PROLOGUE

"I'm home!" Yu called out as he slid the door shut behind him. Nobody answered the young man. He sighed, wondering if his uncle would have words for him in the morning. Not that it would matter, since his uncle wouldn't risk upsetting Nanako with anything that looked like a fight. Besides, the man's relationship with his nephew was too friendly for him to hold something so small against him for long.

Yu slid his shoes off and checked his phone for the time, '22:40'. The walk back from his girlfriend's family inn took longer than he thought. 'Looks like I've already been away for too long.'

To Yu's credit, the return to his adoptive home wasn't as peaceful as he had hoped. A whole other team of Persona users, two of them androids, an awakening, and more than the usual trouble that came before such a thing all in one day was a bit much, even for someone with a life as exciting as his. Of course, his own team had added to the surreal factor with Kanji spending almost the entire ordeal thinking he was dreaming and Teddie's unusual protectiveness towards the mechanical kidnapping victim.

Kidnapping. Yu pinched the bridge of his nose. The one behind putting Labrys into the TV world added insult to injury by forcing her to fight her rescuers almost to the point of self-destruction. If it wasn't for the Shadow Operatives' support specialist lying in wait, the day would have ended on a far more tragic note. Mitsuru Kirijo, the woman in charge, had made clear she wanted to keep the Investigation Team from getting further wrapped up in the hunt for the culprit, though it did little to discourage Yu and his friends from planning to help them regardless.

The silver-haired youth stretched out his arms as he climbed the stairs up to his room. They had a long day tomorrow.

As the manager's son at the local Junes, most people figured Yosuke would get the cushy jobs, as you'd expect from a city boy riding high on nepotism. The thing is, said manager likely predicted that assumption and overcompensated by making Yosuke the unofficial HR rep and a general workhorse. Though the young brown-haired man suspected it was more so he could earn Teddie's keep, considering the handful his wacky roommate had been over the last 10 months.

Right now, Yosuke could hardly blame his dad.

"Rowr! Getting close enough to a bod like Mittchan's almost makes me want to be her next coat, don't you think, Yosuke?" The store had been closed to the public almost two hours ago, with all the other staff following shortly after. Unfortunately, this gave Teddie the chance to gush about their new acquaintances from their secret lives to Yosuke, who had been forced to listen to him for the past hour while doing both of their cleanup work, which was already lagging behind.

In all fairness, the ladies of the Shadow Operatives were stunning both in terms of looks and power. Their leader, Mitsuru Kirijo with her form-fitting body armour and commanding presence, the blonde android Aigis, utterly fearless and boasting an almost ridiculous stockpile of weapons hidden away in her chassis... Even Fuuka, their support, had managed to save the day in the TV world all the way from the real world.

Then, something dawned on Yosuke. For all of Teddie's yammering, the cartoon-bear-turned-human hadn't breathed a word about Labrys the whole time. Strange for someone who had spent almost the entire day glued to her…

"Okay then, how about Labrys?"

Teddie's almost perpetual grin froze. "Wha?"

"I mean, you've gone on about her sister, so you clearly don't have a problem with that. So come on, what'cha think about her?"

The blonde remained frozen for an instant before picking up the nearest carton of TaB soda cans and striding off purposefully.

"This is no time for slacking off, Yosuke! Pops will have our hides if we claws things to be held back tomorrow!"

"Pops?" Yosuke wondered, deciding to shrug it off and follow Teddie. If nothing else, it looks like he found a way to improve the mascot's work ethic.

Ten more minutes, then I'll go back and try again, Chie thought to herself as she ran along the floodplain.

Not thirty minutes ago, she'd woken up at her desk with the letter she had tried to write to her 'master' - Akihiko Sanada – spoilt with drool. The only way she was going to get anything done at this rate was with plenty of fresh air to clear her head, or at least she hoped so. The young Satonaka was never that good at solving problems with a pencil. Chie groaned. Her ambitions to join the police force appeared dead on arrival due to her difficulty with studying. The quotation she lead her life by didn't seem to offer any comfort either.

"Don't think, feel."

All she was feeling right now was frustration, especially when Yu and her best friend Yukiko seemed to take to studying naturally.

