Nightmare Fuel / Queen's Checkmate

Persona 5 already has its own share of frightening moments, but not only does Queen's Checkmate keep some of those moments, it somehow makes them even more horrifying.

Warning: Spoilers Off applies to Moments pages.

Chapter 1

• Remember the interrogation room scene at the beginning of the original game? It's the same but with Makoto being the one getting drugged and beaten up by a police officer. If that wasn't enough, we get to hear Makoto's internal thoughts about the whole situation; she knows very well that the police officer is inflicting Police Brutality on her just because he is angry and not because he is concerned about the "crimes" the Phantom Thieves have committed. As if that wasn't enough, she has to make it through the interrogation with Sae, her sister, if she wants to survive.
• Even worse, the interrogator tells Makoto that he could "have a little fun with [her]" and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it...
• We get to see how it all started in this AU. The whole scene about Makoto waking up in the Velvet Room for the first time can only be described as unsettling, which is understandable given how confused she is about the whole situation. The fact that Makoto is not a Heroic Mime helps enforcing this.
• Remember how in the game people talk about a train crash in the subway as a result of the train engineer having a psychotic breakdown? Well, Makoto is in that train! Fortunately she survives, but the worst is yet to come.

Chapter 2

• We get to see the result of the train crash. The police officer that helps Makoto tells her not to look at her surrondings, which she does the complete opposite of: the scenery is full of dead bodies of people of all ages and genders, made even worse when you realize that Makoto is one of the few survivors of the crash, as she estimates that there must have been at least a hundred people in the train.
• Sae's watching the report of the train crash with the SIU Director when she receives a phone call about Makoto's situation. Sae, fearing the worst, rushes out of her job immediately. If Sae is putting aside her job as a prosecutor then you know it is something serious.

Chapter 3

• Makoto and Ren find themselves inside Kamoshida's Palace after activating the Metaverse navigator for the first time; they are assaulted by guards (well, Ren is assaulted by the guards, Makoto is only restrained) and then locked up in a cell. And this is just the beginning...
  • Ren tries to call for help while in the cell, all he gets is a bone-chilling scream.
• Shadow Kamoshida sentences Ren to death for tresspassing, and then tries to sexually assault Makoto.
  • During the previous chapter when Makoto has a talk with Kamoshida before entering school, he drops one of his papers and asks Makoto to pick it up. Kamoshida's Shadow reveals that he dropped that paper on purpose just to stare at Makoto's butt. As if he couldn't get any worse...
  • Oh, but it can! It's made even worse when you look back at the chapter and one of the guards mentions Makoto being "out of [her] quarters", implying that Kamoshida has a cognition of Makoto.
• Remember what we said about the guards not attacking Makoto because she's a girl? well, forget about that since she just headbutted Shadow Kamoshida in the nose and he's not happy about it.
  Shadow Kamoshida: "What are you fools doing?!" "That bitch attacked me! Kill her!"
• We are back at the interrogation room, and Makoto's internal thoughts about Sae are outright bone-chilling, ranging for internally accusing her of only threatening others for her own benefit to saying that she probably has drugged other people into confessing, just like what they have done with her and overall thinking of Sae as a huge Hypocrite. The fact that Makoto is thinking this of her own sister makes it even more sinister.
  • This exchange of words between the two sisters. Keep in mind that Sae had told Makoto in chapter 1 that she had lost any right to call her a sister:
  Sae: "Very well then. Continue to tell me about Kamoshida, and how you went about stealing his heart."
  Makoto: "Yes, sis."
  Sae: [Giving a Death Glare] "What was that...?"
  Makoto: "Yes, Prosecutor Niijima."

