Waddup, FFNet? It's me, RinOta, adding a new fanfiction to my collection once again! Anyways, about 2 months ago, I was at my best friend's crib, and I was watching him play Persona 5. I had already known of it's existence by then but never really showed that much interest in playing it, although at that time, the game play seemed interesting to me. He noticed and out of the blue, he created a new save file and asked me if I wanted to play it myself. So, I did just that, and almost immediately, I got hooked, and I bought the game for myself right away and finished it! Throughout my playthrough, Ryuji ended up being my favorite character. Naturally, I went online searching for Persona 5 fanfictions, and I came across an interesting piece where Ryuji was the protagonist instead of Ren/Akira, and of course since he's my fave, I was obviously interested! Although, the fic unfortunately suffered from the classic "Good Story, No More Updates" syndrome, and I was left heartbroken since I really liked it. But then, in my moment of desperation, I remembered that I'm a fanfic writer myself! And you know what they say, if you want something done right, you do it yourself! So, here is my own version of an AU where Ryuji is chosen as the Wild Card instead of the protag! I'm really excited to be working on this, and I hope you guys enjoy it too along the way! With that said, let's get into it!
A helicopter can be seen flying above a large body of water as it makes a way towards a brightly-lit and lively-looking city.
Entering the city, the chopper reaches its destination, which appears to be a flashy casino, and moves to land as we pan into the building's interior.
RIIIIIING!
A man gasped in surprise as he dropped the chips on the poker table he had been playing at due to the sudden ringing.
Most of the individuals inside were standing in confusion or movin in a frenzy due to the blaring of a loud alarm.
However, whilst people were trying to assess the situation, a shadowy figure could be seen moving above.
One woman turned around just in time to miss the figure jumping to an opposite floor at top behind her.
"There's something here...!" A middle-aged man warily uttered.
Before panic could spread any further, three serious-looking agents in black suits and sunglasses entered the premises and began to glance around themselves. To others, it seemed like they were looking for something.
Or rather, someone...
Above the chaotic scene, the mysterious figure leaped to another pillar and then made a very long jump before landing on the large casino light located right in the center of the building to purposefully reveal themselves.
"Hey... Up there!" A man in the crowd pointed upwards.
Everyone else followed his direction to see what he was pointing at, and they were surprised by what they saw.
Standing atop the giant light was a strange individual with blonde hair wearing a skull mask, donning an outfit consisting of a black jacket with elbow pads and what appears to be a metal vertebral column attached to its back, pants with knee pads and a double-sided holster belt with ammo on each side, a red ascot on their neck, combat boots, and a pair of yellow gloves with metal knuckle protectors.
They sported a toothy grin, and were holding what seemed to be a metal briefcase.
"He's here. Move in immediately!" One of the agents spoke into their handheld transceivers as him and his men moved through the crowd.
"Heh, losers...!" The skull-masked individual mocked his pursuers before jumping to the edge of a section on the walls.
Carefully but skillfully making his way on the section, he came across a sealed air vent.
"Bingo!" He beamed.
Leaning down, he removed the seal on the vent, sending it flying without a care, and threw the briefcase inside.
"Package, delivered!" He stated with a fist pump before jumping towards a chandelier in the form of tiny hexagons. As he landed, a young and boyish voice emitted from the earpiece in his ear
"Good. Now get running!"
"This is our only chance!" Another male voice spoke.
"Stay calm! You can get away now!" This time a feminine voice stated.
"We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end." Another feminine but slightly more mature-sounding voice assured.
"suspects...not...confirmed...hold...your...positions..."
"Hm...? What was that...?"
"Don't worry about us, Skull. Just concentrate on getting away!"
"Got it." The individual now identified as 'Skull' responded before leaping to another hanging platform.
"But I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move. Nice work as always, Skull!" The young, boyish voice from earlier complimented.
"Heh, it's what I do!" Skull responded with a grin as he made his way down to a curved platform.
"Eh, I'm sure I would've been able to pull that off a lot more smoothly." A deeper voice joked.
This caused Skull to roll his eyes. "Yeah whatever, Joker."
"Then again, being our leader doesn't automatically mean he'd have a sense for aesthetics."
