Chained Trickster

Arashi woke the following day and rubbed his eyes, looking around. He looked down to see Morgana curled up next to his pillow. It was weird thinking he now had someone that was dependent on him. He wasn’t someone that was responsible at all…Sakura would be taking care of Morgana’s meals, but still. He would need to keep the box clean and do that multiple times per day, at least with what school allowed. He gently petted Morgana’s head and his blue eyes opened, looking up at Arashi. “Is it time to wake up already?” he asked drowsily. Arashi nodded. “Yeah. You’ll need to stick in my bag while we’re on the train. I don’t want to risk bringing you into school, though. You’ll have to stay outside the building if that’s all right. Unfortunately, I can’t come give you lunch, so you’ll just have to deal with not eating until we get back to LeBlanc.” He did feel bad about that, but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. The teachers didn’t want them leaving their rooms during lunch and going out on campus too much, at least to his knowledge. He’d probably just have to talk to Takamaki during lunch which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world… She seemed pretty nice. Then again, he knew how two-faced people could be. People generally weren’t welcoming to strangers, but it sounded like she had gotten that treatment much of her life… “Okay.” Morgana stood up and stretched, then hopped off the mattress. Arashi got ready for the day and headed downstairs. He took the bento box from yesterday and put it on the counter in front of him. “Here.” He probably should’ve taken care of it himself yesterday, but it had been the furthest thing from his mind when he’d gotten back from the doctor. “Sorry; I should’ve cleaned it myself after I got back…” “Oh, it’s no big deal. You had a lot on your mind yesterday,” Sakura said. “It won’t take that long to wash.” He put another bento on the counter in front of Arashi. “I’ll have your guys’ breakfast done soon. Just give me a bit. And I’ll pick up your prescriptions, the supplements, and stuff for Morgana after you leave.” “Thank you.” Arashi wasn’t sure what else to say. Sakura…was doing a lot for him. There had to be some sort of angle here. He just knew it. But what that angle was, he really couldn’t figure out. He was technically doing illegal things by being a phantom thief, but Sakura hadn’t kicked him out over it. He was trying to figure Sakura out, but it was hard. No adult was this genuine when it came to kids. They didn’t care. He would’ve been suspicious of that doctor, but it was her job to care for people… Sakura on the other hand… There hadto be some sort of gain from this. He’d eventually figure out Sakura’s angle. He just…couldn’t quite yet. “It’s no trouble.” Morgana hopped up on the counter. “I just can’t believe I’ve let a cat into my café… But if he is what you say he is…” “I promise I can talk. And I’m not a cat,” he said. “What’s he saying?” “He promises he can talk and that he isn’t a cat,” Arashi translated. “If he’s not a cat, then why does he look like that?” Sakura asked. Morgana’s ears went back. “I’m not sure… I think I’m human, but I don’t have any memories of anything. All I can remember is the Metaverse. I remember some Palaces and Mementos before Kamoshida’s and before I met her—” Arashi pursed his lips together. “—but I don’t remember much else beforehand.” Arashi translated for Sakura. “Well, who knows with how crazy all of this is.” Sakura shook his head. “Maybe a person couldget lost in that Metaverse place and lose their memories or something… Or maybe it’s something even weirder than that.” He shrugged. “I legitimately have no idea how any of this works, but I’ll support you as long as you don’t get caught.” He looked at Arashi seriously. “I know I said ‘don’t break the law’ but how about we amend that to ‘don’t get caught’?” Arashi blinked, completely taken off guard. “I… Yeah. I doubt this will go beyond Kamoshida anyway.” He wasn’t the type to just give his sympathy out to people and take on cases for something he didn’t really get. Yeah, he doubted it would go beyond this one incident. Morgana looked down, his ears flicked back. He petted Morgana’s head. “I mean I’ll still help you with Mementos. I didn’t mean it like that.Just that I doubt we’re gonna take on anybody that isn’t Kamoshida as a unique case like this.” He didn’t mean to make Morgana feel bad at all… He just meant it as he doubted they’d go after any unique Palaces like Kamoshida. He didn’t intend to break his promise to his new companion. Morgana looked up and nodded, then purred. “Thank you… I don’t know how or why I know I need to get to the bottom; I just do.Hopefully we’ll get there in a reasonable amount of time.” Arashi nodded. “Yeah. Hopefully we will. This Persona stuff is reallydraining especially with trying to keep Arsene under wraps.” Unfortunately, even the Persona’s suped-up abilities in combat hadn’t