The school twists into the Castle. Akira's clothes burst into blue flames and resolve themselves into his Thief's outfit. Morgana rises on his hind legs, his head bulbous and wide-eyed. Ryuji pats down his leather jacket and chrome mask, a big grin on his face.

"Okay, guys," Morgana says. "We need to discuss something important."

Ryuji lets out a groan. "Come on. There's something else we need to know?"

"You'll like this one.”

"Doubt it."

"Code names."

Ryuji blinks. "Never mind. We get code names?"

Morgana nods. "I think it'd be a good idea. We don't know what the result of us shouting our real names inside the Palace will be. So, we should settle on what to call one another." Morgana glances at Akira, a glint in his eyes. "Don't you agree, Joker?"

"Hmm?"

Ryuji's jaw drops. "Dude, that's awesome! Okay, Akira's Joker from now on!"

"Why 'Joker?'" Joker asks.

"Because you're our 'ace,'" Morgana replies.

"So why isn't my codename 'Ace?'"

Morgana sighs. "Do you want to be called Ace?"

"No, no," Joker says, straightening his jacket, a small smile on his face. "Joker will be just fine."

"Me next! Me next!" Ryuji shouts, his hand in the air. "How about 'Badass?'"

"How about not?" Morgana replies.

Joker nods. "That's terrible. We're not going to keep referring to you as 'Badass' as we're running around the Palace."

Ryuji's face falls, but only for a moment. "Fine. How about 'Troublemaker?'"

"Too long."

"Slaughter-house?"

"That's even longer!"

"Biker? Cause I look like one?"

"But you don't have a bike."

Ryuji throws his hands up in the air. "Well, what else is there?"

"Your mask is pretty cool," Joker says.

Ryuji frowns and feels the outside of his mask. He grins. "Skull."

"That's good," Joker says. "Really good."

Ryuji straightens and folds his arms across his chest. "I'm Skull."

"Alright, so what about me?" Morgana asks.

"Do you need one?" Skull asks.

"I-I can't be the only one without a codename? That's so lame!"

Joker frowns. "You probably wouldn't like, 'Cat,' would you?"

Morgana's eyes narrow. "No. Way."

"How about Mona?" Skull asks with a shrug. "Nice and short. Kind of sounds like his real name."

"Hmmm," Morgana says and tries it out. "Mona. I like it. A lot. Okay, I'm Mona."

"Skull, Mona, and Joker," Skull recites. "We sound awesome!"

Joker turns to the Castle. "Then, I suppose it’s time."

"Right!" Mona strides forth and glares up at the Castle’s balustrades, its jagged towers, its black banners beating in the stale wind. "Time for us to steal the Treasure! Let's begin our infil-"

"OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS PLACE WHAT IS HAPPENING?" The voice is a screech, and all three thieves jump.

They turn and see Ann Takamaki standing on the drawbridge, face pale, eyes wide, knees quaking, arms wrapped around herself.

"The hell?” Skull asks. “Takamaki?"

"Ryuji?" Ann approaches the trio with a few slow steps. "Is that you? What the hell are you wearing?"

"Never mind that! What're you doing here?"

"I don't even know where here is!" She stares past them and takes in the Palace. "A Castle," she mutters, then looks at Joker. "You were telling the truth?"

"Uh," Joker manages, then feels a paw slap the back of his head. "Ow!"

"You told her about the Castle?" Mona shouts, waving his arms.

"No! I told her I was late for school because I got trapped in a Castle."

"How is that 'not' telling her about the Castle?"

"I didn't elaborate!"

Ann waves her arms through the air. "Would someone tell me what's going on?"

The three thieves look at Ann, then wordlessly huddle up. "This is bad," Mona says. "If she keeps making a racket, the Shadows will hear her."

"Yeah," Skull replies. "This place is way too dangerous for her."

"Don't ignore me!” Ann insists.

"What'd you want to do, Joker?" Mona asks.

"I agree with Skull," Joker says. "She can't stay here. We should send her back."

"Agreed."

"Got it."

"I said, 'Don't ignore me!'"

"So, uh, which one of us is going to make her go back?" Skull asks.

Mona and Joker glance at each other. "Not it," both say together.

Skull's jaw drops. "Son of a... are you kidding me?"

Joker straightens and begins to fiddle with his gloves. "We both appreciate you doing this, Skull."

"Fine." Skull turns to Ann. "Listen, Takamaki. We'll explain everything, I promise. But you've got to leave right now."

