Chapter 11: An Eye For The Future

Ω • Ω • Ω

•Akira•

He crept forward, hiding his body behind a barrel as he eyed a guard patrolling the small room. It was currently walking towards his hiding spot, and about to pass where Skull was hiding, so he nodded at his lightning-wielding partner-in-crime.

Nodding back, Skull summoned his melee weapon and readied himself, before bashing the knight in the knees as he passed. "Ha! Weren't expecting that, were ya?!"

As the knight yelled and fell, he dashed forward and grabbed its mask, ripping it off to reveal two Bicorns and a Mandrake. "Panther!"

"On it! Let's dance, Carmen!" Rolling out of where she had hidden, Panther ripped off her bright red cat mask to summon Carmen, who turned the Mandrake to goop with a single Agi. "Alright!"

Oh, my turn, my turn!

He smirked, switching mentally to Pixie and removing his mask at the same time Skull did. Captain Kidd and his Pixie manifested next to one another, blasting the enemy Bicorns with two Zio bolts. One immediately turned to goop thanks to Pixie's attack, while the one that Captain Kidd targeted simply fell to the ground, stunned.

"They're down!"

He grinned at Mona's call, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the black horse. His fellow thieves followed along, surrounding it. "Fork over the cash."

"O-Okay! Just do not shoot! Me do not want to die…" Even though it didn't have any hands, it somehow managed to throw money at them, the coins clattering along the ground before it dashed away into the darkness.

As he knelt and gathered the money, Skull crossed his arms. "I kinda wanted to do an All-Out Attack there…"

"Of course a thug like you would think like that."

"What was that?!"

"It would have been a waste of energy, Skull. There was only one Shadow left, after all! It was definitely a smarter move to ask them for money."

He nodded at Mona's words, even though the maybe-cat had explained his actions condescendingly. "He's right, Skull. If it's a bigger group, we definitely would have gone all out."

"What I want to know is why all those effects happen when we use an All-Out Attack." Panther rubbed their back of her head in confusion. "I mean, we all have those weird words that appear behind us and get a really strong urge to pose and say a catchphrase, right? Plus, Mona pulls a chair out of nowhere!"

"Yeah, yeah, I want to know that too! Where the hell do you pull that spinny chair from?!"

As they stalked through the halls, he made sure to keep a watch for more Shadows, though admittedly he was listening a bit, interested in the explanation. "Well, it's just another effect from the cognition of the world. In hero shows, whenever they pull off a finishing move they pose and say something cool, right?"

Mona paused as he motioned for him to quiet down, watching as a Shadow knight walked by. When it was gone they continued forward. "Well, the All-Out Attack is our super cool finisher, and whoever lands the last hit is going to be influenced by everyone's cognition to pose and say a catchphrase. The excess energy from our cognition usually becomes the background and the words on the background, sometimes even an item to help with our pose! Like for me, it makes the chair!"

"That is so incredibly idiotic," he muttered as they began climbing a spiral staircase to the castle's next floor, shaking his head.

It is rather cool though.

And since Mister Arsène is your true thoughts, you think it's pretty cool too!

"Oh shut up…" Finding a long hallway filled with small sofas and patrolled by a guard, he slid into cover behind a chair. He motioned for everyone to follow his lead and get into cover, watching as the guard got closer. The moment that the guard was in range, he leaped up and onto its head, gripping its mask.

"What the?!"

"I'll reveal your true form!" As he ripped it off the guard exploded into goo and he did a backflip to safety, while the team surrounded the three Pixies that burst out of it. "Arsène, ravage them!" He switched to the thief Persona, unleashing an Eiha that sent one Pixie crashing to the floor with a cry, before grinning at Panther. "Ready up, Panther, I'm passing the baton!"

"Right!" He placed his hand in his pocket and high-fived her with the other, powering her up and causing red flames to burst to life around her, without her even needing to summon Carmen. Pulling out her Sterlidge submachine gun from god knows where, considering her bodysuit didn't have pockets and was skintight, she pulled the trigger and began unloading bullets into the small Shadows.

Most of the bullets missed and pinged off of the walls and ceiling, causing Skull and Mona to yelp and cover their heads as the bullets rebounded and flew past them. However, a few did impact with the Pixies still floating in the air, sending them crashing to the ground. "All-Out Attack!"

Panther grinned at his call-out, grabbing her whip and cracking it. "Let's finish this!" All four of them bound forward, striking and slashing and cutting, eliminating all three shadows in one fell swoop. As the dust died down Panther landed gracefully, spinning and sticking a peace sign out. "A Beautiful Rose Has Thorns!"

Panther paused after realizing what she was doing and shook her head. "Wow, that really feels natural."

"Tell me about it…"

Ω • Ω • Ω

They eventually came upon a small room with nothing notable inside of it, besides a cage in the center with a table within it. "Hey, what's this all about? I thought the dungeons were in the basement!"

"This obviously isn't a prison cell, Skull." Mona sighed and shook his head as he looked at the cage. "I think I can see something on that table, Joker, can you tell what it is?"

He squinted as he leaned against the bars. "Well, it looks kind of like a map."

"A map? That's it? Kinda lame…"

"Well, a map would be pretty useful in here, right? I mean, we don't know the layout of this place, right?"

"Mwehehe, I knew Lady Ann would be able to see how important a map is, unlike you, Skull."

"Hey, I-I know that maps are important! It's just, uh… I thought that it would be a pretty lame thing to keep in a cage! A treasure chest woulda made more sense!"

"It doesn't even matter what it is if we can't get to it." He stepped back and looked around the room, trying to find any way that they could open the cages. All along the cage were several goat heads with chains coming from their mouths, likely handles.

"Joker, what's up? Did you spot a way to open this?"

Seeing where he was looking, Panther began playing with one of her twintails. "But, which one? It's not like all of them would open the cage, right?"

"No, it's likely that most of them are traps. Joker, is there any way that you could check them? Use your Psychic powers in some way?"

"Oh, yeah! Blast it with your laser things!"

"I don't think Rebellion is going to be blasting anything open any time soon."

