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!

36. Konoe's Trauma! CEO's Downfall part 4

A/N: sithlorde1988 here, with another chapter of Phantom Files, Book 2: Rise Of The Monarchs! Depending on how things shake out in this chapter, there's a good chance this will be the final chapter of Arc 7, and if that's the case, then next chapter will be the Arc 7 interlude, aka the final Interlude of Rise Of The Monarchs. If this isn't the final chapter of Arc 7, then next chapter will be the final chapter of Arc 7 for sure, and that will make chapter 38 the final Interlude of Rise Of The Monarchs.

Yes, I know that there's still three more Arcs after this, but the gap between Arcs 8 and 9 is going to be far too short to justify slotting an Interlude into it, and why have an Interlude after the final boss is defeated, aka between Arcs 9 and 10? Hence, there will be no more Interludes after Arc 7's interlude. And as such, the final Interlude will have quite a bit in it. As a result, it might take a bit to type out, depending on how long it takes to figure out what I'm putting into said Interlude. But enough talk about the story, let's get to the disclaimer, yeah?

Disclaimer: I, sithlorde1988, do not own the Persona series in ANY way, shape, or form ((excluding the OCs Kusa/Draconis, Taichi, Momoe, the OC Personas Malefor and Albus, and the Phantom Thief attire for Draconis, Pendragon, and Seraphim, all of which I do own. I do not, however, own the OC Personas Hester and Houdini, nor the Phantom Thief attire concepts for Shiho/Flare.

The OC Persona Hester and the Phantom Thief attire concepts for Shiho/flare were created by, and thus belong to, thalassatides (at symbol) bsky on X (or Twitter as it used to be called). If you happen to be on X, feel free to look up thelassatides (at symbol) bsky's work, as they do some good work. As for the OC Persona Houdini, that belongs to Flower Boy Jun over on Amino Apps. If you use that site, go look him up, since he has some very interesting OC Persona designs and also does amazing work.

As far as the Phantom Thief attire concept for Akane/Auburn, Atlus technically owns the attire that Akane/Auburn's Phantom Thief attire was based off of, aka her Monarch outfit, but I own the modifications made to the outfit to create her Phantom Thief attire, so I own Akane/Auburn's Phantom Thief attire, but not the outfit it's based on, if that makes sense at all.

Also, shout-out to jdimock for giving me the idea to make Akane/Auburn's Phantom Thief attire a color-swap of her Monarch outfit, even if I ended up largely changing her Phantom Thief attire to be different from aforementioned Monarch outfit, it was still his idea, so shout-out and credit to jdimock for having the idea)) and the actual ownership credit for the Persona series belongs to Atlus and Sega (where it comes to Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal, as well as Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Reload), as well as to a point Koei Tecmo (where it pertains to Strikers). The rest of the spinoffs belong to various other companies, all of whom know who they are.

As far as Persona 1, Persona 2-Eternal Punishment, and Persona 2-Innocent Sin? As far as I know, they were made by a different studio, who also knows who they are. Full ownership credit for the Persona spinoffs (Phantom X, Tactica, the 'Arena' games, the 'Dancing' games, and the 'Q' games) belong to the studios that helped make them, as well as Atlus and possibly Sega. And full ownership credits for Persona 1, Persona 2- Eternal Punishment, and Persona 2-Innocent Sin belong to the studios that made those games, so all credit to them.

And with that disclaimer out of the way, let's get on with the chapter! Keep reading after the chapter ends, since I'll likely have another A/N at that point going over a lot of stuff. So for now, without further delay, here's chapter 36!

Chapter 36- Painful Trauma, Hunting The Dire, and Konoe's Past! CEO's Downfall part 4

(Outside of the RV, in Dotonbori, with Ren and Sophia)

As Ren pulled out his phone to map out where everyone was, he looked around and saw that the closest ones to him were Ann, Morgana, and Sojiro, who were looking over the bridge together. Ren walked over and spoke up, intrigued by the unlikely trio gathered there.

"Admiring the view, Ann?" Ren asked as Ann turned to face Ren as she spoke up.

"Oh, hi Ren! Yeah, we were looking out at the view of the water from here. But I was also lost in thought. I've heard horror stories about things that happen on bridges overlooking water. So does that mean that this place could be cursed? Also, people sometimes jump off this thing during big celebrations and stuff, right?" Ann asked as Sojiro smirked and spoke up.

"Only people who are either daredevils, idiots, or both." Sojiro said as Ann winced after looking down at how big of a drop it was from the bridge to the water below and spoke up.

"Whoa! It's a lot higher than I thought! No one gets hurt doing this?" Ann asked as Morgana smirked and spoke up.

"Only people's egos get hurt by jumping from here, Lady Ann. Don't worry." Morgana said as Ann smiled and nodded before Ren turned to Morgana and spoke up.

"Ah, finally got some time with Ann, eh Morgana? Although, I'm pretty sure you would've preferred not to have Sojiro hanging around, but beggars can't be choosers, I suppose." Ren said as Morgana spoke up.

"Honestly? It was Lady Ann who asked me to look at the view with her, so I decided to humor her. Apparently, she was impressed with my interest in Lady Sophia and thus wanted to give me pointers on how to win her heart. Once again, I take this as a reminder of why Lady Ann is so amazing. Err, I mean that in a purely platonic and friendly way, of course." Morgana said as Ann giggled and spoke up with a closed-eye smile.

"It's fine, Morgana. I know what you meant." Ann said as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Good. That being said, Lady Ann said I should try to do nice things for Lady Sophia if I want her to notice me more. But I'm not sure exactly what kind of nice things I should do for her." Morgana said as Sojiro chuckled and spoke up.

"If you're not trying to get Sophia in bed with you, which between us is probably for the best that you're refraining unless you want Sumire to pummel you, then I would tell you that your best bet is flowers and a few sappy love notes. And if you can manage it, you might want to try throwing a few well-placed and carefully worded compliments her way. Ladies usually enjoy that. Granted, your crush is an AI, so even I'm not sure how that will affect you getting close to her." Sojiro said wisely as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"I see. I wonder if there's a particular meal she'd like to try out, or maybe even a special gift she might want." Morgana said as Ann spoke up.

"As long as it's from your heart, you should be fine with just about anything you give or make for her, Morgana." Ann said as Morgana nodded and fell silent as Ren turned to Sojiro and spoke up.

"Heh, sorry you keep getting stuck playing the chaperone, Sojiro. Or did you choose to join these two voluntarily?" Ren asked as Sojiro smirked and spoke up.

"Nah, I chose to hang out with these two. Truth be told, I felt like admiring the view from here. Not to mention the fact that I wanted to make sure Morgana didn't try to show off too much for Ann, just in case Sophia somehow managed to see it and get the wrong idea. Basically, I'm playing a sort of wingman role for Morgana at the moment." Sojiro said as Ren grinned and spoke up.

"Ah, of course. How foolish of me to forget that Sojiro Sakura is the world's greatest wingman, in addition to being a wise, revered, and respected Coffee Daddy." Ren said as Sojiro laughed and spoke up.

"Hah! You flatter me with all that praise, you know. And yes, I'm aware that I'm pretty great. And it's good of you to show me the proper respect, Ren. No, but real talk? Hopefully we're getting close to changing Konoe's heart. I noticed that both Kusa and Goro seemed a bit uneasy after the mention of Konoe's show yesterday. So we should probably keep an eye on the two of them for the remainder of this Jail, just in case one or both of them ends up getting pissed off at some point before we get around to changing Konoe's heart." Sojiro said wisely as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"Good point. I did notice that Kusa seemed a bit on edge after we started mentioning Konoe, especially after you and Yusuke, but moreso Yusuke, compared Konoe's Jail to Shido's Palace. I still think that even though they made their peace with him, the subject of their father is a bit of a sore spot for both Kusa and Goro, despite the fact they got to make their peace with Shido's Shadow in the Yongen Jail. So we'll have to be mindful of those two's mental states going forward." Ren said as he kept moving, checking his map to see that the next closest markers to where Ren was were Zenkichi and Nanako, who were apparently hanging out together. Intrigued by the unlikely duo, Ren made his way to their location, and spoke up after he saw Zenkichi standing in front of some shops with Nanako next to him.

"Hey, you two. Didn't think you'd be walking around together, but I suppose there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" Ren asked as Zenkichi chuckled and spoke up.

"Ah, if it isn't Ren. How's it goin'? Are you out getting supplies? Nice knowin' the boss pulls his own weight." Zenkichi said as Ren huffed and spoke up.

"Very funny, Zenkichi. I'll have you know that I do most of the shopping for our group, so I always pull my own weight, and then some." Ren said as Zenkichi spoke up with a smirk.

"Right, right. Sorry for doubting you, Ren. That said, people typically enjoy following those who actually give a damn about their subordinates/followers. Lots of folks back at HQ could stand to learn that." Zenkichi said as Nanako chuckled and spoke up.

"True. From what I've seen, police detectives aren't usually the most friendly bunch to one another, as Adachi-san and my dad can attest. Back when I was a kid, Adachi was my dad's partner, though my dad didn't always treat him like an equal. To his credit, my dad eventually regretted it and he changed his ways, even if it wasn't until after Adachi was exposed and later arrested as the one behind the string of murders that happened in Inaba all those years ago. But now Dad treats his new partner, Chie-san, a lot better than he treated Adachi. But your point about a lot of people needing to learn better treatment of their subordinates and/or underlings is a valid one for sure." Nanako said wisely as Ren looked at her and spoke up.

"You're right about that, Nanako. Also, I noticed that you chose to hang out with Zenkichi instead of Akane. Was your reason for spending time with him just to get to know your girlfriend's dad better, or was it simply a coincidence that the two of you decided to walk around together?" Ren asked Nanako, who smiled and spoke up.

"A bit of both, really. I was figuring on spending time with Zenkichi here at some point to get to know him, but I also figured it might set his mind at ease to have a chance to spend time with his daughter's girlfriend so he can get to know what sort of a person she is for himself. After all, I'm sure he has his concerns about me and Akane dating." Nanako said as Zenkichi smirked and spoke up.

"Well, if I did, they're not as prevalent now since you chose to spend time getting to know me. But I think I can be forgiven for having my overprotective father instincts kicking in in this instance." Zenkichi said as Nanako nodded and spoke up.

"Fair enough. At least you seem reasonably supportive of your daughter and accepting of her choices. I wish my dad was as supportive. He's a good father and all, but there were instances where he seemed to not want to have anything to do with me, though I believe those moments are few and far between nowadays. However, I have a funny feeling he might have a harder time accepting the fact that his daughter is not only attracted to both men and women, but she also has a girlfriend now. Somehow, I expect him to take a while to accept my choices in this case." Nanako said as Ren smiled at Nanako and spoke up.

"If that does happen, you know you always have a place with us if you need it." Ren said as Zenkichi nodded his agreement, prompting a smiling Nanako to hug them both and thank them as Ren nodded and kept moving, checking his map to see that the only other dots in the area he was in were those of Ryuji and Sumire, who were a bit further down the road together. After a bit of a walk, he found the two standing together across the street from the ramen shop. Ren walked over to Ryuji as the latter spoke up.

"Oh! Hey, RenRen! There you are." Ryuji said as Ren smirked as he high-fived Ryuji and spoke up.

"Heh, on the ramen hunt again, eh Ryuji? And I see you dragged Sumire into it this time as well. I hope you're prepared for how massive her appetite can be, since I don't think you can keep up with her when she gets a good head of steam going, so to speak." Ren said as Ryuji spoke up with a grin.

"Don't worry man, I'm well aware of how much your girlfriend can eat. That being said, y'know how we got our fight with Konoe pretty soon? I went out and got us a little something to pump us up." Ryuji said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone, which she'd left with Ren after he gave her his phone to use, preceded a frowning Sophia speaking up.

"Uhh, Dad? That looks like some kinda white powder in that bag. You're not trying to peddle contraband in our group, are you Ryuji?" Sophia asked as Sumire spoke up.

"Eh? Ohh, no! No, it's nothing like that, sweetie! This is a food additive that Ryuji showed me. Apparently, it's both very delicious and very nutritious, or so he said when I asked him about it. Don't worry. It's not drugs, if that's what you thought. Ryuji knows better than to do that sort of thing around the group, if only because both Sojiro and Zenkichi would make his life hell for bringing that around their daughters, to say nothing of what I'd do to him if he was doing drugs around you, Sophia." Sumire said as Ryuji spoke up with a closed-eye smile and spoke up.

"Yeah! It's flavoring powder! I heard it's high-quality shit, too! One little taste, and you're totally hooked!" Ryuji said as a wide-eyed Sophia spoke up.

"H-Hang on, Ryuji! You don't want people getting the wrong idea about what we're doing, do you? The Phantom Thieves are already being slandered as terrorists and murderers. The last thing our group needs is to have people trying to call us drug dealers." Sophia said as Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"WHAT!? What the hell are you talking about, Sophia? This is okonomiyaki mix, dude." Ryuji said as he handed Ren some 'Flour' as the latter spoke up.

"Okonomiyaki mix? Why this of all things?" Ren asked as Ryuji spoke up with a grin.

"Why not? Takoyaki's good and all, but okonomiyaki's where it's at. Seein' as we're comin' up on the big finale, I figured we oughta get ourselves energized. Besides, once we get fueled up, we'll smack the living piss outta that smug-faced bastard!" Ryuji said as Ren and Sumire both spoke up.

"RYUJI! LANGUAGE AROUND SOPHIA!" Ren and Sumire both rebuked Ryuji as the former kept speaking.

"Also, I'm sure that Goro and Kusa would be lining up to get their turn to smack Konoe around, so you're not the only one who feels that way. But please try to keep your feelings PG-13 while Sophia's within earshot, if only so as not to upset Sumire." Ren said as Ryuji nodded before Ren turned to Sumire and continued speaking.

"And with that being said, sorry you got stuck hanging with Ryuji, beautiful." Ren said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"Oh no, it's fine, Ren. Ryuji was actually showing me a lot of the best places to get full for cheap. Apparently, he has become really good at learning to eat on a budget. Too bad Yusuke is a slow learner, or I'd have said Ryuji could probably show him a thing or two." Sumire said as Ryuji grinned and spoke up.

"Truth! I've actually tried to teach Yusuke, but that guy's a very slow learner. Hopefully Kusa has a better time teaching him budgeting than I did teaching him to eat on a budget. At least Sumire's a quick learner and eager to learn. You better not let this one go, RenRen! Your girlfriend's a definite keeper! Granted, she's got nothin' on Makoto, but Sumire's a pretty cool lady in her own right." Ryuji said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you, Ryuji. You're not so bad yourself, when you're not constantly exposing Sophia, Akane, and Nanako to your more crass, vulgar, and profane ways." Sumire said as Ryuji winced and spoke up.

"Uhh, thanks for the compliment? Err, that was a compliment, right Sumire? Or was that an insult?" Ryuji said as Ren spoke up before Sumire could answer Ryuji.

"I'm sure it was a compliment, Ryuji. That said, good luck with learning to filter what you say before you speak, bro. I'll keep going now." Ren said as he kept moving, noting that the rest of the group was in Shinsekai. Once he headed there himself, Ren nearly immediately spotted Haru and Akane checking out the Billiken statue together. Ren walked over to the two and spoke up.

"Ahh, what's this? Checkin' out the Billiken statue with Akane, Haru? Interesting." Ren said as Haru turned to Ren and spoke up.

"Oh, hey, Ren-kun! Yeah, we figured it was worth a look. According to a local that Akane-chan asked, a lot of people like to rub the Billiken statue's feet and make a wish at the same time. Granted, everyone has a wish of their own. And I just can't forgive someone who'd take advantage of that." Haru said as Ren spoke up.

"Understandable, Haru. Very understandable." Ren said before turning to Akane and smiling at her as he kept speaking.

"So you're hanging out with Haru this time, eh Akane?" Ren said as Akane nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah. I figured, why not? Haru seems like she's a pretty smart lady. Plus, she's one of the few girls in the Phantom Thieves with whom I spent the least amount of time when all of you stayed the night at my house before you went to Kukojima. Granted, I didn't spend much time with Futaba either, but she was pretty well glued to Kusa's side that entire time. And in fairness, we hadn't added Nanako or Shiho to the group at the time, so I didn't get to spend time with either of them that night.

But I've gotten to spend time with both of them since then, unlike Haru. So I figure fair's fair. Also, I totally saw Haru smack this one guy in the face when he tried to use his Billiken statue wish to get closer to her. I mean, how stupid can you get!? Not only is that a waste of a wish, but Haru's very happily spoken for by Goro." Akane said with a giggle as Haru blushed and spoke up.

"Yes, well, I'm glad he wasn't around, since he might have tried to maim that guy for hitting on me. We all know how protective he can get of me." Haru said as Ren nodded and kept moving, noting with a mix of surprise and amusement that the closest dots to his current location were those of Kusa and Yusuke, who were apparently hanging out together, which Ren found ironic given what Sojiro had asked Kusa to do for Yusuke the night before. Ren smirked and walked over to the two and spoke up.

"Oh, hey. Guess it was your turn to hang with Yusuke, eh Kusa?" Ren said as Yusuke spoke up.

"I asked him to hang with me, if you must know." Yusuke pointed out bluntly before blinking as he noticed something nearby and kept speaking before Ren could reply to what he had already said.

"Oh, my! Look at that, Ren. That is a Japanese puffer fish. You might even call it the Monarch of all puffer fish. In that case, that fish is our enemy!" Yusuke said with a closed-eye smirk as Kusa groaned and spoke up.

"Uhhh, yeah, I'm gonna have to disagree with you there, Yusuke. As much as I'm not a fan of seafood, I'm also not a fan of you comparing that puffer fish to our current foes in such a way, Yusuke. Besides, if anything, we could make this thing into a Monarch slayer, since I've heard that certain types of puffer fish are highly poisonous if not cooked properly." Kusa said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone preceded Sophia speaking up.

"Uncle Kusa has a point. Japanese puffer fish have to be cooked a certain way to be safe to eat. Yet, I can feel something. Something tells me you want to eat it for good luck, Yusuke." Sophia said as a wide eyed Yusuke spoke up.

