Chapter 7: Claret Clash
|Theio Kosmos – Totsuka - Yorokobi Boulevard|16:49 pm|
Fortunately, the group appeared to have avoided drawing the eye of any Shadows. With haste, however, they started to leave the area, walking through the deserted streets. Outside of the mall, the environment didn't seem too different, yet there was no traffic, only parked cars.
Before long, the trio had reached Yorokobi Boulevard, named after a historic clock tower that could be seen in the distance. Normally, it was a vibrant building, that lit up at night, yet here it was a dark, grim looking building with an eerie lilac clockface. Usually, the golden seconds hand would be moving, but the time appeared to have frozen at 4:44 pm – not exactly a lucky time.
"Creepy..." Kei said. "That clock usually works in the normal world, right?"
"Yes, it's always well maintained. I've never seen it quite like this before. Is it just me, or does it look a little slanted?" Kohaku asked.
"Now that you mention it – oh, god. Shadows!" Shintaro said, checking the Gnosis.
As the phone displayed, two Shadows were nearby, looking for blood. A pair of Pixies, both eager to play. Their targets did not care for fun and games, however.
"Go! Ostara!" Kei shouted.
"Airmid, protect us!" Kohaku chanted.
"Be brave, Ogma!" Shintaro cheered.
The first Pixie was dispatched, vanishing in a mass of dark blood. The second one, however, had been struck down – and was looking up at Kei, pleadingly.
"Wait!" She begged. "You're not like all the others! So I'm gonna be nice for once and let you in on something! You have the power to use more than one Persona!"
"What?" Kohaku asked.
"Is this what Nisa Liat meant?" Shintaro asked.
"I can use other Personas than Ostara?" Kei asked.
"Not just me! Tons of us!" Pixie said. "Even though you're new, there are tons of Shadows around here. If you can persuade us, we can become another part of you a Persona! Some of us are harder to negotiate with than others, but you learn by doing."
"I see. Then will you please join me? I want to see how this works." Kei said. "I'll take good care of you, I promise."
"Yay! I'm so happy! Well, I guess you kinda already know, since my name shows up in your phone and all, but I'm Pixie. Let's play for a while! It'll be fun, I promise! Teehee!" She giggled, hand over her mouth, then vanished in a burst of blue smoke. In her place was a card, and on the front side was a picture of her in front of the image of the 'Lovers' Arcana.
"I wasn't expecting this," Kei said. She moved to take the card, but instead, it flew straight into her Gnosis. "What?"
"Whoa! How did it do that?" Shintaro asked.
Kei showed her Gnosis to everyone, and in a bright blue textbox, another App appeared.
Well done, Kei Kakusa. Your potential is unlike your teammates. Ostara is not the only Persona at your disposal. The Pixie you've obtained will be yet another mask for you to wear during battles. This is the Wild Card power, an ability to wear hundreds of possible different masks, whether they be violent demons or merciful goddesses.
Kei can use more than one Persona? And Kohaku and I can't? That's a little disappointing.
"So it's for real, then. I can something different inside of me..." Kei said, hand over her heart. "It's different from Ostara. It's amazing."
"Ostara and Pixie...incredible!" Shintaro said.
"I wouldn't call them incredible just yet." Kei said. "Still, it's a lot to take in."
"Kei, are you alright?" Kohaku asked. "This Wild Card power isn't dangerous to your health, is it?"
"I don't think so," Kei said. "On the contrary, being able to use a Persona at all indicates a strong will. At least, that's how I see it. I'm not sure why I'd have this Wild Card thing while you two don't, though..."
"Either way, it'll give us a decisive edge in battle," Shintaro said, enthusiastically. "So let's keep going. I want to see this Wild Card power in action."
"Very well. I'll be relying on both of you as well." Kei said, smiling.
The trio made their way down the road. It was quite odd to see the streets bereft of civilians and vehicles. To be able to just walk on the road like this was an experience Shintaro never imagined. Of course, neither did he expect to have the power to conjure a Celtic deity.
