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!

48. Rise Of The Monarchs Finale: The Wedding

A/N: sithlorde1988 here, with what should hopefully (keyword there being HOPEFULLY) be the final chapter of Phantom Files, Book 2: Rise of the Monarchs! I know I said that about the previous chapter, but I wasn't anticipating to have to split chapter 47 into two parts, much like what happened with chapter 39 (before it turned into chapter 39 and chapter 40), though it is what it is. Anyways, since this is another chapter, I should probably go ahead and deal with what might very well be the final disclaimer for this story, so here we go!

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, Albus, and Cthulhu, along with the Phantom Thief attire for Draconis, Pendragon, or 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 or Maruki/Messiah.

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. And with regards to Maruki/Messiah's Phantom Thief attire, it's basically Crow's 'Detective Prince'/'Light' outfit, but very slightly repurposed to fit Maruki, so everyone who developed and designed the Persona games basically owns Maruki/Messiah's Phantom Thief attire.

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 making her Phantom Thief attire largely different from aforementioned Monarch outfit, it was still jdimock's idea, so shout-out and credit to him 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.

And when it comes to 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.

There we go, one disclaimer done and dusted, for what may very well be the final time in this story! That being said, I don't have much else to say here, since I'm saving most of the rest of my thoughts for the end-of-story A/N, so I guess let's get right into it, yeah? Here's the 48th (and hopefully final) chapter of Rise of the Monarchs!

Chapter 48- Weddings, Receptions, and Endings! Rise Of The Monarchs Finale (and Epilogue part 4)

(Fast forward a few weeks from the end of Chapter 47, to the afternoon of June 21st, in the lower level of Leblanc, with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Goro, Sumire, Kusa, Sophia, Sojiro, Shiho, Zenkichi, Nanako, and Akane)

Once the group was gathered at Leblanc and Sophia got done having most of the group take turns hugging her while welcoming her back, Ren spoke up.

"Looks like most of us are here, as Kusa and Futaba requested. Yet, I notice that a couple of us are missing." Ren said, right as the door of Leblanc opened and Haru walked in with a smile on her face as she spoke up.

"Sorry I'm late, got caught in traffic. Or rather, sorry we're late." Haru said as Goro followed her inside, prompting all the Phantom Thieves aside from Zenkichi, Akane, and Sophia, the latter of whom decided to wait for a bit as the rest of the group took turns hugging Goro and welcoming him back from his internship. Kusa smirked as he spoke up.

"Nice to see you back, Goro. I hope you enjoyed your extra one-on-one time with Haru this past month?" Kusa joked as Goro spoke up.

"It was a rather interesting experience, brother. However, it seems I'm not the only one who has returned to the group. That is, assuming that's you based on the similar appearance, Sophia?" Goro asked as he looked at the former AI-turned-human with a bit of shock on his face as Sophia smiled as she hugged Goro and spoke up.

"Indeed, Uncle Goro. It's very nice to see you again. I hope the internship turned out well on your end." Sophia said as she let go of her surrogate uncle as Goro spoke up.

"It wasn't that bad. Even though working alongside Naoto-san did take some getting used to, we were able to work well together throughout the past few months. With that being said, I'm glad that you are back with us as well, Sophia. However, I didn't expect you to have a completely new body. I assume that Ichinose-san had something to do with that?" Goro asked as Sophia nodded and spoke up.

"Correct. As I told everyone else, Ichinose-san, Aunt Futaba, Mitsuru-san, and Fuuka-san were able to create a human body for myself along with Aigis-san and Labrys-san. They were able to transfer our minds into them thanks to the technology of the Kirijo Group." Sophia said as Goro spoke up.

"I see. Still, the fact that your new body is more akin to a teenager than a young girl is quite surprising, I must say." Goro said as Zenkichi smirked and spoke up.

"You're not the only one who had such a reaction, Goro. When I arrived earlier with Akane and Nanako, we were completely stunned by Sophia's new appearance." Zenkichi said as both Akane and Nanako both nodded in agreement as Ren spoke up.

"Believe me when I say that we were all caught off guard by how different Sophia is now, some more than others." Ren said as all the other Phantom Thieves nodded, with Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Haru, and Shiho all finding out last February not too long after Sophia reunited with Ren and Sumire as Goro nodded and spoke up

"Fair enough. Regardless, I must apologize for not reaching out to all of you right away, as Haru and I needed the chance to make up for lost time." Goro said as Shiho giggled and spoke up.

"It's fine, Goro. Although I can't help but wonder if what you said may relate to what Takakura-san was saying when Ann and I ran into him at the crepe shop about hearing a lot of moaning from Haru's house when he went to check on her. The way he said it, he thought she might have been making love very loudly or something." Shiho said with a sly smirk as Ryuji grinned and spoke up after high-fiving Shiho.

"Truth, Shiho! I could see Goro and Haru being rather loud behind closed doors once they finally got it on! So it's not that much of a shock that Takakura-san probably heard them making love at least once." Ryuji said as Makoto, Ann, Goro, and Haru all spoke up with embarrassed looks on their faces.

"RYUJI! SHIHO! BOTH OF YOU BEHAVE!" Makoto, Ann, Goro, and Haru said as Goro kept speaking while fixing Shiho with a stern look.

"Oh, and Shiho? That's not Takakura-san's place to comment on what he hears. And it's no one's business but Haru's if she has a bit of a wild and kinky streak behind closed doors. But that's all I'll say about that. I respect Haru just the way she is, quirks and all." Goro said as Haru blushed and spoke up.

"What Goro meant to say is that Takakura-san probably heard us reuniting on the day that Goro returned from his internship. Suffice it to say, I might have gotten a bit overexcited to have him back. And then we might have gotten excited again after Goro agreed to move in with me. But what we do at home is no one's business but ours." Haru said as Futaba smirked and spoke up.

"No need to be ashamed, Haru. You're a grown woman. And if you happen to like it when Goro gets rough in the bedroom, that's perfectly all right. After all, none of us judge Sumire for liking it when Ren spanks her, or Ann and Shiho for liking to-" Futaba said before a red-faced Ann slapped a hand gently over Futaba's mouth as she spoke up.

"FUTABA! We get it. Haru's allowed to have her share of unorthodox kinks. Let's leave it at that. You didn't need to drag Sumire, Shiho, and myself into your remark." Ann said as Kusa smirked and spoke up.

"That's Taba for you, Ann. She's a bit of a shameless brat at time, but she means well. That being said, we didn't ask you all here to tease people about their kinks. We asked you here because Taba and I have been doing a lot of discussion about our wedding, and we've figured out a few things about it already, or at least about the wedding party." Kusa said as Nanako smiled and spoke up.

"Really!? I wasn't expecting that. But I'm curious to hear what you've figured out." Nanako said as Futaba spoke up.

"Glad to hear you say that, Nanako. And it's just as well that you feel that way, since part of it involves you." Futaba said, surprising Nanako as Kusa spoke up.

"First and foremost is the subject of the best man and maid of honor. Taba and I have narrowed our choices down to two people for each of them, but our final choice will depend on them. For my choices for best man, I'll be honest and say that I've narrowed it down to either Ren or Goro. And with all apologies to Ren, I'm leaning more towards Goro. However, the decision is really up to him if he wants to be my best man or not. He can still say no if he doesn't want to do it. So what do you say, Goro? Will you be my best man?" Kusa asked, shocking Goro, who spoke up in disbelief.

"You want ME as your best man? I honestly assumed you would've asked Ren." Goro said as Kusa spoke up.

"I'll freely admit that Ren was high on my consideration list as well. But the more I thought about it, I realized that out of the two of you, Ren is probably more likely to be asked to be someone else's best man than you are. Plus, you and Ren are both my half-brothers, and I feel like it would be both symbolic and appropriate that the one who was at one time one of my most heated rivals before becoming one of my dearest friends would ultimately be the one I asked to be my best man.

Also, Futaba's choices for maid of honor were between Sumire and Haru. Therefore, if you do decide to be my best man, there's a very good chance that she'll ask Haru to be her maid of honor so you can escort her to the wedding. So what do you think, brother? Are you interested in being my best man?" Kusa asked as Ren smiled, understanding why Kusa asked Goro over him. Goro, for his part, eventually smiled and spoke up after clasping Kusa's hand in his own.

"Kusa? After everything you and I have been through, I would be more than honored to be your best man. You've got yourself a deal, brother." Goro said as he shook Kusa's hand, accepting his spot as best man as Ren smiled and spoke up.

"You know, I had a feeling that out of the two of us, you were most likely to get the role of being Kusa's best man, Goro. Still, you definitely deserve it after coming so far throughout all these years. Congrats, brother." Ren said as Goro smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you, Ren. I appreciate your acceptance of me taking the position instead of you." Goro said as Ren nodded as Futaba turned to Haru and spoke up.

"Well, now that Goro is Kusa's best man, will you be my maid of honor, Haru?" Futaba asked Haru, who smiled and spoke up.

"I'd be delighted, Futaba-chan." Haru said as Kusa smirked and spoke up.

"Perfect. With that matter being settled, the next thing to bring up is the groomsmen and bridesmaids. For my groomsmen, I was thinking of having Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Yusuke, Sojiro, and Zenkichi, along with two others, most likely Mishima and Maruki-san, assuming I can get in contact with them before the wedding to ask them. And before anyone asks about why I considered Maruki? Let's just say that throughout the past few months, Doc and I had ended up running into each other a couple of times to the point where we finally were able to rekindle that old friendship that we once had, along with me finally forgiving him for what he had put me through. As far as bridesmaids go, I'll let Taba reveal those." Kusa said as Futaba smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you. As far as bridesmaids, since Haru accepted the spot as my maid of honor, that makes Sumire one of my bridesmaids. In addition to her, I was planning on having Ann, Shiho, Makoto, Makoto's sister if she agrees, Togo-san, and Ichinose-san be my bridesmaids. And similar to what Kusa had with Maruki-san? I also was able to grow a rather fond friendship with Ichinose when we worked together alongside Fuuka and Mitsuru to give Sophia, Aigis, and Labrys human bodies. So if Kusa is willing to consider having one of our former enemies become one of his groomsmen, then I should do the same by having Ichinose be one of my bridesmaids as well." Futaba said as Sophia, Nanako, and Akane exchanged confused looks as the latter spoke up.

"Okay, but what does that mean for myself, Nanako, and Sophia?" Akane asked as Kusa spoke up.

"Glad you asked. We haven't brought up the ring-bearer and flower girl yet. For the ring-bearer, I was thinking of asking Morgana if he wanted to be the ring-bearer instead of a groomsman. If he does, then odds are Sophia will be the flower girl while Akane and Nanako can join the bridesmaid group. But if Morgana would rather be a groomsman, then Sophia joins the bridesmaids and we have Nanako be the flower girl with Akane as the ring-bearer. So, would you rather be a groomsman or the ring-bearer, Morgana?" Kusa asked Morgana, who thought about it and spoke up.

"I want to be a ring-bearer, but you seem rather light on groomsmen, so I'll be one of your groomsmen instead and let Akane be the ring-bearer if she wants it. If nothing else, Lady Sophia and I can be the flower girl and ring-bearer for Ren and Sumire's wedding when they inevitably tie the knot. Most likely it'll be after Ren finally gets Sumire pregnant with all the constant booty calls those two have." Morgana said as at least five different voices spoke up rebukingly.

"MORGANA/MORGANA-SENPAI!" Ren, Sumire, Kusa, Makoto, and Sojiro all rebuked Morgana as Sumire spoke up with a blush.

"First of all, DO NOT bring that up in front of Sophia! I don't care if her physical body DID age her up a couple years, she's still not mentally old enough to hear such adult topics! Secondly, that's both slander and lies! If Ren and I do get married, it'll be because we're ready to spend our lives together, NOT because Ren got me pregnant! Now behave!" Sumire said as Morgana smirked and spoke up.

"Fine, fine, I'll be nice. I was more or less just teasing about that possibility. Besides, I'm pretty sure there's an equal chance that Kusa could beat Ren to getting his girlfriend knocked up anyway." Morgana said as Kusa and Futaba both spoke up with blushes on their faces.

"MORGANA!" Kusa and Futaba said as Kusa kept speaking with a clear look of embarrassment on his face..

"Seriously, man!? I mean sure, we're already getting married, but you don't get to throw shade like that, Morgana! And that's our business if we decide to start a family together. Besides, who's to say that Ryuji couldn't reach fatherhood first, given how Makoto once openly admitted to being the one to 'do the screwing in their relationship', to quote her exact words?" Kusa said as Ryuji and Makoto facefaulted before the latter lightly smacked Kusa on the back of the head and spoke up.

"I misspoke that day! Besides, Ryuji and I already talked about it, and we agreed we weren't in a rush to become parents! So you can quit teasing us!" Makoto said as Kusa spoke up after giving Makoto a sheepish yet apologetic look while rubbing the back of his head where he'd been smacked.

"Right, gotcha. Sorry." Kusa said as Ryuji and Makoto forgave him before Sophia looked at Nanako and spoke up.

"So Nanako's the flower girl? I bet she's going to look super cute doing it. Hopefully Akane enjoys watching her girlfriend at work." Sophia said as Akane blushed and spoke up.

