Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion.

To MCRDanime, it's a fine line I'm having to walk of when and what to have Natsumi, and Ren since I'm having him talk more outside the prompts in game, especially with Natsumi being in the same position of Morgana as being more knowledgeable than the others about the Metaverse. Sometimes it might happen but I do try to avoid it as much as possible.

I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy.

Chapter 34: - Obstinate Refusal

I was currently in my homeroom, waiting for whatever information might be forthcoming from Ann. Even thought she had a way in, it was still unnerving waiting for any kind of news about what our current actions should be; it wasn't helped by the fact that every time I closed my eyes, that damned statue kept popping up like a weed, overlaid with Shadow Ouvrard's cruel words. A buzzing came so I quickly opened my phone.

Ann: Alright, I contacted Kitagawa-kun about modelling for him.

Ann: Still waiting for his response.

Ryūji: Thanks!

Ann: I really have no idea what I'm supposed to do as an art model though.

Natsumi: I'm sure Kitagawa-san will tell you what to do.

Ren: Kitagawa-san claimed he was drawn to you, so just be yourself Ann.

Ryūji: Look, you don't gotta go all out for this.

Ryūji: You're only doing it so you can get dirt on Madarame, remember?

Ann: That is true.

Ann: It sounded like Kitagawa-kun wanted this to be a private picture of his though.

Ann: Well, I guess I'll let you guys know when he contacts me again.

I closed my phone and slipped it away as I reached up to my temples and began to massage them slightly, I felt like a headache was drilling its' way into my skull due to this entire event.

*Persona 5 Royal*

We were gathered in the courtyard after school, Ann looked like she had something important to tell us, which only served to twist my stomach into many uncomfortable knots. Ryūji was leaning against the nearby vending machines with Ann standing near the table, which left me and Ren to occupy the benches. I wasn't sure about what I wanted Ann's news to be as all possible thoughts just increased the uncomfortable sensation I was already putting up with.

"I got a response from Kitagawa-kun. He said he wants me to come over after school today," Ann revealed. That at least confirmed what our plans would be this afternoon, nothing settled for me though; on the other hand, Ryūji pushed himself off the vending machine he'd been leaning against and proceeded to grin widely, I just hope he didn't antagonise Kitagawa like he had ended up doing last time.

"Perfect! Probably dropped all his plans just to get you over there," Ryūji exclaimed. Honestly, Ryūji's words were probably true given how passionately Kitagawa had been about getting to paint Ann; running out of a car in order to follow her, giving away tickets which were likely hard to get especially since it had been the day before the exhibition opened, practically running through the door of the shack, and admitting to having feelings only previously stirred by a majestic art piece.

"We need to find out from Kitagawa-kun if what we saw in the challenge was true," Ann admitted. Her lips were pulled down into a frown and I felt the headache returning, but this was something that we needed to do; although thinking about what that blasted statue had claimed about the pupils, we were already aware how depraved Madarame's viewpoint was regarding his students, but Kitagawa was the only one present now.

"Hey, quiet down. It's that student council president," Morgana hissed. My nausea vanished as my head immediately snapped up in time to look at around for any sign of Niijima-senpai; it didn't take too long as I spotted her short brown hair soon enough, finding that she was talking to Mishima at the moment, with the two of them only being a short distance away from our group.

"Yikes… she got a hold of Mishima today?" Ryūji commented. I couldn't hear anything they were saying, but it didn't look like either of them were angry, outraged, stressed or any other emotion that would be a cause for concern towards Mishima. "It'd suck if she noticed us. C'mon, let's split up," Ryūji insisted. A fine suggestion, none of us needed a repeat of the rooftop scene.

We gathered our bags as Morgana hid within Ren's once more, we proceeded to depart the courtyard one at a time in order to avoid being spotted by the nosy student council president. I went last, keeping a careful eye on the talking duo so that they didn't spot the other three, then quickly darting away before either of them could spot me.

*Persona 5 Royal*

I, along with Ren and Ryūji had managed to meet up, we were currently at the walkway in the Shibuya Station. It was the easiest place for the rest of us to meet up after escaping from the school, I hadn't spotted the other three on the train; but it had been easy to find Ryūji after disembarking the train, while Ren had scared the Electricity wielder by showing up behind him without being seen, as if he was the one – originally – with a ghostly named Persona; however Ann wasn't here yet.

"We finally landed a- eep!" Ryūji spoke. But right before he could get the words out, Ren had lowered his book, a new one this time, and proceeded to glare at Ryūji which had been the reason for his little squeak – which was all kinds of funny – as well as causing the boy to flinch backwards. "Do you have to glare at me Ren-Ren?!" Ryūji asked. Ren kept staring holes through Ryūji in silence for a few more moments before slowly lowering his eyes from the blonde and back to his book.

"If you keep almost blowing our secret then yes," Ren growled out. I shuffled away slightly at the minute annoyance that had been laced within those words, it seemed that our leader was getting rather annoyed with Ryūji's brain to mouth filter constantly malfunctioning when he spoke of our activities; it was perhaps a sign of how honest an individual Ryūji was, which was a good thing overall… but in this instant it really wasn't helping us.

"Where's Ann-chan? It's been long enough for her to show up," I wondered. The blonde model still hadn't shown up and I was starting to get concerned, we couldn't head to the shack without Ann since I'm fairly certain Kitagawa would slam the door in our faces if we didn't have our friend with us; plus, there was the fact that it had actually been too long and I was getting worried about Ann's safety.

