AN: Been looking forward to this one for a while. Hope you guys enjoy reading this one as I did writing it.

Chapter 8: The Bastard of Lust

Tuesday, 4/19/20XX, Morning

Jolyne approached the Ginza line, stifling a yawn as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Hey, shake the lead out! We've got a big day ahead of us, and we can't afford to be tired!" Morgana scolded from inside her bag.

"Yeah yeah." She mumbled out.

"Oh hey, over here!" A familiar voice called, and Jolyne looked to see Ann approaching them. "Looks like our trains connect here."

"Looks like it." Jolyne replied as they passed through the ticket gate. "So, today's the day. You ready?" Ann nodded as they both boarded the Ginza line train towards Aoyame-Ichitome.

"Definitely. I've been waiting for this day for a long time." The blonde replied. "Speaking of which, have you heard from Ryuji?" Jolyne shook her head.

"Not since last night, no. I tried texting him when I left, but he didn't answer." She replied, and Ann sighed.

"Same here. I'm just worried he overdid it and didn't get enough sleep last night."

"I just hope he doesn't go overboard and make it too obvious it's from us." Morgana piped up from Jolyne's bag, and the green haired leader simply sighed.

"Well, I'll guess we'll just have to see when we get there."

A short time later, they arrived at Shujin Academy. As they entered the school, they noticed a bunch of students gathered around a bulletin board, exchanging hushed whispers.

"Whoa, is this for real?"

"How could someone say this about Coach Kamoshida?"

"'Take your heart?' The hell does that mean?"

"I heard someone posted something like this a few hour ago online?"

"You think it has anything to do with those rumors?"

Jolyne and Ann exchanged a glance, before approaching the board. Tacked to it was a large red piece of construction paper, with kanji letters of alternating black and red that appeared cut out from magazines plastered under a crude drawing of a cartoonish smile under a top hat, with large letters in English that read 'Take your Heart'. The letters read:

Sir Suguru Kamoshida, the utter bastard of Lust,

We know how shitty you are, and that you put your twisted desires on students that can't fight back. We know you are the reason Shiho Suzui tried to kill herself. That's why we have decided to steal away those desires and make you confess your sins. This will be done today, so we hope you will be ready.

From, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

"Well, you did tell him to go nuts…" Ann lamented, and Jolyne simply rubbed her temples. She wasn't expecting anything this extravagant…

"Psst!" A voice loudly whispered, and the three turned to see a grinning Ryuji hiding behind a corner, gesturing for them to come over to him. "Well? Whaddya think?" He excitedly asked as they approached him.

"Isn't it a little…much?" Ann asked, and he shook his head.

"No way! We had to make sure he knows what we're talking about, didn't we? I had to keep from giving away that it was us, so I looked up a bunch of anonymous stuff like this from America!"

"From…? Ryuji, this looks like something a lunatic would write!" Jolyne scolded, and he simply shrugged.

"You told me to went nuts, so I went nuts."

"I didn't expect you to make us look like serial killers!"

"And what's with that logo? It looks like something a kindergartner made."

"Well I figured we needed some sorta symbol or somethin' to make us look legit, and I drew the first thing hat popped into my gead." He justified. "Besides who cares what it looks like? As long as that-"

"What's going on here?" A familiar voice yelled out, and the group turned to see none other than Suguru Kamoshida approaching the board. He read the message, and the more he read, the more enraged he appeared. As soon as the volleyball coach was done reading, he spun around, a wild look in his eye. "Who responsible for this?!" Kamoshida demanded, and began turning to nearby students. "Was it you? Did you do this?! Answer me!"

"I-I don't-" the student he grabbed started to plead, when Kamoshida noticed Ann, Jolyne, and Ryuji standing together. He stormed over to them, getting in Jolyne's face.

"Are you three behind this?! Well?!" He demanded, practically spitting in Jolyne's face. She wasn't fazed, responding to his rage filled glare with cool determination.

"I don't know what you're talking about. We just got here." She responded, and Kamoshida snarled, grabbing her by the blazer and pulling her close.

"You think you're so tough? You think expulsion's the worst thing I can do to you? I will fucking end you, you little bitch!" He hissed out through clenched teeth. Jolyne' face remained unmoved, and Ryuji grabbed Kamoshida's wrist.

"Hey, she said she don't know anything. Why don't you lay off?" Kamoshida glared at him, but he didn't budge. After a few more seconds, Kamoshida let go of Jolyne's collar. Before he walked away, something truly bizarre happened. The temperature dropped as all light vanished from the room and the ambient noise vanished. The volleyball coach in front of them vanished, replaced with his Shadow duplicate.

