This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead in your world is purely coincidental.
And If I Don't Have A Heart,
Then What Is Broken?
7/30 Thursday
Lunch
Aiko took a deep breath, trying to let the sensation block out the fear.
Come on now. You've taken down hundreds of Shadows, nightmare monsters that could make adults cower before they gobble them up. You can do this. You can do this.
The place looked exactly the same as she remembered it. For better or worse.
It was a squat plain white two-level house like any of a thousand others, sandwiched between a blue shack and the back end of a cheap movie store. The occasional crack in the stone suggested it was one that had been there for a while, though the store was far worse off in that regard, great lengths of ivy crawling over the back suggesting poor business at the front... as they had for as long as she could remember.
The bland look of her neighborhood wasn't the problem, it wasn't the key to unlocking these bad memories slowing down her steps. As always, the problem lay within.
Maybe she won't be home, she considered optimistically. Maybe she'll be out and I can go back and tell Reiha that I tried but there was no time.
Right. And maybe the Masked Circle will call me up today and say that they're surrendering.
Still, it was tempting. More than anything, it was the revulsion at the cowardly ideas- lying to her friends, running away- that being here was creating in her that drove her forward step by step. Shadows are more than monsters, she knew. They are the suppressed self.
She managed to knock once, hesitantly, before forcibly forgetting where she was and diving into several more. Despite opening quickly, the door still creaked the same way it always did, and then she could see Kogaya Tsuruga's eyes in the doorway and knew there was no going back any more.
In most areas, she seemed unchanged. Still a slim, average-height woman with tawny black hair, pale skin and green eyes. Shock threw off the malaise that she'd feared would still be there, looking just as surprised as anyone to see her. "Aiko..."
"M-mom...", she murmured lamely, not sure what else to say. The awkwardness felt like a physical thing between them, separating them. She might have felt more at ease around Benihime Kujou. At least with her, she knew what to do.
But try as she might, she couldn't convince herself that anger was the appropriate reaction here. Not entirely.
"You came back. I... I didn't think you would."
Not knowing what else to say, she paced through the door, more eager to see if there had been any changes inside the house than sitting there feeling awkward. If anything, it felt emptier than when she'd been here last. Clean, and silent. This, she decided to herself, was the reason why most schools paired roommates up for dorms. Some people might enjoy the crushing silence of solitude, but not her. Not any of her friends. Jiachi might pretend sometimes, seeking the image of the lone wolf, but they all knew better.
"You got a new television", she noticed, more out of the pressing need to talk about something.
"The old one was having some sound issues", her mother explained, sounding just as desperate. "Besides, I got a good deal. This one's much bigger."
"Are... you still working at home?"
"No", Kogaya Tsuruga sounded proud. "I'm working at a department store now, full time."
Seeing just how clean and quiet the house was, she could only feel relief, and share in her mother's sense of pride. If the last few months had taught her anything, it was that humans weren't meant to be alone. The TV didn't count.
"Why are you here?" It hardly sounded accusing. Just the opposite, though she still looked guilty over the question. "I thought..."
She couldn't stand it any more. Calling on the reflexes that let her plunge into danger without hesitation, she stalked over and took her mother's hand, as if examining it. "You thought right."
She hadn't said anything specific about her reason for choosing to go to Koashimizu academy. Kogaya had hardly objected to the decision, in keeping with her long-established habit of paying the barest minimum of attention to what her daughter did. But she'd known. She hadn't needed to explain it, then or after. They both knew the reason.
The skin of her hands seemed a bit more withered than she remembered.
"You thought right", she repeated, trying to cut through the gloom. "I... I had an excuse all ready to go, if you'd asked. That I liked the idea of going to a school surrounded by water, one with a lot of foreign students. But... that's the excuse. The real reason... was that I wanted to go to any school that was far away from here."
"I know", Kogaya nodded. "I knew. You didn't have to say anything, Aiko. Who could blame you?"
"I could", Aiko countered, eyes growing heavy with the onset of tears. "I was leaving you all alone. Just because I was mad. Because I thought if I went to Koashimizu academy, it could become a home for me."
"And did it?", she asked earnestly. Interested.
The answer was too complicated to decide on immediately, but she didn't want to wait too long. Instead, she merely paused until she could take a seat. "Yes", she admitted. "For the most part. I've met some wonderful friends..."
Once she started, it was like a flood. On and on she went, detailing everything that had happened, only omitting the things she knew her mother would never believe. And she, for her part, seemed eager to drink it all in, in a way she never had been during their brief, equally awkward phone conversations. "I'm glad", she managed at last. "So glad that you found a place to call home. I was worried, seeing how you were in school before..."
That brought her up short. "What? You knew about that?"
"No", her mother managed an apologetic smile. "I wasn't paying attention. But I was the same way when I was your age. And... I wanted to believe it wasn't just me you were running away from."
"The same way?", Aiko wondered.
The expression on her face was something she'd never seen before, alternately pitying and understanding. "Oh, you know. I'll never forget how mad I got when some of the other girls were mean to me, calling me names. It got me into trouble more than once."
"Trouble", she made the word sound like a joke. "I did get a detention. Please forgive me."
"I told you", Kogaya repeated serenely. "I know. And I certainly didn't help matters any with the way I was-"
"But I also joined a club", she cut in, desperate to avoid what they were approaching. "I even got an offer to join the student council."
"Well done!", Kogaya smiled faintly. "Well done. I'm so glad. So... why did you come back here then?"
Before she knew it, she found herself standing, staring, not knowing what to say. Or what to do. It felt like some kind of paralysis effect like some of the annoying Shadows in Julian's Land had used.
Only this time, she was paralyzing herself.
"You... How...?"
Kogaya shrugged as if they'd been making a normal conversation. "This isn't easy for me either, you know. Part of me was scared that you'd return. Part of me didn't want you to. Because I knew you'd want to vent."
She felt more lost than she'd ever been, and it must have showed, because her mother rose, heading to the kitchen to let her recover from the confusion. "See? I was so worried that I forgot to prepare anything to eat. I'll make an olive salad and spiced omelet. You still like those, right?"
Aiko could say nothing, her silence being interpreted as a yes. The spiced omelet was certainly one of her all-time favorites, and the egg dishes the Koashimizu cafeteria made never quite matched up. The preparations gave her time to try and figure out what was really happening here, and try again to understand.
