Author's Note: So... I just want to say thank you for the overwhelming support for my first chapter. Jeez... So as promised, people have expressed interest and I have continued. I will continue to write this story as I have time. But seriously, thank you so much for all of your support for this story. I was worried about the potential backlash that could happen with this kind of mash-up. So here we go, Chapter 2. The following Chapters will now all have titles that start with character whose perspective we will be focusing on. Not fully limited to, but focused.
Minako quickly realized that her and Yu's clothes had changed when they left the car. While she was wearing her orange sweater, red scarf, and plaid skirt over black stockings, Yu was now wearing a dashing, near black blazer over brown jean pants. However, when Minako looked at Yu, she watched the various emotions that plagued his features. The tense concentration of his shoulders, the serious frustration in his brow, the sadness in his eyes, and the hesitation in his attempted steps forward. All of these were things she was certain would be hers if she had been the one to have her friends pulled forward to assist in the upcoming mission. As much as she wanted to reach out to him, Minako knew there was nothing she could say that he was not already thinking. So instead she elected to watch how he processed these complicated emotions that seemed to rack his mind. Afterall, if they were to all work together, she would need to know him better. After another brief moment she was surprised that he began to speak to her.
"I know how this is going to go," Yu commented. "Yukiko is going to be happy with her position because her parents will have never planned her future for her, I'll have to tell her that they did overwrite her wants with their desires for her." Minako remained quiet. "Chie will not have spent her whole life being compared to what the boys at school call 'incomparable.' Her existence will have had value to others just the same as Yukiko. Then there is Kanji, he will not have spent his life being told that he was an outcast because of his interests. How can I inflict that upon him again?" Minako knew he was being rhetorical. "And Naoto will have never been held back by her gender. Her entire career would have been made so much easier now. And… oh god, Yosuke is gonna have Saki back. How the hell am I supposed to…?" Minako walked over to him and placed her hand on her arm.
"Hey, it's gonna be alright," Minako said to him. "We'll start with the easiest ones."
He swallowed his doubts, it seemed, and nodded. The two of them began walking. After a moment of silence, Minako began getting antsy. She wanted to talk. She liked talking. It was probably the one thing that made her both endearing and annoying to the people who cared about her. There was always someone who would talk to them, but that also meant there was always someone who wanted them to talk back.
"Hey, Narukami?" Minako asked hesitantly.
Yu looked over at her and said, "Call me, Yu."
"Yu, when we were in the Velvet Room waiting for your arrival, Margaret mentioned you having something called an 'Orb of Truth' and I wanted to know how that worked. Since it was the thing that busted this whole illusion wide open for you," Minako explained her curiosity to him in as thorough a way as possible.
"Well, I have to know that the falsehood is being committed against me. But once I do, I can use the Orb of Truth to peel back the lies and see the truth behind it," Yu explained.
Minako hummed in understanding before she asked, "How did you know? What tipped you off this time?"
"You sure you wanna know? It isn't exactly a heartwarming revelation," Yu responded wistfully. Minako almost hesitated before she simply gestured for him to go ahead. He gave out a dry laugh before he said, "I realized that something was off when I had an actual attentive relationship with my parents."
"Oh," Minako said. She had no idea what else to say to such an announcement.
"Don't worry about it," Yu commented neutrally.
Minako needed to follow up on this now. There was a broken shard somewhere here. If he was like her, then he was too busy helping everyone to deal with his own personal demons. So she moved ahead, picking up her pace and stopping in his path. The nearby riverbed was quiet except for the gentle passage of water.
"Hey, talk to me," Minako said gently. "You don't have to play tough leader with me."
Yu stopped for a moment as he seemed to struggle with some of his own feelings. After a moment he said, "There was a person we butted heads with during our investigation. He had this twisted view on life and a lack of empathy towards others. Well to be honest, I understood him. On a really dark and twisted level, I understood him. That emptiness. I am terrified of becoming like him. And my template on how to avoid that, was always to never copy my parents."
