The light of the moon shining through the limo's window reflecting on Mitsuru's eyes was, as always, a bright yet unsettling light that she started to dislike after an event three years ago in her years of high school. However, the silence of the night and the cold wind always made her calm in contrast to the more noisy daytime of the city with cars running rampant, construction workers making daily noises with their tools and machinery and the sirens of ambulances and police cars. All insuferable noises in front of her CEO office in the Kirijo Group's building, her house is at the outskirts of the city so she gets a break once in a while unlike her friend Yukari living in an apartment in the middle of Tokyo due to her modeling and actress career. The thought of her friend makes her reminiscence of the bonds she had when she was younger, mostly one person in particular that made her the mature and independent person she is now but is no longer with them.
"Miss Kirijo..." -said the driver- "We're almost there."
"Understood, thank you."
Today she had a meeting with a person she respected but had a bit of bad blood with him. She always thought of him as self-centered and without a hint of humor, only a stuck up man in his early thirties... then again she couldn't say much considering she sees herself that way as well sometimes.
Today was February 12, 2012, the man she was going to visit was none other than the head of the Nanjo Group, Kei Nanjo, self proclaimed Japan's number one man and with good reason, his company was one of the more important business in the world and of course at the top of Japan's economy with the Kirijo Group being slightly below them.
"Miss Kirijo, we're here."
"Thank you."
While stepping out of the car Mitsuru found herself in front of a mansion at the outskirts of Mikage-cho, a well illumated entrance with a decorated door that had a butterfly engraved on the doorknob.
"Mitsuru Kirijo, am I correct?" -said a middle aged buttler recieving in the entrance of the mansion.
"Yes, I'm here to see Nanjo."
"Certainly, master Nanjo has been expecting you. Please, this way, follow me."
"Thank you."
While entering the mansion Mitsuru found herself in a big hall with buttlers greeting her with only a handful of maids there as well, a big difference to her house which is full of maids with little to no buttlers. She noticed that all of them had at least a gold butterfly motif accessory with them, buttlers having cufflinks or for the younger buttlers a piercing on the left ear -Mitsuru thought the earring was really unprofessional-, and the maids with a gold hairpin in the shape of a butterfly.
While going up the flight of stairs she found paintings hanging from the walls, some were from psychologists such as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, one was of golden butterflies flying to the distance. "What is this man's obsession with gold butterflies...?" -Mitsuru thought while following the buttler-. One painting in particular caught her attention, it was a portrait of a man in a black attire, dark brown hair and a mask covering his most of his face. Mitsuru couldn't help but feel rather odd while staring at the eyes of the man in painting.
"An intriguing painting is it not?" -said the buttler in front of her while contemplating the portrait- "Master Nanjo said that this man helped him and his friends quite well when he was younger."
"A very strange looking man I have to say."
-The buttler chuckled- "Master Nanjo has mixed feelings for this man, as he respects him he also loathes him... according to him that is."
"Hmm, I see." - said Mitsuru with a confused stare. She asked herself what kind of relationship did they have to be on those ends, both on respect and loathe. She didn't understood those kinds of feelings being mixed for an individual, for her it was one or the other but not both. The last time she ever felt hate and loathe was towards the man that killed her father three years ago. However, when she sees the man on the painting she feels... safe... warm? She didn't know exactly what it was but it definitely was something positive. How odd...
"Please let us continue." - said the buttler. Mitsuru kept following him until they reached the third floor and a door at the end of the corridor. Yet another butterfly on the doorknob.
"Today was a bad day to visit him. If you find the room rather dark it's because he hates the light while drinking." - said the buttler to Mitsuru befor opening the door. Mitsuru looked at him confused.
"Master Nanjo, miss Kirijo has arrived."
"Thank you, Mikaguchi, let her in." - was heard from inside the room. When buttler opened the door Mitsuru was greeted by a dimly lit but well decorated office with a man sitting on a couch 3 meters away from the desk with a bottle of liquor on the table in front and in his hand with a glass with said liquor. The man had short black hair with a pair of glasses resting on his eyes. He was wearing a white shirt with black pants with the buckle of his belt having the words "No.1" engraved on it. "How childish..." - Mitsuru thought.
"Are you planning on doing business standing there? You can sit down, Mitsuru." - said the man on the couch.
"... You still call me by my first name with no honorifics, Nanjo..." - Mitsuru responded while walking to take a seat in the couch in front of Nanjo.
