8/8 - Paulownia Mall - Night - Kotone
"So, you're here again, kid?" Mutatsu asked, eyeing Kotone as she sat down in front of him. "Even Buddha's not that forgiving. Alright, that's it. I'm gonna hand you over to the bouncer and- wait." He frowned with a sigh. "Buddha doesn't exist."
Kotone couldn't help but smile at Mutatsu. For a monk, he was worldly, or at least had his feet solidly on the ground, which was weird.
"So tell me," Mutatsu said, staring straight at Kotone, "is it fun pesterin' an old monk like me whose own wife and kid left him? How come you're always alone when I see ya? Don'tcha got any friends, kid?"
"I can't say I don't," Kotone said with a nervous laugh. How was she supposed to explain her closest set of friends, if they could be called that, were more like co-workers? How was she supposed to explain to her more normal set of friends they were just to help strengthen herself? When the Dark Hour ends and Kotone graduates from high school, then she'll lose contact with everyone here, just like all the other places she's been.
Mutatsu's frown went deeper. "What do you mean you can't say you don't? Either ya do or ya don't. Can't gimme a straight answer?" He sighed again and spoke with a slightly calmer tone, "What's a 'friend' to you? Where do you draw the line between 'friend' and 'not friend'?
"Why don't we define it first? Let's define 'friend' as..." Mutatsu trailed off, thinking of something. "As someone you hold dear. True friendship is seen through the heart, kid, not the eyes. People always want somethin' in a relationship. They only really love themselves. You don't call someone who doesn't like you your friend, do ya? No, you don't, cuz you know you won't get nothin' from him, right?"
Kotone felt that Mutatsu was just ranting at this point, but she couldn't stop him when she knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Which means," Mutatsu kept on, "in this world, there's no one you can hold dear. At the end of the lonely road of love, kid, you're the only one left standin' there. Get any of that?"
"I can see why people call for you when they want a monk," Kotone said with a smile. "You can take control of a room really well."
Mutatsu snorted. "Well, I've done it for a while, so I have the experience. Anyway kid, get movin'; you look like you're gonna doze off any second now. You're gonna come back again anyway, even if I tell you not to, right?"
Kotone nodded, rising from her seat. Before she took the staircase down to the main floor, Mutatsu called after her.
"Don't forget what I said! Everyone's out for themselves. Best be careful."
Kotone smiled tiredly, waving her hand.
How could she forget? She was doing the exact thing to all her 'friends'.
-.-Take Your Time-.-
8/8 - Tartarus - Dark Hour - Kotone
"So, this is Tartarus," Akechi said, looking up at the tower's height. "Have there been attempts at scaling it? I'd assume you have, yes?"
Mitsuru nodded. "Correct, though any attempts were blocked off by the tower itself."
"So, it either has some defense mechanism, or it is alive," Akechi pondered, then glanced at Ren. "Much like Mementos, no?"
"Already made the comparison," Ren said in agreement. "Still, I don't know what keeps it running. The Metaverse is the world of cognition, so it was easy to say that cognition changed it. The Dark Hour, however..."
"What was it like?" Kotone asked. She couldn't imagine what the Metaverse was like. While no one controlled the Dark Hour, it seemed like the Metaverse was controllable if Ren and Akechi told the truth about Shido Masayoshi.
"Mementos is always changing," Ren answered. "There was no point in using a map because each floor differed from the last, even if we went back to the same floor. Even weather in the real world affected Mementos; if there was a lot of pollen that day, then Shadows could be sick. On the other hand, the Palaces were more constant because they were based on the cognition of a single person rather than a collective."
"That's how Tartarus is on random days," Fuuka said.
"We try not to risk Tartarus on those days," Kotone said. Those days were random. Sure, they found a lot of money the first time they found out. Still, the Shadows were stronger than normal, and they occasionally lost connection with Fuuka and light until they reached the next floor. "Having sick Shadows sounds so nice to have."
Ren laughed, and Kotone's heart clenched. "Very true. We always tried to push for those days since they were usually a plus. Still, there were times when floors were extremely dark, so it wasn't always nice. Having a car where everyone was inside helped a lot during our trips."
"Are we going to continue reminiscing about the past, or will we start the reason we're here for?" Akechi asked. "I thought that we had limited time."
Ren coughed, looking sheepish. "Right, sorry about that."
The team stepped into Tartarus, and both Ren and Akechi erupted in blue flames. Ren's outfit looked just the same, but Akechi gave Kotone whiplash. It was a tight outfit with stripes of blue and black. He had clawed gauntlets and a ripped, short, black cape. On top of that, his mask wasn't even a mask; it was a beak-shaped helmet.
"That's your get-up?" Junpei asked.
"And what of it?" Akechi asked with a smirk. "Not as nice as Amamiya's, isn't it?"
"If this is your idea of rebellion, then no wonder you-" Junpei muttered before Yukari elbowed him.
"Wearing that one, eh?" Ren asked with a smirk.
"Are we doing this bit again?" Akechi said with a scoff, though Kotone could see a small smirk on his face. "There's no reason for me to uphold the pretense of a righteous, sincere Detective Prince, especially since no one knows him anymore."
"Wait, people called you that?" Yukari asked with an incredulous look.
"We all have public personas," Akechi answered with a shrug. "Enough chit-chat. Are we here to explore or not?"
"Right!" Kotone exclaimed. "Just like we discussed earlier, the first team will be Mitsuru-senpai, Ren, Akechi-san, and me. The second will be Yukari, Junpei, and Aigis with me. Shinjiro-san, Akihiko-senpai, Ken-kun, and Koro-chan will close it out for today."
