"Listen carefully, Mei-senpai. If you want to subdue your Shadow and turn it into a Persona, you must acknowledge that it's a part of your true inner thoughts. Only when you fully accept this will it say, 'I am thou, thou art I,' become your power, and transform into your Persona."
Sensing Mei's strong desire to become a Persona user and understanding her resolve, Ren began to emphasize the crucial points for awakening a Persona.
"Even if you can't force yourself to face the shadow within you on the first try, that's okay. We can try a second time, a third time. But remember, never completely reject your Shadow self. Don't say things like 'Someone like you isn't me.' Otherwise, your strong rejection and denial will grant the Shadow even greater power."
Even if Mei's Shadow doubled in power due to her denial, Ren was confident he could still defeat it.
However, if things could be handled more smoothly, it was better not to unnecessarily increase the difficulty.
After all, reality isn't a game; it doesn't follow rational logic. Something absurd could happen at any moment.
Cocolia was still lurking in the shadows. Until Ren dealt with this mastermind who coveted Mei and had attempted to assassinate him, he needed to conserve his stamina and combat strength as much as possible.
"Okay, I've memorized everything. Basically, I can't run away from myself. I have to bravely acknowledge and accept that the Shadow is also a real part of me, right?"
About to step into the realm of the extraordinary and awaken the same Persona power as Ren, Mei couldn't suppress the excited blush on her fair face, her heart pounding in her chest.
She summarized Ren's warnings, proving to him that she fully understood the Persona awakening process.
"Exactly. Prepare yourself mentally first. I'll contact Hare... Huh?!"
Ren nodded approvingly at Mei. He then took his phone out of his pocket, expertly unlocked the screen, and went to the home screen.
Just as Ren was about to use a messaging app to inform Hare of the situation, asking her to come pick them up and take them to Mei's Palace...
His finger, hovering over the messaging app icon, suddenly froze mid-air. A look of astonishment flashed across his face.
"What's wrong, Ren-kun? Did something happen?"
Seeing the shocked expression on Ren's face, Mei felt a surge of worry and asked him with concern.
"No, it's nothing... Thinking about it, this actually makes sense. I just didn't expect it."
Ren shook his head slightly, his voice deep as he replied to Mei.
Upon reopening his phone, Ren immediately noticed his home screen layout was messed up. And in the most prominent spot on the screen, a new, unfamiliar app had appeared sometime recently.
"...Metaverse Navigator app? What a strange name. And why is a cabbage the icon?"
Mei leaned her slender body gently against Ren's side. Following his complex gaze, she saw the mysterious app located right in the center of the phone screen.
Her pink lips parted slightly as she subconsciously read the name below the green cabbage icon, a look of confusion in her amethyst eyes.
Mei had no idea why, at this crucial moment just before entering the other world called Mementos, Ren would suddenly stare intently at a strange app on his phone...
Wait a minute. If Mementos is another world, then this weird app called 'Metaverse Navigator'... could it be—?!
As if struck by lightning, Mei's eyes suddenly widened. She seemed to realize something.
Although navigating to another world using a phone app sounded incredibly unbelievable and supernatural...
The existence of Personas was already unbelievable and supernatural enough!
"Yeah, I'm also curious why it's not a black eye, but this random cabbage icon. Does logging into the Metaverse with this give you a free Magatsu-Izanagi?"
It's not as cool as Izanagi-no-Okami Picaro, though.
Could this be the Metaverse Navigator app icon from a year before the story started? Was the Navigator app Pancake Akechi used always this cabbage-senpai tribute icon?
Ren knew Atlus loved stuffing their games with little easter eggs referencing previous titles, like posters of P4's Rise Kujikawa or the Junes theme playing from the crane game machine.
But he didn't expect the traitorous pancake-lover's Metaverse Navigator app icon to also be a tribute to the previous generation's traitorous cabbage-lover [Referring to Adachi from P4].
During Ren's swordsmanship meditation in class earlier, his mental self had unconsciously dived deep into the Sea of Souls and confronted the Evil God. It was perfectly normal for him to have attracted Yaldabaoth's attention as a result.
Ren was already prepared for this.
However, the Evil God secretly installing an app on his phone that could navigate him to another world... Ren hadn't fully anticipated that.
Ren had expected the Evil God to drag his consciousness into a dream tonight while he slept to deliver its judgment.
By secretly sending him the Metaverse Navigator app, the Evil God's attitude was essentially permitting Ren, the knowledgeable insider, to join its game, rather than trying to eliminate him, the Trickster, and find a new pawn.
Come to think of it, Ren mused, given Yaldabaoth's arrogance—looking down on weak humans, believing the Trickster's existence is merely a falsehood—it makes sense it would allow Ren to exist and even invite him into its game.
After all, in Yaldabaoth's eyes, Ren, a mere human, could never possibly defeat it, a being standing at the threshold of godhood, even if only a pseudo-god. Not even the slightest possibility existed.
Ren had considered from the beginning that the Evil God might react with tacit permission like this.
