Phantom Opera: White Soliloquy

A grand space, opulent and vast. Massive white pillars erected from the floor as if they were holding up the heavens. Even though this was the throne room there was but one item in the whole room, the entity which provided a monarch their title. The throne. Striking gold cast a blinding shadow on the velvet carpet fed through the centre of the room. On the gaudy throne sat his eminence, boredly watching the entrance to his territory.

The large doors open slowly, quietly. To disrupt the monarch was akin to treason. A golden figure with pure white wings sprouting from his large back, towering threateningly, quickly came to bow before the ruler. Taking a knee, he didn't dare to look into the ruler's eyes. The figure's gaze remained on the floor as he resolutely spoke.

"My king. The intruders have escaped, I blame my own inability to capture them." Resignation clear in his voice.

"…" The king looked on unimpressed by the knight. His eyes looking down from the elevated platform onto the kneeling vassal.

"Your orders, my liege."

"…A few rats in the castle. So be it. Keep the guard vigilant. How and where did they enter?"

"We aren't entirely sure, but they were first spotted in the dungeons. I'm assuming they used one of the tunnels to enter."

"The waterways… Keep the draw bridge back. Gather soldiers at every entrance to the underground. The rest of your personal guard is to remain in the main hall and post outside of this very room."

"Understood, my king."

"Now that their next entrance is prevented, do we know for what reason they have invaded?" He asked whilst slightly nudging the crown atop his head.

"I fear that our hypotheses were correct, sire."

"Have they made a move already?" The golden knight shook his head briefly at the king's question.

"The flag remains a distance away; however, they left a message at the entrance." Remembering the three-letter word imprinted on the door, his tone became sardonic.

"And?" The regal figure's finger scratched the stubble present on his chin.

"War. I assume they were the advance party."

"War… If that's what they want, then they'll quickly feel retribution."

"Sire?"

"Forces on the horizon. A kingdom necessitates a queen, no? I could use another trophy; it's been a while." He laughed, remembering his last conquest.

"You mean to let them come?" The knight asked slightly heightening his sight, just enough to see the lower body of the king. His feet a distance away as they rest stably, silently. Not a single tremor or agitation present.

"After all this time, do you question our strength? My strength?" He spoke in a clear voice, cutting straight through any confusion or stipulation.

"Of course not! However, the intruders had some problematic apparel." Remembering the dismembered figures of the multitude of guards in the dungeons, he sighed. Steel plate discarded as if tearing through paper.

"Hoh? What was it?"

"Like miniature cannons. They brewed dragon fire from small arms. It easily cut through the armour of the knights. My subordinates in the dungeon were mere vestiges of their former selves." Their mangled corpses remained in the dungeon even now.

"Necessary sacrifices in the game to come. For now, keep the infantry at the entrances, if they use such weaponry there must be a cost. If so, we'll impede their advance with them, only use the expendables." He waved his hand dismissively.

"My king, you mean to use them as cannon-fodder?" The knight didn't appear shocked.

"Of course, that is the nature of war. If they are strong enough then they will prevail, is that not enough?"

"I understand the ways of war well, but such sacrifices may diminish our forces vastly. If we take many losses on the advance party, how are we to properly combat the encroaching numbers?"

"These are just the first skirmishes. They'll continue like this a few more times."

"Forgive my impudence, my liege. But what makes you so sure of that?"

"I don't expect you to understand my strategy, then again it would be foolish to have you enact something you don't understand." The knight nodded in affirmation.

"They weren't injured and found one entrance. The only pathway into the castle from underground is that single staircase. A terrible idea for an encroaching force, we'd have the high ground in a narrow passage. It's akin to suicide, weapons or none." A smirk was tugging at the monarch's lips as he regaled his understanding.

"As you say, sire."

"Which means they can't rely on it, that leaves the other options to scout. The front door is an obvious no. Our trap planned beforehand didn't go as expected, but they won't rely on that in the future for fear of troops being stationed there. Leaving them as wanderers without a real goal, they'll find every single entrance covered."

"Will that not just expedite the coming invasion?"

"No. Because we are going to purposely allow them to investigate the interior."

"I'm sorry, sire. I can't allow that; your safety is paramount!" the knight's voice rose slightly.

"Stand down." The king's tone sharpened immediately. "We will guide them through the entire way. Blockade particularly troublesome passageways, stand a platoon in key locations and guide them through select areas in the castle. Ensure you see to it personally."

"To trap them, sire?"

"That too. First, we need to ascertain their goal."

"…"

"Know yourself and your enemy and you'll win a thousand battles. Do you know who once said that?"

"No, sire."

"Well, remember it. War, combat, literature, culture even the concept of love itself. They are all mine. As is the privilege of a king. Those words. Your strength. The lives of every man and woman in this realm. They are all mine. As such it is impudence to even assume they can defy me."

