Sadayo Kawakami was a teacher that had been run more ragged then anyone at the school; between the classes full of kids that cruised through or the rare few that were dedicated to learn and the numerous other jobs she had post school hours, she lamented the fact that on top of all of her problems; she had a new delinquent student to monitor, the kid she saw on the previous day; his messy mop of dark hair and glasses that made him look unassuming had her partially believing the off chance he wasn't as bad but being that they were on Fourth Period and there was no show of Lee. "Here I thought he might've been a decent kid with a bad rap…I really shouldn't think it but maybe it's better that he doesn't show up…" The tired teacher thought to herself but was caught out before she finished her thought when she heard the knocking on the door to the staff room.
Lee however was still stuck in a funk regarding what had happened; Not only did he re-awaken his Persona along with the latent memories that had been closed off, he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that the "Sakamoto" that he was locked up with was a girl rather then the best friend he remembered from the past. Adding to the fact that he was still feeling the drain of energy and the aches from awakening and the time spent in the castle was no great alternative. Though he managed to snap out of it when he saw the door open and a rather annoyed looking Kawakami fixed on him. "Uh…This might look bad…" Lee admitted with a nervous looking laugh as the glare she was giving him was more then a little uncomfortable.
"Which part…The fact that you're inexcusably late? That you were reported by the police? Or the part where both myself and the Principal warned you on numerous occasions to behave yourself here?" Kawakami asked him with a rather serious tone, "Will you pull it together? I know that the trains have been having problems but you have to take this seriously!" She scolded him though the lesson was not quite as intimidating as she had wanted it to be, seeing as she had to look up at the taller student. "I'm sorry, but things got a little…hard to get here." Lee admitted, not being entirely wrong but he couldn't exactly say that he had been stuck in a ethereal castle and nearly watched a girl get….well, it wouldn't be believed.
Kawakami let out a sigh of resignation; "Well, since you've arrived so late…I'll have you introduced to the class after lunch, please try to take this seriously." She explained to him; "I also heard that you've been….seen around with Sakamoto, please try to avoid hanging around her too much…she's a bad enough influence as it is."
Speak of the devil; Sakamoto showed up as Kawakami cursed her own luck; "Sorry Teach…but I'm not exactly gonna force the guy to hang out if he doesn't wanna." She would say to Kawakami, grumbling a little when she saw the teacher raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Right…Not to mention that you haven't changed your uniform to match the school's dress code, I've already given you a warning about it…And don't say you're practically wearing everything, I can see the t shirt."
"Didn't have time to change…" Sakamoto griped as she tapped her foot restlessly on the floor; "So sorry about that."
"On top of that, you STILL haven't dyed your hair back to black? You know that people are going to say things about you if you keep this up." Kawakami added as she belaboured on another point, which made Lee jump in unintentionally.
"What's the problem with it, I think her hair looks good." Lee would remark, forgetting that dyed blonde hair was an often frowned upon sign of delinquency.
Dragging a look of surprise out of Kawakami for his out of pocket remark and bringing an almost adorable pink tint in Sakamoto's cheeks as she found herself glancing away; "S-Shut up…that's a lame thing to say…" Sakamoto would grumble though she seemed to feel a little better now that someone stuck up for her.
"Just…Just get to your class, Sakamoto…And YOU have somewhere to be." Kawakami gave up as she watched Sakamoto leave and took Lee to his classroom, "Now remember, this is your fresh start so try to make a good impression..." The teacher belabored her point to Lee before she got everyone's attention; "Alright class, I know it's a little late in the day but we're going to be introducing a new student to our class for the next year. He couldn't arrive in the morning due to not feeling well, so please share your textbooks with him if you can." Kawakami explained to the class and seemed a little surprised as she saw the other students were whispering about him.
Lee didn't miss this part of the journey at all; sure he didn't pick up on everything they say but he did hear them calling him a delinquent and a criminal, "I'm Lee, it's nice to meet you…I hope we can be friends." He would say to try and be civil.
