As I sat in silence, I contemplated what I'd just done. Even though I was not a psychologist by any means, I'd done my fair share of reading on it. And given the... simplified version of actual psychology for the sake of plot convenience this world had, it was almost laughably easy to twist the conditions just so in a way that allowed me easy access to her palace.

Not that I meant to terrorize Futaba! Originally my idea was to see what effects befriending her had. But it was taking too long for me to reach inside, and after one of her panic attacks nearly killed me by sending the shadows on the outskirts into a hyperactive frenzy, I thought a bit about the timeline of the game- right now, it was the second week of April, and, if I remembered correctly, Futaba's change of heart happened somewhere in October. Fictional or not, did I have the heart to not do anything to help someone for five whole months when I could?

...back when I was powerless to do anything, the answer would've probably been yes. But now that I can, why shouldn't I?

"And now..." I sighed, looking at the headphones I was checking out in my hands. "I have your treasure. How about that?"

I'd originally planned to just scout it, but one thing led to another and I just... took the treasure when it was in front of me. Which was weird, all in all, since I never sent a calling card to her or anything. If anything, I challenged her safety. Maybe that did it?

That was also part of the reason why I took it- with the treasure made manifest, I remembered Morgana treating it as an all-or-nothing type of situation. I don't quite rememeber if it just went on a long "cooldown" before it could be reattempted, or if it was a one-time deal. Methinks the former, if only because if otherwise was the case, Shido would have made himself invincible, and it wasn't like Akechi was after his heart if not in the literal sense of murdering him.

'And the treasure...' I looked back down at the headphones. Not Futaba herself.

I'd pondered bringing the unconscious Futaba into her own palace and waiting, but that was far too risky. I did not know how long she would be unconscious for, what a self-deprecating, panicking mind would do to her if we were found by the guards, or worse, what Cognition Me would do if we met him. And those were only the dangers unrelated to the fact that I'd be kidnapping a young girl for an unknown amount of time.

Still, cordless headphones?

When I first tried to put them on, I was surprised to see- or rather, hear- that they didn't really cancel the noise, which seemed like it would make sense for an individual who prioritized her safety to the point of being paralyzed to leave.

What I found was much more interesting. With them on, I could hear everything outside clearly- noises that were supposed to be miniscule were amplified, while loud noises were tuned down.

Crystalline audio quality, regulated to not be overwhelming. I wonder if they're somehow maintaining distorted metaverse qualities.

After all, if Joker gets to keep his 6th sen-

Fwump.

I reach up to rub my eyes, the itch of a fluffy pillow moving through my face making me feel a particularly disturbing sensation.

And there she was, awake once more in all of her anime glory. The girl who's part of an internationally-infamous hacker group as a teenager, who could hack into the communications network of Tokyo in less than an hour and take down a group of hackers on the state's payroll as an afterthought.

Her mouth was wide open, frozen, as she seemed to be reaching for a remote to throw at me.

Slowly I waved hi. This was awkward enough already, and with her palace destroyed, there was no longer reason to terrify her.

The remote flew, nailing me dead in the chest and slamming against the wall. I shrugged, offering her a "what can you do" gesture. I suppose it didn't help that now that her palace was gone, I was sitting down, my feet and butt a few inches into the floor.

"Right, that's it. Sojiro did say I was going to lose it if I stayed holed up in here all the time. I guess after hearing voices in my head, the next step would be hallucinations." She muttered, sounding almost... defeated.

I coughed. "Not that I disagree with your guardian, but I actually am here." was my dry reply.

That seemed to catch her off guard as she nearly lost her balance and turned to stare at me again. After a moment, however, her eyes narrowed. "Prove it."

Shrugging, I reached up and snapped a picture of her on my phone, ignoring the flinch that caused, and sent her the text. Behind me, the Dis- sorry, Harmony notification popped up, as the chat with her reappeared. With a startle, she began fixing her bedhead before pointing dramatically at me. "You're Rat!"

"And you're Alibaba." I replied evenly. "Glad to finally meet you IRL."

"Didn't you say you couldn't speak Japanese?"

