MAY 7TH (SATURDAY 5/07) (MORNING)

(A/N: So, I decided to just screenshot the paragraphs in class when the teacher asks something, since writing all of that gives my fingers cramps ack. This would be easier for me, cutting my writing time in half :3)

Ms. Kawakami was giving us a lecture about Japanese folklore.

"Now the, Rika-chan.", Ms. Kawakami called, gaining my attention. " What do people generally call a woman who has a charm that sometimes leads men to their doom?"

"That would be a femme fatale.", I answered.

The students began to gossip about me, but I didn't pay them any mind.

You need to improve you knowledge...

I get it Ezio, I get it.

MAY 7TH (SATURDAY 5/07) (AFTER SCHOOL)

The crew met up on the rooftop, lounging around while Ryuji was looking at the Phantom Aficionado Website.

"None of these posts are any good. Everyone's just b*tchin' about their parents or their boyfriends. There ain't even a hint of a hint about a new Palace...", Ryuji grumbled.

"Patience is a virtue, Ryuji...", I sighed.

"We can't get everything online... Finding a post with a name and location is asking a lot...", Ann stated.

It's true, no one would think to give us such details.

"Guess we just gotta find one ourselves then!", Ryuji declared.

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

"... Yeah, you're right. We should prolly just hold off 'til exams are done with, huh? We can wait and see for a little longer, then worry about comin' up emptyhanded if it happens...", just as Ryuji said that, someone opened the rooftop door. Morgana jumped away from view while we all turned to see who it was; it was the student council president, Makoto Niijima.

"Oh...", Ann muttered, finding the appearance of the brunette a little odd, as did I.

"This place is off limits, you know.", Makoto warned.

"... We'll get outta here once we're done chattin'. Anyways, what's Miss Council President want with us?", Ryuji asked, a bitter tone in his voice.

"The troublemaker, the girl of rumor, the infamous transfer student and his intimidating sister... Interesting combination.", Makoto commented out of nowhere, kind of pissing me off.

"......! Great way to start a conversation...", Ann grumbled under her breath, sharing my anger.

"Okay then, Niijima-senpai, what do you want from "The troublemaker, the girl of rumor, the infamous transfer student and his intimidating sister"?", I asked, glaring a bit.

"Nothing in particular... By the way... It seems as though you got to know Mr. Kamoshida pretty well.", Makoto turned to my brother with that statement, waiting for an answer.

"Not really. Why do you ask?", Akira questioned, flipping the script a bit.

"Yeah, y'know he's only been here a month or so. Same for his sister.", Ryuji explained.

"Hm... I heard Mr. Kamoshida used a volleyball team member to spread details of your past record and your adoption files. Don't you two hate him? Mr. Kamoshida, I mean.", Makoto asked. My eyebrows knitted as I got up and looked Makoto dead in the eye.

"What is up with interrogation? You shouldn't put your nose in other people's business.", I shot.

"Yeah, what's all this about? My friends' here are upstanding people.", Ryuji growled.

"I don't mean to offend. Many students have been shaken up by what happened with Mr. Kamoshida. The rumors about that odd, calling card-esque posting and the voice recording aren't going away either.", Makoto sighed. We all turned to one another, then back at Makoto.

"I didn't expect someone like you would care about that tactless stuff, Niijima-senpai.", Ann said with shock written on her face.

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

"At least try to understand my position. Being forced to deal with this horseplay...", Makoto said with an agitated look.

"Horseplay...!?", Ann growled, hating the fact that the incident was horseplay to Makoto.

"I'm pretty sure people's lives aren't horseplay, Miss President.", I shot, glaring at Makoto. She seemed to look surprised, but then turned away from us.

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

"What was that about?", Ann asked, making me shrug with an annoyed look.

This must be a part of her investigation...

"... She's on to us. That girl seems rather sharp. We should be cautious of her.", Morgana said as he jumped back on the table he was sitting on before.

"She really pisses me off!", Ryuji growled.

"We should be more careful.", Akira suggested, calm as ever.

"Talk about a pain in the a*s...", Ryuji sighed.

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

"True, studying won't be so bad if we just think of it as helping us prepare to be phantom thieves...", Ann mused.

