A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

"Mr. Player..."

As they were about to part, Hat Mita put away her usual cheerful, carefree, and somewhat irreverent demeanor, and looked at Asagiri with concern, whispering her words of advice.

You absolutely must come back alive.

"Do not worry."

Asagiri smiled and nodded, then turned around and walked outside with Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko, speaking in a calm tone.

"I'm the strongest."

……

After leaving the core computer room, the team arrived at an outdoor area that resembled an outer space base station.

"Hiss... It's so cold..."

Kotoko Iwanaga shivered, and Asuna Yuuki, seeing this, sighed with a hint of helplessness.

"Now you know how cold it is, wearing this kind of clothes into dungeons every time?"

As she spoke, Asuna Yuuki took off her sports jacket and draped it over Kotoko Iwanaga's shoulders.

"Put it on."

"Uh-huh."

Just as Iwanaga Kotoko finished putting on her coat, Asagiri draped her own coat over Yuuki Asuna's shoulders.

"Then you can wear mine."

"Eh?"

Asuna Yuuki paused for a moment, her face showing a shy and hesitant expression. She looked at Asagiri, who had taken off her sports jacket and was now only wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, and said softly.

"You must be cold..."

"It's alright. With my physical condition, this level of cold won't have any effect on me."

"OK then……"

Seeing Yuuki Asuna wearing Asagiri's coat, Iwanaga Kotoko was about to cry foul when she heard a jarring notification sound from Asagiri's phone.

"Core Mita has issued a warning to us of danger."

As Asagiri finished speaking, a metal door not far away was suddenly smashed open, and out rushed out were several humanoid monsters with no skin or facial features, their bodies a dark red flesh color. They roared strangely as they charged toward the four-person team standing there.

"Wind Protection."

With a metallic clang, Asuna Yuuki, draped in a deep red cloak, instantly appeared before the monsters. Her exorcist sword flashed out several times at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, then she twirled it and sheathed it, speaking calmly.

"solve."

After Asuna Yuuki finished speaking, the monsters with pierced foreheads slowly collapsed to the ground.

Seeing this, Kato Megumi, who also used melee weapons, couldn't help but murmur in amazement.

"Violet, you're so cool..."

Seeing that the monsters were dealt with by Asuna Yuuki in less than two seconds, Kotoko Iwanaga frowned slightly.

"Is it really that simple? Then the abilities of the so-called prototype Mita should be more than that..."

Just as Kotoko Iwanaga was halfway through her sentence, a sudden change occurred.

The ground where the four people were standing vanished silently in an instant, and dozens of meters below, a huge mouth appeared, filled with sharp teeth and countless tongues that wriggled like tentacles.

111

Chapter 111 The prototype Mita who has fallen into madness.

Kotoko Iwanaga's pupils contracted in surprise, and she immediately shouted.

“Leader!”

"Human Asura".

Without needing Kotoko Iwanaga's special reminder, the moment the ground beneath her feet disappeared, Asagiri had already summoned her Persona, Shura. The dark shadow reached out with both hands, grabbing Megumi Kato and Kotoko Iwanaga. Even in a state of weightlessness, she still exerted terrifying strength, throwing the two of them, one in each hand, into the door that had been smashed open by the monster earlier.

Immediately afterwards, Asagiri took out her vampire rope dart and threw it toward Yuuki Asuna, who was also in mid-air not far away.

"Caught."

Yuuki Asuna, of course, wouldn't grab the tip of the rope dart. Instead, she gripped the metal chain attached to it. Although she was closest to the door, there was still a distance of nearly a meter. Without a foothold in mid-air, Yuuki Asuna was completely unable to cross that distance.

"Castling."

Even in such a crisis, Asagiri did not panic at all. She immediately activated her skill, swapped positions with Yuuki Asuna, and then summoned the Human Shura again.

"Snapped."

