Chapter Text
Night had fallen upon Okinawa, leaving the beach and the nearby streets and stands completely deserted. The Phantom Thieves’ camper sat upon the edge of the beach, where the Phantom Thieves had parked it for the night.
All was silent and undisturbed…until a man wearing a beach shirt suddenly rose from behind the window, a scowl on his face and fury glowing in his eyes as he glared into the inside of the camper. Seeing nobody inside from the direction he was looking in, the man lowered his head slowly and approached the door leading into the camper, stealthily pulling the handle down and opening the door. The intruder entered the camper, looking around for anyone inside…until his eyes fell upon a sleeping bag that was puffed up compared to the others, seemingly housing a sleeping figure within. With a vicious and triumphant smirk, the man pulled open the sleeping bag to ambush the person lying within…
…only to find a smaller, empty pink sleeping bag hiding underneath, instead of another person.
“What?” he gasped. Then, gritting his teeth and clenching his fist in fury, the man returned to the entrance of the camper. A mob had gathered in front of it, filled with crazed and enraged men all carrying torches with similar expressions of fury on their faces. “Hey! It’s empty!”
His words seemed to stir the mob into an uproar. “They can’t be far!” another man shouted as he brandished his torch threateningly. “Find them!”
“We have to punish them for defiling hallowed ground!” another man shouted as he swung his arm and punched the air.
“Find them! We’ll make an offering out of them!” a third man threatened.
The mob of bloodthirsty and enraged men started to disperse from the camper to find their targets…completely unaware that the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi were hiding in the bushes at the edge of the beach, right underneath their very noses.
All of them were crouched behind the bushes, looking nervously as their hunters dispersed. Ryuji had even gone so far as to hold up two ferns to try and hide his face, a move that would’ve been amusing if it weren’t for the dire situation they were all in.
“Dude!” Ryuji hissed once the men were gone. “What the hell is going on!? These guys are effin’ nuts!”
“No kidding,” Morgana agreed grimly. “If Ren and Zenkichi hadn’t picked up on what was about to happen…”
“Let it never be said that I can’t detect a crisis coming before it hits,” Ren chuckled humorlessly. The smirk evaporated almost instantly afterwards, replaced with a scowl. “Too bad that only helps so much when the crisis is even more of a catastrophic shitshow than anything my mind ever came up with.”
“Did any of you guys catch what that man said?” Makoto asked as she turned to her friends. “Something about defiling hallowed ground…what’s that supposed to mean?”
“At first, I thought he was talking about the utaki,” Ren answered with a frown. “But that doesn’t make sense, since we never actually entered it.” His eyes narrowed. “I think he was actually talking about the lab.”
“Yeah,” Zenkichi agreed, “I think you’re right. Remember that straw festoon we saw on the entrance?”
“That’s right,” Yusuke acknowledged. “We saw it, then proceeded further anyway.”
“Hang on, hang on!” Ryuji interrupted, stomping his foot in frustration. “What’s so friggin’ hollow about some lab?”
“And even if it IS hallowed, that doesn’t explain how they’re acting at all!” Ann furiously added. “They look like they wanna kill us! It doesn’t matter how we look at it, these people have lost their minds!”
“Wait, could this be…” Haru gasped.
Ren groaned as he came to the same realization as his girlfriend. “Oh, son of a bitch…” he growled. “There IS a fucking Jail here!”
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock as Ren made his declaration. “And that would mean there’s a Monarch somewhere around here, yeah?” Ryuji asked. Before anyone could say anything, he continued. “But Sophia said she can’t smell a Jail here.”
“Correct,” Sophia confirmed. “I cannot smell any Jails here.”
“However, you did also say that you got a bad feeling from this place,” Yusuke pointed out with a frown. “Considering our current situation, I can only assume it’s due to a changing of their hearts.”
“But nobody tried to attack us until just now…” Ann mused.
“Personally, I’d file this whole thing as an atypical situation,” Ren suggested. “Clearly, there is something Jail-based here, although it’s not your normal Jail. It’s a bit like how the Inaba Jail was also an atypical situation since outside interference stopped the Jail from fully forming, although the circumstances between the two are clearly different.”
“Perhaps there really is something on this island,” Makoto added. “Something even Sophia can’t detect.”
“What do we now?” Morgana demanded. “They’ll catch us if we just stay here.”
