Author's Note: Here it is, folks, the last chapter for Casino Advantage of this year. Hard to imagine that we're almost done 2023, isn't it? I quite enjoyed it, personally. We broke ground with this fic back in March and we're now almost a dozen chapters into the best Persona 5 story on the internet. Pretty impressive, right? What could be better than that?
Aside from continuing this lovely little number into next year, which is exactly what we'll be doing. Look forward to the next chapter on January 6th, and to the great things to come in 2024. Firion and I have been working hard on the twists and turns to come, and we're quite sure they will be well worth the wait when we get there.
Before we get too far along, a reply or two to my lovely reviewers:
UltimateCCC: Maybe. Maybe not. Only one way to tell, right?
Also, I don't want to alarm anyone, but I'll be taking – gasp! – artistic liberties with the story! Changes in a work of fiction! What madness is this!? Notify the press! Anyway, this should surprise no one, but if you notice changes to plot details, they're generally intentional. Nothing drastic, keep in mind, but still there.
Thanks once again to Firion for his hard work and feedback on this. A good writer is a good writer, but the support he gets from the people in his corner is hugely important, and this is only the best because I've got someone in my corner who makes the good into the great.
And thanks to all of you, my wonderful readers, for following and reading this great story. It's a pleasure to entertain you and take you on this journey, and I look forward to many more chapters until we get to the end. Thanks for a great year, everyone. I hope you had a good one too, and I hope that 2024 is even better for you all.
Musical accompaniment for this chapter is Face Your Demons by the inimitable Retroxx.
And now, on with the show!
Hard Hand
Making the arrangements to meet Yusuke was easy. Once the Thieves got the tools they needed, all it took was a call from Akira and Ann had a date with Yusuke on Sunday, May 19th. The one wrinkle to smooth out in advance was who would be where. Someone had to be in the Museum to jam the door open the moment the lock gave, but someone also had to be at Madarame's shack to get the door open in the first place. Ryuji couldn't pick locks so he elected to be in the Museum, and Ann was the focus of Yusuke's attention so she had to be in the real world, but she couldn't pick locks so that necessitated that someone else went with her. Morgana offered, but it would have looked odd for her to conveniently have Akira's cat on a day when she had plans, especially since it was Akira who set things up in the first place. "I'll go with her," Akira offered as they planned things out during lunch at school. "Yusuke knows me so it won't be out of place if I'm there. He might think he'll need me as a witness or to make sure everyone's comfortable."
"That leaves you on the lock by yourself, though," Morgana pointed out.
"I've been practicing. I'll get it. There really isn't any other option, is there?"
The cat argued, "Madarame has to see that door open for it to crack 'over there.' That puts you two in the same building as him."
Ann answered, "That would be the case with any of us. He can step on a cat or throw it out of the house with no problem, but that won't work as easily on us."
Morgana seemed unconvinced.
"Besides, Ryuji might need you to heal him," Akira went on. "If security comes running when the door opens, he'll be in for a fight. You can keep him in one piece."
"That's true," the cat granted. "But I don't like it. A lot can go wrong."
"That's the same with most plans, isn't it?"
"Madarame's rich and famous. You've got a criminal record, probation or not. If we screw this up, you're in trouble."
"I know, but this is what we have to do to save Yusuke-san. It's worth it. We just have to be ready for the unexpected and improvise. Adapt and overcome, right?"
Morgana sighed. "All right. It's not ideal, but there aren't many options, and none that I can think of that are any better. Be careful."
"I will."
"And just to make sure, let's do some more locks. I want you to be ready for anything."
That practice took up most of the night.
7 7 7
When the day came, Ryuji and Morgana left half an hour early to get to the park and cross over. They even mapped out and used a different route through Shibuya to lower the chances of being seen accidentally. Once they were gone, Akira and Ann made their way to Madarame's atelier.
Ann was dressed to kill in short shorts that had her legs running for miles and clung to her hips, and a red square-neck sleeveless top that covered her curves while highlighting them. Her makeup made her eyes and lips stand out, her hair shone like spun gold in the sun, and everything about her spoke of sensuality. She didn't have her aura of attraction up but people watched as she came and went all the same.
When they got there, she looked at the place and shivered despite the heat of the day. "This place gives me the creeps. After seeing those students, feeling what they went through, I can't imagine all of what's gone on here."
Akira replied, "I feel the same way. We're here to stop that from happening again, that's what I tell myself."
She nodded, took a breath, and said, "All right, let's go. I'll give you as much time as you need."
They rang the doorbell, and in a few seconds Yusuke had opened the door. "Thank you for coming." Akira nodded. Ann's sleepy smile and bedroom eyes were on for full effect, and Yusuke swallowed. "Um, come in. Both of you."
She sashayed through the door as though all within her sight was hers for the asking. "I hope you're going to live up to your boasts," she said smokily. "I wouldn't want to have come all this way for an experience that wasn't worth it."
Yusuke drew himself up. "It will be worth it. I promise."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? Now I'm interested. Where are we doing the deed, someplace nice and intimate?"
Yusuke swallowed again. "Upstairs. To my room. The art room, I mean."
"Well then, let's go. It's been quite a nice build up so far, I'd like to see what the next step is. I'm hoping for a… great finale." She went up the stairs, more swing in her hips than usual.
Yusuke looked at Akira. "Um, sorry. I'm not ignoring you, but…"
Akira chuckled. "No worries. Go on, do your thing. I'll be here if either of you have any problems."
"Where is it?" Ann called from upstairs. "This room to the side or is it around the corner?"
Yusuke nodded and left, tripping on his feet as he did.
Akira shook his head. Carmen was really something. He kept up the facade while listening to the creaks in the floor. Ann was exercising great fieldcraft as she walked here and there upstairs, making the weak spots stand out. It sounded like she went down a hall to a wall, then back and to what must be the room on the left. If Akira had to go up there, he now had some idea of where not to walk.
He smirked. Madarame might have thought himself clever for this facade, but the rickety structure was going to work against him.
