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

Chapter 26: Sins of the Mother

Suspicion - Persona 5

Kaede blinked once...Then twice...And then several more times as she took in the sudden change of scenery around her.

She rubbed her eyes and continued blinking to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She even pinched herself for reassurance, and when the reality was set in stone that she WASN'T dreaming, her jaw dropped and her eyes popped wide open.

The Tokyo Dome was GONE! And now, in its place, was a similarly structured, equally as huge, if not bigger, building with flashing lights, and a gaudy, blinding golden exterior, with signs and posters shaped like musical instruments and music notes lining its walls. A long red carpet snaked all the way up to the front doors, and on each side were strange silhouetted people, holding things like flash photography that were going off constantly, despite no one actually being on the proverbial catwalk.

The streets around her were busy too, but for some reason, everybody was dressed very strangely. They were wearing fancy suits of a variety of shapes and colors, and every person who passed her by was wearing a mask on their face.

"I wonder what that's about...?" someone next to her said.

"It could be symbolic of Kirie Akamatsu's ideals to people," a female voice responded, "she has high expectations for everyone, which is why everyone is dressed so fancily. Yet at the same time, she isn't easily deceived by outward appearances, so everyone is wearing masks to hide their true intentions."

"Interesting analogy as always, Kyoko-chan!" said a third voice, also female.

Hearing a familiar name, Kaede finally snapped out of her bewildered trance and turned to look at the people standing by her side. However, this only resulted in her entering ANOTHER bewildered trance.

Around her were 5 other individuals. She recognized one of them as Kyoko Kirigiri, but the others were all wearing masks and strange outfits, just like the people around her. However, these ones felt...different somehow.

"Kaede-san!" the one with spiky brown hair and dressed in a bright vibrant green was the first to greet her, "are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, totally fine, everything's AOK here, I do just have one question though, WHAT THE FRESH CHEESECAKE HELL IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW!?" her emotions went from 0 to 100 in a few seconds flat when she found she couldn't contain her panic and confusion any longer.

"Uhuhu! Good, good! Looks like you were able to come to the other side totally fine! A lot of potential in this one I can already tell!"

An unfamiliar voice suddenly joined their conversation, and Kaede had to look around to find its source, until her eyes finally settled downwards to a stubby pink and white, tutu-clad creature, staring up at her with its hands on its hips and a big smile on its face.

"YOU-!?" Kaede exclaimed, only to be cut off.

"Now HOLD ON!" the creature, Monomi that is, quickly went from pleased to frustrated, "this is usually the part where the newcomer calls me a "Demon Bunny" and I'll have you know that I will be taking no more of that-"

"YOU'RE SO CUUUUTEE!"

However, Monomi's, and everyone else's for that matter, expectations were massively subverted as Kaede rushed towards the plucky rabbit and scooped her up into her arms. She nuzzled her face against the creature and squeezed her tightly.

"What are YOU!? You're so adorable! Who's a widdle guy!? WHO'S A WIDDLE GUY!? Is it you? IS IT YOU!? MMMMMGH!"

"Well...I'm at least happy she's not freaking out anymore...Well, not PANIC freaking out, I guess I should say..." Leprechaun scratched his head, understandably perturbed by Kaede's abnormal reaction, "and for the record, Akamatsu-san, that's actually Monomi, the rabbit you were cuddling with earlier."