(A/N: Yahoo! Hello from the other siiiide!~
I'm back with yet another update, boys and girls, girls and boys! And since this is Mementos's chapter, you KNOW who'll make its debut now, riiiiight?~
So without any further ado, onto the chapter now! =D)

Music: Persona 5 OST - Mementos [Extended]

*******

DON'T PLAY THE VIDEO YET!!!

*******

------After School: Shujin's Rooftop------

"None of these posts are any good. Everyone's just bitching about their parents or their boyfriends. There ain't even a hint of a hint about a new Palace..."

"We can't get everything online... finding a post with a name and location is asking a lot..." Ann added for the-matter-of-factly.

"Guess we just gotta find one ourselves then."

"Are you seriously suggesting we look for a target that even the police have overlooked?" Morgana asked.

"...Yeah, you're right. We should prolly just hold off 'til exams are done with, huh? We can wait and see for a little longer, then worry about comin' up emptyhanded of it happens..."

The sound of a loud metallic squeak kicked in which caused all the three teenagers to get startled by jumping up and quickly adjusting their positions. Morgana even got frightened by the sudden sound and quickly jumped down hiding under the desk he was standing on. Their hearts started beating fast when they heard footsteps making their way closer and closer to them steadily and firmly as if their owner knew exactly where they were heading.

"I thought I'd see you all here."

It was just Emiko and surprisingly, with a rather calm expression on her face.

"Oh, it's just you." Morgana came out from his hiding spot jumping up again on the desk.

"Mikki?! What're you doin' here?"

"Got a minute? I need to talk to all of you."

"What is it, Hayashi?" Ann asked.

"...If by any chance your offer is still up of me joining you, then I'd like to take it."

Shock aroused on all of their faces.

"What made you change your mind so suddenly, Hayashi-San?" Ren questioned.

"My reasons don't concern you."

"Well, we were really hoping you'd join us, Emiko." Morgana began, "Your weaponry and combat skills were very remarkable and will be very helpful to us in the Metaverse."

"What do you think, leader?" Ann looked over at Ren while smiling sweetly.

"I have no problem at all."

"Leader...? Can't say I'm surprised hearing that." Emiko eyed the boy carefully.

"All right! I knew you'd join us, Mikki!"

Ryuji shouted loudly and happily before wrapping his arm around Emiko's neck and twirling his other fist in her hair, thus messing it in every direction possible.

"H-Hey, let go of me!"

"Can't you remember how much you loved when I did this to you when we were kids?"

"I said let go of me, you moron!"

She forcefully pushed him away with an embarrassed and angered look on her face from such a display like that out in the public. Her hair got messy thanks to Ryuji's act, so she had to try her best to fix it by just brushing it backward with her hands.

"C'mon, Mikki no need to be such a buzzkiller."

"Yeah, Ryuji's just happy that you finally agreed to join us. Right, Ren?" Ann threw a closed-eye smile at the noirest.

"Y-Yeah."

"Already with the first name basis?" Emiko raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." Morgana nodded "You want to join us, you'll do that with our terms."

"I guess that's fair enough. I DID choose to join you guys, after all..."

Cutting their conversation, surprisingly and unexpectedly the roof's door opened creating a rusty and squeaky sound which made Morgana quickly hide away at the speed of the flash. No one knew about their meeting area except for Emiko who was already there which was why they all tensed up and felt themselves on edge as footsteps made their way to them.

"Oh..." Ann got alerted.

"This place is off limits, you know." It was Makoto Niijima approaching the group.

"...We'll get outta here once we're done chattin'. Anyways, what's Miss Council President want with us?"

"The troublemaker, the girl of rumor, and the infamous transfer student... interesting combination."

"Infamous?" Ren had a skeptical look in his eyes.

"Hayashi-San?! What are you doing here? I never expected to see you here with this group."

"That doesn't concern you, Niijima-Senpai."

"But you never had any connection to Mr. Kamoshida whatsoever."

"If you really believe that, then you are sorely mistaken." Emiko scoffed angrily, "So many things happen behind your back in this school and you don't even have an idea of what's going on here. What an amazing student council president you are."

"Do you mean... that Mr. Kamoshida did something to you as well?!"

"It wasn't that hard to figure it out, was it?"

".......! Great way to start a conversation..." Ann gritted her teeth.

"Who are you?" Ren asked the girl.

"She's the student council president." Ann replied.

"Makoto Niijima. Nice to meet you."

"........" Ren only knitted his eyebrows.

"By the way... It seems as though you got to know Mr. Kamoshida pretty well, Amamiya-Kun."

"Not really. Plus, I moved here not too long ago."

"Yeah, y'know he's only been here a month or so."

"Hm... I heard Mr. Kamoshida used a volleyball team member to spread details of your past record. Don't you hate him? Mr. Kamoshida, I mean."

"........." Ren didn't answer.

"What's all this about? My friend here's an upstanding guy."

"I don't mean to offend. Many students have been shaken up by what happened with Mr. Kamoshida. The rumors about that odd, calling card-esque posting aren't going away either."

"I didn't expect someone like you would care about that tactless stuff, Niijima-Senpai." Ann scoffed.

"I dunno that is was tactless..." Ryuji commented, "Anyways, we done here? We can't leave if you keep talkin' to us."

"At least try to understand my position. Being forced to deal with this horseplay..."

"Horseplay...?!" Ann shouted in frustration.

"And what are we supposed to do regarding that?" Emiko folded her arms, "Is this everything you wanted to say?"

"Ah yes, by the way... It's been decided that this place will be closed off due to the incident. I heard some people are coming up here without permission, after all... I'm sorry to have interrupted you."

"What was that all about?" Ann asked annoyingly as Morgana came out from his hiding spot.

"...She's on to us. That girl seems rather sharp. We should be cautious of her." Morgana remarked.

"She really pisses me off!" Ryuji growled.

"You probably should be careful, Ryuji." Ren adjusted his glasses.

"Talk about a pain in the ass..." Ryuji growled.

"By the way, you did such an amazing job dodging her, Emiko." Morgana commented.