"WHAT!? Are you a psychic, Sophia!?" Yusuke asked as Kusa laughed and spoke up.

"Did you really just ask if my niece, by which I mean Sophia, is a psychic, Yusuke!? Hell no, she's not a psychic! She's an AI. And with all apologies to Sophia, I don't think that AI have quite gotten the hang of being able to read minds or see the future just yet. As such, Sophia cannot be called a psychic. She just knows about your tendency to try any food that's worth your while. And after all, you're the only one who once tried living on nothing but rock salt, so I could easily see you trying puffer fish at least once." Kusa said with a smirk as Yusuke spoke up with a huff.

"Perhaps, but be that as it may, this puff, err, I mean Monarch, is quite poisonous, as you pointed out earlier, Kusa. We must approach it with caution." Yusuke said as Ren spoke up.

"Yeeeeah, okay. If you say so, Yusuke." Ren said as he turned to Kusa and spoke up.

"I'm impressed you have the patience to put up with Yusuke, Kusa." Ren said as Kusa grinned and spoke up.

"Of course I have the patience to put up with Yusuke, Ren. Yes, I realize that I was probably far from being a patient person when we first moved to Yongen around four years ago, but I've changed a lot since then, or so I'd like to think. Anyways, we were talking about Yusuke, not about how much I've changed. Yusuke might be eccentric and has a unique personality a lot of the time, but once you get used to his more quirky habits, he's not that hard to deal with.

A bit hopeless with money, but nothing I can't gradually shy him away from. Besides, if I can teach your girlfriend how to eat on a budget, which I totally did by the way, then I can easily turn Yusuke into a passable handler of money. It's just gonna be a bit of a challenge, that's all. Which suits me fine, since I enjoy a good challenge." Kusa said with a grin as Ren shrugged and kept moving.

After a bit, Ren found Makoto and Shiho standing together watching a person flip takoyaki around. Ren smirked and spoke up.

"Ah, so you two are checking out the food shops, Makoto? Didn't think Shiho was the type to go around sampling food, but I guess there's a first time for everything?" Ren said as Makoto spoke up.

"Oh, hi, Ren. No, Shiho and I were just looking around the area." Makoto said before gasping as she saw a cook flipping takoyaki skillfully nearby making her eyes widen as she kept speaking.

"Oh, my! Incredible! Look how carefully he's flipping the takoyaki, Ren and Shiho! I could watch this all day!" Makoto said as Shiho giggled and spoke up.

"Hey, careful, Makoto. Wouldn't want to make Ryuji jealous, would you?" Shiho said teasingly as Makoto winced and spoke up with a frown.

"No, you're right. I don't want to make Ryuji jealous. And as incredible as that cook's skills are, that's just something to look at for fun. But we're not here for goofing around, are we? That being said, I think we're close to the end of the Jail. Let's keep giving it our best, you guys." Makoto said as Ren nodded before turning to Shiho and speaking up.

"So you chose to hang out with Makoto this time, eh Shiho? Trying to hang out with everyone one on one?" Ren joked as Shiho giggled and spoke up.

"No. I just feel like I haven't gotten to know Makoto that well yet. So I figured we could walk around together and remedy that a bit." Shiho said as Makoto smiled and spoke up.

"I don't mind that at all, Shiho. I'll admit, I could have tried harder to get to know you when we were in school together, especially when Kamoshida was still around. But I was kind of a teacher's pet back then and was not as aware of my faults as I am now." Makoto said as Shiho smiled and spoke up.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. We all make mistakes, Makoto. At least you owned up to yours and are trying to correct them." Shiho said as Ren spoke up.

"Shiho's right, Makoto. None of us blame you for how you used to be, so cheer up." Ren said as Makoto nodded before Ren kept moving, noticing that the last two dots he'd not found yet, or Goro and Futaba's, were together a little ways ahead of Ren. After moving up the road a ways, Ren found Goro and Futaba checking out a display together. Ren walked over and spoke up to Futaba first.

"Heh, hanging out with Goro this time, eh little sis? Interesting." Ren said as Futaba turned to Ren and spoke up.

"Yo, big bro! What's up? You know, this latest Jail really gives off that 'final dungeon' kinda feel. Prolly 'cause we're goin' up against the head honcho." Futaba said as Goro scoffed and spoke up.

"Riiiight, because Konoe-san is totally the head honcho. As if. He might be the one in charge of EMMA, and by extension the way to access Jails, but I feel like Owada's little rant to all of us before Akane saved us, basically confirms that Konoe is NOT the 'head honcho' as you put it. Not sure who the head honcho actually is, but I would be shocked if it was Konoe-san. And I know Kusa agrees with me on that." Goro said as Futaba frowned and spoke up.

"Perhaps you're right, Goro. But even so, I know we're getting close to finding the head honcho, and our first step is to change Konoe's heart. It might seem out of reach, but we're almost there. I know we can do it!" Futaba said as Ren smiled and spoke up.

"I hope you're right, little sis." Ren said to Futaba before turning to face Goro as he kept speaking.

"So, I see you're hanging out with Futaba again, eh Goro? How come?" Ren said as Goro shrugged and spoke up.

"Eh, everyone else had already paired off, plus I figured Kusa wouldn't object to me keeping his girlfriend company for a bit. She might be an annoyance at times, but when she wants to, Futaba-chan here can be quite entertaining to watch. Of course, I'm sure at least part of that is Kusa's influence on her." Goro said as Futaba pouted and spoke up.

"LIES! That's not Kusa's influence on me! I'm just naturally a badass like that. The fact I became even more badass after becoming Kusa's girlfriend was just a coincidence. Besides, at least I don't go around joking about killing people and hiding the body. Or even better, I don't have a fetish for torturing people." Futaba said teasingly as Goro huffed and spoke up.

"Very funny. But I won't apologize for being who I am, Futaba. Besides, Miss Monologues is an exception, since she genuinely gives me strong 'sketchy' vibes whenever she opens her mouth. I can't put my finger on why, but I have a strong feeling we shouldn't underestimate her." Goro said as Ren spoke up.

"I agree. In addition, I don't think Owada mentioned Ichinose-san at all during his rant about Konoe and EMMA. So I don't think he's even aware of her existence." Ren said as he heard Goro cough what sounded suspiciously like the words 'lucky bastard' under his breath, making Ren frown but say nothing as he kept speaking.

"That being said, I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this once we change Konoe's heart. So let's do our best to finish this Jail strong." Ren said as Goro nodded approvingly as Ren decided to head back to the hideout and gather people for some planning and prep.

(A short time later, in the Metaverse, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn)

After confronting and successfully defeating the Dire Shadow of the Shibuya Jail, or the 'Killer Teddy Bear' as Futaba's scan identified it, the ensuing EXP gains lifted Joker, Oracle, and Violet to level 68, and lifted Mona, Fox, and Wolf to level 63, though no new skills were obtained from the level-ups.

After moving on to Sendai Jail and defeating the Dire Shadow there (which was a super-charged 'Raja Naga'), the ensuing EXP gains lifted Seeker, Queen, and Noir to level 63. After swatting aside some enemies on the way to the exit, Wolf reached level 64.

After finding and defeating the Dire Shadow of the Sapporo Jail, or the 'Harlot of Desire' as Oracle's scan identified it, the ensuing EXP gains brought Joker, Oracle, and Violet to level 69, brought Fox to level 64, and brought Panther, Skull, Crow, Pendragon, Draconis, Flare, Seraphim, and Auburn to level 63, the level-ups giving Fox, Flare, and Violet new moves in the form of the Heavy-tier Ice skill 'Mabufudyne', the passive skill 'Nuke Amp', and the heavy-tier Bless skill 'Makougaon'. Fox then spoke up.

"Ah! A new skill! I can do much with this, I'm sure." Fox said as Draconis smirked and spoke up.

"Nice. Looks like you're hitting the big guns, so to speak, Fox. Good stuff." Draconis said as Oracle spoke up.

"Heh, who knew Inari had it in him?" Oracle teased as Fox huffed but said nothing to that as Gorokichi acquired 'Mabufudyne'. At the same time, Flare spoke up.

"Ooh, sweet. My Nuclear power got a boost." Flare said as Panther giggled and spoke up.

"Pretty nice, Flare. Very sexy, just like you." Panther said coyly as Flare blushed but rather than yell at Panther, she pulled her into a kiss. Once they came up for air, Flare spoke up.

"That was your fault for being a brat, Panther. I just wanted the others to be aware of that." Flare said as Panther playfully pouted and spoke up.

"Aww, fine. I'm sorry for being a brat." Panther said as Seraphim giggled and spoke up.

"Are you two always this playful?" Seraphim asked as Panther spoke up.

"No. I was just trying to get Flare hot under the collar." Panther said as Flare huffed but said nothing as Hester acquired 'Nuke Amp'. Violet then smirked and spoke up.

"Oh, wow. I got a new move! Guess my hard work is payin' off! What do you think, Joker-senpai?" Violet asked coyly as she playfully batted her eyelashes at Joker to tease him, making him blush as he spoke up.

"Not bad, beautiful. But, um, should we be flirting like this around Seeker?" Joker asked as Violet spoke up.

"Does it matter? Besides, I'm pretty sure she's seen it all, for the most part, between all the other couples in this group. So what's the difference if I want to be a bit flirty with my boyfriend?" Violet said as she pulled Joker into a heated yet passionate kiss, ignoring the catcalls she got from Oracle, Panther, Flare, Seraphim, and Auburn as she and Joker briefly kissed. Once they came apart for air, Joker spoke up.

"Wow, I forgot how incredible that felt, beautiful. We should do that more often, I think." Joker said slyly as Violet blushed but nodded as Ella acquired 'Makougaon'. After that, Joker pulled everyone back to the real world to regroup and assess their situation and decide on their next move...

(Back in the real world, inside of the RV with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Goro, Sumire, Kusa, Sophia, Sojiro, Shiho, Zenkichi, Nanako, and Akane)

As the group gathered together in the RV, Ren spoke up with a firm yet authoritative look on his face.

"First of all, incredible job on beating the first three Dire Shadows, everyone. We still have at least three more to beat, possibly more. So we're far from through with them. But for now, let's focus on the more important aspect of things, namely our next move. Does anyone have any thoughts about what to do next?" Ren asked as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Right. When in doubt, recapping what we know is always a good place to start. So let's go over what we know before heading back in." Morgana said as Zenkichi spoke up with a nod.

"Fair enough. So the hero show we heard in the Osaka Jail was the talk show interview that Konoe did on this side." Zenkichi said as Ryuji frowned and spoke up.

"Dammit! It's bullshit how Konoe can throw whatever shade he wants on us, yet HE'S the one goin' around stealin' Desires." Ryuji said as Kusa spoke up with a nod, his eyes narrowing slightly from Ryuji's reference to Konoe's interview where he bashed the entire collective of the Phantom Thieves with his remarks, pissing Kusa off.

"For real! That son of a bitch cannot be allowed to get away with slandering all of us the way he did in that interview." Kusa said as Sumire spoke up, seeing the signs of Kusa's temper rising and moving to try and calm him down before he could get too worked up.

"Calm down, Kusa. We'll deal with him soon enough, I'm sure." Sumire said as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Well said, Sumire. In any case, now that that's over with, I'm sure all the commotion in the Jail has died down." Morgana said wisely as Ann spoke up with an excited smile.

"Good! That means we can finally get into the castle!" Ann said as Shiho spoke up.

"About time. The sooner we get to that Birdcage, the sooner we can identify his trauma, and the sooner we do that, the sooner we can fight Konoe himself." Shiho said as Makoto nodded and spoke up.

"Right. But don't forget we're up against the creator of the Jails here. Let's not take this lightly." Makoto said as Goro frowned and spoke up.

"Are we up really against the creator of the Jails, though? I don't think we ever definitively proved that Konoe was the one who made those Jails. For all we know, EMMA could've made them, or even worse, they could've been the creation of Miss Monologues." Goro said as Nanako smiled and spoke up.

"EMMA I could see, since there have been a lot of inconsistencies when it comes to her. But Ichinose-san? I don't know why she would go around creating Jails, Goro. That doesn't add up for me." Nanako said as Akane spoke up.

"If not for the fact that this plot is way too grandiose and complex for him, I would have said it could also be Owada, but that seems unlikely the more I think about it." Akane said as Zenkichi nodded approvingly and spoke up.

"Well said, Akane. You have good instincts." Zenkichi said as Futaba chuckled and spoke up.

"So what if we're up against the likes of Konoe? Mwehehe! Nooo problem! I've got the power of tech and takoyaki on my side!" Futaba said as Yusuke smirked and spoke up.

"As do I. Whosoever stands against us shall be stricken severely by our takoyaki-infused might!" Yusuke said as Zenkichi groaned and spoke up.

"I know this already, but in case any of you forgot? I have to say, you guys are a bunch of lunatics." Zenkichi said as Haru giggled and spoke up.

"Hee hee! Shouldn't we be? We are Phantom Thieves already. Now then, let's get prepared and head to that castle!" Haru said as Sojiro spoke up.

"I agree Haru. Ren, I assume you got the groups set for this run?" Sojiro asked as Ren spoke up

"Indeed I did Sojiro. In Group A, which I will lead, will be myself, Morgana, Ryuji, and Sophia. In Group B, which Kusa will lead, will be Kusa, Yusuke, Zenkichi, and Sumire. In Group C, which Makoto will lead, will be Makoto, Sojiro, Shiho, and Ann. Finally, in Group D, which Goro will lead, will be Goro, Haru, Nanako, and Akane. As always, Futaba will be our navigator and act as the go-between for our groups. Any questions?" Ren asked as no one voiced a question or objection. Ren then kept speaking.

"Good. Let's get in there and raid that castle!" Ren said as he pulled the group into the Metaverse...

(Inside of the Osaka Jail, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn)

As the group headed for the check point they'd left off at, or the 'Abeno Haretas' checkpoint, Skull grinned and spoke up.

"Hell yeah! That takoyaki really hit the spot!" Skull said as Oracle spoke up with a smirk.

"Looks like everyone's up and at 'em! Let's get back to the castle!" Oracle said as Crow spoke up.

"Good. Time to get another step closer to making Konoe pay." Crow said darkly as the group kept moving. As the group reached the spot where they'd been blocked off before, they ended up fighting against a couple of Shadows guarding the entrance to the castle. Once they were defeated and saw the path was clear, Wolf smirked as he spoke up.

"Nice. Looks like that hero show or whatever's all wrapped up. We can keep going." Wolf said as Skull spoke up.

"Sweet. Still, I can't help but wonder what it was like. Kinda curious, to be honest." Skull said as Oracle spoke up.

"Oh, you wanna see one? We should go see a Featherman show sometime!" Oracle said as Draconis turned to Skull and spoke up.

"Unless you don't mind having Oracle fangirl over the cast for most of the trip, I'd recommend giving it a miss, Skull. I don't mind when Oracle does it to me since she's my girlfriend. But still, I feel like it's only fair to warn you about it so you can make your own judgment on whether it's worth it or not." Draconis said as Pendragon grinned and spoke up.

"Heh, you know you love Oracle despite that though, Draconis." Pendragon said as Draconis spoke up.

"You're right, Pendragon. I do love Oracle. But let's keep going for now. We can worry about making plans for the future after we deal with Konoe." Draconis said as the group kept moving. As Joker reached the door to the next area, Mona spoke up.

"Joker! Once we get in the castle, we're headed straight for the roof. Are you ready?" Mona asked as Joker spoke up.

"Let's go. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can start figuring out the Trauma Cell, and then be able to send the calling card." Joker said with a nod as Pendragon spoke up.

"I like that enthusiasm, Joker! All right, let's go!" Pendragon said as the group kept moving. Once inside, Mona spoke up.

"Huh, that was easy. All right, the coast is clear. Let's make a break for the top." Mona said as Panther frowned and spoke up.

"At the risk of jinxing us, I'm kinda surprised how easy it was to get inside." Panther said as Auburn spoke up.

"Aside from fighting that group of Shadows just a minute ago, don't you all think it's odd that there haven't been any other guards to stop us from entering the castle? Also, for something that is considered a castle of a Monarch, don't you think there should be more guards inside?" Auburn said as Wolf spoke up.

"Both Auburn and Panther have a point. It's a little quiet for a castle for my tastes. Umm, that's not normal, is it?" Wolf asked as Queen spoke up.

"I don't think so, Wolf." Queen said as Oracle frowned and spoke up.

"I've got a bad feeling about this, you guys. This is usually when everything goes wrong." Oracle said, right as a flash of blue light surrounded the group, making everyone gasp as Fox spoke up with wide eyes.

"What's this light!?" Fox asked as Noir spoke up.

"I have no idea, Fox. It's so pretty, though. But what is it doing?" Noir asked as Crow gritted his teeth and spoke up.

"If it's like the times I've seen something like this on TV, then it can't be anything good, Noir. As a rule of thumb, blue lights like these never mean anything good." Crow said as Draconis spoke up.

"No kidding! Typically, the only times you see something like this is when someone's getting beamed up or teleported, basically in most sci-fi shows." Draconis said bluntly as Panther spoke up.

"Well, whatever it's doing, it can't be good!" Panther said as at that moment, a familiar voice came over the intercoms.

"Intruders detected. Executing forced removal." The voice of EMMA could be heard saying as Seraphim spoke up.

"Wait, was that EMMA again? What did she mean by 'forced removal'?" Seraphim said as a wide-eyed Oracle spoke up.

"W-Wait, is this thing a teleporter!?" Oracle asked as Draconis' eyes widened under his helmet as he spoke up.

"SERIOUSLY!? I just stated this a minute ago and now you just realized that, Oracle? Yes, it's a teleporter!" Draconis said as a wide-eyed Skull spoke up.

"FOR REAL!? It's a friggin' trap! We gotta bail!" Skull said as he sprinted towards the exit of the circle as Queen's voice stopped him in his tracks when she spoke up.

"Wait, Skull! If you try to leave the circle, any number of bad things could happen!" Queen said as Seeker spoke up warily.

"Such as him getting ripped apart?" Seeker asked curiously as Violet frowned and spoke up.

