"Is this what you mean by Persona?" Taichi asked, his hand touching the mask that had suddenly covered his entire face, feeling its rough, horny texture.
"Holy cow! What's wrong with you?!" Ryuji Sakamoto was startled. "Is that a helmet or a mask?"
"Also, don't you feel a crushing pain in your head?" Ryuji asked, looking at Taichi in confusion.
"Not at all. On the contrary, I feel very clear-headed," Taichi replied, pressing on his temples. "It's just that there's a voice in my ear that keeps chanting, 'Thou art I, and I am Thou.'"
"Are you kidding me?! Why did I hurt so much, but you're perfectly fine?!" Ryuji felt a little unbalanced.
"You can thank me. Even though I couldn't stop the unknown data from invading you, I did stop it from stimulating your brain nerves," X quickly took credit. "All the pain was transferred to me."
'I really do thank you, X,' Taichi thought silently to his good partner.
But... why was his Persona called "Mordred"? If only it were Izanagi.
"So, that's it?" Ann Takamaki looked at Taichi's full-face mask, then asked, "How did you make that mask appear?"
"I don't know. It seems you have to rebel against some kind of overwhelming will from the bottom of your heart to unleash this power," Taichi said, trying to touch his chin but being blocked by the mask.
"I don't really get it, but... Naruto-san, can I ask for your help?!" Ann Takamaki asked, looking at Taichi seriously.
"If you're going to beat up Kamoshida, I'd be more than happy to help. My lady," Taichi replied, instinctively placing his right hand over his heart.
"Oh, like a knight," Ann Takamaki said, relieved, a smile returning to her face.
"I told you it was dangerous," Ryuji grumbled from the side.
"It's fine, it's fine. We have four Persona users now! If we can't protect Lady Ann with that, then we might as well give up," Morgana said, trying to persuade them.
"...Lady?" Ryuji looked at Morgana with a look of disdain.
"Alright, there's no time to waste here. Let's get going!" Morgana started to change the subject, turning away from Ryuji and looking up at Ren Amamiya. "We're counting on you, Joker!"
"Joker?" Ren was a little confused by the strange nickname.
"Yeah, we're Phantom Thieves now, so of course we need a codename," Morgana explained. "As our 'ace' in combat, you should be called Joker!"
"What?! That's so cool!" Ryuji immediately got excited. "What about me? What should my codename be?"
Annoyed by Ryuji, Morgana rolled his eyes and gave his opinion. "Thug."
"Do you want a fight, you bastard?!" Ryuji was furious and almost started a fight before the main event. "Fine, I'll decide for myself... Oh, hey, Takamaki, how do you say 'skull' in English?"
"Huh? Oh... SKULL... Are you sure you want that nickname?" Ann Takamaki looked at Ryuji with a disgusted expression.
"What's wrong with it?! My mask is a skull! Of course I should have a codename that matches my mask!" Ryuji retorted, unhappy.
"What about me! Me!" Morgana jumped up and looked at Ann Takamaki anxiously.
"Huh? You want me to give you a name?" Ann asked, pointing to herself blankly.
"Yes, yes! From Lady Ann!" Morgana said, looking eager.
"How about we just call him Kitty?" Taichi teased from the side. "Hello, Kitty!"
"Ooh, that's a good one! Hello, Kitty!" Ryuji chimed in.
"No! No! I don't want that codename!" Morgana glared at Taichi with a sour face.
"Mona... how about just MONA?" Ann Takamaki searched her mind for a word but couldn't think of anything good. She could only use the beginning and ending sounds of Morgana's name.
"MONA? Mona! I like it! Let's go with that!" Morgana immediately settled on it.
"It feels like you'll agree to anything as long as Ann comes up with it," Ryuji complained.
"Then my codename will be 'KNIGHT,'" Taichi said suddenly. "Ever since you guys started talking about codenames, that voice in my head has been yelling it."
And the voice sounded so familiar. If not for the lack of a command spell on his hand, Taichi would have almost suspected he was a Master. As for a pseudo-servant... what pseudo-servant would be this weak? Feeling that his physical abilities were no different from before, Taichi could only shake his head.
"Huh? What's wrong? Can your mask talk to you?" Ryuji asked, looking at Taichi in confusion.
"Yours can't?" Taichi countered. "This one's always talking trash. It's so annoying I almost want to take it off and leave."
"I only heard the voice at the very beginning. I haven't heard it since," Ryuji said, shaking his head. He turned to Ren. "What about you, Ren? Can you still hear your Persona's voice?"
Ren Amamiya hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. In the outside world, he couldn't hear the Persona's voice, but in the Velvet Room, he could hear the materialized Persona's voice.
"By the way, you don't talk much, Ren. My name is Naruto Taichi. What's yours?" Taichi said, greeting Ren. The guy was so quiet he hadn't spoken on his own at all, only saying a few words when he was forced to.
"Ren Amamiya."
He really only moved forward when you cracked the whip.
"Well, Ren has his reasons. It's best not to ask about it," Ryuji said, stepping in.
"You idiots! I told you to use codenames! Codename, codename! Why are you still using names?!" Morgana jumped up, ready to kick Ryuji's knees.
"That's enough! Can we please get in there faster?! If we keep dragging our feet, it'll be dark in the real world!" Ann Takamaki said, losing her patience and urging them to hurry.