Chapter 18: Depths of Tokyo

(A)

"Woah."

"The hell is this place?"

The subway now looked almost post-apocalyptic, the entire area red tinted as if taken through a colored filter and root-like tendrils sprouting out at various points, like the tops and bottoms of pillars or the entrances and exits of the escalators. The only thing that wasn't...

"Wait, our clothes changed?!"

"The Shadows know we're here?!"

...were their thief outfits, all modern and rebellious. Though at the very least everyone else's color palettes blended with the place. She was the only one that stuck out like a sore thumb with her white cloak.

"The moment we stepped in," Mona said.

Skull glared at him. "You should've told us."

"Again," Rogue said, still miffed about the collapsing Palace.

"Don't worry. We're still safe here."

Joker tilted his head. "Like in a safe room?"

The non-feline shook his head. "Not exactly. The distortion isn't weaker here, but from all the times I've investigated, the Shadows never come up here."

"Huh. Don't know why I'm guessing?"

"Well, no, once we pass here, the place is teeming with them. Almost like this place is attracting them. So my guess is that they have no reason to leave."

Rogue sighed. "Best we're gonna get I guess..."

Then Panther said, "More importantly, what is this Mementos?! You better start explaining."

"Mementos? Mementos is...everyone's Palace."

Rogue and Joker gave him an inquisitive look.

"Huh? Whaddya mean 'everyone's'?" Skull said, confused.

"A place as grand as Kamoshida's Palace only forms when a person's wishes are extremely distorted. So instead of many individual palaces, the general public has one gigantic shared Palace."

Panther looked around as she said, "Now that you mention it, this place feels a little different from Kamoshida's..."

Rogue did the same and took a deep breath. Now that she gave thought to it, it did feel different. The air felt...almost sleepy compared to Kamshida's, if that made any sense.

Skull then said, "When you say shared...you mean they're all put together? Even though they're strangers?"

"Think of it as the collective unconscious... No, never mind. You wouldn't understand that."

Rogue gave a flat look. "Hey, don't lump us with Skull, Mona."

"Hey!"

"Hmm? So you know what's the collective unconscious?"

"Well, not whatever you're specifically talkin' about, but it's easy to guess with the words."

"Uh...how can you guess from the words...?"

"If it's unconscious, it means it's stuff like dreams and instincts. If it's collective, it means it's connected with lots of people."

"So...what does that mean?"

Rogue groaned. "Just think of it like a dream internet."

"Oh. Okay. So it's like a big website for people's dreams and stuff. I get it."

That would have to do. She wasn't sure if she could dumb down the concept even further.

Her brother said with slight worry, "But...if it's everyone...does that mean we're part of it?"

To that, Mona shook his head. "No. Not anymore at least, thanks to your Personas, since they protect you from distortion."

"So what you're saying is...by using this place, we can even change the hearts of people without Palaces?" Panther said.

Their phantom thief sensei smiled. "Correct!" he said. "The steps to do so are slightly different."

"Figured."

"But this place is huge. Are we gonna get around just by walkin'?"

"Hmph. It seems the time has finally come..."

She and her brother eyed Mona curiously as he finally jumped down from the escalator railing and stood a couple of meters away from them. Then he said, pose and all,

"Morgana...trans...form!"

Then jumped and poofed into a black bus with blue eye-headlights.

"Come now, Panther," the cat-bus said. "Ladies first."

"A car...?!"

"No way!"

"I'm pretty sure it's a bus," she said.

"How do you do that?" her brother said.

"Heh heh. This comes from how cognition materializes in the Metaverse. Plus a bit of extra training," he said. "It's not dissimilar to how you guys transform."

"Us changing clothes and you turnin' to a car are totally different things!" Skull said exactly her thoughts.

"Yeah. It's not like we got a transformation pose."

"Or explains why you can turn into a bus in the first place."

"Oh that. It's simple. For some reason 'cats turning into buses' is an extremely widespread cognition among the general public."

"Oh. Right." That made sense now. "It's 'cause of 'My Friend, Totaro', ain't it?"

Joker chuckled with a small smile. "Most likely."

