(Actual impetus for this quest: lol let's un-isekai isekai protags, and why the hell did they cancel Isekai Cheat Slayer? That idea was fire. The name Don Will Dead has lived in my head rent-free for years.)
It was due to all the isekai characters being very blatant ripoffs and not getting the characters they were ripping off leading to very pooor reception.
Ngl I kinda love that the isekai protag here is Lux- the moral ambiguity it forces is fascinating, because neither her nor we have illusions about what she might do if pushed. And no ground to stand on to call people out.
You've been doing this job for a while now, in fact, you can confidently say you've gotten the hang of it! It's all in the little details. First off, some cotton balls to dampen the screaming. You've learned from experience cultists can be loud. Very loud. The megaspeaker didn't help.
THE SUN GOD'S BLESSINGS ARE UPON US, BROTHERS! LOOK AT HOW HER RADIANCE EMBRACES US!
Last time you were unprepared. Showed up in some normal clothes and looked completely out of place. This time? The moment you saw the mask in the locker you ran back and threw a bedsheet over your outfit like a toga. If you tie it just the right way it actually helps you support the weight of the sign! Now you looked exactly like all the other cultists.
YOU! WHY DO YOU DENY THE GOD'S BLESSINGS? ON THIS MOST HOLY OF DAYS!?
Urgh, the cultist is braying at bystanders. It was a very hot day, a prelude to the incoming summer. It's fine, you're on the last hour of your shift and you made sure to properly hydrate before coming.
WE MUST ALL BASK IN ITS DIVINE LIGHT! WE MUST— OH! OOOOOHH!! AAAAAHHHHHH!
What the hell was going on? It was nearly impossible to see through the giant mask, to say nothing of the freaking sunlight blasting into your eyes.
T-THE ADVOCATE! LORD URABE! WE WERE NOT EXPECTING YOU!
"That's because you are FOOLS! Need I remind you we are at WAR!??"
What? War? You didn't sign up for war! And the name... Urabe? That was the name of the person paying you today, wasn't it? It's—"GAH!"
Mystery solved. Now we know why they worship the sun god.
The huge muscular and indecently clothed man is tanned from head to toe, the mark of a pervert of the highest degree. No... not just a pervert. The bald hair, the clear disdain for sunscreen... you realize it in a flash of insight. This man was dedicated to absorbing as much sun as physically possible. No hair, maximal surface area, not even clothes. A tanning min-maxer.
"During your last gathering, that foul moon-touched demon, the sinner we call the Balaclava Berserker, cruelly assaulted a peaceful gathering of disciples! Even now our brothers are still nursing their wounds. He is a heathen! An enemy to the sun itself! But have no fear! For so long as the inner circle still draws breath the great evil shall have to face the FULL FURY OF THE SUN!"
As one all the cultists rip their togas off, revealing a sordid sight. You back away, the lone clothed individual in an ocean of bronze and orange. You know the sun god doesn't exist, but you offer him a prayer nonetheless. Please please please don't notice me.
The line of muscle stands shoulder to shoulder. And you mean everyone. Practically two dozen strange grunting cultists in leotards, men, women, and even a few children. Each is bald as the day they were born.
"Brothers, sisters, be not afraid! What do we have to fear from this Balaclava Berserker when we stand UNITED beneath the light of our great lord!?"
HAIL THE ADVOCATE! HAIL LORD URABE! HAIL THE SUN GOD! HAIL LORD MITAMA!
The crowd of cultists hoots and hollers, waving their naked bodies beneath the rays of the sun. Every passerby suddenly starts scattering like mice before a hungry cat. You see a policeman run towards the gathering, alarmed and blowing his whistle. In slow motion you watch as his brain catches up to his adrenaline, the officer taking one look at the dancing nudists, before turning around, sprinting away as fast as his legs can carry him.
...
I know what you're thinking. Staring into the sun won't wipe this sight from your mind. Do you want this to be the last thing you ever see?
This job is going to be the death of you...
You relax, rolling your shoulders against the warm stone. You sharpen your claws on the giant novelty couch. Your ears twitch and turn at the sounds of the busy cafe around you, audible even through the walls of the break room.
You could get used to this. It's relaxing even! You've finally figured out the way to use claws to carry silverware. It really was all about using the hooks in conjunction with your teeth to mimic opposable thumbs. You went through your entire day without spilling a single drop!
