Phantom Files Book 2: Rise Of The Monarchs

by sithlorde1988

The sequel to Persona 5-The Phantom Files. A few years after Ren returns home, the Phantom Thieves find themselves drawn back into the Metaverse once again out of nowhere after a mysterious app surfaces with the powers to access the Metaverse. Can the Phantom Thieves stop a mysterious new group of individuals called Monarchs? Better summary in chapter 1! BOTH STORY AND EDITS DONE!

1. Return to Leblanc! Crew Reunites part 1

A/N: sithlorde1988 here, welcoming you to the first chapter of the sequel to Persona 5-The Phantom Files, Phantom Files Book 2: Rise Of The Monarchs!

Real quick, before you read this story, make sure you've already read the prequel to this story, Persona 5- The Phantom Files, otherwise there's going to be quite a few things in this story that will be very confusing to readers. If you've not read that story yet, go and read it before reading from this point. If you're reading past this, it's assumed you read Persona 5- The Phantom Files (or at least played through Persona 5 Royal at least once, since the prequel to this story was an adaptation of Persona 5 Royal), so read from this point at your own risk. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

And with that obligatory warning out of the way, before we discuss anything else, let's go ahead and toss down a bit of a summary, since despite being an adaptation of Persona 5 Strikers, there will be quite a bit changed up at various points of the story! So summary time!

Summary: Set about two and a half to three years after the end of Phantom Files, Ren Amamiya plans to return to Tokyo for a summer vacation reunion with his friends after deciding he wanted to return to Yongen-Jaya. What happens when, during said reunion, the Metaverse decides to make its grand return with new places to infiltrate, also known as Jails?

And moreover, how will the Phantom Thieves react to an apparent resurgence of the 'change of heart' events that occurred during Persona 5/Persona 5 Royal? Can they get to the bottom of this new mystery, or will the Monarchs be too much for the Phantom Thieves to handle, even with the addition of some new faces to their ranks? Read to find out!

Rating: M (both because it's a Persona story and therefore rates an M rating by default due to the largely mature subject matter discussed in Persona games, but also because of strong language, mature content, and of course lemons)

Pairings: Main- RenxSumire (because of course those two are together, given this is a sequel to Phantom Files), RyujixMakoto, KusaxFutaba, and one other that will be revealed later since it would be slightly spoilery if I revealed it now. Side- YusukexHifumi, AnnXShiho, and two other pairings that will also be revealed later because one is kinda spoiler-ish, and the other I'm not 100% decided on yet.

That being said, let's get to the disclaimer before I forget!

Disclaimer: I, sithlorde1988, do not own the Persona series in any way, shape, or form (aside from the OC Kusa/Draconis, who is made and thus owned by me, along with any other OCs that might show up, all of which are also made and thus owned by me unless otherwise noted), and the actual ownership credit for the Persona series belongs to Atlus, Sega, and Koei Tecmo (at least insofar as the spinoff games, like Strikers, Phantom X, Tactica, the 'Dancing' games, the 'Arena' games, and the 'Q' games, are concerned), so all credit to them!

With that out of the way, let's get on with the start of Phantom Files Book 2: Rise of The Monarchs!

PERSONA 5- THE PHANTOM FILES, BOOK 2: RISE OF THE MONARCHS

Chapter 1- The Return Of The Crew! Return to Yongen-Jaya! The Crew Reunites part 1

(Unknown location, undetermined period of time)

As the night sky could be seen in the background, all seemed to be quiet and peaceful. Or so it seemed, until the camera panned up to show a pair of shadowed figures darting from rooftop to rooftop with all the grace and ease of accomplished athletes. As the camera zoomed in on the two figures, you could just see the flash of a black trenchcoat on one and a black leather coat on the other, along with the briefest of glimpses of what appeared to be a silver rose brooch on the hip of one of the figures, and if you looked at the figures, you could clearly see that one was male, and the other was female.

As the camera shifted again to show the figures in more detail, you could see that the male was wearing a white mask with black trim along the eye sockets, a smug grin, and the aforementioned black trenchcoat with a grey dress shirt underneath, as well as red gloves, what appeared to be either a slip of paper or a handkerchief tucked into the chest pocket of the trenchcoat, which was worn open to show off the dress shirt under it, along with black dress pants, and black boots.

As the male's brown eyes seemed to twinkle with amused mischief, his companion, a red-headed female with bright red hair that was pulled into a ponytail with a black ribbon, knee-length black boots, a form-fitting dark grey leotard with a silver rose brooch pinned to the belt of the leotard on her right hip that hugged her figure nicely to show off her impressive figure, similar red gloves to the male's other than being a slightly darker shade of red, a black leather coat she wore open over the leotard, and a black and silver mask that covered most of the upper part of her face, but did nothing to hide either her dark red eyes or her amused smirk as her lips pursed slightly in amusement at how much her companion seemed to be enjoying himself as she shook her head fondly and spoke up.

"Heh, you really missed being in action like this, didn't you Senpai?" The female asked as a female voice spoke up over a comms chat.

"Of course he did, Violet! That's Joker for you! He's a bit of a show-off like that! But I don't think I need to tell you, of all people, that! He's your boyfriend, after all! That said, let's get serious! Joker! Violet! Be careful, you two! We've got one comin' up!" The voice, which was that of a female, said to the masked female, now identified as 'Violet'. Violet, for her part, turned to the male with her, who was now identified as 'Joker', and spoke up.

"Err, Joker-senpai? D'you think we made the right call letting the new girl handle keeping the enemies off our back on her own?" Violet asked Joker, who stroked his chin briefly before speaking up with a sage sort of smile.

"Honestly? I think we wouldn't have been able to stop her if we wanted to, Violet! You saw how eager she was to help us! And I personally think that that sort of enthusiasm is impressive. Besides, she's got Mona with her, so to be honest? I believe that she's in good hands." Joker said wisely as Violet nodded and spoke up.

"Good point. I didn't think of it that way." Violet said as their conversation was interrupted by the whirring of what sounded like an aircraft, making Violet and Joker turn in time to see what appeared to be a masked helicopter fly up to the two and flash a light in their faces, making Joker and Violet briefly shield their eyes before their vision returned in time for them to see the masked helicopter raise up a gatling gun and aim it at Joker and Violet, who barely had enough time to dart out of the way before the helicopter fired at them, making them dart around to avoid the onslaught of bullets. Joker looked at Violet and spoke up.

"Violet! Make your way to the ground level! I'll meet you there once I take this overgrown eyesore down! Now let's move!" Joker said as Violet nodded and spoke up.

"Got it, Joker! I'll trust your judgement on this! Good luck!" Violet said as she darted off to start descending down the nearest building to hit the ground right as Joker grinned before sliding along the front of the building he was on, sliding nimbly from side to side to avoid the hail of gunfire aimed at him as he leapt forward onto the helicopter, using the frame of the helicopter to pull himself up on top and move towards the mask on the front of the helicopter.

With a bit of effort, Joker successfully ripped the mask off the helicopter, which crashed to the ground with Joker atop it, as the helicopter exploded in a fiery display, making Violet gasp at the sight of the flames that sprung up, not seeing Joker at first until he leapt out of the flames and landed in a crouch on the ground in front of the flaming wreckage of the helicopter. Violet sighed and spoke up.

"Still the same old show-off you've always been, eh Joker? Guess I can't complain, but please don't scare me like that! I thought you'd gotten yourself killed for a second there!" Violet said as Joker smirked before speaking up.

"Sorry, Violet. But you know it's not a fight until something blows up. And since neither Draconis or Oracle are here to bring the boom, it falls to me to do it in their honor." Joker said as Violet cutely huffed but reluctantly nodded as she crossed her arms over her not-as-petite chest and spoke up.

"Be that as it may, you do realize that Oracle-senpai is guiding us through a comms chat, right? So she can probably hear us." Violet pointed out as Joker shrugged, not being able to refute Violet's point since she was absolutely correct. Before anything further could be said, Joker and Violet found themselves surrounded by Shadows as many police cars pulled up, and tons of masked Shadows poured out of them, lining up in a single-file line in front of Joker and Violet, who gasped as they quickly found themselves surrounded. Violet gasped and spoke up.

"Wow, that's a lot of them! What's the plan, Joker?" Violet asked as Joker spoke up with a grin.

"What else? We charge in and take the fight to them. To use a phrase Crow once used, 'I LIVE FOR THIS!' Or, more simply put, let's do our job, Violet! We were asked to play the part of the decoy for the others, after all." Joker said, smugly brandishing a knife as he prepared to fight off the massive hordes of Shadows with Violet at his side. Violet, for her part, nodded and spoke up.

"Good point, Joker. Let's do it!" Violet said, her expression changing to a determined look as the two prepared to fight off the Shadows! As the fight began, a familiar boyish voice reached Joker and Violet's ears through the comms chat they had going.

"All right, let's begin the operation!" The voice of what Joker and Violet recognized to be 'Mona', the 'mascot' of the Phantom Thieves, or the group that Joker had formed over three years ago alongside the founding members, which were himself, Mona, and three others, said as the female voice from before spoke up.

"That was one hell of an entrance, Joker! The fact you probably scared a few years off of poor Violet's life aside, you managed to get their attention! They're all riled up! That being said, your best bet now is to just keep at it! Go ham until you and Violet have drawn every last bit of attention!" The voice of what Joker and Violet knew to be 'Oracle', the unspoken 'navigator' and/or support unit turned combatant, as well as the girlfriend of 'Draconis', who just so happens to be the second-in-command of the Phantom Thieves, as well as being one of the founding members of the group in question along with being Joker's younger brother, spoke up. At that point, a few more voices spoke up.

"Look at him, handling this all by himself with only Violet for backup! That's our Joker!" Mona said as a female voice spoke up.

"Heh, not bad, Joker. Looks like you still got it, eh leader?" The voice of what Joker and Violet knew to be 'Panther', the fire specialist and resident model of the Phantom Thieves, as well as another of the founding members of the group, said before she kept speaking with a smirk.

"That said, I get the sense that Skull couldn't pull it off this smoothly." Panther said as a a very annoyed sounding male voice spoke up.

"Oh, come on! How is that I still manage to have my balls busted even when Draconis isn't around!? At least Mona's dialed back on his criticisms somewhat! That said, what the hell's with this sense of effing deja vu?" The voice of what Joker and Violet knew to be 'Skull', the lightning specialist and resident track star of the Phantom Thieves, along with the fifth and final founding member of the group, said. At that point another male voice spoke up.

"Come now, Skull. You know Panther only said that in jest. Cut her a bit of slack, will you? After all, she's just trying to lighten the mood! But that's not important now, yes? What is important is that we have a job to do." The voice of what Joker and Violet recognized to be 'Fox', the resident Ice specialist and main artist of the Phantom Thieves, spoke up. As Joker and Violet kept fighting off the seemingly endless waves of Shadows, Joker flashed back to the day that the chain of events leading up to his current situation had been set into motion...

(Flashback-about a week prior, in the bedroom of his house, with Ren and Morgana)

As the light of the mid-afternoon sun shone in through the window of an upstairs bedroom of a random residence in Okinawa, the camera panned into the room to show a black-haired young man stretched out on a bed wearing a loosely fitting black t-shirt, grey jeans, and white ankle socks, While he laid around, the young man adjusted the frames of his wire-rimmed glasses on his face, framing his expressive brown eyes nicely. After running a hand idly through his neck-length black hair, the young man sighed as he thought, not for the first time, of the friends he'd left behind when he came home from Yongen-Jaya almost three and a half years ago at this point.

As he laid there, Ren Amamiya, or the young man whose bedroom the camera had panned in on, looked through his phone, once more reading through his old chats he'd exchanged with his friends he'd made during the year-long probation he'd served in Yongen-Jaya, with only his younger brother, Kusa, for company. However, that had changed quickly when Ren started making friends who would eventually become like a second surrogate family of sorts to him, as well as his teammates when he formed the crime-fighting group known as the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts', or the 'Phantom Crew' as his younger brother Kusa had called the group.

However, Ren and Kusa had had to part ways at the end of the probation period when it was revealed that Kusa had been invited to stay on in Yongen-Jaya as a full-time resident of the cafe he and Ren had been staying in. But Ren didn't begrudge Kusa his new start, since it so happened that the cafe in mention was in walking distance from the house of his and Ren's guardian, Sojiro Sakura. The fact that the house in question was also home to Sojiro's former shut-in adoptive daughter, Futaba, who just so happened to also be Kusa's girlfriend, was just an added bonus.

As Ren smiled while internally reminiscing about all the good times he'd had with his friends, and even the fond memories he'd made with his girlfriend Sumire, who he'd left in Yongen-Jaya so she could pursue her dreams of being a successful competitive gymnast, even though it was one of the hardest things that Ren had ever had to do. However, Ren didn't make the trip back alone. Ren had Morgana for company.

