Chapter 3
The topic of the talking bear didn’t last long. Compared to that outlandish subject, Ren and Morgana prioritized getting Yu Narukami out of Mementos.
Although not a Palace, Mementos was still teeming with Shadows.
An ordinary person unable to summon a Persona had no chance of survival here.
Thus, in the dark tunnel, Yu sat in the passenger seat of the cat bus, watching Ren, clad in his Phantom Thief attire and mask, drive. He was too distracted to fully process the situation.
Because Ren’s driving was terrifying!
He had never experienced such a frightening ride in his life!
The speed was unknown, but the lack of a seatbelt gave Yu the illusion he was about to be flung out. Occasionally, red-dotted Shadows appeared in the tunnel. Instead of stealthily avoiding them, Ren accelerated and rammed right into them!
Rammed, rammed…
With a bang, the vehicle flipped over. Ren clicked his tongue softly.
He’d forgotten. This was his second playthrough, and without sufficient Confidant ranks, the cat bus couldn’t defeat Shadows by ramming them.
“Here they come!” Morgana quickly transformed into his bipedal form, shouting at Ren, “Joker! Let’s go!”
“You, the one with the white hair, stay back and be careful!”
Yu pointed at himself blankly. “White hair?”
It seemed the two of them mistook Yu for an ordinary person who had wandered into Mementos. After all, he hadn’t even changed his clothes and didn’t look like someone who possessed a Persona. Yu realized this and hesitated. After determining they could handle the Shadows, he relaxed and didn’t interfere.
While they fought, Yu observed the Shadows.
They were different from those in Inaba. Compared to the inky, shadow-like figures of Inaba, these Shadows resembled the Personas he had once wielded.
Was this the difference between a small town and a big city?
After easily dispatching the Shadows and obtaining new Personas through threatening dialogue, Ren and Morgana returned to Yu.
“Weren’t you scared?” Ren asked.
Yu shook his head. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “There’s no fog here.”
There was no fog, but there were Shadows.
Inaba had experienced a strange fog. When the fog appeared in town, the fog in the other world would dissipate, and that was when the two worlds connected. All the strange incidents occurred during this time, eventually leading to the other world’s fog encroaching upon reality.
But now, there was no fog in Tokyo, yet the other world and its Shadows still existed.
Yu finally realized that Tokyo’s other world might be different from Inaba’s.
“Of course, there’s no fog. How can you not even be surprised by the Shadows? Where did you come from, a cave?” Morgana was even more perplexed. “Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you going to ask what those things that appeared during the fight were?”
“Personas,” Yu sighed softly, looking at the cat with a smile. It was unclear whether he was teasing it intentionally or not.
“You shouted it during the fight.”
Morgana: …
How could someone be so devoid of curiosity?!
He angrily kicked and scratched the wall.
“Alright, Mona, we need to get him back quickly,” Ren soothed the cat, then, as if just remembering, asked Yu, “But how did you get into Mementos?”
Yu heard the term for the first time. “Mementos?”
So the other world had a name?
“This is it,” Morgana explained, having vented his frustration. “This is the collective unconsciousness of the masses, called Mementos. Minor desires that aren’t strong enough to form Palaces condense into these things, which is why Shadows roam here.”
“So how did you get in? Did you use that strange app?”
Mentioning the app, Yu recalled the software that had suddenly appeared on his phone. He pulled it out of his uniform pocket. “Are you talking about this app?”
Ren glanced at it and nodded. “Yes.”
“It’s a Metaverse Navigator. You can use this app to enter the Metaverse. It seems you accidentally entered an address and ended up in Mementos.”
“No,” Yu shook his head. “I didn’t come in through the app.”
“I jumped in through a television.”
Ren and Morgana stared at him blankly.
What was he talking about?
“How can someone enter Mementos through a TV?!” Morgana couldn’t help but exclaim. “It’s not like we’re in ‘The Ring’!”
“The Ring’ is a horror movie,” Yu reminded him softly.
“That’s not what I meant!”
Ren, however, hesitated for a second, considering, “I’ll try the TV next time.”
“Joker, don’t go crazy with him!”
Yu looked back and forth between them, raising his hand.
“Um, do you hear the sound of dragging chains?”
Ren and Morgana froze.
They listened intently and immediately heard the distinct sound of chains dragging through Mementos. Goosebumps erupted on their skin. Before Yu could ask anything further, Morgana transformed into the cat bus, and Ren pulled Yu onto the vehicle.
Then Yu experienced the thrill of a high-speed chase once more.
Unlike before, this time Ren avoided all the Shadows, focusing solely on escaping at maximum speed.
“Aaaaaah!” Morgana yelled as they sped away, meows escaping his mouth.
