Chapter 44: Final Investment

(A)

The rooms they found after moving the vaults really lived up to, well, being a vault, for the most part. The first "set" mainly led to the next PIN keypad, after opening the doors and shutters through the controls they found, but the doors looked like bank vault doors and there was a piggy bank that had another torn page, this time saying "P = 1". Why Kaneshiro left that piece that accessible, Rogue didn't know, but she wasn't going to look at a gift horse in the mouth. Meanwhile, the second set had shelves upon shelves of money, so many of them that it basically looked like a storage house of boxes made up of money. In there, they found another torn page, this one having "E=9" and "A=3" written on it, a giant gold door that asked for an overpriced unlock fee, and the next PIN keypad.

Both times they put the PIN in, the first one being REAP and the second being HUGE...

"Don't gimme excuses. Just go reap every last penny! I'll make you understand if you don't get it... People who can't earn money are useless to me!"

"This isn't enough... I need to have a huge presence! I'm done having other people walk all over me... It's my turn now..."

...Kaneshiro's "inner voice" spoke afterwards, just like when they first did it.

And to say that Joker was upset was like saying Skull wasn't loud.

Not to say none of the others weren't further disgusted by and resolved to take down Kaneshiro thanks to those monologues. They also thought Kaneshiro even more appaling, especially Queen with her threats of taking him down for both the victims and her father, but in the wake of Kawakami's situation, Joker was especially quiet after the purple sweet potato spoke. Rogue would've bopped his head or something during those times, but Panther asking about his state in worry calmed him down and resettled his feelings, so she didn't bother.

But with two more vault lines—Fantôme chuckled along with her in her soul. "'Vault' lines... I'm sure your brother will love that. You should tell him."—moved, Queen finally told her theory that the vault was actually a cylinder for a lock...just like the locks for bank vault doors.

Rogue facepalmed. "Why didn't I notice that?!"

Joker smirked. "Well, it's not like we've ever seen what a lock's mechanisms actually look like. Only something that can trick it."

"Oh shuddup."

And so, with that confirmed, they were safe in the knowledge that, as long as they aligned all the vault lines, they would reach the deepest part of the map.

But after a relatively easy mini-boss fight with a half-skeleton man-horse with a wide brim hat and cape, they found what looked like a PIN keypad, but was actually a switch. They tested it, pressing left, and found it moved the next vault line. But they found they still needed something else to have them move forward, so they pressed left again. There they found...

"It's a yellow guard..."

"Careful, it's strong," Mona said.

"Uh, yeah? So what? All of the yellow ones we've fought were stronger than the grunts."

"But this one feels especially strong."

"Yes, it does..." Joker said, his expression hard.

While Rogue agreed, Fantôme grumbling in warning after she checked with Third Eye, she said, "But what if it's blocking our way forward?"

"We can always try the other way first before we do that," Queen said. "We don't know if it is."

"But we're gonna have to look here eventually. Wouldn't it be better if we fought it now when our items our pretty stocked? We don't know how much we'd use if we looked for another way."

"But if we look for another way, we can get more experience and come back here another day to deal with it, if not outright starting with dealing with the guard before we start the infiltration."

"Hmm...good point...but I really wanna deal with it now."

"Yeah, me too," Skull said.

"Well, I agree more with Queen. It never hurts to be cautious."

"I have no particular inclination to either option," Fox said.

Panther said, "Me neither...they both sound pretty good."

Seeing as opinion was divided, Rogue faced her brother and said,

"What you think, Joker? You're leader. What's your call?"

For a while, her older brother stared at the guard, contemplating the options in silence. She and the others let him. Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to decide.

"We don't know what puzzles are down in the next room and we've been here a while. Let's save those for tomorrow and deal with this guard today."

They all nodded and got ready for a fight, Rogue unable to keep her grin of joy at bay.

That quickly left her though as the guard turned into...

...some sort of weird white lion thing with a segmented lizard tail.

And it was hell.

First thing it did was slam the ground and throw debris everywhere that really hurt, to put it mildy.

Next thing it did was:

"You're all so weak! I bet you can't even get a scratch on my pelt you fuckin' bastards!"

Red.

"Why you little...!"

"HOW DARE YOU CALL HER THAT!"

And all she remembered was screaming and slashing with all her might until she, well...

...until she got knocked out.

"Rogue!" was the last thing she heard.