"Like hell! I'm not going anywhere until one of you jerks tells me what's going on. Also," and she points at Morgana. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Thing?" Mona repeats, eyes downcast.

Skull puts his hands on Ann's shoulders and starts to push her backward gently. "I promise I'll tell you everything," he says. "But I can't right now. It's way too dangerous here."

Ann tries to swat his hands away. "Hey! Don't think you can use this time to cop a feel!"

"I-I'm not!" Skull turns back to the other two. "Could you guys help me out here?"

Joker frowns and nods. Together, the two of them push Ann to the boundary of the drawbridge. One moment, they are pushing her, and the next, she stumbles backward and vanishes.

"Uh, did that do it?" Skull asks. "We didn't just kill her, did we?"

"No, it's fine," Mona replies. "That's how people normally look when they leave—they just kind of pop out of the air. You have to make sure they leave from the same spot they come in. Palaces typically have one exfiltration point. It gets a little loopy if you try it from elsewhere."

Skull shakes his head. "Man, we are going to have some serious explainin' to do when we wrap this up." He points a finger in Joker's face. "And don't think you're going to leave it all to me! You know I'll just screw that part up." He frowns. “Especially about that other thing.”

Mona shakes his head. "I don't think anyone expects you do to the explaining, Skull."

"Can it, cat."

"Alright, alright," Joker says, patting the air democratically. We need to have some kind of briefing session later. Right now, we need to stop Kamoshida. "Crisis averted, right? Shall we go?"

"Right!" Mona spins around, strides forth, and glares up at the Castle’s balustrades, its jagged towers, its black banners beating in the stale wind. "It's time to steal the Treasure! Let's begin out infil-"

"Yeah, the moment's gone, Mona," Skull puts in.

"Skull's right," Joker says. "Let's just go in."

Mona’s head droops. "Fine! But sooner or later, you two are going to let me say something cool!"

#

"Ow!" Ann shouts as she lands on her butt. "You jerks, I'm gonna..." She trails off. She's back. The school is the school. She is in the small alley just across from the front gate. Students linger and converse amongst themselves. "What the hell?"

She picks herself up and pats herself down. A faint beep comes from her pocket.

She takes out her phone and sees a malignant eye icon staring back at her. What's this? Wait. Didn't Kurusu do something with his phone before everything got all weird? Was this it? Could she get back to the Castle this way? Should she go back? Ryuji had said it was dangerous.

Her grip tightens around her phone. No. She has to go. That Castle has something to do with Kamoshida. She's sure of it. Those guys hadn't been subtle about planning something against him. If she goes back, she can help. She can get revenge for Shiho.

Ann steels herself and clicks the icon.

#

"So, this is a Safe Room?" Joker asks and drops onto an uneven bench.

"Yep," Mona replies, hopping up onto the wooden table in the center of the room. "This is a place where the distortion is at a minimum." As the cat speaks, the outlines of the room seem to soften and roll together. Where before, the room seemed to consist of a table ringed with chairs along with a few benches and dressers shoved up against the walls, for a moment, Joker gets the impression he is standing in the center of Shujin Academy's cafeteria.

"Whoa," Skull says, blinking. He sees whatever look Joker wears beneath his mask and asks, "Did you see that too?"

"Yeah," Joker replies. The room snaps back into its smaller shape, and the distortion fades. "That's not going to happen a lot, is it?"

"It shouldn't," Mona states with a shrug. "What'd you see?"

"Shujin's cafeteria," Skull says.

"I'm guessing Kamoshida doesn't spend a lot of time there?" Mona asks.

"I don't stalk the guy, so I’m not sure," Skull mutters. "But I guess not. This whole thing is kinda creepy."

Joker nods. "So, if there's less distortion in here than the rest of the Castle, does that mean the Shadows can't get to us?" It wouldn't make much sense to have something called a 'Safe Room' if you weren't safe inside it.

Mona beams. "That's right. The Shadows can only act in areas where Kamoshida's influence extends. No influence, no Shadows. We can regroup and discuss our infiltration."

"Pit stop," Skull says and nods. "Cool."

"So, even if the Shadows saw us coming in here," Joker starts, "they couldn't follow us?" Mona nods. "Well, that's great and all, but wouldn't they just wait for us to come back out? I feel like we'd be bottling ourselves up in here."

