(Takes place after the game, but no spoilers for the endgame. Spoilers for Yusuke's confidant, however.)
It was a hot summer afternoon, and, like many afternoons before it, Yusuke Kitagawa was spending it in his studio painting.
The other Phantom Thieves were skeptical, perhaps even alarmed, when he spent the money he won in an art contest on the first and last month's rent for a studio, rather than, say, food or other things required to live. But Yusuke was a firm believer in art begetting art. And the Kosei High School dorms were an increasingly impractical place to ply his craft- especially considering he would only be allowed to live there for another eight months.
Not for the first time, a dark voice in his mind questioned his decision to turn down Kawanabe's offer for sponsorship.
Shaking the thought from his mind, Yusuke focused on the day ahead. Today was important: with Akira's help, he had actually convinced one of the Phantom Thieves to model for him. He was unable to negotiate a nude painting, but having an aesthetically pleasing girl to use as a model, clothed or not, would be a great asset to his next work.
Checking over his supplies, however, he noticed a problem.
"Damnation," he muttered, holding a frayed, unusable brush in his hands. "I must have neglected to clean this one. It will need to be replaced before I do anything else today." Noticing the time and realizing his model would likely arrive before he returned, he sent a quick text to her.
YUSUKE: I need to go to the art store to replace a brush. I may or may not be here when you arrive.
YUSUKE: There is a spare key under the mat. If I am not here, please come in out of the heat and make yourself at home.
Text sent, Yusuke was preparing to leave when he accidentally kicked over a book at his feet. He picked it up to examine it. It was an old looking, blue hardcover book with a silhouette of a tiny king on a tiny throne, being held in the hand of some sort of goddess.
"The Emperor's Diminished Perspective..." Yusuke read the title allowed. "Strange. I do not remember purchasing this book."
Curious, he opened it, only for a cloud of dust to burst forth from the pages and send him into a coughing fit. Overcome, he collapsed on the floor of his studio and passed out.
When Yusuke awoke, it took him a moment to realize he was still in his studio. This is because his studio was now much, much bigger. The hard wood floor of the modest work area seemed to stretch for miles as Yusuke's own half-finished paintings loomed over him like great skyscraper sized billboards.
"To be rendered so insignificant by one's own works," Yusuke mused, the surreal and very dangerous nature of his situation lost on him in his sense of artistic wonderment. "Truly, this is what every artist desires in the end."
Yusuke's thoughts were cut off by a dreadful, echoing creak in the distance. The door to his studio was opening. A series of quakes shook Yusuke to his core, getting louder and more violent each time. At first, he thought Japan was experiencing an earthquake, but then he remembered his situation and looked up.
His model had arrived, hundreds of times his size. "Hmm... guess he's not back yet," her voice echoed, barely understandable to Yusuke in its magnitude and magnificence. Yusuke stared at the sight in awe, his mind already reeling at the possibilities of the painting he could create in this captured moment.
An urgent thought occurred to him as his blood ran cold. His friend, awe inspiring and goddess like as she was now, was unaware of his new stature. If he didn't rectify this immediately, he would be in grave danger.
Before we go any further, just who agreed to be Yusuke's model today? And how hard did Akira have to lean on them to get them to do it?
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