Saturday, October 25th, 2014 – 10:28
Woodside Terrace
"Y-You never said we'd be going to Senga's house!" stuttered Daigo.
"I didn't think it mattered," answered Yuuki nonchalantly as she drudged along the pavement.
The cloudy skies and damp conditions prevalent in Bishopmill that morning made walking to Woodside Terrace a tiring experience.
They were on their way to meet with the other members of the Afterschool Shadow Hunters. The group, made up of five persona users who were focused on solving the mystery of the Other World, would normally talk about anything new that had happened before descending into idle chitchat. The relaxed atmosphere made everyone feel more comfortable, except Senga who would complain bitterly that they weren't taking this seriously enough. Yuuki often felt the same.
This time there was something to talk about. Daigo Hashimoto, the newest and youngest member of the group, had proven to be vulnerable during his first battle against the shadows. This made Yuuki nervous. If he was hurt or killed she would never forgive herself. She had challenged the other persona users to come up with a way to make him stronger, which was the purpose of this visit.
"If I knew we were going to her home I would have changed first," complained Daigo, "you never tell me anything!"
"You can go home if you want to," threatened Yuuki, who was growing weary of her younger brother's continual moaning.
Daigo fell silent. Finally they arrived at number 443, the Ferguson residence. Yuuki chapped at the door. A few moments later a man with an ample gut wearing a string vest answered. He was unshaven and had bags under his eyes. After a pause his face altered, as if he had suddenly come to a realisation.
"You must be my daughter's friends, erm, Yuuki right?"
"Yuuki Hashimoto," she answered while bowing, "this is my brother Daigo, it's nice to meet you."
"Senga's up stairs right now," the man stated, "she said she was expecting more company."
The man moved out of the way and allowed them inside. Yuuki bowed again before hurrying towards Senga's room.
Waiting for them inside were the other three members of ASH, Agnes Ferguson, Iain Shadi and Rebecca Walsh. They had been sitting on the floor around a small table with drinks on it, talking quietly. Each of them offered a greeting as Yuuki opened the door.
"Sorry, are we late?"
"No, you're on time," said Senga calmly, "Iain has something helpful to say for a change."
"That's a little cruel," interrupted Becky, "you can't talk about the man Yuuki loves like that!"
"REBECCA!" yelled Yuuki before glaring darkly.
"Just kidding," chirped Becky, "although it sounds like I hit a nerve."
Yuuki sat down on the ground, deliberately choosing the location furthest away from Iain. Daigo positioned himself next to Rebecca.
"(Ahem), as I was trying to say, Iain has some good news," Senga turned to face him, "tell them."
"I have located a constant source of shadows during the other world."
"Are you kidding?" asked Yuuki, who was genuinely surprised.
"It is not good material for humour," replied Iain in a deadpan voice, "they generate during the other world on Spynie Golf Course, at the location of the 2nd individual shadow."
"Why do they show there?" queried Daigo.
"The barrier which was created to house the individual shadow regenerates every night; it now accommodates a constant flux of regular shadows devoid of purpose and restricted by movement."
"Okay, so what good is that?"
"These shadows are unable to cause harm Daigo," explained Iain, "this allows us the option to ignore them or to experiment with new techniques, weapons or strategies."
"What he means," interrupted Senga, "is that we can practice kicking their asses every night."
A den of shadows they are able to fight within whenever they wanted sounded very useful. It would give Daigo and the rest of them the chance to grow stronger before the next central shadow. Yuuki smiled, that was good news. The only problem she could see was the danger if something went wrong. She needed to make sure that didn't happen.
"We should only go in groups of at least four people, that way we should be safe."
"That's our leader," cheered Becky, "always thinking ahead."
Yuuki wasn't sure if her friend was being supportive or not. The five persona users decided to visit these shadows on Spynie Golf Course that night.
Over time the conversation shifted away from the other world. Iain was his usual quiet self, only speaking when spoken to. Daigo too said little although that was much more uncommon. Yuuki wasn't sure why her brother was so nervous. Most of the talking was done by Rebecca who never seemed to run out of things to say.
"Codenames."
"Becky" said Senga calmly, "please put what you are trying to say into some form of context."
"Codenames, codenames, let's see…" Becky glanced towards Yuuki, "you're the leader so you can be appropriately sized boss. Senga you'll be colourful fox, I'll be liquid rabbit, Daigo can be revolver raven and Iain can be…flying squirrel."
"Why am I 'flying squirrel'?"
"That's just the luck of the draw," said Becky as she shrugged her shoulders.
"But you're making it up as you go along!"
"Listen if I could change the rules I would but I can't so for the sake of unity we have to stick with the names we've got."
"But there's no logic behind that!"
Yuuki chuckled lightly under her breath. It was a relief to see her friends in high spirits.
aaa
Sunday, October 26th, 2014 – 00:00
Spynie Golf Course
The Other World
It was still there, the dark 'closed space' that housed the second individual shadow.
