turned out was connected with the front gate of the castle.

"Convenient," Swan shrugged, pointing at the opened door on the hallway. "Well, let's check out that place."

Nodding, the two walked back to the other side and entered the room, and the thing which caught their attention was a treasure chest. However, it was licked with a golden lock.

"Well, I guess we can't open it," Sighing in disappointment, Jester noticed the weird feeling coming from the room behind them. Narrowing his eyes, they glanced at each other and entered the room.

Once the two entered the room, the view in front of them merged into the classroom before turning back to its usual form. "This place feels safe for some reason," Swan commented, sitting down in the chair and stretched herself. "Maybe we can take a rest here."

"Yeah..." Jester nodded, taking off his mask and top hat as he sat down on the opposite end. However, just as he sat down on the chairs, the damages he got earlier finally came back and he clutched his side in pain. "D-dammit, it hurt more than I think..."

Widening her eyes in shock, Swan instantly got up from her seat and held his shoulder. "Aki-Jester! You're OK?"

"J-just... it just hurt a lot more than I thought..." The Victorian-looking thief faintly smiled, still clutching his abdomen in pain. "To think that they just happen to hit my weakness..."

"Be careful next time we face anything, alright?" The white thief sighed, summoning Le Pucelle. "Dia."

As a wave of emerald-shaded light covered him, Jester felt the pain lessened and sighed in relief. "...Thank you, Swan," He muttered, giving her a nod.

"We have to count on each other, alright?" She asked, holding his shoulder with both of her hands.

"I know, but..." Sighing again, he stood up from the chair and put on the mask and the top hat. "Let's continue on. There's still a lot in this castle."


After some exploring along the ledges with a few close calls, the duo reached another room. And the only access to the other room was blocked by... even more bars.

"Seriously?!" The duo exclaimed in unison, groaning in annoyance.

"Well, let's see which combination is the real one," Jester suggested, examining the lever next to the bars.

The two walked around for a while, noticing a faint hint of footprints on the floor. Gesturing Swan to come, Jester pointed at the footprints before the two went on the opposite, following the footprints until it reached a lever.

"I got one lever here!" Swan exclaimed, earning a nod from Jester.

"OK, let's pull it at the same time!" He responded with the same volume, gripping the handle. "one, two, three!"

The duo pulled the lever at the same time, and the steel bars lifted in response. Smiling, they gave each other a high-five before continuing. The room was basically a canteen hall with multiple rooms, only to be blocked with more steel bars and levers.

"Oh c'mon, I'm going to have PTSD from bars in this rate," Groaning in annoyance, Jester found a couple more lever, and randomly pulled one of them.

Luckily, the bar next to the lever lifted, but the original one closed. Shrugging, the two continued their exploration. Pulling a few more levers, they found themselves to be trapped in a small room. Thankfully, they noticed a small vent a moment later.

Leaping up on the large cabinet, the two glanced at each other for a second. "I'll go first," Jester volunteered, lowing himself and started to crawl. "Hey, don't stare at me, it's mutual for boys too!"

"I didn't say anything..." Deadpanning, Swan decided to keep looking down at the floor. The two kept crawling for a minute, and they reached a room with a treasure chest with no lock on it.

Noticing the fact that there's only one lever in this room, Swan tapped his shoulder and pointed at it. His eyes darted between the chest and the lever for a second, before walking over and pulled the lever. With slight hissing, a few more bars lifted, revealing a path.

"Finally..." Peeking over and grinned at the revealed path, the Victorian-looking thief looked over to the chest in the room. Opening it, they only found a Sooty Ghastly Gear.

"Ugh... It looked disgusting..." Swan commented, her body unintentionally leaned away from it. "Please, don't tell me you're going to wear it."

"Well, there's a coin laundry in Yongen, I can wash it over there," Jester shrugged, taking the gear with him. "Even I have hygiene standards for myself."

