Chapter 52
There was nothing they could do for Junpei for the time being. Even Fuuka couldn't sense his presence with Lucia, no matter how far she scanned. It struck the SEES members as strange that he would miss such an important night, as he was usually the most excited for the missions. The fact that Fuuka couldn't locate him made them suspect that something was definitely wrong.
The Shadows couldn't wait for them to find him. Despite her difficulties to pinpoint the Shadow's location, Fuuka managed to trace it to Paulownia Mall.
The moment they stepped into the mall, everything felt wrong. The absence of shoppers scurrying about, the lack of children playing, the deathly silence, and darkened stores made the normally lively place feel as ominous as a morgue. All life had ceased, save for the two upright coffins that most likely belong to security guards. The large fountain continued to burble of flow, but under the grim moonlight, it appeared to be filled with blood.
Fuuka approached the fountain and fired off her Evoker. Lucia appeared, encapsulating her in her bulbous body while emitting her brilliant bluish-white light. As the others gathered around her, Ryuichi and Koromaru patrolled the area in search of Shadows or signs of Strega. Ryuichi let out a weary yawn, his eyes watering as he forced them to stay open.
"Detect anything?" Mitsuru asked Fuuka.
"Only a faint presence," she replied. "It seems so close, but—Why—?"
Mitsuru whirled around to face everyone else. "All right, let's split up and search for it. There's no time to lose; hurry!"
As everyone began to head in different directions, Fuuka's voice cried out directly in their heads, making them flinch.
"Wait! Please, give me a moment!" she begged. "This is my responsibility!"
They all turned back, wincing as she took a deep, calming breath.
"Tell me, Lucia: what is it thing that deceives me?" Fuuka asked softly.
Another deep breath. Everyone waited, all trying to be patient while squirming with eagerness to fight.
"Hear the wind's answer in your ear," they heard Fuuka say. "Touch the earth's answer with your fingertips. Taste the water's answer on your lips."
"Hey, is she okay?" Akihiko started to take a step towards her.
"Don't break her concentration," Mitsuru ordered in a low voice.
Their navigator's eyes flew open. "Right beneath our feet—Some kind of webbing?"
Everyone looked to one another, shaking their heads with no idea as to what she was referring to.
"Perhaps it has something to do with the old power cables underground," Aigis suggested. "They were just left there when the island's construction was completed."
Mitsuru cast her eyes downward. "'Power cables'?"
Aigis nodded. "Yes. They run underground in many directions like a web."
Fuuka let out a sigh of relief as she smiled at Aigis. "Thank you, Aigis. I understand now. Interference isn't the problem—The cables themselves are possessed by the Shadow!"
"They what?" Yukari lifted her feet as though a snake had slithered by. "So, it's underneath this whole area."
Akihiko tapped his toe against the tiles. "Now it all makes sense."
"H-How are we supposed to beat something like that?" squeaked Ken, and Shinjiro let out a dull grunt.
"This is a problem," Mitsuru murmured, deep in thought. "We have no means of attacking it."
"In your notes from previous battles, it said there was a Shadow that took control of the monorail," Fuuka said. "Just like that one, this Shadow must have its own body. Let me see if I can find it."
"Even if we know where it is, we might not be able to get to it," Akihiko grumbled.
"There may still be a way to reach the structure the buried cables feed into," Aigis said.
"We'll see," Shinjiro said, sounding skeptical of Aigis' hopeful remark.
Ryuichi and Koromaru returned from their patrol, having heard everything the others spoke of thanks to the vast silence.
"Fuuka," Yukari whispered, getting no reply.
Their navigator gasped. "I found it! It's close by—in this mall!"
"In here?"
"It's inside a small chamber underground," Fuuka told them all. "It's rectangular, so I assume it's man-made."
"Is it some sort of room?" asked Ken.
"Wait a minute."
It was Shinjiro who had spoken, calling to their attention. "I overheard the manager of Escapade. He was saying that the power's been acting up lately."
