[Later that night, Akira's apartment]

After the whole battle in Mementos, and that talk with Keigo in the Big Bang Burger, Akira just wanted some quiet time of his own. Espeically since the exam was coming up next week, and he really REALLY had to do some study.

BEEP! BEEP!

However, Mitsuru's sudden calling interrupted his 'emergency routine' for the night. "Wha- Shouldn't the call on tomorrow?" Raising an eye at his beeping laptop, the amateur writer put aside his books and notes and accepted the call. "Um... Good evening, Mitsuru. What's the matter?"

On the other end, Mitsuru had a... conflicted look, as if she didn't want to do this at all. And this only made Akira's even more confused. It was already weird enough to see this look on anyone, but on Mitsuru out of all people? Now that's a rare sight to see.

"So... Akira, I never wanted to talk about this with you..." Trailing off in mid-sentence, the head of Kirijo Group sighed and pulled out a file. "But... I talked with Kamisaki a little while ago, and... you're a Pesona-user now, right?"

Akira didn't answer at first, only staring at the screen with widened eyes. First, how did she knew about Persona in the first place? And second, she said 'Kamisaki gave his report back'... Did that mean Keigo was working under her? And...

"...I didn't mishear that, right?" He gulped. "You just said 'Persona', right?"

"...Yes, I did," She admitted with a hesitant nod, as if she was reluctant to admit it in the first place. "And before you ask, Kamisaki is working under me in the Shadow Operative. Actually, I'm the one who sent him to Tokyo."

"That's... a lot to take in, Mitsuru," Akira said, looking down on the keyboard and rubbed the back of his neck. "Wait, you're working in that 'Shadow Operative' alongside Kamisaki?"

"Not exactly," Mitsuru refused, shaking her head. "I am the founder of Shadow Operative."

"...What," He just stared at the screen in silence, not able to process the sudden drop of an info bomb.

"I expected you wouldn't take this lightly..." Trailing off, She took a deep breath before continuing. "But that's why I was hesitated to call you."

"...I get why you hid all this away from me, to keep me safe from the shadows, right?"

"Right, I wished that you're just going to be a normal person, and grew up without knowing all these," Mitsuru nodded. "But now you've awakened your Persona, I guess we couldn't escape the inevitable."

"So... I just wanted to tell you that I'll have Kamisaki to report to me about your activities in the 'Metaverse'," She continued, taking a deep sigh. "Don't worry if you expected me to stop you, I knew that feeling of duty."

Akira was... surprised, to say the least. The last time he saw Mitsuru being like this... was back when he was living in the Iwatodai dorm. Unfortunately, before Akira could say a word, the voice of Elizabeth suddenly broke through the entire apartment and startled the two.

"Akira-kun! Why didn't you tell me you're back?!"

"...Did I just heard a female voice?" The Head of Kirijo Group asked, changing into a cold tone in less than a second. "Would you mind explain that, Akira?"

"U-uh..." Gulping in fear, the amateur writer tore his eyes away from her cold glare. "This... is somewhat a complicated situation, and I really don't have a clear way to explain it-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Elizabeth rushed into the room with a horrified expression. "Akira-kun! Where is the food for Paff?"

"Uh..." Trailing off, Akira's eyes darted between Elizabeth and the laptop screen. "I-it's in the drawer next to the stove..."

Gradually lowering his voice, he gave a peek at them. Mitsuru was staring at them with a shocked look, an even rarer one to see than the one earlier.

"No way... Elizabeth?!"

"Hmm?" Raising an eye in slight surprise, the velvet room attendant glanced over to the laptop screen and beamed. "Oh, long time no see, Mitsuru! It's been like... four years since we last met?"

Before Mitsuru could have a response, Akira pushed Elizabeth a bit away from the table "Hold on a minute, you knew Mitsuru?"

"Of course!" The said attendant nodded, turning back to the laptop's screen. "But wow, you looked great as ever! Even without that bodysuit to... enhance your feature."

"Bodysuit? When did Mitsuru wear a bodysuit?"

"A-anyway, I... I still need an explanation of this, Akira," Mitsuru coughed, as if she wanted to stray away from this subject as fast as possible. "Why would Elizabeth here in the first place?"

"U-uh... that's because..." Giving the velvet room attendant a glance of nervousness, Akira's eyes darted between teh screen and her again. Thankfully, the sound of the doorbell ringing gave him a chance to get away from here.