"Aaaanyway, go take a seat near the back. That's the only desk that we have available right now." Kawakami mentioned as she let him walk by but she did notice that Ann was rather sour looking as he walked past.
"Lies…" Ann would grumble as Lee manoeuvred his way past her; "I saw you outside the school earlier, you weren't sick…You just didn't want to be here."
Lee merely made his way back towards his desk near the window; He knew that there was more to Ann then her snappy words but having known Ann for a literal life changing journey and coming to….feel things, hearing her treat him with such disdain had made him feel like his guts were squeezed in a vise.
"Alright, Now if someone could call the register?" Kawakami asked as Lee began zoning out while a rather downtrodden girl took the register and continued on with classes for the day. His mind still focused on the drastic differences that Kamoshida took and the fact that not even Morgana, the one who was so intrinsically linked into his journey hadn't remembered him…but then again he could hardly blame him.
The bell rang for the end of the day as Lee finished up his studies for the day as he headed out and saw Sakamoto gesturing for him to follow her, however when he made his way to the stairs; he felt queasy as he saw the school warp into the castle and then back to normal again. "I hate this...I'm glad this can go away easier but I still really don't like how it feels." Lee thought to himself as he felt his head pound.
Though this time he wasn't exactly inconspicuous about it as he felt a hand tap his shoulder; "Are you sure you're okay?" Kawakami mentioned as she gazed up at him, sure he had been a labelled a troublemaker and showed up late but the fact that he was looking pale in the face wasn't exactly a good sign. "Look, classes are done with so why not head straight home? Mr Sakura wasn't very happy when I told him about your lateness today…and please listen to me about Sakamoto, she's not a good influence if you want to turn yourself around at this school." She suggested to him as she headed for the staff room, leaving Lee alone to mull over her words.
Knowing that Kawakami meant well but he also knew that if he didn't listen to her about this before, he wasn't going to now. Ignoring the warnings, Lee climbed up the stairs once he saw no one looking and then pushed past the "No Entry without Permission from Student council or the Principal." sign and saw Sakamoto sat on one of the discarded chairs with her legs kicked up on a table; it was clear that she heard the door creak open and was ready to try scaring the person off if it was a student or a teacher coming up but relented when she saw it was Lee.
"Yo, glad you chose to stick around." She remarked as she watched her new friend shut the door behind him; "So…About earlier…" Sakamoto mentioned while keeping an observant watch on him. "What was all of that back there? Because that was waaaay too vivid to be a dream."
Lee grabbed a chair and took his seat with her, "Which part? The giant castle, the talking cat or the weirdo with Kamoshida's face?" He would ask as he decided to try answering her questions…At least to the best of his degree.
"Well…All of it, really." Sakamoto asked him curiously; "One minute we were walking to the school and then next thing I know, I'm dragged out of some weird back room to be….Well…I guess you get the idea on the kind of guy that shitbag was to know what he planned next." She said with more bitter expression on her face as she crossed her arms.
"Well, for how we got there…Did you ever get this on your phone?" Lee asked as he pulled out his phone and lay it on the table, showing the blonde what appeared to be the Metaverse icon on the screen; "I got it when I first arrived here in the city, I'm not sure why but it has to have some keywords and a name for it to do…whatever it did." He explained; "Like when we were at that castle, you said Kamoshida's name, called him a pervert and said he was the king of a castle…So once that combo was mentioned, this thing took us there by accident."
"You mean this one?" Sakamoto asked as she pulled out her phone and showed him the exact same icon; "I found it on here after that jackass walked me up to class..weird looking icon though." She explained as she watched it but didn't notice Lee watching too.
"You've got a lot of gym apps on there…" Lee mentioned as he noticed some of the other apps on her screen; including one for ramen stops.
