The start of the next day was similar in many parts to yesterday. The weather still was rainy, this time however we did not lose half the day's classes this time and arrived at school on time.

The train ride was cramped. Ren and I got to witness a beautiful sight of a kind-hearted young girl giving her seat to an elderly woman,
and then we saw some random mofo steal it and immediately sleep on it.
Courageous really, sleeping in public transport is some stuff I'd never do. I asked the girl if she wanted me to "wake him up" (a.k.a slap the shit out of him) but she denied it, and I relented.

Right after we got off the metro she came to apologize for not thanking me earlier. My understanding of Japanese formalities is still rudimentary. So, I explained to her that she did not offend me at all, as I was a foreigner who was not too well versed in their formal culture, and I apologized instead.

We talked for a short time, she introduced herself as Kasumi Yoshizawa, a first year at Shujin.
I introduced myself to her, and after saying our goodbyes we both separated and went to classes.

The first class of today was social studies with Mr. Ushimaru.
Mr. Ushimaru acts like a guy who won the lottery but lost the ticket and is now constantly having his panties in a twist about anything and everything that goes wrong in his life.

His class was boring but at least it passed quickly, as did the rest of the day.

The most interesting thing in that whole day happened as soon as I and Ren left the class and spotted Takamaki being held up by Kamoshida.

"Hey there, Takamaki." He says
"Things have been pretty dangerous lately with all those accidents."

My god, this guy is screaming to be labeled a pedophile, why is no one doing anything?

"Sorry, I have a photoshoot today. It's for the special summer issue, so I can't afford to miss it."

Wow, she's modeling? Honestly respect that, it's a harsh industry, and the fact that she's a minor definitely doesn't help, a lot of people must have tried and have taken advantage of her in the past.
Although it looks like Kamoshida is taking advantage of her right now.

"Hey now.... being a model's fine and dandy, but don't work your pretty little self to the bone."

Yeah, he's definitely a pedophile.

"You mentioned something about not feeling well, right? Something about appendicitis?"

"Yes. I keep planning to go to the hospital, but I'm too busy... sorry to worry you."

Kamoshida was seemingly annoyed at this, his eyes gained an evil glint, and his lips turned into a thin line.
He had just the perfect comeback, didn't he? Something that would remind Takamaki of what was at stake if she didn't do what he wanted.

"You must be so lonely too. I feel bad for keeping your friend at practice so often."

...
...

"Oh, and... Be careful around those transfer students. One of them has got a criminal record after all, and the other one sticks to him like glue. If something were to happen to you..."

I feel bad for Takamaki right now, she must be trying so hard to control herself and not just retch in disgust at what this man's trying to pull on her.

".... Thank you. Please excuse me."

And then she just walks away, making Kamoshida really annoyed.

_______________________________

Going outside the school, we happened upon Ryuji, who was seemingly waiting for us at the gate.

"Yo."

He and I said in unison.

"What's up?"

Ren asked him

"I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday. I tried tellin' myself it was all just a dream... But I just couldn't do it.
I can't act like nothing happened,  it's all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all. I wanna find out what's up with that place, no matter what.
And, y'know, you're the only two people I can rely on for this kind of stuff. You in?"

Ren and I both agreed, and Ryuji was elated. Right after he offered to walk to the station with us after we finished this whole thing, once more Ren and I nodded in unison, a uniform sign of agreement.

Ryuji made us walk in circles for a long while. He believed that the alleyway was possibly the entry point for the castle.
After a few trips around, we finally stopped in front of the school gate.

Ryuji felt downcast that we still hadn't found a whimsical fairytale castle. Understandable. Y'know thinking about it now, how much property tax would you pay for a castle in the middle of Tokyo? Is it even legal? Gotta look that up later.

"Is it smaller than we think it is? What do y'all think?"

"Check on your phone." Was Ren's immediate response.

"I already did that, and didn't see anything like it around here."

"Didn't Ren use a navigation app back then? We're both new to the city."  I said, putting in my own two cents.

"Yes, I remember it now, I was using it so we could get a better bearing on the school."

"Maybe that was it then? Check your phone, Ren."

He took it out of his pocket and the immediate look on his face was one of annoyance and begrudging acceptance.

