AN: This story is now being cross-posted on AO3.

April 8 – Friday

Urano Motosu's PoV

As I ate breakfast, I thought about yesterday's Palace exploration.

Morgana and I had made our way to the area right before Futaba's Treasure. The only major obstacle left was the cognitive version of the door to her room, which she saw as impenetrable. All we needed to do to pass was to enter Futaba's real-world room.

As a result, Morgana had tasked me with writing a calling card for Futaba – because, for whatever reason, a Treasure can't be stolen unless a person believes that it's being threatened. Unfortunately, I had no idea what to write.

"Why the long face?" asked Sojiro.

"I can't think of what to write for Futaba's calling card," I said, distracted.

"Calling card?" he repeated, confused. I froze, realizing my slip-up. "Is that some sort of video game thing? From one of those cross-country multiplayer games?"

"Ah, yes!" I lied hastily, thanking my lucky stars that Sojiro was old. "We were texting about it yesterday, but I haven't been able to come up with anything good."

"Well, I can't help you much there," replied Sojiro. "Still, I'm glad that the two of you are getting along so well. You were both hidden away in your own separate worlds just a few days ago. It's good to know that you have each other now."

It felt a bit awkward to hear Sojiro overestimate how close Futaba and I were, but he did have a point. Going through life alone was, well, lonely. I'd been too focused on my books to realize it before, but Mom and Shuu were comforting presences in my life. I truly hoped that, one day, I would be that important to Futaba.

"Wait a second…" I muttered. "That's it! I know what to write!"

With that declaration, I got up from the breakfast table and ran to my room. I wouldn't be giving to her until later in the day, but I wanted to make the calling card while the idea was still fresh in my mind.

.

"I guess that means I have to clean all of the dishes myself," said Sojiro dryly, not that anyone heard him.

Futaba Sakura's PoV

Don't you think it's time you grasped the truth of that moment? Are you simply going to shut yourself in and do nothing? Are you going to avert your eyes from the true answer?

The words of her 'other self' echoed in Futaba's head and weighed on her heart. A part of her wanted to dismiss it all as another hallucination, but she knew that was a lie.

Luckily, Futaba was saved from the heavy questions by a knock on her room's door. For the first time ever, she was happy to have a visitor.

"Hi Futaba," greeted Urano through the door. The bookworm had probably just gotten back from school. "I've got an important update. There's only one obstacle left before we reach your Treasure, but we need your help to pass it."

[What do you need?] typed the shut-in, her pulse quickening. Today would be the day her heart was changed, even if the thought made her feel a pang of guilt.

"I need you to open the door to your room and let me in."

…

On second thought, Futaba preferred her 'other self's' hard questions.

[I'm not mentally prepared!] she sent.

"Then I'll wait out here until you are. Your Shadow self said that this is the only way."

[My shadow self?]

Probably a Metaverse term, though Futaba could only guess at its meaning.

"Capital-S Shadow. She represents your hidden self, and if she wants to open this door, then deep down, so do you."

…

Urano was right. Futaba wasn't happy like this. If she had been, she wouldn't have agreed to have her heart changed. But still…

[Give me some time]

Urano consulted with Morgana (Futaba assumed, based on the meowing) before giving a response.

"You have five minutes. If you don't open it by then, we'll resort to plan B – picking the lock on your door and hoping that changes your cognition. But I don't think any of us want that."

[Alright] sent the shut-in, grimacing. The only thing worse than inviting somebody in would be having somebody force their way in. Of course, it still took Urano attempting to pick the lock – or maybe it was Morgana – to finally force Futaba to actually open the door.

Of course, Futaba immediately hid in her closet.

"Huh," went Urano, entering. "I'm not sure whether to be bothered by the mess or excited by all of the books. Hey, where are you Futaba?"

The shut-in shifted around in the closet, accidentally making a thumping sound. Morgana meowed in response, likely telling the bookworm something.

"Wh-what did he say?" forced out Futaba, her curiosity slightly outweighing her nerves.

"That a new obstacle probably just formed around your Treasure," answered Urano. "We need to meet face-to-face in order to change your cognition enough to reach the Treasure."

Futaba tried very hard to think of a reason why Morgana's apparent conclusion was wrong or of an alternative solution to it, but her knowledge of cognitive psience told her that there wasn't one. Steeling her resolve, the shut-in came out of the (literal) closet.

"Th-there!" Futaba exclaimed, spreading her arms out dramatically. "Now steal it!"