Chapter 4

• We get to see Sae's perspective on her job as a prosecutor; As a result of working in what she refers to as a male-dominated field, most of her coworkers berate her for every little mistake she makes, no matter if it is totally justified and no matter how professional she might be. It gets even worse when it is revealed that some of them see her as a nuisance among them or as an object to be toyed with. And people wonder why she seems so angry all the time...
• Makoto reacts rather surprised when Sae tells her that she'll have to take the train in order to go attend school the following day onwards. Given what happened the last time she took a train it's no wonder she is scared.
• Kamoshida trying to get Ann to have sex with him (mentioning Shiho and all) and casually telling her about Ren's criminal record. As if he didn't have enough with leaking his record to a school full of Gossipy Hens so they can damage his already ruined reputation even more with Malicious Slander.
• Makoto and Morgana getting restrained by Angels and Shadow Kamoshida ordering an Archangel to execute them. Somehow that is not the worst part, but him (and the Archangel too) mocking Ren for being weak and saying that he can't do anything about him because no one will believe a "punk" like him, which causes Ren to remember the incident that got him sent into probation in the first place. Fortunately this causes him to have an awakening and obtain Arsene as his Persona.

Chapter 5

• What starts as a funny and light-hearted moment quickly turns into something horrific once Ryuji notices an injury on Shiho's leg. If that wasn't enough, Mishima then appears and tells Shiho that Kamoshida wanted to see her, and sadly we all know what will happen to her.
• Makoto telling Ren that she doesn't think that authority figures are as well-intentioned as she thought them to be anymore. It may not seem that harsh as first, but we are talking about everything Makoto knew and thought was safe all her life crumbling apart in the span of three days.
  • Makoto's point is pretty much proven the following day with Kamoshida intentionally spiking a student in the face during a volleyball match and making it look like an accident.
• The mere mention of Kamoshida's "special training". Gets even worse when a student reveals that not all of the volleyball team members have to go through it, but only some specific ones, among which Mishima and Shiho are included. Given that Kamoshida's cognition of the "special training" is a sadistic torture, one can only imagine what these teenagers have to go through almost every day.
• This is what Shiho says under her breath after Makoto shows concern for her. If you didn't feel sorry for her before, you WILL definitely feel sorry for her now.
  Shiho: "I don't want him hurting you too..."

Chapter 6

• Shiho's attempted suicide. It doesn't help that Makoto gets to see it happening from the moment Shiho jumps off the school's rooftop to the moment her body hits the ground. She runs outside as fast as she can to see if she's okay, only to find that an ambulance has already taken her to the hospital while the rest of the students only record everything with their phones. Given Makoto's wording from previous chapters, she fully blames herself for this and everything else Kamoshida has done to the other students.
• Mishima confirming what we already know about Kamoshida; he physically abuses the volleyball team members whenever they disappoint him, but Shiho's case is an exception as from Mishima's wording and what Ann told Ren one can guess that he only did that to her out of spite that Ann refused to have sex with him.
  • Mishima saying that everyone and their grandma knows about Kamoshida abusing his players, but that they don't give a damn about it.
• Unlike in the game, Makoto tells Ren and Ryuji not to confront Kamoshida about Shiho's attempted suicide because otherwise they will get in trouble... but unluckily for them Kamoshida overheard everything they said and has something in store for the three of them.
• Tachibana, completely pale and nervous, asks Makoto in behalf of most of the students to tell the principal to end the classes early that day. When Makoto arrives at his office she hears Kobayakawa lamenting not that Shiho attempted to kill herself, but that she didn't do it in her own home!
  • It doesn't get any better, as when he switches to his friendly facade he says that Shiho's attempted suicide is a tragedy... because the volleyball team was having a big match in the near future and she was the star player. Makoto is not amused by this.
  • The principal refuses to end classes early because that would hurt Shujin's reputation and he's too concerned about it to give a damn about the students.
  • Kobayakawa pretty much accidentally reveals why he is not going to do anything about Kamoshida: He gives a lot of good publicity to the school. Any doubts Makoto had about changing Kamoshida's heart are all gone now.
• Ren spies on Kamoshida's conversation with Mishima. Kamoshida is planning on framing Ryuji and Ren for Shiho's attempted suicide in the next staff meeting on May 3rd in order to have them expelled, and will force Mishima to back him up or else he'll tell everyone about how he leaked Ren's record to the students and then he will be the one getting expelled (despite the fact that Kamoshida forced Mishima to do it).
  • Kamoshida's Lack of Empathy for Shiho's condition after she survived the fall, mocking how she is an coma and is unlikely to wake up. It doesn't take Mishima long to realize what this means.
• Ryuji getting caught by the guards in Kamoshida's palace after he went in because he got tired of waiting for Makoto, Ren and Morgana. The Shadow initially asks him why isn't he "in [his] cage", implying that Kamoshida has a cognition of Ryuji somewhere in his palace.
• Shadow Kamoshida is shown beating up Ryuji saying that he can't let an opportunity like that to pass. God knows what else did Kamoshida want to do to Ryuji after breaking his leg and turning him into a social pariah.
• The cognitions of Ann, Shiho and just about every other female volleyball team member: They wear Stripperific outfits (Ann and Shiho's being themed after a cat and a rabbit respectively), talk like stereotypical Valley Girls and are overall obedient sex slaves.
• Shadow Kamoshida just blatantly stating that he raped Shiho out of spite that Ann refused to have sex with him. If Makoto was furious before, imagine her reaction now.
  Makoto: "You sick, aberrant bastard!"