Despite everything, Ren couldn’t help but smirk. “I say we go back to the lab,” he declared.
“Wait, WHAT?” Ryuji spluttered. “Won’t there already be brainwashed locals there?”
“Actually…” Zenkichi interrupted pensively, “it might be smarter than it seems.”
Everyone turned to face Zenkichi. “Whaddaya mean, Gramps?” Ryuji asked.
“It’s pretty obvious, based on how they treat that place, that something’s fishy there,” Zenkichi explained. “No matter where we go on this island, they’d catch us eventually. Why not strike at the heart of the matter right away?” he asked.
“By heart of the matter, do you mean a Jail?” Makoto asked.
“Ironically, the Jail might actually be the safest place on the island at the moment,” Ren pointed out. “We can beat the shit out of Shadows in the Metaverse, but if we try to fight those locals in the real world, we’re gonna get our asses handed to us and worse. The only one here who can’t fight Shadows is Zenkichi, but the entrances to the Jails have always been safe from any Shadows. As long as Zenkichi stays at the entrance, he should be completely safe from both Shadows and locals trying to hunt us down, while we deal with whatever is inside the Jail.”
“However, there is no Jail…” Sophia repeated, though she was sounding less and less certain the more she said it.
“Sure,” Zenkichi agreed. “There is no Jail. But I’d bet we’ll at least find something in their holy land.”
“And more to the point,” Ren added dryly. “Does anybody here have any better ideas?”
Everybody looked at each other, but nobody said anything. Not that they needed to, when the answer was obvious from the very beginning.
“I think we’re all in agreement,” Morgana declared. “Okay, let’s head for the lab!”
“Wait, hold on a minute!” Ryuji interrupted again. “How’re we gettin’ there? Without gettin’ spotted?”
Zenkichi scowled. “What’re you asking me for?” he retorted. “Aren’t you guys the Phantom Thieves?”
Yusuke frowned. “Well…those abilities are only relevant in the cognitive world,” he remarked sheepishly.
“You just gotta go with the flow,” Zenkichi replied. “Just follow my lead…and keep your voices down.”
Together, the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi slowly emerged from the bushes and began sneaking through the streets towards the lab. Thankfully, the men who were hunting them all were carrying torches that clearly exposed their locations, so evading them was much easier than they had originally anticipated. They moved as silently as they possibly could, with even Ryuji being uncharacteristically silent and grim for once, until they made it all the way to the entrance of the lab.
The Phantom Thieves managed to make it to the entrance of the lab undetected, but they were all panting with exhaustion by the time they made it there. “We lost them…right…?” Ann breathed out in between gasps.
“Yeah,” Zenkichi answered. “Looks like the coast is clear.”
“That’s surprising,” Yusuke mumbled. “I would’ve expected guards to be posted here more so than anywhere else.”
“Either they treat this place as holy land seriously enough that they don’t come here if they can help it…or they’re just incompetent,” Ren answered. “Either way, I’m not gonna complain.”
Zenkichi’s eyes widened and he turned his head. “Wait! Listen…” he muttered.
“Eek!” Futaba shrieked.
“Footsteps!” Zenkichi snapped. “Hide!”
Despite their exhaustion, the Thieves wasted no time in hiding behind one of the columns bordering the iron gates. They all watched as a singular man, the same man who had invaded their camper, started doing something to the wall of the gatehouse.
“What’s he doing?” Haru wondered, curiosity overriding her fear.
“I can’t exactly tell from over here…” Makoto whispered.
Zenkichi smirked. “This could actually be good for us. There’s only one guy. If we capture him, we might be able to question him.”
Ren mirrored his expression. “It’s dangerous. But sometimes, with danger comes opportunity. Go for it, Zenkichi,” he approved.
Zenkichi chuckled. “Leave it to the professional.”
Ryuji’s eyes widened. “You’re doing it by yourself, Gramps!?” he asked in disbelief.
Zenkichi nodded. “I’ve been through enough training. I’ll be fine,” he reassured them. “You guys just stay here and keep an eye out for any of his buddies.”
Futaba gasped. “Holy crap, Gramps just got way cooler!” she praised.
Zenkichi emerged from the hiding spot and approached the man who was standing guard in front of the gatehouse. “Hello, excuse me?” he called out to him.
“Scoundrel!” the furious islander snarled. “You dare defile our Lord’s hallowed ground!?”
