Saturday, November 4th

"You can sit down, you know?" Futaba said, her mouth full.

He was standing next to his bed, his normally aloof posture and stylish slouch all but gone. Akira swallowed as he looked down at Futaba. She was laying on his bed with her arms behind her head and sucking on a lollipop. Wordlessly, he sat down on the bed near her feet. He tried his best to keep his cool, but he knew that this conversation was not going to be easy. Akira steeled himself for what was to come. He would need to find out what Futaba had gathered from the boys' time down past Luciano's barrier and try to explain it away without revealing how desperate they truly were to masturbate. In a way, he was thankful that Futaba already knew about NNN, but if he had to admit to her face that the real reason they were risking their lives was just so they could beat their meat to their friends, Akira wasn't sure he'd be able to make it out with his pride or self-respect intact.

"What did you hear?"

"Too much, dude…" She sighed.

"You know, I found it weird at the time, but I didn't question it much," she shifted the lollipop from one cheek to another. "but now…"

Akira swallowed.

"Actually…?" Futaba sat upright abruptly, eyes closed softly. "I don't wanna know. I felt something like hunger from you guys, and then I felt you all thinking about… like… sex…? Or something? Bleugh!" she shuddered at the thought.

"S…so you didn't…?" Akira straightened his back a bit. Is it possible she didn't pick up as much as he'd feared?

"Nuh-uh! Nope! I heard plenty! I'm a genius level hacker, remember? My brain operates at least at double the teraFLOPS to yours." She crossed her arms and stuck her chin out. "I've simply decided that I don't wanna know the specifics. Whatever celebrities or actresses you guys do your business to is far below the scope of my concern."

Akira let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"I don't care if you guys wanna bang Sydney Sweeny, Yurina Hirate, Paige Spiranac, or Mizuho Habu. Hell, you guys can go to town on each other down there for all I care…"

"W-wha!?" Akira was too caught off guard by her statement to notice the slight trailing in her voice. "None of us are gay (not that there's anything wrong with that)! We like women!"

"Pfwahahaha!" Futaba giggled at his reaction "Sorry, just wanted to rile you up a bit." Akira tightened his brows and frowned.

"Jokes aside though, I trust you and the other guys." She shifted into a kneel on his bed and looked him in the eye. "I know you guys aren't down there fooling around. Whatever did happen down there, it was probably that meme guy playing tricks on you or something, and when I called to you, you came back up right away, so… yeah…" Futaba had been getting better at expressing herself since her heart had been changed, but such displays of genuine affection were still a bit unfamiliar to her and would lead her to ramble. A blush tinted her cheeks red and she looked away shyly.

"…" Akira's face softened.

"I-I mean, he's literally forcing you to play a middle schooler porno-addict challenge! Yeah, I looked it up. Gross, BTW! And stupid! Everyone does it! Even I…!" She froze and turned an even brighter red. "F-f-forget I said that! P-point is…!"

She bounced into a cross-legged sit on the bed. "He's dumb! And I trust your judgement. Whatever way you think is best for taking him down, I'm on board."

Akira put the palm of his hand on Futaba's head and rubbed back and forth. She hated when he did that, but Akira had learned that when awkward tensions needed to be diffused with her, annoyance would overtake her embarrassment and – ironically enough – the mini-noogie would calm her down. When she finally swatted his hand off, a pouty smile indicated to Akira that everything was going to be okay. He was wrong, before. That went a lot better than he'd hoped!

"The meeting with the others isn't for a while. Wanna get your butt kicked at super smash bros. again?"

Akira chuckled and pushed up his glasses like a cartoon villain. "The only butt that shall be kicked is yours…"

They booted up the game and started playing. Time flew as they fought round after round. The best Akira could do was take off a stock, but to his utter dismal he never once won a game.

"I wonder who they're gonna put in for DLC in the next installment…" She said.

"Hopefully they put me in so I can beat the crap out of that stupid pink marshmallow with my bare hands…" Akira was mashing the buttons furiously to no avail. "Bullshit down-air…!"

