So... I totally got out of the code geass fandom for a while, and therefore wasn't really writing this story. I'm back though! Although, as a small note, please don't leave comments on my other fics asking me to update fics that aren't the one said comment is on. I was already pretty much finished with this chapter, but that more annoyed me than inspired me.

That being said, I hope you all enjoy!


He was dreaming again.

This time, he and the red-haired girl were walking through a forest, light streaming through the trees, leaves too green to be real. Sometimes, Ren would blink and the trees would be facing different directions. Eyes that seemed a bit too intelligent to belong to an animal peered at them from the bushes, but never made any moves to emerge from their hiding place.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his own shadow shifting on its own, sometimes manifesting a familiar tophat, other times manifesting familiar wings.

He turned to his strange companion. "I don't suppose you know why we keep meeting like this?"

She shrugged. "Beats me. From my perspective, you weren't here before just now. Perhaps something is drawing you to wherever I am."

"And where would that be?" Unless it was a terrible nightmare, Ren was generally aware that he was dreaming. He could even control his dreams, to an extent. The only two places so far where he'd been aware but unable to control a thing were inside the velvet room, and wherever "here" was. The velvet room already unnerved him. With what he'd seen the last time he was here, he suspected this place could be just as dangerous.

"I suppose you could call it… the dreamlands." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm not too sure on the specifics myself, but think about it as a sort of world made from humanity's dreams. It's sort of connected to every person that sleeps, but most in the waking world aren't aware of it." She frowned. "Does that make sense?"

"It does." It reminded him a little of mementos, palaces, and the shadows that weren't connected to any one human but to the collective unconscious as a whole.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. If mementos and palaces were connected to humanity's distorted desires, why couldn't there be another realm connected to humanity's dreams?

They walked in silence for a few more minutes. Eventually, Ren turned to her again. "The first time we met, you mentioned people messing with things they don't understand, and that it was partially your fault. Could you elaborate on that?"

She winced. "I'm… not sure? I want to, but things have… changed. I don't think I could if I tried."

"I can't help if I don't know anything," Ren pointed out lightly. "Do you think you could try, at least?"

She hummed in thought. "I can give it my best shot, I guess. I…" She trailed off, her mouth opening in closing, but nothing coming out. She let out an irritated huff, then started again. "I'm… looking for my sister. Something's happening out in the waking world, and… and. And I know her dreaming self is here somewhere. I need to find her and wake her up."

That sounded like she was implying her sister was in a coma. But if that was the case, where would the "messing with things they don't understand" come in? It could be a bit more metaphorical, or it could have to do with the supernatural. And while she hadn't been able to tell him much the first time they'd interacted, she'd implied she couldn't tell him more because of time constraints, not being physically unable to. Perhaps it had to do with the massive eye he'd seen on his second, even briefer, visit?

There was something almost admiring in the girl's eyes as she watched him mull it over. "You're pretty perceptive, aren't you, Kage?"

Ren paused, turning to her with a raised eyebrow. "Kage?"

She smiled and motioned to his shifting shadow.

Ren thought it over for a minute. It wasn't a bad nickname - and just like how they used code names in the metaverse, it might be smart to use a nickname in a similar location. "Is there something I can call you then?"

She thought for a moment, then smiled sadly. "Mist is fine."

"Mist it is then." He scanned the horizon they were walking towards, seeing only more trees. "I don't suppose you know where in this place your sister is?"

"That city the cliffside overlooked," she answered immediately. "I was so close, before, but all I could do was watch. I'm far away again, and I can't see her anymore, but at least I can actually do something about it now. I can finally make things right."

What a strange situation. Ren absentmindedly clocked that he should be far more concerned about the whole thing. He suspected those feelings would emerge once he woke up. For now, they were blanketed quite a bit with the sense of detachment that came with dreaming. He wondered if that was another aspect of this world.

Considering this was his third time appearing to Mist, he didn't seem to have much of a choice but to come along. And with Mist's warnings, the strange city, the terrifying eye in the sky… there was something going on here that he wanted to get to the bottom of.

Perhaps whatever he learned in this part of humanity's collective unconscious could be applied in the metaverse as well. And Ren was never one to turn down the opportunity to make the best of a situation he had no say in.

There was a slight pull, the feeling of wakefulness returning to him. Mist seemed to notice, and gave him a small smile. "I guess that's it for now. Hopefully you'll be back soon."

"I don't seem to have much choice in the matter," Ren said dryly. "See you next time."

I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Justice persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.


When Yusuke arrived at their meeting place in mementos, he had a strange look on his face.

"Do you remember how I told you that one of the other students helped me when everyone was asking questions about Madarame?" He said, without preamble. "Well, she just asked for my help. More specifically, she asked for the Phantom Thieves' help, because she thought I might have some way to contact them."

Ren straightened. This wasn't entirely surprising. It made sense that some people would seek out former victims of the Phantom Thieves' targets in order to make a request themself. It still might put Yusuke under more suspicion, however.

Yusuke must've noticed Ren's expression, because he continued. "She was very discreet about it. There was no one else around when she asked. I don't think anyone else suspects anything."

Ann frowned, confused. "But why ask you in person? Why not make a request to the phansite?"

"She seemed hesitant to put her request on the internet. As if she was afraid of someone besides the thieves reading it." Yusuke hesitated, before continuing. "And because she wanted me to tell the thieves she had what she called the "App for their targets". I assume that she means the metaverse navigator."

Well, that certainly made things more interesting.

"Should we talk to her?" Ann wondered. "If she has the app as well, maybe she could gain a persona like us."