"He's right, Skull. Not even our Personas could tear open these bars. It's because Kamoshida sees his castle as impenetrable that we won't be able to bust down walls or anything similar unless it's a specific area where his cognition is weaker."

While Mona was right about the cognition making the castle incredibly durable, there was also the fact that being in the Metaverse severely weakened his PSI. Though, what about something else… He had briefly been able to heal Shiho when he'd pushed his body to do so, but he could tell that it wouldn't be natural for him. His power was not one for healing.

But, even if he couldn't heal, he could try using it differently. He closed his eyes and focused, feeling at the power that was so similar, yet so different to that of his Personas. Now that he actively focused on it, he could feel it coursing through his veins, calm and subtle, but ready to be called to the surface should he need it.

The only question now was how. He didn't want to use Rebellion and blow up everything, he needed to… to what? To find out the secret to getting into the cage. Which chain was the right to pull… he needed to see the answer.

Feeling his PSI pulse up into his eyes, he breathed out calmly, slowly opening them and gazing out at the world. Everything, from his teammates to the walls and the bars of the cell, to the ground and the ceiling was now black. He could still see edges and objects, he wouldn't accidentally bump into anything, but everything was just dark.

However, something stood out. On the table in the cage, he could see the map glowing softly gold, and the ground below his feet had blue footprints, leading towards one of the chains, also glowing blue. He walked towards it and pulled, pausing when nothing happened. Noticing that the prints led to a second glowing chain, he pulled that as well, smirking when the bars around the cell withdrew.

They walked forward as he let the PSI withdraw from his eyes, letting the world return to its usual colors. Picking up the map, he let Mona examine it. "Nicely done, Joker! Now, with this, we have a better idea of the topography of this place! Maps are necessities for true Phantom Thieves, and will make securing a route that much easier!"

"More importantly, does it say where the Treasure is?"

Shaking his head at Panther's words, Mona sighed. "Unfortunately, it seems like this map is incomplete. It doesn't show the entirety of the castle."

"Mkay, let's check what we can, then! C'mon, Joker, we'll probably find another map somewhere else!"

"Right. Come on, let's move out." They approached the doorway to the next hall, but as he opened the door he came face to face with a Shadow knight. Time seemed to slow down as he began thinking. Attack and tear its mask off? He wasn't ready to jump. Rip his own mask off and blast it with Arsène? His hands were still on the door handles.

Hide?

The moment the thought filtered through his mind, he could feel his PSI react. Instantly, he had been cloaked in pitch-black shadows and he sped past the guard, appearing on the opposite side of it behind a small couch.

Though he was disoriented and nearly threw up from how swiftly he'd moved, he gathered enough of his wits to look at the Shadow guard. It was still staring at where he HAD been, apparently very confused. Do not question it, quickly, take hold of the opportunity!

He jumped forward just as the Shadow was beginning to cry out in alarm, ripping off its mask to disperse it and reveal the Shadows within. One was a gray-skinned male devil, with a large horn coming from its… crotch, wings, and a bulbous head, with a Mandrake next to it. "Saki Mitama, ravage them! Tarunda!"

"As you wish," the golden Persona commented kindly. An orb of dark blue light surrounded the Mandrake, instantly causing its attack power to lessen. It jumped at him, attempting to hit him with a Lunge, but he easily blocked it thanks to the Shadow's weakened strength.

"Panther!"

"R-Right!" Shaking off her shock at what he'd done, she summoned Carmen, launching an Agi first at the Mandrake, and then the devil Persona. They both crashed to the ground, Mandrake in a puddle of goop, and the devil just stunned. They quickly surrounded it, and he pulled out his pistol to point it in its face.

"Oi. You want to die?"

The devil shook its head, stammering as it tried to speak up. "N-No!"

"No what?"

"No sir!"

"Good. I wouldn't want to die either." He squatted down to be at its height and smirked. "I think that I've proven how strong my team and I are… why not join up with me? You'll survive longer if you do."

"Y-Yes! Whatever you say!" Happy that he wasn't going to be killed, the demon flapped its wings and flew up into the air. "H-Hey, wait… Oh yeah! I remember now! I'm not just a Shadow serving Kamoshida, I drift throughout the Sea of Humanity's Soul! I am known as… Incubus! Let's go pick up some chicks together, eh?" Apparently, since he was no longer being threatened, the Shadow was letting out some of his grosser traits.

He grimaced slightly at the thought of having the perverted Shadow within his brain, especially with Panther being dressed the way she was, as Incubus transformed into a copy of his domino mask and slammed into his face, being absorbed into his mind. It is not like he would say anything thou wouldst not… thou art a teenage boy, correct?

"Arsène, I will throw you into the guillotine." Arsène quickly shut up, while Pixie and Saki Mitama giggled.

"How the hell did you do that?!" Refocusing, he was suddenly being shaken by Skull. "You, like, teleported or somethin'! I blinked and you were gone!"

"Calm down before you attract more Shadows, you idiot!" Mona began reprimanding the pirate-themed thief, while Panther looked at him in confusion.

"I kind of want to know what that was too. I mean, the second that door opened you just vanished, and somehow gotten behind the knight?"

"I'm… not sure either. Could it have been… another PSI ability?"

"Man, forget about you usin' multiple Personas, those psychic powers are even more op!"

"I'm not quite sure how to activate that one though…" Focusing, he was able to turn the world back into the mottled greys and blacks of his psychic sight ability, but how could he activate that shadow ability? He had needed a sense of urgency, to move, to hide. This would definitely be useful, but he needed a way to use it consistently.

"Come on, let's focus on finding that Treasure!"

Ω • Ω • Ω

The next few hours were spent jumping on chandeliers, sneaking through hallways, and killing or robbing Shadows. They managed to find a window that led out to pieces of scaffolding in the courtyard of the castle, giving them a shortcut that would cut out multiple hours of sneaking and fighting in future infiltrations, along with another Safe Room.

After making their way through a dining hall filled with gate puzzles that required his psychic sight, which he had dubbed his Third Eye, what looked to be a kitchen and small storeroom, and finding a magic ring that gave him the ability to use Garu spells like Mona, they came across a roadblock.

