Persona 5: Daywatch

Tuesday, 19 July 2016
After School
Shibuya, Taro's Patisserie

The smell of reheated pastries and cooking grease suffused the air of the low-end sit-down cafe, the bustle of dozens of people thrummed against Akira. He looked around for the group until he spotted Yuuki waving. Akira slipped through the crowd to the corner booth. Far exceeding his usual exam scores left him feeling dizzy, and the churning Tokyo crowds ground down at him. While navigating around the too-small square tables, he spotted a couple in Kosei uniforms, the curly-haired girl's arm pulling her boyfriend close with one arm wrapped around the boy's waist. It reminded him of his tumultuous encounter with Hifumi on Sunday, where her arms wrapped around him and for the first time in years, he felt like somebody else in the world wanted him to exist. Akira adjusted his gloves to try and settle his nerves, then paused at the booth to let the team leader hop out onto the table.

Makoto tapped her fingertips on the table as she stared into Yuuki's eyes. "That's an unsettling possibility. If true, there could be several Palaces for each school in Tokyo. And hundreds scattered through the businesses."

Morgana looked around at the assembled Phantom Thieves, Yusuke with a history book open before him and the rest looking up from their phones. "Now that we're all here, let's start with the situation. Medjed hasn't acted since their threat against the economy, but that's no reason to be complacent."

Makoto brushed at her hair before re-settling her braided hairband. "I wouldn't say there's been any complacency here about Medjed's lack of action."

Yuuki nodded to her. "It might even be cause to worry. I wouldn't call myself a hacker, but I know it takes time to do anything with computer code. They could be hard at work now, and we'd never know it until the virus hits."

Akira tapped on the table. "I'll deal with it. What's our strategy for Medjed?"

Yusuke closed his textbook. "What can we do? None of us have the acumen to face a hacker on his own ground."

Ryuji groaned, slamming his soda down on the table. "So all we got to rely on is that Baba dude who hacked Akira's phone? This tote sucks and blows."

"It's Alibaba," Akira corrected. "I'd rather go after Alibaba just for fucking with my bank account, but it looks like we don't have any choice." He looked over Yuuki. "You said you had a breakthrough with this Sakura he's got us targeting?"

Yuuki let out a long breath. "I had to go down to the courthouse in Chiyoda-ku to look up family registries. Sakura is the eighth most common name in Tokyo, but there are only three Sakura Futabas. One is a housewife who lives in the northern outskirts of Nerima. One is a financial account assistant manager for Sotan Construction, and the other is a minor who lives in Yongen-Jaya."

Akira perked, a lifetime of disappointments tempering the flicker of hope in his chest. "Really? What's the address? I could go down there and collect info myself."

Yuuki read off Boss's address.

Makoto saw the transfer student's stare. "What is it, Akira-kun?"

"That's Boss," Akira said. "He never mentioned having a daughter. And he doesn't seem the sort to adopt."

"She could also be a cousin or something." Ann brushed a pigtail off her shoulder and glanced from Yuuki to Akira. "Think you could learn anything from him?"

Akira sat back in his booth seat. "I would've said yes if it was a stranger, but Boss hasn't said a thing about her. If he keeps his cards that close to his chest, I'm not sure I'll be able to pry anything out of him. Hopefully it's the one keeping company books." There was that weird thing about fathers, but… he didn't seem the fatherly type.

Ryuji sucked at his straw, the bubbling of liquid burbling at the bottom of his cup. "Dude, all this investigatin' is boring as eff. Why can't we just have a good baddie to whack?"

Yuuki straightened. "On that note, I do have some new requests you guys might be able to take care of in Mementos. Yamada Hiro has picked up some of the vacuum left in Shibuya with a scam operation targeting guest workers."

Morgana's eyes narrowed. "Sounds like a heart in need of changing. All in favor?"

A variety of "Aye!" lifted up from most, except Yusuke giving a "Hear, hear."

Morgana sat, his tail curling around his feet. "All opposed?"