helped them against the Shadows yesterday. He wondered how to get Arsene under control, really… “Do you think you have any idea on how to get it under control?” Sakura put breakfast in front of both of them, a small dish for Morgana and one for Arashi. Both of them started eating and Morgana talked between bites. “Well. The Persona is the mask that you wear to protect yourself and the Shadow is the part of you that you don’t want to accept. I think part of your problem is the fact that you’re locked up inside your head all the time. You could honestly learn a couple things from Ryuji… I’m not saying give into your anger issues like he does, but he lives in the present moment a lot more than you do. A good way to start would be meditation of some sort or maybe journalling… You need to be more in tune with yourself. The biggest thing is that there are parts of yourself you don’t want to accept. If you want to have full control over Arsene and your other Personas, you have to accept those parts of yourself. If you don’t, then you’ll neverbe able to do that.” Arashi frowned. Yeah, there were definitely parts of him he didn’t want to acknowledge whatsoever… He lived as a girl but it didn’t change how he identified and the issues that it created in his psyche. He could acknowledge that part of himself, but beyond that… He sighed. “I don’t know if I can do that,” he admitted. “Well, you know what you need to do if you want to get control. Hopefully with my support and that from Ryuji, you can learn to accept those parts of yourself.” “By the way, do you know what a ‘wild card’ is? Arsene used that to refer to me and I have no idea what that means.” He tilted his head and was thoughtfully quiet for a few moments. “I don’t know exactly,but it probably refers to how you can use different Personas. The Fool is also the card of ultimate potential. I think the Fool should be able to sense other people’s Arcana… Let’s try it. I can tell what Sojiro is. Can you?” Arashi looked up at Sakura and squinted at him. For a few moments, nothing happened. He sensed a flicker of energy but he couldn’t figure out what it meant. “I can sense somethingbut I can’t put a name to it.” “Well… It’s a start, at least. Sojiro is the Hierophant Arcana.” Morgana finished eating and scratched his ear. “Honestly, maybe you could find some sort of… What’s a ‘site’?” Arashi took his phone out. “Oh, he’s referring to the internet. ‘Site’ is short for ‘website’.” He opened up Google. “This is Google. It’s a basic search engine. It’s a website. There are millions if not billions of sites all over the internet for all sorts of different topics… There should be plenty for Tarot meanings for free.” He sighed. “I need a deck though.” “Why are you looking into something like Tarot?” Sakura asked. Arashi explained about Arcana and how people had them and how he was the Hierophant. “Huh… I wasn’t expecting that… I know someone that might be able to give a good recommendation. I’ll talk to her soon enough, so I’ll see if she has any suggestions. She’s pretty good with computers and such.” Arashi blinked but nodded. “Thank you, Sakura-san.” Well, that would definitely save him a lot of time. He really didn’t know the first thing about the internet. “And maybe some learning resources too…” “I’ll see what she says.” Sakuura smiled. Arashi finished up and scooted his plate back across the counter. “Don’t be back too late, you hear?” Arashi nodded. “I’ll try not to be.” He opened his bag for Morgana to jump in. With that done, Arashi headed out of the café, his bag noticeably heavier. Damn, he really wasn’t strong and Morgana was heavy. Thank god he’d gotten a backpack and not a more typical pack. He was just so usedto backpacks… It made him stick out more in school, but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. It made it harder to separate him from his stuff. Arashi found Sakamoto hanging around the school’s gate, no doubt waiting for him. He grinned once Arashi approached. “Hey, Honoka, wanna go diving again today? Though…we do have the volleyball rally today. That could probably give us some time to talk to the volleyball guys and see if we can take Kamoshida down with them. See if they’ll rat him out to the police and then we can get them involved.” Morgana’s head popped out of the bag and Sakamoto startled a bit. “You brought Morgana?” “Let’s go over there.” He pointed to the alleyway they’d hid their bags in yesterday. Once there, he nodded. “Why wouldn’t I? Morgana’s the one that knows all of this. Plus I promised that we’d help him and he’d help us. Fair’s fair, right?” Sakamoto kicked the ground. “Yeah, I guess… I just wasn’t expecting you to bring him to school.” “He’s staying out here.” He lowered his bag to the ground to let Morgana go. “We’ll come get him when we go into the castle today, okay?” “That does make more sense than attempting to squeeze him into your desk or something.” Sakamoto turned around. “C’mon, we need to get to