Skull was confused and said, "Huh? My Friend, Totaro?"

And Panther as well. "Is that why he's a bus?"

They snapped their necks and stared.

"You haven't seen it?"

"You didn't see it?!"

"Well I certainly have no idea what you're talking about," Mona the bus said.

Before she could say more, Skull then said, "Never mind that! Why the hell didn't you do this in the castle?!"

And that led to a bit of an argument between them before switching to another between Skull and Panther while they scrambled for a seat.

While that happened, Rogue said in a whisper to her brother, "We should totally have them see it."

"We definitely should."

With that agreed, upon realizing what was before her, she then said, excited,

"Can I drive?"

"No Rogue. Our racing games don't count."

She frowned. "Aw..."

"Hey! What're you guys waitin' for?!"

Rogue sighed. "I'm callin' shotgun then," she said then followed her brother into the bus.

Once they were in, Skull said, "All aboard! Let's go!"

One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

"Uh...Mona? Somethin' wrong?"

"What do you mean wrong? I should be saying that to you," he said. "I'm a car, remember? I'm not going anywhere unless someone drives me..."

"What?! You can't drive yourself?!"

Rogue smiled and turned to her brother just as Panther said to him,

"Do you know how to drive?"

Joker sighed. "Only in video games me and Rogue play together."

Rogue smiled wider.

"Okay...that's not the best thing but I don't even have that to rely on so...I'll just let you handle it."

"Yeah I don't mind either," Skull said. "You guys are prolly more skilled than me if you played a lot."

Her smile now at the absolute widest, Rogue jumped a bit as she said, "Can I drive now?! Can I drive now?! Please...!"

Joker sighed and stared. But eventually he said, "Fine..."

"Yes!" Rogue fist pumped.

Panther laughed and smiled. "All right! We'll leave the driving to Rogue."

"But only if I ride shotgun. Just in case," Joker said as he exited the bus.

"Fine by me!" Rogue said as she scooted to the driver's seat.

"Okay then, start the engine! You can't drive if it's not running!"

Rogue frowned and grumbled. "I know Mona! I'm not an idiot," she said. But then she looked around. "I got a better question. Do you got a key?"

"Why would you need a key?!"

Rogue glared and gripped the steering wheel. "'Cause you're a bus, you doofus! How else am I gonna start ya?!"

"Mona. Just tell us where the ignition is," her brother said as he entered and took shotgun.

The not-cat-bus sighed. "There's a switch just down near the steering wheel."

"See? That wasn't too hard," she said as she pressed the button she now noticed.

But when she did, Mona shook and giggled. "That tickles! Lower! Lower!"

Rogue frowned. "Lower?" She looked but there didn't seem to be anything...except for, "You mean this cat face where the gear shift's supposed to be?"

"I am not a cat!"

"Well the button looks like one, okay?!"

Before more could be said, her brother pressed it for her. The bus jumped a bit as Mona's engine revved up and...purred—figuratively and literally in this case.

"Oh there..." Mona said, sounding the absolute picture of bliss. "That feels so...goooood..."

Rogue chuckled and smiled.

"Aw yeah! Awesome!"

But then their "thug" had the audacity to say, "Uh...is that purrin' I hear? What a creepy ass car!"

"Don't underestimate my meow-tary engine," Mona said.

Rogue glowered at Skull and said, "Yeah! Don't make fun of the Monamobile!"

Joker chuckled behind a hand as the other two stared at her.

"Huh? Monamobile?"

"Yup. That's what we're calling this form from now on."

"Heh. Monamobile...I like it. All right! The Monamobile's going full throttle! It's time to fly!"

"Aw yeah!"

And Rogue put the pedal to the metal.

[CENTER]{R}[/CENTER]

Contrary to his expectations, though his sister was driving the newly christened Monamobile pretty fast, it wasn't as fast as he thought she would make it go. Instead it was about the upper limits of road speed without actually going beyond it. That was good, considering it would've been even harder to manuever the bus to avoid the Shadows or run them over from behind if they went any faster. But Joker smiled, glad Rogue was driving. After a little bit of a rough start, they more or less consistently ambushed the Shadows and even when they weren't successful, she was having a blast behind the wheel, smiling the whole time.

