It will basically fall onto Amu to provide a tempering influence going forward, to avoid Saaya ending up as - as @Quine put it so succintly - a "gun with thoughts".
Again, Amu sure does like tackling difficult projects.
Hopefully or GM will give us enough leeway to do that without sacrificing something significant in the story. If we fail her, let it be because we screwed up an interaction with her somewhere, and not because we ran out of AP because we had competing issues we had to juggle.
Yay, the somewhat common "totally not a demon but still lives in the demon stock anyway" character type. I wonder how she's going to take learning Amu found some more ostensibly human children to be weird like her.
including Ami who may or may not show off her cool new sword if it's been completed before the visit.
And this whole being a shadow thing is clearly contagious.
I wonder what Saaya's learn set looks like. Is anti-almighty available in this setting? I feel it should be.
One of the ways in which Saaya's perspective is inaccurate, by the way, is that she can't tell when the way her mind fixes itself is identical to how it worked previously anyway.
EDIT: Having yellow eyes doesn't mean you're a shadow, it's just that shadows always have yellow eyes.
@Baughn, unless you are planning on making Saaya an antagonist in the future, we are probably going to want a character sheet on her sooner than later. If the Director won't take her as a hero unit, I'm pretty sure Amu will. ^_^
Not until it's relevant. Partly because there's a very good chance one I write now will be obsolete by then, and I'm lazy. The title of the interlude is also meaningful; to make it obvious, I'm using Terrifying Argent Witches.
You still get a vote. It's just alarmingly obvious who might fit best.
@Baughn, you may want to put some tags or warnings somewhere in the thread. I doubt when people voted for the "Group of dilinquents" bane they would be going off the deep end on the subject of child abuse, depression, and self mutilation.
This is probably a good idea; I've added one to the start of post #1. I do not intend to have Saaya be correct, but that doesn't change how events are being perceived, and it will take Amu some time to get through to her. In any event, "demonstrate that this general sort of thing is not a good idea", while a fine goal, still means it's being shown.
One of the ways in which Saaya's perspective is inaccurate, by the way, is that she can't tell when the way her mind fixes itself is identical to how it worked previously anyway.
.....Saaya was always prone to going on ego trips and all signs indicate that tendency hasn't been lost since her meltdown and recovery.
To be fair, she probably only lasted a whole three months of self-induced mind-blasting because of the size of her ego; having a head so swollen meant even that much brain damage only left it slightly larger than a usual person's. It used to be the size of Mount Everest, now it's Mount Fuji.
The problem is: it is now Mount Fuji. What she's lost in bulk, she's gained in volatility. Saaya is now an active volcano.
That can be a source of rich and fertile soil and some great hot springs inasmuch as she has the capacity to cause some real damage by blowing up, but adding Exaltation into the mix could be akin to slamming a large meteorite right into the volcano.
How good of an idea that might be, that would largely depend on the circumstances. I could see as many downsides to it as there are upsides.
To be fair to Saaya, she is aware that the Locket is doing repair work.
There's 'actual damage' that came from the self-destructive anti-UMI method she used, which was pretty much a slow suicide.
Ie: If one of the other kids passives touched her mind, she blasted that part of her mind with fire to stop them getting in.
Saaya considers that damage different to things like deleting her desire for attention from her parents.
The Locket did not, until she force formatted the bits it had just 'restored' to make sure they didn't come back.
The Locket considers the default answer of "What is a healed Saaya?" to be "The person you were before using Destruction", which would mean restoring all the things she got rid of on purpose.
Saaya disagrees with that and has been making her feelings known on the matter. Via fire and manually tugging the strings.
The last line is her settling a foundation, reorganising things to consciously fit Destruction into her self-concept without repeating the damage she did the first time around, because she has people to teach her how to use it properly this time around. The Chara system was what 'should' have caught her the first time, but it didn't.
Saaya is effectively editing herself this entire interlude as part of her ongoing rebuild. Someone with less psionic awareness / less paranoid about UMI would have just been slowly healed / rebuilt by the Locket. Saaya objected to that and interfered with the process at various points to be more to her liking, the talk with Hotsuin being a prime example.
This was very confusing initially. I originally thought that "Dia" was the Chara, and that somehow a piece of Amu got left behind with Saaya or that the Pixie was imitating Amu's Dia. Dia was the only one of Amu's Chara that Saaya did not do a ? chara change for. I had to read again to notice that Dia was a healing spell in the Persona universe.
JP's is a paramilitary organization and they weren't training her to use her powers for no reason at all, especially when it's implied Hotsuin was keen on picking her up for his "hero unit".
To be specific, Sako was being told that Saaya was too young even for Hotsuins habit of overlooking age in favour of power. ('Hero units' / Protagonists / etc. We see a lot of this in Devil Survivors 2) Hence Sako being the one to mostly take responsibility for her.
Saaya's self awareness has skyrocketed
On a more serious note though, she would have died without the Locket. She's still below mortal norms in terms of mental integrity.
She's changed a lot from this, and a lot of it was by deliberate choice to be more like her new role models.
That was at least partially fishing to see if we could get clues about skill crack making it in or if we're going to have to fiddle with Mitama or essence fusion to update Saaya's suspiciously demonic move pool.
Edit: I see no reason to disbelieve the Pixie, and I kind of want to see what she has to say about Amu/Ami/Kana and the Persona cast.