A tick mark appeared on the skull-masked individual's head as he boarded atop another platform, only to see two more agents standing on a balcony near him.
"There he is!" One of them shouted as another joined him.
"Just run! Get out there!"
Normally, Skull would've had no problem dealing with these guys, but he knew the mission was more important, so he jumped to another hexagon-shaped chandelier.
"These dudes're real hellbent on catchin' me. I think it's safe for you guys to move now!" Skull spoke into his intercom as he hopped across many ring-shaped pillars.
"He's right. Let's all slip away!"
"Everyone remember where we're meeting up?" A feminine voice that sounded rather cute spoke.
"No worries, I can guide you all."
The man known as Skull reached a sign with the words "CASINO" displayed, and effortlessly hoisted himself up over the railings of the higher floor.
Before he could reach the stairway in front of him, two agents intercepted at the top.
"Stop right there!"
Then, the agents' bodies seemed to spasm before they suddenly transformed into hideous and contorted creatures.
A grotesque sight like that would frighten any normal person, yet Skull only smirked as a third one appeared behind him.
"Tryin' to ambush me, huh?" He asked as he turned to the one behind him.
"Take 'em down, Skull!"
The aforementioned man gained a shark-like grin as he already planned on doing just that. He leapt high into air and landed on the contorted being before grabbing their face as hard as he could and pulling it right off.
It appeared to set off a strange reaction from the creature as it suddenly morphed into an intimidating moloch-looking entity.
Though despite the fact that a potentially dangerous and unfathomable creature was standing before, Skull showed no signs of fear and stood tall as he sized up his opponent.
"Comparing power levels... These guys are no threat. Get 'em, Skull!"
"Alrighty then..." Skull began before removing his mask, "Captain Kidd!"
Suddenly, a heap of blue flames burst behind him, and a large spiritual skeleton-looking figure donning classic pirate attire riding a boat appeared.
The moloch decided to initiate the fight by casting Agidyne, a fire spell, which Skull swiftly dodged.
"Let's get 'em, Captain!" He referred to the being behind him as he pointed at the creature before him, "God's Hand!"
This prompted the being known as 'Captain Kidd' to aim the cannon on their right arm at the moloch, and a giant golden fist suddenly shot right out at the latter. It seemed to be a critical hit as the monster had fallen to the ground.
"Everyone else, head to positions! Use Route B!"
'Alright! Looks like my team's makin' it out no problem!' He mentally exclaimed with relief before attacking the downed enemy again.
"Ziodyne!" He shouted, which prompted Captain Kidd to shoot a large bolt of lightning at the enemy.
Though it was greatly hurt, the moloch tried to bring itself back up with a struggle.
"Still not down for the count, eh?" The blonde observed with a raised eyebrow as his mask came back to his face, "Don't worry, I've got just the thing!" He stated with a slasher smile as he removed a heavy-looking mace.
Rushing towards the enemy, Skull planted a kick on the moloch's face and striked it down with his weapon before pulling out a shotgun and shooting the creature, causing it to dissolved as it was finally put out of its misery.
"Whew, now that was hot."
"*Groan* Seriously, Oracle...?"
"To be fair, Queen, she's not wrong."
"Not you too, Panther! There's always a time and place for that stuff!"
The blonde shook his head with a chuckle at the interaction.
"Wait, watch out, Skull!"
At the warning, Skull turned around to be met with the other distorted agents from earlier, and backflipped to dodge a hit from an electric-baton.
"Hurry and pull out, Skull!"
Following the instruction, he jumped back onto a high pillar without even looking before jumping onto a higher floor.
"Skull, behind you! Go through that door!"
Skull spotted the door his teammate described, which was an entrance to a stairwell. "Roger!"
He went through the door and up the stairs to be led into a dimly-lit control room.
"You should be able to get out that way! Hurry!"
"Can he even hear us, Oracle?"
"Don't worry, I'm picking up everyone's voices. Just go, Skull!"
"Hm? Wait a sec..." The voice which seemed to belong to a being named 'Oracle' spoke, halting his movement, "What the- I'm getting a weird reading heading your way! C'mon run!"
Even though he was curious about what that reading Oracle got was, he wasn't in any hurry to find out, so he ran straight to the deep end of the room and entered a door on his left.
