Date: 4/9/20XX

"Huh?"

Waking up from a deep sleep due to feeling his body shake, Denki Kaminari rubbed his eyes before looking up from where he was sitting: a passenger's seat on a train. He let out a yawn before checking the time on his phone. Once he saw what time it was, he put his phone away and let out a sigh before stretching out his arms and legs.

"Man, it feels like I've been riding this train for forever," Denki complained. "Wonder how long until it ends?"

Suddenly, as if answering Denki's question, the train's voice speaker turned on.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today. We will be arriving in Shibuya shortly. This is the last stop for this line. Please transfer here for all subway lines. The doors to your left will open."

"Finally," Denki commented before getting up and holding onto one of the train's vertical poles.

"What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?," a voice in front of Denki questioned.

'Mental shutdown? Didn't Yosuke mention something like that the other day?,' Denki thought to himself.

Turning his attention to a voice coming from in front of him, Denki saw two high schools conversing with one another; one wore her hair in a short ponytail, while the other wore hair down.

"It's the truth!," the girl with the ponytail insisted to her friend.

"To a person though? That's gotta be a joke. You really love all that occult stuff, don't you?," the girl who wore her hair down teased in good nature.

'I wonder if there really are sudden mental shutdowns happening around here,' Denki shuddered. 'Actually, I probably shouldn't think about it too much.'

After taking out his phone and fiddling with it for five minutes, the train had finally reached its stop.

"Shibuya. This is Shibuya."

Eager to get off, Denki quickly put his phone away and made his way off the train before heading up the station's stairs. After making it up the stairs and navigating through the station, Denki made it to the top of the station. Seeing how big it was, Denki couldn't help but marvel at its size.

'Woah! This place is huge!,' Denki thought in excitement before a few people started to nudge him out of the way. '...And crowded. Now I know why Yosuke always complains about taking the subway here.'

'Where was I supposed to go next?,' Denki pondered as he took out his phone for the third time that day.

Just as he was about to open his navigation app, Denki noticed an app that had not been on his phone before. The app had no name, which in and of itself was weird, but the app's icon looked downright creepy. The icon consisted of a red eye with a black star as its pupil, surrounded by black, sawtoothed rectangles, giving them the appearance of broken glass.

"Huh? What's this?," Denki questioned.

Wondering what the app does, Denki pressed his thumb down on the red-eyed icon to open it up. Once the app opened up, time began to slow down until it came to a complete stop.

"W-What the hell!? W-What's going on!?," Denki yelled, shocked and terrified by what was going on.

Before Denki could panic even further, he noticed a blue light shining in the distance. Getting a better look at the light, Denki realized that it was actually a blue flame. Suddenly, the blue fire rose up and shaped itself until it resembled a humanoid figure with wings.

Despite being terrified by time stopping, Denki wasn't really scared of the blue fire; he actually felt a sense of calm while looking at the angel-looking flames. As if on instinct, he took a step forward and reached his hand out towards the fire's direction. After Denki took that step forward, the blue fire disappeared, and time returned to normal.

Denki looked all around himself to confirm that everything was back to normal. Once he confirmed that time was back to normal and that there was no longer a winged humanoid-shaped blue fire anywhere in sight, he was left baffled.

'What was that all just in my head?,' Denki contemplated before letting out a yawn. 'Yeah, it must've been. Guess I'm more tired than I thought.'

Looking down at his phone, Denki saw that the application he had opened up was for navigation.

"Another navigation app?," Denki wondered to himself. "Did I download this by accident?"

Without giving it any more thought, Denki dragged the app with the red eye icon to his phone's trash bin before opening up his other navigation app. Once he found where he was supposed to go next, Denki closed the app and made his way through the station, looking for the subway line he was supposed to transfer onto.


"Yongen-Jaya. This is Yongen-Jaya."

After finding the subway line that he needed to get on and riding the subway, Denki finally reached his destination.

"I finally made it," Denki yawned as he got off the train. "Now all I need to do is find Sakura-san's house."

Making his way out of the subway station, Denki let out a few more yawns, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to keep them open.