Saaya + Flaemis = ?
Or if we're going to have a weirder demon upgrade paradigm. Megaten is nothing of not inconsistent about that.
The student body of Seiyo ranges from upper middle class to literally royalty, based on everything we've seen in canon. Saaya is rich, and fits the rich girl archetype, but while those are connected… she can't actually throw her money around. Amu's family is also quite well off, by any sensible standard. And she, at least in this story, is a scholarship student who doesn't pay for a spot.
That doesn't really affect your point, but it did limit how much of a bully Saaya could be. Amu is an unreliable narrator in that regard; she connects Saaya to the bullies she saw in her previous school, but while Saaya is kind of unpleasant to be around, she isn't actually that. If you take a step back, her "rivalry" with Amu comes off almost as wanting her attention and approval… but she's very bad at it.
We never saw her do anything that can really be described as bullying, just ineffective attempts at making herself look good. It comes down to lack of confidence, I think. Saaya appeared to also have some good friends in school, and while we didn't see them interact in their own, I think it's plausible she's a far more pleasant individual when she isn't trying to compete.
(In this story the friends in question transferred out instead of Saaya just making the attempt. Sorry about that, Saaya.)
The less-charitable interpretation, which I assume is being taken in this quest, is that they didn't care enough about her personal wellbeing to argue back when she insisted on staying presumably in the stubborn way Amu points out she acts and just threw money and a house at her to keep her pacified.
What sort of parents would raise their daughter like Saaya has clearly been raised? Her rich girl antics aren't even optimal; they don't even place her on top of the social hierarchy, most of her classmates either ignore or dislike it.
Ethical parents would have steered her away from that path, unconditionally. Good parents would at least have helped her succeed. Saaya's did neither.
Nero's take on it of that a lot of her behaviour stems from wanting their attention. I think she's also emulating them somewhat, though the effect is very similar.
After the last couple of months… she decided, for herself, that none of what they taught her is really working. That isn't who she wants to be. She has the ability to be very emphatic about that now, but I think there outcome would be similar regardless, it would just take a little longer; Saaya is barely thirteen. Children at that age change easily.
In a world with demons, that's a pretty easy coping mechanism for him to just say "well my daughter would never do that, therefore that's not my daughter" and just absolve themselves of any responsibility for how it got to that point.
Though, to be clear, the vast vast majority of humanity has no idea those exist. If you were magically teleported there, you would never notice the difference. … for a month or three.
Again, Amu sure does like tackling difficult projects.
Hopefully or GM will give us enough leeway to do that without sacrificing something significant in the story. If we fail her, let it be because we screwed up an interaction with her somewhere, and not because we ran out of AP because we had competing issues we had to juggle.
Utau is going to tear her hair out. Amu has friends who haven't at one point been enemies, but once you add Saaya to the list they'll be in the minority.
And yes. I think I've sufficiently made the point that this is a Megaten story. The next time Saaya does anything interesting, you'll have control over her.
Keeping the kids alive and healthy is now up to you lot. I have full confidence you'll manage it.
Nero's take on it of that a lot of her behaviour stems from wanting their attention. I think she's also emulating them somewhat, though the effect is very similar.
-school was nice. People liked her, or at least listened to her, and it all made sense!
Saaya just had to be like her Father, and lead people! A… politician?
And… maybe if she's good enough at leading people, she could convince her parents to get along without fighting? Something that wasn't a vain attempt that just had one of them leave.
But first, making sure everyone in class knows who she is!
What sort of parents would raise their daughter like Saaya has clearly been raised? Her rich girl antics aren't even optimal; they don't even place her on top of the social hierarchy, most of her classmates either ignore or dislike it.
I dunno, gotta point out that her rich-girl antics got herself at least 4 flunkies permanently joined to the hip and somehow let her borrow school facilities to throw a big farewell party to herself, complete with student-run festival stalls.
Lemme just repeat that - she managed to get a ton of other students to come in and run a bunch of festival stalls for her massive goodbye party. And we saw kids like Seiichiro Suzuki show up in the crowd (among other random students) to watch the big competition - and Seiichiro isn't even in Amu's year. By hook or crook, she was able to corrall a pretty big portion of the elementary student body, across multiple years, to turn up for her own personal self-aggrandizing event. That's not exactly zero influence.
As far as canon goes, I don't think we can really say much about how she was raised except for: "with lots of money". We know she's been given private art lessons that apparently never actually did too much for her artistic skills. We know she had access to enough cash to put in a special order for "Shanel"-branded lingerie that she showed off in the locker room.
.....None of which particularly means very much. We never actually see how she acts in front of her parents, we never see her parents at all. They may not know how she acts at school. Or they may act just as bad as she does and don't merely "allow" her to act that way, but were the very ones who taught her to act like that (and you can argue that might not be ethical either, but it also isn't exactly neglectful or abusive).
Saaya thinking her art skills were world-class could equally be because her parents told her she was fantastic (even possibly legitimately thinking it), as much as the art teacher just being useless and her parents never caring enough to check. At the very least, we know her father wasn't initially planning to simply abandon her in Japan when leaving for the US, he would have taken her along. We don't know the details of how Saaya changed his mind at the last minute.
Saaya is not the worst bully in the world. She probably doesn't have a burn book and as you point out, would be too upper-class to resort to physically stuffing people's heads down a toilet bowl.