The Shadows they faced on the way to the clock tower were similar to ones already fought, but there were several new faces, namely Agathion (Magician), Strigoii (Death), Sudama (Temperance), and Kabuso (Hermit). Fighting them was difficult at first, without knowing exactly what they were capable of. Yet Kei seemed able to talk each one down once they had been weakened, and persuaded them to become part of her.
"My stock is full already..." Kei said, scrutinizing her phone. "It says I can only hold up to six for the time being."
"That's still more than I have." Kohaku said, impressed.
"Yeah!" Shintaro said. "Although, I'm still struggling to figure out what these Shadows are..."
"If they can become a Persona, they might be linked to human thoughts and feelings." Kohaku said. "I wish we could study them in more detail, though."
"What, like dissect them in Science?" Kei asked, grinning. "It'd be very fascinating to find out what their internal organs looked like. Let's go for it!"
"Uh, let's not!" Kohaku said, squeamish. "What do you want to do now?"
"I'm feeling good to go on for a bit longer." Shintaro said. "Let's go check out the clock tower, then we'll go."
The group continued on their way to the clock tower, keeping vigilant of Shadows.
|Wakui Road|17:23 pm|
On the street just before Yorokobi, however, another group had been waylaid by hordes of Shadows. With effort, they had managed to clear through most of them – and the group's leader, a vicious girl fond of knives, had just landed the finishing blow on the last Shadow.
"You beat me without a real Persona. That's so pathetic..." A Melchom uttered weakly, dying from its wounds.
"Dammit, these Shadows! Why'd you have to get in our way?" The girl with the knives said, grimacing. "Those damn kids just keep eluding us."
"How do you even know what that word means?" The more refined boy, who used a spear in battle, asked, with a smirk.
"Oh, fuck you! Don't forget that they put me in charge of you two." The girl said. "Damn. If only we were like the Princess and her eight Disciples."
"Yeah, well, we ain't." The thuggish boy said. "But y'know, the Personas we got aren't bad."
"You got a point...for once." The girl said. "After all, I wouldn't have been able to get rid of the old man without Moh Shuvuu."
"But if those three from Kansei have genuine Personas, are we even going to be able to fight them on an even playing field?" The refined boy said, concerned.
"It won't be easy..." The girl said, frowning. "But they've only fought weaklings so far. We've had some proper combat training. We'll take them on, report back to the Princess, and then we can grab a drink to celebrate."
"Sounds good to me." The brute said. "Let's go hunting them down! Our first big job as the Claret Squad!"
The three youths made their way, following the same route their adversaries had – with a bloodlust that even the Shadows hadn't yet matched.
|Yorokobi Clock Tower|17:34 pm|
"Hey, look at this!" Shintaro said, pointing at the tower's entrance. It was another QR code, almost camouflaged within the dark purplish wooden doors.
"Hmm." Kohaku said. She scanned it and waited for the result. "Looks like we've added another destination to our list. I can transmit the data to all the Gnosis in my contact list, it says..."
"Did you add either of us to that list?" Kei asked.
"I don't remember doing so, but...it's alreadu got your names here." Kohaku said. She tapped the screen, and the data appeared on both addresses.
"So if we come near this clock tower, we can go back and forth between the Kosmos?" Shintaro asked.
"Probably," Kei said. "But I wonder how many of these codes there are in this city..."
"Wonder if we can teleport between each one, too." Kohaku asked. "Wait, hang on – look at this?"
Now that you have two destinations saved, you'll be able to go to any saved location by going to the specified Warp Sphere. For 'Bella Donna Shopping Centre', this will be the centre of the ground floor. For 'Yorokobi Clock Tower', this will be the entrance to the tower itself. This will allow you to travel throughout Shinshuto City much faster via the Theio Kosmos. However, some destinations will not be accessible until you grow in strength.
