A.N. (2/25/21) - I think some of you guess it already, but here's the twist.
Persona (44) - Heroine XXII
"Seriously, where in the world is Elizabeth?"
Nagi was pretty sure that he searched the entire school already, but the adventurous Velvet Attendant was nowhere to be seen.
Enough time has already passed that the exploration team had returned for a break. Nagi briefly said hi to them when they did.
"Hey, mini-me."
Nagi sighed at the nickname his future self gave him. "What's up?"
"I'm gonna be with the next group exploring the labyrinth." Negi shrugged his shoulders. "I need to contribute something to the team. Just wanted to let you know so that you don't worry."
"Cool, thanks for the update." As Negi was about to leave, Nagi called after him. "Hey, have you seen Elizabeth around?"
"Huh?" He turned back for a moment at that. "Yeah, I think she said she was going to see if she could escape this place or not?"
My eyes widened in surprise. "She can do that?"
"Not sure, but if anyone amongst us is capable, it's probably her. She's had more practice with entering and exiting places she's not supposed to be in."
Something about his words felt like he was talking about something else.
"But don't place your bets on it," Negi quickly followed up. "Even she agreed that it would probably be faster if we just found our own way out."
Nagi sighed at that. "Well, at least we have a back-up plan."
"Yup, so I'll be leaving now." Right as he was about to leave again, Negi looked like he suddenly remembered something and turned back. "Oh, and mini-me."
"Yes?"
"You do remember that this is sort of a crossover event based on the P3 and P4 cast meeting, right?"
He nodded. "Kinda. But that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge about this place."
"Well…" and Negi began to shift uncomfortably. "There's a likely possibility that we'll meet another version of us. From when I was still working with S.E.E.S."
"I figured that was the case," he told him. "What about it?"
"It's just… be careful with him," and it was weird how nervous Negi looked. "He's not exactly someone I'd get along with, and I don't want you to get involved in any bad blood that might pop up between us."
Nagi gave him a confused look. "You make it sound like he's a different person than us."
"Ahahaha," and Negi laughed awkwardly. "Well, a lot can change in two years."
Negi left before Nagi could ask him what he meant.
}-{
"So, how far along are they?"
Nagi was currently staying with Rise while she continued to navigate for the exploration team. This time, everyone excluding Takuto and the two of them was out, having sensed that they would be getting into a big battle soon.
Takuto was currently trying to discover if it was possible to secure ingredients to cook for themselves. Buying festival food was nice, but not exactly something that everyone wanted to eat in the long-run.
"Well, I just watched Yosuke and Kanji make out with each other, so I'll be needing some brain bleach after this."
Nagi could only blink at that. "What?"
"Don't worry, your older self saw the whole thing. You'll understand when you're older."
He gave her a look. "That joke was bad, and you should be ashamed that you said it."
She laughed, but her gaze became serious. "Hold on, they're about to approach a powerful Shadow. I think they're about to fight the labyrinth's boss."
"Okay, I'll go so that you won't be distracted."
"Thanks."
Nagi got up and began to look for the Velvet Room once more. Since he was the weakest fighter bar Takuto, his role was mostly trying to keep everyone updated on the situation. He figured that it would be nice if the Velvet residents got updated that something was happening soon.
Suddenly, Nagi heard the bells ringing from the clock tower again.
"Could it be?"
He began to pick up the pace as he started to run towards the Velvet Room. If the bells were a sign that somebody new was being summoned…
Nagi found himself in front of the fortune booth. He quickly entered and his eyes widened as he took in the sight.
"Elizabeth?! What in the world did you do?!"
The Velvet Room had changed its appearance once more. It was some kind of broken version of the P3 elevator-themed Velvet Room but mixed with the strange open version that was linked to this world.
The young woman gave him a smug grin. "I managed to call for help."
"What?"
An unfamiliar voice spoke. "She means that she was able to ask us for assistance."
Nagi turned to his right and found himself meeting… himself?
"Why the heck are your eyes blue?"
It was another version of himself. The new Nagi looked similar to his other future self, but somehow looked more… refined? More put together? The mood around him was different.
His eyes were not the strange yellow that he associated with Negi, but rather a striking blue that felt strangely familiar to him for some reason. The Nagi before him only gave him a curious gaze.
"So it's true. There is a younger version of me here," his other future-self muttered. "This is a first for me, even if the concept of time travel isn't new."
