2/21
turbogranny: Good morning, Crow. Might you perhaps have some time to come visit the Temple?
pancakeman: Certainly. What is the occasion?
turbogranny: I just wanted to invite you here as a friend. The others want to see you as well.
pancakeman: Very well. I shall come by after my work is done for the day.
turbogranny: Splendid. I look forward to seeing you.
Later that day, I made my way to the Myouren Temple, happening upon Kyouko as she cleaned up trash strewn around the place.
Kyouko looked up at me. "Ah, Akechi-san! Welcome!"
I looked around. "Seems as though a rabid mob swept through here."
Kyouko sighed. "It's always like that the day after a sutra concert. The youkai are the ones who leave the mess, mostly. I wish they'd be more respectful, but then, most youkai aren't good at that."
"Indeed. Youkai are manifestations of human fears and beliefs, after all. I doubt they'd be respectful at all at a religious temple, the one place they are supposedly forbidden from." I chuckled. "But this temple is run by youkai. How ironic."
Kyouko smiled and giggled. "I know right? And sister Byakuren is a good leader for all of us. Ever since last month, though, she's been acting differently. After she apologized to all of us that day, she's let us all have more freedom in how we seek and achieve enlightenment. I just do what I've always done, clean the grounds and practice my songs with Mystia and the others in my free time. I hope you'll come to our next concert!"
"When is that?" I asked.
"We'll be playing by the lakeshore on the last day of the month," she said. "We've been advertising where we can, but since I'm the only one who can usually go to the Village I'm the only one who can hand out flyers there, and I've just been so busy that I haven't had the time…"
I put my hand to my chest and bowed. "Well then, if you would like, I could do it for you."
Kyouko looked up and started wagging her tail. "Really?! You're a lifesaver!"
"It's not a big deal," I said. "I have lots of free time, so why not help others?"
"Thank you so much! I'll make it up to you!" She looked at the temple. "I'll give you the stack when you leave. I'm sure sister is waiting for you!"
"I'm certain she is," I said, smiling, as I went inside.
Inside, I happened upon Byakuren wrapping up a kung-fu class with some village children. "That'll be it for today," she said, clapping, and prompting the children to clap. "Ninose, I'll have your blue belt ready by your next lesson."
"Thank you master," the children said, bowing. Shou then appeared, and all the children followed her out and back down the hill.
She turned to me next. "Welcome back, Goro. It's been a little while since you last visited the temple."
"Well, I got stuck in traffic," I said. "But, it is good to be back."
"Indeed," she said, bowing. "I will go let the others know that you are here, then we can start the tea."
Soon, all of us were gathered around the tea table, and I received warm welcomes from the rest of Byakuren's crew.
"Welcome back, Akechi-san," Shou said.
I smiled. "Just call me Goro."
"Byakuren tells me you've been busy," Mamizou said. "'Course, she's been comin' and goin' a lot, too, often to see you." She peered over her glasses. "'Ye were here that day with a buncha other girls, including Red and Black, and now Byakuren's visitn' 'ye often. What are 'ye, some kinda lady-charmer, 'ye handsome devil you?"
I groaned. "No, I am not. But, one could be forgiven for thinking I was, since I was very popular with girls and women in Tokyo."
"That makes you a lady-charmer," Minamitsu cut in. "Even if you don't do it on purpose."
I chuckled. "Well, I suppose so."
I looked across the table, and saw Kokoro peeking her head out from behind Mamizou. Mamizou looked down at her, saying, "aw, c'mon! He ain't gonna bite 'ye!" The short, pink-haired girl slowly shuffled out from behind her, the mask on the side of her head resembling a fox, like the one Yusuke wore in the Metaverse, and settled in front of a tea cup. When I looked at her, she looked away in embarrassment, as indicated by the mask changing. She only turned back once I looked away.
"Is… she always like that?" I asked.
"I mean, yeah," Minamitsu shrugged. "She's always been quiet and shy, and she ain't around men a lot, so she doesn't know how to behave around them."
"I would imagine, I don't see any men living here," I said.
"There is Unzan, my cloud partner," Ichirin added.
"Your 'Cloud Partner?'"
"Uh-huh. I befriended him a long time ago, and we rarely go places without each other. He's pretty shy too, though. I think he's suspicious of you. But, I'm sure the more you come to visit, the more willing he'll be to show himself to you."
"I see." I sipped my tea. I glanced over at Kokoro, who was putting her cup down. "Still, I will say, Kokoro is quite cute."
