𝓣𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓦𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭 || Shattered Glass

《 3 - 4 》

"They're all weaklings. I didn't get the chance to squeeze anyone..." Floyd frowned. "It's a like powerless school of fry." Azul stated. "Just how much magic can Azul use!? I call foul play." Ace said as he catches his breath. "Are the golden contracts Azul has, repelling your magic!?" Jack said in shock. "It was a losing battle from the start..." I sighed.

"You all signed a golden contract. As long as it's valid, it cannot be annulled by any number of people. Whatever spell you use, it won't do as much as a scratch on the contract." Azul chuckled. "As long as you have that anemone on your head, you bave no choice but to obey my orders." Azul then starts giving out orders towards them bht then transfers the duty to Floyd and Jade.

Once the lounge has started to clear out, Azul turns to us. "You two are Jack Howl from Savanaclaw and Azuma Furuto from Ramshackle...correct?"

The two of us look at him deliberately, already aware of his actions. "You're welcome to make a deal. I hope to see you return here as a guest. We'll gladly welcome you anytime." He gives us a closed-eye smile as if saying he will be gladly be scamming us but then walks away.

"He's getting on my nerves..." I groan. "Let's get out of here and come up with a plan." Jack stated. I nodded in agreement as we headed out.

《 Ramshackle Dorm - Lounge 》

"To recall, the students with an anemone on their heads made a deal with Azul to pass the exam and as collateral they lost part of their magic. They will only be able to get it back once they are part of the Top 50, but because Azul made a deal with so many students, most of them couldn't make he cut so they are stuck with working for Azul until they graduate...I don't think I got anything wrong." Jack stated.

I nodded along as he made his statements while taking notes. "He also mentioned that the contract can't be destroyed by whatever magic but the way he said it made it sound like it's only 'invincible' to the ones he made deals with...I wonder if we can just steal one and rip it since we made a deal." I stated.

Jack looked at me as if I was insane so I quickly gave the idea I was probably overthinking it since I don't know what to do. "Still, there's no point in using someone else's power to get good grades. Giving up the chance to show off their knowledge is what really makes them stupid." Jack mutters loudly.

I couldn't help but stifle a laugh out. "What?" Jack looks at me confused (although it kinda looks like he was glaring.) "Sorry, sorry. It's just that...in my world people cheat so they won't embarrass themselves to their parents and get punished by them. Plus grades don't really define someone...at least that's what I've been told. I mean, I literally skipped school and cheated so I wouldn't get my PC privileges banned." I say as I idly sway my legs back and forth on the couch.

"Don't get me wrong though, I get your point but there are sometimes reasons why people are doing such things. Haha..." I let out a nervous chuckle as I try to loosen the tense atmosphere.

"Everyone in this school is self-obsessed like Mr. Howl, how troublesome. If they took things seriously we could avoid hardship for everyone, including myself."

"UWAAH! Headmaster!"
"A-AH! Headmaster!"

"Oh it seems I have startled you, my apologies." Headmaster clears his throat then sighs, "I couldn't put a stop to Mr. Ashengrotto's 'business' again this year."

"Why do you mean again?" I ask.

"His notebook didn't gain as much fame and notoriety last year so it didn't become a huge incident like this year but...It seems that a rumor has spread around that talked about "If  you want to get good grades on your exams, go to Mostro Lounge."

"If that's the case then as Headmaster can't you just order him to stop?" Jack asked. "The thing is...that is precisely the reason why I cannot prohibit his activities. The test notebook Mr. Ashengrotto distributed throughout the school wasn't made by stealing test answers, cheating or anything of the sort. He thoroughly read through the test answers of the last 100 years of Night Raven College and refined a "test key" with his own abilities." Headmaster explained.

My eyes widened in awe, "I can't imagine doing all that just to scam people...I'm impressed!" 

"Using his own power to make something like that, he's pretty good. Wait, you're saying that because it's not stealing that's what makes it troublesome...right?" Jack concluded. "That's a very good conclusion Mr. Howl. From the position of a teacher, we cannot prevent one student from making a notebook like that with their own efforts along with the fact that he kindly helped others with their studies." 

"If you did that, you'd be pretty much telling everyone "Don't study" or "Don't work with your friends".  Grr...that's troublesome." Jack rubbed the back of his neck.

"But what would happen if you breach contract was kept from spreading because of the confidentiality agreement?" I asked. "It seems that way. As a result, Mr. Ashengrotto was able to continue making deals with students this year. And in the end...the average test score in all grades in all subjects is over 90, it's better than the average of all subjects being a failure however..." 

"It means means most students have cheated." Jack sighed. "But does that mean the students, who made a deal with him last year, just been going on about without their magic given back?" I ask. "For that...In order for those students to have their abilities returned he gave the condition that I allow him to open Mostro Lounge for business on campus."

"EH!?!? "WHAT!?!?"

"That bastard...to even go as far as to make a deal with the headmaster. I can see why Leona-senpai doesn't wanna go near him." Jack clicked his tongue. "He even went as far as to call it a "Win-Win" since the school gets 10% of the money made." "Holy shit that's a good deal!!" I jumped out of my seat. 

"For those stupi-No...pathetic students I will have to meet his demands once again, for I am gracious. Mr. Ashengrotto is taking his studies quite seriously and only benevolently helping his fellow students. As a teacher I can't strongly advise that he stop. Why is it that only students with a few problems enter this school!!!" Headmaster starts sobbing which leaves me and Jack to awkwardly glance at each other, not knowing what to do. 

"So that's why Azuma." His change in demeanor startled us. "Could you somehow persuade Mr. Ashengrotto to cease these activities."

"Please don't ask of something impossible." I bluntly replied. 

"Ah...the food expenses for Ramshackle dorm have really been building up lately. My pocketbook hurts..."

"It's Grim who has a big appetite. Plus we rarely spent much."

"Ahem! And I am busy researching a way to get a certain someone home so it's hard to find time to search for a solution."

'I could barely care less about that anyway' 

"I'm not surprised we get students like that with a teacher like this y'know..." Jack muttered. 

I let out a heavy sigh, "I guess I can't refuse." 

And like a school girl successfully pleading her boyfriend to buy something for her, the Headmaster lights up "Oh really, you'll take care of this for me! That's expected of the prefect I can always count on! I am very busy so I have to bid you adieu. I'm counting on you to solve this!" The Headmaster leaves, slamming the door loudly.

"So...what now?" Jack asks.

"We'll simply have to Reach out to the Truth!!!" Dramatically, I raise a finger gun to my head as I mentally play Mass Destruction in the background only to realize...

"Wait. This is the wrong Persona Series-"

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A/N: Haha...haha...it's been uhhh...quite a long while since this was last updated. (I honestly forgot about this fanfic)

I kinda caught up making another TWST fanfic in Ao3 and ended up ignoring this one haha...whoops. I should honestly need to fix my time management...

For some reason, the Azuma and Jack interaction suddenly became a Justice Social Link (another Persona reference) I've just been playing P4G lately it's affecting the way I write oh my god—

(Now my brain is thinking of TWST Persona AU where everything is the same as canon except it takes form of a Persona Game omfg I need to stop thinking sometimes)

I might as well embrace it and dump the Persona References whenever I can.

Oh and the English Release of Twisted is coming soon! I might mix in the official translations into the edited version of the first chapters (which I have yet to do hhhh)