Miss Violet: Thank you all so much for the love. So, a lot of folks seemed surprised about Oribe's appearance and as a huge fan of TMS, you'll be seeing more of that cast there. Since this is in an alternate world, they aren't carnage users and except for Yashiro Tsurugi, Kiria Kurono, and Mamori Minamoto, none of that cast works at Fortuna Enterprises.
Not yet at least.
Now, time for class!
Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Sixty-Seven
[Opening Scene: Shibuya – Big Bang Burger (Late Morning)
Theme of Big Bang Burger: Bing Bang March from Persona 5]
"This is so delicious," Oribe cooed with a satisfied smile at the taste of the burger she held in her hand.
It had been ten minutes since Makoto had saved the girl from those crooked men and thankful for the rescue, Oribe had offered to treat her and Eiko to some food. "I've only been here one other time with Itsuki -kun," Oribe commented as she sat her burger down. "And that was due to how hard it was raining."
"So you never got to try the food?" Eiko questioned.
Oribe shook her head. "Not one bit. It smelled and still smells very good. I'll have to take Ellie-chan here again to actually eat when she is done with her cast photo shoot," the girl chirped.
"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way," Makoto softly interjected. "Those men. What happened with them in the alleyway?"
Oribe frowned.
[Theme of Information: Darkeness from Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE]
"Well," Oribe began. "I was walking down the street to get a gift for Itsuki-kun. It's his birthday today and I wanted to get him something. All of a sudden, these men showed up. They were saying all types of lewd things to me and when I ignored them, they started to get worse."
Makoto frowned.
"Finally, they dragged me into the alleyway to try and convince me to see their boss. Said he would be pleased by having someone of my looks join him for his party," Oribe grimaced. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along and saved me, Niijima-senpai."
"Makoto is fine," Makoto told her with a nod. "But it seems like we might have saved you from something even worse than you think."
Makoto slapped the pictures of the various teens down on the table. "Holy shit," Eiko breathed while Oribe gasped. "Hey, I recognize some of these people," Eiko whispered. "They go to our school…."
"I do too," Oribe added. Oribe's eyes then widened as a particular picture caught her gaze. The picture was that of a short blonde-haired girl with bangs swept to the left and dull blue eyes. She wore a rather sparkly white blouse.
To Makoto's eyes, the girl didn't look all the way there. She then eyed the photo closer and saw the familiar face of her target. He was older and fatter, but it was him.
This girl was sitting next to him….
"Ellie…." Oribe whispered.
Makoto glanced at the picture Oribe held and noticed that there was a date written in black marker on the back of it. "Oribe, mind if I see that for a second?" Makoto asked.
Oribe nodded and handed Makoto the picture. She stared at the date and realized something. "This was taken last week," Makoto revealed. "Where is your friend now, Oribe?"
"She's filming for a show that she's in all day. There is no telling when she's done. But I do know that tomorrow she'll have more free time due to a photo shoot that's happening in Inokashira Park with her cast mates," Oribe explained. "Why?"
Makoto sighed and said, "The sooner we talk to her, the better our chances of catching this heinous person."
"Then….How about we meet at Inokashira Park tomorrow afternoon? I don't have work and that's when her photo shoot ends. I'll even give you both my number to reach me when it's almost time."
Makoto nodded.
Now she was getting somewhere….
[Scene Change: Brothel of Fraud – 98th Floor (The Queen's Road)
Theme of Battle (Mona Led): Action from Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE]
"Whoa! Why are these enemies so tough?!" Mona cried as he jumped back from a burst of flames from a Twilight Prostitute.
"Beats us," Mage replied as he skated behind Mona and plucked them off the ground to avoid a Psi attack from one of their newest enemies, the Jealous Lover.
"My love! Come back and die for me!" Jealous Lover yelled as she fired several more wisps of Psi energy.
"Barking up the wrong tree, sister!" Mage exclaimed as he turned around and skated backward while returning fire with his staff.
"Save the furry one for me!" Twilight Prostitute exclaimed as she followed up with a ball of fire.
Mage skated into the air as Mona cried, "Zorro: Blow them away!" A green tornado appeared behind the fleeing Phantom Thieves and then exploded into blades of wind as Zorro appeared. "Is this all?" Zorro questioned with a cocky grin. Zorro swung his rapier toward the two shadows, causing a gust of wind to send the two high into the air.
"Lady Eilistraee: Gry!" Mage cried.
An ethereal blue moon appeared above the two shadows, only for it to quickly go through the moon phases to become a crescent moon until Eilistraee made her appearance known the light from the moon formed her body.