Yuuki and her friends were within viewing distance of its outer edge. It was the same size, shape and colour as before and carried with it the same danger. Iain predicted that they could walk inside but they wouldn't be able to leave until all shadows had been defeated. If they messed up then there was no means of escape.
All five were present however on this occasion three of them were armed. Yuuki had her wakizashi, Senga her claymore and Iain his boomerang. This imbalance left Rebecca slightly perturbed.
"How come you guys have got cool swords?"
"You weren't there when Iain gave them to us," replied Senga, "he'll give you something later."
"In that case I want a Thunder Fury sword, oh, or a BFG 9000, oh, or a gravity gun or-"
"Or a Cerebral Bore," interrupted Daigo, "or a flak cannon!"
"Or a Farsight XR-20!"
"Or the 'Soul Edge'!"
"Or a Nikita Launcher!"
"Or the Dark Edge of Insanity!"
"We'll get the two of you something nice," stated Senga, thinly veiling her annoyance, "but for the moment can we please focus on what we're doing?"
Becky and Daigo both fell silent, as if they were being scolded by a stern parent. Yuuki said nothing; she wasn't sure what they were talking about. After this brief interruption Senga began marching towards the closed space and headed through. Yuuki hurried after her, with the others close behind.
There was no giant shadow waiting for them, which came as a relief. Instead there were five regular opponents; a white bishop, a black bishop, a Jorogumo spider woman, an Okapi and a green masked Maya. They had each remained still until one by one, they noticed the persona user's presence.
The first to attack was the human shaped Jorogumo. The young woman charged straight towards them, creating flowing gusts of green tinted wind from its hands. Everyone but Senga dodged out of the way.
"Poena, awaken!"
Yuuki watched from the side as her friend called forth her persona. The aged, evil eyed creature appeared immediately, radiating darkness from its essence. Senga ordered Poena to attack, something it did with a wicked smile on its face. Shards of ice peppered the onrushing shadow, causing it to falter and fail. The Jorogumo was no more.
"These shadows are weak," complained Senga as she allowed Poena to retreat.
"Precisely," commented Iain, "they are marginally inferior to those we encountered during the last series of murders."
Approaching them now were the four remaining shadows. They were grouped tightly together, making them difficult to isolate. Yuuki gave out her instructions as the creatures approached.
"Senga, deal with the white chess piece, Becky, try to take out the Maya and protect Daigo from the Okapi, Iain-"
"Sorry quick question," said Rebecca sheepishly, "is the Okapi the zebra thingy?"
"Yes."
"Gotcha."
Before she could give out any more directions the shadows were upon them. She hoped Iain and Daigo wouldn't do anything stupid. The black bishop and the Okapi were weak against wind, a technique which none of her colleagues could use. Yuuki knew the burden of defeating them rested with her. She summoned her persona Erebus.
The pack of shadows entered striking range. Senga was separated from her target by the Okapi and Maya, so she attempted to force her way past using her claymore. The blade travelled slowly through the air due to its weight, giving her prospective targets the chance to evade its flight. Senga didn't care; her focus was reserved for the white bishop.
The black bishop was Yuuki's priority. It used fire and could harm Senga if it managed to hit her. It's weakness against wind however made it vulnerable to Erebus making Yuuki confident of victory. With her two headed persona by her side she ignored all around her and focused on destroying this enemy. Reducing their numbers was the most important thing to do right now. The shadow spotted her and started shuffling away.
Iain wasn't able to do much. His persona allowed him to scan, analysis and temporarily confuse opponents. He wasn't able to defeat them alone. With a boomerang in hand he was able to cause some damage however he had yet to actually destroy a shadow. When the battle started he found himself square against the Maya which had eluded Senga. Iain threw his boomerang with all the force his arm would allow, but it narrowly missed its target. When the shadow drew closer he tried a different approach. He summoned his persona Brahan Seer and commanded it to confuse the Maya. It worked. Now facing a stationary target he threw his boomerang again. It hit directly. Unfortunately the shadow wasn't gone. It was moving more slowly than before however Iain's attack had failed. Now unarmed and unable to defend himself, he retreated to safety behind Rebecca.
Becky and Daigo were side by side. The Okapi was approaching, forcing them to be defensive. It started glowing yellow, a clear sign of an electric attack.
"Stick behind me," shouted Becky.
Daigo did as he was told. When the shadow discharged its assault it connected with Rebecca directly. She remained unharmed. Electric attacks didn't bother her as her persona was a specialist in that field. Unfortunately there was no way for her to fight back. All she could do was hold on until her friends came to help her.
Senga reached her target, the white bishop. There was nowhere for it to run. She used Poena to attack, completely annihilating the shadow in one stroke. It faded into the ground, dissipating and oozing while experiencing its death throe. Only after she was sure it was gone did Senga turn to help her friends.