"Go ahead. Just try and steal it, you damn pests!" The Shadow snared, his yellow eyes burning with rage. Then, as quickly as everything had changed, everything was back to normal, with the real Kamoshida giving them one last glare.

"Get to class, all of you!" He yelled, and stormed off, leaving the slightly confused Phantom Thieves.

"Uhhhh…what was that?" Ann asked, and Morgana stuck his head out of Jolyne's bag.

"That was a warning, perceptible only to those who can perceive the meta verse like us. He'll be expecting us more than before. We need to be careful." He explained, and that's when Kobayakawa entered the scene, an exasperated look on his face.

"Everyone, report to your classrooms at once! This is nothing more than a childish prank!" He bellowed out, and the crowd hat had massed around the Calling Card dispersed, albeit reluctantly.

"We should probably do that as well. Let's meet on the rooftop as soon as school ends." Jolyne suggested, and the others nodded.

"Gotcha. See you guys later." Ryuji said, and they all went to class, walking separately to make sure they didn't draw too much suspicion.

4/19/20XX, Afternoon

"And so, while the word 'robot' is assumed to be an English invention, the word actually had its-"

"Dude, did you see that weird message that hint out front?"

"The one about Mister Kamoshida? What do you think it means?"

"-roots in Czechoslovakia, the word first appearing in the works of-"

""What the hell does 'steal your desires' even mean? And what's was that part about Suzui?"

Kawakami sighed, rubbing her temples. It had been like this in all her classes, students unable to talk about anything other than the strange message at the front of the school. "The principal has already determined the letter to be the work of childish pranksters. So please, settle down and focus on today's lesson." She pleaded/ordered, and resumed her lesson. While she did that, Jolyne and Ann sat in their desks, trying their best to act like it was just any other school day.

Jolyne was doing her best to focus on the lesson, but it wasn't enough to keep doing from entering her mind. What if they failed and didn't steal the treasure? They'd have wasted their only shot, Kamoshida would have them expelled, and she would be thrown in prison, with no amount of legal help in the world able to save her. She shook those thoughts out of her head, swallowing the lump in her threat. They would succeed in stealing Kamoshida's treasure, and changing his heart. They had to.

After School

As soon as the bell rang, Jolyne and Ann bolted up from their desks, heading for the rooftop. They saw Ryuji waiting for them, pacing around the rooftop. "Hey, you guys hear what everyone's been talkin' about?" He asked.

"You mean the calling card, right? It's all anyone could talk about in our class." Jolyne replied.

"It was the same in my class. It got so bad, I thought Ushimaru was going to put someone in the hospital with that damn chalk of his." He remarked, and began bouncing on his good leg. "So, we ready?"

"Morgana?" Jolyne turned to the cat, who was sticking his head out of her bag.

"We're ready. I can't think of anything else that we need to go over."

"Ready when you are, Jolyne." Ann said, and Jolyne nodded. They gathered in the alleyway outside of Shujin, and activated the metanav. The world around them spiral and rippled as their school was replaced by the massive castle, their school uniforms and Mona's cat body replaced with his cartoonish appearance.

"This is it…" Panther said, as they all looked at the sinister compound and the red skies that served as a backdrop. Ryuji nudged Jolyne in the side.

"Hey, leader. Wanna say a few words?" He asked, and she raised an eyebrow. "C'mon dude, ain't you ever seen a movie? The leader's always supposed to give like, a speech or something before a big thing like this." Jolyne was about to protest, when she noticed that Ann and Morgana's eyes were already on her as well. So, she swallowed the lump that she didn't know that was in her throat, and turned to them.

"We all know what's riding on this. Our futures, justice for the people he's hurt...this is our only shot. There's a very real possibility that we could fail. But you know what? I'm not worried about it at all. Because I have faith in the three of you that we'll be able to pull this off easily." She said, and Morgana smirked.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, Joker." He remarked, before his face turned serious. "This won't be easy. They'll be expecting us." Joker nodded, and turned back to the palace.

"Then let's go."

The Throne Room

Joker poked her head out of the safe room. Upon seeing that there were no guards in sight, the Phantom Thieves began pouring out of the safe room. They took cover behind the doorway they had spied on Kamoshida from the other day, and saw that the throne room was empty. "Why's it so empty?" Panther asked.

"Did you see how many guards we snuck past on the way here? They must be spread out all over the castle looking for us." Mona remarked, but Joker wasn't so sure. Why would they leave the Treasure unguarded like this…?

"I was kinda looking forward to smashing old Mop Head's face in, but I ain't complainin' if he ain't around." Skull stated.