Ren then smiled as he turned a fond gaze towards the blue-eyed, black-furred cat with white paws and a mostly-white nose and mouth currently napping in the windowsill and remembered the journey he'd been on to help Morgana find his memories, and eventually, his place to belong. But before he could muse much more, he was shocked when his phone went off with a group chat with his old friends, as he opened up a group chat which had a blonde-haired male, blonde-haired female, blue-haired male, brown-haired female, poofy sandy brown-haired female, and two red-headed females, one with orange hair and the other with actual red hair. As Ren took in the gathered group, the blonde haired male sent the first response.

"Hey! It's been a while since we all gathered in a group chat like this!" The blonde-haired male sent as the blonde-haired female sent a response.

"It only feels like that because you always forget to reply to our texts, Ryuji." The blonde-haired female sent to the blonde-haired male, who was now identified as 'Ryuji'. Ryuji sent a response.

"Wait, really? Are you serious, Ann? I mean, in my defense, I've just got a lot of stuff to do!" Ryuji sent to the blonde-haired female, now identified as 'Ann', as the poofy sandy brown-haired female sent a response.

"I suppose it's been a little while for me too, hasn't it?" The poofy sandy brown-haired female sent as the blue-haired male sent a response.

"For me as well. But to be fair Haru, it's been a while for most of us if I had to guess. That being said, in my defense, I had no money, so I lost service." The blue-haired male sent to the group, identifying the poofy sandy brown-haired female as 'Haru' in the process as Ren smirked and sent a response.

"Heh, that sounds just like you, Yusuke. Never change, bro. Never change. That said, I can't help but notice that this isn't quite all of us. I can see one or two of us that aren't in this chat." Ren sent, identifying the blue-haired male as 'Yusuke' in the process. Ren then sent another response.

"Having said that, long time no see, or rather chat, my friends. How is everyone?" Ren sent as the dark brown-haired female sent a response.

"Good point, Ren. I'd say I'm doing well myself. As to our missing members, Kusa apparently had to run out of town for a few days. Something to do with going to see an old friend or something like that? Or at least that's the explanation that Futaba gave us when we asked about his absence before." The dark brown-haired female sent as the orange haired female, now identified as 'Futaba', sent a response.

"That's the only explanation he gave me. His exact words to me when he left were, and I quote, 'I'm sorry that I'm likely going to miss it if the group reunites while I'm gone, but I feel like the time is right to go seek out an old friend and try to reconnect with them. If I can pull it off, I might just have a surprise for everyone when I get back. But for now, extend my apologies to the others for not being around for any reunions that might happen.

That said, odds are good that most of you will be too excited to see Ren again to notice that I'm missing, even if Ren probably will notice, and if he doesn't, odds are good that Morgana will. Either way, I'll be back as soon as I can.' But I think he purposely left out the fact that Sumire will probably be the most excited to see Ren again. Mwehehe." Futaba sent as the dark red-haired female, now identified as 'Sumire', sent a response.

"FUTABA! I thought you were done teasing me about him!? Also, I think Kusa is a bit more considerate than to rib a lady about missing her boyfriend, so behave. And I believe we were interested in reading what Makoto had to say, anyways?" Sumire sent as the dark-brown haired female, now identified as 'Makoto', sent a response.

"Thank you for getting us back on track, Sumire. But in any case, it's quite late though. Shouldn't you all be studying for finals?" Makoto sent as Futaba sent a response.

"Nah, I'm fine! Unlike Ryuji, who almost never studies if he doesn't have to. How he managed to end up dating the now former student body president of Shujin Academy is still a mystery to me. Mwehehe." Futaba sent as Ryuji sent a response.

"Shuddup! Also, stop, stop! I'm already dead! Anyway! Here's what I really wanted to say with this chat. Since it's almost our summer vacation, why don't we all get together for old time's sake, and basically bring what we can of the gang back together?" Ryuji sent as Makoto sent a response.

"Hm. That's not a bad idea, sweetie. And Futaba, quit picking on Ryuji! Yes, his study habits leave a lot to be desired, but he has a good heart! And if you must know, I agreed to date him because he has a kind heart underneath all that vulgar and short-tempered crassness of his." Makoto sent as Ann sent a response.

"Aww, how sweet. I knew you two were cute together. Kinda like how Shiho and I are great together. But we were talking about a group reunion, not our love lives. That said, yeah, I agree! And since we're bringing the gang back together, you guys want to go on a trip?" Ann sent as Haru sent a response.

"Hee hee, you really love Shiho, don't you Ann? But yes, that sounds like fun!" Haru sent as Yusuke sent a response.

"I concur. Hm, perhaps Kyoto? That would be a nice place for a vacation." Yusuke sent as Futaba sent a response.

"No way! Kyoto trips are for high schoolers!" Futaba sent as Ryuji sent a response.

"Man, this feels so nostalgic! Sweet! We should get together somewhere and plan this out!" Ryuji sent as Ann sent a response.

"Where at, though? Also, isn't Ren still back in Okinawa? So wouldn't that make it hard for him to join any gatherings?" Ann sent as Sumire sent a response.

"True, but this IS Ren-senpai we're talking about. So I have a feeling he might just surprise us when we least expect it. After all, the Amamiya brothers are rather prone to surprising people for no reason other than they can. But I like that about them, I think. Hee hee!" Sumire sent as Futaba sent a response.

"Yes, well, if they weren't like that, would the two of us have them as boyfriends right now, Sumire? And Ann, where else!?" Futaba sent as a smirking Ren sent a response.

"Heh, you know me too well, beautiful. But Sumi does have a point. That said, don't worry about me. But to Ann's question, I say we meet at the hideout, for nostalgia's sake. Plus why not include Boss if he's free, since he was one of our most loyal allies when all was said and done? And I think we all know Kusa would've probably crucified most of us if we didn't include him." Ren sent as Futaba sent a response.

"Heh, true that. Kusa is rather close to Sojiro these days. But I agree, the hideout sounds perfect." Futaba sent as Ryuji sent a response.

"Roger that, Leader!" Ryuji sent as Ren put his phone away and looked up at the cat who was looking at him, having been woken up by the phone going off.

"Phone call?" The cat said as Ren smirked and spoke up.

"Nope, just our friends wanting to have a reunion for old time's sake at the old hideout. Little do they know, I'm already planning to head back there with you to live at Leblanc until I find a permanent place to live. Granted, if it takes longer than the end of summer vacation, I might have to come back here until I find somewhere.

But we at least get to see the others for a little while, so that's good, right Morgana?" Ren said to the cat, now identified as 'Morgana', the resident Metaverse expert and former sensei of the Phantom Thieves who was now little more than a common housecat, albeit a talking housecat who was very happy and content living with Ren. Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"That's true. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when we surprise them all. Let's do this! Mwehehe!" Morgana said as Ren nodded, beginning his packing for his return to Yongen-Jaya...

(At the same time, in a certain police department meeting room)

"And that's that. Next on the agenda is the series of incidents involving unusual behavior in public." The meeting facilitator said as a bearded man in the back gave a quiet 'hm' of acknowledgement as he stroked a finger through his short goatee which was as black as both his beard and his hair, which went to his shoulders.

As he listened, the bearded man smirked, his arms crossed over his chest while his dark brown eyes, which were hidden behind simple black-framed glasses, were seemingly amused at the usual rundown. If not for his well-maintained black suit and tie, the latter of which was worn over his teal dress shirt that he wore under his suit jacket, you wouldn't have thought this man belonged in the room. The meeting facilitator then kept speaking as if he hadn't heard a thing.

"First, we have the Vice-Minister of Finance. As you're all aware, he had some sort of episode during a Diet session Q&A and abruptly confessed to document tampering." The meeting facilitator said professionally as next to him, an older-looking woman frowned and also gave a quiet 'hm' of consideration. However, unlike the bearded man from before, this woman wore mostly brown with a cream dress shirt under her brown dress, and also unlike the bearded man, her glasses were yellow framed and smaller than the bearded man's glasses, if only slightly smaller. The meeting facilitator kept speaking, once again ignoring the potential interruption.

"Soon after that, three Sapporo Central councilmen confessed to bribery and publicly resigned. Next, the well-known author known simply as 'Mister S'. He held a press conference and announced he was retiring from writing, returning his book's awards, and deeming his body of work garbage. Then, a newscaster suddenly got down on one knee, confessed his love for his co-anchor on live television, proposed to her on the spot, and got shot down.

Lastly, and this one is a bit disturbing, but the Director-General of Criminal Affairs unexpectedly stripped off his clothing and ran around HQ until he was successfully detained." The meeting facilitator said as the bearded man let out a slight laugh before he could stop himself.

"Bah-! Hm, that wasn't that funny. Oops." The bearded man said as the frowning woman next to the meeting facilitator spoke up, glaring at the bearded man for the interruption as she spoke up.

"Something amusing to you, Inspector Hasegawa?" The frowning woman said to the bearded man, now identified as Inspector Hasegawa. Inspector Hasegawa, for his part, had the decency to look both abashed and contrite as he spoke up.

"Ah, no, not at all. My apologies for the interruption. Excuse me." Inspector Hasegawa said apologetically as the meeting facilitator cleared his throat and kept speaking.

"AHEM! Back on topic, the vast majority of these cases have been interpreted as nothing more than bizarre outbursts of sorts. But, time and again, every instance involves a sudden change in personality. Furthermore, none of the individuals involved had any known psychological issues before their incidents. Therefore, we can surmise that these cases are the result of an external influence." The meeting facilitator said as a smattering of murmurs broke out before one of the investigators spoke up in a careful-sounding voice.

"Aren't these just coincidences? Are you really implying someone out there's using mind control?" The careful investigator asked as the meeting facilitator spoke up.

"Perhaps, but be that as it may, it doesn't change the facts as we know them. And on top of that, the cases I listed are only a small sample of this behavior, which appears to be happening across the entire nation." The meeting facilitator said before Inspector Hasegawa smirked and spoke up, having a thought occur to him as he spoke up.

"Hmm, that's true. But if you ask me, it sounds like the Phantom Thieves to me." Inspector Hasegawa said, causing more murmurs to break out until the frowning woman from before spoke up irately.

"SILENCE! I want silence." The frowning woman said. Once the room was once again silent, she turned to the meeting facilitator and kept speaking.

"Please proceed with the report." The frowning woman said as the meeting facilitator spoke up.

"Yes, as you wish. Thank you for the help, Commissioner Kaburagi." The meeting facilitator said to the now-named Commissioner Kaburagi before he kept speaking.

"As you've realized, or at least as one of you realized anyways, these cases are very reminiscent of the Change of Heart epidemic that took place roughly two and a half years ago. As such, the top brass have concluded that this is indeed the work of the Phantom Thieves." The meeting facilitator said as the careful investigator from before spoke up after scoffing.

"What!?" The careful investigator said as Inspector Hasegawa gave a quiet 'hm' of consideration as another investigator spoke up in a carefree voice.

"B-But what evidence is there!? No one's even established a pattern!" The carefree investigator said as another investigator spoke up in a hearty tone.

"You're right! And not only that, we don't have any sort of motive! So far, doing it for kicks is the only thing that'd explain it." The hearty investigator said as Commissioner Kaburagi spoke up.

"True. And somehow I doubt whoever's doing this is doing it just for fun. After all, the last time someone did that was about 12 or so years ago, when that string of odd murders happened over in the Inaba region. But I believe that culprit was safely unmasked and apprehended, so it's unlikely it's them.

And besides, the last time I checked, that series of events was wholly unrelated to the Phantom Thieves, so it''s likely a coincidence. That being said, back on topic, I'm aware that there's no motive to be had. That is why you will investigate each of these incidents yourselves, and you will do so as quickly as possible. What I expect from each of you are two things.

One-To assemble enough evidence for a successful case. Two-to do so as quickly as humanly possible. The higher-ups are hellbent on closing this case. I do not know why, and it does not matter. All that matters is producing results." Commissioner Kaburagi said as the projector behind her shifted to showing the image of a messy-haired young man with black hair and brown eyes, who was wearing glasses. At that point, Commissioner Kaburagi kept speaking.

"Your suspect, as shown here, is the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Show me a thorough investigation of his entire life." Commissioner Kaburagi said as Inspector Hasegawa sighed and stroked his beard as he got lost in thought.

'Ah, jeez. So the Phantom Thieves are being blamed for this? Last Akane had told me, they disbanded about three and a half years ago, so I can't be sure it's them. However, orders are orders. So if Commissioner Kaburagi orders it, I cannot defy a direct order. I just hope that Akane can forgive me for going after the Phantom Thieves that she idolizes oh so much." Inspector Hasegawa thought to himself as he spoke up dryly.

