[June 19th, Makidou Detective Agency]

Just as Hinaki remembered, Makidou Detective Agency still looked like a mess, an organized mess. As the shelf filled with case files took up three out of the four walls around them, alongside a pile of additional case files on the table. Even if it was well-organized, the space left on the said table was worryingly small.

At least there was enough place to put two bento boxes on the table, as they ate together in comforting silence.

"So, sorry for having take-out, but how is it?" Breaking the silence, the owner of said agency- Konan slightly leaned forward. And she brushed a few strands of curly blue hair away from her eyes.

"It's not bad," Hinaki shook her head with a polite smile. "May I know which restaurant you ordered from, Hajime might enjoy it too."

"Of course, sharing is caring, after all," With a small chuckle, Konan took out a piece of paper and quickly wrote down the restaurant's name and phone number. "Here."

"Thank you, Makidou-san."

"I told you to not call me that…" Grumbled to herself, Konan quickly shook her head before returning to the bento in front of the two of them.

And the silence stayed for a while until Konan finally broke as she finished her bento. "So, I know you're not just here to have take-out as lunch with me. What do you want to ask me for, Hinaki?"

"Straight to the point, as usual," Nodding, the polite smile on Hinaki's face fell mere moments after. "It's… about the mafia activity in Shibuya, do you have any progress or anything about it?"

"Oh, that…" In response, the same frown appeared on Konan's face as well. "Well, it's been... hard to get any useful information from the police."

"So if you want a straight answer, it's a 'no'."

"That's… it'd be lying if I didn't expect this outcome, but…" Trailing off, HInaki couldn't help but give out a long sigh. One that Konan could register the frustration within. "Is there really nothing we can do for the victims?"

"It seems to be the case," The detective said, nodding and adjusting her white shirt's collar. "After all, Kaneshiro had the law around his fingertip, and had it tight within his grip."

"Kaneshiro?"

"The name of the head of that Hangure group that's responsible for this," Konan answered, crossing her arms. "Before you ask, this is the furthest I can get before I was blocked out. And a surname means nothing in the grand schemes of things."

"That's bad."

"Calling it bad would be an understatement," Giving out a long sigh, the detective shook her head. "I hate to say it, but this Kaneshiro fellow had a tight grip on the law as if it's something he can play with."

"Then… what can we really do about it? Keep paying the victims for their debt?"

"Right now… it seems to be this way…"


[Evening, Teikyu Building Accessway (Phantom Thief Hideout)]

"C'mon, just pick up the call…"

As Akira grumbled under his breath, he could feel the concerned gaze coming from everyone around him. Almost right after encountering the cognitive version of Akashi Bakery and knowing they had no way to get to the palace, the group immediately returned to reality to check on the Akashis.

However, even on the third try, Akira was still unsuccessful on the call.

"C'mon Naoko…" Pinching his nose bridge out of frustration, Akira finally cut the call and pocketed his phone. "I'll check on them, just go on without me."

"Huh?"

Not even acknowledging the concerned look from everyone else, Akira rushed to his feet in the direction of the main street. And then, Shiho gave a small solemn nod to everyone before she chased after him.

And now without the couple, the tense atmosphere still persisted within the team. Accompanied by heavy silence within, Ren finally took the lead and decided to break the ice.

"So… any idea on how to get to that place?"

"That's… not really," Hifumi said, shaking her head.

"What about the grappling hooks?" Ryuji asked, glancing over to Keigo. "If we fire them on the roof, it should be enough, right?"

"Unfortunately no," Keigo disputed, giving out a long sigh as he crossed his arms. "When I asked for them, it's set to have the max range of 100 meters. It's pretty obvious that the bank is floating way above 100 meters from any building's roof."

"Then… what else can we do then?" Ann asked, her arms crossed with a frown clearly visible. "It's not like we can change the real Kaneshiro's cognition like with Madarame either…"

"This man is figuratively and literally untouchable to us," Morgana said, laying his head against Ren's shoulder. "Right now, there's nothing we can really do about it."

"This is dire…"

As Yusuke's voice trailed off, a heavy wave of silence clouded above the thieves. A grim idea surfaced in Ren's mind as reality stood before them like a steel wall.

"Actually… what about the people that the bank is sucking up?"

"What about them?" Hifumi asked, still couldn't help but shudder at the sight of those… pieces.

"How about… we grab onto the people that bank is sucking up… and use our grappling hook to get on it?"

"That's certainly a way to get up there," Keigo said, but his face only showed a look of conflict. "But it's way too inconsistent."

"Yeah…" Giving out a long breath, Ren pondered for a split moment before clapping his hands together. Grabbing the thieves' attention in the process. "Anyway, we can't really come up with anything if we just stand here, let's just call it a day, okay?"

With a nod from everyone, the team split up and went on their own way.


[Meanwhile, Niijima Household]

The silence was deafening.

Ever since Makoto tried to ask Sae for help at the same exact table, the Niijima sisters hadn't had dinner together. Until now.

But the silence between them was deafening, and heavy.

With the only source of sound in the whole apartment being the news on the TV, the two sisters merely ate the food laid before them.

Feeling the said weight in her heart, Makoto chose to break the ice between them.

"Sis, um… How's work?"

"... Nothing but frustrating."