The islander reared back to punch Zenkichi…only for the police officer to sidestep the punch, and proceed to effortlessly punch him onto the ground in return. “Oh wow…” Zenkichi remarked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Watch your step there. You all right?”
“Not again!?” Ryuji gaped. “You totally threw him on his ass!”
“Eh, it was clearly self-defense,” Zenkichi remarked flippantly.
“That was both parts equally impressive on your end, and pathetic on his,” Ren commented. “I can’t remember the last time I saw a fight that one-sided in the real world.”
Yusuke chuckled. “He truly is a member of Public Security.”
Zenkichi turned his head to look at the poster. “Hey, take a look at that,” he pointed out.
“The sign we saw this morning…” Haru realized.
“Wrong,” Ren corrected his girlfriend, his glasses flashing with realization. “The date’s changed. It’s now showing the 19th, not the 18th.”
Zenkichi smirked again, although this time there was no humor whatsoever in the expression. “Apparently the facility’s staff is on permanent vacation, one day at a time.”
“Why would they do this?” Makoto asked in disbelief.
Ren shook his head. “To quote a certain movie series that takes place in a galaxy far, far away… it’s a trap,” he answered.
“Uh-huh,” Zenkichi agreed. “They’re using these posters to string along anyone who came to the island for the lab. When someone thinks the staff’s out for the day, they probably stick around the island. Come nighttime, the locals descend on whoever got too curious…to protect whatever’s in there.”
Yusuke shook his head. “What horrid tactics…” he growled.
“It’s genius,” Ren had to admit. “It’s completely fucked up, but there is an evil genius to it.”
“Well, let’s investigate a bit,” Zenkichi suggested. “If his heart’s been changed, he should have a smartphone with EMMA installed.”
After rummaging through the beaten man’s pockets, the Phantom Thieves were able to find the smartphone in question. Futaba quickly investigated the smartphone, and was soon able to find both the EMMA app…as well as only one friend listed: Shuzo Ubukata.
“Well, that certainly makes things easier,” Ren remarked. “If there’s only one friend listed on the EMMA app, this Ubukata dude, whoever the hell he is, is almost certainly the Monarch of the Jail here.”
“Anyone got a keyword?” Morgana asked.
Futaba frowned. “Hmm…that one’s a lot tougher…” her eyes widened. “Oh, hang on! There’s an email here!” She started reading the email. “Cordial inviter to serve as a tester to the EMMA system.”
“An EMMA tester?” Ann repeated curiously.
“Whoa, this even has a keyword on it!” Futaba realized.
“Oh thank fuck, something easy for a change,” Ren muttered. “Normally I’d wonder what the catch is, but considering that we’re already getting chased by a bunch of crazed islanders thinking that this lab is a holy land, I think we’ve dealt with the catch already.”
“Operation Oraculi!” Futaba read the keyword out loud.
“Who sent him the email?” Zenkichi asked.
“I don’t recognize the address,” Futaba answered. “Maybe it’s from the lab?”
Zenkichi frowned. “The lab asked all of these guys to be EMMA testers…?”
“What now?” Futaba wondered. “Thanks to the email, we know the keyword’s Operation Oraculi.”
“If the people who call this place hallowed had their hearts changed, then it’s going to be Jail-related, without a doubt,” Makoto concluded.
“But, like…we can’t find a Jail, here,” Ryuji countered. “Right, Sophia?”
“I’m not sure…” Sophia answered morosely. “At the very least, I do not smell one.”
“There’s only one way to know for sure,” Ren replied. “Let’s use that keyword and see what happens.”
“He’s right,” Morgana agreed. “If we can’t get in, that’ll settle it. But…if there IS a Jail here, testing the keyword will send us right in. Are we all ready?”
“We have no choice but to try,” Yusuke pointed out. “Our pursuers have decided our path.”
“And my points from earlier still stand,” Ren added. “The Jail is, ironically, safer than the real world at the moment.”
“Yeah,” Ann agreed. “Even the Metaverse feels safer to me than this place does now.”
“Okay, let’s do it,” Morgana declared.
“EMMA,” Futaba commanded. “Add Shuzo Ubukata to my Friend Registry. Keyword: Operation Oraculi!”
It took a few seconds, but the keyword was successful. “Wait!” Sophia gasped, eyes wide in shock. “I can smell a Jail! The scent is already all around us!”
