Of Phantoms and Thieves

Heart of the Phantom Thieves

"Gah, he must have gone to guard the treasure..." Morgana groaned.

"Sorry for mentioning it..." Haru apologized.

"It's okay, it was a reasonable question," Ann said.

"That Shadow sure does change his mind quickly," Yusuke murmured. "This is making me worry."

"Yeah, the way that he looked at us..." Futaba sighed. "But don't you think that's a bit too suspicious?"

"Suspicious?" Ann asked.

"Yeah, you know? I feel like this is some sort of trap. This Shadow knows of palaces. He expects us to steal the treasure, so he must have something planned for us."

"I see," Yusuke retorted. "Might I point out that we're running out of time? We can't possibly go through the previous routes."

"Fox is right," Haru agreed. "Every path may be too dangerous."

"Guys, you're thinking about this too hard," Morgana sighed. "Haven't you ever heard of breaking and entering?"

"Breaking and entering?" Ann repeated. "Isn't that a bit too obvious? Wouldn't he expect us to do that?"

"I think not. I believe Joker would realize that we'd see that a window or a vent would be too cliché. It would be... expected. He expects us to go the hard way."

"You're saying that we should just go through one of the many windows?" Futaba concluded.

"Exactly. I mean, if you think about it, he would have higher defenses on the vents and areas where sneaking around is common. He has the knowledge of a thief, and he knows that we know that, so he would most likely think that we would avoid it. So, if my prediction is right, the security would be weak where we would usually sneak around. I mean, wouldn't he have motion sensors in the vents that we crawled through?"

"That kind of makes sense and doesn't at the same time," Ann sighed. "He obviously knew of us blowing up a wall, the Shadows have caught us through the manhole, and they caught us sneaking through the front doors. Now you want us to go through a window? Wouldn't he predict every type of entrance?"

"Also, we've failed to mention that cliché entrances have been used in previous palace entries," Futaba pointed out. "This wouldn't be a first for us."

Morgana's ears flattened and his face brightened. "I- I mean... we could just go through the window..."

"There is nothing stopping us from doing that," Yusuke mentioned.

Morgana sighed. "I'm sorry, guys... I really don't know what to expect from this Shadow..."

"He's nothing like the others that we've met so far," Haru added.

"Yeah, this one is really..." Ann paused for a moment. "I'm going to be completely honest, this Shadow is pretty messed up."

"How so?" Yusuke asked.

"Disappearing, the constant change in personality, how he knows of reality, referring to himself in the third person, his chosen 'guests'..."

"The whole facade is strange," Futaba murmured. "When I met my Shadow, she referred to me in the third person because of Alibaba, so this situation must be similar... the change in personality must be because he's a wildcard... At least, that's what Lavenza called it."

"It is confusing," Haru admitted. "Even I am getting lost in the meanings."

"Something like this is hard to manifest," Morgana explained, climbing up on a bike rack. "There are many ways that the Metaverse can be interpreted, but all in all these desires have become too dangerous to live with. Joker needs our help. Without even realizing it he has pleaded for us to get rid of this palace. The last text he sent was alarming. If... if I'm interpreting this right, his situation is also similar to the Velvet Room."

"The Velvet Room? Mona-chan, how is it similar?"

"You guys saw the Velvet Room before the battle with Yaldabaoth. It was in the form of a prison. Ren felt chained down by society. He still feels trapped even in this palace.

"'Unless you find me, there's no turning back. He has taken me hostage, and this is my only escape. Away from Tokyo. Away from the heart of the Phantom Thieves.' What if... What if this 'heart of the Phantom Thieves' is Ren?"

"He was our leader," Yusuke replied. "The leader is usually referred to as the heart of a group."

"If that's the case," Ann began, "not only is he running away from the Phantom Thieves, but he's also running away from himself."

"He's running away from the Phantom Thief side of him," Morgana concluded. "Or rather, he's running away from Joker."

"What about the part that says, 'He has taken me hostage'?" Futaba quizzed. "Is he talking about his Shadow?"

"We can't be sure what he meant by that," Morgana sighed. "But Joker has made it clear. He's in trouble and if we don't do anything things will escalate into chaos."

"We should make haste and steal the treasure," Yusuke urged.

The group of thieves made their way towards the palace, prepping themselves for the worst.