"That was horrific," Ann whispered.
Ren glanced over.
Ann was staring at the aftermath of what could generously be described as a negotiation.
Less generously?
A mugging.
The Treasure Demon had started with money.
Then Morgana had explained that Treasure Demons carried rare materials and were incredibly valuable.
Then Ryuji had learned how much money it actually had.
Things had deteriorated rapidly from there.
"Come on! You got more!" Ryuji had yelled.
"I have surrendered my available currency!"
"Bullshit!"
"Skull," Morgana said seriously, "shake him."
"MONA?!" Ann screamed.
Ren had stood nearby with his handgun lowered, watching the situation unfold.
Mostly.
He may have participated a little.
Eventually the battered Treasure Demon had been surrounded by Ryuji, Morgana and Ren while the others watched from several steps away.
"Money," Morgana demanded.
"Please."
"Valuables," Ryuji added.
"I HAVE NOTHING ELSE!"
Ren crouched in front of it.
The Treasure Demon stared at him nervously.
Ren smiled.
"So."
"...So?"
"Persona?"
The creature looked behind Ren.
Ryuji cracked his knuckles.
Morgana smiled.
The Treasure Demon slowly looked back at Ren.
"...I believe a change in management would be agreeable."
Blue flame consumed it.
"JOKER!" Ann yelled.
The Treasure Demon transformed into a mask and flew directly into Ren's face.
For a moment everything went quiet.
Then—
'OOOOOH! NEW FRIEND!' Pixie cheered.
'Hee-Ho! Welcome aboard, shiny guy!' Jack Frost shouted.
'Welcome, mon ami,' Arsène greeted smoothly. 'Our accommodations are unusual, but never dull.'
One of Ren's quieter Personas offered a polite greeting.
Another immediately asked if Regent actually had more money hidden somewhere.
Someone else told that one to shut up.
Within seconds, every Persona currently living inside Ren had chimed in somehow.
Regent was silent through all of it.
Then—
'...This is considerably louder than I anticipated.'
Ren snorted.
'You'll get used to it.'
'I find that unlikely.'
'Also fair.'
Ryuji leaned toward him.
"Dude?"
Ren raised a finger.
"Hold on."
Information was settling into his mind.
Name.
Arcana.
Abilities.
Ren's eyebrows rose.
Then rose further.
"Oh."
Morgana perked up. "What?"
Ren started reading aloud.
"Regent. Emperor Arcana. Maragi."
Ann nodded. "Fire."
"Mabufu."
"Ice," Yusuke added.
"Magaru."
Morgana's ears twitched.
"Mazio."
Ryuji grinned.
Ren kept going.
"Mapsi."
Silence.
"Mafrei."
More silence.
"Makouha."
Morgana's eyes widened.
"Maeiha."
Ren stopped.
Everyone stared.
Ryuji slowly raised his hand.
"What the fuck are half of those?"
"Elements we apparently haven't found yet," Ren said.
Morgana looked horrified.
"Wait."
Ren counted mentally.
Fire.
Ice.
Wind.
Electric.
Psychic, apparently.
Nuclear, because sure.
Bless.
Curse.
Every single one hit multiple enemies.
Ren's eyes widened.
"Holy shit, this thing is powerful."
'Thing?' Regent complained.
"Why didn't it kick our asses?"
Regent answered inside his head with deeply offended dignity.
'We Treasure Demons are scholars, not warriors.'
Ren stared blankly ahead.
"What?"
Everyone looked at him.
Ren repeated, "Regent says Treasure Demons are scholars, not warriors."
Ryuji stared at the shattered gallery around them.
Then at Ren.
"Bro had eight kinds of magic and chose pacifism."
'Scholarship.'
"Scholarship."
Morgana nodded sagely. "Treasure Demons are unusual. Their value isn't really in direct combat anyway. They're incredibly useful for strengthening other Personas through fusion."
Regent seemed satisfied.
'Precisely.'