"Interesting," Kei said. "Let's test this right now. Are we ready?"
"Yeah!" Shintaro said.
"Let's go!" Kohaku said.
Within moments, the three of them were gone, having been taken straight back to the mall.
|Bella Donna Shopping Centre|17:36 pm|
"Wow..." Shintaro said. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now, but that...worked."
"Then, if we can travel between destinations, and go back and forth between the Kosmos, then...we can save a fortune on public transport!" Kohaku said, excitedly.
Kei paused. "That's your reaction to being able to warp all over the city?"
"This is incredible!" Shintaro said. "Just think about it. In seconds, we can go from Totsuka, to either Mizuho, Ginumi, Tarumi, Asakita or Hiyashi!
"Would certainly help me get back to the dorm before curfew." Kei said, slyly.
"By the way, Kei," Kohaku said. "What made you choose Kansei High, out of all the schools in the city?"
"Well, there weren't any open places at Chieki Academy. The other schools in this city aren't quite as well-known. And to be honest, Kansei sounded better to me. The location..." Kei said. "Above all, it allowed me to meet you two."
"Steady on, Kei, we've known each other for two days." Shintaro said, laughing.
"I know, I know." Kei said. "But I think we're friends already, right? It's comforting to have you two beside me. Akari too, obviously. She's...a lot of fun."
"Just think, had she not gone to the bathroom, she would have ended up in this world too..." Shintaro said.
"Perhaps that was a blessing in disguise," Kei said. "After all, fighting these Shadows isn't exactly easy, especially for us. Akari's a sweet girl, but I'm not sure if she's cut out for combat."
"She's tougher than you think," Kohaku said. "Her parents refused to let her have any pets for a long time. But she convinced them that she would be perfect with a dog. And look at her now. That dog loves her. And Akari loves Akiko more than anything else."
"Do you two have many other friends at Kansei?" Kei asked, curious.
"Well, there are a few other girls at school I get along with, and some of the guys in the music club." Kohaku said.
"Apart from Kohaku, just a few of the people that I see in the library," Shintaro said, awkwardly. "I'm not really a social type...not after what happened in junior high."
"...I see." Kei said. "That Masato boy - no, I shouldn't ask."
"It's nothing against you, Kei." Shintaro said. "But what Masato did is unforgivable. Let's leave it there."
"It's not easy to let go of the past..." Kei said, looking down. "I'm still...struggling with that myself."
"Junior high was years ago. Now that we're in high school, we're going to do our best to move on. We'll go to college. We'll graduate, find work, whatever we want to do." Kohaku said.
"There's no point thinking about the past. For now, let's warp back to the Clock Tower." Shintaro said, Gnosis in his hand. "Ready?"
"Ready!" Kohaku and Kei said. With one tap of his finger, the three were spirited away to the eerie tower...
|Yorokobi Clock Tower|17:39 pm|
"Huh?" Shintaro said, to his surprise. There, with their arms crossed, were three rather nasty looking teenagers. Two girls, and one boy. "Whoa! Who the hell are you guys?!"
Kohaku, uncertain, looked at all three of them. "They're definitely humans, but I'm guessing they're not here to make friends."
"Look at that badge on their jackets." Kei said, pointing at the leader's outfit. "It's the Bythos logo. A badge of dishonour, if there ever was one."
The girl chuckled, motioning for her two male comrades to settle down.
"That's cute, lady. You can call me Hisaya. These are Fumihiro and Ryosei." She pointed to the boy with the shaved head, and the more groomed boy respectively.
"Okay, so what exactly do you want with us?" Shintaro asked, warily. Right away, he knew these three were trouble. The one called Fumihiro sent shivers down his spine. He looked just like of the jock boys that Masato had sided with during middle school. Except this fellow seemed far more unhinged.
