Now they were on the third floor. Unlike the second floor, this one was similar to the first, only it looked like a large dining hall. The ceiling was far higher than the other two floors, with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and rows of tables being set out for a meal that seemingly never came. No one spoke, no one wanted to say anything. It was far more gloomy than it was two floors ago. They didn't know it, but the supernatural aging process had made them unconsciously aggravated by loud noises, even if they still acted like 16 year olds.
It was a curse that would linger for as long as they remained here. "This place sucks." Yosuke whined, dragging his feet along the floor. Something that he could easily do when he was younger, but now that he is over 40, it has consequences; such as tripping. The old man fell and landed on his right knee, hissing in pain, Yosuke rolled on the ground in agony, wishing that he didn't do what he'd just done. 'Jeez! Is this place a deathtrap wherever we go?" He asked angrily. Yu sighed and helped him up, brushing the dust and grime off his jacket.
"Don't be such a downer Yosuke. We'll get out of here." His friend scoffed "Yeah, easy for you to say Mr. Leader." Yu froze, turning to him and tilting his head "What is that supposed to mean?" The room felt uncomfortable to be in, for anyone to be in. "You know what, never mind. I'm just...sick of being here. It sucks having to fight waves after waves of enemies, most of whom don't have a face, or even a reason to fight us!" He started to yell, making himself annoyed at the facts he stated "They come in droves like bees! All they do is attack and attack, it's pissing me off!" He combed through his hair, his body tensing up "All I want to do is eat, but this stupid room has no food. Hell- none of them do as far as I see!"
Yukiko rubbed the back of her neck "It is true. I don't know how long it's been, but I'm hungry! We haven't eaten anything since we've gotten here." Chie nodded her head "Agreed. If we're going to do this for 10 stories, then we'll have to recuperate and start planning our next move. It's the smartest thing to do." They agreed and looked around, trying to find a path, or a kitchen they could raid for supplies. "We may have to split up." Yu recommended, hesitant to do so. "It's not ideal, but it's the best we can do in this situation."
Everyone agreed and split off into teams of two: Naoto went with Kanji, Chie with Yukiko, Yu with Teddie, and Yosuke with Rise. Naoto and Kanji walked along the tables, going up and down the lines of seats. Chie and Yukiko went to the right of the tables, into what looked to be a kitchen, with a vast assortment of knives, pans, and more. Yu and Teddie went left, to a storage area where non-perishable foods were kept. Yosuke and Rise were tasked with finding the next stairway, so if any food wasn't found, they could leave as soon as possible. Naoto held her gun closely, keeping a sharp eye while Kanji found a new chair to use as a possible weapon "Man, this place has a bunch of these!" He giggled to himself.
He gripped the sides of the seat and lifted it up, his muscles straining to hold it by his chest. "These are heavier than the ones downstairs." he muttered, sniffing softly as Naoto looked at the seating "It doesn't look heavier. Maybe you're just tired." Kanji scoffed "I...I am not tired! A little sore, sure. But there's no way that I am exhausted after all that." Naoto gave him an odd look before going back to their search, each table just as naked as the last one they looked at. "There's nothing here." Naoto spoke. "What was that?" Kanji asked, turning his head "I said there's nothing here!" She spoke up, walking over to him; annoyance laced in her voice "Well don't speak like you're talking to yourself then if you want me to listen." He quipped.
Chie and Yukiko had better luck with their mission, finding blades and cooking tools all around them. But not a single scrap of food anywhere. Yukiko fanned herself with her...fan, waving it up and down as she breathed heavily "Man, if I knew we were gonna walk around this much, I would've exercised more!" Chie didn't want to admit it, but she was out of breath herself, constantly bringing herself to take more and more steps, even if her chest tightens and her legs burn; she had to keep moving along. "We'll find something here Yukiko, then we can relax and rest our legs." It was something to look forward to, but whether or not they'd find something was still up in the air.
Yu and Teddie looked on the shelves in the storage cabinet, finding small crackers and tiny jugs of an unidentifiable liquid. This was a good find, but they still had a lot on their minds "How will we get out of this one Sensei?" Teddie asked, now in his human form once more, carrying the items found in his arms "I don't know how much food there is here, or how long it'll last us. It's just really weird here." He stood behind Yu, his foot tapping anxiously as his silver haired friend grabbed more snack foods. "I...I don't know Teddie. We shouldn't be here for much longer. That much I can promise you." He looked at the shadow's blue eyes, smiling hopefully as he went deeper into the storage room "Come on, let's see what else is here."
