Persona: World And Judgement – Chapter Twenty-Nine
A New Dorm Resident
Hello again guys! Sorry about the REALLY long update again. I've been playing the new Assassin's Creed 3 as of late, and well...IT'S AWESOME! I would recommend it to anyone, even if you aren't a fan of the series! Get it! But now since I have some free time on me, LET'S GT-R-DONE!
08/06 - Afternoon
Still raining, still dull, still miserable and still stuck indoors for some; it was just another wet day in Tatsumi Hall, and even a few forgot about it because of how natural it soon became in the short space of time the two groups had been together for. The rain hurtled down heavy like any other day, and because of it, everyone started to go out less and less. But on this night, they all had to stay indoors, for there was an important guest coming to the dorm.
The Investigation Team were the most impatient ones in the lounge, barely containing their excitement to see Nanako after a week of being away from Inaba. S.E.E.S found this same expression from each of them, and when the hours flew by as Yu told them about his little cousin, every description and every exact detail he gave to her gave them all a taste of what to expect.
Even with all this excitement though, there were still so many plans to be made for their new resident. S.E.E.S wanted to make sure that there was a vacant room on the girls' floor, and since Nanako would be staying with grown-up people, they wanted to make her experience inside the Tatsumi Hall enjoyable. But with all the executed operations, even though they were all successful on each night in the Midnight Channel, they just couldn't keep up with it all.
But the Investigation Team knew her more than anything; she wouldn't scold anyone for not setting her allocated room, and even though she felt awkward with them all to begin with, they knew that they would get along with other friends who were older than them. She was a child, yet she had the maturity that could match that of an adult's; very few children would find this behaviour at such an age, but Yu found something more special within Nanako. Whenever you were in the same room as her, there is never a dull moment, come rain or shine.
There was one thing planned though, and it was all thanks to Yu. In front of everyone were bowls of beautifully-presented food that gave off various smells and aromas that even a sniff of it's irresistible combination would make anyone drool. There was one bowl for each of them, including an extra bowl for when Nanako arrives, and each of the bowls were stacked high with Oyakodon; another one of Yu's creations, and a one of his own signature recipes. By then, the S.E.E.S members were so absorbed in Yu's cuisine that they couldn't help but feel what the Investigation Team always felt when he cooked; excited, somewhat impatient, and the most of all, starving.
Junpei was the most impatient out of all them, staring into the bowl as if he was gazing into a bottomless pit of rice, meat and egg. He looked as if he was hypnotised by the amount of food that was placed in front of him, and he didn't notice at all the crooked grin he was growing on his face. Comically, even his eyes started to reflect the bright yellow colour of the egg yolk layering on top of the mountain of rice. But that was the effect the food had on him; just looking at it put him in a trance of ecstasy.
"Junpei, snap out of it!" Yukari called for him, "You're grinning like an idiot again...it creeps me out." Hearing her through the muffled silence, Junpei blinked frantically in realisation, shaking his head vigorously after feeling as if he just woke up from a pleasant dream. He wiped his face of the condensation he collected from the steam of the rice, and when he lifted his head to see everyone giving him looks, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward grin and chuckle.
"But the food...look at it...it's just begging to be eaten...I know I am...!" Junpei said in a partial moan, almost as if he was ready to pounce at the bowl, or even to dive into it like with a swimming pool. It was a reaction no one would show even if they were at their most hungry, but Junpei in this case was an exception. His stomach cried out to him with constant rumbles in his belly that were absolutely unbearable for him to contain, and after a while, he was nearly on the brink of his breaking point.
"Dude, why are you sweating?" Akihiko asked Junpei as he immediately noticed the abnormality of such a reaction over hunger. Any reasonable answer would've sufficed, but all Junpei could muster up was a painful look that gritted his teeth as his reply. Akihiko only asked him out of genuine curiosity, but the first thing that came to Junpei's mind was that he was only asking him just to tease him.