"Sorry," Ann's voice came. I looked over at the girl and saw that she was unharmed which instantly relaxed me. "I was thinking about some things and didn't notice how much time has passed," Ann admitted. Ryūji wondered what Ann had been thinking about, a good question as even I was curious about where Ann's train of thought had led her. "Don't you think Kitagawa-kun has to be protecting Madarame? I mean they live together, so he'd have to be aware of Madarame's true nature. The only reason I can think of him doing that is that Madarame has something on him," Ann pointed out.

"Maybe Kitagawa-san does know, but his loyalty to Madarame is so strong that he actually can't see it because his brain is making up some justifications for Madarame's actions. Like how our cognition affects our perception of the world," Ren theorised. A reasonable theory, I'd barely been around my uncle so I wasn't blinded by our blood link, but if I had been… maybe I wouldn't have seen his horrible acts or tried to twist it to fit my world view. Okay, that was actually a very terrifying thought I had just entertained.

"That's why we're goin' to check it out, right? You ready to be an art model?" Ryūji asked. We needed to gather all the information possible before we made our move in the Palace, besides getting into the shack would allow us to investigate a bit more and perhaps be more clued into whatever obstacles might show up deeper in the Palace; there could be any number of dangers and I wanted to be sure of ourselves before we got caught in a trap.

"Yeah, I'm prepared," Ann admitted. She did seem resolute about what she would have to do in order for us to get into the shack despite her initial reluctance to actually go through with such a plan, Ryūji suddenly furrowed his brow and gave the Fire wielder a confused look which caused me to shoot one at him in return.

"Whaddya mean prepared? Prepared for what," Ryūji wondered. Considering she would need to model, I would have thought that was something obvious, he then turned his gaze to Ren. "Something seem different about her to either of you?" Ryūji asked. He also looked at me, so I turned my gaze back to Ann, trying to figure out what on earth the false blonde was getting at with his query.

"Not… physically, at least," Ren admitted. He was scratching the back of his head in confusion as he stared at Ann before shrugging his shoulders apparently deciding to stop his staring since he couldn't find anything that would explain whatever Ryūji seemed to be seeing; I shook my head slightly and turned back to look at the boys, Ann's appearance was the same as always.

"Determination can be like that I guess," I theorised. It was the best explanation I had for Ann's supposed differences that Ryūji was talking about; a small giggle escaped from Ann and I felt my own lips quirk up in a smile at the light hearted sound that was escaping from her, soon enough Ren and Ryūji started to chuckle and laugh respectively.

"Let's get going you guys," Ann insisted. She walked over and linked arms with me while Ren lifted up his bag to ensure Morgana wasn't left behind. "Kitagawa-kun seemed really happy when I agreed to be his model. Once he finishes drawing and gets a little friendlier, we should bring up Madarame," Ann believed. Hopefully that would be the case, all we could do was keep our fingers crossed.

*Persona 5 Royal*

We arrived at the shack which was open, so we were able to just slip inside once Ann told Kitagawa she was here and got directions to whatever studio he was using. Stepping inside the shack, I couldn't help up duck my head down slightly and hold my breath almost expecting the shack to come crashing towards our heads. My steps were light and careful until we reached the studio's doorway and stepped inside.

We soon reached the door and Ann opened it up, allowing us to see a pretty barren room with only a set of small cabinets at the back, chairs pressed to the right side of the room, a stool sat in the middle of the room with an easel and canvas a little further back. A chair sat in front of the easel and canvas; paint splatters dotted the floor in a few droplets of colours. Needless to say, that the moment me and the boys came into view and sat ourselves down, Kitagawa's shining smile dropped into one of annoyance.

"I thought it would just be you coming, Takamaki-san," Kitagawa stated. He really wasn't happy to see us, but if we wanted the information about Madarame then we needed to be here, multiple points of questioning would yield better results than Ann coming alone. Besides Ann wouldn't have even entertained the idea of coming here without the rest of us accompanying her.

"Wouldn't you get nervous too, if it was just the two of us?" Ann wondered. I highly doubted that would happen, Kitagawa didn't seem like the kind of person who would get nervous unless he was put in an extremely awkward position; but this was much more for Ann's peace of mind than it was for Kitagawa's sake.

"We're here to keep an eye on you, so don't try anything perverted, 'kay?" Ryūji stated. He was giving the young painter a dark look, but I couldn't believe that he had gone and said such a thing to Kitagawa; both Ann and Ren proceeded to give him shocked looks at the lack of tact that he had just shown, I know it was Ryūji's style, but to have been so blunt… this wasn't going to help us get Kitagawa relaxed.

"Ryūji!" We all yelled. A current of annoyance flowing through that single word as we all gave the false blonde dark looks, he was going to end up alienating Kitagawa even more if he kept up with the insults or accusation and we needed Kitagawa to be willing to open up to us if we wanted to get information out of him. Suddenly, an annoyed scoff came from Kitagawa as he stepped passed the easel.

"Stop making such odd assumptions. I have absolutely no interest in her as someone of the opposite sex," Kitagawa stated. This surprised Ann, probably since a lot of people thought about her only in regard to her looks, it also slightly raised my opinion of Kitagawa given how bluntly he had stated those words. "Is there a problem?" Kitagawa innocently wondered. He had turned his gaze to Ann, clearly not realising how stunned he had left her at those words.