"Is that what concerns you the most about the situation?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm not sure how this works. I just know that those who can see me can also speak to me." It probably had something to do with me talking to her shadow.

I watched her take a deep breath. "Right. So you are this invisible, intangible ghost who is here, invading my room and jumpscaring me... why?"

"How can I put it… your very belief of the fact that this place was going to be your tomb made it so that I couldn't get inside. And likewise, it kept you trapped in here. Plus…" I trailed off.

Moment of truth. I could just leave, pretend to be a trickster who did it for shits and giggles. The distortion within her was gone, even though the effects would not manifest for a bit.

But.

All of the victims of a change of heart sans Futaba who directly awakened her persona were left almost hollow, at the mercy of Yaldabaoth.

I couldn't leave things now. I needed to at least have her awaken the Necronomicon.

Brushing some of my growing hair out of the way, I sighed, standing up. "Where are you going?" Futaba asked.

"Well. I'm not going to make the choice for you." I said, even though I knew exactly what to say to make her follow the story. "Wakaba Isshiki was murdered." I could hear a sharp intake of breath from her as her eyes turned as wide as dinner plates. "By the very same men who delivered you the terrible news. And with the terrible news, the terrible lie that you were the one who did it, so powerful, even you fell for it."

"...what?" she breathed out. I took that moment to exit out of the room by walking through the door- but I'd already laid the bait, and she was about to take it hook line and sinker.

A moment later, I heard something crash in the room as I kept walking and her door flung open, a disheveled Futaba staring at me. "What- how-" her eyes trailed after my retreating form. "You can't just leave after saying something like that?!"

"Way I see it, there's two choices before you- and trust me, this is your last chance at normalcy. You stay in this house, and that's where this story ends. You go back to sleep and believe whatever you want to. You follow me outside, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." I said.

"But- the people outside…" she trailed off, and I involuntarily snorted. "Hey, don't laugh at me! You don't get to quote Morpheus at me and then just laugh at me!"

I shook my head. Had I done that? "Trust me, where we're going there won't be any people."

"Okay…" she trailed off, before steeling herself. "Alright. I trust you. Even if you scared me." I raised an eyebrow at that, and she had the gall to smirk at me. "After seeing the way you dress and talk with your outdated references, I'm convinced you're exactly the same dork who sought me out the first time. Hardly some dark mastermind."

That seemed... more than a little out of character. I looked down at my clothes. I had a white vest with a golden ankh on the back of it over a sand-colored long sleeved shirt, and green cargo pants, my legs covered in bandages so that I didn't have to step onto the warm sand without…

Alright, fine, I looked pretty dorky, even if it was better from only wearing a hospital sheet to cover my dignity. I facepalmed, shaking my head. "Let's just go."

"Lead the way, Peter Pan."

"And I'm the one for outdated references?"

"It's a timeless classic."

"So is the Matrix!"

As we got out the door to the house, I looked around, checking to see if any people were in view of the house. Thankfully, given the late hour, that was not the case. It wasn't late enough that Sojiro was back in, thankfully. I handed her my phone.

"What do I do with this- what even is this?" She stared at my phone, and I frowned as well. I never did understand why of all things it had an antenna despite not being a flip phone. And discovering that the camera extended out of it like an old camera had been a shock too. "Some sort of weird offbrand generic? Ew."

"We'll have to travel a little, to see where we're going. In the meantime, you can listen to some music." She raised an eyebrow at me, but the sight of people made her eyes widen and quickly jam her headphones into my phone. After a moment, her disquietude morphed into surprise. "Oh, this is good!"

I'd mostly tuned out or directly turned off the music, but at least it would give her something to focus on as I pondered what my next move was.

Where could I bring Futaba? I definitely wanted her to see someone's palace, but… Kamoshida was right out- I couldn't remember whether the Thieves were in business today, but I wasn't risking it. Besides, Morgana was hanging around the area regardless and he nearly killed me. Maybe from the safe outside portion, though, I could let her see it… and Aoyama-Itchome was on the way towards Nagatacho anyways. Maybe I could go for a triple kill with Kaneshiro, Kamoshida and sealing the deal with showing off Shido's palace.

