Yo! What's up? Persona story updated once again despite people hardly reading it. :D ... ._. ...I do like working on this story anyway, so don't judge me. Finally progress stuff happens here, hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 13: The Calling Card

Date: Sunday, September 3rd

[Background Music: Persona 4 OST: Signs Of Love]

It was lightly raining in Silvercrest, so Alex just decided to stay inside for the day. He helped his dad correct some papers for his class and his mom with moving stuff around in the living room as she wanted to reorganize it. He was now sitting at his computer playing some games when his phone vibrated.

Got some slightly bad news, guys. Just heard from Jayden that he won't be able to join us tomorrow because he's going out of town with his family. -Ember

Oh man that stinks. -Alex

They're going out of town on Labor Day?! That's weird! -Jax

He said his dad had a meeting or something…? Also… remember to watch the computer screens tonight as it's supposed to rain! -Ember

Oh right! So we can see if anyone else is in the Dream World! Hope I remember. -Rayna

Wait, when are we meeting up tomorrow for go-karting? -Alex

I was thinking either 10:30 or 11. I told Kaylen and Owen the same. -Ember

Thanks Em! You're the smart one here. We'll see you all there. -Rayna

After all of them agreed to meet up at that time, Alex put down his phone and continued to play for the day, as well as not forgetting to watch the computer screen later.

[Background Music: None]

A few seconds until midnight and Alex's parents were already asleep while he just sat at his desk. It was still raining outside with it getting a little heavier. He watched as his alarm clock stayed at 11:59, waiting for the minute to end. And as soon as it hit midnight, the computer turned on.

[Background Music: Persona 4 OST: Who's There?]

The screen was white like when Rayna first appeared, but also the same was a silhouette. No features were seen, but from the shape of the body it looked to be a male. Nothing else could be made out at the moment as the screen faded back to black.

"Same as before Rayna was put in..." Alex said out loud before his phone vibrated. "Hello?"

"Alex, it's Rayna!" Rayna said on the other line. "I just stayed up to watch the computer screen and I saw what happened! ...Did that happen when I went in too?!"

"It did, but I think it happened before you went in as it didn't show you until after." Alex explained.

"Well I couldn't make anything else out, but it looked like a guy. I mean from the shape of it." Rayna said. "Let's talk more about it tomorrow when Kaylen and Owen aren't around."

After that short call, Rayna hung up and Alex proceeded to go to bed for the night.

Date: Monday, September 4th

[Background Music: Persona 5 OST: Tokyo Daylight]

The rain was gone by the time the four met up with Owen and Kaylen at the go-karting place. They agreed to keep last night's discussion quiet until they had time by themselves.

"You guys ready for a little go-karting competition?" Kaylen said excitedly as she grabbed a helmet.

"You bet we are, and I'm going to be the best racer!" Jax shouted tossing his helmet in the air.

"I doubt that, Jax. You nearly ran me over on my first day in Silvercrest." Alex chuckled.

"Dude! That was a bike, doesn't count!" Jax said, sounding offended.

"That's the same thing you said to your dad when he tried to teach you to drive." Rayna laughed.

Jax pouted, "You guys are mean!"

"So… how are we going to form the teams?" Owen asked.

"Well since Kaylen came up with the idea, how about she's a captain of a team?" Ember suggested.

"Actually I had a better idea..." Kaylen grinned. "Let's make this boys versus girls, and like before, whoever loses buys lunch."

"Oh yeah! Bring it on, we'll show why girls can't drive." Jax smirked, but earned glares from the three girls.

"...You probably shouldn't have said that, Jax." Alex gulped.

The six put on their helmets, got into their go-karts, drove to the start of the track, and started their race. And from the shouting during it… it seems the boy team wasn't doing so good.

"Turn right! TURN RIGHT!"

"I'm trying, I think my steering wheel is stuck!"

"Stay calm! We'll get this!"

"The girls are winning!"

"Crap I think I'm going too fast!"

"Hit the break then!"

"What break?! There's a break!"

"Of course there's a break, dingbat!"

"I'm gonna stear off the trac- Whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA! ...SHIT!"

A few minutes later their race was done. The three boys were panting heavily while the girls just simply took their helmets off with a smile.

"Ha! Girls win, you're buying us lunch, boys!" Rayna laughed.

"After just one race? I thought we were doing a two out of three thing." Jax asked.

"We didn't think about that, but that sounds like a good idea, more fair." Ember said looking at Kaylen.