"That's no surprise," Yukari sighed.
Shinjiro ignored her. "He said that the control panel is located beneath the club. Maybe we should take a look."
"That's it!" Fuuka exclaimed.
"Good job, Yamagishi," Mitsuru told Fuuka, who looked relieved to finally have discovered the Shadow's location. "All right. Once we're ready, we'll make our move."
Ryuichi scratched his head. "Electricity, huh? Looks like I'll be sitting this one out."
It wasn't just him—Aigis and Yukari were also forced to stand down. Minato went around the group, drawing up a strategy with suggestions from Mitsuru.
"Let's go with Akihiko-senpai and Ken-kun, since they're both resistant to electricity," their leader said after much thought. He looked around at his other options while Ryuichi silently pleaded for him to not pick Mitsuru.
"Shinjiro-senpai, you're in."
Shinjiro picked his head up. "Me? Fine. You can count on me."
With a relieved sigh, Ryuichi and the others wished them good luck before they headed into Club Escapade.
"Stupei, where are you?" Ryuichi heard Yukari murmured behind him.
"Could something have happened?" Mitsuru asked. "Did anyone see him after school today?"
"He was definitely in class today," Yukari answered. "But, after that, I didn't see him at all. I thought that maybe he was in his room all afternoon."
The ground shuddered, as if something massive from below them had shoved them hard. Muffled explosions boomed, prompting Ryuichi to take Mitsuru by the wrist and pull her towards the mall's front doors away from Club Escapade. The others followed suit, with even Fuuka temporarily dismissing Lucia to relocate with everyone else. Koromaru barked twice, wagging his tail.
Aigis translated. "He says, 'I hope that that was our team causing those explosions'."
Yukari stooped to pet him. "I hope so, too."
Mitsuru got Ryuichi's attention with a look. He followed her around to the other side of Lucia's enormous form.
"You've been quiet," she said quietly to him. "Is everything all right?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, putting much of his remaining strength into sounding energetic.
"You just had a full day of school and work, and you looked pretty upset about something earlier," she said, keeping her voice low. "Did something happen?"
The floor rumbled again. Koromaru turned and growled at something towards the stairs. His thick fur stood on end.
"What's the matter, boy?" asked Yukari.
Mitsuru whipped out her Evoker. "Everyone, prepare for battle!"
Aigis stretched both hands out towards the stairs, revealing ten gun muzzles in her fingertips. Yukari spotted the guns and jumped back out of the line of fire.
"Takeba, take Aigis and Koromaru with you to investigate," Mitsuru ordered. "Keep your distance if you can. Ryuichi and I will remain here and guard Yamagishi."
Yukari nodded. "Right. Let's go, guys."
While the three investigated the area, Ryuichi kept scanning their surroundings. The muffled explosions underfoot shook the ground, making Ryuichi steady himself against Lucia.
"As I was saying before, did something happen earlier?" Mitsuru asked him again.
"Is this why you sent the others away?" he grumbled.
Something squelched behind them. Ryuichi leaped towards the noise and drove his sword into a puddle-like Shadow's mask, splitting it in two. The one strike alone turned it into smoke.
"I got a call from my sister right before the Dark Hour," he told Mitsuru as he sheathed his sword. "She wanted me to pick her up right away because she got into another fight with Dad. The Dark Hour cut us off before she could say anything else."
Gunshots. Ryuichi grabbed Mitsuru and pulled her down to the floor. The other three pursued a Shadow across the upper floor towards the left, with Yukari shouting something after Aigis and Koromaru, the latter nipping at the Shadow's feet.
"Shadows!" Mitsuru wriggled out from Ryuichi's grip and struck out.
Ryuichi thought the glass doors shattered until he saw Penthesilea appear. Mitsuru's Persona attacked a puddle Shadow behind them, slicing off the Shadow's gooey arms. A new hand shot out, blocked by Ajax. Mitsuru severed the hand as two floating heads wearing crowns of open books appeared.
