Tokyo's Phantom Thief

Asakura Rinto and the Yoshizawa sisters rushed straight to the station.

They found Suzuki Shiho quickly.

She was curled up in the narrow gap between two vending machines, sobbing uncontrollably.

To the surrounding commuters, she probably looked like a girl who'd just had her heart broken. No one dared approach her, leaving a strange emotional vacuum in the crowd.

Once the Yoshizawa sisters gently helped her to her feet, Shiho's tear-reddened eyes met Rinto's—

And she instantly cried even harder.

"Rinto-kun... what do I do!?"

"Ann said she was just going to buy a drink... and then she never came back... I tried calling her, but there's no signal... I asked around, but no one saw anything... where would she go? What if—what if Kamoshida-sensei took her!?"

"Don't worry. Trust me—I'll find her. She's going to be okay."

To help soothe Shiho's frantic mind, Rinto activated his Persona again.

A shimmering silhouette stirred behind him, but this time, it wasn't Eros.

Instead, it was a stunningly beautiful woman draped in serpents, who, though invisible to the others, gently cradled Shiho's face and pressed a kiss of enchantment to her forehead.

It was one of Rinto's other Personas.

Lilith—the first woman in mythology said to have left her husband by her own will. Often portrayed as a demon or succubus, in Rinto's case, she was a Persona that specialized in manipulating minds and perceptions.

She had been the one to hide Kamoshida's bruises from public view earlier.

"...Rinto-kun..."

Touched by Lilith's kiss, Shiho's eyes glazed over, her steps unsteady as though intoxicated.

Even though they couldn't see the Persona, the Yoshizawa sisters instantly knew this was another one of Rinto's mysterious abilities.

Their expressions lit up in awe.

"Whoa... Rinto-nii, you're seriously unbeatable... Can you do that to anyone? Just make them all dazed and floaty like that?"

"W-Wait, doesn't that mean... you could totally lure girls away... You're not using this kind of power regularly, are you? I mean, if you ever needed to, you wouldn't have to rely on magic—I'd totally volunteer..."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Rinto snapped, exasperated. "Now's not the time to joke around. Let's get her to the hotel first."

He was genuinely at a loss for words with these two hormonal teens.

They always said boys their age were like monkeys, but in Rinto's experience? Girls weren't that far behind.

The twins just stuck out their tongues cheekily and helped support Shiho on either side, hoisting her up as they made their way out.

If Rinto had been the one carrying her solo, he definitely would've gotten stopped by security—that scene would've looked way too sketchy.

But with the Yoshizawa sisters helping out, it all seemed perfectly innocent—like caring friends lending a hand.

Society's double standards... honestly? Pretty useful right now. Let's keep them that way.

Following Kasumi's lead, the one boy and three girls hurried toward a nearby love hotel like they were racing against a timer.

Once inside the room, Rinto immediately instructed the twins to lay Shiho on the bed.

"Personas are much weaker in the real world—she'll wake up soon. You two stay with her, make sure she doesn't wander off."

Kasumi looked up. "Huh? That means... we can't come with you?"

"Obviously not."

Rinto pulled a model handgun from his backpack.

He was very glad now that he'd decided to bring it along just in case.

"If Ann also got dragged into a Palace, it was probably through that strange app."

"I'm starting to worry about how that thing spreads. If Shiho's got it too and ends up sucked in, we'll be in over our heads."

So he looked the twins dead in the eyes.

"I need you two to watch her closely. Make sure she doesn't touch her phone. Please."

After hearing the explanation, the sisters nodded. It made perfect sense.

Of course they wanted to go with him—but now wasn't the time to slow him down.

Rinto then raised the gun and pointed it at his own temple.

"...!"

The intensity of the moment made the twins flinch, but Rinto didn't hesitate.

With a pained motion, he killed his own consciousness again—diving into the cognitive world.

The moment he entered the Metaverse, Rinto summoned his main combat Persona and launched himself straight toward Kamoshida's Palace.

Eros had excellent sensing capabilities—it could help locate ordinary people lost in the Metaverse.

He didn't know Ann well enough to pinpoint her the same way he'd found Sumire, but—

As soon as he entered the Palace, he felt it clearly: there was someone human here.

What's going on? First Sumire, now Ann... Could Kamoshida's Palace have a special function that spreads that app?

He remembered how Sumire had stumbled into the Metaverse after researching Kamoshida on her phone.

Ann hated Kamoshida too. Maybe she'd done something similar—searched his name, clicked the wrong thing...

He couldn't be sure. Just a theory.

Rinto shook the thought off for now and focused on tracking the signal—he dove deeper into the Palace, following the human presence.

Maybe because school had started again, the Palace had changed.

Kamoshida's altered state of mind had triggered new shifts in the castle.

There were more Shadows now—and because Rinto had already invaded once, the defenses were heightened.

But this level of resistance still wasn't enough to stop him.

The human signature was coming from below—in the Palace's underground layers.

After burning through the main gate with his Persona, Rinto followed the underground canals, deeper and deeper, until he reached a dark, dungeon-like chamber.

The subconscious imagery here was unsettlingly vivid—this place had age to it.

The longer a Palace has existed, the more developed its structure becomes. It was all a reflection of the owner's deeply rooted cognition.

"Found her."

When he reached the deepest level of the dungeon, the human presence became unmistakable.

Several Shadows had gathered around a cell, and the sound of violence echoed from within.

Rinto's fury surged.

"Eros! [Photon Cannon]!!"