The Deal So he's staying in the attic of a coffee shop and is... on probation. And getting scolded/cautioned by the owner of the coffee shop (Sakura Sojiro) to not be troublesome and be of use. The deal is he helps out around the shop and the owner will teach him the ways of making the best cup of coffee. Seems legit. (note: flashback to interrogation room not in this memory)
The Basics LESSONS STARTO. Basically what it says on the tin. Sojiro is walking him through the whole How To Be A Good Barista when a Suspicious Man walks in. Suspicious Man leaves after poking at Sojiro some and they get right back to talking about coffee--until it's time to close up.
There's a montage after this point that has (Boss) making coffee in the evenings after the shop's closed up and Sojiro trying the coffee. As long as he doesn't deviate from Sojiro's instructions, the cup of coffee is decent. Not quite yet the range of a master, though. It's also during this time that (Boss) gets familiar with the various beans and their qualities and characteristics as well as how best to mix the beans for maximum flavor. Fancy.
A Pair of Wardens and Some Execution Pretty much what it says (sorry but Japanese audio was the only one I found that had the execution stuff in it).
starts off with Boss standing in an alleyway in front of... a glowing blue door. that a small girl in a warden's outfit sits atop.
at least until she kicks him into the door, yelling at him and calling him "Inmate!" a bunch.
once he's through the door, he's apparently in a... cell. a jail cell. there's even chains on the bars, and Boss is literally wearing prisoner's stripes and has a ball and chain around his ankle??? outside of the cell, the yelling girl is standing with her more mild-mannered twin and there's a man with a long nose sitting at a table in the center of the circular prison.
he goes through the process of executing Personas he's collected and creating a newer, stronger Persona until he has the one the twin wardens wanted. talking to them leads to the quieter warden, Justine, to start to question some things about whether this is actually "rehabilitating" the "inmate". the louder warden, Caroline, tells her that she shouldn't doubt the word of their master (the long-nosed man). but, Justine points out, it is odd that this list of Personas she has seems to be created with a wielder of "the wild card" in mind.
... of course when Boss tries ask if they were confused about something, Caroline just smacks the bars with her club and yells at him to know his place and anyway time to give him another task so he can shut up and continue his "rehabilitation". SIGH.
A Grand Escape--and Capture (from beginning to 6:54) So the alarm's going off in some big, fancy casino and Boss is making his way above the crowds with a briefcase--which he proceeds to ditch in a special hidey-hole somewhere. There's a lot of communication chatter between his apparent team? of thieves? who all sound familiar (especially one of them, actually. huh. wonder who that could be. (Ryuji, it's Ryuji)) but they're careful not to mention anything but callsigns speaking to each other. Boss's is apparently "Joker" (... shut up, C).
Escape goes pretty well with him defeating some... "shadow" monster with a Persona that might look vaguely? familiar? except all the details are kind of blurry. BOY CAN FIGHT!
He calls out a "See ya!" before he jumps out the window and one of the partners-in-crime calls him a show-off. Unfortunately. He's surrounded. And escape up a ladder proves to be futile when he's hit in the head with the butt of a rifle.
Down he goes and one officer helpfully informs him a teammate betrayed him.
On go the cuffs.
And he's dragged in to have get booked and have his mugshot taken. Fun.
Detectives and Phantom Thieves (from 0:09 to 6:33) So, Boss/Joker is apparently on a school function which involves sitting in on an interview with guest star High School Detective--AKECHI GORO! (aka A from AlcheME!).
The interview largely involves discussions on the Phantom Thieves and whether they are real and fight in the name of justice to make people like an criminal artist named Madarame confess their crimes via a "change of heart". Akechi vocalizes his opinions on the Phantom Thieves existing, and the interviewers do a poll of the audience--30% of them believing the Phantom Thieves actually exist.
Akechi then says that the Phantom Thieves should be caught and tried before the court of law. At Akechi's prompting, an interviewer approaches the audience to ask the question of what they think about the Phantom Thieves. Turns out it's Boss/Joker answering--"They do more than the cops."
Akechi laughs. He seems to appreciate the directness of the answer and finds it intriguing.
He then asks if Boss/Joker's friend suddenly experienced a sudden "change of heart", if he thought it would be the work of the Phantom Thieves.
Boss/Joker answers: "They only target criminals."
Akechi seems skeptical, asking how he can be so sure. He then explains how their ability to "change the hearts" of people is suspect and could be how they could have people commit crimes. "The existence of the Phantom Thieves would be nothing but a threat to our everyday lives," he says before stating that he's working with the cops on the issue.
After the interview, Boss/Joker leaves with his two friends--the girl seeming unsettled and wondering if Akechi isn't entirely wrong about the whole "change of heart" thing. Ryuji (yes, the one that was on WILD CITY), however, takes a strong stance that they are NOT the baddies and Akechi's full of crap.
... a cat tells them (in meows, so if you don't speak Cat, you're SOL and can only hear the meows), "He can say whatever he wants. The justice of it all is something we can decide for ourselves."
The friends split ways and Boss/Joker is left waiting for Ryuji to return when Akechi turns up. "I wanted to thank you in person. To paraphrase Hegel: advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis..."
This confuses the fuck out of Boss/Joker.
Akechi laughs and apologies, saying, "Few people around me are so willing to speak their minds as freely as you did earlier. Adults are only interested in using the young, while they simply do as the adults say."
Akechi believes they could have fruitful conversations in the future and wants to know if Boss/Joker would mind speaking with him again.
Boss/Joker answers: "Fine by me."
With that, Akechi says he looks forward to seeing him again and leaves.
Here, the footage goes dark and the following words appear:
I am thou, thou art I... Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Justice Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...
The "Assault" (from 0:17 to 0:42) The Blackmail couldn't find the whole thing pasted together so 2 vids it is!
Note: it is difficult to distinguish features of the drunken man in this broadcast as it's night and hard to see. the voice may sound vaguely familiar if you've been tracking Boss and A's memory progress, but it might be hard to place just because the guy was drunk and slurring and yelling, so.
Boss/Joker is walking home after staying out late (dumb reasons not even worth noting) when he hears a woman telling a drunken man she absolutely will not get into his car. The drunken man persists until the woman starts crying for help. Boss/Joker answers the call for help as any reasonable person would and basically just puts a hand on the guy's shoulder and pulls him back and away from the woman.
Drunken man stumbles over his own feet and goes face-first into a road barrier.
"Damn brat... I'll sue!" the man says as he stumbles back standing, bleeding from the brow/nose area.
The woman says she'll call the cops but the man states he already owns the cops! What's more, he basically owns her because he's got deets on some shady dealing she was involved in. So if the cops do come by, she knows what to say, right?
That's right. She'll say that this boy (Boss/Joker) was the one assaulting her and then turned around and assaulted the drunken man.
"You fell down on your own," Boss/Joker protests.
Doesn't matter, apparently. Because when the cops do show up, they recognize the man and the woman does exactly what the man said.
Boss/Joker is grabbed by the two cops and arrested.
Here, the footage gets a lot less streamlined in narrative--a montage of being at the police station, the booking, his parents coming in, the discussions of what to do and how it will look to the neighborhood, expulsion from school, the court hearing, the sentencing... it all goes by quickly, but throughout it there's a common theme: no one will believe his side of the story--or if they do, they say there's nothing to be done about it. By the end of the montage, Boss/Joker has given up trying to fight back and gone quiet.
Whoever that man was, he did in fact have the police in his pocket.
This broadcast is pretty simple in that it's just a simple montage of Boss/Joker working his after-school jobs!
... yes, plural.
There are 4 in total.
A convenience store.
A beef bowl shop.
A flower shop.
... a bar in the redlight district of Shinjuku????
in fact, the last one even has a moment when Boss/Joker asks the matron of the bar if crossdressing is required, totally not bothered by the idea at all.
In the middle of class one day, there's a sudden disturbance--a student standing on the school roof looking to jump!
The teacher try to keep everyone in their classes and seats, but already the girl sitting in front of Boss/Joker (Panther from A's memory) is up and running. She's close friends with the girl on the roof. Boss follows her out and they're at the windows just in time to watch the girl (Shiho) jump.
Panther runs off downstairs to the courtyard while Boss runs into Ryuji/Skull. They also rush down to the courtyard where they find Shiho already being attended to by medics and a group of gawking students with their phones out, recording and taking pictures.
Panther manages to get Shiho (who looks busted up beyond what the fall would do) to speak juat a little--she can't take it anymore and someone named Kamoshida is responsible. Shiho's loaded up into an ambulance and Panther goes with her. Meanwhile, a kid named Mishima (also looking busted up) runs away from the crowd.
