Persona 5: Beneath The Mask

CHAPTER LXVI

Chapter 66: Provoked

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The following days proved no better for the Phantom Thieves than the moment Medjed publicly provoked the group into submission under their so-called "superior" will.

You all decided not to respond to their threats directly, though the fallout was impossible to ignore. Forums buzzed with speculation as people swarmed them from the Phantom Aficionado Website, which was unusable at the moment. Medjed had turned the site into a blank slate with nothing but their message in it.

It left Mishima scrambling for control. So far, his attempts to reclaim the domain had been thwarted by them. It was most likely that Medjed was actively blocking him from reaching his own website.

For now, your group went through the motions of student life, all the while searching for a worthy target to once again prove your justice. Ryuji, as usual, pitched an idea that made everyone pause. That is, targeting Medjed directly.

But how could you strike at something so nebulous? An enemy that existed only as a name, cloaked in obscurity, threatening from the shadows of the internet?

To infiltrate a Palace, you needed three things: a name, a location, and a distorted desire. Medjed provided none of these. There was no clear figure behind the name, no identifiable stronghold, and no tangible distortion to pursue. The group was utterly stumped.

It was understandable why the Phantom Thieves had chosen to pursue Suguru Kamoshida in the beginning. The teacher... no, the former teacher, had harmed them in ways that cut the three of them deeply.  Enough to leave scars both mental and physical. Worst of all, he had pushed one of them to the brink of suicide.

Madarame was a stretch, but if the Thieves hadn’t targeted him, they never would have met Yusuke. Perhaps, in hindsight, that connection made the risk worth taking.

But Kaneshiro... That was where things had spiraled somehow. Targeting him wasn’t personal to them; it was for the students crushed under his thumbs. Yet, by taking him on, the Phantom Thieves had unknowingly placed themselves in unprecedented danger. Something they might have been unequipped to pursue before.

Makoto Niijima had nearly been sold into slavery to pay off debt. You had been threatened with extortion, Kaneshiro poised to wring every last yen from your family. Akira had risked imprisonment just for stepping into the web of the mafia too.

Kaneshiro had been nothing but trouble for your group, and though his defeat felt justified, it had been reckless on your part. Looking back now, it was hard to ignore the fact that no one had forced you to act back then, if you count Makoto Niijima out of the picture. The decision to pursue him rested entirely on your group’s shoulders.

And now, as a larger and more insidious threat emerged in the form of Medjed, you couldn’t shake off the negative feeling blooming within you. Was this too much?

Were you pushing beyond your limits?

After all, there’s only so much a group of students could do before the weight of it all became unbearable. Maybe—just maybe—it was time to stop.

Then, one afternoon, Akira gathered everyone at the small bakery near the station to strategize.

The cozy shop was beginning to gain traction with patrons, but it was still inconspicuous enough to serve as a meeting spot. The background chatter of other customers ensured your conversation could remain private, so long as you kept your voices low; something Akira was adept at. Ryuji, however, was less subtle to the point that his voice always bordered on a shout. It earned him occasional glances from nearby tables.