'Man, it's been a super long day,' Denki thought as he dragged his feet through the town. 'I could really go for a nap right about now.'

After five minutes of wandering through Yongen-Jaya, Denki couldn't find where he was supposed to go.

"Man, how can this place be so small, yet so hard to navigate?," Denki whined.

Spotting a policeman nearby, Denki decided to ask him for directions.

"Excuse me, sir," Denki greeted once reaching the police officer. "I'm trying to look for Sojiro Sakura's house. Do you know where he lives?"

"Hm?," the officer hummed as he processed the blonde's question. "Oh, Sakura-san's house is in an alley a bit further from here. He's not home now though."

"Huh? How do you know that?," Denki inquired while tilting his head in confusion.

"I just stopped by his cafe, Leblanc, a few minutes ago," the officer explained.

"Le-what?," Denki uttered.

"Leblanc," the police officer repeated, putting more emphasis at the end of the word. The police officer pointed forward while looking at Denki. "Just go down this way and turn left on the corner. After that, just keep walking until you see a cafe."

"Cool, thanks officer!," Denki cheered as he made his way towards Leblanc.

After walking for half a minute, Denki found Leblanc; the cafe was small and had its name, "coffee&curry: Leblanc," written on a canopy that hung over the entrance.

"'Coffee and curry?,'" Denki read before patting his stomach. "Man, just thinking about that combination makes my stomach hurt. Who eats curry with coffee?"

Denki shrugged his shoulders at his own question before grabbing onto the doorknob of the cafe and going inside. Once inside, Denki took note of the rather bland setup of Leblanc. There were three four-person booths and a small bar area meant to seat four people, the kitchen was small, and within plain sight, there weren't any pictures or paintings hung on the walls for decoration, and the entirety of the cafe's walls and ceilings were colored brown. The only thing of interest in the entire shop was a CRT TV placed on a cabinet in the back of the cafe, playing the local news.

Denki then took note of the only people in the cafe: an elderly couple sitting down at one of the booths, watching the news, and a middle-aged man, presumably the manager, wearing a black apron that sat at the counter with a newspaper in his hand.

The middle-aged man had black, receding, slicked-back hair, a chinstrap beard with a goatee, and gray eyes that had glasses over them. Underneath his black apron, he wore a pink dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a light pair of khakis, and on his feet, he wore a pair of white loafers.

Just as Denki was about to say something, his attention turned to the news story playing on the TV.

"The public transit bus was driven down an opposing lane with its customers still in it!," the news anchor on the TV declared. "If heroes aren't able to stop incidents such as this from happening, then what's the point of them getting paid to save lives? If disasters such as this keep up, the citizens won't be able to live in peace!"

"What a jerk," Denki remarked, annoyed by the news anchor's comments.

Unfortunately for Denki, the attention of everyone in the store was on him after they heard his comment. Seeing that the elderly couple and cafe manager were looking at him, Denki chuckled nervously and gave them a small wave.

"U-Uh, hi. Is Sojiro Sakura here?," Denki asked, trying to divert the attention off of his awkward comment.

"Who's asking?," the manager asked suspiciously. Suddenly, his eyes widened as if realizing something important. "Oh, right, Yosuke did say you were coming."

Putting down the newspaper, the cafe manager got up from his chair; instantly after the manager got up, the elderly couple also stood up.

"We'll be heading home now, Sakura-san," the elderly man revealed to the manager. "We left the payment on the table."

"Thanks for coming," the cafe manager, Sojiro Sakura, replied in a dry tone of voice.

"We'll be sure to come again," the elderly man promised. "This place is in the back ally, so it's a great place to eat without having to worry about a car crashing in here."

Sojiro couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at the old man's comment.

"A what?"

"Oh, you haven't heard? There's been a string of rampage accidents, you know," the elderly man revealed. "I just hope that none happen around here."

"That's not any of my concern," Sojiro replied, which made Denki stare at him in wide-eyed shock.

'How is he not concerned by that!?,' Denki thought incredulously. 'I'm scared just thinking about it!'

