A/N: So, it has been years since this story's last chapter. Lots of bad and good things happened during those years, which I won't bother you with, and now I have some free time to catch up with my fics, this story in particular since Persona and Sakura Wars are always in my top five favorites.

Looking back at the previous chapters, I do find some points needed to clarify:

- Minato and Shinjiro are, spoilers, dead in their world and Akira is from the bad ending in ORIGINAL Persona 5 where you make the wrong choices during Sae's interrogation and get shot by Akechi.

- Pairings are not exactly decided. That said, the Persona trio won't snatch all of Ogami's girls, that's for sure.

- I'm not well versed in Japanese traditions both modern and during the 1900s so some glaring mistakes will inevitably be made, even with the help from Kayama and Lando's guides on GameFAQs, the manga, the tv-show and the recently-released english translation of the first game.

Right, enough of my ramblings. Let's get into the story, shall we.

"Burn! Crush! Destroy everything in your way, my Wakiji!"

Aoi Satan confidently shouted as his mechanical monsters laid waste to the once-beautiful park and chased after the citizens, fueling the negative emotions that he wanted. The man? then noticed a commotion near the Imperial Museum, where he wanted to attack primarily today.

"Tch, those pesky summoners. Had it not been for Takaya Sasaki's insistence, I would have killed you at that time -"

"Kill who?"

Aoi Satan flinched in terror as a gun was held to his head and a voice spoke up. It was Akira, who sneaked past the machines and headed to their master. He could smell the smugness coming from the thief for being able to approach Satan without his detection.

*bang*

Akira pressed the trigger but Aoi Satan was able to draw his sword and deflect the bullet barely in time before backing away. The phantom thief clicked his tongue and summoned Mephisto to fly back to where Akira and Shinji were. Just when Satan thought this was the end, a massive flying ship hovered above him.

"Hold it right there, villain! Teikoku Kagekidan has arrived!"

Shinjiro and Minato finished the last Wakiji just in time to see the (official) debut of Yoneda's secret squad.

"Oh god, am I seeing Featherman but robots right now?"

"...The poses are alright, I guess?" Minato offered a compliment. "Should we have our own introduction sequence, Shinjiro-senpai? Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, has arrived?"

"No! Just…no."

Akira landed next to them and dusted off his coat.

"Sorry, I couldn't land a good shot at the leader."

Shinjiro patted his back.

"It's fine, there's always a next time. Now, we should clean up any stray monsters and leave the rest to those kids."

Akira waved at Maria's Koubu who was trying to eavesdrop before leaving to another area with the other two. The vice-captain sighed and returned to the fight with the rest.

Despite being a total newbie, Ogami handled the Koubu well enough on his own. He easily parried and destroyed a Wakiji while fending off another using the dual swords. Ogami then ordered Maria to provide range support and Sumire to simultaneously strike Satan's Kamui with Sakura. The black armor shrugged off their attacks and pushed them away.

"Is that all you got, Teikoku Kagekidan? As expected, you are merely better than a Wakiji."

"How dare you look down on my prized Koubu?!"

Sumire raised her naginata and lunged at Satan. A Wakiiji walked up and disarmed her with its sword. Just as the monster walked to the downed Koubu, Minato arrived and destroyed it with a simple kick empowered by Power Charge.

"A-Arisato-san, why are you here?"

"Don't just lie there, Kanzaki-dono. You are better than this."

Minato replied as he used the Evoker to call out Orpheus Telos to smash another Wakiji to scraps. Sumire stared at him speechlessly before nodding to herself.

"Yes. I am the heiress of Kanzaki Zaibatsu. A mere mechanical monster is nothing to me!"

Her Koubu picked up her naginata and slashed away three Wakijis in one sweep, showing her renewed determination.

"I know you can do it." Minato smiled at her back. "Orpheus, Thunder Reign!"

An expanding orb of thunder appeared and exploded in the middle of Wakiji formation, reducing them to dust and clearing the way for Sumire to regroup with Ogami and Sakura.

Meanwhile, Maria was having trouble dodging a new wave of Wakijis summoned by Satan, which had spotted her sniping location. A sneak attack disabled her Koubu's legs and she was at their mercy.

"Not in my watch. Mephisto, Bloody Hail!"

As commanded, Mephisto appeared and spread his black wings to rain down blood arrows that pierced the Wakijis and pinned them in place, draining energy from them and transferring it to Akira. Maria used the opportunity to destroy all of them with her ice shots.

"...Thank you, Akira Kurusu."

"Save that for later, Maria." Akira waved it off.

Back to Ogami, who managed to survive Kamui's deadly attack. With Maria and Sumire, they began to unleash their own special attacks at Satan and successfully inflicted heavy damage to his machine.

"Damn you, Teikoku Kagekidan! I must commend you for being able to damage Kamui this much."

"Step out and surrender, Aoi Satan! You have been surrounded. There is no escape!" Ogami spoke up with a stern tone from his Koubu, sword pointing at the kneeling and battered Kamui. The Persona users were observing him from afar.

"Hmph, this Aoi Satan shall never surrender, not to the likes of you! Enjoy this miniscule victory, Teikoku Kagekidan."

And with that, Kamui disappeared in a black smoke. Akira drew his gun and shot multiple times at the smoke but Satan was already gone.

