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Fandom Persona 5: The Meta War CLOSED

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Before Masami could respond to Imato's statement, she folded her arms as Sougo approached and scolded Imato for his actions. She really didn't have much to add since everything he was saying was true. It was hard for Masami at the moment to believe that the same person playing babysitter with the group at the moment was the same feared person that the Metamercs had a vendetta against.

"Thanks Agata-san", when Sougo left, Masami sighed placing her forefingers to her forehead as she looked down for second before looking back up only to be met by that damn mask staring back at her. "Well, I think you've had enough people ragging on you. I think you get the point," Masami turned around to head back to the table. "And by the way..."

She smirked as she looked back over her shoulder to him, "Don't underestimate me, even without using as you said 'cheap ways', I am sure I could still find out who you really are M. Besides that, 'cheap ways' tend to get the job done anyway so what does it matter if the results would be the same?" She laughed aloud as she started to head back, showing a glimpse of a side of her that was different from the usual cute, kind, though stingy personality she had presented herself thus far. It was at this time that she decided she would indeed try to find out who the person behind the mask was. Though she couldn't help but find humor in the fact that he was essentially daring her to discover which Shujin student he was, when it was not too long ago that she too found out who Baron was. 'White hair and fairly tall... shouldn't be too hard to identify.'

Anthem Anthem
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Staring at a broken down warehouse in Nihonbashi, a female with loosely tied braided red hair stood as a sinister yet playful smile rested upon her face. Her eyes held a certain madness as she seemed excited in what was about to take place.

"Himura-san?" A man who looked to be a bit older than the woman approached her. He wore well-kept clothes that contrasted with the setting of the area they were in. He had had long, black hair and prescription glasses that has a dark tint to them. "Everyone else is ready and in place, they just await your orders," he said as he handed out a glass bottle with a rag hanging out of it, daring not to look her in the eyes for some reason even though he served her.

Her already sinister only became wider, turning the description of it from devious to what can only be described as maniacal while she gleefully took the bottle. "Excellent."

"Should we block all the exits Himura-san?"

"That won't be necessary, we're only here to give a warning, remember?" She rolled up the sleeves of her white, long-sleeved shirt and then flipped the item in her hand a few times, still staring at the warehouse unable to help but let out a giggle. "Now, this place seems a bit dreary and morbid. We should do them a service and brighten the place up, doncha' think, Hibiki~?"

She held her bottle out, with the rag facing her companion and he immediately understood what to do. He snapped a lighter open swiftly and lit the rag. The woman wasted no time afterward by charging closer to the warehouse and threw her bottle through a window. Following after her, flickers of light appeared scattered around the warehouse as well and more men and women charged closer throwing their own molotov cocktails into the windows. Kiku Himura watched as some of the flames took to whatever was inside and she knew that it was only a matter of time that the residents within the building escaped from it. And she would be there, hoping to be met with sweet, delicious fear on their faces. She was invited to attend the metamerc meeting at the Wilton Buffet earlier, but this chaos she was inflicting on this small-time gang satisfied her so much more than worldly food.

Countess.png

Nellancholy Nellancholy
 
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Shiro found herself by the entrance of the Walton Buffet, the dial tone from the number she was trying to call back pounding in her ears harder than her own heartbeat. No luck, no one was picking up. Must be some kind of mistake, right? Whoever was trying to reach her could have just made a mistake, right? They were trying to reach someone else...

No, she couldn't leave it up in the air like that.

"Sorry. I'm going to have to cut this short." Mumbling to no one in particular, she rushed out of the building.


Smash.

FWOOM.

None of the building's inhabitants were much ready to find themselves in mortal peril tonight. By the time the fire was noticeable, it wasn't something that could just be smothered with a blanket or a tarp. Not that anything like that was close at hand. A bucket of water? They had to cross a couple of streets to reach a public toilet for that. Smoke and heat rose in the stuffy building, the dusty atmosphere only adding to the danger of the smoke that began to form in the corner of the warehouse, almost like a very insistent swarm of insects.

"W-waaaaah!" Yui gasped, falling flat onto her face as she tried to scramble away. "F-fire...!"

"Oh no...!" Tonight, of all nights. When Shiro was absent and Koyuki wasn't. A night she had to reassure the other members that Shiro hadn't abandoned them. It just HAD to be on such a night that disaster would strike. But she wouldn't lose her composure now. "Over there!" She pointed to one of the far ends of the warehouse, the exact opposite of where the fire was spreading. Just her luck. "Grab those fire extinguishers!"

"On it, boss!" Gomi and another girl sprinted ahead, each grabbing one of the heavy metal canisters and hoofing it back to the fire. The pins, while slightly rusted, gave way relatively easily, and only a slight sputtering sound came out like a cough. "You gotta be fucking kidding me..." With another squeeze on the creaking lever, pungent white foam gushed forth, allowing them to sweep the hoses over the fire and smother it.

As they worked, Koyuki herded Yui and the other members of the gang out of the building just to be safe...only to run straight into Himura.

"Ah." While she didn't quite like getting into brawls, Koyuki was certainly no stranger to scuffles thanks to her time with the gang. Spreading her arms and keeping herself between Himura's group and her own, she poised herself into the closest thing to a defensive formation she could manage. The others picked up whatever planks and pipes they could manage, but there was still hardly enough to go around, and they were outnumbered regardless. "I don't suppose this is your doing?" The usually polite girl did her best to remain composed.

Maeve Valor Maeve Valor
 
"..." Imato stayed relatively silent as Sougo spoke of the masked teens antics and how they would cause nothing but trouble for the whole group if said actions were to continue. He would think to himself for a moment before snapping back to reality as Sougo said farewell once more before moving on. "Yeah, see ya." Imato simply said as Sougo left before turning back to Masami to see what she had to say to his confident remarks.

The teen simply nodded to her statement of people getting on him, but at that point he had grown use to it and was finally seeing that his actions weren't the most... appropriate for the current occasion. But as Masami looked back to say a few more things, such as her being able to find out who he really was, Imato couldn't help but chuckle a bit with a smile under his mask. 'Then let the games begin, let us see how much of a detective you can be... Masami.' He thought as he watched the girl returning to the tables.

Not noticing the sudden departure of Shiro, Imato would glance at his phone before sighing. "Well, I believe I should go so they can enjoy what remains of this. Don't need them getting escorted out for my actions..." He said aloud, despite not actively talking to anyone. It seems Sougo's words did finally pierce the thick skull behind the mask, and with a small sigh, Imato departed from the Buffet.
 
The Next Day​

Kasumi was hurrying to get to school carrying her gym bag with her. Avoiding other students who seemed to not be a fan of her which was not really unexpected since it was like this all the time. She wished that Kamoshida would back off from her but had no strength to stand up to him right now because he was really powerful and had everyone in his grip, even the principle. There wasn't a way to fight back unless those phantom thieves that Mishima had been talking about would do something to Kamoshida which Kasumi hoped they would. Maruki's warped reality still held her like a chained prisoner and Sumire was buried deep inside of her wanting to come out but Kasumi did not allow it. She had recently got this app on her phone but the only person who knew about it was Sougo. Not really wanting to open the app Kasumi just went about her day like normal.

She also did help Mishima with the phantom thief forums with people who would try to argue that they did not exist. Kasumi did not know if they were real but they did take out two targets threatening the school so maybe it was a clue. "Kamoshida is making me clean the damn trophy case again," Kasumi complained angrily to Mishima who was on the computer on the Phan site typing away. "There is a post about him," Mishima told her, "so the thieves should hopefully see it if they are one of the students here."

"You think a bunch of vigilantes are going to care about a gym teacher?" Kasumi asked him, "For all we know they could be fake and Kajiki just turned himself in because he felt guilt for cheating on Takamaki-san and terrorizing the school." Mishima refused to believe that answer since it was more boring and kinda sad if the thieves did not exist at all. "They have to exist!" Mishima said loudly enough that a passing Kamoshida heard them and entered the computer lab.

"What is this talk about the phantom thieves?" Kamoshida asked the two and crossed his arms, "did Agata-san put you up to these stupid rumors? Sounds like something he would do..." Bad mouthing Sougo was something that Kamoshida liked doing in his free time now since the two were at each other throats a lot recently. He knew that he owned Kasumi as a slave almost since the girl was so scared of him and what he would do to her if she disobeyed.

"Yoshizawa, get back to cleaning the trophies and Mishima stop spreading false rumors," Kamoshida said and walked off leaving the two fuming. "I hate that guy," Yukki said and clenched his fists, "I will never stop spreading the truth!"
 
It was a valiant effort by Isao albeit a futile one even if the result would be obvious from the start to any spectator, in contrast to his opponent Isao was fully concentrated on the task at hand despite it not helping him in the slightest to only eye the still standing pile of meat present on the second plate in front of him and began in a cowed way started to eat from it, pieces no longer disappearing and the elegant taste blending together until finally.


Feebly reaching forward to grab another piece of meat, to chew and swallow and then grab another piece of meat to chew then swal-"Bleh" finally Isao was defeated his still outstretched hand not reaching its target, slamming down on to the table and going limp the full impact of the competition finally weighing down on him, not daring to move an inch to upset his body and just laid there in the bed he made for himself laying still with his head on the table to wait until he could move again without a risk of throwing up.
 
As school started, the bells of Shujin Academy rang true for the homeroom of Kawakami. A studious, and stern teacher who would be settling down and getting ready to teach. Did she seem a bit tired potentially from a side job? Rumors were floating about her just as well as one of those teachers who apparently didn't make enough from one profession. Nonetheless, she wanted to get over the role call as quickly as possible mumbling how she just wanted one day to go peaceful as lately, the school had been in arms thanks to the Kajik scenario, and the recent rumors going on about their star gym teacher. She turned to the class about to call Ann first due to alphabetical order yet as she turned to her sitting students noticing quite a bit of them seemed distracted by something on her left. Turning to said direction to see what her students were looking at the teacher unleashed a surprised scream at the youth next to her who had apparently approached her so silently she had no idea he was literally right next to her. Kawakami placed a hand over her heart barely catching herself at her desk having sort of flung herself away not registering it was just a student.

"Where the hell... who the heck... WHY ARE YOU STANDING THEIR," she asked trying to recover her senses. The student in question raised an eyebrow at the teacher's oddity. Though in truth he was indeed the oddity at the moment. He was clearly a foreigner right out the door, and more than not an American one at that from his design he said not a word just studied her before his unusual red eyes shifted to his backpack pulling out a set of papers and handing them to Kawakami's reach who took them even more confused reading over them as he headed straight to the board his eyes temporarily scanning all the student present seemingly for no particular reason as he shifted his head with his light brown-blonde hair shifting as Kawakami sighed realizing who he was now.

"That's right... ahem, class, we will be having a... great experience Shujin Academy has been selected to house the culture Foreign Exchange Program this year. Now he is from the USA so don't mind if his Japanese is a... bit... off," Kawakami went silent as the new student had written his name in English and in proper form the Kanji variant to how his name sounded out for them in a matter of seconds.

"Never mind would you like to introduce yourself," Kawakami asked giving him the floor as he stepped forward silent in step as he looked at the class with a sharp yet glossy stare almost as if he was scanning them in a place like a robot before finally breaking the silence.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all I am Dascal Marion. I hail from Kalama, Washington state. In the United States. It will be a pleasure to learn from your culture," he spoke surprisingly with a well-versed Japanese repertoire even though his American accent bleed into the words making them sound a little broken in certain area's. With that Kawakami allowed him to take any seat he wanted from the get-go he had clearly already decided as he sat right in the middle of class the strangest of positions to take in teenage seating history. Surprisingly for someone new he had no signs of shaken nerves, no confusion, nor even the hint of uncertainty he seemed to sink right into the class as if nothing new was happening. It was... very strange fluid motion of a new student introduction could go, and for it a lot more attention was given his way by the others trying to figure out how they felt.
 