“It’s catching up!”
“We’ve been in Mementos for too long! The Reaper is chasing us! Joker, faster!”
“This is as fast as it gets,” Ren managed to reply.
Yu glanced at the cat bus’s rearview mirror and saw a familiar, massive, red Shadow wreathed in chains.
So there was a Reaper here too.
Yu vividly remembered his first encounter with the Reaper in a dungeon. Back then, they had been revisiting the dungeon to level up, but instead of finding treasure chests, they’d unleashed the Reaper. At the time, he and his friends were low-level, and the Reaper nearly wiped them out. They had barely managed to defeat it, using all their healing items.
The sound of dragging chains was his nightmare.
Now the nightmare was recurring, in Tokyo.
The Reaper moved incredibly fast. Even with the accelerator floored, Ren couldn’t escape. The Reaper slashed the cat bus, forcing them into battle.
“This is bad! It’s just the two of us today! Skull and Panther aren’t here! We can’t beat the Reaper!”
Ren exhaled. “Don’t panic. There’s nothing we can do now but try our best.”
Morgana knew there was no other choice. He steeled himself for the fight.
Suddenly, Yu spoke. “Can’t you defeat it?”
“Of course not!” Morgana assumed Yu was simply confused or mocking them. But when he looked back, Yu’s expression was devoid of sarcasm. He remained calm, his expression unchanged, as if he had simply asked a genuine question.
Morgana subconsciously scratched his ear, then replied, “The Reaper is the most terrifying Shadow in Mementos. If we stay here too long, it’s likely to appear!”
“If our other friends were here, we might have a chance, but now it’s just the two of us, and we’re completely outmatched.”
Yu nodded. “I understand.”
But then, the strangely calm boy walked towards them.
“Wait, wait! Stay back!” Morgana exclaimed.
Ren stood up, watching Yu approach, a strange look in his eyes, but also a sense of intrigue.
He didn’t think Yu was intentionally seeking death.
His second playthrough was slightly different from his previous life, a difference that lay in the dreams he had been having.
He had repeatedly dreamt of blue butterflies. The butterflies would flutter by, accompanied by a familiar voice. In his past life, Ren hadn’t understood, but now he knew it was Lavenza’s voice.
The voice whispered in his dreams: Her sister has returned and brought a helper. Remember to find him.
He is also a guest of the Velvet Room, a veteran who has completed his rehabilitation. He will become your strongest ally.
Ren watched Yu approach slowly.
Was it him?
A stranger completely absent from his previous life, a suspect who had inexplicably appeared in Mementos.
Yu unbuttoned his uniform, from the collar down, revealing the white shirt beneath. Unlike Akechi, who wore his uniform impeccably, Yu’s unbuttoned appearance gave him an indescribable air of casualness.
Already possessing striking looks, this touch of casual charm made him even more eye-catching.
Even Mona, a creature different from humans, sensed a dramatic shift in his aura.
Yu stood beside them, in the position usually occupied by their teammates during battles.
A glowing tarot card appeared in his hand. Ren recognized it as “The Fool.”
At that moment, Ren’s anticipation soared.
“Persona,” Yu called out in an extremely calm voice. “Izanagi, take it down.”
What kind of Persona was that?
Covered in a cold mask, its terrifying presence was palpable even without seeing its face. It wielded a massive spear, longer than its own height, and its entire body was draped in black cloth. A single glance revealed its power, further emphasized by the name “Izanagi.”
Izanagi, the father god of Japanese mythology.
Mona’s jaw dropped.
The max-level Izanagi, with its superior speed due to its high level, charged towards the Reaper, its massive spear crackling with lightning.
“No!” Morgana quickly retrieved his jaw. “The Reaper has high physical defense and resists electricity! We need to break its defense first!”
“No need,” Yu watched Izanagi.
He reached up to push his glasses, only to remember there was no fog here, and he wasn’t wearing any.
Mona didn’t understand what Yu meant, but the next moment, he watched in astonishment as Izanagi transformed into a white, clearly upgraded Persona.
With a resounding boom, Izanagi struck the Reaper, inflicting thousands of points of damage and instantly completing several achievement markers.
Yu calmly answered the question, “Izanagi-no-Okami has all affinities.”
Mona: …
Mona: ?!!
The cat was stunned, his eyes wide with shock. He looked at Ren, wanting to share his astonishment, but instead saw the look in Ren’s eyes.
Ren had been watching Yu intently, his dark eyes reflecting Yu’s image. His gaze wasn’t exactly calm, but neither was it surprised or shocked. It could even be described as joyful.
Lavenza, he had found him.
You were right. He truly is incredibly powerful.
So powerful that he didn’t even care about any possible connection to Akechi anymore.