"It's only because I don't like her one bit. She thinks herself the smartest and above all the rest. I really despise those kinds of people..." She clenched her fists.

"........!" A surprised expression rose on Ren's face.

"That reminds me... study hard. Especially you, Ryuji. There are bound to be traps that will need to be solved with brains. Keep in mind that everything you do in your daily lives has an impact on your abilities." Morgana reminded.

"True, studying won't be so bad if we just think of it as helping us preparing to be Phantom Thieves." Ann added cheerfully.

"I guess you got a point... but man, it's just so lame... I was all fired up about helpin' people, not about studyin'..."

"Well, I do have somewhere interesting to show you beforehand. You guys did originally promise to help me out with my mission, after all." Morgana smiled mysteriously.

"Huh? Mission?" Ryuji asked.

"Follow me."

The cat hopped into Ren's bag and gave a signal with his head to the group as if telling them to move on. Acknowledging his sign, Ren carried his bag placing it on his shoulder before the rest followed him as well.

"Be cautious of that girl. She seems rather sharp." Morgana whispered to the ravenette.

"I know."

Things were just going to get worse and worse for Ren since the threat has been doubled now. First, it was the famous ace detective Goro Akechi, and now the student council president Makoto Niijima.

Who could be else next?

*******

------Subway Station------

That was the last place the group thought Morgana was going to take them. It was indeed an unusual location for a meeting to discuss the details of an upcoming so-called "mission" since it was out in the open and in the public. The sound of trains coming and going along with people walking past them and speakers announcing trips rang in their heads giving the place a lively atmosphere. Still, why would Morgana take them to the subway station between all places? The small diner in Shibuya would've been a better candidate, so that question never left them alone.

"What're you bringin' us here for?" Ryuji asked

"Just do as I told you." Morgana said.

"All right, I've got the Phantom Aficionado Website up. Now what?"

"Look for a post with a full name in it."

"I already said there's no info on any big shots. Don't you remember? But man, people actually go put someone's real name on here. That's some scary shit..."

"'He won't listen to what I say'...No wait, there's no name on this one." Ann sighed in disappointment.

"'Someone's bad-mouthin' me in online chat rooms'... This one's got a name." Ryuji showed his phone to Ann.

"Ignore those. Aren't there any posts about more serious trouble?" Morgana asked.

"'I don't know what to do about my ex who's stalking me. His name is Natsuhiko Nakanohara.' It says he's a teller at the City Hall." Ann read.

"A government worker's stalkin' someone...?"

"Stalking you say?" Emiko's attention was piqued in every worst way possible.

Yes, Ren could tell. The anger, disgust, and frustration in her eyes. She had the same deadly and demonic look on her face she gave to Ann during Ren's way to his first day at Shujin. He remembered every single detail of it, and that was why he recognized it immediately.

"That should be a suitable target. All right, now get the Meta-Nav app ready." Morgana instructed.

"We're just gonna jump right into a Palace? Fine by me!" Ryuji grinned excitedly.

"Hey, what happened to all that talk of 'unanimous decision'? What do you think we should do, Ren" Ann sought an answer from the leader.

"Let's go."

"And you, Emiko?" Ann shifted her gaze to the brown-haired.

"Geez, I still need to get used to you calling me by my first name..." Emiko scratched the back of her head annoyingly.

"Emiko...?"

"...I'm ready."

"That's what I'm talkin' about!"

"Okay then, let's go." Ann nodded in acknowledgment.

"We need a name and a place, right? So the name is..." Ryuji was about to say.

"Actually, we don't need a location this time. Just enter exactly what I say. The keyword is... 'Mementos.'" Morgana interrupted.

"Huh? What're you tryin' to pull?"

"Just listen to me. It should work... I think."

"Geez, that again...?" Ryuji sighed.

"Is there a time you'll ever be sure about anything?" Emiko shot back.

"Just do it already!" Morgana whined.

"Uhhh... 'M-e-m-e-n-t-o-s,' was it?" Ryuji asked ambiguously about what he just spelled.

"Candidate found." The Meta-Nav said.

"We got a hit?!" Ryuji gasped loudly.

"Just as I thought!" Morgana smirked in victoriously.

As if on cue with what the nav said about finding a candidate so they can go to the Metaverse, everything that surrounded the teenagers turned into a dark vortex as their vision twirled along with it which was a sensation they all were familiar with.

*******

PLAY THE VIDEO NOW!!!

*******

------Mementos------

When their vision cleared up from the blurriness due to moving through dimensions, they still found themselves in the subway station, but it wasn't right at the same time. Not only all people vanished, but something about the atmosphere wasn't right either; it was dark, gloomy, and very light at the same time. They all got alerted due to the sudden change, but Morgana seemed to be very relaxed as if he knew exactly what was going on.

"What in the...?" Emiko turned around her looking shocked and taken off guard.

"Everyone disappeared....!" Ann gasped, "It... kinda feels like I'm walking on air...?"

"It looks like a dark version of the Shibuya subway station." Ren added.

"Is this that Nakanohara guy's Palace?" Ryuji asked.

"That's half right, but half wrong. This is a type of Palace, but It's different from normal ones." Morgana replied, "Come on, let's head down. The Shadows here lurk underground. I don't quite understand why. It may be because they're drawn to something."

"Underground....? How are we going to get there?" Ann asked.

"How? You use it every day on your way to school. Follow me!" Morgana said as hopping down to the escalator.

"Ah! Wait up, cat!" Ryuji called, running after him.

Taken aback, the four teenagers hopped down the escalator as fast as they could to follow the cat who was already far down ahead of them. However, during the trip down Emiko realized that the more they descended, the heavier the atmosphere got and the more lightheaded she felt. It was weird of course, but knowing that she survived Kamoshida's Palace, she could pull this off.

But what lied ahead at the very bottom was something they yet still needed to reconsider.

Not only the atmosphere was darker down below, but the walls were also covered with large red veins similar to the human ones which sent goosebumps to the teenagers. Their shocked eyes wandered around them in awe examining their surroundings, seeking answers. True it looked and felt different from Kamoshida's castle, but this realm still raised so many questions for them.