After yet another fight with Shadows from Kamoshida's Palace, Skull said,

"Man, this place totally feels like a Palace...

Panther glanced out the window. "Yeah, I guess it'd be strange to drive on the tracks like this in the real world..."

"Anyways, you sure Nakanohara is in here? All we've been seein' are normal Shadows."

"I'm sure. He's most likely in a segment of his own creation."

Joker frowned. "His own segment? Is it like a Palace?"

"Don't worry, it won't be the size of one. It's just the beginnings of one so it won't be big. All we need to do is find the entrance to that segment."

"All right...so how we find it?" their driver said.

"And what's it gonna look like?"

"I have no idea."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Of course."

Joker hid his snicker.

Mona grumbled a bit but continued. "But strong distortions should be a good clue."

Skull, understandably, groaned. "So we just gotta wander around lookin' for it? What a pain in the ass..."

"Hey, just means more drivin' for me," Rogue said, eyes gleaming in glee.

The faux-blond glowered and he and Panther chuckled at his reaction.

"Not funny...I was lookin' forward to findin' the guy quick."

"Then just take it out on any Shadows in our way. That'll speed things up a bit."

Funnily enough, it actually did. With the battles finished even faster than normal with Skull's determined attacks, they spent less time outside of the bus and more time in it, looking for any sign of distortion. Eventually, they did...in the form of a strange portal with tracks going up in the air right into it.

"Of course it's a big swirly portal. It's always a big swirly portal."

Joker laughed before he said, "So? Is this it, Mona?"

"Yeah, this is the place... I can sense the target up ahead," he said. "Is everyone ready?"

Joker glanced at everyone to ask a silent question and they all nodded with confident grins. He mirrored their expression then said,

"Yup. Let's go."

"All right!"

Rogue hit the accelerator and they jumped right in. "Inside" was a tunnel that was a dead end, the tracks having stops on them. There, at the far end, was a silhouette, likely Nakanohara's Shadow. They went up to him and Panther said,

"Are you that stalker? Have you ever stopped to consider how your ex feels?!"

And the man with golden eyes said, "She's my property! I can do whatever I want with her! It's not like she didn't treat me like a plaything! What's wrong with doing the same?!"

Skull said, "You can't treat someome like shit just 'cause they did it to you! What a load of crap..."

"Took the words right outta our mouths," Rogue said.

"We're gonna change all the hearts of bastards like you!"

The city teller scoffed and said, "There are millions of people far worse than me!"

Joker flinched but hid it better than Rogue did with her own. It was true. As horrible, and often terrifying, stalking was, when compared to people like Kamoshida...it was like peanuts. But...

He said, "That doesn't make what you're doing any better."

The Shadow glared. "What about Madarame?! He stole everything from me, but you're letting him off the hook?!"

Joker frowned.

"Madarame? The hell this guy's goin on about?" Skull said, saying what Joker was curious and pitied about.

But before they could question it, the man roared and burst into sludge before reforming into a little orange-red demon with a bowl haircut.

"Get ready! Here he comes!"

"Now that I finally have what rightfully mine..." the transformed Nakanohara said. "I'm not gonna let you take it away! This is a winner-takes-all world! Come fight me and I'll show you what I mean!"

Rogue smirked and brandished her dual daggers.

"Oh bring it on!"

The fight compared to regular enemies was harder. But in comparison to Kamoshida, though Nakanohara hit just as hard, if not harder, than the former athlete, they found the little demon had two weaknesses they could exploit. One was Skull's lightning, the other was its susceptibility to sleep. So it wasn't long before the multiple All-Out Attacks defeated him and he changed back to his human form.

"I-I'm sorry...please forgive me..." he said as they stored their weapons.

Rogue huffed. "Tell that to your ex, not us."

The man sighed. "You're right... I couldn't stop obsessesing... Not after this person I trusted used me then disposed of me..."

Joker frowned, remembering his words before they began the fight. "Who are they?" he said.

"Hold on...are you talkin' about that Madarame you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes. I...was afraid of being thrown away again like some worthless thing..."