"We managed to evade some of those men in black, but there're still a few more of them..." The voice belonging to 'Joker' commented as Skull made his way through a few more rooms and stairs.
Entering another door, he could see an agent running through the view of the windows.
"Where'd they go?! Damn it!" The agent yelled in frustration as he tuned into his intercom, "I can't confirm the intruders location." He stated before running down another direction.
Skull couldn't help but snicker at the clueless agent's predicament.
Before he could fully round the corner in the room, Oracle's voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Up ahead! Stop!"
He stopped just in time to see an agent standing far ahead in the direction he was headed, and he quickly dived toward a nearby crate and ducked behind it for cover.
'Phew, that was a close one...' He mentally commented.
"You'll never get away if you keep fighting. Hide in the shadows and sneak past when you see an opening!"
Looking ahead to see the other crates before him, the blonde made sure his timing was right and leapt to another crate on the right before leaping to the last crate which was closely near the agent.
"...Hey, are you sure he came in this way?" The agent spoke into his intercom, "Understood. I will continue the search!"
The agent then turned and ran back into the room, unaware of his target quite literally hiding in plain sight.
"Now's your chance! Make a run for it!"
Doing just that, Skull ran up the stairway to the next room, only to come to an abrupt stop once he spotted another agent.
'Shit!'
"Ugh! How many of them are there?!" Oracle exclaimed in exasperation.
"C'mon Oracle... Less complaining, more looking for how I can get the hell outta here...!" Skull whispered to nobody in particular.
"Everything okay? The security level might rise if you take too much time."
"I know, I know! I'm looking for another route. Just hang on." Oracle responded, "Oh, perfect timing. Skull, look up!"
Said individual looked upwards to see what looked like a caged floor at a higher level.
'Jackpot!' Skull exclaimed with a grin, 'And I know just how to get up there...!'
Thrusting his left hand forward, a cable suddenly shot out from his wrist, hooked onto the cage floor, and zipped Skull to higher ground, swinging him into a backflip and letting him land successfully.
"Nice thinking with that grappling hook, Skull! Now, go straight from there!"
He entered a room on his right, only for-
"Skull, stop!"
Said individual stopped in the middle of the room, a look of confusion on his face at Oracle's interference.
"It's an enemy-right near you!"
Right at that, six of those distorted agent-creatures from earlier manifested out of nowhere and surrounded Skull.
'Crap! Another ambush!' Skull cussed mentally with gritted teeth.
"Even you can't take on this many- Huh?!" Oracle exclaimed in surprise, "Skull! That weird reading from earlier closing in on you too!"
At that, the sound of footsteps slowly filled the area, which caused Skull to furrow his eyebrows at the stairway ahead, which a certain figure was descending.
'Dammit... Don't tell me that's another shadow. My hands are already as full as it is...!'
However, as the being stepped into the room, the darkness covering their body slowly disappeared, revealing that it was not a shadow, and Skull's eyes widened in disbelief at who it was.
"Huh?! N-No effin' way...!" He exclaimed in quiet befuddlement.
In came a red-haired girl wearing a black mask with silver highlights and her hair tied into a ponytail with a ribbon. Her outfit consisted of a strapless black leotard with a sweetheart neckline, a chain belt with two silver rose motifs, and a scabbard containing a rapier attached to it, along with a black choker and red gloves. Covering her upper body was a black bolero jacket with gold buttons, ruffled flared sleeves and three floor-length coattails. For her lower body, she wore thigh-length hose and stiletto lace-up pumps that resemble ballet shoes on the top.
"Y-Yoshizawa?!" Skull mentioned the name of the woman who approached the vicinity in shock.
"I'll end this right now." The girl now-identified as Yoshizawa declared as she drew her rapier towards the shadows whose attention were now on her.
"Skull, it's her! She's the weird reading I've been getting!" Oracle revealed.
'But, that doesn't any make sense... What the hell is Yoshizawa doing here...? How is she even here at all...?'
Suddenly, Yoshizawa twirled her sword in the air before launching it square into the chest of the shadow next to Skull, who gaped as it hunched over.
