Feed Your Anger Like Fire - BeeTeeDubya14, Inkwell1013 (2024)

Chapter 1: Nathaniel Kurtzberg/Red/Ibex - The Cobbler

Chapter Text

A little while after Nathaniel and Kim joined the Phantom Thieves, while waiting for Bustier’s change of heart to fully settle in, Akira found a sketchbook in his room at Leblanc. At first, he assumed Yusuke left it there the last time he visited, but when he opened it, he realized that the art style didn’t look anything like Yusuke’s.

It took him longer than he liked to admit to realize that it probably belonged to the Phantom Thieves’ other resident artist, Nathaniel. He must have left it in the attic the last time he was over for a team meeting with the other Parisians.

Akira would have given it back to Nathaniel the next time he saw him and left it at that, but something in the sketchbook gave him pause. The superhero was obviously Nathaniel - or modeled after him - but there was something familiar about the girl he was drawn alongside. It took him a few seconds to realize-

She looked like Marinette.

The sketch was dated almost a year prior, and flicking through the rest of the sketchbook, Akira couldn’t find another drawing with Marinette in. It was probably nothing - a passing crush at most - but the protective part of Akira bristled regardless. Sending Nathaniel a picture of the sketchbook, so he would know what Akira was talking about, Akira took a minute to calm down before texting Nathaniel.

Akira: Found something of yours.

Akira: Nathaniel, did you use to like Marinette?

Akira: Like, romantically?

Three dots floated in the corner of the screen, letting Akira know that Nathaniel was typing a reply. Those dots sure took their sweet time…

Nathaniel: So this is super embarrassing. Has anyone ever told you about my first akumatization?

Akira: Just that you were akumatized. I don’t remember the details.

Nathaniel: Chloe caught me drawing myself as a hero, saving Marinette, and she made fun of me for having a crush on her. Hawkmoth took advantage of my anger and akumatized me. It all blew up in my face in the end… at least Marinette was understanding.

Nathaniel: For the record, this was a good while before I knew Marc.

Akira: If that’s the case, why keep the drawings? Don’t they have bad memories attached to them?

Nathaniel: A lot of art has bad memories attached to it, but the final piece is what matters the most.

Nathaniel: I’m always going to be proud of those drawings.

That made sense to Akira; Yusuke had echoed a similar sentiment once or twice, particularly while he was painting Desire & Hope. Sometimes pain - in all its forms - could be a powerful vector for creation.

Akira: That makes sense. I’ll give it back to you in our next team meeting.

Nathaniel: Thanks a ton!

Somewhere deep in his heart, Akira could feel a new Persona forming. “I am thou, thou art I… my name is Iago - I will be an ally whom you can rely on… and trust…!”

A day or two after Marc joined the team (and a while after Akira unlocked Turms), Nathaniel approached him after a team meeting with a request. “Can you model for me?” he begged. “Pleeeeease?”

Akira chuckled. “You should ask Ann; she’s a professional model, you know?”

Nathaniel shook his head vehemently. “It has to be you. You’re perfect for the role I have in mind.”

“You better not be hitting on my boyfriend!” shouted Ryuji, leaning back in his chair.

Flushing bright-red, Nathaniel insisted, “I’m not! I already have a partner, anyway!”

“Right, sorry… gonna have t’get used to that, now that Marc’s on the team an’ all.” Checking the time, Ryuji prepared to head out. “See you, babe!”

“See you soon indeed, love!” Akira called back, before turning back to Nathaniel. “So, what’s the role?” he asked.

Nathaniel grinned. “A gentleman thief.”

Akira whistled in approval. “Now I can see why you want me to model.”

“Joker’s outfit is perfect for the consummate gentleman thief, after all,” commented Morgana, “though it won’t be easy to capture his endless charm.”

“It’s true, I am very charming,” Akira said, smizing the artist up a bit. “So, when do you want me to model?”

“Is now okay?” asked Nathaniel.

Akira quickly agreed. Once he heard what they were planning, Yusuke insisted upon joining them - as he claimed, watching other artists' work ‘provided such scope for the imagination’ - and Yuuki and Nino nervously asked to join them too. Both ended up being a lot of help with cameras and the like, giving Nathaniel plenty of future reference.

By the time they were finished, Akira had to admit that Nathaniel had managed to capture much of Joker’s innate charm. He was looking forward to seeing the finished comic in the future.

A few weeks later, the Phantom Thieves gathered together to discuss a trip into Mementos. “So me and Yuuki found something,” Futaba piped up. “Nath, Marc, you guys might wanna brace yourselves… you too, Inari, but mostly Marc and Nathaniel.”

Yuuki spoke up. “We got a tip on the Phan-Site that a comic book company was plagiarizing art that was posted online and when we dug into it, we found some of Nathaniel’s art in you two’s comics were amongst the plagiarized works.”

“Do we know who plagiarized the art?” Yusuke instantly asked, given that Marc and Nathaniel were too shocked to speak at the moment. “Couldn’t we simply report them to upper management?”

Futaba shook her head. “That would work if it wasn’t a member of their board making the orders in the first place.”

“Perdón?!” Marc finally gasped.

“That’s f*cked up,” Ann remarked, face clearly incensed.

“Someone’s desperate for new ideas…” Nathaniel growled.

“So we have to take out the problem at the source,” concluded Akira. “What is the name of the CEO?”

“It seems her name is Jacqueline Robert,” reported Haru, who had taken a quick, curious peek at Futaba’s laptop. “Is anyone opposed to us changing her heart? I am not, but please state any concerns if there are any.”

“Will you allow me an extra slash at them with my blade?” implored Yusuke.

Nathaniel laughed ominously. “Only if you let me and Marc get the final hit.”

The second Red and Smith saw Fox in the Metaverse, the three shook hands.

The Path of Adyeshach had the vortex that the Phantom Thieves were looking for. Red was the first to notice it, calling for them to stop and look.

“I think I’m picking up the presence of Shadow Robert!” gasped Oracle from inside Necronomicon. “Everyone ready to go?”

Red and Smith, who were at the front of the party, nodded and readied their weapons. Fox’s grip on Shikomi Kiseru tightened.

Once everyone else confirmed that they were good to go, Joker drove the group through the portal, with Queen, Noire, Ryuko, Ace and Oracle hardly far behind.

Shadow Robert was dressed in a stylish but professional blouse, with a black pencil skirt and heels. Honestly, she looked barely above a run-of-the mill office worker - a far cry from the average person’s perception of the mastermind behind the criminal activity she’d ordered.

“What are you here for?” inquired Shadow Robert. “Come to bask in the success and glory of the artistic genius that is moi?”

“Success?” mock-laughed Red. “You don’t deserve to call yourself an artist if you consider thievery ‘success’.”

Shadow Robert laughed. “Well, you know what they say: smart artists steal. In the end, what’s really the difference between inspiration and simply taking the whole piece?”

Viper scoffed. “When you run a successful company that can defend its behavior from unprotected artists, it makes sense that you think you can say that.”

“You have no idea how many lives you’ve impacted,” Fox gritted. “Does artistic integrity mean nothing to you?”

“Please,” Shadow Robert scoffed. “No one cares all that much about artistic integrity any more. All that matters is the bottom line. As long as I’m making money, who cares?” She cackled and prepared to transform. “Not my fellow members of the board! Not our investors! And certainly not me! Now back off or prepare to die!”

The Phantom Thieves did not back off as Shadow Robert transformed. In fact, Fox, Red and Smith moved closer, fully prepared to inflict upon Shadow Roberts a world of pain.

There was a bit of surprise that Shadow Robert’s new form - Joker was more masculine than feminine. She floated in the air a few inches above the ground (a lot like Leanan Sidhe, Incubus or Succubus, Joker thought), a long red coat billowing behind her. None of the Phantom Thieves could see Shadow Robert’s face beneath its wide-brimmed hat - they weren’t even sure that she had one. Clutched in her hands was a framed painting (reminding Red of his Persona) whose colors shifted and changed as they looked at it.

“Let us begin!” Fox declared. He called upon Kamu Susano-o and commanded, “Myriad Slashes!”

The Mysterious Masterpiece Thief slipped by all three swings of Kamu Susano-o’s sword effortlessly. “That’s your best attempt? Taking you all out will be easy!” She retaliated with a Freidyne on Gem, which did a more than fair amount of damage.

“Hey!” Viper snapped. “That’s my sister you’ve just attacked!”

“Too bad, so sad!” taunted Shadow Robert.

“Hey, wait a minute!” hollered Ace. “Shadow Robert’s got Ali Dance! Grrrr… no wonder Fox missed!”

Frustrated, Fox pulled out Annihilator and attempted to hit Shadow Robert as best he could. It was so irritating when the Shadows they fought were able to evade their attacks like that… perhaps he would have more luck with his ranged weapon?

He immediately regretted that decision when the bullets phased right through Shadow Robert, ricocheting off the walls of the chamber they were in and coming back to Fox. Luckily, he was able to deflect some of the shots he’d fired with his blade.

“Oh yeah, she repels Gun skills!” called Oracle, almost as an afterthought.

Joker sighed. “Would have been good to know that before Fox fired his weapon…” He called upon Leonardo da Vinci and did a pretty great amount of damage with Diamond Dust.

“My bad!” Oracle shouted back. “I can’t find a weakness. I don’t think she has one.”

Chance scowled as she struck Shadow Robert with a few swings of her flail. “That definitely complicates things…”

“As far as I can tell, she doesn’t have any Physical or Gun skills, only magic,” added Ace. “If anyone gets into a sticky situation, a Makarakarn would be useful!”

Funnily enough, one of the Phantom Thieves got into that very sticky situation about a minute later when Shadow Robert grabbed Smith and threw him into the air, a Ziodyne crackling above them. Heart pumping in his chest and ears, Red called forth Pan to cast a Makarakarn, blocking what would have been an otherwise near-fatal attack and dropping a great hit back to the Mysterious Masterpiece Thief.

Queen and Jack, who was standing behind her on the back of Anat, were able to catch Smith before he hit the ground. While Fox and Panther distracted Shadow Robert, Rise took a moment to heal Smith with a Diarahan.

Finally, Oracle called out, “I was right about her having no weaknesses, but it looks like Wind does extra damage. Smith, Viper, Mona, do your worst!”

The trio of Wind users moved to the front of the party, each summoning their Personas. Eventually, though, it was a critical hit from Jingū Kōgō’s Brave Blade that downed Shadow Robert.

Looking between each other and grinning, the Phantom Thieves began their All-Out Attack.

True to their word, Smith and Red allowed Fox to get in one extra slash with his katana before they all descended upon the Shadow Self, defeating the Mysterious Masterpiece Thief once and for all.

Chapter 2: Makoto Niijima/Queen/Mitsubachi - The Priestess

Chapter Text

When Makoto joined the team, Akira was more than happy to share some of the strategic responsibilities with her. Makoto was a natural-born tactician, and she and her Persona, Johanna, could pack a mean punch. Luckily for him, Akira had two Priestess Personas already in the Compendium. Apsaras and Silky, alongside others such as Yaksini and Leanan Sidhe, the more motherly Personas, and they treated little ones like Pixie, Hua Po, Mandrake and Agathion like their children. High Pixie even had effectively adopted Pixie as her own!

Another role of the “Parentsona Squad,” as Akira had dubbed them, was corralling the more energetic or loudmouthed ones like Angel’s zealotry and Oni’s incessant anger. It was thanks to them that Orthrus’ howling and Rakshasa’s physical training didn’t keep him up at all hours of the night.

What worried him, even before he completed his Confidant with her, was how obvious it was that Makoto was still putting a lot of pressure on herself. The stress on her face was so clear you’d think someone had polished it, and it could be metaphorically argued that Kobayakawa and others were responsible.

Sure, it was only small things for now, like forgetting things here and there, but Akira was worried that those small things were going to snowball into bigger things down the line. Since he was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, he viewed it as his responsibility to make sure that everyone was coping okay and dealing with what they had to deal with, inside and outside of the Metaverse.

One day in early July, before Futaba had been a blip on their radar (but not the other way around), Makoto left lunch early to go to a student council meeting and accidentally left a folder of papers in her wake, which Akira picked up. They looked important, so he finished up his own lunch, said goodbye to both his then-new boyfriend and Yuuki, and headed over to the student council room to return them to her.

“Here, I brought this for you,” he said, handing Makoto the folder. “You left it at your lunch table.”

Flushing with embarrassment, Makoto took the folder. “I’m so sorry. Things have been slipping my mind lately…”

Akira laughed a little, though it was good-natured. “Don’t worry about it. Everyone forgets stuff sometimes. You shouldn’t make a habit out of it, though.”

“You’re right… thank you, Kurusu.”

Before Akira and Makoto could continue their conversation, Akira heard someone in the student council room whisper, “Is the delinquent seriously lecturing Niijima?” to another. “He ought to have some respect!”

Akira couldn’t help but bristle a little at their tone. He had been attending Shujin for almost three months now, and Kamoshida (the one who had spread the rumors in the first place) had been gone for over two, but people still thought he was a delinquent. It was honestly disheartening. “I’m gonna head back to lunch,” he mumbled. “See you later, Niijima-san.”

After he had returned to the cafeteria where he had been eating lunch with Ryuji and Yuuki, Akira got a text from Makoto.

Makoto: Akira, I want to apologize for what Takatsuka said about you. It was completely out of line, and I chewed her out for it.

Akira: It’s fine. I’m used to it by now.

Makoto: You shouldn’t have to be. The Student Council is meant to represent and look out for the best interests of the entire student body, not just the ones everyone accepts. I’m going to talk to Vice Principal Deguchi about some anti-bullying policies.

Akira: Thanks, Makoto. You’ve come a long way since I met you.

Makoto: It’s only been a month…

Akira: You’ve still changed a lot, and for the better. The old you would have been way slower to stand up for me.

Makoto: I suppose I owe that to you, Akira.

Akira: Not just me.

Makoto: Thank you.

In the depths of his mind, Akira felt a new Persona coming into existence.

“I am thou, thou art I… I am Circe - let us show the true colors of the pigs of the world.”

Over the next few months, the Phantom Thieves gained new members at breakneck speed. That wasn’t even beginning to cover the Miraculous business. Safe to say, Akira and his teammates were more than busy trying to balance everything.

This did not look good for the already-very-busy Makoto. Keeping Pollen secret from Sae was already stressful enough; combined with leading the student council and spearheading their new anti-bullying program, Makoto was practically running on fumes on most days.

Knowing enough was enough, Akira gathered a few of the other Phantom Thieves (some of whom were overworking themselves as well) and staged a small intervention on Makoto’s behalf. This was in the time of securing their infiltration route to Kunikazu’s Treasure.

Thankfully, she’d already been meaning to talk to them about it.

“You know you can talk to us, right?” Marinette had said softly. “Why didn’t you?”

“I wasn’t sure how to bring it up…” Makoto had admitted. “Plus, you’re all counting on me to help lead you, and I don’t want to let you down.”

“Nonsense!” exclaimed Haru. “You’re an important member of our team, but your mental health is far more important!”

Makoto looked a little downtrodden. “I’m sorry…”

“Hey, it’s okay,” interjected Ann. “Next time you get stressed out or overwhelmed, you can come to one of us for help! Talk with your fellow Student council members and tell them we might be subbing in where we can.”

“I’d appreciate that,” mumbled Makoto, wiping away the tears gathering in her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m getting so emotional. I-”

She was cut off by Haru tackling her into a rib-crushing hug. With that, Makoto broke down, finally crumbling under all the stress and responsibilities that she had been piling on herself. At least now, everyone knew, and they could help her.

Akira was so busy hugging Makoto, in fact, that he missed Haru’s cheeks growing a light shade of red.

At long last, Akira felt the barrier in his mind between himself and Cybele crumble.

At one of their team meetings not long after Kunikazu’s untimely demise (but before they met Ace), Makoto brought up Takao Eiko, who had become a close friend of hers in the past few months. Akira was familiar with the girl, so when Makoto brought her up, he was a little worried that something had happened to her.

“It’s nothing like that!” Makoto insisted. “She’s not in any danger or hurt, thank God.”

“So what happened?” asked Marinette. “Is she being a problem?”

“Not her. Akira, you remember Tsukasa, right?”

Akira groaned. “That guy was such a creep…” he scowled. “I can’t believe I thought any good of him for the short time I did.”

Nodding, Makoto continued, “To fill in everyone else, Tsukasa was dating my friend Eiko. She thought he was in love with her, but he was only using her for her money. He’s a host at a club who blackmails girls into debt and two-times them all.”

“Urgh, what a scumbag!” exclaimed Alix. “Are we gonna change his heart?”

Ryuji grinned. “We already beat you to it a while back. Wait, didn’t that guy turn himself in already?”

“He tried to, but the police let him go,” explained Makoto. “The officer who was meant to handle his arrest cleared him of the accusations, claiming he wasn’t ‘of sound mind’ when he confessed.”

“But we know that isn’t true,” interjected Futaba. “Heck, I could pull up the surveillance footage for you. Tsukasa was totally in his right mind when he confessed.”

“… which means someone else is pulling the strings, right?” Nathaniel concluded. “Whoever they are, they must have bribed the police officer into letting Tsukasa go.”

Makoto nodded. “That’s exactly what I suspected. I asked Sis about it-” At everyone’s alarmed faces, she amended, “- stating my concern for Eiko’s wellbeing, and since she’s been looking into police corruption in Tokyo, I managed to get the name of the officer: Zankoku Inori. Sis doesn’t like him at all.”

“That means she’ll be better able to prosecute this jackass, right?” Kim checked. “This sounds like a double win to me!”

“If anyone is opposed to us changing his heart, say so now,” said Morgana, his tail flicking back and forth. When no one spoke up, Akira stood, pulling up the MetaNav on his phone.

“Alright, let's do this.”

As the team descended into Mementos, they kept an eye out for the glowing vortexes where Shadow Selves usually hid. After a Voyage to the path Roth’s fallout opened, they found what they were looking for.

Within the vortex, a man in his late twenties wearing a suit and a police hat eyed them with a tense curiosity. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Changing your heart!” declared Skull.

“Why?" countered Shadow Zankoku with a sneer. "I haven’t done anything illegal.”

“Taking bribes is a crime, among other things,” Queen growled out as she readied her Bear Gloves.

Shadow Zankoku laughed. “Barely. Besides, how can you break the law when you are the law?”

“The law doesn’t matter in this case!” Queen roared. “What you’re doing is stulting injustice, and we can’t allow that!”

“Coming from thieving brats who break the law on the daily?” Shadow Zankoku cackled. “Please, you’re no better than me. We’re all doing what we can to stay in power here - it’s a dog-eat-dog world!”

“Maybe it is,” Red retorted, co*cking his bayonet, “but it doesn’t have to be.”

With an unnerving twitch, Shadow Zankoku fell to the ground, and in his place, a Shadow - who Joker mentally dubbed the Horseback Baron - rose up, lifting his weapon into the air as his steed reared up. Two Funerary Warriors appeared beside him, battle-ready.

“There are more of them?” Skull groaned. “This sucks!”

“Stay focused, Skull!” chastised Oracle. “I’ll work on finding their weaknesses; for now, hit them with whatever you have.”

Before anyone could land an attack, the Shadow Self cast Revolution, increasing everyone’s critical hit rate.

“That’s not good!” exclaimed Rise. “Oracle?”

Oracle sounded panicked. “I’m working on it…! Crap, the big guy has Attack Master & Speed Master too; he’s super OP! Don’t let him hit you!”

“Jack, a little help here?” called Chance. “Some extra evasion would be nice.”

“My pleasure!” Jack cast a Masukukaja, and everyone could feel their bodies getting lighter.