class.” Arashi nodded and followed Sakamoto into school then went to their respective classrooms. Honestly, Sakamoto was a bit tiring. Thankfully, he hadn’t been super aggressive today like he had been the past few days. Maybe he did have a calm side beneath all of that anger. He was just way, way too aggressive and impulsive for Arashi’s liking. It was exhausting to be around someone thatimpulsive when he was so thoroughly meticulous himself… The volleyball rally was as trite as Arashi thought it would be. It was just a self-absorbent show of Kamoshida’s skills as well as that of the team. He knew nothing about volleyball, so he couldn’t say if they were any good or not. He did sit next to Takamakmi, though, and she was clearly upset. He slid over next to her and looked at her. “Something wrong?” he asked. “There’s just a lot I don’t like about Kamoshida,” she said. Arashi nodded. “I did see you with him in his car the other day…when I missed school.” He was trying to tread carefully and not poke too much into sensitive territory but…it was obvious that she hadn’t been happy to take Kamoshida’s offer. Takamaki just sighed. “I’d rather not talk about that.” Arashi nodded. “I can’t blame you… You didn’t seem happy about it.” He would just leave it there. She didn’t respond and they just went back to watching the games. He really did feel bad for her. Kamoshida seemed to want to molest her. The man was disgusting, but Arashi didn’t have a goat in this race personally. He just wanted to see Kamoshida go down because the man was absolutely repulsive and was one reason Shujin was a corpse rotting from the inside out. If he’d broken a student’s leg, then there was no telling whathe was doing to the volleyball team. Once the rally let up, he met up with Sakamoto again. “What a damn rotten bastard to the core… Ugh.” Sakamoto shook his head. “Anyway, we should go look for the people we saw as slaves in the castle. Someone’s got to fess up to what Kamoshida’s been doin’ to them! They can’t keep going on like this. We needto get the cops involved.” Arashi nodded, though he had a feeling nobody was going to talk to them. “I’ll help.” He wasn’t confident in this plan of action, but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. He needed to keep Sakamoto safe so that way he wouldn’t go rushing into things headfirst like he constantly did in the Palace. This was at least a somewhat thought-out plan, but he had a feeling it wasn’t going to work. A lot of times, people wouldn’t tell what they were going through. Abuse victims just fell into silence because they couldn’t afford to tell people what they were dealing with. If they did, then there would be repercussions. He really was notconfident. “How about we split up and look?” Arashi sighed. “All right.” “Somethin’ wrong, man? You don’t look enthusiastic about this.” “I just don’t think it’s going to work. I’ve just seen it in my small town… A lot of people don’t talk about their abuse because there’s something to lose if they do. Think about what happened to you and how Kamoshida retaliated. Don’t you think he’d do the same thing to those members of the volleyball team? Maybe not necessarily break their legs but…” Kamoshida clearly wasn’t the type of person to let someone speak up about something and let them get away with it. If he was currently abusing them, then they stood a lot to lose if they spoke up. “There could be college scholarships on the line at the veryleast.” Sakamoto frowned. “That…does make sense…but I can’t just roll over and not try anything!” He stomped his foot. “I have to at least try to see if someone’ll help us take Kamoshida down!” Arashi sighed. It seemed like his words had gone completely over Sakamoto’s head. This guy was really annoying. But again… If he left Sakamoto alone, then he’d go rushing headfirst into everything and potentially get himself killed. He wasn’tthe type that could come up with a plan on his own… “Fine. I’ll see if anybody will help.” Arashi wasn’t convinced though. Sakamoto grinned. “All right! Let’s split up and see if anybody’ll talk.” With that, they split up and went around the school. Arashi found more than a few guys but they all refused to talk. He went down to the area of the courtyard with the vending machines and found Morgana lurking there underneath one of the benches. He didn’t acknowledge Morgana, not wanting to potentially draw attention to him. “Hey.” He blinked when he heard a voice. Takamaki. “What’s up?” Arashi asked. “I’m just wondering what you’re doing with Ryuji… You two seem pretty intent on taking Kamoshida down.” Arashi froze a bit. “Sorry, but Ryuji’s just not exactly…subtle is all, you know? And why are you with him, anyway? He’s not even in our class.” Arashi rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s a lot going on.” He couldn’t exactly fess up to the fact that there was a castle where the school was in an alternate dimension where distorted desires became real. He