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renxamamiya · 4 years

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Theatre of Mirrors - The Empress Theatre Part 1

The first/second chapter is here! This is were P5R spoilers start, so yeah be careful.

Shoutout to @digifangirl97 for proof reading the majority of this chapter for me and @rui-the-galax-angel for being the reason why I’m writing this fanfic tbh.

ALSO the fanfic is now on AO3 PogChamp.

An hour had passed since the discovery of Ren's Palace, Futaba and Morgana had since lied down on her bed. The lights were off, her curtains shut, the only sources of light were from the glowing green stars on blue fabric and the various monitors that softly hummed within the still air.

Morgana was curled up on her chest, her phone in her lazy grip. Futaba stared at the ceiling, eyes still red from crying. Neither of them had fully recovered from their shared grief, the chat in which the thieves all talked on falling silent.

Her phone chimed. Futaba raised her phone to her face, a herculean tasked with her sapped energy. It was Sumire. She dropped her hand back down limply. She listened to the continued chimes, her phone vibrating until it fell silent again. Sumire now knew.

Neither she or Morgana uttered anything. The girl's hand was resting on the feline’s back. Her fingers curled around his short black fur.

A knock on her door. Morgana perked his ears up. Futaba stirred from her depressed stupor.

"Futaba?" a gruff voice called out in concern. Sojiro. Futaba groans as Morgana hops off from her chest. She rises up from her bed as Sojiro opens the door.

"Did you just wake from a little nap?" her father figure asks, reaching for the light switch to illuminate the room, "I was wondering where you'd run off to, I expected you to-"

He stops, gazing upon his daughter. He notices her red, blotchy eyes and her snotty nose. Futaba did not make eye contact with her father figure, electing to further withdraw within herself, hugging her legs as she looked away from him.

"Futaba-" he says, his cheery demeanor easily replaced with concern, but it was when he saw Morgana did a sweat break from his forehead.

"Futaba, what happened? Why is the cat here?"

She hugs her legs tighter.

“R….Ren…”

She buries her face in her hands.

“He’s...”

“Hey, hey.” Sojiro coos, stumbling towards Futaba, his arms wrapping around her, pulling her into a hug “Why don’t we talk about it when you’re ready, alright?”

“But… But-”

“The kid’s gonna be fine, Futaba. Now, come down and have some dinner, you can tell me what's happened to Ren, alright?"

Futaba hopes she can.

***

The small dining room within the Sakura residence was quiet, warm light illuminated the room while Sojiro and Futaba sat around a small square table, Morgana lapping a bowl of cat food nearby. The girl stared at the plate of Sojiro's curry, her favourite food. Though normally she would have already dug into the delicious, irresistible dish, today she could not bring herself to eat it. This causes Sojiro worry.

"So, how was today?" he said, trying to break the tension between the two. The way her shoulders slumped, eyes drooped, head tilting downwards. It reminded him of the time she constantly isolated herself in her room. He didn’t want to lose her again.

He put his utensil down, but sat there in silence, waiting for her to talk. Though he was a stern parent, he knew that Futaba needed to come around herself. It would do more harm than good to force her to speak about something incredibly sensitive.

Silence fell between them, the hum of the lightbulb above, the faint whooshing of cars and the sound of quiet crickets chirping the only occupying the space between them.

Futaba shuffles in her seat, Sojiro raised his eyebrows in attention.

“..was fine.” Futaba answered, still avoiding eye contact with her father figure, “I went and got some stuff. And I talked to Kana-chan.” she mumbled, Sojiro having to strain his hearing with great effort.

“That’s good!” he exclaimed, Futaba only hid her face further within herself and Sojiro had regretted his words.

“Futaba… I’m sorry I.”

“T-The Metaverse is back, Sojiro.” Futaba whined, her voice strained as she began to cry again, fresh tears retracing streaks left by her earlier crying session, “It’s back and… Ren’s… Ren…”

“H-hey now.” Sojiro said, jumping out of his chair to hug his crying daughter, Morgana watching silently within the corner of the dining room as Sojiro wrapped comforting arms around Futaba, a hand resting on her head as she buried her face into his stomach. He allowed her to cry, not uttering another word as she sobbed, soaking her tears upon the striped, pink dress shirt he wore when working in Leblanc.

Once she calmed down, he let her go. Sitting back down, he waited for her to continue explaining Ren’s situation.

“Th- thanks, Sojiro.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Futaba.” Sojiro said softly, “Now, if you are comfortable with telling me about what’s happened to Ren…”

“...Yeah…” she trailed off somewhat still avoiding his gaze, “Remember when… when the phantom thieves were a big thing. A-and we went to Palaces and the Metaverse t-to change hearts and stuff?”

“Yeah, kind of.” Sojiro admitted. Though he did his best in trying to understand the Metaverse, he never really completely wrapped his head around it.

“And when we destroyed it? During Christmas Eve?”

“Yeah, when you went to battle with that weird robot-God-thing.” Sojiro laughed, “I still remember that day. Thought the world was going to end and everything when it started to rain what looked like blood… it wasn’t blood, right?”

Futaba weakly shrugged before continuing her explanation.

“W… Well.”

Futaba felt something brush up upon her lap. It was Morgana, giving that extra push of comfort as she continued.

“It came back today and… Ren and Mona got pulled into it. Into a Palace, the heart of a distorted person’s desire. Mona got out somehow but… Ren wasn’t so lucky.”

A pause.

“Ah-”

“The Palace was his.” she squeaked, “It was his Palace.”

Another pause. Sojiro sighed. He understood what Futaba and the other ex Phantom Thieves were considering doing.

“I know I’m not able to help much.” Sojiro admitted, Futaba looking up at her father figure, “But… if there’s anything that I can do, Futaba, please don’t hesitate to ask. The kid’s practically family, and I want to do anything I can to help save him.”

Futaba looks at him, stunned.

“S-Sojiro I-”

He smiled at Futaba, “I may not know much about the Metaverse, but I do know you, Futaba. Now, just be careful when you’re out there, alright? The last thing I want you to do is for you to get yourself in danger as well. Just… bring yourself and the kid home safe. Do you understand?”

Futaba ponders for a moment, her gaze drifting towards Morgana. He gives a nod to her, Sojiro’s words uplifting his mood as well, and then smiles determinately at Sojiro.

“I do.” she answers.

***

Ren could only stare at the figure before him, dread and disbelief choking his throat. No. He tried to deny it, deny the golden eyed reflection that stood before him, but he did not want to believe it. He could not believe it. He was a Persona user. He was the Trickster. He was the Wildcard. So how, how was he able to have a Palace of all things?

His shadow, his eyes and the black-gold mask adorned on his face similar to the fountain he saw earlier, grinned toothily at him. The only other differences Ren could note between his Metaverse outfit and his shadow was the red waistcoat that adorned its chest, golden buttons sparkling in the light as his shadow moved.