Ryuji and Boss chase after him--they've been trying to get info about what's been going on with the volleyball team (which Shiho and Mishima are both on) for a while and now they 100% know Mishima knows something and will finally talk. They manage to corner Mishima and Ryuji convinces Mishima to talk by yelling about how Shiho tried to kill herself over this.
Mishima finally confesses--the volleyball coach Kamoshida has been abusing the team, using them as punching bags for his own bad temper. Even worse, Shiho was called in when he was in a bad mood and when she hadn't even made any mistakes--the abuse was much worse and Kamoshida is a teacher rumored to have relations with female students.
Disgusted and outraged, Ryuji beelines straight for Kamoshida's office where the man is haughty, self-righteous, and dismissive. Ryuji yells about how it's his fault Shiho jumped, and Kamoshida immediately goes into talking about how they are making baseless accusations and have no proof--even going as far as to inform them that Shiho is in critical condition and comatose with low chances of recovery. How could she possibly back up what they were saying?
Ryuji comes close to lashing out at Kamoshida with a fist but Boss catches it in time, telling him to "Calm down."--there's a sense that this would not have been the first time Ryuji hauled off and struck the man. Kamoshida basically confirms this by mockingly asking if he wanted to be involved in another case of "self-defense" (i.e. Kamoshida probably beat the shit out of Ryuji after he struck before).
At this point, Kamoshida turns his back to them, telling them they are all going to be expelled by the next board meeting. Mishima tries to protest and argue, finally calling him out on his "coaching". Kamoshida makes sure to say Mishima would also be expelled and reveals that the one who spread around Boss's crimimal records was, in fact, Mishima. Mishima falls to his knees, confessing Kamoshida had forced him to do so.
Ryuji remains outraged, demanding that they have to do something. Boss informs him that Kamoshida will "eat his words". Realization strikes and Ryuji seems to calm down, understanding that they can use "that".
So basically, Boss/Joker goes into a clinic in a back alley near the coffee shop. Apparently, he'd overheard something about a drug that could be used to help (?) him and his friends. So in he goes and directly asks the lady behind the counter for the drug.
It ends up with him in the back room with the doctor who locks the doors and drills him on what he wants the drugs for. She clearly doesn't believe he's just in it for "brainpower". In the end, she ends up agreeing to letting him participate in clinical trials of her drugs in exchange for a discounted price on her medicines.
Spoilers: clinical trials include: passing out and not remembering a damned thing about what happened during an interview phase and whatever else the doctor might have done during the trial. But that's fine. Discount on medicines! Aw yeah!
Also! A New Confidante!
I am thou, thou art I... Thous hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Death Persona, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...
Boss/Joker goes into a back alley air soft gun store where the owner of the business greets him with a "You again? Are you gonna try to sell me something weird again?" at which point a cat in Boss/Joker's bag whispers the reminder that modified model guns could be useful in "palaces" and they should ask the owner about what was in a bag he'd been given earlier.
Boss/Joker clearly has enough guts to ask the intimidating older man about it--turns out, it was a realistic looking model gun that the owner wanted to keep the cops from noticing and Boss/Joker helped him out with hiding the evidence of its existence by smuggling out of the store. The store owner decides to let him keep for free it as thanks. Nice.
Of course, the right thing to do here is ask to see more realistic items the shop owner might have. The owner seems to consider it for a while, but then asks Boss/Joker to come to the back room.
Turns out, the owner's willing to let him buy from him--but the cost is hundreds of thousands if not millions of yen per unit. YIKES, right? Nah, Boss/Joker just demands to let him buy some already. This apparently charms the older man enough to offer up a way to cheapen the cost: help him out with his "business" of smuggling goods and destroying evidence, and he would let Boss/Joker have access to his "special menu" at a discount price.
"What d'ya say? Not bad, huh?" "That's a terrible deal."
Store owner seems to be offended by this but explains "Gotta fight evil with evil. I need a pawn of my own." He tells Boss/Joker not to tell anyone of this and to just follow orders. Boss/Joker only seems vaguely conflicted--they really could use the weapons for the "palaces".
"So what's it gonna be? You gonna take my deal or not?" "I'll do what I can."
The store owner seems to like this and says he'll work on that special menu for Boss/Joker. "You should be grateful."
Once more... a new confidant!
I am thou, thou art I... Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Hanged Man Person, I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power...
Memory starts with Joker, Skull/Ryuji, Panther/Ann, and Mona/Morgana meeting on the roof of the school to go over what to do. It's here Morgana explains Palaces a bit more, including a Palace's treasure--the distorted desires of a person that builds the Palace around it in a person's heart. The idea is that if they go in and steal the treasure from Kamoshida's Palace, the structure will collapse and he will have a "change of heart" which will have him feeling the full weight of his crimes. And they have to do this before May 2nd, or else Ryuji and Joker are expelled.
That all said, they have no idea what Kamoshida's treasure is.
... INTO THE PALACE TO FIND THE TREASURE!
After a brief moment of Ryuji ogling Ann, apparently the newest to the group, they decide to pick out a codename for Ann--after a dumb suggestion from Joker (youtube player went with the annoying option, I chose "Kitty Woman") gets shot down, Ann chooses Panther for herself. After yet another dumb comment from the dumb boys, Panther gets them to refocus on Kamoshida.
They're just about to head out... when a glowy blue cell door with bars appears off to the side with Justine standing patiently beside it. Joker walks toward it, the door swinging open--and then the scene cuts to the group asking if Joker's okay because he had apparently just been standing around and spacing out.
So, uh. That's what his trips to the Velvet Room looks like to the other Phantom Thieves. Good. To. Know.
ONWARD TO INFILTRATE THE PALACE!
Here, there's a montage of their exploring and slowly grinding their way through the Palace. Fighting many Shadows--sometimes beating them just enough so they agree to lend their power to Joker, sometimes robbing them of petty cash or random items and materials...
In fact, there is a lot of stealing that happens in the heart. A lot. Joker and the gang just grabbing whatever looks shiny and worth some cash. No big deal, right?
As they get deeper and deeper into the Palace, more about Kamoshida is revealed and it's pretty clear this is a coach that not only physically abuses the male volleyball team, but also objectifies and sexually harasses if not straight up abuses the female volleyball team--Shiho, the girl who jumped in a previous memory, being only one of the victims. This is also a person who has pillars of female bodies posed sexually and who also has... many... a... dickblob? Shadow?
Anyway... in the end, they get to the treasure! Hurrah!
Now the real trick is that they have to get Kamoshida to be defensive over his treasure. Or at least where the treasure will be. In order to manifest the treasure so they can steal it, Mona explains, Kamoshida has to consciously know that the treasure is in danger of being stolen. Hence! Phantom Thieves must leave a calling card for their target. At that point, when their heart is on Full Alert, the treasure will manifest and they can steal it.
Piece of cake, right?
Well... They send out the calling card (via plastering a newspaper-lettered card all over the school), infiltrate the palace (they already know the place and thus can get through it much quicker), get to the treasure room (whoot), grab the treasure (... you guessed it, a fucking crown), and... promptly run into King Kamoshida who. Becomes. A huge. Ugly. Shadow. Which, yes. Drinks/eats the... lady parts... in its... chalice. To regain energy. Uhhhh.
Anyway, in the end--the thieves win! Shadow!Kamoshida returns to being King Kamoshida who grabs the fallen crown/treasure and... doesn't try to escape. It's then a confrontation about Shiho and all the other people Kamoshida's hurt, Pathner coolly asking if he will jump like Shiho did... "Or would you rather die here?"
Mona: "Do you want to finish him off? It's your call." King Kamoshida: "No, please wait! I beg you... just forgive meeeeee!" Panther: "Shut up. I bet everyone told you the same. But you... you took everything from them!"
Panther's Persona hurls a ball of flame in King Kamoshida's general direction. It hits the wall and he ends up down on his knees.
King Kamoshida: "I accept defeat... you want this? Take it." [tosses the crown/treasure over to Joker] "Go ahead and finish me off... you do that and my real self will go down, too... you have that right since you've won."
Panther, infuriated, has her Persona hurl another fireball at him--and misses as Ryuji calls out in surprise.
Panther: "If his mind shuts down, he can't admit his crimes." Mona: "You're kind, Lady Ann." King Kamoshida: "I've lost... you're through when you lose... What am I--what am I supposed to do now?" Joker: "Atone for your sins."
And with that, King Kamoshida disappears...
Aaaaand the Palace starts to collapse. CUE MAD ESCAPE SCENE WHEREIN RYUJI FALLS OVER AT LEAST ONCE BECAUSE OF AN OLD LEG INJURY (FUCK YOU, KAMOSHIDA). But it's fine. They all make it out. Somehow. And, once back in the real world, they look on their phones--and the Palace is 100% gone.