was still surprised that Sakura believed him and was even allowing him to do this… That still didn’t make sense, but now wasn’t the time or place to think about it. “Why are you asking?” Takamaki opened her mouth to speak but Sakamoto came up. “Hey, you find anyone?” He looked at Takamaki. “What are youdoing here and talkin’ to her?” “Oh, I was just wondering about some stuff,” Takamaki answered. “You two need to be careful though… Ryuji, you of all people should know the consequences of trying to stand up to him.” Sakamoto kicked the ground. “This is all none of your fucking business,” he said. Takamaki’s shoulders squared up and Arashi held a hand up. “Sakamoto-san, relax. She clearly wanted to talk to me about something… I should let her talk.” Sakamoto was clearly going to drive her off. Yet again, him being impulsive might ruin something for them. They had narrowly escaped getting out of the Palace yesterday. It was only because Sakamoto had awakened to his Persona that they had gotten out at all. The hail of blue fire had created a gust strong enough to blow Kamoshida’s Shadow and the guard off of him and Morgana while they’d been on the ground. “I’d like to help out,” Takamaki said, her gaze steely. “I have my own reasons.” “Sorry, nuh-uh, not gonna happen,” Sakamoto said. “What?” She looked flabbergasted. “What he means to say is…it’s dangerous, what we’re doing,” Arashi explained. “Look, it’s… You need something special to be able to handle this. Though, I didn’t think Sakamoto-san would be able to fully help.” “Hey man! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Arashi ignored him. “If you help us out, you’ll have to listen to absolutely everything we sayfor your own safety. This is life or death dangerous we’re talking.” He was trying to dissuade her, but he had no real idea how to do it without sounding insane. And it wasn’t because she was a girl… The Shadows really were life or death dangerous. She didn’t have a Persona and that would severely limit her usefulness. If she got separated from them, then they very well could end up with a dead girl on their hands. He didn’t want to put her into danger but…Kamoshida was a bastard and Takamaki obviously had a reason to want to do this. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing then I’ll decide for myself?” she asked. Arashi sighed. Apparently, she was more stubborn than he’d thought. He looked around. “This isn’t a good place to talk… There are too many people. Is there somewhere we could talk privately?” “Wait, man, you’re seriouslyconsidering letting her in on this?” Sakamoto asked. “She doesn’t have—” “Quiet,”Arashi hissed. He leaned down and picked up Morgana. “A…cat? What’s a cat doing here?” Takamaki asked. She paused. “The school roof might be the best place for this conversation.” Arashi nodded and hid Morgana underneath his jacket and shirt as they made their way up to the roof as quickly as possible. Then he let Morgana down. “What does this cat have to do with anything?” “Okay, so here’s the gist of what we’re doing…” Arashi explained about the castle, Personas, and what other stuff he knew about. “Look, I know it sounds insane, but it is true. That’s why I missed my first day… Sakamoto-san and I somehow got trapped in Kamoshida’s Palace in the Metaverse. You need to think about this very, very carefully… We’ve nearly died twicein this endeavor.” Takamaki was quiet. “This really sounds insane…” “I know it does, but it’s the truth. Though, we still don’t know how to take Kamoshida down from the inside.” “Actually, I have a theory,” Morgana asked, curling his tail. Arashi tilted his head. “There’s something called a Treasure in each Palace which is the source of all the person’s distorted desires. In theory, if you take it, it might change his heart. But, keep in mind, if you kill the Shadow, you kill the person.” Arashi and Sakamoto looked at each other. “Woah man, I knew this was serious, but I didn’t expect that… I want to take Kamoshida down, but it doesn’t mean I want ‘im dead.That’s…” “Wait, you can understand the cat?” Takamaki asked. “The cat’s Morgana. You haven’t been to the Metaverse so you can’t understand him,” Arashi explained. “I’ll be taking Sakura-san to Mementos this weekend hopefully to allow him to understand Morgana.” “This is all so insane,” she said. “I know it is, but it’s what’s truly happening.” Arashi shook his head and explained what Morgana had told them to Takamaki. “Do you want him to potentially die? We’re playing with people’s psyches and it could seriously result in life or death for not just them but us. It’s incrediblydangerous.” She might awaken to a Persona, but he couldn’t be certain of that. He didn’t want to put her in harm’s way, but she really seemed to want to help take Kamoshida down. “…Can I have a while to think on it? This…is a lot to take in,” she said. Arashi nodded. “Yeah. We just got pulled into inadvertently. Take your time and decide.” “Thank you. Anyway, I