A door opened and shut upstairs. That was his cue. Akira pocketed his glasses, took out a pen and got to work. On the ground floor was the main foyer that led to a kitchen to one side and a hallway around a corner to the other. Akira checked the mail on the kitchen table, careful to not move it around too much. Just bills, a few letters pertaining to Yusuke from Kosei High, and a graded report on a collaborative art assignment with one Togo Hifumi. Nothing relevant to any business or criminal activity and nothing that would have disrupted the illusion Madarame had erected.
Akira nodded. He figured a career conman like Madarame would be more careful than to leave something that obvious lying around.
Akira padded down the hall, careful to avoid any loud spots. It was narrow with a thin window letting the light in, but as Akira ducked under it to avoid anyone seeing him from the outside, a sudden sense of vertigo hit him. He braced himself and froze, determined to not make a sound. The nauseating feeling of 'that place' rushed around him and circled him like water, its current one of misery and despair.
Whispers sounded in his ears, too low to interpret as words but definitely there. There were numerous voices layered on each other, sounding like a low hum that hurt to hear.
"I'm here to help," Akira murmured. "I know what you went through."
The current swirled around him, waiting.
"I want justice for what he did to you," he went on. "I need to find a weakness of his here. Once I do, I'll get him for you. I promise."
The feeling subsided and the hallway went back to normal. Akira shook his head, reaffirmed his promise to end this, and then slipped along and touched the door. It was locked. He brought his picks out and worked the mechanism like he'd been taught. It wasn't a complex piece, but the residual sense of 'that place' and the rush of being somewhere he wasn't supposed to be put everything on edge. He got it open with only a few hitches and stepped inside.
Nothing. It was a storage room with shelves and boxes, as pedestrian a room as in any Japanese house. But as he looked around, that sense of wrongness returned. He opened a hand and felt the heat pull from it. The length of the space was enough for a bed and a night table and little else, not fitting for a bedroom even by Japanese standards. If anything, being in a space this cramped would have closed in on anyone, Akira included. In terms of clear physical evidence there wasn't anything to go off of, but every one of his senses told him that something bad had happened here.
A quick look around gave him nothing. That left whatever was around the corner upstairs.
He retraced his path and crept up the steps, avoiding the noisy parts that Ann had hit on the way up. He moved slowly past Yusuke's room where he was speaking to Ann, heart hammering in his ears. One lesson he'd learned early, something Morgana reinforced, was to quell the impulse to run or rush things in the middle of a heist. It was easy to get caught up in the adrenaline of the situation and make simple mistakes. The best work came from going slow and steady, no matter how his hands were shaking from the thrill or how his grin was wide enough to hurt his face.
He reached the end of where Ann had gone and turned the corner. There it was, the door from the Museum, blue and gold and gaudy. The vertigo returned, but it subsided quicker this time. Idly, Akira wondered how Yusuke could live in this place. If he was sensitive to Personas, did he avoid the bad spots in the house? Did he think they were just drafts? Or did he not even feel them? And how much did Madarame manipulate or terrorize his students that they lived here and no one tried to open this door? For how much it stood out compared to every other part of this place, someone had to be curious when they saw it.
Akira dismissed his musings and crept forward, watching his every step. He envisioned how a cat might walk and set his foot down carefully. Good. Then again. Then aga–
A creak sounded. He froze. Ann was talking in the room and no one came out, so he was safe for now.
Akira moved to a different part of the floor, watched each step, and slowly got to where he was going. Aside from the garish design it was just a normal door, but he touched it with the backs of his fingers and felt the same alien sensation as before. This was it. Gritting past that he got to work. The lock was on a bolt below the door knob and was substantially more complex than he was used to. He took out the tube of grease from his pocket, lubed up one of his picks to ease up the tumblers, and got to work.
7 7 7
Ann looked out the window, holding her pose easily. Yusuke scribbled and scratched on his canvas, the penciled outline of what would be later inked and painted into a full portrait. As he worked, she kept her ears open for Akira. If he needed any cover, she was in a position to support him, and the challenge of it made her lips turn up.
"This is perfect," Yusuke told her. "Thank you again for agreeing to sit for me."
"How long have you been painting for?" she asked.
He stopped. "I always wanted to draw and paint when I was a kid," he answered after a moment. "People, places, it didn't matter what. I didn't always have the opportunity or backing, though. Sensei helped me with that."
"Your parents couldn't help you? Or are they paying your way through him?"
"They're dead," he said softly. "I only knew them for a short time before I… went into an orphanage. I was around seven years old."
"I'm so sorry," she murmured, pressing a bit with her aura.
"I have my memories of them," he answered. "Good times, but… well, they didn't last. That's life. Sensei saw what I could do one day and then came by the orphanage. That was when he took me in. I've been here ever since."
"Here? In this same building?"
"Well, no, there were other places. I've only been here for a few years."
That would account for how the other students were isolated and used, Ann figured. They never met each other, could never band together or help the others, and Madarame could break them down one by one with impunity. Clever.
Yusuke chuckled. "People have said things about this place, that they've heard things or wonder if it belongs in this part of town."
"It is a bit rickety," Ann offered. "Is it safe?"
"Yes, so long as you know where not to go," he answered easily. "I mean, there are a few places where it feels… but that's probably just me. It serves its purpose, and I don't need much."
She glanced over. "Is Madarame-san here all the time?"
"Not at all. He leaves me for days at a time sometimes to see his patrons and work. He should be back soon, though."
Ann felt, more than saw or heard, Akira pass them. She smiled indulgently. "Well, he does great work. Like those pieces in the art gallery. They're all his, right?"
Yusuke cleared his throat. "Y… yes. All of them. He's a great man."