Following suit, Panther summoned Hecate, casting Dekaja to nullify the effects of Attack Master and Speed Master. “Damn you…!” Shadow Zankoku growled.

“This is our chance!” Joker announced, summoning Cybele to hit Shadow Zankoku with a Mabufudyne. It did good damage, but didn’t hit the weaknesses of any of the Shadows.

“Stay away from Physical attacks!” ordered Oracle. “Gun attacks, too!”

The group focussed on using their magic skills (with the more Physical-based members buffing the others), stalling for Oracle to find a weakness. At long last, she announced, “I’ve got it! He’s weak to Psychic! Noire, Gem, give ‘em hell!”

The two Psychic users moved to the front of the party, summoning Milady and Nene. Shadow Zankoku, however, blasted them away with a Mafreidyne before they could get a chance.

Noire flew back, only for her to land in Queen’s arms. “I’ve got you, Noire,” she said humbly.

“Thank you, Queen!” Noire said, a little breathless.

Queen smiled. “Of course, Noire. Now let’s finish him off, together!”

Shielding Noire from Shadow Zankoku’s second Mafreidyne, Queen rode up beside the Shadows, allowing Noire the perfect opportunity to strike, knocking Shadow Zankoku to the ground with a Psiodyne. In his already-weakened state, Shadow Zankoku was easily defeated with another Psiodyne from Gem.

Ace finished off the Funerary Warriors with a Howling Hellfire, returning Shadow Zankoku to his prior form. Upon his defeat, the Shadow Self agreed to return to his body, eliciting a cheer from Queen and Noire.

Another job well done!

Chapter 3: Yusuke Kitagawa/Fox/Kijutsu-shi - The Emperor

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

“Do you remember Kawanabe-san?” Yusuke asked Akira. It had been a small while since the leader of the Phantom Thieves had completed his Social Link with Yusuke and unlocked Odin for fusion in the future, and the two were eating crepes. Akira had agreed to pay for both their crepes on the condition that Yusuke not mention to Ann or Shiho they’d gotten one of the former girl’s favorite treats without her.

“He’s the guy who ran that contest you won, right?” Akira checked, “What about him?”

“He has begun… looking after me, in a way,” Yusuke explained, “He has begun constantly sending me links to any art competitions or potential project ideas, asking me if I have interest in them.”

“Is it one of those thinly-veiled orders that people like Bustier make?”

“No… it seems to be out of pure altruism,” Yusuke looked down, “and I have reciprocated gladly… yet I am suspicious of any malicious intentions he may be hiding.”

Akira pondered this for a moment. “Well,” Akira said, “For starters, that’s certainly proof you’re healing from Madarame’s abuses.”

“Come again?”

“You aren’t putting blind trust in those with power in your desired field,” Akira explained, proud of his friend, “Wouldn’t you call that a sign you’re healing?”

Yusuke smiled humbly at Akira’s praise, rubbing the back of his neck.

“This may sound crazy, but I get the feeling that he might just mean well.”

“Are you sure?” Yusuke said, placing his head in his hands dramatically, “Even if his heart is not corrupted with malevolent desires, how can I be sure?”

“I can’t tell you for sure what his intentions are…” Akira sighed, placing a hand on Yusuke’s shoulder in an attempt to reassure him, “but if you want to confront him about it, I’ll help you out if you want that help. Just let me know when you want to do it ahead of time.”

“Akira… thank you.”

Almost a week after that meeting (and meeting Okuninushi), Yusuke contacted Akira and requested that he aid the artist the night of tomorrow. Having little else planned for then, Akira acquiesced.

“So you still don’t fully trust me…” Kawanabe said thoughtfully, “I can’t bring myself to blame you, but I will say that I greatly appreciate your honesty. It is something our culture tends to forego for the sake of dark intentions, so you’re a breath of fresh air.”

Yusuke and Akira merely stared him down for a few seconds, allowing Yusuke to regain the composure he’d lost while explaining his side of the story.

“I won’t pretend that I merely wished to send those links to you out of camaraderie,” Kawanabe admitted, “but I’d like to think my intentions aren’t exactly dark, either.”

“... explain, please.”

Nodding, Kawanabe began his story. “I have been working on the creation of an organization to combat the effects of Madarame’s doings before that change of heart that happened within him,” he explained, “A lot of it is financial recompensation, but there is also a part dedicated to helping other abuse victims, as well as aiding artists of all types in breaking into their businesses.”

Since Yusuke had been shocked into silence, Akira spoke up. “All types?” he questioned.

“Musicians, painters, writers… all sorts of artists,” Kawanabe elucidated.

“And what makes this different from the competition advertisem*nts you sent me?”

“Well, when it comes to dealing with righting Madarame’s wrongs and helping people that were hurt by him… there aren’t many people that are more qualified than you, Yusuke. I would like your help in running this business… granted, I would request and suggest you graduate high-school and perhaps university before doing most of your part, but…”

“As much as I would be honored,” Yusuke said, “How do you personally stand to benefit from this?”

“Not in many ways, and none of which are all that significant,” Kawanabe said, “Most of the money would go to its purposes, but I would like to set aside a bit of what it makes for your university tuition and other needed expenses. Otherwise, it’ll go to things like upkeep and payment for staff.”

Yusuke thought about it for a few moments. “If these documents match what you have said,” Yusuke said, “I am willing to partake in this project. Would you give me some time to look things over?”

“Of course,” Kawanabe nodded, “Take as much time as you need to make the decision.”

“Yusuke…” Akira quietly inquired, “Do you know a lawyer?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Yusuke answered confidently, “but I do know somebody who not only has government ties but also has a connection to Madarame.”

“And that person is…?”

“You’re… what does Futaba say… off your game, Joker,” Yusuke told him, “If my understanding is correct, you know this person too.”

As it turned out, Nakanohara Natsuhiko was more than eager to help Yusuke and Kawanabe out. Years down the line, the three would become business partners in running the Kitagawa Foundation, Yusuke joining after graduating college. For the time being, however, Akira would settle with Yusuke’s current happiness… and he’d add Ayar Manco to the Compendium, but that’s another story.

“Yo, Inari,” Futaba said during a Mementos planning meeting, “I got news related to a potential target you’ll find interesting.”

“What’s going on, Futaba?” Nathaniel asked.

“See, from what I know, Yusuke works with this art foundation guy whose name will go unmentioned for privacy reasons,” Futaba began.

Yusuke paled, and Akira could tell his heart had broken. “So Kawanabe’s heart is… distorted…?”

“I dunno about Kawanabe or whatever his name is,” Futaba said nonchalantly, hunching up her shoulders, “but he put a request on the Phan-Site for some guy named Maeda Ichiro. Apparently the guy was a real fanboy of Madarame… or at least the sh*t he did.”

“He’s a Madarame wannabe…?” Ryuji scowled, “Damn… it’s just like Yamauchi!”

“Before we jump into that, however,” Akira spoke up, “Futaba, could you check to make sure Kawanabe isn’t up to anything?”

“Got it, b- Akira,” Futaba nodded, “We’ll have to put him off for another day, though, as it might take me a while to dig up any information.”

During the next time the team planned to hit up Mementos, Futaba reported what she’d found. “The only bit of interest was in some personal logs,” Futaba said, “Yusuke deserves to hear what I found, but I’m not sure if it’s too private for everyone else here…”

“I believe it will be fine, Futaba,” Yusuke promised her, “I’m okay with it.”

“Huh…” Futaba teased, “Usually when I start talking about others’ private business, you guys get all red.”

Makoto went bright-red. “That’s not what we meant by any of it! Futaba, you know as well as I do there’s a time for these things…”

“I was joking…” Futaba said quietly, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t cool of me to joke in that way.”

“Water under the bridge,” Makoto smiled softly at her, “Now what did you find?”

“If you insist,” Futaba was hesitant, but she explained, “Apparently Kawanabe lost a relative to a cult a long time back. While the cult went under somewhat recently, the relative is still dead, and he's been comparing Yusuke to that relative…”

“That cannot stand!” Yusuke rose from his chair, cold rage in his voice, “Let us rend his corruption asunder, Joker!”

“I’m in for that,” Juleka piped in. Nobody else voiced their obligations, so the team went to Mementos.

It wasn’t long before they found Shadow Maeda’s pocket of Mementos. He was certainly much younger than Madarame (probably in his mid-twenties), but he was decked out in more expensive clothing than that which the real Madarame often wore. Noire couldn’t help but be reminded somewhat of Sugimura.

“And who are you all?” Shadow Maeda inquired in a haughty tone upon seeing the team, “Have you come seeking tutelage under the great Maeda Ichiro?”

“God, he even sounds like that jackass,” Panther groaned, “Fox, you ready to set him straight?”

“Ah… you must be the Phantom Thieves!” Shadow Maeda realized, a nasty scowl coming onto his face, “You’re the ones who came from my inspiration! You took a business genius and reduced him into a sniveling, sentimental wreck! How dare you!”

“How dare we…?” Fox growled, “How dare you! Madarame Ichiryusai enslaved children - children, you manipulative miscreant - and tossed them to the streets when he saw no more use in them. I have sliced the darkness that pervaded his heart to tatters, and if you do not change your behavior, we shall do it for you.”

“I’d like to see you try…” Shadow Maeda snarled, turning into a humanoid with a body and design similar to Shadow Madarame. The Amour Im-Propre’s clothes were not gold - rather painted in splotches of many different colors with black making up the majority - and he had a big, bushy imperial mustache instead of short facial hair.

Fox shuddered in rage. “You presume to copy a stain on this world, no matter which form you take…” Ripping off his mask, he declared, “Kamu Susano-o, let us end him!” His Persona gave the Amour Im-Prope a Myriad Slashes. Unfortunately, the three swings of his sword were resisted.

“You’re not gonna like this, Fox,” Oracle reported, “but he repels Ice, too. There isn’t much you can do here but Masukukaja or get High Counter if you’re lucky…”

Fox was visibly saddened, but he nodded and watched as the Amour Im-Prope created a Psy Wall, removing what Oracle detected to be his one weakness. An idea hit him after he threw out a Masukukaja, though.

Sneering as he shook off a Psiodyne from Nene, the Phantom Thieves’ target charged up a Mafreidyne to blast Gem, only for two bullets to hit the hand charging the Nuke attack.

The target of Fox’s assault rifle moved from the Amour Im-Prope’s hand to his head, three more hitting their mark there.

Zooming in with Fenrisúlfr, Ace commanded a Mental Mauling. Training with Joker and Oracle had granted him the power to occasionally remove walls on foes, so the Psychic attack did good damage. It didn’t knock him down, since it hit the Psy Wall before removing it, but it wasn’t bad damage either.

Seeing her chance, Noire brought forth Milady and blasted him with a Psiodyne, knocking him down. An All-Out Attack with the team left their foe at such low health that a Brave Blade was enough to defeat the Amour Im-Prope once and for all, resulting in another change of heart - this time for the not-so-great Maeda Ichiro.

Chapter 4: Luka Couffaine/Viper/Kobra - Adam

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

“Is it tough, being the leader?” Luka asked Akira one day not long after Terpander had transformed into Krotos. There had been a late-night akuma attack where Akira had been called in as Amur, and Ladybug was busy dropping off the other Parisians before she sent him back.

“What makes you ask?” Akira responded. He had a pretty good idea of the burden Ladybug bore, even if it was different and contained a higher risk than his. Was Luka thinking of a way to help or something?

“I’m used to following orders and helping when I can,” Luka explained, “but if I could be more helpful to Marinette, then I would take that opportunity.”

“Personally, I think you’re doing just fine,” Akira said, before the memory of King Kut-Throat made him grimace. “Perhaps too fine, if that akuma that stabbed you is any indicator…”

“That blade would have severely injured Ladybug if I hadn’t,” Luka said, “I had to do something.”

“Ah, that makes more sense,” Akira said, before sighing. “How do you keep calm all the time? I have trouble containing my emotions sometimes if you push the right buttons.”

“Injustice?”

“Injustice, usually.”

“It’s not easy, being calm all the time,” Luka chuckled, “but it’s a responsibility worth bearing.”

When Ladybug returned to take the Tiger Miraculous back, Akira rescinded it willingly. As he walked through the Voyage portal, he shot Luka a look of gratitude. Luka merely nodded back in understanding.

“I am Pompeius Magnus,” a voice greeted in his mind once he’d stepped back into Leblanc, “I shall help you to achieve greatness!”

“I assume you were created with Luka?” Akira murmured.

“Correct,” Pompeius Magnus answered, “His Arcana is that of Adam.”

“Who?” Akira asked, confused.

“As in Adam and Eve,” the Persona elucidated, “It is an alternate version of both the Emperor and Hierophant Arcana.”

“Something to do with the deck of cards?” Akira wondered. He’d done his research on the Major Arcana practically since his whole adventure began.

“Yes,” Pompeius Magnus responded, “the Arcana of your friends and Confidants in Tokyo will be from the Rider-Waite deck. Those in Paris shall receive other ones.”

“And what happens if I meet people in other areas of the world?” Akira wondered. He’d heard tales of superheroes in places like New York but had paid them little attention.

“That remains to be seen,” admitted the Persona. “Even I don't know the answer to that…”

At a later date - one before Bustier’s Palace crumbled…

“So you can hear music in Palaces?” Luka asked Akira. The two had been hanging out after another akuma attack where Akira had been called in.

“Yeah, it’s like that one American movie I saw once… what was it… October Dashing?” Akira responded, trying to remember the name.

“Well, whatever it was, could you try playing some of them? If you’re willing, we could turn them into songs for Kitty Section.” Luka asked, showing Akira his guitar. Akira took it reverently and carefully - he understood the importance of taking good care of musical instruments (he hadn’t been allowed to take his own guitar from home) - and started to play the theme of Kamoshida’s Palace - one he’d dubbed King, Queen And Slaves.

Luka found it unnerving yet calm, and asked for him to play more. He managed to get through A Woman, Price and When Mother Was There before Ladybug showed up to take him home.

That night, he’d met Baiame.

During a top-secret time…

“Hey, I have another idea for a target,” Luka threw out during the Phantom Thieves’ discussion on targets. “How does Dominic Dufour sound?”

“Luka…” Marinette said, surprised. She’d learned all about Luka’s disappearing dad, and it didn’t help that tomorrow was the anniversary of the day he’d walked out on him, Anarka and Juleka.

“Is something wrong?” Makoto asked innocently. “...it’s something personal, isn’t it?”

Marinette and Luka informed the Tokies. Not all of the Parisian Phantom Thieves could stay for a Mementos trip today, but they were around to assent. Like before they’d begun Bustier’s Palace, it was only Marinette, Luka, Nino and Alix who could stay to help out.

Everyone else agreed, one of them other than Marinette and Luka quite vehemently. Ryuji was also especially up for taking down another deadbeat dad, especially since he didn’t want to even think about his own, even if that meant he could change the bastard’s heart.

After the Phantom Thieves that could not stay had left, the team made their way to Mementos. They found the pocket area Luka’s pops was in around the very end of Lila’s path.

He had not recognized Viper, thankfully, but he’d still given the team a run for their money after transforming into the Sire of the Sky. He’d also repelled all Wind attacks, putting Viper and Mona on healing duty and little else (other than Mona’s Miracle Punch).

However, the Sire of the Sky had been weak to Chance’s Kougaon, and she had taken plenty of pleasure in using the Bless spell on him. Joker had also used Discordia’s Kouga to aid the process of changing his heart.

Viper thanked Joker and the others before they left; that was when Joker felt the lock on Genghis Khan get picked and opened.

Chapter 5: Sojiro Sakura - The Hierophant

Chapter Text

For a gruff, emotionally constipated old man, Sojiro was actually pretty cool, when you got to know him. He was passionate about his business, and he genuinely loved his family, which somehow had come to include Akira. Akira made it clear that he already had a family, that he didn’t want Sojiro to try to replace his moms, and Sojiro had somehow wormed his way into Akira’s heart anyway.

Because Akira really did trust Sojiro, even if he hadn’t had much choice. At first he’d just been grateful his auncle had kept him from going to juvie for no good reason, but he’d bonded with Boss faster than anyone would have expected.

He even trusted him enough to lend him Duusu’s Miraculous while they took down Shadow Gabriel, and that had been quite a risky play, even if the Phantom Thieves had taken much bigger ones. Sojiro had proved himself to be a trustworthy ally time and time again.

So, why was Akira so nervous when he heard that Sojiro had called his moms? He knew Sojiro probably just wanted to update them on how he was doing, but his damn anxiety just wouldn’t go away. What if Sojiro had finally had enough of him? What if he was giving up on him, and Akira would end up in juvie after all?

Before he could stop himself, he lightly knocked on the wall to announce his presence. Futaba didn’t like people sneaking up on her, so Akira and Sojiro had created this trick with her to minimize the scare. She did the same thing for them, and Marinette, and Marc, and everyone else…

“Hey… if you’re gonna kick me out or something, can you tell me now so I can pack? And figure out how to tell Duusu?”

Duusu had actually gotten pretty attached to Sojiro, now that he was able to hang out with the older man. While he was still nervous and prone to fits of tears, Sojiro was understanding. Akira could remember how Sojiro scoffed and told him, “I’ve spent years looking after Futaba. Duusu isn’t the first traumatized kid I’ve met.”

Akira had been about to argue that Duusu was an ancient god, not a kid, but he figured that was a conversation for another day…

“What makes you think I’m gonna kick you out?” Sojiro asked.

Akira shrugged. “I dunno… I’ve been working hard lately, especially now that Duusu and Nooroo are here. Maybe my head’s just too frazzled right now…”

“Fair enough,” Sojiro said, gesturing for Akira to sit down beside him. “To tell you the truth, kid, I was calling your moms to talk about getting shared custody of you.”

Akira’s eyes shot up at this revelation. “... really? Why?”

Sojiro chuckled. “Why not? Look, you’re a good guy. You helped Futaba when I couldn’t. You’re a goddamn hero. You’ve been changing hearts left and right. I couldn’t do half the sh*t you’re doing, even if I was your age.”

Akira blushed, trying desperately to not contest the compliment.

“Besides, you’ve made good friends here in Tokyo,” Sojiro continued. “I wouldn’t want you to lose that. Plus, changing high schools for your third year would be such a hassle. Might as well stay at Shujin.”

“You really want me to stay?” Akira confirmed.

“That’s the long and short of it, kid.”

Akira nodded slowly, trying to take it in. “Okay… if you and my moms can work something out - shared custody or whatever - I’d be down.”

Sojiro smiled. “Good to know.”

As Akira headed upstairs to tell Morgana the good news, he felt a new Persona’s voice.

“I am thou, thou art I… my name is Lemaître. Let us discover a way to bring this world together!”

Akira had no idea why he was freaking out so bad; they were just in court. He was hardly the one in trouble - no one was in trouble here at all! This was meant to be a good thing.

Futaba was also visibly anxious; she’d been that way since Sojiro told her their court date a week ago. He put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. “It’s gonna be okay, Tabby.”

“I know… I’m just worried over nothing,” Futaba mumbled. “Anxiety’s a bitch… what if some jerk brings up your criminal status and decides you don’t deserve good things? It’d be pretty easy for someone to frame you as a young hoodlum taking advantage of an old man’s money and kindness…”

“Good thing I didn’t give ‘em the chance.” Sojiro said as he exited the courtroom Akira and Futaba waited outside. “I only had to remind one of ‘em once that he dealt in family law, not criminal law. The main judge gave the dick a look, and he backed off and apologized.”

Akira nodded in understanding. “What’s the diagnosis, Doc?”

“I hope you don’t give Takemi that lip,” Sojiro riposted. The proud grin on his face betrayed his stern warning. “Eh, you’ll have more opportunities. Point is, you’re stuck with me, kid… well, until the end of high-school.”