But I have to point out that Saaya's grand introductory moment was threatening Amu to make sure the drawing of her face looked good, on pain of holding a grudge.
And at least as far as anime-canon goes, she has no qualms with cornering a love rival alone in an empty classroom with her entire posse is behind her, in order to pressure said girl into backing off on Tadase by insulting her as being unrefined while simultaneously manipulating her into believing Tadase would be into "refined" girls, while knowing full-well he's actually more into the Amulet Heart type. That was one of the first episodes Saaya played a particularly big role in, never let it be said she didn't take her role as Tadase Fanclub President seriously.
Then there was the episode where she really wanted to be the piano accompanist in that choir competition and tried to, well, bully her main contender out of the running by harassing her over the mistakes she made while playing (which affected her badly enough to turn her Heart's Egg into an X-Egg).
At least her posse had enough sense to drag her away once she insisted on singing too, because it turns out Saaya's vocal skills are not anywhere near as good as her piano playing.
Not the greatest person. I think we can agree on that.
She's decided to be better, but what precisely that means is still up in the air. I don't think, without some outside pressure, that she'll change her behaviour very much. This is a prime opportunity to apply it, though.
Now, what sort of behaviour would that count as..?
I dunno, gotta point out that her rich-girl antics got herself at least 4 flunkies permanently joined to the hip and somehow let her borrow school facilities to throw a big farewell party to herself, complete with student-run festival stalls.
Should be noted, from talking about Saayas situation with him to write these two pieces, that Baughn means the current class / year, when talking about relative social hierarchy.
The psionic population numbers have climbed, and Amu's 'thumb on the scales' has had much longer to work than in canon.
She's decided to be better, but what precisely that means is still up in the air. I don't think, without some outside pressure, that she'll change her behaviour very much. This is a prime opportunity to apply it, though.
Now, what sort of behaviour would that count as..?
JP's currently have her locked down on indefinite medical detention. The main source of "outside pressure" she's getting for the foreseeable future is all going to be coming from Hotsuin and his men (include Sako and that doctor).
Hotsuin may want to wait at present until Saaya turns 16 to formally bring her in, but he's already grooming her in the use of psionics and we know there's going to be emergencies that will happen in the coming months. He won't actually be able to wait until she's 16, before trying to deploy her.
From my limited perspective, I find it difficult to predict what kinds of things are actually possible to do in regards to Saaya at the moment. I suppose we'll find out once Amu actually has her meeting with Saaya.
So just to put it out there before the actual training vote opens up, here's what I'm currently thinking of, taking into account the previous discussions about it so far. Right now, Amu is currently training Illusion, Integrity, Dreamwalking and half a dot of Lore. For the next training vote, I was thinking of the following:
Amu (4 XP in her personal pool) -
Target 2 hours of school training, up from our current time budget of 1 school hr, using an Awareness+Integrity training stunt to try and squeeze that extra hour with minimal consequences. That adds Awareness to her current regimen and will cost 2 XP from her personal pool, but since it opens up that extra hour it wouldn't really slow down everything else.
Continue the previous training regiment, until the Lore half-dot completes.
Before the Lore half-dot completes, take up Midori's offer for Socialize behavior lessons for the "free" half-dot.
After the Lore-half-dot completes, actually start investing XP and real training time into the Socialize dot and push for Level 1. This will cost 1 XP since since Midori counts as a teacher and whatever time Amu was investing into Lore before is now invested in Socialize.
Miki (2 XP in personal pool) -
Train Level 2 Biokinesis, using a training stunt that involves attempting to Chara-Transform/Chara-Change with Su to borrow her experience. This will attempt to trigger the "Level 4 event" as well as speed up her acclimitization to having a human body. Will cost 1 XP.
Train Socialize to Level 1 by joining in Midori's sessions with Amu, since Midori counts as a teacher this will only cost 1 XP instead of 2. And since it's with Midori, she'll be able to do it even when spending 18 hours a day loafing around in the house.
Ami (1 XP in personal pool) -
Train Socialize to Level 1 by joining in Midori's sessions with Amu and Miki.
Utau (2 XP in personal pool) -
Train Level 2 Strings and Songs, costs 1 XP. Why String and Songs? Because we've just been told that Saaya's power is "anti-Kagutsuchi", which raises the possibility of nasty side effects happening (on the world, if not Saaya herself) when using it. We know Strings and Songs can repair that kind of damage, so I'm thinking it might be a good idea to train it to serve as insurance to combo with Saaya's ability.
Train Level 2 Lightsmithing, costs 1 XP. It has proved it's usefulness in the recent chapters and can also be used to blind precogs and clairvoyants, which would be highly useful if we end up fighting a brainwashed Aoi or other similar psionics Manticore might field in the future.
That will leave the global pool untouched, which leaves it available for drawing on for any SOS boost for any psionic that might need to do so for whatever reason. Hopefully, it won't be overly necessary - but I can see at least one situation where it might be highly useful and that's when fighting a powerful precog where Utau isn't there to block their senses with Lightsmithing. We know SOS level ups involve summoning demons, so I'd assume triggering one in that situation would end up messing with the precog, instantly turning the tables from suffering a crippling beatdown where they were predicting all of our moves to them being instantly blindsided.
As the car pulled away from the curb, Amu sank into the plush leather seat. Her body finally registered how exhausted she truly was.