Nothing but the surrounding cacophony intruded.

Yuuki scrolled down on his phone. "Another is a Shujin senior blackmailing some of Kaneshiro's victims in Shujin and a couple other schools. Ouwada Jin. No idea how he found out about them, but now they're on the hook to pay hush money again."

Morgana growled, his pointed teeth bared, though the sound was drowned out by the crowds around them. "We worked too hard to free Shibuya from Kaneshiro's clutches to let somebody else move in. Any objections?"

Nothing but determined focus came from the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Ryuji gave a particularly nasty snarl. "Count me in this douche."

Makoto covered her face with her hands. "Please pay attention to what you say, Ryuji-kun."

Morgana nodded. "Very well, then. That leaves us with three targets waiting for us in Mementos—"

"We're not done," Akira snapped.

The others stared in surprise at the force of his declaration.

Breathing in deep, Akira held up a steady hand to show he had control. "I have one. Togo Mitsuyo. She's a chief of program scheduling for KFTV. Lost her shot behind the camera and is trying to live vicariously through m—her daughter, and it's destroying her." He paused, noting sympathetic looks from Yuuki and Ann but just calculation from Makoto. "She's also running fraud and betting rings. I remember seeing her laundering money through Kaneshiro when we still had access to his Palace."

Ann curled a fist. "I know what it's like to have shitty adults put you in a box and take away all your options. At least my parents were gone during the shit with Kamoshida. I can't imagine how horrible it would be for one of my parents to be the one shutting me down and trying to wrap me up."

Yusuke gave her a soft smile. "You have a truly noble soul. As warm as the morning sun, but as gentle as an autumn breeze."

Ann blushed deeply.

Ryuji groaned. "Get a room. Can we get going, already? I wanna beat Shadow face."

Back on his feet and tail swishing in agitation, Morgana snapped, "Right! Any objections for changing Togo Mitsuyo?" Only the ebbing roar of the surrounding conversations intruded on the corner booth, so the guide-trapped-in-cat-form stood. "Then that's settled. Let's go change some hearts."

Mementos, Togo's Distortion

All the pocket domains of Shadows had that unnervingly-perfect polished obsidian with glowing red patterns, but this one yawned open like a stadium and stretched so deep he could hardly make out the vein-like pipes on the far side. A shapely woman stood in the center of the cavernous space, a black fog swirling around her. The cord floating out from the pipes almost vanished as it snaked its way through the air to the top of Shadow Togo's head.

Ryuji squinted, scanning her silhouette through the swirling black fog. "That's Togo?" He gave a wolf whistle.

Morgana clapped a hand on his face. "Reaper." He flipped out the bayonet on his crossbow.

"Togo Mitsuyo," Akira said, hand clenching his sub-machine gun's handle and heart beat rising at the woman torturing the most virtuous soul he knew. "Your days abusing Hifumi are over."

Ann came to a stop at the front, between Morgana and Akira. "Yeah. What the hell is wrong with you? A mother is supposed to protect and nurture her children!"

The woman surrounded by thickening black fog scoffed at them. "I only do what's natural."

Akira's jaw clenched. "The bribes and extortion surrounding Hifumi's matches?"

Shadow Togo scoffed, holding a hand out as if she couldn't bear to look on them. "The world only rewards the victors. Fixing matches is necessary."

Makoto came to Akira's right. "Perverting justice and spitting on sportsmanship itself by fixing matches is hardly necessary or natural."

Shadow Togo laughed, a grating and nasal sound. The glowing patterns in the floor underneath them shuddered as if her spite was too much. "What kind of troublesome parents would let unruly children like you out?"

Ryuji brought up the team's left flank, a snarl peeking out from underneath his heavy skull mask. "You sound like some old hag. 'Unruly children'…"

The sweeping red patterns on the floor blazed so bright it hurt. Shadow Togo snarled, "Trash like you don't even deserve to be beneath my feet. The few greats society produces deserve to walk with clean soles. Ugly rabble want the spotlight without having anything worthy of it. They don't even deserve fifteen minutes."