Morgana shook his head. "That's too much of a risk. We don't know her well enough to make that kind of judgment call."

"From the few times I've met her, she's been nothing but kind and polite." Yusuke frowned. "And I suspect that if the Thieves refuse her request, she will attempt to solve things herself. She seemed very determined."

"We can deal with the fact that she's got the app later," Ren said. "Igor is the one who's putting the app on our phones - I could ask him about that when I next visit the velvet room. In the meantime, I agree with Morgana. We should check out her request, but I don't think inviting her along just because she can enter palaces is the way to go. There's just too many unknowns."

"Who is her request for, anyways?" Ryuji asked. "Another mementos target?"

Yusuke shook his head. "Unlikely. The name she gave is Eito Kirihara. I assume you all know who that is." Ann startled, and Ryuji gaped at him.

"As in the Kyoto head for the Kiriharas? No kidding. Talk about a big-wig!"

Ren frowned. "I can see why she wouldn't want to put that on the Phansite then, but she still could've messaged Mishima privately."

"She seemed a bit paranoid about the whole thing," Yusuke supplied. "And the way she spoke… I think she knows him personally. She didn't go into much detail, but she said he was planning to hurt someone close to her."

"In that case, we can at least check to see if he has a palace." Ann pulled out her phone and opened the app. "Eito Kirihara."

"Match found."

"So he's got an actual palace." Ryuji grinned. "This is the sort of big-shot we need to go after to get more people to believe in us and open more levels in mementos, right? I mean, one of the Kyoto heads!"

"We still don't know enough about the situation to decide for sure," Ren reminded him gently. "We should do some research first. See what's in his palace." And he could probably ask Futaba if she could find anything online. She'd held up her end of the bargain and added enough layers of protection on their phones that Ren almost felt dizzy trying to look through them all. That still left the question of whoever's heart she wanted stolen, but she hadn't been forthcoming on that part, so all they could do for now was wait.

Ryuji shrugged, backing down. "Fair enough. You're probably right. And we still need to figure out the other code words anyways."

"What would his location be?" Ann wondered. "If it's something personal, we'll probably have a lot of trouble finding it."

"Really? He's a public figure, isn't he? There should be plenty about him online," Morgana argued.

"That might not matter if his location is extremely personal," Yusuke reminded the cat. "But as for what is known about Kirihara, he is one of the most prominent heads of the Kyoto houses, after Kaguya Sumeragi, who is the Kyoto head. Most of the Kirihara's recent fortunes come from mining sakuradite. Their most lucrative mines were in Mt Fuji, before it was blown up by Lelouch vi Britannia."

"A classic shitty move from that guy," Ryuji snorted.

Ren hummed. "Demon emperor aside, maybe that's an angle to look into? A prominent Kyoto head, with ties to one of the most famous Japanese landmarks that's now destroyed."

"So, Mt Fuji could be the location, then?" Ann wondered.

"Match found."

She laughed. "Guess that answers that question. That's really far though. Over two hours, even by bullet train."

"At least we'd avoid the tourists if we used the bullet train in mementos," Ryuji offered, before wincing. "Although honestly, all trains are kind of creepy in mementos."

"Bullet trains are generally above ground, so we should be fine," Morgana assured them. "Still though, that's a huge investment of time that could be spent doing other things, if we do decide to take this case. Maybe that should be a deciding factor as well."

"But if he's really going to hurt a lot of people, can we just turn away because it would take more time out of our day?" Ann pointed out.

"Once we can enter the palace, we'll give it a test run," Ren decided. "Ann's right, if this turns out to be serious, we can't prioritize a few hours of our time over helping others."

"Indeed. I also wouldn't mind spending much time in this palace in general. We've grown up in a world where we can only see the splendor of Mt Fuji in paintings and photographs. Getting to see the mountain as it once was is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I cannot miss!"

"Slow down there, man." Ryuji patted Yusuke's back. "We still don't know what the mountain looks like to this guy. He might not view it like how it was before it was blown up anyways."

Yusuke sighed. "I suppose so. Still, we'll never know unless we go and see for ourselves."

Ren smiled. "Right then. Now for the distortion." What would a member of the Kyoto houses view Fuji as?

"Maybe he sees it as a castle, like Kamoshida saw Shujin?" Ann wondered.

"Match not found."

"It was worth a shot," Morgana assured her.

"He's a big shot in the Kyoto houses, and he thinks Mt Fuji basically belongs to him, right?" Ryuji said. "So it's gotta be something centered around that. Maybe a fortress? Or a palace?"

"Match not found."

"Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way," Yusuke offered. "My original thoughts about seeing Mt Fuji before it was destroyed… perhaps he feels the same way? It could be that simply "mountain" is the answer we're looking for."

"Match found. Beginning Navigation."

There was a moment of silence as the five of them slipped from mementos into the palace. As far away from Mt Fuji as they were, Ren was unsurprised that the scenery around them didn't change at all, continuing to be an empty, but otherwise normal, city.

Their clothes hadn't yet changed - Kirihara clearly didn't yet see them as a threat.

Ryuji shook his head. "Man, it was that simple, huh? I wonder what his palace will actually look like, if his main distortion is just "mountain". Will there be any actual buildings?"

"Only one way to find out," Ren answered dryly. "Let's see if we can still catch a train in here."


The answer to that, apparently, was yes. Despite there being no conductor and no other passengers, the trains themselves still moved like they would in the real world. It wasn't the black and red trains covered in veins that filled mementos, but it was creepy in its own way.

Still, the thieves were able to board a train to Mt Fuji with no trouble at all, and before they knew it, were on their way to the source of Kirihara's distortion.

