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[Mothman]

"I don't know what else I really have to say." Hifumi glanced over to Ann with a worried look, trying to keep her emotions in control. In truth, she wanted to scream out at her mother and demand her personal freedom, but what good would that do?"

"Takamaki-san, I... I just don't get it. Why can't I just live how I want?" Her hand balled into a fist at her side as they walked, angered eyes scanning the ground in front of her.

"I'm just lost. Stuck. I don't know what on Earth I'm going to do... Even when I turn 18, I'm gonna be stuck playing Shogi for her forever." A hand wiped at her eyes, practically swating a tear from her eye.​

 

[satanael]

Trapped. Caged. Paralyzed.

Those familiar feelings of uselessness clawed their way back up, sinking their teeth into her heart. She felt her chest flutter and her stomach drop. What an awful, horrid thing to suffer through.

Ann opened her mouth, heard silence from herself, then set her jaw - tight and rigid. She took one step forward and threw her arms around Hifumi, squeezing as tight as she knew how to without hurting anyone.

"The only person who gets to decide how you live your life is you. That's the way it should be.

"But it's not that simple, right? The people we care about, we don't want to disappoint them and we rely on them. I'm sorry. I wish there was more I could do."

Maybe there was. But they had put it to a vote and there were dissenting opinions. When did it become about the fame and not about helping people?

Ann pulled back, just enough to be able to look her friend in the eye, then she dared to ask, "Was she always like this?"

 

[Mothman]

The air going silent for a moment, nothing but the slow footsteps of the two girls filling it, worried Hifumi. While she couldn't bring herself to look over at Ann, desperately blinking in an attempt to keep herself from crying.

Finally glancing over, the two girls both stopped their walking for a moment. Hifumi was about to ask if Ann was alright, her expression showing what she could only assume was a tempest of emotions beneath.

"Takamaki-san, I..." While she was about to say whatever came to mind, a gentle yelp escaped her as Ann stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. It took her a moment to process the gesture, but it was enough to open the waterworks.

"Y-You're absolutely right... If only circumstances allowed..." Reaching her arms around Ann, she tried to keep herself from full on ugly-crying into her shoulder, with little success. "Don't be sorry..." She choked out. "I'm just trying to be a good daughter..."

When Ann pulled back, she quickly tried to wipe her tears away without breaking the hug up. Something about Ann was warm and made her feel at least a bit at ease... "No... I mean, she's always been a little overprotective, but nothing even close to this." Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, it came out more shaky than anything. "I don't know what changed. I guess it was probably w-when I started succeeding in my competitions..."​

 

[satanael]

It wasn't the success that brought out the worst in people. It was the shallow, superficial praise that followed. Ann knew what it was like to have people flock to you over some cobbled-together projections. She'd also seen it in the way some of her colleagues - after their first big shoot - got it in their heads that they were suddenly too good for everyone else.

"Togo-san..." Ann rested her hand upon her friend's shoulder and squeezed. Her sleeve was damp with tears and the cold breeze was definitely not helping. But having to endure a chill was a small price to pay for a friend's comfort. "Um, I wanna see the place you mentioned earlier. The competition hall? Not because I care about shogi or anything like that, but because you always seemed so into it back then." Back before her mother became obsessed with Hifumi's performance and reputation.

"Would you mind showing me?"

 

[Mothman]

It took the girl a moment, a long moment, of simply sobbing into Ann's arm before she eventually got herself together. Awkwardly stepping back, afraid she was causing a scene, she was quickly relieved to see that nobody was around to see her lose it, except for Ann.

"If the others had seen that, I probably would have died of shame..." A chuckle managed to escape her as she wiped her damp eyes, a bit thankful she hadn't overdone it with makeup this morning.

"Oh, that...?" Hifumi couldn't help but smile, both at Ann's word and gentle squeeze of her shoulder. Ann was more than great at making her cheer up, at least for a little while. "Of course. It's nothing spectacular, but I suppose it's a nice area."

She dug into her bag for a moment, withdrawing a small handmirror and making sure she didn't look like a complete mess, before nodding to Ann and leading her around the block.

"This is the place." In front of them stood a fairly large building, that seemed to be home to a plethora of small businesses and other recreational things. "We use the second floor for competitions. The first is just a lobby, third is a fancy ballroom for weddings and such, and the top few have a couple businesses. Small massage parlors, therapists, stuff like that. There's a pool out back, funny enough."