"No, not really," Ann admitted. Ann then proceeded to sit down with her left leg crossing over her right at the knee, her left arm draped over her lap while her right hand supported her face which was turned away from us. If they were going to get on with the painting then Kitagawa would hopefully start to relax, the sooner he relaxed, then the quicker we could try to coax him into talking to us about Madarame.

"Well then, let's get started," Kitagawa stated. He proceeded to sit down at his chair, I noticed that the lip of the easel had several small plastic cups, each of them containing a small amount of paint, behind Kitagawa was more paints in a variety of colours. The blue haired boy picked up a brush that had fine hairs attached to the end of it. He gently dipped the very edge of the brush into a paint cup and raised it to the canvas.

"Hey…," Ann softly called. Yet, if she was heard, Kitagawa gave no sign of responding to her, instead focusing intently on the canvas as he glided a single line across the surface. "Kitagawa-kun?" Ann called. Her blue eyes cut over to the boy behind the easel, yet no response was forthcoming as the painter seemed entirely focused upon his canvas, yet his face held an expression I could only described as irritated frustration.

"You hear her?" Ryūji demanded. Once more there was no response and I realised that the frustration was starting to creep its' way across the muscles of Kitagawa's arm that held the brush, I fidgeted a little in my seat at the fact that Kitagawa seemed to have completely disconnected from the world around us and he definitely wasn't relaxing like we had hoped he would. In fact, I think he was growing more tense with every passing second, yet not a single other move had been made towards the canvas.

"It's no use," Ann complained. Too right, if Kitagawa was so far gone in his own mind that he didn't hear us calling out to him, then we wouldn't be able to get him to talk to us and if we couldn't get him to talk to us, then we couldn't get any more information about Madarame. None of us had expected to run into this brick wall so early on, our distress was enough that Morgana wriggled his head out of the to join in the conversation.

"This isn't what we planned! We were gonna catch him off guard and make him spill his beans, weren't we?" Morgana questioned. That had been the plan, but that plan had now been torn up and tossed into the nearest bin, we needed to think of something else to help us get the information that we required; but what could we do with Kitagawa barely even on the same planet as the rest of us.

"How were we supposed to know this was gonna happened?" Ryūji asked. Really, I think me or Ren should have seen this as a possibility based on how passionate Kitagawa was about his artwork – based on how he'd acted towards Ann – but anticipating it still might not have helped us much. "Guess we just gotta wait 'til he's done… what an effin' pain in the ass," Ryuji complained. That didn't seem like a good idea, with how rigid and still Kitagawa was this could take ages and by that point, Madarame most likely would be back from the exhibition.

"Perhaps I should try going outside this room," Morgana suggested. That seemed reasonable, any one of us humans leaving would possibly attract attention causing Kitagawa to question us and maybe even kick us out, but Morgana was small enough and light enough on his feet and, so long as he stayed quiet like now, Morgana would be able to slip away and come back without being seen or heard.

"Good idea, snoop around and see if you can learn anything," Ren encouraged. We certainly needed to learn something otherwise this whole trip would just be a waste of time. "Just don't get caught," Ren insisted. A light teasing coating his tone, I think Ren had a higher chance of getting caught than Morgana did and he was pretty sneaky – as evidence by the train station sneak up – even though Morgana was definitely better at it.

"Heh, who do you think you're talking to?" Morgana boasted. He was our phantom thief expert for a reason, I just hope he didn't get too loud otherwise Kitagawa might snap out of his tunnel vision. "This is too boring, so I'm going to scout around a bit," Morgana declared. He then wriggled out of the bag and slinked off out the room without Kitagawa so much as batting an eyelash; well… now what to do?

I waited in the chair, deeply wishing I could pull out my book and start to read it. But if I did that, then I might miss something important as I tended to get lost within my stories sometimes; instead, all I could do was focus on looking around the bare room. Maybe there was something in these planks of wood or pale walls – it also helped that the Palace's distortion was weak here – that could help me understand this relationship between Kitagawa and Madarame.

"Are you done?" Ryūji cheerfully asked. I perked up hearing those words and turned to look over at the painter, yet the moment he entered my vision I believed that Ryūji had to be wrong as it looked as if Kitagawa seemed to be in pain from the pinched expression on his face and how he slumped forward; I shot a look over at Ren who was giving the painter a confused look.

"It's no good…," Kitagawa admitted. That didn't sound good and I quickly looked back over at the boy, finding he still had the brush in hand, but the paint on it looked to be drying and it was still the same shade as the first colour he had picked to use. I was starting to wonder if Kitagawa had put anything else on the canvas, apart from the one line I had seen him stroke onto the fabric surface.

"I'm sorry… am I the problem?" Ann wondered. She had lifted herself up from her position and turned to look over at the painter, it was hard to identify exactly what could possibly be causing Kitagawa the pain he was feeling; Kitagawa shook his head and instead proceeded to dunk the brush he'd been using into a cup behind him bristles first. He turned back around and reached up to grip his head.

"No, not at all. It's just… I'm having trouble staying focused today. I'm sorry, but we'll have to resume this another time," Kitagawa apologised. He seemed very distressed by the fact that he hadn't been able to paint at all and I felt a pang of sorrow for the boy; however, one member of our group was not happy about this fact as Ryūji lurched to his feet and stalked closer to the easel with annoyance rolling off of him in heavy waves.