A faint creak came from the hallway. Ann pressed on. "So much talent, it must be a pleasure to work with him"
She expected a simpering answer or a weak response, but he rose from his seat. "It is," he replied firmly. "He's a great artist, but I've heard rumors about him and what people say, and it's not true. None of it, or…"
Ann didn't believe him. She had the same sense as when he spoke in the art gallery, how Yusuke was covering for Madarame and lying to himself all at once. She prepared to push further, to see how much of what she'd experienced in the Museum 'over there' had infected Yusuke, but a soft susurration of silk sounded on her shoulder, a gloved hand holding her back. "Careful, penya. Remain as you are and take the results as they come."
Yusuke sat on the chair, letting his breath out. "I'm sorry, that was unprofessional of me. There is a lot going on under the surface with Madarame-sensei, and there will always be scavengers who chase success. I just… I should just continue working. You didn't come here to hear about my problems."
That he'd admitted to having problems was a sign by itself, but Ann heeded her mentor's advice and kept up her pose, listening for Akira and wondering just how much time they had left.
7 7 7
Akira grimaced, going slow on the lock to minimize any noise. Some tumblers gave easily, but others were stiff in spite of the grease, and when he got two down the first one slipped and he had to start over. Difficult but not impossible. He focused on it harder, no longer listening for people, and with some determined wiggling got the last one open. The lock gave with a soft snap, just loud enough for him to hear. Yusuke's door didn't open, and Akira listened for a few heavy seconds. Nothing. He sighed, pulled his picks out and took the lock off – only for his grip to slip on the grease and send the lock floorward. Akira grabbed for it, but he only clipped it and sent it bouncing against the wall and to the floor with a damning, unmistakable racket.
"Who's there?" Yusuke asked. The door opened and there was no explanation Akira could offer, crouched by where he shouldn't be and with his picks still in hand.
"Akira-san?"
"Hey."
Yusuke crossed the distance and pinned him against the wall, furious face inches from his own. Akira could have broken the hold but restrained the impulse.
"You're breaking into Sensei's room?!"
Akira shrugged. "I guess it looks like that."
"He's always said to never go in there! This is illegal!"
The door downstairs opened. "Yusuke?" Madarame called.
Yusuke looked to the side, panicked, then back at Akira as he hissed, "What do you think you're doing?!"
Akira stared back. "Checking if your concerns are really just speed bumps."
"What are you talking about, speed–" Yusuke's eyes widened.
"And to find out why that room downstairs feels like a mausoleum. You know what I'm talking about, right?"
Yusuke went pale. "How… how do you know about that?"
"I know a lot of things."
"Yusuke?" Madarame called. "Are you speaking to someone?"
Akira jerked his head to the side. Ann took the signal, grabbed the lock and moved past Yusuke, opening the door.
"Wait! We can't go in there!"
Ann ducked a grab at her and stepped inside, throwing the lights on.
"Sensei said never… to…" Yusuke's jaw dropped at what he saw.
The whole room was a plagiarist's paradise. Tools and brushes and paints meticulously arranged on shelves, notes and examples were pinned to the wall, and dozens of replica paintings were set in boxes, hung on the walls, and tabulated with prices and places. At a glance, not only was Madarame stealing from his own students, he was creating counterfeits of the competition. One painting in particular of a woman looking softly at something indistinguishable had been copied over and over.
"Sayuri," Yusuke breathed. "Sensei's best work. This was stolen, so how can it be here?"
Footsteps were on the stairs.
Akira ducked into the room, out of sight, and told Ann, "Get anything that looks important."
Madarame cleared the stairs and came down the hallway, then turned the corner. "Yusuke," he said after a moment. He sounded harder than the congenial old guy in the limo, more like the manipulator from the paintings gaslighting his students. This was the real Madarame. "That is the one room I forbade you from entering."
Yusuke protested, "Sensei, I…"
"Do you remember me telling you that?"
"What is this?" Yusuke's voice gained in strength and fervor. "The desk and tools, it's… this is the office of a forger! A copycat!"
"Maybe it seems so, but only if you see art the same way as all those fools. Remove those blinders and you see the truth."
"What truth?!" Yusuke sounded incensed.
"That it's all perception and public acceptability. Do you know what separates garbage from a classic? What people will pay for it. Movements and styles come and go and they're all carried by idiots who think a line on canvas constitutes quality. They think it's about that indefinable something everyone pretends is there, but if no one can explain it then how can we say it exists? And artists spend their lives trying to survive on the tastes of those dolts. If the system is a sham, then why not play along? Why not profit from it and allow them to worship their false idol when authenticity is a tertiary concern at best?"
"But you taught me…"
"What you wanted to hear."
"You used me!"
"You wanted to be used, Yusuke. I put my name to two of your best works and you didn't say a word. If it really bothered you, why did you let me get away with it?"
"You… I…"
"There's no way out of here," Ann whispered. "No windows or stairs. Only the front door."
Akira nodded. "Get your phone ready. We're taking the emergency exit."
She looked at him like he was insane, but only for a moment.
Yusuke was still wrestling with everything when Akira reached out and yanked him back and then slammed the door shut. Madarame pounded the floor coming toward them.
"Here we go," Ann said, hitting the button.
Yusuke struggled. "What are you–"
"Hang on," Akira ordered.
The world wavered and went murky, the alien pressure closed in, and just as the sound of the door opening reached them they were 'over there.'
And falling.
Joker tightened his arm around their new passenger and braced for impact. "Look out!" sounded below them and wind whirled up to meet them and break their fall.
Panther turned in mid-air, but it wasn't enough. Rapid footsteps approached, and she landed in Skull's arms right on point. Joker hit the ground and rolled, sending Yusuke tumbling.
They'd escaped, and the oppressive air of a Palace never felt so good.
"Thanks," Panther panted, arms around her rescuer on impulse.
"Y-yeah, no problem," Skull managed before letting her get to her feet.
Yusuke stood up and looked around, flinching at the garish colors of the Museum. "Where are we? What is this place?"
Skull rumbled, "Who wants to do it this time?"
"That voice. I know you, don't I? You're–"
Mona held up his paws. "Stop! No real names here. Yes, you know us, but it's important that you not call us by those names. Not ever, not even by accident."
"A cat? Wait, that cat in the park? You can talk?"
