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

Video games. Not Hikari's favorite activity, but something so removed from her daily life it didn't matter. Even if it wasn't a movie, it also wasn't a weird maze created by her own dreams.

It was also a way for her to interact with people who knew nothing about her but what she chose to type. That was also nice.

All she knew about them was what they chose to type, too, but from what she'd seen, they were fairly interesting people.

She wanted to learn more about them.

And she knew just where to start.


FilmSunlight: We were talking about the Phantom Thieves last time, weren't we?

LupinIV: You want to continue that?

FilmSunlight: Well... half of us haven't told anyone their opinions yet.

Alibaba: ...Oh, yeah! If we have to put ourselves out there, so should you!

Mugwort: I don't believe any of us are well-informed enough to have a strong opinion on the matter.

Starshock: Yeah, I mostly just remember watching the news and wondering what was going on.

Alibaba: But were you confused in a good way or a bad way?

Starshock: I think that'd tell you more about my opinions on the media...

Lucia: I liked the technical execution of their last calling card. It was incredibly well done.

LupinIV: I know, right? And did you see how precise the lighting was? That must have taken... what, three hours?

Alibaba: Well, they would have needed to figure out how they wanted to pose first. That adds a lot of prep time if you don't do it ahead of time.

FilmSunlight: Are you interested in how things are filmed, Alibaba?

Alibaba: It's mostly just stuff I learned against my will. Word of advice: While being the camera girl means you don't have to go on stage that much, it also means you have to learn to use a camera.

Mugwort: I believe that is implied by the name.

Alibaba: Yeah, but I wasn't really thinking about that at the time. I just didn't want the whole world to see me more than it had to.

LupinIV: It's fine, though, I can be on stage enough for the both of us. You don't even have to be in the victory screenshot!

Alibaba: You will pull my place in that screenshot out of my cold, dead hands.

---

They did a few more raids. Discussed the announcement of a recent update, and wondered if it was going to be any good. Wondered why the paid cosmetics looked so much worse than the ones that could be obtained as quest rewards by playing the game normally.

They did, in fact, take a victory screenshot after robbing a mildly demonic chef.


Lucia: You know, I can't remember the last time I was part of a group picture like this.

Mugwort: September of 2009?

Lucia: ...It probably was, wasn't it? We didn't really have a chance for that sort of thing after you graduated.

Starshock: It wouldn't have been the same, anyway.

Alibaba: What are you talking about?

Starshock: Nothing, really. Just... reminiscing.

LupinIV: You've known each other for a long time, haven't you?

Mugwort: There are some circumstances where you cannot help but build a lifelong connection.


...Hikari sort of liked that idea. If there really were things that people who went through them couldn't help but stay in contact... then there was always the chance of finding a lasting friendship.

She wondered if Phantasmagoria would create that kind of experience, or if it would become something best forgotten about.

Those musings weren't something she wanted floating around on the internet. But she felt like she had to say something. Anything! It didn't even have to be quite the same subject. She just needed to contribute to the conversation.


[ ] What sort of circumstances?

[ ] Do they think they wouldn't have become friends otherwise?

[ ] How long have Lupin and Alibaba known each other?

[ ] ...She wished she could have friends like that.

FilmSunlight: Do you think you wouldn't have been friends without that?

Mugwort: If things had been different, some of us would have no reason to have ever met.

Lucia: If we did meet, I think we would still have gotten along, even if it wouldn't be like we are now. If we were incompatible, it would have come up pretty quickly.

Mugwort: Define compatibility.

Lucia: Well, we weren't the only people dealing with things at the time. We just happened to be able to agree on what we wanted to happen.

Alibaba: Yeah, just because you're both going through something doesn't mean you're gonna get along. Just means you're going through something.

LupinIV: You don't have to agree on everything, but it's good to have some kind of starting point. I find having a common enemy works really well. It got me a lot of friends.

Starshock: How many enemies do you have?

LupinIV: Enough.

Alibaba: Do they have to be alive?

FilmSunlight: ...I think Lupin and Alibaba have also been through a few things.


...A starting point. That was what those kinds of circumstances boiled down to, wasn't it? It allowed people to interact who wouldn't normally have reason to, but who were otherwise compatible.

Could Phantasmagoria be that kind of starting point? She and Tsukane lived in the same building, so they would have had chances to interact either way, but otherwise... Ribbon was from a dream, and Shinjiro had died when Hikari was eleven. Meeting them wouldn't have been possible if she hadn't wandered into that theater.

Because of that, there wasn't much point in wondering if they would have gotten along otherwise.

And yet... she couldn't stop herself. What would they be like, if they weren't trapped in that theater? There had to be some amount of compatibility, but maybe they just stuck together because there were literally no other options? Because the possibility of better things couldn't exist in isolation?