Maybe it was because he had Mishaguji with him, but Akira felt a strong connection to Sojiro at that moment. He smiled, giving Sojiro a hug. “I’m not stuck with you, Dad. I chose you.”

Not one to be outwardly sentimental, working on it or not, Sojiro settled on giving Akira a pat on the head, which Akira knew to take as an affectionate gesture.

As Sojiro drove them from the courthouse, a stop at Kanda planned to pay respects to Wakaba, Akira was already ready to make introductions to Kohryu.

A few days after that, Futaba came to the rest of the Phantom Thieves with the oddest expression on her face. “I was doing some digging into the people Mom used to work with,” she explained, “‘cause she was killed for her research and all, and I wanted to try and connect people. And I found something…”

“What do you mean?”

“A paper I remember her working on when I was little,” Futaba said, “but it was published by two other people.”

Haru frowned. “Oh…”

“And I’m just so mad!” Futaba said. “People shouldn’t get to take her life’s work like that! A-Anyways, I talked to Sojiro, and he was able to get me their full names with his, like, governmental ties and everything, so… yeah. Can we go after them?”

“If they appear on the Nav,” Marinette promised.

Sure enough, the names f*ckushi Kenji and Ken’ichi got hits on the Metaverse Navigator. The Phantom Thieves found the duo in the Path of Akzeriyyuth, chattering between each other.

When they noticed the approaching Phantom Thieves, one of them remarked, “And who do you think we have here, brother?”

“The f*ckushi brothers, huh?” Skull smirked. “Looks like a match-up of two thieves to… uh, like, eight or nine times more!”

“Now, what do you mean by that, ya little urchin?” the other sneered. “Isshiki-chan’s dead, and nobody was gonna publish what was left of her work. I feel like what we did for her was rather honorable - we finished what she started. Nobody else was gonna do it!”

“If you’d credited her, maybe,” Rise snapped. “But you took all the credit.”

“Hah! She’ll thank us later, ” the latter of the scoffed, voice mirthful. “Don’t you think so, Ken’ichi?”

The former - Ken’ichi, apparently - nodded in agreement, shrugging nonchalantly. “For now, the profits of credit will be enough of a reward. Isn’t that right, Kenji?”

The two grinned, and in unison, they laughed, “Imagine what we’ll get for killing the Phantom Thieves!” before transforming.

Both Shadow Kenji and Shadow Kenichi were balding men, albeit with helix-structured arms and legs. Shadow Kenji’s structure was pink and red, and he had a lustful sneer on his face; Shadow Ken’ichi had a prideful look on his face, and his structure was white and gray.

Scanning them with Fenrisúlfr, Ace reported that they specialized in Wind skills, along with Ice skills that hit like a blizzard to the face. It didn’t take long for Rise and Chance to nail them with Makougaon for a surprisingly quick finish… then again, they weren’t even in the area unlocked by changing Lila’s heart.

Oracle gave them a thorough tongue-lashing, eventually succeeding in making both the f*ckushi brothers see the error of their ways.

As Shadow Kenji and Shadow Ken’ichi faded away, a Treasure was left in their place. It was a stack of printed papers stapled together in the top left corner, with scattered annotations done in red pen. Joker handed the papers to Oracle, who teared up, holding it close to her chest.

“Mom’s paper… I thought I’d never see it again. Thank you, everyone.”

That night, when they showed Sojiro the copy of Wakaba’s paper, he cried for the first time since Akira had moved in with him, and thanked Akira for giving him back the last remaining thing that belonged to the woman he loved.

Chapter 6: Ann Takamaki/Panther/Bombshell - The Lovers

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

It started not long after Ann had awakened once more to a Persona, transforming Carmen into Hecate and unlocking Ishtar for fusion once Akira was strong enough. They’d finished a trip into Kaneshiro’s Palace, and were very close to reaching the Treasure. Ryuji, Makoto and Yusuke were off doing who-knows-what, and Morgana was off on his own business too, leaving Ann and Akira together.

“So…” Ann asked Akira, attempting to make conversation, “What’s dating Ryuji like?”

“It’s fun,” Akira smiled softly at the thought of his boyfriend. “Me and him really click. In fact, we were practically a team since the day we met Morgana.”

“Right, right,” Ann recalled what he, Ryuji and Morgana had told her. “Ryuji awakened the trip after you, right?”

“Yeah,” Akira nodded. “Though now I wonder - when did Morgana get his Persona?”

“Huh… that’s a good question,” Ann admitted. A few seconds of awkward “You know, sometimes I wish me and Shiho were as close as you two…”

“Are you kidding?” Akira drew back somewhat-histrionically. “You two are as close as close gets! Yeah, she’s more than a bit withdrawn nowadays…”

Ann and him both looked down sadly. “...but she still loves you. Anyone with a brain and no hom*ophobia can see it.”

Cheering up, Ann mentally reminded herself to give him friendship chocolates on Valentine’s Day as the two parted. Perhaps Ryuji would like some too…

Meanwhile, Akira was now talking with Ame-no-Uzume.

A little while before the fateful Hawaii vacation, during the planning of a Mementos trip…

“So who’s this target you have in mind, Lady Ann?” Morgana asked.

“Is it Mika?” Akira asked innocently, the mention of the model alone earning him a swat from Ann. Ann was able to laugh off everything now that her rival was done scheming (to their knowledge, at least), but sometimes Mika got under her skin a little.

“No, it’s someone else. We can take her on some other day,” Ann said, “My manager is getting stalked and harassed by some jackass during her off-days.”

“Didja manage to get a name out of her?” Futaba asked.

As Ann told them all the stories she’d heard of Hanzō Aiuchi (including how there had also been rumors of him preying on models around the company Ann’s folks owned), Akira heard the voice of Pixie in his mind. He could hear the voices of any and all of his Personas, even if he couldn’t use most of them; Pixie was an example.

“Pay attention, Joker!” Pixie said in a tone a bit more serious than her usual ditzy one. “We gotta help out Miss Ann!”

“What’s with all of the excitement?” Akira murmured quietly.

“You know I’ve got an affinity with Miss Ann!” Pixie chirped. “We share the same Arcana, after all!”

“Never heard Shiisaa’s voice when we were going for Yamauchi…” Akira grumbled to himself.

“Akira, do you want to change Aiuchi’s heart?” Makoto's voice snapped him out of his conversation with Pixie.

“Sorry, fuzzed out for a lot of what Ann told us,” Akira apologized. “Would you mind telling us again?”

Ann filled him in, and he agreed to it once he heard of Aiuchi’s wrongdoings. With that, the team made their way to Mementos.

Aiuchi’s Shadow was found in a pocket near the end of the Path of Akzeriyyuth. He’d recognized Panther as one of the models, sadly, but thankfully, he hadn’t remembered her name. The rage at the Phantom Thieves’ supposed audacity had made him transform into a flaming shogun that somewhat reminded Ryuji of Seiten Taisei… albeit without the cloud and electric powers.

Surrounded in a fiery aura, the Fiery Unifier had proven not only immune to Physical attacks but had a special ability to Burn anyone who got too close. He’d also nearly incinerated Fox a few times, and Goemon’s Ice spells were shrugged off like they were nothing. During one dodge of an attack, Fox’s tail caught fire slightly, causing Shadow Aiuchi to laugh his ass off even as Mona and Zorro put it out.

Rapidly typing inside Necronomicon, Oracle informed them that they would have the best luck with Wind and Psychic spells. Nodding, Joker summoned Neko Shogun and blasted him with Psio, knocking him down. From there, all it took was one All-Out Attack and an ensuing Garula from Zorro to finish the job and change Aiuchi’s heart.

Chapter 7: Ryuji Sakamoto/Skull/Saruchame - The Chariot

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

The first time Akira realized Personas could be created thanks to his bonds with no need for a trip to the Metaverse or Velvet Room, he’d just finished a training session with Ryuji. While heading home, he had been thinking about how he’d enjoyed their time together when something occurred to him.

Did he like Ryuji?

Akira was a very caring guy, make no mistake - caring for and helping other people was what the Phantom Thieves they’d founded had set out to do - but he didn’t usually think this long about any of his Confidants. Not Sojiro, not Takemi, not even Ann, Yusuke or Morgana held his attention and interest quite like Ryuji could, even after he was utterly exhausted after their training.

Akira was also knowing of and confident in his bisexuality, and he knew Ryuji was the same.

That said, asking the guy out was easier said than done. Sure, the two would have no shortage of time spent together given Akira’s stay for at least a year in Tokyo and their secret business as Phantom Thieves, so…

“WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE IN ATTEMPTING?” asked a new voice in his head. It reminded him of the more meatheaded Shadows they’d met.

“And you are…?” Akira mumbled to the new Persona… or at least what he hoped was one.

“ME AM SHIISAA,” the new Persona greeted, “YOU HAVE MASK... YOU AND ME... DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY!”

“Where’d you come from? How did you become one of my Personas?” Akira asked. “We’re not in the Metaverse or the Velvet Room, so…”

“THE BOND YOU HAVE WITH CHARIOT MADE ME,” Shiisaa explained, “AS BONDS CREATED AND GET BETTER, NEW MASKS EVENTUALLY COME TOO!”

“I see…” Akira nodded along as he entered Leblanc, Sojiro nodding at him casually as he made coffee for one of the last customers of the day. Not long after, Akira made his way to the bathhouse. All that sweat was making him stink, and it wouldn’t hurt to improve his Charm in the process.

Ryuji sighed. “So… if you wanna hit me or something, go ahead. I’m ready.”

Takeishi and Nakaoka merely looked at each other, before cracking their knuckles and advancing on Ryuji.

Realizing they were serious, Akira quickly stepped in their way, a look of utter rage on his face. It was only so easy to rile Kurusu Akira up, but it was very much possible to do so if you hit his buttons. “You’re all nuts,” he snarled.

“W-what?” Nakaoka raised an eyebrow. “You heard him. He’s cool with it.”

“Why are you cool with beating him up?” Akira shot back. “In case you haven’t heard, Kamoshida broke his leg. He’s a victim of physical abuse, you guys.”

“But-”

“But nothing!” Akira scowled at both of them. “You know he’s got a f*cked-up view of taking sh*t for other people.”

“You do this,” Akira declared, “and you’re not much better than Kamoshida.”

“Akira…” Ryuji whispered, eyes bugged out as the transfer student defended him. “You ain’t gotta do this… I deserve it…”

“Kamoshida deserves what came to him!” Akira snarled. “He’s the reason the track team disbanded, not you. You were - no, you are - one of his victims. I’m not gonna let them hurt you, too.”

Turning to Takeishi and Nakaoka, he then said, “Apologize and leave,” his frigid voice leaving no room for argument. “Or just leave. Your call.”

Nakaoka spoke first. “S-sorry, Sakamoto!” he said, bowing quickly before skedaddling. Takeishi too apologized before running after him, but he stopped midway and hastily thanked Ryuji for opening his eyes.

“Ryuji, don’t let anyone do that to you again, okay?” Akira asked, the beginning of tears appearing in his eyes, “I care too much about you to let you go off doing stupid things like that again.”

“Akira…” Ryuji whispered, “are you saying you…”

“That can wait for later,” Akira said, “for now, we should go home.”

“Good point…” Ryuji sighed, dropping his head in the usual way he did. “‘Sides, Mom’s probably worried about me…”

Akira nodded. He’d met Sakamoto Yume, and she was one of the nicest adults he’d ever met.

As he walked Ryuji home, he absentmindedly wondered if a Persona would appear. Ryuji and him had reached Rank 8, after all.

Another Persona did not appear until after he’d maxed out Ryuji’s Social Link (transforming Captain Kidd into Seiten Taisei and unlocking Chi You for fusion once he was stronger) and nabbed the bottle blond as a boyfriend. It was during their trip to Hawaii and the beginning of Lila’s Palace, where as Joker welcomed Gegenees into his heart, everything clicked into place at last.

During a Tokies-only meeting - a casual one - after Ryuji had returned back from his first time as Saruchame, everyone applauded him for his work.

“Excellent job, Ryuji!” Morgana smiled (well, as much as he could with his feline body). Sneering, he went on to say, “Ladybug made a good choice, giving you that Miraculous.”

“Are you saying that’s ‘cause it was a monkey-themed one?” Ann scowled. “I’ve heard you call him an ape or something similar more than once.”

“It better not be,” Akira said darkly, his scowl matching Ann’s. “You really ought to stop ragging on my boyfriend.”

Morgana looked at the frowning faces of his fellow Phantom Thieves. “You’re right… I’m sorry. I should have realized how wrong it was to call you a monkey long ago.”

Ryuji just said, “Water under the bridge, Morgana, so long as you don’t do it again.”

After Morgana nodded and promised to try and do better about making fun of Ryuji, conversation was rather normal from there. Eventually, Ryuji spoke up on something he’d been thinking about. “If it’s okay with everyone, I have a target I’d like to suggest.”

“What are you thinking, Ryuji?” Yusuke asked. “You know we’ll have to take it up with Marinette and Luka after we introduce them to Mementos, correct?”

“I know,” Ryuji nodded, “Akira, remember Yamauchi Daiki?”

“Right, him,” Akira said, understanding where Ryuji was going with this. “He nearly manipulated the track team’s return for his own gains.”

“I did hear the PTA got him fired,” Makoto nodded along. “He attempted to make some sort of sob story out of the track team, correct?”

“Yeah, and he almost turned Nakaoka into the next me,” Ryuji scowled. “I know we gotta take it up with Marinette and Luka too, but for now, are you guys okay with it?”

The team separated not long after the required assent was given. After Marinette and Luka - then with Nino and Alix joining them too - agreed to it, the group set out for Mementos, finding Shadow Yamauchi in the path Lila’s defeat had opened.

Somehow, Shadow Yamauchi had not recognized Skull, but he had put up quite the fight, transforming into a clever-looking conman wearing a boater hat with a cheque saddled on its side. Akira called him the Banknote Baddie.

The team had made quick work of him, and they’d allowed Skull to do the final blow, Seiten Taisei’s Zionga zapping him into submission and changing Yamauchi’s heart.

Chapter 8: Lê Chiến Kim/King/Yanbian - The Captain

Chapter Text

Anyone who knew Lê Chiến Kim knew that he had a competitive streak seven miles wide.

In the early days of Hawkmoth’s reign, he had challenged Alix to the race which had eventually led to her first akumatization as Timebreaker. Even though he knew it wasn’t really his fault, he still blamed himself a little. Him goading her definitely didn’t help things.

Still, when he found out that Ryuji was once a track star, he couldn’t resist challenging him to a race, wanting to see if he had gotten any faster since he and Alix last squared off.

Wanting to make Kim feel welcome to the Phantom Thieves, since he had only been a member of the team for a short while, Ryuji was quick to agree. Akira wondered how much of that was Ryuji wanting to take on Kim as a fellow athlete and how much of that was Ryuji’s own competitive streak.

Shadow Barb set up a Voyage to bring the Tokies to Paris, and the two groups met up in the park near Marinette’s home. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Kim was so pumped that he could barely stand still. After Akira gave Ryuji a kiss on the cheek for good luck, Ryuji and Kim headed to the starting-line.

“I want a clean race, okay?” said Alix, who was going to be the match’s officiant. “Kim, that means no kicking dirt into Ryuji’s face.”

“That was one time!” Kim grumbled. “Are you ever gonna let me live that down?”

“Not a chance,” Alix replied, moving to one side of the stretch of grass where Kim and Ryuji were going to be racing. “Are you both ready?”

Kim and Ryuji nodded, getting into a starting stance.

Alix raised her arm as she called out, “Ready… set…” She swiftly brought down her arm in a motion that could break concrete. “Go!”

Kim was off like a shot. Ryuji, who was a little more out of practice with racing, made a slow start before finding his footing.

“Kick his ass, Ryuji!” Ann hollered.

Akira took her words as a challenge, shouting even louder. “You can do it, babe! Keep running!”

Invigorated by his boyfriend’s words, Ryuji pushed himself to speed up, gaining on Kim.

When Kim noticed that Ryuji was getting close to overtaking him, he tried to speed up, but that caused him to lose his footing, stumbling over the finish line just seconds after Ryuji.

Perhaps they should have invited Max?

Cheering, Akira swept Ryuji up in a hug. His boyfriend laughed, “Come on, dude, you’re gonna knock me over. Lemme go already!”

Akira squeezed Ryuji tighter. “Nope. I can’t help that I have the most amazing boyfriend ever.”

“Shut up,” Ryuji mumbled, though he couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear.

The upbeat moment was brought to an instant end when Kim suddenly threw his gym bag to the ground and stormed away from the group. “... is he okay?” asked Ryuji.

Alix winced. “I probably shoulda told you this before, huh? Kim’s kind of a sore loser. I think he’s so used to winning that he can’t deal with being beaten. It definitely doesn’t make him the most popular guy, which sucks because he’s usually pretty chill. The guy just lets his competitive streak get the better of him sometimes.”

“I kinda get that,” admitted Ryuji. “I used to be crazy competitive when I was in junior high, and I ain’t proud to admit it cost me a few friendships. Things started getting better after I started taking meds for my ADHD.”

“Maybe we could talk to him?” suggested Akira. “I kinda get how he’s feeling, too…”

“Go for it,” grumbled Alix, “but he’s ridiculously bullheaded about this stuff, so he might not listen.”

“Still worth a try,” Ryuji shrugged.

Alix just nodded as Akira and Ryuji hurried off, but the two didn’t miss her mumble, “Good luck.”

By the time Akira and Ryuji found Kim, the boy was in the middle of kicking a tree hard enough to make the bark splinter off. When he saw the other two approaching him, he snapped, “What? Are you here to gloat or something?”

“Not quite,” said Akira. “We just wanted to say, if nothing else, we get how you feel, Kim.”

Kim practically rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure.”

“Really, we do,” Ryuji insisted. “I used to get like this every time I lost a race, and trust me, it did not make me popular. That’s the kind of stuff that gets you a reputation as someone who’s not good to be around.”

For the first time since he’d stormed off, there was something almost hesitant in Kim’s eyes. “Really? How did you… stop?”

“Well, part of it was that I got ADHD meds; that helped my emotions settle down a bit. Other than that, you basically just have to work at it. Trust me, it’s gonna suck at first, and you’re gonna hate it, but it gets easier eventually.”

Akira leaned in to add, “There’s nothing wrong with being angry. What’s more important is where you channel that anger. You know as well as all of us that anger can be a healthy thing, if you use it right.”

Considering their words for a moment, Kim straightened up. “I guess I should go say sorry for being all pissy, huh?”

“Probably a good idea. Alix looked pretty annoyed at you, and she's not the greatest person to have on your bad side.”

“Yep,” Kim grumbled. Taking Ryuji’s hand to help him up, “Uh… thanks, by the way.”

“No problem,” Akira replied.

As he, Ryuji and Kim returned to the others, Akira found himself talking to Manticore for the first time.

As the Phantom Thieves took down Caline Bustier and later Bob Roth and Audrey Bourgeois, Akira was pleased to see Kim taking his and Ryuji’s advice to heart. The jock was genuinely trying to better himself, whether that was through getting anger therapy from M. Bonal or through supporting his fellow swimmers.

He had even introduced Gertrude Hebert - who had been one of Bob Roth’s last victims - to the sport, and excitedly told the rest of the Phantom Thieves about how much she had improved in the very short time she had been training.

“She’s gonna start outspeeding me someday!” Yanbian offhandedly mentioned while he and Ladybug were patrolling together. Ladybug couldn’t help but note that there was no malice in his voice; he was truly proud of the progress Gertrude was making.

A few days before Audrey’s Change of Heart, Kim invited the Phantom Thieves to a swim meet he was going to be competing in. The school was putting two members through to the competition, Kim and his long-time rival Ondine. Kim was determined to come in first place and had been training every day he had the opportunity.

