Chapter 9: The Lovers, The Magician
Ω • Ω • Ω
•Akira•
Takamaki-san slowly nodded as he and Morgana finished speaking, having explained what they knew of the Metaverse so far. Many of the things seemed ridiculous, but she had seen most of said ridiculous things already. After helping explain the few things he did know, Ryuji had left to grab them all some drinks.
Currently, they were at the train station by Shujin, the escape from the palace going much easier than after Ryuji's awakening. With Bicorn helping by carrying the girl, the rest of them could focus on fighting the few guards that reached them in time before they could get out. He adjusted his bag as Morgana poked his head out, looking at Takamaki-san. "Do you understand everything a bit better now, Lady Ann?"
Takamaki-san didn't react to the nickname, still busy thinking over everything they'd told her. "I think so…" Her eyes drifted up to the cat, "Uh, Morgana, right? I'm talking to a cat right now… Or, not a cat? You said you weren't a cat, right?"
"He says that he was a human," he explained for Morgana, "but the distortions of the Metaverse twisted his form around until he was this. Ryuji and I are going to be helping him return to his real form once we're done with Kamoshida."
While she still looked a bit confused, Morgana smiled in sympathy. "It's only natural that you're confused. Asking that you understand everything right away would be rude." He snorted at the cat's words, remembering his condescending attitude towards him and Ryuji. Less so towards him, as he demonstrated his intelligence and skill, but still.
"But… how was I moving like that in there?" She turned to him with a confused glance, "I've never done anything like that before. And I've definitely never touched a whip before!"
"I think it has something to do with our Personas." He thought back to when he first summoned Arsène. "I've never used a dagger, but I knew how to expertly wield mine when I awakened. And even though I'm athletic and a slight bit acrobatic, I've never hit that hard, run that fast, or taken so many blows, and I'm not some parkour genius in the real world. I believe our Personas give us some kind of… passive boost."
"Okay… So our Personas make us acrobatic and stronger?"
"Precisely. Perhaps it has to do with our cognition too, I certainly think of thieves as graceful and fast." Thinking for a moment, he grinned. "Well, our Personas do, I don't think Captain Kidd is making Ryu a ballerina anytime soon." Captain Kidd had certainly helped with his friend's leg since he could now run and fight without difficulty in the Metaverse, but he became much stronger and more durable, instead of acrobatic.
"That would be a sight," Takamaki-san giggled.
"Dance, Captain Kidd!" He imagined Ryuji striking a pose, holding one hand high in the air with a distinguished look on his face, and Takamaki-san apparently did the same as her giggles turned into laughter. He shook his head and gave a few chuckles of his own. "His clothes don't fit, he looks more like a pirate or maybe a biker than a dancer. I'd look smooth as hell though."
"Your clothes are certainly… interesting."
"I'd say that I look good. Like a classic thief, and certainly not a magician." He still wasn't sure why that comment from Ryuji rubbed him the wrong way. Arsène just chuckled within him at his annoyance.
"I can see why he thinks that… I'm not sure I like mine very much though."
"What're you talking about? You look great." Takamaki-san glared at him and he just let an embarrassed grin slip onto his face, causing the corners of her mouth to twitch into a smile before she shook her head.
"Don't think I forgot that little comment you made back in that castle."
Smooth.
Shut it, he shot back, hearing Bicorn, Pixie, Mandrake, and Jack-o'-Lantern's laughter at Arsène's words.
"Still, I look… I mean, you said the clothes are reflections of our inner selves, but it makes my inner self look like a nymphomaniac…"
"Well, I'd say it's more like a dominatrix. You've got the whip after all."
"That doesn't make it any better."
"Well, y-you know, some guys are into that, I'll have you know."
"Are you talking about yourself?"
He fought past the blush creeping up the back of his neck and looked away. "W-Well, look I didn't mea… listen!" Takamaki-san began giggling at his attempt to save face, causing him to groan in embarrassment. Ryuji finally walked up with a soda bottle in either hand to witness the scene and raised an eyebrow at Takamaki-san's laughter.
"Someone's finally calmed down." He held out the bottles. "Which one you want?"
"Whichever isn't carbonated."
"Uhh… they both are." He snorted at Ryuji's statement as Takamaki-san sighed.