"You knew...?"
"Of course. No matter how good a home you made for yourself there, you'd never forget the real reason you traveled all the way to the Kochi prefecture at the tail end of the country."
That seemingly casual observation finally brought the anger Kogaya had expected, and Aiko hammered her reply. "Then why... why...? If you knew, then why didn't you...? Mom... Mom... why didn't you say anything?!"
Her mother forced a brave smile of her own. "Will you let me at least wait until lunch is ready?"
She snorted. She'd waited years. Her entire life. One lunch was nothing.
Besides, it was a relief to see that she'd been mirroring her daughter's feelings regarding this little reunion.
Eyes dazzled by the lights of the arcades, Reiha shook her head and smiled upwards at the familiar bright wings of Pelagio flanking his perch. "So, did she do it?"
"She did", the falcon confirmed dourly. "The captain went inside the house. And I can confirm her mother was present to receive her. She has yet to leave. Are you satisfied now, lady Hayato?"
"C'mon", she snorted, shrugging her long arms. "I'm not the bad guy here, aight? If she doesn't do this now, she might regret it for the rest of her life." Realizing for the first time just how incredibly foreboding Pelagio's piercing avian stare could become when he wanted it to, she sighed at him. "Her fault for teaching me that lesson."
"You forced her to return to a place that is filled with painful memories for her. To return to someone who she clearly did not wish to see. How is this meant to help our captain, lady Hayato?"
"Geez. Don't peck me or nothin'." Fortunately, her own fondness for non-human creatures- Julian had described it less flatteringly as a 'nightmare fetish'- meant that she wasn't too frightened by him even now. Not when she knew him to be a staunch ally of the team, a friend. No matter how scary his eyes might be. Hail horrors. Hail infernal world. "Sometimes, the only way forward... is through a place that's painful. I'm pretty sure y'all didn't come to my Land and rescue me for the good of your health, aight?"
"Nope", another voice called to her. Ever since leaving the arcades Julian had been practicing his favorite 'trick' of twirling two pencils at once, but now he stopped to speak, grinning in amusement. "We just kept coming back for the awesome gothic architecture, really. Oh, and to save your life."
"Exactly", Reiha pointed out. "And, yeah, I'm really, really sorry about all the pain my Shadow put you through while you were there. Sad to say, pain is all she knew."
"Like I've got room to talk", Julian snorted before dropping his pencils. "Mine was just as bad. Apparently they had to fight a giant snake at some point. A giant venomous snake. Disguised as a train."
"That is not the same thing", Pelagio insisted coldly, glancing between Julian and her. "You two were not in your rational minds at the time. Neither was lady Sorano, for that matter. Your Shadow and your grief were clearly influencing your actions while you were there, doing all it could to prevent your departure from your own Lands. But now, you are both back to normal, free of the dream... and yet now you have forced our captain to do this thing she did not wish to do?"
"'Forced' is a bit strong", Reiha protested. "I mean, if she really, really wanted to back out of our deal, then I would've let her no problem."
"But you know that she is a human of honor, lady Hayato. You knew well that she would not break an arrangement if she could help it."
Exasperated with the bird's stubborn persistence, Reiha threw up her gloved arms. "Look, what exactly do you want me to say here? 'I'm sorry'? At least wait until she gets back before you start attacking people."
"Hmph. Indeed I shall", he replied in that same scary tone.
Blinking, she turned back to Jiachi. "Y'know, I like this guy. I can never quite tell if he's actually serious or joking."
"Grumpy bird? Making a joke?" Jiachi snickered. "You're new on the team, so you're forgiven a few mistakes. Also because you're the only girl on the team who's any good at video games."
"Oh?" Reiha gave him a mischievous grin back. After so much time spent with him, she'd developed a knack for sensing the edges of Rosea's sensitive ego. A few team games played with him confirmed both that and that he had the skills to almost back up his bragging. "And Tsuruga wasn't? Maybe if you ever played something other than light gun games..."
"Hey, they're the big sellers in the arcades for a reason", he argued, gesturing back to the brightly-lit pavilion they'd just come from. Due to summer vacation, more people of their age were there playing than usual. "'Course, if Sorano-chan were here, she'd be going on about how we shouldn't be playing video games on vacation when we can just do that at home."
"Really?" Reiha blinked in surprise. "I thought you liked her?"
"I like her just fine", he maintained, shrugging. "She's just... well... she nags sometimes, y'know? A lot, actually. I don't think-" Catching himself, he stared up at Pelagio. "-I... I don't think we could've become friends if we hadn't both already been friends with Tsuruga-chan."
"Hah! I knew it!", Reiha snickered. "That girl has a way of pulling opposites together. Just look at me and Vitienne."
"I sure did", Julian noted, making it sound like the start of a joke. "Bless and curse, light and dark together... I wonder if he's done yet?"
They found Noel and Yusuke just where they had left them, the former watching the latter create a new masterpiece on canvas in full public view on the street, though he would never claim it to be such due to it being too 'derivative'. Still, the influence of his style couldn't be denied either.
"So that's yours", Noel marveled, studying the strange figure in detail. The blue-robed thief's dimensions would have been all wrong for a realistic human depiction, but the over-sized chin and thick black bob of hair, painted feudal mask, red ribbons and sandals all suggested something closer to a cartoon brought to life.
"Goemon", Yusuke announced with a mote of pride, his elegant lidded eyes closing and opening again as he stroked his goatee. "My mask. My 'other self'. An exquisite visage which I can never forget, for it is he who heralded my Awakening to the truth of art... and the less fortunate truth of my 'foster father', so that I might pursue my dream freely and without self-deception."
"Kinda goofy lookin'", Reiha commented before realizing that was likely the point. Just like Yusuke himself, Goemon's eccentric appearance concealed some frighteningly sharp skills. "...Eh, never mind. I'm no art critic anyway."
"It's magnificent, Kitagawa-san", Noel gushed. "Schon! Only someone with a personal connection to it could have depicted the details so fluidly."
"Then you should attempt yours, Vitienne", the blue-haired artisan suggested of him. "I must admit, from the moment I learned from Nijima-san that new Persona-users were emerging, my imagination raced. I wished to see and learn more of them. Yet alas, I am unable to join you in your travels to the far south of Japan. Might you at least bless me with an idea of what they look like?"
