[Shibuya Station Square]

Standing in the middle of the square, Shiho frowned as she continued to wait for Akira. It's been half an hour already, but there was still no sight of him. And the lack of text or any texts only made her more nervous

"Akira, where the hell had you been..." Trailing off, she took out her phone and checked. "C'mon, at least text me or something..."

Thankfully, her (seemingly) eternal wait finally ended with Akira's calling from afar. "S-Shiho! I'm sorry for keeping you this long!"

Running up to her, the amateur writer panted heavily, but only to be met by her deadpanned stare. Of course, he knew he's doomed and down to her mercy, but at least he didn't just disappear and did nothing.

That would end well, right?

"What took you so long?" She asked, narrowing her stare. "I never thought you to be someone disappear and not explaining?"

"I-I didn't expect him to take me this long..."

"Him?" Blinking in confusion, her question was quickly answered as Keigo's voice joined in.

"It's me," He said, walking up with an expressionless look. "I apologize for taking your... partner for too long, Suzui-san."

"He's Kamisaki, that new transfer in my class yesterday," Akira answered for him, giving out a long sigh. "Anyway, he asked me to meet him on the rooftop, and he-"

"And I used my evoker to confirm if you're a Persona-user or not," Keigo deadpanned, pushing his glasses. "After that, he told me a bit about the Metaverse and what are you two doing."

However, Shiho's eyes widened at the word 'Persona-user'. "Wait for a second, you know about Persona, Kamisaki?"

"I am a Persona-user myself," He nodded. "Judging from your reaction, you are a Persona-user as well, Suzui-san?"

"Y-yeah..." Trailing off, the volleyball player gave Akira a confused gaze, demanding answers from him.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Akira ran his hand through his hair. "W-well, Kamisaki said that he's from an organization called 'Shadow Operative, but that's pretty much it."

"Because it's classified," Keigo sighed. "Besides, I don't think we can talk about this in the public."

Shaking his head, the half-French crossed his arms and returned to his deadpanned look. "Anyway, I assume that you two are supposed to talk about something, right?"

"O-oh right, about the targets," Hastily cleared his throat, Akira took out his phone and opened the Phan-Site. "Shiho, do you have any idea for someone worthy of being one?"

Giving Keigo an apologetic glance, Shiho opened a post on the Phan-Site and showed it to both of them. "I did found one, he's called Miyano Karou."

"Miyano Karou..." The amateur writer nodded, putting the name into the Meta-Nav. "Okay, we got a hit."

"But then it's the location and distortion..." Trailing off, Shiho re-read the entire post and frowned. "The post didn't mention where the location is, but it said Miyano had been beating her and their daughter for half an year..."

"So it's domestic violence..." Keigo trailed off, narrowing his eyes. "Actually, I might have an idea of that location."

Gesturing to Akira for his phone, the half-French typed something on the location column and pressed the 'navigation button'. However, instead of the 'Target Not Found' notification Shiho and Akira expected, the feeling of nausea suddenly assaulted them.

"Bingo," Keigo murmured.

Before long, the trio disappeared from the station square.


[?]

Once the feeling subsided, the first thing that caught their attention was that they were alone. And the crimson sky and landscape made them realize that they were actually in the Metaverse.

"Wha-" Widening his eyes, Jester looked down and saw himself wearing his thief gear.

The same was the same for Swan as well. "Wait, my clothes- ain't we didn't have the necessary keywords to enter a palace?"

Nodding, the gentleman thief looked over to Keigo. "Kamisaki, what did you just put in the nav?"

"Mementos," The said blonde answered, noticing his own school outfit was changed as well.

Instead of the school uniform, he was wearing a plain black outfit similar to a formal suit with a tie. However, there was a small cape connected to his back, along with the plain white glove and the armband which had 'S.O.' written on it.

On further observation, Keigo noticed a mask on his face. It was a grey mask similar to the one worn by the doctors during the black death plague, and the eyeholes weren't covered by the goggles.

"Huh, so your outfit changed when you enter this shadow realm... Reminds me of the outfit they gave me," Keigo nodded to himself, turning his focus back onto the duo. "Anyway, I should explain how did I know about this place."