However, being in an extremely disadvantageous position, where his life and freedom hung solely on the Evil God's whim, Ren would never dare to willingly expose himself to the Evil God's gaze, gambling his everything on how the god might feel at that moment.
Unfortunately, his strategy of lying low and developing power had been forcibly cut short. Now, he could only grow stronger under the Evil God's watchful eye.
Thinking this, Ren sensed an extremely faint feeling of being watched, subtle and secretive, as if originating from beyond the world itself.
Although he didn't sense hostility or killing intent, the feeling of being observed was still quite unsettling.
"Ren-kun, does this mean... to enter that other world called Mementos, we need to use this phone program called the Metaverse Navigator app?"
The idea of navigating to another world via a phone app was obviously outlandish and bizarre, yet Mei grasped it with surprising smoothness and naturalness.
Mei's remarkable perceptiveness made Ren glance at her with slight surprise.
"That's right. By using this Metaverse Navigator app, we can infiltrate Mementos from the real world. First, we need to input the Palace Ruler's name."
Hearing that the condition for using the Metaverse Navigator was inputting the Palace Ruler's name, Mei's body stiffened for a moment.
"...There's something I hid that I want to confess to you, Ren-kun. You might think I'm only telling you now because of the situation, but actually, I decided during lunch break to tell you my real identity when I brought you home."
A mixture of struggle and fear flickered in Mei's violet eyes, but she quickly clenched her fists, her gaze firm and serious as she looked directly into Ren's obsidian eyes. She reintroduced herself with utmost solemnity.
"I'm sorry, Ren-kun. While Hokushin Ittō-ryū is my family's ancestral sword style, our family actually changed our old surname 'Hokushin' to 'Raiden' long ago. So... my real name is actually Raiden Mei."
Admitting one's mistakes and revealing past lies undoubtedly required great courage and was incredibly painful.
Confessing everything to Ren under the current circumstances would undoubtedly give the impression that Mei was forced by the situation—that if entering the Palace didn't require her real name, she might have continued deceiving him.
But Mei still had to tell Ren the truth she had hidden.
If she tried to hide things or deceive Ren now, the one who had helped her, then everything truly would be over between them.
"The name 'Raiden Mei' has an extremely poor reputation at Chiba Academy and is widely known. After my father was imprisoned for economic fraud, everyone wanted to distance themselves from me while kicking me when I was down, believing the daughter of a criminal must also be a disgusting criminal... I didn't want Ren-kun to leave me like my former friends did after finding out my real identity."
After explaining her thoughts in detail to Ren, Mei instinctively wanted to look away, but she forced herself to stop, mustering her courage to maintain eye contact with Ren.
"I see. No wonder Mei-senpai didn't want me looking into things related to you, or helping stop the girls bullying you."
Ren nodded in understanding. Even he, someone focused solely on conquering Mementos, completely unsociable with his classmates, and a year below Mei, occasionally heard the name "Raiden Queen" mentioned by other students.
Mei's notoriety at Chiba Academy was clearly widespread, and the impact of the negative publicity was undoubtedly intense.
"...Ren-kun, you're not angry?"
Mei blinked lightly, carefully observing Ren's expression, but couldn't detect any sign of displeasure in his eyes.
He didn't even seem surprised when she revealed her real name.
"Could it be... Ren-kun, you already knew my identity?"
The thought that Ren might have known her real identity all along, merely playing along and turning a blind eye, made Mei's entire body flush with embarrassment. Her toes curled tightly inside her small leather shoes, wishing she could dig a hole three rooms wide and disappear into it.
Although Ren might have broken their promise by investigating her identity without permission, it was definitely done out of goodwill. Mei had deceived Ren first; she had no right to blame him for breaking the promise.
After all, even knowing her identity, Ren's attitude towards her hadn't changed at all; he still saved her from Cocolia's insidious attack.
"Not really 'already knew.' If I had to say, I only found out this afternoon."
"Was it that text message Ren-kun received during lunch break?"
Hearing Ren's reply, Mei instantly recalled his brief moment of stunned silence during lunch.
She had initially thought her bento didn't suit his taste, but it turned out someone had secretly tipped him off.
"That's right. You're quite sharp, Mei-senpai, to have noticed even that."
Ren raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised Mei had observed him so closely.
"Anyway, let's try using this Metaverse Navigator app first to infiltrate the Palace within your heart, Mei-senpai, and meet up with Hare, who's on standby there."
Mementos had no signal or network coverage. If Ren wanted to message Hare, he had to wait until she periodically returned to the real world to receive it.
Since the Metaverse Navigator app was already on his phone, it was naturally more convenient and faster to use the infiltration program provided by the Evil God.
There were three conditions to activate the Metaverse Navigator: the target's name, the real-world location distorted in the target's heart, and what kind of place the target perceived that location to be in their mind.
With Raiden Mei, the Palace Ruler herself, right beside him and willing to cooperate fully, finding out these three elements was incredibly easy.
"Navigation target location is... Raiden Mei's inner Palace... Huh?! Why did it activate already?!"