Minako was quiet for a moment before she said, "Look, I can't remember my parents, so I really can't tell you anything to help you on that front. But-"
"Hey!" a cheerful voice suddenly called out nearby. "Yu! Glad you came to visit!"
Yu and Minako turned towards the owner and they found a tomboy girl with a lot of bubbly energy. Her hair was just short of her shoulder, and she was clad in a long wavy yellow shirt, with a short-sleeved grey and blue bolero jacket. It was a cute ensemble and Minako knew that she would have loved to wear in the summer. If only she had more money for her own wardrobe.
"Chie, it's good to see you again," Yu said happily. Minako could hear the strain.
The girl ran over to them and Minako could see that she was an athlete. Good form, total breath control, and in motion, her muscles were impressively toned, especially for someone her age.
As Chie came closer, she slowed to a light jog and said, "Oh, you brought someone new? Who's this?"
Yu suddenly ceased moving. It seemed that in Chie's arrival, he had forgotten that Minako had come with him. Minako stifled a giggle. Yu seemed stuck so she figured she'd throw him a bone.
"Minako Arisato. I'm temporarily staying with his family and decided to follow him out here while we have a break from school. Yu has told me a lot about Inaba," Minako said to Chie. It may not have been entirely honest, but it also was not entirely dishonest either so it did not feel wrong to do at the time.
"Nice to meetcha' Minako," Chie said energetically. She looked at Yu who seemed to be finally composing himself. "You've always been a good guest, figures you would also be a good host too."
"More than you know," Yu said. He seemed hesitant. Minako decided she needed to buy him some more time.
"So, Chie," Minako started carefully. "You some kind of runner? Only saw it for a moment but you are a true athlete. Great form, by the way."
Chie gave a confident smirk and replied, "Well thanks, but no. Not a runner, Kung Fu practitioner… from movies." Minako got a good laugh from that comment.
"Well you are apparently a black belt in movie martial arts because you got the form of a varsity athlete. I wish I got that good at Volleyball," Minako said with a slight whine towards the end. She had actually wanted to take Kendo, but Gekkoukan did not have enough girls who wanted to participate to have a female Kendo Club in the first place.
Before Chie could reply, Yu finally said, "Chie can I ask you something?"
"Sure," Chie replied.
"Do you remember how we met?" Yu asked.
Chie thought for a moment and said, "We met because you moved out here for a year to stay with your Aunt, Uncle, and Nanako, right? What's up, you feeling nostalgic?"
"Chisato, too?" Yu whispered to himself. Minako was pretty sure Chie did not hear him, but she had heard him. He seemed to be consumed by his thoughts again
Minako needed to buy him some time and said, "So how is it growing up in a small town? It's so small compared to the big city."
"Oh it's great," Chie said with a big smile, attention successfully taken off of Yu. "Even with a girl like Yukiko in your grade there is only so much attention you can avoid out here but, if the boys focus on me then they're leaving her alone and not interrupting her when she's learning the family business."
Minako nodded, rocked on her feet and said, "Boys can be distracting." Chie did not seem the type to want the attention for herself but rather to keep the attention off of her friend. It was cute, admirable. That was a good friendship, but how much of it was based in the original people and how much came from this new reality?
"Chie, do you remember why we became friends?"
"Now that you mention it," Chie said hesitantly. "It seems to have slipped my mind."
Minako felt Yu's hesitation to that answer. She nudged him with her elbow. Either he needed to go with it or drop it.
"Do you remember what happened in Inaba in 2011? The big event that happened that year?" Yu asked.
Chie seemed to hesitate again then she suddenly said, "The fog! And the murders? How could I forget? And the sha- I mean that shady detective. And Saki… Oh no, Saki. Yu what happened?"
"Calm down," Yu said with a hint of authority as he put a hand on her shoulder. "There were some complications. In the future, a new group of Persona-users faced off with a man named Takuto Maruki. He has overwritten reality to create an ideal world for people, whether we wanted it or not. This however caused something else."
