↳ CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

WELCOME TO MEMENTOS↲

SATURDAY, MAY 07| AFTER SCHOOL

SLEEPING WAS NEVER KAORI'S STRONG SUIT. Since she started Highschool falling asleep has been considerably harder for her.

She didn't know if it was due to stress or something else, and after telling her mother about it, she was send to see a doctor, who in responds only described her some medication. She still didn't know where it came from, but taking the medication helped, at least until now.

It started back up again right after the whole Kamoshida mess started (not to mention that stupid velvet room that demanded her attention) and after they dealt with it she figured everything would go away again, but she was so very wrong.

She didn't even know how she managed to get through the entire day without falling asleep in class. Those nights of lying awake in bed until 3 am were finally catching up with her and right before exams as well, this was a nightmare for the small brunette.

Kaori was tired beyond comprehension and only wanted to collapse on to her fluffy pastel coloured bed, but she was a functioning person of society with friends who demanded her attention, especially when it concerned their newly formed group.

Gathered atop the school roof, their hideout and meeting place for all things Phantom Thieves, the four teens and cat discussed their next course of actions. Ryuji rocked back and forth on one of the spare chairs, while Ren stood next to him, leaning against a wall. The girls and Mona meanwhile sat on some nearby desks.

"None of these posts are any good," Ryuji let out annoyed, as he scrolled through the Phansite like he often did theses days. "Everyone's just bitchin' about their parents or their boyfriends. There ain't even a hint of a hint about a new Palace..."

"We can't get everything online..." Ann replied, Kaori next to her nodding in agreement, "Finding a post with a name and location is asking a lot..."

"Guess we just gotta find one ourselves then!"

Morgana, who was cleaning himself, stopped and looked at the blond boy, "Are you seriously suggesting we look for a target that even the police have overlooked?" He asked, his tiny blue cat eyes narrowing at Ryuji.

The boy let out a long sigh in defeat, "...Yeah, you're right," he said a little sadly, "We should prolly just hold off 'til exams are done with, huh? We can wait and see for a little longer, then worry about comin' up empty handed if it happens..."

Before the conversation could continue the door to the roof opened. Without seeing who it was the four teens straightened up and Morgana hid himself in Ren's bag on the ground.

The student council president Makoto Nijima entered through the door, her usual stern expression on her face.

"This Place is off limits, you know," she said as she came to stand before the group, arms crossed over her chest.

"We'll get outta here once we're done chattin'," Ryuji replied on behalf of all of them, "Anyways, what's Miss Council President want with us?"

"The Troublemaker, the girl of rumor, the attention seeker, and the infamous transfer student..." She simply said, her brown eyes scanning over the group with suspicion in them, "Interesting combination."

Ann quietly scoffed at that, "Great way to start a conversation..." She mumbled to herself and Kaori, making the latter let out a quiet sigh.

"By the way..." Makoto said, her eyes finally settling on the glasses wearing boy in the corner, "It seems as though you got to know Mr. Kamoshida pretty well."

"Not really," he immediately replied, a confident look on his face.

Ryuji next to him nodded eagerly, "Yeah, y'know he's only been here a month or so." He added.

Makoto pressed her lips together into a thin line, her eyes narrowing at the two boys, "Hm... I heard Mr. Kamoshida used a volleyball team member to spread details of your past record," she continued, "Don't you hate him? Mr. Kamoshida, I mean."

Before Ren could even think about answering Ryuji jumped out of his seat besides him with an annoyed look on his face. "What's all this about? My friend here's an upstanding guy."

"I don't mean to offend," she said trying to sound apologetic, "Many students have been shaken up by what happened with Mr. Kamoshida. The rumours about that odd calling card-esque posting aren't going away either."

"I didn't expect someone like you would care about that tactless stuff, Nijima-senpai," Ann spoke up, making everyone's attention turn to her.

"I dunno that it was tactless..." Ryuji added, before subtly getting jabbed in the ribs by Ren's elbow, making him shake his head and change the subject. "Anyways, we done here? We can't leave if you keep talkin' to us."

