Chapter 36: Yukiko´s secret
Early morning at Tanaba University...
"No! Let me go!!"
Yosuke fell out of his bed in shock and landed directly on Teddie´s head.
"Ouch! Sensei! Yosuke made my head hurt beary much just now!", Teddie complained while Souji and Yosuke were already at the door. Thou Yosuke hastily made a retreat when he realized that he´d slept naked again, and now dozens of male students were pointing gloatingly at his `little friend´.
"Souji!", Kou shouted, right behind Souji together with Kanji. "Wasn´t that Yukiko-san who´d just screamed?!"
Souji only nodded, already seeing Yukiko lying in the center of dozens of TV screen shards in his mind, but stopped in confusion when he saw Chie near the PC who was watching Yukiko and her mother doing something akin to a wrestling match.
"Chie!", Souji said, and the brunette whirled around. "What´s going on here?! What´s Amagi-san doing here?!"
"Um... well...", Chie started and looked to the side sheepishly.
"... Chie?", Kou dug deeper while Kanji tried to end the fight between mother and daughter with gentle force.
"To just ignore my decision like that!", Amagi-san screamed at her daughter.
"Chie!", Souji demanded an explanation.
"Uh... Well, there´s something we didn´t tell you and the others, Souji...", Chie admitted to her leader.
Only now Amagi-san noticed that Souji was now present, too - as well as the other members of the Investigation Team (Yosuke had thankfully stowed his `little friend´ away now) -, and jumped at the silver-haired.
"You!", the mother shouted at the completely complexed Souji. "You little punk! It´s all your fault! You made my daughter do this, didn´t you!?"
"E-excuse me, ma'am?", Souji asked, the others just staring at them, wordlessly.
"I had PROHIBITED my daughter to enroll at Tanaba University!", Amagi-san continued to scream. "She doesn´t need to study in order to be my successor! And she doesn´t need you or any of the others, either!" She glared at the others.
"A-Amagi-sa--", Chie started hesitantly.
"The same goes for you, Chie Satonaka!", Amagi now snapped at Chie. "I thought I could at least count on you! But it seems I was sadly mistaken! Humph!"
"... nough now...", Yukiko suddenly mumbled, her head lowered and her body shaking.
"... What?!", her mother asked.
"I said, `That´s enough now´!!", Yukiko shouted at her mother who took a few steps back due to her daughter´s behaviour, eyes huge. "This is my life! I´m not a little child anymore!!"
"Yuki--"
"I won´t let you insult my friends any more, mothers!", Yukiko interrupted her. "They didn´t do anything wrong! They didn´t talk me into going to this university! It was my decision, and I will stay here!!"
"... Is that your last word?"
"Yes!!"
"Fine...", Amagi-san said, whirled around and went to the entrance door. "From this moment, you´re no longer welcomed at the Amagi Inn." Yukiko cringed. "You won´t see any money for these... these studies." Still shaking, Yukiko nodded. "Sayonara..." Amagi-san finally left the building. Seconds later, Yukiko sank to the ground, tears running down her face.
"Yukiko...", Chie said, sad, swallowed and kneeled down to her best friend to help her up, the others still only staring at her in shock. "Come on... Let´s get you to our lounge first and run you a bath. Things surely won´t look that bad anymore after that, I promise.", Chie tried to cheer up the black-haired.
Yukiko nodded, her face ashen, and then looked at Souji. "Souji-k-kun, c... can we please enter the TV world today?", she sniffed.
"... Of course.", he promised her and tried to smile.
"Thank you..."
"Thou art I... And I am thou...", the voice in Souji´s head began to speak, and for the first time Souji wished that thunder would strike the voice this instant. "Thou hast revived an old bond from the depths of its deepest slumber... It brings thee closer to the truths behind truths..." The Priestess Arcana appeared before his eyes. "Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Priestess Arcana..." Souji began to feel a warmth in his heart, a warmth he could very well do without right now.
Well, he had been asking himself while Yukiko had seemed a bit reluctant sometimes during their stay at Tanaba University. Now he knew why...
"As already told in our story, the bad prince was madly in love with the princess.", Sideu´s Shadow continued the story as soon as the group had left the portal that Rise had created the last time they´d been in the dungeon and had entered the room after the long spiral stairs.
"More riddles...", Naoto mumbled and threw a short glance at Yukiko who still seemed rather absentminded. Had it really been such a good idea to enter the TV world today...?
"He always tried to stand between the princess and the good prince whom the princess was in love with.", Sideu´s Shadow continued. "He was completely delusional, crazy to get her attention and affection. But try as he might... No matter what he did... Her feelings for the good prince never changed."