In contrast to Denki's reaction, the elderly man laughed in response to Sojiro's statement.

"Haha, that's so like you, Sakura-san." the elderly man laughed before he and his wife began to head towards the door. "Have a good rest of the day."

After the couple left, Sojiro sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"...Four hours for just one cup of coffee," Sojiro complained before turning his focus to Denki. "So, you're Yosuke's cousin, right? Denki?"

"Yeah, that's me," Denki answered with an unsure smile. "So, that means you're Sakura-san?"

"Uh-huh," Sojiro dryly admitted.

"Cool. It's nice to meet you, Sakura-san," Denki greeted, followed by him sticking his hand out to shake Sojiro's.

"Heh, you're a lot more polite than I thought you'd be," Sojiro admitted in amusement before shaking Denki's hand.

"Thanks?," Denki replied, unsure if that was the correct response in this situation.

"Did Yosuke give you the details about this arrangement?," Sojiro asked after letting go of Denki's hand.

"Uh, yeah, he said that since he couldn't look after me during my probation, you would because you owe him a favor," Denki shared.

"Did he tell you anything else?," Sojiro questioned, seemingly not entirely satisfied with the information Denki shared. "Like what I expect from you in return?"

Denki looked confused by Sojiro's question before his eyes lit up in realization.

"Oh, right. He also said that you wanted me to not give you a hard time and to listen to any rules you give me," Denki added.

"That about sums it up," Sojiro confirmed before motioning Denki over to him. "Come with me. I'll show you your room."

'Finally, I can take a nap!,' Denki cheered mentally, not giving much thought to being led to somewhere inside the cafe.

Complying with Sojiro's request, Denki followed him up a flight of stairs located at the back of the cafe. Once they went up the stairs, Denki was greeted with a very cluttered and dirty attic. Boxes were left on both sides of the room, there were cobwebs all over the ceiling, the shelves and a desk in the back left corner had junk on them, and the only things in the entire attic that wasn't dirty or messy were a small couch to the left side of the room and a futon that was placed in the back right corner.

"This is your room," Sojiro revealed.

Denki looked at Sojiro as if the barista had grown a second head.

"You're kidding, right?," Denki asked, hoping that it was an elaborate joke.

"Nope. I don't have any spare rooms in my house, so you'll have to make do with staying here," Sojiro answered honestly. "I'll give you a blanket, but it's your responsibility to clean up here. It is your room now, after all."

Denki's knees almost gave out after hearing that, and it took a lot of self-control not to just drop to the floor and cry out in anguish.

"I'll be leaving after I lock up each day," Sojiro continued, unaware of Denki's agony. "You'll be alone at night, so you better not do anything stupid. Favor or not, I won't hesitate to throw you out if you cause any trouble."

"Yes, sir!," Denki agreed, giving the man a salute to show that he understood and respected Sojiro's words.

Unfortunately, Denki's salute had the opposite effect of what he wanted.

"Take this more seriously, kid. Don't you know the situation you're in?," Sojiro asked in annoyance, staring at Denki with an unimpressed look on his face.

Denki let out a nervous chuckle while rubbing the back of his neck, "R-Right, my bad."

Sojiro couldn't help but sigh in exasperation before deciding to move on.

"Anyways, I got the gist of your situation. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her. He got injured, then sued you. Your high school expelled you due to your criminal record, and now the courts want you to transfer out to Tokyo and attend Shujin Academy. Right?"

"Yeah, that's basically all there is to it," Denki replied, not too happy or eager to talk about what led him to his current situation.

"That's what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults," Sojiro admonished the blonde. "Hero course student or not, you're still just a kid; you shouldn't have gotten involved."

Denki wanted to protest what Sojiro had said, but for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't really bring himself to disagree with Sojiro.

"Woah, kid, relax! You're going to draw blood if you keep that up!"

"Huh?"

It took a few seconds for Denki to realize what Sojiro was talking about; he had been gripping the palms of his hands so hard that they began to turn white.

"Oh," Denki uttered before releasing the grip on his palms.

