A.N. (3/3/21) - New cover!
Persona (46) - The Three Nagi's
It took a while until everyone finally gathered together, but the real highlight of the day was when Nagisa finally joined them.
Negi's face frowned when he noticed. Nagi was still somewhat curious why his oldest self felt so strongly against his other self.
Still, Nagi waved over to where Nagisa was. "Hey, over here!"
Everyone watched with blatant curiosity as Nagisa walked over to where Nagi and Negi were.
Honestly, it was a surreal experience for the three of them. They all tried hard not to stare at each other, but it didn't help that everyone was also doing the same.
It was Nagisa who spoke first. "...am I having a mid-life crisis?"
That cracked a smile from the other two until suddenly, all three of them started to laugh together. Everyone watching them was surprised by the abruptness as the three people collapsed onto the ground from laughing so hard.
"T-This," Nagi let out between breaths. "T-This is just unbelievable."
Negi chuckled at that. "I guess if you live long enough, eventually something else will still surprise you."
An exasperated sigh came from Nagisa, but there was still a hint of a smile on his face.
"T-This," Kotone was sniffling for some reason. "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever witnessed."
"My goodness," Yukiko said. "There's three of them now. We're already at our wit's end with just one of him."
"I have had way too many revelations to be shocked anymore," Takuto muttered. "At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if another three of them pop up."
Everyone was now chatting with each other, the ice finally breaking with the three Nagi's meeting.
Speaking of which…
"So this isn't the first time the Investigation Team met the others?"
Negi nodded. "Yup, a few of them visited when they heard about what was happening in Inaba. But we're mostly dealing with it by ourselves at the moment."
"Fascinating," Nagisa muttered. "I always considered the thought, but to hear the reality…"
"I'm not that surprised," Nagi replied. "I'm sure that you two still get visits from Daisuke and the others."
Nagia started blushing for some reason, and Negi was giving him a leering gaze.
That immediately drew Nagi's attention. "Was it something I said?"
"E-Erm…" Nagisa's face was bright red at the moment. "Well, I don't know how to tell you this…"
"He's dating Risa."
"WHAT!?"
A slap echoed through the air as a blushing Nagisa glared at his older self. "No, I'm not! Stop saying things that are going to cause him to misunderstand."
"But I'm not," Negi whined. "It's true, don't deny it."
"Just shut up!" Nagisa gave a glance at Nagi. "Look, we're just pretending to go out. There are a lot of reasons, but the main ones are to keep people from continuing to ask her out while she's at school. It's not what you're thinking."
Nagi wanted to believe what Nagisa was telling him. Because he couldn't even imagine the possibility of him and Risa going out, not to mention that he only considered her a friend of his. Maybe even his little sister, but definitely not a romantic target.
Just imagining the prospect almost made him sick. "Duly noted."
"You know," Negi started all of a sudden. "There are a lot of stories where love blooms in a fake relationship. Who knows, maybe it worked out after all. Only I would know for sure—"
"It's clear that neither of us can trust anything that comes out of your mouth," Nagisa said with a cold gaze. "Youngest me, please never fall for this person's lies. Let's just ignore whatever he says from now on."
That caused Negi to back up quickly. "No, wait. I'll be good, I promise."
Neither of them believed that, and Negi could tell by the look in their eyes.
His back slumped. "...she got together with Hiwatari."
"There, there." Nagi began patting the older boy's back. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"
All that got him was a glare from the older boy. "Oh, just shut up."
}-{
The next few minutes were spent playing middlemen between everyone as each Nagi tried to introduce each other to their respective groups.
In Nagi's case, he introduced Takuto, Rei, and Zen.
"But if we have this many people," Yu started. "Then not all of us will have to enter to fight. I say we should split ourselves into small groups every time we go in."
"That sounds great," Kotone cheerfully replied. "Five sounds good enough, right?"
"Works for me," Negi answered. "Rise, you can work it out between yourself and Fuuka right?"
"Of course," she rolled her eyes. "The two of us know what we're doing."
Fuuka stuttered a response. "I-I'll be in your care then."
"You don't have to be so polite," Rise told her. "I'm younger than you after all."
"Y-Yes."
"Arf!" Koromaru yelped.
Aigis translated from next to him, "He says that he would also like to investigate the school. There are a lot of new smells that he's been noticing."
Mitsuru nodded at that. "Yes, that would be something for the rest of us to do."
"Nagi and I will be the ones who'll take care of that," Takuto offered. "We're not going to be as much help otherwise, so might we as well take care of it."
Mitsuru sighed at that. "As much as I hate to admit it, that's probably for the best. We'll make sure to figure this out as soon as possible in exchange, so please take care of us well."
"But I think that's enough for today," Nagi said. "Everyone's probably tired with all that's happened today. I think it would be best if we just rested for now and recover for tomorrow."
Everyone seemed to agree with that.
}-{
Sleeping arrangements took a while to figure out.
Since Yu was the leader of the team who went to this school, he was the one who told everyone where the best places would be to spend the night. Everyone dragged out various materials and made a somewhat comfortable arrangement in the school gym.
Negi immediately glomped Nagi once they finished setting up their bedding. "Let's sleep together!"
Nagisa gave Negi a strange look. "Must you be so childish all the time?"
"Must you be so stiff all the time," the older boy replied back. "Besides, you have got to admit that you're feeling a guilty urge to mess around with your younger self."
"I don't like how you're phrasing that," Nagi muttered.
"It's a shame that none of us have any extra clothes to change into," Nagisa commented. "Nagi's the only one who's already in pajamas."
He blushed at that. "It was what I was wearing when this all started." A thought came to him, and he turned to face Takuto. "Speaking of which, how did you get in here in the first place?"
Takuto shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno? All I remember was heading to our room at the Amagi Inn."
"But how come you're not in your pajamas?"
"I slept without changing," he answered. "Guess I entered here in my sleep."
Nagi still had a frown on his face. "Why us though? I can understand the others since they have their Personas. But why us two specifically?"
Because if it was just random chance, then how come nobody else in the Inn was here? How come there wasn't a little Rise with them as well?
"I doubt you'll get any answers now," Negi said. "Just sleep on it and figure it out in the morning. Besides, it looks like we'll only learn the truth once we get through this place."
He sighed at that. "Fine, guess you're right."
"Actually, I'm left." Negi gestured to where his bed was. "You'll be sleeping to my right."
Nagisa sat next to Nagi's spot. "And I'll be right next to you."
"Sandwiched between two pretty boys," Nagi said in a dead voice. "And they're both me."
Negi snickered. "Aw, what's a little male bonding between us?"
"I'm still fourteen you know. I can probably get you arrested."
"I'm not sure what the rules for sexually harassing yourself are," Nagisa commented. "But I bet we can pin something to this degenerate."
He pouted at both of them. "You two are no fun."
Playful banter between your alternate selves, the best kind of fluff.