Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

"...Who are you, and can I pet your dog?" Okay, not the worst thing you could have said in this situation... not the most useful, either, but puppy.

It's strange. You never thought you were much of an animal person before, not really getting the chance to interact with them. But you just really want to pet this specific dog for some reason.
Koromaru is the best dog.
The owner of said dog actually seems to be sort of amused by the whole thing. "It is good to meet you, Amada-kun. My name is Tsukiya Saito, and I am the caretaker for this shrine. The dog is Koromaru. You may pet him if he chooses to approach you."

Well, that could take a while. The puppy seems to be entirely happy where he is. But he could venture over later. You decide to hold out hope for that.

"Still," Saito-san continues, "I have to ask what a child like you would be doing here at this time of night. Particularly given..." He gestures around at the world, which wouldn't really make sense to anyone who wasn't sort of used to this.

"Well..." It sounds sort of silly now, but it really did seem like a good idea at the time. But you have to say something, so you sigh and finally say, "I was trying to find someone else who wasn't a coffin. Anyone, really, but especially if they could help me with..." You're not really sure how to phrase this next part.

"Help you with what? If you need assistance with something, I'm not sure why you'd want to brave the night for it."

"I think it has to do with this time." You're not sure why, but it makes sense. You're aware in a time nobody else is, you get strange powers... why wouldn't they be connected? "It's just... I have powers. Light, electricity, healing... and a sort of... force-based thing?" Because there really isn't any other way you know to describe it. "And, whenever I use my powers... something breaks. First it was a bird, then it was a chair... and then it was the door. I... don't want things to break like that anymore." You hadn't asked for that power in the first place.


Saito-san listens to what you have to say. This already puts him above just about every other adult. Even ignoring the fact that he has a puppy. "I see... so you can't control the power behind these abilities?"

Well, it's a bit more than that. The only power you've actually tried to use and succeeded was Dia, though that may just be for lack of trying. But that doesn't matter right now, because Koromaru has wandered over to you and is letting you scratch behind his ears. He's so fluffy...

"I... don't really know anything about them at all. They're just... there." And that's all you have to say about them. They exist, you can use them, but they're so powerful you're just a danger to yourself and others until you can figure them out. "Sort of like this time, really..."

Hopefully, Saito-san can help you with that.

---

Not that anything like that gets done tonight. You're sent back to the dorms pretty quickly once you admit that you stayed up late for this- from what Saito-san can see, this time only happens at midnight.

You don't ask why he's so sure about it. He's an adult, he probably has more time to take note of these things. And he's not distracted by things like the discovery of strange powers, as far as you can tell. He never said anything about it. If he did, you were too busy fawning over Koromaru. Because, apparently, you really like puppies. Or, at least, this one in particular.

It's a new day now, even if you're still tired from going out last night, so late that the green time ended as soon as you climbed back into bed. So you need to set your main priority for the rest of the week, clearly.


[ ] Friends!
-[ ] Maiko.
--[ ] Help her study.
--[ ] Spend time at the shrine.
---[ ] Pet Koromaru, if possible?
-[ ] Try to make a new friend.
--[ ] At school.
--[ ] In town.

[ ] Studying!
-[ ] At the dorm.
-[ ] In the library.

[ ] Powers!
-[ ] Practice on your own.
-[ ] Get supervision from Saito-san.

It takes a couple days for you to feel entirely rested again after your adventure in the green time. For some reason, venturing out like that left you really tired, though you're sure you'll get used to that if you turn going out in that time into a habit.

Honestly, you're sort of considering it. Sure, there are monsters, but nothing really happened that night, aside from meeting a nice man and his dog. Admittedly, neither did you get any answers, but you'd known it was a long shot from the very start.

Either way, you lose a bit of time that could have been more productive due to the fact that you keep dozing off. Mostly in the middle of class, but you take good notes and it's easy enough to read up on what you miss, when it's more than a minute or two at a time. You don't think anyone's noticed yet, but it's probably best not to take chances.

Still, once you're fully awake, you immediately decide to spend some more time with Maiko, if only so you can remember what normal was like. You think that's supposed to be important somehow.

Besides, it lets the two of you both fawn over Koromaru.

"Oh, he's so cute!" Maiko squeals. The puppy winces at the noise and retreats closer to you. You ruffle his fur a bit more. You never expected to be good with animals, but here you are. It doesn't hurt that every time you're around the red-eyed shiba, some part of you becomes incredibly happy.

"Careful. He has a pretty good sense of hearing, being loud like that will make him uncomfortable." You don't know where these odd tidbits come from, either, but they make you better at interacting with the puppy, therefore they are a good thing. "Koromaru, if she gets loud like that again, you can go back over to Saito-san, okay?"

Koromaru barks and nods. Or, well, it looks like he's nodding, but there's no way he can actually be that smart, right? He's just a puppy!

"R-right. Sorry, Koro-chan," Your friend apologizes to the dog. He seems to accept the apology, but he also seems like he doesn't want to leave your side, and the head-scratches that you provide. Which is good, because you don't want to stop petting him. You think you may have a problem. "...Hey, I'm gonna go climbing. You think I can make it to the top?"

That seems a bit... large. You think people much older than you might have some difficulty. But stopping her would probably require you to stand up, therefore you are just going to sit here and pet the puppy.

---

Of course, something ends up going wrong. You watch Maiko climb, and she seems to be doing pretty well, if a little careless in where she puts her feet. And, okay, you end up getting a bit worried when she pauses while fairly low, though she does nearly make it to the top without incident.

Nearly. She is now close to the top, glancing around nervously, and isn't moving. "Oohashi-chan? Are you okay?" You ask, finally giving up on petting the dog so you can venture closer and make sure that your friend is okay.

"I-I'm fine!" She insists.

"You don't look fine." Really, with the way she's shaking... that can't be a good thing, right? "Are you stuck?"

"...Yes," Maiko admits, steadfastly refusing to move. "...Help?" Well, that does seem to be the thing to do here.

If you only knew how.


[ ] Try to climb up to her. You're older, you'll probably be better at it... even if you've never tried it before.

[ ] Saito-san's nearby. Try and get his help.

[ ] See if you can't give her advice on how to get down from the ground. There has to be a way, right?