"Looks like it's in pretty bad shape…" he nodded at Mona's words, looking at the destruction that lay before them. They had come across a tower, the only way forward, but the staircase leading up was destroyed, lying in ruins.

"Uhh, I don't think we're going any further this way."

"Should we check for another route?"

He shook his head, taking out the map. "This is the only route forward."

"Wait, look up there!" Pointing up at a part of the staircase that wasn't destroyed, Mona indicated one of the goat heads, this one with a ring in its mouth.

"…Mona, I don't have stretchy arms, I can't reach that."

"Wha— no!"

"Are we throwin' a rope up?"

"NO!" Mona huffed and composed himself. "Honestly, you two… Phantom Thieves do things a bit more… stylishly than that! And I know just what'll do the trick." Mona reached into his pack and grabbed what looked like a bunch of wire, a hook, and a bracelet. Figuring out what it was, he took it from Mona and strapped it to his wrist, clenching his hand and making sure his trench coat flapped dramatically as he smirked.

While Panther rolled her eyes, Mona grinned. "Looks like it fits properly!"

"Mona, the hell is that thing anyway?"

"It's a little something I've been working on in secret!"

"What, did you know that we'd need a grappling hook in the future?" He asked as he stretched his shoulders, ready to launch it.

"Well, with how crazy Palaces can be, I suspected we'd need something similar! Now, take aim and try it out!"

He spread his legs and wound up, before throwing his arm forward. The hook shot out and latched onto the goat head, wrapping around it, before the wire began retracting, pulling him up at incredible speeds. He narrowed his eyes and twisted around, making sure that he wouldn't crash into the railing or the statue, flipping over them to land safely. "W-Whoa! Joker, that was freakin' awesome!"

"Yeah! Good job, Mona, that'll definitely make exploring easier!" Mona blushed and began wiggling happily as he was praised by Panther, making him feel bad as he was going to cut their little celebration short.

"Yes, this is certainly incredible, but… Mona, how are the rest of you supposed to follow?" Everyone paused at his words, looking at each other.

Arsène began laughing uproariously in his head, while Incubus snickered.

Quite the oversight!

Looks like the little kitty didn't think this one through! Oh, why not offer the pretty lady a ride up? And then give her a real ri—

"If you can hit Incubus, please do so." He heard what sounded like several thumps, likely his female Personas smacking the horny devil for his words. He sighed, jumping back down. "Well, as useful as the device is, if nobody can follow me up then we'll need another solution."

"Well, it's not like anyone else could do anything," Mona grumbled.

Thinking, he nodded. "Okay, we explored quite a bit today, and we're all starting to get tired. It's probably better to pull back now and figure something out before returning. Besides, we at least got that shortcut open, right?"

"For real?"

"He has a point."

"Hm… I agree with Joker, then. Let's retreat for now and return another time."

They began retracing their steps, eventually finding themselves in the courtyard by the drawbridge. Hey, if we're heading out, why not invite Panther over to stay the night at your place, huh? C'mon, kid, I'll give you all the tips you could want on pleasing a woman!

He immediately changed course, walking towards the doorway into the Velvet Room. "Justine, I need to make use of the guillotines." Arsène and Pixie began laughing at Incubus, while Saki Mitama hummed in approval.

H-Hey! C'mon, you can't be serious! You totally think the same whenever you look at her, right?!

Ignoring the devil, he nodded at Justine as she opened the door and he walked through. Upon being greeted by the residents and master of the room, he took Justine's clipboard and selected Incubus, and after a moment of thought, Mandrake. The result was the Slime Persona that had previously been too strong for him to wield, but as long as it wasn't a demon that would fill his mind with perverted thoughts— well, more than a teenage boy already thought, he'd be happy.

One beheading later, and a blob of… brown liquid, with a gaping mouth and red eyes stared at him. "Me become your mask… my power is yours!" Nodding, he stepped away from the bars as Slime was absorbed into him.

"Welp, that's all I needed." Igor chuckled at his brevity, rapping his fingers on his desk slowly.

"Quite the Fusion, hm?"

"I'll be honest, I needed that demon gone."

"How ungrateful!" Caroline slammed her baton into the bars of his cell while Justine shook her head. "Using Master's gift in such a way!"

"Now now, as long as he completes his rehabilitation, I do not think it matters exactly how he puts our gifts to use…" Eyeing him critically, Igor's grin almost seemed to widen, if that were possible. "But, it does seem like your rehabilitation is proceeding quite smoothly. A joyous fact indeed."

He nodded at Igor, feeling his connection deepen just a tad. He then twitched as the sound of crashing chains reached his ears, and he felt actual proof of their bond growing.

RANK UP!

Fool Arcana, Prison Master: Rank Two

Well, that was obnoxious. It was bad enough getting the entire speech by whatever woman was in his head whenever he got a 'rank one' thing. Was that going to happen every time he felt closer to someone?

"Alright, see you." He waved and turned around, nearly tripping on his ball-and-chain, before exiting the Velvet Room. When he could see again he found himself staring at Skull. He immediately placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and pushed him away. "Back it up."

"Whoa!" Skull jumped back, waving his hands. "What the heck was that? You were just staring at nothin' for like, a whole lotta time!"

"It was ten seconds, Skull," Panther sighed.

"Sorry, I was getting rid of Incubus."

"Eh? It had the ability to steal life from your enemies, right? That's a pretty useful ability, so why get rid of it?"

He sighed at Mona's question. "It was an Incubus, Mona. Guess."

Mona immediately reddened, along with Panther, while Skull just looked confused. "I don't get it."

"Incubus are demons from European folklore who raped women while they slept to steal their life force, and cause them to give birth to witches or wizards."

"Ah. Uh, okay, I can see why you didn't want them in your head…"

"Yeah." He chuckled, sticking his hands in his pockets as he walked towards the drawbridge. "If I'm going to flirt with Panther, I'll do it because I want to, not because some little demon is telling me to."