"You say that like I won't be cute too as a ring-bearer, Sophia. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't look super-cute too as a bridesmaid. And I bet Morgana agrees with me." Akane said as Morgana sputtered and spoke up.

"Wh-Wha? Don't put me on the spot like that, Akane! However, I can't say that you're wrong in thinking that Lady Sophia will probably be beautiful as a bridesmaid." Morgana said as Yusuke chuckled and spoke up with a smile on his face.

"Indeed, Morgana. I could just see Akane and Nanako painting quite a dynamic image in their roles as ring-bearer and flower girl, respectively. And I'm also sure that the groomsmen and bridesmaids will make for quite the dynamic muse in their own right." Yusuke said as Kusa smirked and spoke up.

"If you say so, Yusuke. I'll just go along with what you said for the sake of argument, I think. Anyways, getting back on the main topic, let us not forget that as the father of the bride, Sojiro also has the task of walking Taba down the aisle on the big day in addition to his role as a groomsman. But I think he considers that an honor, if anything. And speaking of, the date we settled on for the wedding is August 21st." Kusa said as Ren laughed and spoke up.

"Really!? Futaba and you decided to have your wedding be, out of all days, on your birthday? Why am I not surprised by that?" Ren said as Zenkichi spoke up with a smirk.

"If I was a betting man, which I'm not? I'd say that was probably Futaba's idea. Likely for sentimental reasons if I had to guess." Zenkichi said as Futaba spoke up.

"You'd be right, Zenkichi. I picked that day not only because it was Kusa's birthday, but also the anniversary of my heart changing, the downfall of Medjed, and most importantly, Mom's passing. Speaking of which, while we still need to secure it, Kusa and I discussed having the wedding at the church in Kanda where Mom is buried." Futaba said as Sojiro's eyes widened.

"The one I took you, Kusa, and Ren to in October of 2016!?" Sojiro asked as Ren spoke up.

"And the one where I hung out with Hifumi from time to time, and even Yusuke once?" Ren added as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"The very same. I figured that if we had it there, Mom could be part of the festivities, even if it was only in spirit. Kusa agreed with me on it, but we still have to get the venue secured before August 21st. Does anyone have an objection to that?" Futaba asked as Sojiro spoke up with a smirk.

"Not at all. If anything, I'm proud of you for trying to include your mom on your special day." Sojiro said as Kusa spoke up.

"I'm proud of her too. After all, if I'm going to invite mine and Ren's parents and of course you, then it's only fair we have it where Futaba's mom can take part." Kusa said sagely as Sojiro pulled Futaba into a hug while Sumire spoke up.

"Well, it sounds to me like Kusa's 21st birthday is going to be an exciting one." Sumire said as Goro smirked and spoke up.

"I agree. After all, let's not forget what happens at a wedding after the 'I do's' are exchanged." Goro said as Ren groaned and spoke up.

"You mean the tossing of the garter and bouquet, right?" Ren asked as Goro nodded and spoke up.

"Correct. I'm curious to see who ends up catching the garter, given that Kusa's the one throwing it. Although, in regards to Futaba throwing the bouquet, I have a pretty good guess as to who will catch that." Goro said slyly as Kusa smirked and spoke up.

"That'd be ruining the surprise if I answered that. All you need to know is that Taba and I have targets in mind and that whatever happens, happens. Or to quote what a wise person once said, 'What will be, will be.'" Kusa said bluntly as Ren winced and spoke up.

"Why does it worry me when you say that, Kusa? Because it legitimately worries me when you say that." Ren said as Kusa smirked and spoke up.

"You'll have to wait for the big day to see what I mean, Ren. But don't worry, Taba and I won't miss our targets. Mwehehe." Kusa said as Futaba smirked and spoke up.

"Indeed. Even if some people think I won't hit my mark because I have, and I quote, 'noodly arms', then I'll show them just how wrong they are." Futaba said, aiming a frown at a sheepish-looking Sumire as the party dispersed at that point after everyone involved agreed to their assigned roles...

(Time skip- August 21st, at a certain church in Kanda, with Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, Goro, Sumire, Kusa, Sophia, Sojiro, Shiho, Zenkichi, Nanako, Akane, Sae, Grace, Taichi, Momoe, Shinichi, Minako, Hiraguchi, Maruki, Shibusawa, Shibusawa's wife, Ichinose, Hifumi, Mishima, Maiko, Yoshida, Yu, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Teddie, Naoto, Marie, Yukari, Junpei, Akihiko, Fuuka, Mitsuru, Aigis, Koromaru, Ken, Labrys, and Kotone)

As the church filled with people, all eyes went to the altar in the front, where a very resolved, yet also slightly nervous, Kusa waited with the ordained minister chosen for the wedding, or one Toranosuke Yoshida, who had apparently gotten licensed as a minister while trying to get elected.

Out of idle curiosity, Kusa briefly let himself look over the minister, taking in his well-pressed black dress suit, matching colored tie, white dress shirt he wore under the suit, his white gloves, and his piercing yet expressive brown eyes that were the same color as his dark-colored hair that was so dark brown it almost looked black, even if Yoshida's expression was currently arranged into an amused smile at the sight of Kusa seemingly sizing him up to keep his mind off of his clearly visible excitement and/or nerves about the coming wedding.

While he waited, Kusa let his eyes idly scan over the gathered guests and crowds, letting himself appreciate just how many people showed up for his and Futaba's wedding. All the usual suspects were present, such as all the friends he'd made during his time in Yongen-Jaya, a fairly good-sized contingent of people who were no doubt fans of the 'Kung-Fu Dragon', his and Ren's parents, and to Kusa's surprise, he saw what he was sure was his former teammates from the Okinawa karate team in the crowd. Deciding to put that detail out of his mind for the time being so he could focus on his wedding, Kusa chose to be patient and wait for his bride to show up with the minister.

After a bit of time had passed while people waited for the bride to show up, everyone present heard the sounds of 'Here Comes The Bride' playing, as a smirking Sojiro led a veil-clad Futaba down the aisle, the latter's shy yet nervous looking smile hidden behind the veil along with her hair which had been done up in a bun so as to not fall all over her pristine white wedding gown.

As for Kusa, he was decked out in a sophisticated-looking black tuxedo. However, in place of the usual white undershirt, he wore a dark green dress shirt with a silvery-grey bowtie. After Futaba came down the stage to Kusa, Sojiro gave the two a nod of respect and went to sit in between Morgana and Maruki, with the latter exchanging a curt nod with the father of the bride.

Regarding the order of the groom party, Kusa had it where it was him first, followed from right to left with Goro as his best man, along with Ren, Morgana, Sojiro, Maruki, Ryuji, Mishima, Yusuke, and Zenkichi in that order. As for the bridal party, Futaba had it where it was her first, followed from left to right with Haru as her maid of honor, along with Sumire, Sohpia, Ichinose (who felt a little bit uncomfortable with being a part of something such as a wedding), Ann, Makoto, Shiho, Hifumi, and Sae in that order. Once Futaba was standing next to Kusa, Yoshida spoke up.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today on this most momentous occasion to bear witness to the union of these two youths. That being said, I was told that they wrote their own vows for one another?" Yoshida said as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"That is correct. We did indeed, sir." Kusa said as Futaba nodded her agreement while Yoshida spoke up with a nod.

"Fair enough. Did either of you want to go first in reading those?" Yoshida asked as Futaba spoke up.

"I'll go ahead and go first, if Kusa doesn't mind." Futaba said as Kusa nodded and spoke up.

"Fine with me. Go for it, Futaba." Kusa said agreeably as Futaba nodded and spoke up.

"Right. Well, to start, I think we can both agree that my life changed for the better the day I first met you. To set the stage, it was back when I was still a shut-in who barely left her room except to go to the bathroom and put dishes away. But imagine my shock when I came out to do the former of those two one day and found a ponytailed guy that I didn't know in my kitchen looking around. Once I got over my shock, I had to admit to myself that the guy was rather handsome. I then steeled myself and spoke to him, thus forever changing the course of my life from that point on." Futaba said, ignoring the mix of amused chuckles and fond smiles in the crowd as she focused on Kusa while she kept speaking

"After all, I don't want to think about what my life would've been like had I never met you, Kusa. But thankfully, I won't have to. As such, I vow to always be loyal and committed to you, and have your back in all things you decide to do, as well as cherish you for the rest of our lives. I don't think there are enough words to properly convey how much our relationship, or rather our soon-to-be marriage, means to me. But know that I vow to always be there for you to the best of my ability." Futaba said as Kusa smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you, Futaba. Now it's my turn. As you said just now, our lives were forever changed the day we met. However, despite what you said, I feel as if I was the one who was blessed to meet you, rather than the other way around. After all, before I met you, I was a very cynical, dry person. And as much as I typically deny it up and down when he teases me about it, the truth of the matter is that Ren isn't wrong when he says I'm a snark lord. Granted, I'd like to think I've gotten a lot better about not being so dry and cynical over the past few years." Kusa said, ignoring the amused laughs from most of his groomsmen to look into Futaba's eyes as he kept speaking.

"But we were talking about us, not about my shortcomings, weren't we? That being said, the day I met you was the best day of my life, even if I didn't realize it until quite a bit later. And when myself and the others were able to help you ease out of your shell and start going out again, that was probably the most satisfying thing that I have ever done in my life. After the hell you'd been through in your past up to that point, I was very glad to help you find the closure that you most righteously deserved.

And to be honest? That was also the day I really started truly falling in love with you. So never doubt that I will always cherish and treasure every day we spend together going forward. Because to tell you the truth? The love we share is probably the most precious and valued Treasure that I could ever imagine. In all seriousness, I vow to be there for you in the good times, as well as the bad. And I will always be by your side, unless you ask me otherwise. So don't doubt that I love you with all that I am and all that I will ever be. And I look forward to a long and happy marriage with you, Futaba." Kusa said honestly, smiling softly at Futaba as Yoshida spoke up.

"I see. Those are some nice vows, you two. Now then, who has the rings?" Yoshida said as Akane stepped forward and spoke up while Nanako walked across the various rows, scattering petals as per her job as the flower girl, ignoring the mix of amused giggles at how silly she looked and playful catcalls for how good her satiny silver spaghetti-strap dress looked on her to do her job.

"I do. However, at the groom's suggestion, I also enlisted a certain someone to help me with the ring-bearing." Akane said, turning to put two fingers in her mouth and whistle, leaving most of the audience confused until a low bark was heard, followed by a white-furred Shiba Inu confidently trotting up to the bride and groom with a pillow in his mouth, the rings set in boxes on top of said pillow. In the crowd, Fuuka smiled and spoke up.

"Aww, how cute. Look at Koro-chan go." Fuuka said as Akihiko smirked and spoke up.

"I had a feeling he'd make for a dynamic ring-bearer. And I was right, unsurprisingly." Akihiko said as Mitsuru fondly shook her head but said nothing to correct him as Kotone giggled and spoke up.

"Were you also the one to get Koromaru in that suit?" Kotone asked, referring to the rather dapper-looking black doggy tuxedo Koromaru had on, topped by a familiar pair of white mini-wings. Ken smirked and spoke up.

"Nope. That would be the handiwork of myself and the groom." Ken said as the rest of the Shadow Operatives, along with Kotone, nodded their understanding. At the same time, Teddie smirked and spoke up in the crowd.

"Get a load of how bear-y adorable Nana-chan looks! Isn't she the most beautiful flower girl ever? Err, with all respect to Marie, of course." Teddie said as Marie huffed and spoke up before Yu and Yosuke could do more than facefault on either side of Rise, who just sighed at Teddie's usual habit of cracking bear puns.

"HEY! What happened to only having eyes for-? Wait, did you actually call me by my name?" Marie asked in surprise. Teddie nodded and spoke up.

"Yep. I might usually use nicknames, but this is hardly the time for it, ignoring that I called Nana-chan by her nickname. In her case, it's basically a term of endearment at this point." Teddie said as Yu frowned at him and spoke up.

"Be that as it may, do you REALLY have to crack those stupid bear puns today, of all days?" Yu rebuked Teddie, who winced and spoke up.

"Whoops, my bad, Sensei! That pun slipped out, I swear." Teddie said as Marie frowned and spoke up dryly.

"Uh-huh. It TOTALLY slipped out. Just like you TOTALLY slipped up calling Nanako by that childish nickname you have for her." Marie grumbled as Yukiko spoke up cheerfully.

"It's fine. We can always get Goro to help 'disappear' Teddie later. Or we can set things up to have Teddie have a little 'accident' instead." Yukiko said as a chuckle from the row behind her prompted Yukiko, Yu, Rise, Yosuke, Teddie, and Marie to turn around and look at the pair of shyly smiling women who were sat next to each other, one wearing a sparkling silver strapless dress and the other wearing a form-fitting silky white gown, both of which showed to show off the women's similar builds, with the blue-haired woman sporting a distinctly prominent small-to-mid C-cup bustline and the blonde-haired woman sporting what was distinctly a large-C to small-D cup bustline. Most of the group quickly noticed that both of the women also had charming smiles and model-worthy figures as the blue-haired woman, or the one who'd chuckled, spoke up.

