The next day, it was raining. Emiko should have been happy, but she instead felt tired and drained. She didn't even know if she would be able to stay up to watch the Midnight Channel that night. Maybe it was the interview the day before, but this rainy day made her unusually drowsy.
"Hey, Emiko-chan!" exclaimed Chie in a chipper voice.
"Hey." She said dully. Chie peered at her.
"You okay?"
"Sorry. Rainy days don't normally make me like this, but today, my mood is down." Said Emiko.
"Well, I saw a bit of you on TV last night. I didn't see the whole interview, but I saw your face." Said Chie.
"I'm such a TV presence, aren't I?" asked Emiko, trying to uplift her spirits. Didn't work.
Chie laughed. "Of course, yeah. You were the best part of the interview, no objections there."
"Heh. Thanks."
"I haven't seen much of Emiko-chan today. Is she okay?" asked Yukiko, worried.
"She's fine; I saw her this morning. She said she was just really tired." Said Chie.
"Tired? On a rainy day? Usually, that wakes her up, not shuts her down..." said Yosuke, frowning. "Somehow, I get a really bad feeling about today..."
Yosuke paced in front of his TV, waiting for the clock to strike midnight. It had been like this a month or two ago, just waiting...and waiting...and waiting...and waiting. Seconds, minutes, hours...time, just passing aimlessly. He flopped in front of the TV on the floor a couple of minutes to midnight, briefly hoping Emiko got home okay before the heavy rain. She was already bad at directions, and trying to find her way in bad weather just made it worse. He had toyed with the idea of calling her, but chances were, she probably wouldn't answer if she were tired. Suddenly, the familiar sound of static started, and Yosuke faced the TV. A figure appeared. It was blurry and only showed a small, unrecognizable shape. It seemed to be a girl, though. Someone with short hair, and she looked like Yosuke's age, so a high schooler. He flipped open his phone to call Souji.
"Hey, did you see that?" he asked. "It looked like a girl. She looks sorta...familiar to me."
"Really? I think I've seen her before, but I don't think I actually know her...anyway, we should meet up tomorrow at Junes."
"Yeah, good idea. See you tomorrow." Said Yosuke, hanging up. So it had started again...
"So according to what we all saw on the TV last night, the victim...is a girl. Which does fit the pattern that they're all female." Chie announced. Yosuke deadpanned.
"That's...exactly what we just said."
The group was meeting at Junes to discuss the figure on the TV the previous night.
"Well, sooorry I wanted to make it official!" Chie scowled. "Y'think we should ask Teddie if anyone is in the TV yet?"
Souji nodded. "That seems like a good idea."
The group trooped to the normal TV in the electronic department and waited until the customers were out of sight. Chie, Yukiko, and Yosuke made a wall around Souji as he put his hand into the TV.
"I swear, if that bear bites you again..." said Yosuke. A second later, Souji retracted his hand from the TV with bite marks. "Damn that Teddie!"
"Ooh~is this a game? Is this 'scoring'?" Teddie's voice floated from the TV.
"No, you idiot! We wanted to ask if anyone was in the TV yet. A girl." Hissed Yosuke.
"Hmm...no, just Teddie. I'm so beary alone in here..." he whined from the TV.
"Well, I guess that means she's safe for now. Thanks Ted." Said Chie as the group dispersed and headed down to the main floor.
"We should keep an eye out for anyone who looks like that girl. And keep watching the Midnight Channel." Said Yukiko.
"Yeah. It's supposed to rain again tonight." Said Chie. "Also, has anyone seen Emiko today? I was going to go get croquettes with her later...but I haven't seen her at school."
"Ah, I think she didn't come to school today. Maybe she's sick?" said Yukiko.
"Emiko never misses school unless she's really, really sick. She hates missing school for 'stupid reasons'." Said Yosuke, frowning. "I'm starting to feel unusually uneasy..."
Yosuke watched the Midnight Channel in his room, alleviating some of his boredom by watching the raindrops race across the window, giving some of them names and betting on which one will reach the bottom of the window first. Lame, but it was perfectly acceptable in this time of extreme boredom. Finally, the Midnight Channel started, and it showed a grassy area...a park? A person appeared on the screen, clearer than before, and Yosuke tripped backwards, almost cracking his neck on the table when he saw who it was.
Emiko?!
No. No way. He didn't want her to get involved in this.
"Welcome to my park, where I'm free to forget all responsibilities and play all I want! I can be a kid again, just waiting for someone to take all the responsibility and I won't worry again. Come and play with me!" The (Shadow) Emiko ran off into the distance through a large gate. The TV screen died out and Yosuke scrambled to get his phone, his hand shaking as he dialed Souji.
"Shit, oh, shit, I gotta call him..."
