AN: My writing slowed down a bit because of the holiday (sorry about that), but it's out now. I hope you all enjoy reading it.
FF – Thanks reinDank. To answer your question, I'm already posting this fic on AO3 under the same username and story title.
AO3 – Thank you Nika_Raven_Celeste and Kumo_kuma. Kumo_kuma, Urano being a gamer wouldn't help. She maxed Morgana's Confidant because she essentially fulfilled his greatest desire, which is extremely difficult to do intentionally.
Museum of Vanity — Part 4
May 26 – Thursday
Yusuke Kitagawa's PoV
Upon returning to the real world, the Phantom Thieves brought Yusuke to a diner to properly introduce themselves and finish explaining their circumstances. Apparently, they'd infiltrated two other Palaces prior to Madarame's, as well as a Palace representing the collective unconscious of society.
"Let me join… As a member of the Phantom Thieves," requested Yusuke, surprising the others. "Had I faced reality sooner, this may have been avoided. I must put an end to this for the sake of both my mother and the others whose futures as artists were robbed. That… is the most civil thing I can do for the man who was, in some manner, my father."
While Yusuke couldn't forgive Madarame after learning about the man's role in his mother's death, it was impossible to simply forget the years that Madarame had spent raising him. It was his duty to end things, whatever that conclusion might be.
For that reason, he didn't back down when Morgana explained the risks of stealing Madarame's Treasure.
"In that case… welcome aboard!" said Urano cheerfully.
After briefly reaffirming his desire to paint Ann nude, Yusuke explained the current situation with the real Madarame.
"I contacted him before we came here. He believes that I continued pursuing Urano. And, just as you all explained, it appears he knows nothing about his Shadow. He complained to the security company how they couldn't even catch one high school girl. However, he's still furious about it, and said that he's going to take legal action against Urano and Ann."
"Bwuh!?"
"Why only us!?"
"Previously, I told Madarame that Urano had been snooping around the shack," explained Yusuke, feeling somewhat embarrassed by his former actions. "It seems that he came to the conclusion that she discovered the door to the counterfeiting room, assumed something valuable was inside, enlisted Ann's help breaking into it, and – after failing and being banned from the premises – seduced me so that she could have another opportunity to pick the lock."
"Pff!" snickered Morgana and Ryuji, confusing Yusuke. He hadn't said anything funny, had he?
"As if a weirdo like Urano could seduce someone," chuckled Ryuji.
"Madarame clearly had no clue what my sister's personality is like," agreed Morgana.
Ann and Makoto began to scowl at the boys, most likely offended on Urano's behalf. Although, Urano actually seemed to agree with the guys' comments, which inexplicably made the girls angrier. Also, for reasons unbeknownst to Yusuke, Futaba seemed to find the girls' reactions funny.
Ultimately, they were able to get the conversation back on track long enough to determine that the Treasure needed to be stolen before Madarame's exhibit ended – he wouldn't inform the police during the exhibit and risk drawing unwanted attention to himself – and for Urano to give Yusuke his cut of the Metaverse money.
"Amazing!" marveled the artist. "So you acquire money by defeating Shadows… With this, I'll be able to purchase more art supplies!"
.
"Um, or maybe you should save some of it for your basic necessities," suggested Makoto. "Once we change Madarame's heart and he confesses, you'll like be on your own as far as feeding and clothing yourself."
But Yusuke was too caught up in thoughts of painting to hear the team strategist's advice.
May 27 – Friday
Futaba Sakura's PoV
Urano made a quick pitstop at Untouchable – the one-stop weapons, armor, and accessories shop for the Metaverse – to buy some equipment for Yusuke, and then the Phantom Thieves were off to Madarame's Palace.
(Upon arriving, Yusuke entered Museum Mode and became dressed in a kamishimo, the clothes worn by an Edo period samurai during formal occasions.)
