Persona 12

§Suguru Asmodeus Kamoshida ~ Part 3§

STATS

Ren Amamiya

Level 4

HP:311/311

SP:33/176

Knowledge-Keen 14/25 -- Rank 3

Guts-Staunch 14/25 -- Rank 3

Proficiency-Adept 4/25 -- Rank 3

Kindness-Considerate 16/20 -- Rank 2

Charm- Allure 4/50 -- Rank 5

13797 ¥

20XX/04/11~11:50 AM

Monday-Morning-Cloudy.

Shibuya ~ Prosecutors Office.

SIU Director:"The minister of Transport announces his resignation from office and faces charges for the accident…"

SIU Director:"*chuckle* Things are going according to our plan" The director made an unusual happy expression as he said this.

SIU Director:"Niijima Sae…That reminds me, she's..." His face returned to cynical.

The director closed his eyes in exasperation and breathed hard in displeasure, he clicked his tongue.

SIU Director:"...Better to leave it be for now…"

>>Take your Time

20XX/04/11~11:54 AM

Monday-Morning-Cloudy.

Aoyama District.

Ryuji:"*Pant* Bah, Hah, Hah...Did we make it...?"

Ren watched forward, holding his Smartphone, he narrowed his eyes towards the station, as if seeing something, then in a quick motion pulled Ryuji towards the alley, meanwhile his phone buzzed.

Navigation Voice:"You have returned to the real world, Welcome back Ren-sama" a monotone but pleasant female voice reached their ears.

Ren:'Returned? So the app is really connected to that strange world... now how all of this connects to the Velvet Room remains a mystery'.

+2 Knowledge

Keen 16/25

Ryuji:"Oi, what are you doing?" Ryuji tried to fight back, but Ren's hold on his body was unbelievably strong.

Ren:"Shh…" Ren put a finger in his mouth, asking for silence, he then pointed at the main street walk where they were just in.

Ryuuji:"huh…? Oh…!"

Two Police Officer passed by, looking around, Ryuji finally understood and nodded, Ren pushed Ryuji further back into the alley, soon both officers left the scene.

Ren & Ryuji:"*sigh*"

Ren:"Well, it seems we are back into the real world…"

Ryuji:"...We got away?"

Ren glanced at the phone again to confirm the time.

Ren:"Seems like it, however its the end of the fourth period, we've been locked up for at least 3 hours, and escaping took at least 20 minutes..."

Ryuji:"*sigh*, I don't know what to think anymore… What was all that anyway…? That strange castle, Kamoshida, Those dead, and tortured bodies?" Ryuji's voice dragged on, as if to convey his feeling of tiredness and confusion, Ryuji remembered the doll like people being tortured and killed, he leaned over the wall and looked down.

Ryuji:"...I feel like I'm going to be sick." Ren tapped his back in support, however the nausea disappeared, Ryuji didn't vomit, however some bile rose to his mouth and he spit it out.

>> Take your Time

Presently they were walking towards the school.

Ren:"I felt part of me just died inside…" Ren looked to the sky, they were turning around in a maze of back alleys.

Ryuji:"Yeah, I feel you man, and what was up with that strange cat? The hell was going on?"

Ren:"I don't know…" In truth he knew what happened somewhat, due to his sharp wit, however all he had were half-truths and speculation on his part, so he couldn't very well give his findings without a proper explanation himself.

Arriving at the front gates Ryuji couldn't help himself.

Ryuji:"We are definitely back, There's the school, not some damn castle! I'm sure we came the same way as before...What was going on...?"

Counselor:"What is going on is exactly what i wanted to ask you….Where were you roaming around at this time?"

Ryuji:"Uh...Eh...A Ca-Castle?"

Counselor:"So, you have no intention of giving an honest answer?"

Familiar Voice:"What's this about a 'castle'?"

Ryuji:"Kamoshida?!"

Kamoshida-sensei:"You seem so carefree, Sakamoto…" The 6'4" teacher made a displeased face.

Kamoshida-sensei:"Quite the difference from when you did morning practice for the track team." his frown grew deeper, his mouth made an aggravated expression.

Ryuji:"Shut up! It's your fault that--"

Counselor:"How dare you speak that tone to Kamoshida-sensei!" The counselor raised his voice, however he than calmed down and continued in a more lenient tone.

Counselor:"...There's not much leeway left for you Sakamoto-kun"

Ryuji:"He's the one that provoked me!"

Counselor:"Do you really wanted to be expelled?! In any case, you'll have to explain yourself! Follow me!".