Kotone discussed the teams with Mitsuru earlier. Ren promised he would stop Akechi if anything would happen. If Akechi could fight an entire team of Persona users, then he was definitely stronger than the rest of SEES. Sure, numbers would help, but Mitsuru convinced her they'd rather go with quality. Ken and Koromaru were far too inexperienced, so they'd be easy targets. Junpei and Yukari, while more experienced, were still not strong enough. Shinjiro just came back, so he had to be eased in while Akihiko... He probably couldn't focus on the fight when he didn't trust Akechi.
"Hey," Junpei piped up. "So, we know Ren has other Personas. Do you think you can show it? No one here has seen it before."
Ren glanced at Kotone, and she shrugged. It wasn't up to her if he wanted to show it to everyone.
Ren closed his eyes as his mask disappeared in blue flames. Behind him, Fafnir came to reality, its metallic sheen reflecting the light of Tartarus. Everyone held their breath as they stared at the lanky dragon. It was bigger than anyone else's Persona, matched only by some of the Floor Guardians.
"This is Fafnir," Ren said, pointing to the Persona. "He's one of the last Personas I got and easily one of my most powerful ones."
"What the hell..." Junpei muttered.
"Fafnir, as in the Norse dragon that Sigurd killed?" Mitsuru asked, her eyes not leaving the Persona. "I can certainly see the heart."
"I think so? I thought it was Siegfried," Ren answered as he tilted his head. "It's been a while since I searched up its legend." Ren closed his eyes, his mask came back to his face, and Fafnir disappeared. "Still, we are on borrowed time. Shouldn't we start going up?"
"Right!" Kotone yelled out excitedly. "I can't wait to see your Personas in action!"
Ren smiled. "Just this one time, yeah? You guys won't get stronger if I keep using my stronger Personas to fight."
"We'd like to see what it's capable of," Mitsuru said. "To see how strong we need to be in the future."
"Fuuka'll keep an eye on things," Akihiko said, and Fuuka vigorously nodded. "If anything happens, we're rushing in."
Mitsuru frowned. "And what if you get lost in Tartarus?"
"We'll at least be on the same floor," Akihiko stubbornly answered. "You're not changing my mind on this, Mitsuru."
She closed her eyes and sighed. "Very well, though I don't see a reason you should. I trust Amamiya to stop him."
Kotone glanced at Akechi, who snorted. There was no need to say his name; everyone knew why Akihiko was on edge.
The four said their goodbyes and entered the gate at the top of the staircase, arriving on Floor 89. All around them, Tartarus continued to move around, ever shifting. As usual, the gate blocking the next floor was gone.
"So, it seems Tartarus truly has no defined shape," Akechi said, observing all around him. "How similar to Mementos; it's always changing at the edges of my sight, though the floor we currently stand on is static. The similarities only keep piling on."
"Hey Ren, do you mind if you lead the exploration team for a few floors?" Kotone asked. She wanted to see how different his leadership style was, how the Phantom Thieves fought. If past experience said anything, Ren and Akechi fought with far more movement, something Kotone could learn from.
Ren raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "Sure, we can do that. I'll take point. Akechi, you're not rusty, are you?"
Akechi smirked in response. "Maruki was only yesterday for me. I'm wondering if you can even keep up with me, considering you haven't done any Phantom Thief work recently."
The two took point as the group entered the next floor. At a crossroads, they slinked into the Shadows while Kotone and Mitsuru stood back, observing them.
"Incoming Shadow at nine," Akechi muttered. "Seems to be coming our way."
"Another at two," Ren responded. "We take mine; it's turned around."
Akechi immediately turned towards the right corridor, and they both lept from shadow to shadow. They moved quickly and silently, with the only noise coming from Kotone and Mitsuru's footsteps trying to catch up to them.
It made little sense of how they were so fast and quiet. Was this part of the cognition thing they talked about, their cognition as thieves giving them benefits to what the public thinks of thieves?
Isn't that...stupidly strong?
Whatever Kotone thought, it didn't change that Ren and Akechi reached the Shadow from the back. Ren jumped on top of it and yelled, "Show me your true form!" He slashed as he fell from above and the Shadow blob split in half, coalescing back into its real form, a stone hand with a sword.
"It's a new Shadow!" Fuuka said in their heads. "Please wait while I scan for a weakness!"
"No time to wait!" Akechi said.
As Ren jumped back from the Shadow, Arsene appeared behind him and used Dream Needle. The attack hit the enemy, putting it to sleep.
Without warning, Akechi screamed, "Come, Hereward!" His Persona appeared in blue flames, slightly hovering by his side. It began pelting the Shadow with arrows, and it staggered down, clearly awake. Akechi clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed at something. "Again!" Hereward launched the same attack, finally killing the Shadow.
Mitsuru and Kotone could only look at the aftermath, slowly digesting what they had just saw.
They moved swiftly, quietly, and efficiently. They attacked before the Shadow could turn around or take notice. They didn't waste any time taking down the enemy. They didn't even communicate; they knew what the other would do.
Akechi yelled out there was no need to wait because he knew Ren would inflict an ailment on the Shadow. It was his job to take it down for the follow-up.
Was this how they usually fought? What sort of enemies did they face that carved them to be such capable fighters?
Was this what Ren expected out of them in the future? SEES had their work cut out for them.
"So, you too, huh?" Ren said, breaking Kotone from her trance.
Akechi huffed. "Like I said, it won't affect my performance."
"Nothing wrong with being weaker than before," Ren said. "Same thing happened with my Arsene."
"Was Hereward meant to be stronger?" Mitsuru asked.
Ren nodded. "Let's just say Akechi almost beat the Phantom Thieves with the Persona that Hereward evolved from."
"Evolution?" Mitsuru repeated. "That's never been recorded before."
Ren shrugged. "In terms of forms, Personas are the power of the heart. If a person grows, then their Persona grows with them. As a person comes to a realization, then their Persona evolves with them."
"Just means you can only go up," Kotone said to Akechi with a smile.
Akechi glared at her before turning away. "It doesn't matter. Let's keep moving, or are we going to stay here being sappy?"