"The hell is this place...?" Ryuji looked around him in awe.

That was when the blonde-haired looked down at himself than the others noticing the drastic change in their appearance. They were no longer in their normal everyday attire but dressed in their phantom thieves attire.

"Wait, our clothes changed?!" Skull gasped shockingly.

"The Shadows know we're here?!" Panther asked while everyone looked at Mona.

"Since the moment we stepped in." Mona simply said.

"What?!" Emiko was highly alerted.

"You should've told us!" Skull snapped.

"We're still safe right here. I've come to investigate a number of times. Shadows never come up to this floor. But it's a different story once you go down. This place is simply teeming with them."

"More importantly, what is this Mementos?! It's about time you start explaining." Panther shouted.

"Mementos is... everyone's Palace." Mona stated simply.

"Huh? Whaddya mean 'everyone's'...?" Skull asked.

"A Palace as grand as the previous castle only forms when a person's wishes are extremely distorted. So, instead of many individual Palaces, the general public has one gigantic shared Palace. That's where we are now..."

"Mementos." Joker continued the sentence.

"Now that you mention it, this place feels a bit different from Kamoshida's Palace..." Panther trailed.

"A shared Palace among the general public that represents their cognition..." Emiko muttered those words quietly.

"When you say shared... you mean they're all put together? Even though they're just strangers...?" Skull asked.

"Think of it as the collective unconscious... no, never mind. You wouldn't understand that." Mona said.

"So, what you're saying is... using this place, we can even change the hearts of people who don't have a Palace?" Panther asked.

"Correct! The steps to do so are slightly different though." Mona cleared up.

"But this place looks pretty huge. Are we gonna be able to get around just by walkin'...?" Skull asked.

"It seems the time has finally come..."

The rest of the four thieves looked pretty much confused; they shared confused and questionable looks between themselves as they watched the black talking cat hop down from the escalator to the floor. He looked extremely confident in himself and even had a smug smirk on his face.

"Morganaaa... transfoooooorm!"

After such a scream and much to the thieves' confusion, Mona jumped up and got surrounded by a cloud of smoke when he was in mid-air, but the surprise was when he landed down, he shapeshifted entirely and took the form of a black van.

"What the--" Emiko stepped back a little.

"Dude... that's..." Skull trailed with wide eyes.

"Come on, Panther and Emiko. Ladies first." Mona had an attempted seductive tone in his voice.

"A car...?!" Panther widened her eyes.

"No way!" Skull gasped.

"This comes from the way cognition materializes in the Metaverse, plus a bit of extra training. It's not dissimilar to how you guys transform." Mona said.

"You turnin' into a car is totally different than our clothes changin'!"

"Uh-huh." The Joker and Panther nodded at the same time.

With that said, Emiko stared at her gloved hand after opening her palm feeling something different about herself after her attire changed like that. She felt more confident, courageous, and stronger as if she could do anything. It was a beautiful and satisfying sensation to her because it's been a damn long time since Emiko felt this good and alive; it was indeed something new to her.

And that alone made her smirk darkly to herself.

Joker noticed that dark smile on the new recruit's face which is why he couldn't help but have a grim facial expression. He knew that something was off about the pale blue-haired's smirk and couldn't exactly point it out, after all, she was the secretive and mysterious type, so he knew as much that talking with her would only cause more troubles and headaches to him, so he decided to just leave her be.

But he couldn't deny that he was concerned, and maybe just maybe a little scared of her.

"For some reason 'cats turning into buses' is an extremely widespread cognition among the general public." Mona explained.

"Why a bus though?" Panther asked.

"...No idea."

"Wait, why didn't you do this at the castle?!" Skull asked.

"I would have if I could! But that castle was cramped, there were tons of stairs, and no way this fits on top of a chandelier!"

Suddenly, Skull ran inside of the van without any further introductions much to the surprise and shock of the others.

"Hey, Skull! Ladies first!" Panther ran after the blondie.

"Stop pullin' me! That's dangerous!"

"Panther! Please be gentle!" Mona begged desperately.

The other remaining two shared blank eye contact with one another before deciding to join the others inside the Monamobile.

"All aboard! Let's go!" Skull exclaimed

But the van didn't move an inch. Of course, since no one was sitting in the driver's seat. Real smooth, Skull. Real smooth.

"Why are you all just sitting back there? I'm a car, remember? I'm not going anywhere unless someone drives me."

"You can't drive yourself?!"

"Do you know how to drive?" Panther asked the leader.

"Time to bust my moves."

"...Um, safety first, okay?"

"Is that supposed to be funny or something? Because I'm not laughing." Emiko crossed her arms.

"It's not like you even smile at all..." Joker mumbled to himself.

"What was that?!"

Oh, crap!

"N-Nothing."

"You'd better not smash up my beautiful face, you hear me?!" Mona reminded in a threatening tone.

"All right then, we'll leave the driving to you, Joker!" Panther exclaimed as the leader got off from the car and went to the front seat again.

"Now start the engine! You can't drive if it's not running!" Mona spoke up.

"Geez, what a pain... where's the key to this thing?" Skull asked annoyingly as he hopped next to Joker in the front seat.

"Why would you need a key?! There's a switch just down next to the steering wheel."

"That tickles! Lower, lower!" Mona laughed.

"Sorry, Mona." Joker apologized while lowering the switch, making the engine start.

"Oh, there... that feels sooo goooooood." Mona was literally melting.

"Uh, is that purrin' I hear...? What a creepy-ass car!"

"Don't underestimate my meowtary engine. We're going full throttle! It's time to fly!" Mona exclaimed.

"Great, I ended up joining a bunch of idiots..." Emiko mumbled while holding the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index.

With a sweatdrop since he heard that mumble wide and clear, Joker moved his hand to the steering wheel and started driving. He wasn't accustomed nor familiar with such a thing, so the beginning was very rocky and harsh, but a little bit later, his driving automatically became better.