"Oh hell no! How many hours do you think you made us wait!?" Ryūji exploded. This caught Kitagawa's attention as he gave us confused looks, the cat was officially out of the bag now; Ann broke her pose and proceeded to rise to her feet and walked over to stand beside Ryūji, Ren soon joined then so with a deep breath I moved over to stand with them as well.

"I'm sorry… we had another reason for seeing you today… we needed to talk to you," Ann admitted. Ann looked and sounded rather nervous as she started to play with the ends of her hair, this wasn't how we wanted this encounter to go and I could already see Kitagawa's shoulders hiking as if he was preparing to defend himself or his mentor against whatever was about to come out of our mouths.

"It's about those rumours regarding your sensei," Ryūji stated. Kitagawa was rightly annoyed by this as his expression went stern and he rose to his feet, he was clearly ready to fight us on whatever accusations any of us brought up regarding the man he so deeply admired and believed he owed his life to; this was going to be an uncomfortable, or worse ugly, confrontation.

"That painting I saw at the exhibit… you're the one who actually painted it, right?" Ann accused. Striking the nail on the head would be an apt descriptor for the way that Kitagawa reacted to those words, he couldn't even argue back. "I knew it," Ann softly stated. Whatever painting they were referring to didn't matter, all that did was the reaction Kitagawa had shown was enough for us to be certain that piece had been plagiarised and the true painter was right in front of us.

"Your sensei's seriously messed up. He just thinks of his pupils as tools. That's why he doesn't give a damn whether he steals their work or physically beats them. I'll make this clear, there's no point in hidin' stuff from us," Ryūji snapped. He wasn't going to get us any help if he kept spitting out such violent words, I proceeded to poke him in the ribs for those words, even though they were true.

"Ryūji, stop being so antagonistic," I chastised. Ryūji flinched backwards at my act, I proceeded to turn my gaze forward to focus upon Kitagawa who proceeded to glare at the blonde beside me, he clearly didn't like the words that were being spoken by Ryūji; if our Electricity wielder didn't control his tongue then Kitagawa was only going to grow angrier which could end badly for us.

"Hahaha… I have no idea what you're talking about," Kitagawa stated. Although neither his voice nor his facial expression matched the claim, he was clearly aware of how the claim of Madarame's plagiarism was very true; but like Ren had theorised, Kitagawa might have been wilfully blinding himself to the truth of Madarame's depravity.

"We met Nakanohara Natsuhiko," Ren revealed. That caught Kitagawa's attention, it also made it clear that he knew the man from the wide eyes, slightly opened mouth and shocked contortion of his facial muscles. "He's actually the one who told us about the plagiarism and abuse. I understand why you don't want to go against Madarame, but we want to help you Kitagawa-san," Ren added on.

"Stop it," Kitagawa hissed. I didn't like the way he was acting, his expression was pained, but his eyes were unflinchingly hard as he glared at us. "It's just as you all say. We're… our sensei's 'artwork'," Kitagawa claimed. It felt like my heart had seized at that moment, my breath seemed to silence itself and a stinging appeared in the back of my eyes. "Don't misunderstand me though. I offered my ideas to him, myself. As such, it can't be called plagiarism. Sensei… is simply suffering from artist's block right now," Kitagawa attempted to justify.

"Dude, still…," Ryūji tried to protest. Kitagawa seemed to flinch back from us, as if the conversation was actually causing him physical pain, Ann called out to the boy. "Then why're you stickin' around?! All his other pupils ran away! Aren't you the only one left!?" Ryūji demanded. There had been no other sounds since we came here and Kitagawa himself had told us that only he remained here, so Ryūji comment was probably accurate… or I hoped it was.

"What's wrong with a pupil helping out his master!?" Kitagawa responded. If that was the case, then it'd be fine, I didn't like the idea of plagiarism even a little; but I might be able to stomach it if Kitagawa was willingly sacrificing his artwork, but something tells me that wasn't the case based on Kitagawa's own reactions. "There are no victims here! Stop pushing your self-centred righteousness on me!" Kitagawa continued.

"You're okay with this? His stealing of your ideas? And what happened to the other pupils?" Ren asked. Kitagawa stared at our leader, not responding much to the probing questions; Ren steadily gazed at the boy and seemed to be refusing to be the one to look away from the staring contest with Kitagawa maintaining the stare quite resolutely.

"I'm supporting Sensei as his pupil. Where's the wrong in that?" Kitagawa claimed. He then proceeded to break the stare down in order to retake his seat on his stool before the canvas with crossed arms. "Don't ever come here again… if you do, I'll sue you for causing a disturbance," Kitagawa threatened. That wasn't good, if we couldn't come close to this place then we'd have a greater deal of difficulty in getting into the Palace.

"Hold it! We're not done talkin' here!" Ryūji protested. He was going to make things worse! If we kept fighting with Kitagawa then he was only going to keep taking extreme action against us thus impeding our investigation and infiltration; Ren gripped Ryūji's shoulder and quietly spoke to the boy but from Ryūji's face, I don't think it really registered with him.

