Chapter 5: Cat Got Your Tongue?

(A)

Akira gasped and bolted up, panting. There was buzzing in her ears and her vision was blurry and all she could think of was, What the hell was that? Was she truly so angry at her situation that she dreamed of being trapped in a prison along with her brother with two pint sized guards and an old, balding, long nosed man as their master? No, that couldn't be it. She had dreamed of worse wardens and monsters than those three, a long, long time ago, when she had no brother and no father.

The buzzing stopped and she turned to see the blurry outline of her brother turning off his alarm on his phone. For a while, she just stared at him, her brain deciding to crash. And then Ren looked up to her and said,

"I think I would've called him rocket nose instead of baldy."

Akira laughed, long and hard enough that she held her stomach and fell back into her bed. Leave it to her brother to say something that was both completely unrelated yet totally related to whatever was going on. She shouldn't be surprised at this point, but she still was. She loved that. Thanks to that, they were both smiling, even though she couldn't really see it, and decidedly much calmer.

"Nah, carrot nose is better," she said. Then she glared at him. "Don't even think of the inappropriate one."

"You said it, not me."

They both chuckled and then content quiet came back. But Akira knew it wouldn't last. And Ren, as usual, was the one to end it.

"So you saw it too? The blue prison?" he said.

She sighed and sat up once again, putting on her glasses.

"Yup," she said. "And you have no idea what that place is, huh?"

Ren shook his head. "Not really. I only know the names of the ones there and the place."

"That prison has a name?"

He nodded. "It's called the Velvet Room. The master, carrot nose, is Igor, and the terrible twins are the wardens, Caroline and Justine," he said. "The one with the stick is Caroline. The one with the clipboard is Justine."

Wait really?

"Those are names from Frankenstein," she said. "Well, related to Frankenstein in Igor's case."

"I thought they were familiar...but I'm not sure if that'll help figure out the mystery."

Ren had a point. If they were truly named after characters from Frakenstein, then that implied their names were either appropriate or ironic. And considering the characters of Caroline and Justine in the actual novel, particularly the latter's fate, she doubted the names of the residents were important. However...

"Yeah, okay, but why's it called the Velvet Room? It definitely isn't velvet or a room."

Ren looked hesitant. But then he said, "Well, according to Igor, the room reflects the state of my heart, so..."

And then she got it. If that was true and the Velvet Room appeared as a prison...then that implied that Ren thought they were imprisoned in their circumstances. And he had somehow dragged her into it. Akira sighed and plopped down beside her brother, startling him, before she leaned on his shoulder.

"Hey, Big Bro?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember that you said you don't much about that room, right?"

"Mmmhmm."

"So don't think it's your fault I'm trapped too, okay?"

Ren chuckled and finally relaxed, leaning his head on top of her own, no doubt smiling.

"How'd you know?" he said, already knowing the answer.

"Because we're family," she said, giving it anyway.

They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying each other's presence and the calm quiet. At least until, once again, Ren broke it.

"There's one more thing..."

"The castle, I'm betting."

"Mmhmm," he said, nodding. "I...want to investigate it."

"And do something about it, yeah?"

"Yes. Even if it's some sort of parallel world, I want to find out why it replaced the school."

"And why ripped mophead and those kids were like that in the castle."

Her brother nodded.

"How we gonna back though? We don't even know how we got there."

"About that..." Ren said and showed his phone with that eye app from yesterday. "I believe this is how we did it."

Her brother, after messing with it, showed a search history for it, the words "Kamoshida's Palace" being the only thing in it.

"Wait, this is that Metaverse Navigator?"

"Most likely."

"How does an app send us to a parallel world?!" Akira said. But then she realized her words and remembered the Velvet Room. "Oh wait, supernatural. It's not supposed to make sense. Never mind."

Ren snickered and she glared at him.

"I was thinking we'd try after school," he said. "Is that okay with you?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Akira said, smirking. It was, however, replaced with a more somber one. "I wanna help too."

Her brother gave a warm smile. "Thank you."

Below, the café's door opened, ringing its overhead bell. Akira sighed, making a show of it, and said,

"Well it looks like our warden is here. Let's get ready before he gets more grumpy."

"He's not that bad, Aki," Ren said but chuckled anyway.

"Yeah yeah, I know. But I can still complain, can't I?"

With that, they went downstairs to change and get ready, Sakura-san cooking on the stove in the small kitchen. But just as she was about to go in the restroom, their caretaker said,

"You're not going to take a bath?"

Before she could think, she gave him a flat stare and said, "Does it look like I can take a bath here?"

It was only after that did she realize what she did but before she could apologize, Sakura-san just huffed and said,

"There's a bath house down the street. Just go left and then right."

Uh... Did he just...?

Ren smirked at her, reminding her of his words earlier.

She glared at him.

Of course that just made his smirk worse. But it lost its smugness as he turned to Sakura-san and bowed slightly.

"Thank you for telling us," he said. "Let's go, Aki."

