9th April, the beginning of another typical year in school even though most students were still in their holiday mood, but not for one student.

"Great...time to face that perverted bastard Kamoshida again..."

Akira Ichjiou, an average 16-year-old who was labeled as 'that brat' because of the violent incident involving him beating Kamoshida. Mumbled while walking toward Shujin, "Let's just hope that bastard won't do anything to Shiho or Ann..."

He had dark brown hair with some natural blue highlight. He also had a blue headphone handing around his neck. His Shujin uniform was almost the same as everyone's, except that he unbuttoned the black jacket to show his blue hoodie inside.

"But that's not going to happen. I'm certain." with a frustrated sigh, Akira reluctantly decided to put on his headphone and unwillingly returned to his path toward Shujin.

Before he realized, he was already inside of the typical classroom of class 2-D. He sat by the window of the regular classroom and continued to merely focus on the familiar music playing in his slick black headphone. Until someone suddenly poked his shoulder, gaining his attention.

"Akira! I didn't expect we were in the same class this year!"It was Ann Takamaki, a young woman with curling platinum blonde hair in pigtails, and she's a quarter American.

"Oh, hey Ann, how was the spring break?"Akira said while taking off his headphone, and tried to squeeze a smile to her.

"It's like that past spring break, I guess."Ann said with a silent sigh, "But the rumor just won't stop..."

"I know," Akira said, dropping his smile. "You're 'that bitch with Kamoshida' while I'm 'that brat who beat Kamoshida,' those assholes do have some creativity."

"But everything's going to be fine, or I hope so." he finally finished with a sigh.

"As long as Kamoshida remains in here, I don't think everything's going to be fine," Ann said.

"Yeah..."

As the bell rang and signaled the beginning of the day, Ann went back to her seat and tried to live through the day.

[After School]

Once the bell, which marked the end of the day rang, Akira instantly exited the classroom and found Shiho Suzui, another young woman with hair in a ponytail held in with a pink elastic band in the and walk up toward her.

"Hey Shiho, you're OK?"Akira said with a worrying face.

"Hey, Akira..."Shiho said with a forced smile, just like what Akira did to Ann earlier, "So you didn't get expelled by Mr. kamoshida."

"Surprise surprise."Akira noticed the bruise and other injuries around her arms and legs and quickly sat next to her, checking her injuries, "My god...it's by Kamoshida, right?"

"N-No., "Shiho stuttered, "It's just from the training during the spring break."

"Please don't lie to me."Akira said while gently squeezing her hand, "It's not OK to constantly suffer injuries like this."

"But..."

"If that bastard did something like this to you again, just tell me."Akira said before, Shiho can complete her sentence, "We're friends, right?"

"..."

Seeing her like this made Akira's heart aching for a bit, but he can't do anything to help both Ann and Shiho. Everyone, down to the parents of those who were suffering knows, They're just accepted or even covering his track.

Akira had tried stopping him from sexually assaulted any of the volleyball team members. However, those attempts just ended in either him failing or fought with Kamoshida himself.

This is a losing battle, and Akira was on the losing side.

[11th April, After class]

Akira was sitting in a chair on the rooftop of Shujin, reading a novel he bought in Shibuya a while ago. Since he was labeled as an outcast, the roof became his place to be alone. Either here or his apartment in Yongen-Jaya.

However, as a sound of two pairs of footsteps quickly approaching, Akira instantly hid behind the large air conditioner. Only to peek around the corner to see Ryuji Sakamoto, a little spiky dyed blond talking to another boy with dark fuzzy hair and a set of black glasses who was Ren Amamiya, the new transfer student in his class.

"Ryuji-Kun and Amamiya-san? why are they here?" Akira quietly mumbled and decided to continued to eavesdrop their conversation.

"...There you are."Ryuji said.

"sorry for callin' you up here like this"

"I bet Kawakami already told you stuff like 'Don't get involved with him,' huh?"

"how'd you know?"Ren said.

"figured as much."

"Then again, we're in the same boat."

'the same boat?'Akira thought while eavesdropping their conversation,'Is there something happened between these two?'

"I heard you got a criminal record. Everyone's talkin' about it."

'Yeah...about that...' Akira can't help but felt sorry for Ren; 'Why would something as important as a criminal record be leaked to the school website?'

However, what Akira heard next was surprising.

"what was all that happened? You know, how we almost got killed at a castle..."

'Wait, What?! Almost got killed at a castle?' Akira can't help but continue to overheard their conversation, 'This is interesting...'

"It wasn't a dream...right? You remember it too. right?"