Still, when it came to the competition itself, he and Ondine finished at almost the exact same time. It was hard to tell which of them had crossed the finish-line first. After a few minutes of deliberation and a quick check of the recordings of the match, the judges ruled that Ondine had won by just a few seconds.

The Phantom Thieves - Tokies watching from Nino’s phone - collectively held their breath, waiting to see how Kim was going to react to the loss. It had been so close, too; that was bound to be disappointing.

Instead, Kim walked up to Ondine and offered her a crisp high-five. “I guess I’ll have to train even harder so I can beat you next time!” he exclaimed, grinning widely. Ondine quickly returned his grin and took the high-five.

All the way back in Tokyo, Akira felt the chains around Vercingetorix beginning to break.

A day or two after Kim started his poly relationship with Ondine and Max (not to mention that he awakened Mnevis and unlocked Thánh Gióng for Akira to fuse), the Phantom Thieves called a team meeting. Kim, who usually didn’t have any suggestions for targets, was all too quick to bring up a possible target.

“I dunno if you guys have heard of Mona Gagneux, but she’s a real piece of work,” he grumbled. “She’s been going on and on about how polyamory is, like, a horrid sight to allow around children and ruining Christian marriages to basically anyone who’ll listen to her, which is apparently a lot of people, ‘cuz she somehow managed to get elected to the National Assembly last year.”

“Really? That’s horrible!” Shiho gasped.

Ann frowned. “And a total misunderstanding of what polyamory is…”

“I definitely don’t object to changing her heart,” said Akira. “So, are we all in agreement?”

When no one objected, Akira activated the MetaNav and the group headed into Mementos.

Finding Shadow Gagneux was easier than they expected. In fact, they managed to find her in one of the earlier floors of Mementos, so they didn’t even have to delve that deep into the Palace.

Shadow Gagneux was dressed in a smart suit with a pencil skirt and regarded the Phantom Thieves with distaste as they approached her. “What are you derelicts doing here?” she demanded. “Shouldn’t you be in school? Troublesome children like you are precisely what’s wrong with society…”

“School’s out for the day, dumbass,” deadpanned Alix. “Maybe you’d know if you’d spent enough time there.”

Shadow Gagneux scowled. “Either make your point or leave.”

“Believe it or not, we’ve got a bone to pick with you, Mme. Gagneux,” snapped Skull.

King nodded, an angry look on his face. “Yeah, who are you to tell people who they’re allowed to love? Other people’s relationships are none of your business!”

“Let me guess… you’re one of those degenerates who are giving true marriages under the eyes of our Lord a bad name. If that’s the case, then I have nothing else to say to you.”

“No, not yet,” snarled King, “but my parents are. They don’t need you telling them how many people they get to love.”

“Vermin only breeds vermin,” snarled Shadow Gagneux. “It’s time for direct action, then…!”

King was all too prepared for Shadow Gagneux to drop her humanoid form; taking the opportunity to ready his warhammer, he nabbed a preliminary swing before the other Phantom Thieves even got a chance to see the Shadow Self’s true form.

The clouds that made up the Shadow’s body took on a vaguely humanoid form, and in its hands, it carried a large bundle of maize. For some reason, Joker felt that the name Maize-Making Matriarch was fitting for it.

The Maize-Making Matriarch targeted King with a Ziodyne, but Red hastily set up a Makarakarn to block the attack.

Grinning wildly, King emptied the chamber of his six-shooter into Shadow Gagneux, before going for another swing of his warhammer. When she healed herself with a Diarahan, undoing all of King’s hard work, he let out a snarl of frustration.

“Rise, Chance, don’t bother with your magic!” shouted Oracle. “She absorbs Bless.”

Nodding to her and Ace, Chance and Rise threw their weapons out to wrap around Shadow Gagneux, binding her and letting King club her with Robustel-de-Fer.

The Maize-Making Matriarch attempted to slow King’s onslaught with a God’s Hand after she was sent out of her chains, but he was able to shrug off the damage like it was nothing, partially thanks to a speedy Diarahan courtesy of Mona.

From there, Mnevis and Wenet even managed to land an Agidyne and a Freidyne respectively, and a few Eigaon attacks from Shango and Beelzebub finally felled Shadow Gagneux.

King cheered, giving Jack a celebratory high-five. “Man, my folks are totally gonna flip when I tell them about this!”

Joker hesitated. “... you do know that you aren’t allowed to tell them that you’re a Phantom Thief, right?”

“Oh yeah… can I tell them I beat up a polyphobic politician?”

“I get the feeling that your parents are still gonna be suspicious about that part.”

“Awwww…”

“My ex-husband…” Shadow Gagneux mumbled mournfully, “He was- no, is polyamorous… when he saw how uncomfortable I was with it, he felt obligated to choose, and in the end, he picked that other woman over me. I hated that so much… even when he didn’t want to choose, he still made the decision without me.”

"Still, you can't take that stuff out on other people," said King. “You deserve people who love you, and you ought to love others just the same.”

"... I’m aware of that now. I wish I hadn’t blown up on so many people before that could get into my head. Thank you, truly."

"Nah, you don't have to thank me. Just work towards doing better, and find someone who’ll push you to keep at it."

"I will, I promise," said Shadow Gagneux as she returned to her real self.

Mission complete!

Chapter 9: Nino Lahiffe/Beat/Shadow Barb - The Artisan

Chapter Text

“Yeah, that’s my story,” Nino told Akira. “My family’s Muslim, but I just don’t… feel the same connection to it that Mom and Dad do.” It was during the time after Roth’s Treasure had been taken (and thus Akira had long met Mohini), and they were still waiting for the big court case. Even though Juleka had been entrusted with the role of La Prédatrice for the foreseeable future and he’d had his first fight under the alias of Jinhua, Amur had been needed for what was probably his last time with the Tiger Miraculous. The two boys had been hanging out after an akuma attack - Marlena Césaire was trying to change careers and become a nutritionist, and the stress of balancing her family, work at Le Grand Paris and her studies had attracted Hawkmoth to her.

“Religion’s been used for a lot of bad stuff,” Akira assented, “but that doesn’t mean those who are more religious are inherently bad, or evil, or whatever. Religious acts aren’t the entirety of the problem when someone does evil in their deity’s name - the word Some advice my folks gave me is that one of the best cures for bad religion is good religion… even then, I feel like the good that religion does today can be done even without the orders of a God or another to complicate things. Besides, when you can summon deities… technically, anyways… the idea of being under their power with no way out but to serve until you die gets a lot more complex.”

“You’re the only one I know with multiple deities at his disposal, dude,” Nino pointed out teasingly.

“Well, I’m not the only one with a godly Persona,” Akira countered with a laugh. “Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Luka and Alix have one, too.”

“And how many do you have?” Nino shot back. Akira began counting on his fingers, but threw up his hands around twenty-seven.

Nino burst into laughter. “You know that at least twenty-seven gods and goddesses is a ridiculous amount to have in your head, right? How do you deal with all your Personas’ voices? Sometimes Shaka Zulu is tough, and I only have him!”
Seeing no reason to hide this part, Akira admitted, “It’s a long story as to the details, but I can only hold 12 Personas at a time.”

“Really?” Nino responded, intrigued. “Where do the others go?”

“I am contractually obligated to refuse to answer,” Akira half-lied. Sure, he had a deal with both Igor and the twins, but he also wasn’t expected to keep quiet… was he? They’d never asked him to keep things under wraps, but he’d always figured nobody would believe him. “Nobody else knows the answer, either, so I’d advise you refrain from prying.”

“Aw, alright,” Nino sighed. “Oh, yeah - Luka mentioned you got some talent with music. Something about Palaces havin’ music that only you hear. Think you can replicate any of the songs?”

“I haven’t played in a while,” Akira admitted, “so it might not be perfectly accurate to what I heard. Let me do you one better - let’s see if we can remix them!”

“Duuuude… that’s a great idea!”

As he and Nino began to discuss plans, Akira unlocked Bassanio. His Persona stock was already full, and he didn’t want to swap someone out at the time, so he sent Bassanio to the Persona Compendium. Unlike when recruiting Personas in the Metaverse, when a Persona came to him while spending time with his Confidants, they would be registered no matter whether or not they ever ended up in his stock.

“So Alya was cool with your religion?”

“Cool with it? It would be weirder if she wasn’t!” Nino chuckled, a little sorrow still in his voice. “The Césaires actually hold more belief in Martinican and African religions rather than more common religions like Christianity, which I guess is part of why Anansi took on that alias and Ella and Etta became the Sapotis.”

Akira hummed. “I thought Anansi was just their name…”

“Well, it used to just be their kickboxing alias,” Nino explained, “We thought it was a little funky that they never stayed home long and always insisted on being called Anansi even outside of akumatization or kickboxing. Boy, I'm glad they came out as nonbinary eventually.”

Akira nodded in understanding. “It takes a lot of bravery to show who you are inside on the outside.”

“Heh… Shadow Barb’s actually gone and talked with a few people who give them and the rest of the family sh*t over it or other things.”

“And Ladybug’s chill with that?”

“So long as I don’t kill or maim anyone, and I let her know who I’m talking to first,” Nino shrugged. “Sometimes, I wonder if she goes after them after I’m done, but I never see any evidence or news about them… okay, their rep does suddenly take a nosedive a few days later most of the time, but…” He shook his head. “Has Ladybug ever mentioned her last run thing to you guys?”

“No, actually…” Akira said. Cautiously, he asked, “Is it okay to talk about?”

“If I were telling Chris or my folks, probably not, but for us, it’s probably fine,” Nino reasoned. “Technically speaking, Carapace, King Monkey, Ryuko and Viperion have been given one last night with their Miraculouses.” After Akira nodded to convey he understood the story so far, Nino continued, “The Bug told me about Pegasus and Rena Rouge getting their last run. I had to part with Kaalki for a bit for the first dude, but I decided to take a message from Nino to Alya… with Ladybug’s go-ahead, I told her me and Nino were old friends who only recently got back in touch…”

“How’d that go over?”

“She promised not to look into Nino or try to find any identities - well, Hawkmoth and Mayura are exceptions, but y’know - but she did ask Shadow Barb if she’d ever be able to apologize to him properly and/or become friends with him again.”

“And…?”

“Shadow Barb and her are gonna keep in touch about that… when Nino is ready, he and Alya will at least try to talk.”

Akira just nodded. “I wish you the best, okay? Plus, remember - you shouldn’t need to jump through hoops if you’re trying to make anything work - friendships, romance, whatever.”

“Thanks, dude.”

In Akira’s head, the chains surrounding Saint Valentine shattered to pieces.

During a Mementos trip before Audrey’s Palace was brought to the Thieves’ attention, Nino piped up, “I got a target for us today. Marinette, remember Emmanuel Pelletier?”

“Ugh, that street preacher?” Marinette groaned. “Has he been harassing you guys again?”

“He and his sons sprayed Retourner en Afrique, bougnoules! on his family’s house,” Yuuki reported, “and a few houses belonging to families who weren’t white or Christian got similar suggestions.”

“Uh… what’s a bougnoule ?” Morgana asked.

“I wouldn’t repeat that if I were you,” Alix snapped. “I’m sure you had no idea, but that’s an ethnoreligious slur against North African people.”

Mona grew pallid. “Oh, shoot! I’m sorry!”

“You know better now,” Nino smiled wearily, “so just do better.”

“You have my word, Nino,” Morgana swore.

“Christian supremacists and racists,” Nathaniel grumbled, “my favorite . Dad and I are nothing more than filthy ‘youds’ to him. I’m totally in for this.”

“Bố mẹ tôi were called ‘des niakoués,’ which is a rude phrase to describe Vietnamese people,” Kim added on. “I’m gonna torch him so bad, he’ll wish she got to deal with all that hellfire he just won’t shut up about!”

“I’m pissed, too, but let’s focus our anger on changing his heart,” Makoto reminded everyone. “What sense is there in sitting around and seething when we can actually do something about him?”

Everyone knew she was right, so they moved to the Metaverse. Anger could be comforting, but seeing justice done would be so much better.

The Phantom Thieves proceeded deeper into Mementos, until they came across the pulsating red vortex, which typically denoted a Mementos target. Checking that everyone was ready, Joker waved the group through the portal, reading his grip on his dagger.

Standing before them was an older man. His hair was starting to go gray, and he was smartly dressed as if he was about to head out to church. When Shadow Pelletier noticed the Phantom Thieves approaching, he stumbled backwards, holding onto the cross around his neck. “Get back, sinners!” he shouted. “Notre Dieu will not show you mercy, and neither will I!”

“Definitely the right guy,” grumbled Ace. “He speaks like every bible-thumper I’ve heard.”

“Then let's shut him up already!” shouted King, swinging his warhammer over his shoulder.

Enraged, Shadow Pelletier bellowed, “If you want to go to hell, then I’ll take you there myself!”

Dropping his human guise, the Shadow Self transformed. Shadow Pelletier’s new form, the Leonine Lifetaker, was donned in a military uniform, complete with several medals on his chest. He would have looked unassuming, if it weren’t for the lion’s head on his shoulders.

Snarling, the anthropomorphic lunged towards King, swiping at him with its clawed hands and knocking him to the floor. Jack blasted him away with a Freidyne, allowing King the opportunity to stagger back to his feet.

Skull leapt in, Panther by his side, hoping to catch the Shadow Self by surprise, but before he or Panther could land a single hit, the Shadow Self lurched backwards, hitting them with a Wage War. More enraged than they already were, Skull and Panther whaled on the Shadow Self with their weapons, doing little damage.

“He resists Physical damage!” shouted Oracle. “Joker, get Skull and Panther away from him before they get hurt!”

“I’ve got it!” Viper called back. “Krotos, Energy Shower!”

As Skull and Panther came back to themselves, realizing what the Shadow Self had done, Skull flew into another rage, this one entirely his own. Knowing his Physical attacks couldn’t do much damage, he instead powered up his team with a Matarukaja.

“Oracle, do we know a weakness yet?” shouted Chance.

“I’m working on it!” snapped Oracle. “Hit him with whatever you can in the meantime!”

King grinned from ear to ear, clearly ready to make good on his earlier promises. “With pleasure!”

The team hit the Shadow Self with everything they had, but nothing seemed to work. After it retaliated with a Bloodbath which Viper had to call on Energy Shower for again, Oracle exclaimed, “Its weakness is Curse! Beat, Ace, bro, you’re up!”

Riding up on Fenrisúlfr, Ace called forth a Howling Hex, sending the Shadow Self to its knees. Without allowing him a moment of respite, Akira and Beat nailed it with an Eigaon from both sides, enabling the Phantom Thieves of Hearts to All-Out Attack and finish Shadow Pelletier’s heart in one fell swoop.

Chapter 10: Futaba/Oracle/[REDACTED] - The Hermit

Chapter Text

A few weeks after their trip to Hawaii, Akira found himself spending extra time with Futaba between their infiltration of Lila’s Palace. He felt kinda bad that she couldn’t come with them, since she wasn’t enrolled in Shujin, so it only felt fair to give her some extra attention, especially since he wouldn’t be seeing her as much once school started again. Lucky him, having recruited Naga in her Palace…

The same had applied with Morgana earlier, but that was a story for another day.

Futaba was lying on his bed, kicking her legs idly as she watched him try to beat the final level of Star Forneus. The damn final boss kept killing him at the last second, no matter how he maneuvered his spaceship.

His final attempt brought him closer than any of his previous tries, but he still wasn’t having much luck.

“Futaba, can you help me?” he asked. “This boss is kicking my ass.”

Futaba grinned. “That’s not how you ask me for help~.”

Akira rolled his eyes. “Can you please beat this boss for me, Master of Games and Destroyer of Bosses?”

“That’s more like it!” Futaba rolled off the bed, taking the controller from Akira’s hands and settling down next to him. “Oh, you weren’t aiming for the right part. Total noob mistake.”

“Wait, what was I meant to do?” Akira asked, craning his neck to see the screen. “You couldn’t have just said anything sooner?”

Futaba controlled the spaceship with ease, talking casually as she took down the bosses’ tentacles, stopping it from being able to attack. “I mean, probably? It’s easier to show you what to do than explain it, though. You can always try the level again.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Akira conceded, content to rest his head on Futaba’s shoulder as he watched her make mincemeat of the boss. It was pretty cool, if he was being honest. “You’re really good at this,” he remarked, as Futaba moved to target the boss’ head, where a third eye had appeared and was starting to shoot lasers at the spaceship.

Star Forneus was a weird game, but it was made in the eighties, so Akira figured that was probably par for the course for games from that decade.

“Yeah, video games were basically the only thing I did to occupy myself when I was… before you guys changed my heart, I mean.” Futaba tensed up a little and Akira shuffled away to give her some space. “I used to make Sojiro go to Akihabara to buy them for me, ‘cuz I didn’t want to wait for them to get delivered. He never complained, even if he probably should have; I think he was happy that there was anything I enjoyed in the first place.”

“Futaba…”

“I guess that’s another reason why I was so happy when you guys helped me. I could finally go buy my own games,” Futaba said, her tone joking. “Well, at least I could try. Remember when we went to Akihabara together and I had that massive freakout?”

“That wasn’t your fault. That officer was being a hardass - anyone would have been frightened, especially in your circ*mstances.”

Futaba shrugged. “I guess so. Still, having you there made it easier. Even if you had to claim to be my brother to get him to back off.”

“I mean, I sort of am your brother?” Akira said hesitantly. An opportunity for him to gauge Futaba’s reaction had finally presented itself. “Sojiro’s sorta my foster dad, in almost every way, including on paper, so I guess that makes you my foster sister. That’s probably weird, huh?”

Her gaze flickering to him for a brief moment, Futaba eventually replied, “I don’t think it’s weird. Besides, I wouldn’t mind calling you my brother.”

“You wouldn’t…?”

Futaba grinned. “Not at all. I could definitely ask for a worse person to have as a brother.”

Akira was so touched that he didn’t register the victory music playing until Futaba had handed him the controller again. “My services in game-stomping for a new brother… I dub this a fair trade!”

Snorting, Akira went to put in another game that he had been having trouble with. “Wanna help me beat Punch Ouch, Sis?”

“Big bro…” Futaba beamed. “Of course!... though I think you can beat this one yourself. It’s really easy, since you’re a masher.”

“Hey!”

As Futaba guided him through the fight Akira was having trouble with, Akira felt a connection to a Persona beginning to develop. Gremlin was definitely interested in his television, which would have worried Akira if he knew anything about the creature’s mythos.

In the time between Audrey’s death and their first infiltration of Gabriel’s Palace, Akira and Futaba managed to make time in between dealing with akumas and Phantom Thief business to go to their first ever convention together.

When Futaba found out that Feathercon was happening in Akihabara, she insisted on going. Though Sojiro was apprehensive - worrying that she might find the noisy convention hall overwhelming - Futaba promised that she’d be okay, since her big brother was going with her.

Eventually, Sojiro gave in, since he almost never said no to anything Futaba asked for. Akira could understand that, especially since this was the first time Futaba had asked to go to such a big social event. There was definite progress being made, and Futaba’s intense social anxiety was practically a thing of the past.

As Akira expected, the convention hall was absolutely packed, with stalls lining the room and hoards of people - some in cosplay and some in plain clothes - milling about. There was some cool merch for sale, so Akira dipped into his Metaverse money to buy a figurine of Pink Argus as a birthday present for his cousin Nanako, since that had always been her favorite character.

When they were kids, Nanako used to pretend to be Pink Argus, while Akira would insist on being Red Hawk. Sometimes, they’d even be able to convince Yuuta and some of Nanako’s friends to play with them, so they often were able to have a full roster of heroes. Sometimes, Akira would jump into his “anti-hero alter ego” Feather Dooka.

