Persona 5 Royal AU

Chapter 48 - Confidants Part 1

When I returned home, I decided to see who I could meet up with at night. I could meet up with Hifumi, so that's what I'll do. When I got there, I saw Hifumi seemed troubled. She asked if we could go for a walk.

"Of course, let's go." I said to her.

We went to the Skytree building. It's too bad that Shadeon wants to sleep more, he'd love the view. Hifumi had me look at something on my phone and seemed a bit depressed.

"This is it..." she said. "...The digital version of the weekly magazine."

"There seemed to be a lot of personal information that shouldn't be in a magazine.

"My father's deteriorating health, and that he's bedridden... The fact my mother primarily supports us... They even reported that my mother works at a nightclub..."

"This is all personal that doesn't seem like it was any of their business to report on." I said.

"Yes... I believe so as well. Capitalizing on a family's private matters is just cruel..." Hifumi said. "This has nothing to do with my skills as a shogi player."

She was telling me about how her mother is now more obsessed with her becoming famous than before, I could see it in her eyes that she is frustrated. She was thinking about giving up shogi, So I merely told Hifumi to do what she loved doing. That helped her remember that she loves the game despite all that happens around her. Hifumi realized it all on her own too. After cheering her up, we went back to the church and played a match. That was the only confidant I could hang out with tonight though as I was still slightly tired from the excursion through the palace.

The next day, I sat through boring school lectures. After school, I went to meet the one they call King of Gun About. After all, I need to ask him for his help. When I got to the arcade at Akihabara, there was a kid dual-wielding the game machine guns. I had to wait for him to finish up. I approached him after the crowd left.

"...What do you want?" he asked.

"Can you teach me some tricks?" I asked.

"...Nah. Sounds like too much work." he said looking annoyed. "Don't take it personal; I turn everyone down... Later."

"There's an annoying player that's using cheats." I said.

"I see, makes me mad when he does that... But I can still beat him, so I don't really care. Just forget about him."

"I can't let the bad guys win." I said.

That caught his attention.

"...You sound like the Phantom Thieves." he said smiling a little. "So, you're saying you wanna beat the cheater? You seem like a nice guy, but...just let it go."

I think this kid is a fan of us.

"The Phantom Thieves are really cool, aren't they? Are you a fan too? Have you ever met them?" he asked.

"I saw their first success." I said smiling a bit.

Now he was excited.

"Oh, you mean at Shujin Academy? Yeah, that was pretty awesome!" he said.

He was still a bit hesitant so I asked if we could make a deal. He wants to meet the Phantom Thieves, though I can't let him know our identities, I think there is something that I can do. When I got his name, all I had to do now was talk to the others, perhaps Futaba can help. So, I went to Futaba and Morgana decided that we could also give him a calling card. With that all set, we went back. I told Futaba to go ahead, and then I talked to Shinya.