Watching Yu calm Chie was quite a sight for Minako. Clearly he was their leader and the two of them showed exactly why. Though he had some unresolved personal issues with his family, his care and attention to his friends was clear and focused. She wondered if this is how she looked with her allies when she helped them.
"Sorry, to interrupt," Minako said hesitantly. "I want to apologize for slightly misleading you. I was a leader for a group of Persona-users in the past. I just didn't want to chance setting you off on some kind of existential terror if I brought it up immediately."
Chie looked at her, smiled, and then looked back to her leader. "So what are we going to do about it?" she asked.
"I like her," Minako whispered to Yu with a small smile on her face.
"I have to get the Investigation Team back together," Yu said. He deflated a little bit as his thoughts returned to the concerns he had aired earlier. "Then we are going to fight back."
"Makes sense to me," Chie said. "Although, what is this complication you mentioned?"
"I can answer that," Minako said. "In my journey, we fought an entity known as Nyx, who was awoken to destroy humanity. In order to prevent that destruction, I sacrificed myself to seal the God summoning Nyx to our world."
"So if you're here…" Chie began as the pieces began fitting together in her mind.
"Exactly," Minako said sadly. "The seal is gone, and soon Nyx will be sent to us again. So we either have to put everything back the way it was and that includes me, or we find a new solution to stopping Nyx for good."
Chie had a sad look on her face for a moment before she looked Minako in the eyes and, with the most sincere tone that Minako had ever heard, she said, "I prefer the second option. We'll find a way to save you from that fate. There is nothing the Investigation Team can't do when we set our minds to it. I promise you that. Isn't that right Leader?"
Yu smiled softly before he looked at Minako and said, "You'll have our full effort behind you on that."
Minako felt the stinging of tears on the back of her eyes. It had been so long since the last time she had seen a group of people her age look at her with such conviction and care. It reminded her of the day that she last saw her friends. She remembered it was in her final moments. As her strength failed her, she laid her head on Shinjiro's lap. The door to the roof flew open and with the last of her energy she looked to those whom she loved most in the world and they looked back at her with such care. Before she knew it, Yu and Chie faded back into her vision and his hand was held out to her. The wetness on her face registered in her mind as she looked down and saw in his hand was a small white handkerchief. She took it and tried to dab away the tears but they kept coming. Minako sank down to a curled up crouch as the tears flowed.
"Are you alright, Minako?" Chie asked. She knelt down next to her and rested her hand on her back. Chie gave comforting pats as Minako finally felt years of isolation rack her mind with grief.
Yu however decided to explain, "She's had it rough, Chie. Her group's journey happened two years before ours did. By 2017, she has been in her seal for almost eight years."
Minako was glad that he seemed to understand, she was surprised when she felt Chie wrap her arms around her and held her in a comforting embrace. This lasted for a few minutes until Minako finally felt her tears begin to dry up. She looked up at them and gave an embarrassed smile.
"Sorry about that," Minako said as she began to stand up.
"You don't have to apologize," Yu said with a smile back. "Afterall, what are friends for?"
Minako nodded and repeated his words back, "What are friends for."
Chie stood up and asked, "So am I the first one you've talked to?"
"By pure random chance, yeah," Yu replied.
Chie nodded as she thought for a moment. Then she said, "I saw Naoto in the shopping district. I think she would be particularly interested in finding out about this fake reality thing going on."
"A detective could be really useful," Yu agreed. He was back in full business mode. Minako could not figure out just how he could switch his mindset on the fly like he did. If she was being honest, seeing another Fool in their element made her feel a little inadequate. She had always felt like she had been flying by the seat of her pants so to speak. Things had always felt like they happened to her at the time. She did not know how he did it.