"Alright, let's move. Just be careful." Joker instructed, and they began walking through the throne room. Joker's head was on a swivel, checking for any guards that might be lurking in the shadows. But she saw nothing, which only served to further the strange feeling in her stomach. As they approached the large, ornate throne in the center of the room, Skull scowled.

"This thing looks even uglier up close." Skull said, and Panther nodded as she tapped her chin.

"So, if this place is based off his cognition, and the gym was a church…then is this place the faculty office?" The model asked, and her scowl deepened as the gears began to turn inside her head. "And if this is the faculty office, then this is where he took Shiho and…" Panther stopped walking, her gaze transfixed on the throne. The others noticed that she had stopped, turning back to her.

"Panther, is something wrong?" Mona asked, noticing that Panther had her fists clenched and was shaking. Before any of them could ask if she was ok, her red mask disappeared as Carmen materialized behind her. Carmen simply pointed both of the heart-headed men at the throne, firing balls of flame that blasted the throne away. Panther took a deep breathe, wiping a tear away as her Persona vanished and her mask rematerialized.

"Sorry, guys. I…I don't know what came over me." She apologized, and Joker simply patted her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it." Joker said, and they approached the large, garish painting. Pressing the brick on the side, they pushed it open and entered the Treasure Room. However, as soon as they entered the Treasure Room and noticed its contents, everyone went slackjawed. "Whoa…"

Floating in the center of the Treasure Room, where the large white blob had been the day before, floated a ridiculously large, ornate crown that was easily larger than a small car. "I wasn't expecting it to be this big…" Panther said, and all Skull could do was simply nod in agreement.

"Hngh…"

"I was expecting like, a trophy or something. Not…this." Skull remarked.

"Mmm…mrrrr…"

"Honestly, same. Getting this thing out of here is going to be a huge pain." Joker said, and turned to Mona, who almost seemed to be shaking. "Hey Mona, any idea on how we can…Mona?"

"Mrrrr….MRRRRROWWWWWWW~" They all winced at the shrill, loud, almost unholy sound that came out of Mona's mouth, and Mona launched himself onto the treasure, rubbing his body on is and rolling around on the treasure with an expression of pure ecstasy on his face. All the Phantom Thieves could do was watch, caught in a state between amusement, embarrassment, and sheer horror.

"Uh…what the hell is going on?" Skull aksed after about a minute.

"Meow~ meowwwww~"

"Hey, Mona!" Panther said, but he didn't seem to hear her.

"Meoooooowwww~"

"Mona, snap out of it!" Joker finally shouted, and that seemed to bring Mona back to his senses. He realized what he had just been doing, and a look of sheer embarrassment spread over his face.

"O-oh! I-I'm sorry you all had to see that. Please forgive me for displaying such inappropriate behavior in front of a Lady." He apologized as he hopped off the Treasure.

"What was all that about? You were completely out of character just now." Panther demanded, and Mona sheepishly looked at the ground.

"I…I couldn't stop. To think that I'd be drawn to human desires like this…" His face seemed to light up as he looked up at them. "Wait, doesn't this mean that I'm truly human?"

"How the hell should we know?! All I know is that we ain't losin' our minds over this thing." Skull replied.

"So, now that …whatever that was…is out of the way, how do we get this thing out of here?" Joker asked, and Mona looked at the treasure.

"You'll have to carry it out of here yourself." Skull groaned.

"All you do is bark orders…" He grumbled as he looked over the crown. "Still, this was a piece of cake. I thought for sure Kamoshida'd set some kinda trap or something."

"He must have figured that he'd catch us on our way up here or something." Panther commented, but Joker wasn't quite convinced. "So, if we get this thing out of here, then this place will disappear, and Kamoshida'll change too, right?" She asked, and Mona nodded.

"I believe so."

"Well then, what're we waiting for? Let's move!" Skull stated, and the humans all got on a side of the crown and grabbed it.

"Ughh, this thing's so heavy…" Panther grunted out, Mona watching as they did so.

"Remember, lift with your knees!" The not-cat coached, and they began to move, albeit slowly. Mona watched as they moved. It was slow going, but soon they were outside of the treasure room, slowly moving across the Throne Room. Jolyne grunted as they passed the spot where the Throne had once stood, constantly readjusting her grip so that she didn't drop the rather weighty crown.

"Almost there…" She grunted out, the others readjusting their grips as they walked…

"Go go, Kamoshida~" A disturbingly shrill, ditzy, and yet familiar voice yelled out, and the crown was knocked out of their hands as a small projectile impacted the side of the crown. A bugle began to play as the Thieves jumped back so as not to be crushed by the crown, watching as a familiar shape jumped over them and landed where the throne once stood. He held his hands out, and the crown vanished, appearing normal sized in the hand of none other than King Kamoshida. To his right, clinging to him with a vacant expression on her face, was the cognitive Ann from the slave room downstairs. To his left stood a cognitive version of the Principal, dressed in garb resembling a court jester holding a bugle in his hands.

