Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

"Of course it matters!" You say, and that must be the right thing, or a right thing, because the words in front of you shatter into a million points of light which fall to the ground and fade to nothing, while the chains retract, leaving nothing but a door sitting there looking innocent.
And so it begins... Romance hell.
For a moment, no one says anything. And then Mitsuru-san sighs. "That was... risky, Amada." It doesn't really sound like you're being scolded, though. Just that she's pointing out a fact.

And it is a fact. You can't deny that, just maybe, stepping forward was a terrible idea that you're only going to regret.

But for now, all it did was hand you a question, which you answered as best as you possibly could. So if there's a price to pay for this, it clearly hasn't come back to haunt you yet.
Just you wait... it will.
"I- I know," You admit. "...Sorry."

"We can't exactly take it back now," Narukami-san points out. "And... I don't think that anything really happened."
Yet. It hasn't happened yet.
Somehow, his words fail to set you at ease. "I just... hope this isn't going to cause trouble." Thinking about it... there were so many other people that could have done this instead. But... it was you who ended up doing it.

Since when were you one of the reckless ones?

At least it doesn't seem to have done anything...

"I'm just wondering what the whole question thing's even about," Shinjiro-san remarks. "Destined Partner? What's that supposed to mean?"

Akihiko-san shrugs. "Well, maybe if you'd had the guts to step forward, you could've found out."

"Hey, I didn't see you volunteering for it!"

"Yeah, but unlike you, I actually have a girlfriend!" And there they go...

---

You manage to get out of that room eventually. Mostly by separating Akihiko-san and Shinjiro-san. Those two have been acting odd since... well, at least since you found out what this Labyrinth was going to be. Possibly longer.

It's... kind of concerning. Maybe you should try talking to one of them...


[ ] Start by getting Akihiko-san's side of the story.

[ ] Start by getting Shinjiro-san's side of the story.

[ ] You're going to ask around to see if literally anyone else knows what's going on.
-[ ] Who do you ask first?

You get the feeling that going directly to Akihiko-san or Shinjiro-san isn't going to get you the information you want. It's been a while since those two had anything serious to fight about, but you remember what it was like before, and how hard it can be to convince them just to talk to each other. And that was when doing so would actually be useful for dealing with their problems.

Here, you don't even know what their problems are, let alone what the useful methods would be for dealing with them. Mostly because you've been spending time with friends who are actually your age, and stressing out over things like really powerful Shadows, or trying to convince yourself that Elizabeth isn't a time traveler and failing miserably.
It's a mercy here, at least. Means she probably won't get possessed again.
You could go up and ask them. You could. But that wouldn't exactly give you an objective view of this situation, would it?

No, if you want objectivity, you'll have to go to someone that's not them. Ideally, it'll be someone who knows them well enough to actually have some idea of what's going on.

And there's exactly one person you can think of who meets the criteria for that.

"Mitsuru-san, do you know why Akihiko-san and Shinjiro-san have been... like that?" It's almost like you're back in third grade, which when it comes to those two, is not a good position for you to be in.

Mitsuru-san gives a heavy sigh. You know that sigh. It's the one that's code for 'Akihiko-san and Shinjiro-san are being stupid again.' That she has a specific sigh for that probably says something about them. "I... suppose you remember the circumstances behind Yamagishi joining us."

Of course you do. It would be hard to forget the thing that basically started the process of removing Ikutsuki from his position. Particularly when it involved a massive fight against insects that also messed up how your progress through Tartarus was tracked for a bit. "Some people from your school locked her in Tartarus, right?" Or, in the gym, and by extension, Tartarus, and Shinjiro-san ended up being involved somehow, and you'd say it was just a big mess, except it's not like you didn't get anything good out of it.

"That... was the end result," She agrees. You guess that the things leading up to it are just as important as how it happened, but that's the bit you remember, so that's what you're going with.

It's also the thing that convinced all of you that it would never be a good idea to just break into the school before the Dark Hour starts. Which, when you think about it, has probably saved you a lot of trouble.
Just imagine if we'd somehow ended up in Monad... Actually, on second thought, maybe don't.
"But... that was months ago," You point out. "What does it have to do with why they're arguing now?"

"From what I can tell, the reason that she was locked in the tower is because of her friendship with Shinjiro, because of his friendship with Akihiko. They had been using it an an excuse to bully her for a while before that, and as far as we can tell, they still haven't stopped trying." The fact that now they're just trying instead of actually succeeding is both really relieving and concerning for you to hear. "And Shinjiro... you know how he is."

You do. He's not very good at being kind to himself, even now when things are mostly okay. And when he thinks he could get someone hurt just by being around him... you can't imagine anything that would hurt him worse than that. "But... he's still friends with Fuuka-san." You would have expected him to try putting some distance between the two of them, and yet... nothing.

And then you remember exactly what Akihiko-san was poking at Shinjiro-san about. "Wait..."
Mitsuru-nee? Are you supposed to be telling us this?
"I trust you will use this information responsibly." It's amazing that she can keep a straight face as she says that. That might just be the hardest battle that any of you have fought so far tonight.


[ ] Promise that you will.
-[ ] Actually be quiet about this.
-[ ] Immediately start bugging Shinjiro-san.

[ ] Admit that you probably won't.

[ ] ...Now would probably be a good time to ask her for her definition of responsible.