"I... think that's for me," Without a word, he left the room and the two women with a wry smile. "I'll explain it later, probably."

With that said, the amateur writer practically scrambled out of the room and toward the door. And... it was a delivery. More specifically, a package from Inaba.

'Oh, that's probably the Teddie Doll Teddie made for Setsuna-chan,' Akira thought as he signed the package and closed the front door. It was actually smaller than he expected, espeically consider the last doll Teddie made personally was... really large.

"Well, that was four years ago, so... he probably improved on his sewing skill," He thought out loud, further examining the package. "Yeah, Kanji-san probably taught him how to properly make a doll."

However, his brief seconds of silence was interrupted as Elizabeth's voice rang through the entire apartment. "Akira-kun! We're still waiting for your explanation!"

"Mitsuru said it has to be you!"

...Yep, god was messing with him, definitely.

[8th May, Morning, family diner]

Well, Ren never expected Mishima out of all people would call him out to meet here. After he revealed his identity as the admin of that Phantom Aficionado Website, it was a bit awkward to deal with him. Like, he's nice and all, but... it just felt a bit weird to have a 'manager' of some sort.

"How have things been?" Mishima asked with a tired yawn, rubbing the back of his head. "You know, with the... special activities?"

"Well..." Trailing off, Ren somewhat struggled to find a word to describe it without being too obvious. "It's going great... I guess?"

"Oh, that's great to hear," The admin of the Phan-Site nodded, before he was unable to hold another yawn back. "Oops, hah, sorry about that."

"I... uh... haven't' been getting a lot of sleep lately."

Pushing his glasses, Ren leaned back into his seat. "Let me guess, it's because of the site?"

"Yeah, I've been staying up managing the Phan-Site all night, every night," Mishima nodded with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head again. "I think it's called... PR?"

"Phan-Site... huh," The delinquent shrugged with a faint smirk. "That's some clever pun here."

"Well, a catchy name is the key if you want people to notice you," The said admin beamed, holding a thumbs up. "This is all a bit of P-Thieves Propaganda! After all, there's no point to take down bad guys if nobody's gonna know about it."

"You... have a point here."

"Right, and that's why I started this website to let people request directly to you guys," Mishima widened his beaming smile to a grin. "And while filtering out the haters."

"The thieves are supposed to show under a proper spotlight, right?"

"Uh..." Unintentionally letting his mouth hang open in slight surprise, Ren just returned his enthusiasm with a wry grin. "You've done good, kid."

"Really?!" Widening his eyes in surprise, the admin stopped for a second before beaming again. "You saying that makes my all-nighters worth it!"

"Just don't make those all-nighters a habit..." Seeing that Mishima wasn't really listening to his word, Ren just sighed to himself in slight defeat.

"Though actually, I really wanna know how you punish people..." Trailing off, Mishima rubbed his chin thoughtfully before shrugging it off. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna ask. It wouldn't be any fun if you just up and told me."

"After all, the Phan Thieves have a reputation for being secretive!"

"Secretive... huh..." Ren hesitantly nodded, somehow feeling a huge amount of irony from his words. 'Well, that belongs to Jester and Swan. Hell, we still haven't know their real identity.'

"But actually... you guys really did well with that domestic violence case!"

"Domestic violence... what?" The leader questioned with a confused look, and his brain was just as confused as his look suggested. "Um... What's that about?"

"Huh? Ain't you guys supposed to change that guy's heart?"

"Um..." Trailing off, Ren looked away and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'We didn't touch Memento since our first visit... Then who...'

"Maybe it's them?" Thinking out loud and just enough to let Mishima overheard him, the delinquent noticed the questioning look Mishima gave him. "Uh... it's just... it's a complicated situation."

"Don't worry, I said I'm not gonna ask into the details."

As the two continued their meeting, neither of them noticed Keigo sitting on the table behind Mishma and overhearing them.

'He's the creator of that site... huh,' He shrugged at this thought, taking another bite into his meal. 'Well, that's some chance encounter. I just came here for a lunch and... but anyway, now I know the site is somewhat trustable.'

'And there's still that thing inside Ichijou I had to handle,' The SO member sighed, holding his forehead in slight frustration. 'He seems fine for now, but who knows when would that thing go berserk...'

"...I should just take my mind off of these things for today," With that said, he finished his lunch and left the diner.