"Forgive me, sire." The knight lowered his head further.

"My magnanimity comes with a price. Defeat my enemies. My honour is your honour. For what greater glory is there than serving this kingdom?" The regent spread his arms, flipping the red cloak hugging his shoulders, in a grand fashion.

"Understood, sire."

"As always the victor gets the spoils, ensure you follow my orders, and your reward will be delivered."

"Of course. I take leave, my liege." The knight's eyes remained glued to the pristine floor even as he stood and pivoted towards the entrance. Standing at attention as he exited the throne room, and the doors closed once again. Sealing the emperor in his opulent palace, vacant of all life. The blinding sheen of his golden throne against the marble floor, his only companion. Slowly, the regent risen from the throne, cape following him from behind as he stepped up the magnificent staircase. Grand doors stood at the top of the stairs, untold treasures behind the doors.

Opening the door just a sliver, the amorous giggles of feminine voices lowly rung. Like a whispering flame to the moth, he approached. With a light smile the king slipped through the small gap and disappeared into the embrace of the vault.

 [Phantom Opera: White Soliloquy]

"Damn, it's dark in here." Sakamoto whispered loudly.

"If there were light, they'd be able to see the passage, make do for now."

"Still, how the hell did you even know about this?" It was a guess, although with good reasoning behind it. Kamoshida was a ruler that inherently didn't trust others, they wouldn't know about this pathway, even if they did, they wouldn't assume that we knew of its existence. This gave us a unique opportunity. Besides, even if I was wrong, we would've had enough time to cut a path out and escape.

"Intuition."

"Intuition, my right foot."

"Is that the bad one?" Leg more than foot, but close enough.

"Yea-?" Sakamoto suddenly stopped, even in the deafening dark I could feel his lingering gaze.

"Are you coming?" I said, still walking along the narrow pathway.

"…How long have you known? No. Who told you?" Sakamoto said whilst creeping to catch up with me.

"No one." No one needed to.

"I'd say I don't believe you, but it isn't like you talk to anyone in class…"

"We aren't even in the same class." How did he know?

"The point still stands, I'm not wrong, am I?"

"I suppose so." Either Sakamoto was gathering more information than I gave him credit, or I was just easy to read.

"Like talking to a corpse…"

"There's no way I'm dead, after all this can hardly be called heaven." I hadn't done enough to be sent to hell, yet. I was fairly impartial or grey I would've thought. My actions even helped quite a few people in the past.

"…" Sakamoto looked incredulously at me, scrutinizing me behind the shadows cast in the long corridor.

"I'm not that bad. Need I remind you that I'm cooperating currently?" Currently being the keyword. If he intended to disregard instruction, then I'd just as quickly be rid of him.

"Barely." I think you'd find I was the one pulling this operation together. Even if that did come with conditions. I guess I just wasn't enthusiastic enough for his liking.

"Ah. You drifted us off topic again! When did you find out?" I was hardly driving us off topic. At most I was roughly following the natural progression of a conversation with Sakamoto. If he ended in a tangent that was his own fault.

"I had guesses from when we first came here, does that suffice?" Struggling with the physical testing, Kamoshida's reference to his crippling stature. Sakamoto's general mannerisms throughout our conversations made it pretty clear.

"Not really. When specifically?"

"You'd be better off not questioning everything I ever say, it'll cause you no end of trouble." It would also be so much more convenient for me.

"Stop dodging. I'd say if it involves me, I should be able to ask."

"…" We continued shuffling along in the dark confines of the passageway.

"Was it one of the guys from track?" Track club? I wonder how Kamoshida became involved in that; I assumed Sakamoto was a member of the volleyball club in the past or something.

"I told you already, no one."

"So, you could just tell my leg was crippled through what, the force? Sounds like an asspull…" If I could use the force, it would've already been in use to stop your mouth from opening incessantly.

"Your legs seize up from time to time. You massage your right leg specifically whenever we sit for long periods. Kamoshida called you a cripple in the dungeon. You ran off balance when we first came to this place. Enough evidence?" I neglected to let him know that he often fidgeted and bounced his right leg when Kamoshida came up in conversation.

"Dude… Gross, how much attention do you spend on me?" He looked at me in disgust and bewilderment.

"Not much, you just make your weaknesses excessively noticeable."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. That I have a quite literal physical disability. I'll make sure not to inconvenience you with it again." Sakamoto said sarcastically whilst knocking the steel knee guards of his right leg. It was a liability, disability or not.

"Now. I'm not inconvenienced. I will be, if you continue to show it to enemies." Eligor's warning was clear, other guards with similar combat experience existed. I couldn't assist Sakamoto in the event that we were in combat with multiple enemies, he'd have to protect himself.

