Shattered Justice (A Persona Quest)

At lunch, Akira makes a request. "After school... can we talk in the big library?" He glances around the classroom, at everyone else who is eating in bunched groups. "It's important."

You reach for an apple slice. "You want to talk there?"

"Well... no one goes there."

So it's something he doesn't want any of your classmates to hear.

That means it probably is important. "Sure. I don't have anything else to do today." Should you be helping prepare for the full moon? Maybe, but nobody told you that outright. And there are things that are important beyond just fighting one giant Shadow.

You aren't sure if this is one of them. But you want to find out.

---

As strange as you find this place to be, you've always liked the way the light filters through the stained glass window. It can't be sunlight, of course, at least not from the sun that you know, but it's always given you that impression.

In this kind of place, you think that might be the only thing that matters.

"Do you see this?" Akira holds out a toy knife, with an edge as bright as if it were actual silver, albeit not all that sharp, and a handle that curves to fit his fingers exactly. It looks a lot nicer than anything his parents would allow him to have.
But it looks like it was made for him.
The blade is bright, and the handle is dark like the shadows you stepped into to get here, and you have no idea what any of it means. "It's... a knife?"

He nods. "But it's not a normal knife. Look, I'll show you." He crosses the room, and tucks the knife into a stack of books.

He returns to your side, holds out his hand... and the knife vanishes from the stack of books to appear there.

It's definitely something supernatural. But it doesn't quite match anything you've seen before. "Where did you find it?" It's clearly a toy, if you look at it for long enough, the silver dulling into plastic after enough squinting, but when it catches the light like that, and returns to its owner's hand when called... the closest thing you can think of is those sword Shadows.

You also know that, in this scenario, those Shadows are completely irrelevant.

"It was just... under my pillow one morning." Akira turns the knife over in his hand. His fingers always slip into the grooves perfectly. The more you look at it, the less you think that has anything to do with its construction. "I figured, since you know all about this magic stuff..." But you don't know anything about this. It's completely new.
It reminds me a bit of the cards those people use... except those are never physical for very long.
He must want you to say something, and answer some of his questions. But you can only come up with questions yourself.


[ ] Why doesn't he ask Lavenza about this?

[ ] Has he experienced anything else weird and supernatural?

[ ] Maybe Fuuka-san would be able to come up with an actual answer? Her whole thing is figuring things out by looking at them...

[ ] Most of the people you know know things about magic. Why come to you in particular?

"I think we should ask Fuuka-san about this." The knife is made of plastic. You know it's plastic. But it's also magic, and it seems to shimmer when you look at it, and you find it mildly perturbing. "She has the power to... well, to look at things really hard."

There might be a reason she's not very good at explaining how her powers work.

Akira's grip on the knife tightens. You aren't sure why it needs to- it's not like he ever has to worry about losing it. "And... you think she'll know what it is?"

"I think she has the best chance of figuring it out." What's the point of having the power of information gathering if it doesn't actually provide information? "It's her or Mitsuru-san, and... Mitsuru-san can be a bit scary the first time she looks at you that way." You're used to it, but you don't think Akira is prepared for someone to be staring at him like that.

Or the knife. He seems really attached to the knife.

Fuuka-san should be less intimidating. And she's better with those kinds of powers, anyway.

It's not like you have any other ideas.

---

"A knife...?" Fuuka-san looks down at the object Akira placed on the coffee table.

"It, um... it sort of... showed up one day?" He sounds much less confident talking to one of your friends than when he talks to you. "And I can, um... I can do this." He summons it back into his hand.
It's mostly weird because Joker didn't have anything like it, I think.
You sit down in one of the chairs. You aren't sure how long this will take, so you may as well be comfortable. "Can you find out what it is, Fuuka-san?"

"Well, it... kind of feels like one of our Evokers." You can't remember if Akira's been told about those yet. He's definitely never seen one in use. "But those don't... They obey natural laws, despite their connection to our powers." And this doesn't.

You also can't imagine how a knife-shaped Evoker would work. How would you mime stabbing yourself without actually doing it?
Maybe you have to stab the enemy? But that'd be really bad for fighting things physical attacks can't hurt...
Akira places the knife down again. "...Evokers?"

"They're... a way of better controlling our powers." Kind of. Not everyone needs an Evoker to summon, but for those of you that do, it definitely allows for a more controlled output. Some of your friends have said it's also more efficient, but that seems to be a them thing. For you, the same amount of magic has always gotten the same results, Persona or no Persona. "It's... probably how most people in Iwatodai find out they have them."

You wonder what the process for discovery is, in those places where having a Persona has become commonplace. You suppose you could ask someone from those places, since you know a couple, but you can't think of a way for that to naturally come up in conversation.

"So... I have the power to summon a knife?" He doesn't sound particularly impressed.

"I don't think that's it..." Fuuka-san reaches to where she stores her Evoker, but doesn't bring it out. "Kurusu-kun, have you seen anything... strange at night?"

Akira shakes his head. "I- I have an early bedtime. Once I get home, I usually go right to sleep."
So, if anything's changed, he wouldn't necessarily notice...
"Well... maybe you should try staying up later? I'd say tonight's a good night for it, but... it is a school night..."

It'd be less of an issue, you think, if you knew what would happen once the final large Shadow dies. But you just don't have that information.

Still, Akira can make his own decisions. If that ends up leading him to the Dark Hour... it'll at least give you another thing to talk about.

---

This is it... There's one big Shadow left, and when you return to this building, there'll be none.

For this fight, the weapon you'll be using is...

[ ] the Treason Couse.

[ ] Gae Bolg.

And of course there's the question of if that hair ornament will be useful in the upcoming fight, or if it'll just make you look silly. Maybe if you grew out your hair, or something...

[ ] Wear the Free Ornament.

[ ] Don't wear the Free Ornament.