A.N. (3/17/21) - Time for some Nagi x Nagisa interactions.

Persona (52) - Last Day Café

It was the third day since Nagi found himself in the strange version of Yasogami High School.

Almost everyone was busy with the labyrinth now, so Nagi found himself hanging out with someone unexpected.

"Why aren't you with them?" he asked his older self.

Nagisa sighed. "I don't usually involve myself in events when I can."

The two of them were tasked with preparing the meals for the day since Takuto wasn't here to help assist Nagi. He had agreed to Negi's offer to join the rest of them exploring the labyrinth, so Nagisa offered to help Nagi cook in his place.

"How come?"

Nagisa blinked at that. "Did nobody tell you yet? I thought Negi would at least have informed you about what I do."

Nagi gave an awkward chuckle at that. "I try not to stick around to hear any spoilers if I can."

"It's not important if you know now though," Nagisa replied. "Basically, I'm not officially a member of S.E.E.S. I'm actually a resident of the Velvet Room."

Nagi almost tripped after he heard those words. "You're what?!"

"I'm kind of similar to Marie," he explained. "I aide Kotone in various things instead of being part of her team." He furrowed his eyes. "That's why I'm so confused as to how my future self is so different."

"Wait, wait, wait. Just hold on," Nagi held up one of his hands. "How come you're a resident of the Velvet Room?!"

"It's… complicated," he replied. "That part might be going into spoiler territory. But due to my circumstances, I don't play a direct role in changing things."

"B-But," Nagi closed his eyes for a moment. "...nothing, you're changing nothing? Isn't that a bad idea?"

Because he could still vaguely recall most of the events of the third Persona game. A couple of people died, good people. Some of them were even here right now.

"As I said, I don't play a direct role in changing things." Nagisa gave out a heavy sigh. "I know what you're worried about. I'm making sure to keep a good eye on Kotone and Shinjiro."

That mollified Nagi a bit, and the two continued to work in peace.

"So, what exactly do you do in the Velvet Room?"

Nagisa gave a soft smile. "I paint."

"You… paint?" Nagi gave his older self a strange look at that. "I didn't take us for a painter."

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's something we get interested in at the end of middle school."

Nagi thought about it and found himself curious about what caused that. He knew that he was a pretty good artist, in the sense that his doodles looked nice compared to other people his age.

But to take that to the next level and pursue painting?

He didn't know what to think about that, so instead, he changed the conversation. "Do you have any ideas on how we might keep our memories of this place?"

His older self gave him a surprised look at that. "Do you want to keep your memories of this place?"

"Well, yeah." Nagi shuffled in place. "I mean, I don't want to forget meeting two different versions of myself. But judging from the fact that you don't remember this, I'm guessing I don't end up remembering this."

Nagisa smiled ruefully and shook his head. "Who knows, time travel was never really an explored mechanic in the games. There might actually be some way for you to remember everything."

"Not at the cost of creating paradoxes that can possibly blow up the universe."

His older self only chuckled at that, and even Nagi joined him in their laughter.

}-{

Nagisa gave a cursory glance around. "Well, it looks like we're done with the preparations for now."

Nagi lifted his arms and sniffed them. "I think we both need a shower."

"The smell's definitely clinging to our clothes," Nagisa admitted. "Lucky Theodore's able to finally make more clothes for us, so we should have something to change into later."

Nagi whirled around in surprise. "Wait, he can? How come nobody told me?"

For god's sake, he was still wearing his pajamas.

Nagisa shrugged his shoulders. "We couldn't get the materials to make more stuff until recently. I just learned about it myself."

Both of them walked together towards the boy's locker room showers. Folded on a nearby bench were a few clothes already prepared in case of emergencies.

Nagi picked through them and whistled. "These look pretty good."

Nagisa nodded as well. "It's simple, but high quality."

The two quickly undressed and threw their dirty clothes in a bin to wash later. Nagi glanced at his older self changing and his eyes widened at what he saw.

"What the heck is that?!"

His surprise was because Nagisa had a large scar running down along the middle of his chest. While it didn't look too bad, it was extremely large and looked like it was due to something impaling him through his chest.

Nagisa winced. "Oh, I forgot about the scar."

"H-How did you… " Nagi gulped and closed his eyes. "...this is another spoiler, isn't it?"

Nagisa lowered his head. "Y-Yes. I apologize, but it's best if you do not learn about what happened now."

Even as he nodded, the sight of the large scar burned in his mind. Judging by its size and position, Nagisa should've died from whatever caused that. The fact that he was still here today was either due to some kind of miracle, or some very extenuating circumstances.

Also, what did that imply for Nagi's future, for his future self to sport such a serious scar?

The mood was slightly soured as the two took their showers. Once both of them were clean and dried off, they both changed into their new clothes in silence.

"...I know it's a bit unfair for you not to know everything," Nagisa began. "But I truly am sorry that I can't tell you anything."

"Why not?" Nagi asked. "If I'm going to forget all of this later, don't I have the right to know what my future is?"

His older self gave out a heavy sigh at that. "Because Negi and I both have a reason for you not to know certain things. Even if you're not able to remember what we tell you… someone else might."

That caused Nagi to be confused. "Someone?"

"Forget about it," Nagisa said. "It's nothing. Just trust us for now."

He huffed at that but sighed afterward. "Fine, I'll trust you two."

Nagisa smiled at that. "Thanks, you have no idea how much this means to—"

And without warning, Nagisa suddenly disappeared.

"Huh?"

Nagi blinked for a few seconds, trying to see if he wasn't imagining things. But no, Nagisa really was gone.

"...how the heck did he just disappear like that?"

}-{

Nagi went to talk with someone and question them if what he saw earlier was something to worry about. However, none of the Velvet Residents that stayed behind had any good answers either.

Even the two Navigators didn't know what to tell him, only that Nagisa had somehow appeared in the labyrinth without warning.

Honestly, he was kind of freaked out at how easily Nagisa just disappeared like that. So the next few hours were spent with him fidgeting and worrying over what was going on.

It wasn't until everyone finally came back from their expedition that Nagi finally saw Nagisa again.

"Where were you?!" He cried out as he ran forward and hugged his older self. "You just disappeared out of nowhere. What happened?"

His older self gave a small hug in return. "Sorry for worrying you. The labyrinth decided to kidnap me because of one of their rules."

The two separated and Nagi gave his older self a confused look. "Rules?"

"A lot of stuff happened down there." Negi was uncharacteristically embarrassed for some reason. "But we managed to defeat the boss, so we only have two more places to explore."

Even after questioning the two, they refused to tell him exactly what happened down there.

With that, the day ended on a confusing note for Nagi.

I'm going to try to rush through the rest of the labyrinths now. Hopefully, it'll take a chapter per labyrinth and I'll see what happens for the final boss.