"Draw... Dellingr?", Noel's face paled. "B-but... I... I lack your talents. I've never used colors before. All of my sketches are only in black and white."
"I see. Perhaps the time has come to change that?", his would-be mentor suggested mildly. "I shall remain aware of your lack of experience when judging. My budget is no longer so demanding that I could lament the loss of a bit of my own supply."
Still Noel looked nervous about the idea, desperate not to bring down Mr. Kitagawa's criticism on him. "Perhaps I could... draw one of the others instead?"
Exasperated, Reiha sat back up, waving to Noel. "C'mon. This might take a while, and we've got a few hours to kill before we're due at LeBlanc."
Grateful for a diversion, Julian perked up again. "More roller coasters?"
"Maaaybe", she considered as they made their way back towards the higher concentration of stores in Shibuya. "I was going to go buy some souvenir clothes for you, since you missed out last time. What kind we buy...", turning back, she gave him a satisfied smirk. "...Depends."
"Depends? On what? I've got lots of travel money still left over..."
"My treat", she insisted. There was the brief temptation to elaborate, to explain that being able to buy gifts for friends she didn't secretly hate was enough for her, but there wasn't a need for it. "How much of a treat? That depends."
"Depends?"
"On what you can tell me about Tsuruga's hair."
Stalled only slightly, he took the stairs up to a second level of the plaza before shaking his head. "Geez. One of these days, I'll know better and give up on trying to predict you. What about Tsuruga-chan's hair?"
Out of courtesy, she tried not to look too pleased with herself. "I guess Sorano-chan would be the better choice for this. She would know. She's just too polite to ask. Tsuruga uses a light perfume to mask the scent. But I can tell. I've seen and used it enough to know; she definitely dyes her hair. She's been doing that ever since the start of the school year. Maybe even longer."
"...And I should care about this, why?"
"You don't care?", she acted surprised. "That's the thing that intrigues me. Why do people dye their hair, Rosea-kun?"
He shrugged. "Idunno. So they don't stand out so much? Or the opposite. I heard that Sakamoto used to dye his hair blond, kind of his private way of rebellin' against that Kamoshida bastard at his school after what he did to his leg."
"Exactly", she nodded. "But Tsuruga doesn't strike you as that sort, does she? No. She dyes it different so she doesn't stand out so much at school. But that's the funny thing; the obvious color to go for if you really wanna blend with everyone else in is always black, aight? At least 60 percent of the students at Koashimizu all have black hair. Same for most other schools here. Yet, she always uses this generic bright gray instead. It's almost like she's blending in, conforming... but not completely. Bending, not breaking."
"And you think I'd know about that?", he sighed, stroking his own chestnut brown hair. "Look, I don't care what color her hair is, Hayato, or if she dyes it to hide it or blend in better. Tsuruga-chan is Tsuruga-chan. And whatever private secrets she wants to keep, that's just fine with me."
Realizing she might have gone too far, Reiha straightened up. "Ah... yeah. Sorry. It's my nature to pry, at least with people who interest me, like her. Besides, she's seen all our darkest secrets now, hasn't she? Fair's fair, aight?"
"Only 'cause she had to lead the others through a Land made out of our own subconscious to save us both", he pointed out, before thinking on it more, a strange realization overcoming his face. "Invading our privacy is the absolute last thing she wanted, I'm sure. Sorano-chan was prolly the same way. Was she embarrassed? Duh. She couldn't not be. But she would've also felt relieved that someone else knew how she really felt, deep down inside."
Freshly intrigued now, Reiha nodded. "So? What was it? What was she hiding?"
He stared back aghast. "Holy crap, you're nosy. I only heard it from Sorano-chan afterwards, never went to visit her Land myself. But the gist of it was this: Sorano-chan is the youngest of a real big family back in her home country, and she's also the smartest one. That's why they all pitched together to raise the funds to send her here as a foreign exchange student. That's why she's always so focused on her studies, yeah?"
The tall girl's face fell with her arms. "But... she got held back a year 'cause her grades were so bad."
"Yeah. She sure did. She let Kujou and the others get to her, got her so distracted and upset that she failed every subject. Her dad was furious about it. Pretty much the only time he really got mad at her, is what I've heard from her."
Thankfully, she wound up punching a wall instead of a window. Still, they drew some awkward stares from the people nearby before continuing. "Damn it. Damn it. I didn't even see her. Kujou and the SDC did that bullying crap to people all the time. I tried to help as many as I could, but..."
"Not your fault", he cut in. "You didn't do that to her. Or any of 'em."
"No", she agreed hoarsely. "I didn't. But I could've said somethin'. Let her know I didn't approve of what she was doin'. Maybe, back then, that might've got her to back off a little bit." Recovering from her earlier fit, she turned away from the stores. "Alright. I need to apologize to Sorano-chan when she gets back. No wonder she freaked out earlier."
"Not your fault", Jiachi repeated stoically. "But maybe now you see why sometimes it's better to let people, even friends, keep what they're not comfortable sharin'. Not that I think going home is gonna break Tsuruga-chan or anything, but we should let her keep any secrets she wants to, and not go nosing around about stuff like her hair."
"No", she agreed in relief. "It won't. If I thought it would, then I never would've said anything. Tsuruga... Our captain... Nothin' breaks her, right?"
"Fingers crossed", he teased.
Her mother wasn't even surprised when something drew her into her old bedroom, which had been kept in a condition that seemed identical to how it had been when she left it, if a bit less dusty than usual. Kogaya had clearly cleaned it more often now than when Aiko had actually been there.
Feeling embarrassed about finding that old brown plushie 'Cinnamona' bunny toy in her closet wasn't so bad. Embarrassment was actually better than dread. Still, she made sure to put everything back the way it was.
"You kept everything", she noted, returning to the kitchen as soon as she caught that signature aroma of spice and egg melting together. "Even Cinnamona."
"It's your room", her mother pointed out. "When you finish this year of school, it will be up to you what you want to discard... or if you still want to live here at all. I'd... understand if you didn't."
"Enough", she sat, more forceful than intended. "Please, mom, just tell me. Let's both get it over with already. I can't stand it any more."