She sighed. But she would admit, even if it was a bit rushed since they needed to go to school, it felt good to have warm water soak into her skin and her hair a lot lighter on her head. Somehow that made breakfast taste better and definitely made the compactness of the train less annoying, even with them carrying their umbrellas. Which was good, because as they were switching trains along with other students, a head of red hair tied in a ponytail caught her attention.

"Hey..."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"I think that's my classmate."

"Hmm?" Her brother followed her sight. "Her?"

"Uh huh," she said. "She was the only one who wasn't gossiping.."

"I see... I'm glad then."

"Me too."

After that, they got on the train and they happened to be standing right beside her redheaded classmate and thus saw when she stood up from her spot.

"Please, take my seat," she said to an old lady before her. "My station's coming up."

The elder looked surprised. "Are you sure? Then..." she said and moved to take a step...

...but was beaten by a man in a suit.

Akira gritted her teeth and felt Ren tense beside her.

"Oh wow, what speed!" redhead said but then she shook her head. "I mean—excuse me, that seat was for this lady..."

But the man didn't answer as he slumped and snored.

"Oh."

Akira couldn't help it.

She said, low and threatening, "You want me to 'wake him up'?"

Then Ren said, "You should at least say something."

The girl was startled from their words but then she said, "It's all right. I can understand his position as well."

Well, now that she said it, it was true. He was likely dead tired if he fell asleep that quick, but...

"It's still not fair..." she said, mostly just to grumble, while her brother was silent but with sadness in his eyes.

The redhaired girl seemed amused but gave a sympathetic smile at them before turning to the old lady.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be any help," she said.

The old woman waved it off with a smile. "It's all right, dearie. Don't you worry."

"Please allow me to carry your luggage, at least," the ponytail girl said, already reaching for the woman's bag.

"Thank you!" the woman said and handed it to her.

And the girl shook her head and said, "Not at all! I train plenty."

Akira shook her head as well, still upset at the guy who stole the old lady's seat, but let it go anyway, especially since the girl before her was still trying to be helpful despite the hiccup. It wasn't long before they reached their stop and Akira and Ren lost her in the flow of the crowd. However, just a couple of meters after they stepped off, they heard a,

"Pardon me."

And they turned to see that it was the same redhaired ponytail girl from before. When she got their attention, she suddenly bowed, just slightly, and said,

"Thank you so much for earlier."

Akira eyed her then looked to her brother to see if he knew what she meant. But he mirrored her expression, also confused, so she shrugged, answering his own unspoken question. He did the same and they both faced the girl again.

"What are you thanking us for?" her brother said, curling his hair.

And she said, tilting her head, "Yeah. What did we do?"

"For speaking up when I offered my seat on the train," she said, standing up straight and Akira noticing she was shorter than both of them. "You're a second-year at Shujin Academy, correct? I'm a first-year there myself."

"Yes," Ren said. "And we know you're a first-year."

The girl looked surprised before realization passed on her face.

"Oh right, you could tell, huh?"

She and her brother laughed.

"It's okay," he said. "It's not as if we were any better."

"Yeah," she said. "We only found out yesterday that Shujin's uniforms are unique. Though we probably should've guessed with its rep."

The girl giggled. "Well, either way, thanking you totally slipped my mind back on the train and I didn't want to be rude to my senpai."

"It's fine. Everyone forgets sometimes," Ren said. "Besides, I should thank you as well."

"Eh? What for?"

Akira grinned, knowing what her brother was thinking, said,

"For bein' nice."

"Huh? For...being nice?"

"Yeah. You weren't gossipin' yesterday when I popped in class."

"Yesterday? Wait..." Recognition flashed in her eyes. "Oh! You're the delinquent transfer student!"

Her eye twitched, resisting a glare, and Ren tensed, glancing her way. Akira wondered if she actually had the wrong impression of her, that her ignoring her yesterday was simply because she didn't think highly of them, until the red haired girl's eyes widened and she said,

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I mean Amamiya-san!" Then she turned to her brother. "So then you're...Amamiya-senpai, I presume?" She bowed forward considerably. "I'm so sorry for that. It's just that I remembered the class talking about you so much yesterday that I tried to ignore it."

And it was their turn to stare. Akira had thought she wouldn't be nice to them anymore now that she knew they were the "problem students". Instead, she apologized, and Akira smiled and relaxed alongside her brother.

"It's fine, and yes, I'm Aki's big brother," he said, amused.

"I see... But still, I shouldn't have called you that, Amamiya-san, after thanking you."

"Hey, no problem. At least you apologized," she said.

And she meant it. It wasn't everyday people ignored rumors.

But then Ren said, "We should get going, or we might be late."

"Oh I'm so sorry! Please, excuse me!"

"Wha—? Hey wait! Wanna go..." Akira said but the redhaired girl ran off. "...to...ge...ther..." She sighed. "Geez, we're headin' the same way..."

