AN: This story is basically just going to be a rampaging bookworm destroying canon. There will definitely be spoilers for P5 and P5R (as I will be incorporating some elements of it. Not Maruki, Kasumi, or Sumire), including in this Author's Note. Seriously, stop reading now if you haven't finished the game and don't want spoilers.
When I first came up with the idea for Urano Motosu as a Phantom Thief of Heart, I planned on having her be an illegitimate child of Shido's. However, I came to the conclusion that Akechi searching for potential siblings, finding out about Urano, and deciding to involve her was convoluted. I ultimately went with Sojiro after realizing the similarities between Urano and Futaba (energetic, troublemaking weirdos obsessed with their hobbies to the point of ignoring the world around them, yet also possessing ridiculous amounts of talent).
I hope you all enjoy this story.
—
April 4 – Monday
Urano Motosu's PoV
"Urgh," I groaned, rubbing my eyes as I sat up.
Did I fall asleep? The last thing I remember was reading a book. I glanced at my surroundings in hopes of sparking a memory, only to get the shock of a lifetime.
I was on a bed in a prison cell! I was wearing one of those black-and-white striped prison outfits that you see in TV shows and manga! And there were shackles on my arms and a ball-and-chain around my left ankle! What the heck was going on!?
As I sat up and freaked out over these questions, a pair of twin young girls in police-themed cosplay walked up to the cell bars. They had eyepatches on opposite eyes and looked totally adorable.
"Cute," I muttered, briefly distracted from my panic.
Realizing the girls might have answers, I staggered over to them. It was a bit of a struggle to reach them due to the combination of the ball-and-chain, the strange sluggishness I felt, and my general lack of fitness.
When I got to the bars, the girls stepped aside to reveal a creepy-looking man sitting at a desk. He had balding grey hair, bloodshot eyes, long, pointy ears, and an even longer and pointier nose. He was leaning on his desk with his hands clasped together in front of his face, although this did nothing to conceal the disturbingly broad smile on his face. In summation, he looked like a classic villain.
"Trickster, welcome to my Velvet Room," spoke the man in a deep voice, his overly-large smile not shrinking a millimeter as he spoke.
Wow, his creepiness levels just rose even higher.
"So you've come to, Inmate," spoke the girl on the right in a sassy voice. It bothered me a bit how disrespectful she sounded, though I was willing to let it slide for now because of how cute she looked, trying to act tough.
"The you in reality is currently fast asleep," spoke the girl on the left in a calmer, more polite voice. That was charming in its own way, like she was pretending to be an adult. "You are only experiencing this as a dream."
A dream? This felt a bit too real to be my imagination.
I pinched my cheeks as a test and, sure enough, felt it. The polite girl gave me an odd look as I did so, while the creepy man simply chuckled. As for the sassy girl…
"Don't fool around in the presence of our master!" she shouted, slamming a baton – an electrified baton – against the cell's bars for emphasis. "And stand up straight!"
"Eep!" I yelped, startled by her actions. Why did she have an electrified baton!? And 'master'? If this actually was a dream, then it was a very strange one.
"Welcome," greeted the man, presumably the girl's 'master.' "I am delighted to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise?" I replied uncertainly. The sassy girl scowled at me, but the man continued speaking before she could say or do anything.
"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' can enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well. I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well."
"Important matters?" I echoed.
"Know your place Inmate!" yelled the girl, who was rapidly becoming a lot less cute. She banged on the cell bars with the electrified baton again, forcing me with let go of it. "Who do you think you're talking to!?"
"Still, this is a surprise," continued Igor, ignoring the girl's outburst. "The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such."
I winced, the reason for this Velvet Room's appearance immediately coming to mind. I pushed those thoughts down, instead focusing on what Igor was saying.
"You truly are a 'prisoner' of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."
"Are you kidding me?" I asked. The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them. It was frustrating to think that my misfortunes weren't over yet. Luckily, Igor chuckled at my complaint.
"Worry not," he said. "There is a means to oppose such a fate."
I sighed in relief. At least one thing was finally going my way. I leaned forward, excited to hear how I could escape further tragedy. "What do I have to do?"
"You must be 'rehabilitated.' Rehabilitated toward freedom. That is your only means to avoid ruin. Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?"
Great. Cryptic nonsense. Usually, when reading a book with lines like that, I would be happy for the excuse to reread it again later and admire the author's foreshadowing, but in real life (dream life?) I'd rather just get a straight answer.
"Can't I just avoid the ruin?" I asked, not wanting to 'challenge the distortion,' whatever that meant. It sounded like it would cut into my reading time.
"Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation."
So much for the easy way out.
The two girls moved back in front of my cell, eliciting a response from Igor.
"Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others," he apologized. "To your right is Caroline. To your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here."
I guess the Velvet Room doesn't have any child labor laws or minimum age requirements.
"Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you'd like," said Caroline derisively.
"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates," said Justine. "We are also your collaborators. That is, if you remain obedient."
Okay, now both of them were making me uneasy.
"I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion," stated Igor, confirming that I wouldn't be getting any answers here today. "Now then, it seems our time here is waning. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually."
Igor made a gesture, and an alarm started to ring.
"Times up!" declared Caroline. "Now hurry up and go back to sleep."
My mind started to grow fuzzy, and everything around me faded into darkness.
—
Sojiro Sakura's PoV
As Sojiro sat in his car and waited for the light to turn green, he looked over at his passenger, Urano. The girl who would be his houseguest for the next several months. His illegitimate daughter.
It had been a shock to Sojiro when he had suddenly received a call from an ex-girlfriend telling him he had a teenage daughter (which a paternity test later confirmed), especially after she asked him to take in said daughter for a school year. However, once he heard the circumstances behind the request, Sojiro couldn't bring himself to refuse.
Of course, that didn't mean he felt prepared. His only knowledge of parenting came from taking care of Futaba, and Sojiro doubted that those experiences would be applicable here… or so he thought before meeting Urano. The way that Urano had her nose in a book the entire drive – barring a brief nap that ended when a car horn woke her up – reminded him of Futaba's habit of shutting out the world around her while on her computer.
The light turned green. As the drive home came closer to its end, Sojiro mustered up the nerve to have a rather difficult conversation with his daughter.
"Hey, there's something I need to tell you before we get to my home," began Sojiro, an unsuccessful attempt to get Urano's attention. After a few more failures, he recalled her mother's advice and placed a hand over the book she was reading. Urano looked over at him, scowling slightly.
"We've already gone over the details of this arrangement," he continued. "You'll be living in my house and attending Shujin Academy, which the principal has agreed to let you tour tomorrow due to how late you enrolled. You'll also be working at LeBlanc part-time."
The latter had been her mother's idea. A way to get Urano's head out of her books for a bit and develop her people skills, according to the woman. Urano had apparently accepted the job so that she would have a source of 'book money.'
"However, there's one more thing I need to tell you," said Sojiro. "I didn't want to spring this on you, but it isn't exactly an easy thing to talk about. You see, for the past few years, I've been taking care of a girl named Futaba…"
As he spoke, Sojiro made a silent wish that Urano and Futaba would be able to help one another recover from their respective tragedies.
—
Urano Motosu's PoV
A bit after Sojiro told me about Futaba and her mother, we arrived at his house. He dropped me off, then went to his café to work.
Once I finished unpacking my things, I checked the time on my phone and deleted a weird app I don't remember downloading. Seeing that there was still an hour before dinner, I tried reading the rest of my book. However, I just couldn't concentrate on it.
Putting the book down, I walked over to Futaba's room. Sojiro had told me that Futaba would only be there or in the bathroom, and the bathroom was empty. I could see light leaking out from under the door, which probably meant she was awake. I knocked on the door but didn't get a response.
"Futaba?" I called out. My phone made a muffled noise, which I ignored. "Can you hear me?"
Still no response, either because she was listening to something on her computer or because she didn't want to talk with me. I decided to keep trying anyway.
"I know Sojiro already told you about this, but I'm Urano Motosu and I'll be living in this house for a while. I was hoping we could get along."
Unfortunately, the only noise I heard other than my own voice was my phone beeping again. Feeling dispirited by the lack of a reply, I decided to make one final attempt at conversation.
"I've been reading a really interesting book lately," I said. All books were great, but this story was particular exciting. "It's called 'The Pharaoh's Tomb.'"
My last resort did, in fact, get a response. But not from Futaba.
"Beginning navigation," said a feminine voice on my phone.
A spell of dizziness hit me out of nowhere. The world around me appeared to distort, as if it were a pond that somebody had thrown rocks into. I stumbled and fell, but what I landed on wasn't the wooden floor of Sojiro's house.
I landed on sand, with no signs of Sojiro's house (or anything else) in sight.
—
Futaba Sakura's PoV
Futaba didn't have much. Her mother had died committed suicide because of her, her father was as nonexistent as Ash's in Pokémon, and the rest of her family ignored her or was terrible. She didn't have any friends, either. Her mother Only Sojiro cared about her, and even that might end soon now that he has a real daughter.
