Chapter 41: Spaceport of Greed (Part 2)

September 25

With Haru taking some time to rest after awakening to her Persona, Ren and Octavia it was a good time to check on Takemi. She had made great progress with developing her medicine and the two wanted to see how far she'd come since they last met. "Takemi! Good to see you," Ren said as they walked in.

"You two again," Takemi said. "Hope you haven't overexerted yourselves since we last met."

"Nope. We're in perfect health," Octavia shook her head. "We are here to ask about the clinical trials, however."

"I've made progress with the medicine," Takemi replied. "Could you tag along for a bit? I'm going to be meeting someone in Inokashira Park."

"That's close by. Let's go," Ren agreed. Soon the three of them were at the park, meeting with one of Takemi's contacts. The doctor had brought a briefcase with her and handed it over to the man soon after the meeting began.

"All the date, specimens, and sample medicine… They're all there inside that case," Takemi told the man. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"Based on what I read in the findings summary you sent me, the results are truly amazing," the man praised. "We'll perform one final exam with our equipment and we'll be ready to treat Miwa-chan with it."

Takemi nodded. "Excellent. Then the rest is up to you."

The man looked to Ren and Octavia. "So, these are the kids from your study, hm?"

Takemi chuckled. "Yes, he's my little guinea pig."

"You certainly walked a dangerous line, but I'm sure you implemented the strictest of safety protocols," the man said. "Please put some thought into the offer we discussed, will you…? All right, I'll call you later."

"He's the man treating Miwa-chan," Takemi told the duo as the man left. "He just so happened to be a year ahead of me in college. I told him everything since I was so close to perfecting the medicine. I have to thank you again. All this is thanks to you helping me with the clinical trials."

"It was rough," Ren sighed.

"But it was for your exams," Octavia added with a chuckle.

"I bet. Although it was really fun for me," Takemi laughed softly. From my tour of their medical facility and discussions I had with their development team… I'm confident this will be success, and they'll complete development on schedule. The final result will be out of my hands though… if I don't accept their offer, that is."

"What offer?" Octavia asked.

"I was… recruited. He offered me the position of head of research and development at his hospital," Takemi explained. "Which means I'll have to close my practice. I start first thing next month. Unfortunately, Takemi Clinic of Internal Medicine will be gone."

"That's troubling…" Ren said.

"Really? Because of your entrance exams?" Takemi raised an eyebrow. "Hehe… You seem flustered. Are you really that troubled by it? …Just kidding. The part about being recruited is true, but I don't intend to close my practice. I kind of like being a general practitioner. I'll still work with them to develop new medicine though. Once the medicine's perfected, I'll be able to see Miwa-chan… and receive my reward: her smile."

She looked to Ren. "Oh, I need to give you your reward too. I'll think of something to give my little guinea pig for holding up his end of the deal. You really were concerned when you thought I was going to close this office. I know you said it was for your entrance exams, but come on, really? I think it's about time you started being honest with me. It's OK, you can tell me. Why did you keep coming to me?"

"I wanted to see you," Ren said.

'Wait, what?' Octavia looked at him strangely.

"Really now… Why did you want to see me?" Takemi asked. "Don't tell me you're in love with me or something."

"I love you," Ren said, making a grand gesture.

'…Okay, now he's just messing with her,' Octavia giggled.

Takemi rolled her eyes and smirked. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Thank you very much. Now, go home before it gets dark. Or… I can give you a "special examination" if you'd like."

"That sounds good," Ren said, still giving a goofy grin.

"I'm kidding. Sheesh…" Takemi shook her head. "You young guys. That did put a smile on my face, though. So thanks for that. It's getting late… You should get going. Come visit anytime."

"See you around, doc!" Octavia said as the three parted ways. She ribbed Ren a bit as they walked home. "Did you really have to try and put the moves on her. I thought you had eyes for another girl already?"

"Just trying to make her laugh," Ren chuckled. "You have to admit she looks good when she smiles."

"It is nice to see Takemi in a good mood," Octavia agreed.

[***]

"Loona, why are you dragging me around?" Ren as they went down Central Street.

"Because we need to keep up appearances with the gun guy," Loona said, stopping in front of Untouchable. "We made a deal with him so we could get better guns, remember? Now's the time to make due on those promises."

