Chapter 53: It's Not a Phoenix!

Ω • Ω • Ω

6/30, Thursday

DEADLINE: July 9th

DAYS UNTIL PICS LEAKED: 9

Steal Kaneshiro's heart.

•Akira•

As the school day came to an end he looked through his phone at the time-table they'd come up with for the elevator ascents and descents. The next one would be too soon, by the time they reached Shibuya it would likely already be going down, and even if it wasn't, it certainly would by the time they'd entered the Metaverse and entered the bank.

After that, it would only descend again late into the evening, and none of them wanted to spend a night in the Palace… So, they would have to wait until Friday for their next excursion. He walked out of class and saw Ryuji leaning against the wall with a complicated expression on his face.

"Ryu, howdy. What's up?"

"Oh, uh… Well, I've been thinkin' about what to do with the track team… But I realized I'm not the kinda guy to come up with epic plans that can save the day. So, I think I'm gonna do this the one way I know how. Can you come with?"

"Of course. Are we going now?"

"Yeah. I've gotta tell Nakaoka and Takeishi what's goin' on with that asshole of a teacher. I mean, there's no way the track team's gonna make a comeback without them. Come with me to the courtyard, man."

They walked down to the ground floor and exited the classroom building into the grassy yard. They entered one of the enclosures by the gym and began waiting, Ryuji typing away on his phone. After several seconds he grabbed a soccer ball and began dribbling, getting an annoyed look from Ryuji.

"Man, can't you be bad at something for once?"

"No. It's illegal for me to be bad at something."

"Ain't we criminals?"

"Fuck you."

Ryuji just snickered at his response and put his phone away. "Anyway… I called Nakaoka and Takeishi over here. I'm gonna tell 'em what that bastard Yamauchi is up to."

"What if they start fighting?"

"Hehehe…" Ryuji grinned and crossed his arms. "I'll just play that recording of the bastard that I took back in the monja place, that'll totally get their attention! I'm a genius, I know."

"…Right," he chuckled.

"Anyways, uh… I might need some backup here. You'll stick around?"

"Already said I would," Akira nodded.

"What do you want, Sakamoto?" Takeishi walked up to them, grabbing their attention.

"Takeishi?" Nakaoka appeared at the same time, and both track club boys looked at each other in surprise.

"Nakaoka?! Wh-What the hell?! Are you guys gonna hang up on me?!"

Ryuji quickly cut in. "Dude, chill. I just wanna talk. Listen, this here is what's really goin' on with the track team."

The faux-blond pulled out his phone and played the recording. It wasn't perfectly clear, recording what had come through Akira's call, but they could all still hear what Yamauchi was saying. "It'll be the rebirth of a team that found themselves in the depths of despair… The public will love it. And the best part is, not only are Takeishi's parents loaded, but his mother's the President of the PTA. But until then, he can show the others the value of obedience."

Once the recording finished, Takeishi was clenching his fists. "This has to be a joke… Yamauchi said he'd make me the captain…"

"Is this real?" Nakaoka asked.

"It's Yamauchi's voice, ain't it? And on top of that, shit's gone down just like he said."

Takeishi sighed at Ryuji's words. "Yamauchi's right. I don't have talent… I'm not like you guys. I ran so damn hard, but you two were always so far ahead… How's a guy like me supposed to succeed? How am I supposed to be proud of myself?!"

Akira wanted to interrupt. Tell him that hard work could match talent as long as you worked for it. That he was proof of that. But this wasn't his place to speak. This was Ryuji's responsibility. "Proud?"

"My dad always talks about how proud he is of his son… He told everyone I'd get a track scholarship like he did. That is follow on his footsteps as a second-generation Taisei grad… That's why I listened to Yamauchi. He said if I was the captain, he'd write me a great letter of rec."

"…So you trusted what he was sayin' about Nakaoka 'cause of stupid crap like that?"

"Sh-Shut up! What does a thug like you know?! You couldn't know how I feel… Nobody does!"

"Like hell I don't know!" Ryuji stepped forward and into Takeishi's personal space. "How long were we runnin' together, huh?! I went through all sorts of shit with you!"

"Sakamoto…"

"Who're you livin' your life for? Your parents? Teachers? Society? Maybe you should stop tryin' to live for them, and just try livin' for yourself. You think you gotta betray people to be proud?"

