[6th May, Morning]

Walking by the plain walkway he had passed by hundreds of times, Akira raised an eye as he overheard two students talking about something.

"Yo, do ya know that there's another transfer student?" One student asked, leaning by the walls next to the vending machine.

"Another one?! But- ain't there's already two of them?!"

'Another transfer student...' Trailing off in his mind, Akira just felt a bit happy for that student. 'At least he or she didn't need to deal with Kamoshida.'

"I dunno, man," He shrugged. "I heard some rumor that he's from Ayanagi City though. I mean ain't that place get tied with some kind of massive terrorist attack or somethin'?"

"Dude, don't scare me, man," The other student shivered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyway, let's just hope he's nice."

"Yeah, me too."

Watching the two of them left their spot and went on their way, Akira only felt a bit interested in that new transfer student. It was already a weird time to transfer to Shujin in the first place. But after Kamoshida's fallout...

"Well, there's no point for me to worry about those things."

Shaking his head, Akira resumed his walk to the school.


[Morning, Class 2-D]

The day went on as normal for everyone, a surprise since Kamoshida's confession was merely a few days ago. Leaning back into his seat, Akira kept his gaze toward the scenery outside. It's not like anything is interesting for him to pay attention to, right?

Clearing her throat, Kawakami clapped her hand and gained everyone's attention. "Okay class, today we have a new transfer student into our class."

Upon her surprise announcement, the class suddenly erupted into a mess of whispering and murmurs.

"Wait, another transfer student?!"

"And I thought Amamiya was bad enough..."

"Wait, I heard that the new transfer student is from Ayanagi..."

"Ain't that place had a massive terrorist attack or something like that?"

Akira, on the other hand, was only mildly interested in the new transfer student. "Ayanagi... huh."

"Quiet class. Please let him do his introduction, then you talk with each other, okay?" The class teacher sighed, gesturing to the door outside. "You can come in now."

The door opened and revealed a young boy in the standard Shujin uniform. Other than the opened jacket and the old-school camera hanging on his chest, there was nothing weird about him...

Other than the fact that he was a blonde, pairing with his square glasses... It really gave out a foreigner vibe. And Akira just widened his eyes in recognization. 'Wait, he's the guy I saw in the Arcade with Aobara!'

Writing his name on the blackboard with a stern and somewhat scribbly handwriting, the new transfer turned around and gave everyone an impassive look.

"My name is Kamisaki Keigo, nice to meet you all." He said, bowing politely to everyone.

"Kamisaki-kun's new to Tokyo, so please don't get too harsh on him," Kawakami added, but was interrupted as Keigo gestured at his hair.

"If you're wondering how can I pass the dress code with this blonde hair, it's only because it's natural," He said, "In case you didn't know, I am half-French. And I had a Japanese name because it's from my mother."

Pushing his glasses and saw there's no one wanting to talk, Keigo turned to Kawakami with a slightly apologetic look. "I'm sorry for interrupting you, Ms. Kawakami. You can go on now."

"O... Kay..." Trailing off, the homeroom teacher gulped before scanning through the entire classroom. "So Kamisaki-kun, you'll be sitting at... there." She finished, pointing at the seat in the middle of the classroom, right behind Mishima.

Nodding, Keigo slowly walked to his seat and sat down, taking everything needed for the upcoming lesson. However, the classroom was just in a mess of murmurs and whispers about him, and it didn't seem like it's going to slow down at all.

"half-Frenchman? So he's basically a male version of Takamaki!"

"Dude! You're being disrespectful to both of them!"

"Yeah, and Takamaki is one-fourth American, so your point's just bad."

"He seems nice, and quite handsome too..."

"Yuri, please don't drool on the new transfer, okay?"

'Typical class 2-D strikes again...' Akira sighed as he shifted his gaze back to the scenery outside, thinking about what should he do during lunchtime. Even though it hadn't been a month since their last meeting, but he kinda wanted to check on Kasumi. But then, there's also Shiho he needed to think about...