"Beings of lust and envy, be crushed by your sins!" Eilistraee bellowed as she held out her right hand, causing the beings to be encased in a blinding white aura. The two shadows then shot to the ground and exploded into the inky black substance
Meanwhile, Lioness' shield collided with the two blades of the Human-eating Lady, who sneered in delight at the challenge of battle. "Such fire in you, girl," The shadow hissed as Lioness narrowed her eyes. "Madam Mitsuyo only allows me to eat men but I think disobeying her to add your flames to my life will be worth the punishment."
"Sorry," Lioness growled as she pushed the two blades away and lunged her spear at the shadow's head. The shadow hopped back to avoid the spear and grinned, only for an inky black substance to slide down her cheek.
Lioness smirked and continued, "I'm too slippery to eat. Boudicca!" An orb of water appeared beside her before it took a humanoid shape before it exploded in a wave of water, revealing Boudicca, and together, the two lunged their spears at Human-eating Lady, who used her blades to deflect each rapid lunge.
Boudicca then turned into liquid and melded with her spear, which Lioness grabbed as it fell to the ground while also avoiding being decapitated by one of the shadow's blades. She quickly angled Boudicca's spear and pierced the shadow's stomach, and when the shadow gasped, she rammed her spear through the open mouth of the shadow.
Lioness smirked and removed both spears, causing the shadow to explode in an inky black substance.
Finally, Noir and Panther jumped back as Slithering Snakewoman's tail lashed through the air at a fast pace. An unfortunate pillar was nearby Slithering Snakewoman's attack and when it was struck by her tail, it was diagonally sliced.
"Okay, avoid that mess," Panther noted.
"It's adorable how you two continue to fight this futile battle," Slithering Snakewoman cooed with a soft smile. "My flames hunger for your spirits. And it always gets what it wants."
"As do we," Noir countered with a haughty tone. "And what we want—"
"—Is your death!" Panther exclaimed. "Carmen: Weaken this cocky viperess!"
A pillar of ethereal flames exploded from the ground as Carmen stepped out of it, her eyes glinting in fiery delight. With a wink of her left eye, Slithering Snakewoman's skin paled and her meaty tail thinned.
"That won't be enough! Agilao!" The shadow screamed as a beam of flame shot out from the tip of her tail toward the two thieves. Panther cracked her whip to wrap around a pillar and tugged hard to take air while Noir danced to the left to avoid the attack.
When Noir stopped, she said, "I tire of this. Milady!"
Ethereal red roses swam around Noir's form and with a burst of wind, Noir was found sitting on Milady's left shoulder. "Ah, Lamia, my favorite target," Milady taunted as her dress rose to reveal the myriad of guns beneath it.
"Fire!" Noir shouted as she pointed at Slithering Snakewoman. Milady laughed as her guns went off, every ethereal bullet piercing through the shadow's body while Panther swung high into the air above Slithering Snakewoman.
"Carmen!" Panther summoned as she raised her whip into the air. Carmen appeared in a flourish of flames and then kissed the whip, causing the whip to turn into a funnel of a raging inferno. With a scream, Panther swung her burning whip and immolated the shadow, causing her scream to warble until there was nothing left.
[Theme of Victory (Mona Led): Battle Result from Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE]
Panther landed on the ground and gave a fist bump to Noir as she said, "That was too easy."
"We are certainly getting stronger," Noir noted as Mage skated to a stop behind them with Mona in his arms and Lioness walked up to them, still holding both spears.
"You rookies sure know how to throw down," Mona said with a proud grin and a victory cigar in his mouth.
"Where did you get that cigar?" Lioness asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know, water girl," Mona teased while Mage laughed.
[Theme of Brothel of Fraud: Club Zodiac from Persona 2: Innocent Sin]
"Alright, now that the battle has finished, we can finally see if we can locate Madam Mitsuyo's treasure," Mona said as he hopped out of Mage's arms. "Now, let's G-O, Go!"
The group nodded and together, they ran up the final flight of stairs to reach the doorway to the 99th floor.
The group opened the door and saw that the room itself had a golden rug and pearl-white walls that had water cascading down to the shallow pools that sat beside both sides of the tail that led to the middle of the room.
In the middle of the room was what looked like a gigantic bed with a golden bedframe that was modeled after a snake's head.
And lastly, golden rose petals fell from the shadowed ceiling above, causing a rather beautiful and scented rainfall.
"Well, this seems pretty humble," Mage noted.
"As humble as Kamoshida and Madarame," Panther dryly replied.