"Well... There is this... Eyeball-lookin'
App. Give me a second to look through it."

For the next few seconds, he browses it, before reaching a satisfactory answer to our question.

"Yeah, this is it. There's a search history here that indicates Kamoshida's Castle was visited by us yesterday."

"Let's try usin' it." Is Ryuji's first thought, 'cause fuck the dangerous monsters we can't protect ourselves against, amirite?

Ren answered, "I'm not so sure about that." Ryuji countered by swiftly snatching the phone from his hands.

"We're just starting an app, right? No harm no foul. There we go!"

After the coordinates were said out loud, the world turned purple, seemingly pulsing from time to time.

"What the hell!?" Was the first thing Ryuji said.

On god, this man gonna get me killed one day.

Aaaandddd.....

Here we are again, Mr. Libido's Castle. Wonderful.

"Look! It's that castle from yesterday!"

"You don't say."

Ryuji just ignores me and continues going forward, stopping at the doors to what I assume is the entrance hall.

"We made it back, that means what happened yesterday was for real too. "

"And his outfit changed again, look."

Ryuji's poor brain couldn't handle it and out of frustration, he screamed:

"What's going on here!? This makes no fucking sense at all.…"

"Hey..."

Oh! Shit! A cat.

"Stop making a commotion. The shadows started acting up so I came here wondering what it could be... To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape last time..."

"What is this place? The school?"

"That's right. This castle is the school, but only to its ruler."

"Kamoshida -I interject- he sees himself as a king, untouchable and unquestionable. The school is his castle, his seat of power. *Scoff* Disgusting."

"Correct, this is how his distorted heart sees the school."

"Kamoshida, School, distorted... Explain it in a way that makes sense!"

"I shouldn't have expected a moron to get it."

Wow, the cat is fucking ruthless, goddamn.

"What'd you say!?"

Before Ryuji could throw hands, he was interrupted by a scream coming from the castle. Just like that, all his confidence was gone. Mine was too, y'know, but this ain't about me so we'll ignore it.

"What was that!?"

"It must be the slaves being held captive here."

"For real!?"

The guy screamed again.

"Oh shit... it's for real!
We saw other guys held captive here yesterday... I'm pretty sure they're from our school."

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders. It's nothing out of the ordinary; it's like that every day here. What's more, you two escaped yesterday. He must have lost his temper quite a bit."

"That son of a bitch!"

"Ryuji calm down." I felt the need to step in now and try to calm Ryuji. He was a hothead and would do something brash if provoked enough.
"Let's think this through, alright? What if they're not even real people? I mean, sure, we're here and all, but anything else is probably just an invention from Kamoshida's twisted view of the world."

"He's right. These people aren't real, they're shadows; constructs of Kamoshida's mind, not real people."

"But still!... We can't just leave 'em there!"

"You got a bone to pick with that rat bastard don't you?"

He straight up ignored me and looked toward Morgana

"Monamona! Where are those people being kept?"

"It's Morgana! But... You want me to take you to them?"

"Yes! Just effin' take me there c'mon!"

"Well... I guess I could guide you there. But only if he comes with us."
He(?)...

She(?)............

Y'know I never stopped to think about what Morgana's gender would be.

It pointed at Ren.

"Let's go."

Was his immediate response. Guess he cares as well. Don't know why though.

"It's settled then!"

"For real!? ... Thanks, man."

"All right, let's do this! Follow me!"

We climbed into the vent we opened open last time we were here. Morgana was talking up a storm, but I wasn't paying attention.

Before we went in, Ryuji apologized for dragging us into this mess. But neither me nor Ren minded.

"Man, this place is creepy as always."

We quickly followed the cat towards the main hall, where we once were before. The visage shifted for but s second, and we were able to see the school entrance area.

"I was seeing double or something just now...! Was that Shujin!?"

"I saw the same thing man, I think it was."

I answered.

"I've told you before, this place is your school. Regardless, we don't have time to stand around, who knows when a shadow might show up. C'mon, this way!" We continued following the cat until we reached the lower passages of the castle, back right where we started.

"Shoot. I had a feeling there'd be guards here. Looks like we're going to start to have to start fighting our way forward."