You were afraid of a repeat Animal Mask visit, but nothing of the sort happened! Today you worked in the main lobby and attracted a ton of customers. Seems like everyone was a little sick of the cute cat routine, but a cute lion? Instant attention. It was a bit of a risk accepting the role of Frederica, but then again, you have a niche. A unique gimmick, if you will.
But you can't rest. You're still the upstart, the newcomer. Your coworkers can't communicate with words, but you can sense their weariness. They stand apart from you, sprinting away whenever you try to initiate a simple greeting! It's almost as if they were afraid of you.
Okay. Break time's over. You've gotten plenty of tips and your manager was pleased with your performance. Very pleased. You might even get some repeat customers that aren't Animal Mask this time!
As you saunter through the trapdoor and into the café, you practice your greeting. You left some customers waiting, and last you checked there was even a line. You must be swift, but also elegant. You must make your guests feel welcome.
Greetings, esteemed one! How may this Frederica serve you today, master?
You announce, walking onto the scene with a bow and a flourish of your tail.
There's... no one here.
All your customers? They're gone? No. Not gone.
Your eyes scan the room with the instincts of a predator. And you see it... a crowd. It's not just the human customers. All the other cats are gathered around. Some sitting, some standing, all clamoring to get closer. You can't hear any noise coming from them, but there's a tension in the air.
You walk, cautiously, approaching the crowd and trying to peer past the felines.
And you see it.
White. Fluffy. Round.
A crowd of adoring fans coo and swoon. A few lucky ones rub the creature's belly, and you watch with morbid fascination as the hand sinks into the puffy fur. You want to rub that belly...
This... is the fabled one. The Chief. The king of Cat Cafe. You heard he was on vacation but...
He's so fluffy. You want to pet him... you want to eat him. You want to experience the true essence of cat.
Your ears flick. You blink. There's a tingling in your nose. A burning in your eyes. Your muscles tense up. The Chief makes eye contact with you.
You see it but for a second. You imagine a suave, silky voice in your ear. Even if the cat can't talk its soul is communicating with you.
"You've done well in my absence, little kitty cat. Not many can satisfy that man's urges. But you have only placed one paw in the litterbox, and until you learn to accept the cat within, you will find yourself unable to comprehend the cat's true essence."
Friendly advice? No. A challenge. The king, making his majesty known to the upstart.
And then the pressure is gone. He walks away, disappearing into the cat crowd, and just like that the spell is broken. Your shoulders slump, the tension disappears, and the cats go back to their own business.
Today you have gazed upon the peak and learned that you are but a kitten.
Nekoya Roll!
Cost = 1d6.
Result = 6.
You paid 6000 yen (mostly for the cleanup)
Sign Roll!
Technically you roll STRESSd6, but since STRESS is zero right now, there's no roll.
Probably should've thought that through when I was making this an option.
>You paid ¥6000 for Nekoya! (AKA you made a mess and had to pay for it.)
>Your EMPATHY improves! ♪♪♪♪
>Your MASK improves! ♪♪♪♪
>You were paid a total of ¥8000 for your part-time work!
AN: Not sure if the full body version is SFW... and that applies to both pictures.
And no vote this chapter, we will be voting next chapter. (I'm trying to break up 5 damn Social Links in a row...)
It's on crunchyroll and it's kind of funny. Arguably one of the better new isekai this year considering it actually has a unique premise, though it is very, very horny. They dubbed it too, which baffles me to no end.
I read the first two chapters of the manga a year or two ago, wasn't really too interested personally. The cult leader is the MC's dad, who kills him by throwing him into a raging river locked in a barrel iirc. He wakes up in another world with the cult's God telling him to build up a cult so she can gain power.
"Oh let's see... Ah, I have you penned in for the 4 o'clock meeting. Is that right, Kashiwazaka-san?"
The secretary smiles. It is a polite, customer-service smile, nothing out of the ordinary. But the way her eye twitches, the way she suppresses a sigh the moment she sees you, the lightest tremble of her lip. She's annoyed. At you specifically or at something out of your control?
You were ostensibly here on Yuuki's behalf, to go over treatment options, but you strongly suspect Yuuki doesn't even care to know the details. No amount of meetings could change the fact that neither you nor she really understood medicine. As the doctors told you, there weren't any raw numbers in this business...
Yuuki's just waiting for someone to decide for her. Whether that's Cayna, her doctors, or... you.
