The Royal Strikers

Chapter Five: The Alice Hiiragi Investigation

New World Fool: Hello, everybody! The New World Fool and CloudStrife07 coming at you with a brand new chapter of The Royal Strikers! We hope you've all enjoyed your holidays, because now that the most wonderful time of the year is over with, it's time for us to get back to work for 2022.

Now then, I have a little announcement that might delight you all. CloudStrife07 and I are considering the possibility of doing a Persona 5: Royal adaptation to serve as a prequel-sequel to this story. That being said, us doing a Persona 5: Royal story that explores the events leading up to this story, while it is definitely on the table, is not an absolute certainty at this point, and it definitely wouldn't be happening until this story is completed, as this story is already a decently sized beast to tackle on its own, what with the expansion of certain story elements, the additions of Inaba, the Investigation Team, Tatsumi Port Island, the Shadow Operatives, and what they've all been up to since we last saw them on top of the main Persona 5 Strikers storyline, that we don't exactly need a second massive project on our plates at the moment. But, for now, know that a Persona 5: Royal project after this one reaches its conclusion is a possibility for the future.

Additionally, CloudStrife07 has recently informed me of some wonderful news. This story has been added to the Persona 5 fanfiction recommendations in the Crossover Fics file on TVTropes! While neither of us are expecting this story to get a full-on TVTropes page (although it would be awesome if it did) we are nonetheless tickled pink that people thought this story was good enough to get a recommendation on TVtropes alongside some of the greats like Ace In The Hole, so a big thank you to AmityDreams and Mitis for helping to put the word out about this thing.

Well, I don't think either of us had anything else we wanted to go over before we got started. So, on that note, let us start the game!

CloudStrife07: P.S. On behalf of me and NewWorldFool, we apologize for not getting this chapter out for January as planned. We were both really caught up in playing some new games that we got for Christmas, plus I myself have been busy with working on my college work for the new semester.

Chapter Five

The Alice Hiiragi Investigation

Ren, Morgana, and Ryuji all waited patiently by the rails that stood in front of the big wall of windows at the Shibuya Accessway. It has already been half an hour since Ren called Sumire and asked her to get in touch with everyone else and ask them to gather up at the very destination that Ren and the others are at right now. Ryuji was nervously tapping his foot repeatedly on the ground while Ren, in a similar manner, was nervously drumming his fingers on the rails.

"Senpai?!" a very familiar voice called out.

Ren, Morgana, and Ryuji all immediately turned their heads towards the source of where the voice came from. Sumire was walking up to them, along with Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, and Haru following behind her. Ren moved away from the rails and walked up to Sumire. He embraced his girlfriend in a tight, yet gentle hug, and Sumire buried her head into her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Hey, Sumi. I'm really happy to see you again." Ren said softly as he smiled.

"I'm just so glad that you're okay, Senpai." Sumire said in a soft tone with her eyes closed.

"Speaking of which, Ren, why weren't you or Ryuji answering your phones all day?" Ann asked with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

"Do you have any idea how worried you made all of us, especially Sumire?" Futaba asked with her arms straightened out beside her hips.