Back with a new chapter and I've really enjoyed writing this story. The idea came to me out of nowhere and I just decided to write and see what I was capable of. I really do hope that I'm doing a good job and that anyone who reads my story truly enjoys it.

Phantom Thief of Hearts: Even though we PM'd I really do like how you're asking questions. In short and in order of your questions: Slight anime with LN mixed in, yes, no new Bonds but yes for new Personas, and yes PQ2 happened, Scramble has not.

Tora Lych: Yes, I will incorporate stories from both Index and Railgun :)

Craytherlay: Although the story doesn't start where you say, I do like how you made parallels with Ren and Touma.

FFvsKH: Ask and you shall receive :)

Guest: Yes, yes he does.

Disclaimer: I do not own Persona 5 Royal or Toaru Majutsu no Index.

It felt strange going to sleep without a talking cat to tell you to do so, but Ren wouldn't complain. Today would be the first day of school for him in a new world, and understanding what could be a completely different set of rules or laws would be something that he would need full focus for.

The boy who was still in his pajamas checked his phone and stared at it. It had become a habit of his to check the group messages that the rest of the Phantom Thieves sent him while he was away. He was somewhat disheartened but knew that coming alone was the best course of action.

The boy got out of bed and decided to make some coffee and curry. Ren had developed an extreme fondness of the combination and made it almost every day. Sojiro Sakura, the man who became a father figure to him, taught him how to make the best combination of a meal and hot drink in the world.

After finishing his breakfast, Ren decided to tinker with some items and stockpile them in case of an emergency. Goho-M's and Vanish Balls were the main priority as it would keep him out of sight and would allow him to return home instantly if he deemed it necessary. If he could use Personas in the real world, what would stop his items from working?

Putting on his school uniform and glasses, the now average-looking boy set off for school, where he hoped that his reputation from his planet did follow him.

He took the bus to school this time to get to school sooner. It felt better than taking the subway in Shibuya due to him being able to get a seat right away.

When the bus arrived at the stop, Ren carried his bag over his shoulder and continued to walk towards the school.

Walking up the school's steps, Ren noticed people talking with their friends look at him and start talking about him.

"Who is that…"

"Is he a new student?"

"He looks really attractive…"

"Do you think he has an ability?"

It felt strange that even though he believed he looked average, people still managed to talk about him because they didn't recognize him.

The Trickster, however, much preferred this over threats and misleading information about himself. This could be taken as a restart of some kind from which he could live without the constant rumors being spread about him.

Walking into Class 7, Ren noticed that most of the students were already there and speaking to each other.

"Everyone settle down!" the short instructor said firmly. "Although it is a bit of an awkward time, we have another new transfer student."

The boy scanned the room, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A certain high school for a certain 'average' high school student.

"Hello everyone," said Ren. "My name is Ren Amamiya, I look forward to getting to know all of you."

The whispers in the room began and mostly questioned why another transfer student came at this time. Ren had grown accustomed to people always talking about him so nothing fazed him at this point.

"Well then Amamiya," Komoe said. "You can take the desk that's in front of Kamijou's. He's the boy with the black spiky hair."

The boy who was named waved his hand.

Something was off though. From looking at Kamijou, Ren could tell that there was more than meets the eye about him.

So he decided to use his third eye.

There was something focused on Kamijou's right hand, but Ren had no idea what to make of it. The boy seemed harmless, but the little information he had on that could be useful.

But if there was anything Ren had learned about people, it's to never trust them at face value.

"Hey, nice to meet you," Kamijou said. "The name's Touma Kamijou, these here are my two friends, Tsuchimikado and Aogami."

The boys in question were sitting across from each other. The one named Tsuchimikado wore sunglasses and had blonde hair, that part reminded him of Ryuji. Aogami had blue hair and pierced ears. All three of them looked painfully average. It would be nice to befriend them and have people he could rely on later.

The other boys who sat next to him said their greetings and then stopped talking when Komoe gave them a glare.

All in all the classroom setting seemed quite intent on listening to Komoe speak as if she was the most important speaker in history. Ren knew he couldn't afford to fail class even if he technically didn't need to do anything, but being more involved in academics could help make him stand out less so Ren went on the rest of class listening closely.

The idea of hearing AIM Fields and Personal Reality seemed really confusing, but it reminded him of Persona summoning. Not at all alike, but the fact that an Esper had to distort reality for themselves to use their ability and grow brought him to Palaces which brought him to Persona summoning. To Ren, it was basically like forcing a Palace to form and being aware of it. It made sense now that there was no Metaverse to use. If an Esper successfully distorted themselves causing their powers to form in the real world, there would be no Metaverse to house Palaces.