A part of you wonders if Yuuki would be better served sticking with RATH. The prospect of a VR afterlife would be... not exactly the discovery of the century. More like the discovery of the epoch. An advancement so revolutionary it would completely overturn the existing social order.
It ain't gonna be that convenient.
The implications remain dizzying. Copying a Fluctlight at the moment of death, would the resulting entity even be alive? And would it even be Yuuki or just a... thing with her memories?
There wasn't anyone you could really ask for the details. But at least with this alternative, you have someone you can grill. And get that sweet, sweet Persona!
The secretary is guiding you down the hallway, guiding you deeper into the bowels of the hospital. "You're penned in for 15 minutes. I must insist you don't go over time. He's been very busy these days."
You recall what little you remember of Kanji Yakutani. He looked beyond tired, not only in the sense that he looked exhausted but like the man himself was one foot away from death. A bone-cold weariness that simple sleep couldn't fix.
"Busy? He looked quite tired when I first met him."
The secretary's face falls. She's worried but feels powerless to do anything about it, and it shows in her voice. "Yes, he did. He's always here before me and stays long after I leave. He... does often sleep in the office..."
It's hardly surprising but still depressing to see even hospital staff engaging in overwork. Was being an adult going to be this hard?
"Keep going down this hall and enter room 301. Yakutani-sensei should be expecting you."
"Thank you. I'm sorry I'm taking up his time."
"No need for that, Kashiwazaka-san." The secretary gives you another practiced smile. She seems to want to say something further but stops herself. You try to read her expression, and her body language, and you hit on the faintest sense that you're unwelcome.
Don't think it's you. I think she's just annoyed someone's bothering this pharmacist again. Bet she's got the hots for him!
More likely she's just worried. You can't think of a fate sadder than spending so much time at work that you end up hooking up your own secretary.
Once she rounds the corner, you head down the hallway toward room 301. The air is stifling, sterile, and cold. The only sound is a muffled beeping coming from somewhere inside.
Something's... wrong...
You feel a pressure building in your head. Your Persona. In the real world, you had no power, no reason to call upon your Persona. But you hear her giggles bounce around your skull, the light touch of her fingers on the back of your neck.
My, my. The poor thing! What a horrible place to die. We should put him out of his misery, yes?
Her voice is sweet but excited. Almost too excited. Like an overzealous child who doesn't understand why she shouldn't dissect a stray cat. Why Alice? Because of Yuuki's association with this Doctor? You press your hand against the door. Yakutani-sensei was inside, along with that annoying beeping. It was louder, clearly coming from inside the room.
"Yakutani-sensei? Are you there?"
No response.
You take a step back. Maybe he's taking a nap? You'd feel bad waking him up, but this wasn't something you could postpone.
You knock again, gently, before pushing open the door.
And you see it the moment the door swings open.
A tall man, slumped into a couch too small for his body. His chin rests on his chest, his glasses have slid down his nose, and a pale hand dangling over the side is brushed up against the floor. On the table beside him is a timer, blaring out an alarm. The LCD reads -04:13. It's been beeping for nearly four minutes.
"Yakutani-sensei...?"
Was he...
"Sensei?!"
You rush forward, shaking the man. Under his blanket, you can't tell if his chest is rising or not. There's absolutely no response.
He's... dead? This is reality. No respawn, no healing potion. You didn't know first aid, much less CPR. Here, in the real world, what exactly could you do? You swing around, ramming through the door you just entered. You take a single deep breath before you scream down the hallway.
"HELP! I need help!"
SUNDAY - May 18th, 2025
Afternoon
"Are you insane!? You need to rest!"
The secretary's eyes go wide as she stares into the phone. She's forgotten you were still here. Her gaze is a mixture of shock and disappointment. But she's an agreeable and good-natured person. One who wouldn't say no to an earnest plea, no matter how foolish the request.
"You... you can't keep doing this. The work can wait." Her voice is soft, pleading.
"What good is it going to do if you die?!" Her voice rises, and the secretary flinches, suddenly catching you staring at her.
"I... I'm sorry. Yes, sensei." She does a short bow to empty air, even though the man on the other end wasn't there to see it. She slams the phone down, her expression a mixture of anger and frustration.
"Is everything all right?"
"Kashiwazaka-san." The girl doesn't bother hiding the irritation in her voice. "Yakutani-sensei has insisted you go see him." Ironically, it seemed his overworking managed to save his life. If he wasn't already physically in a hospital when his heart failed, he likely wouldn't have made it.