"Fine… then this one." Takamaki-san grabbed one of the bottles, and Ryuji offered him the other one.
"Hey, did you get one for me?" Morgana asked, poking his head out of his bag.
"Uh… you're a cat though…" Morgana grumbled at his words, and he rolled his eyes as he scratched the feline's ears.
"Calm down Morgana, even if you are a human, in this form you're a cat. I don't think cats can have soda." Morgana slumped further in his bag, practically collapsing. "Look, I'll buy you milk or something on the way home. That should placate you."
"Mwehehe! Not all heroes wear ca— wait, don't you feed milk to cats?"
"I'd call my trench coat a kind of cape…"
"Are you making fun of me?!"
Morgana began trying to scratch him while Ryuji sighed. "Anyway… You've been filling her in, then?"
"Yeah… honestly, I still can't believe everything that happened in there. My Persona, the costume, everything…"
"It's the power of your rebellious will, Lady Ann! It'll give you the strength to fight in Palaces!"
"Right. Well, the costume is bad enough, but does Carmen have to look like… that?"
"I dunno, Carmen looked pretty badass to me!" Ryuji grinned and nodded, causing him to chuckle.
But I am the most 'badass' of all thy team's Personas, correct?
He rolled his eyes mentally at Arsène but did feel he needed to defend his other-self. "I agree with Ryu. I mean, Arsène is the coolest of our Personas, but Carmen's a close second."
Hey, come on, what about me, Mister Joker?
Me am totally best!
You're delusional, Bicorn, I'm the coolest!
Hee, I could burn you up, Mandrake, ho!
Thou all should be silent, we have heard the Trickster's words! Clearly, I am his most badass Persona! His eye twitched at the cacophony of voices in his head while Arsène laughed devilishly.
"What about Zorro? Such a charismatic and charming rogue such as he makes a lot of sense as my Persona, doesn't he?"
"Nah, Zorro looks pretty dull. And hey, you've just got some devil guy with wings, Captain Kidd has an effing cannon hand and a boat!"
How dare he! Pixie and Mandrake just giggled at Arsène's fuming.
"Oh, wow, a boat! Very impressive, Ryu. You're superior to us all." He bowed low to the faux-blond, and Ryuji stamped his foot.
"Hey, quit it! Boats are awesome! Especially pirate ships!"
"Oh wow, is Ryu a huge pirate nerd? I guess it would make sense with your outfit and Persona!"
"N-No!"
"How many cannons did the Queen Anne's Revenge have?"
"Well, I think like thirty of the ships' cannons were found, but lotsa people think that- w-wait, no, I don't know!" He began laughing at Ryuji, who growled in annoyance and turned away with an embarrassed blush, and Takamaki-san began joining in. It was nice to see her not stressed about everything going on, and he smiled at her.
She smiled back before it fell and she looked like she was contemplating something. "So, using that… Palace? We can make him have a change of heart and force him to confess, right?" The way she worded it made it sound like she thought it was too good to be true… Honestly, he thought it was as well, but it was their only path left.
"Well, it ain't gonna be easy, that's for damn sure." Ryuji scratched his head and sighed. "But it's the only way. Shit pisses me off, but the volleyball team's keepin' quiet with how deep Kamoshida's got 'em, and the teachers and parents are turnin' a blind eye. And if we try to complain, well, they'll just shoot us down." Ryuji's eyes darkened as he kicked at the ground while he nodded alongside him.
"That's true, but, Morgana, are you sure this'll work?"
When Morgana looked away, he answered Takamaki-san for the maybe-cat. "It's our best shot. There may not be any guarantees about whether it'll work, and if you can come up with a safer way then I'm all for it, but we've got until May. If this fails then it's over for us. Takamaki-san, you may not have the danger of being expelled hanging over your head, but without me, Ryuji, or Suzui-san, who knows how bad it could be for you here at Shujin?" Takamaki-san visibly shuddered, and he sighed. "Going all in… that's all that's left."
