Chapter 35 – Preparing for the End?
October 27th, 2009 ~ Dark Hour
SEES was realizing that the searching was not working, not one bit.. She was getting more worried about her cousin, and how she'll stay in a healthy condition. Agaki Souhu and Fuuka Yamagishi were both teaming up to start analyzing the whole area. Sadly, it wasn't coming out exactly as they planned.
Sesshou was getting in the way of the analyzation. And even then, when they bypassed her they couldn't find her throughout the whole area of Port Island. She could see the two getting pale on their faces, and walked up to them.
"It's okay... you can stop now."
"D-Dae-chan!" Agaki's eyes widened.
"We need our strength, right..? You guys are doing all you can, and there isn't so much use in worrying about her." She looked down and rubbed her arm. "Besides.. the final full moon may be coming, right?"
"..You're right." Minato was quite surprised to learn that she knew about that. "The final full moon will be on the fourth of November according to Senpai."
"We can wait for Daira until then!" She stood up for herself. "I know, we're all worried about her.. but, she's my cousin! She'll be able to take care of herself! Though, what I don't get is.. why did she discharge?"
"How did she even discharge anyways, Senpai?" Junpei looked to Mitsuru.
"The doctors say she might have escaped through the window, but there were no signs of the window being open." Mitsuru tried to piece info together. "As your cousin, Tavi, where would she go?"
"F-From what I remember, she liked being at the shrine a lot." Daedalus explained. "Though, she wasn't found there right?"
"I wish she was.." Agaki scratched the back of his neck. "Though! What if she's trying to get stronger herself?"
"Senpai, I don't think she'd go to Tartarus so quickly." Fuuka responded. "We could try asking around about her tomorrow. Didn't the Chairman say he had some kind of connection with her, too?"
"I-I think so..." Daedalus nodded slightly.
"I'll see what the Chairman says," Mitsuru nodded, "For tonight, let's just get some sleep."
…
October 28th, 2009 ~ Thursday
Daedalus knew besides Daira's disappearance from the actual team's eyes. She still had to attend Gekkoukan High School. Even though Mitsuru said she would look into it with the Chairman, she had the feeling that they might not be able to find out anything useful. What if she really did go into Tartarus?
Then again, the window wasn't open when she escaped. The front door might have been locked, too. She wondered if Daira had gotten out in a certain way that she could never escape a hospital in. But, even so...
"Yo, Dae!" Agaki broke her off her thoughts at lunchtime when he passed by her in the hallway. "Is this your classroom?"
"R-Right.." She nodded, "I'm a Junior. So, I'm in the same classroom as Aigis, Minato, Yukari, and Junpei-san."
"Really? You must be pretty smart for someone your age!" He patted her head, grinning widely. "O-Ow.."
"S-Senpai, are you okay?" Daedalus looked up at him with widened eyes.
Agaki rubbed his head. "Mhm, I'm fine." He chuckled, "Just a small headache once in awhile."
"If you say so..." She looked worried, but then a question popped up in her head. "Why are you in Gekkoukan High anyways? I thought you graduated from school already, considering Mitsuru-senpai calls you 'Senpai.'"
"Oh, I'm just visiting to get the Nostalgic feeling back at this school." He stood up and stretched, keeping a grin across his face. "Have you found anything about Daira?"
"I asked the Seniors who seemed to have known her in this school, but.." She shook her head. "I didn't get any useful information. They're spouting out rumors that she ran away and stuff... and I highly doubt she did."
"What is Daira like?" Agaki asked her, tilting his head. "They mentioned she was your Cousin..."
"Daira was more like a sister than a cousin." She began explaining how she felt about her. "She had a better life than I did.. and not only that, but she was able to own up to her own business. I envy her, because she's able to do what she wants to.. and I was always stuck living up my mother's expectations."
"Oh?"
"I never surpassed her at anything, despite being what she could call 'cute.'" She wouldn't stop talking about Daira; Daedalus almost sounded jealous for a second. "She surpasses me in everything, even appearance!"
"You are pretty short.." Agaki messed with her hair a bit, "Though, you must have passed her in being cute to a lot of people."