Even though he only lived in Tokyo for more than about a month, but the central street in Shibuya never bored him. With people walking around and doing their own things, it created unique, and fascinating pictures for him to capture. After all, out of all things he'd ever taken a photo of, people was his favorite. For him, it just felt like a snippet of a larger story, a moment of someone else's story.

"It's not like Ayanagi is boring either, it's just..." Trailing off, Keigo hastily shook his head and stopped the surfacing memories. "No, I shouldn't be thinking about that. It's a clean slate here, a temporary start-over."

"Who knows what it'll be like when I go back to Ayanagi?" He asked out loud, shrugging at his own question. "... And that place is just a giant memento of that day..."

Sighing to himself at this thought, the half-Frenchman went on his way and looked for new things to capture.

Meanwhile, Shiho and Ann were on a shopping trip in the underground mall. Looking through the designer's clothes, Ann decided to ask her the question she'd been thinking about for the last couple of days.

"So Shiho, what's with you and Ichijou?" She asked, tearing her gaze away from the clothes and onto the said volleyball player. "I mean... you two seem really, really close for the last few weeks."

Widening her eyes in surprise, Shiho looked anywhere other than the model with a faint blush. "U-uh... I guess we're close, heh..."

"I'm not buying that," However, Ann narrowed her eyes with a small smirk. "There's must be something between you, right?"

"N-nothing! We're just close friends, that's all."

"Nope, I'm still not buying that."

"..." Opening her mouth and tried to come up with a reason not exposing her identity as Swan, Shiho found nothing to say other than...

"W-well, I... do have a bit of feeling toward him," She admitted while looking down, not wanting to see Ann's look. "But... I just don't know where to start, especially with his old crush on Akashi."

"O...oh," Gulping in awkwardness, Ann internally bashed herself for asking this in the first place. "I... I'm sorry for asking that."

"No, it's fine," Shiho said with a shook of her head. "Actually, I should be the one who apologizes. I mean, you and I haven't talked like... for one or two weeks now."

"Shiho..."

"Just let me finish myself, please," She interrupted Ann. "I know you're fine with it, as you have your modeling to deal with. But... it just doesn't sit well with me."

"I'm sorry for not talking with you, Ann."

"Shiho, I..." Knowing that words couldn't do anything that she wanted, Ann went up and hugged Shiho tight. "You sweet, stupid dummy..."

"I admit I can be a dummy..." Surprised by Ann's sudden act, Shiho startled for a moment before returning the hug. "But thank you, Ann."

"And now, good luck on getting Ichijou."

"...You're just going to return to this topic..."

"C'mon, I can help my best friend getting the guy in her dream!"

"Ann... We're getting unwanted attention..."

[9th May, morning, Shibuya station]

Scrolling through the news for anything to read, Ren sighed as all he saw were just a continuation report of that Attack that happened back in Ayanagi. Apparently, the attack was caused by an organization deep within Ayanagi's crime underworld...

But the media just purely focused on Naoto's appearances in the case.

"...The Shirogane Detective Agency still hasn't responded to our question concerning the appearance of the original Ace Detective in Ayanagi..."

"What does the appearance of Shirogane Naoto's appearance in Ayanagi mean?"

"Is this the comeback of the original Detective Prince?"

"...Why the hell did the news just focus on her appearance?" Saying out loud in frustration, the delinquent closed the news app and pocketed his phone. "Media these days..."

"After all, most people just care about things like this," Morgana sighed, resting his head on Ren's shoulder. "Really ironic as the news agency, right? Those poor receptionists."

"Yeah, especially when it only opened for a few months..." Trailing off, the leader of The Phantom noticed Ann walking up with a tired look.

"Morning..." Ann yawned. "Urgh..."

"You have allergies?" Ren asked, resting his hands in his pockets.

"...Allergies?" Stopped for a second, the model widened her eyes in realization and shrugged. "Oh, uh, maybe! I do feel kind of dazed, and everything feels weird!"

"But... um... actually... I've been having this feeling that someone's watching me..."

"That's not so great," He commented, pushing his glasses.

"Yeah, I hope not..." Crossing her arms and trailed off, Ann clasped her hands together with a hopeful realization. "Oh! Maybe I just can't shake off the feeling of infiltrating a Palace!"

"It's probably just my imagination, heh..."

Feeling the hesitation clearly visible on her face, Ren could only give Ann a wry smile. "...I hope so..."

