Chapter 5
Erik sat down at the meeting with his rush bag open, taking inventory on what he had. He was stocked up on trauma supplies, medical equipment, and gloves and masks, so he was fine there. He averted his gaze from his bag to Mitsuru as she began to speak with the rest of SEES.
"I would like to congratulate you, once again, on defeating that Shadow last week." Mitsuru opened. "It did show me that we need more people, however. For that reason, I have been scouting out a new member, Fuuka Yamigishi." The girl's picture was given to everyone. She was a short woman with short blue, maybe greenish hair. What was most concerning, however, was her stature. She was incredibly thin, likely not getting exercise very often, and from what Erik heard around the school, she couldn't bring herself to even look at a weapon. It seemed to Erik that Kae had the same concerns.
"Yamagishi has the potential? Are you sure about that?" Kae asked. "She couldn't hurt a fly, and I mean that literally."
"I'm certain, she shows all the signs." Mitsuru responded.
"Hey would you look at that, looks like we're getting more chicks in the team." Junpei laughed in usual, cheery tone. Erik could always rely on him to brighten the mood, it was a gift he had, one he appreciated. But he didn't want Junpei getting his hopes up.
"I wouldn't hold your breath, Junpei." Erik sighed. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea to take her in."
"Yeah, knowing what little I know, she can't hold up in a fight, physically or emotionally." Akihiko sighed.
"Well, she could still be helpful for us." Yukari added.
"Yeah, I saw her in the computer lab, and I think she was designing her own phone application." Minako added.
"She also cares about the little things in terms of health. Could be helpful for Erik, don't want him being the only medic, even if he is training Minako." Minato added.
"Wait, has anyone actually seen her around at school?" Kae asked. Erik thought for a moment. The last he saw of her was after class two days ago, and it looked like she was being bullied. On top of that, there were those ghost stories. Erik wasn't one to believe in the supernatural, he had his faith for that, but with students suddenly developing apathy syndrome lately, it wasn't comforting.
"Not really, now that you mention it." Minako mumbled. Minato nodded, probably his way of saying the same thing.
"That's the concerning thing, she hasn't been showing up for school recently. We don't know much, but we do know she disappeared on monday, the day before the Apathy Syndrome cases began at the school." Mitsuru added.
"You know, there's stories about that, if you dare to hear them." Junpei injected into the conversation.
"Oh god not this…" Yukari grimaced, appearing to cover her ears. Junpei shut the lights off, using a flashlight to illuminate his face. A menacing look formed on his face, like that of a grave digger robbing a cemetery in the dead of night.
"Welcome to Junpei's Believe it or Don't." Junpei begam, trying his hardest to sound like a storyteller. "There are many strange things in this world… according to one story… you'll get devoured by a maniacal ghost who roams the halls!" Erik could have sworn he heard a whimper from Yukari, with Minako and Kae seemingly enraptured by the tale. "The other day, this friend of mine, let's call him Shu, told me 'Junpei, I saw something strange!' He sounded serious, so I asked him what he'd seen. He said it was about a girl in 2-E… he claims he saw her go into the school on the night of the incident. I couldn't believe it. She's not the kind of girl to be out at night... But Shu was as white as a sheet. He insisted it was true... Then, it hit me... That ghost must've tried to make her its dinner! And that's why they found her lying on the ground by the gate! I felt a chill run down my spine, and I broke into a cold sweat... Yes, there are strange things in this world... Believe it... or don't." The lights turned back on, Yukari was on the verge of crying, Minako and Kae clapped a little, clearly, they were fans of ghost stories, and Akihiko was musing with Mitsuru, as was Erik.
"Akihiko, your thoughts on this?" Mitsuru asked, unfazed.
"I think it's worth investigating." Akrihiko responded, unfazed as well.
"Sounds like Apathy Syndrome alright." Erik added. "It's definitely worth looking into."
"Woah, Yuka-Tan, I didn't know you were scared of ghosts. It's kinda funny, actually." Junpei teased, having finally noticed Yukari's fear.
"W-well why don't we investigate it! We have to figure this out before it gets worse!" Yukari responded, stifling a natural reaction of terror. "Especially if we want to figure out what happened to Yamagishi!"
"Good plan, let's do as much as we can in our freetime." Minato responded, patting Yukari on her back. Ohohoho, maybe something was building between them?
"Well, sounds like a plan." Erik said as he got up, stretching his arms behind his back. "I noticed none of you ate, y'all want me to whip something up?"
"You can cook?" Kae asked.
"Yeah, is there something wrong with that?" Erik responded.
"No, it's just that knowing what I do about the states, men typically cook less than men here over there." Kae answered. Erik nodded.
"That's usually the case." Erik responded. "However, I learned how from both of my parents at a young age, and I did most of the cooking after my mom died since dad was usually out of the country for work. I can make good soups, pasta, burgers, goulash, potatoes and veggies. I can also barbecue, grill, and smoke meat pretty well."