Ren laughed and she glared at him. It did nothing but make him smirk.

"Well considering how many times she apologized, I'm not surprised she didn't want to bother us. She seems like she likes being polite," he said.

Akira sighed again. "Yeah, that makes sense...but still..."

"Come on, let's go," he said, heading for the station exit and readying his umbrella.

With one more sigh, Akira readied her own and followed him, thinking about the redhaired girl with the ribbon. Akira had wanted to get to know her. After all, she seemed to be pretty nice, especially since there were rumors about her and Ren all over school and yet she didn't seem to not want them to cloud her judgement. But she guessed that would be later. Ren did want to figure out about that castle yesterday.

{R}

After making sure he had all his new textbooks accounted for, Ren left his classroom and began head up to meet with Aki when he saw the platinum blonde from his class approached by Mr. Kamoshida.

"Hey there, Takamaki," the teacher said. "Looking for a ride home? Things have been pretty dangerous lately with all those accidents."

Ren frowned as he watched the teacher make thinly veiled advances on Takamaki-san and the girl did her best to rebuke them, offering both excuses with her modelling job and lies about illness.

True, his perception might be skewed by his first impression of the man being an egotistical king ,who he wanted to throttle for even thinking about laying a hand on his sister, in more ways than one, his "friendliness" came off as anything but, especially with how uncomfortable the girl was. And with the rumors about the plantinum blonde and Mr. Kamoshida... He knew he shouldn't take stock on them, but he couldn't help but wonder and worry if there was some truth to them.

He was thrown out of his thoughts when Aki arrived and said,

"Hey Big Bro. Ready?"

"Yes," he said and they left the school building.

He had been thinking on where they should talk when at the school gates...

"Yo."

...Sakamoto came up to them.

"What's up?" Aki said.

"I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday," he said. "I tried tellin' myself it was all a dream...but I couldn't do it. I can't act like nothing happened. It's all connected to that Kamoshida bastard, after all."

"For real?" Aki said.

"Yeah. I wanna find out what's up with that place, no matter what."

"Well that's convenient."

The blond blinked. "Huh?"

"We were gonna try lookin' in that castle too. Right, Big Bro?" his sister said, grinning.

He nodded.

"So let's go together."

The blond was shocked and Ren couldn't blame him. If Sakamoto was known as a delinquent, it was unlikely people were friendly to him, much less help him. So he gave a soft smile as Sakamoto recovered.

"For real?" he said. Now convinced, he grinned as well. "Thanks you two."

"No problem," Aki said. "You gotta plan? 'cause we got one."

"Wait, you do?"

"Uh huh." His sister glanced at him. "Big Bro?"

He nodded and took out his phone. "Do you remember hearing a voice after we escaped?" he said as he tapped on it.

"Yeah. Somethin' about returnin' to the real world, right?"

"Yup," Aki said. "And we think..."

"...we can use this to get us back."

Ren showed his phone to the blond, the screen displaying the app on "Kamoshida's Palace".

"Really?" he said. "So all you gotta do is click?"

They gasped.

"Wait!"

Ren moved to get it away but it wasn't enough. Sakamoto tapped it and a wave of nausea hit him as his vision distorted. But only for a moment, being brought back to reality as Sakamoto said,

"Look! It's that castle from yesterday!"

And he turned to see the same large gate, and castle...and Sakamoto went right in.

"Hey! I said wait!" Aki said and they followed him. "Don't just rush off!"

"You're not much better," Ren said on reflex. She glared at him for that. But he ignored her and said to the blond, "And you shouldn't have just pressed it. We don't know what it looks like to other people."

"Yeah!" Aki said, now glaring at the blond. "We probably looked like we vanished or somethin'.

"Hey, don't worry so much. No one was watchin'—" Sakamoto said.

And then he turned around.

"—yeargh! Those clothes!"

Their clothes? He looked to Aki and found that she was wearing that hooded white tunic again, its long sleeves and coat tails just as prominent as her contrasting grey pants and black Colombina mask.

"Huh. They popped up without a battle," she said, curious and checking Ren's attire.

"That happened last time too, huh?" Sakamoto said. "What's with that outfit?"

"I don't know," he said.

Aki, on the other hand, smirked and said, "You jelly?"

"I-I ain't jealous!"

"Sure don't sound like it."

"Aki," he said, tone admonishing.

"All right, all right," she said, not guilty at all.

"Ugh. What's goin' on here? This makes no effin' sense at all..."

Then...

"Hey! Stop making a commotion!" a familiar voice said.

"Ah! You?!" Sakamoto said, jolting back.

And, lo and behold, the "not-cat" phantom thief, Morgana, was there before them.

"The Shadows started acting up so I came here wondering what it could be..." it said. It sighed. "To think you guys would be back at the entrance when you barely managed to escape..."

It was brief, and hidden well, but Aki tensed for a moment before she spoke.

"We wanted to know more about this place."

"Yeah, what is this place?" their blond companion said. "Is it the school?"

