Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion.
I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy.
Chapter 13: - Turning a Blind Eye
This walking to school with Amamiya might end up becoming a regular thing, as once more we had met at the intersection between my home and LeBlanc. I'd been unable to sleep on the first day due to stress and had caught an earlier train to Shibuya before wandering around slightly, but now the stress had faded slightly – likely thanks to Amamiya, Morgana and Sakamoto – so I was sleeping better.
Currently we were outside on the pathway towards Shūjin, I could sense people giving us odd stares since me and Amamiya were maintaining an even pace, never out walking or slowing down the other yet no conversation flowed between us. Not that we could since our discussion would be spied upon as surely as we were despite being silent and the potential of our plans getting back to Kamoshida had to be avoided as much as possible.
"How annoying, we've barely started high school and already they're making us play at a volleyball rally," A student up ahead commented. The speaker must have been a first year since even a second year would've know about this since it also happened last year. "And why are they pitting us against the teachers' team? Kamoshida-sensei's going to crush us," The same student added on. Ouch, that was going to be painful for them, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Kamoshida routinely hurt them just to break their will to fight back.
"Come on! We get to see his technique live and in person. We should totally get spiked on," The student beside the previous one commented. Amamiya visibly flinched at the comment, thankfully he wasn't bruised from taking that ball to the face yesterday, whilst I shook my head in disbelief at the insanity of some people, that student's delusions would be horrifically smashed if he ever met Kamoshida in private.
"Yeah, okay. You're gonna get your face smashed in. Just look at how banged up the volleyball team is. What the hell goes on during their practices?" The other student commented. Those first years were the only ones who would visibly speak up about how bizarre somethings were, but once Kamoshida sunk his claws into them, they'd be too scared to speak up about the insanity of what they were surrounded by.
We arrived at class and settled down; I gave Amamiya a look who returned it with a firm nod. All three of us were prepared for today, all that mattered now was getting through the classes between now and the rally, as much as I hated that thing it was the best time for us to do the investigation. I tried to focus on the lessons but the nervous energy pulsing through me caused a few distracted moments that required subtle nudges from Amamiya to poke me out of and I returned it to him when I spotted him drifting away.
"Okay, listen up everyone," Kawakami-sensei called. The lesson was drawing to a close, so this was likely about that accursed rally we had to attend – I was glad that me, Amamiya and Sakamoto were ditching at some point – this afternoon. "As you all know, today is the volleyball rally. Head to the gymnasium once you've changed. Got it?" Kawakami-sensei stated.
*Persona 5 Royal*
Cheering and commotion irritated my ears with the squeaking of gym shoes on wood floors gliding underneath all other sounds. Kamoshida spiked the ball and Mishima was barely able to block it with his arms. But the force was still too much and he ended up stumbling back as the ball bounced away; a whistle was blown and I continued to move through the crowd as I looked around, eventually spotting the two boys I was looking for I made my way over as the teachers congratulated Kamoshida.
"As if his ego needs to be inflated anymore," I commented. As I did, I leant against the wall and continued to read the book I had in hand; well not really, it would be too suspicious to speak to them openly so I used the book as a cover to converse with my co-conspirators, a barely stifled laugh and a hum of agreement greeted my ears in response to my words which caused my lips to twitch upwards slightly.
"Oh, talk about hitting a nail on the head Natsumi," Sakamoto agreed. A quick glance showed that Amamiya was smiling slightly, the game got back on but none of us were particularly interested in the match; I was more concerned with attempting to figure out who were members of the volleyball team from behind my book, the obvious two were Mishima and Suzui but who were the others. "Still sticks out, hasn't changed a bit," Sakamoto suddenly commented.
I lifted my head up to look at the boy. The sleeves of his gym shirt and the legs on his gym pants were folded up, the sleeves up to his armpits and the legs up to slightly below his knees; Amamiya on the other hand wore the whole outfit with everything straight out but the jacket was unzipped. Sakamoto's eyes proved that he wasn't looking at me and his comment wouldn't make sense on me… ah, so that's who it was. I turned to look over at Takamaki, her blue eyes cast to the ground as she fiddled with one of her ponytails.
"Pretty boring right?" Sakamoto asked. Amamiya simply chuckled at this commented, as I returning to my silent searching; as I looked around, I spotted Mishima who was slowly stepping backwards, his eyes cast to the ground but right at that moment a hard spike by Kamoshida slammed straight into Mishima's face and the boy was completely unprepared, resulting in him tipping over and crashing hard against the flooring.
"Mishima-san," I breathed out. Tucking my book away and completely uncaring of creating a scene, I started to move forward when a hand grabbed my wrist, I looked back and saw a grim faced Amamiya stopping me, but the tightly curled right hand showed he was seconds away from running out himself; Kamoshida was completely unconcerned for a few moments before deciding to check on Mishima, I really wondered how people could be so fooled by him.
"Don't worry Natsumi, he'll pay soon enough," Sakamoto vowed. I pressed my lips into a thin line and nodded my head in agreement before slumping back against the wall, Amamiya had released my wrist, but his fingers remained pressed against my hand. It was a comfort to feel the light pressure, the knowledge that someone understood what I was feeling as I looked on at the scene.
"Alright, let's resume the match!" Kamoshida called. I looked over and noticed Takamaki staring at Kamoshida with a dark look within his eyes; with a quick exchange of look we decided it was time to bail on this pointless rally, I proceeded to slip out first unnoticed as always by those around me and made my way to a small seating area in the courtyard with vending machines around it.