"Of course." A sheaf of paper slid over to her, and the photos within slid loose for her perusal. The picture was old, showing signs of degradation but still recognizable. A young thirty-something man with crisp dark hair tied into a tail at the back, small glasses with square transparent lenses over intelligent eyes and a bright smile.
"That", Kogaya told her gravely, "is Morii Kakushin. The man whose existence I deliberately kept a secret from you. Who I erased every record of my marriage to that I could, blocking all contact with his own family, of whom there weren't many to begin with. He... is your true father."
She stared into the picture, hoping that it might jar some memory, some hidden feeling, but no. Though attractive for his age, he was otherwise like any other normal man she might pass by on the streets. A total blank, only significant for looking slightly happy in his medical photo.
Had her mother given him that happiness?
Claiming the rest of the medical papers to read over in detail later, she regarded Kogaya, trying to be grateful over this reveal at long last. "...Go on."
"Shortly after you were born", she explained, "he... he disappeared. Gone, without a trace. No." Biting down she, frowned. She wouldn't lie any more. "Well... I could never prove it, but I had reasons to believe that he was murdered."
After several minutes, Aiko realized she hadn't spoken. It felt like the paralyzing effect was back, but she forced the words through her tight throat. "Why did you think that? Was he...?"
"He wasn't a cop", Kogaya caught her. "No, he worked as a liason between the main government of Japan and the governments on its satellite islands."
Islands just like the Kochi prefecture, she realized silently. The country consisted of 5 main islands off the mainland, with Kochi being part of the Shikoku island, the second smallest, with Hokkaido being the largest. National geography was never her forte, but she knew that much.
"Who? Who murdered him?"
Kogaya paused, tears welling up, and she knew this was the real core of it, the thing that had really driven her to the drastic actions she'd taken. That alone had disturbed Aiko in the past; the fact that her mother was in every other area she saw a perfectly normal, kind and loving person, yet she'd spent years averting her eyes from her daughter and pretending her husband didn't exist at all.
"He was a... Another man that I knew. And while I lacked any evidence, he knew that I would suspect him. As soon as Morii disappeared, he did too. I never saw him again after that."
Gone. The reveal hit like a missile, driving the previous one home. What exactly did you expect to be able to do?, a corner of her thoughts groused, Avenge him? You don't even know who he is, or if he's even guilty. Until now, you had no idea who your father was. What passion can you put into avenging someone you barely knew before he died?
Besides... She had seen enough of what an obsession with vengeance did to Reiha. She wanted no part of that painful road.
But that road had clearly etched its way into Kogaya's soul, even if she never had any such delusions. "From then on", she spoke into the table, "every single time I saw you... I saw him. I couldn't stand it. Everything connected with him only brought me pain, knowing that I knew who had done it but couldn't do anything. Or worse, that he'd simply disappeared on us, gone forever."
"Morii Kakushin", Aiko repeated, staring into the file, trying to imagine him back to life, understand what he would have been like. A liason between different provincial governments would have been constantly busy, away from home more often than he would have wanted... but that slight smile on his face showed he wasn't the type to let work drag him down either.
"And I knew", her mother continued, unable to raise her gaze, "that doing this was hurting you. I knew that every time you asked me why I wouldn't tell you, or why I was acting the way I was towards you. But... I surrendered. I yielded to my own pain first, and let it hurt my daughter, let it make us practically strangers until it drove you away. That's my sin."
Aiko rose, heading around the table. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do until she actually got to the other side, placing both arms around her. "Mom... I understand."
As if synchronized, they both started crying together, neither able to come up with anything to say. When they were done she knew that time had passed, but had no idea exactly how much. "It", Ai tried again, "it wasn't just you. That was just my lame excuse. Like... Tokyo's nice and all, but the older I got, the more I noticed it. You did too, right?"
Recovering, Kogaya managed a smile. Her first real smile in a long time. "I wasn't so distant that I didn't notice that. A blind woman could have seen it. You don't like being in big crowds, right? A bad city for that, I'm afraid. A bad country for that."
"More than that", she corrected, knowing without needing to guess that this was something she would never have admitted to a year ago. "Tokyo is enormous. People can spend their whole lives here, never looking outside of it. But... the world is so much bigger than that. There are people I've met in this city who act like Tokyo the center of the entire universe. That nothing else outside of it is even worth thinking about."
Kogaya accepted her daughter's words in calm repose. She had never been annoyed by the supposed 'arrogance' her daughter was describing, but she had certainly experienced it in her own way.
"That's the other reason I left", she sighed, head dropping. "I wanted to see the world outside of Tokyo. See the people there, and how they think of Tokyo. And some day, mom... I want to leave the country, too. I want to see the world. As much of it as I can."
Blinking back more tears, Kogaya leaned forward, mussing her daughter's hair. "Heh... 'Wanderlust'. That's what they call it. Your father had that too."
"But first", she nodded. "I need to find a home. A place I belong. I knew that Tokyo wasn't that. I thought Tosashimizu might be. But... I don't know. I'll find out. I promise."
"Either way", Kogaya reminded her, "this place will always be here waiting for you. And... I'm sorry. For everything. Morii would be ashamed of what I've done to you."
"He would understand", Aiko corrected her without needing any consideration to know she spoke the truth. It was just a feeling. "Because I understand. Mom... thanks."
Morgana was waiting for them when they stepped off the train platform, deliberately pacing himself to act as a guide through the narrow alleys of Yongen all the way to the simple-looking door embedded in a wall.
It was only past that, inside the building, that any sign of the party became apparent. Little had changed when it came to the counter or tables of the gracefully aged cafe LeBlanc, but the mere fact that there were more than a few people inside at a time, several hot steaming meals already prepared, indicated that something was up. That, and the banner running across the top of the room near the quiet TV: Phantom Thieves Welcome The Dream Voyagers!
"Are you sure that's alright?", Noel questioned as they all sidled in, taken in by the quaint charm of the place for the first time. "Is that not dangerous?"
"Relax, Vitienne", Ann assured him, looking up from her magazine with a welcoming smile. "That's why we made sure to put the banner on the inside, and closed the place down for the day. You're way too high-strung!"
"Yeah", Ryuji agreed beside her. "Besides, didn't they give up like years ago? That was the last time we had someone followin' us."