Yosuke and Rise made little headway in terms of finding the stairwell. Unlike the other two times, this place felt more like a labyrinth than a large building floor. The walls were thin, and the light sources sparse. If they could find any windows, Yosuke might just start climbing the side of the building to speed things up. But he and Rise were stuck on this long winded journey together, with everyone else strapped to the same boat. "I hate it here…" He muttered bitterly "Awww, is it because I'm here?" Rise teased, sticking out her tongue playfully "Wh-What! No, of course not!" She only smiled and proceeded to tug on her shirt, showing the top of her cleavage to Yosuke flirtatiously "I can make this trip a lot better~" He blushed profusely and stepped away "Stop messing with me already. Let's find these steps and get out."
She pouted and followed along, neither realizing that Rise showed her wrinkly breasts to Yosuke, with both assuming she was as young as they were a day before. But both of them simply didn't know, none of them did. But, there was someone who was acutely aware of what was going on. An old woman, hiding behind the walls, listening and cackling to herself as the cruel joke continued on and on "I think I should give them a break." She told herself, standing up and walking out of her hidden room to stand out in the open, visible to any who saw her. She was not your typical old woman stereotype. Unlike stories told before, she was damn near the complete opposite of your average grandma.
For one thing, she had no eyes. She was born with them, but they were taken, stripped from her by an unknown force. At least, unknown to the group involved. She wandered through the halls, taking small, precise steps along the dust ridden carpet under her small frame. She used her cane to go forward, placing it in front of her before taking another step. She could feel two people approaching. "Oh my, what a duo." She then heard Yosuke and Rise talking to each other; or more accurately, Yosuke bashfully looking away as Rise teased him relentlessly, finding an odd comfort in doing so. She carefully sat on the floor, snapping her fingers to close the hallway behind her, making a dead end mere feet away from where she sat. The two came up to her, startled by her appearance "What the- who are you?" They asked, bewildered that anyone else but themselves were here. "Oh, I'm just an old woman by herself." "Yeah, we can see that." Yosuke said, staring at her as he placed his hands by his hips. "So who are you then?" He asked again.
"I am a woman. An old woman. An old woman who can cook." The two looked at each other and back at her "Well, what about a staircase. Do you know anything about that?" She only smiled in response, standing up and walking past them "I am an old woman who can cook. Eat, and you'll find answers." They had no choice but to follow, standing close behind her as they asked more questions, getting no real response from her at all. "This is dumb. If all she can do is cook, then why don't we just ask where the other food is?" Rise shook her head "Because! We don't know how long we'll be here! It's better to have a warm meal than to have some bland cold food." He backed down from the conversation and followed her to the dining hall.
She made a left and walked in on Naoto and Kanji who looked at the three in confusion "Who is she?" Asked Kanji, leaning over to see the woman better "Aren't there any lights around here? I can barely see anything!" He complained, rubbing his eyes as the woman smiled innocently. "It's alright darling, I can get to work in this lighting." he looked at her, unsure of what she was talking about, watching her open the fridge and grabbing food that wasn't there before. "Huh! Where did you find that?" She only laughed in response, cracking the egg over the pan as a soft sizzle echoed in the empty room. "That smells really good." Rise murmured, sitting down as Kanji crossed his arms "It's not that good…" A lie to make himself seem cooler.
She hummed a song to herself, the smell of her meal shifted throughout the entire floor, causing the other groups to notice "Woah! Is that...eggs and rice I smell!" Teddie sniffed feverishly "With...soy sauce and tiny carrots!" He nearly dropped all the items right there and then, taking off as Yu chased after him. "Hey! Wait up!" He yelled nervously, running behind the excited blonde as Chie and Yukiko bolted to the kitchen "Did you find food- who is she!" Yukiko yelped, stopping mid run as Chie knocked her over. The two groaned on the floor in pain as the old woman laughed softly "Oh, the virtues of feeling young." She commented "Yeah, well I don't feel that much older." Chie muttered.
The old woman bit her tongue, merely cooking a fresh meal for them as she started putting the food into bowls "Now, you go to the dining hall and eat. I'll prepare more food for the trip." Yu blinked, failing to come up with questions as he was pushed out of the kitchen and into the brightly lit hall "What in the- when did this happen?" He looked around for anyone else. "Did she do this somehow?" He asked out loud "I don't think so," Kanji spoke up "She just brought us to the kitchen and started cooking with food that wasn't there before." Yu pinched his bottom lip, thinking on their words as they sat down and started gobbling down the food.