"Kind of a grisly thing to suggest, don't you think? But you might not be wrong, Seeker." Violet said as Flare spoke up.

"She's really not wrong, though. That's a very real possibility. But more likely, Skull will probably get separated from the rest of us if he leaves the circle, and I don't think we have time to try and find one another. It's bad enough that we got separated for that maze in the Yongen Jail." Flare said as Joker spoke up

"Flare's right. I don't think any of us want to go through another situation of getting separated again to the point where we have to fight another gauntlet of bosses just so we can find each other again. So Skull, please heed your girlfriend's words and stay put in the circle unless you want the possible chance of getting 'ripped apart' as Seeker just said." Joker said as Skull's eyes widened and he spoke up.

"RIPPED APART!? You gotta be shittin' me!" Skull said as Draconis spoke up.

"Wish we were, but I'm afraid we shit you not, Skull." Draconis said as Skull swore profusely, only to be muted by the sounds of the group being teleported elsewhere. Joker eventually found himself in a cell protected by a grid of red infrared bars as he heard Panther spoke up nearby.

"W-Wha!? What happened!?" Panther asked as Fox winced and spoke up.

"Tch! It seems we've been forcibly teleported somewhere." Fox said as Oracle spoke up while looking queasy.

"Urgh, I don't feel so good, you guys. I think I'm warp-sick." Oracle said as Skull groaned and spoke up.

"What, so we're locked up? Man I feel like getting caught's all we ever do anymore, you guys." Skull said as Crow and Draconis smirked and the former spoke up.

"Speak for yourself, Skull. Or might I remind you that Oracle, Draconis, and I weren't caught in that trap back in the Kyoto Jail? Technically, Seraphim, Wolf, and Auburn weren't caught either, but since they hadn't joined yet, they don't really count in that instance." Crow said as Auburn spoke up.

"Although, from what I was told, my Shadow was the one who sprung the trap that almost caught all of you in the Kyoto Jail. So technically I was there, but yet not there at the same time." Auburn said as a contemplative Draconis spoke up.

"Hmm. Would that make you a 'Schrodinger's Auburn' in that instance, I wonder? That being said, I should also point out that Wolf was kinda in the clink at the time since he sacrificed a lot to save us from that ambush, and thus also was spared from that trap." Draconis helpfully pointed out. Wolf smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, it was nothin'. But I like that you're so grateful for it, Draconis." Wolf said as Noir frowned and spoke up.

"That's all well and good, but we're trapped here. We have to get out of here, and quickly, before Konoe steps up his security even more." Noir said anxiously as Wolf frowned and spoke up.

"Hey, just try to stay calm. In times like these, the best thing to do is to carefully check your surroundings." Wolf said as Queen spoke up after the camera panned to show an open doorway on the other side of the bars.

"The door's open on the other side. I wonder if there's a way for us to get over there from here." Queen said as Pendragon spoke up.

"I'm sure Joker can figure something out for us. He's pretty resourceful like that." Pendragon said wisely as Joker nodded his agreement before he quickly searched around the cell with his Third Eye until he noticed a vent that was on a ledge that was situated against the wall in the corner as he spoke up.

"Hey guys, I think I found our way out." Joker said and as everyone took notice of the vent, Violet smiled and spoke up.

"Good find Joker. Hopefully, this will lead to an exit of this place." Violet said and one by one, the group proceeded through the vent and was able to get out of their predicament and kept moving. While fighting past Shadows on the way out of the cells, Mona, Queen, and Seeker hit level 64. After getting back out of the cells and back into the area where they first entered the castle, the group noticed that they had been intercepted by a sentry who spoke up angrily.

"How did you escape!? Quit resisting and come quietly!" The sentry said angrily as it shifted forms into a 'Norn' as Oracle spoke up.

"Whoops, looks like we got some company." Oracle said as Crow smirked and spoke up.

"Good. More enemies means more chances for Hereward to run wild and perform copious amounts of destruction and even murder on the Shadows here." Crow said as Draconis spoke up.

"That, and it makes for a good chance to get stronger ahead of the next Lock Keeper battle, which I'm sure we're getting closer to one of those." Draconis said as Panther frowned and spoke up.

"Fair enough. That being said, so these are the jerks that sprung the trap on us?" Panther asked as Skull spoke up.

"I guess we should say thanks! Quit resisting and get stomped!" Skull said as Seraphim giggled and spoke up.

"Don't hog them all, Skull! Save a few for Auburn and I to destroy, would you?" Seraphim said as Flare spoke up.

"Who cares? Let's get them already!" Flare said as a fight began! After the fight, which was rough but winnable, the ensuing EXP gains lifted Skull, Panther, Noir, Draconis, Crow, Pendragon, Flare, Seraphim, and Auburn to level 64, the level-ups giving Panther access to the support/buff skill 'Concentrate', Noir access to the heavy-tier Psy skill 'Mapsiodyne', and Seraphim access to the heavy-tier Elec move 'Maziodyne'. Noir giggled and spoke up. *1*

"Oh? I got a new move! Nice!" Noir said as Crow smirked and spoke up.

"Very fitting. An elegant skill for an elegant and beautiful woman." Crow said smoothly, making Noir blush as she thanked Crow while Lucy acquired 'Mapsiodyne'. At that point, Panther spoke up.

"Oh! I got a new power!" Panther said as Flare smirked and spoke up.

"Very nice, Panther. A very sexy skill, just like the woman getting it." Flare said coyly, making Panther blush prettily while thanking Flare as Celestine acquired 'Concentrate'. Seraphim then spoke up.

"Oh, wow! I've unlocked a new ability! Awesome!" Seraphim said as Auburn smirked and spoke up.

"Aww, why so modest? We both know that skill's really intense, just like the woman getting it." Auburn said slyly, looking into Seraphim's eyes as she pecked her on the cheek, making Seraphim blush and speak up.

"Thank you, but I don't think now is the time for flirting, Auburn." Seraphim said as Auburn huffed and spoke up.

"Fiiiine, I'll be good." Auburn said as Sraosha acquired 'Maziodyne'. After the fight, the group examined the elevator, only for Oracle to frown and speak up after seeing what the group found.

"Crap. The elevator should take us up, but it seems like they've got it on lockdown." Oracle said as Queen spoke up.

"True. But that just means there's a mechanism around here somewhere to release it. Let's see if we can find it." Queen said as the camera panned to a blue door in the back of the room. Once the group went through the blue door, Seeker spoke up.

"Hmm, this looks like the security room. It looks like we can unlock that elevator from here." Seeker said as Fox spoke up.

"So you're saying that if we release the lock, we'll be able to keep going up. Is that right, Seeker?" Fox asked as Seeker nodded and Fox looked at Oracle as he kept speaking.

"Can you hack into this console, Oracle?" Fox said as Draconis blinked and spoke up.

"Seriously!? That's four times in this one Jail alone!" Draconis said as Oracle spoke up.

"Of course I can, Fox! Joker, just gimme the word when you're ready for me to do my thing! And don't forget to cover my six!" Oracle said as Joker spoke up.

"Definitely. We'll leave Draconis, Wolf, Fox, and Violet to protect you, as we often do with these sorts of things." Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"Leave Oracle to us! You take the others and get ready to go kick ass!" Draconis said as Oracle spoke up with a firm nod of resolve.

"Roger that! Commencing the hack now! Don't forget to provide backup, everyone!" Oracle said as a fight began! For being a hack, it was relatively easy overall. Soon enough, Oracle spoke up.

"Success! Ladies and gentlemen, your hack is now complete! Been a pleasure!" Oracle said as the battle ended and the group kept moving. Once back in the main room, Panther spoke up.

"Yes! The elevator's working now! Let's head on up!" Panther said as the group rushed into the elevator in time for Noir to speak up.

"Good. We should be able to ride all the way up to the top like this. Maybe we can even rest before we get there, if all of us are lucky enough." Noir said as the sounds of Shadows spawning in made Wolf groan as he spoke up.

"Dammit, that'll be the welcoming committee. Guess it woulda been too easy if there wasn't an obstacle. Well, guess we should greet our guests." Wolf said as Violet spoke up.

"Oracle, how much longer until we reach the top?" Violet asked as Oracle spoke up.

"Not too much longer, but I'm getting lots of Shadow readings here! We're all just gonna have to hold out!" Oracle said as Joker spoke up.

"Not a problem. Let's kick these guys off this ride!" Joker said as a battle began! The ensuing fight was moreso a test of endurance than a fight, since the group held off the attacking Shadows easily and reached the top. After the fight, Mona spoke up.

"Good grief, what a pain that was. But hey, at least we finally made it to the top." Mona said as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"We are!? About damn time! Let's roll out and get our asses up there!" Skull said as Draconis spoke up.

"Seconded! Let's get at that damn Birdcage!" Draconis said as the group reached the upper area. Once there, Fox spoke up.

"Hmm, we seem to be quite a ways up." Fox said as Noir spoke up.

"Have we reached the roof yet?" Noir asked as Crow spoke up.

"Noir, I love you and all, but no. I don't think we're at the roof yet. If we were, why is there a building in the back that goes up further?" Crow asked, pointing towards a skyscraper in the back of the area the group was in, making Auburn frown and speak up.

"Wait, hold on. Why does Konoe have a building on top of another building? Isn't that structurally unsound?" Auburn asked as Seraphim spoke up.

"Who knows? I hear that some of these bad guys are idiots, so they probably thought it looked cool." Seraphim said as the group kept moving. As the group went to advance, Oracle spoke up.

"Stop! Picking up an enemy nearby! This one looks tough!" Oracle said as a giant enemy spawned in and spoke up.

"You fools dare oppose the great hero Akira? My lightning will turn you into dust!" The strong enemy said as it shifted forms into what Joker instantly recognized as a 'Thor', making his jaw drop as he spoke up.

"WHAT THE HELL!? This is the second time that Konoe has used Thor against us. Are the freaking gods on his payroll now!?" Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"That cheating asshole! Well, it's fine. It's not the first time someone's thrown one of these at Joker, let alone the rest of us as I recall. And based on a prior experience, especially since we fought another Thor before we got into the second Prison Keep of this Jail, we should be able to kick this one's ass as well." Draconis said as another fight began! The ensuing fight was tough, but as Draconis suspected, it was very winnable. The ensuing EXP gains from the fight brought Joker, Violet, and Oracle to level 70, lifted Wolf to level 65, and gave Oracle and Wolf new moves in the form of the heavy-tier Almighty move 'Megidola' and the heavy-tier Gun skill 'One-Shot Kill', making him smirk as he spoke up.

"A new skill? Heh, I still got it." Wolf said as Noir spoke up with a smile.

"Nice, you've joined the 'One-Shot Kill' club with myself, Crow, Pendragon, Auburn, and Joker. Congrats, Wolf." Noir said as Auburn smiled and spoke up.

"You know even though I got that skill first before you Dad, I had a feeling given your Persona's abilities that you might end up getting the same thing as me. Not that I'm complaining because as they always say, 'like daughter, like father'." Auburn said as Pendragon chuckled and spoke up.

"Technically it's the other way around, Auburn. But then again, you're not wrong given that you got that skill before your father. That being said, good stuff, Wolf. Show these younguns that us elderly folk can kick just as much ass as they can." Pendragon said sagely as Wolf grinned and nodded as Valjean acquired 'One-Shot Kill'. At that point, Oracle smirked and spoke up.

"Ooh, what's this? Did Albus' Almighty powers get a boost?" Oracle said as Crow and Draconis exchanged horrified looks as the former spoke up.

"Draconis? Is your girlfriend about to surpass us both in terms of Almighty power? Because with her included, that's now four of us who can use 'Megidola'. I'm not going to lie. I'm worried that we might get surpassed." Crow said as Joker smirked and spoke up.

"Hey, I did state earlier that there's a chance that Oracle might surpass you two and Wolf when it comes to getting the most powerful Almighty skill. And I also stated earlier that I could get a Persona with a severe-tier Almighty skill at any time before the rest of you get yours." Joker said as Noir giggled and spoke up.

"Actually Joker, that might be kind of difficult for Oracle to do that when Loki already has 'Megidolaon' on him for Crow. So if anything, Draconis is the one who has to be worried about getting surpassed by either you, Oracle, or Wolf." Noir pointed out as Crow blinked and spoke up.

"Huh? I forgot that Loki had 'Megidolaon' on him when he joined back with me. So I guess this now makes two technical instances where I beat Joker first when it comes to getting a certain skill, let alone Draconis in this current case. Sorry brother, but I guess you're going to have to shoot for second place, that is if your girlfriend doesn't get to it first." Crow said as Draconis chuckled and spoke up.

"That's alright Crow. Well, if I do get surpassed, at least it was a worthy person who surpassed me. And what better way for a man to feel pride than knowing his own girlfriend surpassed him?" Draconis said as Wolf and Pendragon winced before the latter spoke up.

"Um, Draconis? I think the saying you're thinking of actually goes, 'There is no greater pride for a man than to see his own SON surpass him'. I don't think it's his girlfriend that the saying was referring to at all." Pendragon said as Draconis spoke up.

"Eh, you might be right about that, Pendragon. But I'm still proud of Oracle just the same." Draconis said wisely as Oracle smiled shyly and blushed behind her visor from Draconis' praise as Albus acquired 'Megidola'. After the group won the fight, Seeker spoke up on getting a closer look at the building that Crow and Draconis had noticed before.

"Oh! This isn't a building, you guys. It's an elevator." Seeker said as a wide-eyed Skull spoke up in horror.

"Yo, we have to go up even more!?" Skull said as Draconis smirked and spoke up.

"If it is, look at it this way, Skull. We're getting one hell of a workout with all this fighting and running, so at least we'll be able to say we got our exercise in today." Draconis said as Noir spoke up.

"Good point, Draconis. But in all seriousness, it looks really high to me. I can't even see the top." Noir said as Wolf spoke up with a smirk, not seeing Crow and Draconis struggle not to laugh at what he said next as he spoke.

"Well, given Konoe's 'elevated' opinion of himself, I'd say this is par for the course for him, truth be told." Wolf said as Auburn chuckled and spoke up.

"Heh, elevated! Good one, Dad." Auburn said in amusement as Seraphim spoke up with a frown, clearly not finding Wolf's remark as funny as Auburn had.

"It wasn't THAT funny, Auburn. I don't even see any of the others laughing." Seraphim said as Panther spoke up.

"It wasn't a funny joke, so that's why no one's laughing, Seraphim. That said, if this is an elevator, then I guess we're going up, then. We gotta get those Desires back!" Panther said as the group nodded and took the elevator up to a room with spinning devices, and a giant multi-colored haze in the center of the room, making Noir speak up in surprise.

"Everyone, look!" Noir said as Skull gritted his teeth and spoke up.

"A Birdcage. So this place has one too." Skull said as Seeker spoke up.

"Correct. Every Jail we've seen so far has one, except for maybe Auburn's Jail." Seeker said as Draconis spoke up.

"Same for the Yongen Jail. It didn't have a Birdcage to speak of either. But they still had areas with 'Cage' in the name for symbolic reasons. Auburn's Jail's cage was the 'Cage of Wrath', and the Yongen Jail's was the 'Cage of Envy'." Draconis said as Fox spoke up in shock and confusion.

"But why would Konoe's Jail possess one? Is he not the mastermind behind all of this?" Fox asked as Mona spoke up.

"I don't know, Fox. I think Crow and Draconis might be on to something with their misgivings about Konoe being the mastermind. However, we won't know for sure until we confront Konoe's Shadow face-to-face. That being said, Konoe's supposed to be the one who created the Jails." Mona said as Crow spoke up.

"And where's your proof of that, Mona?" Crow asked as Draconis spoke up.

"Much as we lack proof of our theory about Konoe not being the mastermind, Mona probably lacks proof that Konoe created the Jails. It's just a matter of him trying to trust his gut, which I can't be mad at him for wanting to do that, since it's usually a smart philosophy to go by." Draconis said as Mona spoke up.

"Exactly. Draconis is absolutely right. I'm just trusting in what I've seen so far. That, and Konoe works pretty closely with EMMA. So he would have to know how they work. It wouldn't make sense otherwise. In which case, the only explanation is that he's trapped himself here with trauma of his own." Mona said as a shocked Queen spoke up with wide eyes.

"Why would he do something like that?" Queen asked as Mona spoke up.

"Not sure. But if I had to guess? I'd say that it could be necessary to creating a Jail." Mona said as Panther spoke up.

"Does that mean Konoe's got some dark past too?" Panther asked as Oracle frowned and spoke up.

"A guy that confident? I dunno about that, Panther. Doesn't really fit his image, if you ask me." Oracle said as Crow spoke up.

"I beg your pardon, Oracle? Are you suggesting that confident men aren't allowed to have troubled pasts?" Crow said in a clearly offended tone. Oracle spoke up.

"Not if you're Konoe, at least. I'm aware of your troubled past, Crow. But you could be an exception to the rule." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"If that's the case, then I'm an exception to that as well. Or did you forget about some of the shit that I've been through in my past?" Draconis pointed out as Oracle winced and spoke up.

"Right, okay. Maybe it does fit his image. Sorry." Oracle said, getting nods of forgiveness from Crow and Draconis as Wolf spoke up.

"So what's the plan, then? You said we need a key if we wanna open this thing, right?" Wolf asked as Fox nodded and spoke up.

"That's correct. And we can get a hint as to its whereabouts by touching the Birdcage, as you saw in the Yongen Jail when Crow had to touch that Birdcage to find the Trauma Cell for the Black Mask/Loki." Fox said as Joker spoke up.

"We've been making Skull do this every time so far, excluding the Yongen Jail. So I think we should give him a break here. If anything, I'll do it this time." Joker said. Wolf smiled and spoke up.

"No, lemme do it, Joker. I need the experience." Wolf said as he turned towards the Birdcage as Panther spoke up.

"Good luck. Make sure you don't let go right away." Panther said as Skull spoke up with a sympathetic frown.

"Don't go cryin' on us, Wolf! Take it from me, this isn't gonna be pleasant." Skull said as Wolf spoke up.

"Huh?" Wolf said in confusion as he kept walking towards the cage as Auburn spoke up.