"E-Eh?" She blushed, shaking her head. "T-That's a lie!'"
"Then you doubt what I have said?" He pointed behind himself, Dae peeked and found about five guys staring at them. Her face was fully red from embarrassment.
"I-It's not that I doubt.. er, what I mean to say is-" She stopped herself before she screwed up, "Never mind..."
"What are you going to do after school?" Agaki tilted his head, as if he was wondering about her hobbies.
"Well.. I think I'm going to try getting more members into the Music Club." I pointed out. "At this rate, there are only three since Daira discharged. Fuuko also left the school, so that knocked out our fourth one..."
"I see..." Agaki nodded, pushing his glasses up. "Well, it can't be helped. What do you plan on doing after?"
"I might go and hang out with Yukari." Daedalus explained, "She said she had a surprise for me, but I don't have a clue on what the surprise is."
"Oh? Is that so?" He folded his arms across his chest. "Well, I'll be here for awhile, so feel free to hang out with me alright?"
"Oh, okay!" She smiled. "I'll keep that in mind!"
"Great!" He gave a large grin, beginning to walk off. "See you later!"
…
"Yukari-chan, where are you taking me today?" Daedalus had followed her off the school grounds with her bag strapped around her shoulder. The school day had already ended, so while everyone was walking home, Daedalus decided to go with Yukari for that day. Maybe, she'd even hang out with Agaki at the dorms. "Wild-Duck Burger?"
"Nope!" Yukari smirked, "Have you ever been to a Cinema, Dae-chan?"
"Ci...nema..?" She tilted her head in confusion, as if Yukari were talking in some foreign language. "What's a Cinema..?"
"You don't know what it is?" Yukari was surprised to hear that. "Well, it's not a problem. It's where you watch movies before they go on sale on DVDs."
"Oh! That makes more sense.." Daedalus blushed in embarrassment, rubbing the back of her head. "Though.. What's this all of a sudden, Yukari-san? Why are you talking about it at a time like this?"
"Aww, Dae-chan! You're so dense at this." Yukari couldn't help but laugh at her. "I'm taking you to Screen Shot! That's the Cinema we have here. And recently, they came out with a new movie! I got two tickets just for us to go together."
"R-Really?" Daedalus's jaw dropped, "B-But.. Even so, wasn't that a lot of money?"
"Nope! So, don't worry about it." Yukari began to nudge her as she walked ahead. "Come on, let's go see it together."
"A-Ah! Okay.." Daedalus nodded, as she followed Yukari with a small smile on her face. The movie they went to watch was about a female who wanted to prove her worth to everyone, and to become the "strongest" of all the land. Indeed, it was a comical movie, but it had some meaning to it for Daedalus to understand in herself.
Once in awhile, she looked back at the necklace that she wielded across her neck, as it would glow a dark power without hesitation. She would look back at the movie, and then the necklace... Was it trying to tell her something? Either way, she could've sworn she was just like this female in a way.. Trying to win everyone's trust and everyone's faith so she could become "the strongest" to help everyone out.
Though, wasn't that Akihiko's mistake? She pondered on Shinjiro's death some more, trying to recall what Akihiko did. He looked so surprised when Shinjiro died.. So could it have been that he was more focused on training than anything else? Daedalus wondered about this..
When the movie was over, Daedalus had walked outside with Yukari. Yukari had stretched, clutching her bag from school tightly in her hands. Surely, the movie was enjoyable.
"Man.. That really makes you think, huh?" Yukari didn't get an answer, "Dae-chan? Da-"
Her voice was stopped in her tracks as she saw Daedalus's eyes slightly watered. Daedalus looked away a little, her small hands wiping away the tears as she shook her head.
"H-Hey, Yukari..?" She stuttered on her words, looking back at Yukari after she was sure that the tears were all gone. "...Why are you my friend?"
"Why..?" Yukari thought about it for a second, before looking back at Daedalus. "I guess you could say we have similarities."
"Similarities..?"
