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.
THIS IS A TRIGGER WARNING! AND I MEAN THAT IN THE EXTREMELY SERIOUS CONTEXT! This chapter marks the start of the Kamoshida Arc, which unfortunately deals with dark themes such as Sexual Assault, Objectification, Attempted Suicide, Abuse. If you have suffered anything like this, please! For the safety of your mental health, stay away from this section of the story.
I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy.
Chapter 8: - Advent of The Fool
A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I dropped my head onto the desk in my room, feeling exhausted and annoyed as I glared at the source of my distress. It was a fairly thick notebook that was also pocket sized, its' white pages were filled with kanji and that is what I was glaring at specifically; things certainly hadn't been easy for me as of late.
It had been a couple of months since my world was flipped on its' head and I became involved in the Metaverse. Even thought I had been determined to change Kamoshida's heart, I'd ended up running into several roadblocks in my search for his Palace and I'd only managed to establish its' appearance within the Metaverse at the end of February, in other words it took me nearly an entire month.
The physical world location was Shūjin High School – which had been easy enough to figure out – but realising that its' appearance was that of a castle had taken much longer than I wanted it to. People had continued to suffer whilst I established this connection, the volleyball team's wounds were getting worse and I think Kamoshida was blackmailing Takamaki with something, plus the disbandment of the track team was his fault as well. Those last two nuggets of information I'd managed to pry out of Shadows of Shūjin students down in Mementos and I had used that information to anonymously spread a few rumours via gossip loving classmates of mine.
A total of four issues had also further delayed me, although only half of them were connected to Kamoshida's Palace. Locating an infiltration point had taken several days since I had wanted to avoid it being easily discovered by Shadows, but the hard part was how to confront Kamoshida to make the Treasure – when I found the blasted thing as this castle was much bigger than Ouvrard's Palace – manifest; the face to face move that I'd used on Ouvrard might not work, or worse if it did and I messed up, Kamoshida could die and there was a risk of the blame falling on me if anyone else saw it.
The other two problems were more troubling, I'd only started to pay attention to it recently, but in the last two years, incidents of people suddenly having mental breakdowns had been increasing. As a result, these breakdowns ended up leading to accidents that claimed many lives and ruining many more, most recently a train had crashed last month with a fifteen year old girl as one of the victims.
And the last problem… Igor and Lavenza had vanished. That had happened last month as well, they'd both just suddenly disappeared and I could no longer see an entrance to the Velvet Room. All I had as proof that they'd even existed were my memories and a hairclip shaped like a blue butterfly which had shown up in my room on the day that I had lost contact with them; I now permanently wore it, hoping it would guide me to them when they returned.
'I think a break is necessary. A nice coffee and curry break.' I decided. Pushing myself up and closing the notebook, I decided to leave it behind whilst I went on my break in order to leave it behind for the time being, I hid the notebook away in a secret compartment so that if anyone got in then they'd never find it. Grabbing the handbag, I used to carry my purse and phone, I left my room only to pause at the silence that pressed down upon my shoulders.
Since the confrontation between me and my uncle in the house he lived within, I had successfully attained a house of my own for me to live within outside of my uncle's malicious influence. No one had come to replace Ouvrard, leaving me free of anyone trying to exploit my voice anymore, the fake weapon collection of my father was in the dojo attached to the building and best of all I was at peace within the building.
Although, something strange had happened at some point since I'd moved out, at least once a week Naomi would come by to check on me but after she went on a trip to… somewhere, I don't recall where it was, but she had gone with my uncle back in February. Yet after he had returned from the trip, Naomi had been conspicuously missing and my uncle was completely unwilling to mention what had become of her beyond the fact that she was no longer employed by him; I didn't bring it up afterwards because I saw my uncle's explosive temper rising when I initially pressed him.
Heading down the steps, I left the empty building behind and quickly made my way towards a little café I had discovered in the back alleys of my new residence of Yongen-Jaya known as LeBlanc. Opening the door on arrival, jingling the bell and making Sakura Sōjirō, the owner, look up at me with a smile but it seemed unusually strained for him. Sōjirō was a middle-aged man with slicked-back dark hair that had a receding hairline, grey eyes, a chinstrap beard with a goatee that flared out and he wore glasses; his outfit consisted of a pale pink dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just slightly below his elbows, pale khakis held up with a white leather belt and white loafers. While working at Leblanc, he wore a black apron with a white pinstripe design on it and had his pants legs folded up to the middle of his calves.