Chapter 7

• Makoto tells Sae that petting Morgana helps her calm down whenever she has to take the train. It's a special mix of Nightmare Fuel and Heartwarming given what happened to her at the beginning of the story.
• Eiko tells Makoto that Kamoshida is been looking for a girl to replace Shiho with. Eiko also tells Makoto that Kamoshida asked her to be Shiho's replacement, but that she refused after seeing the bruises the volleyball team members had after practice.
• Kamoshida tells Makoto that he heard the conversation Ren, Ryuji and she had with Mishima. Kamoshida says that he is not planning on expelling her, unlike Ren and Ryuji, but that he wants her to replace Shiho as his "favourite student". Makoto immediately knows that he is not referring to how Shiho was the star of the volleyball team and goes to class almost immediately.
• Makoto hears the intercom blaring in the middle of her class. What is it saying? "Makoto Niijima, please report to the P.E Faculty Office".

Chapter 8

• Kamoshida tries to rape Makoto after she refuses to stop investigating the volleyball team members. Thankfully though, Morgana hops out of her school bag, latches onto Kamoshida's face and begins scratching him, allowing Makoto to flee to safety. Imagine if Morgana hadn't been there.
• Dear lord, some of the areas of Kamoshida's castle!
  • Inside the palace, Queen finds a book that is filled with perverted pictures of her, ranging from moments from some time age to the moment Kamoshida tried to sexually assault her that morning, showing that this sexual predator has had his eye on her for quite some time now.
  • In the same area from above, the four Thieves find a Stalker Shrine full of pictures of Shiho.
  • A cathedral with a giant statue of Kamoshida with all of Shujin's faculty members praising him. His Shadow was not kidding when he said that they were the ones who made him feel like the king of the school.
  Ren: "Someone's compensating"
  Morgana: "Well... he certainly thinks highly of himself."
• The will seeds show Kamoshida's past and why he became who he is in the present:
  • At first he was a genuine athlete who loved what he did (in fact, he seems to be quite a harmless dork), up until the hostess of an interview program he attended started showing an interest in him. The second will seed shows that Kamoshida eventually got a date with the hostess, but he apparently did something extremely perverted to her without her consent while drunk, causing her to be disgusted with him. Kamoshida then has a phone conversation with another man in which he is shown to be ashamed of himself and that he is going to turn himself to the police, but the man on the phone tells him to leave the situation to him. The third and final will seed of the palace shows that the man that Kamoshida was talking to on the phone called a few favours and had people... "talk" to the hostess, telling Kamoshida that he doesn't have to worry about her ever again. The man then tells her that if he ever feels those sort of desires ever again, he should contact them and they'll provide him with a prostitute, and if something goes wrong, they'll just take care of her like they did with the hostess. After this, one can assume that any woman that went against Kamoshida become a Disposable Sex Worker. There's no doubt that this was probably the fate of that hostess and the "talk" they had was nothing more than a Deadly Euphemism. Shiho is far from being his first victim.