"This is much better than taking the trains in the real world," Morgana said, yawning lazily and relaxing in his seat."

Ann snorted. "And you don't even have to pay for the train fare there. If the metaverse trains in Tokyo weren't creepy and obviously weird, I'd totally want to take them to school whenever I could."

"This entire ride has been fascinating," Yusuke, who had pulled out a sketchpad and was doodling the scenery around them, said. "A train that's supposed to be busy, filled with almost no one as it rushes past the countryside. We haven't even arrived at our destination yet, and I'm already finding ample inspiration for my art."

Ryuji gave him a sideways grin. "You've really got a one-track mind, don't you? Just remember to stay focused when we're actually fighting stuff, yeah?"

"Of course. You kindly accepted me into your group, and now I intend to pull my weight."

Ren smiled. "You haven't let us down before. I'm sure you won't in this palace either."

Yusuke briefly looked up from his art to return the smile. "I promise, your faith in me won't be misplaced."

Ann patted his back lightly. "Don't worry, we know." There was a small jerk as the train seemed to slow, and she frowned. "Are we here already? That definitely didn't feel like two hours."

"Perhaps the time simply flew by?" Yusuke proposed.

Morgana shook his head. "No, it was definitely shorter. Maybe because we're heading towards the center of the palace. This entire distortion is based around the mountain, so maybe it wants us to be here."

Ryuji looked confused, but eventually shrugged. "Makes as much sense as anything else we've seen in a palace." The train slowed to a stop. "Come on, let's go."

Ren stood and followed his friend out the door, the others behind them.

As soon as he exited, however, he had to pause, looking upwards. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the others doing the same.

"So this is Mt Fuji as it was?" Ann said softly. "It's… It's beautiful."

"Mostly as it was," Ren corrected gently, although he couldn't quite tear his eyes away.

The mountain itself was massive. Ren had logically known that it was over 3,000 meters tall, but seeing it in person was another thing. The green on the sides faded smoothly into grey rock, then into the snow covered cap. At the bottom, where they were, cherry blossoms in full bloom dotted the landscape. With just this one look, Ren could understand why the mountain had been the pride of Japan.

And yet, it wasn't completely as it had been. Running up the side of the mountain was a massive complex, three main buildings connected by massive pathways which seemed to have a constant stream of knightmare frames running up and down them. Each of the buildings themselves were of a slightly different design, but all would have found a place housing only the richest and most noble of people.

"Fascinating," Yusuke murmured. "The lowest building bears the style of the Heian period, the middle is from the Muromachi period, and the building highest on the mountain has the architecture of the Edo period. Moving forwards in time as it moves upwards. How intriguing." He frowned. "But it's still marring the beauty of an untouched Mt Fuji. I'll have to paint around it, I suppose."

"You can do that after we find out if we're going to target Kirihara," Ren reminded him. They approached the building at the bottom of the mountain, which, unlike the palaces on the side of it, was a strangely modern grey complex, with massive steel doors that were shut tight. "We need to get up there first."

"And it looks like we'll have to go through this place first," Morgana agreed, scanning it. "See any windows we could climb through?"

"Up there!" Ren followed Ann's gaze. There was a small rusted window near the top, one that looked just big enough for all of them to get through if they went one at a time. "Not sure how we can get up there though."

"We really should've made that grappling hook," Ryuji groaned.

"Morgana and I will work on it," Ren promised, trying to figure out their options. This would be so much easier if he had Arsene's wings…

…Could he have Arsene's wings? Was that something they were able to do with their personas? Would it even work, considering they hadn't changed into their outfits yet?

Arsene tickled the back of his mind, feeling just as curious. "I don't know myself. It couldn't hurt to try."

"If I end up stuck with your monster face somehow, you'll never hear the end of it," Ren snipped. His persona huffed, but he could feel the amusement coming from him.

Arsene was a part of him, right? And he summoned him all the time in palaces. So, theoretically, shouldn't it be possible to summon just Arsene's wings? It was certainly worth a shot. And it might even be easier without his mask, since that was for summoning Arsene outside of him entirely

Ren concentrated, imagining bringing out just Arsene's wings and nothing else. His persona complied, the strange tickling sensation of blue flames spreading outwards and behind him-

"Woah, what the-!?"

"Ren!?"

Ren felt the new weight settle on his back, much lighter than he expected wings to be. Still, when he looked behind him, dark black feathers came into view. "I honestly wasn't sure that was going to work," He admitted out loud, flapping them experimentally. "I gotta admit though, It's cool as hell."

"No kidding," Ryuji breathed.

Morgana looked absolutely flabbergasted. "But… how?"

"Well, we summon our entire personas with our masks, right?" Ren shrugged. "I just tried to summon part of Arsene instead, rather than the whole thing."

"You look stunning," Yusuke offered, already looking like he was planning yet another portrait. "The black wings complement your normal looks and attire perfectly."

Ann blinked and shook her head. "Uh, yeah, Yusuke's right. And that's very cool!"

"I wonder if we all can do that," Ryuji mused. "It would be awesome to summon Captain Kidd's ship and ride on it."

Morgana nodded along with Ryuji's words, before seeming to shake himself out of his daze. "Right. If you fly me up there, I can lower down the rope for everyone else."

"You got it." Ren scooped Morgana up in his arms, bent his knees, and flapped his new wings experimentally. Then he launched himself into the sky.

