So, today is the big day. The day in which we all cook up our plan to make that judge pay.

It was supposed to be several days ago, but we ended up putting it off. For perfectly understandable reasons, of course.

Ah, parents. It’s not wrong to say that they can make or break your quality of life. I’m fortunate enough to have a pretty good relationship with my father. He even knows about me being bi. Of course, being a psychiatrist, he knows better than to hold that against me.

And from what it sounds like, Ashley’s parents have been doing… okay. I think we’re going to have to wait and see what exactly they do from here. But shit hit the fan with Zoe’s family. Poor Zoe… she’s such a sweetheart, she really never deserved this.

I park next to the tiny building at the front of Nova’s apartment complex to pick him up, since I can’t go through the gate. I message him to let him know I’m here, and a few minutes later he comes dashing up to the car.

“I thought you didn’t have your license yet?” He asks me, as he climbs into my car.

“Yeah, I’m not really supposed to be driving without an adult,” I explain, backing out of the parking lot. “But as long as I don’t leave town, I should be fine.”

“Better not get pulled over.”

“I won’t. And if I do, I’ll just use my white privilege to get out of it.”

He makes a weird sound that’s somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. “Or I guess we could just get Pavia to give you a pardon or whatever.”

“...Can he do that? Like, in his position?”

“Hell if I know.” He pulls out his 3DS. “Ready to kick some ass?”

“Oh, I was born ready. But I’m not sure if we’re actually doing the thing today, we’re just coming up with a game plan.”

“Well, the game plan better be to do it before Thursday.”

“Yeah. I mean, if we don’t do that, what’s the point?”

There’s a pause for a few seconds.

“My dad’s been acting kind of sad,” he comments. “He thinks he’s going to lose.”

“Well, the game is rigged against him. I guess in the worst case scenario, you’d only have to be with your mom until you’re eighteen. And most custody settlements allow for some visitation with the other parent.”

He shakes his head. “No way I’m staying with that bitch. Four days would be too much.”

“That’s… quite a strong way to talk about your own mother.”

“I never fully told you about what she did.”

He lets out a hefty sigh. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him jabbing the buttons a little more angrily than before.

“She… really hated how much I play video games. Sometimes, when she had a bad day at work, she’d get home and just scream at me about it. She told me that I was wasting my life, that I was ‘socially inept,’ that I was going to be on my own after high school and would probably end up homeless…”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. Also, when my grades were bad, she’d sometimes go into a rage and break one of my game discs. I never got to finish Paper Mario for the GameCube.”

“Oh no! That’s a good one. I’ll lend it to you sometime so you can finish it.”

“Thanks, Anja. She yelled at my sister too, though not as much. She stopped playing games with me for a while because she was too afraid of being yelled at. She yelled at my dad the most. Hit him, too, and threw stuff around. She blamed him for both of us being horrible children, and also for not getting a high-paying job. Not like we needed it, she makes so much as a lawyer for Vermillion Oil.”

I find this interesting for a few reasons… but for now, the only question I can ask is this. “Nova… If you don’t mind me asking… Why did your parents get married?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. After this blows over, I’ll ask him sometime for you.”

“I’m so sorry you had to go through that. It’s normal for parents to want their children to succeed. My dad gives me extra allowance if I get all As and Bs. But that is just… horrible.”

Before long, we arrive at Ashley’s place. I’m surprised to see that Ashley and Zoe are waiting for us out in the front yard.

All it takes is hopping out of the car for me to feel their energies. Zoe has something new in her eyes that I don’t recognize. Ashley… she somehow seems to have gotten taller since I last saw her.

“We’ll talk once we arrive at our base of operations,” Ashley says dispassionately. It would’ve been nice to get a warmer welcome than that… but I guess it makes sense why neither of them would be in a great mood right now. And so, we make our way to the Methodist church.

“You’re taking us to church ?” Nova asks incredulously. “I haven’t been in a church for years now.”

“We’re not going inside, we just need to hang out behind it,” Ashley explains. “This isn’t even the church we usually go to.”

“Why wouldn’t you just go here?” Nova inquires. “It’s literally a two minute walk from your house.”

“Because, Nova…” She sighs. “Religion is complicated.”

“You guys didn’t go today, did you?” I question, noticing that neither of them are dressed up.

“No, my parents thought it’d be better to take a week or so off. Let things cool down.”

“My parents are… very influential in the community,” Zoe explains weakly.

Eventually, we reach the picnic tables. Ashley, without any further ado, pulls out her phone and hits that app.

I hear someone screaming as soon as we reach the other side, for a terrifying moment I think we are being attacked. However, it turns out the screaming is just from Nova.