"Heh," Mona states. "I haven't explained the best part of the Safe Room yet." He nods towards the door. "Open the door, but before you do, turn the doorknob the opposite way."

Skull approaches the door, and as he reaches for the knob, hesitates. "This isn't gonna blow me up or something, right?"

Mona stares at him. "Why would I ask you to do it if that’s what’ll happen?"

"I don't know."

"What's it supposed to do?" Joker asks, standing.

"Just do it!" Mona snaps.

"Fine, fine," Skull mutters and reaches out to grasp the nod. He makes a small showing of slowly turning the doorknob in the opposite direction and opens the door. He looks out, blinks, and says, "Dude."

Joker walks over and peers out. It takes him a moment to understand what he's seeing. He sees shelves and a very familiar grate. "Is this-" Joker starts, but Skull blurts out, "This is the freaking storage room where we entered the Castle!"

"That's right!" Mona calls, grinning. He flips off the table and pushes the two out through the door. Mona leaves the Safe Room behind them and shuts the door. "Safe Rooms can act as conduits between each other. This storage room is technically a Safe Room, just like the cafeteria. We can hop from room to room without having to retrace our steps every time."

"Wow," Joker says, turning back to look at the door.

"That's freaking awesome!" Skull yells.

Joker takes hold of the storage room's door, twists the doorknob counterclockwise, and opens it once more. He stares into the Safe Room they'd just left. He shuts the door, then turns the doorknob clockwise. He opens it into the hall that was just outside the storage room.

"This way," Mona says. "We won't have to keep fighting through the same sections of the Castle. If we get exhausted or in over our heads, all we have to do is find the nearest Safe Room, and we can get back here."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Just so I'm clear," Joker asks, "if we find another Safe Room deeper in the Castle, that Safe Room will link to the Cafeteria Safe Room, which links to this - the Storage Room - Safe Room?"

"Not quite," Mona says. "You can only turn a doorknob one of two ways, right? Turning the doorknob clockwise opens the door normally, but turning it counterclockwise will bring you back to the closest Safe Room to the Palace's infiltration point. So if we did find a third Safe Room, using it like we just did would bring us back here."

"And if I turned the doorknob counterclockwise here, I'd somehow end up back in the third Safe Room?"

"Yeah."

Joker scratches his head. "Well, wait. How the hell does the door know which Safe Room I want to go to? Hell, how does this even work? Are we, like, teleporting or something?"

"Reminds me of Fast Travel," Skull says, primarily to himself.

"It's not the door, genius. It's you," Mona replies. "Cognition is everything in this world. Your brain is already making these connections - on a subconscious level - and interpreting them. That's how we're traversing the Castle in the first place."

"Well then, can't we just tell our brains, 'I'm standing next to Kamoshida's Treasure,' and magically appear next to it?"

"This only works because of the lack of distortion within the Safe Rooms," Mona counters. "Don't forget, this is Kamoshida's Palace. He rules here. If he had less hold over the Castle, then yes, you probably could hop around all you wanted, but if that were the case, Kamoshida wouldn't have a Palace in the first place, and we wouldn’t need to infiltrate anything."

"Dude," Skull says, rubbing the back of his head. "This stuff is starting to fly over my head."

Mona gives him a look. "'Starting to?'"

Skull narrows his eyes and replies with something scathing, but Joker isn't paying attention. Even if it is me, the door still somehow interprets what I’m thinking? He wonders this, and a voice answers, Again, nothing about this makes any sense. He had accessed some sort of pocket dimension using a phone app, and the tutorial - for lack of a better term - was being delivered piecemeal by a talking cat. Maybe I died in that train crash, and this is all some strange end of life hallucination. Joker sighs. Even if it was, what was he going to do? Sit down and wait for his brain to stop functioning? Joker turns the doorknob once more and steps through to the Cafeteria Safe Room. Skull and Mona follow him.

Thus far, their infiltration has been smooth. Even without the Safe Room, Mona managed to guide them around several Shadows, and their encounters with guards amounted to little more than quick skirmishes. While possessed of some autonomy, the Shadows didn't seem particuarly intelligent and tended to march up and down the same patch of carpet until interrupted. "Guess we should keep going and hunt for the next Safe Room," Joker says.

"The best thing to do is move towards the Treasure," Mona says. "Any by my reckoning, that should be-"

From beyond the Safe Rom's door comes a muffled cry. "Get off me!"

The three freeze and look at each other. "Was that...?" Mona asks.