"Cute," said Urano as she stared at Futaba, making the shut-in feel even more embarrassed. Morgana gave an annoyed meow, making the bookworm blush. "Right. Here, Futaba. We need you to read this to make the Treasure materialize."

Urano handed her a card. It said 'Futaba Sakura has committed the sin of sloth, hiding herself away until she dies. Thus, we will rob her of her distorted desires and free her from that lonely tomb.'

Reading it gave her a brief headache, but Futaba ignored it. She had a question she wanted ask, and, seeing as how Urano was already in her room, now was the time to ask it.

"H-how do you enter the Metaverse?" asked Futaba.

"Huh?" went Urano, glancing at Morgana. The cat sighed then meowed, making the bookworm smile. "Morgana said I can take a few minutes to tell you. A few days ago, I found a weird app on my phone. It…"

Interestingly, Urano's description of the 'MetaNav's' appearance matched that of a strange app that had mysteriously shown up on Futaba's phone after the bookworm promised to change her heart. Hint, hint.

Morgana's PoV

"T-Treasure…" said Morgana when he laid his eyes on the sarcophagus. As he approached it, he distantly heard Urano speak.

"Wait a second… Is Futaba's Treasure a mummy!?"

However, before Morgana could open the sarcophagus and answer Urano's question, a loud screech echoed through the tomb and put them both on guard.

A hole was suddenly punched open in pyramid's wall, exposing the sun. A giant eye poked through the hole, glaring at Morgana and Urano. The eye's owner shrieked 'Fuuutaaabaaa!' in a shrill, garbled, female voice.

"What is that!?" cried Urano, looking to Morgana for answers.

"I don't know!" responded Morgana, also freaked out by the unknown creature. All he could do was speculate. "It isn't a Shadow or Futaba… the only thing it can be is a cognitive being – a monster that Futaba's cognition created!"

At the word 'monster,' the cognition blew apart the rest of the chamber's walls, making the room into the Palace's new roof. In the process, the monster allowed the duo to finally get a good look at it.

The cognition was a massive sphinx. It had the body of a lion, the wings of a bird, and the head of a black-haired woman with glasses. Morgana could guess that the sphinx's head was somebody Futaba knew, but who could it be?

"It's Futaba's mother!" exclaimed Urano, horrified.

Ah. Morgana actually felt a bit embarrassed for not realizing the obvious answer, though he silently justified it as him still reeling from the unexpectedness of the situation.

Cognitive Wakaba flapped her wings, unleashing a heavy wind upon the duo. They had to cling to the floor just to avoid being blown away.

"Do not approach the Pharaoh's tomb!" roared the sphinx. "Misfortunate will fall upon you!"

"What do we do?" Urano asked him, her voice brimming with fear.

"We only have two options," answered Morgana. "Run away and give up on changing Futaba's heart, or fight this cognition with all of our strength."

He wouldn't blame Urano for choosing to run and save herself. The sphinx was on an entirely different level from anything they had fought before, and it'd take nothing short of a miracle for just the two of them to defeat it. Heck, the only reason he was even considering fighting the monstrosity was because he was too stubborn to renege on his deal with Urano.

"I promised Futaba that I'd change her heart," said Urano, the fear in her voice fading and being replaced with steel. "We'll take that sphinx down or die trying!"

Her words surprised Morgana. In just a few days, Urano had developed an incredible amount of resolve. He felt with inexplicable certainty that the power of her heart – the power of the Wild Card – would change the world one day.

"Then you will die!" shrieked Cognitive Wakaba, striking Urano with one of her paws.

…Assuming that the two of them didn't 'die trying' today.

Futaba Sakura's PoV

Futaba looked at her phone, the keywords "Futaba Sakura" and "Sojiro Sakura's house" already inputted into the MetaNav. All she needed was her 'distortion,' not that she knew what that was.

"Distortion… distortion…" muttered the shut-in with mixed feelings.

On one hand, she felt extremely guilty. Not only was Futaba pushing her problems onto Urano and Morgana, but her 'other self's' warnings made it clear that they would die unless she acted.

Nevertheless, the thought of actually entering her Palace filled Futaba with dread. A monument to everything she hated about herself, no doubt filled with the voices of people telling her to die. She… she was just so scared.

"But I don't want to lose them," said Futaba, looking at the calling card Urano had given her. The bookworm had promised to free Futaba from this 'lonely tomb' by changing her heart, but Urano had already rescued the shut-in from her loneliness. "…Wait, 'tomb'!"