"Right…" Ren recalled. The two entered the store, seeing Iwai reading from a newspaper as usual. Ren gave a cough as he approached the desk. "We're here to work tonight."

"Lucky you. There's a job I need you to do," Iwai replied, setting his paper down. "Don't worry, it ain't that difficult. I'm sure you can handle it. I'm gonna meet with a guy at the diner after this. I need you to sit close by. I'm sure you two can pass a couple."

"Not interested in this guy, for the record," Loona said pointedly.

Iwai shrugged. "Not my business who you date. When I give the signal, call me. The signal is when I cough, got it? OK, let's go." The three went off to the diner, Ren's back to the deal going on as Loona kept her eyes and ears out for any signs of trouble. Iwai was sitting with a guy that looked like a thug, so whatever business they were dealing in probably wasn't legal.

"A diner, huh? I thought only old farts came to places like this," the thug mused. "You've really changed, Mune-san."

"Hey, don't knock this place. It's pretty decent, and cheep too," Iwai replied.

"Ha, this coming from the guy who beat the crap outta fifty rival gang members!" the thug laughed.

Iwai shook his head. "You don't need to exaggerate."

"Anyways, what'd you wanna talk about?" the thug asked.

"Oh, right. How's Tsunda-san doing?" Iwai asked.

"Same as always. Why, what's up?" the thug questioned.

"Oh, nothing. Just saw him 'round the other day," Iwai replied.

"Hold up, didn't you two cut ties when you lest the family?" the thug recalled. "Why're you asking about him now?"

"I mean, we were both young… I just figured it's about time we bury the hatchet. I can't just go up and talk to him, though…" Iwai responded.

"Oh, I getcha. You're still trying to uphold the old code of honor, huh?" the thug guessed. "OK, I'll tell him you wanna meet up!"

Iwai shook his head. "No, you fool. I just wanna end up in the same place at the same time. It's gotta look like a coincidence."

"In that case, Shibaura might work… Y'know we're talking about redeveloping it," the thug said.

"Shibaura…" Iwai muttered. He gave a cough, prompting Ren to make the call.

"Huh? You sick or something?" the thug asked.

"Nah, it's just a cold," Iwai shook his head. His phone soon went off, prompting him to pick it up. "Hello? Yeah, how's it going? What? Your order's all wrong…? My bad, I'll get back and take care of that straight away." He put his phone down. "Sorry. I gotta run. Work shit. Let's talk some other time, yeah?"

"Mm, seeya," the thug replied.

As soon as Iwai left, his voice came back on Ren's phone. "…Don't hang up. Masa's still on the phone, right? Just stay quiet so I can hear what he's saying."

'At least I can enjoy some good food here…' Loona thought as she picked at some appetizers. She kept her ears open to the conversation going on in the next booth over. 'Maybe I can figure out what's actually going down with this guy, though…'

"Tsuda-san. It's Masa," the thug, Masa, said into his phone. "Iwai was asking about you. I did just like you told me though."

"So there is something going on here…" Loona muttered, Ren giving a small nod as he kept his focus on her.

"Anyways, Iwai prolly heard about that deal of yours and now he's trying to squeeze some cash outta you…" Masa continued. "O-Oh, sorry! No, it's… Yes. Sorry… Yes, I understand." He hung up and left soon after.

"A deal…?" Iwai muttered. "Sounds like there's some weird stuff going down."

"How's your cold?" Ren asked, getting a snort out of Loona.

"You're seriously naïve, kid…" Iwai sighed. "Y'know I was acting, right? And I can hear your lady friend giggling too… At any rate, I honestly wasn't expecting much outta you two. But it looks like you're gonna actually be some use to me. I'll be counting on you kids. Good work today. Order yourself something nice as a reward. Oh, and bring me the receipt so I can pay you back for it. Well, later."

Loona grinned as Iwai hung up. "You heard the man. Let's get some of the good shit to eat!" The two ate their meal and went home for the night, glad to have Iwai's trust, if just a little bit.

[***]

September 27

Night was falling on Tokyo, and Ren and Octavia were out on the streets of the Red-Light District, looking to meet with Chihaya. Since they'd taken care of her problem in Mementos, it was time to see how she was doing in the real world. "Oh, Amamiya-san, Goetia-san! I've been waiting for you!" Chihaya greeted. "Can we talk?"