"Is it because of the Phantom Thieves?"

"...What are you trying to say, Makoto?"

Surprised by the sudden surge of hostility, Makoto froze and unconsciously leaned away. "N-nothing, I'm just… this is the first time we can eat something together since… that. I'm just curious about how you've been."

"Then all you need to know is that work has been frustrating, that's it."

"Sis… I'm just trying to…" Trailing off, the younger Niijima sister shook her head and let those words die in her throat.

Once again, silence fell upon the sisters, accompanied by a tense aura between them. Before long, the sound of the news playing caught their attention.

"...With the recent surge of scams and mafia-related activities in Shibuya, experts said this situation has to be resolved before…"

Glancing over to the TV with a solemn face, Makoto turned to the food before her. Suddenly, she lost her want to eat anything more, as that weight in her heart and stomach intensified.

"Sis, I'm… do you think Dad would be happy to see something like this happening? The injustice of this magnitude-" Feeling the cold aura from Sae, Makoto paused with a widened gaze. "I'm sorry for bringing it up, especially while eating."

"The only reason you could think about this is that you're depending on someone else," With the hostility remaining with an additional layer of anger, Sae put down her chopsticks on the table. "All I ask you is just focus on your studies, but you couldn't even do that."

"That's not-"

"You never had to do a single thing, you never had to worry about being in an investigation that's going nowhere, never need to deal with discrimination in the office because I'm a young woman…" Clutching her eyes shut, Sae tightened her fist.

"Right now, you're just a useless burden and eat away my life."

Hearing no response from Makoto, Sae looked up from the table she's been staring at for the last few moments. All she saw was her sister's widened gaze, filled with shock and disbelief.

Opened her mouth and closed for a few times, Sae shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry, I just… the investigation has been weighing on my mind…"

"Maybe it IS better for us to not eat together."

With that said, she stood up and left the dinner table. And Makoto was left alone, utterly alone.

"T-that's… that's not true, right?"


[May 20th, Kosei's Student Council Room]

"...You can't be serious, right?"

Stunned by what Hinaki just said, this was all Hifumi could mutter out from her mouth for a few long moments. And as she snapped back to reality, she immediately stepped closer to the council president.

"Hifumi, I've asked Makidou-sensei about it, but even she can't find anything to help."

"So you're set with just… basically paying the mafia?"

"...Desperate time comes with desperate measure, after all."

"But…" Clutching her eyes shut and shaking her head, Hifumi took the seat next to Hinaki's and turned president to face her. "We both know it's not gonna help at all, right?"

"As I said, it's a desperate time. And I can't stand to see fellow students just… have their lives destroyed because of a Hangure group!" Hinaki exclaimed, letting out her frustration before immediately calming herself. "I have a responsibility to help them, Hifumi."

"I know, but you're hurting yourself by doing this," Hifumi said, with her hands gripping both of Hinaki's arms. "What if Kaneshiro finds out that you are paying the debt for the student?"

"I'm merely giving money to compensate for the victims, I'm… not directly paying the group-"

"Still, what if they know?" With her grip unconsciously tightened, Hifumi continued. "As you said, even the police can't do anything about them! Who knows what they know about you? What if they already do, and just…"

Unable to imagine what Kaneshiro would do, Hifumi hastily shook her head to clear those thoughts. Meanwhile, Hinaki's face softened in understanding.

"I'll be fine, for a while, at least."

"That's not reassuring, Hinaki."

"This is the best I can do, I can't let them down."

"...Of course, you can't," Releasing the grip on her arms, a bittersweet smile emerged on Hifumi's face. "You wouldn't be the president if you let them down, after all."

"I…" Trailing off, the Shogi player stood up and moved toward the room's door. "I'll get us something to drink, the same old?"

"Yes."

With a small nod, Hifumi exited the room. And… missed how Hinaki paled as silence filled the room, her eyes widened in shock.

"Wait… why did she say that name?"


[June 20th, Teikyu Building Accessway]

"So right now, our only possible option is… grabbing on to the victims when they get sucked up to the bank, and just hoping for the best?"

Arms crossed and with a frown on his face, Ren nodded at Akira's (very brief) summary.

"Yeah, that's… pretty much it."

"It's no good then," Shiho leaned against the handrail, watching the view of Shibuya below. "With how things are going on, we can't really do anything in the palace…"

"Are we really out of luck?" Ann spoke up, her gaze scanning through everyone.

"When the palace itself is THAT high up in the air… we kinda are," Morgana said, sharing the same frustration as Ren and the rest of the team.

"If only we could contact the real Kaneshiro…" Trailing off, Yusuke glanced away as he heard someone approaching. "Hm?"

And that someone was Makoto.

Swallowing a gulp under the gaze of the thieves, she awkwardly waved. "...Hello there."

"You're here to check up on us, Prez?" Ryuji asked, lacking the hostility like before, to her surprise.

"Not really, I just happened to see you all here," Shaking her head, the student council president's gaze moved through everyone again. "Anyway, are you… in some trouble or anything?"

"Calling it 'trouble' would be a giant understatement," Keigo said under his breath, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Then… can I help?"

"Not really, it's something you can do to help," Ann sighed, also lacking the hostility she had like before. "It's way too far out of reach for people like us, same for you too, Niijima."

