Persona: World And Judgement – Chapter Four

Someone To Talk To

Long time no see guys and girls! Welcome to the fourth chapter! I have some very important news on my profile for those who have read my Kingdom Hearts fanfics, so please take a look, because it could be crucial info! But enough of that, here we go! LET'S GT-R-DONE!

08/03 - Morning

The weather was no different from the day before, still unloading its reservoir of plummeting water onto the deep puddles and the saturated soils. But despite the downside, everyone could get a good night sleep since no silhouettes appeared on the Midnight Channel with the small TVs that sat on desks and chest drawers. But even so, it seemed odd for it to act this way.

Without a sound heard all morning, Yu walked down the stairs with his wallet full of Yens in his pocket in preparation for the day out in the town. But as he got halfway down the stairs, he looked past the banister to see Yukari sat on one of the couches with a closed gesture of folded arms. She looked towards Yu, but this time, without anger or hatred. Just with guilt.

"Morning." she greeted him reluctantly, trying to look friendly to him. He saw the effort in her eyes, knowing that she was hoping to forget her outburst from the night before. "Morning, Yukari," he answered her greeting with a assuring nod, "is everyone up yet?"

"They should be. But you and I were probably just the early ones." Yukari answered his question, still letting the guilt rattle in her throat. Yu's look was kept neutral throughout the whole conversation, and it made Yukari seem hostile to him.

He then walked past her towards the coat-hooks where his jacket was hung, opening it up and searching the inside of its lining. While he did this, there was a long and uncomfortable silence that only the heavy rain could break.

"Hey, Yu..." Yukari called his name, immediately turning his body round to her. He hummed in question to to her, beginning to listen to what she had to say. She faced away from him and fixed her guilty eyes on the floor. "...I'm really sorry about yesterday. I had no right, and you only just got here..." she spoke, lowering her head at the end of her apology.

"Don't worry about it, I understand," Yu said in forgiveness to Yukari, which slowly raised her head until she faced him, "I know that you've been through a lot since..." he then added, only to halt mid-sentence in case he might have upset Yukari.

"It's okay to say his name," she said with a slight chuckle which didn't express humour, but understanding, "but I just wish I knew what was going on..."

Yu looked carefully at Yukari's expression, and he knew that she was hiding something. He dismissed his jacket and walked over to the couch opposite hers, sitting down with his body leaning towards her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked Yukari, getting a raised eyebrow in return, but clear signs of this need was written all over her face. She hummed in question at first, but after a pause from Yu, she knew that he wanted to help.

Yukari gave a sigh to calm her mind and a deep breath to collect her thoughts. And after those preparations, she cleared her throat. "You know when people say things like, 'I feel like I've been run over by a train', or that 'I feel like I've been shot'?" she asked Yu, watching him grow his eyes wider at the question in a slight shock. But he answered the question with a nod, slightly hesitant in doing so.

"That's basically how I feel right now..." she told him as solemnly as possible, "...and I have to put up with that same feeling everyday. Knowing that the person who I cherished so close...is gone," Yu could only watch her expression change to sadness as she started to reminisce, with a worrisome look.

"I know how you feel...I've been through this before..." Yu spoke in honesty, causing Yukari's head to raise up to his eye-level. To her, it seemed reassuring to know that she wasn't the only one to have experienced this, even though many of her cohorts went through the same process.

He continued. "I have a little cousin back in Inaba...she's only seven years old..." he spoke, making Yukari already notice where his story was about to go. "I nearly lost her to the Midnight Channel one time when she was thrown in there..." There was pause for Yu to collect his thoughts before speaking again, "...she was slowly dying...but just as she was on the brink of death, she started to come back. I can remember the beeping sound that was made on the heart monitor after that long flatline..."

Yukari gave a silent gasp towards Yu, imagining it as if she were there. "Just seeing her in that patient bed...I was scared, and even facing her death made it all the more devastating." he added, showing Yukari his integrity and honesty in his words.

Yu leaned closer to Yukari in his seat, as if he was trying to tell her something. She looked up at him. "She fought for her life. And that's exactly what we are going to to for Minato. Whatever happened to him, and whatever it takes, we will do everything in our power to find him." Yukari heard his words, and found them genuine and meaningful.

"...Do you promise? Promise me that you will..." Yukari asked him, almost as if she was demanding him to say that he will in a kind manner. And without hesitation, Yu gave a confident nod to Yukari, and not a second thought changed his answer.

A small smile then slowly appeared on Yukari's face. "Thank you..." she said with a great gratitude. After a pause, she felt the need to say something. "When you first showed us your power yesterday...I don't know why but...it felt like you were replacing Minato. That's what I thought anyway..." she said truthfully. Yu's lips separated from each other as she said this, but he could understood why she would say that.

"I understand," Yu answered with a solemn look, "at least you know now that I'm not trying to, right?" Yukari shook her head with a chuckle, raising her head slightly. "Of course you're not trying to. It was just me having a breakdown, being stupid." she said, as if she was punishing herself. Yu shook his head. "You're not that at all," he said in wisdom, "you were just upset. That's all."