"It's just the steam!" he replied with a raised voice of desperation, trying to change the conversation so that the current one doesn't go on any further, "And how come you're not starving?! You hardly ate anything this morning! And you probably eat more than I do!"
"Well, excuse me for having small portions every once in a while," Akihiko replied, only to steer his original conversation back to where it was, "besides, how did this become about me? You're the one who's suffering here. Didn't you eat out the whole fridge this morning?"
"Settle down you two. Our guest should arrive any minute now. Try to act on your best behaviour, especially you Junpei." Mitsuru ordered maturely, gesturing for the boys to calm down and end the argument. When the finger was pointed at Junpei, he couldn't help but feel annoyed. It was clear that the starvation was riling Junpei up, and the solution to his problem was just right in front of him with a taunting spread. A bite would do just as good, but he knew he had to wait for Nanako even if it killed him in the end. And even though he was close to feeling that way, he kept his strength up to resist Yu's cooking.
And that was all they could do; wait. But Yu tried his best to set an example for everyone along with others that still had the patience to wait for their guest to come. To keep the boredom at bay though, they focused on the news reports that were being read out on the TV. But as usual, the same news on Minato came up constantly, and the weather report named the days of the week with the same image of heavy rain hovering over them.
08/06 - Evening
Again, this was too routined to even take notice of it anymore, and because the news was the only available thing that would draw Junpei and a few other impatient individuals away from the food, the just settled for it. But then, something sprung to Yosuke's mind; something that he and possibly the others didn't notice from the start of watching the weather report. It was a vague realisation at first, but as he pried into his memory banks, he then noticed that something was missing. Or to him, it was someone.
"Hey, I wonder where Marie went..." he said out loud whilst attempting to remember the last time he saw this weather-woman. And as soon as the name was mentioned, each of the Investigation Team members looked towards him, not having thought about it before up until now.
Marie; a girl who is more than what meets the eye. Before meeting her, Marie stood out from the crowd both in terms of fashion and in terms of personality. Yu could remember her clothes perfectly before she became the weather-woman who held the special ability to decide on the weather. At first glance, she would seem like a delinquent who everyone would want to avoid. But Yu and the others saw something more than that; there was something more behind those clothes and blank looks that she gave. The very accessory that stood out in his mind was the golden 'V' emblem that sat on her blue cap, remembering her connections with the Velvet Room.
Her personality was cold and harsh upon their first meeting, but as they gradually built up their friendship, there was really no lack of emotion from her at all. Rather, she would hide those feelings of timidity and insecurity from the world with her seemingly-emotionless expressions. Apart from that, she would have a passion for fashion as well as nature and writing her own poems to express those emotions she couldn't show. She was really something else.
But what he couldn't forget most of all was her forced role she had to play for Ameno-Sagiri. In fact, she was controlled by it, and even Kunino-Sagiri took part in this as well. It all called back the situation in his mind like a traumatic event; she did give them a fright after fighting her after all. She was one small part of a much greater power; Kusumi-No-Okami. That was all in the past though. The matter at hand was the whereabouts of Marie's being.
"That's a question..." Yu replied as he sent himself into a deep thought. He tried to remember the last time he had seen her doing the weather report, but he could only narrow it all down to the days when it was clear sunny skies. Marie not only read the weather reports, but she had the power to decide on it as well, and knowing that the last few days had been nothing but miserable downpours, his fears started to grow.
Fortunately, he could remember a few things. He remembered seeing her now and again on his own TV back in the city, seeing it on the Dojima's TV before it started raining, and he even remembers seeing her on the small TVs that were built into the walls of the train before he first saw the Minato case on the news. She still had to be around. But in the knowledge that she hadn't been presenting the reports since then, and the rain seemed to have started after her last appearance, there had to be one thing for sure; this was no coincidence. "Marie..." Yu recalled her in his mind, "...what's going on? If she has control over the weather...why is it raining? Geez, I feel so ignorant...I should've known sooner..."
