To Reclaim What Was Stolen From a Thief

by BeeRye

Summary:

When a party between the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives ends with the discovery of a new threat brewing in a small town up north, everyone is quick to jump in and help. There, the combined group gets the shock of a lifetime when they discover a Persona-wielding masked man in a black coat that turns out to be a dear friend of the ones from Inaba. Even more shocking is the reason for his involvement in this latest crisis.

Ren has many questions after finding out his oldest friends are all Persona-users. Between that, and the fact that a government supported team of Shadow exterminators exists as well, things are shaping up to be more complicated than ever. He'll have to adapt quickly, however, because he'll need their help with his own investigation: finding out who kidnapped the rest of the Phantom Thieves.

Chapter 1

“Cheers!”

The unified celebration rings out across a rooftop dining area. Fairy lights hung from decorative wooden lattices light everything underneath. The flora crawling up those same lattices provides a pleasant smell to the already clear air, a benefit to being in the countryside in March. A speaker system near the exit plays pop music at an audible volume for all without blocking conversation.

The building housing all of this is not very far from Inaba. It is also currently reserved for the party between two established groups. On one side of the massive center table sits the Investigation Team, unsurprisingly locked in debate over who gets what in terms of the food in front of them. On the other, the Shadow Operatives and their reserve members unwind after a long stretch of work-filled days.

Kanji, Teddie, and Chie play rock-paper-scissors to dole out the last of the meat buns while Yukiko and Naoto take the opportunity to grab some tempura under the others’ noses. Rise makes a show out of trying to feed Yu, who is having trouble weighing his own hunger against how embarrassing it would be to give in. Yosuke tries to swat her away to no avail.

Fuuka watches all of this, unable to contain her giggles as she pets Koromaru in her lap. Yukari and Junpei are both slamming Ken with complaints about their jobs, and though the boy tries to look to Akihiko for an out, he is too busy showing Labrys some travel pictures on his phone. Aigis is ever vigilant, ensuring that Mitsuru actually takes the time to sit down instead of trying to facilitate things as she is known to do.

“Man, we really have everyone here together for this,” Yosuke says. “How’d you pull this off, Mitsuru-san?”

“Oh, I can’t take any credit. This was all Aigis and Labrys’s doing,” she replies. “Unbeknownst to me, they’ve been pouring over all of our schedules as of late to make sure we could have this meetup in relative peace. Those two can be quite crafty when the situation calls for it.”

Aigis nods to herself. “Finally, my stealth abilities rival that of man’s greatest form: the ninja.”

“Ninjas?” Kanji asks.

Yukari shakes her head. “Please do not get her started…”

The party continues on as the sun begins to dip below the horizon. There was a time when all of them would be more comfortable sticking to their respective teams during a gathering, but after so many ordeals together and the occasional hangouts shared, they had no trouble feeling like a single group when it came to having fun.

At some point, a karaoke session sweeps through the group, putting many of those gathered onto the small, raised platform normally used for speeches. Though the performances given vary greatly in terms of skill, they are each enjoyable in their own way.

Mitsuru’s smile only fades once her cell phone begins to vibrate in her pocket. She pulls it out, narrowing her eyes at the screen once she reads the caller ID.

Akihiko takes notice of her expression and asks, “What’s with the look?”

“I specifically requested all calls to be contained to headquarters while I was away today. If I’m receiving one now…”

“Then it might be something serious,” Yukari finishes. “Yeah, you better take it.”

Mitsuru quickly excuses herself to find a quiet corner of the rooftop. Yukari and Akihiko watch her the entire time she talks, and eventually everyone else notices the three being occupied. Karaoke slowly winds down until Mitsuru finally comes back to the group, grimacing with every step.

“Based on that face you’re making, I’m guessing that wasn’t a pleasant call,” says Yukari.

“I do not wish to cause alarm during our peaceful gathering. However…” Mitsuru pauses before taking a breath. “Shadow activity has been detected.”

Her words take immediate effect. Half of the partygoers are out of their seats now, while the others all have pained looks on their faces.

“Detected where?” Akihiko asks.

“According to the preliminary scans, in a small town known as Yamichi.”

“Yamichi?” Yukiko repeats. She faces the others from Inaba. “Does that sound familiar to the rest of you, too?”

“Now that you mention it, kinda,” says Kanji. “Dunno why, though.”

“It certainly isn’t somewhere I’ve been,” Naoto says, “but yes, I do believe I have heard the name before.”

“What is this place?” Teddie asks.

“I think it’s a rather small town up north,” says Fuuka. When her friends send some odd looks her way, she adds, “I…spent a lot of time in college looking at maps.”

“Yamichi is indeed a small town located northeast of our current location,” Aigis says. “As of two thousand and eighteen, its total population is estimated at around twenty-one thousand. Additionally, a majority of the more developed areas are wards for commercial businesses. There is a large shift towards converting old buildings into offices to house masses of workers.”

“Uh, nice history lesson, Ai-chan, but what’s that got to do with Shadows?” Junpei asks.

Koromaru chimes in with a bark.

“Koromaru-san says, ‘perhaps the Shadows are seeking new employment opportunities.’”

“There is no way he said that!”

“Regardless of how that town is involved, I do not like the situation we’ve been presented with,” Mitsuru says. “The odds of something Shadow-related happening on the one day we all choose to gather are too small to simply be coincidence. I almost feel as if we’re being summoned in some way.”

Yukari sighs. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Well, at least I won’t be doing this mission in my Featherman outfit.”

“Aw, but you looked so cool!” Ken says.

“None of the Shadow Operatives reserve members are obligated to go,” Mitsuru says. “For all we know, this could be as simple as a small outbreak. We have seen seemingly innocuous areas spawn Shadows before.”

“Yeah, but what if it’s another big thing like the Grand Prix?” Junpei asks. “We were late to the rescue last time – no way we’re letting that happen again.”

“Junpei’s right.” Yukari shivers. “Can’t believe those words came out of my mouth…”

“Hey!”

“We’ll stand with you, Mitsuru-san,” says Ken. “If it is just a minor issue, then let’s take care of it before it grows into a larger one.”

Mitsuru smiles and nods. “I am blessed with such loyal allies. Very well. We’ll do this together. As for the Investigation Team…”

“Before you finish, I think we should be honest and express our decision to come along,” says Yu. “Like Amada-kun said, even if this isn’t a big deal, we want to help resolve it quickly. And in the event that it is something like the Grand Prix, we could never stay on the sidelines.”

“We can fight!” Chie exclaims. “Don’t worry about us slowing you guys down.”

Yukiko bows her head. “Please allow us to accompany you.”

“Believe me, I had no intention of telling any of you to sit this one out,” Mitsuru says. “If I had, you likely would have all followed the moment we set out. Am I right?”

“Yep!” Teddie says. “We don’t follow instructions well at all!”

Yosuke elbows him. “Don’t say that about the rest of us. But he’s not wrong. We wouldn’t feel good leaving all of it to you guys when we can help.”

“I thought not,” says Mitsuru. “In that case, let’s all take care of preparations so that we can properly investigate this strange occurrence. Narukami, am I correct in assuming you have preferred weaponry available to you?”

He nods. “Yeah, don’t worry about us. I’ll just have to make a quick trip into Inaba and we’ll be good to go. Yosuke, Chie, want to come help?”

“Got you covered, partner!”

“Let’s roll!”

“Then I’ll begin making calls for our other supplies and transport,” Mitsuru says. “Sit tight, everyone.”

Yu leads his small group to the deck of parked cars several floors below them. Normally he would insist on driving instead of Chie, but they are in a hurry, so he slides wordlessly into the passenger seat of her car once she whips out her keys with a little too much enthusiasm.

The car barely rumbles to life before Chie zips out towards the open road, squeezing between all the vehicles around with mere inches of room available to her. Yosuke grips the door handle to his left once the car stops bumping from the shift in terrain.

“You know, for someone who wanted to be a cop once, you sure don’t follow traffic laws very well.”

“This is an emergency! Besides, you just have to make sure to slow it down once you’re around other people. You see anybody else on these empty roads?”

“Definitely not what they teach you in driving school…” Yosuke shakes his head and leans forward towards Yu. “Hey, what are you thinking this is? Something small like Mitsuru-san says? Or…?”

“I honestly have no idea,” he replies. “She’s right about the timing being concerning. I mean, why now if not because we’re all together? Either this is intentional, or fate just treats us differently than most people.”

“I could see either. We really don’t have much to go on, huh?”

“When’s that ever stopped us?” Chie asks. “We barely had anything on the murders when we found the TV World, and that turned out okay. We’ll handle this, too – no sweat!”

“Ever the optimist,” says Yosuke. “Guess you’ve got a point, though. Let’s get our weapons and hurry back to the others. We can’t let the Shadow Ops show us up this time around.”

The process of gathering everyone’s usual gear doesn’t take long once they get to Inaba. It had been a practical decision to store everything in Yu’s old room in the Dojima household, so all they have to do upon reaching it is move everything to Chie’s car.

The most amount of time is spent assuring Dojima himself that they’ll be perfectly fine on this latest mission of theirs. Even though he doesn’t entirely buy that, he has long since agreed to let them handle their own business.

The trio is sent on their way with a special request from Nanako for a souvenir from their destination, just like how she asked for one during their vacation in Tokyo three months ago. Yu promises to find something, but anything they come across on this trip will likely not be something suitable for a thirteen-year-old.

Chie’s hotshot driving gets them back to the others in practically no time. When they arrive, Mitsuru is in the middle of explaining that everyone gathered will be meeting up with some of the Shadow Operative staff members at a Kirijo owned facility further north. They’ll be bringing over the rest of their necessary equipment, it seems.

The large group is split amongst several cars as they all head for the meeting point. Chatting over the long drive is a nice distraction for a bit, but no one can fully set aside their nerves about the situation.

The Kirijo owned building ends up looking like any other rented office space aside from the heavy security presence out front. Mitsuru gets them all in without issue, and from there, the real gearing up sequence begins.

The Investigation Team is finished much faster than the Shadow Operatives, and it becomes clear why when they all reappear after venturing into a room at the back of the facility.

Each of them is sporting black battle attire that complements their normal looks almost perfectly. Yukari’s padded jacket leaves just enough space for her pink blouse. Ken wears his in a similar manner, though he does roll the sleeves up on both the jacket and his white button-up underneath. Junpei goes for the opposite look, wearing his jacket around his waist and leaving his baseball jersey out in the open.

Mitsuru looks almost like royalty with her vest, long gloves, and small cape. Joining her as vest wearers are both Akihiko and Koromaru. Akihiko’s appears more padded than the others, especially over the chest and rib areas. Koromaru’s is a lot thinner and comes with a first-aid kit attached to the back. Fuuka has the unique look of a poncho and fingerless gloves combo, as well as a pair of high-tech headphones that rest on her head.

The only ones not wearing new equipment are Aigis and Labrys, which is to be expected. They likely have already outfitted themselves with any additional weaponry they need for this mission.

Yukiko claps at the sight of them all once they step out into the open. “Ooh, what impressive outfits you all have!”

“Thanks,” Yukari says. She hikes her jacket up her shoulders. “Never thought I’d be back in this again. I like the upgrades, though.”

“Well, we aren’t students anymore,” Akihiko says. “We can afford for these to be a bit more complicated.”

“Each of our Theurgy cartridges have been replenished as well,” says Aigis, “so we are deploying at full strength this time around.”

Mitsuru turns to regard the rest of their gathered group. “Investigation Team, your combat gear is located in the crates just to your left. We’ll set off as soon as you all are changed.”

“Wait, we get outfits too?” Chie asks.

“Of course. I hope they’re to your liking.” As the younger team starts inspecting the crates, Mitsuru adds, “I had them created on the off chance we ever happened to need your assistance again. They should provide adequate protection from whatever strange realm we find ourselves in today.”

Yu sees exactly what she means once he makes contact with his gear. He doesn’t know if it was intentional, but the outfit is fairly similar to his former Yasogami uniform. It’s comprised of a grey compression shirt covered by a high-collared black jacket, with matching pants that fit nicely over his legs.

He turns to get a look at his teammates as they finish outfitting themselves. Yosuke’s got what looks like a pilot’s jumpsuit that’s predominately black with bright orange trim. Chie and Kanji are sporting something closer to combat gear than the others, with hers resembling a reinforced tracksuit and his taking after a lighter form of riot gear. Yukiko’s new haori comes lined with multiple pockets, and Rise seems right at home in her half-black half-pink jumpsuit.

Teddie actually has two sets of gear. The first is a large vest not unlike Koromaru’s that fits over his mascot suit. The second is more of a business suit than anything, but it’s probably safe to assume that it has adequate protection built-in considering Naoto is wearing largely the same thing. The only difference between the two is that Naoto’s suit has the bonus of a gun holster and a side pouch.

Yu doesn’t even have to ask if everyone else is pleased with Mitsuru’s generous gift. Wearing what they do now, the feeling of being totally protected comes easy. He wonders briefly where the measurements for everything came from, but knowing how extensive the Kirijo Group’s resources are, it’s probably for the best not to question it.

Not wanting to waste any more time, the team seventeen Persona-users strong boards a trio of helicopters and heads out to the town of Yamichi. Fuuka spends the whole trip analyzing data from Shadow Operative staff members already on scene, and Yu can see from her expression that this outing likely won’t be as simple as some of them hoped.

Yamichi turns out to be bleak looking even from up high. Just like Aigis said, it’s a town crammed with plain looking buildings on every street corner. Unlike the vibrant landscapes of Inaba or the dazzling cityscape of Iwatodai, Yamichi is only a few steps away from being a ghost town.

That turns out to be even more true once the helicopters touch down to drop everyone off. There’s no activity to be seen anywhere, even though it isn’t that late into the evening yet. As the helicopter blades die down, the silence that settles in is unnerving to all who have to sit in it.

Mitsuru leads them all to the area where the Shadow readings were discovered, an unassuming lakefront with a rotting pier attached. It sits at the edge of town in one of the only natural sections left in the area.

The staff members there greet Mitsuru and inform her of what they’ve found, but it isn’t much. She tells them to have a small base camp set up just outside of town so as to not arouse suspicion if any locals suddenly show up curious about the newcomers.

While the business side of things is being worked out, the rest of them stretch and psych themselves up for whatever fight lies in wait. Though there is still a chance they’ve overprepared for this, experience tells them that they won’t get out of this without a battle.

“I wonder what it is we’re up against…” Labrys says, leaning against her axe.

“Whatever it is, it chose the wrong day to start trouble,” Junpei says. “We’ve got the whole crew here to wreck house!”

Kanji pumps his fist in the air. “Poor bastard never stood a chance!”

“Let’s not be hasty,” says Naoto. “We know from prior experience that simply having everyone together does not guarantee an easy victory. Let’s attain more information so that we can hopefully take the problem out without complicating matters.”

“Well said.” Mitsuru casts a look over at Fuuka, who is still in the middle of pouring through some data on the tablets left behind by Shadow Operative staff. “How are we looking in terms of navigation?”

“This data largely matches what I’ve seen so far. This is the strongest point of activity in the entire town. Our equipment can only do so much, so let me see if I can gain a bit more insight with Juno’s help.”

Fuuka clasps her hands together and closes her eyes. As she quietly calls, ‘Persona,’ Juno shimmers into being around her. Even though the Investigation Team knows that summoning a Persona outside of Shadow-filled worlds is possible for skilled Persona-users, it’s always amazing to see.

Everyone gets a little antsy while waiting for Fuuka’s preliminary scans to finish, so it’s a great relief when she finally announces that she has some info on what to do next. That relief immediately turns to confusion once she reveals that the Shadow reading isn’t simply located near the water, but is coming from the entire body of water itself. Whatever otherworldly presence has sprung up in this town has actively taken over the lake in front of them.

The group approaches it to peer inside. Aside from not being able to see to the bottom, it looks like any other lake would. The idea that it contains anything Shadow-related would be laughable if Fuuka wasn’t the one informing them of it.

“No matter how I analyze the lake, I keep getting a similar result,” she says. “One that reminds me of the TV World back in Inaba. All signs point to that lake being an entrance to a dimension separate from this one.”

Ken takes another look at the lake. “So we’d…have to go into the water to get there? So weird…”

“Not much weirder than jumping into TVs,” Labrys says.

Curious, Yu approaches and dips a finger under the surface of the water. Despite feeling wet, none of the water actually clings to him. Instead, reaching in feels like pushing through a light film, or some sort of gelatin that hasn’t quite finished solidifying. It isn’t too dissimilar to reaching inside the TVs in Inaba. When he pulls his finger out, it’s as dry as when he stuck it in.

“There’s definitely something weird about it,” he says. “But it doesn’t seem dangerous. If Fuuka-san’s scans are correct, we should be able to get through.”

“Well, in that case, what are we waiting for?” Akihiko asks.

He rolls his shoulder before taking a running leap into the lake. To everyone’s surprise, his entry into the water doesn’t result in any sort of splash. The water barely stirs with small ripples moving across the surface. It’s as if only a pebble was dropped in.

Mitsuru drops her head to mutter, “Why is he like this…”

“I, uh…guess we’re going in,” Kanji says.

Everyone else uses slower movements to enter the water. Passing between it with their whole bodies causes a sensation not unlike entering the TV World, as Fuuka brought up before. There’s a different sort of disorientation from feeling the world flip around, but everyone ends up on their feet before it can set in too heavily. Only a few seconds have passed by the time the group lands on solid ground in this strange new area.

They stand on what appears to be fake grass and dirt due to their abnormal coloring. Both normally natural parts of an environment are too saturated to be the real thing, not to mention how orderly they are arranged. It could pass for an art display, albeit an extremely strange one.

Despite feeling like they dropped in from the sky, the water that served as their entrance sits as a pool just behind them in a small pond much smaller than the previous lake. In totality, this immediate area has the look of an exhibit on nature rather than the real thing.

“We really are still dry,” Yukiko remarks, patting herself down. “How interesting.”

Despite that fact, Yukari shakes herself out. “Ugh, I think I hate that feeling…”

“Let’s keep moving,” Akihiko says. “We won’t learn anything standing around.”

With that in mind, the Persona-users make their way forward past the open area of faux grass and dirt. Waiting for them at the end of a gravel road is a massive building constructed of gray marble. Wide pillars line the front, propping up a hefty overhang that casts shadows over the golden door tucked away further back. It is barely visible past the staircase in front of the building.

“Is this some kinda government building?” Labrys asks.

“Potentially,” Mitsuru says. “Though the appearance falls more in line with the sort of mausoleums you might see in European nations. We’ll have to save any further speculation for once we get inside.”

“What’s a building doing in a lake, though?” asks Junpei as they start to ascend the stairs.

Yosuke answers, “If it’s anything like the TV World, it’s probably just something that popped up here. I doubt it’s based on anything real.”

The golden doors are all the more imposing close up, like the type that would be attached to a vault. Despite their appearance, however, they open with the slightest touch, beckoning the group in with a soft hiss.

Inside is the beginnings of a circular entrance hall. The skeleton of a chandelier hangs high over the reception desk straight ahead. The desk is centered between a dual staircase that extends up to an oddly high second floor. There are more pillars like the ones outside, but none of them reach up to the roof. Everything in the area is either half-finished or in desperate need of repair.

“This feels a lot like the lobby that Tartarus had,” Fuuka remarks. She sets some of the tech she brought onto the reception desk. “We should be mostly safe from Shadows here, so I think I’ll continue to navigate from this location. It’s easier to use my equipment if I’m not moving, and I’ve never been much of a mobile navigator anyway.”

“If you feel confident in this area’s relative safety, then I won’t argue,” Mitsuru says. “Still, I don’t like leaving you alone. Koromaru, will you stay here and watch over Yamagishi for us?”

He barks in response, causing Kanji to coo softly at the back of the group.

“Such a good boy,” he whispers.

Fuuka adds, “If anything happens to separate our overall connection, I’ll relay information primarily to Rise-chan.”

Rise nods. “I’ll be sure to navigate extra hard for the both of us!”

With no other path in sight than the second floor, everyone says goodbye to Fuuka and Koromaru before ascending the stairs. Just before the doors at the top of them sits a large information panel. It has a digital display of a map, but none of the locations are marked. The only part of the building that appears is the lobby and a notification that the second floor has been accessed.

Progress is slow as the group exercises caution going forward. Though no one has said as much, the lack of enemies and any points of interest have them on alert more than if they had been ambushed right out of the gate. This feels like a joke where the punchline has been long abandoned.

The more parts of the building they pass, the more it all starts to feel like they’re on a self-tour in some museum. There are areas for dioramas, picture frames, and display cases all lined up in each of the visible rooms, but all of them are empty. One display case is even shattered to bits when they come across it. It’s the only thing so far that seems to have been broken outright from something other than overuse.

Ken brushes some dust off the nameplate on a door as he walks past. “All these signs say, ‘work in progress,’ just like everything else. Nothing has a real label from what we’ve seen.”

“Odd,” Naoto says. “It’s almost as if the building itself is under renovation. Or, at the very least, still in the process of construction. Could it be that this dimension manifested prematurely?”

“Hey, that’d make our job easier,” Kanji says. “Gives the enemy less time to prep, right?”

“I would hope so, but…I can’t shake the bad feeling I’m getting.”

“If there is anyone whose gut reactions I trust, it’s you, Shirogane,” says Mitsuru. “Let’s continue to proceed with caution. Just because we have yet to find any trouble doesn’t mean—”

“Hold up,” Akihiko says. “You guys hear that?”

As everyone puts their conversation on pause, the noises Akihiko refers to come through faintly. They can hear distant growling, the sound of metal scraping against a hard surface, and even the startling bang of a gun being fired.

“Sounds like fighting,” says Yu.

When Teddie sniffs the air, the act makes him recoil in disgust. “Uh, guys? Something smells beary bad up ahead…”

“Like, B.O. bad, or Shadow bad?” Junpei asks.

“Obviously the second one,” says Yukari. “Where is it, Teddie?”

“Down this way. Follow me!”

He sprints ahead with his nose held high, so everyone else does their best to keep up. There are some twists and turns on the path, but eventually his squeaky footsteps screech to a halt in the center of a long hallway flanked by railings. Enormous glass windows take up the space of the wall on the right, allowing for a look down into the large room below.

It has the size of a dozen concert halls all merged together, though without any of the clutter. The lack of light coming in through the window hides most of the far-reaching corners of the room. Even in that darkness, one thing stands out: a towering western-style dragon covered in thick ruby red scales and sharp spikes. White fangs catch the light of the flames slipping through them, turning the space that the dragon occupies into a light source of its own.

The dragon isn’t alone, however. Facing off against it is a lone figure dressed in black. Their coattails flutter behind them as they mount the dragon to deliver a quick series of stabs via the small blade in their hand. When the dragon reaches out with a claw to stop any more damage, the fighter disengages with a backflip. Unfortunately for their efforts, the monster looks no worse for wear after the stabbing.

“Who is that?” Chie asks.

“Can’t tell,” Akihiko says. “They’ve got a mask on. And some weird clothes.”

“Not really something you can comment on after last time, senpai,” Yukari mutters.

“Forget the person, what the hell’s a dragon doing here?!” Junpei yells.

“That’s…really not the strangest thing we’ve seen in places like this, Junpei-san,” says Rise.

In any other situation, the fight down below might seem like a choreographed performance. The person in a mask weaves between the dragon’s attacks, dodging flame and claws in equal measure to retaliate with strikes of their own. They still don’t leave any noticeable damage on it, however.

Visibly agitated, the masked fighter backs off and shouts something that doesn’t make it to where everyone is watching from. Alongside a powerful shockwave and a burst of blue fire, an otherworldly being appears behind the masked fighter. Its blood red attire contrasts with the massive, feathery black wings jutting from its back. With one wave of the fighter’s arm, the floating creature sends out a geyser of red and black energy that explodes on contact with the dragon and forces it back. The gathered group only knows one type of entity that behaves like this.

“That person has a Persona!” Ken shouts.

“A strong one too,” Akihiko says. “I could feel the pressure from its summoning all the way up here.”

“But what’s a Persona-user doing out here all by themselves?” asks Yukiko.

“Yamagishi, have you settled in yet?” Mitsuru asks. “Can you tell us anything more about this individual?”

Fuuka’s voice echoes in everyone’s minds. “Nothing very revealing, I’m afraid. Though I can confirm your assumptions about their strength. The power coming from them and their Persona is staggering.”

“Can you make any direct comparisons?” Naoto asks.

“It would be better to see in person, but I estimate their power puts them somewhere just below Narukami-kun. Without taking into account any of his special powers, that is.”

The whole of the Investigation Team tenses at that. It would be one thing for this mystery fighter to match up to them, but to their leader? The idea of anyone coming close to Yu has them thinking of individuals that they have no desire to cross paths with again.

Rise takes a few steps back to give Kouzeon some room to form. Her own senses go to work in quantifying the unknown variable currently in battle.

“I hate to say it, but I’m with Fuuka-san on this one,” she states. “Whoever that is down there is definitely strong. But also…”

“Also what?” Chie asks.

“Something about that power feels familiar. Not in a strong way, but…I feel like I’ve sensed something like it at least once before.”

“Well that’s ominous,” Yosuke mutters.

Back in the fight below, the winged Persona shields its summoner from a fire breath attack, allowing them to retaliate with a few loud gunshots into the dragon’s wings. The bullets cause it some clear pain, but they don’t penetrate any of the leathery skin. The dragon spins in place to slam the masked fighter with its tail.

The same exchange happens a few more times. Every small bit of damage inflicted on the dragon is returned tenfold to the human battling it, though they never stay down for long. Their Persona doesn’t use any healing spells, which tells everyone watching that this is simply the fighter’s own resilience on display.

Junpei whistles at the sight. “Whoever they are, they’re pissed. I’ve never seen someone jump back up so quick after getting hit. They want that dragon dead.”

“Which means they’re on our side, right?” Labrys asks. “If this place is supposed to be filled with Shadows, that dragon’s prob’ly somethin’ similar.”

“It wouldn’t be wise to assume their allegiance right off the bat,” says Naoto. “Hating Shadows has not been a disqualifier for being an enemy of ours in the past.”

“We also don’t know what it is they’re actually doing here,” says Mitsuru. “The fact that their arrival predates ours already has me suspicious of their role in all this.”

“Do you think it could be the person who’s behind this?” Yukari asks. “Like, they made this area and now they’re having trouble reining in the Shadows?”

“Wouldn’t someone who could make all this have some better control?” Yosuke asks. “I don’t get why someone would go to the trouble of doing something like this if they couldn’t handle their own creations.”

“Maybe it’s another situation like with Labrys,” says Chie. “Her Shadow made that space in the TV World, but she couldn’t do much about it. Maybe that person down there is dealing with their Shadow?”

Labrys shudders. “For their sake, I really hope they’re not dealing with somethin’ like that alone…”

Aigis whispers a soft, “Sister…”

Any further conversation is cut off by the sound of a howling screech from the dragon below. In several bursts of bloodlike goo, multiple Shadows spawn in around it, circling the masked fighter. These Shadows aren’t like the ones either team watching has dealt with in the past, however. Strangely, they all have the appearance of Personas that Yu or Aigis themselves would use in battle.

The fighter manages to dodge the first few attacks, but the Shadows eventually land a clean hit to their back. When they hit the ground, the damage starts to pile on. Shards of ice descend from the sky beside bolts of lightning and large gusts of wind, and the dragon’s own fireballs pelt the very same spot. Even amidst the noise from the volley of attacks being hurled, human cries of pain can be heard clear as day.

Akihiko grips onto the railing so tightly that his gloves creak. “Answers can come later. If we don’t get down there now, they’re gonna die!”

“Yeah, but we still don’t have a way to get down there,” Junpei says. “I don’t see a door anywhere.”

“Then let’s make our own.” Kanji moves over to an unoccupied window before crushing the small blue card hovering in front of him. “Persona!”

Takeji Zaiten appears with his sword already raised. One heavy slash is enough to shatter the window entirely and take a large chunk of the wall with it. With the new opening granted to them, the group jumps down into the open area and sprints towards the battle. They are met with even more Shadows spawning near their point of entry.

Mitsuru thrusts a hand out towards the other end of the room. “Yukari, see to the masked fighter’s injuries. Amada and Iori will deal with the nearby Shadows before standing guard for you.”

“Got it!”

“Everyone else, prepare for battle! Above all else, ensure that Kujikawa can do her job without being targeted.”

“The Investigation Team will handle these small Shadows,” Yu says, already in the process of leading his team away. “We’ll leave the dragon to the rest of you.”

“Just what I wanted to hear,” says Akihiko, cracking his knuckles. “Aigis, Mitsuru, Labrys, let’s do this quick.”

“Affirmative!”

Aigis unleashes a spray of bullets onto the dragon, causing it to roar in pain before blocking the gunfire with a wing. It turns its attention to her and opens its mouth wide, showing off the mass of flame building in its throat. Mitsuru already has her Evoker primed and ready as the attack is set to be released.

“Oh no you don’t – Artemisia!”

A giant wall of ice intercepts the jet of flame, unyielding even under such intense heat. Mitsuru channels more power into it with another shot from her Evoker, letting the ice spread to envelop the dragon’s front legs. Before it can attempt to free itself, Labrys mounts the icy construct and uses her rockets to skate up to the top.

“Thanks for the ramp, Mitsuru-san!”

She boosts her way off the precipice and raises her axe high. Putting all her force into a downward swing lets her cleave off the dragon’s right wing in one strike. It howls in pain, thrashing against its icy restraints and finally managing to get free out of sheer desperation. The swipe it takes at Labrys misses entirely as she uses the chain in her arm to latch onto the remaining ice and swing out of harm’s way.

Fuuka’s voice comes to them in that moment. “Since Rise-chan is busy navigating for her team, allow me to guide you all. While I’m not detecting any weaknesses on your opponent, it seems to have no resistances to Physical or Electric attacks.”

“Roger that, Fuuka-san,” Aigis says. When she calls for Athena, the Persona bathes Akihiko in an orange-gold light. “Your strength has been enhanced, Akihiko-san!”

“Thanks for that,” he replies. “I’ll put it to good use!”

Akihiko sprints at the dragon with his body low and fists raised. It tries to hit him with small bits of fire, but the boxer is quick enough on his feet to avoid them. When he gets right under the dragon’s head, he puts his Evoker to his head and fires. Caesar appears in an instant, lowering his sword for Akihiko to climb on top of. The Persona heaves its other self upwards, allowing Akihiko to perform a boosted full-body uppercut right into the dragon’s jaw. The sound of giant teeth cracking rings out like a thunderclap in the small room.

Even as the dragon reels, the Shadow Operatives don’t let up. Akihiko’s upwards trajectory is redirected by Labrys as she grabs onto him midair and flings him onto the dragon’s nose. Akihiko gets a few quick jabs in, but finds the monster’s hide much tougher than it looked from afar. He settles for a parting shot of a Ziodyne once he notices the heat coming from below his feet. Another ice ramp from Mitsuru serves as his exit strategy, one that goes off cleanly thanks to cover fire from Aigis.

With Akihiko back on the ground, the quartet of Shadow Operatives stand side by side again. Their joint attacks have clearly done damage based on how haggard the dragon looks now, but it continues to stand tall in the face of their strength. A quick burst of flame forces them all to take a collective jump back.

Akihiko wipes the sweat from his brow. “Damn, this guy’s tough. We got any other plans besides hitting it even harder?”

“Nothin’ wrong with that,” Labrys replies.

“Everyone,” Fuuka calls out, “take a look at the glowing part of the dragon’s neck!”

The point Fuuka is referring to is a faint light pouring from a cavity slightly above the dragon’s chest. The opening is jagged and misshapen in a way that suggests it isn’t natural to the creature.

“I think that area can be exploited as a weak point! If you are able to hit it with enough force, the dragon should finally be defeated.”

“A weak point at a time like this?” Mitsuru asks. “Come to think of it, that other Persona-user seemed hellbent on attacking a single spot repeatedly. It’s likely this opportunity was brought about by their hard work.”

Mitsuru directs her eyes to the right of her where the masked fighter is being treated. There still isn’t anything to suggest their allegiance one way or the other, but she can’t ignore such a clear resolve, nor does she have any intentions of allowing a life to be lost in front of her while she can help it. She turns back to her allies with her rapier raised high.

“We won’t let that work go to waste. Aigis, prepare an attack strong enough to put this beast down. We’ll cover you.”

The android nods and positions herself right across from the dragon’s weak point, about sixty meters back. Her motors and gears begin to whir intensely, not quite with the speed necessary to activate her Orgia Mode, but enough to push past her normal operational limits. She hasn’t spent such long stints in Kirijo Group labs for nothing. The obstacle before them would fall at this process’s completion.

The three fighting with her attempt to distract the monster with various spells in their arsenal, but it disperses most of them with a flap of its wing. It keeps up the rapid movement, forcing its attackers back with heavy gusts of wind. None of them are hurt badly by the force, but they are sent sprawling back past Aigis, who is still in the process of preparing her attack.

Her mechanical eyes widen as the dragon sets its sights on her. With her comrades recovering a short distance away, and the Investigation Team beating back the other Shadows encroaching upon them, there is no one to block the stream of flame it is readying.

Out of options, Aigis closes her eyes and braces for the damage. Strong though the dragon might be, one burst of flame will not send her to her knees. She will simply withstand it and attack right back, for the sake of her friends, and for the sake of a fellow Persona-user she does not even know. As has been her directive since two thousand and nine, all life is to be protected, and she will be the shield to do so.

What Aigis constantly finds herself forgetting, however, is that she is not a solitary shield. She is one propped up by the support of her allies, which is exactly what saves her in this moment.

Before the dragon can attack, a gleaming silver object speeds by and embeds itself in the beast’s left eye. An arrow, Aigis realizes once its motion has ceased. The dragon directs its lone good eye towards the group in the back where Yukari is lowering her bow with a smug grin.

“Still got it.”

“Don’t think we’re out of the fight just because we’re over here,” Junpei shouts, putting his Evoker to his head. “Back ‘em up, Trismegistus!”

Ken matches the action and calls out, “Kala-Nemi!”

Both Personas zip over to the battlefield, dodging the sloppy stream of fire the dragon lets out. They tag-team to grab the dragon’s wing and pin it to the ground. Partially blinded and with its mobility hindered, the beast shrieks. Its pain only increases as it becomes stunned by the combination of Caesar’s lightning and Artemisia’s ice. Labrys forgoes any spells and simply slams her axe into the ground right behind Aigis.

“Did’ja see what Akihiko-san did earlier with his Persona?” she asks. “Bet’cha our version’ll take this thing out.”

Aigis allows herself a smile. “I would agree.”

As her internal gears click sharply and cease their whirring, Aigis leaps backwards until she is balanced on the blade of Labrys’s axe. The older android goes through several full rotations before hurling her sister right at the immobilized dragon. Turbocharged with her own internal energy, Aigis rips through the weak point like a bullet, causing one last loud roar from the dragon before it collapses onto its side.

Aigis stops her momentum in time to see the monster vanishing in clumps of black smoke. As it fades, so do the leftover Shadows harassing the Investigation Team. It seems that there wasn’t an end to them outside of taking down their summoner.

When Aigis gets back to Mitsuru and the others, their wounds are already being mended by some recovery items in Akihiko’s pouches. She shares a brief high five with Labrys for their combination technique.

Mitsuru’s question asking if everyone is alright is finally audible without the sounds of combat getting in the way. The eerie silence from before quickly settles in.

“All good on our end, Mitsuru-san,” calls Chie.

“Just taking care of some healing,” adds Yu. “We’ll be right there.”

“Man, our masked fighter really wore that dragon out,” Akihiko says. “It only lasted two rounds.”

“We are fortunate we could get away without using many resources to defeat it,” says Mitsuru. “Speaking of, we should see to the injured party themself.”

Mitsuru’s small group makes the short trip over to where the rest of their comrades are watching over the aforementioned fighter. Up close, it becomes obvious that he is a young man, barely on the cusp of adulthood. His wild black hair further obscures the sleek white mask on his face.

For Mitsuru, something about his elaborate black coat and bright red gloves pulls at a small memory in her mind. She can’t begin to think of where she would have seen it, though.

She pushes the thought aside to ask, “Yukari, how is he?”

“Still alive, just sleeping. I think he passed out because he overused his Persona during the fight. And there are a lot of injuries that Isis couldn’t fix up with healing spells.”

“Injuries from somethin’ other than the dragon?” Labrys asks. “Like what?”

“There might be more enemies further in,” says Akihiko. “We don’t know how much of this place this guy has seen.”

Mitsuru hums in response. “Well, he isn’t exactly available to talk right now, so that leaves us without solid answers. Yet another mystery to add to the list…”

“Lucky for you, that’s our specialty,” Yosuke says, walking onto the scene with the rest of the Investigation Team. “We’ll figure this all out eventually, don’t worry. Though we don’t exactly have a ton of clues to—”

Yosuke’s words are cut off by a shriek from Rise that makes everyone jolt in place.

“Woah!” Junpei yells. “What’s the matter?”

Rise shoves her way to the masked individual’s side and drops down, raising his head and shoulders so that they rest on her instead of the ground.

“Ren!”

That name does nothing for the Shadow Operatives. The Investigation Team members, however, all crowd around as soon as Rise shouts it.

“Ren?” Yosuke crouches to get a better look. “Holy shit, you’re right!”

“I didn’t notice with the mask,” Yukiko says. “It really is him…”

“Wait, you guys know him?” Akihiko asks.

Chie nods quickly. “Yeah! He’s a friend from home; we go way back.” She leans over Ren and places a hand on his cheek. “Ren, hey, can you hear us?”

“What’s Ren-Ren even doing here?!” Teddie asks. “And in that crazy outfit?!”

“We likely won’t find out until he wakes up to tell us himself,” says Yu. “For now, we should get him somewhere safe to recover. Mitsuru-san, can we put this investigation on pause?”

“Of course. We’ll regroup in the real world for now.”

“Thank you. Team, let’s get Ren situated so we can move him.”

“Step back, I’ll get him,” Kanji says.

Chie moves as well. “We’ll help.”

Kanji crouches down so that Yu and Chie can hoist Ren onto his back. They make sure to walk closely as Kanji begins the trip towards an exit across from their forced point of entry. Yukiko and Rise gather up the few loose belongings scattered around where Ren went down before following. The others crowd around them on the way out in a fierce ring of protection.

The Shadow Operatives watch them all go, each of them a bit baffled by the change in atmosphere. Their victory in combat doesn’t seem like much of a win now with half of their group so stressed out.

“I really wasn’t expecting everyone from Inaba to find a friend in here,” says Ken.

“Not to mention one with a Persona,” Akihiko says. “You ever heard of this ‘Ren’ guy, Labrys?”

“Nope. They never brought him up to me. I’m pretty sure I would’ve remembered somethin’ like that.”

“Whoever he is, those guys really care about him,” Yukari says. “I hope he’ll be alright.”

“We’ll have to ensure he gets the best care possible,” says Mitsuru. “Come, let’s return to reality and catch our breaths. Something tells me we are in for a long night.”

Notes:

We've gone from peacefully sharing memories to a combat-filled mystery!

If you're new to the series here, welcome! The first story in the series, 'From Inaba to Tokyo,' has a lot of the context for how Ren connects to the Investigation Team, so I recommend reading that one too for the best experience with this fic. It's more consistently feel-good than this one will be.

I realize this is a definite tone shift from 'From Inaba to Tokyo,' but I've wanted to use this AU in a more dramatic setting for a while. It also gives me the perfect chance to bring in the Shadow Operatives, who I considered tying into the last story but decided to save them for this. The contrast between a team that deeply knows Ren and one who has just met him will be on full display here, and I'm excited to play around with the different dynamics.

I don't want to give away anything before the real mysteries begin to reveal themselves, so for now, I'll leave you with the question of how Ren arrived in his current situation and how his goal from the summary is affecting him. (I'm sure his mental state will be perfectly fine throughout this whole thing!)

Chapter 2

The Kirijo Group medical facility closest to Yamichi is a bundle of nerves at the moment. Each member of the Investigation Team is falling victim to anxiety in a waiting area. Some pace around the room, muttering to themselves in a hushed tone. Some squirm in their seats with frequent glances at the row of monitors on the wall. A few remain completely still and stare off into space.

Without much context for the situation, all the present Shadow Operatives can do is watch over them. None of them want to start conversation until they get a proper update on things. They aren’t the ones with access to any comforting words, after all.

The tense atmosphere is broken by the clacks of Mitsuru’s heels echoing down the hall. When she reaches the waiting area, Fuuka is trailing right behind her looking only slightly winded. Neither get the chance to speak before Rise shoots up from her chair, panic obvious on her face.

“How’s Ren?”

“Stable,” answers Mitsuru. “All of his wounds have been treated, but the exhaustion from overusing his Persona will still take time to recover from.”

“He will wake up,” Fuuka says. “Please rest assured of that.”

“Good,” Rise says, taking a few slow breaths. “That’s good.”

“Damn Shadows,” Kanji grumbles. “If I’d known Ren was fighting, I’d have smashed that window the second we got there. Could’ve saved him some trouble.”

“It’s not your fault, Kanji-kun,” says Naoto. “We simply lacked information at the time. The most important thing is that we were able to protect him before anything dire happened.”

“Right,” Yu says. “Just like always.”

“With that said, do you all mind filling us in on this chance encounter?” Mitsuru says. “You claim to have a long history with Amamiya, yes?”

“Ren lived with us in Inaba when he was a kid,” says Chie. Her legs haven’t stopped bouncing since she first sat down. “We met him at different points, but he’s a friend to all of us.”

“He moved away from Inaba back in twenty fourteen,” Yosuke adds. “I feel stupid for not realizing sooner, but Yamichi is definitely where he went afterwards. I remember us trying to figure out a good time to visit back when he first left.”

“Oh, that’s right! Man, how’d we let that slip our minds?”

“That’s when we got really busy,” Kanji says. “We wanted to all go see him together, but when that wasn’t working out, it changed to splittin’ into groups to try and go. Things got busier from there, so then we tried to plan solo trips and, well…you can probably guess what happened.”

“There just never really seemed to be a good time to go,” Yukiko says. “That’s what we told ourselves, at least. In reality, we took that time for granted, and it passed faster than any of us realized.”

Naoto says, “It was around that time that we eventually lost contact with Ren-kun. We only recently reunited after a chance meeting in Tokyo during a vacation.”

“How recently?” Mitsuru asks.

“Three months ago, in December,” says Rise. “I stopped at a random café after work and he just happened to be working there. I invited the others over so we could spend the day catching up and swapping stories. We made plans with him to meet up again afterwards, but it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“And what of his Persona? He seemed to be more proficient with it than someone fresh off an awakening.”

“If he’s had one before today, we didn’t know,” Yosuke says. “I think we’re all just as shocked as you guys.”

“Actually…that isn’t true,” says Yu. “I knew about Ren’s Persona.”

Rise raises her hand. “So did I.”

Unsurprisingly, all the other members of the Investigation Team express shock at that. It’s hard for Yu not to shy away from the looks bordering on betrayal coming from all around him. Rise placing a hand on his back to steady him is a nice support, even if it doesn’t do much for his frantic heartbeat.

Naoto recovers from her visible shock to stare more like Dojima might when pushing for information.

“You knew, senpai?” she asks. “And you as well, Rise-san? How?”

“It was an accident,” Yu answers. “I sensed something unusual the last time we saw him, so I asked Rise to take a quick look with Kouzeon. That’s when we found out that Ren had a Persona.”

Yu stops himself from reacting to the glance Rise gives him out of the corner of her eye. They both know that they discovered more than that, but that isn’t their information to give out.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Kanji asks. “That’s a hell of a thing to keep quiet.”

“It wasn’t our secret to tell. And, well…” Yu ducks his head slightly. “It felt wrong to share something I only learned from overstepping. I didn’t want to betray Ren’s trust by giving away something so personal.”

“It really wasn’t anything against you guys,” Rise says. “We just felt like the less people that knew, the better. It wasn’t hurting anything, so we decided to leave it be.”

“We’re sorry if that feels like keeping you guys in the dark.”

“Nah, you don’t have to apologize,” says Yosuke.

Chie adds, “Yeah, we get it. Plus, I don’t think I could’ve acted normal around him knowing he had a Persona. I’d want to ask too many questions.”

“Believe me, we were in the same boat,” Yu says. “I’ve had to put it out of my mind the past few months because every time I thought about it, I just got more worried.”

“Well, now we can finally put those worries to bed by asking him more,” says Yukiko. “I’m sure Ren-kun won’t have any trouble explaining to us.”

“Yeah,” Teddie agrees. “Just because Ren-Ren has a Persona doesn’t mean he’s not still our little buddy!”

Kanji chuckles. “That ‘little’ buddy is taller than you, Ted.”

“You know what I meant!”

The fact that the team can actually share a proper laugh for the first time in hours is no small feat. Yu wishes they could hold onto this feeling for longer than a few seconds. All signs point to that not being the case with a crisis still looming.

“There is one more thing to discuss,” Mitsuru says, drawing attention back to her. “I had the thought earlier that something about Amamiya’s attire was familiar to me. After pondering on it some more and cross-referencing some sources Yamagishi provided, I now know why I felt that way.”

“Do you know Amamiya from somewhere, Mitsuru?” Yukari asks.

“Not quite. I’m more familiar with his alter ego than his normal identity.”

“Alter ego?” Akihiko says. “What, he’s got a name to go with that mask and outfit?”

“Indeed he does. That costume of his was broadcasted over every TV in Shibuya in two thousand sixteen. It was worn by none other than the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.”

It really seems to be one shock after another today, Yu thinks. Though this is the first one in some time that rocks everyone present equally. The Shadow Operatives balk at that information just like the Investigation Team does. He can’t even look to Rise in solidarity for this one. She looks like the floor under her feet suddenly collapsed.

“Ah…” Naoto folds her arms over one another. “Now that you mention it, I do recall that outfit being shown clear as day just before that scandal with Masayoshi Shido. I had other obligations demanding my attention at the time, but I remember the broadcast. Scores of people in Shibuya reported watching it live on just about every screen in sight. The Phantom Thieves had completely taken over the airwaves in that moment.”

“Wait, so this kid you know is a criminal?” Junpei asks.

His question is immediately met with several glares, all of which cause him to seek shelter behind Akihiko.

“Ren is not a criminal,” Chie says. “We don’t know how he’s connected to the Phantom Thieves, but he would never do anything to hurt people. He’s one of the best people we know.”

“Hey, hey, I’m just goin’ off of what I’ve heard! I think the Thieves are kinda cool, but they made a whole lot of trouble while they were active, yeah?”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Akihiko says, pushing Junpei back into view. “I have plenty of contacts that were working overtime just to deal with all the antics of that group. Of course, there were those that got rightfully outed by the Thieves’ actions as well.”

“My classmates in high school could never agree on if they were good guys or not,” Ken says. “I heard it was pretty much the same everywhere else. They were pretty divisive.”

“I would have thought you’d be into them, Ken-kun,” says Yukari. “They pretty much have the reputation of superheroes with younger people, right?”

“Why did you say that like you’re middle aged?” Junpei asks.

“Shut up!”

“Yukari-san, you should know better than anyone that Featherman characters and the Phantom Thieves are totally different things,” Ken protests. “I admit that I did watch a few of those ‘Phantom Phreak’ streams with some friends, but it was only because they wanted to! I honestly don’t really know what to make of the Thieves.”

“That is likely by design,” says Mitsuru. “As individuals who remained in the shadows and refused contact with the public, they obviously are more concerned with their mission than with how others perceive them. They never truly spoke out against accusations aside from that calling card addressed to Masayoshi Shido.”

“Right, when their leader was supposedly captured,” Naoto says. “They used that calling card to lay the blame for the mental shutdowns on Shido. They also took the opportunity to prove that their leader was alive and well after news stations claimed that he committed suicide while in custody.”

Chie rubs her chest as a phantom pain sets in. “Man, I don’t even want to think about how it would have felt to know Ren’s identity ahead of time while watching the news. I think my heart would’ve stopped.”

“I don’t know if I’ll feel any better until we have some of these questions answered,” says Yukiko.

“Yeah, well, all we can do is wait for Ren to wake up,” Yosuke says.

“Unfortunately, that is the case,” Mitsuru says. “The Shadow Operatives will take charge of the research front. Yamagishi has a good amount of data to go through even with our limited journey into that strange realm. You all should use this time to watch over Amamiya and await his awakening. Once he feels up to it, I would like at least some of his history to be cleared up.”

“Got it,” Yu says. “We’ll meet up later.”

The two groups separate, letting the Investigation Team finally make their way to the room where Ren is recovering. They walk in and are immediately met with his resting form in a hospital gown. His glasses and regular clothes sit on a small dresser in the corner.

Everyone quietly takes spots around the room. It’s bigger than a normal hospital room, but at the expense of lacking any sort of comfort for those not being treated. There is a reason why the building is called a medical facility and not something more inviting, after all.

None of them are too hung up on that aspect. Comfy chairs are the least of their concerns with Ren still unconscious. For every slow breath he takes, they hold theirs. This waiting game they have found themselves in is horribly one-sided.

Their positions in the open space mostly mirror where they were outside. The sole exception to this is Rise, who wasted no time taking the seat closest to Ren’s bed. Her hands immediately went to hold his limp ones.

“Poor Ren…” she whispers.

“G–Guys, we shouldn’t be so gloomy,” Teddie says. “I bet Ren-Ren will hop right up in no time! R–Right?”

“What if he doesn’t, though?”

“Come on, Rise, that ain’t no way to think,” says Kanji.

“Can you blame me? The last time we were all in a hospital like this…”

She doesn’t really need to finish the thought. They all remember the feeling of watching a young friend of theirs fight for their life just to lose, even if only temporarily. No one could forget hearing the flatline of the heart monitor, nor the broken look on Dojima’s face as he ambled away from the scene. Losing Nanako had been the absolute worst experience they had collectively suffered.

“We got a miracle last time,” Rise continues, her voice trembling. “I know we’ve always been pretty lucky, but…but what if we really were too late this time? What if Ren—”

“That isn’t going to happen again,” says Yu. He walks over to place a steady hand on Rise’s back. “We’re not flying blind here, and this isn’t Inaba. Mitsuru-san’s people are way better prepped for something like this. Like Fuuka-san said, Ren is going to wake up. We just need to be patient.”

“Tch… Patient is the last thing I wanna be,” Kanji mutters.

Yosuke glances over to the lone person lingering by the door. “How you holding up, Naoto? I’m sure that detective brain isn’t doing you any favors right now.”

She sighs. “You would be correct. I’ve been rearranging what I know of Ren-kun ever since we discovered him in that unknown dimension. New paths have opened up in my mind, but…well, without more pieces to the puzzle, I can’t get anywhere. Every question I manage to answer simply spawns three more.”

“I think we can all agree to feeling like that. This has to be the biggest bombshell we’ve had dropped on us in a while.”

“That’s for sure,” Chie says. “But also…now that we know, I feel like a lot of stuff we found out in Tokyo makes sense.”

Yukiko asks, “What do you mean, Chie?”

“Well…we had trouble picturing Ren doing some of the stuff his friends talked about, right? Like that run-in with the yakuza. But doesn’t it kind of make sense if he spent his year there being a Phantom Thief?”

“You’re right,” Yu says. “And on top of that, all the connections he made that year make more sense too. I didn’t consider myself very social when I first got to Inaba, but having to go through my journey as a Wild Card brought lots of people into my life really quickly. I’m betting Ren went through the very same thing.”

“Then…you think he’s a Wild Card like you?” Yosuke asks.

“It seems likely. You heard Fuuka-san before, his power is right up there with mine. And even though we didn’t see it, Ren fought that huge dragon on his own before we got there. With how quickly the Shadow Ops took it down, he must have done a good chunk of damage to it before he went down. Doing that with no backup is seriously impressive.”

Rise scoffs under her breath. “I wish I could feel impressed. Anxiety is just about the only thing getting through right now.”

“Tell me about it,” Kanji mumbles.

The room goes back to being quiet for a little while. There’s only so much distraction that conversation can provide, and none of them are having any luck pushing it past its usefulness. The hum of the air conditioning and the steady beeps from nearby machines take over in its place.

The first unique sound to break the spell is a long, throaty yawn from Teddie that makes everyone look at him strangely.

“What?” he exclaims. “I’m beary tired! I can’t be the only one.”

“Now that you mention it, yeah, I guess I am too,” says Chie. “What time is it?”

Yosuke slides his phone out of his pocket. “Little after midnight.”

“Wait, really? But it was evening when we began our investigation,” Yukiko says. “I would have imagined everything that happened since then would put us into early morning…”

“That world may have a strange effect on time,” says Naoto. “I’m sure Yamagishi-san is looking into the possibility amongst her plethora of data.”

Yu says, “But even if it does, our bodies still experienced that time, and we all had to push ourselves a little more in combat yesterday since we were out of practice.”

“That’s being generous,” Yosuke says. “I don’t think I’ve ever missed so many wind attacks in one fight.”

Teddie growls. “At least you didn’t have your weakness hit a bunch of times! My poor fur got singed from all the lightning…”

“We all took a few hits,” Chie says. “Of course, that doesn’t really mean much for ‘Little Miss No Weakness’ over there.”

Naoto rolls her eyes. “I still take damage, you know. And this is why I have been stressing the importance of staying in formation in battle. You all are so eager to just run in and wreak havoc.”

“Cut us some slack! It was our first battle in a while. Who wouldn’t want to go all out for that?”

“What Chie means to say is that we’ll be more careful next time, Naoto-kun,” Yukiko amends. “If the fights continue to be of that caliber going forward, we won’t get away with fighting carelessly.”

“So I take it we’re all agreed, then?” Yu asks. “We want to continue helping the Shadow Operatives with this issue?”

“Hell yeah,” Kanji says. “We can’t just walk away now!”

“No way. Not after what that place did to Ren,” says Chie. “Whoever’s responsible has to answer to us!”

“I agree, which means we all probably need to make some calls soon,” Yukiko says. “All eight of us taking off at once is going to cause problems back home. I hope they can manage in our absence…”

Yu nods. “We’ll get all that straightened out soon enough. For now, let’s get enough sleep to where we won’t be completely useless to the Shadow Operatives come morning. Mitsuru-san mentioned something about spare rooms when we got here, so we should probably take her up on that.”

The others mutter their agreements. It seems like any remaining adrenaline is finally wearing off and leaving everyone a bit sluggish.

They all take a moment to check on Ren or whisper something encouraging to his sleeping form before leaving. Yu watches them all head out and is about to do so himself, but he notices one person still glued to Ren’s side.

It isn’t surprising, but he still has to ask, “Rise, you coming?”

“I…think I’ll stay in here just a little bit longer,” she says. “In case Ren wakes up a little early, you know?”

“I understand,” Yu says. “Just promise me you’ll get some sleep soon.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, Senpai. I’m about five minutes away from passing out on the spot. Navigating is tiring work.” Rise’s thumb slides softly down Ren’s still hand. “I just want to keep him in view for a little while longer. Then it’s off to bed.”

Yu knows that ‘a little while longer’ could very well mean the next few hours when it comes to something like this. Still, he’d be a bit of a hypocrite to tell Rise to push down her worries and leave the room before she’s ready. When Nanako was in the spot Ren is now, Yu could hardly stomach having to leave her side.

So he decides to just nod and give her a small hug before he leaves. Just because she feels the need to take care of Ren right now doesn’t mean she can ignore herself.

Now alone in the room, Rise lets out a rough sounding sigh. It’s been exhausting trying to keep her cool when all she wants is to throw a fit.

Why did something like this have to happen to Ren? She knows the answers aren’t as far away as she thinks, but that hardly feels comforting to consider right now. For all she knows, Ren could stay like this indefinitely.

She shakes her head. This is exactly what the others told her not to do. She shouldn’t be dooming Ren with her thoughts like this. The others believe in his recovery. Moreover, so does Fuuka-san, and her word when it comes to stuff like this may as well be gospel. If she says Ren will wake up, then he will. It just doesn’t help to see him so still.

Realistically, he should be fine. More than fine, even. He already went through a round of healing from Yukari’s Persona, and the staff here at the Kirijo facility checked on him as soon as he was brought in. There shouldn’t be anything seriously wrong with him.

Rise could hear those facts a million times and still be sitting here in this chair. None of it matters until those full gray eyes open and look at her again. His messy hair is curling over them at the moment, so Rise lifts her hand to brush some of it back. The gesture feels entirely too familiar, and she hates that none of the usual joy she would get from it is present.

“Hey, do me a favor and wake up soon, will you? I did a pretty good job keeping your Persona secret for so long, so don’t you think I deserve a reward?”

She lazily fixes more parts of his hair. It really hasn’t gotten any better all these years later.

“We’ll call it even if you wake up for me. I promise I won’t embarrass you or call you dumb names or anything. Just…please wake up, Ren.”

The final plea isn’t enough. There’s no dramatic moment of him shooting up and gasping for air like in the movies. He doesn’t slowly blink his eyes open to turn and look at her with a warm smile. He doesn’t even murmur in his sleep like she knows he used to as a kid.

All Ren does is continue to lie there and breathe. His chest barely rises and barely falls. There isn’t much magic she can work here, it turns out. She lets out a humorless chuckle.

“Yeah, that was wishful thinking, wasn’t it? You’ve always been pretty stubborn.”

Remembering her promise to Yu, she pushes her chair back to finally get to her feet. She wobbles a bit in place, which is probably a dead giveaway that she’s even more tired than she claimed earlier. Hopefully crashing into some kind of bed will help clear her mind of all this worrying.

“Fine, you can get some more rest for now. I have to do the same anyway,” she says, continuing despite the lack of responses lately. “But I’ll still be close by. So as soon as you wake up, I’ll be back to see you. Me and the others promised not to let you be alone anymore, and we meant it. Whatever’s going on with you, we’ll be here to help the whole time. Can’t get rid of us that easily.”

She and her friends made the mistake of giving him too much space in the past. It cost them several years that they wouldn’t get back at this point, years that they could have spent getting to know who Ren had grown into. Between puberty, being tossed around by a rigged legal system, and somehow gaining a Persona, there was obviously a lot they still had to catch up on.

As soon as he woke up, Rise wouldn’t rest until she learned all of it. Maybe it was the navigator in her, but she refused to miss out on a thing from here on.

 

*          *          *

 

A sealed entrance. A shift in the atmosphere. A chill to the air that doesn’t belong.

“There has to be an explanation for this…”

The sound of rushing wind and far-off moaning.

“Wh–What’s happening?”

The feeling of being dragged away by horrors beyond comprehension.

“Everyone grab onto something!”

Grunts…

“Agh!”

Pleas…

“No, let go!”

Curses…

“Damn it!”

Each exclamation filling the air, but all losing out to the single word shouted by all who vanish from sight.

“Ren!”

Help them!

“Arsène!”

The first thing Ren sees upon waking up in a panic is his own hand reaching for his mask. He knows that he had every intention of pulling it away to keep up the fight with the monster trying to kill him. There are several problems with this plan.

First, he has nothing on his face to touch. His mask is gone, and not even his usual glasses are there in its place. The cold air of the room is equally distributed across his face for once. It’s odd and discomforting.

Second, the raging flame he feels every time he goes into the Metaverse to fight alongside his Personas has dulled. It is now nothing more than the ember holding steady during his time in the real world, a constant assurance that he is not without the strength he has forged thus far. It is a comfort in most times, but Ren doesn’t feel anything close to it after waking in a strange location with no powers to call upon.

Lastly, even if that power still filled him, there isn’t anything in front of him other than a wall full of medical charts. To his right, tall windows let in chunks of golden sunlight under slightly raised curtains. Even with the semi-delirious state he’s in, he can’t find much reason to obliterate either targets. Such scenery makes no sense to him right now, but any desire to parse out his surroundings is put on hold on account of how his heart is thrashing around in his chest.

That dream…

No, not a dream. That memory has been steadily haunting him since it happened. Formerly being in combat is only half to blame for the way his blood is currently boiling. His haggard limbs buzz with energy he can’t even imagine himself spending right now. Not in any meaningful way, anyway.

He struggles to even pull the blankets down from around his chest. When he does, he finds himself dressed in a hospital gown.

That’s at least a start to clearing up the mystery. But despite potentially being in the hospital, he really isn’t in any pain. Well, no more than usual, he thinks. Past injuries take a toll every now and then, but he isn’t feeling any of that right now. The only thing plaguing him is a bone deep exhaustion that keeps him firmly laid back in this sickbed.

With his health seemingly safe to stop worrying about, his mind goes back to a previously sidelined topic of discussion. Where on earth is he?

The hospital comparison does work a bit considering how the room looks kind of like one a patient would use. Though it isn’t very inviting like those should be, and it seems to have more of a focus on the screens and machines inside. Almost like a lab, his mind supplies.

But how would he have even ended up in a lab? After what happened in the memory that shocked him awake, he remembers wandering through that strange dimension and fighting that dragon. During the fight, there was an attack he couldn’t dodge, and then…everything went dark.

What the hell happened in between then and now?

Slam!

Ren whips his head over towards the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. It turns out to have come from a tray full of breakfast foods, though he can’t quite tell any of them apart now that it’s all a steaming pile on the floor.

When Ren looks up to the hands of who dropped it all, he is struck with the idea that he never woke up at all, or at the very least, that he is actively hallucinating the sight. He has to be suffering from one or the other, otherwise he doesn’t know what to make of this.

Rise Kujikawa herself stands in the doorway with trembling hands held over her mouth. Tears fall from her eyes and plink against the tray at her feet. She looks to be in utter disbelief, which matches exactly how he feels on the inside.

“Ris—”

“You’re awake!” Rise sprints through the mess with no regard to how much worse it gets. She comes crashing into the side of the bed and throws her arms around Ren, pulling herself up even closer to him. “You’re finally awake – thank god!”

“I—”

“Do you have any idea how worried I was seeing you so hurt?! Fuuka-san told us you would wake up, but it was taking so long that I started thinking the worst! I haven’t been able to get the sight of you all messed up out of my head.”

Rise’s fingers curl tightly into the fabric of his gown. He can feel her nails poking into his sides.

“Don’t do that again,” she whispers. “Don’t disappear on us…”

There are a lot of things Ren is clueless about right now. He doesn’t know why Rise is here, or who the ‘Fuuka-san’ that she mentioned earlier is, or about the chain of events that brought him from fighting Shadows to waking up in this room.

What he does know is that someone he cares about is currently sobbing into him and he hasn’t done a thing to help. Tears have never suited Rise, and this is no exception.

Pushing everything else in his brain to the side, he forces his arms to encircle her and finally return the hug. She flinches just a bit, like she wasn’t expecting the gesture, but she remains face-down on his torso.

“Sorry,” he says quietly. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

After everything they’ve been through, it feels a bit backwards to be in this position. She was always the one being physical with him, never hesitating to make her feelings known. Most of the time it was simply her hugging him out of joy, but Ren can remember the rare times she did it as a means of comfort. He remembers being small enough to fit into her arms as he broke enough to shed tears. Hopefully he isn’t doing a poor job of paying her back after all these years.

They stay in a fairly quiet embrace until the sound of footsteps comes from down the hall. They progressively get louder until Naoto comes into the doorway grimacing. It seems like she noticed the mess from afar.

“Rise-san, why on earth is all this food on the fl—” Naoto’s chastisements stop cold once she gets a proper glimpse into the room. Her eyes meet those of the only other person facing her, and her mouth opens loosely as a result. “Ren-kun…”

“Um…” Ren carefully lifts a hand from Rise’s back in a pitiful attempt at a wave. “Hi?”

Naoto ducks out of the room as swiftly as she entered. Not ten seconds later, the rest of the Inaba crew comes scrambling through the doorway. Everyone’s voices blend together in a noisy mix of his name and exclamations of relief and open weeping.

It is a very good thing that he isn’t in much pain considering the way everyone is dogpiling him right now. Chie has the embrace of a python squeezing its prey, and Kanji doesn’t seem to be holding back either. Ren feels Yukiko crushing one of his hands in a nervous grip while Yosuke keeps trying to get a better look through the mountain of young adults leaning over the bed. Ren’s also pretty sure that Teddie is somewhere next to his ribs? The situation is unclear.

Still, if they feel half as bad as Rise apparently has, he has no problem letting them get out all these emotions. He stays mostly quiet as they do so, only speaking to assure them that he is okay and that this isn’t some sort of mass dream they’re having. Though he isn’t entirely convinced that he isn’t having one himself.

“Uh, so…not to ruin the mood,” he says, “but it sounds like you guys know what I’m doing in this place. Can someone fill me in?”

His friends all give him some space now that their emotions aren’t running high. There are still some eyes to wipe and some sobs that have yet to stop completely, but they look like they can at least manage actual words now.

“Oh, right,” Yosuke says. He coughs into his fist. “We, uh, kinda skipped over the important stuff. Well, what’s the last thing you remember, Ren?”

“I…”

Ren holds his tongue from letting the truth pass. As much as he hates it, he can’t be honest with them. Regardless of why they’re all here right now, they just need to know that he’s okay. Then he can work on trying to get them to move on from all this.

“Not much after walking home last night,” he says after that pause. “I think I…might have gotten attacked, and that’s why I ended up hurt. No idea by who, though.”

It’s a shaky excuse to begin with, so Ren doesn’t expect much in the way of instant sympathy. He gets even less than that, however, as everyone shares a pointed look with each other. It’s the kind that adults give one another while deciding how to break upsetting news to a little kid, and it makes him feel a little smaller in his gown and bed.

When no one says anything after a bit more silence, Ren adds on, “So, did whoever found me near my house call you guys in afterwards? I’m not sure why they would, but—”

It’s Yu that cuts him off in a firm voice that feels entirely unfamiliar. It’s somehow commanding and comforting all at once, and Ren finds himself unable to shake free of how pinned he feels under it.

“Ren, you don’t have to lie to us,” he says. “We all know that’s not what happened to you.”

“W–What do you mean? How else would I have gotten hurt and woken up in a hospital bed?”

Yosuke shrugs and says, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe by fighting a giant dragon and overusing your Persona so bad it knocks you out? That ring any bells?”

There’s no chance of hiding his reaction to hearing that. Ren sits as upright as he can manage while his eyes dart around to every other person in the room. None of them look as shocked as he feels.

“How do you guys know what Personas are?”

“Technically we should be asking you that question,” Rise says. “We’re actually your Persona-using seniors.”

“My…seniors?”

Chie puts her hands on her hips. “Yeah! We’ve been using our Personas to kick Shadow butt since twenty-eleven!”

“Except mine,” says Teddie. “I’m a good Shadow!”

Ren just blinks dumbly with his mouth open at that. It feels like every thought that is beginning to form just melts in his head before it can get anywhere.

Maybe he really hasn’t woken up yet. Maybe that strange experience earlier with those Shadows and the battle have penetrated his subconscious and are informing his dream. That makes sense, doesn’t it?

It certainly beats the alternative, because how can he possibly believe that the eight people who grew up alongside him in Inaba all have Personas and know that he has one right back?

That dumb look sticks around long enough for the others’ worry to become visible. Before anyone else can chime in, Yukiko raises her hand.

“Um…maybe we shouldn’t overwhelm him so suddenly with all this information.”

“Agreed,” Yu says. “Let’s just start with the basics. Ren, how much do you remember about that Midnight Channel rumor?”

And thus begins the most unbelievable lecture of Ren’s life. His oldest friends do their best to give him a brief rundown of their initial adventure back as teenagers. Though it does match up to some oddities he remembers from around that time, hearing everything they went through makes them seem larger than life, in a way. All of their battles and investigations feel like the stuff of legend.

Amidst those thoughts is a sickening feeling. He can’t believe he actually shared a conversation with detective Adachi at one point.

They tell him what they know about Shadows and Personas, and the areas that they can dwell in, as well as how some of those places can sometimes house beings so powerful they claim themselves gods. That is unfortunately old news to Ren, but it’s comforting to know that he hasn’t personally been responsible for culling their kind all on his own.

What really throws him for a loop is when Yu straight up asks about the Velvet Room. He apparently isn’t too surprised to hear that Ren is its latest guest, which is definitely something to follow up on later.

From Ren’s perspective, it isn’t so much the fact that Yu is his Wild Card predecessor specifically that shocks him, but rather how close the previous one was to him in general. Really, Yu being a guest of the room just makes so much sense in hindsight. There aren’t many ways to explain one person cultivating such a large group of supporters in one short year of being away from home. Ren knows that better than most.

Just before words start losing all meaning to the mush that is rattling around in Ren’s skull right now, his friends finish their combined infodump. It’s a miracle that Ren is familiar with half the things they were explaining, otherwise there is no way he could have managed to retain it. Even still, he finds himself at a point now where his head hurts from the sheer amount of reveals he has had to cram inside recently.

Ren rubs at his temples before saying, “So…you all have Personas. Half of you have since I met you. Yu is a Wild Card like me. Teddie isn’t a human, but a Shadow that grew himself a body. The guys you’re working with right now also all got their Personas as teenagers, and now they’re working for the government to fight Shadows. With robots. And a regular dog that…also has a Persona. Did I miss anything?”

“Not really,” Yu says. “We left out some details about what the other group went through and some other fights we had, but we don’t need to talk about that right now. Oh, I guess I did forget to mention that Marie is actually a goddess.”

“Marie’s a what?!”

“We’ll come back to that later,” Rise says. She runs her fingers over the faded ring marks around Ren’s wrists. “I’m way more concerned with all these scars you have. Do your fights with Shadows get that rough?”

Ren jerks his arm away and pulls his gown tighter against him before she can see anything else. The less she knows about the marks on his body, the better. They were easy enough to hide with his clothing in December, but he’s too exposed sitting here like this. He only stopped being careful because he was distracted by all the hugging going on earlier.

“More like my journey in general was just rough,” he says. “Not everything that happened that year took place where I could have used my Personas.”

Rise’s expression flattens into something between a stern frown and a girlish pout. Of all the famous Risette faces he’s seen, this one has always been for times when she knows he’s holding something back. He usually let it work on him as a kid, but there’s too much at stake here to give in now.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m fine. Shadows are the least of my problems, normally.”

“I don’t know, that dragon Shadow had you on the ropes pretty bad when we found you,” says Yosuke.

“That wasn’t a Shadow, it was a cognition.” Obviously, no one has any idea what he means by this, so Ren is quick to add, “Long story. It also wasn’t the first dragon I’ve had to fight.”

Definitely the least annoying, though. He would easily redo the last dragon fight over dealing with Natsume’s stupid ink attacks again.

“I suppose that gives us an opportunity now to discuss some of your own activities,” says Naoto.

“Right,” says Yu. “Mitsuru-san wanted us to clear some things up with you, so I have to ask… Ren, is it true that you lead the Phantom Thieves?”

Realistically, Ren has been in this position too many times to still get so jumpy about it. Maybe it’s the fact that his oldest friends are the ones asking that has his hands shaking so bad that he has to grab the blanket on his lap to stop them.

Part of him was hoping he could get out of this only being clocked as a Persona-user. It would have forced him to lie about a lot of his journey, but it would cause less of an uproar amongst people he knows have much more interest in him than most.

That doesn’t really look like an option now, though. Them knowing his secret identity only makes sense if they found him in that weird area. It would have been hard to hide his costume while unconscious.

Oh, well. In for a penny, he supposes.

“It is,” he says, braving the scandalized looks he receives in return. “I’m the one they call Joker.”

Though he is sure he doesn’t look like it right now. Nothing about the pitiful young adult too tired to get out of bed exudes the aura of the fearsome masked thief that took Japan by storm.

“So it really is true…” Chie murmurs.

“Even though we mostly already knew, it’s still crazy to hear,” Yosuke says. “Hard to think the kid I met after he crashed his bike into a bunch of corn went on to become a masked vigilante.”

“Yeah, it’s different hearing it straight from your mouth,” says Rise.

“Looks like we’ve both been keeping pretty big secrets from each other, huh?” asks Yu.

“In fairness, the Phantom Thieves are mostly retired,” Ren says. “We can’t really change hearts how we used to, so my days of being a menace were behind me by the time you guys found me in Leblanc.”

“On that note… Forgive me if this is intrusive, Ren-kun, but would it be correct to assume the rest of the Phantom Thieves are your friends we met that day?” Yukiko asks.

Ren only wrestles with the idea of staying silent for a second. With what his friends from Inaba know, what good would it do to play dumb? And considering where he needs to go from here, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the question forever.

“No point trying to hide it now,” he says. “Yeah, that was the rest of them. Well, mostly. We had two members missing at the time. And a few unofficial members, I guess.”

“Man, you got a big group there,” says Kanji.

Ren lets out a weak chuckle. “We do kind of make a habit of picking up strays.”

“But if you’ve got such a big group, why weren’t they helping you fight that dragon?” Yosuke asks. “Heck, why aren’t they here now checking on you?”

“Are they all back in Tokyo?” Chie asks.

Ren’s hands curl into fists around his blankets once again. If only things were that simple.

“No,” he says. “They were taken.”

Everyone else is reasonably shocked to hear something like that. It makes more sense now that Ren knows the kinds of things they dealt with in their first year of fighting Shadows. Everyone here is painfully aware of what it feels like to be helpless to stop someone’s abduction.

“Taken?” Yukiko exclaims. “By whom?”

“Yeah, who could kidnap nine Phantom Thieves?” asks Kanji.

“And how did you escape?” Teddie asks.

“Ren-kun, why don’t you walk us through what you have experienced up until now,” says Naoto. “It will be easier for us to help once we know the situation in its entirety.”

Thinking about that chain of events in full for the first time since it happened would probably do him some good. He hasn’t really taken the time to look at it all with a clear head, has he? Not to mention he has people to actually bounce ideas off of now if he needs it. It’ll hurt recalling what he considers such a massive failure on his part, but if it helps him rectify it, then he’ll endure.

“It started two days ago,” Ren says. “Everything went wrong right after my graduation.”

Notes:

He's awake at last! Thoroughly confused and completely wiped, but at least he's awake.

Shorter chapter, I know, but I don't want to have these get too long while we're still in the setup portion. We've still got some ground to cover before heading back into that weird new space, which includes finding out what happened to the Phantom Thieves. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out relatively quickly; it makes me excited to see so many people along for the ride here. Until next time!

Chapter 3

Summary:

After recounting his recent experiences with the Phantom Thieves, Ren has to decide how to proceed along with the Investigation Team, though not without confronting the founder of the Shadow Operatives first.

Notes:

(Edit: Fixed the last sentence of the last chapter to properly reflect this fic's time span. Enjoy the new chapter!)

Graduation day felt nothing like Ren had expected going into high school. Waking up in the morning felt the same as always, and the walk to school was no less monotonous than normal. The buzz around his homeroom did not reach him. Watching everyone else exchange greetings and tell stories of their high school experience felt like looking through the glass of a museum exhibit. He understood what was on the other side but couldn’t claim to actually feel connected to any of it.

Nothing changed in the time it took to transfer over to the school’s auditorium. There were tears being shed, jokes being cracked, cheers flying through the air, the works. It all just felt like white noise to him, a dull ringing that wouldn’t cease until he was walking away from the school with his diploma in hand. He just needed to make it through the ceremony.

His first steps into the auditorium were unremarkable. The building had always been somewhat rundown with its paling red curtains and windows speckled with dust, so it was no surprise that even graduation day decorations didn’t do much to liven the place.

Visitors who had come to watch the ceremony gave light applause to the entering students. From what Ren could see, they were made up of mostly parents with a few grandparents and what he assumed were other extended family members. Ren couldn’t claim to be very interested in the sea of formalwear. After all, no one out there was looking to him.

“Joker!”

Ren’s head snapped up, angling towards a high-pitched voice that was unmistakable to him. A voice that should have been at home waiting for Ren’s return. That was clearly not the case.

Morgana was pushing himself up against someone’s shoulders so that he could peek above the crowd. Ren had to hold up the line of his classmates slightly to get a better look at the crowd below his not-a-cat, feeling every bit of breath in him leave once he did.

Supporting Morgana was Yusuke, the tallest of his closest friends, who offered a gentle smile once it was clear Ren had taken notice of him. Immediately, the small bit Ren could see filled with even more people he held dear. Ryuji and Ann bounced around to try and get within view, only for Makoto to yank them both back to prevent them from being too disruptive. She somehow still managed to wave at Ren.

Haru and Futaba were side by side, waving as high as their arms would let them. They only stopped momentarily to force Zenkichi to do the same since he was clearly content to remain in the back and not bring attention to himself. Sumire was decidedly more restrained in her greeting, but Ren could tell she was holding back from the kind of cheering one would expect at her competitions. His heart swelled even in the midst of his confusion.

And it wasn’t just his team, he quickly realized. As he walked a bit further in, he caught sight of his other friends and confidants as well. They all waved and clapped for him as he came within view. There were so many in the whole group that half of them were standing up against the wall.

Ren’s neck was going to get stiff from how he kept his gaze on all of them no matter how far into the auditorium he walked. Even once he was seated, he glanced at that back corner just to keep them all in sight a little longer if only to prove he wasn’t dreaming.

The ceremony itself couldn’t pull his attention, so it wasn’t surprising that the only thing to take him away from staring was his phone jolting in his pocket. He swore he had silenced it earlier, so he was fully prepared for it to just be some weird glitch when he pulled it out. Expecting anything so mundane in the crazy life he led was a mistake.

Appearing onscreen of her own volition was Sophia, as bright and cheery as she had been the last time Ren’s phone served as her permanent residence. She smiled and waved before making a shushing gesture with her finger, using another to point back towards the auditorium stage.

Expecting him to listen to some long-winded speech with so many loved ones around was, in Ren’s mind, an absurd request. But he would try, if only to make the impressionable AI on his phone proud.

So he listened as the principal droned on about how the school was continuing to defy expectations and break new ground in terms of educational styles. He sat silently as the third-year representative gave an extremely stiff speech on how the last three years would never be forgotten. He even kept his eyes on the projector screen as the school played four separate videos of messages from alumni, all of whom looked like they were being held at gunpoint to record messages for the graduating class.

It was one of the most painful things he had ever had to sit through, but he did it. The rest of the ceremony itself went by in a flash comparatively, and as soon as everyone was dismissed to interact with their families, Ren wasted no time finding his. The swarm of student-parent groups weren’t anything close to an obstacle with his Third Eye active. A huge blue glow in the corner of the room served as his beacon as he squeezed between people in a hurry.

He broke through the harsh waves of a human sea to a crowd of smiling faces. Along with all his teammates, he could see Sojiro, Sae, Takemi, Kawakami, Ohya, Iwai, Chihaya, Hifumi, and Mishima waiting for him. Somehow, the boy an entire town had spurned and exiled had ended up with the largest group of visitors in the entire ceremony.

Before Ren could even fully right himself, the Thieves were all rushing forward to close the gap between them and pull him into a group hug. If there had been any concern left at this being a dream, the amount of force on his body now put it to rest.

“Hey, Mr. Graduate!” Ann cheered.

“Congratulations, Senpai!” Sumire said.

“We totally surprised you,” said Ryuji. “Look at your face!”

“How would he look at his own face, genius?” Futaba asked.

“I can confirm that Joker’s expression is one of thorough surprise,” said Sophia. “Mission accomplished, everyone!”

Ren laughed aloud as they finally all broke apart. “Whose idea was this? I told you guys I didn’t need anything elaborate. I would have been fine with a phone call.”

“Believe me, this was the least elaborate thing we planned,” said Makoto. “What started as a small trip of just the team ended up growing once word got out. We couldn’t very well deny everyone else the opportunity to wish you well, could we?”

“But…everybody has jobs and lives to manage and—”

“Most of us wouldn’t still have our jobs if it weren’t for you,” Ohya said. “Come on, kid, give yourself some credit! We can spare one day out of a week to come see you without anything bad happening back home.”

“Especially since you never ask anything of us anyway,” said Chihaya. “This was the least we could do.”

“And it worked out that your school has one of the latest graduation days in the country,” said Mishima. “I was worried we were going to have to convince Niijima-senpai to let us skip classes.”

Hearing that they were willing to go that far for this made Ren think bitterly on the past. They sounded so determined in getting to his graduation that he felt like a fraud remembering the distinct lack of his presence at any of theirs.

Ann noticed the downcast expression and said, “Oh, don’t give us that look. We already told you that missing our graduation was fine. You’ve been dealing with a lot this month; it couldn’t be helped. Plus, you must have been on the phone with each of us for hours to make up for it.”

“He certainly was,” Hifumi said. “Seeing you at Kosei’s ceremony would have been great, but simply getting to chat that evening was more than enough, Ren.”

“Still, I wish I would have fought a bit harder to make it down for everyone’s,” Ren said. It was ironic how hard it was to get out of Yamichi after how quickly the town had sent him off not long ago. “I guess I’ll have to make up for it once I move out for good and head back to Tokyo.”

The thought made him smile even more than he was already. Soon enough, Tokyo wouldn’t just be where his heart lived, but the rest of him as well. He couldn’t wait to continue growing amongst the people who had made the city into a home for him.

“There really are so many of you here today,” he uttered, a sense of awe washing over him.

“Not everyone who wanted to come, unfortunately,” said Makoto.

“Yes, Yoshida-san wanted to extend his congratulations and an apology,” said Haru. “Today happened to coincide with something significant in the government, so he simply could not leave it for his colleagues to manage alone.”

“Shinya’s on a trip with his mom,” said Futaba. “He stopped me in Akihabara the other day and let me know in advance. He says he’s going to make it up to you with a day at the arcade when he gets back.”

“Same situation with Toshiro,” said Morgana. “He’s overseas helping out Eri, and you know how she gets. She’s probably dragging him around some exotic city as we speak.”

Ann added, “And Shiho’s going to call you later. Her first day of intensive training was today, but she wanted you to know that she’s thinking of you still.”

“That’s sweet,” Ren said. “I look forward to talking to her and the others. But I should probably start properly greeting everyone that’s here.”

Sojiro made some remark about him taking long enough to do so. The man came in for a surprisingly tight hug, squeezing Ren to the point of getting a small wheeze out of him. Age really was making him go soft.

From there, Ren made his rounds with everyone else. He hugged Chihaya and Hifumi and Mishima, shook hands with Iwai and Sae, and endured some light tussling from both Takemi and Ohya.

Kawakami, ever the caretaker, fussed over his uniform and hair as if he hadn’t already shown himself off to his school for the last time.

“Tell me you didn’t just run here straight out of bed this morning,” she said. “Graduates should look a bit more put together, don’t you think?”

“Little late for that now,” he replied. “And what happened to congratulating me? Everyone else had nice things to say.”

“Yeah, yeah. Jokes aside, I’m really proud of you, Ren. I hope the teachers here realize how lucky they were to have you this past year.”

“I don’t know that they would agree with that, but thank you. I missed being in your class.”

“And I missed you being there. It wasn’t the same without a little bit of mischief. Then again, I suppose Futaba-chan is enough to deal with on her own.”

Ren cast a playful glare over to the girl in question. “Are you giving Ms. Kawakami headaches?”

“I would never!” she retorted. “I haven’t done anything at Shujin that the teachers can prove.”

“Mmhm. Ms. Kawakami, feel free to make her clean the classroom if she gets out of line.”

“Understood.”

Futaba lurched with a hand over her heart. “Ack! Betrayed by my own key item…”

“You’ll live,” Ren said. “So, what’s the plan from here? I assume you all have something you’re scheming.”

Haru batted her eyelashes as she asked, “Us? What on earth would give you that idea?”

Yusuke chuckled. “You make us sound as though we are a conniving bunch.”

“I should think so,” said Ren. “Wouldn’t be proper thieves, otherwise.”

“To be honest, we don’t really have any specific plans after this,” said Sumire. “It is your graduation, Senpai. We want to let you choose how to celebrate. So just tell us—”

As was often the case, Sumire’s stomach cut her off with a deep grumble. She flushed a bit red at having so many people around her to hear it, but everyone else just laughed it off.

“Guess our first stop should be somewhere with food,” said Ren. “Everyone ready to get out of here?”

No one seemed eager to stick around such a subpar high school, so off they all went. Ren’s offer to cook lunch for everyone was denied on every front. Apparently today was not a day for the graduate to do anything resembling work for others. With the desire to spoil Ren present in each of them, they travelled to the next town over to eat at a buffet-style restaurant.

The table they were seated at was massive and curved, allowing each person sat at it to see everyone else. Morgana had to remain mostly hidden in Ren’s bag, but he didn’t complain much considering he was next to Ann, who apparently felt the need to catch up on months of missed petting. Though she couldn’t eat, Sophia was given a spot at the table once Ren managed to prop his phone up properly.

It was a bit of an adjustment to be the sole target of celebration in a large gathering like this, but Ren found that it was one he was willing to make on occasion. There wasn’t any room to shy away from the affection coming his way, and he wasn’t prideful enough to act like it had no effect on him.

It felt a lot less sappy to equate the butterflies in his stomach to a side-effect of the Wild Card resonating with his bonds. He would use that as an excuse should anyone point out the overwhelmingly charmed look that hadn’t left his face all afternoon.

As much as he would have loved to stay in that state for even longer, this ‘perfect day’ of his could not last forever. With the sun beginning to set, most of his visitors began to say their goodbyes since they would need to get back to Tokyo before the morning came.

Ren fully expected the Thieves to do the same, but in another surprise twist, they all revealed that they had overnight bags with them in order to have a massive sleepover at Ren’s house. It would be empty for the night, Ren knew, so he saw no reason to hesitate in accepting.

After finishing the last goodbyes, the Thieves split into two cars for the next trip. Most of them rode with Makoto in the van while a couple joined Zenkichi in his own car. A brief drive back into Yamichi led to all of them arriving at Ren’s house before it got dark. Ren led everyone inside so they could put their stuff down.

“Welcome, one and all, to Amamiya Manor.”

Ryuji blinked owlishly at the space. “Man, you weren’t kidding when you described this place. It almost looks haunted.”

“D–Don’t say things like that about Ren’s home,” Makoto said. “It just…has a unique charm.”

Ren chuckled at the obvious refrain from an insult. “You should’ve seen our house back in Inaba; I promise it was twice as bad as this. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Ren’s family wasn’t rich by any means – especially not compared to some of the company he kept – but their house was one of the nicer ones in Yamichi. It had two floors with more rooms than any of them knew what to do with, and an attic space about half the size of the one in Leblanc. Ren only really went up there to hide stuff from his parents since they couldn’t stand dust or clutter.

He showed his friends around the more exciting parts of the house, if any actually qualified as such. Upstairs, they got to see his bedroom, as well as the office space and the makeshift library crammed with books from all over. Downstairs, they weren’t surprised to see a kitchen full of all types of appliances – all Ren’s doing without input from his parents. The fire pit in the backyard was spotless from a lack of use, going completely ignored next to the patio and a pair of swinging lawn chairs.

If there was one thing the owners of the house were good at, it was making a house that looked pleasant enough to live in without actually doing much of that themselves. That fact was why Ren wasn’t surprised to feel Zenkichi’s knowing gaze on him as the small group reentered the house from outside.

“Some very nice things you’ve got here, Amamiya,” he said. “But I can’t help but notice a real lack of parents anywhere.”

“No surprise there,” Ryuji grumbled.

“You probably won’t see them while you’re here,” Ren said. “If they don’t have any business in a given spot, it’s probably the last place you’ll find them.”

“No business? You graduated today, for crying out loud,” Zenkichi protested. “What could be so important that they couldn’t come home for a few hours? I mean, I probably sound like a hypocrite saying that, but—”

“No way,” Ann said. “You were at least trying to make up with Akane before. Work gets busy sometimes; I understand that better than most. But Ren’s parents don’t even do the bare minimum. I bet they haven’t even called today!”

Futaba shook her head. “Can’t even blame it on lack of signal, either. They should have decent reception on Terasaki Beach.”

“In Kagoshima?” Makoto asked. “Wait, why do you actually know where they— Never mind, stupid question.”

“Hehe, somebody’s learning…”

“Anyway, it’s really not that big a deal,” said Ren. “The people that came down today are the ones that really care. I’m content with that.”

Zenkichi gave no indication that he believed that. In fairness, it did sound pretty flippant, but this was just the reality of being an Amamiya. Zenkichi would have to get used to it with time. It would be an uphill battle as a parent himself, but Ren was sure he would manage.

“If you say so,” the man muttered. “Well, not to add to the list of absent people, but it’s probably time I get going.”

“Aw, really?” Haru said.

“You are welcome to stay should you desire,” said Yusuke.

“Perhaps Gramps is afraid of ‘cramping your style,’” said Sophia.

“You’re not crampin’ anything, Gramps,” Ryuji said. “Come on, stick around! We’re set to party all night here!”

“And what part of that is supposed to sound appealing to a grown man?” he asked. “You kids enjoy your fun. I want to get back to spend some time with Akane before my vacation ends.”

“I understand,” Ren said. “Thanks for coming out, Zenkichi. It means a lot to me.”

“Least I could do, kid. Alright, I’m off. See you troublemakers later.”

Everyone gave their goodbyes with varying volume. With the last adult away, it was now time for some proper young adult mayhem. They had video games to play, junk food to wolf down, even a few scary movies if they felt in the mood. Sophia even made the jump over to Futaba’s phone in order to start a music playlist with everyone’s preferences.

Unfortunately, all of their planning came to a halt when Zenkichi’s voice called out from around the corner.

“Uh, Amamiya? Where’s your door?”

“What do you mean? It’s right at the end of—”

Ren stopped his sentence dead once he peeked his head out into the entryway. Instead of a door at the end of the hall as there should have been, a solid wall stood in its place. It looked as though the rest of the entryway had somehow stretched over past where it normally ended.

“What the…?”

At that point, the other Phantom Thieves made their way over to check on the commotion. They all had similar reactions to seeing what Ren had.

“Huh?! Where’s the door?!” Ryuji yelled.

“We definitely came in this way, didn’t we?” Ann asked.

“Are we sure this place isn’t haunted?” Futaba asked.

“Enough of that!” Makoto’s eyebrows scrunched with the telltale signs of analysis despite how tightly she held Morgana in her arms. “There has to be an explanation for this. Maybe if we—”

A quick sizzle sounded around them as every light in the house went off. Makoto shrieked and clutched Morgana tighter, causing him to yowl in protest. Power outages weren’t something Ren had ever had to deal with in this house, so he really didn’t know how to go about getting the lights back on.

It was the least of their problems, he quickly discovered. In the space where his front door should have been, a pair of thick golden doors faded in like a mirage. They opened of their own accord, separating with a shrill hiss and covering the floor of the house with light smoke. Inside was nothing but a black void from which a fierce vortex poured out. It forced everyone to hold their arms up to block all the pressure coming their way.

“Wh–What’s happening?!” Haru exclaimed.

“Is everyone okay?!” Sophia asked. “I can’t see anything!”

“We don’t know,” Morgana yelled. “This doesn’t make any sense!”

The wind gained intensity before reversing its direction, pulling at everything in its path not attached to some part of the house. That unfortunately meant the Phantom Thieves themselves.

“Everyone grab onto something!” Yusuke yelled.

While everyone present desperately reached out for whatever was nearest, Ren himself latched onto the door handle of a nearby closet. Seeing Futaba losing her footing, he grabbed onto her with his other hand and pulled her in tight against his side. Just before he could ask if she was okay, he heard a grunt of pain come from the other side of the room.

“Agh!”

Ryuji had just been swept off his feet, colliding with the ground right on top of his bad leg. As he tried to force himself up, the winds parted slightly to reveal a new threat. A writhing bundle of shadowy hands came twisting out of the void behind the doors. The outstretched appendages were a deep blue lined with black, shining like a starry night sky. They split into even more of themselves and shot out to grab at everyone in the room.

The Phantom Thieves struggled as much as they could while still trying to tether themselves to the house somehow. Between the wind and the hands, Ren wasn’t sure they could hold out much longer. Something needed to be done…but what?

Sumire kicked at the shadowy hand holding her left leg. “No, let go!”

Zenkichi leapt over to try and help, but he was halted by another hand grabbing his wrist. Pulling at it only brought yet another hand out to grab his leg and send him to the ground.

“Damn it!”

Several of the others fell in the same way. From his spot in the back, Ren watched in horror as they were dragged back towards the doors before vanishing into the void completely. Ann, Yusuke, Haru, and Ryuji were first. Sumire and Zenkichi were next. Despite having her clinging to his side, even Futaba was ripped away with her phone tight in her clutches. She got slammed into Makoto and Morgana, sending the three of them hurtling into the void.

As they went, each and every one of the thieves called out to Ren like he was their last lifeline.

“Guys! Hang on, I’ll—”

His attempt to advance was cut off by a mass of the dark hands smacking him backwards. He collided with the stairs before falling over onto his frontside. When he picked his head up, he saw the hands swirling together and receding back into the golden doors that were now closing slowly.

“Oh no you don’t, damn it! Get back here with them!”

Ren didn’t take any time to consider the situation or what could lie in wait. The fact that his friends were gone was the only thing on his mind as he sprinted towards the strange doors and dove in just before they closed.

Passing through whatever gateway the doors held felt like having his body and soul stretched and mashed like putty. Not even his nausea could keep up with how this space was spiritually tearing him apart. The process was too much to bear, so despite his intentions, he blacked out before seeing the other side.

When he finally woke up, it was to an immediate shortness of breath. The air around him tasted stale on his tongue, and there wasn’t enough of it in the first place. It didn’t take long to figure out why.

Every bit of Ren’s vision was obstructed by a glassy surface surrounding him. On all sides, a flat pane of glass boxed him in and left very little room to move around. Somehow, he had ended up in a large display case.

With his frantic breaths fogging up the glass rather quickly, it was hard to see what was on the other side of it. Whatever it was could be dealt with, Ren decided. He began throwing his body into the glass around him to try and break free.

Fortunately for his growing unease at being trapped, his fifth time ramming the glass with his shoulder shattered the case into tiny shards. Ren went tumbling to the ground off of the podium that the case had been stationed on. After taking a moment to get his breathing back under control, he shoved himself up. It was then that he noticed a distinct but familiar change with his body.

His usual hoodie and pants had been replaced with a long black coat. Red gloves wrapped snug around his hands, and his glasses were gone in favor of a pointed white mask.

There was no doubt about it. He was Joker once again, which meant that this was some sort of Metaverse area that needed to be dealt with.

Ren checked his pockets for weapons and frowned at what he found. He only had his starting dagger and pistol on him. All of his stronger weapons and items were up in his room back home. Rushing in right after everyone had put him in a tough spot offensively. He would have to rely on his Personas more if any fights occurred.

Although, that was going to be a tall order as well based on how drained he felt already. He wasn’t sure if it was the journey into this strange place or the fact that he was back in the Metaverse after so long away, but he was definitely not at peak performance. Yet another fact that complicated an already awful situation.

He had followed all of his friends in after their abduction, but no one else was around. The room he found himself in was like a small library or the study of a house, lined with bookshelves and featuring a large desk at the back of the room covered in loose paper. None of the writing on it seemed legible.

The doors to the room gave way with a slight push. The hallway had much of the same aesthetic as the room behind him, though it didn’t seem as well put together. Most things in sight were in need of repair.

The mystery of this area was sticking around despite how many areas Ren passed. He could make out spaces for some kind of exhibits with unreadable information panels beneath them, but that, along with the organization of the rooms he passed before, only obfuscated any potential answers further.

“Tell me this isn’t another stupid museum…”

If it was, it at least had the distinction of not being horrendously hard on the eyes like the last one had been. The bar was low, though.

Ren continued creeping through the halls of this mystery building until he came to a small opening in the wall. It had a few pieces of wood haphazardly nailed to it, likely a crude way of keeping something out. In Ren’s experience, anything like that just made him want to go in anyway. He would much rather travel through prohibited areas than to potentially march into a trap by going the straightforward way.

A couple of hard kicks splintered the wood and allowed him to crawl in. The opening led into a small tunnel that was not much fun to crawl through, but it did get him deeper into the building than his previous walking had. When he was able to stand again, he found himself in a massive room reminiscent of a theater hall based on size. There was nothing around to complete the comparison, however.

The only thing of note was a pair of double doors at the far end of the room. He moved carefully towards them, keeping his eyes and ears open for some type of trap to be sprung on him. None came in the time it took to cross the large open space.

Unfortunately, trying to grasp the handles of the doors only sent a jolt of electricity into his palms. Ren hissed as he stepped back and shook his hands out. Odds were that answers were behind that door, but there was clearly something in place to prevent him from going inside. Hopefully such a defense mechanism wasn’t as complicated as the Trauma Cells that Jails employed.

With feeling returned to his hands, Ren ran them through his hair. Here he was, free to wander around some new Metaverse area but without anyone to help him make sense of it. Was he really that helpless on his own? What happened to being a leader? How was he going to save everyone if he couldn’t even find his way forward?

His musings were interrupted by a growl that echoed through the room. Ren whipped around to his left and right, seeing nothing in the mostly dark patches around him. When the growl sounded again, Ren placed it as coming from above. He tilted his head up to see and caught sight of something falling towards him at high speed.

A quick series of backflips let him dodge the oncoming figure with space to spare. Whatever crash-landed into the ground kicked up dust and wind in the collision, making Ren block his face with his arms. He lowered them once things calmed back down, only to be met with a genuinely staggering sight.

There was a legitimate dragon standing in front of him. The red-scaled beast was covered in spikes and stood as tall as a building. Its slit-like eyes focused on Ren as it positioned itself right in front of the double doors on the other side of the room. Was it playing guard dog?

If that was the case, then it at least made things simple. Ren couldn’t scan like Futaba or sniff out routes like Morgana. He couldn’t analyze as well as Makoto, nor could he access information like Sophia. When it came to exploring uncharted territory, he was sorely lacking without the others by his side.

But if there was one thing he could do on his own, it was raising hell. Perhaps being a leader came with many different requirements that Ren didn’t always meet, but at a basic level, he had one of them on lock for sure.

For all his other faults, Ren was the strongest Phantom Thief there was. He would prove that to this beast and continue on, regardless of being handicapped.

“You picked the wrong day to do this,” Ren growled. “I’ve fought bigger things than you, and there is nothing alive that will stop me from getting to my thieves.”

The dragon roared so loudly that the floor rattled beneath Ren’s feet. He felt the vibrations travel up his body and through his bones.

The roar apparently doubled as a rallying cry. As it peaked in volume, several Shadows appeared in familiar bursts of bloody goo and smoke. Kelpie, Berith, and Succubus, each in groups of three. There was even an Archangel thrown in for good measure. It made no difference with the way Ren was feeling now.

“Bigger numbers won’t help you bring me down. But if you’re so eager to bring in your backup, let me introduce you to mine. Persona!”

His mask came away as easily as the last time he removed it. Flames washed over the battlefield as the pillager of twilight formed in all his usual glory. Ren spun his pistol around his finger a few times and aimed right between the dragon’s eyes.

“Let’s do this quickly, Arsène.”

His first Persona’s deep chuckle sounded more malevolent than normal, aggression on full display. It wasn’t surprising; they were the same, after all.

“My sentiments exactly, Trickster.”

 

*          *          *

 

“And then you guys found me after that cognition and more of its Shadows got a few lucky hits in,” Ren says, letting his mind come back to the present fully. “For the record, I totally had that fight under control.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kanji says. “If it helps your pride.”

“I can’t believe you were in there for almost a day and a half,” Rise says. “That’s way too long to be on your own.”

Naoto nods. “It seems our hypothesis that time passes differently in there has been proven correct. I wonder if we can more accurately pin down the conversion rate…”

“Sorry I can’t help with that,” says Ren. “I was knocked out for most of my time there, and I wasn’t paying attention during my exploration or my fight, so I don’t have a good idea on how long that all took.”

“And you still haven’t found any leads on your friends?” Yu asks.

“Nothing concrete. That dragon was blocking some doors, so I figured killing it would let me go in deeper, but I obviously didn’t get that far.”

“Well, since it’s gone now, we can check and see where those doors lead,” Yosuke says. “Who knows? Maybe Mitsuru-san and the others found out more on their end.”

Hearing that name reminds Ren exactly of where he is. He hasn’t thought about it much since learning, but the fact remains that he is currently being monitored in a government facility owned by one of the most powerful groups in Japan. Not only that, but his identity as a Phantom Thief is apparently known by the sole living namesake of the group. That isn’t good no matter how Ren chooses to look at it.

He has obviously been kept here overnight, so they have likely gotten ahold of any extra information about him they deemed necessary. He knows the Kirijo group isn’t in law enforcement specifically, but he’s heard the less than stellar accounts of people who got caught up in their business practices. A group such as theirs probably benefits massively from having a Phantom Thief under surveillance in one of their own buildings.

In all honesty, there’s a chance Ren doesn’t make it out of this place at all. And in a thought worse than that, it’s possible that the only one in the dark right now is him.

“So what happens now?” he asks. “You guys planning on handing me over to the Kirijo Group?”

The question gets the others to quiet down completely from whatever discussion they were just having. They all look at him like he’s crazy, like the words thrown their way are foreign and indiscernible.

Yukiko lets out a quiet, “What?”

“I can’t just go free after this, right?” Ren says. “I’m a dangerous Phantom Thief, so obviously the group specializing in Personas and Shadows doesn’t want someone like me running around. If you guys are just here to deliver the news, let’s just get it over with.”

He doesn’t take any pleasure in how everyone’s expressions turn sour. This isn’t about lobbing blame their way, but Ren has barely scraped by situations like this too many times not to try and get a head start this time. It just makes sense to do things this way.

But as he is prone to forgetting, normal sensibilities tend not to apply to the people in front of him.

“What kinda stupid question is that?!” Kanji shouts.

It is apparently Ren’s turn to look stupefied as he recoils a bit in bed.

“Huh?”

“Ren, you don’t actually believe you’re in trouble here, do you?” Yu asks. “This isn’t a holding cell or anything.”

“W–Well, I know that, but…I’m seriously not waiting to get shipped off somewhere?”

“Of course not!” Chie says. “Do you really think we’d let anyone take you away from us?”

“After everything you went through regarding your probation, the last thing we want is for your freedom to be restricted,” says Naoto. “You’ve had enough of being wrongfully held captive.”

“Were you actually worried about that?” asks Yosuke. “Dude, you’re one of us. We’d never just give you up like that.”

“Never ever!” Teddie choruses.

Rise places a hand on Ren’s shoulder. “No one’s locking you up, Ren. I don’t care what problems they have with what you and your friends did. We trust you, so anybody who wants to come at you has to go through us first.”

Ren takes a moment to look at everyone around him, truly taking them in for what feels like the first time since he woke up. Their eyes look so bright that it makes him wonder how dim his own have become.

He’s used to picking deceit out of practiced expressions and honeyed words, but none of that is present here. His friends from Inaba are as genuine as they have always been, and the firmness in their collective gaze gives him no choice but to believe in what they’ve promised. How many times is he going to have to relearn the lesson of having faith in them?

“I’m sorry,” he says. He runs a hand down his face with eyes squeezed shut. “You guys are always looking out for me and yet here I am being wary of you. I’ve just been so on edge looking for my friends, and I—”

“We get it,” Chie says. “It must’ve been scary trying to handle this all on your own. But you don’t have to do that anymore.”

“That’s right,” Yukiko says. “You have all of us to help, and even though you aren’t familiar with them, the Shadow Operatives are all good people. I have no doubt they’ll assist in locating your friends.”

“I’ll take your word for it. I’m not exactly in a position to turn down help,” Ren says. “But I don’t want to take you guys away from your own lives just to help me.”

“Too bad,” says Yosuke. “At this point, we’ve already agreed to go back in, so there’s no stopping us. You either let us go in with you as a team, or we follow you in like a bunch of glorified babysitters.”

“Which, admittedly, isn’t too far off from how we used to be with you, but still,” says Yu. “We’re with you all the way, Ren. You’ll see the rest of the Phantom Thieves soon.”

“Yeah…I will. Thanks for the help, everyone.” A little smile forms as he adds, “You know, even with things as bad as they are, I can’t say I’m not pumped to fight on a team with you guys.”

“Right?!” Chie exclaims. “Not only do we get to use our Personas again after a while, but we’re teaming up with you! This is gonna be awesome!”

“We barely got to see you in action before,” says Yosuke, “so I’m guessing you’ve got a lot of surprises left for us. Don’t show us up too bad, ‘kay?”

“I’ll try not to,” Ren says. “Though, fair warning, I have been known to steal the show on occasion.”

Teddie’s voice is full of wonder as he says, “Our Ren-Ren is a show stealer? I wanna see!”

“All that stuff can come later,” Rise says. “We have something more important to get to the bottom of.”

“We do?” Ren asks.

“We do. Specifically, something that’s been bugging me since you started your story. Ren-Ren…” Rise leans forward to pinch both of Ren’s cheeks. “You want to explain why exactly we weren’t invited to your graduation?!”

“Ow, ow… I didn’t think you guys would be interested.”

“Of course we are,” Chie says. “You graduated high school! That’s a big deal!”

“Especially for us,” says Yukiko. “We watched you go from your first school to your last, Ren-kun. Though we got to see you grow up in a number of ways, with all that we’ve missed out on recently, this feels like yet another time we couldn’t be there to support you.”

“Oh…” Admittedly, that’s something he hadn’t really considered. “Well, now I feel bad. I really didn’t think you guys would care so much.”

“I don’t mean to blame you—”

“No, it’s okay, Yukiko. I get it. I’m…still working on being more open with people. I honestly wasn’t expecting anyone to be there, but my friends are always surprising me one way or another.”

“It’s because they care about you so much,” Rise says. “Honestly, we’ve got to step our game up. We did promise not to lose to them.”

“We’ll find a way to make it up to you, Ren,” says Yu. “Though it’ll probably have to be something unrelated to school. I doubt you have any more ceremonies to go to.”

“Nope. But you can all come to my moving party next month,” he says. “I’m going back to Tokyo to live with Sojiro and Futaba. Everyone insisted that we had to have a party for it, so we’ll be renting out Destinyland.”

“Wait, ‘renting out’ Destinyland?” Yosuke asks. “Like, the whole thing?”

“How can you even afford something like that?!” Chie exclaims.

“Secret,” Ren says.

With the air noticeably less dense than before, Ren lets himself fall into normal conversation with everyone. He isn’t lacking much in the way of life updates considering they have a semi-active group chat together, but it’s still nice to be a part of the circle like old times.

The only thing they are missing now is a Junes food court table between them. As if resonating with that very idea, Teddie and Chie’s stomachs grumble in unison.

“Sorry,” she says. “Didn’t realize how hungry I was after all that action yesterday.”

“Yeah, I need something pronto,” Teddie adds. “Mit-chan’s loaded, right? We should ask her to send in a buffet!”

“Calm down,” Yosuke says. “We’ll eat soon enough. Besides, how can you complain when Ren hasn’t even had anything yet? He probably needs food more than all of us.”

“Wasn’t Rise bringing him something earlier?” Kanji asks.

“I was, but…” Looking at the former site of her mess makes Rise wince. Someone from the Kirijo Group had long since cleaned it up, but they could do nothing about the guilt she holds. “I, uh…had a little accident. Sorry, Ren-Ren, I totally ruined your breakfast, huh? Doesn’t do you much good as a mixed-up pile on the floor.”

Ren puts on an innocent smile. “Oh, it didn’t come that way? I just assumed that was normal. You know, since that’s what the food you try to make normally looks like anyway.”

Rise’s jaw may as well have hit the floor with how low it drops. Ren only gets to savor the look for about three seconds before she pounces on him, going right back to the cheek pinching from earlier with increased force.

“You must be feeling a lot better if you’re making jokes like that, you little twerp! I can’t believe you can be so mean to me so easily!”

“Ow! It was the medicine talking!”

“You’re not on any medicine, Ren!”

“Well I’ll need to be if you keep pinching me like this!”

Those not engaging in horseplay watch on from the sidelines. Nothing occurring nearby is uncommon for their group, so it’s easy to simply let it play out without worrying for either party’s condition in the end.

Naoto looks away once she feels her phone buzzing in her pocket. She slips it out into the open to glance at the screen.

“It seems Mitsuru-san wants an update on things,” she says. “Since Ren-kun is awake, I’ll go give her a quick explanation of what we’ve learned. Though she’ll likely want to speak to Ren-kun herself.”

“I’ll follow you out,” Yu says. “Getting us all some food sounds like a good idea to me. We did rush here shortly after waking up, after all.”

“The rest of us can come with,” Kanji says. “Something tells me those two aren’t gonna be done anytime soon…”

The whole group exits, closing the door on Ren’s distressed cries and Rise’s indignant tirade.

Things thankfully settle down once everyone gets ahold of some food. Like a filling meal after a hangover, eating away their Persona-related fatigue does wonders for everyone’s energy levels. Ren feels himself mellow out with a full stomach and a throat soothed by tea. The emotions that will drive him to rescue everyone are still present, but at the very least, his anger isn’t at the wheel any longer.

That turns out to be a good thing, since the end of their group meal gets a surprise visitor. After a few quick knocks against the door, a woman with long, scarlet hair and a matching shade of lipstick struts into the room. A black leather jacket hangs off her shoulders like a cape, complementing the sleeveless white turtleneck she wears. Just her presence alone makes everyone in the room sit up a bit straighter.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” she says, a warm tone contrasting the authority coming off of her arrival. “And greetings to you, Amamiya. You seem to be recovering well.”

“Oh, uh, hello,” he stutters.

“I apologize if I’m interrupting, but I wanted to introduce myself now that you’ve woken up. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, head of the Shadow Operatives as well as the Kirijo Group. Am I correct to assume everyone here has given you some details of my background?”

“They have,” Ren says, managing to shake off a bit of his stupor. “Sorry if I’m a bit off, I’m not really used to meeting other Persona-users.”

Mitsuru chuckles. “I don’t blame you for being shocked. I felt the same way upon learning Inaba had so many upstanding ones to offer. This large world of ours can feel quite small at times.”

“Right. Um…thank you for allowing me to recover here, Kirijo-san. I’m sure this whole situation has been pretty unusual for your staff here.”

“Less than you’d think, but you’re welcome. Even if you weren’t a friend to the Investigation Team, I could never willingly abandon a life in need of saving.”

She sounds quite sincere when she says that, but the same cynical part of Ren that will never die down in the presence of adults still rears its head. It won’t go away quietly, not until Ren is sure of who he’s dealing with now.

So of course, he can’t stop himself from asking, “Even if that person is a known criminal?”

If Mitsuru’s entrance had carried a bit of frost into the room and chilled everyone inside, the bluntness of Ren’s question shatters that state in an instant. His friends all look to him in shock, each visibly struggling to find any words to fill the resulting silence. Mitsuru herself merely raises an eyebrow.

Chie manages to speak first, though it is more of a hiss than anything. “Ren, shush! Uh, h–he doesn’t mean that, Mitsuru-san! His false charge already got overturned, and—”

“Wasn’t talking about that,” Ren says, keeping his eyes straight ahead on Mitsuru. “You know I have a Persona and what it is I can do. Everyone here says I don’t have anything to worry about, but I’d prefer to hear it from you, Kirijo-san. Is me being a Phantom Thief going to cause any issues?”

Ren can’t see anyone else’s reactions with his eyes focused forward. He imagines they’ve given up trying to cover for him at this point. He appreciates the attempt, but this is between him and someone with the power to have him sent away with barely any effort. Better to clear the air now.

Apparently unfazed by any of this, Mitsuru just hums in response. She takes a seat in the small armchair facing the bed, folding her arms over her chest and crossing one leg over the other. The authority in her every movement is evident. There is no doubt that it is a practiced method of dominating those around her before she even decides to speak.

Ren doesn’t exactly balk under the pressure, but he does feel better about starting this once she actually does begin using her words.

“I apologize for answering your question with one of my own,” she says, “but I wonder if you wouldn’t mind indulging me for a moment.”

“Sure.”

“My thanks. I have been fighting against the influence of Shadows for most of my life. Though the Kirijo Group has not always had morally sound intentions, my chief goal is the protection of life above all else. However, due to all I have seen and been through, I have to confess that the ‘changes of heart’ your group reportedly performed rubbed me the wrong way initially. It is a power I do not understand, and thus, I would like to know more about it.”

Ren’s eyes narrow. “So…you just want an explanation of how we change hearts?”

“Yes, but not right now. As of this moment, I am less interested in the ‘how’ and more in the ‘why.’” Mitsuru leans forward, placing her elbows on her legs and leveling her crimson gaze at the boy across from her. “Tell me, Ren Amamiya, why the Phantom Thieves are so adamant about changing hearts to begin with. Why put your lives at risk and allow yourselves to be labelled as criminals? What was your end goal with the world?”

The entirety of the Phantom Thieves’ adventures flood Ren’s mind. Such a loaded question brings up countless memories, all going back to that rainy morning in April almost two years ago. They had reached incredible heights since then, but Ren still remembers those early days. Those times marked by fear and desperation and too much anger for three teenagers to stomach.

If Mitsuru can’t understand those times, then she won’t be able to understand the Phantom Thieves at all. In that case, Ren sees no reason to sugarcoat anything here.

“Honestly, there was no huge end goal at first,” he says. “You want to know how all this started? A teacher at Shujin Academy, the school I transferred to after my probation, was engaging in abuse with his students. He was violent with both boys and girls, but the girls had to deal with additional sexual abuse as well. I found out about most of this firsthand by stumbling into a world born from his heart. Even after lucking into a Persona and some new friends, I ultimately had no idea what to do with anything I had been gifted. It wasn’t until an…acquaintance threw herself off the school roof that everything locked into place for me.”

Several gasps come from around the room. A story like this is not for the faint of heart, and Ren had no desire before today to share it with his friends from Inaba. Unfortunately, he can’t say what he needs to without giving this context, so he decides to just push through it for all of their sakes. He has no desire to linger on that particular memory either.

“Until then, I was hesitant on a lot of things. I doubted my abilities and if anything I could do really mattered. But when I saw someone who I wanted to be closer to try to take her own life because she felt trapped with no way out…that was when I knew that nothing I was concerned about before mattered.” Ren lifts his hand up and clenches it into a fist, feeling Arsène flare up in his heart all of a sudden. “The only thing that mattered from then on was putting an end to the evil within my reach. I had the means to stop that teacher from harming anyone else, so I was the one who had to step up and do something. That was how the first change of heart happened, and it’s pretty much how the bigger ones went from then on as well.”

Mitsuru still hasn’t said a word since Ren began speaking. In a way, he is grateful for the space to get everything out. If things are about to change between the three parties present, there shouldn’t be any room for misunderstandings or things left unsaid.