She wanted to think, if they had somehow come across each other in another way, they would have gotten along well enough. It was just that no other way existed.

With how her thoughts kept going in circles... she didn't get a lot of sleep that night.

---

In the morning, Hikari felt slightly less unsure about her friendships. The memories of the conversation had dulled slightly, just enough that it didn't feel worth worrying about at the moment.

They were her friends. They didn't have any choice but to be, but that didn't change that they were friends.

She wanted to say they were friends.

They'd never really... put it into words, or anything. And she only really went to Phantasmagoria when she had something she wanted to do there. That... wasn't a thing a good friend did, was it?

(Social actions unlocked with Ribbon and Shinjiro. Only one of these actions can be taken per day. If Phantasmagoria was explored in the morning, and this action is taken in the afternoon, it remains available in the evening. For exhaustion purposes, this counts as spending a full day in Phantasmagoria.)


[ ] Maybe it was time to be a better friend. The theater wasn't such a bad place she couldn't spend a Saturday morning there.
-[ ] She could check in on how Ribbon's flowers were going.
-[ ] Shinjiro had had a lot of time to explore the theater... maybe he'd discovered something interesting?

[ ] ...She'd sort of put herself in charge of weapon acquisition for the team, and she hadn't done anything with it, despite theoretically having the whole week. That wasn't something a good friend did, either.

[ ] She needed to calm herself down. The flowers in the garden would be a good way to do that.
-[ ] By herself.
-[ ] With Tsukane Akabori.

[ ] Speaking of Phantasmagoria... it'd be a bit before she had such a good day to spend exploring. It was a good chance to spend time with the friends she'd just been worried about!
-[ ] Theater Two.
-[ ] Theater Four.

[ ] Maybe current events could break her out of this line of thought? It was good to stay informed, anyway...

...It was time to be a better friend.

Hikari hauled herself out of her room and down the stairs as soon as she finished her toaster strudel, ready to clear away the thoughts from the night before. The air in Phantasmagoria was slightly colder than usual, but she didn't think much of it, or anything about the path.

She didn't need to. She could find her way to that theater in her sleep.

"You want to know if I've found anything?" It was only fair Shinjiro was surprised. Most of her interactions with the theater part of things came from adding things to it.

But if anything, that made taking a good look now even more important. "Well... you've had the time to look. If this comes from my dreams, I should know what goes on in it." Neither of them looked at the theater doors, with all their hidden mysteries.

"It's... mostly just a movie theater." Ribbon rushed past the two of them with her little watering can. Hikari didn't ask where the water came from. "I guess there could be some stuff in the concession area? I know there's a lot of cords and stuff, but... Haven't really touched it since Ribbon fed the popcorn machine a bunch of Shadow parts and it spat out a pile of bracelets."

...That explained the loops of metal sitting on the concession stand counter. They didn't seem to do anything, even to her powers of observation, but the metal was sort of pretty, rippling with a rainbow that changed depending on the angle she looked at it. And cold to the touch, despite the theater as a whole being the same temperature as her bedroom.

It seemed that, to find anything interesting, Hikari would have to engage in her least favorite activity... cable hunting.

With the way the cords knotted into themselves, she could see why no one had really bothered.

She wondered if that said anything about her. "So, should we just pick one and see where it goes?" She'd never seen an outlet strip that big before. Most of the cables led under the walls, which... might have been a bad sign? Was this one block providing power for the whole theater? "Some of them must lead nearby."

---

They did end up finding something, eventually. "An air fryer?" Shinjiro poked at the appliance. "What's one of those doing here?"

"...I could tell you if there was a menu anywhere." Why was her mind so disorganized? It was like some force had gone in and forcibly obfuscated everything. "I guess it could be used for other kinds of chicken? We should get it set up properly."

Setting it up mostly meant unplugging it, setting it on a counter, untangling the cord from every other cord, and then plugging it back in. "Do you not have one of these at home?"

"At my dorm? I have a microwave and a toaster." There really hadn't been room to squeeze in anything else, even if she wanted to. "I guess I should bring in ingredients at some point for if anyone wants to use this. I bet I can find some recipes online."

"How about a fish one?" Shinjiro suggested. "Not sure why, but I think there might be fish in the jungle if we can get in deeper."

Well. That didn't sound wrong. They hadn't found a clear body of water yet, but there was no reason there couldn't be one. All that plant life had to get moisture from somewhere.


[ ] "Do you want to go look?" (Locks in exploring Theater Two for the afternoon.)

[ ] "Is there a kind of fish you had in mind?"

[ ] "Have you used an air fryer before?"

[ ] "...You're excited, aren't you?"