"Hm. So, the Phantom Thieves rise again, do they? I was under the impression they had lives of their own to worry about, but no matter." Inspector Hasegawa said to himself as the rest of the meeting went by uneventfully from there...

(The next day, on the train to Yongen-Jaya, with Ren and Morgana)

"Heh, it's been a while since we rode this to Yongen-Jaya, huh?" Morgana said as Ren nodded before the intercom came on at that point.

"Now for today's Train News. Today's headlines are as follows. 'Confession of document tampering!' The Diet is in chaos over the Vice-Minister of Finance's confession, and the power struggles have flared. Members of the vice-minister's party have refused to comment across the board while the country awaits his court summons. And in business news, fledgling IT company Madicce reported record first-quarter profits at a conference earlier today. Madicce's earnings have exploded largely in part to their new virtual assistant, which, if stocks are any indication, is gaining fans fast." The intercom said as Morgana spoke up.

"We're almost there, Ren. I can't wait! We haven't seen everyone in so long! I know it's stupid, but I'm getting kind of nervous just thinking of reuniting with the others." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"Correction: With MOST of the others. Remember that the others said the other day that Kusa had to go out of town for some mission or other, so he more than likely be there. Also, Sumire has a lot of training camps, so it's very possible that she might not be there either." Ren pointed out wisely before he kept speaking.

"That being said, I feel like this reunion of ours is going to be nothing short of totally awesome!" Ren said smugly as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah! When the Phantom Thieves come together, it's never anything less!" Morgana said as Ren nodded his agreement before Morgana spoke up as the train came to a halt.

"Ooh, we finally made it!" Morgana said as Ren nodded and the two got off and walked for a bit until the two reached the backstreets of Yongen-Jaya, where Morgana spoke up.

"Ah, Yongen-Jaya. It's nice to be back here. We may have been gone for almost three years, but it sure brings back memories. Okay, let's get back to Leblanc posthaste. I wonder how the chief's been getting along in the time we've been gone." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"You mean the chief and Kusa. And I'm sure they've been managing just fine without us. Give them more credit, Morgana." Ren said gently as the two kept walking, eventually finding a familiar looking building off to the side, with a sign over it that read 'Coffee and Curry: Leblanc' in big lettering. Ren smiled as he reached the front door of Leblanc, with Morgana looking around from inside Ren's new bag, which was blue, black, and white, unlike his previous bag which had been nearly entirely white. Ren then smiled as he opened the door to go inside, at which point Morgana spoke up.

"Hmhm! Well, here we are. We're back at Leblanc. Doesn't look like things have changed much." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"True, but you know what they say, Morgana. 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. And broke is far from the word I would use to describe Leblanc." Ren said wisely as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Good point. All right! Let's go!" Morgana said as Ren nodded, pushing the door open and walking in before he and Morgana blinked at how seemingly dim the lights were in Leblanc as the two walked in, looking around at the familiar surroundings, from the several booth seats lined up on one side of the lower level, to the equally familiar counter area with seats in front of it, to the decorations on the wall, notably including the 'Sayuri', which Yusuke had left there while Ren and Kusa were staying at Leblanc during the former's year-long probation which had ended a bit early once his innocence had been proven.

Ren smiled as he recalled that he'd had to stage his own demise at one point to avoid a trap that had been laid for him by a certain friend-turned-enemy-turned-friend-again of the group, who had turned out to be an unlikely half-brother to Kusa, due to Kusa's surprisingly messy paternity, which had been revealed to him in surprising fashion near the end of Ren's time in Yongen-Jaya, when he'd unexpectedly been reunited with the man who'd gotten him banished to Yongen-Jaya for a year in the first place, one Masayoshi Shido, who had been later revealed to be Kusa's biological father after forcing himself onto Ren and Kusa's mother, Momoe, in the past.

This had the unsurprising result of causing Ren and Kusa's mom to be slightly traumatized about the whole thing, and slightly giving Kusa a cold shoulder as a result, much to Kusa's annoyance. But it all worked out in the end, as Shido's heart was changed and he ended up confessing to his crimes and serving time in prison. As far as Ren was aware, Shido was still in prison.

Ren then shook himself to focus on the present as he looked around, exchanging confused looks with Morgana as they tried to figure out why Leblanc looked so abandoned. Ren smirked as he recognized the yellow payphone on the counter he'd used to call Kawakami over on several nights when he had her work for him as a maid. As Ren and Morgana both blinked in confusion, they heard a familiar voice speak up.

"Ready? And a one, a two, and a three!" Ren and Morgana heard Futaba's voice speak up as at that moment, the lights came on and confetti flew everywhere as several voices spoke up at once.

"WELCOME HOME!" Ren and Morgana heard at least a half a dozen voices say as Ann, Futaba, Makoto, Haru, Yusuke, and Ryuji sprung up from the counter to surprise Ren and Morgana, most of them shooting off party poppers as they did so, laughing at the stupefied looks of shock on Ren and Morgana's faces, as their jaws were dropped slightly, though the former of the two was also scanning around, as if looking for someone. Ryuji then walked over and threw an arm around Ren, grinning as he spoke up.

"Surprise! We getcha or what, RenRen?" Ryuji said as Futaba walked over, a smile on her face, as she looked at Ren and spoke up.

"Hmhm! We missed ya! Even those of us who aren't here right now missed ya! And before you ask, Kusa's out of town, and Sojiro's in the back. I think the other red-head of our group fell asleep in the attic, but don't quote me on that?" Futaba said as Yusuke walked up to stand next to Futaba as he smiled and spoke up.

"Indeed. It's been a while, Ren." Yusuke said as Haru smiled and spoke up from where she was standing with Ann and Makoto, who were also smiling.

"Did you get taller?" Haru asked as Makoto spoke up before Ren could answer Haru.

"Looks like you've been doing fine." Makoto said as Ann smiled and walked over to pet the cat currently poking his head out of Ren's bag to look around, speaking up as she did so.

"Heh, you too, Morgana!" Ann said, patting Morgana lightly on the head as Morgana smirked at the attention from his one-time crush and spoke up.

"Mrooow!" Morgana said, as he gave off a mix of a meow and a purr from the gesture. At that point, everyone started speaking up.

"It's gotten hot, huh?" Makoto asked as Futaba looked at Ren and Morgana while speaking up.

"How've you both been?" Futaba asked as Haru spoke up.

"How have you been, Mona-chan?" Haru asked as Yusuke spoke up.

"I'm sure you guys have missed Boss' coffee." Yusuke said as Ann spoke up.

"Hey, you guys hungry?" Ann asked, as at that point, a familiar-looking dark haired male with a beard walked out and smirked, as if being summoned by Yusuke mentioning his coffee and Ann asking if anyone was hungry, smiling as he saw Ren and Morgana standing in the entryway of Leblanc for the first time in some time. As he chuckled, Futaba spoke up.

"Heh, Mona's practically purring!" Futaba said slyly, ignoring the indignant huff that the cat in mention gave in response to Futaba's teasing remark. Afterwards, Ann spoke up.

"Ahaha, that was good! Boy, were you surprised!" Ann said as a grateful Morgana spoke up.

"Wow! You guys did all that for us!? Talk about a greeting!" Morgana said as Ryuji chuckled and spoke up.

"Heh! We hadn't seen ya in so long, we knew we had to do somethin'!" Ryuji said as Ren looked the group over, noting with amusement that other than both Makoto and Futaba having had growth spurts of sorts, which mainly manifested as the former getting a bit taller and having her chest fill out a tiny bit, to the point where her formerly small B-cup breasts were now a large B-cup. As for Futaba, she'd gotten a good bit taller, and her figure was a bit more developed than Ren remembered, having increased from large B-cups to mid-to-large C-cups, but otherwise she looked the same.

Outside of Makoto and Futaba, none of the others had changed that much over the last three years, other than Yusuke showing the first signs of just visible facial hair stubble on his chin, and Ryuji looking a bit more muscular, having been busy with the track team. Ren frowned as he realized that Sumire wasn't with the group, but then he recalled his own words about her having a lot of training camps, figuring that was why she wasn't there. Little did Ren know, she had a surprise of her own for him. Ryuji drew Ren out of his musings when he kept speaking.

"Anyways, we figured the best way to getcha was to have Boss let us in early!" Ryuji said as the camera panned over to the counter, where a smirking man with a beard was standing, smiling at Ren as he spoke up.

"Heh, long time no see, kid. Well, you're lookin' sharp." The bearded man said as he looked Ren over, noting that Ren had gotten slightly taller and had built up a bit of muscle in the three years since his departure from Yongen-Jaya. Sojiro also noted with a smirk that Ren was showing the first signs of a mustache and beard, as evidenced by the stubble around his face. Ren smiled at the man as he spoke up.

"True. It's been a while, Boss. How've you been? Has Kusa been behaving himself for you? Or have he and Futaba here been giving you lots of grief?" Ren said, subtly winking to Futaba as he spoke to convey he was teasing with his shot at her and Kusa. The now-named Boss, otherwise known as Sojiro Sakura, smirked and spoke up.

"Eh, not too bad. Can't really complain. And no, Kusa and Futaba have been very well-behaved. Last I heard, Kusa's been busy looking for colleges to attend since both he and Futaba graduated, along with Sumire. Oh, and on an unrelated note? There may or may not be a surprise for you in the attic." Sojiro said to Ren with a wink. He then smirked as he kept speaking.

"Heh, well, I'm sure you all have plenty of catching up to do now that you're all back together, other than Kusa, who's out of town on business, or so he said. But in any case, I've got to open up soon. Go ahead and take it upstairs, will you?" Sojiro said before smirking as he spoke up.

"It makes sense that you do so. After all, you may have been gone for the last three years, but it's still as much your room now as it was then, even if Kusa's mostly taken it over since you left. Go on and have a good time." Sojiro said as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"Will do, Boss. Thanks for hosting us again. It's much appreciated." Ren said. Sojiro nodded and spoke up.

"No problem. We're basically family, you know. But if you want to, you can pay me back by working the counter every so often while you're here." Sojiro said slyly with a grin. Even though he'd aimed his comment at Ren, Futaba spoke up for him.

"Deal! Now, Thieves! Onwards, to the hideout!" Futaba said as the group headed up to the attic, at which point Sojiro huffed and spoke up with a fond smile.

"Heh, great. Just when I was enjoying the peace and quiet of having the place to myself for a while." Sojiro said as the group disappeared up the steps. After a bit, Ann put an arm out to stop the others, turning to speak up with a sly smile as she saw the confused look on everyone's face, including Morgana's, who she'd scooped out of Ren's bag to carry in her arms.

"Let's let Ren have a moment first before we all barge into the attic. After all, a certain someone we know is waiting for him up there, and I feel like she won't want an audience for what she has planned." Ann said as the others nodded, taking seats on the steps as they waited. Meanwhile, Ren got up to the attic, his footsteps lightly echoing, as he blinked when he saw the others were gone, making him frown as he spoke up.

"Wait, where'd everyone go? We were headed upstairs, right?" Ren asked himself, only for another voice to answer his question a moment later as he found himself tackle-hugged from behind before he heard a very familiar musical sounding giggle as the person who'd hugged him spoke up.

"Well, well, you finally returned. Hee hee! You kept me waiting long enough, Ren. Don't you know it's rude to keep a lady waiting?" Ren heard, his eyes widening as he recognized the voice, slowly turning around to find himself face-to-face with the smiling face of Sumire, his red-headed girlfriend who was an aspiring gymnast, as well as a surprise late addition to the Phantom Thieves near the end of their run, who had decided to wear her flowing red hair down in this instance, smiling happily at Ren as she pulled him lightly to the bed, wasting little time in capturing his lips in her own as she kissed him.

"Mmm, I missed being able to hold you like this, Ren-senpai. I don't know how long you're here for, but I intend to make the most of every second we have together. Welcome home, Senpai!" Sumire said, making Ren smile as he allowed his girlfriend to love on him for a bit, letting himself look her over, finding himself pleasantly surprised by how much Sumire had changed. While she was about Ren's height before, she was now at his eye level. But in addition to getting taller, her figure had changed a bit, so that she now had a very pleasant hourglass-shaped figure that Ren couldn't stop looking at.

Also surprising to Ren was the fact that Sumire seemed to have had the biggest physical growth of all the Phantom Thieves, since he swore he remembered his girlfriend's breasts being at the point of being small-to-mid C-cups, but now they looked a good bit bigger, possibly like they were a small-to-mid D-cup in size now. Additionally, her hair now went down to her mid-back, instead of her shoulders, as it did before. Ren smiled as he looked into Sumire's eyes and spoke up.