“The thing about the Phantom Thieves is that we are not superheroes,” Ren says. “We don’t parade ourselves around and swoop in with smiles to save the day. To be honest, most of what we do is incredibly personal. When someone we know is in danger, we act. If one of us is wronged, we don’t hesitate to get payback. We’ll always stick up for the weak, but we choose to do it on our terms. We fight for our own justice, no matter who that puts us up against. Having the support of the public can help in more ways than one, but we started in infamy and have endured the scorn of the public before. It didn’t stop us. If someone’s using their position to put down those that are trying to live freely, we punish them and bring them to their senses. No one is above that. Anyone who thinks they are just hasn’t gotten a calling card yet.”

The room is somehow even quieter than before after all that. The machines surrounding everyone have ceased beeping, and any sounds from outside lack the ability to penetrate the dense silence blanketing the compact space.

The Inaba crew looks awed by what Ren had to say. He’s sure they have more things to ask, but none of them dare interrupt the one-on-one matchup that has yet to be resolved. Similarly, neither Ren nor Mitsuru have looked at anyone else over the last few minutes. Both gazes carry something in them that refuses to back down. Ren knows that his eyes burn with rebellion. He wonders what it is that fuels Mitsuru’s.

After allowing the silence to stretch on longer than anyone expected, Mitsuru returns to her original position in her seat. Her arms uncross and come down to rest on her lap after brushing some of her hair back. Without giving up even a hint of the control exuded by her posture, she responds to everything Ren gave just now with one word.

“Okay.”

Ren’s eyebrows raise. “Okay?”

“Yes,” Mitsuru says. “I accept your reasoning. I don’t suspect we’ll have any problems moving forward.”

Again, Ren’s talent for picking out deceit is useless here. There isn’t anything about Mitsuru that suggests she is feigning acceptance or putting this conflict on hold to bring up later. As far as Ren can tell, she’s being completely serious.

“That seemed…simple.”

“It likely seems that way because your conviction is so strong. You don’t have to think twice about what it is you fight for, and thus, justifying yourself to others comes naturally. I have met few individuals who can so succinctly bare their true motivations without fearing the following response. There’s no denying it – you are a special young man, Amamiya. I wouldn’t dare call what you carry in your heart ‘simple.’”

Ren’s declaration before had required a strong blaze to see it through. He is no stranger to letting that fire burn as long as it needs to in order to escape being the passive boy he spent most of his childhood stumbling around as.

Hearing what Mitsuru apparently thinks of him douses most of that blaze. He can never fully let go of that need to rebel against authority, but hers is not one he finds himself immediately rebuking. His view of her has changed from some mysterious corporate entity to an experienced leader who won’t accept anything less than a full effort. She is not the kind of adult who would ever overlook wrongdoing for the sake of her status or wealth.

Ren shudders to think what such resolve looks like when applied to fighting Shadows.

Rise can obviously see the stunned look on his face since she leans in to whisper, “Mitsuru-san really is something, isn’t she?”

That she is, Ren thinks. It will likely be a long time before Ren can even begin to get a proper read on her. As of this moment, the only thing he can say for certain is that she has his respect. It makes sense why all of his friends here hold her in such high esteem.

“We knew you’d see things our way, Mitsuru-san,” says Yu. “Ren’s been through a lot, but that’s exactly why we trust that he and the other Phantom Thieves are fighting for a better future. We’re behind him a hundred percent.”

“Believe me, I can see that,” she replies. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you all had shared custody of him at this point. It’s certainly new for me to see you all doting like this.”

The awe and surprise from everything that just happened parts to make way for a much more familiar feeling: embarrassment. Ren doesn’t know what all went down while he was asleep, but he hopes that his oldest friends haven’t already given Mitsuru and her comrades the wrong impression.

Rise gives the situation no such thought, laughing off Mitsuru’s claim. “We would if we could, but Naoto still refuses to let me kidnap him after all these years.”

Naoto shakes her head. “Not even getting into that right now. On a more serious note, it sounds like everything is aligning for our continued investigation.”

“I agree,” says Mitsuru. “Shirogane informed me of your current circumstances, Amamiya. Though there are still mysteries I wish to have clarified at some point, the most pressing matter is resolving this latest crisis. I’d like to formally ask for your help with that, especially since I believe the disappearance of your friends is linked to the appearance of this strange new space.”

“Well, I was going back in anyway, so it looks like our goals are aligned,” Ren says. “I don’t know too much about that place, but I’ll share what I can.”

“That would be appreciated. Now, I understand your injuries aren’t something to be brushed over, but time is not on either of our sides. Do you have any idea when you will be able to make the trip back in with us?”

“I should be good by tonight.”

Rise frowns. “Ren…”

“I’m serious. I took a bit of a beating in there, but it’s nothing I haven’t been through before. I just need a bit more rest and I’ll be fine.”

“Hm. If you truly believe so, then I will take your word for it,” Mitsuru says. “I need to go reconvene with some staff, so take your rest while you can. Can the rest of you join our efforts for the time being?”

“Sure thing,” Yu says. “We’ll leave Ren to get some sleep.”

“And he better sleep,” Rise adds. “Just because I’m not in here doesn’t mean I don’t have my eye on you, mister.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he replies.

“I told you not to—”

“Sheesh, get a move on already,” Kanji says, pushing Rise out the door. Her protests fall on deaf ears. Ren makes sure to stick his tongue out at her as she leaves, which she fights to return before being dragged away.

Any enjoyment he gets from that exchange evaporates in the silence of his now empty room. His friends from Inaba may only be down the hall, but his Tokyo friends – the family that he forged in the flames of battle and strife – are somewhere in that strange cognitive world waiting for him. Every second Ren spends with his butt in bed is one more that they have to spend trapped.

Just how deep in that place are they? Are they being hurt in any way? Are they even allowed to be conscious?

A gripping fear sets in once his mind drifts to the absolute worst-case scenario of them being dead already. He refuses to let that remain a possibility in his mind. They were taken, he reminds himself, and if something chose to try and take them in the first place, then killing them all must not be part of the plan. Not yet, at least. He still has time to reach them.

Returning to action is just one nap away. One short nap and he’ll be back to tearing that new area apart to get his friends back.

But of course, today is not the day to have any uninterrupted sleep. He realizes that as soon as the sound of a piano reaches his ears. Gray eyes squint at the dizzying amount of blue surrounding him. Unlike most other times this has happened, however, he finds himself dressed normally. No shackle adorns his ankle, and the door to his cell is wide open. He walks out into the central area of the Velvet Room to see Lavenza waiting for him with a sad smile on her face.

“Hello, my Trickster,” she says. “I see you are finally in a place of stable rest.”

“Hey, Lavenza. I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon after the last time. Though it sounds like this time it’s for our usual business.”

“Unfortunately. You find yourself at the center of a crisis once again, hence why you are appearing here now.”

Ren nods and takes a look around the room. For as much mental turmoil as he’s been through in this place, he draws even more comfort in it now that the rightful inhabitants are back where they belong. At least, one of them is. The other remains to be seen, going off of the empty desk nearby.

“Igor’s still not here, huh? Feels like he’s avoiding me lately.”

“My master came to the conclusion that his presence is not required for this latest ordeal,” Lavenza replies. “He was gracious enough to leave your care to me.”

“Oh, I get it.” Ren smirks. “You want to hog me to yourself.”

Seeing a being that claims dominion over power itself pouting at him is just as satisfying as ever. The ease of putting it on her face does nothing to lessen the joy.

The best part of it is that Lavenza simply scolds him for any teasing he does. When she was still split, Ren had to worry about getting the beating of a lifetime if he pushed Caroline too far. Justine had no problem hitting him with all types of magic either.

Lavenza makes a point to look away while clearing her throat. “If you are back to ‘poking fun,’ as humans say, I suppose I should count that towards my worries being eased. Although…”

“Although…what?”

“You seem weary, Trickster. In both body and mind. I am aware of your concerns towards the location of your allies, but…take heed that you do not fray at the seams before you find them.”

Ah, so that’s what she means. Ren feels just a little bad for the teasing now that he knows she’s noticed how tough a time he’s having.

“I’m…doing my best,” he says. “From here on, at least.”

“Yes, I’m sure your future attempts at rescuing your companions will fare better than your bout with that cognitive monster recently.”

“Right, forgot you could probably sense me getting my butt kicked. I didn’t worry you too bad, did I?”

“Though your survival was not in question, I did ache to feel how thoroughly you were injured. You should have known better than to charge in without preparation to engage in singular combat.”

“Yeah, I was pretty reckless, wasn’t I? Sorry. I was really seeing red there for a while.”

“And now?”

“Now, I… Well, I’m still pissed at whatever took the others, but I’m not letting that control me completely. I have my old friends to thank for taking some of the burden off me. They helped cool me off.”

“Then I owe them my gratitude. They seem like worthy allies in the fight that lies ahead.”

“I’m sure they will be. Hey, can you tell me how bad this looks? Like, are we facing an ‘end of the world’ level threat here, or just something dangerous to where I live?”

“It is unfortunately too early for me to properly assess the danger,” says Lavenza. “I do not wish to inform your opinion one way or the other without ample evidence. However…there is one thing I can say with certainty.”

“Oh? What’ve you learned?”

“You, Trickster, are at the center of this new development.”

“I’m…at the center? Like, this whole thing is about me?”

“Not solely, but you are heavily involved,” Lavenza elaborates. “While I am aware that you will ally yourself with other Persona-users, what lies ahead is not a part of their journey, but a part of yours. It is slightly similar to the ordeal surrounding the one known as Toshiro Kasukabe. This conflict may not take place in a world born of your heart, but do not underestimate your own importance in the upcoming chain of events, Trickster.”

Ren guesses that makes sense. If something kidnapped the Phantom Thieves, and that thing originated in the town where he lives, it has to be tied to him in some way. How deeply those ties run remains to be seen. He’ll have to parse it out as he and the others traverse through that new world.

“I’m in for a long few days, aren’t I?” he says to himself. “Here’s hoping I’m not too rusty. Can’t be dead weight for my new teammates.”

“You have never let the odds beat you before. I am sure this endeavor will be no different.”

Ren smiles at that. “Thank you for having so much faith in me, Lavenza. I feel better knowing you’re in my corner.”

“That is my duty as your attendant. Though, even if it were not…you are simply too amazing not to have confidence in. I have known no guest that could ever compare to you.”

“Okay, you’re definitely trying to embarrass me now, aren’t you?”

Lavenza lets out a sound that is suspiciously close to a giggle. “Oh, have I been caught in the act? I believe this is what humans call ‘payback,’ for earlier.”

“Then I guess I can’t complain.”

Dull ringing echoes throughout the room. Ren has heard that enough to know what comes next. Hopefully his sleep in the real world isn’t plagued by any nightmares or waking fits.

“Sounds like time’s up,” he says. “I’ll see you again soon, right?”

Lavenza nods. “As always, I will be there in your time of need. The Velvet Room is forever open to you, my Trickster.”

If Lavenza ever tires of reassuring him, she doesn’t show it. She simply smiles as Ren drifts back into unconsciousness, leaving the Velvet Room behind until the next time he has need of its services. Knowing what lies in wait back in Yamichi, it likely won’t be long before they cross paths again.

Notes:

Whew, this one got a little long on me, but I thankfully got to say everything I wanted to in it. It's been interesting dividing this whole thing into chapters and figuring out which parts of the story to group together, so I hope the stopping points I'm choosing feel acceptable. I promise not to abuse cliffhangers too often in the future, haha.

I'll talk more about the differences in team philosophies as the story goes on, but I thought it was important for Ren and Mitsuru to have this 'heart-to-heart' early. They represent two different walks of life, so making sure they got at least a partial understanding of each other was key before we went forward with anymore action. Hopefully meeting the other Shadow Ops goes as smoothly as this did for Ren.

Next time we're getting into the final bit of prep before tackling the cognitive world with our new lineup. I hope to keep up the pace I've had so far, especially since next chapter likely won't be as long as this one. I hope you look forward to next time - we've got a special bit of conflict coming up before any actual fighting :)

(Also, completely unrelated to anything, I know my Lavenza bias is showing but I can't help using her whenever I'm able)

Chapter 4

Summary:

Before Ren can reach the strange world housing his friends, he and the Investigation Team have one more obstacle to overcome...

“You’re…not joking about any of this…are you?”

“Afraid not. Sorry, Boss.”

Sojiro mumbles something under his breath on his end of the call. This was a necessary one for Ren to make after waking up, but that doesn’t make it any easier to have. Ren can hear Sojiro’s shaky breaths. He can practically see the man hunched over with his head in his hands. This is the kind of news no one should have to stomach.

“Damn it. It’s always something with you kids. And no, before you even think it, I’m not blaming you. I just—”

“I understand. It must be hard dealing with a trouble magnet,” Ren says. “Sure you don’t want to rethink letting me move in?”

“What have I told you about bashing yourself all the time? None of whatever nonsense the world puts you through is your fault. It just is what it is. Besides, you really think Futaba would even let me take back the offer at this point?”

Ren chuckles, but it feels empty. “Guess not. Listen, I…”

“If you’re going to give some big dramatic speech about how you won’t lose or something, save it. I already know you’ll handle this like you’ve handled everything else. You’ve got those older kids you were telling me about helping you, right?”

“Yeah. They’ll be with me the whole time. Plus some secret agents. We’ve got a dog, too.”

Sojiro sighs. “Sometimes I don’t know which parts of your nonsense to believe. Anyway, if you’ve got such good help, then I’ll try not to worry quite as much. Get in, get Futaba and the others, and get back home safe. All of you.”

“That’s the plan. I…probably won’t be able to call much while this is going on, so…”

“Yeah, I figured as much. Well, just update me when you can. Be safe, you hear me?”

“I’ll try. Bye, Boss.”

“See you, kid.”

The phone clicks off and leaves Ren in silence. He hates to think of how Sojiro will continue to run himself ragged with worry while this is happening. The man doesn’t need any more stressors in his life.

At least the call itself had gone better than Ren’s earlier one with Sae. She may have given constant reassurances that she didn’t blame him for anything, but none of them managed to calm his racing pulse in the slightest. Hearing the sheer ice in her tone after learning of her sister’s disappearance still made him fear for his life.

Still, knowing where a relative has gone is better than the alternative. As much as he’d like to call Ms. Sakamoto or Akane to fill them in, he doesn’t have either of their numbers. The only one left he can call is Ichinose, but getting in touch with her is always a game of chance.

She apparently dropped Sophia off with full trust that she would be taken care of during her visit before jetting off somewhere herself. Considering how she acts whenever Ren does get to talk with her, it’s likely she still felt just a bit too awkward to attend something like his graduation. Ren hopes she doesn’t blame that aspect of herself once she learns of Sophia’s abduction.

At any rate, he’ll just have to finish this up fast enough to keep their worry minimal. He can apologize to all of them personally once this is all over.

Not long after hanging up on Sojiro, soft knocking comes through the door. Ren tells whoever it is to come in, so Yu cracks the door open and waves.

“How you feeling, champ? Any better?”

“Way better.”

His body is, at least.

“How are things on your end?” Ren asks.

“Mitsuru-san and Fuuka-san had a few things to share, but they left a while ago to get a closer look at what’s happening in Yamichi. The rest of the Shadow Operatives are meeting them there after they take care of personal business. That just leaves the rest of us to move out. Anything you need to do before we get to the lake?”

“You think we could swing by my house first? All my stronger equipment is in there, and I’d rather not go back into battle with those basic weapons again.”

“Sure thing. The others are loading up the car right now, so we’ll just stop before meeting up with Mitsuru-san. You sure you’re ready to get back in the fight?”

“If anything, the Shadows in that weird place aren’t ready for me,” he replies. “Let’s go.”

Getting his things together and being formally released from the Kirijo medical facility doesn’t take very long, so Ren soon finds himself dressed normally and on route to his house in Yamichi with the rest of the Investigation Team. Yu drives them all in a van with enough seats for everyone else. It is absolutely the kind Ren imagines a soccer mom would have, but he keeps that thought to himself.

The trip is long enough that the elder Persona-users can explain a few more Shadow-related crises that they’ve been a part of or heard about. There was apparently some kind of fighting tournament that led into a much bigger incident in Inaba, but Ren has no recollection of it himself since he didn’t have a Persona at the time. He has no idea how to respond afterwards when they tell him that their last major adventure together was resolved through dancing.

Answers about his own adventures are much vaguer in comparison when given. The life of a Phantom Thief isn’t easy, and while he’s sure they’ve had their fair share of brushes with death, the last thing he wants is to get into the weeds on some of the more harrowing parts of that initial year of him being Joker.

So he gives them some of the more fantastical bits, explaining the types of environments the Metaverse has thrown at him over the years and describing how wild cognition can get in such places. He breaks down into laughter halfway through the explanation of the Jack Frost ‘Hee-Horde from Hell’ incident, only stopping when Yu gets his attention from up front.

“Hey, Ren? There’s a car in your driveway.”

“Huh?”

Ren leans forward to get a better look through the front window. As Yu said, a lone car does inhabit his normally empty driveway. It is a painfully average-looking mid-sized sedan, singularly painted the color of ebony wood. Despite how often Ren knows it sees use, there isn’t a scratch on it, nor a piece out of place. It is a perfect representation of the people normally occupying the front seats, both of whom have mastered the art of preening.

“Oh,” he says flatly. “They’re back.”

“I’m guessing that’s not the car of someone you know from Tokyo,” Yosuke says.

“Nope. That’s the same car you all saw me leave Inaba in way back when.”

“Which means we’ve got all of the Amamiyas in one spot for once,” Kanji says. “Fan-freakin’-tastic.”

“You guys don’t have to come inside with me. It’ll probably annoy you less to just stay out here.”

“Yeah, no chance,” says Chie. “If you go in alone, they’ll just gang up on you like always. We’re not letting you walk into that mess.”

“We’ve got your back, Ren-Ren,” Teddie says. “Just let me know when to get my claws out!”

“Thanks, but let’s try and keep things peaceful,” says Ren. “The less they poke into my business, the better. Don’t let all their little jabs get under your skin.”

“Easier said than done,” says Kanji.

Rise sighs as the van pulls up to the side of Ren’s house. “Let’s just get this over with.”

The group of nine files out of the van and up the walkway to Ren’s house. After unlocking the front door, he takes one last look behind him to see if anyone wants to turn tail and seek shelter in the van. Unsurprisingly, no one budges. He doesn’t know why he ever considered an alternative.

The handle clicks as he pushes the door inwards and walks inside. Normally he would just continue on after shoving his shoes in the small shoe holder beside the door, but for the first time in who knows how long, he finds himself uttering a phrase completely uncommon for his household.

“Mom, Dad, I’m home!”

Despite seeing the car outside, there is a part of Ren that didn’t believe his parents were actually here until he turns the corner and spots them idling in the living room. Tomie Amamiya has a book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. Her hair, while normally a mirror image of his own aside from its greater length, is tied back into a low ponytail.

Soichi Amamiya stands in front of the TV with his arms crossed. A news report plays for a few seconds more before he switches the TV off entirely and turns to face his son. He still looks decently young for his age, but no one can completely escape the effects of time. Lines crease his face as he frowns, and the barest bits of gray have begun making themselves at home in his dark brown hair. He lets out a low scoff before turning to his wife.

“There he is. I told you he would just come sauntering in like nothing was wrong.”

Tomie sets her book and tea down fully. “Ren, where have you been? No one was answering the home phone when we tried calling earlier.”

“Sorry, I’ve been out since this morning,” he replies. “You didn’t try calling my cell phone?”

“We would have, but we keep getting some strange error message whenever we try,” says Tomie. “I swear it sounds like high-pitched laughter. And I still can’t find any results online for that odd-looking black cat icon that appears either.”

Ah, Ren had completely forgotten about that. Maybe letting Futaba have a little fun with his parents’ phones last year wasn’t such a good idea in the long run. It is pretty funny to hear them so annoyed about it, though.

“I’ll look into it,” he says. “Did you need me for something specific?”

“Yes, we—”

His parents finally realize that he wasn’t the only one to enter just now. Their eyes scan across the line of eight trailing in behind their son. They could likely get away with the look in their eyes with anyone else, but Ren can see the disdain pouring from their expressions even if it is somewhat restrained. He has had quite a long time to pick up on things like that.

“I didn’t realize you were bringing over guests,” Tomie says with a slightly exasperated voice.

“Oh, we’re not here to stay long, ma’am,” Yu says. “Ren just had to pick up some things before we leave.”

“Leave? And where are all of you going?”

“We’re taking Ren on a day trip,” Rise says, sliding into view with a smile that’s just a bit too big. “We just felt so bad about missing his graduation, so we thought we’d make it up to him with a little adventure. It only seemed right for not attending such a huge point in his life. He deserves to celebrate his achievements, don’t you think?”

Though the Amamiya house is normally kept cold as is, there’s no hiding the clear temperature drop all of a sudden. Ren isn’t sure where to look, caught between Rise’s smile that doesn’t even try to reach her eyes and his parents scowling that still somehow does not come across as having let anything get to them yet. That doesn’t mean they don’t have their limits, however, and Ren is suddenly very nervous about witnessing a fight before they even enter that cognitive world again.

Before anything like that happens, Soichi draws a long breath through his nose and nods to himself. He turns to look at Ren alone, using that tone of voice of his that’s designed to keep the other person from adding in their own thoughts afterwards.

“If you’re leaving, then go on and pack, Ren,” he says. “We’ll table our discussion for another time.”

“Oh.” For all the confidence he had in dealing with his parents coming in, them accepting this spontaneous plan so readily catches him off guard. “Uh, thanks.”

Unwilling to test his luck any further, Ren jogs up the stairs to get his things together. The faster he can accomplish what he came here to do, the less chance there is of a small war breaking out in his home. He hopes the others will be okay without him around.

Left behind on the first floor, the group from Inaba walk a little further into the living room, granting the Amamiya parents a better look at all of them. To say that anyone currently sharing this space is comfortable would be an outright lie, though no one makes that known verbally.

It takes a full minute of Soichi’s increasingly penetrative stare for Naoto to finally ask, “Is something the matter, Amamiya-san?”

“Just trying to place where I recognize you all from.” It only takes a few more uncomfortable seconds to click. “Ah, the children from Inaba, correct? You saw Ren off the day we left.”

“That’s right,” says Yosuke. “Uh, long time no see, heh.”

“I confess I don’t recall all of you individually.” Soichi points a finger at Yukiko, who flinches from the intense eyes aimed at her. “But you…you are the one my parents spoke of all those years ago. You found Ren when he ran away from your family’s inn.”

“O–Oh, yes, that was me,” she replies. “But it wasn’t a big deal at all. Ren-kun didn’t really run away, he just went for a walk. We cleared things up with his grandparents upon our return.”

“We’re aware,” Tomie says. “That was one of their favorite stories to tell for a while. They were shocked at how lively Ren seemed afterwards. Strangely, I think that day actually managed to bring them a bit closer.”

“That makes me glad to hear,” says Yukiko. “I only wish he would have gotten to see them more before their…passing. I was so sorry to hear about that.”

“Age affects us all indiscriminately,” Soichi says. “I had long since prepared myself for that day. Now, the rest of you are…?”

The others introduce themselves as politely as they can manage. No one wants to point out the fact that they had all done this song and dance before, meaning the Amamiyas hadn’t bothered to retain anything from their previous meetings. They barely show any interest in any introductions until Rise gives hers. Having a name to go with the face makes Soichi nod approvingly at her.

“Ah, I thought I recognized you. Anyone who spends time in a major city will undoubtedly come across at least one of your advertisements.”

Tomie nods and adds, “You’ve gotten to be a household name at this point.”

“Yes, well, I’m lucky to have so much support around the country on top of the love from those around me,” Rise says. “It’s important to have people in your corner in a genuine way while you’re still young. Success can be hard to find with no one else around.”

Naoto eyes her former classmate and whispers, “Rise-san…”

If either Tomie or Soichi take that dig to heart, neither of them shows it. Rise is beginning to think that’s because there are no hearts among them for that to be the case.

Their faces are frustratingly neutral as Tomie says, “Well, true success can be hard to grasp at your age. Be careful that you don’t let yourself become nothing more than a fad. The entertainment industry is a fickle thing – I certainly wouldn’t want Ren involved in anything so unstable.”

“Absolutely not,” Soichi says. “It’s bad enough he has his eyes so glued to the culinary industry. We’ll have to add that to the list of things we need to discuss with him.”

“Restaurants wouldn’t survive without chefs,” Yu says. “I don’t think that’s a bad profession to get into at all.”

“Not at all. My issue is with how Ren talks about it. He claims to want to cook somewhere small and isolated, somewhere like that café he stayed in after his…incident.”

“His skills would just go to waste in a place like that,” Tomie adds. “Sakura-san may be content to live out his days scraping by on a declining clientele, but we’ve done too much work for Ren to become some no-name in the same situation.”

“But if that makes him happy, shouldn’t he get to do it?” asks Chie.

Rise doesn’t need to turn to see the annoyance in her senior’s face. It’s laced between her words enough as it is. Chie never was the best at hiding her temper when people goaded her.

“I wasn’t aware happiness paid bills,” Soichi curtly replies. “Stagnation is a silent killer. Too many people spend their days wading in it only to realize the consequences of doing so too late. That was a chief reason we left Inaba when we did. That town would have been the death of us before long.”

“Huh?! B–But…Inaba is a great place to live,” Teddie says. “It has so much fun stuff! A–And lots of nice people!”

“Again, even if any of that were true, what good does it do our son? He needs an environment that can actually facilitate his growth, not a bunch of busted up roads and cornfields to stumble around aimlessly. Inaba was never going to allow him to grow like he needs.”

Tomie nods. “Moving away was exactly what we all needed. Had we stayed in Inaba any longer, we may as well have thrown away all hope to be anyone of note.”

“True. I can’t think of anything worse than having an empty tombstone stuck in coarse dirt from the countryside. We will claim better for ourselves, and for Ren, even in the face of any…distractions.”

That last comment gets even the more restrained members of their group a bit heated. Rise can feel it in the way that everyone behind her practically starts buzzing where they stand. They’ve tolerated a lot over the years, but asking any of them to shrug off the implications of the word just spat at them? Even their patience has limits, and regardless of where anyone else stands, she knows that she has been pushed well past hers.

“And, in your eyes, what exactly qualifies as distractions?” she asks.

“Anything – or anyone – that prevents our son from becoming who he needs to be,” answers Tomie. “I thought Ren was old enough to police his own connections, but maybe we’ve been a bit too lax on teaching him how to do so. I wonder…do those close to him truly have his best interests at heart?”

“More than either of—!”

The only thing stopping Rise from stomping further into the room is Yu’s hand coming down on her shoulder. One look at him is normally a full reset on her emotions, so it’s no surprise that even as fired up as she feels right now, that gentle smile and nod of his still pulls her back. Based on how everyone else is holding themselves back, that effect has clearly spread.

The Amamiyas are so lucky that Yu is the leader here and not anyone else. This conversation would not be levelling out, otherwise.

“I think you should give Ren more credit,” Yu says. “He’s always been a smart kid, and after reconnecting with him recently, we’ve seen just how much of a name he’s made for himself. I’m sure he’s told you all about the politicians he is acquainted with, as well as that doctor and the rising defense attorney.”

“He has,” answers Soichi, ignoring Rise’s little outburst outright. “We still have yet to really confirm any of that, however. Have you met any of those individuals?”

“Not personally. But we have looked into them a bit, and Ren has told us some stories. He had quite the effect on others during his time in Tokyo.”

“Well, at least something good came of that mess,” mutters Tomie. “Though nothing is enough to fully offset the damage our reputations took as a result. If Ren can maintain this connection making of his, then maybe he can convince us not to hover so frequently.”

Rise desperately wants to point out that ‘hovering’ requires you to actually be around your child long enough to do so, but she thinks any more insults from her will just make one of the others forcefully keep her mouth shut.

Before any more barbs can be traded – veiled or otherwise – the phone face down on the living room table begins to vibrate, catching everyone’s attention. Tomie leans forward to pick it up and immediately frowns once it’s flipped around and woken up. She looks at her husband with tired eyes.

“It’s Tadano-san. He’s probably looking for another update on running that charity story his team drafted up. No doubt he wants to see it come to fruition before another scandal spills out of his lap.”

Soichi tsks. “Needy and impatient – he’s a real piece of work. If he wasn’t the best route to putting more pressure on ‘Golden Morning,’ I would have cut ties with him the second he agreed to do business with us. Commodum has no idea the lengths I go to for the sake of its growth…”

“They’ll know once the time for yearly reports rolls around. Your name is tied too closely to most of their recent successes. I’ve made sure to make that known whenever my department deals with them directly.”

“I appreciate that, but don’t overplay your hand. No one in our offices would notice, but your team is full of brownnosers. They’ll pounce as soon as they get the sense you’re advocating for a higher position, even if it’s for me.”

“That implies any of them can stop kissing up to management long enough to notice. Don’t worry about me; I know what I’m doing.”

Most of the specific business talk goes over Rise’s head. While she is no stranger to corporate worlds and the people that make those gears turn, she has no clue what part of that world Ren’s parents inhabit. In fact, she doesn’t think she’s ever heard what it is they do for a living. Unless Ren has mentioned it and she just blocked it out purely out of spite. That is certainly a possibility.

“Everything okay?” Yu asks, ever the peacemaker.

“Nothing for you all to be concerned about,” Soichi says. “Just another reminder that we need to be on our way.”

“Wait, you’re leaving already?” Yosuke asks.

“Yes, we have associates to entertain and many papers to review. We’ll talk to Ren sometime later. Remind him to tidy up before he leaves.”

Soichi and Tomie look practiced as they clean up their immediate area, placing dishes in the kitchen and returning books to shelves. In only a few seconds, any trace of their presence has been scrubbed away. Unsurprising, based on how the house feels on any given day.

While Tomie carries most of their work supplies out and starts their car, Soichi pauses by the door. He glowers over his shoulder at the young adults still lingering in the living room.

“I’m not opposed to whatever this trip is, in truth. A break can be good for the mind,” he says. “Though, do exercise some restraint. I know Inaba has a tendency to breed free-spirited youngsters, but Ren will have work to do soon. He can’t afford to spend too much time goofing off with old acquaintances.”

Though ‘acquaintances’ doesn’t carry the same bite as ‘distractions,’ no one takes any solace in that fact. It’s hard to find any positives to the sort of backhanded dialogue exchanged in the Amamiya household.

Soichi lets that be the final word on things as he fully exits. The Investigation Team hears the rumble of a car engine slowly creep away and then fade into the distance. Once the sound is well and truly inaudible, Rise feels an incredible wave of exhaustion hit her all at once. Stewing in anger always was a quick way to burn herself out mentally.

“Are they finally gone?” she asks.

Yosuke moves to the closest window and peers out before nodding. “They’re gone.”

“In that case…”

Rise flops onto the closest couch on her back. She picks up a pillow and presses it against her face before letting out a scream long enough to make her throat ache. Even muffled by fabric, it makes the rest of her team wince. When she feels the boiling anger inside simmer down into something manageable, she moves the pillow to hug against her chest, breathing out slowly.

“Okay, I’m good,” she says.

“Well, that went well,” mutters Chie.

“Really? I thought it was terrible,” Teddie says.

“That was sarcasm, Teddie.”

“Oh.”

“Have the Amamiyas gotten meaner?” Yukiko asks. “I really don’t remember them behaving that way with us in the past.”

“It’s because we’re older,” Yosuke answers. “They don’t have to pretend to be cordial with us now that we’re grown up.”

“They barely pretended while we were teens,” says Kanji. “If anything, they just held back because Ren was around.”

As if summoned by name alone, Ren comes bounding down the steps with his school bag in hand. He raises an eyebrow at the state of the living room, which currently houses a crowd of human husks devoid of energy.

“Why do you guys all look exhausted?” he asks. “Wait, where’d Mom and Dad go?”

“You just missed them,” says Yosuke. “They started talking business and then they just took off. Whatever they’re dealing with has them extra annoyed.”

“Sounds about right. I’d be annoyed too if I had to come down from the beach to deal with regular grunt work. Sucks for them.”

“Although…part of their annoyance likely came from talking to us just now,” says Yukiko.

“Oh, did the whole ‘play nice’ thing not work out? I assumed it was going fine considering I didn’t hear any screaming from upstairs.”

“It was…certainly an attempt at being civil,” Yu says. “Rise was being passive-aggressive, but it wasn’t anything serious.”

“I don’t think there was anything passive about it,” says Naoto.

Rise groans loudly. “Oh come on, I wasn’t the only one acting up. Kanji was hardcore glaring at the both of them!”

“Shit, was I?”

“And Chie looked about five seconds from breaking the table in half.”

“That’s because I was! I can’t stand when they talk down to us like that. I swear they’ve always seen us as a bunch of dumb country kids!”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think?” Yu asks.

“No, she’s right,” Ren says. “For those of you born in Inaba, anyway. They just think the rest of you are weird.”

“See?!” Chie exclaims.

“Well, sorry we can’t all have fancy jobs to impress them like Rise,” says Kanji. “Matter of fact, what the heck do your parents even do themselves, Ren?”

“From what I understand, Dad works in business acquisition for a media company, and Mom’s a production manager at some publisher,” he replies. “Both their groups are under the same parent company, though, so they pretty much get to work together all the time. I don’t really get how their jobs cross over, but it’s not unusual for them to be nearby each other for most of the day. Actually, they met because of how close their jobs were in that company.”

“Really?” Yu asks.

“Yep. The story goes that they were both working long shifts one night, so they stopped by the cafeteria in the building they were in for a late dinner. Dad tried ordering some dessert with a French name, and when he butchered the pronunciation, his future wife behind him found it incredibly funny. She corrected him and recommended another dish to go with it, but before she could get her food and leave, Dad invited her to eat with him. It went surprisingly well. The way I understand it, he fell for her voice and the way she told such enrapturing stories. She fell for his awkwardness and how determined he was to impress her. They went on a proper first date soon after, and the rest is history.”

“Unbelievable… You’re seriously telling me that your parents had a meet-cute?” Rise asks. “Them? Of all people?”

“It is so hard picturing the people that were just in here being that lovestruck,” says Chie. “I mean, I don’t think they’ve fallen out of love or anything, but…”

“But it seems like an afterthought to them now, huh?” Ren finishes. “Yeah, they’re definitely not your picture-perfect couple. They do still have their moments from time to time, though, so it’s not like I’m really worried about them splitting up.”

“Them being committed to each other is fine and all, but I wish they’d put some of that energy into being around you, Ren,” says Rise.

“Agreed, though this particular outcome does suit our current needs,” Naoto says. “Getting Ren-kun free from their watch ensures any potential parental meddling is barred. Knowing them, I doubt we’ll have to cross this bridge again during our exploration of that realm in the lake.”

“While we’re kind of on the subject, do your parents know about your, uh…” Yosuke makes air quotes with his fingers. “Other life?”

Ren lets a harsh laugh into the air. “Are you kidding? They’d lock me in a room and throw away the key if they ever found out I was a Phantom Thief. Honestly, I got lucky that all that stuff happened while I was under Sojiro’s care. Everything ended up dumped on him instead of my parents.”

“I’m glad you at least have someone fully grown looking out for you like that,” says Rise. “I’ll feel a lot better when you’re out of here and living with him like you said earlier.”

“You and me both. I’m actively counting down the days.”

“Do your parents know about your move?” Chie asks.

“Technically.” Ren waves his hand through the air. “You know how they are. Half the things I say run the risk of going in one ear and out the other. I’m sure they heard me when I told them, but whether they took it seriously or not remains to be seen. They might not even notice until I’m already gone.”

“Well, you’re plenty grown now yourself, so do whatever you gotta,” says Kanji. “Don’t worry about your folks getting in the way.”

“Believe me, I have long since stopped letting them occupy my head more than they deserve. But enough about them, we’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

“Right,” says Yu. “Got all the gear you need?”

Ren hefts the bag in his arms up for all to see. “Locked and loaded. I just need to swing by the kitchen for the last bit of prep. I’m still missing a vital item for Metaverse exploration.”

Grinning at the way everyone looks confused by that, Ren walks past them all to start working in the kitchen. Various machines atop the counter whir to life in order to serve their normal purposes. It isn’t until Ren pulls out a bag of coffee beans that everyone else realizes what he has planned.

“Wait, you’re making coffee to take with you?” Yosuke asks. “That actually helps?”

“You’d be surprised what helps in the Metaverse,” Ren says. Between vending machine soda and all kinds of vegetables and even oatmeal, he has long since stopped doubting that the little things in his life could make a difference. “Anybody want some while I’m at it?”

Still on the couch, Rise tiredly calls out, “Definitely.”

“Please and thank you,” Naoto says.

“Yeah, it’ll probably be a long night,” Yosuke says. “I’ll take some.”

Ren hears a few more confirmations come out, so he decides to just make a full round for everybody. If there is one aspect of his parents being home he misses right now, it is how mellow the smell of coffee in the air makes them.

Whenever they are around long enough for him to make some, they always give at least a tiny bit of praise for how the smell enhances the atmosphere of the house. Pitifully, Ren has to admit to appreciating it a little bit. It isn’t often they approve wholeheartedly of any of his skills.

But thinking about his parents will only serve to lower his mood before what will already be a tough mission, so he clears his head of them and sits down with his friends as they all enjoy some early evening coffee.

“It’s weird…” Chie says. “This feels like a pre-mission meeting we’d have back during our first year together, but you being here with us is taking some getting used to, Ren.”

Yosuke nods. “Yeah, not going to lie, acting like everything was normal whenever we ran into you got tougher the closer we got to catching Adachi. The last thing we wanted was to get you wrapped up in that.”

“You did a pretty good job, all things considered,” Ren says. “I had no idea you guys had anything to do with that stuff while I was still in Inaba. I totally get the worry, though. That’s pretty much how I felt with the people close to me in Tokyo once things started getting crazy. I didn’t want them being blamed for anything the Phantom Thieves had to do for our missions.”

“It sounds like we all were burdened with similar problems despite being so young,” says Yukiko. “It is a good thing we had each other to spread out the responsibility.”

“Oh, for sure. Things started out a bit rough for us, but once we got more people, it took a lot of the pressure off. We’ve got some tough customers on the Thieves.”

“One of them being an actual cat,” Chie remarks.

“Man, I don’t think that’s ever not going to be weird to think about,” adds Kanji.

“Is it that weird? One of your teammates is a bear.”

“Ooh, good point, Ren!” Teddie says.

“It is not,” says Yosuke. “You’re not actually a bear!”

“Mona’s not technically a cat, either,” says Ren, “so I guess we’ll call it even. Oh, and for future reference, he hates when you call him a cat, so try to avoid that if possible. He can and will use claws to get his point across, believe me.”

“Uh…noted,” says Kanji.

After a sip of coffee, Naoto says, “So, just to make sure we all have the right information, your missing comrades include the seven human friends of yours we met in December, Morgana, Zenkichi Hasegawa of the Kyoto police department, and an artificial intelligence known as Sophia. All other individuals connected to the Phantom Thieves are safe. There are no more Persona-users we need to be worried about, correct?”

“That’s right,” Ren replies. “I only knew three other Persona-users before today. One’s in good company halfway across the world, another is living a normal life on his own terms, and the last one…is…”

Words fail Ren at the moment. It should be easy to say ‘dead,’ but something always blocks his tongue whenever he tries to use that word in relation to his former enemy turned reluctant ally.

Maybe that feels like a condemnation on its own, or maybe Ren selfishly doesn’t want such a stain on the Phantom Thieves’ record of saving others. Or maybe, despite how Ren tells himself otherwise, he just can’t fully let go. The black glove sitting upstairs amongst his gifts from Tokyo certainly points to that conclusion.

Ren shakes his head to clear out the errant thoughts before they drag him somewhere he doesn’t want to be. “The last one is gone. No point in keeping him in mind for this.”

The Investigation Team members all give him a look, but they don’t pry. He likely has his current circumstances to thank for that. If he wasn’t already dealing with so much, he would have fully expected them to try and get to the bottom of such an obvious faltering in his speech.

The odd mood is chased away with some more conversation. It really is like a cure-all with a group like this. For just a moment, Ren feels transported to bygone days spent on the roof of Junes. It is a shame he can’t appreciate the feeling knowing that there should be another group here with them now.

Yu’s phone rings in the middle of conversation. The resulting call barely lasts a full minute, during which Yu only responds in affirmatives. When he hangs up, his face looks more like what Ren imagines the leader of the Investigation Team looks like when there’s business to handle.

“The rest of the Shadow Operatives just got to the lake,” he says. “Time to head out.”

While Ren takes care of cleaning up after his coffee making and tidying up around the house, the others take some of the free rooms around the house to change clothes. He doesn’t really know how they like to dress in their TV World, so he refrains from asking questions and sticks to his own tasks.

Obviously there isn’t enough time for a proper cleaning session, so he mainly focuses on putting things away neatly and clearing the floor. He slows only when moving all of the Phantom Thieves’ discarded bags to his room. The visual reminder of their absence is equal parts hindering and motivating.

He can feel the potential for the sight to overwhelm him the longer he stays in his room, so he finishes arranging everything and starts to head back downstairs.

On his way, a muffled beep comes from his phone. Pulling it out to investigate gives him a rush of nostalgia. Onscreen is an ominous-looking app that has installed itself at some point without his knowledge.

Unlike the Metaverse Navigator of old, however, it has a clawed handprint in place of the eye in the center of the icon. Not only that, but there doesn’t look to be any option for actual navigation. Instead, the only thing offered is a location history that has one entry at the very top.

“Wait, that’s what the new world is called?” he mutters to himself. “What does—”

From below, Kanji’s voice shouts, “Ren, you done up there? We gotta get moving!”

“Yeah, sorry! I’m coming!”

He pockets his phone for now. It isn’t like he learned much just from that one quick glance at the new app, so he’ll just update everyone once they’re all together. A quick jog down the stairs finally gets him back to the living room.

“Okay, everything’s taken care of, so let’s—” Ren pauses as the others come into view, dressed in wildly different outfits than before. They suddenly look like a bunch of action movie leads instead of the goofy friend group he knows them to be. “What are you guys wearing?”

“Oh, our combat gear?” Chie poses with her leg in the air and arms raised. “Cool, huh? Mitsuru-san hooked us up with everything. Not only do they look awesome, but they’ve got all kinds of neat features, too!”

“It beats just running around in our school uniforms, that’s for sure,” Yosuke says. “Man, I do not miss the amount of laundry we used to have to do back then…”

“Speaking of outfits, where’d yours go, Ren-Ren?” Teddie asks. “We haven’t seen it since we rescued you.”

“Is it in your bag with your other gear?” asks Yukiko.

“Something like that,” Ren responds. “You’ll see it soon enough. Let’s get going.”

“Right. To the Mom Van!” Chie cheers.

“It is not a ‘mom van,’” Yu calls after her.

Yosuke shrugs on his way out the door. “It is kind of a ‘mom van,’ partner.”

“Didn’t you literally get it from your mom, senpai?” asks Kanji.

“Yes, but it wasn’t always her van!”

“And whose was it before?” Rise asks.

Yu stops right outside the doorway. There is a long pause before he finally takes a deep breath through his nose.

“…my grandma’s,” he mutters.

“Ooh, that sounds like a ‘mom van’ to me, Yu-kun,” Yukiko says.

“Case closed,” says Chie. “Damn, we’re good at this.”

It really shouldn’t be a surprise to Ren that his old friends are the only people that could make him openly laugh during such a grim situation. As he locks his front door behind everyone, he finds himself able to at least leave the baggage of his homelife locked in its place of origin. He won’t be able to put away the guilt of failing his thieves and the fear of their condition anytime soon, but he can at least let the atmosphere his Inaba friends so easily cultivate push out all the rest of the bad stuff.

By the time they arrive at the lake entrance that apparently leads to the new cognitive world, the rest of their allies for this adventure have already arrived. Mitsuru stands at the head of a large group along the lake’s edge. When she hears the new arrivals approaching, she turns to welcome them.

“You all got here quick,” she says. “I take it all necessary precautions have been taken care of?”

“Yep,” says Yu. “We’re all good to go. Right, Ren?”

“Absolutely. I’m ready to get in and put an end to this mess already.”

“I expected no less,” Mitsuru says. “Well, now that we’ve all gathered, I’d like to introduce you to my companions. Everyone?”

The group behind Mitsuru steps up after being mentioned. They are a varied bunch, visually speaking; the only thing unifying them is the combat gear they wear, though each still has a different style. While they don’t have the look of hardened agents like the name ‘The Shadow Operatives’ implies, Ren can definitely see how they’ve grown from a bunch of teenage Persona-users.

The first to offer a greeting is the tall guy with a goatee. He waves with one hand and adjusts the baseball cap on his head with the other, all while grinning at Ren.

“Yo! What’s up, dude?” he says. The man lowers his hand to point his thumb at himself. “The name’s Junpei Iori, breakout star of the Shadow Operatives.”

The brunette beside him groans. “What does that even mean? Ignore him, Amamiya-kun. Hi, I’m Yukari Takeba. It’s good to see you on your feet. You gave us all a scare yesterday.”

“Nice to meet you, Amamiya-kun,” the girl with teal braided hair says. “My name is Fuuka Yamagishi. My Persona specializes in navigation and analysis.”

The young man towering over both girls bows his head. “I’m Ken Amada. I hope we get along well, Amamiya-san.”

The dog at Ken’s feet barks, raising his nose triumphantly.

“Oh, and this is Koromaru. He’s just as much a part of the team as the rest of us.”

“So I’ve heard,” Ren says.

The mechanical girls are the next to step up. The blonde one speaks first, offering a small bow like Ken’s.

“Greetings, Amamiya-san. I am Aigis, seventh generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon. I lack proper knowledge on your ‘Phantom Thieves,’ but please be assured that I will not rest until you are reunited with them.”

“Hey there! I’m Labrys, Aigis’s older sister,” the other girl says. “Those guys from Inaba are good friends o’ mine, so I’m sure we’ll get along great. Good to be workin’ with ya!”

That just leaves the white-haired guy throwing punches a few meters away from everyone. He halts his pre-fight ritual to finally walk over and join the others.

“Oh, did everyone else go already?” he asks. “Well, I’m Akihiko Sanada. Glad to have someone with your strength on board.”

Ren opts for a casual bow towards all of them to maintain some professionalism. He may have more information than them, but they all are effectively his seniors when it comes to Personas.

“I’m glad to meet all of you,” he says. “I’d feel better if things weren’t so dire, but I appreciate your help, all the same.”

“Don’t mention it. We deal with stuff like this for a living, so really, you’re doing us a favor.”

“Uh, just want it to be known that some of us are semi-retired,” Junpei says.

“Oh? What happened to being our ‘breakout star,’ Iori?” Mitsuru asks.

“I just don’t want the newbie here thinking he’s seeing me at peak performance, y’know? Don’t be surprised if I’m not in proper form going in.”

“I see. I suppose that means you’d prefer a spot away from the action. I’m sure Yamagishi and Koromaru wouldn’t mind more company.”

“Yes, feel free to hang out with us, Junpei-kun,” Fuuka says.

“Now wait a minute,” he exclaims, “I was just messin’ around! Obviously I’m raring to go! Just let me at those Shadows!”

“Never change, Junpei,” says Yukari.

“We’ll all need some time to get back into fighting shape,” says Ken. “But something tells me that won’t be an issue based on how big…whatever we’re calling that weird place in the lake is.”

“Fantasma,” Ren supplies as an answer.

Teddie mumbles, “Fan…ta…wha?”

“The cognitive realm we’re headed into,” Ren elaborates. “It’s called Fantasma.”

“Fantasma? So, likely pertaining to fantasy and illusions, then,” says Naoto. “How strange.”

“How do you know what it’s called, Amamiya?” Akihiko asks.

“My phone told me,” Ren replies, holding his lit screen up for everyone to see. “The Phantom Thieves have always used a sort of app to venture into the Metaverse. I can usually see the names of Metaverse locations and then travel directly into them, but for this new area, all I got was the name. It looks like Heartbreak Lake is the only way in or out.”

“Heartbreak Lake? That’s seriously what this lake’s called?” Junpei asks.

“Why the weird name?” asks Chie.

“Supposedly this has always been a pretty popular spot for proposals or asking someone out since there’s not many other places in town that look nice,” Ren says. “Unfortunately, rumor goes that every couple that does something like that here has their relationship end in some kind of disaster. The name has stuck ever since those started. Yamichi isn’t exactly known for its outstanding naming sense.”

“Or anything sense, really,” says Kanji. “I’ve never seen a town so dull. It’s like nobody wants to come outside.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” says Mitsuru. “Ever since I arrived to meet up with Yamagishi, I haven’t seen a single person on the streets. I would think the town was empty if I hadn’t seen people through the windows of buildings on my way in.”

Ren looks up in concern as he pockets his phone. “Wait, what? You haven’t seen anyone outside?”

Fuuka shakes her head. “The only ones to be out have been me, Mitsuru-san, and some Shadow Operative staff members. No Yamichi residents have crossed our paths.”

“That’s…not normal,” Ren says. “People here are mostly homebodies, sure, but once work starts letting out, you can always see tons of people commuting home. And even then, most people use the time right after work to run errands.”

“You know, we didn’t see anyone on the roads either once we got here,” says Yosuke.

“Yeah, I did think that was odd,” Yu says.

“Mitsuru-san, those people you saw inside buildings…they were moving around and stuff, right?” Rise asks.

“They were. Regrettably, I didn’t take the time to observe them back then. Had I known something was amiss here, I would have taken the opportunity to do so.”

“Then at least we can say people aren’t dead or unconscious in their houses,” Akihiko says. “Still doesn’t answer whether they’re trapped somehow or not, though.”

“But we just saw Ren-Ren’s parents,” Teddie points out. “That’s something!”

Naoto says, “I wouldn’t cling to that as evidence towards the town’s status improving. After all, we all entered with no issue. From what we’ve seen thus far, I imagine that whatever is happening here only affects the residents who were in town prior to today.”

“Man, what is going on with this place?” Kanji asks.

“Nothing good, most likely,” says Ren. “My bet’s on it relating to Fantasma.”

“Agreed,” says Mitsuru. “And since we’ll be busy infiltrating the area, I’ll have some people look into the city’s issue while we’re away. Though if the world inside the lake really is affecting the town, we can deal with the issue ourselves by destroying it.”

“I appreciate it. I may not be particularly close to anyone in town, but no one here deserves to be under some weird effect. Hopefully we can figure this out soon for their sakes.”

“That is the plan. Now, Amamiya, I see that you’re still wearing your normal clothes. While I don’t have anything personalized for you, there are some standard Shadow Operatives uniforms that you are free to use. They would provide more protection for the fights ahead.”

“Thanks, but I’m good. I’ve already got my gear sorted out.”

“If you’re sure.” Mitsuru turns to face the others and raises her voice to call out, “Everyone, are we prepared to enter?”

A unified affirmative shout rings out in reply. The Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team all begin hyping themselves up for the task at hand. Ren takes a moment to slip away and stand at the edge of Heartbreak Lake, staring down into its blank surface. Though nothing abnormal is visible from this side, there is no telling what sorts of dangers lie past its normal depths.

For all he knows, this could be as simple as a Mementos run, or as complicated as traversing the Kingdoms were with Erina and the others. Either way, it won’t stop him from rescuing everyone. From here on, it’ll be a mad dash to steal his Thieves back from whatever was bold enough to take them in the first place.

“Hang on, guys,” he whispers. “I’m coming for you.”

Notes:

Me after putting the IT and the Amamiyas under one roof: "Fight, fight, fight!"

This marks the first time Ren's parents have made a physical appearance in the series! Their impact has always been felt in some of the stories told and in how other characters react to their actions, but now they finally get proper speaking roles. What did you think of them? Were they like you imagined they would be?

Eventually I'd like to do something featuring them a bit more heavily, something that really breaks down how they got from their simple start to how they are now. Writing that first meeting between them really got me interested to plot out how things went so wrong for them. But we've taken enough time to get back to the action as is, so that will have to wait.

Next time, we're headed into Fantasma to begin the search for the Phantom Thieves! Between finding them, figuring out what's happening to the people in Yamichi, and braving whatever the cognitive world has to throw at them, the newly combined group of Persona-users have a lot to deal with. How they'll react to some of the things they see inside Fantasma will determine how smoothly this experience goes. I'm excited for you to see the kinds of things I've prepared to throw at them. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Chapter 5

Summary:

As the Shadow Operatives, Investigation Team, and a lone Phantom Thief begin to explore Fantasma, the world proves to hold both a great deal of mysteries in need of solving, and Shadows in need of defeating.

As soon as Ren and the others travel through the lake’s surface and emerge in a fake looking shore, his clothes burst into blue flame. Shrieks and yelps ring out from the combined group behind him, and in the time it takes to turn around, his costume is already fully formed.

He gives them all a flat look. “What?”

“What was that?!” Junpei yells. “You were on fire!”

Ren waves a hand. “It’s cosmetic. That just happens when my thief outfit forms.”

“So it’s not something you have to bring in yourself,” Ken says. “Huh. That’s not at all what I expected.”

“Why do you even have a costume in the first place?” Kanji asks. “None of us do.”

“I guess it’s a Metaverse-specific thing,” says Ren. “My mask and outfit represent my will of rebellion, so to speak. They manifest whenever the one in charge of a specific Metaverse area recognizes me as a threat.”

“Interesting,” Mitsuru says. “I assume your appearance is also tied into how you summon your Persona?”

“Yep. It’s as simple as this.”

Ren reaches up to his mask and pulls it away. Its disappearance heralds the arrival of Pixie, allowing her to circle around Ren’s head as she gives everyone else a smile and wave.

“See?”

“We’ve certainly never seen a summoning quite like that,” Mitsuru says.

“But wait…that isn’t the Persona I sensed you using before,” Fuuka says. She lets out a little gasp. “Could you possibly be a Wild Card, Amamiya-kun?”

“You can just call me Joker when I’m in costume,” Ren says. “But to answer your question, yeah, I am a Wild Card.”

“Just like Yu-kun and Aigis,” Labrys says. “One for each group.”

A few of the Shadow Operatives look a little pained hearing that, though Ren isn’t sure what to make of it.

“But wait, why’re you usin’ that Persona?” Kanji asks. “Ain’t it, like…super weak?”

“Normally, yeah. But Pixie was the first Persona I ever recruited. I like keeping her around. And trust me, with everything I did to strengthen her, she can hold her own.”

Pixie puts her hands on her hips and nods, getting a silent chuckle out of Ren. He forgets how feisty she can be at times. She vanishes into the air, granting him his mask back with a gentle brush of flame across his face.

“Wait, I want to see that cool one you were using against the dragon,” says Teddie. “The one with wings!”

“Oh, same actually,” says Chie. “That’s one I’ve never seen before, not even from Yu.”

“That’s Arsène – he was my first,” Ren says. “Don’t worry, you’ll see him soon enough. He doesn’t like to make anything less than the flashiest entrance possible.”

Junpei cracks a grin. “Now that’s something I can get behind! Let’s get in there and tear this place up already.”

Even though those close to the man express slight exasperation at his declaration, it seems they all share the base sentiment. Their group continues on their way down the walkway leading to the building in the distance. Most have nothing to concern themselves with on the way, but three of them find themselves slowing at one particular addition since the last time they were here.

Ren, Aigis, and Yu stop to stare at the glowing blue door jutting out of the unnatural landscape. The iron bars connecting top and bottom with dense vapor pouring from below fits right in with the spooky atmosphere of Fantasma. Thankfully, Ren doesn’t have the same trepidation at seeing it as the others do.

“Is that supposed to be a Velvet Room door?” Yu asks. “It looks…menacing.”

“Oh, that’s technically my door,” Ren says. “Lavenza did say this whole thing was centered around me.”

“Lavenza?”

“My attendant. Here, I’ll introduce you. You too, Aigis-san.”

“Oh, sure.”

The three separate from the group, making their way over and stepping into the Velvet Room. Thankfully, the door leads right into the room’s center, forgoing the need to squeeze the small group out of Ren’s tiny cell. Awaiting their arrival is Lavenza, who smiles at the sight of them.

Ren waves. “Hey, Lavenza. I brought guests.”

“Hello again, my Trickster.” She curtsies to the two looking around curiously. “And greetings to both of you as well, Aigis and Narukami. On behalf of my master, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Velvet Room.”

“Nice to meet you, Lavenza,” Yu says. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Margaret, would you?”

“I am her younger sister, yes. She speaks quite highly of you. I feel better knowing you are here to help my Trickster in his quest.”

“Glad I can help.” Yu lets his eyes wander around the room once more. He can’t keep the frown from forming on his face. “This is how the Velvet Room looks for you, Ren? It’s so…grim.”

“It’s fine; don’t think too hard about it,” he replies. “Anyway, I just wanted to check in, Lavenza. If any of us need to come back, will I have to let them in since this is my door?”

“That won’t be necessary,” she replies. “The door you see in this new realm may resemble the one you know, but it remains a Velvet Room door all the same. Any of you may use it at your discretion.”

Yu nods. “Good to know. Will you be the one greeting us here if we do? No Igor or the others?”

“Considering the nature of this latest crisis, I am at the forefront of Velvet Room activities. Though should either you or Aigis require anything, the appropriate parties will accommodate your desires.”

“So Margaret has my compendium if I need it – cool. I think I’m okay for now, though. What about you guys?”

“I require no assistance,” says Aigis.

“I’m good too,” Ren says. “The sooner we get in and end this thing, the better.”

“Very well. Though if you all have nothing more to discuss…” Lavenza looks between the two on either side of Ren. “Narukami, Aigis, might I ask something of you both?”

Aigis tilts her head. “Yes?”

“I understand you have your own goals in this venture, but would you do me the favor of looking after my Trickster? While I do not doubt his skill, nor his determination to see this dilemma resolved, I have served him long enough to know that he can be quite…reckless in service of others. I would greatly appreciate it if you ensured he does not fall into such habits this time around.”

Ren shakes his head. “Lavenza…”

“Oh, is that all?” Yu reaches over to ruffle Ren’s hair a little. “You don’t have to worry about that. Me and my friends have been watching out for him for years. We won’t let anything happen to him in here, and we’ll make sure he doesn’t go running headfirst into any danger.”

Aigis nods. “I am resolved to save the Phantom Thieves and bring peace back to Joker-san’s life. I will see those tasks realized.”

“You both have my thanks,” Lavenza says.

She finally bids them farewell as the trio exits the Velvet Room and returns to the same spot they entered from. As Aigis walks a little bit ahead, Yu nudges Ren and speaks in a low volume.

“Hey, did Lavenza call you ‘her’ Trickster back there?”

“Yeah, she does that. Something wrong with it?”

“No, not at all. I was going to say it’s sweet.”

If Ren didn’t know any better, he would say Yu is hiding all sorts of playful remarks behind that knowing smile of his. While the older of them has always been the one to take it easy on Ren, he does like to add in his own sly comments every now and then. Lavenza’s obvious attachment is likely too good of a setup to just brush past in his mind.

Though if Ren has to choose between Yu’s brand of teasing and Rise’s, he’ll take Yu’s every day of the week.

They all catch up with the others fairly quickly. At the back of their formed circle, Akihiko is the first to notice them approaching.

“Oh, you guys are back,” he says.

Yu gives them all a little wave. “Sorry. Were you guys waiting on us?”

“Well, when we saw all three of you wander off and start staring into space, we figured it was a Velvet Room thing,” says Yosuke.

“Is it weird that I’m still not used to that?” Yukari asks.

“I don’t think I ever will be,” replies Fuuka.

“Enjoy your time in the…uh, what was it again? An elevator?” Junpei asks.

“It did not appear as an elevator this time,” says Aigis. “The version of the Velvet Room we saw just now was Joker-san’s personal variation. It resembled a prison.”

“Huh?!”

“Wait, seriously?” Kanji asks.

“Uh, that’s not normal, is it?” Chie asks.

“I tried asking about it, but Ren just waved me off,” says Yu. “I really don’t think—”

“It’s not a big deal,” Ren interrupts. “I already dealt with the reason why it looks like that. Let’s focus on the real issue and get moving. What were you guys talking about before we got back?”

“Mostly scheduling,” answers Mitsuru. “Based on scans from Yamagishi both inside and outside of Fantasma, it seems time does not pass here as we previously believed.”

Fuuka nods. “Time does indeed pass slower in this realm, but not in a linear fashion. In truth, the longer we spend in here, the slower time will pass in comparison to the real world.”

“Yeah, that…still makes zero sense to me,” says Junpei. “How does time back home go slower if we stay in here for a while?”

“Well, there is a scientific basis for such a thing – theoretically, at least – but I doubt you want to hear me talk about that.”

Junpei hangs his head. “Yeah, not even your magic voice could make that one not boring, Fuuka.”

“What matters is that we won’t have to waste time leaving and coming back in,” says Akihiko. “As long as there are places to stop and catch our breath, we could take this place down in one go.”

“Which would probably be for the best,” Yu says. “A lot of us can’t afford to walk away from our lives for too long. If staying in here for the long haul helps save time, I’m all for it.”

Everyone gives their own agreements to that. As much as Ren hadn’t wanted to get anyone else involved in this, it does take a lot of stress away to know he has actual backup for the mission at hand. Trying to explore this place alone would have taken ages.

The group is met with their first surprise of the day as soon as they climb the stairs in front of them and enter the lone building in Fantasma. Beyond any of their expectations, the lobby is not empty and half-finished. The Investigation Team told Ren before that it had been almost derelict, completely lacking in an attempt to resemble an actual lobby of any kind. The sight before them does not match that description at all.

A dazzling chandelier hangs above ornate flooring, a thick layer of linoleum that shines to the point of showing the reflection of all who cross it. Marble pillars rise from the floor and stretch to the ceiling, positioned perfectly so that they do not obstruct the painting of a group of angels above.

The art piece is positively bursting with color. Dandelion yellows, baby blues, and emerald greens come together in a way that makes the whole thing look like a scene right out of a dream. Ren can only admire it for a half-second before wishing that Yusuke could see it himself. He would absolutely have an entire analysis ready by now, even after taking only a glance. Ren misses him. He misses everybody.

Turning away from the painting puts his eyes on the real shock of everything here. Specifically, the abundance of foot traffic now taking up the grand space. Adults, teens, children, and the elderly are all present, standing in groups or heading off in different directions to explore. The sheer number of voices present makes the lobby sound like a buzzing beehive.

“Uh, am I crazy, or were there nowhere near as many people here last time?” Junpei asks. “Actually, there weren’t any at all!”

“You’re right,” Ken says. “What are these people doing here?”

“Not people,” Ren says. “Cognitions. Look closely.”

Ren points out the differences between the cognitive beings in front of them and normal people. The cognitions walking around now resemble the ones from Shido’s Palace, mouths on full display without proper eyes to complete their expressions. Instead of the fancy masks that those cognitions had worn, these have hazy dark patches in the same spot, almost like censor bars. It makes them seem all the creepier.

“You can think of the cognitions as nothing more than background roles in a dream,” Ren elaborates. “We can interact with them, but they’re mostly inconsequential unless they have a specific role to serve. Or if the ruler of this place sees them as particularly powerful.”

“Like the dragon you fought,” Yu says.

“Exactly. Normal people like this should be fine, so don’t stress over it if we see more during our time here.”

“Then I should be able to resume my post here,” says Fuuka. “It sounds like Koro-chan and I won’t be in danger despite the number of cognitive beings here.”

“Speaking of your staying back, there is one matter I wish for more clarity on,” says Mitsuru. “Joker, the information you gave earlier stated that Metaverse spaces always have some sort of rest point throughout them, ones that Shadows cannot enter. Is that correct?”

“Yeah, the safe rooms. They’re spots in the Metaverse where distortion is noticeably low, letting you stay there out of enemy sights. The Thieves and I used them to heal or plan or just take some time for ourselves whenever we infiltrated Palaces. There’s also the neat bonus of how they become connected for travel once you find more. Did you have a plan in mind for them?”

“Hearing that last bit of information, yes.” Mitsuru turns to Fuuka. “Yamagishi, can you detect any areas like the ones Joker described?”

“I’ll try.” After taking a step back to summon Juno, Fuuka closes her eyes to focus her mental reach as far as she can manage. “Hm… It’s faint, but there is a section of this area that feels different than the rest. The…distortion, was it? It doesn’t seem to affect that point as thoroughly.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a safe room, then,” says Ren. “It’ll probably be a decent way into wherever we’re headed.”

“I see. In that case, Yamagishi, I would suggest following the path we clear once we reach that first safe room,” Mitsuru says. “Koromaru will help escort you there so you can continue navigation without being too far behind. Then, upon any further safe rooms we discover, you can travel between them to keep pace with us.”

“I like it,” says Akihiko. “We’ve seen too many traps in places like this to all be in one group. Having Yamagishi and Koromaru hang back gives us a fallback plan in case we get stuck somewhere.”

“Sounds like a plan,” says Fuuka. “Koro-chan and I will be just fine.”

Koromaru yips in agreement.

“Our last order of business is to discuss chain of command,” Mitsuru says. “Obviously, travelling with such a large group is going to be a challenge, so it would be wise to organize ourselves before we see combat.”

“Makes sense,” Yu says. “Any suggestions?”

“Fantasma’s been pretty spacious so far, so we can probably get away with bigger frontline teams,” says Akihiko. “If we do that, we can put the rest of the group behind them to act as backup ready to switch in on command.”

“Don’t forget about Rise-chan,” Yukari says. “We should have a small group making sure she doesn’t get ambushed in the back.”

Mitsuru nods. “Both excellent ideas. As for the makeup of those groups, I’ll leave it up to their respective leaders. Aigis, Narukami, do you have preferences to which group you will lead?”

“I consider Narukami-san my superior when it comes to commanding,” says Aigis. “Therefore, I believe I am best suited to direct the backup group, as Akihiko-san called them.”

“Very well. Narukami?”

“That works for me,” he replies. “If we’re agreed on using a bigger group in the front, then I’ll take a group of six with me.”

“And your selections?”

“You, Akihiko-san, Labrys, Chie, Naoto, and Ren. I think Ken-kun and Kanji should be the ones watching Rise’s back.”

“Which leaves Yukari-san, Junpei-san, Amagi-san, Hanamura-san, and Teddie-san to be on backup with me,” Aigis says.

When Mitsuru asks if there are any objections to the lineup, no such responses emerge. Obviously Ren is used to doing this sort of thing by himself, but in this scenario, he’s just glad Yu had the sense not to try and keep him away from the action. He has a responsibility to be at the head of this operation, even if he isn’t calling the shots.

With one last goodbye to Fuuka and Koromaru, the rest of them proceed up the stairs and down the path leading deeper into the building. This is all new scenery to Ren, so he sticks towards the back of the group as they lead on, explaining what all they saw the last time they were here.

Just like the lobby, it seems the sights are entirely different. Every rundown area has been polished and added onto in order to give the building an almost regal appearance. Everything is properly arranged and free of any sort of wear.

Though from what little Ren remembers from his first time here, the atmosphere hasn’t really improved. It was like an abandoned haunted house before, which admittedly wasn’t great, but the adjustments made since then have merely pushed it into feeling like a giant dollhouse. Not exactly a proper environment for a supposed museum, if that actually is the intent behind this place, anyway.

The group meets their first obstacle in the form of trying to get past all the cognitions filling the halls and connecting rooms. They move like bugs on the underside of dead wood, scurrying about in tight lines without leaving much space for anything around them.

The team of sixteen takes temporary shelter from the crowd by filing into a room about halfway down the hall. Any longer spent pushing through cognitions and they likely would have all gotten separated. Better to let the rush of bodies slow a little before proceeding, Ren figures.

The room they hastily chose looks to be more than enough to keep their attention for the time being. It is covered in darkness with all of the lighting coming from light strips at the very top of the walls, like the reverse of a movie theater. The lighting is primarily focused on areas where cognitive beings stand to read wall-mounted signs. They look like information panels, but the words on them aren’t in Japanese or English, so Ren really can’t make sense of them.

In the middle of the room is a wide diorama depicting a city. Model buildings take up most of the space with only a few bits of greenery arranged at the city’s edges. Tiny figures are scattered about to resemble people, but there aren’t many of them. Most people appear in the form of small silhouettes painted on the buildings’ windows.

It’s an odd sight in general. Knowing how the Metaverse works, Ren just hopes he and the others won’t get shrunk and tossed into the fake city to complete some trial. He has definitely seen stranger when it comes to places like this.

“I think I preferred when there was no one else around,” says Akihiko. “Made it less of a hassle to get through this place.”

“It really is like a proper museum now with all the crowds,” says Ken. “But I’m a little confused as to why they seem so excited to browse this place. Do cognitions even have interests?”

“Depends on who or what they were born from,” answers Ren. “I get the feeling these cognitive beings are basically just meant to simulate normal people. Normal people would be acting this way in a museum, after all.”

“True,” says Naoto. “They aren’t even sparing us any glances. It is as if they are concerned with nothing outside of taking in the environment. I wonder how this benefits the creator of this place?”

“Yeah, it’s not like they’re trying to convince anyone that this is reality,” says Yosuke. “I mean, we’re most likely the only ones from the real world to come in here. Unless… You don’t think they could be preparing to put this in the real world, do you?”

“Is that even possible?” asks Labrys.

“I don’t know, I’m just brainstorming. We have literally no idea what the hell is up with this place.”

“Does our Metaverse expert have an opinion on Yosuke’s crackpot theory?” Chie asks.

“Crackpot?!”

“Barring extreme circumstances, the Metaverse is pretty separate from reality,” says Ren. “I have to agree with what Naoto was thinking before. Even if this is some scheme to put this…museum thing in the real world, I don’t see how that benefits any enemy of mankind. Unless we’re facing the god of ticket pricing this time around.”

Rise hums in thought. “Ticket salesmen can be pretty evil…”

Yukiko clears her throat before speaking in an attempt at a deep voice. “I was born of the Sea of Souls, brought forth by the greed of corporate marketing!”

“Yeah…I don’t know that I’m buyin’ that one,” says Kanji.

“Not to interrupt, but we’ve discovered something that might be noteworthy,” says Mitsuru.

She gestures to a doorway that leads to another room connected to the first, one unenterable from the main hallway. Inside are more exhibit-like sections, though this time in the form of marble statues with descriptive plaques and small monitors next to them.

The statues showcase people of all sizes and ages. Middle-aged men, young girls, tall boys, and women shortened in old age are all present. There doesn’t seem to be any reasoning for how they are arranged, at least not that Ren can tell right away. Though something about them is grabbing him…

“This looks like a historical exhibit would in a real museum, but…I don’t recognize any of these people,” says Ken.

“Nobuo Kotaki, Mami Kazamatsuri, Sara Natsuno…” Yukari shakes her head. “Yeah, I’ve got no clue.”

While everyone else talks amongst themselves to try and scrounge together some kind of recollection, Ren focuses more on the way his brain is piecing things together with every new name revealed. He steps closer to get a better look at the statues and their connecting information. His brow furrows upon realizing that he has reached the answer they all seek while still being clueless on how it relates to the problem at hand.

“Of all the people to have an exhibit on…” he mutters.

Yukiko glances over from her spot at the next statue down. “Do you recognize these historical figures, Ren-kun?”

“Yeah, mostly because they’re not historical figures at all. These people are all still alive, and they’re all from Yamichi.”

That gets everyone else’s attention from their various spots around the room. They all look over to Ren like he’s about to give some kind of lecture.

“You sure, Ren?” asks Kanji.

“Yep. I don’t know everyone in town, obviously, but it’s small enough for me to be able to pick out some of the more noticeable people that live there.”

Ren points to the first statue, sculpted to resemble a man with fluffy hair styled neatly and a crisp, pinstripe suit over his body.

“Kotaki-san calls himself a philanthropist, but he really just likes throwing money around to whoever will sing his praises. Next to him is Shiraishi-san, who had to retire from being a firefighter after he got injured falling through the floor of a burning building. He’s actually the ex-husband of Kazamatsuri-san, who’s made a name for herself by always poking her nose into local politics despite swearing that she has no taste for the stuff.”

He points to the smaller statue tucked in the corner of the room. Fairy lights hang overhead, illuminating a stone version of a middle school girl with a devilish grin etched on her face.

“Then over here is Airi-chan, who kind of has a rep for causing trouble around town. She gossips, starts rumors, manipulates people, and pulls all sorts of other nasty stunts. The town lets her get away with it because her dad owns the biggest building in the area and no one wants him to tighten up on his policies.”

“So these are all residents of Yamichi,” Naoto says. One of her hands comes up to touch the monitor next to Airi Seto’s statue, and as soon as contact is made, it flickers to life.

Onscreen is a high-quality video of Airi herself, sitting in front of a vanity mirror in her room. Instead of being from her point of view, the video is angled from an upper corner of her room, somewhere along the wall.

Despite the poor view, everyone watching can clearly make out Airi experimenting with a large makeup selection while chatting over speakerphone with another girl. Airi holds her face steady even while cackling through the story she tells. That story involves a classmate she had harassed by getting her followers to comment horrible things on one of their social media posts, simply for the fact that the victim in question ‘dared’ to work with Airi’s crush on a group project in school.

Though frustrating to hear, Ren knows that this is simply par for the course for Airi Seto. In a world where hearts can no longer be changed, she escapes the swift punishment someone like her would normally receive from the Phantom Thieves.

“Woah…” Junpei says, coming over to see for himself. “Is this real footage?”

“I hope not,” says Yukari. “What kind of teen girl has a random camera installed in her bedroom?”

“Uh, you did. We all did.”

“That’s different!”

Ren has no idea what to do with that tidbit of information, so he focuses instead on the video once more. It really does seem like someone filming something with the way it is displayed, but as Yukari brought up, that doesn’t seem likely.

Peering around at some of the other videos on display only furthers the previous idea, though. They all have odd angles unattached to the person starring in the video.

It isn’t until Airi’s video begins to loop that Ren realizes something he hadn’t picked up on originally. It’s hard to see from the angle they have, but there come times in the video where Airi’s voice comes through without her mouth moving. In addition, the voice’s speech patterns aren’t consistent with how Airi talks in the rest of the video. That echoey version of her voice feels a lot more unfiltered, almost like a stream of consciousness at some points.

Naoto, who has been right beside him thinking through all of this, notices before even he does. He doesn’t have the time to arrange his thoughts in a way to vocalize them before she speaks up for everyone to hear.

“I think this being a recording isn’t very likely,” she says. “After all, normal cameras do not permit viewers to hear the thoughts of whoever is being filmed.”

“Huh? What thoughts?” Teddie asks.

“Pay attention. You can hear Seto-san tell her story, but there are parts that she leaves out, parts we only hear because her thoughts are somehow audible.”

“Which is likely tied to the video’s appearance in this cognitive space,” says Mitsuru. “And if hearing one’s inner thoughts is possible in a recording, then that would mean—”

“That these ‘videos’ are actual memories,” Ren finishes. With another look around at the monitors, he becomes even more sure of that fact. “I wasn’t around for any of these moments, but I’ve heard about some of them. Like this one next to Miyata-san, one of the first-years at my old school.”

A statue of a spindly high school boy stands above the monitor Ren gestures towards. In the video displayed, Keiichi Miyata sneaks through darkened halls with nothing but his phone’s flashlight to guide him. A loud voice calls out in the dark, causing him to shriek and take cover in a lone locker at the back of a classroom. Once inside, the locker shakes in place with signs of an internal struggle.

“I heard that he got dared to sneak into the school at night by his older friends and he ended up running from a security officer that happened to be inside. The chase led to him accidentally locking himself in that locker for the whole weekend. His parents were furious, but they couldn’t really do much without admitting that he was breaking and entering, so the whole thing just got dropped in the end.”

“Wow,” Yosuke says. “I know teenagers being stupid is a common thought, but some of these Yamichi kids need help.”

“I guess substituting memories does kind of work for this area,” says Ken. “I mean, if it’s supposed to be a historical exhibit, they would need old footage for the people they’re showing off, right? Maybe the memories are here to play that role?”

“But why, though?” asks Akihiko. “Not to judge, but none of these seem all that important. I guess they could be to the person themselves, but they’re not memories I’d imagine would make up a whole other world like Fantasma.”

“And how did the memories get here, anyway?” asks Chie. “I know this place is based on cognition or whatever, but that still doesn’t explain how peoples’ memories are showing up like TV show episodes.”

“Maybe it has something to do with what’s happening back in town,” says Labrys. “We couldn’t check in on anyone before, so…maybe Fantasma’s got a way of gettin’ in their heads?”

“That is certainly a frightening thought,” says Yukiko.

“Okay, so…we’ve got trapped Phantom Thieves and a museum dedicated to the people in a small town without much notoriety,” Rise says. “Anybody seeing the connection here?”

“Let’s not burden ourselves with trying to solve everything right away,” says Naoto. “It is likely that context is simply too far out of our reach for now. Let’s continue on and see if we can’t lessen that degree of distance. I believe we’ve gleaned all that we can from this room.”

Ren can agree to that, if only to escape the stone versions of Yamichi’s townspeople, most of whom would be disgusted that he was allowed in the same building as something honoring them.

The group exits and is collectively relieved to see the halls noticeably emptier than before. It only takes a minute for them to reach another room of note, and surprisingly, this one lacks any cognitive museum patrons whatsoever. The only things to take up space inside are the bookshelves lining the walls and a grand desk at the end of the room, both of which house numerous books.

“We passed this room on our first trip in, though the appearance differs slightly from back then,” Aigis says. “I believe this was the area containing small glass shards scattered across the floor.”

“Then that means this is where I woke up,” says Ren. “I thought I recognized those shelves and that desk. It looks like everything got cleaned up in here, even all those papers.”

“Papers, huh? Anything important on them?” Rise asks.

“Nothing I could read. I think it was just Metaverse gibberish. I didn’t exactly stick around long enough to get a good sense of things in here.”

“Then let’s continue on our path,” says Mitsuru. “If things seem slow now, it might do us good to act on the one piece of knowledge we entered with in terms of areas to explore.”

“Right, the room that the dragon was protecting. That’s probably our strongest point of interest right now.”

“I take it you had an alternate path to get there, Joker. Could you lead us?”

“Possibly. But if everything in this place got fixed up, I don’t think my point of entry from last time is going to work. It was pretty much a random hole in the wall, so it’s probably been sealed off or removed altogether.”

“Then let’s just go the way we came,” says Kanji. “Even if that window’s fixed, I can just smash it again.”

“Can’t argue with that logic. Lead on, guys.”

Teddie claims to remember the exact path he led everyone down before, so he is allowed to take the helm of their exploration efforts for the time being. Despite a few mix-ups with directions, the Persona-users eventually find themselves at their destination: a tube-like hallway overlooking a massive room with little to occupy the space. It appears even darker than before without any dragon fire to illuminate it.

Kanji does end up having to smash the window again, and Ren isn’t surprised at how quickly he jumps to the task. He has always been up for breaking things when no consequences will follow.

From there, it only takes a brief walk to make it to the end of the room where the double doors Ren found before are. They still appear as nothing more than the kind of doors that would bar entrance to an old bunker or panic room. Fantasma’s general makeover must not extend to this part of the building.

Yu points and asks, “These are the doors, right? The ones that zapped you?”

“Yep,” Ren replies.

Chie smacks Kanji on the back. “Welp, it’s all you, Kanji.”

“Huh? Why me?”

“You can’t get hurt by electric stuff, duh. If the doors still won’t open, we don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

“But…does my Persona work for something like that?”

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t,” says Ken. “But maybe armor that resists electrical attacks would?”

“Isn’t that the same principal, though?” asks Yosuke. “At the very least, I don’t think that’d be any better than having natural immunity.”

“Then we’re back to Kanji doing it,” says Rise. “Or, I guess one of the Wild Cards could—”

Akihiko grumbles to himself. “Oh, for the love of— Just move.”

Pushing past the others, he grasps both door handles in his hands before yanking back, throwing the doors open so forcefully that they smack against the wall on either side. Despite some of the Persona-users holding their breath while watching, he appears to be no worse for wear.

“See?” he says, raising his hands with a grin. “Perfectly safe.”

Chie claps at the sight. “That’s Master for you! Always a step ahead.”

“Satonaka, please do not indulge him,” mutters Mitsuru.

“Also, Akihiko-san’s success does not settle the previous point of discussion,” says Aigis. “Caesar possesses immunity to electric attacks, just like Tatsumi-san’s Takeji Zaiten.”

“Oh, that’s true,” says Yu. “We should test properly next chance we get. Yosuke, it’ll be your turn then.”

“You got it, partn—” Whiplash strikes Yosuke as he looks back at Yu. “Wait, what the hell?! I’m weak to that, you jerk!”

“Nah, I gotta agree with Yu,” Chie says. “You should totally touch the next electric fence we find.”

“Seconded,” says Yukiko.

Yosuke sputters out a, “But—!”

Naoto sighs under her breath and physically pushes her friends through the doorway. “Enough of the heckling, please. You’re embarrassing us in front of our allies.”

A light chuckle is shared by those following the Investigation Team inside. Ren gets the feeling that regardless of age, an entire team of Persona-users is simply fated to bring out the goofiness in one another.

Once everyone is inside, they find themselves in a dusty rectangular space. It has an appearance better fitting the first version of Fantasma they discovered, the one that felt unfinished in every sense of the word.

Metal shelves with ill-fitting planks of wood at their center take up most of the wall space. Books are haphazardly shoved into them, but they lack the nice conditions of the ones back upstairs. In comparison, these books are poorly bound with faded covers and missing pages throughout.

Across the floor are crates made from the same wood as the shelf panels. Each crate is wider than they are tall and filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items. From the few things that Ren can see, it’s almost like a group of prop chests were left out in the open.

“This just…looks like a storage room,” Yukari says.

“Seriously?” Junpei exclaims. “All that tension for this?”

“I’ve never heard of a dragon guarding something as mundane as a storage room,” says Yu. “There must be something here we’re missing. Let’s spread out and search.”

With so many people on board, it considerably lessens the time they would normally need to scour a room like this. There isn’t a single bit of space unoccupied as everyone combs through whatever they can find.

For his own part, Ren digs through one of the crates, not wanting to bother with any more books at the moment. He pulls out item after item, finding things like a broken cell phone, a fireman’s hat, some baby shoes, and a wedding dress among other things.

There are a few reasons why some of this stuff would be here if Ren’s line of thinking is correct. After all, they have an entire wing of a ‘museum’ that these items could very well be related to. But that only makes him wonder why they would be down here and not part of the exhibits.

At one point, Naoto comes over to have Ren verify that the people described in one of the books she found are Yamichi residents like she suspects. He confirms her suspicions after flipping through some of the pages himself. Unlike the proper exhibits upstairs, the entries in the book seem more like loose notes on people with lots of redacted sections marked by black ink. Another mystery to add to the pile.

In solidarity with that very idea, Yosuke calls out into the room, “So, has anyone found something that doesn’t just give us more questions?”

A series of denials makes everyone in the room groan. No doubt none of them expected to spend their time combing through memorabilia and odd documents while traversing Fantasma.

“If there is anything of worth here, I don’t think we’re going to find it like this,” says Yukiko.

“But this is as far as we can go, isn’t it?” Teddie says.

“Hey, Fuuka, you there?” Yukari asks. “Do you sense anything?”

“Not well enough to point out,” she replies, her voice reaching into everyone’s minds. “Though I am detecting a depth to that room that defies what I can see. I suspect there is something just out of sight on your end.”

“Maybe there’s some kinda hidden door,” Labrys says. “Don’t know how we’d find it, though.”

She may not, but Ren does. He asks for everyone to back away from the walls before focusing enough to trigger his Third Eye. Color flees the already dreary space, leaving behind darkened outlines of everything inside, even his scattered comrades. The only exception to this is a small electrical panel glowing blue, hidden just behind a metal shelf that one of the others already removed the contents of.

“Found it.”

Ren lets his vision go back to normal as he steps forward towards the shelf and pushes it aside. The now exposed panel opens up with a click, swiveling out on hinges to reveal various switches underneath. With all but one of them flipped, Ren goes ahead and turns the last one on.

A small rumbling shakes the room as the far end of the floor slants downward, turning into a lengthy staircase that descends into darkness. The only reprieve seems to be twin dots of orange light that are just barely visible at their current distance.

As she peers down, Mitsuru exclaims, “Très bien, Joker. You have quite the discerning eyes.”

“About that…” Yukari circles around to Ren’s front. “Did…your eyes change color just now?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” he says. “Come on, I get the feeling we’re headed somewhere the owner of this place doesn’t want us to see.”

Pushing past the stunned expressions of most of his allies, Ren takes the lead in descending the stairs. They are much steeper than they look, as if designed without anyone actually having to use them being kept in mind. It takes a few members of the group stumbling for everyone to start walking down more carefully.

Eventually they reach the lights seen previously. What looked more like torches from a distance are actually wall sconces, arranged perfectly above every step on both sides for the rest of the way down. Such modern lighting fixtures clash dramatically with the dungeon-like aesthetic to the rest of the path.

Aesthetics do not equal utility, however, so the group makes it all the way down without having to worry about proper lighting. Once at the end of the stairs, the visibility gets back to normal. The group now stands in a spacious tunnel with a curved ceiling high above them. With the thick walls, errant containers, and steel beams crossing overhead, it has the look of an elongated warehouse.

The appearance isn’t the only thing that catches the group’s attention, however. Trudging up and down the only way forward is a being that all of them can identify regardless of its odd look.

A Shadow – the first sighting of any since this newly formed team reentered Fantasma. It has a mostly humanoid shape under its tattered clothing and loose armor. The mask over its head is unlike most other Shadows in that it resembles a full cloth sack hood. There is a clear ‘bandit’ aesthetic going on here.

As everyone crouches behind the limited cover of the containers to remain hidden, Akihiko cracks his knuckles.

“Finally, some action!” he says. “My joints were starting to get stiff.”

“Senpai, can you at least pretend to not be a battle junkie while we have guests with us?” Yukari asks.

Mitsuru draws her rapier. “Everyone, prepare to get into position. Listen out for your respective leaders since we don’t have the luxury of small groups. Narukami, how do you want to engage?”

“We’ll do this one by the book. I’ll get things started so we can fish for weaknesses and buy time for the navigators to scan. Once that’s figured out, me and Ren can—” Yu stops his words short when he notices there is one less person in their group than there should be. “Ren?”

Everyone else follows Yu’s gaze. Unlike mere seconds prior, Ren is nowhere to be found amongst the group.

“What the—” Junpei whips his head around in shock. “Where’d he go?!”

“Yamagishi, do you still have a reading on Joker?” Mitsuru asks.

“I do,” she answers. “He’s not very far from you all. Actually, he seems to be…above you?”

“Above?”

Mitsuru and the others crane their necks to glance at the ceiling. Just barely visible amongst the darkness is a white mask darting from one steel beam to the next without so much as making a sound along the way. The movement ceases when the Shadow on the path below hits a dead end and begins skulking back the other way.

As soon as the Shadow creeps into the spot just below him, Ren comes diving from his position onto its shoulders. His fingers grip the bottom of the cloth sack mask on its face.

“Show me your true form!”

With a harsh tug, Ren rips the Shadow’s mask off and tosses it aside. He vaults off of the creature just as it melts into its proper appearance, a quartet formed of one Valkyrie and three of the beast known as Cerberus.

Ren’s landing puts him in front of the others as they all give the transformed enemies strange looks. Right – a sight like this is nothing new for him, but everyone else is apparently not used to fighting Shadows with these sorts of forms. Well, that has no bearing on his own task. He slips his dagger out of his coat and twirls it into a reverse grip.

“Well? We doing this, or what?”

Ren races forward before anyone can answer, delivering quick slashes to each Cerberus in his path. He evades their thrashing tails and crosses to the opposite side of the fight by using their heads like steppingstones. As soon as his boots touch the ground, he whips out his pistol and lands a trio of shots in the back of the Valkyrie.

“Woah, Joker works fast!” Labrys exclaims. “What’s the call, Yu-kun?”

Yu shakes off the stunned feeling in his face to call out, “Front team, surround the Shadows and support Ren! Don’t leave any openings for Aigis’s squad to be targeted!”

As Yu moves in to head off their small group, the others fan out to the sides. Mitsuru, Labrys, and Akihiko race to get in position on the left, while Naoto and Chie take up spots on the right. The end result is a tight circle around the opposing Shadows while still maintaining good lines of sight between everyone. Not bad for their first fight as a big group.

The motions are easy enough to get back into. Fighting the dragon and its minions was one thing, but surrounding basic Shadows and carrying out their usual strategy? Yu could probably do that in his sleep.

“Never used Valkyrie much back in the day,” Yu mutters to himself. “But I think I remember it being weak to wind. In which case…”

The floating blue tarot card in front of Yu’s face gets crushed inside his fist, aided by the emphatic cry of his Persona’s name. Norn appears behind him, rotating in place in preparation for the attack that Yu has yet to call out. It doesn’t take long for the two halves of one soul to sync up, however.

“Garudyne!”

A swirling green cyclone crashes into the Valkyrie courtesy of Norn. Unfortunately for Yu, hitting his target only causes it to twitch in pain instead of bringing it down to a knee.

“Of course the weaknesses aren’t the same,” he whispers to himself. “Why would things be easy for me?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Chie nail the Cerberus closest to her with a heavy Bufudyne, knocking it down instantly. At least that Shadow has the same defenses, he thinks. He switches Personas inside his mind to better coordinate with her, leaving the Valkyrie to the others for the moment.

The fight goes a bit slower than they used to back when the Investigation Team members were at their peak, but having the Shadow Operatives here to help really balances out the rust in their combat abilities.

And that is to say nothing of Ren himself, who is clearly every bit as capable as he claimed previously with how he dodges enemy attacks and retaliates just as easily. Yu hasn’t had his eye on him the whole time, but he doesn’t think he’s even seen Ren summon a Persona yet despite all the damage he has helped inflict. He really was itching to get back into the fight.

Once Fuuka starts naming weaknesses and Rise throws a teamwide buff their way, things really start to ramp up. The Cerberus trio completely vanishes, done in by a joint effort from Mitsuru and Chie. The Valkyrie, on its last legs after an Agidyne from Naoto, can do nothing to defend against the impending onslaught. One more blast of flame staggers it enough for Akihiko to slam into it with his shoulder, sending it hurtling through the air for Labrys to smash back down with her axe. It soundlessly crumbles into dust from the attack.

Some cheers come out from the reserve team, but before the first group win can be properly celebrated, Fuuka’s voice cuts through all the noise.

“Reinforcements incoming!”

More Shadows spawn in from large bursts of red and black sludge, this time taking the appearance of a type of Shadow that Yu has never even seen before. It has a similar body to Cerberus, appearing like a golden lion with blank white eyes, but that is where the similarities end. A massive goat head grows out of its back, and its tail is a blue serpent lined with spikes.

According to a quick shout from Ren, these things are called Chimera. With the similarities to Cerberus in mind, Yu immediately opts for the same strategy that worked on them: a hard-hitting ice attack. Chie and Mitsuru follow suit, but all three are completely walled off as each Chimera has no reaction to the element. That’s what he gets for assuming, Yu guesses.

This time, the period for trial and error only lasts for a few seconds thanks to their navigators being in a state of flow from the previous battle. After Rise gives them some extra attack power, Fuuka follows it up with some very helpful information.

“The analysis is complete,” she says. “These Shadows are weak to Curse attacks!”

“Curse?” Chie repeats, echoing the confusion of most of the group. “What the heck is—?”

“I got it,” Ren shouts, drawing all the attention to himself. “Everyone clear the way!”

Even without knowing what’s coming, those of the group surrounding the Chimeras all jump back at Ren’s call. He supposes that years of fighting would drill a reaction like that in your head. Doesn’t matter who it is, when someone says ‘move,’ you move.

Once they’re all at a safe distance, Ren smirks to himself. His other self has been crying out for the spotlight since entering Fantasma, and what better stage to debut on than this? The payoff from all the hand-to-hand fighting he was doing earlier is just the thing he needs to make a proper splash here. It has been a while since he pulled off this move, after all.

Ren slashes in front of him with his dagger before yelling out, “Showtime!”

After a full rotation in place, he springs up from his crouched position to remove his now burning mask midair. Arsène forms behind him before Ren can even finish calling for him. The other half of the Trickster is every bit as fired up as his counterpart, ready to tear Fantasma asunder.

Ren’s smirk grows at the sight of everyone’s stunned expressions beneath him. There really are a few perks to being the new kid in town, and let it never be said that he doesn’t relish catching people by surprise. He can tell Arsène feels the same way from how he continues to cackle madly after being summoned.

He and Arsène thrust their hands out in tandem, blanketing the area below in a dense shadow that precedes their massive Curse-based attack. A dome of red-white light forms, swells, and bursts in the middle of the cluster of Shadows, shaking the entire area with the force of the eruption.

The Chimera group is still alive when the effects of the attack fade and Ren lands on the ground again, though the excessive damage they took from the blast is evident. More importantly, they are currently writhing on their backs like they don’t know which way is up.

Boosted by Kouzeon, Rise’s voice reaches all of the combatants as she cheers, “Way to go, Ren! All the Shadows have been knocked down.”

“Then we know what comes next,” says Yu. “Everyone, All-Out Attack!”

Though those words usually come from his own lips, Ren heeds them almost instinctively. He draws his dagger once more as he dashes at the downed enemies. The first bit of contact with his weapon is when he realizes a stark difference between the Phantom Thieves’ All-Out Attacks and those of the others.

Whenever he and the Thieves let loose on a downed opponent, they pour their enhanced speed into every blow, streaking by like comets in a mass hit-and-run barrage on whatever helpless enemy stands against them.

But by the time Ren is already slashing away at these Shadows, the rest of his allies are still charging in themselves. Once in the action, Ren learns that their style of All-Out Attacks is more like a backyard brawl. They all pummel the downed Shadows relentlessly, never giving them the opportunity to get back up.

The only problem with such a style is how it leaves them grouped up in the center of the battle, making it so that Ren can’t just go wild like always. But if he is the odd one out in this scenario, then he’ll have to be the one to adjust.

It doesn’t take much once he has the realization. Changing his own movements so they don’t clash with the others’ attacks just means he has to slow down a bit and maneuver around them. With the increased number of people joining in for the All-Out Attack, the tradeoff isn’t an issue in the slightest. The Shadows are annihilated all the same.

Only when the battlefield is engulfed in silence does Fuuka speak again, this time in her usual calm tone.

“Enemies completely eliminated. Well done, everyone. Koro-chan offers his congratulations too.”

Ren pockets his dagger and pistol, taking a hefty breath after all that exertion. He definitely feels more drained than he should, but that’s what he gets for showing off in the first fight of the day. He’ll need to rein it in a bit going forward, regardless of how Arsène buzzes in displeasure at the idea.

His efforts have definitely made him the center of attention if his reception by the others is anything to go off of. Everyone naturally turns to him as he makes his way over, each looking eager to get a few words in. Aigis ends up being the first to voice her feelings.

“That was an impressive display, Joker-san,” she says. “You have a clear grasp on the physics of the Metaverse and how to utilize them in combat.”

“Uh, I think it goes a little beyond that, Aigis-san,” says Ken. “He was moving almost as quickly as you do.”

“Not to mention the staggering degree of bodily control on display,” adds Mitsuru.

“Yeah, how the heck do you move like that?!” Junpei asks.

“Metaverse,” Ren responds.

“That better not turn into a catchphrase with you. It’s such a copout!”

“It’s also not a sufficient answer for how you suddenly appeared in the ceiling,” says Naoto. “Are your physical abilities honestly so enhanced that you can jump that high?”

“Oh, no, not that high. I got up there with my grappling hook,” Ren says.

Yosuke does a doubletake in his direction. “You have a what?”

With a flick of his wrist, Ren’s grappling hook shoots out and attaches to a steel beam directly overhead. He zips upwards, drawing startled gasps out of his companions as he grips the beam and flips over, returning to the ground with barely any sound from the landing.

“See?”

“You are…so casual about all of this,” says Rise. “You really are a Phantom Thief, huh?”

“Do all the Phantom Thieves drop down from the sky like monsters in a horror flick?” Junpei asks. “Because that little stunt probably took a year off my life.”

“Yeah, a little heads up would’ve been nice,” Yukari says.

Ren’s self-satisfied grin gives way to a more apologetic look. “Sorry. Force of habit.”

Akihiko walks forward and bumps Ren’s shoulder with a fist. “Ah, don’t sweat it. We’ll get used to fighting with you, just like you’ll get used to fighting with us. The important thing is that the enemy is down. Let’s press on, Mr. Phantom Thief.”

That’s all the Shadow Operatives need to hear. They echo Akihiko’s sentiment and follow his pace further in, flashing Ren smiles and raised thumbs and nods on their way.

Yu steps up in their place to say, “Looks like you’re already getting some new fans. You always did have a way with people.”

“I don’t know about that, but it’s nice to not be public enemy number one for once. Oh, and nice job leading, by the way. It’s obvious why you got the job.”

“Thanks, but…with the way you’re handling yourself in here, I wonder if it isn’t a better idea to have you in charge. You know the most about the Metaverse, after all.”

Ren quickly shakes his head. “I don’t know anything about how the rest of you fight, though. It’s better if I just stick to being a frontliner and giving you guys info whenever an enemy pops up.”

“You sure? I don’t mind giving you a quick rundown if you want to lead.”

“No, really, I’m good where I am. Let’s keep going like we are. I’ll just hit whatever you tell me to.”

An amused huff escapes Yu at that. “Alright, then. I’ll be sure to put your hard work to good use. And for the record, even though a lot of this has been a shock, I’m excited to see more from you. You’re pretty cool, Joker.”

Yu walks past Ren after patting him on the back. The rest of the Investigation Team follows, each with their own little acknowledgement rituals in play. Most of them just give playful little shoves or bumps, though Ren does groan in protest when Rise pinches his cheek and speeds off to avoid retaliation.

It makes him feel a bit like a rookie on a sports team. Strangely, he doesn’t mind it all that much. Though that’s probably because of who he finds himself on a team with at the moment.

He allows himself the smile it all brings for now. There likely won’t be much chance for such expressions going forward. No doubt there are scores of enemies and untold dangers awaiting them further in.

And speaking of danger, Ren finally buckles under the weight of ignoring a hair-raising feeling that set in quite a while ago at this point. There isn’t really much he can personally do to act on it, but there is someone that can working alongside him.

“Um, can you hear me, Yamagishi-san? I don’t really know how this works, but…”

“I’m here, Amamiya-kun. Sorry, Joker-kun,” she corrects. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Maybe. I just…” The grimace won’t leave Ren’s face, nor can he force down the words currently sitting on his tongue. They escape him before he can stop himself. “You would sense if anything was, like…monitoring us, right?”

“Monitoring? How do you mean?”

“I…”

What does he mean? This feeling has plagued him ever since they found that room dedicated to Yamichi’s residents, a feeling of scrutiny, of being under a searchlight with chains weighing him down. It isn’t unlike how Palaces felt when their security level reached their maximum point. Even now, he can feel the eyes of all those statues trained on him, following him wherever he goes.

But…the more he thinks about it, isn’t that just how life has been since leaving Tokyo? Every act he takes, every bit of progress in his life, it all gets put under a microscope. Everyone around him is constantly keeping him in their sights, careful not to let the ‘former criminal’ relapse into another violent outburst. He couldn’t escape that pressure if he tried.

So is it really so surprising that the same applies even here? It may be a cognitive world, but it is one based in Yamichi with unknown connections to the town itself. It really shouldn’t come as a shock that Ren continues to feel so vulnerable in a place like this.

Yes, that makes the most sense, he decides. His plight extending to Fantasma is simply something he’ll have to push through. There are bigger things at stake than his comfort.

“Never mind,” he says, breathing out. “I think it’s just the Yamichi stuff getting to me. People are always watching me back there, so it’s not surprising that a cognitive world sort of based on it would have me antsy.”

Fuuka gives him the space to add more to that, but nothing Ren could provide would make him sound any less crazy, so he just clamps his mouth shut. She notes his forced silence, choosing then to finally reply.

“Well, if you believe that to be the case, I’ll take your word for it. Still, I’ll keep an eye out for anything suspicious during quiet moments. If something is amiss, I’ll find it!”

“Thanks. Sorry to give you more work.”

“No problem at all. I’m always happy to be depended on. Oh, it seems the others have found more Shadows. You might want to get going, Joker-kun.”

Sure enough, when Ren looks into the distance where everyone else has gone ahead, they are in the beginnings of ambushing a small group of Shadows. Rather than distract himself with paranoia, he can at least be helpful in the thing he does best.

“Right,” he replies. “Moving in!”

Notes:

Time to get the party started in Fantasma!

I don't want to talk too much on what's in this chapter since I obviously can't go too in-depth with what the discoveries made here mean for the future. That said, I do hope the pacing in this one was alright. I've got a lot of setup to do with Fantasma as a whole so making sure I don't miss any little details is really important to me, but I also have to make sure not to take up too much time with everyone digging through boxes and stuff. We do get a first fight here, though, so you can at least see the kind of balance I'm trying to strike.

Next time we'll be getting into more fighting and finding more of what Fantasma has to offer. The place everyone is heading seems to be some kind of hidden area, so who knows what kinds of shocking things they'll find?

Chapter 6

Summary:

Battles in Fantasma continue to ramp up as Ren and the others come face-to-face with an illusion unlike any before it.

“Don’t let your guard down,” Rise shouts. “More Shadows on the way!”

As claimed, a large group of Shadows bursts into being to replace the ones Ren and the others have barely just taken down.

Among the new group stands multiple copies of Bugs, Loa, Byakhee, and Macabre, along with a lone Cu Chulainn. Those are all fairly high-level Shadows for the start of an adventure, but Fantasma has been playing by a lot of its own rules so far, so Ren isn’t entirely shocked to see them.

He is at least grateful that the Shadows are the kinds he remembers instead of the ones his allies dealt with in the past. This way, he doesn’t have to waste time poking around for weaknesses and can instead go at them with his full strength on display.

Of course, just because he battled them in the past does not mean he can remember every Shadow’s weakness instantly. Faced with a few that he only rarely engaged with towards the end of his first year of Phantom Thievery, he suddenly finds himself needing some outside assistance.

“Oracle, give me some weaknesses.”

Those words normally fill his head with pitchy one-liners alongside beeps and boops from fingers flying over holographic screens. Today, the only sound that flows between his ears is Fuuka’s distant voice, accompanied by just a bit of an echo.

“Um, I’m not sure if you’re asking me, but I can’t use the ability I used to call ‘Oracle’ just yet,” she says. “Sorry about that. As for weaknesses, the Shadows closest to you are weak to Nuclear damage.”

Ren stalls in the middle of combat. His hand fails to make it all the way to his face, freezing halfway once he realizes what he just did. The mistake would be embarrassing if it didn’t put such a pit in his stomach.

“Ah – my bad,” Ren says. “I didn’t mean your Orac— Never mind. Thank you for the information, Yamagishi-san.”

“My pleasure.”

Fuuka must be too busy keeping track of everyone else’s statuses to pick up on his emotional struggle at the moment. Ren counts himself lucky for that being the case.

Despite the number of Shadows ramping up, it has been remarkably easy for Ren to throw himself into combat to silence any wandering thoughts. Being Joker has always offered that kind of escape when things in the real world troubled him, but with the problem this time around centered in Fantasma itself, he keeps having moments where he has no choice but to acknowledge the situation.

His friends are trapped somewhere in this expansive, mysterious world, and he feels like half the Phantom Thief he used to be without them by his side.

Everyone working alongside him is great in their own right, but it just isn’t the same. Various bits of his normal strategy don’t work with them around, throwing his usual flow off enough that battles take longer than they should.

Against a group of Shadows earlier, Ren attempted to perform a Baton Pass to power up the people nearby only to find it ineffective. The high five transferred no power at all, only leaving Yu confused as Ren put an annoyed glare on his glove.

Showtimes are out of the question as well, and while the Shadow Operatives have their flashy Theurgy moves to rely on, Ren hasn’t quite gotten used to how they build up, nor how the Operatives themselves like to hold onto them until they deem the attacks necessary to use.

All that is to say that while Ren is mostly in his element, he can’t help but feel just a bit out of place. He’s doing just fine as a source of power for their group, but all the changes on top of a persistent worry for his friends leave him far too lost in his own head lately.

He is so much in his head, in fact, that he doesn’t notice the Cu Chulainn aiming an attack at him before it’s too late. With a thrust of its spear, the Shadow launches a One-shot Kill Ren’s way. With Pixie still equipped from the last fight, Ren feels the piercing blow strike at the deepest part of his soul.

The attack lands so thoroughly that it sends him skidding across the ground like a stone across water. The pain is reminiscent of the damage he used to take when first starting out as a thief: body wracking and limb numbing. Thankfully, it goes away quickly thanks to Yukari healing him from afar. His gratitude unfortunately comes attached to humiliation at going down so pathetically. He really needs to get it together.

As he pushes himself back up, he growls out, “That’s the last hit you get on me, you—!”

His words cut themselves off as he gets a look at the battlefield. It makes no difference to finish the threat when the subject of his ire is already suffering from an eight-way extermination.

The Cu Chulainn raises its spear to block an incoming plume of flame from Sumeo-Okami, but a large slash from Takehaya Susano-o puts a stop to that. The attack leaves the Shadow wide open, granting the fire all the space it needs to strike true.

When the flames die out, they are replaced by a mass of ice from Yu’s Lakshmi immobilizing the Shadow. The freezing lasts long enough for a storm of lightning bolts from both Takeji Zaiten and Yamato Sumeragi to come barreling down on top of it, followed by a Gigantic Fist from Kamui-Moshiri as soon as it dissipates.

All the elemental damage continues melting the Shadow’s overall health as the Investigation Team surrounds it. It can’t even escape during the brief moments when everyone is preparing another attack with how doggedly Chie chases its trajectory midair, kicking it right back into the fray once an attack pushes it too far out. With an added damage boost from Kouzeon alongside Rise’s cheering, what started as a beatdown becomes a genuine slaughter.

The last thing the Shadow sees once the dust settles is Naoto standing over it with her gun aimed down. She fires six shots, five of which come after the creature has already stopped moving.

As the smoke from its death disperses, Naoto begins reloading her gun, glancing over at Ren at the same time.

“Are you okay, Ren-kun?”

His face feels numb from spending so long just staring in shock. Still, he manages to push out a meager response. “Uh…yeah. Thanks, guys.”

“No problem,” says Yosuke. “Just be careful, alright?”

“We got your back!” Chie exclaims with a thumbs up.

“I think I still see a scrape on your cheek, Ren-kun,” says Yukiko. “Here, let me heal you a little more.”

Ren starts to say that it isn’t an injury worth fretting over, but Sumeo-Okami is already back out by the time he opens his mouth. She floats down to bathe him in her healing light, banishing all the fresh wounds brought about by battle. Though the Persona has no facial features to speak of, Ren can feel her beaming in pleasure from the warmth radiating off of her form. Yukiko dismisses her once she appears satisfied with Ren’s appearance.

“All better?”

“All better,” he confirms, suddenly feeling like he just had stray bits of flour wiped from his cheeks. “Thank you, Yukiko.”

“You’re welcome. And please, like Yosuke-kun said, do try to be careful. You’ve been hurt enough for my liking.”

Rise’s voice broadcasts out to add, “Yeah, some of us don’t need the added stress.”

“I hear you,” Ren says. “I got unfocused for a bit, but I’m good now. I promise.”

“Well, we’re in the zone now,” says Kanji, “so why don’t ya take a breather and let us handle the rest of this?”

“A quick break would do you some good,” says Yu. “You’ve been full throttle since our first fight a little while ago.”

“Besides, there’s bear-ly any Shadows left,” says Teddie. “We can clean ‘em up ourselves, no problem!”

The obvious sentiment shared between them remains unsaid. There isn’t much need to vocalize it, not when Ren knows them all well enough to see what’s going on. If it were anyone else trying to pull this, he might have pushed back a bit, refusing any attempt at pity or being underestimated. That isn’t something he can do with his old friends, though.

“Okay, okay. I’ll take a break,” he says.

The relief that crosses everyone’s expressions at that helps take the sting away from the partial retreat. He watches as they all charge right back into battle to help the Shadow Operatives with the remaining enemies.

Backing off in a fight isn’t really Ren’s idea of being useful, but it will help him get back some energy. Like Yu said, he hasn’t exactly been showing much restraint in these fights thus far.

Staying back also has the added benefit of allowing him a moment for true observation. He can spend this time to get a proper handle on everyone else’s fighting styles. It only makes sense to pay attention considering he’ll be fighting alongside everyone for the foreseeable future.

He watches Chie blitz to the middle of the fight and axe kick a Byakhee into smoke. Even with it dead and gone, she stays light on her feet, bouncing in place while her eyes roam the area for her next bit of prey. If there is anyone whose fighting style Ren isn’t surprised by, it’s hers. She is every bit as deadly as he imagined when he was smaller and following her around during her training.

It helps that Yukiko is around to back her up, focusing mainly on using her Persona for long-distance attacks. If Chie ever overextends – which isn’t entirely infrequent – Yukiko’s fire attacks fill the gap before the enemy can counterattack. The healing she provides is another point towards them being great complements to each other.

Naoto fills a similar role in long-distance attacking, although she doesn’t shy away from the frontlines. With the second-best skill coverage on her team, she mostly provides direct backup to Yu, striking weaknesses or doubling down on already heavy hits from the others. Every move she makes is undoubtedly calculated, right down to how the shots from her gun hit such impossible angles that it makes Ren’s own training with Shinya look like light work.

Kanji, her current backup, fights like calculations are the furthest thing from his mind. Rather than take the time to line up attacks and exploit weaknesses, he serves as a constant source of damage for the team, unrelenting so as to keep the enemy occupied. He takes a fair bit of pain in return, but he never buckles from it, remaining in the way of his teammates nearby. If it weren’t for the fact that he has no mask and fights with some kind of shield, he would be doing a pretty good Skull impression.

Teddie’s way of fighting defies any sort of classification. He takes orders, of course, but when left to his own devices, he bounces around the battlefield like a pinball, racking up stray hits on whatever unsuspecting Shadow happens to be in his path.

Thankfully, Yosuke is never too far away to bail him out of any danger. He spends his time equally between playing nurse for the more reckless fighters and trying to draw attention towards himself so he can take advantage of his skill in evading enemy attacks. Having a Persona specializing in Wind attacks helps him gain distance if there is ever anything he can’t just dodge himself.

The Inaba-based team is definitely a diverse bunch, but Yu being the type of battle commander that he is helps to tie them all together. He maintains a presence in the fight at all times, putting himself front and center for every new matchup. Whether he is calling on his Personas or shouting out an order, his voice is one that everyone – friend and foe alike – stops to listen to.

That sort of stage presence is made even more impressive by the fact that he leverages the role to best arrange his teammates for their next formation or synchronized attack. A battle IQ like his is something that can’t be acquired easily, especially not by taking lessons from an esteemed shogi prodigy.

For as perfect of a fit Yu is for his team, Aigis isn’t lacking herself. While she doesn’t fill the same role of being a rallying beacon for her team, she unites them all in a different way. Specifically, serving as the spearhead for each assault.

It’s clear that she’s used to being a tank for her team, absorbing damage and dealing it in equal measure. As someone with an artificial body, it doesn’t come as a surprise that she is willing to get roughed up in order to land big hits on the Shadows in her sights. Though at the helm of a group, those tendencies have to be repressed so that she can remain in a position to instruct her allies.

Allies, as Ren has discovered, that are a real force to be reckoned with.

Mitsuru Kirijo is – for lack of a better phrase – the personification of a blade. Every move from her is sharp enough to slice the very air around her. She works in tandem with her Persona’s ice, skating around the battlefield to deliver exceptionally precise strikes at whatever body parts a Shadow isn’t guarding at the moment.

In contrast, Akihiko Sanada is like a cannonball; no edges to speak of, but with more than enough force in every blow to make up for it. He dodges attacks closely, leaving just the tiniest bit of space in between them and his own body in order to get as close to the enemy as possible and deliver staggering punches as a counter.

Those two may have completely opposite strategies and techniques, but they fit together into something ironclad. In a fight against the both of them at once, Ren can’t even begin to imagine how he would try taking them down. A pair like them fights fully for the sake of the other, so there likely isn’t even a vulnerability to exploit with them side-by-side. It makes sense why they’re always at the front in combat.

The rest of the operatives don’t have any particular combinations that stand out, but that isn’t to say they aren’t capable on their own.

Junpei Iori’s general goofiness only partially applies to battle. His showoff-ish tendencies aside, he never has a problem getting in and landing a heavy hit on the enemy. That type of confidence is invaluable, especially when it comes to the hidden talent of boosting morale among everyone else. Though swinging for the fences does leave him vulnerable whenever a particularly agile Shadow is his target.

Which is exactly where Yukari Takeba comes in. For every reckless approach on her allies’ parts, she makes sure to cover it with an arrow or an immediate wave of healing. It’s obvious she’s used to filling in the gaps in everyone’s more aggressive tendencies. Her ability to take in everything that’s happening and fill the role her team needs is uncanny.

Though Ren does notice she has a tendency to look to her side in the middle of battle, almost like she’s expecting something to be there. It’s odd, but she never lets it fully distract her, so Ren figures it’s nothing to worry about. Not on his end, anyway.

Ken is an interesting combination of range and closeness. He has apparently been using the same type of spear as a weapon since he was fighting with the others as a kid – something that Ren is still trying to wrap his head around – but with an obvious shift in his battle style. He is extremely dexterous, using his lithe figure to twist around enemies and strike them in vulnerable areas with the added reach of his weapon.

Koromaru’s absence is actually one of the only things lacking in Ken’s fighting style from what Ren can see. The little he has heard so far makes it clear that the boy and dog duo are used to working in tandem to get the best results. Without Koromaru here, Ken is having to correct some old habits built from years of fighting with a partner. He isn’t the only one having to change things up, however.

Labrys is apparently the newest Shadow Operative, and it definitely shows. She isn’t weak by any means, nor is she a rookie in terms of combat experience. Her main issue comes in synergizing with the others. Since they all have apparently been comrades for years, her shorter time with them in comparison causes her to pause where the rest of them don’t. It’s hard to notice when the rest of them still support her in battle, but Ren has watched each of his own teammates be newcomers at one point, so he knows what it looks like to still be adjusting. Though, Labrys is obviously much farther along in that regard than his rookie teammates had been upon joining up.

All in all, Ren counts himself lucky to have ended up with such a solid group. Barring any potential world-threatening entities, he really doesn’t see any of the Shadows in Fantasma giving them too much trouble outside of sheer numbers. They’ve already felled one powerful foe in that cognitive dragon, and that was with Ren himself knocked out for the second half of the fight. They shouldn’t have an issue for a long while.

Case in point, Ren checks back into the fight to see things being wrapped up. Only a small crowd of Bugs remains, and they all look one good push away from death. As Junpei knocks one down with a flashy critical hit, he looks over to Aigis and nods her way.