"W-Well, I…"

"If that's what you seriously think, you're wrong!" Takeishi looked down in shame, and Ryuji turned to Nakaoka. "Nakaoka. You knew something was up with Yamauchi too, didn't you? I mean, that bastard's never been interested in track before… But you kept quiet. You knew he was walkin' all over you, and you just let him do it."

"...Yeah. I was afraid… Without Yamauchi, we still wouldn't have a team… or a place to belong."

"You missed runnin' that bad? Y'know… It ain't so scary not havin' a place you belong. You can kinda be free that way. If anything, I'm more scared of bein' a crappy person. I mean… I used to be like you guys. Afraid, lyin' to myself… That is, before I met Akira."

He looked at Ryuji, who nodded at him. Akira smiled.

"I don't wanna insult you guy's or nothin', but I know you're prolly real pissed about all this… So if you wanna hit me or something, go ahead. I'm ready."

Takeishi was silent, before looking at Ryuji and nodding. "In that case…"

"...If you insist," Nakaoka finished for him. Takeishi then slugged Ryuji across the face, causing him to stumble back in shock, holding a hand to his cheek.

"H-Huh?! You're really doin' it?!"

"You said it's okay, right?" Nakaoka asked.

"W-Wait, hold on!" Then the two boys wearing gym uniforms began beating Ryuji relentlessly.

Akira winced watching it, but Ryuji was, quite literally, asking for it. However, if they started going too far, he'd step in. Even then he couldn't help the glare that settled onto his face. After about a minute, just before he was getting ready to grab them by the collars and slam their skulls together, Takeishi and Nakaoka stopped. "Owww…" Ryuji was having trouble standing, and he grabbed his friend's arm. "Did you really hafta keep swingin' so hard?"

"Hahaha, I'm actually starting to feel a little better already."

Takeishi chuckled. "Me too. I think I can finally put all of this behind me. Nakaoka… I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. So… You wanna bring back the track team?

"Hell yeah!"

They walked away, and Ryuji watched them incredulously. "You saw that, right? That was some serious violence!"

"Well, you did tell them 'if you wanna hit me or something, go ahead.'" He responded sarcastically, looking over Ryuji carefully for any bruises.

"Yeah, I guess. Plus, this was all my fault to begin with. Either way, they're prolly feelin' way better now. I think they're gonna be just fine together… Thanks, Aki."

"You know all I did was watch, yeah?"

"Psh, you're tellin' me. You just sat around while I got my ass beat… For real though, you were a big help. You were pushin' me to be cool that whole time. It's kinda like I was doin' a sprint and you were runnin' next to me."

"I've got run by your side now. When that leg of yours is fully healed one day, I'm not going to be able to keep up," he chuckled. "That beatdown definitely wasn't cool though.

"Brutal! Just forget about the beatin' I took, okay?!" They both began laughing, and he felt his bond grow even deeper as chains crashed.

RANK UP!

Chariot Arcana, Ryuji Sakamoto: Rank 8

"Anyways, let's head home. I think my mouth's bleedin', so we'll hafta eat some other time."

"Right, or, OR— we step into Mementos and I cast a Diarama."

"Huh… yeah, let's do that instead."

Ω • Ω • Ω

After healing up Ryuji's busted face on the top level of Mementos they split for the day, and he rode the train into Shinjuku. It had been some time since he'd seen Ohya, and they could always use the good publicity from her articles.

Plus, her drunkenness was… sort of amusing when he was sitting far enough away that his nose wasn't assaulted by the stench of beer, whiskey, bourbon, and whatever else she was chugging.

He stepped into Crossroads with the slightest fake limp and saw Lala-chan standing behind the bar, but Ohya was nowhere to be seen. Likely the bathroom, considering he had texted her earlier and she said she was free for an interview. "Hey, Lala-chan."

"Hey, honey. Are you feeling any better?"

"A bit. His thugs didn't break anything, thankfully."

"As long as you're careful," Lala-chan nodded.

Eventually, Ohya exited the bathroom and she thankfully didn't smell all too bad, so she probably hadn't drunk too heavily in preparation for his arrival. They began talking, and he described the Phantom Thieves' first appearance. "I see… A bulletin board, huh? So the calling card they used for Kamoshida was different… Now that's a scoop. That kind of information usually doesn't see the light of day. You have any photos or videos of it?"

