"Beginning Navigation."
With a robotic voice coming from Keigo's phone, Hifumi watched in shock as the trio's body distorted and disappeared. Just like how she saw them a day before, they disappeared as if they weren't there in the first place.
"T-they disappeared again..." She muttered under her breath, feeling a sigh gave out from her throat. "So... what should I do now?"
"You want to help them, right, Princess?"
Blinked at the sudden voice from nowhere, the Shogi player's glance turned back to her house on the other side, looked down and shook her head. "Don't think about helping them, you won't change anything, after all."
With that said, she turned toward her house and walked to it, just like how it was yesterday, the day before, and before.
[Meanwhile, inside Mitsuyo's palace]
Once the now familiar feeling of slight nausea came and went, the trio of The Fools looked at the palace in front of them. Once what should be the Togo Household was gone, and replaced by a giant pagoda covered by golden.
And on each roof's overhang was a huge banner with the word 'Togo' written on it. However, there were visible cracks on each floor, with some windows missing and fracture on the walls.
And Raven noticed these details as well. "The cracks and fractures... She was trying to hide them all with these gold paints," He commented, pulling two pistol-like devices from his pocket.
"Yeah," Jester nodded, noticing the objects inside his hands. "Wait, was that..."
"Grappling hooks," The half-Frenchman explained, tossing one of them to Swan's hand. "I asked Yamagishi-san for this, and they are proven to be better than I expected."
Catching the grappling hook with ease, Swan examined it for a moment before smiling. "Thanks, Raven."
"Yamagishi- Wait, Fuuka-san knew about this?" Raising an eye in confusion, the Victorian-looking thief blinked for a moment before connecting the dots. "-Oh wait... it kinda makes sense for her to be a part of SO. She did live in that dorm with Mitsuru before and got involved with... whatever they were dealing with."
"Good, saves me some time for explanation," Raven deadpanned, glancing back toward the pagoda. "Back to business, we have to find an opening to get into the palace, so we should have some exploration to the outside area first."
"Yeah... even though it's kinda obvious in the first place," Sighing to himself, Jester adjusted his mask and led the trio into the area surrounding the pagoda.
It was a maze-like garden filled with different kinds of plants, and with the night sky accentuating them, it looked modest and uncharismatically humble. But unlike Madarame's palace, the security at this place was much tighter.
Hiding behind a few pods of plants, the trio peeked around and found something interesting. There was a small river cutting right through the middle of the garden, with a few wooden bridges to connect the two sides.
However, the 'river' was devoid of any sign of water. Actually, if they went down there, it would be a fantastic shortcut to navigate through the garden. And conveniently, the 'river' gave the trio a perfect spot to reach the pagoda itself.
However, with shadows basically patroling every major lane in their sightlines, the trio couldn't find any ways to get into the pagoda without fights.
"And no grapple points without being seen..." Trailing off, Jester still pulled out his grappling hook, but aimed it toward a shadow near their hiding spot. "I guess we'll have to fight our way in."
"But at least we can minimize the enemies we need to fight," Peeking out and mentally created the route with the least enemies, Raven's eyes landed on a different shadow instead. "Just follow my lead."
"Huh-" Before the leader of The Fools could finish his words, Raven rolled out from his cover and bolted. "Dammit, I guess we're going along his plan."
"He wasn't really giving us a choice..." Sighing to herself, Swan pulled out her sniper rifle and readied herself. "Let's hope it'll be just as what Raven said."
Meanwhile, approaching the shadow initially on his sight, the half-Frenchman hopped its back. "It's nothing personal," He muttered, gripping the edge of its mask and ripped it off.
Leaping from the shadow's back and landed with ease, he watched calmly as the shadow twitched and turned into three Hua Po. Behind him were Jester and Swan, just caught up to where Raven is right now.
"Can't you just slow down a bit and wait for us?" The thief in white sighed, unsheathing her whipsword.
Jester nodded in addition. "You're much quicker than we thought, y'know."
"I know," Raven deadpanned, pulling out his cane sword. "But the quicker we set up a saferoom inside the pagoda, the less time we need to waste in this garden, right?"
"I guess you have a point..." Trailing off, the Victorian-looking thief readied his scythe. And Swan also unsheathed her whipsword as well, knowing that there was no other quicker and safer way to get into the pagoda itself.
"Then let's get this over with."
