"I see," says Kazue. "Well, thank you, Theodore-san. I suppose it's lucky you were here when we discovered this, or we would be even more confused."
"Luck is one way of describing it. The Velvet Room is a place where fate converges – 'Nothing meaningless happens here,' as my sister Margaret is fond of saying. So I think, though you and I independently planned our respective visits, that they overlapped for a reason." He smiles for a moment. "If nothing else, it was surely a pleasure to meet the woman of whom my little brother has been speaking."
"I wasn't saying anything embarrassing!" Adam cuts in, rapidly.
"Well," Kazue says, thinking. "If our meeting here was for a reason…" …then perhaps Igor's absence is, too. Theodore's not technically part of the Velvet Room anymore, is he? "There's one more question I would like to ask you." She flashes a glance at Adam, calculating. "In private."
Theodore agrees to accompany her outside. The cold wind of the train station roof keeps the area deserted, and Kazue says in a low voice: "The woman I met mentioned someone else who worked for the Velvet Room, named Victor."
Theodore doesn't look at her. He stares right out over the street, gripping the railing. "Did she?"
She waits. That's a skill you develop as a therapist – letting people answer in their own time.
"Victor was…one of us, yes," Theodore begins. "He had not served a guest for some time – he preferred to pursue his own investigations, exploring the sea of souls and the physical world to find the most esoteric magics, the strangest phenomena – that which challenges our understanding of the universe. His favored Persona was Merlin; I think that ought to reveal a good deal." He turns to gaze at her. "He was coming back, I heard, to take up a place in the Velvet Room again. With…a new guest."
"And we never met," Kazue says. "Someone prevented that."
"It is difficult," Theodore continues, "to say for sure what happened to him. He was alone. He was
often alone. We – in the sea of souls, time does not precisely move in a linear fashion. Igor literally cannot establish
when he disappeared, only that his disappearance was noticed with barely any time to spare."
"Do you have any suspects?" Kazue asks, feeling vaguely as if she were on a cop show.
"Victor's fate was connected with yours. His enemy, I am certain, is also related to the disturbances occurring in your town. However, you must understand that my brother was a formidable man, capable of surviving or avoiding the gravest dangers of the collective unconscious. Should you come across the specific entity that ended his life…I recommend running. At least for the time being." He sighs, lacing his hands together in a deliberate attempt to calm himself.
The railing…look at where his hands were.
Dents. Grip marks. In the metal.
What are these people? What's dangerous enough to kill these people?
Theodore continues, "I suppose you might have guessed by now that I'm not just hanging around my little brother to give him tips on shuffling cards. Igor asked me to keep an eye on him, for his own safety."
"Do I get a bodyguard, here?" Kazue asks.
"You have your Persona," he points out. "Adam can't even summon one of those, yet. Besides, even the most powerful deity of the sea of souls finds it difficult to manifest in the physical world. You'd only have to worry about their human agents out here. I'm not saying you will
not be in life-threatening danger, but…hmm, I'm rather bad at giving pep talks. Have you tried allying with other Persona-users? I believe there's a saying, something about numbers equating to buying power in the action economy?"
"I don't think that's a saying," Kazue says, "but I get your point. I can't let this stop me from living my life, right? I'll make friends, and they'll keep me alive. Will I see you again, Theo?"
"I think so. I'll be here as often as I can, so I would be surprised if our paths did not cross again." Giving her a smart nod, he walks across the roof to the stairs and out of sight.
---
"…And I've been trying to live my life, but that's been hard when I don't want to spend any of my
money because I still don't have a second
job," she finds herself saying, a week later.
Atiya, who is currently wearing powder blue lipstick and a barista's apron, makes a sympathetic noise. "This is probably not the best time to invite you to go drinking, then."
No, please do!
"Au contraire; this is a time when I really need a drink," Kazue replies.
They are interrupted, then, by the jingle of the door. Atiya turns, ready to welcome another customer to Kohei's Café, but her customer service smile slides right off her face when she sees who it is.
"Nana-chan! You got a new look!"