It was like nothing he'd ever experienced before. Even the incredible jumps he could perform in the metaverse were nothing compared to actually being able to fly. Still, he tried to tamp down the giddiness for now. They had a job to do, after all. He flew up to the window and perched lightly on it, holding Morgana steady as he tied the end of the rope to a knob on the bottom of the window, before lowering it. Meanwhile, Ren took out a pin and worked on the window lock, quickly breaking it open.

"Alright, we're good to go," He called down, before opening the window and dropping inside, using his wings to slow his fall.

The moment his feet touched the ground, his clothes transformed, thief outfit settling around him - save for his mask.

Because he still had Arsene's wings, maybe? Joker concentrated, and the wings vanished. Instantly, his mask appeared.

So he could summon parts of Arsene, or the whole Arsene, but not both at the same time. Good to know.

He looked around the building and had to keep his mouth from dropping open.

It was, for lack of a better term, a storehouse for knightmares. Knightmares of all shapes and sizes, although the designs seemed to come exclusively from the black rebellion and any Japanese designs made afterwards, were placed neatly in rows, one right after the other.

After the demon emperor had destroyed Mt Fuji, the world's main storage of sakuradite had been wiped out, and as such, knightmare production had slowed down to a crawl. There were still some old knightmares around, generally either contained to military forces or privately owned, but the most the average person ever saw of one were in shows or documentaries. Seeing this many at once, and all of them extremely historically valuable, was amazing.

One of the rows had a missing frame, however. Joker made a note of that.

He heard the rest of his team drop down in after him, and their gasps as they took in all of the knightmares. A look behind him showed that they were all now wearing their thief attire as well.

"I've never seen so many knightmares in one place before," Panther admitted softly. "Not in person, anyway."

Mona seemed to be studying all of the frames. "I think I understand. We saw those knightmares going from one compound to the other, right? That's how we've got to get from place to place in this palace. Going on foot up the mountain would take way too much time, even with all of our metaverse enhancements."

"And we'd prolly get shot by a bunch of knightmares if we tried," Skull agreed. Then he frowned. "Why do you think we suddenly changed into our thief outfits though?" Even when we were at the bottom of the mountain, we were still in our regular clothes."

"Perhaps now that we've truly intruded upon his territory, we are seen as a threat," Fox offered. "Either way, it seems our only course of action is to take one of the knightmares. I have always wondered what the inside of one looks like."

Panther winced. "Uh yeah, that's also a problem. Do any of you know how to actually pilot a knightmare?"

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"We'll figure it out as we go," Joker decided. "We don't exactly have another option."

Skull nudged Panther, grinning. "Guess there's some irony with your outfit now, huh?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut it. They moved further into the storehouse, and she paused in front of a very familiar-looking frame. "Wait, that's the original Guren MK-II! It's in the classic red and everything!" She turned to the rest of them, delighted. "We have to use this one!"

Personally, Joker had found himself drawn to the black and gold knightmare on display, but with its maneuverability and weaponry, the Guren was certainly a good choice. "Alright. Let's just see how many of us can actually fit."

The answer to that question turned out to be all of them, although it was a bit of a squeeze. Joker found himself in the pilot seat, and looked curiously over the controls.

They should make no sense to him. He'd never even seen the inside of a knightmare before, especially growing up in Inaba, where knightmares were just something you saw on tv sometimes.

And yet…

Acting almost on instinct, he turned the machine on, and slowly moved it forwards. They all jerked slightly as the Guren set into motion.

"Joker, you figured it out so quickly?" Fox asked.

"It's mostly guesswork at the moment, but I think I've got a handle on it," Joker admitted. The more he looked over the controls, the more easily he could figure out what they were, and what they were meant to do, able to visualize what the instructions manual might've looked like in his mind. The Guren picked up speed a bit, and left the other side of the building, onto the path towards the Heian compound.

"This is crazy," Skull said, as they watched the mountain start to fly by, slowly leaving the bottom behind. "I can't believe we're actually in a knightmare! And the Guren!"

"After everything we've done so far, this is what excites you the most?" Mona asked, amused. Ahead of them, another knightmare, one that looked like a Gekka, was moving down the path towards them.

Panther chuckled. "Hey, give us a break. What little kid hasn't dreamed of being in a knightmare before?"

Mona frowned. "I guess." He seemed to contemplate this for a moment. "...Do you think I did as well? When I was an actual human kid?" The knightmare was slowing down now, moving to the middle of the path, rather than the other side.

"Well, you know yourself best," Fox pointed out. "What do you think?"

Ren frowned. "We'll have to save the reminiscing for later. Looks like this guy doesn't want us passing." At this point, the others seemed to notice the oncoming danger.

Skull tensed. "Don't suppose you know how to actually fight with thing?"

"Not a clue," Joker admitted. "But how hard can it be?"

Panther groaned. "We're so gonna die."

The other knightmare pulled out its rifle and fired. Quickly, Joker pulled the Guren to the left, barely dodging the blast, and nearly getting hit by Fox, who fell towards him. For a moment, he contemplated trying to just maneuver around their enemy, but he suspected it would just follow them. If they were going to get past, they had to destroy it.

If he could get the timing right… Ren spun the Guren around and fired the slash harken, knocking the rifle out of the Gekka's hands.

"Nice!" Skull cheered.

"We need to get in close," Panther insisted, grinning widely. "That way we can use the radiant wave surger on it!"

"Right." While the Gekka seemed to be recovering from the loss of its rifle, Joker moved towards it, lifting up the Guren's long right hand. The Gekka pulled up its own blade, a long heated chain sword, and the silver hand of the Guren met it directly, catching the sword in its grasp.

Joker activated the wave surger. A red shimmering light emitted from the hand, and the chain sword of the Gekka seemed to puff up. This was followed by the rest of the enemy knightmare puffing out in bubbles like a metallic balloon, before finally bursting in a fiery explosion.