“WHAT THE F- What… What the f…”

He seems utterly at a loss for words. He’s turning around wildly and looks like he’s about to start ripping his own hair out. Zoe is also looking bewildered at her surroundings, but she’s taking it better, so I bet Ashley gave her some idea of what was about to happen beforehand.

“Oh yeah…” I say, “Sorry Nova. We probably should have warned him.”

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?” he finally stutters out, glaring at Ashley with tufts of hair still in his hands.

“Will you calm the fuck down!” Ashley commands him.

“NO! I WON’T!” Nova yells. He finally releases his hair, and instead kicks a nearby picnic table in frustration. Impressively, he’s actually able to knock it straight over.

“Just quit acting like a child and sit down!” Ashley snarls, taking a seat at the now-velvet picnic table closest to her. Zoe and I follow.

Then, from out of the woods comes Ted, dashing on all fours and then making a leap with surprising agility up on top of the table. “Is everything alright?” he asks. “Your friend is very distressed.”

Zoe looks at Ted with wide, glowing eyes. I’m not sure if it’s wonder, amusement, or perhaps a combination of the two.

When Nova sees Ted, it breaks him. He instantly freezes in the exact position he was in, as if paralyzed, and just stares at the little cowboy armadillo in front of him.

“Hey, um… Ted, right?” Zoe offers timidly. “Would it be okay if… our friend could pet you?”

“Pet me? Ma’am, that would be very emasculating.”

“Hey, it’s okay! You’re among friends here!” I assure him.

“You think I should… pet him?” Nova asks, looking very uncertain.

He slowly approaches Ted, and then gingerly lays a hand upon the top of his head and strokes it. Slowly, Nova is coaxed into sitting down, albeit still with buggy eyes.

“Alright. Let’s get started already,” Ashley says officially.

“First things first,” I suggest, “I think we need a team name.”

“Uh… no, we don’t.”

“Hey… what’s up with your outfits?” Nova asks. He’s starting to look a bit calmer. Ted has his eyes closed, I bet he’s secretly enjoying it.

(Turning the animal mascot into a service animal… that was pretty smart of Zoe! I don’t give her enough credit.)

“They’re Personas,” Ashley explains. “Basically, once you awaken one, you can fight and use magic and stuff. Anja and I already did ours.”

“How do you do that?”

“By necessity. They awaken during really dangerous situations.”

“It requires… feeling a strong emotion,” Ted explains, still drinking in Nova’s attention. (Ha! “Emasculating” indeed.) “Feeling mortal terror can awaken it, but so can fury, grief, or even mania.”

“Yeah, it was mostly anger for me,” Ashley explained.

“I was fucking terrified when mine awoke,” I admitted. “That was some creepy-ass shit.”

“What was it that was creepy?” Nova asked.

“Well… let me explain it to you this way. Do you know how, in a lot of hentai, there’s…”

“Look, how about we tell personal stories later!” Ashley interrupts me rudely.

“Don’t be a fucking prude! We’re all adults here.”

“Um… Anja, NONE of us are adults.”

“I’m an adult,” Ted comments unncessarily, “but I don’t even know what a ‘hen tie’ is.”

“Come on Ashley,” I continue, ignoring Ted, “I know you’ve seen it before.”

“Actually, no I haven’t.” To Ashley’s left, Zoe is blushing furiously.

“Liar, liar, plants for hire!” I tease. Nova laughs loudly at this.

Ashley, however, has had enough. She stands up and slams both hands on the table.

“Okay. Both of you shut the fuck up. I’m not having this conversation with you when we’re supposed to be planning for something serious. Remember, this was your idea!”

“Yes, yes. My apologies, sir.”

Ashley glares at me so hard that I feel like I’m about to spontaneously combust. Still, I don’t regret it. The way I see it, this is just payback for the “little sister” thing from last time.

Ashley very slowly sits back down at the table. Then, without further explanation, she pulls her phone out again and starts… calling someone?

“Uh, Ashley?” I have to question. “I don’t think we’re going to get any service here.”

“Shut up.”

To my shock, after a few seconds, I hear someone speaking from the other end.

“Hello again, Ashley. So, it is time now, is it not?”

“Who the fuck are you?” Nova asks.

“Ah, there’s a new voice! Hello, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Lucy!”

“Uh… hi. I’m Nova.”

“Nova, huh? That’s an unusual name.”

“It’s for an unusual person,” Ashley jabs. For this, Nova gives her the middle finger.

“My name is Anja,” I say.

“Anja… is that a Polish name?” Lucy asks.

“Uhh… I think?”

“My name is Zoe,” Zoe adds. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”

“So Ashley,” Lucy says, “which one of them is your girlfriend?”

“Um… Th-that’s me,” Zoe replies timidly.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Zoe. You must be quite the remarkable person.”

