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Chapter Text

4/12
The Day Ryuji Gets Pissed (cont.)

As they reached the alleyway, Ryuji, having evidently learned from his previous scolding, whispered, “Yo, Aika, you said ya know how to get into that place again, right? Is it just goin’ through the alley again?”

Aika reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. “Nope! It’s riiiight…” She trailed off for a moment as she pulled open the Metaverse Navigator. “Here! The, uh, the-the Metaverse Navigator. Or, uh, tha-that’s at least what it says it’s called?” She cocked her head at her phone. “I… Guess that means the palace is, um… in the Metaverse. Whatever tha-that is.”

Ryuji pulled out his own phone and swiped through it for a moment. “Oh, shit! I’ve got that too! When’d that get there?!”

Aika shrugged. “Dunno. But we-we’re wasting time. So! Um! In we go!” She pressed the “Begin Navigation” button, and the world twisted and pulsed around them. Ryuji promptly fell against the wall holding his head, but Aika remained standing. Hm. That was way worse yesterday.

A few moments later (that looks like it really sucked for him…),they stepped back out of the alley. Ryuji pointed, eyes wide. “Woah, look! It’s the castle!”

Aika tilted her head at him. Yeah? That’s the reason we’re here. “Mhm! Let’s, uh, go in!”

Ryuji nodded once, face schooled into a determined expression, before he took off running for the doors. Aika followed after him and vaguely recognized she was back in her Persona Outfit. Guess that means I have control over my power then? Morgana said that’s why it wasn’t sticking, anyways.

They paused when they arrived once again at the main entrance, where Ryuji turned to Aika. “Well, we’re he–wait, hang on! Your outfit’s back! I didn’t get a good chance to look at it considerin’ all that happened yesterday.” He took a step closer to her, looking her up and down. Aika took a step back as Ryuji whistled. “Daaaamn.” Suddenly I am very nervous about how much of my legs are showing…

Voada clicked (Can she just make any crow noise?) in her mind. Martyr, do not show discomfort. You wouldn’t want to risk upsetting your flock, would you?

Right. Aika forced a small smile on her face. “Wh-what? You jea-jealous you do-don’t have a, uh, a coo-a cool outfit li-like me?”

“What?! No way! It doesn’t even look that coo—”

A young-sounding voice hissed from Aika’s left. “Hey! Quiet down, you two! Do you want the guards to come get you again?!”

Aika twirled around (Hehe, skirt go spinny) and jogged over to where Morgana now stood. “Oh!! Morgana! You’re okay!” She crouched down to get a closer look at them. “Y-You are okay, right?”

Ryuji muttered, “Bad move, Aika.”

Morgana hissed, ears pinned back against their cartoonishly large head. “Of course I’m okay, Lady Aika, who do you take me for?! I’m not as weak as you or blondie over there, you know! I know what I’m doing!”

I know I’m weak, but I’m trying to be strong for my flo-friends. The word is friends. Voada, why have you cursed me? “That’s, um, good to hear! But, if you could ple-please not call Ryuji weak that would be nice! He’s, um, ver-very strong, I think!”

Ryuji muttered something under his breath before chiming in. “And my name is Ryuji, not ‘blondie!’”

“Whatever you say, blondie.” Morgana turned their glare to the doors. “I came out here to see why the guards were so agitated. It’s gonna be more difficult to navigate the palace now that you two are here!”

Ryuji stomped forward, hands balled in fists. “Shut up, cat!”

“I’m not a cat!”

“And my names not ‘blondie!’ It’s Ryuji!”

Aika sighed. Again? That’s twice Ryuji’s been involved in an argument between… at least allies in under 10 minutes. She reached up and took off her jeweler’s glasses, summoning Voada in a burst of flame.

Voada hovered between them and spread her wings. “Now, now, fledgelings. Let’s save our ire for things that deserve it.”

Morgana sighed, their fur settling (When did that spike up?). “Lady Voada is right. We probably raised the security level a bit with all that yelling…”

Ryuji rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Yeah, okay. But uh… Monamona, was it? What’s up with this place? Is it the school?”

“Ignoring that atrocity of an attempt to say my name,” Morgana looked up at the castle, “yes, technically at least. It’d be more accurate to call it ‘what Kamoshida thinks of the school.’”

Aika bounced on her heels (with her glasses back on, as Voada was no longer physically needed). “Oh! Is that, um, what the MetaNav meant by its cate-categories? Um… location, ruler, and distortion?”

Morgana put their paws (hands?) on their hips. “Can’t say I’ve heard of anything called the ‘MetaNav,’ but it sounds accurate. Take this palace, for example. The location would be your school, the ruler would be Kamoshida, and the distortion would be a castle. In other words, Kamoshida views your school as a castle in which he is the king.”

Ryuji scoffed. “What a bastard…”

Aika nodded in agreement. “Oh, um, by the way Mor-Morgana! Two questions! First, how would you, um, like to be addressed? I use feminine forms of address, and Ryuji at least has-hasn’t objected to masculine ones, for example. Second question! We are here to, um, try and fi-figure out what the con-consequ-con-consequences of Kamoshida having a pa-palace are on the real world, so could you, um, be something like a tour guide for us?”

Morgana put a hand to their chin. “For your first question, I don’t really get the difference, but I guess the masculine ones sound a bit better for me personally, so those ones. For the next question—”

A piercing scream rang through the air, muffled by the door between them and its source. Ryuji startled and turned to the door. “What the hell was that?! That couldn’ta been a scream, the dungeons are so far down from here!”

Morgana sighed, ears drooping as he crossed his arms. “No, that was definitely a scream. Kamoshida must have lost his temper when you two and that scruffy guy escaped yesterday, and so it makes sense that the punishment he’s dishing out right now would be heard across the whole castle. Cognition, remember?”

“Gah, that asshole!” Ryuji ran up to the door and rammed his shoulder against it (Why didn’t it open this time? It opened so easily last time… Oh. Cognition, probably). “You hear me, Kamoshida?! You bein’ the king of anything is bullshit!!”