​

 

[satanael]

Ann wanted to assure Hifumi that her friends were definitely not the judgmental type, but words were kinda cheap without the evidence to back them up. Besides, Hifumi was saying a lot of things she probably didn't mean. Stress did that to a person.

"Oh wow. There's a lotta stuff here. I'm kinda surprised I've never noticed this place." Then again, Ann didn't have much business visiting a plaza like this. She always hung out around the strip mall, cooing over cute knick-knacks and spending her paychecks on sweets. "Do they only host shogi events up there, or is it, like, a space they rent out?"

 

[Mothman]

"It does kinda blend in." Hifumi scratched at her arm for a short moment, before her phone buzzed again. "Ugh, what now...?"

Digging her phone out of her pocket, she read the text out loud, hurrying through it to get it over with. "Mitsuyo Togo: Will you be back for dinner? I worry about you being out this late. What if one of your fans were to find you this late!? People aren't what the used to be." A sigh escaped her as a gentle voice bellowed out of Ann's pocket.

"Candidate found. Awaiting keywords." After a moment, the voice stopped for who knows why. Hifumi didn't notice it, busy quickly typing a rushed reply to her mother.

"Jeez..." WIth that done, she tucked the phone back where it belonged, before turning her attention back to the hall. "Oh, the competition hall? They rent it out. We had a discrepancy with some sort of e-sports group a while back, had to split the place for the day."

"Keyword accepted. Awaiting second keyword." The same voice rumbled from Ann's phone, still eluding Hifumi's hearing.

"God, you should see mom when she's here... She dresses to the nines, jewelry, fancy dress, does all her makeup up... It's like shes going to some sorta gaia." Hifumi rolled her eyes before looking over to Ann with a confused countenance.

"Keywords accepted. Entering Metaverse." ​

 

[satanael]

Hifumi may not have noticed the voice but Ann sure did. Eyes widening in shock, she dug around in her purse and scrambled to get the dumb reality-warping app to shut up. Deleting the app had never worked before, nor turning her phone off: Ann did what one does when driven to a panic - she threw her phone at the ground, but not before the Metaverse swallowed them up.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no--!" Ann twisted around in her glossy suit, scanning their surroundings for an exit of some sort. "This is bad, this is so bad... Ah! Togo-san!"

Without thinking, she reached out to her friend and waved a hand in front of her face. "Hey! Um, I can totally explain all this."

 

[Mothman]

Hifumi didn't notice her friend freaking out until she chucked her phone at the ground. When she looked down and was surprised the piece of tech managed to survive the spike, everything seemed normal to her.

Though, when she looked back up, it was the exact opposite. Her friend now was replaced with someone who looked striking similar to Ann, though in a tight red catsuit and mask.

"T-T-Takamaki-san!?" The voice, sure enough, was hers, though it didn't make her any less confused. Glancing around in confusion, her eyes set on the building that should have looked familiar, but now seemed an entirely different building.

A tall wooden, almost literal palace like building stood in front of the girls, growing taller in whatever sort of transformation had happened, to make it loom over their heads. Red carpets and rugs covered the outside, and the windows, while seeming to be regular glass, weren't see-through.

Taking a worried step behind her friend, Hifumi looked at her in confusion. For a moment, her eyes set on the whip she held in hand. "P-Please do! I'm more than confused...!"
​

 

[satanael]

"Well, you see--"

Before Ann could answer, a burst of flame exploded in front of her, followed by another that was just inches away from her face. She cursed under her breath, then loosened her whip with a deliberate crack. Shadows came crawling from all around, wriggling and writhing.

"Grr, try to set me on fire, will you?! Let's show them how it's really done, Carmen!" Ann's mask went up in blue flames as her Persona materialized out of thin air. A series of flames snapped into existence, lighting up her foes. "Togo-san, stay behind me!"

 

[Mothman]

As the flames bursted out near them, Hifumi tripped, falling to the ground beside Ann out of fear. When she looked up and saw Ann's face almost melted by another blast, she couldn't help but let out a short yell of fear.

"Ann!" No time to worry about honorifics, as well as not knowing about Ann's codename in this world, she simply shouted out in worry of her friend. As the odd creatures emerged from the building in front of them, beasts of a maleficent form limbering towards them.