“Hello, hello my very special guest!” his shadow greeted him, taking his hand off of Ren’s chin, a glass of what appeared to be brandy and ice in his other hand, “So good of you to come to me, I take it that you're comfortable in your seat?”

“I-”

“Of course you are.” his shadow interrupted him, “After the trouble I went to pick out the chair for you. All my fellow lead actors insisted I get that one, and who am I but a servant to the masses?”

He playfully bowed, the glass of drink still in his hand clinking loudly, “Vous êtes les bienvenus.”

“You can’t be real.” Ren muttered to himself shaking his head. His shadow raised its head from his bow to look up at him, “This is a dream. It has to be a dream.”

“I can assure you that this is all real.” his shadow purred, delighted at Ren’s distress as he rose from his bow, “Everything you see right now is happening in real time. This is not a dream, no matter how much you wish it to be. Here-”

His shadow suddenly reached out towards him, grabbing a bit of skin on Ren’s arms, twisting it roughly and suddenly. Ren yelped in pain, and when his shadow let go, Ren could see the patch of skin reddening before him.

“See? Not a dream.” his shadow said, taking a sip from his drink, “Completely in the conscious realm, or whatever this world counts to anyway.”

Ren wants to deny his shadow’s words, but he couldn’t. He looks down on the floor, his shadow still standing in front of him, waiting for him patiently to speak.

“This is…”

“Impossible, unfeasible, out of the question. Yet here I am!” his shadow chuckles, voice rattling in excitement, “The star of the show! And you’re here as well! It worked!”

“But why? Why am I here?”

“Because you’ve been a naughty boy, Ren.” his shadow’s smile growing wider and more sinister, “A naughty, naughty boy. Your heart’s a mess, your wishes distorted, but don’t worry. I’m here to take care of you, to grant us your wish. I needed you here for it to work, however.”

“But I don’t have any distorted desires.” Ren shakes his head, eyes on the marble floor. He wants to deny what is in front of him, yet a sense of dread tightly grasps his heart, “I don’t under-”

A muffled grunt came from his shadow, Ren looked up to see his shadow gripping onto himself, eyes squeezed shut, a hand over his mouth while another held a shaky grip on his drink. His eyes widened in surprise as his shadow gasped shaky breaths. As suddenly as he started, his shadow quickly relaxed, shoulders that were tensed up slowly falling, his shadow unwrapping himself from his sudden hug.

“I’m… sorry about that.” his shadow apologised genuinely, putting his drink upon the nearest available surface, “I have no idea what came over me, but…”

He smiled at Ren, “That doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is that you’re here, and that the show; my plans, can finally commence!”

“Why do you need me?” Ren asks his shadow, looking at it with genuine confusion, “Wouldn’t it be better for us if I wasn’t here?”

“I know you don’t think so, but you’re so important for what I have in store.” his shadow replied, striding towards Ren yet again, this time to give him what appeared to be a reassuring pat on the head, “I can’t reveal much. Not yet. But I can tell you that I needed you to give our friends some extra motivation in order to join us in our utopia-”

“-And you’re the one who somehow put the app back on my phone.” Ren interjected, “You’re the one who dragged me to this place, the one who most likely ordered Morgana to be thrown out of the theatre, the same one who me to be captured and brought up on here.”

“You’ve caught on pretty quickly!” his shadow congratulating him mockingly, clapping thrice as if to give him a round of applause, “And yes, I was the one who did all those things. Oh, by the way…”

He pulled Ren’s phone out of one of his pockets.

“Thank you so much for this.” he smiles, “I couldn’t have done what I did without it.”

“How did you get that?”

“This?” his shadow gestured to Ren’s phone in his hand, waving it back and forth tauntingly at his captive, “I got it from you of course. You looked so peaceful with Morgana while unconscious… I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“So you waited for me to enter the theatre, just to capture me?” Ren asked, raising an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t it be easier for you to capture me while I was out there?”

“Yes, you’re right, but I needed Morgana to know you were captured, silly!” his shadow explains, clearly enjoying how confused and uncomfortable he made Ren, “I needed to give him a reason to come back; and after all, we’re both suckers for the dramatics, aren’t we?”

Ren bit his lip, his eyebrows knitted in thought. His phone! If his shadow had somehow used it to get him in, then he can use it to get out. He just needed…

He heard his phone drop onto the floor, and looked to see in time his shadow bring his foot down, the heel of its boot digging and crumbling the glass of the screen. He continued to stomp on it. Repeatedly. He broke the device further and further until it was nothing more than a smoulder of glass and plastic. Ren could only watch as the whole ordeal took place, eyes wider and more terrified as his shadow laughed and laughed in delight as he continued to destroy Ren’s only option of escaping the Metaverse.

“There we go! Another task off my list!” The shadow exclaimed in delight, Ren grimacing at the sputtering sound and sour smelling smoke that came from the remains of what was once his phone. His shadow looked to see Ren’s saddened expression, faux curiosity crossing his face.

“What’s the matter, me?” he asks as he gets closer again to Ren, “Are you-”

The shadow’s throat suddenly tightened up, he gasps as yet another surge of energy shoots his veins. He feels his heart writhing, twisting tighter in his chest, and he barely could save his composure as a whine escaped his throat. Ren could only watch as his shadow turned his back at him, horrified and confused as to why his shadow was suddenly having a fit as his shadow grabbed onto the nearest surface available and held it for dear life.

His shadow groaned loudly, feeling himself sweat under his mask as yet another surge ravaged his veins in what could only be described as pleasure. He gripped tightly onto a small table for life, knocking his previously forgotten drink, the glass smashing as he rested his forehead on the cold surface, still exhaling shaky breaths as his fingers curled tightly into fists.

“Are you okay?” he could hear Ren ask, over the drumming of his heart, squeezing tears out of his golden eyes. His shadow could only laugh weakly. His other, his… real self, trapped and held by his twisted thoughts and hidden desires still cared for someone other than him. His shadow rolled his golden eyes, hidden from Ren as the surge slowly started to dissipate from his veins.

“Yes. Yes I am.” his shadow grunted, slowly uncurling his fingers, feeling sparks of energy flowing freely from within his fingertips. Without moving from his position he thought to himself: this had happened thrice. Once when Ren had looked upon the fountain statue, and twice during their conversation. Though his shadow had yet to draw concrete causality, he did know that he liked these surges of power. He licked his lips in delight. He liked them very much so.

The shadow pushed himself up, arms still shaking, his head still somewhat fuzzy, turning to his guest, “So sorry again. Now, where were we, mon invité?”

“Telling me your plan?” Ren asks sweetly. His shadow gave him a look, before laughing.

“Now, now. Don’t get hasty.” his shadow purred, striding towards his captive, “There was something. Something I wanted to- Ah, yes, that was it!”

His shadow reached for Ren’s glasses, snatching them up, before effortlessly crushing them in his hands.

“There we go!” he said, marvelling as Ren’s shocked face, “You don’t need them anyway, we both know the lenses are fake.”

