Chapter 54: Raiding the Vault

Ω • Ω • Ω

•Akira•

Through the expensive door waited another golden pig and the terminal, and he slapped its nose to open it. As he took the ripped page out, Arsène muttered in his head. This bad boy can fit so many notes in it.

'Never spout memes again, shut up.'

"U=A," Mona read off of it.

"Kaneshiro's an MHA fan?" Skull asked, confused.

"Oh my god," Panther groaned.

Queen ignored them, as Joker slammed the side of his fist into a power box, shutting down several cameras. "That's another note. I wonder how many more there will be?"

"Probably a real annoyin' amount."

If there's at least one for each ring, there's only a few more," Fox commented.

"For now…" he looked at the terminal and crossed his arms.

"Let's see… This time, the word is, uh… 'HUGS'?"

"It says 'HUGE', you moron! Can you even read?"

As Panther and Ryuji argued, Mona shook his head. "So, we'll need to transpose this one into numbers too. I hope we can do it with the hints we have…"

"We can't," he murmured. "We don't have any pages with the letter G."

"Well, I suppose we must find another page, then." Fox nodded. They began walking down the corridor that the security cameras had been covering. "I must say, this code-breaking is—"

"Shh, Shadows ahead," he interrupted. "Get ready." Fox and Mona let them move ahead as he took cover behind a wall. Watching the Shadow patrol in front of another statue, he nodded at his teammates before pulsing PSI and letting his body transform into darkness as he flowed forward and onto its back. "Show me your true form!"

It exploded into two Orthus and two High Pixies. Before he even hit the ground his hands flung out and the tri-colors of his PSI flashed. "PSI Rebellion β!"

The massive explosion managed to throw the Shadows apart, and for a moment he found himself wondering just how devastating that attack would be in reality. It was just too bad he had nowhere to safely or secretly practice with his PSI back in the real world.

Queen suddenly drifted in on Johanna, slamming into an Orthus and throwing it into the air as Skull sprinted forward, jumped into the air, then slammed it back toward the ground. Bullets suddenly whizzed by as Panther unloaded her submachine gun, and the High-Pixies were sent crashing down to the ground.

The second Orthus was still disoriented from the sudden attacks, so he ripped his mask free. "Phoenix, Dream Needle!" The puffed-up chicken appeared high in the air and dive-bombed the dog Shadow. With his PSI Rebellion having boosted his attack the Persona easily struck down the monster,

"Please don't call me that," Not-Phoenix groaned.

"No." The first Orthus was getting back up, but Skull solved that with a massive uppercut from his warhammer. It tried to balance on its hind legs, almost stumbling back from the force of the blow, before Panther's whip wrapped around its neck and slammed it back down. It swiftly dissolved into ash, leaving only the fae. Both pixies realized they were outmatched, and he grinned as he executed one with a bullet, then pointed the barrel of his gun at the other's head. "Money. Cough it up."

"Y-Yeah! Whatever you say!" She dumped all her money on the floor, before quickly fleeing. He smirked and put his gun away, Phoenix-Nega disappearing as his mask reformed.

"Yeesh, that was kinda ruthless, Joker."

"I suppose he does need to make back the money he spent on that door," Queen commented with a roll of her eyes.

"You should be more careful with your money, Joker," Panther giggled.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." He rolled his eyes and strolled over to the golden pig, opening it and pulling out the next page. "G=P. Not even anywhere near complicated yet…"

"Well, that's one more hint! And it gave us the G we needed! Let's get back to that terminal!"

After Panther's cheer, they walked back through the corridor and he read from the journal as he typed the code in. "Two, three, one, nine." Another rumble, likely the third ring clicking into place. "Nice."

"Great, seems like even more of the vault has opened up!"

"Well then, we should keep—!"

Another of Kaneshiro's rants interrupted Mona, his voice sounding panicked and shaky. "This isn't enough… I need to have a huge presence!"

"Ugh, what now…?"

"I'm done having other people walk all over me… It's my turn now…"

"Wow, what shit reasoning to become a mafia boss," he rolled his eyes.

"He is beyond redemption," Fox muttered. "It seems he cares not for those he tramples upon himself."

"Every step we take is strengthening my resolve," Queen declared while smashing her fists together. "Let's push onward."

Ω • Ω • Ω

"This entire floor… is the cylinder of a lock."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Panther asked Queen. "Can you explain that a little more…?"

"The cylinder is the mechanism that judges if a key is the proper shape. If you use the correct key and all the discs align, the lock opens."

"Now that you mention it, while the walls rotate, the path forward has remained facing the same way…"

"So you're saying this whole floor is just one giant lock?"