"...Well, maybe I just deal with them both," He murmured, not noticing the subtle glance coming from the new transfer.


[Lunchtime, Canteen]

Sitting in his usual seat with the usual Kasumi, Akira couldn't help but just sighed. Well, now he and Shiho were an official team, but... how could they find more targets? Maybe he could look for requests from the Phan-Site Shiho told him about?

Noticing Akira's downcasted look, Kasumi stopped from her bento and tapped his shoulder. "Something's wrong, Ichijo-Senpai?" She asked, concern written all over her face.

"...It's nothing, just... it's kinda complicated," Akira returned with a faint smile, trying to reassure her. "But well, how's your Golden Week, Yoshizawa-san?"

"It's mostly just training," The gymnast shrugged, but still happy that Akira looked a bit better. "But I heard that there's a new transfer student after me and Amamiya-san, is it true?"

The amateur writer nodded, taking a bite of his Yakisoba Pan. "Yeah, it's in my class, and he is from Ayanagi city."

"So... what he's like?"

"Well, he's a bit straight-to-the-point, at least from the little talk he did have," Akira continued. "He talked very little. But it makes sense since he's new here."

"Hmm... at least he wasn't surrounded with bad rumors about him," Kasumi commented.

"Yeah, he's lucky," The amateur writer nodded. "And the fact that he came here after Kamoshida is gone..."

"Oh right..." Trailing off, the gymnast hastily decided to change the subject. "Anyway, are you and Suzui-senpai... a thing now?"

Widening his eyes in surprise, Akira almost spilled out his lemon tea as a result. "W-what? Where did you get that from?"

"U-um, well... You always talk about her when we're eating together," Kasumi answered, tapping her chin in deep thought. "At least much as I remember."

"...Wait, did I really always talk about Shiho?"

"Right, you did, senpai," She nodded. "And with how you saved her when she tried... to do that, Suzui-Senpai must have a place in your heart."

"U-uh..." Surprised by her logic, and that he really couldn't say anything in return, Akira just nodded in embarrassment. "W-well, she is. It's just... we're still just partners and friends."

"Partners and friends..." Pondering for a moment, Kasumi nodded with a smile of encouragement. "Then I wish you good luck with her then, Ichijo-Senpai!"

Feeling a slight blush crept on his cheek, Akira hastily cleared his throat and gave her a smile of his own. "Y-yeah, wish me luck too."


[Meanwhile, Courtyard]

While Akira and Kasumi were having their usual lunch together, Shiho was... furious from a 'small' slip-up that Ryuji and Ren made, with Ann on the back trying to calm her down.

"What do you mean that you forgot me!" Shiho exclaimed in anger, crossing her arms. "How in the world that you three took selfies on the buffet, and forgot about me!"

"W-well, we just... forgot about it," Ren shamefully admitted, hesitantly pushing his glasses. "I'm so sorry, Suzui-san."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too, Suzui," Ryuji added, bowing at perfect ninety degrees. "This won't happen again!"

"Do I look like I care about you two not doing this again?" The volleyball player deadpanned, casting a death glare at the two boys. "It's my dream to go to Wilton with Ann, and you two idiot jinx my chance to leave some memory behind!"

Ann, on the other hand, placed her hand on Shiho's shoulder, "S-Shiho, just calm down for a bit. Ren and Ryuji weren't excluding you on purpose," She said with a wry smile.

"I know they're not on purpose, but it's still infuriating!" After a few seconds, Shiho looked down and gave out a long sigh. "I need a walk."

With that said, she left the courtyard without a word. Meanwhile, the three just looked down on her ground, and an aura of sadness surrounded them. And this aura stayed for a long while.

"So..." Crawling out from Ren's schoolbag, Morgana just gave the three a deadpanned glance. "Are we going to stay like this? I was going to talk about how should we continue as the Phantom Thieves."

The response didn't come until a while later, from Ren. "...Well, I guess we should do something to make up for her."

"Definitely, we messed up so bad, dude," Ryuji agreed, unintentionally ignoring Morgana in the process.

