Persona Network: "Tune In, Watch Out, and Shut Up."
The bright sun began to beat against Yoshuna's head like a drum being beaten. The face of his father was the first thing he saw in the morning, and nothing about it seemed too happy or inviting. "So.. I can understand I said go out, make friends, and have fun. But I don't think that included going out, getting drunk your first night here, and sleeping for a whole school week!"Yoshuma stood before his son with a look of worrying and annoyance combined into a single front. It was as though during this week's time he stood over his young son the entire time.
Slowly lifting himself up from the confines of his bed Yoshuna noticed that he was still in the clothes borrowed from Ryunosuke, however he also noticed that the laptop that his dad used for work was nowhere to be found. To Yo's surprise he couldn't hold himself back from speaking. "So.. this is odd. I think this is the first time I've ever seen you without your laptop in such a long time." Yo began to chuckle to himself as his dad slowly took a seat beside the bed and then returned his glasses back to his eyes.
"Anyways, you're lucky you were only out with Tatuyami's kid otherwise you might have been in some serious trouble when it came to your drinking. Thank god him and the Watanabe's kid got along so well with you, otherwise I thought you might have fallen in with the wrong crowd. This place may not seem like much but there are numerous rumors of bad seeds going about even amongst the department." Yoshuma spoke as he slowly began to take to his feet and exit the room.
To his own surprise it seemed as though Yo's father was more worried about him then upset at the current situation as a whole, which to him was completely out of character for the aging man. However, compared to the dreams he had been having recently it seemed somewhat confusing that this throw him for a loop. First the dream of the old dying man, and then the dream of what had happened to him outside of Club Vertigo. This was on the standards of normal compared to what it was that he had been experiencing as of late.
Slowly standing to his feet and checking his calendar, Yo began to notice that he had in fact, slept through an entire school's week. It was now Saturday and the season's change was obvious as the white hot sun continued to beat down on Yo's room as a whole. He felt somewhat upset that his father could bother to take care of him while he was knocked out from his drinking, but he didn't bother to give him some AC to chill out with.
Yoshuna made his way down the stairs from his room only to notice that there appeared to be two additional people to his current household. In one chair sat his father chuckling slightly as he continued to drink his coffee with one hand and type on his laptop with the other. In another chair sat an esteem figure with the suit and a brilliant badge glimmering in the bright sun that snuck in through the window. His face and figure resembling that of Ryunosuke, with a few exceptions. Ranging from facial hair, a few rougher appearances, and a few scars covering the face, to a deeper tan. The final figure sat on the coach in the front room, it was Ryunosuke himself with a pair of oversized headphones covering his ears as he began to play around with his cell phone.
It didn't take long before Yoshuna drew all attention to himself, both his father and the other man within the room both turned to him with slight grins on their face. "Well this would be my son right now Detective Tatuyami." Yoshuma spoke with a proud smile. "We've been friends for far too long Akiraka-Dono. Simply call me Tetsuya." He spoke as he nodded to Yoshuna with a grin. "He's a fine young lad, unlike my own boy Ryu over there." He chuckled as though kidding before turning and speaking to Yoshuna once again about some form of work or code cracking.
Ryunosuke was already standing to his feet in the front room and signaling to go forth through the front door and sit outside for a moment. Nodding to him and waving off to both his father and Ryunosuke's dad Yoshuna began to make his way through the front door to accompany Ryunosuke. The two of them stood on the front porch in silence for a moment before Ryunosuke broke his harden normal tone with a sigh of relief, "I was worried you might have overdone it back there." He spoke as though he was slightly surprised at the turn of events from the night several days prior.
"First…" He spoke to before Yoshuna could even finish a single thought or think of his own question. "I'm sorry for what myself and Wata put you through. Honestly I don't recall ever informing you about the situation as a whole or exactly what was going on. So I can see how that was rather rude of me as a whole." Ryunosuke spoke quickly as though attempting to pin down his own thoughts and speak them out loud.
Yoshuna's mind could barely keep up with the replies that Ryunosuke began to give him as he asked his questions. "So exactly what happened back there?" "Took you to see if you had what it took, good for both of us you did.." Ryunosuke spoke quickly. "And exactly what drove you to take a total stranger and then expose them to demon-god thingies?" Yoshuna spoke before he was cut off by Ryunosuke. "Persona… they're called Persona not demon-god thingies" Yoshuna continued on from Ryunosuke's original point. "Wait.. so exactly who the hell thought I had what it took to summon the "Persona" thingy in the first place?" Ryunosuke chuckled to himself before he spoke. "Easy enough, that was Wata. It's one of his skills. He can sense the spirit of those capable of using Persona."