"I didn't take any, but Mishima might have some."

"Nice! You have some great connections." She took a sip of her drink while chuckling. "But seriously, the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts'? They sound like kids on a playground, not valiant fighters for society. I mean, they act all high and mighty, but I'm not sure they're really worth very much in the end."

"What about their justice?"

"Hah, that's hilarious! You think they're actually virtuous?"

"They've only taken down villains so far and helped people in the process. I believe that they're doing good."

"In my line of work, there's no clearer sign of deception than goodwill," Ohya explained. You know, like shady actions of a charitable organization, or the actual criteria of a peace prize. Same goes for the Phantom Thieves. You just have to learn to take some things with a grain of salt."

He grimaced at the depressing worldview, but he supposed he could understand her point. Laka-Chan just shook her head. "C'mon, don't be such a downer…"

"Why? It's the truth?"

"There you go again… You used to be so positive." He raised an eyebrow at her supposed chipper past, and Ohya scowled.

"Oh, shut it! I don't care about the past!" She huffed. "…Gimme some sushi."

"We're all out." He laughed at Lala-chan's quick answer. "…Hey, why don't you go back to covering politics."

"Politics? I think I see why you got so depressed," he muttered as he took a sip of water.

"No can do. I've been permanently reassigned to the culture and entertainment department."

"What a crappy company… I mean, it's already been over a year since the incident." At his confused look, she began explaining. "Oh, by the incident I mean—"

"Don't say another word. That has nothing to do with my source."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

"Ugh, dammit! I'm already sobering up. Gimmie a refill, Lala-chan!"

"Geez, you're such a child sometimes."

Lala-chan walked away to grab a bottle, and Ohya rested her cheek on her hand. "Hey, you wanna drink? You can have some of mine if you want."

"AHEM."

He held back a laugh as Ohya recoiled at Lala's face. "Whoa… that's some scowl you've got. So, Starr-kun, why are you coming to a bar if you can't even drink alcohol?"

"For the articles, actually."

"Really? That's seriously the only reason? You're so straightforward. Well, at least now I know you're gonna be pretty useful. I'm not all that interested in the Phantom Thieves myself, but keep the info coming, all right?"

RANK UP!

Devil Arcana, Ichiko Ohya: Rank 2

She turned back to Lala-chan. "What's taking so long, Lala-chan!? Where's my drink?! Do they call you Escargot 'cause you move as slow as a snail?"

Lala just smiled. "We're all out of booze. A certain sloshed reporter drank it all."

"Can't you just go buy more? I'll wait for you… forever. ❤️" There was a brief pause. "Psh. Just kidding! Ahaha!"

Shit, she can do that weird heart thing too?!

That'sss freaky.

He just shook his head. "Well, I'll be going now. Enjoy your drinks."

"Aw, leaving so soon? Well, see ya later… Don't forget to bring me more juicy info, 'kay?"

He waved and left as Morgana hopped back into his bag from where he'd been waiting on the steps outside Crossroads. While he walked through Shinjuku's streets he passed Chihaya's stand, and she glared at him as he went. Feeling petty he stuck his tongue out, and she recoiled before puffing her cheeks out and looking away.

He then returned home and quickly fell asleep.

Ω • Ω • Ω

7/1, Friday

DEADLINE: July 9th

DAYS UNTIL PICS LEAKED: 8

Steal Kaneshiro's heart.

•Akira•

"In the books, Zhuge Liang of Shu is famous for his exploits during the Battle of Red Cliffs… He's also the inventor of the baozi, a kind of round dumpling. But their original name was based on their appearance. What's the meaning of the original Chinese phrase that these dumplings' name came from?"

"'Barbarian's head'," he answered.

"That is correct," Inui answered. The teacher continued speaking, but he ignored them as he typed away at his phone.

Chat Room: The Phantom Thieves

You— The elevator in the bank descends a short time after school ends, but not as quickly as it did on Monday. We don't have to sprint there, but it's better to rush just in case it descends sooner than expected. Let's all meet at the hideout.

Ryuji— K

Yusuke— Understood. Granted, I am the only one that will be meeting you considering I am the only student from another school, but that doesn't truly matter.

Makoto— Can we please not text in class?

You— I could call you instead.

Makoto— Please don't.