"The last time we saw anyone following us", Morgana corrected him, smoothly bounding up onto one of the stools at the counter as if he was placing a food order. "But yes, it does seem like the government finally found better things to do than chase after us. Especially since we haven't done any heists in years."
"The Phansite's still going strong though", Futaba reminded them from her table, laptop already opened and active. "People being willing to help each other out of a ham... that's what we really achieved here, right?"
"I believe the phrase is 'help each other out of a jam'", Makoto provided gently, standing up from her spot minding the counter, as though she'd momentarily taken up Akira's former spot of assistant. Like the rest of the former Phantom Thieves, she seemed prepared to welcome someone for a birthday party, complete with a few wrapped boxes in the back. "Welcome, Dream Voyagers. Your captain will be along shortly, I should hope?"
"She's fine", Reiha said, sounding oddly insistent. "Pelagio went to go get her. What about Akira? Where's he?"
"Here", the black-haired leader of the Thieves appeared from the upstairs, cheerfully carrying a large bag. "Just had to... check on something. Everyone find the place okay?"
"Of course", Yusuke replied bemusedly. "I was with them, after all. Still, it was quite artistic of you, sending Morgana to act as our 'escort'."
"Understandable", Jiachi commented, "considering two weeks ago most of us had never even been to this crazy city before. The only one who really knew her way around earlier was the- was Tsuruga-chan." Momentarily dazzled at the preparations laid before them, he smiled. "This city is even bigger and more confusing than I thought."
"It can certainly feel that way sometimes, yes", Haru conceded politely. "Even to us. There are so many places here that we've never even visited, even after spending most of our lives here!"
"There are some places here you'd be better off not visiting", Reiha warned her before yielding to the irresistible good cheer as well and taking a bite of the offered curry. "So, we gonna wait 'til Tsuruga gets back to start the fun?"
"No need to stand on ceremony", Akira considered. "But if you want, we can wait. I'm sure the real reason everyone came is just to be able to talk with you about... stuff."
No one argued that point. Instead, Yusuke reached for a binder at his side. "Perhaps, but this present is an unofficial one. Behold!"
They all stared at the paper in wonder. While the first canvas held the colorful depiction of the Persona Goemon, which most of the Thieves instantly recognized, the second one contained grayscale depictions of numerous Personas they had never seen before in their lives.
Waiting a beat for them to take the pictures in, Noel pointed to each one in turn, beginning with the immobile-seeming machine deity, resplendent with light. "Dellingr. The Dawn's Light. The morning that greets humanity upon every new day."
Catching on, Reiha took over, pointing her tightly gloved hand at another sketch, this one depicting a blue-gowned woman, her body fully encased in a silver wheel, carrying a sword in one hand and an hourglass in the other, her feet encased in thorns that no longer brought pain and a bandanna laid across her eyes. "Adrestia. Handmaiden of Nemesis, and Goddess of Vengeance. Yeah, I read up on her, aight?"
"Heh. Didn't need to read up on mine", Jiachi boasted, pointing to his own Persona, the man with an enormous poncho and overcast cowboy hat not quite hiding a brash, easygoing smile... or the numerous gun belts and the gleaming five-shot revolver at his side. "That one's Wild Bill. The Spirit of the West."
The others studied the drawings closely. While Noel was not quite an expert, it was clear he had put a lot of heart into them, and it was easy enough for experienced veterans like the Phantom Thieves to imagine the Personas in action. "What about this one?", Morgana asked in interest. "This armored one over here?"
Noel smiled. The fine detail of the armor's hundreds of scrapes and gashes had been difficult to capture, but somehow he felt like Yusuke's mere presence had pushed him beyond his limits to accomplish it. Ironically, the Persona with a recognizably human face did not belong to a human at all. "That, mein katzenartiger freunde, is Galahad. Pelagio's Persona."
The cat's eyes grew huge. "I-it belongs to that bird-brained doofus? Unbelievable!"
"I dunno", Ann joked, "it looks a fair bit like Zorro, doesn't it?"
While they argued about that, Akira stepped in to look closer at the details, focusing on the last picture, depicting an African orisha- a storm goddess, her lithe, powerful body looking to be partly composed of wind and lightning. "So then, this one must belong to the one who couldn't make it. That was Sorano-chan, right?"
"Yes", Noel looked momentarily weary, as though he'd begun to miss Mira as well as any of them. "She wanted to come as well, but she had a prior agreement with her family. This is Oya."
"What about your captain's Persona? Or did you just run out of time? These are impressive enough, considering you did them in one day."
Noel shook his head. "Um. Actually, I've never seen our captain's original Persona. She constantly adjusts her hat and changes her Persona based on our needs in battle, but according to Sorano-chan, she began with just one. Just like you, I'm told."
"Oh yeah", Ryuji chuckled beside him. "I still can't believe the arsenal you were packin' back in the day, leader... but I'll never forget when I saw Arsene either."
"Yeah", Akira smiled back at him. Of all the memories he still carried with him of those frantic days, that was one of his fondest. No matter what other Personas he created or tamed, Arsene would always remain his driving force, his true self.
He supposed that Aiko was the same way, in fact. "She told me earlier that her first Persona was a legend of the sea. Anne Bonny."
That earned a delighted squeal from Ann and an exasperated look from Ryuji in turn. "Come on!", she opined. "I'm not just excited because it's close to my name. Haven't any of you read about Anne Bonny? She's got to be the most badass female pirate ever!"
"I have read of her", Makoto spoke neutrally. "An Irish pirate. Just like Wild Bill, her legend is vastly over-exaggerated. In person, I think we would find her to be rather... unlikable."
"Well, yeah", Ann tried not to look disappointed that no one else shared her enthusiasm. "I mean, she's a villain. But she's like the kinds of villains I watched growing up. They never give up, never quit. And yeah, I know that legends always exaggerate stuff like that, make the people seem bigger than they actually were. That's prolly the case with all of ours, really. But if they didn't... Do you think that our Personas would be as strong as they were?"
Actually thinking it over carefully, Makoto smiled back at her. Whatever else might have happened, Ann had gotten a fair bit more perceptive about things in the last few years "That's an interesting hypothesis, Takamaki-san. On reflection, it definitely feels to me like the legendary thieves our original Personas were based on had become true symbols of rebellion. They answered our pleas and lent us their powers when none other would, for we matched their ideals. It is likely the same story for the Dream Voyagers."