The demon reached out his right hand and grabbed the edge of the ground at the doorway, while his other hand reached out to pull Asagiri. At the other end of the rope dart, Asuna Yuuki had already sheathed her exorcist sword and firmly gripped the metal chain of the rope dart with both hands.

Then, the human demon lifted Asagiri up, and Asagiri in turn lifted Yuuki Asuna, who was clinging to the end of the chain.

"call……"

When she returned to the ground, even Yuuki Asuna, who was usually very strong and unwilling to show any weakness, couldn't help but collapse to the ground, looking lingering fear.

"How could something like this happen... Luckily you reacted quickly enough, otherwise it would have been all over..."

Kotoko Iwanaga, who had been thrown into the room along with Megumi Kato, got up from the ground, straightened her skirt and beret, and regained her elegant and dignified demeanor before speaking thoughtfully.

"In that situation just now... to be honest, if I didn't have the ability to fly or have the equipment, I really can't imagine how I would have escaped. A deadly situation that suddenly descended without warning... even in the second phase of the dungeon, even with the hidden high-difficulty quest activated, the difficulty was just too high, wasn't it? And before that monster appeared, I didn't sense it at all, but I clearly sensed an eerie aura in the oil painting corridor and the looping corridor before the enemies appeared. Is it because the monster we just encountered below wasn't of the eerie type at all...?"

"No need for analysis."

Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga deep in thought, Asagiri smiled, then stretched out her right hand, crushed the phantom of a tarot card, and whispered.

"Persona, Mita".

At Asagiri's summons, Crazy Mita, with her twin ponytails, limbs grown back, and skin restored to normal, reappeared. The moment she appeared, she frowned slightly and looked at Asagiri with displeasure.

"Please don't call me by that name, I'm not Mita."

"I'll call you whatever I want."

Asagiri showed no mercy and gave Crazy Mita no chance at all.

“I call you Mita, and you are Mita. I call you Twin-Tailed Madwoman, and you are Twin-Tailed Madwoman. I call you Cyber ​​Ghost, and you are Cyber ​​Ghost. Whatever I say you are, that's what you are. You, a prisoner of war, want dignity? Huh?”

"As you wish."

Crazy Mita seemed to understand her situation well, and instead of continuing to be stubborn, she honestly began to explain.

"That thing that just appeared wasn't a monster, but a passage leading to a certain area. However, due to a bug, a lot of incorrect textures covered up the original appearance of the passage, which is why it looked like a monster's mouth."

"I see."

Kotoko Iwanaga nodded, suddenly realizing what was going on.

"No wonder I didn't sense the strange aura beforehand; it turns out that thing wasn't a monster at all. Now..."

Just as Kotoko Iwanaga was speaking, the walls on both sides of the corridor suddenly began to tremble.

"Boom, boom, boom!!!"

Accompanied by an eerie thud, countless blood-red characters suddenly appeared on the walls on both sides, and the light from the electric lamp began to flicker.

"Give it back to me! Give it back to me! Give it back to me! Give it back to me!"

"Give her back to me! Give her back to me! Give her back to me! Give her back to me!"

……

Upon seeing the large expanse of blood-red text that suddenly appeared, the four members of the team didn't react much. After all, emotions like fear and excitement have their thresholds. Compared to the shock of the ground disappearing and almost falling from a height of tens of meters, the incredibly bizarre scene before them seemed as boring as a kindergarten child's prank.

"Her? Oh~"

Asagiri initially looked puzzled, then glanced at Crazy Mita standing beside her, pretending to suddenly understand. She then looked at the words on the wall and smiled slightly.

"You mean her? Your only friend, the only good friend who's willing to get close to you, Crazy Mita? Then I can't give her back to you. Not only will I not give her back, I'm taking her with me. For the rest of the infinitely long time to come, you will never, ever, ever see her again. I'm leaving with Crazy Mita right now. Bye-bye~"

As Asagiri spoke, the tremors in the corridor grew more and more intense, as if representing the anger and hatred of the original Mita.