Kotone's eye twitched. This guy is going to be a total pain to work with, but that's okay. They just need to explore for today before they stop.
She received a pat on the back. She turned around, showing it was Ren who patted her.
"Don't worry about him," he said. "His Persona is important to him. Losing power like that really sucks."
"Did you face the same issue?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Arsene was way stronger before I came here, but it doesn't really matter. As you said, it just means I can only go up," Ren said with a smile. "He's getting a lot of other skills that makes me excited to see what's next."
"Like what?"
Ren hummed and said, "I'll tell you later. There's been a bunch of changes since."
And just like that, the team ran through the floors faster than before. Ren and Akechi lept, slashed, and attacked from every angle, almost like acrobats. However, compared to the first fight, Ren slowed down their pace considerably, letting Fuuka record enemy attributes while also allowing Kotone and Mitsuru to fight. If there were enemies close by, Ren would use status ailments to take down the current enemy before another could help. If they were alone, then he'd let Fuuka, Mitsuru, and her to take part for experience. While Fuuka scanned the enemy, Mitsuru and she would take potshots at the enemy, trying to get the enemy's weaknesses. It certainly helped with the lull in battles. Though, Akechi grumbled about the slowdown.
If there was one thing that could be better, it would be Akechi's griping. Everything he did required a click of his tongue or growl right after, clearly not happy about his performance, even if he was doing way better than half the team. Ah well, it's his first outing, and he'll have to get used to it, whether or not he likes it. By the time they reached the first boss, which they did in record time, the team still had the energy to fight. With no reason to switch the team around, Kotone opted to fight with the same people and maintain the momentum.
The enemy this time was a Magus variant. Unfortunately, it tanked a ton of their attacks, even when they figured out its Fire weakness. Even worse, Kotone has done little with getting better skills or Personas since she prepared for the last Full Moon Operation, so her Fire skills were on the weaker side. On top of that, her Fire Persona was weak to Ice skills, which this Shadow had a lot of. Even worse...
"It's charging up again!" Akechi yelled out.
"Get ready to dodge!" Kotone commanded, and she mentally switched from Orthrus to Sarasvati.
Everyone stopped attacking and glared at the Shadow, ready for anything.
The Shadow roared, and it flooded the entire room with ice. Everyone jumped back, but it caught someone.
"Dammit!" Akechi yelled, tripping as ice quickly encased his leg.
The momentary lapse in focus was more than enough for the Shadow.
Akechi's eyes widened as the Shadow capitalized on its prey's opening and unleashed a massive block of ice, knocking him down. Before the Shadow could fully finish Akechi off, Arsene attacked its side with One-Shot Kill. While it pushed the Shadow off, it resisted the damage, only showing a scratch.
"Are you okay?!" Ren asked.
"Fuck that! I'm done with this shit! Out of my way!" Akechi roared as red and black energy surrounded him.
"Akechi, wait!" Ren yelled before the wind picked up, forcing Kotone to shield her eyes.
She felt the wind die down after a few seconds, and she felt the atmosphere changed. The air was damp and humid, making breathing harder to do. And...
Kotone felt the rain hit her, and she opened her eyes.
"No way..."
Somehow, they were outside of Tartarus, standing somewhere on the rooftops in the middle of a light drizzle. But that's impossible; the weather forecast didn't say anything about rain soon, much less in the middle of the night. On top of that, it never rained in Tartarus nor during the Dark Hour. Even then, the skyline doesn't look quite like anywhere in Tatsumi Port Island.
"How is this possible..." she heard Mitsuru mutter.
Kotone felt the same way. What did Akechi do?
Kotone began searching for Ren and Akechi on the rooftops, despite the sounds of pitter-patters of the drizzle. Luckily, Akechi screeching his heart out made it easier to find the two. Just ahead of them, a red and black aura surrounded Akechi while Ren stood by him, scowling but perfectly fine. In front of them, across the rooftop, was the Shadow. Weirdly enough, Shadow was further from the two before when they were still in Tartarus.
Akechi roared again, his mask's eyes glowing red, and ran right towards the Shadow. Kotone heard Ren call out to him before following right after, using his hook to jump above Akechi. Before the Shadow could get its bearings and focus on one person, he twirled his knife at the apex of his jump, and with a firm grip, he brought it down right above the Shadow. With it stunned, he quickly somersaulted back, and Akechi surged forward underneath him with a screech. He slashed at the Shadow like a feral animal, using his sword and claws to quickly lay a barrage of cuts on the enemy.
"You little shit!" With one more roar, Akechi brought his sword down with both hands and ripped right through the enemy.
The Shadow fell down to its knees, or where there should be, and Ren suddenly appeared right behind it, his gun aimed at its head. With cold eyes, he pulled the trigger, and the Shadow dissipated into dark motes of light.
"I guess this will do," Akechi growled out. His aura slowly disappeared and the surrounding with it. They were still in Tartarus?!
"Kotone-chan?!" Fuuka suddenly yelled inside her head, making her jump.
Kotone shook her head. "Fuuka-chan, what's wrong?"
"What happened? You disappeared for a moment there!"
"Ren and Akechi did some combination attack, and they changed the room somehow..."
"What? That doesn't make sense!" Akihiko yelled.
"Are you okay? Akihiko-senpai is just about to run into the gate!"
"We're fine, Yamagishi," Mitsuru responded. "Akihiko, stand down."
"But-!"
"We are fine. We're going down now," Mitsuru said, with no room for protest in her voice.
"...Fine."
"Sorry about the scare," Ren said, holding Akechi up. "It drained him to do that, so he's definitely out for the night."
"What was that?" Kotone asked. They were outside of Tartarus and the Dark Hour, and then they were back here. She'd never seen that before.
"That's what we call a Showtime," Ren answered with a smile. "When we need a final push to end the fight, we tend to go out with a bang."
"That does not explain the change in scenery," Mitsuru added.