"H-Hey, hold on, what was that?!"

"Huh? I said we need to get going." He grinned as Panther fumed at him, pulling up the Meta Nav on his phone as his fellow thieves followed behind.

"Shouldn't be flirting with her at all…" Mona grumbled. With a tap of the button, the world began distorting around them and they vanished from the castle, reforming in the alley across from the school. The sun had just gone down, so the sun still had some traces of red and yellow bathing the dark clouds. Morgana, now in his house cat form, jumped into his bag while the rest of them suddenly stumbled.

"Whoa… I'm like… super out of it…"

"You're telling me…"

He grimaced, holding his head. "I'm completely sore… it's a good thing we all stretched before beginning the infiltration, but… Morgana, why exactly do all of us ache like this? We were tired, but it wasn't like we were completely wiped out when we left."

"But your bodies were doing things that you couldn't do in the real world, with enhanced endurance to handle all the tricks you were pulling off. Akira, can you cut someone with a knife with enough force to split them in half? Lady Ann, have you ever whipped something hard enough to destroy it? Numbskull, you've never fired a shotgun, correct?"

"I gues- HEY!"

"I see… Alright, from now on, we should leave the Metaverse when we're starting to become exhausted, not when we have become exhausted. We don't want to do any irreversible damage to our bodies."

"Yeah, I'm fine with that," Ann groaned as she stretched. "I feel like I'm going to collapse the second I get home."

"Indeed. We'll all take some time off. Breaks between Palace Infiltrations will be important, otherwise, we'll wear ourselves out. I'll try to figure out a way up that destroyed staircase in the meantime. What do you all think? Ryu?"

"Sounds good to me. Make sure to text whenever we're meetin' up next." Ryuji waved and walked away, groaning as he stretched. He chuckled as he waved back, before turning to Ann.

"That works for you too?"

"Yeah, I guess. I want to give Kamoshida what he deserves as soon as possible, but… I get why we can't go two days in a row." He nodded, and they began walking towards the train station. "Also, don't think I'm just going to forget about that little flirting comment." He coughed into his fist, reddening while Morgana smiled smugly at his embarrassment.

He should really watch what comes out of his mouth when he's in the Metaverse… all that confidence he gets makes him spout words without thinking. Love is nothing to be ashamed of, but rather something important that should be sought after, Saki Mitama commented serenely.

'I've known Ann for a few days at this point, it is literally impossible to fall in love that quickly. She's just a pretty girl, and— Why am I even talking with you about this?!' Arsène chortled at his thoughts, while he refocused on the sidewalk.

Having other voices in your head sucked.

Ω • Ω • Ω

•Ryuji•

4/19, Tuesday

DEADLINE: MAY 2ND

DAYS UNTIL EXPULSION: 13

Steal Kamoshida's heart

When the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the school day, he let out a sigh of relief. School was as boring as ever, but with the new after school 'activities' he could get up to with Ann and Akira, he was even less inclined to focus… well, it's not as if his grades could get any worse. What'd he get on his last test? A fourteen? Ugh…

He got up, wincing slightly as he felt his sore body clench up, before shaking his head. Even though he'd agreed that they shouldn't infiltrate the castle-whatever twice in a row, he was still a bit disappointed that they couldn't go today and kick the ever-loving shit out of that bastard teacher.

Grabbing his bag and leaving the classroom, he walked down the hall while opening his messenger app and sending a text to Akira.

You— Hey where r u right now

It took several seconds for Akira to respond, so he leaned against the wall by the staircase that was nearest to his friend's classroom.

Aki— I'm still within my classroom.

You— We aint going in 2day right?

Aki— We all agreed that we wouldn't go, so we could rejuvenate. Aside from that, I still haven't come up with a way to get the rest of us over that rubble.

He sighed, tapping out a response.

You— K, just wanted 2 make sure

His eyes widened as he thought of something, and he grinned.

You— Hey well probably find some tougher shadows soon right?

Aki— It's likely, yes.

You— Back when I was doing track I was way stronger right?

You— Well we should do some training so we aint as weak

You— So we can keep up with the shadows!

You— Its sunny 2dya so its perfect for training!

You— *2day

You— Lets get our blood pumping!

Aki— That's a good idea, Ryu. However, I feel as though you could have put all those texts into one. Condense them. And fix your grammar.

He snorted and grinned, causing several people walking nearby to look at him nervously, scared of the resident delinquent of Shujin, but he ignored them.

You— Nah. So wherere we meeing?

You— *Meeting

Aki— I hate you. Get your gym clothes and let's meet in the courtyard.

He put his phone away and headed to the locker room, changing into his sweatpants and shirt, rolling up the sleeves. Akira was already waiting for him when he arrived, wearing the Shujin gym uniform. "Yo!"

"Ryu." He fist-bumped Akira as he walked up, before beginning his stretches.

"Man, this place brings back memories. This is my secret training spot!" He blinked, before chuckling and scratching his cheek embarrassed. "Uh, was. Back when I was on the track team."

"Ever thought of joining the team again, if they ever reinstated?"

"Maybe… y'know, I've been thinkin' about tryin' to run again."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Fightin' in that other world was a total shock. I could move just like I used to, better, actually! But… that just reminds me how… lame I am in the real world. So, while we train for the Palace, we can get tougher in the real world too!"

"I'm surprised, it seems you do have brain cells." He scowled at his friend as Akira chuckled, before laughing along with him. At least when Akira joked around with him he could tell it was just light jabs, unlike Morgana who just loved to take jabs at him. Well, a saving grace was that the cat wasn't with them right now, apparently exploring around the school while they trained.

"Well, anythin's gotta be better than the flimsy body I got now, right?"

"I suppose so. Well, I'll be counting on you, alright?"

His grin grew at the knowledge that Akira was counting on him, and he pumped his fist. "Alright, I'll totally wreck your expectations, Aki! U-Uh, in a good way!"

"I'm sure," Akira smirked back.

"Hey, you're actin' like I'm the only one that'll be trainin'! Come on, you'll be joinin' me! Ever run before?"

"Not as an exercise."