"Input accepted," said the MetaNav, confirming that Futaba had guessed correctly. "Searching for route to destination. Beginning navigation."

Futaba's heartbeat quickened as she entered the Metaverse. The hateful voices flooded her ears, their vitriol bringing the shut-in to her knees. Yet, in spite of that, she refused to let go of her phone until she arrived at her Palace.

Urano Motosu's PoV

It had been a shock when Futaba suddenly showed up in the middle of our fight with Cognitive Wakaba. Even more surprising was Shadow Futaba showing up, talking Futaba through her trauma until she remembered the truth, and then transforming into a UFO-shaped Persona that sprouted tentacles to pull Futaba into its cockpit.

(Wait, are Shadow Futaba's midriff-bearing outfit and this new Persona's tentacles signs of Futaba's 'interests'? No, now isn't the time for this!)

Fortunately, Futaba's arrival turned out to be a good surprise. With her Persona, she was somehow able to 'hack' into her Palace and create a barrier around us that reflected the force of Cognitive Wakaba's dive-bombing back at her.

Which was especially good, seeing as how the sphinx had been thrashing me and Morgana.

"Shoot it down with this, then beat the crap out of it!" declared Futaba as her Persona 'hacked' some rubble into a ballista.

As Morgana and I gawked over the weapon's sudden appearance, an idea occurred to me.

"Futaba, can you create another one of those barriers?" I asked.

"Of course!" she replied, brimming with confidence.

"Great! Morgana, take the ballista. I have an idea."

I switched over to Thoth, my latest acquisition. He had the perfect skill for this situation.

"Taunt!" I yelled, having my Persona provoke Cognitive Wakaba. With a scream, the enraged sphinx attacked. "Now, Futaba!"

After getting Thoth, I discovered that his Taunt skill, when successful, boosted the target's attack at the cost of their defense. In other words, when the sphinx struck Futaba's barrier, she caused herself much more damage than she otherwise would have.

"So that Persona actually ended up being useful," commented Morgana dryly as he aimed the ballista at the sphinx and fired. "I guess all of the suffering we endured to get it wasn't pointless."

I pointedly ignored him. Thoth having a book (one with lorem ipsum) already made the time and effort I put into getting him worthwhile.

The battle didn't last much longer. Thank to Futaba's support and Morgana's aim, we made quick work of the sphinx. It was actually kind of ridiculous how easy it was, considering that Cognitive Wakaba had been dominating the fight when it was just Morgana and me. Although, I suppose it does make sense for Futaba and her Persona to be so overpowered, given that she is the Palace Ruler.

"Whoa! what in the world!?" exclaimed Futaba, admiring her Phantom Thief outfit. "Ooh! It's totally skintight!"

Okay, so my guess earlier was right. Futaba is a closet pervert.

Before I could say anything to her, a ghostly, un-distorted Wakaba Isshiki appeared. I kept quiet as her and Futaba had a heartfelt final conversation. When her mother dissolved into light, I gave Futaba a hug.

"Thank you, Urano," she said, returning the hug.

"What are sisters for?" I replied.

"Sisters?"

"I mean, Sojiro adopted you, didn't he? That means you're basically my little sister."

As our hug ended, Futaba seemed to contemplate my words for a few seconds before nodding.

"Yeah, I like the sound of that," she agreed. Futaba became hesitant for a moment. "…Big sis."

Those two words made me overflow with an intense joy. Unable to help myself, I pounced on Futaba and hugged her again.

"Futaba!" I cried, squeezing her tightly.

"Urgh!" gasped Futaba. "Too… tight… Can't… breathe…"

"Don't kill her!" exclaimed Morgana. "We just changed her heart!"

Realizing my mistake, I blushed and let her go.

"Wait a second, Morgana," I said, realizing what he just said. "What are you talking about? We haven't stolen Futaba's Treasure yet."

"But we have, in a manner of speaking," replied Morgana. His cryptic answer reminded me of a certain long-nosed man. "After all, what goes in a sarcophagus?"

"A mummy," Futaba and I answered simultaneously.

Hold on. This Palace was Futaba's tomb. Her Shadow self was dressed like a pharaoh, who were mummified and put in sarcophagi after their deaths. And Shadow Futaba could appear and disappear out of nowhere and pass through solid objects. If you add all of that together, then…

"The Treasure was Shadow Futaba!" I exclaimed, shocked by my realization. "When she appeared throughout the Palace, that was actually her ghost haunting the place."