"Man... this place totally does feel like a Palace..." Skull widened his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it'd be strange driving on the tracks like this in the real world... anyway, Nakanohara's somewhere in here, right?" Panther asked.

"Most likely in a segment of his own creation. Don't worry, it won't be the size of a Palace. Our next step is to find an entrance to that segment." Mona explained.

"And what's this entrance gonna look like?" Skull asked.

"I have no idea, but strong distortions should be a pretty obvious visual clue." Mona replied.

"So we just gotta go wanderin' around it then? What a goddamn pain in the ass..." Skull sighed.

With that said, the thieves were drawn then to complete silence as the dark-haired handled the task of driving around that realm. He was technically driving on subway railways but surprisingly, the car was going smoothly on them with no troubles whatsoever. Meanwhile, both Skull and Panther were smashing their faces on the windows expressing loud and childish voices of awe at the sight of Mementos. Even though it was the public's Palace and a realm of Shadows, its appearance was still intriguing even for people like the two blondies. But their exaggerated awes made the new member sweatdrop heavily.

"Shadows! Look out!" Mona was first to shout.

As if on cue and already prepared, Emiko got her face out of the window after opening it, pulled out a gun, and shot the Shadow that was running towards the Monamobile. The other two Shadows appeared and attempted to jump on the car but with two swift moves, the girl shot them both in mid-air turning to two clouds of black goo. She returned back to her seat with a blank expression as if nothing happened at all. Her new teammates shot her astonished, shocked, and surprised looks, given how fast she reacted. Had she not almost immediately shot them, they might've engaged in an unnecessary battle.

"W-Wow...!" Mona was at a loss for words.

"Mikki, that was a total ass-kicking!"

"Yes, it was amazing! And the way you shot those Shadows!" Panther followed.

"Morgana?" Emiko spoke up.

"Yes?"

"What's the deal behind those clothes anyway?"

"This happens when you oppose a Palace's ruler and they see you as a threat, but it also helps to protect you from the distortions. Your appearance also reflects your rebel soul, so it's also deeply connected to who you are."

"I see..."

"You know, I was wondering... why do your hair and eye color change in the Metaverse, Emiko?" Panther asked curiously.

"Yeah, I wanna know too!" Skull looked at her from the front.

"Do I look like someone who can answer that?"

"What do you think, Mona? Or you don't know that either?" Skull didn't put his hopes up.

"Hey, don't give me that! This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this! But whatever the reason may be, it's deeply connected to Emiko's personality."

"Wait, we still haven't given Emiko a code name yet!" Panther exclaimed.

"A... code name?"

"It wouldn't be cool for phantom thieves to call each other by their real names, am I right?" Skull grinned goofily.

"You moron..." Mona mumbled, "That's just his opinion. The real reason is to protect our identities from exposure during infiltration."

"So that's what this is all about."

"I'm Skull, he's Joker, Panther, and Mona."

"Now, what code name will be good for you...?" Panther trailed.

"Judgin' by your clothes.... 'Soldier'!" Skull exclaimed.

"Pass."

"Oh, you definitely look like a 'Warrior'!" Panther followed.

"Next."

"What do you think, Joker?" The ash blonde-haired sought an answer from the leader.

"'Aqua' maybe?"

"...And you call yourself a leader?"

"Well, what do you want to be called?"

"How about 'Flare' since my combat and weaponry skills are as obvious as it?"

"Why don't we go literal and name you 'Show-off'?" Mona laughed.

"How about I go literal by leaving a bullet in your head?"

"N-No, thanks."

"Hey, that ain't bad! I like it!" Skull grinned widely.

"Okay, Flare it is!" Panther exclaimed.

"Good to have you, Flare." Joker tried his best to pull at least one faint smile on his face.

"I will do whatever I can, but no guarantees though." Flare closed her eyes while pulling her white muffler up to cover her mouth.

"Such a tough audience..." Mona mumbled to himself.

"I heard that."

With that statement, the other three laughed nervously while sweatdropping heavily, and yet Flare remained in her position with her eyes closed and her muffler covering half of her face. The journey continued as the car drove inside the railways of Mementos, and it went relatively smoothly without many interruptions from Shadows since Flare shot them from the window. Her other teammates were astonished by her abilities and thought that she possibly can do that with her eyes closed.

That pace continued until Mona started getting a strong reading nearby and started giving Joker directions. He followed all of Mona's instructions as the other three thieves seemed on guard knowing that the target is now not so far from them. Soon enough, the car finally stopped, and they took off letting Mona revert back to a cat, but it seemed that they reached a dead end, but the wall across them had a reddish portal on it. That was definitely the segment's entrance.

"Dude, what the hell is this...? It's all wavy and shit." Skull widened his eyes.

"This is the place... I sense the target up ahead. Now, are you ready, Joker?" Mona asked.

"Let's do this!" Joker ran into the segment along with the others.

The other side wasn't very different from Mementos' overall. It was an empty room that had railways on the floor, and the walls were also covered with red veins just like how they saw in every corner of this realm. However, right across the room stood the silhouette of a person covered with a black aura roaming around it.

"Hey, something's there." Skull pointed at the silhouette standing a few feet away from them.

"That seems to be Nakanohara's Shadow." Mona added.

"Lemme see. Some front desk guy at City Hall became a stalker, right?"

"I don't know how much evil he's done, but we have to do something if he's bothering other people." Panther narrowed her eyes.

"All right, let's talk to him." Joker said while looking at his teammates.

"We're behind you, Joker." Morgana nodded as they walked towards him.

"Who are you?!" Shadow Nakanohara yelled.

"Are you that stalker?! Haven't you ever stopped to consider how your ex feels?" Panther asked angrily.

"She's my property! I can do whatever I want with her! It's not like she didn't treat me like a plaything! What's wrong with me doing the same?!"

"Your property?" Flare knitted her eyebrows angrily.

"You can't treat someone like shit just 'cause they did it to you! What a load of crap..." Skull gritted his teeth, "We're gonna change the hearts of all bastards like you!"

"There are millions of people far worse than me! What about Madarame...? He stole everything from me, but you're letting him off the hook?!" Shadow Nakanohara yelled.