"Our clothes are also dry," Kotone noted, looking at her clothes. "Even though it rained, we're still dry."
"It's a change in cognition," Ren said. "I'm pretty sure the location changes to somewhere in Shibuya, and anything that happens there is only temporary."
"That's certainly..." Mitsuru said with a frown.
"Strong? Yeah, it is," Ren said. "I've got some stories about how Shadows used their cognition to fight back."
"But that doesn't explain how-"
"Senpai, while I get trying to understand something new and cool, we should go back for now," Kotone said with a wry smile. "We're down a person."
This Showtime… Another reason Ren should lead instead of her. She knew nothing like it, so her leading SEES is already worse than him. He had experience and power in spades, so why is she leading at all?
-.-Take Your Time-.-
8/10 - Afternoon - Gekkoukan High School - Junpei
Junpei stared outside the window as crickets chirped at full force outside. Even with the sun beating down on everything that walked under it, he was lucky the wind helped to stave off the heat. Most of it was because the Kirijo built the school on top of an island, and something he had to thank the Kirijo for. Apparently, they built the island way back then, and the school came after that.
Speaking of Kirijo and SEES...
Junpei glanced at the rest of the room, mainly populated by the second-year SEES and a couple of random classmates he doesn't know the names of, though apparently, Kotone knew them from some club.
According to Fuuka, they've made a ton of progress the past couple of days and the next boss is nearby. Mitsuru said that they most likely need one more excursion before they reach the next gate and Akihiko already started making plans for training.
Meanwhile, Kotone and he haven't said anything about what happened last full moon. Sure, they'd talk when they were part of the team, but Kotone had never started conversations like before, and they had never talked alone since.
He shouldn't say sorry about what he said. He was right: Kotone had been pretty chummy with Ren, and Kotone refused to see that for some reason. A cool guy swooping in to get one of the first girl friends he, a class clown, made in Port Island... It sickened him. It didn't help that Ren was far better than him in almost anything. Manners, suave, a killer smile...
'I'm pretty sure he even has a club starting somewhere in the school, like Akihiko-senpai.'
But, at the same time, Ren was a genuinely good person. He helped Junpei when everyone gave up on him, even himself. And so, hating Ren sickened him even more. Not to mention complaining like this... It reminded him of-
'No, stop it. I'm not like that piece of shit. I'm not-'
"Iori, stop daydreaming," the teacher called out. "Can you answer this?" he asked, tapping on the board in front of the room.
Junpei's eyes moved towards the board and said, "No, teach, sorry!" with a carefree smile.
The teacher sighed and continued with the lecture, ignoring what had just happened.
He was thankful for the distraction; anything to get away from thinking about that man and anything related was good.
Still, it didn't change the situation at all. He still had to make up with Kotone, if only to get rid of the guilt stirring in him. The longer this goes on, the more he feels like a piece of shit.
He's jealous of Ren; that much is obvious, though he'd never tell anyone that. Even without counting Ren's real life...everything, Ren's crazy strong in the Dark Hour, something he found he was special in. Unfortunately, apparently he wasn't, if everyone and everything can get a Persona.
Strega said he'd lose his Persona once the Dark Hour ends. That would suck, to lose one of the few things he felt special about. But if Ren was right, then Hermes would always be with him, even if the Dark Hour ends.
But that thin strip of hope means believing in Ren, and that would only prove that Ren's better than him.
'Fuck, now back to square one.'
He noticed the sounds of crickets once again and he felt the full force of the summer heat come down on him now that the cool wind stopped.
'Maybe I should go to that training Akihiko-senpai was talking about.'
-.-Take Your Time-.-
8/14 - Dark Hour - Iwatodai Dorm Rooftop - Ren
"Did you want to talk about something, Kotone?" Ren asked, stepping onto the rooftop of the dorm. Apparently, Mitsuru locked it since the attack on April, but with how strong everyone's become, she deemed the rooftop safe to be in, so long as they stayed away from the edge. Which Kotone did not do, sitting by the edge as she let her feet dangle in the air.
"Yeah, I do," Kotone answered. "How did you go back in time? From what you mentioned, the Metaverse is a world of cognition, not some sort of time-related dimension. I'd get it if you used the connection between the Metaverse and Tartarus like Akechi, but you never said that." She stood up and looked him in the eyes. "I don't think you've lied to us since we met you, but you never tell us everything. So, it only makes sense that you used something else to go back in time other than the Metaverse. I'm going to ask again: how did you go back in time?"
Ren stared back, gathering his thoughts. He confirmed she was the Guest of this timeline, so maybe there wasn't any point in hiding it anymore?
He sighed and held out his hand. One moment, there was nothing. Next, a key with a silver shaft and velvet blue bow appeared, floating mid-air.
He saw Kotone's jaw clench and her eyes widen. She held out her hand, and a key appeared in the same way he did.
"So, you're just like me..." Kotone said with a wry smile.
Ren nodded. "I'm here on a contract with the Velvet Room; they asked for some help, and I obliged."
"The Velvet Room, huh?" Kotone muttered bitterly. "Did they think I couldn't do things by myself? Is that why they sent you? Because I'm not doing anything, right?"
Ren looked at her quizzically. What brought this on? "No? They never mentioned their reason, but I see nothing wrong with what you're doing so far."
Kotone frowned and said, "Really? Nothing at all? Haven't you noticed that nothing's going right ever since we went to Yakushima? I'm the leader, yet you ended up talking to Yukari that night. And now, Junpei's mad at me. I'm a failure as a leader, and the Velvet Room knows it!" she yelled and let out a defeated sigh. "Meanwhile, you led a team before, and you have the power to back it up. That's why I'm giving you the position of field leader next time."
"What? No, I'm not taking that," Ren said and began walking towards Kotone. "I'm here to help, not solve your problems."