"Then you leave me with no choice," Kitagawa decided. He stood up and pulled out his mobile, causing a sinking feeling to pop into existence within my stomach. "I'm reporting you to the police," Kitagawa stated. Oh, that was really not good, beyond interfering with our infiltration it would also bring my uncle's scrutiny upon me and the others, which they didn't deserve. "I asked Takamaki-san to be my model, but I don't recall ever calling you three here!" Kitagawa revealed.

"What the eff man!?" Ryūji snapped. Ann ordered him to stop while I dragged the boy back so that he was out of Kitagawa's face, the less aggressive this situation developed then the more likely we'd be able to actually get back into the Palace without the added complication of avoiding being spotted by either of the residents of this building. Additionally, if we actually were arrested then Ann was put in danger.

"And if you do that, you can't paint Ann-chan," I pointed out. Kitagawa's gaze snapped towards me but given that I'd mostly been silent during the conversation, that was no surprise, but I wanted to keep Ann safe. "Ann only came because we promised to come with her, without at least one of us present then Ann will never come back here," I stated. He'd never let Ryūji come back after that display, but this might persuade him to let me or Ren return.

"Natsu-chan's right. Something… happened to me recently and I don't exactly trust strangers. I'd only feel comfortable if one of my friends were here," Ann added on. As if to support her words, Ann stepped over to me and quickly wrapped her arms around one of my own while putting her body so that it seemed like she was hiding behind me despite peeking over my shoulder to keep her eyes on Kitagawa.

"I won't report you… but only under one condition," Kitagawa decided. Ann asked to know what this was while my heart thundered like a drum within my ears. "I want you to continue being my model Takamaki-san. If you want a friend here, then bring… this young lady. She seems far more reasonable than either of those two," Kitagawa revealed. He pointed at me as he said the bit about bringing me, as if he needed to clarify who, it was then I realised he didn't know my name despite Ren mentioning it last time.

"Chiba Natsumi, that's my name," I introduced. Kitagawa inclined his head slightly as if acknowledging my words, however I was more concerned with what he had said. "Also, you said it wasn't working today, why do you think Ann-chan can continue as your model?" I wondered. If he truly had difficulties painting, then what could Ann coming back another day possibly change about the next effort.

"That's because I was unconsciously being modest for Takamaki-san's sake… however, I have nothing to worry about anymore. If you're willing to bare everything to me," Kitagawa admitted. Why was this setting off some kind of unsettling feeling across all my nerve endings? "I will put my heart and soul into creating the best nude painting ever!" Kitagawa declared. I think my brain short-circuited at the word nude.

"WHAT?!/Nude!?" Ryūji and Ann declared simultaneously. Both of them flinching backwards at the revelation, meanwhile I spotted Ren pinching himself in various places to see if he was dreaming, not that I blame him since I almost felt like striking the side of my head multiple times to try and get the organ inside my skull to start working properly because I truly couldn't believe he had just said that.

"Ah, to think I'd be able to create a nude painting with my most ideal model!" Kitagawa practically sighed with enthusiasm. His satisfied expression turned into hardened steel as he glared at the two boys. "As I've said, I will only let in Chiba-san and I ask that you forget about our discussion today, as well," Kitagawa stated. His expression turned glum and his eyes looked down. "If I don't submit a new piece to Sensei soon, there will be some… inconveniences," Kitagawa muttered. I still heard it and an icy terror gripped my heart at what those 'inconveniences' might actually be.

"Nude, meaning it'll be without any clothes, right?! Why are things suddenly escalating like that!?" Ann questioned. I can't blame her panic since this was a seriously uncomfortable thing to ask of someone who was a sexual harassment victim – yes, I knew Kitagawa was likely clueless, but still – especially in front of a near total stranger even if Kitagawa didn't actually feel attraction towards her, I was trying to find words to speak but none seemed to be forthcoming.

"Because those are my terms," Kitagawa stated. He looked entirely too pleased with himself; Ann tried to protest while Ryūji attempted to think of some hole to poke in it. "Sensei is out during the afternoon while the art exhibit is on, so I can use this place freely," Kitagawa admitted. He hadn't been out yesterday afternoon as I recall, but any arguing might just get me banned from the shack and then we'd have no route in… if Ann decided to take the modelling proposition which I highly doubted. "I should buy more art supplies," Kitagawa stated.

"Will you give me a second here!?" Ann demanded. Kitagawa stated that he was willing to wait, but I don't think he was really grasping the situation or Ann's emotions; especially when he asked for Ann to come before the exhibit had finished. "No! That's not what I mean! Why are you not listening!?" Ann ranted.

"Sensei will be returning home soon. We're done for today Takamaki-san, I'll be waiting for you to contact me," Kitagawa stated. He definitely wasn't listening to Ann and I actually felt rather annoyed, he was acting as if her feelings weren't something that should be taken into consideration when thinking about this painting.

"No, no, no! We are not done talking here!" Ann protested. Ryūji wondered what we should do, despite how much I agreed with Ann's feelings being important, if we tried to argue with Kitagawa – apart from feeling like I'd have better luck with a brick wall – there was a high chance he might go ahead with his threat and contact the police to imprison the rest of us.

"We should leave… he's not listening to us," Ren insisted. Ryūji agreed while claiming Kitagawa 'got us good' meanwhile Ann protested that we shouldn't give up so easily, I wrapped an arm around Ann's shoulders, hoping to provide her with some comfort since it seemed she was trapped between a rock and a hard place thanks to that uncomfortable revelation.