If Great-Uncle Dojima was in a good mood (or if Uncle Yu wasn’t busy), they’d get him to pretend to be the bad guy. Watching the grumpy older man stutter his way through lines from the show never failed to be funny, least of all to his wife, a platinum-blonde woman who claimed to be an immigrant to Japan. Great-Aunt Margaret and her daughter (his Aunt Marie) had made for welcome additions to Inaba, as well as the Dojima household.

Hopefully, they were doing okay without him.

As Futaba dragged him around the convention hall, Akira found himself becoming more and more overstimulated. Not wanting to ruin the convention for his sister by choice, though, Akira did his best to push through.

Eventually, it got to be too much, and Akira asked to take a minute to catch his breath.

Futaba must have seen the stress on his face, because she flinched.

Oh, he’d ruined her fun, hadn’t he?

To his surprise, Futaba dug through her backpack and pulled out a pair of headphones. “Here, try these. They’re noise-canceling. Dad told me to bring them in case it got too noisy and it looks like you’re getting overwhelmed so… yeah, take ‘em.”

Almost the minute he put them on, Akira felt himself relaxing a little. The humming background noise of the convention hall was still there, but it was mostly dulled by the headphones.

“Thank you, Futaba,” Akira said, so genuinely that he almost startled himself.

Futaba grinned. “Don’t worry about it, big bro! You wanna stay here or go to the quiet area? I’m pretty sure I saw it on the map…”

“Quiet area?” Akira echoed.

“Yeah, there’s a quiet area on the first floor. They’ve got soundproofing stuff in the walls, and a few activities, too! They hosted a Super Bash Bros. tournament last year, I heard, and apparently they’re bringing it back this year!”

Akira chuckled. “You want to see if you can win, don’t you?”

“I mean, yeah… but not if you’re there to cheer me on, my key item.”

Akira couldn’t help his smile.

As Akira and Futaba chilled in the quiet area - the Super Bash Bros. tournament in full swing - Akira felt the chains around Ongyo-ki beginning to break. He’d later laugh to himself at the comparison between Futaba and the Physically-oriented Persona.

While the Phantom Thieves were looking into Emilie’s death, Futaba approached the group during the next Mementos planning session. “I finally found out the full name of my old social worker and I really want to teach him a lesson,” they explained. “That jerk left me with my uncle for three years, even though I begged him to let me go to Sojiro…”

“Often, relatives are the first people social services try to place children with,” mused Makoto. “The idea is to keep them from being separated from their biological family, which can add to the trauma of being removed from their home. However, when no direct relatives are suitable, like your uncle, placing children with close family friends is also commonplace.”

“I wonder why he didn’t want to place Futaba with Sojiro,” Luka said, thinking aloud.

Futaba scowled. “Don’t care. He was awful to me and I don’t need to know his tragic backstory to kick his ass. I don’t want him doing the same stuff to other kids.”

Though a few of the Phantom Thieves were concerned about how intense Futaba was getting, none of them objected to changing Kaigan Tetsuya’s heart, so the group entered Mementos.

Luckily for the gang, Shadow Kaigan was detected in the area beating Shadow Lila had opened, so they didn’t have to travel for too long.

Shadow Kaigan regarded the Phantom Thieves with a sneer. “What are you kids doing here? You should be keeping out of trouble. If you don’t… I might have to make a couple of phone calls on your behalf.”

The thinly-veiled threat made Joker frown. It reminded him of all the extra hoops Mama and Mom had been forced to jump through to adopt him. Oracle hadn’t been kidding; this guy was a jerk!

Joker had no idea why so many people who hated children decided to work with them.

“You don’t get to make us feel like sh*t for dealing with people like you!” snapped King.

“Yeah!” Jack agreed. “Seriously, why do you even work with kids if you hate them?”

“You think I hate kids? Why would I work with them if I hated kids?” scoffed Shadow Kaigan. “It’s exhausting, having to see someone you love in dozens of people everyday. I wouldn’t expect a bunch of children to understand, though…”

“Wanna elaborate on that…?” Ace asked.

“To you? Please.” Shadow Kaigan’s voice was nothing but derisive. “Now, leave. I don’t want to make you.”

“Negatory!” cried Oracle. “Your heart’s ours for the taking!”

Shadow Kaigan sighed. “I didn’t wanna do this, for posterity’s sake…” He transformed into a large houselike building with an androgynous face protruding from its center. Lightning-bolt-shaped arms jutted from his sides to act like arms. “Time to send you kids off for good!” the Juvenile Journey-Watcher declared.

“You wish!” Oracle snapped. With a cry of, “Power up!” they boosted everyone’s Attack.

Skull was able to land a few solid attacks right off the bat, powering through Shadow Kaigan’s Thunder Reign through sheer force of will (and Seiten Taisei’s immunity to Electricity), but the swings of his Fervent Bat didn’t have any effect.

“Save your Physical attacks!” called Ace. “He’s immune!”

“Woulda have been nice to know that earlier, yeah?” Skull snapped, firing off a Ziodyne, which thankfully did land.

Shadow Kaigan zeroed in on Skull and grinned, whispering out a familiar spell. Seconds later, Skull slumped to his knees, inflicted with Despair from the Juvenile Journey-Watcher’s Ominous Words.

“Joker, get Skull outta there!” called Oracle. “Shadow Kaigan’s powering up!”

Charging a dark ball of energy in his hands, Shadow Kaigan shot out an Abysmal Surge at the whole group of Phantom Thieves.

Nobody noticed that it hit Oracle until Prometheus disappeared, leaving her to numbly freefall.

Rise, who had thankfully dodged the Ailment spell, moved swifter than anyone else to catch her. “I got you! Oracle, breathe!”

Joker rushed forward, scooping Oracle into his arms in one swift movement. “Hey, hey, you’re gonna be okay,” he said softly, switching to Cybele and healing the Despair-induced teammates with Amrita Shower.

The Juvenile Journey-Watcher shortly became aware of multiple pairs of angry eyes trained on him.

Ace suddenly gasped. “Panther, he’s weak to Fire! Torch ‘em!”

“With pleasure!” Panther summoned Hecate behind her, knocking Shadow Kaigan down with an Agidyne.

While the ensuing All-Out Attack didn’t finish the job, King and Mnevis gladly followed up with an Inferno.

As the group All-Out Attacked once again, Oracle (in spite of her disorientation) managed to come up with an idea. She summoned Prometheus, who tossed a gigantic green bomb at Shadow Kaigan. While the bomb took a huge chunk of Shadow Kaigan’s HP off, it healed the Phantom Thieves.

Still a little disoriented, Oracle mumbled, “Did we get him?”

“Yeah,” Joker replied, putting an arm around Oracle’s shoulder. “We got him. Do you… do you want to talk to him?”

Oracle looked over to Shadow Kaigan, slumped in a heap on the floor, before nodding. “Back me up if he goes crazy again,” she said quickly.

Joker smiled.“Of course. The floor is yours.”

Crouching down next to Kaigan’s Shadow Self, Oracle couldn’t help but realize how tired the man looked.

“Hey, so, uhhh… long story, but I was one of your cases. Not gonna tell you who, obviously, kinda defeats the point of a secret identity, but I remember you,” Oracle began. Aware that she was rambling a bit, she desperately tried to get her thoughts back on track. “You made me stay with my abusive relatives for years, and I wanna know why. There’s no way you couldn’t have known they were abusive… right?”

Shadow Kaigan’s silence spoke volumes.

“Now I wanna throw another bomb at you…” Oracle grumbled. “Seriously, why the hell did you make me stay?”

“I didn’t… I didn’t want another family to lose a child,” Shadow Kaigan gritted, as if he wasn’t ready to admit it. “My own baby… my wife didn’t want him, and I wasn’t in any place to take care of him at the time. He had no other relatives, so who knows what people he’s with? Family is supposed to stick together-”

“Not if they’re gonna abuse each other!” Oracle snapped. Looking at Joker and Chance, she smiled softly. “Sometimes, it’s better when you’re not related by blood.” Shadow Kaigan looked down in shame. “I’m not gonna lie and say I can forgive you, but I think I get your perspective,” Oracle admitted. “Doesn’t make it right, though. I hope you understand that now.”

Shadow Kaigan just nodded before returning to his true self.

Chapter 11: Chihaya Mifune - The Fortune

Chapter Text

Things first got interesting after Akira did his first Affinity Reading with Chihaya, planning to improve his bond with Makoto. He and Chihaya had gotten pretty close in that time; it helped that Akira had been smart enough to train him and his team to the point that he could fuse Clotho.

Almost two weeks later, time spent at the gym with both her and Ryuji had him thinking about his crush. Thus, he came back to Chihaya and asked for a casual romance reading. Taking out Shadows racked up so much money that the Phantom Thieves were able to divide the spoils evenly and still make bank. Ann, having rich parents, had far less need for cash than the likes of Ryuji and Yusuke, and had offered half her share to Akira as their leader, so long as he saved that cut for Phantom Thief-related things.

Akira would later have to explain a lot of what he was doing to Futaba so she wouldn’t think he was wasting that extra bit.

“Welcome back!” murmured Chihaya, shuffling her deck of tarot cards. “Are you here for another Affinity Reading?”

Akira shook his head. “How much would it be for a romance reading? Just a casual thing…”

“Sure, but it’ll still be the usual five-K,” Chihaya answered. Once Akira paid, she wondered, “Where do you even get this money?” aloud.

“Not really a Maiden, are we?” teased Akira.

Chihaya laughed awkwardly. “Not as much as some would have me think…” she admitted. “So, what’s got you thinking about love all of a sudden?”

“There’s this… guy,” Akira admitted. “He’s a school friend, and… I’m starting to realize that I have feelings for him. Still, I’m not sure how that would work out. I wouldn’t want to ruin our friendship because of something like that.” Chihaya couldn’t help but give him a small grin, making Akira flush with embarrassment. “You must think that’s a little weird…”

“Not at all; you’d be surprised how many boys your age are thinking about love,” Chihaya said nonchalantly. “Of course, not many of them are quite as courageous enough to come to Shinjuku for love advice.”

“I don’t exactly have anyone else to ask,” Akira grumbled.

Chihaya looked surprised. “What about your parents?”

“To make a long story short, my parents aren’t living in Tokyo with me…” Akira explained. “I’m staying with a family friend.”

“That can’t be easy…”

Akira just nodded numbly. “I’m making it work. I like it here, anyways. Sure, Inaba’s home, but Tokyo is becoming home, too.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” said Chihaya, shuffling her cards and laying them out on the table. “In any case, please draw three cards. Select the ones that speak to you the most.”

After much deliberation, Akira selected three cards, which Chihaya drew apart from the rest of the back, setting the other cards to the side.

Turning the first card over, Chihaya chuckled as she revealed the Lovers. “Someone’s a romantic,” she teased.

Akira grinned. “That’s gotta be a good sign, right?”

“Not so fast,” Chihaya replied. “The Lovers Arcana isn’t simply associated with romantic relationships. It can also be related to familial or platonic bonds.”

Akira deflated a little. “I see…”

“However, it is a positive sign, at the very least,” Chihaya continued, turning over the second card, which was the Sun. “It seems that maintaining a positive attitude will be key to winning his heart. The Sun is most commonly associated with positivity and optimism.”

“That sounds like Ryuji…”

Chihaya gave Akira a warm smile. “You truly care for him, don’t you?”

Blush creeping up his cheeks, Akira nodded. “What’s the last card?” he asked, desperately trying to deflect the conversation a little.

The final card was the Justice, which Akira considered with a thoughtful expression on his face. “Tell me,” began Chihaya. “Is Ryuji being treated poorly by someone?”

A little pensive, Akira replied, “There are some guys at school who have been causing him trouble.”

“It may be worth checking in on him, then. Often, when the Justice is drawn in romantic reading, it is hinting that your partner may be treated unjustly, whether by you or by others.”

“Oh…” Akira definitely had to check on Ryuji. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Mifune-san. Thank you so much.”

“It’s no trouble at all. I’m looking forward to seeing you again, Kurusu-kun.”

That was the night that Akira met Manat.

In the time that they were waiting for Kaneshiro’s confession, Akira and Ryuji finally worked out enough of their feelings to start dating, much to Ann, Yusuke and Makoto’s delight. Morgana was not as excited, as it meant Akira’s boyfriend would be stopping by more often.

Akira excitedly returned to Shinjuku to tell Chihaya that her advice had worked. The fortune teller merely nodded sagely. “All I had to do was trust in the cards.”

“Is there any way I can repay you for this?” Akira asked. “Any favors you need doing?”

“Thankfully, the other major figures of the ADP have been leaving me alone since you stepped in,” replied Chihaya. “If any trouble comes my way, we’ll have to wait for it.”

Akira grinned. “That’s a relief for now.”

Chihaya returned his smile. Laughing, she jested, “Unless you can get me a date, there isn’t much else you can do for me at this point. I could really use a dark, mysterious stranger to sweep me off my feet.”

Akira thought for a moment. “Guys or girls?”

“O-oh, you’re serious…” Chihaya stammered out. Unintentionally, she slipped into her bumpkin dialect. “I-I reckon either’s fine, but I ain’t never been on a date with another girl before…”

And then a pretty brilliant idea hit him. Ohya had been doing much better since she started attending the addiction counselor Maruki recommended to her, and he had been meaning to introduce more of his adult Confidants to each other.

This was a perfect opportunity.

“I’ve got someone in mind, but let me check with her first,” Akira said, digging his phone out of his bag and pulling up Ohya’s contact.

Akira: Permission to give your number to a cute fortune-teller?

Ohya: Pretty sure any school friends of yours will be way too young for me. Don’t get me started on that Mishima boy…

Akira: He was under the impression that it was a date with a teenager, and I apologized to him for the confusion. I should have done the same with you.

Akira: Anyways, Chihaya’s about your age. Apparently, she had a thing for the dark and mysterious type, so you’ve already got your foot in the door there.

Ohya: I’m going to choose to take that as a compliment.

Akira: It is. Trust me.

Akira: She’s going to love you.

Ohya: You want me to meet her now, right? I’m hanging out with Lala at Crossroads. She’s got me working part-time, like you do.

Ohya: I’M NOT DRINKING, I PROMISE.

Akira: I’ll ask Lala, but I trust you.

Akira: In any case, you won’t have to go far. She works in Shinjuku - across the street from the flower shop.

Ohya: Oh, really, now? Damn. How have I never seen this lady around town?

Akira just dropped a shrugging emoji before giving Chihaya Ohya’s number and heading out. From a fair distance, he waited for Ohya to arrive and start talking before he headed home.

The chains surrounding Lakshmi finally shattered, and he felt the Persona coming to the forefront of his mind.

You are most fortunate to have met me, dear boy. May you find great prosperity in my company…

It was during a meeting with the Phantom Thieves during the downtime for Bustier’s confession, a good while after Akira recruited Gamayun, that he thought to bring up a possible Mementos target, courtesy of Chihaya. “You guys remember f*ckurai Yuichi, right?” he said, turning to the other six of the inaugural seven Phantom Thieves. When they nodded, he continued, “That large-scale brainwashing scam he ran… there’s a remnant of that organization who’s still out there, scamming people, and her name is Aishi Uran.”

“Truly despicable…” Yusuke murmured. “Taking advantage of people like that.”

“It worries me in more ways than just that, though,” Nathaniel piped up. “She worked for this f*ckurai guy, right? I’d bet that she doesn’t know anything else but scamming people - of course that’s her first move!”

“It still isn’t right…” murmured Marinette, “but it does make sense. Let’s help this girl out.”

Akira stretched a little. “All those in favor say raise your hand.”

Everyone in the room raised their hand.

“Alright, let’s get going,” Akira said, activating the MetaNav. “We have work to do.”

They found the Shadow Self they were looking for around halfway through the path that unlocked after they changed Lila’s heart. Admittedly, they hadn’t explored the new areas of Mementos as thoroughly as before, mostly due to having less time to do so. Gaining seven new members in less than a month had made organizing a whole group Mementos trip a little tricky.

Still, Joker pushed on, beckoning the team through the vortex that had appeared in the wall, where Shadow Aishi was waiting for them. The woman was ultimately unassuming, with long dark hair tied up in a pony-tail, donning a simple dress, not too dissimilar to the average kyariaūman. What struck Joker the most was how young she looked. By his best guess, she was probably in her early twenties, maybe even in her late teens.

That was how cults operated, he supposed. Younger people were easier to indoctrinate… after all, teens like him tended to struggle with their emotions during those years, and emotions are exactly what cults love to appeal to.

As the Phantom Thieves approached, they heard mutters of Chairman, why? and f*ckurai-san… in the air.

When they finally caught her attention, Shadow Aishi whipped around to glare at them. “You’re the Phantom Thieves, aren’t you?” she snapped.

“How do you know?” King asked.

Shadow Aishi gave them an odd look. “Would you believe that I saw it in my cards?”

“No, to be honest,” deadpanned Skull.

“That checks out for you jerks…” Shadow Aishi muttered. “I knew you’d be coming for the rest of us. We didn’t do anything wrong. There was no way we could have known what f*ckurai was doing!”

“And yet you still decided to swindle people out of their money,” Queen countered.

Shadow Aishi, to their surprise, looked away. “What else can I do…? I don’t know anything else, really.”

“People always have a choice-” interjected Beat.

The Shadow Self shook her head. “Not me. If I didn’t scam people, then I’d probably be stealing from them. It isn’t easy to find a job with the shadow of the people you thought you could trust hanging over you.”

“It still isn’t right,” argued Viper. “Let us help you. We can get you help-”

“You can’t help me!” Shadow Aishi insisted, preparing to transform. “No one can! I have to make my own way now, and I know my cards will guide me true.”

The form Aishi took - which Akira mentally dubbed the Cartomancy Matron - was vaguely humanoid, though obscured by the countless Tarot cards that surrounded her.

Joker immediately stepped into action, attacking the Cartomancy Matron with Bugs’ Psiodyne; sadly, it was swiftly repelled back at him to do resisted damage. At least he knew not to use Psychic skills against the Shadow…

Before anyone else could get in an attack, the Cartomancy Matron put up a Makarakarn. Being magic-centric, Panther let out a loud groan of frustration before lashing at her with her Whip Sword.

Watching her go gave Joker an idea. “Panther, you can break the Makarakarn with your magic!” he shouted. “Since it won’t damage you, you’ll be able to take the reflected spell.”

“Right!” Panther leapt forward, summoning Hecate, and called forth an Agidyne to break the shield. It did bounce back at her, but she felt no pain from the flames.

Chance and Viper took the opportunity to land a few attacks of their own while the shield was down, but Shadow Aishi healed herself with a Diarahan, undoing all their work. “Damn it…” grumbled Viper.

The situation only got worse when the Cartomancy Matron let loose a powerful Brain Buster, knocking everyone to the ground.

For a moment, Joker thought that they had gotten away without anyone becoming brainwashed, but then he heard a yelp from Jack as a brainwashed King nearly crushed her under his warhammer. “Get him off me!” she exclaimed, attempting to bat King away with her umbrella. “Seriously, King, this isn’t funny!”

“Let me fix this…” growled Viper as he dodged a swing of Chance’s flail (she had also been affected, unfortunately). Calling upon Krotos, he used an Energy Shower and fixed everyone up, just as he had done against Shadow Garçon.

“… Viper?” Chance squeaked. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t thinking, a-and…”

Jack was notably less pleased with King. “You meathead! I’m gonna kick your ass for that!”

“I was Brainwashed!” King shot back. “Besides, isn’t it a bit hard to kick me in the ass from so close to the ground?”

“Why, I oughta-”

“Focus!” Queen hissed authoritatively, barely managing to dodge a Psiodyne directed at her. “Oracle, do you have anything?”