Chapter 9

• In the interrogation room, Makoto tells Sae about Kamoshida calling her to his office and locking the door. Sae is horrified upon learning about this, and for a good reason given what her sister has told her about this Evil Teacher. Concerned about Makoto, Sae asks her if he didn't do anything to her, but Makoto coldly turns her down by putting her arguments against her. Just what did they put in those drugs?
• During the battle against Shadow Kamoshida's Asmodeus, he eats the cognitive versions of Ann and Shiho to heal his wounds. The term "sexual predator" has never been so literal.
• This chapter confirms us what we already feared in Chapter 3: Kamoshida has a cognitive version of Makoto. She wears a Stripperific outfit themed after an animal commonly kept as a pet, like the cognitive versions of Ann and Shiho, in this case, a dog. The theme this time is more disturbing than the cat and rabbit theme Ann and Shiho had respectively, because this is how Kamoshida views Makoto: as an obedient lapdog (did we also mention that her outfit includes a spiked leash around her neck?). This following conversation doesn't help either:
  Shadow Kamoshida: "Get it? It's cause you're my BITCH!" [yanks the leash]
  Cognitive Makoto: "Oooooh, King Kamoshida." "I’ll do anything you ask to get into your good graces, and I mean anything."
  Shadow Kamoshida: "Hahahahaha!" "That's right! You're nothing but my lapdog, you teacher's pet!"
  • Full of anger, Queen beats the shit out her cognitive version and notices that she doesn't even try to use aikido to defend herself, causing her to go down really quickly. Queen then notes that this may be because Kamoshida thinks that all of the students are powerless against him. Yep, someone as badass as Makoto is nothing more than a wimp to Kamoshida.

Chapter 11

• Kamoshida's confession. Unlike in the game where it is only implied that he raped Shiho, here he outright confirms that he did rape Shiho! Later on, when the police takes him away and they pass nearby Makoto, he tells the officers that he also tried to rape Makoto. It's even worst when you remember that Shiho is far from being his first victim in this regard.

Chapter 13

• The way rumors are spread at Shujin Academy is so quick that it comes off as unsettling. The students exaggerate everything they hear with their gossip just for the sake of making their target look just as despicable as possible. In the case of Makoto, the students immediately assume that she knew about Kamoshida's crimes but didn't do anything about them simply because the principal wanted to speak to her. Especially dramatic is when Ann, one of the people who has suffered the most because of Kamoshida, falls for all of this slander made against Makoto

Chapter 14

• Yusuke's first scene is as sad as it is disturbing. He can't concentrate in painting, he only has eaten one meal in the entire day as a result of Madarame starving him, and he has to sleep on a mat in an already crammed room.

Chapter 15

• Tachibana telling Makoto everything she has found out about Madarame: clues at his two-faced nature, the fact that most of his apprentices quit art (with one of them dying from an illness, others ending up homeless, and another one committing suicide) and that he keeps his pupils under terrible living conditions.
• It's only a small detail, but Makoto notices that Yusuke is way too skinny.
• In the interrogation room, after Sae wonders why her sister is being so hostile to her, Makoto explains how the truth serum she was injected with works: it lowers the inhibitors that allow Makoto to keep things for herself. That's right, folks, all the things Makoto has said to Sae that aren't related to the Phantom Thieves so far are her letting out everything she has been bottling up for who knows how long!

Chapter 16

• The Thieves entering Madarame's Palace and stumbling upon the exhibit with pictures of Madarame's pupils, with the ones that have no use for him anymore all having their faces crossed out. The only one that is not crossed out is Yusuke. One of the pictures that are crossed out is a lady who looks like The Sayuri. Her name? Yua Kitagawa.
• We get to see how Madarame views his pupils: colorless, exhausted and in the brink of starvation. Surely enough, there is a cognition of Yusuke. the Cognitive Yusuke, (and all of the other cognitions, too) willingly gives Madarame what he creates so that Madarame can be more famous, with him getting nothing in exchange.