The once grinning Kiku's expression was replaced with a look of disappointment as she saw that instead of fearing for their lives, she was met with with defiance upon each of them. She wanted so badly to wipe that look off Koyuki's face by coating it in red like the fires behind her and her gang, but was able to refrain from giving orders to make her wish a reality. Instead she responded to the girl with disdain, "Yes this is."

The leader then placed her hands on her hips and even though she wasn't that much taller than the girl before her, she still radiated as an imposing figure looking down at her with bright hazel, almost yellow eyes. "I am Kiku Himura, leader of the Himura gang," she proclaimed as she took a crowbar with force from a suited underling nearby.

With it, she flipped it in the air just as she did previously with the bottle she used to have in her hand all as she continued. "If you all are familiar with the different gangs in the area then you should have heard of us by now. But our notoriety is not important for you guys to know. No, what's important right now, is that you are aware that a certain business transaction was interrupted in Kayabacho due to you lot. I'll let your leader figure out which one that might be."

"Actually, it was in Nihonbashi ma'am," an ally alongside her corrected.

Suddenly, Kiku caught the crowbar, gripping it in her hand tightly for a moment before letting it go in full swing at the man's face next to her, making him lose his balance and fall to the floor as blood splattered a bit out. Without holding back, she placed one foot hard onto his chest. "Never... interrupt me... when I am working!" She screeched as she stomped a couple of times on his chest before leaning down to grip him by the jaw as more blood trickled out the side of his mouth.

"Understood?" She asked now calm but with a crazed expression in contrast to the yelling fury she just invoked.

The man only nodded, not wanting to feel her wrath for speaking out of turn again. "Good!" she patted his cheek with now a deceptively cute voice and stood up. "Sorry about that RUDE interruption, now back to the point..."

She took something out of her pocket and threw the object down in front of Koyuki. It was a card that only had a skull with a crack in the shape of a heart on the top left side. Her hand still had the man's blood on it, so when she had previously pulled the card out, she stained the card, making it look like blood was poring out of the eye sockets of the skull. "Tell your boss that she needs to be more careful of who you guys piss off in Nihonbashi from now on... cause I have my eyes on you all now. And that's never a good situation to be in," she smirked, dropping the crowbar and walked away with the others accompanying her following after.

Nellancholy Nellancholy
 
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Scarcely 10 minutes since that decidedly dramatic display had concluded, Shiro stepped back into the warehouse, panting slightly. "I-I return. Koyuki-dono, what is- ah!" Even the usually composed Shiro gasped as her eyes darted first to the relatively small charred section of the warehouse, then back to the gang, huddled in a disconsolate circle on the other end. The smell of gasoline and potassium mingled. She darted forward. "Are you alright? W-who did this?!"

Koyuki sighed. Things weren't getting any easier on them. Sure, they were no strangers to the occassional mugging or smash-and-grab. Or even any necessary confrontations with groups of similar size. But against a rival that had someone else's backing, and the audacity to carry out bigger jobs... "Might be time to pull up stakes again. It appears we've...stepped on a few toes in the area-"

"You know what, screw this!" Amane stood to her feet, flinging the pipe in her hand to the floor with a clang. In a few steps she closed the distance to Shiro, jabbing her finger into her face. "I've had it up to here with your dumb lazy ass! You've been out there pissing around doing god knows what and then coming back and playing general with us! I'm done! You sure as hell don't care about protecting us any more, or you wouldn't have let this happen!"

Shiro tensed for a moment. Anxiety, guilt, and anger boiled in her for a moment as her face reddened. "S-so. You intend to turn your back on us." She rarely spoke so haltingly. "Your sisters-"

"Fuck sisterhood!" Amane yelped. "If this is how you treat your 'sisters' maybe we should all go! Who's with me?!"

"..." Against all of Shiro and Koyuki's hope, seven of them stood, about half of them counting Amane.

"...Fine." Shiro blinked back tears. "Go then. From the next sunrise, the bond between us is severed. Where will you...go?"

"Anywhere but here!" Amane's voice was lower than it was before, and hoarse from screaming. "Hell, maybe we'll even go to Himura! At least she knows how to be a leader!"

With that, the group split up, the ones following Amane looking with a mix of apology, contempt, and embarrassment as they sheepishly picked up their personal possessions and filed out of the building, disappearing into the night.


A few minutes later, Shiro stood outside the warehouse, looking silently up at the moon. She did not sob, but her tears flowed freely.

"The rest are going to sleep." Koyuki's gentle voice carried from behind her. "We'll make our next plans tomorrow morning."

"Good." Shiro groaned. Despite herself, she hung her head, sniffing as she drew her hand over her eyes. "We'll be able to travel lighter."

"I-" Instead of continuing to speak, Koyuki wrapped her arms around Shiro's waist, hugging her gently. Doubt clouded her own mind as she considered her own options. She already had her next moves planned, and it would mean leaving Shiro and the others behind. To get her future back on track, return to being a normal member of society...an opportunity she didn't expect would come.

The bloodied card sat in her pocket. She knew that if she gave it to Shiro...it would give her a target. It would consume her. She'd throw herself straight at Himura out of anger. So she remained silent.
 
Sougo was hard at work, filling out mountains of paperwork as always. Thanks to the Phantom thieve's latest success, the cult folk were no longer an issue. Though there were some followers that lingered about the general area of the school, much to his displeasure. Kamoshida's audacity and nuisance were an evergrowing concern for Sougo. Despite his many attempts to report him to the rightful authorities, the bastard seems to have the principal in his pocket, preventing any meaningful action to be taken. While his palace wasn't especially strong, for some strange reason, he had the protection of the MetaMercs as well. Why would someone like him have people like that on his side? More mysteries to be answered. If it were up to him, he would have disposed of him a long time ago. However, such actions would raise too much suspicion around the school. Not to mention, traumatizing for all the parties involved.

Sougo, sighed as he slumped down on his council-approved swivel chair, realizing there was only one way he could resolve this issue, with the help of the Phantom thieves. At the trajectory they were going, they shouldn't have any issues in taking on the actual palace, maybe even some of the lower to mid-tier mercs. His only concern was if higher-tier mercs start showing up which have been pretty common as of late. Though, a few more training sessions in mementos should get the team battle-ready for both merc and palace guards alike.

Little did Sougo know, there will soon be a complication to what would have been a simple operation for him. After clearing through a majority of the paperwork, he would finally uncover a memo sent in by the board of directors. It was a set of instructions to the student council members to begin printing pamphlets and posters for an upcoming celebration. Much to his shock, the celebration was about Kamoshida. His "efforts" had been recognized by the country's sports society, and he was expected to be transferred away from this school to be the official coach for the country's volleyball team.
While some would see this as a blessing, to be finally rid of the perverted and abusive bastard, Sougo saw it as him escaping the righteous indignation he so deserved. There mere thought of him escaping his judgment, and going his merry way to glorious countrywide recognition was sickening and enraging. This was unacceptable! The emotions within Sougo flared up as he struggled to remain calm and collected. His hands slowly crumpled the sides of the memo, a small hint of his unmatched disdain for the man had escaped his body. No, the young man would never accept such an outcome. This world may be unfair but that doesn't mean he has to accept such nonsense.

But now is not the time to be angry, that comes later. He had other matters he had to attend to. The initial plan will need to be altered, but for now...he had a new student to attend to.


As he walked across the hallway of one of the classrooms, he could already see the new exchange student smoothly taking a seat right after introducing himself with proper cadence. There was an air of confidence in him, perhaps almost too much confidence. It was often that he met that he had completely no prior data on. But still, whether or not this person was worth further investigation remains to be seen. For now, he will continue his student council duties.

Sougo knocked on the door as he entered the classroom, holding a stack of papers. "Good morning, Ms. Kawakami. Please pass these memos on to the respective students." Said students were Imato, Shiro, Ann, Isao and Masami. Each of the memos stated that the respective student was required to come to the student council office after school, as they were possible witnesses for supposed activities related to the Phantom Thieves. And if they did not show up by the end of the day, they would likely have to call the cops on them. This right here was a test of character, to see how each member would react under stressful situations. Sougo stayed in the class to drop off the announcement memo regarding Kamoshida's transfer. He also took a short moment to gauge the reactions of the Phantom thieves before leaving the classroom. "Thank you for your time, Ms Kawakami."



Nellancholy Nellancholy Maeve Valor Maeve Valor accursedjobber accursedjobber Anthem Anthem That Weird girl That Weird girl Azurian Dream Azurian Dream
 
An American huh? Ann thought to herself since she was a quarter American herself. However her English was pretty bad and she just did not understand the language very well so hopefully his Japanese was pretty good which it did seem well. Washington? Was that where the president lived? Ann did not know much about American culture or the history. Her face dropped when Sougo Agata walked in and tried to remain calm and brushed back a strand of her blond hair. When Kawakami gave her a memo she scanned it over and her eyes went wide and she internally panicked and almost had a heart attack in the class which would be a way to go.

"How could he know..." Ann mumbled to herself quietly so no one could hear. Sougo was the type of guy who would know that information and find out who the perps were. Ann knew his methods and she was not dumb or naive. She quickly pulled out her phone and hid it under his desk and texted the group chat.

"AGata-san is onto us...we are toast."

Ann had no hope for getting out of this situation unscathed not knowing that Sougo was Baron. Well she guessed it was time to call it quits and hope that Sougo was feeling merciful today. Morgana leaped on Ann's desk and looked at the memo and gulped as this wasn't good since they might be found out and sent to jail. "You are going to have to lie Panther," Morgana said, "you are not good at that but they can't figure out about the phantom thieves being here." Ann nodded and looked at the cat whispering, "can you come along? I don't know how but maybe sneak into the vents?" Morgana looked towards the vents thinking that it was a stupid idea but he might have to just to hear what would happen to them.

"Oh also Morgana," Ann said in a hushed voice, "I have a modeling gig tomighso you are going to have to find someone to hang out with." Morgana was cool with it as long as he could hang with Masami since he liked her the most out of everyone here.

Nellancholy Nellancholy Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Anthem Anthem accursedjobber accursedjobber
 
Imato didn't take too much note of the new student since at the moment he was just another student that the school was probably going to screw over in one way or another. When he saw Sougo give memos to Kawakami before looking at the students, certain students, that's when he seemed to finally show a little concern though it quickly faded as he was sure the thieves would be more than fine. He believed that the group could kept their identities hidden well so far and if they focused and didn't slip up or panic, it would stay that way. After class, is when he pulled out his phone to read a certain text:

"Agata-san is onto us... we are toast"

He shook his head and put the phone away quickly to avoid being caught by the others. Kawakami would walk over a give Imato his memo, luckily while the other thieves seemed to be distracted by other things at the moment. Bagging the memo, he would quickly make his way out of the classroom before starting to somewhat speed-walk to the Student Counsel Office. Wanting to be rid of this... temporary problem as soon as possible to avoid being seen by other thieves and to prevent any potential police involvement.

As Imato made it to the doors of the office, he would look around him and sigh before knocking on the door in attempt to be polite instead of just barging into the room without permission. 'I need to lie my ass off to get away with this without any suspicion being placed onto me, guide my words well, Loki.' Imato thought to himself as he waited.
 
Shiro looked paler than usual, and her eyes were tired. She'd been coming to school more often lately in order to communicate with the other Thieves, but she had rarely turned up in class. And today just had to be the day it happened. Barely acknowledging Kawakami's disdainful look as she handed over the note, she opened it and scanned it, the soreness in her gaze barely affecting her.

Nor did the contents.

They wanted a pretext to arrest her? Fine, go ahead! It would hardly change anything anyway. However...it was remarkably convenient that whoever was making this...audacious threat had seemed to be able to single out every current member of the Phantom Thieves, to a man. Had they really been seen together that much? It was probably someone who didn't know how to keep things quiet. Was it Ann, getting involved with Roadkill? Maybe it was Imato, considering how he showed up to the Walton with a mask on of all things.

Whatever.

With most of their real work being done in the Metaverse, no one without the ability to see it could find any conclusive evidence. And if they somehow could? It'd just mean a new target for them.

