Chapter 4
Shuichi Saihara blankly stared out the window. Classes weren’t exactly mandatory at Hope’s Peak, at least not for Main Course students, so it’s not like he’d get in trouble for dozing off.
“Shuichi~!” Shuichi turned his head to see a dark skinned girl with white hair and blue eyes standing next to his desk. This was Angie Yonaga, the Ultimate Artist.
“Hm? What is it?” Shuichi asked.
“Atua knows that you are sad over Kaede. But don’t worry! Atua says that Kaede had to go for an important reason!” Angie cheered. Just like that, everyone put an abrupt halt to what they were doing.
“…Jeez, thanks for ruining the fucking mood.” Said the Ultimate Inventor, Miu Iruma.
“Aw, c’mon! Are we supposed to just act like she never existed!?” Kaito Momota, the Ultimate Astronaut, protested.
“Hm. Kind of odd that they’d get rid of her, yet keep me around.” Said the Ultimate Tennis Pro, Ryoma Hoshi. Maki Harukawa, the Ultimate Child Caregiver, just looked to the side.
“Huuuuuuuh? Don’t tell me you actually believed that stuff.”
Everyone went silent as they looked towards who just spoke up. The Ultimate Supreme Leader, Kokichi Ouma.
“She… admitted it herself.” The Ultimate Maid, Kirumi Tojo, quietly looked down at the floor. Shuichi felt his stomach tighten when he remembered the call he had with Kaede the other day. The fact that she was so adamant about her guilt was just… heartbreaking to him.
“And it’s a lie! A bigger lie than what that TV detective spouts out!” Kokichi said. The awkward silence turned into a unanimous groan of annoyance.
“Not this shit again.” Miu said. Kokichi was not shy about the fact that he was not a fan of “The Second Coming Of The Detective Prince.” Due to the fact that he supposedly knew when people were lying (due to being a liar himself), Kokichi would constantly go on and on about how the famous detective was, supposedly, the biggest liar he had ever seen. He would even show the various interviews with the young man on his phone to point out the supposed lies and would constantly compare him to Shuichi or, in some cases, to the other Ultimate Detective at Hope’s Peak, Kyoko Kirigiri.
“Do you even know what that guy’s lying about?” Tsumugi Shirogane, the Ultimate Cosplayer, asked.
“Hmmmm… not really. But I know he’s lying about something!” Kokichi insisted.
“Nyeh… can we stop talking about this? I wanna go back to sleep…” Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Magician, tiredly wiped her eyes.
“Okay! I don’t really care anyways. Besides! Now that Akamatsu-chan is gone, I can have Saihara-chan to myself!” Kokichi’s eyes appeared to start sparkling.
“Wait, what?” Shuichi asked.
“You don’t know!?” Ann yelled.
“I-I don’t! Honest!” Kaede was quick to defend herself. While she wouldn’t deny that the appearance of Irene was a life saver, it was completely out of nowhere too. Her new outfit was just as out of left field, and seemingly less useful, even if she admittedly liked how it looked.
“You…!” Kamoshida angrily walked towards the two girls.
“Crap, I forgot about you!” Kaede jumped back, unsure of what to do next.
“Hold on!” Almost out of impulse, Ann ran up behind Kamoshida and kicked him from behind, knocking him to the ground.
“Keys!” Kaede yelled as she grabbed a set of keys off the floor. The two girls quickly ran out of the cell before slamming the door shut and locking it, successfully trapping Kamoshida.
“Damn you!” Kamoshida yelled as he got up. Kaede was once again engulfed in blue flames, this time much more briefly, and she was now back in her school uniform.
“Huh? My clothes…” Kaede moved her hands along her abdomen in confusion.
“Forget the clothes! Let’s get out of here!” Ann yelled. Kaede nodded.
“You can come out when you put some clothes on!” Kaede shouted as she threw the keys as far as she could. She and Ann then ran off, leaving Kamoshida in the cell.