"All hail the glorious King Kamoshida, blessed be his name!" The Cognitive version of the Principal bellowed out, and the Shadow grinned as he rose to his full height, unflinching from the murderous glares being sent his way.

"Well, well, well, look who it is! Did you pitiful thieves really think that I would just let you just walk out of here with my Treasure? I knew Sakamoto was that dumb, but come on!" Shadow Kamoshida jeered, tossing the crown up and down in his hand as he sneered. "I won't let anyone take this! This proves that I am the king of this castle, and this world belongs to me!" Panther scowled, seeing the Cognitive version of herself clinging to the Shadow's side.

"Is that really how that bastard sees me?"

"Hey, Pervert!" Skull called out. "Were you just waiting to ambush us?"

"Please, I just made it easier to find you. All I had to do was wait until you made your move." The King barked. "I won't let you get away with humiliating me again! I'll finish you off myself, here and now!"

"That's our line, you mop headed pedophile!" Joker shouted, and the King simply sighed and shook his head.

"To think, all this over a simple misunderstanding…" Panther's face contorted in rage.

"How is this a misunderstanding? You abuse your players, rape your female students, then you cover it all up!" The volleyball coach's shadow chuckled at this.

"The ones around me were the ones that kept it secret. Adults who wish to share in my accomplishments-" He gestured to the cognitive Kobayakawa beside him. "-students who have the drives to become winners…they willingly protect me, so that we all may profit from it!" Skull's eyes widened.

"Proft…?"

"There are so many imbeciles that don't understand that, like you three and that idiot who tried to kill herself." Panther stiffened up at this. "What was her name again? Suzuki? Shimura? Ah, who the hell cares?"

"Shiho…while it's true she may have been a bit of an idiot letting you manipulate her like that…I'm even more of an idiot for not having faith in her abilities and letting things get to that point!" Panther said, her whip materializing. "But no matter how much of an idiot someone might be…they still don't need your persmission to live their lives!" She shouted, and cracked her whip. Kamoshida simply watched as they all materialized their weapons.

"What does it matter if I use my talents for my own gain? Mediocre peaseants like yourself simply don't realize that I'm simply a cut above regular humans!" The king bellowed out, and Joker scowled as she clenched her dagger.

"Cut above? Gimme a break, more like a cut below." Joker retorted. "Someone like you, who pushes down people weaker than you and takes advantage of their suffering…ask me, that makes you less than human. Far as I'm concerned, you're not a god. You're just some pitiful demon, obsessed with your sick desires!" The transfer student yelled…and Kamoshida simply laughed, his voice taking on a slight demonic tone.

"You're right. I'm not like you." He said, fark red energy beginning to pull around his feet as he grinned. The whole palace began to shake, and the black and red eergy began to bubble up around the Shadow as he pulled Cognitive Ann closer, a sinister grin on his face. "I am a demon, who RULES THIS WORLD!" Red and black energy erupted, consuming Kamoshida and his cognitive entourage.

"What the hell?!" Skull shouted.

"I've never seen anything like this…" Mona muttered out. All the group could do was watch as the energy erupted like a volcano. When it died down, Kamoshida had changed. He had morphed into a large pink demon that towered over them, wearing nothing but his cape and speedo. He had four arms, with a golden fork and golden knife in his lower arms, and a large riding crop and glass of wine in his upper arms, His head had large eyes that bulged out, with a row of jagged teeth for a mouth and a large tongue sticking out lazily, and the Treasure nestled atop his head between two horns that stuck out of his messy hair. Between his legs was a large golden trophy shaped cup that seemed to have legs sticking out of the top, and small humanoid figures were chained to where the throne had once stood.

"Hahahaha! Gyahahahaha! I'm allowed to do whatever I want!" Suguru Asomodeus Kamoshida bellowed out. Joker simply scoffed.

"This supposed to scare us? Take him down!" She ordered, Arsene appearing nehind her as her mask vanished. Arsense launched a blast of dark energy at Asomodeus. Carmen, Captain Kidd, and Zorro materialized behind their users as well, launching flames, blasts of electricity, and a gust of razor sharp wind at the large demon. All the attacks hit their mark, slightly staggering Asomodeus causing burn marks to appear on his chest.

"Ack! Damn brats, that hurt!" He complained, and used his massive fork to pick one of the pairs of legs out of his cup. His jagged mouth parted and the legs slid down his gullet. As soon as he swallowed, the injuries that the team had dealt him seemed to vanish. "Ah, much better!"

