She nods. "It is."

"Everyone's shadows are down in the subway system. Most are just traveling about down there, and some are hiding off in various corners being distorted."

"I see. It'd be foolish to go down there with just the two of us, then. We'd be mobbed."

"The entrance layer is empty, and the first layer is about as bad as Kamoshida's palace on an average day, maybe a little bit worse, just from what I've seen of it. We definitely shouldn't bring Takemi down past the entrance, though. Just going down those first stairs will be enough to see the distortions clearly without risking anyone's safety."

Speaking of stairs, here are the stairs down. It still looks normal up here, outside the subway system altogether.

Akira leads the way down. 

As she emerges onto the lower landing, a soft wave of blue fire washes over her. From one step to the next, she goes from her practical outdoor shoes to her red-buckled combat boots; her legs become clad in dark leggings and her short two-tone skirt, while her torso's wrapped in black mesh beneath her black, bell-shaped coat. 

Joker adjusts her scarlet gloves, and turns to face Takemi. "This close to the shadows, my powers are reacting," she says. She draws her dagger of dysphoria and twirls it on her fingers. "Here I'm not just some schoolgirl. My body is light and strong. Supplements really work here. So does estrogen. I haven't tried crystal healing or other woo bullshit yet, but it's got a decent chance of actually having some effect, here. It's made of people's thoughts, so what the masses believe in..."

She shrugs, and sheathes her dagger again. 

When the fire starts to wash across Akira's body, Takemi whirls to face her. She starts to grab the lapels of her lab coat in case she needs to smother the flames, but Akira doesn't seem to be bothered, so she just watches.

When the transformation is complete and she sees the new outfit, her mouth falls open. Her eyes flick up and down Joker's body for a moment, drinking her appearance in.

Then she closes her eyes briefly before opening them with a grin, cheeks still faintly flushed. "Bold outfit, Akira, and you're absolutely rocking it."

"Thanks, it's like a manifestation of what my id sees as coolest or something. It was embarrassing to wear the first time, but I'm stuck with it so I might as well rock it, yeah?"

She digs in her pack and comes up with her bottle of estrogen pills. "I'm going to take one of these while I'm here, so you can see what it does and since it's an opportunity for me to get more effect faster. Hope you don't mind me being quiet for a moment, Morgana can explain anything you need to know."

She pops the pill under her tongue. 

Takemi nods and takes a look around. "So this is the Metaverse."

She walks up to a patch of red-black veins erupting from a wall, watching as they pulsate. She pokes one with the eraser of a pencil.

A fel wind blows upward from the subway system below, intensifying just a bit as she pokes the vein.

"Wow."

Morgana walks up beside her and nods. "Mementos is basically everyone's Palace. It's like the collective unconscious, so everyone's shadows can be found here, as long as they're not distorted enough to have a Palace of their own."

"Interesting. And everyone has a shadow?"

"Except people with powers like ours. Our shadows become our powers."

She nods. "Changing hearts involves a lot of fighting, I take it?"

"More sneaking when we can help it, but yeah, there's plenty of fighting. Distorted people usually have shadows — not the shadows of real people, but echoes of myths from the collective unconscious — patrolling their Palaces as guards. We've gotten injured in here before, even. Luckily it's easier to heal in here than out there. Medicines are all more effective and faster, to the point that even painkillers can treat injuries."

"Fascinating. I'll have to think about that."

She turns back to Joker.

"Wait what!?"

She steps close and looks her up and down. "Is your waist smaller? Your breasts definitely grew, and so did your hips? And did your shoulders shrink minutely?"

Joker gives Takemi a very smug grin. "Haven't done a full checkup since I started taking pills in the Metaverse, but they repaired my voice which was starting to crack, so I don't doubt the effects you're seeing are real."

"Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Of course, if I tried to publish a paper on these miraculous effects, probably we alert people who would abuse the Metaverse, and possibly it interferes with the effects. Pity, they'd even let the Plague publish if effects this strong could be proved."

She shakes her head.

"Do you think you'll be coming back here? Changing more hearts?"

"Well, I've got two requests now from people I trust. The administrator who's unjustly blamed you for his malpractice, and another which I won't talk about since I recieved the request in confidence. So probably I'll be calling a team meeting soon to discuss. I'm personally more inclined towards using this power as a therapy if I can, but I'm not going to ignore the harm done to you any more than I'd ignore what Kamoshida was doing to my other friends. Given that I've gotten two serious requests within a day of fixing one problem... I'll probably end up doing it a lot. I don't like it, but it's the obvious conclusion. I'm not going to just stand by and let the people dear to me suffer when I have something I can do about it, however risky." 

"If you're going to be doing this, come see me about my custom medicines. Having seen this place, I think I can make some formulations that will be particularly effective here."

"Alright. Oh, and — you said you needed a lab rat for pharmaceutical testing? I'm willing to volunteer."

"I—Really? Well then. If you're willing to be my little guinea pig through some rough tests, then maybe we can finish this in time to save Miwa-chan after all."

She grins challengingly.

"Yes, Ma'am." Joker grins back. "I'll do my best."

"Let's get out of here."

She starts back up the stairs.