"Wait, what did Skull mean when he said it's not going to be pleasant?" Auburn said as Flare spoke up.

"Well you see Auburn, it's just that whenever one touches the Birdcage they..." Flare said but she got cut off by Wolf putting a hand out and yelping in shock as he was zapped by the wall as a red door flashed into being as Wolf spoke up.

"GYAAAAAAH!" Wolf said as Auburn spoke up in shock of what was happening.

"DAD!" Auburn said in a panic as Violet spoke up.

"It's ok, Auburn. This normally happens every time someone touches the Birdcage." Violet said as Seraphim spoke up.

"Don't worry, your father is going to be fine. This is necessary so we can see Konoe's past." Seraphim said as she placed a hand on Auburn's shoulder to comfort her while the latter nodded in understanding as Oracle spoke up with a wince.

"Oof, listen to that wolf howl." Oracle said as Fox spoke up with a closed eye smile.

"I've heard stories of cries that could shake the heavens. Could this be one of them? It's almost operatic." Fox said as Draconis blinked at that and spoke up.

"Uhhh, if you say so? I don't think this qualifies as 'operatic' though, Fox." Draconis said as Crow nodded his agreement before Skull spoke up with a frown.

"Shut up, Fox! You and Oracle don't get to bust Wolf's balls like that! You guys don't even know, man. That shit seriously hurts! I can say that from experience!" Skull said as Crow nodded and spoke up.

"Even though I only did it once, I can agree with Skull on that." Crow said as Queen spoke up.

"QUIET! I hear something!" Queen said as a flash of white overtook the group's vision and an intimidating voice was heard speaking up, though what it said next would put frowns on Crow and Draconis' faces.

"Abuse, you say? Please, that's ridiculous. We do have a dog. Maybe that's what they heard? Right, Akira?" The group heard as Skull spoke up in confusion.

"Hey, whose voice is that?" Skull asked as an irate Draconis spoke up, his eyes narrowing dangerously under his helmet as he spoke up in a very dry tone.

"The voice of someone who's going to be lucky if I never get my hands on them after what they just said about reports of abuse being based on a dog. Animal cruelty is fucked up, dammit! But the implications of what we've heard so far are possibly worse." Draconis said with a frown as Crow nodded his agreement as Queen spoke up.

"To answer your question, Skull? It doesn't seem to be Konoe's voice." Queen said as Noir spoke up.

"True, but he said 'Akira' at one point. Isn't that Konoe's first name?" Noir said as Joker spoke up.

"Correct. Now let's keep listening." Joker said as the group fell silent in time to hear a calm voice speak up, though what the voice said next would have both Crow and Draconis' eyes narrowing dangerously under their helmets near the end of what was said.

"Whether it was your dog or not, Konoe-san, we got a tip that you've been physically abusing your son. Apparently, Akira-kun has a scar on his arm to prove it according to what we've been told." The calm voice said as the intimidating voice spoke up again.

"Look, he fell over. How many times do I have to say it? Are we done here? I'd like to be left alone." The intimidating voice said as the sound of a door closing was heard before the intimidating voice was heard speaking up again, his voice much angrier-sounding than before.

"Look at what you've done, you little shit! You see all this trouble you're causing me!? Keep your goddamn mouth shut and do as I say!" The intimidating voice said as the only other thing that was heard was the sounds of fists being slammed against something before the flash of white receded and the group could see again. At that point, Auburn ran over to Wolf and spoke up.

"Dad, are you ok?" Auburn asked in concern as Wolf spoke up with a wince on his face, cutting off both Draconis and Crow from speaking up, which was probably for the best given the incensed looks on both of their faces at what had been heard near the end, as both had a pretty good guess as to what it meant.

"I'm fine Auburn. It's just a minor shock, that's all. Damn, that was rough. Skull wasn't kidding about that, it seems. But anyway, as to what we heard just now. What the hell was that?" Wolf asked as Fox spoke up.

"Konoe's past. We were viewing the trauma he keeps locked away in his heart." Fox said as a shocked Wolf spoke up.

"Trauma?" Wolf asked as Auburn spoke up with a nod.

"Yes, Dad. Trauma. After all, I'm guessing they call them 'Trauma Cells' for a reason." Auburn pointed out bluntly as Oracle spoke up with a playful tone in her voice.

"There, there. Good boy. Who's a good wolf?" Oracle said as Draconis spoke up.

"Is now REALLY the time to be patronizing him, Oracle? I realize that you might be doing it as a distraction ploy, but Wolf did a damn good job holding on for as long as he did." Draconis said bluntly as Wolf spoke up.

"Thank you! Glad you understand, Draconis. And Oracle? What am I to you, your pet!? Yeesh, you guys coulda warned me about that." Wolf said as Crow spoke up.

"If you think about it, Skull did warn you ahead of time that it would hurt. So if you think about it, we DID warn you." Crow said as Skull high-fived him and spoke up.

"Truth, Crow! But I can't be mad at Wolf, since I can't imagine that what he just went through felt nice for him." Skull said sympathetically as Panther spoke up.

"Well, it's not like you asked, Wolf. Ahaha." Panther said as Auburn and Draconis glared at her and the latter of the two made to speak up, only for Seeker to speak up before he could even begin to open his mouth to rebuke Panther.

"Panther? I feel like I've heard that excuse before somewhere." Seeker said as Skull spoke up bluntly.

"Yeah, you did hear it before, Seeker. From yourself." Skull said as Noir frowned and spoke up.

"Getting back on track for now, I heard one of the voices mention something about abuse." Noir said as Queen spoke up with a frown.

"Was Konoe abused by his father?" Queen asked as Noir spoke up.

"That's terrible, if it's true." Noir said as Draconis spoke up, his face looking scarily close to blacking out as he spoke.

"Terrible or not, it still doesn't excuse all of the crap Konoe's put us through so far. I feel bad for him, but I can't forget what he's done to us. Konoe's dad, on the other hand? If it is true, and it turns out that he DID abuse Konoe? That son of a bitch had better hope that Konoe already dealt with him, because if he didn't, I might just have Crow help me go and find him so that we can teach him a lesson about why abusing your children is unacceptable and completely screwed up!" Draconis snapped as Crow nodded his agreement to help Draconis punish Konoe's dad if necessary before Pendragon spoke up with a bit of anger in his voice.

"Although a part of me is uneasy about the possibility of Konoe dealing with his father, the way that guy yelled at his son almost reminds me of how Wakaba's brother handled Oracle back when she was in his care. If Konoe's father DID abuse his son, then even I might also want to take a shot at him myself." Pendragon said as Skull nodded and spoke up.

"Truth, Pendragon! It's pretty messed up, but it doesn't justify all the skeevy shit he's been doin'. And Draconis? If you also need a hand with punishing Konoe's dad, let me know. I'm sure quite a few of us such as Pendragon just now would also like to put that abusive asshole in his place." Skull said as Fox spoke up.

"Indeed. What Konoe likely went through is horrible, but even so, what's past is past. And nothing changes the fact that Akira Konoe is an incredibly dangerous man who changes others' hearts and robs them of their free will." Fox said as Queen nodded and spoke up.

"Right. We've got to stop him." Queen said as a confused Violet spoke up.

"And we will. For everyone who was a victim of the change of heart epidemic, we've got to finish this." Violet said and Flare spoke up.

"We just got to find where the Trauma Cell is located in the real world and then deal with the Lock Keeper." Flare said as Seraphim spoke up.

"Once we do that, the Birdcage will be unlocked and then we can send the calling card." Seraphim said as Auburn spoke up.

"Right. And then we can finally confront Konoe face-to-face and end this once and for all." Auburn said as everyone nodded in determination as Mona spoke up.

"Soo, if being abused is the source of his trauma, then what exactly is his plan here?" Mona asked as Skull spoke up.

"Only one way to know for sure. We're gonna have to ask him about it. Up close and personal!" Skull said as Mona spoke up.

"Yeah, but first we need the key to the Birdcage. Let's head back to the real world and try to find the source of that voice." Mona said as the others nodded and started to leave, only for Seeker to stop Joker and Violet as she spoke up.

"Umm, I know this is probably not the time, but Joker? Violet?" Seeker said as Joker and Violet turned to Seeker and spoke up.'

"Yes, Seeker? What's up, sweetie?" Joker asked as Seeker spoke up with a concerned look on her face.

"Was Konoe really treated badly by his own father? I know that Wolf and Auburn were on bad terms for a while, but nothing like that ever happened between them. Why did that happen to Konoe? Aren't they family?" Seeker asked as Joker spoke up.

"Honestly? I don't know for sure. But if I had to guess? I'd say that some hearts are just filled with hate. For example, let's look at Crow and Draconis' father. That man refused to acknowledge either one of their existences for most of their lives. It was only recently, when we defeated his Shadow in the Yongen Trauma Cell, that he finally acknowledged that he messed up in how he treated Crow and Draconis." Joker said as Violet frowned and spoke up.

"Hmm. Could that be why Draconis and Crow looked so incensed earlier after that dialogue we all overheard? Because of the implications of Konoe being abused by his own father? Maybe they were triggered by it and had bad memories brought up by those implications?" Violet mused as Seeker frowned and spoke up.

"I see. So some humans are just like that, then. Is that right, Mom? Dad?" Seeker said as Violet spoke up.

"Unfortunately, that's true, Seeker. Some parents just don't want to appreciate their kids." Violet said as Joker spoke up.

"True. I think we might have to keep an eye on Crow and Draconis when we go after the Trauma Cell, just in case one or both of them get triggered by what we find there and lash out because of it." Joker said as Violet nodded her agreement before Seeker looked into Joker's eyes and spoke up.

"Dad? Do you think family is important?" Seeker said as Joker nodded and spoke up.

"I do indeed, sweetheart. I'd like to think that all of us in the Phantom Thieves look at each other as one giant family of sorts, even if it's a bit of a dysfunctional family at times. I know that when all is said and done, though, that we all have one another's backs no matter what. Also, of course I think family is important. After all, you and your mother are both very important to me, much as all of the others are.

I view them all as brothers and/or sisters, except for Violet, who I view as my beloved girlfriend and the love of my life, and for both Pendragon and Wolf, who've both become rather respected male role models for me, especially Pendragon, who I consider like a second father. And of course, I consider you to be like a daughter of sorts, Seeker." Joker said honestly. Seeker smiled at Joker's honest response and spoke up.

"Good. I'm glad to hear that, Dad. I think family is important, too. I'm sure Mom feels that way as well. That being said, if I ever get family and/or friends, I want to support them as much as I can." Seeker said as Violet hugged her and spoke up with a smile.

"I'm so proud of you after hearing you say that, Seeker. You're still rather young now, but I'm sure that if the chance presents itself down the road, you'd be an excellent mother, or even an excellent wife to some lucky man." Violet said kindly to a blushing Seeker, who spoke up.

"MOM! Don't embarrass me like that when I'm trying to be honest here. And Dad? What I just said, I learned that from the Phantom Thieves. I wonder how Konoe must've felt back then, being all alone and suffering like that, if we're right about what his father did to him." Seeker said as Skull's voice called out from ahead of them.

"HEY! C'mon, you three! Let's get going!" Skull said as at least five voices spoke up to rebuke him.

"SKULL!" Queen, Pendragon, Crow, Draconis, and Mona all rebuked Skull as Pendragon kept speaking.

"You idiot! Can't you see those three were having a parent-child bonding moment back there before you interrupted it?" Pendragon said bluntly as Draconis spoke up.

"No kidding! And that makes me want to kick Konoe's dad's ass even more if he did abuse Konoe. I don't care what Konoe did to us, having your own dad treat you like shit is never acceptable! Crow and I can both vouch for that from our own personal experiences with Shido." Draconis said bluntly as Seeker winced at Skull's words and spoke up.

"Oops. I didn't mean to hold everyone up." Seeker said before she turned towards both Joker and Violet as she spoke up again.

"Sorry to keep you both waiting. Let's go, Mom and Dad!" Seeker said as Joker nodded as the three walked back to the others as the group returned to the real world...

(Back in the real world, in the northern part of Shinsekai, with Ren, Morgana, and Sophia)

As Ren, Morgana, and Sophia looked around Shinsekai, Morgana spoke up.

"Hey, Ren. Are you ready? Hmm, based on the voices, it's pretty clear we're headed to Konoe's childhood home at this point. Luckily for us, Zenkichi's tracking the address down now. Considering what we've seen so far, we're probably going to run across a warden there. Let's make sure we're as ready as we can be, then meet up with Zenkichi at our hideout." Morgana said as Ren nodded and the trio kept moving. After gathering everyone in the RV, Ren spoke up.

"Well, at this point, all that's left is to wait on Zenkichi to make contact with the address of Konoe's childhood home. Once he does that, let's go deal with this Trauma Cell." Ren said as the others nodded and waited for Zenkichi to make contact...

(A little while later, outside of a fancy-looking house in Shinsekai, with Ren, Morgana, Sumire, Sophia, Yusuke, Goro, Haru, Kusa, Futaba, Shiho, Ann, Sojiro, Ryuji, Nanako, Akane, and Zenkichi)

As the group looked at the house they'd had to meet Zenkichi at, Zenkichi frowned and spoke up.

"Huh, this place looks really fancy. Who would've guessed that Konoe could've suffered in a place like this? Well, in any case, we're here." Zenkichi said as Shiho looked at the building and spoke up.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about Konoe living in a home such as this. This place is huge." Shiho said as Haru spoke up uneasily.

"So this is Akira Konoe's family home?" Haru asked as Goro spoke up.

"That would be my guess, Haru. After all, that's the place Zenkichi was asked to get the address to. And he strikes me as being very professional. So I very much doubt that he got us the wrong address." Goro said as Yusuke frowned and spoke up.

"I agree with Goro. Zenkichi brought us to the right place in all likelihood. That said, do you suppose Konoe's father still lives here?" Yusuke asked as Goro spoke up.

"I hope not, for his sake. If he does, and we find out that he was abusing Konoe, then Kusa and I might just have to have some words with him about why treating your son like crap is neither acceptable behavior nor good parenting." Goro said as Kusa spoke up with a nod.

"Damn straight, Goro! What that man did, if we're right about Konoe's trauma, then I apologize to both Sumire and Sophia for the language I'm about to use since there's no better way to describe it. That being said, what Konoe's father did is not only asinine and petty, but extremely fucked up." Kusa said as Zenkichi winced and spoke up.

"Ahh, I can see that Goro and Kusa feel rather strongly about this. And to answer your question, Yusuke? Uhh, no. He doesn't live here anymore. Hasn't lived here for a while, even. You see, he died twenty years ago." Zenkichi said as Goro and Kusa gave satisfied nods, both thinking that Konoe's father got what he deserved. Haru spoke up before either Kusa or Goro could voice their thoughts.

"What did you just say, Zenkichi?" Haru asked as Akane spoke up.

"Were you able to find some information about what happened here, Dad?" Akane asked as Zenkichi smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, one of the many perks of being in PubSec, Akane. You can dig through things most people wouldn't be allowed to look at. Anyway, I found some police records of an incident that happened here back then. A burglar forced his way into the home and stabbed Konoe's father to death." Zenkichi said as Yusuke frowned and spoke up.

"How tragic. Truly, an unfortunate way to die." Yusuke said as Nanako spoke up.

"I agree. I don't know what I would do if someone broke into my home and stabbed my Dad to death." Nanako said as Akane put her hand on her girlfriend's shoulder to comfort her all while Goro frowned and spoke up.

"While it may be tragic if a family loved each other before a member died, this is Konoe's father we're talking about. And if he was abusing his own son, it might have been his karma catching up to him. Is that a violent way for it to catch up to him? Absolutely. But that doesn't change the fact that he probably deserved it." Goro said as Kusa spoke up in an annoyed tone.

"No shit he deserved it! No self-respecting man should EVER lay their hands on their wife OR child! That's just messed up!" Kusa said as Zenkichi nodded and spoke up.

"I agree. A good dad should respect and cherish their child, not put hands on them. But back to the incident I mentioned before. Most items of value were gone, so it was ruled as both a robbery and a homicide in the end. They never found the culprit." Zenkichi said as Kusa's eyes widened slightly as he spoke up.

"Never found the culprit? Interesting." Kusa said, a pensive look on his face that Goro noticed, prompting him to speak up.

"Kusa? Did you think of something?" Goro asked as Kusa spoke up with a pensive look on his face.

"Possibly. But I think I want to wait to voice my theory until after we confirm what Konoe's trauma is since that could slightly alter my theory depending on what we find in the Trauma Cell." Kusa said as Futaba spoke up.

"I wonder if your theory somehow involves Konoe? Speaking of whom, what did Konoe do? He lived here too, right?" Futaba asked as Zenkichi nodded and spoke up.

"Correct. He was only eight years old at the time, and the only survivor. Apparently, he managed to hide in a closet." Zenkichi said as both Nanako and Kusa winced at this, the latter speaking up with a frown.

"Hide in a closet, you say? Hmm. Kinda surprised that whoever stabbed Konoe's father didn't just kick down the closet door and drag Konoe out. Why spare Konoe if the culprit also murdered his father? I would think that the culprit wouldn't want any witnesses?" Kusa said as Sojiro spoke up.

"Good point, Kusa. I wonder if this ties into your theory? Well, I suppose we'll find out soon enough." Sojiro said as Zenkichi spoke up.

"I agree. And if this is the birthplace of Konoe's trauma, we'll probably uncover the truth about his father's murder as well." Zenkichi said as Ren spoke up with a nod.

"Then let's go. The sooner we find Konoe's trauma, the sooner we can open his Birdcage and fight him. After all, once we're done here, the next step will be to send Konoe's calling card." Ren said sagely as Sumire spoke up.

"Correct. And once we do that, we can confront Konoe's Shadow and change his heart." Sumire said as Yusuke nodded and spoke up.

"Yes, I agree. Let's do what we came here to do." Yusuke said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone, which was in her hand, preceded a determined-looking Sophia speaking up.

"I'm inputting the keyword now. Everyone, get ready to enter." Sophia said as Goro nodded and spoke up.