"Takamaki!" Skull says. "What's she doing back here?"

No one has an answer. The thieves return to the hall and find it empty save for echoes. They abandon stealth in favor of pursuit and rush through the corridors, led by the high-pitched protestations of Ann Takamaki.

They find her in the Pleasure Hall. She is shackled by the wrists - upright - to a marble column alongside Kamoshida's tacky heart-shaped bed. The King stands before her, hands on his hips, the cognitive Ann at his side, with one arm draped across his broad shoulders.

The other girls continue their exertions on the floor and the bed, with each other and with themselves.

A squad of soldiers turns an about-face when the thieves enter. They are a wall between the knaves and their lord.

The King, for once, is not speaking. Instead, Ann speaks to Ann. "It's not like I can actually do anything," the scantily dressed version says. "All I can and should do is be a willing recipient of the King's desires."

Ann - the real Ann - is pale. She struggles against her bonds, but there's little energy behind it. Her eyes are wide and hollow. "Stop it," she whispers. "Whatever this is, just stop it."

"See?" Kamoshida asks and cups the fake Ann's chin with one hand. He towers over her, tilts her head back, and sticks his tongue in her mouth. The fake Ann moans.

The real Ann winces. She shuts her eyes and shakes her head. "Stop it!"

Kamoshida breaks the kiss. "This is how you truly are, Takamaki. Complacent. Willing. Greedy for it. Flexible." He sweeps his arm in a wide arc around the room, indicating the other girls. "This is how you all are. You can fight it all you want, but deep down, all you really want is to be loved by me."

Skull steps forward, hands tightening around his pipe. "We gotta-"

"Kill them," Kamoshida commands. The guards convulse and burst into smirking goblins with sharp horns and tails. Their slobber drips to the floor, and they scatter forward on all fours towards the three intruders.

The thieves summon their Personae.

#

The battle is underway, but Ann does not watch. She sees Shiho. She understands on an intuitive level, as she takes in her best friend - dressed in a skimpy, sexualized school girl outfit, and rubbing herself - that this is not real. This is some rotting place in Kamoshida's mind. This is how he views the world.

Cognitive Shiho sees her watching and smiles. "I'm so worthless," she says. "I should have just obeyed. The only thing I want in this world is to be loved by King Kamoshida. I was confused, is all. Confused. That's why I cried during it."

#

Skull smashes his pipe into the face of one of the goblins, then ducks away as another swipes its claws at him. "This freakin' sucks!" He shouts.

Joker dives away from two of the things, swinging his blade as he does so. One of the monsters hisses as he cuts it, but it does not die. "Shit."

Mona's Zorro has little to do, as the creatures appear immune to its attacks. He swings his falchion back and forth, a desperate look in his eyes as the creatures pursue him.

Kamoshida smiles as he watches the thieves' losing battle.

Then he hears the laughter.

He turns.

Ann's eyes bore into him. Her mouth splits wide, and an awful, angry laugh pours from it. "This?" She asks in gasps. "This is how you see Shiho? If that's true, you're even more of an idiot than I thought, Kamoshida."

A few of the guards pause in their attacks and sniff the air. They turn to regard the chained-up girl.

"Shiho," Ann says. "Is strong and smart and confident, and so cool and the best person in the whole world! And you..." Her face contorts into a snarl. "You broke that." Her words are a howl. "I'M GOING TO PAY YOU BACK FOR EVERYTHING YOU DID TO HER, YOU BASTARD!"

#

Pain.

Someone strides across her brain with sharp stilettos. A strangled scream rips from her throat as she pitches forward, and her arms twist in their sockets as the chains hold her.

Blue fire rises before her, and soft, warm fingers caress her just beneath her chin and tilt her head up. Ann looks at yet another version of herself, this one with a bitter smile and golden eyes. "It's taken far too long," it says. "I began to fear you would never feel this fire."

Ann's eyes are wild, and she shudders as the hurt scribbles itself through her.

This other her leans in and locks eyes with Ann. She whispers, "This pales to hers. The agony. The shame. The past cannot be changed, but it can be avenged."

Ann stares at herself for a moment, then grits her teeth and pulls.

The other Ann smiles. "That's it. Fight. Who will bring Shiho's violator to justice, if not you?"

The metal restraints slice into her wrists, and her shoulders scream in protest. Nails hammer their way through her skull. Still, she pulls. "Know yourself. You can stomach their falsehoods. Swallow their jests." The fingers no longer lift gently. They curl and constrict around Ann's throat. "You can deal with their eyes upon you." She tightens her grip. "You can absorb all the blows. You can take everything. But?"

