P5 - Futaba

((Honestly this is the best I could come up with for her and to make her legal for this(She's 19-20 now, deal with it)

The Metaverse, Tartarus, or Midnight Channel; whatever you called it, the collective **** was not so easily destroyed. Or perhaps sealed.

Futaba Sakura's research had pointed towards the event that happened those years ago wasn't an isolated incident. Or at the very least, others believed something else had happened. Was this just left over 'data' effecting people or some mass hypnosis caused by the collective ****. Since leaving highschool a year ago, Futaba had focused on chasing these rumored events. Anything relating to 'strange powers' or a shift in someone's personality. It was hard going as currently that realm was closed off, at least on her end, and she had to do all her research un-funded.

Given all the problems from the Phantom Thieves event, Futaba was a tad worried about sharing her research with any sort of fund based body. The last thing she wanted was for the info to fall into the hands of someone who would go down a similar path like Masayoshi Shido. The temptation might be too much and if it wasn't she couldn't be sure something else wouldn't effect them. Slowly nudging them towards using the realm for their own ends.

She was pretty sure the lingering threads of her Persona would protect herself. She could still sense the echos of Necronomicon her other self even if she couldn't access it. But she could still hear it's whispers in her dreams, a distant guardian even now. Futaba was pretty sure the rest of the Thieves also had this lingering power sleeping within, just in case. Even then, having that bit of courage and willpower bundled up within her made Futaba stay her course.

As for paying for everything; money wasn't too much a problem. She'd fallen back into her old net ID, Alibaba to do free lance programing work along with perhaps a few money schemes from those that deserved it. Was it wrong, sure, but she wasn't going to cry over stealing funds from another wanna be mob boss. Throw in the streams she did along with a couple game tournament wins, and well she wasn't living the HIGH life but she was able to live comfortably near _Leblanc _on her own funds while still having some left over to go into research.

It was difficult to get the tools and devices she wanted for this. The prices were high and some were restricted to labs but..., Futaba made do. She maybe had to visit a few junk shops and landfills, but hey some mad science couldn't hurt right? Honestly she was just making it up as she went as this wasn't a field to really draw on advise for..., well not any that were still around. Or those that would be happy about someone else looking into this field. Still Futaba made do with slow steps in her research and a few anonymous tips to police about someone acting just a bit off. Or Makoto if she was very unsure but was still worried.

In fact right now she was wondering if she shouldn't call her, or the rest of the Thieves about this feeling now.

One of her contacts had sent her a file, a long PDF of some kind. The contact, 'Wiseman' had stressed that a few people who had read the document had started acting weird or off. And more worryingly, a few people around them started to as well, and they hadn't even seen it. 'Wiseman' had managed to steal the PDF in question, as trying to copy it caused all sorts of errors and glitches(they even claimed it destroyed at least 2 laptops and a mobile device they had tried to copy it to) and after it was out of their reach, the people had gone back to semi normal. A little happier or feistier but nothing like they had been before.

Looking at the PDF made her own head tingle. Like a weird hazy sensation at the back of her mind, one that was a bit familiar to her. It sort of felt like the way she did when going into the Metaverse. So the PDF HAD to be doing something. OR she was tired, could really go either way.

Futaba took her glasses off and brushed her long orange hair out of her eyes, the bangs just a little bit longer these days. Her brown eyes blinked several times as before she rubbed at them with the sleeve of her dark green jacket, the faux fur around the hood just a little bit dimmer from wear and time. Futaba still loved to wear baggier oversized t shirts, with tighter tank tops under it. Even after highschool, Futaba was barely a B in the cup department, but made up for it with her noticable butt. Not as huge as Haru's but just as tight and honed as Makoto's oddly enough. So she took time to highlight that with small shorts or tight jeans depending on where she was. Currently shorts, so she could move freely with her black thigh socks with neon green bands around the middle. She liked the color after her Thieves costume.

"Ugh... tired. I should go get some coffee..., dad should have some." Futaba muttered as she stretched and got up from her machine. She flicked the light off and headed t othe door, slipping on some knee high boots on. She hadn't gotten much taller over the years so she preferred wearing boots with a bit more to the bottom, just for a little extra height.

Making sure she had the keys to Leblanc, as her dad was probably out with a customer or 'old friend', Futaba made her way off to get some coffee and fresh air. Maybe she'd feel more awake to deal with this in a bit.

Back at her computer, the screen started to glitch out. It begain showing green ones and zeroes before they suddenly turned pink, and a few small laughing emojis were seen around the screen. What was odd was these small faces had horns to them. A crack of energy coursed through the machine as a few feminie voices could be heard, laughing in time with the emojis.

With a bright crack of light, everything went back to normal. Save for the color of some of the low neon lights from the machine had shifted tones.