"That's right," Morgana said.

"But it's a castle!"

Aki snorted. Ren knew she snarked in her mind. But he kept silent, listening to the cat burglar.

"This castle is the school. But only to the castle's ruler," the not-cat said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"The castle's ruler?"

Ren wondered as well. It was clear that Kamoshida was in charge, but that meant Morgana could've just easily called him king, not ruler. So why the distinction?

Then Morgana said, "I think you called him Kamoshida? It's how his distorted heart views the school."

Ren furrowed his brows and glanced at his sister, who mirrored his expression. What was a distorted heart?

"Kamoshida... Distorted..." Sakamoto said, bringing them back to the conversation.

The blond also contemplated, his face scunched up like them...

"Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

...for one second.

Morgana sighed. "I shouldn't have expected a moron to get it..."

"What'd you say?!" Sakamoto said.

Ren frowned. He was about to tell the not-cat off as well. It wasn't like the words "distorted heart" alone explained everything. But then...

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHGGGG!"

They were startled and Ren scanned the area, looking for any sort of movement.

"What was that?!" their blond companion said.

"It must be the slaves captive here," Morgana said.

"For real?!" But when he realized it was serious, he said, "Oh shit...it's for real."

Memories of yesterday flashed in Ren's mind. Cells, prisoners, and near death. Guilt pushed at his insides. He nearly choked on it. But he swallowed it and set his jaw. That was why he was here after all. And he wasn't alone. Aki also had that stubborn look on her face now.

"Makes sense," she said. "We did see prisoners yesterday."

"You know, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure they're guys from our school," Sakamoto said.

"But what are they doing here?" Ren said.

"Most likely Kamoshida's orders," it said. It continued in a nonchalant manner. "It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that everyday here. What's more, you three escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit."

Ren clenched his fists.

"That son of a bitch!" Aki and Sakamoto said.

"You two! Keep quiet!" Morgana said.

Aki's eyes widened, panicked, realizing what she had just done with how loud she'd been.

But Sakamoto would have none of it.

"This is bullshit!" he said before tackling one of the double doors. "You hear me, Kamoshida?!"

"Doing that isn't going to open it, you know..." the not-cat said, tone flat. Though it added, mumbling, "Still, it seems you have your reasons..."

"Tch. Hey, Monamona!" Sakamoto said, coming back to them.

Aki stared incredulously. "I'm sorry, what?" she said.

"Monamona...?" Ren said.

"It's Morgana!"

The loud boy ignored them. "Do you know where those voices are comin' from?"

"You want me to take you to them?" Morgana said.

"Yeah."

The phantom thief contemplated for a moment.

"Well, I guess I could guide you there," it said. Then looked at him and his sister. "But only if they come with us."

Aki scoffed. "Of course we're comin'," she said, unsuspecting.

Ren, however, was quiet, the condition making him curious. It was clear it wanted them for a reason. But what was it? Was it solely because they proved their potential for battle and thus wanted insurance considering the dangers? Somehow Ren doubted that was the only reason. But as he tried to think of any other reason that could risk them, Aki looked at him with curiosity and Sakamoto with worry, so he decided to say,

"Why us?"

As he hoped, Morgana answered his question in more ways than one.

"I just want to get a better look at your powers," it said, one ulterior motive now out in the open. "Even if you don't agree, I bet this guy'll go on even if he has to do it alone. Are you going to leave him?"

Ren glared at him. "I never said that," he said.

Morgana smirked. "It's settled then!" it said, pleased it got its way.

He wanted to wipe that smug face off.

But as Sakamoto said, "For real?!"

Ren couldn't bring himself to focus on something like that while Aki smiled and said,

"Yup. We said we'd go together, 'member?"

So Ren gave Sakamoto a reassuring smile and nodded.

"Thanks man," he said.

"All right, let's do this! Follow me!"

Morgana then jumped on a barrel and pointed up. "This is our infiltration point."

"Hey, ain't that where we escaped out of last time...?" Sakamoto said when they followed its paw.

"That's right," the not-cat said. "Not barging in through the entrance is one of the basics of phantom thievery."

"Let me guess, those are in spy movies too, huh?"

"Oh good, you're catchin' on, Sakamoto," Aki said.

"Hey, I don't watch those kinda stuff, okay? How am I supposed to know that stuff?"

"I'll make sure to teach you as we go. Now be quiet and follow me!"

The not-cat went inside. The three followed, after Sakamoto thanked them once again for coming, and they were back in the storage room. From there, passed the large foyer as they went for the dungeons. They were briefly held up by blurring surroundings that Morgana had no time to explain, but soon went down the spiraling stairs, Aki thankfully not breathing as hard as yesterday, and made it to the first dungeon floor in no time. However, not long after leaving the stairs, Morgana stopped and hid behind a steel bar door. At first, Ren was about to ask why it did so, until it said,

"Shoot... I had a feeling there would be guards here..."