"Even Hinaki had to settle with just paying the victims for now…" Hifumi added, noticing how Makoto's gaze widened.

"Wait, does that mean… you can do nothing about it?"

"As of right now…" Trailing off, Ren reluctantly nodded. "As much as I don't want to say it, yeah."

"And Akira, you should tell her about the Akashis," Shiho spoke up, her arms crossed. "She deserved to know."

"But…" With the words of refusal faded in his mouth, Akira turned and saw how Makoto paled. "U-um…"

"What… about them?"

"...After Shinji did… what he did, things got worse for the Akashis," Taking in a deep breath, Akira paused for a few moments. "Now Naoko is threatened of being forced into sex work, and Shinji… he hadn't gone to school for a while, and he… I just hope he didn't do anything stupid."

Silence filled the group after Akira finished, with the only sound being the sound of the busy pedestrians passing by. And with her eyes widened, Makoto took a step back and lowered her head, eyes squeezed shut.

"Niijima? I mean um… we're still gonna find a way to continue on-"

"...You need to meet Kaneshiro, right? I'll help you meet him."

Not even leaving a chance for the thieves to react, Makoto immediately turned away and ran off. Meanwhile, surprised by her actions, it took the thieves a split moment to realize the ramifications.

"Wai- Shit!" Akira exclaimed, springing to his feet toward the direction Makoto just left. Just as everyone else immediately followed.

As the thieves rushed to the street outside of the building, they hastily scanned their surroundings and hoped for the sight of Makoto. However, even with how special Makoto's custom uniform was, she was nowhere to be found.

"There are way too many people!" Out of Ren's bag and somewhat led the group, Morgana groaned as he turned back toward the thieves.

"We're never gonna find her!" Ryuji exclaimed in frustration, slamming his fist against his thigh. "Can we just split up to find her?"

"It'd be too late-"

Suddenly, Ren's phone rang from his pocket and interrupted what he was saying. And… it was Makoto calling.

"Niijima?! Where are you?" Upon hearing the name from his mouth, the rest of the thieves grouped up and listened in.

"Just stay on the phone and listen, make sure to record the call too."

With that said, the sound of shuffling could be heard. Realizing that Makoto probably had stuffed her phone in her clothes, Ren quickly changed the call into a 3-way call and let Akira hear it as well.

And it didn't take them long to hear Makoto's voice again, but toward someone else. "Do you guys know Kaneshiro?"

"What?"

Hearing a much older man's voice following her question, a shocked and somewhat morbid realization dawned on the team.

"That idiot! What is she doin'?!" Ryuji exclaimed again, somehow didn't draw any attention from the pedestrians.

"Getting info for us," Akira sighed. "I shouldn't tell her about them in the first place…"

"I heard I could find someone named Kaneshiro if I came to Central Street."

"So we're close then," Keigo said, adjusting his glasses before starting to move toward the central street. "At least we know where she is now."

"She's being rash!" Yusuke exclaimed, immediately started following Keigo.

"Calling it rash would be the understatement of the year," Ann sighed, as everyone also followed them.


[Meanwhile, an alleyway inside Central Street]

"What're you getting at?"

Even in front of those two men, those two obviously dangerous men, Makoto steeled her resolve and swallowed the doubt within her. And the same resolve reflected in her glare on the men.

"He's blackmailing the students of Shujin Academy, is he not?" With a scowl formed on her face, she took a step closer to them. "Tell him if he doesn't want me talking to the police, he'd better agree to meet with me."

"But after that… what can I do?"

Hastily squashing the doubt creeping into her mind, Makoto kept her steel glare and stood her ground. And thankfully, those two men didn't seem to notice the subtle doubt in her mind.

However, one of them stepped closer to her with a scowl, causing her to take a step back. "...You got a death wish or somethin'?"

"...Maybe I am, but so what?"

Surprised by the coldness in her voice, the two men exchanged a look before one of them called someone.

And before long, an all-black car arrived at the other end of the alleyway. But before she could even say a word, a hand pushed her and practically forced her into the car.

"You're better be getting me to Kaneshiro-"

"Listen here, girl, you're not in control here," Interrupting her, the man in a suit turned around from the driver's seat and faced her. And with the shades he was wearing, Makoto had a hard time deciphering what he was thinking. "You asked to see Boss, that makes you a customer."

"And you hold no power here," The other man said as he got in the car and closed the only unlocked car door, forcing Makoto to sit on the other side. "Hey, did Boss say anything else?"

"Other than him saying it's weird that there's another one, nothing special." With a shrug, the man in the suit twisted the car key and started driving.

But unaware of the two men, Makoto could see a group of teens on the other end of the alleyway… eyes widened at the car.


"You've gotta be kidding me…" Trailing off, Ren immediately led the group to where the car once was. However, all they could see was the sight of said car leaving, soon disappearing in the crowd of other cars. "She really just went to see Kaneshiro."

"I really REALLY shouldn't tell her about the Akashis," Akira turned to the group. "Anyone saw the license plate or something?"

"I did, I've sketched it down," Yusuke nodded as he showed them, just as Keigo hastily copied the license plate number as well. "Ryuji, get us-"

"I know! I'm getting us a taxi!" Cutting him off, Ryuji waved a hand toward an incoming taxi. However, it just sped past him as if Ryuji wasn't even there in the first place. "Shit, he ignored me!"