"Yes, I'm a cat. And in this place I can talk."
Yusuke touched Mona's head. Then pinched his ear. Mona hissed and scratched him across the hand. Yusuke recoiled and touched the wound. "It's real. That hurt and it's bleeding, so… this place is real. And that room… what Sensei said, that was all real too then?"
"Yes," Joker confirmed.
Yusuke's eyes focused. "I know you. You don't have the hat, but that mask and this feeling, you made the calling card, didn't you?"
Panther told him, "That's right."
Yusuke looked at her, understanding emerging on his face. "This is what I experienced when we met. And when I was painting. This is the real you, but you can bring it out when you're normal too?"
"Your insinuation that I'm not normal aside, yes. I am Panther and she is my Persona. Her name is Carmen."
The others introduced themselves and Yusuke nodded. "You are the Phantom Thieves. You actually exist."
"Only as of recently," Joker offered.
"Are you going after Sensei? Is that why you contacted me?"
"We're investigating him," Mona corrected. "We noticed something odd about his paintings so we wondered if someone was defrauding him. We found this place and realized that he's a perpetrator, not a victim, and learned that you were in his crosshairs. We did what we did to help you."
Yusuke looked around, asking again, "Where are we?"
"Madarame's Palace. His distorted inner self."
"You mean we're inside his mind?"
"It's more complicated than that, but basically."
"Sensei has something this gaudy inside of him?"
Joker put in, "It's a creation from his intrinsic beliefs and viewpoints, and it's the lens he sees the world through. You heard him talking about how art doesn't have any deeper meaning to it. From the sounds of it, you've experienced his darker side firsthand. For someone like that, does this surprise you?"
It took a moment for Yusuke to reply. "I suppose not. It's just not what I expected, that's all. None of this is."
Skull nodded. "Yeah, we know that feelin'. We've all been there before."
Joker looked around and saw the remains of Shadows and lightning scorch marks on the ground. "You guys okay?"
"It's fine. Got a little tight but we managed."
"We jammed the doors open," Mona noted, "but let's get moving before more security comes. If what Madarame was hiding was a big deal, then what's past here will be under much tighter guard, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes running to see what happened."
"Agreed. In the real world the door was hiding his forging operation, the whole thing, so he's definitely going to take it seriously." Joker looked at Yusuke. "Sorry, but you'll have to come with us for now. It's not safe for you to go on your own."
"All right. I don't have any other way out of here, do I?"
"No. The inhabitants of this place are called Shadows, and they're very dangerous to you. We can fight them and we will if we run into any, but you have to stay down and do as we say. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the Shadows will try to kill you and this place will screw with your head if you let it, so stay close, don't take any chances, and talk to us before you do anything, all right?"
Yusuke looked at them, then nodded. "I can hear the noise and fear of this place. I believe you. I'll try not to get in your way."
"Good."
"Speaking of a way out, let's find one up ahead," Mona said. "We have a normal person with us and his safety comes first. Once we secure a new entrance, we can go further whenever we like."
"Sounds good," Joker answered. "Let's move. Our new friend stays in the middle of us. Skull, Mona or I will cover him. Panther, you're on offense."
She nodded. "Got it."
They moved swiftly but cautiously forward. They stepped easily, but Yusuke with his human senses lacked their ease of movement or mental fortitude. They went slow for him. He looked around in equal parts morbid fascination and revulsion. More than once he muttered to himself and shook his head, and when he looked at a painting of a thief creeping up to steal a sword, he clenched his fists and grit his teeth. Joker set a hand on his shoulder to anchor him, and a few moments later Yusuke recovered.
"There's nothing easy or normal about this place," Joker stated. "Take it slow."
Joker had no reason to look at the painting, but if he had, he would have seen the thief in the painting glance over at them, grab the sword and disappear through a window.
Yusuke was about to respond when two guards turned around a nearby corner, each group catching the other by surprise.
Skull and Panther reacted by blasting them to charred husks, but one of them stretched an arm out just long enough to slam the alarm before it died. Noise sounded and klaxons went off. More guards immediately rushed their position.
"Time to run!" Joker ordered, drawing his pistol and pulling his cards.
"Here!" Mona shouted, sword out in a flash and cutting at the Shadow, darting along their rear as they moved.
Panther threw fire and covered their flanks with rolling flames.
Yusuke ducked and kept his head down, his normal senses barely keeping up with what was going on.
"Look out!" Skull sidestepped to guard him, pipe up to intercept a blow.
Just then, thunder boomed and lightning arced up, then angled down and struck Skull's weapon. Thousands of volts raced into him, but instead of hurting him it shot through him, vitalizing every nerve in passing and pumping power into his damaged leg.
Skull felt the energizing rush of power and grinned. "Oh yeah! That's a good feelin'!" He charged forward and bashed one Shadow down, then blasted away two more, and fired both barrels of his shotgun one-handed. "Got me some new tricks! Come and fuckin' get it!"
The four fought their way forward, taking turns protecting Yusuke. They kept close together and killed whatever came at them, turning corners and running down halls until they reached a large room with a garish golden statue in the middle.
"Too much space," Mona growled. "We can't defend this."
"They're coming!" Panther shouted, hurling fireballs.
"Backs to the statue," Joker said. "That cuts off one angle of attack."
More Shadows materialized on the stairs and in the air.
"All right! Move, everyone!"
Joker glowed bright with his Personas and shot down the airborne Shadows that got too close. Panther cooked an entire side of the room, but Shadows with curved riot shields blocked her flames while Skull only just held his own on the other side. They ended up in a semi-circle around Yusuke, caught in a stalemate.
The Shadows surrounded them but pulled back to a distance, waiting and preparing.
"Any ideas?" Panther asked.
"Working on it," Mona replied.