Takamaki-san nodded at his determined gaze. "Then let me help too. I'll make him pay for what he did to Shiho." Takamaki-san scoffed as she thought about Kamoshida's smug grin, and the urge to wipe that look off his face burned inside her like Carmen's hottest flames. "I'll never forgive him for what he did…"
As Ryuji sputtered at her request, he thought it over. There was no real logical reason to deny her joining. She wasn't as strong as either him or Ryuji in the real world, but with Carmen and her whip in the Palace she could take care of herself and could easily keep up in the Metaverse. "Hold on," Ryuji began, "You can't possibly-"
"Ryu, it's fine."
"Wha-, Akira, she's completely inexperienced! She'd slow us down!"
"Excuse me?! I-"
"Ryuji, you have, at most, a few hours experience over her. And I only have a bit more than that. I wasn't experienced when we busted out of that palace the first time, and neither were you when we fought off those horse fuckers."
"Well, yeah, but…"
"But what?" He sighed at Ann's rebuttal to Ryuji's mutters and crossed his arms.
"We'll need as many advantages as we can possibly get. We've seen that we can be surprised, so we need to be ready for anything. Besides, she brings fire to the table, alongside your electricity, Morgana's wind, and Arsène's curse."
"It ain't like you don't have one of 'em pumpkin guys," Ryuji grumbled weakly.
Hee's got a point, ho! He mentally told Jack-o'-Lantern to quiet down before he answered.
"But that's more energy for me to be saving, meaning we can delve deeper into the castle easier. We need to get this done asap." Ryuji just sighed and nodded, accepting his argument.
"Alright, welcome aboard, Takamaki-san. You're now a Phantom Thief." He smiled at the girl, and she giggled.
"Glad to be aboard." She made to say something, hesitated, before nodding. "Why don't you all just call me Ann? I mean, Sakamoto-san never uses honorifics anyway."
"Yeah, guess not, huh?" Ryuji shrugged. "You can just do the same then."
"I'm from Eagleland anyway," he chuckled, "I'm way more used to using first names. Just call me Akira."
Takam- no, Ann, agreed with a grin. "Well then, I guess that's that. Here, let's all give each other our numbers so we can keep in touch." They pulled out their phones and exchanged contact information before Akira set up a chat room for everyone. He wasn't sure what to call it, so he just named it after them.
Chat Room: Akira, Ryuji, Ann
You— Is everyone's number correct?
Ryuji— Yup
Ann— Mine is correct!
Akira nodded and put his phone away, "Alright, we can communicate with each other now. We just need a place to meet up."
"How about the roof? Nobody goes up th-" Ryuji coughed as he elbowed him in the stomach, glancing at Ann.
"You really have no tact, you numbskull," Morgana sighed.
"O-Oh, shit, uh… Sorry, Ann, I didn't mean-"
"No, it's fine." Ann shook her head. "You're right, with no one going up there we can meet in secret. And it'll remind me what I'm fighting for."
He nodded, "If you're fine with it, then that'll be our hideout. Let's all head home and rest, tomorrow we can meet up after school and discuss our plans further."
"Got it. And… thanks again. For everything, you two." Her gaze darkened and she clenched a fist, looking down at it. "I'm going to make Kamoshida pay… Not just for what he did to Shiho, but to you as well, Ryuji, and everyone he's ever hurt. He will atone." He smiled, feeling Ann's strong fighting resolve, and swore to keep fighting alongside her.
Her passion and quest for vengeance shalt aid thy journey immensely. His smile became a grin at Arsène's words, agreeing with the pillager.
A bond of trust was forged, within the fires of vengeance and a longing to take down the False King of Shujin.
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 Lovers Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…
Lovers Arcana, Ann Takamaki: Rank One
"It's no problem."
"Yep, no problem for us, Lady Ann!"
He rolled his eyes at the cat's words, and Ann imitated him. "Well, I guess I'll get going. See you." She began walking away and his eyes drifted downwards.
Art thou going to continue staring so obviously?
Lay off him, Mister Arsène! He's a teenage boy! His gaze snapped back up with a blush as Pixie giggled in his head.
"What a kind girl… such admirable consideration for others. And the innocence to cast herself into the jaws of death to achieve her goal. She cares about her friends, and she's beautiful to boot! She's captured my heart!"
"Dude…" Ryuji and he looked at each other as Morgana sighed happily, while the faux-blond stuck a finger down his throat and gagged.
"Alright, Morgana, what are you doing now? Will you wait in the Palace for us, or what?"