He grinned and put his phone away, and saw Ann laughing silently in front of him. She glanced back and gave him a thumbs up to signal her agreement with the plan, and the rest of the day was spent anxiously waiting for school to let out.

The group from Shujin met with Yusuke at their hideout and swiftly ducked into the Palace. Before they entered the bank proper, however, he looked at the Velvet Room and nodded. "Well, should only take a second considering the time differential."

"What was that, Joker?"

"Nothing. Come on, let's go." The Thieves nodded and continued walking to the pig statue that hid the tunnel into the bank, which made them pass right by the Velvet Room. He nodded at the attendant at the door, and she opened it to let him in. Stepping through he found himself wearing his prison uniform, as Caroline and Justine waited on the other side of the bars.

"Greetings, Inmate. Are you here for fusion?" Justine asked.

"Yup. Let's get started." He noticed the new card on Igor's desk representing Ohya and the Devil, but he had a limited amount of time to fuse. First order of business was creating the Persona that the twins wanted. And, seeing as it was about time he fused away some of his weaker Personas, he flipped through his compendium to summon an Eligor and fuse him with Jack Frost, and to make sure it had Counter he'd throw a Skill Card onto it. "Ann'll be happy to know he's gone," he chuckled to himself.

The phoenix appeared on the clipboard, showcasing its stats and spells, and he frowned. "Uh, Justine, what's up with this phoenix?"

"Pardon me, Inmate?"

"This says it doesn't learn any fire attacks… Why doesn't a phoenix learn any fire attacks?"

Caroline snatched the clipboard away from him before Justine could answer, looked it over, and then shook her head. "It learns Nuke attacks, nukes are basically just stronger fire! Why do you even care?"

"It's the principle of the matter, a phoenix should learn flame attacks! And no, nukes aren't the same as flames! They're different things! Clearly, your compendium is faulty."

"If it matters so much to you, then YOU make a better phoenix!"

"You know what?! I will!" He snatched the clipboard back and began flipping through pages. He then deleted Eligor from his mind as the demon let out a cry of 'NO WAIT!' and went on a fusing rampage, mixing and matching skills, combining Treasure Demons, regular Personas, and even Personas that he probably wasn't high enough level for at this point before ending up with Eligor yet again, with a new set of skills that included Agilao, Maragion, and Counter, and the Heated Bloodline Trait.

He selected the new Eligor and Jack Frost, he had them sent into the guillotines and when the blades fell, the ooze that exploded out of the two Personas coalesced into his new one. It was a red-feathered bird, with its three feathered tails looking more golden in coloration. It had a similarly colored crest, white feathers along its neck and breast, and skinny legs. "...Caroline, this clearly isn't a phoenix, it's not even on fire."

"It is SO a phoenix!"

The Persona ruffled its feathers, before standing tall before them. "I am Ph- Wait a minute, why am I being called Phoenix? I'm Fe-" Caroline suddenly grabbed the bird by the neck and dragged it away, causing it to squawk in outrage. She slammed it into a wall by another cell and began hissing into its ear hole, presumably threatening it from how pale its feathers, somehow, became.

"Don't you threaten my Persona! Oi! Ignore her, tell me what you really are!" Justine just breathed out and pinched her temples.

Eventually, Caroline returned with his Persona, who was practically sweating. "I-I am Fe-Phoenix. I am the true master of all winged beasts… and so, I shall become a mask and bestow peace upon thee."

"No the hell you aren't! What is 'Fe'?! What's your true name?! Tell me, you feathered piece of shit!"

"I've got n-no idea what you're talking about," Phoenix muttered, looking away from everyone and then becoming a mask, slipping into his mind.

What the hell are we doing right now? Arsène groaned.

'Shut up, I'm figuring out exactly what the hell 'Phoenix' really is,' he growled back.

"Please, could you complete whatever other fusions you have planned?" Justine asked, almost pleading.

"I'm gonna rock your shit next time we fight," he threatened Caroline, taking the clipboard and finishing his fusions. Considering his new Persona had some strong fire attacks, he fused away Flauros into a Sui-ki, the ice-wielding Oni. Once Apsaras and Ame-No-Uzume had similarly been fused into stronger Personas, he handed the clipboard back. "Well, I've got that Persona you wanted. A 'PHOENIX' with Counter."