Thankfully, their path toward the pagoda was shorter than they all expected, especially with no guards watching the empty river. Besides, the shadows they fought so far weren't too difficult to deal with.
Stepping inside the actual palace, the trio was greeted by a weird sight. Somehow, it was much larger than what it appeared to be from the outside. And it was at least... two times bigger.
Watching how the interior was coated with a shade of gold, Jester felt a long breath left his mouth. "Okay, it's definitely going to take us a while to secure the route."
"And all the gold... it's hurting my eyes," Swan commented, squinting her eyes. "But... it gave out different feels than Madarame's palace, and Kamoshida's as well..."
"The sense of greed is almost unnoticeable here," Raven said, taking out his camera and took a few photos. "It was... weird."
"Yeah, it's much less... oppressing, somehow," Jester nodded, gesturing to the long corridor next to them. "Either way, we shouldn't just stand here and watch, right?"
Seeing a nod coming from the other two members, the trio continued their infiltration, dashing through the corridors and avoided as many battles as they could.
Before long, they arrived at a dark room with a huge stage. And the first thought when they arrived at the scene, was that it looked like a theatre. No, it was exactly like a theatre, a traditional one to be sure. And it even had seats for the audience as well.
"A Kabuki stage?" Raven questioned, raising an eye in suspicion. "At least it suits the theme of this palace. But it still looked out of place here..."
"There must be some reason for this stage to be here then," Swan raised an eye, looking back toward the door they came from. "Wait, we did leave the door open when we came in, right?"
"Huh?" Jester asked, and he was just about to turn around and saw what happened when the light suddenly lit up and shined upon them.
"Wha-" Shocked by the sudden spotlights on them, the trio hastily shielded their eyes from the blinding light. And only one thought filled their mind, it was definitely a trap or something similar to that.
To make the matter worse, a lone figure wearing a red kimono suddenly appeared on the stage. Even with a noh mask covering the figure's face, the trio could still feel a glare coming from the figure.
"Huh, intruders... rare," The figure commented, and weirdly enough... she sounded playful. As if she was glad that they were here."As much as I would like to know you all, you provided me a perfect place to prove myself to Mitsuyo-sama as an official member of the Togo Kingdom."
"So please, die for me."
Without another word, the masked girl suddenly leaped from the stage and toward the trio. Widening his eyes how the figure's fingers extended into literal metal claws, the trio instantly jumped away and narrowly avoided the sudden attack.
"What the- Is that even a shadow?!"
Stabbing his cane sword to slow himself down, Raven narrowed his eyes at her. "With the mask covering her eyes, I cannot determine what she really is."
"Who cares what the hell she is! She's attacking us, that's what important!" Swan exclaimed, firing her new grappling hook and felt her body being pulled into the air. "Le Pucelle! Kouha!"
With the armored Persona sending a wave of lights toward the figure and how she stumbled backward, the thief in white hastily pulled herself away. And Jester hastily took that split moment as his opening, attaching his grappling hook and flew toward her.
He tightened the grip on his scythe, raising it and struck toward the figure with all he got. However, as if the mysterious girl expected his attack, she instantly raised her claw and blocked the scythe.
Gritting his teeth, Jester's mask faded away with azure flame and Moriarty materialized behind him. "Now!" With his command, Moriarty quickly fired his revolver.
However, the figure dodged them all with ease. "Your skill is nothing compare to mine. After all, I am the Ace Warrior of this kingdom," She said, and the annoyance was clearer than ever. "Resistance is pointless, intruders."
"Not for me," Glancing up and noticed Raven with Fou Roux behind him, the Victorian-looking thief backed away with no second thought.
"Atomic Shard!"
Being showered by a rain of ice shard, the half-Frenchman took this chance and pulled himself toward her with his grappling hook. And his blade clashed with her claw, instead of doing any damage.
"Huh, you did take me by surprise," The figure said, feeling amused at his attempt. "But you're still slow."
Before Raven could react, the masked figure suddenly gave him a roundhouse kick, knocking him into the audience seat. Crashing to rows of wooden seats in great speed, the half-Frenchman couldn't help but groan in pain as he tried to get up.
"Swan, heal Raven now!" Jester exclaimed, bolting toward the figure as quick as he could. "I'll buy us time!"
Their weapons clashed with each other once again, sending sparks to every direction they could. After seeing how quick she could be, the Victorian-looking thief changed his approach to be more defensive. He just needed to buy enough time for Swan, and maybe things would be different with all three of them charging at the same time.