She shook her head. Her lingering jealousy towards Yukiko was dealt with in the infancy of their investigation last year. Still, the events of yesterday had succeeded in digging up neuroses thought left to rest.

The Dragon Who's Discarded Womanhood, she groaned in her mind.

The latter part of the title she'd been saddled with for the Grand Prix had hit a nerve so raw she'd almost blown out poor Yosuke's eardrum in a fit of defensive rage.

Jerk was probably laughing after that. He sure seemed to have fun the next day. Chie unconsciously thumbed her nose at the thought of Yosuke's comments in the TV world.

She noticed a familiar row of houses as she passed by, illuminated by streetlights. Maybe I should stop by Yu-kun's place on the way back…

She grumbled, then took off down the path.

Twenty more minutes! I'll ask for help if I'm still stuck!

Yukiko loved her family. Most of the time, the idea that she had once wanted more than anything to be literally anywhere else would seem unthinkable.

It still didn't mean that she never got second thoughts.

"Mom, please! Stop it."

"I'm just saying, dear. Your father and I were young once..." Ritsuko Amagi chuckled mirthfully.

Ever since the heiress had returned home, her family and the Inn's staff had taken the time to ask how her relationship with Yu was going and, while nowhere near embarrassed by her boyfriend, Yukiko was never the kind of person to brag. To be completely honest, she didn't have much worth mentioning about their private lives that wasn't also part of their secret double-lives.

"Actually, there were some nasty comments Yu made about me, but it turns out it was just the inner darkness of a robot high-school president twisting our senses."

…

When I put it like that, maybe I should tell them just to see their reaction… The mental image of the staff's gaping jaws and wide eyes didn't take long to drive Yukiko into a laughing fit all the way to her room. Her mother chuckled and rolled her eyes before she turned back to let her be.

That's enough prodding for one night.

The silence of the Tatsumi textile shop had never sounded more pleasant to Kanji. The wares had been stowed away for the night and all that remained was to turn off the lights and turn in.

No more real-life dreaming for this man! He thought, only for a knock at the door to halt him before he could get mid-stride. After about twelve seconds of wondering whether he should ignore it and go to bed anyway, a second knock came to muffle Kanji's reluctant groan.

Dammiiiit… he thought as he stretched out his face with his hands. He trudged over to the door, hoping the guest wouldn't be long.

Probably lookin' for ma. He'll turn tail when he sees me…

Kanji's drowsy optimism proved to be short-lived as he slid open the shop's door to reveal a small blue-haired woman.

"N-Naoto!" he stammered, recoiling back at the sight of his teammate, a display Naoto Shirogane paid no mind.

"Good evening, Kanji-kun. I'm glad to have caught you still awake." The detective spoke with her usual even tone and a polite smile.

"Oh? So, uh… what do ya– I mean... how can I help?" Kanji cursed his clumsier than usual dictation around the detective.

At least Yosuke-senpai isn't here to-

"Kanji-kun?" Naoto interrupted his thoughts with a quizzical look, leaning in ever so slightly towards him. "I was hoping to have someone join me in meeting Rise-san at the station, but you seem to be in need of some sleep."

Yeah, like that's happening now… Going to meet Rise wouldn't help much, either. The two were friends as much as any of the other team members, but the resident idol had a habit of getting under Kanji's skin by prodding him with – among other things – his longtime crush on Naoto.

"N-no, it's okay! When's the train get here? I'm sure you've got time to take a load off..." He blurted out as he retreated further into the house before shouting out a quick "make yourself at home!" and slamming the door to the kitchen behind him.

"We will be arriving at the Yaso-Inaba station in ten minutes. All passengers for Yaso-Inaba, prepare to disembark shortly." Rise heard the monotone of the prerecorded message over her train car's tinny speakers. She checked her cell for any new messages from Naoto.

Nothing.

Jeez… as if the trouble I gave Inoue-san wasn't enough…

The reason she was so late in getting back to Inaba was her trying to explain and smooth over her sudden disappearance with her manager. She wasn't known for being one to spite her handlers, so coming up with a plausible excuse was difficult for her.