"Dammit dammit dammit…" With anxiety building up inside, Ryuji looked around to see another taxi approaching. And without a second thought, he rushed out to the road and stepped right in front of the second taxi. "I said just fucking stop!"

"Ryuji!" Ann screamed, and the group was taken aback by his sudden action. But Ryuji didn't stop, as he immediately opened the car door.

"What the hell is wrong with you kid?!"

"It's an emergency, and we really need a taxi right now," Ryuji said, turning back to Yusuke. "Yusuke!"

The said artist nodded and approached the taxi, and Akira turned to Ren. "Ren, you and your team go first. We'll catch another taxi."

"But-"

"We're way too many people for one taxi," Cutting him off, Akira gestured behind, as the rest of The Fools also started calling for another taxi. "Time is key here."

With his gaze followed and saw what the rest of The Fools were doing, Ren nodded and quickly got into the taxi. Thankfully, once their taxi started to move, The Fools managed to stop another one.

Without a word, they immediately got into the said taxi and started driving.


[Soon after, inside a club in Shinjuku]

Makoto couldn't help but feel a bit dizzy from the neon purple light illuminating the entire room, but she made sure to not let it show, not even a single bit. As she stood and faced the man sitting on the couch at the other end of the room.

And with a young girl with luxurious clothing and jewelry in his arms, the heavily overweight man with slick back brown hair scanned the student council president. "So… I heard that you were looking for me, girl? What's the business?"

"Stop the scams and blackmailing of students. I think I was pretty clear here."

"...Or?"

"Or I'll report your name to the police."

For a few long seconds here, a heavy silence clouded the entire room. And the man rubbed his chin in deep thought, Makoto could hear her heart beating, reverbing within her.

"...Huh, so basically, you're blackmailing me to stop me from making money…" Kaneshiro chuckled. "Well, at least it's better than barging in and trying to beat my goons to death."

"Takeshi, teach our girl some lessons."

Before Makoto could decipher what Kaneshiro meant, she felt a hand suddenly grasp her shoulder. And she immediately sprung into action, grabbing the arm and trying to throw him over her shoulder.

However, a kick to the inside of her knee forced her to kneel. Then another pair of arms forced her to lay on the ground, gripping her wrists on her back.

"Wow, you got some fight in you," Kaneshiro chuckled again, crouching down right before her to take a closer look. "What makes you think you can just come in and ask me to stop making money?"

"the fact that you're-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, the fact I'm extorting minors and shit, blah blah blah," Cutting her off, Kaneshiro brushed his chin again. "...Huh, you do have a pretty face. You'd probably do pretty well as a new girl in the club."

Eyes widened in horror at the implication, Makoto felt someone's hand reach into her pocket and pulled out something. Then, one of the goons showed her phone to Kaneshiro, and he just looked somewhat interested.

"Huh, so you're calling someone, your boyfriend?" Receiving no answer from the president, the Mafia boss smirked as he took a closer look at the phone. "Oh, so you are the council president of Shujin. Niijima Makoto."

"You…"

"What about me? I'm fine, you see," Gesturing to the luxurious black suit and purple suit jacket he was wearing, Kaneshiro leaned closer to her. "But hey, it's rare to have a prosecutor's sister in our hands. Oh, now THIS is some blackmail material-"

Suddenly, the door of the room burst open, and someone fell onto the ground, bloodied. Then, another goon walked in with an apologetic look on his face, as Kaneshiro groaned at the sudden entrance.

"...Sorry Boss, I-"

"I told you to just get rid of him and that's it. Not to have this annoyance interrupting me!" Shaking his head out of frustration, Kaneshiro noticed how the bloodied teen had his eyes widened, staring at Makoto.

"...Makoto?"

"Shinji…" Her eyes widened in horror, and Makoto felt her breathing stopped.

Shifting his gaze at the two men holding her on the ground, Shinji forced himself to stand up. "Get your fucking hands off of her!" He shouted, sprung to his feet and rushed toward them.

However, before he could reach them, a fist collided with his abdomen. Forcing him to lose his balance and kneeled on the ground, Shinji could only struggle as another pair of arms held him up by his arms.

"Huh, we got a jackpot here," With his gaze switching between the two, a disgusting smirk crept up on Kaneshiro's face. "So, we got a good ol' lovely couple here. Quite a coincidence, isn't it? Both of you just had to be an annoyance to my business."

"So, a change of plan. I wouldn't hurt you," Cracking his fists, Kaneshiro delivered a right hook at Shinji's stomach. "This should teach you a lesson to not bother me."

Coughing up blood, Shinji merely glared at him. "You fucking-"

Interrupting him with another first to his face, Kaneshiro gestured to the goon to release his grip. And Shinji fell to the ground with a loud "thud", followed up by a kick to his chest from Kaneshiro.

"NO!"

"Stay quiet when the adult is talking," With the smirk widened, Kaneshiro slowly increased the power behind his kicks. And the ground around Shinji slowly got tainted more and more by blood, Shinji's blood.

"P-please, stop!" Struggling against the hold, the panic was clear on Makoto's face. "Just stop!"

Kaneshiro didn't acknowledge her pleas at all, merely raised his foot and stomped on Shinji. Then again.