Steps approached them from behind the Shadows, the click-slap of wooden geta. The Shadows parted to admit someone, and Yusuke stiffened when he saw who it was. "Sensei…"
Madarame approached, and he was hard to look at. The Shadow's clothes were trimmed in actual gold, its colors as saturated and hard on the eyes as everything else in the Museum. It glowed with a radiance that was insulting to any god or savior. Worst of all, though, were the cutting yellow eyes. Alive with madness and ego, they peered down at them with an insane calculus. Their lives had been measured and found wanting in that look, and the Shadows rumbled at their master's silent command.
Yusuke stood. "Sensei! What is this?!"
"Yusuke." Madarame sounded regretful. "It's unfortunate you are here with these others."
"Because they showed me this place? They say this is yours, that you created it. Is that true?"
"A fitting tribute, isn't it? Appropriate for what I have accomplished in the art world."
"It's a travesty! This isn't art!"
"Art is what people make it out to be. Give them what they think is quality and they will treasure it as though it were. If they never know any different, then how are they wrong?"
"They would certainly object if they weren't scammed and lied to in the first place!"
Madarame sighed. "Such a bland argument. So idealistic and naive, but I admit some fondness for you, Yusuke. You were one of the greats of my menagerie. A shame you will have to die with these others."
Yusuke balked. "You would kill us?!"
"You are thieves in my Museum, an insult to what I have built here. What else should I do?"
"Even me? All those years, is this what it comes down to?"
"You were useful, Yusuke, but only ever a means to an end. You should be grateful to have been that much to me."
"Grateful!? My life and those of the others, the other students I heard about, were we all just there for you to steal from?!"
"Hmph. The others. How many people talk about having a greater purpose, hm? How many say they would pursue their dreams if things would just work out? If only, maybe, at some point – all excuses. Those people live, age and die having done nothing because those were just words – they were never going to do anything anyway. Some don't even have the talent to reach the point of usefulness, they're just deluded fools who think money and a teacher can make them great. You and those select few, the ones worth my time, were given purpose through me. What would you be otherwise? Starving on the street? Another beaten orphan in a system that doesn't care about you? You served me, had purpose because of me! You mattered because I desired it!"
"We're people! We make that choice, not you!"
"So say the weak before the strong. You had no will of your own so what difference does it make? What would you have done any differently had you had known the truth earlier?"
Yusuke froze. "I…"
"Hmph. I thought not." The Shadow snapped its fingers. "Erase them. Spare no one."
The Shadows charged.
7 7 7
Explosions and shouts and orders echoed around him, and all he could do was flinch and cringe.
All of this, Sensei casting him aside, this world beyond the looking glass, was insane. You'd have to be crazy to believe it, and yet it persisted and hammered around him, refusing to relent. Yusuke's friends – and they were his friends, these people he'd known for only a few weeks who had upended his world and were now fighting to protect him – dug in and blazed with the full power of their beliefs. Their metaphysical selves, 'Personas' Panther had called them, erupted with power he could feel down to his marrow.
In spite of that power, they were being pushed back and pinned. He wanted to help them. He should help them, and then fight on his own, but…
Yusuke didn't notice as the noise of combat slowed to a crawl.
"If I could help them… if I could fight…"
Through that crack in his psyche came a voice. "What then?"
Yusuke looked around. He had the same sense then as he'd had from looking at that thief in the painting before. "Who was that?"
"Is the sound of yourself so foreign to you that you cannot recognize it?"
"Myself. You mean like the others? Their Personas?"
"Yes."
A name came to mind for who this was, though Yusuke had no reference or prior experience to know it: Goemon.
"Are you like them? As powerful?"
"They are strong because their Summoners are determined, just, and flush with conviction. With such will behind them, any would be strong."
"Can you help them?"
The voice came with a sneer. "Can I? I faced the wrath of masters and warlords, whelp. I stood alone when no others dared fight my foes beside me, spoke against injustice rather than kept my silence in cowardice as you did. And you ask if I can fight?"
That stung, but Yusuke persisted. "A bad question, perhaps, but if you are me then you know what I mean."
"I am a reflection of who you might be, not who you are. Do you mean by your questions that you would fight beside them?"
"Yes. I owe them that much."
"And how useful do you imagine yourself to be? What can a fake do? If one suspects his master of abuse and yet cannot find the will to fight for what they believe in, then why not be a daruma on another's shelf?"
"I'm not a doll. I'm not a fake. I have a mind of my own."
"Truly?"
"I do! Give me a chance and I'll show you!"
Goemon laughed, rich with scorn. "Give you a chance. Give you the truth. Give you power. Fight your battles for you. What is yours that was not given, boy?"
Yusuke reeled.
"You were granted direction by a puppet master. The voice you gained was the echo of another. The means to ply your trade, the audience to applaud it, the name to carry you, to whom did all this belong?"
"I…"
"Precisely. When you are given all, you cannot complain when it might be poison, for what have you done to stop it?"
"I can change! This is a lie! It's unjust! I can fight back!"
"With your meager mettle? You, who are a pale imitation of yourself first and foremost? You spoke out against one injustice but tucked your tail at every other, before and since. These others inspire you, but what is inspiration without action? What might you have done without them? You clench those paltry hands, but what have they achieved on their own?"
Yusuke's blood cooled. He swallowed his protests, cast aside his juvenile arguments and looked within. He saw what the Persona saw: a weak child, not yet a man. Someone who hadn't even the temerity to speak his beliefs, let alone act on them, and who could only act his best when he was freed of that which anchored him, an anchor he returned to every time. This was him. Someone who had failed and who was now faced with those failures and what they had wrought. A weakling without any right to act or speak in the presence of the strong.
And yet…
"You're correct. About all of that. But you are here, are you not? You speak to me when you could leave at any time."
Goemon's silence carried a faint hint of approval.
Yusuke went on. "You are what I felt when I saw that mask, what I've been seeking all this time."
"And if so?"
Yusuke breathed in, catching the scent of frost and oil on steel. "Then I have not been passive. Weak, maybe, but I have tried, and even if some efforts ended in failure, others succeeded."
"To what avail? Mere luck and the temporary bravery granted in the moment."
