Gazebo Street, Geno City. Mobius

Evening

The pair feeling the air shift around them the moment they return back to reality.

"You have returned to the real world." Akira's phone said.

"Annnd we're back!" Cortez said out aloud. The attires he, Johnny and Akira had from the Metaverse gone, replaced by ordinary street clothes.

"I'm glad that's over with..." Manic replied, letting out a sigh of relief. "Sheez... That was fucked, man..."

"Check your navigation history Akira. What was it that you and Manic put in?" Johnny asks Akira with the grey rabbit now wearing blue jeans, a red jacket, a white t-shirt and brown shoes.

"Navigation history..." Akira murmurs as he checks the Metaverse app's navigation history. "It says Name: Anton Veruca, Location: Cyber City and Distortion: Influential."

"We now have the proper identity of the Palace's Ruler. We weren't too sure earlier whenever we heard titles like Don Ant, the Benefactor and other titles that'd be egocentric to people like us. Must really think highly of himself in the real world for his Shadow to have that mindset." Cortez remarks. Dressed in a brown trench-coat, grey pants, black boots and a creamy turtleneck jumper.

"Well, you certainly hit the nail on the head it seems..." Manic fixes his hair bangs. "I mean, I knew the guy was an egocentric dick but I never thought he had that stored away inside his soul."

"The thing to know about Shadows, especially the Shadow of Palace Rulers as we'd call them is that they're exaggerations of how the owners actually feel. Seems to be the case from the few Palaces we've been able to find." Johnny stated. "We haven't been able to figure out the actual psychology behind the Shadows and why they're the way they are yet."

"I've only met the real Anton once and I already disliked him right away just like the case with his sister." Akira admitted. "The fact someone despite the exaggeration could be such an asshole to that degree and act like that everyday sickens me. As long as he's still on the streets, no one will ever be safe."

"If only we could do something about it..." Manic murmurs.

"Hey, I remember seeing you guys from Sunday." Akira said to Johnny and Cortez.

"You did?" Cortez raises a brow.

"My taxi was passing through the street you guys were travelling in."

Johnny nodded. "Thought you'd look familiar when we found you at Anton's Palace."

"You guys saw each other before?" Manic looked between the three.

"Only once on the way to my new residence. I've only just remembered it now." Akira replied as he then let off a yawn. "I'm feeling tired now."

"You're having post-Metaverse exhaustion. Time flows differently there and tends to leave drain you whenever you leave it." Cortez told him.

"How could time—Shit, I gotta get home!" Akira checks the time on his phone. A few hours had passed while he and Manic were in the Metaverse.

"I think we'll end our meet here." Johnny spoke up.

"I should go find Lil' Jon." Manic swept his quills back. "Make sure that Anton didn't get at him."

"Can you help me back to Cyber City?" Akira asks Manic. "You mentioned you use the sewers to get past the border checkpoint."

"Yeah, I could get you back there."

"We'll see you around." Johnny said to the two as he and Cortez quickly hurries off, leaving Akira and Manic alone.

"Lead the way then." Akira said to Manic. The green hedgehog nodded, beginning to lead Akira towards a particular sewer entrance located in a drainage ditch a block away from the border checkpoint.

"This' it." Manic said, pointing at the entrance. "This big drain mouth here has gotten me to and from each side of the border barriers."

"Along with Lil' John." Akira said as he opens up the drain.

"Yeah, pretty much. It's rumored that drug gangs and mobian traffickers once used these sewers to move product past checkpoints. Then when their operations grew big enough, they realized it was easier to just bribe checkpoint guards and sneak in the product in plain sight."

"Now that you mention it; I heard there's a gang extorting money from the ma and pa shops around here along with other crimes like house burglaries. That as well as hearing the alleged deal they have with the police to keep them off their backs or something like it and no-one's willing to talk." Akira remembers something from his campus tour. "Would you know anything about it?"

"What more could I tell ya than it sounds like just about every large gang in this city." Manic replied, blowing back his hair. "Aside from Anton's gang the Hooligans, there's plenty of other gangs in this city that do that."

"Yet this gang is protected somehow from the law and that other Anton mentioned a Captain Krouch when he spoke to us in the cells. One that had you arrested on false charges according to him."

"...That bastard has had it in for me since I got out. He's always harassing my other friends around here. Anyone connected to me is an enemy on his shit list."