But it wasn't long before she heard things again as consciousness returned and she faintly saw the butterfly of light from revival spells disappear.

"Rogue! Get up now!" Mona said.

And she managed to roll away in time, her former spot slammed into by the white lion.

"Damn it...!"

She let her rage get the better of her again.

But she was snapped out of her self-deprecation when Mona said,

"Calm down, Rogue! It's not your fault! That Shadow is just able to inflict rage as a status effect!"

A status...? Rogue wanted to facepalm. Now it made sense why everything looked literally red earlier.

Her focus shifted again as Joker said,

"Queen! Mona! Analyze and heal! Everyone else! Stand your ground and don't listen to him until we find a weakness!"

"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!" Skull said, but nonetheless listened to his command along with the others and herself, joining them in keeping their distance from the monster.

"Ha ha! I knew it! You're all just a bunch of pussies, running with your tails between your legs!"

Rogue gritted her teeth.

Ignore it! Ignore it! Ignore it!

"Don't allow him to humiliate you yet again!"

But despite her scolding herself in more ways than one, it was still hard to ignore the beast's taunts, each one cutting sharper and piercing even deeper than before, especially as he knocked out the others and they burned through their reviving items. She hadn't been this tempted to smash someone since...

...since Kamoshida's Shadow and the Incident.

"Will you allow yourself to be a burden to your brother yet again?"

And that reminder just doused any and all flares of rage with a wave of guilt, until, finally, not too long after they found the beast's weakness to flames, they took it down with all-out attacks...

"Arsène!"

"Fantôme!"

...and showtimes.

As the white lion screamed and disintegerated, all of them still stood tensed, waiting to see if any reinforcements would come.

It was only after they were sure did they all collapse with a collecitve groan.

"That sucked ass..." Skull said.

"You can...say that again..." Rogue said.

"I'm sorry everyone..." Joker said.

"Hey...you have nothing to be sorry for..." Panther said. "Besides, we did it, right? That means we're stronger now."

Joker looked at her dazed, then chuckled and smiled. "You're right."

Despite feeling like a dying fish again, Rogue couldn't help but smile, feeling her brother's gratitude from their Confidant link.

Then Queen said, "How's everyone feeling? I want a status update on everyone's current condition."

And they all groaned again in answer.

They were definitely going to collapse on their bed when they got back.

After they got the Will Seed of course, which Mona had sensed once they caught their breaths. Forgetting it after all that bullshit would've been even more annoying.

{R}

When he had come to school yesterday, though Kawakami tried to hide it, Ren knew, from both her tells and their Confidant, that she was still reeling from the Takases' new demands. So when his homeroom teacher came to him in a more obscuring part of the halls, joy and disbelief pulsing from their link, he had to put up his mask to stop his telling smile.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Kawakami?"

"Something wrong? Yes, something's wrong... Somehting unbelievable just happened to me."

"What happened?"

"I don't know where to start explaining...and there's other stuff I want to ask you about too, so..."

His mouth twitched in temptation to smile yet again. "Yes, I'll see you after school, Ms. Kawakami."

With that, his teacher nodded and they headed for class seperately.

And just as that good fortune happened, thankfully, their infiltration in the afternoon also was relatively smooth sailing. The rooms they found after messing with the buttons again were more of the same: large stacks of money, electric fences, guards, and piggy banks with torn pages, with battles inbetween for both experience and negotiations if they couldn't avoid it. It certainly helped that the new crystal skull they got gave them a skill that boosted everyone's defenses. The only difference between the two rooms was that the second "room" had gold instead of money, or at the very least gold containers. And to fit that theme, the next, and last, PIN keypad they found had "GOLD" as the code. Good thing they had all the pages they needed to decipher it...though Panther and Skull thought the mathematics they needed was algebra.

Not that he blamed them, writing like "O+H=10" certainly gave that impression.

He was glad it was the last one as, once again, after the vault line—Joker chuckled along with Arsène at the little joke his little sister told him after their infiltration yesterday—moved into place, Kaneshiro's "inner voice" spoke.

"Heh heh heh... This gold sheen... this...this is the fruit of all my hard labor!"

Joker scoffed.

"Tch. He thinks robbin' people is somethin' to celebrate? This guy needs to get his brain checked," Skull said, sharing his thoughts.

"Yeah, he is gettin' it checked. By us."