"Um... I don't want to know your hygiene... or anything similar," Shaking her head, Swan looked over the path they just opened. "Anyway, let's go."

The two dashed through the dining room and entered the only way out as they could find, surprised to see a lone shadow patroling in the middle. Knowing that it's an unavoidable battle, Jester hopped onto the back of the shadow, ripping its mask off.

Leaping off with a swift backflip, they were faced with two Cait Sith. "Persona, revolver Shot!" Jester summoned Moriarty, and it swift fired a bullet at the cat-like shadow. However, it wasn't enough to knock them down or kill them instantly.

Following his attack, Swan removed her mask and summoned Le Pucelle, "Cleave!" Holding the sword with both of her hands, the armored Persona leaped to the air and slashed the injured Cait Sith, killing it.

However, the other Cait Sith only grunted in annoyance before casting a fireball, hitting Jester in his chest. Knocked back a bit, he instantly felt a wave of green light surrounded him.

Noticing Swan was actively healing him, he smirked before pulling out his revolver, emptying the bullets contained into its body. Sighing that the shadow was still standing, Swan took out her sniper rifle and fired, the bullet went through the shadow's head and killed it.

Once the battled ended, the duo continued their exploration, finding another unlocked treasure behind them and opened it. Even though they only found a Soul Drop from the chest, the pair was happy that they did have some result and making progress on infiltrating the palace.

Avoiding as many shadows as possible, they finally reached the staircase toward the third floor. However, there's a problem in front of them.

"Well, the condition is worse than I thought," Jester commented, noting how ruined and broken the stairs were.

"Wait," Swan said, pointing at the goat-shaped decoration above them. "We can grapple up there."

Glancing at the goat head, the Victorian-looking thief took out his grappling hook. "I guess you have to hold me again, Swan."

Nodding, the white thief did the same thing like before, and the two reached the third floor in no time. Once they reached the third floor, they took notice of a shadow with the menacing aura surrounding it.

The two looked at each other for a moment before leaping onto the ledges nearby, avoiding every shadow they saw and examined the layout of the floor. After that, they continued avoiding as many shadows as possible and looked into the four rooms on the floor.

After a few battles with the shadows in those rooms, the duo returned into the only safe room with two books in their hands.

"So 'The Queen's Book' and 'The Slave's Book'..." Jester trailed off, placing the two books on the table. "Swan, any idea for what these are for?"

"Maybe there's a library or some sort..." Swan murmured, stroking her chin thoughtfully as she examined the book on the table. "So... we're continuing on or what?"

"I think it's enough for today," The Victorian-looking thief sighed in tiredness, glancing at her with a hint of a smirk. "You looked tired too."

"...You're right. I really need something to eat right now..." Swan sighed, standing up from her seat. "Let's go. I really want some beef..."

Sighing with a faint smile, Jester took out his phone and opened the Meta-Nav. Pressing on the button labeled 'entrance', the duo quickly found they're back on the front gate of the castle.


[Late Afternoon, Shibuya, Ore no Beko]

After exiting the palace, Shiho basically pulled Akira to the only beef bowl shop in the central street 'Ore no Beko'. Even though it's the rush hour right now, but the shop was unusually empty.

"So delicious~" Shiho moaned in bliss, a smiled of happiness crept onto her face as she dug into the beef bowl in front of her.

"Well, since it's the rush hour, we're gonna stay here for a while," Akira said, taking a bite into the beef bowl. "...That's alright, a bit too salty for my taste."

"Too salty?" She questioned, raising an eye as she took a bite of her own beef bowl. "No, it's perfectly seasoned..."

"It's perfectly seasoned for you, but it's too much for me," He shrugged, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I should try to cook some beef bowl myself..."

"You can cook?"

"Yeah, I lived alone, after all," Akira nodded, taking another bite into the beef and rice in front of him. "And I always had to cook for Kimiko and Shinji, so I'm pretty OK with it."