Morgana hissed, “Hey, blo–Ryuji! Quiet down! There might be guards there!” His eyes softened after a moment. “Well, I guess you do have your reasons…”

Ryuji stomped away from the door, scowling heavily. “Hey, Morgana! You gonna take us in or what?!”

“Hey! Don’t yell at me, it’s not my fault that guy started screaming before I could answer!” Morgana hopped over to the vent they had escaped from last time. “But, the answer is yes! Get over here and let’s go!”

—

A few moments later and they were back in the dungeons, moving quickly but quietly on Morgana’s orders. They were currently hiding behind a door frame, having seen a guard wandering about on the other side.

“So, first lesson about the Metaverse,” Morgana whispered, “a shadows' weak point is its mask. Remember yesterday, how they would shoot some distortion out of their masks and transform? If we get rid of the mask, that process is no longer under its control, and it’ll be stunned while it gets used to its new form. That will give us time to strike! Now, watch me!”

Morgana dashed out from his hiding place and hopped onto the back of the shadow. Before it could react, he reached around its head, tore off its mask, and leaped back towards Aika and Ryuji in one swift motion. “As you can see, it’s having a hard time moving!”

True to his word, the guard, having now transformed into a Pyro Jack, was laying on the floor, shaking its pumpkin head, visibly dazed. “Now, get it before it collects itself!”

Aika dashed in alongside Morgana and swiped at it with her talons as Morgana cut into it with his cutlass, swiftly turning it to that dark dust.

Ryuji stepped out from his hiding spot and quietly cheered, “Woo! Nice one, you two!”

Aika muttered, “It was Morgana that did all the work, cheer for him.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short like that! It’d have been able to get back up before I finished it off if you hadn’t helped.” Morgana put his hands on his hips for a moment before smirking. “Not that it would have been able to do anything to me.”

Aika shook her head. “Mmm, doesn’t matter. We’re here for a reason, and th-that is to learn about what’s go-going on here. So, um, pl-please can you show us wh-why we’re in the dungeons again?”

Ryuji gave her a short, odd look as Morgana nodded. “Alright, our destination is just ahead. Follow me.”

Shortly after, they crossed a bridge to a corridor made of stone brick. Morgana paused, causing the two following him to stop as well. “Hang on a second… I’m sensing a lot of guards ahead of us. They’re coming this way.”

Ryuji took a step back. “Well, whadda we gonna do about it? You’ve got a plan for this kinda thing, right?”

Morgana nodded. “For this specific situation, yes. We got lucky because…” Morgana walked to the side and gestured to an oddly wavering door on the wall, “...this is here. A safe room.”

Aika giggled to herself. “This really is just an RPG, isn’t it?”

Ryuji barked a short laugh. “Damn, it really is, huh? Weak spots, type differences and weaknesses, and now safe rooms?”

Aika giggled harder, hands flapping in amusement. “And, heh, don’t forget the, um, type strengths! Voada is, um, strong against curse, so it’s a full Pocemon-type deal!”

Morgana glanced between the two of them, bemused. “I don’t know what an RPG is, but the guards are getting closer, so let’s just get in the safe room.”

He pushed open the door and ushered the two laughing students into the room. Ryuji promptly stopped laughing on account of the fact he had fallen over.

Aika stopped laughing as well as she stooped down and helped him stand up while Morgana closed the door behind them. “A-are you okay?”

Ryuji nodded as he stood up unsteadily. “Yeah, just–ugh… All this wavy shit is throwin’ me off… Actually, why ain’t it affectin’ you two?”

Morgana hopped up on the table that was in the room (that otherwise had a cot, some benches, and a few boxes). “That would be because you haven’t awakened to your Will of Rebellion yet. It manifests differently on everybody, but in all cases it is some type of outfit along with a Persona. The purpose of its physical manifestation is to protect the user from distortions in the Metaverse. In other words, Lady Aika and I are safe because we have Personas, but you don’t and as such are affected much more easily.”

Ryuji sat down on one of the seats at the table. “How do I get one’a those, then?”

“First and foremost, you need to find a reason to fight back against injustice. Then, you need to be in the Metaverse, so your Persona can reach out to you. And, while this last part isn’t entirely necessary, it helps to be in a life or death situation, so you have no choice but to fight back.” Morgana raised his paw to his chin. “Now, your reason for fighting back doesn’t have to be extreme, it just has to hold significant enough importance to you. It doesn’t have to be something like ‘I want to eradicate all corruption in the world to make it a safer place for everyone’ or anything like that. It could be as simple as just… wanting to survive, for example.”

Ryuji stared for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. “So I just gotta really wanna beat up somebody who looks down on me? Easy enough, I guess.”

Morgana sighed. “A simple reason to awaken, but if it works, it works.”

“So, um,” Aika sat down, “what makes this a sa-safe room? Like, wh-why here?”

Just as she finished asking, the room faded to a classroom in the school. Morgana nodded while Ryuji almost fell over in his seat. “That’s why. See, this room has a distinct lack of distortion in comparison to the rest of the palace, which weakens the owner's hold on it. It faded out to a room you two probably recognize, right?”

“Mhm, a cla-classroom.”

“Yeah, that. So, that means the real Kamoshida feels like he has less of a hold in the classroom as opposed to, say, the hallways. It’s similar to how the area outside the palace should be safe, considering his cognition is that the school is his castle, not the area outside of it.” Morgana paused for a moment, then his tail shot straight up. “Oh! That reminds me! All safe zones are linked! Here, check this out!”

Morgana hopped off the table and pressed on a random brick on the wall. Suddenly, it gave way to an oddly multicolored, rectangular hole. “This should lead right back to the entrance!”

Aika’s eyes widened. “Wh–I know we wer-we were joking ab-about this being like an RPG, bu-but fast travel? H-how does that even work?”

Morgana spun around to face her, a proud grin on his face. “I’m glad you asked! See, it’s a mix of the ruler of a given palace not having a tight grasp on a place, thus making it a bit of a blind spot for them, and a Persona user’s ability to bend cognition to a degree, allowing us to connect places we see as safe!”