Panther and Skull cheered, and Joker found himself grinning along. The Guren MK-II was certainly no longer the most advanced frame out there, but it was still an incredible monster. And honestly, Panther was right. It was incredible, piloting a famous knightmare like this.

Thankfully, the rest of their journey to the first compound was mostly unobstructed, and they reached it in no time.

In contrast to the rest of the place, there was a rather modern docking bay for knightmares, and Joker pulled them into one of the stations. There seemed to be a way to go through the bay and further up the mountain, but the door to it was shut tightly, and something on the side of it glowed red. Everyone hopped out, and Joker went over to inspect it.

"Key card needed," he read aloud. "Only those with access to the top floor of the Heian palace will receive authorization for the Muromachi palace." He turned to the others. "Looks like we're going to have to make our way through this place before we can move on."

"And the treasure is most likely at the top of the final compound," Fox agreed.

Skull groaned. "Couldn't at least one of these assholes make their palace easy for us."

Mona huffed. "Oh, don't whine. We're phantom thieves! We'll have this place cleared in no time at all."

Joker nodded in agreement. "Mona's right. We've already made it through two palaces. While the locations and structures may differ, the core method will be the same. And for now, we're still just trying to gather information." He looked at the rest of the thieves. "Is everyone ready to enter?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Panther agreed. The others voiced their own agreement as well.

"Right, then let's get going." Joker pried open a vent on the side of the compound, before pausing. There, on the other side of the docking bay, was one other knightmare frame - the Sougetsu. Which had definitely been missing from the storehouse.

Quietly, he pointed this out to everyone, and watched as they tensed.

"Do you think it's Sentai again?" Fox wondered, voice low.

"I don't know who else it could be," Joker admitted quietly. "We'll just need to be extra careful."

"We'll be on the lookout for the bastard," Skull promised.

With that settled, they went inside.

It wasn't long before they dropped down into the palace proper. The inside was much taller and more opulent than the already fancy exterior would suggest, towering up what looked like seven stories, each floor with a hole in the center to make room for a massive cherry blossom, which had silver bark and golden leaves. Around the bottom floor, cognitions dressed in traditional kimonos gathered in small groups, whispering to each other and looking at various paintings on the walls - most of which depicted a youthful Eito Kirihara himself.

Panther grimaced at the scene. "I guess we're going to need to put "vanity" as this guy's sin as well when we make the calling card."

"If we make the calling card," Mona reminded her.

"It doesn't fit well at all with the palace's exterior," Fox sighed, clearly disappointed in Kirihara's bad mental design. "The tree itself is truly inspired, however."

Joker bit back a smile. "Focus, everyone. We need to find a way to the top floor." He scanned the current floor curiously. "If there aren't any stairs in the middle of the floor, then they're probably around the edges somewhere."

"Couldn't you just summon those wings again and fly up there?" Skull pointed out.

Joker shook his head. "I could carry Mona with me, but I can't carry all of you. And I don't like the idea of separating in an unknown palace like this."

Skull shrugged. "Fair enough. Stair's it is."

While Kamoshida's patrolling shadows took the form of knights, and Madarame's took the form of security guards, Kirihara's shadows were wearing traditional samurai armor, complete with somen, a traditional type of face mask that covered the warrior's entire face. At first Joker worried that with the massive helmets, it would be hard to rip the masks off, but after their first ambush against these new shadows, the worry thankfully turned out to be for naught - the masks came off just fine.

Like in Madarame's palace, the shadows all had a distinctly Japanese theme to them, although they were definitely tougher than the ones guarding the artist's treasure. Still, with the five of them working together, they were more than manageable, and the phantom thieves made their way towards the stairs, listening to the cognitions' gossip as they went.

"Oh, little Eito is so brilliant and talented!"

"Did you hear? Kirihara Taizo himself has taken an interest in him. I bet he'll be the next head of house!"

"I'm sure we'll be lucky to have a house head like him!"

Mona frowned contemplatively. "They're all speaking like Kirihara is just a little kid. It's weird."

"That could be the point of this particular compound," Joker suggested. "The fact that the architecture is the oldest, that all of the paintings on the walls are of pre-Britannia Japan and a young Kirihara, the way the cognitions are talking. Maybe this is how he saw things before Britannia invaded."

"If that's the case, then there's a chance we won't learn about any potential crimes until we get past this place and further up the mountain," Panther pointed out.

"Maybe. But we won't know until we try. Let's keep moving."

The next two floors up were very similar to the first, with the same layout and similar gossip, although in each, the paintings of Eito looked slightly older than the floor before them, and the third floor had a safe room for them to stay in. It was as they were on their way up to the fourth floor, however, that Mona stopped them.

"I sense someone up ahead," he told them quietly.

Joker narrowed his eyes. "Sentai?"

Mona shook his head. "No, I don't think so. Sentai felt both powerful and dangerous. This person… they have potential for sure, but I'm not actually feeling any real power at all from them."

"Someone without a persona?" Skull wondered. "How'd they get all the way up here then?"

"We should find out. They may not have a persona, but everyone should still be on guard, just in case." Joker led the way up the rest of the stairs, and out onto the fourth floor.

It was easy to tell who the person Mona sensed was, considering that she was in a Kosei school uniform rather than the fancy traditional outfits of the cognitions. She was young, about their age, with straight dark hair and delicate features.

And there was something familiar about her. Not as intense as with Panther, and without the hatred that accompanied Akechi, but a vague familiarity all the same.

