Testing The Devil's Luck

Chapter 1: Unnecessary Conduct

March 21st, 20XX...

The day started out as per usual for the Sub-Division 4 group within Inaba: The morning was bright as the students who attended school paid close attention to their lessons, lunch was booming with chatter from every student, and the afternoon was filled to the brim with assignments. Like with every school day, Ishihara Keiki barely attended but due to his intelligence and quick wits, teachers allowed him to do this. It was like they treated him as a god of sorts. Once the bell rung for after-school, the raven-haired male texted his leader and friend (Amber Aguilar) to meet him at Makineo Park as he wished to chat with her. The female was excited to go see her friend and committed to going which in reality was a bad idea. Arriving at the park on time, the two begin to walk the trail for a few minutes until Ishihara brings them to a halt. No one else was around at this time so they could talk freely now. It was at this point that he freely speaks to her about his trust in her and how he goes on to explain that he was the notorious Shadow Jackal. In all honesty, Amber had a hunch about Ishihara being a thief but she never suspected him to be the Shadow Jackal. After a few words are exchanged, Keiki soon explains of a document he found and printed out that talks about being good friends in the future. Since Amber placed all her trust into Ishihara, she signed her name onto the document without even reading it. Once she realizes Keiki didn't let her read it over, tension fills the air and she feels nothing but a dark presence around Ishihara. The raven-haired male starts to chuckle darkly before it turns into a full-blown evil laughter which freaks the poor girl out. He begins explaining how this was planned from the start after Akia was added to the team. All because 'he believed that he could have a new team of thieves follow him' and it broke her heart but due to her being a Wild Card, all this caused was a final bond, giving Ishihara his true power. Tomorrow is another day...

March 22-31 through April 1-16, 20XX...

With the team under a new leader, things began to take a turn for the worst... regardless of jobs got done faster: Those who disobeyed Ishihara were beaten up to a pulp or tortured, everyone was always pushed to their limits, and everyone barely got enough sleep as they did both regular and now thief jobs. The team was reaching a breaking point and Keiki was becoming consumed with power... yet no one had the courage to stand up to him. All except one and that was Saniiro Haru (an old crush of Ishihara's)... but every time Saniiro stood up to Ishihara, the raven-haired male would make him into an example for those who wished to stand up to him as well. He even attacked Mishima for no apparent reason due to how corrupt he became. The abuse and neglect got to the point that Amber and Saniiro chose to take action against him. One day after-school on April 16th, the duo decided to look the creator of the Phantom Aficionado Website within Shujin Academy in Shibuya. "I'm telling you, this isn't going to work, Partner... Ishihara's in cahoots with one of them... they're bound to turn this down," said the blonde as they approached Mishima. The duo took notice of Mishima's black eye and assumed it was the work of Keiki so they began to talk back and forth on what to do. Eventually Mishima brought up how he attempted to contact the Phantom Thieves of Hearts about this request but it got ignored twice. Believing evidence would convince them, Saniiro takes out his cellphone and hands it over to Mishima which had a ton of pictures of them being abused by Ishihara. The younger male gave a small nod as he told them he would try to hand over the cellphone and see if they do anything afterwards. Tomorrow is another day...

April 19th, 20XX...

It took a few days for Ryuji to muster up some courage to accept the phone's pictures as real and made his way to Inaba angrily, moving to confront Ishihara on the matter. Once he locates the older male, the blonde moves over and stomps his foot down to get the other's attention... his voice filled with nothing but venom. "You and me need to talk... NOW." The raven-haired male looks over slightly, confused as to why Sakamoto seemed so pissed off, "Ooooooookay...? Something wrong, Ryuji?" The blonde takes out Saniiro's phone from his pocket, making sure it was already on one of the many pictures and holds it up close to Ishihara's face, "Tell me what the hell this is." Keiki's eyes widen a bit as he scans over the photos, quickly piecing together whose phone it was and lets out a scoff. "Fabricated photos... that mutt always has it out for me." Ryuji didn't believe the other so he places one hand on his hips as he pulls the phone away from Ishihara's face, "Oh, is that so? I saw my friend, Mishima, with a black eye the other day... I asked him about it but he told me it was nothing... but please, this isn't my first rodeo. My other friend, Akira, then told me about how he got a request to go after a 'Ishihara Michael Keiki'. I told him, 'Nah, this is prolly a misunderstanding because my boyfriend would never do that.' Then... I was shown these pics. You're looking so suspicious right now, Ishihara, and I'm not happy about it." The blonde then stares Keiki dead in the eyes and proceeds to give the cellphone a little shake before continuing, "This shit right here makes me fucking sick. You know damn well I'm a abuse victim just like Mishima and many others. My father was an asshole alcoholic before he ditched me and my mom and then that prev Kamoshida came. I will NOT stand for this! If you don't stop, I will dump you faster than a bullet and steal your heart! Do you understand me?!"

