Shin defies his Battle Tendency

Madarame was lying on the ground, traumatized. He was tied up even if he seemed to be knocked out, as after Shin was done talking with him, he presumed he didn't have much time to get out of the Palace before it started crumbling. And he didn't want to wait till Madarame disappeared either.

Suddenly, as the Palace started shaking and crumbling, Shin was thankful that he had the forethought to gather the Will Seeds beforehand. Granted, even if he missed one he could've gotten a spare from Jose, but getting 500 flowers for him was a pain. Plus, he didn't know whether a plain Will Seed would make the resulting ring weaker or anything like that, but he wasn't too keen on trying to find out.

Meanwhile, in the real world.

Morgana and the others had safely returned to reality. All of them were visibly distraught over their leader's seemingly selfless "sacrifice."

Ryuji was tapping his foot impatiently as he surveyed their immediate surroundings. At this point, he was half-expecting to find Shin stuck in a tree or something.

At the same time, Yusuke was checking his phone.

"'Destination Unavailable'? Is that what happens you take the Treasure from a Palace?" he asked.

"Well, last time it said that the destination was deleted, but that might be because the Palace started crumbling as soon as we beat Kamoshida. And Shin is still in there..." said Morgana.

At that, Ryuji turned around and opened his mouth to say something. Or rather, he would have if Shin hadn't tackled him.

Then, as soon as the others saw their black-haired leader, they all rushed towards him. Morgana jumped and latched onto his neck when he saw him, much to the chagrin of the non-tackled thieves.

"So, what did the Treasure ended up to be?" asked Shin, as casual as ever, even while he was trying to tear Morgana off.

It had been one of his points of concern while he was interrogating Madarame, but apparently, the old man hadn't thought to swap the Treasure with something else. From what Shin could deduce, perhaps the fact that no one intruded into Madarame's special room full of Sayuri fakes caused him to let his guard down.

"You bastard, making me worry like that..." said Shiho, softly punching the boy in the arm.

"Don't do that again!" said Ann, as mad as the other girl.

"*Groan*"

Only then did Shin remember he was still sitting on the knocked down Ryuji, and he stood up with Morgana dangling from his neck.

"Sorry for that, dude." he said as he helped the blond pull himself up on his feet.

"Don't worry about it. *Grunt* I'm ok." said Ryuji.

"Well, now that's taken care of, who wants to go eat something? My treat."

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This chapter's additional info is on... Orpheus!

Just got into P3FES and I thought something like this was in order.

In Greek mythology, Orpheus was the son of Thracian king Oeagrus and the muse Calliope (some versions have Orpheus' father as the god Apollo). Apollo, fond of Orpheus, gave him a small golden lyre, which he quickly mastered. Taught to sing verses by his mother, Orpheus was so skilled at making music that he was called "Master of Strings" and "Father of Songs," capable of such music that even rocks and animals would be compelled to dance.

Upon the death of his wife Eurydice, he travelled to the underworld, where he used his music to soften the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who allowed him to bring his wife back to the upper world on the condition that he walk in front and not look back until they had both arrived on the surface. In his anxiety, Orpheus forgot his warning and looked back when he alone had reached the surface, and saw his wife vanish, this time forever.

True to his legend, Orpheus is the archetypal musician in literacy and lore, and he stands for foolish human folly (for turning back out of doubt) as well as sacrifice (for dying for Eurydice). The Greek word ὄρφνη orphne, means "darkness," and Greek ὀρφανός orphanos, "fatherless, orphan," from which comes English "orphan" by way of Latin.

There's some dark irony in that last sentence that amused me terribly.

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Confidants:

0. Igor (The Fool) - Rank 2

I. Morgana (The Magician) - Rank 3

1. Takuto Maruki (The Councillor) - Rank 1

II. Makoto Niijima (The Priestess) - Rank 2

IV. Yusuke Kitagawa (The Emperor) - Rank 3

V. Sojiro Sakura (The Hierophant) - Rank 3

VI. Ann Takamaki (The Lovers) - Rank 7

VII. Ryuji Sakamoto (The Chariot) - Rank 6

IX. Futaba Sakura (The Hermit) - Rank 3

XIII. Tae Takemi (The Death) - Rank 4

XVIII. Saki Yoshiko (The Moon) - Rank 2

XIX. Sho Minazuki (The Sun) - Rank 2

XX. Sae Niijima (The Judgement) - Rank 1

Shiho Suzui (The Hope) - Rank 8