Ann's glare is pure hate. "He shouldn't have messed with my friend!" Her bonds shatter as the other her vanishes.

"Very good."

Crimson leather wraps itself around her face. She grips her mask and begins to tear.

"We shall proceed with the contract. I AM THOU. THOU ART I. Misplaced restraint will yield you nothing."

"Bastard..." Ann growls as the leather starts to pull free.

"NOW DANCE UPON THE ASHES OF THOSE WHO WOULD HARM THE ONES YOU LOVE!"

A scream. A final pull. The mask rips free. Blood runs from her eyes like tears.

Flames.

"Holy shit!" Skull shouts.

A figure strides forth from the blaze with twin night-black ponytails. Upon her face, she wears a thin, pink mask. A long-skirted black and red gypsy dress ornaments her body. It is both a flower and an inferno. One slender, muscled leg ending in a ruby high-heeled boot, is propped up on the back of a sniveling little beast of a man, its head in the shape of a heart. Another wimpy creature drifts behind her like a kite, bound by the neck with a thin cord.

Ann's clothes twist around her and cocoon her into a skin-tight, bright red catsuit. Pink gloves cover her hands; stilettoed boots adorn her legs. She stares at her hand as a whip materializes within it.

A goblin scrambles towards her, and with a flick, she brings the hard rope against its face. It screeches in pain and drops to the floor. Ann struts up to it and brings her stiletto down across its throat. "You know something, Kamoshida?" She turns her gaze upon the King, who stands protected behind a wall of freshly spawned soldiers. Then, with a twist of her heel, she shatters the goblin's neck. "I'm not some pin-up girl you can get yourself off to." She looks over at the convulsing girls across the room. "And neither are any of these girls. Time to burn, asshole!" She charges forward. "Let's go, CARMEN!"

“Stop her!” Kamoshida shouts, and the soldiers dart forward.

They meet a wall of fire. A cacophony of shrieks rises from their blasted bodies, and they burst into ash as the flames consume them.

The goblins flail as they incinerate, and the three thieves run forward.

“You okay?” Joker asks as they reach her side.

She spares them only a glance as they join her. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you guys better be ready, because I’m going all out!”

Shadows spawn and huddle themselves around Kamoshida, escorting him from the room. “Kill them,” he shouts as he retreats. “Kill all of them!”

“Yeah, you’d better run, you bastard!” Skull shouts after him.

The shadows swarm, and Ann steps forward and screams out her battle cry. “Dance, Carmen!”

#

The sun has set. The four of them sit on the ground outside Shujin's front gate.

Ann stares at the ground. "Crazy," she says. "This is all crazy."

Ryuji rubs the back of his head. "Ann, I'm sorry we didn’t tell you. It’s just-"

"It's okay," she says, cutting him off. Color has returned to her face, and she seems almost happy. "There was no way I'd believe any of this if you'd tried to explain it."

"But you got the gist of it?" Morgana asks, tail swishing from side to side.

Ann smirks, reaches out a hand, and rubs Morgana's head. He mewls in reply. "I think so. The Castle represents how Kamoshida views the school. If we steal his Treasure, he has a change of heart. Pretty straightforward."

"Straightforward, she says," Ryuji mumbles. “He could also, like, die.”

“If he did,” Ann starts, then trails off.

Ryuji scoffs. "Good point. Especially considering the deal."

Akira stiffens. Ann looks between the two of them.

"What deal?" She asks.

"After we confronted Kamoshida," Ryuji begins, and Akira cuts him off.

"I should probably explain it." Ann looks at him expectantly, and Akira desperately tries to collect his thoughts. Okay, how to put this lightly? He takes a few minutes to explain the general outline of Kamoshida's deal, made only a few short hours ago, and tries to simultaneously not sugarcoat or bulletpoint it.

Ann is silent after Akira relates the story. Akira glances at Ryuji and soon becomes very desperate to fill the silence with literally anything when Ann blurts out, "Eww."

"Uh, yeah," Akira replies.

"Totally," Ryuji says.

"Definitely," Morgana puts in.

"Gross," Ann says with a frown. She crosses her arms and leans back against the alley's wall.

"For sure," Akira says.

"Super gross," Ryuji tells her.

"Unconscionable," Morgana cries, sounding proud of using the word.