“That’s all you, Ai-chan!”

“Affirmative!”

When Aigis hunches over with her fists balled in response, Ren feels something in the air shift. Her eyes glow a bright red, and a similarly colored aura of swirling glass and flames shoot up around her. Out of the floating shards of glass form not one of her Personas as Ren expects, but two of them. Power and Archangel – both ones Ren is familiar with – float at Aigis’s back with their weapons raised.

Sword and spear cross, causing a blinding yellow light to form at the point of contact before it shoots to the sky on their command. The same light bubbles underneath the remaining Shadows, acting like targets for the golden spikes that suddenly rain down over the battlefield.

Every Bugs in sight evaporates from the damage before the light can fully dissipate, leaving Ren staring ahead in awe. That expression stays even once Archangel and Power have vanished and flowed back into Aigis, whose own expression is as steady as ever. No trace of the incomprehension brewing in Ren is present in her.

As everyone starts to regroup and tend to various minor injuries, Ren decides to put a stop to being so out of the loop. As Makoto loved to point out, the only way to learn is to ask questions.

He waves Aigis down before asking, “Hey, uh…what the heck was that technique just now?”

Aigis hums in consideration. “My Theurgy? I have several based on the Personas stored in my compendium. That one was called, ‘Justice,’ featuring both Power and Archangel.”

“Actually, I was mostly asking about that last part. How did you summon two Personas at once?”

“I was about to ask the same thing myself,” Yu says, approaching them both.

“They appear as part of a process known as Fusion Spells,” Aigis answers. “Using the power of two Personas grants an even greater combined power, one born from the strength of my compendium in the Velvet Room. Can you two not perform them?”

Ren and Yu turn to look at each other, then back to Aigis with equally blank looks. They let out a unified, “No.”

“Oh. I was…unaware of this fact.”

The somewhat guilty look on Aigis’s face has Ren quick to assure her that it’s really not a big deal. It isn’t like all Wild Cards are carbon copies of each other. He can hardly fault her for having access to something that he does not, especially considering all the Metaverse-specific skills he himself boasts.

But that does not stop him from thinking about a reality where things are different. Childishly, part of him really really wants to learn how to do Fusion Spells solely because of how cool they are.

Junpei must notice the longing in his expression since he steps up to say, “Jealous of our girl, Ai-chan, huh? I don’t blame you. Those fusion thingies are super cool.”

“They’ve gotten us out of tons of tight spots before,” adds Ken. “Aigis-san is really good about using the right ones for the right situations.”

“You both give me too much credit,” Aigis says with a slow shake of her head. “I simply do my best to wield the power granted to me.”

“So what kind of other Fusion Spells do you have, Aigis?” Yu asks.

“Well—”

Junpei immediately speaks up, exclaiming, “Tons! She’s got that one that drops a big snowman on the baddies, and the one that gives us a crazy power boost… Oh, and then there’s the one that’s just a giant laser that comes from the sky. That one wipes out basically anything. Actually, why don’t you use that one more often, Ai-chan?”

“It is…severely taxing on me,” she replies. “Power that great does not come without backlash. Also, due to the long startup on the attack, missing would inevitably put me in a lethal situation without means to protect myself. I cannot afford to make such a mistake as the leader of our unit.”

“That’s a good mentality to have,” Yu says. “You’ve come a long way since our first meeting, Aigis.”

“Thank you. You continue to impress me with your strength of heart as always, Narukami-san.”

“Ah, that seems like a bit much, but I appreciate it.”

Looking on as Yu and Aigis converse really puts into perspective how caught in the middle of things Ren is. Obviously he knew going in that the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives knew each other well, but actively seeing it in person only amplifies the effect it has on him.

Yukari and Rise, Mitsuru and Naoto, Ken and Kanji, even Labrys with Teddie and Yosuke, they all have an established rapport that isn’t impeded in the slightest by their harsh surroundings. It might not be accurate to say that anyone is having fun, but there is certainly a level of comfort present for them all to be amongst people they consider comrades and friends in equal measure.

On the outskirts of this, Ren can only force his hands into his pockets and stare elsewhere. Having the Investigation Team as old friends to fight beside is a stroke of luck he won’t ignore. All the same, this really is his first time battling Shadows with everyone here. His shared experiences are all contained to people who remain imprisoned in the far reaches of a cognitive world that proves more confusing with each twist and turn. How is Ren not meant to feel like an intruder on his own mission?

Of course, the easy solution to the chill of standing alone is just to press on and find his friends. Ren can be social all he wants once he has his crew back with him. If he has to endure feeling like the odd man out along the way, so be it. He already has plenty of experience shouldering the real life equivalent of that burden.

After gathering up the last of the dropped items and money from defeated Shadows, the group continues through the warehouse-like area. The further in they get, the less crates and other objects they come in contact with. It seems all the obstacles were limited to the earlier segments of the area. That apparently includes Shadows judging by the utter lack of them as everyone walks in a large group.

“About time we stopped getting jumped by Shadows,” Kanji says. “Those long battles really take it outta me.”

“Yeah, I’m not used to seeing so many spawn in after others get beat,” says Labrys. “Must be a Fantasma thing. At least they’re nothin’ we can’t handle.”

“True that,” Junpei says. “I’d much rather do these long fights than have to go up against something super strong like the Reaper. Beating that thing once was enough for a lifetime…”

Ren turns on his heel and walks backwards, asking, “You guys actually took the Reaper down? Like, for real?”

Aigis nods. “Indeed. We ‘smoked his ass,’ as they say.”

“Pfft—” Ren raises his hand to his mouth to stop his own sputtering laughter. “Oh, you did, huh?”

“Junpei! We told you to stop teaching Aigis that stuff,” Yukari yells.

“I didn’t! It was the kids on my baseball team, I swear!”

Mitsuru asks, “And where did they learn such words, Iori?”

“I can’t control them all the time – they go to public school!” Junpei sags into the tall boy on his right side, whining, “Help me out here, Ken… I can’t keep being pinned as the bad guy…”

“Sorry, I don’t think I can help you out of this one. I know better than to go up against Yukari-san and Mitsuru-san.”

Akihiko gives a sharp nod. “That’s a tag team I’d avoid more than the Reaper, to be honest.”

“Why am I suddenly being compared to a respawning nightmare monster with chains and guns?” Yukari asks.

“The fact that you guys can just casually talk about beating the Reaper is honestly kind of scary itself,” says Ren.

“You think? Then, am I right in assuming the Phantom Thieves never defeated it yourselves?” Fuuka asks.

“Yep. Any time that thing snuck up on us, we ran like hell. We did get a decent amount of hits in once, but that was a day we were feeling pretty ticked off to begin with.”

“How ticked off do you have to be to use the Reaper as stress relief?” mutters Junpei.

“We’re kinda in the same boat, then,” says Chie. “We never actually beat it ourselves.”

“Not like we really had a reason to,” says Kanji.

“True. But we did get pretty close that one time when we were preparing to take on Adachi,” Yosuke says. “Just couldn’t seal the deal in the end. But hey, maybe it would go different if we jumped it with all of us this time around. It would put us down a navigator, but the extra power might be what we need to get it done.”

Ren’s pace slows once those words fully sink in for him. “Down a navigator? Wait, Rise, can you fight with Kouzeon?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention that, huh? Yeah, back during that Grand Prix mess, I managed to break through my own limits. It gave my first Persona Himiko a form to fight with, and after I trained a bunch more, Kouzeon could shift into one too. I don’t use it often, but it’s great to be able to pitch in with the others when need be.”

A navigator that can fight… Despite knowing that Personas are incredibly complex and ever-evolving, Ren hadn’t thought such a thing was even possible. Though if Rise claims that she had to surpass her own limitations to do so, it sounds as if she simply made the impossible possible.

He briefly wonders if Futaba could ever reach a level like that. Though, as useful as it would be, he doesn’t love the idea of her being on the frontlines. She doesn’t have much combat sense outside of besting their friends at fighting games. There isn’t much chance of Al Azif gaining meter-less combo routes and cancellable specials if it ever evolves like that.

As he thinks about all this, Rise makes her way to his side, bumping his shoulder while grinning up at him.

“So…?”

“So…what?”

“Come on, tell me I’m amazing for having a navigation Persona that can fight. I know you want to.”

“Why do you need me to tell you what you should already know?”

“Because I want to hear you say it! It was easy to read kid Ren, but you’re so stone-faced now that you’re grown up.”

“You sure you’re not just too used to fans screaming your name and drooling at the sight of you?”

“Hey, aren’t you my fan too? Where’s the adoring vocal support for your dear Risette?”

“Sorry, but I’m a Rise Kujikawa fan first and foremost. Risette is secondary.”

“Not this again… We’re the same person!”

A verbal back and forth starts up, ensnaring Ren and Rise as it always does while the rest of their companions watch on in amusement.

Labrys smiles at the pair. “Those two get along well. They always been like that?”

“Oh yeah,” says Yosuke. “If anyone’s got as much experience wrangling Rise as us, it’s Ren.”

Rise spins around, a glare primed and ready for use. “Don’t talk about me like I need wrangling!”

“You definitely do,” Ren says. “How Inoue-san puts up with you is a total mystery.”

“Dude’s got the patience of a saint,” Kanji says.

“Alright, that’s it!” Rise points to each of her most recent hecklers. “The next boy from Inaba to make fun of me is getting a Galactic Punt right in the backside!”

Ren’s eyebrow rises as he asks, “A…what?”

Chie balks at the suggestion. “Wait a sec – Yosuke and Kanji are one thing, but I’d never do that to Ren-Ren!”

“That’s your issue?” Yosuke asks. “Not being used as a threat like an attack dog?”

“Hey, girls protect girls. We can’t let you guys get off scot-free for being boneheads.”

“Except Ren-kun,” says Yukiko.

“Except Ren, right.”

“How the hell is that fair?” Kanji asks.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Rise says, “that ‘immunity’ only goes for the other girls. I’m not letting him off the hook that easy!”

Ren points off to the front of the combined group. “Actually, I think I hear the Shadow Operatives calling for me.”

“No, you do not! Ren Amamiya, don’t you walk away or so help me—!”

As the eternal bickering between idol and thief begins anew, Yosuke shakes his head and leans over to Labrys so he can whisper, “Like I said, the girl needs wrangling.”

The downtime after the last battle extends for a while, granting the Persona-users a rare chance to press on without any roadblocks. Their trek through the warehouse-esque part of Fantasma ends abruptly as they force open heavy metal doors at the end of the pathway.

Stretching out ahead of them is a stone bridge wide enough for multiple lanes of car traffic. The end of it is narrow in the distance, but a small island is still visible out that way. The greenery across it clashes with the dark gray of the bridge.

Peering over the edge of the platform puts the height of it into perspective. The oddly still water below is at least a few stories down, judging by how long it takes a small rock to breach the surface when Akihiko curiously drops it over the edge.

Most of them are discussing how careful they should be not to go over the edge themselves, but Ren is stuck on how odd the water looked as the rock broke through. It wasn’t entirely dissimilar to how Heartbreak Lake looked when everyone started coming into Fantasma. That shouldn’t be surprising considering where they are, but something about it holds Ren’s attention even as he keeps pace with everyone else. The fact that he almost mistook it for glass upon first glance fills him with unease.

His thoughts clear midway through some other conversation that has Yukari groaning.

“So much walking,” she says, stretching her back out. “Tartarus being so cramped made it seem much smaller than this place.”

“Still, doesn’t this feel kind of cool?” Junpei asks. “We’re like the main party in an RPG! Roaming the lands, taking down bandits and monsters, that sort of thing, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get you,” says Chie. “Kind of makes me wish we could mix it up with some new weapons. I want some nunchaku!”

“You made that point and then just blurted out the least ‘fantasy-style’ weapon possible, huh?” Yosuke says.

“It’d be cool!”

“What would really be cool is making it out of here in one piece,” Yukari says. “The theme here could be a dirt road for all I care; I just don’t want this turning into a total nightmare.”

Junpei hangs his head. “Ugh – way to kill the hype, Yuka-tan…”

“The theme…” Ken says to himself softly. Before those closest can ask about the muttering, he turns towards the back of the group. “Hey, Joker-san? Those places you fought Shadows in to change hearts… Palaces, right? Were they as disjointed as this place is?”

“What do you mean, Ken-kun?” Labrys asks.

“How best to describe it… It just feels like no matter where we go, nothing relates to the place we came from. We entered through a lake, walked through a museum, then went through a warehouse, and now we’re on a massive medieval bridge over water that leads to an island. Even the fantasy elements we’ve seen so far have been sporadic. Were the Palaces you went through like this too, Joker-san?”

“Now that you mention it, no. Not like this, at least,” he replies. “Palaces had lots of different areas to them, sure, but they usually stuck to one theme overall. I see what you mean, though. We’ve barely gotten through any of Fantasma yet, and it still just seems so weird. Like…”

“Like someone ‘Frankenstein-ed’ this whole thing together?” Yukari asks.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“But this is a cognitive world,” Mitsuru says, “so how exactly does that translate to the ruler of this place? Is their heart incredibly complex, or is their mind in such turmoil that nothing here connects together?”

“Honestly? I don’t have a good answer for that,” Ren says. “I’ve seen my fair share of these places, but unless we come across something that links to whoever’s in charge here, I can’t say what’s got their cognitive world so out of whack. The closest thing I can compare Fantasma to is a cognitive world that was influenced by an older friend and…well, let’s just hope this isn’t a situation like that.”

“Sounds like it was a lot to deal with,” Yu says.

“You don’t know the half of it. The Phantom Thieves got sucked into that world, and we had no way of getting back to the real world until we fought our way through a handful of different areas to solve the bigger issue directly.”

“Which – let me guess – involved beating another crazy powerful thing calling itself a god,” Yosuke says.

“That does seem to be the pattern we always follow, doesn’t it?” Yukiko remarks.

Kanji shrugs. “Hey, if it ain’t broke…”

“Well, that did happen,” Ren says, “but there was a ton of…let’s call it ‘exposure therapy’ along the way. I hope that’s not what’s going on here, especially since it would mean we’ve yet to meet someone important who’s in here.”

“We’re bound to run into someone who knows more than us the farther in we progress,” Mitsuru says. “Let’s pick up the pace, everyone. That island is almost upon us.”

True to her word, it isn’t much longer before they reach the grass-covered island at the end of the bridge. Nothing of note is within sight besides some odd-looking plants with misshapen leaves.

The dome-shaped landmass rises much higher than the bridge reaches, meaning reaching the peak of it takes a bit of extra effort. Yukari does not hold back her annoyed remarks about it on the way. Ren doesn’t blame her, especially considering how the dirt below their feet is unnaturally hard, like they haven’t left the bridge at all.

Cresting the island gives them no sense of victory. From this point, the only thing to see in front of them is more water, which stretches out as if Fantasma’s newest area is a veritable ocean. The most open environment they have seen so far does nothing to pick up their spirits, not when they don’t have any visible way to proceed.

“What now?” Kanji asks. “We gotta find a boat or something?”

“Even if we did, I don’t see anywhere to sail to,” says Yu. “It’s like this is where we’re meant to be.”

“But there’s nothing here,” Junpei points out. “Why would we need to find a bunch of plants?”

Mitsuru crouches down, running her gloved hands through the grass. It bends as expected, but unlike the real thing, it stays bent at an odd angle even as she pulls back. The sight makes her frown.

“Yamagishi, what do you make of this? There has to be something we’re missing here.”

“I was just about to contact you all, actually. I’ve been getting constant signals since you began walking down that bridge earlier, and they’re all so mixed that it’s hard to parse them properly.”

“You’re getting signals?” Akihiko asks. “Then something or someone is here with us. Is that what you’re getting at?”

“Possibly.” Fuuka’s sigh is completely audible over their shared mental link. “I apologize for being so spotty with my navigation today. We’ve been here long enough for me to acclimate to our environment and yet…I still find myself hesitating on things that should be second nature by now.”

“That’s no fault of yours, Yamagishi,” Mitsuru says. “Cognitive worlds differ from anything we’ve experienced up until now, and I’m willing to bet that the very nature of such a world actively goes against the way you sense things.”

“Kirijo-san’s probably right,” Ren says. “The Metaverse’s distortion has a way of screwing with you no matter what kind of abilities you have. The Phantom Thieves’ navigator circumvents it by hacking her environment, but even we aren’t immune to being shut out by the way these worlds work.”

“Plus, I’m not doing much better myself, Fuuka-san,” Rise says. “Don’t beat yourself up. There’s plenty of time for the both of us to get more comfortable here if we can. As long as we’re keeping everyone ahead of the danger, I think we’ll be fine.”

“I suppose so,” she responds. “Thank you for the reassurance, everyone, even if I don’t feel entirely deserving of it. I think I just— Ahh!”

“Fuuka?!” Yukari exclaims. “What’s wrong? Did something happen on your end?”

“No, this is on yours. Something is definitely there, and it’s waking up!”

Following Fuuka’s words, a small tremor rattles the group and sends them all into a sudden crouch. The island under their feet shifts, defying normal physics as what should be inanimate earth contorts to take a new form. That form is getting noticeably less walkable by the second, they all realize. As everyone struggles to get back to their feet, the angle of the island begins to dip backwards, turning the former hump of land into more of a steep ramp.

“Why is the whole hill moving?!” Teddie screams.

Already running down the rising slope, Kanji yells, “Forget that – back to the bridge!”

The trip back down is even harder than the trip up since their entire platform is suddenly shifting below their feet. The members of the group closer to the bridge in the first place make it without incident, but the stragglers find themselves lagging behind.

Aigis and Labrys grab a few struggling teammates to help out, and Ren takes it upon himself to snag Rise on his way down. A navigation-based Persona with the ability to fight does not make her anymore mobile, after all. Thankfully, being able to jump massive distances in the Metaverse with a decent amount of weight in his hands comes in handy every now and then.

Everyone is present and accounted for on the bridge by the time the island has gone completely vertical in front of them. Large curtains of water fall from the top of the grass wall, curving around the dense stone layer just below it. Then, as if things could not get any more unbelievable, the whole thing moves once more.

This time, it turns to face them.

What they previously treated like a normal patch of land reveals itself to be an entire creature in its own right. A stone body with scattered layers of grass and plants coating its back and arms towers over the group, covering their current spot on the bridge in its shadow. It has no eyes or mouth, only hollowed out sections where such features would normally be. Still, its low groans can be heard drifting down even with the difference in altitude.

“It’s a…monster island?!” Chie exclaims.

“A golem,” Ken corrects. “Another fantasy creature, just like the dragon.”

“One made entirely of dirt and stone, if memory serves,” Naoto says. “If this is another cognitive enemy, then it may be based on common perceptions of its source material. Attacking with brute force may not be viable here.”

“Well, there’s one way to find out for certain,” says Yu. “Rise?”

“Already backing off. Give me just a bit to do my thing!”

“Good luck, everyone!” Fuuka adds.

The expansive reach of Kouzeon and Juno’s senses washes over the battlefield as everyone else gets into position. The bridge itself is fairly wide, but without a way of surrounding the enemy, they’ll have to fight in a line, taking care not to cause any friendly fire along the way.

The proximity to the golem proves to be a problem immediately, as it raises an arm in order to swat at those closest to it. The windup is enough of a warning for everyone in the front to avoid it, but the attack is a definite indicator that staying close is not an option for this battle.

Still in the midst of figuring things out, everyone’s thoughts are interrupted by a sharp gasp from Rise.

“What’s the matter, Rise-chan?” Yukiko asks.

“The island— Golem— Whatever it is doesn’t have a weakness!”

“Well, yeah,” Kanji says. “That’s pretty normal for when we’re fightin’ big enemies, ain’t it?”

“No, I don’t just mean it like that,” Rise screws her eyes shut tighter, forcing Kouzeon back out for another scan. “I’m saying the golem doesn’t have any point to attack. It’s basically a wall!”

“Rise-chan is right,” Fuuka says. “I’m detecting absorption, nullification, and reflection across the board. No manner of attack is exempt from one of those three protections. I don’t even think the way our Theurgies normally bypass resistances will work here…”

“And to make things worse, the defenses are shifting ever so often. There’s no way to tell how it’ll react to an attack unless Fuuka-san or I take the time to scan all over again!”

“That ain’t good…” Labrys says. “So, does that mean we gotta rely on the Wild Cards? Y’know, for the kinda attacks that can’t be blocked.”

“We’re not the only ones with Almighty attacks,” Yu replies. “Yosuke and Naoto each have one.”

“My secondary Theurgy falls into that category as well,” Mitsuru says. “Though the problem lies in how many of those attacks it would take to win. I fear we would exhaust all those capable of causing Almighty damage before this golem goes down.”

“Then what do we do?” Ken asks.

“Yeah, I don’t think we have the time to sit here and come up with another plan,” says Yukari.

“I mean, I don’t see a weapon on it,” Junpei says. “So, as long as we keep our distance, it can’t really attack us, right?”

As if in direct challenge of that statement, the golem’s hands dig into the end of the bridge, ripping up huge chunks of stone and sending them into the air. The boulder sized pieces of rubble arc over towards the waiting Persona-users.

“Wrong,” Yu says. “Everyone scatter!”

As much as they can in their limited space, everyone runs off in a different direction. Ren backflips out of the way of a falling rock, swatting away the tiny bits of debris that come from it shattering against the bridge. The force of the collision isn’t enough to break through, but visible cracks are already forming underfoot. Repeats of this interaction will leave the Persona-users without a platform to stand on before long.

Yu notices the situation right when Ren does, raising his voice to call out, “We’ve got to start doing damage, even if it’s only a small amount at a time. Rise, Fuuka-san, focus on trying to uncover whatever you can about this thing’s defenses. There has to be a way to hit it properly.”

“Will do!”

“Understood, Narukami-kun!”

“Everyone else, we’re going with that other plan. The Wild Cards plus Mitsuru, Yosuke, and Naoto will take care of dealing damage. The rest of you should keep your distance and do whatever you can to boost us and hinder the golem.”

Everyone voices their agreement, shifting into better positions to carry out Yu’s orders. Ren finds himself standing between Aigis and Naoto as he flings his mask away to summon Lucifer. Morning Star hits as hard as always, but Mitsuru’s earlier assessment seems to be spot on. The golem soaks up the damage with barely a flinch, which means Ren will long exhaust himself throwing out more attacks like that before it dies. The others beside him likely won’t be able to change that outcome.

That doesn’t mean they can just stand around doing nothing, however, so Ren continues throwing in his own attacks whenever one of the others finishes theirs. At the very least, they can stagger the golem enough to not let it retaliate until Fuuka and Rise can figure something else out.

The fight becomes a slow push and pull on three fronts. The Almighty attack users do what they can, only stopping when the golem takes a swing at them or launches more boulders. The backline of Persona-users split their attention between aiding their allies with buffs and debuffing the golem’s attributes.

Progress feels unbearably slow like this. Winning like this will come down to pure luck, and that is not something Ren wants to rely on without a way to manipulate it like in Sae’s casino.

When he backs off from the firing line for a moment to swap Personas again, he hears Rise muttering to herself. He is just about to ask her what’s going on when she calls for Fuuka instead.

“Fuuka-san, are you getting the same feeling I am? Like there are more enemies around us than just the golem?”

“I am. They don’t seem entirely hostile, but they do feel connected to the golem in some manner. Something is preventing me from fully discerning their place here.”

More enemies? Ren’s first instinct is to look below him as if the bridge itself will turn into another large opponent, but that seems unlikely given how long they’ve been standing atop it.

While he can’t sense things like Fuuka and Rise, he does have his own way of getting information, one that might be better suited to the Metaverse than even their brand of reconnaissance. Using it in such a hectic situation will be difficult, but if he can get a better read on things to help everyone else, he has to at least try. He just needs to take a second to—

“Focus…”

In the midst of the chaos unfolding around him, Ren scans everything he can with his Third Eye active. He eyes his allies, the golem, the faux sky, the bridge itself – only stopping once his search leads him to the water. Just barely visible off the surface are ten trails of light, each a different color and snaking their way up to the golem’s head.

Ren is no Oracle when it comes to seeing through enemy mechanics, but perhaps his current spot outside of a leadership position has his neurons firing differently. When he looks at those ten trails of multicolored light, something just clicks in a way that gives him an actual idea for how to fight besides the brute force method currently in use.

Fantasma is full of misdirection, and this boss fight is no different. Before felling the golem, there are others that need to go first.

“Yu!” When the older Wild Card turns to listen, Ren shouts, “I think I know a way to weaken this thing, but I need to separate from everyone for a minute.”

“Separate? But we don’t know—”

“Do you trust me?”

Yu’s expression hardens in a flash. “Wholeheartedly. What do you need from me?”

“Just keep everyone safe here. Play defensive and wait for my signal – I’ll be back soon.”

“Got it. Be careful.”

“You too.”

Another round of Almighty attacks going out gives Ren the opportunity to take off. He runs in the opposite direction of the golem, drawing concerned shouts from the others as he races past them and mounts the side of the bridge a good distance away from everyone. Without stopping to explain, he jumps off and dives headfirst towards the surface of the water.

Just because he has doubts about its composition does not mean he trusts it, however, so he latches his grappling hook onto the bridge and swings into the water rather than letting gravity take him in without resistance.

Making contact with the water proves Ren’s prior theory immediately. Just like when coming into Fantasma, there is no splash or massive displacement of water. He simply passes through like sticking one’s hand through a bubble. The brief sensation sends a shiver down his spine that vanishes before his feet hit the ground. The fact that there even is a ground is a surprise, but not an unwelcome one.

Now through the boundary, Ren can see the operation behind this seemingly indomitable monster battle. Gemstone spires are spread out amongst the rocky terrain, each glowing one of the colors he previously saw flowing into the golem up above.

Groups of Shadows are stationed at every spire, holding their arms aloft and focusing in a way that suggests they are in control of this mystery process. Unlike the Shadows back in the warehouse, they aren’t dressed as bandits, but as mages. Their long robes and crooked, pointed hats obscure whatever faces they may have underneath it all.

They take note of Ren immediately, but none of them make a move to engage him. That just supports the theory that their connection to the gemstones is too important to abandon. It also means that despite their large number, they can’t afford to lose anyone among their ranks. That is incredibly unfortunate for them considering their opponent today.

“Ah, so this is what’s really going on. That golem up there isn’t completely autonomous; all of you are aiming it like a windup doll on strings. In that case…” Ren holds his dagger aloft. “It’ll be much easier to beat without all of you giving it help!”

The first Shadow in Ren’s path ceases its part in aiding the golem to face him head-on, but the resistance is for naught. Ren’s charge takes him right through the Shadow itself, the costumed enemy vaporized by his movement and touch alone. Shocked at such a sight, Ren looks down at his glove as the last bits of dust fall away.

“You…were that weak?”

Ren slowly turns and lets his Third Eye wash over the rest of the Shadows around him. Unlike every other Shadow he has seen in Fantasma thus far, they glow a bright green, a color unseen to Ren for quite some time after all the difficult battles he has faced in the past two years.

“You’re all that weak…”

A devilish grin splits his face, and his eyes widen behind his mask as he slides his dagger back into his jacket. He won’t need it for this.

“Oh, that makes this so much easier.”

Ren springs from his position and shoves his hand right through the face of a nearby Shadow. It bursts apart from his touch, banished from existence just like the last one. Before the others can even act on what they just witnessed, Ren moves on. He zips from Shadow to Shadow, tearing them apart by hand while cackling aloud all the while.

“Oh, I missed this! Normal combat is fun and all, but I’ve worked too hard to not get to revel in my power once in a while.”

After reducing another small group into nothing but smoke trails in the air, Ren notices the last pack of Shadows abandoning ship. They ditch their gem spire entirely, golden eyes obscured by their large hats blown wide as they take off into the distance. Ren scoffs under his breath.

“Trying to run, huh? Can’t say I blame you. Doesn’t mean I’ll let it happen, though.” He finally grasps his mask to fling it away, shouting, “Come, Nebiros!”

The hooded necromancer appears at Ren’s side. With a wave of his hand, the Brain Jack skill blasts out over each of the fleeing Shadows. The Brainwash ailment takes effect immediately, slowing their footsteps to a crawl and leaving them stumbling into each other with blank expressions.

“Should’ve just gone down with the rest. Now you have to deal with a whole world of pain.” Ren snaps his fingers. “Mapsiodyne.”

The puppet in Nebiros’s hand bounces around as he summons a wave of psychokinetic energy, hurling it at the immobilized Shadows. The excessive force rips them to shreds before they can even make any noises in pain.

Job complete, Ren pulls Nebiros back and looks up to see motes of light rising away like dandelion tufts in the wind. It seems that with the Shadows underneath it dealt with, the illusory surface of water is vanishing too. Its departure grants Ren a better view of the fight back on the bridge, one that is sure to get a lot easier for his comrades in just a moment.

On the bridge itself, the combined Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team run backwards to avoid a crushing double axe handle punch from the golem. The blow rips off a chunk of the bridge just as big as the hands that caused the damage.

“Uh, not to rush him or anything, but where the heck is your kid?” Junpei shouts. “I thought you said he had a plan!”

“He does,” Yu calls back. “I don’t know what it is, but I have faith he’s figured out a way to help us take this thing down.”

“Ren-kun’s intelligence is one thing that should never be underestimated,” says Naoto. “If he claims to have found a solution, then all we need to do is be patient. I’ve been avoiding using Megidolaon since the golem’s attacks began increasing in frequency, but conserving energy may no longer be a wise decision.”

“Yeah, probably for the best that we switch it up,” Yosuke says. “I’m pretty much tapped out on my end.”

“Please take cover with everyone in the backline, Hanamura-san,” says Aigis. “Narukami-san and I will take the responsibility of causing damage. With the rest of you supporting us, we should be able to regain a favorable position in this fight.”

“That’s nice of you, Aigis,” Rise says, “but not necessary. In fact, you and Senpai should take a break. Everybody else is about to get a lot more freedom to fight!”

Akihiko turns to ask, “Wait, does that mean…?”

“Rise-chan noticed before I did, but she’s absolutely right,” Fuuka exclaims. “I’m not detecting the same sort of defenses on the golem anymore! You’re free to attack however you wish!”

“Really?” Teddie says. “Woo-hoo!”

“Ren-kun’s plan must have worked!” Yukiko cheers.

“Music to my ears,” Yosuke says. He turns to glance at Yu. “So, what’s the call, partner?”

Yu grins. “Our turn now. Go nuts, everybody.”

Evoker shots go off alongside the crushing of floating cards, covering the bridge in a mass of summoned Personas. All sorts of attacks fly out by their hands to strike the golem head-on. The creature can do nothing but let a low groan escape its stone maw under the damage it receives.

It fights back in the only manner it can at this point, swinging limp limbs around like blunt weaponry, but it poses no more threat to the Persona-users below than anything else they’ve faced thus far. Its movements are even more sluggish than before, like someone trying to move their body underwater.

The fighters previously focused purely on support have plenty of energy to spend switching to offensive maneuvers. The bombardment of such attacks whittles down the golem’s health until it slumps over, crashing into the front of the already wrecked bridge for support.

“Did that do it?” Yukiko asks.

“Not yet,” Rise says. “It’s hanging on by a thread, but one more hit should do it. You just need to make it hurt!”

“And I can help with that.”

Everyone raises their gaze to the top of the golem where that familiar voice sprang from. Flipping his way onto the golem’s head is Ren, waving for everyone to see.

“Heard you were looking for me, Iori-san. Sorry to keep you waiting, but hopefully this little gift makes up for it.” Pulling away his mask summons Black Frost, who lets out a cheerful giggle as Ren calls for a specific skill. “Rebellion!”

Junpei’s spot on the bridge lights up just before he is enveloped in a column of golden light. A smile follows the effect currently thrumming throughout his entire body.

“Oh, you totally get me, man,” he says, turning his baseball cap backwards. “This home run’s got your name on it, Joker!”

Junpei heaves his sword onto his shoulder and breaks out into a run straight at the golem. Two colossal arms come down to grab him, but both are repelled before they even get close. The left is buffeted back by the strikes of Takehaya Susano-o and Kamui-Moshiri. The right is shoved aside by twin tackles, courtesy of the Anti-Shadow Weapons.

With the lane clear, Junpei sprints his way to the base of the golem, coming to a stop as he hops up on a slanted slab of stone left behind from the recent destruction to the bridge. The makeshift platform is held up by a thicker piece of rubble, angled perfectly to resemble a contraption commonly seen on playgrounds.

From his perch above, Ren sees what Junpei is going for and grins. They may not be his normal teammates, but the Shadow Operatives sure know how to finish fights in style.

He takes a casual step off of the golem’s head, putting him into a freefall that whips his hair around and makes his coattails flutter behind him. About halfway down, one Persona in his heart makes way for another at his command, ready to appear once the mask of a thief is discarded.

“Going up!”

Ren tosses his mask away to call out Arsène, who somersaults into an axe kick aimed right at the edge of the block Junpei stands on. The collision catapults the Shadow Operative into the air on an arc straight to the golem. He flies right past Ren, who grapples onto the still outstretched limb of the golem in order to give himself a safe landing on the bridge.

As Junpei closes in on his target, he tightens the grip he has on his blade. The power of Ren’s Rebellion still courses through him, pushing him to put an end to this with one decisive blow. Though he won’t be able to deliver it without a bit more assistance.

“Yo, I need a landing pad!”

“Try mentioning that a bit sooner, Iori,” Mitsuru shouts. She raises her Evoker to her head. “Persona!”

Artemisia is barely formed by the time she races forward. With a crack of her whip, a dense and towering pillar of ice forms over all the rubble at the end of the bridge. Junpei lands right on its center, sliding to the edge off of inertia and the slickness of its surface.

Hollow cavities in a stone face stare hauntingly at him, but Junpei doesn’t falter. Backed by a mighty cry, he swings his sword with full force against the golem’s neck. The blade catches for only a moment before the sheer power behind the attack severs the attachment between head and body.

The giant clump of stone falls all the way from the peak of the golem’s height to the now revealed ground under the bridge. It shatters like a brittle clump of dirt upon reaching that destination.

The beheading proves to be the necessary final blow as the rest of the cognitive monster crumbles away just as the head did. Larger parts of its body stack together to form a pile of rubble that roughly matches the height of the bridge nearby.

After sliding down an icy path carved out by Artemisia, Junpei returns to the others with a huge grin on display.

“Dare I ask, who’s the man?!” He strikes a flamboyant pose with his finger pointed to the sky. “With a last inning homer, Junpei Iori is undoubtedly your MVP for the night!”

“Undoubtedly, huh? Pretty sure that title should go to the guy who made it so we could actually fight the enemy,” Yukari says.

“Agreed,” says Akihiko. “But how’d you even pull it off, Joker? We didn’t see anything after you took off.”

“Yeah, where’d you go, bud?” Chie asks.

“To take out the Shadows that were hiding and controlling the golem,” Ren says, pointing at a large hole in the bridge. “They were the reason it was so tough to deal with at first, so I had to get rid of them.”

Through the hole Ren points out, the former site of the Shadows is visible. The now defunct gemstone spires lack any color, resembling the black, rocky bases supporting them. Scattered all around the spires are loose bills, left behind in Ren’s hurry to join the final fight.

“Wait, are all those piles of yen where the Shadows were?” Yosuke asks. “How many did you take down?”

“Hm… You know, I kind of stopped counting after a bit. It probably wasn’t that many.”

Fuuka’s voice comes in to say, “I…don’t know that forty Shadows qualifies as ‘not that many,’ Joker-kun.”

“F–Forty?!” Yukari stammers.

“By yourself, too…” Naoto says, awe audible in her tone.

“How did you even have enough energy for that?” Yosuke asks. “You were fighting just as hard as we were earlier!”

“They were all super weak, so I didn’t have to do anything special to take them out,” Ren says. “It really isn’t anything to be impressed by. You guys deserve the credit for taking the golem down in the end.”

Rise gives a tired sigh. “How are you a perfect mix of humble and a showoff?”

“Aw, you think I’m perfect?”

“That was not the takeaway from that observation, Ren-Ren.”

The aftermath of the battle provides an opportunity for everyone to take stock of their energy levels and item reserves. Fighting the golem drained them of firepower, but nothing too detrimental to their potential to clear out Fantasma in one go.

Standing off to the side as everyone else takes inventory, Ren leans up against the bridge wall in an attempt to catch his breath. He hadn’t even realized how hopped up on adrenaline he had been throughout that entire conflict. Moving in the Metaverse is certainly easier than real life, but the human body still has its limits, even when supernaturally enhanced.

It is during this self-recovery period that he is approached by Yu. The older of the two gives a wave and settles into the spot right next to him.

“Nice job with taking out that monster’s defenses,” he says. “I think Yukari-san was right to call you the MVP for this one.”

“I disagree. I mean, I wasn’t even here for most of the big fight.”

“Even so, it was your call that ultimately allowed us to come out on top. You know, once again, I have to point out that your leadership would do just fine here. We wouldn’t have gotten through that as cleanly if it wasn’t for you.”

“And like I told you, I’m just not the right pick for this. Yeah, I figured out the way forward here, but that’s just because I have magic vision from the Velvet Room.”

“Well, ‘magic vision’ doesn’t have any bearing on reassuring your comrades and coordinating a takedown like you did with Junpei-san.”

“Anyone could have done that. All I did was cast Rebellion and launch him on a makeshift seesaw.”

Ren is ready to leave things there. If he took that tone with any of the Phantom Thieves while in the Metaverse, they would take the cue to back down and get back to the task at hand. But as his mind refuses to let him forget, his friends aren’t here.

Instead, he has to deal with Yu Narukami, who famously isn’t very big on leaving things alone. Not even talking to a dangerous Phantom Thief on his home turf is enough to dissuade that aspect of the young man.

“Ren, is there…a reason why you don’t want to lead?”

“I already told you, I don’t know everyone well enough. And my abilities are so different than everyone else’s that it really doesn’t make sense for me to call the shots. Why do you have such an interest in asking?”

“Because I can’t help but feel like this isn’t about feeling underqualified. If I’m being honest, I think you’re dodging the role just to punish yourself.”

Something close to a jolt runs up Ren’s spine. It doesn’t settle even when Yu’s hand comes to rest on his shoulder. Instead, a burning sensation creeps in behind it, creating a point of contact that Ren winces under.

Yu takes no note of it, pressing on to say, “You know your friends being kidnapped wasn’t your fault, right?”

“Oh, sure,” Ren mutters. “Nothing says blameless like being the sole one able to walk around freely.”

“Ren…”

Desperate to rid himself of the burning and buzzing, the younger of the two slips out of the other’s hold. Yu’s presence might be made for the light, but Ren makes his living in the shadows. He can’t survive when dragged out of his territory like that.

“Just keep doing what you’re doing,” he says, his back to Yu. “Everyone trusts and respects you already, so regardless of what we find in here, you’re always going to be the right choice. You’ve always been the ‘golden boy’ wherever you go.”

There is no chance of that being the end of the discussion. At least, it wouldn’t have been, if not for a distant voice cutting off Yu just before he can speak his mind again.

“Hey, you two,” Chie calls back, “we found something new!”

Perfect timing, Ren thinks. Before any follow-ups to the conversation at hand can arise, he shrugs and walks off towards the rest of their group, leaving Yu with no option but to sigh and follow along. Guilt doesn’t have much chance to worm its way into Ren’s head with everything else already taking up residence.

Everyone else is crowded around a small object on the ground sitting atop the pile of rubble that formerly comprised the golem from before. As Ren gets closer, he can see its rectangular shape and an exterior made of hard, scarlet-colored leather. Yellowed pages peek out from the side, some of which look ripped at the edges.

“Another book?”

“Yes, though not quite like the ones we examined up above,” Mitsuru says. “This one bears the illegible text we’ve occasionally seen around Fantasma.”

“Any reason no one’s grabbed it yet?” Yu asks.

“Fuuka suggested we don’t,” says Junpei. “At least not until she figures out what’s up with it.”

“I can’t say what it is for certain, but there is an undeniably odd feeling that I’m getting from it. Something different to the distortion we’ve come across comprising most of Fantasma.”

“Well, if Fuuka’s against it, I don’t think we should really mess with it,” Yukari says. “For all we know, this thing could summon a bunch more Shadows, or even turn us to stone or something.”

“But we can’t just leave it,” says Ken. “We’re pretty much at another dead end, so odds are that this is something that can help us find a way forward.”

“I’ll grab it,” says Labrys. “That’s prob’ly better than having anybody that’s human touch it, at least.”

Mitsuru blocks her with an arm. “Lacking a human body does not give you free rein to be rash, Labrys. Surely we can come up with a better strategy than ‘grab it and see what happens.’”

She has a point, Ren concedes. None of them are invulnerable to the chaos that is Fantasma. The idea of waiting around for a way to deal with this may be immediately annoying for Ren, but his tunnel vision isn’t so bad that he would disregard Fuuka’s warnings. Nor would he place any faith in this realm holding back on screwing any of them over.

Not everyone shares the same mindset, however. As most of the group takes a moment to discuss alternatives, Teddie glides by them all and mounts the small hill in front of them.

“Ah, you guys worry too much,” he says, ignoring the cries from Yosuke and Chie to get down. “When it comes to mysteries, sometimes you just gotta go ‘fur’ it!”

His paws reach down to pluck the book from its spot in the rubble. It comes free with a bit of effort, only to immediately float up and out of Teddie’s grasp. In midair, the book pulses with white light and opens with its pages fluttering in a nonexistent wind.

The illegible text they noticed before begins peeling itself from the pages which refuse to cease turning. Those strange words and letters swirl around everyone in a tight, inky funnel, one that snuffs out the light around them by how dense it becomes.

It remains at that high speed for half a minute before finally slowing. The dense lines of ink fall apart, granting the bewildered Persona-users a glimpse at the new environment that was constructed entirely out of their sight. Gone is the bridge from before, now replaced by a room that has a slight similarity in aesthetic, though much more menacing.

Brown brick walls close them in on either side. Long gray stones rest under their feet. The sound of water dripping down into large puddles is constant, only in competition with the clinking of chains and manacles off to the side. The wooden barrels and small bench do nothing to help with how cramped the space feels, and there isn’t any hope of moving elsewhere with the opposite side of the room ending in the metal gate of a jail cell.

As everyone else tries to get their bearings, Ren can’t help but let out a frustrated growl. Even the passage of nearly two whole years hasn’t rid his memory of this very room. It may be slightly longer than he remembers, but there can be no mistaking where Fantasma has placed them.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” he says.

“Huh? Do you recognize this place, Joker-kun?” Labrys asks.

“Unfortunately. You all may want to keep close to this back wall. If this is what I think it is, then it’s about to get very bright in here.”

Before anyone can ask what that means, the room is bathed in another burst of white light. The book from earlier appears once more and goes through the same motions as before. This time, the illegible text forms into complex markings, ones that more closely resemble a runic alphabet than standard Japanese kanji. Those markings crawl from the book itself and take root around the room in unoccupied spaces. They solidify into fully three-dimensional shapes, ones that slowly start to form into six humanoid bodies.

Three of them become misshapen armor-clad knights with teal masks sticking out of their helmets. The one in the middle of the room turns into a broad-shouldered man with curly hair, wearing nothing but a heart-patterned robe and bright pink underwear. The form of the one on the ground begins to look like a teen with bright yellow hair and a deep grimace on his face.

Lastly, the one being held against the wall by two of the knights is familiar to the group of Persona-users at large. When it finishes forming, it has the appearance of a tall teenage boy with wild black hair and gray eyes squinting behind large glasses.

“What the—” Junpei turns to Ren. “That’s you!”

Yukari sighs. “Brilliant observation, Mr. Ace Detective. The real question is why are we seeing another Joker?”

“Because I think this is another memory like we found upstairs,” Ren says. “Particularly, one of mine from almost two years ago.”

Though entirely more elaborate, Ren realizes. Where all of the other Yamichi residents had their memories played out on simple screens, this is like being on set during filming for a movie.

Actually, it’s more like being in the movie itself after its completion. The conjured space doesn’t leave any room for the illusion to break, putting Ren and the others in a seamless pocket of reality that would be indistinguishable from the past without context.

Everything about the scene before them plays out as Ren remembers. The knights shove his past self around while Kamoshida laughs at Ryuji crying out in fear. The shimmering blue butterfly that had once seemed so ethereal to Ren flutters across the room, and he only realizes that the others can see it alongside him when Aigis lets out a quiet gasp next to him.

She gets no chance to ask any questions due to the voice that crashes into their heads all at once.

‘What’s the matter? Are you simply going to watch?’

The voice is overwhelming, dripping with fury as it dominates any other sound in the room. The world itself seems muted as it continues speaking, prodding the subject of its questioning for an answer.

‘Are you forsaking him to save yourself? Death awaits him if you do nothing. Was your previous decision a mistake, then?’

None of this is real, Ren knows. He is already a Persona-user. Arsène is already confidently resting within him. No action is required to save the copy of Ryuji that one of the knights is choking against the opposite wall right now.

Even still, he finds himself whispering, “It wasn’t.” His voice comes out in perfect sync with the version of him shown in the memory.

Everything seems to kick off in that moment. Arsène’s past iteration confirms the old Ren’s resolve, triggering the telltale headache and convulsions of a Metaverse awakening. The two form a bond in that moment, an ironclad vow built on sacrilege, justice, and rage in the name of toppling oppressors. A silent declaration to cast off ill-fitting shackles carried around since childhood.

As soon as the voice fades, the memory of Ren gets the glasses smacked off his face for standing up to his attackers. The resulting silence from seeing him almost knocked out only lasts until Memory Ren looks back up. A sudden burst of air pressure from his body blows away the armored Shadows, and in the aftermath, Memory Ren is visibly startled to find a sharp white mask stuck against his face.

Knowing what’s coming, the real Ren starts to wonder if he should give another warning, but he cannot find the right words in time.

Screams pour from the version of himself within the memory. The mask is ripped off, sending blood gushing in every direction while leaving enough to coat the upper half of Memory Ren’s face.

He raises his head, putting a downright feral grin on display as his body bursts into flames that create what everyone now knows as his Phantom Thief attire. Once complete, those same flames travel up and coalesce into the form of Arsène as chains whip around in the wind. A single gesture from Memory Ren – and Arsène, who mirrors his summoner’s action – topples the Shadows around them with another burst of pressure.

Kamoshida turns tail and scurries away, leaving Ryuji behind to gape at the sight in front of him – the sight of a fully unrestrained Ren Amamiya, who bares his teeth in a wicked smile from power that has finally been realized in its totality.

Just as easily as it came, the entire vision suddenly fades away, ushered by a wash of darkness over everything. It leaves behind nothing but the book from before and a quiet group of Persona-users standing atop a bridge in tatters. Understandably, everyone in the group turns to Ren immediately.

Ken asks, “What…did we just watch?”

“My awakening,” says Ren. “From all the way back in twenty-sixteen.”

The answer has a clear lack of effect from how little it comforts anyone. Both the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives alike stand around in a small daze, eyes bouncing from Ren to their teammates to the book and back again in a circle. It doesn’t take much longer for the tension to break with everyone suddenly speaking over one another.

“I’m sorry, did you rip off half your face?!”

“Who was that…creep in the speedo?”

“That sounded more like a deal with the devil than an awakening…”

“Were you and that other guy in a jail cell?”

“Are we gonna talk about how freakin’ scary Joker looked there?”

“Why does your Persona laugh like a supervillain?”

Mitsuru’s hand going up halts the verbal barrage. “One at a time, everyone. I’m sure you all have curiosities that you wish to have sated, but we need to remain focused on the bigger picture.”

Naoto nods and says, “Yes, the most important question right now is how this space displayed one of your memories so vividly, Ren-kun. It’s one thing for the townspeople of Yamichi to have their memories appear here, but you aren’t under whatever effect they may be suffering from at the moment.”

“You don’t feel weird, do you?” Rise asks. “Like there’s some lingering effect from being in here the first time?”

“No, I feel fine,” Ren replies. “Nothing’s really gotten close enough to…scan my brain or anything, so I’m just as confused as the rest of you.”

“And are you sure that wasn’t Sakamoto-kun’s memory?” Yukiko asks. “He was there as well, after all.”

“No, that had to be my memory. I’m the only one who knows what Arsène said to me that day, so whatever we just saw had to have come from my head. I have no idea how, though.”

“That’s definitely something we need to figure out, then,” says Yu. “If something in Fantasma has – or even just had – a connection to you, we need to make sure that it’s severed and can’t affect you anymore.”

A deep groan slips through Junpei’s lips. “Please tell me we’re not doing another memory show and tell…”

“Glad I’m not the only one getting déjà vu,” says Yukari.

“What, you guys have done this sort of thing before?” Yosuke asks.

“Somewhat,” says Mitsuru. “I don’t believe we’ve ever fully briefed you all on our experience in the Abyss of Time. Those events took place at the end of our first year of operation, back when we were still referred to as S.E.E.S.”

“While you were still in high school, right?” asks Rise. “What happened?”

Yukari shrugs. “Long story short, we let our emotions get out of control and it spawned a whole dimension built out of trauma. We were forced to come to terms with a bunch of old memories, and it took a lot of fighting to resolve things. It wasn’t fun.”

“Not to get into it, but our whole group had to watch each of our reasons for awakening to Personas,” says Akihiko. “That more or less seems like what we just saw from your head, Joker, so you can’t blame us for being a little suspicious.”

“Well, it’s not exactly the same since there aren’t any doors, but it is similar enough to be concerning,” says Ken. “I guess the main thing to look out for would be if Joker-san’s repressing anything that’s hurting him.”

“Yeah, you don’t…have any lingering regrets or anything, do you?” Junpei asks. “I don’t want to have to fight whatever your brain could come up with.”

“I have no idea what that means, but no, nothing comes to mind,” Ren says. “I mean, I’ve got things I regret, sure, but nothing debilitating. And like I said before, Fantasma isn’t my doing. I may be tied to it somehow, but I doubt anything besides my memories can even affect this place.”

“Let’s hope that ends up being true,” Naoto says. “You have enough to deal with as it is.”

“We’ll simply add uncovering the means of memory acquisition to our growing list of tasks,” says Mitsuru, stepping past everyone to approach the lone book on the ground. “For now, let’s collect this as a piece of evidence. Though in the future, we will not be snatching anything like this haphazardly. I shouldn’t need to elaborate on the possible dangers of such recklessness.”

Teddie shies away from the stern glare in his direction. “Sorry, Mit-chan…”

“I’ll hold onto it for you, Kirijo-san,” Ren says. “I’m used to pocketing the important stuff in Palaces, so it’s no problem.”

“Then I’ll entrust it to you,” she replies, gently handing it over.

Ren stuffs the book in the back of his coat, depositing it in whatever endless space the Metaverse provides for storing items. As soon as it is out of sight, another rumble tears across the bridge, shaking the already unsound structure.

“What now?!” Yosuke exclaims.

“We better not be about to fight the bridge!” Chie yells.

“I do not believe we’re in danger of that,” Aigis says. “This feels more like—”

The rumble stabilizes just in time for the bridge itself to shoot up into the air. The stone archways holding it up extend upwards as if it were a collapsible model of some kind. The speed of the bridge’s ascent is so fast that everyone atop it is nearly flattened against its surface.

Junpei clutches the side of the bridge as he shrieks, “Let me off this ride!”

Ren cranes his neck to the side to see where they are headed. Though the sight overhead is of an overcast sky, Ren has no doubt that it is just as much of an illusion as the horizon past the island from earlier, or even the water formerly underneath the bridge. The odds of them rising into something that isn’t meant to be touched are extremely high.

Mitsuru notices the same thing after following Ren’s gaze. She forces her arm to point upwards and shouts, “Aigis, the ceiling! Break it so that we aren’t crushed against it!”

Aigis’s mechanical strength allows her to more easily move her limbs than everyone else. She primes her guns and takes aim at the rapidly approaching barrier before unleashing a volley of bullets at it. Her artillery tears away a large patch of the fake sky, and an extra blow from Caesar as Akihiko strains to fire his Evoker clears the rest. The portion of the bridge containing everyone soars right through the new opening and continues to rise unimpeded.

Mere seconds after changing environments, the inadvertent thrill ride slows to a stop. It takes a moment for everyone to stand again, but when they do, they find themselves level with a cliffside. It stretches almost as long as the bridge did in its initial state and has the same appearance as the first area they all passed when entering Fantasma. The oversaturated landscape is just as much of an eyesore as before.

“Where are we now?” Chie asks, her head bobbing around out of dizziness.

Yukari holds her stomach as if she might vomit. “Fuuka…can you give us a map update?”

“Y–Yes. I have no idea of this place’s intention, but you all have made it back to the level you started on. You’re on the same point of elevation as the museum, just way past it after all your travels.”

“So we went way down just to come back up,” Junpei says. “Freakin’ Metaverse, man…”

“At least we have somewhere to go again,” Ren says. “Look over there.”

Past where broken bridge meets cliff and behind a large patch of faux grass stands a building just like the museum back at the entrance. This one is smaller by comparison, but its sleek white walls still tower over the rest of the environment. Red and black banners covered in white stars drape from the tall towers built into the front ends of the building.

Between those towers is a large, semicircular stone archway. Glass windows take up the underside of the archway, filling every bit of space unoccupied by the golden doors at the base of the structure. The stairs leading up to the building are partially obscured from a distance by the statue of a golden heart a short distance in front of them.

It is a bewildering sight made only more puzzling by the large words etched into the archway itself. ‘Hall of’ is visible on the left, while ‘Fame’ sits alone on the right. Another white star rests in between each of the archway’s sections.

Kanji scratches his head. “A hall of fame? Who would even qualify for that kinda place here?”

“Let’s find out,” says Akihiko. He hops over the small wall on the bridge to land on the cliffside proper, trudging forward once his feet are on solid ground. Everyone else follows with their senses functioning properly again, and it isn’t long before they ascend the stairs entirely to enter the building itself.

Waiting inside is a much smaller lobby than the last they had seen. The opulence from that one is gone as well, leaving a much more modest room that seems to prioritize function over all else. The darker colored walls and shiny tile still leave Ren with too much of a clinical feeling for his liking, however.

Awaiting them at the front desk is a cognitive being dressed in a museum attendant’s outfit. Getting closer presents a clear difference from the cognitive beings in the other lobby. Instead of having a mouth and lacking eyes, the reverse is true here. This cognition’s open eyes widen upon seeing the new arrivals trickling in.

It bows to them, speaking up in a cheery voice that echoes around them. Without a mouth, the exaggerated movement of its jaw as it does so is just as off-putting as everything else in Fantasma.

“Welcome, valued patrons, to the newest wing of Musée Éternel, soon to be added to the rest of the Bay of Creation. Here, you can browse at your leisure to take in all of the wonderful information on our Hall of Fame honorees.”

There are many parts of that statement that Ren wants to dig into, but the last bit especially sticks out. Nothing they have come across so far has been given any real significance, at least not any outright acknowledged by the inhabitants of Fantasma. What makes this place different?

“Honorees implies that they’re made up of pretty important people,” he says. “So, who in Fantasma lives up to that hype?”

The baffled look on the cognitive attendant’s face is evident even with just its eyes showing. “Hm? Why, who else but the greatest group of heroes to ever grace the world of man?”

With a wave of its arm, the entire area behind it is lit up by overhead spotlights. Ren feels his heart skip a beat with the contents of the museum wing on full display.

Framed calling cards serve as wall decorations on the left. On the right, a trophy case glistens under the light, showing off a large crown, a stack of gold bars, and a golden ship wheel among other things. Hanging from the ceiling are small cutouts of a red flaming mask topped by a fancy-looking hat. Even the carpet itself is patterned with red and black rings cascading out from a point in the center of the room.

But nothing is quite as attention grabbing as the statue at the entrance to this newly revealed section. Sculpted out of speckless white marble are the visages of eleven otherworldly creatures. Ren knows each of them by name.

From bottom to top, he takes in the sight of Agnes, Al Azif, Pandora, Valjean, William, Lucy, Gorokichi, Diego, Celestine, and Ella. The marble wings of Arsène encircle them all protectively from his spot at the very top. Ren barely hears the attendant’s next words through his heart’s pounding in his chest.

“Everything placed here is done in reverence to the legendary team known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts!”

Notes:

Took me a bit longer this time around with how big the chapter got. I thought about cutting it in half, but I really liked the ending point and didn’t want to leave you all hanging before or after the boss fight.

Anyway, we’ve got a few more discoveries to throw everyone off this time around. Fantasma’s got bosses with cheap gimmicks, weird books that show off memories, and an entire Phantom Thief wing of the museum. Surely Ren will deal with all of this with a clear mind and no repressive tendencies, right?

Also, leaving little hints as to what’s going on is a lot more fun than I thought it’d be. You guys sniff most of them out like immediately, but it’s still entertaining to see which ones go under the radar since they don’t have proper context yet. I can’t wait for people to go back and notice the intent behind some of the choices in previous chapters.

Chapter 7

Summary:

A monument to the Phantom Thieves is bound to hold some secrets concerning the missing team. Ren and the others get more than they bargained for when they go poking around behind the scenes.

“The Phantom Thieves…” Ren looks the cognitive attendant right in the eyes. “You said everything here has to do with the Phantom Thieves? Everything?”

“Indeed. From historical records to dioramas to merchandise, this is a veritable monument to those wonderous—”

The rest of that spiel goes unheard on Ren’s end. He is too busy flinging himself over the attendant’s desk to run off into the exhibit up ahead.

Rise reaches out to his retreating form. “Ren, wait!”

Whether he hears her or not, Ren doesn’t slow at all. He kicks off the massive statue ahead and disappears into the exhibit without another word.

Though most of the crowd he leaves behind stand stunned at his sudden exit, two of them shake off the feeling and race to the stairs, turning back only to address the rest of their companions.

“Me and Yukiko will go make sure he’s okay,” Chie says. “The rest of you should stay here and get some info!”

The girls don’t wait for anyone to agree. They charge into the exhibit right after Ren, calling out for him just as Rise did moments ago. Their departure only worsens the unease spreading amongst those remaining.

“I suppose we’ll deal with that in a moment,” Mitsuru says. She turns her attention back to the attendant. “Concerning this exhibit… Are we to believe it truly is just a showcase of various Phantom Thief-related memorabilia? There are no…hidden elements to it?”

“Not sure what you mean, ma’am,” it responds. “What you see is what you get. Well, there are some parts of this wing tucked away in certain corners, but I assure you that everything is open to the public. Feel free to let the two young women from before know, as well as your messy haired companion.”

Everyone remaining by the front desk shares a perplexed look with each other. No one had missed the oddity in those last words.

Aigis repeats, “Messy haired companion?”

“Yeah. The one that mounted my desk and took off. I don’t mean to be flippant to a guest, but I don’t exactly have much else to refer to him as.”

“Wait, you’re telling me you didn’t recognize him?” Akihiko asks.

The cognition’s forehead rises on one side in lieu of having any eyebrows. “Should I have recognized him?”

“The coat and the mask should have been a dead giveaway,” Kanji says. “You’ve got a whole exhibit dedicated to his team behind you!”

“I’m sorry, ‘his’ team?”

The attendant’s bulbous eyes scan the cluster of bodies across the desk, a crease in its forehead slanting the golden orbs downwards.

“Are…you all claiming to be travelling with Joker? The Joker? Leader of the Phantom Thieves?”

“We’re not ‘claiming’ anything,” Rise says. “He was standing here less than a minute ago.”

“No, no, that cannot be. Joker is…the very embodiment of rebellion. He is a thorn in the side of all would-be conquerors of mankind’s world, a daredevil amongst stagehands, and above all else, a trickster. Pardon my saying so, but your friend did not seem to measure up in any way. A simple cosplay does not change that.”

Kanji takes a step forward. “Hey, don’t just—”

“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” Mitsuru says suddenly. “There is no issue with us proceeding, then? We have free rein to explore at our leisure?”

“Of course.” The attendant is back to its default neutrality, even in the face of Kanji’s snarling. “Though if you desire the full experience, we offer guided tours that really bring the exhibits to life. Shall I call for someone to escort you?”

Akihiko says, “Uh…I think we’re fine giving ourselves a tour, thanks.”

The cognition nods its head. “As you wish. Enjoy your time with the exhibits.”

Going back to whatever cognitive museum attendants job requirements entail, it disregards the people around it entirely. The Persona-users make their way past the front desk and into this new wing of Fantasma’s central museum.

Up close, the statue preceding all else seems to loom over them with its massive height. The Personas depicted are nothing more than marble, yet passing by without keeping them in sight feels irreverent somehow. It is as if the monument itself is akin to something holy, bathing the group of would-be tourists in a palpable wave of anxiety. No one says anything until the statue is well behind them.

They continue on past the entranceway drowning in Phantom Thief decorations and past the trophy case crammed full of objects with no visible connection between them. None that the party present can discern, at least.

An information panel similar to the one back in the main museum is present here, though this one doesn’t lack any information. It details each area in the wing while providing directions to the various sights held within. Rather than follow the recommended path listed on the panel, everyone agrees to follow the sound of conversation drifting their way.

Waiting past a few red and black bathrooms and a music room full of vinyl records is a space dominated by thick glass fixtures that rise from the ground like frozen spires. Each of them has what looks like a different Persona inside, grouped up likely by who they belong to. Most groups have three among them, but the one in the back only has two, and the one next to it has a lone Persona on display, one that was a part of the statue up front.

At the head of all these glass fixtures is one containing Arsène, though there is a space next to him that isn’t filled for whatever reason. Ren is currently sitting at the base of the fixture, flanked by Chie and Yukiko on both sides as a form of comfort.

“Finally found you guys,” Junpei says as he and the others approach. “You, uh…doin’ okay, Joker?”

“Not really, no.” He slouches against the glass behind him. “Sorry for bolting earlier. I got ahead of myself.”

“You tried searching for your allies in this place, didn’t you?” Mitsuru asks.

“For all the good it did. They aren’t here.” Ren blows some low hanging hair from his face. “There aren’t any people here, just…stuff. I don’t know why I was stupid enough to think it’d be that easy.”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with hoping,” Rise says. “This place was made for you guys, after all. It made sense to check around.”

Yu nods to that. “Right. And even if they aren’t here, there’s definitely things to learn from this exhibit, so let’s be thorough and get all we can while we’re here. Of course, if this is too much for you to deal with…”

“No need for the concern,” Ren replies, pushing himself up. “I won’t sit around and complain when I can help. Let’s get to looking around.”

With the group fully together again, they take a more normal route through all the exhibits. Of course, Ren has seen most of it at this point, but only through passing glances with his attention focused on maintaining his Third Eye.

They walk through an art gallery depicting frantic battles involving the Phantom Thieves, as well as all of the cognitive worlds such fights took place in.

An oil painting of their fight against the Reaper hangs above an abstract rendition of the Shibuya Jail. The depths of Mementos are ever haunting in a charcoal rendition, contrasting the blinding whites and yellows of the stained glass arranged to resemble the Pyramid of Wrath. In its own roped-off section, a chunk of a brick wall stands alone, covered in graffiti meant to the logo on the very first calling card. Unsurprisingly, this is the best that logo has ever looked.

The only thing to truly make Ren linger in this area is a bronze sculpture of a woman with short hair falling over one of her eyes. One hand is thrust out to her side while the other grips a massive flag. It juts from the sculpture’s base that is molded to resemble rocky terrain, and somehow, a sense of motion comes through despite it being firmly locked into place. The same goes for the woman’s militaristic attire, which seems to ruffle in nonexistent wind.

Though the makers of this world should have no idea of her, here Erina stands in all her metallic glory. The very idea that her existence is a part of Fantasma should have Ren on high-alert, but he finds himself more wistful than anything looking upon the sculpture. The fact that her last time helping the team was almost a year ago is not lost on him.

“Really wish you were here right now,” Ren whispers, placing a hand on the plaque at the bottom of the sculpture. “You were always better at this ‘hope’ thing than I am.”

He takes a bit too long reminiscing, allowing the others to catch up and ask him about the sculpture. As open as he has been about his adventures, that one is not something he feels able to talk about in full right now, so he promises to explain later and leads everyone deeper into the museum wing.

The creativity sees a sharp decrease from then on. Here, most of the sections on display are rooted in facts and statistics. There is a large cutout board with images of the Thieves on it along with their heights, presumably to let others measure themselves against each member. A few meters away from that is a computer screen rotating through general information on the team. An identical screen right beside it acts as a battle log, providing information on countless fights that the Phantom Thieves have gone through. Some are battles that even Ren has forgotten in the time away from the Metaverse.

No matter where the group goes, it is all more of the same. Each and every part of this museum wing is built with nothing but praising the Phantom Thieves in mind.

If he’s honest, he feels more unnerved at all of it than flattered. Maybe that’s due to the situation at hand, but being glorified like this draws eerie parallels to mind. Suddenly, he can’t shake the memories of hearing despondent humans cry out for something to guide them and take care of all their issues. Just because the Phantom Thieves are being deified here instead of something like the Holy Grail doesn’t make it any better.

At least the others seem to be fascinated. Ren is able to distract himself a little bit by answering questions about everything on display. The running commentary feels like a better use of his time than letting his mind wade in the sea of anxiety this place gives him.

Teddie walks through the exhibit while spinning, desperately trying to take it all in. “Wow, this place really is all dedicated to the Phantom Thieves…”

“Which…doesn’t really match up to the other ‘exhibits’ we’ve seen so far.” Yosuke turns to Ren. “Are you guys popular in Yamichi or something?”

“No,” he answers. “Most people in town don’t even really believe we were a real thing. We were just some weird Tokyo craze to them.”

“Then I can’t help but wonder what the explanation for such an elaborate exhibit is…” Aigis muses.

The answer is anyone’s guess at this point, but Ren can’t even focus on trying to theorize at the current moment. Not when he has caught sight of something new nearby.

The others talk amongst themselves, reflecting on what they’ve seen so far in an attempt to find some sort of sense in this place, but Ren isn’t the slightest bit concerned with that.

No, he is much more focused on the wall of twelve costumes next to him. Starting with an immaculate replica of his own Phantom Thief attire, each outfit is encased in a glass tube with the wearer’s codename emblazoned on the plaque at its base. All but the ninth in the row, at least, where the codename has been crossed out repeatedly through further engraving.

The case itself also vastly differs from the rest. A massive hole sits in the center as jagged cracks stretch across the rest of the tube’s surface. The costume inside – if one can even call it that anymore – is nothing more than shredded scraps of fabric. Reds and whites drape down from the costume stand in the center. Small bits of blue and black hang from large glass shards.

Beyond the cracked glass and remnants of a costume, the remaining space is covered in dirt and infested with dying plant life. Brown vines line the back side of the enclosure, dotted with cracked thorns and flower stems bent in half. Everything that tried to thrive in the case after its shattering has simply died away, as if a long life was never possible here.

Ren has to turn away before he gets any angrier at that sight.

He follows his still-browsing comrades as they progress further into the museum wing, taking them past more replicas of Phantom Thief-related items. Various weapons the team used are arranged on a large wall of shelves with old accessories right below.

The bottommost shelf even has empty food packaging and containers from meals long since consumed by the Thieves themselves on Mementos runs. In Ren’s honest opinion, that collection might be the creepiest.

When they get to an open floor dedicated to showcasing vehicles, everyone immediately takes notice of the end of the line over everything else. A subway car, the van used to take Ren home, the taxi used to tail Kaneshiro’s men, and The Phantomobile – or Feathermobile, depending on who you asked – among others go ignored in favor of the cat-themed black van furthest from the entrance.

“Neat van,” Kanji says. “You guys drive this thing around for Phantom Thief stuff, Ren?”

“It’s not a ‘thing,’ but yeah,” he replies. “That’s Morgana.”

“You named your van after your cat?” asks Chie.

“No, that really is Morgana. It’s just another form of his. See the ears?”

Once everyone follows his gesture with their eyes, Ren is hit with the same incredulous look he has gotten at every turn since entering Fantasma.

“You’re…not joking?” Yukari asks.

“Nope.”

“Wait, wait—” Yosuke looks from the van to Ren, his forehead wrinkled like this is a math problem he can’t work out. “So your cat talks and turns into a little mascot thing in the Metaverse. I can get that. But you’re seriously trying to tell me he can turn into a van?”

“He sure can. Well, the cognition is actually for a cat turning into a bus, but he’s obviously more of a van. Anyway, this is how we drove around on missions. Walking everywhere would have been a pain.”

“What kind of cognition states—” Naoto shakes her head. “No – for once, I believe I’m okay with not getting to the bottom of something.”

“Man, why didn’t we get a van for Tartarus?” Junpei asks.

Yukari rolls her eyes. “Vans can’t go up the stairs, genius. Still, I agree with wishing we had some kind of transport. Even just getting back to the dorm some nights was rough.”

“Maybe Mitsuru should’ve added some sidecars to that bike of hers,” Akihiko says behind a snicker.

Mitsuru’s glare falls upon him. “For your sake, I’m going to pretend I did not hear that.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised his helicopter form isn’t here,” Ren says. “He only did it once, but even still, you’d think that would—”

“Uh, do you mean that thing?” Labrys asks, pointing to another replica hanging from the ceiling.

As everyone cranes their necks up to look, Ren lets out a low chuckle. The bulbous helicopter with cat ears to match the van below hangs above them, suspended by thick wires attached to each of the rotor blades.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he says. “Mona took that form and saved all of our butts. Shame we never got to ride in it again. I liked flying, even if I was only hanging from the bottom by a rope.”

That last bit may have been a mistake to add with the way eight heads whip around to glare at him. At least he managed to leave out the part where he let go and plummeted the height of at least several buildings. Leaving this section of the museum seems like the best way to avoid getting chewed out, regardless.

The hallway leading out of the vehicle showroom deposits everyone in a dead end. The room they find themselves in is incredibly wide, making plenty of space for the back wall which has a mural painted across it. The art piece is obviously dedicated to the Phantom Thieves, showcasing each of them in a dedicated panel across the space. Though, interestingly enough, the roster is different from every other depiction in the museum.

Joker occupies the first slot with a devilish grin as he raises his gun forward. Mona follows with his sword held high. Then comes Skull pumping his fist in excitement and yelling something inaudible, but unmistakably loud. Panther is next, with her whip curling around the frame of her section.

Down the line, Fox sheathes his katana elegantly, Queen stands tall and proud in her spot, Oracle floats in a digital sea of numbers and data strings, Noir tips her hat with a gleeful smile, and Violet bends her body into a final pose one might see in a competition of hers.

There isn’t anything wrong with the lineup in isolation. Aside from how Sumire had to be convinced she was a true member of the team following Maruki’s change of heart – and how she had to come to terms with changes of heart in her own way – this mural basically depicts the final lineup right before Ren went back to Yamichi.

If this had been the lineup all throughout the museum, there wouldn’t be anything to be concerned about. Of course, Ren didn’t feel good about any exclusions, but it would have been understandable, in a sense. What doesn’t add up is how many different versions of the team have been depicted so far.

Some areas have just the core eight members. Some, like this mural, add Sumire to that roster. Some add Zenkichi and Sophia to that list, and some have everyone to ever find themselves on the team. At least, the intent is there.

So why are these nine the last thing the museum wing puts on display? Ren can’t shake the feeling that better understanding why things are arranged the way they are here will help him find the real versions of the painted figures in front of him.

While he indulges in some of the feelings from seeing his friends depicted so carefully, he hears the ongoing conversation from those around him.

“This is such a tone shift from everything else we’ve seen, don’t you think?” Rise asks. “Like, it’s been all oddly personal Yamichi stuff and fantasy references from the start, but now we’ve got this museum that looks like some superfan made it. I mean, it’s pretty professional, but…”

“I get what ya mean,” says Labrys. “The cognition up front did say that this place was gettin’ added to the rest of the museum, right? Maybe that’s why it feels so different?”

“To be fair, they said a lot of weird stuff,” says Junpei. “Like, what’d they call the museum? Moose…something or other?”

“Musée Éternel,” Mitsuru says, perfect pronunciation on display. “The name is fairly self-explanatory, and it does not bode well for our findings.”

Yeah, Ren doesn’t need a full translation to gather that much.

As everyone else continues griping about the twists and turns of this cognitive world – they can’t be blamed for doing so on their first time entering one – Ren continues his examination of the mural.

In another context, he thinks he would find this beautiful. The painterly quality to it is something he could see Yusuke creating, what with the flowy linework and the amount of colors bursting across the whole thing. Everyone’s background is tailored to their interests as well, such as how lightly painted plants and flowers are practically spilling out of Noir’s section. Unfortunately, it is still very hard to call anything in Fantasma ‘beautiful.’

Ren is soon joined by some of the others, each wanting their own look at the art piece. Though most of them spread out considering the size of the mural, Yukari happens to take a spot right next to him.

“You guys have some crazy costumes between you,” she says. “Did you get to pick when you got your Personas, or did it come after that?”

“We actually didn’t get to pick at all,” Ren replies. “At least not consciously.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. Remember what I said about my outfit manifesting from my will of rebellion? That same thing is what makes the Phantom Thieves’ costumes look how they do. Each of our outfits is based on our own internal idea of what a rebel is.”

Yukari squints at the fourth section of the mural. “And…what kind of rebellion takes the form of bright red latex?”

“It…somewhat makes sense in context. At least, we decided on something that sounds good to us to make it seem less weird. Not all costumes are equally beloved in the group.”

“Speaking of ‘beloved,’ I want to know more about Yoshizawa-chan’s,” Rise says, joining the conversation as she points to the end of the mural. “Because it seems like she happened to like your costume a lot. You know, since hers is almost a perfect match for yours.”

Ren shrugs, though the small grin on his face is anything but indifferent. “Like I said, we all have our own ideas of rebellion. It just so happens that I made up a big part of Violet’s.”

“Oh? Come to think of it, she did gush about how much you had helped her last time we talked. She really looks up to you a lot.”

“Yeah, well…she probably shouldn’t.”

The smile on Rise’s face curls down. “Ren-Ren…”

“I know you don’t like to hear me say stuff like that, but you don’t have the context that I do. If you knew how slow I was in saving her from herself, you wouldn’t—”

Whatever thought was in Ren’s head just now completely fades away. Though Violet’s section of the mural is something he has been looking at this entire time, it is only just now that something specific in it has caught his eye. He doesn’t know how he missed it before.

“Something wrong, Ren?” Yu asks, walking up to him with the others in tow. “You just cut yourself off there.”

“Yeah.” Ren walks along the wall until he gets to the end of the mural. His gloved hand raises to brush against the painting. “This artwork of Violet is wrong.”

“Wrong how?” Rise asks. “Is that not actually what her costume looks like?”

“No, the costume is fine. It’s her hair that’s the problem.”

The others surely wouldn’t notice, but Ren is mentally kicking himself for missing such an obvious detail. The Sumire depicted in the mural may be bent back in a way that makes her hair flow, but the visible volume of it and the lack of a black ribbon are dead giveaways to the issue.

“Violet never wears her hair down like that in the Metaverse,” Ren continues. “It’s kind of hard to see in this painting, but her hair is supposed to be tied up when she’s in costume.”

“Oh, got it! But…is that important?” Teddie asks.

“I believe so. It’s a minor thing, yeah, but it’s still an incorrect depiction of someone who is supposedly a ‘Hall of Fame’ honoree. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems weird that everything we’ve seen in this place has been scarily accurate so far, yet this acts as the one exception.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you,” Naoto says. “For a place that prides itself on knowing the Phantom Thieves and their history, displaying anything incorrectly, regardless of significance, undermines the rest of the wing’s efforts.”

“So instead of this being some kind of mistake, you think it’s actually a clue?” Akihiko asks.

“Only one way to find out,” Ren replies.

As Ren’s mask is cast away – alongside a muted apology to Sumire’s image – Arsène appears at his side with claws raised. They gouge out the last section of the mural with one large slash, revealing an open area behind what was previously thought to be the end of the line in the museum wing. A heavy flap of Arsène’s wings blows a bit of the remaining debris aside so that everyone can enter the opening.

“Yikes,” Junpei says, stepping over the rubble strewn across the floor. “Hope that attendant up front doesn’t have to clean this up.”

“Do cognitive attendants earn wages?” Yukiko asks. “I imagine that nothing changes with more or less work in their day-to-day.”

“We can ponder the ins and outs of cognitive employees later,” says Yosuke. “We should be focusing on what the heck we’re going to do with that.”

Yosuke’s finger points ahead at a rippling wall of translucent magenta light. Pulses shoot out from the center of it rhythmically, making the entire thing shimmer even in the limited light of this new room.

Ren picks up a small piece of rubble at his feet and hurls it at the light. The rock bounces off after making contact, confirming his suspicions that the light is less of a decoration and more of a barrier.

“Great,” Kanji says, “we cleared a way through one obstacle and now we get hit with another.”

Chie puts her face up to the barrier and makes a noise of displeasure. “I can’t really see through it very well. Getting close makes my skin tingle.”

“Chie, please don’t put your face on mysterious barriers,” Yu says. “Ren, you’ve got your…Third Eye, was it? Can you see anything past this point?”

A quick attempt shuts that idea down immediately. Ren shakes his head and says, “Whatever this barrier is, it blocks me from peeking past it, so I’m guessing that there’s something valuable back there. Kind of makes me want to tear it down even more.”

“Okay, now you sound like an actual thief,” Yosuke says.

“Hey, over here, everyone,” Akihiko calls out.

Over to the left of their new surroundings is a large slab of stone shaped into a semicircle and embedded into the wall. Missing such a structure was likely due to the draw of the energy barrier, along with the fact that this wall is already obscured by the shadows from the undestroyed parts of the mural separating the two rooms.

Once Aigis and Labrys reveal that their eyes can act as flashlights – which Ren is incredibly charmed by, though he won’t admit that aloud – the structure becomes much easier to see.

Down the center of the semicircle is a carved depiction of a mass of abstract architecture that connects together through bendy structures and nonsensical pathways. The cluster of buildings ends in a sort of conic spiral at the bottom of the stone slab, drilling into what looks to be a crude drawing of a heart.

Though perhaps more interesting than that are all the pieces of paper hanging from various parts of the carving. The browning pages have edges damaged by small tears and smudges, yet the main contents of them are still legible.

Beneath boxes filled with humanlike silhouettes, the word ‘WANTED’ appears on each and every piece of paper.

“Wait, are these wanted posters? Doesn’t make a whole lotta sense in a museum,” Labrys says.

“That could be why this section was hidden away in the first place,” Mitsuru says. “And based on everything else we’ve seen thus far, I wouldn’t be surprised if these posters are all tied to the Phantom Thieves in some way.”

Naoto makes her way to the front of the group to inspect the stone slab. “Though the posters seem strung up haphazardly, I believe they are meant to be sectioned off. See how they form clusters over certain buildings beneath them?”

“Oh, you might be onto something there, Naoto,” says Yosuke. “If you look at it that way, that gives you…nine sections. Or eight, if you don’t include the one that doesn’t have anything on it.”

“Correct. For our purposes, let’s finalize our tally at eight sections with a total of thirty-five posters,” she remarks. “Ren-kun, are either of those numbers of any significance to you?”

“Nothing comes to mind,” he replies, still trying to figure out what this structure could represent in relation to his team.

“Then we’ll have to search around for a potential answer. Figuring out how this connects to the exhibit will likely be the only way to proceed.”

A small discussion starts up to figure out the best way to search, but before it can get anywhere conclusive, the sound of Teddie sniffing at the air gets too loud for everyone to ignore.

“Uh, what’s got you sniffin’, Ted?” Kanji asks.

“Hold on…” Teddie takes a deep whiff through his nose, lurching back from the effort. He rights himself with an equally deep gasp. “I smell a Shadow somewhere nearby!”

“Really?” Yosuke says. “You sure it’s not just another cognition? You thought the dragon was a Shadow before.”

“No, I know the smells are different now! This is definitely a Shadow.”

Fuuka’s voice joins them to add, “Teddie-kun is correct. I’m getting a signal not very far from all of you. Rise-chan, you should be able to pinpoint its exact location since you’re on-site.”

“Leave it to me.”

Kouzeon appears in a flash of light behind Rise, somewhat cramped in the hidden room. Fortunately, the restrictive space does nothing to hinder her search efforts.

“Found it,” Rise exclaims, dismissing Kouzeon to point to the opening in the mural. “It’s back by the costume cases from earlier!”

“Then that’s where we’re headed,” Yu says.

Everyone funnels through the destroyed mural opening to backtrack through the museum wing. For once, the organization of the building is an aid to them, allowing them to reach the room containing the costume cases without much effort.

The Shadow they find is short and brick-colored aside from the thick purple hair covering the top half of its face. Twin horns poke out from the top of the hair, which also extends into a braid long enough to rest on the floor.

The creature is in the middle of inspecting Fox’s costume when everyone stumbles upon it. As soon as it realizes that it’s been discovered, it shrieks and bolts in the opposite direction of everyone, its long braid whipping behind it.

“It’s running?!” Junpei exclaims.

“It could be a lead – don’t let it escape!” Mitsuru shouts.

The group gives chase through the entire museum wing aided by Fuuka’s directions. The Shadow is fast on its feet, taking sharp corners and squeezing through narrow gaps in an attempt to shake off its pursuers.

Ren’s Metaverse capabilities put him at the head of the pack with Aigis and Labrys using their thrusters to keep pace. They would likely be ahead of him if they could go full speed, but that is obviously a bad idea in a crowded museum space.

It ends up not mattering once the chase takes them past the entryway of the museum wing and out into the oversaturated landscape from before. The Shadow scurries its way into a hole in the cliffside next to the museum exterior.

“It’s fleeing into that cave system,” Fuuka informs them. “Now would be the time to corner it; I’m detecting multiple tunnels inside that would make pursuit extremely difficult should it escape.”

Trailing behind the three frontrunners, the Shadow Operatives call for Aigis to act on Fuuka’s warning. The android voices an affirmative before blasting off with the aid of her full power. Ren is smart enough to clear the way so that he isn’t blown away by her propulsion.

A little more running puts the rest of them in the cave, which ends up being a large and sprawling area that looks a lot more natural than the environment directly outside. As Fuuka warned, this initial area alone has what looks to be six different tunnels lining the back wall. Aigis has blocked off such means of escape, pinning the Shadow under the barrels of her guns.

“Ha! Nowhere to run now,” Chie shouts. “Nice going with cutting it off, Aigis!”

“Thank you, Satonaka-san.”

“Man, what even is that little freak?” Yosuke asks through labored breaths.

“Obariyon,” answers Ren. “It’s nothing special. Electric attacks are its weakness.”

“Then let’s do this quickly,” Yu says, stepping up with his sword drawn. “Kanji, Akihiko-san, you ready?”

“You got it, senpai!”

“Yeah, let’s go. Clear the way, Aigis.”

True to his word, Yu leads the two of them in a quick, decisive attack. Odin joins Takeji Zaiten and Caesar in unleashing a Ziodyne chain that completely eviscerates the Shadow before it even has the chance to do anything.

As the smoke clears, a lone scrap of paper flutters to the ground from Obariyon’s former position. Rise is the one to walk over and pick it up.

“Got something?” Yu asks her.

“Maybe. The Shadow left behind this piece of paper. Actually, it’s more like a newspaper clipping. But…there’s a random guy on it.”

“Oh? Can we take a look?” Yukiko asks.

Rise flips the paper around, showing off the image of a man printed across the front. The picture is fairly unflattering at first glance. The man has his head dipped with his eyes barely visible behind foggy glasses. The wrinkles in his forehead just barely peek out through the flat bangs of his bowl cut.

True to Rise’s words, this does seem like a random guy. Travelling through Japan would put you within view of hundreds of young men just like the one in the photo. Though as generic as he appears to most, Ren can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t just some no-name Fantasma is throwing at them.

“Wait, let me see that,” he says. When he gets the paper in hand, the closeup view all but cements his recognition. He hasn’t seen the man since early twenty-sixteen, but there’s no mistaking this face. “Nakanohara…”

“You know ‘im, Ren?” asks Kanji.

“Yeah. He was a pupil of Madarame’s that helped put us on the path to saving Yusuke and taking Madarame himself down. Well, he did eventually. Before that, he was actually the very first— Wait…”

Ren thinks back to the wanted posters in the museum. Specifically, how they were arranged. It hadn’t sparked any ideas in him back then, but when he considers the illogical architecture and how everything seemed to be focused on pointing downwards, an image finally comes to mind.

Though they never had a physical map for such a massive realm, there is only one place he knows of that the Phantom Thieves ever attempted to dive deeper into. The wanted posters only convince him further considering who they found at every turn in that place.

“Thirty-five posters and eight sections… Now I understand.” He lets out a tired laugh. “Man, Fantasma sure loves wasting our time.”

“Sounds like you figured something out, Joker,” says Labrys.

“I think so.” Ren shows off the paper in his hands. “The man in this photograph is Natsuhiro Nakanohara, a victim of Ichiryusai Madarame that turned to stalking his ex-girlfriend. Because of that, he ended up being the first minor change of heart the Phantom Thieves ever performed.”

“Minor change of heart?” Mitsuru asks. “Why the distinction?”

“Our major targets were all severely distorted to the point of having Palaces. Only by stealing their treasures were we able to change their hearts. For less distorted people like Nakanohara, the process was a lot less complicated. We only had to find their Shadow in Mementos, which is like everyone’s Palace in a sense, and defeat them. After Nakanohara, we performed that same method on thirty-four others before we lost access to Mementos entirely.”

Naoto nods along to the explanation. “Now I see what you’re getting at. Those wanted posters back in the exhibit were likely alerting us to the fact that your ‘minor targets’ are roaming around this place awaiting defeat. Yamagishi-san, can you confirm the presence of more Shadows nearby?”

“I was just about to inform you all of that. It seems more Shadows are lurking deeper in this cave system. From what I can sense, they all have greater power than the one you just defeated.”

“Then I was correct in assuming that the Obariyon representing Nakanohara-san’s Shadow was just a prelude. Its appearance in the museum put us on this path, and now that we have a photograph the approximate size of the silhouetted boxes on the wanted posters…”

“We have essentially been roped into a bounty hunting excursion,” says Mitsuru. “We’ll need to locate the Shadows representing the Phantom Thieves’ previous targets, and upon defeating them, we will obtain proof of our victory in the form of these newspaper clippings. I suspect uniting them with the posters in the museum will help us bypass the barrier we saw earlier.”

“So we’re just kicking Shadow butt, then?” Junpei asks. “Hey, I’ll take something that straightforward!”

“I’ll actually agree,” says Yukari. “Better that than stressing over a deadly puzzle. At least we know how to do this.”

“Let’s break into small teams for this, then,” Yu says. “Since we’ve still got thirty-four Shadows left to find, it’ll be faster if we’re not all together while we search.”

“A fair point, but is it wise to disperse our strength like that?” Mitsuru asks. “Joker, you have faced each of these enemies before. Is dividing ourselves feasible?”

“Yeah, a lot of the earlier ones on the list aren’t very strong,” he replies. “Some of the later ones could be tricky, but we should be fine in most cases. Honestly, I think the Wild Cards could handle some fights on our own, but I doubt that sounds appealing to the rest of you.”

“It does not,” Rise says with a frown. “At least take one other person with each of you, just in case.”

“That works,” says Yu. “As for everyone else, teams of three should be fine. Then we’ll have Rise hang back to help Fuuka-san navigate for us all.”

Mitsuru nods in agreement. “If all is settled, let’s group up quickly so we can get this done.”

“Ooh – I wanna go with Ren,” Chie exclaims. She turns to him with her fists raised to her chest. “That’s okay, right?”

“Of course,” he replies, chuckling at the enthusiasm. “We’ll take out more targets than all the other teams.”

“Yeah we will!”

Yosuke rolls his eyes. “It’s not a competition, guys.”

“Well, duh. When have you ever been able to compete with me?”

“You little—!”

“I’ll take Yosuke-kun and Teddie,” Labrys says, pulling both of the boys closer to her. “Shouldn’t have any problems with the three of us.”

Teddie bounces in her hold. “Yay! I get to go with Labby-chan!”

“Yep! That okay with you, Yosuke-kun?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah, for sure. Totally works.”

“Keep his head in the game, Labrys,” Rise says. “Yosuke can get distracted with pretty girls around.”

The accused doesn’t get the chance to refute that before more teams start to form. Yukiko agrees to join Yu after he asks, and the same goes for Yukari once Aigis requests her assistance.

Claiming a need for the ‘old guard’ to ‘show their stuff,’ Junpei enlists Ken and Akihiko for his small team. Neither have any problems with the arrangement aside from not completely understanding what that claim is supposed to mean.

“Then Shirogane and Tatsumi are with me,” says Mitsuru. “Now, Joker, would you kindly help us figure out which Shadows to target? I assume some of us are better suited for certain fights than others.”

“Sure thing. I don’t remember the details of every single Shadow, but we can at least plan for the ones with stupid gimmicks. Gather round, everybody.”

 

*          *          *

 

“Keep at it, everyone! You’ve almost reached the end of this battle!”

The Tam Lin currently battling Akihiko, Ken, and Junpei grunts in defiance, twirling its spear around. Junpei and Ken keep their distance with their Evokers drawn, but Akihiko is already waiting for an opening to rush in.

“Come on, you two,” he says. “You heard Yamagishi. This thing is on its last legs, so let’s wrap this up.”

“Would love to, but it not having any weaknesses is making this a pain,” Junpei says. “Why’d Joker give us this one again?”

“Something about this Shadow being able to brainwash girls,” Akihiko responds after sidestepping a One-shot Kill. He does his best to tank the spear lunge that follows. “Not sure what that means, though.”

Ken puts his Evoker to his head. “Well, it’s better not to have to find out. Kala-Nemi!”

A wave of healing goes out over the boys, refreshing Akihiko enough for him to stay on offense. Junpei jumps in as well, sending Trismegistus over to attack the Tam Lin from behind. That secondary assault turns out to be the deciding factor of the fight when Trismegistus’s Brave Blade lands a critical hit.

With the Shadow dropped down to its knees, the young men all prime their Evokers for one last joint attack. They call out to their Personas in unison, raining down lightning, fire, and a tower of light onto the Tam Lin between them. Outside of the booming sounds of the attacks, it is silent as the Shadow fades away.

Junpei woops, pumping his fist in the air. “Oh, yeah! Boys’ night!”

Ken chuckles as he replies, “It was just one Shadow, Junpei-san. We still have more to defeat.”

“Even after all this time, you’ve never learned to revel in the victory.”

“And you tend to revel in it too early.”

“Eh, agree to disagree.”

Akihiko shakes his head with a fond grin as he walks over to the only thing serving as the Shadow’s remains. A lone newspaper clipping rests on the ground where elements came together to vanquish a powerful foe.

“Ken’s right,” Akihiko says, picking the paper off the ground. “This was just our first win. We’ve still got plenty of Shadows to take down.”

Junpei waves his hand dismissively. “Yeah, but we can at least celebrate beating a mini-boss while we’re at it! Man, I wish Koromaru was here – he’d agree with me for sure! And it sucks he has to sit out of the action, too.”

“Well, it’s probably for the best. He isn’t getting any younger. He deserves to take it easy, even though I doubt he’ll seriously retire from fighting while we’re all still active. That’s one loyal dog.”

“You said it. Hey, Ken? Koromaru’s been all good lately, right? He’s not, like…getting slower or losing energy or anything?”

“Not really. Why do you—” Ken’s face drops a bit once realization sets in. “Oh…”

“Shoot, sorry. Didn’t mean to bum you out.”

“No, that’s okay! I know you’re just checking in on him.” Ken sighs, messing with some hair at the base of his neck. “I know Koromaru’s not as young as he used to be. He’s not in poor health right now, but every year that goes by makes me realize that he won’t be around forever. I…try not to think about it much.”

“Aw, dude…”

“Well, rather than dwell on that, you should be focusing on how good a life you’ve given Koromaru up ‘til now,” says Akihiko. “I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog happier than him after you two started living together.”

“Ah…” Ken’s eyes fall to the ground as he fights a smile. “I don’t know about all that…”

“Nah, Akihiko’s got a point,” says Junpei. “None of us ever took care of him as well as you do. I swear, you two are, like, bonded for life. No chance he just up and leaves you behind after everything you’ve been through.”

In agreement with that sentiment, a familiar string of barks echoes in the minds of each of the young men present. Fuuka’s giggling comes in right after.

“I think Koro-chan’s trying to reassure you, Ken-kun. Sounds like he doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”

Ken finally loses the battle against his smile. “I’d hope not. We’ve got tons more memories to make. That goes for all of us, actually.”

“Hey, sounds good to me,” Junpei says. “Maybe one of these days Akihiko will take us somewhere fun instead of running off halfway across the world on his own.”

Akihiko mutters, “You go on a globetrotting adventure one time and they never let you hear the end of it…”

“Aw, I’m just messin’. We can plan vacations later – we got Shadows to stomp, boys!”

“Now we’re talking. I need to make sure I don’t let my honorary student pass me up.”

“If you’re planning on defeating more Shadows than Satonaka-chan, I would suggest hurrying,” Fuuka says. “She and Joker-kun are moving on to their third target.”

“Already?!” Junpei jogs ahead to the next cave opening and waves his arms like a crossing guard. “C’mon, slowpokes! I don’t wanna be on the team with the lowest score.”

“Way ahead of you,” Akihiko says. He bursts into a sprint and charges headfirst through the opening, leaving Ken to shake his head as he follows at a normal pace.

“Some things never change, do they, Koromaru?”

The barks that come in response this time are ones that can only be described as world-weary.

 

*          *          *

 

“Yukiko, watch out!”

Yu just barely manages to shove Yukiko aside before getting slammed with a Bufudyne from the Lilim across from him. Norn is able to resist the brunt of the attack, but Yu still grits his teeth as a flash of cold seeps through his battle attire and into his bones.

Teeth chattering, he manages to call out, “G–Garudyne…”

Norn follows through with the command, but just as it resists ice, the Lilim seems to have a similar resistance to wind. By Yu’s count, that is the fourth element in a row that it has been able to shrug off. At least the attack itself had a nice bonus effect of pushing the Lilim back a bit.

With some distance gained, Yukiko takes a breath. “Thank you for the rescue, Yu-kun. I wasn’t expecting such a swift ice attack…”

“That’s my bad,” Rise says, her voice popping in so quickly that Yu suspects she just got done helping someone else. “I should have given you a better warning, Yukiko.”

“No, you’re already managing so many of us, Rise-chan. You shouldn’t have to strain yourself just to cover my bad habits. I’ll simply be more cautious going forward.”

“Still, I’d like to wrap this up before it spirals out of control,” Yu says. “The fact that this Shadow has so many different attacks at its command presents a real problem if we drag this out.”

“That is true. So how do we overcome this quickly…” Yukiko suddenly perks up, tapping Yu on his shoulder. “Oh, what about that technique we devised together? We’ve never gotten the chance to actually see if it works.”

“Oh, I forgot all about that. Well, now’s as good a time as any, but we’ll have to down it first. Rise, do you know its weakness yet?”

“I’ve got a read on every affinity except for the two new ones,” she responds. “It could be weak to either Bless or Curse, or even both, but there’s still a chance of the Shadow blocking, repelling, or absorbing either of them. Be careful, Senpai.”

“I will. And in the spirit of caution…”

When Yu feels the contents of his heart shift around this time, it is with an added sense of purpose. Each of his other selves make way for who Yu needs in this very moment as he addresses the recovering Shadow.

“Considering you’ve hit us with everything except for those Bless attacks, I’m willing to bet you don’t particularly like them. This won’t be the same, but hopefully it’s close enough. Come, Sraosha!”

When his summoned Persona expels light from its palms, it takes the form of an actual attack instead of the instant-kill technique Yu remembers. The change is likely due to the nature of the Metaverse in contrast to other areas.

In this case, it is definitely preferred. Besides the fact that this Shadow likely can’t be killed instantly, this plan of his won’t work unless he inflicts actual damage.

Luck is on his side, it seems, as his suspicions bear fruit. The holy attack blasts the Lilim dead center, putting it on the ground in a visible daze.

“You got its weakness, Senpai!” Rise cheers. “Looks like Fuuka-san’s theory was right – our Light and Dark can matchup to all this Bless and Curse stuff.”

“That’s a relief,” Yu says. “I’d hate for that type of damage to be all on Ren’s shoulders. Yukiko, let’s hit it with an All-Out Attack while we can!”

“Right!”

The two dash forward and proceed to rain down as much physical punishment upon the Shadow as they can. Even when boosted by Rise’s cheering, the damage isn’t quite enough to result in a kill. In this case, however, that is precisely according to plan.

Back when they were traversing through the TV World and battling the Shadows there, All-Out Attacks that left a target unfinished had the chance to result in a strange phenomenon for the Investigation Team. An unexplainable power would surge amongst certain pairings and enable them to unleash a combined Persona technique to inflict even more damage.

None of them ever knew how to explain the moves beyond ‘getting a feeling,’ and since they seemed to have no cost to them when they appeared, no one sought to look into them too deeply. It was a rare mystery that needed no solving.

Yu and Yukiko had never been one of the pairs affected by this, but between their experiences in the P-1 Grand Prix and their later work with the Shadow Operatives, they have a better grasp of the power within them. Rather than try to create something entirely new, all they need is to give focus to what had been managed in the past. Tapping into strength already achieved could turn fantasy into reality, and when it came to the worlds of Shadows, ‘reality’ was something incredibly subjective.

“Yu-kun, do you feel that?” Yukiko asks, her hair already fluttering from the power pouring out of her.

“I sure do,” Yu says. Something like static snakes along his arms and into his veins. “Let’s put this technique to the test.”

With synchronized movements, Yu and Yukiko go back-to-back as they shatter the floating tarot cards in front of them.

“Sumeo-Okami!”

“Izanagi!”

The two purest parts of the fighters’ souls heed their summoning, mirroring the positions of those beneath them. At their gestures, a massive replica of Izanagi’s blade comes crashing down from the heavens right on top of the Lilim. It flickers once, then twice, before covering itself in an electric charge directed solely at its captive.

In addition, petals made of pure pink light bloom from the top of the blade’s handle. Though cherry blossoms escape them and fall towards the ground, they never get the chance to make contact. Their descent is denied as a tower of flame erupts around the flower with a bladed stem, ensuring that anything within its reach is no more than ashes.

As the combination technique ends and everything returns to normal, only paper rests among the scorched earth. Yu and Yukiko let out a breath of relief in tandem, dismissing their Personas for the time being.

“It really worked,” Yukiko says, her voice cheerful despite the fatigue. “I hadn’t expected it to be so destructive, though.”

“Well, it wasn’t quite as strong as you and Chie’s team attack, but it still got the job done.” Yu scoops up their reward from the ground. “But yeah, at least it went off without a hitch. I’d feel okay calling this a complete success.”

“We often have those with you around, Yu-kun. Even after all this time, you are still as dependable as always.”

“I do my best to be worthy of my amazing team,” he replies. “Speaking of, do you think everyone else is doing okay?”

“I imagine so. Chie is likely tearing through Shadows with Ren-kun at her side, and Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun are with Mitsuru-san, so there isn’t anything to worry about there.” A small frown works its way onto her face as she adds, “Though I’m not entirely sure about Yosuke-kun and Teddie. I know Labrys is capable, but…”

“Yeah, Teddie’s hard to wrangle, which makes Yosuke lose his cool sometimes. Hopefully Labrys acting as their muscle keeps them out of danger. Although, I still worry.”

“About the three of them?”

“No, sorry. I meant about all of this in general.” Yukiko gives Yu a puzzled look, so he follows up with, “We’re no strangers to getting called back into Persona action suddenly, but I don’t want any of us falling into old habits.”

“Ah, now I see. Back in our first year of this, many of us were of the mindset that battling Shadows was the extent of our worth. We were a troubled group of teens, and solving the murder case gave us a purpose. Though we all had plans following Adachi-san’s arrest, it was difficult to come back to normal life after all that.”

“Exactly. We’re all pretty set on where we want to end up, and having to fight Shadows shouldn’t take that away. I just hope everyone knows that they can make a difference in the world without risking their lives.”

“We do, Yu-kun. In fact, most of us know that because of you.”

“Oh, come on…”

“No, I’m quite serious,” Yukiko says. “You helped each and every one of us discover a new aspect of ourselves that proved instrumental in letting us choose our own futures. Without you, none of us would be on the path that we’re on. We don’t take that lightly, and though we may need to heed the call of battle occasionally, trust that we know exactly where we belong when all is said and done.”

A soft laugh, short and sweet, rises from Yu. “If I’m dependable, then you’re just as eloquent as always. I never could find words as easily as you seem to.”

“Ironic, considering it was you who helped me find my voice in the first place.”

“I’m honored that I could help. You’re right, I should have more faith in all of us. We are adults now, after all.”

“That we are – even if it doesn’t always feel like it. So, are your worries assuaged for the time being?”

“Mostly. But…there is still one person that I don’t think entirely gets that message I was talking about earlier.” Yu sighs. “And with the way things are going, I’m not sure how to convince him.”

He clearly doesn’t have to explain where his mind has gone; Yukiko is notably right beside him in thought. She nods along, though with a smile to combat his sudden grimace.

“Even so, I believe in your ability to figure it out. Getting through to people is your specialty, after all. Just don’t let the fact that you met him last out of our group dissuade your efforts. He’ll listen to you.”

“I really hope so.” Taking note of the silence in the cave, Yu is reminded of why they are out here in the first place. “Sorry to hold us up with discussion. The others are counting on us to carry our weight, so let’s head to the next fight.”

“Of course. Maybe doing a little extra will lessen the burden on our ‘trouble trio’ should they run into any complications.”

“I’m all for that, but even if they do, I trust that they can handle it. In fact, I bet they’re putting an end to a clean fight as we speak.”

 

*          *          *

 

Teddie screams into the air as he holds onto the Unicorn under him for dear life. It races around the wide-open space of the cave, neighing and bucking to try and throw off the mascot on its back. Labrys and Yosuke watch it run in circles, unsure how to step in without hurting their formerly joyriding ally.

As the Unicorn does a high leap into the air, Teddie grabs another paw-ful of its mane and shouts, “Someone get me down from here!”

Yosuke yells back, “I told you not to try and ride that thing!”

“But it’s a horsey!”

“It’s a Shadow!” Though Yosuke’s exhaustion is more of the mental variety, it stings all the same. He turns to the last part of his temporary trio. “Labrys, if I get that thing to stop, do you think you can take it down?”

She gives a quick salute. “Leave it to me!”

Trusting at least one part of this takedown to go right, Yosuke nods and darts off to where he expects the Unicorn to run based on its previous pathing.

It banks right into the expected curve, putting it on a collision course with Yosuke himself. He raises his kunai as a tarot card comes floating down in front of him.

“I need all the wind you’ve got, old friend. Go, Persona!”

With the tarot card slashed comes Takehaya Susano-o. His hands command a fierce current to lash out at the Shadow in front of it, slowing its sprint into little more than a crawl.

Taking advantage of those winds, Yosuke leaps in front of them, propelling himself over to where the Unicorn has been stalled. The speed at which he passes by lets him snatch Teddie from atop the creature’s back, and though their landing is a rough tumble across the rocky cave floor, Yosuke catches his breath in time to shout into the air.

“You’re clear, Labrys!”

“Gotcha,” she replies. “One Theurgy, comin’ up!”

With proper preparations in place, Labrys activates one of the cartridges within to supercharge her systems and push all her internals to their limit. The excess of power not only enhances her, but summons Ariadne, who tosses out a prism of light that binds the nearby Unicorn in a large cage of the same construct.

With immobilization duties swapped, Takehaya Susano-o finally returns to Yosuke, causing him to slump over with fatigue.

“Rest up, Yosuke-kun – I’ll take it from here.”

With a strength unique to an Anti-Shadow Weapon, Labrys hurls her axe out like a boomerang at the imprisoned Unicorn. As soon as it makes contact, Labrys launches her left fist out on a chain to grab hold of the weapon once more.

She immediately swings it back in the direction of the Unicorn, delivering slash after slash with her increased range and the extra momentum. The final downwards slash sends the beast skidding across the ground, its white hide covered in cuts and bruises.

Such a sight would give most people pause out of pity, but it only makes Teddie growl to see the Shadow still maintaining its form.

“Not done, eh? Then here’s something for taking me on such a scary ride – Bearsona!”

Kamui-Moshiri appears and lets out an attack that covers the battlefield in a trio of golden bursts. Going by the distressed neighing barely audible through all the booms, each one finds their target.

Unlike a real explosion, all of the visual effects fade away once the attack is complete, letting everyone present see the Unicorn forcing itself onto its feet once again.

Beady red eyes lock onto the two Persona-users still grounded. With a visible snort and a loud cry, it charges forward, lowering its horn down to deliver an attack manually.

“Wah! That just made it angrier!”

“Crap,” Yosuke exclaims. “Get ready to block, Teddie! This might hurt a little—”

The Unicorn’s enraged stampede is cut short when it notices a silver blur shoot overtop the two in its path. Eyes a deeper and more piercing red than the Shadow’s glare down on it as mechanical arms reel back a gargantuan axe.

“Hooves off my boys, ya stupid horse!” Labrys yells. “Hya!”

Her axe comes smashing down into the Unicorn’s back, bifurcating it so fiercely that it actually splits into two distinct halves before crumbling into dust. With no innards to speak of, it is a kill devoid of any mess. The only thing left behind is the single scrap of newspaper that drifts down to rest on top of Teddie’s head.

Labrys pushes out a breath of effort and turns back to her allies. “You two alright? Didn’t expect my Theurgy not to finish the fight there.”

Teddie snaps back to reality to waddle over and hug Labrys, leaving Yosuke to grab and pocket their proof of victory.

“You saved us, Labby-chan! You’re the coolest!”

“Aw, shucks – I didn’t do much. Besides, you’d do the same for me if need be.”

“You say that, but you probably have an easier time protecting us than we have protecting you,” Yosuke remarks. “You’re like a one-woman army.”

“Heh. Sure have come a long way since the first time we met, haven’t I?”

Teddie nods. “I’ll say! Being with Mit-chan and the others made you super strong!”

“Ain’t that the truth. With the amount of testin’ Mitsuru-san has me and Aigis do to maintain ourselves, I’d be disappointed if one little Shadow could trip me up.”

“Well, we’re thrilled to have that kind of strength on our side this time around,” Yosuke says. “And it’s not bad to catch up, either. We don’t see you as often as we wish.”

“Really? You missed me?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t we?”

“We talk about you all the time,” Teddie adds. “Most of us wish you stayed with us in Inaba this whole time.”

“Though we understand your reason for joining the Shadow Operatives. We just wish you had a chance to do some normal teen stuff. Uh, not that you’re… Well, you get it.”

“Yeah, I do,” Labrys says. “And…thanks for sayin’ all that. If I’m honest, part of me started gettin’ scared at the beginning of all this.”

“Huh?”

“What could even scare you, Labby-chan?”

“Ah… It’s not a big deal, but…I thought there wasn’t a need for me in the gang now that you’ve got the real ninth member of the team back.”

“The…ninth member? Who…?” The answer hits Yosuke like an errant bug in the Inaba countryside, though this impact brings no irritation, only pity. “You’re talking about Ren, aren’t you?”

Teddie looks lost hearing that, and Yosuke doesn’t blame him. It is something that came out of nowhere for the two of them. Based on how Labrys fiddles with the axe in her hands, however, it is entirely on the mark.

“I hope that doesn’t sound bad. I like Joker-kun so far – he’s really cool! But…but he was here a long time before me, so I wouldn’t blame you guys for not having a space for me anymore. I get it, really.”

Teddie utters a sad, “Labby-chan…”

Yosuke shakes his head. A long time ago, he might have put his foot in his mouth or struggled to say something meaningful at all. Inner growth, however, is a heck of a force of change. He is better by virtue of his own strength, not to mention how often a certain partner of his has pushed him along when he stumbles. To ignore that would be an insult to them both.

“Labrys, I get you haven’t been around us as long as some other people, but that’s just not how we work. There aren’t any ‘spots’ to take, and we don’t have a limit on how many people we care about.” Yosuke reaches out and pats his friend on the shoulder. “Just because we’ve got Ren back doesn’t mean we don’t have room for you too, Labrys. We meant it when we said you’re one of us.”

Teddie pumps his paws in the air. “Yeah, you and Ren-Ren! We’d never take one or the other – you’re both beary important to us.”

“What he said. Minus the bear pun, of course.”

Labrys smiles at the pair, her artificial features creasing with the movement. “Thanks, you two. Sorry to get all mopey.”

“Happens to the best of us. And hey, why don’t we plan a hangout on the way to the next Shadow? The reunion party was cool, but we deserve some quality time with you.”

That same smile gets even bigger. “I already can’t wait.”

 

*          *          *

 

Another volley of bullets from Aigis’s fingertips reduce the Legion in their path to dusty ashes. The air is barely rid of its pained moaning before an identical copy takes its place, summoned into being by the Macabre that dances close by. The new Legion takes the arrow Yukari had just aimed at the main target.

She growls as she lowers her bow. “Those weird blob things just keep spawning! It’d be better if we downed everything for an All-Out Attack. Fuuka, you got any weaknesses for these things yet?”

“The one in the back doing the summoning is weak to Bless damage,” she replies. “I’m afraid the Shadows it is employing have no weaknesses.”

“Ugh – of course they don’t. Still, that’s better than nothing. Aigis, do you have anything that can hit the main one’s weakness?”

“Affirmative.”

Aigis closes her eyes and wills her Personas to swap places. With the proper one in place, she summons it into being with a flash of light.

“Trumpeter!”

The skeletal Persona’s harrowing tune rings out across the battlefield, bringing twin pillars of light down onto the Shadows across from it. While the Legion simply recoils from the hit, the Macabre folds over and drops down.

“Nice one, Aigis! Keep up the pressure!”

She doesn’t need to be told twice. Recalling Trumpeter allows for another switch to occur, this time granting Aigis attacks with true physical force behind them. If no weakness can be exploited, she will break her enemies with pure strength.

“Chi You!”

The newly arrived Persona wastes no time waving its many held weapons. Doing so unleashes a Vorpal Blade upon those in opposition, cutting their health down by a large margin. A Primal Force follows, slamming into the Macabre and ridding the area of its summoning for good.

The weakened Legion retaliates with a Megaton Raid that would leave Aigis reeling had she not brought out a Persona that resisted the type of damage it inflicts.

Shrugging off the external pain and the internal pain soon to come, Aigis thrusts her hand out towards her foe.

“Once more, please! Primal Force!”

Another wave of Chi You’s arsenal casts the attack with ruthless efficiency. The Legion dies just as its countless predecessors had before it. With the area clear of Shadows, a scrap of newspaper flutters to the ground.

As much as Aigis would like to walk over and secure it immediately, the rapid pace of health-draining attacks has left her a bit winded. Fortunately, a complete sense of renewal washes over her before long. The gentle healing of Isis is as much of a comfort as ever.

After stowing her Evoker, Yukari goes ahead and grabs the newspaper clipping herself before returning to Aigis’s side.

“Careful about your health, Aigis. I know these Shadows aren’t super tough, but you going down from a stray hit would put me in trouble.”

“Right. My apologies, Yukari-san.”

Yukari rolls her eyes. “Still so formal. Shouldn’t the team leader brush off my scolding and assure me that everything’s fine? I’m not used to my warnings actually hitting home.”

The statement gives Aigis pause. Though the words themselves are innocuous, it is the meaning beneath them that sticks out.

Aigis has never been one to disregard cautious musings from teammates, which means that Yukari must be referring to…

“By ‘leader,’ do you mean…?”

“Yeah. I can practically hear him say it, too. He’d be all, ‘I’m fine, Yukari. I’ve got you to heal me. Why worry?’ Jeez…” She shakes her head, though it does nothing to rid herself of the tender look in her eyes. “Between you and me, I think he knew what saying that did to me. That dummy used it to get out of trouble all the time.”

There is a noticeable lack of difficulty for Yukari to get those words out. They neither choked her upon exit nor forced tears simply by existing. For once, she looks at peace, or rather, as close as one could get considering all that they went through.

“You…don’t often show this ease when talking about those days,” Aigis says, still a bit astonished. “Especially not Makoto-san.”

Yukari seems to come down from where her head had been in the clouds. With just the slightest tinge of pink across her cheeks – a look that makes her resemble the easily flustered teenage Yukari Takeba from almost a decade ago – she sighs aloud.

“Yeah, well…if I can’t say that kind of stuff to you, who can I say it to?” Yukari bumps her teammate’s shoulder, a shaky smile forming on her face. “We’re in this recovery thing together, aren’t we?”

Aigis pushes down the surprise at this entire conversation to smile back at her. “Always. If I am allowed to be honest, I always enjoy hearing you speak of him. Your stories hold so much warmth to them. I truly believe you two shared a bond like no other.”

“Kinda weird hearing that from you of all people. But…thanks.” When Yukari shakes her head this time, all the longing bits of her expression go with the motion. She points towards their next destination. “He’d probably be halfway through dealing with the next Shadow, though, so let’s get a move on. Gotta make sure we’re doing right by everyone watching over us, right?”

“Right. On to the next battle, Yukari-san.”

 

*          *          *

 

Mitsuru almost thrusts her rapier into the target in front of her before a dual warning in her head advises against that.

Stopping short, she is forced onto the backfoot by a burst of red and black miasma hurled straight at her. She sidesteps it, aided by the thin layer of frost Artemisia coats the immediate area in.

The Rangda opposing three Persona-users hisses, wiggling its clawed fingers through the air in preparation to attack again. Just as that same black and red energy gathers, however, Naoto calls upon Yamato-Sumeragi to shield her teammates. The Eigaon aimed their way simply dissipates upon contact with them.

“Now is our chance to strike,” Naoto says. “Kanji-kun!”

“On it, Naoto. Persona!”

Takeji Zaiten slams his sword into the ground to call a bulky bolt of lightning down on the nearby Shadow. It all but crumples to the floor after taking the hit.

“Hell yeah – got the weakness!”

“Excellent work, Tatsumi. Allow me to capitalize on your effort,” Mitsuru says.

A sharp gunshot heralds the arrival of Artemisia once more, who seizes the chance to freeze the downed Rangda in a thick block of ice. Mitsuru palms her rapier once again, raising it level to her eyes.

“It can’t deflect our strikes now. Attack with full force!”

Yamato-Sumeragi flies in to chip away at the ice block with its sword, darting in and out to deliver swift slashes in rapid succession. Kanji orders Takeji Zaiten to opt for heavier hits, knocking the ice block around where it sits.

When the Personas return to their wielders, Mitsuru skates forward and does a bit more carving herself. With Artemisia’s aid, the attacks manage to accumulate and affect the Shadow inside the ice, even at its current depth.