The three of them made their way through town. Chie seemed to recount to Yu the differences that she could remember between this reality and the original one. "So, the two biggest things you should be aware of are for Yosuke and Teddie. Yosuke has Saki back and without the town hating his guts, Saki never felt bad about working at Junes. So the two of them started dating. Teddie on the other hand became human from the beginning. He's always been here for as long as we can remember in this reality."
"How close was this Yosuke guy to Saki in reality?" Minako asked.
"Well that is complicated," Yu said. "In reality, Yosuke's family manages Junes, and it caused business in the local shopping district to begin failing. In order to help her family, Saki took a job at Junes to help her family's business. While she was there, she caught Yosuke's interest. She played along to hopefully get some additional money and Yosuke took it the wrong way. However, Saki died. Her death was the catalyst for our investigation into the strange murders in our town."
"Oh that sounds complicated," Minako said. So if what he had said was true, then Yosuke might be particularly resistant to acknowledging this false reality. He really would have it all. Would she have given up Shinjiro if given the chance? Giving up herself, she would do it in a heartbeat, but someone that important to her… she did not know if she could do it.
"Naoto!" Yu called out. Minako looked at the owner of the name and realized that she was strangely familiar. It seemed that her short hair had been different when Minako had come across her. Her parents had been asked to look into the school for a short period of time. It was during the time Fuuka had disappeared for a couple weeks. Naoto would have been a young girl, barely a middle schooler at the time. She has grown up into a very competent woman it would seem. The thought made Minako happy. But it was time for her to focus on the reason for their finding her now.
"Narukami," Naoto said politely. "Satonaka. And I don't believe we have met. My name is Naoto Shirogane."
"Minako Arisato," Minako replied with a grin. This earned a raised eyebrow from the young woman but it disappeared shortly after. Minako suddenly got the feeling that this girl was hiding something.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Naoto said genuinely. "So Narukami, what brings you back to Inaba so soon?"
"That's the complicated part," Yu replied deep in thought. "Has anything seemed off to you lately?"
Naoto had a slightly surprised look on her face before she finally said, "So you've noticed it too?"
"Wait, you already know?" Chie asked, surprised.
"I'm a detective, noticing and remembering the strange details is my job," Naoto replied coolly. Minako was actually rather impressed. These Inaba kids were pretty impressive if two of them had noticed the illusion. "The thing that currently has my attention, however, is how you are traveling with someone named Arisato. The only Arisato that I am aware of is male and deceased. From the Shadow Operative's files it made it sound like he was the leader of a group of Persona-users in Tatsumi Port Island."
"Long story, but I guess you could call me the girl version of him and we'll leave it at that until we can get more of your group together," Minako answered.
Naoto nodded and said, "Fair enough. I am sure it is exhausting to explain over and over. And if Narukami trusts you, then so will I."
"So what clued you in that something was wrong, anyway?" Chie asked the young detective.
"At first, it was just a brief moment of confusion. I was attempting to figure out why I had it and began referring to my notebooks with details from previous cases. Maybe I had gotten something wrong. But then I realized something. By all logical reasoning, there would be no circumstances that would have led me to making friends with you all if some kind of investigation had not been involved," Naoto explained. "I am not a very social person nor have I ever felt a desire for friendly companionship. The puzzles and my work have always been more important to me than socializing with my peers. To me, it was enough of a reason to determine that the former was always time better spent than doing the latter. So then I had to figure out what happened. Which case had brought us together? Then I remembered. And I don't appreciate my mind or my work being interfered with."
"Sharp as ever, Naoto," Yu said. This drew a faint blush from the detective. Minako thought it was adorable that his words alone drew out that kind of response. Her less than social tendencies were proven in that quick display.
Minako looked away from the group of friends as she took in the town around her. The town around her was small, quaint; it was not without its charm. The nearby tofu shop wafted smells in her direction that reminded her of the shopping district in the town that she had called home. Bizarrely enough there was also a blacksmith shop. The sight of which confused and intrigued Minako. The sounds within confirms its practice as she could hear the clanging of metal. Had this place supplied this group of kids with the tools they needed to fight shadows? She also confirmed the existence of a book shop down the streets and beyond that was a small gas station. It seemed this shopping district had all of the things that would be needed to sustain small town life. And then she looked further… Why were so many buildings closed? At first this shopping district had seemed full of activity but as she looked closer, it was only sustaining a few businesses.