"STOP! PLEASE!"

And again.

"NO!"

And again.

"PLEASE! JUST STOP!"

And again.

By the time he finally stopped and let out a sigh of relief, the floor around Shinji was tainted by a dark shade of crimson. And with trails of dry tears down her face, Makoto watched his unmoving body with a widened gaze, the sense of despair clouded her thought.

The world around her slowly turned silent, as a nauseating buzz filled said silence. Her gaze merely stayed on his unmoving body, even if the sounds of footsteps approached them. All the voices she heard just got muffled out, buried in the buzz.

"Niijima! And… Oh no…"

"Who the fuck are you!"

"You got followed, Takeshi, you dipshit! Fucking hell…"

Then she could barely hear the sound of a picture being taken, just barely loud enough to be heard.

"Hey babe, what's that you've been wanting to buy? How much…"

"...Now there's a three million gap… and you kids should be the ones responsible and filling this gap, or it'd be pretty disappointing for your school to know where you've been to…"

Before she could realize what just happened, Makoto could feel the arms that were holding her down move away. Then, someone else held her up and moved her out of the club, as someone else also carried Shinji.

It didn't take them long to get out of said club, but for the entire time, her mind was in nothing but chaos. Until she felt someone shaking her shoulder, and a somewhat familiar voice started to creep in.

"Prez! Hey, Prez! Prez!"

Slowly returning to reality, she looked around and saw the Phantom Thieves. And ended up on Ryuji, who was shaking her shoulder, concern clear on his face. "...Sakamoto?"

"Oh thank god, did they… did anything to you-"

"Where's Shinji?"

Surprised, Ryuji moved away and let her see it. Shinji was sitting on the floor against a building nearby, and Akira was… frantically trying to do something, anything.

"No no no no no, c'mon!"

With his hands trembling, Akira's mind raced as quickly as it could. He could notice Shinji's chest was still subtly raising and falling, but it was getting weaker with each rise and fall.

"An ambulance would be too late…" Pulling out his phone, his gaze landed on the Meta-Nav app. "...Swan, Mona! Get ready to cast as many Dia as you can once we're in the palace!"

Surprised by his order, Shiho took a split second to process it before nodding.

"What about Prez-"

"There's no time!" Cutting Ryuji off, Akira turned and saw Ren's nod.

Without another word, he hastily opened the Meta-Nav app and tapped the 'Navigation' button. And the familiar sense of nausea and distortion returned, as the night sky above got covered with a green tint.


[Kaneshiro's palace]

"Now!"

Following Jester's cue, Swan and Mona immediately summoned their Personas and casted healing on Shinji. And with a green aura glowing around the unconscious teen, the wound on him visibly reverted to normal.

"…He's fine now. Now we're just hoping that he'll wake up fine," Doing a quick scan of his vitals, Majesty turned and saw Jester give out a sigh of relief.

"Thank god…" Casting a glance at Shinji, the leader of The Fools took off his mask and tophat. Until a shocked voice turned the thief's attention away from Shinji.

"What's that?" Makoto asked, pointing at where Le Pucelle and Zorro once were. "Where are we?"

"We're inside Kaneshiro's heart right now," Joker explained, casting a long look at Shinji before returning to her. "Izumo... he should be fine."

"I…" Rushing to Jester's side and gracing her fingers alongside Shinji's healed face, a weak sob escaped from her. "...Thank god… I… I was so scared… and… I couldn't do anything…"

"No one can really do anything in a situation like this either," Raven reassured her, patting her on the shoulder. "Aside from you being understandably reckless to meet Kaneshiro, there wasn't anything you could do at all."

"But… I'm just… I must be a burden to you all, isn't it?"

"Wha- of course not, Prez!" Skull shook her head, just as Panther did the same.

"I brought you all into danger because…" With the words faded in her mouth, Makoto hung her head low. "I'm useless, isn't it-"

"No, you're not!" With Majesty's sudden outburst, the group turned their attention to her. "Even Hinaki is having trouble dealing with it, she's… right now, she's been paying the victims money, as her last resort. This is just something we can't deal with by facing him."

"But I… aren't you all being threatened as well?"

"Yeah, we had to get three million in three weeks," Panther said. "But if we change his heart before that, it'd be fine."

Before Makoto could form a reply, the floating bank suddenly stopped hovering and lowered toward them. And then, to the thieves' surprise, a mechanical stair suddenly extended from the bank and connected to the ground, as if welcoming them.

"What the…" Mouth agape, the dots connected inside Mona's head. "Oh right! Niijima is now a 'customer' of Kaneshiro. So the bank will open to her, and to us as well!"

"That means…" Turning to Makoto, Joker crossed his arms with a small smile. "I guess in a way, your plan did work, Niijima."

"It did work…" Repeating what Joker just said, Makoto gave out a breath. It wasn't necessary relief, but more just… something that she couldn't put her fingers on. "It did work…"

"Then uh… what now?" Swan asked, gesturing over to the unconscious Shinji.

And Jester spoke up.

"You guys go first, I'll watch over Shinji," He turned to Shinji with a slight frown. "I have a lot to say to him, after all."


[Sometime later]

"Urgh…"

With consciousness slowly returned, Shinji opened his eyes and squinted at the sudden assault of blinding light. But as he finally adjusted to the light, all he could see was someone in some weird costume standing before him.