"Listen, I didn't mean to upset you, but that's the reality of your situation," Sojiro confessed. "The best thing to do is to accept it and move on with your life."

"That's easy for you to say," Denki muttered bluntly and bitterly. "You're not the one who's going through all this."

"Would you knock it off with the pity party!?," Sojiro scolded harshly, causing Denki to flinch. "You're getting a second chance at life! You should be grateful; not a lot of people get those, you know!"

Not having a response, Denki opted to stay quiet. Sojiro couldn't help but shake his head and pinch his forehead in exhaustion.

"Look, just... behave yourself and stay out of trouble. If you can do that, your probation will be lifted," Sojiro continued calmly. "I don't think I have to tell you what happens if you don't behave. Anyway, we'll be going to Shujin tomorrow."

"Why? It's Sunday tomorrow," Denki questioned, confused by what Sojiro had told him.

"We're going so that we can introduce ourselves properly to the staff there," Sojiro revealed before letting out a sigh of exasperation. "What a waste of my Sunday."

'Well, it's not like I'm exactly thrilled about it either,' Denki thought dryly.

Sojiro then turned his attention to a big box in the middle of the attic, "Your luggage arrived a little while ago. I brought it up here for you."

Denki was surprised by what Sojiro told him because the box looked pretty heavy for one person to carry.

"By yourself?," Denki questioned.

"It's not as heavy as it looks," Sojiro assured. "Anyway, I'll bring up a broom and a mop for you."

Denki's entire face paled as Sojiro headed downstairs to get him a broom and mop. Once Sojiro was out of sight, Denki dropped to the floor and banged his fists against the ground.

"Damn it, I forgot I had to do that!," Denki exclaimed.

Needless to say, it was a long afternoon for Denki.


After a few hours of hearing noise coming from upstairs, Sojiro decided to come up and see what was going on once his last customer left. When he made his way up to the attic, he was surprised to see that the entire attic was swept, dusted, and mopped. Admittedly, the boxes were stacked on one side of the room, and the junk on the shelves and the desk had not been touched, so it's not like it was thoroughly cleaned.

"What the heck?," Sojiro uttered.

Sojiro turned his attention to a sleeping Denki, napping on the futon in a pair of black sweatpants and a black t-shirt that he must have gotten from his luggage box. Looking at the napping teenager and then around the room again, Sojiro couldn't help but look impressed.

"This place doesn't look half bad," Soijiro admitted. "Nice job, kid."

He then noticed that Denki was shivering in his sleep and went downstairs. When he returned, Soijiro had a blanket in his hands, which he placed over Denki's entire body. Walking towards the staircase, Sojiro looked at Denki with a stern expression.

"You better not make me regret this," Sojiro told the snoozing Denki.

Denki tossed and turned in bed before mumbling something in his sleep.

"N-No... my burger... you can't have it."

Sojiro let out a chuckle at Denki's nonsensical sleep talking before turning off the light in the attic.

"Night, kid."

After that, he went downstairs to lock up, leaving Denki alone for the rest of the night.


As soon as he woke up from his nap and opened his eyes, a contradictory feeling of calmness and panic permeated Denki's entire body.

Shooting up from his bed, he looked down to see that not only were his clothes replaced a black and white striped prison uniform, but his hands were chained together by a pair of iron cuffs, and his leg was chained to a large iron ball, giving him the appearance of a criminal.

"W-What the hell is going on!?," Denki yelped, scared beyond belief.

He then took notice of the entire room, which caused his anxiety levels to skyrocket. Denki was no longer inside the confines of Leblanc's attic and instead was inside what seemed to be a prison cell. It was a small cell with walls covered with cushiony blue velvet fabric. Not much was inside the prison cell aside from the bed chained to the cell wall and a toilet that was to the left of the bed.

"Hahaha!"

Hearing the sound of someone laughing, Denki turned to where it was coming from, which seemed to be outside the cell. Looking towards the direction of the cell door, Denki notices two small girls standing outside the cell door similar in appearance to one another, giving him the impression that they were twins.