"I guess so..." Yukari muttered clearly. Another pause left another silence, giving Yukari a brief moment to reflect on what Yu said to her with her head lowered in thought. It then made her realise something. "You're just like him, you know..." she said to Yu as she raised her head again to him.

"What do you mean?" Yu asked without a thought about it. Yukari began the comparison in her mind before giving the similarities. "You listen to everyone around you, maybe to be friendly or cheer them up. You're someone that everyone can look up to and respect. You even have the same power as him...I could go on and on," she listed. Finding him almost the same as Minato, she felt the need to say one more thing. "I'm glad that you're the leader."

Upon hearing the positive comments from Yukari, Yu gave a meaningful smile to her, knowing that she has built a trust in him. "Thank you, Yukari. I'm glad that we're finally friends now." he told truthfully, getting a smile in return from Yukari.

Yu then stood up from his seat and walked back to his jacket on the coat-hangers, continuing to rummage through the lining of it. Yukari looked over at him. "What are you looking for?" she asked, raising an eyebrow afterwards when she saw a bulge in the jacket as Yu quickly tugged it out.

"My katana," Yu answered her question bluntly, "I was planning on using this jacket when we go out to town today, but I can't have this underneath it. Do you have a cupboard or something to put this in?"

"I know somewhere where you could put it, follow me." she answered, standing up from her seat and walking over to a small door that sat under the stairs in the corner of the room. Yu followed her.

As he stood at her side, she opened up the door, revealing other weapons that belonged to the other members of S.E.E.S. There were labels with each members' name on it, and there were holsters that held each weapon under the correct name. Underneath those weapons, new labels were put on and the names were of the Investigation Team's.

Yu placed his katana underneath his label and continued to look around, coming across one place of interest. "Yukari," he caught Yukari's attention, "There's a name here called 'Shinjiro', the label where the axe is...who is he?" he asked, unaware of Yukari's downed expression.

"He used to be a member of S.E.E.S, but during the Dark Hour on the night of a full moon, he was shot down...we keep his axe here for memory..." she explained, darting Yu's head towards her. His expression showed shock. "Oh...I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked." he apologised greatly, but Yukari shook her head. "It's okay," she reassured him, "you didn't know."

Yu then turned his head back to the weapons and found something else. The weapon stand held some leather gloves that were made for a sport like boxing, and it was held underneath a label that had 'Akihiko' written on it. "Who's this?" Yu asked politely, hoping that this person didn't have a dreadful fate either.

"He was meant to be at the meeting yesterday, but he couldn't come because of his police induction, do you remember?" Yukari explained, watching Yu's head nod in understanding.

And then, one more place was what really caught Yu's attention. There was a label at the very top that said 'Minato' on it, and the weapon stand was empty; nothing was being held. "Wait..." Yu muttered to himself, raising his voice to a normal level afterwards, "there's a weapon missing from Minato's weapon stand."

Yukari could only look at it in sadness. "It was stolen...on the day his body went missing." she explained, hearing a soft gasp from Yu. He then thought for a minute and then understood, but asked Yukari for confirmation. "Is that why some of you thought that his body was stolen?" he asked, getting a slow nod from Yukari.

"But that wasn't the only thing they stole..." she explained further, "...they also stole his music player, his phone, his Evoker..." she then paused to reflect on one more thing that she was reluctant to say, "...and even the cell phone strap that I gave him."

And when she mentioned the cell phone strap, Yu's eyes slightly widened, slowly piecing together the facts. "A cell phone strap?" he asked, only making Yukari face away from him. "I know," she said with a humourless chuckle, "it's a funny gift to give someone, isn't it?"

Yu tried to take his mind off of it and walked away from the door with Yukari, closing it gently behind them. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow as she saw his face turn into an expression of deep thought.

"Yu, are you all right?" she asked, snapping him out of his mental state. He blinked twice before turning to Yukari. "Huh? ...Yeah I'm fine...still trying to recover from the journey yesterday." he said, trying to feign exhaustion in a convincing way.

"Okay then. Well the other's should be down soon, so the quicker we can get supplies, the more of the afternoon you can sleep through." she said with a genuine smile, walking away from him to mind her own business.

Yu was left thinking about the cell phone strap. He felt the need to tell her, but to refrain from jumping to conclusions, he decided not to say. "The cell phone strap..." Yu mumbled, "maybe that boy would know...but he's in Inaba..."

But after some time of thinking, he shrugged it off and walked towards the coat-hanger to pick up his jacket.

There you go! Sorry for the delay AGAIN guys! This chapter wasn't planned, because the next chapter would have originally been this chapter. Sorry if I confuzzled you there, but until next time. CYA!

Next Time... [Midnight Channel broadcasts...]

BGM: Backside of the TV - Persona OST

Kanji: In Game Panic, there's this thing where you had to sit in a booth, and watch this scary film... Pee-pants here pissed himself scared!

Yosuke: Well don't forget, you were scared as well!

Yu: ... I feel like I'm being watched...

Fuuka: Oh, that's the effect of the coffee.

Yu: I made a promise to you that we will find him. And I'm not leaving Iwatodai until I do...

Yukari: I won't cry anymore. I'll be strong, not just for Minato, but for everyone.

Yu: You just wanted me to give back something that belonged to someone else? What was it all for?

?: It's none of your concern.