"We saw you going into the Theio Kosmos in Bella Donna." Ryosei said. "You don't even get it, do you? The Gnosis has a special cloaking function that distorts and 'corrects' the vision of any normal fool that would be looking at you. To put it simply, it lets us warp between places without drawing attention to ourselves."
"Yup. But see, when you have a Gnosis yourself, you can look past that function and see what's actually going on." Fumihiro said. "We were trying to follow you, but... there are more Shadows here tonight than we thought."
"Doesn't matter. You were stupid enough to come back here..." Hisaya said. "Let me get to the point. You're obviously new to this whole thing. But you three aren't like us."
"Thank god." Kohaku said, leering at the Bythos girl.
Why are you so cavalier about this?! These three might kill us!
"Fucking hilarious..." Hisaya said. "But I wasn't done yet." She held up her red Gnosis, to the surprise of the others. "Not everyone can use a Persona. Why, we dunno. These things come preloaded with a Persona, meaning we get to use the same power in the end."
"So an artificial Persona ability?" Kei said. "Are all of Bythos equipped with it?"
"Most of us," Ryosei said. "But the Princess, of course, has the real deal. Not to mention the nine Aeon Administrators."
"...Nine?" Shintaro asked. And all of these have a real Persona ability? Can we even take them on?
"Yup, I can actually count, just like you geeks. They make us do most of the dirty work. Biding their time for the important stuff." Fumihiro said.
"Here's the deal. You come with us, meet the Princess and the Admins, join Bythos and we get to take over the city." Hisaya said. "You refuse, we kill you here and now."
"Oh, such a tempting offer!" Kei said, disgusted. "You think you can kill us, with your weak powers? Keep that up, you're going to be a stain on my sword."
Hisaya cracked up with laughter, unfazed. "Ah, a badass! Too bad for you two stuck with her. You got a name, girl?"
"I don't introduce myself to those I don't respect," Kei said, angry. Instead, she produced her katana. "You're history!"
"Whoa! We're fighting?" Kohaku said, looking at Shintaro. Gulping, he withdrew his own sword, while Kohaku summoned her own weapon, hesitant.
"Hisaya! What do we know of their Personas?" Ryosei asked, his spear in hand.
"I dunno!" Hisaya said. "But we'll take them down. Go! Moh Shuvuu!"
Shintaro gasped. Surrounding Hisaya was a red burst of smoke, much like the blue kind that appeared when he used Ogma. Appearing from her Gnosis was a girl, dressed in warm red clothes, with a sly smile – and her hair and head seemed to be evocative of a bird. Of course, her name literally meant 'Evil Bird'. Moh Shuvuu twirled and hit Shintaro with Bufu.
"Ow..." Shintaro said. But there was no time to recover – Hisaya was dashing at him, her sharp knives at the ready. Unwilling to let her get at him, he blocked with his rapier. One wrong move and he could be torn to shreds. "What would you people have to gain by fighting for Bythos?"
"What, you trying to get inside my head now? Or you want me to turn myself in to the police station? 'I'm sorry for everything I've done, go put me in jail!' Go fuck yourself. I ain't giving you my life story." Hisaya said.
"Nor would I ever give you mine." Shintaro said. "But you can have this instead. Garu!"
A gust of wind blew Hisaya further back. Frustrated, she began clashing blades with Shintaro. No longer panicking, he was starting to figure out a rhythm to her attacks. Although he was hardly enjoying this confrontation, he could at least find pride in his proficiency.
"Good job!" Kohaku said. Fumihiro had taken up a fighting stance, however, and managed to punch her across the face. "Hey! What's your problem, pal?"
"My problem?" Fumihiro said. "I fucking hate it when people ask me that – damn!" His rambling had been cut short – literally – by Kohaku's naginata. "That's better! You're not as girly as you look, but I'll beat up anyone who gets in my way. Go, Lham Dearg!"
Kohaku stood back, apprehensively. This ghostly Scottish warrior had blood dripping from his arms, and while he was equipped with a large sword and shield, he had several other weapons and arrows impaled in his torso.
