Long-awaited comeback

"What the-? You activated the Meta-Nav?!" shouted Morgana, startled.

"Yeah. We-" started Ryuji, but was quickly interrupted by Shin.

"I."

"-Shin just got the word right."

"What if I hadn't noticed, and then wandered off and got caught by an enemy?!" said Morgana.

"I'm pretty sure that you can deal with the trash-level mobs that lurk around the entrance by yourself anyways, so there's really not a lot to worry about." commented Shin.

"'Sides, you would've noticed you're walking on 2 legs at some point." said Ryuji, shrugging.

Morgana, who couldn't refute either of their points, chose to simply click his tongue.

"If even Morgana can slip like that into the Metaverse..." said Ann, shaking her head.

"In places like this, where the cognitive distortion is so little, the differences are more subtle." said the little cat-like being.

"Dude, the sky literally turned black." said Shin, pointing one finger up.

"Oh... Ehm, besides that." said Morgana, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"And there's also a giant fucking museum on the other side of the road." the black-haired teen continued, pointing at the place where Madarame's shack used to be.

"That's... unnecessarily shiny." said Shiho, squinting her eyes.

"Look at that insane crowd..." muttered the blond boy.

"Well then, it's time we begin our infiltration." said Morgana.

"Ugh... Are we gonna have to wait in that gigantic line?" asked Ryuji, groaning.

"Not necessarily. We just have to kill everyone to get through the entrance." said Shin, loading his gun.

"Shin, don't!" shouted Morgana, jumping to keep Shin in place.

"But I wanna..."

"Listen, Shin." said Ryuji, grabbing the black-haired boy by the shoulders.

He pulled him further away from the girls and Morgana.

"I know that I'm not the most book-smart person here, but there's something I can understand. Violence isn't always the solution."

"LIES! If violence isn't the solution, you're just not using enough violence!" replied Shin.

"Then what if a mosquito lands on your family jewels, huh? Would you use violence on that mosquito?!" Ryuji shouted back.

Shin looked flabbergasted. As if a whole new world opened right in front of his eyes.

"I see... How wise of you, Ryuji."

"Yeah, it's from Confucius."

"Interesting."

-INTERMISSION-

In the end, Shin and the others sneaked into the museum by jumping over the fence, but not before the black-haired boy shot someone waiting in the line. This, in fact, seemed to be a good thing, as the commotion it caused made the thieves' infiltration easier.

With no guards in sight, the group explored the garden until they found their way in.

Inside, the first things they noticed were the numerous paintings of different people, neatly lined up on the walls.

"There's someone's name and age written here." said Morgana, reading the little plaque placed in front of one painting.

"That can't be the title of the painting... Maybe it's the artist's name?"

"It's the same thing over here." said Shiho, looking at the plaque of another painting.

Despite the fact that there was nothing written on the plaques besides the names and ages, even an idiot like Ryuji could have an inkling of an idea about what the paintings represented. That is, victims of Madarame's abuse and plagiarism.

That idea was further cemented when they found a painting of Nakanohara, the stalker man from Mementos, and Yusuke himself.

"Do you think..." said Ann, looking at Shin.

"Most likely."

Ryuji, who went on ahead with Morgana, rushed back, stumbling and knocking over vases accidentally.

"Guys... *GASP* You need to see this!" he said, panting.

Shin and the girls went after him, taking a pamphlet with half of the museum's map on their way.

The blond led them to a giant golden sculpture.

"..."

Shin didn't even bother to read the writing on the plaque, as he knew what it said. As his mind wandered to Yusuke's situation and his relationship with Madarame, he clicked his tongue in disgust.

He was actually looking forward to the next palace. Not just because of the monetary benefits that Kaneshiro's palace entails, but also because Shin didn't feel completely abhorred by the man.

The black-haired teen simply walked away from the spiraling statue. There was no reason to remain there anymore.

"Hm? Don't you want to check this thing out, Shin?" asked Morgana.

Shin shrugged his shoulders and stopped in his place.

"It's something along the lines of a self-justification for what he did to his students, most likely."

And that it was!

Morgana frowned, but he didn't say anything. Ryuji scratched the back of his head awkwardly and went after Shin, without taking another look at the statue. Ann and Shiho followed shortly after, but they took a quick glance at the plaque.

Last but not least, the cat-like being went on his way after carefully scrutinizing the statue. He was mildly impressed by Shin's deductive ability being so accurate, though a small part of himself couldn't help but feel... disgruntled.

Call it his cat instincts, if you will.

Shin was still relatively new to the whole Palaces thing. How could he have seen through the statue's meaning like that.

Such ponderings would have to be held later, as the group was getting quite a distance away.

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Yo, people who have this book into their libraries! Did you expect this to happen? I certainly didn't. Metal music is a godsent for motivation.

So basically, I got so hyped I wanted to write, to put all these cool ideas somewhere.

I thought of something that's bloody awesome, but I can't share it with y'all cuz it's really spoilery at this point in the story.

The peeps on discord are gonna be so shocked since I didn't even put an announcement there.

Huehuehue!

Anyways, regarding future updates, I can't honestly promise to dish out 5 chapters a week, though I will strive to.

I might edit the previous chapters, and I thought about changing Shiho's Persona's name from "Pandora" to something. I don't know what yet, but I will mention the change if it happens at some point.

Aren't I such a swell dude to even announce all of you so you don't have to go to earlier chapters to see what the heck is happening? I really am too great for the world.

(yes I'm being serious because I said the world not ZA WARUDO)