Urano Motosu. Some hacking had confirmed the legitimacy of her relationship to Sojiro story, as well as a fairly nondescript background. The only thing of note was Urano also being raised by just her mother an absurd number of book purchases.
Sojiro would probably prefer Urano to a mother-killing shut-in. Futaba had always thought that her room would be her tomb, but now it felt like she wasn't even that lucky. Urano had already made one attempt to talk to her to raid her inner sanctum and steal her meager treasures. Urano had given up and left, judging by the silence after she brought up a book title, but there was no doubt in Futaba's mind that she was reading a book.
T̵̩͆̅h̶̍͝ͅá̶̝ț̴̦̋ ̸̜̔̓t̴͉̊h̴̬̏ẽ̴͚̽ ̴͕̠͌͌b̶̖̋â̷̮̪͆n̴͔̅d̵̳̯̄͌i̵̞̾̔t̶̤͚̑͂ ̸̨̤͆̌w̵̼̖͊á̴͙̝̾s̶̰̅ ̴̜̹͛p̷͙̻͆l̵͓̃̋õ̴̝͕͒t̶̠͆͘t̶̞̄i̵̳̜̊n̷͓͝g̵̻͚͝ ̷͙̅̉h̵̥̄̉e̷̥̔̈́ŗ̴͝ ̴̣̹̒͛n̴̪̋̚e̷̫̿̕x̷̨͌̊t̵̝̐͝ ̶̫̱͋r̸̡͖̍̌ạ̵̐i̶̻̭̋d̶̦͖͊̈.
—
Urano Motosu's PoV
The desert heat was sweltering! Worse, I was dressed for April weather, making the temperature feel particularly oppressive.
"I wish some nice desert people could show up and provide some shade, water, and books," I muttered, trying and failing to distract myself from the heat. Not knowing what else to do, I began walking in the direction of the desert's only landmark: a mysterious bright light on the horizon.
As I wandered, I thought about my current predicament. I had no idea where I was or how I got here. Nobody else was around, and I would definitely die of heat stroke or dehydration if I couldn't find water or shelter from the sun's rays.
"Dying on April fourth… 4/4. I really don't want that kind of luck."
Unfortunately, it seemed like I did have that kind of luck. Without warning, a burst of black and red light erupted by my feet. From the light rose a cloaked figure that was wearing a mask and carrying a curved sword. Before I could think 'maybe this person is friendly,' the figure cackled in a decidedly female voice.
"How lucky," she said. "I've stumbled upon a tutorial stage before raiding the tomb!"
After making that strange declaration, the woman swung her sword. I tried jumping back to avoid it but ended up stumbling over the sand and falling on my butt. The swing missed as a result, but now I wasn't in a position to dodge another strike or run away from the violent woman.
I was going to die.
A thousand thoughts and memories flashed through my mind as I resigned myself to this fate. There was nothing I could do to save myself. I was just a teenage bookworm.
"This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none."
A female voice spoke directly into my head as the world around me seemed to slow down. The only thing moving at regular speed was a blue butterfly flapped by, a sight that I felt oddly transfixed by.
"But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you…"
I didn't understand what the voice was talking about, but her words reignited my desire to survive. Even if it was probably impossible, I'd rather try and fail than simply accept death!
"Hold on!" I cried as the passage of time returned to normal, desperately trying to think of anything I could say to stop or even slow down the woman. "What tomb!?"
Miraculously, my question worked. The woman, who had raised her sword to cut me down, paused to cackle again.
"How foolish are you, not knowing about Futaba's Tomb?" derided the woman. "Aside from a shabby town of bandits, it's the only structure in this empty desert."
"Futaba?" I repeated.
"Yes," sneered the woman. "I'm going to rob her tomb blind! If my lucky streak continues, I might even have the chance to kill that pest myself!"
She was going to… kill Futaba? Rage welled up in me at the thought.
"You cannot avert your eyes any longer… Nor remain hidden away in a world of books. Deep down, you have always known of what lay outside your shelter… And simply chose to ignore it in favor of self-indulgence."
I'd only found out about her existence a few hours ago, but I could empathize with Futaba's desire to hide away from her troubles, burying herself in a passion for technology. In fact, it occurred to me that Mom had probably sent me to live with Sojiro out of fear that I would do the same with books if I stayed at home, surrounded by unpleasant reminders.
"Are you ready to abandon your sloth? To gaze upon the world's ugly realities?"
Plus, it was obvious from how he talked about her that Sojiro saw her as a daughter, and I would be damned if I let this weirdly-dressed woman hurt my more-or-less little sister!