Makoto let out a sigh and dropped her arms from her chest, "At least try to understand my position. Being forced to deal with this horseplay..." She said.

"...Horseplay!?" Ann whisper shouted angrily, but gladly wasn't heard by anyone besides Kaori next to her.

A brief moment of silence filled the roof until Makoto turned around to leave. She walked towards the door and opened it, then turning around to face the group once again.

"Ah yes, by the way..." she spoke up, gaining everyone's attention once more, "It's been decided that this place will be closed off due to the incident. I heard some people are coming up here without permission, after all. I'm sorry to have interrupted you."

With that the brunette left and the door closed with a loud bang. Everyone let out a breath they didn't even know they were holding in, and Morgana came out of his hiding spot and resumed his position on one of the desks.

"What was that about?" Ann was the first one to speak.

"She's on to us," Morgana replied immediately, "That girl seems rather sharp. We should be cautious of her."

Ryuji let a groan, "She really pisses me off! Talk about a pain in the ass..."

"That reminds me. Study hard," Mona said, "Especially you, Ryuji. There are bound to be traps that will need to be solved with brains. Keep in mind that everything you do in your daily lives has an impact on your abilities."

Ryuji sulked next to Ren and glared at the cat with his arms crossed over his chest, feeling clearly angry about being called out by it like this.

Ann on the other hand nodded in agreement, her index finger on her chin, "True, studying won't be so bad if we just think of it as helping us prepare to be phantom thieves..."

Ryuji sighed and dropped his arms from his chest, "I guess you got a point... But man, it's just so lame... I was all fired up about helpin' people, not about studyin'."

"Well, I do have somewhere interesting to show you beforehand." Everyone turned to look at Morgana again, a curious and slightly confused look on their faces, "You guys did originally promise to help me out with my mission, after all."

Ryuji cocked his head to the side, "Huh, Mission?" He repeated.

Morgana simply nodded and started to make his way to the door. "Follow me."

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Morgana led the four teens to the subway station. Near a stairway the group settled down and took out their phones per Mona's request.

Ann and Ren stood, while Ryuji and Kaori sat together on the floor, the latter leaning her head on her friends shoulder, trying not to fall asleep on the spot, watching his phone.

"What're you bringin' us here for?" Ryuji questioned the cat.

"Just do as I told you."

He let out sigh, "Alright, I've got the Phantom Aficionado Website up. Now what?"

"Look for a post with a full name in it."

"I already said there's no info on any big shots. Don't you remember?" The blond said, but scrolled through the forum regardless, "But man, people actually go put someone's real name on here. That's some scary shit..."

"He won't listen to what I say..." Ann started to read out, "No wait, there's no name on this one."

"Someone's bad-mouthin' me in online chat rooms," Ryuji offered up instead, "This one's got a name."

"Ignore those. Aren't there any posts about more serious trouble?" Morgana asked slightly annoyed.

"I don't know what to do about my ex who's stalking me," Kaori then started to read out from Ryuji's phone, gaining everyone's attention, as she hadn't said anything through the entire afternoon. "His name is Natsuhiko Nakanohara. It says he's a teller at City Hall."

Ryuji also read through the post, "A government worker's stalkin' someone...?"

The black cat nodded satisfied at that, "That should be a suitable target," he said, "All right, now get the Meta-Nav ready."

"We're just gonna jump right into a palace? Fine by me!"

"Hey, what happened to all that talk of "unanimous decision"?" Ann protested and then turned to look at their leader, "What do you think we should do, Ren?"

He thought about it for a moment, as he saw how exhausted Kaori looked, but then saw Ryuji silently begging him from his place on the ground and he couldn't say no to him. "Well, it's not like we have anything better to do."

The blond boy punched a fist into the air, slightly startling a half-sleeping Kaori. "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

Ann sighed, but smiled regardless. "Okay, then. Let's go."

"We need a name and a place, right? So the name is..." Ryuji started, but was cut off by Morgana jumping to his side.

"Actually, we don't need a location this time," the cat stated, making everyone look at him in confusion "Just enter exactly what I say. The keyword is... Mementos."