"Hit them with magic!" Mitsuru commanded Ryuichi.
He blasted them both with Magarula, but the two Shadows merely wobbled in the air. He jerked right when one lunged with her spiked hair.
"Your turn!" he shouted to Mitsuru.
Ice burst against both Shadows, but neither one so much as flinched. One fought Mitsuru, hair to sword, their blades flashing in the moonlight. The other released an odor so foul that Ryuichi gagged.
"Don't breathe it in!" Mitsuru warned him. She slashed her foe across the forehead, making it shriek.
He coughed, parrying another thrust from his enemy's hair. Ajax and Penthesilea positioned themselves in front of Lucia as a knight Shadow came riding on horseback out of Club Escapade. He charged at their navigator, followed by Aigis with a cracked chest plate and a limping Koromaru. Yukari brought up the rear, healing the two. The knight swerved, rounding the fountain away from Lucia.
The head Shadow cut Ryuichi above his elbow. He clutched his fresh wound as poison continued to pump through his body with every heartbeat. Nausea made him gag, his eyes watering as he watched the knight turned and aimed his lance at Lucia. Ajax raised his shield, and the knight's lance splintered on impact as a crown Shadow cast Mamudo on Ryuichi and Mitsuru. Ryuichi flung himself out of the way, but Mitsuru collapsed, unconscious. He caught her before she hit the ground.
"Hey! Wake up!" He gently shook her, but she didn't stir. Overhead, Penthesilea disappeared, leaving Palladion and Ajax to defend Lucia and Fuuka.
Ryuichi pushed a Revive Bead through Mitsuru's lips as he watched Io and Cerberus corner the knight with the other two Personas. His vision blurred as Cerberus' three heads clamped onto the Shadow. In his arms, Mitsuru awoke and sat up.
"Stand down, Ryuichi," she ordered, springing to her feet.
His body became heavy as his strength waned. "Go get 'em, Boss," he mumbled, staggering to his feet. He nearly fell over trying to dig out a Dis-Poison from his pocket.
Ice sprayed shards while powerful flames scorched Ryuichi's cheeks. When he looked up, the knight Shadow had been vanquished, leaving behind melted ice and a dying fire. Yukari, Aigis, and Koromaru joined the others around Lucia, all three looking a bit more ragged than when they first arrived at the mall.
"I gotcha, Senpai," Yukari said, casting a spell to heal his poison.
The nausea faded, but his legs still refused to support him properly. Yukari cast Mediarama and restored everyone's energy, though she looked more fatigued after doing so. When Ryuichi felt a bit more lucid, he started tending to the wound on Koromaru's paw.
"Ryuichi, your arm."
He ignored the gash over his elbow for the moment. "Just a sec," he told Mitsuru, taking care to keep his voice light.
When he finished tying off the bandages on Koromaru's paw, the dog kept it raised and hobbled on his three remaining legs.
"We'll probably have someone carry you back to the dorm later," Ryuichi told Koromaru. "Just try to keep off of it for now."
Koromaru let out a grateful bark while Ryuichi turned to Yukari next. She had a small cut over her right eye that he smeared ointment over before covering up with a bandage.
"All right; your turn," Mitsuru said once Ryuichi finished tending to the others.
She took his little first aid kit while he shed his blazer. When he tried to push his shirt sleeve up and over his thick bicep, he couldn't get it above the wound.
"Yeah, not happening," he said, rolling his sleeve back down.
Mitsuru frowned. "You have to clean it before it gets infected," she urged.
"Why does Ryuichi-san not remove his shirt?" asked Aigis. "It will allow for easier access to the wound."
"Because Ryuichi-senpai is shy about his farmer's tan," joked Yukari.
"It's more for your sake, actually," he said in a playful, indignant tone. "My paleness will strike you blind. Trust me."
Sighing, Mitsuru said to him: "I see no problem if you have a shirt underneath."