"Including me. I knew I'm on Migu's shit-list for standing up to her but knowing that I'm on his list just by my proxy with you is a whole other story." Akira said as he went down into the sewers.

"Well, he doesn't yet know you're friends with me. As long as we're not seen together in public by him, you should be fine." Manic opens a leather bag he had hung by the sewer entrance and got out a tactical glowstick flare, activating it as he began to use it to light the way.

"Good thing one of the gangs that used to use these tunnels stashed these here years back." Manic spoke, leading the wolf through the underground. "Equally good thing that they still work."

"I'd still have the harpy to deal with at the campus and if Anton haven't lost interest in me by now, it'll be a problem for me later on."

"I suppose only time will tell on both of those. Then again, Mobius is a big place, yet pretty much everyone on the planet knows one another... That's what my foster father always told me..."

"Everyone thinks they know one another." Akira said as Manic's phone buzzed. Manic quickly checked his phone, it's Little John ringing him as per the caller ID.

"Manic? You're still alive!" Little John greeted him on the other end when Manic answered the phone. "Seriously, where the hell were you at and why didn't you pick up earlier? I've been trying to get ahold of you for about the last three and half hours. By the way, have you lost him yet? That guy looked pissed."

"Yeah, I definitely was pissed." Akira chimed in, surprising the brown hedgehog on the phone. "Pissed enough to think of kicking your ass before I met Anton."

"Dang, the dude seriously there with you?"

"Uh... Yeah, he is..." Manic glances to his lupine companion. "It's a long story and I'll fill you in on the details when I meet you at the hideout. You probably won't believe most of it but trust me, it'll be the truth."

"Alright, alright. You bringing him along to the hideout, are you taking him home for some "hot coffee" or something?"

"Hot coffee?" Akira mouthed to Manic, not understanding the slang from Little John. Manic looked to Akira and mouthed back the words "Don't ask".

Manic then said into the phone, "I mean, I'm certain he probably has someplace to be but I'll be there before too long. Just gotta get him into the Cyber City half."

"Like walking a granny across the street crossing." Little John chirped.

"You found the museum yet?" Akira replied back.

"Yeah, I did. Thanks."

"You're welkome." The wolf does an impression of John's fake foreign accent.

"Well, we're nearing the exit point. I'll text you when I'm close." Manic told his friend.

"Alright man."

"I'll see you then." Manic told him before hanging up.

"You're really going to tell him about the Metaverse?" Akira questioned.

"I mean... Even if I did, would he believe me?" Manic responded.

"If you told him I called Anton's sister a trout and Anton calling me your bosom buddy, would he believe that?"

"He'd probably believe it."

Akira nodded. "How much further?"

"Right here." Manic said as they approached the ladder that led to an alley right outside the border barrier and safely in the Cyber City half.

"Right." Akira looked up at the ladder. "This is where we'll go our separate ways for now. There any place or landmark where I'd be able to look for you at next time?"

"Mmm... There's this neat retro candy store malt shop I hang out at in Geno City." Manic replied after thinking it over. "It's over on Soucie Street and it's called 'Rockwell's'. You can't miss it. The one store on that whole street that has that distinct art deco theme to it. The owner even has a couple of replica Norman Rockwell paintings hung up in it. He even hired a local muralist to paint a Norman Rockwell-inspired mural on the back wall of the shop. Swing by there any afternoon. We'll get some milkshakes and root beer floats together."

"Gotcha." Akira wrote the shop's name down on his phone. "We could discuss what to do next after what we witnessed today."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Well, I'll see you around. I'm certain you probably have something to do today, right?"

"I got someone I'm expecting a visit from at my place if she hasn't dropped by while we were in that other world." Akira replied. "If I don't come to Geno City, you can look for me at the plaza near the college campus over in Zack Square. I'll see you about tomorrow." Before he'd climb up the ladder, Manic stopped him for a moment. "Yes?"

"Listen, uh..." Manic sighs. "I know I already said this but I'm sorry about earlier. I just... A lot of people are suffering in Geno City and me and my partner... We try to make things better for them in any way we can... And by that I mean we steal from people who are more well-off and give the profits from the heists to the more poor and poverish and the orphans of the city."