"Yeah..." Ann nodded, crossing her arms and leaned on the wall. "I'll ask her what would she wants later."

Seeing the three basically ignored his own existence, Morgana grunted in annoyance and jumped to the table. "Hey! I said I'm going to show you how to continue to be the Phantom Thieves!"

"...O-oh," Ren shuttered, hastily pushing his glasses. "Well, the lunch period is ending, so I guess we should talk about it after school."

"R-Ren! You serious?!" Morgana exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah Renren," The ex-runner nodded, rubbing his hand through his blonde hair. "Morgana, let's just put that 'till after school, okay?"

"Wha-"

"Right, Morgana, the Phantom Thieves' stuff can wait for now," Ann added, forcing the feline to agree with it.

"...Fine, just don't you three dare to miss it, okay?"


[Afterschool, frontgate]

After the school ended for the day, Akira stretched as he walked out from the gate. Even though it had only been a few days since Kamoshida's confession, but things really felt... refreshing for once. Maybe it just because-

RIIIIIING

Blinking in surprise, Akira hastily took out his phone and checked who was calling him. "Unknown number?" He thought out loud, accepting the call with slight suspicion. "H-hello? Who is this?"

"HELLLLLO! How's going Akira?"

Out of everything he could think of, it was... Elizabeth.

"What in the world?!" Noticing the weird glances other students put on him, the amateur writer quickly went on his way. "E-Elizabeth-san, how the hell can you call me?! I mean-"

"You mean that the Velvet Room wasn't real, and there's no way I can't contact you in the real world?"

Akira deadpanned. "I mean you didn't talk to me for a long while now."

"O-oh, so that's what you mean," The Velvet Room attendant laughed awkwardly. "A~nyway, I have found a suitable location for the Velvet room's door to be placed!"

"Oh, that's fantastic," He smiled. "I didn't forget our promise, Elizabeth-san. You wanted me to show you around-"

"Akira-kun, your sofa is sooooo comfy! How much does that couch cost?"

"...What?" The amateur writer just blinked, widening his eyes in pure shock. "Elizabeth-san, what do you mean-"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, the door is placed inside your apartment!"

Well... Akira really didn't expect this.

"WAIT WHAT?!" Practically shouting in his phone in max volume and attracting glanced from passersby, Akira hastily picked up his pace and rushed to the station.

However, he didn't notice Ren and the others on the side of the station square, disappearing into somewhere else.


[Akira's apartment.]

Rushing in the apartment in a hurry and almost breaking his front door, Akira returned to just see... Elizabeth dancing to one of his own record collection. More precisely, 'Silent Screamer' by Yamashita Tatsuro.

SILENT SCREAMER

A wind from dark, that tears all up, it's

SILENT SCREAMER...

"Woohoo, this is a great song, Akira-kun!" The Velvet attendant laughed in mid-dance, dancing in... a unique type of dance to say the least. "Your music collection is fantastic!"

"Arf!" Even more so, Paff suddenly came out from her bed and ran around her, her tail wiggled in happiness.

Akira, on the other hand, could only stare at her with widened eyes. This scene was just...

"Is it real life?" Murmuring to himself, Akira closed the door behind him before groaning in annoyance. "So... what now?"

"What now?" Tapping her chin in curiosity, Elizabeth just smiled brightly in return. "Well, I think I'm going to stay here!"

"Stay...?" Akira gulped. "You mean you're living in here from now on...?"

She nodded without a second thought, much to his dread. "Yes, I am!"

At this point, the amateur writer was purely speechless. If there WAS a god, it's definitely messing with him for the sake of it. Why couldn't he just live a normal life without being messed with?!

"...This is just..." Murmuring to himself, Akira cleared his throat and decided to just deal with it. "Whatever, if you want to stay here... Fine, just... don't expect me to take care of everything for you."

"That's fantastic!" Elizabeth grinned, remembering something she forgot to tell him. "And oh, the door is inside your... storage room? I'm not sure what that room is, I just saw a lot of stuff in there."