With his gaze turned up, he saw Akira with his arms crossed.

"So, you're finally awake, Shinji," Straightening himself from the wall he's been leaning on, Jester sighed before giving him a stern look. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

"...Akira? What the hell… what are you wearing?" Shinji turned his gaze and scanned Jester's costume, then finally realized where they were. "Where the hell are we? Where's Makoto?"

"She's with the rest of us up there, I stayed behind to watch over you," Jester gestured over to the floating bank. "And right now, we're inside Kaneshiro's heart. This is how he sees the whole of Shibuya."

His eyes widened at the sight of the floating bank, the dots didn't take long to connect inside his head. "...Wait, if we're inside Kaneshiro's heart… Then…" He turned back and faced his old friend. "You're the Phantom Thief."

"I'm one of them, but that doesn't matter right now," With a scowl, Jester took a few steps closer to Shinji. "You really thought going around and beating those mafia goons would fix everything?"

"...This is the only thing I can think of," Finally answered after a long pause, Shinji looked away to somewhere far away. "I can't just… stand aside and watch. Not after Kimiko…"

"But that doesn't mean… it's worth the pain you're bringing to everyone around you," Jester noticed how his body stiffened, and decided to continue. "Does Ise-San know about all this?"

"It's better for Mom to not know about this, I… I don't want her to be dragged into this-"

"She already is when you choose to fight them, you moron!" With a sudden surge of rage, the leader of The Fools grabbed ahold of Shinji's hoodie and pulled it closer to him. "She only has you, remember? How'd she react if she just got called that you got killed by Kaneshiro?"

"I…"

"What about Niijima? She saw the video of you fighting them, and roped us in because she was scared of the chance that you might get hurt!" Jester pressed further, tightening his grip. "I… I'm at fault for telling her what's happening with Naoko and you after telling her that we can't do anything, but… she went to see Kaneshiro because she was scared for you."

"...I… It's better for her to move on," Shinji said weakly. "Then-"

"Stop lying to yourself, we both know she's not gonna move on that easily," Cutting him off, Jester just clutched his eyes shut. "She's… she's been hurting ever since you left, and she definitely hasn't moved on, not at all."

For a long moment, Shinji said nothing or even looked at Jester.

Releasing the grip on his hoodie, Jester took a step back and sighed. "Let's hope my words did get through the thick skull of yours-"

Before Jester could finish his words, a loud siren sound suddenly blasted from the bank above. Eyes widened at the sudden sound, Jester and Shinji exchanged a look and sprung to action.

Running through the mechanical stair that extended to the ground, they slammed open the front door together. And before they were the sight of shadows in riot gear and tactical gear with fly-like masks surrounding the thieves, and in the middle of them all…

Makoto stood alone and separated from the thieves by the guards, and on the other side was… Kaneshiro's shadow. Instead of the one they just faced in the real world, he was purple-skinned with even slicker hair.

"Makoto-" Just as Shinji was about to rush ahead, Jester raised his arm and blocked him.

"We're heavily outnumbered here," Jester said, as his scythe materialized in his other hand as the front door suddenly snapped shut behind them. "Dammit."

Meanwhile, the rest of the thieves glanced back with surprised gazes. But noticing the serious look from Jester, they turned back to the shadow on the other end, on Makoto.


Glancing over her back at the sight of Shinji, right now, Makoto… felt a bit of relief, to see him… fine.

"Huh, so your little boyfriend arrived too," Sneering in disgust at the sight of Shinji, Kaneshiro turned to Makoto with a mischievous smirk. "Then he'll be in the first row to see you being an important asset to our club then."

Makoto felt her body stiffened, not out of fear or shock, but out of anger.

"Hell, he can also see that beauty in that god-awful bakery too! Isn't that he was beating my men to protect them?" The shadow laughed at his own words. "Woah, the ultimate irony, isn't it?"

"With you two and your little prosecutor sister… We just hit a three-in-one package deal here," He continued. "After all, I'm becoming too rich from those money-hungry kids, life should be a bit more exciting."

"After all, money is justice in this world, and right now, I am justice." Spreading his arms as if he was in a play, Kaneshiro grinned and showcased his gold-plated teeth. "Even the police force is in my paycheck, do you think just a ragtag group of brats could stop me?"

Turning back, Makoto stared at the dark reflection of the man… No, the true reflection of the man who caused all those suffering. No matter if it was from fellow students, or the Akashi family, Naoko… Shinji.

Seeing how he laughed at all this suffering, without a single remorse for what he'd done. The flame named "rage" burned brighter within her.

"Just do as you told like a good girl, and you'll earn the fucking three million in no time!" With a sickening grin, Kaneshiro laughed. "Of course, your old life would be ruined, but I'm pretty sure you'll come to enjoy doing as you told-"

"Shut up."

"Huh?"

"Shut the fuck up, you fucking nouveau riche!" As she stared at the surprised look of the shadow, Makoto tightened her fist. As the images of all those requests, fellow students, and Shinji flashed in her mind. "All you do is just cause people to suffer, hurting them for one more yen… Hurting them for your entertainment…"

"I won't forgive you."

At that exact moment, something responded to her rage. Something deep inside her heart, something she had been holding back all along.