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

"I was hoping to get a target sooner, but things just don't go as planned all the time. Let's not waste time dreaming about it.", I sighed.

"Well, I do have somewhere interesting to show you beforehand. You guys did originally promise to help me out with my mission, after all.", Morgana said with a grin on his cat face.

"Huh? Mission?", Ryuji asked.

"Follow me.", with that, we followed Morgana to our destination... The entrance to The Underground Walkway. We stood in front of the entrance as people passed us by.

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

"Just do as I told you.", Morgana hushed.

"All right, I've got the Phantom Aficionado Website up. Now what?", Ryuji asked as he had his phone out.

"Look for a post with a full name in it.", Morgana instructed.

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

"It's reckless of them, but it's helping us.", I mused.

" "He won't listen to what I say"... No wait, there's no name on this one.", Ann sighed, looking at her phone as well.

" "Someone's bad-mouthin' me in online chat rooms"... This one's got a name.", Ryuji showed us.

"That's easy to ignore. Isn't there anything more serious?", I asked.

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

"A government worker's stalkin' someone...?", Ryuji said with disgust.

"That should be a suitable target. All right, now get the Meta-Nav ready.", Morgana said with a grin.

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

"Hey, what happened to all that talk of "unanimous decision"? What do you think we should do, Akira?", Ann asked my brother.

"Let's go with this target.", Akira nodded with a determined look.

"That's what I'm talkin' about!", Ryuji cheered.

"Natsuhiko Nakanohara, huh? I guess that's who we're going with him. Let's deal with that stalker freak.", I agreed.

"OK then. Let's go.", Ann nodded as well.

"We need a name and a place, right? So, the name is...", Ryuji trailed off as Morgana cut him off.

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

"That name sounds like a candy...", I mused to myself.

"Huh? What're you tryin' to pull?", Ryuji asked.

"Just listen to me. It should work... I think.", Morgana mumbled.

"Geez, that again...? Uhhh... "M-e-m-e-n-t-o-s," was it?", Ryuji wrote the word, and the Nav reacted, to our surprise. "We got a hit!?"

"Just as I thought!", Morgana cheered just as we were transported to this "Mementos". It looked the same on the outside as it was in the real world, and our clothes and forms hadn't changed yet. The only thing that changed was that the people who were coming and going were gone; just the eerie sound of the wind was there to accompany us.

"Everyone disappeared...! It... kind of feels like I'm walking on air...?", Ann mumbled. I tested it, taking a few steps forward, which confirmed that the ground felt very light. It was almost like the ground was not there.

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

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

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

"How? You use it every day on your way to school. Follow me!", Morgana jumped off the railing and descended into the darkness of the Underground Walkway.

"Ah! Wait up, cat!", Ryuji called as we all ran after Morgana. When we got to the underground entrance, however, it looked very eerie; by what I could see by peeking into the first floor, the place took the form of a twisted version of the Tokyo subway connected by a massive series of subway tunnels with wooden train tracks in place of rails, with various features of a prison such as chains or bars. It also had red, veiny plant-like entities growing on the pillars, walls and ceiling. I just noticed that our clothes changed to our thief gear.

What *is* this place...?

You'll find out soon enough, Assassin.

So, you know...?

I have an idea... but that is all. However, the cat might know.

"The hell is this place...?", Ryuji turned to us and gasped. "Wait, our clothes changed!?"

"The Shadows know we're here!?", Ann exclaimed.

"Since the moment we stepped in.", Morgana revealed.

"And you choose *now* to tell us...?", I glared at Morgana for not thinking things through.

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

"More importantly, what is this Mementos!? It's about time you start explaining.", Ann asked with a frustrated look.

"Mementos is... everyone's Palace.", Morgana stated.

Everyone's...?

"Huh? Whaddya mean "everyone's"...?", Ryuji echoed the question in my head to Morgana.

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

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

"When you say shared... you mean they're all put together? Even though they're just strangers...?", Ryuji tried to wrap his head around the idea.

"Think of it as the collective unconscious... No, never mind. You wouldn't understand that.", Morgana pushed the thought away.