"Dear God..." Scrambling to her feet and quickly becoming amazed at the beautiful spirit that appeared behind Ann, she was quickly overwhelmed by the entire situation at hand. "Y-Yes ma'am...!" Taking a few steps back, she couldn't help but stare ahead in a mix of amazement and fear.

Though, her staring was short lived, as she felt a sharp pain in her back from another Shadow, having appeared from who knows where, or slipped past Ann. Hifumi hit the ground with a thud, quickly getting picked up and pinned to the nearby wall.

"T... T-Takamaki...!" Hifumi desperately thrashed under the grip, not having very much luck at all. The Shadow was far too strong in comparison.​

 

[satanael]

"Let go of her right now!" A flurry of lashes followed, drawing away the Shadow's attention if nothing else. It ambled away from Hifumi and took a renewed interest in the Phantom Thief provoking it.

While Ann was focused on Hifumi's former captor, the air suddenly dropped five degrees colder. Ice crystals began to form and coalesce, working their way up Ann's legs. "Ah, crap, crap, crap--" Try as she might, she couldn't pull her leg free. "Togo-san, run!"

If she could just focus and summon a flame, surely it'd be enough to melt the ice block encasing her.

 

[Mothman]

Surprisingly, Ann's provocation worked, and the Shadow simply dropped the girl to the ground. While her fall was far from graceful, and she instantly started coughing, trying to catch her breath, she was free. Thanks to Ann.

She snapped out of her blurry vision and coughing fit as Ann called out to her, pleading her to run. Pulling herself together and getting to her feet, she stared at the Shadows starting to surround Ann, eyes going wide from fear and worry for her friend.

"T-Takamaki-san, I... No...!" In her effort to speak, a splitting pain formed at her head, sending her falling right back to her knees as she tried to get a grip.

"You won't dare listen to her, would you? Desert the one risking her life to save you? Leave the apple of your eye here to rot?" As the voice prodded to her, the girl coughed up a bit of blood, before looking up in fear, directly at Ann. A mask appeared on her face, though contrasted with most of the other Thieves, only covering half of the girls face.

"Stand up, Empress of the Togo Empire. Show your peers, your army, and yourself that you're more than a pretty face. Rebel, and tear your foes asunder!" Unsure if the voice sounding out was her conscious, or something audible to the others, a primal urge brought her to stand, tugging at the mask on her face, a final shout of pain preceding the mask coming asunder, a splash of blood flying into the air above.

Coated in a blue flame for a moment, she emerged in a new garb. A sleek, black outfit, with a red strip of fabric fluttering off from her belt.

Behind her floated her Persona, in a fashion that Ann had witnessed a handful of times already; an Awakening. "The Togo Empire shows no mercy to underhanded swine. Jingu!" Pointing an ornate naginata forward, her Persona raised it's hand, before small orbs of blue energy began to fall from the sky. The orbs moved to the Shadows surrounding Ann, before detonating into a massive burst of a similar energy. With one more motion of her arm, a green light enveloped both her and Ann, before her Persona vanished and returned to her mask.

Though, the two girls still had some issues on their hands, with a few more Shadows in between them and searching for an exit. "I suppose Takamaki-san isn't very appropriate in our situation. What shall I be calling you going forward?"​

 

[satanael]

"You-- you-- YOU HAVE A PERSONA?!" Ann cried out in surprise, the adrenaline coursing through her veins distracting her from the soreness in her ankles. She stumbled forward, now free from her icy prison, and pulled at Hifumi's new outfit. "This is... oh, good, I don't have to hide the whole Phantom Thieves thing from you now."

Ann cleared her throat, feeling a little sheepish after her outburst. "I-if you're talking about codenames, everyone calls me Panther." She took a deep steadying breath and glanced around once more, marveling at the way the plaza had expanded and changed.

The red carpets that lined the floors were embroided with the finest of gold silks, coaxing the girls down particular paths. Ann pursed her lips and figured that choosing one direction was better than just standing around waiting to get attacked again.

"You know, you're taking all this surprisingly well."

 

[Mothman]

As Ann tugged at her outfit, she looked down and realized her outfit change. At the least, it wasn't revealing or 'sexy' in the way that Ann's was. In truth, it was kinda cool in her opinion. It fit her well, was easy to move in... Not to mention the naginata felt at home in her hand, despite her lack of any weapons training in her life.