The shadow drops the broken glasses onto the floor, snapping his fingers with another, two shadow guards appearing behind him, “Clean up this mess and put him in his room” his shadow ordered before turning on his heel, slipping his hands in his pockets, before walking away, the faceless shadows saying nothing as they advanced with their tasks.

“Oh, by the way.” his shadow called for him from behind his shoulder, Ren feeling one of the shadow’s gripping tightly onto the back of his chair, “You may call me Joker here. This may be your Palace, but I alone am the star of this theatre. You best remember that, my special guest.”

He turns away and continues to walk away as Ren gets pulled into a dark room. The last thing he sees is Joker’s coat flapping in invisible wind as the shadow guard slams the door shut, leaving him in total darkness yet again.

***

After the heartfelt dinner with Sojiro, Futaba dashed up the stairs of her home and towards her room with newfound determination, slamming the door shut and hopping into her office chair. Morgana barely caught up with her, this sudden burst of athleticism from the normally bone idle girl shocking him, and he almost got locked out from the room.

“Futaba, watch it!” Morgana squeaked as the door slammed behind him, “You almost locked me out of the room.”

“Sorry, Mona.” Futaba apologises almost offhandedly as her fingers rapidly jumped around her keyboard, furiously typing, occasionally reaching for the mouse beside her making rapid clicks, her gaze glued towards the main monitor as the others flickered with text.

“Well, what are you doing?” Morgana asks as he hops onto the available desk space beside her.

“Some preparations.” she answered simply.

“Preparations?” he asks, “for what?”.

“For infiltrating Ren’s Palace, duh.”

“Oooh.” Morgana nodded, and then looked at the screen curiously, “Wait, how are you going to do that?”

“I’m making some notes on what to buy from the clinic nearby.” she explains, “I remember what Ren normally brings on missions. That and quickly researching some possible resources we might need.”

“Like what?”

“Smoke bombs, lockpicks, all those spicy things.”

“You know I can teach you how to make those right?”

Futaba stops her typing abruptly, turning to Morgana.

“Wait, what?!” she exclaims, Morgana gives her an unamused look.

“You know I was the one who taught him how to make infiltration tools, right?” Morgana informs her bluntly. Futaba continues to look at him, shocked.

“It never occurred to you?!”

“Well… I mean…”

“What?”

“You don’t have any thumbs, how could you teach him if you don’t have thumbs?”

“I can still teach without thumbs, Futaba!” Morgana exclaims, annoyed at her assumption.

“I know,” she scoffs back, “I just forgot, okay? I’m sorry.”

Morgana looks at her, and sighs, shaking his head, “Well… what else are you gonna do? We don’t exactly know what’s in his Palace yet… maybe we should consult the others before making preparations.”

“Hmmm you’re right.” Futaba says, going back onto her computer. Morgana looks at her, surprised.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Chatting with the others.” she replies, turning to him, “You do know that most, if not all chatting applications have a desktop version.”

Futaba: YO GUYS Futaba: been thinking about stuff and Futaba: we should really make plans to save ren

“No I don’t, I’m a cat!” Morgana exclaims, “How am I supposed to know that?”

“Do you even know anything?” she asks, amused and annoyed by the cat.

“I know lots of stuff.” he huffed, “Just not… human technology stuff.”

“Well, you do at least know how warm kotatsu are.” she giggles, “And how warm laptops are, and are a total radiator hog.”

“Hey, that winter was particularly cold!” Morgana defends himself, remembering his reaction when he saw Ren sending pictures of himself sleeping on different appliances to Futaba, “I couldn’t resist! You’d understand if you were a cat!”

Futaba giggles, her computer chimes. She turns to see messages being typed within the chat. Ann: heya futaba Ann: yeah I’ve been thinking about him after we talked Ryuji: me too Ryuji: felt so shit after knowing he had a Palace Ann: I talked it over to shiho as well Ryuji: after all the shit we’ve been through, it really sucks that he’s gotten that bad Yusuke: The heart can be a fragile thing if not strengthened properly… Ann: and i ended up reminiscing about stuff

Futaba checks to see if the others were online within the chat.

Sumire: but Ren’s senpai’s heart is the strongest one I know! Sumire: I know that I’d never be able to do the things he did… Ryuji: like what ann? Haru: I was actually wondering what could have caused such a dramatic shift. Makoto: Is there something he’s not telling us? Makoto: It has to be. Makoto: He’s been really distant lately. Ann: like i dunno, when we were still at shujin with him? Ann: the more I talked about it with her, the more I realised that I wanted to help him. Makoto: I know what you mean. Ann: I mean i want to help him but, i wanna do that even more Ryuji: me too Futaba: wait shiho? Futaba: who’s that again? Ann: my friend, remember? Ann: the one who jumped because of kamoshida Ryuji: if it wasn’t for him that shithead would still have a teaching position Ann: without him, i wouldn’t have gotten justice for her, Ann: and i wouldn’t have wanted to broaden my horizons without him Haru: Maybe it has to do with something that happened during our year apart? Sumire: could be, but he hasn’t really told me anything… Ryuji: and without him i wouldn’t have made up with my ex track team Makoto: I don’t know. He usually talks with me about things that bother him Yusuke: I second the motion of helping Ren by uprooting his Palace. Yusuke: Without Ren, I would still be in an abusive situation.

Futaba wipes a tear from her eye.

Makoto: But now whenever I talk to him, about him, he suddenly changes the subject. Yusuke: A slave to that sham of an artist, Madarame, I would still be in his oppressive grasp without him. I wouldn’t have found a way to express the heart of man without him. Yusuke: I even got justice for my late mother because of him… Yusuke: I feel as though at this point, we would let him down if we do not return the favour and assist him in his time of need. Ryuji: yeah! Ann: wait how can you second a motion, ryuji already beat you to it Yusuke: I’m just saying I agree. Makoto: Yeah. Makoto: Without him, we wouldn’t have been able to stop Kaneshiro from exploiting teenagers for all kinds of disgusting, illegal activities he was conducting. Makoto: Without him, I wouldn’t have saved my sister from her own distorted destruction, nor would have I had the opportunity to broaden my horizons and realize what I wanted to do in life. Makoto: I want in.

More tears started to run down her face as Futaba typed her own message.

Ann: god mood Makoto: I agree as well. Yusuke: Poetically put, Haru. Ryuji: hell yeah!!!!! Sumire: same. Without his help I wouldn’t really haven’t gotten over with my sister’s death. Sumire: I would have still lived a lie and wouldn’t have moved on without senpai… I wouldn’t have seen my worth in the world without him. Sumire: I… want to help him. I want him to help like he helped me. Haru: Me too! Sumire: Let’s go save Ren!

More tears streamed down her face, yet she was not sad, her heart fluttered with joy.

Ryuji: shit dude i’m crying irl rn Ann: me too ;;; Yusuke: I think I’ve gotten something in my eye...

“He helped me get my memories back, and save the world from distortion, twice.” Morgana says to Futaba, looking at her with resolve, his tail flicking in the air, “I want to do anything it takes to save him from his own distortions, no matter the cost.”