"Yes," I answered. I was rewarded for my decision with a splitting headache, one that made me clutch head in agony.
"Excellent. Now heed the true power of these words. I am thou, thou art I… Thou who is willing to embrace the duality of mankind for thine own justice! Call my name!"
Consumed by the sensation of my skull splitting itself open, I only faintly noticed the dangerous woman cautiously take back a few steps back. Blue flames flickered across my vision, and my fingers found their way around something – a domino mask – that had formed on my face.
Guided by instinct, I gave the mask a tug. When it didn't budge, I pulled harder, screaming as I peeled off a layer of skin along with the mask. Blood dropped from my face, but I barely noticed.
"I choose you, Liesel!" I shouted as more blue flames engulfed my entire body. They faded away a moment later, revealing a black outfit that looked like something out of a shonen anime.
The bloody mask transformed, morphing into the shape of a young woman. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing what looked like a German military uniform, complete with a cap and rifle. For a brief moment I thought I saw her sport a psychotic grin, though it was gone a second later. Overall, Liesel was the stereotypical image of a person from Nazi Germany, one that didn't resemble her namesake in the slightest.
Knowledge of Liesel's abilities flowed into my mind. Glaring at the woman who had threatened to hurt Futaba, I used Liesel's attack move.
"Kouha!" I shouted. Liesel raised her rifle and fired a blast of light at the woman. She blocked it with her sword, though the light burst on impact and blew the weapon out of her hands.
"Damnit!" cursed the woman. She glared at me. "That's it! You're going down!"
The woman's form distorted, morphing into a whirl of black and red lights that settled into the shape of a large bird.
"Garu!" shouted the woman/bird, striking me with a burst of wind. She then flew into me, knocking me to the ground. The woman/bird kept up the pressure, scratching me with her talons.
"Kouha!" I yelled, the ensuing blast knocking her away. As I got back to my feet, I winced from the damage she had done to me. Fortunately, there was still Liesel's other ability. "Dia."
A spherical light engulfed me, and I felt the pain lessen as my injuries shrank. They weren't gone completely, but I didn't have the leeway to fix them completely. The woman/bird – maybe I should call her a Garuda, like the mythical bird, since she said Garu earlier – was still raring to fight, and I instinctively knew that using Kouha and Dia spent energy that I only possessed a finite amount of.
"Garu!" shouted the Garuda, attacking again. However, I was ready this time and jumped out of the way of the attack. She followed up by lunging at me, talons first.
Wow. Even though she called me a tutorial stage, she was the one repeating the same basic attack pattern. But who am I to complain when her straightforward assault means she's walking directly into my counterattack?
"Kouha!"
Liesel's light hit the Garuda dead on, the blast damaging the bird enough that she took a nosedive. She slammed into the sand in front of me, allow me to deliver the coup-de-grace.
"Kouha!"
The Garuda's body spasmed as the light struck her, then went still for a moment before dissolving into black and red. As the lights dissipated to reveal a papyrus scroll, Liesel reverted into a domino mask.
Picking up and unrolling the scroll revealed a map for a pyramid. It didn't do me any good, though, and I didn't have anywhere to put it. My new outfit hadn't come with a bag, and the pockets weren't large enough to hold it.
The thought of my new clothes prompted me to examine them. With them on, I looked like some sort of cool rebel. After striking a pose or two, I checked my pockets and found my phone.
"Ah, right!" I exclaimed. I had completely forgotten about it after the change of scenery. "Maybe I can call someone for help."
Unfortunately, I quickly found out that there was no reception. I also discovered that the weird red app was back. Hmm… a mysterious app that wouldn't go away and suddenly being teleported to a desert. It sounded like something out of a story. However, I didn't really have any other ideas, so I opened the app.
As it turned out, it was a navigation app. The search history listed a single navigation with the keywords 'Futaba,' 'this house,' and 'tomb.' Apparently, it was voice-activated and had reacted to my attempts at conversation.
"I don't suppose you can take me back to 'this house'?" I asked my phone in a dry voice.
"Beginning navigation."
Huh, I guess it could.
Once again, the world around me began to distort. When things returned to normal, I found myself wearing my regular clothes back in the hallway of Sojiro's house.
"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back."
—
Morgana's PoV
"The intruder went that way!" shouted a knight, using his sword to indicate to his comrades which direction he was talking about. "After him!"
The knights ran down the hallway, completely missing Morgana as he hid behind a _. It was rather fortunate for him, as there were too many knights for him to deal with alone.
"If only that one knight hadn't seen me," Morgana muttered to himself.
