It took a moment for her vision to return. The roots of her eyes pounded and she staggered back, stomach fallen out. She stared at her feet in a wave of vertigo, black-socked trying to balance over black-and-white checked marble. She stabilized and looked along the floor, to the green field butterfly crest in the center of the dais; up, to the columns supporting the veranda, rising from low fencing, hexagonal border subscribing the checked center, matte-blackness beyond.
A ribbon of blue butterflies spiraled gently up from the borders of the crest. Naoto stepped back and instinctively felt her empty pocket for her gun. The spiral resolved around a human form, solidified into a slim, pale man dressed in black with an ivory mask lopped over half of his mouth, blue-white butterfly wing over the opposite eye like a blazoned scar. A single blue butterfly remained and spiraled over his shoulder, leaving glitter that sounded like chimes through the bones around her temples.
"My name is Philemon. I exist between consciousness and death. The one who has granted you Personas."
Naoto looked around the pavilion, up to the veined-marble dome, immense and seemingly rotating around her as a fixed point. The marble floor was cold through her thin socks, no lip between color changes, seamless. Her vision was clear, despite missing her glasses. It was cold, but the air was clear, free of miasma, and moving. She faced forward. Philemon stared back, detached, smiling at something secret.
"This isn't the TV world," she finally said.
"Very astute."
He may have been mocking her. She stared at him until his smile curved a little, amused.
"You don't want to know why you are here?"
"You brought me here. I'm sure you will tell me in due time."
Philemon closed his eyes and laughed softly. The pavilion did not change in appearance, but she felt currents of energy, flux, beneath the surface. This was a dynamic space, timeless.
"If you gave us the power to summon a Persona, you must be connected to the TV world."
"I didn't create it. That was entirely the work of the human heart. I am merely a guide. The power you unlock comes from your own self, as do the situations you create. Have you ever wondered why Narukami Yu is able to summon multiple Personas?"
That came out of nowhere.
"I have a few theories. Not enough data to formulate anything definite."
"All of which are at least somewhat correct." Philemon clasped his hands behind his back and regarded her out of his left eye, garnet staring out of bone. "The 'self' is a complicated entity. You have acknowledged both the person you want to be, and feel you are, and the shadow your ego casts-the dark sides of you. But that is still based on your 'self'."
Yamato-Takeru appeared in front of her, a prince in French military white, sword hanging by a thin, loose belt low across his hips. His beaked mask was distinctly avian, as the myth of the white bird would suggest, but as much plague doctor, in the curved beak: the fatalistic nobility of those who would minister to the hopeless, when nobody else would, at great risk to themselves. Arcane knowledge grown of repeated voluntary submersion in despair, the rotting and oozing of human flesh. A figure respected and revered, desperately sought hero by the dying often mimicked by charlatans, and, ultimately, alone.
"You think you only have access to one Persona-the one that manifests from your ego. You have to break the shell of your 'self' to fully submerge in the collective unconscious, the primordial pool from which all Personae are born."
"That was Yu-sempai's ability, wasn't it?"
"Narukami Yu was one of those rare people who naturally dipped into the collective unconscious. He was many different people, when it was needed. He was versatile. A self obliterated, a chameleon. More than just being able to empathize with different people-he could slip into their skin, without the protection of his ego-shell." Philemon huffed softly. "You, on the other hand, hold yourself very separate. You're too self-contained."
"Then why are you focusing on me?"
"Because if you can do it, anybody can. Including your friends."
There was something condescending in that. Naoto narrowed her eyes and turned her head slightly.
"You're saying that I am inflexible."
Yamato-Takeru's visage split like a bad signal, noise and interference, and blinked out. A gold key was hovering where his chest had been, rotating. The ghost of gold rested on her tongue, and she held her hand out as it drifted to her palm. The light emanating from it dampened as it touched her skin, cold and heavy. Smooth metal, without any mold-seams.
"This is a Velvet Key," said Phielmon. "It opens the gateway between consciousness and the unconscious. There, you will meet my servant. He will help you on your journey."
The key's weight pressed down from her lungs. Instinct told her to store it as she did her Persona, and she closed her fingers over it, willing it to evaporate into her blood. Her palm was tingling when she re-opened her hand, empty.
A sudden gust and flash, and she shielded her eyes, looking back up. Blue light cut radial along the butterfly crest, fountain-sheets rising around Philemon until he was a vague shadow. The light intensified, blinded her, and the floor dropped out under her. She fell back into white light. Dream-numbness was defusing her limbs, cottony, impervious, heavy. She closed her eyes lightly. Philemon's voice resonated through her bones.
"You have faced your true self. Now you must deconstruct yourself, destroy your ego, and rebuild it."
Naoto crashed back into her own skull and her body jerked, hard, bruising the back of her neck against the back of her chair. She gasped and looked around unfocused, uncomprehending until the falling pit settled in her stomach. Her eyes focused. She was in her living room, sitting at her laptop, though she had clearly fallen unconscious. It was silent; the room was blue-cast from the faint streetlights, the cool night air heavy with rain.
She finally slowed her breathing and took a deep breath, sat up slowly and rubbed her forehead. The laptop screen was dull gray, but on, and she moved the mouse. Her desktop lit up as she had left it that morning.
Her bindings were damp with sweat, spring humidity; her muscles cramped. She stretched, stilted heavily into the bathroom, stripped and ducked under the stuttering initial flow from the showerhead. It was cool, but she just crouched and hugged her legs against the chill, forehead resting on her knees. The water beating her shoulders and back slowly warmed, and the roots of her eyes throbbed from pressing them into her kneecaps, but she did not move for a long time.
May 11, 2012 (Friday)
Partly cloudy, showers in evening
"You haven't had a chance to talk to Narukami-kun yet?"
Rise scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair. The Skype delay fragmented her face, stuttered.