Yusuke's hands tensed on his rifle. "How distasteful to show such callous disregard."

"And what about Hifumi?" Akira bellowed, fist clenching around the handle of his sub-machine gun. "She's your daughter, and you treat her worse than a dog!"

A six-sided pillar below Shadow Togo began a slow rise. Her ruby lips twisted and golden eyes blazed at him, making an unsettling resemblance to a Goa'uld host. "You dare speak of my Hifumi? I birthed her. I raised her!" The pillar stopped and she raised both hands high. "Children should be devoted to their parents. My happiness is her duty! That is what she exists for!"

Makoto stepped forward, her heavy iron mask concealing part of her grimace. "Children are not pawns for you to use and discard!"

"You think that insolent slut would be where she is without me?" Shadow Togo bellowed, darkness swirling thicker and thicker around her until only the glow of her eyes remained distinct. "I am the one who hired those tattooed freaks to break Sasaki's legs so his son would withdraw, giving her the shot the Association never would have allowed a woman!" She floated up into the air, almost a meter above the already elevated pillar below her. Long walls of obsidian extended down from across the ceiling to box them in, their pace slow but the rumble still shaking the floor beneath the Thieves' feet. "I am the one who sicced private investigators on her enemies, who bribed and blackmailed and extorted those who stood in my way." She hunched, curling in on herself. "I am the one who sold those trashy tabloids which brought everyone's eyes to the beauty she inherited from me."

Akira gaped. "You sold those humiliating stories?"

The descending obsidian walls collided with the floor with a clunk. Long, dark limbs unfolded out of Shadow Togo's back, solid as her arms but thin and many-jointed. "There can be no heroine without sacrifice, without tragedy!" The wings flapped high and she unfurled, opaque material snapping out to fill them in and blowing away the fog. She spread her limbs wide, every one ending in sharp claws. Akira fought to keep from gawking at the shiny, skin-tight material bearing her porcelain skin from collarbones to waist. Her long, flowing brown hair rippled as if unbound from gravity. "Now it's my time for victory, and no thieves will take it from me!"

The quaking beneath their feet intensified. Yusuke backed closer to the short team leader, rifle up as glowing red cracks spread across the walls. "What is happening?"

Morgana jerked his crossbow left and right. "I don't know, I've never seen Mementos change before!"

The walls flexed like the inside of an inhaling lung. The obsidian surface cracked, then shattered. Red shrouding curtains took their place. Sickly yellow light leaked from stage lights hanging from the ceiling. What had been a thin pillar widened into a raised stage platform. More hexagonal columns shot up around them, reaching a couple meters in height before popping, leaving enormous gongs.

Ann stumbled into Akira. "What the hell is going on?"

Long, low tables and squared red cushions rose up from the floor like plant shoots in a sped-up documentary as the space took on a look vaguely like the Shinto temples, but the addition of very familiar black pustules brought the tension to a new high. The closest popped, leaving an obese, towering humanoid in old-timey white clothes and a white, ceramic mask.

Morgana's pupils shrank to pinpoints. "It's becoming a Palace!"

"Agathion!" Akira shouted, meeting the dark abyss where the Tenhou Gensui's eyes should be. His persona lanced a bolt of lightning into the Shadow's face mask, driving it stumbling back.

Another pustule burst just a few meters to one side, driving Makoto and Yusuke back. A voluptuous woman stood out of it, more naked than wearing Chinese-style court dress, two fox tails shaking behind her.

Ryuji shot the kitsune Shadow in the head, causing it to stumble back. She righted and shot an angry glare at him as sparks danced between her fingers.

A clack echoed through the forming temple dominated by red fabrics and dark-stained wood, and the sliding doors at the back threw open. Like a time-lapse of weeds, an audience rose up out of the ground, applauding as Shadow Togo bowed and posed at the stage in the center of the hodge-podge between a Shinto temple and old-style castle. They threw oval-shaped coins and offered golden statuettes. From the heavy swinging wood doors, Morgana shouted, "Come on, guys! Our escape's open!"