"That's right. It's as Joker said, all the smaller vaults in here aren't important. There has to be an area further in, locked away by the room itself."

"And that's where the Treasure's gotta be!" Skull pumped his fists and grinned. "Sweet, let's get goin'!" They didn't 'get goin'' far, as a tough Shadow waiting for them right in front of another terminal. "Aw hell."

"So the Shadow is protecting that device?"

"Yeah, seems like we'll have to beat it to progress. Ready, Joker?"

He pulled his gloves tight as he walked forward. "Hell yeah I am."

There wasn't any cover nearby, so the Shadow easily spotted their approach. "Hmph, you must be the rats we've been hearing about… Well, Mr. Kaneshiro ordered me to absolutely not let anyone past this point. Accept your deaths!"

"That's our line, asshole!" Skull cracked his knuckles, Queen rolled her shoulders, Panther readied her whip, and he readied his dagger, while the Shadow convulsed before exploding into its new form. He… wasn't entirely sure just what he was looking at. It had a skeletal body along with the head of a white horse and wore some sort of red hat and cloak. It stood at least three meters in height and held a deadly-looking weapon that almost looked like a sharpened horseshoe, or, if he thought about it more simply, just a sharp C.

'Another demon from the Ars Goetia? No, maybe… What's that one Buddhist demon?'

Focus on the damn Shadow! Arsène's warning came just in time as he jumped away from a thrust of that oddly-shaped weapon. The Shadow narrowed its eyes and began to follow him before Panther snapped her whip out and wrapped it around its free arm. She wasn't strong enough to hold it in place, but the brief moment that it was halted was enough for Skull to roar and jump up, slamming his weapon down onto its other arm.

The Shadow grunted in pain but didn't let go of its 'C'. It instead jerked the arm Panther had her whip wrapped around forward, dragging her off her feet while generating green energy inside the prongs of its blade and unleashing it in an explosion of wind. "Oh shit!" Skull was sent flying from the attack while he switched Personas to False-Phoenix to take advantage of the wind nullification. He ignored the blades of air as he jumped up and caught Panther before they could strike her as well, and Queen swiftly dodged back, only being hit a few times, before summoning Johanna and riding her to Skull to heal him.

"Nice of you to drop in," he absentmindedly spoke to Panther as he dodged a swipe from that odd weapon and Panther scoffed.

"Real clever, did you come up with that line yourself?" Panther let him carry her away from and shield her from the wind attacks as she fired her machine gun, resting in his arms. The Shadow grunted in pain as the bullets pierced its body and black blood spewed out.

"Well, I would have thought up something better, but was too distracted by the pretty girl in my arms." Far enough away now he let her down and ripped his mask free. "Phoenix! Agilao!" The bird trilled as it lifted into the air and built up a massive ball of fire in its mouth, before blasting it out.

Roaring, the Shadow charged towards them and completely ignored the flames. Seeing that, Queen grimaced as she cast a Diarama on Skull. "Be careful! It's immune to fire attacks!" Skull got back up and growled, reaching for his mask at the same time he was switching out Fake-Phoenix for Sui-Ki.

"Then try this out, ya bastard!"

"How about this, then?"

Captain Kidd and Sui-Ki appeared, both blasting out their respective elemental attacks. lightning crashed down and ice spikes exploded from the ground but while both hurt the Shadow, it didn't slow it much. "What the heck is this thing weak to?" Panther questioned as her whip snapped out and lashed it across the face.

"Joker, try a Psy attack!" Taking Queen's suggestion, he separated from Panther. Both of them jumped to the side to avoid another attack, as the monster leaped into the air and then slammed down to the ground where they had just stood, sending out a dark shockwave. As he did he summoned Leanan Sidhe to the battlefield and had her use a Psio attack. The psychedelic orb of energy shone brightly and then shot forward.

It backed up, failing to dodge the attack and sliding back from the impact, but it seemed like it wasn't weak to the powerful attack. "Goddamn! Queen, nuke it! Nigi-Mitama, Makouha!"

"Hyah!" Queen jumped up and let Johanna drive beneath her, landing on her seat and speeding toward the Shadow. It tried to launch more wind blades at her but she easily sped around them, before drifting Johanna onto her side and slamming into the monster's legs. It tumbled into the air and as she spun her motorcycle around it spat a Frei orb out that exploded against the horse-man's stomach.

Nigi-Mitama's attack was much more average, as average as a blue teardrop launching golden balls of energy could be. The shining attack struck the Shadow as it hit the ground and sent it flying back as it tumbled end over end. "Aw yeah! Joker, looks like it's weak to your holy stuff!"