As Oracle and the others had permanently shut down the impassable security grid before Harlequin and the newly-named Fox's arrival, the path forward was clear. Well, as clear as a Palace normally was, which is to say labyrinthine and Shadow-infested.
"Did he plagiarize M. C. Escher?" asked Harlequin incredulously.
"Huh, I suppose this room does look like Relativity," mused Fox.
Case in point, the Phantom Thieves found themselves in an area so distorted that it didn't show up on the map and jammed Necronomicon's sensors. The place looked like a void full of floating golden paths, stairs, and walls, all so bright that it made everyone's eyes hurt. Also, for whatever reason, the room had warp gates.
After making a bit of progress through the room, they discovered that it was a puzzle room, too. There were several copies of Sayuri, only one of which was real, placed by a set of warp gates. The Phantom Thieves had to ID the real Sayuri, which would then turn into a ball of light and fly into one of the warp gates, changing its destination and allowing them to advance.
The first set was so easy that it must've been the tutorial, as there was only one plainly-fake counterfeit Sayuri. The second set was tougher, though Oracle knew exactly how to beat the puzzle.
"…Aaand this one's the real Sayuri," confirmed the hacker, comparing the painting to the picture of it on her phone. She touched the painting, causing it to turn into a ball of light and shoot off to a nearby warp gate. "Mwehehehehe!"
It was pretty fortunate that Oracle had forgotten to delete the image of Sayuri that she'd saved to her phone back when she was trying to figure out why the smile was so familiar. The Metaverse might interfere with taking photos and connecting to the internet, but it did jack squat to already-saved data.
.
"So much for examining the Sayuri together with my friends," sulked Fox, him and the other guys trailing behind the girls.
Skull, not sure what else to do, awkwardly patted the artist on the back. "There, there?"
"…Maybe next time?" offered Mona in an equally uncertain voice.
"Thank you for your kindness," replied Yusuke sincere, smiling weakly.
Thus marked the start of a friendship between the three guys who were constantly pushed around and intimidated by the female members of the Phantom Thieves.
Makoto Niijima's PoV
When they finally reached the Treasure, Mona came up with a plan to steal it by using a hook to lower him down to the painting, bypassing the security lasers. It was a good plan, though as Skull pointed out, the Palace Ruler and his Shadows would catch on quickly. Fortunately, Queen had an idea for improving their odds of success.
"I think Oracle should be the one to shut off the lights and Panther should man the controls for the hook," suggested the strategist. "That way, the rest of us can create a diversion in another part of the Palace in order to draw Shadow Madarame to us."
Logically, it would make more sense to have Fox operate the hook since he had the least combat experience. But Queen believe that he, of all people, deserved a chance to face the Shadow of his former mentor.
"But why would that matter?" asked Panther, confused. "Even if he's by the Treasure, what could he do to stop us?"
"Probably transform into a giant monster like Shadow Kamoshida," answered Mona, causing the model to grimace at the memory.
"If we can lure him away from the Treasure long enough for Mona to grab it and escape," explained Queen. "Then we won't even need to fight. We can just leave the Palace."
"But what if the final boss attacks our three-man squad instead?" questioned Oracle. "Necronomicon is a support type, and two Personas isn't enough DPS. We'll be KO-ed!"
"Don't worry," reassured Harlequin. "You only need to stall until the rest of us arrive. All three of you have healing Skills, and we'll get there as soon as possible."
"Yeah, and then we'll kick that old phony's ass!" asserted Skull.
And with that, the plan to steal Madarame's Treasure was decided. All that remained was to iron out the details, such as the nature of their diversion.
May 28 – Saturday
Ann Takamaki's PoV
"Wait," said Morgana. "Are you going to write the calling card again, Ryuji? That last one was questionable at best…"
"I'd like to see you do better, Morgana," retorted Ryuji. "Then again, we want Madarame to feel threatened, and getting a letter from a child isn't all that intimidating!"
It was time to prepare Madarame's calling card, and the two were fighting once again.