Justine interrupted before he and Caroline could start arguing. "Yes, you have indeed brought the requested Persona. Well done. It seems the Inmate has grown considerably since we first met him."

"True," Caroline acquiesced. "I guess we've gotta at least admit that much. Your Personas are starting to get pretty damn strong, too." Justine looked like she was going to say something, but instead just stared silently at Caroline. "...What?"

"Is fostering Personas… truly rehabilitation?"

"What're you saying that for?"

Justine sighed. "It is… merely a thought I had. Will the Inmate truly be rehabilitated if we help to cultivate the power within him?"

Caroline scoffed. "Keep it together, Justine. This is the job our master ordered us to do. Oooor, are you gonna try and disobey your orders?"

"That is not what I meant…"

"Don't worry yourself too much over one measly prisoner. All we gotta do is get the most out of his wild card thing, and make him work hard at his tasks."

He rolled his eyes. Slave drivers. Justine, however, widened her eyes in surprise. "The wild card…"

"What is it now?"

"The more I consider this list," Justine murmured with downcast eyes, "the stranger it seems. Its author must have known that the one carrying out these tasks would possess the power of the wild card…"

"You've gotta be kidding me. How would somebody predict that?" The quieter sister said nothing in response, so Caroline continued. "I mean, even our master didn't know the inmate had that wild card thing before we met him!"

He cleared his throat. "I thought Igor was the one who invited me here? Or was it just a matter of fate?"

Justine hesitated. "Fate can draw in a guest, but… Wasn't there someone who had the ability to select our guests…?"

Seeing her confusion, Caroline slammed her baton into the cell bars. "Shut up, Inmate! You're just getting us more confused with your questions! Either way, this'll all get resolved if you just hurry up and finish your rehabilitation already! Justine, give him his next task so he'll shut up and get to work!"

"...Very well. It seems that it is time for us to be serious." As she spoke, he could hear chains shatter within him.

RANK UP!

Strength Arcana, Twin Wardens: Rank 4

"As previously mentioned, here is the second task you must complete before receiving your reward." Justine looked at her clipboard, then nodded. "Try to harbor a Setanta with Rakukaja within you. Speak with us once you have obtained it."

"Damn, Setanta? The younger Cu Chulainn… That'll be an impressive Persona. That is if it really is Setanta and isn't some other Persona, like Phoenix not being a PHOENIX!"

"SHUT UP ABOUT THAT AND GET THE HELL OUT, INMATE!" Caroline slammed the bars again as Justine groaned quietly to herself. He flipped Caroline's hat off and ran out of the room while she was squawking in anger.

I'm willing to bet thou shalt be thrown into a battle with the wardens next time thou enters Mementos after that stunt.

'She shouldn't be so easy to troll,' he smirked as he thought back at him. Thankfully with how slow time was in the Velvet Room, the other Thieves hadn't gotten that far ahead and similarly hadn't noticed him falling behind.

"Alright, before we go in, Skull, Panther, Queen, you're up front. Mona, Fox, you're the backup team."

"Got it, Joker. I'll make sure to provide good healing from the back!" He gave the not-cat a thumbs up, before focusing once more on breaking in. They managed to sneak their way to the elevator, slipping through the tunnel and halls of the bank, and sat down on top of the machine. It took some time for it to finally start descending as they'd gotten there earlier than it should to be safe, but once it did, the Phantom Thieves were once more in the bank's basement.

Unfortunately, the shortcuts they had created throughout the bank weren't as monumentous as the ones within Kamoshida's or Madarame's Palaces, but they at least let them bypass most of the Shadows in their path, and return to the area they'd fought the three Shadows in, as well as the final elevator that they hadn't yet entered.

Seeing that the guard in front of it hadn't been replaced, they all piled inside, and he hit the down arrow. The doors closed, and they began their descent once again. "How deep does this place go?" Skull muttered.

"We've already gone down several stories, Palaces truly are fascinating constructs," Queen noted.

"Half the fun is seeing what the Palace is like," he chuckled. "As disgusting as the place was, it was cool seeing and exploring a European castle… It's too bad the interior and its Ruler were so disgusting."

"Hey, look!" Mona suddenly interrupted. Everyone turned and saw that the back of the elevator was glass, and let them see out into a vast vault. Concentric walls spread out from the center of the room, each one holding hundreds of small lockboxes, which likely meant there were thousands of boxes in the room.