Haru: Me too! Sumire: Let’s go save Ren! Makoto: So. Since we are all in agreement, when is everyone free? Makoto: I’m free tomorrow. Ann: me too! Ryuji: same, got nothing on rn Yusuke: I can meet up tomorrow if that’s what everyone wants. Haru: I’m free this week! Futaba: same, got nothing on. Sumire: I’m on a break for gymnastics training anyway, so I can meet up! Makoto: Great! Now all that’s left is to decide on our hideout.

Futaba remembers what Sojiro said to her during dinner.

Futaba: we can meet at leblanc tomorrow! Futaba: sojiro knows, and he says he wants to do anything he can help Makoto: That… could work. Haru: It would be like old times, wouldn’t it? Yusuke: Yes. I was actually thinking about swinging by regardless. Ryuji: lol for real Yusuke: This would be the perfect excuse to revisit the cafe.

Futaba rolls her eyes, wiping off the tears and snot on her face with the back of her sleeve.

Futaba: oh inari. Yusuke: I was actually thinking about going there again during this week. Sumire: haha, that totally sounds like you, Yusuke-senpai. Ann: so uh, tomorrow right? Makoto: Yes, if everyone is free. Ryuji: count me in! Yusuke: Me too as well, please. Futaba: ofc! I’m in! Haru: Count me in too! Sumire: Me too! for Senpai! Makoto: So just to reiterate, we’re meeting at Leblanc tomorrow? Ryuji: hell yeah! Ann: yeah! Yusuke: I agree Haru: Of course! Sumire: Yes, you can count me in!

Futaba looks at Morgana. He nods with confidence.

Futaba: me and mona are ready to go! Futaba: i’ll tell sojiro right away! Makoto: Good to hear! Remember to bring your weapons and guns if you still have them. Makoto: Other than that, let’s do it. Let’s go into his Palace and save him! For Ren! Yusuke: For Ren! Ann: for ren! Ryuji: we’re coming for you dude Haru: For Ren! Ryuji: for ren! Sumire: hang in there, Senpai!

Futaba was now crying, full of joy and determination and emotion as she typed her message of agreement.

Futaba: for Ren ╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑

They were going to save him. Just like he had saved them, no matter what.

“For Ren.” Morgana mutters, looking straight past the curtained window, hope shimmering in his eyes, “We’re coming to save you, Ren. Just hold on for us. We’re coming.”

***

The next day as promised, Futaba had Sojio close the forgotten cafe, sitting on one of the booths as she typed away on her laptop. The only sounds that occupied the rustic space was the sound of her rapid typing on the keyboard and the sound of clinking cups and boiling rice, Sojiro reading the food mainly for the handful of regulars that visited him. It was early morning, Morgana resting on the booth seat next to her, hidden from the rest of the public. Sojiro often emphasised the need for the feline phantom thief to stay hidden from potential customers, worried that the sight of the cat would cause customers to doubt the impeccable freshness of the food he served.

“So… you’ve got everything?” Sojiro asks his daughter, breaking the tense atmosphere that inhabited the cafe.

“Mmhm.” Futaba nods, gesturing to the plastic bag behind her laptop monitor full of different boxes, “I had that doc from the clinic give me some items… I was gonna pay her but she said it was complimentary.”

“Is that so?” Sojiro hummed, raising an eyebrow. He wondered why Tae would just give out medical supplies for free, him not knowing the doctor well personally. Futaba must have either told her Ren was in serious trouble, or that she was lying, and had somehow procured the money by other unknown means.

He had to ask Tae about the medication later. He sighed, looking down with a hand resting on his forehead.

“Boss seems really stressed.” Morgana meows. Futaba looks up to see Sojiro with a stressed expression.

“Sojiro?”

“Hm?” he said, looking back up to see Futaba’s eyes gazing with worry. He flashed her one of his confidant smiles, washing away the stress that adorned his face, “What’s the matter?”

“Mona says that you seem really stressed,” she explains, “Is there anything wrong?”

“No it’s just…” Sojiro sighs, his facade dropping back to the same stressed expression Futaba had caught him with, “I’m just worried about Ren. The kid’s strong don’t get me wrong but; I just don’t know enough of this Metaverse place to have an ease of mind about his safety.”

“Don’t worry, Sojiro.” Futaba says, closing her laptop screen before standing up in the booth, a determined expression crossing her face, “We’re gonna save him no matter what happens! We’re gonna bring him home, you can count us on that!”

Sojiro looks at Futaba, looks at the sheer fire and determination in her eyes, and smiles. She had grown a lot after Ren had stolen her treasure, after he had saved her from her own distortions and misery, and how she intended to do the same. That passion. That desire to pursue something she had her mind set on. It reminded him so much of her mother.

The chime of the doorbell rang as it opened, Makoto walking into the cafe. She awkwardly stood there, seeing Futaba up in her seat.

“Did I interrupt something?” she asks, “I’m so sorry if that’s the case. I just thought I would arrive early to make some last minute preparations.”

“N-nothing!” Futaba stammers shily, and Sojiro breaths a half hearted laugh.

“Um… okay then.” Makoto says awkwardly as she walks towards the booth that Futaba’s sat in, giving Sojiro a quick ‘thank you’ and a bow before returning to her intended path, Sojiro flashing an appreciative smile in response, “By the way, I bought some supplies on the way here.”

She raises the plastic bag full of what seemed to be medication, “These are for us in case we need them while in the Palace. I don’t know what items Ren normally gets during our infiltrations, so I’ve taken the liberty to get some of everything.”

“Oh...”Futaba says, “I mean, I did that as well.”

“Oh!” Makoto exclaims, “Well, the more the better. We still have no clue what to expect in Ren’s Palace, so it’s better to be over prepared than under!” she awkwardly laughs.

“Nice save.” Morgana puurs, half amused at how awkward Makoto still acts around them. She puts down the plastic bag full of medicine and sits across Futaba.

“So, what have you been up to?” she asks, an attempt to start up a conversation between the two of them.

“Been mostly doing my own research.” she says nonchalantly, “Digging through Ren’s social media, the social media of his parents-”

“Have you talked to any of his friends?” Makoto asks, Futaba nods, but looks disappointed.

“He doesn’t really have a lot of friends that live there,” Futaba informs Makoto as she types away, “The ones that he seems close to, this girl named Nanako and her cousin Yu, has no clue as to how he’s been doing. To them, he just seems to be acting just fine. No shifts in mood, not anything.”

“Well that is troubling…” Makoto murmurs to herself, “What about his parents?”

“He hasn’t spoken to them since he’s moved to Tokyo.” Futaba winces, “Judging by the way they typed, I think they have a more than strained relationship between them.”

“That’s…” Makoto says, shaking her head. From her late night chats with Ren she knew his relationship with his parents were less than favourable; but to not talk to them for so long, “I think that may be a factor as to why he has a Palace.”

“Sounds like it.” Futaba hums in agreement, “I’ll see what else I can dig up.”