"Yosuke?"
"Souji, we're going in tomorrow."
"I understand that, but we need more stuff and we need to prepare too. Don't go rushing into things, or you won't be able to help Emiko-chan that way."He was right. Yosuke squeezed his eyes shut and took a few deep breaths.
"Right. But why her? What had she done? I just—she can't-I won't-ah, never mind, I'll just see you tomorrow." Yosuke sighed as he hung up. Why her? Why...it was Emiko! Yosuke had tried to keep her out of it, but now...
His eyes burned with a new resolve. There was no way, no absolute fucking way, that he would lose another person he cared deeply about. He had lost Saki-senpai to her Shadow. He would not lose Emiko too.
Emiko woke up, her joints aching. She was sure she had acquired a few bruises, and she wouldn't be surprised if she found a couple of scratches she didn't have before. Where was she...?
Emiko stood up, taking in her surroundings. Everything was foggy, and honestly, it was starting to give her a headache. What had happened to her? She remembered passing out, and a falling sensation. Chloroform?
Anyway, she needed to decide the best course of action right now. There didn't seem to be an exit to...what was this place, anyway? A park? It was actually somewhat familiar...it looked a lot like a park in Tokyo that she used to visit when she wanted to be alone. Emiko tried to take a step forward, but apparently she was weaker than she though, because as soon as she lifted her foot, she felt her energy draining from her and fell on the ground. She felt something appearing in front of her. As soon as it materialized, she heard footsteps coming from the right, and Souji, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and some large stuffed bear appeared. Emiko stared at them for a minute before looking back at...herself. More like a creepy version of herself, as this one's eyes were yellow and it was emitting a purple glow.
"What the fuck." Emiko uttered, feeling completely at a loss as to what was happening. "I mean, seriously, why does this thing look like me."
"Maybe that's because I am you." Said the thing. "I know everything about you, all your secrets, your thoughts, your regrets, your hates..."
"Emiko, don't listen to it!" Yosuke yelled, but his voice seemed to come from a far away place.
Emiko frowned.
"What does that mean? There's only one of me in the universe unless we're talking about parallel worlds here. Which we aren't, because there's no place like this in any universe. And we can't travel from parallel worlds to another unless there's a breach. Doctor Who knowledge." She said.
The (Shadow) Emiko grinned.
"I already know all that stuff about Doctor Who, because, like I said, I am you. I know that your so called 'mother' isn't actually your mother. She's your step mother."Emiko froze. How—how could anyone know that? She hadn't even told Yosuke, who was looking at Emiko with surprise.
Shadow Emiko laughed. "You didn't tell anyone your real mother died of illness? Which, by the way, you helped along. You could have healed her."
Emiko shrunk back, clapping her hands over her ears.
"No...stop, please..." she almost whispered.
"This is your mind, dearie, let it all out. You never tell anyone your secrets anyway. Look at you, so alone. Always alone. Bullied, beaten up. Suicidal. When Yosuke came along, he never really realized how far into depression you were. You said you were fine, you said you talked more, you made more friends when you came here because you didn't want to be lonely again. But you never stopped being depressed.""No, that's not true!" Emiko shrieked.
"Then why don't you explain why you don't like short sleeved shirts? Pull back your sleeve right now and let's see how recent those scars are." Said Shadow Emiko, leering at the real Emiko. "Go on, do it."
"Stop it! This isn't true! Don't look at me!" Emiko exclaimed, shaking her head furiously, a few tears escaping her eyes.
"Go on, say it..."
"You're not me and never were!"
Shadow Emiko laughed and grew larger. Emiko slumped to the ground, exhausted.
"Shit! It's awakened!" Chie exclaimed.
"I am a Shadow, the true self...and I will destroy anything that gets in my way! I'm too far gone to be stopped now!"
Souji nodded and the group rushed over to fight the Shadow. Yosuke glanced over anxiously at Emiko.
"Hang on, Emiko..."
As the group called their Personas to launch a final attack onto the Shadow, Emiko woke up blearily.
"Did it...did it transform into that?" she asked nobody in particular, staring at her Shadow. She watched as Souji's Persona called lightning to her Shadow, defeating it in a cloud of dust. The group ran over to Emiko, who had sat up by now.
"That's not...I'm not..." Emiko started as she rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing things properly.
"It's okay. You don't have to hide anything, because we'll accept you as you are." Said Souji softly. Emiko looked at him, not really understanding the situation, but understanding that she wouldn't be alone anymore; that someone wouldn't judge her. She nodded and walked over to her Shadow, ignoring the pain in her legs.