"I'll have to see more of Geno City to get a better picture of the problem it's having but I can understand why you did that, even if it took being close to getting executed to get it." The wolf said with a curt nod to Manic. "Before all this, I would have been largely indifferent to it all and keep my head down rather than get involved in anything that could have interfered with the routines. Figured it'd be easier to get through life that way til my encounter with Anton put things into prospective for me, snapping out of that aimless mindset and making me find more agency than that."

"Liberation through Attentiveness." Manic said with a nod. "Well, I'll see you around."

Akira nodded as Manic walks away and headed up the ladder before returning to the surface in an alley located within the good side of Cyber City. The wolf would then quickly head off home to his apartment with the cardigan hoodie up to obscure his face in public.

"I can tell there's a sense of gratitude from him in those words." The voice of Doctor Omega says to him from within his thoughts, surprising the wolf. "He'd be a gon—

"Wait, you can even speak to me in the real world?" Akira questions mentally.

"I am thou, thou art I. It applies to more than just the Metaverse my dear Akira."

"You really are a part of me then..."

Akira's Apartment, Cyber City

Evening

He eventually got back home and slumped onto his couch in exhaustion. Feeling like wanting to go to sleep or just lazying about after his accidental trip into the Metaverse and the awakening of his Persona which made the journey back to his apartment that much more tiring.

With all the excitement going on today, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see anybody else now in the evening. Akira's phone then rang and he checked to find the caller ID is that of his social worker Cristina.

"Ugh... Can I just lie here and not answer it right now..." Akira groans to himself, rubbing his eyes as he goes to answer the call after some prompting from the Doctor. "Akira here."

"Akira, I've been trying to get ahold of you all day." Cristina said, sounding worried. "You weren't here when I came by for our appointment earlier and I was just considering the police to search the city if you hadn't picked up now."

'Shit. So I had missed the appointment...' Akira berated himself before quickly coming up with an excuse she'd buy and have it be a believable one without bringing up Manic, Anton or the Metaverse. "...Well, I was heading down from the campus to go get my watch checked but I ended up getting sidetracked in the city along the way that had me forget about the appointment today and must have lost track of the time as well as having my phone set to silent mode while I was exploring the city. Apologies there."

"Quite alright..." Cristina replied, buying the fib without question. "I'll try to see if I can squeeze you in tomorrow."

"You don't have to. I'll be out tomorrow in the afternoon."

"Fair enough."

"I'll need to explore more of the city anyhow."

"Of course. Better to be familiar with your new surroundings than wandering about an unfamiliar place. If you want, I could try to come by early before you have to go to classes."

"If it isn't too inconvenient for you..."

"It's no trouble to me at all. My first priority is ensuring your prosperity."

"Of course." Akira nodded slowly. "There anything else I should know about?"

"Not at the moment. You will be the first to know once something comes up of course."

"Then I'll let you go whatever you have to do for the evening. Bye." Akira then ends the call as he runs a hand over his face and looks at the red eye app with a groan before throwing it down on his furniture. "Thanks a lot app for making me miss my appointment today and making a liar out of me there..."

Manic and Little John's Hideout, Geno City

Evening

"...Man, that's like something you'd experience when you're passing the blunt around with someone but for real." Little John remarked after hearing Manic telling him the story of what transpired after their latest pickpocket attempt went wrong. The hideout looks exactly like how one expects it to be for a pair of street thieves to live in with an old but comfy couch, a stolen TV, second-hand carpet, posters and other nicknacks they've picked up over the years.

"I know, right? At first, I myself thought I'd finally lost it but turns out I was the most lucid I've ever been my entire life."

"I wouldn't have believed it if the circumstances weren't so strange and the fact that the dude we were pickpocketing from was the one to save your life in the Metaverse thing along with being on a first-name basis with him when earlier, he would have been giving you an ass-kicking over a broken wristwatch. Shame you both weren't puffing a good joint together to come up with the Metaverse or I'd be asking for some of that good stuff myself." Little John chuckled at the thought. "Man, that would have made up for the two hundred mobium loss today."

"And they had these Persona things, too…"

"So, they're like these spirits that comes out of them to fight those Shadow monsters and you said you were the first to see Akira's Persona firsthand along with his costume."

"Yeah. It was insanely cool, man…"

"Though you did say he had more blood coming from taking off his mask than any hardcore wrestling matches..." Little John leans back in his chair at the wooden table they found from a skip one day. "Still, the fact Anton knew that his sister's been lying to him and still chooses to go after people that "upset" her makes me like him even less than before. And you've only seen a tiny portion of his 'Palace'..."

