Matsuda's Otherworldly App

[A complete what-if take on the same premise as another fic in the author's collection]

[Based on Persona 5 Royal]

Officer Matsuda was sitting in Ferris wheel gondola No. 72 when a strange app suddenly appeared on his phone. One second before the explosion, he inexplicably tapped it.

He then discovered that not only was he still alive, he'd also arrived three years in the future and formed an unbreakable bond with an interworld navigation app.

[Confidant: The World]

A fellow curly-haired Phantom Thief leader invited him to join the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Even after Matsuda turned him down, the leader didn't take offense. But the leader was still a high school student in the real world, and Matsuda kept running into him. Eventually, the leader even declared:

"Officer, I'm coming to rank up your Confidant."

[Confidant: The Fool]

In the Velvet Room, a long-nosed old man smiled at him. "This is your inner world."

"You are a new calamity that refuses to submit to fate."

[Confidant: The Knight]

A young man with shoulder-length hair, who should have died long ago, appeared before him again, his eyes lowered. "It seems you have many secrets, but I have plenty of secrets of my own."

"I only want to confirm one thing: you're the Jinpei-chan I know, aren't you?"

[Confidant: The Tower]

A blue-eyed young man who had always held fast to his convictions smiled at him. "I always thought I was a bird imprisoned by fate."

"It turns out I'm no bird in a cage. I'm a Tower beyond the reach of fate."

[Confidant: Judgment]

"A cherry blossom has five petals. But five minus four is zero. Every person is an irreplaceable petal."

The blond young man clenched the cherry blossom in his hand and looked at him. "So, were you reborn, too?"

Besides these, he'll also meet many more Confidants, including Justice, the Magician, and the Empress.

Theme: Beneath the passage of time, we face one another and move forward together.