"I noticed," he smirked. "Alright, PSI Rebellion!" His PSI explosion attack did massive damage to the disorientated Shadow and sent it high into the air, and he felt the boost to his strength thanks to it. A brief flash of red signaled Captain Kidd using a Tarukaja on Skull, and he twirled his dagger. "Seems like it's time for an All-Out Attack!"

"Let's light them up!" The four thieves got to work, sprinting to the downed Shadow and laying into it, firing bullets, striking with their weapons, and unleashing some Persona attacks. When the carnage finished the monster was sent crashing down to the ground, bouncing over itself, and upon finally landing it began dissolving.

"An easy win," Queen spoke while cracking her knuckles.

"I dunno, Skull did get his butt handed to him by that wind attack," Panther commented.

"Man, screw you!"

He chuckled as he listened to them, walking up to the terminal that the Shadow had been guarding. It didn't require a password and only had two buttons. One pointing left, and one pointing right. So that's why it needed a guard, Rakshasa grunted.

Yaksini scoffed. Even if I don't like the hoops we're jumping through, they could at least get better security than one weak-ass Shadow.

Hearing his team continue to argue, he rolled his eyes and pressed the left button. The massive ring began turning, and he waved everyone through. "Come on now, kids, no fighting." Skull scoffed at him and Panther stuck out her tongue, while Queen just let her head fall into her hands as she sighed.

They didn't end up walking far, as yet another terminal was inside the next section. "Again?"

"Maybe he's gotten lazy with security. Ironic, considering we're getting deeper into the vault as we go," Queen smiled.

"Hold on… Yeah, guys, I think a Will Seed is nearby," Mona suddenly interrupted.

"Really? Then…" He turned back to the panel and hit the left button. "It'll probably be out of the way, so let's continue going to the side…" More rotating walls and a path opened up. Waiting at the end of said path was another powerful-looking Shadow. "Another so soon?"

"If it's guarding a Will Seed, I guess that makes sense," Panther muttered.

"Is anyone feeling tired? Drained?"

Skull shook his head at Queen's question. "Nah, I'm good to go!"

"Me too!"

He looked between the two, before nodding at Queen. "Alright, looks like we're keeping the same formation then. Fox, Mona, we'll switch you two in soon. Skull does run out of steam pretty quick."

"Hey! I used to run, remember? I got great stamina!"

"Not when it comes to magic," Mona snickered. "Numbskull, you're even worse than Fox when it comes to the pool of energy you need for your spells."

"W-Well, it's not like I need that much magic anyways! Captain's way better at bashin' Shadow heads in than throwin' round lightning!"

"Focus on the Shadow, please."

"Yes, Queen," everyone responded.

"Well, if we're all good and ready, then let's do this!"

Mona snickered at Panther's words. "It's definitely a tough one. Are we good to go?"

"One second…" He retrieved a to-go cup from his pocket holding some Leblanc Coffee, sipped from it to restore his SP, and then nodded. "Leave it to me."

He then sprinted forward and leaped at the Shadow. It took a step back, shocked at his sudden appearance. "What're you—?!" He slashed with his knife and sent it tumbling back, and once it landed it transformed into some kind of white-furred lion with a scaled, reptilian tail. It snarled, flames leaking from the corners of its mouth.

"Here it comes, Joker! Good luck!" Mona and Fox jumped back, while Queen, Ryuji, and Skull backed him up. Immediately a wall of fire was sent barreling towards them, and he quickly swapped to Rakshasa. Queen and Skull took cover behind him and Panther, their resistances helping to lessen the damage, though it still scorched their bodies. He felt part of his outfit melt away, but he pushed through with Queen on his heels.

"The fire's dying down, Queen, pedal to the metal!"

"You got it, Joker!" He heard her rip her mask free before the thrum of Johanna's engine rang out. As soon as the wall of flame was past them, Queen sped by and grabbed him by the hand, pulling him onto the back of her bike. The Shadow jerked back in surprise as they burst forward, and Queen drifted to launch him at it.

He flipped through the air and stabbed it in the neck before landing on its back. Once there, he pulled his gun out and filled the back of its head with bullets. Screaming in rage It began leaping about, trying to throw him off, before Queen rode in on Johanna and slammed her front tire into the Shadow's face, grinding it to mush as Johanna's engine roared.

"Ha! Brutal!" Skull laughed and ran in, readying his hammer while Queen spun Johanna away from it. The Shadow shook itself, trying to throw him off of it, but when he wouldn't budge, it built up flames and attempted to scorch him by immolating itself. He jumped away as quickly as he could and the burst of fire did nothing before it was disoriented by a sudden slam to the head courtesy of Skull's hammer.

