Persona 4 & 5: Kinder- und Hausmasken

[ArlequineLunaire]

Despite the (working) title, this is very much an English language fic (mostly), but the pun works better in German.

Shin Megami Tensei Persona: Kinder- und Hausmasken

Once Upon Another Time...
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Hi there everyone, and a Happy New Year to you all! My name's Doujima Nanako, and this here's the first post of my new blog... well I'm still deciding on name, hehe, but the title I've been coming back to most is My Fairy-Tale Life. My boyfriend Nakajima Shu thinks it's a "rather exaggerated" title, but eh he's always kinda like that. Another idea was Seven and Seven Is, but I wonder how many'll get that reference.

Let's hope 2025's gonna be a good one, considering, well, how 2024 just ended. I take it everyone's heard about the earthquake and ensuing tsunami that devastated the city of Yoruyama.
That's the reason I started this blog actually, due to my decision to take time off college to see if I can help with the disaster relief and document how it goes. I admit I'm not really sure what I can do... but I still feel I've gotta help somehow.

On a brighter note, I've been lucky enough to have a place already set up for me, there's this Temple called Daisou-ji giving out rooms at next-to-nothing for people volunteering to help with the reconstruction.
Plus I was also able to get Shu to come with me, of course he kept groaning "You are aware of all the studies I have, right?", but he finally caved in, a-ha!

My Dad's name is Ryotarou, and boy did it take a lot to get him okay with me going. I mean, he seemed to appreciate my concern, but he kept giving me mouthfuls about "How do you know something like that won't happen again?" and "You're gonna be farther away from home than ever!".
He did come around, though technically I'm an adult now so I shouldn't need his permission... well I guess he is still my father after all.

Ah, I also have a big brother- well really he's my older cousin, but 'big brother' is what I've been calling him for years, named Narukami Yuu. He works as a Sociology teacher now I believe, I tried to contact him about my going to Yoruyama but... I haven't gotten a reply from him yet. Hmm, let's just hope he'll find this blog easily enough.

Anyway I took the train from Inaba, my middle-of-nowhere country hometown, ah just joking it'll always be home to me, through the mountains still swamped with snow to Yoruyama and arrived safe and sound at Daisou-ji.
Not that you could miss it, it's one seriously impressive old Buddhist temple, I even had to wonder if it was an original construction from all the way back in samurai times. I was told they had an old self-mummified 'Sokushinbutsu' monk on site, ah, but I felt that could definitely wait.

Shu complained about having to unpack all my things "Isn't this a volunteer thing? Did you honestly have to take so much?!". Hey, it is my first time this far away from home!

We were greeted by a purplish-black-robed fairly young nun, okay not that young she's probably older than me but eh younger than I'm used to, by the name of Honda Ritsu. Gotta admit it was weird meeting a bald girl, very short buzzcut at most, but she turned out to be a cool person to hang around with, least I think so.
"My, so you like the more intellectual boys, do you?" was one of the things she said.

"Oh, Shu? Eh, suppose it's nice to have a boyfriend my father's okay with" I tried to whisper, hoping Shu didn't hear that.

"I see. Sure wish I could say that about the boys I used to date" came Ritsu's reply, but she then changed the topic "Ah, there's a carnival in town today if you'd like to go, it's for raising funds to finance repairs, so you two could have fun and help out at the same time" she said as we reached our room.
"Ooh that reminds me, I'm supposed to hosting a martial arts presentation down there. Ahem, so Nanako, real nice meeting you but gotta go!".

Huh, that was sure sudden. I did want to ask her why she decided to become a nun, but I imagine she's already gotten that question like heaps of times.

Right then a large sigh and then thudding noise got my attention, as I saw Shu already collapsed in a heap on a random futon, luggage scattered all around him. "Hey Shu, Ritsu said there's a carnival on right now, wanna go?" I tried to tell him, but he gave me no reply. Not that he needed to, his exhausted self made his answer pretty clear.

"Okay, well see ya later then. I'll try to bring you back something good!" I said to him just as I headed off.
​

* * *
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Hate to be a downer again, but the fair was kind of a dreary sight, though true that should be expected given what this city's just been through. The weather was muggy and overcast, so much that I started thinking I really should've taken my umbrella, and the ground below was damp enough to pass as a marsh.