"I don't think that's a good idea," you say. The man literally almost died in front of you.
"Sensei is stubborn. At the least, he wants to thank you face to face."
"Is... he all right?"
"He's recovering. He's not a young man, but it seems he's... back to his usual self." She doesn't seem pleased by that fact.
You see her reach under her desk, pulling out a brown tote bag. "Kashiwazaka-san. Could I ask you for a favor?" She holds out the bag. It seems heavy, weighted down with something solid.
"If it's not too much trouble, could you bring him this?" The knuckles on her hands turn white, and she grips the bag with the effort of not trembling. "I fear if I see him now I may act... uncharitably."
She looks at you expectantly, holding out the bag like a vital of poison.
"I can... but are you sure?"
"Please. I... think I'll turn in early today. The security guard can escort you to the ICU."
You take the bag, feeling a sudden, uncomfortable weight. There's a lot in here, so what exactly were you ferrying? It's not the same as Cayna's room. For one there's the faintest sense of life here. Plants that are watered, a small bookshelf, and sunlight spilling in from an adjacent window. The antiseptic smell is thinner, and instead of the giant life support machine taking up half the room, there's only a single monitor beeping a soft metronome.
But it was still a hospital bed.
Kanji Yakutani, the man you ostensibly came to see, now lays propped up against the bedrest, his face sagging and his cheeks hollow. A mop of oily black hair, glasses askew along his face. Colored wires peek out from under the light blue hospital gown, and an IV snakes its way across the blanket draped over his body. This was not a man who was well.
"Yakutani-sensei?"
His eyes crack open, a smile breaking his face.
"Ah, Kashiwazaka-san. I believe I owe you my life." His voice is tired, his words slow. But they remain clear.
"I didn't do anything. The doctors were the ones who saved you."
"Yes, that's true. They certainly did." He shakes his head. "But without you, it may have taken a while for them to arrive. Time I didn't have. Ah, but I forget myself. Where are my manners?" He coughs. "Please, sit."
You find a seat by the edge of his bed. The pharmacist is weak, but he does his best to hold himself upright. "I'll come back later, no I should—"
"Haha, please, I could use the company." He smiles, but you don't miss the way his eyes catch on the bag still slung around your shoulder. "Now, please don't look so piteous. I'm hale and hearty! Despite appearances, I am in my early thirties."
"That's not a good thing, sensei, considering you almost died."
"Ah... you're beginning to sound like my doctors. Let me tell you, it wasn't all bad! It was quite a shock to be awoken in such a manner, literally!" He laughs at his own joke, patting his own chest as if congratulating it for stopping.
It wasn't funny.
"Ah, perhaps my material needs work. But you came a long way to seek my advice. It's for... Konno-san, correct? Crawforde-Ende, terminal, in the Medicuboid Clinical Trial?"
You open your mouth and try to say that it can wait. But can it wait? You're not even sure how long she has left.
"Yes."
"Mm. Then it's important to get to work." He motions to the bag hanging on your shoulder. "If you would?"
You hand over the bag, watching as Yakutani sense reaches in and pulls out the contents, one at a time.
You almost can't believe what's coming out. It's beyond insane. This is what you were carrying!?
Thick paperback pocketbooks, unmarked notebooks, reams of stapled documents, and a laptop. He eagerly flips it open, the device booting up in seconds.
For a moment you're shocked into speechlessness. This man, by most definitions of the word, just died. Like, about an hour ago. In front of you. And now? The first thing he does after practically dying?
He's going back to work.
"What... the hell are you doing?" Every instinct tells you it's not right to act aggressively in front of a sick man, especially one you barely know. But this was... beyond ridiculous.
"Mm? Ah, pardon. I just have a few things left on my to-do list today. And my notes on Konno-san are here." He speaks, not even giving you eye contact. Within seconds his fingers are dancing over the keyboard, his face locked in concentration. "We can talk while I work."
You feel like you just smuggled a shiv into a prison. You reach over, trying to grab the laptop from his hands. Predicting your maneuver, he shifts the computer just out of your reach, the movement making his face contort with pain.
"Stop, just rest! What the hell is so important?"