Mitsuru glides away to a safe distance, dismissing her Persona and putting on a small grin for what comes next. The moment her heel clacks against the ground, the ice bursts from the inside, leaving the formerly captive Rangda reeling. With its movements still slowed, Naoto has no problem targeting it with a simple Megidola to finish it off. Instead of the normal reward of yen or an item, paper remains as the only sign of a Shadow having been here at all.

“If that battle taught me anything, it is that we underestimate even basic Shadows like this at our own peril,” Naoto says. “Fantasma is bound to have many more tricks in store.”

“I wholeheartedly agree,” says Mitsuru. “You have my thanks for that timely shield, Shirogane. These new attack types have been a challenge to wrap my head around. I’ve never come across anything quite like them.”

“I feel the same. Though I suppose it is fortunate that our Light and Dark skills can mimic the properties of the ones known as Bless and Curse. For the most part, at least.”

“Not all of us can fall back on those,” Kanji points out. He snatches the newspaper clipping off the ground and stuffs it in his pocket. “Some of us gotta rely on the classics.”

“And when the ‘classics’ don’t work?”

“Eh, that’s what I’ve got you for, right?”

Naoto’s sigh sounds only slightly exasperated. There is audible joy laced within.

“While I am committed to backing you up in combat, I am not a perfect cover for any lapses in judgement. Do not get complacent.”

“You always say that, and yet we always come out on top in fights. Trust me, there ain’t nothin’ that can take us down when we get serious!”

“I’m inclined to believe you,” Mitsuru says. “From what I recall, you two have always performed well when paired together.”

The fire in Kanji fades as he looks away and scratches the back of his neck. “Oh, ya think so? I mean…it’s not like we practice or nothin’.”

“I didn’t mean to imply as much. It’s clear you both have a natural affinity for teaming up, one that goes beyond just the field of battle. It is nice to have someone so capable at your side, no?”

“Of course,” Naoto says, hiding her awkward expression a bit better than her teammate. “We are fortunate that everyone with us today is capable in their own right.”

“Hm. About that…”

Naoto clocks the shift in tone immediately. “Is something the matter, Mitsuru-san?”

Mitsuru’s response comes after a weighty pause. She eventually sighs, saying, “This may be callous of me, but I have to ask. Is Joker truly up to the task ahead of us?”

Suddenly freed from the throes of embarrassment, Kanji cocks his head. “What do you mean?”

“Despite how long we have been in Fantasma, it would be foolish to assume we’re anywhere close to having it fully explored. If that is the case, I worry for Joker’s state of mind. He has already been visibly affected by many of the things we’ve seen, and it is likely the same will happen the deeper in we proceed.”

“I see. You’re worried what we find will add more pressure onto him until he reaches a breaking point.”

“Precisely. I do not mean to belittle his strength, of course.”

“Nah, we get it,” Kanji says. “You’ve got your own worries just like we do. Maybe not as strong, but still.”

Naoto nods along. “We have always known Ren-kun to be an exceptionally strongminded person, even as a child. I wish I could say with certainty that such strength is enough for what we are up against, but…”

“It ain’t that simple. You could be the toughest guy in the world, but in a freaky place like this built to push you the whole way? I dunno how you get through in one piece.”

“What I can say, however, is that his chances of making it through this are a lot better with everyone around him. Had he been alone, my worry would increase, but knowing that the three of us and the others are all here to support him help me keep some of the confidence I may have lost otherwise.”

“That is a good point,” Mitsuru says. “Things that seem impossible to overcome from a mental standpoint are not as painful with good friends beside you. I am glad that Joker does not seem as averse to that lesson as I was at his age.”

“Yes, though we cannot be lax in conveying such a simple truth to him. Like you said, he has been affected by many things present in Fantasma, and it is our job as his allies to keep his head above water, so to speak. Allowing any negative feelings to fester within him will cause issues none of us wish on him.”

“So you’re sayin’ we gotta keep an eye on him?” Kanji asks. “Easiest thing we ever did!”

“Not entirely what I was getting at, but in essence, yes.”

“Well, we won’t be able to do so until we reconvene with everyone else,” Mitsuru says. “Shall we continue our hunt?”

“You know it,” Kanji says, cracking his knuckles. “Lemme at those Shadows!”

Naoto readjusts her hat to fit properly. “We’ll follow your lead, Mitsuru-san.”

 

*          *          *

 

“Woah!”

Dropping to the ground allows Ren to narrowly avoid the Brave Blade coming his way from an enemy Chernobog. The cave floor is scored by the whiffed attack, giving Ren a very clear view on what could have been him if he had been just a little slower.

Chie makes no notice of this, only cheering once the danger has passed. “Woo! Nice dodge, Ren!”

“Thanks.”

Despite the grin he flashes while saying that, he knows full well that his evasive maneuver just now was a complete fluke. How is it possible to slip on a completely dry cave floor?

Desperate to partially reclaim his status as ‘the coolest Phantom Thief,’ Ren tears his mask away and points directly at the Chernobog in sight. Two can play at the physical attack game.

“Yoshitsune!”

The armored war general crashes onto the battlefield in flames. With just one swing of his sword, eight slashes cleave through the air into the Chernobog. It wails through the pain and slumps over at the attack’s conclusion, but remains upright.

Just as Yoshitsune is disappearing, the Chernobog bathes itself in a green glow, fixing its posture and wounds immediately.

“Ugh – forgot it can fully heal itself.” Ren raises a hand to his mask in preparation for another summon. “Let’s try taking it out in one shot.”

Bouncing on her feet, Chie yells out, “Ooh, me, me! I’ll do it!”

Before Ren can even ask what ‘it’ is, Chie has already clearly tuned him out. She drops into a squat, stretching out both of her legs like someone prepping for a track meet.

She mutters quietly, “Okay, okay…”

After rising back up and closing the distance to the Shadow nearby, she executes a perfect spin in midair, lining her up for a devastating heel kick on the Chernobog in front of her.

“Ka-boom!”

True to her cry, the contact results in a thunderous boom that makes Ren’s ears pop from his proximity to the attack. The sound alone is reminiscent of a bomb going off, but Chie’s kick takes the parallel even further in how it blows the Chernobog back. It goes flying off into the stratosphere without ever turning to the usual wisps of smoke that Shadows are known for. Oddly, Ren swears he can see a twinkle of light as it vanishes from sight.

When he turns back to the Shadow’s killer, she is in the middle of casually picking up the piece of newspaper on the ground as if she didn’t just send their enemy to space with brute strength.

“Got the paper! It’s a good thing it didn’t travel with the Shadow.” When she notices the astonished look coming her way, she asks, “Uh, Ren-Ren? What’s up?”

“What’s up?” he repeats. “Chie…that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Hehe… You really think so?”

“Duh! Since when can you kick stuff into orbit?”

“Well, it’s only in places I can use my Persona. Honestly, I can’t even really explain how I do it. It’s like I get this…feeling inside whenever I need to back up whoever I’m fighting with. That’s when I know it’s Galactic Punt time!”

“Wait, that’s the Galactic Punt?” Ren asks. His eyes go up to the spot where the Chernobog vanished before they whip back to Chie. “That’s what Rise wanted you to do to me?!”

“Aw, she was just bluffing. You know she’d never actually do anything to hurt you. And it’s not like she can make me do it on command anyway.”

“Lucky me.” Ren pushes out a breath. If anyone asked, he would claim it to be one of fatigue and not relief. “You need a second to rest? Or are we good to head to the next Shadow?”

“All good here,” she replies. “Let’s get hunting!”

Their trip to the next Shadow is short, but not actually as short as the fight itself. The Yaksini waiting for them is one of the weakest enemies of the whole collective, so it fares no chance against Chie and Ren, especially now that they’re both in the zone.

Cybele downs it with Bless damage, which Haraedo-no-Okami capitalizes on with a God’s Hand that comes slamming down on top of it. The Shadow lets out a shrill wail in death.

Ren scoops the newspaper clipping out of the air before it even touches the ground. “And that makes four for us. We’re really on a roll with these.”

“Of course,” Chie says, hands on her hips. “Was there ever any doubt with you and me teaming up?”

Rather than agree and just move on, Ren decides to act on a thought that hasn’t left him alone since he and Chie broke off from everyone else. They’ve been making good progress so far, so what’s the harm in a little talk before the next fight?

“Hey, can I ask you something?” When he gets a nod, he continues. “What made you want to come with me for this?”

“What do you mean? Is it weird that I’d suggest it?”

“No, but you seemed even more eager than usual. Kind of like you wanted to claim me before anyone else could.”

Chie blushes a bit at that. She tugs at the neck of her top, burying her mouth behind the little she can raise.

“Guess I got caught,” she mumbles. “I just…wanted you to notice me, I guess…”

“Huh? To notice you?”

Chie recoils on herself, gripping her head in a show of utter despair. “Ah, I knew this was stupid! I sound like a weirdo!”

“No, you don’t! I’m just…not sure what you mean. Why wouldn’t I notice you?”

“Well…” Chie goes back to fiddling with her outfit, but she does manage to look Ren’s way this time. “You’ve got all these new people around to fight beside, and part of me worried that you’d get kind of attached to them. Stupid, I know—”

“It really isn’t. I mean, I don’t see things going that way, but I won’t disregard your feelings.”

“Thanks. But still, even if you didn’t, I’ve felt a little like I haven’t been putting in enough of an effort with you lately anyway. So I thought that by teaming up, I could get back to how we used to be, you know? Back when I was…a little more important to you.”

An immediate denial to that comes to Ren’s lips, but he holds it back if only to push out something more substantial in its place.

Hearing any sort of self-loathing from friends hurts his heart, but if experience has taught him anything, it’s that simply saying ‘that’s not true’ or ‘don’t say that’ tends to not produce real results.

Instead, he takes his time to consider what Chie’s feeling before finally settling on something with the weight he desires. He hopes she hears him out long enough to digest it.

“Does any of that make sense?” Chie asks. “Or do I sound crazy?”

“No, I get it. Honestly, I think that sounds like something I would have done back in Inaba. I had my moments when it came to you, but I doubt I even realized that I was trying to get your attention.”

“Wait, really? I would have thought you’d be trying to catch Rise’s eye, if anyone.”

“Like I’d need to. She could spot me from a mile away without me even doing anything.”

A little snort comes out of Chie hearing that. “Yeah, can’t argue there. It was almost scary how she did that.”

“Right? But jokes aside, even though I never liked being in the spotlight as a kid, it was hard not to want someone to acknowledge me in those early days. Everyone else had at least someone else cheering them on, and it made me wonder why I didn’t. It…well, it was hard for a while there.”

“Ren, that’s…”

He cuts her off with a shake of his head. “But that changed when you found me that day by the river. Suddenly I had someone who did see me, someone who cheered me on and pulled me along when I didn’t think I could go any further. In a way, you were the first real friend I made. There were a couple kids back then who didn’t straight up avoid me, but we only had passing conversations. I didn’t have anyone to hang out with properly until you showed up.”

Though it isn’t entirely his past self’s fault, Ren hates that so many memories had gone ignored up until a few months ago. From where he stands now, he can’t even fathom pushing aside the days spent running around Inaba with Chie, days where they got sick from eating too much meat in one sitting. How could he ever give up afternoons where they ended up covered in bubbles because Muku escaped his bath for the millionth time? Or nights spent under trees watching fireflies crawl across their skin?

No, Chie is not the guilty party here. If anything, Ren has been lax in getting things back to where they used to be. And although a damp cave in a cognitive world isn’t the best place to do so, he doesn’t want to wait any longer.

“I guess what I’m getting at is…I haven’t done a good job of showing it, but I really do appreciate you, Chie. Of everyone here, you were the first to make a place with me, and I don’t take that lightly. So you don’t have to worry about the bond between us. I’ve always admired you, and that hasn’t changed at all in the twelve years we’ve known each other.”

Ren lifts his mask, making sure she can see the sincerity in his eyes as he continues.

“Doesn’t matter what happens or who else enters my life. I’ve been tagging along behind you all this time, so there’s no way I’m stopping now. Wherever you go, I’ll follow. Always.”

After hearing all that, Chie doesn’t immediately respond. Her head dips down, preventing Ren from seeing the kind of face she’s making. He can, however, hear a small sniffle escape her.

Fearful that he misspoke at some point, he opens his mouth to correct himself, only to never get the chance to speak. The simple attempt to do so is overpowered by Chie lunging forward to playfully ruffle his hair. With how much strength she puts behind it, he feels a bit like something at the bottom of a blender.

Though he squirms under the affection-filled assault, he doesn’t exactly make any moves to escape. He also doesn’t try to hold back the laughter bubbling up out of him. It’s a perfect match for the cackling his attacker is letting out.

“Gah – Chie!”

“Don’t butter me up if you’re not prepared for the consequences! I can’t let you off easy for sweet-talking me!”

“I was just being honest!”

“I know! That’s why I’m all flustered, you goof!”

The literal shakedown does relent after a bit, and Ren is relieved to see a smile on Chie’s face once more. Saving his friends remains his top priority, but he won’t forsake his old ones while doing so.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah. Thanks for hearing me out,” she says. “I really didn’t mean to dump that on you, but you’ve really got a way of making people spill their guts to you. Is that a Wild Card thing?”

“Maybe. But that same thing can sometimes make me too direct, so I hope I didn’t just cut through what you were feeling entirely. I don’t want to just handwave everything away.”

“Don’t worry, what you said did the trick. And for the record, I think you’ve always done a good job making me feel appreciated. But if you still want to make it up to me, since I know you’re always trying to make people happy, then I won’t say no to hanging out a bit more whenever you come visit Inaba again.”

“As if that wasn’t already the plan. Actually, speaking of my trip, do you…think you could take some time to train me in fighting for real when I get there?”

Chie lets out a shockingly large gasp. “Seriously? You want to?”

“If it’ll make me half as dangerous as you, absolutely. I’d be the first disciple to learn the Niijima-Satonaka Style of Martial Arts.”

“Uh, I think you mean the Satonaka-Niijima Style of Martial Arts. I got to you first!”

“Right, right. So…?”

“Of course I will, Ren-Ren. How could I turn down my favorite student?”

“Don’t let Yu hear you say that. He always talked about how fun training with you was.”

“Eh, between you and me, I only actually put him through training half the time we were together. The other half was mostly me venting and dealing with teenage girl stuff.”

“Oh, really? I kind of want to hear about that now. What sort of things did Inaba’s martial arts maiden have to deal with, I wonder?”

“H–Hey, are you trying to tease me? No old stories until you start training under me for real! You got that?”

Ren lets out an entirely fake sigh. “If that’s what my new teacher decrees…”

“Good – you’re listening to me already! Now, we better get a move on if we want to beat everybody else’s kill count. I think Rise said the next Shadow is west of us.”

“Well, you know I’m behind you. Lead the way, Miss Satonaka.”

Chie halts in her stride to turn and poke Ren in the chest. “I didn’t let you call me that when you were six, and I’m not about to start now!”

“Okay, okay… I won’t call you that.”

“That’s what I tho—”

“If you manage to beat me to the next Shadow.”

“Wait, what?”

Without giving any warning, Ren sprints past Chie towards the direction of their next enemy. His laughter is carried by the wind all the way back to her, who yells at the fleeing boy after she recovers from the shock enough to break out into her own run.

The navigator sharing their hometown listens on quietly, smiling to herself as things play out like a schoolyard game. For once, the decision to keep quiet seems especially valuable.

Notes:

A lot got packed into this one, so hopefully it wasn’t too overwhelming. But speaking of that, while I’m totally fine keeping chapter lengths as they are, I’m curious if most of you would prefer me splitting them when they get as large as the last two have been. It would still be the same content either way, just separated. Feel free to let me know which is more appealing.

Getting back to story stuff, the Phantom Thief museum has a lot of nuance to it, so I’m excited to see what everyone picks up on in regards to what’s inside. I did my best to arrange a lot of things intentionally, so have fun dissecting all the exhibits to try and figure out more of what’s going on. The mystery continues to expand…

Also, I hope you all liked some of the nicer moments at the end. It was fun to mix and match people in this chapter, and I've wanted to put a spotlight on Ren and Chie in particular for a while. Hopefully all of you (and Ren himself) can appreciate the nice vibes while they're here. They won't be as prevalent in the future :)

Chapter 8

Summary:

A series of victories is rewarded in the form of a long-awaited safe room. Alongside some well-deserved R&R comes the chance for a chat among friends, old and new, though not without difficult conversations.

When Ren returns to the hidden room at the back of the museum with Chie in tow, a handful of the others are already present, chatting amongst themselves with their newspaper scraps in hand.

Whatever Teddie is describing must be incredibly thrilling based on the crazy hand motions he currently has on display. Then again, neither Akihiko nor Ken seem to be all that engaged, so maybe that’s just Teddie being Teddie.

The trio of Rise, Labrys, and Yosuke look like they’re having a much more casual conversation a few steps away. Ren isn’t sure of all the specifics, but since he knows the Inaba group doesn’t get to see Labrys very often, the three are likely taking a moment to catch up.

That just leaves Junpei, whose face is split by a large grin once he notices the new arrivals.

“Well, well, look who showed up late,” he taunts. “Did the ‘number one team’ bite off more than they could chew?”

“Psh – is that what you think?” Chie asks. “We only took a while to get here because of how deep in the cave we were.”

“Honestly, tracking down the Shadows was the most tedious part,” adds Ren. “Most of our fights were an afterthought in comparison.”

“Yeah, if anything, you guys are here early. Did you get too tired and tap out?”

“Of course not,” Junpei protests. “Fuuka told us to head back a while ago since all the Shadows were pretty much handled.”

“And I did the same for some of the other groups,” says Rise. She directs a stern look over towards the lone pair in the room. “I tried to get a certain team of battle maniacs to come back early, but they wouldn’t listen to me and just ran deeper into the cave.”

“Hey, why let everyone else worry about the Shadows when we can deal with them ourselves?” Ren asks.

“Exactly! It’s like bringing all the groceries in with one trip,” Chie adds.

Yosuke puts his face in his palm. “How is that anything like this…”

“Well, whatever,” says Junpei. “What really matters is who won our little unofficial contest. So, how many Shadows did you guys end up taking down in the end?”

Ren and Chie share a sideways glance, grinning at the knowledge they alone share. Both of them reach into their pockets and pull out the stacks of paper within, holding them up for all to witness.

“Nine,” they answer in sync.

“Nine?!” Teddie exclaims.

Akihiko snaps his fingers in annoyance. “Damn, we lost by that much?”

“Wait, no way you got that many!” Junpei shouts. “There were only two of you!”

Chie lets out a haughty laugh, flexing her free arm with a fist raised. “What can I say? Me and Ren-Ren are just a cut above the rest.”

Ren nods, bumping the back of his fist on Chie’s. “Best duo around. Don’t blame yourselves; we’ve got years of being close to thank.”

“And plenty more where that came from!”

The two snicker to each other, a display that wouldn’t be out of place amongst kids at playtime. The sight makes half the room groan while the other half simply looks on in confusion.

“Um…did something happen with them?” Ken asks.

“Could be,” says Labrys. “They’re really grinnin’ up a storm.”

“Whatever it is, we need to get those two away from each other,” Yosuke mutters.

Rise bumps him with her elbow. “Oh, lighten up, Yosuke. I think it’s sweet.”

“Yeah? Well, you’re usually— Wait, you were navigating that whole time, so you could have heard them. Did you?”

She shrugs. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

“So something did happen! Come on, Kujikawa, spill it!”

“Chie, Yosuke’s picking on me!”

“He is?! I’m on it!”

Yosuke barely gets out a panicked ‘wait’ before Chie starts chasing him around the room. Ren graciously takes over custody of the newspaper clippings that she abandons to do so.

With everyone else focused on that little sideshow, Ren is the only one to notice the trio of Kanji, Naoto, and Mitsuru making their way into the space. The two from Inaba don’t even blink at the sight before them, but it does give Mitsuru some pause.

“What exactly are we walking into?” she asks.

“Nothing unusual for this crew,” Ren says. “Everything go well on your end?”

Kanji gives a strong nod. “Four fights, four wins. Nothin’ to it!”

“Though some required some tactical adjustments, nothing gave us too much trouble,” Mitsuru says.

“Good,” Ren responds. “There weren’t too many targets with special abilities, but I’m glad it sounds like no one got tripped up at all.”

Taking note of the new group, Akihiko says, “I mean, the one we fought couldn’t even use that brainwashing thing you mentioned, Joker. Without that, it was pretty straightforward.”

“Yeah, where even were the ones who did cool stuff?” Junpei asks. “I didn’t see any of them!”

Chie finally ceases her hunt to chime in. “Oh, Ren and I fought one! It was one of those leopard guys with the metal underwear. Apparently he had a way to block anything we could do to him, but Ren had this super cool gun trick that went right through it!”

Teddie bounces up and down hearing that. “Really?! I wish I could’ve seen it!”

Now free from being chased, Yosuke says, “Speaking of, I feel like we glossed over the fact that you even have a gun too quickly, Ren. Do you seriously keep that thing stashed in your house?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine since it’s fake.” Ren whips out his pistol for all to see. “You can’t tell very easily because of the quality, but this is just a model gun. It only fires bullets in the Metaverse because of cognition. Shadows think it’s real, so it works like it is.”

“Fascinating… Then you have no need for actual ammunition, I take it?” Naoto asks.

“Nope. It refills itself every time I go into battle again.”

“I see. And if that is due to the gun appearing realistic, would that not mean the same would apply to mine? It is a genuine firearm, after all.”

“Huh. Yeah, I guess it would.”

Naoto raises an eyebrow and smirks. “And you couldn’t have informed me of that before I used up a decent amount of ammunition in our past battles?”

The realization squashes him like a bug under a shoe. This isn’t the first time an observation of Naoto’s has made him feel considerably smaller in her presence, but with more witnesses than usual, it feels all the more humiliating.

One of Ren’s hands goes to twist a bit of his hair as he mumbles, “That is…very true. Sorry.”

Kanji clearly gets a kick out of the display with the way he snickers. “Phantom Thief or not, our Ren-Ren is still a little dork.”

It is a stroke of luck that the final two teams arrive before any more fun can be had at Ren’s expense. He collects their newspaper clippings from them quickly and gets to work arranging them on the mural of what he now knows as a depiction of Mementos. With the silhouettes in each wanted poster, matching the pictures from all the newspaper copies takes barely any mental effort.

As soon as he places the last photograph in position, the stone slab begins to rumble violently, shaking the entire wall it inhabits. The heart-shaped carving at its base fills with a magenta light that pulses amidst the rumbling.

The movements in tandem carry on for a few seconds longer before the carving cracks right down the middle, leaving two dull sides of a heart as the light within fades away. At that same moment, the barrier close by loses its light as well. The pulses keeping it alive cease entirely as the wall of light fizzles out and vanishes.

Now visible to everyone in the room is a tunnel not unlike the one that led them to the warehouse area a while ago. The same curved ceiling and wall sconces are visible, though this one lacks any storage equipment. The stone floor runs completely unimpeded for as far as everyone can see.

At the visible sign of progress, Junpei jumps for joy, shouting, “Woo! Chalk up another win for Team Persona!”

As everyone starts their journey onwards, Yukari asks, “What are you on about now, Junpei?”

“Uh, our team name, duh,” he responds. “Y’know, since we don’t have a name that fits all three groups here.”

“Oh, that is true,” Yukiko says.

“Sure, but ‘Team Persona’ is kind of basic, don’t you think?” asks Chie. “It should be something with a bit more ‘oomph’ to it! Like…”

“The Phantom Investigative Operatives!” Teddie shouts.

“We are not calling ourselves that,” Kanji says.

“He might be on the right track, though,” Ken says. “If we have a name, it should properly represent all of us.”

“Is there anything that even could?” Yosuke asks. “We’re a pretty diverse bunch.”

That they are, Ren thinks. Secret agents, amateur investigators – aside from one, anyway – and a thief. Not the easiest group to bundle together in a nice little bow.

“Maybe something less specific,” Yu says. “Like ‘The Guardians,’ for example.”

“That sounds like its more for superheroes than Persona-users, partner.”

“I like the idea,” Ken says, “but we need something less generic. How about, ‘Blazing Persona Meta-Warriors?’”

“That’s way too far into superhero territory!”

The group is suddenly overtaken by everyone throwing out ideas for team names. Things like ‘The Outlaws’ and ‘The Renegades’ pop up beside ‘Alpha Squad’ and ‘Soul Force’ among other things. Even the more straightlaced members of their group offer a few names, though no one is very enthused about options like ‘The Liberation Army’ or ‘Recon Unit Zero.’ It is around that point that Ren feels as though they’ve started to lose the plot a bit.

Junpei just shakes his hanging head at all of it. “Should’ve just stuck with Team Persona…”

Any further discussion on the point is put on pause once the walls of the tunnel end. Stretching out ahead of them is yet another instance of Fantasma’s oversaturated faux landscape. The only difference here is how far it goes horizontally, as opposed to the other two sightings that functioned more or less like a large yard.

The sky around them is as black as the nights in Inaba with plenty of visible stars to match. More than likely, it is just as fake as the sky they tore through not long ago, but at least this one isn’t quite as unsettling. It is not the biggest draw of the area, however.

Midway down the path everyone is on sits a lopsided two-story building. The upper level is wider than its lower counterpart, hanging off and over a decent portion of it. Under the covering it provides is an ‘outdoor’ seating section with tables made of crudely carved wood. The same kind of dark lumber makes up the exterior of the building, though the construction is much less haphazard than the tables.

The garden out front is just as fake as the rest of the surrounding environment. There is a reprieve in how the colors shift from an oversaturated mess to something more understated the closer you get to the building, however. Pairing that with the gentle amber light filling the glass windows scattered across the building’s front makes it all seem somewhat inviting. There is even a sign out front that reads, ‘Welcome, Travelers!’

“What is this place?” asks Teddie.

“Looks like an inn you’d use in an old adventure game,” Junpei points out. “Dunno what it’s doing here, though.”

“I believe this is the safe room I was able to sense back when we first arrived,” Fuuka answers. “You should all take the chance to rest. You’ve been working hard.”

“Damn right,” says Kanji. “Could use a chance to get off my feet.”

Unlike a lot of Fantasma, there are no traps or puzzles to serve as a denial of entry to the inn. The glossy wooden door merely creaks as Akihiko pushes it open, allowing everyone else to enter once he steps through.

The space waiting for them is rustic and lounge-like. Wooden flooring in a lighter shade than the building exterior holds their weight easily. The planks comprising it are all evenly cut and arranged in a one-over-two pattern.

The back left of the room from the door plays host to a seating area. Several leather couches face one another in a ring, leaving enough space for the large coffee table between them all. There are even a few footrests and benches in the mix.

The back right houses a staircase with only the bottom four steps visible. The rest are hidden behind a partial wall that connects to the actual wall to the right of the front door.

Also on that side of the room is a bar counter that stretches across most of the available space. Twelve chairs sit in front of it, though these are made of polished wood as opposed to the seats outside. Only placemats and a cash register rest on the counter itself, as most of the building’s supplies are in the kitchen area behind the bar. At the very end of all of that is a thick chrome refrigerator.

Everyone walks further into the room, taking note of even more of its features than Ren first noticed. There are dual bookshelves on the leftmost wall, as well as unmarked barrels and cloth sacks in an adjacent corner.

Labrys is the first to run upstairs, volunteering to investigate the second floor. While she does so, Ren sets his sights on a display case positioned against the wall between the front door and the bar. The thin line of glass on top suggests that most of it has been shattered and lost by now. The battered record player it surrounds should now be at the mercy of dust and grime like the rest of the room, but strangely, Ren can’t find any. The space is abnormally clean for such an old-timey building.

“This safe room is way more elaborate than what I’m used to,” Ren says. He runs his glove down the bar counter. Still no dust. “I wonder what’s making it look like an inn…”

“Probably the same thing that’s made Fantasma feel like a storybook come to life,” Yu replies.

“Fair. At least we’re back on theme.”

Labrys comes back down from her search at that moment. She takes the stairs two at a time before hopping the last few to rejoin everyone.

“Just checked upstairs,” she says, gesturing behind her. “I counted seven rooms, three beds in each.”

“Nice – we can actually use this place to get some shut eye,” says Junpei.

“Uh, is it really a good idea to sleep in a cognitive world?” Chie asks. “What if we, like…get turned to dust in our sleep? O–Or melt away or something?”

“The hell? Why would we melt?” Kanji asks.

“I don’t know! This place is totally weird!”

“Still, I don’t know if…that type of thing is anything to really worry about,” says Yu.

“No, she’s right. I had all my bones melt away when I took a nap in Mementos one time,” Ren says plainly. “Scary stuff.”

Chie jabs him on the side through his coat. “You’re not helping, Ren!”

“Aside from Satonaka’s…imaginative scenario, she does raise a valid point,” says Mitsuru. “With this being our first foray into a world like this, we have no idea of the consequences of spending a large amount of time in a resting state. Moving around could be key to staving off adverse effects from lingering in Fantasma. We may need to wait for Yamagishi to obtain more results before making a decision one way or the other.”

“No need to wait, then. I’m here.”

Even that delicate voice fills those hearing it with panic this time around. What has been an echo in their minds for most of the journey so far now comes from directly behind them.

The group spins around to find the room occupied by two more of their allies. Fuuka waves to everyone with a smile while Koromaru rushes over, darting between everyone’s legs in what looks to be a mad grab for attention.

Yukari, who had actually jumped in the air from the scare of having sudden visitors, holds her hands over her chest while she fights to regain her breath.

“Fuuka?! Where the heck did you come from?”

She points to the mahogany door outlined with bright white light behind her. It’s firmly placed in between the two bookshelves from earlier, reaching up to about three-fourths of their height.

“When you all entered this room properly, a pathway opened up back to the entrance where Koro-chan and I were. I made sure to examine it with Juno before entering, and when I found nothing aside from all of your readings, we came through.”

Koromaru follows that with a bark, presumably backing up the story. Ren still finds it a bit odd to have an animal on the team that he cannot understand.

“Man, I forgot how quiet your footsteps are, Fuuka,” Junpei says. “I’ve heard louder mice…”

“Um…I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not…”

Mitsuru clears her throat. “Anyway, Yamagishi, you claimed there was no need to wait for your findings?”

“Oh, right. Truthfully, I don’t think there is any issue with sleeping here. I’m beginning to get a better grip on cognition as a whole thanks to Joker-kun’s notes and being able to witness its effects firsthand. I can’t exactly declare all of Fantasma to be completely safe, but the safe areas themselves won’t harm us for being here. After all, whether in fantasy or reality, the general consensus on inns is that they are places of rest, right?”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” Yukari says. “Wow, you’re grasping this stuff pretty quickly, Fuuka.”

“Well, I don’t have quite the responsibilities that you all do, so I need to pull my weight somehow. Leave everything about deciphering this world to me!”

“We appreciate it, Fuuka-san,” Rise says. “So, what’s the plan, everyone? Are we staying?”

“Fantasma’s inherent time dilation does provide us ample opportunity for rest,” Mitsuru says. “If this world continues to grow in front of us as it has been, it would be wise of us to pace ourselves.”

“Then we’re all agreed, yeah?” Akihiko asks. “We’ll hunker down here and get some sleep before we head back out.”

“It’ll probably be tough considering there’s no day or night here, but yeah, I think that’s a good idea,” says Ken. “We just need to figure out which rooms we’re all occupying.”

“In that case, let’s get the biggest issue out of the way,” Yosuke says. He turns to the rest of the Investigation Team and asks, “Who’s rooming with the bear?”

In response to that, Teddie cries out, “Wait, why am I the problem?!”

Seven stoney looks fall upon him all at once. The weight of them causes him to hunch over in defeat.

“I’m getting bear-piled…”

“You can’t just replace another animal word with ‘bear’ and have it make sense!” shouts Yosuke.

“I’ll stay with Teddie,” says Yu. “It’s been a while since we had any quality time anyway.”

Teddie immediately perks up, waddling his way over to Yu and rubbing his face against him. “Th–Thank you, Sensei! You’re the only one who cares…”

Yosuke is quick to butt in with, “I let you move in with me for years!”

After that brief spat is cut short by Yu’s expert mediation, the room assignments are sorted out fairly quickly. Yukari and Rise drag Aigis into a trio just as quickly as Chie and Yukiko do the same to Labrys. Yosuke and Kanji are next, taking the room across from Yu and Teddie.

Mitsuru asks Fuuka and Naoto to room with her under the pretense of strategic discussion. If Ren knew her a little better, he might have been able to actually confirm his suspicion of her simply wanting to room with them out of fondness. Fuuka at least smiles like she can see past the claim herself.

Halfway through considering who he’ll be rooming with, Ren is shocked to hear the last three guys claim a room for themselves and Koromaru. Everyone else accepting it without any further discussion makes Ren think he missed a step in this planning process at some point.

“Wait, but…that leaves the last room just for me,” he says.

“Of course,” says Yukiko. “Is something wrong with that, Ren-kun?”

“Not wrong, I guess. But I don’t deserve a whole room to myself.”

“Dude, you totally do,” says Yosuke. “You’re dealing with the most out of all of us. You could use a spot to have some time to yourself.”

“But if you wanna crash our space, just say so,” Kanji says. “You know we’re always cool with you hangin’ out.”

“Same with me and Teddie,” says Yu.

“And if you just want some company in your room, come find me,” Rise adds. “We can have another girls’ night!”

“Wait, ‘another?’ Do you guys invite Ren to girls’ nights?” Yosuke asks. When he receives several nods, he sputters out, “Since when?!”

Chie taps her lips in thought. “I think the first time was…when he was twelve, right?”

“That sounds accurate,” Yukiko says. “Though it’s happened so often at this point that those early days have started to blend together just a bit.”

Yosuke turns to Ren with disbelief still painting his features. “And you just went along with it? That’s kind of surprising for you.”

Ren shrugs. “They all insisted. Besides, half of the stuff you think happens at those things don’t actually happen. It wasn’t much different to them bringing me over to hang out normally.”

“Yeah, we did the same thing with Ken when he was little,” Yukari says. “He wasn’t big on all the makeup and gossip stuff, though.”

“Ren pretended like he wasn’t, but he rarely ever turned down a makeover,” Rise says. “And he had gossip for days when he felt like venting about some of the people in Inaba. Pretty scathing stuff, to be honest.”

“Can you please not make me sound like some bratty high school girl?” Ren asks. “I wasn’t that bad.”

One of Naoto’s eyebrows rises at that claim. “Not to overly indulge Rise-san, but can you really claim that considering how our first case together was only resolved so quickly due to your talent for gossip?”

Another lockdown statement from one Naoto Shirogane. Ren just chooses to keep his mouth shut despite being ready to argue that those circumstances were different. After all, Uwaki had totally had that call out coming.

He simply mumbles something along the lines of, ‘I guess,’ and allows Rise to enjoy her minor victory.

Despite having the room situation sorted, none of them currently feel the need for sleep right now. They all end up gravitating towards the seating area nearby as a result. Everyone sits with their usual groups, though a few have to take the benches and some even sit on the floor with the aid of some cushions.

On the couch closest to the front door, Chie pats an open spot next to her once Ren approaches. He takes the offer without complaint.

Ken squirms a bit as he settles into his own couch seat. “I know we used to take breaks in Tartarus, but it does still feel strange to have a social gathering in a world filled with Shadows.”

“That’s understandable,” Fuuka says. “Maybe it would help to view it as a necessity? We do need the time to decompress, after all.”

“I’m cool with it either way,” Junpei says, nodding towards Ren. “‘Specially since it gives us more time to get to know the new guy.”

Yukari lightly kicks at his ankle. “Don’t go bothering him if he doesn’t want to talk, Junpei. I know how you get.”

“Hey, what do you take me for? If he wants to keep quiet, that’s his right. I’m just giving him the chance to open up a bit. We are teammates for the time being.”

“Admittedly, I would like to know more about Joker-san as well,” says Aigis. “It is not every day that you get to meet a fellow Wild Card.”

“No kidding,” Ren says. “I knew I wasn’t alone, but I never expected to actually meet any others. Igor must really work overtime if we can all access the Velvet Room at the same time.”

“Actually, before today, I had not ventured into the Velvet Room in quite some time. My current stock has proven enough for any missions, and my attendant is…away on her own business.”

“Away? I didn’t know attendants could be away. Hm, maybe I should take Lavenza on vacation somewhere…”

“My attendant actually took one herself a few months ago,” Yu says. “Since they’re pretty used to seeing the real world, we should treat them to something nice as a ‘thank you’ one of these days.”

“Sure. I know a pretty good beach out near Kyoto. I think they’d enjoy the shaved ice down there.”

And if they all happened to partake in some beach volleyball, Ren wouldn’t mind having a partner that can split into two on his side. The look on Yu’s face as a result would be priceless.

“So why didn’t your Velvet Room guys ever introduce any of you?” Junpei asks. “Because I feel like they could’ve saved us a lot of trouble if they just told Aigis about Narukami and Joker from the start.”

“That isn’t how the Velvet Room works, unfortunately,” Yu says. “If it doesn’t pertain to our personal journeys specifically, it isn’t something they share with us. I only just met Ren’s attendant today, and obviously Aigis didn’t know Ren himself was a guest until recently. There really isn’t much crossover unless the situation demands it.”

“Huh. Well that sucks. Would’ve been nice to not be a team of total strangers for once. Although, I guess just about everyone’s heard of Mitsuru by this point.”

“Sure, but knowing of someone and actually meeting them are two different things,” Ren says. “Kirijo-san is nothing like I expected.”

Mitsuru chuckles. “I could say the same for the leader of the Phantom Thieves. You indeed possess an edge to you as expected, but it is tempered by a heart that bleeds for others. I look forward to gaining more context on your past adventures. I expect they will only make you seem all the more impressive.”

“Ooh, high praise coming from Mitsuru,” Junpei says. “Bet it feels good to have someone like her going to bat for you.”

“It definitely doesn’t hurt,” Ren says. “I appreciate all that, Kirijo-san. I’m glad you aren’t the kind of businesswoman I thought you might be.”

“So you didn’t know anything about the rest of the Shadow Ops?” Labrys asks.

“No. The only one of you I knew of before today besides Kirijo-san was Takeba-san. Though it did take me a minute to realize where I’ve seen her.”

“Wait, you’ve seen me somewhere?” Yukari asks.

“Only about a hundred times on my TV,” says Ren. “My sister is obsessed with Featherman, so I was given no choice in watching almost every season there is. I think I’ve seen all your episodes at this point. You had the best performance of that cast by far.”

“Aw, that’s so nice of you! Pink Argus was a really fun role for me. I miss it a lot.”

“You have a sister, Joker-san?” Ken asks.

“Yeah, just not by blood,” he says. “Her dad took me in during my stay in Tokyo. She pretty much claimed me as family right after we started hanging out. Her dad took a little longer to, but eventually I found a spot with them both.”

“Family by choice, huh? I get that,” Akihiko says. “Ties like that can be just as strong as blood, if not stronger. Glad to hear there’s at least one kind of family you feel close to.”

“What’s your sister like, Joker-kun?” asks Labrys.

“Oh, Futaba? She is the textbook definition of a younger sibling. Any moment I breathe is an opportunity she’ll take to mess with me.”

A handful of memories shoot to the top of his brain like fireworks in an open sky, and one in particular forces a smile onto his face.

“This one time, we were making muffins for the rest of our friends after the group chat had an extensive conversation on everyone’s favorite kind. I don’t even remember how that started. Anyway, while Futaba and I were in the kitchen baking, she thought it would be hilarious to fill her hand with whipped cream and slap me in the face. Obviously I couldn’t let that slide, so I grabbed some myself and started chasing her around. We used up the entire bottle that day just trying to have the last laugh. To make things worse, she even—”

Any desire Ren has to continue that story falls off and plummets into the pit he feels forming in his stomach. A recollection that normally brings him nothing but warmth now floods his veins with something ice cold, something that leaves him feeling heavy and languid.

This is likely his punishment for daring to cultivate an atmosphere like the one in Leblanc last December. He was allowed such pleasures back then, but with the situation being what it is, he cannot be called anything other than selfish for slipping back into that mindset.

How can he possibly feel comfortable without the rest of his friends here? What gives him the right to indulge in a moment like this while they cannot? If they are confined somewhere with mouths frozen in fear or gagged by force, why should he have unrestricted access to his own words?

He stands to his feet, lowering his voice as he says, “Sorry, I’m not helping anything with this. I’m going to go take another look around and make sure Shadows aren’t gathering outside.”

“Huh? Is that necessary?” Yukari asks.

“Can never be too careful. I’m pretty sure this building is safe, but it won’t hurt to double check. Wouldn’t want to get ambushed the second we leave.”

“You should take some of us with you, then,” Yu says. “The last thing we want is—”

“Anyone that isn’t a Phantom Thief would just slow me down.” Ren slips his dagger into his hand and gives it a twirl. “You guys can’t move like I do, and stealth obviously isn’t your forte. I’m not going out to look for any fights I can’t win solo. I’m just making sure the coast is clear.”

The atmosphere has been made sufficiently awkward with the sudden change in plans, but Ren can’t really find it in himself to care. Besides, once he leaves, it’ll all go back to normal anyway. His presence often had more impact in absence than it did otherwise.

In the midst of the strained silence, Fuuka speaks up. “Um, if it helps, I can keep an eye on Joker-kun while he’s out. That way, if anything happens, we’ll know immediately.”

No one really looks convinced by any of this, least of all Rise. Her eyes stay glued to Ren, communicating her feelings on the matter without any words. Ren just stares right back at her; if she thinks he’ll back down from something like this, she is mistaken.

Eventually, Rise relents. She sighs and says, “Thanks, Fuuka-san. Keep him from doing something stupid, if you can.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Ren mutters.

Without waiting for any other comments, Ren ducks out into the rest of Fantasma. The door clicks closed behind him. As she suggested, Fuuka moves off into the center of the room and summons Juno to begin monitoring.

The group left behind waits for a moment, allowing the pressure around them to air out completely before they restart any attempts at conversation. Unsurprisingly, Junpei is the first to speak up.

“Joker seems…on edge.”

Chie sighs. “Yeah, he’s been having moments like that since he woke up. Can’t exactly blame him.”

“Being separated from your team is an awful feeling,” Ken says. “I never got used to splitting up back when we were investigating Tartarus, and that was only temporary.”

“We were plenty anxious ourselves when Mitsuru and the others were captured in Inaba,” says Yukari. “We weren’t on our own, though…”

“Ren-Ren’s not on his own,” Teddie proclaims. “He has all of us!”

“I know, but…that’s a little different than having your own teammates with you. I mean, like Junpei said earlier, he doesn’t even really know us.”

“Well…” Labrys’s hands clench into fists. She pounds them on her thighs as she says, “All the more reason to get to know ‘im!”

“Woah, what’s gotten into you, Labrys?” Yukari asks.

“If Joker-kun’s havin’ trouble relyin’ on us ‘cause we’re strangers, then we’ve just gotta make the effort to connect with him! None o’ you started out super close, right?”

A sharp laugh shoots from Yukari’s throat. “That’s putting it mildly. Before Fuuka got to the dorms, you would have found more camaraderie in an office building.”

Mitsuru adds, “We were all intensely focused on our own issues, me most of all. Such isolative thinking was a poor foundation for being proper comrades. Outside of combat, none of us really made time for one another, did we?”

Junpei has a thin smile as he says, “Eh, one of us did. Even if he wasn’t super enthusiastic about it.”

“And we all promised to live by his example, didn’t we?” Akihiko asks. “So I’m with Labrys. We’ve got Shadows to fight and Phantom Thieves to find, but there’s no reason we can’t let Joker know he’s got more people in his corner now.”

“I feel a little bad I haven’t tried harder myself,” says Ken. “I’m the closest to him in age, after all. But Labrys-san is right. We can do better starting now.”

Koromaru lets out a strong bark, which no one needs to have translated in order to understand. His agreement with the rest of them is clear.

“Then we’re all in,” Labrys says. “We’ll find a way to make friends with Joker-kun, no matter how long it takes! Oh, uh, do we have to repeat this for Fuuka-san later? Is she too focused to hear us right now?”

“No, I can still hear you all. Sorry that I didn’t add my own thoughts just now.”

“You’re fine, Fuuka,” says Yukari. “Prioritizing watching Joker is the right call.”

“Speaking of, is everything okay with him?” Rise asks. “I can’t shake the feeling that something’s going on out there.”

“You…aren’t entirely wrong,” Fuuka replies. “I was speaking to him just a moment ago, but that was before he started doing what he’s doing.”

Rise’s eyes narrow. “And what exactly is he doing?”

“He, um…” Fuuka taps her fingers together, keeping her eyes on a spot above Rise’s head to avoid the gaze beneath. “He asked me not to tell you.”

“That little—!”

“B–But it’s nothing he can’t handle! I promise that I’m keeping a close eye on him. If there’s even a hint of something too dangerous, I have an ability that can send him back to Fantasma’s entrance. Then he can just use the door there to come back to us.”

“Oh, that’s impressive, Yamagishi-san!” Yukiko says. “In that case, we really don’t have a reason to worry, right, Rise-chan?”

“Yeah, I guess so. Still don’t like it, though.”

Junpei, now out of his seat and rifling through the refrigerator behind the bar, waves to get Fuuka’s attention.

“Hey, when you can get Joker back on the line, can you ask if the food here’s good to eat? I’m hungry.”

Mitsuru’s face wrinkles in disgust. “Iori, you can’t seriously be considering eating anything from such a strange place.”

“C’mon, Mitsuru, I don’t wanna starve! I felt fine while we were moving and fighting, but now that we’re just sitting around, my stomach’s going wild.”

“I’m kinda with you on that,” says Chie, “but I don’t know if I trust anything here. Forget the taste, what if it’s poisonous or something?”

Under his breath, Yosuke asks, “What is with your imagination today?”

“Well, that’s exactly why I’m asking!” Junpei shouts. “Fuuka?”

“One moment – I’ll ask him,” she calls back. After closing her eyes and speaking softly, she turns back to the others to report. “Joker-kun says that any food found in the Metaverse should be harmless. However, it supposedly won’t be fulfilling to your body due to its cognitive nature.”

“The hell?” Junpei groans. “So eating it won’t even do anything?”

“Apparently not.”

“That won’t stop me,” Teddie declares, pushing his way back behind the bar. “Even if it’s fake, I’ve gotta stop my tummy from rumbling somehow. Time for the biggest sandwich in history! You with me, Junpei?”

“I, uh… I’ll let you handle this one, Teddie.”

“Suit yourself.”

As Teddie goes to work liberating ingredients from the fridge, Junpei comes back around to the seating area and refills the spot he left behind a few minutes ago. He kicks his feet up on the footrest in front of him.

“Yo, Inaba peeps. Got a question for you.”

“Shoot,” Chie says.

“Since we’re kinda on the subject anyway, I was wonderin’… What’s Joker’s story? I feel like we skipped over how and why this kid you know is a Phantom Thief.”

“He obviously wasn’t one as a kid, Junpei,” says Yukari. She hesitates for a moment before saying, “I mean, he wasn’t…right?”

“Of course not,” says Naoto. “Ren-kun may have been a bit of a mystery as a child, but it was all within reason. Before all of this, he was quiet and observant. Jokes from him were rare, and he was more prone to apologies than taking hard stances. The most he ever put his foot down was when someone he cared for was a victim of mistreatment, and even then, he almost always avoided a direct approach.”

“Then…how’d he go from a kid like that to leading a group like the Phantom Thieves?”

“Well, like we said before, we lost contact with him after he moved away from Inaba,” says Yosuke. “We got bits of info here and there, but it wasn’t much. Then we got hit with the worst news possible when we least expected it.”

Kanji nods. “It was in…March or April, I think. Back in twenty-sixteen. Dojima-san gathered us all up and let us know that Ren had been arrested for assaulting some guy.”

“Which we all knew had to be some kind of mistake,” says Chie. “Ren would never just hurt someone for no reason, and even if he did throw a punch, it would’ve been to help somebody else. Which is all he did that night.”

“Yeah, we found out afterwards that he only stepped into a situation to stop a woman from being taken advantage of,” Yu says. “Any other person would have been applauded for that, but since Ren was up against Masayoshi Shido at the time, the police refused to take the truth into account. Everything that followed after was a sickening perversion of how the law should work.”

“We’re agreed on that front,” Naoto says. “Ren-kun still has yet to give us all of the details of his life in Tokyo, but we know that his exile led to him witnessing further injustices at his new school, which in turn caused the formation of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. A lot of what happened afterwards was reactionary on their parts, whether it was saving those close to them or avoiding being killed by the conspiracy threatening Japan at the time.”

“Jeez, it sounds terrifying when you put it like that,” says Yukari. “I mean, the full moon Shadows were no pushovers, but at least they came right out and attacked us. Most of the time, anyway.”

Ken nods. “Yeah, I can’t say I prefer one situation to the other since they’re both bad, but trying to hide from the government as a teenager sounds insane. How did they even manage that?”

“Dunno,” Chie says. “Like we said, we just got the bullet points of Ren’s journey. We know about the big targets like Madarame and that crime lord guy, but all the little stuff is still a mystery.”

Mitsuru’s heels clack against the ground in a steady rhythm. “I’ve noticed he only seems eager to offer information that directly pertains to the workings of the Metaverse, as well as anything he deems inconsequential. Do you believe he would have a reason to hide things from you all?”

“Ren wouldn’t—” Chie suddenly clamps her mouth shut, taking a breath through her nose before she says, “He wouldn’t keep stuff from us out of trust. If he’s being quiet about something, it’s…probably because it would worry us.”

“Frankly, I don’t see how half of what the Phantom Thieves must have had to do wouldn’t,” says Yosuke. “So yeah, he’s probably keeping some stuff close to the chest. If he wants to tell us later, then he can. We won’t make him, though.”

Mitsuru frowns as she asks, “Even if divulging such tales prevent him from being in more danger?”

Yu straightens in his seat. “What do you mean by that?”

“Unlike Shadows, conspiracies do not engage with their targets in contests of strength. We cannot properly fight an enemy we cannot see or reach, and thus, Joker could still be in danger despite Shido’s followers and those of similar mindsets being in disarray. Withholding the finer points of his journey prevents us – any of us – from truly helping him should things escalate again.”

“Do you expect them to?”

Mitsuru doesn’t even need to respond to that. The way her eyes narrow the slightest bit more is enough of an answer by itself.

“Right – stupid question. Then, are you hoping this mission of ours ends with Ren and his friends putting the Phantom Thieves behind them? Because it sounds like you’d rather have your own people on issues like this.”

“I’m not naïve enough to think I can make a decision like that on my own, nor do I feel equipped to do so this early into knowing Joker. But let me ask you the same, Narukami. Do you and your team wish for that outcome by the end of this? Or do you have no issue with letting Joker go about his Phantom Thief business?”

The Investigation Team members all share a weary look. After all they went through at the very start of all this, none of them can just jump up and answer as confidently as they wish they could. The image of Ren injured at the foot of that cognitive dragon is still fresh in each of their minds.

“I…wouldn’t say we have no issue,” says Chie. “I mean, even if we don’t know all the specifics, we know enough to realize how dangerous it is. We barely fight Shadows these days ourselves.”

“In an ideal world, there would be no need for the Phantom Thieves,” says Naoto. “Ren-kun told us he and his team are mostly retired, and it showed when we all met them for the first time. There was no tension or guardedness to speak of amongst their group. I truly believe they had gone back to being a normal group of friends.”

“Yeah, they all looked so peaceful. Plus, they’re starting college soon – most of them, anyway – so they don’t need any extra worries from Shadows or people who need their hearts changed.”

“You can say that, but life rarely works out so cleanly,” says Akihiko. “Shadows may not show up as often as they used to, but the fact that we’re in a world of them right now is proof enough that we’re never too far away from being called in. Eventually, Joker’s going to have to decide which side of him takes priority. And you guys are going to have to let him have the final say on it.”

“I don’t think any of us would stop ‘im from keeping up the fight,” Kanji says. “Right, guys?”

“I…don’t know,” says Yukiko. “I’m of a similar mind to Naoto-kun. I would rather the Phantom Thieves no longer be needed, if possible.”

“And I’d rather Ren put his focus on our world than any that contain Shadows,” says Rise. “He’s been through enough as it is. All I want for him is a quiet, fulfilling life full of all the things he’s looking forward to.”

“That’s all well and good, but…” Yosuke shakes his head. “I don’t know… It doesn’t feel fair. Would you stop singing just because we all asked you to?”

Rise rolls her eyes at that. “Being an idol doesn’t force me to fight monsters all the time.”

“Obviously. But if we’re talking about things that make up who we are, you can’t ignore what we’ve seen. Can you honestly tell me with a straight face that Ren isn’t thriving in here as Joker? Even though his friends are captured, he’s totally in his element. I don’t know that taking that away from him is the best idea.”

“He was fine when we found him in December, though!”

“Maybe. But we didn’t know about his Persona back then. We all know how good Ren is at hiding what he’s feeling. Who’s to say he hasn’t been missing all this ever since the Metaverse went away the last time?”

It gets quiet in the space left by Yosuke’s observation. It isn’t often that the whole team lacks a word to share amongst them, but each member has their own reasons for withholding their thoughts. Not one of them has the exact same relationship with the subject of conversation as anyone else.

Kanji scratches his head. “Okay…guess we’re not all on the same page about it, then.”

“In fairness, it’s a complex issue that doesn’t end with how we feel on the matter,” says Naoto. “Even if we were to agree, that would not be the end of it.”

“Well, it’s something we can talk more about in the future,” Yu says. “I don’t think taking any firm stances here is a good call, so let’s just give it a rest for now.”

“Tabling the discussion is probably for the best,” Fuuka says, walking over to join them all in sitting. “Joker-kun is almost here. I think we should avoid putting any more stress on him with a conversation like that.”

“No stress for Ren-Ren, got it,” Chie says. “So, uh…anyone seen any good movies lately?”

The sigh Yosuke lets out is quiet, but pained. “Worst subject change in history.”

“I didn’t know what to ask!”

Fortunately for Chie’s struggles, no one has the time to answer with Ren reentering the inn. He pauses a bit at all the eyes that move onto him as he does so, but he suspects they’re all just curious about his time out. He has no idea how much Fuuka relayed to them.

“Welcome back,” Akihiko says. “Looks like you didn’t run into too much trouble out there.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Rise says. “My protective instincts tell me you were up to something just now.”

Ren holds his hands up in surrender. “Okay, you caught me. The rumors about me running a drug ring are true. I’ve been dealing to Shadows on the side for years now.”

“You are exhausting.”

“Thank you. I—” Ren’s intended bit falls apart once he catches sight of Junes’ sole mascot draped over the bar counter. “Uh, Teddie? What’s up with you?”

“Too much…sandwich…” he mutters, rolling down the sleek surface. “I’ve been betrayed by my tummy…”

“Wow. This is some serious déjà vu.” The start of a fond memory gets shoved aside, however. Ren is too busy getting hung up on Teddie’s words to do any reminiscing. “Wait, your stomach is full? How is that even possible?”

“I told you – too much sandwich!”

“I heard you, but that’s not supposed to be possible with anything stocked here.”

Ren vaults the bar counter to get directly to the refrigerator. He opens it to find the inside a mess. Ingredients are half opened and stacked haphazardly with some of them even staining the appliance’s shelves. He isn’t sure how Teddie made things look like a battlefield from just one sandwich.

More on task, he picks up a large wheel of swiss cheese near the front of the mess to inspect it. A quick whiff gives him the exact smell he imagines, which only raises his confusion. After tearing off a small piece to taste, he realizes that he has completely misread the situation.

“Okay, I totally felt that go down properly,” he says.

Vindicated – though still in obvious pain – Teddie lets out something between a cheer and a croak.

“See? Looks like you were wrong, Ren-Ren!”

“No, what I said earlier still applies. You can’t get full off of food that comes from the Metaverse.” He stands, holding up the cheese wheel for everyone to see. “The only reason this is different is because this is real food.”

Chie leans forward in her seat. “Wait, when you say, ‘real food,’ do you mean…”

“That stuff’s from the real world?” Kanji asks. “How can you tell?”

“I remember sneaking a taste of cognitive food when the Thieves and I were in Shido’s Palace,” Ren answers. “Queen and Skull tried to go undercover to get close to a target, but the whole thing ended up going sideways and we had to fight anyway. On the way out, I snatched some of another cognition’s dish out of curiosity.”

“And…did it taste real?”

“Mostly. The closest thing I can compare it to is tasting how something in your memory does. You know, like when you’re craving something specific and you can taste it on your tongue, but obviously not as strongly as if you were actually eating the food itself. The only difference is that Metaverse food is slightly further away from the taste than that sensation gets.”

“Oh, that actually made it much easier to understand,” says Ken. “Do you know why it tastes that way?”

“Well, I asked Oracle and Mona about the food I tasted afterwards, and we came to the conclusion that you’d have to be in the Palace of someone who really cared about food for it to be close to the real thing. But even then, you still wouldn’t be able to get full, which means this food is as real as anything we could bring in. I can’t imagine it ended up here the same way we did, though.”

“No, not how we did,” Mitsuru muses. “But perhaps like how Fantasma’s current prisoners got here. Joker, those appendages you claim dragged your allies away… Describe them again, please.”

“Sure. They were these…long, wispy hands made of darkness. They came from the gold doors that suddenly manifested in my house, and they dragged my friends away before I could do anything about it.”

“Interesting…”

Labrys asks, “What’cha thinkin’, Mitsuru-san?”

“Those hands were able to manifest themselves in the real world,” she says. “We lack proper understanding of how much Fantasma is currently affecting Yamichi, but it is clear that the connection is stronger than I assumed prior to entering. If those hands are able to appear in our world and interact with the things within it­—”

“Then that would explain how items from the real world can appear here,” Naoto finishes. “If so, it is likely a phenomenon exclusive to Yamichi for the time being, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine those hands having such capabilities, especially considering the state of the townspeople.”

“But…why steal food and drinks?” Akihiko asks. “Why not something like weaponry? Or more people than just the Phantom Thieves? I doubt whatever made this place is trying to accommodate us.”

“No, and we shouldn’t assume anything we find is for our direct benefit,” says Mitsuru. “But at the same time, Fantasma has not been as oppositional as it could be, has it?”

A tsk comes from Ren before he says, “As much as I hate to admit it, you have a point. The Shadows and cognitions so far have been fifty-fifty on fighting us or not, and the ones that aren’t violent have been borderline helpful. Half of this place wants us to leave, and the other half wants us to admire everything here.”

Rise raises her hand. “Like I said, total tone shift.”

Yukari nods. “Frankenstein-ed together.”

“There is plenty of evidence to go over in regards to any theories we have, but we should not get ahead of ourselves,” Mitsuru says. “This safe room is to serve as a place of rest for us, so let’s leave speculation for later.”

“So, back to the food. Is it safe?” Chie asks.

“I don’t see why not, but we can give it a test or two just to be sure,” says Ren. “Yamagishi-san, is scanning food within your abilities? I know how weird that sounds…”

“Actually, inspecting the quality of foodstuffs is something I can manage,” says Aigis. “I have a multitude of scanners at my disposal, and as long as the food is indeed from our world, I should be able to detect any problems within it.”

“Oh, cool. Then, be my guest, Aigis-san.”

Aigis nods, standing and making her way over to the fridge to begin the process. Ren is expecting something like a sweeping red laser or a blue cone of light to come from Aigis as she works, but no such sight occurs. Instead, everyone waits as Aigis simply crouches down and stares intently at the inside of the fridge. She does so wordlessly for a full two minutes, after which she returns to a standing position.

“I detect nothing unusual in the refrigerated products present,” she says. “The same can be said for everything in the surrounding storage.”

“Great, thanks for checking for us, Aigis,” Yu says. “If it’s all clear, I guess there’s no reason not to have dinner. What’s it look like back there, Ren? Is it feasible for all of us to eat our fill?”

Ren pokes his head back in the fridge to do some quick math. It takes an extra moment because of the mess, but he eventually replies, “Yeah, there should be enough. Won’t take too long to get everything together, either.”

“Ooh, is our master chef in the making gonna work his magic?” Chie asks.

“Not much to do here, I’m afraid,” Ren replies. “Considering the stuff that’s available, Teddie probably had the right idea with sandwiches. Not as big as he made his, though.”

“Well, let me help out, then,” says Yu. “You shouldn’t be taking on all the effort right after you got back from scouting.”

“If it’s only sandwiches to worry about, then I can pitch in as well,” Fuuka adds.

“Thank you both,” Ren says. “But uh…we’re going to have to move Teddie first.”

Kanji sighs, already in the process of standing up. “That, I can handle.”

After having their workspace cleared of one bear, the volunteer cook team gets to work. Ren handles the main job of cutting ingredients to usable portions and separating them based on where they need to go.

Fuuka is the one to actually construct the sandwiches with everything Ren provides her. She passes them back to Ren after she finishes so that he can cut them evenly before going back to his original task. Yu helps with whatever they need along with making a salad from the vegetables lying around the kitchen area. The flow between them all takes almost no time to be established and directly translates to a quick turnaround in their task.

Soon enough, the three of them are carrying over trays full of varying types of sandwiches and bowls of salads over to their teammates. Yu adds onto it with a tray of cups for the pitcher of green tea he found. Fortunately for some of the sweet-tooths among the group, the very bottom of the fridge had also been hiding a large pack of Second Maid cans.

The group wastes no time replenishing themselves with everything laid out. Ren feels just a bit strange about eating food from the real world when he doesn’t know its source. For all they know, Fantasma could have stolen this from places around Yamichi. That sounds more like something a common thief would partake in over a phantom thief.

Then again, they can’t exactly waste time gathering all this stuff to take back, can they? Especially since they have no idea where it came from. All they can really do is use this stuff to help in their own task considering how greatly important its completion is.

As people begin finishing up their respective portions, Mitsuru says, “Even with your limited resources, this was a perfectly filling meal. You three have our thanks for your efforts.”

“Happy to help!” Fuuka replies.

Yu waves off the compliment. “No big deal.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Ren adds. “Was barely an effort to begin with.”

“If you thought this was good, Mitsuru-san, you should try Ren-Ren’s curry,” Chie says. “That stuff’s heavenly!”

“A shame we lacked the time to prepare any before this excursion,” says Naoto.

“I guess we’ll have to save it for the victory party once this is all over,” Kanji states. “I bet you were plannin’ on makin’ some for your friends anyway, right, Ren?”

“Definitely. After what they’ve been through, I’ll make as much as they want. You guys are more than welcome to join for all your help.”

Chie leans her head back on the couch. “Oh, that was a mistake – now I can’t stop thinking about curry…”

A mischievous grin breaks out on Junpei’s face. “Well, hey, if you need something to distract from that, I was just thinking that we can finally get into some fun stuff.”

“Fun stuff?” Yukari sighs. “This can’t be good…”

“What exactly do you mean, Iori-san?” Yukiko asks.

Junpei puffs his chest out and says, “Some good old-fashioned gossip! Come on, who’s got something to share?”

“Gossip? We’re not pre-teens,” says Akihiko.

“Don’t be a stick in the mud, man. We’re human beings; we’re designed to be social! I know we chatted a bunch at the party, but that was mostly life updates. I wanna hear the juicier bits.”

“Because you’re nosy,” Yukari says.

“Because I care about my friends, thank you very much. Here, I’ll start us off with something simple. Let’s get into some romance talk, people!”

“What’s there to talk about? Everyone here is single except for you. This better not just be some plan for you to show off.”

“Do you really think that little of me? I’m seriously asking, obviously!”

“I mean, we all know none of us are dating anyone,” Chie says. “Not steady dating, anyway. We talked about that stuff at the reunion party. Like Takeba-san said, there’s not much left to go over.”

“You mean we know most of them,” Junpei corrects. “You forget we have a new player in the mix.”

All eyes fall on the lone Phantom Thief in the group. Their expectant stares cause memories of his shared room in Hawaii to rise from their burial spot in his mind. He can hear the singsong voice of Ann trying to draw out his secrets even now.

“Oh, we are not doing this.”

He tries to rise and walk away, but Rise is faster, grabbing onto his coattails to drag him back.

“Oh, yes we are,” she says, continuing to pull against Ren’s resistance. “I didn’t want to make things awkward by asking back in December, but do you really expect me to believe you had a whole journey as a Wild Card without any romance sprinkled in?”

“Nothing like what you’re expecting. But I’m guessing I’m not getting out of this conversation without revealing something, am I?”

“Nope!”

“Figures.”

Ren quits fighting Rise and lets her pull him to the spot next to her. She immediately shoves a ham and egg sandwich in one of his hands and a bowl of salad into the other. For all her vulturous tendencies, one thing she has never wavered in is her attempts to care for him. Hopefully the familiar bundle of gratitude in his chest can power him through what is sure to be an exhausting conversation.

“Alright, what do you want to know?”

“Are you dating any of your teammates?” Yukiko asks. “They’re all so very fond of you.”

“No. We’re all just close friends.”

“You sure about that?” Yosuke says. “I remember those scary looks from when you acted oblivious to flirting sometimes.”

“I wasn’t acting. I genuinely am oblivious to that sort of thing. I sometimes give the wrong signals when I don’t mean to…”

“Oh, so just like Yu,” Chie says. “He’s so earnest with everybody that sometimes we’ve had to pull his butt out of the fire for getting someone’s hopes up.”

Yu winces at the reminder. “Turning people down in times like those is not fun at all.”

“Believe me, I know,” Ren says. “There’s nothing worse than denying how someone feels when you didn’t even know what was happening in the first place.”

“So no one caught your eye in Tokyo?” Rise asks.

“That’s…not necessarily true. It was more that I just didn’t feel ready for that sort of thing. I still don’t, if I’m being honest. Being a Phantom Thief and fighting Shadows is a lot easier than romance for me.”

“I’m with you on that one,” Ken says. “I never really knew how to react to the love letters I found shoved into my shoe locker in high school.”

Junpei groans. “There he goes again with his humble bragging.”

Akihiko snickers and says, “Tell me you’re not jealous of a kid, Junpei.”

“I’m not jealous!”

“And I’m not a kid!” Ken says. “I’m not even the youngest one here! Uh, no offense, Joker-san.”

“None taken,” he says. “I’m unfortunately getting used to being treated like I’m younger than I am thanks to a certain someone.”

Rise dodges the glare coming her way. “Sorry not sorry. Once a baby, always a baby.”

A grumble somehow manages to get past all the bread and meat in Ren’s mouth.

“Oh, don’t be like that. You know I’m just joking. I was the one talking about how much you’d grown up when we left Café Leblanc last time, you know.”

“That is true,” Yukiko says. “She was really emotional about it.”

“Really?” Ren asks.

“Oh, yes. I could almost call it a rebirth of sorts for her. We got to see an energy to her that day that we had been missing for a while. We made many comparisons to her teenage self witnessing it.”

“H–Hey, we don’t need that level of detail,” Rise says.

Ren waves her off. “No, no, I think it’s important. Did she get all weepy about seeing me, Yukiko?”

“Of course! You know you’ve always occupied a big part of her heart. I think reuniting with you gave her a feeling of being lighter than air. She wouldn’t stop gushing about how proud she was of you for the rest of our time in Tokyo.”

Rise covers her face with her hands, kicking her feet in protest. “Yukiko-senpai, please! Spare me!”

Fuuka finds herself plagued by a giggle fit. “Rise-chan’s embarrassment aside, I prefer heartwarming conversations like these to anything else.”

“But it’s missing the excitement,” Junpei claims. “Where’s the drama? The passion? The twists and turns? We need some major developments to shake things up!”

“That’s big talk coming from you, considering the one you’re sitting on,” Yukari says. “You want to tell me why exactly you haven’t given Chidori that ring you bought ages ago?”

All the mirth falls from Junpei’s face in an instant. His hand starts shaking so violently that it’s a wonder no liquid falls out from his open can. He tugs at the collar of his jersey with his free hand. His neck visibly moves with the swallow he forces through it.

“W–Well, that’s…uh…” He has to cough before he says, “Come on, Yuka-tan, everybody knows you gotta wait for the right time! Can’t have a proposal without some good planning – no sir. I gotta figure out a place to do it, and the time of day, and if we’ll have a date beforehand, and if I wanna have someone film it, and—”

“Junpei, you’re stalling.”

“Am not! I’m just…making sure everything’s in order before I do it, y’know? It’s a big step!”

“We know, Junpei-kun,” says Fuuka. “And we’re proud of you for trying to plan ahead. But…please don’t lose sight of the feelings that spurred you to act in the first place. This shouldn’t be about meeting some external standards just for the sake of doing so. You and Chidori-san love each other, and that is all you need to worry about when it comes to proposing. You both deserve a happy ending.”

The rest of the Shadow Operatives voice similar sentiments and support. Despite not being directly connected themselves, so do the Investigation Team members.

Even more on the fringe of the conversation, all Ren can do is keep eating silently while the rest revel in this sudden warmth. He does find himself happy for Junpei, though. As much as he can be without context, anyway. He can at least hold onto a bit of the contentment going around right now.

“Thanks, guys. I…I really appreciate how long you’ve put up with me when it comes to Chidori…”

Junpei doesn’t let the bashful look on his face stay for long. He makes a show of forcefully shaking his head before getting back to how he looked before Yukari called him out.

“Anyway, enough about that – back to Joker!”

And now any feelings of contentment have been shot dead.

Ren utters a single, flat, “Yippee…”

“Oh, don’t be like that, I’m not trying to get into all of your business or anything.”

Yukari follows a fake cough with, “He says, despite asking questions designed to get into someone’s business.”

“Quiet, you! Now, let’s circle back to this love life of yours, Joker.”

The noise Ren makes is somewhere between a sigh and a groan. “What is the point in asking about something I don’t have?”

“Because I don’t buy it. You’re eighteen, man! Just give me something to go off of. Like, you make it sound like you’ve never even had a celebrity crush!”

That puts a grin on Rise’s face. “Actually—”

Ren looks up from his salad to glare. “Rise, don’t you dare.”

“What? It’s okay that you’re so smitten with Kanami – she’s cute! As long as you listen to my music more than hers, it’s totally fine.”

“Wait, Kanami? As in Kanami Mashita?” Junpei asks. “You’ve actually met her, Joker?”

“Yeah, we used to hang out sometimes. She’s really nice.” Before Rise can pounce on that admission, Ren points at her with his fork and adds, “And while I definitely enjoy her music and look up to her in a general sense, I have never had a crush on her.”

“Yeah, right. I’ve seen the way you looked at her in the past. How do you explain that, huh?”

“Easy – I just thought her outfits were always better than yours.”

“What?!”

Yosuke hisses through his teeth. “Ooh, now he’s done it.”

“Rest in peace, Ren-Ren,” Kanji adds.

Chie stands and puts her hands on Rise’s shoulders. “H–Hey, let’s not go crazy, Rise! I’m sure Ren-Ren didn’t really mean that. Right?”

The last of his salad finally finished, Ren admits, “No, Rise’s always had the better fashion sense. It’s just easier to manage her reactions when she’s annoyed versus when she’s teasing me.”

“Oh, wow,” Labrys says. “Joker-kun’s got you down to a science, Rise-san.”

“Such a precious relationship,” Aigis adds.

Rise scoffs, crossing her arms. “It was more precious when he wasn’t giving me so much sass. Oh, how I miss my sweet little country boy…”

Ren turns away, letting his coat swallow him a bit. “Yeah, well…sorry I couldn’t stay the way you wanted.”

The feigned snootiness of Rise’s posture vanishes in an instant, along with any playfulness on her face. She blinks as if she’s been struck all of a sudden.

“Wait, what? Ren, that’s not what I—” Her hand hangs limply in the air between them. “I didn’t mean—”

Ren pushes past whatever pained feeling is taking root in his chest. Turning to the other side of the room, he says, “Anyway, considering how much of a focus Fantasma has on me inherently, can we please shift the topic to other things? Bonding with a new team goes both ways, you know. It might help us work together better if I know things about you Shadow Ops other than your Personas.”

“He’s got a point,” Akihiko says.

“It is only fair,” Fuuka agrees. “What would you like to know, Joker-kun?”

Ren honestly hadn’t expected to get away with such an obvious deflection, though he supposes he can attribute it to the Shadow Operatives not knowing him very well yet.

“Oh, um…I guess we can just start with what you guys do besides fighting Shadows,” he says.

Fuuka nods to herself. “That does seem like a reasonable place to start. Well, I spend most of my time working at a robotics lab with some colleagues from my university days. We often collaborated with the lab and its founders back then, and when we all graduated, they were quick to offer us positions with them. I mostly stay in front of my computer, though, so I apologize if that ruins your idea of things…”

“No, not at all. I’m sure just being a part of that is insanely impressive.”

“You know it,” Junpei says. “Fuuka’s, like, a super genius when it comes to tech stuff. She always talks about her coding, but she knows her way around all kinds of hardware, too!”

Fuuka picks at the bottom of her skirt. “Oh, come on, it’s not something to get boastful about…”

“I disagree,” says Aigis. “Of all the minds that have ever worked on my systems, you stand as one of the most gifted. Considering how much of your knowledge was self-taught, you deserve every bit of recognition.”

“Indeed,” Mitsuru says. “Part of me wishes we had you on staff further developing Kirijo Group technology, but I am simply glad to know that Japan as a whole can benefit from your mind. The nation is lucky to have someone so intelligent working for the betterment of its people.”

Labrys says, “Yep! That’s our Fuuka-san!”

The subject of discussion hides her reddening face behind her hands. “I–I appreciate the compliments, everyone, but can we please spread them out? I’m getting overwhelmed here!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll save you, Fuuka,” Yukari says through chuckles. “I still get asked to do some acting roles here and there, Joker, but I’ve actually been working mostly behind the camera these days. Fashion photography kind of snuck up on me as an interest, and thanks to some of the crew from my modeling gigs, I was able to get into the industry right out of college. I’ve still got a long way to go when it comes to using all the different types of cameras, though.”

“From what I’ve seen at photoshoots, those things are really intimidating, so good luck,” Ren says. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon. You’re a quick study.”

“Thanks! Oh, but based on that comment, have you done modeling yourself?”

“No, I only went along as moral support for Panther— Uh, my friend Ann, rather. She’s been modeling for a while since her parents are fashion designers. You might know them, they’re the Takamakis.”

Yukari sits at attention. “Panther’s parents are those Takamakis?! Oh my gosh – their designs are gorgeous! I try not to obsess over the clothes I wear when I model, but I’ve always wanted to try their work for myself. That carnation pink evening gown they debuted last spring was so pretty…”

“Honestly, Ann should have something of theirs in her closet. Somewhere between layers five and eighty-nine, at least. And even if not, I’m sure you two will have a lot to talk about once she’s here with us.”

“I can’t wait! I’m always excited for more girls in this little club of ours.”

“Yeah, Ann’s the exact same.” Before he can wallow in too many memories, Ren turns to keep the conversation going. “What about you, Iori-san? I’m going to guess something in sports considering your outfit.”

“Finally breaking free from the boring fashion talk, eh?” he says, ignoring the scowl Yukari shoots his way. “Well, you’re pretty much dead on. I’m a gym teacher at Tsuyo Junior High. I also coach their baseball team, and believe me when I say this year’s shapin’ up to be a championship run!”

“He’s not wrong,” Akihiko adds on. “Those kids are good. I’ve helped out a few times with their practice.”

“Yeah, which I appreciate, but maybe you should be volunteering places a little less, man. The last time you showed up, it was after coaching a running group and hauling inventory for that bakery near your place.”

“What’s the big deal? I had the energy after running, and Ogami-san needed the help since her sons are all out of town. Besides, that took no time at all. I had long enough to help a  foreign couple change their tires on the side of the road before I met up with your team.”

“What?! I didn’t even know about that one!”

“It would seem Akihiko-san is becoming what they call a ‘folk hero,’” says Aigis.

“Doesn’t sound like that’s too far off the mark,” says Ren. “Is that your usual day-to-day, Sanada-san? Because it sounds pretty hectic.”

“Nah, I just end up bouncing from place to place if I don’t have anything else to do. Mitsuru started yelling at me about standing around Shadow Ops HQ and training in office spaces.”

“Because you shouldn’t be throwing punches next to people’s cubicles,” Mitsuru explains. “And while I admire you putting your numerous skills to good use, I think Iori is right in that you should take it down a notch. Especially with how often the fire department has called on you recently.”

“Like I told you, I just volunteer when they’re short-staffed. I barely see those guys.”

“Akihiko, you ‘volunteer’ more often than some of their actual staff come into work. You may as well just make it official and cut down on the rest of your ‘extracurriculars.’”

“And lose out on the flexibility I have to drop everything when you need backup? Not a chance. Haven’t you learned you can’t chase me off by now?”

“I have never once tried. But sticking so close means you can’t argue when I tell you to better manage yourself. Think of the example you’re setting for Amada.”

“Huh? What about him?”

“Oh, she probably means how much of a bookworm he’s been lately,” Yukari says. “School’s still going well for you, though, right, Ken-kun?”

“Yes, thank you,” he replies. “I admit to having a lot of late nights spent studying, but they’re mostly necessary. That’s just what I signed up for when I decided to go into medical school.”

“Wow, you’re in medical school and still have the energy to run around fighting Shadows?” Chie asks. “That’s impressive, Ken-kun!”

“Well, it’s not like I encounter Shadows all that frequently. I just lend a hand from time to time.”

“Despite me repeatedly telling him to focus on his studies,” says Mitsuru. “Those of us in the Shadow Operatives full-time are capable of handling trouble when it arises. You don’t need to run out of class every time the auxiliary group is notified.”

“Especially not when Aigis and me are always on the job,” says Labrys. “That’s what we were made for, y’know!”

“I could not see myself doing anything else,” Aigis says. “Though the idea of performing a desk job for a day does sound amusing. Mitsuru-san, may I be permitted to work the front desk of headquarters sometime soon?”

“Ooh, me too, sis! We’ll greet everybody as they come in!”

Mitsuru hides a grimace behind a sip of tea. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but…perhaps we should all stick to our comfort zones.”

“Aw, rats…”

“Man…”

“Sorry to dash your hopes, you two,” says Fuuka. “But otherwise, I believe that covers all of us. Was that enough of a start, Joker-kun?”

“Of course. Thanks for playing along.”

“It’s our pleasure. I’m sure we’ll learn even more about each other as we continue on.”

“But with that point of discussion behind us, let’s all take that as a cue to try and get some sleep,” Mitsuru says. “Without our normal sense of time to rely on, we’ll simply reconvene once everyone feels properly rested.”

Even the more conversationally-inclined of the group can agree with that. After cleaning up a tad – which Mitsuru insists upon despite them being in a cognitive world – most of the group heads upstairs to begin resting. Left downstairs by the end of that are the members of the Investigation Team, Yukari, and Ren himself. While he isn’t sure of any of their plans, he already knows where he is headed next. His feet begin moving in the opposite direction of the stairs before someone notices.

“What’s up, Ren?” Yosuke asks. “You’re not going to sleep?”

“Not yet. You guys go on ahead – I want to stop by the Velvet Room for a sec.”

“The Velvet Room? Can’t it wait?” Kanji asks.

“Yeah, you need to get your butt in bed, mister,” Chie declares.

“And I will, just as soon as I get some Persona stuff straightened out.” He waves as he makes his way to the door between the bookshelves. “I’ll be back before long, but don’t wait up. See you later.”

The door opens and closes before anyone can really get another word in, leaving the Investigation Team all staring at the spot in the room that formerly held their young friend.

“We have to stop letting him get away with that,” Yosuke says.

“For sure. I get that things are crazy for him right now, but he needs to stop moving around so much,” Chie says. “We might just have to drag him to girls’ night and force him to sleep ourselves. What do you think, Rise?”

The question thrown her way simply bounces off its intended recipient. Rise remains silent, her eyes locked onto the door leading to Fantasma’s entrance. Everyone else glances at each other, some out of confusion and some out of concern.

Yukiko reaches out to her. “Um, Rise-chan… Are you…?”

The idol shies away from the gesture, seemingly back from her sudden trance. She lowers her head until no one can see her eyes past her hair.

“I’m just…gonna go to bed,” she says. “Night, guys.”

With her head still dipped low, no one can quite make out the expression she wears as she hurries up the steps towards the vacant bedrooms. Several of her teammates begin to follow, but Yukari stops them all with a gesture once she reaches the base of the stairs.

“Let’s just give her some time to decompress,” she says. “I’ll talk to her before we go to sleep, so don’t worry about her going to bed upset. You guys just focus on getting some rest.”

Naoto nods her way. “Thank you for that. Sorry for the trouble, Takeba-san.”

“It’s no trouble at all. Goodnight, everyone.”

Yukari’s parting leaves the room in a weird mix of trepidation and relief. Seven faces look to each other for reassurance only to find the same level of unease wherever they look.

“Well, I guess that at least means Rise’s taken care of,” says Kanji. “Ren, though…”

“Yeah, that’s still potentially an issue,” says Yosuke. “Then again, can’t you just follow him into the Velvet Room, Yu? At least then we’d know if he’s okay or not.”

Yu shakes his head. “Even if I did enter, I won’t necessarily be in the same place as him. I have no doubt that the Velvet Room can isolate its guests as it sees fit. We’ll just have to trust him to come back before long.”

Teddie slumps over. “I wish we could help everyone feel better. I don’t think food’s gonna help this time…”

“If only it were that simple, Teddie. For now, let’s just get to sleep, everyone. We need to be ready for anything tomorrow.”

Whether their biggest issues will arise in battle or outside of it, Yu doesn’t know. He sincerely hopes it is the former.

 

*          *          *

 

Akihiko doesn’t know how long he actually managed to sleep, but when he wakes up, it is to the sound of Junpei snoring – a sound that can only be compared to a vacuum on the brink of operational death. The man himself is splayed out across his bed with the sheets going everywhere and various parts of his clothes tangled within them. The sight is a stark contrast to Ken and Koromaru, who are neatly bundled up on the bed on the other side of the wall.

“Well, no chance of getting back to sleep with that…”

Quietly as he can, Akihiko shoves aside his blankets and walks out of the room, carefully slipping the door closed behind him.

He doesn’t really have a plan for what to do as he heads down to the ground floor. Using the space for training would just wake people up, and he does not want to face the fury of Mitsuru or anyone else if they are woken early.

Maybe this inn-styled safe room has an actual book or two for him to read. He didn’t check any of the titles on the shelves when everyone first got here, but it was easy then to get distracted with other things. He may as well have a look for himself now.

A surprise awaits him in the lounge in the form of Fuuka. The girl has her hands clasped together and her eyes shut in concentration. Her entire form seems to shimmer from behind Juno’s glassy exterior that is currently covering her.

“Yamagishi?” At the call of her name, Fuuka dispels Juno and turns to Akihiko. He gives her a small wave. “What are you still doing up?”

“Oh, Akihiko-san! Don’t mind me, I’m just keeping Joker-kun in view.”

“Joker? But I don’t even see him around.” Akihiko’s gaze drifts to the exit. “Wait… Don’t tell me he went out again.”

“Not as far as last time,” Fuuka assures him. “He’s only been pacing around the immediate area.”

“That’s a relief. Hey, how’d you even know he left in the first place? Did you see him go out?”

“No, I woke up afterwards. I wasn’t going to leave my room, but…I suppose you could say I had a bad feeling all of a sudden.”

“A bad feeling?”

“Mmhm.” Fuuka’s hands let go of one another, and one begins to hover over her heart. “Do you recall how Juno grants me information? Specifically, how I can somewhat perceive emotional states and mental conditions?”

“Yeah. You’ve always had a knack for seeing through people. Did something happen recently?”

“To an extent. It isn’t as if I can do anything as fantastical as ‘reading minds,’ but I got a fairly close look into how Joker-kun has been feeling lately when I tracked him earlier.”

“Oh… I’m going to guess you didn’t like what you felt.”

“He’s…struggling, Akihiko-san. I’ve picked up on his joy when joking around with the others from Inaba, and his excitement when in battle is obvious as well, but as a whole, this situation is wearing on him. There is just…so much discord inside him. I wouldn’t go so far as to call him unstable, but…”

“It’s more like he’s at war with himself,” Akihiko supplies. “That sound close?”

“Yes, thank you. So many negative emotions battling and feeding off of themselves isn’t healthy for anyone, much less a Persona-user. We’re no strangers to what can occur when we mismanage our emotions.”

A drastic understatement, though one only made to avoid getting too deep into bad memories. Akihiko nods in agreement.

“Feeling all that from Joker-kun, I…I have this urge to protect him now,” Fuuka says. “Even though we barely know each other, I feel I have a responsibility to help given what I’ve learned. I–I don’t mean to spy on him, necessarily, but if this is a way that I can keep him safe, then I want to keep at it. Unless he truly doesn’t want my interference.”

Akihiko grins at that last bit she added on. As much as she’s grown, Fuuka is still the type to always take other people’s feelings into consideration. Everyone in their group admires that about her.

Unfortunately, it can often come at the price of her own well-being. That part of her hasn’t changed, Akihiko thinks, especially once he catches sight of the bags under her eyes partially hidden by the low light of the room.

“That’s good and all, but don’t overdo it. We need you at your best to keep us progressing through this place.” Akihiko flicks his head towards the stairs. “Go ahead to bed – I’ll go get Joker and send him to his room.”

“Huh? Are you sure?”

“Yeah. And don’t worry, I won’t do anything thickheaded. I’ll just talk him off whatever ledge he’s put himself on.”

Fuuka nods slowly, finally letting her posture relax. “Then I’ll leave it to you. Good luck, Akihiko-san. And good night.”

“Sleep well, Yamagishi.”

As Fuuka heads back up – stifling the same yawn she has been holding for the past few minutes – Akihiko makes his way out. As reported, Ren isn’t all that far from the door of the inn. He is currently standing in a patch of that strange grass with a hand raised to his face. Akihiko isn’t close enough to hear specifics, but it sounds like he’s repeating some sort of mantra to himself.

Mentally apologizing for the interruption, Akihiko calls out, “The human body needs sleep, you know.”

Ren spins around at the voice, hand still raised to his mask in preparation. Steely gray eyes wash over Akihiko for but a moment. The pressure of them tempers just as quickly once Ren puts together who he’s facing.

“Oh, Sanada-san,” he says, dropping the combative stance. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same. Shouldn’t you be resting for all the fights we have ahead of us?”

Ren makes a noncommittal hum. “I’ve fought off of less sleep before. I’ll be fine.”

Akihiko chuckles as he steps down into the grass himself. “Yeah, heard that one before. The guys that usually say that are always the ones who need sleep the most.”

“Well, I am planning on getting some. Just not before I figure out this summoning.”

“Oh, so you’re out here training. Are you having trouble with one of your Personas or something?”

“Not trouble, necessarily. I just can’t get him to manifest properly. I’m not sure if it’s something in Fantasma stopping me, or something to do with my heart itself.” Ren’s gaze goes skyward. “Although, it could just be that I don’t have enough space out here.”

“Huh?”

Akihiko takes a look around. Aside from the garden nearby and the large ‘welcome’ sign behind them, there isn’t anything in the way. Honestly, they have nothing but space.

“You sure about that? What kind of Persona do you have that could need even more space than this?”

Ren doesn’t outright respond to that, simply opting to grin in a way that Akihiko is beginning to learn means he has some crazy piece of Phantom Thief lore he is withholding. Regardless of the curiosity such a look inspires in others – or maybe because of it – he won’t be elaborating on the point anytime soon.

The young man goes right back to laying a hand over his mask and chanting to himself with his eyes closed. Even this close, Akihiko can’t fully make out the words he’s repeating. He hears something close to ‘become my mask once more,’ but other than that, everything else just sounds like fast-paced whispers lost to the air. It really isn’t Akihiko’s place to intrude on this anyway.

He puts his hands in his pockets and lets Ren have his fill of the ritual. If their positions and ages were swapped, he knows he wouldn’t be very receptive to calling it a night without a solid success.

Then again, he promised Fuuka to get Ren to bed, so maybe he should think less like himself and more like she might. It wouldn’t be right to take her place and ignore her hard work so far.

“I get wanting to make sure you’re ready for anything, but we’ve still got time to iron out stuff like this,” Akihiko says. “You don’t have to do everything in one sitting.”

Ren replies without turning around. “If I can get myself together now, it saves us time later. The extra power will ensure nothing goes wrong from here on.”

“Like I said, I get that. But what good is the extra power if the guy using it is half-asleep in a fight?”

“It’s our first night here, if you can even call it that. You make it sound like I haven’t been sleeping for weeks.”

The way the others talk about him, Akihiko could believe it. He doesn’t voice that fact, though.

“I’m just saying, ease up on the throttle a bit. Even if you think you can handle it, you’ve got people inside worried about you.”

“They’re always worried about me. Going to bed won’t change that.” With another failed summoning attempt, Ren huffs and adjusts the gloves on his hands. “And no offense to them, but there are ten people trapped in here that need me. That’s where my focus is.”

“And I don’t blame you. But they’d probably be doing the same thing as the Inaba bunch if they were around. For example, what would that sister of yours say if she saw you right now?”

“She’s even worse than I am when it comes to sleep. I’m usually the one dragging her to bed late at night.”

A bunch of tiny memories come floating up to the top of Akihiko’s mind. Nights spent doggedly trying to tuck in a little girl with seemingly boundless energy and an obsessive love for exploring, despite having nowhere to go inside a tiny orphanage.

“Now that’s something I definitely understand. In my experience, little sisters always need reining in.”

“That’s for sure.” Ren peeks through the hand covering his mask as he asks, “You have a sister too?”

“I did.”

The younger boy’s motions halt. The hand at his mask slowly lowers until it hangs numbly at his side. Akihiko sees it twitch just once before Ren stuffs it in his pocket along with the other one.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ren says.

“Thank you, but I’ve made my peace with it as best I can. There wasn’t much I could do back then, which is why I worked so hard to improve myself afterwards. I wanted to ensure I wouldn’t be caught helpless again. So while I understand what’s eating at you, let me just say that it took me too long to realize how I was burning myself out. Strength is crucial in what we do, but it’s a fuel that can’t be used for everything. Knowing when to bow out is important too, doubly so for a leader like you. But you already know that, don’t you?”

If that part comes out a little condescending – a jab from a senior Persona-user to his junior – Ren doesn’t take it poorly. In fact, he stops himself from reaching to his mask again, keeping his hands in his coat as he nods slowly a few times.

“Yeah, I do. I guess I’m not getting much done out here anyway, so I’ll call it.”

“Glad to hear it. And hey, I’m sure you’ll figure out whatever you’re aiming for soon. If you need some help, just let me know.”

Ren nods again before making his way to the door of the inn. Akihiko wants to take in a bit of the atmosphere – or lack thereof – for a bit before returning to bed. Hopefully the extra time will lessen Junpei’s snoring, though Akihiko isn’t particularly confident in that possibility.

As Akihiko’s eyes settle on the replica of a starry night sky overhead, he hears Ren call out to him from behind.

“Sanada-san.”

Akihiko turns slightly towards the door. “Yeah?”

Ren pauses. From this angle, it’s hard to say for certain, but Akihiko thinks he can see Ren working up the nerve to speak from the way his mouth contorts and the way his chest expands from long breaths. He gets a sentence out before Akihiko can offer any help.

“Have you and your team ever had someone you couldn’t save? After you got your Personas.”

Despite that being the sort of thing they were just discussing, the question still barrels into Akihiko at full speed. The words ‘someone you couldn’t save’ bounce around his skull for a bit, and every one of those bounces brings a mental flash with it.

Flashes of blue hair and headphones, of eyes always half-lidded and lips set at the perfect point between smile and frown.

Flashes of a worn-down burgundy coat, of a beanie hiding a mess of hickory colored hair, and of beady eyes that only softened when looking at dogs or staring at a finished recipe.

And though it is a smaller flash, he still gets one of a man clutching the bullet wound in his chest as his only daughter cradles his body. To this day, it is the only time he has heard her wail without restraint.

Akihiko’s mouth feels just a little dry as he replies, “More than just someone, unfortunately.”

Ren turns back just a little more. There is something pleading in his eyes when he asks, “How many?”

There is never a good answer to something like that. The actual number is too much of a statistic, too dehumanizing to describe the loss of life. Giving a vague answer presents a similar problem, however, reducing those lost to blank faces in a crowd.

Though between one or the other, Akihiko knows which one carries more weight in his mind. So, he settles on giving Ren the same answer as he has given himself so many times before.

When it comes to how many they have lost, it will always be…

“Too many.”

A deep frown settles on Ren’s face. He looks pained from simply hearing that, but it isn’t very surprising. They aren’t in dissimilar positions, so it makes sense hearing the possibility of losses getting that high would be something he internalized.

“Right,” he says. “Sorry for prying. I should have just dropped it.”

He continues on his way to the inn, but before he can get too far, Akihiko speaks up again. He doesn’t want the younger of them going to bed with more fears than he entered Fantasma with.

“We’re going to save your team, Joker. The things that happened to us… My friends and I are committed to preventing them from happening to you. We’re going to spare you from carrying the weight of loss.”

Another beat of silence. Though, this one feels particularly heavy as it settles.

“I appreciate it…but you’re a little too late for that.”

The ground suddenly doesn’t feel very stable under Akihiko’s feet. “Wait, what? You’ve—”

“Good night, Sanada-san.”

Ren puts his head down and walks fully inside the safe room, closing the door right behind him. Though the sound is only a small click, Akihiko hears it ring out like the slamming of a jail cell. Who exactly would be the prisoner in that analogy isn’t clear.

“Yeah,” Akihiko says to the empty air. “Good night, Joker.”

Not for the first time, Akihiko can’t help but feel that someone else would have handled that conversation better. But of course, both people he has in mind aren’t exactly in a position to help. Not directly, at least.

Hopefully their constant watch over him means he can’t screw things up too badly. He has no doubts his departed friends would find a way to cosmically make their annoyance known if he ever truly botched an important conversation.

Akihiko looks upwards and says, “Sorry for being a handful, you two. But if you could keep looking out for me and the others, I’d appreciate it. I think this mess is going to get way worse before it gets better.”

And though he fully intends to use every bit of his strength to ensure everyone’s success, he fears that his newest ally will fall into the trap of not seeing much past his own strength. In some ways, that battle will be tougher than any involving Shadows. Akihiko knows that all too well.

Notes:

A dialogue heavy chapter for sure, but one I think was needed. It’s good to take a break every now and then (both inside and outside the story) and the crew needed a chance to sit down and talk for a bit. Plus, this lets me add in some info that otherwise might feel out of place while they’re adventuring later. We’ll get back to their exploration next chapter.

Also, in case you missed it, I finally got around to posting that short Q2 adaptation for this AU! It isn’t canon to anything here, but if you want some more moments between Ren and the IT, it has a good amount to provide. I even got to write the P3 protags for that one and it was a real treat. It's the fourth entry in the series, but you can also get to it from here -> https://archiveofourown.org/works/61908904

(Bonus: If you can figure out what video game I somewhat referenced for the inn, I will be very impressed)

Chapter 9

Summary:

The rested group of Persona-users heads back out into Fantasma to continue searching for the Phantom Thieves. While they find something unquestionably related, it is not what any of them expected…

Despite being one of the last ones to go to bed, Ren is the first to wake up. Maybe it has something to do with him being better acclimated to Fantasma than the others, or maybe he’s just that anxious about everything going on.

Maybe it’s a combination of the two, along with the fact that he couldn’t fully indulge in the plush bed underneath him in sleep. His body had refused to relax in its comfort, not when his friends could be locked away in cages or bound with chains. He is no use to them tucked beneath blankets.

Either way, he creeps out of his temporary bedroom and tiptoes down the stairs, careful not to disturb the wall of snores coming from either side of him.

Upon reaching the ground floor, realization swoops in to take the place of any lingering drowsiness. Without any ways to get ready for the day like he normally would, there really isn’t much to be done. There is no reward for being an early bird in Fantasma.

Of course, he could use this time to go kill some Shadows as a warm-up, but he would never hear the end of it if he got caught. Better to just kill some time some other way.

He walks around the first floor of the inn with slow, lengthy strides. Everything looks exactly as it had when last he passed by, from the seating area shifted by recent use to the sink full of dishes that no one was eager to clean. Even the tiny checkerboard patterned box of items is right where he left it atop the bar counter.

That had been a last-minute addition he made right before bed, a decision born simply of trying to put off sleep for just a bit longer. Luckily, Akihiko had taken a while to return inside, otherwise he would have caught Ren in the midst of storing miscellaneous items from around the safe room like a human magpie. Practicality aside, that would have been humiliating to explain.

His eyes eventually drift to the kitchen area – perhaps a bit unsurprisingly – and a familiar feeling overtakes him. He may not be able to do much in the way of preparing himself for the day, but he can indulge in another common aspect of his mornings in the real world.

He winds his way back behind the bar counter before pulling out the coffee-filled thermoses in his inventory. It’s already in a state to be consumed, thanks to Metaverse logic, but taking it as it is would be a waste of the kitchen. He can give himself a purpose by heating it up a bit with some of the supplies in the inn.

Moving to do so is just as easy as it would be behind the counter at Leblanc. He rifles around some cabinets until he finds a small pot, placing it atop the stove that he switched on just moments ago. The heating element underneath only takes a few seconds to get going from there, and once Ren transfers all his coffee reserves into the pot, he hovers over it in order to make sure it doesn’t burn or lose any flavor. Diligence is the only way to honor the Leblanc name.

Just as the coffee hits his preferred temperature, Ren scoops a bit out with his spoon to taste. Aside from the tiny bit of herbal aroma it lost in the transfer process, it tastes just as pleasing as it had when he first made the blend.

It tastes like home – or rather, what will be his home soon enough. The lingering aftertaste – partially smokey, partially chocolatey – reminds him of low lighting and booth seats and the quiet droning of the TV overhead.

Daydreaming about his café haven comes to an end with the sound of footsteps thumping down the stairs. Ren leans back to peek around the wall and gets a full view of one Rise Kujikawa fresh out of bed. Her normally pristine hair is bunched up and frazzled, and her eyes aren’t even fully open as she lumbers down each individual step like a kaiju in an old cult classic.

After managing to turn the corner, she all but collapses into one of the seats at the bar, her head swaying in an attempt to stay upright. It is a wonder she’s even cognizant enough to see Ren and sit in front of him in the first place.

“Morning…” she drawls.

“Good morning,” he replies. If the coffee wasn’t enough of a reason to smile, this sight surely is. “You know, some people would kill for a photo of you with bedhead. I guess I’m lucky that this is nothing new for me.”

“No making fun of me before I get caffeine.” Rise stretches out her hands and lazily waves them in Ren’s direction. “Gimme.”

The score between them is still heavily in her favor from all the teasing she did yesterday, but Ren does feel at least some pity knowing how she isn’t a morning person in the slightest. So, he slides a full cup of coffee over her way without any follow-up quips. He’ll manage to fit them in later, once she’s actually conscious of them being thrown her way.

Getting a better look at her head as she begins to drink, he realizes the state of her hair goes far beyond just ‘messy.’ He wouldn’t be surprised to find a family of birds living somewhere inside.

“Actually, ‘bedhead’ might have been an understatement,” he says. “I didn’t know hair could be a shape like that.”

“Like you’re one to talk. And cut me some slack, it’s been a stressful couple of days.” Rise yawns, sending ripples across the surface of her coffee. “I’ll get it in a minute, just…lemme wake up a little…”

“Don’t bother – I got it.”

Ren walks around the bar to get behind Rise. The tiny box on her right is pulled closer, and he finds exactly what he is looking for at the very top. A small stack of hair ties sits on top of a brush made of a glittering golden resin. Ren plucks them all out to set them on the counter.

“Is that haircare stuff?” Rise asks. “Where did you find it?”

“In some drawers I was rifling through last night. I know it’s not everything you normally use, but I figured it might benefit at least one of our teammates.”

“Wow. You really have turned into a little thief.”

“It’s called being pragmatic. Why wouldn’t I check around a mysterious building in a weird dimension we know nothing about?”

“Touché.”

Ren falls into familiar motions while Rise continues to sip at her coffee. As always, her hair is in excellent condition despite its shape, leaving most of the prep work out of the equation. Of all the times Ren has done any styling for people, Rise’s hair has never been an issue with how much effort she puts into maintaining its health and quality.

“This takes me back,” she says. “How many times have you fixed my hair for me after a sleepover?”

“Too many to count,” Ren replies. “I never could do it as well as you, though.”

“I’d hope not. I mean, I’m the one that lives with it. Still, I was so impressed that first time you did it. I had no idea you even knew how.”

“Nanako made me practice on her. She said I was friends with too many girls to not know how to style hair properly, but between you and me, I think she just wanted me to spoil her. Dojima-san isn’t exactly an expert on things like this, even though he does try his best.”

After finally ensuring that there aren’t any hidden tangles in Rise’s hair, Ren starts to work on it with the brush. He starts gently from the ends and works his way up, an extra precaution in the event he wasn’t as thorough as he thought earlier. After enough of that, he switches directions to start at her scalp and brush down. He has only made a few passes this way when he hears Rise speak softly to him.

“Hey, Ren? I’m…I’m sorry.”

“Huh? About what?”

“Yesterday. I mean, a few hours ago. Was it a few—?”

“The time before we all went to sleep, I got it. What exactly are you apologizing for?”

“For teasing you a little too hard,” she says, fidgeting with her hands after setting her coffee down. “I know you don’t really care when I do it normally, but I should have seen how it was getting to you. And…with that last thing I said…”

Ren pushes out a breath. Honestly, he had forgotten about the awkward note he left the group on thanks to his later conversation with Akihiko and the struggle to sleep properly. The reminder feels like a bucket of water being dumped over his head.

“You don’t have to apologize for that,” he says. “I was the one who took it to heart, even though I know that’s not what you meant.”

“Are you sure you know? Because I don’t want you thinking for one second that I’m disappointed in this version of you. Obviously I would’ve preferred if you stayed in Inaba with the rest of us, but moving away and becoming a Phantom Thief didn’t change the fact that I care about you.”

“No, I get it. I should have just apologized before, but I got flustered about getting defensive and it made me just want to get away from everyone. That’s something I haven’t really done since I first got to Yamichi. I hate that it had to come out now.”

“You’re just out of sorts because of your friends being gone. I need to keep that more in mind while we’re in here. As much as I’d love to just use this as time to catch up—”

“There’s no reason we can’t,” Ren interrupts – maybe a bit too desperately. “I mean, we’re not here to have fun, and I can’t promise I’ll be in a good mood very often, but our time here is still time we’re together. There’s no reason it has to be awkward.”

“Yeah…I guess that’s a good point.” Rise quietly chuckles before saying, “Weird how we’ve known each other for so long, but now we’ve got a whole new dynamic to figure out, huh?”

“Just a part of growing up, I guess. We aren’t kids anymore.”

“No, we’re not.” A wistful sigh comes from Rise’s lips. “That would make things way less complicated, wouldn’t it? Oh, to be young again…”

“Rise, you’re twenty-two.”

“It’s called being dramatic, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, I guess you are the most dramatic person I know.”

When Rise repeats his comment in a nasally, mocking tone of voice, it forces him into a fit of laughter. She falls into the same trap almost immediately, and the poorly contained sounds of their mirth fill the ground floor of the inn.

It all dies down to quieter chuckles after a minute or two. After wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, Rise turns her head just slightly to look at Ren behind her.

“Well, hopefully I’m not so dramatic that you’re tired of me,” she says. “So…you still willing to put up with me?”

A dismissive puff of air leaves Ren’s lips. “Kind of a weird thing to ask your number one fan. You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Kujikawa.”

“Glad to hear it.”

The haircare session continues in silence, but a comfortable one as opposed to what the pair had going on earlier. The scene now is much closer to the days of old than before. Ren keeps the brush moving through Rise’s wall of hair while she begins to hum a tune quiet enough for only the two of them to hear. In spite of everything weighing on his mind at present, he allows himself to hum along.

When the hair under his fingers is finally restored to something close to its proper appearance, all Ren has to do is slip on the hair ties before he deems his work a success.

“All done,” he announces.

Rise sets her coffee cup down to run hands through her hair. They don’t get far before she finds a large gap right down the middle. All the hair she is searching for is split on either side of her head.

“Oh, you put it in pigtails,” she remarks.

Despite pulling out the hair ties, and putting them in, he really hadn’t even noticed until now.

“Sorry,” he says, “I think I autopiloted there. Want me to fix it?”

“No, I don’t mind. It’ll be nostalgic to navigate like this. Thanks, Ren-Ren.”

“Anytime. And now that that’s done…” Ren turns back to the wall splitting off the bar from the stairs and says, “The rest of you can come on out. There’s really no need to keep hiding around the corner.”

After just a brief moment of hearing some hushed whispers, Ren and Rise both watch as the rest of the Investigation Team comes walking into view, all holding various levels of guilt in their expressions.

“Oh, h–hey there,” Teddie says.

“Wait, everyone’s awake?” Rise asks, surprise evident in her raised pitch. “Since when?”

“Well, Yukiko got up first,” says Chie. “I noticed she was gone when I woke up, and when I came out to look for her, I found her hiding on the stairs. I stuck around, and then everyone who woke up after that just sort of…parked here with us.”

“I’m sorry if it seemed odd, but I didn’t want to intrude on the moment,” Yukiko says. “You and Ren-kun looked so at peace together.”

“You’re fine,” Ren says, storing the unused hair ties and the brush in his box again. “If I thought it was weird, I would have said something earlier. I noticed your little ‘stair party’ as soon as Chie showed up.”

“Wait, seriously?” she says. “How’d you even know we were back there?”

Ren’s eyes flash red in the dim light of the safe room. Chie lets out a low groan at the silent answer.

“Right. You and your weird Phantom Thief powers.”

“Well, looks like you two are back to normal,” Kanji says, nodding towards Ren and Rise. “Everything good?”

“Yeah, we’re all good,” Ren says. “I’ll admit, I’m not really used to talking things through with you guys so thoroughly. Kid me just shrugged a lot off and moved on.”

“And we were too quick to accept that,” Naoto says. “From now on, we would appreciate you keeping an open dialogue with us, Ren-kun.”

Yukiko hums an agreement. “Yes. We don’t wish to make you uncomfortable, but none of us are content with how lax we’ve been with caring for you, both physically and mentally.”

“So make sure to lean on us, got it?” Yosuke emphasizes his point by bumping Ren with a fist. “We know Tokyo changed you, but you were ours first, man. When it comes to acting as your support, we’re not taking no for an answer.”

“We’ve been so beary Ren-deprived all these years,” Teddie whines. “Don’t let us waste away any more!”

“Alright, I get it – I’m clearly not getting out of the extra attention.” Ren directs a pleading sort of look towards Yu. “Isn’t the leader supposed to rein in his own team?”

“Your mistake is thinking I’ve got any real control over these guys,” he retorts. “But even if I did, I can’t say they’re wrong. You’re just going to have to accept this and move on.”

“I guess I am.”

There are worse things to accept, truthfully. The older group can claim to be changing things up all they want, but this really isn’t anything different to what they’ve always done. The only difference now is that Ren has a lot more going on than his kid self ever did.

While he has no intention of dragging them into all of his messes, he can at least let them help out with the basic stuff. That way, everyone wins.

A nagging part of him argues that he wins the least of all like that, but when hasn’t that been the case? He’ll just power through like normal.

“Hey, not to change the subject and all, but there’s something that’s been bothering me.” Chie points to various parts of Ren’s costume. “Ren-Ren, have you been wearing that outfit the whole time?”

“Oh, yeah,” Yosuke says. “You didn’t sleep in that thing, did you?”

Ren lets out a quiet little laugh. “No. At least, not entirely. I can take it off when I need to. It’s not something I normally do, obviously, but it’s not stuck to my body or anything.”

“But there is no exchanging it with your normal attire, then?” asks Naoto.

Kanji follows with, “Yeah, can’t you just…like, turn it off?”

“Not really how that works, no. And even if I could, I wouldn’t want to in a place like this. Without my mask, I can’t summon, and I don’t want to be caught off guard regardless of the situation.”

“Oh, I getcha. Kinda sucks, but then again, I prob’ly wouldn’t want to take off an outfit that cool very much either.”

Chie nods emphatically. “I was thinking the same thing! I feel like Fantasma is so distracting that I haven’t had enough time to gush about your costume, Ren. You look awesome!”

“It’s definitely what comes to mind when I try to imagine a phantom thief,” Yu adds.

“Well, thanks,” Ren says. “I guess I did get pretty lucky, huh?”

“I mean, compared to some of your friends’ outfits, I’d say so,” Yosuke agrees. “You probably don’t envy most of them.”

“I don’t know…having a tail would be kind of nice.”

Rise snorts behind her hand. “You would think that, catboy.”

The conversation stays lighthearted and proves to be a good time waster until the third part of the united group comes down the stairs. All of the Shadow Operatives – aside from Mitsuru, interestingly enough – wander onto the ground floor with greetings and various amounts of sleep still present in their expressions. Aigis and Labrys are obviously exempt from this – they look no different than they had when going upstairs before. Ren wonders if they actually have some form of rest or if they just charge themselves somehow. Might be a question for later.

“Morning, everyone.” Yukari pauses her stride to sniff at the air. “Wait, what’s that smell?”

“Oh, Ren made coffee,” Yosuke answers.

“Which you’re all welcome to have,” Ren adds, already moving towards the stove. “Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty.”

Yukari shrugs and walks over to the bar, taking a seat next to Rise. “Well, hey, if you’re offering…”

Ren makes quick work of transferring the coffee in the pot to a waiting cup nearby. When he slides it over to Yukari’s waiting hand, he is reminded of the first cup he ever made to serve to a customer back in Leblanc. Their name and overall appearance escape him, but their reaction will never fade from memory.

Despite Ren’s nerves, his anxiety in trying to please Sojiro, and his fear that inadequacy would get him kicked out onto the street, that cup of coffee had the customer beaming from the first sip. They didn’t know enough about coffee itself to make any educated comments on it, but the basic compliments had been more than sufficient. Praise for anything he did by hand had been rare before landing in Tokyo, after all.

In the present, Yukari lowers the cup from her lips with her mouth parted, almost in reverence. Though the expression differs, Ren is immediately reminded of the day already on his mind. He smiles preemptively at another success.

“Oh.” Yukari stills, letting the aftertaste fully settle on her tongue. “Oh my god!”

“Uh, Yukari-san? You okay?” Labrys asks.

The actress is too busy taking a large swig of her coffee to respond. When she finishes downing that bit, she stares at the cup like it’s a gleaming treasure.

“This coffee is too good to be real,” she says. “You actually made this, Joker?”

“Yep. Studied under the best barista in Tokyo for about a year to be able to make that coffee. Serving anything subpar would be an insult to Café Leblanc.”

“Well, now I’m interested,” Ken says, grabbing his own cup. He lets Ren fill it about halfway before taking a sip, after which his eyes shoot open and his mouth turns up at the ends. “Oh, wow! This is delicious!”

Yukari hums through another sip. “Right? I wouldn’t call it potent, but you can really tell there hasn’t been any flavor lost. I love that subtle chocolate taste!”

“Such an interesting blend of sweetness and acidity, even with the density present,” Ken continues. “I don’t think I’ve ever had coffee so pleasantly aromatic, either. It’s so complex that I’m finding something new with every sip!”

Akihiko snickers, leaning over the bar counter to say, “Ken’s our resident coffee snob, if you couldn’t tell.”

“Hey, I’m not a snob! You and Junpei-san just don’t appreciate good coffee.”

“Is it such a crime that I prefer my drinks not bitter?” Junpei asks. “At least I branch out. Akihiko’s the one who lives off of protein shakes.”

“I do not. For your information, I’ve been making a lot of my own smoothies these days. It’s much healthier than downing three cans of energy drinks in a row like you do.”

“Ouch! You wound me, senpai…”

A few more cups of coffee get passed around, some of which come only after Ren finds a few additives scattered around the kitchen. Creamer, cocoa, and some cinnamon among other things are waiting inside cabinets that Ren swears he already checked before. He decides it’s less trouble to just take and use them rather than try to investigate where they may have come from.

The makeshift café gets its last visitor about fifteen minutes later. As everyone is maintaining their scattered conversations, Mitsuru finally comes walking down the stairs. She is as composed as ever, yet she still rubs the corner of her eyes with the back of a finger.

“Oh, there she is,” Junpei says. “We were wondering when you’d show up, Mitsuru. Not used to you sleeping in.”

“My apologies, everyone,” she says, straightening out a length of her hair. “I underestimated how much mental energy has gone into the last few days. Somehow, my body felt more at ease sleeping here than back home.”

“Probably because you’re actually away from work for once,” Yukari says. “Well, the business side of your work, at least.”

“You’re not still groggy, are you?” Akihiko asks. “We can take some time to let you wake up.”

Mitsuru shakes her head. “That won’t be necessary. I only need a moment to get my bearings before we depart.”

“Here, this might help,” Ren says.

He pulls out one last coffee cup and fills it most of the way considering Mitsuru’s own words. She glances at it curiously once it’s set down in front of her.

“Coffee? I wasn’t aware this safe room had any.”

“It’s from my personal supply. I made it at home before we first came into Fantasma and warmed it up once I woke up. Is there anything special you’d like added?”

“No, but thank you for the offer. I often just grab and go when it comes to coffee, so this should be fine.”

Mitsuru reaches down to grab the cup, gracefully raising it to her mouth the same way Ren has seen Haru do hundreds of times. It seems high-class upbringings really do spread to even the simplest of actions.

Though unlike her fellow heiress, satisfaction does not cross her face once she completes her sip. After lowering the cup to her palm, she fixes it with a stern and troubled glare.

“Oh no.”

“What’s wrong?” Fuuka asks.

“I fear normal coffee has just been ruined for me forever,” Mitsuru responds. With her eyes still on the cup, she misses how Ren relaxes in relief. “The instant coffee passed around before Kirijo Group meetings is sure to taste unacceptable to me now.”

Chuckling, Akihiko asks, “This is how Shadow Operative headquarters gets filled with expensive coffee machines, isn’t it?”

Labrys does the same and adds, “Assuming Mitsuru-san doesn’t just hire someone herself. Should I grab a job application for Joker-kun when we get back?”

“You’re all so very funny,” Mitsuru says, shaking her head. “If I have to endure the comedy routine at my expense, I would prefer to do it with another cup of coffee. As long as that isn’t any trouble, Joker.”

“No trouble at all,” he replies, moving right back to his trusty pot.

The ribbing doesn’t last long after that, which puts everyone back into normal conversation about all things non-Fantasma related. As nice as it is to indulge in this version of their time together, it cannot last forever. They still have a job to do, and Ren is itching to get back to it.