Giving Jester's phone back to its owner, the half-French cleared throat with a cough. "About a month or two ago, two of our members detected a large shadow nest located in Tokyo."

"But that doesn't mean..." Swan trailed off, crossing her arms. "How did you know the name though?"

"The two member's Personas are specialized in navigation and information gathering, and we barely got the name with their power combined."

"Then why didn't you do anything about it?" Jester questioned, narrowing his eyes at him. "If your team already has Personas, then it means all of you can at least do something about what we're facing, right?"

"We never know how to enter this place," Keigo sighed, adjusting his mask. "Until now, there was no record of anyone entering this Metaverse, or a method to enter."

"Besides, our hands were tied. We weren't able to do anything."

"...I'm still skeptical of your reasoning, Kamisaki," Swan said.

"Whether you're skeptical or not is not my concern," The half-French plainly said, switching his glance to the subway station. "However, I think we should focus on dealing with that request, correct?"

Nodding with hesitation, the duo followed Keigo and entered the subway station.


[Mementos, Entrance]

Once the trio entered the station, they were greeted by a... hellish version of the usual subway station. The lights around them were dim, barely enough for them to see anything outside of just a few meters. However, the walls were painted wtih blood-like crimson, alongside the black pulsing veins bursting out from the inside.

"It's..." Trailing off, Jester couldn't help but swallowed a lump in his throat. "And I thought Kamoshida's palace is bad enough..."

"Yeah..." Swan nodded, taking out her rifle and readied for anything.

Observing the surrounding, Keigo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "...Interesting, I should have some record to give it back."

Taking out his own phone, he attempted to take photographs but failed. "Huh, so you can't use a digital camera here, interesting..." Raising an eye as he saw the camera malfunctioned, the half-French took out a different camera and lifted his mask. "Let's see how an old-fashioned camera works here."

Watching him taking pictures of this place, Jester and Swan exchanged an awkward glance. After all, Keigo's placement was really awkward here, both of them didn't know he should be a part of the team, or not.

After finishing his small photoshoot, Keigo turned back and gave the two a slight apologetic look. "I apologize for taking this long, but it's about formal business,"

Noticing the Meta-Nav installed on his phone, he held up a finger raised an eye. "I know it might be pointless, but... did the navigation app auto-installed itself for your case as well?"

"Yeah," Jester nodded.

Nodding in deep thought, the half-French tapped his screen a few times and opened the map. "...So there's a map for this labyrinth..."

"From what this map said, the target we typed in is about two floors below us," Closing the phone and put it in his pocket, he looked toward the escalators leading to below. "Anyway, didn't we have a domestic violence case to handle?"

"R-right," Exchanging a glance with each other, the duo nodded and entered the labyrinth.


Even though with its location being the Tokyo subway system out of everything, Jester and Swan still were surprised when they actually experience how huge this place was.

The seemingly endless train rails, the oppressive aura this place gave out. All of this on top of the shadows patrolling the area, Jester and Swan didn't know what to think about this place.

Before long, the trio found themselves outside of a spiral of rails and crimson mist. With its significant contrast with the already bizarre landscape that was Mementos, Jester and Swan couldn't help but felt... oddly intriguing.

However, Keigo was... a different kind of Persona-user they had ever seen. For his first time to come to the Metaverse, he seemed strangely... calm about everything. He didn't faze at the landscape, his surrounding, neither did the shadows themselves as well.

On top of that, he adapted to fight in this world real quick. He found out how to summon his Persona with his mask without Jester or Swan mentioning a word about this, he called his weapon- a sword cane.

How could he deal with these kinds of weird stuff with this kind of calmness? This question kept bugging in their minds.

"Here we are," Keigo announced, crossing his arms and looked back toward the two. "From how different this seems from the rest of this place, it looked like some kind of portal..."

"Yeah, it looked like one..." Jester nodded, remembering something that he should mention a long while ago. "Kamisaki, I don't know whether you would stick with us or not. But either way, you should have a codename here."

"Codename?"

"Oh right, the codename," Swan nodded, walking up to Jester's side. "We use codename when we're in the Metaverse. I am Swan, and Akira is Jester."

"Okay, so a codename..." Trailing off, the half-French gazed away to somewhere far away. And he stayed like this for a while, as if he was bathed in some kind of memory or flashback.