"I'll have to order a smoker for the dorm and test your skills." Mitsuru responded, a smile forming on her face. "For now, why don't you make something quick? Everyone should be heading to bed soon anyway."
"Walking tacos it is." Erik stated, walking to the kitchen. He could feel the confusion from the other room.
"What's a walking taco?" He heard Kae, Mitsuru, and Akihiko mumble some variation of. Erik couldn't believe it, they never had walking tacos before, this could not stand. He simply had to make walking tacos, or he could not say that he can cook, so help him god! Erik entered the kitchen, washing his hands and donning cooking apparel with the intent of preparing the best junk food ever made! With vigor he cut fresh vegetables, sauteing them in their own juices. With intensity, he cut beef into small bits, browning them in paprika, black pepper, chili powder, and a bit of steak sauce. Lastly, with ferocity he prepared his homemade sauce and rice, the perfect compliment to his cooking. He set the bowls of each on the table, making sure to play up his showmanship.
"Dinner is served," he said with a dramatic flair. There was still confusion.
"What are we supposed to do with all this? Why are there chips if these are for tacos?" Mitsuru asked. Oh right, they never had them before.
"It's pretty simple, actually." Erik explained, grabbing a bag of flavored tortilla chips. "You open the bag and crush the chips into tiny bits, then put in your preferred toppings. Then, you just mix it up and eat it straight out of the bag or pour it into a bowl and enjoy." Erik demonstrated this, making sure to go fast enough that it looked natural but slow enough that it was easy to follow. The others soon followed suit, the ones who never had it before seemingly impressed by the meal.
"This is quite good, Reed." Mitsuru stated. "Clearly unhealthy, but good for a quick meal."
"You said this is called a walking taco?" Akihiko asked.
"Yep, it's a midwestern thing for the most part, but it bleeds into the south sometimes." Erik explained. "It's typically not a meal, you usually find them at highschool sports events and fairs." Kae was too busy eating to say anything, and those who have had them in the past were talking amongst themselves. But clearly, they were a hit, which made Erik happy. Too bad he would have competition for best chef in SEES in a few months.
Minako was getting sick of hearing rumors about ghosts and demons, considering she knew about Shadows, it was painful to hear someone say "Apparently ghosts stalk the school at night to kidnap people!" when she knew it was just Shadows. If she heard someone say something about fantasy monsters one more time Minako would scream. Fortunately, Erik was just up ahead, also dealing with student superstitions.
"Erik, for the love of god get me out of here." Minako pleaded. "If I hear anything about ghosts one more time I swear to God I am going to lose it."
"One, I wouldn be more comfortable if you didn't swear to God." Erik opened. "Two, of course, I need to get out too, I'm way too much about monsters in the dead of night."
"Don't we fight monsters in the dead of night?" Minako teased. Erik groaned.
"That doesn't count, it's the Dark Hour, not night." Erik retorted. "I don't really have my training gear with me or anything we can use to study, so what do you think we should do?" Erik asked, expecting Minako to decide.
"I know! We could get you a new outfit, I'm tired of seeing you in t-shirts and polos all the time." Minako answered.
"Alright, I guess." Erik answered. "I hear there's a few good spots by the strip mall." The two boarded the train making small talk as they went towards their destination. Once they were actually there, they ran into a few familiar faces, specifically Kae, Yukari, and Junpei, who all had shopping of their own to do. The group agreed on a game to decide Erik's new outfit. Each person would choose a set of clothes for Erik within the price of 10000 Yen, and they would rate each one. The outfit with the most points would win, meaning Erik would buy it. First up was Junpei's outfit. It was very basic, just a pair of sweatpants and an exercise shirt totaling up to 2000 Yen. It scored the lowest, at 4 points, since Junpei wasn't allowed to score since he chose the outfit.
"I went for something fashionable I saw in a magazine, hope you like it, Erik." Yukari stated as Erik stepped out of the dressing room in a pair of khaki slacks, brown oxfords, a short sleeve button up shirt, a blue and grey sweater vest, and a pair of aviators. It totaled around 9000 Yen.
"I look like a math teacher." Erik grumbled, holding up a three. "I do like the glasses though, so bonus points there." It didn't score very high. Next was Minako.
"I think you're gonna like this one." Minako said with a smirk. It was a pair of casual pants, sparrys, a plain grey shirt, and a white button up worn open. This was about 7000 Yen.
"It's pretty nice, but I'm not sure, honestly." Erik sighed. "I'd say five points, maybe?" That was about what everyone else gave, not scoring very high but not very low either. Next was Minako, again.
"Wait, why are you going twice?" Yukari asked.
