Chapter 44: Fuck, I don't have a title
Back with Ann and Shiho, the black-haired girl finally gathered her courage so she could ask Ann something.
"Hey... Is that magazine the only one that Shin appears in?"
She had already wrapped her arms around her face in preparation for Ann's reply.
"I'm sure there are more of them... I mean, how should I know?"
Shiho would've said more, but she was startled by Shin's hand who suddenly wrapped around her.
Ann, who looked at her, confused, stiffened up when Shin's other hand snaked around her body.
"You've both been taking care of me while I was sick. How sweet of you." said the teen.
He was bent over them, so he was seeing them upside down. In an amazing display of eye-hand coordination, he proceeded to give both of the girls headpats.
"Good girls deserve a reward, don't you think?"
At that moment, all three could hear the door of the cafe opening. Despite the fact that Ryuji was getting nearer and nearer, the girls couldn't bring themselves to pull away from Shin's hands.
Just when Ryuji was about to step into the room, Shin took back his hands and stood upright.
The girls couldn't help but feel a slight disappointment.
"Am I... interrupting something?" asked Ryuji, in a rare moment of situational awareness.
"No!""No!" said Ann and Shiho, at the same time.
"Ooookay... So, I'm pretty sure Yusuke's teacher is that very same Madarame that Nakanohara was talking about."
It seems those words brought Ann and Shiho out of their post-Shin daze.
"Huh?"
"And I also found this." said the blond boy, showing the display of his phone to the others.
"Apparently, an anonymous poster said something about a famous artist plagiarizing the work of his students. Not to mention abusing and mistreating them." said Morgana.
"I'm pretty sure that Madarame is a bad guy. Are we gonna go after him or not?" asked Ryuji.
Both girls nodded their heads at that.
"But, where is his palace?" asked Shin, dousing cold water over the other 4's spirited emotions.
"Oh... Well, when I was at the exposition, he also happened to be there. Some reporters were asking him something, can't remember what. But he said something about living in a 'shack'. Some bull about distancing himself from wealth and fame."
"Though, we don't know where that is... Perhaps you might find out, Shin. Yusuke still wants to paint you, remember?" said the cat.
"Yeah, yeah."
"I guess we can go home now. Shin's feeling better, so..." said Ryuji.
"Mmhm. Unless, you want to spend the night over?" said the black-haired boy.
Shiho thought about Shin's words over and over.
'Staying over at Shin's...'
However tempting the boy's words may be, Shiho just couldn't bring herself to accept his offer.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good. Take care of yourself, man." said Ryuji, waving his hand as he went down the stairs.
"I guess we should leave too. What about you, Shiho?" said Ann.
"Huh? Y-Yeah. We should."
"See you tomorrow." said Shin, as he went to see them out.
As he was once again alone (disregarding Morgana), he could finally investigate what happened earlier, when he entered that strange world.
Besides the snow that didn't feel like snow, there were other irregularities.
The inflation of the soldier, for one. It was all too coincidental for him to explode at that exact moment, right when Olga wanted to.
Also, Shin noticed the trees were odd, too. He didn't have much time to investigate before, but they felt hollow.
It was possible that the entire forest was artificial, although the question remains. What was that ability, and are there more people like Olga there?
The idea of that place being somewhere in the Metaverse briefly passed through Shin's head but he dismissed it. How could he have entered the Metaverse if he was... unconscious...
The teen hurriedly took out his phone and accessed the Meta-navigation app.
'I can't believe this...'
There were 2 registered locations, one of which was Mementos. The other's name couldn't be read, as the letters were missing.
' n o f e t o s.'
It was all that was written there so far.
'A new palace? That'd explain some things. But this is very worrying.'
As much as Shin wanted to get started on exploring that palace, it seemed as if the whole trip back and forth took a lot out of him.
'I should check it tomorrow.'
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The protagonist is voiced by Jun Fukuyama, who also voiced Koro-sensei and Lelouch.
His English VA is somewhat less impressive, some notable roles being Momoshiki Otsutsuki and Motoyasu Kitamura. Also the reason why I enjoy playing Persona 5 with Japanese voices.
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Confidants:
Igor (The Fool) - Rank 2
Morgana (The Magician) - Rank 3
Takuto Maruki (The Councillor) - Rank 1
Makoto Niijima (The Priestess) - Rank 1
Sojiro Sakura (The Hierophant) - Rank 3
Ann Takamaki (The Lovers) - Rank 7
Ryuji Sakamoto (The Chariot) - Rank 6
Tae Takemi (The Death) - Rank 4
Saki Yoshiko (The Moon) - Rank 2
Sae Niijima (The Judgement) - Rank 1
Shiho Suzui (The Hope) - Rank 7
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
RealSam11
RealSam11 You can check my discord here: https://discord.gg/kU7mAuw
P.S: You can check out Shiho's Phantom Thief outfit on my discord.