Persona 5 x F!Reader

Calling Card

"We can take him down now, yes?" Yusuke asked as he sipped his tea.

"Madarame's going to be a changed man," Morgana stated. "There won't be any way to revert it, though. Are you sure you're okay with that?" Yusuke places the cup back down on the saucer.

"I've thought about it carefully," Yusuke informs, closing his eyes, "and I cannot think of a future where he does not pay his dues." He opened his eyes again, showing a newfound determination. "He has preyed not only on the art world, but on countless talents, so I humbly request your help."

"All right," Akira said, a small smirk on his face.

"I apologize for making you do this," Yusuke mumbles, leaning back in his seat. You sat on the back of his seat, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," you said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "We weren't going to do anything unless we got the okay from you, Yusuke. However, it seems like you're pretty set on doing something, so I guess there's nothing left for us to say." Yusuke gave you a small smile and he gently grasped the hand on his shoulder.

Ryuji gritted his teeth. Why were you being so touchy-feely with him? You haven't even known each other for a month, and yet somehow you two seemed closer than Ryuji ever was before. It gave him this nasty, rotten feeling inside that burned his stomach. It was the exact same way with Akira. He hated this feeling.

"If I recall," Yusuke continued, looking back to the group, "our next step is sending the 'calling card', correct? What a suave manner."

"It's not about acting cool," Morgana informs. "The calling card is the way to trigger a change in his cognition."

"A change in cognition," Yusuke mused. "That reminds me, you went through some trouble regarding that before."

"Oh, you must be talking about when we forced the security gate open in the courtyard!" Ann pipes in.

"The Palace is a cognitive world," you explain, "so changing the ruler's cognition changes the topography."

"Wonderfully put, (Y/n)," Morgana compliments. You gave a cheery smile, happy you got something right. You would hope so after your long discussion with your shadow. "You're absolutely correct. This will be a vital tactic from here onward."

"Actually," Yusuke interrupted, "may I ask a truly basic question?" You nodded for him to continue. "You continue to mention cognition quite readily, but why does this world formed from materialized cognitions even exist to begin with? Don't tell me... Has it always existed, while we go about our daily lives completely oblivious?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Morgana admitted. "At the very least, I know it existed before the Kamoshida incident, but that's all." Yusuke merely hummed at the answer.

"Crap, he totally caught me off-guard with that," Ryuji muttered, adjusting his position on the couch "It's kinda weird thinkin' there might be whole worlds we just don't know a damn thing about. Did that ever cross your mind, Akira?" Akira shrugged.

"Of course it did," he responded calmly.

"Actually, the thought of having a whole different world based solely on the cognition of people is not that uncommon," you inform. "There are plenty of religions who believe in such a thing, and there are also plenty of symbols that are thought to bring the cognition to reality if that cognition was accepted by enough people or by someone with a strong-enough belief. Think of it as if you swore you were going to have bad day, and it ends up turning bad like you expected it. Your cognition was assured your day would be unhappy, therefore it was. Essentially, the Metaverse only exists because enough people's collective thoughts think the same about life. Those with palaces have stronger cognitions than most others, therefore they stray into their own part of the Metaverse where what they say is law. Of course, since not enough people or someone with a strong enough cognition believe that the Metaverse is a real thing, the Metaverse hasn't fused with reality and is therefore more like a shadow of the real world. We already know what Shibuya looks like, but other places may have a different cognition compared to beliefs, personalities, and whatnot."