Masks: A Persona 5 Makoto x Male Reader Insert

The Theater of Falsehoods

A/n: Hello, this chapter is a thing.

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I see thank you Shirogane...

Mitsuru let a breath escape her as she ended the call, she turned. The Phantom Thieves sat in the living room of her now quiet house, looks of defeat and frustration decorated the features of the teens.

Mitsuru could clearly see that they all seemed to blame themselves, some more than others. Ren had his hands buried within his frizzy raven hair, it was odd to see the usually calm levelheaded leader of the group reduced to this. Mitsuru pushed away the thought, there was nothing unusual nor odd about it.

He was a teenager much like the rest of them, he was just as susceptible to his emotions as any other human being.

Makoto perked up after realizing Mitsuru had gotten off the phone, breaking the silence. "Mitsuru-san, did you learn anything?" The others seemed eager to know as well, Mitsuru sat down on her hands on her lap. "I'll be honest, the information I gotten from Shirogane was just a continuation of what I already knew about Shadow Selves."

That wasn't something they wanted to hear, Ann however tilted her head. "Shirogane? As in Naoto Shirogane? The original Detective Prince?" Mitsuru nodded. "Shirogane was part of a group of Persona users who resolved an incident in the year 2011." Mitsuru began. "They dealt with Shadow Selves, and even had experiences with phenomenon like Palaces, but nothing Shirogane told me could explain (Y/n)'s circumstances."

"Still it doesn't make sense." Irritation was clear in Morgana's voice. "(Y/n)'s a Persona user, he shouldn't be able to develop a Palace. None of this makes sense."

"I have a theory if you're willing to listen." Mitsuru suggested, the group fell silent and all attention was on her. "From what you've told me Morgana, a Persona user cannot develop a Palace because they are in touch with their true selves. Their Persona is proof of that." The feline nodded. "(Y/n) is a Persona user, yes. However is that his true self?"

"What do you mean?" Morgana asked.

"The Personas (Y/n) wields, are not his own." Mitsuru continued. "Orpheus, Thanatos, Hermes, Penthesilea, Polydeuces. These Persona belong to other people." Morgana seemed to get what Mitsuru was trying to say, as was Makoto.

"He's never awakened to his true self." Makoto squeaked out.

"Correct." Ryuji shook his head, a thought occurring. "Whoa whoa! Hold on, to get a Palace, don'cha need to have distorted desires?" That was a valid point. "Not necessarily." Futaba chimed in. "Remember my palace? It was born from my trauma and repressed memories of my mom, it isn't much of a stretch to think that (Y/n)'s going through the same thing."

"Then we just gotta steal (Y/n)'s treasure." Ryuji stated. Makoto shook her head. "There are a few flaws in your idea Ryuji, first (Y/n) isn't in the material world."

"Then the feasibility of sending him a calling card to materialize his treasure is just impossible." Yusuke added. "Next, we have no idea what a change of heart will do to (Y/n)." This was true, there were already way too many differences than in a normal Palace heist. "For all we know changing (Y/n)'s heart could make him have a mental shutdown. There're just too many unknowns."

Then do you suggest we do nothing?

Ren looked up, his eyes were teary and bloodshot. He had been berating himself since leaving the Metaverse, feeling responsible for not being able to save (Y/n). "(Y/n) asked us to save him, if we don't we'll be leaving him trapped in a hell of his own creation." He shook his head. "That's not an option, I refuse to let someone I can save suffer." The trickster's knuckles whitened. "I won't let this be Shido's Palace all over again."