I gave my order to the man which consisted of one house blend with sugar and milk and a plate of curry and he set to work on making it for me. I could only take coffee with stuff to reduce the bitterness, it might not be the best way to have it, but after I'd spat my very first cup into Sōjirō's face after the first sip, he agreed it was for the best, I settled into a booth and brought out a light novel volume I'd been reading and then stopped in order to work on Kamoshida's Palace.
'Stop it Natsumi! You're meant to be relaxing!' I mentally chastised. I pinched the bridge of my nose and rubbed it briefly; one would think I'd be more concerned with practicing for entrance exams but letting Kamoshida run riot over Shūjin wasn't something I could allow to happen. I focused my attention back on the book and tried to disconnect from the world and my irritating situation.
Clinking came, meaning the food and drink had arrived but when creaking echoed, I lifted my nose out of my book and saw that Sōjirō was sat across from me, he looked worried which caused the book to fall into my lap, forgotten for the moment. I'd never seen Sōjirō look so worried before, even if it had only been a few weeks that we'd known each other, he'd always had this seemingly unflappable demeanour that never got rattled by anything, so if he was worried then why? Had my uncle found out about LeBlanc?
"Look… kid, for the next… year, you might want to steer clear of LeBlanc," Sōjirō stated. I froze up at those words, feeling horror boil within me, horror that my uncle had found this place and made some kind of threat to Sōjirō. "A frequent customer asked me to do me a favour for him and… well, I agreed. I still don't know why but I did," Sōjirō explained. The horror faded away and confusion took its' place.
"Boss, I don't understand. What favour could possible mean I'd have to stay away from LeBlanc?" I asked. This favour had to be something shocking, something deeply unsettling; as those thoughts rose up within my mind, Igor's warning of my fate, my gravity, echoed within my mind which caused a chill to course its' way across my body and deep into the marrow of my bones.
"Well, he's close to a family in some small country town somewhere. Apparently, that family has a son who recently got convicted of assault and he's being sent away from his home and up here to Tokyo. Unfortunately, the customer's going to be out of the country until next March for a university thing and this kid needs to be looked after during his probation. I… agreed to take him in and he'll be living here at LeBlanc," Sōjirō explained. He looked nervous and I cocked my head to the side at his remarks.
"Okay. But I don't see why I have to stay away from one of the few places that makes me happy just because of some guy?" I commented. Sōjirō blinked owlishly in response to my words, it was an honest admission of my feelings as this place had such a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere that I felt at peace here as much as my empty home. "Also, why isn't he living at your home? It's not like you have a family Boss," I stated. Sōjirō was a bachelor as frequently stated by one especially persistent female customer, plus he had never even implied the existence of a wife, a husband or any children.
"I just… don't want a criminal in my home is all. Anyway, that's not why I'm warning you to stay away kid," Sōjirō gruffly stated. He seemed a bit better which caused my lips to twitch slightly in response. "The other issue is that he'll be transferring to Shūjin, you'll probably be forced into seeing him there and I want to keep you as safe as possible," Sōjirō informed. That caused my eyes to widen at both the revelation that this guy was coming to Shūjin and Sōjirō was trying to keep me safe. "Look, here's a picture of this guy, look at it if you want. His name's Amamiya Ren," Sōjirō stated. He then stood up and moved to get back to his curry and coffee, a small white rectangle left behind, reaching out I flipped it over to reveal… an ordinary looking boy.
'No. Just because he looks ordinary doesn't mean anything. Kamoshida looks like a charming, jovial and well meaning athlete, but inside he's… ugh.' I thought. Violent shivers of disgust ran across my body with me struggling to suppress the motion as I remembered some of the things I'd witnessed in that depraved Palace. 'Although now that I think about it, Amamiya's actually kind of cute… wait! What?!' I thought.
Practically throwing myself back into the chair – I'm amazed that Sōjirō didn't give me more than a confused look at my bizarre motion – I raised my hands up to sharply smack the sides of my face a few times. Cute?! What was I thinking? This boy could be incredibly dangerous if he had attacked someone despite appearing to be of a similar age to me.
'I can't allow foolish thoughts to distract me. Focus on what's important Natsumi! Deal with Kamoshida first!' I ordered myself. With that thought in mind, I focused my attention on my meal and felt my mental energy get recharged, if I could take this food into the Metaverse it could probably recharge my Soul Power quicker than resting and in greater quantities than the Soul Drops or energy bars could. 'Now that I'm recharged, it's back to the grind.' I decided.
Standing up, I paid for my meal and proceeded to leave the building with a wave to Sōjirō.
