Souji grunted in pain; apparently, Morpheus didn't like fire. As he struggled to get up, he saw Chie attempting to put out the flames around them with ice spells. It was a good effort, but magic was obviously not her strong suit. Tomoe was built more for physical attacks. Off to one side, Yu and Yosuke were fending off a prince Shadow, which appeared to be giving them a hard time. Souji managed to get back up, but a shadow loomed over him. The large red bird that was Yukiko's Shadow grinned gleefully, bursting out of its cage as it prepared another flame to roast Souji alive with.
Souji's face contorted in annoyance and anger; he was fed up with this. An image entered into his mind, a rather large amount of ice to crash down upon the giant bird. He faced Yukiko's shadow and flicked his wrist, muttering the spells name, "Bufula". Morpheus flew forward, summoning the ice Souji had envisioned. He watched with a sense of satisfaction as the Shadow became buried under snow and ice, struggling to right itself.
"That's my brother!" Yu yelled, blades locked with that of the prince, Yosuke hanging back to use a healing spell.
Souji looked towards Chie, who had managed to get the fire under control. "Chie, would you mind?" he said, jerking his head towards the engagement. The pale brunette nodded, smiling.
"Yeah, leave it to me!" she said, bending down and stretching her legs.
Souji turned to his brother and friend. "Guys, get out of the way! Incoming!" he shouted. Yu turned towards the sound of Souji's voice, eyes widening as he saw Chie come barreling towards them. Grunting, he struck the Shadow prince in the face with the hilt of his sword, backing away quickly as the shadow sat stunned.
Chie reached the shadow, twisting to one side as she brought her leg up, quickly extending it out. It struck the Shadow, sending it flying through the castle roof and into the stratosphere. Yu whistled, admiring the raw power he had just witnessed. Yosuke stood staring at the hole in the ceiling, mouth agape. "Awesome…." he muttered. He looked at Chie. "Have you always been able to do that?" he asked. Chie shrugged, smiling gleefully at the compliments she had received for the powerful kick.
"If you're all well and done over there, I could use some help!"
They heard an angry voice behind them, and turned to see Souji directing Morpheus, who was grappling with Yukiko's shadow, free from the ice it'd been buried under. Yu and co. ran forward to assist Souji. Izanagi came flying behind the Shadow, grabbing the bird cage to steady it, while Morpheus shoved The Shadow inside, moving to one side of the cage, grabbing one of the shadow's wings, Jiraiya mimicking him on the other side. Tomoe floated in front, readying her spear.
"Don't you ever hurt Yukiko again!" Chie shouted, and Tomoe flew forward, thrusting her spear into the Shadow, causing it to dissipate.
The group celebrated, and helped Yukiko face herself, recovering from the battle. After a quick discussion, they headed back to the entrance, ready to leave. Teddie looked sad as he summoned the exit once more, but brightened up as Yukiko and Chie promised to let Teddie 'score' with them one day. The group exited the T.V world and entered Junes. They began to part ways; Chie taking Yukiko to get her home safely, Yosuke headed back home to get some well-deserved rest.
As he met Chie's eyes, the two looked away quickly; after the initial relief of rescuing Chie from her Shadow had worn off, Yosuke had had an even harder time than before talking to her; Chie likewise had struggled to speak to Yosuke, conflicted about her feelings. Souji sighed again, still having trouble dealing with the subtleties of one's feelings. Yu smiled, and led his brother away before he broke out into one of his already-famous rants, pointing him towards home, saying goodbye to their friends as they left.
Yu was sitting at the floor table with Nanako, watching T.V and talking to her as they waited for Dojima to get home. Souji sat at the table by the kitchen, reading that day's newspaper, looking for job openings nearby. They heard the door open, and Nanako stood up, smiling. "He's home!" she said, starting to walk towards the door to greet her father. However, Dojima walked in, bringing someone behind him.
Souji looked up, recognizing the man as the one they'd seen at the crime scene after his first day of school, Dojima's partner, Adachi. "Um…hello…" Nanako said shyly. Adachi smiled warmly as he greeted Nanako.
"We got off work at the same time, so I'm giving him a ride home." Dojima explained. "I thought we might as well swing by." The twins nodded, greeting Adachi one at a time.
Adachi introduced himself, jokingly stating that he'd been Dojima's slave since spring. Dojima gave his partner a tired look, stating that he could work Adachi harder, which Adachi laughed off until he noticed Dojima hadn't been kidding. "I wouldn't mind helping out a bit if Adachi doesn't cut it, Uncle Dojima!" Souji piped up, a smile on his face as he nodded towards Adachi, who grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. Dojima chuckled softly.
"I know you could, Souji, but I think your mom might take issue if I pull you in on my work. Stick with being a student for now, okay?" Souji shrugged, knowing that it had been a long shot.
Adachi turned to Yu, recognizing him from the police station. "Oh, I almost forgot!" he said. "You're friends with Yukiko Amagi, right. We found her, safe and sound. Tell all your friends at school!" Souji looked intently at the newspaper, ignoring Adachi and Dojima as best he could. Yu smiled, hoping the look on his face was one of relief.