Yu was the only one who was thinking this hard, and when the others around him saw this, they tried to break him free of his worrisome thoughts. "Hey, Senpai..." Kanji said as he shook Yu's shoulder, "...what's with that face? I'm sure it won't be anythin' serious. She might've caught somethin' for all we know." Hearing his words of reassurance, Yu's thoughts were slowly being put to rest, but he couldn't shake off the fact that she had full control over the weather and how it coincided with the amount of rain that had been thrown down over the few days.
He didn't want to think too much on the worse-case scenario; he had a big tendency for thinking such things as of late. Taking Kanji's word for it, he calmed his mind of the horrible thoughts that were running through his head. "I feel the same way you do, Yu..." Naoto said across the table, "...but we mustn't think of it this way. Anything could've happened to her to cause such weather. Like Kanji said, she may be poorly...or the cause might lie within something on an emotional level..."
Yu could only nod to Naoto's suggestion, knowing as well as she did that she was only saying that because of the limited options they had to resolve what might have been; there was nothing they could do at the moment.
"May I ask as to who this 'Marie' is?" Aigis asked, confused as the other S.E.E.S members were, "You say anything might have happened to her to bring about a change in the weather, correct?" As soon as her questions were asked, the others couldn't help but ponder over what they were all talking about.
"Yeah...are you saying she controls the weather?" Ken asked briefly, unsure whether to believe in this or not. It wasn't a surprise for the Investigation Team to find a whole new group of friends to take all of this in at first; there were still so many stories to share with one another. So to take their minds off the news reports and constant pattering of rain, they spent the time talking about Marie; the most unlikely friend for them to ever come across. And during their reminiscence of the times they had with her, both good times and dramatic, the S.E.E.S members soon started to wonder why this unspoken friend wasn't with them.
The way they all described Marie made it seem more normal for her to have such a power, even when she took on the guise and career of a weather reporter. Soon then, they were starting the think the way Yu and Naoto did; there was rain but no sun, and the question on the dilemma remained unanswered. No assumptions were made, and there was no definite explanation. They all had to rely on guess-work.
As before though, they only had to hope for the best. "She sounds very astonishing. You all seem to speak very highly of her." Mitsuru commented, trusting the group with the appraising descriptions which they gave to her.
08/06 - Nighttime
Shortly after, the conversations died down, bringing everyone back into the silence. But at the same time, just before the rice and eggs started to become cold, a quite screeching sound rang from outside the dorm. Mixing into this slightly painful noise came a sound of car tyres crunching against the wet curb. At first, they all thought that it could've been any parking car. But listening more closely, they could hear that it was being parked right outside the doors.
Even Koromaru leapt up on his four legs from his lounged position, skipping up to the front door with a wild wagging of his tail. As he approached the door, he jumped onto his two back legs and placed his front paws on the wood, scrapping away with his claws whilst barking in happiness for the arrival of their guest.
"That must be her! Go on, Senpai!" Rise shouted in excitement, pushing Yu's shoulder in urgency to head for the door. Quickly, Yu got up from his seat and jogged towards the door. And as he did this, he looked through the foggy window panes to try and find the silhouette of the car outside. Seeing the headlights, he immediately twisted the doorknob and swung the door open, being greeted with a large spray of rain in the process.
But the rain and the large guest of wind that forced the door open didn't matter, because as he poked his head out through the doors, he squinted through the downpour and slowly began to find a small, familiar figure forming in the darkness of the dull afternoon. It was a little girl who barely looked eight years old, and she was desperately holding onto her pink, character-themed umbrella with all of her might to stop it from blowing into the rushing gales. Her small pigtails in her hair were dancing from side to side, which made it even harder to see her face in the distance.
Yu knew who it was though; his little faraway cousin, Nanako.
