"Where did you..?" Ryuji started as he stared at the arrogantly smoking Morgana.
"Mona, stop smoking or I'm going to take you to the vet."
"I'm not a cat, you dicks!"
While the three boys were making their jokes to lighten the atmosphere, Ann and Shiho stared grimly at Shadow Kamoshida, who had returned to his human form and was a whimpering mess on the ground.
"It's over, Kamoshida!" Shiho said, pointing her spear at him. "Give us the treasure!"
Snapping his head up, Kamoshida snatched up the crown in panic and began to run toward the window. That seemed to be his only escape!
BOOM!
A fireball struck next to him, causing him to fall onto his back with a disgraceful yelp. His eyes widened at the sight of Ann glaring at him, Carmen behind her.
"Your call, girls," Ren suddenly said. "We don't know what will happen if you kill his Shadow. But I'm behind you all the way."
"Wait, wait, wait! Please!"
"Shut up, you asshole!" Ann snapped.
"How many people asked you the same?!" Shiho growled.
"Skull, come over here!" she added.
"Right away, ma'am!" Ryuji saluted and approached her stiffly. These two were scary sometimes!
"Mace," Shiho demanded, holding out her hand.
Ryuji accepted his place in the current moment and presented his mace to Shiho and Ann with a bow, like he was a lowly yakuza grunt.
"Well, that ruined the tension," Morgana said, still smoking his cigar.
Sighing, Shiho accepted the mace and nodded to Ann, who cracked her whip.
Kamoshida jumped in fear upon hearing the whip crack and scrambled backward before being rooted to the ground.
He turned to see Ren with a mocking smile on his face, wagging his finger in the same way Kamoshida had done to the group prior. Mandrake floated next to him, its face of roots giggling.
His attention turned back to the girls.
"I want to kill you. WE want to kill you," Ann began.
"But we aren't you. Give us the treasure," Shiho finished with narrowed eyes, holding Ryuji's mace, her spear neatly slung across her back.
"I will! I will! Just don't hurt me! I'll change, I promise! Thank you!"
"I never said you aren't getting any punishment..." Ann said as Carmen and Scathach appeared with sadistic grins.
"I don't like to humiliate my enemies, but you? You are an exception," Scathach spoke.
"Same as always. Strong bravado, weak finish," Carmen spat.
The boys looked away as Ann kicked Kamoshida onto his back from his kneeling position, and Shiho raised the mace... directly above his crotch...
"Oh God," Ren gagged.
"Let's just leave them to it," Ryuji said in a disturbed manner.
"Uh huh." Morgana decided not to argue this time around.
---
A bruised and swollen Kamoshida whimpered and sniffled.
"Well, I feel better." Ann yawned as she picked up the treasure and walked toward the boys.
"I don't know if I do yet..." Shiho said with narrowed eyes.
Kamoshida panicked and threw any remaining dignity away.
"I'm sorry! I'll go back to my real self!"
"You better confess to what you've done," Ren said calmly.
"I will!!!!" Kamoshida quickly promised as he began to fade from his location.
"All's well that ends well," Ryuji said proudly.
RUMBLE
"Oh yeah. Without the treasure, the distortion has no core, which means..."
BOOM!
A chunk of the castle roof collapsed nearby, the rooms shaking even more violently.
"It's gonna collapse!" Ren yelled, eyes widening. "Let's go!"
The team snapped to attention and began to sprint toward any exit they could find.
---
[You have returned to the real world.]
A synthetic voice rang out as everyone collapsed into a pile in the alleyway.
[Entry Deleted]
"Ughhh, how do we keep falling on each other?" Shiho groaned as she rolled off the pile, landing directly next to Ren, who was crushed beneath everyone else.
"Mfff," Ren began, but his voice was muffled.
Ryuji and Ann quickly shot up.
"You okay?" Ryuji asked.
Cracking his neck, Ren yawned. "Yeah. I should be fine..."
He briefly looked around. "Where is Morgana?"
Shiho simply pointed to a nearby corner where Morgana was rolling around and purring while rubbing his face against some sort of gold medal.
"What's that?" Ryuji asked in confusion. "What happened to the treasure?"
Shiho picked up the treasure-drunk not-cat and began to pet him gently. Morgana quickly calmed down.