It was a combination of things. She'd fought, yes. Amu wasn't a stranger to fighting, but this had been... different. Distressing, perhaps was the better word, although that didn't capture everything either; every emotion she'd felt since leaving home that evening—and yes, she knew it was still the same evening—threatened to overwhelm her completely. She needed to rest.
Lucky, then, that she had Utau's fingers gently combing through her hair.
She always fell asleep when Utau did that; the calming motion lulling her into rest more effectively than any bed ever could.
Utau sat beside her, a comforting presence in the dimly lit interior. Across from them Hikaru perched on his seat, his young face a mask of concern and curiosity.
The driver, separated by a partition, focused on navigating the evening traffic. The silence in the back of the car was palpable, broken only by the soft hum of the engine and the occasional rustle of clothing.
Amu leaned her head against Utau's shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment. 'I'm so tired,' she thought, the mental words tinged with exhaustion.
Hikaru watched them, his bright eyes flickering between the two girls. After a moment of hesitation, he asked aloud, "Are you okay, Hinamori-san?"
Amu opened her eyes, offering him a weak smile. "I'm fine, Hikaru-kun. Just tired."
'How. much should we tell him?' Utau's thought brushed against Amu's mind.
'Not everything,' Amu replied. 'It's too complicated. It'd scare him. And the driver...'
Utau nodded almost imperceptibly, then spoke to Hikaru. "It's been a long day. We're all looking forward to getting home."
Hikaru nodded, his face serious beyond his years. He reached into a compartment beside him and pulled out a small bottle of water, offering it to Amu. "Here," he said simply.
Amu accepted it gratefully, her fingers brushing against his as she took the bottle. For a moment, she was struck by how normal this gesture was, how divorced from the chaos and danger of the shadow world she'd just left.
'Thank you,' she thought, forgetting for a moment that Hikaru couldn't hear her mental voice. She repeated the words aloud, her voice barely above a whisper.
The car fell silent again, the city lights streaming past the windows. Amu found her eyelids growing heavy, the gentle motion of the car lulling her towards sleep.
'Amu.' Utau's mental voice roused her slightly. 'What do you want to tell your parents?'
Amu's brow furrowed as she considered the question. 'The truth, I guess. Or part of it. They know about the supernatural stuff now. But Kana…'
'We don't have to go into details about her,' Utau suggested. 'Just that she's safe with Shirogane-san.'
Amu nodded slightly, her head resting on Utau's shoulder. Time passed, while she struggled to bring her thoughts in order. The car stopped at an intersection, then moved on.
'Yeah. That's probably best. I…'
'Rest,' Utau stressed. 'You're not doing anything until tomorrow anyway.'
Amu sighed quietly, but didn't reply. She struggled not to fall asleep on Utau's shoulder, feeling the girl's presence like a comforting blanket wrapped around her soul. She'd made too many mistakes. Nothing but mistakes, one after the other, in her own estimate. And yet...
She closed her eyes, feeling sleep creep up on her. As she drifted towards nothingness, her thoughts were filled with images of Kana—the girl's face flushed with exertion, her eyes glittering with anger, her mind breaking beneath the strain of her magic—and Amu couldn't help but wonder if there was anything more she could have done to save her friend. Something she could have done if she'd practised fighting earlier, or first aid, or anything but sitting in school daydreaming during English class.
The image of her friend, broken and desperate in the shadow world, flashed through her mind.
'Utau.' Amu's mental voice was tinged with worry. 'Do you think Kana-chan will be okay?'
'Worry about it later,' Utau chided gently, her voice echoing through Amu's mind. It was hard to protest. As tired as she was, Utau's thoughts nearly overrode her own. 'There's nothing you can do about it right now. If Shirogane is who I think she is, then Kana will be fine.'
'I know,' Amu replied softly, allowing it to happen. 'I just... I can't help but feel like I failed her somehow. Like I should have guessed what was happening to her, and tried harder to reach out to her.'
Utau didn't reply immediately, and Amu could sense a hint of uncertainty in her mental presence. Then Utau's hand shifted from Amu's hair to gently stroke her cheek.
'You did your best,' Utau murmured into Amu's mind. 'She made the decision to attack you. You can't blame yourself for that.'
Amu fought back tears. 'Kana almost... she almost killed herself, Utau. And she's killed before. How do I help someone like that?'
The pause was a little more profound this time. Utau's fingers lingered on her cheek. But she did, eventually, answer.
'You helped me,' Utau reminded her gently. 'And I wasn't exactly a saint when we met.'
A weak smile flickered across Amu's face. 'That was different. You never tried to…'
'No,' Utau agreed. 'Not on purpose. But I hurt a lot of people. Including you.' Her mental voice was tinged with regret. 'Kana-chan... Nanami Akane... she's not so different from how I was. Scared, angry, feeling like she had no choice. I could have easily become a murderer, and the children I'd have killed wouldn't have deserved it the way her victims did.'
Amu nodded slightly, her head still resting on Utau's shoulder. 'I just wish... I wish I could have done more. Helped her sooner.'
'You did what you could,' Utau reassured her. 'And you're still trying to help her. That matters, Amu. Worry about it later, and go to sleep.'
Amu nodded slightly, mulling over Utau's words for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. 'I know you're right,' she said at last. 'I just can't shake this feeling of...'
Utau flicked Amu's ear gently, making her yelp in surprise. 'What did I just say about worrying about it later?'