Skull snorted while Rogue snickered and the rest smiled in amusement, himself included.

"With this much, I'll be invincible! Omnipotent! I've changed... I'm no longer the person I used to be..."

"The person he used to be...? What could have happened to make him so distorted?"

"I don't know. But no matter what past he had, his actions are unforgiveable."

"That's right."

"Just 'cause the world's been shitty to him doesn't mean he has to be shitty too."

"My sentiments exactly."

While everyone else was speculating over his motives, Joker frowned. As pissed as he was, a part of him worried over Kaneshiro's wording, particularly the beginning of it...

...as he wondered if that would translate to his boss form as well.

There were no guarantees that was the case though, so he'd keep it in the back of his mind for now.

After that, they went back into the newly opened hallways to find a way into the depths: an elevator, one covered in yen and reminding him of a piston somewhat.

"So a way down really did show up... You're like some kinda prophet, Queen." Skull said.

He heard Rogue snicker as discretely as possible as the woman in question said,

"It's mostly thanks to that notebook. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for that."

"Still, you got it right even before we did! It's awesome!"

Queen stared in astonishment at the sincere praise. "Oh, um, it was nothing."

Once again, Rogue kept her reaction discrete, but it was a lot less successful as Joker heard her giggle anyway. Still, as amused and heartened he was at how kind Skull was being, not wanting to digress, Joker said,

"Let's go then. We don't know if there's any more security for the Treasure."

"Right."

And down they went.

To Joker's surprise, it turned out there wasn't any. It was just floating in the middle of a large open room, not much money in sight. Though he guessed it was behind the tall, military looking door at the back.

"That's the Treasure?" Queen said.

"Uh huh. Now that we found it, we gotta send the callin' card."

"The calling card...? Ah, I see...so that's why you send it... Making the target believe that the Treasure is in danger will cause it to materialize as they now believe it can be stolen," Queen said. She chuckled and smiled. "That's a bold trick."

"Huh? She figured it out?" Panther said, surprised.

Joker and Rogue snickered, unsurprised.

"Heh heh. Course she did. She's our awesome advisor after all!" Skull said.

At that point, his sister's mirth settled and she said, serious, "We'll have to still be careful though when we try gettin' it. Last two times, we had to face off the Shadow rulers."

"Understandable. They do think their Treasure in danger. Hmm...although, if that's the case..."

"Although what is the case?" Fox said.

"You remember those things Shadow Kaneshiro was saying?"

Panther frowned. "Yeah...I do. Didn't he sound kinda...insecure or something?"

"Superiority complex," Rogue said.

"Exactly. He kept bringing up how rich and powerful he wants to be."

"So if he's insecure about that shit...he really thinks he's just some poor weakling, huh?"

Oh Joker hoped that was the case...but considering their luck, he doubted it.

From the flat look on Rogue's face, she thought the same.

"Maybe by thinking he was going to be a strong, wealthy man, he convinced himself it was true."

"Oh...so you're sayin' he could be real tough boss?"

Queen nodded. "Exactly. So we should be extra careful and prepare every kind of precaution we can think of."

Joker nodded. "Don't worry. We'll make sure."

"Yeah! So now can we go home?" Rogue said. "I'd rather talk about the calling card tomorrow...y'know, when we got access to all the materials we need to make 'em."

"Very well. Shall we Joker?"

And with that, they journeyed back to the safe room to teleport to the bank's frontyard and out of the bank Palace.

(A)

Akira smiled behind her mask, not looking up from her reading of The Ballads of Robin Hood as Kawakami, decked in her maid outfit, came in with a huge smile of her own. After some pleasantries, she said,

"I have big news! Takase-kun's guardians came to my house today and apologized to me! They told me I don't have to send any more money! And that they'll return everything I paid them."

"For real? That's awesome!" she said, glancing at the woman.

Ren smiled. "I'm so glad to hear that."

And then Kawakami said, more somber and contemplative, "Yeah. It was like they were completely different people..." She gave them an appraising look. "...like what happened with Kamoshida."

"Really? Well, if it's like Kamoshida, then that would explain them changing their mind."

"Yes...hmm..."

Kawakami looked like she wanted to ask about that, but instead moved on to tell more details about the Takases, that they also apologized about what happened to her old student and the terrible things they did, and that they actually thought Kawakami was a good teacher. With their grip on her broken, Kawakami finally quit her job and now had a fresh start, where she could finally be the teacher she wanted to be, one that students trusted.