[Afterward, Class 2D]

"...As you can see, this is a parallel with Dazai Osamu's real life, as he attempted to commit suicide multiple times..."

Resting his head on his palm, Akira could only try and stay awake on Kawakami's lecture about No Longer Human. It wasn't like he didn't like that book, he just read it at least 10 times by now. After all, Dazai Osamu was one of the greatest people in the world of Japanese literature.

Switching his focus on somewhere else, maybe it was only his misconception, but... everything just felt... lighter. Well, now Kamoshida's rotting in his prison cell, so it might be a major reason for why it felt this way.

Speaking of Kamoshda, he didn't know how, but everyone just treated him as if he never existed in this school in the first place. And so were the calling card, and the Phantom Thieves in general.

"Something's just never gonna change..."

Murmuring to himself, Akira couldn't help but gave out a heavy sigh. From his point of view, fate had a cruel sense of humor. Now everything was said and done, everyone just moved on while he... kinda still lingered in the past.

With all these thoughts in his mind, he didn't know how in the world can he deal with the mid-term on Wednesday.

However, his trains of thought were interrupted as his phone buzzed quietly. Internally hoping that Kawakami wouldn't notice him slacking off, Akira took out his phone and... Shiho was texting him.

Shiho: Hey Akira, I know it's not really a suitable time to text you. But it's just... you're okay on the mid-term, right?

Widening his eyes in surprise, the amateur writer stopped for a second before replying to her.

Akira: ...Um, not really. But why asking?

Shiho: O-oh, it's not really anything. But I'm just... maybe we can study together after school? I mean in the library.

Akira: ...Okay? What's with the sudden change of attitude?

Shiho: It's nothing! Hehehe...

Akira: ...Okay then, I'll let it slide this time.

However, before Shiho could respond to Akira's text, Keigo suddenly jumped into the conversation between them. In true to how he had been for the brief moment they interacted, he was still striaght to the point.

Keigo: Please turn back to the lecture. Besides, you two are texting in our group chat, just text privately if you wanted to settle some personal business.

Shiho: Oops, sorry Kamisaki. I'm just used to text Akira anything in here...

Shiho: So... library after school, Akira?

Akira: Of course...

Keigo: Did you two just forgot what did I just say?

Shiho: We're done now :)

Keigo: Good.

Keigo: NOW GET BACK TO LESSON.

As the final message from Keigo was sent, Akira winced and peeked over to Keigo's seat. The said half-Frenchman was giving him a cold glare that almost dropped his heart into negative zero, and he hastily returned to focus on Kawakami's lecture.

He still had an exam to deal with, after all.

[Afterschool, hallway]

Watching Akira left the classroom as soon as the bell rang, Keigo couldn't help but sigh. These two were obviously closer than friends, but they just not going to admit it to each other. Or in other words, the typical Anime crush stereotype.

"Never thought that I would see such things play out in real life."

Shrugging, the half-Frenchman left the classroom and decided to go to the planetarium in Ikebukuro. Now he had at least about a day or two completely free, he should take the opportunity and complete his list of 'Places to go in Tokyo'.

Even though he had an entire year in Tokyo, but with the upcoming investigation on Madarame... and with how Mementos expands... It's definitely not going to just a one-and-done case similar to the P-1 case in Inaba he read before.

Although the case lasted throughout the Golden Week in 2012, so he still couldn't use this as an example. Then... maybe the Midnight Stage case would qualify to be an example.

However, his trains of thought were interrupted when he saw a girl with chin-length curly light auburn hair walked by him. And even though it was already May, but she still wore a pink sweater over her uniform.

Of course, staring after a girl walking by was straight-up weird behavior, but Keigo's attention wasn't on the girl herself.

She was somewhat struggling with a bag of fertilizer, and about to fell over. With no second thought, Keigo hastily grabbed the bag from her shoulder and grabbed her hands to stop her from falling over.

"H-huh?" Widening her eyes in surprise, the girl turned around and faced Keigo's deadpanned look.

"You shouldn't carrying this alone, you know," He said, taking a look at the bag. "And... my god, it's a 3kg one."

"Um... I'm sorry, but I'm fine carrying it alone."

"But you don't look like it," The half-Frenchman said, pushing his glasses. "If I hadn't help you, you're going to fall over to the ground."

"...Well, it probably just because it's my fifth bag."