"You... ah. You're a rather insistent one, aren't you?" He sets the laptop down, looking at you with the air of an adult humoring a child. "Kashiwazaka-san, as I said earlier, I believe you saved my life today. I think that's the greatest thing a human being can do for another. You strike me as the kind of person who can't ignore someone dying in front of them, something you proved today with your actions."
You fight back a wince at his words. Perhaps with no risk to yourself, but to sacrifice your own life to save someone else's... "T-that's not the issue sensei. You almost died, certainly you can see that your health is the priority?"
"Yes, and as you can see, I'm fine now. It was an episode of Supraventricular Tachycardia, 'stress induced' as the doctors say. Hardly beyond modern medicine's ability to treat. Why, I'd say I was quite lucky! If I had to choose any heart condition to have, this one is far from the worst. Nothing a pacemaker and a few beta blockers won't fix."
The entire time he just keeps typing away.
"My work is important, Kashiwazaka-san, and I don't say that just to stroke my ego. Before my... untimely health scare... I was in the middle of an important experiment. A colleague from the US needs this chemical synthesized, and now the cell lines have almost certainly died. I owe him and his patients at least the courtesy of reordering the reagents so that this delay doesn't extend any further." Now he's the one lecturing you.
"This grant needs to be submitted by next week otherwise I'll need to wait 3 months for the next cycle. With just a bit more effort I can get this drug developed 3 months earlier, and that could be the difference between hundreds of lives."
He continues talking without pause.
"This is also relevant to Konno-san. Takemi-sensei is asking for a peer review of her latest research results. She's quite a genius, but her math can be sloppy, and I'm already overdue on the analysis. Any further delays and her patients could suffer."
"I don't understand any of that! It's all nonsense to me. You're addicted to your own work!"
He cranks his neck, and you see a kaleidoscope of windows opening and closing reflecting over his glasses. "Kashiwazaka-san, it's not glamourous, but my work saves lives. Just as you cannot walk away when you see a man collapsed and unconscious, I cannot walk away when I know that people are depending on me. Colleagues. Patients. Families. Communities. I can help, so I must."
He glances towards the clock, before turning his attention back to his work. "A single life lost is a tragedy. A thousand lives lost is a statistic. When it comes to saving lives it's much the same. A single life is a miracle. But a hundred lives, or a thousand lives? You don't accomplish that by being a hero. You do it by getting back to work."
"You... can't help anyone..."
"If I'm dead? Yes, I am aware of that. Today was a miscalculation, certainly. An oversight, but one that I'll be more mindful of going forward. I have faith that my doctor will get me back in working order soon enough."
You don't think he cares. His life is just another problem to optimize away, one that he's already accounting for in his schedule.
"Now please, you did come here for a purpose, no? What questions did you have about Konno-san's proposed treatment plan?"
You want to ask him for details you know you won't understand. Numbers you know he can't provide.
Reassurance you know he won't give.
But you decide to ask him something else instead.
"Yakutani-sensei... what do you want?"
"I'm not sure I understand."
"What do you want to do? Not for anyone else. Not for any patients or for your research. But what do you want to do for yourself?"
"Ah... I suppose, well..." He's stumped, the question throwing him off balance. He gives you a wry smile, making eye contact with you for the first time since he opened his laptop. "Perhaps something small? Run a small pharmacy in a small town... talk with my patients, and tend to their daily ailments. Something simple."
"That sounds... achievable. Why not do it now?"
He pauses, the tapping of his keyboard stopping. "Because people are depending on me, Kashiwazaka-san. Because right now I am doing the most I possibly can to save as many lives as I can with my meager skills. And, for me, this is the most rewarding path I can take."
He's saying he can never retire. That his dream of being a local medicine man would be nothing more than self-aggrandizing selfishness.
"Kashiwazaka-san, I must thank you again for your timely arrival. For you, my office is always open, but I feel that alone doesn't come close to the debt I owe you. Please, if you need anything within my power, let me know and I will do my very best to help you."
He hands you a slip of paper with his phone number written on it. He must've prepared it in advance of your arrival.
"High school life can be very stressful, but many safe medicines could ease the burden! Nootropics, nutritional supplements, something to help keep you awake for tests... I do have a compounding pharmacy. Feel free to call me anytime, and not just for Konno-san's sake."
You nod. It's a hell of an offer, the private phone number of a world-class medical professional, and an open invitation to call him whenever you want for prescriptions.