"Alright, then just do some normal sprints, I'll be doing knee-lift ones."

"Lead the way, Ryu." They crouched down, before bursting forward and beginning their run around the school. Already, Akira was beginning to lag behind him, as even with his busted-up knee he was a better runner than someone who hadn't done sprints before. He made sure to lift his knees as high as he could while maintaining a steady rhythm, in both his breath and his running, but he could feel himself running short of breath already.

When they had finished their training, the sun had started to set. They stopped where they had started, taking the time to catch their breath. "Damn, my legs're all tight…"

"I'm exhausted. Well, not Metaverse exhausted, but still. Tired."

"Yeah. Y'know, before Kamoshida came along, the track team was the biggest thing that Shujin had. I got this kinda workout every day! But that all changed after he got our coach fired and took over as the sub..." He kicked at the dirt, gritting his teeth and crossing his arms as memories began running through his head unprompted. "Effin' bastard… right from the very start he was tryin' to get rid of us. He'd give us crazy workouts, then when we couldn't do 'em, he'd add even more on top of that. Day after day was nothin' but that bullshit…"

He scoffed, "he was goin' for me especially. He knew… he knew I was the kinda guy who'd fight back. If my time dropped even a little, he'd cuss me out. Then on top of that, he brought up my parents…"

"And then you punched him."

He looked up with a wince, but Akira's gaze wasn't judgemental. "..." He breathed in, and began speaking. "Y'see… the truth is, my mom's the only one I got. All my dad did when he was around was drink. Sometimes he'd even beat me, or my mom." He tried to continue to speak, but a mixture of anger and shame washed over him, and he looked away from Akira.

His friend grasped his shoulder and dragged him down, making them both sit on the ground. "I'm listening."

He nodded, wiping his arm along his nose. "Somehow… I don't know how, but that bastard Kamoshida found out. Then he told the whole goddamn team." He clenched his fists, remembering the feeling of slamming his knuckles into Kamoshida's dumb, huge, blocky chin. "And as you can guess, I lost it and hit him. I-It was like he wanted me to do it, though. He called it an 'act of violence' and shut the team down… Thanks to that, the other guys on the team treat me like some kinda traitor."

He pulled at the grass growing beneath them, tugging several strands up and tossing them into the wind. "And they ain't wrong. 'Cause of me, they all lost their shot at the championship." He stared at nothing and closed his eyes. Akira opened his mouth to ask something, before hesitating.

"Do you ever want to go back?"

"To the track team? Nah. I mean, how could I after that?" He scoffed to himself at the thought, though there was some niggling doubt in the back of his mind. If he ever got the chance, would he? Taking down Kamoshida could mean that eventually, the track team would come back, but… "damnit, man, stop asking me tough questions like that! You know I ain't that smart!"

"You said it, not me," Akira chuckled.

"Whatever, that's in the past, so it don't matter now!" He hopped up and grinned, pumping his fists. "I'm only thinkin' about the future, now! That's what we're gonna do- build the future! We gotta think positive thoughts, brother!"

"If you say so." Akira shook his head at him, so he just grinned and held up a hand. The black-haired boy raised an eyebrow, before lifting his own, letting him high-five him with enough force to make Akira stumble. It really felt like their bond was growin' tighter!

Unbeknownst to Ryuji, within Akira's head, the sound of snapping chains was heard once more.

RANK UP!

Chariot Arcana, Ryuji Sakamoto: Rank Two

"Hey, you're still good to go, right? How 'bout another run?"

Akira looked at him in exasperation and exhaustion. "Another?"

"Yeah! Just one more!" Akira groaned but began following him as they began their exercise again. "By the way, you're pretty good at runnin'! Not as good as me, though!"

His friend narrowed his eyes competitively, removing his glasses and sticking them in his pocket as he sped up. "I'll make you eat those words, Sakamoto."

"Just try me, Starr!"

By the time they finished, he could tell that neither of them would be able to run another step. "Hah… holy… crap… My legs are shakin'... Don't collapse on your way home, man…"

"Gah… hah… you… too…" Akira slapped him weakly on the back, wobbling as he let Morgana jump into his bag. "See you… tomorrow."

"L… Later."

Ω • Ω • Ω

•Akira•

When he got back to Leblanc, his body no longer felt like it would collapse, but he was still quite tired. Goddamn Ryuji, and that extra run bull… He chuckled. Well, at least Ryuji had the right idea with training more.

He'd just blast the bastard with a Garu next time they entered the Metaverse.

His phone began ringing and he fished it out of his pocket, only to see it was the devil himself. He picked up, holding it to his cheek. "Ryu, what's up?"

"Sup! You get home okay? Didn't trip or anythin'?"

He laughed. "What are you, my mom?"

"Hey, I've helped newbies on the track team enough to know that some people are so unused to runnin' that they totally collapse!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm in shape, so I can handle some exercise."

"Good! But, uh… man, I'm really out of shape. Felt like I could barely drag my damn legs up the station steps. This woulda never happened back then. Ugh… I shoulda kept running…"

Reassure him. Teammate is down.

Internally, he sighed at Slime's words. It was odd... When he had been spending time with Ryuji during their training session, Slime had been weirdly talkative, telling him exactly what to say to make his friend feel better, or, get closer with him. Perhaps it was because Slime was a Persona of the Chariot Arcana, just like Ryuji was?

The thing is, he didn't want to get closer to his friend through someone else's advice, he wanted to get closer to him with his own… actions. It was confusing, since Slime was technically part of his mind, but it just felt… wrong.

Still, he did agree that reassuring Ryuji was the best way to make him feel better. "You're quick enough already, Ryu. Nobody on the team can keep up with you in the Metaverse, you know."

"Yeah, I guess. At least my legs healed enough that I can run again, in the real world. But it brings back bad memories, so I've been trying to avoid it…"

"Understandable."

"Yeah. I'm pretty rusty, but even if it got kinda rough, I had fun. And with you here, I get some friendly competition too. Plus, we get to talk!" He smiled, a warm feeling growing in his chest. A friend who just enjoyed spending time with him, just because it was fun? That was a new one.

