A retelling of the events at Inaba, 2011, from the point of view of a young man who should be taking this a bit more seriously. Starts off following the game's events, then gradually adds AU elements as the story progresses, with character appearances from other Persona games down the line. Crossposted from SB/AO3.
Yu Narukami's Uncanny Fable (Persona 4)
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Chapter 1: A Life Turned Upside Down
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
Crossposting to SV. AO3 version here, SB version here. Will update daily until caught up to the AO3 version.
If you're reading this, then one of two things have happened: Either I'm dead and this tale has been revealed as part of my will, or hopefully things are now at a point where the secrets we keep are now public knowledge. After all, the truth must be set free, and the earlier we face it the better our lives will be.
This is the story of a young man, once living an ordinary life, is now faced with extraordinary circumstances and must now carve a new path and seek the truth.
Of course, that young man is me, Yu Narukami.
(To my children: spoiler alert, this is also the story of how I met your mother.)
So my story begins way, way back in 2011. It was a mostly normal year, for the most part, save for the fact that my parents would be heading overseas for a year starting in April on Kirijo Group business.
(Yes, I know it's almost an irony of cosmic proportions that my folks worked for Mitsuru-san's company at the time, making it easier for her group to keep tabs on me, but I digress.)
So since I was already too old to be brought with them, lest I interrupt my quality education under the auspice of the Japanese school system, and too young to be a truly emancipated youth, I was to attend my second year of high school at Yasogami High School, far from the city, while living with my uncle who hadn't seen me since I was a baby in diapers. The alternative was sending me to Mikage-cho, with my dad's cousin, but due to Inaba being a quieter place and my mom overruling my dad, I was gonna spend a year in the countryside.
(Note to children: Don't try and get into a fight with someone who's changed your diaper as a baby. They have all the leverage.)
My parents left on their trip early in April, so I pretty much had a few days to myself before I had to leave for Inaba, which I promptly spent on things like getting in reps with my bass guitar, reading mystery novels, and sorting my model collection.
The day before I had to leave for Inaba, though, I had a rather strange dream. I was sitting within a limousine upholstered in blue velvet, with a bar of sorts to my left and a sofa seating two people across me. One was a woman dressed in blue, matching the decor of the limo, with platinum blonde hair and yellow, nearly cat-like eyes. The other looked more elfin than human, especially with the rather bug-eyed look, pointed ears, and a rather long nose.
However, his grotesque appearance betrayed a gentle voice. "Welcome to the Velvet Room", said the man who introduced himself as Igor. He proceeded to do a tarot reading for me, depicting a great disaster and mystery that I would encounter, and that I had a year to get to the bottom of it.
I thought nothing of the strange dream after I woke, thinking it the result of me having had some food that didn't agree with my stomach. (Of course, events would prove me wrong soon after, but I'm getting ahead of myself.)
So the day when I had to go to Inaba finally came. It was a Monday, April 11th.
I headed to the train station, mostly ignoring the stuff appearing on the TV screens, including an ad for Quelorie Magic featuring a bikini-clad girl around my age, and some stuff about a love triangle involving a city councillor, his enka singer wife, and the television announcer who drove a wedge between them. Little did I know both would be very important things in the year to come, but how was I supposed to know?
Then I got on the train. Pretty long trip, and the weird dream I had earlier made me a bit tired as well. So I nodded off, and the dream that came to me was even stranger. In it, a woman who looked oddly familiar looked like she was fighting for her life with an unknown assailant, whose face or figure I could never quite pin down.
Next thing I know, I was stirring, and as the announcement for Yasoinaba station came along I got off the train, with the few belongings I didn't leave home in my bag or already sent ahead of myself.
Yasoinaba station looked a bit run-down, but clean otherwise. There wasn't a lot of people waiting outside the station, so I pretty much figured out that the man in the grey shirt, red tie, and with a five o clock shadow was my uncle, Ryotaro Dojima. A young girl hid behind him, likely his daughter. We made our introductions, and that day I met Nanako Dojima, the best little sister anyone could ever have.
My uncle and Nanako headed to the car, but before I could join them I was accosted by a young woman around my age, whose dress looked more at home in the streets of Tokyo than a sleepy town like Inaba. Thanking her for her help with a slip of paper I had inadvertently dropped, I went on and joined my family.
Uncle Ryotaro needed to fill up his car and Nanako needed to use the restroom, so we stopped at the gas station at the corner of the shopping district. The attendant made some remarks about how nothing important happened in this part of the world, and as they offered some spots as a part-time attendant they shook my hand.
Right at that very moment I was stricken by the worst headache in my life.
My uncle and cousin looked me over, clearly concerned that I might be falling ill with something, but the headache had subsided pretty quickly and I said that I merely needed some fresh air. So I took a brief walk around the shopping district, noticing the same girl from earlier that day hanging around as well, and two siblings bickering over some kind of dessert that the sister ate that she wasn't supposed to.
We got back into Uncle Ryotaro's car, and it was almost sunset when we got home.
Dinner that night was sushi take-out; my uncle's cooking skills were non-existent and Nanako's were largely restricted to fried eggs and toast. In the midst of the meal Uncle Ryotaro had to leave for work-related reasons; I found out there and then that he was a detective for the local police. Now alone with Nanako, the young girl went and changed channels until reaching the one thing that gave her solace: the admittedly catchy jingle of the Junes department store.
Here was a latchkey kid even younger than I was, singing along to an ode to mass commercialism so that she wouldn't feel lonely at home.
With dinner done we cleaned up, and with my energy reserves largely depleted I went to bed.
That night I had another strange dream. Was it the sushi this time? I was in the middle of a foggy void, stretching as far as the eye could see, with the floor being made of some weird red tiles. I had a sword in hand, somehow, and I proceeded along a corridor before encountering a mysterious voice, taunting me to reach the truth. There was a figure right in front of me, obscured by the fog, that I managed to get a couple of hits in before it scampered off, and soon enough I woke up.
It appeared that my year at Inaba would be anything but ordinary.
The very next day was my first day at Yasogami High. I walked with Nanako part of the way, with us splitting at the Samegawa Riverbank, as her elementary school was in the other direction.
The trip was not too long, not too short, but proved to be less boring than I had anticipated. A young man on a wobbling bike lost his balance and crashed into a garbage bin, managing to eventually extricate himself. If the people at school were as interesting or off-kilter like him, then my second year of high school would be anything but humdrum. (Of course, in hindsight, that was pretty much tempting fate.)
I found myself in class 2-2, headed by a middle-aged man with a yee yee ass haircut and the biggest overbite this side of Donkey from Shrek. I looked around for some familiar or notable faces, and I saw Garbage Bin Boy from earlier as well as a couple of young ladies who somehow flouted the dress code by dressing in a green jacket and red sweater over their uniforms respectively. Not that I'm one to talk, given than I had my gakuran top left unbuttoned and the collar popped during that year.
So there was an empty seat right next to Green Jacket Girl, and after Morooka used my urban life as a way to caution overly hormonal students, a message came over the PA system asking all teachers to report to the faculty room. So class 2-2 was suddenly left with no teacher overseeing them, and as with every body of students without a watcher is wont to do, the class suddenly started talking things over.
Garbage Bin Boy (who introduced himself as Yosuke Hanamura) made a show of returning a DVD for a film named Trial of the Dragon to Green Jacket Girl (named Chie Satonaka), who unsurprisingly was pissed that Yosuke had wrecked her favorite DVD - which likely happened when the boy crashed into that garbage bin. Chie, for her part, was best friends with Red Sweater Girl (named Yukiko Amagi), who seemed to be the local school hottie - with people coining the term Amagi Challenge referring to her habit of shutting down suitors to the point where I suspected she never had a boyfriend.
Some time later King Moron, aka Morooka, returned and told us students to leave school and head home ASAP. Wondering just what was going on, I left Yasogami with my new acquaintances Chie and Yukiko, whereupon the girl in red was accosted by a soulless-looking guy from another school. She promptly rejected his advances, as I expected - I doubted the Amagi Challenge would be successfully surmounted.
En route home we passed by a street closed off by police tape, and I ran into my uncle who refused to give details beyond finding a dead body. While we were discussing, however, a man dressed in a suit (likely another detective) looked green to the gills and promptly vomited at the curbside, looking squeamish at the crime scene. I learned his name was Adachi from my uncle, who berated the younger man's unprofessional action.
The girls and I eventually split off, as well, as they wanted to check out some stuff while I headed home.
That evening's news revealed some info about the crime scene. It appeared that the dead body belonged to a Mayumi Yamano, a news reporter involved in an affair with a councilman named Taro Namatame, married to a Misuzu Hiiragi. I wasn't really one for celebrity gossip, but the fact that Ms Yamano met an untimely end rankled me nevertheless. I comforted Nanako by singing the Junes theme song with her (six year olds shouldn't really be watching the nightly news, just so you know) and went to bed.
Thankfully, that night was rather quiet, which made the coming days easier to cope with.
----
If you're reading this, then one of two things have happened: Either I'm dead and this tale has been revealed as part of my will, or hopefully things are now at a point where the secrets we keep are now public knowledge. After all, the truth must be set free, and the earlier we face it the better our lives will be.
This is the story of a young man, once living an ordinary life, is now faced with extraordinary circumstances and must now carve a new path and seek the truth.
Of course, that young man is me, Yu Narukami.
(To my children: spoiler alert, this is also the story of how I met your mother.)
----
So my story begins way, way back in 2011. It was a mostly normal year, for the most part, save for the fact that my parents would be heading overseas for a year starting in April on Kirijo Group business.
(Yes, I know it's almost an irony of cosmic proportions that my folks worked for Mitsuru-san's company at the time, making it easier for her group to keep tabs on me, but I digress.)
So since I was already too old to be brought with them, lest I interrupt my quality education under the auspice of the Japanese school system, and too young to be a truly emancipated youth, I was to attend my second year of high school at Yasogami High School, far from the city, while living with my uncle who hadn't seen me since I was a baby in diapers. The alternative was sending me to Mikage-cho, with my dad's cousin, but due to Inaba being a quieter place and my mom overruling my dad, I was gonna spend a year in the countryside.
(Note to children: Don't try and get into a fight with someone who's changed your diaper as a baby. They have all the leverage.)
My parents left on their trip early in April, so I pretty much had a few days to myself before I had to leave for Inaba, which I promptly spent on things like getting in reps with my bass guitar, reading mystery novels, and sorting my model collection.
The day before I had to leave for Inaba, though, I had a rather strange dream. I was sitting within a limousine upholstered in blue velvet, with a bar of sorts to my left and a sofa seating two people across me. One was a woman dressed in blue, matching the decor of the limo, with platinum blonde hair and yellow, nearly cat-like eyes. The other looked more elfin than human, especially with the rather bug-eyed look, pointed ears, and a rather long nose.
However, his grotesque appearance betrayed a gentle voice. "Welcome to the Velvet Room", said the man who introduced himself as Igor. He proceeded to do a tarot reading for me, depicting a great disaster and mystery that I would encounter, and that I had a year to get to the bottom of it.
I thought nothing of the strange dream after I woke, thinking it the result of me having had some food that didn't agree with my stomach. (Of course, events would prove me wrong soon after, but I'm getting ahead of myself.)
So the day when I had to go to Inaba finally came. It was a Monday, April 11th.
I headed to the train station, mostly ignoring the stuff appearing on the TV screens, including an ad for Quelorie Magic featuring a bikini-clad girl around my age, and some stuff about a love triangle involving a city councillor, his enka singer wife, and the television announcer who drove a wedge between them. Little did I know both would be very important things in the year to come, but how was I supposed to know?
Then I got on the train. Pretty long trip, and the weird dream I had earlier made me a bit tired as well. So I nodded off, and the dream that came to me was even stranger. In it, a woman who looked oddly familiar looked like she was fighting for her life with an unknown assailant, whose face or figure I could never quite pin down.
Next thing I know, I was stirring, and as the announcement for Yasoinaba station came along I got off the train, with the few belongings I didn't leave home in my bag or already sent ahead of myself.
Yasoinaba station looked a bit run-down, but clean otherwise. There wasn't a lot of people waiting outside the station, so I pretty much figured out that the man in the grey shirt, red tie, and with a five o clock shadow was my uncle, Ryotaro Dojima. A young girl hid behind him, likely his daughter. We made our introductions, and that day I met Nanako Dojima, the best little sister anyone could ever have.
My uncle and Nanako headed to the car, but before I could join them I was accosted by a young woman around my age, whose dress looked more at home in the streets of Tokyo than a sleepy town like Inaba. Thanking her for her help with a slip of paper I had inadvertently dropped, I went on and joined my family.
Uncle Ryotaro needed to fill up his car and Nanako needed to use the restroom, so we stopped at the gas station at the corner of the shopping district. The attendant made some remarks about how nothing important happened in this part of the world, and as they offered some spots as a part-time attendant they shook my hand.
Right at that very moment I was stricken by the worst headache in my life.
My uncle and cousin looked me over, clearly concerned that I might be falling ill with something, but the headache had subsided pretty quickly and I said that I merely needed some fresh air. So I took a brief walk around the shopping district, noticing the same girl from earlier that day hanging around as well, and two siblings bickering over some kind of dessert that the sister ate that she wasn't supposed to.
We got back into Uncle Ryotaro's car, and it was almost sunset when we got home.
Dinner that night was sushi take-out; my uncle's cooking skills were non-existent and Nanako's were largely restricted to fried eggs and toast. In the midst of the meal Uncle Ryotaro had to leave for work-related reasons; I found out there and then that he was a detective for the local police. Now alone with Nanako, the young girl went and changed channels until reaching the one thing that gave her solace: the admittedly catchy jingle of the Junes department store.
Here was a latchkey kid even younger than I was, singing along to an ode to mass commercialism so that she wouldn't feel lonely at home.
With dinner done we cleaned up, and with my energy reserves largely depleted I went to bed.
That night I had another strange dream. Was it the sushi this time? I was in the middle of a foggy void, stretching as far as the eye could see, with the floor being made of some weird red tiles. I had a sword in hand, somehow, and I proceeded along a corridor before encountering a mysterious voice, taunting me to reach the truth. There was a figure right in front of me, obscured by the fog, that I managed to get a couple of hits in before it scampered off, and soon enough I woke up.
It appeared that my year at Inaba would be anything but ordinary.
The very next day was my first day at Yasogami High. I walked with Nanako part of the way, with us splitting at the Samegawa Riverbank, as her elementary school was in the other direction.
The trip was not too long, not too short, but proved to be less boring than I had anticipated. A young man on a wobbling bike lost his balance and crashed into a garbage bin, managing to eventually extricate himself. If the people at school were as interesting or off-kilter like him, then my second year of high school would be anything but humdrum. (Of course, in hindsight, that was pretty much tempting fate.)
I found myself in class 2-2, headed by a middle-aged man with a yee yee ass haircut and the biggest overbite this side of Donkey from Shrek. I looked around for some familiar or notable faces, and I saw Garbage Bin Boy from earlier as well as a couple of young ladies who somehow flouted the dress code by dressing in a green jacket and red sweater over their uniforms respectively. Not that I'm one to talk, given than I had my gakuran top left unbuttoned and the collar popped during that year.
So there was an empty seat right next to Green Jacket Girl, and after Morooka used my urban life as a way to caution overly hormonal students, a message came over the PA system asking all teachers to report to the faculty room. So class 2-2 was suddenly left with no teacher overseeing them, and as with every body of students without a watcher is wont to do, the class suddenly started talking things over.
Garbage Bin Boy (who introduced himself as Yosuke Hanamura) made a show of returning a DVD for a film named Trial of the Dragon to Green Jacket Girl (named Chie Satonaka), who unsurprisingly was pissed that Yosuke had wrecked her favorite DVD - which likely happened when the boy crashed into that garbage bin. Chie, for her part, was best friends with Red Sweater Girl (named Yukiko Amagi), who seemed to be the local school hottie - with people coining the term Amagi Challenge referring to her habit of shutting down suitors to the point where I suspected she never had a boyfriend.
Some time later King Moron, aka Morooka, returned and told us students to leave school and head home ASAP. Wondering just what was going on, I left Yasogami with my new acquaintances Chie and Yukiko, whereupon the girl in red was accosted by a soulless-looking guy from another school. She promptly rejected his advances, as I expected - I doubted the Amagi Challenge would be successfully surmounted.
En route home we passed by a street closed off by police tape, and I ran into my uncle who refused to give details beyond finding a dead body. While we were discussing, however, a man dressed in a suit (likely another detective) looked green to the gills and promptly vomited at the curbside, looking squeamish at the crime scene. I learned his name was Adachi from my uncle, who berated the younger man's unprofessional action.
The girls and I eventually split off, as well, as they wanted to check out some stuff while I headed home.
That evening's news revealed some info about the crime scene. It appeared that the dead body belonged to a Mayumi Yamano, a news reporter involved in an affair with a councilman named Taro Namatame, married to a Misuzu Hiiragi. I wasn't really one for celebrity gossip, but the fact that Ms Yamano met an untimely end rankled me nevertheless. I comforted Nanako by singing the Junes theme song with her (six year olds shouldn't really be watching the nightly news, just so you know) and went to bed.
Thankfully, that night was rather quiet, which made the coming days easier to cope with.
Chapter 2: Televisions Don't Work That Way! ...Do They?
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
Wednesday the 13th (doesn't have the same ring as Friday the 13th) came along. I found Yosuke crashed into another garbage bin again - I think they have a thing for him. Of course, I helped him, as one of the people I was en route to befriending here in this small town. Yosuke explained that Ms Yamano, the victim from the crime scene the day before, was found hanging from a television antenna. Now, I'm certainly not kinkshaming anyone, but I certainly want no part of getting hung from an antenna or water tower or something.
King Moron took the opportunity to berate us during homeroom, using his moral concerns to upbraid us for the crime of being adolescent men and women. Even so, I could tell the man was at least a competent teacher, if an abrasive one at that. Couldn't be worse than that guy who threw pieces of chalk at students from a school in Tokyo, no?
Given that we were in the boonies, the local produce and livestock was certainly a highlight of the place, and that included grilled steak - the beef industry having somehow found a home in Yasoinaba. Yosuke offered to treat me to a place he knew we could get it on the cheap, and just as I was about to say yes Chie inserted herself and Yukiko into the conversation, using the fact that Yosuke had to make amends for the broken DVD as her leverage.
(Side note: would it surprise anyone if I told you Yosuke and Chie would get hitched? I was best man and Yukiko was the maid of honor, if anyone's asking.)
Thankfully for Yosuke's wallet Yukiko declined, citing her obligations at the family inn; between her traditionally beautiful looks and being the heiress to the local tourist attraction, it was no wonder the Amagi Challenge was a thing. So it was us three who headed up to Junes, whereupon the headphones-wearing boy treated us to some steak. It wasn't the only steak place in town, as I would discover, but given that Yosuke was the son of the manager (and was a part-time employee himself), this wasn't all that surprising. Yosuke, for his part, was a city boy like I was, having moved to Inaba just six months prior due to his dad becoming manager of this place.
In between Chie wolfing down strips of marinated meat we ran into an upperclassman of ours, Saki Konishi, who happened to also be working part-time at Junes, and the girl I remembered bickering with her younger brother on my first day in town. Yosuke clearly carried a torch for her, and sadly for Yosuke Saki-senpai wasn't into him the same way. I didn't want to burst my friend's bubble, however, and Chie wanted to cheer him up by bringing up a local legend known as the Midnight Channel.
Supposedly, if you watched a switched off television on a rainy night just as the clock struck twelve, you would be able to see the image of your future soulmate. I filed it in my mind as a (sub)urban legend, but given how things were progressing in my so far less than a week stay at Inaba, I knew I had to try it sometime. Plus what did I know? Maybe I might end up with someone famous.
(At least I can't tempt fate at this point, knowing what I know now.)
Dinner was a lonely affair with Nanako and I having some stuff I brought over from Junes, when Uncle Ryotaro arrived and proceeded to get chewed out by his young daughter. The three of us watched the news, with the facts about the Yamano affair repeated, when a somewhat familiar face appeared as an interviewee. Her face and voice were obscured, but the semblance to someone I knew was apparent. It appeared that the young lady was the one who found Yamano's body, and was therefore important as a witness.
I waited as the clock ticked down to midnight. Leaving my television off, the stormy night provided an eerie atmosphere as I watched the TV. Static interspersed with images of a young woman in distress appeared before my very eyes, and my head suddenly hurt as I heard the words
clearly reverberate within my skull. On a whim, I touched my television screen, and the most shocking part was that it rippled like the surface of a still pond. My hand went through the TV, and I was suddenly being pulled by something! Flailing around for a bit, whatever it was that caught me suddenly let me go and led to me banging my head on my work table. I'm surprised that didn't cause any further damage, and some may attribute my words to that head injury, but I guess that doesn't matter now.
The next morning Chie forced herself under my umbrella, apparently having broken hers due to her habit of LARPing the kung fu movies she loves to watch. At school we met Sofue-sensei, who was enough of an Egyptophile to the point she wore a pharaoh's headdress every darn day.
After classes wrapped up for the day, Yosuke came up to me, worried about something. Realizing it might have something to do with the Midnight Channel, I let him talk it out, his worry for Saki-senpai at the forefront of his mind. Chie came over to join us, but not Yukiko; her duties at the inn taking her free time away from her. The three of us then discussed what we had seen on the Midnight Channel, with the kung fu girl shocked that her apparent soulmate was a girl. (Not that it matters much, mind you, and as later events would show, that wasn't a surprising fact in the end.) I reported my getting halfway sucked into my TV, and my new friends wanted me to test it out at a larger TV, to see if I could fit all the way through.
Of course, this was where Yosuke's Prince of Junes status came in. The electronics section at the department store had some TVs for sale, and the small consumer base plus a disdain for Junes' usurping of local businesses meant that places like the electronics section rarely saw traffic.
So there I was, awaiting the moment of truth. Was that thing about getting sucked into a TV just a delusion on my end, or was it something real?
I put my hand in front of the large display unit, and found myself wide-eyed as my hand went into the television, with Yosuke and Chie as witnesses. Soon I found myself halfway stuck, and as the two were scrambling around needing to pee and clearly scared out of her mind respectively, they crashed into me, sending the three of us into the television.
What we saw was a rather surreal sight. We were in what looked to be a weird TV sound stage, but instead of a normal TV studio the place was covered in a yellow fog as far as the eye could see. The worrying part was that we couldn't see a way out, as the way we entered didn't seem to be there.
We walked around, looking for an exit, with the yellow fog hindering our sight. Soon enough, however, we happened upon what looked like a bedroom, a large window letting in pale yellow light. But it was the rest of the room that unnerved me - the walls were covered in defaced posters of a woman in a kimono, with yellow and red paint splattered as well. A noose hung from the ceiling, made of a red rope, while a chair stood ominously nearby. It felt like looking at the suicide scene of a jilted lover. Of course, just as the three of us were frightened at the sights, Yosuke's call of nature crept up on him, and his desire to relieve himself seemed to take precedence in his mind before anything else.
We made our way back to the soundstage, distressed at the horrifying sights we had just seen, when a strange, round figure began to approach us! As it got closer, its appearance became clearer: it was essentially a bear mascot.
And the strangest part of all was that said bear mascot talked, and not in the way people in mascot suits do - the bear's face smiled and contorted as it spoke to us, rather uncannily. After explaining our presence, the bear began to complain about people being thrown into its world, and that it would help us find a way out. The strange bear managed to somehow produce a stack of smaller TVs out of nowhere, and pushed us out, back into the real world.
When we had gotten out it was time for a flash sale on dinner items - we had spent a fair amount of time inside the TV, then. We recognized the defaced pictures as resembling those of Misuzu Hiiragi, whose album was stocked at the Junes electronics store, meaning that room we had seen had some relation to the Yamano affair.
That evening, we sat around the low table watching television over bowls of ramen for dinner. Uncle Ryotaro asked me about Saki-senpai - who not only appeared to be the witness to Ms Yamano's body, but also didn't go to school that day. No wonder Yosuke was worried. The news did bring one more tidbit of info, however - Yamano was staying at the Amagi Inn, where Yukiko was. Things began to look more and more entangled...
Friday arrived, and things were looking more ominous. I overheard two students gossiping about police presence, and when I arrived at school I was ushered into the school auditorium for an assembly. An assembly this early into the term felt foreboding, and the strange knot I had in my guts was constricting even further as my premonitions feared the worst.
Saki Konishi had been found, dead.
King Moron took the opportunity to berate us during homeroom, using his moral concerns to upbraid us for the crime of being adolescent men and women. Even so, I could tell the man was at least a competent teacher, if an abrasive one at that. Couldn't be worse than that guy who threw pieces of chalk at students from a school in Tokyo, no?
Given that we were in the boonies, the local produce and livestock was certainly a highlight of the place, and that included grilled steak - the beef industry having somehow found a home in Yasoinaba. Yosuke offered to treat me to a place he knew we could get it on the cheap, and just as I was about to say yes Chie inserted herself and Yukiko into the conversation, using the fact that Yosuke had to make amends for the broken DVD as her leverage.
(Side note: would it surprise anyone if I told you Yosuke and Chie would get hitched? I was best man and Yukiko was the maid of honor, if anyone's asking.)
Thankfully for Yosuke's wallet Yukiko declined, citing her obligations at the family inn; between her traditionally beautiful looks and being the heiress to the local tourist attraction, it was no wonder the Amagi Challenge was a thing. So it was us three who headed up to Junes, whereupon the headphones-wearing boy treated us to some steak. It wasn't the only steak place in town, as I would discover, but given that Yosuke was the son of the manager (and was a part-time employee himself), this wasn't all that surprising. Yosuke, for his part, was a city boy like I was, having moved to Inaba just six months prior due to his dad becoming manager of this place.
In between Chie wolfing down strips of marinated meat we ran into an upperclassman of ours, Saki Konishi, who happened to also be working part-time at Junes, and the girl I remembered bickering with her younger brother on my first day in town. Yosuke clearly carried a torch for her, and sadly for Yosuke Saki-senpai wasn't into him the same way. I didn't want to burst my friend's bubble, however, and Chie wanted to cheer him up by bringing up a local legend known as the Midnight Channel.
Supposedly, if you watched a switched off television on a rainy night just as the clock struck twelve, you would be able to see the image of your future soulmate. I filed it in my mind as a (sub)urban legend, but given how things were progressing in my so far less than a week stay at Inaba, I knew I had to try it sometime. Plus what did I know? Maybe I might end up with someone famous.
(At least I can't tempt fate at this point, knowing what I know now.)
Dinner was a lonely affair with Nanako and I having some stuff I brought over from Junes, when Uncle Ryotaro arrived and proceeded to get chewed out by his young daughter. The three of us watched the news, with the facts about the Yamano affair repeated, when a somewhat familiar face appeared as an interviewee. Her face and voice were obscured, but the semblance to someone I knew was apparent. It appeared that the young lady was the one who found Yamano's body, and was therefore important as a witness.
I waited as the clock ticked down to midnight. Leaving my television off, the stormy night provided an eerie atmosphere as I watched the TV. Static interspersed with images of a young woman in distress appeared before my very eyes, and my head suddenly hurt as I heard the words
"I am thou, thou art I"
clearly reverberate within my skull. On a whim, I touched my television screen, and the most shocking part was that it rippled like the surface of a still pond. My hand went through the TV, and I was suddenly being pulled by something! Flailing around for a bit, whatever it was that caught me suddenly let me go and led to me banging my head on my work table. I'm surprised that didn't cause any further damage, and some may attribute my words to that head injury, but I guess that doesn't matter now.
The next morning Chie forced herself under my umbrella, apparently having broken hers due to her habit of LARPing the kung fu movies she loves to watch. At school we met Sofue-sensei, who was enough of an Egyptophile to the point she wore a pharaoh's headdress every darn day.
After classes wrapped up for the day, Yosuke came up to me, worried about something. Realizing it might have something to do with the Midnight Channel, I let him talk it out, his worry for Saki-senpai at the forefront of his mind. Chie came over to join us, but not Yukiko; her duties at the inn taking her free time away from her. The three of us then discussed what we had seen on the Midnight Channel, with the kung fu girl shocked that her apparent soulmate was a girl. (Not that it matters much, mind you, and as later events would show, that wasn't a surprising fact in the end.) I reported my getting halfway sucked into my TV, and my new friends wanted me to test it out at a larger TV, to see if I could fit all the way through.
Of course, this was where Yosuke's Prince of Junes status came in. The electronics section at the department store had some TVs for sale, and the small consumer base plus a disdain for Junes' usurping of local businesses meant that places like the electronics section rarely saw traffic.
So there I was, awaiting the moment of truth. Was that thing about getting sucked into a TV just a delusion on my end, or was it something real?
I put my hand in front of the large display unit, and found myself wide-eyed as my hand went into the television, with Yosuke and Chie as witnesses. Soon I found myself halfway stuck, and as the two were scrambling around needing to pee and clearly scared out of her mind respectively, they crashed into me, sending the three of us into the television.
What we saw was a rather surreal sight. We were in what looked to be a weird TV sound stage, but instead of a normal TV studio the place was covered in a yellow fog as far as the eye could see. The worrying part was that we couldn't see a way out, as the way we entered didn't seem to be there.
We walked around, looking for an exit, with the yellow fog hindering our sight. Soon enough, however, we happened upon what looked like a bedroom, a large window letting in pale yellow light. But it was the rest of the room that unnerved me - the walls were covered in defaced posters of a woman in a kimono, with yellow and red paint splattered as well. A noose hung from the ceiling, made of a red rope, while a chair stood ominously nearby. It felt like looking at the suicide scene of a jilted lover. Of course, just as the three of us were frightened at the sights, Yosuke's call of nature crept up on him, and his desire to relieve himself seemed to take precedence in his mind before anything else.
We made our way back to the soundstage, distressed at the horrifying sights we had just seen, when a strange, round figure began to approach us! As it got closer, its appearance became clearer: it was essentially a bear mascot.
And the strangest part of all was that said bear mascot talked, and not in the way people in mascot suits do - the bear's face smiled and contorted as it spoke to us, rather uncannily. After explaining our presence, the bear began to complain about people being thrown into its world, and that it would help us find a way out. The strange bear managed to somehow produce a stack of smaller TVs out of nowhere, and pushed us out, back into the real world.
When we had gotten out it was time for a flash sale on dinner items - we had spent a fair amount of time inside the TV, then. We recognized the defaced pictures as resembling those of Misuzu Hiiragi, whose album was stocked at the Junes electronics store, meaning that room we had seen had some relation to the Yamano affair.
That evening, we sat around the low table watching television over bowls of ramen for dinner. Uncle Ryotaro asked me about Saki-senpai - who not only appeared to be the witness to Ms Yamano's body, but also didn't go to school that day. No wonder Yosuke was worried. The news did bring one more tidbit of info, however - Yamano was staying at the Amagi Inn, where Yukiko was. Things began to look more and more entangled...
Friday arrived, and things were looking more ominous. I overheard two students gossiping about police presence, and when I arrived at school I was ushered into the school auditorium for an assembly. An assembly this early into the term felt foreboding, and the strange knot I had in my guts was constricting even further as my premonitions feared the worst.
Saki Konishi had been found, dead.
Chapter 3: Japan Daddy and Disco Frog
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
I had half expected that Yosuke would be devastated, reduced to a blubbering wreck by the news of his crush's demise. But my newfound friend had more mettle in him than I assumed, and after the assembly we gathered alongside Chie where he made a bold proposal.
Due to the fact that Saki-senpai was found in a similar manner to Ms Yamano, and the rumors of people being thrown into the TV, Yosuke proposed using my magic TV crossing powers to get into the TV World and investigate what might have happened. While I had my apprehensions, I certainly wasn't the type of person to leave a friend hanging, especially if they were going through a really rough patch.
So off to Junes we went, following in Yosuke's direction. By the time we had arrived at the electronics section, the boy was waiting for us with a golf club and a long rope. The plan was that Yosuke was to be tethered with the rope, with Chie staying in the real world and make sure we never got lost, and I would be armed with the club in case something dire happened.
An oft-cited adage is that no plan survives contact with the enemy. The moment we had made it back into the TV World, the rope tethering Yosuke had snapped, leaving Chie in an awkward position (thankfully, no one saw it fit to ask a 16 year old girl what she was doing with a rope in Junes' electronics section). Thankfully, however, entering the same TV as our last trip meant that we ended back in the same soundstage covered by yellow fog. All that was then needed was someone to guide us, like that odd bear.
Speaking of the devil, the ursine mascot met us, promptly accused us of throwing people into the TV, but Yosuke and I quickly dispelled his assumptions, pointing out that we never threw those people in and that someone else might have done it.
The bear remained skeptical, and soon he and Yosuke got into a bit of a quarrel, to the point where my classmate and friend threatened to rip off the mascot's head, and so he did.
The bear mascot was an empty, dark void.
Thankfully, however, cooler heads prevailed, and the bear proposed to help us find the culprit, whoever that may be. The words of a long-nosed man in a suit echoed to me, and I realized that this was our best lead in a nascent investigation. Plus, helping people out always worked out in the end for me thus far - why ruin my own streak?
At that point, we made formal introductions, with the mascot making himself known as Teddie (a rather on-the-nose name, if you ask me, and even moreso when he told me his Japanese name. Imagine naming your dog, "Dog".) Teddie then produced two pairs of eyeglasses from somewhere (either hammerspace or the endless void within his mascot suit, you decide), and gave them to the two of us.
Upon wearing them, it felt like the fog had by and large lifted, and now we could see further than our own noses. Teddie proposed to be our guide and moral support as well, which was as well given that he was essentially an empty suit who would get torn up in a real fight at that point.
(Further events would make him even better over time, but again I'm getting ahead of myself.)
Teddie then led us two to a weird facsimile of the Shopping District, with the buildings tinged yellow, the sky an odd amalgam of red and black, and most shops unable to be interacted with. Eventually Yosuke and I came upon a shop labeled "Konishi Liquors"; this must have been the family business Saki-senpai's family ran.
But as we approached the red-and-black entryway of the store we were ambushed by black goops with masks! Shadows! The goopy masks then coalesced themselves into striped orbs adorned with a mouth and a really long tongue. Rather icky, if you ask me.
And while Yosuke and Teddie were caught unawares by this incursion of nightmarish creatures, a voice came into my mind, speaking itself into existence.
A card adorned with a white and black mask appeared in my right hand, and as if operating on instinct my mind went on autopilot, eager to reveal the true self. The other side was empty at first, yet as a light shone from the empty face a word came unbidden to my mind.
A smile made its way to my face as I crushed the card and blue flames erupted around it, and before I saw it I felt an oddly familiar presence behind me. What looked like an android from a science fiction movie, but dressed in a long black trenchcoat with the Imperial chrysanthemums on its shoulders, wielding a naginata came in and stood at my beck and call. Izanagi, came its name to my mind, being the namesake of the founding god of Japan. The storytelling part of my mind asked where Izanami was, but Izanagi's silence rendered that a moot point.
(Of course, as events almost a year later proved, that wasn't a bad question to ask.)
So there I stood, blocking off the two Shadows from Yosuke and Teddie, wielding a golf club and having Izanagi at my side. Teddie then told me that Shadows, just like people, are good at some things and bad at others, meaning that they had strengths and weaknesses too. The mental link I had with Izanagi showed that the Persona had a basic electricity spell at its disposal, so I did not hesitate to use it.
"Izanagi, Zio!" I cried out, summoning another card and crushing it in my palm. The trenchcoat-clad deity complied, shocking one of the floating tongues and sending it to the ground. With it downed, I then took the opportunity to shock the other one, downing it as well and giving me a chance to strike one with the golf club. Eventually, however, both Shadows got up, and clearly weren't happy with my tricks, but I could tell they had little energy left. So after fending off their attacks, I repeated my strategy once more, flooring them with casts of Zio and following up with my club.
The two shadows that had threatened us then dissipated, opening the path and impressing Teddie to the point where he called me Sensei, despite the fact that I wasn't interested in a teaching career, and never will be. Of course, Yosuke wasn't happy at that, but soon our attentions were diverted to some disembodied voices.
Voices that showed displeasure at Junes' encroachment on small town life, with the voices even disapproving of Saki-senpai's choice to work at the department store. Now motivated, Yosuke and I entered the Shadow Liquor store.
More voices came, berating Saki-senpai for her employment at Junes, presumably from her father. And now Yosuke was rather concerned, seeing a side of his Senpai that he never wanted to hear. That she thought he was a real pain in the ass (her words, not mine). Even disdaining my friend for acting like a simp and basically ruining her life.
The strong façade my friend had built up was crumbling, and it did not get better when the two of us saw a doppelganger of Yosuke at the corner of the store.
The other Yosuke (who looked like he had yellow eyes) continued taunting our Yosuke, in particular pinning down his insecurities at being a directionless city boy who desperately looked for a purpose in life and friends to share life experiences with. In short, the boy just wanted to be special and he was denying everything!
Shadow Yosuke kept needling my friend until he reached his breaking point. "Screw that! I don't know you! You can't be me, you son of a bitch!"
And there it went, the first time I saw someone deny their shadow self, giving me (and eventually my friends) a much harder time than if they had accepted it. But let me be clear on this: accepting your Shadow is no trivial matter of simply saying "yeah, I'm you". They are, after all, the deepest, darkest parts of us we don't want to accept, and distorted beyond recognition and acceptance.
At that declaration of denial, Shadow Yosuke began to mutate, turning into some weird frog-centaur thing with a long scarf around its humanoid neck. "I am a shadow... The true self", said the Shadow, and my arduous fight with it began.
The Shadow let out a strong wind, knocking me down, and I realized that Izanagi gave me a weakness to wind (just as it logically gave me resistance to electricity). I had to plan around that, before Shadow Yosuke could make mincemeat of me. Thankfully, however, the Shadow wasted its momentum by laughing maniacally, giving me time and space to get back up and continue the fight.
A thought came quickly to me - if it used wind attacks, and if electricity and wind were polar opposites on the elemental chart, then that meant my own electric attacks would be its weak point. "Zio!", I cried out, summoning Izanagi to shock the Shadow and exhausting me a bit more. As I expected, however, the shock was enough to down the centaur-frog, giving me an opening to attack it once more. Of course, Shadow Yosuke managed to get back up soon after, but this time I was more ready for its attacks. At one point, it began guarding, and Teddie gave me a heads-up that this meant electric attacks wouldn't phase it as much, so I decided to bide my time until it lowered its guard.
The cycle between Izanagi and I on one side and Shadow Yosuke eventually ended when after stunning it with a lightning strike I gave it a good clubbing on the head. The Shadow was weakened, returned to its mimicry of my friend, who was still denying that he and the Shadow were one and the same. I gave him a knowing smile, however - "you're still you, Yosuke" - and as Yosuke sighed, he finally accepted his Shadow, and another marvelous thing happened.
The Shadow had metamorphosed again, this time looking similar to the centaur-frog I fought just minutes ago, but basically looking like 70s John Travolta mixed with a ninja mixed with, well, a frog. "Jiraiya", my friend said, awakening to his very own Persona.
Teddie had a bit of a tidbit for us as we were leaving, however - Shadows being drawn to humans who they then would attack explained why Yamano and Saki-senpai died after being thrown into the TV, and why they were then found after a foggy night.
Teddie felt lonely just as we were to cross back to the real world, but I promised to him there and then that we would return, eventually. Of course, this paled in comparison to the reaction we got when we returned.
A tearful, despondent Chie bawled her eyes out at the sight of us returning - and promptly chewed us out for leaving her all alone, wrangling several steaks from us as penance. (Can you believe that girl's one of Inaba's up and coming officers now? I'd have been incredulous at the time, certainly).
On the way home I passed by Samegawa Flood Plain when I saw a young woman in a pink kimono. Approaching her, I immediately recognized her as Yukiko, Chie's friend, who wasn't in school earlier (and caused her friend some bit of worry). She explained to me that the inn was rather busy that day, causing her to miss school due to running the inn in place of her ill mother.
The evening news that Nanako and I watched focused on Saki-senpai's demise, and the angle of it being related to a serial killer. My cousin was despondent at her father not being around, and as she dragooned me into chores we watched as the focus shifted to the Amagi Inn, focusing on the fact that Yukiko had taken up managing the inn.
Dread pooled in my gut. If my theory about the victims being people who had appeared on TV recently (with Yamano appearing as part of the love triangle, and Saki-senpai appearing due to her discovering the former's body) was correct,
then that meant Yukiko Amagi, my classmate, was a dead girl walking.
Due to the fact that Saki-senpai was found in a similar manner to Ms Yamano, and the rumors of people being thrown into the TV, Yosuke proposed using my magic TV crossing powers to get into the TV World and investigate what might have happened. While I had my apprehensions, I certainly wasn't the type of person to leave a friend hanging, especially if they were going through a really rough patch.
So off to Junes we went, following in Yosuke's direction. By the time we had arrived at the electronics section, the boy was waiting for us with a golf club and a long rope. The plan was that Yosuke was to be tethered with the rope, with Chie staying in the real world and make sure we never got lost, and I would be armed with the club in case something dire happened.
An oft-cited adage is that no plan survives contact with the enemy. The moment we had made it back into the TV World, the rope tethering Yosuke had snapped, leaving Chie in an awkward position (thankfully, no one saw it fit to ask a 16 year old girl what she was doing with a rope in Junes' electronics section). Thankfully, however, entering the same TV as our last trip meant that we ended back in the same soundstage covered by yellow fog. All that was then needed was someone to guide us, like that odd bear.
Speaking of the devil, the ursine mascot met us, promptly accused us of throwing people into the TV, but Yosuke and I quickly dispelled his assumptions, pointing out that we never threw those people in and that someone else might have done it.
The bear remained skeptical, and soon he and Yosuke got into a bit of a quarrel, to the point where my classmate and friend threatened to rip off the mascot's head, and so he did.
The bear mascot was an empty, dark void.
Thankfully, however, cooler heads prevailed, and the bear proposed to help us find the culprit, whoever that may be. The words of a long-nosed man in a suit echoed to me, and I realized that this was our best lead in a nascent investigation. Plus, helping people out always worked out in the end for me thus far - why ruin my own streak?
At that point, we made formal introductions, with the mascot making himself known as Teddie (a rather on-the-nose name, if you ask me, and even moreso when he told me his Japanese name. Imagine naming your dog, "Dog".) Teddie then produced two pairs of eyeglasses from somewhere (either hammerspace or the endless void within his mascot suit, you decide), and gave them to the two of us.
Upon wearing them, it felt like the fog had by and large lifted, and now we could see further than our own noses. Teddie proposed to be our guide and moral support as well, which was as well given that he was essentially an empty suit who would get torn up in a real fight at that point.
(Further events would make him even better over time, but again I'm getting ahead of myself.)
Teddie then led us two to a weird facsimile of the Shopping District, with the buildings tinged yellow, the sky an odd amalgam of red and black, and most shops unable to be interacted with. Eventually Yosuke and I came upon a shop labeled "Konishi Liquors"; this must have been the family business Saki-senpai's family ran.
But as we approached the red-and-black entryway of the store we were ambushed by black goops with masks! Shadows! The goopy masks then coalesced themselves into striped orbs adorned with a mouth and a really long tongue. Rather icky, if you ask me.
And while Yosuke and Teddie were caught unawares by this incursion of nightmarish creatures, a voice came into my mind, speaking itself into existence.
A card adorned with a white and black mask appeared in my right hand, and as if operating on instinct my mind went on autopilot, eager to reveal the true self. The other side was empty at first, yet as a light shone from the empty face a word came unbidden to my mind.
"Per-"
"So-"
"NA."
"So-"
"NA."
A smile made its way to my face as I crushed the card and blue flames erupted around it, and before I saw it I felt an oddly familiar presence behind me. What looked like an android from a science fiction movie, but dressed in a long black trenchcoat with the Imperial chrysanthemums on its shoulders, wielding a naginata came in and stood at my beck and call. Izanagi, came its name to my mind, being the namesake of the founding god of Japan. The storytelling part of my mind asked where Izanami was, but Izanagi's silence rendered that a moot point.
(Of course, as events almost a year later proved, that wasn't a bad question to ask.)
So there I stood, blocking off the two Shadows from Yosuke and Teddie, wielding a golf club and having Izanagi at my side. Teddie then told me that Shadows, just like people, are good at some things and bad at others, meaning that they had strengths and weaknesses too. The mental link I had with Izanagi showed that the Persona had a basic electricity spell at its disposal, so I did not hesitate to use it.
"Izanagi, Zio!" I cried out, summoning another card and crushing it in my palm. The trenchcoat-clad deity complied, shocking one of the floating tongues and sending it to the ground. With it downed, I then took the opportunity to shock the other one, downing it as well and giving me a chance to strike one with the golf club. Eventually, however, both Shadows got up, and clearly weren't happy with my tricks, but I could tell they had little energy left. So after fending off their attacks, I repeated my strategy once more, flooring them with casts of Zio and following up with my club.
The two shadows that had threatened us then dissipated, opening the path and impressing Teddie to the point where he called me Sensei, despite the fact that I wasn't interested in a teaching career, and never will be. Of course, Yosuke wasn't happy at that, but soon our attentions were diverted to some disembodied voices.
Voices that showed displeasure at Junes' encroachment on small town life, with the voices even disapproving of Saki-senpai's choice to work at the department store. Now motivated, Yosuke and I entered the Shadow Liquor store.
More voices came, berating Saki-senpai for her employment at Junes, presumably from her father. And now Yosuke was rather concerned, seeing a side of his Senpai that he never wanted to hear. That she thought he was a real pain in the ass (her words, not mine). Even disdaining my friend for acting like a simp and basically ruining her life.
The strong façade my friend had built up was crumbling, and it did not get better when the two of us saw a doppelganger of Yosuke at the corner of the store.
The other Yosuke (who looked like he had yellow eyes) continued taunting our Yosuke, in particular pinning down his insecurities at being a directionless city boy who desperately looked for a purpose in life and friends to share life experiences with. In short, the boy just wanted to be special and he was denying everything!
Shadow Yosuke kept needling my friend until he reached his breaking point. "Screw that! I don't know you! You can't be me, you son of a bitch!"
And there it went, the first time I saw someone deny their shadow self, giving me (and eventually my friends) a much harder time than if they had accepted it. But let me be clear on this: accepting your Shadow is no trivial matter of simply saying "yeah, I'm you". They are, after all, the deepest, darkest parts of us we don't want to accept, and distorted beyond recognition and acceptance.
At that declaration of denial, Shadow Yosuke began to mutate, turning into some weird frog-centaur thing with a long scarf around its humanoid neck. "I am a shadow... The true self", said the Shadow, and my arduous fight with it began.
The Shadow let out a strong wind, knocking me down, and I realized that Izanagi gave me a weakness to wind (just as it logically gave me resistance to electricity). I had to plan around that, before Shadow Yosuke could make mincemeat of me. Thankfully, however, the Shadow wasted its momentum by laughing maniacally, giving me time and space to get back up and continue the fight.
A thought came quickly to me - if it used wind attacks, and if electricity and wind were polar opposites on the elemental chart, then that meant my own electric attacks would be its weak point. "Zio!", I cried out, summoning Izanagi to shock the Shadow and exhausting me a bit more. As I expected, however, the shock was enough to down the centaur-frog, giving me an opening to attack it once more. Of course, Shadow Yosuke managed to get back up soon after, but this time I was more ready for its attacks. At one point, it began guarding, and Teddie gave me a heads-up that this meant electric attacks wouldn't phase it as much, so I decided to bide my time until it lowered its guard.