"Yeah, you already went!" Junpei complained. Minako just giggled. Erik stepped out, an annoyed expression on his face. He was dressed in a pair of combat boots, cargo pants, a black shirt, airsoft vest, a smegah, and a patrol cap. Minako giggled, Kae simply nodded. This outfit ended up being 15000 Yen, disqualifying it from the competition. Minako found the somehow present Airsoft section and thought it would be funny to put Erik in tactical clothes since his dad was a Green Beret. It wasn't funny, not even close, but Minako didn't care. Last was Kae's choice.
"I'm not too well versed in American fashion, but I managed to scrounge this up." Kae stated. Erik stepped out of the dressing room, dressed very nicely, of course. He was in his usual walking shoes, with a pair of jeans, a crew neck undershirt with a button up flannel shirt with all but the top two buttons closed and the sleeves rolled. A pair of aviators and a plain baseball cap sat on his head. Erik was speechless, holding up all ten of his fingers as he showed off Kae's choice.
"She chose good…" Junpei mumbled, also holding up a ten.
"He looks quite nice in that." Yukari confirmed, giving another ten. Minako just smirked, holding up one last ten. Obviously, Erik bought Kae's choice. Everyone ended up going their separate ways as Erik finalized the purchase, Minako opting to hang back and stay with Erik, who had changed back into his summer uniform, being completely unmodified from the normal, excluding his new hat and glasses.
"I find it rather interesting you chose Kae's outfit to give a ten to out of all of them." Minako grinned, trying to plant a suggestion in Erik's mind. Erik didn't fall for it, probably from cluelessness.
"She just made the best one for me, that's all." Erik responded, slipping his glasses on as the pair left the shop. Minako swore that Erik was either an idiot or just illiterate to this kind of thing.
"Well, it was pretty fun choosing outfits with everyone. We gotta do it again sometime for someone else." Minako said, recovering from her failed suggestion. "Maybe you could choose one for Kae?"
"Not likely." Erik laughed. "I'm fashion illiterate. But it was very fun though, I've never gone and done anything like this before. I don't have many friends back home, you see. I'm always too busy taking care of work around the house, caring for my brothers, or doing schoolwork, so I don't really have opportunities for me-time."
"Gotcha, why do you take care of your brothers though? Aren't they around the same age? I get your dad is always away, but why can't they care for themselves?" Minako asked. Erik looked quite sad as he answered.
"My older brother, Arro, he's in a wheelchair, he was paralyzed a few years back. And my younger brother, John, is always getting in trouble, he's been acting out a lot since…" Erik trailed off, lost in thought. "Nevermind. Point is, I'm glad we went to do this. It was a lot of fun, so thank you." Erik smiled, wider than usual, despite what he just talked about.
SOCIAL LINK UP
EMPEROR RANK 3
+EXP BONUS WHEN FUSING PERSONAS OF THE EMPEROR ARCANA
+ 5% BONUS TO HEALTH VALUE VALUE OF HEALING ITEMS USED BY ERIK OR MINAKO
"Oh Jaysus, it's getting late, let's head back to the dorms." Erik said, checking the time on his phone. "Cmon, I'll walk you there." Minako nodded, making small talk as the two walked to their dorms. In secret, however, she began to plot how to get Erik and Kae to be more than friends.
Kae was quite confused by the rumors she picked up. She had spent as much time as possible in the past two weeks focusing on gathering information about Yamagishi's disappearance, and was now sorting through the various reports that didn't mention her being taken by ghosts. The top three stories were that she was very ill and was taking time off for that. That one definitely wasn't true. If it were the case, then they would have known she was in the hospital or at home, but she wasn't. Then there was the second rumor, a much darker one. Yamagishi was being bullied, that much was apparent. This rumor was that she was locked in the gym overnight by her bullies, and that she managed to escape, taking her own life after. Fortunately, this one was untrue as well. After hearing this particular rumor so much, Kae checked in with the morgues, police stations and funeral homes around Iwatodai, none of them giving any kind of indication that Yamagishi was dead. That left the last rumor, the most possible. Relating to the second rumor, this one starts off with her being locked in the gym by bullies. Unlike the second rumor, however, this one stated that she was trapped inside a secret place within the school that can only be found at night. Considering that Tartarus was the school, and that Yamagishi had the potential, this was the most likely one. It would make sense for her to be locked in the school, find herself stuck in Tartarus, and be completely unable to escape. The current options were simple, rush in and get her, or gather more information about the circumstances and go in with intel. The second choice made more sense, no sense going in blind. She brought her concerns up with Yukari, Erik, Minako, Minato, and Junpei.
"I see, any idea who the bullies are?" Yukari asked.
"I got one name, Moriyama Natsuki, some girl who thinks she's the shit because she's so tough on Fuuka. In reality, she's a bitch who picks on those weaker than her." Kae answered, anger in her tone as she talked about the bully.