He heard Panther mumble, "So some selfish bastard made you suffer too..." Then she said, "Still, you shouldn't have dragged an unrelated woman into your mess."

"Yes. I know that now. I'll put an end to my love for her..."

"Good."

But instead of fading away immediately, the Shadow eyed them for a moment and then said, "Hey, you can change people's hearts right?"

They all looked curiously at each other before facing him again.

"Yeah, why?" Rogue said for all of them.

"In that case...won't you change Madarame's heart? Before more people fall victim to him..."

"Change...Madarame's heart?"

Before they could give a proper answer, just like with Kamoshida's, the Shadow glowed then faded away in specks of light. Unlike the Palace ruler though, he left something behind: a little white ball that glowed and floated.

"What's that?" Panther said.

"It's the bud of a treasure. Had we left it, it would've formed a Palace," their phantom thief sensei said. "But not only that...this will make a perfect reward! Come on Joker. Go and get it."

He was a little unsure about taking it. But seeing it was a Treasure and he was a phantom thief, he figured it was at the very least fitting. So Joker grabbed the ball, the orb solidifying in his palm into some kind of pearl. As he stored it in his inventory, Skull said,

"So he had a change of heart, right?"

"Most likely, Rogue."

"Of course."

Mona glowered at his cheeky sister.

Panther said, "But how are we supposed to know if it worked?"

"Eh, that girl posted her problem. She'll proly comment again if somethin' happens."

"Hey, that reminds me," his sister said. "How were we able to do that anyway? Don't we need a calling card?"

"Yes. But the message his ex posted was enough to act as a calling card for this mission."

"Huh. Okay."

"It won't always be like that though."

"We'll make sure the messages work as calling cards from now on then and if they don't, we'll send one," Joker said.

Skull said, "Man, trainin' against Shadows here's the best! Perfect prep for our next target!"

Panther smiled. "It's also nice to give courage to people who post online."

"On top of that, we can sell whatever treasure we find for some cold hard cash."

"Huh, guess we don't need to look for part-time jobs anymore."

Joker contemplated on this. Then he said, "I still think we should. Just in case we can't sell them at Untouchable or their selling price isn't much. At the very least it will be good cover."

"Whatever, man. We did it! How about we do somethin' when we get back?"

"Hold on. There's something I want to show you before we go."

"What, there's more?"

"Is it something to do with your mission?"

The not-cat nodded. "Come on, let's go."

Once again, the Monamobile was formed and they exited the seperate section, Mona saying their new destination should be deeper. Skull, surprisingly, asked the good question of Mona having a map from his last visits. But it was then that they found out that Mementos was essentially a "randomly generated dungeon" because of it being made up by hundreds of people, so no maps for them. But because of the people's cognition, the trains still ran in Mementos. Of course Mona said they had nothing to worry about...as long as they aren't on the same tracks they took. Before any more complaints could stall them any more, Joker had everyone follow Mona down the escalator to find themselves on another platform...that was a dead end. Though...

"What is this place? It's kinda creepy."

...in Joker's opinion, it almost looked like a shrine. The wall having a strange pattern made up of red glowing lines and its sides made up of pillars looking like steps.

"And a dead end at that. Why's it even exist?"

"Now hold on. Just watch...this is most likely not an ordinary wall. If my hunch is correct..."

Mona put a paw against the marked wall. A moment passed and then the ground shook as the wall turned out to be a door, spliting and moving apart where the markings were, until it was gone and showed more escalators. When it did, their phones said,

"A new area has been confirmed in the depths. Updating guidance information."

"See? It's just as I thought!" Mona said, smug.

"What do you mean?"

"It wouldn't budge when I came by myself before but it'd be weird for a normal place like this to be the end..."

"Yeah. Doesn't really give any 'final level' vibes."

"So you thought there'd be more?"

"Yeah," Mona said with a nod. "Now that Kamoshida's Palace is gone and people are talking about us... I knew something had to have changed here!"

"Then we have another reason to be more well known then," Joker said.

Though he wasn't sure what to feel about that fact.

"I wonder how deep is it..." Panther said. "Should we try going any further?"

"I would prefer if we didn't," Joker said.