"No. He didn't answer his phone." She looked sidelong at some point in her dressing room and huffed. "I'm not even supposed to use any wireless or internet or anything in case somebody is listening."
"You can't afford people that can, like, fix that?"
"Chie!" Yukiko hissed. "You can't ask questions like that."
Chie finished chewing a rip of yakiniku and swallowed. "Why not? We're friends. We all know she's loaded."
"Well, I can't afford anybody who can go remove things from the internet. One something shows up on there, it's there forever." Rise drew her knees up to her chest and hugged her legs, stared for a few moments. "Somebody has to have found Yu's phone number by now. He probably turned it off."
Sunlight slid across Yukiko's folded hands, cloud-cool. Junes's terrace was half-full and lively as it usually was in the afternoon, and few people would pay much attention to two schoolgirls in front of a laptop. The sudden glare obscured the screen, and Yukiko winced, shielded her eyes, and rotated the laptop out of direct sunlight.
"Where is everybody?" said Rise. She was frowning, hugging her knees tighter. "You told them it was an emergency, right?"
"Yeah, of course." Chie slid the last scrap of meat off the skewer with her teeth. Yukiko had long since given up telling her not to talk with her mouth full. "I don't know where the hell they are. Hanamura said he would call Kuma, and Kanji-kun said he would meet us as soon as he was done with some make-up exam. But who knows where they got their stupid asses off to."
"Where is Naoto-kun?"
"I don't know," said Yukiko. "She wasn't at school today. I think she had a consultation for a case, or something detective related. Her phone has been going to voicemail."
"Mou." Rise huffed. "I really wanted to talk to her about this."
Her nails were neat, filed, folded over her houndstooth skirt. Yukiko stared at them as Chie finally swallowed and started picking her teeth with the wooden skewer, which was another habit Yukiko had long since abandoned trying to rectify. The sunlight was blocked-opaque, not a cloud-and she turned to see Yosuke sliding into the bench next to her.
"Sorry I'm late." Yosuke dropped his backpack on the table and winced slightly at Chie, who was side-eyeing him. "Do you really have to do that? It's so unfeminine."
"Guys!" Rise's voice cracked over the speakers. She looked on the verge of tears. "This is serious! I don't know what to do! I need help!"
"Sorry, sorry." Yosuke carded his fingers through his hair. "What's going on? What happened?"
"A fan found out I'm a Persona user!"
Yukiko took a strange pleasure in watching labile facial expressions. Yosuke's eyes widened, held for a moment; he gaped at the screen. His hand was frozen in his hair. He finally finished running his fingers through and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Holy shit, you serious?"
"Does it look like I'm not serious?!" Tears ran when she closed her eyes. She sniffed, rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, and continued glaring at the webcam. She was clutching her legs so hard her knuckles strained white.
"No! I-I'm-" Yosuke sighed and rubbed the back of his neck again. "Sorry. How did you... I mean, what happened?"
"I don't know. A fan approached me when I was leaving a photoshoot this morning and asked me if it was true I was a Persona user. I was really shocked, I mean, I didn't even play it cool or anything, like I should have. I tried to brush him off and look really confused, but it... it wasn't very convincing, I guess." Rise sniffed and wiped her nose with a pink tissue from a flower-gauze box. "I'm usually really good at that, but I was so shocked, and I bet he's one of those crazy fans who has hidden cameras and posts on the message boards and... all that." She blinked several times and stared at the tissue in her hands on her dresser. "He knew... a lot of things he really shouldn't know. Really specific stuff."
"What, more specific than knowing you're a Persona user?"
Rise did not look up at Chie. She was silent for a few moments. "He... knew about Himiko. And Kanzeon."
"What?!" Yosuke's hand dropped from his nape. "How?"
"And he knew I was support during battles, not actually fighting, and he..." She hugged her knees tighter. "...asked if I was always okay with people taking command. Like, he had this look; I know what he was talking about. It was so gross and... creepy. I really got scared."
"What the hell?" Yosuke blurted. "What is wrong with that guy?"
"I'll kick his ass!" Chie smacked her fist into her palm. Hers was open, righteous anger; unadulterated, unfiltered. A comforting thrill ran down Yukiko's spine, awe light in her stomach. Chie acting the prince still had this effect on her, after so many years. "Men who threaten women like that are the worst!"
"A lot of fans are like that. I mean, perverted like that. I can handle that. There are always going to be obsessed stalkers when you're an idol." She shivered and rested her chin on her knees. "But this will be all over the message boards. And it just invites more people to be weird..."
"Have you looked up any of these sites?" asked Yukiko.
Rise shook her head. "I don't want to right now. That's my manager's job; he's going to check things out and decide what I should do. We have people that monitor the boards full time. It's really weird, like, their entire job is them tracking every time I come up online. And they're always finding out things, like, this swimsuit wasn't popular, or this group thinks I look fat in this picture, or whatever. It's really exhausting. There are people whose lives are dedicated to following everything I do. It's... I don't know..."
"Creepy?" said Chie.
"I don't even feel like a person anymore sometimes. Sometimes it feels like I'm watching another person's life, or acting out a character's life. Just so I can have my own. They have to have something, or they'll start digging deeper into my life. But this is going to make it way worse."
Yosuke had rested his laptop on his legs and was typing, hit 'enter', and waited for a moment as something loaded. His eyes widened, and he moved his finger over the touch pad, clicked a few times.
"You guys have to see this."
"What?" Chie leaned over him. "What is it?"
Yosuke set his laptop on the table and turned the screen. Bright orange, sunny sky, a garish banner featuring Rise from the Calorie Magic photoshoot. "Risette Message Boards". The thread was titled "conformation of the pictures and location!", sub-board of Risette World, under the main board. She blinked and leaned forward to see the text more clearly. Chie hissed and stiffened next to her.