"Our families have been very close to each other for a long time, I see no point in doing so."
"It would be respectful if you do for once, I don't feel comfortable when you so casually call me by my first name."
"What business did you want to talk about?" - he completely ignored her demand.
"... Right. An accountant inside one of our companies has been making some shady business with a competitor and left us with some issues in regards to employee salary. I want to ask for a small loan from you, Nanjo. I don't want to fire people just because of that, they don't deserve it."
"Why not ask to your other companies...?" - said Nanjo with a questioning look.
"I thought if that but it would be the same for those employees, though to a less extent."
"Why did you come to ask me?"
"It is like you said, our families have been close for a long time, you are the only person I can trust with these affairs."
Nanjo was only staring with at her with a calm and collected demeanor while holding his glass of liquor. Mitsuru had the same look on her face.
The moon helped illuminate the dimly lit room, the light reflected on Nanjo's glasses covering his eyes.
"What about my employees?" - he said questioning her.
"I don't think you'll have trouble with them, you have more money than me."
"That may be true, however you are at fault of your situation at making that man the accountant in charge of finances. You are a woman that that can take things on her own accord, it sounds preposterous that you need my help."
"Maybe so, but I prefer shoving my pride out of the table than to risk the well being of my employees."
"We do think alike, I only care for the well being of my employees more than myself. Having a good experience on the workplace gives outstanding redults both morally and financially."
"I agree. So, will you help me?" - Mitsuru asked with a smile while Nanjo looked at her in a serious manner.
"Sure, I will." - he smiled while leaving the glass of liquor on the table.
"I appreciate it, Nanjo." - Mitsuru said giving him a smile without looking away.
"But only if you tell the man in my basement to stop snooping around my safe..." - Mitsuru froze in shock when those words came out of Nanjo's mouth along with a cold piercing stare.
"Or maybe not, he could be on his way to the hospital."
"... What are you talking about?"
"I know how your company is doing and how well it fares. You'll never be able to fool me. That accountant is probably in his house with his family without any sort of 'shady business' with a competitor." - he served himself another glass. - "I have more experience than you on business, I know when people lie to me. You were playing with your fingernails, however I will admitt that you know how to keep your demeanor with such a well calm and collected face."
"..." Mitsuru couldn't believe she was caught so easily even though there couldn't have been any flaws with the plan of infiltration.
Mitsuru hired a spy to steal a small box Nanjo had in his basement inside of a well hidden safe. Inside the box were research files on a different manner to extract a Persona out of a human being. Research done by a man known as Takahisa Kandori, former president of Sebec. Fearful of what Nanjo would do with thise files she decided to steal and destroy them. She didn't want more people becoming artificial Persona-users and suffer because of it. She found out about the files because a former Sebec scientist is working with Mitsuru on shadow related events and is also in charge on rebuilding Aigis when she gets damaged after a battle.
Her plan was perfect, the spy infiltrated Nanjo's mansion as a buttler a year ago, gaining the trust of the staff and supposedly Nanjo, the day Mitsuru would go to meet Nanjo the cameras on the basement and its entrance would be hacked showing a still image with the necessary tools to break the safe being hidden inside a removable brick in the basement the spy did a month after infiltrating. What happened?
"I have someone down there at all times to protect that specific safe. Maybe that someone is the cause he's going to the hospital right now." - a cocky smirk was forming on Nanjo's face.
"... Those papers are dangerous, Nanjo. You don't know what it can be done with them." - Mitsuru said nervously. She felt uneasy at the situation at hand. What was he talking about when he said someone is always there? Surely the spy wouldn't be foolish enough not to check before doing something that could risk his life or risk his paycheck.
"What makes you think that...? Those papers are important and risked my life to get them back. I know exactly what they do."
"Get them back?"
"Yes, it was in someone else's posession. Your grandfather used a more archaic way of extracting Personas, dangerous for both the user and the people around them. However I won't let you take this research, extracting a Joker is far more dangerous than you think."
"You know about my grandfather...?" - Mitsuru was baffled at how well informed Nanjo was. He knew about her grandfather's doings and experiments.
"Of course, a power hungry maniac with no sense of empathy toward others." - he said while Mitsuru looked at him with a slight angry expression. - "I won't destroy them, Mitsuru. Even if I told you the reason you are so stubborn you will still be adamant on destroying it."
"... Do I have to take it by force?" - Mitsuru said trying to act calm while reaching her hand at a gun shaped object hidden in her coat, wishing that this time works.