Skull then got clear as bullets whizzed by, Panther spraying and praying, riddling the Shadow. "Panther hit it with an Agi! See if it's just resistant or completely immune to flame!"

"Got it, Joker! Dance, Carmen!" A small ball of flame flew forward and instead of bouncing off of or washing over the Shadow, it was completely absorbed.

"It healed itself! Whatever you do, don't use fire attacks!" At Queen's shout, he cursed. Well, there went most of Panther's damage output.

"Stay on support, and keep firing that gun!"

"Alright!"

The Shadow howled and leaped at him, and he retreated while summoning Oni. "Oh yeah! Let's go!" The massive red demon grabbed it by the jaws as it tried to bite down on him, and he roared as he spun and threw it into the side of a ring wall. It slammed into it hard, rattling the lockboxes, before Oni sprinted forward and skewered it through the stomach with his twinblade.

An agonized howl left the Shadow's mouth, which raised in pitch when Oni twisted the blade while laughing sadistically. His red-skinned Persona then prepared to bash the lion's head in, before his fist suddenly rebounded. Both Joker and his Persona grunted in pain, shocked by the sudden recoil before the Shadow launched itself forward and into Oni's stomach at full force.

The Persona dissipated nearly immediately from the attack, while Joker felt like he was going to throw up both his breakfast and lunch from the phantom pains shooting through his gut. "Joker!" Queen jumped into action, riding Johanna and crashing into the lion's side to stop it from throwing that same attack directly at him, throwing it across the hall. He could only imagine how much damage it would have done if it hit him instead of his Persona. "That was some kind of counter ability… Panther, heal him!"

"You bastard!" Skull was right there alongside Queen, rushing at the Shadow. Seeing them coming it breathed in and unleashed another torrent of flames. As Panther ran for Joker, she commanded Carmen to cast a Tarunda on it. Even weakened Queen made sure to swerve Johanna and dodge, but Skull just roared and charged through it, becoming heavily burned as he burst out the other side and wound up, smashing the Shadow across the face. "Take THAT ya piece of shit!"

The blow stunned it, and left it wide open as Queen kicked herself into the air and brought Johanna up before slamming it down. "Vajra Blast!" At the same time as Queen and Skull brutalized the Shadow, Panther healed Joker with the Ring of Lust's Champion's Cup. He sighed as the phantom pains vanished, and he got up while rolling his neck.

"Well, that was embarrassing…"

"Tell me about it. One strike and you're down." He turned to glare at Panther, and she smiled back cheekily.

"Whatever. Since this thing loves throwing around fire, let's see how it likes this! Sui-Ki!" Hearing his call Queen glanced back, then quickly motioned for Skull to get out of the way. He barely understood what she meant in time before diving out of the way. Moments later the lion's eyes widened as his Persona's Bufala washed over it, turning it into a popsicle. "Now, Yaksini! Giant Slice!"

The female Persona snarled as she rushed the frozen Shadow. Her blades glowed bright and she slashed, shattering the ice and sending it flying back. "It's totally off balance!"

He smirked at Panther's shout. "Now! All-Out Attack!" They rushed forward, slashing, striking, and stabbing, giving it everything they had. The Shadow snarled weakly, quickly igniting itself, and they had to disengage before any of them got unnecessarily burned. "Damn, it's still not dead?!"

Queen grimaced, absentmindedly healing Skull from his foolish actions of charging through fire as they eyed the weakened Shadow. "It's on its last legs at this point. It'll be on the defensive at this point, but if we get in another good hit it should go down."

"Panther, let's try to knock it out and get the advantage that way. Skull, Queen, keep badgering it!"

"Got it!"

"Yeah! Carmen, Dormina!"

"Tangoo! Dormina!" The odd bubbles floated around the Shadow, but it quickly jumped away as it was wary of anything coming toward it.

"Damnit, stay still!" Skull summoned Captain Kidd and launched several Mazio bolts. Multiple struck home and the lion winced before Queen drove in and jumped off Johanna, avoiding a burst of flame and bringing her fist down onto its head. As the Shadow stumbled she landed punch after punch, before seemingly at random one rebounded and she was sent flying back.

"Damn counter…! How dare you! Ride, Johanna!" A frei orb shot out and sent the Shadow tumbling, directly into the path of a Dormina sphere. The blue bubble expanded and popped, dozens of the smaller bubbles whirling around it and sending it to sleep.

"Now! Get the little bastard!" Everyone on the advance team screamed and attacked with their hardest-hitting moves that wouldn't have a chance of being countered, a Psio from Leanan Sidhe, A Frei from Johanna, a Zio from Captain Kidd, and Panther grabbed Mona with her whip and dragged him from his hiding place with Fox, initiating a Showtime on the practically dead Shadow.