It had been a stroke of bad luck. He had caught a glimpse of a treasure chest and decided to get a closer look. However, at the exact moment he left his cover, one of Kamoshida's knights had entered the area.
Morgana had tried to take down the Shadow but hadn't been able to land a decisive blow. The Bicorn was able to escape and raise the alarm. The end result was his current situation, having to sneak his way past the numerous squads patrolling the Palace. He wasn't too worried about getting caught, though.
Instead, Morgana's frustration lay in the current security level. He would have to leave the Palace for a few days, stalling his progress on regaining his memories and true form. Plus, since he didn't have any leads on other Palaces, he'd just be stuck loitering around the school until the security level dropped back down.
"This would be a lot easier if I had some help," complained Morgana. But he didn't linger on the thought, not wanting to think about how alone he was. After all, nobody could understand him when he spoke outside of the Metaverse, much less be his friend.
—
Urano Motosu's PoV
After returning to the 'real world,' I felt a wave of exhaustion roll over me. I knew that what had happened was real since the papyrus scroll was still in my hand, but that just made me feel even more drained. I returned to my room and hid the scroll under my bed.
A part of me just wanted to forget about everything that had happened and go back to reading. However, Liesel's words echoed in my mind. I couldn't just bury myself in my books and ignore these strange events, especially when they might involve Futaba.
On the other hand, there wasn't really anything I could until I regained my strength. I spent the rest of the day reading, only taking a bring to have dinner with Sojiro. I got a brief glimpse of Futaba when Sojiro brought her a plate of curry and she opened the door to her room just long enough to grab it.
When I went to bed that night, I awoke in the Velvet Room. I was still handcuffed and in prison stripes, but the ball-and-chain was gone.
"About time you've come to," said Caroline, just as harsh as last time. "On your feet Inmate!"
"Our master wishes to speak to you," explained Justine as I got up. "It's for your own sake that you take his words to heart."
"Does this have anything to do with that desert?" I asked.
"Oh? You've awakened to your powers – and special ones at that," commented Igor, ignoring my question. He didn't actually seem all that surprised, though. "Your rehabilitation can finally begin."
"My powers? You mean Liesel?"
"There is no need to understand it all for the time being. You will be training the power of Persona, which you have awakened to. Personas are, in other words, a 'mask.' An armor of the heart when confronting worldly matters."
Igor's words reminded me of a psychology book I read a while back. The term persona was coined by a scientist in the field. Sigmund Jung, I think.
"I have high expectations for you," continued Igor.
"…That I'll do what?" I inquired, hoping for a clearer answer than the ones about 'rehabilitation' and 'Personas.'
"There is no need to worry. You will learn when the time comes."
If this were an anime, I would have collapsed comically at the non-answer.
"By the by… have you come to appreciate the Metaverse Navigator?" asked Igor. "Using it will allow you to come and go between reality and Palaces."
"Metaverse Navigator? Palaces?"
"…I bestowed it to you as a means to train you as a thief."
I was starting to feel like Igor wasn't really listening to me.
"The Metaverse Navigator is a gift from our master!" declared Caroline. "You better take care in using it, Inmate!"
"Devote yourself to your training so that you may become a fine thief," advised Justine.
Somehow, I felt like neither of the girls would give me a straight answer either.
"It must be disheartening to make use of the Metaverse Navigator alone," noted Igor. "Should there be others who would prove beneficial to you, I will grant it to them as well. This is all for you to grow as a most excellent thief."
"But isn't becoming a thief the opposite of rehabilitation?" I questioned, again thinking about how shady he was.
Sadly, that was when the same alarm that signaled the end of our last meeting rang.
"Hmph, it's time," grumbled Caroline, probably wishing she had the chance to bully me a little longer. "Go back and enjoy whatever rest you might have."
Like that, my first day living with my father came to a close.
—
AN: Urano's Persona, Liesel, refers to Liesel Meminger, the protagonist of "The Book Thief." My reason for choosing her should be obvious. She has high magical power and low physical power, also for obvious reasons. *cough* the ever-fainting Saint of Ehrenfest *cough*
Liesel's design is basically an older version of Tanya the Evil (German + young girl), as I am not good at designing the appearances of characters. For the same reason, Urano's Phantom Thief outfit is that of the P5 protagonist.
Also, in case it wasn't clear, the reason that Shadow spawned right where Urano was and with a map in hand was because of Futaba feeling threatened by Urano. As for why it wasn't a full-on Cognitive Urano (aside from me not feeling like writing it), well, Futaba barely knows Urano. All of the in-game Cognitive people were individuals that the Palace Rulers had spent extended periods of time around. The two girls haven't even met face-to-face.