"We owe you a lot." He said, taking Adachi by surprise; knowing Dojima, the poor man rarely received any kind of praise. Adachi started rambling about the case, earning a smack on the head from Dojima, who told him to shut up and wash his hands before dinner, noting that he should do the same.
Saturday, April 30th
Souji yawned, listening to Morooka give another 'lecture'. The silver-haired teen felt a little tired, but it also felt really good. He and Yu had been busy the past week. Souji had joined the Soccer club while Yu had joined basketball, finding that the captains of the two teams were old friends, and met up to help each other often. They'd also joined the schools drama clubs; Souji joining the symphonic band (he smiled as he remembered how he had out-performed the other trumpet players. Souji had been playing for years) while Yu joined the drama club. Between the club meetings, the twins had also been hanging out with Yosuke and Chie, enjoying the company of their friends. The two still had trouble speaking to each other occasionally, but were starting to at look at each other without averting their eyes or flushing with embarrassment.
Souji turned to look in front of Chie. Yukiko had finally recovered, and was back in class. She appeared to be intently listening to Morooka, fearful of missing any information that might appear on a test. They had asked her at lunch if she could remember anything about her disappearance, but the raven-haired innkeeper couldn't remember anything beyond a few small details. The group, now dubbed the Investigation Team, had sighed, but expressed gladness that Yukiko was home, safe and sound. Souji had been somewhat surprised when Yukiko had asked to join, having gained her Persona, "Konohana Sakuya", when she faced her shadow. The silverette gladly accepted her offer, having found that Yukiko was a better spell caster than anyone else in the group, himself possibly excluded.
On top of all of that, there was another person now staying in The Velvet Room alongside Igor and Margaret. Souji had recognized her as the girl he had met when the twins first arrived. Margaret introduced her as 'Marie', and requested that the twins take her out of the room so that she could experience the world. Marie had scoffed at that, and displayed a rather…aggressive attitude. The twins happily agreed, feeling a sense of attachment to the young girl.
He felt the small lump in his jacket pocket, remembering that he had somewhere to be after school. A fox at the Tatsuhime Shrine had caught his attention, and he and Yu had been tasked, willingly, to help grant the wishes of some townspeople to bring back visitors to the shrine, which was already slowly beginning to appear livelier. Today's wish was from a young boy who frequented the Samegawa flood plains, wishing that he had friends. Yu had found out that the boy wanted a sticker, and remembered that Tanaka's shopping channel sent prize stickers to anyone who bought three items from their show. The sticker was supposed to come in today, and Souji couldn't help but feel a little excited as he thought about fulfilling this wish. He knew how the boy felt, and wanted to resolve this situation any way he could.
The bell rang, signifying the end of school. Souji stretched, reaching above his head to relieve his muscles a bit. The rest of the team stood up, tired from sitting down all day. "What a day!" Yosuke moaned, stretching his arms above his head, popping his back a little. "So, anyone have any plans?" he asked, turning to the rest of the team.
Souji nodded, patting his jacket pocket. "Yeah, I guess you could say I have a wish to fulfill." he said, earning a questioning look from his friend.
"Oh! Did the fox at the shrine approach you?" Yukiko asked, earning herself an even stranger look from everyone gathered.
Souji nodded again, slower. "Yeah…How do you know about the fox?" he asked.
Yukiko blushed. "W-Well, I always see him around the shrine when I go sometimes. I think he lives there. He always acts like a caretaker, cleaning up the steps of leaves and catching the vermin around it." Yukiko flushed a little more a Yu smiled.
"That's quite a fox." he said. Yu turned to look at Yosuke, an idea forming. "Say, why don't you guys come with us? Granting a wish doesn't come all that often."
Yosuke looked at Yu as if he was crazy, but Chie spoke up excitedly next to him. "Oooh! I wanna go!" Yukiko nodded, agreeing with Chie. Yosuke sighed, defeated.
"Alright, I guess it sounds fun." He looked up, a grin forming on his face. "Who knows, a new experience is always fun, right?" Yu smiled, glad that his friends had decided to come with them. Souji nodded, secretly pleased as well. Packing up their things, the team headed out, stopping by the mailbox in the shopping district on their way to the flood plain to pick up the sticker.
Friday, May 15th, The Dojima residence, Midnight
Souji and Yu peered closely at the screen, attempting to make out what the image on it was. "Doesn't it look sorta like that kid on the T.V the other night?" Yu wondered, eyes narrowing in an attempt to bring the image into focus.
"Yeah, it does." Souji said, agreeing with his brother. "I guess that means Kanji Tatsumi's the next target." Souji remarked, sighing as he pulled out his phone to call Yosuke, setting it to speaker.
"Did you see that?" Yosuke asked, leaping straight to the point. Souji nodded.
"We did." He said. "We think it might be Kanji Tatsumi." Yosuke agreed.
"All right, we finally have a lead. Let's all get together tomorrow, okay?" Souji and Yu confirmed the plan with Yosuke, and then hung up. Turning off the light, they laid down in their Futons, trying to sleep before the next day.