"I think I understand now. I never wanted to acknowledge all these feelings, that I was so weak, but that's how you were created, because I didn't accept it. And...I guess you were right. I am lonely. I have—had no one. I never told anyone anything, and I told myself after I had Yosuke, I was okay, and cutting was just a habit. I didn't believe that I was depressed. But you're right. I just needed to open my eyes and accept what was right in front of me. I need to accept my weakness. And let others help me, because...I'm not alone anymore. Thank you for helping me understand that." Said Emiko, smiling at her other self. The Shadow nodded, and disappeared in a cloud of blue light. A card appeared, floating down to Emiko, and seemed to melt within her, filling her with warmth. She stared at herself with wonder.
"This is what you guys had..." she murmured, before crumpling to the ground. Yosuke caught her before her head hit the ground.
"Emiko!"
"After you explain everything, Yosuke, I want to go to Aiya's..." whispered Emiko just as her eyes closed. He chuckled, relieved. After all this, all she thinks about is food. Actually...thinking about that, if someone had been thrown into the TV about a week, they would have gone a week without food and water, which would actually kind of suck. Maybe that's why they pass out.
"I'm glad she's okay." Said Yukiko as the group emerged in the electronic department of Junes.
"Me too. What are you going to tell her parents, Yosuke?" asked Chie.
"I dunno. She's been gone for what, a couple of days? I can just say she needed a break and went to Yukiko's place or something, because they definitely wouldn't approve if I said she went to mine." Said Yosuke, shrugging. "I'll see ya tomorrow." He walked off, piggybacking Emiko.
"We'll explain it to her at school when she comes back." Said Souji. "I'll see you tomorrow." He walked off to the exit. Chie turned to Yukiko.
"I know we're too tired today, but wanna hang out tomorrow?" she asked. Yukiko nodded, smiling.
"I'd like that."
"So, she...went to the Amagi Inn, because her friend, Yukiko, was there. And this Yukiko was the one who was missing. And she never mentioned her." Said Emiko's (step)mother, her eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Said Yosuke, nodding. Emiko's mother looked at him, clearly not buying it.
"But she didn't go to your house for sure."
"Positive."
Emiko's mom sighed. "All right. As long as she's all right." She waved a hand at her staircase. "Her room is up there, it won't be hard to find; third door on the left."
Yosuke nodded and shifted Emiko on his back before going to the stairs.
"Yosuke, hear me out for a second." He turned to face her mother. "Look, I know we never approved of your friendship, just because of my husband and your father. But it made Emiko happy, and she started talking more. And I should thank you for that. The only reason she was okay with moving was you, you know. She missed you more than you could ever imagine. And, honestly, you're not a bad person. I think I like you, to be her friend. So thank you. For doing all that you've done for Emiko, and I can see you plan to keep taking care of her. So please, do for her what I could never do as her stepmother; be the one she can count on."
Yosuke dropped Emiko in her bed and covered her with the blankets. He straightened up, stretching his back and popping a few aches. He looked at Emiko's sleeping form.
"I never realized what I really was to you, and how much my leaving would make an impact on you. And then I just forgot about you when I got here, to chase after Saki-senpai and now this Midnight Channel...so I'm sorry, Emiko. But I'll be with you now." He said quietly. "And yes, I will take you to Aiya's."
"You'd better." Said Emiko sleepily. "I feel really tired."
Yosuke laughed. "I would think so. Just sleep until you feel better. Forget about school for a couple of days. You've been through a lot."
"Mm. And Yosuke, it's okay. I had depended on you bringing me out of my shell for so long, I had forgotten that without you, I was back to being the old me. And I shouldn't. I needed to learn to survive on my own. Not relying on you completely, but just with you to support me, I would learn. So I will. So don't worry too much." Said Emiko, inhaling deeply before falling asleep again. Yosuke chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"I bet you will. You sorta have already."
A/N: So here's the next chapter! I hope you like it so far!
And I made a discovery (sort of) while writing this chapter: the people in the TV go weeks without food and water...which really sucks. Especially in my first playthrough, when I literally waited until the last two days to save Kanji and Yukiko. Bad decision. Don't do that.
So yeah! Please follow and favorite this story if you like it!
And a preview of the next chapter...
"I henceforth ban you from sitting on this desk, Sir Daisuke the...uh, Fourth." He said, pretending Daisuke was a knight.
"The fourth? I should be the first!" Daisuke scowled, outraged. He hopped off Kou's desk and sat on Emiko's. "Well, Queen Emiko, will you let me sit on yours?" Emiko laughed. "Of course, Sir Daisuke the First. What will you do for me in return?" "I will, uh, explore uncharted lands full of riches and name the land after you! I'll also give you 50% of the profit." Daisuke said, grinning.
And don't forget to review! Reviews make me happy and I'll update faster if there are more reviews! :D I'll give you all virtual cookies!