Kokoro seized up, and her mask changed to a look of utter shock. "C-c-cute?!" She curled up and covered her face.
"Uh-oh, I think you broke her," Minamitsu said.
Kokoro trembled. "A…guy…called me c-c-c-cute! I…"
Mamizou patted her on the back. "There there, don't wig out on us." This helped Kokoro settle back down. "I forgot to mention, but a few years back she actually lost one of her masks, and started losin' control of 'er emotions 'cause of it. She's still working on stabilizin' her emotions, so, eh, might be best if you didn't do anything to shock her. Cleanin' that mess up took a while and nearly caused a religious war, and I'd rather not go through that again."
"A… a religious war? How did that come about?"
"Well, it's a long story," Mamizou said. "But I guess you'd prolly want to know, since it's still a pretty recent incident." She looked at Byakuren. "Mind if I tell this guy the story?"
Byakuren nodded. "I do not. I think he deserves to know about it, after all."
"Alright, cool. So basically, at some point, Kokoro lost her Mask of Hope. That caused her to act up and drain hope from everyone in the Village, so Reimu, Miko and Byakuren here led factions tryin' to sell their religion to the Villagers to restore their hope. Then we found her at night, and they tried all sorts of things to try cheerin' her up, but I quickly realized the nature of the problem and encouraged her to develop her own sense of self; that helped settle the incident pretty quickly. I then took 'er under my wing and we've been hangin' out here ever since."
"Fascinating," I said. "Was her missing mask ever found?"
Mamizou paused, thought for a moment, then said, "y'know, it's… strange. I feel like I knew how it disappeared at some point, but then forgot. Maybe I'm just gettin' old."
Byakuren shook her head. "No, I feel like something is 'off' myself. Ever since, well, that day, I've started having nagging thoughts that there are people I should know, that we should know, but I can't say who those people would be or if they even exist. I never had those thoughts before, it's so strange."
"Me too," Minamitsu said. "I feel like there's someone I should know, but then I wonder if I'm just goin' crazy. That didn't start happening until recently."
"How recently?" I asked her.
Minamitsu shrugged. "I mean, since that day when you were all here and Byakuren over here made that confession. It's like, I never thought about it before, then all of a sudden a nagging thought lodged in my head and now I can't shake it."
I looked down and thought. "Hmm… strange." Could this be a side-effect of Byakuren's change of heart? Had her distortion clouded their thinking, and now that it was gone they now realized something was wrong? Of course, we hadn't encountered and battled the shadows of everyone else, but I also knew it was possible for shadows to return to their real selves if those people resolved to overcome their weaknesses on their own. Byakuren's inspiring speech and resolve that day was likely enough to expel any distortion the others had, and now that they weren't distorted they were keen to something foul afoot. It lent further credence to the existence of a larger force at work, and made me wonder just how deep this cognitive conspiracy went.
I finished my tea. "If there's anything I can do to help you all jog your memory, I would be willing to help."
"Eh, I dunno if you actually could, but if you're bound and determined then by all means." She looked over to Kokoro, who was still quivering like a jumping bean. "C'mon, settle down, will 'ye?"
"A guy… cute… my heart is racing and… my face is hot and… I've never felt like this before!" She was flustered and stuttering, in a way betraying her poker face, as she tried but failed to register a tall, handsome young man calling her cute. I was beginning to wonder at this point if my inadvertent lady-charming itself was a supernatural power, like what many people here possessed.
After we finished, Byakuren invited me to partake in some more meditation. She took me out back, leaving the others inside, and we sat on the edge of the porch. In front of us was a reflecting pond, dotted with snow-covered rocks, and surrounded by fir trees draped in snow, the wind blowing flakes off and gently whipping them around in a glistening vortex. It was silent, with the only sound being the gentle breeze.
"This is very peaceful," I remarked.
"Thank you," Byakuren smiled. "We created this garden not long after the temple was established as a sanctuary where we could retreat to whenever we meditate, whenever hardships burden us, or just simply anytime we want to be outside and experience nature without venturing far from the temple." She smiled. "Of course, as of late the others have been empowered to venture out on their own spiritual journeys. Shou, for instance, has told me that she has recently been meditating on the summit of that mountain over there," she said, pointing at a tree-covered summit to the north of Youkai Mountain. More often than not, I'm the only one here for much of the day anymore. In fact, all but one time recently I have been with you all, there was no one else home at the time."
"Do you not have any other followers besides them?" I asked. "What about Villagers?"