"So, have you decided to tread the path of strife…?"

"Yes, do it!"

"Very well, let us proceed with our contract at once."

All of a sudden, pain exploded from within her head, as if something wanted to get out from inside. Holding her head and trying not to scream out in pain, Makoto gritted her teeth and looked ahead.

Right now, Kaneshiro was afraid, afraid of her.

"I am thou, thou art I… You have finally found your own. Please… Never lose sight of it again."

Stomping on the ground and breaking the tile under her feet, an iron mask formed after blue flame flashed on her face. And she gripped it, tightly.

"Let this be the day that you finally graduated from your false self."

It hurt, it hurt to rip this mask off her face. But she didn't care. Right now, all that anger, all that rage had numbed her pain. And she ripped it off at once, leaving the mask on the ground.

With blood covering her face, a blue flame suddenly appeared around her waist. And a black belt formed, with an oval-shaped buckle with a round cover in the middle, depicting the mask with a motorcycle wheel. And four round-shaped vents on each corner of the said buckle. Alongside 2 Trapezoidal side buckles next on the side.

"You know what to do."

"...Right."

Looking straight forward, Makoto swayed both of her arms to her right side with her left arm before her chest. And both of her hands straightened. Then she slowly raised her arms, forming a pair of tight fists as both of her arms were straight up in the air.

"Hen… SHIN!"

With her fists tightened until they started shaking, she immediately lowered them. With her right first right on top of where her heart was, and her right arms extended and bent at 90 degrees, with the same tight fist.

Responding to her, the belt's cover opened from the middle, revealing a dark-red turbine. And the said turbine immediately spun at high speed, absorbing the wind into itself. And the mask on the ground exploded in blue flame, making a wall of flame that surrounded her.

Within seconds, the same azure flame sparked and spread all across her body. However, it didn't hurt, not one bit.

As the flame continued to burn brightly, a shape suddenly formed from below, resembling a bike. And the blood that covered her face burned away with those flames.

At the same time, the fire that covered her faded away. Instead of her modified Shujin uniform, it was replaced by a skin-tight suit with a pale shade of black trapped in the dark blue from both arms and legs.

Then through the flame, a leather corset-styled chest plate formed, attaching itself to the suit with multiple metal nails. Then a set of shoulder pads and knee pads formed, with each metal spike poked out one by one.

Just as the shape finished into a heavily armored sport bike, with a face of a woman with her eyes closed in the front. With both of her hands emerging from the flame and covered with white gloves, Makoto gripped the bike's handle and revved. And the belt's turbine responded with it spinning even quicker, and blue flame burst out from the vents.

Tugging the black scarf that formed around her neck and letting it blow along the wind, the wall of flame faded and revealed a frightened Kaneshiro. And in the meantime, a shocked look from the thieves, and Shinji.

"A Persona…?" Fox asked, lowering his hand as the shockwave and wind subsided.

And Skull shook his head in response, eyes widened. "Nah dude, that's a bike."

In the background and sharing the same widened gaze, Shinji felt himself in awe. "A rider…"

Taking a step back out of fear, the shadow cast his gaze on the guards around him before pointing at her. "What are you standing around here for? GET HER!"

In response, a squad of shadow guards sprung to their feet, running toward her. However, all Makoto did was revved the engine to its limit, holding the brake as smoke emerged from the back wheel.

"...I'm not going to hold back, not anymore. Johanna, let them hear your… No, our rage!"

Releasing the brake, Johanna broke into action and speeded toward the shadow guards. And as the bike approached them, she twisted the handle and turned the bike, grinding the back wheel against one of the shadow's faces.

Quickly leaped from the seat as a baton approached from aside, Makoto landed with a quick roll and sprung into action again. Delivering a dropkick to the other shadow as the bike faded from existence, and the mask formed again on her face.

Turning her head toward another approaching shadow, she sprung into action again and buried her fist in its chest. And with a sudden blast of cyan light from her fist, the shadow was knocked away and crashed into a nearby pillar.

Seeing another shadow coming for her, Makoto struck her fist against its chest of it before grabbing ahold of its vest. Then she threw it away with all her might, sending it crashing to some chair far away.

Then, as another pair of shadows rushed toward her, Makoto jumped and did a front flip. As she landed, she grabbed ahold of the shadows' heads and smashed them to the ground. Black blood-like goo immediately splashed on the ground, tainting her mask as well.

She then tilted her head and avoided a baton swinging from behind, delivering a back kick that sent the shadow crashing into the wall. Grabbing a hold of another baton striking toward her, Makoto threw the shadow over her shoulder and to the ground. And struck her fist right into its chest, with the same blood-like goo bursting out from the mouth portion of the shadow's mask.

Turning her gaze at even more guards approaching her, Makoto slowly raised and let the mask fade away, as Johanna formed once again. Twisting the bike handle and with the engine's roar filling the hall, the bike burst into action.

Raising the head of the bike, she crashed the front wheel right onto one of the guards and crushed the guard's entire body. She leaped from the seat and avoided the batons from other guards and did another front flip, immediately dashing toward them once she landed.

Sending a flying knee and shattering the guard's head, Makoto blocked another baton and pulled another shadow toward her. She immediately sent a sidekick to its chest, sending it away and crashing into the wall.