"Madarame?" Joker whispered to himself.

"...Madarame? What the hell this guy goin' on about?" Skull mumbled.

However, a dark gooey aura formed around the Shadow's body turning him into a stronger version of a Shadow that resembled a brown cat in a way or another surrounded with a reddish dark aura, but Mona couldn't deny that he felt his power increasing drastically.

"Get ready! Here he comes!" Mona exclaimed.

"Now that I finally have what's rightfully mine... I'm not going to let you take it away... look... this is a winner-takes-all world. Come fight me and I'll show you what I mean!"

"DIE!" Shadow Nakanohara began the battle by charging and jumping on Joker.

The noirest reflected quickly and dodged the attack by jumping to the side, and he quickly pulled his gun out firing a bullet that hit the Shadow in its shoulder.

"ARGH...!"

"Persona!"

Joker called Agathion once more creating a powerful gust of wind that sent the Shadow flying a few feet backward. He glared at Joker in a deadly way announcing that he officially became his target since he charged at him once more.

"Carmen!"

"Captain Kidd!"

Fire and thunder merged together in one powerful spell that flew towards Shadow Nakanohara which was barely able to dodge it but still sent him flying backward a bit.

"All right!" Skull gave Panther a high five.

"It's your time to shine, Zorro!"

Another powerful wind attack blew all over the room, but this time Shadow Nakanohara predicted it and swiftly dodged it much to Mona's shock. With a smirk on its face, the Shadow charged once more towards the big head of the Phantom Thieves; the leader and was jumping fast towards him. But his attempted attack was interrupted by Flare who ran and stood in front of Joker giving him a powerful kick in its abdomen, then swung her foot once more delivering a mighty kick in the middle of its face causing it to fall down powerfully on the floor with a loud thud.

"Let me show you how it's done."

Flare walked confidently towards the Shadow which was wincing on the floor followed by the anticipated looks of her teammates. Her face was covered with blue flames causing her mask to disappear and Valkyrie appearing behind her back.

"Human beings are not puppets for you to mess with!"

With that scream, Valkyrie shot thick layers of ice from her spear onto the Shadow's feet, preventing him from standing to run away.

"Here's our chance! Do it!" Mona called.

Nodding with acknowledgment the entire group jumped at Shadow Nakanohara, pulling their stylish and powerful All-Out Attack. With that, Shadow Nakanohara lost all of its stamina and was no longer able to keep fighting which caused it to revert back to its previous shape, sadness, and regret visible on his face and eyes.

"I-I was wrong... please forgive me... that evil teacher used me, then threw me out on the street. That's what caused my fixation on her..." Shadow Nakanohara trailed sadly.

"Evil teacher?" Joker repeated.

"So... is this teacher that Madarame person you mentioned earlier?" Panther asked.

"Yeah... I just didn't want anyone to throw me out again..."

"So some selfish bastard was making you suffer too... still, you shouldn't have dragged an unrelated woman into your mess."

"Yes, I know that now. I'll put an end to my love for her..."

"........!" Flare's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"...Hey, you can change people's hearts, right? In that case... won't you change Madarame's heart?! Before more people fall victim to him..."

With a teary smile on his face, Shadow Nakanohara's body turned transparent and was surrounded by a white aura.
Smiling once more to the group, he vanished in the air as beautiful and shiny white sparkles which were a sad and beautiful scene at the same time; a bittersweet one.

"Change... Madarame's heart?" Panther trailed shockingly.

"Hm? What's that shinin' thing?" Skull pointed at a cloud of shiny blue aura floating in the air.

"It's the bud of a Treasure. Had we left it be, it very well may have blossomed into a Palace. Joker, this will make a perfect reward!" Mona exclaimed.

"Got you!"

"So Nakanohara had a change of heart, right?" Skull crossed his arms behind his head.

"Most likely." Mona replied.

"But how are we supposed to know if we succeeded?" Panther tilted her head.

"The lady posted that dude's name online. If he really does change, she'll prolly comment again."

"Hm, you do have a point." Mona admitted.

"Either way, trainin' against Shadows down here's the best! It's great prep for our next target!"

"It's also nice to be able to give courage to the people who post their problems online." Panther chuckled.

"Courage..." Flare's lips muttered that word quietly.

"On top of that, we can sell whatever Treasure we get for some cold, hard cash!" Mona exclaimed.

"Sounds like things are goin' pretty great for us!" Skull grinned from ear to ear.

"Seems so." Joker smiled.

"...All right, we did it!" Skull laughed.

"I'll admit, it felt good after this." Flare pulled out the smallest satisfied smirk on her lips.

"Hell yeah, Flare!"

"Hold on. There's somewhere I want to show you guys before we leave." Mona added.

"What? There's more?" Skull asked.

"Don't worry, it won't take long." Mona jumped and began walking away.

"This better be interesting." Flare spoke while following the cat along with her teammates.

Along all the way, the Phantom Thieves kept throwing each other questionable and uncertain looks as Mona gave directions to Joker to drive the Monamobile. He mentioned that there was still something important to show them, but what could it be? The curiosity left them intrigued all the way. But much to their surprise, Mona led The Phantoms group to an isolated area with nothing in it but a dead end; a wall blocking their way.

That was really unexpected.

"...What is this place? It's kinda creepy." Panther said.

"And a dead end at that. Why's it even exist?" Skull asked.

"Is this the thing you wanted to show us? A wall?" Flare asked.

"Now hold on... just watch. This is most likely not an ordinary wall. If my hunch is correct..." Mona touched the wall that opened and revealed a passage that went further down.

"It opened...!" Panther gasped.

"A new area has been confirmed in the depths. Updating guidance information." The Metaverse Navigator said.

"See?! It's just as I thought!" Mona exclaimed.

"What do you mean?" The platinum blonde-haired asked.

"That wall wouldn't budge when I came here by myself before. But it'd be weird for the deepest part of Mementos to be some normal place like this, wouldn't it?"

"So you were thinkin' there's gotta be more?"