"We managed to get this far, didn't we? We always have the weapons on our side as well. Besides it isn't exactly something I can stop doing immediately. So, feel free to remove that stick up your ass any time now." That wasn't the issue. The issue is that an old injury is still having this effect. I didn't blame Sakamoto for not anticipating the necessity of fitness for these excursions. However, I do take issue with the mindset that allowed this to take place. It needed correcting.

"Weapons that we don't understand fully, whilst in enemy territory I might add. You need to take this more seriously." Limited ammo, enemy type, numbers etc. We didn't know enough about this place.

"Please. If anything shows its face, we stuff it with hot lead and a bit of lightning should take care of it."

"Because that worked on Eligor, didn't it?"

"Don't act as if you took that guy out yourself. If you didn't have my lightning, then you probably wouldn't have survived." There was no point thinking of the what ifs of someone already passed.

"Granted, you did well. But that's precisely my point."

"What?" With a dumbfounded expression he turned to me.

"If we had miss stepped any way in that fight it wasn't a simple bandage, and we'll return next time. We could easily die. Why do you think I went to the trouble of buying these?" I pointed to the revolver tucked in my belt. The chambers void of any ammunition.

"I mean…" He didn't have a defence.

"Did you think just because this world isn't real, there are no real consequences?"

"Of course not, it's just…"

"If you go about things like you have been, we'll be the ones to die."

"…The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Continuing to live in the short-term with no consideration for the future will backfire. Not just for you. Which is why I can't allow it." I wouldn't be taken down along with a pariah. I was no martyr.

"I'm here, aren't I?!" Yeah, the present. The exact problem. If Sakamoto had much recognition for the things I was saying, I wouldn't be saying this in the first place. This was his major flaw.

"An act of self-sacrifice, that's all it is. Recklessness without any plan behind it isn't courage, it's baseless arrogance. A death wish." I might be the one making the plans now, but it didn't cover this glaring issue I had with Sakamoto's attitude.

"I've had a bit of enough with your tone…" He was getting aggravated, I hit the nail on the head.

"That injury. How old is it?" I looked towards his right leg.

"…The hell does that matter now?" He said indignantly.

"Because it's something that could've been treated, it could've been rehabilitated. But even now you wallow in squalor." Recovering from an injury was no easy feat. I wasn't attempting to take that from him, but as the last standing bastion of resistance against Kamoshida he was seen as a joke and belligerent child by his peers. The very fact that Sakamoto was nowhere to be seen in this castle made it abundantly clear how Kamoshida really viewed him. That in and of itself wasn't a problem if the person in question was anyone but Sakamoto. However, he didn't operate in a way that could take advantage of that role.

"What, gonna tell me you know the very cause and effects of my injury now? You're an insufferable dick, you know that?" He huffed whilst following a distance behind.

"You can still run, evidently. You've recovered to the state that its usable. But beyond that you haven't exercised the discipline to reach your former ability. You've given up." It was as if I were talking to myself, for all the wrong reasons.

"You don't get to say that shit…" I could hear the leather of his outfit as it crumpled together, his fist clenching as the gloves hugged the digits.

"What was your plan without me or this cognition world? Did you even have one?"

"I… I…" His eyes remained on the floor in front of him. No doubt clouded by the emotion in his eyes. My words bringing the memories back to the forefront.

"There was nothing. Standing against his presence, simply for the sake of it was self-defeating. Now the only way that others see you is a target. A joke for them to laugh at even if they agree with your message." And laugh they would, despite being in an arguably worse position. Because the easiest way to prove someone's life was good was by immediately showing them the lower class in a caste system. It was intrinsic, embedded in human DNA. It was something every person understood whether taught or not. 'I have more than them, therefore I am better'. It was selfish. Inherently shallow. But so were humans.

"…"

"In the coming fights I need a reliable ally to have my back. A headstrong fool that's fine dying on the battlefield is unnecessary." Sakamoto seen this as his final holy crusade, the last hurrah. He would be satisfied going down with the ship so long as he kept fighting. It was admirable, or it would be, if it weren't completely pointless. This would be the testing grounds. A reliable ally or a sacrificial lamb. He would choose.

"Don't trust me to have your back?" He asked sarcastically, an attempt to mask his rage.

"I don't trust someone who isn't watching where they walk to have my back." This was ultimately where Sakamoto's most prevalent issue stemmed from. He was stuck in the past and lashing out at the present for it. He had no understanding of the future and what it meant for him, because to him he didn't have one. I felt a small sense of camaraderie with that sensation. But precisely because I understood it, I took immense issue with it. Watching him squander any opportunity to act and lead a fulfilling life made bile rise from my stomach. It made me think that it wasn't… No, I'm getting off topic. I needed him to perform, that was it. Anything else was unnecessary at this time.