"Of course," Ren nodded.

"Oh, sit down! Sit down! I have so much to tell you!" Chihaya motioned to the open chairs for the two to get seated in. "I've been looking forward to seeing you two! The chairman turned himself in! It's even shown up on the news!"

"Yeah, we know," Octavia said casually.

"I expected nothing less!" Chihaya smiled. "It all happened so suddenly too. He confessed all of his crimes… The police came to question me after that, but they ultimately concluded that I'm innocent. Apparently the chairman took full responsibility for the ADP and admitted he was brainwashing all of its members. Oh, and speaking of members, some of them said they've stopped using the Holy Stones because of my advice. It was all the clients you two sat in with!"

Chihaya gave a hum. "You know, I never saw this as a possible outcome in my readings. Not only have the fates of the ADP members improved, but even my own has begun to shift… It's almost like this curse that's followed me ever since the villagers called me a monster…has passed."

"I'm glad to hear that," Octavia smiled.

"It's because you're strong," Ren replied.

"Me…?" Chihaya gasped. "Right, I remember. Strong conviction is the only way to change fate. That reminds me, my readings told me I would accomplish my objective with the aid of the Trickster… But I'm not sure what exactly that was supposed to mean… It's such a mystery…"

"The Phantom Thieves, perhaps?" Octavia suggested.

Chihaya shrugged. "That aside, the ADP is finished. Nobody else will be deceived." She paused. "Oh, I just realized something… Remember how I told you how the chairman knew I was a runaway? Well, I was wandering around the city with luggage at my side. Anyone could have figured that out, huh…?"

"…Yeah," Ren and Octavia said together.

"I-I knew it!" Chihaya groaned. "I know how fragile I was back then…but it's still embarrassing to think I let myself believe he was a psychic! But… I guess some men are good at knowing when a woman is vulnerable. Are you one of those men, Amamiya-san…? The truth is, there's actually something else besides the chairman that I want to talk to you about. U-Um… This is so embarrassing…"

Chihaya blushed. "AU-Um, Amamiya-san… Are you… interested in older women…?"

'Oh god, not another one…' Octavia groaned.

"Hell yeah I am!" Ren said boldly.

'Don't make this worse…' Octavia facepalmed.

"R-Really!?" Chihaya gasped at his forwardness. "I-I mean, how interesting… Oh, sorry! If we have time to waste talking about nonsense like that, we have time to read fortunes, right?"
"Indeed we do…" Octavia muttered, giving Ren a light punch to the arm. "What are you doing…?"

"Making her feel better," Ren whispered.

"Is it possible to dial down the charm a bit, though? You're going to give her the wrong idea…" Octavia whispered back.

Chihaya shook her head, not hearing what the cousins were talking about. "Even though the chairman turned himself in, there are still some things left unresolved. Most importantly, the other members of the ADP are still confused as to what exactly is going on. So… I need to set things straight. This is partially my fault, after all. Right… The real battle starts now."

"And we'll support you all the way, Chihaya," Octavia said. The three parted ways after that, with Octavia making sure to rib Ren once more on the way to the train station. "Seriously, stop giving women ideas about the kind of guy you are," she said.

"I know, I know…" Ren sighed.

"You have to keep yourself open for Kasumi, after all," Octavia teased, making Ren blush.

[***]

September 29

After school, Ren and Octavia headed over to Takemi's clinic to get some supplies before tomorrow's infiltration. While they were there, they decided to stay a while and hang around as well. The little girl they'd been helping out was there as well, getting a checkup with Takemi.

"Hey, Doctor, does it matter who likes someone first?" the girl asked.

"…What are you talking about?" Takemi questioned.

"There's a boy I like, but my friend told me… That I have to let her have him, because she like him first…" the girl explained.

"Oh, that's not true," Takemi replied.

"Really!?" the girl exclaimed. "Then why did she say that?"

"It's likely because she's jealous of you. Just be careful because it might result in pandemonium," Takemi said.

"Pandemonium…?" the girl repeated, confused by the word.

"It's a big word. You'll get it one day," Octavia giggled.