I'll have to remember to ask Naoto-kun to come up with one. She just hoped some of her friends had bothered to show up this late, as her train clacked along through the night.

Naoto sighed at Kanji's latest strange display, still taking him up on his offer and entering the shop. In all fairness, she could have gone down to the station by herself, but she was trying to not isolate herself from her friends. What Kanji had said in the TV world – or rather, what she had heard him say – had made her self-conscious about her believing her teammates' company was beneath her.

As for Kanji himself, she knew he tended to act uncomfortable around her (for reasons she felt were his own and best left undisturbed), but he was the only one who was available at the moment.

Yu and Yukiko had been busy with each other, Yosuke and Teddie were at work, and the last time she had tried to call Chie's house, her mother had told her she had fallen asleep at her desk.

Either way, Kanji had plenty of time to get a hold of himself before she had to leave regardless to meet Rise.

"I apologize if this brings up unpleasant memories, Labrys. The Kirijo group has never really needed to change these stations when it was just Aigis."

The recharge station in front of the group was no different than the one Labrys had broken out of on Yakushima all those years ago. The only difference was its twin next to it, likely installed hastily from a spare the tech department had lying around.

"No, it's alright Mitsuru-san." she reassured the repentant CEO. While the Kirijo group's employees had committed atrocities against her, Mitsuru's eagerness to make it up to her, along with Aigis providing her with a sense of family, had earned her trust.

"Are you sure you want us to have the meeting without you? We can postpone it until you're ready." Mitsuru asked Labrys as the latter took her place at the station, her cumbersome battleaxe discarded next to it.

"Nah, I'm good. I got a lot on my mind already, so I'll just go with whatever you decide." She then smiled before turning to Aigis,

"Besides, I'm sure my sis can look out for me." Her younger sister returned the expression, "I will make sure to keep your interests at heart, sister." Aigis reassured her as Labrys closed her eyes.

With their newest teammate resting, Mitsuru, Aigis, Akihiko, and Fuuka left the lab and made their way to the conference room.

"Before we plan our next move, we should inform our other operatives about Labrys" said Mitsuru as she lead the group down the hallway.

Aigis nodded, "Agreed. While the Shadow Operatives have been understanding towards me, them discovering another anti-Shadow weapon on the team by themselves would likely hurt team synergy."

"I'll inform Yukari-san, Junpei-kun, and Ken-kun once the meeting is done. Or should I let them know right away?" Fuuka asked her boss as they turned a corner.

"Thank you, Yamagishi, but no. I can inform them personally once we're done here."

Akihiko interjected with a straight face. "Honestly, I'd rather we do this by ourselves. I don't want taking down whoever's behind this to be too easy." Mitsuru sighed at her longtime friend's immodesty as the group entered the conference room.

"We know that whoever it is was capable of manipulating Labrys in the other world even though they were in ours. They also mentioned not having a Persona themselves, so at least the other world can be ruled out as far as looking for them goes..." Mitsuru summarized.

"In addition, they seem capable of not only controlling her, but also the hijackers from the plane when she was first kidnapped."

Akihiko grumbled, "Shame none of them remembered anything that could give us a lead..."

"But why did they target Labrys in the first place? Were they using her to strike a blow to the Kirijo group?" Fuuka wondered. "If that was the case, then why put her in the other world?"

The idea of manipulation made a spark go off in Aigis' mind. "Mitsuru-san, the only other time we faced someone who could control people, it was Ikutsuki."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop by a few degrees at the mention of the traitor's name.

"True." Mitsuru kept herself composed at the memory of the man whose last act was murdering her father, considering Aigis had arguably suffered far worse at his hands.

Akihiko caught on to where Aigis was going, "He's gone, but he still had ties to Strega. You think someone like them might have had something to do with it?"

Mitsuru shook her head. "Impossible. Shorato committed suicide back in 2010, Sakai was found dead not a week after him, and Yoshino..." she trailed off.

Fuuka cleared her throat "Yes, she's in no condition to cause trouble either."