"This is the best way to save everyone," Kotone countered, her voice getting louder and louder. "If it's you, I know we can stop the Dark Hour!"
"And you can't?" Ren asked.
Kotone's hand balled into a fist. "No! Nothing I do feels right! I can't see myself doing anything like you!"
"And I won't do that," Ren said, continuing to walk towards her.
"Why?! I know you want to save people, so why are you letting someone that can't even do that lead you?! I- I can't-!"
Ren, finally in front of Kotone, hugged her. "Because I know you can do it. I trust you."
"And how do you know that? How do you trust me that much?" Kotone asked, resting her head on Ren's chest, and Ren heard her sniff.
"Because I've seen you do your best, and it reminded me so much when I was going through my set of problems," Ren said. "You said I had the experience, but I was just as lost as you when I started, even near the end."
Kotone pushed off Ren, though still in his arms, and looked up at him. "You were?"
Ren chuckled, moving some of Kotone's bangs to the side. "Yes? Don't you remember Akira? I was just like that until high school. And even then, I had a teacher teach me everything about fighting. I was green and running around like a headless chicken. If it wasn't for everyone around me, I wouldn't be who I am now. That's why I believe in you: I know what you're going through, and I know you can do it. Things may suck, but sometimes you just learn as you go. Everything that happens is part of your journey."
Kotone sniffed and asked, "Then can you help me?"
Ren nodded. "What would you like to talk about first?"
Kotone looked away to the side, deep in thought, and Ren let her go. After a minute, she answered, "Junpei. Right now, I can't lead a team that's cracked. If I fix what happened with Junpei, then the team will be safer when fighting and exploring Tartarus."
"Right, that makes sense," Ren said. "Among the Phantom Thieves, there was a fight between our founding members. One of them felt like he lost his place in the group, after we kept getting more and more people that did his roles, but better. I didn't understand him at all that time; if I did my job as a leader and kept on talking with him, then maybe it wouldn't happen at all. Similarly, I think you need to talk with Junpei, as a first step."
"You think so?" Kotone asked.
Ren nodded. "I don't think he doesn't think highly of himself. From what it sounds like, he thinks I'm stepping on what he feels he's finally valid in and he took it out on you."
"Then wouldn't it be on you to talk with him?"
Again, Ren agreed. "Yes, but he blew up on you. If I talk to him, it doesn't resolve why he did that to start with. I'll talk with him after you."
"So, I need to find time for Junpei..." Kotone muttered.
"That would be a good first step," Ren said. "Luckily, he didn't run off..."
"What happened on your end?" Kotone asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Well, a team member ran away because he thought he needed to prove his worth to the team," Ren said, his eyes staring out to the city. "The other member at fault took a long time to understand and get the right words out of his mouth. We ended up finding a new member, but not before having to chase them around Mementos, and that took hours..." he said with a sigh.
"Umm... About that... I don't know if I can talk to Junpei about it, or at least force him to say what's actually wrong..." Kotone said.
Ren turned his head towards her. "What do you mean?"
Kotone twiddled her fingers. "So, um, I don't usually talk to others deeply about anything. Just enough to carry the conversation, you know?"
Ren nodded, unsure if he should say anything about how he thought she was wrong or to let her continue. Still, Kotone was on a roll, and it wouldn't be right to cut in.
"So, back in Yakushima, I froze up when Yukari ran to the beach. That's how you ended up talking to her instead of me, the leader," Kotone said as she cringed. "Thing is, that's not even the first time. Back in July, before going to Yakushima, Junpei got aggressive because he felt like he was being shown up. But, instead of talking to him, he ended up saying sorry to me, and we should put it under the bridge. I thought that was the end, but I guess not. If I just talked to him instead of waiting, maybe he wouldn't have been so mad."
"Maybe," Ren said with a shrug. "There's nothing we can do about what happened already, but you can do something to help it. What do you plan on saying to him?"
Kotone wrung her wrists as she looked away. "I don't know, actually. I thought I could start by asking what happened that night, then wing it from there..."
That's basically what he did...
"Well, I can't say anything about that," Ren said with a shrug. "I usually just run with it, too."
Kotone pouted. "Well, that's not particularly helpful..." she said, before punching him lightly on the shoulder. "Anything to say, Mr. Experienced Thief?"
Ren chuckled. It seemed like Kotone's mood had picked up. "Nope, you'll do just fine."
"Hey, would you tell me about the other Phantom Thieves?" Kotone asked. "I'm curious what they're like."
Ren hummed as he glanced up. The Dark Hour ended during their talk and the regular waning moon shined high in the sky. "Well, better sit now and be comfy. It's going to be long. Is that okay?"
Kotone nodded and sat cross-legged, and Ren followed suit.
Ren thought for a moment and grinned. "The first one to join was Mona, our cat teacher."
"Cat teacher? How'd he teach?"
Ren kept his eyes on her. "Well, he told us. Mona could talk."
He chuckled when Kotone's eyes lit up in disbelief.
-.-Take Your Time-.-
8/14 - Dark Hour - Iwatodai Dorms
Kirijo Mitsuru
Leader of the Kirijo Group
Sanada Akihiko
High-ranking police officer
Travelled the world as a fighter
Takeba Yukari
Famous actress
Does her own stunts - implies she has some sort of training?
"Three high-profile names in the future, all living in the same dorm in the same year," Akechi muttered. Three targets he failed in the future. No wonder the Metanav couldn't find them; they were all Persona users.
Sometime in the future, Shido reached out to the Kirijo Group, hoping to add them to his pocket. They rejected his offers. Of course, they weren't the first, nor would they be the last. A few nudges, a couple of heads lost, and Shido would eventually get his way.
However, the group held strong and nothing Shido and Akechi did to the normal people in the company did anything. And so, they escalated: they began targeting higher in the company chain.