"That asshole's actin' like a king over here too…," Sakamoto grumbled. He and Amamiya proceeded to stand slightly in front of me and to either side which created a slight triangle. "Get to know each other better, my ass. It's just a one-man show for him to stroke his ego. Oh, oh, and how he acted like he was worried about Mishima? What an abusive d-bag!" Sakamoto added on. He was stewing within his anger from the glare upon his face and tension in his arms, his hands were currently shoved in pockets, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were curled into fists.
"True, true and true, Sakamoto-san. But we can't get distracted, do you remember the faces from yesterday?" Amamiya pointed out. Of course, he was equally as tense not that I was much more relaxed than either of the boys, all of us might have different reasons but we wanted Kamoshida to be stopped; Sakamoto took in a deep breath and only slightly relaxed at the change in topic, but at least he was slightly calmer than moments ago.
"Yeah, I remember them. Now's our chance to go look for the guys we saw were slaves yesterday. Let's look for the faces we saw at the castle. All members of the team should be here today," Sakamoto suggested. His face softening much more as he focused on something much more useful than violently spewing insults at Kamoshida, no matter how much the depraved beats had deserved those comments.
"Since everyone is here today, would you like me to ask the female members?" I suggested. Both boys proceeded to look at me. "They might be more willing to talk to another girl than either of you, and let's be honest… the reputations you two have frighten most people so they might clam up before you can ask anything," I suggested. Sakamoto rubbed the back of his neck and Amamiya looked at the ground in response to my words and I felt my lips pull into a frown as I clasped my hands and pressed them tightly to my chest as I looked down. "I'm sorry if my words were unkind," I apologised.
"No, they weren't," Amamiya soothed. His voice pulled my gaze upwards and I saw he was looking at me with a very kind look within his grey eyes, giving them a soft cast. "You were just being honest Chiba-san, neither of us can fault you for that. You're probably also right that the girls would be more willing to talk to you," Amamiya added on. He was completely relaxed as he said those words with a gentle aura coming off of him.
"He's right Natsumi," Sakamoto spoke up. I turned to look at him and saw that he had a bright smile on his face and he no long seemed unsettled. "Okay then, me and Ren will tackle the guys whilst Natsumi handles the girls! I'm sure we'll find someone to spill about Kamoshida's physical abuse. Just you wait, asshole," Sakamoto declared.
"Where are we searching?" Amamiya asked. Sakamoto admitted that the first person he identified had been a student in class D so insisted the two of them start there, although admitted that they might be in trouble since people were avoiding them, causing Amamiya to grimace slightly. "What about you, Chiba-san? Do you know where to start?" Amamiya asked. I nodded my head as an answer to the question, causing Amamiya to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
"I can tell who's on the team by their injuries. I should be fine in locating them," I admitted. With that said, we proceeded to split up once getting into the main building, the boys headed upstairs whilst I stared to comb the first floor, might as well since I was already here, however it seemed that there weren't any female volleyball players hanging around on this floor.
"Everyone's saying a lot of bad stuff about that transfer student in your class, Ann," Suzui's soft voice stated. I cast my eyes over to where I had heard the girl's voice as I slumped against the wall to avoid being spotted in my spying, Suzui was stood with Takamaki only a short distance away from me; deciding to listen in on them for now, I adjusted my position so that I could face them more but made it seem like I wasn't listening to them, thank you books.
"I know," Takamaki grumbled. She reached her hands up and began to massage her temples as if the event was causing her stress. "I hate rumours already, but these are only getting more and more complex as time goes on," Takamaki stated. Given how she was the subject of several cruel and absurd rumours, her hatred for rumours was understandable.
"I wonder if he's alright… I hope he's not letting it get to him too much," Suzui stated. Now that was a rare opinion, sure me and Sakamoto didn't believe it, but I'd already decided to reserve judgment and Sakamoto had got to know Amamiya before the rumours struck; everyone else had judged the ravenette before he got here and damned him for an event they knew nothing about, so for someone to be concerned for Amamiya was a surprise.
"That's just like you Shiho," Takamaki stated. From my viewpoint, I could just spy the slightest curve of her lips as she continued to look at her friend. "Always worrying about other people before yourself. Kind of like when you were there for me," Takamaki added on. So, this was a habit of Suzui's… I could faintly remember her speaking to me a few times at the start of last year, but both my reluctance to drag people into my crazy private life and Suzui's mounting pain from volleyball practice prevented it from going further.
Moving over to the stairs, I proceeded to head up them and started to wander around, looking for the volleyball members I had yet to speak to. True, I could ask Suzui but given her current injuries and the fact that she practically attached at the hip to Takamaki, it wouldn't be advisable to ask her with the blonde model hanging around.
"Do you think Suzui-san's been acting strange lately? She's been sighing a lot. She used to be a lot happier when we were first years. Plus, those bruises… I think she's in trouble," A female voice spoke. Glancing over, I saw a bored looking student near the wide window we had with another female student, it was honestly a surprise that someone not a first year was speaking up about someone's odd behaviour.
"She's trying to become a volleyball starter, isn't she? I heard she takes private lessons with Kamoshida-sensei every day," The other female student stated. A surge of worry pulse through me, private lessons? The memory of Mishima about to be struck by Kamoshida hit me full force and I could feel a clamminess grow on my friends, had I stumbled upon one of these 'private lessons' at that time. "Apparently, she's been a really good player ever since she was in middle school. Anyway, acting sad like that while keeping Kamoshida-sensei to herself is kind of arrogant, don't you think," The second female student added on. Oh great, one of the deluded ones. With the insanity coming, I moved away to save myself, but at that moment my phone buzzed.
Ryūji: How it going? Oh, Natsumi, me and Ren split up to make the searching go faster.
Natsumi: Okay. As for the searching, not good, it's almost like they're hiding.
