Pandemonium || PERSONA 5 FF (hiatus)

19│ Smoke and Mirrors

Part 1

It was a busy afternoon in the subway, like the previous days. It was indeed crowded, people were pushing each other to stay on their tiny space. That was nothing different from the group of teens, trying to make their way through their destination.

Despite the situation, each of them were focused on their goal in hand.

"What did Yusuke say?" Morgana asked.

It was just after Ann contacted the young artist they just met. Apparently, the boy specifically got inspired by her, and asked her to be his model.

If Ann will be honest about how she felt, she was definitely flattered.

However, the backfire was pretty quick when now, she's forced to accept it in order for the group to be able to get some intel. No matter how much she tried to escape the situation, just like how she tried to get Kyoko to sub for her, well... seemed like fate was not in favor of that.

"When I texted him about the modeling job, he sent me an address. He said it's Madarame-sensei's studio." Ann replied, and she seemed to have moved on from the fact that she had to take the job.

She was just supposed to model for him, right?

Still, something doesn't feel right.

"Right, he said he lives here." Ryuji said, causing Ann to snap out of her thoughts. The blonde then wandered his eyes around, noticing that Kyoko was out again. "Speaking of which, where's Mochizuki?"

"She said she has an appointment," Ren answered. "Probably for her job."

Part 2

The same afternoon, in a certain office──

A man wearing his formal attire who seemed to be a worker for the government, there sat on a chair in his office. He was looking through his papers and was deep in his thoughts. However, a ringing sound from the phone interrupted his thoughts.

"This is Nakanohara speaking." The man said after picking up the phone. "You want to make an appointment for... an interview?"

Part 3

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

The voice of a certain teen girl caused the man to turn his head in the direction of the voice. His eyes met the figure of the girl, and she was undoubtedly familiar.

"The traffic was quite heavy." The white-haired girl continued her previous statement. She then sat on the chair of the opposite side where the man sat.

Stifling through her pocket, her petite hand laid on a black wallet with thin white stripes to its sides. She opened it which unveiled her ID as a high school detective in the Tokyo District Department. The teen detective turned it facing the man.

"I'm Kyoko Mochizuki, a high school detective. It's a pleasure to meet you, Nakanohara-san."

Kyoko introduced with a plain expression. She was wearing a formal attire─ a black sleeveless polo with white collar along with red necktie. She was wearing a black skirt that lengths up to her thighs. A white hoodie jacket was worn by her to cover her arms, while dark brown stockings were worn by her to cover legs. She was wearing black wedge heel as her footwear.

"A, h-high school detective? Aren't you the one who's recently on the news before the Phantom Thieves?" The man stuttered in his reply with a shock.

"Indeed," Kyoko replied. "I'll get straight to the point."

The teen detective started, in which the man gulped in reply. Was it because of a recent activity in his work? Was it because he was stalking his ex? Or... was it possibly because this detective is curious about his past?