need to go check on Shiho.” Takamaki bowed and excused herself. Once she left, Sakamoto looked at him. “You seriously wanna invite her to help us? What are you thinking?” “That she’s also been hurt by Kamoshida and has everyreason to want to take him down. Right before I met you, I talked to her. Kamoshida pulled his car up and invited her to take a ride with him. He seemed like a concerned teacher, but we both know that’s not what he had on his mind… It’s something nefarious.” Sakamoto’s expression dropped. “Damn… I didn’t realise… And her best friend’s on the volleyball team from what I hear…” “She has just as much reason to want to take Kamoshida down as you do.” Arashi still didn’t have a goat in this race, but again… If Sakamoto rushed headfirst into everything, then there wouldn’t be a Sakamoto anymore. Morgana was nice, but he was relatively soft spoken and placid. The cat didn’t have the presence or wherewithal to hold Sakamoto back like Arashi did. He really didn’t want to be doing anyof this but there wasn’t much choice in the matter. They needed someone to act as team lead and it seemed to fall to him…no matter how much he didn’t want to do it. “She just has to listen to us so she doesn’t get hurt.” Sakamoto rubbed the back of his neck. “But man… The idea of killing Kamoshida… I’m not sure about that.” “Keep in mind I don’t know if it would change his heart or kill him,” Morgana said, his ears going back. “It’s a decision you guys have to make for yourselves. Think about it carefully. And if you need to talk to me, you can talk to me.” Sakamoto nodded. “Right. We don’t gotta decide right away. Well… I have plenty to think on… It’s gettin’ close to the time we need to leave. Today may not be the best for castle diving.” Arashi nodded. “Yeah, you’re right about that.” He looked over the side of the school. “It looks like there might be a little walkway down from the ceiling to the bottom floor. Think you can handle that, Morgana? I don’t want to get caught with you in the school. Coming up here was risky enough.” Morgana nodded. “Yeah, I think I can.” Arashi placed him on the walkway, then headed down with Sakamoto. As they headed downstairs toward the entrance, they saw a boy with blue hair. “Hey, you’re on the volleyball team, aren’t you?” Sakamoto asked. “What? Sakamoto, why do you want to talk to me…?” He glanced at Arashi. “Especially with her.”He seemed pale, but his cheeks seemed to grow paler. Something was afoot but he had no idea what it was. “We wanna talk about what Kamoshida’s been doing to you,” Arashi said. He hoped that they would be able to get something out of him, but he pretty much knew better by now. Nobody was willing to talk and rat on Kamoshida. He knew better. People generally just wanted to be left alone when they were being abused because it would result in far more punishment for them. His parents had never abused him, but he had seen it on the streets… Kids whose parents beat them and they ran away for a little while to try to get away from all of the hurt… He’d seen more than one kid jump off the bridge in town to get away from the pain. Adults really were the worst. “Mishima, come on man, you gotta fess up! None of the other guys will,” Sakamoto said. “And none of the girls will either. We can’t keep running around like this. We need to take Kamoshida down!” Mishima shook his head. “There’s nothing going on at practice. I promise…” His voice was completely broken and it hurt Arashi’s heart. He knew the feeling all too well. But, despite everything, Arashi still had fight left in him. Nothing could tame his spirit. “What about all those bruises then? That’s not normal,” Sakamoto said. “It’s…nothing important. Really.” “C’mon, man, just trust us…” “What are you guys doing?” It was then that Kamoshida came up. Arashi’s hand gripped into a fist and he felt Arsene rising and he was pretty sure his eyes flashed the dangerous golden of Shadows, but he pushed it down. This man neededto go down. He was predating on a minor as a thirty or forty-something-year-old-man. And the fact that his Shadow had entertained the fact that Arashi would be a distraction… His whole body started to shake in fury but he did his best to push it down. “Mishima, you ought to know better than to hang out with delinquents.” “I— Sorry sir.” “And shouldn’t you be in practice?” “I don’t feel well. I want to go home today.” “Now, now, Mishima, you know you need to come to practice in order to get better. You’re never going to improve if you don’t come to practice.” Kamoshida’s voice was practically a purr but it made Arashi’s stomach turn over. Disgusting. A manipulator no doubt… Ugh. He hated this. Kamoshida reallyneeded to go down. “I… Yes sir. I’ll be there.” Kamoshida turned to face them. “Now, shouldn’t you two be getting on your way? You know, if you step out of line, you’ll be tossed out of school. That won’t look good for either of you. Especiallyyou.” He looked pointedly at Arashi. He