The cycle between Izanagi and I on one side and Shadow Yosuke eventually ended when after stunning it with a lightning strike I gave it a good clubbing on the head. The Shadow was weakened, returned to its mimicry of my friend, who was still denying that he and the Shadow were one and the same. I gave him a knowing smile, however - "you're still you, Yosuke" - and as Yosuke sighed, he finally accepted his Shadow, and another marvelous thing happened.
The Shadow had metamorphosed again, this time looking similar to the centaur-frog I fought just minutes ago, but basically looking like 70s John Travolta mixed with a ninja mixed with, well, a frog. "Jiraiya", my friend said, awakening to his very own Persona.
Teddie had a bit of a tidbit for us as we were leaving, however - Shadows being drawn to humans who they then would attack explained why Yamano and Saki-senpai died after being thrown into the TV, and why they were then found after a foggy night.
Teddie felt lonely just as we were to cross back to the real world, but I promised to him there and then that we would return, eventually. Of course, this paled in comparison to the reaction we got when we returned.
A tearful, despondent Chie bawled her eyes out at the sight of us returning - and promptly chewed us out for leaving her all alone, wrangling several steaks from us as penance. (Can you believe that girl's one of Inaba's up and coming officers now? I'd have been incredulous at the time, certainly).
----
On the way home I passed by Samegawa Flood Plain when I saw a young woman in a pink kimono. Approaching her, I immediately recognized her as Yukiko, Chie's friend, who wasn't in school earlier (and caused her friend some bit of worry). She explained to me that the inn was rather busy that day, causing her to miss school due to running the inn in place of her ill mother.
The evening news that Nanako and I watched focused on Saki-senpai's demise, and the angle of it being related to a serial killer. My cousin was despondent at her father not being around, and as she dragooned me into chores we watched as the focus shifted to the Amagi Inn, focusing on the fact that Yukiko had taken up managing the inn.
Dread pooled in my gut. If my theory about the victims being people who had appeared on TV recently (with Yamano appearing as part of the love triangle, and Saki-senpai appearing due to her discovering the former's body) was correct,
then that meant Yukiko Amagi, my classmate, was a dead girl walking.
Chapter 4: Yes, Your Princess Is In This Castle
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
I waited for midnight with bated breath, hoping that my assumption for the worst wasn't realized. After watching a news report on heavy fog expected to flare up during the year, the clock struck midnight, and I watched on the deactivated TV screen to see what would happen next.
Alas, it was a girl in a kimono, and while the image was blurry I had a horrifying realization at who it could be. I did have to try one thing, however - if I could get into the TV then I should be able to get to them, right? My hand went through, as expected, but the image disappeared, as the reflection in a still pool of water is disturbed by anything that touches it.
I went to bed, fretting, and went into a dream in a very familiar room. Igor greeted me, and after pleasantries Igor and Margaret both notified me that I would become a formal guest of the Velvet Room. This meant that I had the advantage of securing their services for the coming year, which I will get to later. In addition, I apparently was a Wild Card, a person with infinite potential which included the ability to use Personae of various kinds. Kind of like a blank tile in Scrabble or the joker card in a card game. (Speaking of Jokers... well, I have a story about that. But it's too soon to tell at this point.) In addition, the bonds I'd form with various people would strengthen the Personae I acquired during my journey, in what I'd describe as "animé power of friendship" stuff. (And I would definitely need every little bit of it.)
The next day was Saturday, which meant mornings at school and the rest of the day to ourselves. Yosuke approached me on the way to school, having seen the Midnight Channel as well; he wasn't sure who it was, and I didn't want to share my suspicion yet lest I be proven wrong. Apparently he had gained the power to go into the TV by himself too, which may be a perk of those of us with the Persona ability. The trust Yosuke showed in me then flashed into my mind the image of a card, with the number I on it. The Magician, said the voice in my head as I formed the first of my "Social Links".
Arriving at school, Chie approached us, asking if Yosuke or I saw Yukiko. Neither of us had seen her either, and the tomboy's attempts at contacting her friend were futile up to this morning - Yukiko said she would be at school, but neither hide nor hair of the heiress appeared at Yasogami. Chie tried calling her again one more time, and this time, Yukiko finally answered - it appeared at work at the inn kept her from attending school today. We all exhaled in relief afterwards - yet the knot of trepidation in my gut never really uncoiled, either.
Nonetheless we still went to Junes, hoping to assuage our worries about Yukiko. Yosuke and Chie flanked the big TV we used, trying to make sure no shoppers saw what we were doing, and so I inserted my hand into the television.
At that moment I felt a strong bite on my fingers, and for a second thought I'd see a bloody stump of a hand when I withdrew it. Chie asked me if I was all right, and I deadpanned, "I might be dying.", even as I realized my hand was intact, if a bit red from the bite marks. There was only one possible candidate for who could have bitten my hand, so we went and asked Teddie like we were communicating across a wall.
Teddie reported there was nothing of note going on in the TV World at that moment, so we decided to adjourn our meeting, with Chie agreeing to walk with Yukiko to school on Monday and Yosuke exchanging phone numbers with me as part of our investigation.
It was evening when I got home, with Nanako watching a quiz show on TV. After a quick dinner with her, combining what was left in the fridge and some stuff I picked up at Junes, I went back to my room to observe what was on the Midnight Channel.
As the clock struck midnight, I went to watch my TV and see what was up. Shockingly, a very clear image of a young woman in a long, pink dress appeared, as if hosting some kind of Japanese knockoff of The Bachelorette (reality TV isn't as popular here in Japan as it is in the West, for various reasons, so don't ask how I know that). The girl was clearly Yukiko, but she was acting very differently from the little I knew of her. For one, this Yukiko was very, very forward, even gesturing towards her chest and pelvis, as if she were looking for someone to be her "Prince Charming" using what wiles she had. Certainly a far cry from the demure, reserved heiress I knew! I got a call from Yosuke, asking me if I saw what he presumably saw as well. We agreed to meet up at Junes tomorrow morning, and Yosuke told me of a plan he'd thought up that would get us in trouble for sure.
I pinched the bridge of my nose at his suggestion, and told him in no uncertain terms not to bring weapons altogether to Junes, let alone brandish them if he could help it.
The next morning was Sunday, my first day off from school. I met with Yosuke at the food court, and thankfully he followed my advice not to bring any weapons lest we bring the ire of the Inaba police force upon ourselves. We did, however, come across Detective Adachi, who let slip to us that Yukiko's parents called in to the police station that they couldn't find their daughter, and that the force had its hands full with the recent murders. Why a detective was so cavalier about revealing information to otherwise uninvolved youngsters like us was beyond me at the time.
Chie then met up with us, confirming that Yukiko did disappear from her place, after spending the last few days working in place of her mother who was stressed out due to the Yamano affair. I brought up Yosuke's oh-so-brilliant idea from last night. Chie looked like a lightbulb lit up within her head, and dragged me and my buddy off to a shop at the Shopping District that looked like a cross between an antiques store an a blacksmith. A balding, redheaded man with a headband eyed the three of us over, and as Yosuke and I looked for weapons and body armor for use in the TV World Chie told us she would be joining us on our next trip. Part of me wanted to dissuade her, knowing that she did not have a Persona to protect her in the other world, but the other part of me saw the determination she had to rescue her best friend. So eventually we relented and let her join us, on the condition that she remain behind us as Yosuke and I would be the ones to fight off the Shadows.
Eventually we picked up a replica katana for myself, a pair of short blades for Yosuke (his Persona was a ninja, after all), and Chie's martial arts expertise (inasmuch as re-enacting kung fu movies counted as expertise) meant that we got her a pair of very sturdy shoes. I paid old man Daidara (the proprietor and chief craftsman of the shop) for the weapons, thanking the fact that I had managed to save a significant amount of my allowance for this.
As we returned to Junes to go after Yukiko I saw a blue door manifest on a wall right next to Daidara's, which I realized must be an entrance to the Velvet Room. Looking around to see if anyone else noticed it - no one did - I went and entered it, and I was back within the interior of a familiar blue limo.
Igor sat in his usual spot, as did Margaret. There was a new figure, however, and I recognized her as the young woman who I had seen a couple of times after arriving at Inaba. The long nosed man explained to me the art of fusing Personae, which apparently involved taking two or more of them and turning them into totally new Personae, with the powers of the "ingredients" among them. Margaret then added that she would help keep track of Personae I created or encountered in the grimoire she kept, and the other girl (introduced to me as Marie) told me about how she could keep "skill cards" that contained powers that Personae could use, which she could sell back to me for cold, hard yen. Wondering just why people in another dimension had need of real life money, I gazed at Igor, who winked at me with a look that said "don't think about it too hard".
Going back to Junes, we dressed up in our school outfits, ostensibly because it was easier to hide our weapons in them. That was rather flawed logic - Chie's footwear for the most part wasn't conspicuous, and Yosuke could probably hide his knives within his clothing, but I'm pretty sure a school uniform can't really hide the sword I'm using. But somehow, it worked, meaning no one really gave us a look over to see if we had concealed weapons.
Entering the TV World, we encountered Teddie, and formally introduced him to Chie. The bear had managed to sniff out more or less where Yukiko was - which, based on what the Midnight Channel showed, looked like a castle of some sort. Yosuke grilled Teddie, asking if he was the one filming the show Yukiko put on, which the bear denied, pointing out that only he and Shadows were around within the TV World. Chie also pointed out how OOC her best friend was, which made the whole situation even more bizarre. And then Teddie asked a question that felt innocent, but would have some big consequences for his future attitude. Had I known what he'd become, perhaps I'd have put my foot down when he asked what "scoring with a hot stud" meant.
At that moment, however, Chie's impulse to rescue her best friend got the better of her, and she rushed into the castle, throwing away our plan to keep her away from the Shadows. I gave Yosuke a knowing look, and soon we chased after the green-clad girl.
Teddie handed us a handful of strange packages - telling me that they would be useful in restoring our energy within the TV World. Given how using Izanagi had drained me, and the fact that Shadows fought back, we accepted them, knowing how necessary they were gonna be.
The inside of the castle reminded me of pictures of the palace of Versailles in France, with high ceilings, ornate walls and curtains colored red, like Yukiko's favorite color. Shadows still lurked the corridors, but we now had an easier time of it, as we had two Persona users on our side now. It appeared Yosuke had inherited his Shadow's preference for wind attacks - "Jiraiya, Garu!", he cried out, hitting a fish-like Shadow and sending it to the ground - and he was also willing to listen to whatever combat strategies I cooked up. This was our first time working as a team, but we worked pretty well together, all told.
Getting our enemies downed, however, gave me an idea. "Yosuke, with me! All-Out Attack!" I gave him the signal and we hit the Shadows as hard and fast as possible, not letting up. Eventually, they dissipated, and a couple of Shadows left shining cards in their wake. I gave these cards a look-see - a few of them appeared to depict odd creatures like an Imp wielding a torch (Ukobach, the name came to my mind), an angel in definitely not-kid-friendly bondage gear (Angel, somehow named), and a fairy in a leotard (Pixie, it called itself). Realizing the potential they had, and that as a Wild Card I could switch between them as the need arose, I kept a few in reserve.
Eventually, after clearing away Shadows and nabbing some nice loot, we found ourselves at a staircase, leading to the next floor. The architecture of the place didn't make sense, with what I could tell of the second floor layout being a wholly different beast than the first floor. Opening the door at the start of the second floor, we found Chie looking up at the ceiling.
Hearing Yukiko's voice, I realized it was a lot like the time Yosuke and I overheard Saki-senpai's voice, reflecting her inner thoughts. It appeared that Yukiko thought of her friend as one of the most precious things to her, to the point where it felt that the red-clad girl had a crush on Chie. (If it weren't for Chie getting together with my best friend, the two girls would have looked like a cute couple, too. Not that I mind either way.)
Then Chie's Shadow appeared, mocking her for her friendship with Yukiko. The Shadow pointed out Chie's perceived inadequacies, particularly in the admirer department, and how she had suppressed feelings of superiority over Yukiko. Chie continued to vehemently deny her Shadow, however, (to my chagrin), and Shadow Chie got to the point where she claimed that she was using Yukiko as a way to gain popularity by association.
"Shut up! You're..." began the tomboy.
"Chie, no!" Yosuke attempted to intervene.
"You're not me!" Chie cried out in anguish.
(Ah, shit, here we go again.)
Shadow Chie laughed, and turned herself into a whip-wielding dominatrix clad in what appeared to be a leather banana, whilst sitting on a throne of what appeared to be images of female Yasogami students. Was this how she truly felt? I turned to Yosuke, and grit ourselves for a long battle ahead.
Alas, it was a girl in a kimono, and while the image was blurry I had a horrifying realization at who it could be. I did have to try one thing, however - if I could get into the TV then I should be able to get to them, right? My hand went through, as expected, but the image disappeared, as the reflection in a still pool of water is disturbed by anything that touches it.
I went to bed, fretting, and went into a dream in a very familiar room. Igor greeted me, and after pleasantries Igor and Margaret both notified me that I would become a formal guest of the Velvet Room. This meant that I had the advantage of securing their services for the coming year, which I will get to later. In addition, I apparently was a Wild Card, a person with infinite potential which included the ability to use Personae of various kinds. Kind of like a blank tile in Scrabble or the joker card in a card game. (Speaking of Jokers... well, I have a story about that. But it's too soon to tell at this point.) In addition, the bonds I'd form with various people would strengthen the Personae I acquired during my journey, in what I'd describe as "animé power of friendship" stuff. (And I would definitely need every little bit of it.)
The next day was Saturday, which meant mornings at school and the rest of the day to ourselves. Yosuke approached me on the way to school, having seen the Midnight Channel as well; he wasn't sure who it was, and I didn't want to share my suspicion yet lest I be proven wrong. Apparently he had gained the power to go into the TV by himself too, which may be a perk of those of us with the Persona ability. The trust Yosuke showed in me then flashed into my mind the image of a card, with the number I on it. The Magician, said the voice in my head as I formed the first of my "Social Links".
Arriving at school, Chie approached us, asking if Yosuke or I saw Yukiko. Neither of us had seen her either, and the tomboy's attempts at contacting her friend were futile up to this morning - Yukiko said she would be at school, but neither hide nor hair of the heiress appeared at Yasogami. Chie tried calling her again one more time, and this time, Yukiko finally answered - it appeared at work at the inn kept her from attending school today. We all exhaled in relief afterwards - yet the knot of trepidation in my gut never really uncoiled, either.
Nonetheless we still went to Junes, hoping to assuage our worries about Yukiko. Yosuke and Chie flanked the big TV we used, trying to make sure no shoppers saw what we were doing, and so I inserted my hand into the television.
At that moment I felt a strong bite on my fingers, and for a second thought I'd see a bloody stump of a hand when I withdrew it. Chie asked me if I was all right, and I deadpanned, "I might be dying.", even as I realized my hand was intact, if a bit red from the bite marks. There was only one possible candidate for who could have bitten my hand, so we went and asked Teddie like we were communicating across a wall.
Teddie reported there was nothing of note going on in the TV World at that moment, so we decided to adjourn our meeting, with Chie agreeing to walk with Yukiko to school on Monday and Yosuke exchanging phone numbers with me as part of our investigation.
It was evening when I got home, with Nanako watching a quiz show on TV. After a quick dinner with her, combining what was left in the fridge and some stuff I picked up at Junes, I went back to my room to observe what was on the Midnight Channel.
As the clock struck midnight, I went to watch my TV and see what was up. Shockingly, a very clear image of a young woman in a long, pink dress appeared, as if hosting some kind of Japanese knockoff of The Bachelorette (reality TV isn't as popular here in Japan as it is in the West, for various reasons, so don't ask how I know that). The girl was clearly Yukiko, but she was acting very differently from the little I knew of her. For one, this Yukiko was very, very forward, even gesturing towards her chest and pelvis, as if she were looking for someone to be her "Prince Charming" using what wiles she had. Certainly a far cry from the demure, reserved heiress I knew! I got a call from Yosuke, asking me if I saw what he presumably saw as well. We agreed to meet up at Junes tomorrow morning, and Yosuke told me of a plan he'd thought up that would get us in trouble for sure.
I pinched the bridge of my nose at his suggestion, and told him in no uncertain terms not to bring weapons altogether to Junes, let alone brandish them if he could help it.
----
The next morning was Sunday, my first day off from school. I met with Yosuke at the food court, and thankfully he followed my advice not to bring any weapons lest we bring the ire of the Inaba police force upon ourselves. We did, however, come across Detective Adachi, who let slip to us that Yukiko's parents called in to the police station that they couldn't find their daughter, and that the force had its hands full with the recent murders. Why a detective was so cavalier about revealing information to otherwise uninvolved youngsters like us was beyond me at the time.
Chie then met up with us, confirming that Yukiko did disappear from her place, after spending the last few days working in place of her mother who was stressed out due to the Yamano affair. I brought up Yosuke's oh-so-brilliant idea from last night. Chie looked like a lightbulb lit up within her head, and dragged me and my buddy off to a shop at the Shopping District that looked like a cross between an antiques store an a blacksmith. A balding, redheaded man with a headband eyed the three of us over, and as Yosuke and I looked for weapons and body armor for use in the TV World Chie told us she would be joining us on our next trip. Part of me wanted to dissuade her, knowing that she did not have a Persona to protect her in the other world, but the other part of me saw the determination she had to rescue her best friend. So eventually we relented and let her join us, on the condition that she remain behind us as Yosuke and I would be the ones to fight off the Shadows.
Eventually we picked up a replica katana for myself, a pair of short blades for Yosuke (his Persona was a ninja, after all), and Chie's martial arts expertise (inasmuch as re-enacting kung fu movies counted as expertise) meant that we got her a pair of very sturdy shoes. I paid old man Daidara (the proprietor and chief craftsman of the shop) for the weapons, thanking the fact that I had managed to save a significant amount of my allowance for this.
As we returned to Junes to go after Yukiko I saw a blue door manifest on a wall right next to Daidara's, which I realized must be an entrance to the Velvet Room. Looking around to see if anyone else noticed it - no one did - I went and entered it, and I was back within the interior of a familiar blue limo.
Igor sat in his usual spot, as did Margaret. There was a new figure, however, and I recognized her as the young woman who I had seen a couple of times after arriving at Inaba. The long nosed man explained to me the art of fusing Personae, which apparently involved taking two or more of them and turning them into totally new Personae, with the powers of the "ingredients" among them. Margaret then added that she would help keep track of Personae I created or encountered in the grimoire she kept, and the other girl (introduced to me as Marie) told me about how she could keep "skill cards" that contained powers that Personae could use, which she could sell back to me for cold, hard yen. Wondering just why people in another dimension had need of real life money, I gazed at Igor, who winked at me with a look that said "don't think about it too hard".
Going back to Junes, we dressed up in our school outfits, ostensibly because it was easier to hide our weapons in them. That was rather flawed logic - Chie's footwear for the most part wasn't conspicuous, and Yosuke could probably hide his knives within his clothing, but I'm pretty sure a school uniform can't really hide the sword I'm using. But somehow, it worked, meaning no one really gave us a look over to see if we had concealed weapons.
Entering the TV World, we encountered Teddie, and formally introduced him to Chie. The bear had managed to sniff out more or less where Yukiko was - which, based on what the Midnight Channel showed, looked like a castle of some sort. Yosuke grilled Teddie, asking if he was the one filming the show Yukiko put on, which the bear denied, pointing out that only he and Shadows were around within the TV World. Chie also pointed out how OOC her best friend was, which made the whole situation even more bizarre. And then Teddie asked a question that felt innocent, but would have some big consequences for his future attitude. Had I known what he'd become, perhaps I'd have put my foot down when he asked what "scoring with a hot stud" meant.
At that moment, however, Chie's impulse to rescue her best friend got the better of her, and she rushed into the castle, throwing away our plan to keep her away from the Shadows. I gave Yosuke a knowing look, and soon we chased after the green-clad girl.
Teddie handed us a handful of strange packages - telling me that they would be useful in restoring our energy within the TV World. Given how using Izanagi had drained me, and the fact that Shadows fought back, we accepted them, knowing how necessary they were gonna be.
The inside of the castle reminded me of pictures of the palace of Versailles in France, with high ceilings, ornate walls and curtains colored red, like Yukiko's favorite color. Shadows still lurked the corridors, but we now had an easier time of it, as we had two Persona users on our side now. It appeared Yosuke had inherited his Shadow's preference for wind attacks - "Jiraiya, Garu!", he cried out, hitting a fish-like Shadow and sending it to the ground - and he was also willing to listen to whatever combat strategies I cooked up. This was our first time working as a team, but we worked pretty well together, all told.
Getting our enemies downed, however, gave me an idea. "Yosuke, with me! All-Out Attack!" I gave him the signal and we hit the Shadows as hard and fast as possible, not letting up. Eventually, they dissipated, and a couple of Shadows left shining cards in their wake. I gave these cards a look-see - a few of them appeared to depict odd creatures like an Imp wielding a torch (Ukobach, the name came to my mind), an angel in definitely not-kid-friendly bondage gear (Angel, somehow named), and a fairy in a leotard (Pixie, it called itself). Realizing the potential they had, and that as a Wild Card I could switch between them as the need arose, I kept a few in reserve.
Eventually, after clearing away Shadows and nabbing some nice loot, we found ourselves at a staircase, leading to the next floor. The architecture of the place didn't make sense, with what I could tell of the second floor layout being a wholly different beast than the first floor. Opening the door at the start of the second floor, we found Chie looking up at the ceiling.
Hearing Yukiko's voice, I realized it was a lot like the time Yosuke and I overheard Saki-senpai's voice, reflecting her inner thoughts. It appeared that Yukiko thought of her friend as one of the most precious things to her, to the point where it felt that the red-clad girl had a crush on Chie. (If it weren't for Chie getting together with my best friend, the two girls would have looked like a cute couple, too. Not that I mind either way.)
Then Chie's Shadow appeared, mocking her for her friendship with Yukiko. The Shadow pointed out Chie's perceived inadequacies, particularly in the admirer department, and how she had suppressed feelings of superiority over Yukiko. Chie continued to vehemently deny her Shadow, however, (to my chagrin), and Shadow Chie got to the point where she claimed that she was using Yukiko as a way to gain popularity by association.
"Shut up! You're..." began the tomboy.
"Chie, no!" Yosuke attempted to intervene.
"You're not me!" Chie cried out in anguish.
(Ah, shit, here we go again.)
Shadow Chie laughed, and turned herself into a whip-wielding dominatrix clad in what appeared to be a leather banana, whilst sitting on a throne of what appeared to be images of female Yasogami students. Was this how she truly felt? I turned to Yosuke, and grit ourselves for a long battle ahead.
Chapter 5: Frosty Samurai and Featherman Hot Pink
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
I had assumed that since Yosuke and I outnumbered Shadow Chie two to one that it would be much easier than the time I went against Shadow Yosuke one-on-one.
Boy, was I proven wrong.
Our strategy for fights thus far had been to play trial-and-error with the weaknesses of Shadows, using Yosuke's wind abilities and my Wild Card powers to cover the other elements. Teddie would be able to keep those in mind and remind me which Shadows were weak to which attacks, and thus far it worked for the most part. If either of us took significant injuries, we could heal ourselves up as well.
I began the battle against the dominatrix Shadow with an exploratory attack. "Ukobach, Agi!" I summoned the torch-carrying imp, which casted a small fireball that hit Shadow Chie for some damage, but not enough to make a significant dent. "Yosuke, you're up!" I called out to my partner. "I'm counting on you. Persona!" Yosuke cried out, summoning Jiraiya and casting a wind spell that knocked the Shadow down. Recognizing our chance, the two of us went into an All-Out Attack, hitting Shadow Chie as hard as we could until she rose back up.
This went on for quite a while, using Yosuke and Angel's ability to heal ourselves up, until the dominatrix glowed green for a brief moment. I didn't quite catch on to what had happened, until Yosuke's Garu spell basically fizzled out and didn't knock Shadow Chie down as I had expected. The mistress then glared at me, and knowing what was to come next, I grit my teeth and held my guard. That was just as well, as she hit me with a really nasty blow that bruised my arms and would have probably been worse had I not braced for the strike.
I looked at my partner and motioned for him to guard, just as the dominatrix sent out a burst of lightning that struck us both. I had managed to switch to Izanagi right there and then to protect against it, but I was more worried for Jiraiya's weakness to electric attacks. Yosuke's defensive stance prevented anything worse from happening, though, but we were pretty beat up at that point.
Teddie, however, told me right at that moment that the aura around Shadow Chie seemed to have subsided, and I told Yosuke to strike on my mark. I had switched back to Pixie at that point, and the two of us readied our wind spells. "Persona!" cried out the two of us, as Pixie and Jiraiya summoned up gusts of wind that grew stronger as they melded together, leaving the domme Shadow on her last legs. "All-Out Attack!", we roared in unison, hitting the Shadow with my sword and Yosuke's blades as hard as we could. With a scream, Shadow Chie was then defeated.
With her Shadow trounced, we rushed over to Chie, checking if she was all right. I knew that the only way to truly get rid of a Shadow was for the original to accept it - so I stood back, Yosuke telling her that he went through the same thing, and the two of us watched as Shadow Chie nodded and became a samurai lady wearing Bruce Lee's yellow track suit from Game of Death. "Tomoe", the tomboy said as she gained her own Persona. Letting Chie come to terms with her feelings for her friend, we took a break, seeing how the green-clad girl looked exhausted and needed to recover her strength. Discretion was the better part of valor, after all.
Teddie also told us that Yukiko would still be safe as long as the weather wasn't foggy in the real world, as Shadows only attacked people whenever it was foggy on our side. That meant we had a few days to rest, regroup, and prepare for the rest of Yukiko's Castle.
On our way back, Chie complained about her headache, and I realized that it was because she wasn't wearing the glasses Yosuke and I were. Thankfully, Teddie had us covered, and gave her a pair of her own to wear. The glasses fit her perfectly and made her look cute, I have to admit. (I can imagine Yosuke butting in and saying "You mean cuter, partner!" right about now, actually. Still blows my mind those two got together after all their little quarrels.)
Now there were three (four, counting the bear mascot) of us, and Yosuke admitting he wasn't the leader type, Chie being the newbie, and Teddie being, well, Teddie, pretty much put me in the leader spot by default. I once again got the feeling I had when I talked with Yosuke on the way to school a few days prior, with a card depicting a vagabond, a dog, and the number 0. "The Fool", a voice spoke within my mind. I even had a name for our small band of amateur sleuths and rescuers: The Investigation Team.
That evening, I dug into dinner with Uncle Ryotaro and Nanako. I noted the weather would be sunny for a few more days, meaning we had a grace period before Yukiko would be lost to us for good. Just as I headed to my room, however, Nanako told me to go get the phone, and on the other side of the line was King Moron, who told me to pick up my gym uniform and that he would be waiting at the gas station. I aske my uncle if I could go out, given that it was already dark and all, telling him about what Morooka had for me.
I then headed back home after getting my jersey, having had the most eventful week of my life... thus far.
The next morning at school, Yosuke was worried about Chie, especially given that she had just awoken to her Persona and was likely still tired. Those worries were thankfully unfounded as she arrived at school, and thanked us for helping her. She even noticed how I didn't have to face the same thing Yosuke and she did, attributing it to my open personality.
(Of course, that would be proven very, very wrong eventually, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.)
I then asked for Chie's number, at which the tomboy went very pink. Upon clarifying that it was for our Investigation Team business, however, her blush subsided and we exchanged numbers, making sure Yosuke got hers as well. As we formally welcomed Chie to the Investigation Team, another card with the number VII projected itself into my mind's eye. "The Chariot", said the same voice once more.
(So lest we forget, we have The Fool for our Investigation Team, The Magician for Yosuke, and The Chariot for Chie.)
So classes begun that day, and I learned that Kondo-sensei doubled as both gym and English teacher - mostly because he spent time in the United States. He was an ordinary teacher for the most part, however.
After classes ended that Monday, I took the time to visit the shopping district as preparation for our attempt to rescue Yukiko. We had already visited Daidara for equipment, so I went a few stores away to a general store with run-down gashapon machines outside and a matronly woman inside. Shiroku-san apparently operated the store at day and turned it into an izakaya at night, but I decided that stocking up on medicinal items for the TV World was what I needed at that moment. As for where I got the money, though? I checked my savings account and noticed it was several yen more than I had before withdrawing money for my trip to Inaba. It wasn't the monthly stipend I got from my parents, since it was only mid-April and my next one wouldn't be due until May, and they forwarded the money to Uncle Ryotaro during my stay in Inaba anyway. That was when it hit me - somehow, fighting Shadows in the TV World gave me money!
I also stopped by the Velvet Room, where I took advantage of Igor's ability to fuse Personae into more powerful variations. Ukobach and Pixie became Cu Sith, a dog-like creature from Celtic myth, and I managed to have it cover multiple elements as well. Somehow, I also knew Margaret would have some answers to why Shadows dropped money, and she explained that it was a matter of perception - since people perceived that defeating enemies in video games and suchlike yielded loot, then Shadows would somehow pay out money in yen. As to why the money went only to my account instead of being distributed amongst me and my friends, I still have no idea. Might be Wild Card privileges, I dunno.
With that done, however, I decided that rescuing Yukiko was our top priority, despite the fact that we had a few more days of buffer time. After all, even if she weren't attacked by Shadows there and then, there was also the fact that she might starve or dehydrate herself, despite the fact that time didn't pass the same way in the TV World as it does in ours.
So I called up Yosuke and Chie, told them to assemble at the Junes food court, and we would them rescue the heiress from her castle. Teddie guided us to the castle, and would bring up the rear while our trio began the ascent.
With the medicines from Shiroku-san in stock, I decided to change up my tactics. If we needed to heal up injuries, using the medicines took priority over healing from Personae abilities, preferring instead to reserve our mental strength for elemental attacks.
I also learned from this foray that Chie's abilities were focused on ice attacks. "Tomoe, Bufu!" the tomboy cried out, hitting a Burning Beetle Shadow and knocking it down. However, her magical attacks weren't as strong as mine or Yosuke's, but she made up for it by somehow hitting enemies harder with the shoes she had on her feet, dealing more damage with kicks than my sword or Yosuke's blades.
Either way, it was a long and arduous trip up the castle, where we even got lost a few times and encountered foes like a formidable knight in armor, which protected Yukiko's Shadow before she ran off once more further into her own castle.
We continued further in, and while we were feeling the effects of fatigue the medicines I had prepared kept us hale and hearty. We needed every bit of energy, and on the way even encountered a strange kind of golden Shadow that resembled a hand wearing a mask where the wrist would be and with a tuxedo-like decor on the back of the hand. Cornering these Golden Hands was tricky, but once we did they proved to be able to make our Personae much stronger and my bank account several yen richer.
Eventually the four of us reached the top of the castle, where Yukiko (the real one that is) was still clad in the kimono I found her with some days ago, and her Shadow, the one in the princess gown, confronting her. Shadow Yukiko mentioned how she was looking for princes, and found three, which was strange, because there was me, and then Yosuke, so who was the third one? Probably not Teddie, so that left...
Oh, she then mentioned Chie as a strong prince. The two girls were radiating big "they were roommates" energy at that point, and somehow I still find it surprising they didn't end up together. Ah, oh well, I'm no Cupid for sure.
Shadow Yukiko continued needling her real counterpart with her insecurities, about feeling burdened to take over as eventual manager of the Amagi Inn, and that she wanted to leave Inaba and pursue a career in the big city. So that's why she was looking for "studs", then - she could use falling into a relationship as an excuse to elope and leave the inn behind.
Of course, the raven-haired lady was in vehement denial.
"No! You're not me!" I heard my third Shadow denial in not even two weeks, so I braced for yet another tough fight, but at least I had two allies (plus the bear) at my side.
Shadow Yukiko then transformed into a harpy/phoenix hybrid monster, being a woman-faced red bird ensconced within a cage with an open door. 'Twas emblematic of her being a prisoner of her own responsibilities, but the open door showed that it was all in her head - all she needed was to decide on her own.
But on to the battle. I figured, since the Shadow was red and sent jets of fire at us, then it was likely weak to Ice - so I switched to Apsaras and sent out one Bufu after another, and indicated to Chie to follow suit. It was enough to knock the bird Shadow down, using the chance to deliver All-Out Attacks. Yosuke's part was to stick to his knives and reserve his energy for healing. After a while, not unlike Chie's Shadow, Shadow Yukiko glowed white, and I switched to Orobas, anticipating her fire attacks, and signaled Chie to start guarding as I knew our ice attacks would be less effective for a bit. Shadow Yukiko then also summoned a "prince" Shadow that, I realized, would make this fight rather ugly if left untouched, so I switched ran through my options and tried Izanagi's Zio. Thankfully, that worked, so the three of us focused our attentions on the prince until it ran off, angering the bird Shadow.
By that time, however, the white aura around Shadow Yukiko had vanished, so back to Apsaras it was with Chie alongside me. It took a few more blows, but the three of us had managed to subdue the caged bird Shadow.
We then came over to the real Yukiko, who like Yosuke and Chie before her was still rather reluctant to accept her Shadow. But with Chie's confession that she wasn't as strong as she looked and Yukiko coming to terms with the fact that she did want to leave Inaba on some level, the gown-wearing Shadow then transformed into a Persona.
Yukiko's Persona took on the form of what looked like a ranger from Featherman in pink, but with wings that looked like pom-poms, giving it the overall look of a bird-like cheerleader. "Konohana-Sakuya", came the name from Yukiko's lips. Teddie then formally introduced himself, and asked who could have thrown Yukiko into the TV. She didn't know, of course - which meant that whoever was throwing people into the TV was able to subdue them and make sure they never got wind of who the culprit was. At least he was sure it wasn't us throwing people into the TV now.
And soon we ran into a rather small issue. The fact that Shadow Yukiko was rather... forward in her search for hot studs got to Teddie, and the bear mascot started hitting on her. (The worst - or best, depending on your temperament - part about this is that he'd only get worse as time progressed.) Finally, however, we were able to get Yukiko out of the TV, but her exhaustion meant that she'd have to recuperate for some time before returning to school.
With that part out of the way, though, I had then expected a return to a more mundane student life. I'd have a taste of that over the next few days, thankfully, as life in Inaba proved to be more extraordinary than not as events would show.
Boy, was I proven wrong.
Our strategy for fights thus far had been to play trial-and-error with the weaknesses of Shadows, using Yosuke's wind abilities and my Wild Card powers to cover the other elements. Teddie would be able to keep those in mind and remind me which Shadows were weak to which attacks, and thus far it worked for the most part. If either of us took significant injuries, we could heal ourselves up as well.
I began the battle against the dominatrix Shadow with an exploratory attack. "Ukobach, Agi!" I summoned the torch-carrying imp, which casted a small fireball that hit Shadow Chie for some damage, but not enough to make a significant dent. "Yosuke, you're up!" I called out to my partner. "I'm counting on you. Persona!" Yosuke cried out, summoning Jiraiya and casting a wind spell that knocked the Shadow down. Recognizing our chance, the two of us went into an All-Out Attack, hitting Shadow Chie as hard as we could until she rose back up.
This went on for quite a while, using Yosuke and Angel's ability to heal ourselves up, until the dominatrix glowed green for a brief moment. I didn't quite catch on to what had happened, until Yosuke's Garu spell basically fizzled out and didn't knock Shadow Chie down as I had expected. The mistress then glared at me, and knowing what was to come next, I grit my teeth and held my guard. That was just as well, as she hit me with a really nasty blow that bruised my arms and would have probably been worse had I not braced for the strike.
I looked at my partner and motioned for him to guard, just as the dominatrix sent out a burst of lightning that struck us both. I had managed to switch to Izanagi right there and then to protect against it, but I was more worried for Jiraiya's weakness to electric attacks. Yosuke's defensive stance prevented anything worse from happening, though, but we were pretty beat up at that point.
Teddie, however, told me right at that moment that the aura around Shadow Chie seemed to have subsided, and I told Yosuke to strike on my mark. I had switched back to Pixie at that point, and the two of us readied our wind spells. "Persona!" cried out the two of us, as Pixie and Jiraiya summoned up gusts of wind that grew stronger as they melded together, leaving the domme Shadow on her last legs. "All-Out Attack!", we roared in unison, hitting the Shadow with my sword and Yosuke's blades as hard as we could. With a scream, Shadow Chie was then defeated.
With her Shadow trounced, we rushed over to Chie, checking if she was all right. I knew that the only way to truly get rid of a Shadow was for the original to accept it - so I stood back, Yosuke telling her that he went through the same thing, and the two of us watched as Shadow Chie nodded and became a samurai lady wearing Bruce Lee's yellow track suit from Game of Death. "Tomoe", the tomboy said as she gained her own Persona. Letting Chie come to terms with her feelings for her friend, we took a break, seeing how the green-clad girl looked exhausted and needed to recover her strength. Discretion was the better part of valor, after all.
Teddie also told us that Yukiko would still be safe as long as the weather wasn't foggy in the real world, as Shadows only attacked people whenever it was foggy on our side. That meant we had a few days to rest, regroup, and prepare for the rest of Yukiko's Castle.
On our way back, Chie complained about her headache, and I realized that it was because she wasn't wearing the glasses Yosuke and I were. Thankfully, Teddie had us covered, and gave her a pair of her own to wear. The glasses fit her perfectly and made her look cute, I have to admit. (I can imagine Yosuke butting in and saying "You mean cuter, partner!" right about now, actually. Still blows my mind those two got together after all their little quarrels.)
Now there were three (four, counting the bear mascot) of us, and Yosuke admitting he wasn't the leader type, Chie being the newbie, and Teddie being, well, Teddie, pretty much put me in the leader spot by default. I once again got the feeling I had when I talked with Yosuke on the way to school a few days prior, with a card depicting a vagabond, a dog, and the number 0. "The Fool", a voice spoke within my mind. I even had a name for our small band of amateur sleuths and rescuers: The Investigation Team.
That evening, I dug into dinner with Uncle Ryotaro and Nanako. I noted the weather would be sunny for a few more days, meaning we had a grace period before Yukiko would be lost to us for good. Just as I headed to my room, however, Nanako told me to go get the phone, and on the other side of the line was King Moron, who told me to pick up my gym uniform and that he would be waiting at the gas station. I aske my uncle if I could go out, given that it was already dark and all, telling him about what Morooka had for me.
I then headed back home after getting my jersey, having had the most eventful week of my life... thus far.
----
The next morning at school, Yosuke was worried about Chie, especially given that she had just awoken to her Persona and was likely still tired. Those worries were thankfully unfounded as she arrived at school, and thanked us for helping her. She even noticed how I didn't have to face the same thing Yosuke and she did, attributing it to my open personality.
(Of course, that would be proven very, very wrong eventually, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.)
I then asked for Chie's number, at which the tomboy went very pink. Upon clarifying that it was for our Investigation Team business, however, her blush subsided and we exchanged numbers, making sure Yosuke got hers as well. As we formally welcomed Chie to the Investigation Team, another card with the number VII projected itself into my mind's eye. "The Chariot", said the same voice once more.
(So lest we forget, we have The Fool for our Investigation Team, The Magician for Yosuke, and The Chariot for Chie.)
So classes begun that day, and I learned that Kondo-sensei doubled as both gym and English teacher - mostly because he spent time in the United States. He was an ordinary teacher for the most part, however.
After classes ended that Monday, I took the time to visit the shopping district as preparation for our attempt to rescue Yukiko. We had already visited Daidara for equipment, so I went a few stores away to a general store with run-down gashapon machines outside and a matronly woman inside. Shiroku-san apparently operated the store at day and turned it into an izakaya at night, but I decided that stocking up on medicinal items for the TV World was what I needed at that moment. As for where I got the money, though? I checked my savings account and noticed it was several yen more than I had before withdrawing money for my trip to Inaba. It wasn't the monthly stipend I got from my parents, since it was only mid-April and my next one wouldn't be due until May, and they forwarded the money to Uncle Ryotaro during my stay in Inaba anyway. That was when it hit me - somehow, fighting Shadows in the TV World gave me money!
I also stopped by the Velvet Room, where I took advantage of Igor's ability to fuse Personae into more powerful variations. Ukobach and Pixie became Cu Sith, a dog-like creature from Celtic myth, and I managed to have it cover multiple elements as well. Somehow, I also knew Margaret would have some answers to why Shadows dropped money, and she explained that it was a matter of perception - since people perceived that defeating enemies in video games and suchlike yielded loot, then Shadows would somehow pay out money in yen. As to why the money went only to my account instead of being distributed amongst me and my friends, I still have no idea. Might be Wild Card privileges, I dunno.
With that done, however, I decided that rescuing Yukiko was our top priority, despite the fact that we had a few more days of buffer time. After all, even if she weren't attacked by Shadows there and then, there was also the fact that she might starve or dehydrate herself, despite the fact that time didn't pass the same way in the TV World as it does in ours.
So I called up Yosuke and Chie, told them to assemble at the Junes food court, and we would them rescue the heiress from her castle. Teddie guided us to the castle, and would bring up the rear while our trio began the ascent.
With the medicines from Shiroku-san in stock, I decided to change up my tactics. If we needed to heal up injuries, using the medicines took priority over healing from Personae abilities, preferring instead to reserve our mental strength for elemental attacks.
I also learned from this foray that Chie's abilities were focused on ice attacks. "Tomoe, Bufu!" the tomboy cried out, hitting a Burning Beetle Shadow and knocking it down. However, her magical attacks weren't as strong as mine or Yosuke's, but she made up for it by somehow hitting enemies harder with the shoes she had on her feet, dealing more damage with kicks than my sword or Yosuke's blades.
Either way, it was a long and arduous trip up the castle, where we even got lost a few times and encountered foes like a formidable knight in armor, which protected Yukiko's Shadow before she ran off once more further into her own castle.
We continued further in, and while we were feeling the effects of fatigue the medicines I had prepared kept us hale and hearty. We needed every bit of energy, and on the way even encountered a strange kind of golden Shadow that resembled a hand wearing a mask where the wrist would be and with a tuxedo-like decor on the back of the hand. Cornering these Golden Hands was tricky, but once we did they proved to be able to make our Personae much stronger and my bank account several yen richer.
Eventually the four of us reached the top of the castle, where Yukiko (the real one that is) was still clad in the kimono I found her with some days ago, and her Shadow, the one in the princess gown, confronting her. Shadow Yukiko mentioned how she was looking for princes, and found three, which was strange, because there was me, and then Yosuke, so who was the third one? Probably not Teddie, so that left...
Oh, she then mentioned Chie as a strong prince. The two girls were radiating big "they were roommates" energy at that point, and somehow I still find it surprising they didn't end up together. Ah, oh well, I'm no Cupid for sure.
Shadow Yukiko continued needling her real counterpart with her insecurities, about feeling burdened to take over as eventual manager of the Amagi Inn, and that she wanted to leave Inaba and pursue a career in the big city. So that's why she was looking for "studs", then - she could use falling into a relationship as an excuse to elope and leave the inn behind.
Of course, the raven-haired lady was in vehement denial.
"No! You're not me!" I heard my third Shadow denial in not even two weeks, so I braced for yet another tough fight, but at least I had two allies (plus the bear) at my side.
Shadow Yukiko then transformed into a harpy/phoenix hybrid monster, being a woman-faced red bird ensconced within a cage with an open door. 'Twas emblematic of her being a prisoner of her own responsibilities, but the open door showed that it was all in her head - all she needed was to decide on her own.
But on to the battle. I figured, since the Shadow was red and sent jets of fire at us, then it was likely weak to Ice - so I switched to Apsaras and sent out one Bufu after another, and indicated to Chie to follow suit. It was enough to knock the bird Shadow down, using the chance to deliver All-Out Attacks. Yosuke's part was to stick to his knives and reserve his energy for healing. After a while, not unlike Chie's Shadow, Shadow Yukiko glowed white, and I switched to Orobas, anticipating her fire attacks, and signaled Chie to start guarding as I knew our ice attacks would be less effective for a bit. Shadow Yukiko then also summoned a "prince" Shadow that, I realized, would make this fight rather ugly if left untouched, so I switched ran through my options and tried Izanagi's Zio. Thankfully, that worked, so the three of us focused our attentions on the prince until it ran off, angering the bird Shadow.
By that time, however, the white aura around Shadow Yukiko had vanished, so back to Apsaras it was with Chie alongside me. It took a few more blows, but the three of us had managed to subdue the caged bird Shadow.
We then came over to the real Yukiko, who like Yosuke and Chie before her was still rather reluctant to accept her Shadow. But with Chie's confession that she wasn't as strong as she looked and Yukiko coming to terms with the fact that she did want to leave Inaba on some level, the gown-wearing Shadow then transformed into a Persona.
Yukiko's Persona took on the form of what looked like a ranger from Featherman in pink, but with wings that looked like pom-poms, giving it the overall look of a bird-like cheerleader. "Konohana-Sakuya", came the name from Yukiko's lips. Teddie then formally introduced himself, and asked who could have thrown Yukiko into the TV. She didn't know, of course - which meant that whoever was throwing people into the TV was able to subdue them and make sure they never got wind of who the culprit was. At least he was sure it wasn't us throwing people into the TV now.
And soon we ran into a rather small issue. The fact that Shadow Yukiko was rather... forward in her search for hot studs got to Teddie, and the bear mascot started hitting on her. (The worst - or best, depending on your temperament - part about this is that he'd only get worse as time progressed.) Finally, however, we were able to get Yukiko out of the TV, but her exhaustion meant that she'd have to recuperate for some time before returning to school.
With that part out of the way, though, I had then expected a return to a more mundane student life. I'd have a taste of that over the next few days, thankfully, as life in Inaba proved to be more extraordinary than not as events would show.
Zebrin
Don't bread on me.
- Location
- Wherever you go, there you are.
Humm, some asides... well, aside. This is basically a truncated playthrough of the game in first person so far. Hopefully things get changed up a bit soonish.
Mind you, it's not bad at all. You don't go into purple prose, or have lurid descriptions of random scenery lying about. And you don't have any glaring spelling or grammar mistakes either. It's just, if I want to watch a let's play of the game, I'll watch one. At least there I get to listen to the awesome music.
Mind you, it's not bad at all. You don't go into purple prose, or have lurid descriptions of random scenery lying about. And you don't have any glaring spelling or grammar mistakes either. It's just, if I want to watch a let's play of the game, I'll watch one. At least there I get to listen to the awesome music.
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Chapter 6: Building Bonds And Creating Connections
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
Changes are slowly, but surely coming. You might have noticed that we've avoided the bit where Yosuke waves around weapons at Junes like a dummy.
Anyhow, Chapter 6!
----
Tuesday came and the first thing that morning I got after getting dressed was a phone call from Margaret. The caller ID read "unknown number", and I still don't get how the Velvet Room interacts with regular cell networks. Maybe it's cognition magic? Anyhow, she told me about how interacting with people and forming bonds was just as important to my journey as was going through dungeons in the TV World. Apparently making completing these Social Links would earn me something magical.
So interact with various people while not off gallivanting in a world inside a television defeating monsters borne of the human psyche. Got it.