"Huh? Is she done being a model?" Morgana asked. However, Kitagawa heard Morgana which caused the blonde punk to insult the cat as the three quickly scurried out the door with Ann grabbing our primary healer as she moved away from me; the two boys also darted out the door, however instead of following them, something stayed my feet and instead I used my hand to close the door… I felt… like there was something I had to do before walking away.

"Kitagawa-san, I was wondering if I could ask you something?" I admitted. I turned around to face the painter and found that he was looking at me with an intense look in his eyes, the tension across his body showed that he was prepared for something unpleasant. "This doesn't have anything to do with Madarame, it's something only you can answer for me," I clarified. This caused the boy's eyes to widen, likely because he wasn't expecting it to be about him given the previous conversation.

"I…see," Kitagawa spoke. He still seemed wary but he'd relaxed enough to sit down in front of his easel while his eyes remained focused upon me. "What is it you wanted to ask Chiba-san?" Kitagawa asked. I took a few steps closer so that I would have a better view of his expressions thus allowing me to guess at what he might be feeling without saying anything.

"Can you still paint with all your heart?" I asked. This was something that I needed to know, even if I might be projecting my own issues, there was a similarity between the distortion shown in Madarame's Palace and the situation that I had endured at Ouvrard's hands; given the impact that had upon me, I wanted to check how Kitagawa was feeling towards the art that he was pursuing.

"Why do you ask?" Kitagawa asked. He seemed perplexed by my question, but I needed to ask it, I needed to make sure that he didn't start walking the same path that I was currently treading, the lack of love for the one thing that had brought me so much joy after losing my family. I wanted to make sure that Kitagawa was kept from that path, but that would require some divulging of the truth, I took in a deep breath to prepare myself for this.

"I have… personal experience with an artist mentor abusing their students in order to further their own career. That destroyed any desire to continue with the art," I explained. Kitagawa's eyes widened suddenly at the admission of what had happened to me, although his eyes seemed to dart down to my throat for a moment before darting back to my face as he recomposed himself to focus back on the question that I had asked of him.

"Well, you need not concern yourself with my heart Chiba-san. So long as I can think of the Sayuri, I will be able to lift my brush," Kitagawa admitted. That didn't really soothe the concern in my heart, having the Sayuri might not be enough for him to continue pursuing the art; but the look in his eyes made a part of me really believe in him, to believe that he would be fine.

"I hope so Kitagawa-san. I really do," I stated. With that, I turned to the door and proceeded to depart from the room, despite having Kitagawa's reassurance, my heart didn't feel any lighter as I walked away from him; leaving the front door I quickly spotted the others who were gathered a small distance away from the shack, only Ren spotted my approach since he was facing my way. His grey eyes gleamed with a relaxed energy as his shoulders slumped down slightly; but then Ann let out an enraged shout as I stepped up beside her.

"He's totally out of his mind! I'm gonna have to pose nude if his keeps up!" Ann ranted. Not exactly something that seemed impossible, I think you had to be a special kind of crazy to be any kind of artist but especially so for one as bizarre as Kitagawa, Morgana agreed with Ann's outrage at having to go through with that deeply uncomfortable event if we wanted to get back into that dilapidated building.

"The way he said it, it's not gonna be semi, but full-on nude," Ryūji commented. That was not helping matters, especially when Morgana started stammering about this possibility, so Ann ordered him to drop it. "You know, you won't have to worry about that if we make Madarame confess before the exhibit ends," Ryūji pointed out. I doubt it was going to be that simple, if Kitagawa wasn't soothed then we'd be unable to approach without being observed and potentially reported.

"But Kitagawa-kun thinks he owes his life to him. Is there a need to make Madarame confess?" Ann wondered. I looked at Ann with wide eyes, stunned that she was actually thinking in such a manner, Madarame was taking Kitagawa's work and calling it his own instead of presenting it as the artwork of someone he'd taught – surely that would bolster both reputations? – plus it sounded like not providing the artwork had something horrible attached to it beyond disappointment.

"Then, Ann-dono… you're fine with baring it all!?" Morgana questioned. Ann disagreed with this query and I'm fairly sure it should have been obvious that she wasn't fine going through with this nude painting that Kitagawa had proposed given how much she'd exploded since it was brought up; I hope that we could do something about the scenario in order to remove that variable for Ann's sake.

"Madarame's no different from Kamoshida. That asshole's usin' Yusuke, who doesn't have parents. You're tellin' me we should just ignore how he's bein' treated horribly like the other pupils?" Ryūji ranted. But Ryūji wasn't seeing the important thing here and it was really starting to grate on my already frayed nerves and fracturing emotional state.

"And how do you help someone who doesn't want it!?" I snapped. All of them proceeded to look at me with wide eyes as I felt my body begin to tremble. "Everything I've seen so far only shows that Kitagawa doesn't want anyone to help him! So, tell me what we should do!?" I demanded. I swung my fist out and smacked it into the railing, frustration and uncertainty wailing within me, drowning out the pain that bolted up my arm like lightning.

"It is frustrating to leave this alone though, even if Kitagawa-kun is fine with it himself," Ann stated. She hunched down and looked to the side as she twisted her fingers together, I felt ashamed of my outburst; I shouldn't be exploding on my friends like this, no matter how I was feeling, I pulled my hand back in and gently cradled the abused appendage which didn't deserve to be slammed against metal like it had been.