.oOo. .oOo. .oOo.

"EEEIIYYAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Ann's stomach-twisting scream from yesterday replayed in Akira's mind.

In mementos, she looked like a cornered mouse. He could remember how wide her eyes had become and how violently her limbs quivered after that horrendous thing got to her. Seeing her now at Leblanc, slumped over in a heavy slouch on the booth's sofa with bags under her eyes and a vacant unblinking stare, was just as unnerving to him and the other members of the Phantom Thieves as it was to see her trying to claw her skin off back in the cave.

They elected to meet today to discuss yesterday's events. In spite of their concerns for her well-being, Ann had chosen to come, too. Akira was optimistic it could be a sign that Ann would make it through her ordeal no worse for wear, but even he couldn't help but think she might be needlessly pushing herself. Ryuji was sitting next to her, uncharacteristically focused and with a slight furrow in his brow. Those two have known each other for years, and their relationship was a bit complicated, but it was clear that Ryuji was not going to let any further discomfort trouble her.

"Ann, are you positive you wish to stay?" Yusuke, not one to pick up on subtle social queues, chimed in as helpfully as he could.

"She wanted to come, man." Ryuji replied for her. "If she says she's cool bein' here, then that's that."

"I…" Ann spoke quietly, she sounded as if she hadn't slept in days, but managed a microscopic smile. "I'm… okay, Ryuji. Thanks. You too, Yusuke."

"Lady Ann is strong! It'll take more than that ugly thing to keep her down!" Morgana hopped onto the table and tried his awkward best to put on a superhero pose with the limited mobility his cat joints offered. He didn't do very well; A pop in his elbow sent him down onto his back and he groaned uncomfortably, eliciting a somewhat broader smile in Ann as she gingerly reached out to pet him.

Akira moved the topic onwards, taking note to avoid talking about that winged monstrosity in too much detail for Ann's sake. He explained what happened further beyond the barrier. About the stick figure, the knife that offered itself up to Akira, Ryuji's odd metal pipe, Yusuke's spoon, and Morgana's chatty slingshot. It had been difficult to describe them to Futaba, since they acted like personas in that they couldn't be brought into the real world and instead sat in a sort of 'pocket' that the boys could access while crawling the dungeon, but eventually they were able to find them all on the internet. The thieves were disappointed that there seemed to be no connection to Luciano aside from them all being memes that had become popular in the west: Trollface, Annoying Orange, Metal Pipe, Comically Large Spoon, and Angry Birds, as they were known online.

"That creepy thing that attacked Ann-… uh… S-sorry…" Futaba apologized

The blonde shut her eyes tight and shook her head weakly. "It's okay. Keep going."

"…W-was a shadow… kind of…" Futaba scratched her head.

"What do you mean by that?" Makoto leaned forwards.

"Uhmmm… It's hard to explain." Futaba scratched the top of her head. "So I scanned it and all, and it said it was an 'angel' called 'Michael – The Apocalyptic Guide.' It had a weakness and a level and everything, but I couldn't scan any of its moves or its arcana, it felt like those parts of it got scrubbed out or erased…"

"An angel? Is there any chance I can absorb it?" Akira asked.

"I don't know… It was like a zombie or something, I don't think it would be able to talk or listen to you like the other shadows… It's weird! Just when I think I'm beginning to wrap my head around this bugged-out floor, a new weird thing shows up and throws me off! Gaaahhh….!" Futaba squeezed her temples and shook her head slowly. Akira put a hand on her shoulder.

"Even if you can absorb it, you shouldn't have something like that inside you, Akira… it's creepy." Haru pouted, sinking into the backrest.

"Haru's psychic attacks managed to take it out in one hit, so it's at least a little different from Luciano and the other stuff down there." Ryuji said.

"I know we talked about it a bit last time, too, but…" Haru gulped. "Do we really have to keep going back down there?"