Ren immediately frowned.
Regent noticed.
'Why do I feel threatened?'
"No reason."
'Trickster.'
"No reason."
Arsène chuckled.
Pixie started laughing.
Jack Frost yelled something about the guillotine.
Regent went silent.
'...What guillotine?'
Ren started walking.
"We'll talk later."
'WHAT GUILLOTINE?'
---
They continued through the Palace.
The museum had stopped being difficult in the same way it had been before.
Not because it was easy.
It wasn't.
There were more Shadows now, more security, more lasers, more sections that required them to climb around Madarame's increasingly ridiculous architecture while Morgana tried to remember how any of it worked.
But the team was better.
Ryuji and Shiho had become comfortable fighting beside each other.
Ann no longer hesitated before jumping into the middle of combat.
Orihime had apparently discovered she was perfectly willing to shoot things as long as she apologized afterward.
Yusuke was still new, but Goemon was quickly beating the habit of overthinking every motion out of him.
And Ren—
Ren was forbidden from "testing anything" involving Garu and movement again.
Temporarily.
Shiho had been very specific about that.
So they made progress.
Quickly.
Several guards later, they reached another hallway.
Ren stopped.
Two doors.
One marked with a male symbol.
One marked with a female symbol.
Ryuji looked at them.
Then at Ren.
"No."
Ren looked offended.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were gonna."
"I wasn't."
"You absolutely were."
Ren pointed toward the men's restroom.
"We're checking it."
Morgana frowned. "Why?"
"There might be a chest."
Ryuji considered it.
"...That's actually possible."
Ann crossed her arms. "Fine. You guys check that one. We'll wait."
Ren pointed toward the women's restroom.
"And that one."
Ann's eyes narrowed.
"No."
"There might be a chest."
"No."
"Treasure doesn't respect gender."
"REN."
"And because it's funny."
Shiho slapped a hand over her face.
Yusuke looked between the two bathrooms.
"I fail to see the humor."
"That makes it funnier," Ryuji said.
Yusuke nodded slowly.
"I see."
"No you don't," Morgana said.
Ren opened the men's room first.
Everyone followed.
Ann stopped in the doorway.
"Why am I doing this?"
"Completionism," Ren replied.
"You have a problem."
"Probably."
They checked every stall.
Nothing.
Ryuji looked smug.
"See?"
Ren frowned.
"Suspicious."
"What's suspicious?"
"No chest."
"WHY WOULD THERE BE A CHEST IN A BATHROOM?!"
"Cognition."
"STOP USING THAT!"
They crossed the hallway.
Ann planted herself directly in front of the women's restroom.
"No."
Ren raised an eyebrow.
"No boys."
"It's a cognitive bathroom."
"Still a bathroom."
"Potential loot."
"Still a bathroom."
Morgana walked underneath Ann's arm.
"I'm going."
Ann stared down at him.
Morgana froze.
"...I'm a cat."
"YOU ARE ALWAYS SAYING YOU AREN'T A CAT!"
"I HAVE DECIDED THIS IS A CONTEXTUAL MATTER!"
Ryuji collapsed against the wall laughing.
Ren walked past Ann while she was distracted.
"Hey!"
"Already inside."
"REN!"
"Nothing weird."
"You said you're doing this BECAUSE IT'S FUNNY!"
"Partially."
"THAT DOESN'T HELP!"
Shiho sighed and followed.
Orihime came next.
Yusuke paused.
"I feel that entering would be socially inappropriate."
Ren looked back.
"Correct."
"Then why are you doing it?"
Ren smiled.
"Funny."
Yusuke considered it.
Then followed.
Ann stared.
"YUSUKE?!"
"I wish to understand."
"UNDERSTAND WHAT?!"
They spread out.
Ren opened the first stall.
Nothing.
Second.
Nothing.
Ryuji opened another.
Nothing.
Ann stood with her arms folded, radiating disappointment.
"This is stupid."