This also explained the high-level calculations Espers used to wield their power. Due to natural law, they had to adjust and focus incredibly hard and ensure their 'Palace' wouldn't fail.

Ren was greatly intrigued by this but he was also glad that didn't have to go through all that just to use an ability.

As Komoe finished lecturing the trio of boys began to speak to him.

"What school did you transfer from new guy?" Tsuchimikado asked.

"Just from one in District 18," Ren responded. "Wanted to live a more quiet life so I decided to transfer here."

"So, do you have an ability?" the blonde asked.

"Nope," Ren replied. "I'm a Level 0, I just don't understand all of those concepts no matter how hard I try."

Ren's mask was now put on. He was a master liar, manipulator, and speaker. Yoshida had taught him everything he needed to know, even if it was a bit inadvertently.

"Same here," the blonde and spiky hair boy said at the same time.

"Well, now that school's over for today I gotta go run some errands." the boy with sunglasses said.

"Shit!" Kamijou yelled. "That reminds me of a sale at the market. I need to go before my roommate kills me!"

Kamijou had bolted out of the room without saying his goodbyes leaving the three other boys there.

"Well I should get going too," Ren said.

"It was nice to meet you, hope all four of us get along," Aogami said with a mischievous grin.

"It was nice to meet all of you too," Ren replied.

The grin didn't go unnoticed, more so Ren didn't want to think about the meaning behind it. The blue-haired boy definitely seemed, off, to say the least.

As he continued out of the class and into the hallway, a girl who was waiting at the door looked up at him and tapped him on the shoulder.

From her appearance, she was a girl with a slender build and above-average height. Her hair was somewhat long and black. The attribute that struck Ren the most, however, was the girl's bust size.

"Hey," said the girl. "I'm Seiri Fukiyose, nice to meet you."

It felt strange that someone went out of their way to greet him. Usually, when people walked up to him they had something against him or just wanted to get a rise out of him.

"Hello, is there something you need from me?" Ren replied.

"No, I just wanted to introduce you and warn you about those idiots that you were speaking with earlier."

"Idiots?" the boy questioned.

"Kamijou, Aogami, and Tsuchimikado. All three are idiots and always try to get into trouble with everyone in the class, even Ms. Komoe."

"So you're warning me to stay away from them?"

"Warning you from them, yes. Telling you to stay away from them? That's your choice. I just wanted you to know how they act so you won't get in trouble with them."

"Thank you for the heads up, Miss. Fukiyose." the boy said with a smile.

"Don't mention it," Fukiyose said returning the smile. "Oh! One more thing. You know how the Daihasei Festival is coming up right?"

Ren didn't know what the Daihasei Festival was at all. He had been too focused on the layout of the city and marking personal areas when he walked to and from school. The fact that it's a festival means it might only pertain to the school so Ren would use the little knowledge he had and make something up as to not look suspicious, or dumb.

"Of course, who wouldn't?" lied the Trickster.

"Well, now that you're at our school I hope that you bring your very best to the table. I'm part of the Daihasei Administrative Committee so when we are competing and doing things when it begins I'd like your opinion of how the Festival goes. I worked really hard so I hope you give a great opinion."

Ren understood now. Fukiyose was looking out for a new student and even though they knew nothing about each other, he could tell that she wanted to make sure he would adjust well and make integrating easier. Part of what she did felt like it came from an experience, perhaps there was another transfer student and she was using what she learned on that person on him.

"Of course! I'm sure it'll be great." Ren gave her another smile.

The girl smiled in return.

"Thank you very much, Amamiya, I hope we can get along well."

The girl turned around and began to walk away. Ren noticed another girl with bangs and waist-length black hair waiting for her at the end of the hallway.

The feeling of being treated normally was something that would take Ren some time to get used to, but he in no way took it for granted.

'Well damn, time to look up what in the hell the Daihasei Festival is,' thought Ren.

Deciding to get something to eat, Ren stopped by Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant. Taking out his phone and doing research on the Daihasei was something that he didn't believe would take long, and checking out the coffee in the area was something he wanted to do.

'So, the Daihasei Festival is essentially a huge competition between every school in the city. It spans over seven days and only the elite schools really have a chance at winning. No offense to my school, but I highly doubt we'd be able to go far. I guess the main point is to have fun and see what Espers are capable of. It'd be funny if I summoned Lucifer in the middle of a match, I bet a lot of people would piss themselves.' the Trickster thought.

As the boy joked with himself, he noticed two girls who looked like middle schoolers talking about the Festival. One had an arrangement of flowers on her head, had very short hair, and was immediately going to work on a laptop while the other had one flower clip on her black mid-length hair.

The two girls seemed nothing out of the ordinary, but what struck Ren the most though, was the flower headed girl's ability on the laptop.

Normally, no normal person would know what she was doing, but that's exactly what made her good.