So after all drinks are finished and everyone is deemed fully awake, they split up to go and reequip whatever gear they removed to sleep. It doesn’t take very long at all, so Ren manages to store away everything he’s been using and the little amount of coffee left over by the time they all gather in front of the door leading outside.

“We all ready to head out?” Yu asks. With everyone voicing confirmation, he nods. “Great, then let’s get to it. We should try and make as much progress as we can while we’re in such good shape.”

“I’ll be remaining here with Koro-chan once more,” says Fuuka. “If I sense anything unusual during your travels, I’ll let you all know immediately. Still, please exercise caution as you proceed. I’ll be rooting for you, so do your best!”

Yukari chuckles. “You’re waving us off like a mother sending her children to school.”

Fuuka flushes a bit at that comment. “Ah! Th–That wasn’t my intention…”

“Aw, I liked it,” Rise says. “Thanks, Fuuka-san. You and Koromaru be sure to stay safe too, okay?”

Koromaru lets out a few barks in agreement. He doesn’t seem too disappointed at the lack of action he’s seen so far. Most of the team give him a few pets before leaving.

Back out into Fantasma proper, the group travels the rest of the way down the path that brought them to the safe house to begin with. It houses no enemies or danger, so they are able to reach the endpoint after only a few minutes of walking and talking.

That endpoint turns out to be a steep drop to their path, separated from a wall of tree bark that fans out like a giant maple leaf in the distance. The wooden gate embedded within it lowers upon their approach like a drawbridge to a castle. Though that solves the issue of progressing forward, the grimy metal chains holding the gate don’t inspire much confidence in the platform as a whole. The group decides to tread lightly as they step through the new opening provided by the gate’s lowering.

The act is met with an assault on the eyes in the form of a clear blue sky. Though the safe house was surrounded by night, this new area is covered in nothing but daylight. Beams of light from an unseen sun ensure the empty dirt path ahead is fully illuminated.

Everyone has their heads on a swivel as they carry on like a travelling caravan, determined not to let any Shadows get the drop on them. The precaution ends up entirely unnecessary.

Waiting for them after that tense stretch of walking is a collection of buildings that match the aesthetic of the inn-styled safe room. These are smaller and more compact, however, and seem to focus more on masonry in their construction than woodwork.

An unmoving waterwheel sits attached to the building on the far left, and towering over the buildings at the end furthest from the entrance is a stone windmill. Without either of their proper elements to work off of, their inclusion here seems simply cosmetic. Though they do help tie the look together for what this place appears to be.

“Well, looks like we’re back to our regularly scheduled fantasy stuff,” Junpei says. “This is a whole village!”

One full of cognitive residents, as well, Ren notices. They look just a smidge more lifelike than the ones exploring the museum from the start of all this. At the very least, Ren appreciates the fact that they seem to have both eyes and mouths to emote with. The lack of definition in most other areas isn’t as off-putting with that in mind.

And as a bonus, they don’t seem interested in the Persona-users at all. The cognitions go about their lives as if the newcomers to their home don’t exist. The only indication that Ren and the others aren’t invisible to them is the way the cognitions swerve to walk around their group.

Though where they all are in such a rush to is unclear. Ren watches as different groups of cognitions leave from one building, enter one directly across from it, and then cross the street again just moments later. It reminds him a bit of Shibuya Crossing, only no one here seems to have a permanent destination in mind. Everyone is part of some never-ending commute.

Further into the village is a proper town square. Polished brick work makes up the grounds, so sterile in its appearance that one might think the cognitions here have no footprints to speak of.

The square is centered around an impressive fountain. It features a linoleum spire in the middle with two spouts on each face. The water flowing from them is heavy in its flow, and yet somehow still incredibly quiet as it fills the basin below. Attached to the front of that basin is a marble sign with the words, ‘Torimono Village,’ etched into it.

Rather than try and decipher how that name plays into things, Ren puts his focus on the five small pieces of paper dangling from the village’s sign like notes on a bulletin board. The sight seems oddly tacked on considering the pristine fixture it’s attached to. He isn’t the only one who notices.

Aigis’s voice comes from right beside him. “Those are…pages of a book? Strange to see them separated like this.”

Mitsuru steps up beside Aigis. “Considering what we have seen before, that separation does not necessarily make them unimportant. Though perhaps I’m simply latching onto something familiar in our new surroundings.”

“Either way, we may as well take a closer look,” Akihiko says. “Not like any other leads are jumping out at us. Unless we want to go door to door to check those buildings out.”

Ren has no interest in what would likely be a waste of time, so he’ll take his chances with the first option. When he approaches the sign, he can see more of Fantasma’s illegible scrawling present on the pages, though with a different arrangement than before.

Rather than have each nonsense word scattered across the page like a child’s writing assignment gone wrong, there are proper sections and margins on each page now. If it weren’t for the characters themselves, Ren would almost think that these are simply pages from a foreign storybook.

He reaches out to try and grab them for a closer look, but as soon as his fingers make contact with the first page, it and the rest are enveloped in a golden light that raises them up into the air.

As they ascend, five battered wooden doors come crashing down past them into the village square, prompting shocked cries from some of the Persona-users. The doors land in a semi-circle around the fountain, immediately fusing into the brickwork upon contact as if they have always been present.

The light encircling the pages above pours down then, targeting each of the doors and transforming them under its power. The worn-down wood riddled with cracks smooths over, turning solid and polished enough to shine under the daylight of the village.

Along with the restoration comes images on each of the doors. From the leftmost one to the rightmost, those images are a bouquet, a lace headdress, a thermometer, a snowball, and a pair of stick figures holding hands. Based on the height difference, Ren assumes that the last image is depicting a parent and their child.

He can hear someone start to make a comment on all this, but they get cut off by each of the doors flinging themselves open. Inside each doorway is a dense black void, somehow limited to the thin plane of the surrounding frame. Ren takes immediate notice that the voids match the one that stole the Phantom Thieves from his house.

They have no need to employ the same vortex from back then, not with how the airborne papers all flee inside them, likely still under the influence of the strange golden light. Each page takes one door for itself this way. Once inside, all doors close behind them with a simultaneous thud.

The various cognitive villagers traversing the square don’t pay the scene any mind. As they continue their transit for unknown purposes, the Persona-users gathered stand in silence, struggling to comprehend all they have witnessed.

“Well…that was a thing,” Labrys says.

“Yeah, a whole lot of a thing,” Kanji agrees. “What did any of that mean for us?”

“Based on that quick exit, I get the feeling that those pages aren’t something we’re supposed to have,” says Ren. “Which, as you may expect, just makes me want them more.”

“Yeah, saw that one coming,” Rise mutters.

Junpei moves towards the door with the bouquet on it. To his surprise, there isn’t any resistance in trying the handle. As soon as he twists it, the door slides open, revealing an actual location behind it. The view granted to everyone is of a baby blue sky and a rocky path forward.

“Well if we’re all agreed to go after those papers, then let’s rock,” Junpei says. He doesn’t wait for anyone else before fully throwing himself into the new area. “Comin’ through— Ahh!”

The rocky terrain on the other side of the door is actually much shorter than it appeared from the village. It juts out from the mountain behind it like a balcony, providing a small platform over the massive drop just past its edge. The visible line of clouds down below paints a very bad picture for anyone who might fall off.

Close to finding out for himself, Junpei flails his arms in an attempt to cut off the momentum carrying him forward. The spastic motion almost sends him over, but Yukari manages to get through the door and yank him backwards before he goes too far. They both fall back onto their butts from the effort.

“Junpei, be more careful!” she chides. “I don’t want to tell Chidori you fell off a mountain when we go home!”

“Sorry…”

As everyone else begins to carefully cross the door’s boundary, Kanji whistles at the sight before them. “Man, how’d we go from a village to some giant mountain with all this open air around it?”

“Fantasma is getting bold with warping the spaces it commands,” Naoto says. “I almost feel as though this entire world could be improving its own capabilities as we progress.”

“All the more reason to pick up our pace, then,” says Akihiko. “Now where’d that page go?”

Everyone gets to work looking over the area. Despite how expansive this new section seems to be, most of it is simply open air surrounding the mountain, as Kanji pointed out. Though it is possible their target took a path off the cliffside, it does them no good to assume that right away.

“I believe I have found something,” Aigis says. Her fingers point up to the faraway peak of the mountain where a dense bowl of twigs, moss, and tree bark sits. Just visible past the bowl’s lip are three large eggs covered in bright blue polka dots.

“Is that a bird’s nest?” Chie asks, hands over her eyes like a visor. “You think that’s where the page went?”

Ren only needs to turn his Third Eye on for a second to confirm that. The faint blue light fluttering inside the nest’s walls is more than enough proof.

“Yeah, and it looks like it’s lodged in there pretty well,” he says. “It shouldn’t fly away before we can grab it.”

“So now the question is how to do that,” Yosuke says.

“There’s no direct path on the mountain to walk or climb up,” Ken observes. “And I don’t think our Personas could make that far of a trip if we sent them out.”

“Can’t Ai-chan or Labby-chan fly up there?” Teddie asks.

“Eh, our boosters are more for movin’ horizontally, Teddie,” Labrys responds. “And even if we could get that kinda height, we’d run outta juice before we got to the top.”

Aigis nods. “A shame we did not prepare our flight-packs in advance for this mission.”

Well, that puts them back at square one. Ren feels Arsène ready to spring forth if needed, but he agrees with Ken that commanding a Persona from that distance would be too taxing to maintain. The only person he knows with a Persona that can handle vertical travel is Oracle.

If she were here, she would let out her usual little cackle, tell everyone to leave it to her, then swoop up there with Al Azif to snag the page without issue. The way she would forcefully demand praise afterwards would be equal parts exhausting and endearing.

She isn’t here, though, so Ren does his best not to think about all the ways he would compliment her skills and growth. It isn’t like he needs yet another reason to miss her.

“I can try scaling the mountain with my grappling hook,” he says to everyone. “You know, like rock-climbing with a rope. That’s probably our safest bet.”

“Can your wire even reach that far?” Yu asks.

“I’ll have to fire it a few times, but it’s got a decent length. As long as I find some footholds along the way, there shouldn’t be any issues.”

It isn’t an airtight plan by any means, but no one offers any better ideas. They really don’t have the time to sit and deliberate all day anyway.

So after plenty of warnings that he needs to be careful, Ren is finally allowed to begin his ascent. He spins around in place before firing his grappling hook as high up on the mountain as he can manage. It catches on a point about a third of the way up, which is honestly better than he was expecting. This shouldn’t be too bad.

Rather than zip up to the point of attachment in one go, Ren takes it slow and does a sort of vertical walk to it. The retractable wire helps in the areas that would normally be rough to get over, and he gets the hang of climbing after a few minutes of steadily working at it.

Just after stopping and attaching himself even further up, however, he feels the stone under his feet begin to quake. Looking up only puts a horrifying sight in front of him.

Boulders the size of small cars begin tumbling down the mountainside, picking up speed with every bounce along the way. As Ren watches craters form from that, he realizes that any one of those bounces would be enough to crush him where he stands.

“Cool – wouldn’t want this to be too easy.” Ren cranes his neck back to shout, “Guys? I could use some help here!”

“You have our aid,” Mitsuru shouts back. “Just try not to move around much!”

As the sounds of Evokers firing and cards being crushed echo below him, Ren digs his heels into the mountainside and holds onto his grappling hook wire as tightly as possible.

He only has to deal with the horror of boulders falling towards him for a moment before they begin bursting apart, obliterated by various attacks from the Personas in the distance. It is very fortunate that they all seem to be decent shots. The attacks that hit multiple targets in one go prove pretty handy too.

Trusting that the coverage will persist, Ren continues on, pulling himself up and keeping his focus on the nest up above. Though he does have to dodge some errant debris here and there, it is nothing too worrisome. Honestly, the worst part is all the dust the rockslide kicks up. A shame the Phantom Thieves’ costumes don’t come with facemask options.

The last of the boulders gets shattered just as Ren makes it within arm’s length of the nest. It looks a lot more haphazard up close; all the different materials clash against one another in a hastily cobbled together mess. Fortunately, that makes the page they are after stick out all the more.

“Finally,” Ren says. He reaches up his free hand towards the nest. “Now let’s get you down and—”

Caw!

Ren’s head whips left at the shrieking sound that blasts his ears. Cutting through the air like a knife is a giant bird with a beak shaped like two excavator buckets stacked on top of each other. Its scraggly feathers have the sickly blue-green color of mold; large sections of them molt and fall off into the clouds below with every wingbeat.

Panic sets in quickly at seeing the bird’s speed and path. If it continues without changing course, Ren will be crushed against the mountain by talons coming from legs that would better suit a dinosaur. He quickly gives his wire some slack in order to move himself out of harm’s way. Doing so, however, means he is too far away to prevent what comes next.

Rather than crash into the human encroaching on its territory, the bird shifts upwards in the air and zips to its nest. Its misshapen beak snags the page stuck between twigs and moss with ease, and Ren is forced to watch the lone scrap of paper slide into the bird’s maw once it flies away.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Boosted by Kouzeon, Rise asks, “Ren, are you okay? I just saw that giant bird swoop in!”

“I’m fine, but the page isn’t. That bird ate it!”

“What?! How are we supposed to get it now?”

Ren watches the bird circle around the mountain a few times. It doesn’t look like it has any intention of landing, only keeping an eye on the closest thing to its nest. Interestingly enough, it has something Ren wants while he is right next to something it seeks to protect. And since there isn’t any hope of bartering with a cognitive monstrosity, Ren sees only one way of getting directly to what he’s after.

Keeping his eye on the circling bird, Ren says aloud, “I’ve got a plan.”

“You do?” Rise asks. “Wait, hold on. On a scale of one to ten, how crazy is this plan?”

“Twelve, but I don’t have time to talk you through it. See you in a minute.”

“Ren, what are—”

Rise’s question goes unheard once Ren draws his gun and fires several shots at the giant bird. None of them deal much damage from what he can see, but they do the trick of getting the creature’s attention. With that accomplished, Ren hoists himself up to make it seem like he’s headed for the bird’s nest again. Suddenly the creature is no longer content with merely watching from afar.

It banks around the mountain and directs two red eyes – lined with rings like a chameleon’s – at its sudden attacker. With Ren in sight, the bird caws again and soars at him.

As soon as it gets close enough, Ren retracts his wire and pushes off the mountain, diving right at the bird. It opens its beak to try and clamp down on him in midair, and though that would throw off any other type of conventional attack, it is exactly what Ren is hoping for.

He makes himself as narrow as possible as he vaults right into the bird’s throat, forcing the creature to gulp and snap its beak shut with a loud clack.

Down below, no one is able to contain their panic at the sight of Ren being swallowed whole. They all start shouting over one another with their eyes still on the air above.

“Ren!”

“Holy shit, it ate him!”

“What was he thinking?!”

“I knew we shouldn’t have let him go up there!”

“We gotta bring that bird down, now!” Kanji yells. He starts to summon his Persona when Yosuke grabs his hands and forces them down.

“Not with Ren inside it, you maniac! We need to ground it without using anything too big.”

“How’re we supposed to do that?” Labrys asks. “It’s way outta reach!”

“We would need an attack with pinpoint accuracy,” Mitsuru says. “Something that could cripple its wings without harming the body itself.”

“Pinpoint accuracy…” Aigis’s head snaps up from the force of her realization. She hurriedly summons Athena and commands the Persona to enhance the archer to her right with an orange-gold aura. “Yukari-san!”

“Got it!”

Yukari takes position on a knee and aims her bow to the sky. The tip of the arrow she preps follows the bird’s flight path as she lines up her shot. Thankfully, it continues to circle around its nest without venturing too far away or landing entirely. Its proximity to the mountain removes at least one worry from all this.

Once the bird moves almost directly overhead, Yukari lets her arrow fly. It soars through the air and skewers the bird’s wing, putting a hole right through it with ease thanks to the Tarukaja coursing through Yukari herself. The whistle of the arrow’s flight mixes with the bird’s pained screech to grate on everyone’s ears.

Though the bird staggers from that blow alone, Yukari does not stop there. With an ease built from years of practice, she nocks five more arrows and shoots them off rapid-fire, turning herself into a human anti-air weapon. All five strike as hard as the first.

Wings full of holes prove unable to keep the bird aloft, so it comes plummeting down the mountain after crashing into the peak. It tumbles like the boulders did just moments ago, finally coming to a stop just beside the group of Persona-users on their small platform. Several of them draw their weapons to prepare to finish off the wounded enemy.

Incidentally, that turns out not to be necessary as the bird crumbles into a smoky dust like any other cognition. Its disappearance leaves behind a coughing Ren, curled into a ball and covered from head to toe in a pale blue slime. He rolls onto his back and takes a few deep breaths before holding up the sought-after page in his hands. Strangely, it doesn’t seem to be wet at all.

“Ta-da…”

The Investigation Team members all sigh in relief at seeing Ren relatively unharmed.

Yu braves the gunk to help Ren to his feet. “Ren… Buddy… Please never do something that crazy again.”

“What even was your plan there?” Yosuke asks, matching Yu’s effort. The two manage to get the thief back on his feet, though not without making noises of disgust considering the mess.

“Well, I was going to snatch the page from the bird’s mouth, then do some damage with my Personas on the inside to get it to spit me back up.” Ren tries to scrape some of the saliva off of his coat, but that just makes more drip down from higher up. “I, uh…didn’t account for the fact that I couldn’t reach my mask in there.”

Rise puts her head in her hands. “Ugh… What are we going to do with you?”

“Hey, it’s not like I was helpless in there. I was making cuts with my dagger and dropping offensive items down its throat as much as I could.”

“Oh, so that’s why it went down kinda easy from our perspective,” says Junpei.

“Even still, I sincerely hope that you don’t give the other Phantom Thieves such scares with your normal plans,” says Naoto. “I can’t imagine going through something like this repeatedly.”

“Okay, normally my plans are a bit more thought out,” Ren states. “I didn’t exactly have a ton of time to work with there. But at least I barely felt that fall down the mountain thanks to how dense the bird’s insides were. The confinement actually helped to cushion me.”

Chie makes a retching noise. “Ren-Ren, please don’t make me think about giant bird guts…”

“Do you need me to warp you back to Fantasma’s entrance, Joker-kun?” Fuuka asks. “You could come take a break in the safe room.”

“I’m fine,” Ren says, still trying in vain to clean himself off by hand. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind getting dried off, but…”

“Well, let’s see if this works, then,” Yukari says. She motions for everyone else to step back, then points her Evoker at her head. “You’re up, Isis!”

One concentrated gust of wind later, nearly all of the slime on Ren’s costume is blasted off of him and goes flying off the cliffside. The wind even manages to dry him out fairly well. The way it makes his hair fluff up is something to deal with later.

“Huh. That was surprisingly effective. Thank you, Takeba-san. You’ve been a lifesaver in more ways than one today.”

“Eh, don’t mention it. But do me a favor and lay off the crazy plans for a bit, would you?”

“Seconded,” Rise says.

“Okay, okay. Scold me all you want later.” Ren holds the recovered page up between two fingers. “Right now, the important thing is that we got what we came here for.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kanji says. “Then, uh…what do we do with it?”

“I’m not sure. I assumed it would do something after I touched it, but no dice. Are we missing something?”

“Wait, I think I got it!” Labrys exclaims. “Joker-kun, you should try usin’ that book we found earlier! Y’know, the one that showed us you gettin’ your Persona.”

“Oh, right. Won’t hurt to try it.”

Ren reaches into the depths of his coat to pull out the scarlet book collected previously. To his surprise, the book opens up of its own accord as soon as he gets it in hand. The pages within turn to a point where there is a noticeable gap, and it is then that the new page between his fingers is pulled to that gap as if magnetized. It slots into place with a small version of the golden glow from before, fusing it to the book without any sign of it ever having been separate.

“Hey, good call, Labrys-san,” Ren says. “I wonder what it’s supposed to—”

The rest of Ren’s words go unheard as he and the others are overtaken by a massive burst of white light, enveloping the entire side of the mountain they stand on.

 

---

---

 

Shibuya was as busy as ever today, Ryuji noticed. Walking amongst the dense crowd made the area look like an ant farm, though not nearly as neat as those could be. People poured out of the arcade, Big Bang Burger, and the movie theater only to weave their way through a whole mess of people and enter one of the other shops nearby. All the repeat transit made for the noisiest pocket of town imaginable.

It also made for one heck of an advertisement. No matter where Ryuji looked, everyone seemed to be having an absolute blast, enjoying time off from work or a chill evening with friends.

As much as he would love to do the same, Ryuji knew he had to stay on target. Today was all about getting a gift to show his mom some appreciation, something he had been neglecting for way too long now. With the fact that he was set to have a nice dinner with her tonight, he knew he wouldn’t get a better chance.

Ryuji snickered to himself under his breath. This dinner plan had been such a sudden request of hers. He had come home from school a few days back rambling about his friends at Shujin, and somehow that had given his mother the idea to invite Ren over for dinner.

The two had met in passing a couple times, but now she wanted to – by her own admission – properly get to know her son’s new best friend. Ren, of course, had jumped at the chance to make a good impression. He had even offered to cook dinner himself, but Ryuji shot that idea down pretty quick. His mom would never let a guest come over and cook for them, so Ren was out of luck there.

But that didn’t stop him from wanting to pitch in somehow, so Ren had decided to come along shopping today as backup. Not that Ryuji needed it, obviously. He hadn’t ever been in Rafflesia itself, but how bad could one little flower shop be?

“You really didn’t have to help out today,” Ryuji said, squeezing past a long line outside of the jewelry shop in the underground mall. “I could’ve handled this myself.”

“Dude, you know I trust you with my life, but flowers are a different story,” Ren said. “If I left it to you, you’d accidentally grab something that represented death or a breakup or something.”

“Come on, all that ‘flower language’ stuff makes no sense! How’s it my fault that I don’t have it memorized?”

Ren didn’t give any response besides laughing behind his hand. Ryuji wanted to be annoyed, but something about his best friend genuinely laughing always made his gut feel warm. He never used to laugh much when he first got to Shujin way back when, and even though it wasn’t as rare now, it still felt like a treat to get to witness it.

After some more crowd dodging, the two finally made it to Rafflesia. The store was pretty much empty, so the brown-haired woman working the register noticed them immediately once they walked inside the open front.

“Welcome to— Oh, Amamiya-kun!” Seeing Ren made the woman break out into a huge smile, which honestly did not surprise Ryuji. He had that effect on a lot of people. “It’s been a little while. I don’t suppose my favorite helper is here to pick up a shift?”

“Sorry, Hanasaki-san, not today. My friend needs some help putting together an arrangement. I’ll come back to help out as soon as I can in return.”

“Well, I was mostly just teasing you, but I won’t say no to your help. What sort of flowers did you have in mind?”

Ren and his apparent boss took off to look over flowers and talk through choices. As they got wrapped up in their conversation, Ryuji started to feel a little bad about letting them do everything. His responsibility was being pushed onto two people who had no real stake in it.

Then again, he wasn’t a flower expert in the slightest, just like Ren had pointed out earlier. This wasn’t his world, so the best he could do was sit back and let the pros handle it.

He would still have the final say in what they left with, though. He wasn’t about to bring his mom something ugly looking, even if the meanings behind it were solid. But knowing Ren, he wouldn’t let things turn out like that.

It only took a few minutes of Ryuji spacing out and looking out at the other shops in the mall for Ren and the flower lady to finish up. Ren had the finished product in hand, a decently sized bouquet filled with three types of flowers. Large pink ones at the bottom held up a small stack of yellow ones that were surrounded by a crowd of blue petals.

Ren mentioned something about how the arrangement represented gratitude among other things. Apparently he had made it before, just with some tweaks in the flower placements. Regardless, Ryuji had no complaints, so they brought it up to the register to pay for it.

“Alright, how much do we owe you?” Ren asked.

The store owner tapped away at her register for a second before grinning at Ren. “Your total comes out to five thousand yen.”

“That’s it? That isn’t what we sold this arrangement for last time.”

“No, but I can’t let my favorite helper pay full price after all he’s done for my little shop. Think of this as a ‘thank you’ discount.”

“Ah, you really are too nice to me, ma’am. But thank you. Here, I’ll—”

Ryuji shoved Ren aside the moment he reached for his wallet. “Not a chance, dude! I let you handle pickin’ it all out, but I ain’t about to let you pay for Ma’s gift. This is one time you’re not spending anything.”

Ren made a face like a kid fresh off a scolding. “But you know how much I like paying for stuff…”

“Yeah, that’s my point, you weirdo.” Ryuji just shook his head as he pulled out the right amount for the flowers. “Never seen anybody with habits like yours…”

“So you’re saying I’m special?”

“You’re a weirdo,” Ryuji repeated. “My brand of weird, but still.”

After making the store owner laugh with their unintentional comedy routine and finishing the purchase, the boys made their exit. They barely made it past a couple of shop windows before Ryuji felt something heavy collide with his left side.

“Gah! What the—”

He turned back to see a big pack of guys shove past him. They looked a little older than him and Ren, though that didn’t make them any less rude. Whatever college they went to must not have any classes on manners.

“Hey!” Ryuji called out to them. “The hell was that?!”

The group made no acknowledgement of their offense. They simply continued on, locked in loud conversation with one another as if no one else was on the same planet as them. Ryuji almost wanted to spit in their direction.

“Dirtbags. I oughta—”

“Just forget them,” Ren said. “It would take more energy to follow up with anything anyway.”

“Yeah, true that. Alright, what’s next? You think this is enough of a gift? Or should we shop around to find somethin’ else?”

“It’s your gesture. Do you think flowers are enough to get the message across?”

“Considerin’ all the crap I put Ma through and all she does for me? Eff no. But I don’t think anything short of the whole world would be enough for that.”

He meant it, too. There really wasn’t anything Ryuji could buy that would really match how he felt about his mom. She was the most selfless, hardworking, inspiring person he knew, and that was saying a lot considering all the awesome people he had gotten to know over the past year.

So while flowers were nice, they didn’t make up for her taking time off work to sit with him in the hospital, or waking up early to make breakfast even after working through the night. He could write her name on the moon and it wouldn’t be enough.

After chuckling at that mental image, Ryuji turned to see Ren smiling at him. Unlike earlier, this wasn’t one of his teasing grins. It was one of those ones that the girls on the team liked to call ‘soft.’ Ryuji felt the tips of his ears get a little warmer being on the other end of it.

“What?” he asked. “Why’re you lookin’ at me like that?”

“I’m just never prepared for how sweet you get when you talk about your mom,” Ren said. He pretended to wipe a tear away. “What a good son she has.”

“Ah, cut it out! Like I want you of all people pokin’ fun at me for—”

Ryuji stopped his sentence short once he saw a group of college age guys creeping up on him and Ren. When he turned to get a better look, he recognized them as the ones who had just passed them by a moment ago.

“Oh, it’s you jerks. Come back to apologize for bumpin’ into me?”

None of them responded right away. They all looked to the guy at the head of the pack, a guy with the bangs of his black hair dyed red. He nodded towards the flowers in Ryuji’s hands.

“You’ve got some of those Gecko Orchids in there, right?”

Ryuji was pretty sure he heard that name come up in Rafflesia. “Uh…yeah. Why?”

“Lady in the shop said you bought the last ones. I need ‘em.”

“Well, tough luck, man. I got there first. ‘Course, I could spare one or two if—”

The guy shook his head. “Not gonna work. I need all of ‘em. My girl’s never gonna let me off the hook if I show up with anything less than a whole bunch on our anniversary.”

“Uh…again, tough luck. I paid for these and I ain’t about to give ‘em up. Sounds like you should’ve prepared better.”

One of the guys in the back – a shorter guy with way too much gel in his hair – bucked forward. “Hey, you better watch your mouth!”

The guy next to him with a sharp chin added, “Just hand the damn things over, kid. We don’t have a lot of time here.”

“No,” Ryuji said. “And what’s with you calling me a kid? You’re barely any older!”

Ren stepped up beside Ryuji to say, “There are plenty of flower shops in the area. I’m sure one of them has more Gecko Orchids, so you’ll just have to make do with—”

“Ugh – damn high schoolers,” the main guy said, lurching back as he groaned. “Look, I’m tryin’ to make this easy on you two, but like we said, I don’t have a lot of time. Now just give me those stupid flowers so we can get going.”

“And if we don’t?”

Red-highlight guy scowled. “Then we take ‘em.”

Ryuji matched the expression with an added stomp for good measure. “I ain’t lettin’ that happen.”

“There’s two of you and six of us. Sounds like math’s on our side.”

“You would seriously start a fight in public over flowers?” Ren asked.

The guy just shrugged. “Desperate times and all that jazz. Now, what’s it gonna be, boys?”

A part of Ryuji really wanted to knock this guy’s teeth in. He had dealt with worse people, but getting directly threatened over something he was trying to do for his mom had him feeling extra aggressive. He pushed all that down, though. The last thing he wanted was to put Ren in a situation like the one that landed him in Tokyo to begin with.

And even if they couldn’t fight, Ryuji knew there was more than one way to get out of something like this. He just had to ask the one person he knew with a knack for getting everyone around him out of trouble.

“Yo, Ren,” he whispered. “You got a plan?”

“I sure do. You ready?”

“Let it rip, leader.”

When it came to plans, no matter how crazy they got, Ryuji knew he could count on Ren’s. The guy had gone from someone scared of being voted leader to one worth charging into hell for. Well, Ryuji had always felt that way about him, but still.

Ren could change mindsets as easy as changing Personas. He could be crafty, bold, cautious, vicious, and everything in between. There was never any telling which side of him would come out. The only assured thing was that whatever orders he gave were ones worth following.

But even though Ryuji swore by that fact, it did not make it any easier to wrap his head around what happened once Ren stepped forward this time.

The ‘brilliant’ leader of the Phantom Thieves took in a deep breath, pointed past the wall of guys, and shouted, “Woah, where did all those cops come from?!”

As soon as their harassers spun around to look, Ren snagged Ryuji by the wrist and gestured towards the underground mall’s exit.

“Now we run,” he said.

Caught between his own disbelief and his leader’s matter-of-factness, Ryuji had no choice but to just let Ren pull him along. The two sprinted around the corner and up the stairs, making it about halfway up before they heard the group of guys behind them start to give chase. As soon as they were above ground, Ren let Ryuji go and told him to pick up the pace.

“Wha— This was your plan?” Ryuji shouted. “For real?!”

Ren glanced back at him with a grin. “Clever, no?”

“No! A little kid could’ve come up with this same thing!”

“Huh. I guess I did use this strategy a lot when I was little…”

That explained way too much, Ryuji thought.

Holding the bouquet close to his chest, he and Ren kept running through Shibuya, past a bunch of confused commuters and shoppers alike. Going around everyone gave them some brief cover from the pursuers gaining on them, but it also made the path way harder to navigate. If it weren’t for all those training sessions Ryuji had done with Ren throughout the past year, he would have collapsed a while ago.

His leg was just about on the brink of giving out when Ryuji felt himself get yanked harshly to the right. He had been so focused on maintaining speed that he lost sight of the path ahead, so it completely caught him by surprise to find out Ren had slipped into an alleyway and dragged Ryuji inside with him.

“Sorry about this,” Ren said.

He pulled the both of them down before Ryuji could say anything else. The two boys fell into a massive pile of trash bags, submerging themselves under the mountain of dense plastic and loose items like broken furniture and discarded clothing. This had to be the worst alleyway in all of Shibuya from the smell alone.

It only took a few seconds for the sound of those punks to go racing by their hiding spot. They were all yelling about seeing their targets go in different directions, so it sounded like they had no idea what had actually happened. Ryuji still kept his mouth shut for a few minutes just to be sure.

Once they were clearly long gone – Ren used his ‘magic eye thing’ to make sure, which Ryuji always found odd – the boys extricated themselves from the trash pile and moved to a more open area of the alley, though still using a pair of dumpsters for some cover. While Ren stood and stretched his back out, Ryuji plopped down on the ground next to the wall. He cradled the miraculously undisturbed bouquet in between his legs.

“Phew,” Ren exclaimed. “What a rush.”

Ryuji let his head thump against the wall behind him. “If that’s one of your go-to plans, we need to get you a new playbook, man.”

“Hey, it was do or die back there. Besides, we made it out, didn’t we? And the flowers are totally fine. I think. I can’t really see much.”

“Because you’ve got crap on your glasses from all this trash. Wipe ‘em off, will ya? But yeah, the flowers are fine, somehow. Can’t believe all that runnin’ didn’t do anything.”

Ren pulled off his glasses to clean them with his shirt. “All thanks to my expert bouquet wrapping skills.”

“Yeah, right. I wasn’t so zoned out that I missed your boss wrappin’ it herself.”

“Shoot. I thought I’d get away with that.”

“I’m not that spacey!”

Another one of those treasured little laughs came from Ren. Despite Ryuji’s exhaustion and annoyance towards the guys that put them in this situation, that laugh still felt worth enduring any hardship for.

Except this time, hearing it had the added effect of bringing to mind something Ryuji had been trying to keep down. It was easier with a goal in mind and decisions to make, but sitting here in the company of his best friend and feeling lighter than air because of it, he could no longer ignore what was eating at him.

That crushing sensation took hold of him so fiercely that he failed to keep it as just a thought. His lips moved before he could do anything about it.

“I’m gonna miss you, dude.”

Still in the middle of cleaning, Ren looked up. “Huh? Where’s this coming from?”

“Is it that surprising? There ain’t much time left before you go back home.” Ryuji hunched over a little more, putting his head between his legs. “Every day that passes just puts us closer to it. Everyone’s tryin’ not to talk about it, but I can tell we’re all barely hangin’ in there. Some of us better than others…”

Yusuke and Makoto were quiet about it, but Ryuji had seen their faces twist in pain more often lately. Haru was back to forcing her smiles, and Futaba was spending more time inside her room than out of it. And Ren definitely didn’t need to know about Ann crying into the plate of curry he left for her after a photoshoot. They were all a bunch of messes.

“One day soon, I’m gonna wake up and stuff like this will just be memories. I won’t be able to drag you out to get ramen or crash Leblanc for some games. You’re gonna be stuck up in that stupid ghost town that doesn’t appreciate you for a whole year.”

“It’s just one year, though.”

“Yeah, one year of them treating you like shit!”

Ryuji shot to his feet, visibly shaking from an anger that refused to stay contained. He just barely held back from punching the wall next to him with the restless energy buzzing inside him.

“I can’t stand thinkin’ about it! You’ll be there for a whole year, gettin’ those sideways looks from people, bein’ called names, having jerks get rough with you – it ain’t right! At least when that happened here, you had one of us to speak up or get you outta there. I trust Mona, you know that, but…but he can’t do everything himself. You’re basically gonna be on your own, man. It just ain’t right.”

The alleyway got silent after that rant. Ren went back to cleaning his glasses off while Ryuji just kicked a lone soda can on the ground. He didn’t mean to make things awkward, but it was impossible to ignore the bad coming when being with Ren made him feel so good. It was a wonder he had held out this long.

“Can I tell you something?”

Ryuji picked his head up, a little startled by how quietly Ren had spoken.

“Huh? Of course, dude.”

Ren did that twisting thing with his hair that Ryuji had long learned meant that he was either nervous, anxious, or just flat out embarrassed. Considering the topic they were talking about, Ryuji really wasn’t sure which emotion was winning out right now.

With a long sigh through his nostrils, Ren said, “I…don’t want to go back. I really don’t.”

“What?! Then why—”

“Because I know that I have to.” Ren slipped his glasses back on then, and the daylight pouring into the alleyway obscured his eyes through the lenses. “There are things I need to settle with the people back there. My parents, my old classmates, people around town… I can’t just be someone that vanished to them.”

“Dude, you don’t owe them anything. They don’t get to just toss you aside and decide that you owe them somehow!”

“It’s not for them. Well, I’m sure they’ll think it is, but it’s not. Going back is how I’m finally going to close that chapter of my life.” Ren looked down and stared into his open palm. “Coming here and getting brought into the Velvet Room showed me a lot of things, and one of them was how important the journey is over the destination. My heart will always be here, but I want to make sure that everything behind me is settled before I come back. I owe that to the me that suffered in that town for a year. Does that make sense?”

“No,” came Ryuji’s immediate answer. “But also…kinda? Like, I still don’t get why you’d put yourself through that, but I can’t blame you for wantin’ to put your past to bed. Ignoring it doesn’t do any good.”

It took Ryuji ripping off a mask coated in blood and months of introspection to realize it, but hey, he got there in the end.

“So…you’re not mad?” Ren asked.

“You bet I’m mad. But I was never mad at you. I’m mad at everybody in your past that put you in this spot to begin with. And I’m even more mad that they get to have you for so long even though they won’t appreciate you!”

“Well, my parents will at least appreciate having someone to clean the house again.”

Ryuji sighed again. If his friend’s jokes were falling that flat, then this really was as crappy of a situation as it sounded. Still, the only thing to be done was believing in someone that consistently beat the odds thrown in his face. When he thought about it like that, Ryuji felt like it was a little easier to swallow.

Though that still didn’t stop him from adding, “One day, we’re gonna talk about you always throwin’ yourself under the bus for everybody else. You’re lucky Ann’s not here to hear all this.”

“Believe me, I know. But…thanks. For trusting me on this.”

“Nothin’ I wouldn’t trust you with. But the second things go wrong up there, you call me, got that? I got no problem raisin’ hell for your sake!”

Ren let out a quiet chuckle at that. “Yeah, I don’t doubt that. But all that stuff’s for later. For today, let’s just finish what we started. We’ve still gotta get these flowers to your mom, right?”

“Oh, yeah, we do.” Ryuji lifted the flowers up, breathing a little easier at seeing them still in good condition. “I really hope she likes ‘em.”

“They’re coming from you, so of course she will,” Ren said. “But I doubt she’ll like them enough to overlook us arriving roughed up and smelling like trash, so we should try and get to your place before she does.”

“Oh, right. Looks like we got another run ahead of us.”

“Fine by me. That’s our thing, right? Always will be.”

“Always will be,” Ryuji agreed. “You better not let that town stop you from runnin’, man! If it helps, just imagine I’m there with you.”

“That’s a good idea. I can imagine you always being just a little slower than me.”

Ryuji bumped Ren with his shoulder on their way out of the alley. “That’s a bunch o’ bull and you know it! Not even imaginary me would lose to you!”

“Prove it,” Ren said. “First one to your place gets to shower while the other cleans the house.”

“Don’t care much about the shower order, but you’re on! So, how do we call the start?”

“Like this. Start!”

Ren took off then, sprinting onto the connecting street without so much as a glance back at Ryuji, who for the second time today was shocked still at seeing his leader bail.

“What the— No fair! You get a head start and I have to hold the flowers? Where’s your honor?!”

“No honor among thieves!”

“You’re not even usin’ that right,” Ryuji shouted. “Get back here, you cheater!”

The unrestrained laugh that trailed behind his fleeing friend was almost enough of a reward for Ryuji to concede the race early. Almost.

If he was going to miss Ren later anyway, the least he could do was enjoy today. And winning a race against the cockiest thief himself would definitely help with that.

Ryuji clutched the flowers tighter to his chest without crushing them. His appreciation for his mom was still at the front of his mind, but the same sort of feeling arose looking at the back of the guy running ahead of him. He would have to figure out a gift for him soon, one great enough to show Ren he was worth way more than those stupid people in his hometown thought he was.

Of course, nothing short of the world itself would fit that, but Ryuji would still try. For Ren, anything was worth trying.

 

---

---

 

When Ren blinks to clear the white in his vision, he finds himself back on the mountainside in Fantasma. Everything has returned to how it was what feels like a moment ago, save for his disoriented comrades. They all look like recovering victims of vertigo as they sway on their feet with hands held to their heads.

“Okay, someone tell me I’m not the only one who just saw all that,” says Yosuke.

“You are not,” Aigis replies. “I believe we once again shared a vision brought about by the page we recovered.”

“That must have been a memory,” Ken says. “Right, Joker-san?”

“Yeah. And I think it goes without saying that it wasn’t from my head, specifically.”

“No kidding,” Kanji says. “Did you guys, like…feel Sakamoto’s feelings during all that?”

“Vaguely,” says Yukari. “Like, his emotions definitely got through to me, but…I wouldn’t say they had their full depth to them, if that makes sense.”

“No, it totally does,” Chie says. “I thought the same thing. They didn’t feel as intense as they probably should’ve.”

“What about you, Yamagishi?” Akihiko asks. “Did you see what we did?”

“Yes, actually. I’m unsure whether that was due to my own abilities or an aspect of how these loose pages operate. Though even with Juno’s power, I can’t say I felt the emotions in that memory any more strongly than you all did.”

“Hm…” Yukiko taps her fan against her chin. “Maybe it’s because we’re not Sakamoto-kun himself that we couldn’t feel the full extent of his emotions?”

“Or maybe the pages just can’t show all the emotions to begin with,” Yosuke posits.

A few more theories are passed around after that, alongside some observations, but it all just sounds like white noise to Ren.

Unlike everyone else, his mind hasn’t fully made the trip back to the present. It is still clinging doggedly to what it remembers as an immensely fulfilling day in March last year.

He can still recall the sweet scent of Rafflesia, the sound of Hanasaki’s laughter at the bickering boys in her shop, the rush of wind from fleeing those rude guys outside the store. He can even remember the heat of the panicked shower he took to try and rid himself of the garbage smell afterwards.

And even if the feelings in that vision were diluted like everyone said, that still didn’t let them escape Ren’s notice. More than anything, Ren finds himself crumbling under the weight of how happy Ryuji was that day, how much the whole experience meant to him. How much Ren himself meant to him.

Ren holds his hands out in front of him like something has slipped through his grasp. In a way, that is effectively the truth.

Ryuji was right there. Ren knows that vision shown to everyone wasn’t real, that it was only a memory, but Ryuji was right there just moments ago. If Ren closes his eyes tightly enough, he can see his best friend so clearly, like he’s standing with everyone else here. He can almost feel the blonde slinging an arm over his shoulders like always. That weight would be so much better than what has him ready to fall to his knees now.

“Yo, Ren!”

Ren starts, brought out of his wallowing by a weight upon his body that isn’t the one he was just mourning. Kanji is patting him on the back, looking down at him with concern on full display. It is a look that most of the Investigation Team shares as they all approach.

“You good, man? You went quiet on us.”

“Everything okay?” Chie asks.

“Y–Yeah,” Ren replies, forcing his voice to work. “Just…trying to puzzle some things out. I’m good.”

So much for trying to be open with them. That promise lasted for, what, all of half an hour?

Rather than acknowledge how he is clearly failing more people than just his imprisoned teammates, he turns to face the Shadow Operatives. Keep focused on business, he tells himself.

“Um…what were we talking about?”

“A summation of events, more or less,” says Mitsuru. “Shirogane, you were saying?”

“Right. With what we’ve just witnessed, we have been given another variation of a displayed memory within Fantasma.” Naoto holds up her fingers up to count on. “First, there are the video-like memories we witnessed in the first museum area, the ones featuring only Yamichi residents. The second variation is the one that showed us Ren-kun’s awakening. That one was fully immersive, allowing us to witness the event unfold as if we were there.”

“But it lacked the internal dialogue that the former variant utilized.”

“Yes. In exchange for such an up-close and real-time look at what was presented, it lacked any audible thoughts on Ren-kun’s part. His Persona speaking to him may have been internal during the real event, but I’d wager that it counted as an external voice for us, thus allowing us to hear it.”

“And this latest variant was like a halfway point between the other two,” says Yu. “We got to watch it play out closely, but we weren’t present enough to walk around or anything. It was like we had an outside perspective the whole time.”

Aigis nods. “And while we were able to somewhat experience Sakamoto-san’s feelings, we could not hear his thoughts plainly as we could with the residents of Yamichi. Hence the ‘halfway point’ Narukami-san mentioned.”

Yosuke begins pacing around the area. “Wait, if we got to see a memory because of the page we found here, then chances are we’ll get more from the others we saw fly away back in the village. Of course, we don’t know for sure that collecting these things is necessary, but…”

“Actually, I think we do,” Yu says. “That book looks different now, right, Ren?”

Ren takes another look at it with that urging, at which point he realizes that Yu’s observation is correct. Upon finding the book at first, the scarlet leather of both covers had been completely blank, if not a little worn. Now, however, there is a tiny symbol embossed on the front. That symbol is undoubtedly a small depiction of Ryuji’s ‘Skull’ mask.

“You’re right,” Ren says, running his fingers gently over the mark. “Finding the page actually changed the book itself. If a memory of Ryuji’s gave us this symbol, then…”

“The others should do the same, yeah. If we find them all, the completed version of that strange book could serve as a key to recovering the Phantom Thieves.”

Despite knowing better, Ren does let that possibility get his hopes up just a bit. He holds the book in his hand a little closer to his chest.

“Then it seems our best lead at the moment is to collect the scattered pages,” Mitsuru says. “And while our mission may require this course of action, we need to keep in mind that we will be viewing genuine memories of the other Phantom Thieves with no way to tell what we are in for ahead of time. Are you prepared for such a reality, Joker?”

Is he? Such a straightforward question is mired in the haze and muck of proper context. Even if the memories shown are limited to the time Ren arrived in Tokyo and on, that still allows so much to be included. So much pain and fear and heartache… He can’t begin to imagine what all could be pried from the minds of his friends.

“That depends on what we see,” he answers. “Full disclosure, if it’s something that I feel violates their privacy, I’ll either find a way to get us out of the experience or ask that you avoid watching as best you can.”

“That’s fair,” Rise says. “Not like we can really ask permission with these.”

“I have no objections to that,” Mitsuru says. “As long as it doesn’t prevent us from closing this case. Remember, our objective is to both free the Phantom Thieves and dispose of whatever entity may be behind all of this. We cannot leave either aspect of this unfinished.”

“Believe me, I haven’t forgotten either goal,” Ren says. “As soon as my friends are safe, I’m bringing this whole place down on whoever was dumb enough to pick a fight with the Phantom Thieves. Nothing’s stopping me, regardless of what I have to do.”

He truly does mean that, but it doesn’t stop him from turning away from the troubled looks he gets from those closest to him here. Similar to him, it seems they aren’t backing down on what they promised earlier. Even worse, Akihiko has a matching look on his face.

Mitsuru, who is thankfully not a part of the observant crowd, suggests they all head back for now. Ren is grateful for the opportunity to move things along, if nothing else. Since they’re set on recovering the other pages, they need to pick up their pace anyway.

Junpei nods in response, pushing the door beside him open with his foot. “You heard the boss lady – back to the village, amigos!”

Notes:

Another chapter, another way to put Ren on an emotional rollercoaster. (And also turn him into bird food temporarily, poor thing)

At least we’ve got a new objective: tracking down the book pages! I’ll go ahead and say that each memory coming up is completely new for this fic and not part of any existing P5 content. You’re still free to try and guess what’s coming, though; I’m sure you’ll all have fun ideas. The running theme between them all will become clearer as we go.

Chapter 10

Summary:

The second door in Torimono Village presents a different challenge to the one prior, one better suited for an idol than a Persona-user.

A shrill whistle halts the movements of every volleyball player on the court. Regardless of the groove they’ve clearly all worked themselves into, the school can’t stay open all night. Shiho is glad that the team’s coach takes the responsibility of pulling the plug on everything. It never feels good when she has to stop the girls in their tracks herself.

“Good work today, everyone! Remember, we may have no more practices until next week, but don’t let yourselves get rusty. When we come back, we’re implementing our new starting lineup and working on correcting any issues that will bring. Be ready to work!”

The response of ‘Yes, Coach!’ echoes out around the room. Though Shiho has no need to say it herself, she finds herself mouthing along with the actual players on the team. Old habits are hard to break.

New ones are taking root pretty quickly, though. Once everyone begins the shuffle of putting things away and heading towards the locker room, Shiho goes into full team manager mode, handing out water and giving words of encouragement to the players.

Such an isolated position sometimes comes with the issue of being disconnected from the players, but Shiho has been welcomed into their fold since day one. They invite her to victory dinners, weekend outings, and even sleepovers. She has never once been left out simply because she can’t be on the court with them.

Which is why she can’t help but feel greedy knowing how badly she wishes she could be.

She would give anything to be jumping around with them out there, diving to make an impossible return or nailing a service ace on her first attempt. She wants her shoes to be part of the symphony of squeaks filling the gym during practice, and to feel the coolness of the floor against her skin when she falls over from exhaustion. It has been so long since she was part of that world.

She distracts herself from such thoughts by saying goodbye to all her new friends. Some of them ask if she wants to tag along on shopping trips or to see a movie, but she declines, doubtful that she really has the energy for something like that.

When the last of the players leaves the gym, the team’s coach – a woman in her mid-twenties with healthy black hair tied up in a ponytail – waves Shiho over.

“Suzui, how are you feeling? You were moving around a lot today to keep track of everyone. Any issues with your legs?”

“None more than normal,” she responds. “The soreness I feel is just from the training I went through this past weekend. I…may have overdone it just a little bit.”

“You? No…”

The two share a laugh over the obvious sarcasm. Shiho is grateful for her school’s volleyball coach in more ways than one, especially for her sense of humor. The older woman claimed that she was much more strait-laced in high school, but Shiho just can’t see it. There is too much joy in everything she does.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Shiho says. “I know you told me to pace myself, but…”

“But when the method of improvement is right in front of you, you can’t help but push yourself past your limit. That’s a scenario I know all too well.”

“You do?”

“Absolutely. Back when I played on my high school team, I always felt like I was doing ten times the work everyone else was. Whenever I was exercising or practicing my skills, I used that as an excuse to go past what was reasonable. I figured I had to pick up the slack for everyone who wasn’t taking the team seriously. Finally got myself to stop once I realized that I wasn’t just pushing my body to the limit, but my team as well. It was no wonder no one wanted to really practice since I was running things like a dictator.”

Now that is something Shiho really cannot imagine. She has known her coach to be many things, but ‘controlling’ is not one of them. She guides and course corrects, of course, but she always makes it a point to try and let the players find their own solutions first, then elaborate on them afterwards. It’s hard to picture her lashing out at people for not playing her way.

“Oops, sorry, Suzui. I didn’t mean to get into my whole backstory there.”

“No, that’s okay! I appreciate you trying to help me. I was just surprised to hear you were so different in high school.”

“Well, I’ve done a lot of growing since then, which was supposed to be a part of my point when it comes to you. Mainly that you don’t need to rush anything. I see how bad you want to return to playing when you watch everyone practice. You deserve a proper comeback to the sport with everything you’ve been through. But we have to make sure we bring you back correctly, so go at a pace your body can handle. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry for being so impatient.”

“Don’t apologize. Like I said, you deserve to be out there, so I get wanting to make it a reality for yourself. But things like this tend to work out with hard work and patience, and you’ve done plenty of the first already. Take a breath every now and then. It won’t be long until you’re back on the court and reminding people why you’re an ace no matter where you go.”

“I hope you’re right about that,” Shiho replies. “Thank you, Coach Iwasaki.”

“Of course. Hopefully that little pep talk wasn’t too clumsy. I’ve never been the best at speeches or giving advi—”

The coach’s phone begins to buzz in her pocket. When she pulls it out to check the screen, whatever she reads makes her smile and roll her eyes.

“I haven’t even gotten off work yet and you’re already pestering me to grab drinks, Yuko? Sheesh…”

“Oh, if you have plans to get to, I can lock up for you, Coach.”

“No, that’s okay. You already do way too much as a manager, even after graduating. Get out of here and go be a teenager, will you?”

“If you say so, ma’am.” After gathering her things and walking over to the door, she calls, “See you next week!”

“Same to you. Oh, and don’t stay up too late looking over game footage. I know how you get!”

Shiho waves that off with a light laugh as she steps out of the gym. “I’ll try my best!”

The smile on her face sticks around for the entire walk out of school and down onto the path leading to her house. For as much as she has lost in the past few years, she’s gained plenty alongside it. Remembering that is key to staving off some of those nasty thoughts that had yet to fully leave her alone since that awful day almost two years ago.

Thinking about back then nowadays isn’t as bad as it used to be. Instead of recalling the people that made her life hell, she pictures the ones that made living on worth it. She pictures her favorite blonde in the world fighting over the last bite of food with the third part of their middle school trio, a brighter – and somehow even louder – blonde. And right beside them is a quiet boy with glasses looking at them like they are his entire world.

For what might be the thousandth time in a few days, she feels a genuine ache at missing Ren’s graduation.

She really wishes she could have been there. Not only for how nice it would have been to see Ann and Ryuji, but also so she could support Ren on his day of achievement.

It’s strange, she thinks, how close they’ve gotten over the past year. What once was a friendship simply because they shared important people in their lives has turned to something genuine, something decidedly more focused.

They aren’t best friends by any means – she doubts she’ll ever give anyone other than Ann that strong of a title – but he is someone she has come to trust completely.

Though bonding over their respective distance from their friends may sound sad to most, it really has helped them open up to each other a little more. The fact that their houses are less than an hour apart by train doesn’t hurt either. She had no idea Ren is someone who doesn’t think twice about spontaneous trips out if a friend of his needs some company for whatever reason.

She’s given him volleyball lessons, taken him shopping, and invited him to dinner with her family. He’s sat with her on nights when awful memories become too loud, cooked her food under the pretense of taste-testing, and made her laugh countless times just by virtue of being him. Once again, she has to remind herself that she has gained so much since her life almost fell apart.

Though thinking of friends new and old does bring a recent issue to mind. Neither Ren nor Ann have responded to any of her texts lately. Checking her phone now shows that fact hasn’t changed since volleyball practice started hours ago. It’s mildly concerning.

Ann can get busy with photoshoots, and Ren is someone whose movements can’t be predicted at all, but they still never take very long to respond to texts, regardless of the subject matter. The last one she got from either of them was a picture of the two at Ren’s graduation. That was three days ago.

Part of her wants to just let it go, to chalk it up to both of them being involved in something mundane and time-consuming.

But another, louder part of her thinks this may have something to do with their former jobs as Phantom Thieves.

She still hasn’t wrapped her head around everything Ann and Ren explained to her – and Morgana, though not in any form that she could actually understand – but one thing that stuck out afterwards was how they assured her their method of being Phantom Thieves was gone.

Of course, they claimed it came back during the summer, so is it that much of a stretch to believe something similar had happened again? Could they really be out there fighting to change a heart?

As confident as Shiho is in their abilities, she really hopes this is just a matter of the two being scatterbrained. If she’s lucky, she’ll wake up to apologies from them both about missing the messages she sent with explanations on the first part of their week. Then they’ll all get to work figuring out a good time to meet up and hang out.

For some reason, the idea feels incredibly weak as Shiho unlocks her front door and heads to her room. She might not get a lot of sleep tonight, though not for the reasons Coach Iwasaki was quick to scold her for.

 

*          *          *

 

“Alright, time for door number two,” Chie says. “Everybody ready?”

When no one voices any protests, Chie goes ahead and pushes the door marked with a lace headdress open. The slow pace at which she does so is likely to avoid any mishaps like Junpei’s not long ago.

Thankfully for them all, the environment on the other side of the door is a vacant lot with no pitfalls to be seen. It vaguely resembles some part of Japan, though only in the sense that the concrete below is covered with parking spaces while road signs are scattered through the surrounding dirt patches. It certainly doesn’t match the fantasy theming of the village housing it.

“No danger detected,” says Aigis. “And luckily for Junpei-san, there are no life-threatening falls to avoid.”

“You really don’t have to remind me, Ai-chan…”

“Does anyone see where the page went?” Yu asks. “We may have to search the entire lot for a sign of it.”

“Oh, no need to trouble yourselves like that,” Fuuka says. “Thanks to acquiring that first page, I have a better sense of the distinct energy they give off, so locating them shouldn’t be a problem from here on. Unless they are being purposely hidden or blocked off, that is.”

“Thank goodness,” Yukari says with a relieved breath. “I was not looking forward to wandering around to look for that thing.”

“Thanks for the help, Yamagishi,” says Akihiko. “Can you point us in the right direction?”

With the aid of their distant navigator, the team is able to make their way to the next page straight away. While they were all prepared for a situation similar to the mountain from moments ago, their second village door clearly has other things in mind.

The page they seek is resting on a small patch of grass in the upper left edge of the lot. There are no cognitive creatures guarding it, nor any visible barriers to keep people away. It just looks like an unassuming piece of litter in an urban environment.

“Huh…” Rise tilts her head at the sight of it. “I’ll be honest, I was expecting a little more.”

“Guess we just got lucky,” says Chie. “Hopefully that first one was the outlier, and the rest are easy to snag.”

“Well, even if they are, we still have a problem ahead of us,” says Ken.

“Why’s that?”

“I mean… If the pages we’re looking for each have a Phantom Thief memory, then there should have been enough doors for all the members, right? But we only saw five back in the village.”

“Oh, you’re right, Ken-kun,” Labrys says. “That means we’re missin’ five more, yeah? Ya think they’re hidden somewhere in the village?”

“I believe I would have sensed them if they were,” Fuuka claims. “Though it wouldn’t hurt to double check once you return from this excursion. It’s always possible something is blocking my senses.”

“We can worry about that once we’re done with the first five,” Akihiko says. “It’s never good to focus on a fight in the future so much that you lose the one you’re currently in.”

“Ah, another chunk of wisdom from the master himself,” Chie says.

Yukari shakes her head. “Maybe don’t hang on his every word, Chie-chan.”

“No sense in letting it sit there,” Ren says. “I’m grabbing the page. Everybody ready for the memory to kick in?”

After getting nods all around, Ren bends down and scoops the page up off the ground. It attaches itself to the red book in his coat instantly, and once again, the group is bathed in white light.

 

---

---

 

“As for our last maid, we’ll have it be Takamaki-san.”

At her name being called, Ann looked up from her desk to the proceedings happening up front. Though she had been checked out for the last ten minutes or so, she at least remembered that her class was in the midst of finalizing plans for Shujin’s upcoming school festival.

Near the chalkboard were Misaki and Yuta, the two students taking charge of those plans. Yuta looked near the end of his rope, though that wasn’t anything new for him. The fact that Misaki was just as exhausted painted a clear picture on how long this had been going on.

Knowing that did not help Ann’s brain catch up any faster to what Misaki had just thrust upon her, however.

“Huh?”

“You’ll be our last maid for the café we’re putting on,” Misaki repeated. “I didn’t want to have to just assign people myself, but we’re running low on manpower here. Plus, you should be good at it, right? It’s a win-win for all of us.”

A cluster of voices from all around the classroom spoke up before Ann could.

“Woah, Takamaki’s going to be a maid? I gotta get here early to see that!”

“Think she’ll let us take some pics?”

“Heh – I’ll order the whole freakin’ menu if it means she has to do that cutesy stuff when she hands it all over.”

“At least we won’t have to worry about nobody showing up. Just make her skirt a little shorter than everyone else’s and we’ll have constant business.”

“Ooh, girl, you sound so jealous! Can’t blame you, though. Takamaki’s body is pretty crazy.”

The comments continued to flow from there, turning the room into a seedy den of gossip. Guys and girls alike expressed interest, annoyance, and excitement at Ann’s new assignment. To her, it was all crystal clear and sounded like buzzing static at the same time. Everything was just happening so fast – way faster than she could come to terms with any of it.

Though she didn’t need much time to decide that she didn’t want to come to terms with any of it.

Maid outfits weren’t all that revealing – she had definitely worn worse things while modeling – but that still didn’t alleviate the issue. There was just something so discomforting about the way everyone in class was talking about the situation.

They talked about her like she wasn’t even there, like she was some upcoming movie that everyone wanted to see for completely different reasons. Shujin was no stranger to making her feel like less of a person, but for some reason, it felt more potent than ever.

She was starting to feel sick.

“Takamaki-san? Did you hear me?”

Ann snapped back to attention, glancing up at Yuta in the front. “Huh?”

“I said you can pick up your costume on your way out. Feel free to make any adjustments you need before the festival.”

“Um…I…”

Despite having plenty to say on this subject, nothing felt able to come out of Ann’s mouth. The fact that everyone was staring at her like she was an alien didn’t help either.

In the silence, Misaki’s eyebrow rose. “Yes?”

Ann tried again, but it was all in vain. She really couldn’t manage to vocalize a single one of her protests. With the lump in her throat, she could barely get the next few pitiful words out themselves.

“It’s…nothing.”

Misaki shrugged. “If you’re sure. Alright, let’s go over all the other roles before we leave, everyone! First up, all the boys in the back half of the room will need to be butlers.”

With the attention off of her, Ann fell right back into dissociating. Whatever plans the class came up with from here would be lost on her. She would have to hear it from someone else.

What was wrong with her? ‘No’ was one of the easiest words in the world, yet you wouldn’t know that from how she struggled to say it just now. Here she was at sixteen getting tripped up over a word her child self had let off at least fifty times a day.

The vague sense of Hecate’s displeasure roiled in her gut, the sensation hot and heavy. Ann only spared it a minor acknowledgement and nothing more.

How could she face her other self after a display like that? Ann Takamaki was a Phantom Thief, damn it! When the world continued to make an enemy out of her, she took matters into her own hands and started changing it. She got justice for Shiho, for the friends that came after, and even for tons of people she didn’t even know.

So how was it that someone like that couldn’t say the very simple line of, ‘No, I don’t want to be some kind of funhouse attraction for our stupid class,’ without choking up?

The answer was probably buried in old experiences. After all, she didn’t speak up the second she suspected something horrible was happening with the volleyball team ages ago. Maybe she hadn’t reached a point of being immune to her voice needing time to build. The thought was a real blow to her sense of progress.

The only thing to get her out of that mental spiral was the feeling of something ice cold pressing against her neck.

“Ahh!”

Whirling around in her seat granted her the sight of Ren withdrawing his hand. His fingers were wrapped around a bottled drink wet with condensation.

“Ren, what the heck?!”

“Got any plans today?” he asked, completely ignoring her outcry.

Annoyance gave way to confusion. “Not…really. Why?”

“Let’s hang out at your place. We’ll grab some sweets on the way there and pig out. Sound good?”

And now confusion gave way to pure excitement. Ann wasn’t sure where such an odd plan had come from, but she wasn’t about to turn down an afternoon like Ren was suggesting.

“Sure!”

After the both of them grabbed their festival supplies – a task which Ann desperately tried to shove to the back of her mind – they fled Shujin as quickly as possible with Ann leading Ren around by his wrist. With how fast she was going, Ren barely managed to hand Morgana off to Ryuji and give them both goodbyes before he got yanked out of school.

They went through Shibuya like a dessert-oriented hurricane, snatching up every sweet treat that caught Ann’s eye. Crepes, taiyaki, cookies, mochi, it all got piled into shopping bags and added to their soon-to-be fatigued arms.

By the time they actually got back to her apartment, they probably had enough to feed an army. Ann figured she would need at least half of that to get her mood back on the positive side of things.

They wasted no time digging into their haul while talking about whatever came to mind. It was mostly her talking, but that was to be expected. Ren always liked to give her a space to ramble.

So she sat on her bed, munching on everything in reach while speaking her mind in between bites. Complaints about photoshoots, worries about the future, and dramatic recounts of reality TV that she had caught recently were just a few of the things that tumbled from her lips.

As if he had been her go-to conversation partner for years, Ren occupied whatever space she needed. He listened through all those complaints, reassured her through her worries, and actively engaged with television plotlines he likely had no investment in outside of her own enjoyment. Ann didn’t know how she ever managed a day without him.

Falling into that rhythm relaxed her to the point where she wasn’t even thinking about everything that happened earlier. With her favorite sweets on hand and one of her favorite people here to talk to, everything else felt so far away. At least until her eyes fell on the black and white outfit draped across her bag at the foot of her bed.

The otherwise inoffensive outfit brought red to the edges of her vision. All the feelings she so hastily declared behind her came rushing back, crashing into her mind like water against a dam.

She leaned over and snatched it up, holding it eye level as she frowned. It really was ridiculous how much strife a bunch of fabric could put her through.

“Glaring at that thing isn’t going to actually burn a hole in it, you know.”

Ann let her gaze rise a bit. She hadn’t even seen Ren approach, but now he was standing right over her and the outfit in her hands.

“Oh, sorry, I…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

He gave her a soft smile. “Yeah, you do. Hand it over.”

“Huh?”

“The maid outfit. Give it to me.”

Despite being thoroughly confused at her friend’s change in tone, Ann complied. With the outfit in hand, Ren turned it over a few times in his arms, looking over every inch of it. When he held it up to his own body as if sizing it, he nodded to himself.

“Mm, I’ll have to get it adjusted a bit, but it should still work. Same goes for your butler suit.”

“What? Wait, ‘my’ butler suit? Ren, what are you talking about? You—”

Like a traffic light finally signaling ‘go,’ Ann’s brain lit up with recognition. When she considered all the steps taken to get here, she realized that Ren’s suggestion to hang out today hadn’t been random at all. In fact, he had been orchestrating this whole thing ever since the festival planning in class.

He let her cool down by talking her heart out, kept her mood up with jokes and sweets, and only now was he finally acting on what he had in mind this entire time. She could see it, clear as day, though that wasn’t very impressive when he had all but admitted it to her face.

Still, the sheer absurdity of it all made her realization come out as a question.

“You…want to take my spot?”

He held up a finger. “Slight correction, I’m going to take your spot. No buts about it. If we can’t get out of helping at the festival, we’ll at least do it on our terms. That means I get the dress, and you get the suit. Simple.”

Though she heard the words coming out of his mouth, her brain was still struggling to accept them. No other boy in their class would ever allow themselves to be pushed into a maid outfit, much less volunteer to wear one. Ann knew Ren was pretty open-minded when it came to wearing all kinds of clothing, but even this seemed a bit excessive.

At least, it did until Ann realized why he was volunteering.

More than anything, Ren Amamiya was extremely perceptive. Maybe not when it came to romance or how much people cared about him, but give him ten seconds to look a person in the eye and he could draw out every emotional problem plaguing them at the moment. Apparently it even worked on people he sat behind.

Ann would normally take comfort in that skill of his, but today, it seemed more humiliating than anything. She was already beating herself up for not having a backbone, and here he was having to lift her up after such a pitiful display.

She hung her head, clenching her hands in her lap. “You don’t have to—”

“I want to.”

Raising her head again let Ann see that Ren had knelt down in front of her. He was close enough that their knees almost touched; close enough that his presence was immediately helpful, but not enough to encroach upon her space. He was always so good at occupying the perfect place when it came to his friends.

“I don’t want you feeling like you did prior to May ever again, Ann. Even if it’s something as minor as this, you come first. Screw the rest of our class. Minus Mishima, I mean. They don’t get to parade you around against your will. If they’re so eager to have a jaw-dropping maid for the festival, then they’ll have to make do with me.” He stood up from his crouch and popped his hip to the side. “And let’s be real, we both know I look better in a miniskirt than you do. Running around the countryside did wonders for my ass.”

Once again, Ann had to battle against the sensation of having words enter her brain without fully being comprehended. Though unlike earlier, the effect those words had on her was immediate and uncomplex. There was no need to sit on them for long, not when simply hearing them made her burst into laughter.

She doubted the way her body doubled over during it was thanks to Ren’s line being particularly funny. If anything, this was just a release of overall emotion built up over the day. Hearing the unfiltered thoughts of her leader was a gift regardless of the context, though.

“You are completely ridiculous.” Ann leaned forward to grab and pull him in, hugging him tightly. Her fingers squeezed into his sides. “And one of the best friends I’ve ever had. Thank you, Ren.”

He froze in her hold slightly, but that was to be expected. Even with all his improvement throughout the year, Ren wasn’t someone to go for physical affection most of the time. Ann would argue that he needed it more than anyone she knew.

When he finally did hug back, it was with a notably lighter touch. “Nothing to thank me for. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. You know that.”

“Nothing? So, you’ll treat me to the Wilton Buffet as a reward for not failing any of my midterms?”

“On second thought, there are very few things I wouldn’t do for you.”

“Hey, no takebacks! What happened to chivalry?”

“It died under a mountain of beans.”

“You’re still holding a grudge about that?!”

Ann’s cheeks didn’t stay puffed up for much longer having said that. Not even fake anger was something she could manage right now. Her laughter started right back up, this time accompanied by Ren’s own. Giggles poured out like raindrops amidst the deep rumbling across from them. She hesitated to liken the latter to a storm – it couldn’t be called anything but warm and sunny to the soul.

Ren managed to calm down before she did, moving back to their pile of snacks to pop another piece of caramel popcorn in his mouth. Despite the situation he had just thrown himself into, he didn’t seem the least bit hesitant about it.

And though Ann knew him to be fairly unshakeable in most respects, this instance left a little bit of a sour taste in her mouth, one she couldn’t blame on any of the candy in the bag sitting on her bed.

She may have had trouble making her stance known back in class, but she wouldn’t falter this time. Not when it concerned someone who was ready to go the distance for her.

“Ren, come here a minute.”

He turned from his spot in the room and blinked at her. “Uh, okay?”

Long legs shortened the distance between them in only two strides, though not as much as Ann wanted.

“Closer,” she said, waving her hand downwards. “Lean in.”

He did so, but only about halfway before he started grinning. “Miss Takamaki, are you trying to make a move on me?”

“No, you dork! Just get over here!”

His cheekiness only lasted until he was bent towards her in front of her bed. Ann placed both her hands on the sides of his face, cutting off any additional quips he might have had brewing. Cool gray eyes went wide under his glasses for a second, but he managed to school his expression just as quickly.

“Okay, um… What’s this for?”

“To make sure that what I’m about to say gets through your thick head,” Ann replied. “Now, you know I admire how you try to be so selfless for everyone. Your heart is one of your best features.”

“Uh, thank—”

“But!” Ann squeezed just a bit more. “You need to promise me that you’ll start thinking about yourself more. No more throwing yourself into bad situations just to spare someone else. Taking my place at the festival is one thing, but you do this way too often for me to look past it anymore. You don’t have to suffer just to lift everyone else up.”

Ren’s face shifted like he had bitten into a lemon. Ann could tell this wasn’t something he expected any resistance on, especially with how he usually got away with it without anyone noticing what he was up to.

“I know how important helping people out is for you, so I’m not asking for a complete reversal. I just want you to keep yourself in mind more. Can you do that?”

“Mm…”

“Promise me, Ren.”

“Ah promish.”

Not exactly how she imagined hearing it, but a confirmation through squished cheeks was still a confirmation. Plus, it made her laugh, and she wasn’t about to complain about getting another of those on a day like today.

She released Ren from her hand-prison. “Good! I’m gonna hold you to that. Now, let’s shift gears into the next part of our night. We’ve got important work to do!”

“Yeah? Like what?”

After some digging through her vanity, Ann turned around with several tubes of lipstick in her hands. The sight of them all made Ren’s eyes blow back open.

“Like figuring out all the makeup you’re going to wear with your maid outfit,” she said. “If you’re set on sacrificing yourself, I won’t let you look bad while you’re doing it. Now, which shade do you want to try for your lips?”

Compared to the ‘lemon-face’ from earlier, now Ren looked like a dental patient who had just been informed that every one of their teeth would need to be pulled.

“I’ve made a horrible mistake.” He sighed, though he did a very poor job at hiding the smile that came afterwards. A smile only for the girl across from him. “But it’s for you, so I’ll deal. Pass me the dark espresso one.”

Armed with a matching smile, Ann was quick to take a seat on the floor and drag Ren to her side. Better to do this before he could change his mind, she figured.

Her intent to get his planned look as flawless as possible was genuine, but she couldn’t deny that she just wanted someone else to do this kind of thing with now that Shiho was so far away. While the other girls in the Phantom Thieves indulged her every now and then, getting to do this with Ren in particular had been a pipe dream for months. She would not waste this opportunity.

And on the subject of not wasting opportunities, she made a decision as soon as the cap popped off the lipstick in her hands. Specifically, one to not let Ren’s little ‘switcheroo’ plan proceed in silence.

As soon as they were back at school, she would take on the burden of explaining the whole thing, telling her classmates exactly what she should have today. If they argued from that point on, they would have to deal with both the ‘delinquent transfer student’ and the diva-in-training Ann Takamaki. That tag team wasn’t going down to anyone as weak-willed as most of their class was.

Honestly, it was pretty baffling just how confident Ann was in herself with Ren at her side. When he was with her, there wasn’t much she felt like she couldn’t do.

He was quieter than she was, a month younger, and still had the sensibilities of someone who grew up around more cornfields than skyscrapers. She had to push him to advocate for himself too often, and he could definitely stand to share his burdens more in general. But even with all that, he was still such a pillar in Ann’s life that she couldn’t help but be amazed by.

Of course, he was none the wiser to any of this, holding still so Ann could properly apply the lipstick he had begrudgingly picked out. But that was okay for now.

He just needed a little more time to see how vital he was to her and the rest of their friends. Eventually the leader of the Phantom Thieves would see exactly how many people had handed over their hearts to him. If Ann needed to squish his face and force him to see it herself, then she would do it without hesitation.

That would be the least she could do for the dork that had helped save her heart in the first place.

 

---

---

 

Coming down from the memory isn’t any easier than the last time Ren had to do it. It feels like his brain is being dropped back into an open skull after a leave of absence. At least the disorientation delays the ache he feels from seeing his friends so vividly.

Though even if he had gotten used to that feeling by now, his battle would not be over upon finally returning to his senses this time.

Free from the shared vision, everyone in the group is now staring at him warmly. While the Shadow Operatives have a somewhat normal amount of tenderness in their gazes, everyone from Inaba looks seconds away from bursting with pride. Unsurprisingly, Rise has no problem adding a voice to her feelings.

“Aw, Ren…”

“We don’t have to talk about the memory,” he states. “It’s not anything to make a big deal about.”

“It is too! From what I know about Takamaki-chan, she’s been through a lot. The fact that you went out of your way to make her more comfortable clearly meant a lot to her. There’s so much trust between you two.”

“Yeah, taking her place at the festival was seriously sweet of you,” Yukari says. “Most high school guys would never agree to something like that.”

“That’s our Ren-Ren,” Chie says, patting him on the back. “Biggest heart of everyone we know.”

“Now that’s an exaggeration,” Ren says, focusing on the new cat mask symbol on his book’s cover to avoid meeting anyone’s gaze. “It just made sense to do at the time. Why let Ann deal with that hassle if I could do something about it?”

Rise bumps him with her hip. “Dress it up how you like, but you’re just a big ol’ sweetheart under that scary Phantom Thief getup.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“What have I said about—”

Naoto cuts in with, “Before Rise-san goes off on another tirade, may I ask something, Ren-kun?”

“Please do,” he responds, sticking his tongue out quickly at the idol beside him.

“Judging by the last conversation you and Sakamoto-kun had in that memory of his, your shopping trip and subsequent escape from your harassers took place sometime last March, yes? The month you returned to Yamichi from Tokyo.”

“Yeah, that’s right. That stuff happened a week or two before I left. Why?”

“Though this may be premature, I am attempting to find a connecting thread between the memories we have witnessed. With the most recent, I think we can rule out the idea of them progressing through time linearly.”

“Oh, right,” Yosuke says. “I doubt Ren and his friends would have been planning for a school festival close to the end of the year.”

“No, our festival was at the end of October, so what we saw with Ann was five months before the stuff with Ryuji,” says Ren. “I guess it would have been weird to start with that one from Ryuji if we were going down a timeline. Maybe there’s another order we aren’t aware of yet?”

“Maybe the order you guys got your Personas?” Yu suggests.

“Mm, I don’t think so. Mona would have been either the first or second if that was the case. Same thing when it comes to the order we joined the team.”

“Maybe the order you met your friends, then?” says Chie.

“Ann and Ryuji would be flipped, in that case.” A little smile comes to Ren’s face as he adds, “Ann never lets him forget that she technically saw me first after my move. He says it doesn’t count because we didn’t talk, but she won’t let the title of ‘first contact’ go for the life of her.”

Junpei crosses his arms. “Then what the heck decided the order?”

“As I said, trying to figure that out is likely a premature move on my part,” says Naoto. “I’m simply trying to keep as many of the finer details of all this in mind as I can. They may give us an edge at some point going forward.”

“Thank goodness we’ve got a detective on our team,” Teddie says. “The rest of us can think less with Nao-chan here!”

“Please think more.”

“Can we trade teammates, then?” Yukari asks. “I think our so-called detective is more ‘defective’ than anything.”

Junpei wilts. “Give a guy a break… That joke got old eight years ago, Yuka-tan.”

“While I won’t police what we discuss during our time here, we should at least continue to make progress while we converse,” says Mitsuru. “Shall we head back to the village to start searching for the third page?”

“Yeah, uh, slight problem with that,” Kanji says. “The door’s gone.”

Sure enough, when everyone turns back towards where they had entered from, the only thing in sight is more open lot space. There isn’t any sign of the door ever having been there.

“Huh?!” Teddie spins around in place like that will summon it back somehow. “Where did it go?!”

“Wait, then are we stuck here?!” Chie shouts.

“Easy, guys,” says Yu. “It does us no good to panic. Let’s just take a look around and see if we can’t find another way out.”

“Uh, look around where?” Yosuke asks. “It’s just open space as far as we can see.”

“You might want to start with that building behind you all,” Fuuka says.

“What build—”

Spinning around yet again puts a large gray building in sight, one that looms even with the current distance between it and the group. It has a blocky and angular construction, making it look like something a child would create with building blocks that slot together easily. Despite having no notable features or decorations, looking at it gives Ren a little bit of déjà vu.

“Okay, there’s no way that was there a second ago,” Yosuke says.

“I believe it only materialized once the door to the village vanished. In any case, the little bit of map data I’m getting from this new location suggests there is an exit inside.”

“Then we’ll head there,” says Mitsuru. “Though stay on guard, everyone. We have no idea what may lurk inside.”

Everyone starts to head over under Mitsuru’s prompting. They make it about halfway there before the relaxed quiet between them is broken by a question from Aigis.

“Joker-san, may I ask how your festival went in the end? I wasn’t expecting the memory to end as soon as it did, so I’m a tad curious how everything turned out.”

“Well, when it comes to that first day helping my class, it was pretty straight-forward. Our classmates weren’t happy about Ann and I swapping, but they shut up about it once Ann put her foot down. And I actually managed to bring in a lot of customers on the day of anyway.”

“Because you were such a pretty maid?” Rise asks, smiling.

“Because of my cooking, obviously. Our class wanted to serve a bunch of microwavable takoyaki, but I convinced them to let me make gyoza for everyone. Once I got some helpers, we were dishing out orders like crazy. We did run out at the end, though, so a few unlucky souls got to experience Class 2-D’s ‘Russian Roulette Takoyaki.’ It was met with mixed reviews, unlike the gyoza.”

“Wait, so did you dodge being seen by being part of the cooking team the whole time?” asks Junpei.

“No, I still had to go serve people every few orders. Just because I was a last-second substitute didn’t get me out of doing all the normal maid stuff.”

Yukiko barely stifles a snort. “Just thinking of you speaking cutely and making hearts with your hands has me completely tickled.”

“I just wish we got to see it when it happened,” Chie says. “You were probably totally adorable doing all that stuff, Ren-Ren.”

Ren shakes his head as they all walk up the stairs to the mystery building. Ann had been very much of the same belief as Chie, so much so that she wouldn’t stop talking about his tenure as a maid for weeks after the fact. If she was that bad, he could only imagine how the Inaba crew would have reacted if they had been customers back then.

“Well, you’ll just have to settle for your imagination,” he says. With a bit of effort, he forces the doors in front of them open. “In a rare display of luck for me, no one got to actually see me in costume. So I’d say this memory was a win in my—”

Words fail Ren as soon as he steps through the now open doors. His odd familiarity with the building makes sense now that he can see the inside.

Pale gray walls, long brown tiles on the floor, and crimson lockers are strong hints towards the truth themselves, but the real dead giveaway is how the swarm of cognitions walking around are dressed.

Each of them wears a black blazer with a white shirt underneath. Half of them wear pants while the other half has skirts, but all share the same plaid pattern on the bottoms regardless. There is no way Ren could ever mistake this – he is standing in a cognitive version of Shujin Academy.

Though none of that compares to the real horror he sees upon entering, one which does not fit the otherwise perfect recreation of the school at all.

“No…”

His distressed cry comes as soon as he locks eyes with himself dozens of times over. Posters on the walls, banners hanging from the ceiling, signed photos taped to bulletin boards – almost every place available for decoration has been covered with pictures of him in his full maid outfit.

He looks exactly how he did back then, from the poofy short sleeves of his top to the white apron dotted with tiny bows down the middle. The same color applied to his elbow-length gloves, the lace headdress fighting to stay on his hair, the giant bow resting on the small of his back, and the stockings that proved way too tight on his thighs that day.

And of course, this depiction of his maid look has even gotten the face right. The ‘Takamaki special’ had him without glasses and just the right amount of makeup applied. Eyeshadow, mascara, lipstick, blush, and more had been ‘essential’ for his role in Ann’s own words. Alongside the styling she did to his hair and the small extensions she put in, he looked like an entirely different person. Though not enough to go unrecognized by the people at school, unfortunately.

The pictures in front of Ren now capture every part of that look from every angle. He sees himself making heart hands like Yukiko mentioned before, along with some of him blowing a kiss and some where he’s carrying plates and winking over his shoulder. Some of the poses on display are ones that even modeling shoots would deem excessive. The fact that Ann herself would be shy about some of these makes him feel like his stomach is doing a corkscrew all of a sudden.

Having all of this out in plain sight for old friends and new allies to take in brings only one thought to mind.

“I’m in hell,” Ren says. “Fantasma is my personal hell.”

“Woah, it’s the school from Takamaki-san’s memory,” Ken says. “Is this a recreation of the festival that year?”

“Forget the festival,” Chie exclaims, running forward, “look at Ren!”

“Cute, cute, cute!” Rise spins like a top just trying to put her eyes on every image available. “Oh, it’s even better than I imagined!”

“Even I gotta admit this is pretty good,” Labrys says. “Joker-kun ain’t a bad maid at all, don’t ya think?”

“I definitely won’t argue with you,” Yu says. “He did way better than we did in our festival when I was in Inaba.”

“Oh, did you and the others dress up as maids too back then?”

“No, we…uh…” Yosuke coughs into his hand. “Our outfits weren’t themed to match. Or very good at all.”

“And they definitely weren’t voluntary,” Kanji adds.

“And whose fault was that?” Yukiko asks with an uncharacteristic sharpness to her eyes.

“Yosuke’s,” Yu and Kanji say together.

The accused party lets out a groan. “Man, you guys didn’t even hesitate…”

While everyone else is getting lost in the countless depictions of his past cosplay, Ren briefly considers the possibility of levelling this imposter Shujin with every Persona in his arsenal. That would be the fastest way to get rid of all the pictures, after all.

Unfortunately, it would also deprive everyone of their exit. He can’t very well turn this entire place to rubble without knowing where the door leading back to the village is.

Even though he really wants to.

“There’s so many pictures…” Teddie remarks, waddling through the halls. “Did you really do a whole photoshoot just for the festival, Ren-Ren?”

“Of course not! I don’t know where these pictures came from. They shouldn’t exist.”

He had been very particular back then about keeping out of photos all day. His Third Eye spent almost the entire festival active as he kept a lookout for anyone trying to sneak a snapshot behind his back. Thankfully, his glares were enough to discourage most people, even if they came from someone dolled up to look irresistibly adorable.

Kawakami is the only person with a picture of him posing in the outfit, which he only allowed due to how much it made her laugh. She needed some levity in her day-to-day, he figured at the time.

“I may have a theory to explain this,” says Naoto. “While I am far from being an expert on cognition, I believe what we’re seeing here is simply a direct result of it.”

“How do you mean?” Mitsuru asks.

“The level of advertisement Ren-kun’s…alternate appearance is getting here is not at all feasible for a school festival. All of these decorations would take lots of time and funding, and Ren-kun himself just stated that he did no posing for anything we see now.”

Naoto walks over and taps one of the posters – a shot of Ren peeking bashfully at the camera through his hands – with her knuckle.

“I believe what we’re seeing here is a direct product of Takamaki-san’s cognition. If she holds the memory of Ren-kun dressing up for her in such high regard that Fantasma saw fit to shine a light on it, I have no doubt it would be strong enough to create a space like this. That would explain the heavy emphasis on Ren-kun himself while the rest of the festival looks to simply be a stage to let everything else play out.”

“Then…do you think someone or something could be manipulating her cognition?” Yosuke asks. “Like, using her thoughts as a base to build on?”

“Actually, that seems plausible,” says Yu. “We were all freaked out by how accurate that Phantom Thief wing of the museum was, so wouldn’t it make sense if it was built from the memories of the Thieves themselves? Or at least using them as blueprints of some kind?”

“Yes, I’ve been suspecting the latter for a while now,” Naoto says. “I’m willing to bet that wherever the Phantom Thieves are being held, the ruler of this world has constant access to their thoughts and memories, allowing their use for ‘cognitive construction,’ in a sense.”

“But what’s the point in that?” Akihiko asks. “From what Joker’s told us, Palace rulers either have strong wills or egos big enough to dominate their entire domain. Why would the one in charge of Fantasma need to siphon stuff from the Phantom Thieves?”

Ken points out, “It may depend on whether we’re dealing with something human or not. We’ve dealt with plenty of human enemies, all with different levels of warped minds, but we could at least understand their thoughts. Anything past humanity might have goals we just can’t fathom. I don’t mean to give Fantasma’s ruler too much credit this early, though…”

“No, it’s probably for the best we keep in mind this might not make sense to us in the end. It would be annoying not to have proper answers, but it wouldn’t be the first time we ended a fight without carrying all the details forward.”

“Whatever their reasoning, building Fantasma in this way prevents their own cognitive footprint from being discovered too easily,” says Naoto. “Thus, our efforts to form a plan of countering their actions is stalled. All we can do is continue on a path of their creation and respond to situations as they arise. And with the Phantom Thieves’ cognitions able to be drawn upon and molded to the ruler’s liking, our job only becomes more difficult.”

“Difficult, but not impossible,” Ren reminds everyone. “If whoever’s in charge here is so unoriginal that they have to cherry-pick from my friend’s memories to slow us down, so be it. That just means that everything they’ll throw at me is something I’ve dealt with before. I’m not one to lose rematches.”

“Fair, but do not let yourself be overconfident,” says Mitsuru. “Remember that Fantasma is comprised of more elements than just the Phantom Thieves’ memories. It would be unwise to assume you know everything that could happen, even in particular spaces like this one.”

“Yeah, I mean, that’s why it’s been so hard to get a read on who’s in charge here, right?” says Junpei. “Not like you can really build a profile out of the mess we’ve seen so far.”

“Agreed,” says Naoto. “I did not mean to hold us up with speculation, though. Let us keep in mind that there is truth in each of our perspectives, and only by putting them together do we stand a chance at making it through this ordeal.”

Yu nods to that. “Three teams, three ways of operating. Whatever’s against us won’t overcome a united front, so let’s keep at it, everyone.”

Ren stuffs his hands deep into his pockets. “Sure, but don’t forget that you all have lives waiting back in the real world. The dilation here doesn’t freeze time entirely, remember? If you need to bow out, don’t hesitate. I can hold down the fort in the meantime.”

Yosuke rolls his eyes. “Says the guy that got eaten by a giant bird half an hour ago.”

“We’re not going anywhere, Ren,” says Chie. “All the stuff back home can wait. I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing you and your friends were in trouble in here while I could be helping.”

“Same goes for us,” Junpei says. “People might give us an earful about it when we get back, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. We promised to help you and your team out, and we don’t go back on our word. We’re in this for the long haul, buddy!”

Hearing that only makes Ren sigh. What should be reassuring just increases his already building anxiety. He isn’t sure whether to blame that on the change in people around him, or a change in himself. Choosing the latter feels like admitting defeat somehow.

“If you’re sure,” he says.

“Totally,” says Labrys. “Now let’s find that exit!”

Following through on that plan results in less searching and more festival browsing. They don’t go in any of this space’s classrooms themselves, but trying to find the door back to Torimono Village forces them to walk up and down each of the fake Shujin’s halls.

Along the way, they pass advertisements for more food stalls, some haunted house setups, and even a fortune-telling booth. Ren urges everyone to keep moving and ignore everything else. Knowing Ann, the cognitive versions of these side attractions won’t be very fleshed out. Nothing all that exciting happened before day two of the festival anyway.

Unfortunately for Ren, pushing forward also means they continue to pass by pictures of him as the centerpiece to Class 2-D’s Maid Café. Even knowing that their appearance comes from Ann’s value of him doesn’t take away any of the embarrassment he feels walking past so many variants of him in that stupid outfit.

“I really had forgotten how hard Ann went in dressing me up,” he says. “So much effort just for one afternoon.”

“Well, you got some great results out of it,” Yukari says. “Honestly, you pull off the look better than some models I’ve worked with in the past. The confidence you have definitely helps sell it.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it confidence, necessarily… It was more like spite.”

Yukari giggles at that. “Yeah, there’s plenty of that in the modeling world too.”

“You do look like a natural,” Rise agrees. “Hey, you’re not hiding the fact that you moonlight as a maid in your spare time, are you? There’s no veteran maid mentoring you or anything?”

“I—” Ren pauses to choose his words very carefully. “I do not know anyone who is currently working as a maid.”

Rise squints at him. “Why did you word it like—”

“Anyway, let’s speed up our search for the exit. We’re wasting too much time walking around the festival like we’re tourists.”

Though a few members of the group grumble about wanting to explore a little more, they can’t argue with him on that fact. They have too many doors to go through to be living it up at a fake school festival full of cognitive students.

After stumbling their way through more misshapen hallways and fighting to push past cognitive festivalgoers, the team manages to find a path on the other side of the auditorium’s wall. The long stretch of rooms ahead somewhat resembles the type of office the Thieves were confronted in by the festival’s guest speaker.

At the end of all those rooms is exactly what they’ve been looking for. The door leading back to the village sits embedded in the last wall in sight, lace headdress still on display. Before they can even get close to it, however, a cognition comes to stand in their way. This one is dressed just like all the others, but it has a microphone in its hand and confidence visible in its posture. Even with the sort of vague features the Shujin cognitions are sporting, Ren manages to recognize this latest one as the festival’s appointed ‘host.’

“Woah there, folks,” it says, holding its hands out like a barricade. “I’ll have to ask you to stick to the rest of the school grounds for the festival instead of walking through restricted areas.”

“Hey, we don’t want any trouble,” Yosuke says. “We’re just trying to use that door behind you to leave this place.”

“Well, sorry, but only parties accompanying the Shujin Star can pass this point. No other entry allowed.”

“Shujin Star?” Yukiko echoes.

“That’s right. Only the most popular, crowd-pleasing, dazzling performer of our school festival has the honor of being granted that title.” The cognitive host gestures to the door. “They can bring whoever they want to our VIP section. Anyone under that standard is out of luck.”

“So, you’re saying that we would have to perform something to get past you, is that it?” Yu asks.

“Perform and win over the audience, but yeah, that’s it.”

Everyone in the group turns towards the others, sharing the same puzzled look that silently asks, ‘what now?’ From the host’s tone of voice, it really doesn’t seem like getting it to budge on things is going to work.

“Excuse us for a moment,” Mitsuru says. She nods her head in the opposite direction of the cognition, leading everyone away to speak without being overheard.

“Well, this makes things difficult,” says Yukari.

“Does it? Why don’t we just steamroll that guy and get back to the village?” asks Kanji.

“That would risk all the cognitions in the school turning on us, Tatsumi-kun. If they did, we’d get swarmed in seconds. Plus, we have no way of knowing if they can turn into something else to attack us.”

“I think it’d be pointless even if we could win that,” Ren says. He takes another look at the door in the distance with his Third Eye, groaning when he confirms a glowing red shield around it. “There’s some kind of barrier to keep the door from opening, and considering how the Metaverse usually works, odds are that we need something specific to get rid of it.”

“Can’t you pickpocket that cognition for whatever we need?” Chie asks.

“Sometimes Shadows and cognitions can carry items on them, but for something like this, it probably won’t even materialize until that emcee considers us the winners of the festival or whatever.”

“Which means we will simply have to play along for now,” says Aigis.

Kanji pushes out a rough sounding sigh. “Alright, alright. Then what the heck do we do to stand out here?”

“The cognition said the school will only recognize someone of great talent who can give everyone here a stellar performance,” says Naoto. “Thankfully, due to Takamaki-san’s cognition, I believe we have just the method of meeting that demand.”

All eyes naturally turn to Rise, who only takes a moment to reach the same page as her detective friend.

“Oh! You think because Takamaki-chan knows me and is a fan, I should be able to impress everyone here pretty easily, huh?”

“Precisely. If there is any chance at us becoming the stars of this festival, we should lean into how she believes you to be one of Japan’s premier celebrities.”

“Hey, that’s nothing I’m not used to. Let’s go see if it’s enough to push forward here.”

The group hurries back for attempt number two. The cognitive host looks up from the new clipboard in its hands at the sound of so many footsteps approaching.

“Oh, you all are back,” it says. “Is there something else you needed? Hopefully you aren’t planning on sneaking into the VIP area.”

“No need,” says Kanji. “We’re entering this festival thing with the best star in the country.”

“Really? And who among you can boast that kind of star power?”

“That’d be me,” Rise says, hopping to the front of the group. “Rise Kujikawa, at your service! Better known far and wide as the idol Risette.”

“Risette?” The cognition looks Rise over from top to bottom, appraising her like one would an art piece. “Now that you say it, yeah, I totally see it. Oh, wow… You’re the real deal, aren’t you?”

“The one and only! Not really used to being recognized by non-humans, but…”

“In that case, you’ve totally got the chops to get up on stage. If you want to be the Shujin Star, though, you’ll have to play to the crowd’s preference. They’re pretty picky.”

“Oh, sure. That’s nothing new. Do you know what they have in mind?”

“Let me go check.”

The cognitive host ducks through the side entrance to the auditorium. Whatever it says to the crowd with its microphone isn’t clear enough to come through the wall, but Ren and the others don’t have to wait long for the answer. The side entrance opens once more and the host hurries to them.

“It seems the surefire hit for tonight would be ‘Sugar Crush,’ Miss Risette. You’re familiar with it, yes?”

“Of course. That’s actually a song I did with Kanami. It was a surprise drop for our fanbases to celebrate the anniversary of our first performance together. She came up with the chorus and I wrote the rest. It’s a fun track!”

“Yes, well, that is the song you must perform,” the host reiterates. “Anything less simply won’t be enough to win over the audience, I’m afraid.”

“Okay, but…there’s one problem with that.” Rise gestures to the rest of their group. “Kanami isn’t here, and I can’t really do the song solo. Are you sure there isn’t a backup option?”

“Nope. So if you wish to win the hearts of the crowd and gain access to the VIP section, I hope you have someone handy that can fill her shoes perfectly. Feel free to use the dressing room across the hall if you manage to figure things out. There are plenty of outfits available for use.”

The host goes right back through the side entrance without another word. Judging by the muffled speech barely audible behind the roar of the crowd, it must be pushing the festival along without any concern for the non-cognitive attendees.

“What a jerk!” Junpei exclaims. “What right does he have to put us through this?”

“He’s only really putting one of us through it,” says Yukari. “Are you okay with this, Rise-chan?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t know how I’m going to manage without Kanami here to perform. I can’t be in two places at once.”

Chie gestures to the Inaba group and says, “We can sorta dance, but singing is way out of our league. Otherwise we’d totally volunteer.”

“Yeah, I know. And taking time to teach the routine would keep us here too long anyway. Ugh, if only Nanako was here! She could totally—”

Rise cuts herself off suddenly. She remains silent for only a moment, starting back up again with a sinister grin in place.

“Actually, I just remembered that somebody here is an avid Kanami Mashita listener and a Risette superfan.”

Slowly, like a victim of possession in a horror movie, Rise’s head turns around to stare right at Ren. He hasn’t had his fight or flight response triggered like this in a long time. Suddenly, he finds himself wishing he was under the Reaper’s cold stare instead.

“Oh, Ren-Ren,” Rise practically sings, “you wouldn’t happen to know this song and dance by heart, would you?”

In any other circumstance, the word ‘no’ would have left his mouth before Rise even finished asking. Ren has his dignity to think of here, not to mention trying to avoid feeding into Rise’s love of putting him in the spotlight.

But unfortunately for him, this isn’t just some silly group outing. They’re all here to push forward and find the other Phantom Thieves, no matter what obstacles block their path. He can’t let his own potential humiliation be one of them.

He sighs, twisting a small bit of hair in his fingers. “Maybe.”

“Wait, you do?!” Junpei exclaims.

“Oh, I thought Kujikawa-san was just messing with him,” Ken says.

“Yeah, I didn’t really picture him as a pop music lover,” says Yukari.

Chie shakes her head. “He isn’t. He just likes Rise that much.”

“Why I know it isn’t important,” Ren hurriedly declares. “But are we sure there aren’t any other options? Can’t Aigis-san or Labrys-san, like…download the routine directly into their heads?”

“Not without a connection to the outside world, I am afraid,” says Aigis. “And even if we were to do so, executing the routine would still require practice.”

Labrys nods. “And we’d need double what you guys prob’ly would. Aigis and I ain’t that great at dancin’. Turns out we weren’t really built to have hobbies outside of killin’ Shadows.”

Naoto adds, “And not to further pile on things you don’t wish to hear, Ren-kun, but considering how Takamaki-san views you, your presence in this performance would likely give us a better chance at impressing the crowd than anyone else. Her admiration for you should be just as impactful as everything else we have seen here.”

“There you have it, Ren,” says Rise. “Come on, just accept it already! The sooner we get this started, the sooner we can get back to finding your friends. Might as well just get it over with, right?”

Of all the things he could have refuted, that is not one of them. He has been the one preaching the need to get a move on everywhere they go. The fastest way to get back on track is to just give in.

After an entirely unnecessary sigh, he says, “As long as I don’t have to wear a skirt this time.”

Gleeful giggles fill the air as Rise grabs Ren by the hand and pulls him into the dressing room nearby. The wall of clothing options waiting for them would be intimidating to most, but Rise takes to it like a shark to water. She browses down the line with uncanny speed, appraising and discarding with minimal glances at each option. It’s been a long time since Ren has seen her in her element like this.

It takes her around four full passes to assemble their matching outfits, both of which look like some kind of working uniform. Rise’s – a take on the waitress dresses from American diners in the fifties – comes complete with frills and a small apron over the pink base covered in white pinstripes. The visor she picked out to go along with it has the same patterning, but the bow attached to it has black and white stripes instead. For some reason, there is an even bigger white bow on the back of the outfit with ribbons reaching down past the skirt.

What she has for Ren isn’t too far removed in terms of looks. Though while hers is something from the food industry, his looks more like something a hotel bellboy would wear. It has a white dress shirt with pale pink vertical stripes on it and a black tie hanging from the collar. The dark brown pants come with suspenders, almost like the normal Shujin Academy uniform. He can manage something familiar like that.

Though he does pass on wearing the small ovular hat Rise picks out for him. His mask has to go somewhere, and whatever Metaverse magic keeps it on his face in the first place makes it easy for it to rest in his hair.

All in all, the outfit definitely isn’t Ren’s normal style, but at least he doesn’t have to dance in a skirt this time. It’s the small victories in life.

Once inside one of the changing stations in the room, he begins pulling off his thief outfit to switch into the new one. The few times he has had to do this before haven’t made it feel any less weird. Disrobing in the Metaverse feels like removing a layer of his own skin. Telling himself that it’s only temporary helps him power through.

In the midst of putting everything on, he hears Rise start talking to him from the changing station next door.

“Hey, you’re sure you know the lyrics to the song, right? I could give you a refresher.”

“No, I know them all. But while we’re on the subject, did you have to make them so… You know…?”

“What, ‘sugary sweet?’ That’s kinda the point of the song, Ren-Ren.”

“I know. I guess I just never thought I’d be singing it in any official capacity.”

“You’ll be fine. Just keep in mind that you aren’t doing backup for me here. Since you’re subbing in for Kanamin, that makes you just as much of a headliner as me. So no trying to fade into the background, okay?”

“I know. I’ll keep pace with you.”

“And you already know what vocal range to stick to while you sing?”

“It’s not my first time singing this track. I’ve got it figured out.”

“Aw, did you perform this at karaoke? Or, wait – maybe in the shower?”

“Don’t tease me right before we go on stage…”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Despite having less to take off and put on, Ren exits the changing station only seconds before Rise does the same. Seeing their outfits in tandem only proves her eye for fashion coordination is as strong as ever – not that he’ll tell her that.

He is just about to head towards the stage when he notices her stuck in place. The energy she has been bursting with this whole time is suddenly dulled; she looks like a toy with no batteries. When Ren asks her what the matter is, it takes her a moment to actually respond.

“I…” She shakes her head. “Nothing. It’s dumb.”

“It probably isn’t.”

That forces a small chuckle out of Rise. “Was that supposed to be comforting?”

“You laughed, didn’t you? Come on, what’s on your mind?”

Rise fidgets with the sides of her apron, an abnormally bashful gesture for her. “I was just thinking that…well, even if we’re doing this in a weird world on a mission to save your friends and possibly defeat some evil Shadow-thingy… I…”

“Yeah?”

“Well…this is the first time I get to really perform side-by-side with you. I’m ecstatic, but I guess it’s making me way more jittery than I expected.”

Hearing that reduces Ren to a silent, blinking statue of a human. Though nothing she said is really all that stupefying, he finds himself in a similar state now.

Truthfully, he knows that Rise isn’t completely unflappable. Like any other person, she has her fears and feels anxiety even when the situation might not call for it. He has always known that she isn’t immune to all that simply because of how much of a star she is.

But hearing that something as simple as dancing beside him causes that kind of reaction in her is a lot to take in. She’s been on stage in front of thousands of people, her voice has been played over department store speakers and radio stations alike, and more than a few mobs have formed from her fans wanting autographs at the sight of her.

Yet through all that, the thought of dancing with him in particular is giving her butterflies. Knowing that is enough to do the same to him, and he chooses to blame his inability to keep his mouth shut now on the way they tickle his insides.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well…you know that singing and dancing for a crowd really isn’t my thing. Karaoke with friends is about my normal limit, and even then I don’t try to make myself stand out. I admire what you do professionally, but the life of an idol is one I could never live. Still…”

Ren turns towards Rise, doing his best to fill the void she normally takes when trying to get through to him by way of a reassuring smile.

“If I have to be on stage, of all the people I could share it with, I feel most comfortable knowing it’s you by my side.” He raises his hand for a high-five. “Let’s go out there and kill it, ‘kay?”

And just like that, the idol he has admired for as long as he has known her gets the spark back to her eyes. Determination settles on her face like a Phantom Thief’s mask as she smiles right back at him.

“You bet,” she says, returning the high-five with excessive force. “Nothing’s stopping this teacher-student duo!”

Ren shakes out the sting in his hands and says, “That’s pushing it…”

As soon as the two make it back out to the connecting hallway, the cognitive host ushers them behind the auditorium stage itself. Whatever act is going on right now is inaudible, either because it’s just that kind of performance, or because this cognitive version of Shujin just didn’t bother to fill in the gap caused by this whole situation.

Regardless, it only lasts a few seconds more. The host waves them onto the stage after a brief introduction, one that predictably leans on Rise’s popularity over his own. The sea of cognitive students erupts into applause at the sight of her, which she takes in stride as if this is any other concert.

While she plays up their fervor, Ren waves to the rest of their travelling companions who have all chosen to stand on the upper balcony to the stage’s left. They’ll get much more enjoyment from being up there than the Thieves did on the real-world equivalent.

Right after the host introduces the title of the track they’ll be performing, Ren follows Rise into their starting positions. There are only a few seconds of silence in the auditorium for Ren to breathe in and steel himself for what lies ahead.

Whatever his doubts about himself, whatever his feelings on having eyes on him, none of that matters right now.

What matters is that he is sharing a stage with Rise Kujikawa, and he will not allow someone so talented to be brought down by her temporary partner. Though he doesn’t feel fit to stand beside her like this, he will at least do the best job of faking it as possible.

When the music starts from somewhere above – fierce horns blaring over the beeps of a keyboard – he feels a familiar switch flip in his head, the same one whenever it comes time to embody Joker over Ren Amamiya. The mask resting in his hair is forgotten as he dons one more appropriate for the occasion: a smile showing off his teeth and eyes as full of energy as he can make them. Just for today, he intends to be an idol worthy of watching.

Rise’s moves come first, taking her to the right across the stage in a casual stroll. Every graceful movement of her body flows into the next as she sings. Ren takes a similar path to the left, but his gait is bouncy and erratic, like something you’d see from the airheaded schoolgirl character in an anime. Kanami had talked about plenty of shows she watched to get that sort of appearance nailed down.

The first part of the song plays off that contrast heavily, fitting for its depiction of two variations of young love. The speaker Rise embodies is radiant and charismatic, but has trouble connecting to others genuinely. On Kanami’s side – and therefore Ren’s – is a speaker with high-energy and tons of anxiety to go along with it, someone who can’t help but see themselves below others.

Throughout the song, the two try all sorts of methods to get their respective crushes to notice them, all while comparing their feelings to sweets and everything related, hence the track’s title. The music video is a fan favorite thanks to its usage of bright colors, fun editing, and the heartwarming ending.

Performing the song live, however, takes away a lot of that benefit. Instead of relying on a video to get across the song’s intent, Ren and Rise have to embody their roles that much more. When Rise strides across the stage with a forlorn look in her eyes, Ren has to pretend to stumble over his feet to look the part of a bumbling mess.

When the second verse hits and he is meant to have a second wind, he smacks at his cheeks and pumps his fist in beat with the music. On the other side of the stage, Rise’s joy comes out in the form of twirls that have a ballerina’s grace with just enough shakiness to represent someone young and in love.

The two performers keep the audience’s eyes bouncing back and forth between them like that until the chorus finally kicks in. At that point, they meet back up in the middle of the stage and finally begin to dance in unison.

Everything comes in pairs then, from a quick shuffle of feet to sweeping arm gestures with just the right amount of space between them. As Rise’s heel clicks against the stage, Ren’s does as well. The snap of her fingers and subsequent body roll into putting her back to the crowd is matched with perfect timing. All things considered, Ren thinks he’s doing a pretty good job.

He has always had a knack for copying people’s movements. It helped him with Ryuji’s running sessions and Sumire’s gymnastics lessons, as well as the one time he and Nanako teamed up for her elementary school talent show. Doing it here is more of the same, just with the added hurdle of syncing himself to Rise’s pace.

People always focus on her voice, but her dancing ability is just as polished. Her footwork, sense of spacing, improvisation, and fluidity are all at an incredible level, one where you don’t have to be any sort of professional to notice just how skilled she is. The only reason Ren is able to follow along is because he has been watching her so closely for years.

That, and the fact that his body in the Metaverse is capable of extraordinary movements. He wonders if Rise realizes she is so good that her partner needs an entire alternate dimension’s power to match her.

As the song continues and they go back to the contrast in their roles, Ren starts to feel the ache of going all out. Singing or dancing on its own would be enough to tire him out, but doing them together feels like launching several physical Persona attacks in a row.

But as much as he wants to collapse onto a bed somewhere, he has a job to do. He forces the smile to remain on his face, pushes past the burning in his legs, and keeps himself singing. He makes sure there isn’t a hint of fatigue in his voice as he belts out, “Sorry, honeybun, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles!”

The line gets a laugh out of the Inaba crew up top like he knew it would. Instead of letting it fluster him, he uses that laughter as fuel to see this through to the end. Hearing the celebration of his allies above and the frenzy of the cognitions on the ground, he channels it into a performance unrivaled by any that came before it.

The result is a bombastic show that the cognitive auditorium can barely contain. Unseen spotlights bathe the two on stage in flickering beams of neon, all yellows and pinks and reds and whites. The sound of the music slams against the roar of the audience and makes the entire room shake. Armed with light sticks, the cognitive audience looks like a sea of stars twinkling just for Ren and Rise. It is that sight that convinces Ren that he’s done his job.

The long piano note that fades out the song brings Ren down from the high of playing a part-time idol. His final pose complements Rise’s; he makes the bottom half of a heart with his hands while she completes the top with her own. The crowd’s cheers and applause start before that last note even finishes playing.

Rise – a practiced talent with heaps of experience – keeps her breaths nearly inaudible as she smiles at the crowd. Ren really does not give her enough credit for keeping up appearances no matter the situation. It’s taking everything he has just to manage an upright position.

They don’t have to stay there for long, though. When the cognitive host comes back onto the stage to chat up the crowd, it gives the pair their cue to head backstage. Even without the result put into words, neither is all that concerned that they’ll be walking away empty-handed here.

As much as Ren would have preferred a more straightforward trip into one of these mystery doors, it’s obvious that this festival gimmick was pretty much mandatory to their progression. That much is certain based on how their performing outfits vanish once they are back in the side hallway from before, replaced by what they were wearing prior to their act. Ren appreciates the time saved from not having to change himself.

“Ah, much better,” he says, rolling his fully sleeved arm around.

Rise stares down at her combat attire and groans. “No, I wanted a picture of us all decked out! Stupid Fantasma ruining my fun…”

“Haven’t you had enough fun? Were all those shots of my maid outfit not enough for you?”

“Ah, you’re right. Those made my day like ten times over. Although I was hoping to see a video of you in action or something.”

“Not happening, greedy.” Before she can fire anything back, he adds, “Good job out there, by the way. You were amazing.”

“Thanks, but you were the real star. It was so hard focusing on my part; I just wanted to stare at you the whole time! You’re always surprising me one way or another.”

“Well, I couldn’t let you down after you picked me, could I?”

“You literally could never let me down,” she responds, throwing a smile his way. “I’ve never been anything but proud of you.”

Before Ren can consider how that makes him feel, the rest of the team finally joins them. They rush to the pair with smiles on their faces and cheers already coming from their lips.

“Way to go, you two,” Chie says. “You were awesome out there!”

“The perfect combination as always,” Yukiko adds.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve always been trying to turn Joker into a mini you, Rise-chan,” Yukari says.

“Well, he definitely isn’t as opposed to the idol life as he usually claims. But I’m just glad we could share a stage for once. It was genuinely one of my favorite performances ever.”

Ren can hear how much she means that in every one of her words. Those butterflies from before stir again, apparently having just gone into hiding before rather than vanish entirely. At least they don’t force him to say something sappy in front of everyone else.

“Your enjoyment came through in every movement,” says Mitsuru. “As someone who doesn’t normally attend concerts, I can see why people are drawn to your shows.”

“Koro-chan and I had fun following along back here,” says Fuuka. “You and Joker-kun put on a phenomenal show, Rise-chan!”

“Thanks for all the compliments, guys,” she says. “Ah, if only I could have recorded it…”

“Not to worry, Kujikawa-san,” Aigis says. “I have a built-in recording feature for noteworthy encounters, and considering the novelty of the situation, I elected to activate it during your performance. I can have Fuuka-san extract the data later to send to you following our mission.”

“Really?! Oh, Aigis, you’re the best!”

“Yeah…” Ren says through clenched teeth. “Thank you…Aigis-san…”

Aigis takes both reactions with equal sincerity. “You are very welcome.”

The cognitive host approaches their group again, walking up to Rise in particular and putting a large key-shaped trophy in her hands. As soon as it makes contact with skin, that odd barrier around the village door vanishes from sight.

“Congratulations on becoming tonight’s star performers! You two put on an amazing show – thanks for making this a festival worth remembering!”

“You’re welcome,” Rise says. “Thanks for giving us the opportunity! But as much as we’ve enjoyed ourselves, we kind of need to get going. We’re all clear to use that door at the end of the hall, right?”

“Of course! You’re free to leave whenever you wish. If you ever find yourselves in the area again, stop on by! We’d love to host another show.”

The cognitive host is off with a wave, rejoining the rest of the festival with an obvious skip in its step.

Junpei chuckles seeing it. “Wow, he sure changed his tune once we played along with all this performing stuff.”

“Eh, that’s showbusiness,” Rise says. “The more useful and compliant you are, the better people treat you.”

“One of the worst parts about it all,” Yukari says. “But at least it wasn’t all bad. Should we get going?”

“No! I want to walk around the festival!” Teddie exclaims. “There’s food to eat and games to play and more ‘Maid Ren’ to see! I say we double back and—”

“Yeah, not dealing with this,” Ren interrupts.

Faster than anyone can stop, he wraps Teddie up with his grappling hook and drags him through the exit back to the village. Any muffled sounds of protest are buried by the laughter coming from the rest of the Investigation Team as they follow behind.

Notes:

Door two: complete! This chapter has a lot of bits in it that are special to me, so I took a while to make sure it all came out how I wanted. The Ren-Rise performance specifically is an idea I’ve had from very early on and I’m glad I finally got to make it happen. I’ve had a lot of people mention how they wish they could do something together and I’ve just had to keep quiet knowing this was coming, haha.

And with the Ann memory comes a little Shiho cameo! I’m planning on doing some more with other characters for some of the upcoming chapters, but not every one of them will have one. I just have some characters I’d like to check in with and this is an easy way to do it.

(Also, I wish I could have finished this chapter by Sunday for how many Vocaloid references there are in it, but ‘twas not meant to be, unfortunately)

Chapter 11

Summary:

Another door means another Phantom Thief memory…

“About time we got some action again! Save some for me, Satonaka!”

Akihiko’s forceful request somehow makes it over the roaring sounds of battle surrounding everyone. The group had been attacked the second they entered the third door, forced to battle a whole horde of Shadows in their latest environment.

And what a weird one it is, Ren notes. They stand in a massive dome comprised of dark red stone on top and bottom. Veins etched into every surface pulse with pale pink light and thrum in a low, bass-filled tone. Low heat circulates through the room like an underpowered sauna. It isn’t enough to make anyone sweat, but it does make breathing take a bit more effort. Luckily, the enemies here aren’t all that imposing.

Ren fights on his own at the far end of the dome, bullying a Shiki-Ouji by having Cybele repeatedly blast it with Freidyne every time the Shadow leaves itself open. Such a lumbering opponent is no threat to him at his current level of ability. The lack of danger lets him take stock of the rest of the battlefield.

Everyone seems to be split into pairs to deal with the remaining Shadows, most of them using their numbers to fight multiple opponents at once.

Yu and Labrys hack and slash at the duo of Setanta and Kurama Tengu. To their right, Teddie and Junpei fire spells at a Clotho and Jack Frost. Yosuke and Mitsuru do the same to Ame-no-Uzume and Okuninushi.

Opposite that crowd, Kanji and Ken battle Dominion and Fortuna while Yukiko and Aigis hold off Byakko and Lilith. Those fights are much more contained than the mess of fists and feet that makes up Chie and Akihiko’s brawl against Fuu-Ki and Quetzalcoatl.