"There is a balcony up there," Noir noted. "And it looks like there is something on it."
"But I don't see a way to get up there," Mona grumbled.
Lioness narrowed her eyes and asked, "Mage….Can you check it out for us?"
Mage nodded and skated into the air toward the balcony, where he landed on it. He noticed that there was a lever to the left and pulled it down. The monster-sized bed creaked and then split apart as a golden stairwell with water flowing down the steps rose from the floor and stopped in front of the balcony.
"Well, that's our way in," Mona said. "Let's go."
The three girls nodded and the four ran up the rather slippery stairs to the balcony, where they reunited with Mage and walked into a modest-sized room, where they noticed a cage with a glowing orb inside.
"The treasure…." Mona whispered.
"Does always look so formless?" Noir asked.
"Only before we send the calling card," Panther answered. "But, we have our path. We should get out of here."
"I don't like this," Mage murmured. "It seemed too easy to get here."
"It was this easy with Kamoshida," Panther noted. "Then again, we wound up having to fight him during the escape. We may have to prepare ourselves to fight Madam Mitsuyo as well."
The group nodded.
"For now, we have our path. Let's head home and talk about when we should strike," Mona announced.
[Scene Change: Ichiran Shibuya (Late Morning)
Theme of Relaxation: Hawaii from Persona 5]
"Okay, if you keep raving about 13 Sentinals, I'm going to have to play it," Ren told Ryuji, who grinned in response.
"Seriously, it's so fucking awesome, Ren-Ren, Hifumi. All the characters are super likable, and while the plot is confusing at first, it has payoffs out of the ass. Anyone that hasn't played it needs to play it," Ryuji gushed. "Not to mention, Ogata Nenji is totally my spirit animal. He has the dawg in him."
"It sounds pretty interesting," Hifumi murmured. "But I don't know how you can play games while being what we are. I doubt I could look at my Shogi board for a while after this is settled."
"Well, it's really super easy, barely an inconvenience," Ryuji touted. "I just turn my brain off the second walk through my doors. Homework? Never heard of her? Exercising? Already did it. Once I wash up, it's just me and my TV for as long as my body can withstand."
"This Yakisoba Pan is delicious," Yusuke hummed with delight. "Where has it been my entire life?"
"You've never had Yakisoba Pan before?" Ren asked after swallowing his own bite of the delicious food. "It's like, the food of the gods."
"No," Yusuke sadly answered. "Madarame wouldn't feed me unless I completed my artwork. And because there was so much of it, I could barely do anything. Even sleep would elude me…."
"Dude…." Ryuji whispered while Ren and Hifumi exchanged a look. "That settles it. When we clear out Madarame, we're so going back to the Wulton."
"You've guys been there?" Hifumi asked with a hint of excitement.
"Yeah, it's the best," Ren replied with a smile. "We should plan for it actually."
"That sounds delightful," Yusuke said. "Also, forgive me but I have a question. About Yūki-san."
"Mishi?" Ryuji questioned with a mouth full of noodles.
"Swallow," Hifumi admonished, only to giggle as Ryuji shot her an amused look. "Whoops, that slipped out."
"That's what she said," Ren quickly said, which caused Ryuji to swallow as quickly as possible.
"That's what she—Aww man, my mouth was full!" Ryuji whined.
"You snooze, you lose, Ryu-kun," Ren winked. He turned back to Yusuke and said, "What about Mishima? You two getting along well?"
"Forgive me, but I know I offered the chance to draw you and Takamaki-san, but I would like to use Mishima as my art subject instead," Yusuke explained.
"Aww, how rude," Ren jokingly said. "No skin off my nose though."
"Do you think he would do it? Pose for me I mean?" Yusuke asked.
"Our little moe? You have more of a chance of Rise performing Sapphire Heart in the town square for free than for that to happen," Ryuji said.
"You listen to Rise?!" Hifumi exclaimed.
Realizing his goof, Ryuji bashfully muttered, "No. I just….Look, her duet with Kiria was a banger, alright?"
"Oh, you mean Silver-Haired Lover? That's like my favorite song," Hifumi gushed. "Certainly a banger for the ages. Did you know it was about Rise's boyfriend and their two girlfriends?"
"Are you for real?!" Ryuji exclaimed. "I didn't know Rise was on that type of time."
"Very true. Rumor is, she's going out with detective Prince, his partner, and a mysterious platinum-blonde girl," Hifumi said. "It's been in the newspapers for weeks."
