Kiana Kaslana? That Name Sounds Familiar

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mei."

When Ren Amamiya returned to the theater auditorium with a full bucket of freshly popped popcorn and two chilled bottles of Coca-Cola, he found Raiden Mei holding her phone, seemingly talking to someone, a worried expression on her flawless, fair face.

[Huh??? What's going on?! Why is there a man's voice on your end, Mei?!]

Kiana's hearing was exceptionally sharp. Ren had merely called Mei's name as he approached, yet Kiana's radar-like senses instantly picked up the unfamiliar male voice.

"Ahem, Kiana, don't be so rude," Mei coughed, her body tensing slightly under Ren's gaze. A faint blush crept onto her cheeks, even her delicate earlobes turning crimson. "I'm just... I just came out to watch a movie with a friend."

The hesitation and nervousness in Mei's voice, stemming from her fear of Ren misunderstanding, couldn't even fool herself, let alone Kiana, whose "cheating detection radar" was now fully active, her idle brain working at full speed.

The more Kiana thought, the heavier her head felt, as if a dark, heavy hat had unknowingly been placed upon it.

[It's late at night! Why are you watching a movie with a man, Mei? After the movie, are you two planning on doing... something else?!]

Kiana's internal alarm bells rang at maximum volume. Though she had only heard the man's voice over the phone and hadn't actually seen Ren in person, Kiana felt an inexplicable, natural aversion to his voice. Just hearing it made her feel agitated and restless.

Kiana felt a slight sense of relief; thankfully, she'd suddenly had that predictive dream where Mei was led astray by the masked kid, even turning around to beat her, the victim.

It was because of this terrifying premonition that Kiana had called Mei now to whine, thereby uncovering the reality that some scumbag was trying to steal her Mei!

[Where are you right now, Mei?! Mei, my dear Mei, you can't let some bad guy trick you!! They only want you for your body! I'm the only one who truly cares about you! Quick, tell me where you are! I'll come beat up that bad guy who's deceiving you!! Mei! Me—]

"The movie's about to start, Kiana! Let's talk later!!" Kiana's anxious voice grew louder and louder. Noticing more and more strange looks directed her way in the cinema, Mei, her face flushed crimson, abruptly pressed the end call button, actively terminating the conversation. She then quickly turned off her phone.

As Kiana's increasingly loud voice vanished from her ear, Mei let out a long sigh of relief, her tense shoulders slowly relaxing.

"Sorry about that, Ren," Mei apologized quietly, turning to Ren who had sat down beside her. "My friend... Kiana, she doesn't mean any harm. She just worries about me too much, that's why she got a little worked up." She tried to smooth things over, hoping to dispel any negative feelings Ren might have towards Kiana's earlier outburst.

While Mei didn't want the person she cared about mingling with her best girl friend, she also didn't want her two most important people, Ren and Kiana, to be on bad terms.

Plus, the situation Kiana described was clearly unusual. Mei was sure they hadn't encountered Kiana's Shadow in Mementos, yet Kiana dreamed of fighting the Phantom Thieves.

Whatever the reason, now was clearly not the time to keep Kiana's existence a secret. To figure out the cause of Kiana's strange experience, Mei had to seek help from Ren, the expert in Personas and Shadows.

"It's okay, I didn't mind," Ren reassured her, placing the popcorn bucket between their adjacent armrests. He twisted open a bottle of ice-cold Coca-Cola and handed it to Mei. "But that name, Kiana... it sounds kind of familiar?"

As Ren opened his own bottle, his brow furrowed slightly. He felt like he'd heard the name Kiana somewhere before. Just as Ren was lost in thought, trying to pinpoint the source of this familiarity, Mei took a sip of the cold, stimulating cola.

The chilled drink and Ren's comforting words slightly eased her anxiety about Kiana. Seeing Ren beside her, brow furrowed in deep thought, a gentle smile touched Mei's lips. She instinctively reached out, her fair fingers gently tapping the center of Ren's forehead as she explained.

"Kiana's full name is Kiana Kaslana. She's Mr. Siegfried's daughter. She's been searching for him all this time and transferred into the first year at Chiba Academy to look for him. You've probably heard her name around school, Ren."

Ren rarely paid attention to school gossip; he hadn't even known the infamous "Queen of Thunder" was actually named Raiden Mei. So, Mei wouldn't have been surprised if Ren had no impression of or interest in Kiana, the beautiful foreign transfer student in their grade. However, judging by Ren's reaction, the name Kiana did ring a bell for him, however faintly.

"Siegfried's daughter... another Kaslana?" Ren murmured, the source of his vague sense of déjà vu now clear. He stopped trying to recall and instead commented on the sheer prominence of the Kaslana family name. "Why do I keep running into Kaslanas lately? Is this family special somehow?"

Ever since encountering Kallen Kaslana, Ren seemed to be constantly meeting new members of the clan. Ren knew that carrying a Persona of a specific Arcana significantly increased his ability to gain favor with Confidants of the same Arcana.

Could it be that carrying Kallen Kaslana's Persona acted like a Stand user's attraction, causing him to spontaneously encounter other Kaslanas in the real world?

Members of the Kaslana family possessed extraordinary powers beyond normal humans, and Kiana Kaslana was the same age as Ren. Perhaps this Kiana Kaslana was also an important character in Atlus's new game, someone worth recruiting into the Phantom Thieves.

However, Ren needed to observe Kiana further before deciding whether to bring her into the fold. Judging from her conversation with Mei just now, Kiana clearly wasn't fond of him, the guy who was so close to Mei.

"Ren, Kiana said she dreamed about fighting us, the Phantom Thieves," Mei said softly, rubbing Ren's furrowed brow smooth before slowly withdrawing her hand. She bit her lip gently. "But I distinctly remember not encountering Kiana's Shadow... Do you have any idea what might be going on?"