"Huh? What're you tryin' to pull?" Ryuji asked on behalf of all of them.

"Just listen to me. It should work," Mona replied, before his eyes suddenly avoided the group of teens, "...I think."

"Geez, that again...?" Ryuji shook his head at that, but did as the cat told him regardless, "Uhhh... M-e-m-e-n-t-o-s, was it?"

"LOCATION FOUND."

Everyone jumped in surprise.

"We got a hit!?" Ryuji exclaimed with wide eyes. The others simply stayed silent in surprise.

Morgana smiled smugly at the teens, "Just as I thought!"

From one moment to another the atmosphere around the group changed. The people going on about their day disappeared from their sight and a familiar lightheaded sensation spread through their heads. The everyday bustle of Tokyo disappeared and everything fell eerily quiet.

"Everyone disappeared...!" Ann said, "It... kind of feels like I'm walking on air...?"

Ryuji turned to face the black cat, "Is this that Nakanohara guy's palace?" He asked.

Morgana wanted to nod, but stopped himself just in time. Instead his tail began to playfully wag from side to side, "That's half right, but half wrong. This is a type of palace, but it's different from the normal ones." He explained. He made his way towards the stairs that led to the subway, "Come on, let's head down. The shadows here lurk underground. I don't quite understand why. It may be because they're drawn to something."

"Underground? How are we going to get there?" Ann asked confused.

"How? You use it every day on your way to school. Follow me!"

Everyone jumped up from their places as Morgana began to run down the stairs. Ann and Ren were the quickest to follow, since they were already standing. Ryuji and Kaori on the other hand had a hard time immediately reacting, especially the latter who had to get dragged down the stairs by her wrist.

"Ah! Wait up, cat!"

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The group descended down the stairs, the eerie atmosphere only amplifying the further down they went.

"The hell is this place...?" Ryuji questioned.

Everything was covered in a red tint, not to mention those creepy red and black vines. The four teens came to a stop just before the platform the subway would stop at in the real world. That's when they finally noticed Morgana's different form and their change of clothes from their school uniforms to their phantom thieve outfits.

"Wait our clothes changed!?" Ryuji exclaimed loudly, looking himself up and down and then the other three.

"The Shadows know we're here!?"

Mona nodded, "Since the moment we stepped in."

"You should've told us!"

"We're still safe right here," Mona explained, calming everyone partially down, "I've come to investigate a number of times. Shadows never come up to this floor. But it's a different story once you go down. This place is simply teeming with them."

Panther had her head in her hand and shook her head. "More importantly, what is this Mementos? It's about time you start explaining."

"Mementos is... everyone's palace."

The four teens paused for a moment and stared at the cat in disbelief and confusion, especially Skull.

"Huh? Whaddya mean "everyone's"...?" He asked.

"A Palace as grand as the previous castle only forms when a person's wishes are extremely distorted," Mona explained, "So, instead of many individual Palaces, the general public has one gigantic shared Palace. That's where we are now... Mementos."

Panther put a hand underneath her chin with a thoughtful look. "Now that you mention it, this place feels a bit different from Kamoshida's Palace..."

Skull ignored her comment and continued on with questioning the cat, "When you say shared... you mean they're all put together? Even though they're just strangers...?" He asked, to which Mona nodded.

"So, it's like a collective unconscious," Blossom noted afterwards, "Mental structures, notions and instincts shared among the same species, influencing the individuals own unconscious to a subtle degree manifested in a physical form," She explained enthusiastically, making the others (except Mona) look at her in extrem shock and confusion.

"Uh, in Japanese please?" Skull spoke up for the rest of them.

Blossom nodded, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Right. Think of it as a place where everyone's unconscious is gathered up and then mixed together, making one big unconscious for everyone."

"Exactly." The cat replied with a grin.

"So what you're saying is... Using this place, we can change the hearts of people who don't have a Palace?" Panther asked for clarification.

Morgana nodded, "Correct! The steps to do so are slightly different though."

"But this place looks pretty huge," Skull said, as he looked around, "Are we gonna be able to get around just by walkin'...?"

Mona grinned from ear to ear and jumped down to the tracks, where the subway would usually be.