“On it, Boss Lady!” called Oracle from her seat inside Necronomicon. “I don’t think she’s got weaknesses! We can do more damage with Fire attacks, though!”

“Panther, King, you’re up!” Joker called.

The duo moved to the front of the group, attacking the Cartomancy Matron with as many Agidyne spells as they could, with Joker and Ixion pitching in where they could.

Eventually, Shadow Aishi fell. “I gave everything I had into the ADP!” she wailed as she returned to her previous self. “Now what? I don’t have anywhere else to go, or anything else to do!”

“What about Mifune?” Joker asked. “She was worrying after you.”

“… what?!”

“There’s always gonna be someone who gives a sh*t,” Skull reasoned. “You’re gonna be alright, but you gotta ask for help when you need it, ‘kay?”

Shadow Aishi just nodded and apologized again before returning to her real self.

Chapter 12: Munehisa Iwai - The Hanged Man

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

In spite of all that Iwai Munehisa owed Akira, he couldn’t pretend that Untouchable’s owner didn’t scare him. It wasn’t the cold demeanor or anything - he knew damn well Iwai could easily kill him.

Sure, Joker could demolish Iwai, but if Iwai could get him as Akira - say, when he was sleeping? That would be the end of him - and likely the rest of the team as well in turn. Sure, he knew very similar things could be said about the rest of the team, but it wasn’t the same. Even Hawkmoth and Mayura - while far more powerful than Iwai - were gloaters and not the most successful track-wise, and the former was a huge advantage for Akira. If Iwai wanted him dead, Akira would have to get Iwai before Iwai got him. And that really freaked him out.

Regardless, Akira knew that if he kept virtuous and didn’t push Iwai too hard that everything would be fine. Didn’t stop him from worrying, though - since becoming the leader of the Phantom Thieves, he’d been doing it a lot, and it had led to his mother-henning everyone (especially Marinette, the busybody). Ryuji and everyone on the team (plus his other Confidants) took care of him in turn.

He had helped them, and they helped him. Akira liked to think it was more than a fair trade, especially since it had led him to unlock Orcus.

A while after Iwai had sealed a nasty fate for Sakamoto Ryo (and about a week after Akira had maxed out his Confidant with the guy, unlocking Attis for fusion), Akira began having dinner with him and Kaoru every so often.

During one conversation, Akira noticed the place they were eating at was deserted but for them and the staff. He also noticed Iwai had been giving him a peculiar, pensive look throughout their meal.

His eyes narrowed for just a moment before he outwardly relaxed and asked, “So what’s been on your mind lately?”

“Dad… may have done some digging into your past,” Kaoru said, shoulders hunched, “He hasn’t told me anything, but he does know some things.”

Iwai, to his credit, did speak up. “Sorry, kid. Shouldn’t’a pushed.”

Akira merely groaned. “You’re not the first person to dig into my record without asking me… I think you’ll do much better with it than Kamoshida, though.”

“Wait, Kamoshida?! The first guy who the Phantom Thieves busted?” Kaoru tilted his head innocently.

“That guy, yup,” Akira sighed, “That’s one of the things that stuck even after his change of heart. There was also… actually, that’s not my business to talk about.”

Understanding, Kaoru nodded.

“But enough about Kamoshida,” Iwai said, “You want me to do something about the ass that sent you here?”

“Maybe if I knew who he was,” Akira grumbled, “I get headaches thinking about it… literally.”

“Well, if you find out who he is, just say the word,” Iwai promised him, “I don’t got the power to get him killed, but he won’t be having a pleasant time wherever he lives.”

“Thanks, Iwai-san,” Akira smiled.

And he meant it.

Chapter 13: Juleka Couffaine/Gem/La Prédatrice - The Sorcerer

Chapter Text

It truly a twist of fate that both Ann and Juleka’s modeling agencies collaborated on a shoot. They even flew Ann over to France, not knowing that she already had an easy way to get there in the form of Shadow Barb. Granted, it wasn’t as if Ann or Juleka could request his help without raising questions…

Since he didn’t have anything better to do that day, Akira requested to tag along, curious to see what the shoot would involve. Plus, he had Macabre with him, so his bond with Juleka would only improve. Ann allowed it - it was nice to have someone who’d have her back against any creeps, even if Juleka was also there. Ryuji usually tagged along to her photoshoots, but he had to help his mom with some housework that day, so he couldn’t come.

“Have you worked with this photographer before?” Akira asked Juleka.

Juleka nodded. “M. Väär’s become somewhat prolific. It's a privilege to get a chance to work with him!”

About halfway through the shoot, Rose dropped by to give Juleka some cookies she had baked with her parents. With a smile on her face, Juleka gave Rose a kiss on the cheek, accepting the cookies. Ann seemed a little bummed that Shiho wasn’t there, but she managed, especially when Juleka offered her one of the cookies, satiating Ann’s sweet tooth.

Though Akira could tell that M. Väär was damn good at what he did, something about the guy rubbed him the wrong way. It wasn’t anything remotely creepy, thank goodness - in fact, he was being resolutely professional. Regardless, something felt off about his behavior out of nowhere.

Then, Akira realized what it was.

Väär had been acting perfectly normal before Rose showed up, but since Mlle. Lavillant left, the photographer had become more distant, giving Juleka covert looks of frustration and condescending concern when he thought she wasn’t looking.

Was M. Väär hom*ophobic? Crap, that was gonna totally crush Juleka, since she had such a high opinion of him! Akira didn’t want to rush into making accusations based on a hunch, so he decided to keep things to himself until he could ask Futaba to look into things for him.

Your protective instincts are strong, mused a new voice in the back of Akira’s head. I admire that.

“Another Persona?” Akira whispered under his breath. “I wasn’t even talking to Juleka this time…!”

And yet, I could feel how much you care for her… my name is Prospero. With any luck, my magic will be useful to you before its time comes.

One night, not long after their fight with Shadow Corcoran, La Prédatrice approached Kujaku while they were on patrol with a proposition. “My anniversary with Rose is coming up, and I’d like to do something special for it,” La Prédatrice began.

Kujaku raised an eyebrow. “What were you thinking?”

La Prédatrice, blushing but bold, explained, “Rose has mentioned wanting to do something on the viewing deck of good ol’ Eiffel, and I thought it would be meaningful if I could play some music I wrote for her. I wouldn’t want to disturb the rest of the visitors, though.”

“I could repurpose Soundwave for you,” Kujaku suggested. “That way, only you and Rose would be able to hear the music.”

“That would be perfect!” La Prédatrice pumped her fist. “Thank you so much!”

A few days later, Rose and Juleka’s anniversary rolled around. Not wanting to spoil the surprise, Juleka stayed tight-lipped as she led Rose to the viewing deck of the Eiffel Tower. A few seconds later, Kujaku dropped onto the viewing deck, a wide grin on his face. Rose flinched, seeing Mayura’s colors for a brief moment, but she recalled seeing the new Peafowl wielder on TV after the last time she was akumatized.

“Good afternoon, Mlle. Lavillant,” he said warmly. “Your girlfriend requested my assistance in order to give you an anniversary gift.”

“How did you do this?” Rose gasped, eyes sparkling in that way that so enamored her girlfriend.

Juleka shrugged. “Remember how Luka was Viperion for a while? He helped me get into touch with Ladybug, who helped get me in contact with Kujaku.”

“Once I found out about Mlle. Couffaine’s plan, I couldn’t refuse,” Kujaku chuckled, producing a white feather from his tessen. “Pardon me, Mademoiselle, but may I borrow something from you that you could stand to lose? Maybe that hair tie?”

“Oh, of course!” Rose said, handing Kujaku her pink hair tie. The ahuan was embedded into the hair tie, and Soundwave came to life, creating an area of the viewing deck that was sound-insulated.

“When you two are finished, break the hair tie to release the ahuan,” Kujaku instructed. “Just as you two found your way to each other, it will find its way back to me.”

“Okay!” Rose beamed.

With that sorted, Kujaku hopped down from the viewing deck, scaling his way down the Eiffel Tower. Once he was safely on the ground, he detransformed, slipping Duusu some almond pieces.

Hopefully, Juleka and Rose’s date went well…

At the same moment when that thought crossed his mind, Akira heard another voice ringing through his head.

Ah… isn’t young love a sweet thing? it crooned in a powerful, feminine voice. You’ve done well to help them.

“Thank you,” Akira said. “Who are you?”

You may call me Morgan Le Fay.

A few days after Juleka and Rose’s anniversary, Futaba sent Akira some information she had dug up about Daniel Väär.

Futaba: Hey, so remember when you asked me to do some digging about Daniel Väär?

Futaba: Turns out he’s done this sort of thing before. I found a few posts online about him being subtly hom*ophobic to his models.

Akira: Damn… Juju is going to be gutted. He’s her idol.

Futaba: What a bummer…

Futaba: Still, we gotta do something about it.

Akira: 100%!

She, Akira and Juleka brought him up at the next Mementos meeting. “He’s not a serious offender,” Juleka had added. “He treats his bigotry like it’s a warning or advice - never a threat.”

“From what I’ve gathered, he’s never been aggressive or violent towards his models,” Futaba supplied. “There’s probably more to the story, but we won’t find out what it is from him in this reality.”

“Which leaves Mementos as our only option,” Marc concluded.

Futaba nodded. “Yeah, exactly.”

“Does anyone have any objections?” Akira checked.

Nobody objected, and Ann gave Akira a cutesy thumbs-up. From there, Kim turned on the Nav, and they went to Mementos.

Väär was certainly a hard-working man. Even his Shadow Self carried a camera, fidgeting idly as the Phantom Thieves approached him. He was so entranced with his work that he hardly seemed to noticed them approaching until Joker was right in front of him. Only then did he look up and take in the sight of the Phantom Thieves before him.

“Can this wait?” he asked, sounding more inconvenienced than fearful. “I’ve got work to do. I have more important things to deal with than a group of costumed children.”

“We don’t want to fight if we can help it,” Gem interrupted. “Just tell us why you’re being so weird about your models being gay.”

Shadow Väär immediately tensed up. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, dude,” Ace groaned. “Just tell us what’s going on! We don’t have to fight or anything; it’s simpler than that-”

Shadow Väär took a stuttering step towards them, tossing his camera to the side. “I said… SHUT UP!”

Lurching towards Joker, Shadow Väär transformed into a quadrupedal Shadow, which reminded Joker of a tapir. Its long nose was flanked on either side by sharp tusks, and its short teeth were just as sharp. Lastly, it had twin vacuum-like cannons on its back, which it chose to use to fire out a cloud of smoke. The Lullaby put multiple members of the team to Sleep.

Mona was able to heal everyone with a Me Patra, but not before the Reverie Ravager hit them with a Psycho Blast, knocking them down and allowing him to strike Smith with a Dream Needle, putting her to sleep again. Thankfully, he wasn’t able to land a third attack on Smith, who was woken up mere seconds before he managed to.

Everyone was able to land a handful of Physical attacks before the Reverie Ravager let off a Nocturnal Flash. It left a good portion of the team, right as Oracle called out, “We need Wind Skills!”

“Kinda busy!” Mona hissed, healing as many people as he could. He was the only Wind user Shadow Väär hadn’t hit with an ailment.

“Viper! Smith!” Oracle shouted. “Do your best! Joker, if you can-”

Oracle didn’t need to finish. Smith was too disorientated to so much as summon Raffles, but Viper managed to stagger to his feet and fired off a Magarudyne in the general direction of Shadow Väär. By some miracle - or perhaps it was the influence of Chance, he’d say later - the attack landed, knocking down the Reverie Ravager.

Joker had dodged the Lullaby and used a technique he called Detox to counteract the Nocturnal Flash, so he led the charge. The Phantom Thieves that could help dealt a more than sizable series of blows, and those that didn’t were helped when Noire cast Amrita Shower.

From there, Skull cast Matarukaja, allowing Gem and Waghoba to finish the job with a Psycho Force.

Finally defeated, Shadow Väär slumped to the ground, holding his head in his hands. “No… I… How did you…?”

“Not just a bunch of dumb kids, are we now?” King drawled.

Shadow Väär seemed too stunned to speak. “I never… I haven’t done anything to warrant this.”

“Even if you never acted violently, hom*ophobia is still a serious issue,” Gem retorted.

“I’m not-” Shadow Väär straightened himself out, rising to his feet. “I’m not hom*ophobic.”

“Dude, give it up already,” Jack groaned.

“I can’t be hom*ophobic,” Shadow Väär insisted. “I’m… I’m gay.”

He said it like it was some sort of affliction; something to be ashamed of, which gave Joker pause. M. Väär was of an older generation… perhaps…?

Shadow Väär glared at Joker. “I was helping them, I swear. Being open about such things… it's dangerous. People like us will always be at risk. I was only trying to keep my- keep them- keep us safe-"

He was cut off by a hug from Gem. “I know it's hard moving on when you’ve suffered so much,” she said softly, “but the world is getting better for people like us. We don’t have to hide anymore.”

“I… I don’t believe you.”

“That’s okay,” Gem replied. “But you have to start working on opening your heart. As long as you’re willing to try.”

“… okay. I’ll try…” Shadow Väär stepped back, finally returning to his true self.

Hopefully, he would feel more comfortable with himself now. Gem noted to check on him tomorrow.

He’d be all right, she was sure of it.

Chapter 14: Tae Takemi - Death

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

The evening after Tae Takemi had informed him of how Miwa-chan was doing, how she’d be packing up her clinic and moving to a new hospital and how she’d figured him out as a Phantom Thief (and unlocking Alice in the process), Akira had heard the first Persona of the Death Arcana in his mind.

“Well done facing Death, mi otra mitad.”

“Nice pun. And you are…?”

“I am Matador,” the Persona greeted, “This body of mine, born from the bloody throes of battle, shall be with you as a mask from now on.”

“Can’t say I expected you as a Persona,” Akira admitted. “Usually my Personas are from mythology or history.”

“Ah, but Señor Lupin originates in literature, does he not?”

“Señor Lupin?” Akira said, confused. Then he remembered reading The Great Thief. “Oh, you mean Arsène.”

“Sí,” Matador responded simply.

Later on, during a trip to get medicine for the team…

“I’ll back off if it’s not my place to pry, guinea pig,” Tae asked after Akira was done making his selections of medicine and paid for them, “but how exactly does my medicine help you when you’re doing you-know-what?”

“If you can keep every bit of it secret, sure,” Akira said coolly after a few seconds of consideration. When Tae nodded her agreement to do so, Akira began to tell her.

“The foes we face are rather deadly,” he said, “plus, they can inflict all sorts of… how should I say this… status ailments on us. The medicine heals us from any damages.”

“Has anyone ever… died?” Tae asked, raising both eyebrows.

“There… have been some rather close calls,” Akira admitted after a short while of unpleasantly remembering that Mamudo incident during Lila’s Palace. A Strife’s Child had nicked both Chance and Skull with the insta-kill spell, knocking them unconscious. Neither he nor Viper had been pleased, if the unholy reckoning Terpander and Arsène had unleashed upon the Shadow and its compatriots was anything to go by. The two victims had recovered after the battle, though Mona had used a lot of his SP to heal the two of them.

Tae squinted at his reaction. “Sounds like I’m bringing up some bad memories,” she said apologetically, “Sorry. I won’t ask any more.”

“It’s good now,” Akira said, “Nothing your medicine wasn’t able to fix.”

“That’s certainly good.”

As Akira left with the medicine packed away, he made his way to Shibuya and entered the Velvet Room. He had wanted to see what Matador could become when fused with his other Personas.

Eventually, he chose to fuse the bullfighter with Manticore. When the fusion was done, Sisyphus greeted him. The rock-rolling Persona had proved quite useful against that cognitive doll of Marinette in Bustier’s Palace.

“What’s going on, Takemi-san?” Akira asked. Recently, he’d detected a new form of stress in Tae; at first he figured she was starting at the hospital and that was the cause or something. Not long after, he realized she was too stressed for that to be the reason; it wasn’t proportionally logical.

“What do you mean, kid?” Tae responded in a rather lifeless tone. “I’m fine.”

“I can sense the stress oozing from you, you know,” Akira shrugged. “Something else is bothering you.”

“Is this part of that Phantom Thief mumbo-jumbo?” she inquired. “Can you read my emotions or something?”

Akira ignored the similarity he found between Tae’s idea and both the Moth and Peafowl Miraculouses and responded, “No, but it’s rather obvious.”

Tae sighed, before coming clean. “Some jackass at the hospital has been flirting with me nonstop. I’ve seen him flirting with the other nurses, but most of them are much younger and more vulnerable to his advances. I’d like to get him to stop, but the most I can do is report him, and he works there partially due to nepotism.”

“Of course he does,” Akira scowled. “What’s his name?”

Recalling when he’d asked for Oyamada’s name, Tae wanted to ask if this had to do with Phantom Thieving too but ultimately decided against it. “His name is Yōta Arima.”

Nodding, Akira would later take it to the other Phantom Thieves, who agreed to join him in taking Arima down in Mementos.

Shadow Arima was found in the path taking down Bustier’s Palace unlocked. When confronted, Shadow Arima had turned into a dark-purple Romanesque man with a thunderbolt in one hand and a javelin in the other. The Salve-Bearing Seducer had fallen rather quickly to low health, especially when they found his weakness to Nuke attacks, but he kept healing himself up with Diarahan and shooting other assorted spells at the team. Eventually, Joker had decided on a new plan.

“Skull, boost me, Queen and Jack with Matarukaja!” he commanded. “King, see if you can’t get off a Taunt on this guy!”

Nodding in understanding, the team got to work. Even though Lê Lợi’s Taunt failed, Seiten Taisei successfully prepped Veritas (Joker’s current Persona he kept for Nuke spells), Wenet and Johanna for stronger Freidynes. Luckily, the Maziodyne the Salve-Bearing Seducer shot at everyone failed to hit Mona and Viper.

The next turn was the last for Shadow Arima - and the distortion in his heart.

Chapter 15: Sadayo Kawakami - Temperance

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

Akira was surprised that a Persona relating to his teacher had taken as long as it did to show up. In order to properly improve his bond with Kawakami (which would unlock Ardha), he’d made sure to coerce Makami over to his side during Madarame’s Palace.

After the first massage Kawakami had given following a trip to Futaba’s Palace, Kawakami requested to stick around for a little bit and take a breather. Akira agreed wholeheartedly, and soon they were in the midst of conversation.

“It really surprised me that you didn’t try to swing me into dating you…” Kawakami admitted. “If you can change the minds, hearts or do whatever you did to the Takases… why not coerce me into dating you?”

“One,” Akira sighed, slightly shuddering at the thought of a relationship with Kawakami, “it doesn’t work like that.”

“Two…” he deadpanned, “...you are aware I have a boyfriend, correct?”

“Back home, or…?” Kawakami asked. The mention of his home caused Akira to cringe and look down in sadness.

“Sorry, sorry,” Kawakami apologized. Then a thought hit her. “...you’re dating Sakamoto, aren’t you?”

Akira blushed furiously.

“Yeah, figured as much. I’m guessing that he’s a Phantom Thief too?”

Before Akira could open his mouth, Kawakami hastily shushed him. “Plausible deniability, Kurusu-kun. If you don’t tell me directly, I don’t actually know it.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Thanks.”

Not long after, Kawakami headed home with some curry and coffee Akira had quickly prepared for her. They’d made a little tradition out of exchanging food and drink for the massages, since Akira technically got his massages for free.

One day, as Kawakami was helping him clean around Leblanc, Akira noticed an unpleasantly familiar sight of darkness in Kawakami’s eyes.

“What’s going on, Kawakami-san?” he asked. “You haven’t looked this out of it since the Takases fixed their sh*t.”