Dismissively rising to her feet, Shiro stepped out without a word and headed to the office.
 
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Yet again, it was a silent morning getting ready at home for Masami. Ever since Baron and her defeated their shadows, they just haven’t been themselves at all. This morning, they had themselves locked up in their room. Occasionally, she would hear them speaking calmly to one another. At one point when her mother just so happened to be out at the same time as her, they only looked each other in the eyes for a moment before her mother broke out in tears and went straight back into the room. Masami couldn’t even remember the last time she saw her mother genuinely cry. All the other times were to draw pity from some target to swindle from.

Masami knew it was only a matter of time before they decided to turn themselves in to the authorities. What lied in store for herself afterwards as far as a living situation was concerned, she didn’t know, but at least justice will be served. “If only they would have at least tried to change their ways without my help. If not for my sake, then for their own so that it wouldn’t end this way…” she thought as she sadly took out from her pocket, the very same picture that she received from their shadows in Momentos. She sighed, looking at the picture for a bit longer before she was about to put it away, but she noticed something on the back that she hadn’t seen before. One word that was written, “Acheron”.

Tapping the picture on the palm of her hand she looked around the house wondering what it could mean, deciding to start off looking in their study room. She took a bit to look over the titles of the books they had, but then her eyes wandered to their computer. And so she logged in, searching for a file with that 'Acheron' as the name and found it. Curious, she opened it, only to find the document full of nonsensical words.

Since she didn't want to be late for school, she copied the file onto a drive and took it to school with her, hoping to observe it more later that day.

After a rather intense talk of the day with Kasumi right out the door, and the day nearing its mid point Dascal started heading for the computer lab to enjoy his free period. As such he headed for the entrance only to barely miss walking right into a green haired girl with some serious stuff seemingly written all over her face. With a quick spin he dodged bumping into her exiting the room hilariously before he could even enter it.

“I am sorry I was a bit… distracted,” Dascal bowed respectfully not having meant to disrupt her day. With that he motioned for her to go in first while still holding the book Dracula by Bram Stoker. Ever the one to answer to his mistakes he opened the door wide for her.

“Hm? Oh…” She noticed the person who almost ran into her was obviously a foreigner, and one that she had never seen at the school before either. Even so, she didn’t want to be rude and gawk. He probably had been getting that treatment all if he had indeed started going to Shujin recently. “It's no problem at all. Happens to all of us at some point or other.”

She then glanced down at his book. “Interesting choice of literature by the way,” she mentioned before walking away inside without another word and then sat in front of a computer located on the farthest back corner of the room. She had a more pressing matter to attend to, which was finding out what the hell was hidden in that file she copied.

It seemed many of Shujin academy's students had rather pressuring matters to attend. As such after the girl pressed forward with little more than a comment to the situation and his book a whole bunch of students flooded in claiming many of the closest computers leaving only the back ones available. Maybe an upcoming exam crammed? Though with nothing more to say to the situation he simply headed to the back a little away from the green haired girl.

"Quite the storm we seem to be weathering today," Dascal quipped lightly as he started to log onto the computer. He aimed to keep his business to himself after smiling at the girl with his small joke done. With the positioned politeness dine he started to review the school sites information on the gym teacher Kamashido. After the words expressed by that mysterious redhead girl, and the whispers of the students after his curiosity had been triggered… what was going on at this school. He kept the file searches vague to avoid a pattern that he was reading primarily up on the gym teacher.

After Masami inserted the drive and began inspecting the document, she didn’t expect the foreigner to continue trying to talk to her. Unlike her usual chipper attitude that she showed the Volleyball team members along with the students that were associated with Kamoshida, she remained having a neutral expression with this new person. Without a clear motivation to get on a person’s good side, she tended not to bother getting to know people. It just always was better for her not to, so that she can lie low and keep people guessing on the type of person she was. In the past, if she did end up absolutely needing to target a student, it was always easier to approach them if they had no idea what she was like to begin with. She supposed now, she had no need to keep her options open on how people perceive her, but old habits die hard. She didn’t even glance at what he was researching due to him being uninteresting to her for the time being.

“Better get used to it. You arrived during the beginning of our stormy season,” she said as she kept her eyes on her monitor, beginning to type on a blank document, trying to decode the file starting off by using a standard General Principle Transposition method to decipher it.

It was rather clear this girl was in no way in a mood to speak which caused Dascal to pause his research quickly being reminded how his last conversation with a girl not looking to talk went. He pondered doing the social norm thing for once and leaving well enough alone. Yet the pitter patter of the keys in a particular sequence destroyed any chance of Masami being able to wave him off. As he paused from his own activity, and looked to her screen without her noticing given how deep she was into her own screen.

"It won't work," he strangely said, returning to his screen working back on track to a school's athletics site. The group pictures of the teams were telling a very different story than the schools read up. Apparently the team statements were of positive awareness to their shiny coach. Exceeding expressing him as a great man that brought passion to his attendees. Yet the faces on the pictures they looked and worse readily fragile… forced smiles on all the volleyball team pictures. He paused at a particular student picture immediately closing the page.

"Transposition is going to trigger a self delete of what you're doing. You need to be thinking of a Substitution Cipher, but which one I ponder and wonder," he whispered to her, not looking at her while opening the Olympic medal winners page of Japan. He was both playing neutral trying to respect her privacy. However in the same hand he was offering a fishing hook with sweetened bait to trigger direct conversation.

Her eyes widened now in hearing his knowledge of the matter. Only now did she look over in his direction, opening her mouth to speak about probably him invading her privacy, but was stopped by seeing what was on his screen. He had an article about the Olympic medal winners on the page, and she watched for a little bit longer, noticing that he seemed to be looking into the teacher. “Is he interested in joining a sports club?” she thought inwardly.

“And looking into teachers before joining a club is certainly a good idea on your part.” She now fully turned her head to him and asked directly with a raised eyebrow, “I’m getting the impression that you know which Substitution Cipher it is that I would need to use.” In Masami’s mind, if she could cut down on time spent decoding this crap, she would definitely do it, but she also didn’t want this stranger to find out what was on it at the same time as her. Now her intention was for him to just tell her the method so that she can do it on her own without needing to reveal its contents.

"Indeed it is, and yes I do," Dascal answered calmly, turning to her as well with a direct latch onto eye contact with her. She was clearly the type that wasn't wanting help nor wanted anyone having involvement in their business. He was then humorously reminded of his current book.

"Do you know what made the original concept of vampires so alluring to readers," he asked way beyond the scope of what she was probably expecting.

If it meant getting the answers she seeked, Masami was willing to take part in this conversation. “Plenty of reasons, my guess would be that people find the idea fascinating of a monster parading as humans being able to blend in easily with society and get away with what pleases their beastly tendencies,” she crossed her arms.

“It’s the same reason that people find serial killers intriguing. The curiosity to know what the monster is thinking, but afraid to truly know at the same time. At least that’s just my opinion,” she said, interested in what his actual answer to his own question will be.

"That's not a bad answer If we were discussing all monsters of human form, but the truth is a different tale. The original concept of a vampire was not appealing to the eye creature, but of an old man. A seducer bringing death and promising immortality. He was the social ambivalence of birth and death," Dascal spoke in a whisper knowing how strange this conversation would hold to an audience. Yet that did not stop him from continuing.

"Today the modern Vampire has surrendered the mantle of fear over pleasure, a symbol of a monster the female audience can tame," he continued showing her a page of what Dracula had looked like in the original concept, a very strangely withered old man.

"Vampires were designed to be confusing to a human's senses; they were meant to draw you in with an unexpected kindness within the gloom of the night. They would then make it slowly clear you were trapped, unable to escape while still acting within the original kindness they offered. Until though… you saw the cracks in their illusion," Dascals eye kept locked to her looking for signs of any trigger his philosophical talk breathed life into. The picture Masami had not seen that Dascal had closed was one with her in line with the volleyball players and she too had a fake smile.

"It's only then in that apex of confusion that they bizarre their victims with the pleasures of life before striking in that mixture of pleasure, fear, kindness, safety and confusion. Unhinging their prey from being able to defend themselves. The true vampire was most terrifying because they knew how to balance others into their maw," Dascal words hung like a fever dream out at night around a campfire. There was definitely a strangeness yet truth to it and just like Masamis answer it was about fascination about how something so scary could be human. With his symphony done he waited to see if anything triggered. We're the volleyball players being abused?

Fully invested in his lecture, she took in every word, trying to figure just how exactly this all tied into what they were discussing. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with their previous topic. Maybe he was just the one of those rambling philosophical types of people that liked to hear themselves speak. But whether he was or not and really did have an ulterior motive behind speaking these words, she had to assume the latter of the two with the way he was speaking to her in a vague manner. Her expression showed interest with a hint of wariness with the stranger as she thought, “Is he talking about Kamoshida? Is he looking into him as well?”

At the thought of this being a possibility she found the coincidence to be entertaining enough to bring the small curl of a smile to the side of her mouth. “Funny thing about illusions though, is that they don’t have quite the same effect if you are told right from the start that it’s an illusion; then it becomes a trick,” she whispered back to him. She wondered if he would understand that she was trying to convey that she was not blind or even a fool to Kamoshida’s way. If he would look further into that statement, he possibly might be able to assume that she was after the same truth he was.

“Ah… and thus the monster is given life, and its names,” Dascal nodded in understanding his interrogation proving fruitful knowledge born with that out of the way it was time to return to the code at hand so to speak.

"Tell you what though we can exchange in balance I'll tell you the answer no questions asked. I will even leave to respect your privacy. All I'll ask in turn is you take me around town for one day. Obviously I am not from around here, don't know anyone, and would like to see the sites and activities a local would know about," he offered full heartedly. The reasoning was simply he didn't want to be taken advantage of by the area and having a local guide meant no one would try anything sketchy. He had no interest in what was on her file though was a bit curious as to why someone had gone out of their way to encrypt it so heavily. Yet personal knowledge rarely gained much for anyone outside of it.

Taken aback by his offer she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms in thought, mulling over the deal. He was only asking for one day that she would show him around. That coupled with the potential several days it might have taken for her to just figure out how the file was coded, it actually wasn’t a bad deal. Finally she spoke up having made her decision, “Fine, but there are a lot of sights to see in the area, so I won’t be able to show it all to you in one day. Just keep that mind and don’t complain later on if I leave some places out. Now before you tell me the information I want for your end of the bargain… I believe I deserve to know the name of the person who I’m going to be escorting around.”

“Fine than take me to the ones you enjoy the most,” the american boy countered with a chuckle, and a soft smile of his own to the conversations negotiations being rather playful than hostile which had not been expected. With that he got up sitting down right next to her, his hand resting on her chairs hand rest as he looked at the code mulling as he swayed into the code. His right hand came to life typing a structure code to start decrypting the first wall.

“You should smile more it has quite the rosy tint to your blush,” he lightly teased as he broke the defense of the encryption as he navigated, and created a self working a polyalphebetic code that started to full breakdown, and reveal the info she was desperate to have, and as promised he didn't even take a quick glance at the broken code. Standing up he proceeded to leave.

It wasn’t until he mentioned it that Masami realized she was blushing from the close proximity he was in with her. So she looked away from him, trying to focus on the monitor in front of them as he typed away. From her perspective, she was able to tell that once he was done typing, a polyalphabetic code decryption method was being used. It would have indeed taken her a while to come this far and solve the encryption.

“As promised until we meet again my vampire of the night,” he gently joked handing her his phone number.

Enthralled at first by the words being decoded before her, she averted her attention back to the boy when he spoke to her and she took his phone number. At the mention of his little nickname for her, she felt her blush traitorously start to heat up more. For a moment she was going to let him leave without another word, but she remembered her most recent request. “Wait, you still never gave me your name,” she said as she pocketed away the piece of paper given.

“Your right I didn’t, but what better way to make sure you follow through than by leading you with a mystery of our own,” he smiled loftly as he chuckled walking away with a small wave of his hand.