Ryuji banged his head on the table, groaning. “What does any of that even mean…”

“You don’t get it? But it’s such a simple concept!”

“To you, maybe, but you’ve been here a while!”

“I knew that when I got here! I don’t know how, but I knew!”

Ryuji rolled his head to face Morgana, cheek flush against the table. “Whaddaya mean ya ‘don’t know how?’”

Morgana poked the tips of his hand-paw-things together, eyes drooping. “I… Well, I don’t really remember much of anything from before I got to this palace. I just know this place is important, how the Metaverse works, I’m a human, and that Lady Aika here is important.”

“M-me?” Aika pointed at herself. “But I-I wasn’t–” It would worry the flock if you said what you were thinking here, Martyr– “I, um, wh-why do you thi-think that?”

Morgana’s tail dropped to the floor. “I don’t know… I just feel it!” Is this related to the nose man’s ominous comments? No, probably not, Morgana actively helped me escape the dungeons as opposed to putting me in a cell, he wouldn’t be related to them in any way.

Aika sighed and joined Ryuji in the heads-on-table club. “If we’re safe here, then may-maybe we should, um, rest. For just a little. To, um, di-digest all that.”

Ryuji groaned out a “Yes please,” while Morgana nodded and hopped onto the table to sit down.

—

4/12
The Day of Bad Decisions (cont.)

Yura promptly fell against the wall of the alley, clutching his head as he felt a stabbing pain in it. A few moments later, it subsided, and he looked up to see the castle (Or, I suppose, palace). He glanced around the area by the entrance and saw no people, so he walked over to the door.

A few hard shoves proved the door would not open, so he took some steps back. They had to get in somehow, unless it locked behind ‘em. Oh, right, we got out from right over… there. Yura strode over to where he remembered the vent was and clambered up as quickly as he could with a burnt shoulder.

He landed in the room they escaped from before and cautiously opened the door. He peeked into the hall to make sure no people or guards were on their way, and then strode over to the main entrance. He saw nothing different from yesterday, and so he kept going.

Just before he was about to go down the staircase to the dungeons, he heard the clanging of metal resounding up the steps. That’s a lot of metal. Probably lots of guards. Should probably hide a bit.

Yura stepped into a side room off the hallway and found it empty, save for a few piles of boxes, a bookcase, and a table. He positioned himself behind the boxes so he wouldn’t be seen if anybody happened to look into the room, and waited for the clanging to pass.

Shortly after, he peeked outside the room and saw the guards standing at attention in the entrance hall, facing the top of the grand staircase in the room. Or the painting. Is it “Praise Kamoshida Hour” or somethin’? Well, there’s probably another exit somewhere. Probably won’t be a problem.

He sneaked over to the staircase and began making his way down.

—

Yura crossed a bridge to a stone area. Welp. Into the dungeons proper, I guess. He walked down the handful of steps and onto the dirt on the other end. He strolled casually through the now seemingly empty dungeons and reached the cages Voada had previously carried him over. Forgot about those.

He backed up for a running start, then leaped onto the first cage. “Ha. I’m such a liability, huh? There’s no way I can do anything on my own—” He jumped to the next cage— “much less something tough like this, right?” He jumped to the third cage, and then onto the ground on the other side.

He walked towards where he remembered the cell he and the others were trapped in was (with a bit of uncomfortable crawling through tight spaces). He paused in front of it, then walked in. Oh, yep, that’s where Aika took off those glasses alright. There was an arc of dried blood on the ground haloing an oddly unsettling scorch mark on the ground and wall. The room smelled faintly of burned flesh and copper.

Yep. That’s enough of this room. Yura rubbed his shoulder as he walked deeper into the dungeons.

For a few minutes of walking, it was just more of the same dirt paths, cell-lined walls, and flowing water between them—until he heard two distorted voices up ahead.

“How long do we have to wait for our replacements again?”

“We are here as long as King Kamoshida requires of us, fool! Hold your tongue, lest he hears and decrees you no longer deserve it!”

“Got it.”

Yura walked closer, though putting more effort into remaining hidden now. They’ve gotta be here for a reason, ‘specially if they’ve got replacements comin’.

He peeked out around the corner and saw two guards standing in front of a cell. One of the guards was wearing golden armor with a flowing red mohawk of feather on the top of its head, while the other was wearing the usual silver armor. Double so if that guy’s got special armor…

Yura dashed to a stack of crates so he could get a better view of what they were guarding. He could vaguely see that it was in a cell—obviously, I’m in the dungeons—and so he moved to another stack of crates (why are these so common here) to get a more direct view.

I don’t know how I haven’t been seen yet, but whatever. He peered around the crate to see the cell contained a very short girl with red, plastic looking hair floating down her back in twin-tails. She was wearing a white hoodie dress with black shorts and calf-length black boots. Her eyes landed immediately on Yura.

Yura’s eyes widened as she immediately tilted her whole upper body to her right and spoke in a soft, high-pitched voice. “Hello! Who are you?”

The two guards whipped around to stare at her, saw she was looking into the distance, and turned again to make direct eye contact with Yura.

Shit.

—

4/12
The Day Ryuji Gets Pissed (cont.)

Morgana raised a paw to tell the two behind him to pause, before peering around the corner they had stopped at again. “It’s odd that there are even this many guards down here still considering all those we heard going past us before…”

Ryuji sighed. “Another guard? Really?” He paused for a moment, before lighting up. “Oh! Hey, d’ya think we could just intimidate ‘em into lettin’ us pass? I brought this, and it’s not real or anythin’ but it could be used to scare ‘em off!”

Aika turned to look at whatever ‘this” was and… I know he said it’s fake but why does that gun look so real?! She covered her mouth to hide the gasp she had let out at seeing it.

Morgana, however, had stars in his eyes. “You know, this might be your first good idea you’ve had since I met you!”

“Hey!”

Morgana turned back to face the guard walking back and forth down the completely empty hallway. “Remember how I said this place is all about cognition? Well, that gun looks real enough that they might think it’s real, and let you actually shoot with it!”