"F-for real...?"

Ryuji said, almost pissing himself.

"Oh boy, I'll just teach you the basics of battle for now. You better not forget this..."

Morgana then proceeded to teach us very basic stuff. Joker promptly went forward and ripped the mask off the knight shouting "Show me your true form!" Pretty cool.

The drawbridge was lowered, so we went through it, and through a door that seemed to be shifting in and out of existence.

"The shadows should not be able to come in here. This is a place where the ruler's cognition is weak, so we should be safe."

"Cognition?"  Asked Ryuji

"The way you see things, since this is a palace, the ruler's cognition matters a lot. Where it is weak is where he can't act well, where it is at its weakest is where he can't act at all.  These rooms are the weakest points in the ruler's cognition."

"So it's a safe room?" I said

"Basically yes." Was Morgana's response.

"Well, what do y'all wanna do in here then?" I asked, not knowing why we should stop now.

"Let's get out of here, we have just begun exploring this area and we don't really need to rest currently.
Remember: our objective is to find the prisoners that were here last time."

"Eavesdropping on the shadows is a good way to get info." Was  Morgana's immediate response.

Ren then turns around and goes to open the door, his hand starts to turn on de doorknob I hear the clunky and loud noise of an armored man walking by our room. Immediately I reach for Ren's hand and stop him in his tracks. He looks at me confused before understanding why I did it, and slowly thereafter he removes his hand from it, careful not to make any noise.

"Hmm, I thought I just heard something move over there... Must've been the wind..."

He sounds like the type of guy to fail 3rd grade. Although I did fail math but only once in high school. Had to go to summer school. All because the teacher was a bitch. My dad did help with returning my school record to perfection again.

"And what of the slaves?"

"They're all at the training hall. I'd assume they're screaming in pain right now."

"Very well. By the way, I heard we may have intruders, stay on your guard."

I hear the click-clack of the armored plates hitting each other; clarifying that they no longer linger around.

"Did either  of you hear that?"

Ren then opens the door and we leave the safe room.

"They said trainin' hall right?"

"I think that's just a little further ahead, let's go!"

_________________________________

We went deeper down the dungeon area, killing one guard who stood all by his lonesome at the bottom of the stairs. Under the guidance of Morgana, we moved forward until we reached a left turn which, unfortunately, was blocked by two guards.

"What do we do now? Do you and Ren think you can handle those guards?"

"We could, sure, but we have to conserve our energy, we might still have a long way to go." Morgana made a fair point, in this situation we should always think about longevity over anything else.

"Damnit, I wish I could fight. At least then I could help y'all a bit. All I have is this damn toy." Ryuji whips out a convincing model of a gat ( a.k.a a strap, a.k.a a pocket rocket).

"Huh? Do you mean that gun?"

It's also a gun.

"Yeah, it looks real n' all, but it doesn't shoot anything..."

"I see... Well, there is a way. Hand it over to him and I'll show him how to use it."

"What? But it don't even shoot pellets!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure that'll work. Attack away, Frizzy hair!"

"Leave it to me." Ren reaches over for the gat and Ryuji hands it to him, still bewildered by whatever the two of them were planning.

"Dude! I-I keep saying, it's not gonna fire anything!"

Ren just ignores him and snatches it out of his hands, immediately turning the corner and attacking the shadow.

"You have the gun with you, right? Point it to the shadow and fire!"

And by god, this voodoo magic thing-a-majig worked and it actually shot bullets at 'em.

"There are plenty of instances where using your gun will be better than swinging your knife, of course, you can run out of ammo, but using it is better than letting it collect dust!
Alright, I'll show you my weapon too!"

The cat then whips out a slingshot twice its size out of its prison storage compartment. And he obliterates the shadows, ending the fight.

Ryuji and I run up to them, with him being the first to talk.

"Whoa! Did that toy gun just fire real freakin' BULLETS?"

"This is a cognitive world, as long as our opponent sees it as real it becomes such. It's a good thing it's realistic looking."

As long as they see it as real, huh?
I'll remember that.

"..... I don't get it."

Man... I don't even know what to say. Actually, I think I know how to explain it to him.

