Wishing star

"What is this thing?" asked Ann.

"It's a wall..." deadpanned Ryuji.

"I can see that! But why is it so ominous?" she said.

"Now hold on... Just watch. This is most likely not an ordinary wall. If my hunch is correct..." said Morgana, stepping forward and touching the wall.

Suddenly, the middle part of the wall rose up, and the corners hid into the tunnel, revealing several escalator going down.

"See!? It's just as I thought!" exclaimed Morgana.

"What do you mean?" asked Shiho.

"The wall wouldn't budge when I came here by myself. But it'd be weird for the deepest part of Mementos to be some normal place like this, wouldn't it?" said the cat-like being.

"So you were thinking there's gotta be more?" asked Ryuji.

"Yeah. Now that Kamoshida's Palace is gone and people are actually starting to talk about us... I knew something had to have changed down here!"

"How deep is it? Should we try to head further down?" asked Ann.

"No need. That's not why we're here for today, remember? We've already accomplished our goal. We should head back and I'll explain it in detail once we're home."

Near the entrance to Mementos, the group found a little boy dressed in white, standing besides a blue car packed with a lot of things, all clamped up together. The boy had gray hair and golden eyes, and his hairstyle resembled the shell of an egg.

"A person!? In Mementos!?" said Morgana, shocked.

There was a big glowing orb floating in front of his. The group's shock increased even more when the boy stretched his hand and the orb turned into a glass full of liquid. It even had a little flower decoration on the side.

The boy took a big sip from the drink and smiled in childish satisfaction.

At that moment, the group decided to approach him.

"Hey, what's he drinking?" asked Ryuji, pointing at the boy's glass.

"Oh? Hm, I thought I felt something strange for a second... So, who are you guys?" asked the little boy in white.

"We should be asking you that!" shouted Morgana.

"Good point. Sorry about that. It's customary for a human to introduce itself before asking another human for its name. Thanks for reminding me, Misterrrr... um, Tanuki? No, um... Hmmm... Cat?"

"What took you so long to come up with "Cat"!? And I'm not either of those!" said Morgana, offended.

"Yeah, uh, getting confused about that seems pretty normal to me." commented Ryuji.

"My name is Jose. I'm looking for flowers. I'm pretty surprised seeing normal humans running around." he said looking at each of the phantom thieves.

His gaze seemed to linger a bit more on Shin, though.

"I didn't know people could just come in here."

"Well, we are pretty special- W-Wait, that's not important! Who are you is what matters right now!"

"When you said flowers, did you mean that floating thing?" asked Ann.

"That's right, pretty lady. Those seem to be the ones I'm looking for. I'm collecting as many of them as I can because I'm studying humans." said Jose.

"So that's why you turned a flower into a drink?" asked the blond boy.

"Yup."

"Drinking flower juice counts as studying...?" muttered Ryuji.

"Hey, could you help me with my research?" asked the little boy.

"How?"

"By collecting flowers for me. I wouldn't ask you to do it for free, though. I find all kinds of stuff you can use while exploring. I'll trade you some of that stuff for flowers."

"What do you think? Should we try and get him some flowers?" asked Ryuji.

"It might do us some good, but we don't know this kid... We gotta be careful." said Morgana.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine. Let's give him a hand. He seems like he could use it, and it shouldn't be too hard to pick up flowers while we're exploring, right?" said Ann.

"Okay, any OTHER reasons?" asked the blond boy.

"Hehe, he called me "pretty lady"."

"Nooo! Lady Ann..." Morgana was having an existential crisis.

"It's probably fine. He said he's gonna give us things and all that." said Shin.

"Wait, wait, hang on! We still have no idea who this kid is! Don't go thanking us just yet, bud!" said Morgana.

"Aw, are you tired, kitty? You seem grumpy." said Jose.

"I am NOT a cat! And I am NOT grumpy!" exclaimed the cat-like being.

"O-Oh, okay then, are you hungry? I learned hunger can make a person turn grumpy."

Jose took out a package that read "Cookie", and pointed it towards Morgana.

"Here, have this."

"Thanks, but I'll pass..." said Morgana, who felt awkward.

"You're making the kid worry about you even more. Guess there's only one way out of this one."

A few minutes later, Jose was sitting in his car, ready to leave.

"I'll be looking for flowers around here, so stop by and say hi if you see me. Since you humans enjoy playing so much, I'll come up with some fun games for you."

He said, before taking off.

"Who the hell was that?" asked Ryuji.

"If he's studying humans, does that mean he isn't one?" wondered Ann.

"He just looked like a nice kid." said Shiho.

"He certainly didn't feel like a Shadow... I wouldn't say he's dangerous, for now, at least..." commented Morgana.

"Anyways, if we see any of those flowers he wants, I guess we can grab them for him." shrugged Ryuji.

As they were about to leave Mementos, a voice suddenly called out to them.

"I totally forgot!"

Said voice was Jose, who came back rushing with his car.

"There's something I've been meaning to give to all of you. You see, I picked up something strange earlier."

Jose took out a blue star-like object, barely larger than his hand.

"It's a star. Or at least, that's what it looks like, so I call it that."

"So, what about it did you want to show us?" asked Shin.

"Humans make wishes on stars, right? That's so interesting. Stars granting wishes... So this star is going to grant your wishes... Or, it would be nice to think that."

"Seriously..." muttered Morgana.

"I'll give this to you. It's so sparkly and beautiful, you want it too, don't you? It's a sign of our friendship. I know what that is. Off I go now. Good job." said Jose, before leaving once again.

"Welp, there he goes."

"That was a bit unexpected. Let's head back now.

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Confidants:

Igor (The Fool) - Rank 2

Morgana (The Magician) - Rank 3

Sojiro Sakura (The Hierophant) - Rank 3

Ann Takamaki (The Lovers) - Rank 4

Ryuji Sakamoto (The Chariot) - Rank 5

Tae Takemi (The Death) - Rank 3

Shiho Suzui (The Hope) - Rank 5