I can't be alone with him again. I don't know if I can handle the sight of his office today.

If we do this right, he won't be in any condition to report us to the school after tonight, yeah?

Yeah. I think we have to cut and go directly in. It's all or nothing anyway. There won't be time to get our equipment but we all have personas anyway. 

Now or after class?

I don't want to get you expelled, but if Kamoshida corners us in the classroom it could be really bad.

let's just go.

Yeah.

Alright. Ryuji, you're the troublemaker, is there a place on school grounds where we could disappear and not be seen?

roof, for sure.

Meet you all there.

Akira gets up from her chair and heads out. 

Ann waits a little bit, but then gets up and follows Akira.

Shiho and Ryuji are waiting for them when they get there. There are various planters full of herbs and flowers — clearly someone's been tending a garden up here.

"Ready?"

Akira nods. "Yeah. Let's go. Sooner the better."

Ann nods resolutely and takes Shiho's hand.

"Damn right."

Akira thumbs the metaverse navigator, and they make the transition.

The castle is swarming with guards today. Even if the real Kamoshida doesn't believe in stealing hearts, his Shadow certainly seems to, judging by how heavy the patrols are.

Joker slips into front. 

"Alright," she says. "We all know the route we're going to have to run. Let's hope they haven't covered too many of their blind spots." 

She adjusts her gloves, then reaches into her backpack and distributes out an enhanced energy bar for everyone in the group, then pulls out the bottle of muscle-building supplements and gives everyone a dose as well. 

"I've got another three of these fortified bars for anyone who needs them. I'm going to keep them on me for now, if you need one call me. For any small group try to stick to melee. Use the painkillers if you're injured." She distributes small handfuls of her prescription painkillers to everyone as her last offering, adding more of the over the counter medication she picked up as well.

She takes her own muscle-building supplement, and then her hand goes to the third bottle in her pack — her bottle of estrogen pills. She doesn't want to fuck around with what an antiandrogen like Spiro might do here, but if this is her last time in the Metaverse she's not going to waste it. 

"Little personal thing," she says to the others. Then she puts her estrogen pill under her tongue and waits for it to dissolve.

The whole team feels a little energized and a little stronger, like they could hit harder and fight for longer. Joker also feels some odd electric tingling all over her body, especially in her throat, shoulders, breasts, waist, and hips.

Joker takes a breath as the pill dissolves away. "Fucking sweet," she says, and then she pauses as it catches up to her that she was able to say it in a natural, feminine voice without forcing her tongue back in her mouth. 

She grins from ear to ear. 

Fuck it's tempting to take a second dose. Who knows what it might do. But she knows from her experience DIYing that if you take an excess of estrogen, it can cause blood clots — which means stroke or heart attack. 

Who knows that? Doctors, probably. Trans girls who've DIY'd, like her. But cis people...?

She looks at the pill bottle. 

... probably for the best not to risk it, much as she hates to say it.

She puts the pills away, zips up her bag, and slips it back onto her back. 

"Alright," she says. "Let's go, people." 

It takes more fights than usual, but eventually they make it to the treasure room, where the swirling glow has been replaced with an enormous crown floating above the pedestal.

"Yes! There it is!"

Joker looks up at it. It's almost as big as she is.

"That's one big crown. Getting out with it's going to be a massive pain." 

She frowns.

"This still seems too easy. Where's Kamoshida? Why isn't he here protecting his most precious possession in person?" 

Ann crosses her arms. "This feels like a trap, but I don't see any other option than to trigger it. The guards could come back any minute."

"Trap or not, I can feel that that's really the treasure. We have to take it."