"I thought that was a given," Aki said as she followed its example.

"I meant for this area, smarty-pants," it said, annoyed. "The guards used to patrol just around the cells but now it's all over the dungeon because you escaped." It sighed. "Looks like we'll have to fight our way forward."

"F-For real...?" their blond friend said.

"But phantom thieves are supposed to be sneaky," Aki said.

Though Ren was a bit surprised she did. She hasn't been this cheeky around strangers since...before the Incident.

Unsurprisingly, Morgana looked more incensed but, to its credit, kept its calm as it said,

"Errrg. Yes, they are. And that's why you always try to ambush the enemy from the behind. You'll need to pull of their mask to momentarily break the ruler's control over them. If you succeed, they'll get confused and we'll have a chance for a preemptive attack."

"Backstabbing? Sounds more like an assassin."

"Oh you've got to be...!"

Still, as glad as he was to see Aki sassing freely again, this was bad timing for it to rear its head.

So he said, "You have it memorized, Aki?"

"Yeah. Easy. Sneaky sneak then rip off mask and strike."

"Good. Then are we ready to try?"

"Yup."

Morgana sighed but still said, "Yes." Though not without adding, "And you better not forget about what I just taught you."

"Yeah, yeah, got it, Phantom Thief-senpai."

"Wha—?"

Before it could say more, Ren spotted a chance and said,

"Follow my lead."

Then he dashed forward and jumped on the guard's back. It only started to struggle just as Ren dug his fingers into the edge of its mask and tore it off. He backflipped as he felt the steel soften and landed just as the red-and-black slime solidified into two of those pyromaniac ghosts from yesterday, looking confused. Aki and Morgana thankfully caught up with him by that point. With the three of them, they dispatched the pumpkins in no time, Ren making note that they would lose their pumpkin heads when hit by Zorro's tornadoes. After that, they arrived at the cells Sakamoto noticed yesterday. However...

"Why ain't anyone here?" the second-year said. "Damnit! They were here before! Where'd they go?!"

All the people they saw yesterday weren't there anymore. However, Ren reminded Sakamoto that there was still more to the dungeon they could check. That calmed him down but just as they readied to search more, footsteps were heading their way. Morgana was quick to lead them inside a nearby room. It seemed to be a shoddy break room, with a couple of shelves, a table and a plenty of benches, big and small, literring the room, all made of poor quality wood. Sakamoto was catching his breath, likely from panicking earlier, and Morgana stood atop the table.

Aki questioned whether such a simple room would truly keep them safe but the not-cat explained it was because there was less "distortion" here, meaning Kamoshida had less control over this area in his projection of his heart. From that alone, it seemed his and Aki's suspicions were right. This place was parallel world reflecting the person's mind.

Ren didn't like what that implied.

But that begged the question: did the imprisoned students get dragged into this world as well?

Sakamoto, however, didn't understand any of it. Ren was tempted to explain, but Aki looked ready to simplify it for Sakamoto so he let her do it. But Morgana beat her to it, as well as adding more, as expected of the expert. He explained that this place was called a Palace, a world where one's distorted desires are made real. So since the school was a castle, that meant that was how Kamoshida saw it in his mind.

Sakamoto laughed in hyseterics and he and Aki worried for him. But then Sakamoto said,

'That son of a bitch!"

And they were startled.

"Seesh, not so loud!" his sister said. "Though I don't blame you."

"Me neither," he said.

"You must really hate this Kamoshida guy," Morgana said.

"Hate doesn't even cover how I feel. Everything is that asshole's fault!"

As curious as he was about that, and no doubt Aki as well, they had more pressing matters to attend to, like their plan of action. Even with their newfound power, there was only so much they could do. At that mention, Morgana took the chance to explain to them about their powers, Personas, and how it related to the Palace. Mainly that they would've been distorted by Kamoshida's will had they not had a powerful "will of rebellion", which manifested their clothes as the "image of rebellion" they held in their hearts.

With that information, Ren couldn't help but smirk and say,

"Guess that means your image is an assassin from Assassin's Code, huh? Seems a bit impractical for a thief to have white clothes though, don't you think?"

"Hey! You're not much better, phantom thief!" she said, glaring. "You look like you're a combo of a secret agent and a Victorian gentleman!"

"Ah! How dare you!" Ren huffed, still smirking as he flourished his hand. "Of course I appear this way! A phantom thief must be stylish, after all."

"Show-off."

"Why thank you."

"You're not welcome. I thought phantom thieves had manners."

"Ah! You wound me, dear sister, with your harsh words!" Ren said, leaning back and placing a fist over his heart.

And then Sakamoto said, interrupting them, "Ugh! I'm so fed up with all of this! I don't get any of this stuff! I mean, like, what the hell are you?!"

"I'm a human—an honest-to-god human!"

"No, you're obviously more like a cat!"

"This is, well... I lost my true form," it said. "I think."

"You think?" Sakamoto said, doubtful.

Ren was the same even as he said, "You have amnesia?"