*Persona 5 Royal*
This was not good, it was only the day after Sōjirō had warned me about the transfer student, yet the whispering gossip that permeated the hallways and classrooms of Shūjin were all focused on one thing, one topic that kept being spun around and around until the air buzzed with echoes of continually repeated words… a transfer student with a criminal record.
'How?! How can everyone seem to know about Amamiya? There's only one student I'm aware of at Shūjin who has law enforcement connections, but it's doubtful she'd have been told. The principal would know and maybe some teachers… but would they have really told everyone?' I thought. Teachers weren't perfect beings, but I didn't believe that any of them could be so cruel to someone that they'd never met.
Well, maybe it had been Kamoshida since he was cruel enough. Even though Amamiya had been convicted of committing a serious crime, it could have been an accident or a misunderstanding just as easily as it could have been serious and intentional; to have ruined Amamiya's chance at peace was wrong and exactly why I had decided against telling anyone about the whole situation.
My thoughts had so distracted me that I didn't see the person I ended up slamming into. I stumbled backwards but quickly regained my footing, the other person unfortunately ended up falling over with a small cry escaping lips, I looked up and paled slightly when I saw who it was that I'd inadvertently knocked over; a second year student by the name of Suzui Shiho, Takamaki's only friend… and she was also a volleyball player, meaning she was covered in injuries.
"Sorry about that Suzui-san," I softly admitted. Suzui had brown eyes and black hair that was tied in a ponytail by a pink elastic band with her fringe being parted to her left and pinned there with two grey hairpins. Suzui wore her uniform without the black jacket nor the suspenders, the sleeves of her white turtleneck sweater were rolled up to her elbows and she wore the standard uniform skirt. Underneath her skirt, she wore black athletic shorts, wrapped around her elbows were dark braces with a black knee brace on her right leg. She wore white running shoes with red designs and white ankle socks, wounds littered parts of her face.
"It's fine Chiba-san," Suzui softly stated. I held my hand out to the girl and she took it allowing me to pull her back onto her feet, but I didn't let go yet for I was too distracted by the wounds she had acquired because of that disgusting man. "Um… Chiba-san, is everything okay?" Suzui asked. Her voice had gone incredibly timid, so I forced myself to release her hand and stepped around her.
"I'm sorry Suzui-san, so sorry," I whispered. Before she could ask me what I meant, I walked around as my hands curled tightly into fists at the thought of what Kamoshida had done to her, Mishima and the rest of the volleyball team; Suzui had once been a cheerful and outgoing girl before joining that team but now she'd been broken down and reduced into a terrified shell, just like all the others had been.
'I need to deal with him. I've got to find that Treasure.' I thought. Striding out of the building I reached my entry point and focused on my mantra.
*Persona 5 Royal*
I felt like I was beating my head against a brick wall, Ouvrard's Palace had been easy compared to Kamoshida's due to the presence of traps, broken off areas and stronger Shadows being in his. I could only do small trips due to my lack of medical recourses, and the inability to find more without rousing suspicion from my uncle; there was also the fact that some Shadows were resistant to my attacks which meant I was lucky to escape from that place at times.
The rumbling of the train came to a stop safely and the air was filled with grateful sighs, there'd been an accident just yesterday, so all of the trains were delayed as a result and the passengers were probably just glad that they weren't on a train struck with the next mental breakdown. The doors sprung open and the mad jostling and shoving to escape the tin can turned potential death trap began; as I tried to get out, an elbow slammed into my ribs as a foot struck my ankle, causing me to lose my balance and crash against the platform.
Or at least, that's what I thought would happen. Instead, a hand latched onto my arm near the elbow which jerked my inertia to a rough halt and whoever the hand belonged to swiftly pulled me from the cluster of shoving to somewhere less crowded. My heart was hammering so loudly in my chest that it took longer than necessary to hear a soft male voice close by, asking if I was alright.
"Yes, I'm fine…," I admitted. As I did, I turned to face the person only for shock to hit me like a truck in the face I found which had been why my words had trailed off. The boy was tall and slim although he looked to be roughly my age with pale skin, ear length black hair that was so messy and wavy that I felt an itch to run a brush – or at least my fingers – through it, the fringe fell over his eyes but that didn't stop me from seeing the grey eyes that gazed out at me with concern glimmering in the irises from behind his black rimmed glasses. "Thank you," I finally managed to get out.