Once he was out of sight, Masami turned back to the monitor attempting to get back to her private project, but ended up being distracted by reflecting on the conversation she just had. As she felt the redness in her cheeks dissipate, she didn’t quite know how to exactly take the discussion and wasn’t sure if she should be cautious around him or if she should be intrigued.

Within the computer room of the school, Masami waited until her monitored showed that her little project was done being decrypted. Eagerly, she looked over the file attached to her flash drive, to discover that the data that was hidden within it was in fact a list of names along with notes regarding some very personal information regarding each of them. As she glanced over the list she wondered what was so important about these people, until she scrolled down to a very familiar family name "Shibaura". It was then that realized the answer to her inquiry. This was a list of targets her parents had or currently was working on.

Her mind began to go over what she can possibly do with this information, but she knew that she couldn't leave classified information like this out in the open on a school monitor; So she sent the decrypted file to her personal e-mail so that she could access it through her phone at any time and left the room. As she walked down the hall, she took out her phone to confirm that she can read the list through her phone and instead saw that she missed a text from Ann. "Agata-san is onto us...we are toast."

Upon seeing this text, Masami immediately laughed a little at the warning. It was no doubt as assessment of sorts that Sougo was trying to pull from the team. She would of course play along though whatever it was.

Almost on cue, Kawakami approached her. "U-um Ogawa-san, before carrying on, please read this. It's an urgent message from student council," she gave the memo to her with a foreboding expression as if she were wishing Masami luck.

Masami paid no mind to the way she was acting about the note and just thanked the teacher, "Thank you Miss Kawakami." She nodded and then walked off as she began to read the said piece of paper, smiling even more to herself after reading it. "Potential witnesses... I think I can pull off playing the part of a distressed student," She thought as she began walking towards the student council office like requested.
 
Nepotism was a disappointment as always, which was probably a good thing but still time wasters like receiving a memo about the phantom thieves were unexpected. Even so Isao had confidence that the acquired memo wouldn't be damning after all the lack of physical evidence would be a prevalent issue with even charging them of any crimes let alone get far enough for any of the phantom thieves to stand trial then the defenses of course and having to argue the existence of metaverse, legally at least they were practically immune to anything that can be thrown at them.

Isao ran through this line of thinking many times to practice his legal statement. The memo was still as threatening as a piece of paper could get, the implication of it was enough to make Isao dread the visitation after class, and that they were probably safe, in a public school so that ruled out wet workers though hopefully only this Agata was responsibly. Connection with the transfer student was probably unlikely but may be relevant.

Not like he was doing anything important or productive at all for that matter daydreaming about the metaverse and exploring it further in class in place of actually paying attention. Heading to the council room to relinquish this downer, he trusts that the other's keep a clean record like himself so this should be a piece of cake.
 
Sougo sat at the student council’s office, patiently waiting for the eventually arrival of all the phantom thieves. Based on his expectations, he’s pretty sure most of would be completely shook by this revelation. Though he’s not doing this just for his amusement, but that was certainly a factor. He needed to see if the Phantom thieves were able to continue to protect themselves when the threat of their identities is on the line.

Much to his surprise he would here knocking on his door already. It sounded like someone was really eager to enter the studen councilroom. The frequency of the knocks resembled that of a person who was desperately trying to enter an occupied bathroom. Who could this be? “Go ahead, the door is unlocked.”


After hearing a response from Sougo, Imato would take another deep breath before entering the room. “Agata-san.” The boy simply said before taking a seat after placing his things near the door. “I ask we make this quick, my father needs me to run some errands once I leave the school.” Imato said, hopefully to give this a little more sense of urgency to make things go by quicker instead of lingering around. Did he actually have plans after this with his family? Hell no, he just wanted to get this done and over with.

Nonetheless, Imato sat up straight and was ready for whatever Sougo could ask. Though he knew not to underestimate Sougo, knowing what the council member is capable of when it comes to finding out info.


“Hmm…you’re being rather polite today, Makage-san. Have you finally shaken off that Chunni attitude of yours?” Sougo joked, hearing him address him with a proper suffix. “Oh? Is that so? Well, I am sure whatever it is can wait. Given the severity of the case, I am sure your father would understand.” The young replied to the student without missing a beat while continuing to sort his papers. Despite the situation, Sougo’s voice and tone still remained his usual carefree self.

“I was going to question everyone together, but I suppose there’s no reason why I can’t start with you first.” Sougo sighed, as took out his notepad to review what Imato had to say to defend himself. “Alright, let’s hear it from you first. What do you know about the Phantom thieves?” Sougo asked him with a mischievous smile. Of course he himself already knew the answer. “And don’t bother lying to me. Cause I’ll know.” He was notorious in the school as someone who was easily able to tell if a person was lying. Though his methods of telling such things were a complete mystery.


Imato would growl under his breath a bit as his little attempt of making this brief was quickly shut down by Sougo but he remained calm nonetheless. As Sougo took out the notepad and got ready to write, Imato would simply crack his neck and nod, not having any objections since he thought he could get away with a few mild lies despite what he said.

“The Phantom Thieves? Well if I have to be completely honest I haven’t heard much of them other than rumours.” Imato started as he put his finger to his chin, looking like he was genuinely thinking back to what he knew. “But from what I heard they’re not messing around, going after those they deem corrupt so they can ‘steal their heart’, whatever the hell that means.” He said before shrugging and leaning back in the chair he was in, showing a carefree demeanour, similar to Sougo’s. “I even heard someone created a website for them, though I’m not completely sure if that one is true. I haven’t seen it with my own eyes. Other than that… I’m clueless.” Imato finished as he put his hands up in a joking manner with a small smile before returning to a more professional look, keeping his hand folded together as he sat. ‘Let’s see what you have to say about that… Agata.’


Upon hearing his rather lackluster explanation, Sougo immediately placed his pen and notepad to one side, seemingly losing interest in taking notes. He carefully studied Imato’s body language, noticing how thoroughly artificial and forced some of his movements were. He noticed he was careful with the way he talked, but once again it seemed rather forced. Sougo sighed, slightly disappointed by Imato’s performance. Surely the host of the God of trickster’s could do more than this.

“Your words tell me one thing, yet your body says something else. You know more than you let on, don’t you?” And there it is, that grin of confidence from Sougo, it was unmistakable. A telltale sign that his “victory” was just around the corner. “What do you know about the cult of Metatorn?” Sougo suddenly swapped gears with a completely different question. “Surely you would know something about it since you’ve been to their little meetings…” While Sougo was correct. How would he possibly know such an information? Could he possibly be a stalker? Or maybe he just has a lot of eyes on his side. Either way, he was interested to see how Imato would react to such an impossible solution.


Imato froze for but a moment when Sougo mentioned the meeting and the cult, knowing any longer would surely give Sougo the confirmation he needed at that point to confirm any suspicions. ‘Stay calm, you have to be a trickster. A bad performance isn’t going to cut it this time.’ He thought to himself before a smile spread to his face and genuine laughter emitted from Imato. He took a few seconds to calm down and regain his breath.

“I apologise Agata-san, but ME? At a meeting that has something to do with the Phantom Thieves?” Imato shook his head, chuckling abit more before sighing with a small smile. “I know just about as much as the next guy. Some group of vigilantes going around and doing… something that’s making these people confess their wrongdoings.” He said with a helpless shrug of his arms as his face showed general confusion towards Sougo’s question. Imato then shook his head once again.

“Last time I checked I was already on my last straw due to those fights I got into a while back. I don’t think anyone would jeopardise their future just for a few publicity stunts, I’M not even that mental.” Imato said as he entered a more relaxed position to show his lack of care for the subject. “If your looking for info Agata-san, I’m sorry but I’m just not your guy, it’s hard enough for me to learn the gossip of the day.” He sighed as he finished his case once more, this time he wasn’t as tense. And he didn’t try to feign seriousness as that lead him nowhere just a moment ago.


“Actually I was referring to the cult meetings….” He found it strange he would willingly go on a tangent about meeting the Phantom thieves despite him directing the line of questioning towards cult of metatorn. “You know, for a guy who doesn’t know much about the Phantom thieves, you sure are eager to talk about them.” Would the boy go back the topic of Phantom thieves despite him already moving on from it. “You also seem deadly sure that they are the ones that are causing these “confessions” despite there not having been any substantial proof of how they would achieve such a thing.” So far, there were only two cases of such a case, so it would be too soon conclude anything. And yet Imato over here begs to differ.

At this point, Imato has shared details which are not suppose to be widely known by the public. If he was as disinterested in such things, why would he bother to understand such trivial details such as these. “Oh I am not looking for info, I already know what happened.” Sougo merely gave him a passive smile before moving on to the another topic. “You came in here pretty early huh? You said you were in a rush but my intuition tells me you wanna conclude this quick for another reason. Are you afraid of something? Or perhaps of someone?” Why was he so eager to leave? If whatever he had with his father was urgent, surely he would have called him by now. “Are you in trouble?” His voice swapped tone to his usual “work” voice. The hard working student council variant.


Imato did a mental facepalm as Sougo said he meant the cult meetings, not the meetings of the Phantom Thieves. He swore he could hear Loki laughing like crazy in the back of his head as he continued to dig himself a deeper and deeper grave than before. Though his optimistic outlook on the situation dropped even more as Sougo left behind the carefree voice for the hard-working one. Imato took a breath before sighing as he decided to cut the polite act, as it was just working against him at this point. “I’m not afraid of anybody in this school Agata, I thought you would know that one by now.” Imato said with a much more stern voice than what he was using before, not wanting to play anymore games in this situation.

“I have a life outside of this school and wish to enjoy it without it being crapped on by some stupid events. As for the trouble, I suppose it depends on one thing…” He would continue on once again. “What do you want, Agata? What do you plan to get out of this meeting?” Imato said as he glared at Sougo, trying to find what the Student Council member was playing at.


“Of course. Which is why I find your current behaviour strange…” He replied to his statement about not being afraid of anyone. Him suddenly being was polite the strangest thing about this entire conversation, not to mention, his desire to quickly overexplain subjects was also a telltale something of him hiding something. But once he heard his voice switch out to his more common stern voice, that was when the real “game” had begun.

“Oh yes, a very interesting life I might add, and not something everyone can get behind I might add..” Sougo was of course referring to his life as a phantom thief. His statement about “trouble” gave away an implication that he already knew that he was somewhat in trouble, it was only a matter of whether or not he can escape it. But the one thing that truly impressed Sougo, after all this is Imato still had the guts to pull a reversal, to ask him about his own intentions. Sougo gave the boy a small chuckle, acknowledging his courage in what could be a very precarious situation for him. “And here I thought I was the only asking questions here..” he face return to a playful smirk. “Why don’t you stick around and find out. I promise you that it’ll be worth your time. But I guess you dont have much of an option in that regard do you now?” He wasn’t in a position to just leave, so instead he was forced to stay and endure what was to come. “So, How many of you are there? I believe you said there was a group of you…” Once again, Sougo used his own words against him, as he also claimed that it was a group of vigilantes as well as indirectly claimed that he was part of the group.


“I suppose I did say that, but that statement could mean anything. Potentially only a few, or maybe a whole army, I’m in no position to say.” Imato said with a small shrug of his shoulders, not going to give such info to Sougo or any other person who wanted info about the thieves. The boy was no longer hiding away behind any fake stories or facades, but that didn’t mean he would willingly give up info.

But as the thought of information crossed Imato’s mind, he wondered once again where Sougo had gotten a lot of the initial knowledge that was being used against him and probably will be used against the others as well. “I’m not the only one here with a secret… you're hiding something as well, Agata.” Imato simply said that with no other comments as he thought of the things Sougo had first mentioned, before Imato’s previous failures. Putting his feet up, Imato would scan the room around with concentrated eyes before returning focus to Sougo. “And have done a swell job in doing so…” He said simply to stall as he tried to think.