Because if that was the case, it didn't add up with its knowledge.

"No!" it said, mad. But then it was depressed. "Well, not completely at least."

"Like what you know of these 'Palaces'?" Aki said.

"Yes. And I do know how to regain my true form," Morgana said. "That was the reason I snuck in here, for a preliminary investigation for those means."

"Then you got caught," she said.

"Er, well...yes I did..." it said. "But I was only looking around and yet I was tortured by Kamoshida for it! So I'm gonna make him pay for sure!"

"What is this, a comic book?" Sakamoto said. "This is seriously crazy..."

"The costumes didn't tip you off?" Aki said.

"Oh lay it off!"

Morgana looked at the door in alarm and said, "If we're gonna keep going, we should hurry along."

"Hey, it's not our fault you decided this was the perfect time for a lesson," his sister said, smirking.

"Hey! You're the ones who asked first!"

"If you say so."

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't answer your question?" it said with a huff. "Besides, I'll be counting on your skills too this time rookies. Got it? So it's only fair I give something in exchange."

"Really? We're rookies but you're gonna make us do all the work? Geez," Aki said, her words belied thanks to her smirk.

But still Sakamoto said, "Hey, don't worry, I'm not gonna force it all on you two. I thought it might help so...I brought it just in case!"

He reached into his pocket...

...and pulled out a gun.

"What the hell man?! Where'd you get that?!" Aki said, scrambling away.

"Woah woah! Hey hey! It's just a model gun! So it only makes sounds."

"That's just a toy!" Morgana said.

"But it looks totally real, so it'll at least fake 'em out. I mean, it fooled her, didn't it?"

"Well excuse me for thinkin' it's real!"

Ren tried to smother his snicker but his sister still noticed it. Thankfully, Sakamoto then took out some pills and said,

"Oh, and I brought some medicine too. You know what they say, 'providin' is pre...somethin'.' Huh? Huh?"

His sister facepalmed, likely in disbelief over his mangling of the saying and that they forgot to bring supplies.

Ren just accepted it, putting it in his many pockets as he said,

"Thank you."

While Morgana said, "So you were planning this from the start..."

Ren suspected Aki wanted to distract herself from her hindsight realization, so she said,

"Yeah, why do you think we came back?"

"Hmm, I see..." it said, quiet for a moment. "Well fine. If you're ready to go, we'll resume our infiltration."

One problem however.

"We still don't know where the prisoners are though," Ren said as Morgana hopped down from the table.

"Yeah," Sakamoto said. "Where'd they go?"

"I don't wanna just roam around lookin' for 'em. That's askin' for trouble," Aki said.

And Morgana said, "That's why we're going to listen in on the guards."

His sister said, "What? We can do that from here?"

"Of course not! We have to sneak up to them."

"Then may you do it, Morgana?" Ren said "You are the most experienced and most suited for stealth out of all of us."

"Ah, you recognize my skills..." The not-cat smiled with smug satisfaction. "Very well! I'll do it." Then it said, "But you'll still be coming along. I promised to teach you as we go, remember?"

Ren was taken aback, considering that it was only helping them for its own gain.

"Thanks Phantom Thief-senpai," Aki said for both of them.

"Now come on! Follow me!"

It was actually easy enough to get the info they needed as the guards were keeping tabs with each other on status of the "slaves", as they called them, which made Ren's blood boil. Thanks to that they found out that the prisoners were being kept in the training hall, not too far from the floor they were on. They also confirmed that the guards were still searching for them, so it came as no surprise that there was a guard blocking the metal gate that led to the training hall.

"Tch! Think we can go around him?" Aki said, whispering, as they hid behind barrels.

"Unforunately, no," Morgana said. "There's a good chance we'd get spotted if we tried and that would raise the security level."

"Damn..."

"Don't worry, as long as you keep ambushing enemies and not get spotted when you do, we should be fine."

"All right then," Ren said. "Ready?"

With that, they got rid of the guard quickly enough and went down deeper into the dungeons, the hallway getting darker. But as they turned another corner, he made everyone step back, yet more guards blocking their way. Morgana wanted to slip past them to conserve their energy but it didn't seem like they would get the chance with the hallway too small. Sakamoto lamented over his lack of ability to help beyond the medicine he gave and the model gun he had. But that gave Morgana an idea.

"I think we might actually have a use for that toy." It then said, "Give it to Frizzy Hair! We're gonna use it to take down the enemies!"

"What?!" Sakamoto said, thankfully not too loud. "Didn't you hear me?! It doesn't shoot anything!"

"Don't worry. It'll work...I think. Just give it to Frizzy Hair. Then we'll ambush them!"

Sakamoto was understandbly reluctant, but Morgana insisted, so he gave in. Once handed the gun, Ren ran straight for the knight, tore its mask off and revealed the monsters within it.

"Point and fire!" Morgana said.