Before anyone could say anything else, EMMA activated, and started transporting the Phantom Thieves and Zenkichi into the Okinawa Jail.
As reality shifted and they got their bearings inside the Okinawa Jail, Joker started to have some serious second thoughts about whether they were truly safer inside the Okinawa Jail compared to reality.
The lab in the real world, despite its closed appearance, had been relatively clean in appearance. Now, however, they were in a dilapidated, run-down facility that looked like it was falling apart, glowing with an ominous green light. The entire place looked like it had been taken straight out of a horror movie, with an appearance that gave it the impression that it had suffered some great calamity in the past, and what they were seeing was the aftermath of that calamity.
And that wasn’t even mentioning the whole “human experimentation” vibe that the lab gave off.
“Is this the lab?” Zenkichi asked uncertainly. “It looks kinda…eerie.”
“Bad vibes, guys,” Oracle mumbled fearfully. “This place looks straight-up haunted.”
Queen was visibly shivering and trembling in her uniform, causing Noir to give her a concerned look. “You all right?” she asked, clearly worried.
It took a few seconds to collect herself. “Yep!” she stammered in the most unconvincing voice ever. “All right here!” she added with a nervous giggle.
“You sure don’t sound fine,” Skull pointed out.
A stray can suddenly started rolling across the ground, letting a loud noise and causing Queen to shriek with terror as she fell to the ground and started hugging the closest thing she could get her hands on…which just so happened to be Joker’s leg.
“Well, screw you too, can!” Skull shouted at the can that had disrupted them…only to turn around as he and the rest of the Thieves stared at the terrified Queen grabbing onto Joker’s leg for dear life.
“I’msosorryI’msosorrywhereareyousisI’msosorry,” she blabbered, all composure completely gone.
“Oh, poor Mako-chan,” Noir murmured sympathetically. While normally she would either be completely amused or completely enraged at another girl holding onto her boyfriend’s leg depending on the person, in this case she could only feel sympathy and pity at how clearly overwhelmed with terror her friend was.
“Wait, hold on,” Zenkichi interrupted, pointing at Joker and Queen. “Weren’t you and Okumura dating each other, Ren? Or was I completely wrong and is it actually Nijima instead?”
His words were enough to break Queen out of her terrified stupor, only for her to finally realize the incredibly awkward situation she had entangled herself in. It was especially awkward considering that she had grabbed onto Joker’s leg in front of his girlfriend.
Joker looked down at her and smirked. “You know, normally the only person who’s allowed to hug me is Noir. But I think I’ll make an exception for you just this once, Queen,” he commented blithely.
Stammering incoherently, Queen quickly scrambled onto her feet and held her hands out in protest. “Nononononono,” she quickly corrected. “We’re just friends. You were right the first time, Joker’s dating Noir, not me!” Queen turned to Noir. “Sorry, Noir…”
Noir giggled good-humoredly. “It’s quite all right, Queen,” she reassured her. “You didn’t mean anything by it. And thank you for confirming that Joker’s leg is indeed quite huggable, I never actually had the opportunity to test that yet.”
The comment was enough to elicit a few giggles from the Phantom Thieves and lower the tension among them…although it didn’t last long, as they got right to business.
“So there really IS a Jail here,” Mona affirmed.
“And that means this Ubukata person is its Monarch, right?” Panther asked.
“Based on how the previous Jails have worked, yeah,” Joker agreed. “And even this Jail is a big unusual, we don’t have any other ideas on who it might be if it isn’t Ubukata.”
“But, why wasn’t Sophie able to detect it until just now?” Noir wondered.
“There is a possibility that it was sleeping,” Sophie answered.
“Jails can sleep?” Fox repeated in disbelief.
“Once the keyword was entered, it almost felt as if this place woke up,” Sophie explained.
“Huh…” Oracle mused. “So you mean Jails have a sleep mode?”
“Now this is a new wrinkle…” Mona muttered.
As the Phantom Thieves talked amongst themselves, Joker suddenly felt a strange and familiar sensation. A sensation that he had felt whenever the Velvet Room called out to him. And sure enough, the blue Jail Cell door had materialized within the Jail’s entrance, inviting him. “One moment, guys,” he interrupted. “Velvet Room business.”
“Go for it, Joker,” Mona replied with a nod.