"That is the treasure!" he said with great dignity, despite acting like a cat moments prior.
The team looked at each other and decided calling him a cat right now would be running the joke dry.
So Ann simply picked up the medal and asked, "A medal?"
Ren looked at the medal for a second.
"This is an Olympic medal..."
"Kamoshida's distortion started when he went to the Olympics?" Ryuji frowned. "I figured he'd been an asshole since he was a teenager."
"I can't say anything about him as a kid, but you'd be surprised what the government lets Olympic athletes get away with," Ren said with disgust, remembering Naoto venting to Yu and the group about how awful it was dealing with law and politics.
"I don't wanna hear it," Shiho simply said. "Let's go relax a bit."
"We don't know if his heart will actually change..." Ann whispered.
"But we have done all we can," Ren said with a nod.
"Hey, do you think Untouchable will buy this?" Ryuji asked as he poked the medal.
"I searched it online, and even if it's a fake, it's still worth like 30,000 yen. I'd say this one is pretty convincing."
"The store did have a pawn shop sign on it as well..." Morgana remembered.
"It's up to you, Joker!" Ryuji and Morgana both said.
"Huh? Alright, I guess... Why me, though?"
"Iwai is scary!"
---
The team remembered on their way to the station that Ren had promised an explanation for the so-called Evokers, and he wasn't planning on following through!
"You won't get away that easy, mister," Shiho chided, and Ryuji gave a praying gesture for him.
"Okay, okay." Ren sighed before looking at the time. "Let's find somewhere to talk about it. Leblanc?"
"Joker!" Morgana exclaimed.
"I cleaned my room of bugs," Ren said to Morgana, who immediately calmed down.
"Ugh, I hate bugs."
"I don't mind them."
---
After greeting Sojiro, who gave a smile and offered the group food if they needed it, the team headed up the stairs.
'I'll slip some money into the register or something later,' Ren thought guiltily. 'Boss spends a lot on me.'
'Bad idea, mon ami,' Arsene advised. 'You are still on probation.'
'The Hierophant is a reasonable and honorable man. Simply speak with him,' Berith suggested.
---
"A SHADOW IN REALITY?!" Ryuji screeched.
"So we aren't crazy or something?! This shit is real?!"
"You were still doubting it?" Morgana asked in dumbfounded awe.
"Well, of course."
"I don't know what kind of shadow that thing was. It was strong. We probably would have had a real hard time with it."
"But you said that your friend just summoned his Persona and disintegrated it?"
"And it was a god?" Shiho added.
"Yeah. When you said that, Carmen gasped, but didn't reply when I asked her what was wrong."
The team looked at each other in confusion. Everyone's Persona had done the same thing.
"The World Arcana..." Ren muttered.
"Well, for one, I'm glad we have some backup. That Lucia girl is totally awesome! I can't believe she locked the school's internet with the calling card for almost the entire day!" Ryuji laughed loudly.
Looking at the Evokers on the table, Ren focused his senses.
"These things will be useful, but I don't know about these instructions... Yu shot it at some sort of Tarot card..."
"Yeah, I'll pass on shooting myself in the head. Thanks," Ann said in exasperation.
---
The group went home, and Ren fell into his futon with a thud.
"Morgana."
"Yes?"
"That was fun. Stressful. But fun."
'The thrill of being a thief has caught your fancy?' Arsene laughed heartily.
"It sure was, Joker," Morgana said with a grin.
"Any luck regarding your memories?"
"Unfortunately, no," Morgana said in disappointment and sorrow.
"Don't worry, buddy. I said I'd help, and I will," Ren said.
"Plus, Yu figured out that you aren't a cat immediately. You can tell how smart he is."
"Yeah... Yeah! He might be able to help a lot!" Morgana brightened up.
Ren felt a cool tingling sensation run up his spine and around the crown of his head, the sensation seemingly sweeping through the area.
Ren felt liberated and free. A loud sound of snapping chains echoed in his head, and he felt the bond between him and Morgana grow stronger.
Ren heard light snoring and saw that Morgana had fallen asleep purring.
Ren chuckled and ran a hand through his hair.
For the first time in a very long while, he was happy.
---
-END OF VOLUME 1-