"What are you talking about? I can't contact you from within the Palace, so I'll be staying with one of you! I nominate you, Akira."
"Excuse me?"
"Uh, it ain't gonna be me, so this's all you," Ryuji scoffed. "My apartment doesn't allow pets. He's all yours, Aki."
"Wha-"
"See ya!" Ryuji walked away, and he glared at the back of the faux-blond's head. He'd be getting back at him for that one.
"Well? Let's get going! I want to see my new residence in this world!" Morgana rustled around inside his bag and he sighed, before walking towards the train that led home.
Ω • Ω • Ω
Akira opened the front door of Leblanc, causing the small bell to ding as he entered. Sakura-san looked up and raised an eyebrow. "You're back later than usual."
"Can it be called usual when I've been here for a few days?" He blandly shot back. "I made a few friends, and was spending some time with them after school."
"Hm. Just make sure that you don't get into any more trouble." He nodded at the man, keeping his hand on his bag to keep Morgana steady. He had no idea what Sakura-san would do if he found out he'd snuck a cat into the shop, so he needed Morgana to keep silent.
As he walked a customer got out of her seat and he almost bumped into her. He sidestepped her quickly, nearly tripping, before bowing to her. "My apologies, miss."
"...No harm done." He straightened up and looked her over. She was dressed like a punk, with ripped tights plus a collar with small spikes on it, and had dark blue hair. She glanced away from him and walked out the door, as he continued towards the stairs while glancing towards Sakura-san. "Who was that?"
"One of my usual customers. I think she's a doctor of some sort, she works at a small clinic down the way." The older man shrugged, "Or at least, I think. I don't pry into her work since she doesn't like to speak about it."
"Why not?"
"Rumor has it she gives some pretty crappy examinations and sells some weird homemade medicine on top of that." He shuddered, flashing back to one time when he'd gotten sick and his mother had tried to mix several different types of cold, flu, and fever medications into one.
His father had barely managed to, somehow, resuscitate him from that unholy concoction…
"They should just leave her alone. It's not like she's getting in the way of their lives."
"Hm."
"Hey, what're you two ta-"
He squeezed his bag against him, hoping to shut up Morgana, and hurried up the stairs to his room. When he got upstairs he let out Morgana, who jumped onto his bed. "Morgana, watch it around Sakura-san!"
"Ehe… sorry…" Morgana grinned sheepishly, somehow, and walked around on his bed. "But man, this is your room? It's really… cluttered. And dusty. It's like a haunted house!"
"Yeah, I know," he grumbled, putting his bag down and pulling out the materials necessary to do his homework before turning and walking to Morgana. "But for now, I need to come up with a believable reason to have brought a cat home just in case Sakura-san decides to investigate."
"What do you mean?"
He kneeled, tilting Morgana's head and squinting. "Well… for one, let's mess up your fur, and I'd say try and fake some wounds, but I know nothing about makeup."
"WHAT?! You are not messing with my beautiful fur!"
"Yeah? If you aren't a cat, you shouldn't care, right?"
"J-Just because I'm a human doesn't mean I can't care about how I look in this form!"
He just rolled his eyes and removed Morgana's collar, before frantically rubbing his hands along the cat's body, messing up his fur, ignoring how Morgana tried to scratch him in return before returning the collar to Morgana's neck. "I don't have any dirt or mud, but I can say that I started to clean you if Sakura does find you."
"Gah! My beautiful fur…" As Morgana inspected his now disheveled and unkempt fur, Akira looked at the cuts on his hands.
"Well, I guess I could use these as evidence that you were stray or abandoned, and attacked me when I tried to help you…" He shrugged and walked to his desk, beginning his homework that he'd set out.
"Ugh, can we focus here?!" Morgana shook his head and continued, pacing around his bed. "Listen, me living with you won't just be give and take, I wanted to tell you earlier when we were all together. I'm going to teach you about infiltration tools!"
"Infiltration tools?" He looked over for a second, before refocusing on the paper in front of him. "What are those?"
"Oh, you know, lockpicks, smoke bombs… basic stuff!"
"Basic, he says…" He shook his head, glancing back at him. "Alright, but why do we need those things?"
