Nightfall

Chapter 8

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES A MAJOR SPOILER FOR THE UPCOMING PERSONA 5 ROYAL SERIES. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILT, PLEASE STOP READING. ONLY RETURN ONCE YOU ARE READY TO CONTINUE, OR WHEN YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED THE STORY IN GAME. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

  Shaking her head, Akari busied herself with the usual cleaning. Maybe it's just that she hadn't had enough sleep, having to camp out in the nearby woods after leaving her home angrily, away from her parents who didn't even recognise her.
  It could be possible that her parents were facing dimentia. But she knew dimentia was a gradual thing. It can't just happen overnight. But still, dimentia. Her grandfather had dimentia. Shaking her head once more, she quickly clean up the dishes and sat behind the bar.
  "Akari, you ok? You want to tell me something?" Sojiro came over. Her instincts pricked. Something was wrong. Sojiro couldn't just randomly come over and ask her a random question on whether she was fine. At least it wasn't something that dealt with current affairs.
  "Yeah, I'm fine."
  "Then you better explain this to me."

  "EHHHH?!" the group cried out in unison.
  The palace that stood in the position of the school in the metaverse was covered in drawings, much like a preschool, merged together with a hospital. Burly men roamed the corridors from looking through the windows on the outside. Sometimes, they were seen accompanied by a man with futuristic tech stuff on their lab coats.
  "Let's get going."
  "Wait." Morgana held up his hand. "This is still really confusing. We destroyed the metaverse already. We restored the rightful powers back to the world. Why are we back? How did the metaverse navigator get reinstalled? How is it possible to get a fusion of palaces? And why am I a human now?"
  "Mona-chan, we thought you knew." Haru said.
  "AH?!" Morgana fainted. "Doesn't mean I am a creation to help restore metaverse means I know everything in the metaverse."
  "Well, looks like the origin of whoever who brought back the metaverse lies in here."
  True enough, looking around, the space was black. Much like a void. An endless void. All except this stand out piece of land.
  "Wait, should we pay respects to Akechi first? I mean, our first new adventure once again as Phantom Thieves-" Yuseke held out a daisy.
  "Pancakes can eat his pancakes." Ryuji blew the flower away. "That bustard, sacrificing himself for the 'greater good'? Ha, what a hero."
  "That aside, Kasumi, what code name should we give you?" Morgana studied Kasumi's dressing. She wore a strapless leotard, a black jacket, much like the style of joker, and carries a sword on her belt.
  "Hunger." Joker suggested immediately after Morgana asked.
  "Senpai." She shook her head.
  "Leotard?" Futaba suggested.
  "Too mean." Ann commented. "Violet."
  "Sounds good to me, let's go." Joker could not hold back the excitement of tackling yet another palace. The gang proceeded on with the invasion of the palace, to locate the treasure, to steal that vital key to instilling a change of heart to their victims.
Dashing over a couple of conveniently placed boxes and crates, the group hopped around, trying to create little disturbance or attention towards the shadows patrolling the corridors of the palace. No one knows how strong are they. No one has any idea where they are heading. Hopping from room to room, the same scene repeated itself. There was a doctor standing infront of a group of students. Their eyes were in a daze, much like those getting brainwashed. Propaganda after propaganda decorated the walls. Paintings by kids were all brainwashed to glorify the position of the emperor of Japan.
Worse still, the layout of the palace feels like a literal maze. Anywhere they went felt the same. Even under the guidance of Futaba's Global Positioning System, it was really easy to cripple one's motivation.
"Haiy, this is making me crazy..." Ryuji crouched behind a crate.
"Come one guys, we are almost there!" Futaba tried to boost the morale of her teammates.
"Let's go." Joker signalled.
Dodging the easy, low-level security patrol and measures, they reach the base of a large oak door. Ann tried pushing the door, but they never budged.
"Haizzz, now what?"
"The door seems to heavy to move." Makoto studied.
"If only we have a way..." Yuseke took a step backwards, looking around, unaware that he was backing into a shadow.
"Fox!" Joker jumped and pressed the blue hair dude down, just out of sight of the dark matter.
"We need to move fast, or we'll attract more attention."
Joker studied his surroundings once more. The roof of the ceiling is probably 3 stories high. graffiti, propaganda... Ah, a gap in the wall.. If only...
He looked into his pockets. In sat a shady looking pistol, with a hook on the protruding end.
Fishing it out and aiming carefully at a support beam beyond the gap, he fired with a resounding bang. It better work.
A clink and a perfect loop formed, tying itself firmly against the wall.
"Joker! Where'd you get that?"
"No time to explain, hold on."