With a stony expression, Lham Dearg took up his sword, and tried to Cleave Kohaku. Crying out in pain, she panicked, and checked herself for blood or wounds. Thankfully, however, having a Persona had made her more resilient to such pain.
"Ugh..." Kohaku said. "You don't want to talk? I don't think I want to hear what you've got to say, anyway. Magna!"
Airmid, while looking dainty in the presence of Lham Dearg, did not falter. Instead, she struck his master with the power of the earth.
"Bitch! That...that fucking hurt!" Fumihiro said. "Guess your Persona's the real deal..."
"They're in over their heads, you neanderthal. We can still apprehend them. Vodyanik, come forth!" Ryosei cried. This deity was a scaly bald blue-skinned being, with a big nose and a green shell, bearing a long tail.
Bracing herself, Kei summoned Ostara, and at once, each Persona launched into their attacks. While Ostara pulled off a Petal Step, Vodyanik's Scratch was simple, yet effective.
"Ah!" Kei cried.
"Argh!" Ryosei said. "That was a decent move, miss."
"You don't seem as vicious as your allies..." Kei said, looking at the other two in the midst of combat.
"You think so? Eat this!" Ryosei lunged forward with his spear – prompting Kei to roll to his side, and slash him through.
"I don't want anything to do with Bythos. I can't trust them!" Kei said, angry. "Why do you?"
"Oh..." Ryosei said, with an air of self-importance. "I can't stand the way society is these days. The way we young people have to give up everything for a bunch of old folks. All I want is for everything to be broken down, so we can start all over again."
"That's seriously your outlook?" Shintaro asked.
"That's so simplistic!" Kohaku said, dismayed.
"Shut up!" Hisaya snapped. Moh Shuvuu cast another Bufu, this time on Kohaku. It didn't seem like either of the six people currently engaged in battle had a wide variety of skills, Shintaro mused. At this point, he only seemed to have Garu and Blade Strike. That would soon change, he hoped.
"Get him!" Shintaro cried. Ogma, a noble warrior, carved his path through Hisaya, causing her to scream with rage. Trying to attack Kei, her wild flurry of strikes hit her painfully. Shintaro tried to counter, but he was attacked by Lham Dearg's sword.
"That's the thing about fighting. You don't get good by reading about it." Fumihiro said, laughing wickedly.
"At least I can read." Shintaro said, angrily. "You're just like those bastards from years ago...but this time, I can fight back!"
With great force, he pierced Fumihiro with his own sword. While the boy's punches were strong, Shintaro held on as hard as he could. He wasn't about to lose. Not now.
"Die already!" Ryosei yelled. He and Kei were locked in battle, his spear and her sword clashing. Sparks were flying, brighter than one would expect. Then, all of a sudden, he summoned Vodyanik, who blasted Kei away with Aqua.
"Dammit..." Kei said, struggling to keep up. With lightning-quick taps on her screen, her Persona changed to Agathion, a familiar trapped in a jar. "Zio!"
A jolt of electricity struck Ryosei, causing him to scream in pain and fall to his knees. Kei did not waste this chance – she struck him with her blade, not leaving him a chance to counter.
"No way!" Fumihiro shouted, ducking under Kohaku's naginata. "You...you can use the Wild Card too?"
"Too?!" Shintaro said.
"Damn, this girl's more dangerous than I thought..." Hisaya said. "We can't let her get away!"
"Shintaro, are you alright?" Kohaku said, anxious. Shintaro was about to nod, despite the pain, but yet Airmid arrived to heal him with Dia. At the same time, however, Hisaya used a Dia on Fumihiro.
"Sweet!" Fumihiro said.
"I'll end it!" Ryosei cheered, stabbing at Kohaku. However, using her naginata, she leapt over him and hit him from behind. "Argh!"