"Big Bro!" Nanako cried out in the voice of sheer happiness, sprinting towards Yu when she saw him. As an act out of nothing but excitement, Nanako stored away her umbrella and fought against the elements to reach the door where her big cousin and the shelter were. And with only a short time of struggling against the dynamic weather, she ran into Yu's arms, embracing each other as if they hadn't seen each other for months; it had barely been a week.
"Sorry Yu, I'm going to have to get going!" shouted another rushed voice from where the car was. When Yu lifted his head to see the figure, Ryotaro was sitting in the driver's seat with the window rolled down a shade. Yu couldn't shout back because of the amount of noise the heavy rain was making, but when he spotted his uncle's smile and wave through the distorted window, he gave a quick wave back to see him off. Nanako also gave her farewell wave before her father drove off into the streets of badly-illuminated streetlights, watching him as if he was a hero heading into the dark of night.
Quickly, Yu and Nanako ran inside the dorm and slammed the door behind them. "She's here!" Yu shouted to everyone as he grabbed a towel from the coat-hooks and wrapped his arms around Nanako to dry her hair down.
"Nanako-chan!" shouted the synchronised voices of the Investigation Team, getting up from their seats to greet their little friend. S.E.E.S didn't know what to do. They could either greet their new guest the same way the other group did, or they could just wait there until the excitement calmed down so that they can introduce themselves properly. It didn't take much decision-making though; they were staying put in their seats.
Whilst they just sat there, they watched as the Investigation Team crowded the little girl with greetings and expressions of nothing but enthusiasm. They all gave her a very warm welcome, giving her piggybacks on Yu's shoulders and chanting her name in unison as if she was a person very important and significant to them all. In fact, she was.
As their exaggerated hoards of greetings ended, they all brought Nanako over to the rest of the group, sitting her down on the nearest sofa. She was full of energy when she stepped through the doors, but as soon as she looked towards the new faces of S.E.E.S, her brightened look quickly turned away from the strangers, struggling to stop the shy blushes from reddening her face.
Yu couldn't help but chuckle at Nanako's timidity. And before he could say anything to her, Teddie leaned towards her from behind the backrest of the sofa. "Don't worry, Nana-chan. These guys are our friends!" he said with his usual dramatised tone, almost like he was trying to coax her into facing their new friends. But despite Teddie's cheery encouragement, Nanako could only give a quick look of the S.E.E.S members with her peripheral vision before hiding away again.
"C'mon Nanako, let me introduce you to them." Yu said in a tone of comfort, slowly turning Nanako's body to face the other half of the group. Although she was able to have her full body facing them, he head was slightly lowered in embarrassment, which was something S.E.E.S found totally adorable.
Yu moved onto the introductions. "This is Mitsuru Kirijo. She is the eldest one here..." he said with a gesturing hand towards Mitsuru's direction. Mitsuru gave her new guest a courteous bow of her head, and all because of Nanako's presence, she couldn't help but smile to her. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last, Nanako. I hope you will enjoy your stay here." she said in her usual well-mannered greeting. Nanako didn't even look at her until Mitsuru spoke, and when she did, she felt as if she was laying her eyes on a supermodel. At this point, Nanako wasn't seeing a stranger anymore.
Yu then turned towards Yukari. "...this is Yukari Takeba..." he introduced her as his arm glided to her. Nanako wanted to shy away again, but Yukari's beautiful features were something she couldn't ignore. Again, there was no sign of a stranger in Yukari. "It's so nice to meet you. Your 'big bro' has told us a lot about you." Yukari responded with a smile. Yukari couldn't find one thing wrong with Nanako; she looked so innocent, so mature. She was exactly how Yu had described her, and even Nanako's aura made her think that there was something more.