"Still," Aigis continued "there's no telling how many others like them Ergo Research may have had a hand in. Some may still remain." Mitsuru gave a thoughtful nod to the idea, hoping her friend was not onto something. Still…

"Tch. If we don't know how to find anyone, we should just wait for them to come to us. Hasn't cost us anything so far." Akihiko said bluntly. The unwitting trivialization of what Labrys had been through made Aigis and Mitsuru exchange glances.

"Akihiko, could we speak alone for a moment?" Mitsuru said more as an order than a request. Her and Akihiko's departure did little to ease the conference room's tense atmosphere.

"I understand you've been away for a while, but I thought you would understand the risks involved when our enemies get to strike first."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that even though the mission succeeded, it would have been better if we had prevented Labrys' kidnapping in the first place." Mitsuru pinched the bridge of her nose. "The Kirijo group has caused enough problems for me to fix. I cannot allow more to arise just to give you a reason to stay here!"

That last comment threw Akihiko for a loop. "Wait, what?"

"You left us for an entire year, just to get stronger, and you barely ever called!"

"Hey, I sent stuff back when I could."

"Then I assume that the endangered polar bear pelt from two months ago was from you?"

"… He started it."

"Akihiko..." Mitsuru was a hair's breadth from glaring.

"What? You put it to good use." He shrugged, eyeing her fur coat.

"Akihiko!" She snapped her open palm in front of her friend's face, but her attention had been turned to the door of the conference room. The two of them could faintly hear terrified whimpering coming from beyond it.

Yamagishi? The two shared a horrified look of realization.

Aigis!

The Emperor dashed to the door and flung it open to find Aigis, stiff as a rod, with all of her deadly fingers pointed at a terrified Fuuka. "Aigis?"

Aigis' own face then cracked into a horrified panic. "Mitsuru-san! I can't-! It's not-!" Her left arm faintly trembled, managing to inch towards the chair facing away from them at the far end of the conference table before snapping back to Fuuka's head, the cyan-haired girl flinching at the sudden movement.

"Show yourself!" Mitsuru commanded as firmly as she could, given the circumstances, only to be answered by a snide chuckle.

The tall chair spun around to show a sneering young man with short, blood-red hair, wearing a heavy olive-coloured jacket, and with a notable scar in the middle of his face in the shape of an 'X', big enough for the lower half to stop just past his nose. But what attracted everyone's attention was the hauntingly familiar remote control the youth held in his right hand.

"I don't think so, prez. Unless you want her splattered all over that fancy coat, the only one gettin' a show here is SHO!"

Yukari dumped her bag at her feet after locking the door to her apartment. Another day of solid shooting and PR scheduling for Featherman was over. She'd been booked for the next five months of conventions across the country, but her tireless work on set kept the public happy, as she'd set out to do from the start. Helping mankind find joy in life was her own life's goal for the past two years, ever since her and her friends' ordeal in the Abyss of Time had given them new purpose.

Her focus had been so single-minded that contact with her teammates in the Shadow Operatives had been rare at best. When Mitsuru first told her about her plan for the organization, Yukari had pledged her service on the spot, but ever since then, she had never been called for an assignment as part of the auxiliary force (where she was placed at Mitsuru's insistence), only social calls she almost never had time to follow through with. She did her best to not distance herself from her friends, exchanging texts with Mitsuru or Aigis whenever she had a spare moment, but the last time she'd been in consistently close proximity with any of them was back when she and Aigis shared a room in their third year of high school.

Running her hands through her shoulder-length hair, Yukari made her way for the shower. There was never enough time for it in the morning. Her stomach grumbled, and she sighed.

Maybe I can call Mitsuru-senpai while I put something together… she thought without breaking her stride to the bathroom.

All things considered, Junpei Iori lead a pretty good life. He had a stable job he enjoyed, powerful friends, and a loving relationship with a beautiful girlfriend who had a budding career of her own.

Chidori had called him over for the night after her latest in a string of nightmares, only for her to spend the past hour asleep with her head in his lap. The two of them sat on her couch in front of the tv. Ever since he'd found out she was still alive, Junpei had been at her beck and call, with the kind of dedication that let them finally have a chance at a happy relationship.

Always ready to help her when she had questions.

And always on guard should her memory return.