"Nice!" Shintaro said, high-fiving Kohaku. "Ogma!"
A powerful Blade Strike hit Ryosei, much to his agony. With Vodyanik, he hit Shintaro with an Aqua – but right then and there, Kei's Zio stopped him in his tracks.
"Argh...I can't..." Ryosei said, dropping to the ground. His Gnosis fell to the ground, the screen cracking. Vodyanik briefly appeared, only to vanish in a puff of red smoke. "Shit..."
"That's just fucking great!" Hisaya screamed. "Not that we needed you anyway. I'll kill you right now!"
Without anything held back, she swung at Kei, desperately trying to cut her to shreds. At the same time, Fumihiro headbutted Shintaro, and dodged a Magna from Airmid. Laughing, he and Lham Dearg launched a fierce Cleave on Shintaro.
You don't have any other moves? No brains at all. Sure hurts like hell, though.
"You ain't taking me down that easy!" Fumihiro said. "Kids like you piss me off. I can't stand having to act like someone I'm not. Especially around teachers. Damn, I nearly killed my last one...wish I'd finished him off."
"Killed...?" Kohaku said.
"The police got there earlier than I expected..." Fumihiro said, chuckling. "They were all upset when I tried to resist arrest. Man, the amount of blood in the teacher's lounge! Best day of school I ever had!"
"You're a monster!" Shintaro said, seething. "How can you take pleasure in beating people that way?"
"It's easy...I don't take crap from anybody." Fumihiro said. "I don't have to rely on anyone else anymore. My family disowned me anyway. I'll kill you two right now!"
"No you won't!" Kohaku said. "Shintaro!"
"I got you!" Shintaro said. Airmid and Ogma appeared at the same time. Apprehensively, Fumihiro braced himself, with Lham Dearg readied his claymore. Airmid, with her incantation, summoned a large rock from the ground. Ogma, conducting the winds with his sword as if it were a baton, sent them forth around the stone, which began to break apart and empower the gale.
"Earthern Wind!"
"Shit!" Fumihiro said. Lham Dearg charged through, but unable to take the barrage of wind and stone that was surging through the area, he burst into red smoke, nothing remaining of the ghost warrior of the Highlands. Fumihiro fell to his knees, punching the ground in agony, as his own phone's screen broke. "No...you were supposed to be tough...but you're just trash...!"
"How the hell did you lose to those newbies?!" Hisaya cried in disbelief. "Why do I have to carry you? The smart one lost, the dumb one lost...I guess I'm the only one worthy of being in Bythos here. Moh Shuvuu! Let's finish this! Mabufu!"
The ghost bird smiled, twirling around, and send her icy chill at all three of her targets. It hurt quite a bit, at least for Shintaro, but he noticed something else. Hisaya seemed to be running low on energy. In moments, this fight would be over.
Kei, preparing herself, ran forward, swinging her blade – without mindless rage, but with clear, tranquil purpose.
"Go to hell!" Hisaya shrieked. She leapt out of the way of Ogma's sword, and narrowly avoided a Magna from Airmid. However, one of Kei's Personas had just what she needed to finish the job.
"Pixie!"
Changing to the red-haired fairy, Kei aimed a fiery Agi. The red hot fire stopped Hisaya's rampage, causing her to drop her knives and her Gnosis. The screen had broken, and the back cover had done so as well.
Wait a minute. There's nothing inside there. No battery, no SIM or microSD card slot. Is this phone made out of dark matter or something?
"No!" Hisaya cried, hastily grabbing her wrecked phone. Moh Shuvuu had vanished, just as the Personas of her allies had done. With her knives across the road, she had no means of offence left. "H-How?! You've only had a Persona for two days! We...we should have wiped the floor with you!"
"It's not that hard to figure out. Your fake Persona simply wasn't enough." Shintaro said. "Not if you want to impress these Admin friends of yours."