"It's no problem, I'm just glad you're okay," Amamiya Ren admitted. His voice was deep, gentle and smooth, in fact his whole demeanour with his slightly slouched posture gave off a vibe of being soft and quiet, but there was a certain thing hovering behind him that made it known there was something more to him than others could see. "I have to get going, take care," Amamiya stated. With that he proceeded to take off, his Shūjin uniform with a white turtle neck shirt was easy for me to follow.
'He really is cute and his voice is so nice.' I thought. When realisation of my thoughts hit me, I covered my eyes with my hand. 'Natsumi! Will you get a grip! By the eighty million gods, you have a job to do! Focus on that instead of the transfer student!' I mentally ordered myself. Honestly, I couldn't believe I was getting so easily distracted just because of some new guy.
With my mind calm, I was able to focus on what I'd seen behind Amamiya, a swirling blaze of blue fire that looked to be trying to take shape but couldn't hold it. That blue fire looked identical to the flames that had brought Phantom to me, which made me wonder if Amamiya was a Persona user; I'd seen others with that same blue fire but never one that blazed as brilliant as Amamiya's had.
'If he is, that's at least one worry off of my mind. I won't have two Palace Rulers causing trouble.' I thought. I had managed to calm myself down fully from the unexpected meeting with the person that I'd been warned about; quickly moving towards the steps leading to the street level of Aoyama-Itchome, I ascended them and suddenly felt a droplet of rain burst apart on my head.
Pausing briefly to pull out my umbrella and open it over my head, I quickly finished my climb out of the underground, only to be met with a peculiar sight. Amamiya hadn't got very far as he was currently seeking refuge under the slight overhang of a building from the drizzling rain; but talking to him was the school's resident troublemaker and one of the few to openly hate Kamoshida, Sakamoto Ryūji.
Sakamoto had short spiky hair that had been dyed blond yet was a natural black colour, and dark brown eyes. His hair had a noticeable widow's peak and his eyebrows are unusual in that he lacked the outer sides, he was also fairly muscular. He wore a modified version of the winter uniform, the standard black blazer was unbuttoned to reveal a yellow t-shirt with a comic style star symbol and the word 'ZOMG!' printed on it, the plaid trousers were rolled up to reveal his ankles and the black suspenders hung down instead of being worn on his shoulders and he supplanted them with a white belt, his white sneakers had a rising sun flag motif. I had every intention of walking passed them when my footsteps halted as a familiar sensation swept over me.
'HOW!? How did I enter the Metaverse!?' I panicked. I hadn't been thinking about it at all, not the mantra or even a random string of thoughts that could lead me to entering it accidentally. I started to look around in a wild fashion, panic clear on my face as my heart thundered like a war drum within my chest at unexpectedly slipping into the Metaverse.
Nothing. There wasn't a single sign or hint of the Metaverse around this place, but that simply made me more worried since I was so close to Kamoshida's Palace. With a grim expression replacing the panicked one, I turned around and set off towards Shūjin with worry bubbling in my heart at the implication of what had happened.
As I walked down a small alleyway that connected to Shūjin, I saw that strange rippling, jumping purple water that followed all footsteps in the Metaverse. A stunted exclamation drew my attention and when I looked towards it, my eyes flew wide before I dived into the shadows and quickly closed my umbrella. Kamoshida's gaudy castle looking Palace was there, but in front of it where Sakamoto and Amamiya.
'How did they get in here?! I can't bring people in with my eyes! So, how?!' I panicked. First there was the blue flames around Amamiya and now this, it was so unexpected that I was struggling to wrap my head around these events, even with Igor's warning of those who would be my enemies and allies rattling around in my mind.
"We didn't… come the wrong way though…," Sakamoto commented. Those two needed to walk away otherwise they'd be in danger, but I couldn't get closer to them otherwise my clothes would transform which they might see. "Yeah, this should be right… what's going on here? Guess we'll just have to go and ask," Sakamoto commented.
At that, I had to resist the urge to face palm as a response to those ridiculous words. Amamiya could be forgiven but come on Sakamoto! You attend this school – sometimes – you know it doesn't look like this! Quickly poking my head out from my hiding place, I saw the two of them had moved further into the Palace.
'Blast it!' I mentally hissed. Getting to my feet, I ran into the Palace's boundaries and blue flames instantly clothed me in my War Maiden's outfit; I quickly exchanged my school bag for my nisun-nobi that I'd managed to bring and hide within the Palace's boundaries and its' accompanying quiver. When those two were secured, I quickly rushed deeper into the Palace's surrounding area.
