The story is framed as a tale that
Margaret is telling to an unseen visitor in the Velvet Room about her guest,
Yu Narukami. Roughly a month following the epilogue of
Persona 4 Golden,
Rise Kujikawa, who has since returned to the
idol industry, asks Yu Narukami and all her other friends to dance alongside her in the upcoming music festival called Love Meets Bonds Festival. As Yu, along with
Naoto Shirogane, join up with Rise at her dance studio and are introduced to fellow idol
Kanami Mashita, they learn that Kanami's idol group, Kanamin Kitchen, has mysteriously gone missing. Looking into a rumor concerning a video that shows up on the LMB website at midnight, allegedly showing an image of a deceased idol, Yu, Rise, and Naoto decide to check out the video themselves and are sucked into the Midnight Stage, a world separate from the TV world they are used to. There, they discover a mysterious entity that uses strange ribbons and a song to force Shadows to form a bond with her, effectively brainwashing anyone who comes into contact with the ribbons. Unable to use violence in this world, the group discovers that they can use the power of song and dance to express their feelings to the Shadows, freeing them from the voice's control. The next day, as the rest of the Investigation Team is assembled at the dance studio, the mysterious voice attempts to pull Kanami into the Midnight Stage but ends up grabbing producer Kyoka Ochimizu instead. Following them, the Investigation Team split up to rescue the captured members of Kanamin Kitchen as the voice attempts to force a fake bond with them. As each member is rescued and taken to a safe dressing room, the team discovers pages from a diary. Coming across Ochimizu as well, the group deduces that the world is somehow tied to Yuko Osada, an idol who committed suicide years ago. At the same time, the Shadows they encounter are people who got dragged into the world after watching the video. Back in the real world, Kanami comes across
Ryotaro and
Nanako Dojima, who become curious about the whereabouts of Yu and the others. As Ryotaro helps Kanami look into the strange circumstances surrounding the incident, Nanako is recognized for her dancing talent and is chosen to appear alongside Kanami at the LMB Festival. During this time, Kanami experiences painful flashbacks as she ponders over the lyrics of her upcoming song, "Calystegia", which was originally intended for Yuko. To her shock, Kanami eventually discovers that the diary she had been carrying all this time belonged to Yuko, who she had witnessed killing herself when she came to the studio to audition years ago. Devastated and traumatized over the repressed memories, Kanami is overcome by despair and pulled into the Midnight Stage. Back in the Midnight Stage, Ochimizu, who was Yuko's producer back when she was alive, is swayed by the voice but brought to her senses by Yu and the others. Discovering the song sung by the Shadows to be a reversed recording of Calystegia, the team discovers the voice to be a Shadow version of Kanami, who has pulled the real Kanami and the entire LMB audience into the Midnight Stage. Although the team manages to save Kanami and bring her to her senses, the Shadow Kanami, revealed to be a god of desire named Mikuratana-no-Kami, bonds itself with the rest of the audience. Determined to get their feelings across, Rise combines her strength with Kanami and the Kanamin Kitchen girls to power up her Persona, Himiko, transforming it into a giant stage for Yu and the others to express themselves. Finally understanding their feelings, Mikuratana-no-Kami releases everyone and returns them to the real world, where Kanami prepares to finish off the festival with a performance of Calystegia. In the aftermath, it is revealed that the actual events behind the festival have been covered up, thanks in large part due to the efforts of Ochimizu, and Dojima, despite the police's disapproval. The audience, and the general public, is fooled into thinking the events were caused by a combination of special effects, technical malfunctions, publicity stunts, and staged skits (helped by the lack of clear memories of the LMB audience). Furthermore, the experiences of those who were pulled into the Midnight Stage as shadows were put down to mass-induced hysteria. With things now back to normal, Rise can make her career comeback as an idol. The epilogue concludes with Margaret telling the unseen visitor that their purpose in visiting the Velvet Room was to learn this tale about the value of bonds so that they can pass it on to other people. As the unseen visitor leaves, she tells them to not worry about Yu and his friends as "their journey will never end". The events later lead to the stories of
Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, as Elizabeth, Caroline, and Justine learn about these events and become jealous. ==Development==