Ren: Mine aren't talking, the third year refused to say anything.
Ren: And apparently there's a rumour going around that I carry a knife.
Natsumi: Could be the Déjà vu effect. Kamoshida might be spreading it around after seeing you fight with a dagger in the Palace.
Natsumi: Although they are two different things, people seem to mix them up often.
Ryūji: Deja what?
Natsumi: Dé.Jà Vu! It's French for already seen.
Ryūji: Well, why didn't you just say that?!
Ryūji: Anyway… it seems everyone's too freaked out about Kamoshida.
Ren: What about the first years, I heard someone talking outside and I think it was a first year because he sounded suspect of the volleyball team's injuries?
Natsumi: Fair point. They won't be indoctrinated into Kamoshida's nonsense yet.
Natsumi: That means brainwashed, Sakamoto-san.
Ryūji: I knew that!
Ryūji: Speaking of first years, I got a lead on a new member in that year, since he's just joined, he won't be wrapped up in Kamoshida's web of bullshit like Natsumi said.
Ryūji: Go ask around with the first years! See if you can find him Ren!
Ren: Got it.
Natsumi: I'll keep asking the girls, maybe someone will open up.
I slipped my phone away and tried to think about where more volleyball players could be located as there didn't seem to be any female members hanging around on this floor. The only place I hadn't checked by this point was the third floor, the first years might also be the best bet to get some information as Amamiya had stated, I started to make my way over to the stairway.
"When I was on the first floor just now, I saw someone who was all bandaged up," A female voice commented. I looked over and saw two more female students just around the corner, so I leant against the wall behind the corner; the other student with her proceeded to speak up about how the injured individual was probably a part of the volleyball team and how even the third years got 'worked hard'.
Sensing no more talk coming, I pushed away and started to make my way up the third level where hopefully I'd finally be able to find some answers. I spotted a duo of girls that seemed like they could be athletes from how their physiques were structured, I began to move over to them in order to see if they could possibly be a part of the volleyball team and maybe the answers I hoped for.
"Practice has just been so hard, I haven't been getting any-," One of the girls began to speak. However, she suddenly stopped when her companion spotted I was standing there, the girl proceeded to turn around in order to look at me, I spotted her confused expression. "Huh? What do you want?" The girl asked. The other girl also seemed to be confused about why I had suddenly appeared.
"Are you on the volleyball team?" I asked. Best to get straight to the point of this conversation, I wasn't entirely sure how much time I happened to have left before the announcement came for the end of it, I needed to see if I could get the information before that time proceeded to run out; of course, that depended on these girls actually being volleyball players.
"Um… no we're not. Why are you asking?" The girl asked. Her answer caused my lips to pull into a frown, I gave the simple answer of 'no reason' and proceeded to move away from them in order to continue combing the floor for any signs of the students that I needed to locate. With none to be found on this side of the building, I slipped through into the Practice building half to try and continue my search before I ran out of time.
Attention! Attention! All matches have concluded. Please get ready to go home for today. The school announcement system declared, it didn't take long for my phone to start buzzing so I moved over to another area and proceed to pull it out so that I could check the message, hoping that one of the other two had more look than I did.
Ryūji: Dammit, we're outta time. How'd it go?
Natsumi: No dice. There's one girl I didn't ask but… well it's complicated with her.
Ren: Take a wild guess.
Ryūji: So, you didn't have any luck either.
Ryūji: Mkay, let's regroup for now. See both of you in the courtyard?
Putting my phone away, I made my way back to the courtyard and settled myself into one of the benches, feeling rather exhausted from the fruitless searching that had been done and wishing for some of Sōjirō's coffee to give me an energy boost. Closing my eyes in order to rest for a few moments, I heard a set of footsteps arrive near me before a clunking and rattling echoed from one of the vending machines.
A cool sensation pressed against my hand and I opened my eyes, seeing Amamiya stood there with a carbonated drink in his hand which he tried to press into my hand. Smiling with tired effort, I sat up right and took the drink which had enough caffeine to perk me up slightly after the mentally taxing effort of a lesson in futility. Amamiya leaned against the vending machine beside me and was fiddling with his own drink and kept shooting me side glances.
"Can I talk to you for a sec, Amamiya-kun?" Takamaki demanded. It might have been phrased like a question, but her abrupt arrival and demeanour made it feel more like a demand; I looked at Amamiya who shot me a glance out the corner of his eye. "I don't mind if Chiba-san hears, it's not something I need to hide from her," Takamaki added on. Her blue eyes had a rather intense emotion burning within them, I don't think she was taking no for an answer.
"What is it, Takamaki-san?" Amamiya calmly asked. I remained seated but slightly adjusted myself so that I'd be able to stand up swiftly if this conversation got a bit confrontational. "Just to warn you, I am busy. So, I can't stick around for long," Amamiya added on. That was likely a ploy to get Takamaki to leave before we started to discuss anything we'd learned within the Palace.
"I'll be quick. What's with you?" Takamaki asked. She proceeded to cross her arms and cocked her hip to the right; it was a well known fact that Takamaki was a part time model and that pose seemed almost instinctual instead of deliberate in the easy flow of the motion. "Like, how you were late the other day was a lie and all," Takamaki accused. I don't know how she knew it was a lie, but it would be best to cover our tracks as much as possible.
"Now hold on a minute there Takamaki-san," I stated. Pushing myself up, I remained stood beside Amamiya with my hands clasping the bottle in front of me as Takamaki turned her eyes to me. "By saying that, you're calling me a liar. I'm the one who found Amamiya ill outside of the train station and the only other Shūjin student around was Sakamoto-san. So, why did you say it was a lie?" I calmly added on.