"Ha. Yeah. Text again when you want to do more training, alright?"

"Yeah, you got it! I'll catch you later! See ya!" He hung up and opened the door to the cafe that he now lived in, the final rays of the sun highlighting him as it finally set. The bell on Leblanc's door rang as he entered, and Sakura looked towards him as he walked in.

The older man looked at the clock hanging on the wall and back to him. "You were out late. I hope-"

"No, I'm not getting into trouble," he shot back, not wanting yet another lecture.

Sakura just sighed at his response. "You should know that with just one mistake, your life will be over. Instead of hanging around, you should be studying or something."

"I've always gotten the highest marks in all of my classes," he answered quickly. Sakura clearly just wanted to make his own life easier. If he just stayed in Leblanc and studied, Sakura wouldn't need to write reports to the probation officer that he didn't know where he was, which would likely make the probation officer come in physically to question Sakura on why he wasn't keeping a closer eye on him.

The man rubbed his face at his rebuttal and shook his head. "Listen, I'm fine with you being out after school, but at least try not to get back so late." Trying to strike a compromise, the cafe owner gestured at the counter. "Here, if there aren't any customers, feel free to use the shop."

He paused, looking at Sakura. Was he... actually trying to be nicer? Well, it was better than the antagonism the man had shown when they first met. "...Is anywhere fine?"

"Within reason, obviously. Don't touch anything in the kitchen, and if you're gonna study, you can use one of the tables. Just don't leave the place covered in eraser crumbs, alright? The counter's a comfortable place to read as well, and if you want to get into my good graces, the cleaning supplies are in the bathroom. Spend your time however you want, but just do it when there aren't any customers."

"Right." He stood awkwardly, before setting his bag down on one of the booth seats.

Are you going to attempt to clean this place?

'Sure. Might as well try and make things just a bit less awkward between me and Sakura.'

"Oh, are you gonna clean up?" Morgana asked, unknowingly repeating Arsène's question. He just nodded this time, opening the bathroom door and finding the mop, bucket, and other supplies he saw when he previously used the bathroom.

That reminded him, he would have to use the bathhouse later… He grimaced at the thought, shaking his head. Leblanc's bathroom naturally only had a toilet and sink, no shower or bath since it was a cafe, meaning he needed to use the nearby bathhouse to clean himself. He was fine with places like locker rooms since he'd been in enough of those, but bathing while basically naked with a bunch of other naked guys?

Yeah, he would never get used to that part of Japan's culture.

Upon seeing him pulling out the supplies, Sakura's eyebrows rose. "Oh, you're actually going to clean up? I was joking about that."

He rolled his eyes about getting asked the same question a third time. "Yes."

"Huh. Well, alright then, I'll start closing up."

"Goodnight, Sakura-san." He focused on his tasks as Sakura got ready to leave and close up, mopping the floor and making sure the tables were spotless. Sakura paused right before he left, watching him work, before murmuring something to himself and exiting the cafe.

He kept working but looked to his bag as he did. "So, Morgana, any ideas?"

Popping his head out, the black cat shook himself out. "Well, I could make several more grappling hooks for the rest of us, but they require a good amount of material to make. Cable especially. To get that much material…"

"Fair. So, we either need to buy or find enough material for you to create three more grappling hooks… or at least two, you can ride on my back when I use mine."

"Or I can ride with Lady Ann," Morgana commented dreamily.

"Focus."

"Ah! Right, sorry. But, where would we even be able to buy so much material? Or get it? A scrap yard? The junk there would be too damaged for me to use effectively!"

A place to get materials… He bit the inside of his cheek as he thought. Well, there was one place.

Many times when he had visited his uncle's laboratories with his father, his uncle would let him play in the workshop areas, after removing all the more dangerous machines of course. He was never able to make anything, considering he was very young, but he remembered that they were filled with various tools and machines that he could use however he wanted, along with taking things home if his uncle deemed them safe enough.

Making use of the Andonuts labs for creating tools would likely be very suspicious.

'Not if we simply take the parts for a grappling hook, and not make anything while we're there. I can disguise this as a simple visit to see Uncle Anthony, due to me feeling down while away from my family.'

Hm. It could work.

"Hey? Hey, are you listening?"

"Yes, I'm listening. I think I have an idea on how to get the materials we need."

"Oh, that's great! Then let's finish cleaning and get ready for tomorrow! You must be tired after all."

He chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, let's do just that."

Ω • Ω • Ω

4/20, Wednesday

DEADLINE: MAY 2ND

DAYS UNTIL EXPULSION: 12

Steal Kamoshida's heart

"T-This is the place?!"

"Yeah." He looked up at the letters above the main doors spelling out 'Andonuts laboratories', before entering the building. A glass and steel building several dozen stories in height, it was situated near to the Shibuya crossing, just a few minutes walk away.

He was still shocked by the fact that you could walk just a few minutes from a residential area and arrive in a commercial area, or wander from a commercial area and arrive in an office sector. Big cities truly were, well…

Big.

"This is a laboratory! Will they even let you in?!"

He frowned, opening the door. Truth be told, he had been a tad excited to see his uncle again… enough so that he may have forgotten to inform Morgana of his relation to the man. He opened his mouth, only to feel a stab of fear in his heart.

Morgana would likely tell the others about the visit, including how his father was so close to one of the richest and smartest men on Earth that the man was practically blood-related. He didn't want… Would Ryuji and Ann react how he thought they would upon hearing this?

Would they start to act like all those others back in Onett, who tried to cozy up with him just because his father was a famous baseball player? Because his mother was one of the most popular teachers at the town's school, and could even be the next principal? Because they knew the king of a foreign land, or the owner of dozens of labs in dozens of countries?

Of course they would…

Mister Joker, I don't think they would just suddenly turn on you, especially miss Panther!

Saki Mitama agreed with Pixie. Have faith in your friends, young one.

Teammate is good person, would not betray trust.

Slime is correct, and not just about Ryuji. Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana, thou know none of them would betray thy confidence. If I am thy true, inner thoughts, then thou know what I speak is the truth.