Ryuji looked down at the gun and grinned widely. “Hooly shit!” He waved the gun around, “You sayin’ I could actually help now?!”

Aika reached over to him and gently pushed his hand so the gun faced the floor. “Th-that’s great and all, but, um, gun safety?”

“Oh shit, you’re right, my bad.”

—

After Ryuji got over his excitement by shooting the shadow (this time a humanoid plant) to death, Morgana paused at a door bathed in purple light, before turning to face Aika and Ryuji. “Well, this is our destination for today! You wanted to learn how this palace would impact the real Kamoshida? Well, this is one of the best places I’ve found so far to demonstrate it.”

Aika looked above the door to read a banner draped over the tip of the arch it was placed in. I… I’m not so sure I want to know what happens in the “Training Hall of Love…”

“Well, let’s get goin’ then!” Ryuji strolled over to the door and shoved it open. Immediately, there were shouts of pain audible from deeper within. He dashed to the most immediate source he could find, and stared down past the cell-like bars for a moment, before shouting, “What the eff!”

Aika jogged to catch up to him and looked down at what he was looking at. There were people dressed in Shujin’s gym uniform (Oh shit, I forgot locker rooms were a thing… No, that’s a future me problem, think about that later) chained to a volleyball net on what looked like a gym floor, being repeatedly whipped and hit with a paddle by two guards each.

She winced and looked away towards Morgana. “You, um, you said th-that this was a good dem-demon-de-mmm…” She took a deep breath, shaking her hand, before continuing slowly and deliberately, “Demonstration of what the palace does to th-the real Kamoshida. So, what does this mean?”

Morgana sighed. “I would say I’m glad you asked, but, given the circumstances…” He shook his head. “Well, it represents how he’s punishing his… Subjects, I guess. I don’t really know what they are in your world, but this is at least somewhat indicative of how he’s punishing them for whatever reason he comes up with at the time.”

Ryuji shook the bars. “That’s effin’ bullshit! What right does he think he has to do this shit?!”

Aika slowly walked over to the next cell-like window and looked down. This time, the students were running on a treadmill dragging them towards spikes. “H-how would thi-this even tr-trans—” (heh, trans)— “translate into re-real life…? Does he, like, st-stab them if they do-don’t run fast enough?”

Ryuji growled and turned towards the exit. “Damn it, we’ve seen enough. He’s effin’ abusin’ the volleyball team, just like he did before track got disbanded… We’ve gotta do somethin’ about this!”

As he began walking, a student grabbed the bars of one of the cells lining the walls. “Leave us alone…”

Ryuji turned and stared, wide-eyed. “Whaddaya mean, ‘leave you alone’?! Somebody’s gotta stop that asshole!”

A second student fell against the bars of his cell on the other end of the hall. “If we just listen… we won’t be executed like you two…”

Aika shrunk into herself, dismayed. Is this how they actually are, or just how Kamoshida sees them…? It doesn’t matter, they need help either way. I just hope they have somebody to take care of them in the meantime… She shook her head. “We should, um, ge-get out of here… Figure out a-a plan to, um, try and help so-somewhere we aren’t in d-danger.”

Morgana nodded. “I’ll guide us back to the infiltration point.”

—

4/12
The Day of Bad Decisions (cont.)

The golden guard leveled its sword at Yura and shouted, “Intruder! Thou art come to release this prisoner, are you not?! Very well, come and fight for her freedom!”

The silver guard sighed. “I’ll go stab him.”

Yura raised an eyebrow. They’ve got personalities? Huh. The silver guard walked towards him, and, belatedly, he realized he should probably run. He turned to do just that, when he saw the ground bubbling that red and black fluid that, from what he knew, usually came from a guard turning into a little creature. This time, however, it simply shot up and formed a new guard.

He sighed. Oddly enough, this isn’t as upsetting as it probably should be. I knew I didn’t really care what happened to me, but you’d think approachin’ death is where I’d try and care a bit… Guess not.

He looked around, vaguely hoping for some way to postpone his (pathetic) death. His eyes landed on the girl in the cell, who was watching with her head tilted and eyes wide. She doesn’t look upset, more curious than anything…

He spotted a plank that had evidently broken off of a crate and picked that up. He paused for a moment (Fuck, I should be tryin’ to escape, but there’s somebody locked up over there) and swung it at the first silver guard, who had raised its sword. The plank broke across its armor, and the guard swung its sword.

He had a splitting headache.

—

4/12
The Day Ryuji Gets Pissed (cont.)

Aika was following Morgana across the entrance hall, Ryuji at her side, when Morgana paused, ears straight up. He turned and shouted, “Run!”

Aika blinked, then turned around to follow his orders. She saw Ryuji do the same, but the exit was blocked by guards. She looked for another way to go, but… The stairs were blocked, the door was blocked, and the other hallway was blocked by Kamoshida and a guard wearing golden armor.

Voada? I'm unfamiliar with our limits, is this something we can handle?

But of course, Martyr. You can easily clear a path for our companions to escape.

Got it. Aika glared at Kamoshida, who was saying something she could not be bothered to listen to. She tore off her glasses and shouted, “Cleave!”

Voada appeared in a flurry of feathers, smoke and flame, and she swung one of her wings in a wide arc towards Kamoshida and his golden guard, an aura of dark energy filling the space the rest of her wings would be if they weren’t clipped. The energy cut off the head of the golden guard, leaving its neck bubbling with black and red energy, and knocked Kamoshida to the ground.

Aika shoved Ryuji to the new opening, about to order him to run, when all the gray guards transformed into a horde of Pyro Jacks, some fairies, humanoid flowers, dick imps, and a few pitch black horses with red eyes and two curved green horns, while the golden guard drowned in its energy and transformed into a… It just changed clothes and got a horse. It was now wearing crimson red armor, riding a black horse, and holding a lance.

“You two! Run, I’ll distract!” Aika shouted, ordering Voada to send out more cleaves. Each one cut deep into a handful of shadows, but there were too many for it to be effective.