The rest of the shadows rushed over to the girl in anger, and she stylishly performed a cartwheel to throw them off.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as the redhead bent backwards, pulling out a lever-action rifle, and shot an incoming shadow. Then, in a flashy display of mobility and agility, took down another shadow by performing another cartwheel, turning into a backflip, over the shadow, with her rifle spinning in her hand before she gripped it and shot the creature, landing with a graceful pose as it dissolved behind her.
"Woah..." Skull uttered in a mixture of shock and awe.
Sure he was still a bit confused at what Yoshizawa was doing here, but damn did he think she looked badass!
And kinda hot...
"My weak self relied on you so much..." Yoshizawa stated, slowly walking towards Skull as the remaining shadows transformed into strange creatures, "That ends today..."
"Yoshizawa..." Skull uttered her name now that they were face to face, "H-How're you-?"
He was cut off by the redhead placing a finger to his lips.
"Not now, Sakamoto-Senpai." She shushed him, "Let's focus on eliminating our enemies first..."
"Y-Yeah... You're right..." Skull nodded in agreement, putting his attention back towards his opponents. He could question her later when they weren't fighting bloodthirsty shadows.
Moving past Skull, Yoshizawa removed her rapier out of the chest of the shadow next to him with a backflip kick, causing it to dissolve, and she spun before catching it.
"Let's do this, Senpai!" She exclaimed, drawing her sword towards the shadows while Skull stood by her side, cracking his knuckles with a grin.
"I like the sound of that!"
Facing the two were two anthropomorphic tigers holding blades in each hand, and a strange red vulture.
"The enemy readings have decreased?"
"Wait, that's...!"
Deciding to strike first, the vulture cast a powerful wind spell and sent it towards the two, which they both dodged.
"It's been a while since we last fought side-by-side." Yoshizawa commented as she got into a battle stance, "But this time, it's my turn to come to your aid, Senpai. Now let's win this!"
"Okay then, let's get down to it, Yoshizawa!" Skull replied as he summoned Captain Kidd, "Whip 'em Persona!"
At his command, the pirate fired a bolt of electricity at the vulture, which made it fall down.
"My turn!" Yoshizawa exclaimed before removing her mask, summoning a spiritual being similar to Skull's, "Cendrillion!"
The redhead's persona spun with their own sword, and suddenly, the three enemies were cut down at various angles. The move was super effective, seeing as how it brought all of them down to their knees.
Skull gaped at the incredible display of power, 'Holy shit...! She brought 'em all down with just one move!'
"C'mon, Senpai! Now's our chance!" Yoshizawa called out, snapping Skull out of his awe.
"R-Right!" He replied in agreement, readying his mace, "Let's go all out!"
The two rushed at their opponents and proceeded to ferociously attack them from multiple different angles all over before they eventually dissolved into nothingness, unable to handle the onslaught.
With their enemies finally defeated, Yoshizawa turned to Skull.
"I think... that's the last of them?"
"Yeah. Looks like it." He responded, "Uh... Thanks for the help, by the way."
"It was my pleasure, Senpai." She smiled.
"I genuinely have no clue what just happened, but I take it you're okay?" Oracle asked through the intercom.
"Wait-bad news! Enemy backups headed your way! You need to book it, right now!"
"Crap! Even more bad guys?" Skull cursed at Oracle's information.
"Please go." Yoshizawa pleaded, "I'm going to make it harder for them to track you down.
"Huh? But... Yoshizawa-"
"I know you have a lot of questions right now, Sakamoto-Senpai, but I assure you, I'll tell you everything at a better time." She assured, "Besides, you still have something to do as a phantom thief, right?"
"Y-You're right... but..."
"Then I won't stop you." She turned back around, "Since I'm not a member of the Phantom Thieves, I'm in no position to interfere."
The redhead turned back to him with a pleading look behind her mask.
"However... please don't forget the promise we made, okay?" She pleaded.
"I... Y-Yeah... I promise I won't forget." Skull assured her with a nod.
"Thank you." She thanked, "And before I go, there's one more thing..."
"What is i-?"
The blonde cut himself off and gained a look of shock when the redhead suddenly kissed him on the cheek.
"WHAAAAA?!!" Oracle exclaimed through the intercom.
"A-Are you freaking serious?!"
"C-Calm down you two!"
"Okay, not that I'm not happy for him or anything, but how the heck does Skull get all the girls?" The boyish voice asked.