The thought of that happening scared Junpei probably more than it should have. He had seen Chidori's amnesia as a blessing, considering the harsh life she had lived as a Kirijo test subject and a member of Strega. She was lucky her artistic talent had not been a price of her fresh start.

Besides, who knows what would happen if she knew I was keeping secrets from her all this time..?

Junpei shrugged off the hypothetical as he got up and gently scooped Chidori into his arms. He'd stay on the couch, but there was no reason she'd have to wake up sore in the morning.

Panting all the way, the white shiba puppy bounded across the lobby of the old SEES dorm, stopping to lick the hand that hung from the couch. The student council member attached to it had dozed off, with his other arm settled over his eyes. The youth was tall enough to cover all of the couch he lay across, which the pups took as a challenge to see how far they could climb him. The young pup barked to call his three siblings to their slumbering master. Together, the four piled on top of one another so that the runt could paw his way up onto the human's chest. With his unsuspecting face vulnerable to an affectionate licking.

"Wh-? Ack!" Ken just about threw the small puppy across the room with his rude awakening. The remaining pups barked up at him as he wiped his face clean with one hand, hooking the other's index under the runt's collar.

"Hiroki, I thought we made it clear. No jumping on the couch." Especially when Uncle Ken's trying to take a nap, He thought to himself as he lowered the small creature down to his brothers and sister. Ken turned his attention to the biggest.

"You'll take them back to your mom, won't you Ichiro?" Ichiro barked in agreement, earning him a friendly tickle behind the ears before he bounded off down the hallway and up the stairs all by himself.

Ken gave an amused sigh, hoping he'd have better luck with the other two. "Shinji, Miki, go on, and don't forget your brother," he said, dropping Hiroki in front of them.

He slowly brought himself to his feet as they ran off, stretching his back out of the bad posture as the pups scampered off to their mother. After making sure enough of his vertebrae had popped out of stiffness, he checked his watch and frowned. Ami-san hasn't come back yet with Koromaru.

Ken's responsibilities on the student council forced him to leave Koromaru's walks to the underclassmen in the dorm, though SEES' former unofficial mascot didn't seem to mind the change in company.

"Arf arf!"

Ken heard the familiar barking through the dorm's thick door, only for the dog to slip through the crack just as it opened, easily escaping the tired grasp of the panting first-year girl who came after him.

"hah… hah… Sorry I'm late, Amada-senpai," Ami Suzuki supported herself on her knees as the long-haired girl caught her breath.

"It's alright, Ami-san." Ken reassured her as Koromaru left to join his family. Honestly, he didn't feel it was right for the other students to look up to a middle-schooler like him, regardless of him being on the student council. It was even worse with Ami, considering she had first come into the dorm caring for Koromaru's mate.

"I'm sorry for making you care for Koromaru as well," Ken started. "I'd walk Yoko in return, but…"

Ami blushed at his offer, "Oh, don't worry about it Amada-senpai. I just wish my sister would stop by every once in a while to check on her…"

Last year, Ami's older sister had moved out of the dorm when she graduated middle-school, but left Yoko – the family's afghan hound – behind to not break up her and Koromaru's budding family.

"I don't think I could walk both of them without leashes," Ami sighed "but if you're not busy sometime, maybe you and I could..."

"No." Ken mentally smacked himself for his bluntness. "N-no, it's alright, Ami-san. I'll walk Koromaru when I can. I'll just... tell the president I need to cut down on activities."

"O-oh… alright." Ken's gut fell as the disheartened girl passed him, but he decided against following her. The legions of fangirls he'd unwillingly amassed would have put Akihiko's to shame, but they were still about as likely to succeed as his ever were.

It was inarguable that Ken had grown the most since their days in SEES, but Mitsuru's formation of the Shadow Operatives saw him still being treated with childish platitudes. The Kirijo refused to place Ken on the team, insisting that she wanted him to live a normal life, at least until he was as old as the rest of them were when they fought through Tartarus. Ever since that day, Ken had been using his activities as a way to hone his mind and body into the ideal asset for the Shadow Operatives. He even kept the Gungnir lance he used all those years ago as a constant reminder of the threat he swore to fight, his new height making it that much deadlier.

I'll do my best to carry your weight, Shinjiro-san.