The silence stretches out.

"I need to think about this," Ann finally says.

"You don't need to push Kamoshida out a window or anything," Ryuji points out, shaking his head. "We’re gonna steal the Treasure." Akira says nothing. He has a strong suspicion that's not what Ann meant.

With a sigh, Ann straightens. "Well, besides that, I'm joining you guys. I'll help steal the Treasure." When Ryuji opens his mouth once more, she quickly adds, "Don't even think about saying 'no.'"

"I wasn't," Ryuji counters. "I was just gonna say that we thought you already joined. Right, Akira?"

"Yeah," Akira says. Ann turns to look at him, and Akira notes the look of skepticism on her face. "Having a Persona pretty much means you're in."

Ann looks away. "Good. Glad to hear it. When are we going back in?"

#

Akira had hoped to have more time to think over what to say to Ann regarding Kamoshida's proposal, but Ryuji had torpedoed that idea. He couldn't blame Ryuji, though. There wasn't a specific reason to have not told her, but he wishes he could've come up with a way to make it sound less awful. Not the Kamoshida part, which was always going to be terrible, but the part where Akira and Ryuji withheld the information from Ann. Akira could point out that there was no way Ann would have believed them when they told her they had a plan to stop Kamoshida. She'd said it herself. Just explaining the Castle and Treasure would've made Akira and Ryuji seem crazy. If they hadn't kept it from her, she had been liable to pursue some wild action or do something she would regret. Something that could’ve gotten her hurt or worse. Akira had to come up with some way to resolve the situation. Beyond that, he needed to learn as much about the Metaverse so they could steal Kamoshida's Treasure as soon as possible. To that end, Morgana would be a resource, but he had not expected on housing the cat.

"This is where you live?" Morgana asks, staring out of Akira's bag at the front of LeBlanc. Now that Morgana had decided to remain in the real world, he needed a place to stay. Ann and Ryuji had both cited numerous reasons why they couldn't take him in. Each had sounded hollower than the last. Akira had insisted that his reasons were actually legitimate, as keeping an animal for a pet over a restaurant owned by someone who itched for an excuse to kick him out seemed like the kind of thing that would backfire astoundingly quickly. Ann and Ryuji had not been much help.

"Yes," Akira whispers, even though no one is around. "But keep quiet. Even if no one can understand you, I don't want Sojiro to know I've got a cat upstairs. So stay in the bag until I tell you it's safe."

"Okay, but I'll whisper to you if I think you need advice or something."

"No," Akira insists. "Do not do that. I don't want to have to explain why my bag is softly meowing. This isn't a train station. It's a side-street coffee shop. It's very quiet in there, so the littlest sound is likely to give you away. Just please stay silent until we're upstairs."

"I wouldn't give you away," Morgana insists. "But fine, fine. Whatever. Let's just go in already. I'm sick of being in this bag."

Akira opens the front door and steps inside, doing all he can to make his movements seem natural. He sees Sojiro behind the counter, polishing a mug, and nods to him before shoving his hands in his pocket and making his way towards the stairs.

"Hey," Sojiro calls. Akira freezes. He turns to face the older man. “I heard about what happened.”

Akira blanks. “Uh…”

“You’ve only been at Shujin a few days,” Sojiro says. “So you probably didn’t know her. Still, it’s a terrible thing.”

Oh. He’s talking about Shiho. Had that only been this morning? “Yeah,” Akira replies. “I did meet her. She was nice. Her best friend is in my class. That’s why I was late. We were…” Akira trails off.

Sojiro nods as if he understands, and Akira starts to turn back to the stairs. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Akira blinks. "Coffee?" He guesses.

Sojiro sighs. "No, kid. The MRI, remember? Let me know your schedule for the rest of the week, yeah? I'll close early or something and take you after school. Whenever you don't have club activities."

Club activities? Akira's brain asks. Does he actually think that?

We’re sort of in a club, Joker points out.

"Okay," Akira replies. Was there much of a point in getting the MRI? The hallucinations he'd experienced had been due to the Metaverse. "I'll get that to you. Can I check the schedule tomorrow and let you know?" Sojiro nods and says nothing. "Alright," Akira says. "Well, thank you for reminding me. I'm going to go and do my homework now." He turns and marches up the steps.

Once he's returned to his room, he places his bag on his bed and unzips it. Morgana's head pops out, and the cat asks, "What's an MRI?"