"Yeah? I like to keep fit, what about it?" She retorted with a narrowed look on her face as she saw Lee watching her curiously; "What? I can't help it if I like working out over what other girls normally do!" Sakamoto ranted as she was fired up to talk him down for whatever remark she had predicted of him.
"It's okay, I'm not judging you…You like what works for you so why should I smack talk it when you look that good." Lee said honestly and noticed the girl that was originally intending to hit him for what would've been offensive but got taken off guard when he complimented her.
"I…You actually mean that? Because I'm gonna hit you if you're just saying that!" She asked him with a look of surprise but then changed to a narrowed brow; "But…We're off topic! That place was screwed up beyond believing, didn't you see all those people in there getting tortured?" Sakamoto mentioned as she shivered; "I don't know what kind of effed up stuff Kamoshida thinks about but that crosses a line…I wanna ask you a favour but don't feel like you have to accept it."
Lee had a feeling about what she was going to ask but agreed; "Sure, I want to see what's going on with that place anyway." He explained and then took his phone back; "If this is about what's in that guy's head…we need to be careful."
"Yeah but I think we need to try finding a way IN first…who knows if the last time was just a fluke…We can try looking tomorrow though…that last visit wiped me out." Sakamoto admitted as she got up and then smirked; "I just realised that I never told you my name….I'm Ryoko Sakamoto." Ryoko finally introduced herself as they decided on their plan.
"We'll meet up tomorrow and figure out how to get in the castle…with any luck, we should be able to get in there and expose Kamoshida for the scumbag that he is." Lee added as he remembered that since school was closed tomorrow, it'd be easier to move around.
"I'll hold you to that, buddy…just don't blank me while we're in school, 'kay?" Ryoko added as she climbed off her chair and headed for the door; "Oh…and uh…Thanks for hearing me out with all this…I know it sounds crazy from the outside but I guess you're wrapped up in all this too."
Lee smiled a little, even though he had lost his best friend in going back; he could still see little bits of Ryuji in her and that was enough to reassure him that this wasn't all bad. "Anything to help." He admitted as he followed after to grab the train from Shibuya.
——Back in Aoyama——
Lee hoisted his bag over his shoulder as he tried his best to remember specific details about this part of his journey; "Okay; so we got into the castle, met Morgana and freed them. So if I'm remembering this right, than the next time we go in will be when Ryuj-I mean Ryoko awakens her persona…Man, it's still so weird to think about it…then again, a lot of this was weird on the first try." Lee took a detour down into the backstreet to find LeBlanc, however before he could reach for the door; he felt something sharp dig into his shoulder.
"Found you!" A tiny voice broke his thoughts as Lee turned and found something that definitely threw him for a loop; a black and white cat was sat on the wall, one of it's paws was stuck on his shirt and claws digging in.
"Morgana?!" Lee tried to take things calmly; "How did you…When did you….just how?!" He would ask, equally as confused as he was surprised to see that Morgana showed up in the real world way earlier then they were meant to.
"I followed you…you have no idea how many times I nearly lost you in the city, I managed to hide out at the school you went to but getting here was a different story…There are so many dog walkers around here and one old lady even tried taking me home with her!" Morgana ranted; though they didn't mind the occasional pats or treats that they got from the nice people, but dogs and the surprise adoptions from elderly people were more than pushing it.
"Okay, I get that part but for what reason? Did something happen to bring you here?" Lee asked, one thing he remembered from the past was that it wasn't until Ryuji awakened his Persona and they were fully planning to take down Shadow Kamoshida that Morgana showed up.
"I just left… It was just me after you two escaped the castle and trying to find the Treasure was getting nowhere so I figured I'd try regrouping with you two outside." Morgana explained; "Plus I also have some other reasons as to why I sought you out rather than the blonde."
"Me? But couldn't it have waited? We were both going to try finding a way back in tomorrow." Lee began to explain, "I-In any case, we should get inside…Hide in my bag for now and I'll sneak you into my room, we can talk more later." Lee whispered and opened up his bag for Morgana to begrudgingly jump into. With the cat now inside and zipping up the bag, Lee decided to brace himself as he knew Sojiro was definitely going to have more than a few words for him about today.