"His ability to unknowingly attract members of the opposite sex is quite puzzling."
"Isn't that the truth?" The voice belonging to Joker remarked with a chuckle.
Skull held his slightly flushed cheek as he gaped at the redhead who looked satisfied by what she had done.
"Wuh... W-What was that...?" He spluttered in bewilderment.
"For luck." Yoshizawa replied with a giggle, "I'll see you on the other side, Senpai."
With that, Skull watched her as she leapt to a higher floor before disappearing from the premises.
"Yoshizawa..." He whispered the girl's name in awe.
"Skull, you need to get outta there! Go go go!"
The blonde snapped out of his stupor and quickly ran into the entrance in front of him. He could question her about that another time. Right now, he had a plan to follow through with.
"Go up the stairs at the end of the path! Just a little more, so hang in there!"
Doing just that, Skull reached the end of the stairway, and passed the other one to peek at the hallway next to it, catching sight of a horizontal window.
He entered said hallway and put his back to the wall, slowly glancing inside the window to avoid being seen.
Inside was a control room filled with officers monitoring the CCTVs and using third computers.
"He's not alone! Find them and kill them all!" An officer spoke into a phone as he watched the various screens, unaware of one of his targets running past the window.
Three agents ran into a hallway, however, one of them turned back at the sound of footsteps, and saw their target running up the stairway behind them.
Skull dutifully made his way upwards as the agents from earlier climbed up after him.
The blonde reached a certain room and turned a corner, spotting a door. He burst through the door, which led him to a balcony above the lower floor of the casino.
"Something wrong?" Oracle asked, "The exit should be up ahead."
The confused blonde looked up, only to see that the exit Oracle was referring to was a window that looked like it belonged in a church and not a casino.
"For real...?" He uttered with a raised eyebrow.
"Nnh...! That's just how it is." She responded, "After that commotion, the bottom floor's completely closed off... Hey, can you make it?!"
He simply grinned in response.
"Over there!"
The blonde looked behind him to see the agents from earlier were aiming their guns at him.
"There's nowhere to run!"
Though it looked like he was cornered, Skull simply chuckled before he suddenly hoisted onto the railings, to their surprise, and ran across it, eventually jumping to the window that marked his escape.
One agent stayed at the other end while the other two ran on opposite sides to reach their target.
"Later, losers!" Skull taunted with a smirk before suddenly diving through the glass window, causing gasps of shock from below as it shattered.
The light of the moon shone on the blonde as he tucked into his arms and performed a few flips before stretching downwards with his hands outs.
"Heh, you're so reckless. You know that?" Oracle teased.
"Well he wouldn't be our leader if he didn't do the outlandishly crazy stuff that he does." Joker commented in amusement.
"That's our Skull!" Panther fondly stated with a giggle.
Skull finally reached the ground, safely landing with a forward roll as the pieces of glass from the window fell around him.
With his objective fulfilled, he got up, ready to make his move, only for him to shield his eyes when multiple white lights suddenly blinded him.
He slowly brought his arm down and widened his eyes at the sight he witnessed.
"What the...?"
In front of him were multiple, almost thousands of police officers in the perimeter. The lights from their vehicles shined all over, and they had him cornered due to their vast numbers.
"Enemies, here?!"
"What's wrong?!"
"These readings... It can't be!"
"What happened?!"
"An ambush?!"
"Skull, can you handle this?!"
"Skull!"
"Oh no!"
Truth be told, this did look like a hopeless situation for him. However, if there's one thing to be known about Skull, he wasn't the type to give up so easily.
"Capture him!" One of the officers commanded.
At that, Skull immediately ran to his right, and the chase began as the officers tried to close in on him.
"Let's go!"
"Go go go!"
Thanks to his agility, the blonde managed to run fast enough to reach a red ladder leading to a platform without any of them getting to him. He even shot a cocky grin at the officers below him as he began to climb to freedom.
Unfortunately, his moment of victory was short-lived when he reached the top only to see multiple armed officers waiting for him on the platform.
'Crap!'
The man in the front raised his rifle before roughly planting it in Skull's face, causing him to scream out as he let go of the ladder and fell to the floor.