ShoutFriendsAlpha
ok guys I finished the analysis of the pictures. looks like they really are taken in Yaso-Inaba 0_0 but that makes sense since we already know thats her hometown. On further analysis I conclude the pictures aren't shopped. kuma's bear-form or whatever we're calling it is the mascot for the local junes (for more on the evil of Junes, go to the politics sub-board) so at least that looks legit. also I did a background search on the other people he mentions and it looks like they're real people, at least, and they're all high school students in inaba. Amagi Inn anyway is a real place, and I've done some digging and apparently the Shirogane family has been detectives for generations, real hardcore stuff. 0_0 Nao-chan is ranked 0.5% in the national exams. any of you guys in the Inaba area know anything?
calorie_magician_69
i cant believe you guys are falling for this jeez -_-;;;;;;
loving_Rise247
Yeah, it's really weird. I'm a Yasogami High alumni, haven't been back to Inaba in years, though. Anyway these are all real places Kuma talks about, well, the Junes is new, but you can see Daidara Ironworks in the background of the Risette picture (I can't believe that old man is still around!) and Amagi Inn's always been there. My folks are friends with the owners. Yukiko is their daughter; that much I remember, but she was so little when I last saw her, and really shy. She really has blossomed into a beautiful lady. And Tatsumi Textiles has been there forever; they did have a son, but I guess he grew into a real punk? I did hear the father passed away a few years ago.
Looking at these pictures is making me a little sad, actually. The Shopping District really is being killed by Junes. Fucking corporate monsters. But I won't get off topic here; that's in the politics board.
calorie: If you don't have anything else to say, fuck off.
calorie_magician_69
no i mean well yeah these look like real pictures i mean we know Rise-chan is from Inaba so that isn't a surprise I'm sure she made some friends there, but all this Persona stuff? i thought this urban legend had died years ago.
Venus_loveandbeautyshock
calorie: what urban legend? 0_0
calorie_magician_69
Venus you really should google stuff before asking stupid questions. Apparently there are some government doccuments that claim all this Persona and demon stuff happened about ten years ago, and again like two years ago? Supposedly somebody hacked into it and everybody thinks its this huge conspiracy thing. The original hacker can't PROVE he didn't pull that out of his ass but you know, once an idea gets out... -_- it's like the autism vaccine thing. also apparently the Kirijo zaibatsu was making weapons or something weird, like, thats the real reason behind that explosion at the research facility. whatever there are literally a billion theories about that, some people claim it was aliens, some people claim it was terrorists, whatever -_- People love to believe exciting things like that, so they're easily lead astray.
Rise-lover_1
oh well im so glad calorie is here to tell us ignorant zombies were full of shit. people dont only believe this because they want to belive something cool; there are countless documents on this. educate yourself. learn the truth. or you can be lead around by big brother the government if thats more comforting. youd be shocked to kkow what they hide from us. apparently calorie would rather be anesthitized with the masses then know the truth
calorie_magician_69
Oh really Rise-lover_1? And what is it they hide from us? Do you have any sources?
perkyXbouncy
i dont know calorie maybe you shoud look it up :p
the-one-in-the-hat *MOD
Gentlemen, if you can't be civil, I'm going to lock this thread. I've already PMed calorie and Rise-lover about this. You're also getting way off topic. This is about Shout's work.
If you really want to talk about government conspiracies, there's a thread for it under misc.
perkyXbouncy
so what should we go look these people up or what i mean theyd know this stuff about rise if it was true right? and we could confirm this? like we know their school and stuff it shouldnt be hard to figure out where they live i mean inaba is really small rite?
i cant believe these guys got so close to rise-chan. especially this yu guy. i want to rip his balls off this is bullshit weve been fans for years, and he just showed up all of a sudden. he doesnt deserve her or know what hes got.
that yukiko-chan is pretty cute thou. i wouldn't mind double-teaming her and Risette, if you know what I mean. and i can see why that guy has a sister complex i mean damn.
the-one-in-the-hat *MOD
perky, this is your last warning re: discussing stalking or other illegal activities. KEEP IT OFF THE BOARD.
And for what it's worth, talking about "deserving" or "not deserving" is stupid. Risette is a human being. We all want her to be happy, don't we? Even if we are jealous... :D Seriously though this is the kind of stuff that makes us look bad. And I've already banned you from the Adult boards for lolicon stuff. This probation really isn't going very well.
love*iswar
I wouldn't worry about it. I mean perky hasn't left his room in years except to go to the konbini at night, has he? Well, maybe this is a reason for you to finally leave the house.
Also you should probably watch where you talk about finding nine-year-olds sexually attractive. It'll come back to haunt you. Nothing dies on the Internet.
"That bastard! I'll break his kneecaps!"
Yukiko jumped slightly. Chie had stood up and was jumping from foot to foot, coiled anger and energy. She turned back to the screen, hand still over her mouth. Her stomach curled again. Black on orange, poor grammar, some guy talking about her. Talking about where she lived. Blood rushed from her head and she steadied herself on the table with a shaking hand.
"Talking about women like they're objects! He's disgusting!"
"What the hell is all this about?" Yosuke's voice was hollow, dry.
"Kuma, they said..." Yukiko swallowed and sat up a little straighter. Amaterasu uncurled slightly in her chest, a comforting strength, ember-bright. I am not helpless anymore. "Here, this guy said it was Kuma who told them this. What does that mean...?"
Yosuke turned the screen back toward him and started clicking around. Rise was chewing her lip and hunched further into her folded knees.
"What is it? What did they say?"
"Some creepy bastard was talking about you and Yukiko and Nanako-chan like..." She rubbed her elbow. "...well, anyway, saying really creepy things. Like..."
Rise's eyes widened. "Yukiko-chan and Nananko-chan? But why them? I mean, how...?"
"I'm trying to figure that out," said Yosuke.
Rise sighed and shrugged. "Well, I'm used to that. I have security to protect me from stalkers and stuff. It's part of being an idol. They'll only see what they want to see, you know, the 'Risette' that is perfect to them." She looked up at Yukiko. "But it really is kind of scary to see that, I mean, it always gets me a little bit."