"Hey, at least I tried." Akira shrugged at Maria's glare. After that, the Teikoku Kagekidan gathered before the camera, with the Persona boys reluctantly joining due to pressures from the girls. Ogami awkwardly tried to make a cool pose and Minato smirked wryly at his attempt.

"Victory Pose… YEAH!"

Later on, Minato and Shinjiro wanted to ask old man Uchida about the whole thing but Yoneda stubbornly refused to let them go, asking them to stay and join the debut party for Ogami. Akira was able to escape after evading Maria's watchful eyes, only to be dragged back by the Sannin Musume.

"Ogami, don't be a chicken! You haven't touched the cup at all!"

"...I'm still struggling to process all of these, sir."

Ogami quietly replied as he kept staring at his hands and the surprisingly happy atmosphere around him. The civilians returned to Ueno Park and resumed the festival as if the previous battle hadn't happened at all, which baffled him.

"Don't worry, you get used to it." Minato patted Ogami's shoulder as he handed another sake battle to Yoneda. "Trust me, I know."

"I-If you say so. But there's something bugging me, Arisato-kun." Ogami looked at Minato. "Commander Yoneda has just told me that you and Aragaki-san have been actively keeping the demons at bay for months. Why didn't you join the Hanagumi?"

"Well…"

"We do our damn business, alright?" Shinjiro decided to butt in and give Ogami his trademark glare. Minato sighed at his senior's tough act and explained that due to the nature of their backgrounds, joining a military organization would be a bad choice. Even after today's joint battle, they wouldn't accept Yoneda's invitation, at least not yet. This prompted the other Hanagumi members to turn to the conversation. Maria stared at Akira, who raised his hands in defeat.

"You know my case."

"Speaking of Kurusu-san, you have been in the theater since September last year, right?" Sakura asked, tilting her head. "I overheard that you were involved in some kind of accident and required the Manager's help."

Akira's eyes darkened at the 'accident' and Sakura could feel his discomfort, so she hastily apologized to him. The former thief exhaled tiredly and rubbed his forehead.

"It's not your fault. On the bright side, I get to sit here and drink with you, right?"

"Baaah, I cannot stand this gloomy air! You, Arisato-san, must answer why you ignored my performance!"

Sumire unintentionally broke the mood and brought laughter back to the party as Minato stuttered, not sure how to appease her. Yoneda smiled at the children and resumed drinking.

"This is going to be a tough year…"

That night, Minato and Akira were hauling a drunk Shinjiro back to the liquor store when they saw a nervous-looking Uchida at the front door. The teens carried the senior upstairs and went down to speak with the old man.

"...So, I suppose the battle went well my boy?"

"It was. And we got persuaded into joining Yoneda's secret team." Minato answered, sipping the water. Akira was quiet, cautiously observing Uchida. From what he understood from eavesdropping Yoneda, this man and the manager were subordinates of Count Hanakoji, a member of the mysterious and elusive 'Sage Council'. Its Illuminati-like behaviors towards him and the other two Persona users told him that they were more dangerous than the likes of 'Hive of Darkness'.

Intimidated by Akira's silent glare, Uchida sighed and told them everything. Indeed, he belonged to the lower hierarchy inside the Sage Agency a.k.a the Council's Tokyo branch, of which Hanakoji was one of the leaders. The Council first noticed them when Akira was pursued by the Army and subsequently killed several of them as retaliation. This fact caused Minato to turn to Akira with widened eyes.

"Really?"

"...I had no other choice. They killed a few bystanders beforehand and their leader used his bayonet to threaten me."

Uchida lowered his head in shame, explaining that he might have been one of the people ordering those soldiers. Akira's eyes flared as Mephisto manifested and brandished his claws but Orpheus Telos appeared and calmed him down with a smooth melody.

"Akira-san, let's hear the rest of his story."

Uchida thanked Minato for the action and resumed speaking. Realizing that the Army had also set their eyes on Akira and later Minato and Shinjiro who appeared in the middle of Teito streets from nowhere, the Council decided to cancel the capture order and assigned Uchida to approach the young men and offer a place to stay while monitoring them for information. Akira had evaded them long enough and when he collapsed due to hunger and exhaustion, Ayame Fujieda found him and brought him to the Theater.

"...The Count and Lieutenant General decided to bring you three to the Kagekidan as soon as possible after the reemergence of Kouma and Wakiji's wanton destruction. The soldiers you saw in the afternoon was Yoneda's ploy to pressure you into accepting the invitation. That's all I know."

Minato closed his eyes and processed the information while Akira holstered his gun. It was a lot to take in, especially Akira who was conflicted about whether he should go back to the Theater and demand Yoneda's side of the story or not. He was thankful to the old man and Ayame who saved him and gave him a home. The Sage Council clearly wanted the power of Persona for themselves and it seemed to Akira that Yoneda was trying his best to stall them and protect him.

After thinking about it thoroughly, Minato opened his eyes and smiled at Uchida. He said that Uchida had been all but a second father to him despite his mission and he would not condemn him or anything similar. Akira also spoke up his mind, saying that as long as he could live normally, only participate in battles if needed, he would never betray Yoneda. Uchida teared up and hugged the boys.