CHAPTER 8:
A SIRIUS DISCUSSION WITH THE NIJIMAS
Sae ordered some coffee for herself and Makoto, before they sat at a booth. "I've only been to this place a couple of times before. It was recommended to me by a…colleague."
"What, you mean the pretty boy detective?" Sirius snarked.
Harry chuckled. "Sorry, you what?"
"He means Goro Akechi, whom some people call the Second Detective Prince," Makoto explained. Something about her manner instantly reminded Harry of Hermione. "A prodigy high school student who moonlights as a consultant on certain investigations. People latched onto him after the first Detective Prince, Naoto Shirogane, dropped out of the limelight."
"I've seen him around here once or twice. Nice enough kid, surprisingly humble given his fame, but still…" Sojiro said, bringing coffee cups over. "Just so you know, I know about Harry's abilities, so you needn't worry about speaking about them."
"Thank you," Sae said. She then turned to Harry. "I met your godfather about a week and a half ago. He was living rough in a park near where I work, or so I thought."
Sirius chuckled. "In truth…I've been carrying an expanded trunk with supplies and money in it ever since I came back to Britain, just in case Snivellous really pissed me off enough. It's like a hotel in there. Anyway, I spoke to Sae here a couple of time, but she wasn't much for conversation."
"I am a busy woman, Black." She then turned back to Harry. "However, a car driver had a Psychotic Breakdown, and was driving into the park in a rage. Black was forced to use your teleportation ability, Apparition, was it? To get me out of the way. A most unpleasant experience. However, when I realised what had happened, I asked him to explain."
"More like demanded. I can see why you're one of the top prosecutors for the SIU," Sirius grumbled. He turned to Harry. "I dunno whether you thought we were in the future or a parallel timeline, Harry, but I'm pretty sure it's the latter. I've been comparing dates using this internet thing, and there's nothing about the attack on Godric's Hollow or what happened when Pettigrew framed me. What's more, I know roughly where the Japanese Ministry of Magic is in our world, but I couldn't find it here. But Harry, where were you? I couldn't reach you with a Patronus, and Hedwig…she found me a few days back, but she couldn't find you."
Harry wasn't sure he wanted to discuss the Palaces with the Nijimas. He decided to tell a half-truth. "I was stuck in some weird pocket dimension thing. I only just got out yesterday. I managed to help Mr Sakura and his daughter in the process."
Sae frowned, scrutinising him, before nodding. "As long as you didn't break the law, it's none of my concern. Aside from being technically illegal immigrants to Japan, but I doubt the law covers transdimensional travel, and I can help obtain proper identity papers."
"You seem to be accepting that quite readily," Sojiro remarked, even as he gently stroked Hedwig's head.
"Believe me, it took me a few days to even tentatively accept that possibility," Sae said. "I'm still having a hard time believing it, even after I have met the godson Black has spoken of. Magic, of all things." She rubbed her chin with a hand. "Still, it does offer a new angle on those Mental Shutdown cases. Never mind. I've been…encouraged to take the day off for Showa Day by my superiors. As frustrating as that is…" Her features softened. "I'm glad I was able to help you both."
"You're welcome," Harry said. "Thank you for looking after this old dog. But you're a prosecutor, right? What is the SIU?"
"Sis, may I?" Makoto asked. On Sae's nod, Makoto said, "The SIU stands for the Special Investigations Unit, who involve the best police officers and prosecutors. They work on big governmental and corporate scandals, for the most part, along with terrorists and large criminal gangs. The Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns are being investigated by Sis as well, as she suspects that an individual or a group are behind it."
"Charming," Harry said. He then met Sae's gaze. He didn't want to discuss Palaces or the Metaverse with a stranger. "But if there's anything we can do to help…"
"Black has already offered me plenty of pointers regarding spells and magical creatures from your timeline. I doubt they were caused by Dementors, as other people were not afflicted with symptoms similar to their presence," Sae said. "In addition, I do not intend to focus simply on magic as an explanation. I personally think that it could be a novel chemical or biological weapon, as that was my leading hypothesis prior to learning about magic. However, just learning about magic has admittedly helped me. It's given me a new perspective I badly needed. I am under a lot of pressure in my job, too much of it self-imposed. In addition, assuming Black's story about being framed is true, that too has given me a new perspective, or at least reminded me of it."
"Well, like I said, thank you for looking after Sirius, Miss Nijima," Harry said. "And Hedwig too."