"I bet I'll be an old woman by the time I achieve my dream," she said.

"Nonsense," Ren said. "I'm sure you'll make it."

"Yeah. Keep at it, one step at a time."

The teacher laughed. "Yeah. I'm still in the demographic age range of what's considered 'young'."

Akira smirked. "Oh? So how old are ya?"

Ren gasped in mock shock. "Akira! How rude! One doesn't ask a lady's age."

"But she's a friend! That should be fine, right?"

"Still rude."

They stopped their banter upon noticing Kawakami giggling over their antics and joined her in her mirth. Once they laughed it out, she then said,

"Thank you so much. Both of you. I wouldn't have gotten here if you hadn't helped me and listened to me."

"Hey, like I said, we're friends."

Ren nodded with a soft smile.

"Friends... Oh crap!"

And then all of sudden Kawakami got...really cutesy as she said,

"Thank you for using our service!"

She tried.

She really did.

But she laughed anyway.

"Oh come on! You too?! Your older brother did the exact same thing!"

Said older brother also burst out laughing.

Kawakami grumbled. "And here I was trying acting as your maid one last time while I tell you that I'll stop."

That, well, put a stop to their laughter as they stared.

"You're...not coming here anymore...?" Ren said.

"Bummer..." she said.

But then the woman giggled and Akira glared at her amusement over their sadness, at least until the teacher said,

"Well, I could always still be your personal maid, if you want."

"What? For real?"

"Just kidding."

"Hey!"

Kawakami laughed. "That's for earlier."

Akira grumbled, but... "Okay yeah I deserved that."

Ren chuckled, though he was still melancholic as he said,

"I'll miss you though."

Kawakami chuckled. "Oh? So you get lonely even with your younger sister here?"

"Hey! I resent that comment!"

Ren just smiled. "No. But that doesn't mean I won't miss the times you come here."

For some reason, the teacher turned serious as she said, "I appreciate that, but...you shouldn't say those words so casually."

She and her brother shared a confused look.

"I'm...not sure what you mean by casually, Kawakami. I really will miss you coming here, not just because of what you do for us. Like Aki said, you're our friend. It's nice spending time with you outside of school."

"Uh huh. And we'll tell ya again and again you're our friend until you get it through your head."

Kawakami stared at them for a moment before she shook her head.

"You two kids... You're really unbelievable."

Akira scowled. "Why does that feel like a backhanded compliment?"

Once again, the teacher laughed. "Take it however you want. I should be going now. It's getting late."

"Good-bye, Kawakami."

"Bye, Kawakami!"

"See you two tomorrow," she said. She made to leave but then paused in her steps.

Akira and Ren stared expectantly, and worriedly, at her.

Then she looked over her should with a smile. "And I'll think about visiting sometime."

And then she left, Akira and Ren chuckling at her exit.

For a while, they just sat there in the booth, the place silent save the overhead fan as Mona was upstairs.

"So. Think she figured us out?" she said.

"Most definitely," her brother said, confident.

It was probably because of his Confidant link with her.

"We gonna tell the others?"

"Not unless she admits it or asks directly. She could end up changing her mind after all."

They both scoffed and smirked.

They both knew how likely that was.

{R}

Items restocked? Check.

Equipment up to date? Check.

Persona lineup varied after dealing with lots of annoyed shouting and klaxons whirring from going through their first fusion alarm? Check.

All that was left was...

"...the calling card, right? We should send it," Makoto said, everyone gathered at the hideout.

"I would agree, but it will not be an easy task this time," Yusuke said. "How will we deliver the calling card to him?"

"Yeah, we don't know where he lives."

And from the look on Aki's face, she likely wished she could ask Akechi, but knew it was too suspicious to do so.

"Hm? Why not use the same method as before?" Makoto said.

Everyone looked at the brunett in curiosity.

"What? You mean the Madarame one?"

"If you have a plan, then by all means, team strategist, just say what you need."

Turned out, all she needed was Ryuji and that he would be "perfectly fine and they didn't have anything to worry about".

Except her words did the opposite.

Not just because of Ryuji's dubious safety, but well...it reminded him that they were finally facing off Kaneshiro, the man who had Makoto's father killed.

Ren could only imagine how Makoto felt about that.

He would have to ask her as soon as he could about it.