On the way to school, I couldn't help but fall behind two guys in my year, one shorter than me in the standard Yasogami uniform and having dark, somehow bluish, hair, and the other a taller brunet in the gym tracksuit. Overhearing their talk about the school clubs opening up membership and other stuff like a new female manager for the teams, and a creature that lived at the local shrine, I couldn't help but feel these would be important in the days to come. Chie had also mentioned to us the night before through the phone that Yukiko would be recuperating for a couple of weeks, after her exhausting kidnapping, and unknown to most, her time in the TV World and awakening her Persona. That meant, then, I had two weeks to do other stuff, like making new friends, establishing student life at Yasogami, and taking steps to becoming Inaba's local Renaissance Man.
Class was relatively humdrum, as well, and I figured might as well ask King Moron for some advice on the clubs here at Yasogami High. The man may be an abrasive jerkwad, but he was definitely one of the less kooky teachers I had that year, as odd as it may sound. Shame about what happened to him, though. The gist of it was that Yasogami supported two sports teams at the time (though they've been adding more as of late, as Inaba has grown in both population and prosperity) and I could pick between the basketball and football clubs, and as for the cultural clubs I could pick between the drama and music clubs.
Since I was more skilled with an orange ball than a white-and-black one, and the fact that I didn't bring my bass with me to Inaba, I decided to join the basketball and drama clubs instead.
First off, a trip to the basketball court. Kondo-sensei introduced me to the basketball team, who were led by the same blue-haired guy from that morning. I had wanted to show off my moves - including my near-perfect corner three and sweet pull-up J, but I was told to watch the team go through their sets instead.
Blue-haired Boy showed off his skills, between a tight handle and a lethal floater this guy was clearly a pretty good high school point guard. He'd need a growth spurt to make it to the pros, but otherwise his skill set was tight. The basketball club had just almost wrapped up their practice when Tracksuit Guy from earlier came in, and soon Kou Ichijo (he of the implausibly blue hair) and Daisuke Nagase (he of the tracksuit) came into my lives. Another card came to my mind, depicting a woman and a lion with the number XI at the bottom. "Strength", the now-familiar voice came to my mind there and then.
(On a side note: Kou wouldn't be the last person I met with somehow natural blue hair. Ai confirmed to me his hair really was blue, but I'd rather not let Kou know I learned that from her.)
It was almost sundown when we wrapped up that day, so I walked home part of the way with my new athletic friends.
Nanako welcomed me back - Uncle Ryotaro definitely still busy with cop work. I used the evening to study after a quick dinner with my cousin, and not having the stress of the Midnight Channel certainly helped my focus.
----
Wednesday came, and it was more of the same. Hosoi-sensei was our Classical Literature teacher, and he somehow was nuttier than Sofue-sensei and her pharaoh garb, as he wore a hand-puppet of himself that I bet houses his real brain - the human is just a meat puppet. Yosuke got called up on the spot, and murmuring the answer to him, I felt our friendship improve a little bit.
The time for school came and went, and instead of hanging out with my Investigation Team friends or my athletic buds, I went on a whim to the shopping district, where the Velvet Room's siren call had me looking in. All three were in attendance, and after I looked through my fusion options - nothing too exciting at this point, though - Margaret asked a favor of me, to take Marie outside and have her interact with the outside world.
Whether it was foreknowledge of her future role or the fact that I sometimes have a hard time saying "no", I was then dragooned into walking a girl straight out of a manga through the sleepy streets of Inaba. First we went to Souzai Daigaku, a local street food place, where in the midst of munching on steak skewers Marie asked me why they called it steak and not "fsteak". (She wouldn't be alone calling it that, by the way - Chie does that from time to time too!). I was frankly stumped for an answer, but I pointed out that "fsteak" sounds odd to people not used to it. Yosuke ran into us and helped make sure things weren't that awkward, and treated us to some more helpings of "fsteak" as well.
Then we climbed the hill overlooking town, and I overheard her making some poetry on the fly. After sating her appetite for the view, she wanted to see more places, and just before we got someplace else, yet another card appeared in my mind's eye. This time, it was gold, depicted an Egyptian god of some sort, and had the number XX on it. "Aeon", said the voice once more to me. That was odd - from what I knew, the XX card was Judgement, so maybe this was from another deck I wasn't aware of. Either way, that was two bonds formed within a day, bringing me to five total.
----
Thursday came, and class proved to be rather plain for once. On a whim, I decided to spend time with Yosuke that day. I could feel Orobas thrumming as I realized its Arcana, the Magician, matched that of Yosuke's and could help improve our bond faster. Don't ask me the details of how that works - apparently it's still the same animé power of friendship magic that powers most of my Wild Card stuff.
So anyhow, Yosuke and I spent some time at Souzai Daigaku, and if the shopkeepr ever thought it strange that the two of us had snacks there two days in a row, they never really showed it. He bristled when a local housewife came along and did what housewives in small towns do best: passive-aggressive judging. Yosuke was, to an extent, the local whipping boy - new kid in town, plus the baggage of being the son of the local Junes manager and therefore The Plague That Was Killing Local Business.
That evening, Uncle Ryotaro came in and brought along Adachi for dinner. Adachi told us that the police couldn't get any leads on who kidnapped Yukiko, after which my uncle predictably berated him for disclosing case information to people not in the clear. At the time, I thought he was just being helpful, if bumbling, but now we knew better.
Friday was similarly hum-drum, and after reading a tip online on TaP Soda somehow giving people bursts of mental energy, I decided to stock up on some for trips to the TV World. How I was able to fit those cans within a small bag on our forays still boggles my mind to this day. I then ran into Yosuke, and since neither of us had much to do got on the train to Okina, which was the closest thing to urban life either of us had since moving to this place. Once again, I could feel my bond with the Prince of Junes improve. I spent the evening reading up on more books about Manliness, and soon enough another day came and went.
The next few days came as a blur, during which I managed to win a spot as starting shooting guard for the basketball club - if anyone mentions the Killer Backcourt of 2011 in Inaba, look for me or Kou - and I watched as Yosuke handled some Karens-in-the-making by pointing out they were shirking their already part-time work a bit too much.
Monday the 25th came, and I decided to put another feather in my Yasogami cap by joining the drama club. They looked to be a generally enthusiastic sort - if dominated by the ladies - and a short-haired girl wearing her hair with clips was bossing even the club president. Scary, I thought, and that was with a feisty tomboy as one of my new friends in this town. I could see where she was coming from, though - Mr Club President was clearly more engrossed in simping for his not-quite-girlfriend Mi-tan over interpretations of drama works. Hair Clip Girl introduced herself as Yumi Ozawa. Yumi subjected me to rigorous one-on-one practice for our roles (no, not that way! And if you're reading this, Rise, it was definitely just that!) and then I could feel the familiar thrum of yet another Social Link opening. "The Sun", the card announced itself as the familiar face of Le Soleil and the number XIX made itself known to me.
The days came by in a blur after that episode with Yumi, during which Chie made me her sparring partner, I took my first jab at the Aiya Mega Beef Bowl Challenge (and had to shell out a whopping 3000 yen), and Yumi's near-maniacal dedication to the drama club spooked me. Our role, incidentally, was as husband and wife (no, Rise, it was only for a play!)
Before I knew it, however, Golden Week was upon us, and the next chapter of our wonderful tale would begin.
Zebrin
Don't bread on me.
- Location
- Wherever you go, there you are.
Ahh, yeah. I did notice that one. Pretty small change, not much actually came of it in the game after all. Having a cop as your guardian does help with that sort of thing after all...
It does mean Yu never actually went to the police station, and as such isn't on their radar at all though. could have some interesting knock on effects.
Fsteak. Really? Hah, I miss those little cartoons... I still can't believe that Atlus actually added that in... The best part is that it's actually a legitimate translation of the event from Japanese!
And... Adachi... Yeah, that guy really was good at what he was doing... I wonder if you will do anything regarding his "love" of cabbage?
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Chapter 7: The Fourth Musketeer, And A Not-So-Golden Week
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
Have a new chapter on me.
Showa Day came on the 29th - a Friday - and I decided to spend the day attempting the Mega Beef Bowl challenge once more, given that it was raining. Instead of the middle-aged proprietor manning the store, however, I found a blue-haired girl I recognized from my class, Aika. Usually she spent her time outside school running deliveries for her family shop, so seeing her behind the counter was a surprising deal. Alas, seeing a familiar face did little to improve my performance - though it was still better than my maiden attempt. Feeling sheepish, I handed over the 3000 yen to Aika and called it a day.
I spent that evening watching the news with my uncle and cousin Nanako, and I made a mental note about the next day being foggy. With Yukiko safe and sound and the Midnight Channel quiet since we rescued her, I felt I could relax on that front - though watching it tonight was of importance, as someone might have been thrown into the TV again.
Golden Week had just begun, and the stretch of three days off mid-week looked enticing, and even Uncle Ryotaro pointed out that if things were light at the police department then the three of us could have a family outing together. Naturally, Nanako volunteered to go to Junes, given that it really was her favorite place in her admittedly small world. My uncle didn't force me to go with them, but all the same told me to consider taking the trip with them.
I sighed in relief as I watched the Midnight Channel that night, and found naught but static.
The next day came, the end of April. I found Yukiko waiting for me at the school gate, finally having recovered from her ordeal. I told her I was glad to see her again, and the two of us headed to class together.
Our first class of the day was with Yamada-sensei, whose sweater vest and grey hair made him look like a giant dweeb (Not that I, a guy who's had a similar hair color since childhood and always pops his collars, can talk.) His speech reminded me a bit of an overgrown Yosuke, however - making comments about cute girls a third his age made me make a mental reminder to reign in my friend's wannabe Casanova behavior. Yamada-sensei was already a bit sketchy, and I didn't want Yosuke to end up like him, or worse, like that disgraced volleyball coach who made headlines some years ago. Of course, he asked me a question about Martian geography that I thankfully got right, so at least I wasn't on his shit list (if he even had one like King Moron).
The three members of the Investigation Team (Chie, Yosuke, and I) then met up at the rooftop, where Yukiko met us and gave Chie her own bowl of ramen. While watching our friends slurp down the tasty noodles, we asked Yukiko her version of events, hoping that the time off had cleared her head and given us some leads. However, it seems that time had only worsened her recollection of events, with one exception - she remembered that whoever it was that abducted her rang the doorbell of the inn, meaning it was certainly someone rather daring. It would also have to be someone relatively inconspicuous, given that whoever was at the inn at the time didn't realize something was off until Yukiko was gone.
It was then I realized that the inn heiress could prove to be a valuable ally in our investigation. After all, she was the only other person we knew who had a Persona apart from us three, and she was already good friends with Chie, so I decided to formally welcome her into the Investigation Team, feeling that familiar thrum from The Fool as well.
As our first act as a quartet, we went through what we knew of the case thus far. The most obvious clue was that all of them were in Inaba at the time of their abduction. Another one was that all three victims thus far, Yukiko included, were female. The third one was that all had appeared on television before they appeared on the Midnight Channel - Yamano was involved in that love triangle which received news coverage, Saki-senpai was the witness to Yamano's body, and Yukiko was interviewed due to Yamano staying at the Amagi Inn prior to her death. As we didn't have any lead on who the kidnapper and/or murderer was, our best bet was to check the Midnight Channel on who the next victim would be, who then in turn would likely have appeared on regular TV first.
The fact that Yosuke and I owed the girls steak for slurping down their bowls of ramen was worth it, mind you.
So there we were, sitting at the Junes food court - which had become a sort-of HQ, given its proximity to our TV portal - when Detective Adachi found us, and given that he couldn't shut his mouth like my uncle or other detectives did, we asked him for any leads on the case in a totally innocuous way. He told us what he knew of the case, and the fact that he was still so blasé about giving teenagers info about real crimes was still pinging my gut feelings. That said, he was a cop giving away info on unsolved cases to us, and we were still kinda naïve about the whole thing, so we took his word for it.
To formally welcome Yukiko into the Investigation Team, the four of us decided to enter the TV World, where Teddie welcome us and gave Yukiko her fog glasses... which turned out to be a pair of Groucho glasses! Somehow Yukiko found the whole thing rather amusing, and the façade of prim and proper model student the heiress gave off gained a crack in it, as Yukiko got into one of those long bouts of laughter we came to know and love. After getting it out of her system, Teddie gave her the real pair of fog glasses meant for her, with red frames as befitting her favorite color.
That evening Uncle Ryotaro let us know that, contingent on his availability, that the three of us could go on a trip as a family, even likely going out of Inaba. Nanako was ecstatic - seeing her dad at home was already an uncommon event for her, so getting to spend time with my uncle on a vacation would put her over the moon, Junes or not.
May began on a Sunday, and I decided to spend the day with a friend, finding Marie right outside the door to the Velvet Room. Chie decided to tag along with us, and we found ourselves at Junes, going through the electronics section (where Marie showed some interest in the TVs) and ending our time together at the food court, where we helped ourselves to some grilled steak. The steak at Junes wasn't as good as the stores at the shopping district, but it was nice all the same, plus I managed to pay Chie back for what I owed her in terms of steaks.
The next day was Monday, our last school day before Golden Week proper began. King Moron's philosophy lesson was surprisingly interesting, where I learned that Pythagoras was more than just a mathematician - it appeared he was also a philosopher of some sort. We took Yukiko on a test run within the TV that day, curious to what Konohana-Sakuya's powers were and what the heiress' fighting style was, in contrast to my swordfighting and Yosuke and Chie LARPing as a ninja and martial artist respectively.
It turned out that Yukiko used hand fans in combat, and was in many ways her best friend's polar opposite in a fight: her physical attacks were the weakest among us four, but her magic abilities exceeded the rest of us, barring my more magically oriented Personae. She had access to fire magic - "Maragi!", came her cry, scorching a whole group of enemies at once - and was also by far our best healer, lightening the load Yosuke and I had in terms of keeping us hale and hearty. We ended our trial run by coming across a king-like Shadow where Shadow Yukiko fought us, and the fight was enough of a challenge with its deadly rampages, but we did pull through and got ourselves a nice fan for Yukiko for our troubles.
That night brought some sad news. Uncle Ryotaro called us from the police station, stating that some last-minute workload meant that we wouldn't have our family outing together. Nanako looked crestfallen, which tugged at my heart, and I needed a way to salvage the situation. Between that and midterms beginning next week right after Golden Week, I had to plan my next moves carefully, and that was before taking into account Investigation Team business. So that evening, with no kidnappings or murders in the news, I decided to study instead.
The next day was the start of the holidays, Constitution Day. Chie called on us, telling us that she and Yukiko were spending the day together. Since I had nothing planned, and Operation Cheer Up Nanako was a-go, I asked if she could come along, to which Chie replied in the affirmative. We then decided to go to Junes, so that we could get Yosuke in on the fun as well. The five of us (Nanako included) spent some time around the department store, and we spent lunch time at the food court, where Nanako marveled at the choices of food available, keeping in mind that I was the only person in our household with above average cooking skills. Chie asked her how the food compared to her mom's cooking - to which my cousin replied that her mother passed away some time ago. (Oh, so that was why Aunt Chisato wasn't around. Not that I really knew her, though.)
Operation Cheer Up Nanako did have a silver lining to it, despite the morose turn our day at Junes went - Nanako was indeed happier by the time we got home, and another Social Link had formed in my mind. "Justice", the voice said as I saw a pair of scales and the number VIII.
Day 2 of the holidays came - Nature Day (and Star Wars Day to some people out there). I spent the day as Chie's punching bag again, but with Nanako dropping by and letting Chie play the Cool Big Sis... until a bug appeared. (Seems that the tomboy had a girly streak of her own then.)
The three-day holiday came to a close with Children's Day. Ironically, that was the holiday I spent with Nanako the least - instead opting to drop by Tatsuhime Shrine, remembering the rumors I overheard about a strange creature living there. A fox with a red scarf and an ema around its neck appeared to me, and the ema had a leaf attached to it. The leaf smelled of herbs, and after the fox gave me a look I took the leaf and the fox went off, disappearing to who knew where. Just at that point an old man with creaky knees came by, saw the leaf I had, and asked if he could take the leaf for pain relief. I gave it to him, and the feeling of helping another citizen of Inaba made me glad, and the stirrings of yet another bond formed went into my mind. "The Hermit", rang the familiar voice as a lamp, an eye and the number IX flashed in my head. Still feels surreal forming a deeper than normal bond with an animal, of all things.
The weekend ended on a higher note, as Uncle Ryotaro came home and got us gifts for Children's Day, even if at sixteen going on seventeen I was bit too old for it. Nanako got a cute shirt with a platypus on it, and I got some nice swimming trunks, perfect for a beach trip. (Spoiler alert: I did go to the beach later that year.)
Man, Inaba was proving to be a crazy and bizarre town, though noisy isn't quite an apt description for it.
----
Showa Day came on the 29th - a Friday - and I decided to spend the day attempting the Mega Beef Bowl challenge once more, given that it was raining. Instead of the middle-aged proprietor manning the store, however, I found a blue-haired girl I recognized from my class, Aika. Usually she spent her time outside school running deliveries for her family shop, so seeing her behind the counter was a surprising deal. Alas, seeing a familiar face did little to improve my performance - though it was still better than my maiden attempt. Feeling sheepish, I handed over the 3000 yen to Aika and called it a day.
I spent that evening watching the news with my uncle and cousin Nanako, and I made a mental note about the next day being foggy. With Yukiko safe and sound and the Midnight Channel quiet since we rescued her, I felt I could relax on that front - though watching it tonight was of importance, as someone might have been thrown into the TV again.
Golden Week had just begun, and the stretch of three days off mid-week looked enticing, and even Uncle Ryotaro pointed out that if things were light at the police department then the three of us could have a family outing together. Naturally, Nanako volunteered to go to Junes, given that it really was her favorite place in her admittedly small world. My uncle didn't force me to go with them, but all the same told me to consider taking the trip with them.
I sighed in relief as I watched the Midnight Channel that night, and found naught but static.
The next day came, the end of April. I found Yukiko waiting for me at the school gate, finally having recovered from her ordeal. I told her I was glad to see her again, and the two of us headed to class together.
Our first class of the day was with Yamada-sensei, whose sweater vest and grey hair made him look like a giant dweeb (Not that I, a guy who's had a similar hair color since childhood and always pops his collars, can talk.) His speech reminded me a bit of an overgrown Yosuke, however - making comments about cute girls a third his age made me make a mental reminder to reign in my friend's wannabe Casanova behavior. Yamada-sensei was already a bit sketchy, and I didn't want Yosuke to end up like him, or worse, like that disgraced volleyball coach who made headlines some years ago. Of course, he asked me a question about Martian geography that I thankfully got right, so at least I wasn't on his shit list (if he even had one like King Moron).
The three members of the Investigation Team (Chie, Yosuke, and I) then met up at the rooftop, where Yukiko met us and gave Chie her own bowl of ramen. While watching our friends slurp down the tasty noodles, we asked Yukiko her version of events, hoping that the time off had cleared her head and given us some leads. However, it seems that time had only worsened her recollection of events, with one exception - she remembered that whoever it was that abducted her rang the doorbell of the inn, meaning it was certainly someone rather daring. It would also have to be someone relatively inconspicuous, given that whoever was at the inn at the time didn't realize something was off until Yukiko was gone.
It was then I realized that the inn heiress could prove to be a valuable ally in our investigation. After all, she was the only other person we knew who had a Persona apart from us three, and she was already good friends with Chie, so I decided to formally welcome her into the Investigation Team, feeling that familiar thrum from The Fool as well.
As our first act as a quartet, we went through what we knew of the case thus far. The most obvious clue was that all of them were in Inaba at the time of their abduction. Another one was that all three victims thus far, Yukiko included, were female. The third one was that all had appeared on television before they appeared on the Midnight Channel - Yamano was involved in that love triangle which received news coverage, Saki-senpai was the witness to Yamano's body, and Yukiko was interviewed due to Yamano staying at the Amagi Inn prior to her death. As we didn't have any lead on who the kidnapper and/or murderer was, our best bet was to check the Midnight Channel on who the next victim would be, who then in turn would likely have appeared on regular TV first.
The fact that Yosuke and I owed the girls steak for slurping down their bowls of ramen was worth it, mind you.
So there we were, sitting at the Junes food court - which had become a sort-of HQ, given its proximity to our TV portal - when Detective Adachi found us, and given that he couldn't shut his mouth like my uncle or other detectives did, we asked him for any leads on the case in a totally innocuous way. He told us what he knew of the case, and the fact that he was still so blasé about giving teenagers info about real crimes was still pinging my gut feelings. That said, he was a cop giving away info on unsolved cases to us, and we were still kinda naïve about the whole thing, so we took his word for it.
To formally welcome Yukiko into the Investigation Team, the four of us decided to enter the TV World, where Teddie welcome us and gave Yukiko her fog glasses... which turned out to be a pair of Groucho glasses! Somehow Yukiko found the whole thing rather amusing, and the façade of prim and proper model student the heiress gave off gained a crack in it, as Yukiko got into one of those long bouts of laughter we came to know and love. After getting it out of her system, Teddie gave her the real pair of fog glasses meant for her, with red frames as befitting her favorite color.
That evening Uncle Ryotaro let us know that, contingent on his availability, that the three of us could go on a trip as a family, even likely going out of Inaba. Nanako was ecstatic - seeing her dad at home was already an uncommon event for her, so getting to spend time with my uncle on a vacation would put her over the moon, Junes or not.
----
May began on a Sunday, and I decided to spend the day with a friend, finding Marie right outside the door to the Velvet Room. Chie decided to tag along with us, and we found ourselves at Junes, going through the electronics section (where Marie showed some interest in the TVs) and ending our time together at the food court, where we helped ourselves to some grilled steak. The steak at Junes wasn't as good as the stores at the shopping district, but it was nice all the same, plus I managed to pay Chie back for what I owed her in terms of steaks.
The next day was Monday, our last school day before Golden Week proper began. King Moron's philosophy lesson was surprisingly interesting, where I learned that Pythagoras was more than just a mathematician - it appeared he was also a philosopher of some sort. We took Yukiko on a test run within the TV that day, curious to what Konohana-Sakuya's powers were and what the heiress' fighting style was, in contrast to my swordfighting and Yosuke and Chie LARPing as a ninja and martial artist respectively.
It turned out that Yukiko used hand fans in combat, and was in many ways her best friend's polar opposite in a fight: her physical attacks were the weakest among us four, but her magic abilities exceeded the rest of us, barring my more magically oriented Personae. She had access to fire magic - "Maragi!", came her cry, scorching a whole group of enemies at once - and was also by far our best healer, lightening the load Yosuke and I had in terms of keeping us hale and hearty. We ended our trial run by coming across a king-like Shadow where Shadow Yukiko fought us, and the fight was enough of a challenge with its deadly rampages, but we did pull through and got ourselves a nice fan for Yukiko for our troubles.
That night brought some sad news. Uncle Ryotaro called us from the police station, stating that some last-minute workload meant that we wouldn't have our family outing together. Nanako looked crestfallen, which tugged at my heart, and I needed a way to salvage the situation. Between that and midterms beginning next week right after Golden Week, I had to plan my next moves carefully, and that was before taking into account Investigation Team business. So that evening, with no kidnappings or murders in the news, I decided to study instead.
The next day was the start of the holidays, Constitution Day. Chie called on us, telling us that she and Yukiko were spending the day together. Since I had nothing planned, and Operation Cheer Up Nanako was a-go, I asked if she could come along, to which Chie replied in the affirmative. We then decided to go to Junes, so that we could get Yosuke in on the fun as well. The five of us (Nanako included) spent some time around the department store, and we spent lunch time at the food court, where Nanako marveled at the choices of food available, keeping in mind that I was the only person in our household with above average cooking skills. Chie asked her how the food compared to her mom's cooking - to which my cousin replied that her mother passed away some time ago. (Oh, so that was why Aunt Chisato wasn't around. Not that I really knew her, though.)
Operation Cheer Up Nanako did have a silver lining to it, despite the morose turn our day at Junes went - Nanako was indeed happier by the time we got home, and another Social Link had formed in my mind. "Justice", the voice said as I saw a pair of scales and the number VIII.
Day 2 of the holidays came - Nature Day (and Star Wars Day to some people out there). I spent the day as Chie's punching bag again, but with Nanako dropping by and letting Chie play the Cool Big Sis... until a bug appeared. (Seems that the tomboy had a girly streak of her own then.)
The three-day holiday came to a close with Children's Day. Ironically, that was the holiday I spent with Nanako the least - instead opting to drop by Tatsuhime Shrine, remembering the rumors I overheard about a strange creature living there. A fox with a red scarf and an ema around its neck appeared to me, and the ema had a leaf attached to it. The leaf smelled of herbs, and after the fox gave me a look I took the leaf and the fox went off, disappearing to who knew where. Just at that point an old man with creaky knees came by, saw the leaf I had, and asked if he could take the leaf for pain relief. I gave it to him, and the feeling of helping another citizen of Inaba made me glad, and the stirrings of yet another bond formed went into my mind. "The Hermit", rang the familiar voice as a lamp, an eye and the number IX flashed in my head. Still feels surreal forming a deeper than normal bond with an animal, of all things.
The weekend ended on a higher note, as Uncle Ryotaro came home and got us gifts for Children's Day, even if at sixteen going on seventeen I was bit too old for it. Nanako got a cute shirt with a platypus on it, and I got some nice swimming trunks, perfect for a beach trip. (Spoiler alert: I did go to the beach later that year.)
Man, Inaba was proving to be a crazy and bizarre town, though noisy isn't quite an apt description for it.
Chapter 8: (Aiya)yayayaya
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
Two more school days before our midterms started on Monday, with Friday being largely uneventful outside of Yukiko slapping Yosuke in the face after the latter asked for private lessons with the studious girl. Now, granted, I knew he really meant that, but the Amagi Challenge making Yukiko wary of guys talking to her combined with my friend's uncanny ability to make anything sound like an innuendo really earned him that slap.
On a whim I decided to take a look at part-time jobs to fill my time with, as ill-timed as it was due to exams approaching. Given my academic performance I could cut myself some slack anyway, plus, there was a chance of more Social Links to be had. I decided on a daycare job that I'd need to take the bus for, so I went, got on the bus at the stop in the Shopping District, and found myself at the daycare.
As expected, the children were a handful. Playing along with them certainly helped, though, and they came to see me as the "weird caretaker who's fun anyway". One of the kids in particular, Yuuta, remained behind as the other children were picked up by their parents or guardians at the end of the day, and I learned why. A woman, not much older than me, approached Yuuta, and the boy went and ran away from her. I learned from the supervisor that the woman was Yuuta's stepmother, and that was why the boy, who normally was sociable and energetic, did a 180 around the young woman. (Spoiler alert: this story has a happy ending, though!)
That evening, I found Uncle Ryotaro at the Western-style table, a rarity these days. I took the rare chance of getting to talk with him, and the two of us decided to talk about things like school, my friends, and the fact that I seemed to be awfully close to the events around town. Nanako came in, thinking her dad was bullying me, but I understood - she thought my uncle was rather overbearing on me, but I realized that it was just his detective self coming to the forefront. And as I expected, yet another card, this time with a bishop's hat and the number V on it, appeared in my mind. "The Hierophant", the voice rang in my head again.
The next day was a rather stormy day, and I learned that Chie was a bit keraunophobic - that is, she feared thunder and lightning. Yosuke, being Mr I Keep Putting My Foot Inside My Mouth Whenever I Talk, managed to irk the green-clad martial artist, to the point where I wasn't surprised when I learned that the storm had knocked out the power across town, Junes included, and compromised Yosuke's chance at a bonus to help him save for a motorbike. Guess he really was weak to electricity then.
After dropping by Aiya for another try at the Beef Bowl Challenge (and spending 60% of my paycheck from the daycare after failing again), I decided to go home and spend some time with Nanako, who had taken to calling me Big Bro.
Sunday arrived, and I spent time with Yosuke, who even accompanied me to my room... and promptly asked where I kept my own stash of literature of ill repute. (Never change, Yosuke, never change.) I told him I don't really keep any, and despite my reputation as a chick magnet I had never even asked out a girl, let alone kissed one at that point. I prefer to think of myself as a one-woman man, anyway - and spoiler alert, I'd find that woman within that year.
That evening I was reminded that it was Mother's Day by Nanako, of all people. Since my own mother was working overseas and Nanako's mom was, well, gone, she didn't know what to do with the Mother's Day gift she made. So I decided to take on a chance and told her to put the flowers on the family altar instead, as a way to honor Aunt Chisato.
I spent the rest of the evening cramming in some last-minute studying for the midterms, realizing I had a good grasp on the subject matter.
Monday to Thursday were spent on the midterms, which I was fairly sure were not difficult, and by Thursday afternoon the four of us had gathered to compare notes on how we felt we did. The thing about examination systems around the world is that they reward a certain kind of intelligence, placing emphasis on memorization and reasoning, while disfavoring others. I noticed that while Yukiko and I tended to excel within the standard framework, Yosuke (who was a more intuitive thinker who also frankly didn't apply himself at school) and Chie (who was more of a kinesthetic learner, given how quickly she picked up martial arts moves) were less suited to the standard teaching style. They weren't dumb, just that the school system wasn't built to make the most out of their unique talents.
That day I did overhear about some scuffle between biker gangs that happened around this time. Totally nothing worth noting, hehe. Apparently a first-year student from Yasogami was already making a name for himself since middle school, getting into fights with the biker gangs and all. That kid must have been big and strong for his age, given that he was barely in his teens but was still getting into fights with grown men... and apparently winning.
With exams over, I decided to put academics on the back burner and went to basketball practice with Kou instead. In particular the two of us worked on our chemistry, knowing when he would pass and me teaching him where my sweet spots on the floor were. After practice Daisuke came over, and the three of us talked about balls, with Kou making it sound less innocent than it really was. (We were teenage boys, of course, who have a habit of making everything sound less innocent.)
The next day, after school, I went to Junes, whereupon I chanced upon Adachi at Junes, slacking off and shirking detective work. On the off chance he was a Social Link, I decided to hang out with him, despite the fact that indulging someone in their worst habits was a Bad Idea for the most part. Anyhow, Adachi took the opportunity to whine about his reassignment to Inaba, given that he apparently had nobody else to serve as a sounding board, and I was proven right when a clownlike figure with the number 0 appeared in my head again. "The Jester", it said to me.
The fact that Adachi's Arcana was a variation of the Arcana of our Investigation Team spooked me, but I excused it as him being a bumbling police detective in contrast with us as amateur investigators.
That evening a news report came on about the biker gangs, and a young man telling the news crews to screw off. Apparently, the boy, named Kanji Tatsumi, was well known to the Inaba police for fighting off gangs since middle school, meaning that rumor I heard the day before was right on the money.
The next day, the Investigation Team agreed to watch the Midnight Channel, given that the weather was acting up again and the Tatsumi boy receiving news attention likely meant he might be the next target. Sure enough, the Midnight Channel showed an silhouette... of a tall man (or boy). I had a hunch our biker gang beater was involved, but we had no way to make sure of it for now.
Sunday came, and the weather was kind enough to let us meet at the food court and discuss our next move. We realized that the pattern of the victims being all women didn't hold, given that the silhouette was clearly that of a guy, so we filed that away as a red herring. Yukiko also pointed out that since the image was still faint, it meant that whoever the next victim wasn't thrown into the TV yet.
That evening, the image was a bit clearer, showing off a swaggering man dressed up like a delinquent. That really meant Tatsumi was our big lead then.
Yosuke then called, and in typical Yosuke fashion, asked me if I preferred Chie or Yukiko. I told him in no uncertain terms that I didn't think of my female friends that way.
The next day Yukiko briefed us on what she knew about the Tatsumi boy. His family ran a textiles shop located right next to the shrine, and the reason she was familiar with him was that the Inn was one of their customers - understandably so, since someone had to have created all the kimonos the staff wore. With that in min, the four of us went to Tatsumi Textiles to glean some information.
We found Tatsumi-san chatting with a rather short kid, with blue hair (there it is again!) and wearing a blue coat and hat that matched their hair color. The kid was an investigator of some sort, based on what I heard from the discussion the two were having. That being said, our leads from the textiles shop were frankly thin - the only thing they had in common was a scarf Yamano wore, which admittedly wasn't much to go on.
It was as we left the shop that things took an interesting turn. The blue kid from earlier was speaking to Kanji, and the latter was getting flustered, because a young kid much smaller than he seemed to be showing interest in him. Now I've got no problem with that (and it was something I had to show Yosuke as well, but that's a story for another time), but if you're in a rather traditional society like Japan the prospect of having someone of the same sex show interest in you can be rather shocking at best.
(Of course, not all things are as they appear, but again I'm getting ahead of myself).
Either way, the four of us, acting as the Investigation Team, decided to stake out Kanji the next day.
Our stakeout started at Yasogami the following day, with Yosuke giving me some updates on what he was doing, and as we saw him leave the school grounds we saw Little Boy Blue run into him again. The two walked off with each other, and we still needed to know what was going on.
I chose to split our team into pairs, with the more active duo of Yosuke and Chie in pursuit, while Yukiko and I would hang back and eventually wait near the textiles shop. Yosuke volunteered all to quickly to act like he and Chie were on a date, which quite frankly should have shown me their mutual chemistry. (The fact that Chie was shouting his idea down without outright refusing it was another sign.)
As I expected, I unlocked another Social Link, rather belatedly, after having my first talk with Yukiko alone. "The Priestess", said the voice I had come to anticipate, with a card depicting a robed woman and the number II. I then asked for her contact info as part of our investigation.
Eventually the two lovebirds (Yosuke and Chie, that is) found their way to us at the textiles shop, with their search for Kanji having gone south. Then the punk himself showed up, made some threatening gestures at us, with our relief coming from Aika coming in clutch and delivering food to us, even as we were running away from the textile heir.
That evening Yukiko called me to report Kanji was missing! This wasn't good news. I then watched the Midnight Channel, and to my non-surprise, something came up.
I wasn't expecting a steamy bathhouse to appear, however, and soon our punk boy appeared, dressed in but a bath towel and acting very much the opposite of his usual self, not unlike Yukiko.
Shadow Kanji was so flamboyant that he put the Village People and Freddie Mercury combined to shame. Yosuke called me, even more flustered than I was, and I joked about giving him a copy of the bathhouse video. My friend grew even more flustered, but it pretty much confirmed what we knew.
Kanji Tatsumi was now inside the TV, and only the four of us could save him.
On a whim I decided to take a look at part-time jobs to fill my time with, as ill-timed as it was due to exams approaching. Given my academic performance I could cut myself some slack anyway, plus, there was a chance of more Social Links to be had. I decided on a daycare job that I'd need to take the bus for, so I went, got on the bus at the stop in the Shopping District, and found myself at the daycare.
As expected, the children were a handful. Playing along with them certainly helped, though, and they came to see me as the "weird caretaker who's fun anyway". One of the kids in particular, Yuuta, remained behind as the other children were picked up by their parents or guardians at the end of the day, and I learned why. A woman, not much older than me, approached Yuuta, and the boy went and ran away from her. I learned from the supervisor that the woman was Yuuta's stepmother, and that was why the boy, who normally was sociable and energetic, did a 180 around the young woman. (Spoiler alert: this story has a happy ending, though!)
That evening, I found Uncle Ryotaro at the Western-style table, a rarity these days. I took the rare chance of getting to talk with him, and the two of us decided to talk about things like school, my friends, and the fact that I seemed to be awfully close to the events around town. Nanako came in, thinking her dad was bullying me, but I understood - she thought my uncle was rather overbearing on me, but I realized that it was just his detective self coming to the forefront. And as I expected, yet another card, this time with a bishop's hat and the number V on it, appeared in my mind. "The Hierophant", the voice rang in my head again.
The next day was a rather stormy day, and I learned that Chie was a bit keraunophobic - that is, she feared thunder and lightning. Yosuke, being Mr I Keep Putting My Foot Inside My Mouth Whenever I Talk, managed to irk the green-clad martial artist, to the point where I wasn't surprised when I learned that the storm had knocked out the power across town, Junes included, and compromised Yosuke's chance at a bonus to help him save for a motorbike. Guess he really was weak to electricity then.
After dropping by Aiya for another try at the Beef Bowl Challenge (and spending 60% of my paycheck from the daycare after failing again), I decided to go home and spend some time with Nanako, who had taken to calling me Big Bro.
Sunday arrived, and I spent time with Yosuke, who even accompanied me to my room... and promptly asked where I kept my own stash of literature of ill repute. (Never change, Yosuke, never change.) I told him I don't really keep any, and despite my reputation as a chick magnet I had never even asked out a girl, let alone kissed one at that point. I prefer to think of myself as a one-woman man, anyway - and spoiler alert, I'd find that woman within that year.
That evening I was reminded that it was Mother's Day by Nanako, of all people. Since my own mother was working overseas and Nanako's mom was, well, gone, she didn't know what to do with the Mother's Day gift she made. So I decided to take on a chance and told her to put the flowers on the family altar instead, as a way to honor Aunt Chisato.
I spent the rest of the evening cramming in some last-minute studying for the midterms, realizing I had a good grasp on the subject matter.
----
Monday to Thursday were spent on the midterms, which I was fairly sure were not difficult, and by Thursday afternoon the four of us had gathered to compare notes on how we felt we did. The thing about examination systems around the world is that they reward a certain kind of intelligence, placing emphasis on memorization and reasoning, while disfavoring others. I noticed that while Yukiko and I tended to excel within the standard framework, Yosuke (who was a more intuitive thinker who also frankly didn't apply himself at school) and Chie (who was more of a kinesthetic learner, given how quickly she picked up martial arts moves) were less suited to the standard teaching style. They weren't dumb, just that the school system wasn't built to make the most out of their unique talents.
That day I did overhear about some scuffle between biker gangs that happened around this time. Totally nothing worth noting, hehe. Apparently a first-year student from Yasogami was already making a name for himself since middle school, getting into fights with the biker gangs and all. That kid must have been big and strong for his age, given that he was barely in his teens but was still getting into fights with grown men... and apparently winning.
With exams over, I decided to put academics on the back burner and went to basketball practice with Kou instead. In particular the two of us worked on our chemistry, knowing when he would pass and me teaching him where my sweet spots on the floor were. After practice Daisuke came over, and the three of us talked about balls, with Kou making it sound less innocent than it really was. (We were teenage boys, of course, who have a habit of making everything sound less innocent.)
The next day, after school, I went to Junes, whereupon I chanced upon Adachi at Junes, slacking off and shirking detective work. On the off chance he was a Social Link, I decided to hang out with him, despite the fact that indulging someone in their worst habits was a Bad Idea for the most part. Anyhow, Adachi took the opportunity to whine about his reassignment to Inaba, given that he apparently had nobody else to serve as a sounding board, and I was proven right when a clownlike figure with the number 0 appeared in my head again. "The Jester", it said to me.
The fact that Adachi's Arcana was a variation of the Arcana of our Investigation Team spooked me, but I excused it as him being a bumbling police detective in contrast with us as amateur investigators.
That evening a news report came on about the biker gangs, and a young man telling the news crews to screw off. Apparently, the boy, named Kanji Tatsumi, was well known to the Inaba police for fighting off gangs since middle school, meaning that rumor I heard the day before was right on the money.
The next day, the Investigation Team agreed to watch the Midnight Channel, given that the weather was acting up again and the Tatsumi boy receiving news attention likely meant he might be the next target. Sure enough, the Midnight Channel showed an silhouette... of a tall man (or boy). I had a hunch our biker gang beater was involved, but we had no way to make sure of it for now.
Sunday came, and the weather was kind enough to let us meet at the food court and discuss our next move. We realized that the pattern of the victims being all women didn't hold, given that the silhouette was clearly that of a guy, so we filed that away as a red herring. Yukiko also pointed out that since the image was still faint, it meant that whoever the next victim wasn't thrown into the TV yet.
That evening, the image was a bit clearer, showing off a swaggering man dressed up like a delinquent. That really meant Tatsumi was our big lead then.
Yosuke then called, and in typical Yosuke fashion, asked me if I preferred Chie or Yukiko. I told him in no uncertain terms that I didn't think of my female friends that way.
The next day Yukiko briefed us on what she knew about the Tatsumi boy. His family ran a textiles shop located right next to the shrine, and the reason she was familiar with him was that the Inn was one of their customers - understandably so, since someone had to have created all the kimonos the staff wore. With that in min, the four of us went to Tatsumi Textiles to glean some information.
We found Tatsumi-san chatting with a rather short kid, with blue hair (there it is again!) and wearing a blue coat and hat that matched their hair color. The kid was an investigator of some sort, based on what I heard from the discussion the two were having. That being said, our leads from the textiles shop were frankly thin - the only thing they had in common was a scarf Yamano wore, which admittedly wasn't much to go on.
It was as we left the shop that things took an interesting turn. The blue kid from earlier was speaking to Kanji, and the latter was getting flustered, because a young kid much smaller than he seemed to be showing interest in him. Now I've got no problem with that (and it was something I had to show Yosuke as well, but that's a story for another time), but if you're in a rather traditional society like Japan the prospect of having someone of the same sex show interest in you can be rather shocking at best.
(Of course, not all things are as they appear, but again I'm getting ahead of myself).
----
Either way, the four of us, acting as the Investigation Team, decided to stake out Kanji the next day.
Our stakeout started at Yasogami the following day, with Yosuke giving me some updates on what he was doing, and as we saw him leave the school grounds we saw Little Boy Blue run into him again. The two walked off with each other, and we still needed to know what was going on.
I chose to split our team into pairs, with the more active duo of Yosuke and Chie in pursuit, while Yukiko and I would hang back and eventually wait near the textiles shop. Yosuke volunteered all to quickly to act like he and Chie were on a date, which quite frankly should have shown me their mutual chemistry. (The fact that Chie was shouting his idea down without outright refusing it was another sign.)
As I expected, I unlocked another Social Link, rather belatedly, after having my first talk with Yukiko alone. "The Priestess", said the voice I had come to anticipate, with a card depicting a robed woman and the number II. I then asked for her contact info as part of our investigation.
Eventually the two lovebirds (Yosuke and Chie, that is) found their way to us at the textiles shop, with their search for Kanji having gone south. Then the punk himself showed up, made some threatening gestures at us, with our relief coming from Aika coming in clutch and delivering food to us, even as we were running away from the textile heir.
That evening Yukiko called me to report Kanji was missing! This wasn't good news. I then watched the Midnight Channel, and to my non-surprise, something came up.
I wasn't expecting a steamy bathhouse to appear, however, and soon our punk boy appeared, dressed in but a bath towel and acting very much the opposite of his usual self, not unlike Yukiko.
Shadow Kanji was so flamboyant that he put the Village People and Freddie Mercury combined to shame. Yosuke called me, even more flustered than I was, and I joked about giving him a copy of the bathhouse video. My friend grew even more flustered, but it pretty much confirmed what we knew.
Kanji Tatsumi was now inside the TV, and only the four of us could save him.
Chapter 9: The Thunderous Skullbot
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
The next morning, we discussed our findings, even as we tried to get the image of Kanji Tatsumi in a bath towel out of our heads. So based on what we had seen so far, whatever happens in the Midnight Channel is based on the mind of the person thrown within the TV World - for instance, Yukiko's deep-seated desire to find a prince and whisk her away from Inaba manifested a Destinyland-style castle as backdrop for a Bachelorette-style show, while whatever hang-ups Kanji had created a steamy bathhouse and a Shadow that was likely causing the town's more conservative folks much consternation.
We then went into the TV World, eager to get to Kanji's bathhouse, and asked Teddie if he could guide us there. However, it seemed that we needed a clue of sorts before Teddie could sniff out his dungeon, and unlike with Yukiko where Chie's close friendship made looking for the former girl's castle easy, the four of us knew less about the delinquent than we did the heiress. So we then did what an investigation team is supposed to do: look for clues!
My first stop was at Tatsumi Textiles, where I asked Kanji's mother about him, trying to gain insight on him, his personality, and whatever hang-ups he might have. She told me about the small boy, presumably the same kid who we saw hanging around the punk, and asking around the shopping district led me to Junes, where someone of that description might fit. Asking around at Junes gave me a lead on the blue kid, but they would be back tomorrow.
I decided to spend the rest of the day playing genie for the town, and making my vulpine friend happier as a result. That evening, Nanako and I had a talk, where she called me big bro, which made me realize she was the little sister I never had.
The results from the midterms were in, and to my relief my grades were in the top 10 of the entire second year! My school friends were impressed at my performance, and I decided to celebrate the occasion... by visiting the Velvet Room. Call it a hunch. Once there, I found Margaret all by her lonesome, and she formally introduced herself to me, calling it fate that we would meet this way. An image of a royal woman in a dress and crown, with the number III appeared in my head. "The Empress", said the voice once more.
After that, Margaret told me to present to her Personae that fit special parameters, encouraging me to experiment with fusions and suchlike, which would then deepen our bond the same way my playing wish-granter deepened my bond with the fox.
I did drop back in shortly after my one on one meeting with Margaret (it was pretty innocuous by the way, Rise), and I found Igor at his usual spot, and Marie not there... but I did find a scrap of paper with a nice, if quaint poem, that the dark-haired girl promptly snatched away from me. Definitely a Type A tsundere, that Marie. I took the time to do some fusions and suchlike, preparing my Personae for the gauntlet ahead.
Remembering I still had to conduct an investigation, however, I dropped by Junes as my previous lead suggested, and indeed I found Little Boy Blue at the department store, where he told me that he called Kanji an odd person (poor choice of words there, kid), which may indicate some sort of complex. What complex would there be to make a super masculine man's shadow act as campy as Liberace anyway?
I did get a feeling, however, that it would suffice for Teddie to help us find Kanji. So I called up the rest of the team, and lo and behold, the fox from the shrine decided to tag with us too. It brought a brace of herbs around its neck, and - believe it or not - would give us herbs in exchange for money. Not only was the fox somehow sapient, it also had a grasp of money. Then again, if its goal was to aid in the upkeep of Tatsuhime Shrine...
So we went back into the TV World, and after relaying my findings to Teddie, the bear was somehow able to find the bathhouse, which as expected of a place was really steamy and muggy. A part of me wished we had found the place in summer, that way we'd head in with our summer uniforms and suffer the humidity less.
So we head into the bathhouse and begin tearing our way through the dungeon. During one of our fights with the Shadows, a pretty cool thing happened: We had just managed to finish up an All-Out Attack, which still wasn't enough to bring down all the enemies. Seeing this, Chie and Yukiko teamed up, their Personae creating a powerful attack that summoned twin dragons to finish what we started. I wondered if Yosuke and I could do something similar (spoiler alert: he can, but not with me. As to whom he does that dual attack with, I won't spoil you!)
A few levels in, and we managed to encounter Shadow Kanji in the flesh(?) for the first time, where he spouted some stereotypically flamboyant lines, and left us at the mercy of the Shadows by retreating further within the bathhouse. I could see Yosuke getting increasingly uncomfortable with the homoeroticism on display - was he so adversely affected by a conservative upbringing, or was there something else to it? (Even today, I still can't tell.)
We then ran into a Hulk Hogan like Shadow that was accompanying Shadow Kanji, and this one was a fair bit stronger than the rest. However, with us four and Teddie's guidance (which was less and less reliable at this point, might have been due to the steam), we were able to bring the guy down.