"Yeah. That's not a dream, Sakamoto-Kun." Ren pushed his glasses and said, "But why were we thrown into there..."

"well, just 'cause be both remember it doesn't mean much though..."

"I mean, even if it was a dream, you saved me from Kamoshida."

'Saved from Kamoshida...' Akira thought while slowly rubbed his chin, 'So they got into a castle and almost got killed, and that castle was somehow related to Kamoshida...'

"So yeah...Thanks, Ren."

"You're welcomed."

There was a short pause before Ryuji start again, "But man, that Kamoshida we saw there..."

'That Kamoshida? hmm...' Akira thought for a short while, then suddenly realized one big thing, 'Wait, Kamoshida always thinks that the school is his castle...'

"That asshole who was all full of himself at the castle."

Then Ryuji and Ren talked a bit more before leaving the rooftop, leaving Akira alone.

"So 'Kamoshida, the king of that castle,' They must have stumbled upon some places heavily related to Kamoshida, and they want to get into that place again..."Akira murmured to himself, stepping out from behind the air conditioner, making a mental note about the conversation between Ren and Ryuji.

"Maybe I should follow them to see what they're up to..."

[12th April, After school]

After school ended, Akira, who was sitting behind Ren, instantly got up and followed Ren. However, something caught Akira's attention first.

"Hey there, Takamaki."It was Kamoshida, who was waking up to Ann, "you're looking for a ride home? Things have been pretty dangerous lately with all those accidents."

"Sorry, I have a photoshoot today. It's for the special summer issue, so I can't afford to miss it..."Ann said, clutching her shoulder bag.

"Hey, now... Being a model's fine and dandy, but don't work your pretty little self to the bone."

"You mentioned you weren't feeling well, right? something about appendicitis?"

"Yes, I keep planning to go to the hospital, but I've been too busy... sorry to worry you."

"You must be lonely too. I feel bad for keeping your best friend at practice so often."Kamoshida said, "That's why I asked you out in the first place. Oh, and... be careful around that transfer student."

"He's got a criminal record after all. If something were to happen to you..."

"...Thank you."Ann said with an unpleasant laugh, "Please excuse me."

Ann went toward another staircase afterward, leaving Kamoshida alone in the hallway with Akira and Ren watching in the distance.

"Tch..." Kamoshida also left the hallway afterward.

Once Kamoshida had left, Akira instantly came out with a relieved sigh, "Thank god... At least that bastard left Ann alone this time... "

"You know her?"

"Wh-What?" Akira jumped a bit as Ren suddenly spoke to him, but he was able to regain composure a few seconds later, "Oh yeah... Ann was my friend since middle school. But that bastard just doesn't know when to quit..."

"You mean Kamoshida?"

"Of course! He just kept on hitting her... "Akira coughed a bit and with a frustrated sigh, then held out a hand toward Ren, "I'm Akira Ichijou, the one who sits behind you."

"Ren Amamiya." Ren politely shook his hand and said, "Um... I've got to go."

"Well, I got my business too. See you later!"

Akira waved goodbye toward Ren before walking down to the library. But as Ren started to leave, Akira instantly changed his direction and followed him, making sure that Ren didn't notice.

However, as Ren reached the front gate, Ryuji seeming came out from nowhere and greeted Ren. Akira also hastily hid among the crowd and tried his best to hear what they're saying.

"Yo."

"What's up, Sakamoto-San."

"I wanna talk about that castle from yesterday."

"I tried tellin' myself it was all just a dream... but I couldn't do it."

'That castle again... huh.' Akira thought while pretending to be looking at his phone.

"I can't act as nothing happened. It's all connected to that bastard Kamoshida, after all."

'That just confirmed my theory that it's about Kamoshida...'

"bastard Kamoshida... like what Ichijou-San mentioned, "Ren said.

"Ichijou? You mean Akira ichijou, right?"

"Yeah."

"He didn't get expelled by Kamoshida... lucky him."

"You knew him?"

"well... that one time that he got involved in a severe fight with Kamoshida... It's about the track team."Ryuji quickly clapped his hand together, prevent this conversation from going any further, "But we are getting sidetracked here."

"I wanna find out what's up with that place, no matter what."

"And y' know, you're the only person I can rely on for this stuff. So, you in?"

"Sure, What next?"

"Ooh... Look like I managed to talk some sense into you." Ryuji said with a grin on his face.

'Ryuji successfully talked some sense to someone... That's rare.' Akira can't help but chuckled a bit, but hastily cover his mouth before anyone heard it.