“Thank you, Futaba.” Makoto says, Futaba nodding back as she typed on her keyboard.

A minute later the door opened again, Yusuke striding into the cafe, a wide, brown bookbag strung on one of his shoulders.

“I’m not interrupting anything, aren’t I?” he asks politely, looking at both Futaba and Makoto.

“No, of course not.” Makoto says, moving deeper into the booth before patting the spot next to her, inviting Yusuke to sit, “Come join us. We were just discussing stuff.”

“Ah, well.” Yusuke says, taking Makoto’s offer, sitting down next to her, “I have some theories of my own, if this thing we’re talking about is Ren of course, but first.”

He turns to Sojiro.

“Thank you for allowing us to use Leblanc again. We’ll sure make up for it.”

“You don’t need to thank me, kid.” Sojiro sighs, “It’s the least I can do. You’re all risking your lives in order to save the poor kid from himself if I’m understanding this whole ‘Palace’ thing correctly. Just… get him out of there in one piece, okay?”

“We will.” Makoto nods, “We’ll do everything we can to save him.”

Another ring as the sound of the door closing grabs everyone’s attention, Haru standing in front of the doorway along with Sumire trailing behind her.

“Hello, everybody.” Haru waves, “I hope we’re not intruding on anything.”

“Nah, you two are good.” Morgana chirps up before anything, using his hind legs to stand and his front legs to support his small frame on the table, “We were just discussing what led to Ren’s sudden distortion. We haven’t gotten any leads so far however.”

“Oh..” Sumire says, and Haru’s smile seemed to drop as well, “So you were talking about Ren-senpai.”

“Yes, I was wondering myself about what caused his Palace to appear. I even have some theories of my own.” Haru murmured, “But before I share them.”

She turns to Sojiro, bowing, Sumire following her lead.

“Thank you for allowing us to use Leblanc, Sojiro-san.” Haru thanks.

“Yes, thank you so much!” Sumire exclaims.

“Aww, you don’t need to thank me.” Sojiro bashfully accepts their thankful attitude, “Just bring the kid home safe will you?”

“We will!” Haru cheerfully smiles.

“Oh course!” Sumire says, rising from her bow, before turning to the rest of the group, “Oh yeah, on the way here I got some supplies that I’ll think would be really helpful for us.”

She raises a plastic bag, it having a cross and a cute drawing of a mascot, “I got some supplies from the pharmacy in case we need anything like that in the-”

She looks at the two plastic bags that had similar contents to her’s.

“Oh… uh.”

“You can put them with the rest.” Makoto huffs, and Sumire does so obediently. She turns to Haru, who politely asks Futaba to move further into the booth, “So, you were saying?”

“Oh? Oh yeah!” Haru exclaims as she felt Morgana hop into her lap, instinctively reaching out to pet his soft fur, “I was mentioning about how I have some of my own theories as to why Ren suddenly has a Palace.”

“I have my own as well, although I don’t really know that much about senpai, so I think I might be wrong about certain things...”

“Don’t worry, Sumire. I’m sure your theories would be just as helpful to us as the others.” Morgana smiles (as well as he could as a cat), “We need all the info we can gather if we’re gonna have any idea what we’re up against.”

“Thanks, Mona-senpai!” Sumire exclaims, her mood lifted by his words.

Another ring from the cafe door sounded, the thieves turning to see Ryuji in the doorway.

“What’s up guys.” he exclaims, grinning as he walked inside, “I’m so ‘effing pumped about this. Couldn’t sleep last night.”

He turned to Sojiro.

“Hey, Boss.” he greeted the elder, “Thanks for lettin’ us use the cafe again.”

“No problem.” Sojiro waves, “Just doing what I can to help you all save Ren.”

“Yeah. Oh, speaking about helping Ren.” he says, taking out a small white box of pills, “I uh… forgot to bring some stuff, so I quickly snagged some painkillers from a pharmacy in case we need any.”

He smiles, proud of himself as he holds the pills. Yet the unamused faces of his friends caused his expression to shift to one of confusion, “What’s up?”

His gaze drifts to the booth table currently occupied by them, him stepping back in shock as he sees the large stack of supplies in front of him.

“Whoa, what?!”

“I feel like this situation is turning to one of great irony.” Yusuke mutters to himself, wincing at how embarrassingly comedic the group's endeavors of being useful turned out to be, “I suggest we should elect who would be responsible for gathering healing items as soon as Ann gets here. Just looking at the excess of medication sickens me somewhat.”

“I agree.” Makoto sighs, “I’d doubt we’ll be using most of it regardless.”

“I was just trying to help.” Ryuji sulks disappointingly, “‘The more the merrier’, right?”

“I think that saying only applies to people.” Haru informs.

“Well, I still mean what I said!” he huffs.

The cafe door rings again, and all of them turn their attention to whoever the newcomer was.

“Heya, so sorry I’m late.” Ann smiles, the girl holding a half eaten sandwich in one of her hands, a plastic bag wrapped around her wrist in another. She nods an acknowledgement to Sojiro, him smiling back at her, before returning to the conversation with her friends, “I brought-”

“Please, don’t say medicine.” Sumire exclaims, Ann looking at her with a quizzical look.

“Medicine? Why would I-”

She spots something from the corner of her eye, turning to see the plastic bags and the multitude of prescription boxes inside.

“Whoa…” she says in amazement, her eyes widening, “That’s a lot.”

“We know.” Makoto sighs, already tired of the situation they found themselves in.

“If I may ask, Ann.” Haru pipques up, “What did you bring if not medicine?”

“I brought snacks, of course!”

“You… brought snacks?!” Yusuke asks, surprised by these turn of events, “But… why?”

“Well,” Ann started, everyone but Futaba’s gaze started to get to her, “I knew Makoto would be the one to bring things like medication, and Ryuji would bring some snacks for us. But I knew Ryuji would also forget, so I took the liberty to stop in Shibuya to pick up a few things before I got here.”

“Gee, thanks for being so confident about me.” Ryuji said, sighing, slipping his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, I only said that because I’ve known you the longest!” Ann exclaims.

“Yeah, I know!” he shouts back, before turning to the rest of the group, his mood perking up somewhat, “Anyway, since Ann is here, we gotta def discuss the Palace.”

“I agree.” Makoto said, tucking a stray hair back behind her ear, “Since everyone has gathered, we need to discuss the possible reasons why Ren is having these distortions. I’m somewhat confident that there will be minimal danger since this is his Palace after all, but we still need to discuss possible scenarios we'll be facing during our infiltration.”

Makoto turns to look at Futaba, who was on her computer the entire time, “Futaba, you may go first.”

“H-huh?” Futaba snaps to attention, looking at Makoto with a startled expression, “I uh… what did you say?”

“I was talking about us all discussing possible reasons for Ren’s distorted thoughts.” Makoto repeated herself exasperatedly, “We need to consider anything and everything as to why Ren would feel the way he does.”

“Well, I do have a theory.” Yusuke talks up.

“She asked me, Inari.”