"Shit, he can heal?!" Skull exclaimed, and Asomodeus raised his knife, swinging it at them. The thieves scattered, with Mona narrowly avoiding the large golden blade. Joker and Skull took cover behind a pillar, firing at him with their weapons while Panther fired her submachine gun at him. The bullets seemed to injure him, but just like before, he ate a pair of legs out of his cup, and his injuries vanished.

"We'll never take him down as long as he can heal!" Mona analyzed, and Joker nodded.

"Skull, move up! I'll cover you!"

"On it!" Skull moved out from behind the pillar and ran towards his tormentor. As Asomodeus began to raise his fork and skewer Ryuji, Joker placed her hand over her mask.

"Come forth, Pyro Jack!" Her mask disappeared, and rather than Arsene appearing behind her, one of the small pumpkin creatures appeared. Pyro Jack and Carmen began shooting fireballs at Asomodeus, burining him and stopping him from skewering Skull. As Skull got closer, Kamoshida began to catch on fire, and that's when Zorror appeared behind Mona, swinging his rapier and generating a gust of wind. The wind only seemed to exacerbate the fire, causing the flames to spread across his demonic body.

"AHHHHHH! IT BURNS IT BURNS!" At this moment, Skull ran full sprint towards Kamoshida, and leapt up into the air.

"Captain Kidd!" The large ethereal pirate ship appeared behind him, and it slammed into the trophy cup, crushing it beneath the ship part of the Persona. Captain Kidd vanished as Skull leapt backwards, narrowly avoiding Asomodeus's knife.

"No! That was the trophy I won at the nationals! How dare you even touch it?!" The enraged demon bellowed out as the flames died, and that's when Ann caught his eye. "Princess…" He hissed out, and Panther suddenly felt herself in a cold sweat. This feeling of uncomfort was soon proven to be justified, as his pink tongue suddenly shot out towards her. Panther managed to duck, and lauched herself forward just as he brought the tongue down, the force demolishing the balcony she had just been standing on.

"Gross!" Panther commented, landing on the ground next to Mona. "Mona, why's he like this?"

"I-I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before!" He replied, and looked at the crown on Asomodeus's head. "This all started over his desire to protect his Treasure and maintain his distorted heart. So if we can take that away…" He looked over at Joker, who was behind a pillar next to Skull. "Joker! If we can take away the crown, we'll be able to defeat him!"

"Easier said than done!" Joker called back, and Kamoshida raised his riding crop and pointed at them. The small figures chained up around him began to run off behind him, and returned holding a large volleyball.

"That doesn't look good…" Skull said, and Asomodeus took the ball into his hands.

"Get ready to get a good taste of my glory!" He bellowed, and tossed the large ball up in the air. Joker's eyes widened as he began to jump up in the air.

"Everybody run!" Panther and Mona ran for the doorway and took cover behind it, but when Skull and Joker began to run for the doorway, Skull let out a cry of pain as he clutched his knee and fell to the ground.

"Dammit, not now!" He groaned, and Joker picked him up and dragged him towards the doorway.

"What's wrong?"

"Damn knee…" He gtunted out, and that's when Kamoshida spiked the volleyball down. They were nowhere near the doorway, and Joker frantically looked around. The only place that could shelter them was a large piece of rubble from the balcony his tongue had knocked down…but it was only big enough for one person. Joker didn't hesitate, tossing Ryuji against the rubble just as the volleyball hit the ground. While it didn't hit Jolyne herself, the impact generated a large shockwave comparable to a bomb, one that she caught the full brunt of. The shockwave propelled her forward, causing her to skid across the floor.

"Joker!"

"No!" Mona and Panther began to run towards her, only for Kamoshida to land between them and Joker's body.

"Dammit!" Skull cursed from nehind the rubble, running towards them as he was forced to watch as Kamoshida began to raise his knife.

"This is the price you pay for defying me!"

Jolyne's head was ringing. Everything was sore, her vision was cloudy, and she could feel something hot and sticky on the side of her head. She couldn't move her body, and she could only simly feel the vibrations from Kamoshida landing. She managed to weakly turn her head, seeing Kamoshida begin to raise his golden knife. Is this it? All that fighting, all that planning…only to die like this? She thought.

"You are a prisoner of fate." Those words rang out in the back of her head. "You are a slave. Want emancipation?" Those words…had Igor said them? She couldn't remember who had said that, all she knew as that a soft voice spoke it in the back of her head. Was it Arsene? No, it didn't sound like her.