"You can't leave it be because you've endured a lot yourself, with Kamoshida," Morgana realised. Ann agreed to this, Ren moved over and removed some of Takemi-sensei's medicine and immediately rubbed it over the area I'd struck with, thankfully it worked well to immediately soothe the ache in the muscle. I thanked him but Ren didn't move away and instead stayed nearby, whatever reason that may be.

"Anyways, we gotta go after this guy. Madarame's the kind of target we've been waitin' for. Let's help Yusuke come to his senses too… before he ends up like us," Ryūji insisted. Another agreement came from Ann, but I still didn't think it was right to try and force our aid upon Kitagawa when he seemed pretty adamant against receiving such a thing from us; I didn't know if he was being wilfully blind, but he was certainly resentful towards our aid… although, I know I didn't want him to end up like me which seemed incredibly likely.

"Before we make any decision, we need to look into Madarame. There could some stuff that we haven't learned of yet, stuff that might become important in our social activities," Ren calmly stated. I'm glad someone was remaining calm in this situation, we sorely needed Ren's level-head to balance out Ryūji anger, Ann's distress, my tumultuous state, and Morgana's changing priorities.

"It'll be easier for us to investigate his Palace if he's preoccupied with his exhibit," Morgana theorised. Quite true, so long as Madarame's physical self was distracted by the exhibit then we'd be able to move about more freely since he wouldn't be constantly at the shack; the only true threat to our movements would be Kitagawa himself.

"Also, there's the thing about me modelling!" Ann exclaimed. Her expression shifted into one of sorrow and we focused on her once again. "Kitagawa-kun said there'd be 'inconveniences' unless he submits a new piece. Maybe that's going to be announced soon as Madarame's next work," Ann wondered. A shiver made its' way down my spine at that possibility.

"Does that mean the whole country's gonna see you nude!?" Ryūji questioned. I should hope not, Ann really didn't need to go through something so deeply invasive to her privacy, I didn't want to have to rely on using Ann to get into the shack for the investigation; but with all other routes shot to the underworld, we needed to do something to remove that possibility.

"I said we're not doing anything that makes someone uncomfortable. It's up to Ann but if she says no, then we'll have to find another route in," Ren commented. Morgana claimed we had to deal with Madarame before the end of the exhibit, that was pretty much a given otherwise we'd have more trouble than we currently did.

"Let's start after school tomorrow. It'll be a pain if Miss President finds us on the rooftop again, so where to meet up… let's see…," Ryūji wondered. We definitely needed another location to meet up, somewhere nearby would be best since it would save on us having to meet up if only to commute to a different location; in that case I had an idea on where we could go without it being too public.

"There's a small bookshop and café in Shibuya with a nice, quiet little alcove we can use. Since it's close by, it'll make the travel here easier," I offered. Ryūji seemed surprised by the offer while Ann fidgeted slightly, probably from the uncomfortable situation or my own silly outburst, thankful Ren looked glad for my suggestion and Morgana let out a content purr at those words.

"Changing our hideout periodically, huh? That's a plan I don't mind backing," Morgana stated. It was smart since it would make our movements harder to track for Niijima-senpai; I just hoped she didn't know about that café since it might be a place she would like to visit, well that was a bridge to crossed when I had the evidence for it, worrying about that now wouldn't do me or anyone else any good.

"Hey, can I talk to you kids for a sec?" A voice called out. I turned out around to look at the person and found a woman walking up to us, the woman had brown eyes, black hair in a bob cut like Nakanohara but long enough to reach her chin and red lips, she wore a pair of orange sunglasses on her head, a black shirt with a motto which read "low life fight the power," – Ryūji might actually like this adult – a white long-sleeved shirt was under the black shirt and blue jeans. She also carried a pink belt bag positioned to the back with a water bottle attached to it, a camera hung from her neck and, she wore a pair of black and white shoes. "From the looks of things, you don't seem like the ordinary, stalking fans," The woman stated.

"What are you talking about?" Ren asked. Even I was confused by her words and a quick look at the other two showed they were both baffled, I looked back at the woman and found that despite Morgana still being perched on Ren's shoulders, she wasn't even blinking her eyes in surprise, instead preferring to look between the four of us and our perplexed expressions.

"Oh, sorry. I should've been more clear. I'm actually looking for people that know Madarame's pupils. There's this painting, Sayuri, that was supposedly stolen in the past. But there's this rumour that it was taken by one of his pupils in retaliation for being abused. Have you heard anything about that?" The woman questioned. Now that was a surprise, Kitagawa had certainly never made a mention of it having disappeared and given his love of that painting, you'd think it might have popped up.

"No, we hadn't heard a thing like that," Ren answered. The woman was saddened by our lack of knowledge, but if her camera was any indication then she might be snooping around for some kind of information; but whatever her purpose it was for I couldn't tell; despite her casual attire, she could have been a private investigator like those Detective Princes that show up on the news occasionally.

"There's no case unless there's a victim and if there's no proof of abuse, I can't write either," The woman claimed. Write? Was she an author of some kind "Looks like I'm back to square one. Sorry for taking your time," The woman apologised. She then walked closer to Ren and held out a card to him. "I'm a journalist. If you ever get any leads, mind contacting me here?" The woman requested. Ren took the card "See you then," The woman stated. With that, she walked away from us.

