Persona 5: Akira's Palace

Chapter 3: Grief

Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, and Haru walked upstairs to see Akira. He was still sitting beside his bed, not saying a word. Ryuji was the first to say something.
"Hey, Akira." Ryuji said. "How're you feeling?" Akira looked up at Ryuji.
"Ryuji?" Akira said. "What are you..." He stopped to look around his room. He saw all of his friends there.
"Akira, we've come to see you." Yusuke said. "Ann told us what happened. I can't believe you had to go through something like that. I offer condolences from myself and everyone else." Everyone nodded. Akira said nothing, and looked at the ground. Makoto came to sit beside him on the floor. Akira looked at her, and back at the floor. Everyone stayed the day in the attic of LeBlanc. When night came, they left one by one. Futaba was the last to leave. On her way out, she decided to check the MetaNav on a whim. She typed "Akira Kurusu" into the Nav. She was surprised when she found it was a hit. She was going to message the Phantom Thieves group chat, but decided not to, since Akira was also in that chat. She messaged everyone else separately, telling them to meet at the old hideout in Shibuya to discuss this. The next day, the Phantom Thieves met up in Shibuya to discuss Akira's Palace.
"So, all you have so far is that he has a Palace,  but not where and what?" Haru asked.
"Yep." Futaba said. "Any ideas?"
"What about LeBlanc? That could be the where." Ann said. Futaba typed it in, and it was also a hit. "So know we know the who and the where," Yusuke said. "All that would be left is what the distortion is." They pondered for a bit. The only option would be to guess, since asking Akira himself would be out of the question. They decided to try some guesses.
"Uhh... graveyard?" Ryuji said. Nothing.
"Chamber?" Haru said. Nothing.
"Wait." Yusuke said. "Akira's codename is Joker, so it might be something related to a stage play."
"Theatre?" Ann guessed. It was a hit. They were transported from the real world to the Metaverse. When they arrived in the Metaverse, they weren't in their Phantom Thief attire. They were still in their normal clothes. They were staring at a massive theatre.
"Is this for real?" Ryuji said. "Akira has a Palace..."
"Look. We aren't in our Thief attire. That must mean Akira doesn't consider us threats yet." Makoto said. "Let's investigate." They walked into the theatre. Once inside, they saw a figure. When it walked towards them, they saw that it was Shadow Akira.
"Welcome to my theatre, Phantom Thieves of Hearts." Shadow Akira said. "Are you here for the show?"
"We're here to change your heart!" Ryuji yelled.
"Oh, is that so?" Shadow Akira asked. "Well, we can't have that, now can we? Guards, give them a show." Shadow Akira snapped his fingers, and two shadow guards showed up. When Shadow Akira walked away, the Phantom Thieves changed into their thief attire.
"We're in our Thief clothes now." Yusuke said. "Akira must be considering us as threats. If only someone didn't blab out our agenda." The Phantom Thieves all looked at Ryuji, then back forwards.
"We need to take them down." Ann said. Everyone agreed, and they all took down the shadow guards. After they finished, they decided to head back for the day. When they got back. Ryuji remembered something.
"Yo, we should bring Morgana into Akira's Palace too. It'd be nice to have some more power." They all agreed, and before heading home, Ryuji and Ann stopped by LeBlanc to tell Morgana about Akira's Palace.