"All free for you to draw… I'm a shapeshifter, chained down to my core, please don't take off my mask, my place to hide~ " Futaba sang under her breath, and for a moment, I could feel my eyes widen. Right. Oh geeze.

...well, it's not that bad, I suppose. Albeit, it was very funny to see a Persona character jamming out to the Persona OST.

Character. That was awkward, right. But, well. We were in the same boat, I was just more aware of the sea we're sailing on.

Bringing Futaba towards the subway, I actually stopped us and waited for her to hand me my phone back. She actually bumped into me, jumping back with a startled "Yeeeep!"

People all turned to stare at her. She froze up, before quickly moving away as I followed. As the people around us couldn't hear me, I pondered to myself, "I thought I was intangible to you, but I guess not anymore. It makes sense, since you can see me, but still." I'd actually never touched Takeyoshi without him holding some sort of mystical implement. I mean, I'd never tried, but…

"Why'd you stop?!" Futaba hissed at me.

I paused, then thought to myself. Well, not like it would change much…

"Sorry, it was nothing. I thought there was something I wanted to show you here, but it can wait." She stared at me for a few seconds, before breathing out a "Weirdo…" and putting the headphones back on, allowing me to lead her towards the station.

...hmmm. The toll. It just occurred to me that I could take the subway as much as I wanted without paying, but Futaba-

"Hey, come on!" I heard a whisper shout, and my eyes widened as I saw Futaba on the other side of the toll. I quickly ran over and through the toll machine, and she pulled me to the side as we waited for it.

"How'd you get past?" I hissed at her. She rolled her eyes at me.

"I hopped, obviously." My eyes widened and she facepalmed. "What, you thought that a little toll was going to stop me from uncovering the truth behind my mom's death? This is like every anime ever! A mysterious figure appears into the life of the sheltered-from-the-truth protagonist to reveal a dark secret, and a double life of investigation and mystery while trying to also maintain a normal life to their friends and family!"

"Ah, you're going chuuni..." if I was an anime character myself, I would be sweatdropping at this. "That was why you were so gung-ho about this…"

"Of course! My one chance at adventure is here, and I'm not even getting run over by Truck-kun to get it!"

"...well, I guess you're right. Plus, you have the advantage of not having a life in the first place to have to juggle with the mystery."

After that comment, as the train arrived, I had to deal with a very bruised shin as Futaba abused the fact that I was now very tangible to her kicks.

Still, she was taking this better than I thought she would. I was thankful for that. As we sat down- far away from any potential human interaction, I was more than enough for Futaba apparently- she pulled back down again her headphones.

"We have to wait a little anyways to reach Shibuya. Could you tell me more about what you meant regarding my mom, Morpheus?"

I sighed. "My name is Niles. And… well. Your mother was a- no,the researcher into cognitive pseudoscience. Do you remember what it is about?"

She frowned. "A little… I was so young, and she wouldn't talk to me about it, but occasionally she'd forget herself, when she was nerding out, she talked about… the world inside of the human psyche? I always figured it was a metaphor for something I was too dumb to understand… and back when she was close to having a breakthrough… she hated me for how much time I took from her… she wished I would just-" she suddenly sobbed, startling me. "I'm a complete failure of a daughter…"

"Futaba." I hissed, but to no avail. "Futaba!" I yelled, grabbing her arm - causing her eyes to snap towards me. "None of the things you're saying are true. Wakaba loved you to the very end. She was stressed, but not once did she think of you as a failure or wish for your death."

"How would you know?!" she hissed back venomously at me.

I sighed. I couldn't tell her the actual truth, but… "Because I pulled it out of your very own head. The worlds inside people's minds that Wakaba was studying were anything but metaphorical. There exists whole other realities out there, based on one's own perception of the world. When that perception becomes distorted enough, we find on our hands a world of someone else's making, born from the way their mind is offset from reality."

I felt the subway shift beneath my feet- I couldn't hold onto the pole, so I slightly stumbled as the car slowed down to a stop. "Come on. I'll show you."

"Uh- wait up!" she bolted up, remaining paralyzed for a moment as a number of people walked through me and towards her. As I heard the ding of the doors about to close as people began to settle in, I sighed and just yanked her out of the train right as the doors closed.