Ren felt somewhat bad using his third eye on her, but he could see that she was probably on Futaba's level of hacking ability. If he could get her to side with him then that could make his journey on finding out whatever much easier.

Ren was already setting a plan in motion. He was used to talking to new people and forming relationships with people he would otherwise never speak to. His team commented on his immense amount of charisma which gave him the confidence to talk to anyone he met.

The girls had only just sat down and began to speak, so Ren thought it a good idea to mention the Daihasei Festival as a way to integrate himself into the conversation easily.

The boy with the messy black hair walked up to their table and began to speak.

"Hey, I heard you guys talking about the Daihasei and was wondering if I could talk to you guys about it?"

The girls looked slightly dumbfounded that a high school boy would want to talk to them, but they decided to let him join.

"Sure thing," the short hair girl said. "Let me properly introduce myself, I'm Kazari Uiharu."

"I'm Ruiko Saten," the other girl said right after.

"It's nice to meet both of you," the Trickster said. "I'm Ren Amamiya. Sorry if I'm bothering, I just really wanted to discuss the festival with someone."

"Oh! You're not bothering at all!" the flower headed girl said a bit loudly. "It's just strange that you approached us because no one has done that before."

Ren had once again put on a mask. Although he had no bad intentions, a part of him did feel somewhat guilty approaching these girls in order to get something.

The guilt subsided almost instantly when he realized why he was doing this in the first place.

He was here to save them.

After his thought, a waitress came to take their orders. Ren ordered a black coffee, Saten ordered an iced tea, and Uiharu ordered a crepe with ice cream.

After getting their orders, Ren decided to take the initiative.

"What school do you girls go to?" the boy with glasses said.

"Both of us attend Sakugawa Middle School, I assume you go to a high school nearby?" said the longer haired girl.

"I do, but onto the Festival," the boy said changing the subject. "What do you guys think of the Festival?"

"I can understand the concept of it, but for a Level 0 like me it kinda rubs salt in the wound you know?" said Saten.

"I understand that," Ren replied. "I'm a Level 0 too, and although it could still be fun, it really does feel like there really isn't any attention on us."

Ren and Uiharu noted that Saten was beginning to look a bit upset, in seeing this Ren gave Uiharu a smile and turned to Saten to attempt to lighten to mood.

"So what does a pretty young lady like you take interest in?" the Trickster said with a smile.

If Ren could be completely honest, he did feel a bit creeped out with what he was saying because of the age gap but he did realize it would cheer the girl up.

Saten's cheeks turned a bit more red than normal, but eventually, she composed herself and began to go with the flow of the conversation.

"Well, right now I'm investigating Shadow Metal," Saten said somewhat hesitantly.

"Shadow Metal? What's that?" the boy replied showing great interest.

"So, Shadow Metal is supposedly formed when a bunch of really strong Esper's fight. The Daihasei would be the perfect opportunity for it to form!" the girl said with a bubbly face.

"Supposedly? Does that mean you aren't certain?"

"Well," Uiharu chimed in. "Saten here seems really obsessed with looking for urban legends, and Shadow Metal was on the list of the website she was looking at."

Urban legends were interesting to read. Most of them were a complete hoax, but it was interesting to see a girl like Saten be so motivated to try and actually find them. It also brought him to a strange thought that if this was the city of science, why would she even be bothering with it in the first place?

"What I'm hearing is that you're trying to find something that probably doesn't exist," the Trickster said with a laugh. "I'm actually incredibly impressed with that, so I hope it's actually real."

Ren's true target here was Uiharu, but in his train of thought, if he spoke more to Saten, it would unconsciously make Uiharu want to speak more to him and maybe get her to reveal something that he could use in the future.

"Well right now I'm working on Judgement cases," Uiharu said quickly and with a slight stutter.

Checkmate.

Uiharu had let the charm of the boy get to her and in turn, wanted him to speak to her more. At least, that's what Ren thought.

From his hours of research, Ren found out that the people he had seen wearing the green armbands were members of Judgement. Judgment was a student disciplinary committee tasked with helping Anti-Skill, the police force of the city, taking down criminals or rogue Espers.

"That's impressive," Ren said. "As much as I hate to admit it, I'd be terrified to be fighting other people for the sake of justice."

It was funny how that was the polar opposite of what Ren would do, but getting information was his number one priority.

"Actually I specialize in computer work," Uiharu stated. "I can't go into detail, but I mostly guide my branch and help them with data gathering."

"So in layman's terms, you're a master hacker right?" Ren said with a smirk.

Uiharu had a shocked expression on her face.

"No! That's not true!"

"It's ok, your secret's safe with me." the boy said while giving the flustered girl a wink.

Uiharu struggled to find words and Ren decided to head out.