"It’s where they take a picture of your brain to see if there's anything wrong with it. I think."

Morgana blinks. "And why do you need one?"

Akira sighs. "I saw some Metaverse stuff before I knew what it was. I thought I was hallucinating, plus I was in a train crash and-"

"A train crash?" Morgana hisses. "You were? When? You're not crazy, are you?"

"I'm talking to you," Akira points out. "But no, I'm fine. I should probably still go, though, so we'll have to figure out a time I can. Anyway," and Akira backs away from the bed and spreads his hands wide. "Make yourself at home, I guess."

Morgana crawls fully from the bag, walks to the edge of the bed, and hops over onto Akira's still somewhat dusty desk. He gives a little sneeze and says, "This place is a mess."

"Give me a break," Akira says, shrugging. "I only got here a few days ago."

"Still, to think that my hideout would be-"

"Is that a cat?"

Sojiro stands at the top of the stairs. Akira feels the blood drain from his face as his caretaker marches over to him.

"Is. That. A. Cat?"

"Yes."

"Why is it in my cafe?" His voice is flat, neutral. It is his eyes that pierce.

"It's been abandoned. I found it outside. In the street. I couldn't just leave it."

Sojiro walks over to Morgana. He stares down at the cat. The cat stares up at him. This goes on for some time. "He's..." Sojiro starts, then stops. Another moment of silence. "He's..." The man coughs into his hand. Just as Akira begins to wonder if Sojiro has had a stroke, his caretaker blurts out, "He's adorable."

"What."

Sojiro leans over Morgana and holds out a finger. Morgana looks over at Akira, who shrugs. He walks up to the outstretched finger and rubs his face against it.

"Awww," Sojiro says. "I thought I heard meowing from downstairs. Has it eaten anything yet?"

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

Sojiro clicks his tongue. "You've got to feed the little guy. What's wrong with you?" He scratches the underside of Morgana's chin. "I'll see what I have downstairs."

He stands up and heads for the stairs. Akira calls after him, "So, can I keep him?"

Sojiro halts with his hand on the railing. "This is a restaurant. He cannot be allowed downstairs. If my customers see an animal running around, they're liable to call the health inspectors. That will be your responsibility."

"Sure," Akira says.

"Also, there's one more condition." Sojiro still has not turned around.

"What's that?"

"I get to name him."

Morgana looks up at Akira, eyes wide. "Oh, well, you see, he already kind of has a name, and-"

"Prince," Sojiro says. He begins to descend the stairs. "His name shall be Prince." Then he is gone. Akira can hear the sound of him rattling around in the kitchen.

"So, that happened," Morgana says.

"Yeah," Akira replies. He smiles down at Morgana. "I guess your name is Prince now."

"I don't think so."

#

“My, how events swirl around you, Trickster.”

Akira’s heart jerks in his chest, and he rolls off the moldy cot onto the cold floor of the cell.

Igor smiles his carrion smile from behind the bars, and Akira pushes himself to his feet. “I’m not sure,” Akira says, “what I should ask you.”

Igor spreads his too-long limbs in what might've been a casual shrug. “Why ask anything at all?”

“I didn’t come here on my own, right? You brought me here. Why?”

Akira flinches when he sees shapes move in the darkness behind Igor. Something stirs, but Igor makes a backward gesture towards the writhing mass and says, “Shhhh.” Whatever it is, Caroline or Justine or something else, settles. “I only wish to congratulate you,” Igor tells him. “On your answer to my question.”

Akira feels something within himself stiffen. “Kamoshida needs to be stopped.”

“Even at the cost to his life? Do you think you can live with that, Trickster? Or should I call you, Joker?”

Maybe this is a dream, Akira thinks. Maybe this is some weird-ass psychological projection of my inner turmoil brought on by all the stressors in my life, like Ryuji said. Maybe I did die in that train crash.

“Maybe it is,” Igor whispers. “Maybe you did.”

Akira, throat dry, manages, “I don’t know if I can live with it. But I know I can’t live with doing nothing. At least, if we stop him via the Castle, there’s no evidence leading back to us. So we won’t go to jail.”

Igor’s grin widens. “Are you so certain?”

“What’d you mean?” Akira asks. He hears a faint sound in the distance. The familiar ringing of his alarm. “Hold on, what do you mean by-”

Igor cuts him off. “Goodbye for now, Trickster. We’ll see each other again once you’ve accomplished your task. I’m curious to see how you’ll feel then.”