"Well, within Palaces can be lots of goodies that can help us, like in locked treasure chests! That's what lockpicks are for! Then, stuff like smoke bombs can create screens and allow us to escape ambushes or avoid battles entirely! There's a bunch of things I can teach you!"
"Huh. That does sound useful." He erased a mistake and looked towards the disheveled cat through his peripheral vision. "Alright, so you'll be teaching me how to make them?"
"Yep! And in exchange, you take care of me!"
He smirked and nodded, finding that acceptable. "Alright. I think that sounds like a deal to me."
"Now, go and clean off that workbench, and we can get started." He moved towards the desk that Morgana had indicated and began clearing it off, moving the trash that cluttered its top. After adjusting a small box of tools and turning on a lamp, he had the perfect place to create infiltration materials from.
"Well, where do we start?"
"Hmph! Let me explain!"
And so, for the next few hours, Morgana instructed him on how to make a single lock pick. The first time the tiny instrument had snapped in his hands, he was calm. Mistakes happened, and the best thing to do would be to learn from them. As he worked, Morgana talked. "By the way, that power you used in the Palace was seriously amazing, you know."
"The ability to hold multiple Personas… useful, except for the chattering that goes on in my head."
Hee, that's pretty rude you know, ho!
Me am not that annoying. Jack-o'-Lantern is though!
"Case in point…"
"Yeah, I guess that could get pretty annoying, huh?"
"Indeed." He kept working, before remembering something from the battle within the Palace. "Morgana, I wanted to ask you something… During the fight, near the end, I tried to use my PSI to slow KAmoshida before he could escape, but he seemed pretty weak."
"What do you mean?"
"Well…" he cursed when he accidentally cut his finger on one of the tools. "I tried testing my Rebellion attack at night, and it seemed pretty powerful. It managed to completely disintegrate a bird, but then within the castle, it barely scratched a wall. I get that stone is obviously more durable than flesh, but it still seems odd."
Morgana went silent, thinking as his tail flicked around. "Well… The Metaverse works on cognition… because Shadows think your model guns are real, they become real. And your will of rebellion gives you the strength to fight Shadows… however, if your powers really are psychic abilities, that may be the reason why."
He thought over Morgana's words, nodding slowly. "I see… In a world formed by cognition and thought, you would think that psychic abilities would be stronger, when it's really the opposite, because of that very cognition."
"Exactly! Most humans don't believe in psychic powers, right? And even those that do, probably have doubts deep inside their subconscious. Since the Metaverse is formed by the subconscious, and people don't believe in psychic powers, your powers are naturally weakened within the Metaverse.
"The only reason they can even work at all is due to your thief clothing and Persona, giving you natural resistance to the cognition of a Palace Ruler and the rest of humanity, letting you still use your psychic abilities even if others doubt their existence, however, they'd be incredibly weakened." Morgana nodded with a smirk as if teaching him something he never would have known when really they were figuring it out at the same time. Truly, if Morgana really was human and had just been transformed into an animal, it was fitting that he had taken the form of a cat, animals just as smug and cocky as Morgana was.
But, with their conversation over, he refocused on creating his tools. The next few times he messed up on the lockpicks he started to get annoyed, his proficiency in making lockpicks apparently very low. Eventually, however, he was able to make a single lockpick that he placed down carefully on the desk, his eyes twitching. "Fucking… finally…"
"Well, I suppose that was good enough for an amateur." His eyes shot to Morgana who was lazily leaning against the back of the desk with a deadly glare, and the cat quickly lifted his paws in surrender. "Alright, alright! You did fine. Good work."
"You bet your ass it was good work," he growled to himself irritably, fingers cramping. He heard footsteps suddenly and his eyes widened, grabbing the newly made lockpick and shoving it into his pencil case, before throwing Morgana onto the bed.
"Hey, what're you-!"
"Sakura-san's coming up," He hissed quietly, "You need to act like a stray!"
"Wh-"
"Listen, just hide behind me and hiss sometimes, trust me!" Sakura finally crested the stairs and raised an eyebrow at the sweat rolling down his forehead and his red fingers from working with the small tools, plus the small amount of blood still leaking from when Morgana scratched him a couple of hours beforehand.
"What have you been up to, heavy lifting?"
"Uhh…" His eyes darted to the beams crossing the ceiling of the attic. "I've been working out, pull-ups, and things like that."