"Yo!" The teenager at the door flashes Atiya a peace sign. Kazue is only vaguely familiar with the "Nana-chan" who works here, but even she can tell that the pixie cut with pink highlights is new. "I decided to take the plunge. Like you said, hair is meant to change. I tried that line on my dad, and he wasn't very impressed, but it's not like he can un-cut my hair, so he'll have to get used to it!" She bustles off to the back, and Atiya leans back over to continue their conversation.
"So, a classmate from Translation Studies invited me out to drinks. He's bringing his girlfriend, and said I could bring someone, too. We're all college students on a budget, so don't worry about having to spend too much. It'll just be a low-key good time."
"That sounds good to me," says Kazue, tactfully deciding not to mention how much it also sounded like a double date. "Should I get dressed up?"
"Uh, we're just going to a local dive, but, like, dress to please yourself, you know? I'll text you the address. Oh, Nana-chan, can you clean these tables?"
Her co-worker grabs the cleaning bucket, tossing off a, "You'd better be doing some work too!" in the process.
"Yeah, yeah – oh, welcome!" Atiya snaps to attention again, but the customer who comes in is…also not a customer, judging by the fact that he walks right into the back without looking at or speaking with anyone.
A few seconds later, he pokes his head back out: "Scott?"
"Yes?"
The raccoon-eyed, greasy-skinned man tells her: "Here's a test of your barista knowledge: what drink would you make for someone who's just gotten off a ten-hour flight from India and needs to get back on local time? Have the answer on my desk in a few minutes, please." Atiya nods and he starts to disappear, only to pop back out again. "Also, I brought back, uh, coconut milk. Whole big thing of it. Gotta feature it on the menu. Don't…let me forget…" He trails off, letting the weight of the door push him backward.
"If I had the money to run a fancy café and travel like the boss," Atiya remarks, measuring out arabica beans, "I wouldn't worry too much about missing another day of work."
"He does it for love," Nana says, declaring her task finished by sending the bucket of soapy water back to its place with an artful little spin. "Isn't it obvious? He fucking loves this place."
---
The Silver Star is the kind of bar frequented by people who want to get drunk on a budget, but who still have
some standards, like clean bathrooms and rat-free food. It's very popular with college students, she can tell, just by scanning the tables. The atmosphere is
just sleazy enough, and Kazue lets herself slip into the mood, deliberately pushing aside some of her cares and anxieties. She manages to catch sight of Atiya through the dim blue haze, waving.
"What's up?" Her friend already has a drink in her hand. "Oh, you're wearing—don't tell me you actually bought a leather jacket after that thing on the train?"
She shrugs, the stiff material still feeling strange on her shoulders. "No, I've had this since high school. Been a while since I actually wore it, though." She'd spent so long, debating with herself in front of the mirror, that it made her a few minutes late.
Worth it! Don't you dare regret this! Don't you dare have a bad time tonight!
"Cool, cool. Let me show you to our table…" The lighting in here is genuinely awful. When they arrive at their destination, the other guests are monochrome and fuzzy, painted over by the blue lights that are somehow both glaring and dim. "This here is Tanaka Shirou-kun, my linguistic mirror," she indicates a bulky young man in a t-shirt, "and this is his girlfriend, Teruumi Teri-san." In contrast to her partner, Teruumi is blade-thin and pointy, with extremely long hair.
They exchange greetings and settle in. The others have already gotten a whole bottle of sake, so Kazue takes her share.
"To new beginnings," Teruumi toasts. "To a brightly unfolding future."
"Here's to the new school year. That's relevant for all of us," Kazue replies.
"Right," says Tanaka. "So Atiya says that you're a school counselor?"
"Yep, although the job's been very boring so far. All the kids are in class, settling in; teachers are going easy on them…I've just been going through old records, trying to predict who might need my help." She shrugs. "I shouldn't complain about my job being uneventful. Something's sure to happen, now that I've tempted fate."
"Maybe there are problems going on that you just can't see yet," Atiya suggests.