The only pair fighting one opponent are Naoto and Yukari, who are being mindful not to get caught by any of Thoth’s charged up attacks. Like the others, they aren’t struggling by any means, so it likely won’t be much longer until everyone has their fights wrapped up.

After a chill spreads through the room from Haraedo-no-Okami’s last attack, her wielder calls out in a loud voice.

“Anyone else feel weird that all the Shadows here are white?”

Yu pauses mid-summoning, the spectral tarot card spinning above his open palm. “Um…what?”

“The Shadows are all white,” Chie repeats, sliding under the slash of Fuu-Ki’s blade. She rolls onto her feet to spin around and kick it in the chest. “Well, I guess some of them are just wearing white, but still!”

“Weird thing to notice mid-fight,” shouts Kanji. “Ya think it’s intentional?”

“Since when do Shadows have dress codes?” Akihiko asks. He grabs the tail of Quetzalcoatl before it can slither away and drives his fist into its face, finishing it off. “It does seem a bit weird to be a coincidence, though.”

Ren puts his eyes back on the downed Shiki-Ouji in front of him. It’s more silver than white, but he can still agree with the observation at large.

“It’s not like we can ask them,” Yukari points out. “Let’s just deal with them and see what comes next.”

“I’m with Yuka-tan on that one!” Junpei slams his sword down from up high, slicing Clotho into a cloud of dust. “Anybody else want some backup?”

By the time Junpei offers, no one is in need of any assistance. Those that haven’t already finished their fights are doing so now. Ren lets Cybele finish their fight of her own accord, and upon her return to his mask, the room is once again quiet, free from the sounds of battle.

“Well done, everyone,” Fuuka says. “I’m not detecting any enemy reinforcements. Rise-chan?”

“Same here,” she answers. Kouzeon disappears in a flash of light and Rise jogs up to join everyone else. “We should be good to go on the next page.”

“Which has already been claimed by the amazing Teddie!”

True to his words, the newest page rests in between the mascot’s stubby paws. He bounds over to Ren and hands it off with a flourish, prompting chuckles from some and tired groans from more.

“Thanks, Teddie.” Ren feeds the page into his book, allowing it to join in seamlessly with the others. “Let’s see what this one has in store for us…”

The pale pink light dancing around the room is immediately washed out by the white flash dragging everyone into their next memory.

 

---

---

 

Despite her best efforts, Haru just couldn’t hold back another string of coughs as she remained prone in bed. The sound echoed around her spacious childhood room, further trapping her in the vexing reality she had been trying to fight against all day.

Between that, the headache she was suffering from, and a persistent case of the sniffles, she could deny it no longer. Haru Okumura was undeniably sick.

Once upon a time, that wasn’t such a big deal. She remembered days in her youth where waking up sick merely meant a missed day of school and some extra time asleep. It was almost like time travel back then, going to bed and waking up to a darkened sky with barely any memory of the prior hours. Being young had a way of making everything seem magical, even something as mundane as illness. It was easy to get lost behind the rose-colored glasses natural to children.

Maybe that was why even her father seemed caring at that time. He was only marginally less self-absorbed in those days, though cognizant enough to at least fuss over his daughter’s health when it declined.

Actually, one of the last times she could recall him treating her with genuine kindness was when he delivered a bowl of soup to her bedside on a sick day. Though a master of all things business related, it had been clear from the chunky, uneven surface of the dish that heating soup from a can proved a bit too far out of his wheelhouse. Still, she drank every last bit of it in a refusal to waste a rare spot of vulnerability from him.

Such moments would never take place nowadays, for various reasons. Now, she simply had to remain under her blankets and attempt to wait out the sickness in isolation.

It was bad enough that Takakura and other staff members had insisted she return home from her apartment closer to school for the day. That way, she had plenty of people on hand to assist her in recovery.

It was just a minor cold; there was no reason to have all this fuss for her sake. But she went through with it in order to alleviate the worry she could hear plainly in everyone’s voices. At the very least, she wanted to make good on the concern expended for her.

Which meant that she couldn’t be stubborn and choose to ‘tough it out.’ Her role today was to give others the least amount of trouble possible, even with how impractical it felt to simply lay on her back and stare at the ceiling.

Her most recent dose of medicine, along with a lack of strength and an elevated temperature, eventually forced her into sleep. It was slightly fitful, as her eyes fluttered open a few times throughout, but she squeezed them closed every time that happened.

The latest time it happened, however, was notably different. Her brief awakenings had always just been to the sight of her empty room, four walls decorated whimsically with not much substance to be found, especially after its sole occupant moved away.

Now, though, there was an addition to her bedside. A tall figure occupied a chair next to her nightstand, looking down on her as she lay there. Their head blocked the notably lower sun shining through her window on the other side of the room.

After a fleeting belief that it was her father checking in on her – and shaking off the twinge of pain that mistake in thought caused her – she lifted her head to get a better look. Sitting at her bedside was someone not associated with the Okumura legacy at all. No, those cool gray eyes and that fluffy-looking black hair belonged to only one person she knew. Despite the lack of sense his presence made, that was clearly Ren sitting inches away from her.

“Ren-kun…?”

“Hey there,” he said, smiling in that way that never failed to put one on her own face. “You waking up? Or do you want to get some more rest?”

“I think I’ve had enough rest for now.”

Haru tried to force herself into an upright position, but Ren just coaxed her back down. He did adjust her pillows so that her head wasn’t completely horizontal, however.

“I think I’d rather try to make sense of what’s happening right now,” she continued. “I’m…fairly certain you weren’t here when I initially fell asleep.”

“You’d be correct. Let’s see… I got here close to an hour and a half ago, but I’ve only been sitting here for a little while. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I appreciate that, but…what are you doing here to begin with? I don’t recall us having plans today. I thought your next visit wouldn’t be for another month.”

“My next planned one, yeah. But I rushed over once I got the news you were sick. I had a feeling you’d try to isolate, so I decided to play nurse to make things easier on you.”

“The news? But who told you—”

It hit her then like a bolt of lightning. As much as she would have preferred to keep her affliction under wraps, there was one person she hadn’t even attempted to avoid informing. After all, the truth would have been exposed the second one of them made it to class without the other.

“It was Mako-chan, wasn’t it?”

“The one and only. In fairness, she only told me to keep me in the loop. I don’t think she expected me to make a trip out afterwards.”

That certainly made two of them, Haru thought. She knew better than to underestimate Ren’s ability to appear out of thin air, but she never would have expected this.

Though honestly, she was quickly finding herself more than okay with the turn of events.

As her senses dulled by sickness began to slowly work their way out of slumber, Haru noticed one of her hands was significantly warmer than the other. When she glanced down, she discovered the heat was from it being wrapped around one of Ren’s. Neither had made a move to separate after she woke up.

“Your hand…” she said softly. “Was this…my doing?”

“Mine, actually. You started clutching your blankets really tightly a minute ago, so I thought taking your hand might make you ease up a little. Should’ve realized you’ve got a hell of a grip, though.”

A bit panicked by that, Haru released him. “Oh, no… I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Ren chuckled. “I’m a big boy, Haru. I can take a little force. You’ve seen the way Makoto clings to me when she gets scared.”

“For her sake, I should probably act as though I have no idea what you mean.”

“Of course. But hey, are you feeling any better? Makoto was telling me before that you could barely talk this morning.”

“Oh, yes, that was the case. My throat was making communication a bit difficult before. Now, though, I feel a bit rejuvenated by all the rest I’ve gotten.” She sat up a little in bed, pleasantly surprised that the movement didn’t force another wave of nausea on her like the early hours of the day. “In fact, this should be a good enough level for me to make up for lost time.”

“Lost ti—” Ren sighed. “Haru, you can’t be serious. Just because you’re feeling a little better doesn’t mean you should get right back to business as usual.”

“I…know how it sounds. And it’s not as though I’m trying to be difficult, but there’s simply too much to do. I have several meetings lined up, and appointments to keep with my professors, and emails to respond to, and— Oh, my plants!” She shot up further in bed, this time coughing a little from the exertion. “I need to—”

“Hey, take a breath.” Ren matched her ascent just to guide her back down into bed. “Takakura-san is handling your meetings and informing everyone that you aren’t to be contacted today. Makoto is filling in with your professors where she can and rescheduling with the others. And as for your plants, they’ve already been watered and arranged. I took care of that as soon as I got here.”

Haru felt the tension drain from her upper body. Maybe it was the sickness making her weaker than normal, but Ren’s words felt like a sedative with the way they flushed the worry right out of her. Though the shrewder part of her mind knew things weren’t simple enough to be handwaved away, she couldn’t help but take some comfort in knowing her bases were covered for the day.

“You’re too good to me,” she said. “You and everyone else in my life.”

“No such thing.” Ren moved to grab a large brown bowl off the small table nearby. As he brought it over, Haru could see the steam rising from inside. “Now, you might not have much of an appetite, but since you probably haven’t eaten all day, it’d be good for you to try something. Do you think you can handle some udon?”

Haru nodded, so Ren placed a wooden tray in her lap before handing her the bowl and some chopsticks. With it lying before her, she could see plump noodles resting just below the surface of the surrounding soup, topped with tempura flakes and thinly sliced seaweed. It was also impossible to miss the small piece of aburaage at the top shaped to look like a cat.

“Oh, it’s tanuki udon. And judging by this silly little addition on top…” Haru turned to playfully narrow her eyes at Ren. “I’m starting to suspect that you went out of your way to cook for—”

“I went out of my way to cook for you, yes.” The young man’s grin was as self-satisfied as ever. “I’ve held on to that recipe since we left Kyoto; I figured now was a good time to try it out. Your staff was in the kitchen with me the whole time I was making it. They had lots of compliments to give.”

“As they should. I’m not sure anyone could meet you and not have purely good things to say.”

“Um…”

“Barring anyone that is in drastic need of a change of heart.”

That forced a laugh out of Ren. “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that. It isn’t too much, is it? I wanted you to have something filling but not too heavy.”

“No, this should be perfectly fine for me. I would never dream of passing on something that smelled this good anyhow.” Even her partially blocked nose could take in the decadent scent wafting up towards her. It was fortunate that her sense of taste hadn’t been completely nulled by her cold. “Though while I eat, could I ask to hear about your upcoming school festival? I remember you texting the group chat about it recently and I’ve been curious ever since. Something about…putting on a circus?”

“Ugh… Where do I even start with that trainwreck?”

Ren began delving into the remarkably messy tale as Haru started to eat her udon. It was a bit challenging to focus through both her clouded mind and the overwhelmingly good taste of the food, but she managed.

She listened as he went over the half-baked idea his class had conceived of, as well as the hectic state that all subsequent planning had put them in. The fact that a group of high schoolers honestly believed they could set up a trapeze in their gymnasium brought her equal amounts of hilarity and mental pain.

Although sitting quietly and listening like this did remind her of the past few years, she knew this situation was nothing like back then. Her silence in those days was forced, thrust upon her by someone who didn’t care for anything she might have to contribute. Even when she felt she did, the last thing she wanted was to engage with Sugimura and give him the impression she valued their time together.

Now, her silence was both comfortable and voluntary. She allowed her friends room to speak as they pleased, never cutting them off early or dismissing their thoughts as unimportant. They extended the same courtesy to her, of course, and so she found herself talking at length about anything she could. It bordered on rambling, at times, but no one faulted her for it.

She was sure that the same type of rambling would occur at some point today if her throat allowed it. But with the food she had yet to finish and a story still being recounted, she was content to let Ren take the lead for a while longer.

The fact that his voice was incredibly soothing to listen to was just another reason the decision was so easy.

After saying all he could about the potentially disastrous school festival, he pivoted to talking about their shared friends. He told her of his plans for Ann’s birthday and how Shiho was helping him to set the whole thing up. He did a flawless impression of Makoto lecturing him on the importance of road safety, emphasizing that running down Shadows in Mementos was not adequate driving practice.

He even showed her a few pictures on his phone of himself with Morgana and Lavenza as they roasted marshmallows over a small fire. Morgana had substituted the snack for a few fish skewers, and he looked just as happy with them as Lavenza did munching on a s’more too big for her little hands to hold.

Just off of everything she had seen and heard, Haru felt so light. While her sickness had not gone anywhere, she felt so fulfilled, so enriched in her soul that none of those symptoms could bother her at the moment. The sensation must have been strong enough to affect her facial features as well, because Ren commented on that very change in the middle of their conversation.

“You’re pretty smiley for someone who’s sick.”

“Huh?”

Ren gestured to her face. “You’ve been grinning for ten minutes straight. The food couldn’t have been that good.”

Haru ‘hmphed’ at that. “For your information, it most certainly was. My somewhat dulled tastebuds could do nothing to change that.”

“But it’s not the reason you look so happy.”

“It is in part, but not mainly, no.”

“Well, care to share with the class, then? I’m curious now.”

“It’s nothing too complicated – just a sudden sense of gratitude.”

“Really? What for?”

“For finding myself in such a wonderful circle. Around this time last year, I was entirely alone and set to be married off to someone I wanted nothing to do with. I had to deal with my father’s increasing apathy towards me as well as the knowledge that he was abusing his employees. For a while, I truly did not picture my life getting any better.”

“Haru…”

She gave Ren a reassuring smile. “I say all that to prove my past self wrong. Somehow, some way, I was blessed with an incredible group of friends at my side, and I continue to benefit from those friendships every day. I have Ryuji-kun to coach me on fitness, and I receive such lovely makeup and clothing recommendations from Ann-chan. I’m able to serve as inspiration for Yusuke-kun’s artwork occasionally, along with indulging in dining with Sumire-chan on our days off.”

Memories swirled in her head the same way stray tempura flakes swirled in the broth resting in her lap. They were just as warm, too.

“I’ve managed to find a best friend in Mako-chan, and I get to have easy conversations with Mona-chan, ones where I don’t have to fear being judged or misunderstood. Even being scolded by Futaba-chan for my lack of computer knowledge makes me smile because there is never any malice behind it, only a desire to help me.”

While it was true that her life had been no stranger to loss ever since she was a little girl, it was getting progressively harder to hold onto that pain with the gains she now received without pause. What seemed no more realistic than a fairy tale years ago was now firmly in her reach.

Perhaps the comparison was why she still found herself in disbelief some days.

“I’m so very fortunate to have you all,” Haru said. Her smile faltered for a moment as she added, “Though that is precisely why I feel sometimes that I don’t deserve any of you.”

Ren was quick to say, “Hey, don’t think like that. You don’t owe us anything for our friendship. Besides, if deserving people was actually something to worry about, I’d be way worse off than you. What have I done to deserve anyone in my life?”

“You mean besides being a constant pillar for support and a hero in every sense of the word? You’ve saved lives and livelihoods alike, Ren-kun. If anything, the world owes you even more than you have gotten thus far. I can only hope that your life continues to be filled with people that care for you as intensely as I do.”

Ren opened his mouth, but a response failed to come out. He sat back in his chair instead, playing with a bit of his hair that hung over an arm of his glasses. With his back to the afternoon sun, there was no hiding the bit of pink that ran across his nose and cheeks. It seemed like there was no end to the treats Haru would receive today.

“I always forget that I can’t be self-deprecating around you,” he said. “You just throw away my bad thoughts like they’re nothing.”

“Because they are nothing. I’m aware that you and I can both be a bit hard on ourselves, which is exactly why I feel so confident in saying all this now. The negative ways in which you view yourself have no true standing, and I won’t allow someone dear to me to believe otherwise.”

“Then shouldn’t the same idea extend to you? If we’re so similar like you said, then you have to trust my words when I compliment you back, don’t you?”

Embarrassment seemingly forgotten, Ren faced forward again and fixed Haru with a firm stare.

It never made sense to her when others accused him of having ‘scary’ eyes. Their gaze could certainly be penetrative in the right scenarios, and when they kept you in sight – like a cat observing prey – it was hard not to feel a bit exposed. But going so far as to call them scary? Haru would never understand.

No, the eyes that were focused on her right now had never been anything but warm to her. She had seen them widen at the sight of good food, narrow during intense moments while gaming, and blur with tears formed through excessive laughter.

Most importantly, though, they had always looked at her so gently, without judgement or disdain for any aspect of her person. She treasured that fortune beyond words.

“You’re one of the kindest people I know, Haru. One of the strongest, too. It really isn’t even about deserving people at the end of the day; you just draw people in by having such a big heart that they can’t help but seek it. It’s like flowers turning towards the sunlight.”

For all that she had talked about Ren silently lifting her up, she had somehow forgotten how good he was at doing so verbally. If her face felt entirely too hot at the moment, it was obviously because of a fever that had spontaneously formed in the last few minutes.

“Th–Thank you, Ren-kun,” she said. “Though being cornered by my own logic is a bit embarrassing… Have you been learning from Sae-san?”

“Nah, that one’s all me. I like playing devil’s advocate.”

“I know Mona-chan can attest to that.” A bit too eager to escape the emotional imbalance the past few minutes had created, she asked, “Where is he, by the way? I’m not used to the two of you being separated.”

“He’s with Futaba. They’re still trying to work out some kind of texting gadget to let him join in the group chat so I don’t have to relay messages. It’s been slow going, but they both seem pretty determined still.”

“Well, if anyone can figure it out, it’s Futaba-chan.” Haru giggled. “I wonder how much more chaotic our chats will get once Mona-chan can participate.”

“It’ll be a mess, that’s for sure. But a fun one, I think.”

“I agree. Everything with our group tends to be.”

They went back to chatting casually then, taking turns with small life updates now that Haru’s throat had been partially soothed by broth. Between her transition into learning how a business was structured and how Ren was slowly removing himself from everything in the town where he lived, there was no shortage of topics to bounce back and forth. Honestly, if it weren’t for the occasional cough she let out, it all would have felt like any other normal meetup between them.

Maybe that was why Haru got so distracted that she didn’t even notice the sun dipping even lower in the distance. It wasn’t until Ren got a string of text messages that their little bubble of contentment popped. When he read over his screen, the eased expression he had shifted into something visibly annoyed.

“Trouble?” Haru asked.

“No, just my parents giving me some chores since they don’t know I’m not in town.” He flipped his phone face down on the nightstand. “I don’t know why they bother – anything I clean now will just be dirty again when they eventually come home in three weeks.”

Now Haru found herself frowning too. Not only because of Ren’s home situation – which she and the other Thieves had vocalized many thoughts about in the past – but because the texts themselves were just reminders that he wasn’t a natural part of her space. At some point, he would be gone once again, and this room would feel all the emptier for it.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with that,” she said. “If you need to go ahead and get back…”

“I don’t. I promise Yamichi is the last thing on my mind right now. I’d sooner go say hi to everyone I know in town on foot than head back now.”

“You’re sure?” When he nodded, Haru fiddled with the edges of her blanket as she worked up the nerve to ask, “Then…can I ask how long you’re able to stay here?”

“As long as you want me to,” Ren said. When Haru looked over to him, she could see him looking right back. His eyes never left her, never strayed to anything other than the person right in front of him. “Nothing back home takes priority over you.”

“But—”

“Nothing,” he stressed. In a much softer tone of voice, he explained, “Staying here and watching over you is a choice I’m making. For a few reasons, admittedly, but it’s still ultimately me being selfish. And if the two of us are owed anything in this life, it’s to start considering ourselves a little more from time to time. So, Haru…”

He grinned at her, this time in the way that made him look like he knew the answer to every potential question in life. With the way he tended to surprise her, she figured that was entirely possible.

“Do you want to tell me what selfish thought is running through that head of yours right now?”

So many, she suddenly realized.

Part of defying her lineage and beginning to live for herself was discovering just how much she wanted things nowadays. She wanted the simple things in life, like desserts after hard days, baths that ran a bit too long, and to stay up late watching movies.

She also wanted more time with her friends – with the people that helped shape her into the woman she was proud of becoming. She wanted outings with them, trips to diners and long hikes and shopping sessions that lasted all afternoon. She wanted to hear them laugh, to be there for them when they cried, and to be able to cheer them on in everything they set out to do. No matter how small, she wanted to be a constant part of their lives.

But if Ren was asking what she wanted most in this very moment, what the loudest thing on her mind was, then that came to her easily. A sore and scratchy throat would not stop her from vocalizing it.

“Please don’t leave until I’m well enough to at least walk you to the station myself,” she said, her hand moving to grab his again in a childish attempt to keep him around. “I don’t want to miss a second of your time in the city.”

And though to her that sounded terribly greedy and ignorant of Ren’s own desires, he just smiled at every word. He didn’t look the least bit surprised by her answer.

“Sounds like a plan.” He grabbed the tray and bowl off her lap, moving it back to its original spot on the table. “Get some sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Of that, she was finally sure. Hopefully she didn’t wake up too groggy later on, if only so they could get right back into their groove with conversation.

“I really hope being here with me doesn’t get you sick as well,” she said, her head already sinking into her pillow.

“Eh, I’ve always been pretty good with dodging that sort of thing. But it’s not the end of the world if I catch something. I’ll just hole up in my room back home.”

Her intended hum in understanding came out as a partial yawn. “I suppose that would make it my turn to come surprise you. I wonder if I’ll make a good nurse?”

“Haru, I wouldn’t expect you to—”

“Coming over to help you would be a choice that I made. After all our talking today, you wouldn’t deprive me of the chance to make my own decision, would you, Ren-kun?”

Though her eyes were surely hazy from fatigue and sickness, the stare she pinned Ren with was enough to get her point across. Haru assumed as much from how he let out a breath and held up his hands in forfeit.

“Alright, I know when I’m beat. I guess I’ll just try extra hard not to get sick so you don’t have to bother.”

Haru’s curls got all mussed up as she shook her head. “Never a bother. Not for you.”

He huffed out a small laugh. Whether it was due to her words slowing down from fatigue or his disbelief at them, she wasn’t sure.

“Back at you,” he said, settling into his seat once more. “Sleep well, Haru.”

Genuinely, despite the stuffy room, her circumstances, and the laborious day of catchup in her future, she had no doubt she would sleep well now. There wasn’t much room for the alternative with a beloved friend watching over her.

 

---

---

 

“Man, now I want to lay in bed,” Junpei says, yawning into his hand. “That memory was downright cozy.”

Teddie nods his head. “Mmhm! I want some of that kabuki udon, too!”

“That’s tanuki udon, Teddie,” Naoto corrects. “Though I agree that something so hearty would be nice right about now.”

“I could use some of that bedside manner next time I’m sick,” Chie says, gently elbowing Ren. “Is Nurse Amamiya still taking new patients?”

“Not if those patients are making fun of me,” he replies, nudging her right back.

Rise runs a hand down his arm. “I know you’re sweet to all your friends, but that might be the softest I’ve ever seen you with someone.”

“Ah, well…with all the crap Haru’s had to deal with in her life, she deserves nothing but the best now. I don’t know if she’ll ever have more good days than bad in her memories, but I’ll be damned if I don’t try to make things better for her.”

Of course, he can’t do that until he gets her and the others out of imprisonment, his brain reminds him. His new allies can find comfort in this memory if they want, but for him, it should only serve as another prod to get moving and save his team already.

“So where are we with the connecting threads on these memories?” Yukari asks. “Does there seem like an order to them yet, or…?”

“Not that I can see,” Ren answers. “Ryuji, Ann, then Haru… And if I remember right, she got sick towards the end of last September. If there is an order, it’s something I’m blanking on.”

“Then maybe we should just accept that there isn’t one,” says Yu. “There’s no reason Fantasma wouldn’t just throw these memories at us in a random order, especially considering it’s tried to hide the pages from us to begin with.”

“I guess…” Chie groans into the air. “But that just sounds so unsatisfying!”

“Yeah, life’s like that sometimes.”

“I mean, some of the rooms are already random, right?” says Labrys. “Not much of a stretch to assume other stuff ‘round here is too.”

“I don’t think the area behind this door was actually random,” says Ken. “In fact, I’d say those specific Shadows from earlier attacked us because of what was in the memory. That’s my theory, at least.”

“Huh? How does that work?” Kanji asks.

“Each of the Shadows that ambushed us was primarily the color white, remember? I think they were emulating white blood cells, and this area was meant to resemble a blood vessel. Though both are simplifications of the real thing, obviously. Or maybe ‘abstract’ is a better descriptor.”

“Oh, so we were like external invaders, then,” Yosuke says. “Funny, I didn’t think this place cared about lessons on the immune system.”

Aigis offers, “The realm itself may not, but the ruler controlling things here might hold some fascination with it. I am unsure if that points to hobby, occupation, or something else entirely.”

“Sheesh, everything we learn about this ‘mystery ruler’ just gives more questions than answers,” Junpei mutters. “Kinda wish they’d just come on out and say something already.”

Yukari rushes to say, “Don’t jinx us! For all we know, they could be ready to come out of nowhere and wipe us out in one shot!”

“Uh, I’m pretty sure they would’ve done that already if they wanted,” says Chie.

“Well, they might change their mind about dealing with us if we keep grabbing these pages,” says Yu. “It won’t stop us from doing it, though.”

Ren shakes his head. “Definitely not. Everyone ready for door number four?”

With nods all around, the team heads back the way they came, shutting the third door behind them.

Notes:

Shouting through my megaphone: Haru deserves the world 📢 !!

Chapter 12

Summary:

A certain scientist makes a discovery in the real world. In Fantasma, Ren and the others get an early taste of winter.

“Never realized how quiet it is without Sophia…”

Kuon makes another rotation in her desk chair. The squeak from the continuous assault of them grates on her nerves, so she makes another mental note to go out and buy a new one at some point. It will be forgotten by the time she does another spin.

If Sophia were here, she would have already placed the order.

Of course, if Sophia were here, Kuon wouldn’t be in such a bad rut that spinning in her chair served as relief. Not much relief, but still.

The temporary space she uses when returning to Japan from overseas trips feels different than usual. It’s only a tiny apartment sectioned into office, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom spaces. That is normally more than enough for her; she has never been one to care about where she is over what she does there.

Now, though, the office she sits in feels so empty, despite all the clutter around comprised of textbooks and disassembled machinery and souvenirs that Sophia had requested during the first leg of their joint journey.

Thinking about that last fact makes it pretty obvious where all this recent melancholy has come from. If nothing about the space itself has changed, then what it normally contains has to be the answer. Leave it to someone like her to need a roundabout thought process to realize how much she misses her baby.

Maybe she should have just gone to Amamiya’s graduation after all. Sophia and those friends of his tried their best to make her feel welcome, but in the end, she just couldn’t work up the nerve.

Too many people, too many unknowns, too many socialization protocols that she isn’t clear on. Her progress in changing herself may be notable, but it isn’t far enough along to make a trip like that. She genuinely hopes that will change one day.

That single thought is enough to make her chuckle softly. She can’t even imagine trying to explain the unfamiliar web of feelings taking root in her chest these days to the Kuon Ichinose of the past – the one that was content to be EMMA’s accomplice. She’s still coming to terms with the fact that she can feel at all. It’s one more thing to be grateful to Sophia for.

Before that line of thinking can lead to missing her digital companion even more, something close to a sonar ping chimes from behind her head. Kuon feels a bit better about spinning in her chair for an actual purpose this time. Namely, finding out why her computer is so desperately trying to gain her attention with continued pings.

To her surprise, a software long forgotten is attempting to notify her of its findings. This program – so offhandedly developed that she never got around to naming it – was designed for the express purpose of tracking anything resembling the conditions of the Metaverse. It’s a mishmash of code held together by figurative duct tape and hope, something the old Kuon would never allow herself to be satisfied with. It was whipped up at three in the morning while she was bunked in a hotel in California, after all.

Still, it felt necessary at the time. Her paranoia over anything like the Jail crisis rising again pestered her long enough that she felt she had no choice but to act, and thus, she whipped up a program that she couldn’t even test upon its completion.

So while it isn’t foolproof – nothing concerning alternate realities born of cognition can be – between her experience with the Jails and her work on Sophia and then EMMA, Kuon has more or less familiarized herself with how creations of that nature interact with the world of man. After some back-and-forth correspondence with the Phantom Thieves’ resident hacker, the humble little Metaverse activity tracker was deemed functional enough to go online.

Of course, Kuon never imagined this program of hers would ever see any action, so it had been immediately forgotten about as she and Sophia continued on their journey together. The fact that it is going off now means she either has some faults to address, or her paranoia is finally paying off after several months.

The one alert present in her program isn’t for any sort of required maintenance, so she quickly realizes that it must be the latter of those possibilities. Though that could very well spell trouble, she does find herself intrigued with a new puzzle to solve.

“Hello, little aberration. And where did you come from?”

Her fingers fall into the familiar pattern of typing away at her keyboard. Due to how haphazardly the tracking program was built, she has to navigate her own systems like a mere guest to get to where she needs. An annoyance, to be sure, but it’s not like she has much going on otherwise.

Once she gathers enough errant memories to nail down exactly how her past self intended for a lot of this to work, she’s able to really get things started. She overlays the information she has at present over a map of Japan and waits for the signal funneling towards her to solidify. When it does, the very sight causes her to lean forward out of her seat.

“What the…?”

In terms of data, she really only expected something akin to a ripple in the Metaverse. Something small, like a pocket of distortion, or maybe even just one blip of activity that showed someone entering and exiting a cognitive space. Stranger things had happened before.

What she gets instead is a massive blotch on her screen made of bright reds, greens, and yellows, a match for how storms appear on meteorological maps. The festering patch is slowly expanding from its central point, leaking into the surrounding area if the expanding pixels onscreen are anything to go by.

All the numbers her computer spits out at her go by too quickly to immediately parse, but she isn’t focused on them right now anyway. Her attention is fixed on the location her scans have given her, placing this strange event in a town called Yamichi. She only has to repeat that name in a whisper once before its relevance clicks.

“I really should have gone to that graduation. Sophia, could you call—” Kuon winces after remembering her solitude. “Right. Force of habit.”

She rolls her chair over to grab her phone herself. It takes a moment to recover the device considering its spot buried under sheets of notes on the end table nearby. When she has it in hand and powers it up again, she is met with a list of missed calls from the person she was just about to contact. At the top of them sits a voicemail message, so she taps on it to listen while she goes back to managing the influx of data on her computer. After a beep and a brief silence, a voice finally comes through her speaker.

“Hi, Ichinose. It’s Ren. Um…there’s no easy way to say this, but…I messed up.”

Kuon slows her typing and pulls her eyes away from the monitor. Something about the resignation in Amamiya’s voice makes her feel like the floor is giving way under her.

Even in her limited time with him, she’s used to hearing a certain firmness in his voice. He can be cautious, and a little off balance from time to time, but the tone befitting a sulking child is entirely foreign to her. It puts a frown on her face just hearing it.

“After my graduation, me and the others – the Thieves, I mean – we were at my house getting ready to relax for the night when this…weird door appeared out of nowhere. There was a vortex that came out of it and these dark hands that pulled everyone but me into them. When I jumped in to try and save everyone, I ended up getting separated and trapped in a new cognitive world. I got myself out only to face off with a cognitive dragon in another area. I…didn’t win.”

Ren Amamiya not winning a fight? Yet another foreign occurrence to swallow. As someone who was once on the business end of his dagger, she knows the strength he wields in cognitive worlds is not something to take lightly. Those eyes of his are nearly weapons in their own right as well, equal parts piercing and debilitating to sit under.

She shudders in her seat thinking back to the haunting look he gave her when Sophia fell off that platform in the Jail of the Abyss. That single look had almost convinced Kuon that not even her defensive barrier and the power left behind by EMMA would be enough to save her. The revelation that Amamiya was actually a gentle young man most of the time had hit like whiplash in the following days.

The voicemail continues despite her thoughts. “I ended up getting rescued by some old friends and their allies, so now I’m getting ready to head back into the cognitive world to rescue the other Thieves. There’s still a lot about the world I don’t know, but I’ll have to figure it out as I go.”

A long breath comes through the speaker. Even Kuon can piece together the anxiety in such a noise.

“Anyway, I just wanted to let you know all this since you’d probably be worried about Sophia otherwise. Well, you’ll probably still worry, but at least you know where she is. I promise it won’t be for long, though. I’m going to get her and the others back, so just give me a little time. Feel free to call me with questions, but I obviously won’t be able to answer if I’m in the Metaverse, so…we might be swapping voicemails for a bit. I’m…really sorry I couldn’t do anything before. I’ll make up for it by saving everyone. Take care.”

The voicemail clicks off then, dropping Kuon back into the sterile silence of her office. For a moment, she simply sits and lets the information wash over her.

An injured leader of the Phantom Thieves. A new cognitive world. Possibly more Persona-users that are investigating. The potential for this new world to spread and wreak havoc to unspecified parts of Japan.

And worst of all, her precious creation, her beloved companion, is trapped somewhere in the middle of it awaiting rescue.

Kuon shoots upright in her chair, flexing her fingers before hunching over her keyboard and getting right back into the flow of things. Any time she could have spent agonizing over the situation is time better spent being productive.

“If Amamiya-kun is out there handling the situation hands-on, then I guess it’s on me to run support from over here. I won’t know how much meddling I can do to this new problem area until I try, so let’s get to work.”

In all honesty, the chances that she can affect anything meaningful from so far away are slim to none. She may be something of a genius even among other researchers in her field, but all the computer knowledge in the world can’t entirely bridge the gap between earthly science and cognitive realms. Some parts of this will be out of her hands.

But if she can make Amamiya and his new group’s task just a little bit easier, then it will be worth it. She doesn’t consider herself altruistic enough to fight for the sake of humanity, but the will to fight for Sophia comes easy.

After spending so long feeling like there was a void in her chest, the last thing she wants is to go back to the solitude that brought. That spot in her chest has been warming up for months now, and she refuses to let it go cold prematurely. Regardless of how many hoops she will have to jump through, she will see results.

And honestly, she can’t really complain about her end of things knowing that Amamiya is fighting directly. For as many hours as she’ll likely have to put in bashing her head against the wall to figure out how to help, he has to endure actual pain and exhaustion in battles for his very life.

Yeah, she really has it much easier. She can’t see any scenario in which he’s enjoying his side of things, wherever this latest disaster has landed him.

 

*          *          *

 

“Woo!”

Ren’s shout follows him down the snow-covered slope below. He grabs onto his snowboard in midair, spinning himself around in an upside-down position. He manages six full rotations before righting himself and landing perfectly on the snow, sliding back to a more relaxed speed. Not bad for only having done this once before, he thinks.

“You can ease up on the showboating, you know,” Yosuke says, riding nearby on his own snowboard. “Not like you’re winning any prizes for it.”

Chie snowboards right between them both, shouting, “Says the guy going at a snail’s pace. C’mon, keep up, Junes boy!”

Yukiko speeds by on her skis seconds later. “Yeah, Yosuke-kun, keep up!”

Teddie follows behind on skis right after, chorusing the earlier taunts with an added shake of his stubby tail. Yosuke growls under his breath before taking the bait and pushing himself to go faster. Ren didn’t expect anything less.

A quick glance up the mountain shows the rest of their allies making a slower descent. Junpei and Labrys are on snowboards at the front of that bunch, cautious of their speed while also trying to one-up each other. Yu is helping Rise as they ski together, though based on how her exaggerated movements repeatedly throw her into his waiting arms, Ren is doubtful of her actually needing any assistance.

Mitsuru, Akihiko, Kanji, and Naoto are right behind on their own skis. Mitsuru seems to be coaching the rest on better form as they progress. Ren isn’t sure how many times the others have done this, so he doesn’t know if Naoto’s shaky stance is due to inexperience or just plain nerves. It’s rare to see her rattled by anything outside of socialization.

And at the very back, Ren can just make out the group of Aigis, Yukari, and Ken all packed into one bullet-shaped bobsled. Aigis sits at the front, taking the responsibility of steering while Yukari clings to her midsection. Ken does the same to Yukari, though with a notably less panicked expression than she wears.

Finding all this equipment when they came through Torimono Village’s fourth door had been a welcome surprise, especially once Fuuka notified them that the page they seek is all the way at the base of the snowy mountain. No one wanted to make that trek on foot, so taking what Fantasma provided was unanimously agreed upon. With the lack of imminent danger, it very quickly turned into a pretty good source of entertainment.

Well, ‘lack of imminent danger’ only applied if one ignored the massive pile of snow and debris hurtling towards everyone at the moment.

“Am I the only one freaking out about the avalanche behind us?!” Yukari shouts. “We’re seconds away from being buried under enough snow to crush us flat!”

Over the rumble behind them, Aigis states, “Actually, Yukari-san, statistics show that the more common cause of death in avalanches relates to lack of oxygen. I believe you would at least last long enough to experience that should the snow behind catch up with us.”

“That’s not helping, Aigis!”

“No one is getting crushed or asphyxiated,” Mitsuru calls out. “We set off with plenty of time to evade the avalanche, as you’ll recall.”

“True, but we should probably get a move on anyway,” Akihiko says. “Aigis, throw that sled into gear and follow us, ‘kay?”

“Roger that.”

Yukari squeezes Aigis a little tighter and whines. “I was afraid you’d say that…”

Confident that the trailing group will be alright, Ren turns back to the few ahead of him just in time to catch Teddie hit a bump and pop into the air. He flails his arms at first but manages to land without too much incident. The dynamic pose he strikes afterwards is entirely unearned.

“Looks like this bear’s got wings today, folks! Not that any of you would know what it’s like to soar.”

Ren scoffs at that remark. “You call that airtime? Watch and learn.”

Leaning forward to pick up speed, he weaves in between his friends and aims right for a snow-covered rock angled upwards. Hitting it dead on launches him into the air, much higher than he has gone thus far. In the middle of his ascent, he tosses his mask away and calls for Arsène, who propels his summoner even higher with a heavy flap of his wings. At this height, Ren can barely hear the exclamations of wonder down below.

He allows himself a single backflip before landing right in front of everyone, bowing even as his board wiggles through the snow to get back on track.

“Damn, Ren-Ren, how are we supposed to beat that?” Chie asks.

“Yeah, I’ve been totally upstaged!” Teddie shouts.

“Hey, I warned you all at the start of this that I’m a show stealer,” Ren responds. “I can’t help my own nature.”

“Still, we need to prove ourselves somehow,” Yukiko remarks. “I can’t take this lying down!”

“Well, we’re getting pretty close to the bottom of the slope,” Yosuke points out. “How about one final push? First one there wins, but no Personas allowed.”

“And no grappling hooks!” Chie adds with a glance to her right.

“Fine, fine,” Ren says. “Then if we’re all set…”

“Go!” Yukiko shouts, pushing herself forward before anyone can protest. The snow she kicks up from her blatant head start hits each of her opponents, who all have to sputter and clear their faces before they set off.

The race is close for most of the way, but at about the halfway mark, Chie hits a long patch of ice that rockets her into the lead. Desperate to catch up, Yosuke swerves over to try and follow. He just ends up bumping into Yukiko, however, who had the same idea.

For his own part, Ren is stuck trying to get past all the snow Teddie is kicking up from whatever zig-zag pattern he believes will net him the win here. It would be easy with Arsène or his grappling hook, but cheating at this point would just invalidate the win. All he can do is yell at the mascot in front of him to ski straight for a moment.

Thanks to her solid maneuvering – and the floundering of those behind her – Chie reaches the bottom of the slope first of everyone present. She hops off her board and pumps her fist in the air as she crosses their figurative finish line.

“Woo-hoo!” she cheers. “I am the downhill champion!”

The other four slide in then, each frowning at the result in front of them.

“Shoot,” Yukiko says. “I really thought I’d get that one.”

“Yeah, I bet you did, cheater! Looks like I’m just too much of a natural athlete to lose.”

“Or you’ve just got a low center of gravity because you’re short,” Yosuke says.

“Teddie’s shorter than I am!”

“I should’ve used my patented bear-ball technique to roll down the hill faster,” he says, tuning the both of them out. “I’ll get to shine at some point in this wacky world!”

“Bear-ball?” Ren asks.

“The first time we went skiing, he got wrapped up in a ball of snow and took me out like a runaway boulder,” Yosuke explains.

“Ah. Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t tag along on that trip.”

“Well, considering that was when we had to fight to stop Marie from dying and unleashing the TV World fog onto the world again, yeah, I’d agree.”

Ren blinks at Yosuke a few times, waiting for a punchline to kick in or for one of the others to start laughing. No such thing happens.

“You guys cannot keep dropping Marie bombshells on me out of nowhere.”

“Not so fun when you’re on the other end, huh?” Chie taunts.

Ren just waves her off as he heads off to the lone tree at the far end of their surroundings.

The rest of the group slides down into the area not long after. The avalanche slows to a stop well before that point, so all that hits everyone in the end are small clumps of snowy slush.

“We are really not dressed for this,” Ken says, rubbing at his arms as he shivers.

Rise directs a pair of doe eyes at her skiing partner. “Senpai, I’m freezing! Mind sharing some warmth with me?”

“Sure.” Yu holds his hand aloft as a card floats down into it. “Mada has Agidyne, so that should—”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”

“Hm…would Yu-kun’s idea work if the recipient had fire immunity?” Yukiko asks. “Or does that negate the warmth as well?”

“We could test it,” says Aigis. “I believe Trismegistus has immunity to fire damage. Junpei-san, I request you become a pyre for our cause.”

“Yeah, that’s gonna be a ‘no’ from me,” he proclaims.

Mitsuru sighs and says, “This is simply the electric door handle conversation all over again…”

Ren shakes some of the slush out of his hair as he rejoins everyone. “You know, going down the slope was actually pretty fun, all things considered.”

As she brushes herself off, Yukari sends a glare his way. “You and I have very different definitions of fun, Joker.”

“Come on, loosen up a little, Yukari-san,” says Labrys. “Who else but us could get a free snow day this close to April? And anyway, we got what we came here for, right?”

“Right.” Ren holds up the fourth page in his hand, having already claimed it from that tree nearby. It joins the others in his red book with little input. “Next memory, coming up.”

Though the snow around them is blinding enough, the light that sweeps them all into a new memory is as obvious as ever.

 

---

---

 

Though going from a cell phone to the Metaverse wasn’t as awe-inspiring as the others believed it to be, Sophia did appreciate the chance to ‘stretch her legs’ every now and then. Seeing the world through a single phone screen had its limitations, after all. So despite the fact that it wasn’t exactly reality that she was walking through at the moment, she still gladly welcomed the opportunity for some hands-on experience with a physical body.

She did find the current set of circumstances strange, however. Rather than wait until the next day to tackle more Phantom Thief work alongside the entire team, Ren had brought Sophia into the Metaverse just a bit after midnight.

Now, it was only the two of them as they walked through the domain of their latest victory. The lack of a Monarch did nothing to stop the snow from falling, nor did it make temperatures any warmer. Though with the heaters running in their positions, it wasn’t nearly as bad as when the Thieves first arrived. Ren looked unbothered as he trekked ahead of Sophia with his hands in his pockets.

She picked up her pace until she could tap her leader on the shoulder. “Question: why have we come into Mariko Hyodo’s Jail without the other Phantom Thieves?”

“Because we have a very important quest to do, you and I,” Ren replied, continuing to walk through the snowy streets.

He did not immediately elaborate on that point. This was within expectations.

Sophia had learned much about the young man named Ren Amamiya in her limited time with the Phantom Thieves. Studying humanity and the heart itself could be time-consuming and daunting, but learning more about Ren came easily.

Sophia knew all sorts of things about her first ever companion. He felt most at ease when he was cooking for his friends. He was helpful by nature, bordering on it being obsessive. He was gentle at his core, but fiercely protective of those around him. Sophia had learned that he became very scary in those moments.

He even had a large number of mannerisms that resembled those of a cat, a fact which both he and Morgana disputed for completely different reasons.

Also, the majority of music on his phone belonged to the artist known as ‘Risette,’ but this was a fact he requested her to keep from everyone else. Though Sophia wasn’t sure why, she hoped to learn in time. She liked humming along to those songs when Ren’s phone was pocketed.

But despite knowing all that and more, she still felt as though she had barely scratched the surface of who Ren Amamiya was. Uncovering each aspect of his being was like finishing a book and learning there was a sequel already published and waiting to be read. While Sophia had never read a book cover-to-cover in the way humans did, she could sympathize with the feeling. Her internet research often had to be intentionally cut short so as to not overwhelm herself with the amount of knowledge still waiting after a deep dive.

It was easier to think of studying Ren as a long-term project. Between that, aiding the Phantom Thieves in battle, and searching for more clues about her past, she had no shortage of tasks to keep her busy. The thought only made her more curious as to why Ren needed her tonight, however.

She would get her answer after another minute of walking. Ren came to a stop in the middle of a clearing with trees on all sides. The frost-covered buildings in the distance barely poked their tops over the line of foliage. After glancing around for a moment, Ren nodded to himself.

“Alright, this should be far enough,” he said. “No Shadows around, and plenty of ammunition for us.”

Sophia tilted her head. “I detect no ammunition around us. I do not believe the Jails provide any such supplies. Has something happened to your firearm?”

“Not bullets. I was talking about the snow around us.”

“Hm… I do not comprehend.”

“Sorry, I should stop keeping you in the dark at this point.”

Ren bent over and gathered a large clump of snow in his hands. After patting it into a lumpy sphere, he gave it a small toss up and caught it on the way down.

“You see, Sophie, we’re here to have ourselves a snowball fight.”

“A snowball fight…”

Sophia knew what that was, at least in concept.

When the ground outside was covered in a sufficient amount of snow, human children used it in order to play a game simulating ranged combat. They would gather snow in their palms and pack it together until it was in the shape of a ball, then throw it at those around them in order to establish a winner. Sometimes there were teams involved, but otherwise, these competitions simply saw children hurling snowballs with reckless abandon at anyone they could. Sophia was unsure which type of battle Ren was suggesting.

“Then, do you have a set of rules in mind?” she asked. “Will we be scoring based on any sort of hit, or is precise targeting a requirement? What are the boundaries of our battlefield? In terms of a time limit, how—”

“Woah, no need for all the questions, Sophie. As far as I’m concerned, all you need to worry about is hitting me with as many snowballs as you can.”

“That’s it?”

“Well, I’m not going to make it easy for you, but yeah, that’s it. I’ll be returning fire, so stay light on your toes if you don’t wanna get hit.”

Sophia glanced down at her feet. “I do not believe I have any toes to stay light on.”

“Just an expression. Ready to start?”

Sophia nodded before putting some distance between her and Ren. The overall objective of their snowball fight remained unclear to her, but she figured the answer would reveal itself in time. For now, she would simply follow the directive she was given, a line of thinking she found easy to grab hold to.

Scooping and shaping snow while under direct fire was trickier than she expected. At the start of the battle, most of her artillery came out chunky and broke apart in midair before they could get close to her target. A bit disheartening, but Sophia had gotten used to setbacks in combat from fighting alongside the other Phantom Thieves. A battle like this would not get the best of her.

So she kept trying, grabbing fistfuls of snow and patting them into orbs again and again until the act became second-nature. She expected the adjustment period to result in her being hit several times, but Ren hadn’t been attacking at the level she knew he was capable of. In fact, there were plenty of times he had an open shot that he actively hesitated on. Was that caution, or part of an overall plan?

Whatever it was, it allowed for Sophia to get first blood in the end. As Ren poked from around the cover of a tree, he put himself right in the path of a snowball, taking it to the side of the neck. At seeing her attack land, Sophia bounced on her heels.

“Gotcha!” she cheered. “Point for me.”

Ren was smiling even as he wiped himself clean. “Alright, nice shot. But let’s see if you can do it again.”

Though Ren did pick up his offensive pace, it still lacked the intensity he put into everything else he normally did. He was by no means the most competitive Phantom Thief, but Sophia had seen how he rarely let himself be bested when facing off against someone else. His gaming sessions with Futaba on their phones attested to that.

So while she now had to dodge incoming fire more intently than before, at no point did she ever feel truly threatened. She was able to use the extra breathing room to perfect her snowball craft and formulate new ways to land her throws. It was extremely helpful, if not equally perplexing.

After Ren called for a short break – one he swore was not due to being down eight to three – Sophia figured it was a fine time to express what was on her mind. Ren did always encourage her to ask about anything that confused her.

“Question for you, Joker.”

“Shoot.”

“You have greater reflexes and agility than all of the Phantom Thieves, so why did you not use those skills to avoid my snowballs?”

“Because this was never about winning or losing, Sophie. I didn’t bring you out here to test either of our skills. I just wanted you to have some fun.”

“You did? Why? Would that make me a better companion to humanity?”

“Actually, it’s that kind of question that brought this on in the first place.”

Ren brushed some snow off a rock nearby and sat down, leaving a space open on his left side. Sophia didn’t get the hint in his intentions until he gestured towards the spot with his hand. After clearing her body of snow, she sat down beside him.

“You know how you want to be a good companion for humanity?” he began. “Humans have long-term goals like that too.”

“Yes, you and the others have expressed as much. For instance, one of Noir’s primary goals is creating a café in line with the ideals of her grandfather.”

“Right. I bring that up because it’s generally considered unhealthy to only focus on your goals in life. You need some recreation to balance it out, some moments when the only thing on your mind is making yourself smile or laugh. It’s even better when you can provide those for other people.”

 Sophia hummed in consideration. “It seems odd to deviate from a mission, especially if it is of great importance to you. Could you explain why you take the time for such moments?”

“Me? Well, multiple reasons, I guess. For one, it makes me feel good to know I can brighten someone’s day, even if only a little. Then there’s the obvious benefit of making them happier, of course. And there’s also part of me that just likes being a little silly from time to time.”

“So your efforts are multipurpose.”

“I suppose you could say so. But I’m trying to move your brain away from ‘purpose’ for a bit. I get that we’ve had to be pretty work-minded on this trip, and that’s exactly why I felt like I needed to show you an alternative to that. Even if you’re an AI with a directive, you’re still allowed to do things just because you want to. You know that, right?”

That was a difficult question to answer, she found. While there had been plenty of times already that a curiosity struck her and compelled her to follow a path to seeing it through, those instances still pushed toward her ultimate goal. It was never difficult to justify seeking out a recipe or watching some small animals in the morning as ways to make her a better companion to humanity.

If Ren was truly asking her to recall a time where she wanted something separate from its benefit to her aims, that was difficult for her to nail down. More than that, it was hard to even fathom. Her goals were paramount to who she was, so shouldn’t everything she desired link back to them?

“I don’t doubt you, Joker. But I struggle to pull apart the desires you mention with what I want to achieve. Should they not be unified?”

“They definitely can be. Some people find success that way. Other people let the mix of dreams and desires clash, which means they either burn themselves out, or they deviate from who they set out to be.”

Sophia kicked her dangling feet. “Humanity has the potential to be very messy.”

“We sure do. But there’s a lot of beauty in some of those messes. For some people, their mess is their best quality.”

“Would you say that about yourself?”

Ren grinned, but it wasn’t as strong as his usual ones. His lips barely turned up at the ends.

“Jury is still out on that one,” he said. “I like to think my mess is just ‘tolerable,’ but you’d probably get a different answer from the others. Honestly, I just hope my mess hasn’t done more harm for you than good.”

“Harm?”

“Yeah.” Ren’s head dipped as he added, “It’s not like I really know what’s best for everyone. I’ve learned to lead, but…helping people find themselves is always so scary since I could be messing up with every word. I’m pretty sure you’d be better off with someone else to look to for guidance.”

That, Sophia found, was something she did not have to think about at all to respond to.

“Incorrect.”

Ren turned back to face her. “Huh?”

“You claim I would be better off under someone else’s guidance,” she said. “I disagree. I have done nothing but continue to learn while travelling with you, and you always take the time to try and answer any questions I may have. Further…”

For some reason, thinking about her next words made her synthetic body wriggle, like there was a worm of code travelling through it. She chose to force her voice through the strange sensation, unwilling to stop now.

“You…take care of me. Not in the form of maintenance or diagnostic checks, but in a more human way, one that feels especially for me. I’ve logged so many instances of this, and yet it still catches me by surprise.”

“Of course I take care of you. We’re teammates, Sophie. And even beyond that, you’re a friend, and I always look after my friends.”

Sophia turned her eyes on him. “Even with so little knowledge of their origins?”

“You kidding? I let Mona live with me back when we just thought he was a talking cat with amnesia. Heck, I made friends with Skull pretty much the day I met him. Time doesn’t tell me who to care about – only I decide something like that. And I already decided long ago that I want to see you happy.”

Sophia was just about to ask if that was one of his goals – his directives as a leader – but she kept her mouth closed. Perhaps this was one of those moments that Ren talked about before. Perhaps she should be looking past any ideas about directives or purposes. Though it was hard to conceptualize, making her happy seemed to be nothing more than something Ren wanted in his heart.

Heart – such an innocuous word that continued to fascinate and perplex her to no end. Would she truly be capable of understanding it one day?

There was no tangible evidence suggesting success, and yet something about having Ren at the helm of this quest gave her an inexplicable surge of reassurance.

Unknowingly adding to it, Ren continued with, “We’ve got a lot of adventure left to go, and I’m sure we’ll learn more about your past along the way. But like I said, even without those answers, I just hope you walk away from all this with a smile. I want you to be able to look back and really feel like you had a blast with all of us when we take down the Jails for good. Does that sound like something you want?”

“I…think so.” Saying so made her feel more confident, somehow. She nodded to herself, her floating red ponytail bobbing in the air. “Yes, I would like to have a blast with everyone! Please keep helping me have more fun, Joker.”

He smiled at her, likely satisfied at finally being heard. “You don’t even have to ask. Anywhere in particular you want to start?”

Sophia turned her gaze to the winter biome in front of her. When she recalled some earlier research, she remembered how there were no shortage of things to do on days when snow covered everything in sight. Humans made crude art known as snow angels, slid down steep hills in sleds, rolled large spheres in the hopes of making imitations of themselves called snowmen. There were even those that made entire living spaces of snow.

But truthfully, only one game stood out to her at the moment. She couldn’t entirely say why, not without running herself through multiple rounds of self-reflection like she did in moments of quiet. What she could say, however, was that game was the only one to put something like a spark in her brain at the moment. That felt like something worth listening to.

“I believe I had a lot of fun battling with snowballs,” she said. “May I request that we have another bout?”

With a grin and a tug on his gloves, Ren said, “Bring it on, Sophie.”

When the two faced off this time, Sophia found it even more fun than the first few rounds. Now, she wasn’t spending half her time analyzing Ren’s features and attempting to find a pattern in her observations. She didn’t cock her head in confusion when he got hit by a snowball he could have dodged at full attention.

As she played now, she chose instead to focus on the way he stuck his tongue out a little in concentration, as well as the way he pranced around in the snow to keep his boots from getting stuck. His joy at seeing her throws strike true became hers, and just like that, she had learned another lesson from him that had seemed so far away just minutes ago. She had no idea why he considered himself an inadequate guide by any means.

But just because he was helping her did not mean he wanted to serve as target practice. He made as much clear by the way he put some of his acrobatics to work, as much as he could amongst the snowy terrain, at least. It seemed his claims of studying under a future Olympic gymnast were not unfounded. Sophia wondered if she would be good at gymnastics too.

“There they are!”

The distant shout from afar made Sophia look behind Ren onto a neighboring street full of running figures. It only took a few seconds for her to recognize the group as the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana took up the head of the pack with Yusuke, Haru, and Futaba trailing behind. Odd – by that count, they were still missing one.

As they reached the area she and Ren were playing in, she greeted them all with a wave.

“Oh, hello, everyone.”

Ryuji’s head whipped back and forth to scowl at the pair in front of him. “The hell?! You two were in here havin’ a snowball fight and didn’t invite us?!”

“Traitors!” Futaba yelled.

“I didn’t want to wake anybody else up when we left,” Ren said. “But since you’re here now, do you guys want to jump in?”

Ann wasted no time digging her gloves into the snow to grab a large chunk. “Do you even have to ask?”

What followed was more in line with Sophia’s prior research on snowball fights. Rather than setting up anything organized, the small area in which they all stood turned into a mess of airborne snow as each Thief fought for themselves alone.

Ryuji took an immediate snowball to the back of the head from Ann, who then ducked behind cover to avoid a matching strike from Ren. The three of them were more focused on pelting each other than anything else.

Futaba immediately dialed in a throw attempt on Yusuke, but missed by a hair. In return, Yusuke began shaping and throwing snowballs in an incredible display of speed and efficiency. The now human pitching machine had Futaba yelping and scrambling to hide.

Haru giggled in the same way she did while cutting down Shadows as she exchanged snowball throws with Morgana. The Thieves’ resident feline was at a disadvantage with small paws, but he didn’t let that stop him from giving it his best. Sophia giggled every time he got hit and let out a loud ‘mrrow!’

It was clear she had been too distracted listening to the silly noises once she took a snowball to the chest. Done with the rest of the so-called ‘Shujin Trio,’ Ren was apparently back to making a target of her. She would not allow herself to be an easy one.

The Thieves’ free-for-all continued for a while, but they eventually formed two sides in order to spice things up. The founding four of the Phantom Thieves united in their attack on the later recruits. Though this was all still for fun and games, Sophia noted how flawlessly the original team performed together, carrying out tactics and covering each other without much verbal communication at all.

Afterwards, they all played a round of girls against boys, during which the latter group was annihilated where they stood. Not even Yusuke’s inhuman snowball making skills could save them from the girls’ unified onslaught. The boys only managed to escape when Ren called on Arsène to blow a bunch of snow off some rooftops onto his opposition. They were all really glad for the heaters after that.

In the middle of a ‘last man standing’ round with rules right out of dodgeball, a new sound cutting through all the joyous laughter and playground insults gave everyone pause.

“What on earth are you all doing out here?!”

Snowball combat came to a screeching halt, cut off by the thunderous voice bearing down on them from afar. When they all turned towards its source, they found Makoto stomping through the snow towards their so-called battleground.

“Oh, uh, h–hey, Queen,” Ryuji said. “Wh–What’re you doin’ here?”

“I believe that’s what I just asked all of you. First I wake up in the middle of the night with everyone around me gone – a horrific discovery, mind you – and now I find you all playing around in a Jail?”

“Oh, our apologies for not leaving a note behind,” Haru said. “We didn’t mean to cause you undue stress.”

“Yeah, we just thought we’d have a little fun, you know?” Ann stammered. “W–We are on vacation, after all…”

Makoto crossed her arms. “There will be plenty of time to enjoy said vacation during a more appropriate hour. Your late-night games will just lead to all of you being tired in the morning, which means we’ll get less done on the business end of this trip.”

“If I may, are we not ahead of schedule already?” Yusuke asked. “Surely we aren’t in danger of falling behind from one mere outing.”

“As if this group is capable of leaving things at ‘one mere outing.’” Makoto pinched the bridge of her nose under her mask. “I understand we need mental breaks on occasion, but we’re under watch from people that will not give us any grace should we fail. If we don’t produce results quickly enough, Inspector Hasegawa and his affiliates will almost certainly—”

Makoto couldn’t get the rest of that sentence out after taking a large snowball to the face, bits of snow flying off into the air from the impact. Directly across from her stood Ren, who righted himself after the fierce pitch. Grinning, he dusted his gloves off to clear away the debris that clung to them.

“There, that ought to help your brain chill out a bit,” he said. “You worry too much for your own good, Queen.”

It took almost a full two minutes for Makoto to make a move after that. A tense silence settled over the area with the other Phantom Thieves glancing between their leader and their advisor, unsure of what would happen next.

Finally, Makoto wiped her face clean before taking a long breath in through her nose and looking over at Ren.

“Joker, when it comes to you being the leader of the Phantom Thieves, I have nothing but respect and admiration for all that you’ve done for us. You’ve gone above and beyond what anyone could ask of you, and it’s because of your strength that the rest of us have futures worth looking forward to.”

“Uh, thanks?” he said. “Where is this—”

“But when it comes to how I feel about you being such a little pest with a penchant for getting on my last nerve…” The normally alluring cherry red of Makoto’s eyes suddenly seemed to pulse a bloodier version of the color. “I suggest you start running.”

Not even the sheer cold of Mariko Hyodo’s Jail could match the ice in Makoto’s glare now. Everyone felt the air shift around them into something dangerous and pointed, most of all Ren, whose eyes blew open behind his mask.

“Oh, shit.”

Ren turned on his heel then and sprinted away towards the icy streets of the Jail, but Makoto clearly had no intention of letting him get far. Her hand shot up to her mask to yank it off with a guttural yell.

“Agnes!”

Sophia wasn’t sure if the roaring she heard now was from the engine of the summoned Persona, or from Makoto’s own growling due to the anger coursing through her.

Regardless, any other sound was blown away by the screeching of tires against cold pavement. Agnes shot forward, pushed to full speed by a furious Makoto who had her sights on the boy running for his life in the distance.

The other Phantom Thieves were split in how they took in the scene. Half of them were cheering for the imminent beatdown while the other half looked extremely concerned for Joker’s wellbeing.

As for Sophia herself, prior observation indicated Makoto would never go too far in her revenge, so she opted to simply await Ren’s return. No matter what state his body came back in, it would not change how she felt about him.

Sophia still lacked a human heart and complete knowledge of one – this much was true – but she could at least claim a connection to someone with one of the most vibrant hearts she had ever witnessed.

Ren was a lot of things to her. A leader, a guide, a caretaker, and an endless source of entertainment, the last of which she kept getting a front row seat to. There were still lots of things plaguing the mind given to her by a creator she had no memory of. There were plenty of reasons to assume her past could be a painful one, especially considering the company she travelled with.

But it was because of that very company that she could see past the bleakness of any troubled past she may have. The people around her, the ones cheering for a beatdown and pleading for mercy on their leader, gave her something to look forward to. The smile that formed without deliberate effort told her that.

If times like this were in store for the foreseeable future, then fighting for that future would come even easier now.

 

---

---

 

“I guess scary girls are a mainstay on every team of Persona-users, huh?” remarks Junpei.

“I don’t know, I kinda like her style,” Akihiko says. “Queen’s got spunk.”

Yu turns to Ren. “Did she catch you in the end? The memory ended before we could see any potential bloodshed.”

“Nope. I managed to dodge her by sticking to higher ground; Agnes isn’t really built for rooftops.”

“Oh, so you got off scot-free,” says Yosuke.

“Also no. We all slept in the same spot in reality, so I couldn’t exactly avoid her for long. While everyone else got to sleep, she took the time to lecture me on setting a good example for my team. It lasted for forty-seven minutes. And I had to take actual notes.”

Ren still isn’t sure where she even got that notebook from.

Who is he kidding – she probably carries one around with her wherever she goes.

“Good!” Rise says, a bit too smug for having no involvement here. “I’m glad to see there’s someone on the Phantom Thieves that can put you in your place every now and then.”

“Hey, don’t just assume I cave to her every demand. I’m her leader; she can’t just boss me around when she feels like it.”

“And you’d say that to her face if she was here?”

“Yep. And I’d take the inevitable retaliation, too.” Quietly, he adds, “At least that would mean she was here with me.”

Despite the volume, Rise is standing too close to miss that. Rather than speak up, she leans into his side just a bit, enough that the trembling Ren feels coming on never fully sets in. He hopes the nod he gives her is grateful enough.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting when you first brought up Sophia-chan,” Fuuka says, “but I find myself shocked at just how advanced she is. EMMA was considered an incredible advancement on its own, but even that lacked the personality Sophia-chan clearly has.”

“She still felt a little sad to me, though,” Yukari says. “Or maybe ‘lost’ is a better word for it. Did that feeling ever go away for her, Joker?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s doing a lot better for herself now. She still doesn’t have any kind of physical body for our world, but her heart is as genuine as any of ours. She even managed to acquire a real Persona instead of the artificial one she was using for most of our summer adventure.”

“Artificial? What exactly do you mean by that?” Mitsuru asks.

“Well…it’s hard to explain. When we first met her, she sort of just…copied how me, Skull, and Mona fought. At least, that’s how she put it when we asked. For her, summoning something that looked and behaved like a Persona was as simple as installing a new app on a phone would be.”

“She…mimicked a Persona like it was an afterthought? But that’s…” Even without having eyes on Fuuka, Ren can see her face twist in thought. The pause she takes between her words is about what he has come to expect when Sophia is the topic of discussion. “Something like that is astonishing… We’ve witnessed Personas that were artificially induced in the past, but the only difference between those and the ones we have was the former’s instability. To create an operational facsimile of one that then leads to the genuine article is just— Wow!”

Through the rapid mutterings echoing in everyone’s heads, Junpei says, “Uh oh, I think we lost Fuuka.”

“Let her have this,” Yukari replies. “It is pretty mind-blowing when you think about it. It’s like everything we learn about Sophia just leads to something even crazier right after.”

“Yeah, we kind of had to learn to just accept things with her for a while there,” Ren says. “We had enough going on to get too deep into questions about how she operated. Even knowing the truth behind her now after befriending her creator hasn’t taken away all the magic of it. She’s still one of the best gifts the Phantom Thieves ever got.”

“I can’t wait to meet her!” Labrys exclaims. “I know she ain’t exactly like Aigis n’ me, but we’re similar enough that I feel connected to her. I wanna make sure she doesn’t feel like I did before everyone here found me a few years ago.”

“I feel a kinship with Sophia-san as well,” Aigis says. “Finding a place among mankind as an artificial life form is…daunting, to say the least. Though I am sure her humanity has benefitted from travelling with the Phantom Thieves, I would like to offer my own experiences and discoveries on the matter. Perhaps they can serve as extra reassurance, at the very least.”

“I’m sure she’d really appreciate that from both of you,” says Ren. “Though, be prepared for a lot of questions. She’s one of the most inquisitive people I know.”

“Not a problem,” Labrys says. “You’ve probably noticed by now, but I’m a bit of a chatterbox myself.”

“This is very much true,” Aigis agrees. “My sister’s proclivity for conversation is unmatched.”

“You don’t have to say it like that!”

Watching Aigis chuckle while Labrys pouts at her just reinforces the belief that they’ll be good for Sophia to be around. It’s a real shame the closest thing she had to a sister of her own lacked enough humanity to be a good sibling.

The door that was once at the peak of the slope suddenly reappears next to their group, standing directly in front of the lone tree from before.

“Looks like we’re free to continue,” Yu says. “One door left, everyone.”

“For now, at least,” Ken says. “We’ve got no idea what comes after that.”

Yukari shakes her head as she rubs her hands together. “As long as there’s no more snow there, I’ll take it over this one.”

“Aw, are we really leaving so soon?” asks Yukiko. “Part of me wanted to have a snowball fight like we saw in the memory.”

“Let’s save that for the real world, Yukiko-san,” Naoto suggests. “You know Nanako-chan would hate to be left out of something like that.”

“Oh, for sure,” says Rise. “We’ll have to wait a bit, but we can all have a huge snowball fight with everyone when the time comes. Then the Phantom Thieves can join in too, right Ren?”

“Right,” he agrees, trying to envision a day like that instead of any worse scenarios his failure today might bring. The book in his coat feels all the heavier for the effort. “I’ll claim that future for us by force. Let’s keep going.”

Notes:

Kuon Ichinose, my favorite creature… (Pretend her technobabble makes sense, please)

Fun fact: when I first started drafting up the downhill scene, I had the snowboarding track from Sonic Adventure’s Icecap Zone playing on repeat. It almost made me drag that section on too long because I was getting too into it, lol.

Yukiko’s comment at the end is also a nod to the fact that I did have a new snowball fight planned for after Sophia’s memory in the first version of this. It was supposed to serve as another fun moment for the crew, but I decided to cut it in the end. There’s something coming up quickly that I’d rather focus on instead, so we’re going full speed ahead! Next chapter in particular is one with a fun little surprise…

Chapter 13

Summary:

If the team can get past the last door Fantasma has to offer, they might find progressing a bit more difficult than expected.

“I t–take back what I said before! I’d rather stay in the snow than d–deal with this…”

Ren is pretty sure he can hear Yukari’s teeth chattering louder than her actual statement. He can’t really blame her for being creeped out, though.

The graveyard they stand in is yet another creation of Fantasma. Rows of tombstones stretch out in all directions, only coming to a stop at the edge of the surrounding forest. Every tree within it is withered and blackened, yet still reaching dizzying heights with their branches.

A thick fog pools around the group’s ankles, obscuring the muddy ground they all walk upon. Between that and the loose stone tiles shifting under their every step, progress is slower than expected. The sluggish pace does not help the already eerie atmosphere dominating the area, nor do the disembodied groans drifting through the air.

Ren wouldn’t call anyone among the gathered Persona-users skittish, but it’s clear that some among them deal with Shadows better than what may lurk in their earthly namesake.

Yukari has her hands locked on Aigis’s shoulders, peeking around the mechanical girl’s head every time a noise comes from in front of the group. Rise is doing something similar with Naoto, wrapping herself around the detective’s left arm as they walk. It isn’t clear whether she realizes Naoto is only slightly less unnerved by all this than she is.

Then there’s Chie, who Ren would have imagined would be clinging to her best friend at a time like this but has actually taken a spot right on his heels. Then again, with the way Yukiko is currently expressing glee at every strange noise or shifting tree branch, she probably wouldn’t do much in the way of support.

The path Fuuka has laid out for them all to follow is a winding one, leaving plenty of time for an ample amount of dread to build up. It’s the perfect setup for an ambush, though if any enemies do show up out of nowhere, they’ll first have to deal with several ungodly screams from certain members of the group. Plus, those screams would likely be followed by said members unleashing every attack in their arsenal at whatever was bold enough to scare them.

On second thought, maybe Ren wouldn’t mind an enemy trying their luck right now.

“Are we sure we’re headed the right way?” Rise asks. “It feels like we’ve just been going in circles…”

“Why is our navigator asking us what the right way is?” Yosuke says.

“Do you see Kouzeon out right now?! I’m not about to make myself stationary when we have Fuuka-san to help!”

Fuuka’s giggles come through the mental link between everyone. “This is mostly my duty since I’m hanging back. But to answer your question, Rise-chan, you’re all still on the correct path. Just a little more walking to go.”

“Great…” Rise shakes her head. “Why couldn’t we get a beach to walk across instead? Ocean breeze, soft sand under our feet, the beautiful sun…”

“I think you just need a vacation,” Yu says. “One not spent in a cognitive realm, at least.”

“You’re probably right, but… Well, I can still complain about being here.”

“And w–why are we even in a graveyard in the first place?” Yukari asks. “Joker, do you know what’s going on?”

“Judging by the picture that was on the door, I have two potential answers,” he says. “Neither of them are pleasant.”

He knows of two individuals with important ties to a parent, but both individuals also have a loved one that has passed on. Despite the past four memories everyone has witnessed being mostly positive, standing in the middle of a graveyard doesn’t fill Ren with confidence that he’ll like the fifth one. But the only way forward is to watch, so he continues trekking down the path Fuuka has provided.

“You being vague really does not help things feel any less creepy…”

“Ren-Ren’s always been totally unphased when it comes to horror stuff,” Chie says. “He’s pretty much impossible to scare.”

“You sure you aren’t exaggerating a bit?” Junpei asks.

“No, she’s right,” Yukiko says. “Ren-kun is notoriously immune to that sort of thing. We once had a competition on Halloween to see if we could scare him before he scared us. We figured that between the eight of us and Marie-chan, we could manage.”

“We were very wrong,” Yu says.

Reminiscing about that makes Ren chuckle. “To be fair, you made it way too easy by giving me the whole day. Making you guys wait so long while knowing something was coming did half my work for me. The rest came down to capitalizing on your fears after separating you.”

Ken shoots a wary look in Ren’s direction. “Jeez… You make it sound like you were hunting them.”

“Well, that’s what it felt like,” says Yosuke. “You think you know a kid, and then he dresses as a scarecrow and proceeds to mess with you by changing places every few minutes. I thought I was going insane way before he actually scared me in that cornfield.”

“So he even got you, Yu-kun?” Labrys asks. “You don’t scare easy.”

“Yeah, I was second to last to lose. Hate to admit it, but he got me with a good old-fashioned jump scare. I opened a vintage trunk at Dojima-san’s and got screamed at by a tiny clown.” Yu glances up ahead at Ren. “I have to say, the commitment to your craft is admirable, but dressing up and squeezing into a trunk just to make yourself a human jack-in-the-box is bordering on unhinged.”

“And so was what you did to me in the woods!” Teddie exclaims. “A bear’s supposed to be at his safest among the trees…”

“What did Joker-san do to Teddie?” Aigis asks.

Yukiko says, “I believe he made fake intestines and dropped them from up in trees as Teddie was wandering the woods. I wasn’t there myself, but I heard they were heavy enough to really sell the effect!”

“I couldn’t look at sausages for a week,” Teddie whines.

“Wait, how did you lose, Amagi-san?” Ken asks. “You don’t look fazed by any of this.”

“Oh, Ren-kun knew he wouldn’t get me traditionally, so he had to go for a worry of mine over a fear. We were sharing a kitchen on Halloween and he pretended to have cut off a finger while helping me. Screaming at the possibility of his injury was pure reflex on my part, but it still counted. It was very clever!”

“Is she…proud of that?” Junpei asks.

“She was literally applauding him ten seconds after she figured it out,” Chie says.

“Ah… You know, I’m starting to think that little country kid you guys keep mentioning was actually a tiny psychopath in the making.”

“While the competition was all in fun,” Naoto says, “it did alert us to the fact that Ren-kun can be a bit…over the top when given a proper stage and objective.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Rise grumbles.

Ren turns to face the Inaba crew with his hands raised. “Okay, but we’re talking about my favorite holiday here! Asking me not to be theatrical on Halloween is like asking me not to breathe. And in fairness to little me, there was a lot on the line.”

Rise rolls her eyes. “Yeah, because choosing our costumes for the next year was really that important.”

“Don’t act like you weren’t trying your best to do the reverse to me. I know you planned for us to go as a witch and her cat if you won; I saw you eyeing that onesie in Junes.”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Sure.”

“Oh, so that’s what the prize for winning was,” Labrys says. “So what did you end up choosing for everyone, Joker-kun?”

Ren slows his pace for the first time since entering the fifth door. Despite being the one to lead everyone down this path of discussion, he neglected to consider its ending. Based on how his old friends take slower steps as well, they are likely victims of the same thing. It really is easy to forget those happy times came to an abrupt end.

“I, uh…didn’t get to,” Ren responds. “I moved away the following August, so…”

“O–Oh.” Labrys looks over everyone in front of her and the way they’ve all tensed up. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to bring down the mood.”

“Nah, you’re good, Labrys,” Kanji says. “Not like it’s all sunshine and rainbows out here anyway.”

Yosuke adds, “What’s done is done, right? And besides, Ren’s here now, so why think about all that stuff?”

“R–Right,” Chie says. “That’s behind us.”

Softly, Mitsuru says, “And yet, none of you seem certain about that.”

No one responds, though whether that is because they have nothing to say or because there is nothing they want to say is unclear. Knowing that he himself wouldn’t have anything good to add, Ren keeps his mouth shut and starts walking faster.

It likely doesn’t do much good for the unnerved among everyone, but the rest of the trip to the missing page is spent in awkward silence. It clashes with the surrounding eerie environment like oil meeting water, subjecting everyone to two unwanted and intermingled atmospheres. Fuuka chiming in after what feels like an hour of that torture is divine intervention as far as Ren is concerned.

“You’ve reached the area containing the last page we seek,” she says. “It should be extremely close to Joker-kun’s position next to the graves.”

“Thank you, Yamagishi-san. I’ll take it from here, then.”

The light of the page under his Third Eye makes it impossible to miss. It hangs from the front of a grave made up of many rectangular prisms of stone, with one large one sprouting up from the middle. Two sets of flowers rest in front of that middle block – a sunflower and two white lilies on left and right. Decorative rocks surround the base of the grave, raised up on a small platform about the size of the cleaning bucket next to it.

The fact that this could be almost any tombstone in Japan is likely to blame for why Ren failed to recognize it before now. There is also the fact that the last time he laid eyes on it, the monument was bathed in sunset and standing under a row of brown-leaved trees.

When he grabs the page off of the grave itself, the kanji underneath confirms his suspicion. The real version of this grave belongs in Kyoto with a girl who has never forgotten how much she loved the one it honors.

“Our last page for now is secured,” Aigis says. “You look pensive, Joker-san. Have you made a discovery on what this place represents?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I know who this area belongs to now. This tombstone is one I’ve seen before.”

“You have?” Rise asks. “Wait, did you…know someone who’s buried here? Um, in the real world, I mean.”

“No, not personally. Her death impacted two people I’m close with, though, and I’m pretty sure we’re about to see them in some form.” He glances over his shoulder at everyone and asks, “Ready?”

Everyone assents, so Ren adds the fifth page to his book like the others before it. The light that swallows the area feels much less abrupt after having done this so many times.

 

---

---

 

As rewarding as his job could be when the law worked as intended, Zenkichi would never deny it draining him of life more often than not.

Today had been one of the tougher days, one chock full of dull meetings and pointless arguments over resource allocation. He didn’t know why they bothered with those; the answer was always that they didn’t have enough manpower to go around, so someone in need ended up getting the short end of the stick. It was always the same with PubSec.

Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely fair. After the events of several months ago, things were shaping up around Zenkichi’s neck of the woods. Commissioner Kaburagi had been whipping everyone into proper form during that stretch of time, so there was a lot less of the stuff Zenkichi hated going around these days. Small improvements were better than none.

Still, it didn’t entirely rid him of feeling antsy every time he went into work. When they were faced with an outright criminal or a member of society hiding ill-gotten gains behind red-tape and coconspirators, the back of his mind itched to race off into the Metaverse to change some hearts.

He chuckled to himself; those damned kids had infected him, and now he couldn’t always commit to the long route. Impatience was not something an inspector his age should be battling.

Like every time those kids came to mind, he wished they were nearby so he could playfully chew them out like usual. When he thought about it, it had been a while since their last meeting, hadn’t it?

Though he supposed he could make do with the lone member of that group currently close enough to see. Standing at the counter in Zenkichi’s kitchen upon entry was Ren Amamiya, quite possibly the most perplexing young adult Zenkichi had ever met. He and Akane were in the middle of conversation, so engrossed in chatting that they didn’t even hear the front door opening behind them.

Though maybe that was also due to them preparing a dinner that was currently obscured from sight. If Zenkichi had any doubts about its quality walking in, the smell of fried batter and the steady sound of a kettle going that drifted from the kitchen was enough to wave them away.

In that relaxed mix of easy chatting and cooking, the two looked right at home. Even coming off of a frustrating day of work, Zenkichi was more than content to just sit back and watch, taking in this treat of a sight.

Akane leaned away from the pan in front of her and towards Ren. “And then what happened? Come on, there has to be more after you eavesdropped on that guy!”

“Hm…was there? I’m having trouble remembering what happened after I got that secret intel…”

“Faker!”

The gasp Ren let out was so overblown that he sounded like a popped balloon. “Me? A faker? I’ll have you know that memory loss is a real problem that comes with age, Akane.”

“Not at seventeen!”

The kitchen was filled with laughter then, Akane’s giggles falling into step with Ren’s self-amused chuckling. All of a sudden, even the word ‘relaxed’ felt too stiff to apply here. With an abundant warmth separate from any kitchen or home apparatus, Zenkichi found himself willing to grow roots and soak up all it had to offer.

Really, the only thing missing here was Aoi, but that was nothing new. Ever since her death, everything seemed to leave a space open for her. Zenkichi felt it beside him when he got ready in the morning in front of his bathroom mirror and in long car rides home from the grocery store. The one thing no one liked to talk about with grieving was that the hole in your heart often extended past just your own body.

Just months ago, that spot had been all he could focus on. Knowing he could do nothing about it drove him to become a hollow version of himself, one that seemed to fail in everything he set out to do as a proper adult. But those days were gone, thanks in part to both of the young people standing across from him. He wouldn’t fail Aoi’s memory any more by neglecting the one connection to her that he still had.

And besides, that ever-growing little girl had enough of her mother in her that Aoi would always live on. Now that there was an open line of communication between father and daughter, he hoped she knew that too.

After stamping down the potent mix of nostalgia and pride that thought brought on, Zenkichi finally decided to make himself known. Finally letting the door close audibly behind him, he walked forwards into the kitchen and cleared his throat. The two kids took notice, giving him soft smiles as he stood behind them to inspect their work.

“Well, don’t you two look chummy,” he said. “Should I leave and give the new best friends some space?”

With her hands still occupied with work, Akane kicked lightly at her father’s shin.

“Dad! Stop embarrassing me…”

Ren gestured toward the shrimp frying on the stove. “You want to jump in here, Zenkichi? We’re almost done, but there’s still some time for me to give you some pointers.”

“I’ll pass this time, thanks. I need to get out of this suit; my tie feels more like a noose than an accessory. You two will probably have this handled by the time I’m presentable again.”

“Fair enough. We’ll see you in a bit.”

“Yeah, see you, Dad.” Akane went right back to staring up at Ren, sparing only a minor glance at the sauce she was preparing by hand. “Okay, now keep going. You were talking about some secret deal with the mafia?”

“You sure have some weird interests, Akane.”

“Look who’s talking!”

Zenkichi chuckled to himself as he headed towards his bedroom. He hadn’t expected Ren’s impromptu visit to go quite this well. He knew Akane liked him, and there was no awkwardness between the three of them, but it was in Zenkichi’s nature to be a little apprehensive even with evidence staring him in the face. He wouldn’t have been shocked if things had been a little stale at first.

But there was clearly no reason to worry. Even when he came back out in more comfortable clothing, Ren and Akane looked like old friends finishing up dinner. Ren continued telling whatever crazy story he had started – honestly, Zenkichi figured it was best to pretend he couldn’t hear any of it – and Akane hung on his every word. It was impressive how she could pay such close attention to him while helping to set the table.

Eventually, the three of them sat down to enjoy the fruits of the kids’ labor. Steaming tempura bowls sat in front of each of them, along with full cups of green tea that cleared Zenkichi’s nostrils with just one sniff. There was even a bowl of salad in the middle to pair with it all. It always seemed to hit Zenkichi in moments like this how much he missed homecooked meals shared around a table. He felt blessed to be able to reclaim it for himself, if only occasionally.

After making some good headway into the meal, Zenkichi said, “You two did good. If they sold tempura bowls this tasty in stores, I’d be buying them for lunch every day.”

“Well, you’ll at least be able to have them occasionally.” Ren nodded towards the girl next to him. “Akane did most of the work today. I handled the deep frying, but that’s about it. Oh, and the tea, I guess. Haru’s been teaching me how to prepare that lately.”

“I really didn’t do much,” Akane softly protested. “I’m still going slow in learning to cook stuff. The recipes Makoto sends me are really helpful, though!”

“I bet. There isn’t much she does that isn’t.”

“Well, whenever you get the urge to try cooking something, let me know,” Zenkichi said. “I’ll get whatever you need.”

“Mmhm! Thanks, Dad.”

Ren cracked a grin. “And when are you going to make your triumphant return to the culinary world, Zenkichi? Futaba wants a progress report on her protégé, you know.”

“None of what Sakura did that day could possibly qualify her as someone who could claim a protégé. But to answer your question, I’m taking things slow, just like Akane. I’m not quite the prodigy she is, so I’ve been sticking to breakfast for the time being.”

“It’s true,” Akane said. “He made a really good omelet with rice the other day. It…probably could have been combined better, but it still tasted good.”

Something that simple really shouldn’t have made Zenkichi swell with pride, but he couldn’t help it. Praise from his only daughter was worth more than gold.

“Did it now?” Ren asked. “I have to watch myself, then. It seems like the Hasegawa family might surpass me in skill someday.”

“Yeah, maybe rethink that,” Zenkichi said. “My place is firmly in PubSec. I could never fit into a kitchen as seamlessly as you. Though I do still want to try making one of Akane’s favorite dishes sometime.”

“That’s right, you mentioned that during summer.” Ren turned to the girl beside him. “What kind of foods do you like, Akane?”

“Me? Oh, well…probably stuff you’d find at festivals. You know, like yakitori and takoyaki – quick and easy to eat, but still super good. I can’t remember the last time I had freshly made okonomiyaki… Do you eat a lot at festivals, Ren?”

“It depends on who I’m with, but normally, yeah. I usually start with something like ikayaki, though. I ate enough skewered meat for a lifetime as a kid.”

“You did? That sounds more like your friend Ryuji than you.”

“Yeah, well…like I said, my dining choices depend on who I’m with. Things were different back then.”

Zenkichi noted that Ren’s gaze got a little faraway having said that, but it only lasted for a split-second. He went right back to that content look just as quickly, leaving the older man with an investigative itch he couldn’t fully dismiss.

“What about you, Dad?” Akane asked. “You never give me a straight answer when I ask you what you like to eat.”

The question did a good job dragging Zenkichi out of the mindset he was slowly falling into. No need to work at the dinner table; Aoi had beaten that idea into him long ago.

“Huh? Oh, well, that’s just because I don’t really have strong preferences when it comes to food. Whatever tastes good and gets the job done is alright with me.”

“But that’s so boring! You have to have something you like over everything else.”

Zenkichi got a laugh out of hearing his daughter whine like her age would suggest for once. “I really don’t know what to tell you, Akane. It’s not really something you think about as you get older.”

“I don’t know,” Ren said, “I feel like plenty of older folks can at least give a favorite food when asked. Everyone has their favorites in life.”

“Everyone, huh?” Akane stirred around the rice in her bowl with a pensive look on her face. “Hm… I wonder what kind of food the Phantom Thieves like?”

Without missing a beat, Ren answered, “Curry. Well, they eat a lot of different things, but curry is their staple. Their hideout is always full of it.”

Zenkichi almost dropped his chopsticks. He hadn’t heard that correctly, had he? Had Ren just casually dropped information on the Phantom Thieves like it was a first-hand account?

“Huh?” Akane peered over at Ren. “Why do you sound so confident about that? There’s never been any reliable info on the Thieves’ food preferences.”

Zenkichi pulled at his collar. Even with his tie now gone, that feeling of wearing a noose was back.

“Uh, Akane, he—”

“It’s not something you would find in online searches or anything,” Ren said, picking up his tea and sipping it without a care in the world. “It’s pretty personal, so you’d have to hear it from one of the Thieves themselves.”

“Then…how would you know?” Akane asked.

“Because I’m their leader.”

Those words turned the entire room into a vacuum, a space devoid of sound and motion and breathing entirely. The three seated at the table stared at each other in a quiet deadlock. Akane narrowed her eyes at Ren, Zenkichi’s blown open ones went to the same place, and Ren just looked right back with nothing but a collected expression. He took another sip of tea, finally granting the room some noise back.

Akane mock laughed after the spell was broken. “Okay, very funny, Ren. I get that making fun of the Phantom Thieves superfan is easy, but you don’t have to—”

The girl’s chastisement stopped as soon as she looked Zenkichi’s way. Try as he might to hide his reaction, there was no way to fix the panic overtaking his features at the moment. Upon noticing, Akane’s expression began to mirror his.

“D–Dad? Why do you look so scared?”

Zenkichi tried to steady his hands by laying them flat on the table. It didn’t help much.

“Akane… Listen…”

Ren – the little punk – apparently felt the need to add, “This would have been easier if you’d fully explained what happened to her before.”

“Zip it, you. You’ve done enough damage already.”

“What happened to me?” Akane blinked a few times before getting that pensive look back. “Wait, is this about that stuff over the summer? You said…that I got caught up in that mess because the guys you were after wanted to make you back off. And you said that the Phantom Thieves saved me by changing those guys’ hearts.”

“Which is technically all true. But…I left out some things. Specifically, how involved in your rescue me and the Phantom Thieves were. As well as why the Phantom Thieves were so quick to jump in when they learned you were in danger.”

“So quick?”

Ren nodded, setting his teacup back down on the table. “When we learned that Konoe and EMMA were trying to use you against us, we rushed into action. It ended up getting us caught in a trap for a bit, but we all managed to turn things around and bring you back home safe. We could never have lived with ourselves if we barged into your life only to bring you trouble.”

“And…when you say ‘we,’ you…you mean…”

“Me, Makoto, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Haru, and Futaba – plus Morgana and Sophia who you didn’t really meet properly – are all the Phantom Thieves. Oh no, wait…I’m forgetting one, aren’t I?”

Ren leaned back in his seat, crossing his legs as he gained a smirk that normally had a mask to go with it on his face.

“Refresh my memory, Zenkichi. Who was the last person to join the Phantom Thieves? You know, the one we recruited to help save Akane?”

Zenkichi did not immediately answer, but that alone was enough for the daughter of a detective to put the pieces together. Her head snapped up, going back and forth between staring at Ren and Zenkichi. Her eyes were giving the dinner plates on the table a run for their money in size.

“No,” she said.

“Yep,” Ren replied.

“No!”

“His costume is very cool, for your information.”

Zenkichi grumbled, “If you think flattery gets you off the hook for all this, you’re nuts.”

Akane’s hands came slamming down on the table as she pushed herself up. Her eyes went straight to Ren, who still remained entirely unbothered by all of this.

“This is all real?!” she shouted. “You’re not joking?!”

Ren’s lips curled up even more somehow. “It is partially my namesake, but no, I’m not joking.”

Zenkichi rubbed his temples. How had things gotten to this point? Wasn’t he just remarking on how great of a dinner this was? Such a cozy, quiet evening to share with family and friends that served as the perfect pick-me-up after his rough day at work.

And yet, Ren Amamiya had thrown a stick of dynamite into the mix with no regard for the end result.

Though Zenkichi wanted to help Akane through this madness, she seemed to be working through a lot in her head at the moment. Her eyes had fallen onto the table, not looking at anything in particular as she mumbled to herself. It was the same kind of thing he did when he felt close to a breakthrough in an investigation.

That thought might be cute under different circumstances, but all Zenkichi could think of now was how he would deal with his daughter getting the information equivalent of a nuclear bomb dropped onto her.

“I can’t believe this…” Akane said. “The Phantom Thieves came to my house. They cooked me dinner. They helped me with my homework. They saw my room, my merch, my stream, and—”

A strangled sort of gasp came out of Akane all of a sudden, and before Zenkichi could ask if she was okay, she cried out in pure anguish.

“Oh my god!” Akane held her face in her hands as she fell backwards and slid down in her seat. “I called you dreamy to your face…”

Ren chuckled. “Oh, that’s right. Definitely a new one for me. If it helps, it was a good ego boost.”

Akane let out a shrill whine. “It doesn’t!”

“Dreamy, huh?” Zenkichi muttered.

He wondered if Akane would continue to claim that if she knew how many times the leader of the Phantom Thieves had tried to show off in the Metaverse only to trip over his own coat or get blasted by a Shadow just out of sight.

Once Akane calmed down from her fit of embarrassment – a process longer than necessary thanks to Ren being so amused by it – the three were able to get back to some semblance of normal. As normal as two exposed Phantom Thieves and their biggest fan could be.

“This is so surreal,” Akane said. “I always dreamed of finding out who the Phantom Thieves were, but I never thought it’d be like this. Hey, Ren?”

“What’s up?”

“Can I…um…ask questions about Phantom Thief stuff? I–I promise they’ll all stay between you and me!”

“Hey, don’t stress yourself out. We’re friends, Akane, and I trust you completely. Ask whatever you’d like.”

The dazzling look in Akane’s eyes now made it look like she had been handed the keys to heaven all of a sudden. Knowing his daughter like he did, Zenkichi could practically hear the gears turning in her head, preparing an utter deluge of questions that most could never dream of overcoming.

Yeah, Ren was definitely going to regret his offer in a few hours.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Zenkichi said. “Not like I’ve got much to add myself.”

“Oh, you’re not off the hook, Dad. I just want info from the main source first,” Akane stated. “We’re definitely having a talk about everything at some point.”

“Huh? What for?”

“My dad is an actual Phantom Thief! In what world would I just accept that and move on?” Akane’s finger pointed at Ren before moving to do the same to her father. “Ren gets questions first, then you sometime later. No buts.”

Not even an experienced man of the law could get out of a callout like that. Zenkichi raised his hands in a weak show of concession, though it didn’t feel like a total loss from the way it made Akane smile.

She dragged Ren off to her room, rambling off several questions already as they walked. Any attempts from Ren to answer them were cut off by her asking another pair of questions. When the door closed behind them, Zenkichi put his hands together as a simple gesture of wishing luck to his daughter’s interview captive.

The next hour and a half passed relatively quietly from Zenkichi’s point of view. He had a bit more tea as he watched the news and responded to some emails for work. The extra layer of serenity in his household helped dull the usual annoyance of corresponding with the more thickheaded members of PubSec.

He had just barely switched gears to washing the dishes when he heard the door down the hall open and close. A slightly sleepier Ren walked out, evident from the silent yawn he let out as he entered the kitchen. Zenkichi grinned over his shoulder.

“Akane finally let you go, huh?”

“We’re ‘taking a break,’ more accurately. She has homework to do.”

“Ah. Well, at least she’s still got her priorities straight. You sure you’re up for even more, though? The time away will probably just give her more questions to ask.”

“I lived down the street from Futaba for months. You really think I can’t handle someone with a hyperfixation?”

“Fair enough.”

Without voicing his intent to do so, Ren took a spot right next to Zenkichi to help out with the dishes. From the little Zenkichi knew about being a good host, he knew he should tell Ren not to trouble himself with helping, but that would be a pointless battle. He knew more about Ren than playing host, so he was more than aware that trying to stop the young man from being helpful rather than sitting on his hands would only result in a front row seat to his indomitable stubbornness.

That was why Zenkichi said nothing as Ren grabbed a towel and started to dry each of the wet dishes set aside on the counter. They worked in silent tandem for a while, moving like nightshift workers at a restaurant just before closing.

As someone used to forced conversations with coworkers in quiet times like this, Zenkichi appreciated someone like Ren whose presence was enough assured enough that he never had to force anything. From their short time together, it really seemed like Ren could belong anywhere with how easily he fit in, a belief only strengthened by everything that had happened today.

Which is why Zenkichi found it so odd that he constantly played the role of outcast. His friends often overcompensated when they thought Ren was on the outskirts of an activity, and Ren himself was never one to make himself known anywhere before those he was with did. It was like he was used to being the straggler – an add-on that viewed himself as expendable in any given situation. It was a notion so far removed from the truth that Zenkichi had to wonder where it came from.

Maybe it had something to do with his hometown. When Zenkichi had been looking into the file for the Phantom Thief leader, he came across the information that the town of Yamichi was only a secondary residence for him. For most of his life, he occupied the rustic town of Yasoinaba, the same place with that strange serial murder case in two-thousand eleven.

Of course, there wasn’t much information on his days there. He got consistent grades in school and didn’t engage in many extracurriculars. He wasn’t a popular name around town either, so all they had to go off of was the fact that he hung around older kids most of the time. None of that helped when Zenkichi was trying to figure out how to strike a deal with him back in August, so he tossed it aside. Now, he couldn’t help but suspect the answer to his previous wonder lay in that town.

He could just ask outright, but it felt like too much of an invasion. He liked the kid – trusted him with his life, even – so digging into something that could potentially be a chapter of his life he didn’t want unearthed seemed wrong. After all, Zenkichi couldn’t remember a time he ever brought up anything about Inaba, even around the other Phantom Thieves. He couldn’t be sure they even knew about their leader’s roots.

So despite his curiosity, he would keep his mouth shut. That was an important part of being a member of Public Security, and something Commissioner Kaburagi had called him out on more than once. That didn’t mean he would let another curiosity of his go, however.

As he passed another dish, Zenkichi asked, “So, we gonna talk about you just yanking the rug out from under me with that reveal earlier?”

Ren ducked his head just a little. “Yeah, sorry about that. But I remember you telling the team about how hard it was to tell Akane the truth of last summer. Figured I would save you the trouble as team leader.”

“Uh huh. And that decision didn’t have anything to do with nearly giving me a heart attack?”

“Occupational hazard.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“But seriously, I told everyone recently that if they wanted to let people close to them in on the secret, they could. We had a group discussion about it and decided we could all use outlets outside of each other to talk about Thief stuff.”

“Really? You were all okay with that?”

“Sure. Granted, most of us didn’t have anyone to tell even with that decision made. But Ryuji told his mom, and Ann told her best friend, so don’t worry about Akane knowing. I think it’s for the best that she’s kept in the loop, and I think you feel the same deep down, which is why you didn’t try harder to stop me earlier.”

Zenkichi huffed, scrubbing a dish with a little more force. Right as the kid was, he didn’t have to be such a know-it-all about it.

“And what about you? You didn’t have anyone you wanted to tell?”

“Not really. Mona lives with me, so I’m not usually hurting for conversation.”

“I guess he is pretty talkative. Still, if any of you need another human to help you decompress, it’s you.”

“You sound like you want me to see a therapist or something.”

“It wouldn’t be the worst idea.”

“Need I remind you that the last person I saw regularly about my emotional issues tried to—”

“Brainwash the world into being happy, yeah, I got it. You and the others use that excuse constantly when I tell you to take care of yourselves.”

“It’s nothing against you. We’ve just always been better at taking care of each other than anything else. It’s worked so far.”

“I’m sure it has. But you guys won’t be so attached at the hip the older you get. Even a group like yours will gain some distance with age.”

“So I’ve heard. But…I don’t know. I think we can beat that. Some friend groups stay just as connected regardless of their age.”

The firmness behind those words made Zenkichi think Ren was drawing on a specific example. Once again, that mysterious past of his came to mind.

“Speaking from experience?”

Ren opened his mouth to say something but seemingly thought better of it at the last second. He put his attention back on the dishes and shook his head.

“Nothing specific. Secondhand stories, that’s all.”

“Right.”

Ren must have known Zenkichi didn’t buy that for a second. He made no attempt to be any more convincing, however, so maybe he just didn’t care that much. It would work out for him this time since Zenkichi had no desire to press him on it.

They went back to silence until all the dishes were done. Zenkichi appreciated not having to do this later, though he also knew it would be hard to motivate himself to clean them when Ren was no longer around. And speaking of that…

“I’ve been meaning to ask, when are you going back home?”

Ren’s hands stilled, tensing to the point that his fingers locked around the final plate that he was in the process of putting away. He only looked at Zenkichi out of the corner of his eye.

“When do you want me to? I can clear out if I’m in the way of—”

“Whoa, that’s not what I meant. I was just asking how long you planned to stick around. I don’t have any reason to cut your visit short.”

“Mm.”

“I’m serious. You can stay as long as you want, provided you aren’t skipping school to do it.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ve been skipping enough lately.”

“Not sure if that was a joke or not, so I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear it.”

After taking a second to make sure he wanted to ask what came to mind, Zenkichi decided to bite the bullet. Surely he wouldn’t screw up a simple question.

“Is…everything okay back home? I’m not part of that mess you guys call a group chat, but even still I rarely hear you mention anything about it.”

“Not much to share. It’s a dull, gray town with people I don’t talk to. I go to school, come home to do homework, talk to Morgana, then sleep and repeat. It doesn’t make for a great conversational topic.”

That all made sense on paper. Such a drab day-to-day routine wasn’t anything to bring up in passing – Zenkichi would know from his early days at PubSec.

But things that made obvious sense on paper were normally the very things that needed prodding the most. Ren’s explanation felt more like the kind one gave to cut inquiry short and move the conversation to a more mutually agreed upon topic. Just like he did in the Metaverse, Ren was slipping gracefully past that which he wanted no part of.

Zenkichi couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Kid, is there something you’re not telling me?”

Ren shrugged with one shoulder. “You’re a cop, Zenkichi. There’s always going to be something I’m not telling you.”

“You’re deflecting.”

“And you’re getting close to interrogating, which we both know is something I do not do well with.”

As much as Zenkichi’s experience was telling him to push at the moment, he knew Ren wasn’t one to flaunt his trauma carelessly. This really wasn’t an interrogation, so he needed to stop ramping himself up for one.

“It’s not something you need to worry about,” Ren continued. “Honestly, it’s way less of an issue than it used to be, and it won’t be one much longer.”

Phrases like that only made Zenkichi more concerned, but he had to stow away the detective brain for now. He cared about Ren on a personal level, not a work-related one, so he couldn’t keep giving in to the voice that guided him while on the job.

If he wanted Ren to confide in him the things that he was clearly keeping bottled up, he would just have to be patient. They had only known each other for a few months, after all. Something like this would just take time.

“Fine,” Zenkichi said, forcing himself to stop staring down the teen next to him. “You’re not a child, so I’ll trust that you can handle yourself when it comes to your time back home.”

“Thanks. I really do appreciate that.”

“Sure. But…remember that just because you’re not a child, that doesn’t mean you’re not a kid.”

Ren looked understandably confused by that. “What?”

“You’re almost eighteen and have taken down literal gods. You’ve dodged the police and assassins and proven your own innocence time and again. You’re no child.”

“Then…”

“But don’t forget that you’re still young, Ren. Kids your age are worried about exams and dating, not fighting monsters in freaky brain worlds. Now that the Phantom Thieves are retired again, that should include you too.”

Ren’s frown at that wasn’t entirely surprising. As much as being a Phantom Thief stressed him out with having to evade the law and fight for the sake of humanity, he did always rise up to the challenge with enthusiasm. Zenkichi knew there was a part of Ren that had trouble letting go of that side of himself.

“But besides that, the thing I want you to keep in mind is that you’re not expected to handle every little thing on your own,” Zenkichi said. “You’re always so quick to assure other people that you have a handle on things, but kids have a built-in excuse to ask for help. You’re still growing, and that means it’s up to everyone older than you to guide you along. Don’t get so lost in being a leader that you forget it’s okay to follow people.”

That sounded a bit clumsy coming out of Zenkichi’s mouth, but Ren did look like he was giving the idea some thought. It was tough to turn off a mindset born from a need to survive, but the one Zenkichi was advocating for was just as necessary. He had seen too many young people suffer needlessly just because they had been forced to grow up too fast. The thought of that happening to Akane was part of why he awakened to Valjean in the first place.

And while Ren wasn’t exactly ‘his kid,’ he and the other Phantom Thieves were Zenkichi’s responsibility, in a way. For all they had done for him, he would do his part as one of the few adults they implicitly trusted. He would not fail a single person he cared for going forward.

Eventually, Ren let some of the tension in his body go as he turned around to lean against the counter. He still looked conflicted, but not quite ready to run for the hills like a moment ago. That was progress.

“I’ll…try to keep that in mind. Thank you, Zenkichi.”

“Don’t mention it. And, uh…I don’t know what’s going on back home, but you’re always welcome here, okay? I’d— I mean, Akane would probably love to have you around more.”

The slip of the tongue lasted no more than a second, and yet Ren had no trouble locking onto it. He finally broke free of the troubled expression to shoot a grin Zenkichi’s way.

“Just Akane, huh? You’ve got no stake in it yourself, Gramps?”

Zenkichi gave him a pat on the shoulder as he walked past. “You’re a smart kid – I’m sure you can figure it out yourself. Now come on, Akane’s probably done working, and I’ll need you to fact check my story.”

“Sure thing. I have to make sure you don’t leave out how spooked you were by the Metaverse early on.”

Zenkichi would by no means call himself a masochist, but if keeping Ren close meant enduring the constant threat of snark and taunting at his expense, he was perfectly fine doing so. Even if Ren didn’t know it, he was already an irreplaceable part of Zenkichi’s fold, and that wasn’t changing anytime soon.

 

---

---

 

“It really was Zenkichi’s…” Ren mutters. “Probably for the best.”

He knows that he will likely see the other prominent parent-child duo at some point on this quest, but he would be lying if he said that he felt prepared for that. That memory with Zenkichi and Akane happened recently enough that the nostalgia attached to it isn’t quite enough to overwhelm him here.

“So that’s Inspector Hasegawa,” Yu remarks. “What are the odds of you befriending two pairs of cops with daughters that feel a bit neglected?”

Ren shrugs. “I’ve long since accepted that the universe’s method of putting me in certain places just boils down to ‘what would be the funniest thing to do to this guy?’ Saves me the trouble of trying to make sense of things.”

“I suppose you could see it like that. It feels more like ‘purpose’ to me, though. Like you’re always where you need to be, even if you can’t see it.”

“Yeah? Well, I definitely can’t see what the hell I needed to do in Yamichi all these years, that’s for sure. Not like any of the people there gain anything from me being around.”

“They may feel that way, but your efforts will result in keeping them safe from the forces we oppose,” says Mitsuru. “You can at least take solace in that, for all its lack of acknowledgement.”

“Fair. I guess I should be used to not getting any credit for stuff I do, being a Phantom Thief and all.”

“Well, even if those guys in Yamichi won’t say it, we know how cool you are, Ren-Ren,” Teddie proclaims. “No one’s better at helping than you are!”

“That’s true,” Yukiko says. “I’ve never had a better helper at the inn than you.”

Naoto smiles. “Nor I on cases.”

“Ouch, Naoto,” says Yu. “And here I thought I did pretty well acting as your sidekick that one time.”

“You did. But as I’m sure you understand, the stakes between that case and my first with Ren-kun were simply on different levels.”

Yu hangs his head as he nods. “Harsh, but true. I concede.”

“You guys are ridiculous,” Ren says. He knows he’s smiling when he says it, but he can’t help it. That darned country earnesty…

“I gotta say, though, Joker, I’m kind of surprised to see you acting close with an officer,” Akihiko says. “You don’t seem like someone that gels well with law enforcement.”

That thought does a perfect job of wiping the joy off Ren’s face. “You’re not wrong. You know the phrase ‘innocent until proven guilty?’ Well, I have a reverse policy when it comes to cops. Namely, ‘you suck, and I don’t trust you for a second until you prove I can.’ Even just being around officers makes my skin crawl.”

“Because you’re a Phantom Thief?” Ken asks. “Or…because of the stuff that came before that?”

“All of the above and more.” When that last word gets him a few intrigued looks, he adds, “Let’s leave it there. It’s not the time to get into it.”

“Well, looks like this Zenkichi guy made a hell of an impression, then,” says Junpei. “You know, for you to trust him so much.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like it happened overnight. I hated him just as much as any other cop in the beginning, especially with the way he tried to take advantage of me and my friends. But he changed over the course of our joint mission, and he was able to discover a part of himself that he had been ignoring for a long time. He’s more than earned my trust now.”

A breath comes before Yu says, “Still, I wish you had more positive interactions with police than just him and my uncle. Phantom Thievery aside, you’re supposed to be able to count on the force.”

“Yeah, ‘supposed’ to. Doesn’t mean it works like that.” Ren shakes his head and turns towards the exit. “Enough about that, we’ve got the last door available done. Let’s head back to the village and see what’s changed.”

The answer, as they soon find out, is not much. Returning to Torimono puts them back in the town square, and as soon as the door closes behind them, it and the four others all begin to glow the same gold color from before. That glow spreads until it covers the doors entirely, turning them into rectangles of pure light that then break apart into small golden motes. All those light particles float into the air and out of sight, returning the square to its initial appearance.

Unfortunately, that just means Ren and the others are back to where they started.

“Good thing that didn’t happen when we were in there,” Kanji says. “But, uh…now what?”

“Well, we could always try leaving the village,” says Akihiko. “We didn’t really do much investigating past the edge when we got here since those doors showed up out of nowhere.”

“Right,” Yu agrees. “Let’s see if there’s anything to hint at where we should go next.”

The village ends with a large stone gate leading out into a few branching dirt paths. The ones pointed left lead to various rural environments. There is a coastline far into the distance down one such path. The sand there ends abruptly and turns into more of a grassy field to its right.

The third path on the left – notably the largest – leads to some sort of jungle. Trees are placed so close together that they resemble a wall; vines squeeze around their trunks and hang down, swaying with the pull of gravity. Looking into the area from the group’s position shows nothing but darkness awaiting them. After dealing with the fifth door’s environment, Ren doesn’t think anyone here is eager to go diving into such a space.

He turns his attention to the right, where only two paths are visible. The rightmost one leads to a campfire site only a few steps away. A stone pit full of burnt firewood sits in the middle of a ring of benches.

The path next to that leads up to two large hills with a space carved out between them. Though it is hard to see from their position, that space seems to hold an actual train judging by the passenger cars poking out over the hillside. The hill itself seems to house a small building that could be a station or a waiting platform. The slanted red roof is reminiscent of an old-fashioned version of either of those.

With all the options presented to them, everyone agrees that the potential hillside train is the best place to start. They trek up the path, forcing themselves up a stone staircase that are steeper than some of the more intensive temples in Japan.

When they reach the top, they are greeted not only with a waiting platform, but a full view of the train they spotted from below. It has the front of a bulky old steam engine, but all of the attached passenger cars look like the modern type that people use every day now. The only other things of note are the large decorative bunny ears attached to the front of the train.

At the edge of the waiting platform sits a small ticket booth manned by a cognition dressed in a pinstripe dress shirt and matching hat. It waves at everyone as they approach, clearly enthused to see some new faces judging by its sudden burst of energy.

“Hello there! How may I help you?”

“Uh, hi,” Ken says. “We’re sort of…new to the area, so we’re wondering where that train on the tracks down there leads.”

“Ah, interested in the White Rabbit, are you? Well, it’s Torimono Village’s premier method of travel. It can reach a few distinct locations from this station, but the most common destination is Shukan Village directly north of here. It happens to be our sister village, so we get travelers from over there constantly, as well as direct trade by way of the train.”

“Sister village, huh?” Yu turns to the rest of the group to whisper, “Odds are that’s where we’ll find the other set of pages we need for the Phantom Thief book.”

Mitsuru whispers back, “Agreed. This seems to be our best way forward.”

As they all turn back to the cognition in the booth, Yu asks, “So if I understand correctly, this ‘White Rabbit’ is the fastest way to Shukan Village?”

“Well, it does do a bit of meandering on the way, but it still makes good time. It’s definitely the safest, though. You’ll only be able to get to Shukan faster if you don’t mind dealing with monsters and bandits out there in the wildlands.”

The cognition points down to the jungle-esque area down below, which looks even more menacing from up on a hilltop. The thick canopy of leaves only enhances the darkness lurking within.

Yukari is quick in saying, “I th–think we’d all prefer the safe option! So do we owe you anything for the train ride, or…?”

“Oh, there’s no charge at all. Though, there is one problem to getting on.”

“Figures,” Yosuke mutters. “What’s the issue?”

“Ever since the engineers took off, the only one who can operate the White Rabbit is the Conductor, which means you’ll have to find him if you want to ride.”

“That’s all?” Akihiko asks.

“I wouldn’t make light of the task if I were you,” the cognition says. “The Conductor is notorious for being hard to track down. They say everyone only runs into him by chance. There’s no telling where he is at any given time.”

“Huh?! Then how do we find him?” Teddie cries.

“Do you at least have a general area you can point us towards?” asks Rise.

“Well, he’ll be somewhere in the area surrounding the village,” the cognition answers. “Can’t tell you much more than that. Though if you get to the wildlands searching for him, you’ve gone too far. No one’s crazy enough to go through there alone.”

“So somewhere on the outskirts of the village,” Naoto repeats. “I suppose we will just have to work with that.”

“Good luck to ya! You’ll know him when you see him because of that silly outfit.”

After being waved off by that cognition, the team regroups back at the large gate serving as Torimono’s exit. No one is enthused by having to go through hoops to continue on, but at least they have a concrete goal in mind.

“So how are we gonna find that conductor?” Teddie asks.

“I hate to admit it, but my normal method of scanning likely won’t help us here,” says Fuuka. “The cognitions here are difficult to pick up with how similar they are to their environment, so picking the Conductor out of a crowd isn’t entirely feasible.”

“Same deal with me,” Rise says. “You know I can find people when I put my mind to it, but we know nothing about our target, and Kouzeon isn’t really used to picking up cognitions instead of people.”

Naoto says, “Then let’s rely on a basic method of learning about someone: asking around. Fantasma’s cognitions have given us useful information before, and I see no reason that would change now. By learning more about the train’s conductor, we can more efficiently search for him.”

“Sounds like a plan! Ooh, and how about we split up to get the info?” Junpei suggests. “It’ll be easier to ask questions if we’re not all in a big group.”

“That works,” Yu says. “Groups of three with one group of four should be good for our efforts here. It won’t look like we’re trying to outnumber anyone we talk to.”

“Another group making activity, huh?” Yosuke says. “Feels like we’re back in grade school with all the teams and pairs.”

“But it’s fun to get to mix and match with our teams,” Yukiko says. “We don’t normally get that sort of opportunity.”

“True,” Chie agrees. “We may as well try as many combos as we can while we’re here!”

“I won’t outright disagree, but we cannot let ourselves get distracted,” Mitsuru states. “Our goal here is obtaining information so we can move on. Everything else comes secondary.”

“Well, while you guys are figuring that out, I’ll be going ahead on my own,” Ren says. “If I keep behind cover and stay out of sight, I’ll be able to eavesdrop. That way I can pick up some things the cognitions aren’t willing to share otherwise.”

“And you’re sure you’re not just trying to ditch us?” Rise asks. “You don’t have to meet some daily brooding quota, you know.”

“I am not brooding. This is practical. Besides, I’ve spent enough years without you already. It’s not like I’m eager to add to that time.”

Rise makes a face like she’s having trouble deciding whether to smile or frown. “I feel like you’re only being sweet to distract us from how you’re actually feeling.”

“That can’t be the case – I’ve never felt better.”

“You—”

Ren waves over his shoulder as he jogs off into the village. “Going to get started now, bye! Catch up when you’ve got teams!”

He hears a few people call his name in protest, but he’s slowly getting used to that. Their worry isn’t even necessary right now – there’s no danger to be found stalking cognitions.

If anything, giving himself a task to accomplish is the best way to keep his mind from wandering. With information to gather, there’s no room for any wayward thoughts or unreasonable worries. It’s perfectly healthy to keep any negativity from seeping into his brain by forcing his attention on what’s in front of him. Really, what other avenue of thinking makes more sense than that?

He doesn’t wait around for an answer to present itself. With the stealth that he has honed over years of ‘Phantom Thieving,’ Ren slips in between two buildings on the edge of the village and presses himself against one of the walls. The darkness of the small alleyway obscures him completely, keeping any of the cognitions going about their business from spotting him.

After skulking through the darkness for a few minutes, he comes to the frustrating conclusion that the cognitions here don’t have much use for small talk when on their own. When they’re not flitting between buildings like toys on a track, they just stand around in small groups or post up beside nonfunctioning businesses.

Come to think of it, have any of these cognitions said anything since the Persona-users arrived? Can they speak at all? If they’re like the others in Fantasma, then they should be able to, but something about how this village is constructed makes Ren a little skeptical.

Dressed in outfits right out of an old storybook, the cognitions feel more like set pieces than actual inhabitants of the village. Sure, they move around, and maybe they can even talk, but it’s all an afterthought. Nothing in this village seems more important than appearances. The unmoving windmill and waterwheel certainly attest to that.

This is normally where he would ask Futaba, Makoto, or Morgana for their thoughts on what all this says about the person who formed this space in the first place. Nothing about this is ‘normal,’ though. To the detriment of the larger group, he is the sole representative of people who are experienced with cognitive worlds. He’s fortunate that he can hold his own in battle at the very least. He would hate to serve no purpose here.