Amu opened her eyes and pulled away slightly to glare at Utau, but the girl's expression was one of fond exasperation, not annoyance. Amu let out a sigh of resignation and leaned back into Utau's side, unable to keep herself from smiling slightly at the familiar sensation of Utau's fingers combing through her hair once more. It would do. She'd let Utau win. She could always worry about things tomorrow.
'Nobody expects you to be perfect,' Amu, Utau continued gently. 'But you are who you are, and I know you did everything you could for Kana-chan.' She squeezed Amu's shoulder gently. 'If you think it isn't enough, then I trust you to figure out what else you need to do to make it right. And I'll be here to help you however I can.'
Amu let out a quiet sigh, feeling some of the tension leave her body. She surrendered whatever resistance was left, and let Utau's thoughts flow into every nook and cranny of her mind, lulling it all to sleep. It was like the world's gentlest, most thorough embrace, though one that was breaking her apart. Amu let it happen. Fragment after fragment of herself came loose, falling backwards into inky blackness.
"Thanks," she whispered softly, in the few remaining seconds where she could. Then she was gone.
A minute later Utau spoke again, her mental voice equally tired as Amu's, though this time there was no-one to hear. 'Rest, you idiot,' she murmured, stroking Amu's hair. 'I'll talk to Hikaru. Take a damned nap, and stop trying to do everything yourself.'
Utau sighed. Across from her in the car, Hikaru looked on with a mixture of confusion and intense curiosity.
⁂
There would be no purpose to transcribing Amu's thoughts; they were too fragmented. But we can convey her experiences.
As the car made its way through the nighttime city, Amu found herself dreaming of Kana once more. They were sitting together in the shade of a large tree, watching the clouds drift by overhead. Kana was smiling at Amu, a look of genuine happiness on her face. In the dream, Amu forgot everything that had happened and simply enjoyed the feeling of the sunlight on her skin and the breeze in her hair.
They talked, though what they talked about, Amu couldn't remember when she woke up—but that didn't matter so much as the fact that they were friends again—and friends who weren't in danger anymore—and Amu promised Kana that they'd see each other again soon, and Kana promised to write—and things were alright—and it was over—and it was done—and-
And-
Dia was there, too.
Kana flickered like a television set that someone was adjusting the antenna on—little stutters where Amu realised Kana's hair had changed colour from brown to red to pink, but the dream was breaking up. It was like sand sliding between Amu's fingers, and in another second Kana was gone completely. Only a faint memory of their conversation remained in her mind, nothing solid or concrete. A few seconds later even that was gone.
The tree had disappeared, as had the blue sky above them, and the clouds—instead of that all there was a brilliant white nothingness—and now there was only Dia and her alone together—and-
"Hi," Dia said awkwardly, giving her a small wave. "Amu-chan. Good work with Kana. Long time no see."
She tried collecting her mind. It was so difficult though... coherency was hard right now because of all the sleeping she was doing. Though it was also sorta difficult to care about that? So far as she remembered? She'd been told to sleep... and she'd slept... for ages... it had been ages... why did things have to be so hard?
Dia was dressed in a simple, yellow dress that emphasised her youthful appearance while somehow still managing to look stylish, and her blonde hair was cut short and framed her face in an artful way that made it look like she'd just stepped out of a photoshoot or something, except that wasn't actually the case and Amu would learn that eventually, it was just the easiest dress to recreate after her last one had been destroyed by a demon or something.
"...years?" Amu attempted.
It felt like years. Especially now that she could feel the absolute yawning hunger at the edges of her psyche that came from overwork and trying to wake up inside a dream when most of her was not okay with doing that, was not in fact joining up with her, and Dia was her own size, taller, a teenager for real not just a thirteen-year-old. Filled in. Taller than Amu would ever be and muscular in a way that suggested athleticism rather than overeager growth—and yet there was still an air of childishness about her; something in her eyes that hinted at an innocence she didn't want to let go.
"Easy," Dia told her softly; not unkindly; almost amused. "Too much thinking at once?" She took Amu's hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's been a little longer. Six thousand years, give or take."
"It hasn't been that long," Amu replied without thinking—except for how it had—and Dia smiled at that, though there was something sad behind the smile.
"It has for me," Dia replied with a shrug.
There were- things she could only right now remember-
"How… how's everyone?" Amu asked after a few, struggling seconds. "Airi-chan?"
Dia let out a soft sigh and shook her head slowly. "Like you," she said quietly. "Still asleep. But at least... at least she's alive in this time." Her eyes misted over for a moment, then she blinked rapidly and fixed Amu with a firm stare. "You have to stay alive, Amu-chan. You can't give up. No matter how hard it gets." She paused for a moment, then continued on more confidently. "You're doing well, and I believe in you. I never saw Saaya survive before."
Amu swallowed hard, feeling tears sting at the corners of her eyes. Almost more an echo than a genuine reaction. Hadn't she…
"Did I tell you the same thing?" she asked, instinctively. Dia simply smiled.
She remembered... nothing. Just fragments. You weren't supposed to remember—it was one of the rules—and so she didn't. But Dia wasn't her, and so she could, except they were a single person and remembered anyway. Her mind tried to run away from her, but Dia's hand was on her shoulder now and held her steady while also somehow keeping her from fading out, and she remembered—other times, before she was born—they'd done this before—dreamed together—and-
"Why?" Amu asked weakly, her voice barely audible in the white void of the dreamscape around them.