“Goddamn thieves!” Was all Kamoshida could say as he watched the two get away.
“Ugh… I can’t see an exit anywhere…” Kaede said as she held back a yawn. Now was not the time to get tired.
“Um… maybe it’s over there?” Ann pointed at the other side of the dungeon, which was blocked off by a stream of water that ran through the middle.
“Do you think we can make it?” Kaede asked.
“You don’t mean… jump, do you!?” Ann’s eyes widened in shock.
“I don’t see a bridge, so it’s our only way.” Kaede said. Ann looked around and confirmed that Kaede was telling the truth.
“Alright. But we have to do it together, okay!?” Ann quickly held out her hand. Kaede nodded and grabbed her hand.
“Okay. One…”
“Two…”
“Three!”
The two girls jumped to the other side, both of them managing to not be met face first with the ground.
“We did it!” Kaede cheered.
“Yeah… is the exit here?” Asked a now even more shaken up Ann.
“Hmm… let’s see…” Kaede looked around. Nope. No exit. At least not one that was immediately visible. She gestured for Ann to follow her before crawling through a hole in the wall that led to another part of the dungeon. They ran until they came across what appeared to be a drawbridge next to a statue of Kamoshida’s head.
“Shh!” Kaede shushed Ann as she forced her to crouch down. A group of guards ran across the other side of the bridge before disappearing when they couldn’t find the two girls.
“Where could the exit be!? I’m starting to get tired…” Ann whisper-yelled.
“I’m sure we’ll find it, we just… we just have to keep looking.” Kaede said before she kept running through the dungeon.
“Hey! Can you help me!?”
Kaede almost ran straight past it, and into a wall, but stopped when she saw who was crying for help out of the corner of her eye. She came to a screeching halt and backed up to confirm what she just saw.
“Are you a-“
“Hey! Wait up! You’re going too-Aaaah! M-Monster cat!” Ann yelled when she saw what was in the cell. Upon seeing Ann, Kaede could’ve sworn that she briefly saw a heart float above the creature’s head.
“Wow! You’re so… Hold on! I’m not a cat!” Despite his words, the thing before them did in fact appear to be a small anthropomorphic cat with black and white fur, blue eyes, a utility belt around his waist, and a yellow scarf wrapped around his neck.
"Are you sure about that?" Kaede asked, which seemed to make the cat angry.
"Yes! Now get me out of here!" The cat demanded.
"Okay, okay…" Kaede was about to try to see how to get him out before Ann grabbed her wrist.
“Hold on! What if it attacks us!?” Ann asked. The cat’s ears drooped, looking heartbroken at Ann’s distrust.
“H-Hey… I’m not going to hurt you, okay? Look, if you let me out, I’ll tell you how to get out of here. I promise. Also, I have a name. It’s Morgana.” The cat, Morgana, introduced himself.
“…Okay. We’ll help you.” Kaede said. Morgana’s eyes lit up as he smiled.
“Great! Just get that key on the wall right there!” Morgana gestured one of his paws to the nearby wall. Kaede nodded, grabbed the key, and unlocked Morgana’s cell.
“Aaa! They can lock me up as much as they want, but I’ll always know the taste of freedom!” Morgana stretched his arms(?) as he walked out of the cell. His relief then turned to shock as Kaede crouched down and hugged him.
“Mmm… Yep! You’re as soft as I thought! Like one of Mi-chan’s stuffed animals!” Kaede said as she then began to pet Morgana.
“Hey! Has anyone told you that it’s rude to… Yeah, right there…” Morgana’s protests fell short as he melted into the hug and pets. Ann’s eyes widened when she heard footsteps getting closer.
“Okay, can you get us out of here now!?” Ann yelled.
“You don’t want a hug too? I-I mean of course! Follow me!” Morgana said as he hopped out of Kaede’s arms and ran down the hall, the two girls quickly following behind.
