It's Uncanny How Easy It Is!

The ocean crashed against their bodies, unrelenting in it's efforts to drown them. Katsuro had long since passed out, and it was entirely up to Akihiko to keep them afloat.

Thankfully, though, it seemed like an outside force wanted to keep them alive- driftwood and parts of old ships just kept floating to them from a single direction, somehow against the flow of the waves. It was enough for Akihiko to make an incredibly makeshift raft out of 4 planks and some netting.

He and his kid were safe, for the time being.

---

"... kiddo, wake up... come on..."

Katsuro awoke to the feeling of warm sun on his face, sand in his hair, and of course, being shaken by his dad. The silver-haired teen sighed and sat up, coughing up a bit of saltwater before laying back down and giving his dad a thumbs-up.

"... really, Katsuro." Akihiko half-scoffed, half-laughed.

"Hey, I just barely survived being dropped into the middle of a sea, forgive me for not having the energy to sit up."

"Right, right. Tell me, how did we end up here?" Akihiko questioned, his tone insinuating that he somehow already knew the answer to the question.

"Um..."

Suddenly, Katsuro's phone dinged.

"You have arrived at your destination."

"Katsuro."

"Yeah?"

"Answer the question, Katsuro."

"... oh, hey, is that a Temple? Let's go check it out!"

Katsuro stood up, grabbed his guitar case full of gear, and rushed off of the beach, leaving Akihiko in the dust.

"Wh- hey, get your ass back here!!"

---

The temple was warm and inviting, decorated with Grecian architecture, a stark contrast from the stormy sea that they had fallen in, and even the shipwreck-lined beach of the island that they had washed up on- yet, despite that, there were... no people to be seen. Katsuro seemed so eager to get to the temple, until he suddenly froze.

"Sh-shit, a shadow!"

He ducked behind a ruined column, Akihiko following suit. The shadow in question was wearing the attire of a Greek soldier, almost resembling Castor and Polydeuces, but... no, no, that's not possible. Akihiko shook his head before putting his focus back on Katsuro.

"... what did you just say?"

"Um... just, don't mess with those guys, alright Dad? They're dangerous. Just... follow my lead."

Akihiko squinted at Katsuro. He knows about shadows, huh? Then he must've... no, there's no way, Akihiko thought.

He's a teenager, my dear warrior, Caesar spoke. They're always smarter than you think.

Akihiko rolled his eyes as Katsuro stood up and approached the shadow, following along with his son, though keeping his hand on his evoker.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Oh? Visitors! We have not had visitors in ages! The caretaker will be very excited."

"The caretaker?" Akihiko asked. "And who might that be?"

"That would be me."

Akihiko froze in place as soon as he heard the familiar voice of his husband. Except, it wasn't, not really. He turned to see the towering, monstrous form of a cyclops with a single, glowing gold eye, flowing brown hair, and a red and black toga.

"Who dares enter my domain?" Shadow Shinjiro says.

"Um... Nobody does, pops." Katsuro says, laughing a bit. The shadow groans before switching his tone.

"... Akihiko. Did you bring him here? I told you, if you ever got him involved with Shadow Operatives shit again that I'd tear you LIMB FROM LIMB!" It growls and approaches Akihiko threateningly- Akihiko, though, doesn't flinch.

Akihiko sighs, looks at Katsuro, then puts his hand to his head. "No, I didn't bring him here. This was all him."

Shadow Shinjiro's single eyebrow furrowed, and Katsuro can suddenly feel the spotlight on him to explain exactly what's going on.

"... hey, hold on, WHY are you not questioning this more, Dad?!" Katsuro instantly deflects. "Pops looks like a giant fucking CYCLOPS, and you haven't batted an EYE! Um, pun unintended, sorry, Pops."

"... goddamnit. We should've told you about all of this before you moved and got yourself involved with some of your own shadow crap like Mitsuru did with her kids..."

The shadow rolls his eye. Katsuro takes a moment to process what was just said. When it finally clicks, his eyes widen. "... you... you two have Personas, too?"

Akihiko nods. "Yeah, we... I do. I take it if you're not with the real Shinjiro, Odysseus, then-"

"Don't. Fucking. Call. Me. That." the shadow growls.

"... we should go before he gets violent, Katsuro."

"Tch. Rich, coming from you, dumbass."

Akihiko bristled at that, his face contorting into a scowl. Before he could say anything, Katsuro shoved himself between his dads, shoving them away from each other- or rather, shoving Akihiko away from Shadow Shinjiro, as the latter was much too heavy to move with a simple push.