Mei had revealed her close friendship with the famous transfer student precisely because she needed Ren's help to figure out Kiana's strange situation. Having confirmed Ren wasn't holding a grudge against Kiana, Mei immediately described the bizarre circumstances.

"She dreamed about fighting us, like Siegfried did..." Ren mused. "If we had actually encountered Kiana Kaslana in Mementos, Mei, you surely would have reacted."

Kiana dreaming of fighting the Phantom Thieves despite them never encountering her Shadow—this perplexing situation baffled even Ren.

"If Kiana's memory isn't mistaken... could it be our memories that have the problem? Did some enemy alter our memories?!" Mei whispered worriedly. If Kiana's memory was accurate, then the issue must lie with the Phantom Thieves' recollection.

"Altering our memories... I don't think it's reached that point yet. Mei, don't worry too much," Ren reassured her after a moment's thought.

The only entity likely capable of silently altering his and Mei's memories would be the false god lurking in the depths of Mementos. But even Yaldabaoth's authority shouldn't be able to fool Ren, a true Trickster, without him sensing the slightest incongruity.

Furthermore, Lavenza's will and power still remained. Even if she couldn't directly warn him, she should be able to create subtle hints in his environment. Since Ren felt no dissonance, and Lavenza hadn't provided any hints, Yaldabaoth likely hadn't altered reality yet. Mei's worry was unnecessary.

"If both our memories are fine... could Kiana's Shadow have disguised itself? Transformed into the appearance of another Shadow? Is that why we don't remember fighting Shadow Kiana?" With the possibility of memory alteration ruled out, Mei felt considerably relieved and proposed another idea.

"A Shadow disguised as another Shadow? What kind of strange Shadow would do that... Wait a minute," Ren started, initially dismissing Mei's seemingly wild guess. But then, a flash of inspiration hit him.

He recalled some fragments of information he'd stumbled upon previously. "I think I do have some impression... there have been Shadows that disguised themselves as others. But the goal was usually to shake the target's resolve, to separate a Persona user from their Persona."

A Shadow disguising itself as a Persona user's Shadow had happened before, but not in P5R. It was in P4U—Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. Since P4U was a crossover between P3 and P4, Ren hadn't played it before transmigrating, only picking up snippets of information from browsing forums intensely.

Considering the P4 fandom's classic "Nanako is the true culprit" jokes, the accuracy of the P4U info Ren recalled might be questionable. But as a reference point, it should be fine.

"We haven't experienced any mental attacks aimed at separating us from our Personas," Ren reasoned. "So, the culprit behind Kiana's situation is different from the one I know... Did Kiana mention any more details? Whether her Shadow disguised itself willingly or was forced to change appearance, more clues would help us determine where in Mementos we might have encountered Kiana's Shadow." Ren pressed Mei for more information. If they had more details, Ren could at least narrow down what 'skin' Kiana's Shadow might have been wearing when they fought it.

"Sorry, Kiana didn't tell me much," Mei apologized again, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face. "And she's probably like Mr. Siegfried, her dream memories are very vague, only recalling general impressions... Kiana probably isn't calm enough to discuss this right now. I'll ask her properly once she's settled down a bit."

Although Ren had magnanimously stated he wasn't offended by Kiana, Kiana, feeling like her territory had been encroached upon, would definitely be furious and unable to calm down for a long time.

Kiana, who had crossed half the globe searching for her father, possessed incredible drive. It was entirely possible that right now, after Mei hung up on her, Kiana was already pounding the pavement, frantically searching every cinema in Nagazora City for Mei.

The cinema Ren and Mei chose was the closest one to the Raiden residence. Kiana, naturally, knew Mei's home address. If Kiana used her head, the first cinema she'd check would undoubtedly be this one where Mei and Ren were currently on their date.

While Ren was good-natured, he wasn't a pushover. If an enraged Kiana cornered them, a conflict between Ren and Kiana was inevitable. The thought sent a jolt of alarm through Mei. She was trying to help her friend Kiana, who was caught in some unknown predicament. She couldn't let Kiana's own impulsive actions cause Ren to dislike her, potentially ruining everything.

"Ren, maybe we should go somewhere else? I'm worried Kiana might find us..." Mei requested cautiously. It was certainly rude to ask to leave now, having already agreed to the movie date, especially after Ren had bought snacks and drinks and the movie was about to start. But weighing the options, staying here and waiting for Kiana to show up seemed far worse than leaving abruptly.

"Go somewhere else?... Alright, no problem." Ren blinked, glanced at the movie screen where the opening credits were starting to roll, and then, under Mei's grateful gaze, agreed without hesitation.

"Instead of guessing blindly here in the real world, why don't we investigate directly in Mementos?" Ren suggested. "Let's work a little overtime this time. How about a Mementos date, just the two of us?"

Slipping out of the auditorium, Ren and Mei found a secluded corner. In Mei's current state of mind, her worry for Kiana clearly made it impossible for her to enjoy the date properly. To raise Mei's Confidant rank, another trip to Mementos seemed necessary.

"Now that we know the target's name, everything becomes much easier," Ren said, taking out his phone. He expertly opened the MetaNav App interface. "Navigate to target: Kiana Kaslana."

MetaNav App, activate!!!

The dim environment of the cinema, illuminated by the green emergency exit lights, began to ripple like water.

When they blinked again, Ren and Mei found themselves standing in a very familiar crimson desert landscape. Ethereal blue flames and deep crimson lightning flickered momentarily around their bodies.

Due to the unique pressure of this world, distinct from reality, Ren's black phantom coat and Mei's red Knight Moonbeam-like skirt armor materialized simultaneously, automatically changing their attire.

"This is... Kaslana's Palace?" Mei asked, looking around.