As the mask returned once again, she turned to the only shadow remaining with a deep glare. The shadow hesitated for a split moment before it started running, the red turbine on Makoto's belt started spinning as quickly as it could.

Blue flame burst out from the belt's vents again, she sprung to her feet and dashed. Dodging the blind strike with a tile of her head, Makoto tightened her fist and struck into its abdomen.

With her fist planted deep into the guard's abdomen, Makoto's fist started to glow in cyan once again. And with said glow intensified, the turbine and the flame from the belt's vent responded.

"Fist... Of... JUSTICE!"

The cyan glow on Makoto's fist exploded, sending the shadow all the way to the other end of the hall and blowing up from within. Letting her arms sway weightlessly, Makoto felt a wave of fatigue took over and kneeled on the ground.

"Prez!"

Surprised by the call, she turned around and saw Skull approaching her. ""

"We have to leave now, those guards just keep showin' up!"

"But… what about Kaneshiro-"

"We know how to get in now, that's what matters," Helping her stand by letting her arm over his shoulder, Skull turned toward the exit. "Not only are you out of juice, but we also got Izumo here."

Even with the words of disagreement surfacing in her mind, Makoto merely felt the difficulty to keep herself straight. "...I… yeah, let's leave first."


[Evening, Teikyu Building Accessway]

Emptying the bottled water in one fell gulp, Makoto gave out a sigh of relief as she leaned against the railing. "...This… is the most exhausted I've been for the past few years…"

"Awakening your Persona would do that to you," Shiho nodded, sympathy clearly displaying on her face. "But… are you fine, Niijima-Senpai?"

"I'll be fine tomorrow…"

"Just get a good sleep tonight, that'd help," Ren said, sharing the same sympathy. "But well, not that you have a Persona… I guess from now on… you're one of us."

"...Being a Phantom Thief…" Trailing off, Makoto chuckled at the irony of the situation. "Sis would faint if she found out about this."

"She definitely would," Hifumi nodded in agreement.

"And with a whole new reality… no wonder why her investigation was going nowhere," The president sighed, scanning the group around her as she realized someone was missing. "But wait, where's Shinji? I remember seeing him in the palace."

After a brief moment of heavy silence, Akira spoke up. "He left earlier, saying that… he had to think something through," He crossed his arms. "I tried to tell him to stay so you two can at least talk, but he insisted on leaving."

"I think he just needs some time processing what happened," He quickly added, but Makoto's face still fell into a somber look. "Just, don't worry, I'm sure things will turn out better."

"...I hope so too…"

Unaware of the thieves and Makoto, Shinji was watching them from afar. Even though his logical mind told him to just leave, his heart forced him to stay. And in the end, he settled on hiding behind a corner, as the middle ground.

Clutching his eyes shut, he turned back and leaned against the wall, and sighed. The voice of what Akira said echoed in his mind, reminding him of what he was doing.

"I just wanted to protect them, but… all I did was just hurt them…" He chuckled dryly, his head dropped, and stared at the ground. "Pretty ironic, isn't it?"

However, a sudden buzz from his phone cut off his train of thought. Taking out his phone, his gaze paused on the notification of a missed call. A missed call from Makoto, and a few more from Ise.

Hesitation clear within his gaze, he emptied the notification and was about to lock his phone again. Until something weird caught his eyes, an app icon that he wasn't familiar with at all.

A red and black colored icon that… resembled an eye, staring right back at him.

(To be continued)


Preview:

A surprise disruption to the Thieves' plan.

An infiltration to rescue, not to steal.

And Shinji faced his heart, his fear again.

And he made a decision.

As the cape blew amidst the wind.

Next Chapter:

"疾風(Gale)"

Stay Tuned!


It's been a long while, isn't it? But finally, Chapter 45, and Makoto's awakening are here!

So, life had been quite busy for me during the almost 2 months breaking between Chapters 44 and 45 (Mostly stuff from school). And that's why it took so long. But right now, I'm in uh... somewhat of a vacation from school, so there's quite a lot more free time, and time to finish up the chapter.

And the next chapter would also be named by Japanese as well, it'd be the only other chapter with Japanese as its name. Since I want these two chapters to be like a two-parter.

Anyway, now that we got the awakening, I can finally talk about the reason for all those Kamen Rider references before. And that's because I'm adding a whole rider belt and henshin sequence to Makoto's awakening! And for anyone wondering where her pose came from, it's the exact same one as the Henshin pose for Kamen Rider Nigo(No.2). Pretty fitting considering that Shin Kamen Rider had a US release a few days ago.

And of course, this chapter in general is still somewhat dark and heavy. But on the tone part, the next chapter would be the turning point. In a way, it is the darkest before dawn XD.

Sidenote, for the fight scene, Makoto did hold her word of "not holding back" pretty well. I've thought of dialing it back, but I think it is better to go a bit more on the brutal side of things.

Review Response (Man, it's been a LONG while since I had a review response here.):

Guest: Thank you! The whole arc of Mitsuyo is somewhat more akin to Striker's style of palace, and it was to contrast with how irredeemable the palace owners for The Phantoms are. So I'm happy to see someone appreciate how different her palace is, and her character alongside Hifumi's. Anyway, I can't say enough but thank you so much!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the story so far, Reviews and Favorites are welcome!