Life Will Change Book 2

Chapter 15: The Jail of Vanity

Begin!

~Normal POV

8/2 - Wednesday

After Akira stocked them up on necessary supplies, they were ready to enter the Jail at last. Honestly, they didn't realize how they didn't simply guess Natsume's keyword. With how much the city went on about his damn book, they could have just tried the title in EMMA before this and gotten in already. Joking aside, it was best to be ready for anything. This was only their second Jail after all. And given that Natsume was likely aware of the Phantom Thieves' existence by now, it was a safe bet that he had tighter security than Alice did...

What they weren't prepared for was what they saw inside the Jail upon entry.

Natsume's Jail took up most of the Sendai area. At its core was a huge castle with a huge crown shaped birdcage on the highest tower. The area was littered with archaic fantasy imagery and artifacts. Cars were replaced by horse drawn carriages. It was daytime here but the sky was covered in ugly red clouds. Nearby they could see a huge golden statue of Natsume himself. Akira guessed that his sin had to do with vanity... As expected, they were seen as a threat already.

"So, that's it..." Morgana said, pointing at the castle in the distance.

"Once again, the domain reflects who's within..." Yusuke commented, looking at the gaudy imagery with discomfort.

Akira sighed to himself. "Why can't we ever go anywhere nice?"

"Since we're in the Jail, that means him being popular is a total lie," Ann said.

"Doesn't he feel any remorse for obtaining his success this way?" Haru asked, sadly. "His fans are only his fans because he forced them to be..."

"That's just how smug assholes like him think, Noir," Ryuji said, bluntly. "Anyway, we're here to stop him."

"There's a large tower in the distance." Sophia said, pointing. "Is that Natsume's castle?"

"No, it's Dracula's castle," Futaba said, simply.

Sophia looked at her with confusion. "Huh?"

"Oh, sorry- Yes, that is clearly Natsume's castle, but I was making a joke about how it looks nearly identical to Dracula's castle in the Castlevania video games..." Futaba clarified.

"Ok, but if we run into Dracula in there, I'm 500% done with this..." Akira muttered. "Oracle, what do you see?"

"Mount Aoba's over that way in reality... The main road here should lead us right to the castle..."

"Putting it simply, I believe we might be in the world of Natsume's novel in Jail form," Yusuke said, "The architecture is similar to the book's descriptions and set pieces."

Akira couldn't dispute that idea. It definitely looked like the kind of place one would find in a story titled Prince of Nightmares. "Ok then, what's it about? It'll probably help us figure out what we're up against."

"A man living a completely normal life in our world is reborn as a demon overlord in another." Yusuke explained. "Making the most of his villainous new role, he then attempts to repel the heroes who come to slay him. To that end, he deploys a number of traps about his castle. I would recommend extra caution once we actually get inside."

"And here I was stupidly hoping it'd be something worthwhile," Akira thought, disinterestedly.

~...

Akira had to say one thing for Natsume's writing, having had to essentially go through the novel's plot: It made things simpler at least. Trekking through the Jail was annoyingly simple. It's not like he didn't enjoy his fair share of fantasy novels, he had a few that were near to his heart, but this particular one he didn't care for. It didn't help that they were only doing this to change someone's heart either. They spent most of the day in the Jail, until they reached a comfortable stopping point, just before they'd attempt to enter the castle itself. When they got back to reality, it was evening again.