blinked and felt Arsene rising again, once again fairly certain his eyes turned the golden color, but it only lasted as long as he blinked again. “I’ll keep it in mind.” That was all he’d say. “Good. Now run along.” Kamoshida stalked off. Mishima sighed. “You know, there’s no point in trying to get any of us to talk… The parents, the teachers… Everyone knows. They just turn a blind eye because he gets results.” Arashi’s heart broke. “We’ll take him down. We have…methods.” “It’s not going to do anything.” Mishima sighed then jogged away, heading to practice. Sakamoto looked at him. “I’ll see if I can get any of the guys to talk but…” “Not hopeful.” Sakamoto shook his head. “You should head back home now. I’ve gotten you in enough trouble for the day.” Arashi nodded and found Morgana. He put the cat back into his bag and headed to LeBlanc. Once there, he saw Sakura behind the counter. He headed upstairs and let Morgana out of his bag, not wanting to keep him cooped up toolong. He felt bad as it was, but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. He headed back downstairs and sat at the counter across from Sakura. A binder sat on the counter. Arashi blinked. “What’s this?” “The Tarot stuff you asked for. Meanings for the cards along with things being summarised.” Sakura slid it across the counter to him and he blinked. He opened it and saw a nice, neat, organised summary of each card down to just a couple of bullet points. Well, that would definitely make interpreting and learning things a hell of a lot easier. It was quite a bit of paper, though. “She also did a lot of spreads for you.” So that’s why there was so much paper… What were spreads and what were they used for?” “What are spreads for?” “I don’t know; I’m not into that mystical mumbo jumbo. She just said that having a ton of spreads might be useful for you.” “Well… Whoever did this, tell her I said thanks.” He really had no idea who could’ve done this… This probably took hours to put together… This was a lotof paper. “Do I need to pay you or her back for the paper?” Sakura shook his head. “Nah, don’t worry about it, kid. It’s just some paper. Though…you don’t have a deck, do you?” Arashi shook his head. “I don’t…and I’m not sure where I’d find one.” “You might find a store down in Shinjuku. You have some time tonight so you could go wander around a bit. I’ll cook dinner for you then leave it in the fridge. But for Morgana, I’ll feed him when it’s done. Sound good?” “Thankfully I do have some money from beating Shadows…” “Those things give you money?” “I don’t know the logistics and I don’t want to know.” “Entirely fair.” Sakura smiled. “Go have yourself some fun down in Shinjuku. Just don’t go into any bars. Though you might wanna change first.” Arashi nodded and slipped back upstairs. He found an outfit that wouldn’t make him look too ‘pretty,’ just a jean skirt, some leggings, and a blouse covered by a light jacket. It was incredibly modest and not something that would attract too much attention. Thankfully, he could and didknow how to run in case something happened. He just needed to avoid the seedier areas of Shinjuku to hopefully avoid being hurt somehow. Japan was relatively safe, but even so… One could never be too careful. “I’m going out for a while, Morgana. Sakura said he’ll come get you when dinner’s done.” Morgana’s ears twitched a bit and he nodded. “All right then. Have fun.” Arashi grabbed his little cross-body bag he kept all his major belongings in. He had the key, his phone, his wallet, and his ID. Those really were the essentials. He headed back downstairs and looked at Sakura. “I’m leaving.” “Have fun, kid. You’ve had too much stress to deal with.” He smiled at Arashi and then went back to what he was doing. Arashi looked up the coordinates to a store that sold Tarot cards on his phone and took out the rail card. He followed it down the subway and then up to the ground. He looked around warily. Shinjuku was hopping which seemed to only make sense. It was a pretty famous area of Japan. He wouldn’t be surprised if some Shujin students were around here. But he looked completely different now that he was out of his uniform, so he hoped that nobody would recognise him while he was out and about. He really didn’t want to potentially risk getting into trouble or even maybe being assaulted. The store in question was down a little alley and out of the way like LeBlanc was. He followed the coordinates but kept his eyes and ears open. He tucked his phone back into the cross-body bag on the front. These sorts of alleys could no doubt hold people with malintents. All he wanted was to get a deck of Tarot cards and that was all. He wasn’t looking to get in trouble or find trouble. He found the door to a small store and opened it. A woman sat there and smiled at him. “Hello and welcome to Starlit Shadows. I’m Tsukihara Reika. Can I help you with something today?” “Um, I’m looking for a Tarot deck.” He wasn’t really certain