"Hey! If I wrote a calling card, it'd leave Madarame shaking in his boots!"
"Then why don't you?"
"B-because I… don't want to take the opportunity away from Yusuke! Yeah!"
"As if, you liar!"
Ann sighed.
"You know," she began. "I'd assumed that those two would stop arguing so much after they buried the hatchet."
"Well, they have toned it down," observed Makoto. "They're calling each other by name, and the argument isn't as harsh before."
"I guess that's just how a friendship between guys is," commented Urano. "They exchange good-natured insults instead of admitting how much they care about one another."
"Yup," agreed Futaba. "Those two are definitely vitriolic best buds."
Ann wasn't sure that Urano and Futaba were right. Not all guys acted like that. Probably.
"…I see," murmured Yusuke. "I wish I had a paintbrush so that I could capture this depiction of relationships between men!"
Ann resisted the urge to facepalm at the artist's misleading choice of words – which had been overheard by a passing group of high school girls that were now whispering and blushing as their gaze shifted between him and Ryuji – as well as Futaba 'mwhehehe'-ing at his blunder.
The model couldn't help but feel worried about their heist tomorrow. Would they really be fine?
May 29 – Sunday
Ryuji Sakamoto's PoV
"Assault Dive, Captain Kidd!"
Clang!
"Rising Slash, Goemon!"
Swish! Thump.
"Mafreila, Johanna!"
Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Myriad Slashes, Futsunushi!"
Slice! Slice! Slice!
Skull grinned wildly as he, Fox, Queen, and Harlequin blasted The Infinite Spring to bits.
Harlequin was a genius for her diversion idea of wrecking the sculpture that symbolized Shadow Madarame's crimes! Not only would the commotion lure the Palace Ruler away from his Treasure, it'd also let them stick it to the pompous asshole!
"Hahahaha!" laughed Fox maniacally. "Who knew mindless destruction could be so invigorating!"
…Fox might've been enjoying it a little too much, though.
"Hey! No touching the exhibits!" shouted a Shadow as the first wave of enemies arrived.
"Taste the fury of an artist scorned!" yelled back Fox, summoning his Persona. "Goemon, Mabufu!"
The Shadows were buffeted by ice. Several were frozen, and the rest were thrown into disarray. Skull and the others took advantage of the confusion to follow up with attacks of their own, knocking down the rest of enemies. The group was then finished off by an All-Out Attack.
"Freakin' boring!" declared Skull, making a rock and roll gesture as the Shadows' remains faded away. He didn't have long to celebrate, however, because the next wave arrived moments later.
Troublingly, there was still no sign of the Palace Ruler. Skull hoped that Shadow Madarame's absence was just because he couldn't run in his gaudy outfit without tripping, because otherwise Panther, Oracle, and Mona were in serious danger.
Morgana's PoV
The heist went well at first. Even though Shadow Madarame remained by his Treasure, only sending Shadows to deal with Harlequin's diversion, Mona and the girls were still able to swipe the wrapped-up painting out from under his nose. Or so they thought.
After exiting through a window and passing through a warp gate (as Oracle called it), the trio found themselves in the courtyard. Believing themselves home free, Mona decided to sneak a look at the Treasure's real appearance while Oracle was busy contacting the others about their success.
Only, as it turned out, Shadow Madarame had replaced his Treasure with a fake and set up an electric cage trap in the courtyard – most likely anticipating their escape path. If not for Panther noticing the trap a moment before it activated, the trio would've been caught.
Then, the Palace Ruler arrived with the real Treasure, which he showed off to them. As it turned out, not only had Madarame plagiarized Fox's mother's work, he'd also painted those purple clouds to conceal that Sayuri was a self-portrait of her while she was pregnant with Fox.
(To tamper with something so personal, all for the sake of fame and money… How repulsive!)