"I'm afraid we do." Akira nodded downcast. "If that thing from yesterday was once a regulat shadow, then it means Luciano must have done something to it."

"Meaning that his influence over mementos may be beginning to spread outside of his domain…" Morgana finished the spinechilling thought.

"You guys don't have ta come with. I…" Ryuji swallowed a lump "have a gut feelin' that he only wants us boys…y'know…the barrier and all'at."

"We appreciate the thought, Ryuji, but we aren't going to just leave you there without support." Makoto said "That thing probably had you guys as its primary target, seeing as how it wanted to attack Ryuji before anything else."

"That's true!" Morgana's ears perked up. "It only went for Lady Ann after she had already landed a hit on it."

"Correct me if I misname it, Futaba. But I believe the term for this is a 'glass cannon?'" Yusuke asked.

"Yeah! It's a thing in some video games. It goes down in one hit, but deals massive damage to balance it out!" she punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Not bad for an analogue sorta guy, Inari!"

"Those attacks are no joke, guys." Ryuji tilted his head forward. "Makoto, weren't you against this last time? You girls can wait here or at the station while the guys and I head down there and kick ass. We have new weapons, so why risk it?"

"Honestly, Ryuji?" Makoto sighed and looked down at her knees. "I don't want to go back in there. It's miserable and terrifying. But Akira has made his decision, and frankly there are too many unknowns for us to run away and leave you all down there alone. At least from within we can talk to you through Futaba, since it's all technically one floor her communications shouldn't cut out."

Ryuji sighed. "Just…be careful. It's effed up."

"-t" a whisper escaped Ann' lips. Everyone turned to attention. Ryuji leaned in.

"What was that?" He whispered back.

"We can beat it." She repeated, louder this time.

"…"

"That thing…" she said. "It attacked my mind, scrambled my brains… ugh…" she clutched her head, Ryuji grabbed a nearby glass of water and tried to bring it up to her lips.

She pushed it away. "It made me relive some bad memories, but that's all it did. I know you're worried, Ryuji… Thank you… but we can beat it."

Akira could see the smallest flame of passion ignite from behind the brilliant blue of her eyes with those final words. Whatever that 'Michael' thing had done to Ann, it wasn't permanent.

"We have that dog up there, too…" Futaba poked her own chin.

"Right, what was that about?" Akira had almost forgotten to ask. He'd seen something up there when they were all fighting that 'angel' or whatever it was, and it looked to be on their side. Initially he hadn't made the connection, but seeing it in his memory – remembering Futaba's report of a friendly dog while they were split up and the fact that it was fighting alongside them when the monster appeared – gave Akira a reassuring idea of what it could be.

"Oh, yeah." Haru said "I guess we never told the guys…"

Futaba spun her laptop around so the rest could see. On the screen were two dogs standing side by side in an empty white void. The left dog looked like it had been edited in some digital program, because while its head was recognizable that of a pudgy shiba-inu, its body looked humanoid, covered in muscles made of digital fur and with enormous arms and tiny legs. The dog on the right looked a bit squished down, but aside from that and a small blue line – likely representing a tear – it was completely normal-looking.

"The dog we met is the one on the right, the normal one." Futaba explained.

"What the crap is that thing on the left?!" Morgana's ears flushed against his head.

"It's bloated form instills a slight rage within me…" Yusuke muttered under his breath.

"That's his other version, apparently." She brought the laptop around to face her again. "Didn't you see it get all muscle-y when we were fighting?"

The lack of reaction from the others signified a 'no.' Futaba shrugged. "I know it looks a little weird, but he's on our side, don't worry."

"To think that the idols of our struggles started their lives as crude banter on the internet…"

"Yeah, it was almost funny in a messed up way at first, but now its just pissin' me off." Ryuji spat.

"I guess we'll just keep doing what we're doing, then?" asked Futaba.

"It looks like that's our best bet. Nothing else of importance to add." Akira dragged his fingers through his hair. "I'll talk to Mishima about this, too."

