"How dare she talks about me like that?" The other Hanamura keeps on going. "The girl's nothing. Without Junes, she would still be breaking her back at her family's store!"
"Shut up!" Hanamura shouts at the other him.
"What the hell is going on?" Francis asks himself in English.
"And you, Yamada!" The other Hanamura turns to face Francis.
"Please don't…" Hanamura's pleas painfully.
"Going all Chie-san, Chie-san when you've been here for such a short time. Now you even got that fancy power of yours. You have no idea how much I hate your guts!"
Francis looks over to Hanamura. He has fallen down and is sitting on his back, his head down.
"This whole town! Senpai! I am so sick of it all! When I heard that there's a world inside the TV, how could I resist the urge to check it?" The other Hanamura chuckles.
"Is all this what's been going in your head, Hanamura?" Francis walks up to Hanamura while asking gently.
'Don't be stupid… Of course not…" Hanamura replies weakly.
Hanamura then turns over to the other him. "You are just an impostor! You are not me!" He shouts angrily. As he does, the other Hanamura grins.
"Oh, I was you…" The other Hanamura says with a sinister tone.
As the other Hanamura speaks, a dark gas-like object starts flowing out of Hanamura. It flows into the other Hanamura, surrounding and circling him. It lifts him up in the air as he keeps on grinning
"And now, I am free!" A sudden burst of wind comes out from the other Hanamura as he turns into what resembles a blackhole. While the other Hanamura is surrounded by black matter, Francis can make out that he is reshaping and extending.
A new set of beast-like limbs replace its original human legs and the new set of limbs starts growing bigger. As the other Hanamura stops growing, the dark matter that was covering it fades away, revealing a huge creature under it.
"How did it come to this?' Francis thinks to himself in English as he takes deep breaths, holding tightly onto the golf club on his right hand.
He quickly looks back to Hanamura and Kuma. His classmate sits on his back behind Francis, frozen in fear. Kuma, on the other hand, is making his way out the liquor store.
"Oh, f**k this." Francis mutters to himself with anger in English. Despite the violent shaking, Francis finds his footing stable. Seeing no other option, Francis turns his attention back to what is front of him.
A giant four-legged monster stands in front of him, with a human-like figure sitting above its beast-like body. On the human face, a wide grin can be seen, revealing sharp yellow teeth. Although they are indoors, the fact that the human part of the creature is tall enough to basically scratch the ceiling unnerves Francis.
"Things just got worse, didn't it?" Francis mutters desperately in English.
The giant beast starts rushing at Francis. As he is about to dodge, he remembers Hanamura is behind him. WIth no other option, Franics quickly summons Izanagi to stop the creature. As Izanagi's blade collides with the beast, Francis feels his own arms shake.
"Oh no…." Francis says sheepishly.
"Annoying…" The beast says before slapping Izanagi with its human arms. Luckily, Izanagi manages to hold its ground. Francis rubs his cheeks while trying to have Izanagi hold the beast back. As the other giants are in deadlock, Izanagi's blade starts sinking into the creature's flesh, causing it to roar in pain.
Realizing what is happening, Francis tries to make Izanagi push the blade in further. However, he can feel that the creature's flesh is too thick for Izanagi's dull blade. As he feels his own arm strain, he wonders if it has to do with the fact he's holding onto a golf club.
"A katana would be really nice now…" Francis mutters humorously. With no other option, Francis has Izanagi release an electric shock at close distance. To his surprise, it actually pushes the creature back. However, he also feels his own arm numb from the shock.
As Francis takes the moment to breathe, he sees a face appear below the creature's human-like torso, almost as if it is erupting from within the creature. The face seems to be smiling, matching the expression on the human torso above it.
Francis sees the lower mouth take a deep breath. Izanagi swings his blade sideways, with a bolt of lightning coming out from the swing and towards the creature. Meanwhile, the creature lets out a gust of wind from its lower mouth. Both blasts connect, and both Francis and the creature get knocked back.
"How's that!" The creature taunts as it regains its footing. Francis takes a while to study his surroundings. He quickly reaches for Hanamura, who is still panicking.
"That's not me…." Hanamura mutters.
"Hanamura, I need to get you out of here. I can't fight and protect you at the same time." Francis calmly explains.
"No no no~" The creature says humorously, 'Sorry, but I still need him dead." As it tries to rush, Izanagi repels it with more electric charges.
Sensing that it is about to release another gust of wind, Izanagi protects himself. As the gust hits him, Izanagi is able to hold his ground despite the pain. Francis almost feels his knees buckle as he moves Hanamura.
"How long do you think you can hold on, Francis-kun~" The creature jeers, 'What about this, leave the boy, and I let you live."