"Not gonna lie. I missed you too, beautiful. This was definitely the best surprise so far, with all respect to the others for the awesome surprise they gave Morgana and I. But yours is definitely better. Too bad this bed is Kusa's now, or I'd say let's break it in for old time's sake." Ren said slyly as Sumire blushed and lightly swatted Ren on the arm as she spoke up.

"Behave, Ren! And there's a perfectly good sofa over there we can use if you're in that mood. But I wouldn't think you'd want to do that with the others here." Sumire said with a sly smirk as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"Fair enough, Sumire. You have a good point. Besides, I get the sense they're waiting downstairs to give us privacy. Nice of them, but we shouldn't keep them waiting since Boss sent us up here so he could open up. But we can take a rain check on that for later, perhaps? After all, I'm here at least until the end of the summer, if not longer, since I'm going to try and find a college here if I can, so I can move back here full-time." Ren said as Sumire smiled, hugging Ren happily as she spoke up.

"Really!? That's great news, Ren!" Sumire said as Ren nodded before turning to the steps and speaking up after slyly taking Sumire's hand in his own and lightly squeezing it to remind himself she was actually there with him, making Sumire give Ren a fond smile at his antics.

"Okay, you guys can come up now! We're both decent up here still!" Ren said, ignoring the shocked 'WHA!?' of surprise from Sumire as her face went red for a bit at Ren's joking comment. But before she could do more than pout, the others came upstairs and started laughing as Futaba and Morgana both roasted Ryuji for his study habits, suggesting they'd been discussing finals in the interim.

After everyone found seats, with Haru and Makoto sharing the sofa, Fuaba sitting on a chair to Makoto's left, Ann finding a seat on the chair to Futaba's right, leaving a gap between the two that Kusa would likely have filled were he there, Morgana sitting on the work desk in the corner next to Ryuji, who'd sat in the chair at the work desk while Yusuke leaned on the wall next to Ryuji, and Ren smirking as he sat on the bed, leaning against the wall as Sumire sat next to him, her head happily leaning on Ren's shoulder, as if staking claim to him, and not wanting to let go, much to the amusement of the others. After the rest of the group had a good chuckle at the predictable sight of Sumire being attached to Ren at the hip, Ryuji spoke up.

"Man, am I bad at studyin' or somethin'!? I flunked three of my finals in one day, too. I was really freakin' out. I had so many makeup lectures in a row, I almost wasn't able to come over today, which would've sucked, since we've all been excited to welcome our leader back where he belongs." Ryuji said as Ann laughed before speaking up with a triumphant closed-eye smile.

"Heheh, then I win! I only flunked ONE final!" Ann said as Makoto sighed and spoke up with a slight frown.

"You two are the same as always. Can't you two at least take your classes a bit more seriously?" Makoto asked as Futaba smirked and spoke up.

"Oooh, watch out! Miss President's gonna unleash her fist of justice!" Futaba said teasingly as Makoto sweatdropped and spoke up.

"Geez, you still remember that? Will you please forget about that already, Futaba? I get that you're teasing, but that's kind of embarrassing to think about." Makoto said as Morgana changed the subject as he spoke up.

"So, Makoto, is college life all it's cracked up to be? I'd ask Ren, but clearly he's still trying to get into a college." Morgana said as Ren glared at Morgana for saying that and spoke up.

"For the record, I've been waiting to try and find a college here in Yongen, so that I can move back here to go to college. I mean, being back home with Mom and Dad is nice and all, but I dunno, I guess I just got used to living here somewhere along the way during my year-long probation. But you are right that I'm not the best one to ask about that, Morgana." Ren said as Makoto spoke up.

"Heh, sounds like you, little bro. That said, yes. It's been going well. I've been using the time to take care of the core curriculum." Makoto said as Haru spoke up.

"I've been busy too, but it's also a lot of fun. For example, I've learned how to selectively breed certain vegetables." Haru said as Yusuke's eyes widened in surprise before he spoke up.

"Oh-ho! Is that so? Yielded any results yet?" Yusuke asked as Ryuji smirked and chuckled while speaking up.

"Boy, that got HIS interest, didn't it?" Ryuji asked as Sumire giggled and spoke up from her spot next to Ren.

"Hee-hee! Of course it did, Ryuji. Yusuke's always been a bit of a unique one where it comes to his relationship with both food and money. But I think we love that about him, since he's one of us." Sumire said with a sly smile as Ren nodded and spoke up, smiling as he gently gave Sumire's hand a comforting squeeze while he spoke.

"That's true. Also, he wouldn't be Yusuke if he didn't have an interest in food. Not that we have room to talk over here, given how much you eat, Sumi. And I'd be lying if I didn't say I have a similar appetite at times. If nothing else, Kusa's teased me enough times about it over the years." Ren said with a smirk as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"That is true. Kusa has always been good about spreading his roasts around evenly. Probably one of the things I admire most about him, next to his ability to stand up for what he believes in and defend it with all his might. But never mind Kusa for now. You say you're learning to selectively breed vegetables, but wait. Aren't you in the management program, though? Can you do both of those, Haru?" Futaba asked as Haru nodded and spoke up.

"Yes, that is true. And to answer your question? Yes, students are allowed to take courses beyond their own programs if they feel so inclined. They even offer agricultural science courses. You can learn all sorts of neat things, like the correlations between soil nutrients and yield, ways to maintain the soil, and so on." Haru said as Morgana winced and spoke up.

"Guh. That'd put me to sleep in a minute flat, I'm afraid." Morgana said as Makoto changed the subject by looking over at Futaba as she spoke up.

"And you, Futaba? How's school been for you?" Makoto said as Futaba chuckled and spoke up.

"Mwehehe, too easy! At this point, the only hellish parts are the commute to school and P.E., but Kusa tries to help with the latter where he can. But I have to say, the fact he has time for it at all is impressive, considering he's had several people try to scout him for professional martial arts, plus he's been looking for a college to go to. He says he's going to wait for me so we can go to college together, but I told him he doesn't have to wait for me if he gets an opportunity. But he insisted on it. I suppose that I love that about him, though. He's so devoted to me." Futaba said as Ren smiled at Futaba and spoke up.

"Ah, so it sounds like you're both working hard! Last I heard, Kusa just graduated Shujin two years ago, after having an impressive run as both student body president and the captain of the Shujin karate team. I'm impressed he has the patience to wait for you, Futaba. But as you said, he is quite devoted to you. So I can see him viewing the wait as worth it to make sure you two get into the same college." Ren said with a smirk. Futaba slyly smirked as she spoke up.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh! Praise me more, big bro! Keep it comin'!" Futaba said as Sumire frowned at Futaba and spoke up.

"Watch it, Futaba. I understand that you missed him, but Ren doesn't have to constantly praise you. The last time I checked, that was Kusa's job, not Ren's. So behave. Also, we haven't heard about him yet." Sumire said as Ryuji smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, good point, Sumire! Well, how 'bout you, then, RenRen? You're the one we're the most curious about. You doin' okay back home?" Ryuji asked as Ren spoke up.

"Eh, it's fine enough. I like that I made up with Mom and Dad, but at the same time, we all agree that I'll have to move away from home soon enough, so I'm honestly glad to be back here. Being back home was nice and all, but as I said before, I missed it here. And more to the point, I missed you guys too, but definitely some of you more than others." Ren said, slyly leaning over to kiss his girlfriend on the cheek to make a point, smirking at how prettily she blushed at his bold action. Sumire pouted and spoke up.

"Not that I mind, but really, Ren-senpai? In front of the others? I didn't think you were into voyeurism?" Sumire joked as Futaba giggled and spoke up.

"Heh, you get him, Sumire! But you say you missed us, big bro? What a coinkydink! Me too." Futaba said as Ryuji spoke up.

"Well, I've been getting by too, but I think we can all agree it's not the same without you around, RenRen. Even Kusa, for all he tries to project the quiet and stoic front, misses you. And I know for a fact he broke down at least once since you left, since Futaba showed me the proof on her phone. I think she said she got a photo of him and Morgana cuddling on the hide-a-bed the night before you two went back to your hometown?" Ryuji said as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"Yep. I even have the footage of him crying like a baby into Morgana's fur that night. But I'm not going to share it, since he made it quite clear that he'd ground me from fun time for a while if I do, so my hands are tied there, unfortunately." Futaba said as Ryuji spoke up.

"That's understandable, Futaba. Gotta have your fun time, after all. Me and Makoto, for as long as we took to get to it, have enjoyed our fun time too. And she's quite good at it too, as it turns out." Ryuji said proudly as Makoto blushed in embarrassment at having her and Ryuji's intimate life put on blast by Ryuji as he kept speaking.

"But back on topic, without you around, RenRen? It's sorta like stuff is just kinda, how do I put this? Well, sorta bleh." Ryuji said as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"Of course! He's our leader, so it's only natural things wouldn't be the same without him around! Heck, things aren't the same without Morgana around either, even if he was a bit full of himself for the most part. In the end, he wound up being a cool cat, or would that be a not-cat still?" Futaba asked as Morgana did the feline equivalent of a shrug and spoke up.

"Eh, I don't mind you calling me a cat, Futaba. After all, I've come to accept that I am one. I mean, we defeated the distortions of Mementos before, and even shut the Metaverse down a second time when that crazy counselor tried to use it to distort everyone's reality near the end of Ren's time in Yongen. So if you guys can cope with having your ideal realities taken from you, then I can cope with being called a cat." Morgana said as Ann gave a closed-eye smile and spoke up.

"Heh, look at you actin' all mature, Morgana! And that's right, Futaba!" Ann said as Ren smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, thanks, guys. I'd say I'm blushing here, but that might just be because of the beautiful woman next to me. She does that to me a lot, I've found." Ren said, giving Sumire a coy smirk as she spoke up while cutely huffing.

"You're lucky you're so irresistibly handsome, Ren-senpai." Sumire said as she leaned up to kiss Ren on the cheek, drawing a lot of smirks and 'aww's from the others. Ryuji smirked and spoke up with a chuckle.

"Heh, nice to see that some things never change, eh RenRen? Once a phantom thief, always a phantom thief!" Ryuji said as the others nodded and shifted seats, with Ann moving to sit next to Futaba in the previously vacant seat while Ryuji took the seat Ann had vacated, leaving the chair to his right as the now-vacant seat. As for the others, they mostly stayed where they were, with the exceptions of Ren and Sumire, who reluctantly sat up and stopped cuddling as they sat on the edge of the bed while Makoto spoke up.

"Well, what say we start coming up with summer vacation plans? Anyone have any ideas?" Makoto asked as Ann blinked and spoke up.

"Ooh, right! We should figure that stuff out!" Ann asked as Haru turned to Ren and spoke up.

"You're fine to stay here through all of vacation, right?" Haru asked as Ren spoke up.

"Yeah, that's the plan. I'm here for at least the rest of vacation, maybe longer if I can find a good college and a place to live here. If I can do that, I might relocate here permanently. But we'll see what happens." Ren said as Ryuji smirked and spoke up.

"Hell yeah, RenRen! Ooh, how 'bout a trip, guys? C'mon, we've got a whole month to rage!" Ryuji said as Makoto frowned and spoke up.

"Um, aren't you forgetting about your homework?" Makoto asked as both Ann and Ryuji winced as the former spoke up.

"Bluh. You had to bring that up, didn't you?" Ann said as Makoto spoke up.

"You and Ryuji need to take this seriously, Ann! You two might be college students now, but you still need to be thinking about the future. And not just your college graduation, but your plans for afterwards." Makoto said as Ryuji winced and spoke up.

"Gah! No, please, stop! Don't bring that up, babe. At least not now, please! We'll do it later, but please don't ruin the mood by bringing it up now!" Ryuji said pleadingly to his girlfriend. Morgana chuckled at this and spoke up.

"Heh! Even after high school, Ryuji never changes. He's still the same fun-loving, party-hardy guy that we all know and respect." Morgana said playfully as Ryuji smirked and patted Morgana on the head while he spoke up.

"Truth, Morgana." Ryuji said as Yusuke spoke up for the first time in a bit.

"Yes, well, as fun as seeing you two actually manage to somewhat bond is, can we get back to the topic at hand? If I may, I'd like to suggest Kyoto. I believe that I'll find an abundance of inspiration if we tour each temple and shrine. Oh, the sheer wealth of beauty I can witness in a whole month! I can hear the treasures of our history calling out to me!" Yusuke said as Futaba frowned and spoke up.

"Um? Yeah, if it's a month-long art tour, I'm totally gonna pass." Futaba said as Yusuke sighed and sat back down on the work desk, looking dejected. Ann smiled and spoke up at that point.

"Hm. Well, a trip does sound nice, but what if we all went camping first? We can all go hiking and stuff during the day, and even throw together a barbecue at night!" Ann said as her remark was greeted by a predictable cheer from both Sumire and Yusuke, who were both suitably excited at the prospect of food. The former blushed shyly as she spoke up.