“Hahaha! Nice lie!” Sougo smiled and laugh while giving the boy thumbs up. For once, there was finally a convincing enough lie in this entire conversation, though no matter how convicining the lie was, it didn’t matter since Sougo himself already knew the truth. “Had you been a bit more convincing earlier, I might have even let you of the hook.” He added, though there was no way he would have allowed him to leave so easily. But it was good to give the boy a bit of hope.

“Ah so you do admit you have a secret!” Sougo mentally facepalm. He briefly wondered what was the purpose of the initial life if he was going to admit that he had a secret afterall. Though at the same time, Sougo himself didnt deny that he too had something to hide. But that wasn’t really the focus of this conversation.

He sighed before finally revealing one of his “cards” he proceeded to pull out a paper containing the transcript of their metanav group chat. This heavily implied that there had been a breach of security of some sort, or perhaps a rat among the group. Though in reality it was just Sougo typing out the chat in a document. Still it looked pretty authentic and was a word for word copy of their chat log. The characters were all using their codenames, so it was impossible to tell who was actually behind the chat, atleast not without insider knowledge. “Who’s this Baron character? Is he your boss?” In hindsight, asking such a thing was weird, but he wanted to see what someone like Imato was willing to say about him.


Imato looked at the transcript with disbelief in his eyes before sighing and calming himself once again. ‘Trying to find a boss figure to bring us all down, smart move. Not going to work though.’ He thought as he tried to think of a witty answer to give Sougo, something better than what he had initially been saying since all he’s done is help the student council member at this point. Another slip-up could jeopardise the whole team, but that faded from Imato’s mind as he thought back to the chat log, how did Sougo of all people get access to it? Was there a rat in the group that was working with Sougo? Millions of possibilities flooded his mind as he tried to think, but for now he had to stay focused on the conversation.

“Depends who you ask, to me he’s not worth the waste of breath.” Imato said with a straight face, not really bothering to say anything else about Baron considering his… less than fond opinion of him.Things were crumbling apart and there was nothing Imato could really do since all he said so far has just jeopardised him more than before. So instead of trying to be deceitful, Imato started to watch Sougo more carefully and to consider everything he said as a clue to how he got all the info he did.


“My my…such hostility..and yet you do not deny you’re part of this group.” Sougo laugh at the boys response. It was no secret that the boy held some form of hostility to Baron, especially after, their little fight. “I see that everyone in the chat uses nicknames. A simple but clever way of preventing yourselves from being identified. But judging from your personality I would say….you’re the one they call “Tragedy” aren’t you?” His grin widened, looking like a predator who had just cornered their prey.

Now the true test. Since himself has been found out. Was he willing to sell out his friends to secure his own freedom? “Thats one party down. Now for the others. What do you know about these other characters?” Putting his fingers together forming a tent, he careful observed what Imato was willing to do to get himself out of this situation. But he didnt want to give him blatant suggestion of him ratting out his friends. He wanted to see if he was willing to do so himself.


Imato wouldn’t care anymore about keeping his own identity hidden, but he would make sure to keep his allies safe, no matter the cost. “Nothing that I’m willing to tell you.” He said as his stern voice turned to one with more disdain within it, showing how against he was to what Sougo wanted. “If you want info you might as well expel me or do whatever the hell you want, I’m not going to say a single word to the likes of you. Sougo Agata.” Imato continued, no longer caring about keeping his identity hidden since at this point… It was already jeopardised.

As little as he showed it to the thieves, Imato genuinely cared for their safety more than his own at this point. Cracking his knuckles and neck, Imato would glare at Sougo, his red eyes as piercing as ever.


"Erm… a bit too late for that don't you think?" He raised his eyebrow upon hearing that Imato was no longer willing to continue the conversation. Though he was quite happy with his apparent character growth. The willingness to cover for his friends, despite them not even knowing who he was.

"Honor among Phantom thieves huh? I like that!" Sougo seemed amused by this entire situation. But even he knew he shouldn't be enjoying this too much. "If that's the case, the best you can to do now is wait for the others to arrive." He said while leaning back onto his swivel chair. "I'd hold back on the violence if I were you. As it stands there is still room negotiations. If you raise your hand against me now, you'll forfeit whatever bargaining power you have." He gave him a stern warning while also relaxing on his own chair.


“As much as I would love to stay, my time here is very limited as I mentioned in the beginning.” Imato said before pulling out his phone and showing a plethora of missed calls and text messages as his phone had been put to silent. The boy would put up his hood and swing his bag onto his back before looking back to Sougo.

“Even if I were to stay, I’m not of much use at this point.” Imato referenced how little the others know of him, even if Sougo really wouldn’t understand the subtle nod to the fact. “I wish you luck on your excursion, Agata… Because it won’t get any easier.” He said before walking out of the student council room, no longer caring if expulsion was an actual threat now, or even if the cops had a chance to be involved.

Right after Imato left, Sougo waited a few more minutes before the rest of the group members arrived, allowing each of them to take sit at the long table. His eyes followed each member of the team as they get seated. "I am glad to see that all of you are able to come here with such short notice..well....almost all of you.." his eyes shifted to an empty chair which was supposed to be for Imato. Such a troublesome member and yet his spirit of rebellion was undeniable. "Let's cut to the chase then...." He slid a file to them containing some very troubling evidence. "..Phantom Thieves.." Sougo gave the crew his trademark grin while allowing them to see what was inside the file.

Within the folder was a transcript of the conversations between the Phantom thieves group chat. Due to the way it's formatted, it was impossible to tell whose point of view this was from. Along with the transcript, the file also contained photos of the Phantom thieves in the process of dematerializing into the metaverse. "That's a neat trick you got there. I wonder where you learned that..." Sougo chuckled a bit before shifting his tone to a more serious one. "Fortunately for all of you...I don't really have a problem with what you're doing....considering who your next target is.." the young man spoke while looking at a copy of the transcript in his hand. "...Though is one problem with this.....your target is leaving soon...." Sougo was very careful with his choice of words, not wanting to tip them off on how knowledgeable he was about the actual situation.

Sougo slides an announcement memo to the group, regarding Kamoshida's eventual transfer. "...it'd be very unfortunate if he were to...escape..." It was no secret that Sougo and Kamoshida had been on each other's necks ever since they met. So of course it would make sense for him to take whatever chance he gets to bring about his downfall. "Let's make a deal. I have an offer you can't refuse...I need you to steal his heart before he leaves...and in exchange...I can let all this evidence slide..." Sougo confidently announced as leaned back onto his chair with cocky grin. Now it was time to evaluate how the group would react to such a threat. Though given the circumstances, he did feel somewhat sorry for Shiro as she did have her "house" get burned down by a couple of lowlives. "Go ahead, make your choice." He smiled mischievously, knowing full well they weren't in a position to say no.


Maeve Valor Maeve Valor Anthem Anthem That Weird girl That Weird girl Nellancholy Nellancholy accursedjobber accursedjobber
 
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"Consider it done," Ann said instantly to Sougo as she did not want him to leak the evidence to the Tokyo police department where she was sure someone would like that. The last thing they needed was to get arrested by the cops because then they would be doomed. She glanced at Masami, Isao, and Shiro hoping they would say the same thing. Please just accept it Ann thought to herself, she did not need them making a scene about this since it was life or death.

Morgana was not as familiar with this Kamoshida but he would capture the man's treasure if it would save the team. He was in Ann's book bag but figured if Sougo knew about them then it was pointless to hide. He poked his head out of Ann's bag looking around and glared at the mischievously clever boy that was ahead of him. Mona had to admit this guy was pretty smart about concealing his knowledge about the thieves and it seemed he really wanted this gym teacher dead. For some reason...Morgana had no knowledge of the feud between the two.

"So did you know even back-" Ann was going to ask if he knew about her and Shiro becoming thieves to defeat Kajiki. Sougo was of course there when they were beginning to start the thieves so she had to wonder if he did.

Nellancholy Nellancholy TreasureSniper TreasureSniper Maeve Valor Maeve Valor accursedjobber accursedjobber
 
...........................Collab with That Weird girl That Weird girl ........................

Kasumi was at the library studying for her math test alone since Sougo was gone and would usually be helping her. It was fine with her since he did do a lot for her already so she was not bothered. But she did miss him giving tips and lessons on how to do this work. A part of Kasumi wondered what he was doing and what he was hiding from her since it seemed like he was trying to conceal something.

Kasumi felt a little left out of the loop and she felt kind of lost lately. It seemed like the world was spinning really fast for some reason and Kamoshida made it worse because of how he made Sougo so angry and that rarely happened. He was not mad around her but she could sense that something was troubling him and it worried her. She figured that she needed to do something to help him.

She was now getting worked up about Sougo when it was usually vice versa. There had to be something she could do…besides getting rid of the Kasumi charade. She couldn’t do it…it meant so much to her to just listen to Maruki and let him manipulate her into believing she was her twin sister. The real Sumire was buried deep below and was struggling to come out. Deep in her Kasumi knew that it had to end.

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. Hyde,” a voice suddenly spoke as a book was gently laid on the other side of Kasumi. The culprit to break her attention was hidden behind another book. Bram Stoker's Dracula is the original vampire, and godfather to all other vampire literature. Slowly bringing the book down Dascals eyes met with Kasumi deep in red like a monster on the hunt for a bride like the main antagonist of the book he held, and he studied her facial feature. However, all he was actually doing was trying to figure out how to approach this ember-haired person who had appeared at his desk while he was hunting down some books.

“It’s one of the most intriguing ones of late to me. A tale of conflict between being chained down by who you want everyone to see you as, or letting loose what you have been holding back deep in your soul who you truly are,” he expressed sitting down across from her a bit close as the table was smaller being in between bookshelf lanes.

“To be held back by social acceptance, or to break the chains to take what could be yours. It’s quite the dilemma for most wouldn’t you agree,” he asked his eye still directly on her’s as he started probably the strangest conversation directly at Kasumi.

Kasumi listened to the male who she figured was the new student that everyone was talking about. She nodded and felt his eyes directly on her when he said that as if he was talking about her and in a way it was true. “Yes, that is quite the dilemma…” She said to him, “which one do you think is better?” Since they were in this weird conversation she might as well ask a really strange question to him and see what he would say.

She couldn’t help but wonder why he would ask that question when they have not even met before. Kasumi figured he was just one of those people or he knew something that she did not. Either way that was a very very strange first impression and she did not know what to think of Dascal.

However the same could be said about her who just appeared at his desk. He was probably trying to make conversation with her, Kasumi thought she was easy to approach but maybe not. She wanted people to see her as her twin but deep down she knew that she wasn’t as good as her and hated herself for it.

Dascal sat silent hearing both her words and seeing her mannerisms strangely mixing into two different beasts. The one who reacted was not the same as the one who spoke… curious. She seemed to either be in a dire straight of a personal decision, was fighting herself or was in a twist of fate of both. However, the guess was only hypothetical, and he had only just sat down with the girl let alone known her. His mind was just analyzing a girl from a completely different culture it was more than not most likely all in his head, and he was simply confusing a random girl doing their math homework.

Yet the question she in turn asked seemed to drag him into his own hypothesis, or better yet a battle of opinions with himself as he wondered if such a heavy question was far to answer with the risk of potentially spiraling someone in a vulnerable moment. This was the type of thing someone who knew her should have been conversing about. Regretting having pulled her into such a heavy conversation she wasnt ready for Dascal to seek balance out of fairness and answered the question.

“I am me, and I refuse to be held by chains of another perspective of reality. Some say that might be sinful, or egotistical yet that's the purpose one is to risk balancing their life on a grey line. Not surrender to light like Dr. Jekyll, or be consumed by darkness like Mr. Hyde,” Dascal answered.

“Dr. Jekyll in his path to tear away from the light gave life to another persona rather than freeing himself he drowned another of himself into his desires erasing what was most important. What made Dr. Jekyll himself… rather than breaking his bonds he split himself and chained them separate never to be one again,” Dascal expressed tapping on his copy of Dracula before pushing the referenced book to her.