"Kimiko and Shinji..." Shiho murmured, looked down at the table for a second. "It's a miracle that we didn't meet any mention of her in the castle..."

"Right," He nodded. "I hope we won't see her in the castle too..."

"Yeah..."

With that said, the duo continued their meal in silence. Until Shiho decided to break the awkward silence between them.

"Hey, Akira... would you mind if you cook some beef bowl next time? I want to try your cooking." She murmured, a hint of a blush slowly but surely crept onto her face as she stared at the empty bowl in front of her.

"My cooking?" Akira raised an eye in confusion, putting down the chopsticks as he finished his beef bowl. "Uh... Actually, I'm not that good at cooking..."

"I remember that time that I almost set my apartment on fire..." He shuddered as the memories surfaced in his mind. "If Shinji hadn't grabbed the fire extinguisher in time... you'll probably hear about how idiotic I am on the news."

Shiho giggled at his words in response, using her hand to cover her mouth. "Well, you won't be that bad."

"Bad to the bone, my friend," Akira jokingly replied, staring at her with puppy eyes.

Shiho burst out laughing, slamming the table as she tried to control the laughter. "O-oh my god! The face you made is precious!"

"Is it really this precious?" He said, keeping the puppy eyes as he tilted his head.

"Yes, It- It must be protected with all cost!" The volleyball player said between the laughter, pulling out her phone and took a picture of his face. "Here, now this look is exclusive to me, don't you dare to show it to anyone else, Akira."

However, Shiho's face suddenly changed into a cold stare, and the smile was replaced with a cold smirk. "Not. Even. Ann." She said with a horrifyingly cheerful tone.

"O-OK..." Akira shuttered, nervously coughing as he took a sip of his green tea. "I-I'll remember that."

Gulping, Akira turned his head away and faintly shivered. 'T-this isn't the Shiho I remembered... Or is it the real Shiho?' He thought. 'A-anyway, it's scary...'


[On the other hand, Kosei High School]

For many, Kosei High School was a school where every student could shine under their own spotlight. However, it's not the case for Izumo Shinji. For him, he wasn't transferred to this place... he ran away from the past, from Kimiko's death.

Walking down the brightly lited hallway of the school, he brushed his dark crimson hair to the right, and his jet-black eyes were covered with dark circles. "Why would she suddenly ask me to the council office... I already told her it's no use..."

Sighing, he finally arrived at the student council office, and he knocked on the door a few times. "You can come in, Izumo-Kun," A voice rang from the room, and Shinji twisted the doorknob and entered the room.

The room was just like how everyone would expect from a student council office, a conference table with a few seats on either side of the table. And the source of that voice was sitting on one of them.

She was Higashikuni Hinaki, the president of Kosei's student council. She was a third-year student with mid-length brown hair, which was held with a purple daisy hairclip, her red-rimmed glasses covering her black iris.

Now only that, her uniform was modified with a light blue summer shirt and the golden-colored sweater vast, under the sapphire-colored jacket of Kosei's uniform.

"Higashikuni-San, it's the fourth time you called me in this month only," Shinji deadpanned, putting his shoulder bag on the chair while sitting on the one right opposite of the one Hinaki sat on. "Just... don't ask me those questions, OK?"

"Izumo-Kun, I'm responsible for helping you blend into Kosei's environment," Hinaki said, releasing a long and deep sigh. "I've talked to Akashi... I know you two are not in the best place right now..."

"Just get to point, I'm sick of words of pity," The crimson-haired boy retorted coldly, crossing his arms. "What is it this time?"

"Izumo-Kun, your status is... concerning," The student council president gulped, leaning a bit forward with a worried expression. "Please, tell me what's wrong. I'll try my best to fix this for you. You have a bright future as a professional drummer."

"Is it how everyone else is looking at you? Or you can't follow up with studies?"

Slowly enraged with each suggestion Hinaki brought up, Shinji finally reached his boiling point. Every week, she just called him here and asked him what happened. It's obvious, wasn't it? Why couldn't she just understand him!