"Yeah! Now that Kamoshida's Palace is gone and people are actually starting to talk about us... I knew something had to have changed down here!"

"How deep is it? Should we try going further down?" Panther wondered.

"Let's not. That's not why we're here today, remember? We've already accomplished our goal. We should head back and I'll explain more once we're home."

Nodding in acknowledgment, Joker walked first ahead of the group with his usual firm and cool look on his face. Glancing behind him, he could see his teammates walking behind with firm and steady footsteps as well. That day was tiring, but also fruitful with learning about the existence of Mementos and the ability to perform a few minor heart changes... the general public's Palace, huh? It was certainly an interesting concept that people, whose distorted desires weren't strong enough to form a Palace of their own, shared one big collective Palace Walking up the escalator toward the entrance, Joker suddenly stopped his movements which caused the other thieves to stop behind him as well, wondering about the abrupt halt. Looking at the direction where the leader was looking, the thieves' eyes laid upon a person's figure standing just a few feet away from them.

Wait, a person...?!

"Hey, look!" Panther pointed.

"Isn't that...?" Flare squinched her eyes.

"A person?! In Mementos?!" Mona gasped in surprise.

The person who stood before the Phantom Thieves resembled a young, small boy about a head taller than Morgana. He had gray hair that was in the shape of a half eggshell yellow eyes, ears that were very round and unusually undefined in shape, and had a pair of goggles around his neck. He wore an oversized white-grayish raincoat and boots with stars and moon motifs printed all over it, black leggings, and matching black gloves.

Around him, shiny white and yellow bubbles floated that had three flowers inside the biggest of them. Also, a small roofless blue car parked behind him that was loaded with different kinds and shapes of items along with boxes in various sizes, all tied up together with ropes. What was such a bizarre-looking kid doing there? And in Mementos of all places?!

"Hm..." The boy in white hummed to himself before the bubble disappeared and turned to glass, "Maybe it's this one..."

He drank the liquid in huge gulps, humming to himself in sheer happiness at the taste while smiling brightly.

"Ooh! Tasty!"

"Hey, what's he drinkin'?" Skull wondered as he approached the boy along with the others.

"Oh? Hmm, I thought I felt something strange for a second... so, who're you guys?" The boy in white tilted his head curiously.

"WE should be asking YOU that!" Mona jumped.

"Good point. Sorry about that. It's customary for a human to introduce itself before asking another human for its name. Thanks for reminding me, Misterrr... um, Tanuki? No, um... hmmm... Cat?"

"What took so long to come up with 'Cat'?! And I'm not either of those!"

"Yeah, uh, gettin' confused about that seems pretty normal to me." Skull deadpanned.

"My name is Jose. I'm looking for flowers." The boy in white introduced himself.

"...Flowers?" Flare repeated.

"I'm pretty surprised to see some normal humans running around. I didn't know people could just come here."

"Well, we are pretty special-- W-Wait, that's not important! Who YOU are is what matters right now!" Mona emphasized.

"When you said you were looking for flowers, did you mean that floating thing?" Panther wondered.

"That's right, pretty lady. Those seem to be the ones I've been looking for. I'm collecting as many of 'em as I can 'cause I'm studying humans."

"Studying humans? That's why you turned a flower into a drink?" Skull tilted his head.

"Yup."

"Drinkin' flower juice counts as studying?"

"I... have my questions about that too." Flare sweatdropped.

"Hey, could you guys help me with my research?" Jose asked.

"How?" Panther rubbed the back of her head.

"By collecting flowers for me. I wouldn't ask you to do it for free, though. I find all kinds of stuff you can use while you're exploring. I'll trade you some of that stuff for more flowers."

"Hmm..." Joker hummed deeply.

"Whaddya think? Should we try an' get him some flowers?" Skull looked at the team.

"Seems like it could do us some good, but we don't know this kid... we gotta be careful." Mona trailed.

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine. Let's give him a hand. He seems like he could use it, and it shouldn't be too hard to pick flowers while we're exploring, right?" Panther beamed.

"Okay, any OTHER reasons?" Skull asked suspiciously.

"Hehe, he called me 'pretty lady.'"

"Nooo! Lady Ann..."

"How shallow..." Flare commented.

"Eh, it's prolly fine. I mean, he said he'd give us useful stuff an' all. Whaddya say?" Skull shrugged.

"Well, are you going to help me find the flowers or not?" Jose looked at Joker.

"Sure, we'll help you."

"Thanks!"

"Wait, wait, hang on a second! We still have no idea who this kid is! Don't go thankin' us just yet, bud!" Mona glared daggers at Jose.

"Aw, are you tired, kitty? You seem grumpy."

"I am NOT a cat! And I'm NOT grumpy!"

"O-Oh, okay--then, are you hungry? I learned hunger can make a person turn grumpy." Jose pulled out a bag of cookies, "Here, you can have this."

"Thanks, but I'll pass..."

"I mean, he's not wrong though." Joker shrugged his shoulders.

"You're makin' the kid worry about ya even more. Guess there's no way outta this one." Skull's comment caused Mona to fall on the ground comically.

"I'll be looking for flowers around here, so stop by and say hi if you see me." Jose hopped into his car, "Oh, and I guess just gathering flowers would be kind of boring, huh? Since you humans seem to enjoy playing so much, I'll come up with some fun games for you. Ah, I also remembered something humans like to say to each other: Good job!" He honked the car's horn.

Giving the thieves a big wave, Jose drove the car away, leaving the teens behind him with a deadpanned look as they watched him disappear into the distance. They all exchanged quick, silent glances as none of them dared to open their mouths and comment about what the hell just happened. That surely was... the weirdest encounter the thieves ever had with anyone.

"Who in the hell was that?" Skull asked, finally breaking the silence.

"If he's studying humans, does that mean he isn't one? I mean he just seemed like some nice kid." Panther giggled softly.

"Yeah, just because he complimented you..." Flare muttered.

"Well, he didn't feel like a Shadow... I wouldn't say he's dangerous... at least, for now..." Mona trailed.