“Yet it does not matter what I think… or what you think. It matters what you do, and that's what decides your fate… you nothing else,” he said in closing before his hypothesis would start digging into her life as he was known to do from time to time.

This conversation was getting pretty close to home for Kasumi. The girl did not expect to have this conversation with a stranger and it caught her off guard. But she started to think about what Dascal was saying and the idea challenged Maruki’s reality where she was forever her sister and chained to his perception of reality.

Maybe it was time to accept that she could never be Kasumi and properly mourn in a healthy way. It was either Kasumi or Sumire and no gray line in between. Could the two exist alongside each other? Would her sister’s memory be gone if she was Sumire? It was hard because Sumire idolized her sister but also had jealousy over the twin for being better.

Ever since the accident she had never been the same and the death of her twin destroyed her mentally. Maruki had manipulated her into seeing a different reality where she could be happy and be Kasumi. But it must end…Sumire couldn’t pretend anymore and she knew that but a part of her wanted to continue.

No. She was in denial…this could not be true. Seems like she was exactly like dr. Jekyll at this moment and frankly she couldn’t seem to escape this delusion. “Is it wrong to believe a lie if it makes you feel better?” Kasumi asked a question kinda giving a piece of her past and what she has been doing. Oh, she knew it was all a lie. Charading as Kasumi all this time and she knew that Sougo was her childhood friend all this time.

The lie has caused more damage to her than it has helped, making her do things that she did not want to do, being perfect at gymnastics. His observations were right that she seemed to be fighting herself. Who even was this guy? Why did he pose this question?

However, Kasumi thought this conversation was too deep to start acting normal and introducing herself so she decided to let him answer this. He could potentially help her get out of her damaging mindset if she let him. Which was also her choice…was she a slave to Maruki’s reality or was she her own person?

“...It depends on what you are sacrificing for the lie,” Dascal answered now reeled back in with curiosity on what was going on with this mystery girl. Was their merit to his estranged theory?

“And what good has it done,” he added now watching her every move like an interrogator about to crack open the answer to a cold case.

Kasumi thought about that…she was sacrificing a lot for this lie. Sougo was very worried about her and busting his ass trying to make time for her. Although he did enjoy her company and they were pretty good friends she did feel bad about him always wanting to pay for her meals.

“Not very good,” Kasumi admitted to this stranger who she felt understood her situation without even introducing himself. She looked at him crossing her arms, “who are you? You know that conversation was really strange for a first encounter.”

Denial. Sumi still was holding onto this even if he was right about her. She did not expect this day to go like this at all and maybe she would actually come to her senses.

"That I haven't… tell you what gives me the blessing of knowing who you truly are, and I'll bless you with my own identity," he offered in trade, taking her hand into his own to place a copy of the very book they were discussing. He had a gentle touch, and his grip was so light she would be able to pull away if she was uncomfortable with the act. Once placed though he pulled his hand back waiting to see if she had the strength to answer the question truthfully.

Kasumi was a little shy as he took her hand and blushed a little bit not knowing how to react. She held the book and looked at him, “Thanks. My name is Kasumi Yoshizawa and you?” Kasumi studied him, he was kind of handsome in a way. But Kasumi should not stare at him since she did not want to make him uncomfortable.

“Is that the true you, or the current you,” Dascal asked quizzically not offering his name just yet as he eyed her hesitation in the answer. He was right something was off about her, and she knew it just as well as he did now. Regardless though he had no right to push, and she had asked politely after listening to him talk nonstop.

“Dascal Marion. It’s a pleasure to meet you Kasumi. You should read that book it's quite a brain teaser,” he smiled as he started to read into Dracula not wanting to interrupt her homework any more than he had. Yet nothing required him to leave either it was nice having someone around.

That was something Kasumi did not want to answer right now. She wasn’t ready to accept the truth yet. She had a feeling that he knew a lot about her without her having to explain anything to him. This guy seemed very much like Sougo in the way that he was perceptive and intelligent. “Likewise,” Kasumi smiled at him and nodded about the book, “I certainly will, maybe when I get free time.” She chuckled a little knowing that it would be a while before she got the free time.

“So Dadcal are you from somewhere else?” She asked him not to assume he was from America. His name did not sound Japanese so she figured he was that transfer student that everyone was talking about. Apparently, he had a good reputation with the ladies since girls were giggling about him all day long.

“North America the USA in particular on the North Western side,” he answered while reading with a chuckle as apparently she wasnt done with him yet in an ironic turn around of conversation. With that, the bell suddenly range ending the free period.

“And for now we will have to leave it at that,” Dascal smiled.
 
Shiro's eyes narrowed as she glared at Agata. Now this was far more troublesome than she had expected. Then again, she wasn't necessarily too worried about the one sitting before her. Here was a man known for his impeccable public image, vaunted for his intellect and supposed moral fiber. And yet the moment they stepped into this room, he had flipped from questioning them as witnesses or "associates" to attempting to set them like dogs on a petty scumbag.

A "petty scumbag"...that they had already been pointed towards by the Baron.

Could HE have passed on the information to Agata for his own agenda? Well, that made things a bit easier. It meant despite all his posturing, Agata didn't have first hand knowledge about what he was talking about.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She'd gotten somewhat used to answering "questioning" from the police. "I don't come here anymore, and that man is beneath my notice." Which was what she truly felt, but she wasn't going to back out of teaching someone like him a lesson anyway. "You seem to have a direct line to their communications, Agata. Why not deliver them your missive directly instead? I'm sure they'll oblige readily."

And then Ann just had to agree straight out, in a way that all but admitted her own involvement.

"Whatever." Shiro shook her head. "You can take as much time as you wish with us, but the Thieves go where they will." She'd never just give anyone the truth, least of all him.
 
Going over her knowledge of reading body language, she crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair as her feet faced a slightly different direction than where Sougo sat across from the rest of them. Doing so conveys a look of being wary, whoever displays this kind of non-verbal activity has something to hide and doesn't trust the person that they are talking to. The fact that she was leaning back in the chair and turning away would signify that she was inwardly trying to distance herself from the situation as best she could. Even though the only person that would read into such things would probably be the only person she wasn't trying to fool which was Sougo. But even if you aren't a person adept to knowing what to look for when it comes to body language, most people have an underlying ability to associate how they think someone feels when they look at someone as a whole. This was what Masami was trying to tap into when it came to currently being in the same room as her newfound friends. As much as she disliked the idea of deceiving them in any way, she did want to keep her word to Baron that she would not reveal his identity; Which meant acting like a deer in some headlights for the time being in order to not seem suspicious.

Just when Masami was about to speak, Ann immediately accepted the offer to her disbelief. Following after that, Shiro thankfully continued denying their involvement as Masami took another look at the transcript reading its contents. The information written on here was indeed troubling, but she knew she had to act as she normally would if she wasn't aware of what was really going on. "And what do we get in return, hm?" She said finally unfurling her arms.

"Am I to understand that if we don't, you're going to report us to the authorities? That's rich. If you were to give them this information here, the most they can do is say we have some sort of tie to them. And these pictures? Must be some trick of the light for this kind of exposure. Even assuming that they do place us into custody... I don't recall there being a law against stealing hearts. Aside from ALL that, if you report us and by some chance we are put away, then there goes any chances at all you have of taking Kamoshida down before he leaves." Masami then leaned forward meeting his gaze.

"The way I see it, you need us, more than we need you Agata-san," she said with a playful smirk as she knowingly threw his own previous words back at him. She understood that he would probably have some sort of clever thing to say to combat her words, but she figured she would at least have a little fun with this whole charade to see how he fairs.
 
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Imato would be sitting outside the school in the shade, out of sight from most people unless they either had good eyesight or were specifically looking for him which was unlikely since most people had already left the area by now. He kept looking at his phone for some sort of notification, but shook his head after realizing the others would have no need to text about the meeting with Sougo until much later. Opening up his bag, he would take out his mask and inspect it a bit with a sigh. He wondered how long he would continue to wear the damned thing, if it was time to finally trust the others. What did he have to hide at this point?

He wondered if Agata would talk about the masked boy's identity to the other thieves, but shook his head thinking that he probably had other words to say instead of talking about some Chunnibyou. 'You can't trust them, they aren't truly your allies...' The voice Imato had heard before awakening his persona echoed in his mind once again, trying to advise him again. The boy would hold his head a bit in annoyance as he shook his head. Putting the mask back in his bag, he would make his way home for the evening.

"Hey Imato, did you order something? A package arrived for you and seems important." His father spoke out as soon as Imato walked through the door. After putting his things away and doing mild chores, he took the package to his room to open in private. As soon as Imato saw the items inside though, his eyes widened in slight excitement, but primarily fear. Inside the box was new weapons for the Metaverse, a prop saber and model pistol, replacing what had been broken a few days ago by Baron. 'How the hell does he know my address?!' He tried to think of how it was possible for Baron to have his personal info. "Well? What was it?" His father yelled out from the other room to his son, and Imato would gulp down his fear for now, accepting the new items happily. "Just somethings that were overdue, I ordered them a while back." The boy called out as an excuse before putting the items away, and continuing his after school activities.
 
................................Collab with TreasureSniper TreasureSniper .......................................

A few days after the Defeat of The Phantoms Thieves Third Palace

The depths of Mementos, the subconscious palace of the masses where the shadows of many were collectively roaming further, and deeper into the bowels of the abyss towards a never-ending torrent of soulless endeavors lost to the void. The Path of Chemdah in particular was a disorienting orange of mundane sloth except for a peculiar sole guest walking around aimlessly studying the layout of the metaverses secrets labyrinth. They were of a different design in comparison to the Phantom Thieves, and the Meta Mercs of late that had been surveying, and working the layouts of late. This person seemed strangely different appearing almost like a holy man drabbed in green attire with a large hemmed hat. Their mask was half a theatrical curiosity and half a piercing embrace of satisfaction.

Currently, they were at the end of the path with a massive wall in their way with the hissing essence of a few rather powerful shadows fizzling out of existence behind them. In particular the remains of an Eligor, Shiki-Oujo, and an Ippon-Datar. As the stranger gently touched their hand to the wall a curiosity of the sense plagued them to gently tilt their head to the right as they removed their attention from the wall letting their hand slide down slowly back to their side.

“By all means don’t be shy,” a surprisingly robotically synthesized voice echoed from the green-robbed meta visitor calling out to someone not exactly in sight it seemed as if they were earnestly just talking to themselves out of boredom.

The metaverse wasn’t exactly the safest place to wander alone, especially when it came to a territorial place like mementos. Right as the visitor started to talk to nothing, a large wave of black energy surged forward violently toward his area, destroying any shadows and environmental barriers that were struck. Whoever this offensive attack was from, it was clear that they had every intention of causing bodily harm to the mysterious visitor.

As the black wave dispersed, a mysterious figure clad in black robes slowly walked into view, his body still radiating a hostile and dark aura around him. The eyeholes in his mask glowed a fearsome and bloodthirsty red, clearly hungry for violence. With this one, there was no hope for a peaceful exchange of words. Whoever he was about to meet will have no mercy, no respite, only the unassailable strength of the MetaMerc named Slayer.

The waves of malignant malice were the actions of the very winds blowing the stranger's way as what little remained of opposition on the field was portentously erased from existence as the murky waves of the all-consuming madness made their way towards the guest of Mementos. Standing in place pulling the stranger pulled out a strange glass jar filled with what looked to be an ointment of sorts. Raising it in front of him he crushed the container in his left hand unleashing a splash of crystallized magic powder all around him. The waves of darkness came colliding in, yet the stranger's demise was held back as the murky claws of the magic were deflected off his body as the crystallized powder burned brightly holding off the darkness that threatened to devour him whole.

As the attack eroded away the magic powder died out as the Meta Merc would know all too well what had happened. Magic Ointment… a product that could dispel only one spell peruse. An item that was hard to come by, and even more unlikely for a greenhorn to even know of. Such willingness to destroy the environment much like a wildfire, unstable, and uncontrollable talk was clearly pointless, and thus the stranger would not waste any further words as they pulled out a kilij blade.