"I'd call you out on your language, but it's justified, honestly." Erik responded. "I've been gathering information on her for the past couple of days, and she's scum. She's extorting Fuuka, physically abusing her, manipulating her, just awful shit. I'd die happy if she got some fucking justice." Erik's tone was unusually hateful for the cheery, somewhat awkward foreigner he usually was.
"Jeez, you usually don't get that fiery about this kind of thing." Junpei noted. "But I heard the same thing, I think it would be worth checking out the school after closing."
"Yeah I gotta agree with you there." Minako stated. "Probably the safest way to get info."
"I know something more." Yukari added. "Apparently, this Natsuki girl's been going to parties after hours, the kind students shouldn't be going to."
"Real shit?" Erik asked, a fair amount of confusion in his tone. "You think it's that spot by the station?"
"Heard that too, but we shouldn't go after this, it's too dangerous." Kae stated. "There likely won't be any leads there."
"Well I'm going, we need what we can get, and this is too much of an opportunity to pass up, now who's with me?" Yukari asked. Minato, Minako, and, reluctantly, Junpei joined in, Erik and Kae opting to stay at the dorms.
"They know the things that happen there, why are they going anyway? In uniform, nonetheless." Erik groaned.
"Yukari's stubborn, you'll get used to it." Kae explained. "Though this is a bit unusual for her. Guess she's just super motivated."
"She's highspeed, that's for sure." Erik grumbled. "You think they're gonna get hurt?"
"I have a sneaking suspicion that Junpei will have some kind of accident but that no one else is getting hurt, especially if someone I know is out tonight." Kae answered. She already knew that Shinjiro would be out walking at this hour, it was Shinjiro, after all. It was just a matter of hoping he would get there on time. Some time passed before the group came back, Junpei was holding his stomach, and no one else was. But it seemed it wasn't in vain, because Minako definitely had something to say.
"I found out two things there, Kae." Minako stated. "One, that Shinjiro guy is awesome. Two, Mr. Ekoda may know something about what happened."
"The literature teacher? How would he know anything?" Erik asked.
"He's Yamagishi's homeroom teacher." Minako smirked.
"Let's go talk to him in the morning, something tells me there's more to this than meets the eye." Kae stated. How right she would be.
By the time Kae, Erik and Minako were at the faculty office, Fuuka's bully, Mitsuru, Minato, Junpei, and Yukari were already there. Moriyama was breaking down crying, Mr. Ekoda had a stern expression, standing defensively.
"What happened?" Kae asked. "I assume we have more intel?"
"Yes, why don't you tell them what you told us, Mr. Ekoda?" Mitsuru angrily hissed. Ekoda didn't falter.
"I found out about what happened to Yamagishi, Moriyama and her friends locked her in the gym overnight, and she was gone the next day." Ekoda explained. "I didn't want to cause any panic, and I wanted her records not to be stained, so I recorded that she was absent due to illness."
"Let me get this straight." Minako almost yelled. "You know Fuuka was being bullied, and yet you decided to cover it up instead of reporting it, all for everyone else's sake!?"
"Correct." Ekoda coldly stated. Kae couldn't believe this, this man was still a teacher?
"Scum." Erik spat. "I hope you get what's coming to you."
"Moriyama, about your friends, was there anything unusual before you found them outside the gates?" Mitsuru asked. Moriyama nodded.
"They said they were all being called to the school by a voice of some kind, calling their name." Moriyama explained. Yukari gasped.
"Oh man…" Junpei mumbled.
"Senpai, could it be…!" Yukari asked. Mitsuru nodded.
"There's no doubt about it, they're being pulled in by the Shadows, luring them to their doom." Mitsuru responded. "Shadows truly are the enemy of mankind. Moriyama, stay at our dorms tonight, it's safer there. Tell us about anything that happens, especially if you hear the voice. Don't worry, Yamagishi will be okay." Moriyama nodded with a sniffle. "The rest of you, prepare for an operation tonight, we'll meet in the control room."
"I'm sure I already know what's about to happen." Erik stated, putting his sunglasses on in an attempt to look cool, it only kind of worked. Mitsuru nodded in response.
"We're rescuing Yamagishi tonight." Mitsuru stated. Moriyama gave the members of SEES a confused look.
"A control room? What kind of club are you?"
A/N: Wow I am on a roll. I just tend to get in the groove when I'm writing and get alot more done than anticipated, so yeah, this may go faster then I thought. I know, it's a bit weird to have two full moon shadows so close to each other, but I thought I'd get Fuuka in SEES sooner rather than later. Also I really want to get to the Yakushima trip soon since there is BIG stuff happening then (and I didn't want to end this chapter at Erik's SL sooo). Also, yes, Sparrys is my Persona royalty free brand I randomly came up with. I can add a list of them as a bonus next chapter if y'all want. As usual, hope you enjoyed and have a great day!