Ren opened the final stall.
Golden light spilled out.
Everyone froze.
There was a treasure chest sitting behind the toilet.
Silence.
Ren slowly turned.
Ryuji's mouth fell open.
Morgana's eyes widened.
Orihime clapped her hands.
Yusuke stared thoughtfully.
Shiho looked at Ann.
Ann looked at Ren.
Ren smiled.
"Chest."
Ann pointed at him.
"NO."
"Chest."
"YOU DON'T GET TO BE RIGHT!"
"Chest."
"STOP SAYING CHEST!"
Ryuji suddenly started laughing.
"Of course there's fucking loot in the girls' bathroom!"
Morgana rushed past them.
"OPEN IT!"
"See?" Ren said.
Ann covered her face.
"I hate all of you."
Orihime tilted her head.
"I thought it was kind of fun."
Ann looked betrayed.
"Hime!"
"What?"
Ren opened the chest.
Actual useful items.
He turned toward Ann.
She raised one finger.
"If you say anything, I will hit you."
Ren closed his mouth.
Smart.
---
They kept moving.
Rooms blurred together after that.
Guards.
Lasers.
Paintings.
More guards.
A section where Ryuji almost fell from a ledge and insisted the scream had been intentional.
A Shadow Yusuke froze mid-charge before staring at the resulting ice sculpture long enough that Goemon told him to stop admiring his own work and kill it.
Another locked room.
Another security terminal.
Another hallway full of Madarame's stolen art.
That part stopped being funny.
Yusuke went quiet every time he recognized something.
Sometimes he named the original artist.
Sometimes he didn't.
Nobody pushed.
They simply kept going.
Every guard they defeated was one room closer.
Every security system they shut down was one less barrier between Madarame and what he had spent years protecting.
By the time they reached another safe-room door, everyone was breathing harder.
Morgana pushed it open first.
"Inside."
Nobody argued.
They piled into the room.
Ryuji immediately dropped onto the nearest couch.
"Fuck."
Ann collapsed beside him.
"Elegant."
"Don't care."
Orihime sat down on the floor before apparently deciding that wasn't comfortable enough and leaned against the couch instead.
Shiho remained standing for several seconds before giving up and sitting beside her.
Yusuke walked toward the far wall and rested his back against it.
Ren closed the door behind them.
The Palace disappeared.
No guards.
No oppressive pressure.
Just the strange calm of the safe room.
Morgana hopped onto the table and checked the map.
Everyone watched him.
His ears twitched.
Then he smiled.
"Good news."
Ryuji raised his head.
"Treasure?"
"Almost."
Morgana turned the map around.
"We've made it to the last safe room."
Silence.
Yusuke straightened.
Ann sat up.
Shiho's tired expression sharpened.
Orihime smiled.
Ren walked toward the table.
Beyond this point?
The end.
Not necessarily today.
They still needed to find the Treasure.
Secure the route.
Leave.
Send the calling card.
Come back.
Fight Madarame.
But they were close.
Very close.
Ren looked around at everyone.
No one looked afraid.
Tired, yes.
Sweaty.
Ryuji looked half-dead.
Morgana still had dust stuck in his fur from falling behind that display.
Yusuke was staring at the map like he wanted to burn a hole through it.
But they were here.
Ren smiled.
"Take five."
Ryuji collapsed again.
"Best order you've given all day."
Morgana looked offended.
"What about catching Regent?!"
Ryuji opened one eye.
"We mugged him."
'Scholars,' Regent corrected inside Ren's head.
Ren sat down.
"Apparently we mugged a scholar."
Ann stared at him.
"That does not make it better."
"Didn't say it did."
"It makes it worse!"
Ren leaned back against the couch.
Probably.
Worth it, though.
Eight fucking elements.
He smiled.
Ann saw it.
"You're thinking about the money again."
"No."
"You're a terrible liar."
"Scholarship."
From somewhere inside his head, Regent sighed.
---