Thankfully, it didn't take Swan too long to heal Raven.
"...Thank you, Swan."
"Don't sweat it, Raven," The armored thief smiled, glancing back and dashed toward where Jester and the mysterious figure were.
Unsheathing her whipsword and switched into whip mode, Swan wrapped her whip around the figure's arm and pulled. And the blades cut off her arms, earning a pained yelp from her.
"You managed to cut my arm off..." Trailing off, she narrowingly dodged away from a slash from Jester. "I might have underestimated your potential, intruders."
However, before anyone could react, Raven suddenly appeared behind the masked figure, his stare intense. "You never should have," Raising his blade and cut toward her neck.
Tilting her body back and dodged his attack, the masked girl rolled on the ground and created distance between her and the trio. And just as the thieves were about to continue the fight, a voice suddenly rang from nowhere.
"That's enough," The voice said sternly, clearly directed toward the masked girl. "You don't need to waste effort on these intruders, I've seen enough."
"But Mitsuyo-sama! Just let me deal with them-"
"No, this conversation is finished," The voice, now identified as Shadow Mitsuyo's, interrupted her. "The guards would be enough to stop them."
Giving out a quiet sigh, the masked girl picked up her severed arms from the ground and... She just reattached it like it was nothing. And with the dark goo dripping from the point Swan cut off, one thing was clear.
This figure was definitely not human.
"Okay... That just gave me more question," Swan commented, feeling confused at the scene before him.
However, the masked figure only slumped her shoulder and looked back at the trio. "Well, as much as I wanted to continue our fight, Mitsuyo-sama's order is absolute."
"I'll look forward to our next confrontation, intruders..."
"Or should I say, the Phantom Thieves?" Giggling at the surprised look from the trio, the masked girl waved them goodbye before disappearing into thin air.
"...This just turned way weirder than I thought it would be," Jester blinked, feeling the fight just left his body and slumped his shoulder. "What the hell is that girl, though?"
"It might be a cognition, that is the option with the most possibility," Raven theorized, noticing a few dozen shadows appeared from nowhere. "...Great, we have more company."
"Ahh... of course, it's definitely not going to be easy on us," Jester sighed, taking off his mask and summoned Moriarty. "I guess we'll have to fight our way through them, right?"
Swan couldn't help but facepalm. "Now I regret going along with you, Jester..."
After fighting their way through the group of shadow, the trio finally escaped from the stage room. It was definitely more draining than they all thought, even to someone experienced as Raven.
Busting through another door with his shoulder, Jester raised his arms and almost yelled in joy when the familiar scene of a saferoom came into their sights. "Y-Yes! Finally, a saferoom!"
"...We really need to get the map, like right now," Swan said between panters, pressing her hands on her knees. "At this pace... how long this palace going to take us?"
Taking a seat on a chair inside the room, Raven crossed his arms and looked deep in thought. "You're right Swan, we do need to get at least a part of this palace as soon as possible..."
"Or we need to find someone with a navigator-type Persona..."
"Navigator-type Persona... What?" The Victorian-looking thief questioned, giving Swan a side glance of pure confusion.
"W-what're you looking at me for?"
"Please snap out from your lover's glance, Jester," The half-Frenchman gave Jester a deadpanned glance, noting that Swan was blushing as well and sighed. "...Anyway, navigator-type Persona is a type of Persona which specialized on navigation, instead of combat like ours."
Snapping out from her thought, Swan hastily cleared her throat and looked back on Raven. "O-oh, but is it rare... or not?"
"There are only two members with navigator-type Persona in the Shadow Operative," The half-Frenchman sighed, adjust his mask as if it was a pair of glasses. "So yes, it is rare to see someone with a navigator-type Persona."
"Well, we can't put our hope on a chance of someone having a navigator-type Persona," Jester shrugged. "We still need to find the map in the first place."
However, his words were only answered by a tired sigh from Swan, and the deadpanned look Raven gave out remained. Even though not a single word has said between them, it was clear that they had hit their limit for now.
"...Dammit, I guess we're gonna call it a day," The leader sighed, pulling out his phone and readied to teleport them back into the entrance. "Well, I think we also need to get some supplies... and a gun for you, Raven."
"Firearm... Oh right, you two both have your own guns."
"Yeah, but don't worry, they're just model guns," Jester shrugged, taking out his hand cannon and showed that there were no bullets in the chamber. "As long as the shadows think that our weapon is loaded, it'll be actually usable."