Sadayo Kawakami sighed as she looked at the clock. She had no idea what exactly she was expecting when she was first told that a delinquent would be in her class. Rough attitude? Tattoos? She was a bit ashamed to admit that she was kind of expecting a boy.
Akamatsu had none of those traits, and you would have to be crazy to not find that even a little bit eyebrow raising. It gave her a headache. To make things even worse, Akamatsu was late. On her first day. Just what was this girl’s deal?
“Sakura-san said she left this morning… should I call the police?” Kawakami asked herself before shaking her head. “No… that would just be more of a hassle.
What had she done to deserve this?
“Okay. Can you one of you pull this lever here?” Morgana had led Kaede and Ann back to the bridge and gestured to the statue of Kamoshida’s head. Kaede reached into the statue’s mouth, confirmed that there was a lever, and pulled it, causing the bridge to come down.
“T-That was it!? We ran right past this…” Ann sighed.
“Hehe! Don’t worry! Everyone makes mistakes! Come on!” Morgana said before crossing the bridge. Kaede and Ann once again followed him.
“AAAH!” Ann jumped back as the three were cornered by a group of guards. Kaede's outfit was then once again briefly engulfed in flames and changed to the one from before.
"Heh. So you can use a Persona too, huh?" Morgana chuckled.
"Persona?" Kaede asked.
"Wait… don't tell me…" Ann said. Morgana turned his head to her and smiled.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you. Come! Zorro!" Morgana yelled before a bright light consumed him. When it died down, Morgana was standing in front of a masculine humanoid figure holding a sword in a black suit and blue scarf with a belt that had a large buckle in the shape of a Z.
"Irene!" Kaede was quick to summon her own Persona. Irene immediately attacked a guard with the dark energy from before.
"Ha. Knew you were an amateur. Listen. Make sure you hit their weakness, okay?" Morgana said before having Zorro finish the guard off with a gust of wind. Kaede nodded and attacked the other guard with her knife. Irene then clawed at the guard with her sharp nails, killing it.
“Okay, does everyone have one of these things!?” Ann demanded.
“How should I know!? I just got mine!” Kaede threw her hands up in defense before her outfit turned back to normal.
“...Wait, do I have one? Hold on. Persona!” Ann yelled as she tried and failed to summon a Persona of her own. Morgana laughed.
“Anyone can have one. But you need to awaken it first.” Morgana explained.
“What does that mean?” Ann asked.
“We don’t have time. Follow me!” Morgana said before he continued on his path. It was just then that Ann noticed something. The cells weren’t empty.
“Wait! What about him!?” Ann gestured to a boy laying on his stomach.
“Y-Yeah! We can’t just leave him like this!” Kaede said.
“He’s not-Look, I just said we don’t have time! Either you follow me or you don’t!” Morgana said before he continued running off. Kaede gave the boy a sad look before following the not-cat. Ann gave a reluctant sigh before following as well.
When they reached the exit, both girls gave a sigh of relief.
“Alright! Let’s get out of here!” Ann said before trying to open the door. It didn’t work.
“Oh no, no, no! We’re trapped!” Kaede nearly fell to her knees.
“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t go through the door, go through there.” Morgana gestured to a tunnel that was blocked off by what appeared to be some kind of wall or fence.
“How do we get over that?” Ann asked.
“Climb over. Duh.” Kaede said. Ann sighed in what at this point sounded like complete defeat.
“Once you get to the other side, you’ll be back in the outside world in no time.” Morgana explained.
“You aren’t coming?” Kaede asked.
“I still have some things to do here.” Morgana explained. Kaede nodded, crouched down, and gave Morgana one last pat on the head.
“Thank you, Morgana.” Kaede said before helping Ann get over the barrier. Morgana stayed silent as he watched them go.
“Those two could be useful. While the pigtailed one is prettier… her friend is definitely the more useful out of the two at the moment.” Morgana mused to himself before heading back into the Palace.