“Yes, but I just wanted to take the opportunity to share.” he explains himself, turning to Makoto and ignoring the glare Futaba was giving him, “I suspect it has to do with something with him returning back to Inaba after our first year with him. The few times I’ve talked to him about his hometown before he moved permanently into Tokyo he only gave vague answers and affirmations. If I had to guess, it would probably be about his dissatisfaction towards his hometown.”

“I’ve done some snooping around myself.” Futaba informs the rest of the group, slightly lowering the monitor of her laptop, “It seems like a lot of friends Ren used to have in Inaba have stopped interacting with him ever since he received the probation charge.” she explains, “And even if his name has been cleared up, he’s still labeled as a delinquent over there. The handful of friends he still has don’t really talk to him anymore, too busy with their own stuff.”

“Apparently,” Makoto begins to relay her information, “He has a strained relationship with his parents as well. Sometimes when I video-chat him, I sometimes witness him having verbal fights with either his mother or father, him looking more agitated right after.”

“Mmm those were pretty common, unfortunately.” Morgana mutters, gazing down at the table, his comment startling the rest of the phantom thieves. He looked up, noting their surprised expressions.

“He has regular fights with his parents?” Sumire winced at this new information, “What about, exactly?”

“I dunno, I’m normally in his room when they fight, but they fight pretty frequently. Mostly about his reputation ever since Shido sued him, but Ren seemed to shrug them off effortlessly.”

“He never told me about that.” Makoto grimaces, thinking about the reasons why Ren would hide such information from her, “I mean, he’d vent to me about school and how his teachers treated him there, but nothing about his parents.”

Morgana gives her a worried look.

“Maybe his parents have to do something with his distortions?” Haru puts forth, “It seems like that might have at least contributed to the formation of his Palace.”

“Yeah, definitely.” Ann said, “But there must be more reasons why he’s suddenly getting these distortions. I mean, his Palace location being the World? Something about that doesn’t sit right with me.”

“We still don’t have anything concrete.” Morgana sighs, “Yes, all those things can contribute to a distortion, but I don’t feel like it’s the main reason why Ren has a Palace. Remember, this distortion is so strong that it’s able to completely rob Ren’s will of rebellion and take away his Persona. It has to be something that severe.”

“Well, I’m not sure it’ll help much, but Ren has been really quiet lately.” Haru humms.

“He’s always quiet though.” Ann points out, finishing the sandwich she brought with her.

“Yes,” Haru said, an edge of irritation in her tone, “Sorry for not being more specific but, what I meant was that Ren’s been quieter than before.” She clarifies, “Whenever we meet up and talk he’d give me brief comments and always answered with ‘yes’ and ‘no’, especially about the advancement of my cafe. I always left it that way only because he seemed a bit more tired than usual. I should have pried further looking back.”

“I know what you mean.” Ann huffs, a look of self disappointment on her face, “Whenever I chatted with him he always forgets to text me. He always talks to the group like it’s nothing you know? But whenever I try to confront him about it he never really replies. It’s frustrating.”

“Maybe he’s been really busy?” Sumire reasons, “Whenever I ask for senpai to spend some time with me, he always cancels at the last minute and apologises. I always feel really bad whenever that happens, but he assures me that it’s not my fault. Maybe he's somehow depressed or overworking himself?”

They all turn their heads to Ryuji.

“What?” he asks.

“Ren’s normally handing out with you, right?” Ann points out, “I mean, you are the closest person to him besides Makoto and Sumire. You’re practically inseparable. Everytime I see you you’re with him.”

“I mean, it’s the same old Renren when I spend time with him.” Ryuji laughs awkwardly, hand scratching the back of his head nervously, “Even if he seems down whenever we hang out, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

He lowers his arm, leaning on the cafe’s counter.

“At least, I hope so.” he admits, “I’m worried about him too but… he’d tell us if anything was bothering him, right?”

He looks at the other thieves, hopeful. They looked back at him, unsure.

Ryuji gritted his teeth as the group fell into silence. He scratches his head. He wanted to talk, to say something in order to get the group motivated, yet the words escaped him and he was left there, struggling to come up with a rousing speech to raise their spirits. He growls, kicking the ground, frustrated by their lack of knowledge going into the Palace. Though the key words were there, they wanted to know why Ren was feeling the way he did beforehand; it went against everything they knew about their leader.

“Fuck it…” Ryuji hisses, pulling out his phone.

“Ryuji, what are you doing?” Yusuke asks, seeing how frustrated his friend had become.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick of waiting around.” Ryuji replies, “We’re all standing here like morons while who knows what is happening in his Palace. I don’t know about you but I want to get him out there ASAP.”

“We don’t even know where his Palace is located!” Makoto exclaims tiredly, “Unlike other cases the term is too vague. Where does ‘The World’ even convey!?”

“I know you want to save him, Ryuji, but Makoto’s right.” Ann says as she reaches to grab Ryuji's phone, him yelping as he just manages to dodge her hand, “You’re just gonna risk us getting found out!”

“Well, is there a place anywhere in Japan called ‘The World’?” Sumire asks Futaba, who returned to her laptop before the fight between the thieves broke out. The girl shook her head.

“Nope, nothing.” she replies, “I tried hacking the new Nav as well to see if there were any hits that correlated in real life, but the location’s too vague.”

“Well, me and Ren managed to get into the Palace from an alleyway...” Morgana mutters, a fleeting thought that soon suddenly roused an expression of sudden comprehension. He wiggled out of Haru’s lap, dashing across the tiled floors of the cafe and up the steps leading to the attic.

“Mona-chan!” Haru squeaked in surprise as the feline suddenly jumped out from her lap, startling her as she threw her hands up to not accidentally harm him, “What’s gotten into you?!”

“Quickly, up here everyone!” Morgana calls out to the thieves, and they look at each other with bewilderment. One by one they proceeded to climb up the stairs to the attic, following their shot caller to the small, dusty room above. Futaba gently pushes her laptop closed, and she sees the ginormous bag of medication Yusuke has wrapped around his wrist before he disappears upstairs.

“Whoa, that’s a lot of medicine.” Futaba mutters to Ryuji, pointing out the obscene amounts of boxes within the plastic bag that Yusuke carried upstairs into the attic with him.

“We know.” he sighs.

***

Ren wakes up, his eyes fluttering open to darkness. He raises his head up from his shoulder, his neck aching from craning it in an awkward position throughout his sleep, feeling himself still sitting on something. He tried to get up, wanting to stretch his aching limbs and back, but the rope that bound his wrists made him unable to fully do so, instead standing unnaturally, his bound arms forcing him into an awkward half-sit.

He anxiously sighed, realising that the meeting of his shadow wasn’t one of the sick, twisted, hyper realistic nightmares that occasionally tormented his sleep, his mind conjuring up vivid imagery and almost tangible memories of everything that still quietly haunted him a year and a half later. He breaths in slowly, and out again. He tugs at his restraints, and the door in front of him suddenly burst open. His captor, his shadow, appeared as a silhouette against the sudden burst of light that assaulted him. Joker stood there casually, hands in his pockets, features half hidden by black, yet his golden eyes shone unnaturally in the darkness that caressed his figure.