Morgana hissed, summoning Zorro and filling the area with deadly wind. “No, I’m staying with you! Blondie, you get out of here, you can’t protect yourself without a Persona! If you get hit, you’ll get seriously injured!”

Ryuji looked around, wide eyed. “Uh, there ain’t a place to run to right now!”

In the corner of her eye, she registered Kamoshida standing back up. He pointed at her and ordered, “Full assault! I want that one on its knees at my feet if it costs you your lives!”

Aika shuddered at his words (He called me it? Does he know!? Jushiro-sensei promised nobody would know unless I told them! And I don’t want to think about why he wants me specifically on my knees at his feet), causing Voada to disappear for a moment due to her lack of focus. One of the horse shadows used the opportunity to run up and ram its horns into her stomach. She felt bile rise into her mouth, but she swallowed it back down and dug her weapon’s talons into its head, turning it to dust.

Before she could do anything else, another horse shadow rammed into her back, knocking her to her knees. Morgana turned to her and began trying to cast something, presumably to help her, but he was struck by lightning and knocked to the ground.

Voada clicked in her mind. Useless. They are going to die because you weren’t good enough. You did this to them.

Aika reached up to try and take off her glasses and call Voada back out, but the horse behind her bit her arm. Aika tried to suppress a scream, but she only succeeded in turning it to a whimper instead.

Kamoshida walked over to her, gesturing to another shadow to keep Morgana down. He grabbed Aika by the hair and grinned smugly at Ryuji. “This is all your fault, isn’t it, Track Traitor? You couldn’t leave well enough alone, and now I’ve got myself a new toy… You must really hate yourself now, huh?”

Aika felt herself start dissociating as Ryuji winced. “That’s not true!” She dug her nails deep into her left arm to keep herself present.

“Ahh… The Track Traitor ends yet another team. What a tragedy…” He smirked down at Aika. “You trusted this fool, even after he brought all that pain and suffering down on the track team? Really, it’s a good thing I disbanded it after all that trouble he caused! At least now they don’t have to worry about one of their own betraying them, crushing their hopes, or even attacking a teacher!”

He leaned towards Ryuji, and Aika closed her eyes and stopped breathing, trying to imagine she was anywhere other than right next to… Anywhere other than where she was. She vaguely heard a thump behind her and tried not to think about what it could be. “Ha! I didn’t even have to threaten you, and you’re already on your knees?!” Kamoshida scoffed. “What a worthless piece of trash. How dare you infiltrate my castle after all I did for you? I was so kind when I supervised your track team, wasn’t I?”

Another thump. Ryuji shouted, “That wasn’t kindness, or supervision! That was physical abuse!”

Laughter. Aika faintly recognized something was touching her head, but it was fluffy, so she assumed it was his robe. Don’t think about how his robe is touching the back of my head, don’t think about it, don’t think… She dug her nails deeper into her arm.

“What, you need me to break your other leg too? Or, I did notice you walking with a limp… Guess your leg didn’t set quite right. I could re-break it for you, see if it sets right this time…”

Aika heard Morgana struggling to her side. He called Ryuji’s name, to no response. She heard Ryuji muttering something about losing. Kamoshida spoke above her. “Once I’ve had my fun with this thing–” a heavy hand patted her on the head– “the cat is dead and you are going down with it, Sakamoto.”

Morgana audibly renewed his efforts to get free, hissing and growling. Ryuji was crying behind her. Aika swallowed (don’t think about that) to try and clear the lump in her throat. “R-Ry-Ryuji-kun… D-don’t let him win. G-g-get out o-of here.”

“Don’t let him win, huh…?” She heard his clothes rustling. “I think I can do that.”

“Oh? Is the Track Traitor gonna whine me to death? Or do you want a repeat of last time you attacked me…?” She could hear the smirk in his voice.

A stomp, and a hoarse shout. “Stop lookin’ down on me with that stupid smile on your face!”

A moment passed with nobody moving, and then she heard Ryuji start screaming. Kamoshida let go of her hair and took a step back, the robe sliding over her head, and she quickly backed up, opening her eyes to look at Ryuji. His eyes were golden, and he was clutching his head. He fell to his knees, writhing on the floor, and a sudden burst of blue flame covered his face in a metal mask shaped like the front of the top half of a skull.

He stood up, unsteady on his feet as he grasped the edges of the mask. With a roar of exertion and pain, he tore it off in one quick pull, spraying the ground in front of him with blood, before he was enveloped in a column of flame accompanied by a shockwave that blasted the shadows back, freeing Morgana and slamming many of them into the walls, killing them upon impact. Aika and Morgana were somehow unaffected, but the only shadow that remained standing was the Cavalry Knight and Kamoshida himself.

Aika stood up and backed away slightly, looking up at the Persona now hovering behind Ryuji. It was a skeletal pirate with a cannon for one hand and an ornate blue captain’s outfit with crossed cutlasses at the neck. It wore a long red cape, a black hat adorned with the Jolly Roger, and a pair of small anchors hanging from the cutlass’s handles. He stood atop a miniature pirate ship, angled slightly upwards with a billowing ribbon tied to one of its masts.

Ryuji, meanwhile, was wearing a black leather jacket with a flared collar and steel plates running down the sides as well as a red ribbon tied around his neck in an almost tie-like setup. His elbows had steel guards attached, and where his sleeves ended, Aika saw yellow gloves over his hands. He wore an X-shaped belt adorned with what looked to be bullets, and below that was a pair of black jeans with steel knee-guards, and below the pants was a pair of black dress shoes.

Ryuji held out a hand, and a hefty steel pipe materialized in a burst of blue flames. He leveled it at Kamoshida and shouted, “Now I’ve got this power, it’s time for payback… Bring it!”

The Cavalry Knight stepped between him and Kamoshida. “You will pay for rebelling against the King!”

His Persona swung its cannon arm towards the shadow as Ryuji smirked. “Blast him away, Captain Kidd!” The cannon on the persona’s arm sparked with lightning, and a resounding clap of thunder echoed through the room as lightning blasted forth, striking the knight directly in the chest. The lightning visibly traveled along the red armor of the knight, and even started sparking around its horse. Both let out alarmed grunts, and neither moved.