"Hey, Dae-chan.." Yukari went around her question without a problem. "When you first awoke from the hospital... I want to know something. Fighting Shadows can be really troublesome, yet at the start you accepted. Why is that?"
"..I do not have any memory on how Sesshou killed my parents." She clutched the strap of her bag. "That was my only priority at the start... But, after Strega and Shinji-kun.. I knew that I had to do something besides find out about Sesshou. I had to help the team in any way I could." She clenched a fist, putting it over her heart. "I didn't want to feel useless anymore!"
"I didn't approve of you joining into the team at first, because your body made it look like you would seem a little weak." She shook her head, "But.. after looking at Ken-kun, I realized that even you could control your potential just like that."
"Um.." Daedalus whimpered a bit. "I wanted to apologize... for that one day in my room.
"I... hate myself..."
"I... hate myself for having this spirit.."
"And.. if I'm going down..."
"Everyone's going down with me..!"
"I was so angry at myself.. I thought releasing her might have been a good idea." Daedalus shook her head. "I was reluctant to let her go... As, in my heart, I was afraid that I would hurt people."
"Dae-chan..."
"I thought you all would have tried to kill me by now." She sighed, trying to keep her voice at a steady pace. It was slightly trembling though. "No.. I promised myself I wouldn't cry. Though, I'm more afraid to summon Sesshou now than I was back then!"
"..Why's that?"
"What if she's grown stronger than before?" Daedalus looked at her hands. "If she has.. I can't summon her, I won't!" Daedalus just shook her head again. "I... I just want to have friends..."
It was then that Daedalus gasped a little as she felt Yukari bring her into a strong embrace. Daedalus flinched a little, in shock mostly that Yukari would still have the guts to embrace her like this.
"You're a strong girl, you know that..?" Yukari chuckled, moving one of her hands into her own bag, and taking out what looked like a Cell Phone. It was a silver color, and had a little cat on the cell phone strap that came with it. Daedalus had closed her eyes, completely dazed by the feelings of warmth swarming around. She had opened her eyes though, when she felt something in her hand.
"T-This is..-"
"Mitsuru-senpai suggested that I give it to you." She had placed the silver phone in her hands. "My number is already on there, and so is Senpai's. If you ever want to hang out, or if you have trouble give us a call!"
"R-Really?" Dae's eyes widened as she looked back at the phone. "Yukari-chan, I can have this?"
"Mhm."
"...T-Thank...you.." She looked back at the phone, hugging it tightly against her chest as she closed her eyes again. She felt her face grow warm. "I-I'll... cherish it."
"?"
Daedalus had her eyes once again snap open as she saw the scenery turn gray on her once more.
'Thou art I.. and I art thou...'
"A-A bond.." She held her phone up as her necklace began to grow.
'Thou's bond with the Lovers Arcana has grown to it's full potential...'
'Despite the darkness hidden in their hearts, they still prevail..'
'The truth is near..'
'Truth..?' Daedalus thought as she kicked her feet on the ground. 'The more they come up.. The more history Sesshou might have on herself...'
When the light had faded, Yukari had waved to Daedalus as she had walked ahead.
"Come on, Dae-chan!" She began to run. "I'll beat you to the dorm!"
"Huh..?" She blinked, shaking her head as she looked at Yukari with a large smile planted across her face. "Hey, wait for me!"
And THAT is how Dae got her Cell Phone in the Persona 5 RP :T. -shot- But really, another Social Link maxed. Five so far, but just how many are left..?
Let's recap for a second.
Akihiko's Social Link was Maxed once she obtained the letter from Shinjiro.
Shinjiro's Social Link was Maxed when she was a spectator of the shooting.
Daira's Social Link was Maxed after reuniting up with her, and in return helping Daedalus recover some of her childhood.
Fuko's Social Link was Maxed after Daedalus sang with the Music Club.
and Now, Yukari's Social Link has been maxed because of Daedalus because of Yukari's words.
There are only three more left (according to the ones that were mentioned through the chapters): Junpei, Koromaru, and S.E.E.S. itself. What will happen once these three are completed..?
Persona 3 (C) ATLUS
Daedalus & Daira Tavi (C) Me!