"No. Not just luck, and this isn't temporary. I will bear the burden of my mistakes and grow from them, no matter what that looks like. I promise you, here and now, that I will not look away from what is in front of me. I cannot go back, so for better or for worse I will move forward."
"Even in the face of your master? Your owner?"
"Even then."
"No matter what he brings against you?"
"No matter."
"What will you have without him? What will you be?"
"Nothing but myself. That should be– no, it will be enough. I will make it so, and I will show him and the world what there is in life and in art."
"Name this thing."
"The truth. It cannot be explained in words, but it is there, it is real, and it does matter. I will find it and bring it to bear for all to see."
"What if the price is censure from others?"
"I will fight."
"What if your own art, that which you value most, is denied by the powerful? You speak of conviction, but what if your reality mirrors that of your master?"
"Then I will fight harder, reach farther, and pull deeper until I am seen and heard. I am not entitled to success, only a chance, but it is a chance I will never give up on from this point forward."
"Even in the face of those arrayed against you?"
"Even so. I'm done running and hiding. No matter the field or the challenge, I will not shirk in this. Not for any reason, no matter the cost. I ask– no, I will do this with your power. Aid me – this is my vow."
Goemon's voice boomed in his head. "Then swear to me, Kitagawa Yusuke! Bind yourself to me and we shall show this world the beauty of your justice! We will cut the line between vice and virtue with our own hands, and all shall see the truth of it!"
Yusuke felt that nebulous something flood him, the truth that had been there since he saw Joker's logo on that card. A mask materialized on his face and he knew what to do.
Unlike so much in his life up to now, upon this he was ready to act without hesitation.
Yusuke tilted his head back, then pulled the mask off. His face, the beautiful lie, followed. Slowly, fraction by fraction, his flesh tore and bled while pain and cold air cleansed him of his indecision and weakness. He ripped it the last half of the way off and breathed out a chilly plume of white.
Beyond his notice, time sped up to normal. The noise of combat paused.
"Dude…"
"What is this?! Yusuke!"
"I…" He held the mask and the ragged face within it up in tribute. "... am thou, Goemon."
The air detonated in blue and white power. Ice shards and crescent blades whipped out in a whirlwind. The mask reshaped into the sword from the painting – his sword – and he understood.
Yusuke looked upon his old mentor, his Persona at his back, and smiled. "Thank you for everything, Sensei, but this is where our paths diverge. It is my responsibility as your student to correct you where you are wrong."
Madarame backed away. "Guards! Kill them!"
The Thieves fought with Yusuke beside them. He was as fast as they were, as certain in his movements and as relentless in the fight. He struck before the Shadows could land their blows, finding the gaps in their defences, however large or small, and cutting without hesitation or mercy. One more Thief made the difference, and the Shadows lost ground. Madarame was spirited away by his closest cadre, and others stayed in a final bloody melee to cover the rear.
Only half survived. The Thieves blasted and burned their way free, bleeding of wounds that were nothing serious. Soon the silence of their surroundings was the clarion call of their victory.
Yusuke panted, trembling with exertion and humming with power. But he smiled, unfettered for perhaps the first time in longer than he could remember.
The others came over and patted him on the back. It was then that he realized that his attire had changed into close-fitting black and white, soft and serviceable boots of leather, and gloves and a fine haori of two-toned blue. The red scabbard for his sword was in the obi at his waist.
"How're you doin'?" Skull asked.
Yusuke answered, "Alive. Myself, if that makes sense."
"Yeah, we know that feelin'."
Mona grinned wide. "Another Persona! Another Thief! We haven't even taken this place down yet and we're already ahead."
"That's assuming you're up for helping us," Panther noted.
Yusuke laughed. "You might be the only people in the world who would believe a story about a world inside someone's mind. So long as you are fighting Sensei and people like him, I am with you."
Joker clasped hands with him. "Then welcome aboard."
Mona asked, "What should we call him?"
Yusuke tapped his cheek thoughtfully, then replied, "Goemon was an orphaned samurai who trained as a ninja and stole the sword of his unjust master. He robbed the corrupt officials of Nobunaga Oda and was called 'the Fox of the Forest' before he was executed. 'Fox' will do nicely."
The cat nodded. "That works. Glad to have you."
"I feel like there is much I have to learn if I don't want to be a burden to you."
Skull grunted. "Don't think like that. It's not like any of us had a stellar first step doin' this either. Take things naturally, help where you can, and we'll work this out together."
"I… thank you."
Joker added, "There is one thing we could use your help with. We have a lot of loot from here and some from our first heist to trade off. We don't know what it's worth or where to take it, but if you can help us…"
"Gladly. Goemon and I will figure something out."
Mona looked up. "Before we get carried away, let's think ahead for a minute. Madarame knows you're a threat to him on this side and in the real world. He'll be looking for you, won't he?"
"You'll need a place to stay, at the very least," Joker noted. "Somewhere he can't find you, until we're ready to steal his heart. That's the only way you'll be safe."
Fox nodded. "I understand. For my future and security."
"And there are others who deserve justice for what he did to them."
"Agreed. I heard of some of them. I need your help, so I will do whatever I can."
"Mona and I found a way in here that wasn't so close to his shack," Skull put in. "We can get here without too much risk of him findin' us, and he'll probably empty that place out ASAP so no one else sees what's there."
Panther pointed out, "We just need to find his Treasure, preferably before that big show he mentioned."
Fox looked up. "No. Not before. That's the perfect day. You delivered a challenge to your last target, didn't you?"
Joker nodded. "It's necessary for what we do."
"Then the opening day of his exhibition is perfect for that. There will be cameras and reporters, city councilmen and officials. He won't be able to hide from the accusations if we do this right."
Joker grinned. "You know, I like the way you think. You're gonna fit in just fine."
Mona put in, "Sounds like we have a good start, then. Let's scout ahead and find a way out, but no fighting if we can help it. Security will be high and you need rest, Fox."