Eventually we reached the top, with Shadow Kanji cornered and having nowhere to run. The homoerotic Shadow was involved in a mutual staredown with his regular self, and we watched as the Shadow continued to goad the young punk. Apparently, the reason Shadow Kanji was so flamboyant was because Kanji found girls intimidating, because they were unwilling to accept his hobbies of sewing and crafts, deeming it unmanly. Which may also have explained his tough guy façade, but how did that translate into acting very campily? I had a sneaking suspicion his encounter with Little Boy Blue might have compounded his already confused sexuality, leading us to Flaming Shadow Wearing But a Bath Towel.
Alas, we were unable to prevent the real Kanji from denying his Shadow, and for the fourth time I watched as a Shadow metamorphosed into another monster from the depths of the human psyche. Shadow Kanji's mutant form was that of his human upper half, connected to a top heavy body builder with a collar of roses, carrying two Mars symbols in its arms. (Not too subtle are we, Shadow?) The Shadow was flanked by two equally homoerotic bodybuilders, and the trio reminded me of some Aztec vampires made famous by a certain manga. I glanced at Yosuke to see how he felt after seeing so much homoerotic imagery, and I wasn't surprised at my friend looking a bit green.
But he looked fine enough for the fight, so off we went! First off, I noticed that one of the lackeys (let's just call him Nice Guy) was weak to ice attacks as Teddie noted, so we decided to focus on him first, using Tomoe's Bufus and my Jack Frost's Bufulas. I gave Yukiko and Yosuke the directive to focus on healing us as this happened, and I as Nice Guy glowed white we decided to turn our attention to Tough Guy, who appeared to be weak to fire attacks. Yukiko then went on the offensive, while I switched to Eligor and began to follow suit with my own fire spells.
Once we had weakened Tough Guy enough, I noticed Nice Guy's white wall had dissipated, so back to Jack Frost and Chie on offense we went, and as Nice Guy fell that swung the battle more in our favor. But Shadow Kanji wasn't having any of it, and very nearly tossed Yukiko into a wall. While greatly hurt, she was still standing, so I had Yosuke help her while Chie and I turned our attention back to Tough Guy.
Once Yukiko was back on her feet we coordinated our fire spells together. "Agilao!" cried the both of us, as a searing flame snuffed out what power Tough Guy had. Four against one, we thought we had it in the bag, but Shadow Kanji had one, or two, more tricks up its sleeve.
The first was a rather skeevy whisper that made the already sick Yosuke even sicker, and even I had to admit it was rather nauseating. I handed a pre-blended Dokudami Tea to my friend, and both of us needed the pick me up. However, we had failed to notice Shadow Kanji riling up the girls, putting them in a blind rage that made their attacks hit harder but left them more vulnerable as well.
I switched back to Izanagi, assuming that if the supporting Shadows were weak to fire and ice, then electricity would then do the trick. To my surprise, Shadow Kanji actually healed from the spell, so Zio magic was no-go. Instead, I switched to a key Persona I had ready for this fight: Rakshasa. Rakshasa's resistance to physical attacks allowed me to get back up on my feet easier, and as the girls' rage wore down we managed to finally coordinate attacks and come out victorious against the bathhouse Shadow.
To my surprise, Shadow Kanji still looked at his original self, with the latter wondering if there was something wrong with their Shadow. Shadow Kanji, however, was stopped from gloating when, in a totally shocking (but not surprising) move the real Kanji punched his shadow. The teen punk did this shortly after his Shadow stated that original Kanji and the two of us (that is, Yosuke and I) were, to paraphrase, boyfriend material.
Kanji punching his Shadow, strangely enough, counted as acceptance, and the large, musclebound man that was his Shadow's monster form shifted, creating a black robot with a cartoony skeleton on its front, holding a thunderbolt in its hand. "Take-Mikazuchi", said the young punk as he his Persona manifested for the first time. Unfortunately, his ordeal in the TV World made him weak by the time we got back to the real world. Once he was A-OK, then we'd talk it over and see if we had gotten any new leads from our kidnapper.
Fighting those totally-not-Pillar Men was a handful, however, and some parts of me saw what was not meant to be seen.
We then went into the TV World, eager to get to Kanji's bathhouse, and asked Teddie if he could guide us there. However, it seemed that we needed a clue of sorts before Teddie could sniff out his dungeon, and unlike with Yukiko where Chie's close friendship made looking for the former girl's castle easy, the four of us knew less about the delinquent than we did the heiress. So we then did what an investigation team is supposed to do: look for clues!
My first stop was at Tatsumi Textiles, where I asked Kanji's mother about him, trying to gain insight on him, his personality, and whatever hang-ups he might have. She told me about the small boy, presumably the same kid who we saw hanging around the punk, and asking around the shopping district led me to Junes, where someone of that description might fit. Asking around at Junes gave me a lead on the blue kid, but they would be back tomorrow.
I decided to spend the rest of the day playing genie for the town, and making my vulpine friend happier as a result. That evening, Nanako and I had a talk, where she called me big bro, which made me realize she was the little sister I never had.
----
The results from the midterms were in, and to my relief my grades were in the top 10 of the entire second year! My school friends were impressed at my performance, and I decided to celebrate the occasion... by visiting the Velvet Room. Call it a hunch. Once there, I found Margaret all by her lonesome, and she formally introduced herself to me, calling it fate that we would meet this way. An image of a royal woman in a dress and crown, with the number III appeared in my head. "The Empress", said the voice once more.
After that, Margaret told me to present to her Personae that fit special parameters, encouraging me to experiment with fusions and suchlike, which would then deepen our bond the same way my playing wish-granter deepened my bond with the fox.
I did drop back in shortly after my one on one meeting with Margaret (it was pretty innocuous by the way, Rise), and I found Igor at his usual spot, and Marie not there... but I did find a scrap of paper with a nice, if quaint poem, that the dark-haired girl promptly snatched away from me. Definitely a Type A tsundere, that Marie. I took the time to do some fusions and suchlike, preparing my Personae for the gauntlet ahead.
Remembering I still had to conduct an investigation, however, I dropped by Junes as my previous lead suggested, and indeed I found Little Boy Blue at the department store, where he told me that he called Kanji an odd person (poor choice of words there, kid), which may indicate some sort of complex. What complex would there be to make a super masculine man's shadow act as campy as Liberace anyway?
I did get a feeling, however, that it would suffice for Teddie to help us find Kanji. So I called up the rest of the team, and lo and behold, the fox from the shrine decided to tag with us too. It brought a brace of herbs around its neck, and - believe it or not - would give us herbs in exchange for money. Not only was the fox somehow sapient, it also had a grasp of money. Then again, if its goal was to aid in the upkeep of Tatsuhime Shrine...
So we went back into the TV World, and after relaying my findings to Teddie, the bear was somehow able to find the bathhouse, which as expected of a place was really steamy and muggy. A part of me wished we had found the place in summer, that way we'd head in with our summer uniforms and suffer the humidity less.
So we head into the bathhouse and begin tearing our way through the dungeon. During one of our fights with the Shadows, a pretty cool thing happened: We had just managed to finish up an All-Out Attack, which still wasn't enough to bring down all the enemies. Seeing this, Chie and Yukiko teamed up, their Personae creating a powerful attack that summoned twin dragons to finish what we started. I wondered if Yosuke and I could do something similar (spoiler alert: he can, but not with me. As to whom he does that dual attack with, I won't spoil you!)
A few levels in, and we managed to encounter Shadow Kanji in the flesh(?) for the first time, where he spouted some stereotypically flamboyant lines, and left us at the mercy of the Shadows by retreating further within the bathhouse. I could see Yosuke getting increasingly uncomfortable with the homoeroticism on display - was he so adversely affected by a conservative upbringing, or was there something else to it? (Even today, I still can't tell.)
We then ran into a Hulk Hogan like Shadow that was accompanying Shadow Kanji, and this one was a fair bit stronger than the rest. However, with us four and Teddie's guidance (which was less and less reliable at this point, might have been due to the steam), we were able to bring the guy down.
Eventually we reached the top, with Shadow Kanji cornered and having nowhere to run. The homoerotic Shadow was involved in a mutual staredown with his regular self, and we watched as the Shadow continued to goad the young punk. Apparently, the reason Shadow Kanji was so flamboyant was because Kanji found girls intimidating, because they were unwilling to accept his hobbies of sewing and crafts, deeming it unmanly. Which may also have explained his tough guy façade, but how did that translate into acting very campily? I had a sneaking suspicion his encounter with Little Boy Blue might have compounded his already confused sexuality, leading us to Flaming Shadow Wearing But a Bath Towel.
Alas, we were unable to prevent the real Kanji from denying his Shadow, and for the fourth time I watched as a Shadow metamorphosed into another monster from the depths of the human psyche. Shadow Kanji's mutant form was that of his human upper half, connected to a top heavy body builder with a collar of roses, carrying two Mars symbols in its arms. (Not too subtle are we, Shadow?) The Shadow was flanked by two equally homoerotic bodybuilders, and the trio reminded me of some Aztec vampires made famous by a certain manga. I glanced at Yosuke to see how he felt after seeing so much homoerotic imagery, and I wasn't surprised at my friend looking a bit green.
But he looked fine enough for the fight, so off we went! First off, I noticed that one of the lackeys (let's just call him Nice Guy) was weak to ice attacks as Teddie noted, so we decided to focus on him first, using Tomoe's Bufus and my Jack Frost's Bufulas. I gave Yukiko and Yosuke the directive to focus on healing us as this happened, and I as Nice Guy glowed white we decided to turn our attention to Tough Guy, who appeared to be weak to fire attacks. Yukiko then went on the offensive, while I switched to Eligor and began to follow suit with my own fire spells.
Once we had weakened Tough Guy enough, I noticed Nice Guy's white wall had dissipated, so back to Jack Frost and Chie on offense we went, and as Nice Guy fell that swung the battle more in our favor. But Shadow Kanji wasn't having any of it, and very nearly tossed Yukiko into a wall. While greatly hurt, she was still standing, so I had Yosuke help her while Chie and I turned our attention back to Tough Guy.
Once Yukiko was back on her feet we coordinated our fire spells together. "Agilao!" cried the both of us, as a searing flame snuffed out what power Tough Guy had. Four against one, we thought we had it in the bag, but Shadow Kanji had one, or two, more tricks up its sleeve.
The first was a rather skeevy whisper that made the already sick Yosuke even sicker, and even I had to admit it was rather nauseating. I handed a pre-blended Dokudami Tea to my friend, and both of us needed the pick me up. However, we had failed to notice Shadow Kanji riling up the girls, putting them in a blind rage that made their attacks hit harder but left them more vulnerable as well.
I switched back to Izanagi, assuming that if the supporting Shadows were weak to fire and ice, then electricity would then do the trick. To my surprise, Shadow Kanji actually healed from the spell, so Zio magic was no-go. Instead, I switched to a key Persona I had ready for this fight: Rakshasa. Rakshasa's resistance to physical attacks allowed me to get back up on my feet easier, and as the girls' rage wore down we managed to finally coordinate attacks and come out victorious against the bathhouse Shadow.
To my surprise, Shadow Kanji still looked at his original self, with the latter wondering if there was something wrong with their Shadow. Shadow Kanji, however, was stopped from gloating when, in a totally shocking (but not surprising) move the real Kanji punched his shadow. The teen punk did this shortly after his Shadow stated that original Kanji and the two of us (that is, Yosuke and I) were, to paraphrase, boyfriend material.
Kanji punching his Shadow, strangely enough, counted as acceptance, and the large, musclebound man that was his Shadow's monster form shifted, creating a black robot with a cartoony skeleton on its front, holding a thunderbolt in its hand. "Take-Mikazuchi", said the young punk as he his Persona manifested for the first time. Unfortunately, his ordeal in the TV World made him weak by the time we got back to the real world. Once he was A-OK, then we'd talk it over and see if we had gotten any new leads from our kidnapper.
Fighting those totally-not-Pillar Men was a handful, however, and some parts of me saw what was not meant to be seen.
Chapter 10: The Priestess' Woes, And A Party Of Five
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
I picked up some stuff for dinner at Junes, primarily because our sojourn into the TV left little time for me to cook, and to provide me an alibi in case my uncle got too suspicious about Kanji's rescue. Which just so happened to be the very thing we were discussing at dinner.
I put on my best acting skills, thanking Yumi and the Drama Club for helping me hone them, as I made neutral responses about his fortuitous rescue and tried my utmost to deflect attention away from myself. He did ask me why I was around Tatsumi Textiles around the time Kanji was kidnapped, to which I replied that I was there as a friend of Yukiko, whose family inn had business with the textile shop (which admittedly was true, to an extent).
I did get a dream that night, however. It seemed I was invited back into the Velvet Room for a night, whereupon Igor and Margaret made some cryptic comments about this reality not being exactly the same as they had predicted. This was the first and only time I was experiencing something like this, so I left the two extra-dimensional beings to whatever strange crap they thought of.
It's not like this year was gonna get any more bizarre, anyway.
Classes the next day were uneventful, and a combination of waiting for Kanji's recovery, my wallet crying out after splurging on provisions for the TV World, and my gut feeling about another Social Link made me return to the day care job. So I then spent my afternoon getting dragged around by little kids again. 'Twas worth it though - not just for the 5000 yen, but also because Eri-san opened up to me after coming to pick up Yuuta-kun, where she shared the fact that she was so darn distant with a stepson she's only been with for six months. A card depicting various things like a cup and a bird appeared in my mind, decorated with the number XIV. "Temperance", the voice said once more.
The next day classes were boring again and I talked to Eri-san again, and I felt the thrum of Temperance as Nigi Mitama resonated within my head.
Sunday morning came, and I found Nanako sitting at the table, with a small seedling in front of her. It seemed that as a school project they were to grow a plant, and given that we had little precious space to do so... Hm. Was the yard beside the house good for a garden? Whoever it was that had set aside gardening tools, I thank you, for giving me and my family some healthy vegetables to last us the year.
I spent the rest of my Sunday with Yukiko, whose Shadow revealing her desire to leave Inaba and start a different career set the heiress on a warpath. She had dropped by the bookstore at the Shopping District to read up on career options, and I wondered if her parents knew, to which she said no. (Unsurprising.) I felt my bond with her deepen, though.
The next day King Moron (dis)graced us with his presence once more, and class proceeded as usual plus his rant about a certain delinquent student. Boring. I did spend the day with Adachi, who used my presence to complain about his shitty work-life balance. (Understandable, though.) We did run into an old lady who seemed to have taken a shine to the bumbling cop, though, who wanted to bring him some nimono, all because he and her son shared a name. (Still less strange than Shiroku-san's favorite fish and Akihiko-san sharing a name, though.)
The next day I spent more time with Yukiko, where we went shopping for groceries at Junes. The heiress to the Amagi Inn wanted to learn how to cook, of course - an innkeeper who can't cook is like a racecar driver who can't drive, or a thief who can't pick locks... you get the picture. She then asked if I wanted to be her taste tester, which I agreed to as her friend. (I would come to regret this decision in the days ahead.)
The next day, Yukiko presented to me her attempt at cooking a meal. Frankly, it didn't smell like what I thought food should smell, and as a competent cook myself I know food can come in various odors and flavors too. So why did this smell like some eldritch horror from the stars beyond time? I tried to couch my displeasure in nicer terms, but my disappointed friend looked sad. I did tell her that there was room for improvement, however, and all she needed was more practice! (Practice, however, doesn't account for a skewed palate, sadly.) Nanako dropped by, and she told Yukiko that she looked forward to Yukiko's improved cooking as well.
Thursday arrived, which was my seventeenth birthday. Yay for me, I guess? It was a normal school day, however, insofar as "waiting for the killer to strike and the last victim to recover" was normal. Sofue-sensei's history lesson was rather fun, though - I learned that the pyramids weren't built by slaves, but by paid laborers, which were evidenced by attendance logs. (Between that and cat veneration, I'm not so sure modern society and Ancient Egypt were that different.)
I spent after school at Junes with Yukiko, with me serving once more as impromptu career advisor. Two punks came in and made some not so nice comments to my friend, and I learned that they were from a disreputable TV show covering the Amagi Inn in an unsavory way.
That evening, I did get a sweet birthday slash midterm exam reward from Uncle Ryotaro - some spending money. Which was a fair amount - my bank account certainly appreciated the boost, even if what I did with it was to spend it on weirdly-flavored sodas or whatever Tanaka had for sale on his sketchy TV shopping program.
Of course, my uncle just had to ruin it a teeny bit by turning on his Investigator mode while I was trying to bond with him. It did work, though - Anzu thrummed happily in my mind as we discussed the night away.
The next day after school I ran into Eri-san again, who mentioned that she and her husband (Yuuta-kun's dad) got married, then he left for China on a business trip soon after. (It's not what you think, though - she was still happy with her hubby and as far as I know they're still together, and all she needed was a platonic friend who could listen to her woes as a stepmother. Seriously, why does everyone think I'm some kind of Casanova just because I have quite a few female friends?)
Saturday came, and I became Chie's sparring partner again. We met an old acquaintance of her from middle school named Takeshi, who had some history with my martial artist friend. Apparently he wasn't a fan of her exuberant attitude and desire to do good, so he called her names and suchlike. I told the punk to buzz off, and it turns out the jackass was simping for Yukiko and wanted to try the Amagi Challenge again. Chie's insecurity about being the best friend of the town's popular girl came up again, and somehow I managed to defuse it with a well-timed joke. Chie's a great girl - she just didn't realize it at the time.
Evening came and Uncle Ryotaro went into Investigator Mode again, which made my little sis call him out for neglecting her. Shrugging, I turned back to my detective uncle, who then used the chance to show how he was pretty terrible at the whole "getting along with kids" thing.
Speaking of Tanaka, I went and got a nice pair of off-brand shoes that Sunday for Chie. I had hoped she'd like them enough for use in the TV World. (Spoilers: she did.) I then spent the weekend with my athlete friends, and I did notice how Kou got flustered when Chie saw us in front of the bookstore. (If my tomboy friend were just a bit more observant, she'd have realized she was by no means unpopular; it was just that she wasn't seeing it the way I did, to be fair.)
The days passed by, and I spent them either with Chie or with my fellow athletes, dining at Aiya and getting ever closer to that elusive Beef Bowl Challenge, or even learning Shiroku-san had a rainy day sale. June had just arrived, and Kanji's recovery was soon on the horizon.
On the fourth of June, I checked the Midnight Channel as fog enveloped Inaba. To my relief, no one was on the TV.
The next day, I learned that you could catch insects at the shrine if you had a bug-catching net and that there were some cases of extortion and bullying by teenagers in the area. I knew right away it wasn't Kanji, given that while he was (and still is, kinda) a punk, he wasn't the type of guy to shake down people for money, either. Chie was with me, however, and vowed to do something about those bullies if she could. (And that, kids, is how one of the Inaba PD's rising stars got her motivation to be in law enforcement.)
That evening I went to the shrine on a hunch, and found a strange lady in a white kimono, who asked me for fish. I did have some and gave a fish to her, but something about her really felt off. But not in a bad way. The rest of the evening was spent talking to my cute little sis Nanako.
Monday, June 6th, arrived, and Kanji joined us on the rooftop, healthy as he can be. Of course, we then used the opportunity to ask him a lot of questions, like what was his deal with Little Boy Blue (apparently Kanji didn't know much about the kid) and the first-year was coming to terms with the possibility that maybe he wasn't into girls. (Not a problem, mind you.) Kanji went on further to explain that as the heir to a textile shop his early life was filled with stuff about fabrics and handicrafts, but since people aren't used to a guy, especially one as big and strong as my kohai, talking about these things they began to ostracize him, causing Kanji to become a punk as a reaction. I did find his devil-may-care attitude cool though, and that was the seed of my admiration for my new friend.
However, his recollection of events during and after his abduction were as foggy as Yukiko's, but I cottoned on to one thing: whoever the killer was, it had to be someone big and strong enough to overpower Kanji, even if he used something like chloroform to subdue his victims.
With that, I chose to welcome Kanji Tatsumi to the Investigation Team, where his brawn and Take-Mikazuchi would be a great asset to our cause. Naturally, this meant a stop at the Junes food court where we briefed the first-year delinquent on the situation as he tucked in some steak (he was under the notion that someone was literally beating people to death with a TV). Kanji's intimidating air also helped scare off some kibitzers sitting next to us, letting us discuss without inconvenient bystanders.
At that point we chose to review our leads, including a chart of enka album sales (Misuzu Hiiragi wasn't someone we had dismissed at that point), a list of TV announcers (where Yamano placed somewhere in the middle), and most tellingly, a list of TV programs and people who appeared on them. My belief that the victims were all folks who appeared on TV appeared to hold water, then.
Kanji's initiation then culminated with us entering the TV World with him in tow, where we introduced him to Teddie and vice-versa. Kanji got pranked with the Groucho glasses this time, causing Yukiko to go into one of her patented laughing fits again. (I can almost hear someone say it's an endearing character trait, too.) Unamused, our new recruit yeeted the funny glasses and got his real pair, a pair of aviator shades.
With Kanji Tatsumi on our side, I genuinely felt we had the edge with whatever tricks the killer would try in this town. Little did I know what we were getting into at that point.
I put on my best acting skills, thanking Yumi and the Drama Club for helping me hone them, as I made neutral responses about his fortuitous rescue and tried my utmost to deflect attention away from myself. He did ask me why I was around Tatsumi Textiles around the time Kanji was kidnapped, to which I replied that I was there as a friend of Yukiko, whose family inn had business with the textile shop (which admittedly was true, to an extent).
I did get a dream that night, however. It seemed I was invited back into the Velvet Room for a night, whereupon Igor and Margaret made some cryptic comments about this reality not being exactly the same as they had predicted. This was the first and only time I was experiencing something like this, so I left the two extra-dimensional beings to whatever strange crap they thought of.
It's not like this year was gonna get any more bizarre, anyway.
----
Classes the next day were uneventful, and a combination of waiting for Kanji's recovery, my wallet crying out after splurging on provisions for the TV World, and my gut feeling about another Social Link made me return to the day care job. So I then spent my afternoon getting dragged around by little kids again. 'Twas worth it though - not just for the 5000 yen, but also because Eri-san opened up to me after coming to pick up Yuuta-kun, where she shared the fact that she was so darn distant with a stepson she's only been with for six months. A card depicting various things like a cup and a bird appeared in my mind, decorated with the number XIV. "Temperance", the voice said once more.
The next day classes were boring again and I talked to Eri-san again, and I felt the thrum of Temperance as Nigi Mitama resonated within my head.
Sunday morning came, and I found Nanako sitting at the table, with a small seedling in front of her. It seemed that as a school project they were to grow a plant, and given that we had little precious space to do so... Hm. Was the yard beside the house good for a garden? Whoever it was that had set aside gardening tools, I thank you, for giving me and my family some healthy vegetables to last us the year.
I spent the rest of my Sunday with Yukiko, whose Shadow revealing her desire to leave Inaba and start a different career set the heiress on a warpath. She had dropped by the bookstore at the Shopping District to read up on career options, and I wondered if her parents knew, to which she said no. (Unsurprising.) I felt my bond with her deepen, though.
The next day King Moron (dis)graced us with his presence once more, and class proceeded as usual plus his rant about a certain delinquent student. Boring. I did spend the day with Adachi, who used my presence to complain about his shitty work-life balance. (Understandable, though.) We did run into an old lady who seemed to have taken a shine to the bumbling cop, though, who wanted to bring him some nimono, all because he and her son shared a name. (Still less strange than Shiroku-san's favorite fish and Akihiko-san sharing a name, though.)
The next day I spent more time with Yukiko, where we went shopping for groceries at Junes. The heiress to the Amagi Inn wanted to learn how to cook, of course - an innkeeper who can't cook is like a racecar driver who can't drive, or a thief who can't pick locks... you get the picture. She then asked if I wanted to be her taste tester, which I agreed to as her friend. (I would come to regret this decision in the days ahead.)
The next day, Yukiko presented to me her attempt at cooking a meal. Frankly, it didn't smell like what I thought food should smell, and as a competent cook myself I know food can come in various odors and flavors too. So why did this smell like some eldritch horror from the stars beyond time? I tried to couch my displeasure in nicer terms, but my disappointed friend looked sad. I did tell her that there was room for improvement, however, and all she needed was more practice! (Practice, however, doesn't account for a skewed palate, sadly.) Nanako dropped by, and she told Yukiko that she looked forward to Yukiko's improved cooking as well.
----
Thursday arrived, which was my seventeenth birthday. Yay for me, I guess? It was a normal school day, however, insofar as "waiting for the killer to strike and the last victim to recover" was normal. Sofue-sensei's history lesson was rather fun, though - I learned that the pyramids weren't built by slaves, but by paid laborers, which were evidenced by attendance logs. (Between that and cat veneration, I'm not so sure modern society and Ancient Egypt were that different.)
I spent after school at Junes with Yukiko, with me serving once more as impromptu career advisor. Two punks came in and made some not so nice comments to my friend, and I learned that they were from a disreputable TV show covering the Amagi Inn in an unsavory way.
That evening, I did get a sweet birthday slash midterm exam reward from Uncle Ryotaro - some spending money. Which was a fair amount - my bank account certainly appreciated the boost, even if what I did with it was to spend it on weirdly-flavored sodas or whatever Tanaka had for sale on his sketchy TV shopping program.
Of course, my uncle just had to ruin it a teeny bit by turning on his Investigator mode while I was trying to bond with him. It did work, though - Anzu thrummed happily in my mind as we discussed the night away.
The next day after school I ran into Eri-san again, who mentioned that she and her husband (Yuuta-kun's dad) got married, then he left for China on a business trip soon after. (It's not what you think, though - she was still happy with her hubby and as far as I know they're still together, and all she needed was a platonic friend who could listen to her woes as a stepmother. Seriously, why does everyone think I'm some kind of Casanova just because I have quite a few female friends?)
Saturday came, and I became Chie's sparring partner again. We met an old acquaintance of her from middle school named Takeshi, who had some history with my martial artist friend. Apparently he wasn't a fan of her exuberant attitude and desire to do good, so he called her names and suchlike. I told the punk to buzz off, and it turns out the jackass was simping for Yukiko and wanted to try the Amagi Challenge again. Chie's insecurity about being the best friend of the town's popular girl came up again, and somehow I managed to defuse it with a well-timed joke. Chie's a great girl - she just didn't realize it at the time.
Evening came and Uncle Ryotaro went into Investigator Mode again, which made my little sis call him out for neglecting her. Shrugging, I turned back to my detective uncle, who then used the chance to show how he was pretty terrible at the whole "getting along with kids" thing.
Speaking of Tanaka, I went and got a nice pair of off-brand shoes that Sunday for Chie. I had hoped she'd like them enough for use in the TV World. (Spoilers: she did.) I then spent the weekend with my athlete friends, and I did notice how Kou got flustered when Chie saw us in front of the bookstore. (If my tomboy friend were just a bit more observant, she'd have realized she was by no means unpopular; it was just that she wasn't seeing it the way I did, to be fair.)
The days passed by, and I spent them either with Chie or with my fellow athletes, dining at Aiya and getting ever closer to that elusive Beef Bowl Challenge, or even learning Shiroku-san had a rainy day sale. June had just arrived, and Kanji's recovery was soon on the horizon.
On the fourth of June, I checked the Midnight Channel as fog enveloped Inaba. To my relief, no one was on the TV.
----
The next day, I learned that you could catch insects at the shrine if you had a bug-catching net and that there were some cases of extortion and bullying by teenagers in the area. I knew right away it wasn't Kanji, given that while he was (and still is, kinda) a punk, he wasn't the type of guy to shake down people for money, either. Chie was with me, however, and vowed to do something about those bullies if she could. (And that, kids, is how one of the Inaba PD's rising stars got her motivation to be in law enforcement.)
That evening I went to the shrine on a hunch, and found a strange lady in a white kimono, who asked me for fish. I did have some and gave a fish to her, but something about her really felt off. But not in a bad way. The rest of the evening was spent talking to my cute little sis Nanako.
Monday, June 6th, arrived, and Kanji joined us on the rooftop, healthy as he can be. Of course, we then used the opportunity to ask him a lot of questions, like what was his deal with Little Boy Blue (apparently Kanji didn't know much about the kid) and the first-year was coming to terms with the possibility that maybe he wasn't into girls. (Not a problem, mind you.) Kanji went on further to explain that as the heir to a textile shop his early life was filled with stuff about fabrics and handicrafts, but since people aren't used to a guy, especially one as big and strong as my kohai, talking about these things they began to ostracize him, causing Kanji to become a punk as a reaction. I did find his devil-may-care attitude cool though, and that was the seed of my admiration for my new friend.
However, his recollection of events during and after his abduction were as foggy as Yukiko's, but I cottoned on to one thing: whoever the killer was, it had to be someone big and strong enough to overpower Kanji, even if he used something like chloroform to subdue his victims.
With that, I chose to welcome Kanji Tatsumi to the Investigation Team, where his brawn and Take-Mikazuchi would be a great asset to our cause. Naturally, this meant a stop at the Junes food court where we briefed the first-year delinquent on the situation as he tucked in some steak (he was under the notion that someone was literally beating people to death with a TV). Kanji's intimidating air also helped scare off some kibitzers sitting next to us, letting us discuss without inconvenient bystanders.
At that point we chose to review our leads, including a chart of enka album sales (Misuzu Hiiragi wasn't someone we had dismissed at that point), a list of TV announcers (where Yamano placed somewhere in the middle), and most tellingly, a list of TV programs and people who appeared on them. My belief that the victims were all folks who appeared on TV appeared to hold water, then.
Kanji's initiation then culminated with us entering the TV World with him in tow, where we introduced him to Teddie and vice-versa. Kanji got pranked with the Groucho glasses this time, causing Yukiko to go into one of her patented laughing fits again. (I can almost hear someone say it's an endearing character trait, too.) Unamused, our new recruit yeeted the funny glasses and got his real pair, a pair of aviator shades.
With Kanji Tatsumi on our side, I genuinely felt we had the edge with whatever tricks the killer would try in this town. Little did I know what we were getting into at that point.
Chapter 11: Divergences
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
I went back home after Kanji's induction into the Investigation Team, where Uncle Ryotaro was sitting at the table. Seeing a chance to bond with him, he went ahead and made some coffee for the two of us, telling him to surprise me. Apparently his kitchen skills weren't totally non-existent at all - just limited to making coffee. He made some coffee for Nanako too, and she liked it sweet and creamy.
The three of us settled in front of the TV, watching the news while enjoying our coffee. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until a news report about a woman who died as a victim of a hit-and-run while riding her bike on the outskirts of Okina. I looked at my uncle, who was clearly distressed by the report, something that surprised me given how police are typically desensitized to this kind of stuff. Puzzled, I turned to Nanako as she turned the TV off. She then told me that Aunt Chisato, her mother, was killed in a similar incident, which led to hit-and-runs becoming Uncle Ryotaro's major trauma trigger. I then consoled Nanako as the TV went back to lighter programming.
The next day my friends and I discussed the upcoming school camp out, organized by the Yasogami higher-ups as a way for students to give back to the community through a cleanup drive. We would be camping out in the outskirts of the town, and wear our gym uniforms to show we were Yasogami students. Yosuke was curious if they'd allow us to go swimming, to which Chie answered in the affirmative, and I could already see the gears in my hormonal friend's head tick as they came to a mischievous idea.
Later that day King Moron chose to go and berate me for not being part of Yasogami's Student Health Association, which surprised me since I considered my involvement in the basketball team and the drama club enough student participation on my end (I like to keep a low profile, for the most part). Seeing as defiance wouldn't help me, however, I relented, figuring it wouldn't be too much of a hassle in the end.
So I met up with the Health club, and they told me as a pinch-hitter that all I had to do that day was to sit in and watch if anyone came around and to note whatever they said. Rather simple, no actual club work. A man from a pharmaceutical firm came around, and I noted what he had to say, then relayed it to the club members once they came back. It appeared the reason I had to fill in was because a club member named Konishi wasn't around. Konishi, huh - was he related to the departed Saki-senpai?
Right as I mused that, a somewhat familiar young man entered, apologizing for being late. His ash-blond hair and facial features made me recognize him as the kid brother I encountered when I first walked around the Shopping District way back in April, and putting that together meant that this kid was Saki-senpai's younger brother. A picture in my head formed of a bereaved brother who was given space by people on account of his sister's untimely death, and while we were cleaning I attempted to make overtures with the younger boy, which he brushed off at the time.
The next day Yosuke came to me with an interesting proposal: that both of us get motorbike licenses. Given that I was already 17 and Yosuke was turning 17 within the month we were already above the minimum age, it wasn't a bad idea at all. Kanji came along and I asked him if he would like to join us. Sadly, he was too young; he wouldn't turn 16 until after the new year, so that pretty much left the two of us second-year boys to apply for licenses. (Then again, given how Kanji could keep apace with biker gangs on a regular bicycle, did he even need one at all?)
Yosuke then revealed the second half of his plan: that after we got licenses and bikes to use them with, we'd then use them to pick up girls at Okina! The rational part of me facepalmed at how inane this plan would sound, while the hormonal teen part of me was admittedly sold on the idea. I decided to go along anyway, given that from a practical point of view getting around Inaba on foot was getting to be tedious, and the bus didn't get to every part of town either.
After another try at the Beef Bowl Challenge, I found Adachi at our home, eating together with my uncle. Apparently Uncle Ryotaro brought him home because he felt Adachi wasn't eating right, and was subsisting on instant ramen and cabbages. After Adachi left to return to the station I asked my uncle for permission to take the bike license test, and after he briefly went into Investigator Mode to make sure I wasn't pressured to do it, he gave me his blessing.
I encountered the younger Konishi at school the next day, who was still pushing people away and moping. My admittedly improved empathy allowed me to hear him out, though, and he voiced his concern about feeling pitied all because his sister was one of the murder victims. I could get what he was trying to say, however - that people didn't care for him as much as they did the fact that his sister was a murder victim. Grieving must have been hard on the boy.
After school ended that day, Yosuke and I took the exam, and we both passed. Right as we got back to the shopping district, I found my uncle at the gas station, who then told Adachi to bring over an old scooter that nonetheless looked like it was still in good working condition. He told me that it was mine to use, and all I had to do was keep it in good condition and I could use it around town. Happy with my travel opportunities expanded, I thanked my uncle for the gift.
Before I got home I ran into Kanji, where people were unsurprisingly afraid at his intimidating aura, and we decided to have a talk while we walked back to our respective homes. It seemed that as with everything about my kohai, defying his reputation of being a troublemaker would be how I would form a bond with him. An image of a ruler draped in regal attire with the number IV appeared in my head. "The Emperor", said a voice once more. Huh, was wondering when that would happen.
I decided to devote Friday afternoon to getting some reps with my scooter, and while getting myself lost I did find myself at the train station.
The next day I spent my time after school with Chie, where we encountered a group of punks who were shaking down kids for money. (Ah, so that's who they were.) After trying to do the same to Chie, she went immediately into her kung fu pose, and right before it could escalate the bullies ran away, scared that someone was about to stand up to them. As they left, Chie began to worry that she caused me some trouble by trying to fight them off, but I reassured her she was doing the right thing. I then spent my evening with my little sis, and soon enough it was Sunday already.
Sunday was spent with Marie at Souzai Daigaku, and with my uncle in the evening as he went through old case files trying to solve his wife's hit-and-run case. Right at that moment, however, Nanako fell ill with a stomach ailment, which I learned was a chronic concern for her, but with a dose of her prescribed medicine and some rest she'd be fine the next day. What wasn't fine though was Uncle Ryotaro being a bit angry during this - it appeared that with the case on his mind he wasn't in any mood to be calmer.
Monday came, and as spring was rolling over into summer we switched to our summer uniforms to account for the heat. My dark jacket was replaced by a white button-down shirt (with the collar popped, of course). Yosuke did likewise, but kept his V-neck undershirt and didn't pop his collar, while Chie now wore her green jacket at her waist and Yukiko now wore a red cardigan over her white shirt, and ditched the stockings for socks. Kanji ditched the jacket and basically went to school in a dark tank top, which I was surprised didn't lead him to get into trouble for dress code violations (not that I or the rest of my friends were innocent, either). I decided then to continue my attempt to befriend Saki-senpai's brother. Before doing so, though, I got dragooned again into Student Health Association business, where I overheard from the members that the Konishi boy was basically exempted from homework and even classes to an extent. A part of me was pissed off that they were basically ostracizing a 15 year old kid for the crime of being related to a murder victim, and I gave the SHA a death glare to shut them up. I found Konishi-kun at the lockers, where he helped me clean my clothes after I finished my tasks for the SHA.
I then remembered that we needed to give Kanji some reps in the TV world, having had him as a member for a week, so that we could then see what he could do with Take-Mikazuchi. It turned out the iron giant was able to use electric attacks, though like Chie his real strengths lay in his physical attacks. He could hit harder than any of us and take blows better as well, though he was also a bit slower than Yosuke or Chie on the battlefield. As for weapons, though? I thought Kanji would fight with his bare fists at first, but as we got to Junes he went to Yosuke, then the two of them left for a moment, then the next thing I knew the two of them had left the stock room and the delinquent boy was holding an unused folding chair in his hand. Huh.
It was also during this trip that I noticed something that I hadn't seen before. I had managed to fuse back Archangel as one of my rotation Personae, then as I let our mental link flow I noticed a magic spell I hadn't seen before. "Archangel, Kouha!" I cried out, trying out the new ability my Persona sported, and immediately arrows of light surrounded a Shadow, knocking it down. So it was some sort of light magic, but unlike Hama and its ilk it wasn't a one-hit-kill. Might be more useful to have, since Hama never really did what it advertised in my case.
Even Yukiko had cottoned on to it - somehow, her Konohana-Sakuya had gained a similar skill, but from a different element. "Persona! Eiga!" Yukiko chanted as her other self simply destroyed another Shadow with curse energy.
Was this what Igor and Margaret meant by things not being what they had expected?
The three of us settled in front of the TV, watching the news while enjoying our coffee. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until a news report about a woman who died as a victim of a hit-and-run while riding her bike on the outskirts of Okina. I looked at my uncle, who was clearly distressed by the report, something that surprised me given how police are typically desensitized to this kind of stuff. Puzzled, I turned to Nanako as she turned the TV off. She then told me that Aunt Chisato, her mother, was killed in a similar incident, which led to hit-and-runs becoming Uncle Ryotaro's major trauma trigger. I then consoled Nanako as the TV went back to lighter programming.
The next day my friends and I discussed the upcoming school camp out, organized by the Yasogami higher-ups as a way for students to give back to the community through a cleanup drive. We would be camping out in the outskirts of the town, and wear our gym uniforms to show we were Yasogami students. Yosuke was curious if they'd allow us to go swimming, to which Chie answered in the affirmative, and I could already see the gears in my hormonal friend's head tick as they came to a mischievous idea.
Later that day King Moron chose to go and berate me for not being part of Yasogami's Student Health Association, which surprised me since I considered my involvement in the basketball team and the drama club enough student participation on my end (I like to keep a low profile, for the most part). Seeing as defiance wouldn't help me, however, I relented, figuring it wouldn't be too much of a hassle in the end.
So I met up with the Health club, and they told me as a pinch-hitter that all I had to do that day was to sit in and watch if anyone came around and to note whatever they said. Rather simple, no actual club work. A man from a pharmaceutical firm came around, and I noted what he had to say, then relayed it to the club members once they came back. It appeared the reason I had to fill in was because a club member named Konishi wasn't around. Konishi, huh - was he related to the departed Saki-senpai?
Right as I mused that, a somewhat familiar young man entered, apologizing for being late. His ash-blond hair and facial features made me recognize him as the kid brother I encountered when I first walked around the Shopping District way back in April, and putting that together meant that this kid was Saki-senpai's younger brother. A picture in my head formed of a bereaved brother who was given space by people on account of his sister's untimely death, and while we were cleaning I attempted to make overtures with the younger boy, which he brushed off at the time.
----
The next day Yosuke came to me with an interesting proposal: that both of us get motorbike licenses. Given that I was already 17 and Yosuke was turning 17 within the month we were already above the minimum age, it wasn't a bad idea at all. Kanji came along and I asked him if he would like to join us. Sadly, he was too young; he wouldn't turn 16 until after the new year, so that pretty much left the two of us second-year boys to apply for licenses. (Then again, given how Kanji could keep apace with biker gangs on a regular bicycle, did he even need one at all?)
Yosuke then revealed the second half of his plan: that after we got licenses and bikes to use them with, we'd then use them to pick up girls at Okina! The rational part of me facepalmed at how inane this plan would sound, while the hormonal teen part of me was admittedly sold on the idea. I decided to go along anyway, given that from a practical point of view getting around Inaba on foot was getting to be tedious, and the bus didn't get to every part of town either.
After another try at the Beef Bowl Challenge, I found Adachi at our home, eating together with my uncle. Apparently Uncle Ryotaro brought him home because he felt Adachi wasn't eating right, and was subsisting on instant ramen and cabbages. After Adachi left to return to the station I asked my uncle for permission to take the bike license test, and after he briefly went into Investigator Mode to make sure I wasn't pressured to do it, he gave me his blessing.
I encountered the younger Konishi at school the next day, who was still pushing people away and moping. My admittedly improved empathy allowed me to hear him out, though, and he voiced his concern about feeling pitied all because his sister was one of the murder victims. I could get what he was trying to say, however - that people didn't care for him as much as they did the fact that his sister was a murder victim. Grieving must have been hard on the boy.
After school ended that day, Yosuke and I took the exam, and we both passed. Right as we got back to the shopping district, I found my uncle at the gas station, who then told Adachi to bring over an old scooter that nonetheless looked like it was still in good working condition. He told me that it was mine to use, and all I had to do was keep it in good condition and I could use it around town. Happy with my travel opportunities expanded, I thanked my uncle for the gift.
Before I got home I ran into Kanji, where people were unsurprisingly afraid at his intimidating aura, and we decided to have a talk while we walked back to our respective homes. It seemed that as with everything about my kohai, defying his reputation of being a troublemaker would be how I would form a bond with him. An image of a ruler draped in regal attire with the number IV appeared in my head. "The Emperor", said a voice once more. Huh, was wondering when that would happen.
I decided to devote Friday afternoon to getting some reps with my scooter, and while getting myself lost I did find myself at the train station.
----
The next day I spent my time after school with Chie, where we encountered a group of punks who were shaking down kids for money. (Ah, so that's who they were.) After trying to do the same to Chie, she went immediately into her kung fu pose, and right before it could escalate the bullies ran away, scared that someone was about to stand up to them. As they left, Chie began to worry that she caused me some trouble by trying to fight them off, but I reassured her she was doing the right thing. I then spent my evening with my little sis, and soon enough it was Sunday already.
Sunday was spent with Marie at Souzai Daigaku, and with my uncle in the evening as he went through old case files trying to solve his wife's hit-and-run case. Right at that moment, however, Nanako fell ill with a stomach ailment, which I learned was a chronic concern for her, but with a dose of her prescribed medicine and some rest she'd be fine the next day. What wasn't fine though was Uncle Ryotaro being a bit angry during this - it appeared that with the case on his mind he wasn't in any mood to be calmer.
Monday came, and as spring was rolling over into summer we switched to our summer uniforms to account for the heat. My dark jacket was replaced by a white button-down shirt (with the collar popped, of course). Yosuke did likewise, but kept his V-neck undershirt and didn't pop his collar, while Chie now wore her green jacket at her waist and Yukiko now wore a red cardigan over her white shirt, and ditched the stockings for socks. Kanji ditched the jacket and basically went to school in a dark tank top, which I was surprised didn't lead him to get into trouble for dress code violations (not that I or the rest of my friends were innocent, either). I decided then to continue my attempt to befriend Saki-senpai's brother. Before doing so, though, I got dragooned again into Student Health Association business, where I overheard from the members that the Konishi boy was basically exempted from homework and even classes to an extent. A part of me was pissed off that they were basically ostracizing a 15 year old kid for the crime of being related to a murder victim, and I gave the SHA a death glare to shut them up. I found Konishi-kun at the lockers, where he helped me clean my clothes after I finished my tasks for the SHA.
I then remembered that we needed to give Kanji some reps in the TV world, having had him as a member for a week, so that we could then see what he could do with Take-Mikazuchi. It turned out the iron giant was able to use electric attacks, though like Chie his real strengths lay in his physical attacks. He could hit harder than any of us and take blows better as well, though he was also a bit slower than Yosuke or Chie on the battlefield. As for weapons, though? I thought Kanji would fight with his bare fists at first, but as we got to Junes he went to Yosuke, then the two of them left for a moment, then the next thing I knew the two of them had left the stock room and the delinquent boy was holding an unused folding chair in his hand. Huh.
It was also during this trip that I noticed something that I hadn't seen before. I had managed to fuse back Archangel as one of my rotation Personae, then as I let our mental link flow I noticed a magic spell I hadn't seen before. "Archangel, Kouha!" I cried out, trying out the new ability my Persona sported, and immediately arrows of light surrounded a Shadow, knocking it down. So it was some sort of light magic, but unlike Hama and its ilk it wasn't a one-hit-kill. Might be more useful to have, since Hama never really did what it advertised in my case.
Even Yukiko had cottoned on to it - somehow, her Konohana-Sakuya had gained a similar skill, but from a different element. "Persona! Eiga!" Yukiko chanted as her other self simply destroyed another Shadow with curse energy.
Was this what Igor and Margaret meant by things not being what they had expected?
Chapter 12: The Okina and Mystery Food X Fiascos
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
The next day, Yosuke finally told me that Operation Babe Hunt: Okina Version was a-go. The plan was to use our newly minted bikes to get to Okina City, and then get numbers from the presumably numerous unattached young ladies around there. Pretty simple and can't go wrong, right?
(If you think this story goes that way, you're not paying any attention.)
After school, Yosuke and I headed to Okina City, then waited a bit until Kanji managed to arrive as well on a standard pedal bicycle. He was winded, but I was still shocked at the fact that he wasn't too far off from us at any rate. However, as soon as the three of us got together, Kanji went off to do his own thing, and we decided to wait for a bit as schools and offices were done for the day and the ladies would begin to congregate at the commercial areas.
Needless to say, the three of us looked like dummies, and Kanji attributed it to us using scooters, not actual motorbikes (not that we'd be allowed to use them), and decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and start the contest! This left me and Yosuke scrambling, so we went and tried our best to get the numbers of Okina's eligible bachelorettes.
It was a bust, unsurprisingly. The ladies looked askance at us, since to people from Okina us folks from Inaba were a bunch of country hicks, and the fact that it was three socially awkward young men asking girls for their contact info really hammered into my head how way over our heads we were. I gave my contacts, but they said they'd contact me. (What is this, a job interview?) I even got an older woman to talk with me, but after I came clean about my real age (since my height and hair color allow me to pass for an older man, apparently) any interest she had promptly evaporated; she wasn't into younger men. (I'm suddenly reminded of a younger friend of mine who had a bunch of older ladies pining for him, for some reason.)
On the bright side, there was a cute stray cat near the 30 Frame movie theater.
By sundown, the three of us had gathered together to compare our results. As predicted, Yosuke and I were largely busts, while Kanji somehow got a lady of the night to give him her info. The fact that my friend was oblivious to that wasn't surprising, in hindsight. The number I got belonged to a pretty pissed off guy - the girl who gave me that number was actually in a relationship! And as for the number Yosuke got?
Yosuke and I had a classmate in class 2-2 named Hanako Ohtani. She's not so bad if you get to know her, actually. The problem was that Yosuke was the kind of guy to put external beauty over other characteristics people have, and Hanako... isn't traditionally attractive. So Yosuke was scared shitless when Hanako replied to the number he got, and she thought he was inviting her to a date...