Ishihara only gives Ryuji an unreadable expression as he shoves his hands into his pockets, annoyed with the fact that Saniiro purposely disobeyed him. "Suspicious, huh...? You really are going to believe what that mutt has to say without trying to start up an investigation of your own? My team is perfectly fine. As for Mishima, that was an accident. Nothing more." Keiki was just unfazed from the whole ordeal but gives a small nod and holds out his hand to Ryuji before continuing, "... Alright... I'll stop. Hand over the cellphone so that I can return it to the mutt." Sakamoto trusted Ishihara's words and slightly nods as he handed the phone back over, "That's what Mishima is for... investigation and giving us the report... he's doing a pretty good job of it, I think. But I love you, Ishihara. I don't want to lose you... and I know I will if I change your heart. Please... for me, man... change." Ishihara agreed to Ryuji to please the other but with how corrupt he became, he also saw Sakamoto as a protection from the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. As long as remained loyal to his loved one, Ryuji would probably have them drop the case and yet again, Ishihara would escape.

April 21st, 20XX...

While moving to steal from a museum within Shibuya, the Shadow Jackal moves swiftly through the shadows until he hears two familiar voices. Upon hearing them, he identifies them as Fanny Charlotte and that detective (Goro Akechi) from a few days ago. As he continued to listen in, Keiki hears his code name mentioned and how quick Fanny was to admit to knowing him. That was the final straw... no one can be trusted. Waiting for Fanny to return to Inaba, Ishihara moves back to his apartment in Inaba and removes his costume. The male moves back to the train station and waits for the train from Shibuya to return... once it does, he follows Fanny until no one is around them. Without warning, Ishihara jumps down behind her and goes up to her, grabbing her by the collar. "Fanny... I love you to death but don't ever talk with that detective. You and Amber have a bad tendency to open your mouths when you shouldn't. You talk to him again and you won't like what happens next." The female was terrified at the action Ishihara did but tried her best to keep from trembling, trying to beg for forgiveness. However, Ishihara was skeptical of her apology so he decided to give her punishment and an excuse to never see Goro again. The raven-haired male raised his right fist and punched her in the eye so that she would have a black eye, just like Mishima did. Fanny began to talk about how Ishihara was lying about trying to protect her and it only angered him further. Taking out a knife, Ishihara demands she listen to him then proceeds to cut her slightly to prove that he's serious. The female winces from the pain and cries out her eyes but 'agrees' to Ishihara's demands and moves to leave as normal as she could... if she ran, who knows what Ishihara would do next. Once she believed she was out of sight, Fanny yanks off whatever patchwork Ishihara did to her arm and takes out a knife of her own, making the cut look even deeper... she has to tell Akechi... he'll help her.

Give or take a few hours before she gets the injuries, Fanny moves over to Goro slowly as she nervously speaks up, telling her how the Shadow Jackal injured her. The young male detective quickly asks of her to give the locations to find him but she's too hesitant on being attacked again. Akechi assures her that he wasn't going to allow the Shadow Jackal to harm her again so she finally gives up the locations the Shadow Jackal stays, including her own home, in case Ishihara tries to go there. Making a mental note of the locations, Goro thanks Fanny before asking of the Shadow Jackal's true name so it would be easier to locate him. With a sigh, the female gives out the name to the detective which he makes another mental note of. The two discuss of plans on how to keep Fanny protected and both agree to her staying but not before giving up her cellphone to him. With this, the two part ways and Goro begins to make a plan to go and capture Ishihara.

---

This chapter is done. Please note I do not own any of the Persona 5 characters nor how they behave in this. This is based off RPs and the Persona 5 males (Goro, Akira, Ryuji, and Yusuke) are played by a friend of mine on DA so those characters are based on how they play as them. I also do not own Fanny Charlotte as this belongs to a friend of mine from DA as well.

Persona A, Sub-Division 4, Saniiro Haru, Amber Aguilar, and Ishihara Keiki (Shadow Jackal) belong to me.