"Oh… um, I'm sorry Chiba-san, I didn't realise… I met Amamiya-kun outside the station briefly before… well I went on ahead. That must have been before you came out," Takamaki stated. She had changed position; her arms were un-crossed with her right gripping the elbow of her left and she looked more sheepish than before. "There's also that weird rumour about you too, Amamiya-kun," Takamaki added on.
"Weird? You'll have to be a bit more specific, Takamaki-san. I've heard more than enough ludicrous rumours about me since coming here," Amamiya stated. A faint note of bitterness hung in his voice and I felt my heart ache for Amamiya, now that I knew the story behind his criminal record, I knew it was so undeserved that being slapped with it was the truly criminal thing; whoever had done it was a monster.
"Whaddya want with him?!" Sakamoto's voice suddenly demanded. There was an odd note of anger, well not odd since Sakamoto seemed angry more often than not since the track team's disbandment but odd that it was slung at Takamaki, speaking of which the blonde girl jumped slightly and spun around to face Sakamoto as me and Amamiya looked over at him.
"Right back at you. You're not even in our class," Takamaki challenged. There seemed to be some almost static like tension sparking between these two which caused me to shuffle my feet as Amamiya also seemed nervous about what the two of us should do if things got even worse between the two blondes. Perhaps there was some history between these two based upon Sakamoto's comment from earlier in the gym. "And why are you bothering Chiba-san?" Takamaki asked.
"We just happened to get to know each other and Natsumi," Sakamoto stated. Takamaki's mouth hung open in silence, likely due to the fact that Sakamoto had used my first name; she soon recovered and proceeded to demand what Sakamoto was planning to do to Kamoshida. "Huh?!" Sakamoto exclaimed. No surprise there, even I raised my eyebrows in shock because it sounded like Takamaki was defending Kamoshida… but if he was blackmailing her, then why? "I see. I getcha," Sakamoto stated. A dark look coming over his face as he spoke. "You're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida after all," Sakamoto accused.
"This has nothing to do with you Sakamoto!" Takamaki yelled. Her stance had moved to being combative, even if it would fail in real combat, but Sakamoto didn't stop as he claimed that if Takamaki knew what Kamoshida was 'doin' behind your back' then she'd dump Kamoshida immediately. "Behind my back? What's that supposed to mean" Takamaki questioned.
"Do you really think the volleyball team's injuries are ordinary?" I spoke up. I took a sip of my drink as Takamaki turned to look at me with an ashen face and wide eyes that seemed almost terrified. "Think about it and you'll come to the same terrifying answer that we did," I added on. Her eyes suddenly narrowed into burning coals and a red flush came across her skin, likely born of anger.
"Anyway, people are already talking about you guys! I don't know what you're trying to pull, but no one's going to help you!" Takamaki snapped. Suddenly the anger faded and her muscles drooped as her eyes soften to the point they were almost filled with worry. "I'm warning you, just in case. That's all," Takamaki stated. With her piece said, the blonde model proceeded to march away looking as if she was carrying a great burden.
"Why's she gotta be so aggressive all the time?" Sakamoto questioned. He seemed to be annoyed by the way that Takamaki was acting which caused me to press my lips against each other since it seemed like Sakamoto had been just as aggressive as Takamaki during that little confrontation that we'd witnessed, both of them had thrown some accusation at each other that were rather cruel in retrospect.
"Not like you helped Sakamoto-san. You brought up those absurd rumours about her and Kamoshida, which aren't true… at least not from Takamaki's side of things," I commented. Sakamoto turned to look at me with a glum look upon his face, a cooling hand rested on my shoulder and I glanced over to see the obvious source was indeed Amamiya but he wasn't looking at me, instead focusing on Sakamoto.
"You know her?" Amamiya asked. As it turned out, Sakamoto and Takamaki had both attended the same middle school before turning our attention back to the predicament. "Yeah, not a one of us found out any infor… wait, I did learn something," Amamiya began to speak before he realised something. Me and Sakamoto focused on him. "When I spoke to the first year, he mentioned something about special training with Mishima-san," Amamiya admitted.
"Mishima… true, I always see the guy covered in bruises. Let's go talk to him before he leaves then," Sakamoto insisted. We proceeded to leave the courtyard and wound our way through the school's hallways until we spotted Mishima, hurrying towards the door. "Hey, got a second?" Sakamoto called. We came to a stop beside Mishima who turned to look at us.
"Sakamoto?" Mishima asked. He took a step back from the blonde and then looked around, seeing me and Amamiya stood with the blonde, but when he saw Amamiya, I noticed a dark and saddened look appear in his eyes which darted to the ground. "Chiba-san and Amamiya too?!" Mishima questioned. It was probably quite the confusing sight to see us all gathered in front of him as we were.
"C'mon, we just wanna chat," Sakamoto insisted. He didn't even wait for a response from Mishima as he crossed his arms and got closer to Mishima. "Kamoshida's been 'coaching' you, huh? You sure it's not just physical abuse?" Sakamoto questioned. Mishima immediately pulled back as his eyes became shadowed with fear before they hardened up completely as he glared at Sakamoto.
"Certainly not!" Mishima protested. Sakamoto was confused by Mishima suddenly sounding much more polite than he had before when saying those words, before moving on to bring up the spiking incident from the rally. "That was just because I'm not good at the sport," Mishima attempted to rationalise. However, that just made my mouth open in horror at the nonsense we kept running into, I knew these people were deluded but to think someone actually thought he deserved to be hurt was horrible.