"Agreed. Let's do this." Goro said as the group prepared to enter the Metaverse, unaware of the fact that they'd been being observed from nearby.

After the Phantom Thieves were whisked away into the Metaverse, a pair of observers, one male and one female, exchanged a look with one another before the female spoke up with a confused look on her face.

"Did they just disappear into thin air? Pretty unusual, if so." The female said as the male smirked and spoke up while crossing his muscular arms over his scarred yet bare chest, which was only covered by a red hooded cape that he had tied around his neck that also covered his arms while he spoke up, looking over the female, taking in the sight of her dark-red hair, red eyes, and slight scowl, as well as the white fur coat she wore over a black skin-tight leather bodysuit, black gloves and black leather boots as he spoke.

"Perhaps, but let's not forget that our version of this 'Metaverse', as Narukami called it, was a hidden hour that occurs every midnight known as The Dark Hour. So we have no room to judge the Phantom Thieves on their M.O., Mitsuru." The male said to the female, who he'd identified as Mitsuru Kirijo, the young head of the Kirijo Group. The now-named Mitsuru, for her part, frowned, her striking red eyes narrowing as she spoke up.

"Perhaps you're right, Akihiko. But even still, I find it disquieting that there are still reports of Shadow activity this long after The Dark Hour was gone. Hopefully, the Phantom Thieves can handle themselves." Mitsuru said to the now-named Akihiko, who smirked and spoke up.

"Heh, if that short-haired man that I ran into with Ken and Koromaru a few days ago is part of that group, they should be just fine. After all, despite being young, Amamiya the youngest seemed like a pretty strong man to me. Granted, I have no proof that he's part of the Phantom Thieves, so I could be wrong on that." Akihiko said as Mitsuru spoke up.

"That's fair. Speaking of which, what did you do with Amada and Koromaru before you met up with me here?" Mitsuru asked as Akihiko smirked and spoke up.

"I left them at the hotel with Yukari, Junpei, Fuuka, Aigis, and Labrys. After all, if we're going to be helping Narukami with that matter he enlisted us for, we're gonna need the whole group present. Or at least, what remains of our group." Akihiko said, a sad look on his face that Mitsuru noticed as she spoke up.

"Yes, it's sad that Aragaki and Arisato the elder are no longer with us. But they wouldn't want us to be sad for them. They would have wanted us to be strong and keep living our lives for their sake." Mitsuru said as Akihiko nodded and spoke up.

"I'm aware of that, Mitsuru. Still, why did The Dark Hour and Ikutsuki make a return eight years ago, but not Minato or Shinji? Seems kinda unfair to me." Akihiko said as Mitsuru smiled and gently patted Akihiko on the shoulder comfortingly as she spoke up.

"I understand you miss them both, Akihiko. But the only reason that we saw the return of The Dark Hour and Ikutsuki was because Ikutsuki's son wanted revenge on us. But we stopped that in the end, so we should never have to fear either Ikutsuki or The Dark Hour returning ever again." Mitsuru said as Akihiko nodded and spoke up.

"Fair enough. I suppose we should keep waiting. After all, if we're right, the Phantom Thieves should be sending a calling card to Konoe-san soon enough." Akihiko said, getting a nod from Mitsuru as she spoke up.

"You have a point. I suppose we should get back to the hotel and give the others further instructions." Mitsuru said as Akihiko nodded before the two vanished as abruptly as they'd appeared...

(Inside of the Metaverse, in the Trauma Cell, with Joker, Mona, Skull, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Crow, Violet, Draconis, Seeker, Pendragon, Flare, Wolf, Seraphim, and Auburn)

As the group looked around the room they'd landed in, they realized it was presumably the entrance of Konoe's childhood home, though Seraphim, Auburn, Crow, Draconis, and Violet all grimaced at the amount of ominously placed red handprints on the walls in picture frames. Fox winced and spoke up.

"This room seems so vivid and yet so ominous. Are we inside the house now?" Fox said as Mona spoke up with a frown.

"Looks like it, Fox. Judging from the layout of this room, I'd say we've traveled twenty years into the past." Mona said as Seraphim spoke up with wide eyes.

"For real!? We time-traveled just now? That's pretty wild." Seraphim said as Draconis spoke up.

"I think Mona was being metaphoric, Seraphim. I very much doubt that we actually went back in time." Draconis said wisely. As if to prove him right, a flash of red and black mist caused the figure of a middle-aged man in a business suit to spawn in the corner of the stairs on one side of the room, his back to the Thieves. Oracle gasped and spoke up.

"Whoa! Who's that!?" Oracle asked as Mona spoke up with a look of shock on his face.

"Could it be? Is that who I think it is? Is that Konoe's father?" Mona asked, making Crow and Draconis exchange a look before both nodded. However, before either could begin to voice their thoughts, the cognitive recreation of what the group assumed was Konoe's father spoke up.

"You little shit! How dare you cause such problems for me!? Who do you think feeds you every day, huh!? I swear, you're just a bill. All you do is eat up MY hard-earned money!" The cognitive echo of Konoe's father said as the group heard a much younger, if somewhat faint, voice speak up in a pitiful, almost whimpering, tone.

"Ngh, that hurts! Ah, the pain! Dad, stop it, please!" The group heard a faint voice say as the cognitive echo of Konoe's father spoke up angrily.

"Don't talk back to me! Rrgh!" The cognitive echo of Konoe's father said as he started punching at an invisible object in the corner, making the entire group gasp in horror as a visibly traumatized Seeker winced and hid her face in Mona's chest as she spoke up.

"N-No! This is horrible! I can't watch this!" Seeker said as Mona frowned, gently patting Seeker on the head comfortingly as he spoke up.

"It's okay, Lady Seeker. This is just the past. You can hide your face in my chest if it's truly that difficult for you to watch, and I'll not only shield you from it, but I'll even tell you when you can look." Mona said, gently wrapping his arms around Seeker as he hugged her gently to him for comfort, smiling at the gentle 'hmm' of contentment and gratitude Seeker gave off as she felt Mona hug her close to him while she nuzzled her face cutely but gently into his chest. As Violet, Oracle, Panther, Seraphim, Flare, Auburn, Queen, and Noir all quietly gave off 'aww's of appreciation of the cute moment between Seeker and Mona, Draconis' eyes narrowed dangerously under his helmet as he spoke up.

"No! Konoe's father didn't just do what I think he did, did he!?" Draconis said as Crow spoke up with a grim look on his face.

"I'm afraid so, Draconis. I'm pretty sure that voice was a young Konoe. So it is just as we feared. Konoe was abused by his own father." Crow said as Draconis spoke up, his face contorting into a visibly disgusted expression as he spoke.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH! He's lucky he's dead, or I'd beat the friggin' crap out of him myself! How dare he mistreat his own son like that!? That's just messed up! A real dad, much less a real man, shouldn't be hurting his own son! He should be supporting and caring for him!" Draconis said, looking extremely agitated in that moment. While Crow and Joker worked together to try and calm Draconis down before he blacked out, the rest of the group heard the faint voice, which Crow had surmised was a young Konoe, speak up again.

"Somebody, help me! Please, save me from this suffering and misery!" The faint voice said as Wolf sighed and spoke up.

"Agh. I can see why this set off Draconis, to be honest. No father should be raising a hand to their child, let alone call them a waste of space that eats up all of their money." Wolf said as Noir winced and spoke up.

"No. I can't watch this anymore, you guys! I think Seeker was right to avert her eyes when she did." Noir said as Mona nodded, but before he could say anything, the voice of Konoe's father spoke up again, making the eyes of everyone present, excluding Seeker who was currently quietly crying into Mona's chest, widen at what he said next.

"Ugh, keeping you around's a real pain in the ass. Maybe I should just kill you, too." Konoe's father said as the faint voice spoke up.

"Kill me too?" The faint voice said as Violet's eyes widened behind her mask as she spoke up, a thought occurring to her as she spoke.

"WHAT!? Did he just say 'kill you, too'!? Who else did this man kill!?" Violet said, not sure she wanted to hear the answer. Before anyone could answer her, Konoe's father spoke up once more.

"If she'd just handed over the money when I told her too, she could've been spared. Ugh, nobody ever takes me seriously!" Konoe's father said as the faint voice gasped and spoke up, their next words confirming their likely identity to the group.

"No, are you serious? Not Mom, Dad! You didn't kill her, did you?" The faint voice, confirmed to be a younger Konoe by his own words, said as the TV could be heard from upstairs, stopping most of the group from doing more than gaping at what had just been revealed about Konoe's father.

"Here he comes! Enemy of evil! Champion of those in need! Listen up, viewers! It's time to band together and call for Zephyrman, protector of justice! Zephyrmaaan!" The TV said from upstairs as Konoe's father scoffed and spoke up.

"Huh? Guess I left the TV on again." The cognition of Konoe's father said as the young Konoe spoke up.

"Okay then. I get it now. There are no heroes in this world. No one's coming to save me. It's up to me to save myself. I have to become stronger so I can save myself! I have to. I'll kill him myself! And then I'll be the hero!" The young Konoe said, making both Draconis and Pendragon exchange a horrified look before both looked from the direction that the young Konoe's voice was coming from, to Crow, and back to the direction young Konoe's voice was coming from as Crow spoke up in irritation.

"How unfortunate. It sounds to me like Konoe-san had similar circumstances to my own. But even then, that does not justify what he's done so far!" Crow said as Draconis nodded approvingly. However, before he could reply to Crow's observation, Konoe's father spoke up angrily, making the group's eyes widen at what he said next.

"What the fuck are you mumbling about, you freak? Not like it matters, since you'll be joining your mother soon enough!" Konoe's father said threateningly as Joker's eyes narrowed as he spoke up.

"No! Did Konoe's father actually murder his own wife!? How dare he!? He has no respect for women if that's the case. Never mind the fact he has no respect for his own son." Joker said bluntly as Draconis and Crow nodded their agreement as the cognition of Konoe's Father turned to face the group as he spoke up while Mona gently patted Seeker on the head and told her she could look, sneakily kissing her on the cheek as she pried herself off of Mona's chest, making Seeker blush as Konoe's father spoke.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Konoe's father said as he shifted forms into that of a 'Lock Keeper', this one making most of the group's eyes widen at the sight of a quartet of bazookas in his hands as the 'Lock Keeper' spoke up.

"It's like I'm some kind of joke to people nowadays. You want to die? Trust me, I'll be glad to get rid of you!" The 'Lock Keeper' said as Panther spoke up with a gasp.

"This guy's sick and depraved! He really killed his own wife over some money!?" Panther said as Queen's eyes narrowed as she spoke up.

"Unbelievable! Simply unbelievable! That monster! How could anyone do anything so awful!?" Queen asked as Draconis spoke up, his tone positively dripping anger as he spoke, though his eyes surprisingly didn't change color.

"Is there really a good enough reason for what this son of a bitch did!? He murdered his wife, and he clearly tried to do the same to his own son! This man is just as bad of a father as Masayoshi Shido was!" Draconis said as Crow nodded his agreement, though said nothing as the group charged into battle with the 'Lock Keeper'. As the group attacked the 'Lock Keeper', he seemed to ignore them in favor of taunting the unseen younger Konoe as he spoke up.

"Would you just die already? Your mother knew when to quit, why don't you!?" The 'Lock Keeper' said, angrily blasting at the group with the four bazookas in its hands, making a wide-eyed Crow and Draconis exchange a nod before the latter spoke up.

"Hit the deck, everyone! He's about to shoot his bazookas!" Draconis said as the group complied and hit the ground as several missiles flew past where the group's heads had just been. After a bit, a wide-eyed Mona spoke up.

"What the hell!? Why does this thing have freaking bazookas!? None of the other Lock Keepers had those!" Mona said as Joker spoke up.

"Would you rather have this Lock Keeper be equipped with those ray guns that almost took both your life as well as Seeker's?" Joker asked as kept dodging the missiles that were firing from the Lock Keeper's bazookas just as Mona shuddered as he spoke up.

"No thank you. I prefer having to deal with these over that gun any day." Mona said as Panther spoke up.

"Oracle, did you already analyze this guy?" Panther asked as Oracle spoke up.

"Yup, I just did. Luckily for us, this guy has four weaknesses. This being Elec, Nuke, Bless, and Curse." Oracle said as Queen spoke up.

"Perfect. This will give a lot of us opportunities for us to make this guy pay for what he's done." Queen said as Joker spoke up.

"If that's the case, all Thieves that can use any of the four elements that Oracle just mentioned go full throttle on the Lock Keeper!" Joker said as Draconis spoke up.

"Don't forget about me. Even though none of my Persona's elements were mentioned, I'm still going to make this bastard pay for abusing his son." Draconis said as Seeker spoke up.

"Be careful, everyone! We cannot underestimate this foe!" Seeker said as a wide-eyed Noir spoke up.

"Seeker's right, everyone! Be on your guard! This guy can attack while moving!" Noir said as the others nodded and went back on the offensive. After a bit, Mona spoke up, seeing a number of the group's faces contorted in anger.

"Hey! I know this is a rough Lock Keeper, but don't let yourselves get caught up in the trauma! Try to stay calm!" Mona said as Draconis spoke up.

"Yeah!? Easier said than done, Mona! Or were you not listening when this bastard admitted to murdering his own wife and threatened to kill his own son!? Excuse me if some of us take exception to that and are understandably cheesed off because of that." Draconis pointed out dryly as Crow spoke up.

"Draconis isn't wrong. Sure, he's a bit charged up with his anger, but he has a point. What this guy did is unforgivable." Crow said as Skull spoke up with a nod.

"Truth, Crow! It's hard to stay calm after the shit we just saw and heard!" Skull said as the battle continued. After a bit, the 'Lock Keeper' laughed and spoke up tauntingly.

"Let's see you keep up that mopey little face when you're dead! Hahahahaha!" The 'Lock Keeper' said before lifting up his bazooka and taking aim at Wolf, whose eyes widened as he realized what he was looking at and he spoke up.

"Uh, guys? I don't think the Lock Keeper's guns are bazookas! Rather I think these are more or less rocket launchers!? Shit, he's packing some serious heat." Wolf said as he narrowly dodged a sudden blast of electricity that came from the Lock Keeper's guns just as Oracle spoke up with wide eyes.

"Wolf's right! That thing's got a ton of firepower! Not to mention it can shoot different types of elemental bullets. Stay outta the crosshairs!" Oracle said as the group kept fighting the Lock Keeper, who cackled and spoke tauntingly as he seemed to look right at the unseen younger Konoe.

"A protector of justice? Hahahahaha! Did one of those things save you?" The 'Lock Keeper' said tauntingly as Fox spoke up through narrowed eyes.

"Ugh, how despicable. So this is why Konoe was trying to become a hero, then." Fox said as Noir spoke up.

"Because no one was there to save him? That's terrible, you guys!" Noir said as Crow spoke up.

"At the risk of coming off like a heartless bastard, that's the reality of life at times. I can recall a point in my childhood where I wasn't much better off. Like Konoe, I lost my mother at an early age, and was passed around from foster home to foster home, not unlike Oracle. So I can empathize with him feeling as if he has to save himself. The fact of the matter is that sometimes you have to do things for yourself, no matter how morally questionable or wrong those things might be. Thankfully, I haven't felt that way since I decided to join up with you guys full-time. But Konoe wasn't so fortunate, it seems." Crow said as the fight continued. After a bit, the 'Lock Keeper' spoke up again.

"Wipe that stupid look off your face! I call the shots, you little shit!" The 'Lock Keeper' said as Wolf spoke up with a frown.

"Damn, this is some messed-up shit. And to be honest, this makes me sick." Wolf said as Violet spoke up with a nod.

"You're not wrong, Wolf." Violet said as Flare spoke up in a mix of disgust and anger.

"No kidding he's not wrong! Anyone would agree that this is just sick and wrong!" Flare said as Auburn spoke up with a smile.

"Right!? I don't care if I was at odds with him for a while recently, I'm proud that Wolf's my father. I can't imagine that he and I could ever have such a strained relationship as the one Konoe seems to have had with his own father." Auburn said as Seraphim frowned and spoke up.

"Be that as it may, no matter what his reasons, that doesn't change the fact that what he did nowadays is also wrong." Seraphim said as Pendragon spoke up.

"Indeed, Seraphim. He might have had a messed-up childhood, but even so, that doesn't excuse the fact that he's becoming as warped and messed up as Shido!" Pendragon said sagely as Draconis spoke up through gritted teeth.

"I agree. But we can worry about dealing with Konoe in a little bit. For now, we need to put this bastard down once and for all before he can do any more damage!" Draconis said before turning to Fox and Violet as he kept speaking.

"You two seem as disgusted by all this as I am. What do you two say? Should we put this asshole in his place together!?" Draconis said as Violet and Fox nodded their agreement and spoke up.

"Definitely. We need to finish this. So if that involves us blasting him with our Triad Special? Then count me in." Violet said as Fox nodded and spoke up.

"I concur. The sooner we put an end to this, the sooner we can turn our attention to the present-day Konoe and send out the calling card." Fox said as Draconis spoke up with a resolved nod of his head.

"Good. We seem to be in agreement then. Let's get him!" Draconis said as he, Fox, and Violet spoke up.

"GO, TRIAD SPECIAL!" Draconis, Fox, and Violet said in unison as their Triad Special started! To start out, Draconis spoke up angrily.

"You fancy yourself a blowhard, do you? TIME TO BLOW YOU OFF YOUR EFFIN' HIGH HORSE AND PUT YOU IN YOUR PLACE, YOU ABUSIVE ASSHOLE!" Draconis said as he spun his bo staff in a fast and furious circle, causing a gust of wind to start whipping up as Fox saw his cue and spoke up.

"Ah. That's our cue. COME, GOROKICHI! TIME TO ADD AN ICY TOUCH TO THIS MASTERPIECE!" Fox said as Gorokichi nodded, waving his sword and causing the gust of wind to be coated with Ice power as Violet spoke up.

"And now it's my turn! ELLA, LET'S BLESS THIS ATTACK WITH OUR DANCE!" Violet said as Ella nodded and waved a hand, adding a thick layer of Bless power to the forming blizzard as Draconis, Violet, and Fox all spoke up in unison.