Sojiro looked up when he heard the doorbell and then saw Lee walking in with his bag over his shoulder; "So…Fun day at school today?" He would ask, using a tone that did nothing to help Lee's feelings of anxiety of Morgana showing up like this and that Sojiro was not at all happy didn't help either.
"Y-Yeah, I was a little late because of the rain bu-"
"Several! Hours! Late!" Sojiro barked as he wasn't keen on giving this perceived delinquent a chance; "Honestly, I thought you were turning around when you left for school! But you just can't behave yourself, can you?" He would glare at Lee with the intensity of a parent not to be messed around.
"Hey, something smells good and it's making me hungry, can I come out yet?" Lee could hear in a muffled voice as Morgana was starting to get antsy in the bag when both of them could smell the curry that Sojiro was cooking.
"Not now…." Lee whispered under his breath for Morgana to hear, however he wasn't invisible as Sojiro raised an eyebrow.
"And what's that?" Sojiro asked as he gestured to the bag, curious about the muffled noise.
"Well…It's my phone, I leave it in my bag so I don't get hit by a pickpocket." Lee tried to come up with a decent lie on the spot. Covering for Ryoko was one thing but this was a little risky at the time to try; "I managed to make some new friends at school and now they won't stop texting."
Sojiro hardly looked convinced; "Riiiight, look…Just behave yourself, okay? I already went through this with you with the teachers and doing stupid stuff like this is hardly a way to make a-"
"I CAN'T TAKE IT! THAT FOOD SMELL IS TOO….Good?" Morgana burst free of the bag with a mighty yell as the curry compulsion has forced the cat out into the open, with Lee having the biggest "Oh shit" look on his face while Sojiro was both shocked at the sudden appearance and barely containing his anger at Lee's audacity.
"…Upstairs….Now…" Was all Sojiro could say in a calm tone as he pointed towards Lee's "Room" and went to go take care of things as the younger boy prepared for the worst up in his room.
"So that's your master? He seems pretty strict, all things considered." Morgana mentioned with a rather laid back tone while they were sprawled out on Lee's bed following the outburst.
"I thought I told you to stay in the bag! Now I'm gonna get in even more trouble because of this!" Lee grumbled with a hushed whisper as he was more than stressed now that things have changed drastically and he had no clue what could happen. "Now what am I going to do? Sojiro's gonna kick me out for sure…"
"Well…You could always just embellish, just say that you HAVE to take care of me and maybe he won't have much of a choice." Morgana offered though they seemed to stop their words of wisdom when they saw Sojiro coming up with a plate of cooked chicken and placed it down on the bed by Morgana.
"I could hear it calling out in that cute little voice…You're going to have to take them back regardless. In case you've forgotten, this is a restaurant…Animals, even pets are a no go here!" Sojiro pointed out as he looked to Morgana chowing down on the food and even Lee could notice that his caretaker still had his softer side. "So…Where exactly did you find them?"
"I found them while I was jumping trains in Shibuya, they were stuck in a carrier and didn't have a collar, I got them out but then they decided to follow me home…" Lee explained, "I know this isn't a fair thing to ask but…Maybe I can take care of them in the meanwhile, until we can find someone to take them."
Sojiro sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose; it wasn't that uncommon for a cat to get tossed out and left as a stray. "Alright, I guess it might help you keep on good behaviour if you have a pet to take care of…The cat can stay, but only on some ground rules!" Sojiro relented but added a more focused look in his eye to emphasise the point. "You will be the one responsible for looking after the cat, until you find another owner then it's YOUR cat." He listed off; "I won't be the one to take care of it and I don't want it roaming downstairs so if I find them down there, I'm tossing them out."
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I can keep Morgana under control." Lee said to try assuring Sojiro that he had nothing to worry about while he grabbed the empty dish.