Makoto paused to blast another shot at the kitsune, knocking her stumbling.

Still backing up, Akira shot a quick bolt into the Shadow from Agathion, thinking through his Persona repertoire for one to counter her. "What about Togo's Shadow?"

"That's no good without her Treasure!" Morgana shouted, shooting one of the fat, white-masked figures in the throat.

The twin-tailed kitsune lashed a hand out, casting a lightning bolt at Agathion. His Persona withstood the attack, but the pain still caused him to trip. Falling backwards, he hit one of the dull-eyed audience members. The instant the woman in a formal gown jostled, her eyes locked onto his and glowed with gold. She jerked as her body distended, transforming into a black pustule.

Yusuke's strong hand caught him, hauling the transfer student to his feet. Gunfire howled as the Phantom Thieves tried to hold off the now dozen Shadows running after them. As the last one in the line, as soon as Akira crossed the threshold of the double sliding doors at the back of the huge temple-theater space, the other Phantom Thieves slammed the doors shut.

A towering figure wearing an old-style white top and red, gathered pants approached from the hall to Akira's right. It held a long cane in its hands. A noh-style mask covered most of its face, the yellow glow of its eyes shining through pinprick slits. "Hey," its gravelly voice spat. "What are thieves doing in Togo the Great's Temple?"

Ryuji stepped forward, but without having caught his breath, his shot passed right next to its mask.

The figure clasped low on its cane with one hand, ripping the top out with the other and slashing at Ryuji with the concealed sword.

Yusuke aimed down his rifle, blasting it in the chest.

The figure collapsed to the floor and dissipated like smoke on the wind.

The Phantom Thieves gasped for breath for long moments until Makoto gasped at Ryuji. "Reaper, you're bleeding!"

"Huh?" He looked down at his arms, spotting a drip of red collecting at his fingers He lifted his arm to follow the red trail from around the base of his carpi ulnaris. "It's okay, he just nicked me."

"That's not some paper cut, Ryuji," she snapped, slinging her shotgun. She grabbed his arm and twisted to get a better look at it, drawing a gasp from the runner. "That's going to need stitches if we don't get it right away." She looked to the team leader, but when he shook his head, she dropped in that summon-formation of Johanna and clenched her teeth to strain through the fatigue.

Warm motes washed over Ryuji and the wound closed up.

Morgana, who had been standing in the middle of the hallway with an unfocused look on his face, coughed to get their attention. His eyes remained closed, but his nose and ears were both perked up. His crossbow pointed at a set of doors embossed with a snarling dog at the end of the hall. "There it is. Togo's Treasure was where that Shadow just came from."

Ann looked over her pistol. The flashlight remained off, but the metal cowl over the top jutted off the back, the barrel sticking forward and the chamber gaping. "I'm out. Sorry, guys."

Yusuke shook his head and aimed down the other hallway, gold-trimmed beige wallpaper lining the walls. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Panther. You gave your all to help us escape an ambush that would certainly have killed every one of us."

Morgana pulled a lever to cock his crossbow, his jaws clenching. "Zorro got hit pretty bad in there. I don't think I'll be able to summon my Persona for a while."

Yusuke gave a shallow nod. "I as well."

Ann looked from her gun to the artist, then the small stature of the team leader. "Then we gotta get out of here."

Akira stepped closer, his hand clenching around his sub-machine gun. "But the Treasure is just a little ways away. C'mon, guys, we're not gonna have an opportunity like this again. We zero in on the Treasure's location, then find a way out and bam! We have our infiltration route and can send a calling card tomorrow."

Yusuke turned to the transfer student in a long coat. "Assuming we can guess the location and distortion. We are no longer in Mementos."

Morgana took a long breath. "We're two Personas down, and Ann's gun is already empty. You and Makoto aren't far behind, especially since you both used them fighting Shadows on the way down Mementos. Our priority is to get out alive."