"TIME TO STRIKE YOU DOWN! TASTE THE FURY OF OUR DIVINE BLIZZARD!" Draconis, Violet, and Fox said as the combined attack slammed head-on into the 'Lock Keeper', making him groan as the attack hit him head-on, staggered him, and knocked away his rocket launchers as he groaned and spoke up.

"Dammit. I guess this is the end for me. Shit." The 'Lock Keeper' said as he fell forwards and dissolved into black mist the moment he hit the ground. At that point, Seeker gasped and spoke up.

"So that was Konoe's father then? I almost feel sorry for Konoe. You see, this made it clear that he suffered all alone for so long, all while feeling like he had no one that he could rely on or place his trust in. I can't imagine that sort of existence was very pleasant." Seeker said as Oracle gasped and spoke up.

"Seeker, wow. You're so mature. I can't believe that you can still feel sorry for Konoe, even after what he's done." Oracle said as Draconis spoke up, his voice seemingly softer than it had been, probably because of the destruction of the Lock Keeper.

"Seeker is a very mature person, and I'm not afraid to admit that she's far more kindhearted than myself or Goro. And that is truly an admirable trait to have." Draconis said sagely as the fight ended. From the ensuing EXP gains, Panther, Mona, and Skull hit level 65 and the latter two got access to the passive skills 'Wind Amp' and 'Technical High', respectively. Skull spoke up with a smirk on his face.

"Hell yeah! A new move!" Skull said as Queen spoke up with a fond smile on her face as she kissed Skull on the cheek, amid giggles from Seeker, Auburn, and Seraphim.

"Not bad, Skull. You're coming along nicely in your skill gains." Queen said proudly as Skull smirked while William acquired 'Technical High'. At that point, Mona spoke up with a smirk.

"Mwehehe! This new skill suits me!" Mona said as Seeker spoke up.

"Nice to know some things never change, Mona. You might be a show-off, but you're a really adorable show-off who has a big heart. And to be honest, I admire that about you. That said, congrats on the new skill. It really does suit you." Seeker said, gently wrapping her arms around Mona's waist as she shyly yet sneakily kissed him on the cheek, giggling at how red his face got afterwards as Pendragon smirked and spoke up.

"Nice one, Mona! Looks like you've got a good shot with her after all." Pendragon said as Mona smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you, Pendragon. But for now, I'm just content knowing that Lady Seeker is so comfortable with me. If it eventually leads to her deciding that she wants more than friendship, then so be it. For now, I'm going to let her set the pace of things for us going forward. After all, I respect her far too much to try to force her into anything she's not ready for or is uncomfortable with." Mona said before muttering what sounded suspiciously like 'because I love her, dammit!' under his breath as he gently hugged Seeker, amid approving smiles from Noir, Panther, and Violet as Diego acquired 'Wind Amp'. After the fight, Mona spoke up with a concerned look on his face, having heard the heated words that Draconis and Skull had both had for the 'Lock Keeper'.

"Is everyone all right?" Mona asked as Skull grinned and spoke up.

"Better than all right! Feels great knowin' we put that asswipe in his place!" Skull said as Draconis spoke up.

"I know how you feel Skull, but let's not swear too much around Seeker if we can help it, yeah? It's bad enough that I've dropped several F-bombs around her since we got into this Trauma Cell, and even right before we came in. So I can't say that I'd blame Violet if she was ready to smack the both of us upside our heads in a fit of annoyance with our continual poor performance as role models for Seeker." Draconis said before turning to face Violet with a guilty look on his face as he spoke up.

"Sorry about cussing around Seeker just now. But I won't apologize for embracing my beliefs. And one of those beliefs is that any self-respecting father should NEVER treat their child like crap the way Konoe's father did to him, and the way Shido did to both myself and Crow, even if it was moreso Crow who suffered at his hand. Even so, that doesn't excuse the language I used. I'm sorry." Draconis said as Violet smiled and spoke up while briefly hugging Draconis.

"That's okay, Draconis. That was a pretty emotionally charged situation back there, so I'll let any swearing that you and Skull did back there slide." Violet said as Queen frowned and spoke up.

"That's all well and good, but Akira Konoe had one very messed-up past." Queen said as Noir winced and spoke up.

"Tch. You're not wrong, Queen. That said, if what we just saw happened in the past, and the distant past at that..." Noir said as Fox frowned and spoke up to finish her line of thought, knowing where she was going with it.

"Then, that means that Akira Konoe escaped an abusive childhood and avenged his mother by killing his own father. He must have framed the entire thing as a robbery in order to avoid suspicion." Fox said as Draconis nodded and spoke up.

"I see. I think I was right in my theory then. You see, I had a feeling that Konoe might have been driven into a corner. And normally, when someone's cornered, most people typically lash out. And when you consider the sort of hell his father made his life into at such a young age, well, it's not a surprise that he'd resort to murdering his father in what he probably felt was self-defense. Sure, I've heard the term 'justifiable homicide' thrown around before, but I doubt that what Konoe did would fall under that term." Draconis said as Skull frowned and spoke up.

"Whoa. That's deep, Draconis. Also, are you for real, Fox? You're sayin' that Konoe's a victim of some high 'n' mighty shitbag, too?" Skull said as Crow spoke up.

"Victim or not, what he did wasn't the answer to his problem. Sure, it might have been cathartic and a last-resort decision, but murder should never be the first choice. I realize that's rich, coming from me, but it's true. Furthermore, even if he did have it rough growing up, that's still no excuse for what he's been doing recently." Crow said with a frown as Panther nodded and spoke up.

"You're right, Crow. Still, he must've felt so trapped while being abused at his own father's hand. There was nobody he could turn to." Panther said as Crow winced at the clear parallel between Konoe's childhood and his own. Queen then spoke up.

"So in order to change things, he set out to become his own hero, sort of like how Crow set out to enact his own justice on Masayoshi Shido all those years ago. I hate to say it, but there are a lot more similarities between Konoe and Crow than I'm sure Crow wants to admit to." Queen said as Crow spoke up.

"You're not wrong, Queen. Konoe does remind me an awful lot of how I used to be, and I don't like it at all." Crow said as Queen nodded before she spoke up..

"I understand. Still, Konoe wanted the power to be a hero, and the power to change hearts likely helped him do just that." Queen said as Oracle frowned and spoke up, looking suspiciously close to tears as she spoke.

"Still, it's just too sad! There had to be another way! There just had to!" Oracle said as she felt Draconis gently pull her into a hug as he spoke up.

"I'm sure there was another way, Oracle. But I doubt that Konoe saw it that way at the time. And to be honest, I can't say that I blame him for feeling that way. Still, he could easily have just run away from home or emancipated himself somehow. There were definitely better and more holistic alternatives to what he did. But even though his past is sad, his present can still have something of a happy ending, even if it has to be sad again for a bit before that." Draconis said as Joker spoke up.

"Draconis is right. Despite Crow's philosophy to the contrary, murder is NEVER the answer!" Joker said firmly as Wolf spoke up.

"Hey, cool it everyone. Crow said it perfectly before. Whatever his past was, it doesn't justify what he's doing now. Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, makes it okay for him to take control of people against their will." Wolf said as Auburn gasped and spoke up.

"Dad, wow. That sounded so incredibly cool and wise." Auburn said in a mix of awe and respect as Seraphim giggled and spoke up.

"See? I told you your dad was a cool guy if you give him a chance, Auburn. Then again, I might be biased in saying that given that my father is also a member of a police force. But even so, I have genuine respect for Wolf and what he does." Seraphim said honestly as Wolf smiled and spoke up.

"Thanks, Seraphim. And Auburn, I'm sorry you had to wait so long to see how cool your father could be. That being said, if we don't stop Konoe now, more and more people are gonna get hurt. You're all thinking the same thing, aren't you?" Wolf said as Joker spoke up.

"We are, but at the same time, we do this the Phantom Thief way. We need to change his heart, first and foremost." Joker said firmly as Wolf smirked and nodded approvingly as he spoke up.

"Well said, Joker. My thoughts exactly." Wolf said as Queen spoke up with a nod of agreement.

"Right. If we don't stop him here, then nothing's ever going to change. Let's do everything we can for now." Queen said as Fox spoke up.

"While it's true we need to change Konoe's heart, let's not forget we also need to save those whose Desires he's stolen." Fox said as Skull spoke up while cricking his arm back and rotating it as he spoke.

"Then if that's the case, it's time we bust out the calling card!" Skull said as Wolf spoke up with a wince.

"Oh, yeah, the calling card. I forgot that we need to do that. So all we need to do is write one up and send it to Konoe?" Wolf asked as Draconis spoke up.

"Yep. That's how we let our target know we're coming for them so that their Treasure, or Desires in this instance, materialize into a physical form. The calling card is a vital step in the heart-changing process." Draconis said firmly as Panther spoke up.

"Yeah! We'll change his heart and take back everyone's Desires!" Panther said as Mona spoke up.

"Okay, let's head back to the car and come up with a plan!" Mona said as Seeker giggled and spoke up.

"Silly Mona. It's not a car, it's an RV! Surely you know the difference between those two things?" Seeker said as Violet spoke up.

"I don't know that he does. But what are you gonna do with him, Seeker? He's a man, after all. And we all know men can be quite forgetful at times." Violet said teasingly as literally every single male Phantom Thief all said 'HEY!' at the same time. Oracle spoke up, coming to Violet's defense.

"What!? It's true! Every single one of you, except for maybe Wolf and Pendragon, have forgotten something at least once! So don't act like Violet doesn't have a point." Oracle said as Crow spoke up.

"Whether she has a point or not, she could have chosen a less potentially sexist way of making said point." Crow said as Violet winced and apologized.

"Ohh, uhh, right. I didn't think about how sexist that would potentially sound before I said it. Sorry." Violet said as Joker smiled and spoke up.

"We forgive you, Violet." Joker said, kissing his girlfriend before the group returned to the real world...

(Back in the real world that evening, outside of the RV, with Shiho, Akane, Nanako, Yusuke, Sojiro, Ann, Makoto, Goro, Haru, Ryuji, Ren, Sumire, Futaba, Kusa, Morgana, and Sophia)

After the group gathered outside of the RV, Morgana spoke up.

"So about the calling card for Konoe. How exactly do we wanna do this?" Morgana asked as Ann spoke up with a pensive look on her face.

"Hmm. We need a place where we know Konoe will see it for sure." Ann said as Haru spoke up.

"What about sending it to his company?" Haru asked as Makoto shook her head and spoke up.

"Bad idea, Haru. The police will probably be crawling all over the area. It's too dangerous." Makoto said as Morgana frowned and spoke up.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but after all that stuff he said about us on TV, I'd really like to stick it to him good, give him something he'll remember for a long time to come." Morgana said as Ren spoke up.

"Sounds like it's time for another newscast to me." Ren said as a confused Sojiro spoke up.

"Newscast? Since when do you guys have anything to do with the news?" Sojiro asked as Kusa spoke up.

"I'm not certain, since I was absent for the last two times they did this, but even so, I have a feeling it's related to when they sent that calling card out to Alice Hiiragi. Also, it sounds similar to what they supposedly did when giving that asshat Shido his calling card. So that's probably what they mean by newscast, Sojiro." Kusa remarked as Sojiro nodded his understanding while Ryuji grinned and spoke up while nodding once to Kusa to confirm Kusa's guess was correct.

"Still, RenRen does bring up a good idea! We could always try pullin' a repeat of Shibuya, even though there'd be a lot more of us this time around than there were before." Ryuji said before blinking as he spoke up, noticing that someone was missing.

"Huh, hold up. Where'd Zenkichi go?" Ryuji said as Futaba spoke up with a smile.

"I remember him telling me that there was something that he needed to do. However, he didn't want to give me the details of what he was doing." Futaba said as a 'BIP' from Sumire's phone preceded Sophia speaking up with a confused look on her face.

"That's odd. What would he be doing at a time like this?" Sophia said as both Akane and Nanako looked at each other with looks of guilt as Sumire took notice and spoke up.

"Akane? Nanako? Is there something wrong?" Sumire said as both Akane and Nanako looked at each other before the latter spoke up.

"Well, you see, Akane and I might be aware of what Zenkichi is doing at this moment." Nanako said as Sojiro spoke up.

"And what exactly is he doing?" Sojiro asked as Akane sighed and spoke up.

"My Dad is going to try to meet up with his boss to see if she can help us out with arresting both Konoe and possibly Owada." Akane said as everyone's eyes widened just as Kusa spoke up in shock.

"WHAT!? He's meeting with Kaburagi? As in the same woman who tried to have us all arrested back in Kyoto?" Kusa said as Akane nodded and spoke up.

"Yes. My Dad wanted to try to get her on our side. Especially since she helped him get out of that interrogation room." Akane said as Makoto spoke up with both shock and confusion.

"Hold on, that doesn't make sense. Zenkichi's boss was the one who arrested him in the first place after he went against her by helping us escape. Not only that, but it was my sister that helped him escape from the police." Makoto said as Goro spoke up.

"True. After all, I was also there waiting nearby as he and Sae-san parted ways since I had to drive him back to the hideaway where Kusa and Futaba were waiting." Goro said as Nanako spoke up.

"That did still happen. Makoto's sister was the one who directly freed Zenkichi from his captivity. However, according to what Zenkichi learned from Sae-san as the two were making their way out of the station, it was his boss who pulled the strings so that Sae-san could get into the interrogation room in the first place." Nanako said as Goro spoke up with a shocked look on his face.

"Huh. I wasn't aware of this." Goro said as Kusa spoke up while also in shock.

"Neither did I. This was a surprise for me as well. I wonder why Kaburagi suddenly changed her mind and helped Sae with freeing Zenkichi?" Kusa
asked as Ren spoke up.

"Maybe she finally realized that there was something wrong with the police. Zenkichi did mention to us that he was able to tell that their hearts got changed while he was in captivity. Perhaps she noticed the same thing and decided to make things right." Ren said as Futaba spoke up.

"Well, good for Zenkichi's boss to see how far corrupted the police are now thanks to Konoe and Owada's actions. But that still doesn't explain why Zenkichi told Akane and Nanako about him meeting his boss and not the rest of us." Futaba said as Akane spoke up.

"Surprisingly, Dad came to me right before he left and told me what he was planning on doing. I was skeptical at first given what his boss almost did to all of you. But after he told me the truth about the part she played in freeing him, I decided to take a chance and trust Dad to convince his boss to help us." Akane said as Nanako spoke up.

"As for me, I happened to overheard the conversation as well and wanted to know what was going on. So Zenkichi told me the same thing that he told Akane. He also told us to keep his whereabouts a secret from the rest of you. And before you all ask why, he said that he didn't want any of you to follow him and thus end up in an awkward confrontation with his boss." Nanako said as she looked at Kusa and Goro specifically as the latter sighed and spoke up.

"I can see where you're coming from, Nanako-chan. In all honesty, that would be something that Kusa and I would do if we found out that Zenkichi-san was meeting with the one who almost got us all arrested. But if what you both said is true, and Kaburagi-san did play a part in helping Zenkichi out of his captivity, then I see no reason not to trust him to handle things on his own." Goro said as Akane spoke up.

"Sorry that we kept this from the rest of you guys. In all honesty, we were debating with each other on whether or not we should tell you guys anyway." Akane said as Ren smiled and spoke up.

"It's alright you two. If you guys can trust Zenkichi with him asking Kaburagi for help, then so can we." Ren said as everyone nodded just as Kusa smiled and spoke up.

"You got that right, Ren. Even though I'm still skeptical of Kaburagi, I'm sure I can forgive her if she can be able to help us stop both Konoe and Owada. Still though, thanks for telling us this you two." Kusa said to Akane and Nanako as they gave small smiles all while Makoto spoke up with a closed-eye smile on her face.

"Well then. If Zenkichi is trying to reconcile with his boss, I say we leave them alone for now." Makoto said as Ann spoke up with a nod.

"All right. Well, in that case, maybe we should save the calling card planning for tomorrow, then?" Ann said as Ryuji spoke up.

"How come?" Ryuji asked as Ann spoke up with an uncertain look on her face.

"I mean, you know, 'cause Zenkichi's part of the team now, isn't he? I feel like he'd be missing out if he wasn't here for his first calling card." Ann said as Shiho spoke up.

"You know, if you think about it Ann, wouldn't this also be the first calling card for myself, Akane, and Nanako as well? I almost said it was Sojiro's first calling card as well, but I didn't after I recalled that he was likely involved in Hyodo's calling card." Shiho said as Haru winced at the mention of Mariko before Ann spoke up with a nod.

"Good point, Shiho. It's not just Zenkichi's first calling card, is it? But on top of that, he's kinda got a lot invested in this after everything that happened to Akane." Ann said as Akane spoke up.

"It's not just my Dad, Ann. It's me as well since his actions almost caused me, or rather my Shadow, to almost kill you guys back in the Kyoto Jail." Akane said as Morgana spoke up.

"That's true, Akane. All signs point to Konoe being the one who turned you into a Monarch." Morgana said sagely as Goro spoke up.

"Just because the signs point that way, that doesn't automatically mean that he did it, Morgana. But that said, I agree that Konoe seems to be the most likely suspect." Goro said as Morgana nodded and spoke up.

"Fair point, Goro. Regardless, both Zenkichi and Akane definitely got one heck of a bone to pick with him." Morgana said as Kusa spoke up.

"No shit those two have a bone to pick with him, Morgana! Konoe not only blew off a scheduled appointment to meet with Zenkichi, but also used Akane to try to capture us. Furthermore, he's in cahoots with the man who took Zenkichi's wife and Akane's mother away from the both of them! Not to mention the fact that Konoe's done a lot of messed up shit recently." Kusa said as Ren spoke up.

"Good point, Kusa. That said, I agree with Morgana. Both Zenkichi and Akane will have a lot to seek revenge on Konoe for." Ren said wisely. Morgana nodded his agreement as he spoke up with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah? All right. We'll wait to bring Zenkichi in on the plan." Morgana said as Haru spoke up with a smile.

"All right, we'll figure out the calling card tomorrow." Haru said as Morgana spoke up.