They were given chopsticks and dug into the eggs and rice, practically swallowing it whole as Yu started forming a theory: "What is that woman can get us out of here. I mean, she came out of nowhere, grabbing food that wasn't there, and seems to be rather helpful." Yosuke nodded his head "And she's not a bad cook. This stuff is great! It's like a professional made it or something." The old man sighed, accepting the food with a great amount of comfort in knowing that they could finally relax and not worry about something like this. "Maybe we can go back down here if we get hungry again." Teddie said, getting weird looks from everyone.
"That's not a good idea Teddie." Naotot stated "We need to get out of here, not linger for the food." He looked down, his idea now shot down in an instant "Yeah, it was a dumb idea…" he mumbled, his nose sniffling. Yu wanted to comfort him, but the old woman came back, pushing a cart with cloches covering the plates of food. The metal refracted off the light and revealed their true age; 50 year old men and women, bordering on 60. Everyone looked at it and merely laughed in response "This is some funhouse mirror stuff!" Kanji cackled "Man, this is good! How did you do this?" They played with their reflection, giggling like school children as the old woman simply looked at them blankly.
They stopped laughing and looked at her "H-How did you do it?" Yosuke asked nervously, seeing her shake as the candle light flickered, the food turning to ash in their mouths as the wind began picking up "Age forward, age fast, age until you can no longer last!" she shouted, her voice booming as the ground shook under them. They all stood up, fists in the air and Personas by their side "Whither, break, age until you shake!" They are then knocked over by the gale, their eyes growing fuzzy and their skin pale. The curse briefly incapasitaed them, causing a quick spark of anguish as they rolled on the floor in pain. Then, it all stopped; the pain, the numb limbs, headaches and soreness. It all vanished, with the room now as empty as they found it. "What the hell was that!" Kanji gasped.
The room became stale, and as stagnant as it was on the first floor. Rise groaned, standing up and brushing her grey hair "So we can agree that this experience is absolute crap, right?" Yu ignored the woman's spitefulness and looked at her and Yosuke "Did you two find the stairwell?" They shook their heads "Damn. We'll have to find that quickly, before we get distracted again." He started to walk, only to halt, noticing that no one was moving "Come on guys, we have to get going! We don't know if she'll come back, or there'll be more like her." Teddie moaped forward, his wrinkly arms hanging low as Yu looked at him.
"Teddie, what's wrong?" He asked curiously "I...It's just," His voice was shaky, on the verge of crying "The food was so good, and we could finally relax! I hate having to keep on fighting. I'm tired, I'm sore, and I just feel awful!" he yelled "I thought we could trust her, but it turns out Yosuke and Rise brought a trap with them." The two mentioned stood up straight, surprised by his accusatory manner "Excuse me, but it wasn't my fault that we brought in an enemy! She looked perfectly normal!" Rise didn't like being clumped in with her teammate. "Well, you could've stopped her." She stated, making Yosuke grunt.
"Maybe I would've acted normally if you weren't trying to show off your tits!" Rise was surprised yet again "H-Hey! I was being playful! Besides, you liked it! Hell, when have you ever not liked boobs?" Yosuke stuttered "Well th-this situation isn't a good time for them! I would've thought you'd be smarter than that Rise!" She gritted her teeth "Sorry for making this nightmare of a trip a bit more fun. Maybe if Yu hadn't brought us here, then we'd be out having dinner and be at home relaxing!" Then Yu began arguing with them, with everyone getting involved. They had been on this journey for who knows how long, with none of them making any complaints, even if they had any; this was the perfect opportunity to dump all of their baggage. Whatever time they could've used for walking was spent yelling at one another.
It felt cathartic to scream and stomp, to release all of the pent up rage and aggression that they simply couldn't dish out to shadows. It was needed, even if no one wanted to admit it. Eventually, they all stopped, standing in a circle, quiet as a mouse. Once again, no one wanted to speak. They all understood what to do, what they needed to find, and possible ways of finding it. Yu walked with his peers, going down the elaborate hallways, going in and out of corridors, climbing over piles of old furniture, until they found the stairwell; a steep concrete ladder-like step formation, with railings going all the way to the next floor. Yu went first, then Yosuke, then Chie, and everyone else. They weren't happy with one another, but they knew what to do; fight for their lives, to get out of here as fast as possible.