"And please tell Konno-san this. I can't promise the agent will work. I can't promise it won't have side effects. I can't even promise the drug won't make things worse." You see his face harden, and his eyes darken, like a shadow passing across a window. "But I can promise one thing. I will do absolutely everything within my power to cure her."
I AM THOU, THOU ART I.
LIFE IS THE CEASELESS MARCH TOWARD AN INEVITABLE END.
DEATH IS THY CONSTANT. IMMUTABLE. INESCAPEABLE.
BUT STAND FAST BEFORE THE GATES. HOLD UP YOUR SHIELD. RAISE THE WALLS.
DEATH WILL PREVAIL. BUT TODAY? DEATH SHALL WAIT.
TO GRANT YOU POWER TO DESTROY THE HEAVENS.
And you believe him. Because you're certain he's going to work himself to death trying to save her.
You stand, taking a bow. You still have a lot of things left to do today, not the least of which was going to visit Yuuki.
...
It's something your Shadow would normally suggest.
But as you watch Yakutani-sensei hammering away at the keyboard you find yourself with an irresistible urge to...
AN: Specify your response to Yakutani-sensei.
[ ] Wish him a speedy recovery.
[ ] Make a fuss and get his attending doctor to confiscate his work materials.
[ ] Grab his laptop and throw it in the toilet.
[ ] Write-In! [No D cost, unless you're doing something very crazy.]
SUNDAY - May 18th, 2025
Velvet Room
Do you find death uncomfortable? After all, you humans bury, burn, and hide it away so well.
But death has come for you once before. And it will come again. For me, for you. For us all.
He knows this. He stares at it, day after day. Until he is numb. Until death is his friend.
...
...
The noblest endeavor. The greatest work. The war against death.
He stands at the front, wielding mind and pen. It is a simple dream.
To heal and be loved. To work marvels and receive due adoration.
But his soul is incapable of imagining such a saccharine world.
So DEATH will work. In this life. In the next.
A world where he has more to save. More to sacrifice.
A new life to bleed away. New time to toil away. New dreams to burn away.
His peace will only be possible when the great foe is vanquished.
But even in delusion, he cannot imagine victory.
It is the sad dream of a soldier, unable to lay down his sword.
For the war has consumed him, mind, body, and soul.
It tastes like cherries, strong and overpowering, almost enough to hide the rot underneath.
...
How ironic, that the simplest dreams are the most twisted?
In this world, he burns away his light in service of the great work.
And in the new world, he seeks to do it all over again. Yet this tragedy need not pass.
DEATH shall be spared the curse of Sisyphus.
For we shall take from him HEAVEN.
[ ] Shîbu Issahir Amelu
Urshanabi, this plant is a plant against decay
by which a man can attain his survival.
I will bring it to Uruk-‐Haven,
and have an old man eat the plant to test it.
The plant's name is 'The Old Man Becomes a Young Man.'
Then I will eat it and return to the condition of my youth.
-Except from The Epic of Gilgamesh
Pharma: This Persona possesses no stats. When assigned to a Persona slot, it functions as a consumable item that may be used while another Persona is active.
Your ability to use this Persona is limited by the Persona's DOSAGE, which can be upgraded using Upgrade Points.
Anyone who benefits from this Persona must accept the SIDE EFFECTS.
DOSAGE: Rank B (4 Doses)
SIDE EFFECTS: Targets affected by this Persona lose 1 SP. A target at 0 SP cannot receive any benefit from this Persona.
Upon consuming Shîbu Issahir Amelu select ONE effect to apply from the list below:
Revival Bead: Revive ally with half health, rounded down. [3 Doses]
Shattered Bead: Heal 50% of target HP, rounded up. [2 Doses]
Patra Stone: Cure any NON mind-altering status ailment (Enervation, Bind, Mute, Sleep, etc). [1 Doses]
Life Stone: Heal 30% of target health, rounded up.[1 Doses]
[ ] Magnum Opus
True, without falsehood, certain, and most true:
What is below is like what is above,
and what is above is like what is below,
to accomplish the miracles of one thing.
And as all things were derived from one by the meditation of one,
so all things are born from this one thing by adaptation.
The Sun is its father, the Moon is its mother,
the Wind has carried it in its belly, its nurse is the Earth.
The father of all telesms of the whole world is here.
-Excerpt from The Emerald Tablet
Pharma: This Persona possesses no stats. When assigned to a Persona slot, it functions as a consumable item that may be used while another Persona is active.
