The Sapporo Jail was a cold place. The city was completely frozen over. When they officially made their way onto the frigid streets, Noir couldn't help but frown. This was how Mari-san saw the world? It was so cold and lonely. What happened to make someone so warm and kind so cold… "…." Noir said she was fine, but this weighed on her heart just as her Father's Palace did. And when she thought about that, she couldn't help but look at Crow. A horrible thought crossed her mind; something she didn't even realize. She let her father's killer join them in Mariko's Jail. What if…!?

"We've got incoming!" Oracle's voice suddenly snapped Noir from these thoughts. The instant they hit the streets, multiple sentry shadows spawned to intercept them.

"Intruders!" The Shadow exclaimed. They suddenly transformed and also summoned multiple enemy shadows to stop the Phantom Thieves in their tracks. This even included multiple enemy Jack Frosts.

"Ah…they're so cute…!" Noir couldn't help it. She absolutely adored the little Jack Frost. At least until she found herself frantically dodging multiple spears of ice that were sent her way. Cute and deadly. "Eep!"

"I always despised the 'cute' ones…" Crow said as Hereward appeared behind him. Hereward fired an arrow of curse right into the swarm of Jack Frost. The ensuing explosion caused the crowd of Jack Frost to scatter if they weren't already dead from the blast.

Noir pouted. Maybe it was a little silly, but Jack Frosts really were cute. "…."

"It's cold here…but this seems like the time where I get to shine!" Panther was happy about that, at least. She called forth Celestine, the flames immediately melting some of the surrounding ice and snow around her. "This is much better! Celestine!" Panther was feeling herself, spinning around while her Persona released a stream of fire onto the enemy forces. Considering the elemental affinity, Panther was very effective here.

"Woo! Go Panther-senpai!" Violet cheered. Unfortunately, she didn't feel very useful here. In fact, she could barely feel her legs. This was the one time she regretted that her Phantom Thief costume was a leotard!

With a sigh, Noir also decided she should probably do some work as well. So, she spun around with her axe extended, becoming her own deadly cyclone as she cut down numerous Jack Frost. Oh, it pained her heart to bring harm to these cute Shadows. But these cute Shadows would bring harm to her if she stood around and fawned over them. They were able to take out the opening wave of enemies that came their way. "Whew…"

"Well, talk about a cold reception." Joker said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Boo." Crow immediately showed his distaste for the joke. "I'd rather freeze than deal with your sense of humor."

"Speaking of freeze, can I just huddle in a corner and go to sleep…?" Oracle asked.

"Hell no!" Skull shook his head. "You'd definitely turn into popsicle if you did that!"

"Ugh…." Oracle groaned. This was too cold for her. She missed the warmth of reality.

"There's so much snow everywhere…" Sophie commented.

"Careful not to roll around in it. Otherwise we might lose you." Skull joked. Sophie was white as snow…they might actually lose her if they weren't careful. There was only one path they could take in the snowy city, but eventually they came to a fork in the road, and multiple paths of these forks were completely blocked off by walls of ice.

"The castle should be just beyond here…" Mona said, head tilting up to look at the massive wall before them.

"How far does this wall of ice go?" Noir said with a sweat drop.

"Doesn't seem like we can just break through it…" Queen trailed off.

"Hold on, let me try! Fire always beats ice!" Panther said confidently. Her confidence, however faded immediately after her attempt. She tried to use Celestine to break through the ice, but her expression fell when her fireball failed to leave even a dent. "…Ah."

"It was worth a shot." Dragon said with a slight smile. "…My staff doesn't extend that high, so I don't think I'll be of any use either."

"It seems we are currently at an impasse." Fox remarked.

"This place is so cold and empty…" Noir frowned. "It's chilling to think this is how someone sees the world."

"I really wonder what happened to make it like this…" Dragon was worried for Noir. She knew exactly what was going through her mind right now. "But we'll get to the bottom of this."

