Chapter 59: Checking In On Astrid

August 8th.

Astrid told us to visit her in Sloth on August 15th.

Before that happened, I was with Millie, Moxxie's wife in their home. She wanted to test my strength the same way she tested her husband's strength

"Now, I just wanna make sure that ya strong enough to go to a different ring." She said to me,

"Right, so what are you gonna do?" I asked her,

"Ok, watch."

Millie then lightly punched me in the gut. I was surprised as I didn't even flinch.

"Huh, ya didn't flinch! Not bad!" She said,

"I wasn't expecting you to throw a punch at me." I said,

Millie giggled.

"I can tell you're a strong Phantom Thief!" She said,

"Thanks." I said,

"Hey, don't worry about me hitting ya or anything. This is only training to make ya as tough as this bitch right here!"

"Of course."

"By the way, how have you and Moxxie been doing?"

"Oh, we're doing good."

"Good. He told me that you weren't as bad as we thought you would be for a Sinner."

"Appreciate it."

"Thanks! Also, if ya need us for anything, feel free to let us know."

"Got it."

"I'm starting to grow friendly with Millie.

Fast forwarding to a few months later. Bernie was still interrogating me.

"You must have found someone to train you to become stronger than your foes." He said to me, "Someone must have had guts to train you or any other of the Phantom Thieves to stay on your toes."

I was silent.

"Answer me!" He said,

Back to the present moment. A voice spoke to me.

"I am thou... Thou art I…

Thou hast acquired a new vow...

It shall become the wings of rebellion

That breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Strength Persona

I have obtained the winds of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…"

I have formed a bond with Millie. This bond is also something I'll be ok with.

"Now, on to a spear!" Millie said,

"A what?!" I said, scared and confused,

August 15th.

Today was the day that me and my friends were gonna visit Astrid in Sloth, but there were two problems.

"How do we get to Sloth with Ren being a Sinner?" Lars said, "And Sinners from Pride can't leave Pride for whatever reasons I don't know of."

"Simple." Selene replied as she showed them a book,

"A book?" Cattleya said,

"Let's just say that I have a friend from Envy who has this book that can take us to different rings. And back to Earth if you want to go there. All we need is for me to ask him if I can borrow it."

"Wait, isn't your friend a… Goetia demon?" Willow wondered,

"Yeah? But it's best not to talk about it. We have Astrid to visit."

"Right, let's see it." Cattleya said, "This better be interesting."

Selene then flipped through pages of the book and stopped at one.

"Take us to Sloth!" She said,

A portal appeared to Sloth.

"Let's get going!" Selene said,

In a hospital in Sloth, Astrid was resting as she was waiting patiently for us. She was reading a book and was taking deep and slow breaths while being silent. A nurse came in.

"You have a couple of visitors." She said to Astrid,

"It must be them." Astrid said, "Alright, let them in."

Astrid closed her book as we came in with a balloon and a gift or two.

"Hey, Astrid!" Cattleya said,

"Hey, Cattleya…" Astrid said,

"We got you gifts." Willow said, "Me and Lars got you one together."

"I got you one from myself." I said,

"Thanks, guys." Astrid said,

Cattleya sat next to Astrid.

"How are you feeling?" She asked her,

"...Fine." Astrid replied, "Thanks for asking."

Selene sat next to Astrid as well.

"So, did you have anything you wanted to say to us?" She asked her,

"Yeah, I do." Astrid replied,

"Go ahead and tell us." Cattleya said, "We're right here."

Astrid sighed.

"Look, as you may know, I'm really sorry for what I did." She said, "The loss of my parents and Cattleya losing touch with me affected my mental health and my social anxiety."

Astrid looked down.

"My father was a stay at home dad." She said, "When he died from a mysterious illness, my mom had to take care of me. She was a computer scientist, but she also studied something during her lifespan."

"What was it that she studied?" Lars wondered,

"Mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns. She was also studying a new digital world that occurred when you have some sort of app on your phone."

"The Cognitive World?" I wondered,

"Yes! That's the one!"

"And that app, was it the metaNav app?" Cattleya asked,

"That too! It didn't last long though as she was mysteriously killed. We didn't know who killed her, but they did it to silent her research on everything that she wanted to spread to Hell and perhaps to Earth."

"That's horrible…"

"It was…"

"Hey, my parents were Phantom Thieves before my friends came in."

"Really?"

"Really! They were killed by the Shadows that lurks in Mementos."

"I'm sorry to hear, Astrid…"

"Same here…"

Astrid sighed again.

"Look, I really screwed things up badly." She said, "I want to make it up to you guys, really."

"You do?" Cattleya said,

"Yeah…"

"You're not gonna threaten to expose us, are you?" Lars wondered,

"I'm not. I promise."

"Then what is it you want to do?" Cattleya wondered,

"...I want to join you guys."

"My thoughts exactly." Cattleya said,

"So, do you guys want me to join you or…"

"That's something Ren should decide on." Lars said, "After all, he is the leader."

"Oh, uhh…" I said, "I guess you'll come in handy since your Persona can track down enemies."

"Oh, my Persona!" Astrid said, "It's name was… Jingu? It got to me recently and when I was sleeping."

"Hey, Jingu can make a great addition to The Phantom Thieves Of Hell." Cattleya said,

"Same for you." I said,

Astrid then sighed in relief.

"Thank you guys!" She said, "I won't let you all down, I promise!"

"Please don't." Boris said. "Otherwise, it will end up ugly."

"Heh heh, I'll make sure everything goes well for our part!"

Fast forwarding to a few months later. Bernie was still interrogating me.

"So, the hacker that hacked the internet later joined yojr team?!" He said to me in shock,

I nodded in silence.

"Do you realize how dangerous that move you all made?!" He said, "A hacker joining The Phantom Thieves is big, but also dangerous!"

I was still silent. Bernie bashed the table with his fist.

"It seems that you and your team take risks." He said as he sighed, "That hacker had a mental experience from the loss of her parents to a friend cutting contacts with her for a little bit until the hacking began. And now you easily forgive her and she became a member of The Phantom Thieves…"

Bernie then looked at me with a serious look.

"Please, go on with what happened next." He said, "I'm listening."