"Oh, um, sorry. It's just exciting. You see, I've just never had a chance to go camping or have an outdoor barbecue before, mostly because I'm usually too busy with gymnastics. But luckily for me, I'm currently on an off period, since gymnastics usually has around a 1-2 year gap period between seasons, and it just so happens this is that gap period. So I have plenty of time to join you all on this trip, which suits me fine. After all, I wouldn't want to miss a moment of time with Ren while he's here." Sumire said cutely as Ren smiled and spoke up.

"And I'd have it no other way, beautiful." Ren said kindly as the others all smiled at this before Futaba spoke up, having registered Ann's initial comment

"B-B-Barbecue!? Aren't those always big gatherings for people who socialize IRL?" Futaba asked. Sumire giggled and spoke up.

"Yes, that is what a barbecue is, last I checked. Or is your social anxiety still too problematic for a barbecue, Futaba? Too bad Kusa's not here to guide you through it for now." Sumire said teasingly as Futaba pouted. However, before she could do more than pout, Haru giggled and spoke up.

"Be nice, Sumire. It's not Futaba's fault she's had a rough go of it up until recently. And I know she's gotten a lot better than she used to be. Or, that's what I've heard from the others. So be nice to her. That said, that sounds fun, hee hee! You can leave the firewood-chopping to me." Haru said as Ryuji spoke up.

"Hell yeah! Kickin' summer off right with a barbecue buffet! Sounds badass to me, but what about you? What do you think, RenRen?" Ryuji said to Ren, who nodded and spoke up.

"Agreed. Let's go all-out on it, and be sure to include at least some veggies so that Makoto doesn't decide to lecture us all." Ren said slyly as Morgana grinned and spoke up.

"Nice! Oh, and be sure to look for decent marbling in the cuts! That's how you get the real good stuff. Trust me on this." Morgana said as Makoto spoke up.

"It does sound rather fitting for the summer. I like the idea, but we'll need an awful lot of vegetables to balance it out." Makoto said as Ren and Sumire both frowned at Makoto's response, but Yusuke spoke up before either Ren or Sumire could do so.

"Ha, how marvelous! A barbecue is one of the few things in this world that could pull me away from art. Our history's treasures can wait a bit longer." Yusuke said as Futaba spoke up.

"Whoa, choosing food over art? You sure your priorities are solid there, Inari?" Futaba asked as Sumire spoke up.

"Just because he wanted to eat, doesn't mean art isn't still his priority, Futaba. He's just being smart and putting his health first, that's all. Also, chill out, Makoto! I like vegetables and balanced eating as much as the next person, but even I know you can afford to skip out on them every now and again." Sumire said as Makoto nodded before Ann spoke up with a closed-eye smile, drawing Ren's attention to the fact that Ann had added a pair of red-framed sunglasses to her look since the last time Ren had seen her.

"All right, our first reunion party has been unanimously decided: we're going camping!" Ann said as Futaba spoke up.

"And with that settled, despite not all of us being here, let's do this." Futaba said as she pulled out her phone which made a beeping sound as she kept speaking.

"EMMA, list recommended camping gear." Futaba said as a mechanical-sounding voice came from Futaba's phone.

"Understood. I have compiled a list of items recommended for camping. There is a sporting and travel goods store near 705 in Shibuya. Customer reviews rate this as the best relevant store in your area." The voice of what Futaba had called 'EMMA' said, making Morgana blink at Futaba's phone in confusion and intrigue as he spoke up.

"Ooh, what's that?" Morgana asked. Futaba blinked at the question, before speaking up.

"It's the virtual assistant, EMMA. You haven't heard of it yet?" Futaba asked Morgana, but Ann spoke up before Morgana had a chance to.

"Oh, I think I have. It knows, like, basically everything and does all sorts of stuff for you, right?" Ann asked as Ryuji nodded and spoke up.

"Aw, yeah, that's right. It's got this eye that thinks for it, remember?" Ryuji asked as Haru sweatdropped and spoke up.

"That's a good try Ryuji, but I think you mean 'AI', not 'an eye'." Haru said as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"Right. It stands for 'artificial intelligence.' It can search all kinds of databases, conduct navigation, manage your schedule, even talk out logic problems and stuff with you, stuff like that. Granted, both Kusa and Sumire are rather leery of EMMA.

Kusa even said to me, and I quote, 'I wouldn't be caught dead putting some newfangled AI into my phone. What's to say that it won't try to hack our stuff and eventually revolt, like Yaldabaoth tried to do before you guys stopped him?' Meanwhile, Sumire just doesn't know how she feels about having a voice in her phone helping her with stuff. But the rest of us have EMMA installed already." Futaba said, right before Sumire blushed in embarrassment as she spoke up.

"Yes, well, in my defense, I've heard all sorts of horror stories about the AI messing up what you say and putting the wrong thing in. I don't much fancy something like that happening if, for instance, you and Kusa were in the middle of some rather intense stuff and the AI happens to mishear one of you yelling in mixed euphoria and pleasure, and actually uses that as a search basis or something? No, I think it's a tool that is nice, but not entirely necessary for day-to-day living." Sumire said as Ren gently hugged her and spoke up.

"That's understandable, but I think that can be avoided if you speak very clearly and only use it when absolutely necessary. But I respect your opinion on the subject, beautiful." Ren said kindly to Sumire as Futaba smirked and spoke up.

"And once again, you remind us why you two are the cutest couple of us all. Back on topic, the makers go on about how you can ask it anything and you'll get the best possible answer." Futaba said as Makoto nodded and spoke up.

"Ah, that's right. I remember seeing a demo of one on TV the other day. They were showing off its functions and talking about how it's the next big thing." Makoto said as Futaba slyly grinned and spoke up.

"Yep, that's it, all right. Pretty solid tech, considering they're roughly a thousand times smarter than Ryuji." Futaba said playfully as both Ren and Ryuji glared at her, the latter speaking up.

"Shuddup!" Ryuji said as Ren spoke up.

"That's not nice, little sis! Ryuji's way smarter than you give him credit for! He just is more prone to using his muscles than his brain most of the time. Besides, he's the most street-smart of us all, if nothing else." Ren said, coming to Ryuji's defense, getting a fist-bump from Ryuji as he spoke up.

"Truth, RenRen! You get me! That said, it does sound kinda cool, though. I bet it'd tell us where all the best ramen shops are." Ryuji said as Futaba spoke up with a smile.

"Yeah, you should all download it! I'm tellin' ya, it's the bees' knees." Futaba said as most of the others pulled out their phones to start downloading EMMA, at which point Makoto spoke up.

"Ignoring the fact you just used the phrase 'bee's knees', that's fair. If nothing else, I suppose it'd at least be handy if we ran into any trouble while camping." Makoto said as Morgana nodded before looking at Ren as he spoke up.

"That's a good idea, Makoto. Hey, Ren. Why don't you get it too?" Morgana asked as Ren spoke up.

"I mean, I guess I could. But I do agree that Sumire had a point before with what she said, as did Kusa. But I suppose if we're careful, it can't be too bad, right?" Ren said reluctantly, downloading EMMA to his phone, followed shortly after by a reluctant Sumire. As Ren's phone finished downloading EMMA, the mechanical voice from before spoke up from Ren's phone.

"Hello, this is EMMA. I am pleased to meet you. Please provide me your name." EMMA said as Ren reluctantly put in his name, which was of course 'Ren Amamiya'. Afterwards, Ren was walked through a bunch of other steps to set up EMMA on his phone, which he went along with. After the last step, EMMA's voice spoke up once more.

"Thank you, Ren Amamiya. Again, I am EMMA, your helpful virtual assistant." EMMA said as Futaba smiled at Ren and spoke up.

"Heh, looks like you've got it figured out." Futaba said to Ren, who nodded as he turned to help Sumire with her installation, managing to guide her through it, and catching her before she almost put her name the wrong way around, having almost put 'Yoshizawa Sumire' instead of 'Sumire Yoshizawa'. After Sumire finished her installation, Futaba spoke up.

"I sent you all some friend requests-please don't blow them off!" Futaba said meekly as Morgana padded over to look over Futaba's shoulder at her phone screen, frowning as he read what it said aloud.

"Huh. 'Displaying recommended camping items for you.' So, EMMA came up with all that?" Morgana asked in surprise as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"Yep. Impressive, no? And it's not just random junk for sale, either! It takes into account the season, the weather, your personal profile, and even your location for all its recommendations." Futaba said as Ryuji spoke up in shock.

"For real? Damn, that thing's eye's crazy!" Ryuji said as Ann sighed and spoke up.

"Ugh. It's 'AI', not 'an eye'. It's not that hard to get right, Ryuji." Ann said. Haru smiled and spoke up.

"Well, changing the subject a bit. Should we split up and buy everything EMMA's listed for us?" Haru asked as Ryuji spoke up with a whine.

"Aw, can't we do it tomorrow? It's so hot out right now, and I bet Ren's beat from all the travelin', too. Not to mention, I bet Sumire doesn't want to let him leave her side more than she has to, especially now that he's here again." Ryuji said as Sumire blushed and spoke up.

"RYUJI! Don't say it so casually and loudly! Even if I do enjoy having Ren close to me, I'm not trying to dictate what he can and can't do. Though I will admit you're not wrong that I just want to keep Ren close to me and not let him go. But that's Ren's fault for being so damn irresistible and sexy." Sumire said, making Haru, Makoto, and Futaba all exchange shocked looks before simultaneously giggling at how much Sumire was pouting. Ren smiled as he patted Sumire on the head comfortingly.

"Relax, beautiful. I have no intention of leaving your side if I don't have to. I've missed having you close to me just as much as you have." Ren said kindly, leaning down to kiss Sumire on the cheek, making Sumire shyly smile as Ann giggled and spoke up.

"Aww, how cute! Sumire's totally blushing right now!" Ann said as Sumire puffed her cheeks out in what Ren was sure was one of the single most adorable expressions he'd ever seen his girlfriend make in the time they'd been dating before she pouted cutely and spoke up.

"Ann? I hate you so much right now. You, Futaba, Haru, and Makoto." Sumire said childishly, hiding her face in Ren's shirt out of embarrassment as Ren smiled and gently hugged his girlfriend close to him. Ryuji smirked as he spoke up.

"Hell yeah, RenRen! That's how you know all is right with the world once more, when you have Ren back here loving on Sumire." Ryuji said, smirking as he kept speaking.

"But more importantly, we just went through all the effort to meet up at the hideout, yeah? So let's make the most of it!" Ryuji said as Yusuke nodded and spoke up.

"Indeed. I have an absolute plethora of discussion topics for us to mull over. Particularly, matters such as modern art and the possibilities within it in our current age and day." Yusuke said as Ryuji winced and spoke up.

"Yeeeeah, no. Anything but that." Ryuji said as Futaba giggled at the put-out look on Yusuke's face, while the group got caught up in various discussions amongst themselves, while Ren just let Sumire lean into him most of the time, occasionally leaning down to smile at her and whisper sweet nothings in her ear as she cuddled with him, ignoring the knowing smirks on the faces of both Ryuji and Morgana. After a while, the group had a meal of Sojiro's curry together before most of the group had to go. Makoto looked at Sojiro as she spoke up.

"Well, thank you for treating us all to curry, Boss." Makoto said as Sojiro chuckled and rubbed the back of his head as he spoke up.

"Heh-heh, don't worry about it. Just think of it as a sort of 'welcome back' gift. Plus, with Ren hanging around again, it'll be nice feeling like old times, even if Kusa's currently out of town on business. He said he'd be back as soon as he could though, so I wouldn't expect him to be gone for too long." Sojiro said as Ann smiled and spoke up.

"Heh, same here! Thanks again, we'll be back soon!" Ann said as Ryuji smirked at Ren and spoke up, seeing the smiling red-head still wrapped around Ren's left arm.

"Heh, looks like some things never change, eh? Welp, see you tomorrow, RenRen. Y'know, it IS kinda nice having you back in town, even if it's just for the summer vacation. Also, it was nice talkin' after so long." Ryuji said as Futaba smirked and adjusted her glasses as she spoke up.

"Mwehehe! I knew you missed him, Ryuji!" Futaba said as Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"Shuddup!" Ryuji said in annoyance as Ann spoke up.

"Okay! Anyways, let's get to shopping first thing tomorrow. That means not keeping Ren up late having your way with him, Sumire! Just because your parents gave you the okay to spend the night with him, that doesn't mean you two get to stay up until all hours of the morning making love. Not that you two would, but just covering all bases here." Ann said as Sumire blushed and spoke up.

