Rise heard the smash of porcelain, and the tinny patter of shards on a tatami mat, and reacted accordingly. But she was Lovers now, and Lovers was far, far away. Lovers existed nowhere, and was nothing. She was the backdrop and the curtains.
Shapes condensed on the stage, inside her eyelids. They were murky and transient as ever, but she had learnt to interpret. So she let them perform their play.
The characters whose forms leaked between the floorboards, whose hearts were always concealed with masks, were Shadows. There were two this time. One unfamiliar, and one, the mercury-haired deity she had come to both respect and fear.
Himiko's voice whispered through her veins, in a way that was understood more than heard.
"The Fog is swallowed,
When the Chariot returns to her shed,
When Justice is overseen,
A second heart will awaken.
Judgement will be done."
"You're going to Inaba."
"To - what?" Chie spluttered.
"Don't tell me you've forgot..." The voice at the other end of the line was dark with a groan, and Chie could only hide her momentary amusement. As hard as Magician tried to be the cool and collected team leader he thought he was, he remained as goofy as the classmate she'd known since high school.
"I know what Inaba is, doofus. I mean why? There's no way a Shadow would be holed up in such a small town."
"First of all, you can't know that." As an instructor, Magician was the first guy to correct people on Agency matters. "They can be anywhere. Hell, I bet that's the exact logic they use when they claim towns. And secondly, Lovers had a vision."
"...A vision."
"Yeah. Eyes rolled back, twitching, hearing voices. The whole shebang."
It was difficult to imagine the former idol as Magician described, but Chie knew better than to doubt what he told her. She'd witnessed Lovers in those moods herself.
"And it concerns me, or something?" she asked, surprised. Lovers' little bouts of ESP usually didn't lend more than a Shadow's name or location. Certainly not a User.
"Himiko named your Arcana. Yes, it concerns you."
"It could be any other Chariot, you know."
He was quick with a comeback, as if he'd been waiting to use it. "You're the only Inaban Chariot, and the only Chariot in Tottori. How could it be anyone but you?"
Chie impatiently paced the floor of her living room. Her slippers made soft scrapes on the mat.
She said, "You got me, I guess. What am I meant to do in Inaba?"
"Just... investigate? Find out what you can. There's got to be a reason Himiko named you."
She snorted. "Nice directive, leader."
"Swap places with me for a day. I dare you. I'd love to do more fighting than thinking."
The urge to point out her final grades welled up inside her, but she bit her tongue. Magician did kind of have a point. It must be tough to do all the work he did.
"I'll email you the train ticket. Pack your things and be at the station by 7," he said, after a sigh, and then hung up.
Chie slipped her phone back into her pocket, then trudged to her bedroom with half-hearted steps. The door to it was opened with as much grace as a rubbish man. She rescued her duffel bag from the depths of her closet, and then began stuffing it with clothes. She put no thought whatsoever into what she was going to wear; only how long it would last without a wash. T-shirts and jeans came first and foremost. But then... tight jeans weren't easy to kick in, and in a fight, she'd need all the movement she could get. She retrieved all the pairs she'd put in, and opted for trackie bottoms instead.
Her bag looked a lot more like it belonged to an athlete than someone who hunted monsters for a living. That was a good thing, really. It was covert. Hunters were supposed to confine themselves to the shadows they stalked. In the public eye, both Users and Shadows were as mythical as flying pigs.
She was already planning forward in her head. She could crash at Yosuke's parents' place, or the Amagi Inn if it was still open, or maybe even Rise's grandmother's? No, maybe not. She'd be made to make tofu all day, and she had things to attend to. The old Hanamura household was the safest bet. She could even get steaks from Junes, like she used to.
As if right on cue, her phone buzzed from her pocket. The caller ID said Justice. She pressed answer, pressed the speaker to her ear, and was cut off before she could even say hello.
"I'm coming with you to Inaba."
"Excuse me?"
There was a pause, and then, "A-ah! I'm sorry, Chariot-san, I didn't meant to impose, I..."
"You're doing fine," Chie said, with the phone tucked beneath her shoulder and a half-folded pair of pants on her lap. The age gap between Justice and the rest of them was pretty steep - she knew they often felt out of place. It was all she could do to reassure them whenever she could. "Why're you coming?"
"Well, I... I want to! Lovers' prophecy mentioned me, too, so... and it might be dangerous for you to go on your own."
Chie was torn. It might be useful to have some backup, but then again, it wasn't as if she couldn't handle herself in a fight. And she could always call for support if it was needed. But Nanako was a hard one to say no to...
An idea flashed within her reach. "Hey, I could totally give you some one-on-one training! And there'll be, like, one Shadow. Maybe two at most. You could take care of it. Some hands-on experience would be great for you! Hold on, I'll call Hierophant right now -"
"Wait."
"What?"
"Don't tell him."
And just like that, Chie's internal engine spluttered to a halt. "Wh - don't tell him? Why not?"
"I don't need his permission or anything! I'm old enough to take care of myself, and I want to prove that I can fight to."
"I don't think going against his wishes is the right way to do that." Chie was sure her frown could be felt over the line, but there was a trace of smile hidden beneath it. "But, if you maybe, coincidentally got on the same 7 o' clock train as me, without my knowledge, what can I do about it?"
Their voice was alight and warm. "Thank you, Chariot-san! You won't regret it!"
She laughed, and brought up a hand to steady the phone. The pants now laid abandoned. "I better not. You're explaining this to Magician, though. I'm not about to open up that can of worms."
Justice agreed, and then hung up, presumably to pack their own things. Their will to fight reminded Chie of herself: small, but tough, and ready to take on whatever the world threw at them to protect Yukiko. Their hardships had started even before Shadows walked the Earth - with their mother gone, old man Dojima was in no place to properly look after them, and they had to grow up a lot faster than any child their age should've. Thinking about this elicited a strange feeling in Chie; a churn of sadness, and pity, and frustration, all rolled into one wave that roared and crashed and split itself upon her insides. The life they'd known before now should've been easy, but it wasn't.
That was six years ago. Six years since the blood-sucking beings called Shadows rose, and began to feed on people. Six years since the boundless fog appeared, and made people complacent and callous. Six years since Personas awoke, and Users were born - the only ones capable of putting an end to this.
Chie flexed her fingers into a fist, and felt her pulse slowly thump against the squeezed skin. The Shadows could keep coming, and she was ready to knock them back down, every time.
hope u enjoyed! chapter 2 coming soon, i hope : nanako uses they pronouns btw! nothing much vampirey or yukichie happened but it will be soon i promise. i've also decided that perosna 4 is set in tottori, although it's definitely not clear, so that might be considered a little artistic liberty.