"I agree. Besides, that's not why we're here, remember? We came to change Nakanohara's heart and we succeeded. So let's head back. I'll explain more when we do."

Joker nodded and everyone else agreed in turn. He pulled out the MetaNav and they teleported back to the start.

(A)

Rogue sighed and stretched her arms in relief. Today had been great. They changed a heart, got a bunch of spoils and Personas, helped Mona get a little closer to his goal, and most of all, she got to drive the Monamobile the entire time.

So she felt it was entirely reasonable to shout in surprise when they were back at the top floor and Panther said,

"Hey look!"

"Geez! Don't scare me like that!"

But then Joker said, "No wait. Look."

And she got why Panther shouted all of a sudden.

"A person?! In Mementos?!" Mona said for all of them.

The little guy seemed to mumble something while looking at this floating orb with flowers in it. Then he held out his hand and the ball dissolved, only to reform in his hands as...what looked like a lemonade drink.

"Did he just...?" she said as they walked up to him.

"Turn it into a drink?" her brother said, hands in his pockets. "Yeah. Yeah he did."

"Hey, what's he drinkin'?"

"Maybe lemonade?"

Here, the little guy noticed them and Rogue had a better picture on what he looked like as he mumbled again. He was only a little taller than Mona, who reached just above their knees. His white clothes reminded her of someone going on a winter expedition, especially with the goggles hanging around his neck. And his "hair" looked more like a perfectly cracked eggshell being used as a helmet. For all Rogue knew, it could very well be a helmet considering everything.

"So, who are you guys?" he said, his gold eyes looking at them curiously.

"We should be asking you that," Mona said.

"Exactly what I was thinkin'," she said, though not as annoyed as him.

The little guy took no offense though and said, "Sorry. Good point." But then he went on to say, "It is customary for a human to introduce itself before asking another human's name."

Rogue and Joker shared a look. If that didn't hint at him being non-human, than she didn't know what did.

"Thanks for reminding me," the little explorer said. "Uh...Mister...Tanuki? No uh...Cat?"

She and her brother sniggered.

"What took you so long to come up with 'cat'?! I'm not either of those!"

Rogue begged to differ considering his looks and ability to turn into the Monamobile.

"Yeah, uh, gettin' confused about that seems pretty normal to me."

The not-cat glared at the faux-blond but before any chance of an argument could come, the little explorer said,

"My name is Jose. I'm looking for flowers."

She frowned in confusion. "'Jo-say'? Not 'ho-say'?"

"Yes, it's Jose. I didn't know people could just come here."

"Well we are pretty special—w-wait!" Mona said, quickly turning from smug to shocked. "That's not important! We still don't know who you are!"

"Hmm? But I just said my name is Jose and I'm looking for flowers."

Which, well, was true. But that wasn't what the not-cat was asking.

Not that Rogue felt like clarifying that right now. Not only did she doubt he would have much in the way of answers, it was funny seeing Mona be agitated over this.

Panther said, "When you say flowers, do you mean that floating thing earlier?"

"That's right pretty lady," Jose said. Rogue couldn't stop from giggling at the slight pout on Joker's face. "I'm collecting as many of them as I can because I'm studying humans."

"Studying humans?" Skull said with an inquisitive look. "That why you turned that flower to a drink?"

"Yup."

"Drinkin' flower juice counts as studying?"

"Yes, but that's not going to work for school," Joker said, quickly crushing any silly hopes.

And for good measure, she said, "Especially since I don't think you'd wanna study anthropology."

"An-through-what-now?"

"Exactly."

Then Jose said, "Hmm...hey...could you guys help me with my research?"

"How?" Panther said, exactly what Rogue wanted to say.

That's happened a lot today.

"By collecting flowers," the little researcher said. "Of course I won't ask it for free. I find all kinds of stuff you can use for exploring. I'll trade you some of that stuff for those flowers you find."

"Ah, so you'll be a trade shop, huh?" Rogue said. "I wouldn't mind."

Mona, however, was hesitant and said, "Seems like it could do us good but...we should be careful. We don't know him."

She smirked and couldn't help but say, "You're just saying that 'cause he called you a cat and a tanuki earlier."