Joker finds himself waking up in a cell, hands chained at the wrists, in prisoner wear, and with a ball and chain around his left ankle. Two twin wardens come to the front of the cell and Joker approaches it to grip the bars. It's then that he notices the man behind the desk in the middle of the circular prison (very much looking like the main area of Joker's heart).
Igor: "Trickster. Welcome to my Velvet Room."
Other non-P5 Personas may notice... a difference with this Igor, if they already know Igor.
But more importantly, Justine explains that this is a situation being experienced as a dream (so not necessarily NOT happening but also at the same time IS not happening). Igor explains where this Velvet Room is, kinda--"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those bound by a "contract" may enter."
Unfortunately, Joker has no idea wtf this guy means by "having a contract" at this time.
Igor continues to introduce himself and explains "I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well."
... well, that sure is high enough stakes that Joker shakes the bars and demands, "Let me out!"
Caroline whacks her baton against the bar--apparently it also works as a tazer?!
Igor continues, "Still this is a surprise. The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a "prisoner" of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."
Ominous. So Joker asks about this "ruin".
"I speak of the end of everything. However, there is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be "rehabilitated". Rehabilitated toward freedom... that is your only means to avoid ruin. Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?"
THIS IS SOME HEAVY SHIT???
But Joker answers "I'd rather avoid ruin," because he's not a complete idiot.
Igor seems reasonably pleased by this. "Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation."
At this point, Igor introduces the twin wardens properly. Caroline--the louder, more overtly violent one. Justine--the quieter but possibly stricter one.
Caroline: "Hmph. Try and struggle as hard as you like." Justine: "The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators. That is, if you remain obedient."
Igor explains he will explain their true roles another time, but the night is waning and their time is at an end for the moment. He tells Joker to take his time getting accustomed to this place, but they will be meeting again at a later time.
At this, an alarm starts to go off. Caroline tells him "Time's up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep."
Joker tries one last time to go at the bars--
But then it all kind of fades away. Just like a dream.
Joker's reaction to memory: - ... well. that's some high stakes there. - TOO BAD DIDN'T AVOID HIS PERSONAL RUIN? - wtf is a "contract"? taking on a Persona? not sure
So the Phantom Thieves apparently do a lot of their plotting discussions in the Cafe Leblanc when the owner's out and there's no customers. Uhhh...
Anyway, the current discussion is how some hacker called Alibaba sent THEM a calling card, demanding that they steal Sakura Futaba's heart. The only real lead they have is that the owner of the cafe, Sakura Sojiro, is connected with Futaba. And it involves some kind of custody battle where Sojiro is being accused of abusing Futaba.
One of the girls (Makoto/Queen) puts out the idea about how they couldn't talk to Alibaba directly as Alibaba would not allow for it, and the suspicion is that Alibaba and Futaba may in fact be the same person. With this in mind, Futaba would be asking the Phantom Thieves to steal her OWN heart. Deciding they need more information on the situation, they decide to go to Sojiro's house which isn't too far from the cafe itself. They decide to bring some left-over sushi as an ice breaker ("Noooooo! My fatty tunaaa!!" wails Morgana/Mona).
When they get to the house, there's no answer to the doorbell and the gate appears to be unlocked and open. The front door, also, appears to be ajar. A clap of thunder and the threat of an oncoming storm has the group move inside--just in time for a blackout to hit.
Immediately after the lights go out, there's a scream from somewhere in the house. Everyone's startled and Ann/Panther and Makoto/Queen proceed to get nervous and scared. Determining it'd probably be better to leave and try again some other time, they start to head out--but then after asking to hold Joker's hand, Makoto/Queen's legs kind of stop working because she's too scared.
Fox whispers somewhere that he senses a presence and right at that moment, during a flash of lightning and thunder, Joker and Makoto turn to see a bespectacled person standing directly behind them.
Cue screams and the person running away and Makoto falling to the floor clinging to Joker's leg calling for her sister.
At this time, enters one Sakura Sojiro AKA Boss.
Once he establishes they're not burglars, and the group quickly cobble together their excuses for coming over (this includes Makoto and Joker having to make it clear they're not dating, they're just friends and Makoto was just that scared of the dark and thunder and figures running around in the dark house), they get around to asking about the other person in the house. Sojiro decides that it would be a talk better to have back at the cafe because his daughter Futaba would be listening in if they talked there (little does he know, she also has the cafe bugged, but that's a point for another memory).
So back to the cafe they go.
At the cafe, Sojiro explains his and Futaba's backstory. He knew her mother and they worked together back in the day. He was apparently really sweet on her but Futaba's mother kept it strictly as friends--though she helped him with things like science recipes and such (because smart scientist lady gonna smart scientist). At some point she had a kid, Futaba, and there was no father involved. So, when her mother committed suicide by jumping into on-coming traffic right in front of her, Futaba wasn't able to cope.
Eventually, after some passing around to family members, Sojiro was able to win custody of Futaba and has been taking care of her since. But Futaba has always blamed herself for her mother's suicide and, after continuously experiencing some auditory and visual hallucinations involving her mother's death, Futaba began to lock herself away in her room, refusing to speak even to Sojiro and even refusing to see a doctor that came on a house call.
Sojiro is clearly concerned about it all, but he explains that that's why Joker is living in the attic space above the cafe--because he doesn't want Futaba's condition to worsen because there's people she's not familiar with living there. Joker says that he understands.
With that, Sojiro tells them they should get home and he'd be going to check in on Futaba.
Once Sojiro leaves, the Phantom Thieves start to go through what they just learned. Alibaba is Futaba. Futaba wants them to steal her heart. She wants them to steal her heart because she can't cope with her mother's suicide on her own--it's outside of her ability to resolve this for herself. And, ultimately, Futaba may be asking for their help because Sojiro is being accused of abusing her when, in fact, it's simply that Futaba can't cope with the outside world and has shut herself in. In order to clear his name and keep their small family together, Futaba needs help with moving past her mother's death and the distortion that apparently makes her see it as her fault.
Of course, they can't do anything if there's no palace.
So they check.
There's a palace.
Game on.
... they can worry about something called Medjed later, for now, it's time for everyone to go home and then tomorrow it's dealing with school assembly where they tell students to not go on social media and say misleading things blah blah Medjed calling out the Phantom Thieves making their lives so hard right now...
Joker's reaction to memory: - ... so bad guys aren't the only ones with palaces - and they can use their abilities to help someone like Futaba - so they damn well are going to! - Sakura Sojiro also winning all the Coffee Dad award points--Boss is a good. - good thing Joker mostly stopped going by "Boss" or this would have been confusing
The Phantom Thieves meet up to discuss what to do about Alibaba/Futaba's request to have her heart stolen. Basically, it's established that not only did Futaba find out about them because she bugged the cafe but also that they will need her assistance with hacking skills. Not only that but they firmly establish BAD PEOPLE AREN'T THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CAN HAVE PALACES.
The whole thing with Palaces is that they simply rely on someone's cognition becoming distorted due to intense desires which can frequently be toxic to the person's cognition.
They agree to accept Futaba's request to steal Futaba's heart. They just need to find out the specific keywords to use in the app to get them in.
Morgana, the talking cat, appears to believe if they can sort out Futaba's memories of her mother's suicide... they might be able to figure out how to retrieve Morgana's own missing memories. Morgana also thinks he's a human turned into a cat but uh... unsure.
The Phantom Thieves head to Futaba's house hoping to find clues for the keywords needed to get into her heart via the app which just likes to remind them "Conditions have not been met".
... so they decide to break into Futaba's house so they can ask her directly. Makoto tries to point out how this could backfire but everyone is too determined to be deterred. Time for criminality!!!
They get to Futaba's closed door and try to coax her into responding. She doesn't, at first, but then she texts via Alibaba's alias online. Makoto ends up compromising that she doesn't have to show herself, chat messages are fine--they just need answers to some questions so they can figure out the keyword. Without that, they can't steal her heart like she requested.
Alibaba/Futaba agrees to these terms.
It's up to Joker to figure out how to get the keywords.
Joker: How is living in this house? Alibaba: It's painful... Joker: Why don't you go out? Alibaba: I can't leave this place. Alibaba: I'm going to die here.
This is... alarming. To say the least.
Alibaba: Is this going to continue? Joker: Why do you think that? Alibaba: Why? Alibaba: This place is my tomb.
"Tomb" appears to be the keyword necessary to enter the Palace. (Dark...)
Ryuji proceeds to activate the app right there and then, like an idiot.
And they... end up... in a desert. And not in their usual Phantom Thief gear. Morgana explains that their appearances changing is largely because of perception of them in the person's heart--Futaba does not see them as a threat. Yet.
Unfortunately, they're in the middle of a desert far from the nearest place, and it's HOT. Luckily, they have a talking feline companion who can turn into a bus. Still hot as fuck, but they're able to get to the main area of Futaba's heart and begin the investigation/infiltration.