"I guess we should go home for today," Ryūji requested. With a solemn nod, we proceeded to head back to the station, although it felt like my shoes were filled with lead coated bricks.

*Persona 5 Royal*

What a day. It might have only been a few hours, but it felt like day was a more appropriate description to give to the stress that we'd undergone, it was enough that instead of going home, I proceeded to head straight for Leblanc and practically crash into a booth; where Ren had gone, I don't know only that he wasn't here. I gave Sōjirō my order and then hung my head while gripping the back of it, only stopping when my phone chirped with a message.

Ryūji: I found out something insane about Madarame.

Ryūji: Sounds like a student of his offed himself when he couldn't speak up about Madarame stealing his work.

My stomach rolled at that revelation, in fact I felt like I had to fight down the bile that was building in my throat at the possibility of someone having gone that far. Just to escape from having his hard work and creativity stolen, I took a deep breath to focus myself and looked back at my phone.

Ren: Is that true? It could just be a rumour with no real basis.

Ann: That journalist was looking into Madarame too.

Ann: It could be real.

Ryūji: Someone died though.

Ryūji: No one's talking about it… I bet it was covered up.

Natsumi: Probably.

Ann: I wonder if Kitagawa-kun has heard anything?

Ren: Maybe, or Madarame might have had some way of keeping Kitagawa-san isolated from the other pupils when he was young.

Ann: It'd be great if he could help us out.

Ryūji: Ain't that asking a bit much?

Ryūji: After today, he's prolly gonna be on edge about us.

Ryūji: Well anyway, Madarame's still a piece of crap!

Ryūji: Let's meet up tomorrow. It'll be our first time at the new hideout.

Ren: We need to stay in Shibuya Station for a little tomorrow.

Ren: Mishima just called me and told me Nakanohara wants to talk to the Phantoms.

Ann: REALLY?!

Ryūji: That's gotta be about Madarame!

Natsumi: Perhaps what he tells us will help ground our decision.

Natsumi: I'll guide you guys to the café after we meet.

With that, I slipped my phone away and resumed my stare off with the table's grain; this whole incident was leaving a really nasty taste within my mouth as I tried to think about what to do regarding Kitagawa's refusal towards our aid. A clinking sound came and I lifted my head to see the Leblanc meal there, but it also came with an extremely concerned looking Sōjirō, his warm eyes gleaming with intense concern.

"What's up Natsumi-chan? You look terrible," Sōjirō asked. He slipped into the seat across from me and focused his eyes upon me; I briefly flashbacked to the day that he had done the same thing all in order to warn me away from the kindest person I knew, any warm feelings however immediately fizzled to nothingness as the weight of our failure today pressed itself back upon my mind with all the weight of the moon.

"Something happened today and… it's kind of shaken me," I admitted. My voice sounded strangely hoarse as I said those words, I did a quick clear and reached for the coffee to try and help the issue; I turned my gaze back to Sōjirō and saw that the concern within his eyes had increased quite a bit as his face slackened with concern.

"Want to talk about it?" Sōjirō asked. My eyes widened in surprise at those words, as kind and warm as Sōjirō was, he wasn't the most open individual and he normally left me to my own devices – the warning from earlier this year notwithstanding – so for him to ask me such a thing; I could only guess that I looked worse than what his words had implied.

"Alright," I agreed. If he was offering then I might as well take advantage of it, maybe articulating my thoughts to someone not connected to this mess would help me to get my head on straight before we met up tomorrow. "There's someone I've met recently, we're not particularly close or anything but I've learned he… might not be in the best place at the moment," I explained. I needed to be vague otherwise he might get suspicious of me.

"Is he happy there?" Sōjirō asked. I jerked at that question, it wasn't something that I had been expecting to hear and I could only blink at him in a rather foolish manner. "If he's happy then you should just leave him be, it's better not to get involved," Sōjirō commented. I opened and closed my mouth for a few moments as I tried to think about what to say to that suggestion that he had made.

"You'd really abandon someone to be in such a horrible situation, Boss. Even if the situation they're in is abhorrent. That they're suffering something cruel that it might just break their heart and soul. Steal any potential for a future and leave them nothing but a shell of who they were. Even if they're a stranger… that doesn't feel right to me," I spoke. I saw a painful look flash across Sōjirō's face at my words as he leaned his elbows on the table.

"No… I don't suppose I could," Sōjirō admitted. His eyes were looking at the wall beside the table, but it also happened to be the direction of his house which cause me to raise an eyebrow before dropping it as the barista brought his attention back to me. "But you also need to think about the person you're trying to help; sometimes the best help you can give is to leave someone alone," Sōjirō added on.

"Maybe Boss, I think my judgment's clouded… but hopefully I have a clearer sight soon," I admitted. That look in Sōjirō's eyes, I felt a desire to ask about it and why he had looked towards his home, but my respect for him outweighed my curiosity; he'd never pried into my private life and I refused to do any prying when it was clearly a sore subject for him.

"Just don't do anything to put yourself in danger Natsumi-chan," Sōjirō insisted. He reached a hand out and gently patted one of my own, allowing me to feel the callouses that had built up from his life of hard work. "I don't want to see such a nice girl get hurt," Sōjirō stated. There was a kindness in his eyes that also seemed tinged with a great deal of pain; it made my heart ache for him quite sharply.