Chapter 17

• Due to being suspicious of Makoto because of the company she keeps, the principal asks another student to do his dirty job: Ann Takamaki. The principal takes advantage of the fact that Ann has fallen for the rumors about Makoto covering up Kamoshida's actions to make her keep an eye on her, Ren and Ryuji. Thankfully though, Ann seems to have her own reasons for agreeing with what Kobayakawa says and doesn't trust him.
• The reason Yusuke only eats once a day? Madarame told him that in order for an artist to focus on their art, they must abandon all other desires, including eating.
• It's clear that Yusuke is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. He defends Madarame even if he has no rebuttal to anything Ryuji, Makoto and Ren tell him.

Chapter 18

• Yusuke and Ren discovering a once locked room full of copies of the Sayuri, and Madarame discovering them discovering the room. Madarame tries to trick Yusuke into believing fake stories, which are all quickly shot down by Ren. He's left with no arguments when Ren reveals the true Sayuri to Yusuke. When Madarame reports both boys to his personal security company, Yusuke cannot continue in denial any more.
• Yusuke meeting Madarame's cognition of him:
  Yusuke: "Who are you?"
  Cognitive Yusuke: "I am Madarame's pupil." "I exist to fulfill my master’s wishes."
  • When Joker asks the cognition about his dreams as an artist, the cognitive Yusuke simply replies by saying that he is nothing but a tool for Madarame to use and that he has no will of his own. Keep in mind, Yusuke is in front of him.
• Shadow Madarame reaffirms what his cognition of Yusuke said: His pupils are nothing but tools to him, and he doesn't care about the lives he has ruined. Each one was just a stepping stone for him.
• A mysterious masked man (although we all know who he is already) comes into Madarame's Palace, kills his guards and then threatens Shadow Madarame at gun point if he doesn't pay up what he owes to Kaneshiro. As if it were to reaffirm what he said, the masked man swings his blade at Shadow Madarame, stopping mere inches before coming into contact with his neck. The cherry on top is the Evil Laugh he lets out before leaving

Chapter 19

• A room in the palace that contains a giant statue of Madarame, with the stairs leading to it littered with the dead bodies of some of Madarame's former pupils. Fox also finds it odd that, despite there being a picture of his mother in the palace, she is not there with the other dead pupils.
• An Arahabaki, who serves as a Beef Gate to the third will seed, brainwashes Joker into attacking Queen. If this were the game, you wouldn't think about it too much due to it being a Status Effect, but in here it's made disturbing as Joker has "a dead look in his eyes" while brainwashed. When he comes back to his senses, he can't stop thinking about it, even if it he didn't do it out of his own free will.
• The third and final will seed of the palace shows the exact moment Madarame's desires became distorted: when he let Yua die of a seizure to claim the Sayuri as his own painting. The worst part is that he was initially going to get her her medicines, but didn't let the opportunity to free himself from debts and become famous slide. The one who takes it the worst is Fox; he is seeing every single detail about his mother's death and his sensei's true nature.

Chapter 20

• Shadow Madarame reveals that the reason he took Yusuke in after Yua died is, unsurprisingly, to exploit his skills seeing how talented Yua was.
• Shadow Madarame calls in a cognitive version of Yua, who unlike the cognition of Yusuke actually looks human, in order to trick Fox into leaving him alone. Emotional manipulation at it's finest. Fortunately, Fox doesn't fall for it.
• Shadow Madarame's transformation into Azazel is different from the game; instead of a painting, he has transformed into a statue of a red horned demon with black, feathery wings. He wields giant paintbrushes which act as swords.
  Shadow Madarame: "You’re all nothing but sacrificial lambs to me!"

Chapter 21

• Aiko's coldness towards his older sister for failing her exams, in spite of doing much better than in the past. When Makoto confronts Aiko about this, he doesn't bother hiding the fact that he was insulting Eiko.

Chapter 22

• Eiko meeting Tsukasa for the first time, and we all know what Tsukasa's really like.
• The principal's lack of empathy towards the Shujin students that are being blackmailed by a gang in Shibuya. He even states that, if they are getting involved in problems with criminals, then it's their own problem.