"Sorry. But you do hafta admit that Yukiko is pretty funny when her ruthless side comes out like this. However, I didn't think she'd let it come out at a wedding, of all places." The blue-haired woman said as the blonde-haired woman next to her smiled and spoke up.

"Normally, you'd be correct, Labrys. However, I think in this case, Yukiko-san was willing to make an exception to that since it's Teddie-san that we're talking about." The blonde-haired woman said, turning to give an embarrassed Yukiko an appraising look, making her chuckle sheepishly before Marie blinked and spoke up.

"If you hadn't called your blue-haired friend 'Labrys', I wouldn't have realized it was the two of you. I always forget how good of a job Mitsuru, Fuuka, Futaba, and Ichinose-san did on the new bodies for you, Labrys, and Sophia. Yet they look really good on you three. Even if it does seem like your bust was nerfed a bit with your new body, Aigis." Marie said to the blonde-haired girl, revealing that she and her blue-haired friend were actually Aigis and Labrys in their new human bodies. Mitsuru chuckled and spoke up.

"That part was actually Futaba's idea. Apparently, she felt like Aigis was too endowed in her robot form and wanted to 'even the playing field for Labrys a bit', whatever that means. At least Sophia is making the most of her new body." Mitsuru said as Labrys spoke up again.

"True, but unlike myself and Aigis, Sophia didn't have a physical body before now. So of course she's going to make the most of being able to physically interact with her friends and family." Labrys pointed out as Marie spoke up.

"That's a good point, Labrys. Oh, and going back to what you just mentioned, Yukiko? I have to say that you are kinda sadistic. That being said, I don't disagree with your ideas. But let's hold off on punishing Teddie too much for now since we are at a wedding after all." Marie said, getting a nod of agreement from Yukiko. At that point, Kusa smiled at Koromaru before giving him a gentle pat on the head and thanking him for his help as he accepted the ring boxes from Koromaru, handing one to Futaba and keeping the other for himself as Yoshida spoke up.

"Good. Now, Futaba, we'll start with you. Slide the ring onto Kusa's finger and repeat after me. With this ring..." Yoshida said as Futaba slid the ring onto Kusa's finger and spoke up.

"With this ring..." Futaba said as Yoshida spoke up to guide Futaba through the rest of the words.

"...I do thee wed." Yoshida said as Futaba smiled and spoke up.

"...I do thee wed." Futaba said as Yoshida turned to Kusa and spoke up with a smile on his face.

"Your turn, Kusa. Slide the ring in your hands onto Futaba's finger and repeat after me. With this ring..." Yoshida said as Kusa slid the ring from his box gently onto Futaba's finger and spoke up while looking into Futaba's eyes.

"With this ring..." Kusa said as Yoshida smiled and spoke up to guide Kusa through the rest of the words as he had previously done for Futaba.

"...I do thee wed." Yoshida said as Kusa smiled and spoke up.

"...I do thee wed." Kusa said as Yoshida spoke up.

"Now then. Futaba, do you take Kusa as your lawfully wedded husband, in both good times and bad, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, for so long as you both shall live?" Yoshida said as Futaba smiled and spoke up with no hesitation.

"I do." Futaba said as Yoshida turned to Kusa and spoke up once more.

"Kusa, do you take Futaba as your lawfully wedded wife, in both good times and bad, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, for so long as you both shall live?" Yoshida said as Kusa spoke up with a nod, not looking moving his gaze from where he was sure Futaba's eyes were.

"I do." Kusa said as Yoshida spoke up with a smile.

"Very well. By the power vested into me by the country of Japan, I now proudly pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." Yoshida said as Kusa smiled, gently lifting the veil off of Futaba's face and looking into her eyes as he leaned in to give his newly minted wife a passionate kiss, making her blush in a mix of embarrassment and elation as she eagerly returned the kiss, the two breaking apart after a few moments, both sporting identical looks of embarrassment at all the cheering and even catcalls that they were getting from the crowd as Yoshida stepped off the altar, at which point Kusa smirked at Futaba and spoke up.

"Ready for the next part of the wedding?" Kusa asked as Futaba nodded, holding still as Kusa leaned down to slowly remove the garter from her right leg as she lifted up the bouquet and called all the taken women (or those who are considered the 'women' in the relationship), or Sumire, Sophia, Makoto, Hifumi, Haru, Sae, Mitsuru, Labrys, Shiho, Nanako, and perhaps most surprisingly, Fuuka, up to the altar as she proceeded to toss out the bouquet, which flew towards Sumire but almost missed the mark. Fortunately, Shiho was close by and lightly tipped the bouquet upwards while calling out Sumire's name, making her stick a hand out in confusion, gasping as she felt the bouquet land in said hand. Kusa smirked at his newly minted wife and spoke up.

"Nice. I won't even penalize you for having Shiho step in to save the toss since that wasn't your fault. But back up and let me show you how it's done, Taba." Kusa said as he approached the altar and kept speaking after Futaba stepped aside to wait with the women.

"All right, now that the ladies have had their fun, it's time for the garter toss. So that means I need all the men who are taken, and any females who are considered the 'men' of their relationships, up here." Kusa said as Ren, Morgana, Ryuji, Yusuke, Goro, Zenkichi, Akihiko, Yosuke, Ann, Akane, and even a brown-haired woman Kusa didn't immediately recognize but who he figured was probably a friend of either Yu's group or Mitsuru's came up to the altar, at which point a smugly grinning Kusa took aim and tossed the garter, easily landing it on target, right in the hands of an entirely unsurprised Ren, who had caught it. Ren then spoke up dryly with a frown.

"I see what's going on here, Kusa. You were planning to have me and Sumire be the ones to catch the garter and bouquet all along, weren't you?" Ren asked Kusa, who spoke up with a straight face.

"I can neither confirm nor deny your accusation at this time, Ren. But you know what they say about a couple who catches the bouquet." Kusa said slyly as a blushing Sumire spoke up.

"If I recall correctly, traditions dictate that any couple that does that is usually the next to be wed. Too bad for you, that's unlikely to happen since Ann and Shiho are already engaged to be married." Sumire pointed out as Ann giggled and spoke up.

"Close, but not quite right. Shiho and I DID get married, back in December. But it was a small, private ceremony that only had a few guests. I would have invited you guys, but Shiho's family decided on the guests, unfortunately. Sorry for not being able to invite any of you." Ann said as Shiho smirked and spoke up.

"You say that like we can't have a second wedding and invite everyone to that." Shiho pointed out slyly as Ann spoke up.

"That IS an option, but would your parents agree to it?" Ann said as Shiho spoke up.

"Who knows? But I didn't say they were invited to it, now did I? After all, if they can dictate who I invited to our first wedding, then we can dictate who is invited to the second. And since they excluded our friends from the first wedding, we can exclude them from the second, since fair is fair." Shiho said as Sojiro smirked and spoke up.

"Well said, Shiho. But I think we were getting to the part where we head for the reception for the newlyweds, yeah?" Sojiro said as his question was met with a chorus of cheers. After that, everyone made their way to the reception hall, where the feast was already laid out. After everyone got a seat at the table, with all of the couples sitting together, and the newlyweds seated at the head of the table, Goro seated to Kusa's left as the best man and Haru to Futaba's right as the maid of honor, Goro then spoke up after everyone had helped themselves to the feast.

"Right. Now that we've all partaken of this most excellent spread, it's my job as the best man to give a speech about the newlyweds, and I intend to do just that. So if you could all listen up, that would be great." Goro said as everyone present gave him their attention, making him smile as he spoke up.

"Thank you. Now, to start, I will freely admit that I didn't have the best relationship with either Kusa or Futaba at first, especially since I was initially an enemy of sorts to them when they first met me. It was only late in the Phantom Thieves' first run that things changed for me. You see, I found myself in the position of having to face them once, and I didn't fare that well against them. Granted, I only lost because they teamed up against me. I was able to hold my own against them one-on-one, as I demonstrated when I defeated Kusa, better known as Draconis, in single combat and took him out of action after disarming him.

However, what I thought was my hubris in blasting him backwards to the room behind him instead ended up being my salvation. This is because if I hadn't done what I did, there's a very good chance I could've met my end that day as a result of a cruel and deadly trap that Shido-san, the person whom the Phantom Thieves were targeting at the time, laid out for all of us. As it turns out, he had a very interesting history with both Draconis and Ren, the latter being known as Joker at the time, and even being revealed to be the former's biological father. In the end, Draconis saved me from a clone of myself that Shido-san had sent after the Phantom Thieves.

Needless to say, my original intent was to try and sacrifice myself to take the clone down with me. The reason why is that based on what I've seen in most movies, if one kills a version of themselves, they usually also kill themselves as a result. So at the time, I was hoping the reverse would be true. However, I failed to account for Draconis putting his hatred of me aside to show up and save me at the last moment by deflecting the other me's bullet with a throwing knife. After he and I disposed of the other me, we relocated elsewhere to air our differences out.

What happened instead was the two of us fighting it out, with Draconis managing to force a draw against me, even though he actually defeated me fair and square. Draconis insisted afterwards that we could call it a draw because he's just that kind. Once we got to talking, we realized we had more in common than either one of us wanted to admit and decided to call a truce of sorts. However, before we could formalize said truce, we ended up getting jumped by another ambush.

Being the selfless fool he tends to be, Draconis proceeded to give himself up to buy me time to escape. I didn't want to leave him, but he made a valid point that the Thieves were likelier to come back for him than for me. Thus, I had to grit my teeth and leave against my better judgment, leaving Draconis to be captured and taken prisoner. Needless to say, I went back for him later, and I ended up finding out that the place he'd been captured in was a specialized lab of sorts, belonging to someone he and Joker had called a friend at the time: Takuto Maruki. In the end, it took all of the Phantom Thieves working together to not only rescue Draconis, but also to stop Maruki's insane plans to rewrite reality with what he perceived to be the ideal reality of the masses.

Before anyone asks, the reason I bring this up is that, as I said before, Kusa and Draconis are one and the same. Thus, this means that Kusa has a very strong and unimpeachable character that doesn't leave anyone behind. As such, I foresee that he will be nothing if not diligent about ensuring his new wife is as happy and loved as he can make her. In that spirit, I invite anyone who wants to do so to join me in raising their glass in a toast for the newlyweds! To a long and prosperous marriage for Kusa and Futaba!" Goro said as he raised his glass, nearly everyone else who could raise a glass also doing so amid a hearty chorus of 'HEAR! HEAR!' and embarrassed blushes on Kusa and Futaba's faces as the former spoke up.

"Yes, well, I can't fault Goro for being eager to do his job. However, what he left out of his story is that Goro is also a Phantom Thief. He is the illustrious and glorious thief known simply as Crow. And Goro, for his part, has had a pretty rough life. His father, or rather our father, wanted nothing to do with Goro. What's worse is that when Goro did catch up to our father, that asshole merely used him as a pawn to further his own agenda, with no concern for the consequences of him doing so would have on Goro's life.

And as Goro's half-brother, I couldn't abide what our father was doing. So I stepped in and offered Goro the hand of friendship, even if I had not had the highest opinion of him prior to that, since I may at the time have found his public persona and stage presence rather off-putting and frankly irritating. But since then, he and I have had an honest talk, and we were able to make peace with each other and move on from our past transgressions. After all, I've always been a man who believes that family shouldn't be at odds with one another. Family should stick together no matter what, in both the good times and the bad.

It was this same line of thinking that made me choose Goro to be my best man, even though Ren is also my brother and would have made just as good a choice for that same position. However, my belief is that, with all apologies to Goro, I feel that more people are apt to make Ren their best man than they are to Goro. And I feel that my other brother shouldn't be disrespected in such a way.

So I'd like to take this chance to thank Goro for everything he's done for not only me, but for the rest of our friends over the past few years. If you'll all humor me, let us raise our glasses as we toast my older half-brother. To Goro's good health and prosperous future!" Kusa said, and just like when Goro had asked for a toast, the toast was met with a rousing chorus of 'HEAR! HEAR!' as the majority of the hall toasted Goro. Once the cheers had died down, Yu looked towards Kusa and spoke up.

"Would it be inappropriate if I asked for everyone's attention so Rise and I can make an announcement?" Yu asked as Kusa smiled and spoke up.

"Not at all. The floor is yours, Yu." Kusa said as Yu thanked Kusa before offering Rise his hand and helping her to her feet as he spoke up.

"If I can have everyone's attention? Sorry to usurp the reception a bit, but Rise and I have a bit of an exciting announcement. We found out about this a while back, but we had to wait until recently to have it confirmed by Rise's doctor. Anyways, to make a long story short, Rise and I are going to be parents." Yu said as several people in the room (most notably Yosuke, Chie, Nanako, Ryuji, and even Sojiro) did spit-takes at this reveal before Chie spoke up.

"Wait, so you're saying that Rise is-?" Chie said as Rise nodded and spoke up.

"Yup. I have been pregnant for over five months now. And judging from a glance at a certain other woman in this room, I don't think I'm the only one here who is pregnant. However, I won't say who it is out of respect for the other woman's privacy. But yes, Yu and I are expecting our first child." Rise said as literally the entire Investigation Team took turns congratulating Rise while Yosuke, Kanji, and even Teddie took turns thumping Yu on the back in a congratulatory manner, Kanji joking about Yu breaking out the cigars and earning an unimpressed glare from Naoto for his attempt at humor.

