Phantom Thieves of Hope - A Danganronpa X Persona 5 Story.

Chapter 20: Idolmaster

Aria of the Soul - Persona 5

"Alright, last one..." Makoto said "Orobas and Nekomata."

Makoto studied over the sheet with the two Personas he wished to fuse, and selected the abilities to be passed over. Once he signed the paper with his name, he watched as the forms of two of his Personas combined together. When the light that emerged dispersed, in their place was a new, Chimera Persona.

It introduced itself as Nue, then became absorbed in his mask.

"Ah yes...This one will do you nicely," Agatha smiled as Makoto stood up from the desk, "will that be all for today?"

"For now, yes..." he nodded, "thanks for humoring me."

"You are the guest of this Velvet Room," Agatha courtesied, "you may intrude any time you may like."

"Indeed. Your academic career with us is proceeding smoothly," Igor chimed in, "you're steadily developing bonds with the various confidants you have made..."

Like he was performing a magic trick, Igor produced a deck of cards from his sleeves and then gracefully laid them out along the table. His hand scanned over them the other way, and he flipped over a certain few of them. He went back to resting his head on his hands and chuckled once he was done...

"Let's see...The Fool, The Magician, The Hierophant, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, Justice, The Hanged Man, The Devil, The Tower, and The Moon," he said, "you have made a journey, but there are pieces of this tale still missing from our book...I wonder what filling them in will bring about?"

"Aren't you guys supposed to be all-knowing all-seeing? Honestly, I'm the one who should be asking you that..." Makoto frowned.

"It seems you still don't quite understand what role we play in this, student..." Igor rested his arms on the table.

"I don't understand because you won't tell me," Makoto grumbled, "whatever...I can wait a little longer to hear a proper answer."

"How delightfully patient of you," the long-nosed man chuckled, "if there is anything I can tell you right now, it's that our fates rely on your choices. How YOU choose to proceed will determine the future chapters of this story."

"Please, keep that in mind, young one," Agatha bowed as Makoto made his exit, "the winds of change are fast blowing in your direction."

X

Makoto stepped out of the Velvet Room back into his dorm room. Though he had expected as much, he had taken a trip to the Velvet Room and came out with some new Personas, and just more riddles instead of answers.

After what had happened the previous day, Makoto intended to ask Igor about the presence of anyone else in the Metaverse that he may not know about. However, Igor had only responded by shrugging and denying any knowledge of such a person. He also clarified that he only knew of the information through Makoto's eyes as the guest of the Velvet Room, he could only truly talk about things Makoto had already become aware of.

This didn't sit right to Makoto, since he knew Igor was the one distributing the MetaNav App to his allies, so assuming a fellow Metaverse user existed, the obvious conclusion would be they were using the app too. Or perhaps they had a different but similar method?

Whatever the truth was, it was concerning. If Igor was lying, it really put things into perspective for Makoto, and he doubted he could trust much of what the long-nosed man and his attendant were really thinking. Assuming he was telling the truth, however, it meant that there was someone out there who could hide from the gaze of the all-powerful Velvet Room Master, which made Makoto question just who or what he was dealing with, and how powerful they really were.