Mostly I wasted all my time around the food stalls, I considered going on some of the rides they had, basic stuff like rollercoasters and ferris wheels, but thought they wouldn't be much as fun just on my own. Did get my fortune told though, came up 'Justice' again, always does that.

One stall I passed by without second thought had some strange preacher going on to this crowd about some weird new religion I certainly didn't recognise, something about 'the value of innocence' and 'destroying corruption', yada yada yada. Was quite a crowd though.

Eventually I came across one exhibit I just had to check out. 'HERO AUDITIONS! Do You Have What It Takes To Stand Against The Darkness?! Hosted by Monsieur Plaisantin'. While I had to wonder how serious if at all this 'Monsieur' was, it's still not everyday you run into something like this.

Not everyone shared my enthusiasm though. "They are aware this fair is to help with one of the worst disasters this city's ever seen? You'd think they'd show more dignity than to allow that cult in for starters, and now this?" sighed a dark-skinned, green-haired guy in these plain black-and-white clothes.
He looked fairly Japanese, but I had to think he was somewhat of foreign descent. Uh, not that that's a problem, hehe, I mean back in Inaba I rarely if ever get to meet any foreigners. Could've had a better attitude though.

"What, think you'd flunk right out?" I grinned at him, I couldn't even resist putting out my tongue and pulling down my eyelid.

He just chuckled, without making eye contact. "I've served as missionary in deepest Africa and South America, I believe I'm more than qualified for the title of 'hero'" he smiled back at me, and I put at the back of my mind any urge to promptly wipe that smile off his smug face.

"Well if you say so, let's then go!" I reverted back to my grinning self and pulled this guy by his arm along into the hero auditions. He tried to raise his voice, but we were already inside by the time I let go of him.

The inside of this tent was fairly dark, with glitter carelessly sprinkled everywhere and, with some squinting, I could make out quite a few patches and stitches holding the whole thing together.

The aspiring heroes before us, er, how do I put this, at least got a gold star for trying.
"I am Tortoise Warrior Epsilon, my iron shell and glacial stride outlast all!"
"I am Sakurai of the Demon Daggers, from my Fury I shall Unleash All Hell! Hi-ya-ka-za-kahhhh!"
"My name is... Touya. I have spent many a year mastering the Art of Infinite Fist! Behold my Fatal Flurry, EYAYAYA-wait wait, I lost count-OOYAYAYAYA-whew, this is - surprisingly hard to keep up-YOYOYOYOYAYA-hold on a sec, almost got it" were some of the more notable auditions.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, 'kay got it" motioned a twenty-something guy with curly black in a tail and a twirly moustache of dubious reality, I presume he was our 'Monsieur Plaisantin'.
He did look oddly familiar, from where though I couldn't say. Sitting next to him was another man, though he could've passed as a woman if I say so myself, also with long black hair but straight and unbound, and right now he was showing his approval of the entrants by having fallen asleep.

And... turns out it was all just some silly novelty stand. Boy, sure fooled us, hehe. Well I've rambled long enough, hopefully I'll have a bunch of new things to say next entry!
​

* * *
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Dear Diary,

I couldn't say this on my blog without looking like I'd gone mad, so I'll write down the real events that happened in the Hero Auditions tent here.

Well Mr. Missionary and I's turn had come, the queue outside having stopped him from slipping away. "Hmm alright, from the start neither of you look so desperate to make an impression, this could go somewhere, with any luck. Okay then, do state your names and what inspires ones such as yourself to take up the mantle of 'hero'" Plaisantin asked of us.

"Doujima Nanako" I smiled and bowed "I... was horrified to hear the news of what this town's just been through, and felt I couldn't live with myself if I did nothing to help. Plus, my father and older cousin were both putting their lives on the line to help people when I was still a kid, and my... my mother died when I was young, so I suppose that's planted something within me. Er, sorry if that got too personal".

"No no, not at all" Plaisantin smiled back "And you?".