After that, the rest of the gathered crowd congratulated Yu and Rise as the rest of the feast went by uneventfully, though both Shinichi and Minako did shoot a discreet glance at Sumire after Rise's remark about another woman potentially also being pregnant, both noting that Sumire did look a bit queasy. Not only that, but if Shinichi didn't know better, he'd say Sumire was slightly glowing. However, he said nothing, trusting Sumire to tell him and Minako the truth when she was ready.

Near the end of the feast, Ichinose managed to finish her meal and quietly excused herself to go out a side entrance by herself. Unbeknownst to her, Sojiro happened to look up in time to see Ichinose sneak off. After he finished his meal, Sojiro got up and headed out the same way that Ichinose had headed, unaware of Maruki and Mishima noticing his departure, the latter looking at the former as he spoke up.

"Were we both losing it just now, or did we just see that woman sneak out of the wedding only for Sakura the elder to follow her out? You saw that too, right Doc?" Mishima asked Maruki, who nodded and spoke up.

"You're correct, Mishima-kun. I saw it too. And normally I would elect myself to see what's the matter since I actually knew that woman. However, I think we can trust Sakura-san the elder to handle things in that regard. Let's not draw any further attention to it, shall we?" Maruki asked as Mishima nodded his understanding before turning his attention back to Maiko, who was currently giggling at some funny joke or story that Akane and Nanako, who'd happened to be seated near her, were telling.

Back with Sojiro, after he looked around for a little bit to try and find where Ichinose had slipped off to, he eventually wound up finding her standing on a little mini-balcony off the side of the church, seemingly looking out at the sky as the sun was setting. As he got close enough, he heard Ichinose mutter what sounded suspiciously like 'do I REALLY belong at a gathering like this?' to herself, making Sojiro frown as he approached Ichinose and spoke up after standing next to her, resisting the urge to gently pat her on the shoulder comfortingly.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ichinose-san?" Sojiro asked, making Ichinose quietly gasp in surprise before turning to face Sojiro and blushing in embarrassment as she spoke up sheepishly.

"How is it that I keep having guys sneak up on me when I'm lost in thought? First it was Maruki-san last summer, now it's you. Err, ignore that I said that, Sakura-san the elder. I believe you asked what I was thinking about in a very roundabout way, did you not? Basically, I was just wondering to myself if I really had any business being at a party like this after what I did to most of the people in attendance. More specifically, the groom, the groom's brother, the girl who'll probably be the groom's sister-in-law eventually, and even the girl who, for all intents and purposes, is probably as good as a niece to the groom.

Because I'm honestly still amazed to this day that they don't hold more of a grudge against me for what I did, and really that applies to you too since you were part of the group for that, Sakura-san the elder. Or do you think I'm just overthinking things?" Ichinose asked, being surprised when Sojiro lightly chuckled and spoke up after standing next to her.

"You want my honest opinion? I think that, like myself, you're a flawed person who's made their share of mistakes that they regret. Yes, what you did to Kusa, Ren, Sumire, and Sophia was pretty messed up, to say nothing of how you betrayed the rest of our group. But most of us realize you were under extreme circumstances to do what you did. And as you yourself pointed out, we've all forgiven you already for what you did. But I can see that you still feel guilty for it. So the best I can really tell you here is to try and learn to forgive yourself. And if it makes you feel any better, I can understand how you feel. After all, I also once did things I regretted, even if they weren't nearly as severe as what you did." Sojiro said as Ichinose blinked at this and spoke up.

"Oh? You've also done things you weren't proud of, Sakura-san the elder?" Ichinose asked as Sojiro chuckled and nodded before he spoke up again.

"Correct. You see, I didn't always get along with Ren or Kusa as well as I do now, Ren moreso than Kusa. When they were first sent to live with me for a year a few years back, I was a straight-up jerk to them. I made them share an attic in the cafe I own, only gave them a sofa and a bed that barely counted as a bed to lay on given its lack of sheets, and even made them clean up the stuff that was up there since the room I gave them had been little more than a storage room before I let them live in it.

Not only that, but I spent most of the first half of that year basically assuming the worst of Ren and talking down to him. It wasn't until Ren and Kusa worked together with their friends to coax Futaba out of her shell and get her to start being outgoing and sociable again that I finally started to warm up to Ren. I warmed to Kusa a fair bit quicker since I could tell he was a good kid. But I'm ashamed to say that I was pretty rude and mean to Ren for most of the first half of his time in Yongen-Jaya.

And then on top of that, I also made the mistake of causing Futaba to feel like I didn't want her around because I was trying to be concerned for her after her uncle started sniffing around to look for inheritance money that he was supposed to get for taking in Futaba. But because I tried to imply I might not be the safest place for her to live, Futaba got rightly offended and upset due to my words. Fortunately for me, Kusa stepped in and was able to calm her down after comforting her." Sojiro said as Ichinose chuckled and spoke up.

"I see. Sounds to me like even back then, Kusa was very committed to your daughter even before he fell hopelessly in love with her, despite not having admitted it to himself right away. But at least you were able to patch things up with Futaba before you did anything too irrevocable. As for me, I basically took Sophia, the 'girl' I created, and what one would say is the closest thing I'll probably have to a child, and used her as a pawn to the point of trying to turn her against her friends, let alone going so far as to try to get her to kill them for me. Luckily for you guys, Ren and Sumire were able to get through to her and snap her out of that mostly. However, I did NOT expect her to throw herself into an abyss to ensure she couldn't carry out the command I gave her." Ichinose said as Sojiro nodded and spoke up.

"True. But I could tell after we stopped you and changed your heart that you were genuinely remorseful for what you did. Besides, it's not your fault that you had those who were supposed to comfort and reassure you instead say mean and hurtful things to you, thereby driving you to act like you didn't have a heart to escape being hurt. If you think about it, you had it almost as rough as Futaba did.

However, the only difference between you two is that while you were driven to try and convince yourself you had no heart in an effort to not feel the pain of what everyone was saying about you, Futaba was literally thrown from house to house where no one cared about her. And don't get me started on what happened when Futaba was at her previous foster home with her uncle, since that was the equivalent of hell. That guy not only refused to feed her, he wouldn't let her bathe and even made her sleep on the floor!" Sojiro said as Ichinose gasped in shock at hearing what Futaba had gone through and spoke up.

"I...I had no idea that Futaba had such a rough childhood! I am so sorry to hear that, Sakura-san the elder." Ichinose said as Sojiro smiled and spoke up.

"It's alright. I was just glad to get Futaba out of there before it got any worse. But getting back on topic? Like with you, Futaba had people who were supposed to be there for her but ended up saying hurtful things about her that drove her to harmful behavior. In her case though, she just shut herself in her room and wouldn't come out except to use the bathroom or put her dishes away. And if not for me sending Kusa over to get stuff for the cafe, thus enabling him to have his chance encounter with Futaba that led to the chain of events of her slowly easing herself out of her shell along with starting to go outside again, I think she might still be doing that to this day.

Fortunately for both myself and her, thanks to Kusa, Futaba managed to overcome her pain and suffering and even started living again. She's even going out and getting married, as we saw today. So if she can overcome her pain and suffering, then I believe you can do the same, Ichinose-san. However, my belief in you won't mean much if you don't believe in yourself and try to forgive yourself for your past actions." Sojiro said as Ichinose blinked at Sojiro's honesty before shyly smiling at him as she spoke up.

"R-Really? You believe in me, Sakura-san?" Ichinose asked as Sojiro nodded and spoke up, surprising Ichinose when he gently took her hand in his and gave it a light, comforting squeeze as he spoke up with a genuine smile that Ichinose hadn't seen on Sojiro's face before, but that she found herself quite impressed with.

"I do. You've made mistakes, but so have we all. And I can see you're serious about wanting to make up for them. But you're not going to be able to do that if you go around beating yourself up. And you don't have to keep referring to me as 'Sakura-san', let alone 'Sakura-san the elder', unless you're comfortable doing so. I don't mind if you refer to me as 'Sojiro' on occasion, but I understand if you're not comfortable referring to me by my first name, Ichinose-san." Sojiro said to Ichinose, whose cheeks pinked slightly in embarrassment as she spoke up, though Sojiro was unsure if the embarrassment was due to his taking her hand in his own to give it a comforting/reassuring squeeze, or if it was the way he was looking at her.

"I don't mind calling you by your name if that's what you want me to do, Sojiro. But if I do, it's only fair that I extend the same courtesy and allow you to call me Kuon if you want." Ichinose said as Sojiro smiled and spoke up.

"That's fine with me. After all, Kuon is a pretty name. Not a common name, but definitely a pretty one. So I'm more than willing to call you by your name if that's what you want, Kuon." Sojiro said as Ichinose smiled and spoke up.

"I see. Thank you, Sojiro." Ichinose said as Sojiro blinked and spoke up.

"Oh? You're thanking me, Kuon?" Sojiro asked as Kuon nodded and spoke up, looking away so Sojiro wouldn't see the faint hints of a blush on her face as she spoke.

"Yes. For starters, you believed in me when few others could not. Sure, the rest of the Phantom Thieves also believed in me, but you were one of the only ones to seek me out and comfort me. And I don't think there are enough words for me to appropriately express how much that means to me. But you're right. I do need to learn to forgive myself. And I think as the first step in that process, I might take Kirijo-san up on her offer to work for her group in an analytical capacity.

Apparently, your daughter and Kujikawa-san were so impressed by my tech skills, not to mention Yamagishi-san, that they recommended me to Kirijo-san for a spot in her Shadow Operatives group. And that's not even mentioning how impressed both Kirijo-san and Yamagishi-san were when we worked together alongside Futaba to give Sophia, Aigis-san, and Labrys-san human bodies." Ichinose said as Sojiro smiled at Ichinose and spoke up.

"And they're not wrong. You forget, I was there when you helped Futaba hack into EMMA to send out that last calling card. And you have some genuine talent with a computer. So they would be fools not to have approached you to join their group. To be honest, if that's what you want to do, then I support your choice wholeheartedly. Just as long as you keep learning to love yourself more. I know you might not think so due to how you were treated in recent years, but you really are an amazing person. You just lost your way for a bit, that's all. But I believe you're making strides to find yourself again. And if there's any way I can help with that, don't be shy about telling me." Sojiro said before shocking Ichinose as he gently pulled her into a hug, making her blink as she felt her cheeks heat up from the sudden close proximity to Sojiro, leading her to speak up in surprise.

"Why'd you hug me, Sojiro? Not that I mind, because it feels really nice. But I wasn't expecting it." Ichinose said as Sojiro chuckled and spoke up.

"That's easy. We're friends, aren't we? And if there's one thing I learned from having Ren and Kusa living in the attic of Leblanc for a year, or longer in Kusa's case, it's that friends always have one another's backs and try to pick them up as needed. Of course, he might have said 'family' and/or 'those one cares about', but the sentiment is the same. Unless you're not comfortable with us being friends, that is?" Sojiro said as Ichinose shyly smiled and spoke up.

"N-No, I'm fine with us being friends, Sojiro. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. And to be honest? Your hugs are really nice. I wasn't expecting them to be so almost comforting and reassuring." Ichinose said, before blushing in embarrassment at her own honesty as Sojiro laughed and spoke up.

"That's all right. I don't mind that you feel that way, Kuon. As long as I'm not making you uncomfortable, then I consider what I'm doing to be a win of sorts if it makes you feel better." Sojiro said as Ichinose smiled softly and spoke up.

"I won't deny that you are making me feel better, Sojiro. I have to say though, I'm impressed that you can put up with me after what I did. Especially since I basically hurt a lot of people close to you, and even you yourself at one point with what I did to Sophia. I'm honestly impressed you can forgive me for that so easily." Ichinose said as Sojiro spoke up.

"That's because I'm not the type of man that holds grudges. And not only that, but I can tell you feel genuinely remorseful for it. So I see no reason to hate you for what you did. Also, I feel like it'd be a waste to hate a lady, especially a smart and talented lady like yourself." Sojiro said as Ichinose blushed and spoke up shyly.

"Oh, stop it. I'm not that talented. And I half-thought you were about to say I'm pretty or something like that, Sojiro." Ichinose said as Sojiro smirked slyly and spoke up.

"Well, I wasn't trying to overwhelm you too soon, but you are rather cute, Kuon. But again, I'm not trying to hit on you before you're ready for it, much less receptive to it. And I feel like that would be moving kinda fast to try and woo you so soon after getting you to be my friend. I might be a bit of a ladies' man, but I do know when to pull back and take things slow. After all, I was raised to have a very healthy respect and appreciation for women of all sorts." Sojiro said honestly, making Ichinose turn away so Sojiro wouldn't see how red her face was from his words as she spoke up.

"Th-Thank you. But maybe let's hold off on any serious flirting for now, yeah? Wouldn't want someone to come out looking for us and have a heart attack if they saw you putting the moves on me, as I believe that saying goes? But between us, I find it slightly endearing that you're so kind and understanding, Sojiro." Ichinose said as Sojiro nodded, smiling as he gently put an arm around Kuon, making her blush as she felt her heart beat slightly faster from Sojiro's gesture. However, she said nothing as she let Sojiro gently pull her close as she looked up at the sky, allowing herself to take in the view of the setting sun with Sojiro...