She found the loophole. Ryuichi had no choice but to shed his vest and dress shirt, grateful that he had gone with the black T-shirt underneath. Mitsuru cleaned and bandaged his wound while the others kept watch for other Shadows.
"Stupei, where are you?" he heard Yukari say to herself again.
Koromaru barked twice. "He says, 'Junpei-san might be with that girl again'," Aigis translated for him.
"A girl?" Mitsuru asked in amazement.
"Yeah, he's been going on about seeing some girl lately," Yukari grumbled. She uncrossed her arms. "You don't think he missed out on tonight because of her, do you?"
"It's a possibility," Mitsuru said, tying the first knot on Ryuichi's bandages. "Though, I can't imagine him missing an important mission over an infatuation."
"Bad time for him to fall in love," Ryuichi grunted.
The ground quaked again. Ryuichi bit back a yell when Mitsuru grabbed onto his injured arm to keep her balance.
"Sorry!" she said quickly. When she let go, Ryuichi did his best to shake off the pain.
"Is it wrong to have in infatuation with someone?" Aigis asked them when the ground settled.
"Huh? What do you mean, Aigis?" asked Yukari.
Aigis blinked. "It seems that the 'infatuation' that Junpei-san has for that girl is under scrutiny by everyone," she noted.
"The only thing troublesome about his apparent infatuation is that he's letting it get in the way of his duty to eliminating Shadows," Mitsuru explained.
"What is an 'infatuation'?"
The three looked to one another as if to search for a clear answer.
"It means to really like someone," Yukari told their curious companion.
At that, Aigis nodded. "Then it is the same way that I feel about Minato-san. I comprehend."
"It's not really like that," Ryuichi said with a nervous smile. "An infatuation is more of a crush, kind of like love but not quite, since I guess love's more romantic?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. Someone wanna help me out with this?"
"What is 'love'?" Aigis asked.
"Baby, don't hurt me," he replied automatically, making Yukari roll her eyes. "Okay, uh, romantic love, uh, is—"
"To love someone means to love unconditionally," Mitsuru explained. "For example, if someone makes great sacrifices for someone she loves, that is what love is."
"At least, that's one kind of love," Ryuichi added quickly.
"I see." The robotic girl stood still, but seemed to be processing the information. "Then it is similar to how I am with Minato-san because I am willing to fight for his safety."
She then looked to Ryuichi. "And it must be like Ryuichi-san, who fights for Mitsuru-san's safety, as well. He must also love her unconditionally."
"That's not it!" Ryuichi yelled. Both his face and Mitsuru's flushed a deep shade of pink as Yukari ducked away, snorting.
"How so?" asked Aigis.
"Ryuichi works for me, and so he is contractually obligated to serve as my bodyguard," Mitsuru said to her, her tone a little harsh from Aigis' absurd conclusion. "At best, we are good friends, and as such, we have a different sort of appreciation for each other, one that is not in the romantic sense."
Ryuichi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "At this point, we might have to make T-shirts that say 'We're just friends'," he mused.
Mitsuru let out a sigh. "You see, Aigis, love comes in different forms: familial love, romantic love, friendship—"
"—Favorite food, favorite clothes," Ryuichi piped up, counting on his fingers. "So yeah, love isn't just about sacrifice."
"Oh!" Everyone turned when Fuuka gasped. "I think I found Junpei-kun!"
She traced his location to the dorm roof. "But, something isn't right," she added, filling them with dread.
When the others returned from their battle underground, the team raced back to the dorm, Akihiko and Aigis taking the lead. Ryuichi wanted to keep up, but he stayed in line with Mitsuru, who somehow managed to sprint in stiletto heel boots and still kept ahead of others.
At the dorm, Akihiko barely threw the front doors open when everyone burst right in. They tore up the stairs, their feet thundering as if to let Junpei know they were almost there. They found Junpei on the roof bound in chains, the loose end held by a pale, young woman with long, vibrant red hair, thick eyeliner around woeful eyes, and wearing a white, lace, lolita dress.