Aika nervously giggled to herself. We’re collecting the Pocemon types… We’ve got wind, which is close enough to flying type, we’ve got electric, and we’ve got curse, which is like dark! What’s next, fairy?!

Now is not the time to fall to panicked delusions, Martyr. Focus, the fight is not over yet.

Aika nodded, and used her left arm to take off her glasses, considering her right arm was hanging uselessly at her side. Voada immediately swung her wings at the horse’s head, knocking it to the ground and sending the knight tumbling off of it. The two shadows (or is it two halves of the same shadow?) lay still on the floor, twitching and grunting, as Aika felt a burst of energy flow through her, just like the previous day when she did something right in her first fight. Voada used the opportunity and energy to send a wave of enervating energy flowing through the knight.

Ryuji called out, “Lunge!” and Captain Kidd did just that. He rose up into the air higher on his ship, and came crashing down like a wave, slamming the ship into and through the horse, turning it to dust, and with it, the knight. Guess they shared HP…

Morgana ran over to Aika. “I didn’t think he’d have the potential, but it’s good that he did!” He set his eyes on her mangled arm and winced. “Hold still. Zorro, Dia!”

A soothing green wind flowed over her arm, and she watched as the open wounds closed. She tried to move it, and it did move, but with some pain. Morgana cast Dia again, ridding her of the pain and fully restoring her arm.

Meanwhile, Ryuji was glaring at Kamoshida, who sighed and shook his head. “You seem to have forgotten that this is my castle. I suppose it’s time for a reminder.” He raised an arm and snapped his fingers, and the woman who got into his car the previous day immediately ran to his side, with one notable difference. She was not wearing clothes, save for a lacy pink and black bra with matching panties.

Kamoshida rested an arm over her shoulder as she placed her hands on his chest and pressed her whole body against him, exclaiming in a high-pitched, almost fake sounding voice, “Thank you for letting me touch you, Mister Kamoshida! It’s really my honor!”

Kamoshida smirked at Ryuji (“Takamaki?!”) while Aika was busy trying to get her skin to stop crawling. Morgana looked at the girl for a long moment, wide-eyed, before shaking his head hard. “Whoever that is, she’s a cognition! She isn’t real! He’s trying to distract us, and we need to go, now!”

Aika ran to the door and shoved it, surprised that it actually opened this time. “O-over here! Let’s go!”

Morgana followed her without hesitation, while Ryuji stayed still for a moment, growling, before shouting, “Fine!” and running after the two at the door.

—

4/12
The Day of Bad Decisions (cont.)

Yura fell backwards, blood gushing from a line across his chest, his head aching so much he almost didn’t even feel the pain from the cut. He closed his eyes in an attempt to shut out the world and ignore his pain, but an energetic, high-pitched, boyish voice echoed through his mind.

To tell ya the truth, I disapprove of suicide more than anything.

Yura gasped, partially from a desperate need for more air, and partially from surprise. I wasn’t here to die…

You can bluster all you want about how you weren’t tryin’ to die, but we both know the truth. You could’ve listened to your friends when they told you to stay home for the day, but you threw yourself right in here, knowing full well how poorly it could go for you.

What, you just gonna mock me for my bad decision makin’ skills? You can shut up, then. I know.

The voice laughed. Nah, lucky for you, I’m here to help. The ticket to the future is always open, you just gotta take it!

Yura opened his eyes and looked down at his new wound. He sighed, and started pushing himself to his feet. The silver guard loomed over him as he spoke. “The ticket to the future, huh… What the hell, it’s either die now or die later. Might as well see where this goes.”

There was a noise oddly reminiscent of those comedic sounds that played when anime characters blinked. Yyyeah, we’ll work on that. For now, it’s time for a contract!

Yura stood up straight, looked the guard dead in the eyes, and said, “I am thou, thou art I…”

His migraine got inexplicably worse, he felt like his head was full of holes, like he’d been shot point blank with a shotgun, like some deity out there had chosen him to be its personal target practice. … to preserve the light of humanity, and pave the way to a better future for everyone! Tear away your burden, so you may finally breathe!

A burst of white-gold wind blasted through the hall, knocking the silver guard immediately into the water, and the one behind him into a stack of crates. Yura felt a weight attach itself to his whole face, from his nose to under his chin, and he lifted one of his hands off the floor—when’d I get down here again?—and grasped an outward protrusion he could feel on either side of his mouth. He tugged on it, hard, and he felt something from his face tear under it. Oddly enough, the pain only encouraged him, it felt necessary, it felt encouraging, even, so he pulled again. More skin tore, and he kept pulling, until he tore it off in a massive spray of blood.

In his hands, he saw the lower half of a gas mask, before the world turned blue with flame. Yura felt the flames lick up his body, and everywhere they touched, his skin healed, including the cut across his chest, though his shoulder remained burned.

Just behind him, he heard a cheerful “Hello!” followed by a gunshot, so he turned around to see what looked like a floating, cherry-colored pull-over trench coat with a tall collar that was pierced by two sections of spiky, pale golden light on each side, and two long bands flowing off of the coats shoulders. There were four black buttons connecting the top part of the jacket together, and the sleeves ended to reveal a simple black glove on his left hand, but a glowing, spiky hand came from the sleeve on his right. From the middle of the collar appeared what seemed to be a bullet-like head made of the same pale golden light with long, spiky hair of the same energy stuck perpetually up from the back. There seemed to be piercing, pure white eyes, but they were covered by orange glasses.

Just beneath him was a fairy lady turning to dust, a visible bullet hole in its head. He turned to Yura and waved politely. “Hey! Fancy seeing you here, huh? Nice outfit, by the way!”

“Yeah, guess it is, Vash the Stampede…” Yura looked down at himself to see that he too was wearing a cherry-colored trench coat, though it was a button-up, albeit missing the buttons. It was frayed at the edges, visibly torn in places and filled with holes at the tips of it, and it was tied together at the waist by a blood red sash. Beneath the coat was a black turtleneck, and his hands were covered in similarly black gloves. He was wearing brown cargo pants that were in much better shape than his coat, and over those was a pair of calf-length, black combat boots.