Both of the girls had platinum blonde hair and yellow eyes, and both of them wore blue prison guard outfits that consisted of blue prison guard caps, collared blue shirts with a black tie, and black shorts that only reached their thighs.

Despite their similarities, it was easy for Denki to tell the two of them apart. The girl that stood towards the left side of the door had hair buns, had the letters "X-M-R-N" embroidered onto her hat, held a baton in her hand, and wore a black eyepatch with a golden "V" sewed into it over her right eye. Meanwhile, the girl that stood to the right side of the door had her hair in a long braid, had the letters "O-Y-O-O" embroidered onto her hat, held a clipboard in her hand instead of a baton, and wore a similar eyepatch to her twin over her left eye. The girls turned away from Denki and looked forward.

"W-Who are you!? What's going on!?," Denki asked in fear before getting off the bed and rushing towards the cell's door. He grabbed the cell's bars and started shaking them in panic. "Let me out of here! Let me out of here!"

Before he could continue to beg for his release, the girl with the hair buns whacked the cell door, causing electricity to coat her baton and Denki to jump back in fright.

"You need not worry, inmate," the blonde girl with the long braid assured, not sparing him a glance. "The you in reality is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream."

Surprisingly, the girl's words seemed to have calmed him down and made his body relax.

'Well, that's a relief,' Denki thought before letting out a sigh of relief. 'Still, this is one weird dream; it almost feels real.'

"You are in the presence of our master! Show some composure!," the blonde girl with hair buns commanded.

"Master? Who are you talking about?," Denki asked before noticing that the twins weren't the only ones outside the cell door.

Once he got closer to the door again, Denki took a good look at the room outside his prison cell and everything that inhabited it. The room was circular and spacious; the walls that encircled the room had cells built into them, resembling the one he was currently occupying.

In the center sat a rather bizarre-looking old man in a suit who sat at a desk with a lampshade that occupied the right side of the desk while a large stack of papers occupied the left side of the desk.

Among the people in the world who developed physical mutations due to their Quirks, he fit right in with them. His head had an ovular shape, and his limbs looked so slender that it seemed almost impossible that he could move his arms or walk. He lacked hair on the top of his head but had strands of gray hair growing from the back of his head. Had it not been for his rather large, pointy nose, his bloodshot eyes, and his pointed ears would have been his defining features.

Coming as a complete surprise to Denki, The old man could move his arms; he lifted one of his arms and gestured to Denki with one of his white-gloved hands and smiled.

"Trickster... Welcome to my Velvet Room."

A sudden chill ran down Denki's spine from hearing the old man speak. He didn't know why, but hearing that mysterious man talk to him felt... wrong.

"Stand up straight, inmate!," the blonde girl with hair buns commanded, whacking the cell door once again, causing Denki to jump back in fear for the second time since they met. "Show some respect to our master!"

'What the hell kind of dream is this!?,' Denki inwardly questioned in distress.

"I am delighted to make your acquaintance," the old man greeted Denki, causing the blonde-haired juvenile to look at him with anxiety. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those bound by a 'contract' may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well."

"Contract? I didn't sign a contract!," Denki told Igor before pointing at him in an accusatory manner. "Also, what do you mean, 'this place exists between dream and reality'!? So, am I dreaming or not!?"

"Yes, and no," Igor revealed.

"How does that make any sense!?," Denki yelled, clutching his head as if it were in pain. "My head's hurting, trying to understand all this! Would you just give me a straightforward answer!?"

For the third time, the blonde warden with the hair buns whacked her baton against the cell door, causing Denki to flinch in fright.

"Eep!," Denki yelped.

"I told you to compose yourself, inmate! Don't make me tell you again!," the blonde girl with hair buns warned.

"Do not fret, Trickster; all will be revealed in due time," Igor assured Denki. "Now, you must be wondering why you're here. The answer is simple: I summoned you here to speak of important matters."

"Like what?," Denki asked, giving up on trying to make sense of anything going on.

"Matters that involve your life going forward," Igor explained.

'I'm never going to get a straight answer out of this guy, am I?,' Denki thought with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Despite the knowledge I have of your future, the state of this room comes as a surprise to me," Igor confessed.