"It seems the time has finally come..." He said rather seriously, before making a very dramatic movement with his tiny cat arms. "Morgana transfooooorm!"

He jumped up into the air and a cloud of dust surrounded him, and upon landing back on the ground he wasn't a cat anymore, he was a bus.

HE WAS A FREAKING BUS.

The teens all took step back in shock. They just couldn't believe their eyes. From all the things that happened up until this point, from the shadows and personas to the Palaces, this was the most ridiculous and unbelievable thing that had happened. If didn't they didn't already know that any of this was real, they'd think they'd be dreaming or that they took drugs or something.

"Come now, Panther. Ladies first." Mona said, as if transforming into a car is a totally normal thing to do.

"A car...!?"

"No way!"

If Mona had a face at the moment, Blossom was sure he's be smirking smugly at them. "This comes from the way cognition materialises in the Metaverse, plus a bit of extra training," he said, "It's not dissimilar to how you guys transform."

"You turnin' into a car is totally different than our clothes changin'!" Skull yelled at the cat-bus.

"For some reason, "cats turning into buses" is an extremely widespread cognitive among the general public." Mona stated.

"Why a bus though?" Panther wondered.

"...No idea."

A moment of silence filled the air, until Skull spoke up again. "Wait, why didn't you do this at the castle!?"

"I would have if I could!" Mona defended himself, "But that castle was cramped, there were tons of stairs, and no way this fits on top of a chandelier!"

But Skull didn't even finished listening to him and instead started to walk towards him to find a place to sit down. Panther noticed quickly and grabbed Blossom by her wrist and together the two started to walk towards him.

"Hey, Skull! Ladies first!"

"Stopp pullin' me! That's dangerous!"

"Skull, are you alright?"

"Panther! Please be gentle!"

"Guys, come on! It's just a bus."

After a bit of pushing, pulling, name calling and Joker having to break up the fight, the four thieves sat down in the back seat of the bus, a little bit squished together, seeing as it was designed for three and not four people.

"All aboard! Let's go!" Skull said with child like excitement.

"Why are you all just sitting back there?" Morgana asked, "I'm a car, remember? I'm not going anywhere unless someone drives me."

"Well, I'm sorry that we assumed that a sentient bus that can talk to us could drive itself." Blossom mumbled, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

Panther turned to face their leader, already knowing the answer to her question from Skull and Blossom. "Do you know how to drive?" She asked.

Joker thought for a moment, "Well, I've driven in a game..."

Panther was speechless for a moment, "...Um, safety first, okay?"

"You'd better not smash up my beautiful face, you hear me!?"

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Mementos wasn't exactly an inviting place. The place was dark and gloomy and practically swarming with shadows to the point where avoiding them was getting harder than they thought.

Blossom was terrified just by looking out the window of the bus, at this point her tiredness was just completely overwritten by adrenaline and anxiety pumping through her. She was sure that by the time that all of this is over she'd collapse out of pure exhaustion and would have to be carried home.

After trying to figure out how to drive a sentient cat-bus, somewhat successfully dodging shadows and navigating through this damn dark place, the band of thieves finally found the person they were looking for in the first place (to be honest Blossom already forgot about it since her mind was still not done with Morgana turning into a freaking bus)

The quartet jumped out of the car and Mona turned back into his usual Metaverse appearance. Natsuhiko Nakanohara was before them, his eyes a sickly yellow and a dark aura surrounding him.

"Who are you!?" He spoke angrily.

The group of thieves cautiously approached the man with their weapons in their hands.

"Are you that stalker!?" Panther asked as they stepped closer, "Haven't you ever stopped to consider how your ex feels?"

"She's my property! I can do whatever I want with her!" He responded, his hands formed into fists, "It's not like she didn't treat me like a plaything! What's wrong with me doing the same!?"

Skull shook his head, "You can't treat someone like shit just cause they did it to you! What a load of crap... We're gonna change the hearts of all the bastards like you!"

"There are millions of people far worse than me!" The man defended, the dark aura around him seemingly growing stronger, "What about Madarame...? He stole everything from me, but you're letting him off the hook!?"