"So, what you're saying is... Using this place, we can even change the hearts of people who don't have a Palace?", Ann tried to simplify the concept of Mementos.

"Correct! The steps to do so are slightly different though.", Morgana confirmed.

"But this place looks pretty huge. Are we gonna be able to get around just by walkin'...?", Ryuji asked. Morgana smirked and stepped down from his perch on the ticket stand, standing in front of us with a safe distance.

"It seems the time has finally come... Morganaaa... transfoooooorm!", Morgana did a ridiculous pose, jumped in the air, and in a dramatic puff of smoke, transformed into a... Van? Bus? Whatever it was, it was a large vehicle. Morgana was a vehicle. The paint on the Morgana-mobile was dominantly black, with three yellow stripes on the hood (with the middle one being the thickest) and though they were symmetrical with one another, they were asymmetrically aligned with the vehicle itself, as they converged toward his left windshield. On the grille, there was a small golden emblem representing Morgana's biped head. In addition, the headlights represented his eyes, his ears were attached on the front side of the roof, and his tail was attached on the back. We all gasped, and I was rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing any hallucinations.

Nope, it's real...!

"Come now, Panther. Ladies first.", Morgana seemed to have the ability to talk, even in his car form.

"A car...!?", Ann gasped.

"No way!", Ryuji mumbled.

"I never would have thought...", I mused, getting over it by now since, well, Morgana was already a talking cat. A talking car transformation wasn't the strangest thing about him at this point.

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

"You turnin' into a car is totally different than our clothes changin'!", Ryuji exclaimed.

"For some reason, "cats turning into buses" is an extremely widespread cognition among the general public.", Morgana mused.

Hm, must be an anime going around...

"Why a bus though?", Ann questioned.

"... No idea.", Morgana sighed.

"Of course, you don't...", I grumble.

"Wait, why didn't you do this at the castle!?", Ryuji complained as he made his way to the Morgana-mobile.

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

"Hey, Skull! Ladies first!", Ann ran into the car.

"Stop pullin' me! That's dangerous!", Ryuji yelled, the both of them seeming to be pushing each other inside, shaking Morgana around.

"Panther! Please be gentle!", Morgana pleaded. Akira and I followed them inside and got situated. We all sat in the backseat, but no one was in the front seat, let alone the steering wheel.

I'm surprised this thing even *has* a steering wheel.

"All aboard! Let's go!", Ryuji cheered. I turned to him, then the wheel, since I didn't know what to look at when talking to Morgana when I was just chilling in his interior.

"Um, Morgana, aren't we going now...?", I mumbled.

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

"You can't drive yourself!?", Ryuji grumbled.

"Do any of you know how to drive?", Ann turned to Akira and I. I just shrugged a no and turned to my brother.

"Time to bust out my moves.", Akira smirked.

"Don't kill us, or I will haunt you if you survive." I deadpanned.

"Where's your faith in your younger brother?", Akira fake-gasped.

"In the drain. Now don't waste our time and get to driving.", I shooed Akira away. He got out of the car and went to the front seat. Ryuji sat in the passenger seat while Ann and I sat in the back.

"Now start the engine! You can't drive if it's not running!", Morgana instructed.

"Geez, what a pain... Where's the key to this thing?", Ryuji asked.

"Why would you need a key!? There's a switch just down next to the steering wheel.", Morgana explained. Akira pressed a button, and the Morgana-mobile came to life with a whir. "Oh, there... That feels sooo gooooood...", Morgana seemed to be purring.

"It's official; you're creepy.", I stated with an eye roll.

"Don't underestimate my meowtary engine.", Morgana exclaimed, with a terrible pun mixed in. "We're going full throttle! It's time to fly!", with that, we went inside the Mysterious Mementos in the Morgana-mobile.

-TIMESKIP TO FINDING THE SHADOW OF NAKANOHARA-

After fighting many shadows on the first floor and we ran into the shadow version of Natsuhiko Nakanohara. He seemed relatively normal, except for the golden eyes he had.

"Who are you!?", Nakanohara yelled.

"Are you that stalker!? Haven't you ever stopped to consider how your ex feels?", Ann confronted the man with a glare.