"I've read stories about Galahad too", Akira nodded wisely. "Anyone with that Persona is too noble to ever be a thief."
"What?", Morgana jibed. "Just like Robin Hood?" Too late, he caught a few annoyed stares from the others and realized he'd gone too far, even for him. "Well... I..."
"Forgive us please", Yusuke implored their bewildered guests. "You see, Robin Hood was the Persona of one Goro Akechi. Specifically, the heroic one which he allowed us to see, in order to fool us into believing that he was being honest with us, and that his intent was noble."
Haru, as always, didn't exactly look upset with their feline friend's faux pas, not even frowning. She merely looked... politely disappointed. Yet Morgana reacted as though Haru's merest disappointment was the harshest of condemnations. "I don't believe that it's good manners to talk about someone like that behind their back, Mona-chan. Not when they're not here to defend themselves from such accusations. I'm certain that wasn't your intent, correct?"
He studied the cafe's ancient carpeting for nearly a minute before breaking. "Okay, fine. FINE! I was out of line. I'm sorry. He's probably not a bad guy. Probably."
Eager to defuse the tension, Futaba grabbed the sketch page, studying them closely. "Y'know", she considered. "All this talk about our old Personas makes me think we should repay the favor, right? They've showed us theirs, so we should show 'em ours."
Nervous at the prospect, Makoto shrugged. "If you say so, but don't expect anything close to these. Not all of us are as talented as Yusuke here. Though I suppose he could help us out."
"The first, or the second ones?"
"First. That way we don't show Akira up, or our guests. Besides, I remember those ones better anyway. I think we all do."
"Thank you", Akira noted in deliberately exaggerated relief. "For not making me try to draw Satanael. That would take me all night, and it still probably wouldn't look very good."
"I swear, this is the weirdest thing to bond over ever", Reiha chuckled as their hosts began to break out some blank paper from Yusuke's kit, moving their dishes of curry aside before spreading each sheet wide over the tables.
"Eh, better than just eating in silence while we wait for Tsuruga-chan to get here", Julian suggested, watching in fascination as the Phantom Thieves began their project, often looking at Noel's drawings to try and get an idea of how to project depth and scale. It wasn't long before Yusuke was drawn into the activity as well, trying to make sure each one was at least somewhat presentable.
"Silence? Have you heard these people?", Reiha snorted. "I've heard preschool classes make less noise... though I suppose that's a good sign, aight?"
"It's been quite a while", Morgana confessed, leaping up onto a stool beside her. Lacking opposable thumbs, he was the only one exempt from the 'contest' and free to talk still. "A very, very long time since we've all been able to get together like this. We all have stuff to do these days that tends to keep us apart, but for this we made an exception."
"It's wonderful", Noel marveled. "A splendid party. In a way, it was almost a blessing that our planned hotel was defaced. We got to meet and get to know you all much better."
"I don't think that would've stopped us, but yeah", Reiha agreed. "They sure do seem like a good bunch of people."
"There's no one better", the cat boasted. "Call it luck, or destiny, but I managed to round up the best potential thieves in the country. Under my guidance, we achieved what no one else could have."
"Of course it was all your doing", Julian cracked. "You did it all by yourself. They didn't have any say at all, right?"
"They had some", Morgana allowed before changing subjects. "How are things going with the Masked Circle now?"
"Quiet", Reiha admitted. "Tsuruga had us agree to a ceasefire they proposed, though we already know that's not gonna last long."
"No", their feline friend agreed sadly. "Twisted people like that won't quit until they achieve their objective. They've discarded everything else for it already. No matter how many times we beat Shido and Akechi down, they just wouldn't give up. They kept on coming at us until they had nothing left to give."
"Yeah. Just like with 'Prince Taurus'", Julian commented, momentarily angered by the memory of their near defeat by the horned warrior. "Samesaji's just a handsome singer in real life, but in Faraway Lands he was a total beast. He even almost beat Akira."
"That's a rare thing", Morgana considered, glancing at their esteemed leader. "But don't feel too bad about losing to that guy. Personas always get stronger with experience, and it sounds like this group has been training for years already. You'll get there, I'm sure. You'll catch up. That ceasefire actually sounds like it's to your advantage."
"If we knew they wouldn't break it as soon as it's convenient to them, maybe", Reiha argued, checking the door glass. "Man, it's getting dark out and she's still not back. Maybe I should call-"
"It's alright", Morgana pointed one paw forward. "Here they are now."
Aiko stood in the doorway, looking utterly depleted but happy to have found LeBlanc. Pelagio perched on her arm, a curious sight to onlookers but not one that she minded so long as he was able to control his talons.
"Sorry", she bowed in embarrassment as she sensed everyone's apprehension. "It took longer than I thought to find the place. I'd never been to Yongen before now."
"There's a first time for us all", Akira shrugged, giving her a thumbs up. "Point is, you made it."
Briefly scanning the crowded restaurant, Pelagio settled in on an empty coat rack. "You're... drawing Personas?", Aiko observed quizzically.
"Just something to do while we waited for the last guests to arrive", Julian confessed cheekily. "Blame Vitienne and Kitagawa, they started it."
"Excuse us for wanting to take full advantage of our last day here", Noel shot back.
Smiling, she put aside her bags and joined the others to start opening the gift boxes.
7/30 Thursday
Evening
It was completely dark by the time they were done everything. Akira knew that had Sojiro been there, he might have warned them not to make so much noise, but either no one heard or they were content to let them have their party.
"No alcohol?", Aiko remarked to him once they had a moment together at the counter.
"That wouldn't be very hospitable of us, would it? Sure we can drink now, but you can't. Also, boss seems to get upset when people bring alcohol in here. It's like it's an insult to his coffee and tea."
"I was talking about it with Nijima-san earlier", she noted idly. "She said you used to work in a bar in Shinjuku, even though you were too young to drink then."
Chuckling, he leaned back, remembering how his time in the Crossroads bar had gone. "The smell of it was powerful sometimes, but Lala was adamant about making sure I never touched a drop of the stuff. You know what I found out after? Imagination is the best taste of all." Pausing, he looked around as if expecting the restaurant's owner to pop out of a box. "You know, if boss never said that, then he should have."