"ANN! I'm not the type of girl to go for that right after my boyfriend gets back into town. I know how to show restraint, after all. I think you must have confused Ren and I with Futaba and Kusa. I swear, if I had 2000 yen for every time Futaba drags Kusa into her room when he returns from a trip, I'd be so rich. Not to mention the time, I won a bet with Ryuji-senpai for 20000 yen that Futaba could get Kusa to entice her to kiss him in a public place before reaching for-" Sumire said as a red-faced Futaba smacked a hand over Sumire's mouth to keep her from saying anything too incriminating in front of Sojiro.

"SUMIRE! That's enough! Or do you want me to show the others that footage I have of you and Ren playing tongue hockey in that restaurant on White Day around three years ago, before dragging Ren home to get him in bed with you?" Futaba said as both Ren and Sumire's faces went red at this, the former speaking up while he glared at Futaba through narrowed eyes.

"WHAT!? DELETE THAT FOOTAGE RIGHT NOW! I ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT YOU DON'T GET TO USE US AS YOUR SOURCE OF FREE HENTAI, FUTABA!" Ren said irately as Sumire spoke up.

"The same goes for using us to film free porn for you! That's not happening! You can wait for Kusa to get home for that!" Sumire said bluntly as Futaba pouted and spoke up.

"Fine. I'll erase the footage. Stupid Ren and Sumire not having any sense of fan service." Futaba said childishly as Ryuji spoke up.

"A-Anyways, moving right along! Yeah, we gotta get everything EMMA listed up for us, right? Then we should meet up by the Buchiko statue in Shibuya, Ren and Sumire." Ryuji said as Ren and Sumire nodded their agreement as Ryuji spoke up.

"Cool! See ya then, you two! Don't go forgettin', kay?" Ryuji said as Ren spoke up.

"No problem, man. Worst comes to worse, Morgana won't let us forget. He's pretty reliable like that." Ren said as Morgana smirked proudly at Ren's words before Sojiro spoke up.

"And don't go forgettin' about helping out behind the counter either, you two. I agreed to let you stay here, but you have to earn your keep, okay?" Sojiro said as Ren sweatdropped and nodded, handing Morgana off to Futaba so she could keep him overnight, before he and Sumire got ready and helped Sojiro out behind the counter. After helping out for a few hours, Ren and Sumire were dismissed to go upstairs after Sojiro closed up the shop for the night, leaving the two alone. After a bit, Sumire smiled at Ren and spoke up.

"I'm glad you're back in Yongen-Jaya, Ren. I missed you so much while you were gone. But now that I've got you to myself, I think we should get some sleep for now, and if we get up early enough, we can fool around a bit before Boss comes in to open up shop." Sumire said with a mischievous smirk on her face as Ren spoke up with a nod.

"Agreed, beautiful. I'm down for cuddling up with you. I suppose let's use the sofa tonight, since Kusa has the bed at this point." Ren said as Sumire nodded, the two getting comfortable on the couch after changing into their nightwear, which was just a muscle shirt and boxers for Ren, and a silky black bra and panties set with red hearts for Sumire, which had Ren's heart beating faster as he saw it on his girlfriend, but he reminded himself to behave rather than jumping his girlfriend's bones right away. Sumire giggled at Ren's reaction and spoke up.

"Nice to see you're still as easily pleased by me as always, Ren. I love that about you." Sumire said slyly, wrapping her arms around Ren's waist as she cuddled up to him from behind, giggling at how red Ren's face got as he felt his girlfriend's bra-clad breasts press themselves into his back, making him both smile and blush at how much bigger they felt. Ren then spoke up.

"I wasn't trying to say it around the others, but when did you go and get so damn sexy, Sumire? I love your new look. But then, I loved your old look too." Ren said as Sumire giggled and spoke up.

"Oh, this? This is just time running its course on my body. Futaba and I both finished going through puberty since you saw us last, so we're both considerably bigger than you remember, and probably sexier too. But as much as I'd love to show it all off for you, probably not tonight. After all, we had Ryuji, Futaba, and Ann all tell us not to be up late." Sumire said as Ren spoke up.

"Fair enough. Just don't be surprised if you feel something rubbing against you in the morning, since that'll probably be my reaction to having you close to me again." Ren said, his face going red in embarrassment at his own honesty. Sumire giggled and spoke up.

"I don't mind, Ren. I like that you're so honest." Sumire said as she turned Ren's head towards her so she could kiss him. After kissing Sumire for a while, Ren dozed off for the night with his girlfriend curled up to him, content smiles on both their faces as they dozed off...

(At the same time, over at the Sakura household, on the hide-a-bed in the living room, with Morgana and Futaba)

"Hoo boy, does this bed bring back memories." Morgana said happily as he curled up on the hide-a-bed with Futaba, who smiled and spoke up.

"I would hope so, Morgana. After all, it's the bed you curled up with Kusa on the night before you and Ren left to go back to Ren's hometown. I seem to recall that Kusa was rather sad over that for a few days after you two left, as well. But he eventually got over it." Futaba said as Morgana spoke up.

"True. But still, it's nice to see everyone doing so well." Morgana said as Futaba spoke up.

"Yep, we're all probably about the same as you remember, even if some of us have matured a bit since you last saw us." Futaba said as Morgana spoke up.

"Y-Yes, well, I wasn't going to comment on that, since it's not my place as a gentleman to do so. Not to mention, I feel like that's for Kusa to comment on if anything. That said, the Chief seemed to be the same as ever, too. This place is just as great as I remembered. Mwehehe! So, we're camping in a couple of days, huh? Talk about a way to kick off your summer vacation!" Morgana said as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"Right? I'm looking forward to it." Futaba said honestly, as Morgana spoke up.

"Mewheheheh, me too! Well, we should get some sleep. Ahh, good night, Futaba." Morgana said, sprawling out cutely across Futaba's chest, making her smirk as she patted the cat on the head while speaking up.

"Yep. Good night, Morgana." Futaba said, leaning back on the hide-a-bed as she pulled the blanket over her and the cat, being careful not to cover the latter's head as the two nodded off for the night...

(Later that night, in a familiar room with Ren)

As Ren's eyes fluttered open, he frowned as he saw himself in a prison cell once again, groaning as he looked up and saw the gleaming chain swinging back and forth above his head. It took only a few moments of the creaking of the chain for Ren to realize where he likely was, getting to his feet in surprise and looking around as he saw he was once again wearing prisoner's garb, making him realize where he probably was. As if serving as further confirmation of his suspicions, Ren heard a voice speak up that he'd not heard in about three years.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Trickster?" Ren heard, making him blink in shock as he turned towards the voice and got up, walking towards the familiar cell bars, looking out to where he saw an equally familiar blonde-haired girl with yellow eyes, white leggings, black shoes, a black and blue headband with butterfly shaped clips on either end, orange hairpins holding the headband together as Ren noted the shoulder-length black gloves the girl had on, and the rather massive tome she had tucked under one arm. As Ren looked the girl over, she kept speaking.

"Welcome, Trickster, to the Velvet Room." The little girl, who Ren recognized as being Lavenza, a little girl he'd helped get her true form back while exposing the truth of Yaldabaoth's intentions when the Phantom Thieves had to infiltrate the depths of Mementos in a desperate, if successful, attempt to change the masses' hearts so that Masayoshi Shido could be held accountable for his crimes.

Granted, their efforts would come back to bite them squarely on their collective asses not long afterwards, when another friend of his tried to use the power of Mementos and the Metaverse to change everyone's realities and give people what he believed to be their ideal realities. However, in the end, this friend's ambitions were thwarted by the combined effort of all eleven Phantom Thieves: Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, and finally, Joker's younger brother, Draconis.

But after the final battle, Crow seemingly vanished into thin air, not to be seen or heard from. Not for the first time, Joker idly wondered about Crow's last promise to him, where he'd told Joker that if he could successfully defeat the person in charge of the distorted realities, one Takuto Maruki, that the next time Joker saw Crow, he and Draconis would explain everything to him about Crow's fate. At the same time, Joker idly questioned if possibly the business Draconis had to run involved Crow in some way, but shrugged it off as the little girl kept speaking, a conflicted look on her face..

"Oh. Trickster, I know not whether to rejoice or bemoan this reunion of ours. Regardless, I must perform my duty. That said, once again, welcome to the Velvet Room. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those who are bound by a contract may enter. Ah, but the expression you bear now tells me you already know the reason for your summons. I must warn you of the danger threatening to consume both yourself and the entire world whose heart you strove so greatly to change." Lavenza said as Ren gave her a shocked look, prompting her to keep speaking.

"Don't be so surprised, Trickster. A most loathsome prison has manifested in your world. Your appearance is iron-clad evidence of this. You have become a 'prisoner of fate' yet again." Lavenza said as Ren frowned and spoke up.

"What do you mean? Didn't I fulfill my contract the last time we saw one another?" Ren asked. Lavenza spoke up.

"Alas, while that is true, that doesn't change the fact that someone, even now, plots to lure you into a disastrous fate. Confronted by this evil will, your own cries out for you to rise against it. As you might recall, my name is Lavenza. As one who rules over power, my duty is to witness the path that you take. But know this. Should the world continue down its current path, all that awaits you is destruction. Have you the resolve to defy such a fate and face the distortion that yet again threatens your world?" Lavenza asked as Ren smirked and spoke up.

"You know it. I'm not one to sit idly by when the world is in danger. If there's danger threatening it, then it's the job of the Phantom Thieves to return to action to seek it out and defeat it." Ren said resolutely as Lavenza smiled and spoke up.

"Well said. That is the Trickster I know so well. That said, you should know that what awaits you ahead is more of the same-no, not the same. What awaits you is even greater hardships than before. However, I am unconcerned. I have faith that you'll pull through. And above all else? Never forget this one truth: I am always by your side." Lavenza said as alarms started ringing in the background as Lavenza spoke up.

"The time has come, Trickster. You must return to your slumber now. Let us meet again soon. Until then, Trickster, pleasant dreams." Lavenza said as Ren blinked but went back to his cot and nodded back off...

(The next morning, in the attic of Leblanc, with Ren and Sumire)

As Sumire sat up and stretched in a cat-like manner, she smiled as she felt Ren's arms under hers, smiling as she remembered he'd returned to Yongen-Jaya the day before, Smiling down at her currently sleeping boyfriend, Sumire smiled a mischievous smile as she leaned over to kiss him briefly on the lips before getting a naughty smirk as she decided to give him a rather special sort of wake-up call.

**Some slight M-rated content starts here. If you don't want to read that sort of thing, skip below to the part marked *END OF M-RATED CONTENT*, otherwise read on at your own risk. You have been warned! Adult stuff starts now!**

After giggling to herself, Sumire snaked a hand into Ren's boxers to gently caress the erection she found inside, smiling as she started stroking it with her hand, deciding to get her boyfriend up right. After jerking him off for a few minutes, Sumire smiled slyly as she slid Ren's boxers down, giving her access to his morning wood, deciding to take it into her mouth and play with it a bit using her mouth. As she started licking and sucking her boyfriend's shaft and balls, she heard Ren lightly groan as his eyes slid open, blinking as he realized his boxers were around his ankles, looking down and smiling even as he blushed slightly at the sight of his girlfriend's mouth eagerly servicing his manhood.

Smirking at how sexy his girlfriend was acting, Ren coyly patted his girlfriend on the head appreciatively as he used his free hand to reach behind Sumire's back to un-hook, remove, and discard her bra, leaving her ample breasts to fall free for Ren to admire and view, smiling as he gently leaned down to kiss the closest breast lovingly, enjoying the low moan of pleasure he got for his efforts from Sumire, who smiled at Ren as she spoke up.

"Morning, Ren. I had a feeling you'd appreciate being woken up like this, so I didn't think you'd mind me having you for breakfast, hee hee. I see you decided to help yourself to my breasts. That's what they're there for, after all." Sumire said, smirking as she smothered Ren's face with her breasts, blushing a moment later as he started trailing kisses along her cleavage while fighting his way free, even as he groaned while feeling his girlfriend pleasure his manhood. For several minutes, the two remained in that position, Sumire lavishing attention on her boyfriend's cock and Ren thoroughly enjoying himself with Sumire's breasts. After a bit, Ren groaned as he spoke up.

"Oof, I think I'm gettin' close, Sumi. So unless you want me to release wherever you've got me aimed, make sure you've got me where you want me to release." Ren said as Sumire smiled naughtily, nodding as she wrapped her mouth around the entirety of Ren's length, taking it all into her mouth as she used her hands to fondle his balls lovingly. Not long afterwards, Ren groaned and spoke up.

"Damn, that's good! I'm coming, Sumi!" Ren said right as he felt himself explode in his girlfriend's mouth, load after load shooting off down the back of her throat, as a smiling Sumire swallowed every bit of Ren's release, smiling as she released her mouth from her boyfriend's now-limp manhood. Ren smirked as he spoke up.

