Phantom Thieves of Hope - A Danganronpa X Persona 5 Story.

Chapter 40: Archipelago of Apathy.

Darkness Time - Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony

The evening came around rather quickly, and it was already dark by the time Makoto got back to Tokyo. As much as he wanted to go home and rest, he knew there was one last thing to do before he called it a day.

And that was to hold one last meeting at the Thieves' Den. On top of wanting to go over the information that he'd found, he also wanted to report his and Monomi's experience with the strange new Palace as soon as he could. And his companions took it the exact way he thought they would.

"A PALACE!?" Komaru exclaimed, "You found another Palace in Kichijōji!?"

"Yes...But unfortunately, something glitched with the app. Not only do I not know the ruler's name, but I don't think I can go back there yet," Makoto explained, "OW! Gah...! Kyoko, that hurt!"

By the time Makoto made it all the way back to the Thieves' Den, some of the wounds, cuts, and bruises he'd suffered started to sting and hurt again. Chiaki had given him the bare minimum of treatment, and Monomi's healing within the Metaverse had done the rest, but obviously, that held no sway here. And it wasn't Chiaki's fault either. She just did the best she could.

So now Kyoko had procured an emergency box of medical supplies and was treating his wounds, rubbing the bruises on his face and sticking a plaster over a small cut on the bridge of his nose.

"I can't treat your wounds if you keep jumping like that," Kyoko responded with a cold and seemingly unfeeling glare, "what in the world were you thinking anyway? Rushing into an unknown territory like that without calling for backup? You could have gotten yourself killed."

"Look, I didn't have much of a choice," he pouted, "if I hadn't shown up when I did, those Shadows and that weird Knight guy would have taken her away. Would you have preferred I did that?"

"No, of course not," Kyoko sighed, "I'm just worried about you. He got you good, whoever he was."

"Yeah, can we maybe talk about that?" Komaru paced the room back and forth, crossing her arms, "Palaces and Nanami-senpai aside, are we seriously brushing over the fact that there's ANOTHER person out there that can use the Metaverse!?"

"Possibly...But there are other possibilities..." Shuichi crossed his arms as he thought hard about it, "There's a distinct chance that the person Makoto encountered in the Palace is the "Phantom Killer" that we've been pursuing..."

"The one who killed my Dad..." Kaede, sitting on the bed, looked down dismally at her feet as her grip on the edge of the bedframe tightened.

"Alternatively..." Shuichi briefly cast her a worried glance before continuing his theory, "it could be a Metaverse user contracted with the Steering Committee. Someone on their personal squad that can use a Persona, and helps them with the changes of heart, like the one they conducted on Hinata."

"But if the Steering Committee are the ones behind the mental shutdowns as well as the changes in cognition, then that means that if they DO have a Persona-user working for them, then they probably ARE the Phantom Killer!" Toko pointed out.

"Well...yes, I suppose so," Shuichi acknowledged, "but that's only assuming the crimes are linked."

Before anyone else could remark on the subject or share their own theories, Makoto spoke up.

"No...No, I don't think that's it..." he said," Call me crazy, but I think the most likely situation is that this guy is someone we've never met or heard of before. Someone who's not affiliated with the Steering Committee or the Phantom Killer."

"I agree," Monomi added, "from observation, that strange boy's MO didn't match that of what we've already established of the Phantom Killer."

"How are you so sure?" Toko asked.