The Palace is... a pyramid. A Tomb.
Thankfully, it seems like this will be a walk in the park compared to their past adventures in the hearts of bad men and criminals! They meet no resistance going up the stairs inside the pyramid--until they run into a Futaba. Her Shadow. She does not seem to be entirely on board the whole Stealing Her Treasure thing...
Futaba!Shadow: Considering the state my Palace is in... there is no way that you can steal it.
And then there are... voices. Hurling abuse and blame for her mother's death and calling her a burden/plague. y i k e s.
Futaba!Shadow: That's right. I did it. I am the one who killed my mother.
Everything shakes as there's a loud SCREEEECH from outside the pyramid.
Futaba!Shadow: My mother exists here. I will remain here. I will do so until I die.
Aaaaand then their clothes change into Phantom Thief gear. GUESS FUTABA SEES THEM AS A THREAT NOW. Right when they try to regroup, A BIG FUCKING SPHERE COMES ROLLING AT THEM, FORCING THEM TO FLEE BACK THE WAY THEY CAME.
Once they get to the bottom of the steps... a door appears and locks behind them.
... guess they have to do this the longer way, after all.
The Phantom Thieves finally make their way to the Depths of Mementos, and boy has it been a rough journey full of battles and refacing people whose hearts they have stolen only to find them to be unambitious and content to stay within the cells that line the walls of the place. But they have finally made it to the bottom most part of Mementos, where the treasure behind the distortion of the public's cognition lies.
... except, it's... all wrong?
There are cells with individuals lining the walls and large mechanical ball-like structure sitting in the middle of the floor with tendrils going up to the cells, being fed by them. They're still assuming that this is a treasure and think that perhaps, instead of stealing it, they will have to destroy it to return things to a status quo.
But then an alarm starts to sound. The people in the cages start to cry out against the destruction of the treasure and the treasure itself will not allow itself to be destroyed.
Makoto: Hold on. Something's off. Makoto: Shido said the masses are allowing themselves to be held captive here... Makoto: Could they truly be operating this gigantic system that eliminates intruders on its own? Makoto: The prison guards and soldiers were very organized too... Yusuke: Are you trying to say someone else rules this place? Is it not the public?
And then the thing laughs at them.
They decide to put that aside and go in for the attack.
... the attacks seem to do nothing. Or, to be more accurate, even when they manage to take it down quite a bit, it just heals itself by feeding off the prisoners.
Futaba: Don't tell me... are the inmates giving it their strength?!
They quickly begin to realize how futile the battle will be if they can't stop the inmates from supporting this "treasure".
Holy Grail: You fools. Human, yet wishing to eradicate the desires of humanity... Holy Grail: REPENT. Holy Grail: I am revered as the granter of dreams for all who behold me... Holy Grail: A being most commonly known as the Holy Grail... Holy Grail: The Prison of Regression is representative of the collective desires of humanity. Holy Grail: They wished to be chained down, surrender their cognition, and neglect the world around them... Holy Grail: These feebleminded commonfolk will make your "social reform" all for naught. Holy Grail: The shared heart of the masses has fallen into an excess of indolence and transformed into a prison. Holy Grail: Thus, the only suitable end for them is to perish within the prison they wished for themselves.
Round 2: start.
And it doesn't go much better. This time, when it regenerates, its tarnished surface goes more and more brightly gold until it's shining brilliantly like the Grail it claims to be.
Futaba: Wait! Hold up! It's going to get totally healed again! Futaba: No fair! This is cheating!
Holy Grail doesn't care about cheating.
Neither do the prisoners who all start to chant GET OUT OF HERE en masse.
They're quickly coming to the understanding that they're not going to be able to change the hearts of the people if they're this determined to buy into the Holy Grail.
Holy Grail: You imbeciles are intoxicated by an undesired "justice"... Holy Grail: This is the will of the children of man who have fallen into Sloth. Holy Grail: My shine is proof that they desire my existence. Holy Grail: As long as humanity yearns for me, I shall never perish...
Makoto: Is this what everyone really wants? To stop thinking and be guided by the Holy Grail? Joker: Don't let it fool you.
The Phantom Thieves maintain their stance: humans aren't like that. And they will never agree to being mindless followers of something that isn't real.
Morgana: No matter how painful reality is, it's all over if you don't try to change how things are! Morgana: I'm not the only one who believes that. Everyone here agrees... Morgana: We don't want to turn back into the people we used to be! That's why we risked our lives coming here!
Phantom Thieves are behind Morgana 100%.
Unfortunately...
Holy Grail: Humanity already wishes for their distortions to be actualized. Holy Grail: I am merely the being that will ultimately grant those wishes. Holy Grail: Now it is time I refrain from my place in this world, and begin to encroach upon reality itself.
The Holy Grail begins to light up and energy starts to flood the area.
Morgana: I don't know what you are, but you can't keep arbitrarily deciding all this on your own. Morgana: Humans aren't all stupid like you say they are! Holy Grail: Hmph. Indolent, foolish humans. You shall offer your hearts to me...
Suddenly, it lets out a beam of light toward them, an attack.
Holy Grail: Now the time for the fusion has come...
The very floor beneath them starts to disappear. Anything could happen at any second--
They're suddenly back in the middle of Shibuya. No longer in Mementos.
Morgana: We didn't come back ourselves, though. We must have been driven out by the Holy Grail. Makoto: Did we lose...? Joker: It would seem so... Makoto: Right...
Confused, they look about for a moment... but then it starts to rain. Red. Blood. And without warning, from the ground and building sprout skeletal structures very much like those in Mementos. Suddenly, what it meant by "the fusion" makes a terrible amount of sense.
The cognitive world and reality are fusing together, entangling dangerously together...
video here (until 3:14 - can i just say the name choice in this vid is great?)
Summary: Joker is a fucking mess, already beaten and drugged up, but gets water thrown on him, kicked around in the gut a few times, head stepped on, thrown to the ground, leg threatened to be broken if he didn't sign a confession of a myriad of crimes he, frankly, DID NOT COMMIT (said crimes can be found in his Imeeji profile!). So, uh. fun time with the cops.
But at least Joker gets his name out of remembering this: Kurusu Akira
... yes, Mars and Joker have different names. No, they don't understand it either. /jazz hands
video here (7:21 to 11:14 - i'm disappointed because the text message before this one is really hilarious. THE TITLE OF THE TEXT IS LITERALLY "I'M ALONE"/"I'M LONELY" I CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH ONE)
Summary: showcased here is a date! ... okay, it's not a date (yet), but Joker gets a text from famous young detective Akechi Goro (see also: A from Alcheme) who he's been kind of being casual rivals with (... "casual"--they're both probably highly aware how Actual Rivals it is), inviting him out to a local cafe. Joker heads on over and... immediately Akechi is lying about having a sweet tooth.
This is then followed up by Akechi's fans slowly but surely starting to notice his presence at the cafe and Akechi starts to act self-conscious and insisting they leave. Joker, naturally, doesn't want to make it that easy for people to drive away his rival, so... the moment Akechi comments about how he might not have been noticed if he's had glasses like Joker...
Cut to--a messy-haired brunette with glasses silently staring down at the table (there is possibly murder stemming from embarrassment and mortification going on in that "..." but only Akechi would really know) while the crowd starts to wander off, assuming they had gotten the wrong person.
Cut then to--Akechi has given Joker back his glasses and has recombed his hair.
Akechi: "I can't believe you actually did that. I suppose I'd better watch what I say around you." Joker: "You looked great."
Akechi disagrees but passes it off with a pleasant smile. They get new coffees and spend some time at the cafe before heading home.
Cut to--Joker is in front of Leblanc and gets a call from Mr. Detective Man who just wanted to say he enjoyed chilling with Joker.
Akechi: "It [the disguising] was an interesting experience, but... I definitely don't want to go through that ordeal again. I saw firsthand what happens when I'm too careless with my words around you." Joker: "Wasn't it fun?" Akechi: "... you have a twisted concept of 'fun'. Though if you dressed as me next time, I think I might agree. I could use a stunt double."
Akechi gets a little too into the idea before he realizes he has something to do in the morning and pleasantly says good night.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mem. 1 - Coffee Basics
So he's staying in the attic of a coffee shop and is... on probation. And getting scolded/cautioned by the owner of the coffee shop (Sakura Sojiro) to not be troublesome and be of use. The deal is he helps out around the shop and the owner will teach him the ways of making the best cup of coffee. Seems legit. (note: flashback to interrogation room not in this memory)
The Basics
LESSONS STARTO. Basically what it says on the tin. Sojiro is walking him through the whole How To Be A Good Barista when a Suspicious Man walks in. Suspicious Man leaves after poking at Sojiro some and they get right back to talking about coffee--until it's time to close up.