"Mmm…" Noir smiled faintly at Dragon's reassurance. It helped.

"It's…over for me…getting…so sleepy…" Oracle was hitting her limit. And with a long, drawn out sigh, she stopped moving.

"Oracle has fainted." Sophie reported.

"Come on, stop fooling around…" Queen sighed. They didn't have time for this. I'm sure there's another route we can use…" She looked to the left, only to see another towering wall of ice no good.

"I suspect these walls are rooted with the Prison Keeps." Crow surmised. "If there is a major obstacle in our path, it is likely they will be linked to those. Shibuya and Sendai Jail had those same trends, so I believe this will be no different." He gestured to an open path on the right.

"You may be right. Let's take this path as far as we can." Queen nodded in agreement.

"Yo, it's cold as balls out here." Skull said suddenly. "If I don't start joggin', I'm gonna freeze in place."

"I-I agree with Skull-senpai. I need to move…" Violet said while rubbing her thighs. She needed to do something to keep the warmth going.

"So says the athletes of our group…" Oracle said.

"I'm also in agreement with the two of them." Drago spoke up. "It's cold…"

"Hey, what else can we do?" Skull muttered. "Every second we waste, the hag's getting another heart in the bag."

"Skull's right. We need to keep moving." Mona said.

"Let's keep moving. We can try and keep warm as we go." Joker said. Everyone nodded and they began to follow the path.

.

.

The path to the first Prison Keep was rife with conflict. But it wasn't something the Phantom Thieves were unable to handle. Soon enough, they approached the first Prison Keep and the gate was wide open. "We've made it!"

"Based on the past few Jails, we should find something here that will help us move forward." Queen said.

"Nice! And the gate's wide open!" Skull beamed. Finally, things seemed easy for once.

"I'm not sensing any Shadows on the radar, either. Normally we'd be walking straight into an ambush, but…" Oracle shook her head. "It's empty."

"That's not suspicious at all." Crow shook his head. "I suspect we'll be met with something foul the moment we grab the core. Probably the ambush on our way down."

"Let us proceed with caution." Fox warned everyone. They weren't sure what they were up against, but they had to go forward. They stepped into the Prison Keep area, and they weren't met with any Shadows. It was strange not walking into an ambush, they really did have a peaceful walk to the Bird Cage, where they swiped the first core.

"It was really that easy?" Violet was surprised. She was too used to having to work hard.

"That wasn't so hard at all!" Panther was grinning. Maybe things were easy after all. "Think we're finally getting the hang of this?"

"We got ourselves a Core! What is it?" Skull said, leaning over Joker's shoulder.

"Uh…this." Joker held out a campaign poster with Mariko's face on it. "Some kind of flyer?"

"With Mariko Hyodo on it…" Before Queen could surmise anymore, a snowstorm suddenly occurred with no morning. The sky turned gray and a blizzard happened on the spot.

"GAAAAH!?" Oracle immediately hugged herself for warmth.

"W-Where did this come from!?" Violet hugged Oracle for warmth. This was too cold for her!

"A chain reaction to the Core being taken…" Crow grit his teeth. Out of all the things he could've expected, this was not on the list. "I think I would prefer the ambush." Was his takeaway from all of this.

"It's even worse in the area we just came from! We can't go back…" Mona said with wide eyes.

"Then our exit is lost. An ill omen to be sure…" Fox wasn't helping.

"Hey, guys, I don't wanna freeze to death here. And Violet ain't looking so hot…" Skull knew she had to be suffering the most out of everyone.

"I-I-I am also…feeling chilly…" Dragon rubbed her arms.

"Okay, we gotta move, and fast." Joker said.

"I can help." Sophie walked to the edge of the Bird Cage and pointed off in the distance. "Oracle, make that spot our destination."