Kaylen thought about it for a minute, then nodded, "Okay, two out of three. But we can take a bit of a break since it seemed to knock you guys down a peg."

"I did say this is the first time I've go-karted since I was a kid..." Alex panted.

"I'm going to head to the bathroom while we take our break." Owen set down his helmet and made his way to the restroom area.

"I'll come with you, Owen. I need to go too." Kaylen put her helmet down as well and followed him.

Once Owen and Kaylen were a good distance away, Ember motioned the four together. "Okay, they're gone for now. Shall we discuss what we saw last night before they came back?"

"Yeah, who was that?" Rayna asked. "One thing I know for sure that it was a guy… I think."

"It did for sure look like a guy." Alex said. "Rayna asked if it was the same for her when she got put in the Dream World, but I told her it was probably like this before she went in."

"That's what I think, the people in the Dream World do not fully appear until they are actually inside. Although with Rayna, I think once she was in we saw her shadow self." Ember said.

"...So whoever this person is… is not inside the Dream World yet." Jax guessed.

"I guess so, so this person is safe for now." Alex said. "But if that person we saw in there last time was indeed the person who put Rayna and the other five people in there, we know this may be his next victim."

"Is there a way we can prevent it? Like if we figure out who it is before that person goes in, can we stop the possible killer from taking him?" Rayna asked.

Alex sighed, "I sadly don't think we can… Guess we'll just have to wait and see if the computer screen becomes clear and then go in there as soon as possible."

"Well one thing I know for sure, I think the guy is around our age." Ember said.

"Hey guys! Come over here!" Kaylen's voice was heard from the restroom area.

[Background Music: Persona 5 OST: Restlessness]

The four ran to where Kaylen and Owen were. When they got there, they noticed a large group of people looking at the announcement and ad board that was near the restrooms. At first they were confused as to why there was such a huge crowd, but then they noticed that all over the board… were black and white medium sized cards with black jagged heart designs.

"What the…? What's with these cards?" Jax asked. "And why is everyone here looking at them?"

Alex was able to push himself closer to be able to see the cards more clearly. There were words written on them in gold colored ink and all of them were the same. The card read:

DWRT,

I know what you're doing and I knew you couldn't resist. Your friend being put in there was just a test, and now that I know you're watching, let the game officially begin.

Hated by men, adored by women
Family was once loved, but is now despised
Doesn't matter the words, no one will listen
Puts up quiet exterior, hates everyone deep down

You have 2 weeks. Good luck, team.

There was no signature, but after the words there was a normal shaped heart cut out with what looked like black paper.

"Huh? Is it… talking about us?" Ember asked as the other three joined Alex.

"DWRT… We called ourselves the Dream World Rescue Team, right? ...Oh god, this is to us!" Rayna whispered in surprise.

Kaylen and Owen appeared behind the four and looked closer, "...It looks like a calling card."

"A calling card? Isn't that what some serial killers use after they kill their victims?" Rayna asked.

"What's this all mean? And who is DWRT?" Someone asked.

"Could this just be a prank?" Another person asked.

While this was going on, a manager of the place walked out and saw this. "What the hell? When did these get here? Everyone, step back from the board! Step back and continue on!"

Everyone backed away, but before Ember did she took out her phone and snapped a picture of the card.

"Why did you take a picture of it? You could've just grabbed one from the wall." Alex asked.

"There are security cameras around, they'll notice me take one. Also I'm going to send this to you guys later." Ember whispered back.

"So are we going to keep racing?" Owen asked once everyone was away from the board.

"But what about that card?" Alex asked.

"I wouldn't worry about it, it might just be a prank." Kaylen suspected. "Now come on, we got more racing to do!" Kaylen and Owen ran back over to the track while the other four looked at each other, then followed.

[Background Music: Persona 5 OST: Beneath the Mask]

Once racing was done and lunch was bought by the boys as they lost, it was time for everyone to go home. When Alex got home, he looked at the picture of the calling card Ember sent to them and no matter how much he looked at it and thought, he could not figure it out. It was even on his mind after dinner was finished.

"Earlier today at the local go-karting tracks, something very strange occurred." Alex could hear the local news playing in the living room from the kitchen as he washed his dishes. He walked close enough to hear what the anchorwoman had to say. "The manager walked out to see many of the costumers surrounding the announcement board of the area. What they were looking at were what looked like calling cards that had what seemed like a riddle written on them." A picture of the card was shown on the screen. "There is no signature, but the card is directed to the letters "DWRT". Many costumers were asked what they thought about this and while some seemed to be alarmed by this, most of them just considered it a prank. When the police were called to the scene and checked the security footage however, there was no sight of the perpetrator who put up those cards."