"N-No! Of course not!"

Rogue chuckled. She didn't believe that for one moment.

"I'm sure he's fine," Panther said. "Let's give him a hand. He looks like he needs it and it's not too hard picking flowers while exploring, right?"

"Okay...any other reasons?" Skull said, somehow doubtful.

Rogue didn't really get why he was until Panther grinned and said,

"Heh heh, he called me 'pretty lady'."

Which, well, was a really silly reason but Jose was pretty adorable looking, objectively speaking, what with his youthful voice and young appearance.

Mona turned despairing and said, "No! Lady Ann..."

And Joker actually looked peeved.

This time Rogue couldn't hold her amusement.

She guffawed at their expressions.

"What's so funny?!"

"Rogue..."

She only laughed harder.

"Uh..." the faux-blond said.

While the natural blonde said, "Is Rogue all right?"

At that point, it was dying down enough that she said to her, "I-I'm...ha...fine...heh heh..."

Her brother sighed. "She's just having fun."

"Heh heh. Yeah. Ahem. Anyways..." she said, ridding the last vestiges of her mirth. "I don't mind helpin'. Plus trade shops usually give pretty good stuff."

"Yeah me neither. The more useful stuff, the better."

Jose, understandably, was a bit confused at their words and said, "So...are you going to help me or not?"

Rogue turned to her brother and said, "What do you say, leader?"

"I don't think he has any bad intentions. So I want to help."

With that, they all looked to Mona, the only one who had been protesting about it. Seeing that he had no more reason to doubt, the not-cat sighed and said,

"Okay...we can help him..."

Joker smiled and then said to the little researcher, "Okay then. We'll help you with your research."

Jose smiled back and said, "Thanks."

Mona glared at him with the viciousness of a suitor seeing a love rival. "Don't go thanking us yet, bud!"

Unsurprisingly, Jose was unaware of the new rival he acquired. "Huh? Aw, are you tired, kitty? You seem grumpy."

She and her brother sniggered while Skull smirked.

"I am not a cat! And I'm not grumpy!"

"Yeah. There's only one grumpy cat and he's not you."

"O-Oh. Okay. Are you hungry then? I heard that hunger can make a person grumpy," he said. Then he pulled out a nondescript package that had "cookie" on it. "Here, you can have this."

"Eh, thanks, but I'll pass..."

"I'll take that then," Rogue said before snatching it. "I'm pretty hungry from our trip. Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

With that, Jose boarded his aquamarine buggy with balloons and cardboard boxes, saying he'll be looking forward to the flowers they'll get for him, as well as providing "games" for them since "humans liked having fun".

"Wish you luck with those games then," Rogue said. It wasn't easy making a game, whether it be video games or not.

That, however, stunned him for some reason until he said, "Oh right. I almost totally forgot."

"Forgot what, Jose?" Joker said.

"There's something I wanted to give you now that you're helping me."

The little explorer held out something and Rogue took it since she was the closest. It was a little star, glowing blue and green as if it was made from the night sky itself. Jose wasn't really sure what it was for. He just picked it up since he had heard that "humans" liked making wishes on stars and speculated that it might be able to do the same. So, since they were helping him, he wanted to give it as a "sign of friendship".

Rogue smiled and said, "We'll take good care of it. Thanks."

"You're welcome," he said. Then blinked. "Oh right. I just remembered another phrase humans like to use." He honked his horn with a smile. "Good job!"

And thus, the little researcher finally drove off, leaving four confused and amused teenagers and one annoyed not-cat in his wake.

"Who in the hell was that?"

"He's Jose and he's looking for flowers," Rogue said with a smirk.

Skull was unimpressed and just said, "Anyways, he gave you a star, right? He said it'd grant you wishes or somethin'..."

"Yeah. But I doubt it'd work that easy."

"I agree. Even in Mementos, I doubt it would actually happen."

Despite that, Skull and Panther still ended up giving a wish a try...and unsurprisingly their wishes, which were large meats and endless no calories sweets respectively, didn't come true.

She and her brother laughed.

Much to the other pair's chagrin.