Akira's heart thundered in his ears. "We are not abandoning—!"

Morgana bellowed, "We're falling back, and that's an order!"

Togo's Temple, Front Bailey

Clambering down the steel drain pipe snaking down the massive corner post, Akira hopped back from the temple big enough to swallow Ueno Stadium. Half a dozen spotlights shone up onto the thick clouds. Nervous and needing to do something with his hands, he reached into his longcoat and drew his machete. Ann followed next, her boots hitting the raked gravel of the rock garden with a crunch before she stumbled away.

The others descended, Morgana bringing up the rear. His breath still came in rapid pants. "I… don't think we… should trust the roof will… be unlocked next time."

Makoto swept her shotgun at the grounds around them. Her weapon was spent during the escape, but her gun-light still illuminated the night-time temple grounds. The cone of light swept over pale gravel, squared bamboo plots, and snaking waterways. After a few seconds, she looked down at the team leader. "At least we've got an escape. That's Tokyo outside the gate."

Akira followed the direction of her light to a wide spot of white light at a road gate with the forest of buildings which looked like everywhere in Tokyo to him. "Anyone know where this place is?"

Ryuji and Makoto both shook their heads.

Akira glanced to Ann, but she just gave her own shake. He ground his teeth, but knew he shouldn't have expected the only person living in Tokyo almost as little as him to have memorized such a sprawling city. "Fox, as soon as we get out, sketch that skyline. It might be our only clue about the location of Togo's Palace."

Ryuji boggled. "We almost get killed, an' you wanna run back in here?"

Akira clenched his fists and turned the runner. "Are you saying the Phantom Thieves should give up?"

"For a Shadow bein' mean to one chick?" Ryuji blurted. He slapped his mask up, making even more clear his raised eyebrows and pale face. "Eff yeah! There's strong Shadows everywhere, an' if it wasn't for Byakko's weird doll thing—"

"Homonculus," Morgana corrected.

"Rider'd be dead," the sprinter finished. "An' it's not like we got a magic spell to un-deadify someone if we go down. If this was the Palace for Medjed, then yeah—that dude's threatenin' to ruin all Japan! But we gotta be smart 'bout this." He jerked his good hand up, pointing at the drain pipe they all just shimmied down. "This went from some Shadow in Mementos to her own effin' Palace. I want the Phantom Thieves to get famous too, but this is way too much risk for just one bad family."

Akira flexed his fingers, unable to believe his ears. "People are finally starting to believe in us!" Red crept in at the corners of his vision. "We're just starting to make some progress on changing real hearts, and you want to run away?"

Yusuke stepped between them, putting a hand on Akira's chest to keep him from advancing on the runner. "Be calm, Joker. This Palace may be beyond our capabilities today, but with the experience we gain countering Medjed – somehow – and a few more targets in Mementos, we may find ourselves strong enough to come back."

Makoto nodded. "In either case, becoming a Palace has changed the situation and deserves another vote. The risk just rose a lot and the reward is no higher. Japan is bigger than one person. Medjed or that Sakura Futaba have to be our priorities."

"One person?" Akira turned on her, pushing the artist's hand away. He pointed the machete in his hand at her. "Kamoshida was one person."

"Settle down," Morgana shouted. When all eyes were on him, he coughed into a hand. "We're spent. Most of us couldn't summon our Personas again if our lives depended on it, we tried. As the leader of the Phantom Thieves, I'm calling the day done. Go home and rest, or see the doctor if you think you need it. Medjed is threatening to ruin all of Japan, so that has to be our priority. The rest will have to be dealt with in a later meeting when we're not all running on fumes."

The others broke up, but before the artist could cross the threshold, Akira grabbed his elbow. He knew what the team leader said made sense, but he couldn't just let this go. Not for the one person in his life who deserved a chance she wasn't being given. "Fox. Could you at least sketch that out there, so we have something to go on when we need to get this Palace's location?"