There's a montage after this point that has (Boss) making coffee in the evenings after the shop's closed up and Sojiro trying the coffee. As long as he doesn't deviate from Sojiro's instructions, the cup of coffee is decent. Not quite yet the range of a master, though. It's also during this time that (Boss) gets familiar with the various beans and their qualities and characteristics as well as how best to mix the beans for maximum flavor. Fancy.
Mem. 2 - Strength Rank 4
Pretty much what it says (sorry but Japanese audio was the only one I found that had the execution stuff in it).
starts off with Boss standing in an alleyway in front of... a glowing blue door. that a small girl in a warden's outfit sits atop.
at least until she kicks him into the door, yelling at him and calling him "Inmate!" a bunch.
once he's through the door, he's apparently in a... cell. a jail cell. there's even chains on the bars, and Boss is literally wearing prisoner's stripes and has a ball and chain around his ankle??? outside of the cell, the yelling girl is standing with her more mild-mannered twin and there's a man with a long nose sitting at a table in the center of the circular prison.
he goes through the process of executing Personas he's collected and creating a newer, stronger Persona until he has the one the twin wardens wanted. talking to them leads to the quieter warden, Justine, to start to question some things about whether this is actually "rehabilitating" the "inmate". the louder warden, Caroline, tells her that she shouldn't doubt the word of their master (the long-nosed man). but, Justine points out, it is odd that this list of Personas she has seems to be created with a wielder of "the wild card" in mind.
... of course when Boss tries ask if they were confused about something, Caroline just smacks the bars with her club and yells at him to know his place and anyway time to give him another task so he can shut up and continue his "rehabilitation". SIGH.
Mem. 3 - A Heist?
So the alarm's going off in some big, fancy casino and Boss is making his way above the crowds with a briefcase--which he proceeds to ditch in a special hidey-hole somewhere. There's a lot of communication chatter between his apparent team? of thieves? who all sound familiar (especially one of them, actually. huh. wonder who that could be. (Ryuji, it's Ryuji)) but they're careful not to mention anything but callsigns speaking to each other. Boss's is apparently "Joker" (... shut up, C).
Escape goes pretty well with him defeating some... "shadow" monster with a Persona that might look vaguely? familiar? except all the details are kind of blurry. BOY CAN FIGHT!
He calls out a "See ya!" before he jumps out the window and one of the partners-in-crime calls him a show-off. Unfortunately. He's surrounded. And escape up a ladder proves to be futile when he's hit in the head with the butt of a rifle.
Down he goes and one officer helpfully informs him a teammate betrayed him.
On go the cuffs.
And he's dragged in to have get booked and have his mugshot taken. Fun.
Mem. 4 - Thesis vs Antithesis
So, Boss/Joker is apparently on a school function which involves sitting in on an interview with guest star High School Detective--AKECHI GORO! (aka A from AlcheME!).
The interview largely involves discussions on the Phantom Thieves and whether they are real and fight in the name of justice to make people like an criminal artist named Madarame confess their crimes via a "change of heart". Akechi vocalizes his opinions on the Phantom Thieves existing, and the interviewers do a poll of the audience--30% of them believing the Phantom Thieves actually exist.
Akechi then says that the Phantom Thieves should be caught and tried before the court of law. At Akechi's prompting, an interviewer approaches the audience to ask the question of what they think about the Phantom Thieves. Turns out it's Boss/Joker answering--"They do more than the cops."
Akechi laughs. He seems to appreciate the directness of the answer and finds it intriguing.
He then asks if Boss/Joker's friend suddenly experienced a sudden "change of heart", if he thought it would be the work of the Phantom Thieves.
Boss/Joker answers: "They only target criminals."
Akechi seems skeptical, asking how he can be so sure. He then explains how their ability to "change the hearts" of people is suspect and could be how they could have people commit crimes. "The existence of the Phantom Thieves would be nothing but a threat to our everyday lives," he says before stating that he's working with the cops on the issue.
After the interview, Boss/Joker leaves with his two friends--the girl seeming unsettled and wondering if Akechi isn't entirely wrong about the whole "change of heart" thing. Ryuji (yes, the one that was on WILD CITY), however, takes a strong stance that they are NOT the baddies and Akechi's full of crap.
... a cat tells them (in meows, so if you don't speak Cat, you're SOL and can only hear the meows), "He can say whatever he wants. The justice of it all is something we can decide for ourselves."
The friends split ways and Boss/Joker is left waiting for Ryuji to return when Akechi turns up. "I wanted to thank you in person. To paraphrase Hegel: advancement cannot occur without both thesis and antithesis..."
This confuses the fuck out of Boss/Joker.
Akechi laughs and apologies, saying, "Few people around me are so willing to speak their minds as freely as you did earlier. Adults are only interested in using the young, while they simply do as the adults say."
Akechi believes they could have fruitful conversations in the future and wants to know if Boss/Joker would mind speaking with him again.
Boss/Joker answers: "Fine by me."
With that, Akechi says he looks forward to seeing him again and leaves.
Here, the footage goes dark and the following words appear:
Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Justice Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power...
Mem. 5 - "Stupid brat... I'll sue!"
The Blackmail
couldn't find the whole thing pasted together so 2 vids it is!
Note: it is difficult to distinguish features of the drunken man in this broadcast as it's night and hard to see. the voice may sound vaguely familiar if you've been tracking Boss and A's memory progress, but it might be hard to place just because the guy was drunk and slurring and yelling, so.
Boss/Joker is walking home after staying out late (dumb reasons not even worth noting) when he hears a woman telling a drunken man she absolutely will not get into his car. The drunken man persists until the woman starts crying for help. Boss/Joker answers the call for help as any reasonable person would and basically just puts a hand on the guy's shoulder and pulls him back and away from the woman.
Drunken man stumbles over his own feet and goes face-first into a road barrier.
"Damn brat... I'll sue!" the man says as he stumbles back standing, bleeding from the brow/nose area.
The woman says she'll call the cops but the man states he already owns the cops! What's more, he basically owns her because he's got deets on some shady dealing she was involved in. So if the cops do come by, she knows what to say, right?
That's right. She'll say that this boy (Boss/Joker) was the one assaulting her and then turned around and assaulted the drunken man.
"You fell down on your own," Boss/Joker protests.
Doesn't matter, apparently. Because when the cops do show up, they recognize the man and the woman does exactly what the man said.
Boss/Joker is grabbed by the two cops and arrested.
Here, the footage gets a lot less streamlined in narrative--a montage of being at the police station, the booking, his parents coming in, the discussions of what to do and how it will look to the neighborhood, expulsion from school, the court hearing, the sentencing... it all goes by quickly, but throughout it there's a common theme: no one will believe his side of the story--or if they do, they say there's nothing to be done about it. By the end of the montage, Boss/Joker has given up trying to fight back and gone quiet.
Whoever that man was, he did in fact have the police in his pocket.
Mem. 6 - Money Money Money
... yes, plural.
There are 4 in total.
A convenience store.
A beef bowl shop.
A flower shop.
... a bar in the redlight district of Shinjuku????
in fact, the last one even has a moment when Boss/Joker asks the matron of the bar if crossdressing is required, totally not bothered by the idea at all.
Just a regular high school student, folks.
Mem. 7 - The Awakening
just. watch the video. all of it.
Mem. 8 - Shiho jumps and Kamoshida threatens expulsion [cw: abuse, suicide attempt]
Kamoshida threatens expulsion
In the middle of class one day, there's a sudden disturbance--a student standing on the school roof looking to jump!
The teacher try to keep everyone in their classes and seats, but already the girl sitting in front of Boss/Joker (Panther from A's memory) is up and running. She's close friends with the girl on the roof. Boss follows her out and they're at the windows just in time to watch the girl (Shiho) jump.
Panther runs off downstairs to the courtyard while Boss runs into Ryuji/Skull. They also rush down to the courtyard where they find Shiho already being attended to by medics and a group of gawking students with their phones out, recording and taking pictures.
Panther manages to get Shiho (who looks busted up beyond what the fall would do) to speak juat a little--she can't take it anymore and someone named Kamoshida is responsible. Shiho's loaded up into an ambulance and Panther goes with her. Meanwhile, a kid named Mishima (also looking busted up) runs away from the crowd.
Ryuji and Boss chase after him--they've been trying to get info about what's been going on with the volleyball team (which Shiho and Mishima are both on) for a while and now they 100% know Mishima knows something and will finally talk. They manage to corner Mishima and Ryuji convinces Mishima to talk by yelling about how Shiho tried to kill herself over this.
Mishima finally confesses--the volleyball coach Kamoshida has been abusing the team, using them as punching bags for his own bad temper. Even worse, Shiho was called in when he was in a bad mood and when she hadn't even made any mistakes--the abuse was much worse and Kamoshida is a teacher rumored to have relations with female students.