"I hold your futures in my hand!" Kamoshida, the real world version, had said those words to her when they had confronted him in his office after Shiho's suicide attempt. Jolyne had refused to accept that, refused to allow someone such as him to dictate her future. After what had happened in Nagasaki, and the lawsuit that exiled her to Tokyo in the first place, she refused to allow a man like him to dictate the path of her life. But now it looked like it had all been for naught, as she was at his mercy.

Fate…fate was something she had always hated. Jolyne had always believed that one made their own path in life, and that nothing could ever force her down a path she never wanted. But the events of the past few months, and now…now, she could feel fate bearing down on her. The burden of fate was weighing her down, restricting every facet of her being. Trying to break through fate felt like trying to swim against a stone ovean: it was cold, it was unmoving, and it was unrelenting. But as Jolyne watched Kamoshida bring his knife down on her, she was struck with a desire. She wanted to live. She wanted to endure. She wanted to be…she wanted to be…

Free.

"What?!" Asomodeus bellowed out, and Ryuji stopped running towards them, as did Ann and Morgana. The knife was about to impale Jolyne…only it had stopped just as it was about to reach her. What had stopped the knife were too pale blue arms that materialized beside Jolyne, grabbing the knife and stopping it. Strings were coming out of her body, composing and linking the arms to her.

"Hey, bastard…" Joker muttered as she began to stand. "…if I'm not mistaken, I made you a promise…" the strings began to emerge from her body, raveling together to form a humanoid shape. "I promied you…" the form began to take shape. It was humanoid, about Joker's height and build. It had a light blue body with elliptical shoulder pads, hexagonal knee pads, and had several small studs from its midriff down. It appeared to have darksunglasses on its head, with four bladelike protrusions that went from its jaw to the back of its neck. "…that I'd make you shit out teeth for a week"

"Ora!" The strange figure took the knife and pulled it out of Asomodeus's hand, tossing it to the side. All the Phantom Thieves could do is watch dumbstruck, until Mona found himself.

"Well? Don't just stand there, take him down!" He ordered, and Panther and Skull regained their composures.

"Right! Captain Kidd!" Skull's mask vanished as his Persona appeared, slamming its ship into Kamoshida's leg. This brought him down to one knee, and that's when Panther and Mona made their move. She swung her whip and wrapped it around one of his lower arms, pulling herself and Mona up onto his back. The used his cape as leverage as they began to climb, and eventually reached the head where the Treasure rested.

"This is for Shiho, you fuck!" Panther yelled, and they pulled the crown off his head. It thudded to the ground behind them, causing him to gasp as they jumped off his back.

"No! Not my treasure!" He shouted, and once the treasure was off of him, his body began to dissolve into black and red ichor. "No no no no!" Kamoshida cried out as he returned to his normal form. "Please, just take my treasure and go! Just leave me alone."

"Sorry, we're past that." Joker said, cracking her kuckles, the figure behind her duplicating her movements. "Hey, Mona. You said we need him alive, right?" Mona nodded at this.

"That's right." He answered, and Joker grinned.

"Good."

"No please, do-" Kamoshida's pleas were cut off by the strange figure's fist smashing into his face. He staggered back, and Jolyne rolled her neck.

"Lets make him suffer…Stone Free!" She ordered.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!" The figure called out, rapidly punching Kamoshida so fast that their eyes had trouble keeping track. "Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraroaoraoraora!" Stone Free relented in its onslaught temporarily, only to deliver one more punch to Kamoshida, sending him flying. "Ora!" The figure cried out, and faded away, leaving a confused group of Phantom Thieves.

"So uh, I think I speak for everyone when I say…what the eff was that?!" Ryuji asked, and Jolyne shrugged.

"I'm…not quite sure."

"That wasn't a Persona. It was something entirely different." Morgana stated.

"Have you ever seen anything like that before, Mona?" Ann asked, and he looked unsure of how to answer.

"I…may have. But we can worry about that later." He stated, and pointed to Kamoshida, who was trying to crawl away. Panther's narrowed her eyes, and stormed over to him. As soon as she was next to him, the leather clad woman kicked him in the stomach, and picked him up by his cape.

"Please, no more!" Kamoshida begged, but Panther wasn't hearing any of it. She spotted a window that had an outside balcony, and began to drag him over to it.

"Look!" She ordered, pulling him next to the rail. Skull made to go stop her, only for Joker to hold out her arm and stop him. "Do you see it? Walls closing in, with only one way out? This is the exact show that Shiho saw, all because of YOU and your twisted desires!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Kamoshida sobbed out, tears and snot mingling with the blood on his broken face. Panther simply sneered, pushing him against the rail.