"Try, you won't be able to do anything. Not with a gun..." - he didn't swayed his stare on Mitsuru, it was intact and sharp like a knife. - "... nor with your evoker." - Mitsuru gasped at Nanjo's mention of the evoker. Just how much does he know about her and Personas?
Mitsuru pulled out her evoker and pointed it at her head.
"Are you certain you want to try...?" - Nanjo asked - "I told you it won't do you any good, mostly not here."
"... I have to try no matter the cost, those papers need to be destroyed." - Mitsuru said while her evoker was pointed at her head with a determined look on her face.
"I can't believe you need that to summon a Persona. Go ahead, do it, you won't do anything." - already angry at his cocky attitude Mitsuru decided to do it and do her usual execution, freeze him just immobilize him and take Kandori's research.
"Artemisia!" - Mitsuru used the evoker, blue shards of light came out of the side of her head revealing a woman with dress and a mask carrying an iron whip. - "It worked. Freeze him, Artemisia!"
"Yamaoka." Nanjo whispered those words and an old man on a hover board carrying a spear came out of his being cutting Artemisia's block of ice and punching her driving her back away from Nanjo.
Mitsuru was astonished, almost in shock. She felt the punch Nanjo's Persona gave to Artemisia.
"I told you..."
"H-how do you...?"
"I awoke to my Persona ability when I was 17 years old, although on a much different manner than yours." - Nanjo said while drinking his glass.
"... No matter, I will get those papers no matter what!" - She sent Artimisia to hit Nanjo with her whip.
"Seigfried..." - A man with red skin carrying a sword appeared behind Nanjo doing absolutely nothing. All of Artemisia's hit were doing nothing to Nanjo, not a single scratch was done on him.
Mitsuru couldn't believe her eyes, he was using another Persona.
"How?" - she thought - "Two Personas!? But the only one capable of doing that was Arisato and Aigis. Is he another Wild Card?" - a bunch of ideas were swingling on her head trying to process and make sense of the situation. The concept of the Wild Card being brought to her mind by the memory of when she was with her friends in that weird blue room with that man with a long nose.
"Give up, Mitsuru. You won't do any harm to me, just yourself, you already look exhausted, you're not used to summoning Personas in the real world, just the Dark Hour." - calm as he always was he tried to reason with Mitsuru. Mitsuru obviously didn't want to fight but those papers were her priority since Nanjo already said he won't destroy them.
"... You talk about having experience and yet you still didn't notice having something ready to attack you from behind." - Mitsuru said while smiling.
"What!?" - Nanjo turned around because in front of him he saw the shadow of two figures, something was blocking the light behind him. It was the ice block Yamaoka previously sliced with his spear. Before he could make Yamaoka react to the ice shards one hit his arm freezing it against the couch and the other missing his head, he couldn't move.
"Damn, everything went backwards." - Mitsuru cursed under her breath. She didn't stood a chance against Nanjo, he wouldn't attack her but she can't stay there attacking forever since it would wear her out. She headed rapidly towards the door to escape, but she suddenly heard footsteps reaching the door fast. They were the bodyguards of Nanjo that helped getting the spy to the hospital.
"Master Nanjo!" - The men yelled, before the men entered Mitsuru ran towards the window. The bodyguards opened the door and saw Mitsuru running to the window and pulled out their guns ready to shoot her.
"Don't shoot!" - Nanjo yelled but it was late, they already did but Artemisia blocked the gunshots with her whip with one bullet ricochetting to Nanjo's frozen arm breaking the block of ice covering his arm, now slightly burned from the cold. Mitsuru jumped from the third floor window descending with the help of Artemisia's whip, her limo was waiting just below. She entered as fast as she could and ordered the driver to get away from there as fast as possible.
"Master Nanjo, do we pursue them?" - asked a bodyguard with his gun in his hand.
"No, I'll take care of it. I don't want any of you to harm that woman. Understood?" - Nanjo said with a firm and strict voice.
"Yes, sir." - the bodyguards responded leaving Nanjo in his office to look for a doctor for his arm.
"I never thought she'd attack me, I thought I wouldn't need bodyguards so I gave them a break, they probably heard the yells and the ice blocks thumping the ground. I was lucky that bullet didn't hit me, I told them not to shoot... I'll see you tomorrow, Mitsuru..." - Nanjo went to his room to sleep but not before looking at the painting of Yamaoka, his father figure, hanging from the wall of his office. Today is his birthday.