Yukiko rested her bent finger on her mouth again. "Do you... I mean, has anybody... ever done that to you? Do you think-"
"I'll be Yukiko-chan's guard." Chie slapped her fist into her palm. "If anybody gets near her, I'll kill them."
"Usually nothing comes of those messages, I mean, like, ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time, even though it's really creepy. But, yeah, it's still scary. Makes you feel kind of... dirty, I guess." Somebody called for her, and she yelled back over her shoulder. "I have to go. We'll talk later."
The chat window popped white, seemed to recoil from the muted pop signaling the call had ended.
"What the fuck is this?!"
Yosuke turned his computer back toward them. They were silent; the background MIDI was clear and grating, cheery and poorly-looped. It was a melody Yukiko had heard multiple times, but had no idea what it was actually called. Chie finally made a choking noise.
"W-what the hell?"
The website was garish, a facsimile of poor taste in the most iconic late-90s fashion. Poorly-tiled background of a photograph-the one of them at the train station the day Yu had left-white text overlaid, nearly impossible to read. The heading-KUMAS blog!-was in glittery, spinning word art; the table borders showed default, code grey, and various gifs jerked about, pixelated, without context or organization, slapdash about the layout in clearly broken tables. One picture showed only as a transparent border with a red X in the corner, alt text reading "FLYING CAT!" The text was un-aligned, the side column one character wide, and half the tags were unclosed.
KUMAS blog!
HI! my name is kuma and this is my webpage! im BEAR-y happy your here and im going to tell you about me and my amazing friends! i live in yasoinaba in japan its a really small town and it rains a lot but i used to live inside the TV and had no friends. But now i have friends and i can go back and forth! :D
[[clearly self-taken shot, poor angle]]
this is me in my normal form arent I cute?! :3 i have super soft fur girls love and im really charming :D i used to be hollow inside but sensei (ill talk about him later!) helped me figur out I'm not and i have a ego (is that what its called?) and all that and even though i do'nt know where i came from its all okay because now I have friends and a PERSONA! ill talk about personas later ^_^
[[self-taken shot of human form, winking, pursing lips]]
this is me in my human form! im single ladies so you shold send me email ^_~ (thats me winking at you)
[[ill-focused picture of Kamui]]
this is my PERSONA! (or BEAR-SONA ^_~) hes KAMUI and he used to be KINTOKI-DOUJI but i learned about myself and he changed so now he's more powerful! sensei helped me do that! look he has big claws and stuff like me! oh yeah i have BEAR claws i wear on my hands their really cool weapons ^_~ but anyway kamui has ice and healing skills and nao-chan (shes a real detective and really smart ill talk about HER later! says hes an old ainu god i dont know much about ainu and colective inconsciss and arkatipes anyway kintokidouji had a really cool cape and i miss it but kamui is more powerful and thats good when your fighting shadows
[[photo of Junes, clearly ripped off as watermark is still on picture]]
this is where I work JUNES where EVERY DAYS GREAT ^_~ and i work with my BEAR-y best buddy yosuke! i get to hand out balloons and spin signs and once i went to the shopping district to spin a sign because i thought it would help but yosuke got real mad and said it would make us look like total assholes since were taking all the shopping districts customers and it could be a P-arrr nightmare so i dont do that anymore. but you can still see me at JUNES! i really dont like working in the summer tho because its realy hot and once i passed out on the sidewak but im okay now. of course im okay or otherwise i wouldnt be here talking to you! well were not really talking but you know what i mean ^_~ Junes is also where the TV we jumped into is they have big flatscreens so people (and bears ^_~) can fit inside it. they keep calling me kumada though thats not my name its KUMA!
okay now ill introduss you to my FRIENDS! :D :D :D :D
[[unflattering picture of Yosuke hunched at his computer, boxers and undershirt]]
this is YOSUKE captin resechimat! hes really cool and he has a persona named susano-o it used to be jirya and he uses wind magic and healing (but not as good healing as me ^_~). ill try to get a picture of him but he looks like a frog and he wears one of those white suits like that guy in that movie ANYWAY were ROOMMATES! well since the tv world was saved ive been living there most of the time but still. he has a really big house his parents are super rich and nice and his dad manages Junes and i live in a closet in yosukes room so we hang out all the time!
[[picture of Yosuke's room; the closet in the far corner has a sign that reads "Kuma's Room" over the doorframe]]
this is our room well my room is that closet its really big but anyway we hang out the tv is really nice and thats his bike (but he crashes it all the time ^_~) and there are pictures of BEAR-y attractive girls on the walls but dont worry, i still have time for all the ladies ^_~ yosuke likes to listen to music he always has his big headphones on when we fight anyway he has really good taste in music a lot of its in english even though he doesnt speak english but a lot of its in japanese too! except i speak english i speak everything i dont know why i guess its because im from the TV world. anyway we listen to cds and my favorit is lady gaga (shes American!) i really like dancing to it and shes really pretty and morning musume (they're so cute ^_~) DJ OZMA is good too i like to dance to his music too. yosukes favorit is niklback and l'arc~en~ciel but im not suposed to tell anybody because theyd give him crap for it anyway we lisen to lots of good music and hang out! oh and of course we're both BEAR-y big fans of our frend Rise-chan! shes a real live IDOL 0_0 and ill talk more about her later
oh thats my dress i wore in the beauty pagent its based off this story called alice in wonderland i watched with yuki-chan (shes another friend!) and i really liked it its kind of like the tv anyway i won! i told you i was BEAR-y cute ^_~ you should BEAR that in mind ^_~ ^_~
[[poorly-cropped picture of Yu, from a group photo]]
oh yea lets talk about SENSEI! his name is narukami yu but i call him SENSEI because hes always teaching me things and hes super talented and smart and tough and he lead our INVESTIGATION TEAM (ill talk more about that later ^_~) but he moved back to the city and i miss him a lot, but hes gonna come back and visit! :D :D :D anyway he helped me face my tru self and my shadow turned into a persona and then he helped me figure more stuff out and we talked a lot. hes a very good friend and hes very smart. not as smart as nao-chan but he knows more about life and stuff than she does anyway he understod everybody and he can summon DIFFERENT PERSONAS! 0_0 thats really amazing hes the only one who can i dont know why i think its because hes so good at understanding people, because you have to understand people to use them and its really complicated anyway i can only use one and i think its really neat. anywya his cosin Nanako-chan is real cute i think he has a sister complecks (0_0)
[[picture of Nanako in a sundress eating a popsicle]]
oh this is NANAKO-CHAN! shes sensei's cousin but she calls him onii-chan and isn't she SUPER CUTE? ^_~ shes sweet and mature and cute and kind and im really glad shes alive because she almost died after she got thrown into the tv world. she was lucky since she didnt form a shadow i think its because she accepted it, nao-chan thinks it might be because shes so young. ANYWAY she was super lonely because her mom died ;_; and her dad worked all the time but now she has lots of friends! shes super responsibl and stuff she cooks and does laundry even tho shes so young!