Francis pauses for a while.
"You heard me, right? He hates your guts anyway." The creature keeps on going.
"So what?" Francis says loudly with anger.
"Excuse me?" The creature asks with confusion.
"He has issues, so what? So do I. So do a lot of people. Despite that, we accept one another, help one another, so that we can move past our issues, and become better." Francis keeps on going.
He eventually manages to get Hanamura out of the shop. There, Kuma comes up to them. "Sensei, are you okay?" Kumas asks with a jittery tone.
"Get him to a distance." Francis gestures to Hanamura. After he speaks, the creature breaks through the entrance and comes outside.
"Stop lying to yourself! There's no way you will be fine with what you are!" As it rushes Hanamura, Francis summons Izanagi, who tries to stop it.
"Of course not." As Hanamura says that, the creature comes to a halt. "Of course I am not okay. But…" He turns over to Francis, "It's as you say, Yamada, we can help one another become better."
'Shut up!" The creature screams in rage as it seems to be gathering more energy in its lower mouth.
"Good job, Hanamura." As Francis says that, Izanagi releases a bolt of lightning. As the creature is stunned, Izanagi goes for a thrust at the human torso. The blow sends the creature flying backwards and into the shop.
As Izanagi returns to Francis, he sits on his back. Hanamura stares as black matter envelopes the creature, this time to make it smaller as it returns to look like another Hanamura.
After the other Hanamura appears, Hanamura walks towards him slowly. When the two stand closer facing one another, the black matter floats above Hanamura and the other him.
"You are me. You are the me that I have always suppressed inside myself. I never had the courage to face you, but now…" Hanamura takes a deep breath and looks to Franics, who gives him a thumbs up as he pants, "I will, with my friend."
The other Hanamura dissipates into light and floats up into the air, merging with the black matter to form a greenish gas-like substance.
As the gas expands, a large humanoid silhouette matching Izanagi in size is formed. After the gas fades, the humanoid's form can be seen.
I am Thou, and Thou art I. I am the strength that you have obtained. Your Persona…
"Jiraiya."
Jiraiya has two round-shaped orbs lying on the sides of its head. A red horizontal line decorates the two orbs. There are also two stars where its eyes are and its face is black, alongside the orbs atop its head. On its neck, it wears a red scarf, which judging from what Francis can see, can go down to its knees.
Below the scarf lies a wide grin resembling the creature had, with sharp yellow teeth. It wears a white colored jacket, with an orange colored undershirt. Its pants are dark green, almost brown, and it also wears red boots.
On its two hands, gauntlets can be seen, with a blade protruding out of the gauntlets. The blades remind Francis of a claw an American superhero has, although it is only one blade on each hand instead of three.
Its hands and legs are also large. Alongside the two orbs which resemble eyes, Jiraiya reminds Francis of a frog.
Jiraiya vanishes inside Hanamura, much like Izanagi did with Francis. Hanamura walks up to Francis and stretches out his hand.
"As grateful as I am for that, I think I am gonna sit for a while." Francis politely refuses the arm as he stays seated.
Hanamura drops to his back as well. He then speaks tiredly, with a weak grin on his face. "I am with you on that."
"Incredible, kuma!" Kuma says with glee. "To think you two hold so much power, kuma."
"You were a lot of help, Kuma." Francis says mockingly. Kuma starts backing down, he then apologizes. "Sorry, Sensei, Kuma was just so scared, kuma."
"It's fine." Francis says kindly. "I don't think many people could have confronted that creature."
"But Kuma am not people…" Kuma mutters.
"Well, people, animals, whatever. My point is, you made the right call in running away."
"Say," Hanamura interjects, "What do you think happened to Senpai?"
With all that was going on, Francis has forgotten about Konishi. "Let's take a break and find her."
"Okay…" Hanamura responds sheepishly.
"Yosuke…."
A familiar voice calls out to Hanamura. As Francis and Hanamura turn over, they see a girl covered in darkness standing at a distance.
"Senpai!" Hanamura swiftly gets up and runs towards Konishi. As he does so, Francis breathes a sigh of relief.
"Don't come closer!" Konishi shouts out with desperation to Hanamura, who stops in his tracks.
"Why are you here?" Konishi asks with a sinister tone, while still shrouded in darkness.
"To save you, Senpai. Together, we can find a way out of here." Hanamura replies with happiness.
"Save me? You heard about what I think of you, haven't you?" Konishi's voice sounds like she's struggling.
Hearing what Konishi said, Hanamura looks to the ground. Francis looks at the whole exchange from a distance.
"You can do it, Hanamura." Francis tries to cheer Hanamura up, who looks at him shortly before looking back to Konishi.