Chapter 23

• Kobayakawa has called Sae and has told her that Makoto has been spending time with Ren and Ryuji. When Makoto tells Sae about how Ren was framed, she dismisses it as a made-up sob story. Sae says all of this not only because she has dealt with numerous heartless criminals in the past, but because she doesn't want Makoto to get hurt.
  • Sae tells Makoto that associating with people who have been labeled by society will be bad for her reputation. Makoto angrily wonders if maintaining a good image is everything people care about.

Chapter 24

• The principal receives a call that informs him that one of Shujin's students has been arrested for drug transport. He's not concerned about the student's arrest, which was most likely as a result of blackmailing in Shibuya, but rather how will it affect the school's reputation.
  • His obsession with maintaining the school's reputation is so huge that he tells Ann to not let Shiho give any details about her suicide attempt to anyone. He is going as far as to try to silence a rape victim. As if it couldn't get any more horrifying, he tells Ann that should she say anything about the Kamoshida incident to the media... she will suffer the consequences.

Chapter 25

• The Shujin student that was arrested for transporting drugs has been placed under Sae's custody, and boy do they have it rough. Sae won't allow a defense attorney to talk to the student until she gets a confession out of them, and she is doing all of this because she believes that the criminal gang the student was working for has some sort of connection with her father's death, and is using her position to squeeze out information from a teenager that was tricked into doing something illegal.
• Turns out Principal Kobayakawa has a palace located in all of Aoyama-Itchome. The principal sees the district as a town in the verge of ruins, except for a temple which represents Shujin Academy. The cognitions of the palace are citizens dressed in dirty, ragged tunics, all whom pay tribute to the principal with various offerings. The cognitions themselves are the students of Shujin, with some of them even passed out on the street... maybe.
• The principal's Shadow states what we already know about him. He doesn't care about what happens to the students as long as Shujin has good publicity, which in turn gives him good publicity. He wants people to be jealous of him, no matter the cost. When confronted by the Phantom Thieves, he tells them that he laments that Kamoshida, an Evil Teacher that physically abused the male students and sexually harrassed the female students, is in jail, and blames Shiho, a rape victim that tried to end her own life out of desperation, for the negative attention the school got.

Chapter 26

• Makoto realizes that the only reason Ryuji is being blamed for what happened to the track team is because he stood up to Kamoshida, and because of his position Kamoshida was able to get away with his crimes. She realizes that this is the reason why some abuse victims don't speak up, because they are afraid of being blamed for the actions of their abusers. This doubles as Tear Jerker.

Chapter 27

• The thieves enter a dark, dirty dungeon with rats, with cognitions of some of Shujin's students locked inside the cells. Joker theorizes that unlike the cognitions who pay him tribute, these students serve no use to the principal whatsoever, and since he can benefit from them he locks them up. It gets even worse after they go deeper, as there are cognitions chained to the walls and crying in pain. If the other students were the ones who were useless to Kobayakawa, we can't imagine what the the purpose of these students is.
• The principal's past as shown by the will seeds: He was so desperate to prove to people that he is important and powerful and that he is capable of maintaining a stellar reputation, that he gave in to his desires of power. Even worse is that everyone who gave him the help he needed in order to increase Shujin's reputation knew how pathetic he was, speeding up the process of his desires becoming distorted. Kamoshida even managed to allow him to do what he did to the students this way.
  • Speaking about Kamoshida, it's very disturbing to see how he is not even trying to deny that he physically abuses abuses the male students and sexually harrases the female students when the principal confronts him about this. Kamoshida knew that Shujin was nothing without his presence, and used that to manipulate Kobayakawa into not selling him out to the police. Kobayakawa was wrapped around Kamoshida's finger from the start.
• The Moirae sisters seem to represent how the principal is absolutely obsessed with achieving a high status as a result of being treated like a doormat by other people, and that he is convinced that maintaining a good reputation will get him there someday. When the Phantom Thieves take out Clotho and Lachesis, it's clear that Atropos is growing more and more desperate to prove that You Can't Fight Fate, which is fitting with how Kobayakawa is blackmailing students into not speaking up about the Kamoshida incident.

Chapter 28

• The chapter ends with the introduction to Kaneshiro. It is hinted he has a history with the Niijima family. Now he has his eyes set on Eiko, Makoto, and Sae to replace the three million yen from his brief case.