"I think we should just try and retrace our steps from yesterday."

"Lemme know if you notice any other weird buildings on the way" And with that said, Ryuji started to walk toward somewhere else with Ren following him. Akira also swiftly followed both of them.

'I have a bad feeling about this...'

After a short while, the duo stopped in the street of Aoyama-Itchome, Akira quickly hid among the crowd again.

"If a huge castle like that exists, I'm sure we'll find it in no time."Ryuji said, "...When'd they build something like that though?"

"Let's just go home."

"Don't be like that. It'll be over quick."

With that said, Ren and Ryuji went back-and-forth for a couple of times. Even Akira was getting impatient, 'It's the third time already...'

As times went on, less and less student was still in Shujin and Akira had no choice but to stand near Ryuji and pretending to look at his phone again, internally hoping that they won't detect him.

"What do you think?" Ryuji said while sat beside the brushes next to the front gate.

"Check on your phone."

"I'm not so sure anymore, I didn't see anything like it around here..." Ryuji suddenly stood up from the brushes, surprisingly still didn't aware of the presence of Akira, "Huh? Phone..."

"Hey, that reminds me-didn't you have a navigation app thingy on, back then?"

'Navigation? App?'As their conversation went on, Akira just became more and more confused about what they're talking about.

Until a robotic feminine voice suddenly came out from Ren's phone, capturing his attention.

"Kamoshida... Shujin Academy... Pervert... Castle..."

"beginning navigation"

Suddenly, a sense of nausea hit Akira, and the space around him started to warp and warp. Until the Shujin Academy, or what was the Shujin Academy, became a humongous castle.

"Holy..." Akira noticed that he'd be spotted almost immediately, and hastily hid to somewhere else. However, he was still eavesdropping both Ren and Ryuji, "So that was the castle they were saying... but holy moly, what the hell is this?"

"Look! It was the castle from yesterday!"

Ryuji quickly ran up to the front door of the castle with Ren, now who's wearing a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat, black pants, brown-black winkle pickers and a pair of red gloves. Besides, he had a black and white, birdlike domino mask for some reason.

"We made it back... That means what happened yesterday was for real too..."

"...Yeargh! Those clothes...!"

"Wha-When did I changed into this?" As if Ren only noticed his change in his costume right at this moment, he looked decently stunned for once.

"That happened last time too, huh?! What's with that outfit?!"

"You're jelly?"

"What." Akira was incredibly dumfounded at Ren's word, even though he's not the one talking to Ren.

But to be honest, Akira was somewhat jealous of Ren's outfit too.

"I-I ain't jealous!"Ryuji quickly defended himself, "What's goin' on here?! This makes no effin' sense at all!"

'You're damn right, Ryuji...' Akira can't help but agree with him.

However, what's coming next was the real thingy that broke the camel's back.

"Hey!"It was a...monster cat that was wearing a yellow bandana and a utility belt around its hips? Or just a monster in general?

"Wha-What the eff is that?!" Akira shouted while oping his eyes wide, somehow didn't gain any attention from the trio.

"Stop making a commotion."

"The shadow started acting up, so I came here wondering what it would be..."That 'Monster Cat' continues to say."To think you guys would come back to the entrance when you barely managed to escape."

"What is this place? ...Is it the school?"

"Thank you for asking that for me, Ryuji." Akira quick thanked Ryuji from afar, "But Jesus Christ... This is too much for me to handle at once."

"That's right." 'Monster Cat' said, "This castle IS the school."

"...But only to the castle's ruler."

"Ruler... It's Kamoshida!"As if something just clicked inside of Akira's head, he started to understand this place, even just for a bit, "So this is how Kamoshida sees the school, and this places just makes it extremely literal."

"But I can't just stay here and do nothing..." Akira started to look around the castle and found a small hole on a wall, "There!"

He quickly and stealthily hopped from one cover to another, avoiding any unwanted attention and get into the castle. "Wow..."

Even though it's not that obvious on the outside, but the castle was extraordinarily sumptuous. The floor was composed of black and white brick that looked like a checkerboard.

"This is huge..." Akira was walking down the hallway of 'THE CASTLE,' observing his surroundings with a marveled look, "But why there's no one here? It's creepy-"

"Intruder!"

"Wha-" Akira look behind him and saw a huge man with full steel armor and wielding a giant sword, just like someone straight out from a medieval movie or such, "Who are you-"

Before Skira could finish his word, A smack from the 'medieval knight' suddenly smacked him on the side of his head, knocking him out cold.