"Even if you aren't good, that is no excuse for deliberately hurting someone," Amamiya hissed. His tone had gone rather cold and dark, causing the rest of us to tense up and look back at him which allowed us to see the cold fury that burned within his eyes before it faded away, making me honestly wonder if it had been there to begin with. "You, and the rest of the volleyball team, don't deserve to be sporting those wounds… wounds that aren't naturally from playing a sport," Amamiya pointed out. His tone had gone back to its' deep calm, now bearing a soothing quality to it.
"They're from practice!" Mishima protested. He seemed stubbornly determined to play off the wounds as if they were anything other than a violent assault upon his person; Sakamoto even wondered if Kamoshida was forcing Mishima to keep quiet about it. "That's…," Mishima began to speak. I truly though he might be about to open up to us about what was happening with Kamoshida.
"What's going on here?" Kamoshida's voice suddenly grated. I fought down my revulsion as we all turned to see the foul beast walking over to us, I still stepped closer to Amamiya since I wanted to avoid Kamoshida's wretched gaze as much as possible and I felt his fingers gently press against my hand. "Mishima, isn't it time for practice?" Kamoshida asked. Mishima flinched and looked down with ashen skin and a fearful expression on his face.
"I-I'm not feeling well today…," Mishima claimed. Whether it was the truly from taking a volleyball to the face or a lie to get out of that awful practice, I didn't know and frankly either one was a bad as each other; of course, Kamoshida insisted that Mishima should quit which caused Mishima to bolt upright in shock as Kamoshida further went on to claim Mishima's form wouldn't improve without practice.
"Didn't you hear? He ain't feelin' well!" Sakamoto exclaimed. He moved closer to Kamoshida, but the vile creature didn't even choose to answer him and instead pushed for Mishima to come to practice; Mishima ended up capitulating to the pressure with a downcast expression, he didn't want to go but the fear of retribution made it so that he was forced to walk back to the pain.
"As for you," Kamoshida stated. He moved closer to Sakamoto and loomed over him with a dark look on his face. "Any more trouble and you'll be gone from this school for sure," Kamoshida threatened. This man was so damn arrogant, he truly thought he could do anything and no one would oppose him, Sakamoto let a curse slip through his lips. "Same goes for you. Didn't the principal tell you to keep in line!" Kamoshida snapped. His eyes lifted up to Amamiya as he said those words before moving over to me. "As for you Chiba, you might want to seriously consider who you hang around with," Kamoshida stated.
"Yes, interesting people with functioning brains. I think I'd prefer their company over the other mindless lemmings in this school," I stated. Not bothering to see Kamoshida's reaction, I turned my gaze to a rather downtrodden Mishima. "Mishima-san. I didn't forget that scene I walked in on a few months back," I stated. Mishima turned to me with fear plastered on his face, likely wondering where I was going by saying that. "Amamiya-san, Sakamoto-san, I think we should leave now. The air here is started to make me sick," I stated. As I did, I shot a loathing glance at Kamoshida.
"Just don't get in the way of my practice. All these unsettling rumours are making the students anxious, after all," Kamoshida commented. A shuffling came and I looked back seeing that Amamiya had his hands stuffed in his pockets but the tension across his body and the more upright position compared to his typically slouched posture showed that he was feeling anger or tension from that comment.
"Yes. I have to wonder who's responsible for those rumours," Amamiya coldly stated. His grey eyes were narrowed behind his glasses as he looked at Kamoshida who had a sneer curl onto his lips; Sakamoto piped up with an accusation of this being Kamoshida's fault but the vile man ignored both of them as he claimed that this wouldn't get us anywhere before demanding that Mishima goes with him, whilst commenting that 'unworthy students' like us didn't deserve to be in a school like this one.
"That asshole… he's gonna pay for this!" Sakamoto declared. Kamoshida had walked away from us by this point and I was quite glad now that he was gone since it felt like the air was clearer, but of course the Déjà vu effect was in full swing since Kamoshida had clearly raised his guard against the three of us, not that our little investigation would be helping much in that manner.
"There's no point," Mishima spoke up. All of us turned to look at Mishima who was looking up now instead of practically hiding in himself when Kamoshida was here. "Proving that he's physically abusing us… is meaningless. Everyone knows… the principal, our parents… they all know and they all keep quiet about it," Mishima revealed. I felt like iced water had been tossed over me at this admission as Sakamoto honestly believed it was a joke whilst Amamiya silently gaped at Mishima.
I had already suspected that Kobayakawa knew about the abuse since he practically seemed to be licking Kamoshida's boots whenever the two of them were seen together. But, to think that the volleyball team's own parents knew that their injuries were the result of abuse but decided not to raise hell was horrific, I didn't have the words to properly describe how disgusted I felt at that fact.
"Don't be a pain. You don't understand what I'm going through. Shouldn't you of all people know that nothing's going to help!?" Mishima snapped. Sakamoto could say nothing in response to those words and Mishima made to take off, but I seized a hold of Mishima and proceeded to spin him around so that he was facing me and the furious gleam within my eyes.
"Forced to do something you hate, at the hands of someone who doesn't give a flying damn, without the help of the people who should be protecting you. Surprising as this may be, I know exactly what you're going through," I stated. Mishima's expression was one of surprise, but he stumbled away from me and turned around to head towards the gym; sighing heavily I proceeded to raise my hands to rub at my scalp.
"What now? Do we quit?" Amamiya asked. His voice going soft and quiet, Sakamoto refused to give up and seemed determined to try and speak to them one more time; with that we proceeded to leave the school and I felt a kind of malaise press on me as I returned to my home and just went about my routine as normal.