“Uh… thank you?”

Ted makes as if he’s about to speak, but Ashley catches his eye and shakes her head.

“So, you’re the one from the book, huh?” I ask her.

“The book?” Nova asks, annoyed at yet again being left out of the loop. “What book?”

“I’ve been in contact with Ashley here using a special artifact of my own invention,” Lucy explains.

“Yeah, it’s confusing. We’ll figure it out as we go,” I assure Nova.

“Okay, enough lollygagging around,” Ashley cuts in sternly. “Lucy, we have found our first target. We just need to know how to proceed in changing his heart.”

Lucy giggles very loudly. It’s sort of creepy. Like the giggle of a serial killer. “Ah, very good! Who’s our first customer?”

“Our local Judge Timothy Pavia,” I explain.

“Going after politicians already!” Lucy says, impressed. “I was expecting you to start with your neighborhood drug dealer or something.”

“His crimes: trying to force Nova and his little sister to move back in with their abusive mother; classism; possibly racism? Aren’t you mixed?”

“Uh… my dad is black, my mom is hispanic,” Nova explains.

“Okay. So definitely classism, not sure about the race part.”

“Can he really do that?” Lucy questions. “In most states, the child is allowed to pick which parent they go with once they’re about thirteen.”

“Yeah, well, you can thank Gov. Schneider for that one,” I explain. (Because in some alternate universe where someone else had been elected governor in 2002, the laws probably wouldn’t be as bad as they are.) “Anyways, the last thing… maybe misandry? It’s hard to tell, since he’s a dude himself.”

“Well, the courts are rigged in favor of women when it comes to this stuff,” Ashley comments. “You can thank feminism for that.”

“Hey! Don’t blame feminism!” I shout at her. “Feminism is about equality!”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to be.”

“Guys, now’s not the time for one of your arguments!” Zoe interjects quickly.

Lucy chuckles over the phone. “You two remind me of a couple of my old friends. They disagreed a lot, but I know they loved each other deep down.”

“Well… anyway. Let’s get back on topic,” Ashley says sheepishly.

“Alright. If your going to change this man’s heart, the first thing you need to do is find his Palace,” Lucy explains. “The process of finding Palaces used to be pretty involved, but I’ve refined the app to make it pretty simple for you guys. All you need to do is find out where it is the Palace is.”

“Uh… okay,” Ashley says. “So, when you say ‘Palace,’ do you mean it’ll look like an actual palace, or what?”

“It might. But they can take a variety of forms. It’ll be located at some location that is important to your target, usually their workplace. You’ll be able to easily tell what’s a Palace and what’s not by the lack of the normal esoteric color scheme and aesthetic.”

Suddenly, I gasp, remembering something. “Lucy… can a Palace take the form of a jungle ?”

“It might. Why do you ask?” Her tone of voice has changed somewhat. She now sounds much more concerned than before.

“When we entered the Metaverse at school, we ended up in some weird jungle,” Ashley explains.

“Yeah, that’s how my Persona got unlocked. I was being held in place by a bunch of vines!” I add, shuddering slightly.

There’s a sharp exhale of breath from Lucy’s end. “That is… very bad news. I’ve encountered Palaces like that before, and they are the ones that belong to some of the most sick and twisted people in the world.”

“Do you think that’s Pavia’s Palace?” Nova asks.

“No way, why would his Palace be the school? ” Ashley retorts.

“It most likely belongs to somebody who’s teaching there, or maybe another student with an aggressive streak,” Lucy explains. “All I can say is… watch your back while you’re there.”

“So, we just need to avoid entering at the school for now,” I summarise. “And Pavia’s Palace will most likely be the courthouse.”

“Alright, what do we do once we find it?” Ashley presses.

“You will have to make your way through whatever lies for you inside. There will be enemies, and probably puzzles as well. If your persevere, though, you’ll make it to the room of the big boss, where you will fight a monsterous version of your target. Generally, the more evil the person is, the more difficult the Palace is to get through.

“Once you’ve defeated whatever monster is in the final room, you have two options. You may either take the boss’s treasure, which will allow you to fix the target’s behavior in real life; or, you can simply kill the target’s shadow form, which will cause them a rather gruesome death in real life as well. Since this is a pretty low level baddie here, I wouldn’t recommend killing him. But some people’s crimes… can not be forgiven.”

There is a brief pause following that rather ominous statement, in which we all sort of look around at each other. Zoe looks nervous again; Nova is back to drumming his fingers on the table and appears to be thinking.

“So, it’s that simple, huh?” Ashley asks in confirmation. “Thanks for the intel.”

“You’re always free to call back if you need help, but from here on out, it’s up to you all to do the work. Good luck, my children.” And with that, she hangs up on us.