Ryuji:"Hah?! Don't be ridiculous!"

Kamoshida-sensei:"Come on. I should have been more considerate towards his hurt feelings, Let's just say that I was partly at fault here…"

Counselor:"Eh, well...if you say so Kamoshida-sensei…"

Counselor:"In any case you are still coming with me, It's undeniable that you're extremely late."

Ryuji:"....*sigh*....Fine…"

Kamoshida-sensei:"By the way...you're that new transfer student, correct? Amamiya Ren…Pretty ballsy to be late on the first day" He looked at Ren, with a bit of hidden intensity, however Ren's keen mind picked up the animosity, the Counselor entered the school and Ryuji followed, climbing up the stairs, he paused for a second in the middle of the stairs and stared daggers at Kamoshida, he then continued his step, and entered the school, Kamoshida looked at Ryuji's back with a satisfied smile, well hidden.

Ren put his hand in his breast pocket searching for his glasses, yet didn't find them, his heart sank, he didn't need them or anything, it's just that they were more to hide his shyness, he was a bit socially anxious, not terribly so that it got in the way of his normal life or that people noticed, but it was enough that it bothered him, he used glasses on his face as a stopgap for it.

Ren climbed up the stairs leisurely, just as he was passing the teacher.

Kamoshida-sensei:"Have we met somewhere?"

Ren took a side glance at Kamoshida, Ren's grey eyes were blank and dead.

Kamoshida jumped a bit when he saw those eyes, a bead of sweat ran down as he got some chills running down, however those moments passed and he recomposed himself.

Kamoshida-sensei:"I'll overlook your lateness for today, however don't forget that you are on probation...You can't --" Kamoshida's image started to shift towards the king, the voice becoming demonic and echoed.

Kamoshida-sensei?:"--Afford to slip up" The kings image superimposed the real one, leaving Ren staring at those yellow eyes, and that ugly pink coat, as well as those disgusting hairy legs.

Sudden rage and threat bubbled underneath Ren's skin.

Ren's body burst into blue flames as the twenty foot tall Arsene surged from his body, Arsene was poised to attack the King, however Ren composed himself and Arsene dematerialized before the claws could maul the teacher apart.

Before long the image, the illusion of the King Kamoshida disappeared.

Kamoshida-sensei:"At any rate, hurry up and go to the faculty office, I'm sure Kawakami-sensei is tired of waiting."

Kamoshida gave him a fake happy grin with his eyes closed and said.

Kamoshida-sensei:"Good luck trying to 'enjoy' your new school life"

Ren:"........" Ren kept up his taciturn personality as Kamoshida went inside.

Ren:'He didn't notice Arsene at all...even though he was about to die...what is this power?' Ren looked at his hand as it burst into blue flames again and Arsene's phantom hand was superimposed on his own, like a ghost, Ren pushed the persona back into him as the flames disappeared, it seemed he could control it well enough.

20XX/XX/XX~XX:XX ???

???-???-???.

Shibuya Police Headquarters ~ Underground.

Sae stomped her hands on the desk, causing noise, she wanted to scare him, but she hesitated a lot on angering him.

Sae:"A school turned into a castle, a talking cat...? I won't put up with you joking around."

However Ren, kept his composure, gazing her with his crimson eyes.

Sae:"I'm going to have you continue your story Ren-kun."

She palmed four red calling cards.

Sae:"When you entered the school, you targeted many people those days, you also sent 4 calling cards to different people, Isobe Kenjiro, Fujii Ikki, Horie Rei, Kamoshida Suguru, you also targeted even more people during that time, and yet they weren't given a calling card..."

Ren:"..."

Sae:"Isobe Kenjiro, Faculty Director for Tokyo University, he later confessed his money laundering scheme, implicating a number of people, he later died in prison after attempting to kill inmates inside his own cell, with a shiv made of chicken bone and his own nails, he fell over dead, we first thought it was a mental shut down, but we later found out by autopsy that his heart was missing, no surgical scars to prove how it was removed, no nothing, it's like it vanished from the spot!"

Ren:"..."

Sae:"Fujii Ikki, ex-Minister of transport, resigned the next day of the incident, he was to be convicted of negligence, that caused the death of over 40 people, dead a few days later snooping around the Gokudo(Yakuza) specifically the Tachibana-kai(Tachibana clan), near Shinjuku, he had two bullet wounds one in the head, and one in the chest, his heart was also missing."

Ren:"..."