"As thanks for letting me talk to you girls, this bill is on me," Ren stated.

"We can't let you do that!" both said in unison.

"Well then, if you girls are so worked up then maybe we can make a deal." the boy said.

"A deal?" Uiharu said.

"I'll pay for the bill, and in return, both of you will give me your contact information."

Ren knew that he had left a very good impression on them. The chances of them turning him down were zero at this point.

"Well," both girls said with a blush. "If you insist."

Ren said his goodbyes and walked out of the restaurant.

He was making connections, and hopefully, they would turn into his allies.

After walking for around fifteen minutes, Ren was beginning to feel something out of place nearby.

"Somebody please help me!" a girl shouted.

Ren looked around and noticed that no one was following the voice. Did no one care enough to help someone in need?

Ren ran to an alley and made sure no one had his eyes on him when suddenly there was a flash of blue fire. The Trickster could feel the power surging within him. He had grown to absolutely love this feeling, but helping others was always the one thing that could trump his ability.

The boy always one to jump headfirst into danger to save those who didn't have a voice in society. It had happened to him, so in return for his almost doomed fate, he promised he would protect anyone that felt the way used to.

The boy, now revealing his true self ran to where he was hearing the voice.

"Shut your damn mouth!" a man said.

"This will be easy as long as you just relax!" said another man.

When Ren got to the sounds of the voices, he saw four men surrounding a girl of middle school age. One of them had grey hair with an arm filled with tattoos and a spiked choker. Another had black hair and looked extremely dirty. The third was incredibly short but had muscles that made up for it. The last one was about twice the size of Ren and was holding a bat in his left hand. He was absolutely disgusted by the fact that they were trying to get their way with her.

"Why don't you guys leave her alone?" the now masked boy said confidently.

"What the hell?!" all four men said laughing.

"Are you supposed to be a clown boy? Get the hell out of here before we beat your ass up!" the one with tattoos said.

"I'm afraid I can't do that grandma," Ren quipped. "You decided to pick on a defenseless girl, and for that, I'm going to have to teach you four a lesson."

A huge grin showed up on Ren's face. He could tell that all four of them were incredibly weak and wouldn't even need to bother with Personas or weapons to fight them.

"What are you guys doing?!" the one with the bat said. "Beat his ass up!"

Normally a three on one would be unfair an unfair fight for anyone, but Ren had fought rats stronger than these people.

The black-haired one charged right at him and wildly threw punches at the Thief. The boy easily dodged and laughed while doing so.

"Fight back you little asshole!" the man said.

"Ok, but remember you asked for it," the boy replied.

The boy did a back handspring and immediately took a quick step forward to the man who was fighting like he was swatting a bee. Ren hit the side of the man's neck quickly and the tattooed man was immediately knocked unconscious.

"How the hell?" the huge man said. "What the hell is your ability?"

Ren knew with his next line he would absolutely humor them.

"I'm actually a Level 0, I just don't see myself as weak as all of you do."

The last part revealed the boy knew about them being Skill-Out. He had read up on them and understood their resentment to society for being mistreated, but he couldn't comprehend their methods.

"You don't know shit!" the grey-haired man roared.

Seeing as the girl had still not run away, Ren opted to finish all of them to finally give her a sense of peace.

He instantly turned to the grey-haired man and gave him a threatening glare. The man froze which allowed Ren to easily rush him and deliver a blow to the head. The blow didn't incapacitate the man, and he was still in a stupor. The truth is Ren had inflicted him with fear which made him unable to move. Ren merely walked up to the man this time and threw him over his shoulder onto the ground. The short one had run up to him at this point in hopes of trying to avenge his friends, but even he knew it was futile.

"You think you're tough!?" the short one said.

"Yes," the Trickster responded grinning once more. "Tougher than you at least."

This man actually looked like he could fight, but no matter what they had up their sleeves, they would never in their lifetime be able to overcome the Trickster.

Ren ran and slid to the man sweeping his legs and making him fall right on his back.

"AGHHH!" yelled the muscular man in pain.

Finishing him off, Ren placed a precise him on his neck incapacitating the third one.

Turning to the last one, Ren smiled and motioned his finger telling him to bring it on.

"Big mistake kid!" the bat-wielding man said.

Ren stood still while the man charged at him. Knowing Alilat was active, he had absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Watch out!" the girl yelled.

The man swung the bat right at Ren's head and made contact.

The boy kept on looking at him, smiling.

"That was a weak swing don't you think?" the masked boy said.

The last man against him looked at the boy in horror.

"Who the hell are you?"

Ren had waited for this moment.

"Joker."

Feel free to leave a review, comments, suggestions, or any ideas you guys have.

I currently have a lot of energy to write so I hope I can continue to try and update frequently.