"Oh, we do get plenty of visitors from the Village," she said. "You saw me teaching that class, after all, and we often get people seeking guidance. As far as those actively living at and training at the temple, however, it is just us, everyone you have seen. We're a temple of youkai, after all, and despite our vows we can't escape the suspicion of Villagers who think we're going to eat them, since that's what most youkai do, or would do if Reimu didn't keep them in check."
I thought for a moment, then asked, "I got an idea from your shadow why you chose to become a youkai: you had lost your entire family at a young age, and wanted to escape death. And you also explained that you didn't think youkai needed to be killed."
Byakuren held her head low. "Indeed. Of course, I didn't specifically wish to become a youkai, at least at first. I 'merely' dabbled in arcane, dark arts in an attempt to escape mortality. Because of how magic and beliefs work, however, if youkai were to be completely wiped out, that magic would have disappeared, too, so I put on the mask of a youkai hunter in order to retain the trust of fellow humans. While I did legitimately exterminate a few - mostly beast-youkai actively attacking helpless victims - for the most part I came to see the youkai for what they were: beings ostracized and demonized by humans, who had emotions, wants and aspirations just like them. Slowly but surely I came upon a realization: most of those humans were the real monsters, and sought genocide against the youkai. Human or youkai, I considered wanting to kill an entire race a reprehensible sin. I suppose that was what finally pushed me to turn myself into a youkai witch, as a sort of rebellion against them." She sighed. "Now, though, I realize the truth: those humans were scared, scared of the forces of the night which menaced them. Truly, a group of humans, or any beings for that matter, which are scared, have no hope, and feel they have nothing to lose, is more terrifying than any monster. That is why I seek to provide people with hope, to keep them from falling into that pit of despair in which they become easy prey for the Evil One."
"You mean Mara," I said.
"Yes, Mara. Mara is the embodiment of evil. A tempter, he seeks to lead people away from the path to enlightenment by appealing to their innate desires: violence. Greed. War. Carnal pleasures. Elitism. To think that I allowed myself to become bewitched by his temptations believing I never could…" She chuckled. "The power of Mara is truly terrifying to behold."
I nodded. I could relate; my weakness and loneliness had too twisted me into a hyper-violent and sadistic killer. Up until recently, I had simply resigned myself to that destiny, believing that it was my nature to be misanthropic and sociopathic. Now, though, I was heavily questioning those old beliefs. In an environment where my reasons to rage against the world didn't exist, and particularly after accepting my shadow and casting aside my old masks, I felt as though I was beginning to awaken to my true self: a determined, cold but charming and charismatic seeker of truth and justice, the very nature I had thought to be a mere facade.
"As a detective, of course, I saw all sorts of criminals. There were very few I could consider to be truly evil; unfortunately, evil or not, one must abide by the law, and pay the consequences if they choose to breach it. Even so, I have investigated many cases: thieves and drug dealers whose circumstances meant that those were the only ways for them to make money. People who joined gangs, such as the yakuza, so that they could have a 'family' to call their own, in the absence of a real, caring family. Prostitutes, most of whom, again, faced circumstances which forced them into selling their bodies in order to support themselves." I sighed. "But then, of course, there are those who seem to have been tempted by sin with no other real excuse, as you say. There is a difference between a murderer motivated by revenge, and those who kill to claim inheritances or insurance payouts, or jealous lovers seeking to cut out the hypotenuse. Certainly I had the least sympathy for those in positions of power, who abused their own power for their own gain. Corruption, in other words, and I have personally been involved in many cases involving corrupt government officials, and I had a personal mission to take down one in particular."
"Who?" Byakuren asked.
I paused, then continued. "His name is Masayoshi Shido. Once a relative nobody in the realm of Japanese politics, he rose to power in recent years, capitalizing on the disorder following the earthquake and tsunami, economic woes, and growing discontent and nationalism among the people. He sold lip service to the people, promising to lead Japan to a brighter future, and had the funding and protection to ensure no one got in his way. I, of course, knew the truth. He was a man who wanted little more than to twist Japan into a facist hellhole, and he ordered assassinations of people he didn't like. Furthermore, he was heavily involved in 'cognitive psience,' ways to manipulate the collective human unconscious so as to make the public perceive him as a god. The Metaverse, which we explore, is at the core of this research."
Byakuren looked surprised. "You mean, there were others who knew about this?"