"Well, of course there are," Kazue tells her. "There are always problems. Any person, you'll find they're troubled by
something, big or little. Getting a large collection of people together just guarantees you'll get a certain amount of the really big problems." She takes a sip of her sake – oh no, she's getting all pensive. Better find a way to lighten the mood before her Persona starts yelling at her. "Eh, what are you all studying, anyway? I don't suppose any of you are on track to be psychologists…"
"Teri is, actually," the boyfriend says with a grin. "She's majoring in cognitive science. It's like psychology, but fancier." He looks over at her, quite proud.
Teri explains, "I'm not going to be a practicing physician. I'm intending to go to graduate school, become a researcher. The human mind, it simply fascinates me. What worthier subject could there be for study, than the organ which gives us a capacity for such a thing." She simpers, pleased at her wordplay, until her boyfriend chimes in:
"Maybe the language that knits our society together?"
Teri immediately turns to him, eyes flat. "We don't need to do this, this Linguistics versus Cognitive Science thing. You do your thing and I do mine. It doesn't have to be a competition."
He huffs out, "You know I'm just teasing, babe."
"Well the joke got old a long time ago." Teri Teruumi is pointy in every way, Kazue discovers, even her words. She fires them off like a rain of arrows, or the blows of an experienced serial killer. Perhaps, she considers, this jacket of hers is cursed now. Every time she wears it, someone gets stabbed.
Uh, two events are not enough evidence for that conclusion. Look, the mood has been ruined. I know it's not your fault, but you gotta use some of that famous charisma to get things moving again!
Kazue casts about for a topic far away from the previous one. "So, Atiya-san, how are you adjusting to Japan?"
Her friend seems to understand what she's trying to do. "It's going pretty well. I feel like I'm learning new stuff all the time, like, well, this is my first time trying hot sake!" She waves her cup. "It's good. I can see how this would be really nice in the winter."
"They say the fancy stuff shouldn't be drunk hot," Shirou muses, "because it overwhelms the aromas or something. I don't know if it's actually
that much better. Like, we can't afford to drop 10,000 yen on a bottle just to see."
"Maybe one day," his girlfriend replies. "But if I ever spend 10,000 yen on sake, I'm going to make damn sure that I'm getting my money's worth beforehand. Recommended by an expert – and not just some guy trying to make a big sale."
"She's got a grudge against liquor store owners because Old Man Konishi was mean to her cat ten years ago," Shirou jokes.
"I dislike him for completely valid reasons! Don't make it sound like I have some kind of complex!" Teri snaps. "But while we're on the topic – if you guys ever take a trip to Inaba, don't stop by Konishi Liquors. The place is shit. There's a little
jizake brewery nearby which you can buy from directly."
"Inaba," Atiya muses. "I've heard a little bit about that town…"
"You wouldn't have heard much," Teri says. "It's not of particular interest to anyone but true crime fans."
"Well, I do feel like I have an obligation to stand up for our hometown, here," Shirou says. "Inaba is still a nice place for a day or a weekend trip. If you're living in Okina, it's really easy to get to. And you can get information on all the local hotspots from us!"
Atiya furrows her brow. "Okay, but what was that about true crime?"
Rolling his eyes, Shirou says, "Okay, so we had
one serial killer, like, ten years ago." He takes a big gulp of sake. "I wish people would stop making a big deal out of it."
Teri leans in. "At the time, it was genuinely terrifying. We had strange weather that winter, too. People thought the town was cursed. I would go with my friends to the shrine and…mm, but I shouldn't give my best ghost stories away so easily."
He glares at his girlfriend. "If you're gonna tell any more serial killer stories, do it while I'm in the bathroom." He gets up, disappearing into the bar's dimness.
"Aww, is he scared of ghosts?" Atiya giggles.
Teri nods, sipping her drink. "Big strong men like him are often scared of a
lot of things. They're like those little bugs with eyespots on their wings, to scare away predators. Once you call their bluff, though – well, they might bite you, but you'll survive." She makes a flicking motion with her fingertips. "You can't let a little bug in a cocoon stop you from becoming the butterfly you're meant to be."
Atiya looks baffled, and Kazue has to point out, "Teruumi-san, I think your metaphors are getting a little confused."
"Eh? Oh, well. I blame the alcohol." She shrugs. "Anyway, the point is that I'm not scared to leave behind what's not good for me anymore. I'm breaking up with him tonight."