When the fireworks finished, Fox stepped closer to the group and raised an eyebrow. "I believe that was overkill."

"Eff that bastard, counters are lame as hell," Skull muttered.

"Let's, uh… Let's keep going." He chuckled and twirled his knife, waving everyone onward.

Ω • Ω • Ω

After taking the final Will Seed, and Panther complained about how creepy the thing was, they descended into the final underground section. It was filled with golden vaults, including another gold door that he happily paid his way through.

They found two more notes containing the next hints, and after Skull and Panther became stumped by simple addition that they mistook for algebra, put in the final code at the terminal for the word 'GOLD', and returned to the main circular vault, they found that an elevator had appeared in the center.

The thing was disgustingly gaudy, covered in money as it was. They got in and began descending once again. He had to remind himself that they weren't underground, even with how far they'd gone down, considering both the main elevator in the bank, the various smaller ones they'd traveled in after opening that one vault door, the multiple staircases, and now this one…

Yes, at this point if the Palace didn't have its odd spatial warping, they should have gone from in the sky to multiple stories underground by now.

To pass the time as they waited, they discussed what they'd heard of Kaneshiro's thoughts after each time he'd solved a terminal code. "I had been wondering about that," Panther nodded. "Didn't he seem kinda… insecure or something?"

Queen smiled. "Exactly. He kept bringing up how rich and powerful he wants to be."

"So if he thinks he's insecure about that shit… He thinks he's really just some poor weakling, huh?"

"Maybe by thinking he was going to be a strong, wealthy man, he convinced himself it was true," she responded to Skull."

"I wonder… Well, we will discover the truth for ourselves when we change his heart."

"What do you think, Joker?"

He opened his eyes at Panther's question and shrugged. "I couldn't care less for his reasons. Whatever the cause for his current mental state, if he was dirt poor in the past and used, it doesn't change the fact that he's doing the same thing and exploiting others, even killing people. He needs to be stopped and pay for his crimes."

"…Yeah, I agree." She leaned against the elevator wall next to him. "I mean, if he was the victim of something terrible in the past I'd feel bad for what happened, but… it doesn't excuse what he's doing."

He smiled in response before the elevator finally stopped. Stepping out they found a giant room, empty save for some small piles of cash. And hovering in the center was the familiar hazy cloud of a Treasure. Mona giddily began jumping up and down. "There it is!"

Queen frowned. "I don't see anything."

"Yeah, once we're this far, we gotta send the callin' card thing. It makes that cloudy shit a Treasure."

"A calling card… I see… Making the target believe that the Treasure is in danger will cause it to materialize. That's quite a bold trick."

"Huh? She understood?"

"Well she's closer to my level of intellect than yours," he commented while looking away and grinning.

"Oh, what was that, Joker? You want to know what it feels like to be lashed by my whip?"

"Panther, you shouldn't threaten me with something I'd enjoy."

"Joker, we'll once again refer to you regarding when we send the card," Fox interrupted.

"Well guys, let's get ready for the heist! Joker, are we ready to leave for the day?"

"Not just yet. I've made some more Goho-m's, so we don't have to wait for the elevator. We can spend the rest of today training against Shadows."

"Sounds good to me!" Skull grinned and pounded his fists together.

"You just want to make back the money you spent on those doors," Mona sighed.

Ω • Ω • Ω

7/3, Sunday

DEADLINE: July 9th

DAYS UNTIL PICS LEAKED: 6

Steal Kaneshiro's heart.

The fish weren't biting.

He clicked his tongue, casting his line further out, trying to aim so that the bait landed in front of, or at the very least close to, one of the shadows in the pond.

It had been two days since their last foray. Since they didn't need to worry about rushing out of the basement, they'd spent far too long killing and robbing Shadows. The combination of battle and time spent in the Metaverse severely drained them, so he'd spent the previous day, July second, lazily wasting away the time.

Ryuji had then texted him out of nowhere around eleven or midnight, asking if he wanted to go to the fish pond. And so he found himself sitting on a yellow box next to the faux-blond, failing to catch anything.

Oh well. It wasn't like it upset him. He couldn't be the best at everything. So what if he couldn't catch a fish? It wasn't the end of the world.

…

…

IT BOTHERED HIM A LOT!

Aim better, Trickster! Thou art embarrassing the both of us!

'Fuck you!' His eye twitched as he cast the line out again.