Your ability to use this Persona is limited by the Persona's DOSAGE, which can be upgraded using Upgrade Points.
Anyone who benefits from this Persona must accept the SIDE EFFECTS.
DOSAGE: Rank B (4 Doses)
SIDE EFFECTS: Targets affected by this Persona make their next offensive roll with ONE less offensive dice.
Upon channeling Magnum Opus select ONE effect to apply from the list below:
Doping: Party max HP increases by 30%, rounded up. Does NOT affect current health whatsoever, only increases Max HP. [3 Doses]
Tetra-Dampener: Party nullifies the next instance of FIRE/ICE/ELEC/WIND damage. When this shield is up, no dice are rolled (Ie, the shield is not preserved if the attack would've done 0 damage). [2 Doses]
Phys-Dampener: Party nullifies the next instance of SLASH/BLUNT/PIERCE damage. When this shield is up, no dice are rolled (Ie, the shield is not preserved if the attack would've done 0 damage). [2 Doses]
Linked Life Stone: Party heals 30% HP, rounded up. [2 Doses]
[ ] Wàidān 外丹
This petty man, verily and entirely devotes his thoughts to the Great Lord of the Dao, Lord Lao, and the Lord of the Great Harmony.
Alas, this petty man, covets the Medicines of Life! Lead him so that the Medicines will not volatilize and be lost, but rather be fixed by fire!
Let the Medicines be good and efficacious, let the transmutations take place without hesitation, and let the Yellow and the White be entirely fixed!
When he ingests the Medicines, let him fly as an immortal, have audience at the Purple Palace, live an unending life, and become an accomplished man!
-Excerpt from the Book of the Nine Elixirs
Pharma: This Persona possesses no stats. When assigned to a Persona slot, it functions as a consumable item that may be used while another Persona is active.
Your ability to use this Persona is limited by the Persona's DOSAGE, which can be upgraded using Upgrade Points.
Anyone who benefits from this Persona must accept the SIDE EFFECTS.
DOSAGE: Rank C (3 Doses)
SIDE EFFECTS: Targets affected by this Persona become weak to BLESS and CURSE. This effect wears off in 3 Rounds.
Upon consuming Wàidān 外丹 select ONE effect to apply from the list below:
Luster Drop: Temporarily increases all stats by 2. Lasts 3 Rounds. [3 Doses]
Muscle Drink: Heal 50% of ally HP and SP, rounded up. DISADVANTAGE to all defensive rolls for 2 Rounds. [2 Doses]
Snuff Soul: Target recovers 4 SP. [2 Doses]
Life Stone: Heal 30% of target health, rounded up.[1 Doses]
The Persona Vote and the narrative vote are separate, no need to make it a plan.
[X] You're right, I can't ignore someone dying right in front of me. You now have the choice of promising me to leave work be at least for today or I'll make however much fuss I need to until your attending Doctor takes your laptop.
Regarding the available personas for the Death SL... Shîbu is mostly focused on healing, with access to partial status curing and ressurection, and its got a good amount of starting doses and a side effect that isn't all that problematic. That said, I doesn't do anything special support-wise and we can arguably handle healing somewhat with Magdalene (but it should be noted that Death personas can be used alongside another pesona, so long as they are on the active roster, so they can be used as a way to give support capabilites to personas that do not have support moves). Magnum Opus keeps the high number of doses while having a harsher side effect in exchange for some unique support capabilities (aka nullying the next physical type attack/next standard element type attack for the party and the ability to increase the max HP of the party), it heal is less useful when there is only a single ally injured, on par with Life Stone if it heals two targets and becomes more and more cost effective as the number of targets it can heal increases). Wàidān has the most problematic side effect most of the times, barring times where we know for certain Bless and Curse attacks aren't in play or every single party member is already weak to said elements, in which case, the side effect is trivial (aside from the time where Muscle Drink is used, which comes with the additional downside of disadvantage for all defensive rolls in the next 2 rounds in exchange for healing 50% of HP and SP of an ally). It is capable of healing SP and can boost stats (as in, adding more dice to rolls involving the stats, not the buffs we've had available for a time which reroll 2 of the dice for a stat), but it also has the lowest starting amount of doses.
All-in-all, I think we go for either Shîbu or Magnum Opus. Wàidān has some nice tricks, but its side effect is problematic if it can be exploited and I expect Oberon to be capable of using Bless and/or Curse moves, though I will wait and see if other people want to chime in on what persona we should take here before I vote.
