25 ...Huh?

Sweat dripped down Iwai's head as he felt a pressure coming from Axel's eyes, as if to say, 'Explain. Now.'

With a cough to clear his throat, Iwai said, "That's what you asked me to get. It's a passport, proof of citizenship as well as acceptance papers for Shujin."

Axel quickly retracted his glare as a screen appeared in front of him.

[First Ranking Quest: Complete!

Find a way to enroll in Shujin Academy before April 10th.

Reward: 20,000 system points, 20 Status points, Skill - Persona, Skill - Wildcard, 5x Lottery ticket.

Rank: S.]

Ignoring Iwai, Axel closed the screen before he sat down on an empty crate and mentally said, "System, why is the rank S? Also, show a basic description of the new skills."

[Host, the rank of the quest is 'S' because of the amount of time you managed to complete it in. Thought there are other minor facts that lead to it being rank S, the most defining factor was time. As for the skills…]

The voice of the system cut off as a screen appeared that displayed the skills.

[Skills: Persona - The manifestation of the users personality. One-off MP consumption when summoning. All skills minus physical abilities consume MP.

MP Consumption: 100.

Wildcard - Allows the user to use multiple personas. Other abilities unlocked when the user is deemed worthy.]

Axel was stunned silly as one thought kept running through his mind after putting one and one together.

'I'M IN FUCKING PERSONA 5!?!'

With all his interactions thus far, it should of been easy to figure it out. However, since arrival, Axel has been too high strung about all that's happened. The familiar yet unfamiliar land, the large crowds, the fact that this was another world. Everything absorbed his attention and didn't allow a momentary break.

Axel felt it would take a while to process everything that was happening, so he quickly said goodbye to Iwai before hastily making his way home.

On the train home, Axel blocked out everyone in his surroundings as he started putting together everything that's happened so far.

Rubbing his chin, Axel sighed as he thought, 'So far, of all the characters I can remember from the main story, I've met Sojiro and Iwai. I've built a slightly good first impression with Sojiro while I have an easy-going relationship with Iwai. Hmmm… my guess is that around April 10th is when the original story starts. And depending on the quests I gain, will decide what sort of actions I will likely take…'

After leaving the station, Axel absentmindedly wandered around the area. Suddenly, Axel awoke from his thoughts as he frowned and muttered, "I got off at the wrong stop…"

Unlike the area where he lives, everything looked different as he could easily see the wrong station name. However, the area also brought a strange sense of 'deja vu' to Axel in the deepest part of his memory.

Shaking his head to clear out useless thoughts, Axel continued to wander around in an attempt to balance his current mood.

Funny enough, not even 5 minutes after he started wandering around and Axel found himself staring at a store that made him realise why he felt everything looked slightly familiar.

In front of him stood an old, retro looking building with a large red and white canopy with the word 'Leblanc' written in the middle.

A sudden burst of excitement took over Axel as he quickly opened the door and entered.

Looking around inside, Axel noticed one thing that was pretty much consistent in the game and somehow carried over to real life. The cafe was empty. There were no customers in any of the booths while a familiar looking face stood behind the bar while wiping a cup.

Sojiro looked towards the entrance and said, "Welcome." He paused as he looked at Axel with surprise. Smiling, Sojiro continued, "I didn't expect you to visit here so soon."

With a short nod, Axel made his way over and sat on a chair. Quickly scanning over the menu, Axel said, "One coffee and two servings of curry and rice."

"Coming right up." Said Sojiro as he began to busy himself in the kitchen.

A few minutes later, 2 plates of curry and a cup of coffee were set in front of Axel. Sojiro gave him a funny look as he said, "Are you sure you can eat that much?"

Smirking, Axel lay his arm just above the table. Sojiro stared at him in confusion until a snake head slowly slithered out from his arm.

Sojiro jumped in shock and yelled, "SNAKE!!!"

"So loud!" Said Stella as she wrapped her tail around her head in an attempt to block the sound. Axel slowly nodded as he could feel his ears ringing.

With a sigh, Axel looked at the shocked Sojiro who watched as Stella started to eat the curry, and said, "This is Stella. My… pet." Axel felt a sharp glare drill into him but chose to ignore it as he continued, "She's complete tame so she won't cause any trouble, right Stella?"

Sojiro continued to stare in shock as the snake looked as if it understood what they were talking about and nodded.

Rubbing his forehead, Sojiro sighed as he said, "That's fine. Just… please don't pull something like this again. Almost gave me a heart attack."

Axel chuckled as he nodded. Sojiro sighed once more before going behind the bar and continued cleaning.

One bite of curry was enough to almost make Axel kneel in reverence. He felt as if he was kissed by a beautiful goddess with how each and every flavour melded together to create the most perfect taste experience.

The same could be said about the coffee as the flavour perfectly complimented the aftertaste of the curry.

Even though Axel had a lvl 5 cooking skill, he still felt he wouldn't be able to create something so delicous… yet. After a couple minutes in complete silence as both Axel and Stella slowly ate their food to appreciate the flavour, Axel began to clean up after offering his thanks for such a meal.

A small smile appeared on Sojiro's face as he watched Axel tidy up the plates. Even though there are people that clean up after eating, most usually leave the plate on the table for him to collect.

Suddenly, the ring of the doorbell alerted Sojiro that he had another visitor. Sojiro greeted the new arrival while Axel turned to look at the new person. However, as soon as he saw the person, he froze.

Even with her face in her phone, Axel managed to catch a glimpse of her brown eyes as they occasionally locked gazes when she looked up. She had long, silver hair and wore a business suit. In her left-hand was a black suitcase while she held her phone in the other.

The new arrival felt a bit irritated as she looked up from her phone with a glare and said, "Boss, one houseblend please."

Sojiro chuckled at Axel before he turned to the lady and said, "Coming right up."

Axel rubbed his head in embarassment and was about to leave when the lady suddenly stared at Axel with a mix of confusion and intrigue and said, "Do we know each other?"

Thrown off by her question, Axel began to think, 'Technically, I do know her. Sae Nijima, number one prosecutor as well as legal guardian of Makoto Nijima. However, I can't just tell her I do know her and it's not really lying if I say 'No' since we haven't met face to face before, right?'

Sae patiently waited as she felt something oddly familiar about the boy before her.

Not even a second later, Axel shook his head and stared at her with a confused gaze.

She frowned as she began searching her memories for when she had seen him. Suddenly, her frown turned into a smile as she said, "No wonder you don't know me. I saw you online. Your pretty famous right now." She opened her phone and browsed on something for a couple seconds before continuing, "Actually, your still gaining fame. Look."

Axel stared at the screen that showed a video of all his 'Magic Shows' and blankly muttered, "…Huh?"