The artist made to protest, but Skull answered, "You feel like you could bench press a train car and run from here to Osaka, right? We all did, but trust me when I say it'll hit you when you cross back over. Less fightin' helps us all."
Fox quieted and nodded. "As you say. In that case, let us go."
They crept forward, keeping to the corners and shadows as more guards showed up. Mona climbed up, Skull and Panther paired up to one side while Joker took Fox. They found the gaps in the search radius of their enemies, moved forward like wind over water and emerged from the halls at some grand exhibit, glass displays everywhere.
"This is far enough," Mona decided, looking up. There were empty catwalks for the guards above them, and skylights above that. "Let's get out of here."
A subtle niche revealed a narrow stairway up to the catwalk, and Joker and Skull boosted Fox, who then boosted Mona, up to a dark corner of the window. A few seconds later the lock was picked, and with their grapple hook and black rope they were back on the roof.
"Good run, everyone," Joker told them. "Let's go home."
"One moment," Fox stated. "I'd like to check something." He crept to the other skylights and looked down. Each time took a couple minutes, but he came back nodding to himself. "Thank you for indulging me. We can leave now."
"What did you see?"
"It's less about what I saw and more about a way I can be of help. Goemon has given me some ideas, but I need to be sure I can do it."
"If you say so. Let's go."
They retraced their steps across the Museum roof and exited the Palace. The real world slammed into them, and Yusuke staggered upon their return. "That's…"
Ryuji reached out and steadied him. "Yeah, it kicks like a mule, don't it?"
"That's a word for it."
Akira looked around, then waved them back. "Cops ahead. Looks like Madarame's taking this seriously."
They followed suit and looked. Two squad cars were parked outside the shack, canvassing the area.
"You can't go back now," Ann noted.
"There's nothing there that I would want to keep," Yusuke established firmly. "What is there… I don't know if I could even look at it again after what I saw." He smiled lopsidedly. "Though I would still like to complete that painting of you and Carmen, Takamaki-san. Along with Joker's card, you two were what pushed me the most to step free from Sens– that is, Madarame's influence."
Ann shrugged modestly. "I do love to hear that, but I'm sure there were other reasons."
"A few. I admit to some level of, shall we say, recent civil disobedience. When I heard of the Phantom Thieves, I posted some notes on the Phan Site about Madarame's actions and rumors I've heard about previous students who were driven to poverty. I'd hoped that would be enough."
"We don't use it," Akira admitted, "and it's run by someone who has a skewed view of what we do. But either way, we're here now."
"And I would like that portrait someday," Ann added. "When you've got your feet under you, we'll discuss it again."
"Thank you for–" Yusuke was cut off by a large yawn. "Pardon me. I could use some rest."
"We get it. Where's a good place you can stay? A manga cafe probably wouldn't be very comfortable."
"I was thinkin' about that," Ryuji noted. "There're pod hotels near the train station where I live. They're for salarymen who miss the bus or guys out drinkin' who can't drive home, cheap and clean and I don't think you have to sign your name to anythin'. Just need some cash."
"Which I do not have," Yusuke admitted.
Akira hefted his bag with the treasure they'd picked up. "We can pay for you for now. It's only for a while, and if we move you around and get more stuff in the meantime, then we should be able to cover the costs."
"I'll owe you for that."
"Don't worry about it. We're partners in crime, so we do this for each other."
Yusuke looked at each of them, then smiled. "Then thank you, my friends."
7 7 7
"We'll look everywhere for him, sir," the officer reported. "The chief himself is on this."
"Thank you for your prompt response," Madarame replied. "Yusuke is most important to me – he's my best student, you see. I worry over what might happen to him."
"We'll get on it right away. You think those students he was with before had something to do with it? The blond girl and the teenager with scruffy hair?"
"It makes the most sense. Yusuke never did anything like this before, but a meeting or two and now he's run off? That's too much of a coincidence, if you ask me."
"I understand, sir. We'll check the description you gave us and get in touch as soon as we know something."
Madarame had locked up his room before making the call, but allowed the police to search Yusuke's room without interruption. The ties to those students, the outline of a girl whose hair was in distinct twin tails on the canvas upon the easel, the unexpected meetings with that teenager at the library, and the eyewitness accounts from the neighbors of two people who fit that description who were near the house shortly before Madarame arrived home all pointed to an outside influence whose butterfly wings had set off a hurricane.
Madarame wasn't certain if those students were behind this or if the connections were just chance, but that was irrelevant now. Someone had upset Madarame's plans and so someone had to pay. His reputation and the security of his secret depended on it.
He abided the police until they went off to do their jobs. Once they were gone, he let the kind veneer slip. What foolishness. If anyone thought this would injure him, they were gravely mistaken. To 'lose' his prized student this close to the art exhibit would take some consideration, but it was also the kind of thing that wealthy patrons and foolish aficionados loved to pamper people over. There'd be no shortage of those jockeying to be seen as the first to sympathize with him. And this made his presentation of 'his' newest painting easier. If Yusuke had disappeared, then who was to say that Madarame hadn't created this new great work? Secrets were well kept by the disgraced and the dead, after all.
Which brought him to one other point. He pulled his phone out and dialed a number he knew from memory – he always erased it from his call history the moment he was done with it.
On the third ring the recipient picked up. "Yes?"
"It's me. My student has run off."
The man chuckled derisively. "And? I told you this was a risk after you crushed so many others."
"Yes," Madarame replied testily, "I know."
"So why are you calling me about an internal issue?"
"He and someone else found my back room. The place where I do my work."
"That's your problem. That door was bound to catch someone's attention."
Madarame went on peevishly, "Yusuke was there with someone else, maybe two people. I had them cornered and they vanished."
A scoff came over the line. "Vanished? Really?"
"From a room with no windows or second doors or ways through the floor. That room is more secure than a bank vault, and they disappeared from it. Gone in a second into thin air."
There was contemplative silence this time.
Madarame pressed, "Does that sound familiar? Your old work had something to do with that, didn't it?"
The response was immediate. "You're not to mention my old work. Not for any reason."