“Bonjour, mon invité.” Joker greets, the grin on his smile as wide as Ren remembers from the previous day, “Did you sleep well? Have any good dreams?”

“You tell me.” Ren smirked, looking rebelliously at his shadow as he continued to tug on the rope that bounded him, “You’re me, aren’t you?”

“Haha, yes.” Joker smiles, his tone dismissive as he notices Ren standing, his arms bent backwards from him still being restrained by the rope, “Very funny.”

Joker walks casually towards Ren, slipping a red hand to touch Ren’s chest and gently pushes back, Ren instinctively sitting back down, “I’m glad you have so much energy today,” Joker continues to purr menacingly, his grin unfaltering as he takes his hand away from his other, standing close, looking over him, “Because I have a whole day of fun planned for you to enjoy.”

“Me? Enjoy?” Ren asks, curious as to what his shadow’s intentions are, “What are you suggesting?”

Joker laughs in response, clearly amused by Ren’s question, “Why, this is a theatre of course, silly! What is there to do in theatres except to watch? Tell me, do you know where you are?”

“In a dark room within my Palace?”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong.” Joker growled sinisterly, raising a hand and snapping it. A mechanical whirr sounded somewhere behind him, followed by another, and then another, a chorus of whirring surrounded the both of them as Joker spun Ren towards monitors that suddenly flickered on, emerging from the dark. Ren winced, his eyes blinking rapidly as they struggled to adjust to the bursts of sudden light. He squints, eyes still adjusting, slowly making out different sections divided by the screens. He looked at the simple humanoid cognitions wandering through different foyers and theatres, them talking amongst each other, realising that the monitors showed different sections of his Palace.

“I… I don’t understand?” he admits, darting his eyes towards the different displays, “Why are you showing me this? All of this?”

“Entertainment, of course.” Joker explains, reaching from behind Ren's chair as he flicks a few switches on the twinkling dashboard in front of them, “I can’t have my guest be bored while he stays here, can’t I? No. I need to keep you busy, keep you entertained as I play with our friends, keep you here as I show you how much they love me, Joker, more than you.”

“Is that it? Is that your whole plan?” Ren questioned, raising an eyebrow in perplexity, “Your plan failed before it could even begin, none of them have the Metanav app, and you can’t possibly drag them in like you did with me. I might die in my own distorted heart, but at least they’ll be safe from your grasp.”

“Is that so?” Joker hinted as he casually pointed at one of the screens, “Then explain that.”

Ren follows Joker’s fingers, looking at the screen he’s pointing to. His throat tightens in dread as he sees his friends standing at the entrance of the theatre.

***

“Morgana, what’s gotten into you?!” Ann shouts for the cat, clambering the stairs behind Haru as the group pursues him, old wood creaking beneath her as she ascends after her friend, “You gotta tell us what’s gotten into you!”

“I’m sorry, Lady Ann.” Morgana apologises as he jumps on the abandoned makeshift bed he used to share with Ren, turning around in a swift motion, “But I needed you all up here first. I want to test something out.”

“Couldn’t you just have told us downstairs?” Haru questions him as the rest of the group made their way up the old, dusty wooden stairs, pouring out from the narrow space into the spacious room of the attic, “I would have been easier than to have rushed up here.”

“I know. But I needed a space in which we could all gather.” Morgana explains, seeing that Futaba was the last one to arrive, hugging her laptop, joining the others as they stood around to face him, “And I needed to make sure that no one can see us.”

“Why?” Ryuji asks nonchalantly, “I mean, Yongen-Jaya barely has anyone walking the streets at this time, Boss has the cafe closed just for us, and no one really cares about the Phantom Thieves anymore.”

“This is something different.” Morgana says to Ryuji, his face knitted in a serious expression, “It has something to do with the Nav. More specifically the keywords for Ren’s Palace.”

“The keywords?” it was Makoto’s turn to ask, “Have you figured out something about them?”

“Yeah.” Morgana nods, “It’s something to do with where Ren and I got pulled in. It might be a long shot but I need to know if it works.”

“Um okay…” Makoto replies, “What do you need to know about them, exactly?”

Morgana turns to Ryuji, looking at him expectantly, “You still have the Nav open on your phone?”

“I mean, yeah I do.” Ryuji informs him, unlocking his phone before tilting the screen upside down for Morgana to see that he still has the Nav ready, “But I thought we didn’t know where this ‘World’ place is?”

“We do.” Morgana says, the whole group taken aback by his suggestion, “Now, on my word Ryuji, begin the navigation to Ren’s Palace, you got that?”

“Whoa whoa whoa, wait!” Ryuji sputtered, Morgana giving in an expression of annoyance towards his hesitance, “Mona are you sure this is gonna work?”

“Of course it will!” Morgana shouts back, clearly getting more anxious and tense, no doubt the absence of Ren ebbing away at his patience, “And even if it didn’t, nothing bad will happen to us!”

“Morgana-senpai, please relax! I’m sure Ryuji’s just expressing his concern for our safety” Sumire appealed to him, trying to get the both of them to stop fighting, “I know I haven’t been on many missions unlike the rest of you, but I do agree with Ryuji only because the app feels really suspicious to me.”

“I agree.” Yusuke speaks up, his hands resting in a thoughtful position, “This is unlike anything we’ve encountered. The only thing I can liken this to is when we had to go after Maruki. However there is nothing out of the ordinary in the real world, and the application appearing seemingly just as Ren’s Palace formed can be interpreted as a cry for help from his subconscious.”

“A cry for help?” Ann said in surprise, “You mean his shadow is the one who sent the app to us? Then why was he trapped by his own Palace?”

“I have no concrete answers for that.” Yusuke hummed, continuing to think out loud, “I think that… If my interpretation is correct, and Ren is a prisoner of his own Palace, then regardless, I feel as though that Ryuji’s hesitance is quite appropriate.”

“Are you guys really going to hesitate now, after all we’ve discussed about last night?!” Morgana snaps, his voice squeaking from both frustration and desperation, “Ren’s in trouble! I want to save him, and I can bet that we can handle whatever his Palace throws at us!”

“Well, we can’t leave him there.” Ann says, twirling a finger in her hair impatiently, “If it’s really that dangerous, then it makes more sense to get him out ASAP. The more we argue, the more danger Ren’s in.”

“I agree. We can speculate all we want, but it won’t get us any closer to freeing Ren from his Palace.” Makoto sighs, “We need to take a leap of faith; for Ren’s sake.”

“Thank you, Makoto.” Morgana says, before turning his attention to Ryuji, “Now start the Nav, Ryuji. We don’t have all day.”