"It's obviously just a prank." The anchorman said. "With all of this crime going around in the world, stupid kids want to try and stur up drama in our peaceful town."

"The strangest thing is police checked security footage and no perp was seen. That really is strange." The anchorwoman said.

"...Alex, you were at the go-karting tracks today right?" Frankie asked as he was putting the dried dishes away.

"Um, yeah I was." Alex answered. "And I did see that card."

"You weren't the one who put them up there, were you?" Sarah asked.

"What? Heck no, Mom! I swear I didn't!" Alex said, surprised his parents would suspect that.

Frankie chuckled, "Calm down, we know you didn't. We probably would've seen you with those cards if you did."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. He did not want to get in trouble for something he didn't do. He continued to help dry the dishes and he went to his room once he was done.

When he was out of the room, Sarah said to Frankie, "Wonder why Alex seemed so defensive about that…?"

"To be fair, he didn't expect us to ask it." Frankie said. "You think he did that?"

"No no, not at all, just a bit surprised on how he reacted to that question." Sarah said.

[Background Music: Persona 3 OST: Fearful Experience]

Later at the Silvercrest police station, Jon was sitting in his office with the small TV on. He was watching the news report on the go-kart place multiple times. It was also seen that one of the calling cards was on his desk as when they went to check earlier he was able to take one.

As he listened to the anchors talk again, he looked at the card, not noticing Sebei walk into the office.

"Still focused on that?" Sebei asked.

"Yep..." Jon nodded before slightly sighing. "...I don't know why, but I have a bad vibe about this calling card suddenly appearing..."

"Let me guess, you think it somehow involves the coma deaths?" Sebei asked.

"I'm not sure… that's where my brain is going." Jon said.

Sebei sighed, "Good, you need to stop thinking those deaths are a crime. There was no sign of murder with all five of them and there weren't any clues. We really need to close this case, it won't look good on your record if you keep this going."

"...You're right, I'll try and stop this." Jon said. He grabbed a tissue and used it to grab the calling card and handed it to Sebei, "Although think you can take this to the lab and maybe see if they can find fingerprints or something? Just in case it isn't a prank?"

"Sure thing." Sebei said as he took the tissue wrapped card. "You going to head home?"

"Yeah, I think I'm done here." Jon said getting up and putting on his jacket. As he did, he heard some small taps on his office window. He looked out and saw it was starting to rain. "Another rainy night."

"At least it stopped for the day." Sebei said. "Anyway, I'll take this to the lab and head out myself."

"Okay. See you tomorrow, Sebei." Jon said as both detectives walked out of the office and went their separate ways.

"How did the previous five victims die, but Rayna was able to wake up and not die?" Jon thought as he got into the car and drove home.

[Background Music: None]

While the clock was about to hit midnight, Alex laid in his bed, still looking at the picture of the card while the sound of rain pattered on his window. He got a group text saying to check on the computer screens tonight and to see if it could help solving the calling card's riddle. He looked at the time and got up to sit at his desk, looking at the screen to see what would appear. Midnight hit and the screen turned on.

"Okay, let's see who the next person is..." Alex said.

[Background Music: Persona 4 OST: Who's There?]

What appeared… was not a clear image and was still the male looking silhouette. Guess the team's theory was correct, that person was not inside the Dream World yet. But as Alex looked closely, there was something noticeable on it. Despite the unclear image and the person only being a silhouette, it was wearing a grayish jacket.

"A gray jacket…? I feel like I know someone who wears one of those..." Alex said out loud as the screen turned off. After that though, he yawned and decided to sleep on it, agreeing to talk about it with the others tomorrow.

Social Link Progress:

Fool (Dream World Rescue Team): Rank 3
Chariot (Jaxson Devitt): Rank 3
Lovers (Ember Farrelly): Rank 3
Magician (Damien Richards & Edgar Edwards): Rank 3
Hermit (Kayley Jones): Rank 2
Star (Rayna Sullivan-Good): Rank 2
Hierophant (Sarah Gerdelman): Rank 2

Finally some progress! Looks like the team will have to rescue someone soon... but who will it be?

Find out next time!