"...Junpei Iori..." Yu turned Nanako towards Junpei, catching him poking his chopsticks into the Oyakodon with his lips just touching the rim of the bowl. Seeing Yu making eye contact with him made Junpei immediately slam his chopsticks back where they were and sat up straight as if nothing had happened; the look on his face said it all though. But despite his rudeness of starting without everyone else, Nanako couldn't help but find it amusing; hilarious even. Junpei felt like an idiot, which was a feeling he would always have for him to even lie about it. But when he heard Nanako's giggles and chuckles, his sheepish feeling started to fade and eventually brought the confidence back into him. "Urm...'sup." Junpei greeted with a wide grin, giving a short casual wave to shrug off his actions.
"...Ken Amada..." Yu brought his hand over to teenager sitting in the sofa opposite Nanako. Yu could remember Ken on the first day they came into the Tatsumi Hall; he was just as shy as Nanako was now to see all these new people. But also like her, he adapted quickly to the people he was working with. For that moment though, Ken gave her a friendly wave. "Hello there." he said briefly, not yet fully confident with himself being presented to a new person. Yu chuckled at the striking similarities the two had before moving on to the next introduction.
"...Aigis..." he moved onto the humanoid. For Yu, and some others, Aigis must've been the hardest person to introduce Nanako to. As far as Nanako knows, everyone she is meeting is all human, but because Aigis had metallic limbs and had some unsubtle features that could've given her true identity away, they were all worried that this might distress Nanako. After a while of thinking it over though, they then thought that it wouldn't matter; she may be a android on the outside, but inside she was human. She had a heart.
Fortunately, Nanako didn't notice anything under the thick clothing Aigis was wearing for the occasion. Everyone found this quite surprising, especially since her headphone-like devices and blue lenses for eyes stood out from the rest of her facial features. But again, it didn't matter. If Nanako was happy just to see her, then nothing more needs to be said. "Nanako-chan..." Aigis began her greeting with a formal wave, "...Yu-kun speaks very highly of you. I'm glad that we got to meet each other in person." And when Nanako gave a wide grin, it spread to Aigis' face. They almost smiled in unison, as if there was a bond growing between them already.
Yu left a moment between the two girls before moving onto the next person. "...Fuuka Yamagishi..." he called for Fuuka, turning Nanako towards her. Nanako had seen many beautiful friends already, but when she turned to Fuuka, she then added another one to the list. As soon as she saw her braided turquoise hair, Nanako instantly knew that she was someone unique; she didn't know if it was intuition, but she just knew when she first looked at her, just from the sight of her hair. "It's so good to finally meet you Nanako," Fuuka greeted, leaning forward in her seat to lower her head to her height, "my, you look so beautiful. You must have all the boys chasing after you!" Nanako was still too shy to say anything, but she had the courage to look Fuuka and the others in the eye. She giggled to Fuuka's remark, getting a giggle from her in return.
"...Akihiko Sanada..." Yu introduced the final member of S.E.E.S; last but certainly not least. He was the second person to be recruited by S.E.E.S after all. At first, Nanako was a bit intimidated by Akihiko, seeing his muscles stretch the sleeves of his slim-fitting shirt along with the small plasters that covered his scars and cuts. "It's good to meet you at last," Akihiko said with his friendly grin, "from what Yu's told me about you, there's no doubt at all that you are strong. You're a little fighter, huh?" And when Akihiko made his compliments to the infant, Nanako's view of him had changed. He may look muscular as well as masculine, but he was just as friendly as the others around him.
Yu thought that he had introduced everyone, but thinking again, there was one more member of the team that he knew Nanako would love to meet. He looked around the floor to find him, and when he did, he was already scampering towards Nanako's legs. "...and how could I forget? This is Koromaru." he introduced the canine, watching him jump on the sofa and sitting in the space between him and Nanako. Koromaru gave a few barks of welcome to the little girl before receiving strokes and pats on the back from her. "Aww, who's a good boy?" Nanako asked the hound with a baby-like tone whilst pampering his fur coat with gentle strokes and rubs.