"You really have a way with words, don't you? Makes me want to shoot you from here." Unfortunately, I was all out of bullets so I couldn't respond with the same.

"That would mean the students' and your own fates are sealed."

"Ever the benevolent saviour, aren't you?" He said in a mocking tone.

"No more a saviour than you are. Even after all this time can you say that you've saved even a single person from his clutches?" The resounding silence that followed was all too evident.

"…" I'd have to be careful with chastising him too much or I might actually get shot.

"The time for narrow-minded self-indulgence is ending. If you think Kamoshida is the dangerous threat that you assume he is, then I need a trustworthy ally to take him down. That's also in your best interest, no?"

"…Cut the bullshit for a bit. Why do you want to take him down?"

"If I said it was because I empathised with the students' torture?"

"Don't buy it." Heartless. Have some consideration for me.

"But it's the truth."

"I'd buy it more if it was because of a single person." It was a simple notion. Entirely congruent with a normal adolescent boy.

"So, I'm capable of romantic love but not common decency?" I suppose romantic interest was the more appropriate phrase.

"That's who you are. You don't do anything for anyone but yourself." It wasn't a question. Sakamoto held those as stalwart convictions of my character.

"I think it's a bit early to judge my character like that."

"Sorry, but that idea will never leave my mind." Sakamoto was unbearably stubborn at times. That would be an issue.

"I can't say I agree. Care to share your reasoning?" I didn't believe I acted so heartlessly. It was fairly common for an individual to prioritise their own safety in dangerous situations so I couldn't quite see why he made that association.

"Why? Plan on changing it from now on?" If these behavioural changes had any chance of killing me or risking exposure, then no.

"Who knows? Depends on the specifics."

"If you see those details as specifics then we're done talking." It was very Sakamoto-like to conflate important details with superfluous information.

"That so?"

"Yeah. Just a heads up that when we're done with him, that's us done as well." It was a step forward.

"I couldn't ask for anything more."

"Good." He huffed once again whilst looking away from me.

"For now, worry about surviving this." The tunnel opened up to a larger room with what seemed to be an elevator or the medieval equivalent of it. Iron chains descended from the ceiling that were used as a pulley for a wooden platform. The platform in question was populated with four marble busts in the corners. Particularly busty busts, I might add.

Sakamoto approached a lever; one would assume to activate the mechanism.

"Wait. We climb the chain."

"…Are you kidding me? This is reaching paranoia…" It was a bit of a steep climb the top wasn't entirely visible from down here. The complete lack of any light at the top wasn't a help either but we didn't have much choice. There was a gentle draft drifting down the passageway. If we're quiet, it should take 5 or so minutes.

"Just do it. If anyone finds us here, we're cut off from both sides. If there are guards at the top, they'll immediately notify others of its use. We need to be as quiet as possible from here." Not to mention if there are failsafe switches, alarms etc. Slotting the sword into its sheath and sliding it into my belt I prepared for a long climb.

"What a pain…" Sakamoto groaned whilst stretching. Grasping the taut iron chain I begun ascending to the higher floor, Sakamoto following behind. The faint movements of the implement creating a low echo as the iron chain jingled with our movements.

The higher we go the closer we should be to the truth. Treasure. Desire. Every man was a slave to something. As soon as I had confirmation, I could make my approach. So long as I held the object of his desires in my hand then all was fine. As soon as the raison d'etre was in my hands, it was as good as won.

 ---

Word count: 3669

For those that played the game you'll understand what happened. I wanted to make it questionable, but I'm guessing even without playing the game you probably could've guessed they were still inside the castle.

For Kamoshida's character some might feel he's a bit more capable than shown in the game, which is true. Personally, I just believe Kamoshida's act was lazy and he would've been caught much earlier than in the game's. I understand that isn't the point of them or of persona 5 but for a story with Ayanokouji it wouldn't feel right. So, this will be the start of a battle of wits between the two.

Finally, I believe that this was an authentic response from Sakamoto, given what he knows about Ayanokouji. I think his misgivings and attitude towards him are mostly in character and he would react like this given how their conversations have gone thus far. Of course, if there are disagreements on this point feel free to leave a comment and I'll explain my viewpoint.

As always hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave any thoughts and feelings on the story so far.

P.S. Would people prefer I append the volleyball match into a single large chapter? I'd prefer not to go back and retcon or rewrite too much, or at all if possible. It takes away a bit from the authenticity and also becomes an exercise in futility. The amount of fics I've enjoyed to then see it rewritten multiple times, deleted after the fact is a shame. Cold as Ice being a prime example of that. Let me know.

Until next time.