"Sorry?! You're sorry?!" Anger burned in her blue eyes, her Persona manifesting behind her as her mask vanished. "We passed 'sorry' a long time ago, you sick son of a bitch! Shiho's entire life was ruined because of you!" A flame materialized in Carmen's hand, and the Thieves could only watch. Carmen threw the fireball, Ryuji about to run and stop her…only for the fire ball to hit the wall next to Kamoshida.

"She…didn't kill him?" He asked, and Ann turned away from the broken king, her mask returning to her face.

"He can't confess to his crimes if his brain shuts down. That's the only reason I'm sparing his miserable life." She coldly answered as she walked past them, and Kamoshida fell to his knees.

"I've lost, and when you've lost…you're through." He sobbed out, hanging his head in defeat. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Atone for your sins." Joker stated, causing him to look at her.

"But…how?"

"I don't care. Just atone, or we'll be back." She said, and surprisingly, Kamoshida smiled.

"Thank you. I'll return to my real self and begin to atone." Kamoshida began to glow, and vanished in a flash of light. As soon as he vanished, the whole palace began to rumble.

"We need to move, now!" Mona said, and Joker picked up the Treasure, which had shrunken down to a normal size. The shaking began to grow more intense, and Joker turned to the group.

"Run!" And they did just that. As the Castle of Lust began to collapse around them, the Phantom Thieves began to run through the collapsing Palace as fast as they could. Joker was in the lead, with Skull and Panther right behind her.

"We're not gonna make it!" Panther yelled, dodging a falling piece of debris.

"Not with that attitude we're not!" Joker yelled, when Morgana leapt on top of Panther's head in his cat form.

"What…?" Morgana jumped onto Skull's head, then onto Joker's shoulder.

"Pick up the pace, slowpokes!" He called back.

"That damn cat…" Ryuji cursed, while praying his knee didn't give out again.

"Al…most….there…"

Aoyame

The Phantom Thieves tumbled into the real world, finding themselves in the alleyway they had entered the Palace from. "Ugh, that was close…" Ryuji groaned, helping Ann up off the ground.

"I'll say. That sucked." Ann panted out. Jolyne's phone chimed, and she pulled it out of her blazer pocket.

"The Destination has been deleted." The Meta-Nav chimed.

"So we can't go back there?" Ann asked.

"That'd be rather hard to do, considering it no longer exists." Morgana said, only for his eyes to widen. "Wait, what about the treasure?" Jolyne felt something in her blazer pocket, pulling out an identical version of the Olympic gold medal from the library.

"Is this it? What happened to the crown?"

"It means that this is the source of Kamoshida's desires. To him, this medal was worth as much as that crown." He explained, and Ryuji scowled.

"So that perv couldn't let go of his pas t glory, huh? Figures." The former track star spat out, anf that's when he noticed something. "Hey Jolyne, what happened to the blood on your face?" She raised an eyebrow at this.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, back at the Palace, you got all banged up when he did that weird volleyball thing. Had blood pouring down your face." Jolyne adopted a quizzical expression, and felt the side of her face. Sure enough, there was no blood there, though everything did feel sore.

"Injuries suffered in the cognitive world don't carry over to the real world, as long as it's nothing too severe. You can't regenerate limbs, for instance, and death is death." Morgana explained, and Ann turned to him.

"So since we stole Kamoshida's treasure, does that mean we stole his heart?" The 'cat' shrugged.

"I'm not quite sure. This is the first successful example for me as well. We stole his treasure, and made his cognitive self promise to atone. We did everything we could. Now, all we have to do it wait." Jolyne sighed at Morgana's answer.

"Well, that sounds fun." She lamented, and tucked the medal back into her pocket.

"C'mon, aint there a way for us to know right away?"

"Not unless we want to track him down ourselves."

"Yeah, no thanks. I'm not going anywhere near him ever again." Ann stated, and she yawned. "Oh man, I'm beat. If we've done all we can, then I think I'll just head home."

"That sounds like a good idea. See you guys tomorrow?" Jolyne said, and Ryuji looked like he wanted to say something, but decided against it. At least, he did until Ann had left.

"Hey, Jolyne, I'm…I'm sorry that I slowed you down out there. Didn't know my bum knee would just give out like that. You really saved my ass out there." He said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it. You would've done the same thing for me."

"Not like that. You didn't even hesitate. What I'm tryin' to say is…thank you." He managed to say, and Jolyne simply smiled.

"Don't mention it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat." He smiled back, and held up his fist. Jolyne fist bumped him, and that's when his phone chimed.

"My mom needs me to pick some things up for dinner tonight, so I gotta jet. See ya tomorrow." He said, and she bid him farewell, before departing herself.