"...Raven," He said, snapping out from his flashback. "Just call me 'Raven' when we're in Metaverse. After all, I have to investigate this place, so I probably had to stay with you two."

"Raven...?" Raising an eye in slight curiosity, the white thief gestured toward his mask. "I mean, it suits your mask."

"It does," Keigo nodded. "But I'm not going to disclose my own reason for choosing it."

"We didn't disclose too much about us either, Raven," Jester shrugged with a small smile, turning his focus back to the spiral. "Anyway, let's go."

With that said, the trio entered the portal.


[Mementos Chamber- Miyano Karou]

Behind the portal was a chamber, it looked just like the endless road and rails they saw before. However, there are only one way in front, and a sole shadow standing in the middle of the chamber.

Instead of the humanoid creature that they encountered before, that shadow appeared just like the Shadow Shiho Jester saw before. The shadow was wearing a plain grey business suit and holding a business case.

"So this is Miyano's shadow..." Jester trailed off, turning back and gestured Swan to ready her sniper rifle. "Prepare for anything, god knows if we have to fight or not."

"From the aura coming out from him, it seems to the former," Raven commented, walking up to the businessman. "So, you're Miyano Karou, right?"

"And... so you're the Phantom Thieves that are supposed to 'change my heart', right?" Miyano countered, narrowing his eyes toward the trio. "Let me tell you something, both of them ARE my PROPERTY!"

"Treating your family as property..." Trailing off, Jester couldn't help but tch'ed in slight anger. "Y'know, if there's a qualification for being a father, you just failed it with just a sentence."

"Don't you hear me, THEY ARE MY PROPERT-"

"We heard that, asshole," Swan interrupted him, pulling the charging bolt of her sniper rifle. "And that's all your justifications for committing domestic violence?!"

"She married to ME! SHE VOLUNTEERED! Don't you hear me!"

With a rage-filled roar, black goo emerged from the ground and covered Miyano's body. And he morphed into an Eligor. "Now! I'll make you know why you should stay away from my personal business!"

"From the look of it, talking is out of our options," Raven called his sword cane and unsleeved it, revealing a shining thin blade. "And to be honest, my patience is running very, very thin right now."

"NOW DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Watching the armored rider rushing toward them, the trio quickly speared and avoided its first strike. And the rider crashed to a wall, it's spear stuck into it and couldn't get out.

"So it seems to be lacking in the self-control department, ironic," Taking off his mask, the black-suited thief stared coldly as blue flames emerged around him. "Come, Fou Roux!"

Materializing behind him, Raven's Persona- Fou Roux curled up as if it was in pain. Holding its tight fists in front of its face, it twitched violently before spreading out and sent a wave of ice toward the Eligor.

"Ice power, interesting," Smirking, Jester fired his grappling hook and flew himself above Raven, summoning Moriarty while spinning in the air. "Moriarty, Eiha!"

Being hit with the burst of cruse energy, the Eligor roared before it pulled it's spear out from the wall and rushed toward the trio. However, just as it missed the trio again, it suddenly stabbed it's spear into the ground and used it as an anchor to stop itself.

Pulling the spear from the ground, it pointed it into the air. Before the trio could realize, thunders suddenly from the ceiling and down upon them.

"Everyone dodge!" Jester shouted, firing his grappling hook and launched himself.

As if the Eligor knew that his weakness was Lightning, Jester had to keep changing direction mid-air to avoid the lightning strikes. However, his attempt was interrupted as a bolt of lone lightning struck him dead center, and he fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

"Jester!" Widening her eyes, Swan hastily ran to his side and cast a Dia, not even cared to dodge the lighting.

"I'm... alright, Swan," Jester coughed. "It's just unlucky, who knows that this guy has lightning skills."

"But at this rate, this barrage won't finish," Swan tch'ed, taking some opportunities and fired a few quick rounds from her sniper rifle.

"...Maybe this would work," Nodding to himself after a moment of pondering, Raven took off his mask and summoned Fou Roux in mid-dodging. "Atomic Shard!"

(Atomic Shard (Duel Elemental Skill): Light Nuclear+Ice damage to 1 foe, small chance of frozen aliment.)