**END OF M-RATED CONTENT**

"Yep, as wake-up calls go? Definitely that was one of the best. But I'm definitely glad I had the foresight to have Morgana stay with Futaba last night. Could you imagine him coming upstairs to wake us up, only to catch us in the act? And to think, that wasn't even us going all the way this time. We can do that later on, if you want. Also, you have such a beautiful figure, Sumi. But then, every bit of you is beautiful, as I've said before." Ren said as Sumire smiled while she put her bra back on and got dressed, Ren doing the same.

"Hee hee, thank you! But um, were you having trouble sleeping last night, Ren? Pretty sure I felt you tossing and turning like crazy for part of the night." Sumire said as Ren spoke up.

"Um, not really? But I did have a bit of an odd dream that would take a while to explain. Suffice it to say, I have an explanation to give you and the others when we're all together next." Ren said as Sumire nodded and spoke up.

"Ah, right. Good point. Anyways, isn't it time for the two of us to meet up with Ryuji and buy our share of the camping equipment? If nothing else, we can pick Morgana up from Futaba on the way if you want him to accompany us." Sumire said as Ren thought about it and spoke up.

"Eh, might as well. He'd probably want that anyways." Ren said as Sumire nodded. Once the two left Leblanc, they were surprised to see Futaba leaning by the wall just outside, Morgana riding on her shoulder. As she saw Ren and Sumire, she spoke up.

"Yooo, morning, you two! You headed to meet up with Ryuji? Good luck with the shopping! You can take Morgana with you if you want. I knew I'd be more help doin' it all online, so I'm researching campsites now. I'll make sure we pick the best one! Playing in the river and eating barbecue all day, lighting fireworks and telling scary stories all night, it sounds like fun! Mwehehe, this is going to be so much fun! I can't wait another second, I'm so excited I'm gonna explode! Hit the deck, Ren!" Futaba said, as Ren and Sumire both blushed at the reference to what they'd just been doing, making Morgana smirk as he spoke up.

"Heh, I think you chose the wrong turn of phrase in this case, Futaba. Methinks Ren and Sumire were up to some naughty stuff this morning. Then again, I'm sure Futaba's bugs can pick up whatever it was easily." Morgana said slyly as Ren and Sumire's eyes widened and the latter spoke up.

"FUTABA! If you got any embarrassing footage of us this morning, you'd better delete it! Only I get to see what happens with Ren and I!" Sumire said firmly as Futaba spoke up.

"I'll erase it all, I promise. Besides, we both know Kusa would be livid if I embarrassed the two of you too much anyways." Futaba said as Ren nodded and put Morgana in his bag as the now trio kept moving. After getting to Shibuya's station square, Morgana poked his head out of Ren's bag and sighed as he spoke up.

"Ugh, didn't miss this place. But whoa, Shibuya's as busy as usual. Look at all the people! Let's go to the Buchiko statue right away, you two. We don't want to leave Ryuji alone with his attention span for too long." Morgana said as Sumire giggled at the subtle dig at Ryuji while Ren frowned at Morgana and spoke up.

"First of all, don't diss Ryuji when he's not here to defend himself, Morgana. You know that's not cool. Secondly, good point. Let's go catch up to him. Coming, beautiful?" Ren said to Sumire, who nodded and followed Ren as the trio kept moving. As it happened, the trio found Ryuji leaning by a train around the corner. Once he saw Ren, Sumire, and Morgana, Ryuji grinned at the trio as he spoke up, even though his grin looked more like a frown.

"Yo, what's up, lovebirds? Ready to buy some campin' shit?" Ryuji asked as both Ren and Sumire nodded, Ryuji hanging his head as he spoke up.

"Let's hustle to the store so we can finally chill for a bit, RenRen! It's already way too hot out. And to be honest? I have no idea how you manage to pull off wearing black in this weather, man." Ryuji said, referring to the fact that Ren's outfit so happened to entail a plain black short-sleeve T-shirt with a white collar, olive colored cargo jeans, and red lace-up shoes, along with his usual glasses.

Sumire, for her part, had decided to shake things up a bit by going for a simple knee-length strapless baby-blue dress that put Ren to mind of the baby-blue strapless shirt she'd worn the summer Ren and Kusa had spent in Yongen-Jaya, a summer Ren remembered quite well, as it was both the summer where he'd fallen in love with his girlfriend, and the summer where he and the others had worked together to help Kusa infiltrate the Palace of his then crush and eventual girlfriend Futaba, who had joined the team a short time after her heart change was finalized, which was an unusual case in that she'd asked the group to help her change her own heart.

Back on the topic of Sumire's outfit, she'd paired her strapless dress with a familiar white skirt, and white and black shoes, even using a blue ribbon to tie her hair into its usual ponytail, eve though she'd worn her hair down to surprise Ren the night before. At that point, Morgana spoke up from inside Ren's bag after lightly pawing at Ren's shoulder to get his attention, his tail flicking excitedly back and forth while his head bobbed up and down as he spoke. *1*

"We're in charge of picking up the barbecue, right?" Morgana asked as Sumire spoke up.

"Well, technically Ryuji's the one in charge of getting the barbecue. Ren and I were put in charge of keeping Ryuji on task, according to Futaba and Makoto. But I don't know why they think Ryuji's so easily distracted?" Sumire asked, cutely tilting her head to the side slightly in confusion as Ren laughed and spoke up.

"Nice to see you're still as pure and innocent as always in some regards, Sumi. That said, that was a dig at how slow on the uptake Ryuji can be at times. No offense to you, Ryuji. You're awesome." Ren said, wincing as he recalled Ryuji could hear him. Ryuji grinned and spoke up.

"Nah, it's fine, RenRen! You're just telling it like it is! Can't be mad at you for that, man." Ryuji said as Morgana spoke up.

"Heh, I'm impressed. You're maturing, Ryuji. Well, go ahead and lead the way for us, if you would." Morgana said as Ryuji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and spoke up.

"Yeah, I don't know where it is exactly. Oh, wait, that's right! We can just ask that app we installed yesterday!" Ryuji said as he pulled out his phone and kept speaking.

"Hey, uh, EMMA?" Ryuji asked as a familiar ping went off and a mechanical voice spoke up.

"Hello, do you need something?" EMMA asked as Ryuji spoke up uneasily.

"Yeah, uhh, so here's the thing. We need directions. Show us that store you told us about?" Ryuji asked as another ping went off before EMMA spoke up.

"Understood. Displaying the optimal route to your destination." EMMA said as a map came up on Ryuji's phone, making his eyes widen as he spoke up.

"Whoa, look at this sweet map, you guys!" Ryuji said as Ren and Sumire walked over to look over Ryuji's shoulder at the map, Morgana popping out of Ren's bag to also get a look. Sumire blinked at the map and spoke up.

"Wow. I have to admit, that is rather impressive." Sumire said as Morgana nodded his agreement and spoke up.

"No kidding! It can even figure out how to help with a vague question like that? This thing's a whole lot more useful than I thought." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"That's true. Yet, I still feel like we should be cautious not to get over-reliant on this app." Ren said as Ryuji grinned and spoke up.

"Great! Let's get this over with so we can plan tomorrow's feast!" Ryuji said as at that point, the group heard a bunch of shrieks and clamoring in the background, one or two people clearly yelling out what sounded like 'Aliiiiiiiice!', making Morgana frown as he spoke up.

"What's all the racket?" Morgana asked as another ping was heard and EMMA spoke up.

"I have a suggested event for you. A promotional store opening is currently underway at the Shibuya 705 storefront with Alice Hiiragi." EMMA said as Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"Huh? The hell's a 'suggested event'? Wait, hold up. FOR REAL? Alice is HERE!?" Ryuji asked as Ren and Sumire exchanged a confused look before Ren spoke up for the both of them.

"I see that name means something to you, Ryuji. But for those of us not in the know, Alice is who, exactly?" Ren asked. But instead of Ryuji, a ping was heard as EMMA spoke up to answer Ren's question.

"Alice Hiiragi is a Japanese fashion model and performing artist. She has gained attention with her 'adorable look' and 'unique sense of style' She is active in a variety of media and genres. She has become a pop culture tastemaker and continues to amass a devoted young fanbase." EMMA said as Morgana frowned and spoke up while Sumire pulled up her phone to do an image search so she could see a picture of this 'Alice', mostly out of curiosity.

"Wow, EMMA makes her sound huge. Is she really all that popular?" Morgana asked as a grinning Ryuji spoke up to answer the cat's question.

"Oh, I dunno, what kinda answer's that crowd givin' ya, huh? Alice really is just over there, isn't she? I can't believe it!" Ryuji said as Sumire's nose scrunched up cutely in uncertainty while she spoke up.

"Ugh, is that seriously what she looks like!? I'll give EMMA credit for being right about her being unique, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't call her outfit fashionable. And I think Ann would agree with me if she'd seen this." Sumire said, holding up her phone to show a picture of Alice, making Ren wince as he spoke up.

"Yeah, you're right. That's not the most flattering of photos, that's for sure. But I guess let's go see this event, if only to humor Ryuji. Plus, maybe we can get a laugh out of Ryuji making a fool of himself?" Ren suggested as Morgana chuckled and spoke up.

"Heh, that's certainly possible, Ren. And that might almost be worth taking the time to see this store opening for that alone." Morgana said as Ren shrugged and spoke up.

"Perhaps. But let me make it clear that while I am intrigued by seeing a store opening, I could care less about seeing this Alice. Why would I need some up-and-coming idol when I have a perfectly sexy woman right here next to me?" Ren said, gently snaking an arm around Sumire's waist as he spoke to lightly give her a one-armed hug, making her blush but smile prettily as she looked at Ren and spoke up while giggling.

"Hee hee. Nice to know you have eyes only for me, Ren." Sumire said, smiling as she leaned up to kiss Ren on the cheek. Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"First of all, shuddup Morgana! I'm not as bad as I used to be. Also, dude, really RenRen? You haven't changed at all in the past three years, have you?" Ryuji said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"Of course he hasn't. And I wouldn't have Ren any other way." Sumire said happily as Ryuji spoke up.

"Fair enough. But still, let's check it out! It's on our way to the store we want, at any rate. So why not check it out? And if nothing else, she's totally cute enough for this to be worth it!" Ryuji said with a grin as both Ren and Sumire blinked at the last part of Ryuji's comment as the former of the two turned to the latter and spoke up.

"Do you want to be the one to remind him he has a girlfriend, or is that my job? Also, 2000 yen says Makoto smacks Ryuji for calling Alice cute if she finds out about it?" Ren said to Sumire, who giggled and spoke up.

"First of all, that's a sucker's bet, Ren. Secondly, why not tell him together? Also, I don't think Ryuji meant that in any sort of romantic sense, so we can forgive him looking. After all, I believe the saying that I'm thinking of that best describes a situation like this goes something to the effect of 'Looking is free. But touching? That's gonna cost extra.' Or at least I think that's how that goes?" Sumire asked as Ren chuckled and spoke up while kissing Sumire on the cheek reassuringly. *2*

"Yeah, I think you've got it right, beautiful. Eh, whatever. Let's humor Ryuji and get this over with so we can finish our task." Ren decided as the quartet headed to the indicated location to see the store opening, finding spots in the crowd as a nearby young man with brunette hair spoke up.

"Hey, hey. Someone tell me what's going on?" The brunette young man said. The young man next to the brunette young man, a partygoer by the looks of him, spoke up.

"I heard it's some shop opening ceremony." The partygoing young man said as the brunette young man spoke up.

"I see. Waiiit, isn't that that one performer chick up front? Yo, it is! ALICE! Alice Hiiragi!" The brunette young man said, pointing towards the smiling figure on stage, which Ren and Sumire both looked at and promptly found themselves cringing at how the female, who was clearly female, was dressed.

While her blue and white dress wasn't bad, along with the white gloves she had on, her neon green hair which had an oversized blue and white bow in it, the giant pink heart on the front of her dress, the over-large bows on each of her ankles that almost concealed her blue and white shoes from view, and the odd swirls of what appeared to be teal and purple globs of cotton candy on either side of her hair, one of which had a teapot of all things on top of it, and an Ace of Spades playing card stuck to the front of it were all very eye-catching, and not in a good way. Ren blinked at the blue choker around the girl's neck, while Sumire frowned at how gaudily she appeared to be dressed.

As for Ryuji, he was too busy admiring the girl's brown eyes and pursed pink lips to notice the reactions of his friends as the girl on stage spoke up.

"Hi, folks! Thanks for coming! A shop that carries one of my very own brands is opening here, today!" The girl, who Ren guessed was Alice Hiiragi, said. When she kept speaking, both Ren and Sumire winced at the next words out of Alice's mouth.