"D-Did you find something? Whatever, I'll go!" Oracle wasn't going to object. If Sophie spotted something, the best move was to trust her and head there!" So the Thieves quickly scurried down the birdcage and exited the Prison Keep, but the moment they arrived outside, that's when the ambush happened. Multiple Shadows spawned, unbothered by the blizzard.

"Oh. There it is. Of course." Crow sucked his teeth. He said he preferred the ambush, but it turns out they were getting both an ambush and terrible weather conditions. How wonderful.

"Aw man…I really don't wanna do this…" Oracle shuddered. She still had a job to do as their navigator!

"Everyone who's too cold to fight should stay back." Joker said. This cold wasn't good for anyone, but it was clearly affecting some of them more than the others.

"S-Sorry, Senpai…Can't…move much…" Violet said while shivering. When the cold was this bad, she could barely muster the energy to fight.

"Leave it to us!" Fox said while unsheathing his sword. The cold didn't bother him much due to his affinity, but that did not mean he was immune to it. Prolonged exposure to these conditions was still bad for everyone involved. "We will cut them down swiftly!"

"Yeah, we're gonna make this fast as hell!" Skull nodded in agreement.

Fox's mask burned away as he summoned Gorokichi, swinging his sword in tandem with his Persona to start clearing the path of Shadows. The high speed strikes between the two of them taking out a wide array of Shadows before they could react.

"William, blast 'em away!" Skull said while pointing his arm forward. William fired off a sphere of lightning towards the group of Shadows. It exploded against them, but instead of knocking them away, the high voltage kept them paralyzed and unable to move.

"Let's turn up the heat!" Panther cracked her whip in a wide motion, creating several pillars of flame that entrapped the enemies, preventing them from trying to escape.

"Raoul!"

"Hereward!" Both Joker and crow summoned their Personas at once, the two of them releasing a joint attack of Eigeon to blow away the remaining enemies. They didn't have the time to play with their food; they were cold and had to move now.

"N-No more enemies…!" Oracle reported, teeth chattering from the chill. She wasn't sure how much more of this cold she could take.

"This way!" Sophie said while leading the way through the blizzard. It was a little hard to keep up with her since she blended in with the snow. Sophie led them to a rather large machine off in a corner.

"I-Is this…a heater?" Panther asked.

"It sure is big…" Noir said.

"We should be able to warm up here…" Sophie reported.

"What's a heater doing here…?" That was Skull's question.

"Ah, who cares!? Just turn it on and see what happens! Violet and I are gonna freeze together at this rate!" Oracle whined. Questions later. Warmth. Now.

So, Joker nodded and pressed the button. The heater turned on and a refreshing blast of heat. "Oh…I needed that."

"Sooooo waaaaaarm…" Oracle let out a sigh of relief.

"I feel so much better." Violet could feel her legs again.

"We really did find this at the perfect time. We could've frozen solid out here." Queen was not going to look this stroke of fortune in the mouth, far from it.

"Just the sight of it makes me feel more at ease." Noir smiled.

We truly are fortunate to have found this." Fox said.

"I have to echo Skull's question. I wonder why this thing is here to begin with." Crow crossed his arms. Although he wasn't saying anything about the heat, he was standing close to the heater. It was pleasant compared to the frigid hell they were currently experiencing.

"I could see three more. Should we go over to them?" Sophie asked.

"You saw them from the tower? Now that is suspicious…" Skull stroked his chin.

"Maybe there's a connection here…" Mona suggested.

"That means…we have to part from the heater, don't we?" Dragon felt so toasty. Like she could roast some marshmallows here.

"Then let us make haste!" Fox said. "The longer we linger, the harder we will find it to part from the flames. O wicked bearer of flames whose heat both soothes and ensnares…we shall sever thy temptation at once!"

"Y-Yes!" Dragon quickly pulled away from the relaxing warmth of the heater. "We shall not fall victim to the temptation of warmth!"

Noir watched the two of them with a nervous smile. "I think…you two are overdoing it a little…."