"So… let me get this straight, you guys run around with these things and summon them fighting people for no reason?" He began to chuckle as he attempted to answer the questions. "Well, as you noticed, it's possible to get like 'forewarning' things on the radio, they broadcast roughly at about 11:59 each night. Only way for someone to even catch the broadcast is to have the power of Persona with them in the first place. The good thing about you is that your father is close to mine so I could see if you had the power easier. Only took a day." Ryunosuke's words seemed to confuse and make Yoshuna upset all in a single moment. First it seemed as though he was trying to help people with some holy cause.
"And who the hell ever said I wanted to join you guys in playing heroes? I mean just because you and Wata think its cool to run around forcing people to join your stupid holy crusade against demon-gods doesn't mean everyone wants to join you! Go and play hero with someone else's life if you want to become a hero so bad!" His words never even managed to reach his own mind before Yoshuna felt the harden backside of Ryunosuke's fist in his stomach area eating away at what felt like his insides. Looking up to see the reddening eyes of Ryunosuke's, almost in tears from the words of Yoshuna.
"I didn't expect you to be a coward, and don't you dare say we're playing hero for some holy crusade. Do you have any idea what would have happened to that young lady if we didn't help her!" He spoke with such violence in his eyes as though he was going to kill Yoshuna. However, even with such a deepening rage glaring at him, Yo could only give him a single reply. "Why… do.. I care?" he spoke lastly before he felt another sting to the side of his head. Ryunosuke's fist caught him square over the side of his face and before he even had a chance to speak again he was down on his back looking up, the last image he saw was Ryunosuke's back turning away from him and heading back in doors.
The velvet carpet fell between the toes of Yoshuna's bare feet as he began to take notice to the world around him and noticed that he was now sitting back in front of the Young lady and the Elder man by the names of Igor and Rosemary. "I see that you have awoken to the power of Persona? That is good news… the power of your Persona is a reflection on your inner self. The fact that you can use it so soon surprises me actually." Rosemary spoke as she adjusted Igor's pillow slightly, all the while Igor removed his mask attempting to speak to Yoshuna who could barely keep up with what was going on.
"From this point on…" He wheezed out of his lungs before he fell back down onto his pillow with yet another breathe. "You must take responsibility for all your actions… As written out by your very own contract…" He spoke as he fell to his pillow closing his eyes and slowly turning his eyes over to his Velvet shaded IV machine. Rosemary began to bear a look of concern on her face as she looked over to Yoshuna who now felt a cold chilling bite crawling up his spine.
Rosemary turned to Yoshuna with a heavy look in her eyes. "I know what you're thinking, and it's not our problem. It seems as though it's your contract and your issue. " She spoke as though she was cold and heartless towards Yoshuna. It seemed as though she understood Yoshuna's idea and plans when it came to the situation as a whole and now he had gotten to the point that he might have gotten himself in more trouble than before. The two of them attempted to stare bullets into one another before Yoshuna realized that there was something cold and dark about her glare as a whole.
"Also one more thing before you go back to where you came from. I'd advise you avoid pissing off every person you make, your power is directly connected to those around you and how you make contact with them. As someone as random as yourself it's rare that this power ever show up. Let alone someone like you…" She spoke as Yoshuna's cellular phone began to ring and on it glowed the image of young man holding onto a horn. At its bottom it read "Fool, O" in an old graphic that made it somewhat hard for him to fully understand exactly what it was that he was looking at.
"You are the Fool, you are nothing. You have no limitations, and you are without equal, you are only as powerful as the binds you build up using your own power with those around you. Well, in your case I guess that means you're no better off than the last one.." She spoke before she drifted off back to Igor's side. And with a single burst of energy Yoshuna sat up finally ready to give the young lady a piece of his mind. Before he noticed that he was now back in his room laying down with his father sitting beside him once again.
"Don't go out so soon if you're not prepared to walk about on your own. If you'd collapsed where Ryunosuke wasn't there to assist you then what would have happened?" Yoshuma spoke as though terrified for his son's well being, all the while Yoshuna felt as though his body was being shattered by the constant pressure of Ryunosuke's fist.
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The next morning Yoshuna awoke to notice that his father had already stepped out for the day, gone into work after being roughly a week behind in work. Yo began to notice that between the words that were spoken to him from the older man by the name of Igor, Rosemary, and Ryunosuke he didn't seem to get the full picture of what was going on. True, he had signed a contract so he had to do all the work and take responsibility for his actions, but why did Ryunosuke feel as though he had some sign of work to do here as well?
He could still feel his head slightly throbbing as his house's phone began to ring and he made his way over to go and answer it. "Yo-boy, what is up!" Wata's voice began to beat against the inner parts of Yoshuna's head as he attempted to cover it up to avoid having any real hearing lose. "Can you keep it down? My head feels like it was hit by a semi truck." Wata began to chuckle louder and louder into the phone as he began to speak once again. "You think that's bad? Then you should honestly wait until you gotta go and take a dump, your stomach is going to implode on itself… trust me. He hits about three times harder then you think." Wata began to speak in a lower voice to the point that even Yoshuna was surprised.