"Agreed. That being said, it's been one intense fight after another, so let's get some rest and get back to it bright and early." Morgana said as Sojiro nodded approvingly and spoke up with a smirk.

"Well said, Morgana. After all, they say that the early bird gets the worm, or in our case, the early Phantom Thief gets the heart change." Sojiro said sagely as Ann frowned and spoke up.

"Uhh, does that analogy even work in the way you phrased it, Sojiro? Eh, never mind. Far be it from me to question you. Also, Morgana is right, we should definitely get some shut-eye. But, umm? Is it just me, or has Yusuke not said a word since we got back?" Ann said as everyone else exchanged a worried glance and turned towards the silent Yusuke, who started snoring, revealing that the reason he'd not said a word is because he'd managed to fall asleep standing up, leaning against the RV. On seeing that, both Goro and Ren facefaulted out of their chairs as Haru and Sumire helped them up. At that point, everyone sweatdropped as Futaba spoke up in a deadpan tone.

"Wow, that's kinda impressive, if a bit sad. Out cold and still standing on his feet like a professional." Futaba said as Kusa groaned and spoke up.

"Good point, Taba. That is kinda impressive that Yusuke can sleep while standing up. That being said, that's certainly ONE reason not to say a word. I'm not sure if I should be impressed that he stayed standing up in his sleep, or worried that he fell asleep like that." Kusa said as Sojiro spoke up.

"Probably a bit of both." Sojiro said sagely as Goro spoke up with an unreadable look on his face.

"Be that as it may, you do realize that one of us is going to have to carry him up to the tent so he can sleep properly, right?" Goro said and after a few seconds, he along with Ren, Sojiro, and Kusa all spoke up at once.

"NOT IT!" Ren, Sojiro, Kusa, and Goro said as Morgana caught on to what was going on and spoke up.

"ALSO NOT IT!" Morgana said as all eyes turned to a confused and shocked Ryuji, who blinked before his eyes slowly narrowed as realization set in while he spoke up.

"Wait, hold up. FOR REAL!? Did I just get shanghaied into carrying Yusuke to bed!? What the hell, guys? Not cool!" Ryuji said as Kusa spoke up.

"Since he was the last to say 'NOT IT!', Morgana can help you carry him." Kusa said decisively as Moragana spoke up with a bit of anger on his face.

"WHAT!? How is that fair? I said 'NOT IT!' before Ryuji." Morgana said as Ren spoke up

"I think it's more than fair, Morgana. Especially since Yusuke will probably need more than one person to carry him up anyway. Also, we are going to have to be wary of Zenkichi coming into the tent once he gets back from his meeting with Kaburagi." Ren said as Morgana sighed and spoke up.

"Fiiiine. I'll help carry Yusuke up. C'mon Ryuji, let's go." Morgana said as Ryuji spoke up.

"Thanks, Morgana. And sorry that you got roped into this, man. Also, don't underestimate Yusuke. Dude's got all sorts of weird talents up his sleeve." Ryuji said as the group packed it away for the night with Ryuji and Morgana carrying the sleeping Yusuke up to the tent to get him comfortable...

(At the same time, in Dotonbori, on a bridge with Zenkichi and Kaburagi)

As she gazed out at the night sky from the bridge she was standing near, Kaburagi sighed as she reflected on how she'd ended up in the position she was in. As she stood there, she found her musings interrupted by a familiar voice speaking up.

"Fancy running into you here, Commissioner Kaburagi." Zenkichi said as he walked over, making Kaburagi turn to look at him as she spoke up in a blunt tone.

"You look better than I thought you would. How'd it feel to be on the other side of an interrogation for once?" Kaburagi asked as Zenkichi chuckled and spoke up

"Haha, it wasn't fun, but I managed to pull through. Guess I'm getting a little old for this, huh? More importantly, though, I heard something interesting from the Niijima lawyer. She told me the reason she was able to get me out was because she had help from a certain someone." Zenkichi said as Kaburagi smirked at him and spoke up with a closed-eye smile.

"Heh, I haven't a clue what you're talking about. Anyhow, did you have business with me?" Kaburagi asked as Zenkichi nodded and spoke up.

"Commissioner, I'd like you to help me. I'm going to arrest Owada." Zenkichi said, smirking at the shocked look on Kaburagi's face as he kept speaking.

"He's been behind the scenes with each and every Change of Heart case. Akira Konoe is the one who commits the crimes, while Owada sits back and capitalizes on them. They plan to cover up the truth by putting all the blame on the Phantom Thieves. I think they've even changed the hearts of some of us on the force, and I'm talkin' pretty high up the chain of command." Zenkichi said as Kaburagi frowned and spoke up.

"Hmm." Kaburagi said as Zenkichi spoke up once more.

"If we don't act now, we'll never be able to stop them. Please, Commissioner. I can't do this without you." Zenkichi said as Kaburagi spoke up while looking away.

"Do you have any evidence to bring Owada in?" Kaburagi asked as Zenkichi smiled and spoke up.

"Not at the moment, but I'm on the verge of getting Konoe to confess. If we do that, we can expose ALL of Owada's crimes." Zenkichi said as Kaburagi frowned at Zenkichi's confident tone as she spoke up.

"You really think Konoe will talk?" Kaburagi asked as Zenkichi smirked and spoke up.

"Oh, he'll crack. I know he will." Zenkichi said confidently as Kaburagi raised an eyebrow and spoke up.

"How can you be so sure? Are you planning to use the Phantom Thieves to change his heart?" Kaburagi asked as Zenkichi winced and spoke up.

"Sorry, but that part of the plan is on a need-to-know basis, and unfortunately, I can't tell you that at this time. But let's change the subject for now. Commissioner Kaburagi, do you remember what you said to me back when Aoi died? You told me you would cleanse this whole rotten organization someday, and that I just had to wait for the right time. Well, that time is now. Please. I need your help!" Zenkichi said pleadingly as Kaburagi frowned and gave off a 'hmph' by way of response before she spoke up with an unreadable look on her face.

"You've changed, Hasegawa. Your little stunt with the Phantom Thieves cost me my chance at being Senior Commissioner. Even my current title is in a state of uncertainty. I need to do something to restore my credibility. If I wanted to, I could serve all of you up to Owada on a silver platter, and he'd owe me everything for it. Did that ever occur to you?" Kaburagi said as Zenkichi spoke up.

"Hmph. It did, but I wasn't worried about it. I know that your sense of justice would never allow it." Zenkichi said confidently, making Kaburagi chuckle at this as she spoke up, impressed with the backbone Zenkichi was showing as she spoke.

"My, my, Inspector. You've gotten a lot more confident, haven't you? Very well, I'll help you. You have three days. If you say you can do it, then by all means, make it happen." Kaburagi said as Zenkichi smiled at her and spoke up.

"Oh? Thank you, ma'am!" Zenkichi said gratefully as Kaburagi spoke up with a stern look on her face.

"Not only will I help you, but I'll give you this one opportunity to redeem yourself by bringing Owada and/or Konoe in. And I'll give you back your badge as well." Kaburagi said as a wide-eyed Zenkichi spoke up.

"A-Are you sure?" Zenkichi asked as Kaburagi nodded and spoke up.

"I am. But fair warning? If you screw this up, I'll be covering my own safety above all else. No second chances. Do you hear me?" Kaburagi said as Zenkichi nodded and spoke up.

"Loud and clear. I won't forget this, Commissioner!" Zenkichi aid as he ran off, oblivious to the hidden agent shadowing Kaburagi behind the bridge. After Zenkichi was out of earshot, the authoritative man spoke up.

"Shall I follow him, ma'am?" The authoritative man asked as Kaburagi shook her head and spoke up.

"Forget it. He'll just throw you off. Actually, I have a more pressing task for you. I want you to find out everything you can about the Commissioner General." Kaburagi said as the authoritative man blinked and spoke up.

"The Commissioner General, ma'am!?" The authoritative man said as Kaburagi nodded and spoke up.

"Correct. I'm not one to pull punches. Never have been, never will be." Kaburagi said as the authoritative man nodded and headed off to handle his task, leaving Kaburagi alone with her thoughts, unaware of the silver-haired man and brown-haired woman observing her and Zenkichi's conversation from nearby. As Kaburagi turned away to gaze at the sky, the silver-haired man turned to his wife and spoke up so only they could hear.

"Did you get all that, Rise?" Yu asked Rise, who nodded and spoke up at a level only she and Yu could hear.

"Yup, I got it all loud and clear, Yu. Now to go make our report to Kirijo-san. I'm sure she'll be interested to hear about the power struggle within the upper ranks of Public Security. Although, I feel bad for Naoto-kun, since these are her potential superiors that this involves. But if we can use this to our benefit, not only can we potentially find a way to get back at that jerk Konoe for trying to manipulate us into eliminating Nanako-chan's new friends, but we can also possibly help both Naoto-kun and Kirijo-san better their standings with PubSec at the same time." Rise said as Yu nodded and spoke up.

"Alright then, now we're talking. I guess now all we have to do is wait for Konoe's Change of Heart. That is, assuming Nanako and the others can succeed. For now, let's get back and fill the others in. Besides, the sooner we wrap up all this stuff with Konoe, the sooner we can turn our attention to the other item of business we have with Kirijo-san and her group." Yu said ominously as he and Rise headed back to check in with the others...

(Around the same time, at the Madicce company headquarters, in Konoe's office, with Konoe)

As Konoe stood in his office, he was currently on a phone call with Owada, who spoke up at that point.

"So you're sure the Phantom Thieves have been dealt with, yes?" Owada asked Konoe over the phone as Konoe spoke up.

"Yes, they're being held in the Jail as we speak. I've got EMMA keeping an eye on them." Konoe said as Owada spoke up in an impressed tone.

"Well done, Mister Konoe. There really is nothing that can stand up to you and that AI of yours." Owada praised Konoe, who smiled and spoke up.

"Please, none of this would've been possible without your assistance, sir. EMMA will show us the way forward." Konoe said as Owada smirked and spoke up.

"Indeed. Now, I may be getting a little ahead of myself, but what say we have a celebration of sorts? I'll go ahead and reserve us someplace nice. I think you're in for a real treat. Hahaha." Owada said as Konoe nodded and spoke up with a chuckle.

"Haha, thank you, sir. Looking forward to it. Till then." Konoe said as he ended the call on his end as EMMA spoke up.

"Call ended." EMMA said as Konoe snarled which was followed by slamming his fist on his table as he spoke up.

"Urgh, that filth! Flapping those fat jowls of his. It's bad enough that I had to lie to him about the current state of the Phantom Thieves. Roaches like him are the very reason why this world needs someone to enact justice." Konoe said as EMMA spoke up.

"You are absolutely right, Akira." EMMA said as Konoe spoke up with a smirk.

"Right. Since the plan to trap the Phantom Thieves has been stopped, alongside our backup plan to have that other group try and capture them, we'll have to hurry with making Operation Oraculi a reality. EMMA, what's the probability of the Phantom Thieves being able to clear a sixth Jail?" Konoe asked as EMMA spoke up.

"The probability of them completing a sixth Jail is factored in at around 99.9%." EMMA said as Konoe growled and spoke up.

"I see then. Then if that's the case. EMMA, what's the probability of them being able to get into my Jail?" Konoe asked as EMMA spoke up.

"The probability of them being able to enter your Jail Akira, is factored at 0%." EMMA said as Konoe's face turned serious as he spoke up.

"Are you sure? They are a clever bunch for a group of misfits." Konoe asked as EMMA spoke up.

"I'm positive, Akira. Even if the Phantom Thieves clear a sixth Jail, there is no way they can be able to enter yours without your keyword. As such, they will be powerless to stop you. You don't doubt me, do you?" EMMA said as Konoe smirked and spoke up.

"No, I don't. You're right EMMA. As long as the Phantom Thieves are not aware of what my keyword is, there is nothing they can do. Now, to wrap this up. At this point, nothing can stand in my way. I'll take over this entire country...no, the whole world." Konoe said to himself...

(The following afternoon, on the outskirts of Dotonbori, with Ren, Sophia, Sumire, Zenkichi, Akane, Nanako, Makoto, Haru, Goro, Kusa, Yusuke, Sojiro, Ryuji, Futaba, Morgana, Ann, and Shiho)

As the group gathered together in a construction zone on the outskirts of Dotonbori, Zenkichi smirked and spoke up.

"So I heard the rest of you guys were waiting for me to get back last night but decided to hold off on your discussion until today? You know, aside from Akane, the rest of you are surprisingly particular, you know? Also, sorry that I got back so late." Zenkichi said as Ren spoke up.

"It's ok Zenkichi. How did your talk with Kaburagi go?" Ren asked as Zenkichi spoke up.

"Oh, it went surprisingly well. Thanks for asking." Zenkichi said but it was only until he fully registered what Ren asked him that he spoke up again with shock on his face.

"Wait. Hold on, WHAT!? How did all of you find out that I went last night to talk to my boss?" Zenkichi asked but then as he looked at the guilty faces of Akane and Nanako, everything made sense to him as he sighed and spoke up again.

"You two told the rest of the group what I was doing, didn't you? I thought I told you both to keep quiet about where I went." Zenkichi asked as Akane spoke up.

"Sorry, Dad. But we feel like they deserve to know. Especially given the possible benefit of your boss helping us with stopping Konoe and Owada." Akane said apologetically as Nanako spoke up.

"But when we told them, they were okay with what you were doing and decided to trust you to handle things." Nanako said as Zenkichi spoke up.

"Oh, is this true? I thought for sure that some of you might've followed me." Zenkichi asked the rest of the group as Goro spoke up.

"As I told both Akane and Nanako last night, that would be something that Kusa and I would normally do upon finding out. Although we were skeptical at first regarding your meeting with Kaburagi, thanks to Akane and Nanako informing us of the role your boss played when she helped Sae-san with your escape from police captivity, that gives us the sense that she might not be as blind as the rest of those in Public Security." Goro said as Kusa smiled and spoke up.

"Despite your boss's previous actions in her attempt to arrest us back in Kyoto, she was able to see the light of how far corrupted her subordinates are thanks to Konoe and Owada's actions. As such, we decided to trust that you knew what you were doing in wanting to try to get Kaburagi to help us." Kusa said as the rest of the Thieves nodded in agreement just as Zenkichi then sighed in relief as he spoke up with a smile.

"Thanks, guys. I'm sorry that I wasn't being honest about my actions last night, as well as having both Akane and Nanako keep my whereabouts a secret from the rest of you." Zenkichi said as Makoto smiled and spoke up.

"It's alright, Zenkichi. It's no harm done. You were doing what you could for the sake of ending this Change of Heart case." Makoto said as Sumire spoke up.

"But with that being said, going back to Ren's earlier question, what exactly happened during your meeting with Kaburagi?" Sumire asked as Zenkichi smirked and spoke up.

"Well, seeing as the truth is now in the open, I might as well tell you. My boss has given me a second chance and has agreed to help with arresting both Konoe and Owada. She's given me three days to bring either Konoe or Owada into custody. As such, we need to make sure that Konoe's Change of Heart happens before that deadline." Zenkichi said as Kusa spoke up.

"Three days, you say? Well, I guess this isn't the first time that the Phantom Thieves have some form of a time limit to change someone's heart. So it's not like it's anything new, or at least, to those who were a part of the group's original run three and half years ago." Kusa said as Ren spoke up.

"Right. Since all we need to do is figure out how to send the calling card and then confront Konoe's Shadow in the Jail. If all goes right, we should be set on getting this ordeal done by tonight." Ren said as Zenkichi spoke up.

"I see then. So I guess you guys wanted me to join in on the calling card discussion as well?" Zenkichi asked as Ryuji spoke up.

"Well, it is the first calling card we're sending out since you joined. Figured you'd wanna be there for it. Not only that, but along with you, this will also be the first calling card that Akane, Shiho, and Nanako will do since they joined the group. So we've got quite a few newcomers to the calling card process." Ryuji said as Zenkichi spoke up with a frown.

"Well, it's not like I haven't helped out with one already. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me." Zenkichi said as Goro spoke up.

"To be fair Zenkichi, the card you allegedly 'helped out' with? I'm pretty sure that one was moreso handled by both Kusa and Yusuke. Granted, you did help deliver Hyodo's calling card, but again, you did next to nothing in terms of composing it. That one was all myself, Kusa, and Haru's handiwork, with a bit of Yusuke's artistic touch added for good measure." Goro pointed out as Kusa spoke up.

"What Goro means to say is that you have experience delivering calling cards, yes. However, I'm not so sure that you have experience when it comes to WRITING a calling card." Kusa pointed out sagely. Makoto nodded and spoke up.

"Kusa-kun has an excellent point. That's why we have a little proposal for you. Why don't you write this one, Zenkichi-san?" Makoto asked as Zenkichi sputtered and spoke up.

"M-Me!? But I've never written one before!" Zenkichi said as Kusa spoke up with a grin on his face.

"Thank you for that oh-so-profound insight, Captain Obvious. But think of it this way. If you do well at this, you could potentially show Akane-chan how cool her father is. And I'm sure you'd love to have Akane admiring you again, Zenkichi. But if you're that worried about it, I can always help you write it. I've gotten a lot of experience at it by now, considering I've written or helped with writing the majority of our calling cards thus far. Of course, we'd let the card have your personal touch, but you can tell me what you want it to say, and I'll compose it in an epic way that will absolutely put the fear of God into Konoe when he sees it." Kusa said as Sojiro spoke up.

"I'd take him up on that offer if I were you, Zenkichi. I might not have been a part of this group for long, but I've seen a sample of his writing style before. In fact, it was actually thanks to a calling card that I found in Futaba's room four years ago that led me to confront Ren, Futaba, and Kusa after they got back from a school dance that Kusa had invited Futaba to go to with him. For context, it was also the night that the couples of Ren and Sumire, Ryuji and Makoto, and even Kusa and Futaba were formed. That being said, the point I'm trying to tell you Zenkichi, is that Kusa has a pretty impressive writing style that usually manages to intimidate whoever gets a card from him. So if he's offering to help you, I'd accept that offer, since it can only be to your benefit to do so." Sojiro said sagely as Ren spoke up.