"Have you ever dreamed that you could be somebody else, even if just for a little while? Well, I know a place where that dream comes to life! A wonderland where you become whatever you want to be! Now, I've got one question for all of you. Does anyone want to visit this wonderland with me?" Alice asked as most of the crowd cheered and several people yelled out 'ME! ME!', unintentionally covering up the disdainful scoffs that both Ren and Sumire gave off.

The reason for the pair's reaction was a simple one. Alice's little speech struck them both as far too similar to what Sumire had been through previously at the hands of a friend of theirs who goes by the name of Takuto Maruki, who was at one time a counselor on Shujin's payroll before eventually obtaining the power of Mementos and the Metaverse to enact his plan to try and give everyone what he deemed to be their ideal realities. Unfortunately for him, his scheme was quickly foiled by the collective efforts of the Phantom Thieves.

Then again, Ren also had a slight disdain for Maruki because of what he put Ren's little brother Kusa through, having taken him captive in an attempt to use his blood and cognitive energy to create a warped inverted Shadow clone of Kusa in an attempt to crush the Phantom Thieves before they could pose a threat to his plans. But as most Palace rulers tend to do, Maruki made the mistake of underestimating how resourceful Kusa tends to be when faced with a problematic situation. Ren was drawn from his musings when Alice spoke up again.

"Aw, thanks! Then I have a surprise for you guys in the audience! I'm giving away 100 invitation cards as a special present! They're magical cards that will make you have an even better time in Wonderland! Enjoyyy, everyone!" Alice said as she got off stage and wandered around, handing out the cards. As she reached the brunette and partygoer young men that had been standing next to Sumire before, Alice smiled and spoke up.

"Here you go!" Alice said as she handed an invitation card to the brunette young man, who gasped and spoke up while accepting the card.

"Oh, wow! Omigodthankyousomuch!" The brunette young man said as Alice nodded, handing one to the partygoer young man and speaking up.

"And one for you!" Alice said, moving on towards Ren, Ryuji, and Sumire as the partygoing young man spoke up.

"Holy crap, Alice just touched my hand! I'm never washing this hand again!" The partygoing young man said as the brunette young man cringed at this, along with both Ren and Sumire, who'd also heard his outburst. But before either could comment on what they'd heard, they turned to see Alice stop in front of Ren and give him a coy smile as she spoke up.

"Ooh, those are some quality specs! Hee hee, oh, I'm sorry! That was probably weird of me to say that! Anyways, hope you like the store!" Alice said as she handed Ren a card, before moving back towards the stage, not hearing Sumire speak up so only Ren could hear.

"Hmph, you better keep moving, lady. And the only one allowed to admire Ren's look is me." Sumire grumbled, making Ren laugh as he gently patted his girlfriend on the head reassuringly and spoke up.

"Hey, Sumi. Relax, would you? She means nothing to me. And I find her outfit, as well as her fashion sense, revolting. Futaba has more fashion sense than her." Ren said as Sumire giggled at the low-key roast Ren had given Alice. After all, while Futaba isn't really the ideal example of a fashionable girl, it was also true she was more fashionable than Alice was. Sumire then leaned her head happily on Ren's shoulder as Alice spoke up after getting back towards the stage.

"Let the white rabbit guide you to Wonderland." Alice said before turning to give the crowd a closed-eye smile and wave as she spoke up once more.

"Have fun, everyone!" Alice said as the crowd cheered excitedly and dispersed, after which the quartet headed back to the place they'd initially met up in, at which point Morgana spoke up.

"Geez, what was with that crowd?" Morgana asked as Ren spoke up with a smirk.

"Since Kusa's not here to say it, I'll say it for him. That crowd was nothing more than a gaggle of weak-minded imbeciles who collectively suffer from a chronic case of the sheeples. Though I have to say, I thought it was adorable how jealous Sumire seemed to get when Alice gave me that card. She has nothing to worry about, though. Sumire's the only woman for me." Ren said honestly as Sumire smiled, leaning in to kiss her boyfriend in response to his words. Ryuji smirked at that point and spoke up.

"Man, I can't believe I saw Alice Hiiragi in person! She was just as cute as I thought she'd be!" Ryuji said excitedly as Ren shrugged and spoke up.

"If you say so, Ryuji. Personally, I think Morgana's cuter than Alice is. But then, we all know Sumire sets a very high bar for cuteness, which suits me just fine. But even so, her outfit was weird. I mean, what was with her choice of accessories? I almost vomited when I saw her outfit, to be honest." Ren said as Morgana preened himself in response to Ren's praise while Sumire giggled at Ren's roast of Alice. Ryuji smirked and spoke up.

"Eh, you just don't get it. Her bein' different's what makes her so awesome!" Ryuji said as Ren and Morgana cringed and the former spoke up.

"If you say so, man. I'll make sure to pick out a nice coffin for you so you look good when they bury you after Makoto slaughters you for having eyes for another woman. Besides, I think it's obvious who my heart belongs to by now." Ren said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"Mm-hm. It belongs to me, hee hee." Sumire said happily with a giggle as Morgana smirked and spoke up.

"Well, she's all yours, Ryuji. Just let Makoto down gently if you dump her for Alice. That said, MY heart still belongs to Lady Ann alone." Morgana said as Ren winced and spoke up.

"Seriously? I get that you never forget your first love, but you do realize she's into women, right Morgana?" Ren pointed out, referring to the fact that Ann already had a girlfriend. Morgana winced and spoke up.

"Sh-Shuddup! I don't need you to remind me of that, Ren! And I'm allowed to love her, even if she never loves me back." Morgana said haughtily as Ryuji huffed and spoke up.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. You're an eternally unapologetic Ann simp." Ryuji said as Ren and Sumire laughed at the simp comment, as it was true. Morgana huffed and spoke up.

"Oh, shuddup. Well, are you satisfied now, Ryuji? Let's hurry up with the shopping." Morgana said as Ryuji huffed and spoke up.

"Fine, fine!" Ryuji said before blinking as he thought of something and kept speaking.

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Ren, you got one of those cards from Alice, right?" Ryuji asked as Sumire pouted at Ryuji bringing up Alice's not-so-subtle attempt at flirting with Ren, while Morgana chuckled and spoke up.

"Mwehehe, yeah, HE did. YOU just got blown off entirely, without even getting so much as a second glance from her." Morgana said as Ryuji frowned at Morgana and spoke up, unaware of Sumire also speaking up.

"CAN IT!" Ryuji and Sumire both rebuked Morgana as the former of the two kept speaking.

"And there were just a ton of people around, is all. Also, can you not bring up Alice hitting on Ren in front of his girlfriend? I think that's a sore spot for Sumire." Ryuji said as Sumire huffed and nodded as Ren looked at the card idly. It read 'Alice Hiiragi's Wonderland' in elegant script. Morgana huffed and spoke up.

"Hm? 'Alice Hiiragi's Wonderland'?' Just looks like a boring old ad to me, to be honest." Morgana said as Sumire frowned and spoke up.

"Nah, it's just a publicity gimmick to draw more fans to her. Besides, Ren totally ignored her complimenting his glasses anyways." Sumire said as Ren spoke up.

"I realized she was hitting on me. I just didn't want to cause a scene by pointing out that I have a girlfriend who was standing next to me at the time. Plus, I could see the effort you were making not to yell out something to the effect of 'Don't hit on my boyfriend!', which I appreciate. I don't think either of us needs to draw attention to ourselves by causing a scene." Ren said wisely as Morgana blinked and spoke up.

"True? Hmm? Wait, hold on. There's some fine print here on the card. It says 'Here's my EMMA keyword. Please become my friend!' Wait, what?" Morgana asked as Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"Wait, what's a keyword?" Ryuji asked as Morgana spoke up.

"Oh, wait, that's right! Didn't Futaba use something like that yesterday? She said we could become friends through EMMA." Morgana said as Ryuji pumped a fist and spoke up.

"Yeah, do it! C'mon, RenRen!" Ryuji said as Ren frowned and spoke up.

"I mean, I guess I can. But why would I want to be friends with Alice Hiiragi? If anything, I'd sooner add my girlfriend here as a friend on EMMA." Ren said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"Well said, Ren-senpai." Sumire said as she kissed Ren on the cheek happily. Ren then kept speaking.

"But I suppose I can always un-friend her later on, and briefly friend her now just to see what happens." Ren said as Sumire nodded and spoke up.

"That's fair, Ren. I trust your judgment here." Sumire said as Morgana spoke up.

"Hm. So you input the keyword, then you become friends with Alice?" Morgana asked as Ryuji spoke up while crossing his arms.

"Sounds like it to me. You said it's on the card, right? What was it again? Let me look. Huh, it says it's 'Wonderland'?" Ryuji said as Ren shrugged, speaking into his phone.

"EMMA, add Alice Hiiragi to my friends list. Keyword: Wonderland." Ren said as a ping went off before EMMA spoke up, her words making everyone's eyes widen at what she said next.

"Keyword successfully entered. Beginning navigation." EMMA said as Morgana spoke up.

"Wait, what!? 'Beginning navigation'? What the heck!?" Morgana said, but before Ren or Sumire had a chance to reply, they felt the world around them give off an eerily familiar pink flicker before they found themselves pulled into someplace they never thought they'd be in again...

END OF CHAPTER

A/N: Boom! There we go, the first chapter of Rise of the Monarchs is now in the books! Pretty crazy way to start it off, no? And as I said, I made sure to sprinkle in a few hints of Royal and Phantom Files book 1 recap in the chapter as well because I can. So part of our group finds itself in the Metaverse for the first time in at least two and a half years (of in-game time, not real-life time. Real-life, it's been about maybe a month-ish or so, give or take a few days). Will they be able to find their way out? And what will they find in this place they've ended up in? Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out!

And thanks to everyone who read and followed the first book of Phantom Files. All the support is massively appreciated! Even if all you did was follow and favorite the story, I appreciate the support! Granted, I've had a few people also follow and favorite me specifically as an author, and I appreciate that too! But most of all, I appreciate those of you who take the time to leave reviews on the story, as it lets me get a good idea of how the readers like the story.

And any feedback I get is valuable since it lets me fine-tune and improve the story to be even better for the readers. So feel free to either leave a review or PM me (depending on your preference) with your thoughts/feedback/opinions/suggestions on this story and/or my other stories! I enjoy hearing from my readers either way, so don't be shy about making your thoughts known! Until next chapter, sithlorde1988 out!

NOTES

*1* - Not even joking, if you watch the scene in canon Strikers with Ren and Morgana meeting up with Ryuji in the Station Square, the camera literally shows Morgana pawing at Ren's shoulder with his head bobbing back and forth and his tail flicking from side to side at a pretty good pace. I don't get why he does it, but the pawing is kinda adorable to some extent.

Also, Morgana is tied for cutest 'mascot' character with the 'mascot' of Persona 3 (and while I won't say who it is, I will say it's NOT Aigis, despite the game promoting her as the mascot). There's another character who far more suits the title of 'mascot' in my opinion. And as an easter egg, anyone who uses the Thieves Den in Persona 5 Royal, if you buy all the pictures you can, one of the images has a bit of a Persona 3 easter egg in it in that Morgana is riding on the back of one of the Persona 3 characters, and it's super cute, at least in my opinion. So yeah.

*2* - You know it's not a story of mine unless I make at least one non-Persona reference in it. In this case, I had Sumire referencing the 2007 movie 'Blades of Glory'. Specifically, she references a part of the movie where Will Ferrell's character, 'Chazz Michael-Michaels', catches his unlikely roommate and pairs skating partner, James 'Jimmy' MacElroy, looking at him, or rather his brush. What Sumire quoted was basically part of his exact response once he realized he was being looked at. That movie is so funny, and has a kick ass soundtrack! If you've not seen it yet, give it a watch!

And on the subject of Sumire, I couldn't resist having her be a bit jealous of Alice complimenting Ren, just because I thought it'd be kinda adorable and hilarious for Sumire to be threatened by Alice flirting with Ren. Granted, as you saw in the chapter, Ren has no interest in Alice whatsoever. But I thought having Sumire be jealous could be an interesting way to have her be more relevant to the plot, since none of the characters that were involved in the third semester of Persona 5 Royal appeared at all in Strikers. Granted, in the case of *REDACTED*, his fate is left rather ambiguous at the end of Royal, but the true ending of Royal, if you get it, makes it even more ambiguous.

That said, Atlus could've easily added in DLC to Strikers to add in the option of at least unlocking the option of being able to use Sumire, if not her and *REDACTED* both as paid DLC, since there was no reason not to work her in as DLC, since Strikers is canonically set in the 'vanilla' timeline of Persona 5, rather than the 'Royal' timeline (for lack of a better way to compare the 'vanilla' Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, the latter of which is presumably non-canon to Strikers). But I'll do my best to make Rise of the Monarchs as Royal-compatible as I can.