Still Sunday, April 21, 2013

After meeting up at the food court, our group walked around Junes, talking about what we'd been up to and looking at different products. I was actually having a lot of fun, until it came to my turn to talk about what I'd been doing lately.

I panicked, knowing I couldn't tell them I'd been playing a videogame that wouldn't start development for another twenty years. "Um, just been reading books." I lied.

"That's cool." Chie encouraged me. "It's always good to crack open a book once in a while."

"Not that you ever do." Yosuke jibed at her.

"Hey, I crack a book sometimes."

Yukiko started laughing uncontrollably. "Chie, that's funny." She gasped.

I giggled, too. I was glad that Chie had already explained about her training, so my laugh made sense. In reality, I was laughing because her latest televised fight happened to involve her ripping a book in half from a single kick.

We continued talking about different books until we reached the electronics department. A hush went over the group. I fell silent because I was standing in the exact spot where, in my time, I'd disappeared. I didn't know why they stopped talking.

"Hey, so, aren't these TVs huge?" Rise tried to lighten the mood.

"Big enough to fit through." I smiled, but everyone else laughed nervously. I put my hand up to the screen of the closest TV. "To bad there's a barrier." I mused before catching myself. I'd started talking about the vortex by accident.

"Barrier?" Yosuke turned to me. "Wait, you know about it, too?" He put his hand on the screen next to mine.

"What?" I hadn't expected them to know about time travel.

Just then, I felt my hand falling closer to the TV. I turned and saw that it, along with Yosuke's, was inside the screen. In my surprise, I lost my balance and fell. I flailed my other arm and grabbed the closest thing, which happened to be Yosuke, who fell with me.

"Shiro, wake up!" Someone called to me.

I slowly opened my eyes. I was looking up at a ceiling covered in different fabrics. I turned my head and saw Rise kneeling beside me. Her friends were standing a little further away, looking around.

"What happened?" I asked, sitting up. "Was that TV a hologram?"

"No." Yu stepped forward. "We've entered the TV. I'm guessing you didn't know about it."

In the TV?! I swung my head around, taking in my surroundings. The room we were in looked like a distorted version of Tatsumi Textiles from my time.

"Where are we?" Yukiko asked, running a hand over a curtain of fabric. "This looks like the Textile shop."

"Hey, don't look at me! I didn't create this place!" Kanji yelled.

"What about me?" A voice came from further in the 'shop'. "Isn't it possible for me?"

We all turned and were met with the sight of a little girl with blond braids. She smiled at us, but it wasn't a warm smile.

"What if I said I wanted to follow in mom's footsteps?" she continued. "What if I said I was jealous of my brother? Can't I be a detective?"

"Who is that?" Chie voiced the question we were all thinking.

"Rise?" Yu turned to the idol. "She's already in here."

She nodded. "Persona!" She called. A woman with a satellite dish for a head appeared behind Rise and covered her eyes with a metal ring. "It's a shadow, that much is easy." She explained. "But, this doesn't make sense. How can a child that young have a shadow?"

"No one cares about you, you know." The little girl took a step toward us. "And why would they? When you avoid them at all costs. People are so scary."

Yosuke gasped. "Whoa, doesn't this sound like what Kanji's shadow said?"

"And that fist part sounded like Naoto's." Chie added. "Is she all of us combined?"

"I can do it, you know!" The girl yelled. "I just don't want to be a detective. I can be anything I want. So stop treating me like a baby!"

"Stop it!" I yelled back, causing everyone to look in my direction. "If you don't want to be treated like a baby, then stop acting like one!"

The girl grinned. "I'm not acting like anything. This is the real me. Didn't you hate it when your brother was allowed to play sports, but you had to stay home? Didn't you hate him?"

"Sure, I was annoyed, but I didn't want to play."

"You're still lying to yourself?" The girl walked up to me and grabbed my pendant. "I admired my father. He could beat the shit out of anyone. And mom could chase down any crook. Compared to them, I'd be better off in a wheelchair. I'm useless."

"Shut it!" I pushed her away. "You're really starting to make me mad, you know that! Who the hell are you?!"

"Shiro, you shouldn't use that language with a little kid." Yukiko warned me.

The girl ignored her. "I'm you, obviously." She started unbuttoning the front of her dress. "If you need proof, I'll show you."

She pulled the cloth away from her chest, revealing the long scar that ran from just below her collarbone to her navel. She smirked when everyone but me gasped. "Do you believe me now?"

I shook my head. "Impossible!"

"Don't say it!" Rise warned.

I gripped my shirt over my heart. "You may have the same scar, but that doesn't mean you're me! You can't be!"

"But I am you." She said in an overly-childish voice.

"Stop lying!" I took a step back. "I'm not like you! You aren't me!"

Shadow Confrontation! Writing this scene took a lot out of me, but I can't stop now. The next chapter will be up in a few days, so keep reading.