"Yeah, that's my storage room," He sighed, completely in his acceptance phrase of this weird turns of event. "I just put all those... research materials I acquired over the months."

"It's nothing much, just some radio, model guns, books and such," Akira shrugged. "...Even though they cost thousands of yens..."

"Hmm... interesting," Elizabeth nodded, turning her head back to the music player in the living room. "Anyway, please excuse me for expressing my soul to this music..."

With that said, she returned to dancing to the music, leaving Akira trying to live a normal life from now on... Wait, now he remembered a serious thing he had to deal with. His routine call with Mitsuru, and with Elizabeth staying with him...

"...God's never going to leave me alone for a single second, right?"


[7th May, Morning]

"Today's headline: New development for the recent terrorist attack occurred in Ayanagi City..."

"As the investigation of the explosion that happened in Ayanagi Central Mall continued, the police force is still finding the reason for this explosion."

"Surprisingly, the original Detective Prince Shirogane Naoto was seen working with the Ayanagi police force..."

Glancing at the news on her phone, Shiho sighed as closed the news and changed to the messenger. And without a second thought, she sent a text to Akira. Not for any particular reason, just a bit bored.

Shiho: Hey Akira, you're here?

And with only a split of a second, Akira responded.

Akira: Right here, anything's wrong?

Shiho: Nothing, I just wanna talk with you for a bit.

Shiho: I'm a bit bored on this train ride.

Akira: Okay, I'm all ears.

Shiho: So... actually, how are we going to find more targets?

Akira: More targets?

Shiho: I mean as a Phantom Thief.

Akira: Oh right, I never thought about that.

Shiho: Um... crap, I forgot to tell you this. So there's a Phantom Aficionado Website where people can put their requests there...

Akira: ...That's fantastic! I wonder who made that website...

Shiho: I dunno, but I thank him from the bottom of my heart.

Shiho: Maybe we meet after school to look for some interesting requests?

Akira: Sure. I have no plan after school either, and... I kinda wanted to meet you anyway...

Shiho: Um...

Akira: Oh, just ignore the latter part. I mistyped that. Silly me haha...

Shiho: How in the world can you mistype that many words?

Shiho: Whatever, let's meet at the Aoyama-Ichtome station?

Akira: Sure.


Meanwhile, Akira only pitched his nosebridge as he continued his walk to the school. Last night was... a nightmare to say the least. And it all started when Elizabeth wanted to help him cook dinner.

And in the usual Elizabeth fashion... She almost burnt the entire house down.

"Elizabeth-san! You're spraying oil everywhere!"

"Elizabeth-san! You'll cut yourself if you cut food like this!"

"Don't mess with that, Elizabeth-san!"

"Elizabeth-san! You can't feed Paff this kind of food, it's poisonous for her!"

"AHHH! ELIZABETH-SAN! GET THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!"

"It's a miracle that I'm still alive..." He murmured, completely oblivious of a certain transfer student approaching him from behind. "By the way, I needed to but her new clothes too. Can't let her go around with that dress."

"But I don't know her size... and I don't even know if she knew what 'size' is," Sighing to himself, Akira rested his arms on his hip. "Then a cellphone for her, and get her a new key... And taught her how to properly cook tonight-"

"Excuse me, Ichijo."

Startled in surprise, Akira turned and saw Keigo giving him an unreadable glance. "O-oh hey Kamisaki-kun," He shuttered, feeling a bit uncomfortable from the glance he's giving him. "What's the matter?"

"Can we meet on the rooftop after school today?" Keigo asked in a pure professional tone, pushing his glasses. "I have some urgent business to talk about."

"Urgent business?"

"It's classified." He replied without a second thought, stuffing his hands in his jacket's pocket.

"O...kay," Weirded out by the secrecy from Keigo, Akira pondered for a moment before hesitantly nodded. "So... after school, rooftop, right?"

"Right, see you there," With that said, the half-Frenchman left Akira alone and went on his way.

Watching him disappeared into the crowd, the amateur writer sighed and went on his way too. He just hoped this 'meeting' wouldn't take too long, or he would have to deal with an angry Shiho...