"Many," I answered. "There are many shadowy organizations, operating with and without government support, who attempt to study the collective unconscious, the Metaverse. I am far from the first Persona user, or even among the first; after I first allied with the Phantom Thieves, I did my own research, and made the connections between past incidents and the Metaverse. There was one case in 2009 where a group of high school students in Iwatodai City fought against a force which threatened to trigger 'The Fall,' essentially killing all humans, and lost one of their members to do so. Another case in 2011 involved another group of students in the small mountain town of Inaba bringing down what they claimed to be Izanami herself. Ever since these incidents, there has been more interest in cognitive psience than ever. The biggest mystery, to me, was how these people gained access to the Metaverse in the first place; even the Phantom Thieves themselves were not entirely sure. It wasn't until recently that I finally received my answer: a strange man, and his attendants, in a place called the 'Velvet Room' invites 'guests' to go on quests."
"I see…" Byakuren thought for a moment. "A being who invites individuals into his domain and implores them to push their boundaries and venture into the Metaverse, and they may bring allies. But for what purpose would he do this?"
I shrugged. "I still do not know. It feels as though they simply enjoy observing humans, and he told me what I did with my powers was my own decision, but that he and his attendants would offer their assistance whatever path I chose to go down. In this case, I have chosen to solve the mystery of the fortresses, and of Ethos."
Byakuren smiled. "Then it would seem he chose his 'guest' well. I, of course, will aid you from this point onward. I fell under the spell of evil, and wish to destroy the force which bewitched me, now that my eyes are open and before it can victimize others."
"As do I," I nodded. "As a detective, I cannot allow evil to thrive. Not here, not out there either. It's the reason I chose to go after Shido. And even if I cannot see his comeuppance, I can at least take solace in knowing that we beat him in the end."
"Indeed." Byakuren looked up, and around at the garden. "Still, one cannot forget to pull away from the world every once in a while, find a sanctuary such as this one, and take time to focus on their thoughts. Either alone, or in this case, with a trusted friend."
"Of course not." I looked out at the pond, whose surface splashed and rippled from the snow clumps dropping onto it, pierced by the heat of the sun's rays and struck from the branches upon which they had previously sat. The two of us sat like this, for a long time, contemplating the world and our thoughts. One thought kept coming to me: that of Ren, the man who captivated me like no other human, with feelings of yearning, jealousy, admiration, hate and friendship bubbling up all at once. I strove to be a better man. I realized following his example was the best way to start on that path.
I wasn't the man that he was. But I knew, if I tried, perhaps I could be.
2/22
The morning passed by as usual, with customers coming and going through the store, and me helping out, organizing merchandise and cleaning. It was just after lunch, just as I was contemplating how to spend my afternoon, that the communicator buzzed.
autumnsky: Hello, 'Crow,' are you there?
pancakeman: I am. What's going on?
autumnsky: Remember how I said I'd figure out Megumu's drinking schedule? Well, I finally did. She's gonna be out drinking tonight. Are you available to come right away?
pancakeman: Absolutely. I've been waiting for this moment.
autumnsky: Awesome. I'll be by the gate to let you in.
I quickly got my gear together, including Nitori's hidden camera, and took off for Youkai Mountain. As I neared the mountain, Aya appeared in her 'work clothes,' a black-and-white costume with a pelvic curtain and thick, black pants and boots, and guided me past the other patrolling soldiers so that they would not try and attack. We arrived in Tengu City, and she told me to stay at her paper office until she was done with her shift.
Later that evening, as the sun started to go down, we picked our way through the busy streets until we arrived at what turned out to be a monjayaki restaurant. We went in, and Aya scanned the noisy restaurant for familiar faces.
"She's not here yet," she said. "Let's get a table that we can see the bar from but is still far away."
"What if she sees us?" I asked.
Aya looked down at the leaf-printed kimono she was wearing. "She's never seen me in these clothes, and I'm not wearing a tokin hat. For all she'll know, I'm just another generic customer."
"Ah, I see," I nodded. "Just another customer out on a date with her boyfriend."
"Yes, exactly-" and then she blushed and stammered, "WHA- i-i-idiot! What are you saying?"
Somehow, I had come to embrace the "harem anime" gag and was now using it to crack deadpan jokes at other people's expense.
"That's what it looks like, does it not?"
Aya froze in shock, before shaking her head. "Alright, whatever. Look, we're here for a reason, alright? Just, order something and look natural, alright?!"
I chuckled. "Well, ok." I went up to the bar and got each of us a sake dish, placed Nitori's hidden camera on the wall while the barmaid was filling them up, came back, then took time considering our ingredients while Aya kept watch. About five minutes later, just as I had made up my mind, she poked my shoulder.