"Anyways, if we see any of those flowers he wants, I guess we can grab 'em for him." Skull rubbed his neck.

"Let's just go home for now. There's nothing left for us here, is there?" Flare asked.

"You're right. Come on, let's head back." Mona nodded in agreement.

"Right." Joker pulled his phone out.

"I totally forgot!"

Before Joker could activate the Nav once again, the teens' faces whipped at the source of that call, seeing that Jose's blue car drove back toward them. The little boy jumped from the car before rushing to the dark-haired boy.

"There's something I've been meaning to give to all of you."

"Something for us?" Joker questioned.

"Yeah. The thing is... I picked up something strange while I was exploring earlier. Here it is..." Jose pulled out a shiny blue star.

"Huh? What the heck is that?" Skull asked.

"It's a star. At least, that's what they look like, so that's what I call them."

"A star?" Mona repeated.

"Yes, a star! It's pretty damn obvious that's a star! God..." Flare face-palmed her forehead.

Everyone just sweatdropped at her.

"Um, so, what about it did you want to show us?" Panther tapped a finger on her chin.

"Humans make wishes on stars, right? That's so interesting. Stars granting wishes... so this star is going to grant your wishes." Jose smiled.

"........?!" The thieves widened their eyes.

"Our wishes?!" Mona gasped.

"...Or, it would be nice to think that." Jose giggled.

"'Nice to think that'... seriously..."

"I'll give this to you. It's so sparkly and beautiful, you want it too, don't you? It's a 'sign of our friendship.' I know what that is." Jose gave the star to Joker before hopping back into his car, "Off I go now. Good job!"

"Hey, wait!" Mona called.

Before he could do anything, the small blue car drove away, causing Mona's jaw to drop on the floor before running his paws onto his head furiously. No one had ever managed to push his buttons so much as that Jose did... and he did a damn good job in that. Mona thought that Skull was difficult to deal with, but that kid was something on a whole new level.

"Welp, there he goes." Skull deadpanned, "A star, huh? He said it'd grant our wishes or somethin'..."

"I highly doubt something like that would actually happen, even in Mementos... well, I guess you can at least try making a wish." Mona looked at the star in Joker's hand.

"Okay... I wish for all-you-can-eat parfaits! With zero calories!" Panther exclaimed.

"An extra large beef bowl! With pork soup on the side!"

Flare and Joker could only sigh deeply and hopelessly at their "wishes."

"...Nothing's happening." Mona deadpanned.

"Was Skull's wish too petty?" Panther frowned in disappointment.

"You're one to talk!"

"Hm. I guess things don't just happen that easily. But we can't just throw the thing away... hold onto it for now." Mona told Joker, "Well, that was a bit unexpected... let's head back now."

*******

------The Real World: Shibuya Square------

The blur was finally gone from their eyes, and they scanned their surroundings to find themselves in Shibuya's station.
Exhaustion filled their bodies, but they were satisfied nonetheless, but Mementos still raised many unanswered questions in their minds that needed to be answered.

"Mementos, huh...? I still don't really get that place. Oh, and what was that wall thing we saw at the end?" Ryuji asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it blocked us from going in past a certain depth. If Mementos is the public's Palace though... it might be affected by the general public's belief in us." Morgana replied.

"Why do you know so much about it, Morgana?" Ann asked.

"My memories are a little foggy in that regard... however, I need to know what lies in the depths of Mementos, no matter what." Morgana said, looking very determined.

"No matter what?"

"Mementos is not just everyone's Palace, it's the source of all Palaces. It used to be that Palaces like Kamoshida's with one ruler simply didn't exist. So, if we can do something about the greatest cause of distortions, I'm certain my appearance will...!"

"You wanted someone to save you too..."

"I-I just needed pawns." Morgana nearly freaked out.

"I see... so that's why you come pokin' your nose around with us." Ryuji said.

"...I'll help you. I hope you can regain what you've lost." Ann said.

"What's lost, huh..." Emiko thought to herself.

"I'll... be relying on you guys." Morgana eyed all the teenagers who were with him.

"It can't be helped I guess. I'm a part of the group now, after all." Emiko closed her eyes.

"By the way Morgana... are you a boy? Or might you be a girl?" Ann placed a finger on her chin.

"Definitely a boy I'd say." Ren fixed the position of his glasses.

"Yeah, I agree... I wanted to make sure though, just in case."

"He could turn out to be pretty ancient. What if he smells like an old person?" Ryuji grinned goofily.

"Stop that..." Mona trailed before saying, "...In any case, of course I'm male! I mean, I..."

"...What is it?" Ann asked.

"No... it's nothing. We're done talking about that! Anyway, we now know that we can perform minor changes of heart in Mementos. If we come across any eye-catching leads, it may be worth dealing with them for a bit of combat practice."

"There weren't any other outstanding ones though..."

"I bet we'll get tons of 'em if we can change someone famous and make the Phantom Thieves well-known. The big fish are our main targets after all." Ryuji added.

"First you need to find a way to get through our exams." Morgana reminded.

"I gotta study..." Ryuji lowered his head.

"You're going to fail after all." Emiko scoffed.

"Hey!"

The sound of the group's laughing, minus Emiko and Ryuji, rang in Shibuya's square at both Ryuji's dumbness and Emiko's boldness. It was really amusing seeing those two quarrels for the first time especially that they knew each other for a very long time. The two childhood friends had a lot to catch up on for 3 years is not a short period at all, but that didn't stop them from quarreling for the old times' sake. But, little did they know that someone was watching them from a distance between the crowds of people walking in the square.

".......!" Suddenly, Emiko turned behind her with an alerted face.

"What's wrong?" Ren seemed to notice her.

"No, it's nothing."

".........." But Ren wasn't convinced.

"I'll be honest." The brown-haired eyed the ravenette carefully, "Defeating Nakanohara's Shadow wasn't actually that bad. It felt good and satisfying in the end."

Emiko pulled a satisfied smirk on her face while closing her eyes. She turned her back away from the group and attempted to walk away by taking a few steps forward, but she stopped her tracks looking at Ren from the corner of her eyes and the smirk never left her face.

