Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 187

Some time had passed, them having gotten back into a condition to fight on and explore the Palace. Thus a quick text to meet up, this time alongside Ole, to get the mission started.

Finding the location of the treasure was always a chore. Lukanja knew it from the last two attempts they had been participating in. No, the last three rather. Nijima–San’s Shadow didn’t make it easy either. If it wasn’t for the sudden pull from Akechi they would have never crossed that bridge after all. It was probably not planned out like how it played out so they had to nod it off with some respect. He at least knew how to use his head even in the toughest of situations. They wouldn’t have thought of keeping the membership card, probably. But those places were massive. Of course it would take some time to track the exact place of the treasure down.This place however? It was a large building, a library of some sorts. It shouldn’t be that hard to find an extra room or two. 

But no, even when going through the halls in this cramped space it was always the same thing – One bookshelf after the other, filled with nothing but all sorts of hand written books. And each story was only familiar to their very own ears. Then again, they were all a product of their perception and mind so why were they even caught off guard by this? 

In any case, there were no hints whatsoever. No map nor a riddle on how to find anything else within the Palace itself. Truth to be told, Swan had expected this in every way, given that they were not the best at directions. They remembered in elementary school, when they were tasked to draw a map of their way to school… It took them hours to even finish it. ‘ I’ll never do this again ’ they even swore to themself. And overall they were just terrible with directions. So having no map was honestly the way to go here. Even if it made things a little harder but hey, they had navigated some Palaces without the map. It should be just fine, right? After all, they just had to go through some books and—

“What’s up with this mess?”  They heard Crow complain with a scoff. Swan’s gaze moved to the side to see him stare at the shelf a bit in disbelief yet also annoyance. Even if it wasn’t too visible thanks to the mask it was enough to tell from his tone, let alone that he was eyeing a part of the shelf like this. “They just look shoved in there. Not sorted in any way.”

“You get used to it.” They heard O sigh in response, followed by roaming around. “Have you seen their room? Or this Palace?”

“Of course I did! I’m not blind!” The Black Mask nearly hissed. “I didn’t expect the shelves to be a mess either!”

“I’m honestly impressed that the books are on shelves like these.” Hearing that from the cat stung the most though. He was right but still… When this is over they really have to learn how to tidy up, don't they? 

“C… Can you two please just continue looking?” Swan tried to ignore it, starting to feel slightly uncomfortable upon being called out like this. They knew perfectly to be honest. Yet it was still a different story to just hear it out loud like that. “We’re here for the treasure.”

“Yes, yes. Got it.” O was at least ready to let it go, much to their relief. 

Crow on the other hand… “Whatever. Complaining won’t get us any further.” Though they could tell that the last word had not been spoken in that regard. And the thought of that had them at least a little terrified for what’s to come later. 

Though at least for now things had shifted into another direction, even if it ended up in silence. It was a surprise that Anja and Luka had not shown up as of yet. But then again, maybe they were just too focused working on something to really bother with people who had snuck in. It was Swan’s best guess at least. After all, it was hard to get their attention once they seriously started to immerse themself in their work.  So stuff like this would fly over their head. They knew that it would.