Persona: A Less-Than Cinematic Tale (Starring Hikari of PQ2)

As soon as classes were out for the day, Hikari set off in search of that tunnel from earlier. While that robot had had a lot of data to try and work through, it had been more than a day. No reason not to check.

...Well, aside from Shinjiro warning her away, and even he'd seemed to recognize that he couldn't stop her from coming back.

The tunnel was still beneath the hedge, and there still seemed to be nobody around to acknowledge its existence. Likely, they'd all allowed Arimura's warning to convince them not to explore.

If there were more things like the Flowing Sand around, that would probably be a good idea. Nobody deserved to have to deal with monstrous hourglasses.

Still, Hikari had already found her way into that other world, and her worries about the robot gave her a reason to return. There was nothing, at this point, which could have kept her away.

She reached for the handrail, took a deep breath, and prepared for it to disappear.

---

It was easy for Hikari to find her way back to the cinema, Gullveig whispering in her mind to tell her where to go, leading her feet to moving faster though, logically, the abandoned building should have been the exact same distance away as before.

But then, she'd made a lock disappear the other day, just by telling it to. Logic probably didn't have as much of a hold on this world as it did her own.

The lights were on when she stepped inside, and Shinjiro was there waiting for her. "You're back. Just in time, too. I think she's about to wake up." The robot's body seemed to be in better condition than it had been when she left, and the progress bar on the side of the screen showed that there was only about half a minute until it was completed.

"Do you... know where she comes from?"

"Not a clue. We can probably ask her, though, assuming she remembers that much. Not sure how something that small can hold that much data, let alone anything more than that." Right... she'd been thinking something like that, about how her own computer wasn't powerful enough to handle that much data at a time.

The loading bar figured away. For a moment, it looked as if the robot's eyes were buffering, but those symbols faded away just as quickly.

"Reboot complete." The robot started glancing around the cinema, particularly at Hikari and Shinjiro.

"Um... hello..." Hikari wasn't entirely sure how to handle this situation. On no occasion had anyone ever told her how to deal with a little robot that had been attacked by a monster. "What... are you?"

"Unit designation: UIY-2249. Alias: Ribbon. Who are you?" The robot tilted her head to the side.

"I'm... Hikari..."

"It is nice to meet you, Hikari." Ribbon glanced at Shinjiro. "IW-5."

Hikari, too, glanced at Shinjiro. "IW...5?"

"Don't ask me. I've got no idea what she's talking about." He turned back to Ribbon. "What do you mean, IW-5?"

"...Error. Data unavailable. I am sorry."

"...I guess it was a long shot. So, do you know how you got here?"

"The other UIY units were under attack by a Shadow, so I engaged it using my Orgia Mode. I spent too long in that mode, however, and overheated. The Shadow's use of fire magic did not help, and I was defeated."

"Orgia Mode...? You really are a mini-Aigis." Hikari understood exactly nothing of this conversation.

"Sorry, but... who's Aigis?"

"She's... someone I knew, back when- a while ago. I wouldn't say we were friends, really, she wasn't developed enough for that yet, but... Ribbon here looks just like her." This heavily implied that there were actual robots out there in the real world. Hikari wasn't sure how to take that.



[ ] "Um, so... what's Orgia Mode?"

[ ] "Is the person you knew... also a robot?"

[ ] Maybe she'd focus on getting to know Ribbon better...

"I see..." She didn't see, not really, but she was at least making the effort. She sat down next to the little robot. "So... Ribbon..." What sort of name was that for a robot, anyway? "Could you... tell me a bit about yourself?"

The robot nodded. "I was created a long time ago in a laboratory, where I have lived ever since, and became an individual two years ago, according to program history. Sadly, most of my memories of that time have become corrupted, and inaccessible..." She sounded very sad about that. "I like flowers, and making new friends."

"Flowers?" Shinjiro blinked. "You don't normally see that kind of thing in robotics labs, do you?"

"I think they are pretty." That seemed like as good a reason as any.

"You'd probably like my school," Hikari noted. "There's... plants and flowers everywhere. I got here by going into a tunnel under a big garden." It probably said something about her that a ghost and a robot were the easiest people for her to be comfortable around, but she didn't want to think on that too hard at the moment.

Ribbon tilted her head to the side. "Query: Garden?"

"It's a place for growing plants," Shinjiro explained. "I think they're supposed to look pretty or something."

"So humans agree with me. Flowers are pretty." She sounded incredibly pleased by that.

"We... never said they weren't," Hikari pointed out. "Though... the people in charge of the school might have gone a bit... overboard with the idea. I can't see out one of my windows because there's a plant in the way." And she'd probably get in trouble if she messed with the university's plant life.

"That sounds unfortunate."

"It is." She paused, as something came to her. "So... you said you came from a laboratory? I didn't see any of those on my way here. ...Do you know how to get home?"

"I... do not." She hoped she didn't start crying. She didn't want Shinjiro to start judging her for making an adorable little robot cry. "Do you... know how I came to be here?"

Shinjiro shrugged. "Look, one moment we were minding our own business, the next you came hurtling into the wall in a ball of Agidyne. That's all we know." Okay, never mind. If something happened, it might not have been her making the robot cry.

"I... see." Ribbon stared at the ground, not moving. "That's... I am sad." Right. She probably wanted to go home. "Query: You are both Persona Users, correct?"

"I mean, Hikari-chan's new, and I wouldn't say I'm the most reliable..." Maybe Hikari shouldn't have been letting Shinjiro talk. "But I guess we're also the only ones around, 'less Ken's decided to apply to the same place as her, and I don't think he'd want to go far from Iwatodai." He didn't sound entirely sure about that, but since Hikari had no idea who he was talking about, she was going to act under the assumption that they were, in fact, the only Persona Users in Kusoka.

"In that case, would you help me find my way home? I'm not sure how I could help you in return, but..."

"I'll help you," Hikari found herself saying. "Though I'm... not any good in a fight, if something happens. Aragaki-san?"

"I... guess there's not anyone else who could help you." He seemed less than pleased about this. "...If only because, even if he did pick up for Hikari-chan, Aki's probably changed his phone number by now..." This still made absolutely no sense. "...And given how long it's been, this probably isn't going to catch the attention of any Persona Users that are out of town. ...Guess I'm in."

He was looking that hard for excuses not to get involved?

Still, Ribbon seemed happy, a bright smile lighting up her face- possibly literally. "You'll... really help me get back? Thank you, Hikari and IW-5!"

"It's... Shinjiro, actually..."

Still, with that agreement made, that still left the question as to how they were supposed to get Ribbon home. While it was easy to identify the theater she'd come out of, due to the large hole in the wall, that didn't necessarily mean anything for how she could get back. Maybe a random portal had just opened up, spat out a robot and a Shadow, and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

...At least it meant Hikari's day wouldn't be boring. She'd try and help Ribbon by...


[ ] Inspecting the theater she'd been blown out of. Even if it didn't hold a way to send her back, there could at least be clues of some sort.

[ ] Inspecting the cinema as a whole using Gullveig's powers. Even if there wasn't anything immediately helpful, it could at least tell her more about the place... once she learned to ignore Shinjiro's constant error messages.

[ ] Inspecting the area outside the cinema. There were now three of them that had ended up here with no idea of what was going on. Maybe the answers lay elsewhere in this world...