Joker shook his head. He could think about that later. For now, considering she was in a Kosei uniform, and Fox had mentioned his friend who tipped them off to this having the metaverse nav, he was confident he knew who this was.

Fox's wide eyes confirmed his suspicions. "Togo? She's tried to enter the palace by herself already?"

"She must be a stubborn one," Mona commented, shaking his head.

Panther's gaze darted around the floor, taking in the various positions of the shadows. "Well, we can't just leave her all alone without a persona, right?"

"They seem to be ignoring her so far," Skull pointed out.

"But we don't know when that will change." Joker sighed. Despite his hesitation to allow this stranger in on anything just because she had the nav, it seemed they had no choice at this point. They couldn't leave her to the mercy of the shadows. "Come on."

They made their way through the crowd, sure to avoid shadows when they could, and eventually caught up to her.

The girl, Togo, noticed them quickly, eyes widening. "Oh. You must be the Phantom Thieves, then. I wasn't sure you'd gotten my request."

"You certainly didn't waste much time before coming in yourself, despite that," Joker noted.

Togo looked slightly apologetic. "That's true. It's a long story, but this is… personal, to me. I think Kirihara intends to hurt someone I care deeply about."

"You sound like you know him personally," Fox prompted gently.

Togo hesitated, before nodding. "I… wait." She stopped, and studied Fox more closely. "Yusuke? I'd thought that maybe you knew how to contact the Phantom Thieves, but you're a thief yourself?" She shook her head, disbelieving. "And it seems so obvious now that it's you, but I didn't recognize you at all before you spoke."

Fox stopped to consider this. "Now that you mention it, despite being sucked into the metaverse my first time with Panther and Mona, and knowing instinctively that it was her as a consequence, I did not truly recognize Joker or Skull before they spoke as well. How fascinating."

Fascinating indeed. And very useful to know.

"Wait, but why can no one recognize us by our faces, but they can by our voices?" Skull wondered.

Joker tapped the side of his mask. "It could be due to our outfits being just that - outfits. Disguises cover you appearance, but without altering your voice, that will stay the same. It could be following that principle."

Togo considered this, looking intrigued. "As odd as that sounds, I suppose Occam's razor points to it being the most probable. Then again, I don't know much about this world yet, so maybe there's another, more simple explanation out there."

"We can discuss theory somewhere that isn't right in the middle of a palace," Mona interrupted, and Togo whipped around to stare at him. "Togo, I'm sure you want to bring this guy to justice, but without a persona of your own, you're in a lot of danger. I'm surprised the shadows haven't attacked you already."

Togo opened and closed her mouth twice, before recollecting herself. "I'm not sure what personas or shadows are - do you mean the samurai? I think they've left me alone because-"

"Ah, if it isn't Hifumi-chan!"

Togo froze.

The crowd parted, murmuring excitedly, as a golden-eyed shadow stepped forward, flanked by bodyguards. His flowing outfit and make-up styles resembled artwork Joker had seen of some of the emperors of the Heian period, and his head was always slightly tilted upwards as he looked down on them with a cold, empty smile.

Joker had seen Eito Kirihara on television before. This was definitely his shadow.

Kirihara spread his arms out wide. "How do you like my abode, Hifumi-chan? It's certainly about time that the Kiriharas reclaimed Mt Fuji, isn't it?"

"Is he seriously calling her Hifumi-chan?" Panther hissed. Togo looked even less happy about being called that than Ren and the others seemed to feel.

Still, she took a small breath and collected herself. "Yes, it's very nice, Kirihara-san. In fact, now that I'm here, I was wondering if you could clarify something about our last conversation for me?"

"She's gutsy, talking to a palace ruler like that," Mona whispered. Joker found himself agreeing with the cat-mascot, and looked around to make sure that no other shadows were closing in on them.

Kirihara actually seemed to consider this. "Well, I suppose for such a well-spoken, obedient girl such as yourself, I could spare some time. What is it you want to know?"

Togo seemed to gather herself. "When we talked, you mentioned that Kaguya-san was getting a successor, although she's never made any hints of planning to leave politics. Why are you so sure that she'll be replaced?"

"Kaguya-san?" As in Kaguya Sumeragi? Just how connected was Togo?

There was nothing behind Kirihara's grin. "You're very observant, aren't you?" I'm very sad to say that Sumeragi has outlived her usefulness to the Kirihara house. A mental shutdown or psychotic breakdown should take care of her nicely, and we'll make sure that her successor is much more compliant." His grin widened. "In fact, there's quite a few members of the Kyoto houses who are much more of a hindrance to our country than a help. With them gone, Japan will truly move forward in the right direction."

Mona's eyes widened. "Wait, Sentai's got a motive?"

"It sounds like he's working for someone Kirihara is connected to, at least," Joker agreed. If this was true, it put everything regarding Sentai in a whole new light.

Still, whatever the case, that meant Kirihara was planning, or at least involved in planning, the deaths of multiple people in order to benefit himself. If that wasn't a reason to target him, Joker wasn't sure what was.

Kirihara's eyes drifted over to the thieves, as if just noticing that they were there. "And what are you riff-raff doing here? Can't you see that you're not wanted?"

Panther glared back at him. "When you say that kind of stuff, are you trying to say that you're ordering these mental shutdowns?"

"Or is someone else doing it, and you're just a pawn?" Fox added coldly.

Kirihara puffed himself up. "How dare you! My influence is vital to the entire operation! I will be the one calling for these shutdowns to happen, and they will be followed through!"

"When you say entire operation…" Mona began.