Eventually, Shido called for the head of the leader, Kirijo Mitsuru. They thought it would be easy. However, Akechi failed. The Metanav couldn't find her in Mementos. Chalking it up to Mitsuru Kirijo being a straight-laced person, Shido eventually forced them out of Tokyo legally, removing a powerhouse in the city, leaving a gap in power that he took.
In time, everyone forgot Akechi's failure, until a similar case happened: the Phantom Thieves. Akechi couldn't find them in the Metanav. He eventually found them, realized they were Persona users, and set the plan in motion.
He never connected the dots until now: Kirijo Mitsuru was (is?) a Persona user in 2017. Sure, it was possible that Mitsuru stays straight-laced in the future, but no head of a zaibatsu is truly clean; she had to have some skeletons in the closet.
'And so, here I am trying to remember what that damn dossier had on the Kirijo Group,' he mentally grumbled. He should have remembered the files of an outlier. Though, of course, no one could have predicted going back in time to meet the same people he used to target.
Still, no use in getting angry over it. What's done is done.
He looked over at the list again, trying to remember what he could about the people on it. It doesn't matter if Amamiya thought things are different; whatever he could scrounge up could mean success or failure on his part of his deal.
Akechi blinked and immediately wrote what he just recalled.
Kirijo Mitsuru
Leader of the Kirijo Group
Kirijo Takeharu
Sudden death caused by illness
Succession caused her father's death in her last year of high school
He tsked as he reread the information. Yes, this is useful, but what's more important is the date. What date does he die? Next month? Before the end of the year?
Sudden death by illness could be anything in their line of work, though Akechi thought it's definitely related to Shadows. Did he die through a mental shutdown? Or maybe he got the Apathy Syndrome, and SEES originally didn't save him in time?
Perhaps this is why the Velvet Room sent Amamiya back in time? To save Kirijo Takeharu? If so, why save him? The world continued to run without him, so what's the point in saving him? Either way, didn't that mean SEES won against whatever god they fought at the top of Tartarus?
He growled at the mention of Tartarus, remembering his weakness clearly. He couldn't believe how much weaker his power got. Fuck whatever Amamiya and Shiomi said about possibilities, he had fun killing Shadows in one shot. Now, he's just like the rest of these mooks.
Breathe in, breathe out. Massage the temple. What's done is done. Get over it. Back to whatever it was before.
Tartarus. In their old reality, it's most likely SEES won against the god of the Dark Hour. If so, why send Ren under the pretense of help? During a time with this many Persona users?
Something happened that the Velvet Room wanted to change. It will happen here. Akechi knows it.
-.-Take Your Time-.-
8/15 - Afternoon - Gekkoukan High School
Kotone waved goodbye to Rio as she left the gym building. Even during the summer, she still wanted to practice volleyball. And while Rio asked the team if they wanted to practice, no one could fault anyone about not showing up, so it wasn't a full house. Still, they made do, doing some basic drills just to keep their bodies moving.
Kotone sighed as she thought back to what she told Ren, that she'd try to talk with him. Maybe she shouldn't have said that. Curse him and his sweet words. She was alright with letting things stay the way they were with Junpei. They could still fight as a team, so it wasn't like it hampered SEES activities. Still...
It was reassuring that Ren trusted her with SEES, nice even. Sure, people trusted her before, but to hear it from Ren made her heart flutter. Even when she messed up, Ren still believed in her, that she'd pull through and fix everything. He trusted her to lead SEES, and in turn him, right.
Normally, when people trusted her, she didn't really do it out of obligation or anything. She just did it. If she failed, then she didn't feel bad or anything. That was just how the cards fell. But ever since she joined SEES, she felt responsible for her own actions, now that people's lives were in danger. She had to make sure everyone lived at the end of the day.
But then she met Ren. When she was down, he reassured her, stood by her. Hell, she even broke down in front of him, and she never did that before. She...
She trusted him, didn't she? Trusted him enough to break down in front of him during one of her lower points, to vent a little about her own frustrations, and he stepped up. He stayed with her at that time and supported her rather than leaving her. And it wasn't a onetime thing; he did it again just last night. When she felt like she couldn't trust herself to lead the team, he convinced her she could. He trusted her.
Kotone, with her eyes closed, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Her eyes opened, clear and a little less cloudy.
If Ren trusted her that much, she had to step up.
She eventually found him, sitting on a bench in front of the station. From afar, she saw him sigh, staring out into the bay. She approached him, but he didn't notice until she sat right next to him. She must have made a sound since he jerked up and his head whipped in her direction. His eyes bulged at seeing her, but he sat back down with his eyes staring at his own clenched hands.
Junpei's mouth opened and closed multiple times, unable to decide what to say. Eventually, he sighed again and simply said, "I'm sorry for blowing up on you like that, Kotone."
She nodded. So, what happened weighed on Junpei's mind? It surprised her. "It's okay. I just want to know why. I keep thinking about what happened, and I can't figure out why you'd be so mad at me."
"I... I was frustrated," Junpei said, looking at the ocean again. "I thought I found a place to belong. I found friends, I was away from my dad, and I finally got something to be proud of: my Persona." He looked at Kotone with a sad smile. "It felt good. I was finally someone. But then Ren came along and ruined everything. He swooped in and stole the show." His hands shivered, and he rubbed them together. "And I felt like I was being replaced. He stole the show I felt I was supposed to get: to be the hero. Instead, Ren saved Mitsuru-senpai, he saved you, he got close to Yukari. Hell, Ken opened up to him, and he usually just goes between the dorm and school. Even after getting my powers, I still wasn't good enough. I wasn't special, and it hurt inside."
"But you are special. It's hard to keep you down, both in real life and in a fight," Kotone said. "You always keep the atmosphere light when you can with jokes and making everyone laugh. I remember Yukari forgot about the ghost story in the school after you scared her. In Tartarus, you're always ready to take a hit for someone." Junpei clenched his fists together, and his knuckles turned white. "No one in our team can do that."