The girl soon left from her checkup, leaving Takemi alone with the duo. "That girl's gotten a lot better. So much so, in fact, that now she's gossiping…" Takemi said. "She even comes in on days she doesn't have to. It appears she's nearly fully recovered. Which reminds me, the new medicine will be completed soon. Your data has been extremely helpful, due to your generic body type and bland health history."

"Hear that Ren? You being "basic" was a good thing," Octavia laughed.

"Yeah… "basic" is what I am," Ren shook his head, bemused that being half-Goetia did nothing special for his physical health.

"You've been a splendid guinea pig… I mean, participant," Takemi corrected herself. "So, thanks again. By the way, how have I been doing? Have I been helpful? …For your escapades with the Phantom Thieves, I mean."

"Uh, what?" Ren said with surprise. Octavia tensed up as well.

Takemi sighed. "Come on. You and I both know that you were lying about needing to prepare for the entrance exams. I visited Oyamada in jail. A swing of fortunes like that could have only come at the hands of the Phantom Thieves. And to have it happen when it did…isn't the only logical conclusion to think that it's you two?"

"I wonder…" Octavia muttered, giving a bit of a sly wink that made Takemi laugh.

"I might have also noticed some… peculiarities in your blood, Octavia, when you were brought here after you passed out from exhaustion," Takemi admitted. "I got rid of the stuff, so don't worry about others finding out, but it was something… otherworldly…"

"You could say that," Octavia nodded, dropping her human disguise.

Takemi's eyes went wide at the demon standing before her, but just have a small sigh and a smile. "Well, I don't care what you are, either of you. Do try not to get feathers in my office, though. This isn't a vet," the doctor said. "The point is that without you, I wouldn't have been able to complete my mission. I would've never finished the new medicine… while I was being deceived by Oyamada. And I would've never met and of the townspeople… I bet the Phantom Thieves save people in need, just like doctors do, eh?"

Takemi gave the two a nod. "So, I'll go out on a limb for you. I'll have even more powerful medicine ready for you… I trust that you'll use them appropriately."

'I feel our bond with Takemi has reached its strongest…' Octavia thought. She reached into her pocket and handed over a charm to Takemi, a pen-like charm emblazoned with the Death arcana symbol. "Here, a memento of our bond," Octavia said.

Takemi accepted the charm, hanging it from her coat pocket. "Thank you… But I'm not going to give you medicine for free though," she said. So you better make money in the name of "justice." She giggled at Ren's reaction, the boy sweating a bit. "Now, go. Take care."

Ren and Octavia left for the day after that, their bond with Takemi finally cemented. The back-alley doctor would go on to help more patients, both in the work of researching new medicines and the local people at her clinic. Through it all, her special charm was always in her possession, a shining reminder of the ability to accept death and come out the other side stronger than before.

[***]

September 30

Location: Spaceport of Greed Export Line

"All right! Time to get this Palace infiltrated," Lycan said as the gang exited the Safe Room. She sniffed the air and grinned. "And I think I can smell the next Will Seed nearby. Let's check that vent up there!"

Going up and through the vent, the Phantom Thieves did find the door holding the second Will Seed, but the way to it was blocked by a laser gate. "I wish my angelic powers still worked in the Metaverse. I could easily get past these lasers with those," Templar sighed.

"It's okay, Templar. We just have to find a way to turn the lasers off," Noir assured him.

"Let's make not of this area on the map and come back once we figure out a way to disable the security," Joker said. Getting back on track exploring the Export Line, the team looked out a window to see an assembly line with robot arms looming over a conveyor belt.

"This really is a factory, just like the name says. I wonder what they're making here…" Panther said.

"Do you think it's related to that "Escape to Utopia" thing?" Oracle asked.

"Hold on a sec. Ain't the guys in here moving kinda weird…?" Skull questioned. The gang looked down to see multiple of the robots suddenly seizing up and falling over, deactivated.

"…Unfortunately, this is the exact opposite of how you would imagine a utopia to be," Omen said solemnly.

"These conveyor belts and the positioning of the workers… This is almost identical to the company's bun factory… I can't believe this…" Noir said.

"At the very least, this is how Okumura views his workers," Fox said. "My apologies for saying so, Noir, but this truly atrocious."