Kirihara realized he'd said too much, because he simply glared at them all. "Enough of this chatter. Hifumi-chan, move aside. My bodyguards will deal with this petty scum."

Togo looked, wide-eyed, between them and Kirihara, before narrowing her eyes at the man. "I will not, Kirihara-san. I won't sit by and let you hurt them. And I won't let you hurt anyone else either. Especially Kaguya-san!"

Kirihara looked shocked, before he glared at her. "You dare defy me? So much for obedience! Perhaps I should have your mother added to the list of those who need mental shutdowns. You must've gotten it from somewhere, after all."

Togo flinched away from him. "Leave my mother out of this! Her opinions have nothing to do with my own!"

"No, I don't think I will." There was a lazy cruelness to Kirihara's smile now. "If your opinions aren't your mother's then perhaps it would be kinder for her to die without knowing what a terrible daughter she has." His smile widened. "Unless you step aside, of course. Be a good girl, Hifumi-chan."

Skull spun his bat around in his hands experimentally. "You're a disgusting creep. You don't deserve to be admired by Japan."

"And don't you dare threaten Togo using her mother!" Panther growled, sounding very close to her namesake.

Joker turned to Togo. "We're going to take him down, no matter what. Now that we know he's planning murder, we have to stop him. You can step aside and let us handle him. No one will blame you." He paused. "Or you can join us and fight to make sure he doesn't hurt your mother, Sumeragi, or anyone else."

"I…" Togo trailed off, before narrowing her eyes and stepping towards the thieves. "I won't back down. You won't be able to hurt anyone I care about, Kirihara. I'll stop you myself, if that's what it takes!"

Then her eyes went yellow, and she gasped. Quickly, Joker and the others surrounded her, so that none of the shadows could attack her while she was down.

Finally, Togo straightened, a mask of swirling red, white, and gold on her face. She turned towards Kirihara. "In fact, I'm done playing the perfect, obedient child, listening to people like you and mother go on and on about things that only benefit yourselves, while pretending you're somehow righteous. I'm sick of pretending I don't despise everything you say. And I won't take it anymore!" She put a hand on her mask.

"Come, Scheherazade!"

She ripped off the mask in a bloody display, sending shadows and cognitive party goers alike slamming into walls, crushed under the force of her power.

Her outfit had changed, now resembling a black and gold kimono, the gold ribbons trailing slightly behind her, save for the fact that it ended at her knees. Below that were black leggings which were tucked into combat boots. Above her, a massive woman wearing a golden head covering, under which dark hair spilled out in gently rolling waves, hovering around a beautiful red dress. Golden circles spun lazily around the persona's hands, one of which was outstretched, and the other of which was held up to her pale gold face in a shush-ing motion, a cheeky smile behind the index finger.

In Togo's hand was a massive sniper rifle. She pointed it at Kirihara, whose expression had gone from smug to stunned. "You won't hurt my loved ones," she said calmly. "If I have to see to that myself, then I will."

The shadow's face contorted into a mask of rage. "If that is your choice, then very well. Guards! Kill them all!" He backed away as his bodyguards stepped forward. "In three weeks, the hit will be ordered." He sneered at them. "I hope you're ready to become an orphan, Hifumi-chan."

…Oh, this bastard was going down.

"Never," Togo hissed, as the shadows split apart and reformed into a strange pig-like demon, surrounded by Ippon-Dataras.

"I am Tianpang," The pig-demon grunted. And you will not intrude upon the emperor any further!"

Mona smirked. "I'd like to see you try and stop us!"

Joker smiled briefly, before readying his personas. "Togo, usually after someone awakens to their persona, the shadows are weak to their strengths. What is your persona strong in?"

Togo concentrated for a moment, before replying. "It seems that Scheherazade has access to gravity spells, as well as many buff and debuff spells."

"Excellent." Joker sorted through his own personas, before summoning Illuyanka. "Mona, you're on healing duty. Everyone else, let's hit these things hard and fast.

"Right!"

Togo, as it turned out, was an excellent addition to the team, slamming down their enemies in impressive displays of gravity control, as well as picking off the weaker shadows with her rifle. On top of that, it barely took her any time at all to figure out how their team worked together, and where to best fit herself into that in order to boost their effectiveness.

She was certainly good. Joker would give her that.

By the time they'd finished off the shadows, however, Kirihara was nowhere in sight. Togo made for the stairs, but collapsed after only one step. Immediately, Joker and Fox were there to help her up.

"We have to keep going," She insisted. "We have to find him and stop him! Kaguya-san, my mother-"

"We will," Joker promised. "But everyone collapses after first gaining their persona. You're in no shape to continue." Togo shot him a betrayed look, but he pushed forward. "You heard Kirihara. He's going to call the hit in three weeks. We have until then to change his heart."

"We will stop him from hurting your loved ones, as well as anyone else," Fox vowed. "We promise, Togo."

Skull put up a hand. "Agreed. This guy needs to be taken down, and now."

Panther nodded. "We won't let him get away with this."

"Then we're all in agreement," Mona finished.

Togo looked at them all, surprised, before a small smile flashed across her face. "Thank you." She turned to Yusuke. "And, I suppose you all can call me Hifumi. Just not Hifumi-chan, please." She paused. "Or, should it be something else while in this world."

"We use codenames here," Joker agreed. "We can tell you more about it when we get somewhere safe."

Hifumi still looked hesitant, unwilling to just let Kirihara go for now. But after a few moments, she relented. "Alright then."