"I get it", Futaba explained, finishing off the last of her tea. "Oooh, the forbidden drink! Minors mustn't have! Danger! But when you finally got old enough to try some, it wasn't actually that great, right?"
"It's strange", Akira admitted. "Some people I know can't get enough of booze, but for me it was just another drink. And if you had too much of it you'd have a horrible headache the next day. Or maybe I'm just a lightweight."
"More like you never needed it", the younger Phantom Thief insisted. "That's the real reason people drink that stuff. Not the taste. It's 'cause not everyone's as comfortable speaking their mind as you."
"Speaking as a voice of experience, Futaba?"
"It helped", she admitted, pulling a stand of her hair back. "Still not a good idea to have too much though. Makes me all sleepy. Not in a good way."
"Better than making you crazy", Aiko lamented, staring over at Jiachi as he was partaking in some kind of game with Reiha, Ryuji and Haru. Despite his earlier accident, he showed no sign of 'fake drunkenness'. "Well... hopefully he's learned his lesson now."
"Trust them", Akira assured her, recalling their earlier conversation about the burdens of leadership. "Most of the time, they won't let you down."
"Never once crossed my mind", she promised with a light laugh. "Thank you, Kurusu. For everything. This trip would've been a total bust without you guys here to help us out."
"I'm sure you would've managed either way", he remarked. "And it's not like it was all one way either. Soon as everyone found out about what was happening, it was all they wanted to know about."
"I have to say", Ai admitted carefully, "there have been some interesting parts to it. Of course, if I told Dada Yangyu that, she'd remind me of how many times we almost died."
"Well, that's the thing", Akira chuckled. "After you 'almost die' a few dozen times it actually starts to feel less urgent, doesn't it? Not that you should ever lower your guard or anything."
"Never planned on doing that", she promised with a brief shudder. "After what almost happened with Samesaji, I'm never underestimating anyone ever again."
"I kept saying that myself after Kaneshiro", Makoto remarked, sliding over to them. "And I was wrong more than once. Still, you've learned to be cautious against unknown enemies. That's the most important thing to remember."
"Samesaji did say that his allies were more powerful than him", Akira pointed out. "But maybe he was just trying to scare you?"
"Ughh. That's so cliche.", Futaba complained. "'Oooh, you beat me, but beware, my comrades are stronger than me!'"
"It would make sense though", Makoto mused, facing Aiko. "You said that Lady Scorpio is the one who Awakened Samesaji's Persona, that she was practically his teacher in using its power. And..." An involuntary tremble ran through her own form and her eyes veiled. "I felt the strength of Sanaki's Persona firsthand. Even if I'd known from the start what exactly he was doing... I found Dagon's power to be completely terrifying. Beyond mine. The result would have been the same either way, I think."
"We haven't seen 'King Leo' yet", Aiko pointed out. "Hopefully, we'll be ready for him by then."
"Another reason for that ceasefire", Akira nodded, understanding. "That would have been very annoying if every time we went into a Palace, we'd had to worry about an evil Persona-user- or even more than one- crashing the party in addition to the Shadows."
The mention of 'evil Persona-users' brought Noel to the counter with them, taking the seat that Futaba had abandoned to try and complete her coffee and curry-and her drawing of Necronomicon. "I spoke with Kitagawa about your dealings with the 'detective prince', Goro Akechi. I must know- was he truly beyond redemption, in the end?"
Makoto frowned, deep in thought. She had met each of the individual Dream Voyagers to know that Noel was the most romantic-minded of them, the one who never, ever wanted to abandon the hope that an enemy could be saved somehow and made to see the light.
Just like Haru was, back then. Neither one of them wants to forsake anyone, even the most vile, heartless people imaginable. "In different circumstances, perhaps. However, we couldn't forget the fact that Akechi was also the one responsible for killing Futaba-chan's mother, or Okuamura-san's father, among countless other victims. Had he lived, at the very least I would have wanted for him to serve jail time for those crimes, just as his father, Masayoshi Shido is doing now."
Akira actually looked even more severe at the idea behind his canted glasses, glancing out across the spread of good friends and everything connected to them. "I spoke with Lady Scorpio. Spoke with Samesaji a few times too, trying to talk some sense into them. While you should certainly take any opportunity that arises to save them... They're set on their path now. They absolutely believe their cause to be the right one."
Makoto blinked. "Hm? You spoke with Lady Scorpio as well, Kurusu?"
"Yes", he sounded almost apologetic. "Unlike Samesaji, that's her only name. The only one she knows anyway. I thought that maybe she'd be more reasonable than Samesaji was. Her intentions were clear enough, I guess. She believes that our current world is doomed, and only Persona-users will survive." Pausing, he shrugged in jest. "Y'know, standard megalomaniac stuff, going on about 'Salvation'."
"'Standard'", she repeated faintly, shaking her head in amused disbelief. "It's truly amazing how such a thing can be considered 'standard' to us. Is human sanity truly so fragile as this?"
"You're a cop", Aiko pointed out. "Don't you deal with those kinds of crazy people all the time, Nijima-san?"
"In a fashion", she offered with a brief smile back. "Only a few of the criminals I've seen would have such deluded ambitions. Thankfully. Few of them would ever plot to so drastically change the world in which we live. Usually, they merely seek to gain the money and influence needed to continue with their unlawful enterprises."
"Racketeers", Akira guessed. "I've been seeing a lot about that on the news lately too."
"Some. Unfortunately, their activities often overlap with property destruction caused by... other crimes, making it difficult for us to separate the two."
"Like the hotel", Noel sighed.
"Like that, yes." Feeling her arm on his shoulder, he tensed. He'd never had Makoto's red eyes focus in on him like this, conveying a resolve that left no doubt of the truth of her words. "The people responsible for that will be punished appropriately. While not all of our citizens seem to agree, Japan is still a nation of laws. Criminals like that- or those racketeers- will face justice in the end, I promise you."
His confidence restored, he nodded back. "Then it shall be up to us to bring the Masked Circle to justice the same way as you bring down your targets, Nijima-san. Whatever madness grips their hearts must be stopped."
