Spectra (Ryuji x OC)

13 • Shibuya

6/19 Daytime

"I can't believe you guys ditched me yesterday... I almost entered a world I want nothing to do with...!" I heard Ryuji exclaim as I approached the group.

"What're you talking about?" Ann asks, shaking her head.

"Nothing! Just start it up, Yusuke"

Yusuke pulled out his phone. "Ok, I entered Kaneshiro's name into the Nav. And just as expected, it's a hit"

"Who?" I ask.

"A mafia boss who's conning students at our school. Ms. President is on to us, but this is a way to show her we're not the bad guys," Ryuji explains.

"All we need now are the two other keywords, what he thinks of as his Palace, and where it is. But we don't have any clues other than people falling victim around here..." Morgana explained. "We'll just have to try whatever keywords we can come up with"

"Urgh, that's gonna be impossible. How many buildings do you think there are in Shibuya?" Ryuji asks.

"No complaining," Ann tells him.

"If we can figure out what the Palace is, we may be able to guess where it is by association," Yusuke says.

"Hmmm... it's prolly somewhere he's got complete control over. Maybe a garden?" Ryuji suggests.

"No candidates found," the app said.

"He likes money, so... what about a money bath? I've seen people online with things like that!" Ann suggests.

"No candidates found"

"No, not even close," Yusuke says.

"Bank," I say.

"Target found"

"Ok, that's a hit. So, he thinks of somewhere in this city as his own bank," Yusuke says.

"I thought it'd be something less realistic. That's all it is, huh?" Ann asks.

"Now then, what location would Kaneshiro think of as his bank?" Morgana asks.

"If we're talkin' about a place where he keeps his cash, maybe his own hideout?" Ryuji suggests.

"How about... a real bank?" Ann suggests.

"His cognition wouldn't be distorted in that case," Morgana tells her.

"Dammit, we ain't gettin' anywhere," Ryuji grumbles.

"This may be difficult to explain... but doesn't it seem we're thinking a little too inside the box?" Yusuke asks. "Palaces emanate a passionate madness. It feels as though we're missing that aspect"

"The hell're you talkin' about?"

"This Palace is a Bank for someone who extorts money with criminal acts. It's something more..."

"All of Shibuya," I say with a sigh, giving up on letting them try to figure it out for themselves.

"Results found"

"It's a good thing we got you on our team now, makes things a lot easier for us," Ryuji tells me.

"How did you know?" Ann asks me.

"I've done it many times before," I say.

"Let's go," Morgana says.

"But wait, is it ok for us to into the Palace right out of a crowd like this?" Ann asks.

"Eh, nobody notices if a piece of trash disappears from a trash can. This ain't any different," Ryuji says.

"In that case, let's go," Yusuke says.

"Beginning navigation"

"Why do you look so different in reality? How do your eyes and hair change colour?" Skull asks once we were in the Metaverse.

"I'm sort of like Mona. I'm human, but I've been such a big part of both worlds that I've become two different people. It's not just my looks that change, my personality is completely different as well"

"What are those!?" Panther asks, looking around the street.

"Walking ATMs, Kaneshiro's cognition of Shibuya," I say.

"I never thought it would be the entire district," Mona says. "Look around us. The distortion is affecting the whole of Shibuya"

"Huh? Whaddya mean?" Skull asks.

"Oh, that's right! Even when we were in the castle and the museum the city outside looked normal," Panther says.

"He sees everyone in Shibuya as his patron," Fox says.

"No surprise for a mafia boss," Skull says.

"It's best we focus on finding Kaneshiro's location and stealing his Treasure as soon as possible"

"Yeah, his hideout's gotta be somewhere around here. Let's go look for it"

While they spoke with some of the ATMs that seemed to be about to explode I looked up, finding a floating bank above the city.

"Guys, we have a problem," I tell them.

They all looked up. "Is that it!?" Skull asks.

"Up in the air. No wonder we couldn't find it," Fox says.

"Kaneshiro doesn't leave any tracks, huh? Figures it'd be floating," Mona says.

"So, how do we get up there? Can you turn into a helicopter, Morgana?" Panther asks.

"No, just a car"

"You're useless! C'mon, don't you have some kinda secret gadget or something!?" Skull asks.

"Shut it! I'm not some robot cat! I mean, I'm not a cat at all!"

"This may be the limit of what we can do today," Fox says.

Skull sighs. "We gotta fond a way to get up there"

"Let's think about it some more tomorrow, ok?" Panther asks.

"All right, we should get out of here for now. Run for it!" Mona says.

I didn't move as they all ran off. I stared at the bank and watched as a platform lowered for an ATM but quickly rose up when it was on.

"Weird," I mumble.

Skull grabbed my hand and started dragging me away. "Come on, you don't wanna get lost in here"

"I won't get lost," I told him, stopping my feet from moving. "I have something to ask you"

"What is it?"

"Am I a villain in your story?"

"A villain? What do you mean?"

"If a story were to be written about your life, when I became a part of it, am I the villain of that story?"

A bunch of Shadows lowered down from the bank and started walking down the street, heading towards us, but they didn't see us yet.

"Hurry up and hide," he says.

We looked around and finally found somewhere to hide from the Shadows. Ryuji got in a decent sized box that could just barely fit the both of us, pulling me down in it as well, then he shut the lid. I was hovering above him, kneeling above one of his legs.

I moved around a bit, trying to get more comfy, but I ended up straddling him, him holding one of my hands and my other hand on his shoulder.

"You've saved me and the others so many times," he whispers to me. "You're the hero"