“Fine, fine.” Ryuji grumbles before tapping on the screen. A second later, all of them felt a sudden, almost sickening wave echo through their heads. Each of them instinctively closed their eyes until the once so familiar feeling passed. When it subsided they all opened their eyes, and found themselves in front of the sweeping steps that led to the same regal theatre Morgana talked of in front of them, surrounded by desolate, barren landscape. It was beautiful, a beacon against the drab landscape as it loomed above them, shadows dancing past the stained glass windows that decorated it, no doubt the patrons of Ren’s distorted heart.

“We arrived at the Palace?” Sumire says, curiously looking around them, a light frown curling the corners of her mouth from the severe distortion surrounding them, “But how, exactly?”

"Oh I get it now." Haru chimes, "It's just like Shakespeare's 'All the World's a stage' line. Ren must think that everywhere's a performance space of some kind."

"So 'The World' keyword in the Metanav refers to anywhere and everywhere." Makoto mutters sadly, hand on her chin in a thoughtful gesture "That's… extremely troubling."

“Hey Yusuke, why didn’t you think of that?” Ryuji asks the tall, blue haired man innocently, “Aren’t you studying the arts or something like that?”

“I am.” Yusuke responded, scowling in disappointment towards his faux blonde friend, “But my speciality is within the fine arts. Not theatre.”

“Um, guys.” Sumire interjects, looking worriedly towards the group, “I hate to interrupt your conversation but… We don’t have our Metaverse outfits on.”

“Hm? Oh yeah, that’s not really surprising.” Ryuji brushes off casually, “I mean, this is Ren we’re talking about. You can take it easy, Sumire.”

“Yeah,” Ann agrees with Ryuji, “I mean, Ren’s our friend, right? It’ll be odd for him to see us as a threat.”

“Come on you guys,” Morgana huffs impatiently, starting to climb up the stairs into the grand theatre, “Let’s go in, follow me!”

“I bet the fact that he knows he has a Palace also means he would more than likely anticipate us coming here to claim his treasure.” Makoto rationalises, placing a foot on one of the steps as she continues their conversation despite Morgana’s interjection, “He knows how we, as Phantom Thieves operate, and I feel our Metaverse outfits not appearing also has something to do with that.”

“Oh, okay.” Sumire nods in understanding, blushing in embarrassment for having asked such an obvious question. She bows, “I’m sorry for asking such an obvious question. This is the first time since Maruki’s Palace since I’ve joined in a Phantom Thief operation.”

“That is completely understandable.” Yusuke says as he starts to follow Makoto up the stairs, “We are more than happy to help you if you need it, Sumire. I’m sure we all recognise that relatively, you’re still new to our operus mondi.”

“Oh, thank you, Kitagawa-senpai.” Sumire smiles, starting to follow him up the stairs alongside Haru and Ryuji, “I feel much better knowing I can rely on you for assistance.”

“It’s my pleasure.” He smiles, “Now, let’s reunite with the others, shall we?”

“We shall!” she giggles, continuing to climb the steps.

Ann is the second last person to ascend the stairs, stopping in her tracks when she fails to spot Futaba among the group. Turning around, she sees Futaba standing at the foot of the steps, her head down as she hugged her laptop tighter near her torso. She looked sad; anxious; hesitant to follow them, electing instead to stay behind, almost scared of the building ahead of them

“Hey.” Ann mutters as she descends down to meet the girl, Futaba tilting her heads upwards to only just meet Ann’s gaze, “Are you okay, Futaba?”

“I… I dunno.” Futaba admits, sighing while she looked away from the older blond, “I mean… this is Ren’s Palace… I’m...”

She trails off.

“You’re scared aren’t you?”

Futaba looks up at her, shocked. “Y-yeah, how did you know?”

“I’m scared too.” Ann admits, “Scared of what we’ll find in there. And I’m pretty sure the others are scared as well. But we’ve got each other. I know it’s really hard to not be scared; but Ren needs us more than ever, and we need to be brave in order to change his heart and save him from his Palace.”

“Yeah.” Futaba mutters, sulking at her own cowardice, swallowing down her anxious feelings as best she could, “You’re right, Ann. Sorry for acting like this, especially since I’m the one who thought of the idea to go into Ren’s Palace in the first place.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Ann smiled, her joy and confidence feeling infectious as Futaba could not help but smile back, “Now come on, let’s go in, I bet the others will get worried if they notice we’re not with them.”

“Okay…” Futaba nods, climbing after Ann. Yet when Ann turns away her expression sinks again. Her eyebrows furrow, the feeling of anxiety coming back. She knew that they were all scared, terrified of what awaited them inside, terrified of what hidden thoughts and memories Ren had that rotted and twisted his heart. She climbed the stairs, repeating what Morgana had told her the night before as she approached the grand doors alongside Ann. But there was one detail. One question she realised she still has on her mind. One question she forgot to ask. Yet she now dared not ask it, afraid of jeopardizing the mission before it even properly began.

***

“Whoa holy shit!” Ryuji exclaimed, marvelling the interior of the theatre, the glittering gold accents catching his eye, twinkling invitingly as he entered the foyer, “This place is amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“I agree, it’s really hard to believe that this place is a Palace.” Haru marvels with Ryuji, instead looking at the elaborate stained glass windows that shined within the interior lights, “I can’t really put my finger on it but, it feels really pleasant to be inside.”

“I know what you mean.” Yusuke sighs, “It certainly feels welcoming. The decor here is immaculate and beautiful in the way that soothes my heart and itches my fingers, begging to be captured and preserved. Oh if only I brought my brush and paint with me today.”

“I agree with Yusuke.” Makoto nods, “But we need to keep our guard up. Though this is Ren’s Palace, we still aren’t sure exactly why his Palace appeared. While we’re still seen as not a threat, anything we do or say might trigger something that’ll turn the shadows against us. After all, Morgana was attacked by what we can assume were hostile shadows, there’s no knowing that will happen if we encounter one while we don’t have our powers available to us.” she reminded them.

“I agree, Niijima-san. Caution in a Palace that belongs to a powerful Persona user should be exercised, even if it belongs to Amamiya.”

A familiar voice belonging to no one in the group spoke to them, Makoto instinctively opened her mouth to answer. But the realisation hit her as she turned to her right, mouth agape with surprise as the others jaws dropped in shock, some covering their mouths in awe, all wide eyed, the same expression of surprise shared among them.

"Is that....?" Ann dared to utter, having just arrived with Futaba, yet she saw the answer right before her.

His eyes stared back at them, recognisable red irises radiated within the room, the colour matching the velvet that generously decorated the foyer of the theatre. His brown hair, long and slightly unkempt hung straight on his head, a hand tucked within his brown winter coat, his other hand hung out by his side casually, gloved. He stood there in front of them, his weight shifted from one leg to another, him looking at Makoto, and the rest of the group, with an almost expectant expression.

It was Goro. He was alive.

#dan's log #txt #persona #ren amamiya #p5 morgana #ryuji sakamoto #ann takamaki #yusuke kitagawa #makoto niijima #futaba sakura #haru okumura #goro akechi #sumire yoshizawa #p5r spoilers #spoilers #palace: theatre of mirrors

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