"So," Hifumi began, twirling a strand of hair around her finger and looking thoughtful. "Eventually, we'll find Kirihara's "treasure," the source of his distorted desires, inside his palace. Once we find it, we then need to send a calling card, so that his mind thinks of the treasure as something that can be actually stolen, thus allowing us to steal it. Once we do so, he will no longer have those desires, and therefore won't send out a hit on anyone."

"That's right," Morgana agreed. They were resting in mementos, on the train back to Tokyo, which, while not as slow as the real train, gave them ample time to talk. "You've picked all this up pretty quick, Hifumi. You might even give Ren a run for his money."

Hifumi looked bashful. "It just makes sense, is all. I already know people's thoughts and desires can be changed supernaturally, due to Kamoshida and Madarame. And everything I saw in the palace lines up with what you've told me."

She then looked around at all of them, before bowing slightly. "Thank you for helping me. Kaguya-san is my mentor. Ever since my mother dragged me into Kyoto politics, she's been there to help me keep my head above water. I owe her so much." Determination burned in her eyes. "I won't let Kirihara harm her, or my mother. Or anyone else he thinks he has a right to kill."

"There's no need to thank us," Ren told her. "We're Phantom Thieves because we all decided that we couldn't sit back and watch as people were hurt while we had the power to stop it. That was the case with Kamoshida and Madarame, and it's the case now with Kirihara."

"Plus, you're one of us now!" Ann paused, before awkwardly adding. "If you want to be, of course."

Hifumi seemed to consider this, before nodding. "What you said, about not wanting to stand by while others are hurt - I don't want to do that either." She paused. "But I've only just met all of you, besides Kit - I mean, Yusuke. I'd like to get to know you better before permanently committing to join the group after we've taken down Kirihara."

"Of course," Ren agreed easily. Even if Hifumi didn't join them long term, by teaming up with them for this one heist, she'd still tied her fate to theirs. She was clearly very intelligent. She had to know that betraying them would only bring her down with them.

Still, if she did leave, it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on her.

Then Hifumi turned to him. "Oh, right. Since we got out of the palace, I've been meaning to ask - have we met before? You look vaguely familiar."

Ren blinked, before giving her a half smile and a shrug. "You look familiar as well, but I can't remember where from. It must've been a long time ago."

Maybe he had met her before, and just forgotten about it. Maybe it had nothing to do with the other strange feelings.

"You know that's not true, though."

He pushed Arsene aside. He didn't want to think about that for now.

Ryuji perked up. "Oh, right! As long as you're with us, you still need a code name! I'm Skull, Ann is Panther, and Yusuke is Fox, because of our masks. But we've also got Morgana as Mona and Ren as Joker, so you can really be anything."

"Hmmm." Hifumi looked thoughtful. "Well, since all of your code names are in English, I'll go with… Rook."

Ren raised an eyebrow, interested. "You play chess?"

Hifumi smiled. "And shogi, yes. Do you play either? I'd love someone new to go up against."

"It's a deal," Ren agreed. It had been so long since he'd played either game, he was most likely rusty. It would be a good way to both sharpen his skills and get to know their new, potentially temporary, member better.

I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow.

It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.

With the birth of the Empress persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power.

Their goal was set.


Days until Kaguya Sumeragi and Mitsuyo Togo are assassinated: 21


Bet you weren't expecting that for the Justice Arcana! Or the swap up with Hifumi! Again, Makoto is still going to be a thief - she's just got a different arcana here. And our intrepid thieves are starting to figure things out much quicker than their canon counterparts... as well as figuring out new ways to channel their powers.

And of course, another reincarnation. After Hifumi, there's only one more reincarnated Phantom Thief, and pretty much all of you have guessed who she is! But I'm excited to see if you can figure out Hifumi.

On another note, designing Eito's palace has been a lot of fun, and I'm excited to show you what's going to be in it. I hope you all enjoyed, and please don't forget to leave a review, let me know what you think!


Answers to Comments:

Keeperofhounds: Thank you so much for the wonderful comments! I'm glad you like how different Hifumi is here because of the crossover. She's absolutely becoming a thief, although for now it's basically on a trial basis. As for when Ren remembers... well, those memories aren't just going to override who he is now, I'll say that much!

CheesyPotatoFries: Yup, Hifumi is becoming a Phantom Thief! She's also very much their in to not just politics, but certain Code Geass characters.

Vegito is King: I'm glad you like that Hifumi is getting to be a Phantom Thief! Her connection to Kaguya is going to come into play for sure, and I'm excited to show just how it happens. I'm also glad that you're liking the confidant swap up - different confidant arcana for a different Ren. I've thought a while about all the changes I've made, and how they connect to the tarot, so I'm glad they're well received so far. Hifumi isn't the empress arcana... but you're on the money with Haru's new arcana! As for Nunnally and Suzaku, they won't be confidants - they're just not in Japan enough for Ren to build those bonds this year. He'll still be meeting them, of course!

Dark008: Well, it wasn't a code geass character, but I hope you enjoy who it is anyways! Don't worry, Kallen will definitely still me meeting Ren/Lelouch.

sonicxjones: Glad you're liking! And let's just say... your guess may have been one of my plans for a long time. :)

ArticFox09: Ren is definitely a lot more lighthearted and open with his friends, and it's going to be a shock for quite a few code geass characters. Sayoko, in fact, has been dealing with this much happier version of her master for a while, and you know it's weighing on her. There's definitely going to be a lot of tension once things get revealed, and there's going to be a lot of messy reactions for sure.

Joker-Zero: I get exactly what you mean! That's a fantastic way to describe it.

And to everyone else who commented on this chapter, thank you so much! I know it's been a long wait, but I promise that I have plans to finish this fanfic, no matter how long it takes me. That's all for now!