"So… he told you he hit me huh?" Yo began to chuckle as he took a seat at the nearby chair of the living room. Only to hear another laugh escape from the other side of the phone, "No, but I can say you're not the first person to laugh at the guys way of doing things. Mind if I come over so we can talk about it?" Yoshuna agreed to having Wata over only to hear a knock at his door three seconds later.
Upon opening the door Yoshuna wasn't too surprised to see the figure of Wata wearing a single leather vest with a silly grin on his face. Slowly making his way into the house Wata began to kick off his shoes and take a seat on the Akiraka's residential coach. "You know there's a nice little place around the corner where you can find the sweetest girls in town at?" Wata spoke only to have Yoshuna turn his back to him in an attempt to lose himself in his own refrigerator.
"Look, he simply told me what you said Yo-boy. I kinda assumed everything from that point on, seeing as how I've seen it happen first hand before." Wata sat up and began to change his tone to a much more serious one as he noticed Yoshuna was attempting to ignore most of his jokes aimed at himself. "Ryunosuke had a friend who he failed to save…" Yoshuna's ears began to grab a hold of Wata's words. "Yeah, apparently what happened to Miss Kinosui happened to his friend. I think her name was.. Oh yeah that's what it was. Midori Amatsu, she was apparently one of his closes friends. When he failed to save her when her 'message' was given the 'shadow' that you saw attempt to drive Kinosui-san mad apparently got a hold of Midori. And because Ryunosuke was powerless, she died attempting to take his life. So forth and so on…"
Yoshuna now sat down at the kitchen table attempting to process all of it in his mind. "So.. exactly why do you go with him to do this? I mean it's his problem not yours…" Yoshuna began to speak as he began to set forth a plate of day old pizza for himself set with several slices.
Wata stood to his feet and began to snatch up several slices from Yoshuna's plate with a grin before replying. "Well actually, we were friends before. And it just so happened that my time was up and I got a message for my death. Ryunosuke saved me and every since I was being dragged around with him helping out people left and right."
Yo's eyes began to widen upon noticing that two of the four slices that Wata had taken from him appeared to be already gone from Wata's possession and now he was working on third one. "So what about all the other people with "Persona" you guys save why don't they help?" Yo's sharp words began to carry from his throat faster then he himself could think.
"What other people? Everyone who gets saved doesn't have the power of persona. Anyone can be a victim and only a few of us can be heroes. Which is why I think your words hurt him as much as they did. He seemed so happy upon knowing that someone was going to come and help us in our crusade against the darkness." Wata began to chuckle to himself upon noticing that Yoshuna now was slightly feeling himself drawn deeper and deeper into a pit of despair.
"Don't worry about it, you're still new here. And I don't think anyone expected you to become an automatic pro at this thing right off rip. Least you can do is relax and have some fun with it, right?" Wata began to chuckle to himself before he turned back towards the living room of Yoshuna and began flipping through the channels. "Now, what else is there to do while attempting to burn a day?" Wata spoke with a chuckle upon noticing that Yoshuna's plate was now empty of food.
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It was now a little over 20:00 hours in the day. Unable to sleep or even rest from his daily training Ryunosuke felt that he had been a bit too harsh on his new friend over a slight misunderstanding. Unable to even sit and watch himself live his own life, Ryunosuke escaped to the club scene of Club Vertigo attempting to look for some level of Solace within himself. He sat before an empty city that could never really understand him, nor could he ever really accept it. All the while knowing that no matter what he did in this world attempting to use his powers for good or evil that in the end nothing would change and he would simply be known as the police officers son.
He would hang his head into his palms as he took a single seat on a random stone object that made its way into his area as he began to sit. With tears in his eyes he would attempt to think to himself as to how he managed to drag himself into such a world where he was powerless. He had been careful his entire life never to get devoured into such things. Yet now he knew for once in his life, he was powerless to do anything or help anyone do anything.
With tears in his eyes Ryunosuke turned to see two figures wearing black robes behind him. One the smaller figure from the previous encounter, and the other simply a lanky fellow who wore a mask that seemed like it was reserved for a Moa style figurine rather than a person. Each of them chuckled as they watched the wet eyed young man known simply as Ryunosuke stand and turn to them.
"Are you done crying about nothing or should we leave for the time being?" The smaller figure spoke with a sense of arrogance in his voice. "Better yet let's give him a reason to cry." Standing to his feet and running his hand to his side, Ryunosuke quickly rose his han above his head as if attempting to reach out for something before a brillant light began to devour him. All the while with tears in his eyes he spoke. "Let's get started already.."