"Junpei!" Yukari halted just a few feet outside the rooftop door when she spotted him.
"Tch. They're back already?" the lolita girl muttered.
Metal flashed in her hand. Ryuichi shielded Mitsuru when he saw the lolita girl holding a gun-shaped object.
"She's a Persona-user!" Mitsuru called out.
The girl lifted her face to the eerie green sky and pressed the muzzle of the Evoker under her chin. "Medea, come," she ordered in her airy voice, and just as she was about to squeeze the trigger, Junpei broke free from his chains and shoved her to the ground. The Evoker clattered to the floor, stopping at Yukari's feet.
"Chidori! Stop!' Junpei shouted, pinning her down.
"No!" The girl named Chidori was no longer cool and calm, but stricken with panic and fright. "Give it back!"
She struggled against Junpei's hands, groping for the Evoker as Ikutsuki, Akihiko, and Shinjiro arrived.
Ikutsuki gasped when he saw Chidori. "When did she—?"
Akihiko snatched the Evoker off the ground. "Sorry, but we can't let you use this," he said to the frightened girl.
"Medea!" she gasped as tears filled her eyes. She lowered her outstretched hand and let her face rest flat on the ground in defeat.
"I-I didn't sense her up until this very moment," Fuuka said in disbelief as everyone surrounded Chidori. "I didn't even have the slightest clue she was here."
Aigis helped Chidori to her feet while keeping her wrists locked in her vice-like grip. Junpei let his hands slip from the lolita girl, anguish crossing his face as he watched her become Aigis' prisoner.
Mitsuru stood before Chidori, extending to her full height with her arms down at her sides. "Are you a member of the group that goes by the name Strega?" she demanded. "I have a number of questions for you."
With a ragged breath, Chidori told her, "I'm not, afraid, of dying—"
"Ch-Chidori!" yelped Junpei, but she ignored him.
Chidori's face had gone so pale that the moonlight tinged her skin a sickly green. Her eyes were wide open now, and in a high, airy voice, cried: "M-Medea, I-I'm—"
Aigis steadied her, and she fell silent.
"Clearly, she's emotionally unstable," Mitsuru said to the others. "We'll let her rest and save our questions for later."
As they all headed back inside the dorm, Ryuichi heard Junpei utter Chidori's name on his lips so softly that the wind carried it off before it could reach anyone else's ears. They marched her down to the lounge, where Aigis never broke her grip on her. Chidori said nothing, nor did she try to break free even with Junpei there, who softly spoke to her until Mitsuru led him away for questioning.
"Have everyone search the dorm," she said to Akihiko. "Stay on the alert, and make sure everyone goes in pairs."
Upstairs on the second floor, Ryuichi and Mitsuru got their Evokers ready while Junpei unlocked his bedroom door. The moment he pushed the door open, Ryuichi stormed inside, kicking over the stacks of manga, dirty laundry, and other junks all over the floor. When all was clear, he allowed the others to enter. Junpei dropped heavily onto his unkempt bed as Mitsuru stepped over piles of manga and a rumpled shirt to stand before him.
"Who is that girl?"Mitsuru demanded in her cold tone. "Is her name really Chidori?"
Junpei sat forward with his elbows on his knees and sighed, keeping his head down. "I don't know," he admitted. "That's the name she told me."
"How did you come to know her?"
"I saw her at the Port Island Station over summer break. She was drawing on a sketchpad, and she seemed kinda interesting."
Mitsuru's eyes narrowed. "You are infatuated with her?"
Junpei cringed. "I-I, um—"
She shook her head. "What have you told her about us?"
"Nothing! I swear!"
"How did she manage to take you hostage?"
"I don't—"
"Did you know she had a Persona?"
"N-No, I—"
"Do you know the potential harm that—"
"Mitsuru."