"Wh-What the hell?! Are these all vaults?! How messed up is this guy?!"

"We're supposed to check all of these for Treasure?" Panther asked in response to Skull's freak out.

"Well, I wouldn't say that," he crossed his arms. "That area in the center, as barren as it looked, is likely where we want to go. The Treasure wouldn't be in some random lockbox on one of the multitude of walls."

"But how are we supposed to reach it?" Fox questioned. "It does not look like there is a path there."

"Hold on, that distinct shape… could it be…?"

"What's the matter?"

Queen nodded at Fox's question. "I believe we will have a straight shot to the center of the room. That is, I hope we will. I'll explain once I've confirmed my theory."

"Well, I seriously hope that's true," Morgana muttered.

The elevator reached the ground and they stepped out to see that there was a Safe Room off to the side, as well as an innocuous keypad in front of the circular wall. He turned to Queen who shrugged, and they all stepped up to inspect it. It began speaking mechanically when it detected them, "The lock is currently engaged. Please enter the requisite PIN."

"PIN? So is this gonna open one of the vaults?" Skull sighed. "We gotta find the password…?"

"There's something written above the number pad," Queen pointed out. "'Rich'. This is disgusting. How obsessed with money can one man be?!"

"Wait, there might be something more than that! Do you think this is connected to that journal?"

"Hm, let me think… If I remember correctly, it said R=C=0 I=1 H=2."

You're right," he commented, pulling out the dropped journal.

"See?" Panther asked. "It has all of the letters in the word 'RICH'!"

"I suppose that's worth a try. Joker?"

"Already on it. Zero, one, zero, two." After hitting enter, there was a rumble. Under the glass floor a metal, key-like object moved forward and inserted into a keyhole. After twisting and a jolt of electricity, the massive wall of lockboxes suddenly spun.

"Whoa! The whole vault moved?!"

"Just this one ring, actually. From what we could see in the elevator, there's several more we have to spin around to make a path to the center."

"So my deduction might be correct…"

"Money…" Kaneshiro's voice rang out, though not over the loudspeaker, instead, it sounded out throughout the area, just like when they had heard Madarame's voice when they had moved through his paintings. "I need more money… I must grow richer! As long as I'm rich, anything will be possible…"

"That voice… It's Kaneshiro! Is he watching us?!"

"That doesn't seem to be the case, Lady Ann. "It sounds more like the voice of his heart… I guess all he really thinks about is money, after all."

"So he blackmails people outta their savings and that's still not enough? What a douche…"

"More importantly, the message in the journal was the PIN code!"

"Yes, it seems so… But I doubt it will be that easy from this point forward. The rest of the pages were torn out of the journal. Who knows what clues they may hold…"

"Well, let's not get pessimistic. We should look around and try to find some other clues. Time to head further in and find those PINs! Lead on, Joker!"

"Aye aye," he chuckled. He led them through the wall but didn't see another keypad to move the wall. Instead, a staircase that led even deeper down was to the left. "Guess we're going down. Come on."

Down the stairs were more hallways, and many more cameras. They took the only route that wasn't covered in the surveillance devices, and found a Savage Enemy patrolling, waiting for them. He nodded back at the team, Fox and Mona backing up, while he crept forward. His body jumped from cover point to cover point, melted into shadows literally and figuratively, before appearing on its back. "I'll reveal your true form!" He ripped its mask off and leaped away as it transformed into the armless chained Shadow.

As it was stunned, he grabbed his mask and ripped it free, Tangoo appearing by his side. "Dokumu!" The snake-man played a ditty on his flute and sent sickly notes towards the still-stunned Shadow, poisoning it.

Queen suddenly blasted by him on Johanna and slammed the motorcycle's front tire into its stomach, before letting the momentum throw her off Johanna and slam her brass knuckles into its face. "Hya!"

The area heated up as Panther removed her mask and Carmen appeared, launching Agilao fireballs. Queen, seeing the incoming attack, kicked off the Shadow and leaped over them as they incinerated the enemy. Now burning up and poisoned, the Shadow was even more disoriented when Skull roared and charged in.