"But that's the only thing I can do, Kotone," Junpei said as he shook his head. "I ain't smart, ain't good-looking. Hell, I ain't even good at baseball, and it's my favorite sport! I have nothing."
"Then we'll work on those!" Kotone said, shaking his shoulder. "You went up in the school rankings last time; I don't see why you can't do that again. Yukari and I can help with the looks, and we'll see with Mitsuru-senpai and the chairman on how to start a club. With the school's budget, I don't see why we can't start a baseball team!"
Junpei merely stayed quiet, his face squirming. Kotone could see tears threaten to drop down his face. She reached out to his other shoulder and drew him into a hug.
"I don't understand..." Junpei stammered between long breaths, trying to calm himself down. "I yelled at you, got mad at you, but you helped me anyway. YOU should be mad at ME. For what I did, you can definitely yell at me for it, probably even kick me out of SEES. I won't be able to say anything about it."
"I... I'd like to think we're friends, Junpei, and friends help each other," Kotone said. It felt weird, saying they were friends. She still doesn't think they are, but she had to start somewhere. Maybe that would be now. "What you did wasn't unforgivable, but I'd like to know why you got mad at me. I don't think I did anything to make you mad at all?"
Junpei squirmed in his seat. "I was frustrated at that time. I'm pretty sure I would have found a reason to yell at anyone if it wasn't you. It just didn't feel right you kept giving Ren all the passes in the world when I called him out on it. I was jealous you didn't find anything wrong with him and that made me so angry. And so, I made up whatever reason I could to find something wrong with Ren, even if it was stupid as all hell. And it was! Ren has always been nice; he even helped me when no one was looking. What would he get from that? Absolutely nothing. And I decided to get mad anyway. I'm so stupid."
"It sounds like you're jealous of Ren?"
Junpei chuckled darkly. "I am. I had a small crush on you, you know?" Eh? "And seeing you with him hurt. It might have been okay if it was Akihiko-senpai, he's really cool, but Ren? The guy who appeared out of nowhere? It pisses me off so much when I have no right to be like that."
"Wait, wait, you liked me?" Kotone asked. She didn't expect this!
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I guess I never told anyone about it, but yeah, I liked you a bit. It ain't a big deal or anything. It still made me bitter that you liked Ren."
"Wait, wait, you're just going to gloss over it like that?!"
Junpei looked at her funny, as if she said something wrong. Did she say something wrong? "Yes? It's not a big deal. Crushes come and go."
"And I don't like Ren like that!" Junpei rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Seriously!" she yelled and slapped him on the shoulder.
"Sure, sure," he said with a faint smile. He stood up and stared at Kotone with a straight face, and he bowed. "I'm sorry for what I did back then. It was immature of me. I know this is ain't the first time, but can we be friends again? I promise to do better than before, that this won't be 'water under the bridge.'"
Kotone smiled and said as she held her hand out, "Alright, my name is Shiomi Kotone, and you?"
Junpei laughed, taking her outstretched hand. "Iori Junpei! You got some free time? I was planning to hit the arcade today, and heard some guy took over my spot in one game there."
Kotone laughed back at him. "Don't worry about that, 'cuz I'll be taking that spot!"
"Oh, you're on!"
They filled the station with boisterous laughter for a moment, and the two left the area, arguing about who'd best who.
-.-Take Your Time-.-
Passive eyes tracked the pair leaving the square and into the station, making sure the pair couldn't see her.
Chidori only planned to find some time away from Takaya and Jin, considering the former was more enraged than before, missing out on killing the girl, and the latter always followed the former. While she worked with them, she wasn't as attached to them as they were to each other. As patient as she was, even she had a limit, so she left their living space.
To think she'd find the cause of Takaya's anger here and to see she was so close to someone.
Perhaps it's time to come back; she might have a quieter dwelling now.
-.-Take Your Time-.-
8/15 - Night - Iwatodai Dorm - Kotone
"Hey guys, welcome back," Yukari greeted, seeing Junpei and Kotone enter the dorm. On her hands was a magazine, most likely about fashion, if Kotone had to guess. "You guys are...fine now?"
Kotone waved back and said, "Yep, we're good now!"
"How, exactly?"
Kotone shrugged. "We just talked and then hung out in the arcade."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Yukari sighed. "At least you guys are on talking terms now. It was getting awkward, you know?"
Kotone chuckled as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, I know. Sorry it took a while." A strong smell reached her nose. Taking another sniff, she recognized what she sensed. "Tonkatsu?"
"Got that right," Ren answered from the kitchen. "I thought it would fit for today."
"You really were sure it was going to work out, huh?" Kotone said, approaching the kitchen. "What have you been up to today?"
"Hung out with Kenji after class," Ren said as he took another piece of fried pork from the fryer.
Kotone recognized that name. "Tomochika? I didn't know you hung out with him."
Ren shrugged and placed another piece of pork into the fryer. "Yeah, not really; it just happened. After that, Mitsuru-senpai called me to help with Akechi's application to Gekkoukan."
"Really?" He didn't seem to be the type to go to school anymore.
"You just thought I'm not the type to care about school anymore, didn't you?" a voice called out, and Kotone jumped a little. Her head whipped towards her left, where the voice came from. Akechi stepped down on the last step of the staircase. "Staying here all day will bore me, so I might as well try to get out. And, unlike a certain someone," Akechi began, sneering at Ren. Kotone saw him twitch. "I don't want to be caught by truant officers."
"Ren?"
"Okay, look," Ren said, turning around to face her, "it was one time, and it was right after entering my first Palace, so I wasn't exactly ready for it."
"Twice," Akechi corrected him. "I remember another truant officer caught you in Shinjuku."
"That wasn't even a truant officer; he was just a regular officer." Ren corrected him. "He doesn't count."
Her heart tightened as she chewed the inside of her cheek. She knew she shouldn't feel like this, which made her understand how Junpei felt.