Finally, as Mona had predicted, Shadow Madarame turned into a monster and attacked the trio. The Palace Ruler's monster form, which Oracle called Azazel, wasn't huge like Asmodeus had been, but his appearance was much more bizarre. He consisted of four floating paints depicting a mouth, a nose, and two eyes, all of which looked creepy in a way that was hard to describe.
"I'll paint all over you!" shouted Azazel. "Now… let's begin you vermin!"
Azazel's Mouth shot at Panther, attempting to bite her. However, Mona gallantly knocked it away from her with a Lucky Punch.
"Maragi!" followed up Panther, unleashing beautiful flames on all of the paintings.
"Hahaha!" laughed Azazel. "Is that the best you can do, you stupid brats? Take this!"
The Palace Ruler's Nose fired a blast of Elec at Mona, though the not-cat was able to dodge. Unfortunately, Panther wasn't as lucky, getting knocked down by an Ice attack from Azazel's Right Eye after its attack power was boosted by his Left Eye.
"Bad news, guys," interjected Oracle, having finished sending a cry for help and status update to the others. "It looks like Azazel's Mouth absorbs Physical and his Eyes absorb Fire."
Mona grimaced. Between their low numbers and the Palace Ruler's elemental advantages, fighting would be unfavorable for them. But Azazel was still in possession of the real Treasure, so running away wasn't an option. Their only option was to hold their ground until the others arrived.
"Panther, try shooting all of the paintings," Mona told the model as he helped her to her feet. "I'll use Magaru on them, too. I've got a bad feeling that Azazel's pieces can drain more than just Physical and Fire."
"Once that's done, aim for the schnoz," added Oracle. "It's the only painting that hasn't absorbed any of your attacks yet."
"Got it," acknowledged Panther as she raised her gun. "Eat lead, bastard!"
The trio couldn't win this fight on their own, but they could at least lay the groundwork for victory.
Urano Motosu's PoV
After Oracle's SOS, we hurried to finish off the Shadows attacking us so that we could join with the others to fight Azazel. Fortunately, new Shadows stopped arriving then, so it didn't take long for us to end things and start making our way to the courtyard.
(Could it be that, when Palace Rulers transform, their Palaces stop spawning Shadows? Did Palaces not have enough energy to do both things at once, maybe?)
Oracle gave us a rundown of Azazel's abilities as we ran to the courtyard. We arrived to find Mona and Panther covered in weakness-inducing ink and barely holding on. The (con) artist, on the other hand, had revived his Nose painting after its defeat.
Seeing my siblings and friend in such dire straits filled me with rage. I called upon my newest and most powerful Persona, which I'd gotten by maxing out Mona's Confidant and repeatedly fusing copies of the Treasure Demon Regent with Magician Personas.
"Futsunushi, Myriad Slashes!" I commanded. The ultimate Persona of the Magician Arcana hacked away at Azazel's Right Eye. "Queen, help me take out the Eyes!"
"Okay," she said, charging at and punching the Left Eye to balance out the damage I'd done to the right one. "Ora!"
"Skull and Fox, you two take care of the Nose!"
"You got it, Leader!"
"We shall demolish Madarame's long nose!"
I rushed over to Mona and Panther, handing them both medicines. "Once you two have recovered, attack the Mouth."
"You can count on me, Sis."
"We'll get right on it."
Finally, I turned to Oracle. "We need a Masukaja to make sure they all go down around the same time."
"Aye-aye, captain!" affirmed Oracle. "One Moral Support coming right up!"
I put Skull and Fox on Nose duty because I suspected that, if the Eyes could use Fire, Wind, Ice, and Elec attacks and absorbed the first two elements, then they could likely also absorb the latter. And since the Mouth could only be harmed by magic, it made sense to leave it to the thieves who'd used up more of their stamina and ammunition.
With everyone carrying out their orders, I went back on the offensive.