"Right… It's closing time, so I came up here to ask you something." Sakura-san's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms, "I thought I heard meowing earlier, but I couldn't exactly ask with customers in the restaurant. Did you bring a cat here?" He stood there for a moment trying to fake some nervous fidgeting, before stepping to the side to reveal the disheveled Morgana. Sakura-san furrowed his eyebrows and glared at him, "what did you bring it here for?!"
"I-I couldn't just leave it in the street! Look at him, he was abandoned!" Morgana started, looking at him with surprise at his acting, before slinking behind him, trying to look weak and helpless, hissing quietly at Sakura-san. "I had to clean him up, and he might have been injured or hurt by his previous owners because… well, I wasn't working out, he just scratched me a lot when I picked him up, so I think that's why. He might be scared of new humans."
"I see. That's… that's a shame." Sakura-san sighed, "but this is a restaurant, animals are a no-go."
"I can't just leave him like this," he whispered. "I-I… won't taking care of a pet make sure that I stay on my best behavior?"
"Well, that's true…" Sakura-san thought for several moments before groaning. "Alright, fine. But just keep it quiet when we're open for business. And don't let it roam downstairs, or I'll toss it out. And I won't be the one taking care of it, that'll be all you."
"Yes, sir, thank you, sir." He bowed, and the older man left the attic. He sighed and turned to Morgana. "Just as planned, well done. Now I can treat these cuts."
"Your ability to lie so well is kind of scary… I almost believed you for a second!" He shrugged, grabbing a few bandages from his bag and putting them on. "So, that was the Ruler of this place. He seems pretty understanding for a guy that keeps you in this dump."
"Yeah, you can say that…" Sakura-san suddenly came back up the stairs, and he quickly adopted another nervous look, ready to act. "I-Is there anything else you needed?"
Sakura-san just sighed, holding a plate with some fish on it. "No, not necessarily. But you don't have any food for it yet, yeah? I'll feed it just this once." His face wavered into a smirk as he watched the man place the plate on his bed. Looks like the guy had a soft spot for cats. "By the way… did you name it yet?"
He nodded at the collar Morgana was wearing. "It says his name is Morgana. I had to clean it off pretty good to see that." He still wasn't sure why Morgana had a collar in the real world, but it did lend credence to the theory that he really had just been a cat in the real world who'd been twisted in the Metaverse… he wouldn't tell Morgana that though.
"No, you didn't…" Morgana complained, still slightly annoyed.
"Morgana, huh? I was hoping to get to name it…" With that, Sakura-san left the attic, and Morgana flicked his tail, his annoyance becoming smugness.
"Looks like he likes me more than you!"
"Please, you don't need to tell me, I've known that from the first day I came here," he shot back with a snort.
"Yeah, I guess…" Morgana began eating, before looking towards him. "Hey… Remember how you guys asked me before about what I am? To be honest, I don't remember anything about my birth… I think, alongside my real body, the Metaverse's distortions made me lose my memories."
"And that form would be a human one, of course," he responded, feeling bad for Morgana.
"Well, yeah! I mean, it has to be! Why else would a cat be able to talk like this? There's no other possible explanation. There's no doubt that the distortions were what caused me to lose my true self. I'm sure that once they're purged, I'll finally be able to get that form back."
"How would we get rid of the distortions?"
"Well, I have a pretty good plan for that… It's actually why I was in the castle in the first place." Morgana continued eating. "Y'know, come to think of it, I didn't eat in that other world… Well, I guess you'll have to take care of me alongside just giving me a place to stay… sorry about that."
He just chuckled, leaning against the wall and placing his hands in his pockets. "Don't worry about it. That just means you have to teach me everything you know about infiltration tools in exchange, got it?"
"Alright, got it!"
Knowledge of tools that would assist in thy craft would be an immense help… such a deal would be of incredible benefit, Arsène noted.
He held a hand out and shook Morgana's paw, noting Morgana's smile, and how happy he looked.
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 Magician Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…
Magician Arcana, Morgana: Rank One
As Morgana continued to eat, he ignored the mysterious woman's voice who spoke into his mind before he pulled out his phone and pulled up the photo he'd taken of a grumpy Morgana after he messed with his fur, selecting it and sending it to the group chat.
