Chapter 19: Meeting the Cursed King

Riser POV

Meeting Joker on his way out was more tense than I imagined. What is this? After Joker awakened we decided to finally meet him and Ryuji on his way out right before they met Morgana but what I didn't expect was for Joker to glare at me while transforming into his Phantom Thief Outfit.

His hands right before his mask ready to unleash his persona before us.

How did this happen? Why does he think of us as enemies when we just met? Maybe he was just cautious.

"Hello there! Do you know where this place is? We're actually transfer students going to Shujin Academy. We followed you two and this castle popped out. And it looked kind of dangerous when you were both knocked unconscious so we tried to sneak around to try and rescue you two." I placatingly told both of them.

Joker still hasn't moved his hand from his face but Ryuji relaxed a little after our exchange.

"For real? Well I'm glad you guys weren't harmed by those guards but we should really get out of here first. If you followed us right here then you know where the exit is right? Let's go then!" Ryuji enthusiastically went ahead of us.

He does know we should be the ones to lead us out of here right?

"Yeah though prepare your eyes for some really messed up shit out there. Oh and introductions, I'm Riser Phenex, or I guess Phenex Riser over here in Japan. This is my companion Gremory Rias." Rias has been real quiet after her confession. I don't really know if it was really just a mistake on her part or if she couldn't believe she actually said that to me.

But there is no doubt that those were her true feelings. The company registered it as a capture so it must be true after all. I don't really know now but it should be fine. She'll get over it.

But she did have the politeness to at least acknowledge the two students.

"Is this really the time for that? Fine, the name is Sakamoto Ryuji, just call me whatever and this weirdly dressed friend of mine here is Amamiya Ren. He's also a transfer student like you guys nice ta meet ya."

And so we scurried around the labyrinth of a castle we were put in. Joker walked with confidence though as if he knew the corridors like the back of his hand and eventually we heard a weird meowing voice coming from one of the cells.

Joker went right through the dungeons and went straight towards the cell of the cat.

"Hey you guys aren't guards of this castle right? Get me out of here!" The cat begged us to let him out.

"You think we're soldiers when we're dressed like this, are you a dumb cat?" I asked him, I mean c'mon right, it should be pretty obvious.

"I am NOT a cat!!! My name is Morgana! Nevermind that, the key's right there just open this cell."

Joker went straight for the key and unlocked it. "Hey! Should we really free this cat? What if this is an enemy trap or something, I mean, look at him this is obviously not normal." And so begins the rivalry between Skull and Morgana.

These dumbasses are some of the most idiotic and annoying arguments in the game but I can't help but like them anyways.

"He's fine, I trust him." The silent protagonist for the first time actually spoke, oh did I not mention that? All the way through here he has not spoken for a single time.

Seeing it in real life was actually kind of weird. They have this look that has so much charisma that you can kind of understand what they want from you. Like Red from Pokemon for the longest time didn't really speak, everyone just kind of got what he was saying.

Like when you went to the top of the mountain he just initiated a battle and you knew his intentions by just looking at you.

Joker is kind of the same, especially in his Phantom Thief form. Wait, was he in his Phantom thief outfit the entire time when they escaped the first time? It was so long ago that I forgot some of the details.

Joker unlocked the cage and proceeded to continue on his path to the way out. We eventually encountered another Knight and it transformed into a shadow.

"A shadow! Hey frizzy hair you can fight right? So let's do this. Come… Zorro!" Behind the tiny mascot cat came a hulking figure of muscle. A new persona was unleashed and Rias squealed once again, her embarrassment gone as she once again fangirled over the perceived stand.

"Riser!!! It's a cat version of Iggy! I don't know how I didn't see it before!" Rias, forgetting about the shadow and battle that was just about to occur, swept up the cat in her arms and hugged the life out of the mascot.

Meanwhile Ryuji was freaking out of his mind, his normal people brain couldn't keep up with the reality of what was happening. To be fair, his school became a castle, he was beaten up, almost killed, talking cats, and his friend who he met for the first time turned out to have a giant ghost, which the talking cat seemingly also has.

"How does a cat have one of those too?!!"

Joker proceeded to one vs two the shadow and Morgana wasn't able to show off because he was stuck between Rias' tits… Okay yeah no, that's a cat but those are mine.

Boom

"Rias, let go of the cat-" I grabbed the big head of the animal and was interrupted.

"I'm not a stupid cat! You ugly blondie!"

Okay I am going to get pissed with this fucking cat. I ignored him and continued to speak to Rias but she beat me to it.

Slice Boom Crash

"But, it's a cat stand user." she petulantly pouted at me.

"Yeah, but it's touching something that's mine so get it off, now." I firmly told her.

"Are you jealous of a cat?" She tried to tease me but with the atomic blush on her face it was pretty hard for her to keep a teasing tone and face for me.

Arsene blast them away!!

"Yes, yes I am." I told her seriously and straight to her face, staring at her eyes. Which just made her a blubbering mess as she finally let go of the masked cat and covered her face with her hands. "Rias…" I grabbed her arm about to make her face me herself

"Are you seriously flirting here?" The cat deadpanned at us both.

"Yeah, we are in danger here you know." The delinquent added.

"I was fighting…" And Joker, having just finished his fight, looked at us with accusation in his gaze.

"Sorry about that, we had some development while trying to reach you earlier and some things may have gotten awkward between us." I mean I have nothing to apologize for but it is kind of awkward to have what we are doing right now.

I mean are we fighting, flirting, or finagling some relationship we have. I mean I get that it is moving fast, like really fast in terms of a relationship but we are devils and people have gotten married over even the weirdest event.