As soon as he landed amongst the crowd of officers, they wasted no time in rushing him, and despite his desperate struggle, they managed to pin him to the floor.
"Suspect secure!"
Then, they made way for an unknown man in a suit to walk up to the downed blonde.
"Didn't expect to find some kid." He spoke in a deep voice.
Skull angrily glared at the mysterious individual as he knelt down to his level.
"You have your teammate to thank for this..." He revealed as he grabbed Skull's head to make him look him in the eye before dropping a major bombshell.
"You were sold out."
The revelation made Skull's eyes widen in disbelief,
"W-What...?"
There's no way...
It can't be...
He didn't want to believe it...
He couldn't believe it!
One of his friends actually betrayed him...?
The man then dropped his head and left him to the officers who captured him.
"Suspect confirmed! Cuff him!"
The blonde could only grunt as he felt two silver cuffs tighten on his wrists.
Darkness...
That's all he could feel...
Everything around him was dark...
He couldn't hear or see anything...
Until...
"Wake him up."
SPLASH!
The blonde awoke with a gasp at the sensation of cold water being splashed on him.
He shook his the water out of his hair, and slowly looked up, opening his eyes. Seeing as how he now had a swollen right eye, along with the effects of the drug that they injected him with, it took awhile for him to fully regain his vision.
Once it finally cleared, he was greeted to the sight of three stern-looking men in suits.
"No dozing off." The one in the front stated.
It was then the blonde, who was no longer wearing a costume but rather his school uniform, finally remembered that he was in an interrogation room, and the men in front of him were detectives.
After he was captured during the ambush, he had been taken to an interrogation room by the three detectives, and they had subjected him to brutal methods of torture to gain whatever information they could.
Sure, the physical abuse was to be expected, but they had even gone as far as to drug him. The movies he watched with interrogation scenes really didn't do justice to how painful it actually felt.
Sakamoto tried to move, only to feel resistance in his hands, which made him realize they were handcuffed behind the chair he was sitting on.
"You still don't get it, do you?" The lead detective in the front asked, "Give it up!"
He suddenly landed a heavy kick on Sakamoto's chest, which caused him to fall to the floor and even break the chair.
The blonde wheezed and coughed in pain only to feel the detective plant his foot on his head.
"Come on, cooperate." The detective ordered, "Or what, you want another shot?"
The blonde looked up at the detective and said detective noticed his eyes trailing towards a certain direction, which he followed to see the camera that was recording them.
"Huh? What about the camera?" The detective asked with a raised eyebrow before kneeling and grabbing him by the head.
"Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?"
"Ngh... O-Of course not..." Sakamoto answered in a low voice.
He may not be the brightest, but he wasn't stupid.
"Hm. You're smarter than I thought." The detective stated with a smirk, getting up, "Which is good, 'cause we get to take as much time as we NEED!"
He harshly kicked Sakamoto in the stomach, walking away as he coughed in pain once again.
He was starting to thank the one above that he hadn't eaten anything heavy for lunch.
The detective's partner handed him a clipboard with a certain list which he read from.
"Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons..." He listed the blonde's crimes, "Manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about the works."
"To think that all those were crimes were led by a punk like this..." He insulted, "And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it... Huh?"
"I-I was... E-Enjoying it...?" The blonde repeated with confusion.
"Huh...? Don't try and act all innocent now." The detective replied, shaking his head before gesturing his partner to move forward.
The detective on the right suddenly moved towards Sakamoto and removed his handcuffs before roughly pushing him to the floor.
He sat up and massaged his aching wrists which were bruised due to how long they had been cuffed.
"Sign here." The lead detective suddenly shoved a clipboard into his face, "It's a confession under your name."
The blonde squinted his eyes as he tried to get a good look at the form. Though, it seemed like the detective didn't appreciate that, as he suddenly stomped on his already bad leg, which caused Sakamoto to scream in agony.
"I need your arm to sign, but I don't care if you end up losing a leg." He stated without remorse as he shoved the clipboard towards Sakamoto again, which he accepted this time.
Something told him this detective in particular really hated his guts.
"Don't expect to walk out of here in one piece." The detective threatened as he stared deeply into Sakamoto's soul, "We're going to make you understand... One must take full responsibility for their actions..."