He scowled. "My… father knows someone who works in one of the CEO's locations. We visited often, I'm sure I can get in. Just make sure to hide deep in my bag. They likely won't allow animals in." He heard Arsène sigh within his head, but ignored the thief and focused on walking through the lobby of the building. A receptionist behind the main desk looked up as he entered, plastering on the fake smile that all receptionists used.

"Hello, welcome to Andonuts Laboratories. What can I do for you today?"

He nodded as a greeting, adjusting his bag and making sure to subtly elbow it as a reminder to Morgana to stay quiet. "I'm here to meet with Anthony Andonuts. I was told that he was in the Tokyo division's building currently."

The woman's eyebrows rose imperceptibly, to a normal person at least. She was clearly very skeptical of the sixteen-year-old boy saying he wanted to meet the CEO of such an important and large company. "Is he expecting you?"

He could feel the suspiciousness in that one sentence. "No, this was supposed to be a surprise visit, but he'll be fine with meeting me."

"I very much doubt th-"

"Call him, and tell him Akira Starr is here to see his uncle."

The woman immediately grabbed the phone on her desk and began dialing, though she still looked very doubtful. He had gambled on the fact that she would rather risk Anthony reprimanding her for believing some random kid that he was related to him, rather than turn away the CEO's actual nephew and risk him complaining to his uncle about her. "Hello, sir? Someone's here to see you… Yes, I know sir… Yes. He said his name was Akira Starr."

She nodded, and he could see her visibly relax. She nodded at him and motioned towards the elevators. "His office is on the top floor."

"Thank you." He nodded again and walked towards the elevators, pausing as one opened automatically, before entering and hitting the top-most button.

"Hey, did it work? I can't hear anything in here!"

He shook his bag slightly. "Yes. I know it's likely uncomfortable but I'll try and make this quick."

You wouldn't have to if—

'I don't want to hear it.'

Upon reaching the top floor he stepped out and walked down the brightly lit halls, eventually coming to the end to find his uncle's office, with another desk and a man sitting behind it just outside the doors to the office itself. This man was probably his uncle's personal secretary, for this building at least, while the woman downstairs was just the general receptionist. "Akira Starr?"

"Correct."

Clicking a button, the man spoke, "Sir, Mr. Starr is outside. Yes sir." He smiled and nodded. "Go right ahead. You're lucky, you know, Mr. Andonuts spends more time in the labs than in his office doing actual paperwork," the man chuckled. "It can be rare to actually find him in the office."

"Yeah. Even he doesn't enjoy paperwork." He walked forward, placed his hand on the handle to the doors, breathed in, and entered. The office was plain, filled only with several different filing cabinets, bookcases, and a desk in front of massive windows looking over Tokyo. His uncle wasn't really one for sitting in an office all day, after all.

And sitting behind his desk was his uncle, just finishing with signing a paper. He was a tall blond man, with his hair combed to the side and wearing a pale blue suit with glasses on the bridge of his nose. Of course, the glasses were actually necessary for his uncle, unlike his. "Well, this was a surprise," his uncle smiled, "You didn't call and tell me you were going to visit."

'Please, none of you speak. I don't want to be distracted after—'

We understand. We shan't interrupt thy family meeting.

Yeah! We promise! Various other murmurs of assent were given from his Personas, and he refocused on the man opposite him.

"That was kind of the point," he responded. "That, and it was a sort of last-minute thing."

"Oh?" Anthony stretched as he stood, walking around his desk and placing his hand on his shoulder. The man was a few inches taller than him and smiled down slightly at him. "I think I can guess what this visit is about. How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay. I've been hanging out with some others in my school."

"Is that so? That's good, hanging out with others your age. You never seemed to like interacting with any other children, from what I could see in the rare instances I could visit Onett, that is."

"Yes, well, we have some things in common." partially anyway. Ryuji and Ann likely didn't have the same experiences he had, but they were all outcasts in their own rights. Plus, there was the fact that they all battled monsters in a castle formed by a sick bastard's cognition of reality, but he couldn't tell Anthony about that.

Besides the fact that he likely wouldn't believe him, his uncle would be worried and likely tell his father. Even if they would believe him, neither of them had probably ever fought an actual battle at any point in their lives, so they wouldn't be able to help in that regard, and both would want him to stop so he wouldn't be in danger. But he wouldn't stop now. Not until Kamoshida paid.

"I'm glad. You should introduce them to me sometime. They must be interesting if you wanted to befriend them, considering you never liked anyone else." A lance of pain shot through his heart as Anthony chuckled. He knew Anthony hadn't meant what he himself thought Anthony meant, but it was still painful. His family was the very reason he could never and never wanted to befriend anyone… He didn't blame any of them, Dad, Mom, Uncle Anthony, Uncle Noct, for they weren't directly to blame, but…

"Maybe," he said with a smile, already knowing he would never bring his friends to meet his uncle. He couldn't risk seeing that look in their eyes.

The look that people got when they realized they could use him to interact with these famous people, use him for their own gain. … He ignored Arsène's rumble in the back of his mind and how another part of him rallied against the idea of his friend's even thinking of doing that, continuing to fake his smile.

"Well, either way, let's not talk here. Even I don't like my office. Let's head down to the workshops, let's see if you're any match for me in inventing now that you've grown."

He shook his head as they walked back towards the elevator, getting inside and riding it down. "I don't think I'll be any match for you anytime soon, uncle."

"Oh please, you're at least smarter than your father, bloody idiot that he is," Anthony grinned at him.

"I feel I should at least defend my dad, but…" He trailed off and snorted.

The blond man nodded as he chuckled. "To be fair, he never was one for his academics. You can trust him with anything else though."

I still can't believe you two are friends. You're both so wildly different."

Anthony's smile turned wistful. "Yes, well, our friendship was tested at times, but… well, that's another story." They exited as the doors opened, and Anthony led him into one of the workshops of the building. "This is my private workshop, anything catch your eye?"