Yusuke took a steady breath and raised his mask to wipe sweat from his face, something about his aplomb at the same time comforting and infuriating. His face seemed as impassive as his mask, but after a moment he nodded. "Certainly. That we have something else which must be done today does not mean we can't turn our attention back tomorrow."

Akira let out a long breath, the weight of a continent lifted from his shoulders. "Thanks."

Wednesday, 20 June 2016
After School
Shujin, Class 2-D

Even before the first wave of escapees got out, Akira's phone vibrated, as did the class representative's.

In the new Phantom Thief group chat winked Ryuji's ID. [Now that Mom's finally off my back about grades, and today's a rest day, we should all do something. We haven't gone out training as a Phantom Thief group since before Madarame.]

Akira rolled his eyes. [That's because schedules started getting in the way. Kosei is basically one week ahead of Shujin. And we were lucky Makoto has been able to drop as much time as she has on Heart Changing.]

Her ID winked next. [Speaking of, I'm afraid I will be unavailable. Student Council and cram school.]

Ann stood at the window side of the room, straightening her school satchel over her shoulder. [I was feeling good about my pistol with that holographic sight, but the only effective shot in Togo's Palace was when I nailed a Shadow in the eye.]

Ryuji popped up. [You think you need some quick accuracy aid like Akira's laser dot?]

[No, I think I need to step up my firepower. But new guns at Untouchable are EXPENSIVE. I either need more bookings at my agency, or we need another windfall from Palace trinkets.]

Yusuke texted, [We have found trinkets in Mementos as well.]

Akira's gaze flicked to the team leader tucked in his desk, then relayed, [I Creep From Your Desk says today's a rest day. No Metaverse. I was thinking of seeing Shinya today—he said he's there.]

Ryuji texted, [Well, you up to Gun About training?]

Yusuke sent, [With no club involvement, I have no pressing fixed schedule in most afternoons.]

Ann gave a small wave as she strode out.

Akihabara, Gigolo Arcade

Akira led the way into the small arcade, around the crane games to the boy styled The King by arcade regulars. Only a couple milled around to watch him play as he dual-pistoled his way through a demon-infested hospital.

Yusuke stared at the heavy weapon controller on the far right. "Odd, I do not recall this at the Shibuya arcade."

Ryuji took the artist by the shoulders and slid him to the side to stand in front of the rifle controller. "Oh, no. That one is mine today. I just survived a temple of doom filled with sexy minxes who wanted to eat my face."

Akira reached around the artist to flick the track star in the ear.

"Ow!"

Akira set the satchel with Morgana on the ground next to the controller cradle dock, then turned to the middle-schooler and swallowed. "Uh… he was talking about… his new video game."

Shinya blasted two horned demons with claws so long they would have made everyday tasks impossible. "I didn't ask." After several minutes, a combined ambush from a player with grenades and another with a sniper rifle brought one of Shinya's characters down. He blasted the grenadier, then turned to the others, stepping on the pedal to send his other character into cover. "So, you brought the loudmouth again."

Ryuji raised a fist to his chin and flicked his hand out. The boy returned the gesture.

Yusuke glanced between them, then to Akira. "Is that a salute of some kind?"

"No!" Akira said.

Shinya turned back to the game. "I only said I'd teach you."

Sighing, Akira ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, the original offer was always for you to help us out. You're a good shooter teacher, but I've got enough confidence in my ego to know I'm not going to defeat Owner on my own any time soon. Ryuji's a good guy, and so's Yusuke." He took the pistol controller for player two.

Shinya glanced up at the artist framing a portion of the game screen with his fingers. "He stops doing that, and I'll consider it."

Wednesday, 20 June 2016
Evening
Kanda Catholic Church

Akira paced to the pew where Hifumi sat, his travel go board held in his hand. Most days, he would feel a sense of giddiness at being able to share time and an invigorating match or few with his gorgeous rival. This time, the memory of her asking him to change her mother's heart played in his mind. His palms and underarms felt slick and his stomach clenched. The signs of nervous weariness on her only enhanced his concern, the slight slouch to her shoulders, the off-center cant of her Kosei uniform.