"Well, it'll be all under control if we can trigger that change of heart in him, yeah?" Skull said. "Let's go!" Going down to the assembly line, Mona could sense the Treasure through the door on the other side of the room. As a bonus, Oracle noted that the door didn't even have an authentication lock on it! But of course, it wasn't going to be that simple for them as some boxes fell loose from their hanging position after a malfunctioning arm rammed into them, blocking the way forward.

"Looks like we're going to have to find another route to the door," Omen muttered.

"Hm, do you think we'd be able to make use of these fragile arms somehow?" Queen asked.

"Well…" Joker replied, looking over a nearby arm. He went over to the console next to it, a control panel popping out. "Looks like you can change the speed of the arm here… 3x, 5x, or 10x normal speed…"

"I bet it'd break if it was stuck on 10x speed for a long time," Panther guessed.

"Changing arm speed!" the console said as Joker set it to 10x. The robotic arm went into overtime, quickly breaking down and falling over to the other side of the assembly line!

"It went dead like, instantly. I know it was 10x normal speed, but still… that's weak," Lycan scoffed.

"That just proves how truly overworked these machines are…" Queen sighed.

"It seems any increase in workload would have led to its collapse…" Fox mused.

"Wait, but don't you think we might be able to walk on the broken arm?" Noir suggested. "We should check it out, Joker!"

Running across the broken arm, the Phantom Thieves made it to the other side. "Hey, I see some control consoles over here!" Oracle said. Going up to the computer, she grinned and typed in a few lines of code, the computer screen going dark after doing so. "Hehehe… That takes care of the laser gate from earlier. Let's double back and grab the Will Seed!"

"I see a point we could grapple from to get back there as well. Do your thing, Joker!" Mona cheered.

One set of grapple points later and the second Will Seed was theirs. Now all they had to do was break a few more assembly arms to make it over to the door. They even managed to find a chest that contained a new axe for Noir and a Psychokinetic-imbued charm for Templar's spear. Now they were onto the Production Line, where the room was filled with more conveyor belts and crushers on the lines this time around.

"From the look of it, there's only one more door… it seems we should head over there," Omen said, pointing out the door on the other side of the room.

"Yeah, easier said than done. All these presses are going to make it impossible to get across," Lycan shook her head. "Unless you want to become a Goetia Sandwich or something."

"I think that would take the phrase "eat the rich" a bit too literally…" Omen chuckled. "Then again there are cannibals in Hell, so maybe not as strange as I think it is."

"Can we not talk about eating other people?" Templar asked, going a bit green in the face. "Besides, it looks like we have more laser gates to deal with as well."

"It'll probably be a hassle, but I have a feeling it's out only option. We need to turn off those infrared lasers and deactivate the hydraulic press…" Mona surmised. "Let's try to find some sort of controls for those."

Looking around, it was Fox that found a control panel first. "Ah, these must be shift controls for the presses. You can select Break, Lunch, or Unpaid Overtime… Wait… Break is an option!?"

"We may be able to get past that problematic press if we can find the corresponding control panel," Queen guessed. "Let's do this, Joker."

"Now changing press shifts!" the control panel said.

"Hm… You know your father's company, Noir. What would be the best choice?" Joker asked.

"Oh! Well, I don't think Unpaid Overtime will do much to help us, and Lunch is generally a longer break time than normal, so I'd go with the Lunch option," Noir said.

Joker nodded and pressed the button. "It's now lunchtime!" the voice said, making the presses stop moving. "Let us consume our slop and gleefully reenergize! Lunchtime shall last for approximately thirty seconds!"

"Thirty seconds!? Aw crap, we gotta move!" Skull exclaimed. The Phantom Thieves booked it across the nearest press, making it over just in time for the robotic voice to come back on again.

"Break time is over! Let us work even harder to account for our time wasted slacking off!" The presses started moving again after that.

"What the Hell? Blitz gives at least thirty minutes for lunch breaks! This is why working in a factory sucks balls…" Lycan growled.

"There's another panel over here we can manipulate," Omen pointed out. "Should we set it to "Lunch" again?"

"Yup," Oracle nodded. "Actually, I did some research into these… and the other two options are meaningless. "Break" only lasts five seconds, while "Unpaid Overtime" doesn't change anything at all."

"Wait… What do you mean it doesn't do anything?" Panther asked.