*Persona 5 Royal*
Lying on my bed, I stared up at the ceiling, feeling saddened by what had happened today and the reluctance of people to speak up about their abuse. Even when I had been enduring Ouvrard's cruelty, I still wanted to get away and had someone tried to help me I would've agreed but my uncle didn't care and Naomi couldn't disobey without suffering repercussions and they were the only ones who knew that were in my life. A chime came from my phone, so I picked it up and opened the Chat.
Ryūji: Hey, this doesn't make any damn sense.
Ryūji: The principal and even the parents know about the abuse.
Ryuji: Why ain't anybody speaking up!?
Natsumi: The principal only cares about the school's 'image' so of course the selfish git wouldn't report an abuse case and instead smother all evidence of it.
Natsumi: As for the parents… I'm clueless.
Ren: Maybe is has to do with volleyball? I can't see fear or not caring as being enough to keep all of them quiet.
Ryūji: Yeah, that's probably it. Kamoshida is kinda famous for taking the volleyball team to nationals.
Natsumi: It's a damn sport! There is no way such a thing is more important than a person's future!
Ryūji: Got to agree with Natsumi, that don't give him the right to do whatever he wants!
Ryūji: He's beating kids up and all they're allow to do, is endure.
Ren: I agree, it's completely awful that they have to do this, silently enduring such an awful state of living.
Ryūji: And that follower of his doesn't give one single shit.
Natsumi: Follower?
Ren: Follower?
I giggled slightly when I saw the response from Amamiya, we had likely both typed at the same time and my message had only got sent seconds before Amamiya sent out his own. It shouldn't have made me laugh the way it did but maybe after the let down that today had been, even the littlest thing to make me smile was needed.
Ryūji: Takamaki Ann. Ren, you met her in the courtyard, remember?
Ryūji: Both of you should know her. I mean, she is in your class, dudes.
Ryūji: Ugh! What a load of bull! I can't let it end like this.
Ryūji: I'm gonna try and find someone who knows about what's going on with Kamoshida during break tomorrow.
Ryūji: Just you watch. I ain't giving up!
Setting my phone down, I closed my eyes about to go to sleep as a thought occurred to me. Maybe tomorrow, I could try and talk to Suzui, see if she'd be willing to say anything.
*Persona 5 Royal*
School came once more and I'd heard more people talking about Kamoshida, this time a couple of girls who were stupidly infatuated with the man – I don't know what was so great about him even if you removed his horrid crimes – one had even commented about getting a hold of an autograph from him. However, the other had warned her against it as 'strange sounds' were known to come out of the P.E. room, the first girl dismissed it as rumour started by the opposition, but I knew it had to be that ridiculous special training – abuse – that Kamoshida did.
A buzzing startled me out of my concentration and I reached into the pocket of my school jacket and quickly pulled out my phone, all the while trying to make sure I wasn't spotted by the teacher. Spotting a Chat notification, I quickly opened it up and looked at the message that had been suddenly sent even though it was it was likely about our current Kamoshida situation.
Ryūji: So about that witness…
Ryūji: I was wondering if we could get something outta Takamaki.
Natsumi: We're in class! Why didn't you bring this up earlier?!
Ryūji: I just thought of it now.
Ren: Is this because Takamaki-san is with Kamoshida, after all she isn't on the team.
Natsumi: It's because of Suzui-san. A second year girl in another class called Suzui Shiho, she's a really good volleyball player and Takamaki-san's best friend.
Natsumi: She's also the girl I didn't speak to yesterday because she's always at Takamaki-san's side and Takamaki-san can be… standoffish when it comes to Kamoshida.
Ryūji: Yeah, I tried to talk to Suzui during break, but I got nothing.
Ryūji: That's why we should have Takamaki talk to her.
Natsumi: Denied.
Ryūji: What!? Why?!
Ren: Probably because Takamaki-san will not agree to do this for us. Based on what I saw yesterday, I think it'll be hard to get Takamaki-san to help us.
Ren: How about Chiba-san or me try talking to Suzui-san… I might not do so well though.
Natsumi: Don't be too sure. I walked passed Suzui-san and Takamaki-san yesterday and Suzui-san was pretty dismissive of the rumours, she even seemed worried about you.
Ren: Really?!
Ren: That's not something I expected.
With the chat over I slipped away my phone and the lesson proceeded to end, gathering up my stuff I looked at Amamiya who gave me a firm nod. We moved out of the classroom and I walked towards the courtyard's entrance, since the practice might be starting soon so it was best to find Suzui there. Luckily enough, we happened across Suzui before we ended up reaching the courtyard and were still in the class side of the building.
"Suzui-san," I called out. The girl jumped, spinning around to face me as she went pale, I saw a brand new bruise resting above her right eye which caused my lips to curl into a frown. "It's alright Suzui-san, it's just me," I reassured. Suzui finally seemed to see me and I sensed all the tension in her frightened form flow out of her body when she saw me, although curious briefly sparked in her eyes as she saw Amamiya standing beside me.
"What is it Chiba-san?" Suzui softly asked. However, she looked downcast slightly and shuffled her feet. "Oh… I'm in the way, aren't I? Sorry…," Suzui apologised. I swallowed thickly seeing the girl so beaten down that she actually thought she needed to apologise simply for standing in front of a door, there was no need for her to do that.
"Are you hurt?" Amamiya asked. I was a bit surprised that he spoke first given how shy he sometimes seemed around new people, or in general, Suzui perked up at those words and she lifted up her head in order to focus on Amamiya who was giving Suzui a concerned look as he saw the state her wounds from that depraved monster had left her in.
"Um, well…," Suzui mumbled. Her eyes drifted down before she realised something. "Hm, you don't look familiar. Could you be that transfer student from Class D?" Suzui asked. Amamiya tensed up slightly as a grim look appeared on his face, he stiffly nodded his head yet no sign of fear or horror nor an attempt to run away descended upon Suzui. "Um, this might not be any of my business, but don't let the rumours get to you, okay?" Suzui insisted.