Denki tilted his head in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart," Igor revealed. "To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a 'prisoner' of fate."

"What do you mean by 'prisoner of fate'?," Denki asked.

"That is not of importance right now," Igor waved off Denki's question.

'I should have expected that,' Denki admitted to himself with a deadpan expression.

"In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you," Igor foretold, causing Denki to go bug-eyed.

"Wait, what was that about ruin?," Denki inquired.

"I speak of the end of everything," Igor divulged to Denki. "However, there is a means to oppose such a fate."

"And how do I do that!?," Denki asked, willing to do anything to avoid the end of the world.

"You must be 'rehabilitated'."

Denki stared at Igor with a blank expression on his face, "What?"

"You must be 'rehabilitated'," Igor repeated. "Rehabilitated toward freedom. That is your only means to avoid this fate."

It took all of Denki's will to not slam his head against the bars of his prison cell repeatedly in frustration.

"Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of this world?," Igor asked Denki, unaware of the young man's inner turmoil.

"Look, I don't want the world to end, but you still haven't explained how I'm going to stop that from happening!," Denki replied in annoyance.

"Do not worry, I shall assist you by observing the path of your rehabilitation," Igor promised, making Denki feel more annoyed.

'He's doing this on purpose, isn't he!?,' Denki thought in frustration.

Before Denki could ask any more questions, the twin wardens turned to face him, prompting Igor to continue.

"Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others..."

He gestured his hand to the blonde twin with the hair buns.

"To your left is Caroline..."

He then gestured his other hand to the twin with the long braid.

"...To your right, Justine. They serve as wardens here."

As much as Denki wanted to question what Igor meant by wardens, he felt like he'd end up getting more questions than answers.

"Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like. It won't do you any good, though," Caroline taunted.

"The duty of us wardens is to protect you, the inmate," Justine explained in a kind yet robotic voice.

'Well, at least one of them doesn't have it out for me,' Denki thought in exasperation, trying to find something positive about this situation.

"...That is, if you remain obedient," Justine added threateningly.

'...Never mind.'

"I shall explain the role of these two at another occasion," Igor promised as the twins turned their attention back to him. "Now then, it seems the night is waning. It is almost time. Take your time to slowly understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually..."

Just as Denki was about to say something to Igor, he heard the loud sound of a bell ringing. As he covered his ears to try and block out the ringing, Caroline turned to face him once again.

"Time's up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep," Caroline instructed in a surprisingly calm tone of voice.

Suddenly, Denki's vision started getting hazy, and after a few seconds, he fell unconscious.


Feeling that his consciousness had been regained, Denki quickly sat up on his bed and quickly surveyed the room. A wave of relief ran through his entire body once he saw that he was not in that blue velvet-colored prison cell, and was instead in the confines of Leblanc's attic.

'It was just a dream,' Denki thought as he smiled in relief.

Not giving the eerie dream he had any more thought, Denki returned to sleep, unaware that underneath his pillow, the icon for the navigation app he deleted earlier that day appeared on his phone screen.


Fun Facts

Originally, Yosuke was supposed to call Denki on the train, but I ended up cutting that out because I couldn't figure out how to continue and end the conversation.


Alright, hey guys, Phoenix here, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter of "A Phantom Hero Among Rebels". If you guys are as much of a fan of Persona 4 as I am, you'll be excited for the inclusion of Captain Ressentiment himself, Yosuke Hanamura… Well, as long as you're someone who doesn't hate him. I thought it'd be cool to feature a character from a past Persona game and since Denki and Yosuke have some similarities in their appearances, I thought I'd make them cousins. I can safely say that Denki's awakening will take place in the next chapter, so be excited for that. I'm predicting that the next chapter will be a pretty long one compared to this one and the last one, but we'll wait and see. For the fun of it, you guys should try guessing what the name of Denki's Persona will be, and for whoever gets it right, I'll shout them out in the author's notes. Make sure to review, give me your honest criticisms, and follow and favorite if you liked the chapter. Hope you enjoyed, and until next time, later!