[[picture of Nanako dressed as Witch Detective Loveline. Caption: Isn't she SO CUTE?! 0_0]]
[[image of Yukiko cropped from an old article, in yukata]]
this is yukiko-chan shes really pretty and sweet and her persona can use FIRE! anyway shes super nice and smart and always hangs out with Chie-chan their best friends. anyway konohana sakuya is really pretty to so is amaterasu anyway shes really powerful at magic may be more powerful than me (dont tell ^_~) but anyway yuki-chans going to run the amagi in but shes really bad at cooking but dont tell her i said that ^_~ the amagi in is real nice it has hot springs. anyway she was the first person we rescued from the TV and she was a princess and now shes not waiting for her prince to save her but anyway she does gyaku-nan* and she said shed show us her panties but she hasnt done that yet. i bet their really nice. its okay yuki-chan, ill be your hot stud :3 she laughs a lot sometimes she starts laughing and cant breathe because shes laughing so hard ^_^ i really like laughing too!
[[picture of Chie lounging and eating a steak stick]]
oh this is chie-chan as i said shes really close with yuki-chan anyway shes real tough and brave and someday shes going to be a police officer! I cant wait to see her in her uniform *_* yuki and her hang out a lot theyv nown each other for years, chie is sort of like a prince if yukiko is a princess i mean like she's always protecting her idk. *_* her persona is tomoe and then suzuka gongen their both tough girl warriors just like chie-chan! she can use some ice magic (not nearly as strong as me tho ^_~) but mostly shes just super strong and kicks shadows ass-s. oh she LOVES meat ^_^ shes THE CARNIVOR WHO REGEKTD WOMANHOD! her favorit is stake we go get stake all the time ^_~ anyway she didt get thron into the tv but her shadow was real scary it was this woman with a whip sitting on a bunch of girls anyway it was kind of hot i dont kno why *_* but shes okay now. well of course shes okay otherwise she wouldnt have a persona! ^_~
[[picture of Naoto from the Amagi Inn hot spring Kuma somehow got]]
oh its NAO-CHAN! shes actually a girl (you can see that ^_~) and yeah she has really nice boobs but usually their hidden i dont know why their really nice *_* anyway we thought nao-chan was a boy! (! 0_0 !) for a long time she has a really deep voice and says 'boku'* and wears a boys uniform but shes still really pretty no matter what she wears ask kanji ^_~ she thot people wouldnt respect her if they knew she was a girl i dont kow why thats pretty stupid (not her, people ^_~) anyway she's a GENIUS! 0_0 shes a real detective but she doesnt have a magic mirror she has a REAL GUN! 0_0 her shadow was even a mad scientist it was really scary 0_0 her personas sukuna-hikona and yamato-takeru are real small just like her but their real powerful they use dark and light magic and nao-chan is really smart she finds enemys weakness-s (not as good as Rise-chan thou) and thinks a lot about stuff. kanji-kun is in love with her he gets all red and stutters when shes around. but hell have to get through me first -_- (this is me glaring)
[[picture of Rise posing with human Kuma, peace signs]]
Oh yeah this is RISE-CHAN! shes a real idol shes called risette and shes super famous and super talented and super pretty! her shadow said she was going to BEAR it all for us but it didnt we beat it and anyway my shadow showed up a shadow after that so we didnt have time -_- anyway her personas ar himiko and kanzeon and she doesnt fight but she supports us and scans the enemy and its really amazing *_* oh yeah shes senseis girlfriend! but dont tell anyone its supposed to be a secret ^_~ their really cute togeher anywa she took a break for a while she was really stressed out and worked with her grandma at marukyu Tofu (its really good by the way you should go! ^_~ but im glad Rise-chan doesn't make it she makes everything really spicy ^_^;;) and she was even in yasogami high for a while with sensei and everybody else (and she was gorgeous in her uniform *_*) she was sad people only knew one side of her thats risette but she has lots of sides to her and im sure youd love all of her toO! she just kant show that because of p-arr (again what is that? 0_0) and manetaneing an ilushon (?) but thats realy hard on her i think p-arr is stupid if it meens you cant be yourself. anyway shes tougher than she looks and really versitile just like tofu well maybe she lerned that from tofu? just kidding! ^_~ she way pretyier than tofu but her skin is as soft trust me i felt it ^_~ but shes also a super nice person so thats more important than being pretty but shes still really pretty! and she can sing and dance BEAR-y well! she promised wed do karaoke we still havnt done it yet.