Yuuki had struggled to catch the nimble black bishop. It had eluded her but now she had it trapped. She ordered Erebus to attack with all its might. The shadow however launched its own pre-emptive strike, taking Yuuki by surprise. It tried to run away as she regained her bearings but she was determined to beat it. Just as the bishop was at the limit of her range she attacked. The contact was minimal but the gust of wind from Erebus was enough to defeat this shadow. With her friends fighting at the farthest away end of the closed space Yuuki ran towards them.
The Okapi was still advancing and it had been joined by the Maya. Becky however found it difficult to fight back. Protecting Daigo meant that there were few opening for her to attack. Added to this she was receiving powerful gusts of wind from the Maya shadow. Iain was behind her, using his persona to temporarily halt one shadow at a time, however their enemies were well co-ordinated, making the technique all but useless.
It was a relief when Senga appeared to help. She broke the binary attack pattern of the two shadows by charging at them directly with her claymore in hand. Her movements were slow due to her cumbersome weapon, making it easy for their opponents to dodge and move apart.
"Iain, stay back and tell us if either of the shadows are about to change. Daigo, move behind me."
Yuuki reached her friends while they were fighting the two remaining shadows. Her orders were designed to free Becky to attack the Maya while Senga occupied the Okapi. She would guard Daigo personally. Immediately the plan appeared to work, with the Maya falling under Rebecca's first electric burst.
All that remained was the Okapi. Senga was swinging her sword madly, hitting nothing but air with each attempt. It soon became clear that she was too slow using that weapon, making it a disadvantage. Yuuki moved to help her but was surprised to see her younger brother running ahead.
"Daigo, get back here!"
He ignored her and continued towards the shadow. Yuuki chased after him. The Okapi used electricity and although that wasn't Daigo's weakness it would still hurt him if it hit, especially since they knew he was weaker than the rest of them. She had her persona Erebus at the ready, hoping to use it before the shadow attacked.
She was too slow.
The shadow ignored Senga for a moment and unleashed its fury towards Daigo. He skipped past the attack skilfully. It tried again, this time at closer range, but it wasn't a clean contact due to his quick reflexes. As it prepared a third strike it was hit from behind by Senga, whose claymore split the creature perfectly into two equal parts. The Okapi collapsed to the ground and the barrier the five were inside started to disintegrate. The shadows had been defeated.
Tonight's fight was over but Yuuki wasn't happy. Her younger brother had promised her one thing and that was to do whatever she told him. It was for his own safety. She narrowed her eyes to show Daigo how serious she was. Gripping him firmly by the shoulders she tried to control the volume of her voice.
"Don't ever do that to me again understood? What if you had been killed, or hurt-"
"It turned out alright," replied her brother, who avoided eye contact.
"Maybe I was wrong to think you could fight the shadows."
"But sis!"
She paused. How could she face their enemies if she was constantly worried about what her brother would do next?
"Good work Daigo," said Senga, an unfamiliar smile on her face.
"Why are you praising him?" asked Yuuki.
"He helped. That last shadow was a bitch to tie down."
Yuuki paused again. When she thought about it Daigo had actually helped on this occasion, albeit slightly. His face had momentarily brightened in response to Senga's words before darkening again. She looked him. Anxious eyes were staring at her.
"Just remember you're not as strong as the rest of us, do what we tell you in future okay?"
Her brother nodded enthusiastically, a broad smile on his face. Yuuki just sighed in despair. Why had the first time Senga complimented anyone been to praise her brother when he did something stupid?
With the barrier gone but the other world still in place the quintet had nothing to do but go home. Yuuki saw Daigo walk between Senga and Rebecca, chatting excitedly to each of them as they travelled. She stayed further back, trying to gather her thoughts. Soon she found herself with Iain, who had drifted beside her.
"I made a miscalculation;" he said quietly, "Daigo isn't as exposed as I previously suggested."
"How so?" queried Yuuki.
"In terms of physical power he is vulnerable to any direct impacts however his heightened mobility reduces the chance of this occurrence significantly. In effect he is able to deflect the main thrust of an attack."
"He's too quick for the shadows," surmised Yuuki.
"Precisely, although any unexpected blows would cause significant amounts of damage, more than what yourself, Rebecca or Agnes would experience. If he is focused against a single opponent of comparable strength, then he should be able to cope with their attentions with little difficulty."
Yuuki was sure Iain's words were not designed to comfort her, but they did. She felt better hearing that her brother had a special talent and that he wasn't as weak as they thought. Now that she knew what he was good at she could try to rely on him. Daigo wanted to fight, that much was clear, so she needed to know how best to use him. Keeping him safe was her priority and that would never change. Now she could achieve that while they destroyed the shadows together.
