Working With Phantoms

The Tenth Letter of Warning

July 22nd

Everyone arrived back in the Velvet Room for the day, with Madran bringing in stationery to use for the next letter they had to write.

"Ok, everyone, who wants to dictate the letter?"

Madran looked around to see Wysteria nodding.

"I can handle it. Philemon, I presume, will write it?"

"Yep. Well, dictate away."

Wysteria then sat next to Philemon as he began to write.

"Dear Futaba Sakura... you have committed the deadly sin of wrath by fooling yourself into a harmful spiral downwards and taking it out on none but yourself. For weeks, we have received your messages and read the leaves in the bottom of the teacup, coming to the last conclusion possible. Effective tomorrow, we shall steal your heart and introduce the warmth of the world into your life once more. With love, The Bodacious Babes."

Philemon then read the letter back to everyone, with Wysteria nodding.

"Ah, yes, that works perfectly. When shall we send it?"

"I can handle it once Akira opens Futaba's door. Is anyone in contact with Akira?"

"I am."

Sheila brought her phone out and set to texting what Madran could assume was Akira. However, when she leaned over and looked at the phone screen, she instead saw that Yusuke's contact was open.

"Hmm. Interesting..."

"Well, there goes any suspense for that."

Sheila then looked back up and nodded.

"Yeah, they just gave her the calling card."

"I see. Very well then, we can all get back to our normal lives-"

"Hold it, sir."

Madran looked to see that Marie was back in the Velvet Room.

"Oh, um, hey, Marie."

"Yep, I'm back. I guess that now's the perfect time to show my, er, contribution to this place."

"Do you mind? We're-"

"Hey, cool your jets, Philemon, this is actually pretty cool."

Marie cleared her throat.

"Well, all eight of you are just on the verge of what could turn into a very messy fight. I'm not clairvoyant, so I don't know how messy, but nonetheless, yeah. Well, Kaguya and I thought up a way to make you guys stronger, and not by just beating up Elizabeth's goons."

Marie opened a binder that she was holding to reveal a variety of cards.

"These cards aren't any ordinary persona cards you use to summon. No, these are skill cards."

"Those things? Hmm, I thought they were lost with the swap from me to Igor."

"Nope, just changed. By analyzing your personas, blah blah fancy words, I created a set of cards that can benefit you guys. For example, I have a card for Chicory, called 'Physical Amplification,' or Phys Amp for short. This greatly increases the power of his physical attacks, both with and without his persona."

"Ooh, cool."

"Yep. However, due to how these are made, I can't just give you all of them. There are a few rules to this, first. One, you gotta get rid of a pre-existing skill to get the new one, two, you can't get more than one of these in a one week cool-down, and three, you can't use a card if your prime persona isn't unlocked."