Thankfully, it didn't amount to much save Yosuke buying Hanako a sundae. It could have been worse, like Hanako wrecking Yosuke's scooter by jumping on to it, which was an outcome I was expecting but did not materialize.
That evening, Nanako decided to talk to me about death, what happens when people die, and what her mother's fate was. It tore me apart to see a young girl have to confront death at this stage, but at the same time I wasn't much for sugarcoating things, so I put it in a way that she understood, and I reassured her that she wasn't a bad person and that her father was working hard to protect her from said bad people.
The next day after school I accompanied my lady friends to Junes so they could buy ingredients for the curry we'd have for dinner on Friday, the start of the camping trip. At first I contented myself with pushing the cart and carrying stuff, but when I began to overhear Chie and Yukiko adding things like coffee and kimchi into the curry, I began to wonder just why I was better at cooking than these two. On the off chance their food tasted like that abomination Yukiko made for me to taste a few weeks ago, I sneaked off and bought some ready to eat food that I paid myself and stashed it into my luggage for the next day.
Friday was mostly spent picking up the trash littered around Mt Yasogami, which was more numerous than I had anticipated. I sat at the communal table with Yosuke, who groused about having to pick up things like a whole bike (who'd throw around one at a mountain?) and waited until the girls got our dinner ready.
Chie and Yukiko got back with their attempt at curry and... let's just say food isn't supposed to look like an eldritch horror from the 9th dimension. Smelled like it, too. The moment a spoonful of the stuff touched Yosuke's lips... he was knocked out cold. I tried my best to swallow at least a spoonful as well, but next thing I knew I was being woken up after the sun came down.
I went back to my tent, opened my bag, and handed the girls some of the premade meals I had the foresight to buy. I didn't want them to go hungry because they made a mistake - I'm nice.
That night, I shared a tent with Yosuke and Kanji, where the three of us ate the remaining meals I had stashed lest we go hungry. The tent was rather small for three young men, especially for Kanji and I who are on the taller side. So it was a bit of a tight fit when the time came for us three to finally sleep.
My friend, Yosuke Hanamura, is a bit of a jokester, using humor to cope with all the shit he's dealt with all his life, whether being picked on as the figurehead of a corporate takeover of local business, or having his crush die on him. But for some reason or another, sexuality was a big issue for him, and just mere weeks after we helped Kanji deal with his issues, my friend made another faux pas and asked our delinquent kohai if he would bugger us in our sleep.
At that point something broke in me - might be Oberon coming to the rescue of his resonant Arcana, or the fact that I had witnessed Konishi-kun take shit from people because his sister died, or the fact that Yosuke basically pulled the gay panic card on our friend - but I gave Yosuke a death glare and told him to apologize, or to get out of the tent if he was that paranoid. I was that close to punching him in the face, and only the fact that it might have tipped off King Moron or the other teachers kept me from doing so.
(That being said, spoiler alert: I did get to punch Yosuke in the face later that year. I'm getting ahead of myself again, though!)
Kanji was taking it in better stride than I was, though, but I realized I had to put my foot down on this issue - regardless of where my friends swung orientation-wise, I was there for them, and if it meant calling out my other friends then so be it.
Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and the fact that Yosuke's actually a nice guy beneath that insensitive side of his helped. Cowed, he apologized to Kanji and that led to the three of us finally falling asleep.
The next morning, a still apologetic Yosuke said sorry again to Kanji for what happened, to which my kohai replied it was all water under the bridge. In any case, I knew what I had to be for Yosuke: someone to help him reign in his worse behaviors.
We were right at the stream when the girls realized they didn't have swimsuits to use. It was then I realized the other half of Yosuke's plan from last week - he had gone into Croco Fur during Operation Babe Hunt Okina Version and gotten a pair of somewhat revealing swimsuits. (The surprising part was that I could tell not only which swimsuits were for which girls, but that I somehow knew both would fit them well.) Yosuke then basically blackmailed the girls into trying them on, using the Mystery Food X fiasco from yesterday as leverage, and with reluctance Chie and Yukiko went to change into them. I knew they weren't happy about it, and we were gonna get some comeuppance from it, but I hadn't still forgiven Yosuke for the gay panic situation with Kanji and anticipated him getting kicked into the stream for his jackassery during the camping trip.
The fact that Kanji and I got kicked into the stream after seeing the well-fitting swimsuits on Chie and Yukiko was worthy collateral damage, in my opinion. What wasn't, though, was hearing Morooka retch upstream, and I instantly felt unclean even just hearing it.
With our misadventures at Mt Yasogami over and done with, I headed home, having experienced the good and the bad of Inaba school life.
Wanting to take a break from interacting with my Yasogami friends, I decided to go with Marie that Sunday, who wanted to see city life, or what passed for it this far in the boonies. This meant going to Okina City, where we went by train (since my scooter was a single-seater). Of course, right around this time we ran into Chie and Yukiko, and my strange friend promptly nicknamed the two girls Green and Black for their dominant attire. (Something tells me she'd have nicknamed Yukiko Red if she had worn her winter casual clothes, though.) The ladies went to Croco Fur with me in tow, and I was kinda feeling out of place, and I noticed how Chie and Yukiko did gravitate towards the colors Marie nicknamed them for. Huh.
That evening, while at dinner, we watched a news report about a young idol named Risette, real name Rise Kujikawa, taking a hiatus from her career and moving to her hometown of Inaba.
(Yes, kids, this is the first time your mother's mentioned for real in this story. Don't get too excited yet, though!)
Right after this bit of news, a commercial for Quelorie Magic that just so happened to star the very girl I had seen seconds ago appeared on the TV. That was when I realized that Risette was someone I had already seen, way way back before I had reached Inaba.
I wasn't really one for following the entertainment news - after all, the Yamano affair was only important to me because she died mysteriously - and moreso I wasn't really a fan of idol singers, so I let it mostly go over my head, save for the fact that she was going to Inaba.
Which meant that this Risette girl was likely to be our killer's next victim.
(If you think this story goes that way, you're not paying any attention.)
After school, Yosuke and I headed to Okina City, then waited a bit until Kanji managed to arrive as well on a standard pedal bicycle. He was winded, but I was still shocked at the fact that he wasn't too far off from us at any rate. However, as soon as the three of us got together, Kanji went off to do his own thing, and we decided to wait for a bit as schools and offices were done for the day and the ladies would begin to congregate at the commercial areas.
Needless to say, the three of us looked like dummies, and Kanji attributed it to us using scooters, not actual motorbikes (not that we'd be allowed to use them), and decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and start the contest! This left me and Yosuke scrambling, so we went and tried our best to get the numbers of Okina's eligible bachelorettes.
It was a bust, unsurprisingly. The ladies looked askance at us, since to people from Okina us folks from Inaba were a bunch of country hicks, and the fact that it was three socially awkward young men asking girls for their contact info really hammered into my head how way over our heads we were. I gave my contacts, but they said they'd contact me. (What is this, a job interview?) I even got an older woman to talk with me, but after I came clean about my real age (since my height and hair color allow me to pass for an older man, apparently) any interest she had promptly evaporated; she wasn't into younger men. (I'm suddenly reminded of a younger friend of mine who had a bunch of older ladies pining for him, for some reason.)
On the bright side, there was a cute stray cat near the 30 Frame movie theater.
By sundown, the three of us had gathered together to compare our results. As predicted, Yosuke and I were largely busts, while Kanji somehow got a lady of the night to give him her info. The fact that my friend was oblivious to that wasn't surprising, in hindsight. The number I got belonged to a pretty pissed off guy - the girl who gave me that number was actually in a relationship! And as for the number Yosuke got?
Yosuke and I had a classmate in class 2-2 named Hanako Ohtani. She's not so bad if you get to know her, actually. The problem was that Yosuke was the kind of guy to put external beauty over other characteristics people have, and Hanako... isn't traditionally attractive. So Yosuke was scared shitless when Hanako replied to the number he got, and she thought he was inviting her to a date...
Thankfully, it didn't amount to much save Yosuke buying Hanako a sundae. It could have been worse, like Hanako wrecking Yosuke's scooter by jumping on to it, which was an outcome I was expecting but did not materialize.
----
That evening, Nanako decided to talk to me about death, what happens when people die, and what her mother's fate was. It tore me apart to see a young girl have to confront death at this stage, but at the same time I wasn't much for sugarcoating things, so I put it in a way that she understood, and I reassured her that she wasn't a bad person and that her father was working hard to protect her from said bad people.
The next day after school I accompanied my lady friends to Junes so they could buy ingredients for the curry we'd have for dinner on Friday, the start of the camping trip. At first I contented myself with pushing the cart and carrying stuff, but when I began to overhear Chie and Yukiko adding things like coffee and kimchi into the curry, I began to wonder just why I was better at cooking than these two. On the off chance their food tasted like that abomination Yukiko made for me to taste a few weeks ago, I sneaked off and bought some ready to eat food that I paid myself and stashed it into my luggage for the next day.
Friday was mostly spent picking up the trash littered around Mt Yasogami, which was more numerous than I had anticipated. I sat at the communal table with Yosuke, who groused about having to pick up things like a whole bike (who'd throw around one at a mountain?) and waited until the girls got our dinner ready.
Chie and Yukiko got back with their attempt at curry and... let's just say food isn't supposed to look like an eldritch horror from the 9th dimension. Smelled like it, too. The moment a spoonful of the stuff touched Yosuke's lips... he was knocked out cold. I tried my best to swallow at least a spoonful as well, but next thing I knew I was being woken up after the sun came down.
I went back to my tent, opened my bag, and handed the girls some of the premade meals I had the foresight to buy. I didn't want them to go hungry because they made a mistake - I'm nice.
That night, I shared a tent with Yosuke and Kanji, where the three of us ate the remaining meals I had stashed lest we go hungry. The tent was rather small for three young men, especially for Kanji and I who are on the taller side. So it was a bit of a tight fit when the time came for us three to finally sleep.
My friend, Yosuke Hanamura, is a bit of a jokester, using humor to cope with all the shit he's dealt with all his life, whether being picked on as the figurehead of a corporate takeover of local business, or having his crush die on him. But for some reason or another, sexuality was a big issue for him, and just mere weeks after we helped Kanji deal with his issues, my friend made another faux pas and asked our delinquent kohai if he would bugger us in our sleep.
At that point something broke in me - might be Oberon coming to the rescue of his resonant Arcana, or the fact that I had witnessed Konishi-kun take shit from people because his sister died, or the fact that Yosuke basically pulled the gay panic card on our friend - but I gave Yosuke a death glare and told him to apologize, or to get out of the tent if he was that paranoid. I was that close to punching him in the face, and only the fact that it might have tipped off King Moron or the other teachers kept me from doing so.
(That being said, spoiler alert: I did get to punch Yosuke in the face later that year. I'm getting ahead of myself again, though!)
Kanji was taking it in better stride than I was, though, but I realized I had to put my foot down on this issue - regardless of where my friends swung orientation-wise, I was there for them, and if it meant calling out my other friends then so be it.
Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and the fact that Yosuke's actually a nice guy beneath that insensitive side of his helped. Cowed, he apologized to Kanji and that led to the three of us finally falling asleep.
The next morning, a still apologetic Yosuke said sorry again to Kanji for what happened, to which my kohai replied it was all water under the bridge. In any case, I knew what I had to be for Yosuke: someone to help him reign in his worse behaviors.
We were right at the stream when the girls realized they didn't have swimsuits to use. It was then I realized the other half of Yosuke's plan from last week - he had gone into Croco Fur during Operation Babe Hunt Okina Version and gotten a pair of somewhat revealing swimsuits. (The surprising part was that I could tell not only which swimsuits were for which girls, but that I somehow knew both would fit them well.) Yosuke then basically blackmailed the girls into trying them on, using the Mystery Food X fiasco from yesterday as leverage, and with reluctance Chie and Yukiko went to change into them. I knew they weren't happy about it, and we were gonna get some comeuppance from it, but I hadn't still forgiven Yosuke for the gay panic situation with Kanji and anticipated him getting kicked into the stream for his jackassery during the camping trip.
The fact that Kanji and I got kicked into the stream after seeing the well-fitting swimsuits on Chie and Yukiko was worthy collateral damage, in my opinion. What wasn't, though, was hearing Morooka retch upstream, and I instantly felt unclean even just hearing it.
With our misadventures at Mt Yasogami over and done with, I headed home, having experienced the good and the bad of Inaba school life.
----
Wanting to take a break from interacting with my Yasogami friends, I decided to go with Marie that Sunday, who wanted to see city life, or what passed for it this far in the boonies. This meant going to Okina City, where we went by train (since my scooter was a single-seater). Of course, right around this time we ran into Chie and Yukiko, and my strange friend promptly nicknamed the two girls Green and Black for their dominant attire. (Something tells me she'd have nicknamed Yukiko Red if she had worn her winter casual clothes, though.) The ladies went to Croco Fur with me in tow, and I was kinda feeling out of place, and I noticed how Chie and Yukiko did gravitate towards the colors Marie nicknamed them for. Huh.
That evening, while at dinner, we watched a news report about a young idol named Risette, real name Rise Kujikawa, taking a hiatus from her career and moving to her hometown of Inaba.
(Yes, kids, this is the first time your mother's mentioned for real in this story. Don't get too excited yet, though!)
Right after this bit of news, a commercial for Quelorie Magic that just so happened to star the very girl I had seen seconds ago appeared on the TV. That was when I realized that Risette was someone I had already seen, way way back before I had reached Inaba.
I wasn't really one for following the entertainment news - after all, the Yamano affair was only important to me because she died mysteriously - and moreso I wasn't really a fan of idol singers, so I let it mostly go over my head, save for the fact that she was going to Inaba.
Which meant that this Risette girl was likely to be our killer's next victim.
Chapter 13: Only Fans of Tofu Sellers Allowed
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
On the way to school Kanji met up with me, who noted how the Shopping District bustled with activity even more than usual. I told him I had an idea what could be happening, but needed more info to back it up.
Before class started the news about Rise Kujikawa taking a break from her career spread like wildfire. The five of us (Kanji included, since he dropped by Class 2-2) were discussing it as well, and Yosuke predictably waxed lyrical about the popular teen idol. As for me, all I knew about the girl was that she was kinda popular and did some commercial, since I wasn't a fan of Risette. (Pretty ironic, no?) And as it turns out, her grandparents operated the tofu shop in the shopping district, and since she grew up here in Inaba, that meant that was likely where she was staying. I asked Kanji if he knew anything about Rise, and he did mention that they were childhood playmates - since Tatsumi Textiles and Marukyu Tofu were down the street from each other and all - but they gradually grew more distant as they grew up.
Since we had the fact that all the victims thus far appeared on the TV, we determined that Rise was the likely next target, and that it would fall on to us to warn her of the situation.
That morning, Nakayama-sensei, our bug-eyed mathematics teacher who often fretted about her domestic life, graced us a lesson about bonus pay. Somehow she was still one of the less eccentric teachers in Yasogami High.
After school I found myself in the shopping district, and a young girl with copper hair running off in the direction of Junes. Somehow she had dropped her phone as she fled the scene, so like any good citizen I went and chased after her, wanting to return said phone.
When I finally caught up with the young lady I recognized her as Rise, who was rather miffed that someone had caught up to her and thought I was a stalker. After denying my intentions on that front, pointing out that I wasn't really into teen idols anyway, I left her, and told her her phone strap looked like a tasty bit of tofu.
So let me tell you about the story of my first girlfriend. And no, it's not who you think it is!
So flashback to a few weeks prior to Rise's homecoming to Inaba, and Kondo-sensei introduced this rather prissy-looking girl with dyed honey blonde hair named Ai Ebihara, who would become our new manager. Immediately I could tell her pretty face hid a rather nasty attitude; she only agreed to becoming team manager because she wanted to graduate and offset her multiple counts of truancy.
Then back to mid-June, where Ai roped me into cutting classes with her by going to Okina - which was my third time in the area in less than a week. Frankly, I was getting tired of the place at that point. But still, since Ai was pretty and my gut feeling was guiding me towards the girl I decided to humor her, even if I was enabling shitty behavior again. In typical Mean Girl fashion, she went to Okina for shopping, and roped me in as her bag carrier. The reason she was able to pay for all the stuff she got wasn't because she did a ton of part-time jobs (and kill a bunch of Shadows) like I did, but because her dad was loaded due to making a fortune in real estate speculation, so yeah, typical rich kid attitude. After baring that part of herself to me, I felt the familiar thrum of another Social Link forming in my head. Depicting a moon and some creatures with the number XVIII, the voice in my head spoke. "The Moon".
But we weren't really going out yet at this point - though it wouldn't surprise me if people said we were going out. After all, "star basketball player dating team manager" isn't an uncommon story!
We somehow made it back in time for the final bell at Yasogami, and I decided to help Yukiko with grocery shopping at Junes that afternoon. Apparently, her cooking skills were improving with guidance from their head cook, and while I remained skeptical I did believe she'd improve. (And she has, actually! While her more... unorthodox culinary choices have become part of the Amagi Inn's exotic menu, her cooking's much better now than the Mystery Food X days of her high school career.)
On a whim I decided to help myself to a small bag of wasabi in our fridge after getting home. It practically burned the insides of my mouth, causing me to rest all the way to morning. Might be my Persona abilities, but the next day I was up and ready like nothing happened. (It did prepare me for a certain somebody's cooking, though!)
That midnight I checked the Midnight Channel to see if there was a new guest star. A faint image of a twintailed girl in a swimsuit appeared on the TV, and I had a pretty good idea of who it could be. That being said, if the image were still faint, then that meant said girl wasn't in the TV yet. We still had a chance to warn her.
The next day was Yosuke's birthday, and we spent his birthday staking out Marukyu Tofu, trying to get past all the fervent fans the young idol had. I did give him his birthday gift right before our stakeout, however - a pair of well-crafted knives from Daidara, meant for use in the TV World.
We found Adachi right in front of the store, directing traffic. Strange, seeing a police detective be consigned to traffic duty. I asked him why the was the case, and apparently it was due to the Inaba PD being stretched thin and having to keep people from overcrowding the poor tofu shop. My uncle then exited Marukyu Tofu, telling people to clear out and berating Adachi as usual, then saw me and my friends, apparently loitering around. He told me to give Rise and her family some privacy (which we would if it weren't for the clear and present danger around her that I couldn't divulge, lest I appear to be a suspect) and then left in the direction of the police station. After a while, thankfully, the crowd had indeed cleared out, having failed to see Risette, and we took our chance to enter the store, but not before the girls begged off with their own plans, whatever they were.
The shop was empty, save for a woman working in the back. Of course, to keep up the illusion of being mere customers, we decided on what to order; I also honestly wanted to buy one of Marukyu's specialties, especially for that night's dinner. Yosuke for his part didn't really eat tofu, so we recommended he get ganmodoki (tofu-based fritter made with vegetables) instead. With our orders ready we then asked for assistance, then an older lady entered in from the side. Which then begged the question: who was the lady working in the back of the store?
The woman in questioned turned to us, and the copper hair and youthful face made me recognize her immediately, even in the head covering and apron of a tofu maker. She was smaller than I had thought, both because I'm a tall guy and because TV magic made her petite frame look less so. Rise was surprised at the three of us in the store, and Yosuke predictably used this chance to ask if she really was Risette, even as he was shocked that she recognized me. I could tell the girl was a bit miffed, though, and she continued along as if she really were a mere tofu salesgirl than a nationally famous star. (No wonder she was famous.) Motioning to my friends (Yosuke in particular) to focus on our mission, we asked Rise-san if she had seen anything strange, to which she replied in the negative. With that particular lead bust, we decided to buy some tofu and ganmodoki anyway, then laid in wait for whoever might choose to kidnap her.
The girls, that is, Chie and Yukiko, had chosen that moment to return and regarded us guys as being suspicious, which was of course silly. With Rise walking out of the store, it wasn't long before we saw a strangely-dressed man looking at her began to tail the idol, and while my gut feeling told me this man was nothing more than a crazed fan we weren't taking any chances.
My friends were on the stalker's trail, and right as Chie pulled Yosuke out of trying to hit on Rise-san I was left behind, which then meant I was left with the young idol herself. Both of us watched in shock as the rest of the Investigation Team managed to subdue the crazed fan, who continued to protest his innocence. Adachi had in the meantime returned and promptly put the stalker under arrest, but I knew for a fact this was just the beginning.
I then accompanied Rise to the riverbank, where I was sure we would be left in peace. The young celebrity used the time to complain about nobody ever seeing the real her, which made sense since her public personality was a carefully cultivated front created in part by the entertainment industry, which explained the gulf Rise-san felt between Risette and the real her. (Sounded familiar, actually.) She began folding over pages torn from a copy of her gravure photobook that she brought, making some impromptu origami. I took the chance to show off a really good paper crane, honed after I had folded hundreds of them as a part-time job. Impressed, Rise tried to fold her own paper crane, but her attempt wasn't as good as mine. I bluntly told her it sucked, but she did one more try and it came out better. I formally introduced myself, and we then went our separate ways as the sun set.
In hindsight, this was probably where Rise began to fall for me, as the fact that I was the first person apart from her family to treat her as Rise Kujikawa, an ordinary girl, rather than as Risette, famous idol really stuck with her. It would be quite a while before I reciprocated and we got together, but that's a story for another time.
That midnight, the Midnight Channel showed a somewhat clearer picture of Rise, still in the bikini, but as it was still faint I knew she wasn't in the TV, yet.
The next day, Rise had enrolled at Yasogami High, where she would be spending the rest of the year as a first-year student in Class 1-2. That meant I was her senpai and she was my kohai, then. As we were leaving school, the entrance was filled with adoring fans, men and women alike, so I took Rise and we sneaked off around a side path outside the school. I didn't want her to be mobbed by fans, and I didn't want to be mistaken for dating her, either (it already didn't help that the Yasogami rumor mill had me dating Ai at that point already).
As we approached Marukyu Tofu, though, a suited man came and introduced himself as Rise's manager, Inoue-san, who still begged for his prized talent to return, even on her own terms. Rise told him that she was still thinking of whether to eventually return or to quit showbiz altogether, but the manager told her he'd wait again if needed. I tried to console Rise, but she ran off in tears, thinking no one really understood her.
I was still worried about her, so that evening I went up and waited until midnight, ready to check the Midnight Channel.
What came on was something even more provocative than Yukiko acting like a randy bachelorette or Kanji as a flaming bathhouse connoisseur.
Rise Kujikawa, Teen Idol, was dressed in but a swimsuit, posing in what she dubbed the Marukyu Striptease. As the name suggested, she would go and bare everything, and not just leave everything to the hyperactive imaginations of her legion of fans.
The rational part of me was recoiling in horror, as it realized Rise was already inside the TV and needed to be rescued. The hormonal teenager part of me was pressing the Record button on my remote repeatedly, trying to keep a copy of an attractive girl in a bikini for posterity.
Yosuke called me right afterwards, his mind torn between horrified and aroused just as I was.
Either way, we had a rescue mission on our hands.
Before class started the news about Rise Kujikawa taking a break from her career spread like wildfire. The five of us (Kanji included, since he dropped by Class 2-2) were discussing it as well, and Yosuke predictably waxed lyrical about the popular teen idol. As for me, all I knew about the girl was that she was kinda popular and did some commercial, since I wasn't a fan of Risette. (Pretty ironic, no?) And as it turns out, her grandparents operated the tofu shop in the shopping district, and since she grew up here in Inaba, that meant that was likely where she was staying. I asked Kanji if he knew anything about Rise, and he did mention that they were childhood playmates - since Tatsumi Textiles and Marukyu Tofu were down the street from each other and all - but they gradually grew more distant as they grew up.
Since we had the fact that all the victims thus far appeared on the TV, we determined that Rise was the likely next target, and that it would fall on to us to warn her of the situation.
That morning, Nakayama-sensei, our bug-eyed mathematics teacher who often fretted about her domestic life, graced us a lesson about bonus pay. Somehow she was still one of the less eccentric teachers in Yasogami High.
After school I found myself in the shopping district, and a young girl with copper hair running off in the direction of Junes. Somehow she had dropped her phone as she fled the scene, so like any good citizen I went and chased after her, wanting to return said phone.
When I finally caught up with the young lady I recognized her as Rise, who was rather miffed that someone had caught up to her and thought I was a stalker. After denying my intentions on that front, pointing out that I wasn't really into teen idols anyway, I left her, and told her her phone strap looked like a tasty bit of tofu.
----
So let me tell you about the story of my first girlfriend. And no, it's not who you think it is!
So flashback to a few weeks prior to Rise's homecoming to Inaba, and Kondo-sensei introduced this rather prissy-looking girl with dyed honey blonde hair named Ai Ebihara, who would become our new manager. Immediately I could tell her pretty face hid a rather nasty attitude; she only agreed to becoming team manager because she wanted to graduate and offset her multiple counts of truancy.
Then back to mid-June, where Ai roped me into cutting classes with her by going to Okina - which was my third time in the area in less than a week. Frankly, I was getting tired of the place at that point. But still, since Ai was pretty and my gut feeling was guiding me towards the girl I decided to humor her, even if I was enabling shitty behavior again. In typical Mean Girl fashion, she went to Okina for shopping, and roped me in as her bag carrier. The reason she was able to pay for all the stuff she got wasn't because she did a ton of part-time jobs (and kill a bunch of Shadows) like I did, but because her dad was loaded due to making a fortune in real estate speculation, so yeah, typical rich kid attitude. After baring that part of herself to me, I felt the familiar thrum of another Social Link forming in my head. Depicting a moon and some creatures with the number XVIII, the voice in my head spoke. "The Moon".
But we weren't really going out yet at this point - though it wouldn't surprise me if people said we were going out. After all, "star basketball player dating team manager" isn't an uncommon story!
We somehow made it back in time for the final bell at Yasogami, and I decided to help Yukiko with grocery shopping at Junes that afternoon. Apparently, her cooking skills were improving with guidance from their head cook, and while I remained skeptical I did believe she'd improve. (And she has, actually! While her more... unorthodox culinary choices have become part of the Amagi Inn's exotic menu, her cooking's much better now than the Mystery Food X days of her high school career.)
On a whim I decided to help myself to a small bag of wasabi in our fridge after getting home. It practically burned the insides of my mouth, causing me to rest all the way to morning. Might be my Persona abilities, but the next day I was up and ready like nothing happened. (It did prepare me for a certain somebody's cooking, though!)
That midnight I checked the Midnight Channel to see if there was a new guest star. A faint image of a twintailed girl in a swimsuit appeared on the TV, and I had a pretty good idea of who it could be. That being said, if the image were still faint, then that meant said girl wasn't in the TV yet. We still had a chance to warn her.
----
The next day was Yosuke's birthday, and we spent his birthday staking out Marukyu Tofu, trying to get past all the fervent fans the young idol had. I did give him his birthday gift right before our stakeout, however - a pair of well-crafted knives from Daidara, meant for use in the TV World.
We found Adachi right in front of the store, directing traffic. Strange, seeing a police detective be consigned to traffic duty. I asked him why the was the case, and apparently it was due to the Inaba PD being stretched thin and having to keep people from overcrowding the poor tofu shop. My uncle then exited Marukyu Tofu, telling people to clear out and berating Adachi as usual, then saw me and my friends, apparently loitering around. He told me to give Rise and her family some privacy (which we would if it weren't for the clear and present danger around her that I couldn't divulge, lest I appear to be a suspect) and then left in the direction of the police station. After a while, thankfully, the crowd had indeed cleared out, having failed to see Risette, and we took our chance to enter the store, but not before the girls begged off with their own plans, whatever they were.
The shop was empty, save for a woman working in the back. Of course, to keep up the illusion of being mere customers, we decided on what to order; I also honestly wanted to buy one of Marukyu's specialties, especially for that night's dinner. Yosuke for his part didn't really eat tofu, so we recommended he get ganmodoki (tofu-based fritter made with vegetables) instead. With our orders ready we then asked for assistance, then an older lady entered in from the side. Which then begged the question: who was the lady working in the back of the store?
The woman in questioned turned to us, and the copper hair and youthful face made me recognize her immediately, even in the head covering and apron of a tofu maker. She was smaller than I had thought, both because I'm a tall guy and because TV magic made her petite frame look less so. Rise was surprised at the three of us in the store, and Yosuke predictably used this chance to ask if she really was Risette, even as he was shocked that she recognized me. I could tell the girl was a bit miffed, though, and she continued along as if she really were a mere tofu salesgirl than a nationally famous star. (No wonder she was famous.) Motioning to my friends (Yosuke in particular) to focus on our mission, we asked Rise-san if she had seen anything strange, to which she replied in the negative. With that particular lead bust, we decided to buy some tofu and ganmodoki anyway, then laid in wait for whoever might choose to kidnap her.
The girls, that is, Chie and Yukiko, had chosen that moment to return and regarded us guys as being suspicious, which was of course silly. With Rise walking out of the store, it wasn't long before we saw a strangely-dressed man looking at her began to tail the idol, and while my gut feeling told me this man was nothing more than a crazed fan we weren't taking any chances.
My friends were on the stalker's trail, and right as Chie pulled Yosuke out of trying to hit on Rise-san I was left behind, which then meant I was left with the young idol herself. Both of us watched in shock as the rest of the Investigation Team managed to subdue the crazed fan, who continued to protest his innocence. Adachi had in the meantime returned and promptly put the stalker under arrest, but I knew for a fact this was just the beginning.
I then accompanied Rise to the riverbank, where I was sure we would be left in peace. The young celebrity used the time to complain about nobody ever seeing the real her, which made sense since her public personality was a carefully cultivated front created in part by the entertainment industry, which explained the gulf Rise-san felt between Risette and the real her. (Sounded familiar, actually.) She began folding over pages torn from a copy of her gravure photobook that she brought, making some impromptu origami. I took the chance to show off a really good paper crane, honed after I had folded hundreds of them as a part-time job. Impressed, Rise tried to fold her own paper crane, but her attempt wasn't as good as mine. I bluntly told her it sucked, but she did one more try and it came out better. I formally introduced myself, and we then went our separate ways as the sun set.
In hindsight, this was probably where Rise began to fall for me, as the fact that I was the first person apart from her family to treat her as Rise Kujikawa, an ordinary girl, rather than as Risette, famous idol really stuck with her. It would be quite a while before I reciprocated and we got together, but that's a story for another time.
That midnight, the Midnight Channel showed a somewhat clearer picture of Rise, still in the bikini, but as it was still faint I knew she wasn't in the TV, yet.
----
The next day, Rise had enrolled at Yasogami High, where she would be spending the rest of the year as a first-year student in Class 1-2. That meant I was her senpai and she was my kohai, then. As we were leaving school, the entrance was filled with adoring fans, men and women alike, so I took Rise and we sneaked off around a side path outside the school. I didn't want her to be mobbed by fans, and I didn't want to be mistaken for dating her, either (it already didn't help that the Yasogami rumor mill had me dating Ai at that point already).
As we approached Marukyu Tofu, though, a suited man came and introduced himself as Rise's manager, Inoue-san, who still begged for his prized talent to return, even on her own terms. Rise told him that she was still thinking of whether to eventually return or to quit showbiz altogether, but the manager told her he'd wait again if needed. I tried to console Rise, but she ran off in tears, thinking no one really understood her.
I was still worried about her, so that evening I went up and waited until midnight, ready to check the Midnight Channel.
What came on was something even more provocative than Yukiko acting like a randy bachelorette or Kanji as a flaming bathhouse connoisseur.
Rise Kujikawa, Teen Idol, was dressed in but a swimsuit, posing in what she dubbed the Marukyu Striptease. As the name suggested, she would go and bare everything, and not just leave everything to the hyperactive imaginations of her legion of fans.
The rational part of me was recoiling in horror, as it realized Rise was already inside the TV and needed to be rescued. The hormonal teenager part of me was pressing the Record button on my remote repeatedly, trying to keep a copy of an attractive girl in a bikini for posterity.
Yosuke called me right afterwards, his mind torn between horrified and aroused just as I was.
Either way, we had a rescue mission on our hands.
Chapter 14: Radar Girl
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
The next day we went into the TV to begin our search and rescue operation, hoping to find and get Rise out before the Shadows got to her. Upon entering our usual spot we found Teddie in a corner... sulking. Huh, didn't know hollow bear mascots could do that. Turns out Teddie was envious of all the good stuff we had going on our other side of the TV, and the struggles he faced trying to locate Kanji's bathhouse compounded with that to give him a bit of an inferiority complex. I tried to reassure him that he was doing the best he could, and then asked if he could find Rise's strip club within the TV World.
He tried right there and then, but as with Kanji he needed more clues to really find where the idol singer was in the TV World. After promising not to let us down (and being dissuaded from trying to score with the girls), I felt the familiar thrum as a new Social Link formed within my mind. "The Star", the voice noted as an image of a star with a face and the number XVII flashed in my mind's eye. First a fox and then an empty mascot, huh?
We then decided to adjourn and look for clues for Teddie to use. We split up, and I went back to Yasogami High to ask around. One guy said he was a big Risette fan, and I asked him if he had any leads on the girl, but sadly his info was just as good as ours.
I then ran into Konishi-kun, and once I remembered he was in the same class as Rise, I asked him if she told him anything, on the off chance he might have something. Upon getting a negative answer, I thanked him anyway, and the two of us discussed a bit more whereupon I learned his given name was Naoki. Once again, I felt a bond form between me and the bereaved boy, and a man hanging upside down with the number XII formed in my head. "The Hanged Man", the voice said.
I then went back to Samegawa Riverbank, where a photographer agreed to exchange info with me on Risette. I started by telling him about Rise's stress from having to avoid the public eye, then in response he let me know about how she was worrying about the divide between Risette and her true self, which confirmed the issues she was discussing with me just the previous day.
I went back to the shopping district to make some last minute preparations, including a visit to the Velvet Room to bolster my Personae rotation, and I managed to get Kanji an old riot shield to replace the chair he was "borrowing" from the Junes stock room. With that done, I went and gathered everyone at the electronics section. We were rescuing Rise Kujikawa, come hell or high water.
I gave Teddie the leads I found, and he sniffed along to a room in the dark. Then the lights switched on and I saw a rather lavishly decorated room full of red and pink furniture. That and the erotic-sounding club music made me assume it was some sort of strip club, not that I had ever been to any at that point. (And I've never needed to be in one in the real world, so...) There was also an overwhelming smell of lavender, for some reason.
I decided to take along Kanji, Yukiko, and Chie, with Yosuke serving as a reserve alongside Teddie. Didn't want our resident horndog to get too distracted. I gave Kanji the shield I had gotten for him, and we were on our way.
The blinding lights and pounding bass made concentrating on the fights harder, but it wasn't overwhelming. After all, Kanji's bathhouse had me sweating all over, and at least it felt like the Marukyu Striptease was air-conditioned, making it more bearable in the summer weather. The Shadows within this dungeon were an eclectic sort: One looked like a sentient strand of DNA, another was a pair of dancing lovers, and another resembled the classical depiction of Cupid. The Shadows had gone past unsubtle and landed safely within shameless territory, but they were but a mere fraction of what we would face later on.
We fought our way though, and I noticed that around this time even the spells we were using were getting stronger. "Take-Mikazuchi! Zionga!" cried out my delinquent kohai, shocking a foe and downing it. "Protect me Tomoe! Rampage!" Chie responded, severely wounding a swath of Shadows.
After a while we ran into more Shadows. "Power! Kouga!" I tried out my new angelic Persona, bolstered with the power from my bond with Nanako. The powerful light magic weakened one Cupid-like Shadow, which gave Yukiko an opening. "Come, Konohana-Sakuya! Maragion!" Her strong fire spell wiped out another group of our foes.
We kept a steady pace, and once we felt ourselves getting fatigued after exploring, I had called the fox, who in exchange of some of our hard-earned yen gave us a bunch of energy-giving herbs. Steeling ourselves further along, we continued into the strip club.
We then ran into a bikini-clad Rise, and from previous experience I knew this to be her Shadow. She continued with the striptease spiel she gave during the Midnight Channel, and I watched as my friends reacted to what was going on. Kanji felt second-hand embarrassment from Shadow Rise's provocative attitude - his own Shadow being just as indecent certainly stuck - and Chie felt gross at the noise of a crowd going wild for the sight of an underage girl undressing herself (though thankfully we hadn't gotten that far... yet). Even Yosuke wasn't amused at this turn of events, and urged us onward within the dungeon to continue our rescue.
We climbed on to another floor, where Rise's Quelorie Magic commercial came on as her inner thoughts. It was clear at this point that the strip club formed as a response to the young idol's struggle to reconcile herself as Risette, the rising star of the entertainment industry, and herself as Rise Kujikawa, an ordinary girl. Fighting off more Shadows, I began to analyze my group's strengths and weaknesses.
Yosuke, even if he wasn't in our frontline at the moment, was a bit of an all-around guy. His specialty offensively was in wind magic, and he had a variety of other abilities such as healing and agility buffs. His weakest point aside from electricity was the fact that he seemed most susceptible to various status ailments, so I thought if there was a way around that.
Chie started off as equal parts ice specialist and melee attacker, but had as of late began to focus on the latter. I began to think about how to offset her increasingly limited magic repertoire, but as it was the martial artist was our best bet against mob Shadows, especially since I saw her kick a few into kingdom come.
Yukiko was our resident mage, to use traditional RPG terms. She could heal better than anyone and her fire and curse spells were our heavy artillery against magic-weak Shadows, but she couldn't take hits as well and her fan-based physicals weren't that effective.
Kanji, of course, was the tank. His electric spells didn't hit as hard as I hoped, but he could take punishment better than any of us and his physical abilities were just as lethal as Chie's, only with him being better against stronger, but fewer foes.
Of course, my role as the Wild Card was to switch between Personae based on the situation, and I kept my rotation based on what I anticipated for our rescue operations. Izanagi stayed by my side, and it was just as big of an all-arounder as I was.
Another Persona I grew fond of at this point was an anthropomorphic jaguar named Ose. It was just as lethal as Chie was in terms of physical attacks, and what's more allowed me to resist physical attacks better. The fact that it shared an Arcana with Izanagi and the Investigation Team was just a bonus.
Eventually we ran into a portal that had Teddie flustered, and we found Shadow Rise in the midst of a dark room. After the Shadow made some innuendos, she then turned on the lights, leaving us in the company of... a very phallic looking snake Shadow with both Mars and Venus symbols around it. Really subtle there, even more subtle than Shadow Kanji and his Pillar Men.
(In case it wasn't obvious, the previous sentence was sarcastic.)
It turned out to be laughingly weak against the Agilaos launched its way by Yukiko and my newly-minted Pyro Jack (or Jack-O'-Lantern, as a friend of mine tells me what they're really named).
Eventually we found ourselves at the top point of the strip club, and we encountered two Rises: one in the bikini, her Shadow self, and another still in the attire of a tofu shop worker, the real one. The Shadow version was also standing awfully close to a stripper pole for our collective comfort, and a part of me wanted to avert my eyes at this wanton behavior. (The hormonal part of me, though? It was... excited, though I did my hardest at this point to suppress it.) Shadow Rise began to taunt her real counterpart by doing a pole dance, and the teen idol was beginning to lose her composure. If even a girl used to presenting a public front (or persona, if you will) was breaking down, then did that mean this Shadow was very strong?
Rise continued to deny that her Shadow, who desired to shed the Risette moniker and show the world who she truly was (for a given value of "truly was") was her. Eventually, she broke.
"Stop, stop it! You're... " the tofu salesgirl called out.
"No! Don't say it!" Chie cried from beside me.
"You're not me!" Rise screamed in anguish.
Here it comes, I thought grimly as Shadow Rise began to mutate into an eldritch blend of psychedelic technicolor, and notably lacked a face, with a radar dish where it should have been. It made lewd moans and gyrated around its pole, images that I'm sure won't be leaving my head any time soon.
I began by trying to weaken it. "Izanagi, Rakunda!" My initial Persona complied, and lowered Shadow Rise's defenses. My friends then continued with their own attacks - Kanji and Chie using physicals, and Yukiko sticking to her magic (though given that Shadow Rise seemed to be less vulnerable to magic, I told her to stick to healing for now). The stripper Shadow seemed content to throw weak attacks at us for the first part of the fight, but as it became more and more weakened from our assaults things began to change.
After I had fired off an Atom Smasher with help from Ose, which downed the Shadow with a critical strike and had allowed us to get off an All-Out Attack, Shadow Rise danced lewdly around its pole and made squishy noises. At this point it was using its Supreme Insight ability, which meant bad news for us.
After that point, our attacks seemed to do nothing against it: It evaded Chie and Kanji effortlessly, and the magic Yukiko and I was using had no effect. The Shadow had in effect managed to analyze us to an absurd degree which meant it could counter every single move we used. Even after switching to my sword it did nothing to help.
We were sitting ducks against the Shadow of a teen idol. Even after I had Yosuke switch in for Chie, his attacks worked for a while until Shadow Rise did its pole dance once more and had Yosuke's abilities worked out. In short, we were doomed unless a miracle happened.
Which was precisely what happened. Teddie, stewing for so long in his inferiority complex, stepped up, told us he was going bear-serk (Teddie, you do realize the word berserk is already rooted in the word bear?), then exploded in a paroxysm of energy that left our ursine guide literally flattened and Shadow Rise greatly weakened. We approached the real Rise, checking on her to see if she was all right, then we watched as the idol girl accepted her Shadow self. "Himiko", Rise whispered as her Shadow became a Persona, but things didn't end just there and then.
Rise was weakened, and we were going to escort her out of the TV just as we did with Yukiko and Kanji, but we failed to account for one little thing.
Teddie, despite being as flat as a piece of cardboard, stood in our way, and spoke in a decidedly not-Teddie voice, chiding us and calling us fools. A Shadow copy of our bear mascot manifested behind him, with yellow, soulless eyes.
Rise began to speak to us as we were facing this uncanny Shadow. Her Persona, Himiko, seemed not to be one suited for direct combat, but like its Shadow self was able to analyze targets and provide us insights for fights. With our former guide out of commission and his Shadow standing in our way, Rise then stood up, Himiko manifesting behind her and giving Rise a visor, and our fight against the nihilistic Shadow Teddie began
He tried right there and then, but as with Kanji he needed more clues to really find where the idol singer was in the TV World. After promising not to let us down (and being dissuaded from trying to score with the girls), I felt the familiar thrum as a new Social Link formed within my mind. "The Star", the voice noted as an image of a star with a face and the number XVII flashed in my mind's eye. First a fox and then an empty mascot, huh?
We then decided to adjourn and look for clues for Teddie to use. We split up, and I went back to Yasogami High to ask around. One guy said he was a big Risette fan, and I asked him if he had any leads on the girl, but sadly his info was just as good as ours.
I then ran into Konishi-kun, and once I remembered he was in the same class as Rise, I asked him if she told him anything, on the off chance he might have something. Upon getting a negative answer, I thanked him anyway, and the two of us discussed a bit more whereupon I learned his given name was Naoki. Once again, I felt a bond form between me and the bereaved boy, and a man hanging upside down with the number XII formed in my head. "The Hanged Man", the voice said.
I then went back to Samegawa Riverbank, where a photographer agreed to exchange info with me on Risette. I started by telling him about Rise's stress from having to avoid the public eye, then in response he let me know about how she was worrying about the divide between Risette and her true self, which confirmed the issues she was discussing with me just the previous day.
I went back to the shopping district to make some last minute preparations, including a visit to the Velvet Room to bolster my Personae rotation, and I managed to get Kanji an old riot shield to replace the chair he was "borrowing" from the Junes stock room. With that done, I went and gathered everyone at the electronics section. We were rescuing Rise Kujikawa, come hell or high water.
----
I gave Teddie the leads I found, and he sniffed along to a room in the dark. Then the lights switched on and I saw a rather lavishly decorated room full of red and pink furniture. That and the erotic-sounding club music made me assume it was some sort of strip club, not that I had ever been to any at that point. (And I've never needed to be in one in the real world, so...) There was also an overwhelming smell of lavender, for some reason.
I decided to take along Kanji, Yukiko, and Chie, with Yosuke serving as a reserve alongside Teddie. Didn't want our resident horndog to get too distracted. I gave Kanji the shield I had gotten for him, and we were on our way.
The blinding lights and pounding bass made concentrating on the fights harder, but it wasn't overwhelming. After all, Kanji's bathhouse had me sweating all over, and at least it felt like the Marukyu Striptease was air-conditioned, making it more bearable in the summer weather. The Shadows within this dungeon were an eclectic sort: One looked like a sentient strand of DNA, another was a pair of dancing lovers, and another resembled the classical depiction of Cupid. The Shadows had gone past unsubtle and landed safely within shameless territory, but they were but a mere fraction of what we would face later on.
We fought our way though, and I noticed that around this time even the spells we were using were getting stronger. "Take-Mikazuchi! Zionga!" cried out my delinquent kohai, shocking a foe and downing it. "Protect me Tomoe! Rampage!" Chie responded, severely wounding a swath of Shadows.
After a while we ran into more Shadows. "Power! Kouga!" I tried out my new angelic Persona, bolstered with the power from my bond with Nanako. The powerful light magic weakened one Cupid-like Shadow, which gave Yukiko an opening. "Come, Konohana-Sakuya! Maragion!" Her strong fire spell wiped out another group of our foes.
We kept a steady pace, and once we felt ourselves getting fatigued after exploring, I had called the fox, who in exchange of some of our hard-earned yen gave us a bunch of energy-giving herbs. Steeling ourselves further along, we continued into the strip club.
We then ran into a bikini-clad Rise, and from previous experience I knew this to be her Shadow. She continued with the striptease spiel she gave during the Midnight Channel, and I watched as my friends reacted to what was going on. Kanji felt second-hand embarrassment from Shadow Rise's provocative attitude - his own Shadow being just as indecent certainly stuck - and Chie felt gross at the noise of a crowd going wild for the sight of an underage girl undressing herself (though thankfully we hadn't gotten that far... yet). Even Yosuke wasn't amused at this turn of events, and urged us onward within the dungeon to continue our rescue.
We climbed on to another floor, where Rise's Quelorie Magic commercial came on as her inner thoughts. It was clear at this point that the strip club formed as a response to the young idol's struggle to reconcile herself as Risette, the rising star of the entertainment industry, and herself as Rise Kujikawa, an ordinary girl. Fighting off more Shadows, I began to analyze my group's strengths and weaknesses.
Yosuke, even if he wasn't in our frontline at the moment, was a bit of an all-around guy. His specialty offensively was in wind magic, and he had a variety of other abilities such as healing and agility buffs. His weakest point aside from electricity was the fact that he seemed most susceptible to various status ailments, so I thought if there was a way around that.
Chie started off as equal parts ice specialist and melee attacker, but had as of late began to focus on the latter. I began to think about how to offset her increasingly limited magic repertoire, but as it was the martial artist was our best bet against mob Shadows, especially since I saw her kick a few into kingdom come.
Yukiko was our resident mage, to use traditional RPG terms. She could heal better than anyone and her fire and curse spells were our heavy artillery against magic-weak Shadows, but she couldn't take hits as well and her fan-based physicals weren't that effective.
Kanji, of course, was the tank. His electric spells didn't hit as hard as I hoped, but he could take punishment better than any of us and his physical abilities were just as lethal as Chie's, only with him being better against stronger, but fewer foes.