"It's simple bro. This whole place is  how Kamoshida sees the school, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So this whole place is shaped by his view of the school, his cognition, correct?"

"Ok, I think I'm starting to get it now."

"Because of that, this model gun here becomes real. Our enemies don't know it's just a toy, so they see it as real. Therefore, it becomes real."

"Oh! .... I'm still kinda confused but I got the spirit."

"Good 'nuff."

"But what about the ammo?"

Morgana answers him this time.

"Your enemies expect you to come at them loaded. So your ammo replenishes every fight."

"Ayo hold on. - I butt in - So if we buy replicas for, like, airsoft, couldn't we buy some mags as well and keep swapping them out for infinite ammo?"

"Well... I think so. Never had an opportunity to try it out."

The clunky noise of the knight's armor plates hitting each other can be heard around the corner.

"Who's there!?"

Shit guess we were too loud

"Wha- You little bastards!"

He rushes us, and Ren jumps in and attacks him.

"Our ammo's replenished, dump it on him!"

I then watch Ren mercilessly gun down a flower with two legs.
How did my life get to this point?

"I wasn't sure about bringing it at first, but I'm glad I did."

"That was smart, Ryuji. Good job."
I answered.

"Thanks!"

Morgana then proceeds to talk about the importance of coordination in a fight, even though only two of us can fight.

Proceeding forward, we were met with yet another guard standing in front of a door. Morgana decided to show us yet another technique.
An "All-out-attack!".

It is very effective.

Going through the door we're met with a sign saying "Kamoshida's training hall of Love."

Man, this guy's disgusting. The whole thing was about ways he abused the volleyball team. From cruel exercises, to simply and purely abusing them.
Ryuji seemed to have a personal connection to this whole thing, going as far as trying to memorize all their faces.

The guards moved in on our position after we stayed there too long, we had to run away through the main hall again but on our sprint, we were ambushed by Kamoshida and his men.
Ren and Morgana were taken down quickly while Ryuji stood there agape. I moved away from the fight hiding behind a pillar, and not peeking out. Kamoshida apparently broke Ryuji's leg and shut down his track team, all because Ryuji had confronted him with a sound argument.

He seemed disheartened at first, but he stood his ground and showed Kamoshida he wouldn't back down from this fight, just like last time.

And then he seemed to be in immense pain, just like Ren before he unlocked his persona.
True to form, Ryuji unlocked his persona as well, Captain Kidd was its name.

Ren and Morgana stood up, all of them stood together, their combined might enough to stand up against Kamoshida.

However, more and more soldiers approached,  Ren and Morgana decided it'd be best to run, while Ryuji wanted to stay and fight. He relented though, and they all turned tail and ran.

Leaving me behind, alone. The pillar was now all that stood between me and an angry legion of soldiers who would rip me apart, limb from screaming bloody limb, just so Kamoshida's rat ass would get some sick satisfaction from it.

I was fucked beyond belief, the notion that they'd come back for me was stupid as well. The soldiers had chased after them, through the only known exit I had. They wouldn't come back through that just for me, I wouldn't either, it's suicide.

I was on my own, and death was the likely outcome of this whole adventure I got into. Worst part is, I didn't have a persona either. I'd spoken to it, sure, but all it told me was to fuck off unless I became stronger.

I had to endure on my own.

And I sure as shit will.
___________________________________

That's it for now. I decided to do something different than what I originally had in mind for this. As you can tell, we were following the story in a pretty linear path until now.

The change was because I believed it was boring to simply follow along with the story without changing it.

Why bother with anything if the most change you'll make in a fanfic is add a character and a few lines of dialogue here and there?
I also thought it was boring, not only did I have to play through the game and write all the interactions down, all of you who already played this game would see the same interactions you've already seen at least one more time.

Hope you like this little change of pace. If you're on Xbox or Pc you can play Persona 5 Royal right now, it's on gamepass and Royal comes with all the additional content for the game.

Pretty sure that gamepass ultimate is on sale for a dollar as of 04/12/22, so you could play on cloud as well if your laptop or pc can't run it well.

That's all, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this, criticism is appreciated as well.

In Brasil, we say "Falou" or "flw" as a form of saying goodbye.

Flw, for now.