"Nagi, who's that?" Another voice called out, and he finally noticed the group of people behind his future self.
Nagi took in the appearance of the new group of people before him. He recognized most of them from the P3 cast, but as he began to look closer, he started to notice a few differences.
For one, Nagi wasn't able to spot anyone who looked like they could be Ken.
For another, he noticed that they had another Velvet Attendant with them, and it wasn't Margaret.
And finally, he saw her.
"Wait," red eyes landed on him. "Is that… is he really?!"
"What the heck?!" Nagi cried out.
Because that was not Makoto Yuki or Minato Arisato or whatever his name was supposed to be.
Instead, the P3P protagonist stood across from him.
}-{
"I see. I believe I understand the situation now," his future self said in response to Elizabeth's explanation.
Nagi was still surprised at how different he seemed compared to how Negi acted. This version of him was a lot calmer, a little bit closer to how he acted himself.
But his attention was still focused on the girl that was currently staring at him back.
She blinked and held out a hand. "Nice to meet you. My name is Kotone Shiomi."
He dumbly shook it in response. "Hi."
"Hi," she parroted.
The two just stared at each other awkwardly.
"A-Anyway, I guess I should introduce you to the rest of my team." She gestured to the people behind her. "This is the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad tasked with discovering a way to remove the Dark Hour. I'm pretty sure Nagi - our Nagi - said that you already know about that."
The rest of S.E.E.S. began to introduce themselves.
"I'll start this off," a red-haired woman spoke first. "I am Mitsuru Kirijo, third year at Gekkoukan High School."
"I'm Akihiko Sanada, captain of the boxing team." The silver-haired boy gave a smile at Nagi. "I'm also a third-year like Mitsuru."
"Name's Shinjiro Aragaki," a boy wearing a beanie and large coat spoke. "I don't go to school, but I'm the same age as those two."
"Guess it's the second-year's turn now." The girl with the pink sweater jacket went next. "I'm Yukari Takeba. Um… I'm on the archery team."
"I'm next right?" The boy wearing the baseball cap went next. "I'm Jumpei Iori, wassup!"
"Um… I'm Fuuka Yamagishi," a shy girl replied next. "Um… my power isn't like everyone else's. They're more leaning towards support."
"I am a second-year as well." The robotic girl spoke. "I am Aigis."
A dog barked, and Aigis spoke for him. "This is Koromaru-san. He is happy to meet you as well, young Nagi."
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," the other Velvet Attendant spoke. "My name is Theodore."
After everyone was finished speaking, he realized that they were all looking at him.
"O-Oh, well… my name is Nagi Kujikawa. But you all already know that…" he gave a strange laugh at that. "I'm starting my third year in Azumano Middle School soon, so that means that I'm younger than all of you."
Everyone smiled at his awkwardness.
"It's so weird seeing Nagi-san so young," Fukka commented. "Oh, I apologize. I didn't mean any offense."
"You're worrying too much," Junpei said, giving a look at Nagi. "But man, you sure are tiny compared to future-you."
"He's around six years younger, correct?" Akihiko asked. "That's quite a large difference between the two."
"I'm sure that this Nagi's a nice guy too." Kotone's face brightened up. "But there's something I've been wondering. Hey, Theo? Do you know why his eyes are silver instead of blue?"
The Velvet Attendant shook his head. "I'm afraid that I have only met with the elder Nagi-san this year. I have not heard him mention anything regarding this topic before."
"Well," Nagi didn't know what to say about that. "I guess I'll show you guys around. The rest of the Persona-users already left to go fight, so it's just going to be us for now."
That drew their attention, and Kotone gave him a curious look.
"What's this about a fight?"
Finally, I introduced everyone in the PQ arc.
So, regarding my decision to name the P3P protagonist Kotone. I know that everyone has their preferences on what name is better and why. I had to pick between this, Minako, or Hamuko. I didn't even bother considering FeMC, Phem See, etc. I decided that this was the best compromise since that is her mostly canon name (as far as it's possible for any Person protagonist other than Yu and Joker).
I'll be honest, Kotone might be a little OC-ish since I don't quite have a good grasp of her character yet. I'm thinking of finding the time for me to play PQ2 later to see what the story is like and how she acts.
Also, there's a reason that Ken's not here. He'll make his appearance waaaay later though.