(A short time later, back in the reception venue, with Ren and Sumire)

A bit later on, sometime after the feast, most of the couples took to the dance floor to celebrate the newlyweds. However, Ren looked over and noticed that Sumire looked a bit queasy, prompting him to walk over to her and speak up.

"Hey, are you all right, beautiful?" Ren asked Sumire, who smiled as she nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Incidentally, can we go outside for some air? I think that might help me a bit." Sumire said as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"Sure thing. After you." Ren said as he offered Sumire his arm, which she took as the two headed outside and had a seat on a nearby bench, where they looked up at the starry night sky as Sumire sat next to Ren and spoke up.

"Wow. Look at how pretty that sky looks tonight, Ren." Sumire said as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"You're right, Sumi. That is a pretty sky. Reminds me of when we looked up at the starry sky on that fateful Christmas Eve back in 2016. Y'know, the one where we saved the world after I literally shot a god in the face with a gun that was the size of a freaking ballista with a demon lord at my side?" Ren said as Sumire giggled and spoke up.

"I know what you're alluding to, Ren. And to be fair, I thought you looked incredibly sexy that day when you took charge and put Yaldabaoth in his place. To be honest with you, we've had a pretty hard road getting here, but I wouldn't change a thing about what we've been through thus far. After all, who's to say we'd be where we are now if we changed anything? And while we had a lot of hardship and misery, we also had a lot of fond times and happy memories, like our time with Sophia last summer. She might not say so, but I know that was some of the most cherished times of her life." Sumire said as Ren nodded and spoke up.

"Agreed. And look at her now. Sporting a physical human body, dating Morgana, and even being able to choose her own path in life. I know you're as proud of her as I am." Ren said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"I really am. Actually, speaking of Sophia? It's a good thing we did have that experience with being parents for her over the summer of last year, since it might or might not end up coming in handy for the both of us here in the not-too-distant future." Sumire said as Ren blinked at this before his eyes got comically wide as he realized what Sumire was trying to say.

"Wait a minute! Sumire, are you trying to say that you're-!?" Ren said, before blushing as he found himself silenced by Sumire putting a finger to his lips as she spoke up.

"Ren? Keep it down! And yes, I am indeed pregnant. But we can discuss that matter once we're back at home. For now, this night is about your brother, your new sister-in-law, and their wedding. I'm not about to take their thunder, much less Yu and Rise's thunder, in such a way. We can always tell the others our news later. For now, let's just enjoy the knowledge that we're going to be parents, yeah?" Sumire said as Ren nodded and spoke up after gently patting Sumire's stomach, making her blush at how gently Ren was comforting both her and the life that was preparing to be cultivated inside of her while he spoke.

"As you wish, Sumi. As long as you're happy, then I am too. And I'm going to make you a promise, here and now. No matter what happens going forward, you will not have to go through it alone. I swear to be by your side every step of the way as much as you'll let me. After all, that's my job as your boyfriend. Furthermore, I vow to be here as best as I can for our child, whenever he or she comes along." Ren said as Sumire smiled and spoke up.

"Thank you, Ren. I have no doubt you'll be a good father once the time comes. And with that being said, I want you to know that I love you so much." Sumire said as Ren smiled and spoke up.

"Heh, I look forward to being a dad with you, beautiful. Also, I love you too, Sumire." Ren said as Sumire spoke up slyly.

"I know. Now shut up and kiss me, Senpai." Sumire said as Ren nodded, gently pulling Sumire into a kiss as the two looked up at the night sky, both rejoicing the onset of the newborn marriage of Kusa and Futaba, and even eagerly looking forward to the eventual onset of their own little family...

(Character Endings/Epilogues Start. **SPOILER ALERTS FOR PERSONA 5 ROYAL AND STRIKERS AHEAD! READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK IF YOU'VE NOT PLAYED PERSONA 5 ROYAL AND/OR STRIKERS, OR SKIPPED TO THE ENDING OF THIS STORY WITHOUT READING THE REST OF IT AND/OR THE FIRST PHANTOM FILES! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! SPOILERS START NOW!**)

FOOL 1: Yaldabaoth (The Igor-Impersonating God Of Control) - Vanquished after losing to the Phantom Thieves in battle following the awakening of Satanael by Joker, thus proving the words of the true Igor right that the Trickster would triumph in the end, much to Yaldabaoth's derision, given his last words were as follows: 'Damn that Igor to hell! It seems he wasn't spouting nonsense after all.'

FOOL 2: Yu/Ronin (The Iron-Willed Hero) - Ends up settling down with Rise and moving in with her after Rise's grandmother retires and leaves Yu and Rise to run Marukyu Tofu, so Rise can enjoy her idol career, even if it briefly gets paused while Rise has their daughter, Aurora Lyn Narukami. Yu also earned a position as a police detective for the Inaba Police Department alongside having Chie as his partner not too long after moving in with Rise, after his uncle Ryotaro stepped down to spend more time with his family. Eventually, Yu agrees to merge the Investigation Team with the Shadow Operatives at Mitsuru's request.

MAGICIAN 1: Morgana/Mona (The Gentlemanly Cat-Boy Thief) - Eventually settles into a cozy life helping Kusa and Sojiro run Leblanc, while also enjoying a happy relationship with Sophia after convincing the latter to move in with him, having gotten Ren and Sumire's blessings to do so beforehand. Eventually takes over Kusa's room in the attic of Leblanc after he moves in with Futaba following their wedding. Despite their attempts to do so, Morgana and Sophia are devastated, if largely unsurprised, to find out that their statuses of being a former cat and AI respectively, make them incapable of having children. When they bring this to Ren and Kusa's attention, the former jokingly suggests adopting, only for the latter to point out that they'd have a hard time convincing an adoption agency to let them adopt, since one of them literally used to be a cat and the other was previously an AI. Morgana ignored the mention of his former state of being a cat to grudgingly acknowledge that it was unlikely that children would be in his and Sophia's future, to reluctant agreement from both Sumire and Sophia. Despite this, Morgana and Sophia still have a pretty nice life with one another.

MAGICIAN 2: Akane/Auburn (The Phanatic Lady Magician) - Graduates from Kyoto High with honors and enjoys a loving relationship with her girlfriend Nanako, eventually moving to Inaba with the blessings of both her father and Nanako's to live close to her girlfriend. About a year after Kusa and Futaba's wedding, Akane adopts a little boy who she and Nanako find wandering around alone in a back alley of Inaba, and after discovering the boy's name on his birth certificate that Nanako's father found, the two decide to call him Hunter Zen Hasegawa. Alongside being there for Nanako and their newly adopted son, as well as proposing to and marrying Nanako four years after Kusa and Futaba's wedding, Akane still does livestreams for her fans every now and then on the Phantom Thieves while maintaining her and the others' secret identities as a side job, while also taking up a career as a news reporter after Marie helps her get a job at a news station in Inaba using her connections from her brief stint as a weather girl.

MAGICIAN 3: Yosuke/Shinobi (The Corporate Son And Best Bro) - Settles down with Labrys after his father unexpectedly retires and names him to his old position as executive manager of the Inaba branch of Junes, allowing Yosuke to move Labrys in with him after the two get married and have a little boy that they end up naming Axel Sasuke Hanamura, named for one of Yosuke's favorite video game characters (despite his claims to the contrary), as well as his own father.

MAGICIAN 4: Junpei (The Bat-Slinging Slugger) - Eventually resumes his old profession of coaching little-league baseball to set himself up to make a run at being in pro baseball, which ended very quickly due to Junpei not being able to hit a single run his entire first season, leaving him without a team and with plenty of time to focus on his job coaching little league. Junpei later ends up reuniting with and eventually marrying his crush and later girlfriend, Chidori Yoshino.

PRIESTESS 1: Makoto/Queen (The Biker Fist Of Justice) - Briefly moves in with Ryuji for a time after graduating college. After Sae moves in with Zenkichi, Makoto and Ryuji move into the house that the Niijima sisters had previously shared, with Makoto putting a good amount of her focus into her ambitions of becoming a police officer. Shortly after Makoto gets a provisional spot in the Yongen-Jaya Police Department (due in part to a subtle recommendation from Sae, Zenkichi, and even Kaburagi, the latter of whom used the fact that Public Security has occasional dealings with the police to basically act as a secondary reference for Makoto), Ryuji surprises Makoto by proposing to her, which she accepts, marrying Ryuji. The two eventually give birth to a healthy and beautiful baby girl, whom Makoto and Ryuji elect to name Erika Grace Sakamoto, with their daughter's first name being a nod to Makoto's late mother Erika, who died when Makoto was fairly young, and her middle name being a nod to Ryuji's mother, Grace.

PRIESTESS 2: Yukiko (The Ebony-Haired Fan-Wielding Heiress) - Settles into life as the new manager of the Amagi Inn after finishing college and eventually falls in love with one of her co-workers, whom she eventually marries. Nanako quickly takes to Yukiko's husband as a pseudo-older brother of sorts, much to Yukiko's amusement. Yukiko eventually has twin children, both boys. Yukiko names the elder of the twins Ryuroni Akira Kusanagi and the younger twin Kanjito Nao Amagi, the elder being named for both her father (Akira) and her husband's late grandfather (Ryuroni), and the younger being named for two of her close friends in both Kanji and Naoto, whom she surprises by naming them godparents to the twins.

PRIESTESS 3: Fuuka/Fae (The Soft-Spoken Tech Queen) - Gets through college and graduates while still maintaining her position in the Shadow Operatives, after which she ends up moving in with her girlfriend Kotone Arisato, who then proposes to her, which Fuuka accepts, leading to a long and happy marriage for Fuuka and Kotone, who eventually become well-known members of the Shadow Operatives together. After a few years of being married, Fuuka and Kotone end up adopting a baby boy who hasn't been named yet, leading the two to name the child Minato Jun Arisato, basing his first name on Kotone's late twin brother and the former field leader of S.E.E.S, and the middle name on Junpei, whom Fuuka names the godfather of little Minato, while naming a shocked but honored Chidori the godmother.

EMPRESS 1: Haru/Noir (The Axe-Wielding Sadomasochist Heiress) - Invites Goro to move in with her, which he does. Haru eventually marries Goro a few years after Kusa and Futaba's wedding, and the two end up giving birth to two children together, a boy and a girl. Haru and Goro name their son Masayo Goro Okumura after both his grandfather Shido and his father Goro, while they name their daughter Kunika Yami Okumura after both Haru's late father Kunikazu and Goro's late mother Yamielle. Despite Haru's half-hearted protests, Goro also lets himself take on the Okumura name upon his marriage to Haru along with his and Haru's children, largely out of guilt for his part in the death of Haru's father during his stint as the Black Mask, and the fact that Goro felt like he owed it to the late Kunikazu to keep the Okumura bloodline alive and well, not really being worried about the Shido line. Haru eventually opens up her own cafe chain with Goro's help, and the two of them run it together while also juggling their family and Goro's job as a PubSec agent.

EMPRESS 2: Mitsuru (The Imperious Queen Of Icy Executions) - Enjoys a long tenure as the head of both the Kirijo Group and the Shadow Operatives. Eventually, Mitsuru settles down with Akihiko, whom she eventually marries. After a time, Mitsuru and Akihiko are even fortunate enough to become the parents of two children, one boy and one girl. Mitsuru names the boy Takeharu Shinjiro Sanada, after her late father and one of the two fallen members of S.E.E.S (before it was the Shadow Operatives), and the girl Artemisia Kikuno Kirijo, after her Persona and her right-hand maid Kikuno Saikawa, whom she also names as the godmother of her children. To the surprise of most of the Shadow Operatives, Mitsuru names a surprised, yet honored, Junpei the godfather of her children. Eventually, Mitsuru delegates most of her duties to Akihiko, who gradually takes over her spot as the head of the Kirijo Group so Mitsuru can be a loving and supportive mother to her children while also serving in an advisory/consultation-type role.

EMPEROR 1: Yusuke/Fox (The Artistic Kitsune Samurai) - Moves in with Hifumi after she wins a few shogi tournaments and makes it big enough to support them both. Eventually, Yusuke proposes to Hifumi and marries her, having a little girl with her whom they name Sayuri Suyo Kitagawa, which is derived from both the 'Sayuri' painting that Yusuke's late mother did, much to Yusuke's happiness, as well as Hifumi's mother, Mitsuyo. Yusuke also eventually manages to finally make it big as an artist, becoming a household name to rival his former sensei, Madarame.

EMPEROR 2: Kanji (The Kind-Hearted And Homely Brawler) - Settles down with Naoto and takes up the job of running Tatsumi Textiles full-time after his mother settles into a quiet, yet well-earned, retirement. Eventually, Kanji has a son with Naoto who is named Ryotaro Yosu Tatsumi, and later a daughter named Sakiya Nanako Shirogane, the former being named after Naoto's one-time coworker from the Inaba Police Department Ryotaro Dojima, who is also Yu's uncle and Nanako's father, as well as for Yosuke, whom Kanji names the godfather of his son, and the latter being named for both Kanji's mother (and to a lesser extent Yosuke's one-time crush, Saki Konishi) and for Nanako, the latter of whom is eventually named godmother to Kanji and Naoto's children while Yosuke is shocked to be named the godfather. While Naoto guides Ryotaro into following in her footsteps as a detective, Kanji raises Sakiya to eventually help him out around the textile shop.