"Good idea, Akira. he rubs me as the sort of guy who would spend a lot of time online." Morgana snuggled up to Ann's forearm. Akira couldn't tell if the cat even recognized how hard that burn on Mishima was.

Unsurprisingly given what she'd been through yesterday, Ann spent the entire meeting quiet. As drab as the conversations were without her frequent interjections and jokes, everyone was happy to have her here within eyeshot. Akira reckoned Ann knew this and made the effort to attend the meeting in spite of her mental state.

Ryuji and Haru volunteered to walk Ann home. She insisted against it for a bit, but succumbed once she realized she didn't have the energy to get into an argument about it. Akira could have sworn he saw a little more light in her eyes compared to when she'd arrived. At first he was worried for her, maybe coming out of the safety of her room so soon would set her back, somehow. But now he realized it was silly of him to think so, for Ann was the type of person to feed off the energy of her friends and return it tenfold. She would recover just fine as long as she could depend on the rest of the Phantom Thieves for support. Akira was feeling pretty good about how things were going, save for Ann's situation. It felt a little dismissive, but somehow he knew that she would be alright after a few days.

The group began to disband. As Akira walked the others to the door he replayed the important outcomes in his mind. That thing that attacked them and incapacitated Ann was a persona that likely got corrupted by Luciano's powers into an unrecognizable abomination called 'Michael,' an angel, apparently. Not everyone is 100% onboard, but the plan remains the same. The female Thieves will stay up at the entrance and provide backup in case anything happens while the boys dive deeper and deeper into the depths, the girls will have some extra support from their new dog friend Balltze, who can apparently grow muscular to fight with them. With everything out of the way for the time being, Akira focused on the future. Both the far future with defeating Luciano and earning back his right to bear shafts, and the very near future he would spend with a certain someone.

Akira's breathing got the slightest bit shallower when everyone else had left. It was just him and her left in the room, now.

"We still have some time. May I trouble you for a coffee?" the sing-song in her voice felt like a massage to his eardrums.

Standing next to him in front of the stained-glass, wood-lined door that lead to the outside of Café Leblanc's, she was leaning forward with her arms clasped behind her back. The tilt in her head caused her brown bangs to cascade down her forehead and her longer locks to frame the outlines of her cheeks, which were nudged upwards by a faint smile that caused her lower lids to slide into the whitespace of her eyes and partially obscuring the deep red of the irises that never failed to hold Akira's attention.

Akira was not the type of guy to let important things slip away from his memory. He didn't need a planner to remember which assignments to do for which class, he could always remember when the next exams were, and he never had to ask Futaba for a shadow's weakness more than once. Strangely enough, however, right now Akira almost wished that he could forget. Just to experience that rush that he'd felt when she had first asked him that magical question a few days ago. The very thought inspired within Akira the urge to splurge. Oh goodness, were it not for No Nut November, Akira could have massacred enough of the unborn to land him in the history books for crimes against pre-humanity.

He had to resist the inner beast clawing at his groin. 'Less than four weeks remain, my miniature manhood,' he thought 'then your yolk may usurp the porcelain urn once again.' This would be the first real test he would need to face this month; More difficult than defeating Luciano, even. He was at least relieved that it was unlikely to become more torturous than this. He could not foresee another obstacle so daunting as the one he would face in but a few dozen minutes. That's right…

A movie with Makoto.

A/N:

Hi again everyone! It's me, back with another chapter! This one was more transitory, just setting some things up and explaining a bit of the lore about these meme personas and mementos and all that. Please let me know how this one felt for you all! I get the feeling it dragged a little, but I'll listen to your feedback before my own, so feel free to comment and share your thoughts and opinions!

After this one, I recommend you go read chapter 5 of the original work by Cardinal_Kiril, as this chapter takes place chronologically just before the final chapter that He wrote. After this, things are going to get a little silly. I have probably 95% of the story all planned, and the ending is set in stone. Now it's just a matter of writing it all and making sure it's funny! I hope you'll stick around, see you next time!