"So it is an exploit with the shadow's cognition," Nodding thoughtfully, Raven crossed his arms. "Anyway, let's return to the real world for now."
[Evening, the alleyway outside of Untouchable]
After exiting from the palace, and with Shiho's own request, the trio found themselves arrived at Untouchable. After all, it had been a while since the last time they had a refresh on their arsenal.
However, for the entire way to Untouchable, Keigo had been purely focused on his phone. Maybe he was searching for something, or contacting someone.
"Shiho, just let me handle the expenses, you're fine with it last time," Deadpanning, Akira took out his wallet and checked how many banknotes he had. "...I still have a good portion of Mitsuru's allowance, it'll be fine."
"Besides, I'll keep my hand cannon for now. So that means one less gun to buy, right?"
"But now I know how much of a burden it is, it just doesn't feel right," Shutting her eyes and shook her head, Shiho crossed her arms with a question glance. "Besides, those model guns won't be too expensive, right? I probably can handle the cost there-"
"It will still be a huge blow in the money department," Keigo suddenly interrupted her, closing a tab on his phone. "I have been searching for prices of model guns for the entire trip, and they cost five thousand yen, at least."
"And of course, it will cost more if you are looking for a high-quality one."
"F-five thousand at least?!" The volleyball player yelped, widening her eyes and turned toward Akira. "Akira! Why didn't you just tell me about this!"
"Uh... Because I can handle the cost myself?"
"I said it's fine last time becasue I thought it won't cost too much!" Unfortunately, his answer only earned a scowl from Shiho. "At least let me bear part of the cost with you! You can't just... do all these things for me!"
"...You're angry at me for this?"
"Of course! I care about your well-being too!"
"No! Take care of yourself first! I'll be fine!"
Eyes darting between the two, Keigo could only let out a tired sigh. "Oh great, the couple's argument starts again..."
"No, Akira! You always just put us as a higher priority than yourself!"
"Well, you ARE!"
"H-heh?!" Blinking in surprise and confusion, Shiho opened her mouth but said nothing. In another word, her brain probably just went out of service for a solid minute. "W-Wha- Wh-"
Finally letting the reality of what he said settled in, Akira also widened his eyes in shock. "O-oh uh... I didn't mean it like a-a romantic..." Trailing off, he found himself unable to finish that sentence.
Sensing the silence between them was going to stay around if he didn't interfere, the half-Frenchman finally decided to cut their squabble right in the middle. "Anyway, we are here to have a refresh on our arsenal, not standing here in awkward silence. And with me being the third wheel here."
Feeling a wave of heat crept onto his cheek, the amateur writer hastily coughed and glanced back to Untouchable. "Y-yeah... Uh... well, Shiho, I guess we can split the cost and cover them together, okay?"
"...I'll... be fine with it."
With that said, the trio finally entered Untouchable, while an aura of awkwardness still surrounded them.
Hearing the familiar sound of the shop doorbell, Iwai lowered his newspaper and greeted the trio. "Oh, it's you. It's been a while."
"Um... yeah," Akira nodded awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "So uh... boss, do you have any sniper rifle here?"
"Sniper rifles..." Raising an eye with interest, the shop owner thought for a moment before gesturing toward the models displaying aside. "Well, I think there's some of them over there, just take your time. And ask me anything if you need to."
Giving him a polite bow, the amateur writer led Shiho and Keigo to display stands with different types of model guns. And at first glance, Keigo grabbed a Stoner 63 and tried out the weight and overall feels.
Testing the sight of the weapon, a faint smile crept onto his cheek. "Never expect to see a model version of Stoner 63 here..." He trailed off, checking the linked belt on the right side. "And with this, the problem with bullets can be avoided as well."
"Problem with bullets?" Raising an eye, Akira turned back and gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean, Kamisaki?"
"Some firearms have their bullets exposed, especially for light machine guns," Keigo explained, pointing at the covered belt on the LMG. "And since we cannot replica bullets, covering where the bullets would be is the best alternative."
"Huh, I never really looked into this before, interesting," The amateur writer blinked, glancing back at Shiho. "Anyway, Shiho, anything caught your eyes?"
"Uh... I did have one," She pointed at an old-school-looking bolt-action rifle with an offset scope. "That one looked interesting."
"Oh, a Lee Enfield rifle," Keigo commented, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as Shiho tried out the scope and the rifle. "I did not expect this one would have a model version."