“No hiding anything from you, huh?” Kawakami sighed. “Well, alright… but if you get caught, I wasn’t involved.”

“That was the plan. I’m no sell-out.” Akira diagonally swiped his finger across his chest twice, making an X motion.

“My old boss - from my time as a maid - has been pressuring me to come back and work with her again. I’m presuming you need her name?”

“Yeah… how’d you know that, actually?”

“Looking back, I realized you asked for the full names of the Takases after you put on that troublemaker’s face of yours. Anyways… her name is Etsuko Izumi.”

As Kawakami once again headed out with some to-go Leblanc goodness, Akira texted both the Parisian part of the team and the rest of the Tokies about this info. They’d had a few other targets planned, anyways.

“So that’s the Shadow Self of Etsuko Izumi, huh…” Chance murmured. The team had found her during a trip after opening Bustier’s area in Mementos.

“I remember her…” Rise said sadly. “She always looked really tired. I also heard you guys fixed that problem… or perhaps not.”
“And now a new one has popped up…” Fox frowned. “Let us hope another problem does not follow this one as well.”

“You’re gonna jinx it, Inari,” Oracle admonished, somewhat joking and somewhat serious. “Everyone ready?”

With no objections given from the team, they approached Shadow Izumi.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Shadow Izumi said snootily when she saw them, barely acknowledging their presence physically.

“Ugh, seven words in and she already reminds me of Chloe,” Jack grumbled. While confused, Rise decided to ask about that later.

“Well, we know who you are, Izumi Etsuko,” Joker spoke for the team. “You’re someone in dire need of a change of heart.”

“Oh, you’re the Phantom Thieves? ” Shadow Izumi’s face suddenly contorted into a snarl. “Because of you brats, I’m losing my best maid!”

“What, were you working with those Takase bastards?” Skull asked. The Parisians and Rise kept silent; they knew very little about all the things that had happened to Kawakami.

“No, but that wouldn’t have been a bad idea…” Shadow Izumi mused, before scowling again. “Shame it’s impossible now… shame for you that’s it time to make it up to me!”

With that, Shadow Izumi transformed into a devious-looking womanoid wielding a scimitar and dressed in war clothes.

“You’ll be serving me by letting me rage on you for the rest of your short, short lives!” the Cunning Conqueress declared.

“We’ll see about that!” Beat shot back, her and the others rushing to Joker’s side.

The Cunning Conqueress sent out a Dormin Rush that managed to hit a few of the Phantom Thieves, even if the attack didn’t put anyone to sleep.

“Lê Lợi!” King went first. “Agidyne!”

The Fire spell did decent damage.

Joker attacked next, summoning Byakko. “Bufudyne!” he cried out, cutting into their foe with a mighty Ice attack.

“Krotos!” Viper ripped off his mask, summoning the Persona. “Garudyne!”

The Wind spell seemed to do the trick, as it laid the Cunning Conqueress out on her back. She barely rose up to sit on her behind when the Phantom Thieves took most of her health with an All-Out Attack.

Before she could try another attack, Jack finished her off with a Freidyne, changing her heart and resolving Kawakami of what would hopefully be her last major problem.

Chapter 16: Ichiko Ohya - The Devil

Chapter Text

Knowing his luck, Akira shouldn’t have been surprised when his first proper date with Ryuji was interrupted. They had been so busy with their Phantom Thief business that he barely had any time with Ryuji, so he was understandably a little grumpy when they were disturbed by his phone ringing with one of his work ringtones.

Picking up the phone, he hastily answered, “Lala? I thought I called ahead and told you that I can't work tonight. I have a date, sorry.”

“I’m not calling about a shift,” Lala said, her voice sounding a little muffled. “I need someone to come pick up Ohya.”

“Did something happen to her?”

“She’s had too much to drink again,” sighed Lala, “Even if I cut her off, she always finds ways to sneak more past me… she pays and all, but it’s still not good. Plus, Motome’s elsewhere today, so nobody’s able to help lug her home. I would walk her home myself, but I can’t afford to close the bar tonight. She doesn’t live far away, only on the other side of Shinjuku. By the time you’re past the theater, she’ll be coherent enough to walk, but…” She sighed. “Times like these, I wish my boyfriend was here.”

Akira sighed. “... I’ll be on my way. Just let me talk to my boyfriend.”

“What was all that about?” Ryuji asked, as Akira hung up from the call.

“That was Lala, she runs the bar in Shinjuku that I work at,” Akira explained. “She wants me to take home a patron who’s had a little too much to drink. Remember Ohya Ichiko, or…?”

Ryuji nodded. “The journalist? I think I remember you mentioning her. I remember you saying she had a hell of a drinking problem.”

“Yeah…” Akira sighed from their seat at the crepe stand (700 yen on who recommended the place). “I hate to cut the date short, but I don’t want to leave a drunk woman alone in Shinjuku.”

“I totally get it, dude. You know what? Why don’t I come with ya? Keep you company and whatever.”

“I don’t mean to ruin your mood further, but she’s gonna be drunk. I know you, darling - you’re really uncomfortable around people when they’re drunk.”

“It’ll be fine,” said Ryuji with a wave of his hand. “It’s only when drunks get loud or angry that I freak me out. Plus, I’m usually okay with women when they’re drunk. Babe, I know ya - you wouldn’t be hanging out with anyone like that… then again, don’t you have some sorta friendship with ‘effing Akechi?”

Akira sighed. “I don’t know exactly what his whole deal is, but he’s actually rather human. Yeah, I know he’s trying to put us in jail, but it’s not like I’m gonna-” He trailed off. “Ryuji… are you jealous?”

Ryuji hung his head. “Not jealous, really. Makoto was talking about some manga with a detective and thief… uh, dynamo? Point is, that sorta got into my head.”

“I think you mean dynamic.” Akira shook his head. “As I’ve told you before, you’re the only one for me, okay?”

“I know, I know,” Ryuji replied, shoving his hand into his pockets. “Let’s get going, yeah?”

Akira pressed a kiss onto Ryuji’s cheek. “We’ll find time for another date later this week. I promise you.”

Ryuji giggled, returning the favor as they took the train to Shinjuku. “I’m holding you to that.”

To himself, Akira was glad that he had Flauros equipped.

Akira had seen Ichiko incredibly stressed. Most of the time, such displays had been before he and the Phantom Thieves had changed Honjo Shinpei’s heart, and the rare instances afterwards were nothing Akira or Lala couldn’t assuage.

Akira had never seen Ohya cry, let alone look as bad as she did.

The woman had face-planted onto the bar, her sobs muffled. Akira softly approached. “Hey, Ohya-san,” he said soothingly.

Ohya wiped some of the tears from her face. “I thought you weren’t gonna be coming ‘round here anymore,” she sniffled. “You’ve already helped me enough.”

“Lala called me,” Akira explained. “She wants me and my boyfriend to walk you home.”

“Oh, you’re shweet, kid…” Ohya cooed, though she instantly scrunched up her nose after saying that. “Ugh, I hate myself sometimes.”

“We can talk about it tomorrow,” Akira said as he and Ryuji helped her up. “For now, let’s get you home.”

The walk wasn’t long, and the boys only needed to see Ichiko off the train nearest to her apartment. It was after he kissed Ryuji goodnight that Akira met Carmilla.

Sure enough, Akira got a call the next morning on the way to school. “You’re not at school yet, right?” Ichiko asked quietly when he picked up.

“I’m on the train to get there, but not yet,” Akira answered.

“Good to know I didn’t wake you up… look, I’m sorry for getting so drunk last night you had to drag me home.”

“You should apologize to Lala,” Akira mused. “I know you usually just like the atmosphere, drunk or not, but I thought you were going to quit?”

“Trust me - I called her first.” There was a moment of silence on the line. “I was going to quit. I really was! I still want to!” she complained. “But it’s so hard. I hate that I gave up so easily, though. All that work, down the drain…”

“Do you know what set it off?” Akira asked.

The question caught Ohya off-guard. “I was stressed with work,” she admitted at last. “Usually, a drink or two is the only thing that calms me down, and I couldn’t deal with feeling so anxious all the time, so I kind of… f*ck, I relapsed.”

“I know I’m not the first person to tell you this, but you can’t depend on alcohol to cope with stress. That’s always going to lead to a relapse, because you’ll always have some reason to want to drink.”

“Why do you have to be so wise for a kid?” said Ichiko with a dry laugh. “You’re right, of course. God, I’m a mess…”

“I have an idea,” said Akira. “I’ve been hanging with a therapist for a while now. He doesn’t do addiction counseling, but he could probably get you in contact with someone who does. Would you like me to give you his number?”

“That’s a good idea. You have the weirdest contacts of anyone I’ve ever met, Kurusu-kun.”

“I have ideas and friends in spades.”

“You really do, kid,” said Ohya. “What’s his name?”

Akira smiled. “Dr. Maruki Takuto. Let me give you Maruki-hakase’s number.”

After he gave her Maruki’s number, Akira had to hang up the phone, since he was almost at school.

That was the day he broke the chains on Beelzebub. He did find it ironic that such an otherwise run-of-the-mill journalist could be the one to give him such a infamously demonic Persona.

Well, at least it’s fitting for her Arcana.

A few weeks later, Akira and his teammates were planning yet another trip into Mementos, when he brought up someone who Ohya had told him about. “You all remember Honjo Shinpei, right?” he said, turning to some of the older members of the Phantom Thieves. “We changed his heart a few months ago.”

Ann frowned. “Yeah, he was such a creep.”

“Care to fill us in?” asked Marinette.

“Honjo was the boss of one of my Confidants,” Akira explained. “He spent months covering up the truth and preventing her from working on a personal case, and it made her absolutely miserable.”

“So, does he need a reminder to not mess with her?” remarked Ryuji. “You’d think it would stick…”

Akira chuckled a little. “Not quite. Honjo’s mostly been leaving her alone. However, he and my Confidant’s superior - a guy named Kisha Shinbun - has been causing some trouble for her and her coworkers. He’s incredibly obstinate, and I’m pretty sure he’ll probably overrule Honjo and prevent my Confidant from continuing her investigation into Murakami Kayo’s mental breakdown sooner or later.”

“Urgh, what a scumbag,” said Alix, scrunching up her face in disgust.

Kim, who had been silent, piped in, “Hey… you think he might know anything about the mental shutdowns? If he’s covering that stuff up and all…”

Everyone paused. “That is… an incredibly good point,” mused Kagami. “I am greatly unopposed to taking this man down.”

“I second this…” growled Haru. “Let us go!”

“Any objections to changing his heart?” asked Morgana from his perch on the table. When no one spoke up, he gave Akira the go ahead to activate the MetaNav.

The Phantom Thieves swiftly delved into Mementos, eventually finding the vortex that Shinbun’s Shadow was hiding behind in the post-Roth area. After checking that everyone was ready, Joker waved them through the portal, where they found Shadow Shinbun waiting for them inside.

Shadow Shinbun just sneered as they approached. “I see you’ve found me, Phantom Thieves,” stated Shinbun, regarding the group with a disinterested glare. “You kids need a lesson about the real world, and it looks like I’m going to be the one to give it to you.”

It had been some time since Joker had encountered a Shadow that was this confrontational… and this quick to transform.

With a dark, maniacal laughter, Shadow Shinbun stepped backwards, dropping his human guise. The form that now stood before Joker - which he decided to call the Untrustworthy Wordsmith - was still humanoid, though his proportions made him look inhuman.

In his arms he carried reams of notepaper, all of which had been scribbled on with the efficacy of a lunatic, no doubt plastered in lies. He had so much paper, in fact, that it seemed to meld with his clothing in places, creating the impression that he was quite literally donning his own lies as a suit. Some of the red ink on the pages created the impression that he was wounded - perhaps bleeding - even though the fight hadn’t begun.

The Phantom Thieves immediately stepped into motion, ready to hit the Untrustworthy Wordsmith with everything they had. Rise was the one to learn that the Shadow was immune to Bless skills, something that she and Chance found infuriating.

Hoping that he would have better luck, Beat moved forward to hit the Untrustworthy Wordsmith with an Eigaon, swearing under his breath when the attack slid right off the Shadow.

Retaliating, the Untrustworthy Wordsmith let off a powerful Mapsiodyne. Joker - who managed to switch to a Persona that could nullify the magic at the last second - was unaffected, and Noire and Gem managed to shrug off the attack without much issue. The rest of the party were in rougher shape, however.

Their healers did their best to get everyone back into fighting shape - especially Rise and Chance, since they couldn’t use their magic - and the group turned to Joker for his orders.

Since Oracle and Ace weren’t able to find a weakness, they focused on doing as much damage to Shadow Shinbun as possible, Oracle buffing Panther, King, Viper, Mona and Smith, since Oracle sensed that they would be able to do the most damage to the Shadow Self and Ace lambasting him with Howling Hellfire.

At one point, the Untrustworthy Wordsmith attempted to weaken Panther with Debilitate, but she quickly refuted, canceling out the effects of the Skill with Dekaja. When he attempted to Headbutt Smith, Red put a Tetrakarn over his partner just in time to do some decent - albeit resisted - damage.

Before too long, an Inferno from Lê Lợi felled Shadow Shinbun, changing his heart. In due time, the systems that were causing Ohya so much strife at Maiasa would change, too.

All according to plan.

Chapter 17: Shinya Oda - The Tower

Chapter Text

For a boy who had been so aloof and closed-off a few short months ago, the speed at which Shinya had become more sociable was astounding. Akira liked to think it was at least partially due to his influence, but he knew, deep down, that some of it had to be Shinya’s innate desire for connection.

While Shinya and his mother were both doing far better after Hanae’s Change of Heart, Akira still checked in on Shinya from time to time, not wanting to neglect any of his Confidants. Plus, he and Shinya just had to keep their 2-player high score at Gun About! They’d worked way too hard getting on the leader-board to let it go that easy.

Strolling into the arcade with Bellerophon in his stock of Personas, Akira took in the familiar surroundings. The arcade was always a little overstimulating, but Akira had come to enjoy it in his time hanging out with Shinya. He spotted the boy standing over by the Gun About machine, and was about to call out to him when he noticed a couple other kids standing around Shinya.

For a moment, he was worried that Shinya was going to get into an argument or something, so he hung around in the back of the arcade, by the claw machine, and listened in.

“Seriously, Oda-kun, how do you lug this massive thing around?” One of the kids, a shorter girl with pigtails, tried to get a good grip of the gun with her tinier hands, unable to move it nearly as quickly as Shinya was able to.

“Quit being dramatic, Marimu!” snapped a tall, slightly chubby young man, taking the gun from her hands. “It's not that heavy.”

The third child, who was wearing glasses, pressed them up his nose. “It is impressive that Shinya is able to maneuver it as quickly as he can, though.”

Secretly pleased with the praise, Shinya turned down his cap to hide his smile, an action that Akira had seen from him countless times. “If you guys want, I can teach you a couple things. I’ve instructed a few other guys at school… I oughta start charging people!”

Marimu huffed at that. “You’re really gonna make us pay for lessons?”

“Well, no,” Shinya giggled, sticking out his tongue. “Family and friends discount. You guys get it free!

Marimu gasped. “Really?!”

“C’mon, guys. I’m not charging anyone my age or younger. I mean, I could probably set up lessons online or something, but I might be too young for that, anyways.”

The bespectacled kid grinned. “Show us your talent, then. I doubt you’re all talk, but I’d like to see your skill for myself!”

Shinya took the gun from his new friend’s hands. “Gladly! Benta, Meguru, Marimu… watch and learn.”

Hitting the play button, Akira and the kids watched Shinya do one of the things he did best. Slowly walking up behind the three, he chuckled. “Shinya-kun’s one of the best around,” he remarked. “There’s a reason people call him King.”

The bespectacled kid rolled his eyes. “That’s kinda egocentric.”

Shinya chuckled, even as his eyes didn’t leave the screen. “Yeah, it kinda was, huh? By the way, hey, Kurusu!” There was a while of shooting sounds and silence. “Still, I reckon I earned it.”

“Yeah?” Marimu seemed genuinely curious. “What do you mean?”

“Well, there was this total loser who was cheating in Gun About. I don’t like cheaters, so I beat his ass at Gun About to teach him a lesson. He had the hacks on, and I still beat him!”

That was a slight exaggeration of what happened between Shinya and Takekuma, but Akira let it slide, since Shinya was only saying it to impress his friends.

Around his second lap, Shinya called, “After I’m done at the arcade, big bro, how do you feel about getting something to eat?”

“He’s your brother?” Benta mused. “That explains how you two know each other.”

Shinya shrugged. “Well, only kinda? He’s more like a friend who gives really good advice and helped me out a ton lately, so I call him my brother sometimes, you know?”

“Makes sense!” Marimu said, nodding along. “Does your big brother know how to play Gun About, too?”

“Know how to play? Mari-chan, he’s my disciple! I taught him everything he knows! Come on, big bro, let’s show these guys what we can do!”

Ever-good-natured, Akira agreed, picking up the controller that Shinya offered out to him. As he and Shinya played through a particularly tricky level of Gun About, working flawlessly together, Akira felt a new Persona forming at the edges of his mind.

“I am Seth. So you wish for power, even if others abhor you? In that case, I shall become your mask.”

He and Shinya played late into the evening, and he walked Shinya to the train station before going back to Leblanc himself.

A couple days later, Akira was in Akihabara again. He’d been meaning to buy a video-game Futaba had been begging for when he bumped into Shinya again… this time in far less desirable circ*mstances. He only dropped into Gigolo to see if Shinya was there again with his friends, since he had Mada with him. Instead, he found Shinya in the middle of an argument with another boy about his age.

“You can’t do that!” Shinya’s voice was shaking, but Akira couldn’t tell if it was because he was angry or about to cry. “It's not yours!”

The kid he was shouting at had the smuggest look on his face as a bunch of yen jangled in his pocket. “I dunno, Oda… looks like my money to me. Why else would it be with me?”

One of Shinya’s friends - the girl, Marimu - tried to snatch the yen out of the boy’s hand, but Shinya maneuvered her behind him. “Come on, be cool. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. Just give it back to Mari-chan.”

“I already told you, I didn’t take nothing!”

“Just give it back, Yusa!”

“f*ck no!”

Right when Yusa looked like he was about to shove Shinya over, Akira decided to intervene. Swiftly putting himself between Shinya and his assailant, stepping forcefully enough to grab their attention but not sound stomp-y, Akira loudly said, “Is there a problem here?”

“Yeah!” Benta interjected before Yusa could get a word in. “Yusa took Marimu’s money.”

“Did he, now?” Akira said, giving Yusa a suspicious glare.

Under the eyes of an older kid, Yusa folded instantly, shoving the money back into Shinya’s hands. “It's not fair that you have a cool older friend!”

Shinya stuck out his tongue as Yusa stormed off; Akira was silently thankful that he didn’t default to a more obscene gesture. Once Yusa was gone, Shinya and the other kids lightened up enough to play a few games with Akira.

After they saw Marimu and Benta to the train station to their homes, Akira offered to buy Shinya a drink from the vending machines nearby. Together, they sat on the bench outside the arcade, with Akira sipping at his Nastea while Shinya struggled to open the can tab of his 1Up. Wordlessly, Akira held out his hand and Shinya passed the can to him. Akira opened the can and passed it back.

“Thank you.”

“No worries.” Akira took another sip of his Nastea before getting straight to business. “That kid bother you a lot?”

“Yusa?” Shinya shrugged, fidgeting with the tab of his 1Up. “I guess? He’s okay at school, but when we’re at the arcade he likes to cause trouble. He really likes picking on Marimu ‘cause she’s a girl… still dunno why that matters.”

“You could have asked me for help,” Akira said. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“I know…” Shinya faltered for a moment. “I wanted to deal with it on my own, though. Can’t rely on you for everything, right?”