With a heavy swing of his hammer, the Shadow was sent stumbling back, and he quickly ripped his mask off. "You ain't gettin' away! Whip 'em, Captain Kidd!" The surfing Persona appeared and surged forward into the armless beast, striking with full force.

Bashed, bruised, filled with toxins, and on fire, the Savage Enemy was severely off balance. Lightning sparked around it and it attempted to let loose with a massive Mazionga electrical storm. Captain Kidd blocked several bolts that would have struck Panther and Queen, while he swapped Personas with a brief blue flash of his mask to Sui-ki, giving him some resistance.

The Shadow stumbled forward and tried to trample Skull, but it was moving slowly enough that even the faux-blond could dodge the attack. The momentum of the battle was heavily in their favor and Queen took advantage of off her mask, Johanna appeared behind her and she did a flip to land on the seat as the Persona drove towards her, before she revved the throttle and sent a Frei orb into the burning enemy.

The resulting explosion shook the ground and he capitalized by switching Personas with another blue flare of his mask, before ripping it off entirely. "Leana Sidhe! Ravage them!" As it was weak to psychokinesis, the fae's powerful Psio attack struck the Shadow hard. It fell over, and he sprinted toward it while spinning his dagger. "All-Out Attack!"

His fellow thieves followed along as they unleashed hell on the Savage Enemy. Bashing and striking and slicing, Sidhe unleashed one more point-blank Psio, before he pulled his blade free as he jumped away. blood spurted from the Shadow's neck as he pulled his gloves tight and he grinned. "The show's over!"

Ω • Ω • Ω

Continuing through the bank they found a golden pig statue that held a scrap of paper that had been torn from the journal. "P=I," Queen read off of it.

"…The hell's that supposed to mean?" Skull muttered.

"Considering the torn edge, it clearly comes from Kaneshiro's code journal."

"Right, so it's a continuation of the code we found." Mona hummed to himself and thought. "So, if P=I… then P also equals one."

He stuck the page into the journal and snapped it closed, putting it back into his pocket. After smashing the power box for the camera systems they found another input terminal across from a barred door. "Hm… This PIN input device has 'REAP' written on it."

Panther looked confused as she twirled one of her twin-tails. "Reap? Isn't that, like, to harvest? Why would he have that as a password…?"

"That man sees people as walking ATMs, so it must be referencing how he thinks of collecting money from them as a harvest."

"Kaneshiro is truly rotten to the core…" Fox scoffed in response to Mona's theory.

"But, uh… we don't got A or E, yeah?"

Queen shook her head. "No, we'll have to find those."

He rolled his shoulders and waved them along. "Then let's get to it."

The halls beneath the circular vault were like a maze, but luckily there was plenty of cover to use to sneak around the Shadows, even for less graceful thieves such as Skull… or only Skull.

…Yeah, only Skull. Even Queen was quieter and quicker to jump from cover to cover.

While the Shadows they were sneaking past did glow blue and yellow through his Third Eye, it was better to avoid fighting if they could help it and save their strength for stronger Shadows. Who knew if there would be stronger enemies further in, guarding future input terminals or torn pages?

After several metal halls and a few quick battles, they located another golden pig. "E=9, and A=3." He nodded as he took the page and went over the numbers with his thieves.

"Alright," Mona nodded. "Let's get back to that terminal!"

This man's security is terrible, Arsène chuckled as he ascended a staircase and unlocked a door, the same door that was across from the terminal.

'Hey, be grateful to him! It's thanks to his shit security that is making it so easy for us to steal from him,' he smirked.

I wish there wasn't any in general, Yaksini scowled. It would be a lot easier if we just had to fight a series of whelps to get to the center instead of tracking down some dumbass codes!

Agreed, Oni growled happily. I'd rather have a good fight than all this thinking!

Of course you would, Leanan Sidhe rolled her eyes.

As his Personas talked he typed in the deciphered PIN. "Zero, nine, three, one." He heard a rumble from upstairs but ignored that to butt into their conversation. 'I wish it was harder, really. Honestly, this is the most simple code known to man! Can't we at the very least get some Caesar ciphers?'

Oni, Yaksini and Sui-ki groaned. Rakshasa growled. Commander… could you not be more ruthless? A battle is more entertaining than mind games.

He rolled his eyes. 'Of course the cannibal demon would think that.'

As he thought to his Personas, he led his team back up the stairs to the main vault. "That sound… It seems like the vault moved again," Queen commented.