It sent a wave of ice shard with nuclear sparkling, hitting right the body of the Eligor and slowed his movement. Taking this as her opportunity, Swan summoned Le Pucelle and slashed the rider.

"Revolver Shot!" Jester exclaimed, summoning Moriarty and fired a few shots toward the Eligor.

However, seeing that the shadow still stood strong, as if their attack never dealt too much damages, Raven summoned his Persona again. "Evil Touch."

Curling up in phantom pain, Fou Roux sent a wave of purple aura and hit directly onto the shadow. As if Fou Roux suddenly became the most horrifying thing in the world, the Eligor started shaking and walked away from the trio.

Without a word, he let the bold breeze built up around him and created a barrage of ice shards. Without a word, the shards shot forward and directly hit the Eligor. The said shadow roared in pain and fell down, the shockwave shook the entire chamber.

"Now's the chance, Jester," Raven said, holding his sword cane in reverse grip and lowered his center of gravity. "Let's finish this."

"I was about to say the same thing," Smirking, Jester exchanged a short glance with Swan before readying his scythe. "Let's finish this, All-Out Attack!"

Without a wasted second, the trio dashed toward the Eligor and barraged with endless slashes and bullets. Using the wall of the chamber as their stepping stone, they flew across the room with incredible speed, only the hint of their shadow could be witnessed by human eyes.

Landing before the shadow, Raven bowed as if he was an actor on a stage show. Then he straightened up and looked straightly toward the direction he was bowing at, just as the shadow exploded in black goo.

"You're not worthy to be remembered."

Upon defeat, the shadow returned into his human form, laying on the floor. "...They're all I had left..." Karou murmured to himself, clutching his fists tight. "I already lost everything, I don't want to lose them as well!"

"That doesn't mean what you did is the right way," Jester said somberly, holstering his scythe. "You're doing the exact opposite."

"Then why Madarame still gets away from taking everything away from me!" The shadow exclaimed in anguish. "My dream, my work, everything!"

Swan could only give him a look of sympathy. In the end, he was just another victim turned perpetrator, it was just a cycle of hate. And unfortunately, his family became the victim of things outside of their control.

However, Raven walked past the duo toward the shadow, holding him up by his shirt's collar.

"What Madarame did to you doesn't mean shit when you hurt your family," He said coldly, and the mask only intensified the rage-filled stare from the half-French. "They're innocent, and don't you dare to make any excuses."

"..." Karou couldn't reply with anything, just returning his stare with remorse. "Then... what about Madarame? You're the Phantom Thieves, right?"

"He... he's a person who deserves a change of heart much more than everyone!" He pleaded, causing the trio to widen their eyes in surprise. "Not only me, but many more dreams were also squashed because of him!"

"And there's still one pupil under his wing..."

"We'll look into it," Jester said, exchanging his glance with the other two thieves for approval. And they only nodded in return.

"Now return to your real-self," Turning back to Karou, Raven finished his word while keeping his glare. "And pay for what you've done."

With a shaky nod, Miyano Karou's shadow found himself engulfed in blinding light and faded out of existence. And what left was only a floating orb, the manifestation of what caused his distortion of desire.

Jester reached into the orb and took out what's inside. It was a pencil, a plain-looking, and old-school pencil.

"...That's unfortunately ironic," Raven commented, resting his hands inside his costume's pocket as he kept looking at the pencil. "The tool for creation became his source of destroying his family..."

"But... can we believe what he just said? About that 'Madarame' person?" Swan asked.

"Shadow is the repressed side of a person, or 'the truth behind a mask' if you will," The Shadow Operative member replied, switching his gaze onto her. "And thus... everything it said is genuine."

"Then that's mean there's a person much worse than him," Jester said, pocketing the pencil, turning his gaze back toward the portal. "Madarame... did that name ring a bell to any of you?"

Raven didn't say anything at first, just rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "...He might be talking about Madarame Ichiryusai, the well-renowned artist."

"Madarame Ichiryusai?" The gentlemen thief asked with a raised eye. "Well, I'm not someone who's really into the art world-"

"Whether you're in the art world or not doesn't matter," The half-French interrupted him. "But we should stay here for too long, or the Reaper might notice us."