"Mateus Otomo" the missionary guy stated. Huh, think that's a Portuguese name, so I'm guessing he's part-Brazilian maybe?
"I've been all over the world to, ah, not always the most fortunate of places. But if through spreading the word of THE LORD can even the most downtrodden SEE THE LIGHT, then it is my divine duty to help heal their pains in any way! Amen". Whoa, and here I thought he was the quiet type.

"Well, undeniably motivated" Plaisantin muttered in response. Reaching under his table he pulled forth a strange book, dark reddish-brown in colour with golden letters on it spelling out 'Fables and Fantasies from the Shadows', opening it to the table of contents.
"Now, let's see just how true to your words you two are. Haha, don't worry, if your beliefs are as strong as you say they are I'm sure you'll do fine".

What the-? Before the two of us had the chance to react we'd been already sucked into the book itself, however that could've possibly worked. When I'd opened my eyes again I'd landed in the middle of this forest, nearly pitch black in colour and with trees the size of towers!

The first things I heard were a bunch of strange noises. Clowns laughing, a woman shrieking, spiders scuttling, a crack of thunder.I gulped and looked around, at least I was alone, with Mateus having landed right beside me. Eh, guess he was better than nothing.

"What the devil-?!" he immediately spat out "If this some prank I hope he's satisfied, for this has gone far enough!".

The next thing I noticed was a heap of weapons lying here and there on the ground. Well it's nice enough for Plaisantin to give us something to defend ourselves with, least I hope that's why these weapons are here, but it's still worrying that we'd even need to defend ourselves in the first place.
I picked up a European-looking blade it took both my hands to carry, smiling as I noticed that it was quite like the ones in big brother's old sword collection, while Mateus picked up a spear.

Turns out we didn't have to wait long to put them to use, as we both slowly looked up... to see a great, snarling wolf at least three times our height slowly coming out of the shadows, its gleaming red eyes and broken chain around its neck the only features I could clearly make out.

Sweat immediately started dripping down my forehead, and a quivering Mateus looked seconds from falling down! Oh boy did that Plaisantin guy have a hell of a lot of explaining to do when I got back to him! Er, if I got back to him.
Survive if our beliefs were strong enough, what, are we supposed to just believe the monster away?

Believe...

Believe...

I've believed in heaps of things. I once believed in Dad, in Yuu, that my mother will be there in Heaven. Right now however, what I most believe...

"Nanako!" Mateus cried out as the monster advanced towards me, yet a blue fire burst out around me.

..."is that I have to, that I will, make it out of this Dark Forest! This I believe, Persona!".

With that word that just then flew out of my mouth, a word I had not heard in what's been more than a decade, the blue fire around me condensed into the form of a woman who looked like a living ice sculpture, wings of frozen breath like an angel's on her left hand side and a devil's on her right.

"Thou art I, I art thou" her voice intoned "I am Snedronning, Snow Queen of the Justice Arcana. Come child, let us bring down winter eternal upon our foes!".

Author's Note: Kinda thought writing the story in blog format might be something that fit well with Persona, though I couldn't do it all the time as there'd naturally be quite a lot a Persona-user would want to keep private. Obviously you could seal off a blog to a certain few but even then there'd be the risk of hackers, as you'll see later on.

This was inspired by an idea Fell had about a probable Persona 6, though at this point the only similarities left are Nanako as the lead and a fairy-tale motif. No idea if the Snow Queen or Fell's original idea of Red Riding Hood fit Nanako's Starting Persona better, lemme know what you think, and if my characterisation's feasible enough for a years later Nanako.​

 

[ArlequineLunaire]

World in the shadows...​

"Ah, er, Snow Queen, attack!" I blurted out. Guess I was still overwhelmed by everything going on, but I think what got me most of all was how I now had the same power I'd seen Big Brother using all those years ago. I can't help but wonder if he started off just like this, of course he didn't have some cranky missionary guy tagging along...

Snow Queen fired a stream of icicle daggers at the giant wolf monster, but the biggest reaction it had was a quick flinch. Right, 'spose this really wasn't the time to be reminiscing.