The merc was unimpressed by the stranger's defense. An overreliance on items was a sure sign of a lack of confidence in one's ability, or at least it was an annoying method of combat that reminded him of someone. "Tch, greenhorn." The combatant muttered, as his blade ignited with black and red flames. This opponent was able to block one instance of damage with his parlor trick, but what about an onslaught of them? He started wildly swinging his blade, sending 3 waves of black and red energy toward the visitor, blackening his entire field of vision.

"Thanatos!" He shouted, summoning his persona to his site. The humanoid creature charged forward, bursting through the wall of blackness, his wicked hand immediately grabbing the opponent's blade. At point-blank range, the persona opened its jaw, immediately charging up an attack, a powerful concentrated blast of darkness.

The stranger looked up at the persona truly an almighty sight of a powerful entity that deserved a moment of impression to be implemented, but the moment was gone in a blink as he grabbed his mask jamming his fingers through the eye sockets and grasping at the nose center of the mask.

“Grigori Rasputin,” the stranger tilted his head down ripping off his mask while hiding his identity with the hem of his hat. In equal close proximity, an equally massive persona appeared through the wisps of darkness the Mad Monk of the icy tundras of legend appeared behind the green-dressed user. He held a prominent aura with his dark robs exuding a black mist that wisped away endlessly. In his right hand was a well-bejeweled sheathed saber of the old days. Extending out his sword he began unleashing a Terror Claw slash countering two of the energy slashes. The last energy slash would still accomplish its mission blocking the stranger's view and forcing them back until their blade was caught with the icon of death ready to wipe him out.

“That’s mine,” the stranger expressed in a sour vexing tone as his Persona closed in the gap using his weapon arm to slam into Thanatos face upward unleashing a Negative Pile straight into the lower jaw blasting the despair magic upward and forcing the entity's face straight up redirecting the blast at the ceiling. With his blade freed in the chaos, and the rubble falling down from Thanatos’s overwhelming attack, it was clear to the stranger that extended combat would see their demise, and thus this was now a battle to escape. Running forward the ailment Despair would try to trigger upon Thanatos giving the Stranger a moment to overwhelm Slayer with a Persona/ Persona User assault.

With his left arm, the stranger pulled out a rustic tri-barrel shotgun taking an immediate shot at Slayer during the chaos as Rasputin followed dropping to the ground the stranger slid towards Slayer with the debris falling as visual impairment. In the hysteria at a closer range, the Stranger took another shot with the second barrel of his gun as he regained footing. Mementos would restabilize the area soon undoing the collateral damage meaning now was the only time to launch the finale of the combo as Grigori Rasputin dove upward with another Terror Claw with his saber downward upon the Meta Merc.

The mad monk’s attempt at deflecting the charged-up energy blast had hit its mark, sending concentrated blast energy upwards, destroying a good chunk of the ceiling before the creature manage to regain control of its momentum. Slayer, upon seeing massive debris about to fall on top of him, recall his persona to his side to shelter him from the incoming rubble and gunfire. With ease, Thanatos shrugged off the falling rubble and gunshot towards him, his many coffins acting as makeshift shields.

“Cocky bastard!” Slayer yelled, blocking the second with his own blade swing, demonstrating his superior strength and reflex. Seeing the blade coming towards him, Slayer arrogantly raised his free arm to block the blade by simply taking hold of it with his own hand. It was a message to the visitor. That every single one of the attacks that they threw out thus far….was nothing. The visitor would get a good look at his opponent’s face, which had nothing but the most twisted smile.

“I am going to enjoy this…” As he spoke, Thanato’s cape of coffins began opening, releasing eight ghastly phantasms that resembled less developed versions of the personas. The phantasms start screeching at the lone visitor, circling him like a pack of hungry animals. One by one, the phantasms would attack the visitor with a quick dash, with each subsequent attack getting faster and faster. While each individual cut did not do any significant damage, it was still excruciating for any human to endure, especially for an extended period of time. While all this was happening, Slayer simply stood by the sidelines, slowly counting the number of cuts that had been issued so far. But with each slice of the blade, he could feel the urge to restrain himself grow weaker and weaker. He wanted the last cut, the one to take his life away, arguably the most satisfying one. He was practically salivating over it. “Yes! YES! That's it! Hold out longer! Don't give up now! Fight! Fight till your last dying breath! AHAHAHAHA!” Slayer was absolutely ecstatic to finally have someone he could eviscerate, dismember and disembowel to his heart’s content.



TQAO-sl9NxuN8jyNehMyWG4teFRGHQTHmrPHD6ySldI21WUgxFpI6rufULPdh9c2V5l7lzPZ1jZjVrARTtJRRvNfG-kB0Y0byIeyZjSTz676xuaG1snFphJR8vO5SMPA4JHk4-duwLhp1Ke8f0GHU01gv2Rml_zeL-ycV-UjG9A11uLoOxqfHfupw0w0sw

So this was a high-rank Meta Merc? The stranger could see why unaffiliated persona users/peaceful shadows feared, and avoided contact with this All-father faction they were no fairy-tale, but a nightmare out of A Grimm's tale. The icon of death persona blocked a good chunk of all the attacks thrown its way from the rubble, the gunshots, and even the direct attack from Rasputin. The level gap was clear, especially as the Meta-Merc himself caught a persona's blade with his own hand. Yet even in the throws of such a blight two weaknesses had been shown to the stranger gazing eyes strategy was formulation as Rasputin's was unsummoned in reaction to the madman catching the persona's blade unwilling to let Thanatos get in a clean point blank hit. The Meta-Merc had a short temper, was blood-lusting, and clearly knew they were the superior in this fight... that was the first weakness to take advantage of.

The vacuum suction resounded off the eerie coffin’s opening releasing a grave site of eight foreboding specters a special technique clearly of Thanatos design as a persona, and one that had raised the chance of the stranger's demise critically high. Yet all actions had their use too, and the stranger would have to do with the odds at hand. Using every chest piece on the board to survive. the howls of the demented offspring clung like razor wire against a chalkboard disorienting all who heard their wails. Along with the words spoken by the Meta-Merc, it was clear this man aimed to clean up the stranger in the next few moves something they realized as the imminent countdown to their demise began. Thoughts and plans would have to speed up in formulation in the stranger's head as the nightmares came circling him like vultures. The first two to attack were blocked via gun barrel and sword in frontal counter... the third to fourth were dodged by cartwheeling sideways to the right... the plan was close to the formulation. The fifth to sixth he spun backward forced back by their increasing speed as his gun barrel lugged the assault for a moment. The plan was there???

Suddenly the stranger's movement was halted as the eight entities began to all come simultaneously at once each slashing, and screaming in turn so violently it was like he was trapped in the eye of a hurricane as slashes started to burn into his body in visceral pain at their precision to get in minor cuts all over his body as he fought tooth, and nail to block whatever feebly he could do in this overwhelming situation. The laughter of the meta-Merc only added to the tension as the stranger was forced to one knee as the punishers came into...

CREEEEAAAAAKKKKK

The smaller pieces of rubble below came to life lifting into the sky four of the duplicates as they were hoisted by the levitating rocks until pinned to the ceiling. The stranger breathed heavily for a moment while the other four duplicates backed off avoiding being caught up in the chaos. All would be witnessed as the four caught screamed as the pieces that pinned them drilled through their bodies before finally causing them to all explode in a pool of black blood raining down upon the stranger as he doused himself with a medicine salve sealing his cutting wound though not without extreme pain flowing throughout his body as they closed up leaving the fatigue of the damage. The Stranger arouse back up directing his attention to Slayer in particular clearly heavily drained by the attack he had survived no... to Slayer it would be clear even though Thanatos's apostle would eventually overwhelm the stranger no matter what the Stranger had fought to get to that stopping point on purpose... a small safe zone away from the recovering Mementos. For one moment, and only that the Stranger had stolen the show right in front of Slayer's eyes... a true sight of clever opening deception feigned, and true to its merit.

"My turn," the stranger heavily breathed tilting his head to the side as the four still standing duplicate charge. With a point-blank draw, he fired the last shot of his tri-barrel shotgun causing the spread to wildly hit three of them forcing them to withdraw temporarily as the fourth came swinging in. Opening up his shotgun into an unloaded V shape the stranger blocked the blade attack with his own Kilij before swing-hooking the minor persona's neck with his shotgun throwing it in a metal grip over his shoulder and ramming it into the wall behind him. Turning he threw his blade into the air while reloading the three barrels in one smooth motion before catching his blade and pointing it at Slayer shouldering his shotgun to point at the apparition behind him keeping an eye on the three in front of him.

"Three turns, and then you will have a tarnish to your name Merc," the stranger weirdly, and insanely announced in a weak voice. How would such an ending play out? Escape was impossible with the skill gap so obvious to the red, and black bloodstained individual while Slayer himself had not even been wounded once. Only one truly lost to their wounds would claim something so impossibly viable.

The opponent was a lot trickier than the usual trash that comes his way, in spite of his relatively low threat level, he is somehow able to stay in the game, much to the annoyance of Slayer. Seeing him being able to kill off his phantasms was also grinding his gears, as most people at this point would be panicking upon being outnumbered like this. No matter, as the visitor will soon find out that his petty tricks would only get him so far.

The remaining phantasm lashed out their chains, with two on each side, and they began wrapping his arms with the spectral chains. The phantasms begin tugging him from opposite directions, preventing him from pointing his gun at any viable targets. Despite their apparent fragility, their level of actual strength was unquestionable. The phantasms sank into the floor with the chains still connected to them, essentially anchoring the visitor to a fixed area.

Slamming his sword into the ground, Slayer slowly walked towards the chained visitor, as soon as he got close enough he would deliver a solid punch to his face. He would then immediately follow it up with another punch to the stomach, forcing him onto his knees. Normally this would be an opportune time to unmask such a fellow, but Slayer didn't really care who it was behind the mask, he just wanted to make him suffer for giving him such a cavalier attitude. The madman would momentarily turn his back on him, pretending he had just lost interest only to immediately turn around and deliver a sidekick to the face, forcing him to the ground. “Look where all that talk got you, smartass..” He spoke with disdain before spitting at him with utter disgust.

Lifting his foot up, he would activate a mechanism in his shoe that would extend a spring-loaded spike on his outsole. He stepped on the boy’s gun arms, digging the blade into it. “Go on…beg….beg for your pitiful life!….” He exclaimed with glee. He wanted to savor this man’s screams of agony before he ends him. While injuries in the metaverse are much easier to heal compared to the real world, they are often just as painful.

Just when the situation seemed hopeless, an intervention happens, from an unseen party. A bolt of golden light struck the chains that held the visitor, freeing his one good arm, while also startling Slayer. The Meta Merc jumped backward to reclaim his sword before turning his attention towards the direction where the shot came from. Having been satisfied with how weakened the visitor was, he turned his attention towards the more immediate threat, an unseen sniper. “A friend of yours I presume?....” Slayer muttered to the visitor, thinking that this was his “backup”. Slayer would recall the remaining phantasm to his side, preparing himself for the arrival of another opponent.

Bound, and chained the ritualistic beating of a deranged man was dealt viciously to the stranger. More proof of the man’s obsessed nature of control he didn’t unmask the stranger clearly without a doubt knowing he was in control. The punch to the face was followed by a rollercoaster of adrenaline-high-octane pain that rushed in but was mellowed out by the rush of disorientation and adrenaline. Ironically a gift in a brutal sense. Attacking the face was everyone's go-to badass wet dream. The truth was it numbed the victim to the next few hits like say a sidekick to the face. Yet the stranger didn't completely drop to the ground keeping one knee up refusing to give this man the satisfaction he wanted. The disrespective nature of the man's next action siphoned a full profile on this meta-merc.

“Better than being a dumbass, dumbass,” he grinned beneath his mask laughing through his synthesizer at the sadomasochism oozing off the man was all too scripted a profile a perfect case of a psychopath with escapism being fueled by the power of being a persona user. The metaverse was this man’s true reality. Whatever he was in the real world was probably a chained existence that fueled this desire for carnage. Or that was the working hypothesis which was better to dwell on than listen to this asshole droll on and on and…..