[[picture of Kanji looking sidelong at the camera while crocheting]]
this is Kanji-kun! he looks super mean but dont worry hes actually super nice well he acts real gruff and tells people to get bent a lot but hes real nice deep down ^_^ hes a big guy real muscular and hes real tough in battle (he even uses chairs and tables and stuff as weapons 0_0) and his personas take-mikazuchi and rokuten-maoh are really big too theyll lay the smackdown on your ass ^_^ anyway kanji uses lightning its really cool and believe it or not hes super good at nitting and croshaying and sowing and all that craft stuff (even thoh he doesnt look like it!) he lives at tatsumi tekstiles so it makes sense hed like crafts anyway one of the reasons he acts so tuff is people made fun of him for liking that stuff and being a boy and i think thats stupid! (people not kanji ^_~) so he acts kind of tuff cause of that but now hes okay with beeing manly and tough AND liking cute things ^_^ people dont have to be stayiohtipes their real compleks. anyway so yea he rejekted people before they could rejectk him but its okay now he has us! and it dosnt matter what anybody else thinks! oh i think hes gay? i dont know well he cant be gay if he likes nao-chan ^_^;; (well nao-chan said theres a spektrum of seckusality so you dont have to be gay or strait so thats cool i like girls tho ^_^;;) but he liked her before we knew she was a girl but anyway his shadow was in a fundoshi looking for men in the bad bad bathhouse (0_0) anyway maybe he likes guys and girls i dont think he knows ether but that dosnt mater because hes our kanji and thats most important! oh and his real hair is black he bleechs it ^_~
"Oh, you found my webpage!"
Yukiko started again. Kuma was leaning over them in human form and looking at the screen, infuriatingly pleased.
"I worked BEAR-y hard on it. I hope-GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK."
Yosuke had grabbed him by the neck and was shaking, hard. Kuma continued to yell strange, gurgling distress noises. Several people had turned toward them.
"Shut up!" Yosuke yelled. "What the hell have you done?"
Kuma gasped and keened in a high-pitched whine. "Y-Y-Y-Yosuke, y-y-ou're hur-r-r-r-rting-"
"Hanamura-kun, stop!"
Yukiko stood and grabbed Yosuke by the wrist, his pulse twitched under her thumb, rolling between tendons, and pulled his hand back as he relaxed. Kuma rubbed his throat and babbled something about Yosuke hurting him, what was that all about, he thought they were friends-
"Kuma-kun." It took considerable effort to keep her voice calm; it came out strained and low. "When did you put this online?"
"Ah-" Kuma slid his hand from his throat to rub the back of his neck. "Let me think. It was before breakfast yesterday, so-"
"Yesterday."
"Y-yeah. Yuki-chan, why are you glaring at me like that?" He looked over at Chie, who was barely restraining coiled, violent energy with her hands on her hips. "Chie-chan...?"
"Shut up!" Her voice was cracking. "What were you thinking?"
"What was I thinking?" Oh God, he really doesn't understand. "Ah... well, I'd started working on it a few days ago, Tuesday I think, and I really wanted it to be good, so I took my time uploading it, and it didn't get done until this morning..."
"No!" Yosuke rubbed his forehead. "What were you thinking when you made this in the first place? Do you have no fucking brain?"
"Hey! I wrote really nice things about you!"
"That's... debatable, and really beside the point." Yosuke sighed. "Pervy comments aside-"
"Yeah!" said Yukiko. "When are you going to drop this whole 'gyaku-nan' thing? That isn't the kind of thing you tell people!"
Though he could be annoying, it was hard to feel completely skeezed out by Kuma. It had taken them a while to figure out why. Chie and Yukiko had finally agreed it came from some nebulous lack of entitlement a lot of guys seemed to have. He just blurted what he thought completely innocently, without any regard for context or society or history. It was probably also the only reason Chie had not broken his nose by now.
And the sometimes he really had no sense of social context.
"I didn't tell people! I put it on my webpage!"
"What the hell do you think a webpage is, you stupid bear!?"
"Hey!" Kuma hunched his shoulders and glared at Yosuke. "I'm not stupid! I know what a webpage is! It's a cool thing to show my friends and learn about me and stuff!"
"Wha-" Chie's face went slack with shock. "You don't get that anybody can look up your webpage?"
"If people are searching for Kuma, I'll tell them about me."
"NO!" Yosuke rubbed his temples between forefinger and thumb. "Anybody who is looking up anything to do with anything on your web page can find it. Do you know how search engines work? They don't have to be looking up Kuma the Biggest Dumbfucker Bear on Earth to get to your webpage."
"HEY!"
"Kuma, anything you wrote about can be looked up on there," said Yukiko. "Like, say... Kujikawa Rise, for example."
"Oh, yeah, Rise-chan has lots of fans, doesn't she?" He smiled and clapped. "Ooh! That means a lot of people will visit my website!"
"That's not a good thing!" Chie yelled.
"Wait..." Yukiko turned back to the laptop, which had mercifully stopped looping the background MIDI. "How many people have visited your website, anyway?"
"Oooh, there's a hit counter thing at the bottom. Let's check that out."
"For what it's worth..." Yosuke leaned back as Kuma leaned over him to scroll down the screen. "Nobody's used a hit counter or background MIDI on a webpage since, like, 1999."
"Aha!" Kuma stood up. A faux-digital counter at the bottom of the page read 101,421 hits. "Kuma's already super popular!"
"Oh my fucking God..." Yosuke groaned.
"One-hundred-and-one thousand hits?" Chie's entire face had gone slack. "Since this morning?"
"Is that a lot?"
"YES." Yosuke tabbed into one of the Risette message board threads. "And it's like 99% people like this!"
Kuma leaned back over and squinted at the screen. His neck was inches from Yukiko's face; he smelled of clean laundry, cotton, warm. She looked toward peripheral movement at the patio doors; Kanji was walking up drinking from a soda fountain cup.