Why do it this way? Why couldn't she simply remember? If she wasn't supposed to, why was Dia able to anyway? And if Dia could, why couldn't she tell her?
So many questions. No answers came to mind.
Dia sighed softly, running a hand through her hair before shaking her head and letting out a soft chuckle. "Because you're stubborn," she said simply. "And because... because everything has broken. Over and over again." She hesitated for a moment. Dia looked as lost as Amu felt.
"I'm doing better this time, aren't I?" she asked softly, trying not to let herself sound too hopeful but failing miserably at it all the same. Dia simply nodded in response, her expression growing slightly wistful as she watched Amu wrestle with her emotions for a few more seconds before regaining control of herself.
"Do you know what happens next?"
—a truck-sized ice cream cone exploded, raining blood and gore in all directions while Amu and Su shrieked in dismay—
But that was last time.
"Do you?" Amu countered after a second or two of trying to figure out how to phrase it—and because she kind of did—or Dia did?—or all of them did?—at the same time—or something—which meant it didn't work properly anyway—and she'd not forgotten how tired she was either—but now they were in the middle of something important, the most important, and she needed to keep going until it was over—but-
Dia's gaze turned distant as she considered Amu's question.
"Not exactly," she said quietly, sounding hesitant for the first time since she'd arrived in Amu's dream. "But there is... something." She paused for a moment, as if gathering her thoughts, continuing more confidently. "We think—and by 'we' I mean you and me—that it's something... beyond what we dealt with before." Her lips twitched slightly in amusement at the awkward wording, and Amu couldn't help but grin in return at the familiar expression on her sister. "Someone is pulling strings. Possibly several someones. At least one of them is from outside."
"Well, that's not ominous at all," Amu grumbled softly, feeling herself tense slightly as she absorbed Dia's words. "Have you-" she paused for a moment before hesitantly continuing on. "Have you seen anything? About Kana?"
Dia hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.
"You're really too good for this world, befriending that girl. I guess it's better this way," Dia muttered under her breath. "But no, I haven't seen anything about her. Every prediction I did make, you smashed. Vandal." Dia gave Amu an accusatory glare which she did not believe in the slightest. "Not that I mind. But it does make it harder. Be yourself, and I bet she'll be fine."
"Is that really all you came here for?" Amu asked after a few moments of silence had passed. "To tell me not to die? Because I knew that one."
Dia shook her head in response. "Not all," she murmured softly. "But it's... difficult, thinking of something you'll remember. Sometimes things even slip out of my head." She hesitated for a moment. "I guess what I really wanted was just... to say hello." Her cheeks reddened slightly as she spoke, and she ducked her head a little as if embarrassed by the admission. "I'm glad we're talking again."
Amu blinked a few times. "So am I," she replied quietly. "Dia, I..."
"Shh," Dia murmured softly, placing a finger on Amu's lips to quieten her. "Utau's right, you do need rest. I'll see you later. If I have any important information to share, I'll make sure it finds its way to you somehow." She hesitated again, continuing on in a more serious tone of voice. "I can't say when we'll meet again—we both know I don't control when I come out, but... if you remember anything at all, trust JPs this time. Hotsuin isn't the same person he was." She smiled ruefully at the puzzled look on Amu's face, continuing more brightly. "And if that fails, there's always next time."
"Next time?" Amu echoed in confusion.
"Next time," Dia repeated with a small nod of agreement. "Be well, little sis. Take care of Miki. And go see Saaya if you can, she woke up already."
She disappeared from view, leaving Amu alone with her thoughts once more.
Such as they were.
Without Dia's help it didn't take long for Amu's mind to fall away into fragments—muddy bits and pieces of a person—and her memories scattered along with them, scattering out across the darkness of the dreamscape until-
Until what?
Until something happened and they found each other again?
What happened next?
A small part of Amu was still able to think that.
There were a lot of answers to the question, most of them leading to some very bad places indeed, but a frozen claw had clamped down on her memories. There were too many lives in this universe already, without adding more on top of them for no reason than because she didn't want to relive the bad parts of her life again; didn't want to feel all that pain again, didn't want to see that look of despair on everyone's faces again.
Amu would remember nothing, just as every time before. If it wasn't for Dia bringing up old memories and reminding her of the future, she would've forgotten entirely that anything was ever different this time around—or thought it was at least—because memory could be confusing when one was busy dreaming and not taking notes.
Amu gave up, and let herself forget. She wasn't ready for that fight.
⁂
"Amu." Utau's voice roused her slightly. "Hey, Amu. Wake up."
'What?' Amu groaned mentally in response, blinking several times in confusion before opening her eyes fully and sitting up straighter in the car seat. 'We're home?'
Utau nodded, her hand resting gently on Amu's shoulder. "We're here," she agreed.
The car was stopped. It had, apparently, pulled up seconds ago. The driver stopped the motor while she yawned, rubbed her eyes and looked outside at the familiar, deeply welcome sight of her family's front yard, tree and all. They'd left just hours ago, but being back felt like coming home after years abroad; everything looked so reassuringly normal.
"Are you ready to face your parents?" Utau asked.
Amu sighed softly, fixing her hair. It had fallen in front of her eyes while she'd been sleeping and now covered part of her face. Though unlike last time, Utau hadn't knotted it into ridiculous shapes while she'd been asleep. But-
She shook off the remnants of her dream, and gathered her thoughts. Something about a tree.