HIEROPHANT: Sojiro/Pendragon (The Bearded Ladies' Man Barista) - Eventually entrusts the management of Leblanc to Kusa, Futaba, and Morgana, settling into a quiet retirement, where he is joined by his eventual wife, one Kuon Ichinose (which came as a real surprise to the rest of the Phantom Thieves when they announced their engagement four years after Kusa and Futaba's wedding). Sojiro became a loving grandfather to Kusa and Futaba's twin children when they came along about two and a half years after their wedding, a boy and a girl who were named Soji Taichi Amamiya and Wakaba Marie Isshiki, as well as the other little girl who came along about three years after Soji and Wakaba's birth, whom Kusa and Futaba named Hifumi Rose Amamiya, in order to keep both the Amamiya and Isshiki lines going.

APOSTLE: Zenkichi/Wolf (The Family-Man Desperado) - Eventually settles down with Sae and marries her after Akane moves out of the house to live with her girlfriend following her graduation. After being heartbroken to find out that a complication from his line of work had made him incapable of conceiving any further children, Zenkichi and Sae eventually adopt a baby girl they find abandoned in a back alley in Inaba while in the area visiting Akane and Nanako, naming the baby girl Marisa Sae Hasegawa since Marisa was what was listed as her first name on her birth certificate once Ryotaro helped them identify the girl. Eventually, Zenkichi was promoted to the rank of 'Commissioner' alongside having Goro accept an offer from him to become his partner, after Zenkichi's boss Miyako Kaburagi gets her long-coveted promotion to 'Senior Commissioner', and later 'Commissioner General', ultimately giving his old rank of Inspector to a shocked but honored Naoto.

LOVERS 1: Ann/Panther (The Red-Hot Model) - Moves in with Shiho about six months after Kusa and Futaba's wedding, and the two eventually adopt a baby girl named Lumine Yuki Takamaki together, whom they agree to raise as a Takamaki after Shiho's parents end up disowning her in a fit of homophobic disgust, much to Shiho's despair. However, Ann eventually cheers her up by telling her that she could be a Takamaki since she was her wife, which Shiho happily agrees to. Ann then starts throwing herself into her modeling, wanting to have a legacy to show off to her daughter someday.

LOVERS 2: Rise/Diva (The Sexy Superstar Idol) - Lives with Yu after he moved in with her as the two now run Marukyu Tofu after Rise's grandmother retires. Rise ended up having a daughter with Yu, whom they named Aurora Lyn Narukami for Rise's grandmother and mother, while also managing to maintain a successful career as a popular idol, despite having to take another small hiatus after her pregnancy became public news. However, she eventually made another comeback after returning from her maternity leave and managed to work with her fellow idol Kanami Mashita to make a name for herself. Rise ends up being a supportive and loving wife to Yu, a beloved Big Sis to Nanako, who surprises Rise when she asks for her help to get into the idol industry after revealing that she's a good singer, which Rise ultimately helps her do while helping to coin Nanako's eventual stage name of 'Nanakai', as well as being a doting mother to little Aurora.

LOVERS 3: Yukari (The Model Actress) - Enjoys a successful career as both a model and an actress, during which Yukari eventually finds herself unexpectedly reunited with Hidetoshi Odagiri, a classmate from her school days, for whom she finds herself inexplicably falling in love during their time together. The two eventually marry and have a daughter together named Sakura Kotone Takeba, who is named after Yukari's best friend and fellow S.E.E.S member Kotone Arisato, whom Yukari shocks by naming her the godmother of her daughter. Yukari eventually settles into living a happy life with her little family while also helping the Shadow Operatives out from time to time.

CHARIOT 1: Ryuji/Skull (The Vulgar Runner With A Heart Of Gold) - Gets back into doing track with Makoto's support, managing to get back into competitive form and win a few meets, using the money to help support his mother, as well as Makoto once he makes her his wife. Eventually, Ryuji has a daughter with Makoto, whom they name Erika Grace Sakamoto as a tribute to both Makoto's late mother and Ryuji's mother.

CHARIOT 2: Chie (The Tomboy Officer) - Enjoys a career with the Inaba Police Department as Ryotaro Dojima's partner, doing her best to lessen her partner's workload so he can spend more time with his daughter, and later his daughter's wife and children. Eventually, Chie takes over Ryotaro's old job after he steps down to spend more time with his family, eventually naming Yu her partner after he moves back to Inaba full-time to live with Rise. Chie later marries Kou Ichijo and has a son with him named Koushiro Yu Satonaka, after both Chie's late father and husband, as well as for Yu, whom Chie names the godfather of her son while naming Rise the godmother.

JUSTICE 1: Goro/Crow (The Jaded Ex-Hitman Agent) - Eventually settles down with Haru after accepting a job offer to become Zenkichi's partner at PubSec, eventually finding himself comfortably adjusting to a part-time position as a Commissioner alongside Zenkichi. After a while, he and Haru have twin children together: a son, whom they name Masayo Goro Okumura for his and Kusa's father, Masayoshi Shido, and a daughter whom they name Kunika Yami Okumura for Haru's late father Kunikazu and Goro's late mother Yamielle. After marrying Haru, Goro abandons the Amamiya name and takes up the Okumura name, largely out of guilt for his part in the death of Haru's late father, Kunikazu Okumura. Goro ends up being a proud father to his children and a loving husband to Haru once they get hitched a few years after Kusa marries Futaba.

JUSTICE 2: Nanako/Seraphim (The Angelic Little Sister) - Ends up settling down and moving in with Akane after the two graduate and the latter moves to Inaba, after which the two become adoptive parents to a little boy whom they decide to call Hunter Zen Hasegawa, whom Nanako and Akane may or may not have rescued from being abandoned in an alley by a certain ex-partner of Nanako's father that Yu and his friends defeated back in 2011, and then later was beaten again by the Phantom Thieves in 2020. Eventually, Nanako accepts Akane's proposal and marries her four years after Kusa and Futaba's wedding. Much to Akane's surprise, Nanako ends up becoming an idol similar to her 'Big Sis', as she calls Rise, eventually managing to get scouted by the same agency that handled both Risette and later Kanamin, much to Rise's surprise and pride, as she'd not once considered that Nanako would want to do the same thing she does. For a time, Nanako and Rise did tours together before the former eventually retired to be a stay-at-home mom, letting Nanako, or 'Nanakai' as she's eventually called as a stage name, become the main focus of the agency following Rise and Kanami's retirement.

JUSTICE 3: Ken (The Resolved Young Warrior) - Eventually becomes a full-fledged Shadow Operative after he graduates from college. Ken takes up the mantle of looking after Koromaru as his unofficial owner after the latter retires from being a Shadow Operative while also eventually meeting a woman while training with Akihiko, a very sweet, if insecure, blonde-haired female friend of Yu's by the name of Ai Ebihara. The two eventually fall in love, get married, and have twin children together, both girls. They name the older twin Yuuko Kiko Amada and the younger twin Mitsuru Akane Ebihara, with the former being named for Ken's late mother as well as for Yukiko, who was surprised but honored to be the elder twin's namesake, and the latter being named for the leader of the Shadow Operatives and for the closest thing Ken feels he has to an older sister in Mitsuru, as well as for Nanako's wife Akane, the former of whom is named godmother to Ken's twin daughters, alongside Akihiko being named the godfather.

HERMIT: Futaba/Oracle (The Ex-Shut In Hacker Extraordinaire) - Marries Kusa and moves him in with her. Eventually gives birth to a pair of twins, one boy and one girl. At Kusa's request, they name the boy Soji Taichi Amamiya, for both of Kusa's main father figures, and at Futaba's request, they name the girl Wakaba Marie Isshiki, for Futaba's late mother, giving her the last name Isshiki to keep the Isshiki line going. Futaba later has a second daughter with Kusa, whom they both decide to name Hifumi Rose Amamiya after Yusuke's girlfriend Hifumi Togo, who Futaba eventually names the godmother of her second daughter. Futaba takes up her mother's research into cognitive pscience while being a loving mother to her children and a supportive wife to Kusa.

FORTUNE 1: Chihaya (The Maiden Of Relief) - Eventually, Chihaya retires from reading fortunes and settles down with Yuichi Fukurai after he seeks her out to apologize for what he did to her four years ago. About a year after she accepts his apology, Chihaya and Fukurai end up getting married in a small, quiet wedding, leading to the two having a happy life together.

FORTUNE 2: Labrys (The Spunky Anti-Shadow Schoolgirl) - Eventually moves in with Yosuke once the two get married after the latter is promoted to executive manager of Junes following his father's sudden retirement. Thanks to the biological bodies that she, Aigis, and Sophia got, Labrys even has a son with Yosuke, whom the two name Axel Sasuke Hanamura, which Yosuke claims is named for the lead singer of one of his favorite bands, Guns N' Roses, though Labrys knows full well that he named Axel for the Organization XIII member of the same name from Kingdom Hearts, which Teddie, Fuuka, and Futaba had gotten him hooked on, along with his middle name being derived from Yosuke's father, Sasuke. Labrys ends up being a loving and supportive wife to Yosuke even while she works with the Shadow Operatives on the side.

FORTUNE 3: Naoto/Gumshoe (The Hard-Boiled Lady Sleuth) - Eventually takes up Zenkichi's old post of Inspector with PubSec after Zenkichi and Goro are promoted to be partners in their former boss's old position of Commissioner after Kaburagi is promoted to Senior Commissioner following her and Zenkichi's successful takedown of Jyun Owada and Akira Konoe. Naoto ends up having two children with Kanji, a son whom the two end up naming Ryotaro Yosu Tatsumi (with the blessings of Nanako's father, who was the child's namesake), whom they raise to follow in his mother's footsteps and become a detective, along with a daughter named Sakiya Nanako Shirogane, who follows in Kanji's footsteps and helps out around Tatsumi Textiles once she's old enough.

STRENGTH 1: Lavenza (The Dual-Threat Velvet Room Attendant) - Lives a quiet life to herself in the Velvet Room under the watchful eye of Igor, as she eventually takes on a few more guests by helping them draw out their true potential in the same way she did with Ren. Lavenza later became known as the guide of Tricksters everywhere.

STRENGTH 2: Koromaru/Buchi (The Knife-Wielding Doggo With A Fiery Will) - Ends up living with Ken and having a very happy and quiet life, settling into a well-earned retirement from the Shadow Operatives four or so years after Kusa and Futaba's wedding, when he shows signs of age catching up to him. Koromaru ended up living a long and prosperous life under the guidance and protection of the Shadow Operatives.

HANGED-MAN: Iwai (The Yakuza Gun Uncle) - Runs his shop until he eventually retires and lets Kaoru take over the shop. After that, Iwai goes into a quiet retirement while helping out Kaoru with the shop from time to time and finally enjoys a peaceful life after so long of having to stress and worry about his former Yakuza status coming back to haunt him.

DEATH: Takemi (The Goth Doctor) - Continues running her practice in Yongen-Jaya while keeping loose contact with Ren. Eventually, Takemi takes on an apprentice in the form of an eager-eyed, brown-haired young man named Keisuke Hiraga, who transferred to Yongen after his graduation from Gekkoukan High in order to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.

TEMPERANCE: Kawakami (The Moonlighting Maid Teacher) - She gives up her maid job and solely becomes a teacher until her retirement around four to five years after the defeat of EMMA. Kawakami keeps loose contact with Ren even after his graduation and continues to work as his maid on occasion, even after retiring from the business. Eventually, Kawakami teaches Sumire how to give Ren massages, and she also accepts a surprise offer from Ren and Sumire to be named the godmother of their third-born child, Minako Rise Amamiya.

DEVIL: Ohya (The Sloshed Reporter) - Finds her former partner Kayo Murakami, reconciles with her, and the two eventually end up in a secret relationship after the latter comes out to Ohya as being a lesbian, shocking Ohya. In the end, Ohya decides to reciprocate Kayo's feelings for her. The two then lead a quiet life together, with Ohya keeping in contact with Ren every now and then.

TOWER: Shinya (The Gamer King) - Eventually makes it big as a pro eSports player in Gun About before retiring after graduating from high school. During his college years, Shinya ends up starting an unlikely relationship with the idol Kanami Mashita, whom he eventually marries and has a happy life with after Kanami retires from the idol scene, allowing Rise to have the spotlight back as she did before Kanami became an idol.

STAR 1: Hifumi (The Shogi Strategist Queen) - Eventually becomes a celebrated Shogi champion after winning a few tournaments in the Women's Pro Shogi League, making a name for herself, as well as becoming even more well-known after she marries Yusuke once he makes it big as an artist. Hifumi ended up having a daughter with Yusuke, whom the two named Sayuri Suyo Kitagawa, with the first name being named for the 'Sayuri' that Yusuke's late mother painted, and the middle name being derived from the name of Hifumi's mother, Mitsuyo. Hifumi becomes a loving mother to her daughter and a supportive wife to Yusuke, who enjoys her lifestyle.