Don't let up until every piece of this wolfpack boss is down for the count!" I yelled as I summoned Futsunushi once again. I guess Oracle's gamer lingo had started to rub off on me. "Matarukaja! Myriad Slashes!"
Between the seven of us, we were able to wear down and defeat Azazel. The paintings reverted into Shadow Madarame, although, unlike Shadow Kamoshida, he wasn't defeated yet. The Palace Ruler began creating elemental copies of himself to fight alongside him.
Fortunately, the counterfeit elemental Shadow Madarames (which was a bit of a mouthful) were pretty weak. Not only that, but the quality with which they were made decreased until the enemies weren't even a threat.
Once the Palace Ruler was defeated, Fox confronted him and made him swear to return to his real self and confess his crimes. It went the same as with Shadow Kamoshida, except for one detail.
"Wh-what about the other one?" asked Shadow Madarame fearfully. "The one with the black mask?"
Futaba and I looked at one another, stunned.
"Hm?" went Fox.
Only one answer came to mind.
"A black mask?" questioned Panther. "Wait, who's he talking about?"
After all, we'd already concluded that one responsible for Shuu and Wakaba's deaths, as well as the psychotic breakdowns, had to be a Persona user.
"Who was he!?" I demanded, rushing over to the Palace Ruler and grabbing him by the collar. "Tell me everything you know about this 'Black Mask'!"
At that moment, Shadow Madarame's Palace began to collapse.
"I don't know!" cried the Palace Ruler. "I just came across him in the exhibits section one day! He made quick work of the security guard I had with me, but for some reason left without attacking me! But I could tell from the look in his eyes… those terrifying eyes… that he was both willing and able to kill me!"
"Hurry up, Harlequin!" cried Mona, already transformed into the Morgana-mobile. "The Palace is collapsing! We don't have time for this!"
"Then what about his appearance!" I yelled at Shadow Madarame, ignoring Mona's cries. I was desperate to learn something – anything – about the person I hated more than anyone.
"I couldn't tell! His mask covered his entire head! And it had red lens, too, so I don't even know his eye color! B-but he was definitely around your age! Young enough to be in high school!"
The lack of information only made me angrier. However, before I could come up with a new line of questioning, Skull and Queen grabbed me and dragged into the Morgana-mobile. We left the Palace after that, narrowly avoiding its collapse.
The Phantom Thieves of Heart had successfully stolen another Treasure. Yet I couldn't help but feel defeated, having lost my first and only lead to the identity of 'Black Mask.'
Igor's PoV
"You have expelled one who was stained in vanity. You are now one step closer to your rehabilitation. It's a delightful thing indeed."
Pretending to be pleased was irritating. Not only had the Trickster's foolhardiness almost ended the game prematurely, but she also instantly raised a Confidant to its highest Rank. A blood oath should not be so easily formed!
"However, that man's remarks are concerning. It seems that another has made their way into the Metaverse."
The human grew emotional and asked if he knew anything. Naturally, he feigned ignorance and she unwittingly accepted his falsehood as gospel.
"But your rehabilitation is progressing… smoothly."
He felt uncharacteristically reluctant to utter the complete fabrication. How rare.
"May your devotion to your rehabilitation grow even deeper. I have high hopes for you."
With the Museum of Vanity demolished, the aberrance of the High Priestess and Hierophant's presence would soon wane. The Trickster would finally return to the chosen path.
.
Rank Up!
Confidant: Igor. Arcana: Fool. Rank: 5.
.
In the future, he would realize that this moment was merely what humans referred to as 'the calm before the storm' and curse his past self for underestimating the Wild Card's ability to create pandemonium.
June 5 – Sunday
Urano Motosu's PoV
Currently, we were all gathered in Café Leblanc. The only other customers were an elderly couple a few tables away who Sojiro was engaged in conversation with.
"…Also, a group called the Phantom Thieves posted a dubious note at Madarame's exhibit. The police will investigate their relation to this case, but for now, did not identify them as suspects."