"No," she said after a moment's pause. "But I don't think there's much point in delaying the inevitable." She gave Utau a sickly grin and shrugged. "I'll just have to tell them what happened."
"It's somewhere to start," Utau agreed, unbuckling her seat. Hikaru did the same in the opposite seat, glancing between the two girls with a worried expression on his face.
"Will your parents be mad at you?" he asked tentatively, biting his lip as he spoke.
Amu laughed softly, shaking her head in response. "Probably not," she replied. Utau helped her out of the car. "Frankly, if anyone's going to get mad..."
A spike of alarm pierced Amu's thoughts before she could finish speaking. Utau looked up sharply towards the house, then back to Amu with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Right," Amu said softly, following Utau's gaze towards the figure approaching them from the front door. She looked like a carbon copy of herself, with a different hair colour and style than Amu's usual look.
"What is it?" Hikaru asked, noticing her sudden anxiety. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Amu insisted as she stared at the figure approaching them, a growing sense of dread in her stomach. "Everything's fine."
The apparition slowed as it drew closer, revealing itself to be a girl who looked precisely like Amu, if she'd swapped out her eyes, dyed her hair black and pulled it into a high ponytail. She was dressed in a purple hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans, and there was a look of fierce determination in her eyes that Amu hadn't seen in a long time.
The girl stopped in front of them, her eyes flickering between Amu and Utau. Her expression showed a hint of annoyance as she waited for someone to speak. When nobody did, she let out a huff and placed her hands on her hips, fixing them all with a stern glare as she did so.
"Seriously?" Miki asked impatiently. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Amu, ignoring the shocked expressions on Utau and Hikaru's faces. "You went to check on Kana without me. Fine. But what was it we said about throwing ourselves into danger?"
Amu flinched slightly at the accusation in Miki's voice. "Miki, I—"
"Don't 'Miki' me," she interrupted, her voice a mix of frustration and concern. "I know. Mom told me what happened. I can't believe you'd go off like that while I was asleep!"
Utau, still stunned by Miki's sudden appearance, managed to find her voice. "Amu... is this...?"
"Yeah," Amu nodded, "This is Miki. She's... well, it's complicated."
"...you said, but... did I miss something?" Utau asked hesitantly as she struggled to comprehend what was going on.
Miki sighed, running a hand through her black hair. "Just Amu being Amu and rushing into potential trouble without thinking."
"I wasn't rushing into danger," Amu protested weakly. "Mom and I were checking from a distance. And then we... ran into trouble."
"I'll say," Miki muttered dryly, and stepped closer. "Look at you." She raised a hand towards Amu's cheek, stopping just shy of touching her skin. Her expression softened slightly as she regarded her sister with an expression that mixed concern and annoyance in equal measure. "You're exhausted."
"I'm fine," Amu replied automatically, then winced as Miki shot her a sharp look. "Okay, I'm not fine," she admitted sheepishly. "I'm tired. But I'm not hurt."
Miki raised an eyebrow as she inspected Amu's clothes for signs of damage. She nodded once she'd satisfied herself that there was nothing worse than a few small scorch marks here and there. "Well... I guess that's something," she conceded reluctantly. "But don't think we're finished talking about this."
Amu nodded meekly, feeling like she'd somehow shrunk several inches in stature since waking up.
"What happened?" Miki asked. "Where's Kana?"
Amu sighed heavily. "...elsewhere. But she's okay." She shot Utau an apologetic look. "I'll explain later, okay? Mom's waiting."
So she was. Behind Miki, backlit by the porch light, stood their mother. Amu couldn't make out her expression from this distance, but there was no mistaking the relieved feel of her mind when she saw Amu appear beside Utau and Hikaru. Miki glanced over her shoulder at Midori, then rolled her eyes with a huff of annoyance before turning back to face Amu again.
"Fine," she said shortly, sounding less annoyed than she had before but still clearly displeased with Amu's decision-making skills. "Later." She glanced at Utau and Hikaru for a moment before shaking her head and marching up to give Amu a hug.
Utau and Hikaru shared a bewildered look.
It was a strange concept, that Miki could be as tall as her, but not so strange that Amu didn't enjoy it at least a little bit. Miki smelled nice too—freshly washed—and her hug was just right, like the perfect cuddle you dreamed about but rarely got.
"I'm glad you're home," Miki murmured into Amu's ear. "I was scared. Mom and Dad were scared too."
She squeezed Amu harder, trembling slightly, then pulled apart—though she kept her hands on Amu's shoulders. Amu felt herself wanting to stay close to Miki, but the moment passed quickly enough, leaving only a faint longing for more contact in its wake.
Miki's eyes flicked to Utau for an instant, a faintly pink blush forming on her cheeks, before returning to focus on Amu. "We'll talk in the morning."
Amu nodded slightly in response. Miki withdrew from the embrace with an expression on her face that suggested she knew precisely how hypocritical she was being. She cast a look in Utau's direction—who was standing there completely baffled—then walked right up and, without further word, hugged Utau as well. Utau let out a muffled noise of surprise as Miki wrapped her arms around her and buried her face into the crook of her neck, squeezing tightly before stepping back again with a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
"Okay," Utau said slowly, after several seconds passed with no explanation forthcoming from either Amu or Miki. "Well... I suppose this is one way to handle things." She paused for a moment, her eyebrows knitting together as she tried to make sense of what was happening. "What exactly happened to Miki?" she asked hesitantly after a moment of silence had passed between them all.