"Why do you say that?" Amamiya asked. He seemed genuinely surprised by this consideration that was being shown towards him, but after the fear and hostility from all the other students bar me and Sakamoto, I'm sure that this must have been a welcomed difference for the boy; I remained silent as I looked between the two of them.
"Well, um… something similar happened to someone I know in the past. My best friend is often misunderstood because of her looks," Suzui explained. That was all too true, so many rumours were abound regarding Takamaki, yet I couldn't correlate them with the person shown to me in the few interactions I had with her, I had just decided not to believe those words. "Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to drag on like that. Anyway, I have to go to practice. I'll see you around," Suzui commented.
"Suzui-san, wait," I called. I reached out to the girl, but I didn't touch her in case she got frightened. "Take this medicine, it should help you," I insisted. I handed over some of the medicine I used in the Palace, Suzui took it with a small smile before turning and walking away. "Let's get to Sakamoto, we need to talk about this," I insisted. We stepped out in order to reach the courtyard which had become the place for us to meet up.
"Dammit. What the hell…," Sakamoto cursed. He was stood there with his arms crossed and his right leg tapping away at the floor; I don't think me or Amamiya needed to say anything at all to know that Sakamoto had failed in managing to find anyone to crack about Kamoshida's abuse, I'd forgotten to ask Suzui but there wasn't much that could be done about that now that she had headed to practice.
"I take it you found no one willing to talk," Amamiya commented. Sakamoto looked over at us before throwing his fist back into the vending machine, causing a loud bang to echo out and I ended up jumping in surprise and gripping onto Amamiya's sleeve. Clearly Sakamoto was more agitated that I'd ever seen him since he had lashed out like that so suddenly. "Calm down Sakamoto-san," Amamiya insisted.
"All of 'em keep sayin' the same shit Mishima was talkin' about! Kamoshida had to have told 'em something!" Sakamoto yelled. That was highly likely, he probably realised that we were investigating and decided to shut us down by preventing us from freely speaking to any of the volleyball team members. "At this rate… looks like we'll have to go to him directly…," Sakamoto commented. His face was completely tense and agitated about the situation.
"There's no point. Kamoshida has buried the abuse just like he buried what really happened to you. If we try to go after Kamoshida directly, he'll just get rid of us like he already threatened," Amamiya advised. Sakamoto agreed but wanted to know is there was something that we could do. "Going to the cops is pointless and I can't think of anything else," Amamiya stated.
"There might be a way," I spoke up. Both of them turned to look at me as I fiddled with the edging of my skirt. "A way only the three of us could enact," I explained. Amamiya and Sakamoto looked at each other as I took a deep breath; the real world attempts had hit a dead end like I feared they would which meant the only route left to us was to head into the Metaverse. "We need to head into the Metaverse and-," I began to speak.
"You're talking about stealing his Treasure, aren't you?" A voice commented. I turned around and dropped into a stance as I looked for the source of the voice, it had sounded boyish… or maybe girlish. "I finally found you," The voice commented. At that moment, a black and white tuxedo cat jumped onto the table, I was rather surprised to see a cat wandering about the school; it had a yellow bandana tied around his neck. "Don't think you can get away with not paying me back for helping you," The voice snapped. And as the voice spoke, I swear the cat's mouth moved and then the cat turned around, revealing Velvet Room blue eyes.
"Morgana!" I exclaimed. I was a little surprised to see the cat creature standing in front of me as… well a literal cat after insisting he was a human back in the Palace, but the voice was the same and those eyes were too unique to get mixed up with anyone else's; plus the fact that this cat had mentioned both something related to the Metaverse and helping us, it was a fairly safe bet to make.
"How dare you up and leave me the other day!" Morgana chastised. He made it sound like we had committed some kind of unforgivable sin by walking away, I looked at Sakamoto who had lurched back and had wide brown eyes before glancing at Amamiya who was silently gaping with his own grey wides being fairly wide.
"The cat's talkin'," Sakamoto stated. Morgana immediately insisted that he was not a cat – your current form would argue otherwise Morgana – and claimed it had happened when he came to this world, before claiming it was trouble finding the three of us. "Wait… you came to our world!? Does that mean you've got a phone!?" Sakamoto asked. I doubt that very much since Morgana had been as confused as I was by the navigation app when it was brought up, but his eyes were a solid blue so he wasn't Betwixt, could there be others with unusual powers like mine that allowed them to slip between worlds?
"You don't need one when you're at my level. I did get pretty lost making my escape though…," Morgana admitted. He then proceeded to start cleaning his front paw; Sakamoto decided to focus on the fact that as a cat, Morgana shouldn't really be capable of talking in any language we could understand. "How should I know!?" Morgana responded. Sakamoto proceeded to look at us with a pleading look upon his face.
"I think both me and Chiba-san are hearing this too Sakamoto-san, judging by how Chiba-san acted towards Morgana-san," Amamiya stated. He seemed to have calmed down but then so had I as I watched the cat proceeded to wipe a paw over his ear in order to clean it. "Now, you mentioned something when you interrupted Chiba-san, Morgana-san. What was it?" Amamiya asked.
"You guys are having a rough time of this, hm? I heard you mention something about witnesses," Morgana clarified. Sakamoto told him to shut up, so I reached out and pinched his arm through the sleeve. "You know, I could tell you a thing or two about what to do about Kamoshida. Chiba was about to suggest the same thing, right?" Morgana suggested.