For the doctor,how about a good old guilt trip?
We don't care about all those anons, but we DO know that if he died right there earlier, so would Yuuki.
Demand that if he must work, that it be supervised by someone who can at least do first aid.
[X] Make a fuss and get his attending doctor to confiscate his work materials.
[X] Shîbu Issahir Amelu
Honestly, I'm not sure forcing him to promise us to take the day off will work. As in, he might promise to make us go away and then go right back to it once we're gone. Trashing the laptop by throwing it in the toilet is a bit too extreme in my opinion.
You take a step back. Maybe he's taking a nap? You'd feel bad waking him up, but this wasn't something you could postpone.
You knock again, gently, before pushing open the door.
You see it the moment the door swings open.
A tall man, slumped into a couch too small for his body. His chin rests on his chest, his glasses have slid down his nose, and a pale hand dangling over the side is brushed up against the floor.
On the table beside him is a timer, blaring out an alarm. The LCD reads -04:13. It's been beeping for nearly four minutes.
"Yakutani-sensei...?"
Was he...
"Sensei?!"
You rush forward, shaking the man. Under his blanket, you can't tell if his chest is rising or not. There's absolutely no response.
He's... dead? This is reality. No respawn, no healing potion. You didn't know first aid, much less CPR. Here, in the real world, what exactly could you do? You swing around, ramming through the door you just entered. You take a single deep breath before you scream down the hallway.
Do you find death uncomfortable? After all, you humans bury, burn, and hide it away so well.
But death has come for you once before. And it will come again. For me, for you. For us all.
He knows this. He stares at it, day after day. Until he is numb. Until death is his friend.
...
...
The noblest endeavor. The greatest work. The war against death.
He stands at the front, wielding mind and pen. Calling forth a simple dream.
To heal and be loved. To work marvels and receive due adoration.
But his soul is incapable of imagining such a saccharine world.
So DEATH will work. In this life. In the next.
A world where he has more to save. More to sacrifice.
A new life to bleed away. New time to toil away. New dreams to burn away.
His peace will only be possible when the great foe is vanquished.
Even in delusion, he cannot imagine victory.
It is the sad dream of a soldier, unable to lay down his sword.
For the war has consumed him, mind, body, and soul.
It tastes like cherries, strong and overpowering, almost enough to hide the rot underneath.
...
How ironic, that the simplest dreams are the most twisted?
In this world, he burns away his light in service of the great work.
And in the new world, he seeks to do it all over again. Yet this tragedy need not pass.
DEATH shall be spared the curse of Sisyphus.
For we shall take from him HEAVEN.
Wow, does Nyarlathotep of all people actually feel pity for this guy?
Anyway, does anyone else find this guy infinitely more compelling in a more realistic hospital setting always at risk of destroying himself rather than in a generic fantasy world where god hands him unlimited magic to do whatever he wants? God, isekai fucking wastes everything.
But in all other seriousness, this was a lot sad and real than I expected.
[X] Make a fuss and get his attending doctor to confiscate his work materials.
Really tempted to go for the toilet option given how this guy seems to have come up with multiple ways to get around the hospital but at the same time we'll be starting serious shit in a hospital. But if this continues deeper along the link I think I could seriously back the nuclear option in the future.
[X] Magnum Opus
I can't decide if I want Shibu or Magnum Opus so I'll back the runner up to see if it gives it a chance.
But at the same time, I checked Holy Shield OBERON's flavor text in his interlude and one of his motifs was light.
Honestly, I'm not sure forcing him to promise us to take the day off will work. As in, he might promise to make us go away and then go right back to it once we're gone. Trashing the laptop by throwing it in the toilet is a bit too extreme in my opinion.
Parallel World Pharmacy, to me at least, is a bit tragic. Guy dreams of small town pharmacy, isekais, kinda builds one? But it's big city and he spends most of his time dealing with politics, religion, plagues... it just seems to me that it's his nature not to say no. So he ends up in kind of the same situation both before and after isekai, being a big shot medical professional rather than small town pharmacist.
I actually have a ton of respect for the show. Tons of attention to detail and legit depictions of disease. Like yes, he has a radiology department in his eyeball and magic drug synthesizing powers. But when you get down to it? That's the mininum superpower you'll need to practice modern medicine in a medieval world with no infrastructure.