The main door was slightly open, causing worry to bubble up at the danger those two boys had stumbled into. Darting to the side, I quickly removed the mesh covering off a vent and then hauled myself through said vent into a room that connected to the main entryway, but immediately my ears caught the sound of frantic cries for help.
Bursting out of the room, I ran for the entrance only to find it empty and the cries were now silenced. Gritting my teeth, I ran in the direction I could faintly hear noise coming from and to my luck saw a Shadow – taking the appearance of a knight this time – up ahead. Unfortunately, it also saw me and immediately charged towards me.
I quickly summoned Phantom and then ran forward, slamming the tip of my naginata into the ground and used it to vault myself up and over the Shadow whilst ripping its' mask off. A Jack-o-Lantern, a floating entity in ragged clothing with a pumpkin for a head and holding onto a lantern in its' right hand; its' Fire attacks were my weakness and rendered it resistant to all of my Earth based spells.
"Gry!" I called. Immediately, the heavy pressure of my single target Gravity spell slammed the Shadow into the nearby wall, I marched over and knocked an arrow, drawing the string back as I pointed it at the Shadow. "The two boys who were just captured, where were they taken? Tell me and I'll let you go!" I demanded. Without the mask, the Palace's hold – and therefore the Ruler's hold – weakened, so the Shadow was more likely to answer positively to my demand.
"Okay! I'll tell you! They were taken to the dungeons! The deepest part!" The Jack-o-Lantern cried. Relaxing my stance, I slid my arrow away and the Shadow vanished; Phantom returned to mask form and I pulled out my notebook, flipping to the ever expanding rough map of this place, I quickly mapped out a route then put the notebook away and pulled my naginata free of the stones it had been embedded in.
I started sprinting through the corridors, taking care to peek around corners, whilst avoiding as many fights as possible in order to reach Amamiya and Sakamoto as fast as possible. Eventually, I reached the dungeon's furthest part which had hills as if it was outside with sparse plant life and gushing rivers dyed purple and blue, but these could only be crossed by old cages in some places whilst others had bridges.
"Stop it!" A male voice cried. I snapped my head in its' direction and leapt across the shallow gap, once on the opposite side I twisted my body and ran as fast as I could; upon reaching the cell they were in, the Shadows' presence made it obvious, I used the bars to stop my momentum whilst twisting my body around to look inside at the scene that lay before me.
A group of three Shadows stood in the cell, all three were leaning back but otherwise unmoving, as if they'd stumbled away from something before ice had stiffened them. Shadow Kamoshida was also there, in his repulsive get-up of a shimmery red-pink cloak that was fur line at the edges and printed with hearts, under which was nothing but an item that resembled a pair of women's underwear, Sakamoto was collapsed on the floor behind the Shadow. All of them were staring at Amamiya who stood against the wall opposite Sakamoto and his hands were pressing against his face. The glasses he'd worn were gone and instead a white, birdlike domino mask with black designs around the eyes reminiscent of full eyeliner and sharp lashes were in their place.
"Pull it off!" I called. Amamiya froze his movements to look at me as calls echoed in my ears, but their words were nonsense to me, for I only had eyes for Amamiya. "If you want to live, tear off that mask!" I insisted. He seemed to understand and his hands scrabbled to get underneath; soon they did and the mask came off with a gush of blood – ooh! Phantom pains – and a bellowing cry, Amamiya opened his previously closed eyes which had turned Shadow gold as blue fire surged across his body.
Once the fire moved back, I saw the Rebel's Armour that Amamiya now wore, he was clad in a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants that were cinched, over this was a black ankle-length tailcoat, brown-black ankle high boots with pointed toe ends and tall heels covered his feet and a pair of red gloves were over his hands. The flames faded away completely to reveal the Persona, it had a very tall top hat, with a long-horned mask for its' face as it appeared to not have a head, a cropped red eighteenth century-esque suit worn open with the collar popped, stitched heart designs on the shoulders, a white ruffle tie, a black, tailed corset running down its torso; large, black, feathery wings started at around the small of its' back, wickedly sharp claws ran from its' hands, red coverings on its legs resembling pants and boots with blade-like heels, chains rattled across its' form and through the air around it… it made me think of both a demon and a gentleman thief at the same time.
A wide and almost manic grin spread across Amamiya's face, giving him an almost completely different vibe to the softness that had been present in our first meeting. Amamiya then raised his hand up and proceeded to flick them, this caused his Persona to beat its' wings which proceeded to throw the guards back even further than before.