"Sorry I'm late." He looked over them, Kuma reading the screen, moving his lips; Yosuke with his head in his hand, Chie wan but rigid, hands shoved into her jacket pockets. Yukiko looked back down at her folded hands.
"Hi."
"Hey, what the hell's going on here?" He met Chie's eyes, blinked, looked down at Yukiko, who returned to determinedly focusing on the pattern of her skirt. Otherwise she might start crying. "Guys...?"
She felt Chie move, walk around the table to sit next to her, put her arm around her shoulders. Lean, corded muscle through windbreaker fabric, lavender-scented deodorant and clean sweat. Yukiko grabbed her dangling hand and leaned into her side, head on her shoulder. Chie squeezed her hand; her stomach calmed, the muscles in her back relaxed.
"Wha..." Kanji was still looking back and forth, jaw slack. "Did-did somebody die or somethin'?"
"Oh, you're in trouble now, Kuma." Kuma did not look up from his reading at Yosuke. "Wait until Kanji-kun reads what you wrote about him."
"Wr...wrote about me? 'the hell are you talking about?"
"Rrrraaaaaawrrr!" Kuma's eyes re-focused, hard, and he smacked his palms into the table on either side of the laptop. Yukiko jumped. "What is wrong with people? That is so rude!"
"Now you're getting an idea of the kind of people finding this?" Yosuke looked up from his hand as Kanji walked around the table and leaned over Kuma to stare at the screen. He squinted slightly.
"The Risette Lovers Message Board...? 'the hell you lookin' at that?"
"Our wonderful, brilliant friend here has decided to make a webpage about us."
"A-about us? What do you mean?"
Yosuke leaned over and clicked something. Kanji leaned down further; Kuma slinked away so he could sit on the bench. Kanji blinked, his eyes widened, re-focused, and read down the page. Yukiko leaned back into Chie's warmth, more comforting than she would admit, and watched his expressions. Shocked, irritated, flustered, confused. Finally angry. His expression froze on angry.
"Ah..." Kuma stood up. "I've got to get back to my shift."
"Don't you fucking dare!"
Yukiko winced as Kanji sprung up and grabbed Kuma by the back of his collar; Chie's arm tightened instinctively. Kuma made a high-pitched keening noise and grabbed at Kanji's hand.
"K-Kanji-kun, pleeeease-"
"Shut up!-"
"Hey!" Now it was Yosuke's turn to rescue Kuma from being strangled. He tugged at Kanji's wrist. "Would you pipe down? People are really starting to stare at us!"
People were really starting to stare at them. Kanji made a 'tsk' noise and shook Kuma free. Kuma rubbed his throat.
"Mou! That really hurt!"
"You shut up."
"What, 'shut up, shut up', is that all you have to say?"
"OKAY!" Yosuke braced and struck Kanji in the chest with his forearm before he could lunge forward. "Maybe we should take this somewhere else?"
Chie snorted softly. "You're actually being the voice of reason here?"
"Shut up!"
It was a very inappropriate time to start giggling. But it bubbled up, carrying sour bile, and Yukiko had to cover her mouth for a few moments. The bile-tasted spread out on her tongue, sick fear, and she stopped, now almost on the verge of tears.
Oh that's really useful. Become hysterical.
"Yukiko-chan..."
Yukiko shook her head furiously and covered her eyes, then buried her face in Chie's shoulder. Chie sighed and rubbed her back. Deodorant, hint of sweat, decidedly female, humid in her trapped breath. The boys had gone silent. Finally, she heard Yosuke sigh.
"Look, let's just go back to my house, all right? We can-try to kill each other there."
"This is a huge breach in security. You do realize that, don't you?"
Naoto narrowed her eyes and huffed into her tea, sending steam over her upper lip. Mitsuru stared at her.
"I am not taking this lightly, if that is what you mean."
"There has been a manifold interest in the Persona rumors since yesterday morning. We could tolerate a few diehard enclaves and conspiracy nuts, but this is making its way into the mainstream. Interest in the Incident has spiked. This has all been given fresh validation by that stupid webpage."
"But all of it is true."
"Yes, that is the problem." Mitsuru poured Naoto more tea, and Naoto automatically reciprocated, standing slightly to lean over the table. The limo was smooth enough that this was not difficult. "This is the last thing we need right now. I thought the only problem we would have is your friends trying to get involved in the hijacking case behind our backs."
Naoto smirked and sat back. "You know about that?"
"Of course we know those idiots are going to try to get involved, especially after that cartoonish display of pointed nonchalance when I told them not to get involved." Mitsuru smiled slightly and shrugged, eyes closed. "But I would have expected no less of them anyway."
"They aren't exactly subtle, are they?"
"Yamagishi has been trying to trace the rumor intensity and validation as it moves up through more reputable sources, and is entertained by more reputable people. People who, when they spread rumors, have others believe them. There is a lot of noise in this, you know, as information tends to get exaggerated and distorted as it is passed along, but that is small consolation right now."
"You don't think the distortion of information will help shield you?"
"Have you heard of the Sumaru City incident?"
Naoto blinked and set her cup down. Something about that tugged at the back of her mind, a ghost along the back of her brain, but when she tried to follow the thread it presented through her memory, the information slid out as though through a sieve.
"It sounds familiar."
"The space around Sumaru City is still fractured. It flares up in our equipment, and usually just scrambles any scans we try to perform. What little Yamagishi can sense with Juno seems like a dimensional fold, or two alternate timelines superimposed in the same space. The people who lived there are also fractured entities. It's like two dimensions co-existing in a bubble of our reality. It should not be physically possible. You're familiar with the Kuzunoha Clan, I assume. I understand they have a complicated history with the Shirogane Clan."
"Complicated and long, yes."
"They had a satellite office there during the incident. A couple of their operatives who were working there at the time were Persona users, years before that. I think that allowed them to be aware of their own fractured existence. Anyway, they said that around that time rumors had this magical ability to come true, just by being spread. It was as though the minds of the people created their physical reality."