"Sojiro's right, Zenkichi. Furthermore, I feel like Kusa has a point with what he said before. Besides, there's nearly always a first time for everything." Ren said sagely as a visibly offended Morgana went to object to Ren's remark about there nearly always being a first time for everything, only for Goro to cut him off by speaking up.

"Ren's not being literal with that, Morgana. So don't even try to complain about how you're an exception to that." Goro said as Morgana huffed but nodded as he spoke up.

"Fine. I withdraw my objection." Morgana said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone, which was currently in Ren's hand, preceded Sophia speaking up.

"Going back to what my Dad just said, I agree that we should all be more open to new experiences." Sophia said as Ryuji spoke up.

"All right, that takes care of the calling card. Now, we just gotta figure out how to send it." Ryuji said as Zenkichi sputtered and spoke up.

"Hey, I haven't agreed to do anything yet, Ryuji." Zenkichi said as Akane smiled and spoke up.

"Come on, Dad. It's like Kusa just said. Think of how cool you would look when you're the one who sends Konoe an actual calling card. And don't worry, I will be more than willing to help you out. I'm not letting my one chance of coming up with a calling card go to waste. Especially since I'm familiar with some of the flair these cards have, given the impact they had three and a half years ago." Akane said Nanako spoke up.

"Akane is right. Since we didn't create a calling card for the Monarchs of the Okinawa, Kyoto, or Yongen Jails, this calling card is also important to myself, Akane, and Shiho, just as it is for you." Nanako said as Shiho spoke up.

"You don't have to do it alone, Zenkichi. Us three along with Kusa will be there every step of the way to help you out." Shiho said and after a few seconds of thinking, Zenkichi chuckled and spoke up.

"Alright then. If you are serious about this, then I'll do it. But I'm counting on all of you to help me with this." Zenkichi said as Morgana spoke up with a serious look on his face.

"Well, now that we have the group that will be writing out the calling card, we still need to figure out how we should send it. Let's see here. If Konoe is so comfortable badmouthing us on TV, then maybe it's time we give him a taste of his own medicine." Morgana said as Futaba spoke up.

"Copy the enemy's strats? Hrmm, it's a possibility, I suppose." Futaba said as Makoto spoke up.

"That reminds me of something Ren-kun suggested last night. What about an online broadcast?" Makoto suggested as Futaba winced and spoke up.

"Hrmm, maybe. But I think we need more impact than that." Futaba said as Haru spoke up.

"Could we just hand-deliver it, maybe?" Haru asked as Futaba spoke up with a frown on her face.

"If we want to get arrested, then yeah, we could." Futaba said as Ryuji turned to Ren and spoke up.

"What do you think, RenRen?" Ryuji said as Ren spoke up.

"Hmm, both Morgana and Makoto's ideas have a lot of merit. However, I feel as if they're all missing something, though I can't quite put my finger on what." Ren said as Morgana spoke up.

"Hmm, like what? Ehh, I don't know. I'm not sensing a clear winner here." Morgana said as Kusa spoke up.

"What did Futaba mean by more impact, I wonder?" Kusa asked as Ann cut in before Futaba could answer Kusa's question.

"Hm? Hey, guys, check it out." Ann said as the group looked up and saw a giant aircraft in the sky, making a wide-eyed Makoto speak up.

"What the-? Is that a literal blimp?" Makoto asked as Kusa spoke up.

"Probably, though it also reminds me a bit of a zeppelin." Kusa said as Haru spoke up.

"Oh, you don't see them very often nowadays." Haru said as a 'BIP!' from Sumire's phone preceded Sophia speaking up.

"That's the Regenbogen. It's the only airship in Japan that's currently in service. It seems it's being used to advertise EMMA for Madicce at the moment." Sophia said as Sumire spoke up with a frown.

"Should I be worried about how easily you're finding all this information, Sophia?" Sumire asked as Sophia spoke up.

"No worries, Mom. It's fine. I use only the most above-board methods of information gathering. So don't worry about it." Sophia said as Sumire let out a sigh and spoke up.

"Ok then, if you say so sweetie." Sumire said as Yusuke spoke up.

"Going back to what you just said Sophia, that blimp is currently spreading the word about EMMA for Madicce?" Yusuke said as Sophia spoke up.

"Correct, Yusuke. Apparently, it circles Osaka's airspace every day without fail." Sophia said as Goro and Kusa exchanged a look at this information. Goro spoke up at that point after noticing that Kusa had a rather impish grin on his face.

"Kusa? Why don't I like that mischievous looking glint in your eyes?" Goro asked as Kusa spoke up with a grin.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Goro. All this discussion of using the enemy's methods against them gave me an incredible idea, that's all." Kusa said as everyone turned to look at him as Ryuji spoke up with a grin.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin, Kusa?" Ryuji asked as Kusa spoke up with a smile.

"Depends. Were you thinking we could get Futaba to hijack that blimp so we could call that bastard Konoe out while also giving him his calling card at the same time? If so, then yes, I am thinking what you're thinking. And I have to say, I love the poetic irony of using Konoe's own advertising medium against him. It's genius! And the best part is that if we pair it with a remote broadcast, I will actually get to be part of a Phantom Thieves broadcast for once." Kusa said eagerly as Futaba smirked and spoke up.

"Mwehehe! Way ahead of you, Kusa!" Futaba said as the group moved to the RV, where Morgana spoke up.

"All right! This is it, everyone. We're finally at the end. This will most likely be the last calling card we ever send." Morgana said as Shiho spoke up.

"Yeah, sure, this is totally our final calling card. That is, until the next psychotic bad guy and/or crazy god-like being tries to take over the world and we get called back into action." Shiho said as Sojiro spoke up.

"That, or until the next time our services are required for the good of the world." Sojiro said sagely as Kusa spoke up.

"True. However, this might be my anxiety speaking given how close we are to closing this case, but I have a feeling that this might not be our last calling card. After all, we don't know for sure if Konoe is really the mastermind behind everything." Kusa said as Morgana spoke up.

"Maybe you're just on edge, Kusa. In any case, it'll be business as always. And once we send the calling card, we'll be putting the plan into motion. There's also a good chance we'll be going up against Konoe. Let's make sure we're fully prepared, then we'll send out the calling card." Morgana said as Ren nodded and considered his options carefully. After a bit, Ren decided to let the group relax for a bit before sending the calling card, knowing that the group probably needed the downtime before what could well be their most critical battle thus far...

END OF CHAPTER

A/N: And boom, another chapter done and dusted! And YES, this ended up not being the final chapter of Arc 7, despite my previous claims that it would be. All I can say in my defense on that subject is that I underestimated how much length the Lock Keeper and Birdcage sections of the Osaka Jail would give to the chapter.

That, and I forgot about all the scenes that go down after the Lock Keeper fight. Those scenes alone added about 3,000 to 5,000 words to my chapter length. And that's not mentioning the extra scenes I added in for the chapter to tease stuff that's lined up for the final Interlude. But anyone curious what I mean will have to wait until I post chapter 38 to see what I'm alluding to.

That being said, the next chapter will be the calling card, sixth Monarch fight, and probably some extra stuff added in to bring an end to Arc 7. Curious? Find out what I'm referring to when I upload chapter 37. For now, consider that your previewing for the chapter.

At this time, I want to thank everyone who's read not only this far into the chapter, but the story as a whole. All the support I've gotten thus far is incredible, whether it be in the form of following this story, favoriting it, or following and/or favoriting me as an author, or even leaving a review on the story. I appreciate all the input I get from my readers.

Also, as a reminder, I have a poll up on my profile page for anyone interested in voting on it. I won't give an update on the voting tally at this time, but I might give that update in the end-of-chapter A/N of chapter 38, aka the final Interlude of Rise of The Monarchs.

For anyone who doesn't know how to find the poll, there should be a spot in the top left of the chapter page that says 'sithlorde1988' in blue text with a photo of Rock from Ridonculous Race next to it. Click on where it says 'sithlorde1988', and that'll lead to my profile. Once there, there should be a spot at the top that shows the poll with a spot that says 'Vote Now' in blue lettering. Click that, and the poll should come up to be voted on.

Note that though it's a blind poll, anyone who votes can vote for three options, or up to three options. I've already had two voters only vote one option each, despite being able to vote for up to three. So anyone reading this chapter can feel free to vote on that poll if they're interested in doing so.

That poll will remain open until I post the final chapter of Arc 9, at which point I will close the poll, and the top three voted options will be given consideration, with the option with the most votes being the one getting the most consideration for what I do next. Also, for anyone curious, if the poll ends in a more than three-way tie, or if any of the top 3 spots are a tie, I will probably use a randomizer to break said ties. So keep that in mind.

Having said that, if anyone reading this far in is so inclined, they can feel free to leave a review below with their thoughts/suggestions/constructive criticism for this story, or they can PM me with that instead if they're not comfortable reviewing. Additionally, for anyone interested, I have a Discord that I use to discuss my stories with readers as well as to let anyone who wants to have an easier time helping out with edits and/or input.

Also, for those curious, I'm aware that a lot of people are likely having issues with the site not giving proper alerts to their emails for things like PMs, story updates, and so on, so anyone who wants to talk to me can alternatively do so through Discord, so as to minimize the chances of missing messages from one another due to the alerts on this site being wonky at the moment. Just putting that out there.

If anyone reading this is interested in being invited to the aforementioned fanfiction Discord, feel free to let me know through either a review or via PM, and I'll be sure to sort out invite links for those who are interested in being part of my fanfiction Discord. But hopefully the alerts fix themselves sooner, rather than later. In any event, feel free to hit me up, since I enjoy hearing from my readers! But I think that's enough prattling from me for now. I'll end this A/N here, so until the next chapter, sithlorde1988 out!

NOTES

*1* - I have Noir listed as getting 'Mapsiodyne' at level 64 in this story since that's when the wiki says she gets it. However, when I played through Strikers myself to make this chapter, she actually got 'Mapsiodyne' at level 63. This seems to be one of many instances of the wiki mis-reporting when characters get skills.

Off the top of my head, I know that Mona, Skull, and Panther all have similar errors in their recorded levels for getting skills. For both Skull and Panther, the wiki says they get 'Maziodyne' and 'Brain Jack' at level 60 when they actually get those moves at level 62. As for Mona, the wiki says he gets 'Wind Amp' at level 65. Well, I have Mona at level 65, and he did not get 'Wind Amp'. So that skill listing is wrong as well.

Despite this, I have him getting Wind Amp at level 65 for the sake of being consistent with the wiki. I'll probably make a footnote in a later chapter when he actually gets 'Wind Amp' in-game to indicate the level he actually gets it at. We'll have to wait and see how many other such errors I find, but as this note indicates, I've already found at least four such errors so far. Figured I'd put that out there to clear that up for anyone who might be confused by Skull and Panther getting 'Brain Jack' and 'Maziodyne' two levels later than they're supposed to have them.

Also, let me take this chance to give credit and a shout-out to jdimock for providing me with a list of the remaining skills for all of the 'in-game' Phantom Thieves (e.g. Skull, Mona, Panther, Fox, Queen, Oracle, Noir, Seeker, and Wolf), as well as helping me keep a running tab of the 'extra' Phantom Thieves that were added in for Rise of The Monarchs (Crow, Violet, Draconis, Pendragon, Flare, Seraphim, and Auburn) so I can keep a running tally of who gets what at what level.

PHANTOM THIEF SKILL LISTINGS, ALLY LIST, AND LIST OF TRIAD SPECIALS AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 36

JOKER (Ren) - Level: 70 Current Personas: Raoul (Level 47), Jack Frost (Level 45), Norn (Level 70), Seth (Level 64), Thor (Level 64), Fortuna (Level 65), Ganesha (Level 64), Kali (Level 67), Forneus (Level 67), Mot (Level 65) Equipped Persona: Seth Persona Moveset: One-Shot Kill (Gun), Eigaon (Curse), Resist Bless (Passive), Gun Boost (Passive), Knockdown Style (Passive), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Freidyne (Nuclear), Fortify Spirit (Passive)

SKULL (Ryuji) - Level: 65 Current/Partner Persona: William Persona Moveset: Ziodyne (Elec), Megaton Raid (Physical), Matarukaja (Support/Buff), Elec Boost (Passive), Maziodyne (Elec), Rebel Soul (Passive), Deathbound (Physical), Technical High (Passive)

MONA (Morgana) - Level: 65 Current/Partner Persona: Diego Persona Moveset: Garudyne (Wind), Diarahan (Healing), Mediarahan (Healing), Magarudyne (Wind), Wind Amp (Passive), Samarecarm (Healing), Masukunda (Support/Debuff), Dodge Elec (Passive)

PANTHER (Ann) - Level: 65 Current/Partner Persona: Celestine Persona Moveset: Agidyne (Fire), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Fire Boost (Passive), Soul Thief (Passive), Maragidyne (Fire), Matarunda (Support/Debuff), Brain Jack (Ailment), Diarahan (Healing)

FOX (Yusuke) - Level: 65 Current/Partner Persona: Gorokichi Persona Moveset: Bufudyne (Ice), Speed Master (Passive), Masukukaja (Support/Buff), Knockdown Style (Passive), Myriad Slashes (Physical), Tempest Slash (Physical), Mabufudyne (Ice), Evade Fire (Passive)

QUEEN (Makoto) - Level: 64 Current/Partner Persona: Agnes Persona Moveset: Freidyne (Nuclear), Dekunda (Support/Buff), Marakukaja (Support/Buff), Mafreidyne (Nuclear), Diarahan (Healing), Flash Bomb (Physical), Mediarahan (Healing), Nuke Boost (Passive)

NOIR (Haru) - Level: 65 Current/Partner Persona: Lucy Persona Moveset: Psiodyne (Psy), Ailment Boost (Passive), Heat Riser (Support/Buff), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Evil Smile (Ailment), Amrita Shower (Healing), Mapsiodyne (Psy), Gun Boost (Passive)

ORACLE (Futaba) - Level: 70 Current Personas: Al Azif and Albus Equipped Persona: Albus Persona Moveset: Ziodyne (Elec), Matarukaja (Support/Buff), Megidola (Almighty), Marakukaja (Support/Buff), Psiodyne (Psy), Masukukaja (Support/Buff), Invigorate 2 (Passive), Spell Master (Passive)

SEEKER (Sophia) - Level: 64 Current/Partner 'Persona': Pithos Persona Moveset: Kougaon? (Bless), Bless Amp? (Passive), Diarahan? (Healing), Makouga? (Bless), Mediarama? (Healing), Marakunda? (Support/Debuff), Rebel Soul? (Passive), Samarecarm? (Healing)

WOLF (Zenkichi) - Level: 65 Current/Partner Persona: Valjean Persona Moveset: Megidola (Almighty), Gun Boost (Passive), Dekaja (Support/Debuff), Deathbound (Physical), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Heat Riser (Support/Buff), Enduring Soul (Passive), Tetraja (Support/Barrier)

VIOLET (Sumire) - Level: 70 Current/Partner Persona: Ella Persona Moveset: Kougaon (Bless), Dodge Curse (Passive), Diarahan (Healing), Bless Amp (Passive), Vorpal Blade (Physical), Makougaon (Bless), Tempest Slash (Physical), Samarecarm (Healing)

DRACONIS (Kusa) - Level: 64 Current/Partner Persona: Malefor Persona Moveset: Agilao (Fire), Garula (Wind), Mediarahan (Healing), Assault Dive (Physical), Debilitate (Support/Debuff), Vicious Strike (Physical), Megidola (Almighty), Almighty Boost (Passive)

CROW (Goro) - Level: 64 Current Personas: Robin Hood, Loki, and Hereward Equipped Persona: Hereward Persona Moveset: Eigaon (Curse), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Maeiga (Curse), Laevateinn (Physical), Debilitate (Support/Debuff), Mudoon (Curse/insta-kill), Megidola (Almighty), Curse Boost (Passive)

PENDRAGON (Sojiro) - Level: 64 Current/Partner Persona: Kohryu Persona Moveset: Psiodyne (Psy), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Concentrate (Support/Buff), Mediarahan (Healing), Mapsiodyne (Psy), Evade Nuke (Passive), Spell Master (Passive), Psy Boost (Passive)

FLARE (Shiho) - Level: 64 Current/Partner Persona: Hester Persona Moveset: Bufudyne (Ice), Brain Buster (Physical), Mediarahan (Healing), Soul Thief (Passive), Samarecarm (Healing), Freila (Nuclear), Ice Boost (Passive), Nuke Amp (Passive)

SERAPHIM (Nanako) - Level: 64 Current/Partner Persona: Sraosha Persona Moveset: Ziodyne (Elec), Brave Blade (Physical), Charge (Support/Buff), Maziodyne (Elec), Samarecarm (Healing), Elec Boost (Passive), Hamaon (Bless/insta-kill), Dodge Curse (Passive)

AUBURN (Akane) - Level: 64 Current/Partner Persona: Houdini Persona Moveset: Agidyne (Fire), Diarama (Healing), One-Shot Kill (Gun), Maeiga (Curse), Regenerate 2 (Passive), Life Drain (Almighty), Evade Ice (Passive), Dodge Bless (Passive)

Allies: Ichinose, Taichi, Momoe, Sae, Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Mishima, Minako, Shinichi

LIST OF KNOWN TRIAD SPECIALS AS OF THE END OF CHAPTER 36

DIVINE BLIZZARD (Draconis, Fox, Violet)

PURGATORY ARROW (Crow, Noir, Panther)

REBELLIOUS VENGEANCE BURST (Joker, Skull, Seeker)

SNOW CAT-JUTSU (Mona, Flare, Wolf)

JUDGEMENT STRIKE (Oracle, Queen, Pendragon)

STORM OF HEAVEN (Violet, Mona, Seeker)

HELLISH ELEMENTAL TRINITY (Skull, Panther, Flare)

MIRROR OF THE ORDAINED (Pendragon, Mona, Draconis)

KARMA STINGERS (Seraphim, Fox, Noir)

WRATH OF THE CHOSEN ONES (Draconis, Crow, Joker)

CHAOTIC PLASMA RAIN (Auburn, Seraphim, Oracle)