Chat Room: Akira, Ryuji, Ann
You have linked a picture: Grumpy_Cat-jpeg
Ryuji— LMAO
Ann— Aw that's cute!
You— I'll make sure that he knows you think he's cute, Lady Ann.
Ann— Don't
He chuckled and signed out, seeing a notification that Ryuji had saved the picture. The faux-blonde was probably going to use it to tease Morgana in the future, and that would certainly be entertaining. He sat down by the desk and spun the phone on his finger, grabbing his pencil to finish his homework.
Ω • Ω • Ω
•Ann•
As she giggled at the photo that Akira had sent to the chat room, she tapped a pencil against her cheek. She was trying to focus on her work, but she kept thinking back to the Palace, and how it had felt to Awaken to Carmen. She clenched her fist, remembering how she'd summoned flames around her, or how she'd cracked the demon they'd fought across the face with her whip.
That very whip was in her bag nearby, having been brought out of the 'Metaverse' with her. Akira had explained that even though his dagger, Ryuji's bat, and her whip had formed inside the Metaverse, they could be brought out of the place. And though she didn't have a gun yet, they could buy her one.
She shook her head and looked down at the blank paper staring back up at her and sighed. She returned the paper to her bag and pulled her phone out again. She needed something to distract her, but with Shiho being her only friend… no, now she had another. She smiled and tapped on Akira's name in her contact list, getting ready to send him a message. But what would she send?
Akira seemed like a nice person for the short amount of time she knew him, so he would probably respond to whatever she sent, but she didn't want to bother him… maybe she should just start simply by thanking him for what he'd done. She sent the message, typing quickly.
You— Hey
You— Thanks for everything today.
Akira— It's no problem. I know anybody would love to have my number.
She smiled and huffed, typing back quickly.
You— Not for giving me your number, for everything that happened inside that place.
You— You saved me and I'm not really sure I thanked you enough. I mean you saved my life.
She waited as the three dots popped up to show that Akira was typing a response.
Akira— It's no big deal. After all, we had the means to save you, and you were in trouble, so what kind of person would I be if I didn't help you? Ryuji did the same thing after all, and so did Morgana.
Ann rolled her eyes.
You— Don't dodge it, take the gratitude.
Akira— Haha. Alright, fine. Make sure that you thank Ryuji as well, though. After all, he helped just as much. Morgana as well.
You— That's true. I'll make sure to message Ryuji and thank him. Could you thank Morgana for me?
Akira didn't answer and the conversation stopped for about a minute before he returned.
Akira— He says it's only natural that a gentleman should help a lady in need.
She groaned and held her face, a few laughs slipping through.
You— Right…
Akira— Don't be like that, wasn't he a knight in shining armor?
She could feel the sarcasm flowing from Akira's texts.
You— He's enthusiastic enough already.
You— Anyway you were definitely more of a knight. You came riding into the room on that horse of yours remember?
Akira— Why thank you, madam. Also, he says his name is Bicorn and that he isn't just a horse.
You— Right you can talk with your Personas. Well, thank him for carrying me out, okay? :)
Akira— You're thanking quite a few people today aren't you?
A smile crept onto her face as she scoffed. Holding a conversation with Akira was certainly interesting.
You— Oh whatever.
Akira— In all seriousness, don't worry about it. We have your back, just like, I hope, you have ours.
You— Of course! I'll make sure that I pull my weight!
Akira— Remember, Ryuji and I are essentially as new to this as you are. Don't worry about slowing us down or anything like that. A short training session before we next enter the Palace should get you used to how to fight with your Persona. Besides that, using them is instinctive. I'm sure you've noticed how you somehow knew how to control Carmen in battle.
She felt a warm feeling in her at his assurances and typed out a quick response.
You— Well still…
You— Thanks.
Akira— You can't see me, but just know that I'm doing an exaggerated bow. In any case, I need to finish my homework and head to bed. Is it bad that I'm slightly excited to return to the Metaverse?
You— I don't think so. I mean, for the short amount of time I was fighting in there I felt liberated.
You— Me and Ryuji have personal stakes, Kamoshida broke his leg and caused Shiho to jump but until you were threatened with being expelled Kamoshida hadn't really done anything to you, right?