"Just cut the crap, Higashikuni-San!" He exclaimed in a rage, startling Hinaki in the middle of her talk. "You call me here EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN WEEK, just to say a bunch of nothing!"

"No! I'm just here to help you. If you just tell me what's going on, what's bothering you, I'll try my best to help you out-"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled, slamming the table with a loud 'bang', loud enough for those who just passed the room to overhear. "You never understand what I'm going through. You never experience the pain I had to go through!"

"I-I..." Hinaki shuttered, looking down in silence. Right, she never lost someone close to her, especially from suicide. "Yes, I never experience what you've gone through, but I generally wanted to understand you."

"Huh, trying to understand," Shinji snickered, but his fist only tightened to the point that blood almost started to slip through the gap between his fingers. "Let me tell you what in the actual fuck I am going through."

"My best friend killed herself because Kamoshida raped her, and he's still getting away with it!" He yelled at the top of his lung, staring at Hinaki's shocked face. "Not only that, Kamoshida blamed everything to Akira! Do you hear me? That trash of a human being blamed Akira as a fucking rapist!"

"And what now? Naoko had to suffer because the pain this caused her, Akira has to suffer through being labeled as a rapist and while struggling to stay in Shujin, and I fucking run away! I transfer to this place to RUN AWAY!" The crimson-haired boy paused, taking a deep breath as the tears started to pour out of his eyelid.

"Izumo-Kun..." Hinaki only stared at him in disbelief. How could Shujin Academy still operate with this kind of scandal! "I-if so, why didn't the news talked about it?"

"Because the principal is treating Kamoshida as his golden child, and he just covered it!" Shinji exclaimed in anger again, punching the desk with another loud 'bang'. "Now Akira hates me because I'm a coward, and Naoko treated me as a stranger because I remind her of Kimiko... And I gave up my only passion for drumming."

"You tell me, Higashikuni-San, what is wrong with me." He finished, looking at his hand. "If you're just going to tell me to keep playing drum, just shut it. I've..."

"Shinji-Kun, you're leaving Shujin?"

"Why? I... You're the only one who saw me as a friend... Why do you have to leave?"

"Why? Answer me, please!"

"I've lost everyone, Akira, Kimiko, Naoko... a-and M-Makoto..." Shinji murmured, breaking down as he struggled to say her name. "Now you know what I've gone through, can you even understand a second of this?"

"Izumo-Kun..." Hinaki trailed off, pulling out a pack of tissue and gave it to him. "I-I don't think to keep you here would improve anything, I'll try to... do something about all this."

In response, Shinji only wiped the tears with the tissue she gave him, shaking his head and left the room without a word. With a 'click', silence filled the student council's office again. However, Hinaki only stared at the door, didn't even move an inch for a long while.

"Izumo-Kun said he lost all of his friends..." She murmured to herself, memories of their previous meeting slowly but sure surface in her mind.

"Ichijo Akira? Who is he?"

"He's... one of my best friends. Before I transfer to this school."

"OK..."

"Right, what if..." Trailing off, Hinaki pushed her glasses, and a firm look took over. "I'll keep trying to help you, Izumo-Kun. I can't just give up."


Preview:

As the deadline closes, both two groups of Persona users picked up their pace on infiltration.

the distrust between them started to melt away, as the treasure closes.

However, the threat of the palace itself also intensified.

Next Chapter:

"Route Secured"

Stay tuned!


With this, both PT and the duo have been halfway through Kamoshida's palace! And the next chapter would the second part of the infiltration. And their relationship would improve as the infiltration goes on, don't worry about it.

Also, welcome the second OC from RosyMiranto18, Higashikuni Hinaki! *Clapping* Being the president of Kosei's Student council is hard already, but with Shinji's situation... It's not going to be easy for her.

In all and all, I hope you, the readers, like the fic so far!

Reviews are welcome!