"Fuck this shit. Let's just get out of here!" Fumihiro said, anxiously. "We ain't got a chance with our Personas gone!"
"He's right." Ryosei said. "We'll have to make our report...that we ran into unexpected difficulties."
"You stupid bitches are going to pay for what you did to us tonight! Remember that!" Hisaya said, snarling. "As for you, you stupid geek...I'll make sure you bleed extra slowly!"
Hurriedly, the three of them used their damaged, but still operational, Gnosis to disappear, to an unknown location. Shintaro, panting for breath, glanced at both of his comrades, and dismissed his weapon.
"Phew..." Kohaku said. "For a moment, I thought we were done for..."
"Please. Did you think those three were worthy opponents?" Kei asked.
"You weren't scared?" Shintaro asked. "Those three...they were rotten to the core. How could they be so blind as to support Bythos?"
"Who knows?" Kohaku asked. "They're disaffected kids who can't trust authority, so they side with Bythos. Gives them more footsoldiers to throw at us."
"Now we know a little more about their structure. At the top is obviously Nisa Liat, or the Pleroma Princess. What sort of powers she can use, we don't know just yet. Directly below her are the eight Aeon Administrators. But we don't know any of their names, just that they have a genuine Persona like ours. Beneath all of them are their soldiers, the ones with a fake Persona assigned to them." Kei said.
"How many Bythos soldiers could there be?" Kohaku asked. "I hope none of them go to our school..."
"That's something we'll need to be careful of," Kei said. Serious, she looked at her two friends. "And be aware we can't discuss this openly at school. If we must talk about it, we should make sure we're not surrounded by people. The less Bythos know about us, the better."
"You've got a point, but...Nisa Liat spoke to us as if we were friends." Shintaro said, shuddering.
"It's creepy...when did we ever meet her?" Kohaku asked. "What happened to her that made her create a group like Bythos?"
"...More than anything, I want to know, too." Kei said, seriously.
With nothing to be gained from standing in front of the clock tower, the three of them returned to the regular Kosmos, appearing directly in front of it in the normal world.
|Bella Donna Shopping Centre|18:24 pm|
Kei, Kohaku and Shintaro were exhausted from the fierce battle. Having arrived in the centre of the mall again, they saw a pair of middle-aged women walk straight by them, without even batting an eyelid.
"Wow. Right up close and they still don't even notice." Kohaku said.
"Whoever created these things thought of everything." Shintaro, stroking his chin and deep in thought, pulled out his phone. It seemed to have kept a record of all the Shadows he had defeated that day, and had recorded data for the following:
Name: Hisaya Ueda, Persona: Moh Shuvuu
Name: Fumihiro Nishimura, Persona: Lham Dearg
Name: Ryosei Mizushima, Persona: Vodyanik
"The Gnosis knows their full names. Wonder if we could find out anything else by looking them up?" Shintaro asked.
"If our Gnosis could gain their full names, what if theirs could know ours?" Kohaku said, worried. "They could come after us in this Kosmos!"
"I'm not so sure about that. After all, it's not possible to summon a Persona in the Akarharto Kosmos. I checked last night, just to be sure, but nothing." Kei said. "They'd have a difficult job getting rid of us without being noticed."
"True...the Gnosis makes it convenient for them to do whatever the hell they're ordered to do." Shintaro said. "We can't track their exact locations via this phone, so they won't be able to pinpoint ours."
"Even so, I'm worried. What if we run into them here?" Kohaku asked.
"Try not to panic. They're not going to blow their cover that easily. Neither of them goes to Kansei, remember? In fact, I'd be surprised if Fumihiro or Hisaya attend any school. Ryosei might, not that I expect him to excel in his studies. Not if Bythos is his idea of an after school club." Kei said.
"Only your second day of school and we've already made some mortal enemies." Shintaro said, amused.
"I never had this trouble in Yokohama, that's for sure," Kei said, grinning. "Which reminds me. There's some great places where you can get cheesecake. If only I could take you two and Akari there sometime."