"F-fifth bag?" Widening his eyes in horror, Keigo took a long moment before snapping out from his shock. "...That makes some sense. But still, it's harmful to your shoulder and hands, espeically on the wrist area."

"O-oh, I never thought of that."

"You really should," The half-Frenchman sighed, picking up the bag and rested it on his shoulder. "But either way, where are you taking this to? I can't just let a girl like you carry this around alone."

"O-oh, you don't need to do that..." Trailing off, the girl stopped for a second before nodding in appreciation. "But thank you... And it's for the plants on the front door."

"Okay, " Keigo nodded and shifting the bag on his shoulder, unintentionally winced at the weight. "...well, it's heavier than I thought."

Step by step, he carried the bag down the stairs and to the front door of the school. It wasn't a long trip, but with the bag on his shoulder, Keigo couldn't help but wonder how in the world did she bring four of them back-to-back, alone.

Dropping the bag of fertilizer next to the small slot next to the stairs, the half-Frenchman wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed. "Well, it's a bit more taxing than I expected."

However, the girl only shifted awkwardly. "I appreciate your help, but... it's weird to have someone to help."

"I just can't stand and do nothing, especially for a girl," Keigo replied, pushing his glasses and glanced at the flowers below. "Red carnations? Interesting choice of flowers for school."

"O-oh, it's nothing too serious."

Kneeling down and took a picture of the flower she planted, the half-Frenchman smiled faintly and turned back to the girl standing next to him. "Even though it's unhealthy to carry these bags alone... But I have to admit, you take fantastic care for them."

"It's nothing... I just love gardening in general."

"I can see that, it's similar to my love for Photography," Keigo nodded, closing the viewing window of his camera. "Actually, may I take photos of your flowers? I can't just leave these flowers to be withered."

"Of course you can, it's open to everyone..." She nodded, keeping her hands behind her back. "And you're just taking pictures, not taking or harming them."

"I know, but I still should ask for permission from the person responsible for these well-maintained flowers," Adjusting his glasses, Keigo slightly widened his eyes in realization. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself."

"I am Kamisaki Keigo, and... I actually just transferred to this school last week."

"Nice to meet you, Kamisaki-Kun..." Trailing off, the girl subtly looked away. And Keigo noticed that she looked somewhat hesitant to introduce herself. "...I am Okumura Haru, nice to meet you."

"Okumura... Haru..." Gradually lowering his voice, Keigo rubbed his chin for a second before smiling. "That's a beautiful name."

Haru, on the other hand, only felt nervous whether he caught what her surname meant or not, and only nodded slowly. However, her reaction didn't go unnoticed in Keigo's eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't see you in colored-lenses," He reassured her with a visible smile. "Status isn't the entirety of someone, it's who they really are that's important."

"...O-oh, um..." Widening her eyes in surprise, Haru shifted awkwardly as she tried to look for something to say. "That's... refreshing to hear."

"It must be..." Knowing that she wouldn't want him to be talking about something this personal to her, Keigo dropped this topic and decided to end this conversation. "Nothing, but I shouldn't take any more time from you. I was going to have a photography session in Ikebukuro."

"U-uh... then, I shouldn't bother you any longer either."

With a polite bow to each other, Keigo left the scene and went on his way to Ikebukuro. However, the sound of the city, the sound of Tokyo did nothing to sway his mind away from Haru. Even though she never said it out, but he could see the hesitation and... He didn't want to say it, but a hint of fear below her eyes.

"I guess I'm probably going to dive too deep into it..." Trailing off, he looked up into the sky and sighed. "Never thought it would happen but... somehow, dad's habit is rubbing off on me."

(To be Continued)

Preview:

As the exam arrives, everyone had to go all-out with what they have.

As a surprise arrival, an attempt to act caring about student's mental health.

However, at the same time.

As Akira talked about his past, Ann deal with her stalker.

The wheels of fate continued to turn.

Next Chapter:

"Exam, Counselor, Stalker"

Stay tuned!

And with that, Chapter 17 is finished!

Thank god it didn't take me like a month to finish this one... But anyway, the next chapter would be focused on the exam week for everyone.

And of course, the introduction of a certain clumsy counselor. Knowing that Takemi mentioned him long ago, how would Akira react to him become the counselor of the school?

Not only that, we got more look at Keigo as a person, and the introduction of our lovely fluffy heiress Haru!

Anyway, I hope you all like the story so far, reviews are definitely welcome!