"Nicely done for a newbie," I complimented. With the Shadows knocked down, I easily made my way into the cell as Shadow Kamoshida ran away; the wild smirk that had been on Amamiya's face faded as I spotted Sakamoto gapping in shock at the Persona hovering near Amamiya. Speaking of the transfer student, Amamiya lifted his head so that his grey eyes could focus on the Persona he'd now fully manifested.
"Give me your power Arsène!" Amamiya commanded. His voice was different now, its' tone was firmer and whilst not loud, it certainly grabbed your attention; his gaze then dropped to meet mine. "Who are you?" Amamiya asked. An inquisitive note rang within his voice, but I heard no hostility which might have been because I had shown him how to bring forth the power to help him escape.
"Who the hell are you? Are you with this pesky intruder? Guards!" Shadow Kamoshida yelled. I quickly pivoted around and saw two of the Shadows climb back to their feet. "Start by killing those two!" Shadow Kamoshida ordered. The Shadows tore out of their armour as black and red goo before reforming into Jack-o-Lanterns. "You'll learn the true strength of my men!" Shadow Kamoshida declared.
"Questions will have to wait. For now, prepare your weapon," I warned. I quickly set my stance and lift my naginata up, but spotted the confused look Amamiya sent me in the corner of my eye. "The dagger in your right hand," I clarified. The boy finally took notice of the new weight resting in his right hand and lifted it up to gaze at the glinting steel.
This was going to be difficult; with Sakamoto here, he needed to be protected from the Shadows' attacks, Amamiya was inexperienced in this kind of combat – and his stance showed he had no clue how to use his dagger – and with Shadow Kamoshida here, I couldn't risk using Phantom otherwise Kamoshida's subconscious guard against me would go up. I had to help Amamiya and end this battle quickly for everyone's benefit.
"E…Eiha," Amamiya faintly spoke. He reached one glove clad hand out towards a Jack-o-Lantern, immediately a surge of red and black energy that looked like screaming faces surged upwards to twist around it; I'd been unfortunately hit by that type of Spell before and I recognised it as Curse Magic which meant neither of us would strike at the weaknesses of these Shadows, still it at least caused some damage to it.
Darting over, I slashed my weapon through the injured Jack-o-Lantern causing it to dissipate into smoke. I quickly pivoted around and found the other Shadow had floated over to Amamiya and smacked its' lantern into the boy's form. Amamiya stumbled back from the sudden burst of pain that his body would be feeling at the attack, I was just thankful that he had the Rebel's Armour otherwise his injury would be much worse than it currently was.
Releasing my grip on the naginata caused it to vanish in blue fire as I knocked an arrow quickly and pointed it at the Jack-o-Lantern. Releasing the arrow allowed it to fly forward and pierce into the Shadow, causing it to sway from side to side before dropping down to the ground; Amamiya took advantage of its' exposed state and swung his dagger down. The Rebel's Weapon cleaved through the Shadow, causing it to disperse into smoke just like the other one did.
"What… what was that just now?" Sakamoto asked. He seemed stupefied by what had just happened, not that he could be blamed as this was one crazy experience, as for Amamiya he was looking over his vastly different outfit since he was no longer focused on the need for survival; Shadow Kamoshida moved towards me and Amamiya with a curse on his lips, I stepped in from of Amamiya to protect him given his distracted state but that was when Sakamoto suddenly leapt to his feet.
The blonde delinquent then charged at Shadow Kamoshida before any of us could react, the two collided and the Shadow was knocked to the ground. Sakamoto rightly called him a 'son of a bitch', but I was more concerned by what had just clattered to the floor as a result of Sakamoto tackling Shadow Kamoshida the way that he had.
"The key! Quickly!" I insisted. Those three words caught the two boys onto the key's existence with my finger outstretched to point at it, Sakamoto grabbed the key as all of us darted out of the cell, Amamiya wisely swung the door closed behind him and Sakamoto quickly sealed the cell; Shadow Kamoshida scrambled up and grabbed the bars.
"Damn you! You bastards!" Shadow Kamoshida yelled. To shut him up and satisfy a desire that I'd had for months now, I proceeded to ram my fist hard into Kamoshida's face, the blow sent him sprawling to the ground and I turned around to face Sakamoto and Amamiya who were staring at me with different emotions in their eyes.
"Toss the key and let's get out of here!" I ordered. A jumpy and slightly scared sounding 'yes' got out of Sakamoto and he promptly tossed the keys into the nearby river whilst I passed Amamiya his glasses. "This way," I called. I motioned for the two of them to follow after me as I faced towards the exit.