The transition back into Mementos felt different for Sae Niijima.
No longer an outsider looking in, she stood alongside the team now—her Phantom Thief attire tailored, radiant with black and gold scales, her heels clicking confidently against the fractured floor of a new domain.
This wasn't a distorted casino or courthouse.
It was a corporate tower suspended in ink-dark skies, each level layered with illusions of justice and profit twisted together. The realm pulsed with hypocrisy—a skyscraper built from hollow values.
Above its entrance, carved in light:
"Niijima Group: Serving Justice with Opportunity."
Makoto stared up at the mocking sign. "That's... our father's name. Our mother's old firm."
Sae's jaw tightened. "This isn't just my distortion. This is someone using my legacy."
Inside the Labyrinth: Corporate Penance
Within, they found mirrored offices run by faceless executives in cracked suits, clerks locked in endless tasks, and shadows of politicians debating laws made to hurt. Sae recognized them all.
Her fists clenched, but she didn't lash out—not yet.
"Maat," she whispered. "Let us weigh them."
Her Persona shimmered behind her, floating serene, eyes glowing with a divine fire. And then the battles began.
Each floor held a different mini-boss tied to a perversion of legal ideals:
"The Golden Verdict", a shadow judge made of coins and contracts.
"The Advocate's Tongue", a writhing form that silenced any attempt at dissent.
And "The Cost of Innocence", a towering figure with a hundred eyes, tracking every mistake the Thieves had ever made.
Through each, Sae guided the team—not with orders, but with calm certainty, weighing every action like a trial. She was learning.
Growing.
The Velvet Room: Fusion Awakening
Between missions, Ren took Sae with him to the Velvet Room. Lavenza awaited them both, the air unusually heavy.
"Ah… Miss Niijima. Judgment incarnate… or perhaps something beyond."
Sae blinked. "You knew I would awaken?"
Lavenza only smiled. "I knew you would be tested."
The blue fog rippled, and a strange new coffin rose between the guillotines. Inside floated a shard of gold and feathered fire—a divine code of sorts.
"You are a bridge, Sae Niijima," Lavenza intoned. "Between human law and divine truth. This fragment you carry can be fused—but only through trust."
Tae Takemi entered soon after, nodding to Sae with an almost conspiratorial smile. "Figured you might need a partner."
Fusion began—not in steel and chains, but in shared burden and balance. Sae's Maat merged briefly with Tae's Persona Sekhmet, unleashing a new temporary fusion:
"The Adjudicatrix" – a blazing lioness judge wielding fire and fate.
They'd unlocked something rare: cooperative fusion, available only to those who had forged ties through trials and truths.
Final Confrontation: The Phantom CEO
At the skyscraper's summit, the team met the boss: a phantom CEO forged from Sae's past ambitions and a shadowy divine presence whispering profits into power.
He offered her a seat at the top.
"You could remake the world's laws. Bend the market. Rule as a goddess of equilibrium."
Sae simply stepped forward.
"I don't serve lawless gods."
The battle raged. Adjudicatrix returned mid-fight through a Persona Link Burst between Sae and Tae. Together with the rest of the team, they brought down the avatar of corruption with relentless precision—Ren finishing it with a triple baton pass and a devastating Sin Requiem.
Aftermath: The Scale Tips
Back in Tokyo, news broke of a major legal investigation—politicians and executives arrested, many of them linked to Sae's own history.
She didn't flinch.
Instead, she stood with her sister under the city lights, eyes lifted to the moon. "This time," she said softly, "I'll choose what I believe in."
Makoto just smiled. "You already are."