The wolf was about to bring its claw straight down upon a paralysed Mateus, thinking basically on instinct my hand pointed towards the end of the wolf's chain.
My Persona instantly got the message, it being my soul and all I guess, and with another icicle shot froze the end of the chain to the ground. True, it took only seconds for the wolf to yank its chain out of the ice, but at least that bought Mateus time to get away.

I didn't have time to start coming up with strategies, as that wolf was fast firing off what looked like blades of wind at me. I tried hiding behind a tree, but that accomplished nothing as the wolf's winds were strong enough too send the whole thing crashing down, I only just ducked out of being flattened by it in seconds!

Still, least that gave me an idea. "Snow Queen, put icicles in my hands" I said as it came to my head, boy was I glad to find I couldn't feel the chill of my own ice. I rushed to use these icicles as holds to begin climbing the nearest tree, I then had to keep on leaping from tree to tree as the wolf kept sending blasts of wind to knock each one down, I did say it was a split-second plan.

Finally I got up high enough and near enough the giant wolf's head for me to carry out the last phase of my plan. Swiftly leaping off that tree I held the sword I had taken out and plunged it within the wolf's red right eyeball, having Snow Queen coat it in frost so its eye would then be frozen.
The monster immediately howled, and I scrambled to keep holding on to its hairs so I wouldn't be thrown back onto the ground, or worse inside its jaws.

The beast then lurched again, and I briefly looked down to see that Mateus was trying to pin its chain to the ground with his spear.
Of course seconds later he was being tossed back and forth through the air, struggling to hold on to his stuck spear, but at least he'd gotten the wolf's attention for long enough for me to plunge my sword down into its remaining eyeball.
Wow, I didn't think I had it in me to be so brutal, well desperate times desperate measures as they say.

With one last pained howl the wolf collapsed legs up, and wasting no time I leapt on top of its belly and had Snow Queen impale it with every icicle she could pull out. Eventually her rapid-fire icicle rain must've pierced its, er, 'heart', as the wolf then seemed to explode in a cloud of black smoke.

It was weird that it'd sprayed not a drop of blood anywhere, though at that I sighed with relief at not having to face the, um, awkward situation of having to walk back to Shu and Ritsu with my clothes all bloody.

"Back to the pit with you, foul beast!" spat out Mateus, who would've sounded more impressive if he wasn't clearly still dizzy from Mr Wolf's Wild Ride.

Speaking of my clothes, I looked down and went wide-eyed as I saw they'd completely changed. I was now wearing a white, high-class swashbuckler-looking uniform, with epaulets, gold markings and a wing-shaped cape, with an also-white skirt and leggings what with my gender.

I turned my head in all directions but couldn't see my old clothes anywhere, though I did see that Mateus was still wearing the same clothes he had on before. Huh, I guessed it was a Persona-user thing, even though the only costume change Big Bro and his friends went through in that other world was some glasses.

"Okay Mateus, you all there? Right, first thing we gotta do is, er-" I hesitated "Um, keep walking until we find some way out of here, hehe" I tried to smile.

"That won't be necessary," a sudden voice said. I turned around to see it belonged to none other than the person who got us in this whole mess, Mr. Plaisantin, who'd decided to enter the scene by leaping down from a tree branch, cape billowing in the wind, moustache disposed of.
"After all, by striking down the Chained Fenrir you, Miss Doujima, have done more than enough to pass the audition. Mr Otomo, hmm, still a bit of a work-in-progress".

"What the hell did you do?! You almost got the both of us killed y'know!" Mateus and I yelled out in unison.

"Relax, no need to fret" Plaisantin gulped and held up his hands "Trust me, I would've instantly swooped down and gotten you both of here if you ended up in any real danger".

"Oh yeah, and just how do you define 'real danger'?!" in perfect sync again.

"Ah, by now you've earned the right to a proper introduction" Plaisantin then said, trying to shift the topic "My real name is Kurusu Akira, though Japan and even abroad once knew me by a different title, that of Joker, the Wild Card" he added with a flourish.

I gasped "You...".

"Why yes".

"I remember my Dad telling me, that before I was born, there were these weird incidents in this place called Sumaru City, all linked with with this serial killer called Joker" I finished.