"It's probably because the workers here are constantly working unpaid overtime. What a nightmare…" Oracle shuttered. Noir looked down at that statement.

"Regardless, those options are no use to us. It's probably best we simply choose "Lunch" from now on," Fox said.

"Hold on, it looks like you can disable infrared on this too," Omen noted.

"Aha! So this room is actually the one with the main console in it," Oracle cheered. "We should prolly disable the infrared before setting it to "Lunch.""

"Now changing press shifts!" the machine said. Omen put in the code to disable the lasers. "As a cost-cutting measure, we will now disable security in some locations. Please continue to monitor your own workspaces."

"To think the higher-ups are just shoving all this stress on the employees so things can go pleasantly for themselves…" Templar frowned.

"Well, now we can get over to that hydraulic press, right?" Skull said. Activating the "Lunch" option again, the Phantom Thieves made a mad dash across the presses, making it to the door just in time! They were on the Disposal Line now, which had both assembly arms and presses to deal with.

"You'd think we're in a video game with how much we have to run and jump across dangerous platforms…" Joker mused.

"Hey, I can see an elevator over there!" Templar said. "…Oh, but there's more lasers blocking our path. Oh joy…"

"We're going to have to stop those presses if we want to make it across safely," Mona said.

"Wait a moment. Don't you think those robots over there are acting a little strange?" Queen pointed out.

"For the company! For our wonderful President Okumura! I do this with joy! I do this with joy!" the robots chanted.

"They're still respecting him even though they prolly see coworkers collapse from getting overworked…" Skull scoffed.

"It's mind control… They're being purposefully driven into a state of overadaptation," Omen said.

"Over…what?" Lycan raised an eyebrow.

"When a person is continually faced with oppression, they come to welcome its presence," Fox explained. "Such psychological trickery is being used here. I… experienced it first-hand for many years."

"Fox…" Panther looked to her friend.

"So these robots exist because Father is aware that he's exploiting his employees…" Noir said in despair.

"Yes. We should be careful though. I doubt we'll be able to communicate with these ones," Mona warned. "We'll probably go straight into battle when we approach them. I suggest you prepare beforehand!" Activating the nearby panel, the Phantom Thieves made it across the blue press, though their destination was over a yellow press. Finding the appropriate control panel, it took no time at all to reach where those robot workers were standing between them and the elevator.

"For the company! For our wonderful President Okumura!" the robots chanted. "Any who approached this place will be crushed! We shall carry out our president's will with glee!"

The robots readied themselves to attack, but they were no match for the Phantom Thieves' skills, even if they had to deal with three whole waves of robots. With some Psychic skills from Noir and Joker, the horde of bots was easily dealt with. "The heck? That was easy as hell…" Skull said.

"Well I mean, they're overworked, brainwashed, and forced to go up against an impossible enemy," Mona pointed out. "I hope nobody ever treats me like that after I turn back into a human." Noir looked down in shame.

"C-Come on, let's keep going!" Panther encouraged. Don't look so down, Noir!" Moving to the doorway, the elevator was theirs for the taking. However… "What in the-!?"

"Fuel addition has increased output! Incinerator output has reached roughly 270%!" the robotic voice said.

"The employees are being dumped into that incinerator!" Templar gasped in horror.

"No… They're turning all of the worn-down robots into fuel…" Queen gasped. "That means the power source running this factory…"

"It's… people's lives…" Noir finished the thought.

"Noir… Are you okay?" Templar asked.

"I'm not…" she shook her head. "I'm not going to forgive my father for this! I can't believe this is how he sees his workers! Let us go, everyone! We will change his heart, no matter what!"

"Right! We're with you all the way, Noir!" Mona cheered.

Heading up the elevator, the Phantom Thieves were now in the Central Factory. Looking out the window, the gang noticed that they were outside the safety of the dome from before. "Hm, this us called the airlock area… Guess we're going to have to go out into space," Omen mused.

"You can't just say that so casually! Not all of us can breathe in space, princess!" Lycan shouted.

"Putting it lightly, I believe such an action would lead to our extermination," Fox added.

"Well, apparently you'll be okay for like thirty seconds if you keep your eyes and mouth shut," Oracle chimed in. "Which is weird, because honestly I woulda thought we'd just explode out there."