Joker approached the Velvet Room entrance and walked through it, finding himself in his Jail cell and his familiar prison clothes in front of Lavenza. “You appear to have entered quite the conundrum,” Lavenza remarked as she approached him.
“Conundrum,” Joker repeated with a bark of humorless laughter. “That’s certainly one way to put it.”
Lavenza sighed, giving her guest a gloomy look. “What awaits you here in these lands is an inhuman being. This is where she…”
Joker buried his face in his hands. “Oh, fuck me…” he groaned. “Is this the part where you tell me that I have to face another false god?”
Lavenza shook her head. “No…I oughtn’t speak any further,” she denied. “My duty is to witness your path laid before you by your decisions. You must witness for yourself the being I have mentioned.”
Joker frowned. It could be another deity on the level of Yaldabaoth or Izanami…or it could be something else. Not necessarily a deity…but something operating the Jails from the shadows that clearly wasn’t human in nature. Which…honestly sounded like it might end up being a deity anyway or close enough to it, in the worst-case scenario. And Joker really wasn’t a fan of how depressingly frequently the worst-case scenarios happened in his life, nowadays.
“As for why I have called you,” Lavenza switched topics, “a new form of Persona execution is now at your disposal. You may now perform the Triad Fusion, a group execution harnessing special power. Triad Fusions allow you to generate even more powerful Personas. Please make use of it in preparation for the trials ahead,” she requested.
Joker grinned. “Okay…I’m never gonna say no to a new tool to use. So…are there any Personas I can make with Triad Fusion right now?”
As it turned out, there weren’t any that demanded a Triad Fusion right at that moment. Joker had the distinct impression that Triad Fusion was one of those tools whose value wasn’t immediately apparent right away, but would become more obvious and more powerful down the road when he was much stronger and at a higher level.
So instead, Joker thanked Lavenza for her assistance and returned to the Okinawa Jail. As he rejoined his friends, he noticed Zenkichi staring at him in confusion. “Uhhhh…why was he staring at that random corner not doing anything for the past few seconds?” Zenkichi wondered.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mona reassured him. “It’s a Leader of the Phantom Thieves thing.”
“Anyways,” Skull was saying, “if all the people on this island got their hearts changed, doesn’t that mean their Desires were taken? We gotta get ’em those Desires back, fast. We’re in real danger until we do.”
“Good point,” Mona agreed. “First, we need to figure out where they’re being held.”
“This really is real, isn’t it?” Zenkichi asked, shaking his head in bemusement. “I just feel like I keep losin’ it.”
“Honestly, Zenkichi?” Joker replied sympathetically. “I think part of that might just be this lab being creepy as hell.”
“Fair enough,” Zenkichi acknowledged. “Anyways, sorry, but I’m gonna stick around here while you do your thing. This place is your territory, not mine.”
“Completely agree,” Joker nodded. “Trust me, Zenkichi…you going into the lab without a Persona would be a VERY bad idea.”
“Yeah, leave it to us!” Oracle chimed in. “This is where WE take down whoever’s in our way!”
Joker grinned savagely. “I’ve got some choice words for Ubukata if he really did do this to the locals,” he declared as he cracked his knuckles. “And a free punch to the face with his name on it, among other things.”
“Hey, don’t take it too far,” Zenkichi cautioned. “You don’t wanna do anything that could translate into a real-world crime.”
Before Joker could say anything, Sophie suddenly turned her head towards the entrance of the Jail. “Just a moment…”
“Sophie?” Noir asked in confusion.
“I heard a voice deeper inside,” Sophie answered with a worried look on her face.
Queen did NOT look reassured by that statement in the slightest. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, trying and failing to keep the tremor out of her voice.
“I can hear someone calling for me,” Sophie reported. Then, her next words gave everyone a heart attack. “I’m going to check it out!”
“Hey, wait! Sophie!” Skull called out in desperation, but he was too slow. Sophie was already moving, and as she approached the front doors to the lab, the heavy metal doors slid open. Having already thrown caution to the winds completely, Sophie charged through the doors and into the lab, leaving her teammate behind as she ventured into unknown and almost certainly hostile territory.
“Well shit,” was the only thing Joker could think of to say as the doors closed behind her. They had barely started their exploration of what was undoubtedly the creepiest Jail they had been to so far…and things had already started to go wrong.