"Here she comes," she whispered. I looked up, and saw a red-eyed woman in mostly blue clothes and a cape with pom-poms at the ends walk in with one other person. They seated themselves at the bar, and ordered a couple sake dishes.
I looked over my shoulder, seeing where they had sat down. "Perfect. They're right next to my hidden camera. It will record their conversation for us, and we can just enjoy monja. I'll pay, by the way."
"Sounds good," Aya said. Soon, our ingredients arrived, we cooked it, and simply enjoyed our food while making small talk, with Aya mostly relating funny workplace stories. The monja was also quite good.
We waited until Megumu left before paying our tab; again, I removed the camera while the barmaid was counting the cash. Once we left, I made a promise to call a meeting, and she agreed to be ready for it - as guard captain, she had a fair amount of leeway as to where she could go during the day so long as she was able to return to the mountain at a moment's notice to respond to threats, which she said were few and far between due to Sanae and Reimu responding to them before they even had a chance to intervene. Once I returned home, I got the communicator out and sent out a message.
pancakeman: We have recorded Megumu while she was out drinking. I'd like to call a meeting as soon as possible to go over the footage so that we can figure out her keyword.
seeingstars: Cool. How was the date?
autumnsky: IT WAS NOT A DATE!
aburaage: You sure about that? I can just see the Kakashi headline, "Special edition! Tengu reporter has a boyfriend!"
autumnsky: Shut up.
ghostmochi: Do we have any clues right now as to what it could be?
pancakeman: We weren't able to pay attention to her conversation. That's why I recorded her and want to go over the footage.
godlygeneral: I can let Alice-sama know that you want us to come do a meeting.
pancakeman: Excellent. Everyone who can come tomorrow, say aye.
seeingstars: Aye.
turbogranny: Aye.
ghostmochi: Aye.
aburaage: Aye.
turtlepower: Aye.
godlygeneral: Aye.
autumnsky: Er, ayaya.
pancakeman: Alright, see you all tomorrow. Goodnight.
pancakeman has logged out
The next morning, I discovered there were a few more messages after I logged out.
aburaage: Aya's got a boyfriend! Aya's got a boyfriend!
autumnsky: DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE!
seeingstars: Come on, you two, don't start a spell card duel over the chat.
turtlepower: I should probably force-stop.
turtlepower (admin) has ended the conversation
2/23
At Nitori's cave, we all gathered around a table she had set up in front of a projector screen.
"Any reason why we're doin' this in the real world?" Marisa asked.
"Two reasons," I explained. "One, Aya doesn't have a Persona still, so she can't join us in the Hall of the Daybreakers. Second, we're trying to find a keyword, which our keys wouldn't show if we were already in a Metaverse realm."
Aya looked around. "So THIS is what the inside of a kappa's cave looks like… honestly, it must have been ages since a tengu last entered a kappa's home."
"That doesn't matter right now," Nitori said. "We have to watch this video and figure out what Megumu's keyword is." She turned on the video screen, and we all turned to face it. It started just after I had turned the camera on; Nitori skipped ahead until it got to the part where Megumu had sat down at the bar with her companion, who Aya said was the daitengu of the crow tengu, her immediate boss.
"I'll take two sakes," Megumu said to the barmaid. She turned to her friend and stretched. "Mmm-hmm! Nothing beats booze after a hard day's work!"
"Indeed," the other woman said, "but you say that so bluntly. What if one of our subordinates was here watching you say things like that?"
"Oh, loosen up, Hanae. Don't forget who gave you the job after I got promoted," Megumu said. The two received their sake dishes, and began slurping away. "Besides, however you look at it, I'm basically the boss of Youkai Mountain. Sure, there's Tenma, and I serve their will, at least in theory, but in practice I'm the one who does the heavy lifting around here. Keeping Youkai Mountain under the control of the Tengu isn't an easy job, after all. You gotta make sure everyone knows their place, including all the other Tengu and those clowns at the summit who think they rule everything."
Hanae took a sip. "Even so, don't you ever fear that there could be a revolt?"
"A revolt? Here?" Megumu laughed. "C'mon, I was the one who proposed the whole caste system thing in the first place. Before that, it was every man and woman for themselves. Whoever ruled the mountain was the one who had the bigger stick, and the Tengu spent more time painting the cliff sides with each others' blood than they did antagonizing humans and gaining power. I helped put a society in place, and in society, there are rules. Not many youkai understand that concept, hence the caste system, which forces everyone into an orderly place so that no one resorts to bigger-stick 'diplomacy.' Everyone on Youkai Mountain has their place, consolidated under the Tengu's rule, as the mountains are our domain. It's like an organization or company inside one of those Outside-world 'skyscrapers': the Mountain is a city, and-"
We paused the video when my key, which I left on the table so it could react to the keyword, glowed with the word "skyscraper."