"So I was thinkin' about the future," Ryuji spoke, not noticing his internal battle against his Persona. "Y'know, with you as the leader and me as your right-hand man… Hey, doesn't meetin' in a place like this look like we're talkin' some shady business? I like it."

"What a segway," he snorted. "Then again… This is pretty shady."

Ryuji laughed. "Like, 'we're regular high school students durin' the day. But at night…' You know what I mean?! Man, this is gettin' me pumped up!"

I have never seen a teenage boy so excited about a fishing pond, Nega-Phoenix muttered.

"Whoa, that's Kawakami ain't it?! What's she doin' here?" He looked over in surprise at Ryuji's words, and sure enough, his homeroom teacher and maid was walking towards them. "Oh crap, she's comin' this way."

"Two boys at a fishing pond on a Sunday, huh?" She looked depressed for them, shaking her head at the sight. "Why are you sitting around like old men? Why don't you go out and do something more exciting?"

Ryuji sputtered. "Wha— Look who's talkin'!"

"Adults need time to themselves to unwind and clear their thoughts. You'll understand soon enough when you start working in the real world."

"Wow… Soundin' real old there, Kawakami…"

"That's MS. Kawakami to you!"

He snorted as he listened to them. The teacher eventually sat on a box near them, casting her line out. Ryuji returned to chatting with him, and the hours slowly passed as they handed the rod back and forth. At some point, Ryuji looked back and saw that she had caught a multitude of fish.

"Holy crap… Kawakami could be our master fisher, Aki… She's hookin' fish like crazy!"

"It's easy. Just clear your mind and free yourself from negative thoughts."

"So the trick is not to think!"

"Wow, then you'll be great at this, Ryu."

"Yeah! …Wait, uh, how am I supposed to do that?"

"You must let go of all worldly desires," he spoke sagely.

"I see. So if I tell myself I don't want any fish… Nope, not gonna work. I'm askin' for tips because I WANNA get fish."

Kawakami just groaned, reeling her line in. "It's a nice, sunny Sunday. I didn't think I'd be stuck fishing with you two on my day off. Two troublemakers, and their no-good teacher… I guess we're perfect for each other."

"She keeps gettin' fish even as she nags… I'm impressed!"

"I guess we should call her 'Master' Kawakami," he looked over with a smirk. As Ryuji laughed, Becky glared with just the slightest blush of embarrassment.

"...Once again, it's MS. Kawakami."

I'd be fine calling her Mas—

'Shut.'

Silence.

Shut it, Frenchie.

The sky was becoming dyed in oranges and reds as they left the fish pond. "Well, we didn't catch much, but the good thing is we found somethin' else you're shit at!"

"I will kill you," he snapped.

He was buying books on fishing as soon as possible.

"Eh, either way. That was fun! I gotta get back home, ma said she'd have a cake waiting."

"Cake? Is something important going on?"

"Oh yeah, it's my b-day today."

"Hah?" He turned to Ryuji. "It's… your birthday?"

"Yup, July third."

"You piece of trash." He grabbed Ryuji by the collar. "You betrayer. I thought we were friends. I thought we were bros."

"Wha— the hell're you talkin' about?"

Crocodile tears fell from his cheeks. "Why wouldn't you tell your bro about your birthday? This can't stand. Come on, we're going to your place."

"Huh?!"

He pulled out his phone as he dragged Ryuji along, sending text messages to Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, and Mishima. "No, this isn't just a betrayal to me, but to everyone else on the team. You piece of trash. Scum."

"Wh-Why is this so important to you?!"

Ω • Ω • Ω

•Ryuji•

He wasn't sure how they got here, but suddenly they were back at his place. Everyone else in the Phantom Thieves had shown up, Ann had even gone to Leblanc to grab Monamona and bring him along.

"You all are…?" His mom, a slightly older woman with neat black hair and tired eyes, was looking at Aki and everyone else, confused as he bowed to her.

"Please excuse the intrusion! Ryuji didn't bother letting us know it was his birthday, so I had to quickly let everyone know to gather and wish him a happy birthday. I know you were expecting to do something small just the two of you, so we'll swiftly be out of your hair."

"No, no! It's all right!" Ma smiled and waved her hands. "It means a lot that you're all friends with my son. Please, I'd be happy to have you stay for the party… Even if it isn't much of one."

"We really wouldn't want to impose," Prez spoke up, worried. For some reason, she was holding a white box.

"You'll just make her upset if you deny her after she's asked ya to stay," he sighed. Sitting down at their small table, he waved them over. "Just sit down already."

"Great!" Ann popped down across from him, Akira sitting at her side. Prez sat down to the left of him while Yusuke and Mishima sat on the left side of the table. His mom grabbed the box with the cake and set it on the table. "Your mom is really pretty Ryuji!"