"Hedwig is a rather beautiful owl, isn't she?" Makoto said. "And she has plenty of character. And you are welcome, Harry Potter. I go to Shujin Academy. Should your Japanese approach enough of a standard to enrol there, please, seek me out. I am the President of the Student Council there."
"I'm not sure whether I will be able to. My Japanese is almost non-existent. But once I get one of these…smartphone thingies, I'd be glad to talk with either of you."
"I will be too busy to talk most of the time, I'm afraid," Sae said. "And Makoto has her studies to think of, though if they don't interfere with her studies…well, a new friend couldn't hurt. That being said, here's my card." She handed over a business card. "If any of you see or hear anything relating to the Mental Shutdowns, then let me know. And if you do find a way back to your world, then I'd appreciate a goodbye."
Sirius took the card, while Harry said, "I wouldn't mind talking to Makoto anyway. She reminds me of a good friend of mine called Hermione. Something of a prodigy and hard worker herself, really. I'll probably have to do self-study for now…"
Futaba listened to the feed from the bugs in Leblanc with mixed feelings. She was glad Harry had found his godfather, to say nothing of his pet owl (though how did she end up there?), but hearing him talk to the Nijimas awoke uncomfortable feelings in her. True, she was glad that he was very vague about the subject of Palaces and Cognitive Worlds, and both Sae and Makoto were polite enough.
But she couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of anger and jealousy when she heard Harry bonding with Makoto so readily.
Admittedly, part of that was due to her going to the Shujin Academy sites set up by students when she realised she was too keyed-up to rest. These were underground sites, ones where anonymity was key, but while she was digging for dirt on Kamoshida, she came across a lengthy thread denouncing Makoto Nijima and the Student Council as being sycophants and lackies of Kobayakawa, the principal of Shujin.
Of course, that didn't necessarily make Makoto complicit in anything. While Futaba viewed a deference to authority as a sin in of itself, it was an ingrained part of human culture, particularly Japanese culture. And given Shujin's reputation, maybe that was all she could do.
And to be fair, part of her knew her reaction was somewhat irrational and prejudiced. Futaba had only just made Harry's acquaintance, his bonding with her Shadow aside, so their friendship was still in its earliest stages. Her personality was still stabilising after negating the worst impulses that created her Palace, to say nothing of her newfound crusade to find those who murdered her mother, and make them pay.
But she also wasn't fond of Sae Nijima and the authorities she represented. The SIU boasted a 99% conviction rate, but like many parts of the Japanese justice system, part of the reason why was that they only took on cases they knew they could win. And in many cases, there were allegations of confessions brought out of suspects by coercion or even outright police brutality, perhaps even evidence tampering.
Futaba knew this because of her days as both the founder of Medjed, before that went the way of Anonymous, and as the solo hacktivist Alibaba. True, she hadn't done much hacktivism lately, what with her mother's demise sending her into a spiral of depression and self-loathing, but she had done a few things here and there, little more than glorified pranks. Probably because she was scared of people coming after not only herself, but Sojiro. It was one thing to have suicidal tendencies, but she doubted the authorities would let her die easily, not before they wrung everything they could out of her, and torturing Sojiro in front of her.
Anyway, Japan had a notoriously high conviction rate for a developed country not under a dictatorship. This statistic had a dark side to it, though, and it was partly why Futaba was cautious about Sae Nijima. Besides, she was their rising star, the eldest daughter of a celebrated police officer who was murdered during an undercover op gone badly wrong.
Besides, the SIU, even though they held themselves up as oversight on the government, still made Futaba uneasy. Quis custodiet ipso custodes?, so Juvenal wrote in his Satires. Literally, it meant Who will guard the guards themselves?, though a popular translation, helped by the Alan Moore graphic novel Watchmen, was Who watches the watchmen?
What checks and balances were there against the SIU? That was what made her wary. But at least she was being nice enough, and she was investigating the Mental Shutdowns. Still, she was part of The Man, so to speak.
As the Nijimas said their goodbyes and left, while Sirius was discussing matters of where to live with Harry and Sojiro, Futaba only listened with half an ear now, while she began digging back into the Shujin-related website, and its forum. But as she looked into threads relating to Kamoshida, one thread caught her eye. And as she opened it, she found herself staring…
"…The rent is good in that place, and it's very close by," Sojiro said. "And I know the owner, he won't ask questions about your paperwork until Nijima comes through."