Chapter 29

• While sneaking into the principal's office in order to leave a calling card, Makoto finds some documents in his desk, with one of them that says that "[He is] not allowed to interfere. Let Kaneshiro do as he wants. [They] need his funding."
• The Phantom Thieves enter Kobayakawa's palace in order to steal his treasure. The whole town is on fire. Looks like the calling card did have a huge impact on him. The reason for the fire is immediately given; the principal's Shadow has ordered all of his guards to find his enemies at any cost, regardless if the town has to be burnt down.
• Kobayakawa's Shadow puts the blame of all of the bad things that have happened to him on The Phantom Thieves. He also states that he doesn't care about who has to suffer as long as everything goes smoothly for him.
• Queen can only say one thing to the principal: He. Is. Pathetic, and has little to no control over his actions. The Principal's shadow flies into a rage because of his inferiority complex, transforms into an Orcus, and attacks the Thieves.
  Kobayakawa's Shadow: "Revere me. Envy me. Worship me!"
• The principal's Shadow has no problem in eating his servants if that means he is going to benefit from it. Just ask that poor Lamia.
  Ren: "What the hell?!"
• Continuing with the tendency of pushing the blame on others, the Principal's Shadow charges at Panther, blames her and Shiho for Shujin's current situation, tells her that she wishes Shiho wouldn't have survived her suicide attempt, and tries to kill her alongside himself. Panther is having none of it and burns off the Shadow's skin, ultimately defeating him.
• While the principal is very much guilty of not lifting a finger to stop Kamoshida's abuses, he is right that he isn't the only one who was apathetic towards the situation. He states that "the law of the strongest" works in the world because society in general does not care about the suffering of others. He states that Society Is to Blame, and while The Phantom Thieves believe that that doesn't justify what he has done, Queen wonders if what he has said is true.
• Kobayakawa's Shadow recognizes Joker as the "delinquent" transfer student. He states that he originally didn't want to accept him in his school, but his superiors told him to do so because they saw him as a threat. It's anyone's guess as to what does this exactly mean.
• This Wham Line from Sae:
  Sae: "Junya Kaneshiro... The man responsible for our father’s death...".

Chapter 30

• Kaneshiro receives a phone call and is informed about principal Kobayakawa's change of heart. After discussing the payment for his services, Kaneshiro states that he will send the Yakuza "Cleaner" after him.

Chapter 32

• What has been an otherwise Breather Episode quickly changes into horror once again when the Yakuza "Cleaner" murders the principal in cold blood at his home with a gun. It is just as disturbing as his death in the original game.
• Even worse, the "Cleaner" receives orders to keep an eye on Makoto and Sae.
• While what the principal did was despicable and none of the students buy any of the praise the school's faculty give him, Makoto thinks that it is disturbing that all of the students apparently are delighted with the news of his death. She is not shedding any tears for him, but she doesn't think he deserved to die either.
• While discussing about the recent events, Ryuji tries to convince himself that the principal deserved to die for all the things he had done, but he doesn't seem convinced of what he is saying. Ann says that feeling good about his death is not right, but Makoto cuts her off by saying that he should receive the same empathy he had shown others in life (a.k.a. none).
• Ann and Makoto decide to visit Shiho at the hospital. When they get there they find a female member of the volleyball team storming out of her room. This girl victim-blames Shiho for what happened with the volleyball team. The world seems to enjoy making the poor girl suffer.

Chapter 34

• Tsukasa lures Eiko into a dark alley. While Eiko is unaware of what's happening, she does start feeling uneasy. Things take a turn when Kaneshiro's men come out of the shadows and grab Eiko and knock her out. Tsukasa even tells the men not to rough her up too much as he might still want to use her himself.
• When Makoto learns that Eiko has gone missing, she and the other Phantom Thieves spread out across town to search for her. While in Shibuya, she is approached by none other than the "Cleaner" himself, and he demands that she come with him. She is then brought face to face with Kaneshiro who then addresses her as Masanori's daughter, the man he killed.

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