"Oh my, thank you, Ann-chan. I'm glad you're friends with my little boy again."

"Ma! I ain't little anymore."

Ann ignored him interrupting. "Yeah, after middle school we just kinda drifted apart, but it's not like it was on purpose or anything."

Ma just smiled. "I was so happy when he started talking about how much fun he was having spending time with his friends after school. It's been a while since I heard about you!"

"He talks about us, huh?"

"Shut up, dude," he grumbled at Aki's cheeky grin.

"Of course he would," Yusuke nodded. "He is our valuable team member. If I had parents, I would certainly be speaking of you all to them."

Mishima couldn't help the shocked laugh that escaped at Yusuke's blunt words. "Man, way to bring the mood down."

"It is merely a fact," Yusuke shrugged.

"Let's move on from that," Aki waved the conversation along. "Sakamoto-san, let me help you get the plates."

"Oh, you don't have to—"

"Please, I insist. Unlike your son, I love helping people."

"Screw you, man! It's my birthday, so I get to do nothing!"

"My, how lazy."

"Wow, Sakamoto," Mishima shook his head.

"For shame!" Ann mocked.

Makoto nodded. "Take a page out of Akira's book, Ryuji."

"What else can we expect from that boneheaded Numbskull?"

"Man, screw all of you!"

Ma giggled at his friends teasing him as she collected some plates with Aki. "Unfortunately, the cake I bought is pretty small, so…"

"Ah, don't worry about that. I had Makoto buy a cake on the way over." At his words, Prez smiled and placed her white box on the table, next to the one Ma had bought.

"I thought you didn't want to impose?" Monamona asked while sighing.

"I guess that's why you're the leader, huh?" Mishima asked with a laugh. Everyone looked at him, and he took a minute to realize what he said. "Uh, I mean…"

"Yeah, leader of the friend group," Aki saved him, glaring.

"Nice job," he muttered to Mishima under his breath.

"Not like you can talk," Monamona hissed. The thieves that could understand the cat had to hide their laughter, while he glared at the shitty furball.

Plates were put down on the table and his mom and Aki sat back down. Taking the cakes out of the boxes, the one his mom bought was a chocolate cake with 'Happy Birthday Ryuji' written on it and the one Prez bought was vanilla and had the words 'Happy twelvth birthday' with a picture of a pirate flag on it. And he was pretty sure that was misspelled….

"Uh…"

"L-Listen, this was really short notice! It was the only birthday cake the shop had!" Prez blushed and slammed the table, probably channeling a bit of Johanna with how it caused everything to rattle.

"Aw, she got you a pirate cake!" He blushed as Ma laughed.

"Can we just start eating?"

"I agree! I must say, these do look delectable… though perhaps we can save the artwork on this one?"

"Eat the food, Yusuke."

"Yeah, after we eat, we gotta give Ryuji his presents!" Ann exclaimed, though her focus was clearly on the cake.

"You got presents?" He paused, realizing what he should be surprised by. "Yusuke could afford a present?"

"MY present is getting everyone here, considering I wouldn't exactly be able to buy you one while dragging you here," Aki spoke while beginning to eat a slice. "You can thank me later."

"Right," he rolled his eyes.

"That reminds me, the rest of you had better let us know when your birthdays are. No last-minute shenanigans like this!"

"Yes, Akira," every member of the Thieves groaned.

Prez took a bite of the vanilla cake and raised an eyebrow. "Well, my birthday is in April, and considering you'll be returning to Eagleland before the next school year—"

"Don't think that means you'll get out of a party, I'll find some way to sneak back to Japan," he immediately responded.

"I'm sure your return would be a sight to behold," Yusuke chuckled.

"Less talking, more cake!" No surprise who squealed that one…

He just grinned and shook his head. He hadn't expected all this just from the offhand mention that it was his birthday, hell, he hadn't even meant to let Aki know. But… It was pretty nice. He avoided looking at his mom, knowing she'd have a proud smile and wouldn't be able to handle seeing that without embarrassment flooding him.

They easily finished off the two cakes… Well, Ann did most of the eating. "You sure it was a good idea to eat that much cake?" He grinned. "I mean, summer's coming up…"

"Shut up! Do you want a present or not?!"

"You should be careful when teasing a girl about those kinds of things, Ruru," his mom laughed.

"M-Ma!"

"'Ruru'? Oh, I am so glad I organized this," Aki held back laughter.

"Just hand 'em over already… We aren't celebration' anythin', you're all just mockin' me!"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic. Here, hopefully, this is the right size," Ann rolled her eyes and threw a small plastic bag over the table that he easily caught. He was surprised by a stylish shirt colored black, with splotches of red, like blood, and a white skull-and-crossbones.