Nanako had only been in the lounge for a few minutes, but after being warmly welcomed into the Tatsumi Hall, she felt like she was already getting to know them; the same could be said for S.E.E.S, who felt that their hospitality so far has been very agreeable for their little guest. Judging by her uncontrollable grins and smiles, they all felt that they succeeded. After the short introductions, the large mixture of different conversations started to fill the lounge with merry voices that were fuelled with energy. These conversations didn't just get plucked from the air; Nanako was making all of this happen. Just her being in the same room as everyone sparked their enjoyment again. From all this, everyone knew that Yu wasn't just saying words; he really meant what he said about Nanako.
Suddenly, she gasped upon laying her eyes on the food bowl in front of her. "Are we having Oyakodon?!" she asked with lit eyes, already picking up the chopsticks in the way Junpei did to sneak a bite. Upon hearing the name of the dish they were having that night, Junpei's eyes widened in realisation."Oh yeah! Can we eat yet?" he asked with not even an ounce of patience left.
He looked ready to explode, and upon seeing that kind of look on his face, Yu simply had to give in. He threw his arms up as a comical sign of surrendering to Junpei's begging. "Of course! Dig in everyone!" he cried out like he was an announcer at a festival. Without any hesitation, everyone gave a cheer and picked up their chopsticks with a swipe of their impatient hands.
And as everyone took their first bite of the Oyakodon, the conversations immediately died back down again. The only noises they could hear was the sound of their own munching, and the sound of other people humming as they ate their food. Everyone in that room has had at least one dish of Oyakodon in their lives, but since it was Yu's cuisine, they knew that they were in for a surprise; the first bite of the meal confirmed that, and even though they were expecting the surprise, the food itself just blown them away. Yu saw this as an achievement. Everyone expected the unexpected, and ended up not expecting it anyway. It was strange, but only Yu could pull it off.
"Erm...Chie? Yosuke? What are you guys doing?" Yukiko asked the two when the spotted something odd about the two. No one noticed up until then, but when everyone looked towards Chie and Yosuke, they found something very unlike them, to say the least; to say that it was 'unlike' them would be an understatement.
As they all looked in their direction, the two were holding up bits of rice and egg in their chopsticks in front of each others mouths rather than their own, and as they served their food to each other, their heads were coming in closer and closer to each other. That was until Yukiko interrupted them and caused everyone to stare at the seemingly-awkward moment.
Whilst they were doing this, they seemed as if they were put into a trance, but after hearing Yukiko they turned to her, instantly noticing what they were doing. They looked to everyone and then to each other, quickly drawing their chopsticks away from each other the second they realised. What made it more strange was that, rather than Chie landing her usual knockout punch on Yosuke, none of them made any quarrel; it just stopped right there.
Everyone just dismissed it and returned to their dinner, but Yu was curious. He kept an eye on the two before paying attention to his Oyakodon, and fortunately for him, it paid off. A short while after it happened, Chie and Yosuke would give each other the occasional nervous glance at one another, blushing a radiant red colour every time their eyes met. Also, he would always find them both chowing away at the food like there was no tomorrow, but this time, there was a drastic change. He noticed that they were both eating slowly, trying not to make any mess; this was the complete opposite of the usual Chie and Yosuke.
He knew perfectly well was going on, and could only laugh a little at how awkward they were sitting next to each other. He didn't want to say anything and eventually returned to his rice in case one of the two would spot his grin.
And there we have it! Nanako is at Tatsumi Hall! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, especially to those who are Nanako fans! Well, keep reading and reviewing, and I will see you in the next chapter! We're about to hit the milestone of THIRTY chapters! I can't wait...CYA!
Next Time... [Midnight Channel broadcasts...]
BGM: Backside of the TV - Persona 4 OST
Yu: For you, it's time for bed I think.
Nanako: Nuh-uh! I need to brush my hair first.
Mitsuru: Would you like me to help you with your bedtime preparations? The rest of the girls are welcome to join.
Nanako: A-A slumber party?
Teddie: Wait! If Yukiko-chan is going, I'm going too!