"She's my property! I can do whatever I want with her! It's not like she didn't treat me like a plaything! What's wrong with me doing the same!?", Nakanohara gave us the petty excuse he had.

"That is so wrong on so many levels...", I mumbled.

"You can't treat someone like sh*t just 'cause they did it to you! What a load of crap... We're gonna change the hearts of all the bastards like you!", Ryuji declared.

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

Oh? Who's Madarame...?

Keep him in mind. He seems important.

"... Madarame? The hell's this guy goin' on about?", Ryuji mumbled, but he never got an answer as Nakanohara transformed into an enemy.

"Get ready! Here he comes!", Morgana instructed.

-TIMESKIP AFTER BATTLE-

Shadow Nakanohara stopped attacking, turning back to his regular shadow self while hunching forward in pain.

"I-I was wrong... Please forgive me... That evil teacher used me, then threw me out on the street. That's what caused my fixation on her...", Nakanohara explained.

"Evil teacher...?", Akira echoed.

"Huh? Could it be that Madarame guy he was talkin' about earlier?", Ryuji asked.

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

Hm, I know that feeling... Doesn't excuse his actions, though.

"So, some selfish bastard was making you suffer too... Still, you shouldn't have dragged an unrelated woman into your mess.", Ann explained the flaw in Nakanohara's ways.

"Yes, I know that now. I'll put an end to my love for her... Hey, you can change people's hearts, right? In that case... Won't you change Madarame's heart!? Before more people fall victim to him...", with that final request, Nakanohara turned into sparkles, disappearing in the process. What he left behind was a small white orb.

Hm, he didn't leave a manuscript this time...

The Shadows in Mementos don't have manuscripts, since their distorted desires aren't fully developed yet. Only Palace rulers have manuscripts.

I see...

"Change... Madarame's heart?", Ann mumbled.

"Hm? What's that shinin' thing?", Ryuji pointed at the glowing orb.

"It's the bud of a Treasure. Had we let it be, it very well may have blossomed into a Palace. Joker, this will make a perfect reward!", Morgana cheered. Akira grabbed the orb and pocketed it.

REQUEST COMPLETED: "Beware the Clingy Ex-boyfriend!"

"So Nakanohara had a change of heart, right?", Ryuji asked.

"Most likely.", Morgana nodded.

"How do we know if it worked?", I questioned.

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

"Hm, you do have a point.", Morgana agreed.

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

"It's a good place to collect personas for Joker and I.", I mused, Akira nodding in agreement.

"It's also nice to be able to give courage to the people who post their problems online.", Ann giggled.

"On top of all that, we can sell whatever treasure we get for some cold, hard cash!", Morgana smirked.

"Sounds like things are goin' pretty great for us! ...All right, we did it!", Ryuji stated, and we were about to leave when Morgana interjected.

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

"Mona, I'm getting tired... Can't we go another day?", I mumbled, stretching a bit.

"Don't worry, it won't take long.", Morgana assured as we went deeper into Mementos.

-TIMESKIP TO FIRST WALL-

We stood before a strange looking wall, the middle of it looking like a 4-pointed star, and the whole thing covered in small red pulsing vines that seemed to connect like careful webs.

"...What is this place? It's kinda creepy.", Ann shuddered.

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

He brings up a good point. Why would a place like this have a blockade of sorts...?

"Now hold on... Just watch. This is most likely not an ordinary wall. If my hunch is correct...", Morgana tapped the wall, and opened like some sort of elevator door. Behind the wall was an escalator that lead deeper into Mementos.

"It opened...!", Ann gasped. Akira's phone went off all of a sudden.

"A new area has been confirmed in the depths. Updating guidance information."

"Well, that's new.", I raised a phone at the phone.

"See!? It's just as I thought!", Morgana confirmed.

"What do you mean?", Ann asked.

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

"So you were thinkin' there's gotta be more?", Ryuji confirmed.

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

"How deep is it? Should we try going further down?", Ann suggested.

"I don't think we should be so hasty. We already took care of Nakanohara, so we should get back home and have Mona explain more about this place.", I reasoned. Everyone seemed to agree, and we were off.