Eventually all his sneaking leads him to the first trio made up of his allies. Yu, Labrys, and Rise are standing in front of a cognition resembling some kind of smith with its leather apron and metal tools in hand. Ren can hear its deep voice, slow and steady as it responds to their questions about the village. Looks like the information gathering plan won’t be a bust after all.

After the trio departs, Ren sticks around for just a moment more to see if there is anything else to pick up. Just like before, he has no such luck. Without anyone around to prompt it, the cognition just goes back to merely existing. Not even the crude smithing station next to it sees any use.

Seeing that, Ren decides he may as well stop bashing his head against the wall and expecting it to fall. He strides out into the village and places himself right in front of the cognition.

“Uh, hi,” he says. “I’m with those guys you were just talking to. Can you tell me a little more about this place?”

Unlike mere moments before, that question goes completely unacknowledged. The cognition continues to stare ahead right over Ren’s shoulder as if he isn’t standing there at all.

“Hello?” Ren tries again. “I’d like to ask you about this village and the conductor that lives here.”

Still no response. It really is like Ren doesn’t even exist. He’s mostly used to this in the figurative sense, but being outright ignored while in such an attention-grabbing outfit is just uncanny. Now he really wishes he had one of the other Thieves here to make sense of this cognitive effect.

From there, he splits his time evenly between both methods of gathering information. He hears the same things the others pick up when he watches them from afar and is promptly ignored whenever he tries to interact with the cognitions they just chatted with. Whether in darkness or out of it, his presence is entirely disregarded.

The only one to ever make eye contact with him during all this is Aigis, though only for a brief moment before nodding at him and continuing on her way. Childishly, it helps take the sting away for a second.

Needless to say, he feels pretty emptyhanded when everyone meets back up at the village gate. All that talk about using his abilities to his advantage and here he was, no better off than any of them.

“Ah, I see we’ve all completed our tasks,” Mitsuru says, looking over everyone gathered.

“And we’ve got our Ren back,” Chie says, putting herself at his side. “But were you really out listening in on people? I didn’t see you at all.”

“I would hope not, considering my line of work,” Ren replies. “But yeah, I was. I was around each of you at one point or another. Aigis was the only one to notice me.”

She nods her head. “The stealth of Phantom Thieves and ninjas are equally impressive. My training has served me well.”

“You and your ninja obsession…” Yukari mutters.

“So, what have we learned?” Yu asks. “Anything will help at this point.”

Yu says that, but Ren isn’t sure his one unique bit of info will really give them much in the way of clues.

“Well, if I’m sure of one thing, it’s that the villagers do not like the Conductor much,” Yukari says. “Almost everyone Mitsuru, Ken, and I talked to had mostly complaints to give.”

“But they weren’t related to his work itself,” Ken adds. “No one has any problem with the train services, just petty gripes with the Conductor himself.”

“Really? What kind?” asks Labrys.

Yukari shrugs. “Things like he’s weird, too nosy, takes up space, that sort of talk. Honestly, with everything these cognitions say about him, I don’t blame him for not sticking around here any more than he has to.”

“That likely explains what our group heard,” says Naoto. “The Conductor is known for spending extended periods of time in the surrounding area and only returning to the village upon nightfall.”

Yosuke looks up with a hand over his eyes. “Can this place even get to nightfall? It’s been ridiculously bright ever since we got here.”

Chie shrugs. “Maybe it works differently for the villagers. Anyway, tell them what we found out.”

“Oh, right. The cognitions we talked to have a weird sense of pride. No one seems to love it here or anything, but they all agree this place should only house people who deserve it. Guess who they feel like doesn’t fit that category.”

“Man, what’d this conductor guy even do to these folks?” asks Kanji. “You’d think he was some kinda monster the way they trash talk him.”

“Actually, that’s pretty much how he was described to us,” says Akihiko. “Some of the cognitions looked downright terrified to bring him up, like mentioning him would make him appear out of thin air.”

Junpei nods quickly. “Yeah, this one baker wouldn’t stop talking about his eyes. What’d she call them again? Like…the ‘doors to darkness,’ or something?”

“Indeed,” Aigis says. “Though I imagine most of them are exaggerating, the accounts were…disquieting to hear. Did you have more luck with your group, sister?”

“Nah, not much. We were actually askin’ more about the village itself like Yosuke-kun and the others. Everyone acted like this place has been here forever, but no one could give any history.”

“Right, there weren’t any real details to go around outside of a small timeframe,” says Rise. “If it wasn’t about the conductor or the surrounding area, they couldn’t really answer our questions.”

“A side-effect of Fantasma itself? Or perhaps the construction of the cognitions?” Mitsuru grunts. “As always, we are presented with multiple avenues of thought to consider. Joker, what happened on your end? Were you able to find anything in addition to our efforts?”

Ren sighs. It isn’t like he expected to get out of this without sharing, but saying he failed after setting off on his own is so humiliating. Still, he can’t exactly avoid it.

“I came out of this with less than all of you,” he admits. “Turns out the cognitions won’t say anything without people prompting them. At least…I think that’s the case.”

“You think?” Yu asks.

“Yeah. While I was tailing everyone, I tried talking to a few cognitions myself once they went silent. But no matter who I talked to, no one responded to me. I don’t know if they could hear me at all.”

“That’s…odd.” Fuuka says suddenly. “While I was keeping an eye on everyone, I noted several instances of the cognitions engaging with each other and observing our friends from afar. I don’t think an external presence was necessary for them to break out of the automation we witnessed earlier.”

“What?” Now Ren feels truly lost. “But I couldn’t get them to react no matter what I did.”

Ken asks, “Were you out in the open when you talked to them?”

“Yeah, but they didn’t even look at me. It was like I was the last thing they wanted to think about—”

It hits Ren right at that moment. Everything they have discussed so far combines into one truth and slams down upon him like one of those boulders from the mountainside tried to. Even worse than the weight of this realization is what it really means.

The odd pride, the disdain for the conductor, his meandering trips and tendency to pop up out of nowhere – all of that combined with the way no one met Ren’s eyes back in the village… There is no answer that fits it all better than what has dug its claws into Ren’s mind.

“Oh my god.”

His exclamation earns him several stares. Some born of concern, but most of confusion.

“Uh, you okay, Joker?” Junpei asks.

Ignoring the reactions he caused, Ren looks skyward and asks, “Hey, Yamagishi-san? Can you detect anything like a park or a forest nearby? Someplace with a lot of bushes or trees, but not as dense as that jungle.”

“Actually, yes,” she replies. “There is a clearing not far from where you all are with plenty of shrubbery centered around a large tree. Is that where you want me to guide you?”

“Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

“Happy to help. Simply travel down the path that cuts through that field we saw earlier. You’ll come across the destination after a bit of walking.”

“Got it. Let’s go, everyone.”

“We’re seriously going?” Kanji asks. “Why that place specifically, Ren?”

“Just a hunch,” he says. “But if I’m right, we’ll find our mysterious conductor there.”

No one says anything to that, but Ren can feel the weight of all their unasked questions upon him as they fall into step with him.

The path through the field is a near perfect match for the one leading into the village in the first place. This dirt path is just as devoid of life as that one, so Ren doesn’t bother with keeping an eye out for anything. Hands stuffed in his pockets, he walks as quickly as he can to reach the area Fuuka informed them of. He fields no questions during this time.

They arrive to the area Fuuka described, a circular clearing with bushes and hedges bordering the area. In the center is a massive tree with a strong main trunk and countless supporting branches sprawling out from it. All the crisscrossing branches and the sheets of leaves they hold up create a large pocket of shade around the base of the tree.

It is a beautiful sight, though it lacks any visible people, cognitive or otherwise. Everyone quickly looks around the clearing only to find nothing of note besides plant life.

“Shoot,” Labrys says. “Guess he ain’t here after all.”

“No, he’s here. We just need to get him out in the open.” Ren cups his hands around his mouth and calls out, “Hey, Conductor! Can we talk?”

In the real world, shouting would likely send any wildlife in an area like this fleeing. There is no such effect in a cognitive world, though the call does prompt some movement from everyone’s left. They turn to see one of the denser bushes in the pack shaking back and forth. After a few seconds of that rustling, a red conductor’s cap with small rabbit ears on top pops up out of the bush, startling a good chunk of the group into shouting.

A high-pitched voice follows the hat’s appearance, declaring, “Okay! Be right there!”

“Woah,” Yosuke exclaims. “Didn’t expect our guy to be hiding in a bush. Guess we found him.”

“But…how’d you know where to go, Ren?” Chie asks.

“It wasn’t hard to pin down,” he replies. “Where else would I go when no one wants me around?”

“Huh?”

Taking the spot of Ren’s response, the conductor finally manages to climb out of his former hiding spot. Small leaves and twigs go flying as he pushes his way out with all the grace of a bear cub. He even comes tumbling out of the bush like one might expect a cub to, rolling forward onto the ground and ending up on his butt. He rectifies the blunder quickly, brushing himself off and hopping to his feet.

Out in the open, there is nothing to stop everyone from seeing his full appearance. The Conductor is a small, pale boy wearing charcoal-colored overalls that cut off at the upper thigh. Tiny gold stars made of felt have been stitched haphazardly along the front. A red short-sleeved shirt rests underneath both the overalls and a white bandana dotted with dark smudges tied around his neck. That shirt matches the knee-high socks of the same color over the Conductor’s legs. Chunky black shoes shuffle in place as he regains his balance from standing up so fast.

If those traits alone had been present, they could have been dismissed – an overlooked sight considering the craziness of everything else occurring. On the contrary, no one among the Persona-users gathered could possibly miss the rest of the details staring them in the face. With wild black hair just as messy as the bushes behind him and thick glasses a smidge too big for his round face, the Conductor is the spitting image of the leader of the Phantom Thieves back during his early days.

“Did you need someth—” Tiny gray eyes go wide once they notice the Investigation Team. A toothy grin pushes the boy’s cheeks up. “Oh, it’s you guys! Hi!”

The Conductor’s tiny arm waves so fast through the air that his whole body rocks in place from the effort. His smile never leaves his face despite the fact that those he is so excited to see cannot manage anything similar. Each of the Investigation Team members stand frozen, marked with equally bamboozled expressions that leave them all gaping like fish out of water.

For once, the entire team is completely speechless.

Oblivious to their state, the Conductor looks content to bounce on his heels with that same smile on his face.

“It’s so good to see you! I missed everyone.” He finally looks past the Investigation Team to view those standing behind them. “Oh, you brought friends, too? Wow, so many new people…”

Though they aren’t entirely stunned, it is immediately clear that the Shadow Operatives don’t know what to make of what they’re seeing just like their Inaba-based allies. They all give each other expectant glances but get nothing in the way of answers.

In hopes to rectify that, Mitsuru steps forward. Her eyes roam over the Phantom Thief Ren for a moment before going back to the little boy in front of them all.

“Excuse me, but…who exactly are we speaking to right now?”

The Conductor starts, looking up at Mitsuru in a bit of a panic. “Ah, I have to say my name!”

He quickly adjusts everything he’s wearing, from straightening the cap that somehow rests perfectly on large black curls to pulling his socks all the way up and smoothing the wrinkles out of his bandana. Once he deems himself acceptable, he stands up straight and gives them all another wave – this one much more controlled than the last.

“I’m the conductor for the White Rabbit. My name is Ren Amamiya, but that’s hard to say, so you can call me Ren-Ren. Wanna ride the train?”

Notes:

I am sure the Investigation Team will be very normal about this :)

Outside the story – in a funny bit of coincidental timing – a fic inspired by this AU went up fairly recently! It’s Gift From Her Affection by IGnacho, and it's got a really interesting look at a pre-Investigation Team meeting between Izanami and kid Ren that is definitely worth the read, so please go support it! I had no idea it was coming, so the fact that it predated a kid Ren appearance here is a crazy coincidence. The whole time I was reading through, I kept thinking, “No one else knows baby Ren is almost here” lol.

Anyway, ramble over – I just think the fact that creativity can go past the silly little stories I throw up is so nice. I appreciate everything you guys send my way, be it full comments or emoticons or fics or kudos and so on. I feel really lucky to have such a good audience!

Next time, a lot of what you’re expecting, and a fair bit of stuff you’re not.

Chapter 14

Summary:

With a pint-sized train conductor as their guide, the team boards the White Rabbit and heads off to their next destination.

“This is the greatest day of my life,” Rise says.

Next to her, Ren rolls his eyes. Her reaction – and the one he suspects the rest of his old friends are about to have – is exactly why he didn’t voice his suspicions sooner. If he had told everyone present that Fantasma’s latest cognitive being was one that resembled his past self, all hell would have broken loose. Even now, he doesn’t trust them all to stay on task.

“It’s a real good thing Yamagishi-san is navigating for us and not you.” Putting his gaze back on the tiny copy of himself, Ren frowns. “This is so weird.”

The Conductor tilts his head as if a slanted view will help anything. “Sure is. Why do you look like me, mister?”

Pointing out that the reverse is what’s actually happening here just seems like a recipe for talking in circles. Ren bites back any such comments about this identity theft-adjacent situation.

“Long story,” he replies.

Starry-eyed, Chie whispers, “I can’t believe what I’m seeing…”

“That makes two of us,” Yukiko says. “Is it really you, Ren-kun?”

The child conductor stops staring at the older Ren to say, “Yeah, of course I’m me! You’re silly, Kiki.”

Yukiko gasps. “Is that a nickname for me? Oh, that’s so precious!”

“Wait, I want a nickname,” Teddie says. “Do you know who I am, Ren-Ren?”

“Yeah, you’re Teddie.”

“No, that’s my regular name!”

“Oh. Then Ted!”

“Not that one either!”

“Give it up already, bear,” Kanji says, pushing the mascot aside. He suddenly turns bashful as he looks down at the Conductor. “Um…y–you wouldn’t happen to have a nickname for me, would you?”

“Hey, I met him first, so I should be asking that!” says Chie.

“Does that even still count in this case?” Yu asks. “We all met him at the same time here.”

“Don’t try and take me down on a technicality, Yu.”

“Yeah, Senpai, you can wait your turn,” says Rise.

“We have turns now?” Yosuke mutters.

“We do. And personally, I think that I—”

“Oi, we’re not about to let you hog him like usual,” says Kanji. “If you get started chattin’, we’ll have to wait hours for you to stop.”

“You do become fairly long-winded when it comes to Ren-kun,” says Yukiko.

Rise stomps her foot. “I’m not just going to sit here while you all—”

“Can we please focus?” Ren asks, his exasperation loud enough to cut through the noise. He turns to his cognitive doppelganger. “We were told the White Rabbit could take us to the village up north. Are you sure you can actually get us there?”

“Absotivel— Er, absotute— Uh, I mean, absolutely!” he finally manages. “Ready to go now?”

“Actually, would you mind waiting for just a moment?” Mitsuru asks. “We would like some comrades of ours to join us on this trip.”

“Oh, sure! Just come find me when they get here, then. I’ll do some mainta— Um…some maintainen—” The Conductor shakes his head, messy curls bouncing to and fro. “I’ll go ahead and work on the train while you wait.”

He gives everyone another of those full-body waves before trotting off in the direction of the hill from earlier. Ren hears several people whine about his double’s exit, but he elects to ignore them.

“ Are you sure about us coming, Mitsuru-san? ” Fuuka asks. “ My scans don’t extend out to our next destination, so I can’t confirm its safety. ”

“I suspect we aren’t heading into immediate danger. And since we aren’t certain how this train operates, I would much rather you be close by for our travel so that we aren’t separated too greatly.”

“ Understood. Koro-chan and I will be with you shortly. ”

“I will go and meet them halfway,” Aigis tells everyone. “Just in case any troubles arise.”

“ Oh, thank you, Aigis. We’ll see you soon, then. ”

After the android’s rocket-assisted departure, Mitsuru sets her sights on Ren. “Since we have some time, I hope you won’t mind answering some questions of mine, Joker.”

“Yeah, I saw this coming.” He gestures back towards the village gates in the distance. “Let’s walk and talk.”

As they all set out, Mitsuru states, “While all of us were surprised to see your apparent doppelganger, you showed no such signs of shock. Your words beforehand even suggest you expected this. Can you explain why?”

“I figured it out after listening to everyone’s findings back in the village. Everything that was said about the Conductor struck a chord with me because it’s all stuff I’ve heard before. In both Inaba and Yamichi, that’s how I’ve been treated.”

“People in Inaba treated you like that as a little kid?” Yukari asks. “What was their problem?”

“Sometimes a small town makes small brains,” Kanji says. “They dogpiled Ren just because they didn’t have anything better to do. We tried to vouch for him where we could, but you know how it is. Few people against a ton don’t make much of a difference.”

“The villagers were a little exaggerated by comparison, but not by much,” says Yosuke. “We didn’t have people calling him a demon in Inaba, at least.”

“All that stuff combined with the fact that we’ve seen things from my personal life and the people of Yamichi cemented it for me,” says Ren. “I’ve half-suspected we’d find a cognitive version of me here at some point anyway, so I’m glad the one we did isn’t some horrific caricature.”

Considering the area Fantasma is based in, Ren wouldn’t have been surprised to find a devil cognition with his hair and glasses, or some kind of body double made of dirt. A tiny conductor is a fairly light punishment as far as he is concerned.

Though more questions come his way by the time they reach the village gate, Ren isn’t really equipped to answer them all. He does his best, though after the fifth ‘I’m not sure,’ everyone else gets the hint that he is just as lost as they are. Any more reveals will have to wait until they are back in the presence of the Conductor again.

There isn’t much time between the end of questioning and Aigis’s return. She lands right beside the group, clearly having just jumped over a large section of the village in order to save some time. Fuuka is being carried in her arms bridal-style with Koromaru huddled up against her. The odd stack would only be concerning if the person supporting them didn’t have a mechanical body to rely on.

“I have secured our friends,” Aigis says, proudly showing off the woman and dog in her arms. “We may now proceed to rendezvous with the Conductor.”

“Cool, but…uh…” Junpei snickers as he asks, “Are you plannin’ on carrying those two up the hill like that?”

“If they desire me to.” Aigis looks down at the pair in her arms. “Do you require further transport, Fuuka-san?”

The girl in question turns a bit red. She shakes her head frantically, exclaiming, “N–No, that’s okay, Aigis! I can walk on my own.”

Koromaru barks, and though most of the group cannot discern his intent, Aigis nods her head in perfect understanding.

“Very well. Simply let me know if you change your mind.”

She sets the two down gently, giving them both soft pats on the head. Nothing Koromaru isn’t used to, but the gesture makes Fuuka look about two decades younger. There is a bit of that going around at the moment, Ren figures.

Once her face regains its normal coloration, Fuuka says to the group, “It hasn’t been all that long, but I’m glad to see everyone again. It’ll be nice to travel with you for a bit.”

Rise nods. “Yeah, we missed you, Fuuka-san! It’s good that you’ll finally get to see the sights in person with us.”

“Well, the ‘sights’ so far have bounced between intriguing and horrific, but I see your point. Shall we head to the train now?”

“Yeah, back to Ren-Ren!” Teddie cheers.

“Great…” Ren mutters.

With half of the group practically speed walking because of Teddie’s reminder, the trip back up to the hilltop station isn’t nearly long enough for Ren to mentally prepare himself. Telling himself that there wasn’t much to do anyway lessens some of the pressure he feels with every step up the hill.

Though, if he has to microdose on white lies to make it through this, he is already in a pretty bad position.

The White Rabbit appears exactly as it did the last time, only now there is someone actually servicing it. The Conductor stands in front of the train’s firebox with his bandana pulled up over his nose and mouth. Rather than grab any sort of coal or firewood to toss inside, however, he reaches into the box at his feet and pulls out a bunch of carrots. When he tosses them inside, the train whistles as if pleased. Ren suddenly feels a lot less certain about their upcoming travel.

Once all the carrots have been ‘fed’ to the train, the Conductor pulls his bandana down and sighs in relief. It’s then that he notices Ren and the others nearby, so he quickly jogs over in greeting.

“Oh, you made it! Everybody ready?”

“Yes, we’re all here,” Mitsuru says. “Is the train prepared for travel?”

“Yep! Everything’s A-OK.” Pulling himself up by the door handle, the Conductor rises to the train entrance and waves the gathered group inside. “All aboard!”

The passenger cars for the White Rabbit aren’t anything remarkable. Like they appeared on the outside, they are essentially carbon copies of the trains Ren knows from Tokyo. The seats are fashioned in the exact same way as each of those. Unlike those trains, however, every seat is completely open. It’s nice to not have to worry about that for a change, even if this is only a cognitive world.

Everyone files in with the Shadow Operatives sitting on the left and the Investigation Team on the right. Ren decides to grab a handhold and stand, partially because there are going to be eyes on him during this trip anyway, and partially to keep his own eyes on the sole reason for that last fact.

His cognitive double – if a kid version of himself can even be called that – is manning the front of the train without a care in the world. He whistles to himself as he pulls at levers and twists knobs indiscriminately, almost like the whole thing is just an elaborate toy. Leave it to a cognitive world to feature a conductor that needs a booster seat to drive his train.

All those silly gestures still manage to do their job, making the train suddenly roar to life at their conclusion. A loud whistle rings out above everyone, fading away as it gets replaced by the rhythmic tumbling of train wheels moving down the tracks. Smoother than any train ride Ren has experienced, the White Rabbit sets off away from Torimono.

Settling into his seat, Akihiko asks, “So, just to make absolutely sure, the Conductor is supposed to be you as a kid, right, Joker? That’s what you looked like?”

“More or less,” he answers.

“You guys are lucky,” Rise says, “this is a sight we haven’t gotten to see in person in years!”

“It really is like he just popped out of one of our old pictures back home,” says Chie. “Minus the funny outfit, obviously.”

“Maybe he did,” Teddie says, covering a gasp with his paws. “What if this really is our Ren-Ren from the past?!”

That finally gets Ren to turn away from his observation post. “What?”

“The Shadow Ops did time travel stuff once, right? And Fantasma has memories everywhere here, so what if that’s really a younger you up there?”

“Not to rain on your parade there, Ted,” Junpei says, “but I don’t know if I buy that. I mean, what kid knows how to drive a train?”

“Well, our Ren-Ren is a cub of many talents!”

“It’s— He is just a cognition,” Ren says. “Same as all the other people we’ve seen so far. There’s no way that’s actually my past self running around in a conductor’s outfit.”

Teddie wears a pout as he asks, “How do you know for sure?”

“Because it just doesn’t make sense. He looks like he’s barely hit six years old, but he somehow knows everybody from Inaba already. He’s even calling himself ‘Ren-Ren’ even though I didn’t get that nickname until I was eleven. And like Iori-san said, there’s the obvious bit of all the train stuff, which I definitely did not know how to do as a kid. Bottom line, this is definitely not some random case of time travel gone wrong.”

“Which is beneficial for us,” says Mitsuru. “Shadows already have the potential to warp time and space, so we should count our blessings that Fantasma does not seem involved with taking that to the extreme. The time dilation is worrisome enough on its own.”

“So we don’t have anything to worry about with…uh…little Joker-kun,” Labrys says. “Or…Joker-chan?”

“Likely not,” Ren says, opting to ignore that correction. “Still, don’t let your guards down completely. I don’t really think anything born in Fantasma has our best interests at heart.”

“That may be true of most things, but I’m sure Ren-Ren is totally fine,” says Rise.

Kanji nods. “Yeah, you afraid we’ll get jumped by a six-year-old? He can’t do much to us.”

Ren glares at his old friends. “You guys know cognitions can transform. Some of them don’t even need to for their strength to kick in.”

“Sure, but…I just don’t get that vibe from little you,” says Chie. “He seems totally harmless.”

Teddie adds, “Maybe he’s not the real deal, but he passes the ol’ sniffer test, that’s for sure!”

Ren’s expression doesn’t change. “And I’m sure all this vouching for him has nothing to do with his appearance and your combined nostalgia?”

“We’re not really in the business of telling lies, so I’m sure you can figure out where we stand on that accusation,” says Yu.

“Guys, come on…”

“Surely you understand, Ren-kun,” says Yukiko. “This is like…a blast from the past for us. When will we ever have this opportunity again?”

“Okay, but…you guys know he isn’t real. He’s just a cognition.”

“But he’s such a cute cognition,” Rise says, whining laced into her sentence. “Can’t you let us have this? Just for a little bit?”

“Feels like I’m dealing with even more kids when you guys are like this. Naoto excluded.”

“Thank you,” she says.

“Woah, don’t let her off the hook,” says Yosuke. “She keeps sneaking peeks up at the front car and grinning to herself when no one’s looking.”

Naoto leans back into her seat, directing her eyes to the other end of the passenger car. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. Though if I did, I would ask why you seem to be grinning so much yourself, Yosuke-san.”

“I…guess I don’t know what you’re talking about either.”

“Of course not.”

“What a mess this has turned into,” Ren says.

“Um…”

Conversation halts at the mousey voice speaking up from nearby. After rounding the corner from the driver’s compartment, the Conductor takes tiny steps into the passenger car. He halts in place once all eyes fall upon him.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were talking,” he says. “S–Should I go back?”

“No, no, you’re more than welcome, Ren-Ren,” Rise says. She nods over in the larger Ren’s direction. “We’re just trying to get our ‘not-so-little’ ball of sunshine to stop being so grumpy.”

“Oh, okay.” The Conductor’s eyes scan the row holding the Inaba crew. “Can I sit with you guys, then?”

The immediate confirmations from everyone on the right side startle the Conductor. He can hardly be blamed; anyone would hesitate in the face of such sudden enthusiasm. It’s a miracle no one from the older group jumped from their seats to grab hold of him themselves.

In the end, the Conductor climbs up to make a seat of Yukiko’s lap. Once there, she wraps her arms around him like a seatbelt, causing him to relax against her with a wide smile.

Facing the other Persona-using team now, the Conductor stares at them, curiosity plain as day on his face. It makes sense considering he has no idea who this other group is, one made up of famous women, androids, and a canine.

He leans his head back to ask, “Kiki, are they all your friends?”

“Yes, that’s right,” she responds. “They— Actually, how should I explain…”

“Allow us to handle the burden of introductions, Amagi,” Mitsuru says. After giving her own name, the rest of the Shadow Operatives follow, giving a brief mention of what they do in the real world and how they are connected to the Investigation Team. They don’t mention anything about Personas or the quest that they are a part of. It seems everyone present feels it best not to complicate things without knowing everything there is to know about their current guide.

“Nice to meet you, everybody! I— Oh, I already said my name before. Um, then…” The Conductor opens his arms wide to gesture to everybody from Inaba. “These are my friends! They take good care of me and I think they’re the bestest.”

Saying that makes everyone on the Conductor’s side of the train beam. If Futaba were here, she would have mentioned something about an affection meter going up. It’s going to be really hard to separate the Investigation Team from this new tag-along when they have to get back to fighting their way through Fantasma.

“Aw, we think you’re the best too, little dude,” says Kanji.

“You’re still missing an introduction, though,” Yu says, pointing to Ren. “This guy is from Inaba too.”

“Really?” The Conductor follows Yu’s finger with his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you, mister. What’s your name?”

“Joker. But…”

Despite not normally indulging cognitions, something about continuing to act like a masked stranger feels off to Ren. Even if the Conductor can’t wrap his head around the circumstances of their relation, Ren figures it will be better to be upfront from this point. That will likely help when it comes time to get more information anyway.

“That’s just a codename,” he says. “My real name is Ren Amamiya.”

That makes the Conductor turn fully so that he is facing Ren. Even with glasses on, his face is open and honest, so there isn’t any attempt to hide how stunned he is by Ren’s words.

“You…have my name?”

Among other things, though Ren refrains from saying as much all at once. They can take this slow for now.

The Conductor hops down from Yukiko’s lap – an act which makes her groan like she’s in physical pain – and walks over to stand right in front of Ren.

“We have the same hair and eyes too…” He gestures up towards Ren’s face. “Can you move your mask?”

No reason not to, Ren supposes. He nods before lifting it into his hair like usual. With his face out in the open, the Conductor lets out a tiny gasp, clearly awestruck.

“Wow, it’s like a mirror!”

The Conductor begins to move his head from side to side like a metronome. For some reason, Ren finds himself copying the motion without thinking about it. Whenever the little boy tilts his head, so does he. When he sticks his tongue out, Ren does the same in opposition. For every ridiculous expression the Conductor manages to come up with on the spot, Ren dons a matching one with little effort, almost instinctively.

He has no idea how long this game of theirs keeps up. He is only made aware of what he’s been doing by the chittering of the Investigation Team nearby, who are all watching with shameless interest. Their obvious amusement is enough to bring Ren to his senses, so he straightens himself up and pulls his mask back down. Some semblance of professionalism will help him shake off the embarrassment.

“Now that we’re on route, I actually meant to ask you something, Conductor.”

“Really? What?”

“It’s about your memories. Can you tell me how you met the Invest— I mean, your friends from Inaba?”

“Oh, sure!”

The Conductor starts counting on his fingers as he goes over each story – Ren’s stories – in perfect detail, albeit using the language of a child. He talks about meeting Chie at Samegawa, crashing a bike with Yosuke, blasting Yu with a water gun, and all the moments in between.

All the while, he doesn’t even put together the obvious time gap between those events. It is as if for him, they simply happened all in a row, and his history with the Inaba group somehow runs just as deep as the real Ren’s.

“So you really do know about that stuff,” Ren says. “Then do you mind if I ask you some quick questions just about you?”

“Go ahead.”

“What’s your favorite animal?”

“Lions.”

“What’s your favorite book to read?”

“Oh, um…that one with the kitty that wears the big hat and makes messes. The one Chie gave me! It’s funny.”

Chie clearly has an opinion on that, but Ren cuts in before she can give voice to her giddiness.

“What food do you hate?”

“Natto. It’s yucky.”

“Can you tell me the names you gave to the frogs you found in that pond close to school? The one with the really tall grass and those stupid mosquitoes.”

“Croaky, Oaky, Smokey, and Todd.”

For the life of him, Ren cannot remember why he just gave up on his own naming scheme for that last frog back then.

“All easy answers, huh? Okay, last one. What’s the only thing you’ve ever broken in your house?”

For the first time, the Conductor does not seem eager to answer. Ren expected no less.

He is well over the memory at age eighteen, but as young as the Conductor is, even with his weird origin, Ren figured he would still feel a bit uneasy about the experience. Doubly so if his feelings of the incident match Ren’s own from back then.

“It’s okay,” Ren assures. “The ones you’re worried about aren’t here, so you can tell me. I won’t be upset. What was it?”

Even with that promise, the Conductor still looks around the train like there are ghosts lurking in the dark corners, ready to spring out and drag him away at the slightest provocation. Suddenly, the train feels a lot like the past two Amamiya households.

Finally, he says, “It…was a picture of grandma and grandpa. It was up high on a shelf, and I wanted to get it down, so I got on a chair to get it.”

“And you dropped it when you were trying to pull it down, didn’t you? Along with a bunch of old books.”

“Y–Yes. I put the books back, but the picture broke on the ground.” The Conductor’s voice quickens as he adds, “A–And Mom and Dad say not to touch glass so I didn’t b–but then they came back and were mad at me and I got scared because I don’t like yelling.”

Water starts pooling beneath the lenses of the Conductor’s glasses. The White Rabbit’s route is too smooth to take the blame for the way he begins to shake.

“I just wanted to see it! They don’t talk about Grandma and Grandpa anymore. I wanted to see what they look like so I won’t forget…”

Ren gets a twinge of pain in his chest looking down on his copy. Cognition or not, it’s never easy watching a child break down about something they shouldn’t have been blamed for. And it isn’t as if the feelings behind the breakdown are entirely fabricated in the first place.

Before the tears can get any worse, Ren drops to a knee in front of the Conductor. “Hey, I’m sorry for bringing it up. I know it’s a sore spot. Here’s an idea, though – why don’t you take your mind off of it by playing with Koromaru?”

The Conductor sniffles, wiping his face with the bandana around his neck. “C–Can I?”

“Yeah. It’d be a shame to have this whole train to ourselves and not use it to play. Besides, I’m sure Koromaru would love to stretch his legs a bit after being cooped up inside.” Ren looks over at Ken to ask, “Is that okay, Amada-san?”

“Oh, sure.” He reaches over to gently pat Koromaru on the head. “Go on, Koro. Go say hello to the Conductor.”

Koromaru gives an affirmative bark before hopping down and walking over to the boy standing nearby. The Conductor keeps still for a moment, allowing the dog to circle him and take a few sniffs. After satisfying some sort of dog-specific curiosity, Koromaru hops up to lick the boy’s face. Any lingering sadness vanishes in an instant, unable to withstand such direct affection. The tense quiet of the passenger car gets shoved aside for a flood of boyish giggles to take its place.

“See?” Ren says. “Koromaru is as friendly as they come.”

“He’s so fluffy!” the Conductor exclaims, running his hands through Koromaru’s fur. “And he doesn’t stink like Muku does.”

Chie shouts, “Hey! Why is the main thing you remember about my dog his smell?!”

After letting himself be pet for another minute, Koromaru rolls over onto his feet and starts trotting in place. Ren and the Conductor tilt their heads in tandem – that has to go away at some point, he thinks – so it’s good that they have some translators nearby.

Labrys is the one to point out, “Looks like Koro-chan’s itchin’ to race. Joker-kun was right about ‘im wanting to stretch his legs.”

“Oh, is that it?” The Conductor crouches down to pat Koromaru’s head. “You wanna race, boy? Up and down the train?”

The next few strong barks from Koromaru don’t need much translation, especially not with the way he drops low to the ground and angles himself towards the trailing train cars. The Conductor breaks out into a smile as he takes a spot next to his new opponent.

“Okay! Ready? Go!”

As if facilitating the race itself, the doors to the other train cars slide open, allowing for uninterrupted travel between them. The dog and boy duo take off, running into the distance with only laughter and excited barks trailing behind them. The sight relaxes the majority of everyone still in the foremost passenger car.

“Looks like he’s back to normal,” Kanji says.

“Yeah, I’m so glad he’s smiling again,” Rise adds. “Seeing him tear up just about broke my heart…”

“What was the deal with all those questions anyway, Joker?” Yukari asks. “It seems like you knew what you were getting into.”

“Yeah, but I had to do it,” Ren says, getting back to his feet to grab a train handhold again. “I specifically needed questions with answers that I’ve never told anyone else. I was trying to see how close of a copy the Conductor really is of me.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” says Yosuke. “Then everything he said was right?”

“It was.”

Chie leans forward, her grin giving away exactly where her mind is at. “Even the thing about your favorite book?”

“Yes, even that,” Ren admits. “Though, for the record, it was only my favorite book until I moved. Now it’s an old mystery novel that I got at a secondhand shop. You know, something above a first grade reading level.”

“Aw, boo…”

“So despite having a slight deviation from your actual personality as a child, Ren-kun, the Conductor is an otherwise accurate recreation of you and your memories,” says Naoto. “Interesting…”

“Slight deviation?” Aigis repeats.

“Yes,” Yukiko says. “While Ren-kun was by no means an emotionless child, his energy wasn’t constantly on display like the Conductor’s is now. It came out more in bursts.”

“And I didn’t stumble over my words all the time either,” Ren says. For some reason, he feels the need to make that fact known.

“Then, whose cognition is the Conductor based on?” Mitsuru asks. “He clearly has your memories, Joker, but with that deviation you mentioned…”

“Yeah, it makes things complicated. I don’t know exactly how or why he formed the way he did, but my brain definitely played a part somehow. It must be tied to how we watched my awakening a while back. At some point, something looked through my mind and scavenged my memories. Who knows how many this place has access to now.”

Though this isn’t new information, it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. The group has been dealing with the memories of the other Phantom Thieves for long enough now that Ren had pushed the thought of his own aside. Having the Conductor around brings his mind back to how it was right after watching him summon Arsène for the first time.

If his memories can show up in ways other than direct playback, that means they can be weaponized. And if that is the case, there really is no telling what nightmares await further inside.

Still working through her own ideas, Mitsuru asks, “You said you woke up in a display case here before, correct? Is it possible you were searched then, or even beforehand?”

“Maybe. I don’t remember much after jumping into that void after it took my friends. By the time I woke up in that case, all I was concerned about was getting out.”

“Hm. Well, I would suggest we make a trip back to that room at some point to search more thoroughly, but…”

“It got completely cleaned up after my escape, yeah. Doesn’t really help us much when Fantasma is constantly shifting under our feet.”

It would be nice if they could outpace the world for once, but with how many sidequests and roadblocks it has been keen to force on the group, Ren doesn’t see their pace getting any better anytime soon.

Conversation trails off until the pattering of feet echo down the train. Koromaru and the Conductor come running into the main passenger car, neck and neck as they jump through the last doorway. The Conductor immediately pumps his small fists in the air once he touches down in the car proper.

“Yay! I won!”

The few barks from Koromaru in response sound a bit indignant, Ren thinks. If such a thing is even possible, anyway.

“Nuh uh, I won,” the Conductor asserts. “You just need one foot across the finish line. Everyone knows that!”

Koromaru just barks some more, but his attempts at convincing his fellow racer fall flat due to both the language barrier and the ironclad defense of ‘nuh uh’ – a child’s most formidable weapon.

“Uh, not to question your job, Conductor,” Ken asks, “but if you’re back here playing with Koromaru, then who’s driving the train?”

The boy turns away from his debate to answer. “Oh, don’t worry! It’s driving by itself. It already knows where to go.”

“Really?”

“Yep! Sometimes the engineers drive the whole way, but I like to let it run by itself. It always goes right where it needs to. It’s self-suffie… Er, self-sofishy…”

“Self-sufficient,” Ren provides.

“That one! The White Rabbit’s big and strong, so it can take care of itself without anybody else. If you can do that, that makes you okay!”

Ren isn’t alone in reacting poorly to that strange phrasing. Most of the train’s inhabitants cast concerned glances the Conductor’s way, but he doesn’t seem to realize how his own words sound from the outside. Nor does he seem to realize the chipper tone of his delivery does not negate the worry those words inspire.

Yu is the first to do something about it, asking, “Where did you hear something like—”

“Hey, guys,” Junpei interrupts. “Come check this out!”

Having stood up at some point, he raps his knuckle against the train window, prompting everyone to rise from their seats to join him in looking outside. This far into their train ride, they have long since passed all the natural-looking parts of the area. Surrounding them now are sights like empty lots and the beginning of small buildings, things decidedly more urban and modern than were present in Torimono Village. All of it sits under a night sky similar to the one outside the inn from before.

Junpei isn’t simply pointing at some empty lot, however. He is currently directing everyone’s attention to the massive amusement park in the distance marked by flashing spotlights, massive neon signs, and a towering Ferris Wheel rotating slowly.

Strangely, the makeup differs from somewhere like Destinyland. Where that park thrives on buildings and areas that help sell the ‘magic’ touted in all its advertisements, this new theme park based in Fantasma is oddly mundane. The attractions are large enough in their own right, but from this distance, one could easily mistake it for a small town’s attempt at decorating for a festival.

Once Ren makes that comparison, something in his brain lights up the same way it did once he realized the Conductor’s identity. Has he seen a place like this before?

“It’s a whole theme park,” Junpei says, still excited at the base prospect itself. “Who would’ve thought we’d see something like that here?”

Labrys joins in on his excitement, exclaiming, “Wow, look at all the lights! Ya think it works just like a normal one?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was some sort of death trap,” Yukari says. “It is pretty, though. Outside of how normal a lot of it looks from up here.”

Ken nods. “Yeah, for a theme park, it sure has a lot of hills and roads. I think I can even see a shrine towards the back. It’s hard to make out past those trees in front of it, though.”

“Trees in front of a shrine…?” As Yukiko stares in the direction Ken pointed out, she trails off. Her eyes go wide after a second, and through her gasp, she manages to exclaim, “Wait, that’s…that’s Inaba!”

“What?!” Chie presses herself against the train window, cupping her hands around the side of her face to get a more focused view. “It is!”

Yosuke peeks over the top of the girls’ heads. “I mean, it’s definitely some kind of theme park, but there’s no way it isn’t at least based on Inaba. All the pathways I can see match up to the real world.”

Even with all his time away from the town, Ren finds himself in agreement with his friends’ observations. The amusement park is a dead ringer for Inaba, from the narrow connecting streets cutting through residential areas to the crowded blocks full of storefronts. Though there aren’t any actual crops visible, open spaces with bits of green and beige emulate where they would be. It’s like a commercial simulation of a countryside, Ren thinks.

Just as he starts to wish he had a better look at it all, the White Rabbit rounds a bend that makes everyone standing wobble on their feet. A glance out the window shows the train has taken a detour from the main tracks continuing to lead forward. The path they are on now is set to lead them straight into this theme park.

“Hey, Conductor,” Ren says, “you sure this train knows where it’s going? We’re supposed to be going to Shukan Village.”

“Oh, right. Well, if it picked this way to go, then it means you guys need to stop here first. I’ll go ahead and get it ready to stop.”

“We don’t have time to—”

Ren’s concerns are entirely tuned out as the Conductor scurries back to his seat up front. It seems this unforeseen stop is going to be mandatory.

Before he can say anything else, Yu comes up to rest a hand on his back.

“Hey, let’s give the Conductor a little credit – he’s gotten us this far, right? Maybe there’s something in the park that’ll help.”

“And if he just wants to go play because he’s a kid?” Ren asks.

“Then we’ll find a way to get back on track. No one has forgotten what we’re here to do, Ren. We might indulge ourselves with new experiences from time to time, but we all know what’s at stake. We’re with you, first and foremost.”

Though Ren doesn’t voice it, hearing that does help a bit. Knowing where the Phantom Thieves’ minds are on missions comes easily to him after all this time, but reading teams he has just started fighting alongside today is almost impossible. The assurance that their common goal hasn’t changed is a valued reminder.

The theme park up ahead grows in size from everyone’s perspective until the White Rabbit finally pulls into it fully. Every light that dazzled them from afar is obscenely more intense up close. Between those and all the glowing signs advertising all sorts of attractions, this place gives Sae’s casino a run for its money on the most overstimulating cognitive world Ren has seen.

Of course, that is only one piece of the puzzle here. Being inside the park washes away any doubts that this place has Yasoinaba’s DNA infused into it. The angle of the streets, the way the buildings group together, and the ongoing battle between urban areas and rustic ones all scream that fact into the air.

The White Rabbit’s stopping point rests in what looks like this place’s version of the gas station in the real Inaba’s central shopping district. There are no pumps here, but the rectangular covering and its spot at the end of the road make the comparison obvious.

Once the train comes to a complete stop, steam hissing out as wheels cease spinning, the Conductor pulls the lever to allow all the doors to open. Everyone disembarks, spreading out to get a better look at the zany environment they find themselves in now. Immune to any feelings such a place can inspire, the Conductor skips to the head of the pack and calls out to everyone.

He shouts, “Welcome to Inaba-Land! There’s something for everyone to enjoy here because there’s fun stuff all around! I like to just pick a direction and go – you find cool stuff like that.”

Rise’s eyes find Ren. “Wow, he really is just like you,” she says.

“So I keep being reminded.”

Facing the Conductor, Mitsuru says, “I think a proper starting point would be best for us. Is there anywhere you would recommend for us to get our bearings?”

“Um…oh! You should go to Junes, then. They have everything there!”

“And now it feels like I just got called into work,” Yosuke says.

“It’s just down the street,” the Conductor says, pointing straight down the road. “Just follow this main way and you’ll get there soon.”

“Wait, you’re not coming with us, Ren-Ren?” Teddie asks.

“I’ll catch up. I have to make sure the train is okay before I leave. I won’t be long.”

“Okay,” Yu says. “We’ll wait for you at Junes, then.”

“Be careful on your way over, okay?” Rise says.

“M’kay. See you later!”

Whatever business the Conductor has forces him to get back on the train for the time being. Following his earlier instructions, the team of Persona-users start to traverse what they now know as ‘Inaba-Land,’ which is an incredibly tacky name in Ren’s opinion.

Along the way, they pass by the kinds of things usually found in amusement parks and carnivals, from ring toss booths to rope ladder climbing to multiplayer basketball setups. There are even some that correlate to where they are placed, like the strongman game where Daidara’s metalwork shop would be, or the gummy worm bobbing game in the place of Shiroku Pub.

Unsurprisingly at this point, there are also cognitions roaming the area and enjoying the atmosphere. The only difference between these cognitions and the ones present in Torimono Village are their attire. Where the village’s inhabitants had worn older-styled clothing, everyone here has on modern outfits that just make them seem like faces in a crowd. They all seem too wrapped up in the excitement of games to worry about the Persona-users progressing down the main road.

Once they pass the brunt of the crowd, Chie voices a thought. “Okay, I get Yamichi stuff being in Fantasma since, you know, that’s literally where it formed. And the Phantom Thieves’ history makes sense too since they’re trapped in here, but why is Inaba important enough to be a whole theme park?”

“Likely for the latter of the inclusions you mentioned,” answers Naoto. “We hypothesize that the Phantom Thieves have been unwilling participants in constructing parts of Fantasma, correct?”

“Yeah, but they’ve never been to Inaba.”

“True. However, cognitive spaces do not solely reflect memories. Perception plays an important role as well, and the Phantom Thieves certainly have an established perception of Inaba at this point.”

“Because of everything we told them about it, right?” asks Yosuke. “All our wacky stories back in December put the idea in their heads that Inaba is way more exciting than it is.”

“Exactly. This locale starts to make sense if we think of it as a representation of the Phantom Thieves’ views of Inaba. Of course, those views have been affected by the natural distortion of the Metaverse, and on top of that, combined with Ren-kun’s more concrete memories of our home. And if that logic can apply to more than just Inaba-Land…”

“Then the same might very well go for the Conductor,” Yu notes. “He could have formed partly based on all those stories we told the Phantom Thieves and how attached they all got to the idea of Ren as a kid. That would explain why he’s a little different than the real deal.”

“Oh, great,” Ren mutters, “now I’ve got two groups to blame for this.”

“I will never apologize for helping to bring that perfect little angel here,” says Rise.

“Keep in mind that this is all simply speculative,” Naoto says. “Until we are faced with a ruler of some sort, we can’t be sure our own conclusions are accurate. Though I do feel like we’re nearing the truth of this world with every new area we come across.”

“Still, I wonder if all that means this place is free of danger,” Ken says. “From the way you guys talk about it, I doubt the Phantom Thieves associate much trouble with Inaba. Oh, but…I guess they would know about the murders, wouldn’t they?”

“They do,” Ren says. “But we didn’t talk about them nearly as much as the simpler stuff, so that all probably takes precedence here.”

“I do not detect any imminent threats,” says Aigis. “Fuuka-san?”

“Nothing jumps out at me on an initial glance, but I’ll keep an eye on things as we progress.”

“Me too,” Rise says.

“Me three,” declares Teddie. “Nothing’s getting past my nose! Unless that cotton candy we passed earlier is real, because then…”

“Count on everyone but the bear, got it,” Chie says.

Finally reaching Inaba-Land’s version of Junes comes with two distinct surprises, the first of which being the building itself.

Unlike the Junes in the real world, this one is basically just a convenience store. It barely outsizes the laundromat near Leblanc, only containing one floor to its name and fitting in fine amongst the other buildings around it. If not for the Junes theme pouring through the speakers atop the building, it would be incredibly easy to miss.

The second of the surprises is actually humming that very theme. The Conductor stands right outside the Junes entrance, bobbing his head to the beat of the music. He only notices everyone else joining him after they have already reached his side.

“Ah, there you guys are!”

“Huh? How’d you make it here before us?” Junpei asks.

The Conductor grins and replies, “Shortcut.”

Junpei turns to give the real Ren a flat look. All Ren can do is shrug at this point – the mirroring simply runs too deep.

“Welcome back,” Yukiko says, smiling at the Conductor. “Is everything with the train sorted?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s gonna take a nap while we all play! Did you guys decide what you wanna do yet?”

“Not to be a downer, but we’re not even sure we’ll be staying yet,” says Ken. “We were just about to enter Junes to take stock of the situation.”

“O–Oh…” As quickly as his voice wavers, he forces out, “Well, I hope you do stay! Come on, I’ll show you where the cool stuff is!”

The Conductor runs off into the mini-Junes. The doors slide apart just like the real thing, blasting everyone with cool air upon crossing the threshold to the inside.

Befitting its small size, there is only enough room for a help desk, a few machines that look like currency exchangers, and a dark room illuminated by strip lights off to the side.

The help desk straight ahead is manned by a cognitive employee wearing a classic Junes apron. It has its elbows propped up on the desk, its head dropped into a hand as it leans over. Ren recognizes the expression it wears as one Yosuke would have on particularly busy days at the store – a look of pure resignation.

“Welcome to Junes,” the cognition drawls as everyone approaches. “Every day is great, or whatever. You wanna exchange your Paw Points for a prize?”

Rise’s eyes narrow. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what are Paw Points?”

The cognition lazily points at the painted wooden sign behind itself. A crudely drawn picture of Teddie is featured with him raising his bear suit’s hand forward. A large paw print is painted on that hand, and the print appears again on the large drawing of a gold coin right next to the mascot drawing.

“Play games in Inaba-Land and win Paw Points,” the cognition explains. “Then you bring ‘em back here to exchange for prizes in that room over there. It’s really not that complicated. Ugh , I wanna go home…”

“I have my own special points?” Teddie exclaims. “Finally, my image is starting to spread across the world!”

“Across a fake world, you mean,” says Yosuke.

“Guys, look,” Labrys says.

As it turns out, that dim room from before is the prize room the cognition mentioned. The multicolored strip lights show off the multitude of items available for exchange. There are plushies, toy guns, and novelty glasses among other similar items. The true interest for this group, however, is the row of books on the top shelf of the room.

While most of those books are simply thick tomes chronicling things like history or mythology based on their titles, the last one in the row catches everyone’s eyes. It looks like a direct copy of the book containing half the Phantom Thieves’ memories that Ren has in his possession, only this one is a solid black instead of the fierce red from before. Without even pulling the first book out, Ren feels it thrum in the presence of this new one.

“Well, looks like it’s a good thing we stopped here after all,” Akihiko says. “We probably need to get that before we head into the next village.”

“Probably,” Yukari echoes. “But we’ll have to spend a while here. Most stuff costs under a couple hundred points, but that book costs ten thousand of them!”

“With a price that steep, I think it would be wise to split up,” Mitsuru says. “That way we can divide and conquer to attain points faster. We should—”

“Sounds good,” Rise says hurriedly. She scoops the Conductor up into her arms and twirls, sending him into a giggle fit. “We’ll take Ren-Ren and meet up with you guys later! Bye!”

The last of her words barely leaves her lips before she hightails it out of the store. Her departure is matched by the rest of the Investigation Team, who offer their own quick farewells to everyone else as they rush through the automatic doors, leaving behind a bewildered crowd now half their original size.

As the dust from such swift exits settles, Akihiko asks, “What…just happened?”

“Exactly what I knew would happen,” replies Ren. His eyes squeeze shut as he rubs an aching spot in his forehead. “They’ll still get their points, but don’t be surprised if they get distracted along the way.”

“Um…right,” Mitsuru falters. “Well, I was simply going to suggest breaking off into pairs as our form of splitting up, provided everyone is okay with that.”

“Works for me,” says Junpei. “So, who wants to team up with ol’ Junpei?”

Koromaru lets out a pair of barks, circling around Junpei’s legs as he does so.

“I think Koromaru’s volunteering,” Ken says.

Aigis nods. “He says that he’s missed you, Junpei-san.”

“Aw, I’ve missed you too, bud!” Junpei crouches down to pet the dog all over. “C’mon, let’s go find something we can do as a team!”

The two excitedly round a corner outside of Junes and vanish from sight. Ren isn’t sure if any of the attractions here are dog-friendly, but Koromaru hasn’t shown himself to be very picky. He’ll likely just be content with being included.

“Glad someone’s having fun,” Yukari says. “Alright, our turn, Mitsuru. It’s been a while since we hung out one-on-one.”

“That it has,” she says. “Very well. Lead the way, Yukari.”

Yukari loops their arms together before pointing towards what looks like a racetrack for horses atop one of the nearby hills. Whether you are meant to earn points as a viewer or a rider isn’t clear at this distance. Whatever the case, Ren simply hopes that they aren’t using any horse-like Shadows up there after what he heard Teddie tried to pull earlier today.

As the remaining Shadow Operatives start to discuss their own pairs, Labrys walks over and taps Ren on the shoulder.

“Joker-kun, do you want to pair up? I think it’d be kinda nice to explore this place with someone actually from Inaba.”

“Oh, sure thing, Labrys-san.”

She laughs at the response. “You can drop the fancy stuff; just Labrys is fine. C’mon, let’s find something to win!”

With most of the others going for the flashier games and sights around the center of Inaba-Land, Ren and Labrys take the outer path towards the more rural part of it. It’s there that they find a small river with a wooden sign in front of it advertising a fishing game. Its position at the bottom of a stairwell – along with the lush grass on either side of the river – makes it clear that this is Inaba-Land’s version of Samegawa.

Even with the area’s distorted nature, the nostalgia sets in for Ren almost immediately. When he closes his eyes, he can recall days of laying against that grass in the real world, the countryside sun kissing his skin as he stretched out. He recalls days spent watching Chie practice martial arts, listening to Marie recite poetry, and running along the shore so that Nanako can’t splash him with cold river water.

Ren is no stranger to longing, but the feeling of wanting to be back in that grass and surrounded by longtime companions weighs heavily on him right now.

Has he really missed Inaba that much? Or is the heavy emphasis on memories in Fantasma messing with his head?

Whatever the case, there isn’t anything he can do about the potential homesickness currently. He shrugs that weight off of him as he steps forward to talk to the cognition running the fishing game from a wooden booth. After it provides him with two fishing rods and two collection buckets, he and Labrys take their spots next to the river. Small dark blobs can already be seen moving under the water’s surface, waiting for anyone with a rod to come claim them as spoils.

As Ren starts to eye where he’ll cast, he asks, “Ever been fishing before, Labrys?”

“Yeah, I went once with Yu-kun on a trip out to Hokkaido. We looked like a couple o’ old-timers sittin’ there with our poles.”

“Yu does have some old man energy to him. Did you like it, though?”

“I did! It’s not as thrillin’ as fightin’ Shadows, but it was nice to slow down for a change, y’know? Just chattin’ while waitin’ for the fish to bite was a pretty good way to spend the afternoon.”

Satisfied with her own preparations, Labrys winds her arms back and hurls her hook into the distance, landing it about three-quarters of the way up the river. Ren copies the motion, using the techniques he remembers picking up in Tokyo as he begins his efforts here. He decides not to use his Third Eye for now. If anything, that can serve as a trump card should he find his current skills inadequate.

“What about you?” Labrys asks. “You look like you know what you’re doin’. Do you fish often?”

“Only a few times when I was little,” Ren replies. “Hanging out with the girls tended to be indoor events, so when I was with the guys, we usually did something outside. Fishing was a low-energy kind of thing for us to fall back on. Yosuke fell asleep most times we went, and Kanji wasn’t far behind. Teddie only stayed awake because he was mad that he could never catch anything.”

“And Yu-kun put you all to shame, didn’t he?”

“That’s putting it mildly. He was the only one of us who was any good, so it really fell on him to make those trips feel worth it. It was nice to sit around and talk, though, like you said.”

“So that was the last time you went?”

“It was for a while. This probably won’t surprise you, but there isn’t really anywhere to fish in Yamichi. Heartbreak Lake is surprisingly bad for both relationships and sea creatures. Anyway, it wasn’t until I got to Tokyo that I started doing it again at the fishing pond in Ichigaya. My homeroom teacher and I went sometimes to destress.”

And just like his early days with Yu, he once again found himself fishing with someone astronomically better at the activity than he was. Still, any opportunity he got to help Ms. Kawakami relax was time well spent. He’ll have to take her out again next time he’s in Tokyo.

Softly uttered small talk fills the air as Ren and Labrys continue to fish. It only slows once they start pulling in cognitive fish, but never for more than the couple of seconds it takes to secure the catch.

The first of those goes to Labrys, who reels in a goldfish without any trouble. It is then that she and Ren discover that Paw Points form as a single gold coin with a displayed running tally that drops into the earner’s hand upon winning a game. As they continue to catch fish, the number on their coin grows higher based on the types of catches. It is as convenient as it is implausible.

Catches between the two are fairly even as time goes on, even as they both end up sitting down to rest their feet. Ren can’t help but feel a bit outperformed when Labrys pulls up a hefty trout, but with the end goal being as many points as they can manage, quantity isn’t entirely inferior to quality. He can make up for it by finally allowing himself his little cheat code.

As his enhanced eyes scan the water, Labrys puts away her latest catch and starts their conversation anew.

“I still can’t believe we never crossed paths back in the real Inaba. Like, I get I wasn’t there too often, but you’d think I’d’ve seen ya at least once.”

“In fairness, I was hard to find even for our friends. I’m more surprised you never heard about me. They always find a way to work me into conversation, even when I’ve got nothing to do with it.”

“Eh, maybe I just never gave ‘em a chance. I did spend a lotta my visits talkin’ their ears off. Plus, they were always givin’ me tours, so there wasn’t a ton o’ downtime. Still, I kinda wish we’d bumped into each other. It woulda been fun! And I’d know how different you and the Conductor are.”

“Trust me, you’re not missing much.” Ren reels in his next catch with a bit too much force, scaring it away prematurely. “Even though you wouldn’t know based on how crazed the others are for him…”

The bitterness slips out with his words unintentionally. Anyone with working ears could pick up on it, so it isn’t surprising when Labrys gives him an odd look for basically spitting that statement out.

“What, you don’t like ‘em gettin’ all excited about kid you?”

“It’s not that,” Ren says. He raises his hook again in preparation to throw it towards the far end of the river. “I just…really don’t get why it’s such a big deal to them. Fantasma just gave them a replica of younger me, but still, they’re acting like I’m some precious treasure they can’t bear to part with.”

“Well…you ever considered that to them, you are?”

Ren stops mid-cast of his fishing line. The wire hangs limply at his side as he leans forward, putting him in what is surely a dumb-looking pose. This one would be right at home with Yusuke’s modeling requests.

He can’t help it, not with the way his head is swimming from Labrys’s question. As much as he wants to deny her, there isn’t anything that comes to mind that would sound more substantial than something his younger self might have responded with.

Just like his younger self often was, he finds himself dumbfounded into silence. Leave it to someone he has little experience with to completely throw him off balance.

In a meager attempt to respond, Ren quietly says, “No, I…I haven’t really considered that.”

And he won’t. He can’t – not with things as they are now. Not with so much on the line.

Labrys can make as many observations as she wants. He’ll just politely allow her to speak her mind while he keeps his eyes forward.

“I get not thinkin’ that way about yourself,” she says. “Sometimes, when Mitsuru-san and the others talk about me, they make me sound like some kinda miracle. That’s the last thing I feel like, to be honest.”

“You kind of are, though…right? I mean, from what I’ve heard, you had to go through a lot to get here. And with you and Aigis-san being the last of your kind…” Ren shakes his head, letting the pole in his hands fall forward until it taps against the ground. “But I can’t compare to a backstory like that. I’m just a normal guy, one that went from the country to a ghost town to the big city.”

“Normal guy, huh? Can the leader of the Phantom Thieves really say that?”

“Okay, sure, but that’s just one part of me. The rest isn’t exactly very exciting. I really don’t know why the others ever took an interest in me.”

In place of wondering, Ren raises his pole and casts out into the river. He won’t do any good trying to place himself on some relationship web with everyone here. That isn’t productive.

If he casts, he can catch fish. Catch fish, earn more points. Earn points, buy the book, move on, save the Phantom Thieves. Everyone can force him into uncomfortable conversations after that’s done.

Labrys sighs in a remarkably human way, though maybe that thought is a bit insulting. She isn’t just some machine, Ren knows. Still, the way breath leaves her body and the way her shoulders slump down catches him off guard. He knows those are two signs he’s about to be on the end of some weighted words.

“I hope you don’t take this as an insult, Joker-kun, but I feel like you think too much.”

Ren chuckles without taking his eyes off the water. “I have several friends who would argue the opposite, but go on.”

“Well…you keep lookin’ for answers in stuff that’s already settled. Maybe ya don’t know why our friends from Inaba stuck around ya at first, but it’s obvious now, right? Do you need a reason other than that they like ya?”

Her wording stirs up a memory in Ren. Yu had said something along those lines once, hadn’t he? The day they met, Ren expressed the same confusion he sported before, only to be talked down in the exact same way. Is it really that simple?

As quickly as he considers it, a loud voice in his head shuts down that train of thought. It isn’t Arsène or any of his other Personas. No, this is just the part of him that formed after moving to Yamichi, the part that has helped him survive despite the world trying to put him six feet under.

That part of him cries out that things can’t be as simple as Labrys and Yu would have him believe. Maybe it was easy to like him back then, back when he was just a kid wandering around town, but everything is different now. He is different now, even if no one else really understands that.

Then again, who could understand that? The Investigation Team knew him in Inaba, but they’ve missed so much since then. The Phantom Thieves know him deeply now, but they lack the same knowledge about his past. The Shadow Operatives, while accommodating enough, only know what Ren has been giving them.

So no, it just isn’t as simple as accepting Labrys’s reassurance and taking it to heart. There are more Phantom Thief memories to see, and if Ren’s bets are correct, more of his own to see as well. The things that could be shown in those memories might punch a hole in Labrys’s little theory, and being well acquainted with disappointment, Ren has no intention of setting himself up for more.

When that thought makes twelve voices in his heart bristle, he chooses to focus on the water in front of him.

“Joker-kun, you okay?” Labrys asks, her voice sounding far away despite her proximity. “You’re holding your pole kinda tight.”

Ren lets his grip go a little slack. He really must be losing his touch if he’s being so obvious now.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says. “Just thinking.”

Even from the corner of his eye, he can see Labrys wearing a guilty expression.

“Did I…say somethin’ I shouldn’t’ve?”

“No, you’re okay. Our talk has been fine.” If he ignores most of it, anyway. “If anything, the only person I’m worried about saying the wrong thing is the Conductor.”

“The Conductor? What, you think he’ll blab about somethin’ with our friends?”

“It’s possible. He is a kid, after all.”

“But…what could he say that you wouldn’t want them to hear?”

Ren immediately regrets mentioning anything about the subject. He holds nothing against Labrys, but she isn’t anywhere close to being on the list of people Ren wishes to pass his problems onto. With her connection to the Investigation Team, that would spell disaster even more than a leak from his cognitive copy.

Before he has to bear the burden of finding a way to take back his words, a guttural squawk comes from overhead. The sound is only slightly less abrasive than a collection of glass and metal getting chewed up in a trash compactor.

Both Ren and Labrys look up to find a black bird snapping its beak shut. It is perched on top of the wooden booth from before, nestled up against the booth’s display sign. Intermittent lights flashing around the area illuminate the bird’s smooth feathers for seconds at a time. Eyeing the pair at the fishing spot, it lets out another of those horrid calls.

Labrys winces. “Geez, that’s one loud bird. I didn’t know ravens made that kinda noise.”

“Real ones don’t,” Ren replies, already turning back to the water. “And that’s not actually a raven, it’s a cr—”

Even being the one to attempt clarifying the situation does not save Ren from feeling like he has been blindsided by the information. His head whips back to the bird to double check what he already knows to be true. With a smaller size, smoother feathers, and a straight tail, there is no denying that rather than a raven like Labrys thought, what sits above them with hollow-looking eyes is a crow.

A crow , in the middle of a world where basically everything has some kind of deeper meaning.

Ren hops to his feet without taking his eyes off the bird. At his sudden movement, it opens its wings and starts to fly off, so Ren assures Labrys that he’ll be right back before giving chase.

Despite having the entirety of the sky to flee into, the crow remains relatively low, weaving in between telephone poles spaced out evenly in the dirt. After grappling to the top of one, Ren has no trouble bouncing atop the rest like using stepping stones to cross a river.

He keeps pace up until the crow banks left and lands on a bridge overlooking some sort of horror-themed area. The graves underneath the bridge are all obviously plastic props, and the fog machine pumping vapor into the air is plainly visible at the edge of the circle they form. Still, Ren finds it incredibly strange that this is where the bird chose as a landing spot.

Even stranger is the fact that sitting under its gaze gives Ren the same feeling of being watched that hasn’t left him alone since first entering Fantasma. Is this thing directly responsible? Maybe partially?

Then again, he hasn’t noticed a crow following them around this whole time, and surely Fuuka would have picked up on something that was repeatedly around them, cognitive or not. This thing has to be new.

He stands in an odd staredown with the crow for a while. It doesn’t move like a normal bird would. It doesn’t hop around or crane its neck to get a better look at things. All it does is stare right at Ren, pinning him in place.

Tired of getting jerked around by a cognitive bird, Ren wills himself to draw his gun. Aiming it at the crow does nothing. It doesn’t flinch with the weapon trained on it, nor does it even acknowledge its presence. It just continues to stare.

The urge to ask a question is rising within Ren, but what good would that do? The last thing he wants is to feel like an idiot for trying to talk to a bird.

Though maybe he doesn’t want to try because of the possibility of it responding. Anything it had to say would certainly not be something Ren wants to hear.

In the end, the staring contest ends up a loss on both sides. When fireworks burst across the darkened sky overhead, both Ren and the crow snap their gazes to the air. Blinding multicolored lights explode off in the distance, forming a variety of shapes and patterns.

A group of red and orange bursts form an image of Teddie’s mascot head. Some blue and green ones make an Inaba Trout. A smattering of pink, yellow, and white make flowers with puffy petals.

And buried in the center of all those is a purple bloom that takes the form of one phrase written with kanji. It’s hard to make out past the other distracting images, but Ren thinks he has the right word in mind. Why it would be present here escapes him, however.

“Return…?”

The abhorrent squawk that comes from right beside him is a harsh reminder that he isn’t alone. As he turns to look back at the crow across from him, it has its wings spread out again. Though rather than try to fly away, it wraps itself in those wings, covering its body from view.

In the blink of an eye, it vanishes, leaving Ren frantically whipping his head in all directions in search of it. It feels futile from the moment he starts.

With no sign of the crow, Ren pockets his gun and lifts his mask, rubbing the corners of his eyes.

“Let it go, Joker. This place is just messing with you.” Ren’s left hand falls to run down the side of his right. “Stupid to even suspect a random bird to be connected to anything. What would he have to do with any of this?”

The ‘he’ in question certainly wouldn’t be a willing part of it, but when had that ever stopped higher powers from involving him? If there is one benefit to him not being around anymore, it is that nothing can puppet him around now. Ren needs to keep in mind that anything that looks like the detective here won’t be real.

Despite how many times he tells himself that, the thought is anything but comforting.

“Joker-kun!”

Ren peers over the bridge’s edge to see Labrys standing amongst the fake graves below. She calls out to him while waving with both hands.

“You okay up there? You had me worried!”

Story of his life, Ren thinks. In a practiced effort, he takes one breath to reset and puts on his normal assured grin.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he calls back down. “Thought that bird was a clue for something, but it didn’t really pan out. It’s gone now.”

“Oh. You sure you wanna let it go? We could have Fuuka-san take a look for it. Or even Ris—”

“Nah, no need.” Ren vaults the wing wall closest to him to land in front of Labrys. “Let’s just get back to fishing. We still haven’t caught the biggest thing there, right? Let’s see who gets it first.”

Labrys doesn’t say anything right away. Her mechanical eyes pick up right where the crow left off, staring right at something Ren wishes wasn’t so damn visible. He doesn’t feel uncomfortable with her eyes on him, though, just awkward. Her acquired humanity means the fact that she wants to say something more is written plain as day on her face.

And yet, she doesn’t let out some lecture or pry for more information. After letting out another sigh like she did earlier, her lips turn up slightly in an effort to smile.

“Sure. If you say so, Joker-kun. But as a warning, I prob’ly won’t be able to shut up while we’re fishin’.”

“Then you fit right in with everyone else I know from Inaba. Come on, you can tell me all about your cool Shadow Ops missions while I catch the Guardian.”

He’ll catch some fish, earn more points, buy that book from Junes, then move on and save the Phantom Thieves.

That, at the very least, is as simple as it sounds.

Notes:

Me: Drops several troubling pieces of information in one chapter and flees back into my burrow

Also, I ended up splitting everything in Inaba-Land into three chapters instead of two to make it read better, so you've got two more doses of theme park shenanigans coming!

Chapter 15

Summary:

Downtime in Inaba-Land allows for various groups to have fun in their own ways, though not everyone can claim to be enjoying themselves.

As has been the case for the past ten minutes, the basket above Yu Narukami swishes from another one of his dead-on shots. The continuous sound of score after score is only interrupted by the clank of basketballs hitting the rim adjacent to his assigned one.

Beside him, Yosuke sits folded over the empty space where more basketballs will come down when the game starts anew. His annoyance is obvious as he glares daggers at Yu, who just stares back with a pleasant expression.

“Need me to take it easy on you? I could start shooting one-handed.”

“Don’t be smug when you’ve got an advantage. You played basketball in high school!”

“Yosuke, that was seven years ago.”

“Still!”

Yu chuckles to himself as he takes another shot. This one circles the rim a few times, but it still falls into the basket in the end. A head thumps against hard plastic nearby, the sound synonymous with defeat.

“Hey, at least you’re still getting points,” Yu says, starting up another round. “You can’t lose in terms of helping the team progress through Fantasma.”

“I don’t need your pity!” Yosuke sits up enough to prop his head up with his hand and elbow. “And how are you not sick of this game yet? We’ve been parked here for forever.”

“It’s fun if you can actually score.” Yu allows himself a bit of a grin as Yosuke makes a noise of offense. “But really, I just wanted to stick around the others. I don’t want to get busy with something and miss my chance to hang out with Ren-Ren.”

“You actually think you’re getting a turn with him? Fat chance.” Yosuke nods over in the direction of the shooting gallery a few attractions down. “He looks more like one of the stuffed animals from that prize room than an actual kid. Somebody should probably tell Chie to ease up or he’ll pop like a balloon.”

True to his word, Chie is currently holding the Conductor tightly in her lap as he mans the water gun of the shooting game. A firm hold may just be necessary considering how much movement is involved with shooting the target in front of him. He shakes the pilot-like handle of the gun as if that will help it perform better, like a kid leaning from side to side playing a racing game.

“Go, go, go!”

The water stream stays concentrated on the target across from the Conductor, each hit serving to fill the gauge connected to it to achieve victory. It just barely manages to outpace the matching gauges down the line. Those belong to a few cognitions playing the same game, along with Teddie and Yukiko, who are the only audible players due to their volume.

“Come on, come on – bear’s no way anyone wins but me!”

“Don’t count me out yet! I’m winning this!”

Despite either of their declarations, the gauge that reaches the top first with a loud ding belongs to player one in the game. The Conductor gasps as the area around his gun lights up and plays a chiptune victory fanfare.

“I did it!” He twists around, tugging on Chie’s sleeve and pointing back at the game. “Did you see, Chi? I won!”

“I saw! Good job, Ren-Ren!”

“Well fought,” Yukiko says. “Shall we move on to the next game?”

The four of them begin to brainstorm their next stop as they leave the water gun game behind. Teddie runs circles around the rest, suggesting just about any attraction that enters his field of view. Chie suggests the more physically challenging games while Yukiko keeps picking anything that sticks out as bizarre even in a cognitive world.

Though of course, none of them argue when the Conductor makes his own suggestion of trying out the photo booth nearby. Their small group crams into the contraption as best they can, and when the curtain closes behind them, all that can be heard is incessant giggling tumbling out into the street.

Naoto watches all this from her spot across the road. Unlike the cognitions bearing witness to her friend group in passing, her eyes are working to observe their new companion in particular. That level of focus proves intense enough for Kanji to take notice beside her. He leans forward until his head breaches her peripheral vision.

“Yo, Naoto, what’s got you lookin’ like that?”

“Hm? Oh, my apologies. Was I being that obvious?”

“A little bit, yeah. You keep staring at Ren-Ren. Somethin’ bothering you about him?”

“Nothing major. There are simply inconsistencies with his existence that I find hard to ignore.”

“What, like, with his memories and stuff? I thought we all agreed that it was ‘cause of how he got made?”

“We did. But even with the idea that he was born of a combined effort from Ren-kun and the other Phantom Thieves, don’t you think he still seems a bit…off?”

“Uh…I’m not sure what you mean. He’s ‘off’ to you?”

“Yes. Or…maybe the problem lies not with simply him, but rather…”

Naoto trails off and stays silent for a long time. Not an uncommon occurrence, but when juxtaposed by the nonstop noise and commotion of Inaba-Land, the behavior stands out all the more. A normal habit suddenly turns worrying to those around to witness it.

“Naoto?”

Kanji’s grab at her attention brings the detective back down to earth.

“Sorry, perhaps it’s best you ignore me in this state. It seems my tendency to find problems where there aren’t any rears its head even in theme parks.”

“Hey, I didn’t mean to act like you were crazy or nothin’. I just can’t see whatever it is you do. But that don’t mean there’s nothin’ there.” Kanji nods towards their friends across the road. “You’re the best of us at that stuff, you know. If you’ve got a hunch, we’ll follow. No questions asked.”

Naoto smiles, one of her eyebrows rising. “No questions asked, huh? Really?”

“Okay, well, maybe a few questions. It’s hard to keep up with you!”

The pivot makes Naoto chuckle into her hand. “Yes, yes, I understand. Thank you, Kanji-kun. You always have a knack for soothing my nerves.”

The tips of Kanji’s ears go a bit pink. “O–Oh, well…that’s good. Happy to help.”

“At any rate, it wouldn’t do for me to simply ignore all of my instincts. I’ll keep an eye on things just in case anything more concrete jumps out at me.”

“Sounds like a plan. But you should take some time to unwind and have fun with Ren-Ren, too. Oh, wait… I guess it’d be kinda hard for you to get excited about that with all the mystery stuff goin’ around.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Just because I’m not actively fawning over the Conductor does not mean I take no joy in this situation. After all, that is my junior detective partner running around, even if he is merely a cognition based on the real thing.”

Naoto returns her gaze to the Conductor himself, who has moved on to another shooting game. Though unlike the water-based one from before, this one is more traditional, featuring crude popguns sat across from a wall of wooden targets shaped like rubber ducks. They obviously rest on some sort of automated rail system as they bob up and down across the setup.

After watching Teddie demonstrate how to play, the Conductor steps up to take his turn. The problem with doing so is immediately apparent. The gun, though childish in its construction, is too unwieldy for the Conductor’s size. Firing it nearly sends him to the ground, so it is no surprise that his first few shots are wildly off the mark.

“Aw, man… I keep missing,” he says. “I wanted some points…”

Having seen the entire chain of events, Naoto doesn’t need any convincing to approach. Upon reaching the Conductor’s side, she picks up a gun for herself and nods to him.

“Allow me to assist.”

With practiced ease, she aims down the lackluster sight provided and fires, sending a duck spinning around the rail it travels down. With no need to reload in a cognitive world, she fires the rest of the cork bullets without missing a beat. Eight shots down eight targets, each still spinning by the time Naoto lowers her gun back onto the table.

The Conductor hops up and down to see her handiwork better. “Woah, that was awesome! You’re so cool, Nao!”

Naoto doesn’t have the time to hide away the smile that puts on her. Ren had always been unwittingly effective at drawing emotions out of her in his younger years, so it stands to reason an even younger version of him than she had known would only be worse in that regard.

The Conductor is just starting to ask for shooting tips when the last member of the Investigation Team makes her reappearance. Rise trudges towards her friends, feet dragging across the dirt as she reaches their spot.

“Alright, that’s another area scan in the books,” she says. She lets out a long groan as she slumps against Chie’s side. “I need a Ren-Ren hug to recharge!”

“You were gone for five minutes,” Chie says.

“But she is giving us some peace of mind by keeping an eye out for danger,” Naoto says. “We appreciate your diligence, Rise-san.”

“No problem. Now, where’s the baby?”

Naoto steps out of the way to reveal the Conductor still fighting his own stature to try and scope out targets for his next shooting attempt. When he notices the new addition to the group, though, he abandons that to run over to greet her.

“Oh, you’re back!” he says. “Hi, Rise!”

“Hey, little rabbit! What are you up to?”

“Nao just beat this game for me. She got a gun and went all, ‘pew pew,’ and all the ducks fell down! I was gonna try again, but I think everything’s too big for me.”

Rise squats down in front of the Conductor, idly twisting some of the hair draped across his glasses. “Aw, I’m sorry. But hey, if you’re looking for something more your speed, you wanna come play the rhythm game I found nearby?”

“Oh, the one with all the lights you step on?”

“Yep! It looks like it’s based on actual dancing, so I’d probably win if we played, but…”

“Nuh uh! I can totally beat you.”

“You think so? Well, we’ll see about that. Race ya there!”

Rise pulls the Conductor’s hat down over his eyes before running ahead, laughing as he chases after her. Chie and Yukiko follow the squabbling pair with laughter of their own, and Teddie drags Kanji and Naoto along right after.

Yu, however, merely watches them all go on. He slumps against the basketball game in front of him the same way his former opponent had moments ago.

“Maybe my turn with Ren-Ren is further away than I thought…”

Yosuke pats his best friend on the back. “Tried to warn you, partner.”

 

*          *          *

 

“All these attractions and not one baseball game,” Junpei shouts, stomping his way through another end of Inaba-Land. “Who designed this place anyway?!”

“Whatever Shadow-related thing that made Fantasma to begin with,” says Akihiko.

“Along with the cognition of Joker-san,” says Aigis. A bark from near their feet causes her to add, “Yes, and the rest of the Phantom Thieves, Koromaru-san.”

Junpei stares at the group beside him. “Y’know, sometimes you guys gotta let me be rhetorical and gripe in peace.”

In the midst of said griping, the travellers find themselves reunited with another teammate. Ken spots their group as he rounds a street corner and meets them halfway.

“Hey, Ken,” says Akihiko. “Weren’t you with Yamagishi?”

“I was, but we passed by Mitsuru-san and Yukari-san on our way across the park, so she went with them to turn in some points. I wanted to see what everyone else was up to.”

“Not much past listening to Junpei whine. He isn’t satisfied with anything we’ve gotten points from so far.”

Junpei holds his hands up. “Look, all I’m saying is that everyone else is getting their hobbies in game form, so why can’t I? Am I just doomed to watch Aigis crush me at everything we play?”

“Oh, I believe this is a perfect time to make use of a phrase you taught me, Junpei-san.” Aigis clears her throat before plainly uttering, “Skill issue.”

The verbal dagger brings Junpei to his knees while Ken barely stifles a laugh. Akihiko doesn’t even try to hold back his own, and Aigis similarly does not stop herself from looking particularly proud. Koromaru is the only one who tries to comfort the target of ridicule by rubbing against him. It seems to be enough to revitalize him just a bit.

“Oh, come to think of it, did you happen to see Labrys while you were out with Fuuka-san, Ken-san?” Aigis asks. “I haven’t heard from her since she went off with Joker-san.”

“No, I haven’t seen her,” Ken responds. “Or Joker-san, actually. The only ones I’ve seen since we all split up are the Investigation Team with all the running around they’re doing. They’re really getting everything they can from this place.”

“Makes sense,” says Akihiko. “They were pretty eager to hang out with the Conductor. They’ll probably cover this entire park on their own before we’re done.”

“That’s assuming Joker-san doesn’t get us to our point target before then. He seemed pretty determined to get us out of here as fast as possible.”

“And yet, none of us have seen him around yet,” notes Aigis. “My sister’s agenda might be going in her favor.”

“Oh, you mean her plan to befriend our on-loan thief, right?” Junpei asks. “Ya think she’s managing?”

“She does have a knack for making friends. Considering her attachment to Inaba, I believe she will have the easiest time of us connecting to Joker-san.”

“Maybe,” Akihiko says. “If he lets her in, anyway.”

“What, you think he won’t?” Junpei asks.

“Hard to say. We’ve been travelling with him this whole time, but it’s been hard to get a full read on him. That talk I had with him just gave me more questions than answers.”

“You guys talked? When was this?”

“Back when we stayed in that inn for the first time. After everyone else went to bed, I went downstairs and found Yamagishi keeping an eye on him with her Persona. I offered to swap places with her, which led to me getting to talk to Joker for a bit.”

“Was it a good talk?” Ken asks. “Or…?”

Akihiko sighs. “Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. I definitely got through to him, but whether or not it was positive is up for debate. Part of me is worried I stressed him out more.”

“He’s already pretty wound up,” says Junpei. “What the heck did you two talk about that could have stressed him out more?”

“Well…death, for one thing.”

Everyone stares at Akihiko in utter disbelief. He hasn’t gotten looks like this since he first told that story about taking on a bear during his time abroad.

“Dude…”

“I didn’t just mean in general! We talked about losing people. You know, as Persona-users.”

“Oh, so…deaths we’ve had to deal with,” Ken says.

“Yeah, exactly. He wanted to know if we’ve had people we couldn’t save.”

The already somber mood digs into everyone further. Ken and Junpei cast pained glances to the ground while Koromaru whines. Aigis holds her hands over her chest as if afraid something will fall out.

“And…what did you tell him?” she asks.

“The truth. Without getting into specifics, anyway. I didn’t want to scare him by putting the idea in his head that he could walk away from all this with fewer teammates than he started with. But even still…”

“What?” asks Ken.

“Trying to reassure him didn’t do much. And to make things worse, he even told me that I was too late to stop him from experiencing something like that.”

Ken’s eyes blow wide open. “Oh…”

A deep frown settles onto Aigis’s face as she whispers, “So Joker-san has been carrying such  a burden as well…”

Junpei jumps in to salvage the mood, stating, “W–Well, we already knew he had to deal with that at least once, remember? The Phantom Thieves didn’t kill Okumura like the news said, but that was still his teammate’s dad. That probably messed him up a bit.”

“Yeah, but…I don’t know,” Akihiko says. “I think that’s only a small part of it, if anything. I think there was someone else – maybe more than one person, honestly. I just don’t know how to dig into the topic without being too blunt. Or if I even should, considering how bad I was the last time at helping.”

The silence from before resurfaces. The background noise of Inaba-Land doesn’t seem able to penetrate the dour bubble covering the Shadow Operatives gathered. For all their bouts with difficult opponents, battles of the heart and mind are always changing rules and leaving them feeling a bit out of their element.

The first of them to make some noise afterwards is Koromaru, who barks loudly in the middle of the group. He paws at Akihiko’s ankle, barking a few more times as he looks the man in the eyes.

Aigis translates. “Koromaru-san says that it isn’t like you to be so hesitant, Akihiko-san. He believes that being most suited for the job has never stopped you from attempting to help before, so it should not prove to be an obstacle now. Joker-san being new does not exclude him from receiving our help.”

Akihiko blinks a few times, his mind working to catch up to all of that. He chuckles once the words fully set in.

“He said all that with a few barks?”

“Truthfully, my version was paraphrased. Koromaru-san can get much across when he wants to. I hope the intent is clear beyond my wording.”

“Yeah, it is.” Akihiko kneels and gives Koromaru some pats on the head. “Thanks for the kick in the pants, boy. Can always count on you, huh?”

“Arf!”

“I’ve been in the ring enough times to know that not every punch you throw is going to land. No one wants to botch twenty strikes in one match, but as long as that twenty-first hits and puts the other guy on the ground, you’ve done your job.”

Junpei cracks a grin. “You know, feels like you would’ve argued the opposite not too long ago. Old age is softening you up.”

“Like you’re one to talk.” Akihiko stands and stretches his arms out. “We aren’t exactly as good at talking through things like the Investigation Team, but I’ll be damned if I just throw in the towel without giving it my best. We’re here to help all Persona-users through whatever they need, right?”

“Hell yeah! Gotta live up to our title of being the seniors here.”

Aigis nods. “From one Wild Card to another, Joker-san’s mental health is a priority to assist in. Additionally, I already pledged to help my sister in her efforts, and I wish to stick to those words.”

“Speaking of her, we should probably see how Labrys did with Joker-san before we try anything ourselves,” Ken says. “Any ideas where she could be right now?”

The answer quite literally presents itself not five seconds later. The group’s trek had led them to a spot under the track for a massive rollercoaster, one with bullet-shaped cars for riders to sit in.

The loudest ‘yee-haw’ any of them have ever heard passes right overhead after Ken gets his question out, trailing off with the ride’s impressive speed as it rounds a sharp bend and shoots towards a loop in the distance. Even in a place full of cognitions based on a countryside populace, there is no mistaking that exclamation’s origins.

Junpei points up towards the departing line of cars. “I think I found her.”

Akihiko rolls his eyes. “You don’t say. Come on, let’s go meet her at the end of the ride.”

 

*          *          *

 

When Ren returns to the mini-Junes to stash some points, he finds several of his companions already inside. Fuuka, Mitsuru, and Yukari are all chatting next to the exchange machines. He almost opts to sneak by and do his business without bothering them, but Fuuka spots him only a few steps into the room.

“Oh, hello, Joker-kun. Did you have a good time with Labrys?”

“Yeah, we went fishing. It was pretty good. Aside from…um…”

Fuuka cocks her head. “From…what?”

Aside from making him question things that aren’t relevant right now. That, and reminding him how bad he is at talking to people when he doesn’t have the safety net of an arcana to fall back on. It was a lot easier persevering in conversation in Tokyo when he knew he was connected to the person in question.

But none of that concerns Fuuka or the others. Ren shrugs like he wasn’t the one to make the mood awkward in the first place.

“Ah, nothing. Just had some bad memories come up at the time. I’m fine now.” Before Fuuka can question the truth of his claim, he turns to the other two in the group. “Actually, I’m curious about whatever you and Kirijo-san got up to, Takeba-san. I thought I saw horses?”

“Yeah, it was crazy! I thought it would just be a horse show, like with tricks and stuff, but it was a whole racetrack! Anyone could participate, so Mitsuru jumped in to score us some points.”

“I regret to admit that I did not secure first place,” Mitsuru says. “Whatever cognition went into forming this place clearly does not fully understand the practice of horseriding. I had to work through a vexing adjustment period only to get third overall.”

“Hey, points are points,” Ren says. “Whatever gets us out of here and to the next village.”

Yukari snickers. “You say that, but Mitsuru still hasn’t let it go yet. This is the equivalent to her getting a ‘C’ in high school.”

“Which would never happen due to my diligence in studying,” Mitsuru asserts. “A fact which Fantasma will not allow me to utilize, as it seems.”

“Oh, you poor thing.”

Yukari continues to poke fun, causing Fuuka to giggle and Mitsuru to pretend that she isn’t grinning the whole way through. Ren can’t find the same enjoyment in watching.

Instead of the three women in front of him, he hears Ann teasing Makoto about her grades slipping. He can see Makoto’s face blanching at the prospect of that ever happening, as well as Haru hiding her own laughter behind a sip of tea as they all sit around each other. When he hears Ann ask him to back her up and add his own bit of mischief into the conversation, he forces his eyes shut. This isn’t a scene he can afford to entertain.

“Joker?”

When he opens his eyes back up, the Shadow Operatives in front of him are no longer having a moment to themselves. They are all instead worriedly looking to him.

“You okay?” Yukari asks. “You looked like the lights were getting to you or something.”

“Ah, that…” Ren shakes his head. “That’s probably it. I didn’t get much sleep at the inn, and Inaba-Land is way too bright for me. It’s all giving me a headache.”

“Well, don’t push yourself,” Mitsuru says. “We have more than enough people present to reach the point total we need. You need not burden yourself with providing the largest amount.”

She says that, but what other purpose does he serve here? His team is the one in need of saving, so it’s only right that he leads by example. If the positions were switched, there is no way any of the other Thieves would settle for putting up a lackluster point total in getting past this area.

In place of having to explain that, Ren finds himself distracted by another entry to the mini-Junes. The automatic doors part to allow the Conductor in, looking just as energized as he has since meeting everyone back in that clearing. Kids already have crazy amounts of energy, and it seems being cognitive only ratchets that up even further.

“Ooh, lots of people here,” he says, speeding over to the group. “Hi, everyone!”

“Oh, uh…hey,” Ren says. It still feels so weird to address himself in any capacity. “I’m shocked to see you on your own. How’d you manage to get away from the others?”

“I wanted to come get a prize all by myself. Rise said it was okay since she can still see me. I don’t know what she means, though.”

He may not, but Ren does. When he focuses on the slight mental connection hovering just out of reach, it becomes obvious that Kouzeon is active in the distance. Rise is in full helicopter-babysitter mode.

“You guys are going for that weird book, right?” the Conductor asks. “Do you want some of my Paw Points to help?”

“That’s sweet, but I think we’re okay,” Yukari tells him. “We’ve got a lot of people handling it, so we’ll manage. Go ahead and get something nice for yourself. You’ve worked hard too, I’m sure.”

“Okay!”

The young boy runs over to the prize room, standing up on his toes in order to get a better view of everything on the shelves above. As Ren takes his own look into the room, it becomes immediately apparent where his double’s points are about to go. At that age, he doesn’t think he could have resisted the allure of a giant stuffed lion either.

The toy has the Conductor transfixed for a while, but he eventually pries himself away to come racing back into the main room. He heads to the front counter and taps against the side to get the cognitive employee on duty’s attention.

“Excuse me? I wanna use my Paw Points on the lion in there,” he says, pointing back towards the prize room. “Could you get it down for me?”

The cognition’s eyes narrow, and its mouth contorts into a sneer. “Get it yourself – I’m on break.”

The Conductor steps back a bit. “But…I can’t reach it. I just need a little help—”

Raising its voice, the cognition shouts, “What part of ‘on my break’ don’t you get? God, what a pest. Don’t you have a train to wash or something? This place is bad enough without you running around.”

The Conductor has fully backed away from the counter now, holding his arms close to his chest and curling in on himself. He looks just like he did back on the White Rabbit after talking about breaking that family photo. He’s making a more concentrated effort not to cry this time, though.

Something protective flares up in Ren. He’s been where his cognitive double is right now, and he knows how humiliating it is to be in that spot with no one around to help. If nothing else, Ren can take some enjoyment in firing back some choice words at this fake Junes employee.

Interestingly enough, however, Mitsuru beats him to it. She places a hand on the Conductor’s back and gives him an apologetic look before turning a fierce one on the cognitive employee in front of her. The look is so pointed that Ren half-expects her to draw her rapier alongside it.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but your dismissive and belittling behavior is inexcusable. That is no way to treat anyone, let alone a child. He asked politely for what he is owed, so I suggest you fix your attitude and accommodate him.”

“Listen, lady—”

“No, you listen.”

Mitsuru’s hand smacks against the countertop, and though the noise isn’t that loud, Ren can’t blame the Conductor for flinching the way he does. There has been a definitive shift in the air, and Ren is glad that he is standing behind the Kirijo Group’s head now.

“Our companion’s request was a completely reasonable one. He has made no trouble for anyone since our arrival, even going so far as to aid the rest of us in getting used to the area. Every action he has taken thus far has been nothing but polite. I, on the other hand, have no qualms about being ‘unpolite’ should you continue to show him such disrespect.”

“B–But…I—”

“That was not an invitation for discussion. You will do your job. Now.”

Despite the frost emanating from Mitsuru’s tone, the cognition has no problem moving. It scrambles to its feet, hightailing it into the prize room and hoisting itself up to grab the lion plush from up high. It can barely get the thing into the Conductor’s hands fast enough to sate Mitsuru’s glare.

Despite the earlier mistreatment, the Conductor still offers his thanks as the employee retreats back behind the counter.

“Oh, and thank you too, Miss Mizu— I mean, Miss Missu… Mmph.”

“Mi–tsu–ru,” she enunciates. “Helping was no trouble. And when it comes to my name, you don’t have to add the ‘Miss’ if it makes it more difficult for you to say.”

“No, I can do it!” The Conductor squeezes the lion in his arms like it’s helping to charge him up. “Mm… Miss Mitsuru. There!”

Mitsuru chuckles and applauds the effort. “Ah, such astonishing improvement in a short span of time. Well done, Conductor.”

Despite the praise, the boy’s face droops into something visibly displeased. Mitsuru takes notice of it immediately.

“Is something the matter?” she asks.

“Friends call each other their names. Are…we not friends?”

The question makes Mitsuru’s eyes widen a tad. “Oh… That was not my intent. I simply did not want to overstep. I have no problem calling you by name, Amamiya.”

“Not that one. Won’t you call me Ren-Ren?”

“I…” Mitsuru averts her gaze, poise draining out of her by the second. “I don’t know if—”

“Please?”

Even with as ridiculous as this is getting, Ren has to admit that he feels bad for Mitsuru right now. His cognitive double has wet eyes the size of dinner plates, and putting up a fight after what they all just witnessed is a tough enough task on its own.

“Very well,” she relents. “I will do my best to abide by your request…Ren-Ren.”

His earlier smile comes right back. “Thank you!”

Mitsuru is spared staring at what equates to direct sunlight as Fuuka steps in to take the Conductor’s attention. Ren watches her crouch down to give a bunch of fun facts about lions. The Conductor listens on in awe through every one of them.

Yukari watches the same, though she nudges Ren in the middle of doing so.

“I haven’t seen Mitsuru get flustered like that in a long time,” she says. “The Conductor’s a little miracle worker. It’s no wonder he’s got everyone from Inaba wrapped around his finger.”

“I still don’t see it,” Ren replies.

“Isn’t it obvious? He’s so endearing that you just want to go along with whatever he says. That smile of his could light up this room on its own.”

“Hm. You know, you’re starting to sound like the others.”

“I mean… I wouldn’t say I’m totally on their side here, but…”

Ren groans. “No… Please tell me he didn’t get you too, Takeba-san.”

“He’s so cute, Joker. I swear, whoever’s cognition he came from made him supernaturally adorable.”

Well, if the working theory that the Phantom Thieves are unintentionally responsible ends up being true, Ren won’t be all that surprised. He does wish his own cognition had balanced it out a bit, though.

Armed with his prize and the satisfaction of making a new friend, the Conductor starts to walk towards the mini-Junes’s exit.

“Okay, I’m gonna go back to the others now,” he says. “They wanna take me on the merry-go-round with the scooters.”

“Aw, I bet that’ll be fun,” Yukari says. “Do you know how to get back to them?”

“Mmhm! I’m good with directions. I’ll be okay.”

“Then don’t let us keep you,” says Fuuka. “We’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay! Bye-bye!”

He’s off as fast as someone lugging around a plush two-thirds their size can be. Ren trusts the boy’s confidence in knowing directions, but navigating when his eyes are blocked by a mane of faux fur likely comes with some issues.

Though really, if he takes even half a step off the right path, Rise will probably sprint there to course correct him.

Apparently Ren’s been staring at the door a bit too long because Yukari takes notice of the way his eyes linger.

“You know, you say you don’t get the hype, but you’re awfully invested in the little guy,” she says. “Did you want to go with him?”

“And see the others when they’re all acting loopy? No thanks. And can you blame me? There’s a cognition running around with my face, of course I’m going to pay attention.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s fair. I don’t even know what I’d do if we found a younger me in here. I would love to see kid Mitsuru, though. Did you know she used to wear her hair in little spirals?”

Mitsuru coughs behind her glove. “I believe we’re getting off topic. Is something troubling you beyond the Conductor’s appearance, Joker? You’ve appeared distracted a few times since we arrived in Inaba-Land.”

Well, that’s embarrassing. Here he is supposed to be leading the charge to moving on to the next area, and the one thing Mitsuru has taken notice of is him being a total space case.

“I’m fine,” he responds. “I just…feel like I’m going insane whenever the Conductor’s around. I mean, nothing’s really changed for us, but everyone’s in such high spirits anyway. Part of it is the theme park, I know, but…why does the Conductor add so much for everyone? He’s not even fully me.”

“Does that really matter?”

All heads turn to Fuuka. Becoming the center of attention does make her hesitate, but only for a moment. She faces Ren and continues her prior thought before he can ask about it.

“I’m sorry if this is overstepping in any way, but…I don’t think the Conductor’s makeup is really a dealbreaker. We haven’t known you for long, but I think everyone on the Shadow Operatives have come to care for you in our own ways, Joker-kun, and I know the Investigation Team’s care goes way beyond that. That all comes down to who you are as a person, one who draws others in by virtue of being you. So even though the Conductor isn’t the complete ‘you,’ that just means that your essence – the very idea of you – is one worth loving and feeling attached to. Having that idea in front of them so boldly is what everyone from Inaba is truly happy about.”

The face Ren makes now is surely no better than those of the fish he pulled up a while ago – something gaping and foolish. He can’t even will himself to fix the expression with how his mind and heart are in need of rebooting.

Whoever said navigators can’t do damage was obviously lying through their teeth.

“I…” It takes a humiliating amount of effort to get his voice working again. “I’m gonna…head off to find some more points. See you guys later.”

Turning around and walking off after that makes for the most awkward exit of his life, but Ren sees no other option but to keep going once he starts. The important thing here is putting some distance between himself and…whatever Fuuka just tried to inspire in him.

Brief as it was, it was like talking to Labrys all over again. What is it with the Shadow Operatives and their emotional surgery? Every time he thinks he’s in the clear, one of them goes digging around and cutting too close to what has no right being in plain view.

If this is what’s in store from hanging around them, this latest task will go much more smoothly if he just does it solo. Thankfully, there isn’t anyone around this time to protest.

Back inside, Yukari lets out a sigh once it is only her and the other girls remaining in the building.

“Fuuka, I know how much you’ve grown since high school, but it always surprises me how direct you can be without meaning to.”

“H–Huh? Wait, did I say something wrong?”

“Not wrong, just… It was a lot with a little, I guess.” Yukari looks off towards long-closed doors. “I think Joker’s going to need some time to sit on it.”

Despite the attempt to put it delicately, Yukari’s words still cause Fuuka to wilt like the guilt of sending Ren away is physically weighing her down. Mitsuru lays a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I wouldn’t take any of this to heart, Yamagishi. Joker has a lot on his mind, so we really cannot predict how he’ll react to anything he hears, especially coming from strangers. I had a headstart on all of you in speaking to him, and yet I still fall short in finding ways to connect with him.”

“I’m just glad that’s something you’re even considering with all of us on a mission,” says Yukari. “I mentioned Fuuka growing, but you’ve come a long way yourself.”

“Absolutely,” Fuuka says, a little of her spirits rising. “In a world where your position could easily have broken your spirit, you still choose to be kind and reach a hand out to others. You should be proud, Mitsuru-san.”

“Well, I don’t always feel up to the standards I set for myself, but it would be wrong of me to argue either of your points. Thank you both for remaining by my side long enough to see such changes.”

“Like we’d ever leave you on your own,” Yukari says. “Just because you’ve changed doesn’t mean you’re totally normal. Joker may be a bit out of sorts now, but he at least knows how to have fun past being business casual. You might want to ask him for tips at the end of all this.”

Mitsuru shakes her head. “You have gotten much too used to teasing me.”

“Yeah, because that’s my job. What else is a best friend for?”

“That would explain a lot of Natsuki-chan’s comments to me,” Fuuka says. “That’s what you mean, right?”

Yukari falters, her eyes seeking out somewhere to land that isn’t Fuuka’s face. “Oh, that’s not— Uh, you and Moriyama have a…different thing going on, I think.”

“Hm?”

“N–Never mind.” Yukari spins on her heel to face the Junes exit. “Hey, why don’t we get moving? Still got a lot of park to see, haha…”

Rather stiffly, she marches her way out of the sliding doors and into the park proper.

“Was I supposed to get something that I didn’t?” Fuuka asks.

“I’m as lost as you,” Mitsuru replies. “Sometimes I wonder if this is how Aigis felt in her early days with us.”

“Maybe,” Fuuka says, giggling. “Of course, you could argue she’s the most human of us all now. It’s been really great to— Agh…”

The sudden hiss of pain cutting through the air makes Mitsuru jolt in place. She turns to find Fuuka raising a hand to her head with her eyes squeezed shut.

“Yamagishi, what’s wrong? Has something happened?”

“I…” Fuuka bites her lip, a hand still pressed to her temple. “I’m not sure.”

Mitsuru frowns. “You sense something. Shadows?”

“No. At least…I don’t think so? Um…I think I need to go talk to Rise-chan. Whatever this is, it doesn’t feel right.”

“Go. I’ll explain to Yukari and prepare for trouble. If need be, we can gather the others.”

“Thank you. I’ll do my best to get to the bottom of this.”

With that, she hurries off to the busier part of Inaba-Land, leaving Mitsuru to let out a heavy sigh.

“An enemy we can’t see with tactics that puzzle even Yamagishi. Loathe as I am to admit it, there is a real possibility that they have merely been toying with us this whole time. And when that stops being the case…”

Mitsuru shakes her head, unwilling to subject herself to visions of doom just yet. She has to let Fuuka do her work first, then plan for their response. Getting ahead of herself helps no one.

Though life has beaten contrary lessons into her, she holds onto the tiniest shred of hope that things aren’t becoming as dire as she fears.

 

*          *          *

 

“You don’t have to carry me like this,” the Conductor says. “I’m big! I can walk.”

“I know,” Rise replies, swaying a bit with each step. “I just like carrying you. I can’t do it as easily to the big Ren anymore.”

Maybe she could fix that by adding in some strength training to her normal exercise routine. She isn’t really a fan of upper-body workouts, but for a task like this, she could make the sacrifice. Grown-up Ren’s face would be so worth it.

Continuing on, her eyes carry on the tough task of taking in the near endless sights of Inaba-Land. It seems like attractions continue to sprout up out of view no matter which way everyone goes. Rise hadn’t had any idea about the soccer arena that the rest of her friends went off to take part in until they mentioned it.

Hopefully they manage to secure the big payout of Paw Points the arena advertised. Yu was the one to point out that they hadn’t exactly been making the biggest contributions to the effort to get that book back at the tiny Junes, and thus, the gambit to win big in soccer was decided on. Rise is choosing to take responsibility her own way by keeping the Conductor company in the meantime.

She is still annoyed about all the flat looks she got when she posed the idea.

“So, what do you want to do next, Ren-Ren?” she asks. “We could go ride the spinning coffee cups. Or we could do that big slide down the hill! We could even stop to get some food. Wait, do you even have to…um…”

She trails off, unsure how to phrase her question without sounding like she thinks less of him than anyone else she came with. Dehumanizing him feels wrong, even knowing his origin.

She settles on a simple, “Are you hungry at all?”

“Not really.”

He seems willing to leave it at that, so Rise is as well. No need to lose sleep over a cognition’s lack of eating, even if that cognition looks like a growing boy who she used to have to regularly convince to eat more.

“We can go eat if you want to, though,” he says, because of course any version of Ren would still be looking out for others.

Rise shakes her head. “I’m okay. I think I’d rather have something filling than amusement park food.”

There is also the probability that anything served here is merely cognitive, so a food break will have to wait until the team reaches another safe room.

“Oh, that makes sense,” the Conductor says. “A lot of stuff around here is bad for you, I think.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. These places aren’t really known for having health in mind. Oh, but if this is ‘Inaba-Land,’ I wonder if there’s anywhere based on Marukyu…”

“There is.” The Conductor points out towards the entrance of the park. “It’s kinda hidden, but it’s near the front. They sell stuff made of tofu.”

“Really? Well, I have to check that out at some point. I hope it’s living up to the Marukyu name.”

“Maybe? I dunno how it tastes. I don’t go there because I don’t like tofu very much.”

“Huh?” Rise slows her pace, looking down at the boy in her arms. “But…you used to come by grandma’s shop all the time to pick some up. She started putting some aside for your visits after a while, and I’m pretty sure you ate it every time. Why’d you come if you don’t like tofu?”

“To see you.” The Conductor tilts his head, causing the bunny ears on his hat to flop to the side. “Didn’t you know?”

Her first thought is, of course, a firm ‘no.’ It isn’t like her Ren ever made it a point to mention that, after all.

But when she thinks about it a little more, how could she have ever thought differently? His excuses for visits were always flimsy – claiming to just be in the neighborhood, or wanting to get out of the heat, or being polite and saying hi to Rise’s grandmother. Recycled lines like those should have clued her in to his true feelings long ago.

And really, no kid likes tofu that much.

Rise squeezes the Conductor in a hug like the force can transfer to his older self across the park if she tries hard enough. Either way, he’ll get what’s coming to him before they all leave.

“I know now,” she says. “That’s enough for me.”

“So I helped?”

“You sure did! Just like always.”

“Like always…”

If there is anything Rise is used to locking onto, it’s the way her Ren’s voice falls flat when he’s upset. The Conductor has the same quirk, though his voice is a bit too high-pitched to fall as far as his counterpart’s. It still sets off the alarms in Rise’s head.

“Ren-Ren, what’s wrong?”

“You say I help, but…that doesn’t make people keep by me.”

“Huh?”

The Conductor leans back, separating from Rise so that he can turn his head away. With this positioning, she can’t see what kind of face he’s making.

“I try to help all the time. I drive the train, I clean things up, I show people around the village…but nothing works. Everyone’s still gone after. I miss Nanako and Mr. Dojima, and Marie, and Kanamin. I never get to see anyone…”

The admission sends a spiderweb crack sprawling across Rise’s heart. She knew this cognitive Ren had memories past where he should, but hearing him lay everything out like this takes a bigger toll on her than she could have expected. Such a raw wound bared so plainly makes her have trouble remembering that the boy in her arms isn’t the real deal.

A desperate plea breaks out of the Conductor before she can respond. Small fingers latch onto her jumpsuit, pulling himself back to where he was before. Maybe even closer than that.

“B–But you and the others are here now, so I’ll try not to be lonely anymore if you stay! You’ll keep playing with me, won’t you? Please, Rise?”

“I…”

She so badly wants to say yes. There is nothing she wants more than to erase that uncertainty off a face she is so fond of. But it isn’t that simple.

Once they get enough points to buy that Phantom Thief book, they’ll be moving on from this area. With all the danger lying in wait, it doesn’t make sense to drag the Conductor with them either, which means there is a definite parting in their future. She can’t give him what he wants most.

Her heart aches at the thought of watching him wave goodbye to her from a distance all over again.

“Look, Ren-Ren…”

“Rise-chan!”

Disappointing the Conductor takes a sudden back seat as Rise finds Fuuka running over. She looks anxious, which isn’t exactly abnormal for her, but considering she hasn’t looked like that since starting their exploration of Fantasma, Rise doesn’t think she has anything particularly good to report now.

“Fuuka-san? What’s—”

“We need to scan the park,” Fuuka declares, bent over and half out of breath. “Things feel off – I’m hoping our Personas together will give me the answers I need.”

Rise has no idea what answers Fuuka means, nor what could possibly be wrong, but she has learned that her navigating senior is not someone to disregard when she feels like something isn’t right.

Nodding once, Rise lowers the Conductor to the ground and takes a few steps away before summoning Kouzeon. Fuuka calls for Juno right after, and the two synchronize their efforts to scan over the entire amusement park.

At first, all the feedback Rise gets is the same as every other time she’s scanned for threats here. She can vaguely feel the cognitions walking around, the constant thrum of faux electricity powering the park, and a familiar stillness in the locations past that have already been mapped out. That only lasts until she feels Fuuka begin to dig in a bit deeper.

With her fellow navigator leading the way, Rise finds herself stumbling into an all new feeling. This one lacks subtlety, washing over her in an instant once it’s uncovered. The hollowing sensation wracks her body with chills, causing goosebumps to raise across the back of her neck and her breath to quicken. Things only get worse once her senses pick up higher concentrations of that same feeling buried all over the park.

“What the…?”

Fuuka looks gravely serious as she reaches out to take Rise’s hand. “You feel it too, don’t you? That overwhelming sensation lurking beneath this place?”

“Y–Yeah, but…why?” Rise’s pigtails whip around as she shakes her head. “Why would this theme park feel like…like—”

“Like a haven for death?”

Rise is glad Fuuka said it because the lump in her throat isn’t showing any signs of going away. Clamming up like this has always been instinct when faced with life or death situations, and she doesn’t take that feeling lightly regardless of where it stems from. But she still can’t understand why it’s making itself known here of all places.

Softly, the voice next to the girls asks, “What’s weird about that?”

Both Rise and Fuuka turn their heads to the Conductor. Unlike them, he doesn’t look concerned about anything happening. The two Personas looming over him haven’t startled him at all, nor did the navigators’ talk just now.

“What?” Rise asks.

“You said it was weird for death to be in Inaba-Land, but that’s just how it is here.” The Conductor’s voice is steady as he adds, “Don’t you know? Everyone who stays here ends up that way.”

No matter how many times Rise blinks, reality does not shift to its previous state. The Conductor meets her gaze with no trepidation. Unlike her, a girl struggling to fill her lungs with air, he suffers no ill effects from his own revelation. To him, all that has taken place is a simple exchange of facts.

Before she can even try to summon enough breath to dive into his words, a heavy wave of dread washes over the area. Rise and Fuuka both stumble to the ground, weighed down by its intensity.

“That sensation is getting worse,” Fuuka states. “It was content to lurk under the surface at first, but this…”

“Something’s making a move,” Rise says. “So much for fun time in Inaba-Land.”

“We need to start contacting people. I’ll get in touch with my team.”

“And I’ll handle mine. Then we can—”

Running through the people she needs to get in touch with in her head reminds her of one outlier in their plans. There are three teams to account for, even if one of them only has one member present. The fact that she hasn’t seen him at all recently only increases her building panic.

“Wait…where’s Ren?”

 

*          *          *

 

It may have been a convenient excuse earlier, but Inaba-Land really is starting to give Ren a headache. There are too many lights, too many sounds, and too many cognitions to shove past each in their own little bubble of enjoyment. It grates on him more with every step, drilling into his skull and tap-tap-tapping away against bone.

The urge to dig a hole and stick his head in until it’s time to leave is growing by the second. He resists, if only to avoid looking astronomically stupid.

Being somewhere like Destinyland would be better than this, he decides, even with the bad memories the park would bring. He hopes such memories have less of an impact on him before his eventual moving-in party.

A party, his brain reminds, that can’t happen until he clears this place and gets the Thieves back. Ren shoves his thoughts of digging holes away and picks up his pace.

His speedwalking takes him to another neglected corner of Inaba-Land, one playing host to a lone attraction surrounded by a cluster of broken neon signs advertising the ‘Yomi Funhouse.’ Suddenly the gaudy building shaped like a circus tent at the end of the path makes more sense.

As Ren approaches, he wonders if this is even worth his time. What sort of points would a funhouse even offer?

Maybe it will end up being like the maze in Sae’s Palace where completion counts for attaining a reward. If that’s the case, he can manage this on his own. If he gets to the end and nothing happens, then at least no one will know but him.

Cresting the stairs, Ren pushes the saloon-style doors inwards to enter and is immediately met with even more signs. These at least have lighting coming from the floor to help remain readable, however, so Ren gives them each a quick skim.

From what he can see, this place’s gimmick is tailoring the experience to the person going through it. No two guests will experience the same sights and thrills, it claims, and anyone brave enough to reach the end will find themselves transformed by the experience.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Ren says.

In the real world, signs like these would only earn a roll of his eyes. But here in Fantasma, a world where metaphors become reality, the last bit of advertisement could mean something really bad.

Still, points are points – he can handle a little risk. If he begins to near a point of no return, he’ll just bail. A voice that sounds like Makoto’s chiding him in his brain proves ineffective as Ren keeps repeating that claim to himself.

Commitment set, Ren walks further into the funhouse. The building is largely unimpressive in the early portions. There is a circular floor that spins continuously to throw visitors off-balance, but Ren just walks through like it’s any other floor. The air jets that push his coattails upwards are nothing more than a novelty, and the same goes for the rope net hanging over a large ball pit.

It isn’t until Ren makes it halfway through the funhouse that things start to take a turn for the eerie. All the colorful lights and childish decorations that have been present until now vanish entirely, replaced by unfinished signs with faceless park mascots and paint drippings long dried onto the walls. The dark red coloring of the latter gives Ren just a bit of pause before pressing on.

He soon finds himself face to face with a classic maze of mirrors. Each one warps his image in a different way – he’s pencil thin in one and as round as a beach ball in another. Navigating his way through is more of a pain than it should be simply because he keeps seeing such odd reflections popping up in his field of vision.

Making it to what looks to be a middle portion of the maze gives him the biggest shock of the entire building so far. His reflection has indeed been warped, but beyond anything mirrors should physically be able to do.

Staring back at him in the same mid-walk pose he pauses in is a version of himself as a child. Slightly older than the Conductor, this depiction is much closer to the original. Here, kid Ren wears a normal outfit with his usual glasses over empty-looking eyes. It’s a look Ren is more than familiar with.

As Ren stares at the mirror image, more begin to fill the mirrors surrounding that initial one. One by one, the mirrors on either side begin to reflect people who are nowhere in sight at the moment. Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Yosuke, Rise, Naoto, a costume-less Teddie, and Yu take positions as if they were standing here in the flesh.

The same kind of distortion found in the mirrors earlier aren’t present in these, save for one distinct alteration. Their heights have all been increased, making them tower over the pint-sized Ren in the middle. In fact, he seems to actively shrink with them present.

When Ren steps closer to the mirror holding his inaccurate reflection, it doesn’t get any bigger despite copying his action. The same goes for when he steps backwards – the mirror image remains the same size.

He stretches himself out, raises his arms into the air, tilts all manner of ways, and even jumps into the air as much as the room allows. It doesn’t matter – nothing he does makes him any bigger in the mirror. His reflection continues to cower under the height of everyone else in his life. If anything, it looks even more pathetic than it had upon forming.

With a sight like this, the message could not be clearer.

You don’t measure up, and you never will.

Several voices buzz in his mind, but Ren can’t really parse any of those reactions past his own frustration at seeing all this.

There just isn’t any end to the bullshit that Fantasma is putting him through. It already has his friends held captive, so why does he have to watch joint memories that he has already lived – ones turned bittersweet by the situation at hand. Why is his life being picked apart and used as set dressing for a cognitive world that he had no hand in making?

Things were normal not that long ago. Not good – living in Yamichi could never qualify as ‘good’ – but they were at least stable. He knew the game and how to play, knew how to walk the path he had claimed for himself without ruffling too many feathers along the way. Sure, it was a hollow version of who Tokyo had shaped him into, but that was fine. It was just another role to fill.

He had Morgana at his house to talk to. He had Shiho to visit when things got tough. When the loneliness got to be too much, the Thieves were always available by phone, and that wasn’t even mentioning how many times he had just boarded a train to go and see them directly.

That rhythm lasted him so long, but for a while now, it’s felt like he has lost his grip on even the simplest parts of his life. Now he can’t even be a Phantom Thief correctly without losing his mind.

