Daichi: I've never seen these three interact before. I thought it would be fun.
Verity: Never mind everything else.
Daichi: I can't get this with what I currently have! At those points, Ryoji's already cut off from the physical plane, or Metis doesn't even exist!
Tsukaimon: None of us own this. It's just a sandbox, really.
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"Why are you here? You should be sealed with her. After all, what are you? Nothing."
"Maybe. But I'm here, aren't I? Maybe it's not just the Velvet Room where everything happens for a reason." Blue eyes met yellow. The boy with golden eyes faded, leaving a monstrous creature in it's place.
"Thanatos, huh? Figures." He took a moment to observe his surroundings. He could tell there was fog, although he couldn't actually see it. It didn't matter.
Thanatos turned into a card, which the boy with blue eyes took out of the air. They moved forward.
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Why was she here? The last thing she could recall was reconciling with her sister... so, why did she still exist?
There were Shadows nearby. Everywhere, in fact. Something moved, and she immediately called upon Psyche, obliterating whichever poor Maya was there. Still, there was one Shadow here with a feel she recognized. Not from her own experience, but she still knew how dangerous he could be. And he was right there.
"Ryoji Mochizuki." She spoke his name before he appeared, but he seemed to have heard her.
"You know of me? It can't have been that long since the sealing, right?" She shook her head.
"It's a long story. I don't even know why I'm here."
"You either? Well, let's go together, then. Maybe we can figure something out." The offer seemed genuine, and she found herself weighing his words. Eventually, she nodded. "Really? That's good. I thought I was going to go mad from loneliness eventually. What's your name, anyway?"
"Metis."
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Neither of them knew how long they had been walking. They took occasional breaks to recover spiritual energy, but that was it. The only sign of time passing was the fog. Sometimes it would lift, and the Shadows would overcome their fear of them and attack. Suicide, really. Metis remained mostly silent, with Ryoji occasionally saying something to fill in the silence.
The fog had come and lifted five times when they met someone else. Over time, Shadow distribution had changed. The Mayas that they were used to seeing in the city gave way to the large-tongued Hablerie types that had occasionally roamed the countryside during Dark Hour. They didn't know where they were going, but continued moving.
Eventually, they stopped to rest in what seemed like an empty space, mostly void of Shadows. Mostly. Shadows were everywhere. Still, nothing seemed to be attacking them. That was when they heard something squeaking.
"Something's coming," Metis stated quietly. The being that came into view wasn't something that either of them recognized. Still, there was one thing that the two of them and the newcomer had in common.
"He doesn't have a mask, either," Ryoji remarked upon seeing the ridiculously cute Shadow's appearance.
"A mask? What do you mean?" The bear tipped his head to the side. Metis turned to Ryoji.
"Don't tell him. I think it would be too cruel. Even for you."
"Now, Metis, when have I ever appeared cruel?"
"You walked up to a random Magus and told it to die for you." The robot girl's eyes remained clear of all emotion as she looked at him.
"No, no, I had my Persona ask nicely. Just like Alice-sensei. But you're right. If he doesn't know, I don't see a need to tell him." He shrugged. "The masks don't matter. Just an observation. What are you, anyway?"
"Me? I'm a bear. Can't you tell?"
"A little. Anyway, I'm Ryoji Mochizuki, and this is my... friend, Metis. Do you have anything we can call you?" He ignored Metis' glares.
"My name's Teddie! I live here. It's good to meet you, Ryoji and Metty-chan!" The small Shadow's smile lit up his whole face.
"I like him," Ryoji stated. "Maybe we could stay a while longer?"
"We need to find our answers-" Metis cut off, seeing Teddie about to cry.
"You aren't going to leave me alone here, are you?"
"-But I don't the harm in sticking around," She conceded. "Admittedly, it would be better if we could find a way to the human's world. At least we'd have a break where we don't have to constantly stay on guard, there."
"Human world? You mean the place behind my portals?"
"Your portals?"
The bear nodded. "I can make portals to someplace besides here, but I can't really go through them myself. Maybe you can try? Oh! But you have to promise to come back, if you can. It's kinda lonely here."
"Let's consider this," Metis told Ryoji. "If we stay, we probably have a higher chance of finding something out, but a risk of death. The human world has less chance of contact with whatever bought us here-"
"-But has real food, a warm bed, actual social activity, and the worst that they can throw at us is a human murderer, wild animal, or school. And we can probably figure out a way back here. I have a bit of money that a Shadow dropped, we could use it for something."
"...Human world it is."
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"A television." Ryoji stuck his hand in the large television set. "We fell out of... a television. Admittedly, seeing those retro TVs that the bear summoned should have tipped us off."
"I wonder why we could come through when the creator of the portal couldn't come through himself."
"Probably something to do with the fact that we have Personas and he doesn't." Ryoji backed away. "So, I've tallied up my money, and we have enough for... one of us to go on a thirty-stop train ride, both of us to ride the train for fifteen stops, a night at an inn or hotel, or uniforms for the local school."
"If we do not know where we are, maybe we shouldn't take the train. And as I do not need a bed, holing up at the local tourist destination seems unwise..."
"So, you say we should see about getting an education?" He prayed that she had anything else to say, any better ideas.
"School has it's benefits. We can figure out how long we have been in the other world and blend in better with the general population." He'd been hoping she wouldn't say that.
"But where will we stay?"
Metis gestured at the television.
"You want us to go into a superstore every day just to go home?" Still, it seemed that they did not have any better ideas. So a plan was formed, and their new lives began in the town of Inaba.
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Daichi: Next time, we see Ryoji finish his second year education, while Metis gets to start at the end of her first year.