He came to a stop next to her pew and put on his best Joker grin. "What's a place like you doing in a girl like this?"

His palm smacking his forehead echoed in the modest church.

Hifumi looked up at him from her odd formation arrangement. A corner of her lip turned up, but only for a few seconds. She didn't wear much makeup most days, but today it seemed just a tad heavier, especially around her eyes, where he knew shadows grew around his eyes on nights when the Institute patients screamed. There was hesitation in her movements, which seemed unlike her. "Good evening, Akira-kun."

He sat down on the other side of the shogi board. "How are you doing?"

A moment passed as she tugged at her blue Kosei vest to straighten it. A beat later, she let out a breath and leaned against the pew back. "I had a match yesterday after cram school. I had been looking forward to it." She set the lance down, the muscles around her eyes tightening. "I thought it would finally be a chance to show the Association that I belonged, that I deserved to match wits with them."

Akira looked over her. He ached to reach a hand up and brush those loose strands back behind her ear, then run his fingers through her luxurious hair. He swallowed. "Won by concession but lost by points?"

"Worse than that." She moved a knight up and captured his bishop. The snap of the wood pieces sounded deafening in the absence of her usual passionate role play. She took a long breath in and out. "I was never well-liked by my seniors. And the more attention I get, especially in those shoots mother has me do, the more I hear them whisper about how I don't belong. Or how I'm apparently a vain prima donna." Her breath caught in her throat. "Each one is more barbed than the last. I'm no longer a fellow player to them—they all think I'm just an idol passing by. Some of them can't wait to be rid of me."

The echoes of the Shujin library flitted in and out of his mind, his heart clenching. "Well, their loss for being unable to appreciate good company. Are you at least able to enjoy your games with your father?"

Hifumi let out a breath, but her hunch lessened just a little and the corners of her mouth turned up. "His health has been getting better these past few days, but I'm a little frightened of another episode. It seems like each good spell precedes a sudden worsening of his condition." That forest-green gaze stared into the distance, a sad smile tugging at her lips. "He never would call out his attacks like I still sometimes do, but you could feel his spirit even in recordings of his matches. His eyes would shine and every movement was confident as a king's." Her hand came up to the omamori-style knot tied in her hair for a brief moment. "I was closer to Mother when I was a little girl, but there was something about shogi which lit a fire within me." Her shoulders drooped again. "When he collapsed after that one shogi tournament, the way Mother looked at shogi changed. And yet she still does all she can to give me the opportunity to follow in Papa's footsteps." That light in her eyes dimmed, but a strange energy lingered in it which he couldn't identify. "I have to keep going, even if I don't like those interviews and photoshoots. It's the only way I can contribute to the household and ease my parents' burden."

He slid up a silver general, capturing her rook. The air felt thick in his throat. "Hifumi… you shouldn't have to feel like you're obligated to suffer to—"

She looked at him, pinpricks of light glinting at the corners of her eyes. "I do, Akira. Mother works two jobs to keep the household afloat. Papa hasn't even left the house since his last episode four months ago, when medics raced him to the hospital." She moved one of her two remaining pawns, still there since he sat down to the scenario. "And even though it's more work for Mother, she enjoys juggling the media. If I just selfishly stopped, it would hurt both of them. If Mother was the type to change her mind, there might be another avenue somewhere, but she's not."

He looked down at the board, but saw no moves which wouldn't allow her to place him in check. He slid over his king piece. "I concede. Did you want to try something else, or go for another?"

Hifumi glanced up at him, holding eye contact for a fraction of a second. "I-if you don't mind." He dumped the bag of pieces on the board and they both started setting up the starting formation. He reached for a knight tile in the middle, but so did she, her fingers closing on his.