"You didn't seem to like her," Sirius observed.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, in many ways, she's my kind of woman: smart, beautiful, and with a strong will. And her sister clearly looks up to her," Sojiro said with a wry smirk, before it fell off his face. "But when I worked for the government, I heard more than a few rumours about the SIU, and I had the misfortune to know the current director for a time, and he was an unpleasant man to say the least. I doubt he's changed for the better over the years. Still…at least she was pleasant enough, and as long as neither of them cause any trouble, I'll be glad to have them as customers."
Sirius nodded, before he turned to Harry. "And it sounds like you went through a lot. I didn't mention it to Sae, but I did go through a weird pocket dimension thing too. Yours didn't look like a casino, did it?"
"…No, actually," Harry said. "It was more like a pyramid in the middle of the desert." Harry glanced at Sojiro, before he said, "I think we have quite a bit to discuss. Sojiro, if Futaba's awake, can she be on the phone for this?"
"You mean speakerphone or Facetime? If she's awake…" His phone suddenly trilled, and he answered it. "Futaba?" After a brief pause, he nodded. "Got it. Putting it on Facetime."
He placed the phone against a coffee mug on the counter, having pressed something so that Futaba's face appeared. "Futaba, are you all right?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Probably will have to crash again this afternoon, though," Futaba admitted, even as Hedwig briefly peered at the screen, before hopping away. "So, you're Sirius Black, huh? You've got a Gary Oldman vibe about you, I reckon."
"Thanks, I guess?" Sirius said. "You know, this Facetime thing is like a Communications Mirror. These smartphones are brilliant. But why are you contacting us?"
"Because I wanted to get up to speed. Just so you know, I have bugs in Leblanc. Sojiro knows about them," Futaba said. "Harry trusts you, so I will too…"
Sirius rubbed his forehead afterwards. "So that weird casino place I was in…it could've been a Palace? A mental world born from warped desires? That's…I mean, I've been in some weird situations, but that really takes the cake. Still, to think you managed to save Futaba from herself…your parents would be proud of you, Harry. Still, that such a thing exists is concerning."
"Why's that? I mean, aside from the obvious thing of going into people's minds and diddling with them?" Harry asked.
"Well, that's just it. Back home, Legilimency is not just obscure. Its legality is in a grey area at best, and only because it is a rarely-practised art, because of its difficulty. Snivellous no doubt told you what he could do with Legilimency. Why Dumbledore had him training you, I've no idea. I don't care how little time he had or how precarious his political position was…he could have done more, and he could've done better. Imagine what you could do to such things? So I think you're right, Futaba. Your mother may have been murdered for her research. Plenty of Purebloods would have done the same back home. That being said, aside from Palaces and these Personas, does the supernatural exist in this world?"
"I think it does," Futaba said. "I've been doing some digging even before the Palaces. My mother was investigating a number of incidents. Two that stand out were the Inaba serial killing perpetrated by Tohru Adachi about five years ago, along with the Iwatodai incidents in 2009. The latter is ridiculously classified, but the Inaba killings are another matter, though there's still something that stinks of a cover-up. There are rumours of something called the TV World, something that reminds me of what Morgana said about Mementos. Both seem to be a kind of noosphere, a mental world that connects to all or at least many people. What's more, the first Detective Prince, Naoto Shirogane, was involved in tracking down Adachi. That being said, Sirius, whose Palace was it?"
Sirius frowned. "I'm not sure."
Harry wondered why his godfather seemed so furtive then. He decided not to press the matter for now. In the space of two days, he had not only escaped into physical reality, rescuing the heart and soul of an innocent girl in the process, but he had reunited with his godfather and his faithful owl. If nothing else, it was cause for some celebration.
He didn't know it, but soon, he would be drawn into another epic saga. He, Sirius and Futaba would be drawn into the antics of the Phantom Thieves…
CHAPTER 8 ANNOTATIONS:
So, a new connection has been made with the Nijimas, and Sirius and Harry are going to find somewhere to live until they can figure out a way home.
Review-answering time! alaras: It doesn't help my concerns, my point was that Atlus wouldn't have the rights to Carmen Sandiego to put her in. AFAIK, the characters they put in as Personas are in the public domain.
Jose19: Agreed. Both Makoto and Sae were high up on the list of potential pairings for a Persona 5 crossover, and indeed, my first attempts at such a story were a Harry/Sae story which, sadly, went nowhere. Akira will be paired with Makoto later on, once they get to know each other.
No numbered annotations this time.