"Hinamori-san… did you split in two?" Hikaru said, starting hesitantly and ending in a rush.
"Ah... it's kind of complicated?" Amu tried. "Like I said, she... ah. She got big."
"I'll say," Miki scoffed, putting her hands on her hips again as she faced Utau and Hikaru. "Hi there. It's been a while. Hinamori Miki—the real deal." She paused for a moment, considering Utau intently. "You're prettier than I recall."
Utau stared at Miki for several seconds in stunned disbelief. "Thanks," she replied haltingly, still struggling to process what was happening in front of her eyes. "What..."
"Just happy to see you again," Miki replied brightly. "Really happy to see you again."
Amu laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. Midori eyed her two eldest daughters warily.
This might become a problem.
"Anyway," Miki said with an air of finality, clapping her hands together loudly. "Enough chit chat. Dinner! Is in the oven, and has been for half an hour. Yay!" She paused for a moment. "You are having dinner with us, right, Utau? And Hikaru, of course."
Miki smiled at the boy, who perked up, no doubt happy to spend more time with his 'Utau-neechan'.
Utau nodded automatically, staring at Miki with a blank expression.
"Um... yes?" she replied uncertainly, sounding slightly overwhelmed. This elicited another smile.
Miki started heading back to Mom, then paused. "Oh, and Ami's sleeping on the couch," she said over her shoulder. "Cuddled up with Ami. It's extremely cute."
Hikaru, who was chasing after her, missed a step.
= = =
I'm back (from vacation). I'm definitely losing a lot of time in the near future to house-hunting, but here's that final promised 'interlude' to chew on. The opening of chapter three should follow in a small number of days.
"I'll say," Miki scoffed, putting her hands on her hips again as she faced Utau and Hikaru. "Hi there. It's been a while. Hinamori Miki—the real deal." She paused for a moment, considering Utau intently. "You're prettier than I recall."
Utau stared at Miki for several seconds in stunned disbelief. "Thanks," she replied haltingly, still struggling to process what was happening in front of her eyes. "What..."
"Just happy to see you again," Miki replied brightly. "Really happy to see you again."
Amu laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. Midori eyed her two eldest daughters warily.
Miki started heading back to Mom, then paused. "Oh, and Ami's sleeping on the couch," she said over her shoulder. "Cuddled up with Ami. It's extremely cute."
So we've got at least one more character that has noticed the endless recursion of time. I wonder how they bonked the jerk out of Hotsuin if he can specifically be trusted this time.
So we've got at least one more character that has noticed the endless recursion of time. I wonder how they bonked the jerk out of Hotsuin if he can specifically be trusted this time.
Gave him a cousin, apparently. My guess is that in the previous loop, Lulu most likely either wasn't his cousin or didn't exist at all, or did but never got particularly acquainted with him like she was able to in this timeline.
Yes, but Makoto is also completely deferential to Hotsuin and while Hotsuin might be less of an ass this time around, he has also shown himself from the aftermath of the Seiyo attack to still not be a particularly empathetic person. It's indeed a prime opportunity for Hotsuin to mould her, but unless we get direct control of Makoto or Hotsuin, not so much for the playerbase.... and even if we did get control of them, it would seem a tad out of character for either of them to be telling Saaya to go back to school and try and live a normal life until she's a legal adult.
Heck, I'm not even sure Hotsuin himself has ever attended school, so much as just had private tutors his entire life. I can see the man getting told by Makoto that Saaya has become obsessed with honing her powers and is doing nothing but spending every day after school making holes at JP's training facilities and him thinking there's absolutely nothing wrong with it and it just makes her a dedicated, mature individual committed to joining JP's who takes her gifts seriously.
......Speaking of schools, I found it funny that it seems the plot of the Shugo Chara sequel coincidentally ALSO is apparently going to involve Amu transferring schools as part of some request for help with "Shugo Chara-related matters" .
I guess that means Seiyo canonically wouldn't be the only school around in her universe with an organized team of Chara-users?
.....Uh, so it turns out, "organized team" might have been just a little bit of an understatement.
Seiyo Academy might be the largest gathering of Chara users in this quest, but sheesh, its canonical new sister school sure is something else.
Can't help but feel that name would be highly on-the-nose if it were ever to show up in this quest.
"Arcana Academy" indeed. Dunno if the school prides itself on being the means by which all is revealed, but if Chara-users are anything like Persona-users, it comes suspiciously close.
They must doing some serious "window-wiping" on their pupils' souls for the entire school population to be active Chara-users.
Seiyo Academy might be the largest gathering of Chara users in this quest, but sheesh, its canonical new sister school sure is something else.
Can't help but feel that name would be highly on-the-nose if it were ever to show up in this quest.
"Arcana Academy" indeed. Dunno if the school prides itself on being the means by which all is revealed, but if Chara-users are anything like Persona-users, it comes suspiciously close.
They must doing some serious "window-wiping" on their pupils' souls for the entire school population to be active Chara-users.
I believe Amu was hoping to have a regular life as a normal middle-school student... and yet her introduction to Arcana Academy involves telekinetically flying in front of the entire student population.