"This is the truth behind the illusion," Naoto said, snapping her from her train of thought. "It would seem this Maruki person that Narukami has now explained to me, has created some kind of fail safe, to make the illusion look the way the viewer is expecting. The only reason to do such a thing would be to make sure that their suspension of disbelief did not reveal the illusion for what it is."
"So it makes a perfect world, according to the viewer's belief in perfection," Minako translated for herself.
"Precisely," Naoto confirmed. "So now you see our shopping district for what it is, a small town's local businesses being crushed underfoot of a giant franchise building. Many have gotten used to it, and those who survived have continued to fight tooth and nail to remain open. However, our reality is now in direct conflict with one of our members. To go back would be to be willing to let the woman he loved die again."
"Oh, then would this be similar to someone named Chisato?" Minako asked with a slight tilt to her head. This earned her an inquisitive look from Naoto. "Yu mentioned the name."
"His deceased aunt. And his cousin's mother," Naoto answered. She paused. "He mustn't be allowed to go there. If we are to spare people the pain of leaving the illusion, then we can't break them out of it prematurely."
"Break who out of what?" a familiar voice asked.
"Kanji," Naoto said as her back suddenly straightened in surprise. She turned her head, ever so slightly to see the tall, dark haired youth approaching her, clad in a white button shirt over a yellow t-shirt. It seemed that he maintained his physical activities, because he was a lightly muscled man. Minako could not help but picture him as one of those 'biker legends' you would hear about in the city.
The silence was palpable as no one could find words to speak. Kanji finally said, "Seriously, what are you guys talking about?"
Naoto finally turned and said, "An illusion, Kanji. A fake version of the world that made things ideal for us. An illusion that has accidentally corrupted more than it should and put us all in danger. Maybe you have forgotten what it felt like, to be judged for your interests?" Chie's jaw dropped at Naoto's bluntness. However, Yu simply nodded. If Minako had to guess, Kanji seemed the type of person that you had to be very upfront with. Not dumb, but a very upfront and blunt person. Simple and straightforward was something that every group of friends needed.
As if before them, his hair became bleach blonde and his muscles seemed to bulge to a little larger. "Whoa! What the hell have we been doing? Senpai! Do you remember what happened?" Kanji declared as the illusion faded for him entirely.
"Yes, Kanji, all of us here have noticed," Yu said with a small smile on his face. He placed a hand on Kanji's shoulder and began to explain what was going on. After a few moments, he looked over at Minako. Then back to Yu and the back to Minako. He walked over to her and observed her. Minako felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as she was being scrutinized. After a moment he smiled.
"Thank you for looking out for my senpai for me," Kanji said. He grabbed her hand and placed a small, knit dog that reminded her of Koromaru.
She looked at it and failed to find a tag on it. This meant that it was not factory made or made for big company sales. So either he knew someone who made them… or this was one of those things Yu had been worrying about when they first arrived. How had he put it? Kanji had been made an outcast because of his interests. How could someone judge somebody harshly for making something this cute. She leapt up to his shoulders that sat taller than her by a decent margin and hang off them as she gave him an enthusiastic hug.
"This is so cute! Thank you," she said with the biggest smile she could give. This made the giant man blush fiercely and mumbled something about how it was nothing. She let go and proceeded to examine the plush more thoroughly.
"Well, that only leaves four of us then," Yu said as he approached. "Which just leaves Rise, Yukiko. Yosuke, and Teddie. And soon this stress will be alleviated and we can go on to simpler matters, like fighting gods." The group paused, at the realization that he would rather being fighting gods than break the illusion for his friends. Where were these man's priorities?