STAR 2: Akihiko/Bruiser (The Protein-Fueled Bear Brawler) - Eventually grows out of his training phase after Mitsuru asks him to marry her, which he agrees to, and the two settle down. The two eventually have a son, whom they name Takeharu Shinjiro Sanada (after Mitsuru takes Akihiko's name when she marries him), and a daughter whom they name Artemisia Kikuno Kirijo, the son being named after both Mitsuru's late father and one of the two fallen members of S.E.E.S, as well as the closest thing Akihiko had to a brother for a long time in Shinjiro, while the daughter is named after Mitsuru's Persona as well as her most trusted maid, whom she names the godmother to her children at Akihiko's suggestion, along with naming Junpei the godfather, much to the shock of most of the other Shadow Operatives.

STAR 3: Teddie (The Bear Shadow Turned Human) - Settles down with Marie, who eventually agrees to marry him. The two eventually try to have children together, only to be shocked when they find out they're incapable of having children naturally. After a while, the two adopt a little boy whom they ultimately name Koroma Ted Hanamura, for both Koromaru and Teddie himself. Teddie eventually resumes his old job as a mascot at the Inaba branch of Junes, though he eventually gets promoted to a managerial position after Yosuke becomes a high-ranking manager of Junes once his father retires. Teddie ends up becoming a loving and supportive husband and father, though he never does outgrow his habit of cracking bear puns, despite all the times that Yosuke, Kanji, and even Marie smack him for cracking puns around them.

MOON: Mishima (The Strategic Image Management Representative PhanSite Mod) - Eventually finishes his autobiography of the Phantom Thieves, which Mishima ironically opts to title said documentary, 'The Phantom Files', with Kusa's help, as well as Ren's. Mishima later marries Maiko Oohashi, and the two have a son whom they choose to name Minato Aki Mishima, who was named after the departed leader of S.E.E.S as well as an old friend of Maiko's in Minato, along with the celebrated boxing legend, Akihiko Sanada. Mishima ended up becoming a celebrated writer who would go on to do many collaborations with Kusa, most of which would end up being received with much acclaim and success.

SUN: Yoshida (The Goated Politician) - Yoshida ends up getting elected to the Diet in 2024 and eventually is named Deputy Vice-Minister after surprisingly refusing a chance to become Prime Minister. He became a celebrated success in the political realm while also having a side job as a celebrated minister who performs weddings after he got his big break officiating the wedding of the Kung-Fu Dragon and his wife. Yoshida later grew to become a well-known household name as well as a dear friend of Ren's.

JUDGEMENT: Sae (The Femme Fatale Defense Lawyer) - Ends up moving in with Zenkichi shortly before Kusa and Futaba's wedding and eventually marries him, much to Akane's approval and delight. However, due to complications from his PubSec work, Zenkichi is disheartened to find out that he is no longer capable of fathering children, but Sae cheers him up by pointing out that they can still adopt. Ironically, not long after that, the two find a little girl abandoned behind a building in Inaba and adopt her. After looking up her info, they find out her name is listed as 'Marisa', and give her the full name of Marisa Sae Hasegawa. Akane was able to accept her new little sister along with Nanako, and Makoto was more than glad to be an aunt to her older sister's new child. Sae also achieves a nice reputation for herself as a reliable and highly successful defense lawyer while also being a mother to little Marisa.

COUNCILLOR: Maruki/Messiah (The Misguided Savior-Complex Therapist) - Eventually gets together with and marries Relena Hiraguchi, and even has a son with her who is named Kusano Sawa Maruki, with the name being derived from Kusa after Maruki asked him to be the godfather out of respect for the way Kusa changed his life for the better back in 2017, and again in 2020 when he extended the hand of friendship after Maruki asked to be allowed into the Phantom Thieves in an effort to make amends for his past misdeeds, along with Kusano's middle name being derived from his friend, Shibusawa. Maruki eventually manages to find success during his second run as a counselor while also being a warm and loving father to Kusano and a supportive husband to Hiraguchi, who names Sumire as the godmother of her son out of respect for their connection as coach and student.

HOPE: Shiho/Flare (The Kind-Hearted Volleyball Star) - Ends up marrying Ann, much to her parents' disdain, and the two later adopt a baby girl named Lumine Yuki Takamaki, whom Shiho and Ann agree to raise together. Shiho enjoys how much Ann picks her up and comforts her after her parents basically disown her and sever their ties with her due to her decision to be a married lesbian. Shiho happily takes the name Takamaki after that, and she is warmly welcomed by Ann's parents, who accept her and Shiho's marriage with open arms, having no issues whatsoever with Ann being bisexual and having a wife. Eventually, Shiho becomes a loving mother to Lumine and a supportive wife to Ann as the latter is busy with her modeling, while also gradually renewing her pursuit of her volleyball aspirations on the side, deciding to stop letting what Kamoshida did to her all those years ago get in the way of her dreams.

FAITH: Sumire/Violet (The Red-Headed Gymnastics Prodigy) - Eventually marries Ren and has twins with him, a boy and a girl. At Sumire's request, she and Ren name their daughter Kasumi Momoe Amamiya, and at Ren's request, they name their son Taichi Goro Amamiya. Sumire's daughter was named after her late aunt, as well as after Ren and Kusa's mother Momoe, while her son ends up being named after Ren's father Taichi, as well as his adoptive older brother Goro, who is also the godfather of Sumire and Ren's children. A few years later, Sumire gives birth to another daughter, whom she and Ren decide to name Minako Rise Amamiya, after both Sumire and Kasumi's mother, as well as Yu's wife Rise, who they name the godmother of both elder kids. As for Minako's godmother, both Sumire and Ren decided to name a surprised but honored Kawakami the godmother of their youngest daughter. Sumire ends up very happy after finally winning a gold medal in the Olympics, after which she retires from competitive gymnastics. About a month later, Ren surprises her at her job coaching youth gymnastics by proposing to her, which she accepts. Sumire ends up being a very doting and affectionate mother to her children and a supportive wife to her husband.

AEON 1: Sophia/Seeker (The Pure Of Heart AI) - Settles down with Morgana after Kusa and Futaba's wedding while embracing her previously self-given directive of being the one to show any future AI that might pop up the proper way of connecting with humans, even though Sophia now has her own human body. The two end up spending a lot of time not only getting to know one another but also strengthening their relationship. After a while, Morgana finally decides to ask Sophia to marry him after seeking out the blessings of Ren and Sumire as Sophia's 'parents', along with Ichinose as Sophia's creator and thus secondary 'mother', to which Sophia happily accepts. Unfortunately for both Sophia and Morgana, they eventually find out that due to their unique situations of previously being a former AI and not-cat respectively, neither of the two is capable of having children naturally. But they choose to revel in the fact that they can theoretically fool around all they want without needing birth control, as well as enjoy a happy life together.

AEON 2: Aigis/Sentinel (The Kindhearted Mechanical Maiden) - Continues working with the Shadow Operatives as a high-ranking operative. After she gets a biological body, Aigis eventually finds herself having a chance encounter with, and falling for, Iwai's son Kaoru while looking for alternative weapons for the Shadow Operatives. When Kaoru finds out that Aigis is an Anti-Shadow Weapon and a robot, he says it doesn't bother him one bit. The two eventually end up in a relationship and later get married, much to the amusement and approval of both Mitsuru and Labrys.

AEON 3: Marie (The Poetess Weather Goddess) - Eventually settles down with Teddie and marries him after he matures a bit and proposes to her. After finding out that she and Teddie were incapable of having children together, the two eventually adopted a baby boy whom they named Koroma Ted Hanamura, which was derived from both Koromaru and Teddie himself. Marie eventually gets her old job back as a weather girl and finds success in that field for a time while also continuing to do poetry on the side. Upon forming a close friendship with Nanako's wife Akane, Marie was able to help land her a job at the news station where she works so Akane could become a news reporter. Eventually, Marie was recruited to the Shadow Operatives alongside the rest of the Investigation Team.

WORLD: Kusa/Draconis (The Battle-Hardened Kung-Fu Dragon) - Marries Futaba and has twin children with her, a boy and a girl. The two decided to name their kids Soji Taichi Amamiya for their son and Wakaba Marie Isshiki for their daughter, with the former being named for the two most prominent father figures Kusa has ever known, and the latter being named for Futaba's late mother and Sojiro's departed crush, along with being a way to keep the Isshiki line alive. A few years later, Kusa and Futaba eventually have another daughter named Hifumi Rose Amamiya, who is named after Yusuke's girlfriend Hifumi, whom Futaba names the godmother of her children, eventually surprising Kusa when she then names Yusuke the godfather. Kusa ended up enjoying a successful career in competitive martial arts before eventually stepping back from the sport to become a martial arts instructor. He later became highly regarded as one of the best martial arts teachers in all of Tokyo, and he even passed his teachings along to several of the Phantom Thieves' children, most notably Ren and Sumire's eldest daughter Kasumi, who seems to take to martial arts naturally and ended up forging a close bond between Kusa and his eldest niece as a result.

And, of course, last but most certainly NOT least...

WILDCARD: Ren/Joker (The Selfless God-Slaying Trickster) - Marries Sumire and has three children with her over the next few years, two girls and one boy, with these three children being named Kasumi Momoe Amamiya, Taichi Goro Amamiya, and Minako Rise Amamiya. Kasumi was named after Sumire's late twin and Ren's mother, Taichi was named after Ren's father and his adoptive older brother Goro, and Minako was named after Sumire's mom and the popular idol Risette. After talking it over, Ren and Sumire decide to name a shocked but pleased Goro the godfather of all three children, a stunned but honored Rise the godmother of both Kasumi and Taichi, along with a surprised but delighted Kawakami the godmother of Minako. After around five to six years of fatherhood, Ren is approached by Yu and Mitsuru to join the Shadow Operatives, which he readily agrees to, provided he's not the only Phantom Thief considered, to which Mitsuru assures him that he's not the only one being approached from the Phantom Thieves. Ren is able to enjoy having a very successful career as a husband, Shadow Operative, and even a semi-retired Phantom Thief. Furthermore, Ren was also able to give Goro the rematch he asked for, and despite Ren coming out of that match as the winner, Goro ended up accepting the loss with good grace.

**END OF SPOILER ALERTS AND THE EPILOGUE BLURBS**

END OF EPILOGUE, AS WELL AS PHANTOM FILES BOOK 2: RISE OF THE MONARCHS

A/N: And here we are, at last! Rise of the Monarchs is officially done and in the books, other than any stray edits that may be made to some of the chapters. But otherwise, here we are at the end of the second Phantom Files story. Feels kinda bittersweet, but at the same time, it's also very satisfying to bring this story to a close. And to those wondering, I do have plans to do one more Phantom Files story at a later point.

However, I'm not sure at this time if it will be a Persona 5 Tactica adaptation, or if I will have it be an original story where I take an attempt at writing up the plot of a potential Persona 5 Arena. I'll probably run a poll in a later story to decide that. But for now, I have another poll up on my profile to decide what story will happen next. Since there are two options on the poll, allow me to break them down in detail now.

Option 1- PERSONA 4: THE GOLDEN APOSTLE (Persona Series): As the name implies, this would be an adaptation of Persona 4 Golden.

Plot: After his parents get sent off the grid for yet another undercover mission (even if he's unaware they're undercover agents on the payroll of a certain infamous and storied group), Yu Narukami finds himself sent out to Inaba for a year to stay with his uncle and cousin, Ryotaro and Nanako Dojima. Unbeknownst to anyone involved, once Yu arrives in Inaba, a murder mystery begins. Not surprisingly, things happen so that Yu is forced to awaken to the power of mysterious beings called 'Personas' to try and solve the mystery. However, he won't have to do it alone. Along the way, he is joined by a group of friends, who eventually refer to themselves as the 'Investigation Team'.

Or so goes the plot of how the canon Persona 4 Golden is supposed to unfold.

But what happens when another character is added to the mix, one who is an older half-brother of Nanako's that resulted from a one-off hookup that Ryotaro took part in at a King's Game party around 10 years before Nanako was born? How will the addition of this extra character change the plot of Persona 4 Golden, especially when he has the stigma of being the last living member of the once-respected and revered, but now feared and despised, Kusanagi yakuza clan? Can Gaignun overcome the stigma around him, as well as the recent tragedies in his life, in order to be useful to the Investigation Team? Ratings, Pairings, and Release Date TBA

Option 2- FIRE EMBLEM: THREE HOUSES - SECRET OF THE CREATOR (Fire Emblem Series): A slight rework of the game Fire Emblem: Three Houses, where both male AND female Byleth are in the game simultaneously.

Plot: In the Imperial Year 69, the progenitor gods Lord Xanatos and Lady Shyla are enjoying a hard-earned peace with their young son Leicester, while their eldest child Sothis is out protecting the peace of the then-fledgling land of Fodlan. However, disaster strikes when the hand-picked champion of Sothis, the liberator king Nemesis, becomes corrupted by his own power and starts slaughtering everyone in the village of the progenitors.

However, in a bid to preserve the bloodline of the progenitors as well as potentially safeguard the future of Fodlan, Xanatos and Shyla make the difficult choice to have their son Leicester placed into an enchanted sleep.