“Yeah. It is a pretty cool look, huh?” Yura instinctively moved his hand to the side and, in a burst of blue fire, a worn machete appeared in it. He looked towards the golden guard, which had evidently raised its shield at some point.

It lowered its shield and bubbled with red and black energy, before being consumed by it and turning into what appeared to be a sparsely dressed woman, wearing nothing but a wide open, white turtleneck crop-top jacket that somehow managed to expose half of each of its breasts (to whatever deity may be listening, I really hate Kamoshida.), a pair of white gloves, and white shorts. On its thigh was a tattoo that was reminiscent of a snake with two small target-like shapes hovering to each side, and on its back was a pair of bat-like wings, with a demonic tail coming from its lower back.

It pointed a finger at Yura and shouted, “Simply because you have a modicum of power does not mean you can free King Kamoshida’s prisoner! I challenge you to a duel!”

Vash floated over to Yura and responded, “Please go easy on me, I’m really scared…”

Yura raised an eyebrow at Vash, who winked at him. Yura shrugged as the Demon Lady approached, confidence filling its wingbeats. It swept a hand through the air, sending a blast of ice towards them, to which Vash responded by simply raising his left arm. Yura ducked, intending to dodge, but a loud gunshot filled the air, followed by the sound of shards of ice hitting the ground. He looked up to see Vash’s arm was now the barrel of a massive gun that had fired into the ice, shattering it entirely, halting the attack before it could hit them.

Vash’s voice sounded in Yura’s mind. Hey, you go get that girl out of that cell. I’ll keep the lady occupied! Yura nodded as Vash floated towards the enemy. “Hey, you know we really don’t have to fight, right? We could totally go get some lunch or something instead! I know a great place close by if you wanna ditch this place!”

“You propose treachery against the King! I shall undertake no such action, and you shall suffer for insinuating it was ever a possibility!”

“Eh, can’t blame me for tryin’ I guess.” Vash’s gun arm fired directly into the Demon Lady with a burst of light that caused it to scream and fall to the ground, which he followed up with a second shot, this one much more physical.

Yura took the opportunity to run to the cage with the girl, who tilted her head at him. “Who are you?”

Yura dropped his machete and held his hand out again, this time summoning a six-shot pistol. He pointed it at the lock to the cell and shot it, then opened the door. “Name’s Yura, but we gotta kill that guard before we can leave, so less talking, gotta focus.”

The girl's eyes lit up blue for a moment. “Got it. I will ‘kill that guard.’”

Yura spun around, about to push her back, when she summoned a pair of yo-yos from nowhere and threw them at the Demon Lady, who was back up and launching ice at Vash again. The yo-yos connected solidly with the back of its head, and it spun around to face the girl. It let out a wordless scream of frustration, and it launched ice at her.

The girl cried out, “Pithos!” and a quartet of black and gray rectangular stones appeared and hovered over her head. They arranged themselves so one of their ends would point at the ice, and a ring of light appeared around them. Just before the ice would make contact, they all fired beams of white light, smashing into the ice and breaking it.

This is goin’ way better than when Aika awakened… Hope I didn’t just jinx it. Yura pointed his pistol at the Demon Lady and fired all five of his remaining bullets, piercing its wings twice and hitting her in the chest three times. He went to reload, but noticed he did not in fact have any bullets with which to do so.

He sighed and switched to his machete as the girl seemed to do something with her yo-yos, making them light up with that light energy. She ran up and smacked the Demon Lady in the stomach a few times with them, and it seemed to do more than last time, but it retaliated with a spike of ice, stabbing her in the leg. She did not cry out, but she did back off.

Yura tore off his gas mask that had re-appeared when he shot the lock, and called out “Kouha!” Vash hummed happily to himself as he shot the Demon Lady in the face with bless magic (Oh, yeah, guess that’s what the light stuff’s called. How do I know that?), and it fell to the floor before turning to dust.

The girl turned and dashed over to Yura. “We have ‘killed that guard.’ Can I help you with anything else?”

Yura and Vash looked at each other for a moment, before Vash disappeared and Yura’s gas mask took its place on his face once more. “Uh. I guess you can follow me, but first, who’re you?”

She bounced in place. “I am Sophia, humanity’s companion! I will ‘follow you.’”

Huh. “Do you know how you got locked up in there?”

“Hm… I just learned that I have no memories, so I do not know.”

Hey, Vash?

Uh-huh?

Does adopting a small child I found in the dungeons of an odd brain zone count as “preserving the light of humanity” or “paving the way to a better future?”

Hmm… Yeah, I’d say so.

Sick. She’s mine now.

—

4/12
The Day Ryuji Gets Pissed (cont.)

Aika paused just before the drawbridge (Morgana said outside the castle is like a safe room) and let herself fall to her knees. The instant her knees hit the ground she felt a phantom hand on her head, so she turned herself over to be sitting instead, facing the other two.

Morgana tilted his head. “Are you alright? That can’t have been fun back there…”

Aika opened her mouth to respond—Do not worry the flock—“I’m fine. D-do-don’t worry a-about me. Ry-Ryuji, are y-you okay? The, um, the a-awa-awak-awakening hurts a-a lot…”

Ryuji bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. “Nah, I’m fine… Sucked, yeah, but… havin’ a persona effin’ rocks!” He looked over to Aika. “And there’s… no way… you’re fine right now. I might be dumb… but even I know that whole thing must’a messed you up. Hell, you’re cryin’ right now, dude!”

Aika flinched and quickly reached up to wipe her eyes. Huh. I didn’t even notice… She shook her head. “I-I’m fine. Pr-promise. Hey, Morgana? Wi-will you be sa-safe here alone a-after that…?”

Morgana’s concerned gaze hardened to a glare. “I told you I could handle myself! And, besides, it’s time for you two to cooperate with me! I was super nice teaching you two idiots everything so you could help me, after all.”