She exhaled sharply through her nose at the sound of her name. "What do you even know about this girl?" she asked, speaking slower without losing the edge in her voice.
Junpei scratched his head just under where his cap ended. "I-I don't know." He picked his head up and looked Mitsuru in the eyes. "But I do know that I care about her!"
"Don't let your infatuation get in the way of what just happened tonight!" Mitsuru bellowed, and Junpei shrunk away. "If she is with Strega, they could have easily infiltrated our dorm and killed us all! Now, tell me what you told her about us!"
Junpei's legs began to shake. "I-I-I told her that, um, that I was the leader," he muttered, only audible by the silence of the Dark Hour.
Mitsuru took a step towards him. "Is that all?" she asked, her voice hardening again. "Is there anything else?"
"No. I told her that I was the leader and that's it."
"Why?"
"It's obvious, isn't it?" Ryuichi asked her with a sigh.
Mitsuru glowered down at the foolish teen. "Your carelessness almost cost you your life tonight, and potentially others, as well," she reminded him coldly. "Think about that."
She left the room. Ryuichi followed, taking one last look at Junpei's shrinking frame before closing the door behind him. They went back downstairs where everyone stood around Chidori, watching her like a wild animal in shackles who had finally calmed down.
Akihiko approached Mitsuru. "How is he?"
"He has a lot to think about," she replied without taking her eyes off of Chidori. She said nothing more of the situation, nor did anyone ask anything else.
The Dark Hour lifted shortly after. Ryuichi called Kikuno to have a car sent out to pick up Chidori to take to the hospital. Even after she was removed from the dorm, everyone was still tense as they trudged up to their rooms.
While everyone headed upstairs, Mitsuru pulled Ryuichi aside to speak with in private. They went to his room where Mitsuru settled on his bed while he sat down backwards on his desk chair. Fatigue showed itself in little baggies under Mitsuru's eyes, but her face remained hardened with anger and concern.
"Iori has put us in an extremely dangerous position," she said in a low voice, squeezing herself with her arms folded across her body. "There's no telling if he might have given her more information about our weaknesses, our strengths, our personal lives—And worse, if she is working with Strega, then we may be in more danger than ever before.
"And the nerve of him! Telling a girl that he was our leader to impress her? What was he thinking?"
"In a way, it worked out for us," Ryuichi reasoned. "She got a fake, and our leader is safe. Though, she might think it's you now."
"Yes, but that kind of carelessness could have cost us tonight," she reminded him. "How did she get into the dorm? What if she's working with Strega? There's a lot that could have happened, and he needs to understand that."
She shook her head in disgust. "All for an infatuation."
Ryuichi said nothing. He knew that she was right about the dangers that Junpei had put them in just to try to win a girl's heart, and that they had no idea of what could happen from then on. Still, witnessing Mitsuru's anger only told him how scared she had been for Junpei and for the rest of the team.
"Yamagishi said that she couldn't sense that girl before," Mitsuru said as she stared through the wall. "Could it be that her Persona has a cloaking ability? If she's working with Strega, could we have captured their ability to stay hidden? And, if Yamagishi couldn't sense anyone else in the area, does that mean that someone else possesses the cloaking ability?"
There were too many questions to ask and only one who could answer them, but she wasn't willing to talk. Mitsuru made plans to speak with Chidori later, with the hopes that she had mentally stabilized by then. Ryuichi told her he would accompany her as often as possible, but she told him that she could always ask Akihiko to go with her.
It was only after Ryuichi was in bed and closed his eyes that he remembered something that made his blood run cold.
"Shit! Shizue!"
Her call had long-since ended, and there were three missed calls from her. Ryuichi called her back immediately, apologizing the moment she picked up her phone. He ended up staying awake longer than he could stand to while she told him all about what their father had said, sobbing the whole way through. When he started snoring, his sister's voice screeched at him for not caring enough, for being heartless and selfish. All he could do was apologize again and again, even if it never satisfied her.