Believing that tonight was worthwhile Yuuki made sure to praise her brother as soon as the last of their colleagues had left them.
aaa
Monday, October 26th, 2014 – 15:30
Bishopmill Academy
Finally school was finished. Miss Richardson's double drama class was over and Yuuki was free to return home. She stretched an arm over her head to relieve the tension in her body. The sensation was satisfying. Her classmates started leaving the room in small groups so Yuuki followed behind them.
As usual she checked her phone. There was one voice mail message waiting for her from Katsuo Hashimoto, her father. Curious Yuuki selected play and listened to the panicked, rushed recording.
"Yuuki, sweetie, I have a favour to ask. You know your mother is trying to get her business going, and that sometimes she needs to leave the shop, well, she needs to leave now but there's no-one there to cover her. Could you go and help her out? I'm stuck at work and can't get away. Please? You'd get there much faster than I could. Your mother's got the car and there isn't anything I can do."
She cringed. Yuuki didn't want anything to do with her mother's shop but in this instance she wasn't given a choice. Hoping it wouldn't take too long she decided to travel directly to South Street.
aaa
Yuuki spotted her mother waiting outside 'Hashimoto's'. Her face was twisted as she continued to scan the horizon. Eventually she spotted Yuuki approaching but didn't acknowledge her. The temptation to cycle past was strong.
"Dad sent me," stated Yuuki, "what do you need help with?"
"I asked him," retorted Mhairi Hashimoto, "you shouldn't do something just because he asked you to."
Anger simmered inside Yuuki but she tried to keep it hidden. Couldn't her mother say one nice thing, like thank you or you're a great help. And what kind of advice was it to say 'don't listen to your father when he asks you to help me'.
"I'll be gone for an hour. Deal with anyone who comes in."
Yuuki watched her mother hurry away down the street. The store was now empty.
The first twenty minutes brought only one customer and that person had been looking for directions. The shop had past its phase when it was a curiosity to people passing by. Hashimoto's was a small store with two main rooms, a front section for customers and a second for storage. The counter had a clear view of the doorway down the narrow aisles that had been crammed full of items. Underneath the desk were different pieces of paper, ranging from supplier contact numbers to customers who had placed special orders, all of which had been neatly arranged.
All Hashimoto goods were Japanese in origin, from sweets to seasonings to more obscure foods. A corner of the shop was dedicated to traditional toys, such as kites and Koma spinning tops. There was even a model mecha on display. In the window were a number of posters, each written in both Kanji and English. Scrolls adorned the walls and origami animals decorated the furnishings. They reminded her of an old Ripley Scott movie.
The bell attached to the door started to chime, telling Yuuki a customer was entering. She turned to face them, a broad smile on her face. It was a man, probably in his late teens, with a disjointed nose, drawn face and a mullet haircut. He was dressed plainly except for the old fashioned bonnet on his head.
"Konnichiwa and welcome to Hashimoto's, how may I help you?"
"Yeah, hi," said the man with an uncertain voice, "there's a sign outside saying you can reserve rare foods."
"It's my mother you'd need to speak to about that," replied Yuuki, "if you tell me what it is I can see if we have it here."
"Square watermelon."
Yuuki blinked. Did this person realise how rare or expensive square watermelon was?
"Erm, I'm pretty sure we don't have that here. If you want I can add you to a list of people my mother is ordering things for, she can call you when she gets back."
"Yeah, nah bother."
When Yuuki found the right list she placed it onto the table.
Customer Name Number Item Due Date
Benjamin Anderson Bish-550 323 Kite 00145 29th Oct
Angus McDonald Bish-234 766 Basashi 5th Nov
Hugh Mulholland Bish-552 610 Stamps 10034-50 1st Nov
Dorothy Alexander 07798 634954 Book (1st Ed) 00014 TBC
Julia Little Bish-549 131 Sword (Rep) 23001 TBC
Chris Muller Bish-579 222 Basashi 5th Nov
Christopher Johnston 07877 413414 Basashi 5th Nov
John Butler 07814 757655 Mecha (Toy) 63330 3rd Nov
Anne Goldstein Bish-522 996 Stamps 10042-54 1st Nov
Julian Evens Bish-588 194 Wall Scroll 54400 4th Nov
Andrew Renton 07711 230989 Anime 898242 4th Nov
Neil Chapman Bish-549 112 Anime 898220 4th Nov
Eddie Starling Bish-549 923 Anime 898257 4th Nov
"Can I take your name please?"
"James Keir."
"Telephone number?"
"550 001."
Yuuki wrote down the details in pencil.
"I'll have my mother phone you when she returns. I'm sorry I can't do more but I don't usually work here."
"That's fine," said the man as he turned to leave.
Forty minutes and three customers later Mhairi Hashimoto returned. Yuuki told her about the watermelon request before returning home. She had still to be thanked.