Disgusted and outraged, Ryuji beelines straight for Kamoshida's office where the man is haughty, self-righteous, and dismissive. Ryuji yells about how it's his fault Shiho jumped, and Kamoshida immediately goes into talking about how they are making baseless accusations and have no proof--even going as far as to inform them that Shiho is in critical condition and comatose with low chances of recovery. How could she possibly back up what they were saying?
Ryuji comes close to lashing out at Kamoshida with a fist but Boss catches it in time, telling him to "Calm down."--there's a sense that this would not have been the first time Ryuji hauled off and struck the man. Kamoshida basically confirms this by mockingly asking if he wanted to be involved in another case of "self-defense" (i.e. Kamoshida probably beat the shit out of Ryuji after he struck before).
At this point, Kamoshida turns his back to them, telling them they are all going to be expelled by the next board meeting. Mishima tries to protest and argue, finally calling him out on his "coaching". Kamoshida makes sure to say Mishima would also be expelled and reveals that the one who spread around Boss's crimimal records was, in fact, Mishima. Mishima falls to his knees, confessing Kamoshida had forced him to do so.
Ryuji remains outraged, demanding that they have to do something. Boss informs him that Kamoshida will "eat his words". Realization strikes and Ryuji seems to calm down, understanding that they can use "that".
... whatever "that" is...
Mem. 9 - Back Alley Doctor's Drugs
So basically, Boss/Joker goes into a clinic in a back alley near the coffee shop. Apparently, he'd overheard something about a drug that could be used to help (?) him and his friends. So in he goes and directly asks the lady behind the counter for the drug.
It ends up with him in the back room with the doctor who locks the doors and drills him on what he wants the drugs for. She clearly doesn't believe he's just in it for "brainpower". In the end, she ends up agreeing to letting him participate in clinical trials of her drugs in exchange for a discounted price on her medicines.
Spoilers: clinical trials include: passing out and not remembering a damned thing about what happened during an interview phase and whatever else the doctor might have done during the trial. But that's fine. Discount on medicines! Aw yeah!
Also! A New Confidante!
Thous hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Death Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power...
Mem. 10 - Gun Running For Iwai
Boss/Joker goes into a back alley air soft gun store where the owner of the business greets him with a "You again? Are you gonna try to sell me something weird again?" at which point a cat in Boss/Joker's bag whispers the reminder that modified model guns could be useful in "palaces" and they should ask the owner about what was in a bag he'd been given earlier.
Boss/Joker clearly has enough guts to ask the intimidating older man about it--turns out, it was a realistic looking model gun that the owner wanted to keep the cops from noticing and Boss/Joker helped him out with hiding the evidence of its existence by smuggling out of the store. The store owner decides to let him keep for free it as thanks. Nice.
Of course, the right thing to do here is ask to see more realistic items the shop owner might have. The owner seems to consider it for a while, but then asks Boss/Joker to come to the back room.
Turns out, the owner's willing to let him buy from him--but the cost is hundreds of thousands if not millions of yen per unit. YIKES, right? Nah, Boss/Joker just demands to let him buy some already. This apparently charms the older man enough to offer up a way to cheapen the cost: help him out with his "business" of smuggling goods and destroying evidence, and he would let Boss/Joker have access to his "special menu" at a discount price.
"What d'ya say? Not bad, huh?"
"That's a terrible deal."
Store owner seems to be offended by this but explains "Gotta fight evil with evil. I need a pawn of my own." He tells Boss/Joker not to tell anyone of this and to just follow orders. Boss/Joker only seems vaguely conflicted--they really could use the weapons for the "palaces".
"So what's it gonna be? You gonna take my deal or not?"
"I'll do what I can."
The store owner seems to like this and says he'll work on that special menu for Boss/Joker. "You should be grateful."
Once more... a new confidant!
Thou hast acquired a new vow.
It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.
With the birth of the Hanged Man Person,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power...
Mem. 11 - School Festival and The Special One
Note: Names are all kinda garbled, except maybe Akechi's.
Mem 12 - Interrogation End
Note: all names except "Akechi Goro" and "Okumura" are garbled
Mem. 13 - Kamoshida's Palace
Memory starts with Joker, Skull/Ryuji, Panther/Ann, and Mona/Morgana meeting on the roof of the school to go over what to do. It's here Morgana explains Palaces a bit more, including a Palace's treasure--the distorted desires of a person that builds the Palace around it in a person's heart. The idea is that if they go in and steal the treasure from Kamoshida's Palace, the structure will collapse and he will have a "change of heart" which will have him feeling the full weight of his crimes. And they have to do this before May 2nd, or else Ryuji and Joker are expelled.
That all said, they have no idea what Kamoshida's treasure is.
... INTO THE PALACE TO FIND THE TREASURE!
After a brief moment of Ryuji ogling Ann, apparently the newest to the group, they decide to pick out a codename for Ann--after a dumb suggestion from Joker (youtube player went with the annoying option, I chose "Kitty Woman") gets shot down, Ann chooses Panther for herself. After yet another dumb comment from the dumb boys, Panther gets them to refocus on Kamoshida.
They're just about to head out... when a glowy blue cell door with bars appears off to the side with Justine standing patiently beside it. Joker walks toward it, the door swinging open--and then the scene cuts to the group asking if Joker's okay because he had apparently just been standing around and spacing out.
So, uh. That's what his trips to the Velvet Room looks like to the other Phantom Thieves. Good. To. Know.
ONWARD TO INFILTRATE THE PALACE!
Here, there's a montage of their exploring and slowly grinding their way through the Palace. Fighting many Shadows--sometimes beating them just enough so they agree to lend their power to Joker, sometimes robbing them of petty cash or random items and materials...
In fact, there is a lot of stealing that happens in the heart. A lot. Joker and the gang just grabbing whatever looks shiny and worth some cash. No big deal, right?
As they get deeper and deeper into the Palace, more about Kamoshida is revealed and it's pretty clear this is a coach that not only physically abuses the male volleyball team, but also objectifies and sexually harasses if not straight up abuses the female volleyball team--Shiho, the girl who jumped in a previous memory, being only one of the victims. This is also a person who has pillars of female bodies posed sexually and who also has... many... a... dickblob? Shadow?
Anyway... in the end, they get to the treasure! Hurrah!
Now the real trick is that they have to get Kamoshida to be defensive over his treasure. Or at least where the treasure will be. In order to manifest the treasure so they can steal it, Mona explains, Kamoshida has to consciously know that the treasure is in danger of being stolen. Hence! Phantom Thieves must leave a calling card for their target. At that point, when their heart is on Full Alert, the treasure will manifest and they can steal it.
Piece of cake, right?
Well... They send out the calling card (via plastering a newspaper-lettered card all over the school), infiltrate the palace (they already know the place and thus can get through it much quicker), get to the treasure room (whoot), grab the treasure (... you guessed it, a fucking crown), and... promptly run into King Kamoshida who. Becomes. A huge. Ugly. Shadow. Which, yes. Drinks/eats the... lady parts... in its... chalice. To regain energy. Uhhhh.
Anyway, in the end--the thieves win! Shadow!Kamoshida returns to being King Kamoshida who grabs the fallen crown/treasure and... doesn't try to escape. It's then a confrontation about Shiho and all the other people Kamoshida's hurt, Pathner coolly asking if he will jump like Shiho did... "Or would you rather die here?"
Mona: "Do you want to finish him off? It's your call."
King Kamoshida: "No, please wait! I beg you... just forgive meeeeee!"
Panther: "Shut up. I bet everyone told you the same. But you... you took everything from them!"
Panther's Persona hurls a ball of flame in King Kamoshida's general direction. It hits the wall and he ends up down on his knees.
King Kamoshida: "I accept defeat... you want this? Take it." [tosses the crown/treasure over to Joker] "Go ahead and finish me off... you do that and my real self will go down, too... you have that right since you've won."
Panther, infuriated, has her Persona hurl another fireball at him--and misses as Ryuji calls out in surprise.
Panther: "If his mind shuts down, he can't admit his crimes."
Mona: "You're kind, Lady Ann."
King Kamoshida: "I've lost... you're through when you lose... What am I--what am I supposed to do now?"
Joker: "Atone for your sins."
And with that, King Kamoshida disappears...
Aaaaand the Palace starts to collapse. CUE MAD ESCAPE SCENE WHEREIN RYUJI FALLS OVER AT LEAST ONCE BECAUSE OF AN OLD LEG INJURY (FUCK YOU, KAMOSHIDA). But it's fine. They all make it out. Somehow. And, once back in the real world, they look on their phones--and the Palace is 100% gone.
Does this mean Kamoshida's heart was changed?