Meantime, Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana were rushing toward the source of those screaming they heard when Ryuji suddenly warned the other two.

"Hey! Guards!"

The trio hastily hid behind some wood boxes and overheard the guards.

"Any sign of intruders?"

"No...but we've already captured one."

"already...huh..."

"But I think we should stay sharp." the guards walked off to the other direction after that, leaving the trio alone.

With a sigh of relief, Ryuji said, "Just in time..."

On the other hand, Ren can't help but wonder about 'the captured one' in guard's word, "Is there anyone other than us in here right now?"

[Back to Akira]

"Ugh... Where am I?" Akira finally gained back his conscience and was tied on an X-shape thingy with both arms and legs spreading out.

"Help! Can anyone hear m-" Akira's cry for help was interrupted when Kamoshida, or rather an extremely disgusting version of Kamoshida who was wearing nothing but a blanket and his underwear approached him.

"So... Akira Ichijou..." 'Kamoshida' said with an equally disgusting smile on his face, "If not because that you were related to the Kirijo family, you were already expelled."

"You... You Fuc-" Akira's curse was once again interrupted by the guards hitting him in his stomach, earning a cry of pain from him.

"Now that I have you under my pawn, what should I do to you?"

With that said. Ann or an extremely sexualized version of her with a Pink bikini with panther-like design and a cat ear on top of her head suddenly came out, and cling onto him.

"Ann?! Why are you-"

"Oh! I know now what I should do!" Kamoshida sickening smile widened and forcibly kissed 'Ann.'

"Get away from her, you bastard!" Unfortunately for Akira, his outburst only earn him with another strike from the guards, even harder this time.

Trapped and slumped in defeat, Akira was gradually but surely losing hope of surviving.

'What should I do... Am I going to die?'

'I promised to myself that I'd protect Ann and Shiho, maybe I was wrong all along?'

'No... Mitsuru-San told me that I was doing the right thing...'

'Only I can protect them! I can't just give up!'

'I have to fight back! NO MATTER THE COST!'

Then, something inside of him pulsed.

"It's been a long while... you know."

His eyes widened, mouth opened wide, but nothing came out. His hands clutched tightly into a fist, and that pain just slowly, but surely increasing.

"You had suffered from fighting back, but is it the wrong thing to do?"

"NO!" Akira shouted between his cry in pain.

"Another one?!" 'Kamoshida' said with a terrified look and steps back with 'Ann,' protected by guards.

"You lied to yourself, saying that you've accepted this as fate..."

"But even fate can be altered as long as the will of rebellion remains!"

With incredible strength, Akira breaks those metal, which was holding him in place. He slowly walked up to Kamoshida, with each step becoming harder and harder.

"Let us form a path, a path of accepting what you desire the most."

"ARGHHH!" Akira screamed and clutched his head. It felt like that his head was going to tore in half, the pain won't stop!

Then, he felt something on his face.

A mask. A plain black domino mask.

Without a word, Akira gripped the edge of the mask and tore it away. It was painful, but a blaze of power and blue flame surrounded him later. And a sense of power and a sense of freedom covered him.

"...Damn." Akira noticed that his Shujin uniform was no more. It was by a collared dress shirt with a large trench coat on, a and a plain black hat on his head, and a gloves his hand.

"I am thou, thou art I. Thou who seek to protect, no matter the cost!"

"I am Moriarty, the mastermind and sinner! One who finds the way to our true desire!"

Akira turned around and saw a huge human-like figure with long and pointy fingers on jus left hand and a normal-looking right hand, which seems to be covered by a black glove. A red 19th century-like suit worn open with the collar popped. It's incredibly slender and had a mask-like face with only his right eye shows. The blue was covering his legs, also resembling pants that would go with the cropped coat and heeled shoes. He also held a revolver in his normal-looking right hand.

"guards!" now terrified, 'Kamoshida' quickly command the guard to protect him and escape the room, leaving Akira with three guards alone.

the guards slash the sword to themselves and dissolve into some kind of black goo. The guards turned to two Succubus and three Incubus.

"Moriarty... Huh." with a smirk on his face, Akira summoned a giant black scythe with some blue highlight on its handle to his right hand. "Let's see what you can do!"

"MY PLEASURE!" With a snap of Sherlock's finger, a burst of curse energy hit one of the Incubus, instantly killing it.

"Fire!"

With Akira's command, Moriarty aimed his revolver toward one Succubus and fire, knocking her down. Akira then rushes to her, slashed herself to half, and killing it.

Then, before the others can even start to act, Akira quickly slashed his way through those shadows as that 'Monster Cat' said.