And he did, trusting it. He aimed, pulled the trigger and bang! Ren nearly dropped the pistol gun in shock. But the pumpkin's screams reminded him where he was. He held it with both his hands and kept firing, managing to take down one and hitting another. Then it clicked, the catridge empty. Ren was about to attack, but then Morgana pulled a oversized slingshot from its belt and let loose. Rapid fire pellets hit their opponents, taking yet one more down and chipping off the health of one of the last, leaving only two enemies left. At this, Aki took over and had her Persona finish them off.

"Woah! Did the toy gun just shoot real freakin' bullets?!" Sakamoto said when they fight ended.

"Yeah, how'd that work?" his sister said.

"This is the cognitive world. As long as the enemy thinks it's real, it will be real. It's a good thing it's realistic looking."

"Then why didn't you mention that earlier?" she said. She sent an accusing look. "Don't tell me you didn't know if it'd work and you had to test it, did you?"

"O-Of course not!" Morgana said, his shocked expression anything but convincing. "I, uh...had to teach you how to use it and the best way was to demonstrate it! That's all!"

"Right..."

Ren was tempted to say more on that, but then...

"Hey, what's that commotion over there?"

...a guard came and spotted them.

On reflex, Ren pulled out his pistol and pulled, only remembering right then he didn't have ammo. But instead of a click, he got a bang, and the knight shouted as their head was knocked back. With that chance, Aki ran and tore off its mask. Unlike before, it attacked as soon as it materialized, sending Aki away from them. Not wanting to waste time, he aimed over his sister and fired, destroying one by the time his gun clicked. Morgana then Aki followed up and finished off the last of them, though they nearly hit each other in the process. Everyone stood tensed, waiting if anyone else heard, but after several moments of silence, they relaxed. And immediately, Aki said to their guide,

"Hey, what was that? How come Big Bro's pistol could shoot again?"

"Hmph. Simple: because they recognize it as a gun, they see it as having limited ammo, but also because of that, any enemies we encounter will expect us to have full ammo."

"Huh, so more mind over matter, huh?"

"... I don't get it," Sakamoto said.

Ren managed to stop his snicker at that time, but Aki didn't hold back and groaned at their blond friend.

"Don't worry about it," he said to his fellow second-year. "It just means we can shoot it in this place but not in each fight because of them thinking it's a real gun."

"Wow. That's real handy."

"Yeah. Means we don't have to carry ammo," Aki said.

But then Morgana said, "Although..."

His sister tilted her head towards it. "Although what?"

"That battle wasn't very coordinated."

"Hey, it's not my fault I almost hit you. That knight came outta nowhere."

"Exactly! We need a leader to coordinate our movements and roles in a fight, otherwise mistakes like that will keep happening."

"Uh, what you mean by 'coordinatin' your movements and roles'?"

"A leader is supposed to have a battle plan, which can be ruined if their allies do something to mess it up. So a leader should decide whether they want someone to do something specific or if they have free reign."

That was true. That would be for the best. Ren thought that Morgana would be best for that, but then Sakamoto said,

"Well if that's the case, I say we make Ren the leader."

Then he was followed by Morgana. "I agree. If you lead, I can instead focus on providing you intel on the enemies instead of ordering you around."

And, of course, Aki said, "I third that. If you don't mind, of course."

He hadn't expected that. Aki, yes, because she was his little sister, but not the other two, especially Morgana. But as he looked back and forth between the three of them, seeing their expectant gazes, he smiled, his chest swelling in confidence.

"Okay. I'll do it."

"Good. Now let's get going. It should be a straightforward from here on."

Ren nodded and started to lead, though not before he heard Aki say,

"I really should start a count on that phrase at this rate."

And he allowed himself a snicker as before long they encountered a couple of guards again. And, once again, they found another knight that made them stop in their tracks, this time from them guarding a wooden door.

"And...another one," Aki said as all of them peeked around the corner. "Let me guess, that's where we need to go, huh?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," Morgana said.

Sakamoto grinned and said, "So you guys gonna take it down too?"

"We don't have a choice," Ren said before Aki could be sarcastic about it.

But then their guide said, "Though if I'm right about what Shadow it turns into..."

"What?"

"Okay, I've decided! I'm going to teach you three a special way to fight enemies! Now go!"

With that, he dashed forward and struck the guard with his dagger and it dissolved then formed into two leotard fairies. Ren smirked, remembering their weakness.

"Ravage them!"

His protector laughed as his shadows attacked. It screeched in pain, its wings getting covered in black, soon followed by its fellow. With all of them down, Morgana said,

"Copy me!"

And they did, everyone giving their all as they struck and jumped. When the not-cat stopped, they followed and Ren turned to see blood gush from their chest before they exploded. He smiled and stood, pulling on his gloves as he said,

"Show's over."

Aki laughed in exhiliration.

"Ah man, that was awesome!" she said.

"Hmm, that went really well!" The not-cat smiled and said, "You two really are fit for this."