Sae:"Horie Rei, a relatively unknown woman, it was later revealed that she was running a small prostitution ring of minors in Nakano, she was relatively spotless, a woman that came from Tottori prefecture and smuggled Middle school girls as well as High school girls, she would sell their bodies for profit, she was found in a port in Koto, her clothes removed, signs of physical assault on her body as well as sexual assault...She died strangled, that was clear, her heart was also missing"

Ren:"..."

Ren:'Koto...She was probably raped by that family huh? Well they are all dead now… as well as everyone in the Tachibana clan...well not everyone, the families that survived sought refuge recently with the Kurone alliance...…...they are probably congregating in Kyoto right now, or perhaps Kobe or Osaka? Grandfather is in Sapporo right now I think...but that's a thought for another time.'

Sae:"Kamoshida Suguru, the P.E Teacher at Shujin academy in Aoyama, he was later reported on Seventeen counts of physical abuse of minors, thirteen counts of sexual abuse, and one count of sexual assault… He confessed it all during day light in the middle of Shibuya... he was then filmed by several people as he confessed and did crazy things, until he suddenly conflagrated, his body burnt down as he collapsed... police arrived shortly after...Autopsy found nothing flammable on his body, his heart was also missing..."

Ren:"..."

Sae:"Many others you've targeted also had missing heart, however the strange thing that also appeared in every victim was this symbol, scarred on the back of the head" Sae pointed at the Phantom thief logo, it was grafted as a scar in the back of the head, a mark to signify a kill from his group.

Sae:"It was hard to find it, they had to shave the hair off the corpses to see it."

Ren:"..."

All throughout her speech, Ren kept silently gazing at her, he had an arrogant posture, with crossed knees and linked hands, he silently smirked as each name flew by, even with Horie Rei's death, which he was most thoughtful about didn't show any emotion on his face.

Sae:"Why did you target them? There were no connections at all, The only one closest to you was Kamoshida, and since you transferred during that time, you shouldn't have any connections between the two of you"

Ren:"...There was a reason why I targeted him, Kamoshida-'sensei', the other three that we sent the calling card during that time were misdirections, all four victims were separate and had no link to us, or so it seemed, the first one was the minister of transport...we had to pick a publicly hated target first as our debut...killing Kamoshida right off the bat would make me suspicious after all. I had to establish the phantom thieves presence first. To stir the hearts of the public we targeted the Resigned Minister of Transport, sure...after his death many claimed for the capture of the Phantom Thieves, spewing politically correct bullshit on the media and internet, the public wanted to bring the elusive group to justice."

Ren:"However I saw through their farce, the majority of the public secretly supported us, the families affected by the accident the minister caused spewed pretty words about his death to the news, and that the citizens shouldn't seek justice by their own hands, they demonized the phantom thieves, however in secret they were delighted to hear the man who all but killed their families and friends died such a horrible death… their cheers for us were certainly heard in the anonymity of the internet" Ren said with a smirk.

Ren:"The fact of the matter is, after the phantom thieves began routinely targeting people, the more desensitized the public became and many people began to support our actions, the killings became part of the norm and Japanese society began to change, little by little, and is still changing"

Sae:"....I see, yes there are still meny hidden supporters, but you are now on death row, don't forget...... So they were misdirections, however there is no feasible way that you could have killed the other three, on the three occasions you were on school campus, this was confirmed by the security cameras...The other victim Kamoshida...you were back in Osaka as you were invited to participate in your fathers funeral...Kamoshida went insane in Shibuya...by the same time...What am I trying to say is to come and kill him you had to take an hour flight to return here...A 6 hour car ride at the least… and 8 hours of bus. And that's not possible, you were filmed attending the funeral... you stayed by your father's grave for hours...until you returned to the hotel that night with your Grandfather, the next morning you returned here...Kanto region...Leaving Kansai behind."

Ren:"...You would be right, By human standards I couldn't have killed him, Kamoshida that way while I was attending my Father's funeral."

Sae:"...by human standards?...*sigh* I see...So what was the method behind it?"

Ren:"I'll tell you later."

Sae:"That's unacceptable! Try and recall it once again…!" Sae agressively bashed the table in her frustration.

Ren:"Sit down...Sae-san, I.Will.Tell.You.Later." He gave her a look, a look of absolute dominance, it made her sit down in fear and submission...Sae was reminded once again that the person in front of her wasn't human and could probably kill her in an instant if he wanted to.

Sae:"I'm s-sorry Ren-kun, p-please don't be angry" It was pitiful seeing such a strong woman apologize so fearfully, Ren could only pinch his nose in frustration as Sae continued to mumble apologies.

Ren:"...Now…"