"Don't scare us, dammit!" Skull shouted.

"Well, might as well try this…" Joker said. Going over to the airlock, he braced himself and jumped through, floating through space until he we sucked into the other side, safe and sound.

"What do you know, he didn't die out there," Lycan mused. "Guess it's safe for us as well." The rest of the team followed their leader across, gaining access to elevator that took them further up the tower into the Transfer Line.

"It appears as though we will need to move about in the same manner as before," Fox noted.

"To think we'd end up flying through space…" Queen shook her head. "The awe I felt at seeing that flying bank feels like a distant memory at this point.

Going across the airlock, Omen noticed something new in the room. "Wait a second… Some airlocks are working, but others aren't?"

"I hope we can reach our goal with just the ones that are on…" Mona worried.

"Hm… We need to get past here, though…" Oracle pointed out on the map. "Guess we can't just sit around. Let's keep going." Going through the only path forward, the gang found themselves in a new room, this one with two switches that had the "alpha" and "omega" symbols on them.

"Well, If I had to guess, I'd say these switches can control which airlocks turn on or off," Noir said.

"…Oh great, that means we're in some kind of stupid maze then," Lycan groaned. "I swear to Satan this really is like some sort of bullshit video game puzzle."

"Let's just leave the puzzle solving to me and Oracle then," Omen offered.

"I'm sensing… Yes, there might be a Will Seed in this maze as well!" Mona gasped. "Let's find out where the last Will Seed is, then we can get out of this maze!"

And so their airlock puzzle began, starting by turning on the omega airlocks and jumping to the next room. Going down the corridor, they found another switch, turning it back to the alpha airlocks that let them go down the path towards the Will Seed. With this being the third and final one the Phantom Thieves were prepared for a fight, and they were proven correct to be worried as a Shadow blocked the path to the door.

"How bold of you to slack off, in complete disregard for your duties…" the Shadow taunted. "It seems we have a few impudent workers who are in need of some extra training!" The Shadow transformed into its true form, a robotic angel with an arm cannon, the Pagan Savior.

"Don't give us that! Your so-called training is nothing more than torture!" Noir retorted. "Let's go, everyone!" The battle with the Pagan Savior wasn't too difficult to overcome, with Mona and Joker exploiting its weakness to Wind while the others focused on using status moves or blocking its hard-hitting God's Hand attack. Soon the Shadow was defeated, the final Will Seed of this Palace as theirs!

"And that gives us the Crystal of Greed," Omen said, holding up the fused artifact. "Looks like it sets off an automatic Tarukaja during battle. Noir, I think you should have it."

"I'll use its power well," Noir said, equipping it to her person. "Now, let's get out of these airlocks, shall we?"
Getting back on track, the Phantom Thieves went back the way they came, pulling the switch to change back to the omega airlocks and going over to the next room. In this room they changed the airlocks back to the alpha switch, going through the next airlock and ending up back where they started this maze. Pulling the lever again they backtracked to the second room, pulling the lever there and going to a new room with a yellow switch. With that one pulled, the way out of this maze was final open to them!

"Oh thank the lord above…" Templar sighed in relief. "I was worried we'd get stuck there forever."

"Don't count your blessings too soon," Omen said as they took the elevator up. "It looks like we still have one more set of airlock puzzles before we're at the end."

"Oh come on…" Skull groaned.

"Hold on a second, guys…" Oracle as said after they hopped through to the first room. She gestured to her left. "Once we pass through this airlock, the Treasure'll be right there in front of us."

"Sweet! …To bad it isn't working…" Lycan sighed. "I guess we'll have to find another switch, right?"

"That could very well be the only way. Let's do what we can," Noir nodded. Moving to the new area provided the team a switch to pull. However, they soon found a new wrinkle in the puzzle after passing through the next airlock. "Oh… The path we came on has been closed off?"

"The airlocks seem to have changed. Let's proceed with caution," Queen warned.

"Leave it to us!" Omen and Oracle stated.

The Phantom Thieves moved through the next two airlocks before coming to a room with two options. Picking the middle airlock, they went through two more airlocks before coming across a larger room with a switch. Pulling it, the gang went through an orange airlock, where a switch for their target airlock was! Moving on through to the next room, they had a straight shot to the final elevator!