A large grunt of pain, surprisingly mixed with laughter emitted from the green Stranger as the intensity of his hand bleeding out from a new dug-in hole caused his attention back onto his captor. Without much cause to effect, a sudden flash of Kou magic came spurning in shattering the chains holding his sword arm. It seemed the opening while a bit earlier than expected came from an unknown source. As the Meta-Merc panicked backward the stranger's gun arm painfully tilted back activating a spring-loaded mechanism hidden in his sleeve and igniting the launch of a makeshift frost magatama. Striking the phantom into a encase shell the blast of a shotgun shattered it into a black ice sludge. This would all happen right as Slayer turned back to him. The other three phantoms returned to Slayer’s side as once again with one spring in his good leg he shot back straight up grasping his mask as the ground started to shake.

“Best guess? Someone who doesn't like you. Which must be common,” he muttered rather humored as the larger pieces of debris finally started to rise to hide the stranger from Slayer's sight as the sound of a persona being summoned resounded off. At first, the massive black mass of Rasputin appeared to Slayer's left. While it was true a user would not feel much of the damage inflicted upon their persona the other way around was vastly different as in the chaos in one fluid motion Slayer would be temporarily attentive to the persona a single thrust of a sword would deliver one well placed cut into Slayers right foreleg. Delivered courteously by the stranger who threw all his weight with his non-sword arm strangely wide open as if trying to cusp something. Yet other than the sword cut nothing happened. Yet Thanatos would more than likely be disoriented for a moment as Rasputin caught up mimicking the cupped hand as he summoned a dozen MaPsio’s around Thanatos and the mimics. With a snap, Psi Energy unleashed a heavy blast field decimating the mimics, and more importantly, disorienting Thanatos so much it wouldn’t be able to follow any commands if not forced back into its user's mind.

“Like I said a tarnished mark to your name,” the stranger hissed near fainting exhaustion as Rasputin scooped him up dancing in twirls backward swinging his saber to unleash one last Terror claw slash right at Slayer to avoid the meta-merc giving chase. Clearly, the stranger was in no way the victory, but he had succeeded in escaping the Meta-Merc known as Slayer. If Slayer tried to chase him up the stairs to the previous area he would find no sight of the Persona User close by though that wouldn't be the problem for the man at the moment as he would feel his coat trying to hoist him upwards towards the ceiling… that cusped hand… he had let go of a piece of the ceiling during all the chaos just to make sure if the man tried to pursue he would be instead halted by one last gift from the one in green.

At a moment of weakness, Slayer was blindsided by his opponent. He had underestimated the creativity of this opponent, being able to free himself with a unique mechanism from his weapon. Slayer screamed in pain as he felt the blade slice through his unprotected leg. The combination of a cheap shot and the follow-up barrage of Psy energy was enough to temporarily disorient both user and persona, giving the green stranger a chance to make an escape.

Recalling his persona, Slayer yelled in frustration as he gave chase to the stranger, wildly slicing apart the debris and environment along the way. He was beyond angry, to think he a high-level merc would be subjected to such mockery and disrespect was utterly unthinkable. As soon as he reach a certain distance up the stairs, his coat would start floating for some reason or the other. Trying to violently pull him up prompting him to immediately slice it apart out of great annoyance, revealing his bare back which features countless amounts of scars and burns of unknown origin.

While the man himself was nowhere to be found, there was something that would eventually lead the man in the right direction, a trail, the few droplets of blood left from the wound. Continuing his way up the stairs, he would eventually find the stranger, who was almost nothing but a little dot in distance. Not wanting to admit that he was outsmarted by the damned greenhorn, he summoned his persona to him, its maw wide open as it charge up a massive amount of energy into its mouth. He knew for a fact that this was more than overkill and would likely consume a good chunk of his SP. But at this moment, all he could think about was wiping that green filth off the face of the metaverse. “DIE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” His voice echoed through the floor, as he commanded his persona to release the energy blast.

However, just before the persona could unleash its full might into the range attack, another bolt of light shot out from a distant position, hitting Slayer’s persona straight in the head, causing its aim to shift right as the blast went out. His anger and disdain towards the stranger had consumed him to the point where he had forgotten who the real threat in this situation was.

Despite the blast missing its mark, the shockwave alone was able to cause such a disturbance in the environment that a huge wage of debris and dust pushed the stranger upward violently, all the way onto the next floor’s entrance. It seems the stranger in green’s premonition was correct, as, with a combination of luck and skill, he was able to escape the clutches of Slayer.

Out in the distance, Baron, was in a prone position, staring into his rifle’s scope, unable to see any other hostiles due to the large amount of destruction caused by Slayer’s attack. “A new variable…a potential candidate perhaps?” looking into his scanner, he could see a limited profile of the stranger, which included a current level of 40 as well as his persona, Rasputin, the rest of the profile remained empty. Only time will tell if the poor sap actually survived, but if he did, he wouldn’t exactly be a bad addition to the team. Only time will tell if he made the right choice by not intervening sooner. For now, all he can do was return home and continue his research.
 
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Sougo was a tad bit disappointed that Ann didnt even bother fighting back, but that on it's own isn't a bad thing. If you can bluff with a bad hand, then the best thing you can do is fold. Shiro on the other hand put up a decent guard at first, however, with Ann's unofficial confession and agreement, whatever defense she had fallen apart. Despite this, she remained solid and to the point. Unwavering in the face of certain defeat, a willingness to stick by her team through and through, she had all the qualities of a capable leader.

Masami's response was much more complicated. She began her argument by attempting to discredit the evidence provided, giving out hard-hitting and valid criticism of what was present on the table. On top of that, she even manages to reverse his threat, telling him that turning them in will effectively mean that he is also turning down his best chance of getting rid of that bastard. Sougo was silent, but there was small grin that was forming around his lips. "Well played..Ogawa-san.." He clapped his hand slowly, acknowledging that she had just presented not only a good defense as well a counterstrike against his claim.

"However...you are under the assumption that the authorities are the only ones interested in the identities of the phantom thieves." a very dangerous assumption to make, especially knowing that there are other parties that also know about the metaverse. "Have you any idea the number of people you've angered by removing an important pawn like Kajiki and players like Matriach of the cult?" It was no secret that. "As I've told you before, Takamaki-san, Akiyama-san. There are much bigger fish out there. And for them, any evidence can be enough for them to act." It was true. It didn't take much to convince a gang about who was responsible for certain actions made against them, something that was actively exploited by parties to destabilize gang hierarchy, something Shiro should be familiar with. "My point is, up until this point, the phantom thieves have been a faceless faction with no one to represent them. Giving them a sense of invincibility. But once they are able to peel the mask of anonymity, the pretense of invincibility will fall apart." Essentially, once the information got out that the phantom thieves were nothing but mere people, the dissatisfied parties would begin attacking them.

"I am sure some of you would have figured this out by now, but I have no intention of turning you in. As Ogawa-san pointed out, you're my best bet at getting rid of the bastard Kamoshida." That was the truth in more ways than one. "However..know this...if an ordinary man like me can obtain such information from all of you, what do you think will happen if a party who is less sympathetic towards your cause gets some dirt on you. All I ask is that you tread more carefully when you carry out your activities. I can pull strings here and there but even I have my limits." He was indirectly presenting himself as an ally of the Phantom Thieves, unofficially agreeing that he would assist where possible. But how many of them were smart enough to catch this fact was difficult to say. In true Sougo fashion, he comes out swinging his "big guns" only to avoid using them altogether, preferring diplomacy above all else.

Nellancholy Nellancholy Maeve Valor Maeve Valor That Weird girl That Weird girl accursedjobber accursedjobber Anthem Anthem
 
Isao was really trying to follow the age-old rule of not speaking under question but upon hearing the conservations around him it would already be too late anyway by this point. Not like there was anything that he disagreed with, it just made sense not to parade around their status and maintain their revealed anonymity obviously needing to be improved on next time, then again, this Agata did seem more composed and knowledgeable when conversing to perverse criminals, no fear at all of their methods or painting a target on his back.

"So, what would happen afterwards, don't you have any questions or curiosity to sate?" It was a bit odd that to express no interest surely an individual with such an increased sense of justice to go to these lengths wouldn't simply discard this singularity, justice is just like any other drug in that regard, Isao's mind worked its way through the possibilities, justice, greed or perhaps opportunistic, what abo- shaking his head free of intruding overcomplications Isao gave his answer.

"I'm in, scum should be purged out of the nearest cracks. But I sort of need cash for the ritual candles, can you spot me some money please" ignoring the sense of guilt as a necessary sacrifice Isao asked for cash masquerading as a needed result hoping to garner more information or forfeited money, Agata did promise to help after all. This probably counted as blackmail and Isao didn't want to climb that ladder even if it's to do a task intended to be done for Baron, Isao doubted another third party would be appreciated, nevertheless the double affirmative definably further cemented Kamoshida as the next target.
 
“Uh huh,” Ann listened to Sougo and his words were very passive aggressive about them being more careful. She wasn’t going to jump the gun this time…no that was honestly stupid and Isao still probably hated her for that but Tragedy, Isao and Masami to join. Shiro of course Wasn’t exactly pleased with her but what was new? The two were opposites in every way and it seemed that sometimes it would divide the team but Shiro was still willing to save her ass. The amount of guilt Ann felt for the actions she did was pretty bad. She didn’t know if she was cut out for this phantom thief business anymore and began to question herself.

As she left the room leaving Sougo with the others she didn’t know if she should even infiltrate the palace…no they needed her there. What if more mercs came for them? Ann certainly was pretty powerful and plus she was one of the oldest phantom thief members and knew how to do the job. She expected Shiro to put up some resistance to Agata but Ann knew that Shiro would do anything for the team. Masami seemed to be in on something that she didn’t know of yet but that didn’t really bother her right now. Ann was just going to focus on her modeling gig tonight, Ugh she had to deal with her rival again and they would probably fight about something.

“Takamaki-San,” Mishima called out to her, “what was that memo about in home room?” Ann looked confused at what he was saying and shrugged, “don’t know what you’re talking about Mishima but you shouldn’t poke your nose in that.” Ann walked off leaving the poor boy confused.

Morgana had gotten out of Ann’s bag and sat next to Shiro on the floor. He did know that she wasn’t going to carry him but he did recognize her as a leader. He waited for Agata to dismiss them and heaved a sigh when Isao asked about money.

“Are you serious?” Morgana asked, “this is already boring me and you’re making it longer!” He was really impatient right now and glared at Isao. The cat boy knew what he needed to do. Infiltrate Kamoshida’s palace and steal his treasure. Not hard.
 
Masami approved of how he handled her argument by pivoting the conversation from a blackmail to lending a helping hand. The other topics mentioned was true. This group wasn't the best at being inconspicuous to others, and if any of their identities were found out by the wrong person or group of people, then it would be disastrous. The more notorious they became, the more caution they would all need to exercise to protect themselves and each other.

With Isao's response, while she appreciated how he was trying to Sougo off with their methods of stealing someone's heart, she couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion. For once, she had to agree with Morgana that it seemed a bit unnecessary to ask for money at such a time. Although she reasoned that he might have a secret other motive to asking Sougo for money. As for Ann, she worried for the girl to have suddenly just walked out of the room without a word. She decided to maybe reach out by texting her once this little meeting was over to see if she was okay. As usual, Shiro remain stoic and resilient to the situation.

Had she not known the truth of what's going on, she was sure that she would have brought up that he was just trying to use a different persuasion tactic; but since she in fact did know, she decided to cease this dispute against his cause so as not to pick on him too much. "Duly noted. We appreciate the concern, but we'll continue to work as we see fit to our operations and as a last resort let you know if we need assistance. We'll take Kamoshida down, but it won't be because you asked us so kindly. It will be because Yagi-san is right, people like that deserve to be purged."
 
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