"Reaper?"

"Just imagine it as an undefeatable shadow," He deadpanned, walking past them and toward the portal. "Trust me, you won't want to meet him at all."

Swan and Jester only exchanged a confused glance before following Raven. And the trio returned to the entrance in no time, with the silence returned among them.


[Real World, Shibuya Station]

After the trio returned to the real world, the trio decided to have a break in Big Bang Burger. Akira and Shiho sat on the window side while Keigo sat on the opposite.

"So, about that Madarame person..." Akira trailed off, taking out his phone and searched for information about him. "Kamisaki, anything to add?"

Keigo crossed his arms for a moment, as if trying to remember something. "There were some rumors about Madarame using his pupil's art as his own. However, his reputation was unaffected at all."

"That sounds suspicious," Shiho commented.

"Actually, there is an upcoming exhibition," The amateur writer said, showing a news article about the exhibition to them. "And... it's starting from 15th, so about a week way from now."

"That gives us some time to gather more information," Keigo commented plainly.

However, Shiho widened her eyes in horror instead. "...Wait, we forgot something!" She exclaimed, just quiet enough so no one noticed it. "We have Mid-Term coming!"

"OH right, it's next Wednesday..." Trailing off, Akira buried his face in his palms in dread. "I haven't studied anything at all..."

"Uh... I was the same too..." The volleyball player sighed to herself, laying down on the table and groaned. "Too many things happened during these times..."

Meanwhile, Keigo only gave them a deadpanned stare, holding the urge of facepalming at their lack of study. "Just focus on your study for now," He said plainly. "Then we can start our investigation. We're students, after all."

"Wait a sec," Akira interrupted him, straightening up on his seat. "We still haven't decided on whether you're one of The Fools or not."

"The Fools?"

"It's the name of our group," He explained, rubbing his neck out of slight awkwardness. "It's because we're not the only group of Pesona-users. We still have Ren's The Phantoms."

"Hmm..." Trailing off and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, Keigo nodded and adjusted his glasses. "We've already been to the Metaverse and fought together, I guess I am qualified to be one of you?"

"We're not running an audition, Kamisaki-kun," Shiho deadpanned, sitting up and shifted her gaze onto Akira himself. "But Akira, it's your call."

"I know," Akira said, turning his focus back onto Keigo. "Well, welcome to the team, Raven."

Keigo didn't say anything at first, earning a somewhat nervous glance from the two. For a second there, an aura of pure silence fell upon the trio.

"...This is the most awkward 'welcome to the team' I've ever heard," Keigo finally said after a whole minute of silence, standing up from his seat and grabbed his bag. "Either way, I'm going to stay with you two regardless. I cannot go to Mementos on my own, and you two desperately needed a person with experience."

"Excuse me, but I have my meeting with my higher up concerning our new discovery about Mementos."

With that said, the half-French bowed politely and left the fast-food shop, leaving Shiho and Akira alone and sat awkwardly. Keigo was... really down-to-business toward them, a bit too much for their liking.

After a moment of silence (again), Akira leaned back into his seat and sighed. "Is that really awkward?"

However, Shiho only laid on top of the table again and sighed. "...Well, he probably left us just to avoid the cringe..."

"Well, can't blame him though," The amateur writer said, running his hand through his hair. "And... Just focus on our exam, okay?"

"Yeah..."

(To Be Continued)


Preview:

As the dreaded exam closes, the Persona Users continued on with their school lives.

As a shocking revelation hit Akira.

As the Amamiya Ren faces the awkwardness of Mishima Yuuki.

As Suzui Shiho is asked about her love life.

As Kamisaki Keigo had a chance encounter.

Next Chapter:

"Calm Before The Exam"

Stay Tuned!


And with that, Chapter 16 of Another Thief: Royal Fools is here!

And well, it took about a month again... at this point, this fic would take me years to finish XD.

Anyway, Keigo officially joined The Fools as Raven! Even if he seems a bit distant toward them, it would change over time.

And now they had their suspicion toward Madarame, how would it affect The Phantom's eventual infiltration of the museum? Not only that, what would happen about Hifumi?

This would be an interesting arc to follow through. And I'm looking forward to it!

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