I mean I remember someone just asking a waitress to get married with him and the waitress having met this guy just now, for some ungodly reason, said yes and quit her job right then and there and made her coworker cover for her. Who proceeded to post the story on reddit and complained about it online.

God, ow, I love the internet.

And this isn't so different from that story

Back to the topic I sent a look towards Rias telling her about how we were going to talk about this later in our apartment and she just nodded to me with a faint blush on her cheeks.

We passed through a cage with a student in a tracksuit. And Ryuji tried to break the door but the masked cat was just done with him and said that he would leave us all behind. To be fair though this cat didn't explain shit, Ryuji thought these were actual people and he was concerned for their safety, he was almost killed in this place. So of course, he didn't want anyone else to actually be trapped in this place.

After leaving that fella behind bars we went through a shortcut and finally reached the extravagant entrance hall in the castle. We were finally able to exit this castle. We had to crawl through a small tunnel and I let the others go first before letting Rias go in front of me.

After some time we were able to safely and we finally exited the palace of the piece of shit teacher. It was as disorienting as the first time, Ren was the only one not wobbling. Gaining a Persona does something to your mind to get it used to the metaverse… maybe?

What I didn't understand though was why were we here in the middle of the streets, we were just in the palace and exited it into the streets but we didn't even run all the way here, this is not the front of the school. This is a shop street, and now two police men are heading right for us.

"That was insane, what was all that anyways, the castle, that pervert, even that cat? Were we just dreaming?" Ryuji was reasonably exhausted after the ordeal and didn't notice the men in blue until they were just right in front of us.

"You punks, cutting class are we?" The two men in uniform questioned us. "You two look older than these two, you should know better than to influence those younger than you to follow your truancy." one of the officers, the one with the bike gestured to us.

"Wha- No, we were trying to get to school but we were suddenly trapped at this weird castle and-" Ryuji was interrupted by the more plump man.

"Alright, alright I'm sure you have many excuses and lies to tell us but this time we are going to escort you to your school so you won't escape this time. Or are you taking drugs?" Why are they talking like school is a prison we escape from, I mean they aren't wrong, especially the japanese school system is just cruel you know. Not only that, one of the worst teachers 'teaches' at our school too.

"Hey why the hell would you think that- Let go of me I can go to school by myself." Ryuji resisted the officers, it was a good thing this wasn't the woke police who would pull out a gun or pepper spray on you if you resisted them.

They were just the tired and corrupt police who were just tired of their jobs.

"Ryuji calm down, let's just go to school okay?" I tried to calm him down.

"But they just-"

"They won't believe us, even now you can't believe what you experienced right? So let's just go to school calmly. We can talk later and figure out what we are going to do with what we just experienced, okay?"

We eventually walked towards the school together with these good foolish men, I mean police men. And immediately we were berated.

"Why are you just coming to school? We received a call from the police about truant students who may have been smuggling drugs, and I can't even blame them. There are several rumors about drugs being distributed by students. You are besmirching the good name of our school!" The counselor went on a tirade on us.

"The hell you mean a good name, you mean the scandalous name that no one wants to say." Ryuji mumbled out that I am sure only those close to him heard.

"What was that!!" The adult screamed out because of the perceived complaint Ryuji whispered, this is the worst kind of adult. Those who just want to berate you and don't want to hear your explanation. Though even if we did explain we are going to juvie because it would look like we are doing drugs, I mean a pink castle and a nude form of the gym teacher being the king would make us look delusional or just high.

"Now now, we all know what a problem student Sakamoto really is. We don't need to escalate this any further, even if he really doesn't have a future in our society" Wow, just wow. This asshole just put down the student that he broke the leg of. Someone who had a bright future ahead of him and you just plunged him to despair by what you did.

And he is just provoking him right to his face. He really does have a big ego, maybe even bigger than me and that is saying something.

Ryuji gritted his teeth, and I can see his fist turn white and shaking in anger.

"And what about you three, did you get lost on the way to school. Or maybe you were dragged around by Sakamoto. You two men didn't lure this beautiful young woman did you? You shouldn't hang around these rebellious students. You should have called out to the school or me, like earlier when I escorted a student of ours to school." Is he? Is he actually flirting with Rias right in front of me? I can see the subtle clutches he's trying to latch around Rias, feeling around what her responses will be.

He was looking at Rias with lust in his eyes, looking right at her breasts that were trapped in her blazer. I could see him licking his lips suggestively in his head and Rias grabbed my hand in her fragile hands.

I don't know if she did it because she was scared or disgusted. Or maybe she is trying to hold me back from releasing all my anger on him because looking at her concerned eyes I can see the reflection of my own face.

I have a massive scowl in my face, I have never been more mad than before. Because when Issei told me that Rias was his, I knew he would never have the guts to actually make a move on her. But this piece of trash will actually lay his hands on his students and with Rias being even more buxom than other students here.

He will not just abuse her but will actually try to…

Rias is mine, and this shit thinks he can touch her? I prepared my mind for the consequences and I decided that it was acceptable, and so I approached him menacingly with that punchable and confident look on his face.

A/N:

Well I don't know if I am moving too slow with the story or not but replaying Persona 5 to recall the happenings in the game is enjoyable but weird because I am not enjoying it but looking at it objectively to see what I can do with the story and how I can portray the story I want hehehe.

Anyways see you guys in next chapter and thanks for the real support, I really do appreciate it and writing a new story was tougher than I thought because my mind has to differentiate the happenings of the two story and to do that I found out that having two different OST playing while I write makes my brain differentiate the two story better.

To support me more you know the drill; Patreon: https://www.p@treon.com/Nautyrus