Will he repent and atone for his sins and crimes?
... stay... tuned???
Mem. 14 - The Velvet Room
Joker finds himself waking up in a cell, hands chained at the wrists, in prisoner wear, and with a ball and chain around his left ankle. Two twin wardens come to the front of the cell and Joker approaches it to grip the bars. It's then that he notices the man behind the desk in the middle of the circular prison (very much looking like the main area of Joker's heart).
Igor: "Trickster. Welcome to my Velvet Room."
Other non-P5 Personas may notice... a difference with this Igor, if they already know Igor.
But more importantly, Justine explains that this is a situation being experienced as a dream (so not necessarily NOT happening but also at the same time IS not happening). Igor explains where this Velvet Room is, kinda--"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those bound by a "contract" may enter."
Unfortunately, Joker has no idea wtf this guy means by "having a contract" at this time.
Igor continues to introduce himself and explains "I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well."
... well, that sure is high enough stakes that Joker shakes the bars and demands, "Let me out!"
Caroline whacks her baton against the bar--apparently it also works as a tazer?!
Igor continues, "Still this is a surprise. The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such. You truly are a "prisoner" of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."
Ominous. So Joker asks about this "ruin".
"I speak of the end of everything. However, there is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be "rehabilitated". Rehabilitated toward freedom... that is your only means to avoid ruin. Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?"
THIS IS SOME HEAVY SHIT???
But Joker answers "I'd rather avoid ruin," because he's not a complete idiot.
Igor seems reasonably pleased by this. "Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation."
At this point, Igor introduces the twin wardens properly. Caroline--the louder, more overtly violent one. Justine--the quieter but possibly stricter one.
Caroline: "Hmph. Try and struggle as hard as you like."
Justine: "The duty of wardens is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators. That is, if you remain obedient."
Igor explains he will explain their true roles another time, but the night is waning and their time is at an end for the moment. He tells Joker to take his time getting accustomed to this place, but they will be meeting again at a later time.
At this, an alarm starts to go off. Caroline tells him "Time's up. Now hurry up and go back to sleep."
Joker tries one last time to go at the bars--
But then it all kind of fades away. Just like a dream.
Joker's reaction to memory:
- ... well. that's some high stakes there.
- TOO BAD DIDN'T AVOID HIS PERSONAL RUIN?
- wtf is a "contract"? taking on a Persona? not sure
Mem. 15 - Sakura Futaba (cw: suicide)
So the Phantom Thieves apparently do a lot of their plotting discussions in the Cafe Leblanc when the owner's out and there's no customers. Uhhh...
Anyway, the current discussion is how some hacker called Alibaba sent THEM a calling card, demanding that they steal Sakura Futaba's heart. The only real lead they have is that the owner of the cafe, Sakura Sojiro, is connected with Futaba. And it involves some kind of custody battle where Sojiro is being accused of abusing Futaba.
One of the girls (Makoto/Queen) puts out the idea about how they couldn't talk to Alibaba directly as Alibaba would not allow for it, and the suspicion is that Alibaba and Futaba may in fact be the same person. With this in mind, Futaba would be asking the Phantom Thieves to steal her OWN heart. Deciding they need more information on the situation, they decide to go to Sojiro's house which isn't too far from the cafe itself. They decide to bring some left-over sushi as an ice breaker ("Noooooo! My fatty tunaaa!!" wails Morgana/Mona).
When they get to the house, there's no answer to the doorbell and the gate appears to be unlocked and open. The front door, also, appears to be ajar. A clap of thunder and the threat of an oncoming storm has the group move inside--just in time for a blackout to hit.
Immediately after the lights go out, there's a scream from somewhere in the house. Everyone's startled and Ann/Panther and Makoto/Queen proceed to get nervous and scared. Determining it'd probably be better to leave and try again some other time, they start to head out--but then after asking to hold Joker's hand, Makoto/Queen's legs kind of stop working because she's too scared.
Fox whispers somewhere that he senses a presence and right at that moment, during a flash of lightning and thunder, Joker and Makoto turn to see a bespectacled person standing directly behind them.
Cue screams and the person running away and Makoto falling to the floor clinging to Joker's leg calling for her sister.
At this time, enters one Sakura Sojiro AKA Boss.
Once he establishes they're not burglars, and the group quickly cobble together their excuses for coming over (this includes Makoto and Joker having to make it clear they're not dating, they're just friends and Makoto was just that scared of the dark and thunder and figures running around in the dark house), they get around to asking about the other person in the house. Sojiro decides that it would be a talk better to have back at the cafe because his daughter Futaba would be listening in if they talked there (little does he know, she also has the cafe bugged, but that's a point for another memory).
So back to the cafe they go.
At the cafe, Sojiro explains his and Futaba's backstory. He knew her mother and they worked together back in the day. He was apparently really sweet on her but Futaba's mother kept it strictly as friends--though she helped him with things like science recipes and such (because smart scientist lady gonna smart scientist). At some point she had a kid, Futaba, and there was no father involved. So, when her mother committed suicide by jumping into on-coming traffic right in front of her, Futaba wasn't able to cope.
Eventually, after some passing around to family members, Sojiro was able to win custody of Futaba and has been taking care of her since. But Futaba has always blamed herself for her mother's suicide and, after continuously experiencing some auditory and visual hallucinations involving her mother's death, Futaba began to lock herself away in her room, refusing to speak even to Sojiro and even refusing to see a doctor that came on a house call.
Sojiro is clearly concerned about it all, but he explains that that's why Joker is living in the attic space above the cafe--because he doesn't want Futaba's condition to worsen because there's people she's not familiar with living there. Joker says that he understands.
With that, Sojiro tells them they should get home and he'd be going to check in on Futaba.
Once Sojiro leaves, the Phantom Thieves start to go through what they just learned. Alibaba is Futaba. Futaba wants them to steal her heart. She wants them to steal her heart because she can't cope with her mother's suicide on her own--it's outside of her ability to resolve this for herself. And, ultimately, Futaba may be asking for their help because Sojiro is being accused of abusing her when, in fact, it's simply that Futaba can't cope with the outside world and has shut herself in. In order to clear his name and keep their small family together, Futaba needs help with moving past her mother's death and the distortion that apparently makes her see it as her fault.
Of course, they can't do anything if there's no palace.
So they check.
There's a palace.
Game on.
... they can worry about something called Medjed later, for now, it's time for everyone to go home and then tomorrow it's dealing with school assembly where they tell students to not go on social media and say misleading things blah blah Medjed calling out the Phantom Thieves making their lives so hard right now...
Joker's reaction to memory:
- ... so bad guys aren't the only ones with palaces
- and they can use their abilities to help someone like Futaba
- so they damn well are going to!
- Sakura Sojiro also winning all the Coffee Dad award points--Boss is a good.
- good thing Joker mostly stopped going by "Boss" or this would have been confusing
Mem. 16 - Futaba's Palace Part 1 (cw: suicide)
The Phantom Thieves meet up to discuss what to do about Alibaba/Futaba's request to have her heart stolen. Basically, it's established that not only did Futaba find out about them because she bugged the cafe but also that they will need her assistance with hacking skills. Not only that but they firmly establish BAD PEOPLE AREN'T THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CAN HAVE PALACES.
The whole thing with Palaces is that they simply rely on someone's cognition becoming distorted due to intense desires which can frequently be toxic to the person's cognition.
They agree to accept Futaba's request to steal Futaba's heart. They just need to find out the specific keywords to use in the app to get them in.
Morgana, the talking cat, appears to believe if they can sort out Futaba's memories of her mother's suicide... they might be able to figure out how to retrieve Morgana's own missing memories. Morgana also thinks he's a human turned into a cat but uh... unsure.
The Phantom Thieves head to Futaba's house hoping to find clues for the keywords needed to get into her heart via the app which just likes to remind them "Conditions have not been met".
... so they decide to break into Futaba's house so they can ask her directly. Makoto tries to point out how this could backfire but everyone is too determined to be deterred. Time for criminality!!!
They get to Futaba's closed door and try to coax her into responding. She doesn't, at first, but then she texts via Alibaba's alias online. Makoto ends up compromising that she doesn't have to show herself, chat messages are fine--they just need answers to some questions so they can figure out the keyword. Without that, they can't steal her heart like she requested.
Alibaba/Futaba agrees to these terms.
It's up to Joker to figure out how to get the keywords.
Joker: How is living in this house?
Alibaba: It's painful...
Joker: Why don't you go out?
Alibaba: I can't leave this place.
Alibaba: I'm going to die here.
This is... alarming. To say the least.
Alibaba: Is this going to continue?
Joker: Why do you think that?
Alibaba: Why?
Alibaba: This place is my tomb.
"Tomb" appears to be the keyword necessary to enter the Palace. (Dark...)