"Phantom Thieves!?" Hifumi practically reeled at the fact, putting two and two together on what this all meant. "Then, you mean... Changing hearts... Is done through these methods?" She looked at her naginata for a moment and tapped at her half-mask, opening more questions than answers to herself.

"Codenames? Huh." It seemed she had already shifted out of her 'combat mode' where she got all serious and dramatic, back to the normal way she was. "Panther... I'll do my best to remember it." Nodding to her, she followed her friend into the building. As they walked in, the first thing that greeted them was dozens and dozens of strings attached to small dolls, though the two didn't take time to stop. These were things that they could investigate with the rest of the team.

"I'm trying not to think on it too much... Questions should probably wait until we get out of here, huh?" When it came to questions, she had at least a dozen. Raising her visible eyebrow to Ann as they slowly made their way down a hallway, she couldn't help but look to the girl's... Interesting outfit every few seconds.​

 

[satanael]

Glittering decadent garlands of tsurushi hina hung from the ceiling, forming curtains which Ann had to push through in order to make any progress. When she was a little girl, she would use to try and climb the ropes of decorations. Now that she was older, she felt an almost reverent respect for the delicate flowers made of multi-colored cloth.

No good, she was getting distracted from all the pretty dolls. Ann snapped her eyes shut, shook her head, then stared down the path with renewed focus. The further they walked, the more sparse the tsurushi hina grew—until all that was left were charred ropes devoid of any charms dangling from them.

Ann tensed as the beautiful hallway transformed into an ashen corridor. Another pair of Shadows darted out from one of the connecting rooms. Ann whipped out her SMG and pelted the faster one with a barrage of bullets, ducking low as the other leapt for her head. She spun around and kept firing, yelling out, "I've got their attention, strike now!"

Maybe it wasn't as elegant as Ren's tactical prowess, but he wasn't around to issue orders. All Ann cared about was finding the exit and making sure Hifumi got out in one piece.

 

[Mothman]

The tension was thick, what with the two girls being in a situation that was clearly life and death for them. Hifumi simply tried to follow her friend's lead, what with sneaking around the halls and dodging more of those creatures that seemed to be on some sort of patrol.

Though, their stealth only got them so far, before entering a room and being ambushed by two more enemies. Hifumi tightened her grip on her naginata and held it forward, ready to fight.

Though, while the girl had come to terms with the realization she had a crossbow on her person, strapped to her leg, she had far from expected Ann to pull out an SMG and lay into one of the beasts.

While she worried the loud sound of gunfire would only attract more foes, Ann didn't seem concerned by it. The orders brought her into motion, her generally calm countenance curling to a more serious one.

A shout escaped her as she dashed forward and swung her naginata towards the head of the slower Shadow, only to clash with the steel of it's blade. A few swings from both parties had them at a short standstill, until Hifumi took a step back, stabbing her weapon into the ground beside her and drawing her crossbow.

She went silent for a moment she held her aim, waiting for her opportunity. "There!" She eventually spoke, quickly holding the crossbow off to her right, pulling the trigger and letting the bolt fly. It dug it's way into the head of the Shadow attacking Ann.

Without bothering to pick her naginata back up, she tucked her crossbow back into the small holster for it on her outfit, before ripping her mask off in a swift, and frankly over-dramatic, motion.

"Jingu!" With a flash of blue flames, just as before, her Persona appeared behind her once again. "Hark, O finished foe! Skinkuuha!" With a wave of her hand, her Persona surged forward and made two slashes across the Shadow's chest, fueled by the same sort of energy her blast from earlier was.

With the two Shadows fallen, Hifumi returned her mask to her face before picking up her weapon. "You do this..." Her breath was heavy, and it seemed her abilities asked much more power from it's user than the other's. "...All day...? I fear I might be overdoing it..."​

 

[satanael]

"Easy does it." Ann slipped under Hifumi's arm and helped steady her friend. Thinking back to her early days as a Phantom Thief, she recalled how deadbeat exhausted both she and Ryuji had been after running around whacking Shadows all afternoon. The fact that Hifumi was still standing was an impressive feat in and of itself. "Ehehe, you get used to it, after some practice. The tricky part is deciding when to train and when to study..."