Yongen-Jaya

"Welcome home." Sojiro greeted as Jolyne entered the restaurant. The coffeeshop was empty, save for one man sitting alone at a booth, wearing a large hat on top of his long, greasy blonde hair. Sojiro's unspoken order was clear: wait upstairs while there are customers here. Jolyne nodded in acknowledgement, and headed upstairs. However, as she passed the man at the booth, he looked at her, and smiled. Written on his teeth were the words 'GO! GO! ZEPPELI!', with the two GO's occupying his top teeth. Jolyne simply ignored him and headed upstairs, letting Morgana out of his bag.

"Well that guy was certainly creepy." She commented, and Morgana nodded.

"What do you think was wrong with his teeth?"

"I don't know, but that hair looks like he didn't know what a shower was. I guess you get all types here in the city…" Jolyne remarked, and fell on to the couch. "So, we finally did it. We beat Kamoshida."

"I knew you could do it. There's something about you that makes me feel like we can accomplish anything." Morgana said, hopping onto the couch next to her.

"So about that thing I did in the Palace, Stone Free. You said you've seen something like it before?"

"Well, I think I have. It's not quite like what I'm thinking of, but it's similar." He replied. "It's tied into that string power, right? Try using it now." He instructed, and Jolyne closed her eyes. She barely had to think about it before the pale blue figure materialized in front of her, it's face unmoving and expressionless.

"What do you think it is?"

"It's definitely not a Persona, that's for sure." He mused. Jolyne tilted her head, and Stone Free did the same. She raised her left hand, and it did the same. She did several movements, the figure duplicating this one. It didn't appear sentient, not like Arsene and the other Personas she possessed were.

"And just when I think I've gotten a handle on things, too. Gimme a break…" Jolyne yawned, rubbing her eyes as the figure dispersed. She and Morgana would stay up a bit longer, chatting about various things such as the City, classes, etc., before they turned in for the night.

Wednesday, 4/20/20XX, Morning

Jolyne had arrived at school a little early today, and was walking towards her classroom, when she spied Kawakami and Ushimaru talking about something by his classroom. She was going to ignore it, when she saw Ushimaru mouth out something that looked a lot like 'Kamoshida.' Hiding behind a corner, she began unraveling a string from her finger, extending it towards the two and eavesdropping on their conversation. "…leave of absence? Did he say how long?" Kawakami asked, and Ushimaru simply shrugged.

"All I know is what I heard from Chouno-san. Apparently, Principal Kobayakawa got a call in the middle of the night from Kamoshida-san, and he said he was taking a leave of absence. Though she expects he'll be back by the board meeting at the beginning of May." Ushimaru explained, and Kawakami sighed.

"Do you think this has anything to do with that strange message yesterday?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps the stress of the accusations was simply too much for Kamoshida-san? I know I wouldn't be able to handle being accused of being responsible for Suzui's suicide like that." Jolyne withdrew her string, thinking over what she had heard. If Kamoshida was taking a leave of absence, then did that mean the change of heart had worked? She couldn't be sure, not until Kamoshida himself confessed.

Afternoon

JC: Did you guys hear about Kamoshida?

RS: You mean his leave of absence?

AT: Do you think this has anything to do with the change of heart?

JC: Morgana seemed to think so.

RS: I ain't relaxin' until I hear the confession coming out of his perverted mouth,

AT: Same.

JC: All we can do is wait, just like Morgana said.

JC: Personally, I'm looking forward to a week without any weird shit happening to me here.

Yongen-Jaya

Sojiro was in Leblanc, preparing himself mentally for the lunch rush. It was never particularly busy, seeing as few businessman ever deigned to take time out of their busy routines to travel to Yongen, but he liked to be prepared nonetheless, just in case. He was currently preparing the ingredients for a fresh batch of coffee, when he heard the bell above the door ring. "Excuse me, are you Sojiro Sakura?" A man;s voice asked.

"At your service. What'll you have?" Sojiro asked, and turned to the man. The first thing he noticed was his strange haircut, with a fashion Sojiro could've sworn went out of style at least 20 years ago

"I'm looking for my niece. I was told she lives here now?" The man asked, and Sojiro raised an eyebrow.

"Your niece? Do you mean Jolyne?" He asked, and the man slapped himself in the head.

"Oh man, I'm sorry. Totally forgot my manners. Let me introduce myself." The man was in his early 30's, with purple eyes and features indicating a heritage of both Japanese and American. His dark hair was done up into a pompadour, and he wore a white jacket over a yellow shirt. On the left side of the jacket there was a golden heart pin, while on the right there was a golden peace sign. The jacket's sleeves were pushed up, revealing a tattoo on his right arm of three purple vines spiraling down from his wrist. The man extended his hand toward Sojiro, and smiled. "My name is Josuke Higashikata. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sojiro-san."