Akira's face burned and after his brain started working again, he glanced up. So did she. Her fingers lingered on his, the apparent heat in the room rising ten degrees. He swallowed against the feeling of nervousness closing up his throat. "I… I can't, Togo-san. I like you." He reached his other hand over and took her hand from his to set it aside. "More than is appropriate."

She lay her hand back on his. "What if I didn't mind?"

He withdrew his shaking hands and set down the knight. "You don't really know me, Togo-san."

"I know you're clever. Every game it's harder to best you," she started, her voice picking up, "You're a fast reader—but you don't just skim through pages, you soak them in. You treasure wisdom and treat a philosophical discussion like a marathon to leap into. You honed your mind on shogi, chess, go, and other strategy games I've never even heard of. You're funny—"

His eyes fell. "I'm not."

"—and considerate. When others are injured, you feel pain—"

"Now you're making—"

"—but you still stand tall. You're gentle—"

Akira shot to his feet, unable to bear that gaze greener than any forest. "I'm a convict!"

At last, her hand jerked back to hold against her torso as she gazed up at him.

At last, maybe she understood how unstable, how unsafe he was. Just to make sure, he forced himself to explain. "I was arrested. Convicted of assault."

After a beat, Hifumi stood, smoothing out her skirt on the way up. "I know you get angry. I know people have hurt you. But I don't believe you would hurt someone unprovoked." When he barked a bitter laugh, she drew up to her full height. Despite lacking a physical height advantage, her regal countenance made up for the small difference. "I've seen how you walk into the confessional. A man who isn't focusing on becoming better wouldn't have the insight to recognize his own failures. You just need to stop acting like you've failed before you've tried. The General of the Steel Legion wouldn't give up, no matter what magic was arrayed against him."

His gaze fell. "Real life isn't shogi."

She took his chin with her index and middle fingers, lifting his face back to hers. "You don't even give up in our matches. You've a gambler's spirit, surrender isn't in you. What's really wrong?"

Unable to withstand the electrifying feeling of her touch, Akira reached up to take away her hand. He got as far as wrapping his fingers around hers before a quirk of her eyebrows brought him to a standstill. Those green orbs refused to let him go. "People like me don't get good things in life, Togo-san. We don't keep them." When that look of concern on her face didn't budge, he added, "I'm not kidding. I've been in so many fist-fights in primary school I couldn't even count them. All people have to do is use the wrong words and I lose it. Like father, like son. Lab freak. Was only a matter of time until I ran across the wrong person, and I did. Doesn't matter what was right or wrong then, life had to catch up to me some time. So now I have a record that's going to be with me the rest of my life. If you got involved in any way… it would follow you, too."

A beat of silence passed in the old church. Hifumi's fingers squeezed his. "Juvenile convictions are sealed after graduating high school. If the Phantom Thief can change Kaneshiro's heart, you can make it." When he opened his mouth to object, she interrupted, "If people can see you changing before them and still treat you like you don't deserve a better life, they're the ones who don't deserve you."

Seconds passed as he fought to draw in a breath, his whole body numb but for the fingers wrapped around her warm digits. "H… how do you know? The prosecutor told me convictions were perma—"

"Yuna-kun was being forced to act as a mule by Kaneshiro's men. She was caught in the Shibuya Sweep." Her fingers squeezed his. "She said thanks to the Phantom Thief for saving her grandparents."

His blood roared in his veins. She flinched when he tugged his hand away. "S-sorry."

She shook her head, a practiced sense of calm in her. "I'm sure things are stressful for you, what with Medjed on top of everything else." She reached her raised hand to touch his arm. "Don't give up. You did it before, you can do it again."

AN: Persona 3 had Tartarus, but starting with Persona 4, we never had the opportunities to see the formation of a Palace. Persona 5 implies new Palaces form all the time, so Togo was the perfect opportunity to bring that into focus and highlight how dangerous the sudden shift from pocket domains in Mementos to full Palaces. Making Togo's Palace come up at the same time as another major threat to the Phantom Thieves also gave the opportunity to force questions canon never did by only dealing with one threat at a time.