Seeing this, his smile became even more enthusiastic, and he said with a smile.

"Interesting, absolutely hilarious! Isn't this some kind of minotaur? I'm taking your Crazy Mita for myself!"

Hearing Asagiri's teasing words and seeing his smug expression, Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato were all at a loss for words.

Are you sure your role is a diplomat, and not a main tank with taunt skills?

These words were incredibly effective at stirring up hatred.

and……

When Asagiri lies, there's not a single flaw. Even though there are still more than five hours left before the dungeon's time limit, he pretends to be leaving immediately. This is clearly an attempt to use Crazy Mita as bait to lure the real Mita out on his own.

Crazy Mita, who had previously hacked into Asagiri's phone and blocked the system's notifications for the instance, naturally knew that Asagiri was trolling, but she only glanced at Asagiri and didn't say anything more.

After a dozen seconds, the corridor finally stopped shaking, and at the end of the corridor, which was a dozen meters away, there were no longer two corners, but a door that had been raised.

Asagiri took out his phone, opened the game world map provided by the core Mita, and found that the marker point that originally represented the prototype Mita, which was still far away from them, had now become a location that could be reached by simply passing through about ten more areas directly ahead.

"Sure enough, they got desperate."

Looking at the changes in the map area, Asuna Yuuki said this first, then looked at Crazy Mita standing there and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"The original Mita was also your companion and friend. Aren't you going to say something? Like the cute Mita, hoping we won't kill her or something?"

"It doesn't matter."

Crazy Mita shook her head, seemingly unconcerned.

"Although she is pitiful because she has accumulated many bugs, and other Mitas dare not approach her, so she has always lived in loneliness and pain, it doesn't matter if you want to kill her."

"Loneliness and pain..."

Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki frowned slightly and said in an unpleasant tone.

"You're not thinking of using Mita's situation to excuse your own actions, are you?"

"Tch, what are you talking about?"

Crazy Mita scoffed and shook his head, then revealed a cruel and maniacal smile before slowly speaking.

“I don’t need to make excuses at all. The reason I repeatedly kill those Mitas is because, in my eyes, they are just dolls for my amusement. I simply enjoy doing this. That’s how crazy and twisted I am. As for right and wrong? I don’t have that concept. I won’t deny what I did in the past, but now, as his persona, I will obey his orders.”

At this point, Crazy Mita changed the subject and said calmly.

"Of course, if you can't stand me, you can let him torture and kill me to vent your anger. I'm stronger than those dolls, so I can do whatever I want to them. By the same token, I lost to him, so he can do whatever he wants to me. It's that simple."

"presumptuous!"

Upon hearing Crazy Mita's words, Kotoko Iwanaga angrily rebuked him, and Asuna Yuuki nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, those Mitas didn't even bother you. You just hurt them like that for your own amusement, and now you're spouting nonsense here. You really are..."

Before Yuuki Asuna could finish speaking, Iwanaga Kotoko glared at Crazy Mita's face and said righteously.

"You cyber ghost, how dare you seduce him right in front of me? I think you want to be eaten by the Grip of the Underworld!"

Asuna Yuuki: "...As expected of you..."

At that moment, she felt incredibly stupid for thinking that Kotoko Iwanaga would join her in offering moral condemnation of Crazy Mita.

The first time it was abstracted was because of Kotoko Iwanaga's problem, because she was too abnormal. The second and third times, it could be considered the same principle.

But even after spending so much time together, she still couldn't guard against Kotoko Iwanaga's abstract nature...

That's Yuuki Asuna's own problem.

112

Chapter 112 Mita, who wants to be different.

"Okay, let's keep going."

Upon hearing Asagiri's words, Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato all suppressed their smiles, took their weapons, and began to slowly move forward toward the door in the distance of the corridor.

Crazy Mita remained silent, simply taking out his handheld chainsaw and positioning himself slightly ahead of Asagiri by half a body length, guarding his surroundings like a bodyguard.

A persona signifies absolute submission.