"Man, this is just as big as that one CEO marrying Pink Argus and in the US," Ryuji said. "I wonder if they'll be any blowback if that rumor is true."
"There has to be, right?" Hifumi asked.
"And we've lost them," Ren laughed as he looked at Yusuke. "But Ryuji is right, I doubt Mishima would go for that. Why don't you start small and like, work your way up?"
Yusuke contemplated and then nodded.
A few seconds later, a young man with short black hair and dark gray eyes walked up behind the counter. He wore a white collar shirt with two red vertical lines along the placket, a blue sweater jacket with a white checkered pattern on his left sleeve bicep, tan trousers, dark navy sneakers, and an apron on his torso.
In his hands was a platter of sodas, which he placed in front of the four teens. "And here you are," the man said with a friendly smile.
"Yo! Itsuki-san," Ryuji greeted with a smile. "I haven't seen you here for a while. I thought you wound up quitting."
"Me? Quit? Nah," Itsuki chuckled. "My mom is still out due to illness so I can't quit until she returns to work. When are you coming back here? Boss misses you."
"He doesn't miss me quite enough since he hasn't spoken to me since he let my ass go," Ryuji replied with a grin. "But anyway, how is that mysterious girlfriend that keeps leaving the country? She doing alright?"
"K-chan has been pretty exhausted lately," Itsuki sighed. "I'm thinking about taking her out to dinner tonight if she's up for crowds."
"Worst case, if she's not, you guys can eat in. Hell, I've even be your delivery boy for that," Ryuji told him.
"You're a cool guy, Ryuji," Itsuki said with a grin. "I better get back to work. But we might take you up on that offer. number still the same?"
Ryuji nodded.
"Dope. See you!" Itusuki said and then sped off to the back room of the restaurant.
"You used to work here, Ryuji?" Yusuke questioned, with Ren and Hifumi turning to the delinquent.
"Back when I was a goodie-goodie," Ryuji answered. "But Kamoshida made sure that had to stop. The Bastard got me fired from this place….I hope his jail cell is as dark and damp as his fucking soul…."
"He really ruined a lot of lives," Yusuke murmured. "No better than Madarame…."
"Or my Mom," Hifumi sighed. "So many careers she's tainted just to keep me on top…."
"Hey, hey," Ren said, noticing the funk that hovered around his three friends. "Kamoshida got his, and Madarame and Mitsuyo will get theirs shortly. We know they will. So it'll be alright. I promise."
The trio nodded, all of them looking slightly happier than moments ago.
"Now let's finish up before we have to go face the music, yeah?" Ren suggested.
"I'm not exactly ready to go back home," Hifumi admitted.
"Neither am I," Yusuke sighed.
"Well, since the rooms aren't ready at the Crazy Diamond yet, why don't you two stay over at my place tonight," Ryuji offered. "And you too Ren. Mom would be ecstatic that I bought friends over."
"I wish, but I have a certain music to face," Ren told him. "But, if shit hits the fan, keep a sleeping bag ready for me."
Ryuji nodded with a smile.
Ren's phone then buzzed, prompting him to pull it out and glance at it. "Their back. And they secured a route. Let's head to Haru's."
[Scene Change: Shibuya – Okumura Residence (Living Room - Afternoon)
Theme of Meeting: Paulownia Mall from Persona 3]
"So, the time has come," Mona voiced. "Two Palaces eight of us."
"Since both Joker and Skull say we should attack them both, how would we like to do this?" Fox questioned.
"We do at the same time," Joker instructed. "We do the calling cards and infiltration at the same time. Once we do that, they should confess at the same time."
"So we have to be in unison with this. But why?" Lioness asked.
"It's simply ingenious," Pawn answered. "It lets the public know that not only can it happen again so soon after Kamoshida, but multiple targets are possible now. It is sure to send a message."
"Then I should get started with the calling cards," Skull said.
"Am I able to write Madarame's card?" Fox questioned.
"I would like to write my mother's as well," Pawn offered.
"Alright, no skin off my shaft," Skull shrugged. "But I'll oversee to make sure we don't add too much information on it. So, what about the teams?"
"The teams are simple. Pawn, Noir, Panther, and Mona will be infiltrating Mitsuyo's palace while Fox, Mage, Lioness, and I take on Madarame," Joker answered.
"The two important pieces and the two awakenings in their places of importance, nice theming," Mishima said with a smile.
"That's all pretty sound," Mona said.
"Hey, we should do something about Makoto's sister as well," Panther told the group.
"President said she would handle that part. We just have to wait for her call," Lioness told Panther.