"Garu!" Finally, with another snap of Moriarty's finger, a burst of razor-sharp wind hit the final Incubus and killed it. Leaving Akira and Moriarty alone.

"haaaah..." As the rush of adrenaline ended, Akira instantly collapsed into a kneeling posture. Only to be held my Moriarty, "Th... Thanks."

"Thou are exhausted from your awakening. We should exit this castle as soon as possible."

"I know." with a deep breath and help from Moriarty, Akira got back on his knees and quickly rushes out to the hallway. Hopped from one cover to another with the help from a grappling hook that came magically appeared in his pocket.

Until he reached the main hall where he saw that the trio of Ren, Ryuji, and 'Monster Cat' was facing 'Kamoshida.' With a Pirate-like figure, who was standing on top of a mini pirate ship like a skateboard, floating behind Ryuji.

"Ugh... This one as well?!" Akira, who was hiding on top of one of the chandeliers, heard 'Kamoshida' said.

"Right on... Wassup, Persona..."

'So this is called Persona...' Akira thought that he should get out already, but he decided to watch the trio's fight.

"This effin' rocks!"Ryuji said with a massive smirk on his face, "Now that I got this power, it's time for payback..."

Ren and the 'Monster Cat' walked up beside Ryuji, each holding a small smirk on their face and readies to fight.

"Yo, I'm ready..." Ryuji pumped his fist and faced the guards with a confident tone, "Bring it!"

"Don't mock me, you brat!"The only guards who were wearing a gold armor, different than others, shouted while slashed the sword to himself — revealed another Knight wearing red armor, who was riding a black horse with glowing green eyes.

"Blast him away... Captain Kidd!"

With that said, the fight between the trio and the knight started. Ren and 'Monster Cat,' now presumably called 'Morgana', also unleashed their Persona. Ren's Persona is Arsene, which looked very similar to Moriarty for some reason and also had curse skills in his sleeves.

Morgana's Persona was Zorro, a masked swordsman with a hat as it's face and wear a large belt with a "Z" on the front. He also has wind skill on his sleeves as well.

"Thou want to assist them, correct?"

Akira nodded, and asked Moriarty, "But I don't want them to know I'm here..."

"Maybe I can cast the same magic attack as they attack..." with that said, Akira started to cast Garu and Eiha when Ren and Morgana attack.

The whole fight went along well. With Akira's assistance, the trio obtained victories in ease, and Akira left the castle afterward. However, as the battle ended and Ren and Ryuji had constituted a deal with Morgana, they noticed something was off.

"Wow! It seems that both of you gained an attack boost for some reason."Ryuji exclaimed.

"Yeah... I've noticed that too." Morgana said, "It's like someone else is casting the same spell when we cast our own."

As if something inside Ren's head clicked, he suddenly clapped his hand together, "Maybe it's the 'Other Intruder' mentioned by those guards."

"So another Persona user... huh." Morgana said, it's pawn rubbing it's the oversized chin, "But it seems like that he was there when we fight that shadow and helped us."

"However, this is not our concern at the moment." Ren said, "Ryuji and I'll come back for sure, see ya."

"See you around!"

With that said, bother Ren and Ryuji run toward the exit and left Morgana alone, Stomping its tiny leg with frustration.

"I'M NOT A CAT!"

"You have returned to the real world. Welcome back."

As Akira returned to the real world, the same spot as before to be exact, he noticed that a weird app appeared on his phone for some reason.

"So it's the navigator to that place..." Akira looked at the icon of the navigator, which looked like an eyeball staring back. There's only two colors of this icon-red and black.

Akira pocketed his phone and started to walk toward the train station while being extremely tired and exhausted.

However, there's a smirk on his face the whole time.

"Just you wait, Kamoshida." Akira quietly mumbled while walking down the street of Yongen-Jaya, "I'm going to fight back, and I'm going to win this time!"

With that, the tale of another thief... Another group of Phantom Thief...

had begun.

So this is the first chapter of P5: Another Thief! Thank you for reading!

For those who are wondering, this is a P5 story but with a twist. 'What if there's not only one group of Phantom Thief?'

Akira's insert to this story will also have some ripple effect to some minor point of the story, especially the Kamoshida arc and Kaneshiro's arc. Also, there'll be one more OC coming up during the Madaramae arc.

The 'Other PT' would consist of four members with two OC and two vanilla characters. And there would be some P3 and P4 reference, maybe even some characters from P3 and P4 making a cameo too.

Hope you would enjoy this story so far, reviews are welcome!