"Woah...what was that super move thing you just did?! You went all 'shoom', 'shoom', 'shoom'! I could barely see ya!"

"It's called an All-Out Attack," Morgana said. "When all the enemies are down, you have enough time to go all out and attack them all at once, so it helps finish battles quicker."

"Yeah, that was over quick."

"Well, it is a concentrated attack on defenseless enemies."

And Aki said, "Basically a finisher."

"Well, if that's what you call those kinds of things, then yes," Morgana said. "Since you're the leader, you'll decide when we'll use it from now on, okay?"

Ren nodded, put away his weapons and entered the next room, the sight of which made him tense. Oh it wasn't intimidating or menacing. In fact, it was like the previous room, except that it was colored all magenta, including the door, where there was a sash above it that said,

"Kamoshida's...Training Hall of...Love...?" Sakakmoto then said "What kinda bullshit is this?!"

"Only one way to find out," Aki said, voice deep from anger.

Ren just nodded, his throat constricted, and went through it. As soon as they took a step beyond it, Ren and the others could hear faint voices from further in, getting clearer the closer they got to the bottom of the stairs. Across them was yet another bridge above a waterway, but at that point, Ren could tell it wasn't words that the voices let out.

It was screams.

Ren glared at the courtyard below. It looked like a volleyball court. There many knights in it and they beat students again and again. He wanted to just jump down and stop it. But with the steel bar door locked and his sister here, there was no way he would risk it right now, not without a plan. Though he was somewhat consoled that he wasn't the only one pissed.

"Damn it! This is bullshit!" Sakamoto said.

Followed by Aki. "This is a freakin' torture chamber!"

Of course Morgana tried to quiet them but they ignored it as they tried to find a way to get them out, Ren lending a hand. However, when they attempted to do so, a voice said,

"Stop it...!"

"Leave us alone...it's useless..."

"If we stay obedient, we won't be executed like you guys."

The blond growled and said, "You're tellin me you wanna stay in a place like this?!"

"Took the words right outta my mouth!" Aki said, also frowning.

But then Morgana said, "Wait a minute...were you planning on taking these guys out of here?"

Ren snapped his head and glared steel.

Aki said, "What did you think we were gonna do?!"

And Sakamoto said, We can't just leave 'em here!"

The not-cat just shook its head. "How stupid can you be?"

"What?!"

He was ready to throttle the cat for its insensitivity but then it explained that the people they saw were merely part of Kamoshida's mind and were not dragged in like they were. But because of that, it likely meant that the real world version of these people were being treated similarly. It was then Sakamoto realized the kids were the members of the volleyball team, the one that Kamoshida couches.

Yet still, the blond was in disbelief considering it was just rumors. But...

"If it's true, isn't this something that should be reported to the police?" he said.

Ren flinched, a flash of a small room and degenerating shouting passing his mind's eye. He shook it off just as Aki scoffed and said,

"You really think they'll take us seriously? Us? The delinquents?"

"Then I'll use those guys as evidence," he said, determined. "If all goes well, we can take down that asshole Kamoshida!" But then he took out his phone. "Huh?! It's not workin'?!"

Dubious, Aki pulled out her phone but found she had the same problem, everything but the navigation app worked. Curiously though, Morgana didn't seem to recognize it. Before Ren could question that, Sakamoto asked for hin to check his phone as well to be sure. Even though he knew the outcome, Ren did so and it was as he predicted, to Sakamoto's chagrin.

"Ugh...what are we gonna do?"

"Well whatever you do is fine, but we need to head back! We're gonna get caught if we stand like this," Morgana said.

"Hang on a sec!"

"Well sketchin's out of the question then."

"Not that either of us can draw," Ren said.

"There's no other way... I'll just memorize these faces before goin' home!"

With no time to waste, he had Aki and Morgana be lookouts while he escorted Sakamoto. First they saw a volleyball court, then a "track" that was more a conveyor, a roll of spikes ready to crush the runners should they fall. Then more cells holding despondent prisoners, telling them to leave them to their fates. And last, and worst of all, students being hung upside down from the ceiling, cannons firing exploding volleyballs at them.

"This ain't trainin'... This is just violence!" Sakamoto said.

Ren agreed, memories of his mother's abuse coming to mind. But he kept quiet so as to not break the blond's concentration. Unfortunately, Morgana came up and said,

"Hey, are you done yet?! We're cutting it close here!"

Ren glared at the not-cat while Sakamoto said,

"Don't freak me out like that you goddamn moron!"

"And it's been some time since we killed those guards, so we if don't go now, we will get caught."

He scoffed but still said, "Anyways, now I got all of 'em!

So Ren said before Morgana could get a word in, "Then let's go."

Then he ran, knowing everyone would follow him. They took the same path they used to get in, but with each step and adrenaline pushing his legs and lungs, there were also shots of anxiety. No guards were preventing their escape. And he was right to worry because as soon as they reached the foyer...

"You knaves again!"

...King Kamoshida and his knights stood in their way.