"Calm down, that's all I know about it. If it can be used against us–"
"It can't. I made sure of that."
"Then someone else is playing your game. From the sound of it, someone you don't know. That's bad for us."
"Maybe. I'll get back to you."
The line went dead. Madarame didn't expect much else. He cleared the phone and went into his work room.
The tools were still there, some as old as him. Precise instruments, the best in the trade, from a man who had suffered from a lack of vision and stopped with the small money.
A mentor only by the most generous of interpretations. A fool.
Madarame shook his head. He had other things to focus on than the dust of the past. "Wherever you are, Yusuke, you had best stay there and keep quiet," he murmured to the empty house. "I won't be stopped now, not after coming this far."
7 7 7
Akira took the long way home that night. The adrenaline was thinning and he was feeling the fatigue of the studying and prep work of the last few weeks. He was still flying high, though, assured of the next heist of the Phantom Thieves. The anticipation was like a drug on a slow drip into his veins.
It was heady enough that he didn't notice where he was going until he saw the small crowd assembled before a speaker outside the train station. A man wearing a sash that read, "Friendly society, bright future," and a suit was speaking to those willing to stop and listen, but from a quick gauge of the mood he wasn't lighting anyone's hair on fire. Akira happened to look at him at a time when his eyes locked with the man's, and while he couldn't fault the conviction he saw there he could also tell that it wasn't coming across in his words. The man looked elsewhere, Akira moved on, and he heard someone mutter something about 'no-good Tora' as he passed.
Sounded like there was some history there, but it had nothing to do with him. He'd had a long day as it was.
First, he and the others had secured Yusuke in one of the pod hotels Ryuji mentioned. It was clean, cheap and discrete, and further research indicated that they were near lots of train stations and major intersections. Yusuke could move from place to place and never be tracked down, and the cost could be covered even by the cash they still had. There was still the concern of food and clothes, but Ryuji and Ann said they'd handle that angle, along with fencing their loot and Kamoshida's crown. They had quite a haul to handle now, what with everything they'd picked up so far.
After that was a slight detour to Inokashira Park. Ann had given him the lock from Madarame's door, saying, "This probably has your fingerprints on it, and I'm sure it has mine on it too. If we drop it off somewhere it'll stand out. You should dispose of it where no one can find it."
Akira had to hand it to her, she thought fast on her feet. He'd made the side trip, found a point in the path that jutted into the water, and hurled the lock as far into the water as he could. He saw it hit the water and nodded, and when a few passersby looked at him in curiosity, he gave a tight smile and answered, "Promise ring. She turned it down." The looks shifted to understanding and some sympathy, and he left a few minutes later.
Last was the reality that they had to be ready to steal Madarame's heart in the first week of June. They had blitzed Kamoshida's Castle thanks to scaling the outside and Ann's pyrotechnics, but they would have to plan this run out a lot more carefully if they wanted to do it right. Yusuke already showed promise, but he'd need a break-in period the same as any of them, and that meant some consideration. That was okay – Mementos was a good training ground for all of them. This heist was shaping up to be a challenge, and that appealed to Akira more than he would have expected a few months ago.
He went down the street and entered Leblanc. The place was tapering off in business, but Takemi-sensei was in the booth by the door. He nodded in greeting and slipped Morgana's bag to her. Her eyes lit up and she fished the cat out, cuddling him while the little thief purred.
Sakura-san stared at him. "You're pushing it, bringing that cat down here."
"She likes him, and I wanted to make sure she got her time in before she left," Akira answered. He turned to where she was running her fingers under Morgana's chin while the cat meowed cheerfully. "Doesn't that look like a happy customer? Leaves a good impression and invites them to come back, doesn't it?"
"This isn't a cat cafe, you know."
"I'm well aware. She's a special case, and I don't think Morgana would get along with many other people."
Sakura-san grumbled. "So long as it's not near the others."
"She's by herself. I took that into consideration."
"You been arguing with people at your school again?"
Akira raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. Where'd that come from?"
"Your homeroom teacher called. Kawakami-sensei, right?"
Akira's eyes narrowed. "That's her, yes. What did she want?"
"To apologize."
"You're kidding."
"It surprised me too. She said you two had a meeting and she was sorry she took that tone with you. Her words."
Sakura-san slid a paper pad over. Akira interpreted the shorthand and confirmed that was what it said. "That's good of her," the student commented. "I'll tell her that when I see her."
"She also said to congratulate you on your grades," Sakura-san went on.
Takemi-sensei perked up at those words.
Akira cleared his throat, suddenly the focus of attention. "Oh yeah?"
"You want to read them?"
"Just tell me. We're all friends here."
"Forty-nine out of the top fifty. Pretty strong showing for your first exam."
Akira blinked. "Really?"
Takemi-sensei noted from her seat, "You sound surprised."
Akira checked the paper pad again. There it was, 49/50. "I worked hard and had a good feeling by the end, but I wasn't expecting that. That's better than I ever did at my old school."
"Well, she wanted you to know right away," Sakura-san said. "And a deal's a deal. You talked about wanting some stuff before. We can discuss what's first on the list and go from there."
"Thanks. I appreciate that."
Sakura-san shrugged, and maybe it was a trick of the light but he seemed less stern and snappy now. "Did you think I wouldn't follow through? Well, we can work that out."
"Congratulations, Kurusu-kun," Takemi-sensei said, walking up to them. "Shujin has some pretty high academic standards. It takes hard work to get grades like that."
He nodded in thanks. "It wouldn't be a good showing for you to help me only for me to fumble the ball, Takemi-sensei. But thank you."
She nodded, still stroking Morgana.
Akira noticed the piles of plates and silverware that needed cleaning. "I'll drop my stuff off and then help out here. I have some time."
"All right." Sakura-san turned firm again. "But this is only on the condition that you work hard and stay out of trouble, you hear me? Remember our conservation about keeping your nose clean."
Akira went up the stairs and grinned, saying to himself, too low for anyone to hear, "You have no idea."