"See, it was too bad," Omen said. With one final elevator the Phantom Thieves were in a brand-new area.

"Hm… These are the parts we saw in the factory area," Fox observed.

"So this is where they're being used," Queen said.

"But what are they…? It's hard to tell from just looking…" Panther wondered.

"Dude, let's leave the factory tour for later. We gotta focus on the Treasure right now!" Skull exclaimed.

"Huh. It's rare to hear Skull say something sensible," Morgana mused. Here in Weapon Production the path ahead was straightforward, with the Treasure being held behind glass. "Yes, we've found it! This is it!"

"Be we haven't found any information about the mental collapses. That bothers me…" Fox hummed.

"Oh yeah, you're right," Lycan frowned. "Maybe he's hiding it? We got this fair. Wouldn't it be better to just squeeze the truth outta the guy?"

"After we change his heart," Joker said.

"That plan is fine by me," Noir nodded.

"Let's send out the calling card and take his Treasure then," Mona said. "You can decide when we do so."

As the gang went to head out of the Palace with their route secure, Omen suddenly froze, her senses going haywire as she felt an unnerving presence. "Where are you? Show yourself!" she shouted, pointing her staff in a random direction and firing off a warning shot. She swore a phantom of some kind at the corner of her vision fled the scene after her suddenly attack.

"Woah, Via, calm down!" Lycan said, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "What's gotten into you?"

"I can feel him… the Black Mask…" Omen said, letting her voice drop into a whisper as the gang quickly went to the nearest Safe Room to discuss further. "I was given a warning from a friend of mine that the Black Mask is someone we'll have to worry about during this part of the ordeal. If I had to guess, they may be using us to get through the Palace for them."

"But why? Aren't they responsible for mental shutdowns? Do they want Okumura's Treasure or something?" Skull asked.

Omen shook her head. "I don't know… but if I had to make a guess, the Black Mask might be using us to weaken Okumura's Shadow, making him an easy target for a mental shutdown. That's just a guess, though…"

"No, I think it makes some amount of sense," Joker said. "It's like when Ann had the chance to either make Kamoshida confess to his crimes or destroy his Shadow, causing a mental shutdown. In this case, the Black Mask could swoop in after we weaken Okumura and kill the Shadow."

"If that were to happen, it would look bad on us, especially since it would be made public that we sent out a calling card," Mona said with concern. "So, what do you suggest we do?"

"I think our best option here is to set a trap for the Black Mask," Omen suggested. "Either we catch him in the act during our go for the Treasure, or ideally, we figure out who Black Mask is in the real world and detain them until our job with Okumura is complete. I'm not sure if we could convince the police that the Metaverse exists, but if we can make the Black Mask confess…"

"Then we can totally clear our names, catch a criminal, and fast-track our way through this ordeal in one go!" Templar exclaimed.

"A trap for a killer so we can unmask them… Sounds like a plan to me," Joker nodded. "We'll delay sending the calling card until the last minute to give you enough time to try and find the Black Mask's identity, Omen. Everyone good with that?"

The other Phantom Thieves nodded, and with their decision made it was time to head back to the real world. Octavia had a mystery to solve, but if all else failed, she'd come up with a backup plan that would surely catch them their Black Mask killer…

Author's Notes

We finished Takemi's confidant this time, which means I can give my thoughts on her now. I really like her design (goth/punk girls are a thing I enjoy- gee, it's almost like Octavia and Loona are my favorite characters or something...) and her story of learning to open up and help her community is really nice. The Death arcana is one that can be misunderstood by many, but its true meaning is that of change. Takemi used to be a follower in her research, but upon getting blamed for a mistake she didn't made, she changed to become the back-alley doctor we know, with Joker and Octavia here helping her to make that transition into a new phase of her life.

The Phantom Thieves also finished the infiltration of the Spaceport this chapter too! I think most players have some trouble with the airlock puzzles, at least if you didn't use a guide. Octavia sensed the Black Mask nearby at the end, though, and now is coming up with a plan to deduce their identity, or to trap them so they can't interfere with the change of heart. Can our princess solve this mystery?

Next time we'll be taking a break from Okumura to do some of the Royal content of Persona 5. It's time for our star performer to take to the stage of the Phantom Thieves!