He handed the blonde his pen, allowing him to write his name.
He honestly didn't want to write his name, but knowing what he knew about the police force, they'd be able to track him down and identify him with just a picture alone. So, he gave in to their demands and signed his full name.
Ryuji Sakamoto
Ryuji was now sat behind a table, resting his hand on his head and tapping his finger on the furniture, awaiting for a certain arrival.
Apparently, there was someone who was going to interrogate him, but he wasn't too focused on that. Rather, he was wondering who it could've been that sold him out...
His teammates were some of the most important people in his life, and he wasn't afraid to say he'd lay his life for them.
And yet now he's hearing that one of them betrayed him?
Who...? And why...?
Before he could contemplate any further, the door to the interrogation room opened, and in came a woman that he was surprised to see.
She was strikingly beautiful with asymmetrically parted ashen-brown hair that reached her upper back, along with brown eyes that were depicted with a hint of mauve red. She was also wearing a black business suit with a black turtleneck, along with a necklace of a section sign.
"S-Sae-san...?!" Ryuji called out in slight shock, recognizing the woman.
The woman, now identified as Sae, took the seat opposite Ryuji and crossed her arms.
"... So it really is you..." She spoke in an almost melancholic tone, "Part of me was hoping this would turn out to be some kind of sick joke..."
The conflicted look on her face started to eat him up.
"S-Sae-sa-"
"I'll be the one asking questions from now on." She switched back to a serious attitude.
Her eyes darted towards the used syringe on the floor, which angered her.
"Those bastards..." She said with a scowl before moving closer towards Sakamoto with a raised eyebrow, "Can you hear me? It seems you've been through a lot." She asked.
"Yeah, I'm alive." He confirmed as he massaged his head, "Even if those dudes in suits were tryin' real hard to fix that..."
"... Even in a situation like this, you retain your sense of humor." Sae commented as she was both impressed and dumbfounded by his levity.
"Yeah well cryin' myself a river ain't gonna change the fact that I'm in deep shit." Ryuji coolly stated.
"I suppose that's true." She agreed with his logic, "Now then, I believe you're already aware that I'm here to ask you a few important questions."
"Don'tcha mean to "interrogate me"?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"To put it bluntly, yes." She nodded, "Frankly, I don't have the leisure to conduct a long interrogation, and judging from what happened between you and those detectives, you don't have that much time either, correct?"
"... I guess."
"That's why I require for you to answer me honestly." Sae stated.
"What was your objective. Why did you cause such a major incident?" She asked curiously, "I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for prosecution."
That last word didn't exactly sit well for Sakamoto, as it made him remember that the woman in front of him was indeed a prosecutor.
"It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it." She revealed.
"Well that part's obvious..." The blonde deadpanned.
"True." Sae responded with a slight chuckle, "There's no way I could be convinced of such a... "world" just by reading the reports. It seems your coherent."
"When and where did you find out about that world?" She questioned Ryuji, "How is it even possible to steal another's heart?"
Now she was asking the real questions.
"Now, tell me your account of everything." She sternly instructed, "Start from the very beginning."
Realizing that he didn't really have a choice, the blonde let out a heavy sigh.
"Fine then... I'll tell ya everythin' you need to know..." He complied.
Suddenly, time seemed to stop, the world around him became dark, and a mysterious butterfly appeared, confusing him.
"W-What the hell...?"
"... You are held captive." A mysterious voice spoke to him, "A prisoner of fate to a future that had been sealed in advance."
"This is truly an unjust game... Your chances of winning are almost none."
"But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you..."
"I beg you. Please overcome this game... and save the world..." It pleaded as the butterfly reappeared, "The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds-the truth that you and your friends grasped."
"It all began that day... when the game was started half a year ago..."
"For the sake of your world's future... as well as your own... you must remember..."
"Remember..." Ryuji repeated the words, "Y-Yeah..."
"I remember... Everything..."
Aaand, first chapter done! Glad I finally managed to finish this! I'm not gonna lie, I am very excited to continue working on this story, and I'm gonna make damn sure I FINISH it. Anyways, I hope you guys look forward to seeing more chapters reveal Ryuji's adventures as the Wild Card, and with that, I'll see you guys next time!
RinOta, out!