She stayed at Hifumi's side as they trekked through the corridors that seemed to lead nowhere. The Palace was like a labyrinth, getting them all turned around and disoriented. Maybe it was a reflection of the jumbled mess inside Mitsuyo's heart. "It feels like we've been going around in circles. Sheesh, if only we had a map."

 

[Mothman]

As Ann helped her stay on her feet, she couldn't but lean into her and let the girl hold her and bear her weight, just for a moment. A moment of catching her breath in Ann's arms followed, before she pushed away and seemed to be good enough to walk.

"I must admit, seeing you mowing down enemies with a SMG... Not an image I ever imagined I'd see." It was now that she cursed the fact her mask only covered half of her face, the gentle blush forming on her exposed cheek more than clear. She turned her head off to the side as they walked, hoping Ann hadn't caught on to it.

"What exactly are we looking for? An exit? Wouldn't we want to get back outside?" Hifumi took a look behind them as they walked, making sure they weren't being followed.​

 

[satanael]

"I looked pretty cool, huh?" Ann chirped, imagining that this was how Ren felt whenever that Mishima guy went on and on about the Phansite.

She tucked a hand beneath her chin, scrutinizing the rooms they were walking through. Nothing looked familiar and yet she couldn't believe they hadn't found their way out yet. "Th-that's what I've been trying to do. But everytime I follow the windows, it feels like we're back at at square one." She pointed at one of the aforementioned windows. "You can see outside, right? But the walls aren't leading out!"

 

[Mothman]

"H-Hah, you sure did...!" It came out as more of a whisper than anything else. Rubbing a hand on the back of her neck, she tried her best to keep herself from gushing over Ann's confidence and skill in the face of adversity and combat.

"The windows... I take it we couldn't just break them and get out, then?" Hifumi tapped on one of the windows as they walked past, unsure if the rules of this world would prevent something like that.

"Find them! Kill the red one for all I care, but bring my daughter to me!" A voice boomed out from far down the hallway they were walking down, immediately catching Hifumi's attention.

"Mom...!? Panther, she might be in danger!" While it was clear Hifumi meant her words, it was clear she didn't know what that voice likely belonged to.​

 

[satanael]

"Togo-san, that voice doesn't belong to your mom... Err, or at least, not the mom you know. You see, in this place, there are these distortions that take form. If anything, it's more likely that your mom's Shadow is in here."

Which meant they were definitely heading in the wrong direction. Ann grit her teeth and spun around. "Come on, let's get out of here and get backup. We'll deal with her Shadow once we regroup. There's no way the two of us are gonna be able to handle her on our own."

 

[Mothman]

"But...!" As much as Hifumi wanted to believe in Ann, the voice sounded so real. It tugged at her for a moment before she simply nodded and started to follow Ann back the way they came.

Her head was aching from having awakened and used such high-maintenance skills, not to mention she felt sweaty and frankly kinda of gross. Though, the last thing she wanted to do was slow Ann down. Their lives were on the line, at this point.

As they walked, she looked down at her glove, then at the rest of her new outfit. "A Phantom Thief... Hmm..." Shaking her head, she got her head back into the game and continued to follow after Panther.

"Your... Persona, as I believe they're called? It manipulates fire, right?" She asked as if the line of conversation would go somewhere in the end.

​

 

[satanael]

"Ehh?"

Oh, duh. Hifumi probably had a buttload of questions. And considering they hadn't been jumped by any Shadows in a while, it was probably safe to hold a quick conversation. "Mm, yeah. Ryuji's is good at electricity spells while Yusuke favors ice. We're pretty good about covering one another's weaknesses."

 

[Mothman]

"So you're all...?" She had sort of made the connection earlier, but hearing Ann say it so casually cemented it for her. Their whole group was the Phantom Thieves!?

"It's not the most elegant situation to our issue, but if push comes to shove, you could burn a hole in the wall, right?" Glancing behind them once again, she tapped her hand on the wall, not entirely sure what kind of wood it was. "In truth, I think there's something changing in here." Reaching her arm out to her side, to stop Ann for a moment, she pointed off to their side.

It was the same wall of tsurushi hina they had passed before, right near the entrance. "We've been here already." Walking over to the wall where the exit had been before, tapping at it as well, she sighed. "It's not hollow. I worried that they simply closed it off or something, but I feel like the entire room has shifted..."​