Well, if today might just be a day of starts.
"Hey, Ren," Kotone called out, interrupting Ren and Akechi's banter. With the two's attention on her, she continued, "Do you want to go to the festival tomorrow with me?"
-.-Take Your Time-.-
Author's Notes:
Hello and welcome back. Sorry about the super late release, but IRL stuff happened. Work piled up and I'm now doing OT stuff during the weekends so I'm always tired when I used to write.
And now to the story. I had the Tower SL event because I wanted to show that Kotone still had that mentality of "They're not really my friends" and the guide I follow conveniently was on that same day. When I played the game, it just lined up.
And the obligated Tartarus event with Akechi. I wanted to show that Akechi took a hit per se, similar to Ren's Arsene. I also made it that they can use their Showtimes in Tartarus. I wanted to write it, sue me. I think I got Akechi's reactions right, with him getting pissed that he doesn't have his full powers anymore and he'd go mental when an easy Shadow gets him. As for Kotone, she now sees how a PT fights as a group. Continuous movement, using everything in the arena to as a way to dodge and get around enemies, and then immediately attacking as a team when hitting an opening. This then makes Kotone realize she's not the better leader, but Ren. Of course, while she's right, it's only because Ren has the experience, experience that Kotone would eventually get if she kept leading. I originally planned to end this scene where Kotone felt jealous that Akechi had something personal with Ren, but it didn't feel like the time.
Time for some introspection from Junpei. I don't actually think he's stupid. I think he's average-smart and can read the room quite well, but his pride gets in the way. Take that away and you get a bit more somber person, who is who we get post-Chidori. I'm trying to get that side of him out a bit earlier, considering what's going on, but only for SEES. He still wants to get that "This is my show," but he prioritizes his friends during dangerous times. After all, I think what he did was pretty shitty, and while not the same as his father, it's reminding him of it. It ends with perhaps his first notion of bettering himself, not at the behest of someone else, but on his own accord, and I think that's a character growth. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to do more of that right after.
And Ren talks it out with Kotone. The reason Kotone hasn't been going to the VR is because she feels they're hiding something from her, that they're lying about something, and she figured it had to be something related to Ren. What's the point in trying when they think she can't do fix the issue in Port Island? Just send Ren and he'll fix everything. And that's why she tried to make Ren the leader. It only makes sense in her mind: he's got the power, the experience, and he's not wrecking the entire team like her and Junpei. Sure, she's not thinking about the fact that Junpei has beef with Ren, but he has the experience to back himself up. However, Ren does manage to turn her around. His belief in her makes her realize that maybe she could do it, too. Of course, part of this is also impressing her crush, one that she hasn't really realized yet. If Ren believes she can do it, then she can do it. And so, the first thing they come to conclusion is for Kotone to fix whatever happened with Junpei. She can't lead a team when she has an issue with someone.
While Ren and Kotone are having their time, Akechi is doing some worldbuilding(?). This part was just some lore I had in mind about the Shadow Ops during P5. In this case, Shido had the political power to keep people out of Tokyo if they didn't fall in line. This is exactly what he did against Mitsuru and her group. There's also how Akechi originally targeted them and failed. And since he never met any Persona users before, he didn't know they didn't have Shadows, leading to the wrong assumptions.
For Kotone and Junpei, at this point, it's been a few days already since the incident. That's enough time for Junpei to stew on the issue, and he knows he's wrong. He's not stupid. And so, with Kotone there, he can finally say sorry and try build back the relationship with her. Sure, it might not be the same, but they can still be friends. I also added that bit about Junpei crushing on Kotone there since it kinda made sense in my head. She's prolly the only girl he's gotten this close so far. Not even Yukari, a girl he's know for a while, is this close. I think it's a fair assumption to say he had a crush on her. That said, what this does going forward is prolly nothing. He's over it; it's just some crush after all.
And Chidori saw them both. I think it makes sense. This is around the time Chidori starts appearing in the station, drawing. Instead of having Chidori just appear out of nowhere like in the game, this makes it seem more sinister; Strega planned for Chidori to meet up with Junpei. Of course, Strega knows Junpei is not the leader, but he is close to Kotone, who they know is the leader. On the other hand, SEES only knows about Takaya and Jin, not Chidori. This is perfect.
And when they get back from the arcade, Kotone asks Ren out, now that her heart had some weight removed and she's finally somewhat destressing. Because of that, she can be a bit more selfish, i.e. being more impulsive and asking Ren to the festival which is happening the next day.
And so, tomorrow is full fluff of Ren and Kotone on a date. Everyone, I need your ideas. I have some, but I want to include outside ideas too. If you have some ideas, send them in. With your permission, I'd like to add those into the festival date.
As for update schedule, it's going to be rough. P5R is coming to PC and 100% getting it Day 1. I already said I won't play Valorant with friends to finish the game asap. This will cut to my P3P, unfortunately, but it is how it is.
On the other hand, I finally got parts of the Metaverse R2 set for my keyboard. Picture will be on AO3 (as soon as I figure out how to add them; this will be the first time I do this) because FFN doesn't allow pictures.
ALSO, we went over 100k words a few chapters back and I kept forgetting to mention it. 100k words is apparently the size of a small novel or something? Anyway we compared to Harry Potter 1-3, then we're way past them. HP1 was 60k, HP2 was 92k, and HP3 was 117k.
Congrats to this fic and thank you again for sticking by me.
ALSO, I know about that person polluting the Persona fanfic sections of both FFN and AO3. Annoying as hell and they always get the character wrong to push their own agenda. They have no respect for the characters, always making them caricatures of their own terrible ideals. They are not caucophobic; they have a severe version of lookism: the discrimination based on looks. They've attacked subreddits and wiki pages and were kicked out of said sites with the help of the community. All I can say is do not give them the time of your day. Report if you can, ignore, and move on.