Of course, my role as the Wild Card was to switch between Personae based on the situation, and I kept my rotation based on what I anticipated for our rescue operations. Izanagi stayed by my side, and it was just as big of an all-arounder as I was.
Another Persona I grew fond of at this point was an anthropomorphic jaguar named Ose. It was just as lethal as Chie was in terms of physical attacks, and what's more allowed me to resist physical attacks better. The fact that it shared an Arcana with Izanagi and the Investigation Team was just a bonus.
----
Eventually we ran into a portal that had Teddie flustered, and we found Shadow Rise in the midst of a dark room. After the Shadow made some innuendos, she then turned on the lights, leaving us in the company of... a very phallic looking snake Shadow with both Mars and Venus symbols around it. Really subtle there, even more subtle than Shadow Kanji and his Pillar Men.
(In case it wasn't obvious, the previous sentence was sarcastic.)
It turned out to be laughingly weak against the Agilaos launched its way by Yukiko and my newly-minted Pyro Jack (or Jack-O'-Lantern, as a friend of mine tells me what they're really named).
Eventually we found ourselves at the top point of the strip club, and we encountered two Rises: one in the bikini, her Shadow self, and another still in the attire of a tofu shop worker, the real one. The Shadow version was also standing awfully close to a stripper pole for our collective comfort, and a part of me wanted to avert my eyes at this wanton behavior. (The hormonal part of me, though? It was... excited, though I did my hardest at this point to suppress it.) Shadow Rise began to taunt her real counterpart by doing a pole dance, and the teen idol was beginning to lose her composure. If even a girl used to presenting a public front (or persona, if you will) was breaking down, then did that mean this Shadow was very strong?
Rise continued to deny that her Shadow, who desired to shed the Risette moniker and show the world who she truly was (for a given value of "truly was") was her. Eventually, she broke.
"Stop, stop it! You're... " the tofu salesgirl called out.
"No! Don't say it!" Chie cried from beside me.
"You're not me!" Rise screamed in anguish.
Here it comes, I thought grimly as Shadow Rise began to mutate into an eldritch blend of psychedelic technicolor, and notably lacked a face, with a radar dish where it should have been. It made lewd moans and gyrated around its pole, images that I'm sure won't be leaving my head any time soon.
I began by trying to weaken it. "Izanagi, Rakunda!" My initial Persona complied, and lowered Shadow Rise's defenses. My friends then continued with their own attacks - Kanji and Chie using physicals, and Yukiko sticking to her magic (though given that Shadow Rise seemed to be less vulnerable to magic, I told her to stick to healing for now). The stripper Shadow seemed content to throw weak attacks at us for the first part of the fight, but as it became more and more weakened from our assaults things began to change.
After I had fired off an Atom Smasher with help from Ose, which downed the Shadow with a critical strike and had allowed us to get off an All-Out Attack, Shadow Rise danced lewdly around its pole and made squishy noises. At this point it was using its Supreme Insight ability, which meant bad news for us.
After that point, our attacks seemed to do nothing against it: It evaded Chie and Kanji effortlessly, and the magic Yukiko and I was using had no effect. The Shadow had in effect managed to analyze us to an absurd degree which meant it could counter every single move we used. Even after switching to my sword it did nothing to help.
We were sitting ducks against the Shadow of a teen idol. Even after I had Yosuke switch in for Chie, his attacks worked for a while until Shadow Rise did its pole dance once more and had Yosuke's abilities worked out. In short, we were doomed unless a miracle happened.
Which was precisely what happened. Teddie, stewing for so long in his inferiority complex, stepped up, told us he was going bear-serk (Teddie, you do realize the word berserk is already rooted in the word bear?), then exploded in a paroxysm of energy that left our ursine guide literally flattened and Shadow Rise greatly weakened. We approached the real Rise, checking on her to see if she was all right, then we watched as the idol girl accepted her Shadow self. "Himiko", Rise whispered as her Shadow became a Persona, but things didn't end just there and then.
Rise was weakened, and we were going to escort her out of the TV just as we did with Yukiko and Kanji, but we failed to account for one little thing.
Teddie, despite being as flat as a piece of cardboard, stood in our way, and spoke in a decidedly not-Teddie voice, chiding us and calling us fools. A Shadow copy of our bear mascot manifested behind him, with yellow, soulless eyes.
Rise began to speak to us as we were facing this uncanny Shadow. Her Persona, Himiko, seemed not to be one suited for direct combat, but like its Shadow self was able to analyze targets and provide us insights for fights. With our former guide out of commission and his Shadow standing in our way, Rise then stood up, Himiko manifesting behind her and giving Rise a visor, and our fight against the nihilistic Shadow Teddie began
Chapter 15: Tomahawk Teddy, and Yu and Ai
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
Imagine this situation: You and a few of your friends are facing a gigantic Freddy Fazbear knockoff who continually spouts nihilistic phrases while a girl you just rescued minutes earlier tries her best to help you out.
That was exactly what was happening while we were facing off against Teddie's Shadow. Somehow, the mascot had developed a Shadow despite only existing within the TV World, and as far-fetched as it was Shadow Teddie would prove to be our most formidable challenge up to that point. Then again, regular Teddie proved to be our MVP against Rise's Shadow, so what do I know?
Shadow Teddie began his onslaught with a Marakunda, and I could feel my resolve waver as the spell lowered our defenses. However, I was ready with a counter of my own. "Matador, Dekunda!" I called on the skeletal bullfighter, who then dispelled the defensive debuff. Yosuke then buffed our speed and Chie gave me an attack boost, as I thought about our next move.
"Yukiko-senpai, watch out! He's going to use ice attacks!" I heard Rise, already pulling her weight with her Persona's scanning abilities. Thankfully, Yukiko had been accounting for her ice weakness, so even as Shadow Teddie sent a Bufula her way she managed to evade it.
I had Kanji tag in for Yukiko, planning to call our healer back in as necessary, and the tall boy summoned Take-Mikazuchi to hit with a hard physical attack. So far, things were going well. Shadow Teddie sent a Mabufula our way, and I had switched to Titania to nullify the attack while everyone else sans Chie defended. Just a few more of this and we had this in the bag...
Then Shadow Teddie began charging up a ball of eldritch energy in its palm. "That doesn't look good, everyone!" I heard Rise, who was serving her role as provisional navigator really well (better than Teddie, I had to admit). If we let that attack hit us, we were toast.
I had Yukiko tag back in, heal up whatever scrapes we had gotten, then as Rise recommended we braced ourselves for impact.
Shadow Teddie's Nihil Hand was a powerful move, but didn't do anything to a well-prepared combatant.
The biggest issue with the mascot's Shadow wasn't that it was particularly intelligent as a foe, but more its raw power. Once we had figured out its attack pattern thanks to Rise's help, the fight went smoothly, as I had Matador revert its debuffs, Titania to nullify ice attacks, and Ose to cut it down with Atom Smashers. Kanji and Chie had also kept up the pressure with their physical strikes, while Yukiko and Yosuke kept us alive.
Shadow Teddie was at death's door when I switched to Izanagi for old time's sake. "Persona! Zionga!" I cried out, finishing off the ursine Shadow with a lightning bolt as it screamed for words that started with F outside of Futile. (I heard Chie distinctly say "fsteak" just as this happened. I think Marie rubbed off on her.)
Our flattened mascot friend then faced his weakened Shadow, created by his nascent ego and identity crisis. Once again, we reassured him that he wasn't alone, and that we'd be there for him as he sought to answer the question of who he was. And right on cue, what remained of Shadow Teddie shone, changing into a sphere with stubby arms and legs and carrying what appeared to be a missile of some sort. "Kintoki-Douji", whispered the mascot as he acquired his very own Persona.
Behind us, Rise slumped to the ground, exhausted after having to face her Shadow, awaken her Persona, and subject it to a baptism of fire.
Just as we left the TV World, Teddie vowed to train hard to make sure he was as strong as we were, and the image of a flattened bear suit doing ab crunches will never not be funny for me. I felt my bond with Teddie strengthen as he resolved to do so.
We then escorted Rise out of the TV, and instead of the girls taking her home as I expected somehow it was left to me to do so. So I did, keeping the tofu girl on her feet as I half-carried her from Junes to the shopping district. It felt strange having a girl cling to me, especially one who happened to be a celebrity.
That evening, I watched as Adachi carried my very drunk uncle into the house, just as Nanako and I had finished setting up for dinner. As I helped the younger detective get Uncle Ryotaro settled on the couch, he told me that the cops had very little progress on the Yamano-Konishi murders, and knowing what I knew of the Japanese justice system, the fact that they hadn't pinned a perpetrator yet was getting on their nerves, both rank-and-file and the higher-ups alike. No wonder my uncle had taken to the bottle. It got to the point where they had to bring in some prodigy detective who was in their teens, from what my uncle then told me, frustrated that he had to work with someone who was probably in their diapers when he was starting out.
(You might know who this prodigy detective is, but I'd rather keep the suspense for a little bit.)
Adachi then escorted Uncle Ryotaro to his futon, leaving me and my little sis confused and wrinkling our nose at the scent of sake.
Saturday was devoted to Drama Club, where after Yumi going extra during rehearsals she left all of a sudden mid-club. Our club president told me that Yumi had gone to the hospital for a family matter, so I decided to follow my friend there and see what the matter was. Yumi's father, who had left her with her mother, had fallen ill with what appeared to be a terminal illness, and the old man wanted to spend his last days with the family he had abandoned. It was to the point where Yumi's mother fell ill too, caring for her estranged husband sunup to sundown (though she would make a full recovery). Predictably, my dramatic friend wasn't happy about this - he had left her and her mother for another woman and wanted back in because he was dying! But all the same all I could do was to be there for her as a friend.
Then came the weekend, and after my weekly patronage of Tanaka's sketchy wares, I decided to spend more time with Marie. Goodness knows how lonely she could have gotten, spending her time with Igor and Margaret. The two of us walked along the riverbank, where I had managed to give out some things from the TV World that random citizens somehow needed, and on the way we ran into Yosuke, who upon realizing that Marie wasn't from Yasogami (he merely assumed she was from another school), helped us go on a tour of the place. Even if it were Sunday, the school was open for a committee meeting, so things worked out for us in a strange fashion.
While exploring Yasogami my friends began comparing notes about their "schools". Marie practically told Yosuke about the Velvet Room, though in such a way that he thought it was a tiny private school and that Igor (whom she called The Nose) was her teacher. And somehow along the way we told her about how human relationships work, so that was a bit surreal.
I had wanted to pay Adachi back for escorting my drunk uncle home the other day, so as evening fell I found him, trying to fend off the kindly old lady who wanted to make him nimono. I proposed that he eat dinner with us at home, and given that the alternative was spending time with a woman he clearly didn't give two figs about, the junior detective chose to have dinner with us.
In hindsight, eating dinner with him at our home wasn't probably the best of ideas, but he seemed sociable enough. But watching Nanako smile at his magic tricks all while she mispronounced "stew" as "shoe" was worth it, especially at the time.
So back to the grind it was the next day, while we waited for Rise to recover, and I spent some time with the fox after playing wish granter, then helped Yosuke out at Junes, where he held off two really obnoxious upperclassmen who wanted all the benefits of a part-time job (i.e. the pay and the prestige) and as little of the work as possible, trying to push it off on my friend. I could tell he was trying not to blow up at the Karens in the making just as their conversation went to Saki-senpai, and I sidled on to him and patted his back, making sure my friend wasn't alone.
That evening I heard more about the hit-and-run case that killed Aunt Chisato from my uncle, who was thankfully sober now. What made the matter worse was that she was run over on her way to pick up Nanako, which may have caused just as big a wound in the young girl just as it did in my aunt's bereaved husband.
After basketball practice I headed down to Aiya with my athletic friends, where we learned about the latest social gatherings Kou had to attend, as he was adopted into a rather prestigious family. It seems my friend had struggles trying to balance his status as a scion of his family (albeit an adopted one) and his life as a basketball player. But all the same, Daisuke and I were going to be there for him.
I then spent some time with Naoki-kun, seeing as he clearly was lonely due to people not giving him the space to grieve properly. We had some food over at Aiya, and I smiled at Aika who was manning the counter that day. The blue-haired girl turned a bit red, strangely enough. (In hindsight, the fact that I was the local school heartthrob should have been obvious, but I was rather poor at handling social cues from the ladies anyway.)
And of course, I got roped into shopping trips with Ai at Okina again. I could feel a sort of affection develop between the two of us at that point, even if I was taken aback at her rejecting a fellow Yasogami student right in his face.
As June ebbed away, I had just finished a strenuous practice with Kou and the rest of the basketball team, and the team had gathered at the foot lockers just as we prepared to head home. Immediately, rumors about the reputation of our sports manager circulated, including her being easy, all the kinds of nasty stuff you hear from kids who don't know better.
The last day of the month came, and I met up with Ai on the school rooftop, as she wanted to talk to me about something. She told me she was in love with somebody, and that somebody happened to be my backcourt mate Kou. She then asked me to ask him what his kind of girl was.
The following day I caught up with Kou in the school hallway, and asked him what kind of girl he liked, then he told me about an athletic young woman with short hair and a small nose. I immediately knew who he was talking about, and as my friend got flustered over telling me he had a crush on Chie I went back up to the rooftop, only to realize Ai had overheard us.
Ai was standing on the edge of the school rooftop, seemingly ready to end it all, when I called out to her and asked her to calm down. She relented, went back over the fence, and she cried her heart out as she told me the rest of her story.
As a kid, she was fat and clumsy, being teased and bullied by her classmates. Then her dad got rich, and Ai decided to go on a diet and research beauty tips, resulting in the pretty, but seemingly shallow girl I knew. But with her being rejected by her crush, she still wanted to go out with someone, and somehow before I could take the words back I volunteered to go out with her.
I was now Ai Ebihara's boyfriend.
That was exactly what was happening while we were facing off against Teddie's Shadow. Somehow, the mascot had developed a Shadow despite only existing within the TV World, and as far-fetched as it was Shadow Teddie would prove to be our most formidable challenge up to that point. Then again, regular Teddie proved to be our MVP against Rise's Shadow, so what do I know?
Shadow Teddie began his onslaught with a Marakunda, and I could feel my resolve waver as the spell lowered our defenses. However, I was ready with a counter of my own. "Matador, Dekunda!" I called on the skeletal bullfighter, who then dispelled the defensive debuff. Yosuke then buffed our speed and Chie gave me an attack boost, as I thought about our next move.
"Yukiko-senpai, watch out! He's going to use ice attacks!" I heard Rise, already pulling her weight with her Persona's scanning abilities. Thankfully, Yukiko had been accounting for her ice weakness, so even as Shadow Teddie sent a Bufula her way she managed to evade it.
I had Kanji tag in for Yukiko, planning to call our healer back in as necessary, and the tall boy summoned Take-Mikazuchi to hit with a hard physical attack. So far, things were going well. Shadow Teddie sent a Mabufula our way, and I had switched to Titania to nullify the attack while everyone else sans Chie defended. Just a few more of this and we had this in the bag...
Then Shadow Teddie began charging up a ball of eldritch energy in its palm. "That doesn't look good, everyone!" I heard Rise, who was serving her role as provisional navigator really well (better than Teddie, I had to admit). If we let that attack hit us, we were toast.
I had Yukiko tag back in, heal up whatever scrapes we had gotten, then as Rise recommended we braced ourselves for impact.
Shadow Teddie's Nihil Hand was a powerful move, but didn't do anything to a well-prepared combatant.
The biggest issue with the mascot's Shadow wasn't that it was particularly intelligent as a foe, but more its raw power. Once we had figured out its attack pattern thanks to Rise's help, the fight went smoothly, as I had Matador revert its debuffs, Titania to nullify ice attacks, and Ose to cut it down with Atom Smashers. Kanji and Chie had also kept up the pressure with their physical strikes, while Yukiko and Yosuke kept us alive.
Shadow Teddie was at death's door when I switched to Izanagi for old time's sake. "Persona! Zionga!" I cried out, finishing off the ursine Shadow with a lightning bolt as it screamed for words that started with F outside of Futile. (I heard Chie distinctly say "fsteak" just as this happened. I think Marie rubbed off on her.)
Our flattened mascot friend then faced his weakened Shadow, created by his nascent ego and identity crisis. Once again, we reassured him that he wasn't alone, and that we'd be there for him as he sought to answer the question of who he was. And right on cue, what remained of Shadow Teddie shone, changing into a sphere with stubby arms and legs and carrying what appeared to be a missile of some sort. "Kintoki-Douji", whispered the mascot as he acquired his very own Persona.
Behind us, Rise slumped to the ground, exhausted after having to face her Shadow, awaken her Persona, and subject it to a baptism of fire.
----
Just as we left the TV World, Teddie vowed to train hard to make sure he was as strong as we were, and the image of a flattened bear suit doing ab crunches will never not be funny for me. I felt my bond with Teddie strengthen as he resolved to do so.
We then escorted Rise out of the TV, and instead of the girls taking her home as I expected somehow it was left to me to do so. So I did, keeping the tofu girl on her feet as I half-carried her from Junes to the shopping district. It felt strange having a girl cling to me, especially one who happened to be a celebrity.
That evening, I watched as Adachi carried my very drunk uncle into the house, just as Nanako and I had finished setting up for dinner. As I helped the younger detective get Uncle Ryotaro settled on the couch, he told me that the cops had very little progress on the Yamano-Konishi murders, and knowing what I knew of the Japanese justice system, the fact that they hadn't pinned a perpetrator yet was getting on their nerves, both rank-and-file and the higher-ups alike. No wonder my uncle had taken to the bottle. It got to the point where they had to bring in some prodigy detective who was in their teens, from what my uncle then told me, frustrated that he had to work with someone who was probably in their diapers when he was starting out.
(You might know who this prodigy detective is, but I'd rather keep the suspense for a little bit.)
Adachi then escorted Uncle Ryotaro to his futon, leaving me and my little sis confused and wrinkling our nose at the scent of sake.
----
Saturday was devoted to Drama Club, where after Yumi going extra during rehearsals she left all of a sudden mid-club. Our club president told me that Yumi had gone to the hospital for a family matter, so I decided to follow my friend there and see what the matter was. Yumi's father, who had left her with her mother, had fallen ill with what appeared to be a terminal illness, and the old man wanted to spend his last days with the family he had abandoned. It was to the point where Yumi's mother fell ill too, caring for her estranged husband sunup to sundown (though she would make a full recovery). Predictably, my dramatic friend wasn't happy about this - he had left her and her mother for another woman and wanted back in because he was dying! But all the same all I could do was to be there for her as a friend.
Then came the weekend, and after my weekly patronage of Tanaka's sketchy wares, I decided to spend more time with Marie. Goodness knows how lonely she could have gotten, spending her time with Igor and Margaret. The two of us walked along the riverbank, where I had managed to give out some things from the TV World that random citizens somehow needed, and on the way we ran into Yosuke, who upon realizing that Marie wasn't from Yasogami (he merely assumed she was from another school), helped us go on a tour of the place. Even if it were Sunday, the school was open for a committee meeting, so things worked out for us in a strange fashion.
While exploring Yasogami my friends began comparing notes about their "schools". Marie practically told Yosuke about the Velvet Room, though in such a way that he thought it was a tiny private school and that Igor (whom she called The Nose) was her teacher. And somehow along the way we told her about how human relationships work, so that was a bit surreal.
I had wanted to pay Adachi back for escorting my drunk uncle home the other day, so as evening fell I found him, trying to fend off the kindly old lady who wanted to make him nimono. I proposed that he eat dinner with us at home, and given that the alternative was spending time with a woman he clearly didn't give two figs about, the junior detective chose to have dinner with us.
In hindsight, eating dinner with him at our home wasn't probably the best of ideas, but he seemed sociable enough. But watching Nanako smile at his magic tricks all while she mispronounced "stew" as "shoe" was worth it, especially at the time.
----
So back to the grind it was the next day, while we waited for Rise to recover, and I spent some time with the fox after playing wish granter, then helped Yosuke out at Junes, where he held off two really obnoxious upperclassmen who wanted all the benefits of a part-time job (i.e. the pay and the prestige) and as little of the work as possible, trying to push it off on my friend. I could tell he was trying not to blow up at the Karens in the making just as their conversation went to Saki-senpai, and I sidled on to him and patted his back, making sure my friend wasn't alone.
That evening I heard more about the hit-and-run case that killed Aunt Chisato from my uncle, who was thankfully sober now. What made the matter worse was that she was run over on her way to pick up Nanako, which may have caused just as big a wound in the young girl just as it did in my aunt's bereaved husband.
After basketball practice I headed down to Aiya with my athletic friends, where we learned about the latest social gatherings Kou had to attend, as he was adopted into a rather prestigious family. It seems my friend had struggles trying to balance his status as a scion of his family (albeit an adopted one) and his life as a basketball player. But all the same, Daisuke and I were going to be there for him.
I then spent some time with Naoki-kun, seeing as he clearly was lonely due to people not giving him the space to grieve properly. We had some food over at Aiya, and I smiled at Aika who was manning the counter that day. The blue-haired girl turned a bit red, strangely enough. (In hindsight, the fact that I was the local school heartthrob should have been obvious, but I was rather poor at handling social cues from the ladies anyway.)
And of course, I got roped into shopping trips with Ai at Okina again. I could feel a sort of affection develop between the two of us at that point, even if I was taken aback at her rejecting a fellow Yasogami student right in his face.
As June ebbed away, I had just finished a strenuous practice with Kou and the rest of the basketball team, and the team had gathered at the foot lockers just as we prepared to head home. Immediately, rumors about the reputation of our sports manager circulated, including her being easy, all the kinds of nasty stuff you hear from kids who don't know better.
The last day of the month came, and I met up with Ai on the school rooftop, as she wanted to talk to me about something. She told me she was in love with somebody, and that somebody happened to be my backcourt mate Kou. She then asked me to ask him what his kind of girl was.
The following day I caught up with Kou in the school hallway, and asked him what kind of girl he liked, then he told me about an athletic young woman with short hair and a small nose. I immediately knew who he was talking about, and as my friend got flustered over telling me he had a crush on Chie I went back up to the rooftop, only to realize Ai had overheard us.
Ai was standing on the edge of the school rooftop, seemingly ready to end it all, when I called out to her and asked her to calm down. She relented, went back over the fence, and she cried her heart out as she told me the rest of her story.
As a kid, she was fat and clumsy, being teased and bullied by her classmates. Then her dad got rich, and Ai decided to go on a diet and research beauty tips, resulting in the pretty, but seemingly shallow girl I knew. But with her being rejected by her crush, she still wanted to go out with someone, and somehow before I could take the words back I volunteered to go out with her.
I was now Ai Ebihara's boyfriend.
Chapter 16: Requiem for a Moron
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
Even after getting a girlfriend in Ai things didn't really change much. Realizing that I needed to save up money in case we were to go on a date, I decided to visit the daycare the following day. (She might be loaded, but I wanted to be able to foot the bill. That's just being a gentleman.) Of course, that happened to be a day where Eri-san was waiting for Yuuta-kun, and predictably the older woman told me about her wanting to take out her stepson for dinner, in an effort to bond with her. For the most part my part in their relationship up to that point was to serve as a sounding board for Eri-san, and while I could tell she was struggling at least she was doing her best to connect with Yuuta-kun.
Sunday came, and with it my date with Ai. Unsurprisingly we spent our date at Okina, where after doing some shopping at Croco Fur we then had some coffee and snacks at the Chagall Café branch there. Their coffee's great, even if it somehow did funny things to my Personae, and the owner's kinda cool as well. (Though not as cool as this other coffee place smack-dab in the middle of Tokyo. Their coffee's great, and they serve amazing curry as well!)
Physically, we didn't really show much signs we were dating save that we held hands throughout and hugged each other after we separated at the train station. Interestingly, the day was still pretty young despite that, so I went to grab lunch with Yosuke at Junes.
While sampling their new offering of steak and macaroni salad (which was better than I expected), Yosuke once again ran into the duo of ne'er-do-well upperclassmen who proceeded to abuse my friend, haranguing him and basically accusing him of playing favorites, despite the fact that the two ladies were getting kid gloves at this point. It got to the point where they called the departed Saki-senpai names one shouldn't use in polite company, and as I could see my friend almost to the point of tears, I broke.
I fixed them a death glare, and without shouting said in my most venomous tone, "Shut up!" The two were taken aback and Yosuke found the spine to stand up to them as well. He then went into a wonderful defense of his deceased senpai and crush, which reminded me of why Yosuke was one of my best friends. He may be crass and inconsiderate at times, but he's very loyal to the people he treasures, and he'll go to the ends of the earth for them. I comforted him after his outburst, letting him know I had his back.
The next day news of me going out with Ai finally made it to the rumor mill, and the fact that my then-girlfriend not only held hands with me in the corridors but that we also ate lunch together (I even had her sample my cooking. Granted, most of my Yasogami friends have, but still!) pretty much confirmed the stories going around. King Moron gave us a lecture, and put Yosuke on the spot. I had whispered the answer to him and that helped out, but I could see my friend was still pensive from the events of the previous day.
So after school I went with Yosuke to the riverbank, where he reminisced about his memories with Saki-senpai, who took a Print Club sticker with him back when he had just moved to Inaba. He had remained aloof from the town at large, due to seeing him as the Prince of Junes and therefore The Big Enemy Of Inaba's Commerce, but Saki-senpai had befriended him (even if it wasn't a deep bond) and that connection made him feel special. Yosuke then confided in me that in the end, he jumped at doing the investigations just so he could feel special and wanted, especially in a place that he felt had it against him. I felt like I understood my friend much, much more.
Tuesday was spent with the basketball club. During practice Kou and I were matched up against each other, with him guarding me as I isolated behind the three point line. I then heard Ai cheer loudly for me, and with a burst of inspiration I had managed to cross my friend over and got a layup to swish in. I smiled at my girlfriend, thanking her for the boost. After practice, we decided to drop by my house, and naturally Daisuke joined us at the school gate after his football club had wrapped up for the day. So the three of us were in my room, and my friends began to animatedly discuss the significant book collection I had built up over my stay in Inaba. I even recommended a title or two to Daisuke, even if I knew he wasn't much of a reader.
Realizing that the pay I was getting from my daycare job wasn't gonna be enough to cover the costs of dating Ai (and I didn't want to dip into funds I had reserved for TV World exploration), I checked the community board to see if there were any additional part-time jobs available. I did see one that struck my eye - it was as janitor for the Inaba Municipal Hospital. This wouldn't be a big deal on the surface, but a reason it seemed to be ignored until that point was that it was a night-time job, and the hospital was said to be haunted by the spirits of those who passed away there. (What hospital isn't, really?) Anyhow, I decided I was brave enough to risk the spooky atmosphere, and I then sent in my application that day. I did make sure to tell Uncle Ryotaro, to make sure he got my blessing for a night-time job.
After a fruitful session with Hosoi-sensei and his attendant human, I spent the rest of Thursday afternoon with Yukiko, who then went with me to the shrine. She had wanted to pay her respects, and disclosed to me that she would miss the place once she left Inaba. Right there and then, a woman in a neat, but simple kimono approached Yukiko, who introduced her as Kasai-san, one of the waitresses at the Amagi Inn. Kasai-san then mistook me for Yukiko's boyfriend, and somehow I couldn't get in a correction about me dating another girl. (First world problems, I guess?) She was also one of the people who was teaching Yukiko to improve her cooking, and I guess I have to thank her for doing a stellar job on that front. Right before we left for our homes, though, Yukiko mused on how lucky she had it - she had a loving family, the people at the inn who supported her endeavors, and us, her friends, who had her back. She was clearly torn at the prospect of abandoning the people she treasured the most.
That evening, I then remembered I could get started working at the hospital. My shift went well at first, finding the eerie hallways a bit disconcerting, but nowhere near enough to distract me from cleaning up the rooms and corridors. Just as I was finishing up, I overheard a middle-aged doctor and a nurse who looked to be no older than thirty having a rather animated discussion. As they wrapped up their talk, the nurse then approached me and... started hitting on me. She had short, dark hair tied in a short ponytail, and had a beauty mark right below her lip. Rather unnerved by the sudden attention from an adult (it took all my willpower not to scream "stranger danger", especially when one considered all she did was call me cute), I kept mum and headed straight for the locker rooms, and then home.
The following evening, after turning in more fulfilled wishes to the shrine and its fox attendant, I returned to Inaba Municipal once more. Braving the creepy atmosphere of the hospital, I continued my work diligently, when I then encountered Ms Flirty Nurse once more. She introduced herself as Sayoko Uehara, and continued to hit on me, even as I weakly protested I already had a girlfriend. (A part of me thought signing Yosuke up for a job here wouldn't be a bad idea, given his affinity for nurses, but I figured he was already busy enough at Junes to take on another job.) A familiar thrum went through my mind as Sayoko-san smiled at me, and the image of a horned beast with the number XV flashed through my head. "The Devil", the voice called to me from the Sea of Souls. That was strange.
Saturday came, and after spending the afternoon on an impromptu date with Ai at Aiya, where she ate a small serving of dumplings as I finished a regular beef bowl. A bit of me was surprised she agreed to go here instead of at Okina, but I guess this was her idea of humoring me. Thankfully, Aika wasn't around, lest it got awkward; the number of women who had the hots for me had been going up steadily in the last few weeks.
With the weather rather inclement, I decided to check the Midnight Channel that evening, knowing well that with Rise safe and sound it should show nobody, and that everything would be A-OK. To my relief, there was nobody on the Midnight Channel, and I would go to bed safe and sound knowing we had thwarted the killer once more.
Of course, things wouldn't be that simple, and I probably invoked Murphy's Law the night before anyway. The following morning, a dead body was found, hanging from a water tower in the middle of town, seemingly killed in the same manner Yamano and Saki-senpai were earlier that year.
That body happened to be that of Kinshiro Morooka, homeroom teacher at Yasogami High, known to students as King Moron, and a death I found myself mourning surprisingly.
Sunday came, and with it my date with Ai. Unsurprisingly we spent our date at Okina, where after doing some shopping at Croco Fur we then had some coffee and snacks at the Chagall Café branch there. Their coffee's great, even if it somehow did funny things to my Personae, and the owner's kinda cool as well. (Though not as cool as this other coffee place smack-dab in the middle of Tokyo. Their coffee's great, and they serve amazing curry as well!)
Physically, we didn't really show much signs we were dating save that we held hands throughout and hugged each other after we separated at the train station. Interestingly, the day was still pretty young despite that, so I went to grab lunch with Yosuke at Junes.
While sampling their new offering of steak and macaroni salad (which was better than I expected), Yosuke once again ran into the duo of ne'er-do-well upperclassmen who proceeded to abuse my friend, haranguing him and basically accusing him of playing favorites, despite the fact that the two ladies were getting kid gloves at this point. It got to the point where they called the departed Saki-senpai names one shouldn't use in polite company, and as I could see my friend almost to the point of tears, I broke.
I fixed them a death glare, and without shouting said in my most venomous tone, "Shut up!" The two were taken aback and Yosuke found the spine to stand up to them as well. He then went into a wonderful defense of his deceased senpai and crush, which reminded me of why Yosuke was one of my best friends. He may be crass and inconsiderate at times, but he's very loyal to the people he treasures, and he'll go to the ends of the earth for them. I comforted him after his outburst, letting him know I had his back.
The next day news of me going out with Ai finally made it to the rumor mill, and the fact that my then-girlfriend not only held hands with me in the corridors but that we also ate lunch together (I even had her sample my cooking. Granted, most of my Yasogami friends have, but still!) pretty much confirmed the stories going around. King Moron gave us a lecture, and put Yosuke on the spot. I had whispered the answer to him and that helped out, but I could see my friend was still pensive from the events of the previous day.
So after school I went with Yosuke to the riverbank, where he reminisced about his memories with Saki-senpai, who took a Print Club sticker with him back when he had just moved to Inaba. He had remained aloof from the town at large, due to seeing him as the Prince of Junes and therefore The Big Enemy Of Inaba's Commerce, but Saki-senpai had befriended him (even if it wasn't a deep bond) and that connection made him feel special. Yosuke then confided in me that in the end, he jumped at doing the investigations just so he could feel special and wanted, especially in a place that he felt had it against him. I felt like I understood my friend much, much more.
----
Tuesday was spent with the basketball club. During practice Kou and I were matched up against each other, with him guarding me as I isolated behind the three point line. I then heard Ai cheer loudly for me, and with a burst of inspiration I had managed to cross my friend over and got a layup to swish in. I smiled at my girlfriend, thanking her for the boost. After practice, we decided to drop by my house, and naturally Daisuke joined us at the school gate after his football club had wrapped up for the day. So the three of us were in my room, and my friends began to animatedly discuss the significant book collection I had built up over my stay in Inaba. I even recommended a title or two to Daisuke, even if I knew he wasn't much of a reader.
Realizing that the pay I was getting from my daycare job wasn't gonna be enough to cover the costs of dating Ai (and I didn't want to dip into funds I had reserved for TV World exploration), I checked the community board to see if there were any additional part-time jobs available. I did see one that struck my eye - it was as janitor for the Inaba Municipal Hospital. This wouldn't be a big deal on the surface, but a reason it seemed to be ignored until that point was that it was a night-time job, and the hospital was said to be haunted by the spirits of those who passed away there. (What hospital isn't, really?) Anyhow, I decided I was brave enough to risk the spooky atmosphere, and I then sent in my application that day. I did make sure to tell Uncle Ryotaro, to make sure he got my blessing for a night-time job.
After a fruitful session with Hosoi-sensei and his attendant human, I spent the rest of Thursday afternoon with Yukiko, who then went with me to the shrine. She had wanted to pay her respects, and disclosed to me that she would miss the place once she left Inaba. Right there and then, a woman in a neat, but simple kimono approached Yukiko, who introduced her as Kasai-san, one of the waitresses at the Amagi Inn. Kasai-san then mistook me for Yukiko's boyfriend, and somehow I couldn't get in a correction about me dating another girl. (First world problems, I guess?) She was also one of the people who was teaching Yukiko to improve her cooking, and I guess I have to thank her for doing a stellar job on that front. Right before we left for our homes, though, Yukiko mused on how lucky she had it - she had a loving family, the people at the inn who supported her endeavors, and us, her friends, who had her back. She was clearly torn at the prospect of abandoning the people she treasured the most.
That evening, I then remembered I could get started working at the hospital. My shift went well at first, finding the eerie hallways a bit disconcerting, but nowhere near enough to distract me from cleaning up the rooms and corridors. Just as I was finishing up, I overheard a middle-aged doctor and a nurse who looked to be no older than thirty having a rather animated discussion. As they wrapped up their talk, the nurse then approached me and... started hitting on me. She had short, dark hair tied in a short ponytail, and had a beauty mark right below her lip. Rather unnerved by the sudden attention from an adult (it took all my willpower not to scream "stranger danger", especially when one considered all she did was call me cute), I kept mum and headed straight for the locker rooms, and then home.
The following evening, after turning in more fulfilled wishes to the shrine and its fox attendant, I returned to Inaba Municipal once more. Braving the creepy atmosphere of the hospital, I continued my work diligently, when I then encountered Ms Flirty Nurse once more. She introduced herself as Sayoko Uehara, and continued to hit on me, even as I weakly protested I already had a girlfriend. (A part of me thought signing Yosuke up for a job here wouldn't be a bad idea, given his affinity for nurses, but I figured he was already busy enough at Junes to take on another job.) A familiar thrum went through my mind as Sayoko-san smiled at me, and the image of a horned beast with the number XV flashed through my head. "The Devil", the voice called to me from the Sea of Souls. That was strange.
Saturday came, and after spending the afternoon on an impromptu date with Ai at Aiya, where she ate a small serving of dumplings as I finished a regular beef bowl. A bit of me was surprised she agreed to go here instead of at Okina, but I guess this was her idea of humoring me. Thankfully, Aika wasn't around, lest it got awkward; the number of women who had the hots for me had been going up steadily in the last few weeks.
With the weather rather inclement, I decided to check the Midnight Channel that evening, knowing well that with Rise safe and sound it should show nobody, and that everything would be A-OK. To my relief, there was nobody on the Midnight Channel, and I would go to bed safe and sound knowing we had thwarted the killer once more.
Of course, things wouldn't be that simple, and I probably invoked Murphy's Law the night before anyway. The following morning, a dead body was found, hanging from a water tower in the middle of town, seemingly killed in the same manner Yamano and Saki-senpai were earlier that year.
That body happened to be that of Kinshiro Morooka, homeroom teacher at Yasogami High, known to students as King Moron, and a death I found myself mourning surprisingly.
Chapter 17: A Bear-y Interesting Turn of Events
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
The next morning I received a call from Chie, telling me to come to Junes for an emergency meeting. We had already rescued Rise, so I was puzzled at the time as to why we needed to meet ASAP. Nonetheless, I went there as requested, and on the way I noticed police vehicles speeding across the town. Something dire had happened, and we needed to find out.
When I arrived at our usual spot at the food court, Yosuke was out, checking out the scene. After he returned, he confirmed there was a murder, and that it was our homeroom teacher, Morooka aka King Moron, who was the unfortunate victim. We didn't like the guy, but it was shocking all the same for another person we saw on a regular basis to end up dead, and in a similar fashion to the victims who died way back in April of that year.
Something didn't add up, though. King Moron wasn't on the Midnight Channel, yet he was found in a manner like Yamano and Saki-senpai, and he didn't fit the other criteria either like appearing on the television, Midnight Channel or no, or the fact that he was an unattractive middle-aged man, instead of a younger woman with a pretty face. Of course, that eliminated Kanji as a victim, but everyone from Saki-senpai onward was a high school student, and Morooka was only the second adult victim, whether we counted those kidnapped but rescued or not.
A disconcerting theory came to my mind. What if the Midnight Channel appearances were but a distraction? There was a possibility that two people could have been thrown into the TV around the same time, but only one, likely the one with more repressed thoughts and emotions, would be shown on the TV, leaving one at the mercy of the Shadows but without the TV to reflect them. I dismissed the idea, because if it were true then King Moron (or more accurately, his Shadow) would have appeared on the TV and done whatever Shadow selves do after we had gotten Rise out. I tried to get the image of Morooka in old-fashioned undies telling kids to stop making out, but it lingered far longer than I'd like.
Anyhow, there was only one way to confirm whether King Moron was in the TV or not, and that meant a trip to the electronics department to find Teddie in the TV World. However, as we got there, we saw two employees having an animated discussion. Yosuke then pulled rank as Prince of Junes to ask them what was going on, and the Junes workers told him about a strange mascot hanging around the store. Was that who I thought it was?
Turns out, it was. We found Teddie enjoying the services of an electronic massage chair, shaking in comfort as the machine did its work on the living mascot. The surprising part wasn't that he was enjoying the chair, but that he was outside the TV and doing things in our world like it was nothing. Was this part of his awakening to his Persona? Irritated, Teddie pointed out that he came to our side because he was lonely on his side of the TV. If he were lonely during all that time, then that meant no one entered the TV since we got Rise out, and that meant Morooka was never inside the TV World.
That meant only one possibility: There was a copycat killer on the loose.
After Teddie had finished haranguing us about leaving him alone he gave me a pink-framed pair of glasses. These were to be Rise's pair, then. In addition, his experience defeating Shadow Teddie and awakening to his Persona meant that he would now join us on the front lines. That would then mean Rise would serve as our full-time navigator, if she agreed to join us in the Investigation Team.
Teddie then joined us at the food court, where my friends grilled the bear on if he had seen Morooka within the TV. As I had expected, the mascot replied in the negative. Just as the conversation turned to checking on Rise, Teddie then announced he was going to take off his bear suit. The rest of the IT, including myself, did a double take; were we really going to let the mascot scar some unfortunate kid for life by exposing his endless void of an inside? Teddie then reassured us he was no longer hollow, and a part of me wondered what sort of eldritch beast now resided within his suit. Apparently his desire to score with the ladies of the Investigation Team led him on a One Punch Man-like regimen, which somehow created an inner body for the bear. Even past our remaining protests, Teddie chose to go ahead with it anyway.
Teddie then groaned and moaned, acting like he was charging up for something, then loosened the zipper around his neck. Expecting the worst, I had almost averted my eyes, when...
The prettiest boy I've ever seen in my whole life was inside the bear suit formerly known as Teddie. Somehow he had blond hair and blue eyes (which made him stand out; did he think he was in Europe or the US?), and Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady" just so happened to play on the Junes PA right at that moment. Feeling thirsty, the former bear took a spare bottle of soda and chugged it down. I swear that right at that moment, I heard a young boy scream from the other side of the food court.
Teddie then somehow created real life bishie sparkles and tried to seduce Chie and Yukiko, pointing out that he wasn't wearing anything beyond his bearth-day suit. (I am so, so sorry to whoever reads this.) The implication that human Teddie was... anatomically correct made me shudder. (Then again, him having Ken doll anatomy would probably have been worse.) The girls then picked him up, helping him shop for a fresh change of clothes. I guess he thought it was tantamount to going on a date with them, then?
That left us guys alone at the food court, and I told them I wanted to drop by Rise and check up on her, grabbing Topsicles from Shiroku on our way there. Chie and Yukiko had now returned, apologizing for their tardiness, and Teddie trailed along behind them, still in human form and wearing an admittedly nice getup of a white collared shirt with a cloth rose woven on to the lapel, dark pants, and a pair of loafers. We had to remind the newly-human mascot that since he was on our side of the TV that he had to reign himself in, and that meant less hitting on our lady members. Yosuke looked like he was about to make a joke at Kanji's expense, but after I gave him a quick glare he decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Chie then made some awfully strange compliments on Yosuke's behalf, and I knew that based on their relationship that meant something was way, way off.
It turned out that Chie had charged the money used to buy Teddie's outfit to Yosuke's account, meaning that my pal would have his pay docked until that was paid off. Even with the antics Yosuke pulled off, this was quite frankly beyond the pale, and I told Chie that was kinda out of line. I gathered the two quarreling lovebirds together with Teddie, and then told them this would happen only this time. As penance, Chie wasn't gonna get steak from Yosuke on his dime until he had finished paying off Teddie's clothes, and that the newly human bear better keep his clothes in tip-top shape as I didn't want my friend to lose whatever sanity he had paying off clothes he never bought for himself anyway.
(Given the amount of crappy behavior between Chie and Yosuke in their high school days, I'm equally impressed and surprised that they've not only largely outgrown their worst tendencies, but that they've actually come to care for each other and they've had a happy marriage thus far.)
Approaching Marukyu Tofu we found Little Boy Blue in front of the store, dressed in summer attire consisting of a light blue shirt and a yellow tie. He introduced himself as Naoto Shirogane, and that he was an investigator looking into the murders here at Inaba. Oh, so that's who Uncle Ryotaro referred to a couple of weeks back then. After asking us some questions about the case, he pointed out that Morooka and Saki-senpai being both associated with Yasogami High was circumstantial rather than meaningful. The strange part was that I didn't find anything wrong with the young detective's deduction - after all, if a tie to Yasogami was all it needed, then surely there were other, more likely targets, right?
As Naoto then left us in front of the tofu shop, Rise came out, dressed in a simple, yet fitting ensemble of an orange sleeveless blouse and white knee-high pants. I had to admit she pulled it off. We admitted we were there to check on her, and she took us to Tatsuhime Shrine, where she told us that all she could remember was that she stepped outside Marukyu only to find herself within the TV world as her next conscious memory. This gave us no clue to whoever the killer was, and she revealed that Naoto had been visiting the shop a few times in the past few days. The young detective had also been asking about me and my friends, but Rise screened us really well, making up rather vague answers to prevent him from cottoning on to the truth. Finally, Rise wanted to thank us for helping her, and putting her on her journey of self-discovery. I then gave her the glasses Teddie entrusted with us, and after explaining how it helped with seeing through the fog in the TV World, we then formally welcomed Rise into the Investigation Team as our full-time navigator.
Yosuke then reminded us that finals were fast approaching, as July would be over sooner than later and with it, the first school semester of the year.
The evening news was about King Moron's untimely demise. I wasn't a fan of the guy, but I had to admit I would miss how he actually cared for his students, albeit in an outdated boomer sort of way. Nanako asked me if the police would catch the killer, to which I assured her they would, and the TV report continued on about how the fuzz were holding on to the Yasogami angle for the case. I'm pretty sure that annoyed the young Shirogane.
That night as I slumbered after this turn of events, I visited the Velvet Room in a dream, with all three occupants there. Igor advised me that he was now going to offer enhanced Persona fusion services, no longer limited to doing triple fusions at most. Apparently, this was as an aid for the mystery I had come to find myself in, and he likely had his higher-up authorize it as I felt we were finding ourselves close to a breakthrough.
Marie then made a rather cryptic comment about joining me and my friends soon, whatever that meant. Margaret looked shocked at this revelation, but the tsundere gave her a look and made another cryptic remark about how "things aren't what they were supposed to be", which quieted down the blonde attendant.
In any case, help from any and all sources would be appreciated, as our investigation would take on a drastic turn from then on.
When I arrived at our usual spot at the food court, Yosuke was out, checking out the scene. After he returned, he confirmed there was a murder, and that it was our homeroom teacher, Morooka aka King Moron, who was the unfortunate victim. We didn't like the guy, but it was shocking all the same for another person we saw on a regular basis to end up dead, and in a similar fashion to the victims who died way back in April of that year.
Something didn't add up, though. King Moron wasn't on the Midnight Channel, yet he was found in a manner like Yamano and Saki-senpai, and he didn't fit the other criteria either like appearing on the television, Midnight Channel or no, or the fact that he was an unattractive middle-aged man, instead of a younger woman with a pretty face. Of course, that eliminated Kanji as a victim, but everyone from Saki-senpai onward was a high school student, and Morooka was only the second adult victim, whether we counted those kidnapped but rescued or not.
A disconcerting theory came to my mind. What if the Midnight Channel appearances were but a distraction? There was a possibility that two people could have been thrown into the TV around the same time, but only one, likely the one with more repressed thoughts and emotions, would be shown on the TV, leaving one at the mercy of the Shadows but without the TV to reflect them. I dismissed the idea, because if it were true then King Moron (or more accurately, his Shadow) would have appeared on the TV and done whatever Shadow selves do after we had gotten Rise out. I tried to get the image of Morooka in old-fashioned undies telling kids to stop making out, but it lingered far longer than I'd like.
Anyhow, there was only one way to confirm whether King Moron was in the TV or not, and that meant a trip to the electronics department to find Teddie in the TV World. However, as we got there, we saw two employees having an animated discussion. Yosuke then pulled rank as Prince of Junes to ask them what was going on, and the Junes workers told him about a strange mascot hanging around the store. Was that who I thought it was?
Turns out, it was. We found Teddie enjoying the services of an electronic massage chair, shaking in comfort as the machine did its work on the living mascot. The surprising part wasn't that he was enjoying the chair, but that he was outside the TV and doing things in our world like it was nothing. Was this part of his awakening to his Persona? Irritated, Teddie pointed out that he came to our side because he was lonely on his side of the TV. If he were lonely during all that time, then that meant no one entered the TV since we got Rise out, and that meant Morooka was never inside the TV World.
That meant only one possibility: There was a copycat killer on the loose.