And to top it all off, this nightmare world has to pick at scars long scabbed over. It’s not enough that he still can’t wrap his head around everyone from Inaba finding him again, Fantasma has to remind him of all the baggage he left behind in the countryside. Forget being a Phantom Thief, he can’t even play the part of a childhood friend anymore.

“Trickster…”

Oh, and it’s not like he’s fitting into the Shadow Operatives any better, shrugging off their every word and treating them like coworkers despite all their help. It’s a wonder Mitsuru didn’t detain him on the spot back when they met.

He never would have gone quietly, but at least fighting is something he knows he can do without letting anyone down—

“Trickster!”

The shout from Ren’s side snaps him out of his trance, dragging him past labored breaths and blood pumping in his ears. He draws his head back from the warmed glass of the mirror to see nothing but black feathers encircling him. Arsenè hovers just high enough to keep Ren hidden away from the rest of the world.

His face is the same as always, meaning there is nothing to misinterpret. There is no pity to be found, no judgement or disdain, nor is there disappointment.

Fiery eyes stare down at him with nothing but patience. They are the eyes of one who already knows what they will witness next.

Staring into his other self, the one part of him he never has to doubt, is the sobering sight Ren desperately needed. It shouldn’t have taken his own mask manifesting for him to get a grip, but his mind is no longer hurtling down a cliff into darkened depths.

“Sorry,” Ren whispers, wiping the small line of sweat from his forehead. “It’s just been…”

“I know.” Arsenè reaches a claw out and taps Ren’s chest, right where his heart is. “I am thou…”

Ren breathes out slowly. “Thou art I.”

Nothing more needs to be said. Six words contain all the understanding the two need.

Satisfied, Arsenè dissolves into motes of light, drifting forward to reform the mask on Ren’s face. He feels lighter with the weight of it upon him again.

When he glances back into the mirror that set him off originally, the child from his past is gone, along with the Investigation Team. All that awaits his eyes is the lone image of Joker staring back, hands firmly in his pockets. A bit more disheveled than usual, but Ren can excuse that. No one looks great after a minor breakdown.

“Okay, back to work,” he says aloud. “I think it’s high time I stopped playing by this place’s rules and started playing by mine.”

A single blink lets the power of his Third Eye activate. He takes a sweeping look all around him, searching for any part of this room that could take him beyond what its creator wants visitors to see. He wouldn’t be a very good thief if he wasn’t constantly heading into restricted areas.

His search rewards him with a mirror that shines under his vision unlike any of the others. When he drops his Third Eye, it’s clear that this one is slightly less reflective than its peers. A couple of knocks against it produce a sound close to tapping sheet metal.

“Jackpot. Coming through!”

Ren shoves his foot against the faux mirror as hard as he can, kicking it out of its place like busting down a locked door. It lands with a loud clang , the sound echoing into the dark room it was attached to. When Ren pulls himself inside, his hand brushes against a light switch of all things. He flips it upwards before continuing on.

The addition of lights takes a second to get used to. Ren isn’t ready for how it makes the already white walls around him pop even more, forcing him to squint. It also doesn’t help that most of the boxlike room is empty, leaving his vision swimming in that bright white.

Though, the same emptiness does not apply to the wall directly across from him. The entirety of that wall is taken up by an elaborate oil painting and the small plaque below it. Aside from the unorthodox manner of entry, this is no different than the kind of art exhibits spread all over the real world.

Ren wonders if this was originally supposed to be part of the museum section of Fantasma. It seems odd to have a whole exhibit hidden within a funhouse, but when has this world ever made logical sense otherwise?

The painting across from him is large enough to see from the entrance, but Ren still gets a little closer for his viewing. It would be an insult to all his time spent with Yusuke not to take in every detail the painting has to offer.

Apparently titled, ‘The Misfit Bride,’ the piece is mostly centered around a pale-skinned woman dressed in a flowing black robe with puffy lace along the neckline and a headpiece with matching material. Her face is marred by thin cracks like damage inflicted on an old porcelain doll. The same kind of cracks appear on her hands, both of which are wrapped around a long wooden staff with one end curled into a spiral to hold a small flame in place.

Honestly, Ren thinks she looks more like some sort of sorceress than a bride. That would explain why the figure is painted in the middle of a dimly lit study surrounded by cauldrons and tomes of all sizes.

He leans down in order to get a look at the golden plaque at the painting’s base. Like the art gallery in Ueno, the extra blurb provided seems to be background information on the piece itself.

It reads, ‘A masterclass of oil paint in portrait, The Misfit Bride depicts a woman whose ambitions were too much for her environment to accept. An entire lifetime is conveyed through the history of her atelier, in which we can still see the heights her works have yet to reach. Her command over nature and science alike is evident, from the dual crows at her side to the numerous bottles of starlight decorating her topmost shelf. Her efforts are beyond what the masses surrounding her could ever hope to understand.’

Having finished reading, Ren frowns at the description. It says nothing about the artist, or when it was made, or its connection to Fantasma. All this plaque does is tell some story about the figure painted on it, rambling about her goals and her room and her crows.

“Wait, did it mention two crows?”

After double-checking the plaque, Ren looks the painting up and down again. This time, his eyes catch on a particularly dull spot compared to the vibrant colors all around it. It looks like someone took a precision knife and cut the image right out. More importantly, it looks vaguely shaped like a bird. Comparing that missing section to the crow that rests on the bride’s desk nearby pretty much confirms it.

“There’s only one crow here…”

Only one in the actual painting, his brain quickly corrects. It isn’t the only crow he’s seen in the park, is it?

The idea of logic applying to this place has long since been discarded, and if that is the case, who is to say that something like a painting can’t affect the world around it? Doesn’t it seem right in line with everything else around to have fantasy manipulated into reality?

That raises the question of who brought the crow out in the first place. Or rather, why bring it out? It didn’t exactly do anything noteworthy aside from creepily staring while Ren fished with Labrys. After that it just vanished into the wind once those fireworks went off.

Well, even without much to go on, the escalation of manifested threats needs to be brought up to everyone else. At the very least, the navigators should know. Hopefully this won’t be awkward with how he took off earlier.

“Yamagishi-san, can you hear me? I found something weird.” When he gets no response, Ren closes his eyes and tries to reach out mentally again. “Yamagishi-san? Rise? Anybody?”

His efforts do not summon any form of contact. In fact, for the first time since arriving in Inaba-Land, he feels utterly alone in both mind and presence. Something is wrong.

As fast as he can, he heads back the way he came to burst through the funhouse’s entrance. Crossing the threshold puts him into an amusement park drenched in utter chaos, a far cry from how it appeared not long ago.

Attractions are burning. The once dazzling sky is now filled with thick clouds of smoke. Cognitions are fleeing in terror, stumbling over themselves to escape some unseen threat.

“What the hell?”

Ren isn’t sure how long he spent in that funhouse, but it shouldn’t have been long enough for things to go this bad. He’ll have to find out what happened from one of his allies once he finds them.

His journey to do so is immediately halted by a small tremor through the ground in front of him. The force splits the earth apart, allowing a group of actual skeletons to push their way to the surface. Sunken pockets where eyes once were stare up at Ren, tracking his position with uncanny accuracy. In each of the skeletons’ hands is a farm tool of some sort, be it pitchfork, shovel, or garden hoe. Those weapons are all aimed at Ren once the skeletons get their bearings.

The sight makes him grin.

“You know, I may not have any idea what’s going on, but a fight is way more my speed than all these attractions.” He flips his dagger into his hand. “So, which of you wants to—”

“Ren!”

Ren stands to attention, put on edge by the shriek echoing between his ears. He knows the voice in an instant, but he hasn’t ever heard it filled with so much fear.

“Rise?” He gets no reply. He can’t even feel the mental link settling into dormancy like normal. “Rise?!”

Still nothing. He turns his eyes to the rest of Inaba-Land, trying to pick out any area that looks to be in danger. Unfortunately, that is all of Inaba-Land right now, with columns of smoke still rising at every attraction and persistent screams filling the air. He has no way of finding out where everyone else is outside of going on foot.

Turning back to the skeletons, Ren grips his mask. “Change of plans. I don’t have time to waste with you small fry. Persona!”

Discarding his mask calls Yoshitsune down in a ball of blue flame. With a twirl of twin swords, a flawless instance of Hassou Tobi decimates the skeleton army on the ground, reducing bone to dust in a matter of seconds.

Ren doesn’t even spare a glance at their ashes. He pockets his dagger and sprints towards the center of the park, loose prayers spilling from his lips that everyone stays safe until he can reach them. He can’t fail anyone else.

Notes:

*Coughs up dust* I'm back!

I've been really busy the past couple of months so thank you for being patient while I got back to normalcy. I actually really missed hearing everybody's thoughts while I was handling my other stuff, so I'm happy to start posting regularly again.

Oh, and I guess bad stuff happened in this chapter and there's a bunch of ominous set-up or something? I wasn't really paying attention. See you soon!

Chapter 16

Summary:

Threats compound in Inaba-Land, forcing Ren and the others to pull out all the stops to prevent tragedy from befalling them all.

Notes:

If you saw the chapter length and did a double take, I do not blame you. This one should really be two chapters instead of one, but I’m stubborn and can’t let go of how I had things set up. So hopefully you guys enjoy the denser upload this time around. I’d say I won’t let this happen again, but I can’t promise not to trouble my future self further.

Also, if there are any errors I missed, I will fix them later. I wanted to get this up for everyone, so I am very tired and will deal with any mistakes made sometime in the future.

“This is the worst amusement park I’ve ever been to!” Teddie shouts.

He tucks himself into a ball and rolls down the hill, giving Naoto the opportunity to fire a string of shots into the trio of skeletons attempting to skewer him with farming tools. The cognitive bullets do visible damage, but the enemies aren’t deterred. They merely take a moment to reorient themselves before slowly marching forward again.

“Damn,” she mutters. “Gunfire isn’t doing much.”

At her side, Kanji bashes a skeleton with his shield, only managing to crack the bone without putting the monster itself down.

“Neither does hittin’ ‘em,” he says, kicking the skeleton away before it can retaliate.

“Then we’ll stick to using Personas,” Chie shouts from afar. “Heads up!”

Naoto and Kanji clear the way, allowing a long wall of ice to rip through their position. Haraedo-no-Okami’s attack freezes all of the pair’s attackers in a line. While the trap doesn’t destroy them outright, the jagged follow-up icicles from Kamui-Moshiri do the trick.

The gathered half of the Investigation Team stands in a circle with their backs to each other. Their position leaves them in an open circular area where only half of the attractions originally placed there remain. There is a small benefit of being able to see their enemies coming, however.

“Thanks for that, guys,” Kanji says. “Weren’t you with Yukiko, though, Chie?”

“We split up so she could back up Yu and Yosuke around the corner. They got jumped on the way here.”

“There seems to be a lot of that going around,” Naoto says. “And speaking of, we’ve got incoming.”

Everyone readies the tarot cards floating in front of them as another wave of skeletons crests the hill leading to them, but none of them get the chance to summon anything. The skeletons don’t even make it off of the connecting street before being torn apart by fierce currents of wind. Scathach and Takehaya Susano-o disappear just as Yu and Yosuke arrive, followed closely by Yukiko.

Teddie throws his paws in the air. “Yay, we’re all together again! Oh, except Rise-chan. Wait, where is Rise-chan?!”

“We don’t know,” Yosuke says. “But the fact that she hasn’t gotten in touch with us yet can’t be good.”

“You can’t smell her, Teddie?” asks Yukiko.

He stands on his toes and sniffs at the air, only to come back down with a dejected look.

“Not really. There’s so much going on that it’s confusing my nose…”

“The last time we saw her was with Ren-Ren,” says Kanji. “You don’t think they got caught by themselves, do you?”

Yu shakes his head. “Even if she doesn’t have anyone else with her, Kouzeon gives her a better view than most. She won’t let the skeletons catch her off guard. Not being able to hear her is an issue for us, though.”

“So what do we do now?” Chie asks. “Stay here and fight what comes our way? Or push through and look for the others?”

Yu takes a look out at the immediate area. The streets are even more crowded than when everyone was out having fun, only now they play host to armed skeletons instead of easygoing cognitions. This small plaza that they’ve found themselves in is pretty spacious by comparison, and having hills leading up to it gives the team good sightlines.

Most of the buildings nearby are demolished, leaving only an abandoned puppet show booth, a row of outhouses, a small bowling setup, and a large purple tent labelled “The Arcane Domain.” The giant torii gate leading into the area towers above all the ruined property.

There aren’t a lot of certainties provided to them at the moment, so Yu decides it’s best to lean on the ones they do have.

“We don’t know where everyone else is, so pushing ahead might just lead us into more trouble,” he replies. “Let’s hold out here until one of the navigators locates us. We can make a better plan once everyone’s connected.”

“Hold the line, then,” Naoto says. “Understood.”

Plan made, each of the fighters present spread out to cover part of their improvised stronghold. Yukiko and Kanji handle the right side, Yosuke and Chie take the left, and Naoto and Teddie focus on the street directly ahead. Yu opts to watch the road behind them in case any enemies appear from there.

As far as fights go, this isn’t one of the team’s most difficult to manage. The skeletons are durable, but incredibly slow and simpleminded. When one of them goes down to an attack, the others don’t really think to dodge or change their strategy. All they seem to care about is getting their bony limbs on the living. Yu really does not want to find out what happens if they succeed.

Their resistance to most physical attacks does make things tough on everyone’s energy levels. Instead of the usual balance the team takes when using their Personas, they all have to rely on magic in order to thin the enemy’s ranks.

The fatigue starts to set in after fending off several waves in a row. More skeletons are starting to slip through the cracks, and Yu can hear his friends taking hits all around him. He resists the urge to call on one of his more powerful Personas to clear the area in one shot. It would grant them reprieve, but it would also totally wipe him out. Making himself useless when he doesn’t know how long the danger will last is ill-advised.

That doesn’t mean he can’t do something to help his team out, though. After clearing the enemies in front of him with more cutting gales from Scathach, he calls out to everyone.

“I’ve got an idea, but I need all the skeletons funneled into one street!”

“Then let’s clog the others,” Yosuke shouts. “Sorry, Inaba-Land, but we have to mess you up some more.”

Personas break away from skeleton combat for a moment in order to wreak havoc on the area around them. Everything gets torn apart in order to fill the streets with rubble and block off every entrance to the plaza except for the one dead ahead.

Yu summons Izanagi, sending him out to slash at the base of one of the pillars comprising the torii gate. The strike goes through most of the way, leaving it rocking with the uneven composition.

“Kanji, hit the pillar!”

“Oh, I getcha. Hell of a plan, senpai!” He smashes the card floating in front of him. “Persona!”

Takeji Zaiten literally hits the ground running, barreling into the pillar Yu has pointed out. The collision causes it to snap right at the cut from Izanagi, forcing the entire structure to collapse into the street below right on top of the packed crowd of skeletons. Their strangled cries barely make it over the booming sound of the torii gates making contact with the earth.

The Persona-users present take in the destruction for a few moments in silence. When no more enemies force their way above ground, everyone lowers their weapons.

Teddie nervously looks around. “Is that it? Did we beat ‘em all?”

“I doubt it, but we’ve at least got some room to breathe,” Yosuke says. “Anybody hurt?”

“Nothing past a few cuts on my end,” Naoto answers. “I believe Kanji-kun took a blow to his ribcage, however.”

“Nah, it was barely a tap. Anybody that can heal should save it. I doubt things are just gonna go back to bein’ quiet after all that.”

“Yeah, so, do we have any idea what the hell happened all of a sudden?” Chie asks. “One second we’re headed to the Junes here, and the next we’re getting jumped by Halloween decorations!”

“I’m not sure, but I bet one of the others has more answers than we do. I’m hoping things are open again with less chaos going around.” Yu holds a hand to his ear as if taking a call. “Rise, can you hear me now?”

“I can! I finally got a lock on you and the others. Thank goodness our connection is back. Oh, and it doesn’t look like anyone is too hurt from my end.”

“Yeah, we’re not hurt, just drained. What about you, though? Are you somewhere safe?”

“For the most part. We’ve been able to dodge the skeletons thanks to Fuuka-san. Oh, Ren-Ren’s here with me too – the small one, I mean. Actually, have any of you seen our Ren? I haven’t been able to reach him and it’s stressing me out.”

“Wait, Ren’s missing?” Chie asks. “We gotta find him!”

“Do you have any idea where he may have gone, Rise-san?” asks Naoto.

“No, Fuuka-san said he just wandered off on his own a while ago. Whatever’s happening with the park right now is messing with all my connections. I can’t see or hear him right now.”

“We can try lookin’ for him, but this place is huge,” Kanji points out. “It’d take forever.”

“Not if we use a little logic,” Yosuke says. “Even if we don’t know where he is, we know Ren. I’d bet you anything that he’s probably right at the center of the danger here – wherever that is.”

“So if we find that, we can find Ren?” Teddie asks.

“I’m almost positive. He’d want to end the fight as soon as possible so we can move on, right?”

“It’s a good theory,” Yu says. “And even if he’s not there, we can try to end things ourselves.”

“So now the problem becomes how to find the most dangerous area,” says Yukiko.

“Yeah, that’s a tough ask with all of Inaba-Land basically falling apart,” Chie adds. “Where do we even start?”

The very earth itself seems to respond, shaking furiously under everyone’s feet and jostling all of the attractions atop it. Unlike when the skeletons emerge, this feels like a proper earthquake, forcing everyone to drop low to avoid getting thrown onto their backsides. It only gets worse as a new addition to Inaba-Land forms in real time.

In the middle of one of the park’s artificial fields, an oak tree the size of the Tokyo Skytree sprouts into being. It forces its way through dirt and rock, shoving aside any attractions too close to its base and roots as it climbs towards the sky.

The trunk is shaded a dark umber color, only lightening up towards the top where it meets sickly green leaves. A face carved on like a jack-o-lantern’s sits near the top as well, staring dead ahead with a distinct lack of light in the eyes. In place of branches along the trunk, long wooden limbs stretch out with clawed hands at the ends. Only one cluster of them can be seen from one angle like the Investigation Team has.

Chie hangs her head down. “Me and my big fat mouth…”

Rise’s voice cuts in. “Are you guys okay? I felt a crazy spike of activity after that earthquake stopped!”

“Sorry, but we’ll have to call you back,” Yu says. “Something just came up.”

 

*          *          *

 

Rise feels her mental connection to Yu and the others shift to inactivity right as his voice fades away.

“Something came up? Senpai, what does that mean? Are you—”

A ghastly wail that covers the whole park cuts Rise off. She doesn’t need to use Kouzeon’s power to find the source of the noise, not when she can see the giant demonic tree that has appeared in her peripheral vision. It seems even bigger when she turns to get a proper look at it, with sharp, branching arms and a topping of leaves that stretches through the night sky.

“Oh,” she says. “That’s probably what they meant, huh?”

Fuuka’s eyes go wide staring up at the monster. “That’s enormous!”

The Conductor mirrors her expression, clinging to her leg slightly. “Wh–What is that? It’s not supposed to be here…”

“We might have gotten too comfortable in Inaba-Land,” Rise remarks.

That probably isn’t fair. She’s used Kouzeon to scan the park several times since arriving, and at no point did she pick up on anything close to this. Either Fantasma is good with hiding away threats, or there’s something about the park itself that’s messing with her. Whichever possibility is true, she and the others have been caught on the backfoot.

Rise watches the tree’s jagged maw tear open, sending splintering chunks of wood falling to the ground. That approximation of a mouth lets a drawn-out growl come through that morphs into something closer to a word at the tail end.

“Child…”

The tree’s voice is hauntingly deep, though not without a rasp that sounds like dragging a knife down wood. The lack of speed with which it speaks makes the sound linger painfully between Rise’s ears.

“Claim…the child…”

In a swift move unbefitting such a large monstrosity, one of the tree’s many arms comes swinging down on Rise and Fuuka’s location. Along with the Conductor, the girls are just barely able to dive behind cover as wooden claws stab into the ground. A mass of dirt and stone are pulled up as the tree draws its hand back.

Though its hollow eyes can’t narrow like a human’s, Rise can make out visible displeasure in their gaze. The tree tosses aside the matter in its hand before uttering the same sentence as before.

“Claim…the child…”

Another limb comes crashing down near Rise and the others. The force alone almost sends them flying, but they’re able to hold onto railings and barriers that are still barely standing to stay in place. When they emerge again, Rise is on the opposite side of the street from her companions.

“What’s with this thing? We haven’t even touched it!”

“I–It keeps mentioning a child…” A sharp gasp jumps from Fuuka. “Rise-chan, I think it might be after the Conductor!”

Rise’s gaze shoots towards the tree. It’s impossible to tell what such large and hollow eyes are truly staring at, if anything, but the pressure Rise feels bearing down on her is telling enough. Their little group right now is undoubtedly the target of some serious malice.

“M–Me?” The Conductor burrows into Fuuka’s side even more. “Why? I don’t want it to get me!”

“We won’t let it,” Rise says, putting as much confidence in her voice as she can manage.  “Just stay close to Fuuka-san, okay? If this keeps up, she can shield you.”

As much as Rise wants to take responsibility for keeping him safe, Kouzeon just doesn’t have the proper form for something like that. Though what they really need right now is backup.

“Fuuka-san, let’s move somewhere safe so we can try reaching everyone again. They’ll need communication if we want to keep them out of that tree’s clutches.”

“Right. There should be at least one building we can use to hide back from where we came. We need to hurry, but take care not to run anywhere too open. We won’t have any way to dodge the tree if it spots us.”

Fuuka leans down to place both hands on the Conductor’s shoulders.

“We’re going to need to run, so is it okay if I carry you? I would feel much better if you didn’t have to worry about that aspect of this.”

The near-instant acceptance is a reminder that wherever the Conductor came from, it didn’t manage to capture Ren’s mind perfectly. Rise is sure that even in a deadly situation like this, his kid self would still make a big stink out of being carried like a baby.

Once again, she can’t help but pray that the real Ren is safe wherever he is. She supposes she’ll know as soon as she and Fuuka can get settled somewhere.

Rise waits until Fuuka has the Conductor secure in her arms before leading the running efforts. The girls take to the pathways filled with debris tall enough to obscure them both as they go. Maybe it won’t matter with how high the tree monster’s face is, but better to at least try and stay hidden.

They have to keep up the dead sprint all the way past an iron gate leading to a small building that’s had its entrance torn open. Rise can’t even tell what the box-like room with a reflective floor used to be. The roof is cut in half and the walls are missing chunks the size of Teddie’s costume. Those same walls are at least standing upright, however, so they’ll work.

In the blink of an eye, Fuuka has set down the Conductor and summoned Juno to scan the area. “Let me see if I can—” Another of her gasps leaps from her throat as her head snaps upwards. “Rise-chan, the ground!”

In place of the question that inspires in Rise, a repeat of the deep rumblings shakes the shiny flooring under everyone’s feet. Thick tree roots that move like tentacles burst from below, writhing in the open air and blocking off the entrance to the room.

Boxed in, several more roots pop up right next to the girls’ feet. The ones near Fuuka snake around her neck, cutting off her concentration enough that Juno vanishes. They lift her into the air, squeezing to a point where she cries out in pain. Her attempts to pull the binding from around her throat only result in scraped-up fingertips.

Rise finds herself caught between wanting to help and reaching out for the Conductor. Neither are dismissible to her, and that is exactly what brings about her failure.

The roots at her feet shoot up and trap her the same way as Fuuka, and with her bound, there is nothing to stop the few that ensnare the Conductor and start pulling him up through the missing part of the ceiling. He moves so fast that Rise only hears part of how he screams her name. That desperate pleading hurts worse than anything the roots do to her.

“No! Ren-Ren!”

The more she tries to fight her way out of the trap, the more roots emerge to bind her. They end up wrapping around her wrists and legs, stringing her up in mid-air where she can only watch as the Conductor is dragged away.

The roots only carry him down the path they took previously. Once they reach the end of the street, one of the tree’s hands comes to grab him and bring him the rest of the way to the trunk. For whatever Rise imagined would happen if things got to this point, she could never have foreseen the tree opening its mouth more and shoving the Conductor inside.

Her screams of protest are muffled from the bundle of roots around her mouth and throat. She could very well pass out if she keeps futilely using her air like this, but she can’t stop herself. The mix of panic and rage and sorrow is too potent for her to even try to hold back right now.

Only when the Conductor is fully out of sight do the tree’s roots and arms retract back to its body. The navigators are thrown to the ground, where they both immediately start gasping for air and coughing through the pain. Rise isn’t focused on her own pain nearly as much as she probably should be.

“G–Give him back!” It takes a few more coughs for her voice to come back in full. “Let him go!”

It’s no surprise that the tree doesn’t respond to her. She doubts it can even hear her from down here, but rationality doesn’t have much of a chance at winning against any of her impulses right now.

Choosing to save her voice, Fuuka takes slower breaths and stays on her knees. Juno forms around her again, and Rise can feel the Persona reaching out for signs of life. It can’t be easy in a situation as hectic as this, yet still Fuuka finds a way to pull it off.

“He isn’t lost to us,” she says, still trying to find stability after the attack. “I have too many obstacles to sense anything cognitive clearly, but the tree has an energy signature separate from its own inside. I think he’s just been imprisoned within the trunk.”

“But…but why?!” Rise exclaims. “He’s just a kid! This tree shows up out of nowhere and just decides it wants to take him away? What if it’s dangerous in there? What if he gets hurt? What if—”

The worst comes to mind only for a moment, but it’s enough to wrack her body with a full shiver. Losing a cognition means nothing for the world around them, but such practical logic has no place in her thoughts of the little boy stolen from her side. Rise shakes her head violently, her pigtails flying with the movement. 

“I can’t accept that. I won’t.” She turns and puts eyes burning with anger on the tree in the distance. “It may have gotten the best of me once, but if it wants a fight, then I’ll give it one!”

“Rise-chan, I know how you feel, but we’re separated from the rest of our friends! Without their aid, we can’t just—”

“I can.”

Rise’s hands ball into fists at her side. This feeling making her blood run hot and her teeth grind together is so unfamiliar to her. She gets angry like anyone else, but rarely has she ever felt this all-encompassing fury that won’t let her body stop trembling. One little spark would make her explode right now.

“This is exactly why I pushed myself before. I don’t ever want to be in a position where I can’t save myself or someone else I care about ever again.” Rise clasps her hands to her chest, trying to channel the feelings within her into something usable. “You agree with me. I know you do. So please, lend me your aid. Come forth and give me strength – Kouzeon!”

Though this call comes from a different part of Rise’s heart, her Persona still heeds it and appears. Gone is her usual grace as she crashes down to stand with her summoner on the ground. Her telescopic head has separated to reveal a feminine face underneath. It retains the striking electric blue of her neck and thighs with added red markings like on her hands. The red crown-like visor that would normally go on Rise’s head rests over where eyes would be on a human face.

As her battle form fully manifests, Kouzeon reaches out and tears off a piece of the gate near the building’s entrance. It comes off as one long rod with a fence topper at the end styled in the shape of a lantern.

Rise takes it from Kouzeon’s grasp and gives it a few swings. The weight is more than she expected, but not enough to make it unwieldy. With the lack of microphone stands around, she’ll just have to make do.

Fuuka stares at her fellow navigator, still taking in the drastic change in circumstance that brought them to this point. The signs in front of her paint an extremely obvious picture of what is to come.

“Rise-chan, you… You intend to go into battle yourself?”

Rise nods, scowl fixed on her face. “If that stupid tree wants to keep Ren-Ren, it’ll have to take me down first. Besides, I haven’t had a chance to let out any frustration this entire trip. Now seems like a good time to change that.”

The protest that Rise expects doesn’t come. Fuuka has no admonishments for her, no warnings or a forceful suggestion that she stay away from combat. She simply meets Rise’s firm gaze for a few moments before nodding.

“Okay. Then I’ll find a safe place to summon Juno and provide as much support as I can. Once I manage to get everyone connected again, I’ll fill them in on what’s happened.”

“Thank you. Be careful, Fuuka-san.”

“You too. And also…” The tiniest of smirks forms on Fuuka’s face – a bit awkward, but entirely genuine. “Give it your all. Show that monster the force of your resolve.”

And if Rise had any doubts going into this, she knows now they aren’t worth listening to. Fuuka’s support has always been invaluable, and the confidence she voices now means the world to Rise. She can’t possibly lose with that at her back.

Rise throws out a thumbs up as she sprints towards the battle. “Count on it!”

 

*          *          *

 

As Labrys slams her axe through the last skeleton plaguing her friends at the moment, she feels the back of her head buzz from a familiar voice. She shouts to the others once realization kicks in.

“Hey, I think Fuuka-san’s back!”

“Finally!” Junpei holds a hand to his ear to block out some outside noise. “Yo, Fuuka! You alright?”

“I’m a bit shaken, but otherwise okay. How are all of you faring?”

“We just cleared out the last of a wave of skeletons,” says Akihiko. “What’s the situation around the park?”

“Those skeletons are continuously spawning all around. Our group is a bit scattered, but most of us are accounted for. Though…there are two more glaring issues at present.”

“I’m gonna guess that it’s a ‘bad news’ and ‘worse news’ situation.”

“Unfortunately. Our first issue is that we can’t find Joker-kun. The Investigation Team is working on searching the area, but it’s difficult in all this chaos. Yukari-chan and Mitsuru-san are too busy dealing with their attackers to assist.”

“We should go meet up with those two when we can, then. What’s the ‘worse’ news?”

“Just a moment ago, the enemy made a move on my location. It managed to snatch the Conductor and…consume him.”

“The kid got eaten?!” Junpei shouts.

“Wait, there’s a skeleton big enough to do that?” asks Ken.

“Not by a skeleton, I’m afraid. Our true enemy appeared just moments ago, near the center of the park.”

“Near the center?” Akihiko asks.

“Yes. You didn’t notice the rumbling?”

“Like I said, we’ve been a little preoccupied. And it’s kind of hard to see from where we’re at.”

“Uh, I think I see what Fuuka-san’s talkin’ about,” says Labrys.

Having climbed atop the remains of a ramen bar, she directs everyone’s attention to the giant tree embedded in the land. Everyone lets out noises of surprise once they see it for themselves.

Junpei blinks as if that might clear the sight away. “Where the hell did that thing come from?”

“We aren’t sure,” Fuuka replies. “There isn’t much we do know, in truth. Though my scans indicate that this is the entity throwing the whole theme park into chaos. As long as it stands, we’ll continue to be assaulted on all sides.”

“So we gotta go take it out, then,” Akihiko says. He rolls his neck and waves everyone forward. “Nothing we aren’t used to. Come on, team.”

“Right,” says Ken. “Fuuka-san, can you lead us down a path without many skeletons?”

“Most streets are clogged, but I’ll do my best. Start by heading forward between the group of food stalls to your left.”

Following Fuuka’s directions requires some meandering, but they reach their destination all the same. The few skeleton groups they come across on the way don’t present enough of an issue to slow them down at all.

The tree appears even larger from close up, stretching into the sky and blocking out the night with a dense canopy. Even from the very bottom, any one of the leaves looks about twice the size of everyone gathered.

“Now that we’re here, I…kind of don’t know where to start,” Ken says. “How do we even destroy something this big?”

While everyone else takes a moment to ponder that, Junpei just stomps his way up the root he’s standing on.

“Guys, come on. Isn’t our gameplan obvious?” He dramatically thrusts a finger up at the monstrous creature towering over them all. “If there’s a tree in the way, all we gotta do is torch it!”

Junpei yanks his Evoker free from its holster and shoves it against his head, grinning with his plan in motion.

“Let’s see some fire, Trismegistus!”

Spurred onward by a click and bang, Trismegistus soars into the air and hurls a giant sphere of flame that strikes the tree directly at its base. Junpei belts out a cheer upon contact, only for the sound to trail off into more of a whine once he notices how the flames immediately die on the wind. There isn’t so much as a burn mark on the tree after all that.

“Okay, the demon tree’s immune to fire. Yeah, no, that’s…that’s great, really. Love that.”

From beside him, Aigis says, “It may be for the best that did not work, Junpei-san. We should take care not to harm the Conductor while he’s inside.”

“Ooh, right… My bad.”

Labrys leaps over to an exposed root nearby, hefting her axe into the air and slamming it down into the wood. The resulting cut barely goes past the blade that made it. A few more strikes with added force don’t do much to change that outcome.

“Looks like choppin’ it down’s not an option either,” she says. “My hits barely chip this thing!”

“We might have to forget the tree for now,” Ken shouts. “We’ve got company!”

In the time taken by testing out the tree’s defenses, a group of skeletons have found the group and converged in response, weapons at the ready. Ken and Koromaru’s simultaneous attacks only manage to turn the ones in front to ash; the rest surge on without pause.

Akihiko steps up to stand with the other two. “Makes sense they’d want to protect this thing if it’s the main threat. Yamagishi, if you can find us a way to damage the tree, we can deal with this.”

“Understood. I’ll see if I can’t uncover more details through Juno. Stay safe in the meantime, everyone.”

“Like we’d ever lose to these chumps,” Junpei says. He raises his sword to point at the oncoming swarm. “Far as I’m concerned, I could fight skeletons all day!”

 

*          *          *

 

If Ren never sees another skeleton for the rest of his life, it will still be too soon. Every path he takes is littered with the things, slowing down his search for any of the people he’s supposed to be working with. He can’t even use his Third Eye to help because all the skeletons are glowing and obscuring his vision when he tries. The same problem arises no matter how many clusters of them he takes out.

The only thing he can see clearly is the giant tree with monstrous features sticking out of the park’s center. It sprouted just moments ago, and if Ren has learned anything about the Metaverse in all his adventures, it’s that something that big is probably what needs to be dealt with to get through this. His allies still come first, though.

Fortunately, life seems to take a bit of pity on him for once when he rounds his latest street corner. The vibrant red hair of one Mitsuru Kirijo stands out amongst the bone white bodies of her attackers. Fending them off seems slow-going, especially with Yukari’s isolation on a nearby slope as she repeatedly summons Isis for targeted blasts of wind.

Spires of ice from Artemisia shatter a cluster of skeletons where they stand under Mitsuru’s command. Unfortunately, one with a sickle in hand emerges unscathed and lunges from Mitsuru’s blindspot with the weapon raised. Yukari spots it at the last second and calls out in warning, but not quickly enough for it to have any effect. Ren is not beholden to the same delay.

With a flick of his wrist, his grappling hook goes sailing past Mitsuru and the skeleton, anchoring on the side of a food vending booth and snapping taught. Ren lets it draw him forward, using the sudden momentum to come slamming into the skeleton with a drop-kick. The collision sends it careening into a pack of its own kind, toppling the entire group like bowling pins.

The entire interaction only startles Mitsuru for a second. As soon as Ren rolls to a stop on the ground, her Evoker has already fired, beckoning Artemisia to rain more ice spires onto the prone enemies nearby. The resulting explosion of frost wipes out the few untouched by the initial barrage, leaving only the Persona-users standing.

Mitsuru holsters her Evoker alongside a breath. “You have my thanks for the assistance, Joker.”

“Don’t mention it. Do you happen to know where Rise is? I heard her earlier, but our connection got cut off.”

“She’s with Fuuka,” Yukari says, jogging over to join them both. Isis remains behind her, bathing the three humans in some light healing upon arrival. “Or at least…she was. Things have gotten a little crazy ever since that tree showed up.”

“The Conductor was with them as well,” Mitsuru states, “and though Yamagishi intended to shield him with Juno, that tree managed to grab and ingest him after attacking the three of them.”

Whatever point Ren had been about to bring up crumbles away.

“Wait, what?”

“Which apparently ticked off Rise-chan enough that she put her Persona in battle mode and ran off to join the fight,” Yukari adds.

“Wait, what?!”

“She is in no more danger than any of us at the moment,” Mitsuru says. “By Yamagishi’s own observation, the tree only truly showed hostility in order to get to the Conductor in particular. Everyone else is being left to the skeletons’ efforts.”

That doesn’t exactly make Ren feel any better about it. Even if she isn’t being targeted, Rise still has the handicap of not being used to combat. By her own admission, fighting is something she rarely does. Targeted rage can be a good motivator, but it can’t fill in for a lack of experience. He really hopes everyone else from Inaba crosses paths with her sooner than later.

Her charge into the fray isn’t the only bit of concerning information, though.

“So…the tree was gunning for the Conductor?” Ren tosses his mask away to let Black Frost terrorize the few skeletons attempting to sneak up on the group. “Why? What does eating one random cognition in a park full of them do for it?”

“We have no way of knowing at present,” answers Mitsuru. “We’ve also received reports that the tree is incredibly resistant to damage, so for now, all we can do is fend off these ground attacks as best we can. If we become overwhelmed, we’ll have to retreat and regroup using Yamagishi’s Escape Route.”

“Can she handle that, though?” asks Yukari. “We’ve only ever done that with a small team. Going from that to a group this size…”

“It’s merely one contingency. Should we require more, we’ll decide on something when the time comes. I intend to do everything I can to prevent things from reaching that point, however.”

Ren is inclined to agree, though not exactly for the same reason. He isn’t so prideful that running from a fight is beneath him, but running when the person who got them here is trapped in the very thing they need to defeat? That doesn’t sit right with him at all.

Even if the Conductor himself was to urge them all to go, Ren would still plant his feet and look for a way forward. It wouldn’t make up for the last time he abandoned someone at death’s door, but saving lives isn’t about keeping score.

The tally marks etched into his mind sting despite knowing that.

Ren shrugs off that pain and points to their latest enemy across the battlefield. “Well, the fastest way to resolve this is to take out that tree, right? I can’t imagine the Investigation Team isn’t trying to get the Conductor back, and I’m with them. I can’t accept destroying the tree with him still inside.”

“No, of course not,” says Yukari. “Sorry that we didn’t bring that up ourselves – there’s just so much going on.”

“But you’re absolutely right,” Mitsuru says. “Cognition or not, the Conductor has shown us nothing but care. Abandoning him to the enemy’s whims is not an option.”

Ren didn’t exactly expect them to disagree, but relief still fills him at the thought of people outside of his team not immediately rebuking his intentions. No need for more battles with everything already happening around them.

“Thanks, you two,” he says. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

“So, what’s our rescue plan?” Yukari asks. “We’ll have to get inside the tree to get the Conductor out, and from what we’ve heard, bashing our way in won’t work.”

“Just leave that part to me. Between my Phantom Thief gear and my other abilities, I’m the best suited to slip in, grab him, and get the heck out. I should be fine as long as you two and the other Operatives can keep the skeletons occupied.”

Mitsuru grimaces. “I loathe the thought of sending you anywhere near the enemy on your own, but you make a valid point. Outside of Aigis or Labrys, there aren’t many of us that could contend with the height issue or force our way inside. Letting you run point on this seems to be the right call.”

Yukari sighs. “If Mitsuru’s signing off on it, then I guess I can’t argue. Just tell me you have a plan besides getting in that thing’s face and getting squashed like a bug, Joker.”

Ren opts to observe the situation from afar rather than comment on that, if only to avoid Yukari’s scolding.

The tree may be massive and expansive, but he and the pair with him still aren’t very close to it. And though his Metaverse-enhanced speed will make reaching it easier, that doesn’t take into account all the skeletons that could pop up and block his way. The tree’s massive limbs present a similar issue considering they have the size to crush any of the streets Ren might take in transit. Traveling by rooftop just makes him an even easier target.

He needs a way to reach the tree quickly without leaving himself open to be attacked. Ideally, that same method of travel would put him near some sort of entrance on the tree, something that isn’t the same extremely resistant wood like most of the trunk appears to be.

With that in mind, only one thing stands out. Well, more like two things.

“The eyes…” Ren points up once again, this time towards his planned entrance to the tree. “I bet that sunken look to its eyes isn’t just for show. Either the wood there is weak enough for me to blast my way through…”

“Or it could even be hollow enough for you to enter without needing to cause damage.” Mitsuru crosses her arms and taps a finger against her forearm. “Neither option is guaranteed, but I can follow your logic. At the very least, knowing more about this monster’s construction will help in our efforts to take it down.”

“Sure, but…its face is pretty high up,” Yukari says. “How would Joker manage to even get up there in the first place?”

She has a point there. Even his grappling hook would require several launches for a full scaling, and unlike the mountain from earlier, this surface is living and actively trying to kill him. He doesn’t have time for a careful climb.

And if “careful” is out the window, then he may as well go full-tilt in the opposite direction. So when an utterly insane method of travel pops into his brain – one that seems a bit much even for Fantasma – he doesn’t immediately shoo it away.

Glancing at all the potential materials around him just puts it closer within reach. Now it would feel like a waste not to go through with it. That feeling has nothing to do with how cool it will be to successfully pull off.

“Actually, I just might have a way,” he says. “It depends, though.”

Like she’s already wised up to his brand of chaos, Yukari scowls in his direction.

“Depends on what?”

Ren turns to her with a wicked grin. “How strong is Isis’s wind?”

 

*          *          *

 

Despite the better weight distribution of the metal rod in her hands, Rise decides it’s harder to fight with than her old microphone stand. It could be her navigator bias talking, but she has no idea how everyone else manages to use stuff like this in every excursion.

The skeletons resisting her weapon attacks add another layer of frustration. She’s already coming out of combat retirement for this, and now she has to deal with constantly spawning skeletons that won’t stay down?

At this point, the only thing stronger than her annoyance is the anger she feels at having the Conductor ripped from her care. She can only imagine how scared and alone he feels right now, trapped inside that massive tree without anyone contacting him. If he’s anything like her Ren, it won’t take long for the loneliness to settle in with no one else around.

Back when they were younger, the real Ren hid moments like that from her all the time. She can’t go back and make herself get a clue, but she can put her knowledge to use here and fight harder. Even reaching him a second sooner might make a difference.

So she ignores the strain from using Kouzeon so much and commands her to attack the foes skulking closer. Four spherical satellites form in the air with each one blasting a laser straight up. The skeletons only get to take a few more steps before those same lasers come beaming down, turning them to dust on the spot.

She lets herself cheer a bit as she carries on, getting ever closer to her main goal of showing that demon tree who’s boss.

Unfortunately, the path she drops onto rumbles as another skeleton group climbs from their unseen graves. Rise groans as she summons Kouzeon once more.

“I know I gained this power from finding my own independence and defying limitations, but I wouldn’t say no to some help right now. Where is everyone?!”

She probably should have gotten some proper directions before running off. The rest of her team should be somewhere nearby, but with all the skeleton fighting she’s done on the way to the tree, she can’t be sure she hasn’t gotten turned around.

Kouzeon hovers over the majority of skeletons and starts blasting them with a combination of sound waves and her satellite lasers. The few enemies that break free of that battle make their way to Rise, but she isn’t as helpless as they might think.

She parries the garden hoe the frontmost skeleton swings at her, spinning around to gain momentum before slamming her pole into its head. The hit flips the skeleton over, and while it’s face-down in the dirt, Rise lines up her weapon with its skull like a drive at the golf course. Her swing knocks the skull from the neckbone and sends it hurtling at the pair of skeletons behind the first.

The resulting collision doesn’t do much damage, but it does delay them long enough for Kouzeon to send over two satellites from her side of battle. They float to Rise’s side, and after a wave of her hand, their lasers take out the remaining enemies from the latest batch.

“Okay, being pissed off only does so much for my energy. I’m almost wiped…”

On top of needing their help, she really needs to find the others so they can give her some recovery items. Her overall health is only one part of the equation in a fight, after all.

“If they were near the sports section when we last talked, then I should be able to find them soon. I think I need to head more—”

That line of thinking slips away once something that sounds like a bomb going off sounds above her head. Rise looks up towards the tree in case it’s trying to attack, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Instead, there is smoke coming from high up on the tree near the face. Surprisingly, the monster’s features show a hint of either pain or anger. It’s hard to tell.

“Fuuka-san, can you hear me? What was that?!”

“I–I’m not sure,” she stutters. “From my angle, it looked like some kind of giant projectile struck the main enemy directly. But it only partially felt like something our Personas are capable of. The other part felt like…well…”

“Like what?”

“It felt human. But I have no idea why that would be the case…”

A human projectile…

Rise’s head whips up to stare at the tree again. She prays that the thought circling her brain right now is false – prays that she is entirely mistaken about what just occurred and that her fears are unfounded.

Unfortunately for that hope, the smoke clears up above to show someone in all black hanging on the monster tree’s trunk. The sight of one Persona switching places with another merely confirms her previous worries.

She grips her weapon even tighter and picks up the pace, racing to defeat the tree that has now seen fit to take two versions of her dear childhood friend.

“Ren Amamiya, you are going to give me gray hairs by the end of this.”

 

*          *          *

 

Ren has seen and bought enough slingshots for Morgana that he is pretty familiar with how they’re constructed. The later ones definitely stretched the limit on what one should look like, but they were all the same thing at their core.

So despite Yukari and Mitsuru’s visible anxiety when he lugs a bunch of miscellaneous materials back to their location, putting it all together is really the easiest part.

Large elastic ropes from the rope ladder stall act as the bands. A circular chair with cushion lining the inside – ripped free from one of the shooting galleries nearby – acts as the pocket, tied to the ropes so clumsily that Ren tries not to think about it much. It should hold long enough to do its job. Probably.

The last piece to acquire is the frame to hold everything, but by the time his companions bring it up, Ren already has it covered. He summons Yoshitsune to cleave a section of the nearby rollercoaster track in half, then asks Mitsuru to freeze the ends of their combined elastic rope to either side of the remains. In Ren’s opinion, the improvised launcher is a thing of beauty.

With their contraption complete, all that remains is loading the ammunition.

Yukari’s frown only deepens once Ren climbs up on the shaky cushioned chair. The fact that he’s already struggling to keep his balance gets an audible groan out of her.

“For the record, this is the dumbest plan I have ever been a part of,” she says.

“Then you Shadow Operatives need to lighten up. This is the fun part of our job!”

“I’ll say it again, you and I have very different definitions of fun, Joker.”

“And I’m sure you’ll see it my way eventually.” 

“I doubt that. Are you sure you’ll actually get enough height with this thing?”

“Pretty sure.”

“And you’re basing that off of…?”

“Cognition.”

“That cannot be how that works.”

“Well, we’re about to find out.” Ren glances back at the other participant of this scheme. “Kirijo-san, are you ready to let this thing rip?”

She nods, raising her Evoker to summon Artemisia once more. The Persona’s ice juts out of the ground right under Ren’s seat, pulling him back as far as the elastic bands will allow without snapping. Physics and momentum were never Ren’s strongest subjects, but based on how wobbly everything gets once Artemisia stops pushing, he’s set to go flying.

“On your signal, I’ll have Artemisia shatter her ice,” Mitsuru says.

“Cool. Takeba-san?”

“Ready,” she says, standing behind Ren with her Evoker drawn. “Unfortunately.”

Ren takes one last look at the landscape before him. Using the rollercoaster as a frame stopped them from taking aim as well as he wanted, but the slingshot is pointing up enough that Ren should be able to make up for lost height if there ends up being any. There’s no way he’s letting himself fall before he gets to that tree’s eyes.

Eager to prove even his wildest schemes have merit, Ren settles into his seat and grins. It figures that the thing that’s getting his blood pumping the most is a ride of his own making. Scattered dregs of his cognition pale in comparison to the full package.

He pulls his dagger and thrusts it forward, shouting, “Showtime!”

The ice securing him breaks apart into a white mist that fills the air. Ren only sees it for a moment before the wind under Isis’s command blasts out, dispersing the cloud and pushing his seat forward even faster on top of its already impressive speed.

Once it reaches the limit of the bands, it snaps back, launching its Phantom Thief cargo through the sky like a rocket. If it weren’t for the mask on his face, Ren doesn’t think he could keep his eyes open at this speed.

At the same time he feels himself start to even out in midair, the tree’s face comes within view. Also coming in that moment is the stark realization that Ren hasn’t thought of how to stop himself from faceplanting into this tree and breaking every bone in his body. Maybe Yukari’s dislike of this plan was justified.

His new landing strategy is born more out of instinct than logic. Ren throws away his mask to summon Arsène, who hurls an orb of Curse magic out before wrapping his arms and wings around Ren.

Twin impacts hit the tree one after another right at the tree’s “temple.” The Curse attack lands first, followed by Arsène slamming the trunk with an axe kick that blunts the momentum enough that Ren doesn’t break anything himself. The Persona sticks around just long enough for Ren to stab his dagger into the tree and get a good grip.

Admittedly, being up here is much more intimidating than it seemed. A fall from this height would kill him in any world, cognitive or not, and his dagger didn’t get as deep of a puncture as he’d hoped.

His planned targets are also easily ten times his size, if not more. Add onto that the mouth that looks like jagged mountain peaks lined up in a row, and this tree’s status as a monster could not be more clear.

But Ren has taken out tons of things that have creeped him out in the past. Maybe not many with this size, but that popular saying exists for a reason, right? Ren sincerely hopes that this thing has a big enough fall in the end to match its stature.

Switching to his grappling hook instead of his dagger lets Ren reposition himself to get closer to the eyes. When he reaches the edge of the left eye, a bowl-like ditch carved into wood, he pulls his gun out and fires as many shots as he can. What sounds like the tree’s groaning travels underneath the gunshots, but even if it feels the pain, there isn’t any damage present on the eye under Ren’s foot.

“Alright, bullets are out. Let’s try something heavier, then. Cybele!”

A domed explosion of Nuclear magic fills the left eye, lighting it up for just a moment before grainy particles of dirt and smoke rise from the cavity. It feels as though that had more of an effect than his gun did, but it still does not break through the wood. The shadows cast inside the tree’s eyes make it harder to see exactly what his efforts are getting him.

Ren’s next choice of Persona is too slow. Just as his fingers brush against his mask, the trunk of the tree shakes. Ren looks down to see that the creature’s moving mouth is to blame. The strain it puts on the tree is enough to rattle it all the way to the top.

“Claim…the child…”

Somehow, despite the tree’s eyes merely being carved into its body, Ren can feel them shift to take him in. The sudden pressure dropped upon him sends a fierce chill through his bones, and it is all he can do to keep from grappling away and trying to flee.

“Child…found…must claim…”

“What is it— Woah!”

A quick grapple further up lets Ren narrowly dodge the giant limb that comes slamming onto his former position. How such a lumbering beast can will its arms to move that fast is a mystery.

“Hey, hands off, ugly! And I’ve already got enough people calling me a kid, thanks.”

The monster referring to him at all is odd, though. He assumed that if it was calling anyone a child, it would be the Conductor. It ate him at the start of all this, after all.

But…the Conductor is Ren, in a way. Maybe “child” is less indicative of age and more targeted towards a specific identity. In this case, that may include anyone who happens to have Ren’s face.

The tree’s mouth moves again, though this time it’s to let out a bellowing roar that moves branches and leaves with its force. Ren dangles from his grappling hook helplessly, smacking against the wood of the tree’s trunk as he tries his best not to fall.

His focus in preventing death by plummeting blinds him to the branching arm that rises from below to snatch him in its claws. The hard wood stabs into him through his costume, forcing out pained cries as the large hand drags him through the air at high speed.

Before he can do anything about it, that same hand reaches the tree’s mouth and shoves him inside. It travels all the way to the base of the tree inside, flinging Ren to the floor unceremoniously before the tree pulls it back out through the front. Ren is barely able to get his bearings enough to fire a few bullets at the fleeing limb. They only graze it as it leaves.

Ren sighs and stands to his feet, wobbling a bit at the uneven ground below him. His boots make the same sound they would on the wooden floor of an old house, though slightly more muted. Despite the smell of moss and stale air all around, nothing about this place seems inherently toxic.

“Well, it’s not the way I meant to get in, but I guess the end result’s the same.” He rubs the back of his neck just below his hair. “Can’t believe it’s my second time being eaten by something in Fantasma, though…”

The Phantom Thieves would never let him hear the end of it. He’ll have to make sure no one else snitches once this is all over.

The inside of the tree is incredibly dark. A subtle purple tint to his surroundings is the only thing breaking apart the expanse of black all around. His sight with the Third Eye active doesn’t fare much better.

At least, it doesn’t seem to at first. Just before he lets it go, the tiniest bit of blue pops up into his view. It’s much fainter than it would be on any of his friends outside, but Ren still manages to follow it past logs stretched out like vines and rotted stumps of varying heights. The end of that trek puts him in front of exactly who he’s looking for.

Curled into a ball behind one of those gross stumps is the Conductor. He seems to have lost his hat at some point, making his resemblance to Ren even clearer. He shakes like a dog left out in the cold, whispering something to himself that Ren can’t make out over the persistent whistling winds traveling through the air.

Ren squats down in front of the boy and smiles. “Hey there.”

The Conductor’s head snaps up. His eyes need a moment to truly take Ren in, like he can’t believe that someone besides himself is here.

“It’s you…” he utters. “You came to save me?”

“Of course. Everybody out there wanted to, but I had the tools to get in. Don’t worry, I’m getting you out of here.”

Ren hops up and looks around. Nothing he has passed inside the tree looked particularly like a weak point, so he hopes that means it doesn’t matter which part he hits. As long as he gives it his best, it should be fine.

“Persona!”

Yoshitsune arrives at Ren’s side once again. The swordsman unleashes a flurry of blows onto the wooden wall in front of him with each strike leaving a gash on the surface. For the first time since gaining this mask, those strikes aren’t enough to cause much destruction.

Ren tries again with Arsène only to meet the same fate. The magic singes the wood, but there’s no major damage to be found. Pixie and Black Frost produce a similar lack of results, though through no fault of their own. Lucifer makes his own desire to test the wall known, but Ren holds his Persona back. He can’t afford to drain himself and get nothing from it.

“Damn,” he utters, letting his mask form back on his face. “Well, that’s not getting me anywhere.”

This whole rescue kind of hinged on the idea of breaking in and grabbing the Conductor before breaking out. He had gotten lucky that entering through the tree’s mouth went somewhat smoothly, but that luck seems to have run out. He won’t be able to get out simply by force.

“Are you stuck too?”

The Conductor’s question makes a wave of shame rush through Ren’s veins. It would have been one thing to have his half-baked plan end in his own capture, but he couldn’t even rescue the one person that needed him in the first place.

“Kind of,” he replies, still unwilling to admit the full extent of his foolishness. “I just need a different method to get out than I’ve been using. Like I said, we’ll get out of here.”

The boy at his feet doesn’t respond past a pained hum. The sound reminds Ren too much of a wounded animal, so he turns his attention away from the tree for a moment to focus on his double.

“You okay?”

“I…” The Conductor’s lip trembles. He squeezes his eyes shut as he admits, “I’m scared.”

Ren sighs. “Look, I know this thing is big and freaky, but we’ve got lots of people fighting it out there. I’m sure that—”

“I’m not scared of the monster!” the Conductor snaps. “I mean, I am, but…I’m more scared of what comes after.”

“What comes…after?”

What is even left to happen after they defeat the tree and its army? Is there another enemy incoming? But how would the Conductor know that? Is there some sort of trap meant to keep them here?

Ren starts to ask, but then he finally takes a close look at the Conductor. His cognitive copy is the spitting image of him in his youth, specifically matching up to times that Ren would rather forget entirely. Times that he did his best not to share with anyone.

The curled up posture and trying to bury himself in the surfaces around him is a telltale sign of wanting the world to swallow him whole. He had only looked like that when the emptiness in his house felt particularly heavy, as well as in moments where not even those that frequently asked for him to spend time with them could convince a young boy that he was wanted anywhere.

Really, the answer couldn’t be clearer now that Ren isn’t trying to look away from it.

“You’re afraid of everyone leaving,” he says. “You think once the monster’s gone and we have our book, then our time here is up.”

Neither part comes out as a question because he doesn’t need to ask. He already knows the answer.

The Conductor nods his head without letting it leave his knees. Not for the first time, Ren is struck by just how small he is.

He always hated being told he was small at that age, but it was just a fact of life. He was a little kid in mind and body, and though the Conductor has different circumstances making up his form, the same goes for him. He doesn’t have the knowledge or experience that the older Ren does to be able to fight against what he’s feeling at all. Trapped inside this tree, all he has available to him are his fears.

“I should’ve figured something was up with you. I got so distracted by all your energy that I failed to look past it.” An empty laugh escapes him. “I can’t believe I fell for the same kind of trick I’ve been using my whole life.”

Ren moves to stand next to the Conductor, getting close enough that his leg acts as a support for the boy to lean on should he need it.

“Listen, I don’t know how time works for you exactly, but it’s obvious you’ve been waiting to see the guys from Inaba for a while. This whole thing has been like a reunion for you, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I really wanted to see everyone again.”

“That’s why you held on for so long, fighting through the loneliness. The thought of seeing them again kept you going. If I’m right about that, then you just have to hold on a little longer. Even if they leave again, they’ll come back for you.”

“H–How do you know?”

Ren thinks about seeing an overly dressed woman stumble into Leblanc and stare at him with no tact whatsoever. He thinks about her smiling as if she won the lottery upon realizing who he was, and how she wasted no time dragging her friends – their friends – back into the café for a reunion Ren never expected. It still doesn’t feel entirely real all these months later.

“Because they managed to find me,” he says. “It took a little bit, but they kept their promise. We just have to last in the meantime. Same as we’ve always done.”

If the Conductor is reassured by that attempt at solidarity, it doesn’t show. He just makes himself small again, curling up like a pill bug destined to remain out of sight.

“It’s really hard to.”

“Yeah.” Ren slumps against the wall, sliding down to sit next to his double. “I know.”

It’s hard to call what settles between them silence from then on. That inexplicable wind continues to whistle, and the low groaning of creaky wood essentially ensures that nothing here can qualify as such. Still, it is a long time before any words are exchanged between the two boys present.

When the Conductor finally lifts his head, he sniffles and says, “I hope it’s easier when I’m big.”

As soon as he says that, a look of realization crosses his face. He stares up at Ren as if seeing him for the first time.

“Oh…that’s you, right? Me all grown up?”

“Maybe not all grown up,” Ren replies, “but yeah. It’s weird, huh?”

“Um…a little bit. Sorry.”

“No, I get it. It’s the same for me. But there is a benefit to it, you know.”

“There is?”

“Mmhm. Being the big one means you can trust what I tell you. Since I’m from the future.”

“Woah… I never thought of it like that.” The Conductor unfurls from his balled position just a bit, sitting with his legs out. “Can I ask you other stuff too? I don’t wanna sit here when it’s quiet. The tree noises are creepy…”

That is something Ren can fully agree with. And considering there isn’t any danger of time paradoxes or anything like that, he doesn’t see the harm in indulging his little reflection. Might as well make himself useful while he waits for a helping hand from outside.

“Sure thing. Ask away.”

 

*          *          *

 

The last twenty minutes may have been a total disaster, but at least Rise can revel in her teammates looking completely shocked by her taking out a bunch of skeletons on her own. Their timing in finding her couldn’t have been better.

But any pleasure she feels flees once she has to brief everyone on the situation. It wasn’t long ago that she watched the bigger of the Rens get eaten just like his double, and that was a heart-rending sight on its own. Between those kidnappings, the roots that can grow up from anywhere, those giant branch limbs, and of course, the never-ending skeleton supply, there is too much to talk about. Everything about this situation is too much.

Luckily, those roots haven’t reappeared since they dropped Rise a while back. Assuming they won’t come back at some point would be foolish, but Rise hopes this is a matter of the tree not being able to use them constantly.

The break in underground surprises has at least allowed her and the others to hang back behind cover. The merry-go-round has seen better days, but it being toppled over gives a decently sized wall to hide behind.

“And that’s pretty much where we’re at,” Rise says. “That stupid tree has our boys and we have to get them back. It’s just making things really hard to stop us from doing that.”

She concludes her rambling as she graciously takes a Snuff Soul from Yu. It likely won’t be her last before all is said and done.

“Guess that explains why you’re in battle mode,” Yosuke says. “You weren’t planning on charging the tree by yourself, were you?”

“I wasn’t planning much besides hitting every skeleton in sight. But as cathartic as that’s been, it doesn’t really help us destroy the tree.”

“Which we also cannot attempt to do as long as both versions of Ren-kun are stuck inside of it,” Naoto says.

Kanji groans into the air. “This is the damn bird all over again.”

“At least it isn’t airborne,” Yu says. “We don’t have to worry about it running away before we come up with a solid plan.”

“Uh, less emphasis on ‘we,’ please,” Chie says. “You’re the leader, remember? Put that brain to use!”

“And what will you be doing in the meantime?”

“Kicking the heck outta whatever tries to hurt you, duh.”

“Yeah, that tracks.”

Yosuke shakes his head. “Honestly, I’m at a loss for what to do either, partner. Maybe we should wait for the Shadow Ops? I figure anything we try to hit that tree with will have to be a group effort to do any good.”

“You’re probably right. Tell you what, let’s get our energy levels back up to normal and then try to meet up with them somewhere. They’re probably out looking for us themselves.”

“A sound suggestion,” Naoto says. “Here, allow me to help you distribute items.”

In a rare bit of downtime since things took a turn, the team splits up the recovery items they came in with to try and get close to normal levels again. Once everything is doled out, Rise reports that they’re each hovering at about three quarters of their full strength. Yu calls that a good place to stop so that they don’t exhaust their reserves this early into the adventure.

Just as he’s putting the leftover items away, the group all feels the mental connection in their heads flicker back on. Fuuka’s voice comes in like she’s standing right beside them all.

“Investigation Team, can you hear me?”

Chie perks up at the voice. “Oh, hey, Yamagishi-san! Boy, are we glad to hear from you.”

“The feeling is mutu— Duck and cover!”

Everyone hits the deck after Fuuka’s warning, narrowly avoiding the branching limbs that come swiping through the area where they just stood. The top half of the merry-go-round tears off with a shrill screech, a noise rivalled in pitch only by Teddie’s scream as the group hurriedly flees the scene.

They come to a stop at a pumpkin patch with very little of the titular crop in sight. The field has been torn apart, marked by large holes in the dirt that can only belong to skeletons long gone by now. Yu leads everyone into a small storage shed styled like a barn that’s missing both its front and back doors.

For a while, everyone’s heavy breaths are the only sounds filling the space. Fuuka, the only one not winded, opts to speak up while the others get air back into their lungs.

“As I was saying, it’s good to hear from you all as well, Satonaka-chan. Sorry for yelling.”

“Nah, it’s cool. Thanks for, y’know, keeping us from getting smacked into the afterlife.”

“Man, what’s got that thing lashing out all of a sudden?” Yosuke asks, peeking out at all the branches twisting through the air. “We’re barely anywhere near it!”

“Maybe Ren-kun is doing something inside to harm it?” Yukiko suggests. “We don’t know much about what’s going on in there.”

“Don’t remind me,” Rise mutters.

“Well, our plan to get everyone together is looking a bit delayed,” says Yu. “Fuuka-san, you wouldn’t happen to know where your teammates are right now, would you?”

“Funny you should mention them…”

“Hey, Fuuka-san was right! I can see the others!”

Calling out from across the field is Labrys, leading the way for the rest of the Shadow Operatives to join up with the other half of their combined forces. They quickly pile into the shed, squeezing in as best they can now that everyone’s in one place.

“I’m glad to see none of you have been seriously harmed,” Mitsuru says. “I don’t think I’m alone in finding recent events to be a lot to deal with.”

“No, you most certainly are not alone in that regard,” Naoto agrees.

“I sensed something off with the environment,” Fuuka says, “but by that point, we were already on track to the disaster that’s befallen Inaba-Land.”

Chie bends down to scoop Koromaru into her arms, frantically running her fingers through his fur.

“Okay, can we just make a quick group agreement to not split up again unless it’s absolutely necessary?” she asks. “I’ve been stressed out this whole time, and we’re still not even all here!”

Koromaru barks in her hold, so she looks to Aigis to translate.

“He pointed out that you all were the ones to run off first.”

“Wha— Koro-chan! Betrayal!”

“He’s not wrong, though,” Labrys says through some chuckles.

Junpei asks the group, “Hey, so…am I nuts or did I see Joker launch himself at the tree like a human missile earlier?”

“No, that definitely happened,” Rise replies. “I can’t sense him while Kouzeon is transformed, but I know it was him. I just don’t know how he got up there.”

“That, uh…” Yukari messes with a bit of her hair. “That one’s on me. He asked for my help with his plan and I went along with it.”

“We both did,” Mitsuru says. “It wasn’t foolproof by any means, but he made a decent case. Though it seems some hangups have affected the plan. He was supposed to be out by now.”

Aigis asks, “Fuuka-san, has there been any word from either Joker-san or the Conductor?”

“None so far. I can just barely make out Joker-kun’s presence along with something else that feels hazy inside with him. I would assume that’s the Conductor, but I can’t be any more sure than in my previous attempts.”

“Which means our rescue mission ended up becoming a double rescue mission,” Yukari says. “Next time Joker suggests something crazy, I’m just going to say no.”

“Eh, it was worth a shot,” says Akihiko. “We weren’t working with many concrete answers here, so someone had to take initiative. Let’s just take what he gave us and run with it.”

“So we need a plan that will allow us to destroy the tree, but also one that will get Ren-kun and Ren-Ren out before that happens,” Yukiko says. “It sounds a bit difficult considering the obstacles in our way.”

“But we’ll figure something out,” Chie declares. “At the very least, we need to get to the base of that tree to do any damage, right? We can take some time to experiment as long as we’re up close.”

“Those skeletons aren’t going to leave us alone, though,” Junpei says. “Somebody’s gotta block them off from whatever we’re doing.”

“With multiple objectives, our best bet is to split up and work through each at the same time,” Yu proclaims. He very obviously does not meet Chie’s angry glare at that suggestion. “It’s worked for us before, and it can here as well. We’ll have one team fight the skeletons that try to defend the tree, one go to rescue both Rens, and another that actually takes the tree down.”

“Cool, except two of those teams have an issue, partner.” Yosuke jerks his thumb towards the monster looming over them. “We can barely damage the tree right now, let alone kill it. And if we can’t put a decent dent in it, how are we supposed to get the Rens out?”

“The tree has also been more aggressive ever since taking both of them,” says Yukiko. “Could it be trying to keep us away?”

“Well, if it ate ‘em in the first place, it probably wouldn’t wanna let ‘em go, right?” Labrys asks.

“Do cognitive monsters take hostages?” Kanji asks.

“It doesn’t matter why the tree has those two locked away,” says Akihiko. “Our focus is on getting past those defenses it has, both for the sake of the rescue, and for taking it down.”

“Yamagishi, how have your scans gone since last we spoke?” Mitsuru asks. “Anything new?”

“At the very least, I can confirm that despite its resilience, the tree has taken damage so far. Though at our current pace, it would probably take close to several hours to completely defeat it.”

“Well, brute force is out,” Yukari says. “We’d drain ourselves way before we could finish it off. And we already know the skeletons won’t leave us alone to even try.”

“Actually… Hold on, everyone.” Fuuka steps back from the group and summons Juno again, shutting her eyes to concentrate. “Yes, I thought I remembered that correctly. I think we might have another method of winning.”

“What did you see?” Yu asks.

Juno vanishes as Fuuka rejoins everyone. “I’ve noticed since this all started that the tree monster isn’t regenerating or reinforcing itself in regards to our attacks. It’s more so acting like a sponge, taking the hits and relying on its own strength to stay standing. Without any special manner of healing, it theoretically should have a limit to how much damage it can take.”

“The only question is how to get it to that limit faster than we’re currently capable of,” says Naoto. “Would those of us with skills to lower enemy attributes be able to affect it?”

“Possibly. It wouldn’t completely give us the edge we need, however. By my estimate, we would still require something more substantial to bypass its defenses. Some manner of attack which could compromise its very being. I just don’t know of a technique like that…”

Mitsuru gestures to the Evoker on her hip. “I believe I am the only one with a Theurgy that employs such abilities. That said, it won’t do the sort of quick damage we need.”

Junpei looks over to everyone from Inaba. “And you guys’ special attacks are…random, right?”

“Not quite random, but we cannot tap into such powers as easily as you all with Theurgy,” Naoto explains. “There are certain conditions that make using them easier, but…”

“They like to happen when we need them over when we want them,” Yu says. “Both the solo ones and the combinations.”

“Not that we really have any for weakening an enemy,” Yosuke says. “This kind of fight isn’t one we typically come up against, so it’s no surprise we’re having trouble.”

Teddie bounces on his feet, crying, “But there’s gotta be something we can do! The Ren-Rens need us!”

Under her breath, Rise repeats, “They need us…”

Everyone has made good points in their discussion. Their special moves are suited for different scenarios, but none quite like this. Rise knows that this fight isn’t as simple as just wanting the outcome to go their way.

But the word “need” burrows into her brain and won’t fall loose no matter what. As much as Ren and the Conductor need to be saved, Rise feels a desperate need bubbling up in her to be the one leading that charge.

Both boys have needed her recently, and though she’s tried to make up for the past, she can’t say with confidence that she’s living up to that desire at all. Now they need her more than ever, but here she is sitting on her hands just because she isn’t suited for the job.

The last time she found herself in this spot, she had to make herself suited for the job. If she could do it then, why not now?

It’s as soon as that thought settles that she feels Kouzeon whisper within her heart. Feelings rather than words pass from Persona to wielder, ones that are hard to parse, but not lacking for intensity. When Rise shuts everything else out and really focuses, she sees an image born from two selves, but those selves are of one mind.

If this kind of power mainly comes when needed, then this has to fit the bill. The sight burned into Rise’s eyelids will accept no less.

“Guys.” The discussion stops as Rise speaks up. Given the floor, she has to make her will known. “I think I know a way to win. On all fronts.”

“Wait, really?” Kanji asks.

“Yeah. Well, it’s more of a hunch,” she admits. “It’s not exactly based on real world science, but since we’re not in the real world, I think it’s got a shot at working. If I can use the power I have in mind, I think I can make that thing as weak as papier-mâché. Then we can hit it so hard that it won’t have the time to recover.”

“Damn. You’ve got something that strong on deck?”

“Where is this coming from, Rise-chan?” Yukiko asks.

“Well, like you guys said, our power sometimes comes when we need it. And there’s a lot of ‘needing’ going around right now, don’t you think?”

Her friends stare at her with wide eyes. She isn’t being subtle about this, so the shock is pretty warranted. Still, it means a lot that none of them are dismissing her right off the bat. After all, this isn’t anything proven, and they aren’t the kind of team to throw caution to the wind when lives are on the line. They have every right to be skeptical about this.

And yet, no one protests. Instead, Yu just holds her gaze for a few seconds before nodding to her. His face looks stony and focused like he always gets in high-pressure situations. He’s their leader for a reason, and his respect makes Rise feel like she can pull off the impossible.

“Okay,” he says. “I trust you. What do you need to make this happen?”

Rise nods back, holding up four fingers. “A stage far from the battle, a megaphone, an All-Out Attack on that tree, and Naoto.”

Half of those present don their own looks of puzzlement. Her friends shift away from such faces in exchange for talking over each other in trying to question her. Rise holds her hands out to stop everyone from rushing to their own conclusions.

“I know how it sounds, okay? Just…hear me out. I promise I’m not crazy.”

As soon as those words leave her mouth, she winces. Ren must be rubbing off on her more than she thought.

 

*          *          *

 

“Do you have a grown-up job?”

“Not a steady one,” Ren says, completely used to the back and forth he and the Conductor have fallen into. “I’ve had some small jobs before, but none like the ones adults you know go to every day.”

“Good. You should have time to play and sleep. And eat snacks!”

Ren lets out a wistful sigh. “If only things were that easy. What else do you want to know?”

“Um…how did you get so tall? Was it from milk like Nanako said?”

“Hate to break it to you, but there’s not much to do besides wait. Growth spurts just kinda happen.”

“Really? Ugh…”

“I know. I remember hating every time someone told me to wait, too.”

“People don’t say it to hurt me. But it still always feels so…um… Not mean, but…demi…demee…”

“Demeaning?”

The Conductor nods his head. “Yeah, that one! Okay, next… Do we ever get a pet?”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call him a pet, but we do live with a cat. A real mouthy one, at that.”

“Ooh, I like cats! But I kinda wanted a fish.”

“A fish?”

“Yeah. Actually, a lot of fish. Like in a big tank! I could sit and watch them all day.”

“That does sound pretty peaceful. I don’t think any fish would last in my house now, though.”

Bringing fish into the Amamiya home would basically be lining them up for Morgana to make snacks out of all of them. He really was a little fiend where aquatic creatures were concerned.

“Have I asked how old you are yet?”

“Nope. You want to know?”

“Yes, please.”

“I just turned eighteen a few months ago.”

“Eighteen…” The Conductor lowers his head to start counting on his fingers. After muttering to himself for a moment, he looks back up and says, “That’s old!”

“Wha— It’s not that old! I’m basically still a teenager!”

“But teenagers are old, too!”

“To you, maybe. Aren’t you supposed to be asking questions instead of insulting me?”

“Sorry.” The giggles that slip past that apology definitely don’t help its case. “Are you married yet?”

“Not even close. Eighteen, remember?”

“Then…a girlfriend? Or boyfriend?”

“Also no.”

“Oh. Have you ever kissed anyone?”

Ren laughs, stretching his legs out on the floor next to the Conductor’s. “What’s with all the romance questions? I figured you’d think that stuff was yucky.”

“It is. But everyone at school talks about it. We think our teacher’s gonna have a baby.”

That does sound vaguely familiar, Ren thinks. Of course, it’s hard to recall whether there were actual signs of Ms. Takizawa being pregnant back then, or if a bunch of kids who thought babies came from kissing just got an idea in their heads and ran with it.

Ren smirks as he says, “I’m not going to have a baby, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’m not!” The childish pout only lasts until a thought seems to wash over the Conductor. He looks a bit meek as he asks, “Do Mom and Dad ever kiss?”

“Huh?”

“People kiss when they love somebody. That’s what everybody says.” Gray eyes filled with hope turn up to Ren. “Do Mom and Dad do that?”

It’s a reasonably simple question, yet Ren knows the answer isn’t nearly as straightforward. Nothing ever is when it comes to the Amamiya family.

Ren can probably count on his hands the number of times he’s seen his parents kiss. That number is only slightly bigger than the number of times they’ve told him that they were going on a date somewhere rather than a joint business trip. With the two of them, romance isn’t something they really see a reason to indulge in.

But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t the center of each other’s worlds. Not even a lack of kisses and dates can hide the way every part of their lives is focused on ensuring the best for the other. It’s been easy to see given Ren’s position just outside of said focus.

“Mom and Dad are definitely committed to each other. If there’s anything I can say about them, it’s that.”

Once again, the only answer Ren can provide doesn’t do the job of reassuring the Conductor. He doesn’t look quite as bothered as last time, though. The look on his face now is more pensive than outright upset.

“That probably wasn’t what you wanted to hear, but—”

“Joker-kun, do you hear me?”

The voice in his head is a welcome interruption after spending so long isolated inside this tree. It isn’t exactly who he wanted to hear from next, but contact at all is something to celebrate.

“Sorry, give me a sec, Conductor.” He stands to his feet, taking a few steps away before replying to the voice in his head. “Yamagishi-san?”

“I got through! Are you okay? Is the Conductor with you?”

“Yeah, we’re both fine. I came in to get him and maybe do some internal damage to the tree, but it’s just as tough in here as on the outside. I don’t think I can get out on my own.”

“Yes, I surmised as much. We have a plan in mind to destroy it, but we obviously need to get you and the Conductor out before going through with it.”

“Well, I’m open to ideas. Did you already come up with a way out?”

“I believe so. As you know, previous attacks have been ineffective at puncturing the enemy’s exterior. With you on the inside, however, we believe we can stress at least a small portion of that exterior to its limit with a concentrated, simultaneous attack.”

“Oh, I think I get it. If I hit it hard in here while you guys do the same on the opposite side, our attacks should be enough to meet in the middle and break through.”

“Exactly. Do you think you have enough energy for an attack like that? We have the benefit of numbers out here, but you’ll be bearing the brunt of the force on your own inside.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve rested more than enough.”

Ren slides a hand over his mask and feels twelve spirits all flare to life. It’s always funny to see the various parts of himself compete for the chance to show off. Most of his friends would call that unsurprisingly “on brand.”

“Is there a signal I should be looking out for?” Ren asks. “I don’t want to mess up the plan by going too early.”

“I’ll be sure to contact you closer to the moment we act. For now…I would just suggest not standing too close to any surfaces.”

Considering some of the powerhouses outside the tree, Ren gets the distinct feeling Fuuka isn’t just saying that out of excess caution. He makes sure to lead the Conductor away from the wall he’s been pressed up against this whole time.

 

*          *          *

 

Ken and Koromaru are the last pair to get back from the brief party split. The others have long since come back and brought Rise what she asked for, and the two latest arrivals have just confirmed a space like the one she needs for her plan. Apparently the area housing the park’s zipline has been ripped apart, leaving only the base platform high above most other spots nearby. The elevation is exactly what Rise is looking for.

Their report is immediately followed up by one from Mitsuru, who rejoins the larger group after having left to check on Fuuka’s progress.

“Yamagishi has just gotten through to Joker,” she announces. “He’s in the process of setting up for his end of our strategy.”

“Yeah, uh, can we run through that one more time?” Yosuke asks. “Because it sounds less like a plan and more like a daydream.”

“What, you don’t believe I can pull it off?” Rise asks.

“I didn’t say that. I’m just nervous about hinging this whole thing on a move that didn’t even exist until five minutes ago!”

“We’ll be fine. Yu and Yukiko said that their version worked earlier today, so this should too.” 

“Ours was a lot smaller in scale, though,” Yukiko admits.

“Simpler, too,” adds Yu.

Rise pays them no mind. “Don’t get hung up on the details. You guys just have to start the party, then Naoto and I will finish it. Easy peasy.”

“You’re skipping a lot of steps,” Yosuke mutters. “But I guess if everyone else is on board…”

Teddie pats him on the back. “That’s the spirit, Yosuke! Giving in is your best quality.”

“What the hell does that mean?!”

“Fuuka-san, is our path to the tree clear?” Yu asks.

“For the most part. There are still some skeleton packs lurking in the park, but they aren’t actively guarding the tree right now.”

Mitsuru says, “Which will likely change when we begin attacking the tree to serve as a distraction. We should operate under the assumption that our aggression will be met with scores of our foes. A single skeleton’s strength may be unimpressive, but the sheer numbers will overwhelm us if we do not keep them at bay.”

Akihiko adds, “So fight like you mean it, people. Don’t leave anything on the table.”

“And trust in each other,” says Aigis. “This has been an ordeal, but we are at our strongest together. Distance does not change that.”

Yu smiles at that. “Well said. Ready to turn the tide, everyone?”

A unified “yeah” blasts from everyone yet to speak. With minds made up and destinations set, the group runs out of their shed hideout to take their designated places around the park.

After having the navigators and Naoto split off from them, the largest of the groups takes a direct path straight to the tree. They manage to make it all the way to the giant root system without anything stopping them.

That changes once they actually get close to the tree’s roots. Bony appendages tear their way up through the ground as the Persona-users cross some hidden threshold. Newly formed skeletons brandish their crude weaponry in opposition to the approaching force.

“Retrieval team, break off and head to your position,” Mitsuru orders. “We will grant you an opening. Yukari, Hanamura!”

“Isis!”

“Takehaya Susano-o!”

Both Personas unleash fierce winds in order to blow back a large portion of the skeletons in view. With the enemy force scattered, Chie and Teddie step up next, summoning their Personas in sync. The joint wall of ice they form acts as a bridge to carry the so-called retrieval team past those attempting to stop them. Aigis and Koromaru hop up first, followed closely by Junpei and Labrys.

“See ya later, guys!” Labrys calls.

“Be careful, you four,” Mitsuru replies. “Now, I believe the battle for the rest of us begins in earnest here.”

It isn’t anything different from what they’ve been doing since things went bad, but this stand against the skeleton army still feels more intense with everything on the line.

Spread out without leaving themselves too separated for assistance, everyone holds their Personas for as long as they can. Long-range attacks fly through the air to burn through enemy numbers almost as quickly as they can spawn.

For once, no one is trying to keep their stronger moves in reserve. This distraction will only be effective if there is something sufficiently distracting in the first place. The enemy has no need to pay attention to anyone weak.

Small versions of the roots they stand on popping up to attack actually serves as a sign that things are going as planned. Some of the fighters present have to switch to dealing with them, but they don’t manage to grab anyone like they did before. Both tools of the enemy are being kept at bay.

As those front-line fighters continue their stand, the four on retrieval duty finally arrive at the part of the tree they plan to infiltrate. Further up than the point their comrades are defending, they plan to make an opening before the tree wises up to their aims.

Labrys slides to a stop in front of their target area. “Alright, time for step one: makin’ this thing hurt! Ariadne!”

“Trismegistus!”

“Beezelbub!”

“Arf!”

A slew of magic attacks all strike the same spot on the tree’s trunk. The damage is not readily apparent after they dissipate, but everyone carries on, trusting in their navigator’s analysis. Though none of the four present are used to this kind of mindless rapid-fire attacking, they still give it their best anyway.

The base of the tree turns into a fireworks show with all the magical abilities flying through the air. Distraction and retrieval efforts work in tandem, finally finding a way to gain the upper hand after so long just trying to survive. Everyone feels as though they are in control.

And then the tree opens its mouth.

“Begone…” it moans. “Begone!”

The rumbling everyone feels is not at their feet for once. This time, the only thing to shake violently is the tree itself. The rattling starts from the bottom and travels all the way up to the top, where all the force spreads out through the only section of the tree not part of the trunk.

Junpei, who watches this process from the ground, is struck with horror once he spots the reason for the tree’s sudden effort.

“The leaves…” His throat burns with the force of his next shout. “Guys, watch the leaves!”

Those that can hear him look up, but all that does is allow them to see the danger coming. The tree’s rotten leaves fall like heavy rain, cutting through the air and bombarding everyone standing under its canopy. Only when they make contact with ground and flesh alike do the Persona-users realize that the leaves are as sharp as blades, slicing through their defenses and eliciting screams out of the majority.

Those same leaves take on a different purpose once they stab into the ground. Their sickly green hue shifts into a vibrant magenta that flickers on and off. That flickering continues to speed up until it reaches the point of being almost permanent. At that point, each of the leaves detonates like a bomb, turning the area around the base of the tree into a sea of screams and explosions.

When the dust settles, most skeletons have perished in the crossfire, leaving behind the prone bodies of everyone they had just been fighting against.

In the distance, all the breath leaves Rise at once. Her part of their strategy requires her to stay focused and continue amassing power, but the sound of her friends all crying out in agony seconds ago is the only thing she can hear.

She has to do something. Forget the part she is supposed to play – she can’t lose anyone here.

“Everyone! Hang on, I’ll—”

“No, Rise-chan!” Fuuka shouts. “You need to continue preparing yourself. Leave everyone’s health to me.”

“But…are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I can’t stand and fight with them like you can, so I have to give my all in another form.”

On her perch overlooking the battle from afar, Fuuka holds her hands together as if in prayer and closes her eyes. The sensation of calling on the power she seeks feels like a baptism, submerging her body before a newly empowered version of herself rises to the surface.

“My will to protect… My refusal to let go of anyone I care for… Please help those feelings reach them, Juno!”

Like a tidal wave coming ashore, Juno’s power spreads across the expanse of ruined land before her. What looks like geysers burst from the ground all over, each centered around one of Fuuka’s fallen comrades. When they all evaporate into small motes of blue light, everyone affected is able to stand once more.

Mitsuru doesn’t waste a moment, calling out the second her eyes blink open. “Koromaru, now!”

Back up on his paws, Koromaru summons Cerberus so the two can let out a joint howl that cuts through the air. Golden clouds rain down a matching light on those closest to him, powering them up past normal proportions. Labrys steps to the front of her group with her axe dragging through the ground behind her.

“Round two, monster tree,” she says. “You with me, Junpei-san?”

“Hell yeah! Let’s get this jailbreak going!”

The two shoot forward with sword and axe raised high above their heads. Every bit of their enhanced strength goes into slashing at the tree, and once those hits land, Trismegistus and Ariadne strike the exact same marks to deepen the cuts. Both Personas and their users then clear the way for the sake of their ally yet to act.

Directly across from the struck point stands Aigis, hands held at chest level as bright blue energy pours out from the center of her body. That power flows from her to Athena behind her, who has her spear raised and aimed forward.

Aigis lets that power build until it threatens to overcharge her systems. The unique combination of electric surges and strength of heart mix so fervently that her entire body feels liable to fall apart. Only when that sensation reaches its most intense does she tell Fuuka that she is ready to launch her strike.

“He’s ready on the other side! Go, Aigis!”

“Athena!”

The android’s primary Persona launches her spear with all the force of a cannon. The weapon slams into the tree right where it was previously attacked, and thanks to another potent force on the opposite side, the damage proves enough to finally cause a wound.

The tree lets out a droning wail with the moderately sized hole pierced into its trunk. The sound travels all the way down to the wound itself, coming through as a wooshing wind that grates on the ears of those present.

The discomfort doesn’t last for very long. In fact, Aigis can barely hear the noise past the cheers that come once Ren emerges from inside the tree with the Conductor in his arms. Junpei runs over to help them get to relative safety, clearing the area just in time for Fuuka’s next announcement.

Fuuka shouts, “It may not look like it, but the enemy is in a downed state! The wound it suffered was considered a critical hit!”

“Then we commence our All-Out Attack,” Aigis says, struggling to stand after exhausting her power. “Strike now, everyone!”

Her call spurs all those able to fight to action, launching what is likely the biggest All-Out Attack either of the teams have ever performed. All sorts of weaponry go into the multidirectional assault with everyone doing whatever damage they can manage on an incredibly resilient opponent. Just before it ends, an extra bit of damage comes from Ren zipping in and slashing away at the tree with audible enthusiasm.

The tree moans as normal, and though something based in physical hits like All-Out Attacks might not cause it to take the most damage, that was never the intent here. Once everyone clears the area around the roots, Fuuka contacts the centerpiece of their operation.

“Rise-chan, the tree is reeling and both Joker-kun and the Conductor are safe. You’re free to proceed.”

Music to her ears, Rise thinks. Knowing those two are out of harm’s way gives her strength all on its own. Though the extra buffs she feels coming in from all her allies don’t hurt either.

“Thanks, Fuuka-san. I won’t let you all down.” Rise raises the megaphone in her hand and flicks the switch on. “You ready to tear this thing to shreds, Naoto?”

Positioned just below Rise’s platform, Naoto nods, drawing her gun and aiming it straight ahead. “Lead me in, Rise-san!”

Despite this being her first time with a technique like this, Rise recognizes the swell of energy provided to her at the moment. She grabs hold and redirects it, allowing it to burst free from her and affect the cognitive world directly.

She belts out an operatic tune like she’s center stage at one of her concerts, pushing everything she has into the notes normally unfamiliar to her. The combination of her own resolve and this new strength enable her to sing through the inexperience.

With the aid of Kouzeon, her voice takes the form of semi-solid sound waves that create a huge light blue cylinder around the tree’s trunk. It isn’t wide enough to get all of the stationary roots, but that’s fine. Her focus remains the tree’s main body, and she doesn’t want any of her friends below caught up in the crossfire.

She can see the tree’s downed limbs struggle uselessly along the ground, trying in vain to reach out and stop whatever’s coming. The vindication that comes from knowing it won’t succeed is deservedly fulfilling.

Rise pushes her voice more, strengthening her barrier around the tree to the point where she can see her plan begin to take effect. All the vibrations and pressure from her sound waves start putting cracks into the tree’s trunk, forcing it to shed wood chips the longer it sits under the barrage of noise. Rise smirks through her singing knowing that the tree’s troubles don’t end there.

Just one staircase below stands Naoto, fully lit by the golden sparks dancing in a circle around her. Rise feels the energy making this possible flow from herself to Naoto, causing those sparks to flash like comets. They circle the detective in a fast funnel of light before all pooling into the gun in her hands. The second that gun is leveled at the tree across from them, Rise knows this fight is over.

Naoto fires ceaselessly into the cylinder, pushing as many cognitive bullets as she possibly can through the walls. Each one ricochets off of the stationary sound waves, piercing the enemy within on one side and bursting out of another before repeating the process on the return path. The more they ricochet, the stronger they become, gaining a golden aura that lets them cut through the tree with ease.

When the cylinder ahead is nothing but projectiles swarming like wasps, Naoto switches tactics. She aims away from the carnage to shoot the tarot card that manifests in front of her.

“Come, Yamato Sumeragi!”

Backed by a high note from Rise that could shatter glass, Naoto’s Persona descends right above her. Their saber is held high with both hands as a blinding white-gold energy envelops the blade. Naoto mimics the pose with her gun.

“Now, let this strike be your end, monster!”

In tandem, Naoto and Yamato Sumeragi throw their hands forward. The latter’s attack manifests as a giant blade of pure holy light that slices through the battlefield, catching everything ahead in its path of utter destruction. Attractions and farmland evaporate under such power, and the tree is not exempt from that damage.

It and the tower of bullets and sound encompassing it are split right down the middle. As the sound waves warble and fade from the air, their place is briefly taken by the tree emitting one last wail. It lasts only as long as it takes for the mass of wood and leaves to turn to dust and fall to ground razed by the power of Persona.

The sight of all remaining skeletons meeting the same fate causes much of the team to cheer. Rise would be right there with them if her voice wasn’t already strained. Opera tracks are a definite “no” when it comes to her future albums.

Something smacks against the ground below her, and when she looks over the edge of her platform, she finds Naoto dropped onto her knees. Rise skips the stairs to jump down, taking the pain in her legs to get to her friend faster.

“Naoto! Are you okay?!”

“That was…much more taxing than I anticipated.” She lifts her head as much as she can to show a tired grin. “Though I suppose it makes sense any combination move you envisioned would be incredibly over the top.”

Relieved, Rise returns the expression. “Yeah, but I’ve got you to keep me grounded. That’s why we make such a good pair. And honestly, I’ve always thought you shined best with brighter lights on you anyway. It’s a shame you detectives all prefer creeping around in the dark.”

“I do not ‘creep in the dark.’ But…thank you. As much as the spotlight feels intolerable to me, I trust in your gifts readily. After all, when it comes to shining bright, I struggle to find anyone who holds a candle to you.”

“Ooh, level-headed and a charmer. Maybe all our classmates during the beauty pageant were on to something.”

“Must you tease me right after our victory?”

“Someone’s gotta do it.” When Rise manages to get Naoto standing again, she points to the rest of their team approaching from afar. “But hey, Yosuke’s here now. I’m sure he’d love to take over for me.”

“And end up like that tree did? Fat chance.” Takehaya Susano-o appears with a wave of a hand. “Hold still, Naoto. I’ll heal you up as much as I can.”

“I appreciate it, Yosuke-san.”

“Nice work, you two,” Yu says. “Your plan was just as great as you were out there, Rise. I’m proud of you for taking the lead with this.”

Rise does not try to fight the giggles coming out of her. “That kind of praise is the perfect pick-me-up after all this. Still, things got kind of scary partway through the fight. I’m glad I could help us win, but not being able to save you guys when you went down was terrible. I felt so helpless.”

“Hey, we made it out okay,” Chie says. “We had Yamagishi-san to get us back up.”

Kanji rubs his shoulder. “Those explosions hurt like hell, though. Fantasma’s definitely gettin’ meaner.”

“Yes, we must exercise caution as we proceed,” says Naoto. “If we were forced to use such excessive offensive tactics on a mere detour from our objective, then there is no telling what lies in wait once we uncover the location of the Phantom Thieves.”

“We’ll be careful,” Rise assures her. “I’m sure the Shadow Operatives will agree too. The only one I’m worried about is Re— Oh my god, Ren!”

She takes off without another word, racing across the abandoned streets of Inaba-Land in the direction of the other cluster of Persona-users. She continues calling for Ren the entire way.

“And there she goes,” Kanji says. “Was waitin’ to see how long it’d take her.”

“I’m surprised she lasted that long,” Yosuke says. “She must have had her big win on the brain.”

“Well, I think she’s got the right idea,” says Chie. “The fight’s over, so we should be checking on our boys!”

Yukiko nods. “Yes, I think so too. I won’t feel accomplished until I know those two are alright.”

“Naoto, are you okay to move?” Yu asks. “I don’t want to rush you.”

“I’m alright, thank you. I’m just as concerned as the rest of you, so why don’t we go join Rise-san?”

“Alright, then. Move out, team – we’ve got pals to see.”

 

*          *          *

 

“Wow.”

Ren stares ahead at the crater that used to hold a giant monster tree. The bowl-like indent in the earth spans a large portion of Inaba-Land that is indistinguishable from any other barren field at this point. Whatever attraction had been there before, there isn’t any trace of it remaining. The only things in sight are sliced chunks of wood and a few stray roots. Thankfully, they don’t look animated or anything like that. The fight should be totally over.

Ren’s mind blinks back to the attack that ended things just moments ago. He hadn’t been looking at it head on, only catching a stray glimpse of Naoto and Yamato Sumeragi lined up as they unleashed some sort of divine slash that looked big enough to tear the sky in half. It was undoubtedly one of the most breathtaking sights he has seen on this adventure so far.

It is also a good reminder that he really hasn’t seen anyone travelling with him unleash their full power yet. He has plenty of power himself, but everyone here made it through their own journeys as well. It would be foolish to assume he outclasses any of them simply because of what he managed to accomplish during the most important battle of his life.

“Ren-Ren!”

He turns his head to see Rise sprinting in his direction. The tears falling from her eyes are visible even from a distance, and it only takes Ren a moment to remember that no one has heard from the Conductor since he was taken.

Of course Rise is worried about his child copy. She was there when he was taken, and that moment was the very reason she decided to fight in the first place. Her need to see him now is likely the only thing on her mind.

“Hey, Rise.” He steps to the side a little, pointing behind him. “Little me’s okay. He just—”

Rise ignores the gesture completely. She slams into Ren and hugs him tightly, either trusting him to keep them both standing after the impact or not caring if they fall. Though Ren does keep them upright, he has a much harder time doing so considering how unexpected this is. Isn’t she worried about the wrong one?

“Thank goodness you’re okay.” Rise pulls back slightly, lifting her hands to place them along his cheeks. “Using Kouzeon to fight means I can’t see you like normal, so I was worried when I never got a response from you. Then you fell into a monster’s mouth – again – so of course I panicked even more, and…and—!”

She doesn’t manage to finish her sentence, instead letting her head fall back into his chest. Her grip gets tighter around him as she mumbles out something about being glad that he’s okay, and though Ren is still confused, he selfishly gives in to the attention placed on him. Somehow, being seen by her right now doesn’t feel as conflicting as it often can.

“Worry’s a two way street, you know,” he says, hugging her back with a much lighter touch. “Since when do you run headfirst into battle?”

“Even I see red sometimes. Especially where people precious to me are concerned.”

“Yeah, I guess so. That demon tree better be glad it didn’t attack Yu, otherwise you would’ve ripped it apart with your bare hands or something.”

A laugh breaks free from Rise through her tears. “Still poking fun at me, huh? Unbelievable.”

The hug lasts much longer than Ren anticipated. He should be well aware of Rise’s habits by now, but he hasn’t been on the other end of her concern quite like this before. The closest he’s come is back when he first got out of Fantasma, when she held him like he could have slipped through her fingers.

The same hold is on him now, but any tighter and he might break in half. He quickly decides the ache in his spine is negligible.

She does eventually pull away, wiping her face with her sleeves. She really has a knack for looking good even after becoming an emotional wreck. Stardom took on a whole new meaning when she debuted.

“You’re really okay, though?” she asks. “Nothing bad happened inside the tree?”

“Aside from being creepy in there, it wasn’t anything to worry about. I basically just had a little talk with the Conductor. I think it helped calm him down a bit.”

“That’s good to hear. Speaking of him, where’d he go? He’s next on my squishing list.”

Ren nods toward the crowd gathered just meters away. The Conductor can barely be seen as most of the Shadow Operatives fret over him, fixing his hair and wiping off any dirt and grime they find. He doesn’t seem to mind it much.

“He’s over there with the Shadow Ops. They’ve been like that ever since the fight ended.”

Rise joins him in watching, smiling at what she sees. “Well, I hope he doesn’t think he’s in the clear yet. I’ve got my own fussing to do.”

“Take it easy on him, will you? He’s gotta be tired at this point.”

“I will not make a promise I can’t keep.”

Ren just chuckles to himself as Rise charges the other group, shoving her way past until the Conductor is wrapped in her arms just as she desired. He blushes immediately as she whines about how worried she was, leaving Ren to wonder if this is how this scene always looked from the outside.

It isn’t long before the rest of the Investigation Team arrives. They split between going to see the Conductor and making sure Ren is okay despite his own assurances. He stomachs their concern through the discomfort; simply seeing everyone in one place for the first time in a while is relieving enough to counteract anything else he’s feeling.

“Whew!” Junpei leans on his sword to prop himself up. “That one got a little dicey, huh?”

“Way too close,” Yosuke agrees.

“This was definitely a wakeup call for our fights here,” says Yu. “Nothing else has been able to hurt us like this battle was, and our main opponent couldn’t even move or dodge our attacks.”

Mitsuru nods. “None of us think ourselves invincible, but it was hard not to feel confident after the simpler battles we’ve experienced thus far. We all need to keep in mind that this world is not on our side, regardless of the occasional boons it provides.”

“If anything, those boons feel as though they only come in order to keep things interesting,” Naoto remarks. “It’s possible that whoever is in control here is walking some line of pushing us without making things entirely one-sided.”

“I did recently have the thought that we could be getting toyed with. Much of our time here makes more sense if that is actually the case…”

Yukari frowns as she looks to the sky. “If dropping razor-sharp bombs on us is their idea of a game, I am so not ready for when we inevitably piss them off into trying to kill us for real.”

“Ah, all that can come later, Yuka-chan,” Teddie says. “We gotta pat ourselves on the back for the win we got here!”

“Sure, but it’s kinda hard to view this one as a win, Teddie,” Labrys says.

Her meaning is obvious from a single glance at their surroundings. They may have made it through a fierce battle with no casualties on their end, but Inaba-Land cannot say the same.

The former place of wonder has been reduced to scattered ruins. Most of the area is in a blackout with a majority of lights either entirely dead or raining sparks in a futile attempt to stay active.

This may have only been an amusement park for cognitions, but the sight of something like this in shambles doesn’t sit right with any of the team. It’s made even worse by the fact that the park resembles the home of half of them.

The Conductor gasps suddenly, startling the group. After exclaiming something about the train, he hurries off back towards Inaba-Land’s entrance. Everyone follows once the shock of his departure wears off.

As they go, they end up passing clusters of cognitions that somehow escaped the wrath of the skeletons and the tree. None of what occurs here or in the villages is reality, but that doesn’t completely put the Persona-users at ease. Seeing parents and children huddled together surrounded by devastation on all sides is a torment regardless of the context.

Ren idly wonders what their next steps are, if the ruler of Fantasma has given them any. For all he knows, their purpose was only to have fun in the park, and this is where their story ends. He can’t help but feel a little guilty about not being able to defend even their facade of a life.

Everyone arrives at Fantasma’s entrance to find a demolished gas station with their former means of travel lying amongst the wreckage. The White Rabbit has been ripped apart with each of its cars lying scattered in the dirt. Even if they were to be reconnected, none of them look operable with their burned exteriors and mangled wheels.

“No…” the Conductor whispers. He takes small, slow steps towards the White Rabbit, running his hand along one of the cars once he reaches it. “The train got hurt.”

The Investigation Team steps up to comfort him. Rise squats down to rub her hand up and down his back.

“I’m sorry, Ren-Ren,” she says. “I wish we could’ve stopped that tree monster sooner, but…”

The Conductor sniffles, wiping his face with his bandana. “It’s not your fault. The tree and those skeletons were too mean. I know you did your best.”

“Still, I feel like we should help out where we can,” Kanji says. “Anything we can do?”

“Yes, what’s next for you, Ren-Ren?” Yukiko asks. “Just tell us what you need.”

“Well…”

The Conductor stands, moving his gaze from the train to all of the cognitions slowly coming out of hiding. Rather than shy away from their stares, he looks at each and every one of them before nodding to himself.

“I think…Inaba-Land is gone. I don’t think it can come back.”

“Oh…” Teddie says. “We’re sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It was fun, but it had to end at some point, right? We can have fun in other places.” The Conductor gestures to all the cognitions around him. “But everyone else needs somewhere to stay, so I need to get the train working so I can take them wherever they wanna go.”

“Wait, can you do that?” asks Chie. “The train looks pretty beat up.”

“I can. But…without the engineers here, it’ll take me a really long time. More people could help, but it’ll still be a while.”

Various looks are exchanged between the Inaba crew. Ren can see the way they all war with themselves over their next course of action. They may want to help, but it’s hard to overlook taking more time on something like this, especially with how time works differently for those not native to Fantasma.

Rise looks especially conflicted. Her eyebrows knit together as she speaks softly to the boy in front of her.

“And when you say ‘a long time,’ that means…?”

“A really long time,” he repeats, stress behind every word. “Unless an engineer shows up, I can’t make it go any faster.”

“Oh… Ren-Ren—”

“B–But that’s a good thing, right? If you and everyone else stay here with me, we can work on the train and then play together whenever we get tired of that! There should be room for everyone back in the village, and we can make up for lost time, and—”

“Sorry, but I have to stop you there.”

Ren cuts in front of his friends, pulling Rise back to her feet as he looks down at the Conductor.

“Remember, we weren’t even supposed to be here in the first place,” he says. “We don’t have time for more sidequests or roadblocks or games. We have a mission to get back to. The fantasy you’re describing just can’t happen.”

Part of him feels more like a child than the boy cognition as he spits out his words like this. Something indignant had built up in him the longer he listened to the Conductor’s hopes, and only now does Ren realize how he has let it come out.

But he needs to be heard, even if it seems overly blunt. Cognitions can be harder to convince than people in the real world.

“Our time here is limited in more ways than one, and we just don’t have people to spare to leave behind for playtime. But even if we did, Rise can’t stay back with you. We need her, and above all else, she’s my—!”

Ren freezes, that weird indignance leading him down a path he hadn’t even known was there in his head. The words sitting on his tongue feel right and wrong at the same time, if such a thing is possible. The fact that they even managed to bypass his brain is cause for concern. He swallows them back before they can fall out.

“She’s…coming with us.” Ren takes a breath, then kneels to look his double in the eye. “You’re the only one the White Rabbit can depend on to get fixed, right?”

The Conductor shuffles skittishly on his feet. “Y–Yes…”

“Then stay with it and the people that need you. They may not say it, but your help does make a difference, both here and in the village. You’re always trying to look out for people that need you – that’s a fine way to live. Don’t forget that.”

Talking to himself has never felt so pointed. He’ll probably be able to find the humor in this sometime later.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, but there are people that need us, too. They don’t have anyone else to count on, so we have to go get them. Okay?”

The Conductor stares at Ren for a few seconds before glancing at the Investigation Team members. They all put on smiles for his sake; Ren appreciates the assistance considering this must be hard for them to deal with too. Unlike many of Ren’s attempts, their reassurance seems to hit home.

“Okay,” the boy replies.

Labrys pipes up from behind them all. “Um, not to argue, but is it safe for him to stay here on his own? That tree was all about snatchin’ him up. What if somethin’ else attacks while we’re gone?”

“He’ll be fine,” Ren says, standing again. “All the cognitions here will be. The tree was actually after me the whole time. It just didn’t seem to care which ‘me’ at first.”

It isn’t like the monster could confirm that during its attack on the park, but Ren can see no other answer with all that took place earlier.

By all accounts, a monster tree that eats people should be one that digests anything it claims, but all it amounted to for Ren and his kid copy was just a giant prison. It only saw fit to hold him in place while it dealt with the others. This is all just another sign of Lavenza’s warning being true.

“Really? Why you?” Teddie asks.

“My best guess? We’re getting close to some actual answers here in Fantasma. I found some odd stuff while we were here, and even though I can’t make total sense of it now, it’s obvious we’re pushing through faster than whoever’s in charge here expected.”

“And considering how vital you seem to this world, you’ve become something of a target,” Naoto states. “Though it’s interesting that the tree didn’t attempt to truly harm either you or the Conductor. It merely tried to keep you both trapped and the rest of us at bay.”

“Perhaps the one in charge wants Joker back in captivity,” Mitsuru offers. “His initial state in the museum portion of this place suggests he isn’t meant to be roaming freely.”

“Yeah, well, they’ll have to try harder than this to keep me locked up,” Ren says. “I’m not going back in a case.”

“Like we’d ever let that happen again,” Kanji says. “They wanna target Ren? They’ve got a hell of a crew to get past first!”

Chie pumps her fist in agreement. “Yeah! We won’t let ‘em get close!”

“So we basically have to protect the goods as we go, yeah?” Junpei asks. “Fine by me. We’re like a badass convoy!”

“Not much of a convoy without transportation, though,” Yukari points out. “We can’t just keep on travelling without something to take us, and since the train’s out of commission, we’re in a tight spot.”

“Attempting to continue on foot does seem ill-advised,” Aigis says. “Though admitting that does nothing to increase our options.”

“You should check the parking lot on the other side of Inaba-Land.” The Conductor’s voice grabs everyone’s attention. “I don’t know what’s there, but sometimes Junes has these big trucks for moving lots of stuff. You could use one of those.”

“A truck would be pretty helpful,” Ken says.

“Assuming it hasn’t been blown up or hacked to pieces,” Yu adds.

“We’ll just have to hope it didn’t get caught up in any of the destruction,” Ren says. “If it won’t work, we’ll figure something else out. Everybody ready to move out?”

“W–Wait!” the Conductor exclaims. “Um…you should take this with you.”

He reaches up and slides something small and metallic into Ren’s grasp. Ren turns his hand over to see a shiny silver whistle with golden engravings on either side in the shape of a rabbit’s footprint.

Likely sensing the question brewing, the Conductor says, “If you blow into that, the train will make the same noise wherever I am once it’s fixed, so…I can come pick you up. If you need me.”

For some reason, that little add-on at the end feels more “Ren” than all the mirrored mannerisms and shared memories. All that talk about the Conductor being endearing doesn’t seem so hard to grasp now. What a shame that it took so long to get a clue.

After pocketing the whistle, Ren crouches down and ruffles the Conductor’s hair. He puts just enough force behind it to mess up all the curls without tipping the poor kid over.

“We appreciate it, little guy,” he says. “Thanks for everything. We’ll see you again before this is all over.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

That seems to be enough to force a small smile onto the boy’s face. It isn’t anywhere close to his brightest, but Ren takes it as proof that they aren’t leaving him to wallow in sorrow entirely.

Everyone else takes their turns saying goodbye to the Conductor. He does a much better job holding back his emotions than all the adults crowding him. If there were any more fires to put out in Inaba-Land, the amount of tears shed here would be enough to take care of them several times over.

Somehow, Ren and the more task-minded members of their group manage to get the others to wrap it all up so they can proceed. Most come along with minor complaints, but Teddie has to be dragged away by the back of his costume. Yosuke doesn’t even hesitate to do so.

“Gah – I’ll never forget you, Ren-Ren!”

“Move it, bear. We’ve got work to do.”

Before they exit the park completely, there is still the matter of obtaining what they were aiming for prior to the huge battle. The fact that the park’s Junes is still standing after everything is either some crazy luck, or an effect of cognition. If the real Inaba were ever to experience a mass invasion of monsters, Ren suspects Junes would still open at the same time the following morning.

Aside from a few collapsed decorations and loose debris, the mini-Junes doesn’t look much different from normal. The point system is surprisingly still working, though that only shows them that they don’t have quite enough to exchange for the book they need.

Just as Chie suggests bartering for it, the cognition behind the counter ignores their total and just hands it over. It cites their work in defeating the monsters outside as motivation, and while that does make sense, Ren is pretty convinced that it just doesn’t want to set Mitsuru off again.

It also hands over the set of car keys Aigis spots on the wall, so the group takes them and heads for the parking lot that the Conductor mentioned. They have a bit of walking to do considering it’s at the edge of the park, but no one seems to mind an uneventful stroll. It helps to let everyone catch their breath after the chaos they all just survived.

Ren walks alone at the front of the group, but he doesn’t stay solitary for long. Mere minutes into their journey, Rise slips through everyone else to come bumping into his side. Ren already feels warning chimes ring in his head from how wide her smile is.

“Hey, Ren-Ren…what were you going to say back there?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, to little you. You got all stubborn out of nowhere when he tried to get me to stay. So, ‘Rise is my…’ what?”

Ren puts his gaze dead ahead. “Navigator, teammate, ally, take your pick. I wasn’t thinking anything specific.”

“Oh, that’s a total lie! You were going to say something nice about me for once – I know it!”

“Whatever you want to tell yourself.”

He manages to resist her incessant prodding all the way to the parking lot they seek. Sitting in the middle of rows upon rows of empty spaces is a Junes-branded supply truck, though it doesn’t look anything like Ren expected.

Instead of a box truck or a small pickup, this truck has a front end that seats five and an attached open trailer that runs way longer than normal. Its walls are padded and rise about halfway to the front end’s roof, making it a bit hard to tell whether it can fit everyone present.

Then again, they don’t have much choice. Ren steps forward and knocks against the truck’s side, getting dull clangs in response.

“Alright, who’s driving?”

Chie’s hand immediately goes up. “I can dri—!”

“Anyone but Chie,” Yosuke cuts in.

“Then Ken can drive,” Akihiko says. “We’ve been meaning to get some practice in anyway.”

“Um…I don’t know how well this will translate to driving in reality, Akihiko-san.”

“Can’t hurt, right? And if you hit anything, it’ll probably just be an enemy.”

Mitsuru sighs. “If this is what we’re going with, I feel I should sit up front with the two of you. Supervision has never been your strong suit, Akihiko.”

Aigis and Fuuka end up joining those three in the front, leaving everyone else to pile in the comically long trailer behind them. The leg room is fine enough, but it’s still a bit of a tight fit shoulder-wise.

After Yu informs Mitsuru that everyone is settled, she gives Ken the go-ahead to start driving. The ride starts out slow and a little shaky, but Ken gets the hang of it soon enough, putting the team on the path to their next destination with Fuuka doing her best to navigate.

“Feel free to get some sleep,” Akihiko calls back from the front. “Seems like this’ll be a long drive.”

“Perfect!” Teddie rolls over onto the floor of the trailer, spreading out as much as he can. “I’m all pooped from fighting.”

“You’re not the only one,” Rise says. “I’m so glad I don’t have to do that all the time. Navigating is so much better than fighting.”

“This may be the one time I agree with you,” says Naoto. “I still find myself fatigued from unleashing such a large-scale attack.”

“Makes sense. You did pretty much finish off the boss on your own,” Yu points out.

“Which, might I add, was so crazy badass,” Junpei states. “That was a move they’d only bust out in the finale of a battle anime!”

“Yeah, I could totally see that,” Labrys says. “We’d just have to give it some cool name! Something like…”

Junpei holds his arms up in a recreation of the move. “White-Hot Blade of Justice: Caliburn!”

As he swings his arms around with some personal sound effects added in, Labrys joins in the effort with her own depiction. Naoto chooses to hide behind her hat while they do so.

“Perhaps our time would be better spent talking through the information we gained while in Inaba-Land,” she suggests. “It may help us going forward to try and find context behind all the cognition we witnessed.”

“Sure, but let’s wait a little bit,” Yu says. He puts his arms behind his head and leans back. “We probably won’t get another chance to rest for a while, so let’s make the most of this.”

“Now that’s an order I can get behind,” Yosuke says.

Ren doesn’t consider himself as worn out as some of the others. Finally getting to close his eyes does sound nice, though, so he lets himself relax against the wall of the trailer. The cushioning isn’t necessarily comfortable, but it’s much better than sitting at ninety degrees against wood or metal. He’ll take what he can get.

Not five seconds after his eyelids fall shut does he feel a weight pressing into his right side. He cracks one eye open to see short brown hair spilling onto his shoulder.

“Uh, Chie? What are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m napping.”

“Sure, but…why on me?”

“Why not? You’ve done this to me before, haven’t you?”

“When I was half your size, yeah.”

“Well, think of this as returning the favor. I need a soft place to lay my head anyway.”

“There are softer places on the trailer, you know. Ones that won’t make my arm go numb.”

“Can’t hear you – too busy sleeping.”

“Hey—”

Yukiko suddenly leans up against him in the same way on his other side, drawing his attention away from her partner in crime.

“Mm… Tall people do make for good pillows.”

“Not you too…”

As if Chie and Yukiko aren’t enough, Ren soon finds himself the sleeping spot for a third. Koromaru crawls over to him and makes a single rotation before plopping himself down. His mouth opens in a long yawn before he rests his head right on Ren’s lap. The sight gets some chuckles out of those watching.

“Now you’re definitely trapped,” Yukari says quietly. “You wouldn’t dare move when sweet little Koro-chan is using you as a bed, would you?”

Though Ren is decidedly more of a “cat person,” he is well aware of the general rule of not moving when a cute animal designates you as a sleeping spot.

It has been a pretty rough stretch recently. No sense in shunning the obvious comfort, even if he is being strong-armed into it.

He runs his hand down Koromaru’s head, smiling as the dog sinks into him further.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Notes:

Be sure to give Inaba-Land five stars on the destination rating app of your choosing :)

Hopefully all the bouncing POVs weren’t too rough to keep up with in this one. I wanted to show the action unfolding in an exciting way, so I tried to play a little looser with things than normal. But now that our mini-arc is done, we’re continuing with the main roadblock from before! More memories are on the way, so look forward to your favorite Phantom Thief getting some shine if they haven’t already.

I also have more things to talk about! With the long break last time, I forgot to shout out two more fics that gave their own takes on the From Inaba to Tokyo AU. Taiman215 wrote a piece about kid Ren meeting Labrys in Inaba, and DaDoodler did one on Ren showing off his bond with Rise to Kamoshida in Tokyo. Both were so good and such a fun surprise to receive, so thanks to both of them again! (Sorry this shout out comes so late 😭) If you haven’t read them, I’ll link them below so you can.

 

Raindrops and Raincoats

 

The Fuck Do You Mean The Transfer Student is Friends With Risette

 

And the other thing I want to link is my Twitter! Considering the things I’ve become a part of in the last few months, I realize that it doesn’t do me much good to hide in a little corner of the fandom like I used to 😅 So in an effort to be more public and active, I’ve been posting more on Twitter. Nothing crazy, but in case you want to hear from me or see what I’m up to beyond these notes every chapter update, now you can! Or if you just want to pop over to say something outside of commenting on the fic, feel free! I like getting to see familiar faces on other platforms :)

Normally my next time posting would be in a few weeks or so, but the next chapter is actually coming much sooner than usual since a certain milestone is coming up 👀 There could even be an extra surprise coming with it – who knows? See you on the sixth!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of A Baton Pass from Past to Present