Persona 5 x F!Reader

Madarame's Treasure: Located

   The bright flares of gold made you squint your eyes. It was impossibly bright and shiny here. "Shit," mumbled Ryuji. "What the hell is up with this place?!"

"There's so much gold," Ann states. "It's hurting my eyes." You nodded in agreement.

"The distortion is especially bad here," Morgana explains. "It's barely holding up. Plus, it's not even on our map."

"So we must ascertain the truth through our eyes alone," Yusuke mumbled. Akira nodded before sprinting off down the stairs, the rest of you behind him. After defeating a shadow, you walked through an archway. It gave off a strange blue glow, but that didn't seem to hinder Akira's movements. You stepped through the archway, showing up in some place completely different. You looked over to find where the group was standing previously.

"We warped!" you exclaimed.

"It seems even the paths beyond these apertures are distorted in the same way as this room," Yusuke noted.

"I've never been this deep into a palace," you stated, "so this is pretty freaky to me." Akira continued to explore, running down the steps and into another warp gate. We appeared in another area. At the bottom of the stairs were two paintings.

"Huh..?" Ann questioned. "Why is this painting here?"

"It's probably some kind of illusion," Morgana explained. "We are in a palace, after all. Well, I guess the painting itself might be correct."

"You say 'correct', but they're all counterfeits, right?" Ann said.

"Well, there's a source of the desire, yeah?" you chimed in. "I have a vague feeling that, based on what we've seen, the source is the real painting. In other words, the real painting should be in here somewhere."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ann smiled.

"Either way, the fact that this is here means it might be connected to this space in some way," Morgana figured. Akira's brows furrowed underneath his mask, walking to the painting on the right with the red shirt.

"Isn't that a fake?" Ann questioned, looking at the painting along with the leader. "I mean, this is Madarame's Palace."

"There's an obvious difference if you look closely," Yusuke stated. "It shouldn't be too difficult to tell them apart."

"Yeah, maybe it's obvious for you," Ryuji said, turning to Akira. "What do you think, Joker?"

"It's the real thing," Akira claimed.

"That is correct," Yusuke agreed. "It seems you have quite the eye for detail, Joker. The vibrant crimson clothes, her beautiful hair, the sublime balance between subject and background... This may only be an illusion, but it is, without a doubt, the spitting image of the 'Sayuri'." The painting suddenly glowed a bright golden color, and transformed into an orb. The orb floated away, and the group quickly chased after it. You were lead to another warp gape, one that Akira had no hesitation to jump through.

"Oh, this place is new!" you point out.

"Seeing past the false images has opened a path to the truth," Yusuke muttered. "Hm, this golden place filled with counterfeit work is a prime example of the alchemy of Madarame's brain, and here, just as reality, he entraps those who cannot see through his lying facade." You furrowed your eyebrows at his statement. What?

"You might be right," Morgana agreed. "No wonder the distortion is so strong here."

"Hey, so what does that mean?" Ryuji asked.