Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

You probably should have expected this question eventually. Particularly once you'd admitted that you were hiding one animal while the other goes around in plain sight. But how much should you tell them?
How much would you have wanted to hear?
Back when you first woke up the Dark Hour, you wanted to know what it was, if only so you could avoid ever dealing with it again. These days, you're a bit more resigned to the inevitability of waking up past midnight and seeing the world dyed red and green, but as scary as it was, you had some amount of interest in learning more about it, at least until you discovered the existence of monsters.

Okay, so it was less that you discovered them and more that they wandered by under your window, but that's not really the point. The fact is, as terrifying as they were, you were also intrigued by the occasional frightening noises that you'd hear in the distance, even if you were sensible enough to realize what a terrible idea it would be to go searching for them.

Even now, you still want to know more about the Dark Hour, if only so you can figure out how to make it go away. Well... once you've figured out what your living arrangements would be without it, anyway. You're kind of worried about that.

The answers you got are useful, too. You know there's a way you can fight back, now, as well as the dangers that come with doing so. You know there's people you can turn to if there's a problem. You even know there's a relatively-safe place to escape to, though running away to Mikage-Cho is such a low priority it may as well not actually exist.

You would have wanted to know everything you could, if only for your own sake. And Maiko and Akira would probably want that, as well.

Which brings up another question: How much would your friends actually believe?
Enough that it could be worth trying, if you want to.
They know magic exists. They might be smart enough to make the connection between your life and the things you write, but you've changed enough that you shouldn't have to worry about them realizing just how close to reality some of it is.

At the very least, they're already more prepared to deal with the reality of it than you were. Not that that's really saying much, but it's worth considering. "It's... because of something they can do, that not a lot of humans can, let alone animals." That's a good way of starting it, right?

Maiko catches on to part of it near immediately. "They can do magic?" She asks, with the kind of excitement that makes you wonder if she's going to follow you home just to pet your dog.

You nod. "Sort of, but... it's more than just magic. It's... what having magic makes them go through, I guess." Honestly, you have no idea how to describe it without freaking out at least one, if not both of them. The only question is which one of them completely loses their cool first.

"What... having magic makes them go through?" And there's Akira, already concerned for your well-being. Probably not helped by the fact that he knows you don't really have any kind of adult supervision.
It's nice to not have to deal with Ikutsuki-san, but it also means we have no idea what he's doing.
"It's... not as bad as it sounds." You realize that probably isn't very reassuring. "It's just... how many hours would you say are in a day?"

"Twenty-four," They chorus, with varied degrees of confusion.

"And that's true for most people. But for people like me, and cats like Morgana, and dogs like Koromaru, there's... another hour. It happens at midnight, so we call it the Dark Hour." You don't know if that's actually the reason, but it's what you're going with for the time being. If it turns out you got it wrong, you can correct yourself if it ever turns out to be important.

"The... Dark Hour? That's it?" Maiko doesn't sound very impressed. Most likely, she expected a much more impressive name.

You shrug. "Before I knew what it was called, I used to call it the green time. Because... everything turns green then. Except water. You... don't want to know what happens to water." Admittedly, it would probably be better to give them a warning, but if they ever become aware of the Dark Hour, you're sure you can get Maiko into the habit of only drinking juice around midnight.

Akira might be more difficult, if only because you don't think he actually has access to juice. Still, if there's ever a time that he can't wait an hour before getting a drink, you think the Dark Hour just might be the least of your problems.

Neither of them ask you any more questions, and you're not sure they entirely believe you. But that means you have time until you have to explain that you occasionally go out and fight monsters.

In all honesty, it's probably going to happen because you got yourself injured fighting some kind of really strong monster. Or because they actually thought to ask about the existence of monsters.
We can ensure it's the latter so long as we get enough healing practice.
The conversation then shifts gears to how Maiko likes things to be named- as grandiosely as humanly possible- and you wonder if you should ask them not to let anyone know you told them this.

...Probably not. If they don't entirely believe you, they aren't exactly about to go talking about it in public, right?

---

It's been a few days since then, and you're pretty sure neither of your friends are going to mention what you told them about the Dark Hour to anybody. Even if Akira sometimes gives Morgana weird looks, it's probably more because he's worried about being blown over by some sort of spell.

You're a bit more worried about the fact that the new school year is fast approaching. Partly because it means there's only a year left where you know for sure what your living conditions will be like, but mostly because you've gotten used to being on break. It feels like you've been off school for much longer than you actually have.

Still. You've got things you could do, until school starts up again. You should probably do at least one of them, just to be sure.



[ ] If something big really is happening this year, you need to be prepared. You should get in some extra magic practice, just to be sure.

[ ] Studying would be a good way to prepare to go back to school again, right?(+Knowledge)

[ ] Mitsuru-san is looking for help preparing a room for the new transfer student... and Akihiko-san is busy with other things, while Shinjiro-san is nowhere to be found. You should probably help with that.(+Diligence)