Fast forward 1105 years to a point early in the Imperial Year 1174, when a pair of well-meaning retainers of one Erwin Gloucester unearth the hidden cave that Leicester is sealed in, managing to remove his casket and carry it out, unaware of the person in the casket smacking his head on the ceiling when the casket is jostled, causing him to lose his memories and forget everything. Taking advantage of this, Erwin tries to coax Leicester (or Les, as the letter on his chest identifies him, prompting Erwin to call him 'Les') to live with him and help him with odd jobs. Leicester accepts.

However, unbeknownst to Erwin, his retainers would inadvertently expose his plans to use Les as a pawn to oust the ruling house of the Alliance, House Riegan. In response, Les, who had just gotten back from a stay in an underground bunker run by a friend of Erwin's, or one Thales, where he had been experimented upon, with the results that his face ends up slightly disfigured, though with the trade-off of him getting a second Crest.

But in the process of said experiments, he happens upon one of the Alliance heirs in a younger girl named Lysithea (who he ends up calling 'Sithy' due to not being able to pronounce her name correctly, to Lysithea's amusement), with whom Les strikes up a fast friendship, even though they don't get a lot of time to chat then.

After the plans were exposed, Les ran away, ending up in House Riegan territory, where he was intercepted by the retainers of Lord Riegan who went by the names of Judith and Nader. Once they lead him to the head of House Riegan, Les explains his side of things. To his surprise, Lord Riegan (or Oswald as he introduced himself) not only understands, but offers Les both asylum and a chance to be adopted into House Riegan as a younger brother to his grandson Claude. Needless to say, Les accepts pretty readily. Claude then introduces Les to the children of the Alliance houses.

A couple of months later, over in Remire Village, the leader of a pack of mercenaries, one Jeralt Eisner, and his twin children Byleth and Bylene (or female Byleth) are woken up by a trio of Garreg Mach students being besieged by bandits. Needless to say, when Byleth and Bylene act to save the house leaders, they earn not only the respect of said leaders, but a chance to choose their place of allegiance. What will Byleth and Bylene choose? And moreover, when given the chance to each pick one of Garreg Mach's three houses to lead, what will the two choose? And how will it affect the flow of Three Houses? Ratings, Pairings, and Release Date TBA

And that's the two options on the poll. Assuming I haven't already closed the poll by the time this chapter goes live, I might give an extra week for people to vote on it. We'll see. But for those curious, to find the poll, scroll to the top of the page this chapter is on (if you're on a PC), and look for where it says 'sithlorde1988' in blue lettering next to a picture of Rock from the Ridonculous Race, which can be clicked to go to my profile.

Once there, you'll see a link at the top of that page that should read 'Poll: Which would you rather see go up next? (Since I can't decide which of these to do) (Will be up until the final chapter of Rise of the Monarchs goes live)' after which the words 'Vote Now!' should be shown in blue lettering which can be clicked to open the poll.

From there, you click whichever option you want to vote, and click where it says 'Vote' to lock your vote in. Note you can only vote one option this time due to it being a two-option poll. Whichever option gets the most votes will be the next story I do. So if that poll is still up, it's because I decided to extend it until after the editorial process is finished on this story. So consider this a chance to influence what story happens next!

EDIT: I actually closed the poll I mentioned above shortly after posting the chapter. I meant to close it at the same time I posted, but forgot and didn't close it until the next day. As a result, what would have been a 1-0 victory for Persona 4- The Golden Apostle instead became a 1-1 tie. Fortunately, I had a feeling this might be a possibility, so I ran a couple of simultaneous polls on a Discord server I'm part of in conjunction with the poll that was on this site, and while one of those polls ended in a 2-2 tie, the other ended in a decisive 3-1 win for Persona 4- The Golden Apostle. And so, after totaling up the results of all three polls, the tie is broken. As such, I can now reveal that by a combined vote of 6-4, the overall winner of the poll, and the story I will likely do next, is...

PERSONA 4- THE GOLDEN APOSTLE!

However, I do also plan to do Secret of the Creator too, but it will probably be after I finish working on Golden Apostle. So that's the next two new stories coming from me. I'll probably have another poll near the end of Secret of the Creator to decide what I work on next. So yeah, there's the results of that poll acknowledged. Now back to the regularly scheduled end-of-story A/N!

Anyways, having said all that, I would now like to take this chance to thank each and every person who either followed this story or put it on their 'Favorite Stories' list, as the support shown on this story was unbelievable and made me feel incredibly great about my abilities as a fanfic writer. Furthermore, I would also like to thank everyone who left a review on the story, as your feedback and input really helped shape Rise of the Monarchs into the story it ultimately wound up being, so thank you, everyone! I appreciate the support.

And I would be remiss not to bring up the fiasco that went down during Arcs 2 and to a point 3 involving a certain poll. In the end, it worked out for the best since Shiho, Nanako, and Akane all won that poll and became Phantom Thieves, but the fact that the results were muddied the way they were is frankly unacceptable. Which is why I swear here and now to be extra vigilant with any and all future polls to ensure the results are as fair and untarnished as possible. So yeah, the fact we got to the end of this despite that incident blows my mind.

Especially since I regret to say that I was one of the people who tried altering the results of that poll with a pair of extra votes for Nanako, but I regretted it almost immediately and took back my votes. There was another person who put in an extra vote for Akane as well, but I reprimanded them for it, and they apologized while swearing not to do it again.

But the fact that I did it at all is not okay. So I would like to once again give a heartfelt apology to anyone who voted on that poll, as well as anyone who read through this story, for the disrespect shown to them by my lapse in judgment, as well as swear that I will never do such a thing again. And on that note, let us get back to the end of this story.

I appreciate everyone who influenced this story, whether it be by following it, adding it to their Favorite Story/Story Alert lists, or even leaving a review and/or PMing me with their feedback. All the input is appreciated and welcomed, as it lets me make my content even better for the readers! Not to mention, I get to hear from my readers! I even had a few people reach out to me for commissions near the end of the story, but I had to regretfully turn them away since I couldn't afford to pay them what they deserved for their talents. But I appreciate that they took the time to reach out to me.

So in that spirit, I would like to give special shout-outs to daisyalex0790 and Anastasialuna for their kind offers to pursue a collaboration! Anyone who can afford one, feel free to look either of them up and reach out to them. Note that they're probably more likely (keep in mind this is a guess on my part, so don't take that as a guarantee) to reach out to people who do good work, so if you don't write stories, they likely won't be apt to hear you out. They also do animations, from what I hear, so keep that in mind. But in all seriousness, they do good work, from what I've seen, so they deserve any business they can get! And I was extremely flattered that they chose to reach out to me.

Having said that, I saved the person who I would say was arguably the most important person to the story for last. I would like to give an extra special shout-out at this time to jdimock, who has been helping me edit this story for most of it, and who has basically made a lot of the back half of the story what it ultimately wound up being. A lot of the edits that were done were his idea, so you could say he wrote this story just as much as I did.

Furthermore, he was invaluable in helping fix a lot of the ideas I had for the last few Arcs up, so if he's reading this, thank you so much for your services! I truly appreciate everything you did for this story from the bottom of my heart, and wish you the best in any future endeavors you take up, as well as with your upcoming schooling! You are truly the best, good sir!

Anyone reading this who needs a beta reader/editor, feel free to reach out to jdimock since he does excellent work and is very professional. (Disclaimer: jdimock also has the right to refuse any jobs he doesn't think he can handle.) So yeah, I hope the chance comes that we can work together again on a future story, but I understand why you said you have no interest in working on future stories of mine for now. Also, before I wrap this up, I have an extra note to attach here that comes directly from jdimock himself. That note reads as follows:

Greetings to all who have read this story. This is jdimock speaking to you all. As sithlorde1988 stated just now, I was his main editor and idea guy for this story, as I was the one who suggested some ideas to make the story expand and be much better than what was originally intended. But let's go back to the beginning of this whole thing.

For me, my journey with this story started off small. At the time, I was in the midst of following, editing, and reviewing another popular story of a different game franchise when I took notice of Phantom Files Book 2: The Rise of the Monarchs. I was basically reading through the story and just decided to point out some small edits here and there, which is what led me to officially get in contact with sithlorde1988 for the first time. Our working relationship also started off small, but then it grew as the arcs continued. But I think the biggest thing that really caused our working relationship to begin growing was the poll that sithlorde1988 set up during Arcs 2 and 3, where the top two out of five characters got to be Phantom Thieves.

During this timeframe, I wanted Shiho and Akane to win the poll. But at the same time, while also wanting Shiho to win, sithlorde1988 also had the desire to have Nanako win the poll as well. By the time that poll came to an end, Shiho got the most votes, but Akane and Nanako were tied, which caused sithlorde1988 to decide via the use of a randomizer-based tiebreaker to determine who the second Phantom Thief would be. Much to my dismay, Nanako ended up coming out of that randomized tiebreaker as the winner. At first, I was disappointed with the result, especially since prior to that I had brought up some good ideas to sithlorde1988 for Akane to be utilized greatly as a Phantom Thief. But much to my shock, later during one of our chats, sithlorde1988 admitted to me that he used alternate accounts to give Nanako the win. This sudden revelation gave me the necessary resolve to admit my own sin as well because I also played a part in rigging the poll by using an alternate account of my own to vote in Akane's favor.

After we both gave our apologies to each other for what we had done, we agreed that the only way to make this right between us and the readers of this story was to have both Akane and Nanako be Phantom Thieves alongside Shiho. And that decision turned out to be better than one would expect, given that Akane and Nanako ended up getting together as a lesbian couple. Not only that, but this sin committed by both myself and sithlorde1988 allowed us to utilize our ideas for both characters and expand them in ways we didn't think possible, leading to the story becoming what it is now.

From there, mine and sithlorde1988's working relationship skyrocketed as I continued to point out edits in later chapters and help expand on ideas (such as having the Thieves encounter Kamoshida's Shadow in the Okinawa Jail that led to Shiho's Awakening, the concept of the Yongen Jail being based on past foes that led to Nanako's Awakening, the confrontation between the Thieves and the cognitive Owada in the Osaka Jail that led to Akane's Awakening, the second bout between the Phantom Thieves and the Investigation Team which also included the Shadow Operatives alongside Marie, expanding on confrontations such as with Ichinose regarding Ren/Joker and Sumire/Violet's reactions to Sophia/Seeker being controlled by her, and even the entire final battle arc against EMMA/Demiurge, which includes the idea of adding in some of the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives as well as Maruki (who was one of the two people who lost the poll that was rigged in Arcs 2 and 3).

In addition, I also worked with sithlorde1988 to discuss the Phantom Thief outfits for Shiho, Nanako, and Akane, alongside their melee and ranged weapons, as well as what Personas they should have, along with their skills, levels, and even their strengths and weaknesses. Doing all of these things with sithlorde1988 was a big adventure that I will never forget, and I'm thankful that despite our small and rocky start, we ended up becoming good friends through fanfiction as we see this story to its completion.

With that being said, I did mention to sithlorde1988 months ago that once this story was finished, I would be moving on to other things since I have both life as well as another big story to deal with. And there may be a chance that I might come across a completely different story whose author might be in need of some edits or ideas. I know that those who have read the reviews only saw my edits to sithlorde1988 for his chapters (I would like to point out that despite the number of edits in some of these posts, there were a lot more than one would realize regarding a chapter, which led to the point where I just sent the bigger and more complex edits to sithlorde1988 via fanfiction chat), but if any of you guys want to see me do an actual review of a chapter for a story, please come check out the story that's considered to be my main above this one (no offense to sithlorde1988), Kingdom Hearts III: The Army of Light by J. Tom. It's considered an alternate universe of the Kingdom Hearts III game that's built up from a bunch of smaller Kingdom Hearts stories that J. Tom had written in order to create this grand adventure in this alternate take of Sora and the Guardians of Light trying to stop Master Xehanort's plans for the Keyblade War. There, I do actual reviews as I go through each scene in a chapter and give my thoughts on it. I also give J. Tom some ideas for scenes as well, like I did with this story.

Once again, I really must thank sithlorde1988 from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to work alongside him for almost a year now. But this won't be the end, though. I may still pop in to see how he's doing and maybe give him an edit or two that he may have missed from this story. In addition, I might also help him with his Persona 4 Golden story, but to a much lesser extent than what I did with this story (it could just be me giving him some advice and stuff on how to approach the story and all that). And as for me helping sithlorde1988 with his Persona 5 Tactica/Persona 5 Arena story that he will make in the far-off future, that remains to be seen.

Regardless, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading this story from beginning to end, and I hope you stay tuned for what sithlorde1988 has in store for the future. With that, I believe this is where my journey with this story comes to an end. So once again, thank you so much for everything, sithlorde1988, and I will see you all sometime in the future. This is jdimock, and I'm signing off on this story.

And that's the note from jdimock with his signoff on the story. I will say that some parts caught me by surprise (like his mentions of periodically checking back in on things and also helping with other stories of mine since I didn't see any of that coming), but in a good way. So once again, thanks to jdimock for everything he's done for the story! And with that, I think I'm ready to call this story to a close at long last. So once more, thank you all for reading to the end of this crazy ride that I call a story, and until the start of my Persona 4 Golden story, sithlorde1988 out!