Naoto blinked. Mitsuru sighed and took a deep drink of you tea.
"What I'm getting at is: be careful what you wish for." She pushed the intercom button on her armrest. "What's our status?"
"About five minutes out."
She nodded and removed her finger. Naoto twisted to look out the window, but it was quite opaque, and night had already fallen. They still had to be in Yaso-Inaba, though. They had not been driving that long from their meeting in the junkyard. The lights were spaced as one would expect in a residential area.
The car stopped. Mitsuru opened the door and stepped out, Naoto following. She looked around and frowned.
"The Hanamura residence?"
Mitsuru smiled and shrugged. "I have it on good authority most of our party is gathering here."
The Hanamura family was probably the most affluent in Inaba. Their house reflected this. But it was country rich, still clashing with Mitsuru's luxuriant fur (fake, Naoto had found out after burning a fiber she had found left on her jacket) and designer boots. But Mitsuru made every place she went seem tawdy in comparison to her regal composure. She had an animal grace-of an exotic and gorgeous animal, to be sure, but there was certainly a queen-like composure, cat-like distance. She is very openly a woman, and yet, she is utterly respected. Did she have to fight for that? Or is her aura just that powerful?
What can I do to be that powerful?
Yosuke's mother answered the door, blinking and none-too-subtly looking Mitsuru over in shock. Naoto removed her hat and bowed slightly.
"Hanamura-san, good evening."
"Oh... Naoto-kun." She blinked and stood aside to allow them in. Naoto could toe her shoes off, but Mitsuru had to lean against the wall to pull off knee-high boots. "Everybody else is gathered in the den. Is this some kind of... meeting for school?"
Mitsuru smiled and bowed. "I thank you for your invitation into your home. I am Kirijo Mitsuru, president of the Kirijo Group. I am here to discuss a scholarship opportunity with these students."
Naoto started and stared openly at Mitsuru, whose eyes were still on Yosuke's mom. She blustered-had been fidgeting since she heard 'Kirijo'-and wrung her hands in her apron.
"A-ah-scholarship? From the Kirijo Group?"
"Indeed. We seek out exceptional students and offer them a rather marvelous opportunity."
Yosuke's mom blinked, obviously struggling with the idea of her son belonging to the category of "exceptional students", as Mitsuru slid past her down the hall. Naoto padded after her.
"Scholarship?" she whispered.
"Indeed."
Everybody looked up when Mitsuru slid the den door open. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and Kanji were sitting around a low table with a tea spread. Naoto could see around Mitsuru's shoulder, but she assumed she was not visible until Mitsuru stepped into the room and fluffed her hair out behind her. She automatically focused on Kanji. For a split second he started to grin, open and spontaneous, but immediately sobered and stared down to drink his tea, shifting uncomfortably. His face was growing red.
People had always told Naoto despite her piercing observational skills she was absolutely oblivious to social cues that, to everybody else, were glaringly obvious. Well, apparently that defect was more pronounced than she had thought. Her nickname in that stupid tournament contained the phrase "KY Detective", so it must have been a prominent issue of enough severity to warrant being characterized by it. She was not sure if it was a functional blind-spot, or if she just had never cared enough to notice. But after reading Kuma's amazingly ill-conceived webpage (and wondering where the hell he had gotten those bathhouse pictures), she realized she might be missing a lot more than she thought.
Surely there were signs Kanji had something of a crush on her. Even she had noticed that. But Kuma's diction implied that it was...quite pronounced, for lack of a better observation. Now each tick in his body language stood out dramatically, and, in retrospect, there were past cues that were about as subtle as a sledgehammer.
"Where is the bear?"
Mitsuru's voice yanked her back. She realized she had been fiddling with the brim of her cap, and that her own cheeks felt quite hot. This is stupid. She turned slightly and pulled the cap lower over her face, realized as she did it that was an even more telling gesture, and tried to pretend she was just re-adjusting it.
"I don't know," said Yosuke. "He must have gone back into the TV or something. He just said he'd be right back a while ago and he hasn't shown back up. Good riddance."
"Yosuke-kun!" Yukiko snapped.
"What? It's his damn fault we're in this mess. That's why you guys showed up, right?"
Well, of course, it makes sense he'd feel a kinship. We've both struggled with being gender-nonconforming in a unforgiving world. Sometimes that close a connection masquerades as romantic interest.
"Shirogane."
We do care about each other. We've been through a lot together, as part of the group, after all. Adolescent hormones and inexperience make it hard to differentiate between a deep, platonic bond, and romantic love.
Besides, I'm in love with Yu-sempai.
"Shirogane!"
Naoto started. Everybody was staring at her. She flushed hotter, automatically fiddled with her cap and pulled it lower (though she knew it was a huge tell, it was too uncomfortable not to), and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Mitsuru sighed and faced the group again.
"Right. I had a feeling that would happen. We've already put operatives in place to intercept him should he go there."
"Operatives?" said Chie.
"One of our agents already spoke to Narukami this morning. I've sent him in with Yamagishi and Labrys. Yamagishi has tracking abilities like Kujikawa, but stronger."
"Well, if anybody could get Kuma to come back, it would be him," said Yosuke.
"You made Labrys-chan go back into the TV world?"
Mitsuru turned to Chie, who was standing with her hands on her hips. Yukiko had turned and was glaring. Yosuke made a small noise.
"Satonaka, what the hell? Sit down!"
"After all she's been through in there? You just threw her right back in, so soon after all that happened? Did you not think about how that would make her feel?"
"Labrys chose to go back."
"Huh?"
"During the briefing, today, she volunteered to go back. She wanted to go. She was the first one to predict-rightly-that it was where he would go."
They were silent for a while. Finally, Naoto cleared her throat.
"You said something about a scholarship."
"Oh, yes." Mitsuru opened her eyes. "You remember Tatsumi Port Island, don't you?"