what sort of deck he was looking for… He knew nothing about Tarot. “Are you looking for an RWS deck, a Thoth deck, or a Marseille deck?” “Um…” He was completely lost. “I don’t know, honestly. I don’t know what those different terms mean, ma’am.” No need to get snippy with this woman; she was legitimately trying to help. “Which one would have the Fool in it?” Tsukihara smiled. “They all do. They’re all technically Tarot, just variations on it. There are different meanings between the three systems, but they do share a lot of similarities.” “Oh, uh… I really don’t know.” “You’re probably looking for an RWS deck then.” “RWS?” “Rider-Waite Smith. It’s the most common one that people use and learn.” She got up from behind the counter and led him over to a glass case with different cards in it. “I also have oracle decks, but since you’re looking for Tarot cards, look up here.” She motioned to the first several shelves. “If you’d like to see some sample cards, feel free to let me know.” Arashi nodded and looked at the covers of the decks. They were all shrink wrapped and there were a good assortment of them. He really had no idea what he was looking for. Several of them had artwork that looked quite old but his eye was drawn to one that had a moon with a face looking at a butterfly. “What’s this one?” He pointed. She got up and came over. “Oh, that’s the Chrysalis Tarot. It’s a really pretty deck. Would you like to see some of the cards?” He nodded and followed her over to the counter. She got into a safe behind and pulled out a deck. She laid out several of the cards. The artwork was gorgeous. “I think I want that one.” “I’ll get it for you then.” She smiled and put the deck back into the safe then went over to the display case and took out the deck. “If you’d like, there are some deck bags.” She took him over to a part with small, draw-string bags that came in an array of different colors. He looked for several minutes, finding a yellow and orange-ish peach colored bag that was sort of tie dye with a pinkish cord. He picked it up and went over to the counter. “That’s a lovely choice.” She rang him up and he paid with what little money he had. “We actually have a Tarot gathering here every Sunday night if you’d like to come. It’s for new readers and experienced alike.” “I’ll keep it in mind,” he said. He slipped the bag and deck into his cross-body bag. “Thank you for helping me.” “It’s really no trouble.” Tsukihara smiled at him. “Have a good evening.” “You too.” With that done, he headed out of the store with his phone in hand to help get him back to LeBlanc. He kept his eyes and ears open as he stepped back into the alleyway, but it seemed like the coast was clear. Nodding a bit to himself, he followed the directions back and returned to LeBlanc. The café was dark and quiet by time he got back, so he used his key to get in. The binder remained on the counter, waiting for him. He got into the fridge and pulled out dinner, putting it in the microwave. Then he sat at the counter and opened the deck. He laid out the cards. They were absolutely gorgeous. He also opened the binder and flipped through it as he did so. However, he saw a discrepancy in the binder and the cards. Scrolls, spirals, stones, and mirrors instead of swords, wands, coins, and cups. Thankfully, there was a little booklet which came with the deck that told him what he needed to know. That was definitely good. He continued to flip through the cards and the binder, just getting a feel for things. It was then that Morgana came down and jumped up on the seat next to him. “So you got a deck then?” Arashi nodded. “Yeah. The artwork I got is really gorgeous.” He held out some of the cards. “Oh, that is nice artwork.” Morgana stood up and the tip of his tail curled into a little question-mark shape. “What about meanings?” “Sakura had somebody print some stuff out for me.” He slid the binder down onto his lap for a moment for Morgana to see. “Shit, I forgot to ask the lady what spreads were for.” “Oh, that’s easy… It’s just putting cards in specific positions for divination purposes. Let me look.” Arashi got up and put the binder on the ground and Morgana started flipping through it. “Yeah, there are meanings here and different spreads… But you don’t haveto use spreads if you don’t want to, of course. You can just learn the meanings of the cards.” “I guess that is true.” He picked the binder back up and put it on the counter, then blinked. “Wait, you can read?” Morgana looked up at him and blinked as well. “I guess I can.” “Huh.” Morgana jumped back up next to him on the seat. “Well, that does make a lot of things easier… Though, I do have an idea for how we can increase your receptiveness to people’s Arcana.” “What is it?” “We got out and sit in a part of the city, then I quiz you on what people’s Arcana are as you pass. It’ll force you to be quick and think on the fly. You’ll have to open yourself and be receptive to people.” Arashi frowned