----
After Teddie had finished haranguing us about leaving him alone he gave me a pink-framed pair of glasses. These were to be Rise's pair, then. In addition, his experience defeating Shadow Teddie and awakening to his Persona meant that he would now join us on the front lines. That would then mean Rise would serve as our full-time navigator, if she agreed to join us in the Investigation Team.
Teddie then joined us at the food court, where my friends grilled the bear on if he had seen Morooka within the TV. As I had expected, the mascot replied in the negative. Just as the conversation turned to checking on Rise, Teddie then announced he was going to take off his bear suit. The rest of the IT, including myself, did a double take; were we really going to let the mascot scar some unfortunate kid for life by exposing his endless void of an inside? Teddie then reassured us he was no longer hollow, and a part of me wondered what sort of eldritch beast now resided within his suit. Apparently his desire to score with the ladies of the Investigation Team led him on a One Punch Man-like regimen, which somehow created an inner body for the bear. Even past our remaining protests, Teddie chose to go ahead with it anyway.
Teddie then groaned and moaned, acting like he was charging up for something, then loosened the zipper around his neck. Expecting the worst, I had almost averted my eyes, when...
The prettiest boy I've ever seen in my whole life was inside the bear suit formerly known as Teddie. Somehow he had blond hair and blue eyes (which made him stand out; did he think he was in Europe or the US?), and Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady" just so happened to play on the Junes PA right at that moment. Feeling thirsty, the former bear took a spare bottle of soda and chugged it down. I swear that right at that moment, I heard a young boy scream from the other side of the food court.
Teddie then somehow created real life bishie sparkles and tried to seduce Chie and Yukiko, pointing out that he wasn't wearing anything beyond his bearth-day suit. (I am so, so sorry to whoever reads this.) The implication that human Teddie was... anatomically correct made me shudder. (Then again, him having Ken doll anatomy would probably have been worse.) The girls then picked him up, helping him shop for a fresh change of clothes. I guess he thought it was tantamount to going on a date with them, then?
----
That left us guys alone at the food court, and I told them I wanted to drop by Rise and check up on her, grabbing Topsicles from Shiroku on our way there. Chie and Yukiko had now returned, apologizing for their tardiness, and Teddie trailed along behind them, still in human form and wearing an admittedly nice getup of a white collared shirt with a cloth rose woven on to the lapel, dark pants, and a pair of loafers. We had to remind the newly-human mascot that since he was on our side of the TV that he had to reign himself in, and that meant less hitting on our lady members. Yosuke looked like he was about to make a joke at Kanji's expense, but after I gave him a quick glare he decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Chie then made some awfully strange compliments on Yosuke's behalf, and I knew that based on their relationship that meant something was way, way off.
It turned out that Chie had charged the money used to buy Teddie's outfit to Yosuke's account, meaning that my pal would have his pay docked until that was paid off. Even with the antics Yosuke pulled off, this was quite frankly beyond the pale, and I told Chie that was kinda out of line. I gathered the two quarreling lovebirds together with Teddie, and then told them this would happen only this time. As penance, Chie wasn't gonna get steak from Yosuke on his dime until he had finished paying off Teddie's clothes, and that the newly human bear better keep his clothes in tip-top shape as I didn't want my friend to lose whatever sanity he had paying off clothes he never bought for himself anyway.
(Given the amount of crappy behavior between Chie and Yosuke in their high school days, I'm equally impressed and surprised that they've not only largely outgrown their worst tendencies, but that they've actually come to care for each other and they've had a happy marriage thus far.)
Approaching Marukyu Tofu we found Little Boy Blue in front of the store, dressed in summer attire consisting of a light blue shirt and a yellow tie. He introduced himself as Naoto Shirogane, and that he was an investigator looking into the murders here at Inaba. Oh, so that's who Uncle Ryotaro referred to a couple of weeks back then. After asking us some questions about the case, he pointed out that Morooka and Saki-senpai being both associated with Yasogami High was circumstantial rather than meaningful. The strange part was that I didn't find anything wrong with the young detective's deduction - after all, if a tie to Yasogami was all it needed, then surely there were other, more likely targets, right?
As Naoto then left us in front of the tofu shop, Rise came out, dressed in a simple, yet fitting ensemble of an orange sleeveless blouse and white knee-high pants. I had to admit she pulled it off. We admitted we were there to check on her, and she took us to Tatsuhime Shrine, where she told us that all she could remember was that she stepped outside Marukyu only to find herself within the TV world as her next conscious memory. This gave us no clue to whoever the killer was, and she revealed that Naoto had been visiting the shop a few times in the past few days. The young detective had also been asking about me and my friends, but Rise screened us really well, making up rather vague answers to prevent him from cottoning on to the truth. Finally, Rise wanted to thank us for helping her, and putting her on her journey of self-discovery. I then gave her the glasses Teddie entrusted with us, and after explaining how it helped with seeing through the fog in the TV World, we then formally welcomed Rise into the Investigation Team as our full-time navigator.
Yosuke then reminded us that finals were fast approaching, as July would be over sooner than later and with it, the first school semester of the year.
The evening news was about King Moron's untimely demise. I wasn't a fan of the guy, but I had to admit I would miss how he actually cared for his students, albeit in an outdated boomer sort of way. Nanako asked me if the police would catch the killer, to which I assured her they would, and the TV report continued on about how the fuzz were holding on to the Yasogami angle for the case. I'm pretty sure that annoyed the young Shirogane.
----
That night as I slumbered after this turn of events, I visited the Velvet Room in a dream, with all three occupants there. Igor advised me that he was now going to offer enhanced Persona fusion services, no longer limited to doing triple fusions at most. Apparently, this was as an aid for the mystery I had come to find myself in, and he likely had his higher-up authorize it as I felt we were finding ourselves close to a breakthrough.
Marie then made a rather cryptic comment about joining me and my friends soon, whatever that meant. Margaret looked shocked at this revelation, but the tsundere gave her a look and made another cryptic remark about how "things aren't what they were supposed to be", which quieted down the blonde attendant.
In any case, help from any and all sources would be appreciated, as our investigation would take on a drastic turn from then on.
Chapter 18: Christmas (Cake) in July
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
The next day was a Monday, and with Morooka dead that meant Class 2-2 would need a new homeroom teacher. My classmates discussed animatedly at who it could be, then a woman dressed in not-quite-appropriate clothing entered our classroom. Not only did she leave her blouse partly unbuttoned, she also made a point of hugging her arms right below her chest, as if to puff it up. She was already coming on too strongly, in my opinion. The lady introduced herself as Ms Noriko Kashiwagi, our new homeroom teacher, and after trying her best Mrs Robinson impression (not that me or the class liked it, mind you) she then held a brief moment of silence for the departed King Moron. I could already tell that Kashiwagi-sensei thought overmuch of her own sex appeal, and it was this that turned people off from her. I had to admit, she wasn't physically unattractive, but her near-shameless attitude wasn't winning her any favors. (I'm envious of the homeroom teachers my other friends got - and they even established real bonds with them!) The most irksome part was when she badmouthed Rise, calling our idol friend a piece of jailbait when I was expending every bit of self-control to not tell her off for basically hitting on a bunch of minors. (That, and Rise was only a year younger than us. Much less sketchy than an adult woman attempting to seduce teenagers.)
I overheard my classmates then discuss Morooka being a Risette fan (that... wasn't surprising, if a bit hypocritical) and that someone saw Rise during the Marukyu Striptease. (I pinched the bridge of my nose at this, exasperated with the turn of the conversation.)
After school we decided to spend time at Junes, getting the team all together after Rise and Teddie's formal induction. Teddie, of course, was in his human form. Predictably Chie and Yosuke began ribbing each other over their respective test scores, and Rise was happy that she was able to make friends easily at Yasogami, despite her idol background making it hard for people to bond with her.
We were discussing King Moron's death, and by now the rest of the Investigation Team had cottoned on to the fact that everything was fishy. Then Naoto came along, and in his rather socially inept manner told us matter-of-factly that there was no need to keep looking into Morooka's death. I agreed, of course, but he also dropped the bombshell that there was already a suspect that the cops had found, and therefore there was no need for us to look into it. The suspect was a male of high school age, and apparently that was the info Naoto could give us without jeopardizing the investigation. (Of course, Shirogane had to be so smug about it.)
Naoto's frankly patronizing behavior set Rise off, and she proceeded to berate the young detective, exclaiming that our investigation was no game to us. While I had to admit to myself that we were kids who played amateur sleuth, there was the fact that we had managed to rescue three victims from the TV and that without us, Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise would all have died untimely deaths. Of course, I couldn't confess that to a kid who wasn't aware of the TV World. Naoto then left, not having made a great impression on us as the Investigation Team. (In hindsight though, we probably hurt the young detective and contributed to Naoto's later issues. But that's a story for later.)
Tuesday was a rainy day, and I was unceremoniously reminded that final exams would be in a week. Though after that, summer vacation was on the horizon, and aside from homework assigned over the summer break that would mean a month or so free from academic obligations. I might have been a top student, but even I liked being free from school for a time! Plus, third year was next year, and that was gonna be more intense, with a lot of exams designed to measure our aptitude for university-level work. Thankfully, Kashiwagi-sensei was as competent a teacher as she was incompetent a seductress, and her lessons actually stuck in my head.
Afternoon was spent with Ai, where I helped her study for the upcoming finals in the library as we held hands and whispered sweet nothings in between lesson outlines. Somehow, that evening, Adachi was free as well, and I roped him into helping Nanako and I study for our finals. (Not that I needed it as much, but it was a chance at bonding with the junior detective.) Nanako's homework also happened to involve a story about a pink alligator, written by a young author taken away from us too soon. (He was also... a friend of a friend. You'll know what I'm talking about.) All she really needed was proof that she read it with an adult co-signing it. Since Uncle Ryotaro was out on police work... that left his partner as substitute. (Even knowing what we know about Adachi now... I realize that he actually came to care even for Nanako, in his own strange way.)
After a Wednesday at school where Yukiko forced herself under my umbrella on the way to Yasogami and Kondo-sensei mourning King Moron's death while teaching us how a brain freeze works, I then decided to help out my vulpine pal in its quest to get the shrine fixed via me playing genie. Yukiko found me at the shrine, and we hung out, discussing odds and sods. She did bring up that Kasai-san thought we were a couple, and my inability to convince her otherwise made me feel weird, as if I were two-timing between Ai and Yukiko by dating the former and appearing to be dating the latter. In any case, our nice friendship moment was interrupted by the deputy mayor, telling Yukiko that she was due for a TV spot to promote the inn. As he left, however, Kasai-san arrived, telling my friend not to return to the Amagi Inn, as the TV crew who was there wasn't a reputable bunch, but rather the "news of the weird" bunch that harassed us at Junes a while back. And right on cue, the punks arrived at the shrine, calling the Amagi Inn a cursed establishment, and gave Yukiko an offer to make a "reality TV show" about her rehabilitating the inn... and turning it into a house of ill repute. Even if Yukiko was set at the time to leave Inaba, she wasn't going to take badmouthing her family business lying down. The steel hidden behind the silken mien of my friend came out, and told the sketchy news crew to take their ideas and shove them where the sun doesn't shine (in much more diplomatic terms, of course). Part of me wasn't surprised, given that this was the same girl who could destroy a swath of Shadows with fire or curse attacks. In the end, Yukiko Amagi really did love the Amagi Inn.
Seeing as I had most of my studying done at school, I went back to Inaba Municipal to work as a janitor for the night shift, and once more Sayoko-san came in to check on me. She was just as forward as the last time we interacted, and between that and Kashiwagi-sensei being just as forward, I couldn't take the unwanted attention from older women any more. I pleaded Sayoko-san to stop hitting on me, lest I accuse her of sexual harassment, and even if the system wasn't stacked in my favor due to me being a guy, I still didn't feel good regarding that. The surprising part was that Sayoko-san backed down, but didn't get angry or anything. She just told me to continue the good work, and while she went back to her flirtatious self, she never really made any moves on me from that point forward.
Thursday passed without much happening, save me reviewing for exams with Yukiko this time - ensuring I had an academic peer to keep me sharp for the finals. I found time to even cook some karaage for lunch the next day, which I then shared with a grateful Chie. I even spent time with her after school, when her old pal from middle school Takeshi bothered her and basically badmouthed Yukiko in front Chie, claiming that he didn't like it when the inn heiress laughed. This ticked Chie off, and after telling him off my tomboy friend told me the story about how she and Yukiko became friends, involving a dog that the Amagi lass couldn't adopt but that Chie helped her out with it, and from that day on she resolved to protect Yukiko in whatever way she could.
That Friday evening, as I was working at the hospital cleaning things up, I saw an old lady dressed in a black mourning dress, who then looked in my direction and whispered something to herself. (She wasn't a ghost, and spoiler alert, I'd get to know her soon enough.) Of course, Sayoko-san came in and checked on my work, and then bared to me her envy at the younger women around her, but thankfully came short of actually hitting on me this time. It seemed my plea to her stuck.
Over the weekend I decided to study with Kou and Daisuke, finding ourselves at Junes as we pored over mathematics and other subjects in preparation for our exams. Chie and Yukiko dropped by, and Kou finding himself in close proximity to his crush had him flustered. I told the girls they could come study with us, and somehow my tomboy friend thought Kou was into her best friend when it was the exact opposite. So like a gentleman, I naturally had the girls sit beside Kou, with Chie right next to him. The mischievous part of me wanted to see how my basketball team captain, who excelled at most subjects save math, would do while studying beside the girl he liked.
The next day was Monday, Sea Day, and the prelude to the exams taking place that week. I took advantage of the holiday by checking Tanaka's wares after having missed the Sunday show due to exam season, and then found myself meeting up with Yukiko at the shrine. She had come to a decision regarding her future; she was not leaving Inaba after all. It seemed her love for the Amagi Inn, including her family and their staff, trumped her desire to make a fresh start and leave the town she was born and raised in. While it may seem strange for her to ultimately accept the role she was groomed for since youth, the fact that she made the decision on her own, without being pressured into it, was what mattered the most for Yukiko.
And then my heiress friend asked me a rather big question. I was spending a lot of time with her, after all, and she was thinking why that was the case. I then felt time slow to a near glacial crawl, and weighed my options and checked what was in my heart.
Clearly, Yukiko had a crush on me, and there was the fact that shooting her down would hurt her. On the other hand, I already was in a relationship, and despite my reputation around Inaba as a notorious ladykiller I wasn't anything of the sort. (For the record, I've only had two girlfriends, never at the same time, and I didn't even kiss my first girlfriend!). In addition, I was worried about how a relationship would affect the Investigation Team's dynamic, and I decided that Yukiko getting hurt from me friendzoning her would hurt her less in the long run than me reciprocating her feelings and not becoming faithful to her. And the most important part? I didn't really feel we were more than friends. Close friends, certainly, but I didn't think of her as a romantic partner.
Time then resumed its usual pace. I answered her that I spent time with her because she was a really good friend. I saw a frown briefly decorate Yukiko's face, but she quickly regained her composure and left the shrine in a hurry.
Seriously, why did half the women of Inaba start fawning on me in the last month or so? The last thing I wanted to be was a heartbreaker.
I overheard my classmates then discuss Morooka being a Risette fan (that... wasn't surprising, if a bit hypocritical) and that someone saw Rise during the Marukyu Striptease. (I pinched the bridge of my nose at this, exasperated with the turn of the conversation.)
----
After school we decided to spend time at Junes, getting the team all together after Rise and Teddie's formal induction. Teddie, of course, was in his human form. Predictably Chie and Yosuke began ribbing each other over their respective test scores, and Rise was happy that she was able to make friends easily at Yasogami, despite her idol background making it hard for people to bond with her.
We were discussing King Moron's death, and by now the rest of the Investigation Team had cottoned on to the fact that everything was fishy. Then Naoto came along, and in his rather socially inept manner told us matter-of-factly that there was no need to keep looking into Morooka's death. I agreed, of course, but he also dropped the bombshell that there was already a suspect that the cops had found, and therefore there was no need for us to look into it. The suspect was a male of high school age, and apparently that was the info Naoto could give us without jeopardizing the investigation. (Of course, Shirogane had to be so smug about it.)
Naoto's frankly patronizing behavior set Rise off, and she proceeded to berate the young detective, exclaiming that our investigation was no game to us. While I had to admit to myself that we were kids who played amateur sleuth, there was the fact that we had managed to rescue three victims from the TV and that without us, Yukiko, Kanji, and Rise would all have died untimely deaths. Of course, I couldn't confess that to a kid who wasn't aware of the TV World. Naoto then left, not having made a great impression on us as the Investigation Team. (In hindsight though, we probably hurt the young detective and contributed to Naoto's later issues. But that's a story for later.)
----
Tuesday was a rainy day, and I was unceremoniously reminded that final exams would be in a week. Though after that, summer vacation was on the horizon, and aside from homework assigned over the summer break that would mean a month or so free from academic obligations. I might have been a top student, but even I liked being free from school for a time! Plus, third year was next year, and that was gonna be more intense, with a lot of exams designed to measure our aptitude for university-level work. Thankfully, Kashiwagi-sensei was as competent a teacher as she was incompetent a seductress, and her lessons actually stuck in my head.
Afternoon was spent with Ai, where I helped her study for the upcoming finals in the library as we held hands and whispered sweet nothings in between lesson outlines. Somehow, that evening, Adachi was free as well, and I roped him into helping Nanako and I study for our finals. (Not that I needed it as much, but it was a chance at bonding with the junior detective.) Nanako's homework also happened to involve a story about a pink alligator, written by a young author taken away from us too soon. (He was also... a friend of a friend. You'll know what I'm talking about.) All she really needed was proof that she read it with an adult co-signing it. Since Uncle Ryotaro was out on police work... that left his partner as substitute. (Even knowing what we know about Adachi now... I realize that he actually came to care even for Nanako, in his own strange way.)
After a Wednesday at school where Yukiko forced herself under my umbrella on the way to Yasogami and Kondo-sensei mourning King Moron's death while teaching us how a brain freeze works, I then decided to help out my vulpine pal in its quest to get the shrine fixed via me playing genie. Yukiko found me at the shrine, and we hung out, discussing odds and sods. She did bring up that Kasai-san thought we were a couple, and my inability to convince her otherwise made me feel weird, as if I were two-timing between Ai and Yukiko by dating the former and appearing to be dating the latter. In any case, our nice friendship moment was interrupted by the deputy mayor, telling Yukiko that she was due for a TV spot to promote the inn. As he left, however, Kasai-san arrived, telling my friend not to return to the Amagi Inn, as the TV crew who was there wasn't a reputable bunch, but rather the "news of the weird" bunch that harassed us at Junes a while back. And right on cue, the punks arrived at the shrine, calling the Amagi Inn a cursed establishment, and gave Yukiko an offer to make a "reality TV show" about her rehabilitating the inn... and turning it into a house of ill repute. Even if Yukiko was set at the time to leave Inaba, she wasn't going to take badmouthing her family business lying down. The steel hidden behind the silken mien of my friend came out, and told the sketchy news crew to take their ideas and shove them where the sun doesn't shine (in much more diplomatic terms, of course). Part of me wasn't surprised, given that this was the same girl who could destroy a swath of Shadows with fire or curse attacks. In the end, Yukiko Amagi really did love the Amagi Inn.
Seeing as I had most of my studying done at school, I went back to Inaba Municipal to work as a janitor for the night shift, and once more Sayoko-san came in to check on me. She was just as forward as the last time we interacted, and between that and Kashiwagi-sensei being just as forward, I couldn't take the unwanted attention from older women any more. I pleaded Sayoko-san to stop hitting on me, lest I accuse her of sexual harassment, and even if the system wasn't stacked in my favor due to me being a guy, I still didn't feel good regarding that. The surprising part was that Sayoko-san backed down, but didn't get angry or anything. She just told me to continue the good work, and while she went back to her flirtatious self, she never really made any moves on me from that point forward.
Thursday passed without much happening, save me reviewing for exams with Yukiko this time - ensuring I had an academic peer to keep me sharp for the finals. I found time to even cook some karaage for lunch the next day, which I then shared with a grateful Chie. I even spent time with her after school, when her old pal from middle school Takeshi bothered her and basically badmouthed Yukiko in front Chie, claiming that he didn't like it when the inn heiress laughed. This ticked Chie off, and after telling him off my tomboy friend told me the story about how she and Yukiko became friends, involving a dog that the Amagi lass couldn't adopt but that Chie helped her out with it, and from that day on she resolved to protect Yukiko in whatever way she could.
That Friday evening, as I was working at the hospital cleaning things up, I saw an old lady dressed in a black mourning dress, who then looked in my direction and whispered something to herself. (She wasn't a ghost, and spoiler alert, I'd get to know her soon enough.) Of course, Sayoko-san came in and checked on my work, and then bared to me her envy at the younger women around her, but thankfully came short of actually hitting on me this time. It seemed my plea to her stuck.
Over the weekend I decided to study with Kou and Daisuke, finding ourselves at Junes as we pored over mathematics and other subjects in preparation for our exams. Chie and Yukiko dropped by, and Kou finding himself in close proximity to his crush had him flustered. I told the girls they could come study with us, and somehow my tomboy friend thought Kou was into her best friend when it was the exact opposite. So like a gentleman, I naturally had the girls sit beside Kou, with Chie right next to him. The mischievous part of me wanted to see how my basketball team captain, who excelled at most subjects save math, would do while studying beside the girl he liked.
----
The next day was Monday, Sea Day, and the prelude to the exams taking place that week. I took advantage of the holiday by checking Tanaka's wares after having missed the Sunday show due to exam season, and then found myself meeting up with Yukiko at the shrine. She had come to a decision regarding her future; she was not leaving Inaba after all. It seemed her love for the Amagi Inn, including her family and their staff, trumped her desire to make a fresh start and leave the town she was born and raised in. While it may seem strange for her to ultimately accept the role she was groomed for since youth, the fact that she made the decision on her own, without being pressured into it, was what mattered the most for Yukiko.
And then my heiress friend asked me a rather big question. I was spending a lot of time with her, after all, and she was thinking why that was the case. I then felt time slow to a near glacial crawl, and weighed my options and checked what was in my heart.
Clearly, Yukiko had a crush on me, and there was the fact that shooting her down would hurt her. On the other hand, I already was in a relationship, and despite my reputation around Inaba as a notorious ladykiller I wasn't anything of the sort. (For the record, I've only had two girlfriends, never at the same time, and I didn't even kiss my first girlfriend!). In addition, I was worried about how a relationship would affect the Investigation Team's dynamic, and I decided that Yukiko getting hurt from me friendzoning her would hurt her less in the long run than me reciprocating her feelings and not becoming faithful to her. And the most important part? I didn't really feel we were more than friends. Close friends, certainly, but I didn't think of her as a romantic partner.
Time then resumed its usual pace. I answered her that I spent time with her because she was a really good friend. I saw a frown briefly decorate Yukiko's face, but she quickly regained her composure and left the shrine in a hurry.
Seriously, why did half the women of Inaba start fawning on me in the last month or so? The last thing I wanted to be was a heartbreaker.
Chapter 19: Yu Narukami Says School's Out
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
That evening, with finals on the horizon, I decided to get some last-minute cramming in my room. However, both the fact that I felt I already had a good grasp of the subject material and that the events of the day weighed on my mind made me call it a night earlier than usual.
However, I couldn't fall asleep right away. Yukiko's confession had shaken me more than I expected, and hurting a friend even if it was for her own sake didn't feel right with me. I also reflected on my relationship with Ai, who I'd been dating for the better part of a month already. Did I hurt Yukiko's feelings because I didn't want to betray Ai, or was there another reason I rejected my friend? And where was I in terms of how I truly felt about my girlfriend? Of course I cared for her, went with dates and we even studied together in the school library, but I had a nagging feeling there was something missing in our relationship.
Tuesday arrived, and our five days of final exams commenced in earnest. The answers came to me rather easily, even moreso than our midterm exams. (That was the first time a brain freeze helped me ace a test!) When all was said and done on Saturday afternoon, I breathed a sign of relief as all that was left was our final grades in a week or so. Immediately my friends began comparing notes on how they did, and unsurprisingly both Yosuke and Chie realized they got some answers wrong. Our kohai members of the IT, Kanji and Rise, dropped by class 2-2, and began summarizing their performance as well. Kanji felt he didn't do well, which I ascribe to the traditional school system not quite fitting him (since he's really, really good at sewing and handicrafts) while Rise was a bit like Chie, rather inconsistent in her studies. She's amazing at singing and dancing, but doesn't like English unless it's in song lyrics.
Yosuke then suggested we drop by the Junes food court, seeing as exams had kept us from going there since Teddie's arrival in the real world, so we all agreed and decided to have some snacks there as well. There, we discussed the fact that the police had found a suspect, and right on cue Adachi appeared, made some overly specific remarks about looking for a suspect, then scrammed. (In hindsight, he really was acting overly suspicious.)
I then wondered what Teddie was doing. Was he back on his side of the TV World? Turns out, he was entertaining some children in his bear mascot suit, including a boy who looked to be around eleven or twelve years old with very unruly dark hair. Apparently Yosuke had gotten him a job as the local Junes' mascot (to the point where Teddie gets called the Junes Bear, even in places where he wasn't the mascot). In exchange, Teddie would room with Yosuke, giving him a place to stay in the real world. I wondered for a sec how Yosuke's parents felt about it, and if he had somehow hit on Yosuke's mother in particular.
Yosuke, Kanji, Chie and Yukiko decided to bother Teddie for a bit, which left Rise and I alone at the food court table. I had a sneaky feeling that this would be the birth of a new Social Link since I was spending time with someone I bonded with one-on-one, so I just decided to sit back and watch it all unfold. Rise asked me if I was willing to show her around town, now that she had gotten herself settled in Inaba and needed an escort lest her legion of dedicated fans recognize and mob her. I naturally agreed, seeing that I really wanted to befriend Rise, and once more a card with a heart, a man and a woman with the number VI appeared in my mind. "The Lovers", my vocal guide then said.
An idea quickly came to my head. With Rise's talent at cheering on people and her Persona's ability to pinpoint weaknesses, I asked her if she could use Himiko to amplify our All-Out Attacks, to which my kohai agreed. We basically had an ace in the hole when it came to our forays into the TV World, and I felt like things would go more smoothly from that point.
Sunday came, and while I expected a call from Ai inviting me to Okina for a date I didn't get one, so I decided to spend a day with Rise instead, as I wanted to honor my promise of taking her around town. We decided to stop by Souzai Daigaku for a quick snack, and I watched as Rise tucked into both a steak skewer and a steak croquette. She bared to me how her parents were rather strict and didn't really let her go around town, which explained why she wasn't really familiar with the place.
Monday came, the moment of truth. Just as I was heading towards the board with the exam results, Ai cornered me for a moment, asking me if I loved her and if I needed her. While I naturally confirmed it, a part of me wondered if this was her truly affirming her love, or a sign of our relationship taking an unexpected turn. She normally wasn't this lovey-dovey after all. In any case, I checked out the exam scores, hand in hand with Ai, and I found myself... on top of the entire second year ranking. Everyone was impressed with how I did, especially my school friends.
Of course, since summer vacation was around the corner, we discussed a trip to the beach as one of our plans for August, and especially if we found downtime from our Investigation Team work. Yosuke and I already got our bike licenses, and Kanji was still too young, so that left the girls. Chie and Yukiko could already get theirs no problem, since they were around the same age as Yosuke and I, while Rise could also apply for one since she had already turned sixteen at the beginning of June, even before she returned to Inaba. Rise then brought up the fact that she and the other girls would all be in swimsuits, and being her flirtatious self asked me who I'd like to see in a swimsuit the most.
Without batting an eyelash, I immediately answered Kanji. (Seeing the look on everyone's faces, especially the flustered delinquent, was priceless.)
With school over and done with I decided to meet up with a friend I hadn't talked to in a while, Naoki-kun. The fact that I was probably his only friend who talked to him because I liked being around him as opposed to pitying him for his sister's death helped as well, and my kohai bared his concerns as he shared stories about him getting unwarranted special treatment. Of course, some gossipy housewives happened to pass by us at Souzai Daigaku at that moment, and their talk naturally turned to Naoki-kun's family tragedy. It reminded me uncannily of the time Yosuke had to deal with those troublesome senpai of ours, but I reassured Naoki-kun I'd be there for him.
As a reward for acing my exams, Nanako gave me a well-made paper armband. Somehow wearing it made my Personae feel more powerful, which was a nice reward from my little sis.
The next day, Tuesday, was our actual last day of the term, which would be an assembly in the auditorium. The last time we had an assembly was to announce Saki-senpai's untimely demise, so I hoped this one would be a far more mundane one despite King Moron's death, and thankfully it was. I spent the afternoon with Yumi at the hospital, where she vented out her anger at her father for leaving her family then returning just as he was dying. I felt all I could do for her was to be her sounding board, and somehow she really appreciated it.
That evening, with the inclement weather, I decided to check out the Midnight Channel, in case it might give us a lead in terms of pinning down the suspect. To my shock, someone appeared, a young man in a plain outfit in front of what appeared to be a retro gaming level. Said young man then taunted the viewers and challenged us to catch him. Whoever this was, he was clearly inside the TV World, and somehow I felt like I had seen him before. Yosuke then called me up, saying he didn't recognize the weird boy, then was interrupted by Teddie, who seemed to have a eureka moment regarding the Midnight Channel broadcasts. Apparently, no one was recording the thing; it was ultimately the suppressed emotions of a person inside the TV world that created the images we saw on our TVs. I then got a call from Chie after Yosuke hung up, and resolved to help us get to the bottom of the case.
Thus we began our first day of summer vacation at the food court once more, sharing what we thought of the odd young man who had appeared on the Midnight Channel the night before. Something told me it was a very different scenario than what had happened with Yukiko, Kanji and Rise, seeing as the high-school aged boy didn't appear on the TV shows before appearing inside the TV. Which meant there was a good chance he was the killer, and Yosuke presented his hypothesis: The boy, whom he called Shin, somehow gained the power to kill people by throwing them into the TV. He would have succeeded with his first two victims, but his next few targets then all appeared alive and well. King Moron was a special case, since he didn't appear to be killed via the TV World, and that had reignited the case and made "Shin" a target for the police. With no further methods of escape, "Shin" then would go into the TV himself and hide there until nobody could pin the murders on him any more.
That seemed a solid idea, but I had a feeling we were chasing a false lead. Nonetheless, it did appear consistent with the evidence that we had thus far, so I agreed to use it as our working hypothesis. Either way, we'd only glean the truth once we entered the TV World, nabbed this "Shin" guy, and get the facts out of him. Pretty simple plan, right?
That evening, I decided to work at the hospital again, where I ran into the old lady in black once more. She told me I reminded her of someone she once used to know, and told me she'd be at the Samegawa Riverbank on her free days, in case I wanted to talk to her. Of course, right after she left, Sayoko-san came around the corridor and was acting a bit strangely. She was a bit more forceful than usual, and as I cleaned a recently vacated room at her behest she began to tell me the story of the room's last occupant, a company president who was very much a model patient up until the day he was finally discharged. It was there I saw another side of the nurse I worked with - aside from being a wannabe seductress, she really came to treasure her patients and felt really sad when they left the hospital.
In need of a lead, I decided to check around for a proverbial thread to spot, running into Adachi at Junes. While protesting he knew little about the investigation, he let slip that the suspect had been working as a part-timer at the shopping district. I went through the shops in my head, checking by process of elimination where to go. Daidara, Shiroku and the hobby shop were out, since they didn't seem to employ anyone else other than themselves. Marukyu, Tatsumi Textiles, and Konishi Liquors were out, since Rise's grandmother, Kanji's mother and Naoki-kun's parents would have mentioned if they had gotten some help to my friends. Aiya was also out, since the Nakamura family operated the business on their own, and somehow Aika was doing all the spare work that didn't involve cooking or cleaning the store. That pretty much left Souzai Daigaku as the only notable store that could have employed a part-timer. En route to the street food shop Marie came to me from her usual spot beside the Velvet Room door, and decided to join me as I asked around the store about a part-timer student who might have worked there. The shop owner told me she had indeed taken a student as a part-time worker, who she tasked with cutting the meat, but he had grown bored of the work and quit after a time. The only other details she could provide me were that he had black, soulless eyes, and that he was recommended to the job by a friend of his in middle school.
I then went around to look for the middle school classmate of our suspect, and just as I was about to go around Inaba for the guy Marie took me aside and told me, "Take me with you the next time you go into the TV, stupidjerkface". My eyes bugged out in surprise as I realized Marie knew what we were doing and wanted to be a part of it.
Summer vacation had just begun and events would indicate that this was anything but a normal summer break.
However, I couldn't fall asleep right away. Yukiko's confession had shaken me more than I expected, and hurting a friend even if it was for her own sake didn't feel right with me. I also reflected on my relationship with Ai, who I'd been dating for the better part of a month already. Did I hurt Yukiko's feelings because I didn't want to betray Ai, or was there another reason I rejected my friend? And where was I in terms of how I truly felt about my girlfriend? Of course I cared for her, went with dates and we even studied together in the school library, but I had a nagging feeling there was something missing in our relationship.
----
Tuesday arrived, and our five days of final exams commenced in earnest. The answers came to me rather easily, even moreso than our midterm exams. (That was the first time a brain freeze helped me ace a test!) When all was said and done on Saturday afternoon, I breathed a sign of relief as all that was left was our final grades in a week or so. Immediately my friends began comparing notes on how they did, and unsurprisingly both Yosuke and Chie realized they got some answers wrong. Our kohai members of the IT, Kanji and Rise, dropped by class 2-2, and began summarizing their performance as well. Kanji felt he didn't do well, which I ascribe to the traditional school system not quite fitting him (since he's really, really good at sewing and handicrafts) while Rise was a bit like Chie, rather inconsistent in her studies. She's amazing at singing and dancing, but doesn't like English unless it's in song lyrics.
Yosuke then suggested we drop by the Junes food court, seeing as exams had kept us from going there since Teddie's arrival in the real world, so we all agreed and decided to have some snacks there as well. There, we discussed the fact that the police had found a suspect, and right on cue Adachi appeared, made some overly specific remarks about looking for a suspect, then scrammed. (In hindsight, he really was acting overly suspicious.)
I then wondered what Teddie was doing. Was he back on his side of the TV World? Turns out, he was entertaining some children in his bear mascot suit, including a boy who looked to be around eleven or twelve years old with very unruly dark hair. Apparently Yosuke had gotten him a job as the local Junes' mascot (to the point where Teddie gets called the Junes Bear, even in places where he wasn't the mascot). In exchange, Teddie would room with Yosuke, giving him a place to stay in the real world. I wondered for a sec how Yosuke's parents felt about it, and if he had somehow hit on Yosuke's mother in particular.
Yosuke, Kanji, Chie and Yukiko decided to bother Teddie for a bit, which left Rise and I alone at the food court table. I had a sneaky feeling that this would be the birth of a new Social Link since I was spending time with someone I bonded with one-on-one, so I just decided to sit back and watch it all unfold. Rise asked me if I was willing to show her around town, now that she had gotten herself settled in Inaba and needed an escort lest her legion of dedicated fans recognize and mob her. I naturally agreed, seeing that I really wanted to befriend Rise, and once more a card with a heart, a man and a woman with the number VI appeared in my mind. "The Lovers", my vocal guide then said.
An idea quickly came to my head. With Rise's talent at cheering on people and her Persona's ability to pinpoint weaknesses, I asked her if she could use Himiko to amplify our All-Out Attacks, to which my kohai agreed. We basically had an ace in the hole when it came to our forays into the TV World, and I felt like things would go more smoothly from that point.
----
Sunday came, and while I expected a call from Ai inviting me to Okina for a date I didn't get one, so I decided to spend a day with Rise instead, as I wanted to honor my promise of taking her around town. We decided to stop by Souzai Daigaku for a quick snack, and I watched as Rise tucked into both a steak skewer and a steak croquette. She bared to me how her parents were rather strict and didn't really let her go around town, which explained why she wasn't really familiar with the place.
Monday came, the moment of truth. Just as I was heading towards the board with the exam results, Ai cornered me for a moment, asking me if I loved her and if I needed her. While I naturally confirmed it, a part of me wondered if this was her truly affirming her love, or a sign of our relationship taking an unexpected turn. She normally wasn't this lovey-dovey after all. In any case, I checked out the exam scores, hand in hand with Ai, and I found myself... on top of the entire second year ranking. Everyone was impressed with how I did, especially my school friends.
Of course, since summer vacation was around the corner, we discussed a trip to the beach as one of our plans for August, and especially if we found downtime from our Investigation Team work. Yosuke and I already got our bike licenses, and Kanji was still too young, so that left the girls. Chie and Yukiko could already get theirs no problem, since they were around the same age as Yosuke and I, while Rise could also apply for one since she had already turned sixteen at the beginning of June, even before she returned to Inaba. Rise then brought up the fact that she and the other girls would all be in swimsuits, and being her flirtatious self asked me who I'd like to see in a swimsuit the most.
Without batting an eyelash, I immediately answered Kanji. (Seeing the look on everyone's faces, especially the flustered delinquent, was priceless.)
With school over and done with I decided to meet up with a friend I hadn't talked to in a while, Naoki-kun. The fact that I was probably his only friend who talked to him because I liked being around him as opposed to pitying him for his sister's death helped as well, and my kohai bared his concerns as he shared stories about him getting unwarranted special treatment. Of course, some gossipy housewives happened to pass by us at Souzai Daigaku at that moment, and their talk naturally turned to Naoki-kun's family tragedy. It reminded me uncannily of the time Yosuke had to deal with those troublesome senpai of ours, but I reassured Naoki-kun I'd be there for him.
As a reward for acing my exams, Nanako gave me a well-made paper armband. Somehow wearing it made my Personae feel more powerful, which was a nice reward from my little sis.
The next day, Tuesday, was our actual last day of the term, which would be an assembly in the auditorium. The last time we had an assembly was to announce Saki-senpai's untimely demise, so I hoped this one would be a far more mundane one despite King Moron's death, and thankfully it was. I spent the afternoon with Yumi at the hospital, where she vented out her anger at her father for leaving her family then returning just as he was dying. I felt all I could do for her was to be her sounding board, and somehow she really appreciated it.
----
That evening, with the inclement weather, I decided to check out the Midnight Channel, in case it might give us a lead in terms of pinning down the suspect. To my shock, someone appeared, a young man in a plain outfit in front of what appeared to be a retro gaming level. Said young man then taunted the viewers and challenged us to catch him. Whoever this was, he was clearly inside the TV World, and somehow I felt like I had seen him before. Yosuke then called me up, saying he didn't recognize the weird boy, then was interrupted by Teddie, who seemed to have a eureka moment regarding the Midnight Channel broadcasts. Apparently, no one was recording the thing; it was ultimately the suppressed emotions of a person inside the TV world that created the images we saw on our TVs. I then got a call from Chie after Yosuke hung up, and resolved to help us get to the bottom of the case.
Thus we began our first day of summer vacation at the food court once more, sharing what we thought of the odd young man who had appeared on the Midnight Channel the night before. Something told me it was a very different scenario than what had happened with Yukiko, Kanji and Rise, seeing as the high-school aged boy didn't appear on the TV shows before appearing inside the TV. Which meant there was a good chance he was the killer, and Yosuke presented his hypothesis: The boy, whom he called Shin, somehow gained the power to kill people by throwing them into the TV. He would have succeeded with his first two victims, but his next few targets then all appeared alive and well. King Moron was a special case, since he didn't appear to be killed via the TV World, and that had reignited the case and made "Shin" a target for the police. With no further methods of escape, "Shin" then would go into the TV himself and hide there until nobody could pin the murders on him any more.
That seemed a solid idea, but I had a feeling we were chasing a false lead. Nonetheless, it did appear consistent with the evidence that we had thus far, so I agreed to use it as our working hypothesis. Either way, we'd only glean the truth once we entered the TV World, nabbed this "Shin" guy, and get the facts out of him. Pretty simple plan, right?
That evening, I decided to work at the hospital again, where I ran into the old lady in black once more. She told me I reminded her of someone she once used to know, and told me she'd be at the Samegawa Riverbank on her free days, in case I wanted to talk to her. Of course, right after she left, Sayoko-san came around the corridor and was acting a bit strangely. She was a bit more forceful than usual, and as I cleaned a recently vacated room at her behest she began to tell me the story of the room's last occupant, a company president who was very much a model patient up until the day he was finally discharged. It was there I saw another side of the nurse I worked with - aside from being a wannabe seductress, she really came to treasure her patients and felt really sad when they left the hospital.
In need of a lead, I decided to check around for a proverbial thread to spot, running into Adachi at Junes. While protesting he knew little about the investigation, he let slip that the suspect had been working as a part-timer at the shopping district. I went through the shops in my head, checking by process of elimination where to go. Daidara, Shiroku and the hobby shop were out, since they didn't seem to employ anyone else other than themselves. Marukyu, Tatsumi Textiles, and Konishi Liquors were out, since Rise's grandmother, Kanji's mother and Naoki-kun's parents would have mentioned if they had gotten some help to my friends. Aiya was also out, since the Nakamura family operated the business on their own, and somehow Aika was doing all the spare work that didn't involve cooking or cleaning the store. That pretty much left Souzai Daigaku as the only notable store that could have employed a part-timer. En route to the street food shop Marie came to me from her usual spot beside the Velvet Room door, and decided to join me as I asked around the store about a part-timer student who might have worked there. The shop owner told me she had indeed taken a student as a part-time worker, who she tasked with cutting the meat, but he had grown bored of the work and quit after a time. The only other details she could provide me were that he had black, soulless eyes, and that he was recommended to the job by a friend of his in middle school.
I then went around to look for the middle school classmate of our suspect, and just as I was about to go around Inaba for the guy Marie took me aside and told me, "Take me with you the next time you go into the TV, stupidjerkface". My eyes bugged out in surprise as I realized Marie knew what we were doing and wanted to be a part of it.
Summer vacation had just begun and events would indicate that this was anything but a normal summer break.
Chapter 20: The Fan-Dancing Aeon, and Sundays With Hisano
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
I carefully weighed my words as I took in Marie's proposal. How did she know what we were up to in the TV World? Then I realized where she lived for the most part, and that her handling my skill cards definitely meant she knew what we were doing. So I agreed, reluctantly, hoping she had a way to defend herself and account for not having a Persona. I then asked her what she could do in the TV World, and after getting a glare from the tsundere she hefted her bag and almost caught me in the gut with a swing from it.
That wouldn't be the most improbable weapon our gang had used so far - granted, only Yosuke and I used conventional weapons, with Chie using shoes and boots, Yukiko her fans, and Kanji whatever heavy object he could get his hands on. With that said, I then called up everyone, telling them to assemble at the Junes food court for a quick meeting, citing that I had a lead on who the suspect was.
We then all met at the food court, Marie included, and after making a brief introduction (since most of my friends already knew who she was) we commenced the quick meeting. I had told them my findings and requested everyone to tell me if they had encountered our suspect's classmate. And then I dropped the bombshell of Marie knowing about our exploits and desire to join our little group.
I read the room and observed everyone's reactions. Yosuke and Kanji seemed to accept it the easiest. Chie looked shocked, while Yukiko was admittedly more reserved but subtly looked surprised as well. Teddie had an enigmatic smile on his face, then began looking over Marie. What surprised me the most, however, was that Rise was staring daggers at the Velvet Room resident as if both girls were somehow vying for my attention. (I should have seen that coming, honestly.)
In any case, we decided to drop into the TV World and orient Marie on the situation. It was also a good time for us to check on what Teddie's Persona abilities were, so I was basically killing two birds with one stone. Teddie then asked his "Emmy-chan" if she needed a pair of glasses to see through the fog, but to my surprise Marie told him she didn't need one. (I thought it was Velvet Room magic, but that wasn't the case. I'm getting ahead of myself though!) I then asked Rise if she could guide us to the Marukyu Striptease, seeing as the place was right around our team's strength and we didn't know how to get to the suspect's dungeon, and while embarrassed she eventually agreed.
We then went through the strip club dungeon for the second time, with Teddie and the girls in our frontline while Yosuke and Kanji stayed in the rear to protect Rise and Marie. "Kintoki-Douji! Bufula!", cried out the bear mascot as he froze a Shadow that Chie then punted into oblivion. So it seems he'd be our long-term ice user, seeing as Chie began to focus Tomoe on deadly physical attacks. We didn't get out unscathed, though - a group of Shadows had somehow gotten the jump on us, and while we did win the fight, I could feel a few bruises forming on my body. Thankfully, Teddie was a pretty good healer too, second only to Yukiko in that regard. Unlike Chie however, his main weakness seemed to be electric attacks, as I learned when he got hit by a stray Zionga.
We also learned about Rise's abilities; in addition to scanning for enemies, she could from time to time conjure up buffs that strengthened the party, and while she couldn't always do it due to her primary priority being navigation, that was certainly a big help while going through a dungeon.
A few floors in, however, we ran into an unexpected snag. In the confusion of a Shadow fight, Marie had somehow gotten separated from us and the next thing we knew, she was facing a doppelganger of herself. So even she had a Shadow of her own then. What was strange was the way the Shadow was dressed - thus far, the Shadows we encountered either looked identical to the original (Yosuke, Chie), wore outlandish outfits due to being the subject of a Midnight Channel documentary (Yukiko, Kanji, Rise), or were off-model counterparts of the real thing (Teddie). Shadow Marie looked similar to her typical self, but was dressed in an off-white cloak and her gray-green eyes looked like they glowed.
Shadow Marie told her, as Shadows tend to do, that she not only wasn't supposed to be there but that she was using me in particular get back something that she didn't have. The Shadow continued, speaking about how making friends was pointless because it wouldn't matter in the end, that Marie would be all alone regardless of what she did. And finally, Shadow Marie finished her taunt with a saying that didn't make sense to us at the time, but definitely did now: "You're just trying to make friends to make yourself complete, you malformed freak!"
To my lack of surprise, Marie denied her Shadow.
Then her Shadow mutated into a strange version of my tsundere friend, turning into a 4 meter high giantess dressed in a straitjacket and with long, flowing hair and glowing green eyes.
Rise helped us start off the fight by scanning Shadow Marie, telling us that the giant Shadow had no weaknesses but no resistances either. So we began by using our hardest hitting attacks, with me using Ose's Atom Smasher alongside Yukiko's Agilao and Teddie's Bufula. Things seemed to work fine at first, but Shadow Marie then glowed like a rainbow and Teddie's ice attacks no longer worked. I then had an idea, switching in Kanji for Teddie, then had him deliver an expressly made Zionga courtesy of Take-Mikazuchi. The surprising part was that it knocked down the Shadow, and I then called for an All-Out Attack, with Rise's boost helping it deal severe damage. Shadow Marie glowed again, and I asked Rise to confirm my hunch. She confirmed that Shadow Marie could change her weaknesses and resistance on a whim, making her far less predictable than, say, Shadow Teddie. Rise then warned me about some unfamiliar attacks from the Shadow, as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head that could only have come from a psychic attack. I had distinctly heard the Shadow chant "Psio!" as that happened, then as we were scrambling around I then heard the Shadow say "Mafreila!" as we were bombarded by what seemed to be a burst of nuclear energy, that was somehow different from the Megido attacks I had Izanagi learn to use.