"Ooh, I love cheesecake!" Kohaku said, happily. "Don't worry. I know a great cafe in Hiyashi with all kinds of cake. It'll be just like home!"
"Sounds good," Kei said. "While we're here, we could get some rice bowls. I'm kind of hungry after today."
The three of them started to head towards the stairs, but to Shintaro's fright, he saw the red-haired boy he had come across earlier that day. Masato, with his sister and older brother.
"It's them again," Kei said. "Should we go somewhere else, Shintaro-kun?"
"No. I'm staying right here," Shintaro said. "After today, I've decided. I can't run from battles, whether with swords or with my mind. If I can handle the likes of Fumihiro Nishimura, then Masato Yoshinaga won't faze me."
The three of them continued to approach the stairs. Masato, upon seeing Shintaro, became flustered and looked away, hesitant to come any closer. For the brief moment their eyes met, Shintaro's flared up with the same rage they had back then. Natsumi seemed similarily reluctant. Hideki, sighing, looked at both of his siblings, but waved warmly at his three students. While Kei waved back, and returned a smile, the other two kept walking straight ahead – yet Kohaku turned around, and her eyes met Natsumi's.
"Natsumi-chan..." Kohaku started to say. She managed an awkward, but earnest smile. Yet she heard Shintaro calling her, and ran off with Kei.
|Bella Donna Shopping Centre – Car Park|18:26 pm|
While Kei and her two new friends had gone to the food court, the three they had passed by were making their way to a flashy new silver car. This belonged to Hideki Yoshinaga, a young but gifted teacher, who was keen to build a rapport with his students.
"You two alright?" Hideki said, with his twin siblings at either side.
"I...um...not really..." Natsumi said, tears streaming down her eyes.
"Hey, don't cry, Natsumi-chan." Hideki said. "Junior High was a bad time for everybody. Mum still talks about the shame she felt back then. She screamed down that phone so hard, I think she blew up the principal's eardrum."
"I...just...I didn't think I'd see them again." Natsumi said. "I...I wish I could just say hi, like old times, and then Kohaku and I could go pick out some new clothes...but that's never going to happen again, is it?"
"Listen, sis..." Hideki said, ruffling her hair. "You two fell in with the wrong crowd. I did the same thing myself. More than once, actually. Had to straighten myself out after high school, big time."
"But you had it a lot easier! I almost got expelled!" Masato said, downcast. "All because I wanted to hang out with the baseball gang..."
"But you weren't expelled, Masato. Mother made sure of that. Sure, she didn't talk to you for weeks after the five-hour scolding. Dad wasn't so happy either. But look at you now. You're on track to becoming the best baseball star Chieki Academy has ever had. I know what happened that day still hurts you two. Even if we run into Shintaro and Kohaku again, we can't let it get you down."
"I...I'll try," Masato said. "I just wish I could apologise to him. Not that it'd fix him...it won't bring back his grandpa's book. If I could just tell him, I'm sorry for everything I've done..."
"But it's probably too late now," Natsumi said. "The way he screamed at you, with that book ripped to shreds in his hands? Kohaku was so mad at me, for not trying to stop it from happening..."
"If you two want to make things up that much, then I'll try my best to help," Hideki said. "Maybe that other girl could help you talk to them. I think her name is Kei..."
"That girl with the freaky hair?" Masato asked.
"Oh, she looked so cool! Would she even want to talk to us?" Natsumi asked.
"You don't know until you try," Hideki said, smiling. "I'll think of something."
Uncertain, the twins got into the car – with Natsumi winning the front seat beside her older brother. As they drove out of the parking area towards the family home, Masato gazed out of the window, his mind going back to that fateful day.
I might not get a chance to fix things between me and Shintaro. He still hates me – I could tell from the way he looked at me. But part of me knows that we could be friends again. Maybe that Kei person could help?