"Great, it worked! Nice job, Joker!"

He absentmindedly nodded, and Panther rolled her eyes. "He's talking with his Personas right now, I don't think you'll be getting much from him."

"I can have two conversations at once," he immediately answered, focusing on Panther to raise an eyebrow at her. She stuck her tongue out in response.

He attempted to make a sarcastic comment as a reply to such a childish move before Kaneshiro's voice came rolling through their heads again. "Tch… This isn't anywhere near your quota for this month. Don't gimme your excuses. Just reap every last penny!"

"This voice again," Fox muttered in disgust.

"I'll make you understand if you don't get it… People who don't earn money are worthless to me!"

"He's completely distorted," Panther noted almost sadly.

Makoto's fists clenched and he could hear the creak of her gloves. "It looks like he really believes money is more important than human life… What a pitiful man."

"Yeah… Let's finish this up quick. The door's prolly opened up, so we should head back and check it out."

"What do you think, Joker?"

"Agreed, let's head straight there." Retreating upstairs they found that the second ring had spun and revealed another opening for them to walk through. Which, of course, was followed by yet another underground vault that they needed to make their way through to find yet another terminal.

This one was designed almost like a warehouse, giant shelves covered in massive stacks of cash, along with electric barriers to keep them from sneaking further in, and to keep several treasure chests safe. They began climbing the shelves, using them as platforms to reach higher ledges throughout the room, one of which had a power box and a golden door. He smashed the box and shut down the electrical fields before they walked up to the door.

"Well, this door is obviously pretty different," Panther commented. "It's all gold and shiny."

"There's also this weird pig. Maybe we should do some reconnaissance first?"

"Good morning," a mechanical voice spoke, "this entrance is strictly for Kaneshiro Bank employees. For entry, please display your keycard and pay ten thousand yen."

Makoto looked stunned for a moment, before placing a hand on her mask in exasperation. "I get that employees would have to show their keycards, but…"

"They gotta pay, too?! And that definitely ain't cheap!"

"We already knew Kaneshiro saw his men as disposable resources, it makes sense that he also exploits them."

"Would paying this even do anything for him? I know the money that a Shadow drops in here is real, but would he even make anything from us doing this?"

"We could probably find a way around, but paying this would make our infiltration quicker and easier… What do you think, Joker?"

"Behold, the power of money!" He didn't hesitate a moment before sticking his credit card into the door, then the keycard in. The rest of the Phantom Thieves sweat dropped as he did, Mona sighing and letting his head fall into his paws.

"Honestly, Joker…"

Thou art being much too blatant about how much money thou has, Arsène chuckled. I thought you didn't want thy companions to know?

Rolling his eyes, he put his cards away and grinned. "What? I'm going to make it all back when we end up fighting a lot of Shadows before leaving today."

O' Lord, you are truly an odd one, Phoenix muttered.

'Shut up, you fake-Phoenix.'

"I ain't givin' up my share just because you wasted cash on that," Skull muttered. He just laughed and let them through the door, into the next section of the vault.

I definitely felt like the latter half of the chapter in the infiltration read a bit weird as the thieves moved from minor plot point to plot point quickly, but I was focusing more on them sneaking around and avoiding unnecessary fights since they're getting closer to their goal.

I received a question on how I'll handle the escape after stealing the Treasure considering they can't control the main elevator to get out, but I've got a plan in mind for that. But that'll be in a couple of chapters, so look forward to that. Feng Huang has also showed up in the guise of Phoenix. Who knows what Caroline threatened him with to force him to keep up the facade of Phoenix?

Got some more Rank Ups, everyone's favorite journalist, or someone's favorite… I mean, I'm sure someone has her as their favorite girl. I'm clearly an Ann-fAnn, but hey, this is for you, random Ohya-fan, if any are even reading this story. Go get your alcoholic queen, king. We also got another Ryuji rank, getting close to Rank 10 now. I've heard that most people do get Ryuji to 10 before any other character, which makes sense. He doesn't have any requirements besides taking down Kamoshida to open up I think Rank 5?

Either way, we'll be getting the monkey king soon enough. And yes, we'll be getting some birthday fishing.

Oh, and Strength 4. So let me know what you think of the chapter, or just leave a 'nice,' both are always great to read. See y'all next time!