"Morgana? Huh, that's a good name…though I kind of wished I got to name them." Sojiro remarked as he took the dish downstairs. "Just go sleep for tonight, I've gotta get home but I'll think of something that'll get you thinking straight after the stunt you pulled eventually." He would say, leaving to lock up the store.
—Later in the Dream World—
"Welcome back to my Velvet Room…I can see you've already started on your path to rehabilitation." "Igor" would drawl as he drummed his fingers on the desk, with Caroline and Justine looking at Lee with a subtle hint of disdain.
"You're taking so long just to cross the starting line, Inmate! Pick up the pace!" Caroline barked at him as Lee watched the pair with a mix of both annoyance at their shared hostility along with sadness due to the circumstances as to why they were here.
"I'll be sure to try harder." Lee remarked with a voice that barely curtailed his sense of snark at both the twins and at the fake Igor.
"Your sarcasm is duly noted, Inmate…Please be sure to keep it going if you wish to be put in a more severe punishment." Justine stated with a plain look on her face but with how Lee remembered her, it was clear not to push her.
"Moving on, you have taken your first step towards your rehabilitation…Making some remarkable progress despite this and I hope to see you continue on this path as easily." Igor carried on; "You appear to be making strides towards forming a friendship with a likeminded soul, someone who will stand by you regardless of the consequences…Those kinds of relationships can aid you in your rehabilitation, though I stress that it must be genuine as you will gain nothing from a superficial bond."
"You're one to talk about being genuine…" Lee thought harshly before nodding, going along with the Fake Igor's words. "I'll make sure of that."
"Good, now stay on your guard…You never know what could be around the corner…." Igor drawled as the Velvet Room faded away into a dream and shook Lee from his sleep.
"Morning!" Morgana chirped as they were sat at the foot of the bed with an energetic look about them; "Today's the day we go find out what's hiding in the castle, though we should probably scout ahead since the blonde girl doesn't have a Persona or…Well, a weapon to fight back with." They elaborated with a rather blunt tone.
"Her name's Ryoko…And we can't just ditch her, she's gonna want to come along with us so why make an enemy?" Lee retorted and sat up as he scratched his head.
"I guess so…But that still doesn't mean I'm wrong, we should probably try and have something on hand just in case we get separated, you got anything that we can use?" The cat asked curiously as they hopped off of the bed while Lee changed into his casual clothes; seeing as there was no school that day, the two wouldn't stand out as much.
"We'll think of something, now let's get going before we miss the trains." Lee reminded them as the two left Aoyama and made their way to the closed school.
Standing at the school gates was Ryoko but she was awkwardly talking to an older girl in Shujin's gym uniform with rather fluffy looking hair, someone that Lee remembered plain as day: "Haru…She must be here for the garden on the roof…" He mused, remembering the scarce time he spent with her was helping with growing veggies. Much like with Ann, even just thinking about her had made butterflies in his stomach but those quickly went away as the gates opened and let Haru in while Ryoko tried to keep away to avoid attracting attention.
"She's hopeless…She'd probably stand out less if she was wearing her uniform…" Morgana grumbled from the bag; Ryoko was wearing running shoes, knee length black and purple shorts with a blaring pattern, the school jacket but with a deep blue shirt that had a spiral on it with "Bite Me!" emblazoned on the front with a cartoonish skull grinning.
"Yo! For a minute, I thought that you were gonna stand me up." Ryoko joked as she walked over; "Sorry about that, one of the Third Years was asking why I was hanging around the school when it was closed." She explained as she looked around for anyone; "So, you ready to try sticking it to that shithead fake Kamoshida?"
Lee smirked a little; "You bet, though we should be careful going back in, I can protect myself and Morgana can too but you still don't have a Persona so we can't take chances." He explained to her, sure he could accept that Ryoko could still kick ass but he wanted to think realistically.