"God, that condescendin' attitude! This thing's gotta be Morgana!" Sakamoto exclaimed. I think we had fairly established that this was the cat creature from the Metaverse, Morgana was rightly annoyed that Sakamoto had still been doubting him. "Ack! Quiet down!" Sakamoto snapped. Talk about pot calling kettle black, Sakamoto was being louder than Morgana currently was being.
Although we soon had a reason to worry as I heard some people mention that they were looking for a cat, although this did reveal only the three of us actually heard Morgana talking, they were walking nearby so we did the wise thing and relocated after Sakamoto forced Amamiya to stuff Morgana into his bag, over the loud protests of said cat. We moved towards the roof as fast as we could to avoid the awkwardness of running into people and them asking why Amamiya's bag was writhing. Upon reaching the roof Amamiya set his bag on the ground before opening it, allowing Morgana to tip it over and get out.
"Don't be so rough with me!" Morgana demanded. Sakamoto had grabbed Morgana rather harshly by the scruff of his neck when Sakamoto had picked Morgana up; Sakamoto demanded that be enough and instead focused on the information about Kamoshida. "It has to do with what Chiba was talking about earlier. You'll need to attack his castle," Morgana stated.
"Less attack the castle and more steal its' core," I clarified. But given that Morgana had once again used the Velvet Room's terminology for the core made me more curious about his possible connection to it. "As already explained, a Palace is where a person's distorted desires are made manifest, a Shadow is the truth of that person's suppressed desires. The core of a Palace, known as a Treasure, is the origin of the distorted desire and the Palace. The Palace is deeply tied to the depths of Kamoshida's heart even if he isn't completely aware of what happens there," I explained.
"Which means if the castle disappears, it would naturally impact the real Kamoshida. Removing the Treasure will cause it to vanish," Morgana explained. Sakamoto looked a bit doubtful as he asked what would happen. "Since a Palace is a manifestation of a person's distorted desires, the removal of a Palace would cause the desires to vanish," Morgana answered.
"Does that mean Kamoshida would become an honest man? If his desires were to vanish, that is," Amamiya questioned. Morgana quickly confirmed this fact, Sakamoto on the other hand was completely surprised by the fact that Kamoshida would become good; not that he could be blamed since it would be completely unexpected given how long Sakamoto had known of Kamoshida's depravity.
"Not exactly good. More that he would regrow the conscience that he discarded at some point down the line," I clarified. Sakamoto proceeded to wonder if this was really getting back at Kamoshida. "Sakamoto-san, with his sense of morality restored, it will also bring a sense of guilt. So much guilt for all the crimes he committed that he won't be able to keep quiet about it," I explained.
"Chiba's right, erasing a Palace essentially means forcing the owner to have a Change of Heart. But that doesn't mean their crimes will disappear, those will remain even after their warped wants disappear. Kamoshida will become unable to bear the weight of those crimes and he'll confess them himself!" Morgana happily declared.
"You for real!? That's possible!?" Sakamoto exclaimed. His face had brightened up as he could finally see a path ahead, even Amamiya seemed happier by the revelation that we could actually do something about Kamoshida's cruelties that would ensure all would be stopped; Morgana added on that with the erasure of the Palace, all of our actions would be forgotten as well so our involvement wouldn't be known. "That's amazing! You are one incredible cat!" Sakamoto declared.
"True, except for the cat part!" Morgana retorted. Sakamoto seemed eager to get going right away but there was one thing we had yet to discuss and they deserved to go into this situation knowing everything, I wasn't about to hide such an important fact from them; after all if things went wrong then Kamoshida's fate would be gruesome.
"Hold on!" I called. The two boys looked at me as I clasped my hands behind my back. "Stealing a Treasure has some dangers. Removing the Treasure doesn't just remove the distorted desires, it is a crystallisation of all desire so removing the Treasure will in turn remove all desire," I revealed. Amamiya's face paled as Sakamoto seemed completely baffled by this string of words.
"But… wouldn't that mean… removing his desire to live?" Amamiya questioned. Sakamoto caught on and proceeded to blanch as he stared at me with fear in his eyes; I solemnly nodded my head to show that he was right. "That mean's Kamoshida might die if we remove this Treasure!" Amamiya exclaimed. Sakamoto also let out a horrified exclamation at those words, but Morgana hissed in response.
"Will you listen to everything that has to be said first?" Morgana demanded. However, Sakamoto was more focused on the fact that this death might be their fault. "Aren't you determined enough to face those kinds of risks?" Morgana challenged. I had been, but I had been desperate to escape Ouvrard, these two weren't exactly in any kind of danger nor suffering directly at Kamoshida's hands so their desperation wasn't at the same level mine had been.
"I don't want to kill him!" Amamiya protested. Sakamoto proceeded to agree with this line of thinking; that had the side effect of disappointing Morgana as I frowned slightly at this, Morgana stated that no one would ever find out. "Doesn't matter. We'd know we did it, I'm not going to throw away my morals. I maybe be willing to commit sacrilegious acts for my justice, but I won't abandon my core!" Amamiya declared. Sacrilegious acts? Had Arsène said something like that to him?
"Yeah, people finding out or not isn't the point! If we go around secretly doin' whatever we want, we'd be no better than that effin' Kamoshida!" Sakamoto declared. Morgana pointed out that this was their only option, but decided to leave it for later, without another word Morgana proceeded to run off leaving us alone. "Man, we're getting' all worked up for nothing… dammit!" Sakamoto declared. His face then took on a sad expression as he looked between us. "I'll try and see if I can figure out another way. C'mon, let's get outta here," Sakamoto suggested.
'Looks like I'm back to doing this alone.' I thought. Surprising, I actually felt sad about being left to tackle this terrible situation all on my lonesome.