at that. “That…doesn’t sound very fun.” “No, but you’re the Wild Card and the Fool Arcana. If you want to work effectively with people, you need to open yourself up.” Morgana’s ears went back. “I know you’ve had it hard, so I understand why you don’t want to trust, but if you only ever use people, your Shadow may cause issues and take over you fully. You don’t want to end up like Kamoshida, do you? I think your heart is distorted enough that it couldcause a Palace to form.” Arashi continued to frown. “No, I don’t want to end up with a Palace… But…trusting people is hard.I don’t like being vulnerable.” “I know you don’t, but if you aren’t able to accept yourself, then your Shadow could spawn a Palace and you’ll lose your Persona until it’s defeated. Or, if my theory is right, then until your Treasure is stolen.” Arashi sighed. He really didn’t like where this was going, but he also knew there was no way around it either. “I’m not asking you to spill your guts to Ryuji and Ann. I’m just asking you to let your walls down enough to try to connect with people on an energetic level.” “I guess I don’t have much choice, huh?” Morgana shook his head. “Not unless you want your Shadow to take over.” He dragged his paw along the seat. “I hate to ask this, but there has to be a reason you’re so different in the Metaverse… There’s something you’re not telling everyone. You’re a lot more brash and bold in the Metaverse and, well, angry.You remind me a lot of Ryuji when you let go of yourself in the Metaverse.” Arashi sighed. He’d been dreading this question for quite a while. “I’m…not really female. I mean I look the part, but I don’t identify as such. I’m what’s called ‘transgender.’ Basically I was born female but identify as male.” “Oh, I see. Why don’t you just try to live as male?” It seemed like Morgana didn’t understand in the slightest. “When I told my parents, they tossed me out on the streets. That’s why I’m in the bad shape I’m in.” He didn’t mind telling Morgana, but he knew that Sakamoto and Takamaki would treat him with hatred and probably abandon him whenever he told them. He knew better than to tell people. Sakura would no doubt put him back out on the streets as well. He just knew better than to trust anybody with his little secret. “Is there a name you prefer then?” “…Arashi. But don’t use it or masculine pronouns around Takamaki and Sakamoto. People despise people that are different especially in Japan.” Yeah, he was tired of living as a girl, but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. It was just saferto keep his head down and blend in. He’d told Takemi, but that was doctor/patient confidentiality. Oh right… Sakura hadn’t mentioned the prescriptions and supplements that she’d wanted him to have. He got behind the counter and found a bag that looked like it was from a pharmacy. Well, this was probably what he was looking for. He sat back down and finished eating. “I can definitely do that, though I’d like to respect how you identify.” He petted Morgana’s head. “You can do that when we’re alone. I just…don’t want people to know. All I got was hatred back in my hometown.” He really just didn’t want to get further hatred. Maybe Tokyo was more accepting, but he had no way of knowing that. He just… Ugh. He wouldn’t know unless he came out of the closet but if it was unsuccessful, he would just get hatred. It was just easier and safer for him to keep his head down and not tell anybody. “That’s going to feel bad, using a name you don’t like and stuff.” “Would you rather put my safety into jeopardy?” Morgana sighed, his ears going back. “No.” Arashi got up and picked up the plate going over to the sink. Morgana didn’t follow him. He cleaned it quickly and put it in the drying rack, then headed upstairs with his stuff. He looked at all the prescriptions and supplements to figure his schedule with it all. Some were morning, some were night. It was all a lot. He would probably need one of those pill boxes to remember everything correctly. He texted Sakura. Could you get me a pill box you think? There’s a lot to remember, and it’d be easier to have things laid out weekly. Yeah, sure kid. That won’t be too expensive. I’ll pick it up tomorrow. Thank you. No trouble. He got into his pajamas and settled down to do his homework for the night. He was honestly being a bit strapped for time, considering everything going on. It was really hard to balance school life and the castle stuff. They hadn’t gone today, but they would probably be going tomorrow… Takamaki… He wasn’t sure about her either. She had every reason to want to take Kamoshida down as well. He seemed to at least attemptingto molest her if he hadn’t been successful at this point. He really didn’t blame her for wanting to take him down. The gears kept moving in the back of his head as he worked on his homework. He finished up around ten and then got fully ready for bed. With everything done, he settled down for the night and fell asleep.