A Disregarded Palace

The End

We managed to escape the building with Katsumi's help. Once we got back to the real world, I wanted to ask Katsumi some questions.

I stared at him. Katsumi looked like I remembered, confident, enthusiastic, and composed. "Katsumi, when did you awaken to your persona?" I asked him.

He smiled at me, "Two years ago. The same day you told me you didn't want to know me anymore." He glanced at the others, "I don't know how I entered the metaverse, but I discovered a power I used to my advantage."

"A power?" I was confused, "Like how I can turn people psychotic?"

"Yeah. Except I can alter memories." He looked back over at me, "I was mad at you, so I did just what you wished. I erased your memories of me."

"But how? I remember now, so can you also return memories?" I asked.

"Yes. I couldn't do it all at once because returning memories can leave someone in a poor state." He shook his head, "But at that point, I could hardly control it anymore because of my palace."

"So you awakened a persona, then those same desires that helped you awaken became distorted." Futaba chimed in. Then she thought for an extra second, "Were you the one who saved Akechi back in Shido's palace?!"

"Yeah." He looked over to Futaba, "I couldn't control Aethena much then either, so I was lucky."

"But how did you know he was in trouble?" Yusuke asked, "And how did you know he was in Shido's palace?"

Katsumi looked over to the artist, "I saw him go into the palace. I decided to follow him. I heard the shadow version of him talking about finding and killing the actual Akechi, so I knew I had to do something."

"Are you going home after this?" I asked him.

Katsumi shook his head, "I'm going to find a way to live on my own." His voice was filled with spite and confidence, and he laughed, "I want to leave this rotten place, I want to make a difference in this world, even if it means starting anew."

His smile was what proved to me that even though we had separated and gone on our separate ways, that we would still be connected through our Justice.