"Hold it a moment," Youmu said. "It seems like she sees Tengu City as a 'skyscraper…' What is that?"
"A very tall building, usually found in large Outside cities, so tall that they seem like they scrape the sky," I explained. "Business and corporations are usually based in them, including many of the world's largest. And Iizunamaru here appears to see Tengu society as one such corporation based within one such skyscraper…"
"Ghhh…" Aya grimace.
Nitori resumed the video. "-the Mountain is a city, and our city is the place, the command center, from which it's controlled. Only if we are structured and disciplined can the feral idiots who run amok on the rocky slopes and through the waterfalls be tamed." She slurped the rest of her sake in one gulp. "Does that make any sense? It should, since you have the job now."
Hanae nodded. "Yes, Iizunamaru-sama."
"Good," Megumu smiled. "Now, again, congratulations on the promotion. Those don't come often, after all. Only the best get moved up in our society."
Nitori stopped the tape, and Aya hit the table in rage. "'Only the best?' Don't make me laugh. Hanae is a quarter my age, and she gets the promotion over me! This isn't a caste system! This isn't an honor system! This is all just one big fucking excuse to elevate whoever the hell they want and suppress everyone else!"
"Calm down, Aya," Byakuren said. "Save your anger and channel it into the energy you need to take her on."
"She's right," I said. "What we need to do now is infiltrate the Fortress and get an idea of who and what it is we are dealing with. Now that we have all the keywords, we'll need to travel to Tengu City, utter them, and enter the Fortress."
Aya looked perplexed. "A large group like this? Guards absolutely swarm the mountain. They'd attack all of you at once, especially since the group contains a kappa."
I thought about what Aya said, then sighed. "Hum… I had not considered that. Even if we did get past the guards, one of them would surely let Iizunamaru know, and that would affect the security level. And we have to get within range of the city, or else the keywords would not work. Youmu, you recall how Yuyuko's distortion was very weak at the head of the path due to its distance from the center? If we can't get sufficiently close to the city, we can't infiltrate it, even with the keywords."
We sat there, in silence, wondering what to do next to get to this highly guarded target.
"...what about underground?" Aya suggested.
We looked up. "...underground?" I wondered.
"There's a bathhouse in town that's powered by one of the Geyser Center boilers. If we got there, then your keywords would work. After all, we don't have to be above ground for them to work, do we?"
I rubbed my chin, then smiled. "I had not thought of that before. Excellent nonlinear thinking, Aya."
"It's a controlled area, though, for obvious reasons," Nitori said. "We'd have to get permission from two sources: Kanako Yasaka, one of the two mountain goddesses, and Utsuho Reiuji, the one who actually maintains the whole system."
"How do we make sure they don't suspect we're up to something?" I asked.
"Those two themselves aren't a huge problem," Reimu said. "If I just tell them it's incident-resolving business they'll let us in; Utsuho's a birdbrain, and Kanako likely wouldn't give a damn. The real challenge will be Utsuho's keeper, Satori Komeiji."
"A telepath, I'm assuming?" With a name like Satori, it couldn't have been more blatant.
"Yup," Marisa said. "Other people can suspect we're up to something, but she can outright read our minds and find out that we're the Day Breakers. If it's any consolation, though, she doesn't often leave her mansion, and she's not involved in the Geyser Center's operation, so we don't have to directly deal with her. We just need to be careful not to encounter her."
"My special camouflaged telekill cloaks will help us slip past undetected," Nitori added.
"I see," I thought. I realized I also faced a personal threat: she might be able to see or guess my past as Black Mask. However, that was almost a tertiary concern at this point: I had to focus on the mission, otherwise I would be stuck thinking about how a telepath could see my past, which she would if it were actively on my mind. "Then, tomorrow, we should focus on getting this permission. Starting with Kanako, then getting it from Utsuho as well."
"Sounds good," Reimu said. "Me and Marisa can accompany you to both. You're still a rookie when it comes to spell cards, and I still don't want you going Underground unsupervised. A lot of dangerous things live down there."
"Understood," I nodded. "Now then, unless anyone has anything else, this meeting is adjourned." After a few moments, we all got up and went our separate ways. I went straight back to the shop, worked for a couple more hours and helped make dinner before heading to bed.