"...Madarame?" Joker repeated, but didn't have any time to dwell on it as Nakanohara got consumed by his the dark aura surrounding him and turned into a small feral pink goblin with an awful bowl cut.

"Get ready! Here he comes!" Mona warned.

The four teens got into a fighting stance as the goblin approached them. The first attack was (easily) dodged by all of them and then counter by the group all summoning their Personas and attacking him one by one, thereby finding his weakness. After trading blows a few times Nakanohara was beaten and then finished off, turning him back to his previous self.

He fell to his knees as the Phantom surrounded him, stern looks on their faces and their weapons still in their hands, in case he decided to attack them again.

"I-I was wrong... Please forgive me..." He pleaded with a tired voice, "That evil teacher used me, then threw me out on the street. That's what caused my fixation on her..."

"Evil teacher?" Joker replied, "Do you mean Madarame?" He questioned further.

The male nodded. "Yeah... I just didn't want anyone to throw me out again..."

In the meantime everyone put their weapons down, realising that he wasn't a threat anymore, but just another victim.

"So some selfish bastard was making you suffer too..." Panther summarised with a sad and understanding look on her face. But she quickly shook it off, "Still, you shouldn't have dragged an unrelated woman into your mess."

The man nodded again. "Yes, I know that now. I'll put an end to my love for her..." He paused for a moment, a look of realisation on his face, "Hey, you can change people's hearts, right?"

The thieves exchanged a look, before Joker nodded in reply.

Nakanohara closed his eyes in satisfaction and smiled, "In that case... Won't you change Madarame's heart!? Before more people fall victim to him..."

Before anyone could reply, the guy disappeared into a blinding blue light. The group (except for Mona) all took a step backwards and once they light faded a small glowing orb was in the place the man previously was.

"Change... Madarame's heart?" Panther repeated, her mind still in a daze from what just occurred.

Skull shook his head and stepped closer to the shiny orb. "Hm? What's that shinin' thing?"

Mona walked over to where Skull was standing. "It's a bud of a Treasure," He stated, "Had we left it be, it very well may have blossomed into a Palace. Joker, this will make a perfect reward."

Joker went to grab the small orb and put it in his pocket without trouble. Panther and Blossom also joined the boys after that was dealt with.

"So Nakanohara had a change of heart, right?" Skull turned to face Morgana.

"Most likely," The cat answered.

Panther also turned to face Morgana, "But how are we supposed to know if we succeeded?"

"Well, the lady posted his name online. If he has a change of heart, she'll most likely comment again," Blossom thought out loud, making everyone nod along in reply.

"Hm, you do have a point," Morgana agreed.

"Either way, training' against Shadows down here's the best!" Skull said, "It's great prep for our next target!"

"It's also nice to be able to give courage to the people who post their problems online." Panther added.

Mona nodded in agreement, "On top of that, we can sell whatever treasure we get for some cold, hard cash!"

"Sounds like things are goin' pretty great for us! All right, we did it!" The blond boy held out his hands for a high five and Blossom gave in and returned it with a shy smile. The other two teens watched the two with amused smiles.

"Hold on. There's somewhere I want to show you guys before we leave."

The quartet turned to face the cat again with surprised and a tired look.

"What, there's more?" Skull asked.

Mona nodded and started to walk towards the exit of the area. "Don't worry it won't take long."

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↳ A/N:

Hello! Remember when I said that I'll get this up before my birthday?

Yeah, so that was a lie. It's a week past my birthday and I'm officially 18 now. 🥳 I'm legally an adult where I live, and that's about it...

Anyways I hate this chapter so much. It was so boring to write because it was so much exposition, you can tell that I gave up half way through and I'm not even sorry. I even considered skipping the whole Mementos things, but then we wouldn't have the Madarame mention and I didn't like that either... so here we are. I tried to make this somewhat interesting and you can tell that I still can't write fight scenes to save my life.

Also I had to write the word Palace and place so many times after another that they started to look like the same word to me at some point. Please pray for my sanity and always remember this

And with that I leave you until next time!