Shapeshifter - Persona 5

4: A New Vow

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As much as my every instinct is begging me to leave, this place is getting more uncomfortable by the second. From the screams to the creepy banners to the absurdly named Training Hall of Love, not to mention the shadows behind every corner, I'm at least glad Sakamoto isn't alone in this. It's not that I don't trust Morgana, I just...

What's with this guy, anyway? He might as well know what I am already, or at the very least know about my record, yet he wants me to help him? It's insane he even trusts me a few feet away from him.

"I just can't forgive that bastard Kamoshida doin' whatever the hell he wants!"

My stomach churned when he told me that at the entrance. If Morgana is right and this place really is what Kamoshida thinks of the school...

He may not be threatening to execute students at school, but I can't imagine that what he does do is much better... If this place has any clues as to what that is, maybe it's worth exploring for a while.

Maybe we can put this into someone else's hands.

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With Morgana guiding us, we easily find our way back to the prison.

"I think they were over here. C'mon, let's go!" Sakamoto runs towards the nearby cells, but there's... no one to be found. "Dammit, where'd they go?!" he cries.

"They might have been transferred already," Morgana sighs.

The blond looks to his left. "There were a few more down that way, right?" He looks at me and motions his hand toward him, "Come on, let's go!"

I try to grab his hand, but he's already bolted further into the prison. I fail to scream after him, but before I can consider running to get him, he scrambles back towards us.

The sound of several footsteps approaches.

"Crap, I found a shitton of those guard dudes!"

"Idiot...!" Morgana seethes under his breath. "It'd be a problem if they discovered us now..." His large eyes dart about the room. "This way!" He runs towards a hazy door. Despite my hesitation, the growing rumble of footsteps draws me inside.

Inside the room, the walls shift for a moment to what looks like... a classroom? A moment later, they shift back.

Morgana hops up onto the table. "The shadows won't come in here."

"How do you know?" I ask.

"There's less distortion here, therefore, the ruler's control over the area is weak."

"Is this... a classroom?" Sakamoto asks, equations phasing on and off of an even hazier chalkboard.

"Do you get it now? This is just another reality the ruler's heart projects." Morgana explains.

"Kamoshida's... reality?" Sakamoto shakes his head. "Agh, shit makes no sense at all!"

Morgana groans as if this is a common phenomenon. "Think of it as... a place where a person's distorted desires have materialized. I call this place, a 'palace'. Fitting, right?"

"So..." I reflect on Kamoshida's strange clothes and the way the guards talked to him. "This place is a castle because he thinks of it like one?" I ask.

"Exactly."

Sakamoto clenches his fist, and a pained chuckle escapes him. "That son of a bitch...!"

Morgana tilts his head. "You really seem to hate him, huh?"