“It’s important to be able to stand up for yourself, but there’s no harm in needing a hand sometimes.” Akira drank the last of his 1Up. “Do you want me to help you out?”

Still fiddling with the tab of his drink can, Shinya nodded. “Yeah, thank you.”

“No worries, kid.”

As he walked Shinya home, having received the full name of Yusa Ijiura on the way, Akira felt a new connection forming in his mind.

“You two are good kids,” said the Persona. “Look out for him and I’ll look out for you. Call me Mada - this infinite well of power which can swallow the universe shall become your mask…”

It had taken a little bit of effort to convince the Phantom Thieves that Yusa Ijiura was a worthy target. He might have been a kid, but mean kids often grew up to be mean adults. Lila was a fine example of this, as were a few other past targets, although Ijiura-kun was probably among the youngest.

Shadow Yusa sneered at the Phantom Thieves as they made their approach. The Shadow Self looked just as abrasive as the real Yusa, possibly even more so. “You guys are seriously here to fight me? That’s so lame!”

“The Phantom Thieves change the heart of anyone who does wrong,” said Panther. “You have to stop bullying people.”

“I didn’t even do anything!” Shadow Yusa insisted. “Nothing that Oda didn’t deserve, anyway.”

“Bullying is never deserved,” Chance insisted.

Shadow Yusa rolled his eyes. “You just don’t get it, do you? Ugh, screw this. I don't wanna talk to a bunch of weirdos like you!”

Like so many of their foes before him, Shadow Yusa dropped his humanoid form. The Murder-Screaming Face was white, pale with death, with grasping clawed hands coming out from beneath its torn robes. An axe was embedded in his head like something out of a cheesy horror movie.

“I’m gonna end you all!” Shadow Yusa shouted, shaking the ground with a Bad Beat. Distantly, King wondered if that’s what he looked like when he lost his temper back in the day.

Shadow Yusa leveled his gaze at Rogue, who had been afflicted with the Despair ailment. Unable to move through his despair, Rogue didn’t even flinch as Shadow Yusa nailed him and many other Phantom Thieves with a Riot Gun, sending the newest Phantom Thief sprawling to the ground.

Ryūko scooped up Rogue, shielding him from Shadow Yusa’s Makougaon to her own detriment. It was frightening to see Rogue with such an empty look in his eyes, and Ryūko was relieved when Noire cast Amrita Shower to fix that.

“Don’t strike my friends!” Noire snarled, casting a Psiodyne that did decent damage. Rogue followed up by landing a few slashes of his aruval.

Eventually, Oracle discovered the Murder-Screaming Face had no weaknesses but took extra damage from Bless skills. Joker pulled out Vohu Manah to halve his HP with Divine Judgement, and Rise and Chance took the opportunity to light him up with Kougaon.

Pun entirely intended.

There was no ceremonious All-Out Attack that returned Shadow Yusa to his human form. “It’s not fair! It’s not f*cking fair!” Shadow Yusa shouted, hunched over and punching the ground.

“What do you speak of?” Fox asked. “That which is not fair?”

“Why does he get to have friends? Oda was just as bad as me, and everyone loves him now! Why does he get another chance and I don’t?”

“Yusa, people aren’t going to give you a second chance unless you show that you deserve it,” King said. “It’s not easy to make amends, and there’s not even a guarantee, but it's an important first step.”

Shadow Yusa just pouted. “Quit using big words to make me feel dumb…”

“That isn’t what we’re trying to do,” Chance interjected. “Still, it's important that you apologize to Oda and his friends. That’s the only way they’ll be willing to forgive you. Maybe you two will even become friends!”

“The best time to stop treating people like that and make things right is right after you started acting out,” Queen said softly. “The next best time is today. It’s now. The sooner you start, the sooner things get better.”

“I totally believe you’re a good kid, even if you haven’t been showing it,” Beat agreed. “Everyone’s got good and bad in ‘em.”

Ace nodded in agreement. “The closest you can get to ‘being a good or bad person’ is determined by how you act.”

Shadow Yusa pulled his knees up to his chest. “I didn’t even want to do it… Mom and Dad always said I had to take care of myself. Not that they don’t help me or anything! But… it’s easier to be mean to people. People stay out of my way if I get all nasty. I dunno how to be nice…”

“Maybe you can ask Oda for some help,” said Joker. “He’s been in the same place as you. He’d understand.”

“You think?” Shadow Yusa’s voice wavered a little. “… I hope so.”

As Shadow Yusa faded away, Joker made a mental note to ask Shinya to speak to the boy again. Hopefully, their words got through to the kid, and Yusa would apologize. They didn’t have to be friends, but Joker hoped that Shinya would show Yusa the same decency that Joker and his classmates showed him.

Chapter 18: Hifumi Togo - The Star

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

Pervy as it might sound, if Akira had to pick one of the ladies in Tokyo he was close with to date, it would probably be Hifumi. Regardless, he wasn’t interested in her, and he wasn’t polyamorous (he was pro-polyamory, though), so dating Ryuji worked out better than loving Hifumi could ever have gone.

At Jinbocho, the two had gotten the books Hifumi was looking for and were settling down to read them (say what you will about Akira working with Hifumi to improve his Joker strategies, but he really did intend to read the books) when Makoto passed by. “Ah, Akira! How are you?” she greeted.

Hifumi went bright red at the sight of her. “H-h-hello?” she stammered out.

After introducing the two to each other, Akira praising Makoto as one of the smartest girls he knew, he simply watched them make conversation.

Makoto seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Hifumi seemed to be enamored with her, so after Makoto walked off to finish up the errands she was running, Akira softly put a hand on Hifumi once she’d finished watching her go. “Can I be the bearer of news, Hifumi?” he asked.

“Y-yes…?” Hifumi responded unsurely, “Go ahead.”

“Good news for you? She’s pansexual. Bad news? I’m fairly sure she’s got a crush on someone else… I’m fairly sure it’s a girl, but I don’t know who.”

Akira wasn’t happy to see her face crumple. He helped talk her through her emotions, and once she’d calmed down sufficiently, she said, “Thank you for calming me down, Akira… it is okay for me to call you Akira, right?”

“Go ahead,” the black-haired teenager smiled relievedly, “If you don’t mind me asking… have you seen or met her before?”

“...no,” Hifumi admitted, “I get crushes very easily, and they tend to burn out quickly. I have a thing for smart girls, though. Mother would never let me date, anyways…”

She tilted her head to the side in thought. “Well, technically, she told me not to date any boys…” she noted before a devious smirk appeared on her face, “so if I get a girlfriend…”

“Pan?” Akira inquired, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but…”

“Lesbian, actually,” Hifumi whispered to him, “Don’t tell Mother.”

“I would never,” Akira promised. That was the day he heard Neko Shogun’s voice in his mind.

“There’s something I should tell you, Akira,” Hifumi admitted. Today he’d maxed out her Confidant, and he’d made sure to tell her how proud he was even though she’d gotten beaten pretty badly in her first “real” shogi match.

“Is it something bad?” Akira tilted his head to the side in curiosity.

“It’s about why I took you on as a student,” Hifumi said, “I had this stupid idea after our first meeting. I didn’t think you’d come back, to be honest, but I figured if you did, I’d make you so good at shogi that Mother might take you in and let me be. I’m very sorry…”

“No harm, no foul,” Akira said, “I doubt it would have worked, though. Not to say you’re a bad teacher, of course, but…”

“Your morals were more sound than mine,” the churchgoing girl admitted, “I shudder to think of what would have happened if you’d found out she was rigging matches if you were under her management…”

“Well, no more dwelling on it,” Akira waved it all off, “You’d better let me know when your next real match is, okay?”

“Of course!” Hifumi smiled earnestly at him as he made his leave. Before he could get out of the building, though, she called out, “Tell Makoto I said hi!”

Akira laughed, feeling the locks preventing him from fusing Lucifer break. “I will!”

Now then, he mused to himself, how to set her up with Futaba…?

Chapter 19: Toranosuke Yoshida - The Sun

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

Like how Akira and Yoshida had first met, it all started during a casual conversation while Akira was working at Ore no Beko and Yoshida was eating. Akira had at this point long been introduced to Suzaku (who had been very helpful in Kaneshiro and Futaba’s Palaces) and was very close to finishing his Social Link with Yoshida.

“...so that’s why you’re in Tokyo, is it?” Yoshida said when Akira was done telling him the story.

“Unfortunately… that guy turned the situation on me, and because he was powerful, he got away with it.”

“You have my condolences, Kurusu. If I can help you with that, I fully intend to do so.”

“Thanks. Even so, coming to Tokyo wasn’t all bad, though.”

Yoshida raised an eyebrow at that. “Hmm? How so?”

“I made more friends - and closer friends - than I ever did back home. I’m persevering just fine, and my grades are far better than they used to be. The teachers at Shujin may be strict and often old-fashioned, but they’re good at what they do. I’m a lot happier here than I was back home, even if I’m limited in a lot of options…”

Yoshida sighed as he finished the last of his meal. “Those who truly fight for justice may never finish their work… can I expect to see you on Tuesday? I have some important things to tell you.”

“Can do, Yoshida-san.”

Later on, Akira would fuse Suzaku with another Persona to create Ixion, which proved helpful during their first encounter with Shadow Bustier and Kim’s Awakening.

The next time something of interest happened, Akira was stopping by to say hello to Yoshida, who had just finished a speech. He’d finished his Social Link and unlocked Asura for fusion about half a month ago.

A certain unease was in Yoshida’s countenance, so Akira stopped by to ask what was going on.

“Kuramoto Masao - the older one - was apparently broken out of jail,” Yoshida explained, “those who helped him are unknown, but I worry he may do something horrible in a plot of vengeance…”

“Are you saying he may try…?”

“Already received an email stating his intentions,” Yoshida sighed, “it was not signed or traceable, but I have more than reason to believe it’s him.”

“We’ll deal with him if you want, Yoshida-san,” Akira offered. “I can also have someone trace that email.”

“You mean…?” Yoshida seemed surprised. “Thank you, Akira, but you don’t have to-”

“A king without subjects is not a king, and a speaker with no listeners is rather similar.”

“What are you saying?”

“Kuramoto will not listen to reason,” Akira shrugged, “so if you want, we will make him see reason. Even if we get caught, I will not sell you out - you have my word.”

“Are you sure?” Yoshida asked in disbelief.

“You’re a good person, Yoshida-san. No-Good Tora might have needed a change of heart, but you don’t.”

“Wait… you didn’t change my heart?”

Akira shook his head and began walking away. “Only came to Tokyo this year,” he said before he made his exit, “You redeemed yourself all on your own.”

After Futaba confirmed that the email had been sent by Kuramoto, the Phantom Thieves came to a consensus about Kuramoto, albeit with more struggle than most Mementos targets took. Most of them were unsure about aiding a politician such as Toranosuke (especially the Parisians, who had dealt with bad governance in the form of Andre Bourgeois), but Akira pointed out that Kuramoto was bad regardless and that politicians were not inherently bad - there were just a lot of bad ones. He’d also given them a quick summary of the man’s story.

The group had found Shadow Kuramoto’s space in the area Lila’s Palace had unlocked. As the team entered, they got a good look at Shadow Kuramoto.

“So that’s Shadow Kuramoto, huh?” Skull grumbled. “I don’t like that scheming look on his face…”

“A corrupt politician who framed one who reportedly changed for the better…” Queen growled, “Yoshida, even if he turns out to be corrupt, does not deserve to die.”

“Have faith, Queen,” Viper reassured her, “We can and will fix this.”

“If you don’t like the look on his face, Skull,” Beat grinned, “we can fix that!”

With that, the team approached Shadow Kuramoto. The nasty look on his face only got nastier when he saw them. “Who are you guys supposed to be?” he snarled.

“Kuramoto Masao?” Red asked. “We intend to change your heart.”

“Oh, you’re the Phantom Thieves,” Shadow Kuramoto realized. “That fool Toranosuke’s a supporter of you idiots… leave the social change to the government!”

“The government you no longer hold power in?” Fox raised an eyebrow. “I doubt you will have much luck now that your corruption has been exposed further, not to mention the fact you’re an escaped criminal.”

“Please,” Shadow Kuramoto laughed boldly. “I’m staging a coup, you fools!”

“You madman!” Viper growled. “You and what army?”

“Leave me to my devices and find out… ” Shadow Kuramoto said ominously. “Or you can just drop dead. Actually, I think that’s what I’ll have you do - once I’ve dealt with you accursed thieves, I can rule Japan however I please!”

With that, he transformed into an Asian humanoid in florally patterned versions of sailors’ garb. Similar to Captain Kidd, he sat atop a small rowboat with electrical oars in each hand; said oars were also spiky like nail-bats.

“I’ve never been so displeased to see a superpowered being on a boat,” Joker grumbled. “Ready, everyone?”

The rest of the Phantom Thieves nodded.

“Hahahahaha!” the Thunderstorm Traveler laughed. “You can’t beat me on your lonesomes, eh? Well, then I’ll even the odds!”

In splashes of black and red, two Ice-Cold Quislings appeared at his side.

“That can happen?!” King squawked.

“Does it matter?” Queen smirked. “We can take them! Johanna, Mafreila!”

The Nuke spell was nullified by their foes’ leader and did a little damage to the Ice-Cold Quislings. Queen scowled at her lack of effectiveness.

Ryūko rushed forward. “Jingū Kōgō, give them a Mazionga!”

Mazionga did very little damage to the Thunderstorm Traveler, but more importantly, it knocked down the Ice-Cold Quislings.

“Way to go, Ryūko!” Skull cheered, high-fiving Ryūko. “Lemme add on to this ass-whooping! Seiten Taisei!”

Seiten Taisei appeared once Skull ripped off his mask. “Give ‘em another Mazionga!”

The Mazionga did even more damage to the Ice-Cold Quislings. However, the Thunderstorm Traveler’s Evade Elec ability kicked in, and thus Shadow Kuramoto dodged the Electric spell.

“Nicely done!” Joker lauded. Ripping off his mask, he summoned a toga-wearing woman glowing a bright blue.

“Phaedra,” he commanded, “Maeigaon!”

Mighty blasts of darkness ripped through their foes, doing good damage; most importantly, it knocked down the Thunderstorm Traveler.

The Phantom Thieves quickly tore into them with an All-Out Attack, destroying the Ice-Cold Quislings and leaving Shadow Kuramoto barely standing.

Smirking, Red aimed his rifle and took the finishing shot, getting Shadow Kuramoto to return to his real self.

Chapter 20: Alix Kubdel/Jack/Bunnix - The Archangel

Chapter by BeeTeeDubya14

Chapter Text

“Isis?”

“Yup. She was a Shadow in Futaba’s Palace.”

“Horus?”

“Not yet, if ever.”

“Anubis?”

“See Isis.”

“Huh… cool.”

Akira and Alix every so often would call each other and play what some might call a game. Alix would tell Akira about different mythological and historical figures, and he’d tell her if he had a Persona based off of them. In exchange, he’d tell her about some of the Personas that she might not know anything about.

She’d been pretty taken with the concepts of the four Mitama - Kushi, Saki, Ara and Nigi - and to hear what tales he could provide about the likes of those including but not limited to Okuninushi, Anzu, Take-Minakata, Mokoi, Fuu-Ki, Kin-Ki (the name of whom had earned a laugh out of her), Sui-Ki, Kodama and Sudama.

After they’d finished their call, Akira wondered why he hadn’t received a new Persona. Then he remembered Hydra, and thus shrugged it off.

The next time something of interest happened, Akira - with Nino’s help and (surprisingly enough) Marinette’s permission - was hanging out with Alix at the batting cages in Yongen-Jaya.

Alix had shattered his home-run record and nabbed some sweet prizes, some of which she shared with Akira. Akira had been quite pleased with the Vigor Sash and Retribution Mirror most of all.

“Shame we didn’t invite Kim or Ryuji,” Alix laughed, “Maybe some other time!”

Akira nodded his assent. “That sounds nice.”

Alix grew silent for a while before asking, “Mind if I open up to you a little bit?”

“Sure…? Something wrong?”

“Today is… my mom’s birthday. She died a few years ago.”

“Oh… my condolences.”

“I’ve mostly moved on, but I’m still hurting a little.”

“That’s why Marinette was so understanding…!”

“And why I wanted to be out of Paris for the day…” Alix said softly, “Thanks, Akira. I needed this.”

“We don’t have to stop right now, do we? If we contact Nino, we can get a few more hours.”

Alix looked up at him, grateful and ever-so-slightly teary. “I like the way you think.”

A few hours after they’d found a roller rink in Shinjuku, Akira saw Alix off. Not long after, he heard the voice of a new Persona.

“I am Ma’at,” the Persona greeted, “You who follow a righteous path… I will aid you as your mask.”

During the next Phantom Thieves meeting, Alix expressed worry over her father’s job.

“Dad got a real calling card the other day,” she told the rest of them, “Not the kind we use, but a stereotypical calling card. Some jackass called F2 is gonna steal some serious treasures and valuables from the Louvre!”

Futaba, who had been informed of this beforehand and done some digging, brought up the research she’d done. “The guy who left the card was likely put up to it by some guy called Frederick Faure,” she told them, “He’s some sorta robber trainer.”

“If we can change his heart, I bet we’ll stop a ton of muggings and robberies,” Juleka mused.

“I’m more than willing to go after this guy,” Makoto scowled, “Any objections?”

None were given, so the team went to Mementos. In the area that was opened after Lila’s Palace, they found the pocket they were looking for. A man with most of his skin covered - ski mask included - and no memorable details about him other than his bushy mustache was on the other side waiting for them.

“So this is the Shadow Self of Faure, trainer of thieves…” Ryūko observed, “He certainly looks like he can get away in a crowd…”

“Well, he’s not in a crowd,” Jack snapped, “Let’s get him!”

As Joker and company approached, Shadow Faure grinned eerily. “Ah, you must be the Phantom Thieves! What a pleasure to meet such masters of the craft… were you students of mine, once?”

“Hell f*ckin’ no!” King snarled.

“...I definitely didn’t train you if you’re this crass. What is it you want, then?”

“We want your heart changed, thank you very much,” Rise growled, “I presume you want to do this the hard way?”

As Shadow Faure transformed into a Poetic Pilferer, he declared, “Nothing ever worth doing was done easily! Let’s see who the stronger thieves are, then!”

In splashes of black and red, two identical Poetic Pilferers appeared. “Let’s see if you have the discerning eye of a true thief…”

“Great…” Chance mumbled angrily, “Here we go! Mulan, Makougaon!”

Two of the three Poetic Pilferer clones dissipated (three more taking their place) while the real one dodged it.

“Good try, Chance!” Mona called out as he summoned Zorro, “Masukunda!”

Interestingly enough, the green spell seemed to dissipate upon touching three of the Poetic Pilferer clones. The real one had his accuracy and agility dropped.

“Ah… how helpful,” Viper grinned, “Krotos! Garudyne that one!”

This time, the real Poetic Pilferer was not so lucky as to dodge the attack. As he staggered back, the clones disappeared into thin air.

“Good information,” Mona mused as four clones appeared with the original, swapping around too fast for them to tell who was their true target again, “So we just have to hit them with non-damaging spells first and single-target spells second.”

“That can be arranged,” Beat smirked, “Shaka Zulu! Matarunda!”

Once again, the casted spell only hit one of them.

Having summoned Wenet, Jack snarled, “Freidyne!”

Having struck the Poetic Pilferer’s weakness, Jack’s attack hit him even harder than Viper’s attack had. Aiming her umbrella tip at the downed Shadow, Jack opened fire until he reverted to Shadow Faure and had his heart changed.

Later that day, Joker would begin work on fusing Lif.