"I don't think I'd have it any other way, at this point." Violet said with a smile. Sure, Fox and Violet were a little eccentric at times, but…as odd as they could be, she found it to be endearing by now. At least, when it was something tame like this.

.

.

The three heaters were all in separate locations. The moment the last one was turned on, the blizzard immediately cleared. "We did it!" Noir clasped her hands together. It was still pretty cold out, but at least it was a bearable cold.

"About time…I thought my hands were about to freeze over." Oracle let out a small sigh of relief. "Ugh…but wait. Something's still not right. The blizzard's gone, but even if we tried to leave, we can't."

"It sounds like something…or someone is trying to get rid of us quickly." Crow let out a dry laugh. "Shadows in Jails seem to be a little more competent than those in Palaces, for the most part."

"The resistance we've been getting has been more than before…" Joker noted. "Let's head back and see what the problem is." Everyone was in agreement to that. They returned to the crossroad at Odari Park, where a sentry Shadow was standing in the center. When he noticed the Phantom Thieves approaching, he began to panic. But not all of them; Dragon was missing. "What!? How did you get through the snowstorm unscathed!?" The Shadow questioned.

"So you were the one behind that snowy mess!" Mona growled.

"You put us through a cold hell!" Panther yelled.

"Oh, I'm so dead if she finds out…" The Shadow was speaking to himself, worried about what would happen if the Monarch heard about this. "I have to silence you all for good!"

"I don't think you'll have the chance to do that." Joker said while shaking his head.

"Wait…where's the rest of you!?" The Shadow realized one was missing. He did a quick headcount before, but in his panic, he missed one! BANG! The sound of Dragon's Sniper rifle echoed through the air as her bullet struck the Shadow in the chest before he could transform. "Ugh…!?"

"Please get out of our way." Noir's sadistic tone came out as she reared her axe back, swinging it at the disoriented Shadow's chest to kill them instantly. She didn't want to waste too much time dealing with the small fry, when her main concern was Mariko.

"There we go! Now we can go back." Oracle reported with a nod. As scary as Noir could be, they were…mostly used to it by now.

"Not just that, but look!" Panther pointed to one of the paths that was blocked off by an ice wall. Said wall of ice was no longer present.

"Something tells me that even a massive heater couldn't do this." Fox said.

"It might be as Crow said, then." Mona said. "Our progress in Jails is closely tied to gathering cores in the Prison Keeps. We were distracted at the time with the blizzard, but I bet that's because the ice wall went down and they wanted to keep us out."

"That's about what I expected." Crow shrugged.

"Yeah, uh…sure, I get it." Skull rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't quite get it.

"I do follow the train of thought." Dragon nodded once she returned to the others.

"I think I get it. It makes sense in a weird way." Violet tapped her chin. She didn't think too hard about it. It just made sense to her and didn't need any explanation.

"Remember, we're in the Metaverse. Some things we just have to accept and move on." Queen said, for those who weren't convinced by the logic.

"Although, the logic isn't that hard to follow." Crow rolled his eyes at Skull's cluelessness. But then again, he couldn't expect much from the 'muscle' of the group. "The more Cores we obtain the deeper into the Jails we can progress. I hope you can keep up with that."

"Don't be rude…" Noir muttered. She wouldn't take Crow speaking unkindly to Skull in front of her. Crow heard her, and the tension was thick in the cold air for a moment. But it was broken by Panther's sudden burst of enthusiasm. The cold wouldn't keep her down for long.

"Then we know what we need to do." Panther nodded. "Okay, Sophia! Ready or not…"

"Here we come!" Sophie responded by bouncing happily. As cold as it was in Sapporo, they still had plenty of work to do. Mariko Hyodo's cold heart wasn't going to thaw by itself, that much was clear. Noir was going to make sure to set everything right, but with Crow here…she felt so uneasy. Too uneasy…like all of the ice in this Jail could shatter with a single misstep….