Thankfully I had the foresight to change Personae as needed and to switch my team in and out of the lineup to deal with this, as I swapped in Yosuke for Chie to take advantage of a point where Shadow Marie looked like she was weak to wind. The two of us managed to combine a Garula attack, the boosted wind spell coming from Jiraiya and Titania's cooperation. It was then when Shadow Marie pulled out her big move, casting Hot Lightning which somehow hurt even as I switched to Izanagi to take the blow. Teddie (who I switched in for Yukiko again) had healed us up, then I gave the call for an All-Out Attack after another combined Garula finally knocked the straitjacketed Shadow down. This, however, wasn't enough to fell Shadow Marie, and I saw Yosuke and Teddie give each other a look as they summoned Jiraiya and Kintoki-Douji, who then summoned a giant Teddie-shaped bomb that exploded, finally felling the Shadow.
With Shadow Marie subdued, we watched as Marie faced her own self. Even as she accepted her Shadow, the doppelganger made a cryptic remark that this was not yet over, and as the Shadow turned into a Persona I could feel the fog get a bit thicker as it rushed out of the new Persona. "Ame-no-Uzume", said my tsundere friend as she gained a new power of her own, in the form of a woman in a kimono with a fan covering her face and fans in both hands.
We then escorted Marie out of the TV, Chie and Yukiko supporting her, and I decided to accompany her to the Velvet Room entrance as our investigation took the strangest turn it had so far. I was too tired to do anything that evening, so I just took a shower and headed for my futon for the night.
The next morning we resumed our search for a lead on the suspect. A young man around my age, who seemed to fit the description of our suspect's classmate, and as I asked him he pretty much confirmed my assumption. He showed me a picture of his class yearbook, and pointed out a dark-haired boy with black, soulless eyes who looked vaguely familiar. The youth was named Mitsuo Kubo, and I asked if I could take a picture of the suspect's photo, to which Kubo's classmate agreed.
With that being said, however, I wasn't about to go into the TV World immediately after our adventure the previous day, so I spent my time working at the daycare and looking after the children, especially Yuuta-kun. Eri-san came earlier than usual, but was exasperated about her stepson ghosting her again, grumbling that she missed her TV show for the sake of picking him up early. She also told me about the marvels of modern technology, and that she was interested in a self-help movement that basically preached predestination as its main tenet, to the point where people should just let fate run its course. (Reminds me of the events in Tokyo five years after my stay in Inaba, but I digress.)
I then worked the evening shift at Inaba Municipal again, and as Sayoko-san dropped by for her usual inspection she looked to be in a fouler mood than her usual self. She groused about how someone had snapped at her and called her names (Took them long enough, I guess), and explained to me that she entered into a relationship with a doctor at her previous hospital, only for it to end badly when she learned said doctor was already married, and that the doctor then chose to start a fling with yet another nurse. Homewrecker she might be, but having an affair with a serial philanderer wasn't a good idea to begin with. It was at that moment that I saw just how vulnerable Sayoko-san really was, and as I attempted to cheer her up she smiled at me.
The next day was Chie's birthday, and to celebrate the occasion I dropped by her place and gave her a nice pair of well-crafted shoes with customizations by Daidara. Thanking me for the gift, we spent the morning together and found ourselves roaming Inaba. We came across a bunch of bullies picking on a kid, and Chie managed to scare them off. I commended her on doing the right thing, and after a moment my tomboy friend told me she wanted to protect me just as she did the kid. Was this another girl confessing her crush to me in such a short span of time? Again, I didn't see Chie as more than a close friend, and besides, I thought she might be better off with someone whose name started with the letter Y. (Either choice worked in my head.) So I patted her shoulder, told her I was counting on her, and we saw each other off near her house. Chie took it in better stride than Yukiko did, thankfully.
It was still pretty early, so I headed on to the daycare again, helping around and making sure the kids didn't hurt themselves. As Eri-san came to pick up her stepson, the boy was once again vehement in his rebellion, and his stepmother finally got fed up with his impertinence and walked off, alone. I decided to help Yuuta-kun walk his way back home, asking him for directions, which took us to Samegawa Riverbank where Eri-san was waiting at the pavilion. Yuuta-kun then frowned, thinking that Eri-san hated him, but I reassured him otherwise and I decided to help mother and son reconcile. It would take a lot of effort on both of their parts, but I felt we were getting somewhere that day.
I then spent the evening working on a mecha model I had received from the hobby shop manager during my morning walk with Chie, and perhaps not coincidentally I had gotten an ema from the fox about a flagging store in the shopping district that wanted to see someone build a model with passion.
Sunday morning, I found the old lady in black from the hospital at the riverbank, looking rather pensive. I introduced myself, and she recognized me as well. We decided to talk things over, as I realized that perhaps the reason she invited me was to have someone to talk things with. She introduced herself as Hisano Kuroda, a longtime resident of Inaba, and she smiled as I told her my story of moving to the town after spending most of my life in big cities. As we wrapped up our talk, however, a now-familiar voice announcing "Death" thrummed in my mind, accompanied by a skull and the number XIII.
July came to an end, and as August began I finally felt it was time for us to enter the TV, get Rise to pinpoint this Kubo kid, and hopefully get a fully recovered Marie to fight by our side.
That wouldn't be the most improbable weapon our gang had used so far - granted, only Yosuke and I used conventional weapons, with Chie using shoes and boots, Yukiko her fans, and Kanji whatever heavy object he could get his hands on. With that said, I then called up everyone, telling them to assemble at the Junes food court for a quick meeting, citing that I had a lead on who the suspect was.
We then all met at the food court, Marie included, and after making a brief introduction (since most of my friends already knew who she was) we commenced the quick meeting. I had told them my findings and requested everyone to tell me if they had encountered our suspect's classmate. And then I dropped the bombshell of Marie knowing about our exploits and desire to join our little group.
I read the room and observed everyone's reactions. Yosuke and Kanji seemed to accept it the easiest. Chie looked shocked, while Yukiko was admittedly more reserved but subtly looked surprised as well. Teddie had an enigmatic smile on his face, then began looking over Marie. What surprised me the most, however, was that Rise was staring daggers at the Velvet Room resident as if both girls were somehow vying for my attention. (I should have seen that coming, honestly.)
In any case, we decided to drop into the TV World and orient Marie on the situation. It was also a good time for us to check on what Teddie's Persona abilities were, so I was basically killing two birds with one stone. Teddie then asked his "Emmy-chan" if she needed a pair of glasses to see through the fog, but to my surprise Marie told him she didn't need one. (I thought it was Velvet Room magic, but that wasn't the case. I'm getting ahead of myself though!) I then asked Rise if she could guide us to the Marukyu Striptease, seeing as the place was right around our team's strength and we didn't know how to get to the suspect's dungeon, and while embarrassed she eventually agreed.
We then went through the strip club dungeon for the second time, with Teddie and the girls in our frontline while Yosuke and Kanji stayed in the rear to protect Rise and Marie. "Kintoki-Douji! Bufula!", cried out the bear mascot as he froze a Shadow that Chie then punted into oblivion. So it seems he'd be our long-term ice user, seeing as Chie began to focus Tomoe on deadly physical attacks. We didn't get out unscathed, though - a group of Shadows had somehow gotten the jump on us, and while we did win the fight, I could feel a few bruises forming on my body. Thankfully, Teddie was a pretty good healer too, second only to Yukiko in that regard. Unlike Chie however, his main weakness seemed to be electric attacks, as I learned when he got hit by a stray Zionga.
We also learned about Rise's abilities; in addition to scanning for enemies, she could from time to time conjure up buffs that strengthened the party, and while she couldn't always do it due to her primary priority being navigation, that was certainly a big help while going through a dungeon.
A few floors in, however, we ran into an unexpected snag. In the confusion of a Shadow fight, Marie had somehow gotten separated from us and the next thing we knew, she was facing a doppelganger of herself. So even she had a Shadow of her own then. What was strange was the way the Shadow was dressed - thus far, the Shadows we encountered either looked identical to the original (Yosuke, Chie), wore outlandish outfits due to being the subject of a Midnight Channel documentary (Yukiko, Kanji, Rise), or were off-model counterparts of the real thing (Teddie). Shadow Marie looked similar to her typical self, but was dressed in an off-white cloak and her gray-green eyes looked like they glowed.
Shadow Marie told her, as Shadows tend to do, that she not only wasn't supposed to be there but that she was using me in particular get back something that she didn't have. The Shadow continued, speaking about how making friends was pointless because it wouldn't matter in the end, that Marie would be all alone regardless of what she did. And finally, Shadow Marie finished her taunt with a saying that didn't make sense to us at the time, but definitely did now: "You're just trying to make friends to make yourself complete, you malformed freak!"
To my lack of surprise, Marie denied her Shadow.
Then her Shadow mutated into a strange version of my tsundere friend, turning into a 4 meter high giantess dressed in a straitjacket and with long, flowing hair and glowing green eyes.
Rise helped us start off the fight by scanning Shadow Marie, telling us that the giant Shadow had no weaknesses but no resistances either. So we began by using our hardest hitting attacks, with me using Ose's Atom Smasher alongside Yukiko's Agilao and Teddie's Bufula. Things seemed to work fine at first, but Shadow Marie then glowed like a rainbow and Teddie's ice attacks no longer worked. I then had an idea, switching in Kanji for Teddie, then had him deliver an expressly made Zionga courtesy of Take-Mikazuchi. The surprising part was that it knocked down the Shadow, and I then called for an All-Out Attack, with Rise's boost helping it deal severe damage. Shadow Marie glowed again, and I asked Rise to confirm my hunch. She confirmed that Shadow Marie could change her weaknesses and resistance on a whim, making her far less predictable than, say, Shadow Teddie. Rise then warned me about some unfamiliar attacks from the Shadow, as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head that could only have come from a psychic attack. I had distinctly heard the Shadow chant "Psio!" as that happened, then as we were scrambling around I then heard the Shadow say "Mafreila!" as we were bombarded by what seemed to be a burst of nuclear energy, that was somehow different from the Megido attacks I had Izanagi learn to use.
Thankfully I had the foresight to change Personae as needed and to switch my team in and out of the lineup to deal with this, as I swapped in Yosuke for Chie to take advantage of a point where Shadow Marie looked like she was weak to wind. The two of us managed to combine a Garula attack, the boosted wind spell coming from Jiraiya and Titania's cooperation. It was then when Shadow Marie pulled out her big move, casting Hot Lightning which somehow hurt even as I switched to Izanagi to take the blow. Teddie (who I switched in for Yukiko again) had healed us up, then I gave the call for an All-Out Attack after another combined Garula finally knocked the straitjacketed Shadow down. This, however, wasn't enough to fell Shadow Marie, and I saw Yosuke and Teddie give each other a look as they summoned Jiraiya and Kintoki-Douji, who then summoned a giant Teddie-shaped bomb that exploded, finally felling the Shadow.
With Shadow Marie subdued, we watched as Marie faced her own self. Even as she accepted her Shadow, the doppelganger made a cryptic remark that this was not yet over, and as the Shadow turned into a Persona I could feel the fog get a bit thicker as it rushed out of the new Persona. "Ame-no-Uzume", said my tsundere friend as she gained a new power of her own, in the form of a woman in a kimono with a fan covering her face and fans in both hands.
We then escorted Marie out of the TV, Chie and Yukiko supporting her, and I decided to accompany her to the Velvet Room entrance as our investigation took the strangest turn it had so far. I was too tired to do anything that evening, so I just took a shower and headed for my futon for the night.
----
The next morning we resumed our search for a lead on the suspect. A young man around my age, who seemed to fit the description of our suspect's classmate, and as I asked him he pretty much confirmed my assumption. He showed me a picture of his class yearbook, and pointed out a dark-haired boy with black, soulless eyes who looked vaguely familiar. The youth was named Mitsuo Kubo, and I asked if I could take a picture of the suspect's photo, to which Kubo's classmate agreed.
With that being said, however, I wasn't about to go into the TV World immediately after our adventure the previous day, so I spent my time working at the daycare and looking after the children, especially Yuuta-kun. Eri-san came earlier than usual, but was exasperated about her stepson ghosting her again, grumbling that she missed her TV show for the sake of picking him up early. She also told me about the marvels of modern technology, and that she was interested in a self-help movement that basically preached predestination as its main tenet, to the point where people should just let fate run its course. (Reminds me of the events in Tokyo five years after my stay in Inaba, but I digress.)
I then worked the evening shift at Inaba Municipal again, and as Sayoko-san dropped by for her usual inspection she looked to be in a fouler mood than her usual self. She groused about how someone had snapped at her and called her names (Took them long enough, I guess), and explained to me that she entered into a relationship with a doctor at her previous hospital, only for it to end badly when she learned said doctor was already married, and that the doctor then chose to start a fling with yet another nurse. Homewrecker she might be, but having an affair with a serial philanderer wasn't a good idea to begin with. It was at that moment that I saw just how vulnerable Sayoko-san really was, and as I attempted to cheer her up she smiled at me.
The next day was Chie's birthday, and to celebrate the occasion I dropped by her place and gave her a nice pair of well-crafted shoes with customizations by Daidara. Thanking me for the gift, we spent the morning together and found ourselves roaming Inaba. We came across a bunch of bullies picking on a kid, and Chie managed to scare them off. I commended her on doing the right thing, and after a moment my tomboy friend told me she wanted to protect me just as she did the kid. Was this another girl confessing her crush to me in such a short span of time? Again, I didn't see Chie as more than a close friend, and besides, I thought she might be better off with someone whose name started with the letter Y. (Either choice worked in my head.) So I patted her shoulder, told her I was counting on her, and we saw each other off near her house. Chie took it in better stride than Yukiko did, thankfully.
It was still pretty early, so I headed on to the daycare again, helping around and making sure the kids didn't hurt themselves. As Eri-san came to pick up her stepson, the boy was once again vehement in his rebellion, and his stepmother finally got fed up with his impertinence and walked off, alone. I decided to help Yuuta-kun walk his way back home, asking him for directions, which took us to Samegawa Riverbank where Eri-san was waiting at the pavilion. Yuuta-kun then frowned, thinking that Eri-san hated him, but I reassured him otherwise and I decided to help mother and son reconcile. It would take a lot of effort on both of their parts, but I felt we were getting somewhere that day.
I then spent the evening working on a mecha model I had received from the hobby shop manager during my morning walk with Chie, and perhaps not coincidentally I had gotten an ema from the fox about a flagging store in the shopping district that wanted to see someone build a model with passion.
Sunday morning, I found the old lady in black from the hospital at the riverbank, looking rather pensive. I introduced myself, and she recognized me as well. We decided to talk things over, as I realized that perhaps the reason she invited me was to have someone to talk things with. She introduced herself as Hisano Kuroda, a longtime resident of Inaba, and she smiled as I told her my story of moving to the town after spending most of my life in big cities. As we wrapped up our talk, however, a now-familiar voice announcing "Death" thrummed in my mind, accompanied by a skull and the number XIII.
July came to an end, and as August began I finally felt it was time for us to enter the TV, get Rise to pinpoint this Kubo kid, and hopefully get a fully recovered Marie to fight by our side.
Chapter 21: I Am Not Thou, Thou Art Not I
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
On the way to Junes on the first of August I passed by the shopping district. Marie was waiting for me right outside the entrance to the Velvet Room, and with a nod accompanied me to the food court.
With all of us assembled, we then entered the TV World, where I showed everyone the picture of Kubo I had gotten. Yosuke immediately recognized him as the same guy we saw on the Midnight Channel, and Chie grew wide-eyed as she recognized him as well from a different place. Kubo was the guy who had hit on Yukiko way back in April, Chie confirmed, and now I realized why the boy was so familiar. The funny thing was that Yukiko didn't even recognize him, likely because she wasn't aware that she hadd rejected Kubo in the first place. Not only was he pathetic enough to try the Amagi Challenge without even befriending my heiress friend, he was also pathetic enough to not be remembered by the girl he was asking out. Rise had also recognized him, as he had visited Marukyu Tofu and bothered her by asking her about the biker gangs around town. Kanji then added that might have been the reason he was kidnapped as well, due to him fighting off said biker gangs. Apparently, he was also making commentary on the Yamano affair, stating how women who cheat on their husbands should be executed (the fact that it was Namatame who cheated on his wife didn't get to the guy, for some reason).
With all of those facts under review, I asked Rise to look for Kubo within the TV World, assuming that she'd do a better job of it than Teddie's nose since Himiko had dedicated navigation powers. After a couple of minutes scanning the area, Rise found the boy's location, and guided us to what looked like another castle, but this time decorated in a retro game fashion. The words "Start Game" and "Continue" hung in the air ominously, right in front of the entrance. His dungeon took the form of a video game, likely because Kubo thought this was all a game to him.
I decided to bring along Kanji, Teddie and Marie as my frontline this time around, as Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko would then bring up the rear with Rise. I also wanted to see what our newest recruit brought to the table, and with that handled we entered the dungeon, which called itself Void Quest.
As expected we got a view of the Kubo boy's inner thoughts, which manifested as archaic video game dialogue. We then forged on, making sure to get the jump on any Shadows that appeared around us.
Marie's talents were a lot like Yukiko's, with nuclear and psychic attacks in place of fire and curse, and with status ailments in place of healing abilities. Her magic didn't hit as strong as Yukiko's, but she still harder with her magic than anyone else's. In melee combat, she swung the bag slung around her like a bludgeon, and to my surprise it worked nearly as well as Teddie's bear claws. "Ame-no-Uzume! Mapsio!" cried out my green-eyed friend as she tore into the minds of a couple of Shadows. That left them reeling enough for me to signal an All-Out Attack, which Rise managed to boost.
We continued on to the next floor, and Kubo's thoughts made Shadow Teddie look like a big, fluffy teddy bear. (Well, he technically was, but you get what I mean.) Given the context of his words and him being knocked down, I wondered if an abusive household was what managed to create this twisted mind. On to the third floor, and his thoughts turned to a good night's sleep that not even police cars woke him up. Were those the same police cars that drove around town the night Yamano died...?
As we were getting a bit winded we decided to take a break, so I used a Goho-M to warp back to the soundstage and get some recovery via fox. I then got the Class 2-2 members of the IT to join me, after I paid a brief visit to the Velvet Room (when somehow Marie came in and saw me reading another one of her poems) and worked with Igor and Margaret to fuse a few more Personae. With that pitstop over and done with we returned to Void Quest; our progress thus far being enough to allow Rise to guide us to the third floor.
The third floor proved to be our biggest challenge yet. Not to mention that we then encountered several dead ends, which were frustrating at first until I figured out that the corridors with fountains at their ends would warp us to another section of the floor. Rise was watching us, keeping track of the floor's layout, allowing us to make an impromptu map of the place which eventually led us to the next floor.
The fourth floor's walls and floor were tinged a rather sick green, and Kubo's sick thoughts followed suit. It depicted him and Yamano as combatants in an old school RPG, with Kubo winning and seemingly gaining stats from it. The odd part to me, however, was that he thought of Yamano as "female announcer". Wouldn't he have known the name of the woman he presumably killed, at that? Something wasn't adding up.
On we went, and we found ourselves at the fifth floor, where Kubo's memory of his encounter with Saki-senpai echoed in the air. The fact, again, that he called Saki-senpai, the second victim, as the "corpse discoverer" disquieted me. So not only did he think their lives were worthless, but that he even refused to dignify them with their names? No question: Mitsuo Kubo was a pathetic, pitiful young man.
Moving further within Void Quest, and the screwed up psyche of Kubo continued to roil and rage in the aether. Still we soldiered on, fighting off various Shadows as we also attempted to make sense of the madman. On the seventh floor, at an intersection I found myself battling a brief spell of dizziness which confused my bearings; I had to be called out by Rise for following the wrong path towards the stairs to the next level. We fought a hand-like Shadow near the end, which seemed to glow with a strange power, and we had managed to dispose of it with Chie's Rampage and my own Yamata-no-Orochi's Mabufula.
Then on the eighth floor, we heard something that was more crucial than we thought at first. Kubo's mind re-enacted his encounter with Morooka, and how he felt murdering our homeroom teacher made him feel better and cool. Wait a moment, I thought. How come he referred to Morooka by name and not Yamano or Saki-senpai? I had a developing hypothesis about that, but I wanted to get to Kubo and get the information out of him, even if it meant beating up his Shadow, or if worse came to worst, Mitsuo Kubo himself.
My hypothesis was that Kubo had indeed killed King Moron himself, but not Yamano or Saki-senpai, and that he was taking credit for the murders of the latter two for an unknown as of yet reason. Assuming this were indeed the case, then Kubo killed Morooka in order to gain some clout, and people would then assume he killed the two women victims as well. It was twisted reasoning, but it made the most sense based on our evidence; King Moron didn't fit the pattern of the other TV World victims by not appearing on a TV show, and while his body was found similarly there were probably some inconsistencies left unknown as of the moment.
After a long and arduous climb we had reached Void Quest's "Endgame". We then knew Kubo was on the other side of the door, and when it opened, I saw a glimpse of two young men with one sitting in front of a TV and a game console, then a brief flash of light.
I was somehow already back in the real world, and we were meeting at Junes with the case already wrapped up. Yukiko then begged off to leave, citing commitments at her family inn. I thought nothing of it, then felt as if time was moving much faster until when I came to, it was September already. Yosuke and I were standing in front of Marukyu Tofu, with Rise having moved out of town and the shop having closed, and her number somehow not working. Next thing I knew it was October, and I was walking down the Shopping District, and I overheard Kanji and Naoki-kun at Aiya, and somehow something told me they wouldn't appreciate me barging in. I passed by where the Velvet Room door was, and the wall showed only smooth stone, without even a hint of blue. I then found myself standing outside the library, seeing Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kou, and Daisuke all together, but again I felt as if I couldn't bother them even if it was exam season.
Time blitzed by again, and it was mid-November all of a sudden. Chie had begged off meeting at Junes, and so did Yukiko. Yosuke approached me, asking me if no one was coming that day, and even he begged off, citing that he was actually working at the place and that he had to think about the future, like his entrance exams.
That night, a feeling crept up within me; I genuinely felt alone now that the case had been solved and that everyone had come back to their daily lives. Which then made me confront an awful truth regarding myself: What would I do once the case was over and done with? Was I only surrounding myself with the Investigation Team because it gave me a sense of purpose? I felt in the same basket as Yosuke did months earlier, when we talked it over, so if even he was over his lack of direction, what did it say about me?
Then as midnight came, I tried touching the TV screen in my room. It came off solid, and somehow I couldn't put my hand into the TV. Did the case being solved mean my powers were already null and void? At that point, I heard a deep voice, saying it had nothing, which belonged to a giant floating baby surrounded by strange runes around its head. It had the same energy I felt from a Shadow, so if it were really a Shadow, then what was it doing in the real world? And if this weren't the real world, then what was actually happening? All the same, as my mind continued to war with itself over this existential crisis, the Shadow baby began to goad me, telling me that friendship was an illusion. I tried summoning my Persona, but the card fizzled in my hand and rendered my power useless. For the first time in my stay in Inaba, I began to feel genuine fear. And then the Shadow said something that shook me further: "You are just like me." If this Shadow was who I thought it was, then... was I really that much like Mitsuo Kubo?
Suddenly, Shadow Kubo had grasped me in its arms, and was ready to crush the life out of me. At that point I felt the story of Yu Narukami, transfer student was at its end, when I then heard a familiar voice telling me to grab their hand. So I reached up, reached up with all my strength, and I felt a comforting sensation of being pulled out. It was Yosuke's genial smile that greeted me as he pulled me out of whatever that trap with the baby was, and I thanked my friend for rescuing me. When he and Jiraiya had safely returned, I saw what was going on: my friends had summoned their Personae and were fighting off the Shadow Baby, which was surrounded by cubes that formed an armor around it in the shape of a video game warrior.
That was when it hit me: I was not like Mitsuo Kubo, because I was not alone. I had a group of true friends, who through thick and thin, would stick together and help each other in their lives. Marie, even if she were new to our group, was blasting apart the armor cubes with her nuclear blasts. Teddie helped keep everyone healthy and froze the blocks, allowing Kanji to crush them alongside his Take-Mikazuchi. Rise continued scanning the battlefield and pinpointing Shadow Mitsuo's blocks, even as they continued regenerating.
That left the three friends I met first when I came to Inaba. Yosuke had saved me, and continued smiling at me even as Jiraiya bombarded the foe with a strong wind. But the biggest turning point was with Chie and Yukiko, who I was worried would take my friendzoning them badly. But it turned out not to be the case, in fact, a miracle happened which made me realize how our bond of friendship had grown.
Chie's Tomoe and Yukiko's Konohana-Sakuya had retreated, and I wondered what was going on. Then the two girls closed their eyes, opened them, and I distinctly heard their voice reverberate as if they were one with the Sea of Souls.
"Come, Suzuka-Gongen!" "I am thou! Amaterasu!"
The Personae of my lady friends had awakened to new power. Chie's Persona now wore full samurai armor around itself, and now wielded a Darth Maul-esque double-bladed lightsaber instead of its naginata. Yukiko's Persona was no longer a bird-like woman clad in pink, but was now a womanly silhouette of pure light, wielding a katana and its scabbard, while retaining the wings it had in its previous state.
"Persona! Heat Wave!" "Go forth! Agidyne!"
The two girls' awakened Personae blasted away the remaining blocks that protected Shadow Kubo, leaving the infantile Shadow behind. It was then that I stepped up, eager to finish the job.
First, I began with Yamata-no-Orochi, casting a strong Garula that knocked it off-balance. I then switched to Dis, letting the Norse spirit goddess burn it with a Maragion. Ose then came forth from my soul, getting in an Atom Smasher before I withdrew it back. I then summoned Dominion, the angel letting out a strong Makouga, bathing Shadow Kubo in strong light. Which then left me with a new Persona I had just fused, and my oldest friend. "Black Frost!" I cried out, sending a Bufula, and then "Izanagi!" I called out, having my most treasured Persona deal the final blow with a Megido.
And just like that, it was over and done with. Mitsuo Kubo would face the music and pay for the crimes he did. But before that, we watched him, and the boy was confused as to what was happening. I explained to him what he had been doing inside the TV, and let him face his Shadow, fully expecting him to earn a Persona and somehow either making him a bigger threat, or find a way to atone for his sins.
But shockingly, that didn't happen. Instead, Mitsuo claimed credit for all of the crimes, even if I got the feeling he killed neither Yamano nor Saki-senpai; I did pin him for Morooka, however. As he cackled madly, what was left of Shadow Kubo disappeared into the aether, leaving us stumped as to what had happened.
We escorted the insensate, laughing mad Kubo out of the TV, and we began our interrogation of the young man, but he could provide no concrete answers besides that he did it. Mitsuo continued spouting nihilist nonsense, and cited nothing as to his motives, which pissed off Kanji enough for my kohai to lift Kubo by the collar, and told him that he would pay for his crimes. As we contacted the police, however, I saw a boy with frizzy dark hair, around sixth grade or so, staring at us in awe.
The boy then asked us how'd we get out of the TV, and I realized we had a pretty major issue on our hands. So against better judgement, and knowing that lying would make things worse, I decided to tell him the truth.
Surprisingly, he took it all in stride, and realizing we had a bit of a fanboy on our hands, I asked his name out of curiosity.
"My name? It's Ren", he said. "Ren Amamiya."
With all of us assembled, we then entered the TV World, where I showed everyone the picture of Kubo I had gotten. Yosuke immediately recognized him as the same guy we saw on the Midnight Channel, and Chie grew wide-eyed as she recognized him as well from a different place. Kubo was the guy who had hit on Yukiko way back in April, Chie confirmed, and now I realized why the boy was so familiar. The funny thing was that Yukiko didn't even recognize him, likely because she wasn't aware that she hadd rejected Kubo in the first place. Not only was he pathetic enough to try the Amagi Challenge without even befriending my heiress friend, he was also pathetic enough to not be remembered by the girl he was asking out. Rise had also recognized him, as he had visited Marukyu Tofu and bothered her by asking her about the biker gangs around town. Kanji then added that might have been the reason he was kidnapped as well, due to him fighting off said biker gangs. Apparently, he was also making commentary on the Yamano affair, stating how women who cheat on their husbands should be executed (the fact that it was Namatame who cheated on his wife didn't get to the guy, for some reason).
With all of those facts under review, I asked Rise to look for Kubo within the TV World, assuming that she'd do a better job of it than Teddie's nose since Himiko had dedicated navigation powers. After a couple of minutes scanning the area, Rise found the boy's location, and guided us to what looked like another castle, but this time decorated in a retro game fashion. The words "Start Game" and "Continue" hung in the air ominously, right in front of the entrance. His dungeon took the form of a video game, likely because Kubo thought this was all a game to him.
I decided to bring along Kanji, Teddie and Marie as my frontline this time around, as Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko would then bring up the rear with Rise. I also wanted to see what our newest recruit brought to the table, and with that handled we entered the dungeon, which called itself Void Quest.
As expected we got a view of the Kubo boy's inner thoughts, which manifested as archaic video game dialogue. We then forged on, making sure to get the jump on any Shadows that appeared around us.
Marie's talents were a lot like Yukiko's, with nuclear and psychic attacks in place of fire and curse, and with status ailments in place of healing abilities. Her magic didn't hit as strong as Yukiko's, but she still harder with her magic than anyone else's. In melee combat, she swung the bag slung around her like a bludgeon, and to my surprise it worked nearly as well as Teddie's bear claws. "Ame-no-Uzume! Mapsio!" cried out my green-eyed friend as she tore into the minds of a couple of Shadows. That left them reeling enough for me to signal an All-Out Attack, which Rise managed to boost.
We continued on to the next floor, and Kubo's thoughts made Shadow Teddie look like a big, fluffy teddy bear. (Well, he technically was, but you get what I mean.) Given the context of his words and him being knocked down, I wondered if an abusive household was what managed to create this twisted mind. On to the third floor, and his thoughts turned to a good night's sleep that not even police cars woke him up. Were those the same police cars that drove around town the night Yamano died...?
As we were getting a bit winded we decided to take a break, so I used a Goho-M to warp back to the soundstage and get some recovery via fox. I then got the Class 2-2 members of the IT to join me, after I paid a brief visit to the Velvet Room (when somehow Marie came in and saw me reading another one of her poems) and worked with Igor and Margaret to fuse a few more Personae. With that pitstop over and done with we returned to Void Quest; our progress thus far being enough to allow Rise to guide us to the third floor.
The third floor proved to be our biggest challenge yet. Not to mention that we then encountered several dead ends, which were frustrating at first until I figured out that the corridors with fountains at their ends would warp us to another section of the floor. Rise was watching us, keeping track of the floor's layout, allowing us to make an impromptu map of the place which eventually led us to the next floor.
The fourth floor's walls and floor were tinged a rather sick green, and Kubo's sick thoughts followed suit. It depicted him and Yamano as combatants in an old school RPG, with Kubo winning and seemingly gaining stats from it. The odd part to me, however, was that he thought of Yamano as "female announcer". Wouldn't he have known the name of the woman he presumably killed, at that? Something wasn't adding up.
On we went, and we found ourselves at the fifth floor, where Kubo's memory of his encounter with Saki-senpai echoed in the air. The fact, again, that he called Saki-senpai, the second victim, as the "corpse discoverer" disquieted me. So not only did he think their lives were worthless, but that he even refused to dignify them with their names? No question: Mitsuo Kubo was a pathetic, pitiful young man.
Moving further within Void Quest, and the screwed up psyche of Kubo continued to roil and rage in the aether. Still we soldiered on, fighting off various Shadows as we also attempted to make sense of the madman. On the seventh floor, at an intersection I found myself battling a brief spell of dizziness which confused my bearings; I had to be called out by Rise for following the wrong path towards the stairs to the next level. We fought a hand-like Shadow near the end, which seemed to glow with a strange power, and we had managed to dispose of it with Chie's Rampage and my own Yamata-no-Orochi's Mabufula.
Then on the eighth floor, we heard something that was more crucial than we thought at first. Kubo's mind re-enacted his encounter with Morooka, and how he felt murdering our homeroom teacher made him feel better and cool. Wait a moment, I thought. How come he referred to Morooka by name and not Yamano or Saki-senpai? I had a developing hypothesis about that, but I wanted to get to Kubo and get the information out of him, even if it meant beating up his Shadow, or if worse came to worst, Mitsuo Kubo himself.
My hypothesis was that Kubo had indeed killed King Moron himself, but not Yamano or Saki-senpai, and that he was taking credit for the murders of the latter two for an unknown as of yet reason. Assuming this were indeed the case, then Kubo killed Morooka in order to gain some clout, and people would then assume he killed the two women victims as well. It was twisted reasoning, but it made the most sense based on our evidence; King Moron didn't fit the pattern of the other TV World victims by not appearing on a TV show, and while his body was found similarly there were probably some inconsistencies left unknown as of the moment.
After a long and arduous climb we had reached Void Quest's "Endgame". We then knew Kubo was on the other side of the door, and when it opened, I saw a glimpse of two young men with one sitting in front of a TV and a game console, then a brief flash of light.
----
I was somehow already back in the real world, and we were meeting at Junes with the case already wrapped up. Yukiko then begged off to leave, citing commitments at her family inn. I thought nothing of it, then felt as if time was moving much faster until when I came to, it was September already. Yosuke and I were standing in front of Marukyu Tofu, with Rise having moved out of town and the shop having closed, and her number somehow not working. Next thing I knew it was October, and I was walking down the Shopping District, and I overheard Kanji and Naoki-kun at Aiya, and somehow something told me they wouldn't appreciate me barging in. I passed by where the Velvet Room door was, and the wall showed only smooth stone, without even a hint of blue. I then found myself standing outside the library, seeing Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kou, and Daisuke all together, but again I felt as if I couldn't bother them even if it was exam season.
Time blitzed by again, and it was mid-November all of a sudden. Chie had begged off meeting at Junes, and so did Yukiko. Yosuke approached me, asking me if no one was coming that day, and even he begged off, citing that he was actually working at the place and that he had to think about the future, like his entrance exams.
That night, a feeling crept up within me; I genuinely felt alone now that the case had been solved and that everyone had come back to their daily lives. Which then made me confront an awful truth regarding myself: What would I do once the case was over and done with? Was I only surrounding myself with the Investigation Team because it gave me a sense of purpose? I felt in the same basket as Yosuke did months earlier, when we talked it over, so if even he was over his lack of direction, what did it say about me?
Then as midnight came, I tried touching the TV screen in my room. It came off solid, and somehow I couldn't put my hand into the TV. Did the case being solved mean my powers were already null and void? At that point, I heard a deep voice, saying it had nothing, which belonged to a giant floating baby surrounded by strange runes around its head. It had the same energy I felt from a Shadow, so if it were really a Shadow, then what was it doing in the real world? And if this weren't the real world, then what was actually happening? All the same, as my mind continued to war with itself over this existential crisis, the Shadow baby began to goad me, telling me that friendship was an illusion. I tried summoning my Persona, but the card fizzled in my hand and rendered my power useless. For the first time in my stay in Inaba, I began to feel genuine fear. And then the Shadow said something that shook me further: "You are just like me." If this Shadow was who I thought it was, then... was I really that much like Mitsuo Kubo?
Suddenly, Shadow Kubo had grasped me in its arms, and was ready to crush the life out of me. At that point I felt the story of Yu Narukami, transfer student was at its end, when I then heard a familiar voice telling me to grab their hand. So I reached up, reached up with all my strength, and I felt a comforting sensation of being pulled out. It was Yosuke's genial smile that greeted me as he pulled me out of whatever that trap with the baby was, and I thanked my friend for rescuing me. When he and Jiraiya had safely returned, I saw what was going on: my friends had summoned their Personae and were fighting off the Shadow Baby, which was surrounded by cubes that formed an armor around it in the shape of a video game warrior.
That was when it hit me: I was not like Mitsuo Kubo, because I was not alone. I had a group of true friends, who through thick and thin, would stick together and help each other in their lives. Marie, even if she were new to our group, was blasting apart the armor cubes with her nuclear blasts. Teddie helped keep everyone healthy and froze the blocks, allowing Kanji to crush them alongside his Take-Mikazuchi. Rise continued scanning the battlefield and pinpointing Shadow Mitsuo's blocks, even as they continued regenerating.
That left the three friends I met first when I came to Inaba. Yosuke had saved me, and continued smiling at me even as Jiraiya bombarded the foe with a strong wind. But the biggest turning point was with Chie and Yukiko, who I was worried would take my friendzoning them badly. But it turned out not to be the case, in fact, a miracle happened which made me realize how our bond of friendship had grown.
Chie's Tomoe and Yukiko's Konohana-Sakuya had retreated, and I wondered what was going on. Then the two girls closed their eyes, opened them, and I distinctly heard their voice reverberate as if they were one with the Sea of Souls.
"Come, Suzuka-Gongen!" "I am thou! Amaterasu!"
The Personae of my lady friends had awakened to new power. Chie's Persona now wore full samurai armor around itself, and now wielded a Darth Maul-esque double-bladed lightsaber instead of its naginata. Yukiko's Persona was no longer a bird-like woman clad in pink, but was now a womanly silhouette of pure light, wielding a katana and its scabbard, while retaining the wings it had in its previous state.
"Persona! Heat Wave!" "Go forth! Agidyne!"
The two girls' awakened Personae blasted away the remaining blocks that protected Shadow Kubo, leaving the infantile Shadow behind. It was then that I stepped up, eager to finish the job.
First, I began with Yamata-no-Orochi, casting a strong Garula that knocked it off-balance. I then switched to Dis, letting the Norse spirit goddess burn it with a Maragion. Ose then came forth from my soul, getting in an Atom Smasher before I withdrew it back. I then summoned Dominion, the angel letting out a strong Makouga, bathing Shadow Kubo in strong light. Which then left me with a new Persona I had just fused, and my oldest friend. "Black Frost!" I cried out, sending a Bufula, and then "Izanagi!" I called out, having my most treasured Persona deal the final blow with a Megido.
----
And just like that, it was over and done with. Mitsuo Kubo would face the music and pay for the crimes he did. But before that, we watched him, and the boy was confused as to what was happening. I explained to him what he had been doing inside the TV, and let him face his Shadow, fully expecting him to earn a Persona and somehow either making him a bigger threat, or find a way to atone for his sins.
But shockingly, that didn't happen. Instead, Mitsuo claimed credit for all of the crimes, even if I got the feeling he killed neither Yamano nor Saki-senpai; I did pin him for Morooka, however. As he cackled madly, what was left of Shadow Kubo disappeared into the aether, leaving us stumped as to what had happened.
We escorted the insensate, laughing mad Kubo out of the TV, and we began our interrogation of the young man, but he could provide no concrete answers besides that he did it. Mitsuo continued spouting nihilist nonsense, and cited nothing as to his motives, which pissed off Kanji enough for my kohai to lift Kubo by the collar, and told him that he would pay for his crimes. As we contacted the police, however, I saw a boy with frizzy dark hair, around sixth grade or so, staring at us in awe.
The boy then asked us how'd we get out of the TV, and I realized we had a pretty major issue on our hands. So against better judgement, and knowing that lying would make things worse, I decided to tell him the truth.
Surprisingly, he took it all in stride, and realizing we had a bit of a fanboy on our hands, I asked his name out of curiosity.
"My name? It's Ren", he said. "Ren Amamiya."
Joker being friends or even just a kouhai of the investigation team is a grand divergence. Actually, Marie knows Igor, and now Ren might be befriending her, would that mean that she would be able to tell that his Igor is an impostor?
Chapter 22: The Hopeful Boy, and The Great Cook-Off
- Location
- Vault 111
- Pronouns
- He/him
To quote Bob Parr from the first Incredibles movie: "We get there when we get there".
Anyhow, here's Chapter 22, with a little bit more Ren/Joker:
----
The cops had arrived to put Kubo into custody, and with that over and done with we decided to have a small celebration at the food court. I asked Ren-kun if he was with anyone, and he told me his mother was going to pick him up after her work was done. I then invited him to join our group, and he agreed, allowing me to introduce him to our team.
One by one I introduced the younger boy to the rest of the Investigation Team. Yosuke gave him a thumbs up, Kanji nodded at him, Chie gave him a small wave, Yukiko bowed, Rise gave him a cheerful hello, Teddie (now back in human form) cheered, and even Marie muttered a small "hey" after rolling her eyes. I explained to him that we had gotten the power to into the TV and rescue people who were thrown in there, but carefully omitting the bit about Personae or Shadows, not wanting to torment Ren-kun with the dark side of the TV World. I then pointed to Yukiko, Kanji and Rise as three folks we had saved from the TV. However, since this was all a secret to the general public, so we thought of a way to keep it secret. Yosuke then got the great idea to make Ren-kun an auxiliary member of the IT - he couldn't go into the TV with us, but we could let him in on our activities and ask him to help search for leads in case someone got put inside the TV. The boy agreed, and swore to keep our secrets.
Afterwards we decided to discuss a slightly larger celebration. We floated the idea of going to the Amagi Inn and taking in the hot springs there, but Yukiko declined, stating that the inn would be at full capacity this time of year due to summer vacation, but she we'd get to visit the inn at another time. This then led to Yosuke suggesting a house party at my place, which I agreed to as long as my uncle was okay with it, and that we should have Nanako included in the festivities as well.
Teddie then suggested a cook-off between the lady members of the Investigation Team, which predictably led to consternation from Yosuke in particular; the Mystery Food X fiasco was still fresh in his mind. Then again, it was only Chie and Yukiko who had done that, and I knew Yukiko was improving albeit slightly. Perhaps Rise could salvage the competition?
As the Investigation Team adjourned and left for the supermarket section of Junes, Ren-kun and I were left alone, and he told me that it was nice making new friends, as despite growing up in Inaba he didn't have a lot of friends. He also told me about how his dad worked at a job whose details he wasn't privy to and that his mother also worked long shifts, but that they loved him all the same.
What happened next was both familiar and unfamiliar. I felt the birth of a new Social Link, but the voice was a bit different and the card that appeared had a markedly different design and had no number on it. "Hope", said the voice, as I shook Ren-kun's hand. He then told me his mother was waiting at the Junes entrance, so I then joined my friends at the supermarket.
----
While my friends were buying stuff for the cook-off I called home to check on the Dojimas, and Nanako answered, telling me Uncle Ryotaro was gonna be late home that day. In return I told her we'd all be having dinner at our house, and what she wanted for dinner so we'd know what she wanted and therefore the dish for our cook-off. Nanako answered she wanted omurice, and that meant eggs, rice, and other ingredients. I just hoped Chie and Yukiko didn't pick up any exotic ingredients this time around. I myself went for a soy-flavored omelette, wanting to show off my kitchen creativity while at the same time making it palatable for a six year old kid.
As we explained the Mystery Food X fiasco to Rise we then saw Teddie hitting on a woman at a free taste booth, and while sampling the food he began flattering her, even as she protested that she was married with a kid. I thought for a brief second that this might be Ren-kun's mother, but she didn't resemble him in any way. Yosuke then dragged Teddie by the ear, irked at his roommate's hijinks.
We then made it home, and began preparing our entries for the cook-off. All the while I overheard Teddie feeling that Kubo's arrest and our celebration meant that our work as the Investigation Team was done, and Nanako was overjoyed at hearing one of her favorite celebrities was at our home, and was one of her big bro's newest friends. (Little would she know about the future, but she was ecstatic when she found out.) I approached the two, and I could feel Teddie bonding with my little sister, with her joy providing the perfect foil to his innocence. Even I felt my own bond with Teddie deepen as we talked, as he wanted to continue experiencing what the real world had in store for him.
Dinner, in the form of various forms of omurice, was ready, and the girls presented their own offerings first. We wanted to make sure the food was good enough to pass Nanako's muster, however, so Kanji and Yosuke decided to volunteer, especially since the latter wanted to sample the famous Risette's cooking. So Yosuke and I decided to try Rise's omelette first, and the fact that it was almost as red as the ketchup decorating it should have been a big warning.
It was as if someone lit an Agidyne inside my mouth to the point where I couldn't even tell I was eating omurice, since all of the other ingredients were overpowered by the severe spice of Rise's offering. It felt as if my mouth became a smelter, scorching hot enough to purify a metal from its ore. I made a mental note to grab some milk as soon as possible, and if possible keep spices away from Rise in the future. (Side note: there is one dish she can cook pretty well: Mapo tofu. Ironically, that dish might be part of why her cooking leans towards the infernal.)
Yukiko's entry to the cook-off came next, and with my mouth still reeling from the spice Kanji decided to try it intead. Somehow, Yukiko's omelette managed to taste boneless, as per my kohai's words, even if omurice isn't normally cooked like someone blanched vegetables for a couple of hours. I then tried some myself, and I concurred; somehow all those ingredients, while flavorful in their own right, managed to combine to form an omelette so bland it made bland food feel palatable. I still considered it an improvement over Mystery Food X, at least.
Chie's omelette came in third, and this was the one I was most worried about. After all, it was her suggestion of exotic ingredients that began the journey of Mystery Food X, and Yukiko's eccentricities had merely amplified what was already there. Teddie decided to try tasting it himself, and without batting an eyelash told the tomboy that her omurice was awful, and that Yosuke should try it as well. (Did the bear see that far ahead about how those two would end up together?) I decided to confirm Teddie's judgement, and I could tell that Chie's offering was indeed from the lead architect of Mystery Food X. But it was still better, since it didn't knock me or Teddie out. Yukiko had some of it herself, and found herself doubling over in laughter as she tried her best friend's cooking. In retaliation Chie told Yukiko to try Rise's omelette, betting her food was better than our pop star friend's. So Yukiko took a spoonful of Rise's spicy omurice... and promptly dropped to the floor. The girl who could take fire attacks like they were nothing was floored by a spicy omelette. Rise began protesting about how we were simply too young to appreciate her cooking, not amused at how this was going, and began to bawl.
My cousin Nanako then decided to try Rise's omelette, wanting to cheer up her idol. She chewed carefully, and even though I could see beads of sweat form on my little sister's brow she told Rise that the omurice was spicy, but good, her capacity at being diplomatic showing through. Immediately Rise stopped crying, implying she was putting on an act.
Last but not least, I shared my own contest entry, the soy-flavored omurice. I had Nanako have first dibs, and as my cousin tasted it she was overjoyed at the taste; it seemed I knew enough about her to make it perfect for her. She managed to finish it, and as I foresaw my friends getting hungry I had the foresight to make some more, just in case.
----
With dinner over and done with, and Kubo behind bars, that meant an entire month of summer all to ourselves without anything from the Midnight Channel to bother us. Yosuke then suggested we attend the summer festival held at the shopping district, which Rise agreed to, and I found myself concurring as well. Teddie was excited about the prospect of seeing the girls in yukata, and of course Nanako wanted in too. We of course wanted her to come, as long as Uncle Ryotaro was okay with it. I even thought of inviting Ren-kun, as long as he was available as well. So we all made sure to reserve the 20th, where we would visit the shopping district as a group.
That evening, however, I had an odd dream. Were it not for it taking place in a familiar limousine I'd have chalked it to eating my friends' strange omelettes, but as it is Igor and Margaret were in the Velvet Room. Apparently, my befriending Ren-kun was an event that wasn't supposed to happen, but it wasn't a bad thing; on the contrary, this meant another bond I could foster, and most enigmatically, Margaret told me that they were keeping tabs on Ren-kun in the way they did with me. Did that mean he was going to have a journey of his own in the future? Margaret and Igor said nothing at my deduction, merely telling me to bond with the boy. My benefactors would be as cryptic as usual then.
Things were looking up, though it would turn out we were just at the halfway point of our true journey.