And he didn't want to deal with an angry Shiho.


[Afterschool, Rooftop]

After the final lesson had ended, Akira went to the rooftop without a second thought. He just wanted to deal with Keigo's 'business' as soon as possible, then he could look for new targets with Shiho.

Well, he mostly just wanted to hang around Shiho.

Opening the door, the amateur was surprised that Keigo was already there, waiting for him with an unreadable look. However, with his crossed arms, he probably was a bit lacking in patience.

"So, you didn't make an empty promise, that's a plus," He said, relaxing his arms and let it swayed to his side.

"Well, I have some plan after this, so talk whatever you wanted to talk about," Akira sighed.

Keigo just nodded in response. "You're right, I wanted to get this over with either."

"Actually... it would be quick," Adjusting his glasses, the half-Frenchman opened his jacket and revealed a shoulder holster.

And as he noticed the holster, Akira's body tensed considerably. Did... did he just him carrying a gun? W-what did he wanted to do with him?

Gulping in nervousness, Akira subconsciously took a step back, readied to run when needed. "O-okay, I'm sure that was a gun, what the hell did you want?"

"...I just need to confirm one thing," Keigo replied with a casual tone, making Akira's body tensed harder. "So I know how much information I can share with you."

"I don't like the sound of that, not at all."

"Whether you like it or not doesn't matter," The half-Frenchman deadpanned, reaching to his holster and took out a pistol. "As I said before, I just need to confirm one thing."

Widening his eyes, Akira took another step back before noticing the pistol in Keigo's hand. It was covered in silver and shining, with the words "S.O." craved on the side of it. It was... extremely unusual and a type of pistol he never saw before, even with his old research with firearms.

However, instead of pointing at him as he expected, Keigo pointed the pistol... to his temple.

"W-what are you doing!" Exclaiming in shock, Akira wasted no second thought and dashed forward. "Hey, don't just shoot yourself!"

"Tch... I should expect this kind of reaction..." Murmuring in annoyance, Keigo took a step back and rested his finger on the trigger.

And the next word he said stopped Akira in his track.

"Persona."

Pulling the trigger, the sound of glass shattering suddenly rang throughout the entire roof, and Akira was blown back by the shockwave from nowhere. Hastily regained his balance, the amateur writer could only watch in shock as a figure materialized behind Keigo.

It looked like a person, with its head wrapped with bandages and only showed its eyes. With the bleached hat it's wearing, the image of Moriarty popped up in his mind.

Other than that, it was wearing an old-style long coat and shirt, with its leg being just two black mechanical legs with no feet.

Looking at Akira's reaction, Keigo nodded to himself. "So you did have a Persona, since only a Persona-User can see another one, even when it was summoned by an evoker."

Snapped out from the initial shock, Akira just stared at him. "W-who are you?"

"A Persona-user just like you, Ichijo," He calmly replied, letting the wind blew over his jacket and blonde hair. "And I should properly introduce myself, since my introduction yesterday didn't tell the truth."

"My name is Kamisaki Keigo, a Persona-user, and a member of Shadow Operative."

(To be continued.)


Preview:

Kamisaki Keigo. A Persona User, a member of Shadow Operative.

A mystery.

As he forced himself into The Fools' operation, they were shocked to see the difference of experience.

As a clue of their next target also arrives.

Next Chapter:

"Raven"

Stay Tuned!


Okay, so at least I didn't take about a month to finish this chapter, so that's a massive plus. Even though it's somewhat a filler chapter here...

Anyway, this version of Keigo is finally officially introduced into the story, yeah! *clap* And as you all can see, this Keigo's is very different from the original version, and how would this new dynamic between the three... this would be interesting.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, Elizabeth now lives with Akira in the same apartment... Well, it's our loveable weirdo Elizabeth, so Akira is definitely not going to have a good or easy time around her XD. Let's hope he would at least get along with her, or him acting like a big softie around her.

Anyway, I hope you like the story so far, reviews are definitely welcome!