"I look forward to what the Phantom Thieves still can give me, Ren."

".........!"

Between the shocked gasps and the wide eyes of her new teammates, Emiko made her way away from them while still smirking to herself. It was indeed something shocking for the others hearing the thick-headed girl call Ren by his first name on her own and out of the blues; it was something they really didn't see coming. She was confident and determined at the same time, and it felt so damn good to her.

On the other hand, Ren's lips were slightly agape, but he soon curved them up to a smirk of his own watching the new recruit walking away also feeling confident and challenged. Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann looked at him with puzzled expressions on their faces wondering where that smirk even came from in the first place. Not only that, but the way his first name rolled out from her tongue felt... intriguing.

"Ren Amamiya..." Emiko thought to herself.

"Emiko Hayashi..." Ren was doing the same too.

"You and me..."

"Let this game..."

"ʙᴇɢɪɴ!"

*******

------Night: Leblanc's Attic------

At that moment, Ren didn't want anything more than a good night's sleep. His body felt heavy and even a little bit sore due to the aftermath of the battle against Shadow Nakanohara. Morgana was the same too and felt a strong urge to sleep after jumping on the comfy bed as Ren almost immediately collapsed on his bed staring at the ceiling above him. His mind was already preoccupied with so many questions about Mementos, but more importantly...

Madarame; the name that Shadow Nakanohara mentioned.

"Mementos, huh? What a strange place full of mysteries..." Ren mumbled to himself.

The noirest pulled his phone out of his pocket, scrolling through his messages and missed calls logs yet again with disappointed and sad eyes. Taking a deep breath, he went to the contacts icon on the homepage searching for a specific number.  His finger twitched in hesitation, thinking whether he should or not call that number he selected.

"Hm...?" Morgana's interest was piqued and stole a peek, "'Mom'?"

"A-Ah, Morgana! What are you doing?"

"You were going to call your mom, right? Thinking of that... I didn't see you contacting them ever since I came here. They didn't call you?"

"No..."

"Why don't you call her then?"

"I can't..."

"...I see."

Morgana felt guilty and looked down sadly realizing that he touched on a sensitive topic. Ren never spoke about his parents to anyone for as much as Morgana knew, and that made him a little sad. He really wanted Ren to open up more to him about his personal issues, but he thought that Ren wasn't ready for that just yet. After all, what he's been through wasn't easy at all. What saved the awkwardness of the situation was the sound of Ren's phone buzzing and picking it up, it was Ryuji who sent an IM on the group chat.

Ryuji: Man, that Nakanohara guy was a piece of cake!

Ryuji: And you totally kicked ass there, Mikki!

Ann: Mm-hm, I agree. You were really amazing.

Emiko: I didn't choose my code name over anything, you know.

Ryuji: If we can take down some kinda big target next, we're totally gonna get famous.

Ann: Hey! We're trying to help people, not get famous!

Ryuji: But if people don't know who we are, how're we gonna give them any courage?

Ren: Are you sure about that, Ryuji?

Ryuji: Am I wrong?

Emiko: I don't think we're the ones you should ask.

Ann: I don't think you're necessarily wrong...

Ann: But should we really be doing this at all if we don't have a reason like with Kamoshida?

Ryuji: You mean we shouldn't be sticking our noses into other people's business?

Emiko: What do you think?

Ryuji: I dunno, man. If someone's in trouble, it's only natural to wanna help 'em out!

Ann: I mean, I agree with that.

Ann: And I guess I was glad we were able to solve that stalker case.

Ryuji: Plus, what good are our Personas if we don't use 'em for good?

Ryuji: Don't you agree, Renren?

Ren: Definitely. I want to help people too.

Ann: The same goes for me.

Emiko: ...Renren?

Ren: Well, that's...

Ryuji: Pretty cool nickname, eh?

Emiko: I guess...?

Ryuji: We don't got much time to be arguing over this either. That Madarame(?) guy bothers me.

Ann: Yeah. But no getting carried away, you understand?

Emiko: I feel like I've heard that name before...

Ann: And don't do anything to stand out like fail all your exams.

Ryuji: Oh crap! Speaking of that, I haven't studied at all...

Emiko: Why am I not surprised?

Ryuji: What about that star? The one Jose gave us.

Ryuji: Wonder if that could help us ace the exam...

Ann: Yeah, somehow I doubt that.

Emiko: That's never going to happen.

Ryuji: Hell, I'd settle for just not failing.

Ann: Bargaining isn't gonna help you here. We wouldn't use it for that in the first place.

Ann: Maybe you should just, I dunno, put some actual effort in? You've still got time.

Ryuji: Fiiine...

Emiko: I'm pretty sure he'll end up failing anyway. Mark my words.

Ann: Yeah, I actually agree with that.

Ryuji: You two are real sadists, y'know?

"Is it Ryuji? Did he mention anything about Mementos? If there's anything you want to know, I can tell you." Morgana offered.

"Thanks, but I'm good for now."

"Humans make their wishes on stars, huh?"

"Actually, you're not wrong at all, Jose..."

"By the way... you can tell me whatever's bothering you. You'll feel much better once you do. I'll be listening to whatever you say. Remember, we're a team now so you're not alone anymore." Morgana offered kindly.

"I appreciate it, Morgana. I really do." Ren smiled sadly as he stroked the cat's head gently.

"Only if I could..."

*******

Word count: 9200 words

A/N: MAN!!! MY FINGERS ARE ALL SORE!!! DXXX

AND EMIKO FINALLY JOINED THE PHANTOM THIEVES!!! FUCKKKKKK YEEAAAAHHHH, BABY!!!

Ho ho ho, am I sensing a rivalry growing between Ren and Emiko?

Finally, this is one of the first levels of the development of their relationship.

And bruh, I ain't gonna lie, but I absolutely LOVED Jose's debut in Royal. I found the way he kept pushing Morgana's buttons really hilarious! 😂😂😂

Did you like the chapter?

Let me know 😊

Rand Talih💞

Published on: Wed/Jan 13/2021