Akira— Correct. But still, I feel slightly guilty that I enjoy battling Shadows and sneaking through the Palace so much.
You— Well, don't worry about it. We're doing the right thing, even if we are enjoying it, right?
Akira— Right. Thank you, it seems that this confiding relationship isn't one way.
She rolled her eyes as she smiled.
You— Exactly! You can text me if you ever need to get something off your chest, okay? :P
Akira— I'll keep that in mind. And the same to you. I need to either make Morgana a cat bed or make sure that he doesn't make sleeping in my bed weird. Good night.
She briefly wondered what Akira's room looked like, before shaking her head as she blushed slightly.
You— See you tomorrow!
She logged out of their private chat, putting her phone down as she refocused on her work, happily humming as she did.
And that's where we'll be ending off. I love how my friend who reads this but hasn't played P5 yet asked me how long it'll be until we finally finish off the first dungeon (Kamoshida's Castle) when we technically haven't even finished the tutorial yet lmao. I mean, in a 100-hour game, I guess it makes sense that the tutorial/beginning is so long, getting you used to the mechanics, fighting, daytime-social simulator stuff, but man…
I can definitely understand though, I got introduced to P5 through a crossover and I wondered how many goddamn chapters it would take before Kamoshida's Castle would even be completed, and it racked up to- I think- around 15-ish chapters. Well, the next chapter should really be the 'finale' of the Tutorial section, and we can finally start traversing the castle and ranking up Confidants for real.
Writing Ryuji is fun, though it can be annoying how spell-check keeps screaming at me to fix all the spelling mistakes. They ain't mistakes, Google Docs, they're how he talks. Please stop underlining everything he says in red. It can also be a tad annoying putting in obvious mistakes whenever characters text each other since it also tries to fix that.
So, I got a question that asked exactly how I would be nerfing PSI for this story, because, and this isn't exactly a spoiler as he showed up in the epilogue of BBOH, Sapphire would clearly be overpowered, no matter when he appeared. Whether at the beginning, middle, or end, omega level Hope's or even Heart Bound which I made incredibly overpowered just like any other final/signature attack, such as the P3, P4, and Joker's ultimate moves, would make battles trivial. God, Myriad Truths is overpowered in Persona 5…
Anyway, the answer I came up with made sense in my mind, and I hope I had Morgana explain it well enough. Since the Metaverse is the mindscape of humanity, with so many people who don't believe in psychic powers, they'd be incredibly weakened. This obviously does not affect Personas with the Psy element, since that's a part of Personas, just PSI. Also, good news, my friend got me a month-early birthday present in the form of P5 Royal, and I played through it by not sleeping for three days.
I completed 100 hours' worth of content within 60 hours.
I, of course, then took a good sleep so that I could pay attention to all the new content, and plan out what needed to change in my original plans for this story, what to keep the same, etc, etc. Gotta say, absolutely loved it all. I'll probably give my opinions on what I think about the new stuff as it appears, but for now, there are already a few things I need to change up in the next chapter to match Royal lol. I still can't believe that I avoided spoilers and experienced the new content even months after Royal came out.
Just some short stuff that isn't spoilers- loved the new tracks, Out Of Kindness, I Believe, Throw Away Your Mask, everything was amazing. Persona always has amazing music, and I think that P3's final battle now has a contender for best final battle music. Though, the grappling hook just feels like a gimmick they added because Joker had it in Smash. Oh, sure, there are a lot of fun maneuvers he uses it for, and the Faith Arcana gives it a cool boost in Ambushing, but it still feels like it's kind of unnecessary.
Loved the new final boss, and of course, the Checkmate cutscene. Fucking badass. Though, I am a bit disappointed that Joker doesn't get a Third Awakening like the other Thieves. Going from Arsène to you-know-who during The Day of Reckoning and then Raoul during the Gentle Madman's battle would have been amazing, but I understand that there probably wasn't a good place to fit Raoul, which is why he's DLC. Perhaps I'll be able to figure out a way to find a way to fit him in… I can kind of think of places where it'd be appropriate for an evolution, but I'm not sure.
ANYWAY! leave a review on everything you liked in the chapter or just a 'nice.' Both are always great to read. See y'all next time!