Ehehehe… It was cool that the news was talking about what we did. I've never really been interested in fame, but the recognition still felt nice.
"I hope we just keep getting more and more famous!" declared Ryuji, which earned him a scolding from Makoto. He never learned, though thankfully it didn't seem like anyone overheard him.
More importantly, the change of heart was a success! Even though it has yet to fail, the wait is always nerve-wracking.
"Such delicious curry," praised Yusuke, his attention having returned to his food shortly after the video clip of Madarame's confession ended.
"You got that right, Inari," agreed Futaba, also chowing down on curry.
"So, Yusuke…" started Ann. "Did Madarame tell you anything else about Black Mask?"
(We were sticking with the name Black Mask for the unknown Persona user. Futaba had suggested shorting it to 'BM' while snickering, which was soundly rejected by everyone other than her and, initially, an oblivious Yusuke.)
"Well… I pressed him for answers, but he doesn't even understand what happened to him to begin with," replied the artist.
"That's no surprise," I said, sighing. "It was Shadow Madarame who met Black Mask, not the real Madarame. And not even Futaba, whose Shadow became a Persona, has memories of her Shadow's time in her Palace."
Still, expected or not, it sucked that we'd hit a dead end immediately after finding our first clue.
"Of course, even if we do figure out who Black Mask is, we're going to have to get a lot stronger before we face him in the Metaverse," stated Morgana. "It took all of us working together to take down Shadow Madarame, while he was strong enough to terrify the Palace Ruler with a look."
"It makes sense that he'd be so OP," observed Futaba, having finished her curry. "If he's had his Persona since before he… before Mom died… then he's had plenty of time to grind up his level. Plus, he might've gotten cheat codes from Mom's cognitive psience research."
"Still, what was he even doing in Madarame's Palace in the first place?" questioned Yusuke. "He had Madarame's Shadow at his mercy yet didn't trigger a mental shutdown or psychotic breakdown. What else could his motivation have been?"
Unfortunately, none of us could come up with an answer. Our best guess was that Black Mask was there to train or make money, but that felt unlikely since he could've gotten both by defeating the Palace Ruler.
In the end, despite learning a little about Black Mask, it felt like we knew less than ever. Worse, we had to worry about him recognizing the Phantom Thieves of Heart's methods and going after us. Talk about a pyrrhic victory.
"Jeez, this is so depressing!" complained Ryuji suddenly. "We changed Madarame's heart, so why aren't we celebrating! We can worry about all that other stuff later."
That felt a bit carefree, but he had a point.
"Ryuji's right," I said, smiling and clapping my hands together. "Instead of brooding over something we can't control, we should be throwing a party to commemorate our latest victory and the newest addition to our team. So, does anybody have any thoughts about how to celebrate?"
With that, the gloomy atmosphere was dispelled. We spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with ideas before settling on a hot pot party.
AN: All that remains of the Museum of Vanity Arc is the epilogue. I'm looking forward to writing the 'storm' that comes after this 'calm.'
Also, during the Madarame fight, Yusuke's 'long nose' comment is because a long nose is a metaphor for pride in Japan. I think.
Confidants: Morgana (Magician, Rank 10), Igor (Fool, Rank 5), Sojiro Sakura (Hierophant, Rank 10), Ryuji Sakamoto (Chariot, Rank 10), Tae Takemi (Death, Rank 3), Futaba Sakura (Hermit, Rank 3), Makoto Niijima (High Priestess, Rank 3), Shinya Oda (Tower, Rank 1), Caroline and Justine (Strength, Rank 2), Toranosuke Yoshida (Sun, Rank 3), Ann Takamaki (Lovers, Rank 10), Haru Okumura (Empress, Rank 1), Sadayo Kawakami (Temperance, Rank 1), Hifumi Togo (Star, Rank 2), Chihaya Mifune (Fortune, Rank 1), Yuuki Mishima (Moon, Rank 1).