Still, Rogue would hold onto the star, even if Mona hadn't told her to. Just looking at it made her smile and feel hopeful.

{R}

The world distorted once again before it realigned, the streets now filled with the usual bustle that should be there. Ren glanced at each and every one and said,

"How's everyone feeling?"

To his joy, Aki grinned and gave a thumbs-up. "Great. Tired, but great."

"Yeah, I'm pretty much the same," Ann said, similarly relieved looking.

"Yeah me too," Ryuji said. "But Mementos huh? I still don't get it. Like, what's with the wall at the end anyway?"

"I'm not sure, but it must be there for a reason," Mona said. "But since it's the public's Palace, it could be blocking us further because they don't believe we exist. But now that the public talking about us, that might be affecting it..."

"That reminds me. Why do you know so much about it, Mona?" Ann said.

Ren wondered the same too but...

"I don't know. My memories are still fuzzy on that..." the non-feline said. "But I need to know what's in the depths, no matter what."

"Still no idea why?"

"Well...I don't know why I want to, but I do know one thing. Mementos is not just everyone's Palace."

He and his sister frowned.

"What do you mean?" he said.

"It's also the source of Palaces."

They stared.

"What?"

"It's the source of the Palaces?"

"Yeah. Palaces like Kamoshida's didn't exist before. So if we do something about the biggest distortion, I'm sure I will..."

"So you wanted someone to save you too..." Ann said, somber.

Of course Mona denied it and said, "I-I-I just needed pawns!"

Ren and Aki laughed at his tsun-tsun side.

"Sure you do," his sister said with an unconvinced smirk.

While Ryuji said, "I see...so that's why you came pokin' your head around us."

"I'll help you," Ann said. "I hope you can regain what you've lost."

Aki's smugness was replaced with a bright smile. "Yeah. We promised too, after all."

"No way we're gonna back out."

"We'll get your old form back," he said.

Unlike earlier, Mona wasn't embarrassed. Instead he was touched and said,

"I'll...be relying on you all..."

Then, all of sudden, the warm mood was broken by Ann saying, "Oh by the way, Mona...I've been meaning to ask, but are you a boy? Or a girl?"

And the not-cat groaned. "Not this again..."

Aki snickered as Ann turned confused.

"Huh? Again?"

"We kinda had an argument about it," his sister said.

Seeing the mood ruined, he jumped on the opportunity.

"Mona's a car."

"Ren! This isn't funny!"

"It's most definitely funny," he said, completely "serious".

Aki's smirk returned. "I mean, you can turn into a bus..."

"Ugh...you two are impossible..."

They just laughed while Ryuji was the one to actually answer.

"Well since they ain't tellin', Mona's a guy. At least that's what he told us."

"Yes, I am. But on more important matters...we now know we can do minor changes of heart through Mementos," he said, their mirth settling down. "If we find any good leads, it may be worth dealing with them for a bit of combat practice."

"And changin' their heart of course."

Ann frowned. "There weren't any other outstanding ones though..."

Ryuji grinned. "Eh, I'm sure we'll get a ton of 'em if we go after someone big and get more famous. The big fish are our main targets after all."

"Hopefully," Aki said in reminder.

Mona said, "But first you guys need to go through exams."

Ryuji groaned along with Ann as he said, "Ugh... I gotta study..."

"Do you want to do another group study then?" Ren said.

"It ain't too late to go to the diner and get somethin' to eat while we're at it," Aki said, glancing at her phone's clock.

After a little thought, the two blonds agreed and they made their way to the diner. Before they left though, Ann paused in her steps with a clouded expression. Ren meant to ask what was wrong when he felt a prick at his senses and he turned around. He frowned. It didn't seem anyone was behind them.

"Hey!" Ryuji said, his voice breaking their trances. "Somethin' wrong?"

Ren shook his head and said, "Coming."

It was probably just his senses on edge after going through Mementos.

Before he followed through, Ren said to Ann,

"Shall we go?"

She was startled somewhat but then she shook her head and smiled.

"Yeah let's go."

And they followed after Ryuji and Aki to the diner, Ren trying to ignore the faint warning from Arsène that the prick was more than just a passing feeling.