It was then this Akira's beaming grin turned upside-down "W-what? No no, not at all! I mean, do I really look that old? Or, er, murderous?". He then clarified "Think back to 2016, all that news about the Phantom Thieves, remember?".

"Huh? Oh, them" I smiled as I now remembered, only to then say "Er, I only heard bits and pieces about them, would've been mostly caught up in schoolwork back then, sorry. Hold on, I do remember my Bro-ah Cousin's friend Kanji was a big fan of theirs, probably the only person in Inaba who was, Dad and Naoto got kinda mad whenever people brought them up. Sorry, that's really all" I then finished.

"Inaba? Naoto?" I heard Akira muttering to himself, but seemed to dismiss those thoughts as he then said "Anyway Miss Doujima, outlandish as it may be, though surely no more outlandish than what you've already seen, you are now within the very pages of Fables and Fantasies!
Specifically, this 'Dark Forest', Broceliande to use its proper name, lies within the book's Table of Contents. You could call it the Framing Story, from which all the other Stories treasured by Human Hearts may be reached".

"...Human Hearts?" I repeated those words to myself "Oh I know, like that TV World all those years ago, right?".

Akira just looked at me. "Never heard of this 'TV World', but regardless it's good to see you've had experience with this sort of thing before, Miss Doujima". He then added "Er, interesting costume choice, certainly not a uniform I thought I'd be seeing again".

"Er, hehe, well I wouldn't say I've had that much experience" came my response, before another thought caught up with me "Weird, Mateus has been kinda silent through all of this, I thought he'd be the type to at least speak up a bit".

"Ahem, I believe he's had good reason to keep silent" Akira's steady voice started to falter, I then turned to look at Mateus and could see why.

Mateus was now face-to-face with this weird, ghoulish doppelganger of himself, its eyes glowing, horns jutting out of its head and a blood red pentagram painted on its shirt. "How much longer can you hold on to such foolish beliefs, can you still have faith in an all-loving God after what you've seen in those impoverished lands?" it hissed.

"Silence! I have told myself that-" Mateus hesitated "-that, there must be some reason why He would've designed a world such as this, why such things could ever happen" His voice started firm but slowly began to break down.

"I, I know this" the words came to me "They told me about this sort of thing, this is... Mateus' Shadow-Self. Mateus, don't worry! My Cousin used to face down these things all the time, I'm sure there's... something we can do".

"There's enough darkness in his heart for a Shadow to materialise that quickly?" Akira muttered under his breath.

"I won't hear any more of this!" Mateus sputtered "My faith is unwavering... unwavering... unwavering...".

Just when it looked like Mateus was about to collapse, out of nowhere his Shadow then froze, as dust was sprinkled all around it and it began floating up into the air. What the-?

"Ah, the adult world does inflict such sorrows" a whole new voice said. It belonged to this strange figure lying with his foot up on a nearby tree branch, with crazy multi-coloured hair, a black medieval noble-looking outfit largely concealed by a glittering cape, and a fancy ballroom style mask obscuring his face. At the base of tree was a bunch of floating lights almost dancing around him.
"But don't worry dear... Mateus, just say the magic words and I shall spirit your Shadow away. I can ensure you'll never have to 'grow up', to face a world that strikes at your faith with every opportunity. No, if it's 'Eden' you desire, it's Eden I shall give you, the Eden of eternal childhood!".

At the sight of this stranger Akira's face shattered into a look of rage "You leave him alone!". He then gasped "Doujima, Otomo, I'm... so sorry you had to run into one of them so soon, one of the very people I've been trying to recruit Persona-users to fight against! Puss-in-Boots!".

"Such rudeness of you to butt in. Very well, High Pixie and troupe, I leave this-" the stranger paused in the middle of summoning what appeared his own Persona "-unsightly traitor to you".

Author's Note: If it was weird to have Fenrir as the first fight, it was really his weaker 'Chained' form, his 'Unleashed' form will be seen one day.

I was also deciding between Death and Fortune for Akira's new main Arcana, him no longer having Fool due to plot reasons. Death would probably fit him more in this particular fic (end of one chapter, beginning of another), but Fortune (the defying fate aspect of it) would fit him more in general.