Unfortunately, the act of merely grazing Shadow Shinjiro was counted as violence towards the ruler of the palace. Akihiko and Katsuro could both feel the security level jack up. If they weren't convinced before, blue flames engulfed the pair, melting their clothes into their metaverse attire- a cowboy look for Katsuro, and a gladiator look for Akihiko.

"Shit-" The both of them said simultaneously, sharing a look.

Akihiko continued, "We need to go NOW!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!"

The pair booked it, barely dodging being scooped up by Shadow Shinjiro, who roared in anger.

"GET BACK HERE! GUARDS, AFTER THEM!"

---

"Ok... ok. We're safe here."

Akihiko slammed the door to the Safe Room behind him and just... stood there, staring at it. Katsuro could see his fist balled, and even though they were gloved, he could tell that his father's knuckles were white.

"... dad?"

"... explain. NOW."

"What do you, uh... want to know..?"

"What do YOU think?! EVERYTHING, Katsuro! Why and how you have a Persona, know about Shadows, and how you got us into this situation! Not to mention what's in that case you've been dragging around with you!" Akihiko shouted, pointing to said guitar case, which was sitting on a table. Katsuro gulped and flipped the latch... and there sat his polearm, rifle, and the myriad bandages and medicines that he had purchased... all miraculously unscathed from the ocean. Akihiko just stared blankly.

"... a gun. Are. You. KIDDING?! Have you lost your MIND?!"

"It's an airsoft-"

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT BETTER! WHY DO YOU EVEN HAVE THAT?!"

"Cause it functions like an actual gun in the Metaverse-"

Akihiko looked like he was going to blow a gasket.

"I don't even have the WORDS, Katsuro."

"If you'd just sit down and let me explain-"

"Fine," Akihiko said, taking a seat at the table. "I'm waiting."

Katsuro huffed.

Calm it, pardner. Butch whispered.

"... Yes, I have a Persona. No, it's not a coincidence that my old boss had his heart changed by the Phantom Thieves, he's the reason why I had my Persona awaken in the first place."

"... You- you're a part of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts..."

Katsuro nodded.

"The same Phantom Thieves of Hearts that took out that perverted gym teacher, the art plagarist, the yakuza extortionist, and the supposed Medjed hackers."

Again, Katsuro nodded. Though he tried to keep his composure, Akihiko paled.

"... you don't even realize the amount of hot water you're in, kid."

"Uh... elaborate...?"

Akihiko swallowed before opening his mouth... but nothing came out. He didn't even know where to begin...

"... sigh. Well... if you can't explain what kind of "hot water" I'm in, can you at least tell me how you- and I suppose, by extension, Papa and Mitsuru know about Shadows and Personas?"

"... that's... a very, very long story. You'll have to ask your aunts for their parts of it, but... the long short of it is, Mitsuru recruited Shinjiro and I to execute Shadows when all of us were in middle school with the ultimate purpose of destroying... ugh, that explanation will take too long... flash forward to the end of high school... Mitsuru, Yukari, the twins, Junpei, Aigis, Fuuka, Ken, and I- oh, and Koromaru, too- fought to stop the end of the world, and we won."

"... all of them- even the great-grandpa of our dog- have personas. Uh-huh."

"This kid," Akihiko thought, running his hand over his masked face. "Believe it or not, it's the truth. Now... what does your team look like? Cause if you did all that alone..."

"I'm not an idiot," Katsuro said. "... maybe a little bit. But hey, I get it honestly-"

"Katsuro."

"Okay, jeez... but I'm not going to tell you who's on my team. I know you'll just arrest all of them."

The older man guffawed. Arrest? He couldn't believe how little Katsuro knew about his job, but then... that was his own fault, huh.

"... I'm not going to arrest a bunch of teenagers. The Shadow Operatives are probably the one thing preventing you all from getting arrested, or worse.

"... worse?"

"You all messed with the Yakuza. Did you not think that would put you on someone's radar?"

Katsuro winced. "... I wasn't on the team then, but... fair point, I guess..."

A moment of silence passed over the pair, before Akihiko spoke again. "... we... have a lot to talk about. But for now, we need to get out of here. Did you happen to bring any-"

"Goho-M's?" Katsuro finishes. "I've got plenty. And now that we have a safe room, we don't have to deal with that ocean anymore.."

"Right. Well, let's get going. Once we're back in reality, you and I... are going to have a much, much longer discussion, young man." Akihiko says sternly.