The wall in front of them moved to the side and a shiny green monitor was revealed, showing several figures. One figure looked like a princess, two others like princes - one black, one white -, other figures looked like mirrors and reflectors. The princess was producing a white light that shined towards the white prince who seemed to be captured in a golden cage. The light couldn´t reach the white, good prince, though, since the dark, bad prince was standing directly between the princess and the good prince.
"What´s... that supposed to be?", Yosuke asked, perplexed.
"As Sideu´s Shadow just told us, the princess was in love with the good prince.", Naoto said and pointed at the princess´ light - her love - which was meant for the good prince. "However, the bad prince always interfered with them since he wanted her love." She pointed at the bad prince who was standing between the princess and the good prince and was hogging the princess´ light - her love.
"I see.", Kou said and looked at the reflectors and mirrors. "So we have to redirect the princess´ `love´ to the good prince, right?"
"It would seem so.", Naoto answered.
"The good prince seemed to be finally captured, no way out in sight.", Sideu´s Shadow suddenly continued with her cold voice. "Captured in a cage, surrounded by monsters..." The wall to their right moved to the side and revealed dozens of Shadows.
"Grrr!", Teddie hissed.
"... the princess´ love out of reach, and the escape blocked..." The wall to their left moved to the side and revealed a door that was sealed with a barrier of light. "... the end of this tragic love story seemed to have arrived..." The Shadows which once again looked like cute stuffed animals pounced on the friends.
"Quick! We have to solve the puzzle!", Naoto shouted and tried to get through the battle field to reach the monitor.
"... However... there was a sagely wanderer who came to the couple´s aid...", Sideu´s Shadow continued her story. A bright light suddenly fell upon the completely complexed Kanji who was in the middle of pounding a pink alligator with his folding chair. "Only he could still help those two..."
"Oh, great...", Naoto sighed. "Tatsumi! Go to the monitor and solve the puzzle!"
"Wha´?!", Kanji screeched and dodged several fire balls of a copy of Pyro Jack.
"`Only he could still help those two´! You have to solve the puzzle!", Naoto snapped at him, grabbed him and dragged him towards the screen. "Do it!"
"But..."
"NOW!!!"
"Alright, oy!"
Naoto stormed towards the others to help them fight and summoned her Persona. A little bit away from her she could see Yukiko standing at a corner, smashing the Shadows that came too close to her with her fan hesitantly. "Amagi-senpai!", Naoto admonished her. Yukiko only startled.
"Iiii´m... down...", Teddie groaned when a Ziodyne spell hit him and smashed him against a wall where he remained lying, unconscious.
"Yukiko! Take care of Teddie! Hurry!", Souji shouted at Yukiko and kept clobbering the Barbie doll that screamed `I´m a cutie! Love me, baby! love me!´ again and again.
"Huh?", Yukiko looked up, puzzled. Only now did she notice that Teddie had been knocked out and she was the only healer left; Yosuke was too busy with fighting Shadows, and a puny Dia spell wouldn´t be able to help Teddie in this case. "Persona!", she shouted and crushed the tarot card.
Nothing happened.
"What?!", Yukiko shouted in horror.
"Amagi-senpai?!", Naoto asked and then glared at Kanji who was still standing in front of the monitor doing absolutely nothing. "For heaven´s sake, it really can´t be that difficult, Tatsumi! Even Fails-- um, Yosuke-senpai could solve that puzzle in two seconds!!"
"PERSONA!!", Yukiko shouted anew.
Nothing happened.
"No... no, I...", the black-haired woman stammered.
"What?!", Rise suddenly gasped and looked around the room frantically.
"What´s wrong?", Souji asked her.
"I sense a Shadow! It´s a strong one!", Rise informed them.
Icy coldness started creeping over Yukiko´s entire being. "So we meet again, Yukiko...", a familiar, distorted voice said behind her, and she whirled around in pure horror: Shadow Yukiko, wearing her pink princess gown, had appeared in the room.
Author´s note: Uuh... Yeeeaaaah.... Oh yeah! It seems some people I think I made Akihiko´s sister Miki up (I got a mail about that). This is NOT the case. Akihiko mentions her several times in Persona 3, and in Persona 3 Portable he even talks about her in his Social Link. The fire at the orphanage is also mentioned in Persona 3. And Akihiko becoming a police officer is also canon, because he is something like that in the anime. I´m only using existing facts in that regard. ;)
Also, someone sent me a link to a funny Persona 4 manga (I forgot who the person was). I already knew this manga, but thank you nevertheless!