"Believe me when I say I don't believe that," Panther said.
"Panther," Lioness softly admonished.
"Sorry," Panther murmured.
(I tried hard but where did we go wrong?
I hope we could... but I won't start all over again)
"And that's my phone," Joker announced as he answered the phone and said, "Amamiya's Pizza, what's your beef?"
Joker then groaned.
He was using code names for a reason!
"As cute as the first time I've heard it," President's voice chuckled. "Can you, Kitagawa, and Tōgō get downtown? And maybe looked beat up? I told my sister that I found you three and I need to relay some information before I get you three prepared."
"Gotcha. We'll be there, Prez," Joker promised and then hung up. "Alright. Fox, Pawn, it's time."
"Want us to come with?" Panther asked.
Joker shook his head and said, "No. We gotta make this look legit. Meaning no backup."
"Prez's sister is going to interrogate you guys hard so be sure to listen to what President says," Noir warned.
Joker, Fox, and Pawn nodded.
"Let's go," Pawn murmured.
[Scene Change: Shibuya – Abandoned Lot (Afternoon)
Theme of Recovery: Premonition from Persona 2 Innocent Sin]
Sae grumbled in annoyance as she and Zenkichi stood at the abandoned lot where the three missing students were found. They were found with their clothes scuffed and torn, and their hands and ankles bound, but they were found.
It was luck that her sister was able to find them in this lot. Then again, her sister had been hellbent on finding them.
It seemed like her sister was being honest after all, considering that the three of them were able to name Kaneshiro Junya and his goons as the ones that captured them.
That name….
It sickened her to hear it.
"So, what do we do?" Zenkichi asked.
"I don't know," Sae replied. "We take them down to the station to question them and then try to bring him to justice. But I doubt it'll be done."
"Why?" Zenkichi asked.
Sae gave a thin smile and replied, "He seems to get off every time we think we've caught him. I have no faith that this time will be different…."
"Sounds like there is some history there," Zenkichi commented.
Sae gave no reply.
[Scene Change: Aoharu City - Sanada Residence (Afternoon)
Theme of the Sanada Residence: Confessions from Persona 3: The Movie]
"So, there was no luck?" Sanada Fuuka asked Aigis as the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon sat at her table, looking discouraged.
Aigis now sat in her her human clothing, which consisted of a black and white dress with blue trimmings, a bright blue ribbon tie, black human-like shoes, and a black headphone-like headband with blue linings.
Meanwhile, Fuuka's teal-blue hair was long and braided to the front, and her outfit consisted of a white-colored sundress with sleeves, black tights, and boots.
"No. His father seemed to not care that Amamiya Ren was gone," Aigis replied. "He barely let me ask that question before he blurted the answer out and closed the door in my face. How shall I keep my word to Kotone if I am unable to locate him?"
The teal-haired woman gave a sympathetic look to her long-time friend and carefully walked over to the girl and held out her baby son, Shinji. "Hold him for a moment," Fuuka requested with a kind smile.
Aigis looked uncomfortable but took the small child, his short platinum-teal hair barely hiding the dark brownish-gray eyes that looked up at her.
Fuuka smiled at the sight and took a picture to share with Akihiko when he returned home from work. She put her phone down, and told Aigis, "I'll see if I can find any information on him."
Aigis nodded, and Fuuka's irises turned teal green. Seconds later, Juno flowed to life in teal green energy around her, leaving Fuuka floating within the dress orb of her persona.
Ten minutes of Juno humming a gently tune passed until Fuuka's body jerked within Juno, causing Aigis to slightly panic. "Are you alright?" Aigis asked.
"I am fine, but that was interesting," Fuuka's voice echoed as Shinji babbled in Aigis' arms.
"What is it, Fuuka?" Aigis questioned.
"I can feel Persona users," Fuuka revealed. "But not any of us on the Shadow Response Unit."
How peculiar…
"Where?" Aigis questioned.
"Shibuya of all places," Fuuka noted as Juno faded away, leaving Fuuka slightly winded but overall, alright.
"Should we inform the others SRU members?" Aigis asked.
"Not yet," Fuuka said. "It was only a blip of the energy. I want to investigate more before I drag Mitsuru and Yukari from New York. But while I felt that, I found some information on Amamiya Ren. Including his location…."
Aigis blinked in surprise and then grinned.
Progress.
Miss Violet: Now, I know there is the lingering plot thread of Ren's mom but don't worry about that. The next chapter will deal with Boss, the calling cards, and something more. And after that, the end of the double palace arc. Class dismissed.