"It doesn't matter. I don't mind if you hate me. If you wanna leave Junes, that's okay. Right now, we need to get you out of here!" Hanamura shouts at Konishi.
Silence fills the air as Konishi limps her way towards Hanamura. As she gets closer, she steps in the light.
"Senpai?" Hanamura says in fear as all three of them look at Konishi with widened eyes. Half of Konishi has been covered by a dark matter, while the other half has a face in pain.
As her form is revealed, Konishi speaks warmly. "Thank you, Yosuke. It is too late for me, however."
As Konishi says that, Francis promptly stands up and takes a more relaxed fighting stance.
'What do you mean?" Hanamura asks with pain in his voice.
"Those things…" Konishi says painfully. "They almost got me, and now they are slowly devouring me. It's only a matter of time now till they overwhelm me completely."
Hearing Konishi's words, Francis looks at Hanamura, who is standing with his legs wide.
"We will stop it! My friend and I, we can help you! Please, let us help you!" Hanamura shouts in desperation.
"It is too late!" Konishi looks sad, "But thank you…"
"Don't give me that crap!" Hanamura looks over to Kuma. "Kuma! Is there something we can do?"
Kuma looks back in confusion. "Kuma doesn't know. Kuma has never seen anything like that, kuma!"
Hanamura looks back to Konishi, "Don't worry, Senpai, we will save you somehow!"
Even while in pain and half covered in black matter, Francis can make out a smile on Konishi's face.
"If you defeat the creature, I should be able to get free…" Konishi explains. "Right now it is overwhelming me, but if you weaken it, I should be able to get free."
Hanamura looks over to Francis with hopeful eyes.
"Sounds too convenient." Francis remarks with disbelief.
"Do you have a better way?" Hanamura asks with annoyance.
"We could try taking her out of the TV." After Francis says that, Hanamura looks to Konishi.
"Kuma thinks…" As Kuma speaks sheepishly, Francis looks at him. "Right now, half of her is something of this world, if you take her to the other world, that half might die, and it will kill her, kuma."
Hanamura and Francis look at one another. As they do, Francis asks the question, "I have no issue with fighting her, but are you sure you wanna attack a girl who's obviously in pain?"
"It doesn't matter," Konishi interjects, drawing everybody's attention. "Those things won't let you take me outside. Even if you somehow got me outside and I live, how do you plan to get rid of them? Best case, the military or police shoot me. Worse case, I…"
"You hurt people…" Francis says sheepishly.
As silence fills the air, Konishi starts moaning in pain. She bends over and the dark matter covering her starts bubbling. "Hurry! They are acting up!"
Francis sees Hanamura start relaxing, "It's okay, Senpai. Leave it to us." Hanamura says as he stands tall.
From a distance, honking can be heard. The sound of an engine can be heard coming from behind. While worried about Konishi, Francis decides to check the source of the sound. A blue-colored limousine pulls out from behind. As it comes to a stop, the door opens and a familiar figure steps out from the car.
"Margaret?" Francis asks with confusion.
"It seems you are in a precarious situation." She then seemingly spawns tho gems out of thin air. The gems float atop the palm of her hand, as if gravity has no effect on them. As Margaret does this, Hanamura calls out. "Get ready, Yamada!"
As Francis turns over to Konishi, Margaret walks up to him. "Give me your phone." As Francis hands Margaret his phone, she seems to hand the gems to him. The gems float onto Francis' free hand, remaining fixed in place. As they levitate, Francis can feel that he is holding them by some weird string. While working on Francis' phone, Margaret explains calmly. "Crush the gems to restore your energy.
As Margaret says this, Francis just realizes how tired he is. He swiftly studies the gems,noticing there are two of them. As all this happens, A giant mass of black matter comes out of Konishi. Black fog circles around the black mass, forming chains. More black fog flows up to above the black mass, forming what seems to be a mess of bottles for alcoholic beverages.
As this happens, Konishi shouts in pain.
Margaret swiftly hands Francis his phone, which is barely able to fit his hand due to the levitating gems. "One last piece of advice. Right now, your power is new to you. Learn to regulate it, control it, and you shall become stronger. Take care, esteemed guest."
Margaret then steps back into the limousine, which goes away. As soon as Margaret turns away from him, Francis calls out to Hanamura.
"Hanamura, you heard her, right?"
While all of this happens, Konishi's transformation is now completed. She is now a giant creature with dark skin, with the grey hair that Konishi had atop what seems to be its head. Metal chains wrap around Konishi's new form, tying her together with bottles lying atop her.
Hanamura swiftly runs to Francis' side and gets ready to fight the transformed Konishi.