"I guess this one is a rare one then?" Raising an eye, Akira took a look at the price tag tied to the trigger guard. However, even though he didn't expect this one would be cheap in the first place, but...
"T-ten thousand yen..." Murmuring to himself, the amateur writer unintentionally gulped. "Uh... It should be fine, it wasn't a big blow to my wallet anyway..."
However, his murmur was loud enough to let Shiho overheard. "It's literally five percent of your monthly allowance, Akira," She deadpanned, crossing her arms and sighed. "But ten thousand... let's look for something cheaper-"
"N-no! You don't need to compromise for me, Shiho."
"We just had this conversation, Akira..." Trailing off, the volleyball player pinched her nosebridge and shook her head. "We agreed to split the cost in half, right?"
"Y-yeah..." Feeling unsure at her begging look, Akira nodded in the end. "Uh... please stop giving me that face, you're just making me hard to say 'no' to you."
"...Oh, so that's your weakness?"
Sensing another wave of 'couple moment' incoming at lightning speed, Keigo hastily cleared his throat and gained their attention. "If you two have made up your mind, then why are we wasting time standing here?"
"...Uh... Yeah, I still have to pay for your gun as well, after all..." Trailing off, the amateur writer realized how his words sounded. "O-oh wait, I mean, your gun isn't that expensive, it's just that uh... I think I still can handle the cost."
"You word only made this sounds more like an attempt to guilt-trip me, Ichijo."
"...You're serious?"
In the end, the trip to Untouchable ended as a big hit to Akira's wallet, as much as he claimed that he could handle it. And as compensation on top of paying half of the cost, Shiho decided to have a meal in the family dinner.
"No, I am not coming along," Keigo said, crossing his arms with a weirdly determined look. "I did not come to be just a third wheel between your date with one another."
Shiho couldn't help but sigh. "Can't you just drop that 'third wheel' thing for just one sentence..."
"I will stop if you two just stop with the blatant flirting, and that is the only thing I am asking."
"...Just let him, Shiho," Akira said, resting his hands inside his pocket. "We can't just force him to go with us anyway..."
Noticing how the amateur writer's voice gradually disappeared, Shiho glanced over and saw him staring at somewhere else. "Akira? Something caught your mind?"
"Wait a sec... that's Shinji," Akira suddenly said, gesturing to the other side of the main street. "And... Naoko's with him?"
And just like what he said, Shinji was walking out of the theatre... with Naoko by his side. But the thing was that... they were actually smiling, talking and giggling, not a single hint of gloominess were visible.
It was just like how they were, before everything went down to the drain.
"I guess Naoko did bury the hatchet with him..." Shaking his head, Akira turned back with a hint of a smile.
"You do not look great with that smile, Ichijo," Keigo deadpanned, still having his arms crossed. "Anyway, if there is nothing else, I will be on my way then."
With that said, he left the group and went on his way, decided to not interfere with them. And Shiho only sighed in response, nudging his shoulder. "Well, you're coming with me, right? I still wanna treat you to a meal..."
"After all, you're not going to take a 'no' as an answer, right?"
"With that hit to your wallet... you're probably right."
(To be continued)
Preview:
Meanwhile, on the other end.
Inside Kosei Academy.
A sister blinded with grief seeking to apologize for her own mistake.
A president who struggled to connect.
An artist who is forced to hide behind a mask. As he desperately attempts to drive people away.
A friend who is concerned.
A Shogi Princess who couldn't bear the weight of her doubt. But found a small relief from someone else.
Next Chapter:
"Wavering Stars"
Stay Tuned!
And with that, Chapter 21 finally came out after over a month! Finally...
Anyway, this chapter is more a set-up chapter (with some Shiho/Akira moment XD), setting up how the following two arcs would play out. And this chapter probably brought up more questions than any answer.
And oh, yes, that means Naoko and Shinji would also play a big part during Kaneshiro's arc... Wait, why am I talking about Kaneshiro's arc when it's only the start of the Madarame/Mitsuyo arc...
Review Response:
Gordita2020: Well uh... sorry to disappoint you, but Hifumi didn't follow them into the Metaverse this time.
But don't worry, I guess we all already saw her becoming the next member of The Fools XD. And for Hifumi, her first trip to the Metaverse won't be an accident, that's probably the most I can talk about right now.
Anyway, I hope you all like the story so far, reviews are definitely welcome!