"Totally man…" Manic replied, leaning against a House of the Dead Pinball Machine in the room. "He's even worse than we both thought he was and he was pretty shitty to begin with."

"A guy who sees himself as "influential" no less, yet his Palace has Geno City and Cyber City in ruin while having both gold monuments stand tall amongst it all. What do you think that means?"

"Well, Anton did mention his dad is the Mayor's chef..." Manic recalls. "Honestly, I didn't think the chefs of city officials or national politicians had that much agency in things. Pfft. Shows what I know."

"And his mother's a member of the P.T.A too. Beats me on how the hell the Verucas manages to have that much power for him and his brothers to be able to run the Hooligans while they look like respectable people of society." Little John shook his head. "Think the Mayor has any knowledge of Anton's activities?"

"I doubt it and even if he did, he'd probably only deal with it when he's looking bad for doing nothing."

"Your new friend is of the opinion that he's fully aware of the problems around here but doesn't give a shit to do anything about it unless they bleed into Cyber City. He seems to know what's up for a newcomer unlike a lot of those fools over in Cyber City that's been living in the city longer than he has."

"Aye... Y'know, I'm starting to agree. I mean, I would sometimes say things when it was just you and I around and those were just me being overly critical of the city's politics. But now, I'm starting to agree with my own cynicism. The Mayor only seems interested in fixing the problems he actually wants to see while turning a blind eye to everything else."

"Considering what we've been dealing with here, I don't blame you for thinking that. But who knows, perhaps things could change for Geno City and it won't have the Genocide City moniker whenever it's recognised as apart of the same whole as the greater Cyber City rather than a dumping ground for society's garbage. It just needs the right kick in the direction."

"Who knows..." Manic shrugged, then sighed; "Well, I'm gonna meet up with this guy again tomorrow. Hopefully Krouch doesn't find a reason to get on my case tomorrow."

"He'd look for any excuse to harass us for nearly anything, even for stuff we have nothing to do with. I'll assume he'll do the same towards the new guy if he catches him with you." Little John said, drinking his soda. "You think he might have a Palace of his own if Anton's got one?"

"Maybe. I mean, it's definitely possible."

"Probably thinks himself as the Sheriff of Nottingham, a supercop or as a prison warden by my guess." Little John taps a finger on the table. "Want me to come along to the meet?"

"I guess you could come with."

"May as well introduce myself to him proper if you're going to be seeing him around a lot and it is only right I'd thank him for saving your sorry ass from getting pummelled by Anton's cronies."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Still can't get over the part where Anton wrote him off as your you know what without actually knowing anything about him." Little John chuckles a bit. "I mean, it sounds like to me that Anton might have been self-projecting there with the insults. Why else would he have assumed other than trying to wind you up?"

"Ohhhh, that's just Anton being insecure about his own sexuality." Manic assured, laughing with his childhood friend. "I mean I'm perfectly comfortable and secure about my sexuality, so that didn't really bother me nearly as much as the other shit he was saying did."

"Still making tasteless jokes about your foster dad as always." Little John shook his head with a sigh. "What I wouldn't give to shut his mouth and who knows what Akira would do if he got his hands on him. Suppose that applies to everyone else here who has to deal with his shit all the time."

"Undoubtably..."

"At least you made it out okay in the end as did the other dude, even if we tried to steal a broken watch from him..."

Akira gaze over his old analogue watch with distant eyes, running two fingers over the glass surface and seated on his couch in his own apartment. A family heirloom. A piece of home. A physical reminder of his own past.

Everyday, he still replays that one traumatic memory over and over in his mind; ever hoping to find the truth he's trying to look for. Sorrow and wrath the two emotions he associates the memory with. Sadness for what transpired. Rage for what caused it.

Doctor Omega knows. He knows why.

Author's Notes: Akira has now awakened to his Persona the Doctor from Doc—Uhh, Doctor Omega from Le Docteur Oméga or Doctor Omega; a public domain 1906 science fiction novel by Arnould Galopin. A respected and prolific French author who's won a French Academy's Grand Prize for Sur le Front De Mer in 1918.

In any case, he is in the building now and so are the other two Persona users plus an AI companion. What is the deal with Anton Veruca, his ties to Manic and why is he such an asshole?

You readers will have to keep on reading and find out for yourselves. Leave your thoughts in the reviews. See you all next time.