"I know but I'll explain when we get inside, I'm not gonna sit on the sidelines this time!" Ryoko promised but jumped in surprise when she saw Morgana pop out of Lee's bag; "Okay, seriously…What is it with you and cats?" She asked, not realising this was Morgana in the real world; "Sure, they're a cute lil guy but I'm not picking up every cat we find."
"I'm not a cat! I am Morgana…And you really aren't any different, She-Ape!" Morgana snarked as they peered over Lee's shoulder at the now angry Ryoko.
"That smug attitude…It definitely IS you!" She growled; "Plus I'm not an idiot! I've got something prepared so just get us in there already." Ryoko remarked snappily as Lee set the coordinates in the phone to get them in to the Castle.
——One Warp Later——
With the reality warping around them, the unassuming school quickly gave way to that very ostentatious and unmissable castle that had them trapped.
"God, it pisses me off just looking at it!" Ryoko grumbled as she was still wearing what she was wearing in the real world, however now that they weren't under risk of detection or violence; she could take in Lee's outfit and had to admit that he pulled off the look of a sneaky rogue without even trying; "Still…At least now we don't have to worry about Kamoshida trying to get my clothes this time."
Lee frowned a little as he remembered what happened in the cell and then looked to Ryoko; "That reminds me, if we're going back in….You said that you had something to help, right?" He asked as he kept a watchful eye out, Morgana having turned back into their bipedal form and stretched themselves out.
"Oh yeah, check it…I got this to try and scare anything in there that might look at us wrong." Ryoko mentioned as she reached into her bag and pulled out a gun before grinning like it was nothing; "Don't worry, it's not a real one…it just looks real enough so we can make those things back off."
Morgana was the first one to point out Ryuji's mistakes and one undeniable fact that Lee seemed to recognise was that this kept going even with Ryoko; "Scare off Shadows? That's a toy!" Morgana pointed out as they were confused by the logic of Ryoko's thinking.
"Says the cat using a slingshot!" Ryoko snapped back as she pouted a little; "It might not be real but it sounds real and it at least looks the part so we can use that at the very least." She added as she pocketed the toy gun.
"You know, Ryoko might be on to something with this…" Lee said, making Morgana look at him like he had grown an extra head; "Think about it, this place is how Kamoshida sees the school right? So what if we just show off the gun and that could change with how the Shadows see it." He explained.
"That's just about the…wait…huh…." Morgana tried to find the fault in that logic but considering that the whole castle is a cognition; Was it really so much of a stretch? "I mean…We can try."
"Come on, let's get in there already! I wanna free those prisoners in the castle." Ryoko admitted as she started to get antsy from standing around.
"Free them? You can't do that here, everything in here is a cognition…None of it is actually real, it's just how this Kamoshida guy sees things." Morgana argued the point; "Besides, our time could be better spent with trying to locate the treasure in this Palace!"
"Lee said it himself! This is how that asshole sees the school, if he's taking prisoners and doing all kinds of messed up stuff then we can't let it slide if he's doing this in the real world!" Ryoko added with a more agitated look on her face.
"Alright, we'll try and see what we can find but remember, you don't have a Persona of your own and you don't have anything to fight back with except for the fake gun…and I don't even know if that will actually work!" Morgana relented as they headed for the opened window that they escaped from before.
Lee was about to follow but he heard the tinkling of a bell and then an ornate royal blue door appeared by the gate of the castle next to a cell door; "Trickster, please come find me…There is something we have to discuss." Lee could hear Lavenza's delicate voice in his head and without so much as a hesitation, he took the Key that Igor gave him and walked through the door and everything faded to white.
By the time that Lee was able to see again, he was in what looked like a jazz club; it was a deep blue and had posters, picture frames with the Arcana symbols inside them along with a stage for a singer and a piano, Lee found himself sat in a plush booth and at the centre table was the real Igor along with Lavenza who seemed happy to see him here again.
"Welcome to your Velvet Room." Igor announced with a tranquil gusto that the "other" Igor sorely lacked.