"Can't handle crowds?" I asked, and she just shook her head minutely, a pinched expression on her face. "Well, you're in luck, as we're done with people for a while. This might be a little offputting." I warned.

"What-whoooooa!" she shouted, and suddenly I found her gripping my arm like a vice as she steadied herself. The trippy effect of moving to a palace was not lost on me either, but it'd worn off after the fifth or so time.

By now, I had all palace destinations unlocked on my phone, ready to switch to. I'd decided to hold out on continuing Mementos exploration for now- the fact that the place only really opened beyond the first level if you had some sort of public notoriety wasn't lost on me, and the Reaper's time limit was jarring without a vehicle. I was wondering if I could somehow piggyback off of the Phantom Thieves' popularity?

Mmmm. Questions for another time.

It occurred to me that I'd never seen Kaneshiro's palace from the subway station. I don't know what I'd expected- for the most part, save for one two buildings, the cognition matched roughly with reality, ATM-people outside notwithstanding.

I did not expect to be plunged in complete darkness. Futaba's grip onto me tightened. While I did also flinch at the revelation, I still had my phone in hand, and turned on the flashlight. A moment later, I saw her do the same. "Where are we?"

I hummed. "I think we're still in the train station- come on, let's get somewhere with more light." Slowly making our way out, I noticed that there was a distinct lack of people around us. "I think I know what's going on here."

"I hope you do, since you're the one who got us here." she snarked back at me.

"So, first of all- we're in the world inside someone's psyche. Specifically, this one would belong to one Junya Kaneshiro, a mafia boss."

"...a mafia boss?" She breathed out before shaking her head. "No, nevermind that-is that what you meant when you talked about my mom researching worlds inside someone's cognition of reality?"

I nodded. "I think the whole reason why this part of the subway is so abandoned and dark is because it comes from Yongen-Jaya. He probably doesn't see it as a source of income, so for him it might as well be useless and abandoned." I explained.

"Ah, so basically we're inside of a painting." Futaba nodded to herself. I made a questioning noise, but she pressed on without answering. "How'd we get here anyways, though?"

I raised my phone. "Through an app on my phone."

"...what? Are you for real?" I tilted my head. Why would she be-

Oh, right. She wouldn't know about it from the Phantom thieves because I am several months early. That makes sense.

My musings are cut off as I suddenly hear her giggle, fist drawn to her face as she tried to hide it. As I look at her, the giggles seem to only increase until she's flat out laughing, a full blown folded in half holding her belly laugh.

"I'm sorry, it's just- heh-" she wipes a tear from her eyes. "Hoo boy. It's not that funny, I swear. Things have just been getting to me. I know you're a dork, but you've also been doing all these mystical things- and coming out and saying "oh I just use an app on my phone"." she giggled again. "So dorky."

"...I guess when you put it that way, it is pretty silly." I huffed. "At least I'm not jumping into a TV like an old 90's cartoon."

"You and your outdated references. I swear, even though you're about my age, you sound-"

"Please…" a desperate voice rasped ahead of us, interrupting Futaba. As I shone my light ahead, I saw a broken ATM person on the ground, slowly dragging… herself? towards us. "Money…"

"Let's skedaddle, Futaba. This is not a good place to stay-"

"No! Please… I need the money!" The ATM person cried. As I heard her crying and slowly dragged Futaba around and towards where I figured the exit to be, the crackling static sobbing slowly abated. "If you won't give it to me…" oh no "Then I'll have to take it for myself!"

I watched in bewilderment, like a horror character as I shone my light towards it, the figure melt into red and black goo before reforming into a much smaller figure. A punk-looking, miniature blue haired girl with bright blue wings, a breastplate, purple opera gloves, black stockings, and purple boots.

...this was a fucking High Pixie. And it was most definitely not under the effects of the psychological warfare I waged on Futaba, nor did I have the element of surprise from ripping off its mask.

I turned towards the girl next to me, not daring to take the torchlight off of the Pixie.

"Futaba. Run."

Isn't it just the worst when people keep assuming things about you without having gotten the whole story? Let's see how long it takes for the castle of cards to start crumbling.

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