"Whoa, nice!"

"Guess we can trust the model to find something that'll look good on… that."

"Don't just gesture to my entire body when you say that," he scowled at Mishima.

"I saw this one in a convenience store on the way here, I thought it might be something you're reading." Prez handed over a manga, and he grinned when he saw it.

"Whoa, the next Un Piece is out now? I've been looking forward to this one! Thanks, Prez!"

"Yes, well, I figured you'd like it," Makoto nodded.

"And here is mine, Fox spoke pulling out a piece of art from… somewhere. And, somehow, he'd made an entire work of art in the time they'd sat down and eaten the cakes. It was pretty good, showing everybody sitting around the table laughing.

"Oh my, Yusuke-kun, you're an amazing artist," his Ma gasped.

"Why thank you," Yusuke smiled. "Unfortunately, I couldn't make this piece as good as I hoped on such short notice, so I will make another in the future so you can be rid of that one."

"Nah, this one's great, dude. Thanks a million," he laughed.

"You'll have to think up something good to give him for his birthday," Monamona snickered.

Shaking his head at the cat, he turned to Yusuke, "You'll be fine with just money for your birthday, yeah?"

"Of course! What a marvelous gift…"

"You can't just give him money for his birthday…" Aki groaned.

"Why not?! It's something he could use!"

"I think we should move on to mine," Mishima muttered. "Here you go!" It was a video game case, he'd heard of the series before but had never gotten into it because the idea of sneaking around killing people sounded way more boring than a shooter game. Kinda ironic considering he was a Phantom Thief now… Though, the subtitle 'Black Sails' definitely got his attention!

"Awesome, dude! It ain't in plastic wrap, did you get this on sale?"

"Yeah, I don't exactly have the money right now to buy a whole new game, but this one was in the used section, and last time I was here I saw you had the system. It had pirates on it, so…"

"I'm sensing a theme with most of the gifts that have been given," Aki muttered.

"With how short notice this was, were you expecting anyone to put a lot of thought into their gifts?" Monamona flicked his tail. "Obviously, everyone grabbed something they knew this Numbskull would like." He wanted to argue back, but it would have been awkward with both his mom and Mishima there.

"If that's all the presents, then you should all go to Ruru's room and have fun." His Ma smiled and stood, taking all of their plates. "I can clean up."

"Ma'am, let me help—"

"No, Starr-kun, you should all enjoy yourselves. I can take care of these." Aki hesitated but nodded and followed everyone into his room.

"Your mother is lovely, Ryuji," Yusuke smiled.

"Yeah…"

"She looked pretty tired, I hope she's alright," Makoto spoke worriedly.

"She works a lot to support us… I want to help her, but now that I can't get a track scholarship for college…"

"Come on, enough about depressing shit like that right now. Let's check out that new game. I played the others in the series but never got around to this one."

He smiled and everyone sat around his room, Yusuke not paying attention at all and instead trying to investigate the decor. After the party ended, his friends tried to get his Ma to show them embarrassing baby pictures and tell them stories about him as a kid before he managed to kick them out. He finally fell into his bed with a grin, falling into a content dreamless sleep.

I always find it funny that Ryuji asks you to go fishing for his birthday, and doesn't tell you that it's his birthday. I'd expect him to invite us anywhere else, but no, he chooses the fish pond.

I'll be doing little birthday segments every time it's a team member's birthday. Some will be missed, such as a certain someone's considering it was on June 2nd and they hadn't joined yet. Mishima also doesn't have a canon birthday like the rest of the actual thieves, so I'll have to make up a day for him…

P5 Tactica was pretty fun btw. Not the best game, and somehow even easier than Royal was, but I liked the story. Art style, uh… Well, it looks good, but I dunno if it fits. Toshiro and Erina are amazing and I love them. It also apparently takes place, from what I could tell in the game, sometime after the Third-semester final boss, but before Joker leaves to go home. We've got to make a whole timeline for these spinoffs and have an Endgame crossover where all the one-off characters from them show up lmao.

Speaking of Spin-offs, I am planning on doing something with PQ2. I would like to hear if anyone would want to also see a PQ thing, not just PQ2. However, if I do end up doing PQ, I'd be replacing the Investigation Team with the Phantom Thieves, and I know they're very loved, so I'll probably just stick with doing PQ2. Let me know your thoughts.

Anyway! Palace cleared, Will Seeds collected, and all that's left is sending the calling card and the actual theft. Can't wait for the appearance of Porkytr- I mean Piggytron. 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!