"I realized it during the fight," explained Morgana. "With the source of Futaba's distortion being what it was, the sarcophagus had to contain either her or her mother. We were already fighting the cognitive version of Wakaba, so it could only be Shadow Futaba herself inside."

"Does that mean I changed my own heart?" asked Futaba. Morgana nodded, making her smile. "Cool. Then I'm going home. I can use the Nav now."

As she abruptly returned to reality, leaving Morgana and I behind, a concerning thought occurred to me.

"Umm, Morgana," I started, growing uneasy. "If Futaba's Shadow is gone, then won't the Palace disappear with it?"

The pyramid shook ominously.

"Shoot, this is bad!" said the not-cat. "Run!"

Luckily, as we ran down the side of the pyramid, Morgana was able to transform. Putting the pedal to the metal, we were able to (barely) escape the Palace's collapse.

Sojiro Sakura's PoV

After closing LeBlanc, Sojiro walked back home to enjoy another peaceful, ordinary evening. Or so he thought.

"Futaba fainted!" shouted a panicking Urano the moment he opened the door. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to Futaba's room. The girl in question was laying on top of her bed, likely placed there by Urano.

"Wait–" Sojiro tried to interject, only to get interrupted by his daughter.

"We need a doctor! Please tell me you know a doctor!"

"Hey–"

"This is all my fault!" exclaimed Urano. Tears ran down her face. "She's like this because of me! I shouldn't have suggested that we–"

"Listen to me!" yelled Sojiro, putting a halt to her spiraling. "Futaba's fine. This happens to her every so often."

"Bwuh!?"

He was so used to it happening that he'd forgotten how shocking it could be.

"She must've used up all her energy," he explained. "It's like she ran out of batteries. I think it happens because she doesn't get enough exercise. She stays like this for a few days whenever this happens."

"Are… are you sure?" she asked, looking at him with a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"Of course," replied Sojiro. Sensing that Urano was still a bit worried, he continued. "All she needs is sleep, although I can have a doctor check on her if that'll make you feel more at ease."

Urano nodded, prompting Sojiro to call Doctor Takemi. Luckily, she was able to come over right away and confirm that, weak muscles and poor stamina aside, Futaba was in good health.

"Futaba is fine," repeated Urano to herself after Doctor Takemi left.

"Yeah, she is," confirmed Sojiro. "She'll wake up in a few days. Now, I'm going to go get started on dinner."

"Okay," nodded Urano. She glanced at the bookshelf behind Futaba's computer, then walked over to it and pulled out a light novel. "Do you think she'll mind if I borrow some of her books?"

"You'll probably be fine as long as you don't damage them," guessed Sojiro.

"Good," replied Urano, a weak smile making its way onto her fact. "This should give us something to talk about once she wakes up."

"I'm sure she'd like that," stated Sojiro, smiling as he left Futaba's room. On his way to the kitchen, he decided to make curry – Wakaba's curry – for dinner.

Hopefully, the smell would make Futaba wake up faster.

Futaba Sakura's PoV

As she slept, Futaba dreamt.

She was a little girl, holding her mother's hand as Wakaba pulled her forward. They were walking down a foggy street, though Futaba had no idea where they were going. She couldn't see any other people or recognize the buildings around them.

Then, her mother's hand slipped away, disappearing into the fog. Futaba, lost and alone, trembled with fear and curled up into a ball. The little girl wished that the fog would swallow her up too.

However, two new hands gently wrapped themselves around her. Sojiro and Urano pulled Futaba to her feet and guided her forward again. With each step she took, the fog grew thinner and Futaba grew older.

When she finally reached her normal age, the now emboldened Futaba sped up. Instead of getting pulled forward by Sojiro and Urano, she was dragging them along. The fog was completely gone, replaced by a clear and sunny sky.

AN: And that is one Palace down. My current plan is for next chapter to be the inter-Palace break and the chapter after to start the next one. A bit swift, but that's to be expected for our favorite bookworm.

By the way, I feel the need to say that Urano and Futaba's relationship is strictly familial. I realize that making an 'out of the closet' joke about Futaba then having Urano call her cute can be misleading, especially since both girls have canonically commented on the appearances of the women around them enough for me to believe that both are bisexual. However, the scene was purely platonic, with Urano blushing because Morgana had called her out for getting distracted.

Honestly, I'm probably making a bigger deal out of this than you (the readers) are. Anyway, that's all for now. Bye!