He mentally snorted at the choice of words and made sure that Anthony wouldn't see when his eyes began glowing brighter as he used his Third Eye. The workshop was drowned in shades of black and gray, and he began looking for items of interest.

The first thing he had done when he'd gotten back to Leblanc on Monday, after their exploration of the castle, was experiment with the psychic ability. The most important thing he'd found out about it was how exactly it highlighted objects. It all depended on what he needed at the time. When in the castle he needed a way to open the cage around the map, so his Third Eye highlighted the chains that would open said cage.

Right now, he needed materials for a grappling hook. Sure enough, several objects began glowing blue in his vision. He began walking around, observing the machines in the room. "So, what have you been making recently?"

"I personally haven't had much time to invent new machinery. I've been spending more time in Scarabia. After all, another tomb has recently been opened, so by the end of the month I was going to go on an expedition within it."

"Tomb raiding, huh?"

"I suppose you could call it that," Anthony chuckled. "I'm hoping that we'll be able to find…" He continued to listen as his uncle rambled on and on like he usually did whenever he talked about something he was interested in, subtly grabbing materials and playing with them, pretending to put them back while slipping the rest into his bag, taking advantage of his uncle not paying much attention. Morgana mewled in discomfort at the feeling of cables and metals being put on top of him but managed to stay mostly silent.

As he gathered up the last of the materials his Third Eye was highlighting, he spotted two objects that were glowing gold instead of blue. He blinked as he walked over and picked them up, turning off his Third Eye to reveal twin grappling hooks.

Truly?

Wow, that's funny!

Quite the coincidence that your father's friend created grappling hooks at the same time we are attempting to create some.

"Uncle, are these—?"

"Your father tricked me into making those," Anthony sighed. "The dumbass. I still don't quite understand how I fell for that one. I'll likely just keep them in here. After all, I do not trust your father with grappling hooks…"

"That would likely be a disaster."

"A lot of stuff in this room are things I'm likely never going to look at anyway, I'll probably just keep them here so Sapphire can never wreak havoc with them." Anthony shook his head and walked deeper into the room. "Well, was there anything in particular you want to look at? We could try inventing something together, uncle nephew bonding if you would," Anthony chuckled.

While Anthony's back was turned, he slipped the completed grappling hooks into his bag. After all, it would be better to have completed ones rather than just the materials to make them. "Yeah, let's make some stuff."

Ω • Ω • Ω

By the time they finished making stuff together, it was late afternoon, and Akira left after exchanging a hug with the man and a promise to come visit again, when Anthony returned from his expedition, anyway.

Morgana had not been pleased about being stuck at the bottom of his bag for multiple hours, but he managed to apologize by buying some sushi at the supermarket on the return trip. Even then, he had some fresh claw marks on his arms, but nothing a Dia from Pixie couldn't handle next time they entered the Metaverse.

"So, we're heading into the castle again tomorrow?" Morgana asked between bites of food.

"Correct. Hopefully, we'll be able to progress further without anything else that'll slow us down."

"We can only hope. So, why don't we make some new lockpicks tonight in case we come across any locked treasure chests tomorrow?!" He could practically feel Morgana's excitement at the thought of cracking open a couple of treasure chests and chuckled in response.

"Sounds good to me." They continued towards Leblanc, munching sushi in companionable silence.

Think I'll leave it off there. I know, people are probably upset that I haven't started the Death Confidant yet, but I'm trying to make the timeline move along realistically. Sure in-game you can complete entire Palaces in one day unless they have an obstacle that requires you to exit the Metaverse (even Kamoshida's in a new game if you ration HP and SP well enough) but it would make much more sense for Palaces to be completed in multiple runs.

Now I get that it's a game, so that's why your teammates teleport behind you after you finish grappling somewhere, but… yeah. See the above paragraph on realism lol. I know that Akira could have also just thrown his grappling hook down at the others for them to use next, but considering how many obstacles you grapple past later on, that wouldn't work all the time.

Also, yes, some Personas that Akira is going to get likely won't stay very long. I'm having fun playing with Persona personalities, and future ones will probably be even more fun lol. Incubus for one, being a perverted demon, was pretty entertaining to me. Future ones too…

Angel and Succubus, for example. Should be pretty entertaining having those two talking in a teenage boy's mind. Especially at the same time.

Speaking of, It's pretty fun making more M-rated jokes. After all, Akira and the others are sixteen and older, pretty much the prime age when boys make sex jokes to each other. Well, I turned nineteen three weeks ago and still make jokes like that with my friends, but y'know. Whatever. Another funny note, the game never explicitly states it, but Leblanc is a cafe, so it doesn't have a shower. I'm pretty sure Joker would need to use the nearby bathhouse, and since getting naked in Japanese bathhouses is normal, well, we can see the problem considering Akira is from Eagleland (America) in this story lmao.

That'd be mighty awkward, for me at least.

Turning Third Eye from an ability that Igor gives you to a psychic one was something I've thought about, as well as the little hiding ability. I won't be changing much about Third Eye, but I might for the stealth power. We'll see if I can come up with some cool ways to utilize it as a PSI ability.

ONE FINAL NOTE! Though I've planned out most of the story, there is one thing I could never decide upon. Considering it was in the epilogue of the last story, I don't consider this a spoiler: Sapphire is clearly going to have a Persona of his own. What I couldn't decide upon is what his Arcana should be.

Obviously, the game already has the 22 Major Arcana, but in every expansion (P3 FES, P4 Golden, P5 Royal) there are always extra Arcana, like the Aeon Arcana, Jester, Hunger, Priest, Hope, Faith, Councillor… I've been stuck between the World Arcana and the Hope Arcana. While the Hope Arcana is obvious, the World Arcana symbolizes a journey's end, fulfillment, wholeness, harmony, and the totality of the world, which Sapphire achieved at the end of Bound By Our Hearts with the whole eight sanctuaries and Heart Bound shit, and the Arcana itself is based upon the user's bonds with others. So, really, both could fit as his Arcana.

I'm leaning towards the World since it seems to fit better, but I'm open to thoughts. God this Author's Note was long... 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!