Ryuji proceeds to activate the app right there and then, like an idiot.
And they... end up... in a desert. And not in their usual Phantom Thief gear. Morgana explains that their appearances changing is largely because of perception of them in the person's heart--Futaba does not see them as a threat. Yet.
Unfortunately, they're in the middle of a desert far from the nearest place, and it's HOT. Luckily, they have a talking feline companion who can turn into a bus. Still hot as fuck, but they're able to get to the main area of Futaba's heart and begin the investigation/infiltration.
The Palace is... a pyramid. A Tomb.
Thankfully, it seems like this will be a walk in the park compared to their past adventures in the hearts of bad men and criminals! They meet no resistance going up the stairs inside the pyramid--until they run into a Futaba. Her Shadow. She does not seem to be entirely on board the whole Stealing Her Treasure thing...
Futaba!Shadow: Considering the state my Palace is in... there is no way that you can steal it.
And then there are... voices. Hurling abuse and blame for her mother's death and calling her a burden/plague. y i k e s.
Futaba!Shadow: That's right. I did it. I am the one who killed my mother.
Everything shakes as there's a loud SCREEEECH from outside the pyramid.
Futaba!Shadow: My mother exists here. I will remain here. I will do so until I die.
Aaaaand then their clothes change into Phantom Thief gear. GUESS FUTABA SEES THEM AS A THREAT NOW. Right when they try to regroup, A BIG FUCKING SPHERE COMES ROLLING AT THEM, FORCING THEM TO FLEE BACK THE WAY THEY CAME.
Once they get to the bottom of the steps... a door appears and locks behind them.
... guess they have to do this the longer way, after all.
But they're Determined now.
They retreat, but agree that they'll be back.
Mem. 17 - The Holy Grail + The Merging
The Phantom Thieves finally make their way to the Depths of Mementos, and boy has it been a rough journey full of battles and refacing people whose hearts they have stolen only to find them to be unambitious and content to stay within the cells that line the walls of the place. But they have finally made it to the bottom most part of Mementos, where the treasure behind the distortion of the public's cognition lies.
... except, it's... all wrong?
There are cells with individuals lining the walls and large mechanical ball-like structure sitting in the middle of the floor with tendrils going up to the cells, being fed by them. They're still assuming that this is a treasure and think that perhaps, instead of stealing it, they will have to destroy it to return things to a status quo.
But then an alarm starts to sound. The people in the cages start to cry out against the destruction of the treasure and the treasure itself will not allow itself to be destroyed.
Makoto: Hold on. Something's off.
Makoto: Shido said the masses are allowing themselves to be held captive here...
Makoto: Could they truly be operating this gigantic system that eliminates intruders on its own?
Makoto: The prison guards and soldiers were very organized too...
Yusuke: Are you trying to say someone else rules this place? Is it not the public?
And then the thing laughs at them.
They decide to put that aside and go in for the attack.
... the attacks seem to do nothing. Or, to be more accurate, even when they manage to take it down quite a bit, it just heals itself by feeding off the prisoners.
Futaba: Don't tell me... are the inmates giving it their strength?!
They quickly begin to realize how futile the battle will be if they can't stop the inmates from supporting this "treasure".
Holy Grail: You fools. Human, yet wishing to eradicate the desires of humanity...
Holy Grail: REPENT.
Holy Grail: I am revered as the granter of dreams for all who behold me...
Holy Grail: A being most commonly known as the Holy Grail...
Holy Grail: The Prison of Regression is representative of the collective desires of humanity.
Holy Grail: They wished to be chained down, surrender their cognition, and neglect the world around them...
Holy Grail: These feebleminded commonfolk will make your "social reform" all for naught.
Holy Grail: The shared heart of the masses has fallen into an excess of indolence and transformed into a prison.
Holy Grail: Thus, the only suitable end for them is to perish within the prison they wished for themselves.
Round 2: start.
And it doesn't go much better. This time, when it regenerates, its tarnished surface goes more and more brightly gold until it's shining brilliantly like the Grail it claims to be.
Futaba: Wait! Hold up! It's going to get totally healed again!
Futaba: No fair! This is cheating!
Holy Grail doesn't care about cheating.
Neither do the prisoners who all start to chant GET OUT OF HERE en masse.
They're quickly coming to the understanding that they're not going to be able to change the hearts of the people if they're this determined to buy into the Holy Grail.
Holy Grail: You imbeciles are intoxicated by an undesired "justice"...
Holy Grail: This is the will of the children of man who have fallen into Sloth.
Holy Grail: My shine is proof that they desire my existence.
Holy Grail: As long as humanity yearns for me, I shall never perish...
Makoto: Is this what everyone really wants? To stop thinking and be guided by the Holy Grail?
Joker: Don't let it fool you.
The Phantom Thieves maintain their stance: humans aren't like that. And they will never agree to being mindless followers of something that isn't real.
Morgana: No matter how painful reality is, it's all over if you don't try to change how things are!
Morgana: I'm not the only one who believes that. Everyone here agrees...
Morgana: We don't want to turn back into the people we used to be! That's why we risked our lives coming here!
Phantom Thieves are behind Morgana 100%.
Unfortunately...
Holy Grail: Humanity already wishes for their distortions to be actualized.
Holy Grail: I am merely the being that will ultimately grant those wishes.
Holy Grail: Now it is time I refrain from my place in this world, and begin to encroach upon reality itself.
The Holy Grail begins to light up and energy starts to flood the area.
Morgana: I don't know what you are, but you can't keep arbitrarily deciding all this on your own.
Morgana: Humans aren't all stupid like you say they are!
Holy Grail: Hmph. Indolent, foolish humans. You shall offer your hearts to me...
Suddenly, it lets out a beam of light toward them, an attack.
Holy Grail: Now the time for the fusion has come...
The very floor beneath them starts to disappear. Anything could happen at any second--
They're suddenly back in the middle of Shibuya. No longer in Mementos.
Morgana: We didn't come back ourselves, though. We must have been driven out by the Holy Grail.
Makoto: Did we lose...?
Joker: It would seem so...
Makoto: Right...
Confused, they look about for a moment... but then it starts to rain. Red. Blood. And without warning, from the ground and building sprout skeletal structures very much like those in Mementos. Suddenly, what it meant by "the fusion" makes a terrible amount of sense.
The cognitive world and reality are fusing together, entangling dangerously together...
Mem. 18 - Police Brutality (cw is in the title)
Summary: Joker is a fucking mess, already beaten and drugged up, but gets water thrown on him, kicked around in the gut a few times, head stepped on, thrown to the ground, leg threatened to be broken if he didn't sign a confession of a myriad of crimes he, frankly, DID NOT COMMIT (said crimes can be found in his Imeeji profile!). So, uh. fun time with the cops.
But at least Joker gets his name out of remembering this: Kurusu Akira
... yes, Mars and Joker have different names. No, they don't understand it either. /jazz hands
Mem 19 - Akechi Incognito
Summary: showcased here is a date! ... okay, it's not a date (yet), but Joker gets a text from famous young detective Akechi Goro (see also: A from Alcheme) who he's been kind of being casual rivals with (... "casual"--they're both probably highly aware how Actual Rivals it is), inviting him out to a local cafe. Joker heads on over and... immediately Akechi is lying about having a sweet tooth.
This is then followed up by Akechi's fans slowly but surely starting to notice his presence at the cafe and Akechi starts to act self-conscious and insisting they leave. Joker, naturally, doesn't want to make it that easy for people to drive away his rival, so... the moment Akechi comments about how he might not have been noticed if he's had glasses like Joker...
Cut to--a messy-haired brunette with glasses silently staring down at the table (there is possibly murder stemming from embarrassment and mortification going on in that "..." but only Akechi would really know) while the crowd starts to wander off, assuming they had gotten the wrong person.
Cut then to--Akechi has given Joker back his glasses and has recombed his hair.
Akechi: "I can't believe you actually did that. I suppose I'd better watch what I say around you."
Joker: "You looked great."
Akechi disagrees but passes it off with a pleasant smile. They get new coffees and spend some time at the cafe before heading home.
Cut to--Joker is in front of Leblanc and gets a call from Mr. Detective Man who just wanted to say he enjoyed chilling with Joker.
Akechi: "It [the disguising] was an interesting experience, but... I definitely don't want to go through that ordeal again. I saw firsthand what happens when I'm too careless with my words around you."
Joker: "Wasn't it fun?"
Akechi: "... you have a twisted concept of 'fun'. Though if you dressed as me next time, I think I might agree. I could use a stunt double."
Akechi gets a little too into the idea before he realizes he has something to do in the morning and pleasantly says good night.
Re: Mem 19 - Akechi Incognito
Re: Mem 19 - Akechi Incognito