Ryuji stomped over to him. “Hey man, leave her alone! She’s clearly effed up right now, you don’t gotta be mean on top of that! And whaddaya mean, ‘help you?!’”

Morgana looked up at Ryuji, then back down to Aika. He sighed, ears drooping. “You’re right, for once. As for the help, I need you two to help me with my investigation. I need to figure out how to regain my true form by clearing distortion. I told you I was a human before, remember?”

“Uh, I don’t remember agreein’ to anything, though?”

Aika interjected, “L-let’s just g-go home f-for now, and fi-figure out this d-deal wh-when we’re all calm. Mo-Morgana, I d-don’t like le-leaving you alone in this pl-place. Please c-come with me, I o-own a fa-fairly large ap-a-apart-ap-mmm… apartment. Lots of space. Just me.”

Morgana glared at her again. “I am fine on my own, thank you very much!” He looked down. “Though, I could go for some fatty tuna, and they don’t have any of that in this palace…”

He pointed at her and said, “Fine! On one condition! You get me lots of fatty tuna!”

Aika smiled softly and nodded, and the world stopped.

The chains tangled around her, courtesy of her sitting position. She looked up, and a burst of slicing green wind slashed through a handful of chains, replacing the missing links with small vortexes. Time resumed, and she stood up, summoning her phone from… somewhere.

She clicked open the MetaNav, and selected “End Navigation.” The world pulsed around them and faded to reveal they were sitting just outside of the school gates. Aika looked around and saw nobody there who could have seen them appear.

Ryuji exclaimed, “Woah, you literally are a cat!” Aika looked down to see a very tuxedo cat-shaped Morgana. He’s adorable!!

Ignoring the indignant “I’m not a cat!” from Morgana, she held out her bag, and gestured for Morgana to get in. She tried to tell him to get in because it would make getting on the train easier, but her voice had left her. Luckily, Morgana didn’t argue and hopped in.

“Huh, this bag is actually pretty comfortable. Organized, the walls are soft… Good job, Lady Aika!”

She put a hand in her bag and lightly pet Morgana as thanks. Ryuji yawned loudly. “Aaaahhhh, I’m so tired now… I guess I should go home, but whaddaya say about meetin’ up after school tomorrow for some ramen? We could invite Yura too and tell him about today!”

Aika nodded hesitantly before waving goodbye and beginning to walk away.

“See ya tomorrow, then!”

—

4/12
The Day of Bad Decisions (cont.)

Yura strolled past the main entrance, Sophia just behind him. He whistled at the blood on the ground and general destruction that seemed to have occurred here. “Same shape as Aika’s when she awakened. Guess Ryuji must’ve awakened here…”

Sophia hummed. “Who is that?”

“Ah, a guy who wanted to check this place out. Got locked up here with him and a girl named Aika yesterday, and they made me sit outta their… investigation today.”

“Why did they ‘make you sit out?’”

“Got hurt yesterday.” Yura shoved open the door and stepped out to the path leading to the entrance.

“Oh… Have you been helped?”

“Kinda. Wasn’t really payin’ much attention though.”

Sophia ran slightly ahead of him and turned to face him, bouncing as she walked backwards. “I can help!”

Yura huffed a short laugh. “Yeah, bet you can. Should probably get outta here first though.”

She spun on her heel and faced the drawbridge. “Okay! Let's ‘get outta here!’”

Yura followed after her and shortly thereafter appeared back in the alley in the real world. He immediately noticed a lack of Sophia and looked around. Maybe she went around the alley corner?

He started walking over, but a sudden notification on his phone distracted him. Several of them, actually. He pulled out his phone and… “Sophia, how did you get in there?”

Sophia blinked at him on his phone screen. “I am an artificial intelligence! I do not have a physical form outside of the Metaverse. Does this answer your question?”

“Yeah, it does.” Yura dragged his free hand down his face, mumbling, “Because of course you’re an A.I..”

Another notification buzzed on his phone. “This ‘Alibaba’ person really wants to contact you! Would you like to respond?”

His eyes widened. Shit, I forgot she hacked my phone… She totally knows I just vanished, huh? “Uh, lemme read the messages first, and I’ll respond after.”

“Got it! Opening messages.”

Alibaba: you should listen to your friends idk what theyre doing but you shouldnt be part of it with a big burn like that (￢з￢)

Alibaba: what

Alibaba: what do they mean a fireball

Alibaba: omg you are a protagonist

Alibaba: quick i must be less parental !!

Alibaba: >.>

Alibaba: dont you dare. i see you. you have your “make bad decisions” face on rn

Alibaba: i mean that is your face all the time but

Alibaba: dont do it ! (ง •̀_•́)ง

Alibaba: uh

Alibaba: ok hang on i think my bug bugged ?? im not picking up on your device anymore one sec

Alibaba: no its all running right

Alibaba: shit you just protagonist-ed didnt you

Alibaba: …

Alibaba: im going to so mildly inconvenience you when you get back (which you will bc you are protagonist obviously)

Alibaba: OMG

Alibaba: OMG

Alibaba: YOURE BACK !!!!

Alibaba: LOOK AT YOUR PHONE RIGHT THIS INSTANT YOUNG MAN >:[

Alibaba: oh holy shit whats that

Alibaba: who are youuu (//ω//)

Alibaba: woah thats some advanced tech

Alibaba: is it talking to you ?!?!

Alibaba: like fully autonomous ???

Alibaba: holy shit gimme that code please

Alibaba: drop your phone in leblanc in the middle of the night so i can steal it and look at it pls pls pls pls pls

no.: you dont get to examine my daughter in your evil scientist lab thank you very much

Alibaba: daughter ????? did you make her ????? (also hi glad youre okay)

no.: no but shes mine now and hi. forgot you could see me

Alibaba: ok we are putting your daughter on the backburner for now

Alibaba: tell me about your magical adventures in protagonist land !!! ╰(▔∀▔)╯

no.: later im dying

Alibaba: what like fr ?

no.: no but im so fucking tired let me go to sleep first

Alibaba: ok lmao

Yura closed the messaging app and was greeted by Sophia. “Have you adopted me?”