Makoto was surprised to find that Haru had abandoned her work at recreating Milady to join them, almost as though sneaking up behind her. "People can lose their way", she nodded to Noel. "Even my father... But I believe that, if he had lived, he could have redeemed himself and become a good person after all. A CEO that people could look up to, instead of being afraid of."
"You've done him proud, Haru", she took her hand gladly. Besides Akira, she was the one she'd maintained the closest relationship to. "Okumura Foods might not be the giant company it used to be, but you never hear any more stories about their worker abuse either. That's all because of you. Because you managed to redeem your father's company."
Blushing, she shrugged back. "Oh, no! I did have quite a lot of help with that. Not just from the board, but Sakura-san as well. He's been wonderful!"
"He always was", Akira chuckled back. "Well, after the first couple of months anyway."
After hours of eager talk and gossip and gifts, the contest reached its conclusion, the different pictures all strung up beneath the banner surrounding Noel's smaller combined sketch.
"Lookin' good!", Ryuji marveled, surveying each in turn like their own private art show. While it was obvious that Goemon was the winner in terms of quality and coloring, none of the others had turned out as bad as they'd feared for people unused to drawing, and Morgana had eventually persuaded their resident artist to draw Zorro for him as well. "Oh, hey, Carmen, that brings me back..."
"It changed my life", Ann agreed happily beside him. "It sounds like it was the same for all of you too, huh?"
"No wonder we enjoyed making them so much", Akira agreed, studying his own depiction of Arsene. None of them did justice to the real thing, but just looking at them brought back good memories.
"Captain Kidd", Aiko observed, amazed at seeing the Phantom Thieves' Personas for the first time. "That's yours, right Sakamoto-san?"
"Sure is!", he grinned back happily. "Another pirate Persona! Pretty good, eh?"
She paused, momentarily stunned and blushing. "Wait... Oh no! I've been so busy eating and talking with everyone that I forgot to draw mine! That's the only one missing right now!"
"No worries", Akira reassured her. "Some things are more fun if you leave them to the imagination. We can always look up pictures of Anne Bonny in books, right?"
"It's not the same", she maintained. Like all the others, she could never forget the moment when she'd Awakened and Ann Bonny had appeared to her, lending her wild strength to defeating the robots that were going to execute her and Pelagio. "Hm. Wait, I know! I'll draw one and send it to you!"
"Sounds good", he gave a thumbs up. "I'll look forward to it."
"Perhaps I'll make better versions of ours as well to send", Noel suggested. "These ones that I've made look a bit... sparse compared to yours. That's only to be expected, of course. I'm amazed that they turned out as well as they did."
That earned an amused laugh from Morgana. "Oh, come on. We all know none of us can really capture how magnificent Personas really are. No offense, Yusuke."
"Some taken", he quipped, shocking all who knew him well. "It is true that I have yet to work with 3D models, though I understand that new form of art is beginning to catch on in certain professional circles. Perhaps one day, I shall be able to create a 3D model perfectly representing Goemon's beauty."
"Indeed, there's no point in even holding a vote", Makoto agreed, smiling at him. "It's no surprise that Goemon would be by far the best of all these. Though I must say, I like the look of Adrestia. Equal parts form and function, it looks like. And reflecting the long-held notion of Justice being 'blind'."
"You would like that one", Reiha laughed. Despite their initial rift, she'd quickly become closer to Makoto than any of the other Thieves. "But yeah, I like her too. I kinda have to, since she's my other self. I know this sounds weird and all, but I actually can't wait to see her power in action against some Shadows. Just to see what she can do."
"Heh. Most of us would go ahead vote for our own Persona if Goemon wasn't so awesome-looking", Jiachi pointed out, giving a hearty wave to Akira. "But seein' all these up close, I gotta go with Arsene and Kurusu. It looks totally awesome, man. Flaming demon in a tuxedo. Classic."
"What about yours, Okumura-san?", Noel asked in interest. "That one there... it looks like a princess in a ballgown, minus the... erm... head, bearing only her drama mask. Was she a non-violent Persona, like mine?"
Morgana gave a nervous laugh at the idea. "Oh believe me, Haru's Persona was the absolute furthest thing from non-violent once she learned how to use it properly. She just didn't draw the part where the ball gown slides open to reveal all the guns."
Looking slightly disappointed, but not enough to throw off the jubilant party mood, Noel nodded. "I... see. Quite fitting for her, of course. Silk hiding steel, yes?"
"And a really big freakin' axe", Ryuji muttered so quietly that only he and Ann could hear.
"Besides", Aiko corrected him, pointing to his first sketch, "I'm pretty sure that Dellingr can do some damage if you ever really needed to. You just choose not to."
"My vow is not to", Noel clarified, shrugging helplessly. "Please, don't ever expect me to break that oath. It's... something that I take very seriously."
His phrasing of the request seemed to bother Reiha, who frowned, lowering her arms. "Not even if we needed you to use Dellingr's attack powers to avoid dying? Not even then?"
"Not even then", he confirmed without looking back at her gaze. "Please understand. It was something I did a long time ago. I cannot violate my oath."
"No worries", their leader calmed them both. "I mean, we've all got great Personas now. We can handle anything that gets in our way."
"Which one do you like the most, Tsuruga?", Jiachi asked with interest. "Not including Goemon, I mean."
Taking a moment to consider the pictures arrayed in front of her, she pointed. "That one. The big motorcycle. Whose is that?"
"Mine", Makoto's face flushed like it was some kind of old shame. "Johanna."
Turning from it, she nodded to Pelagio, who had been perched up on a coat rack watching them the whole time. "What about you, Pela-Tori?"
Strangely, the falcon took a moment to realize that he was being addressed, jittering as if snapping out of a trance. "Hm? Oh. Well... Where is yours, captain?"
"I didn't draw out", she reminded him patiently. "Didn't have the time."
Taking a second to survey them all with his raptor's eyes, he nodded. "That one. The masked feudal warrior in the clogs."
Ai rolled her eyes. "Um. Have you been paying attention at all? Goemon doesn't count, we already agreed that Yusuke beats us all easily. Choose another one!"
Taken aback, he eventually settled his eyes on one of the other colored drawings. "That one. The black armored figure with the cape and rapier."
Half the group burst into various levels of laughter, and before long Morgana joined them. "Hah! That's my Persona, bird-brain!"
Realizing what he'd done, Pelagio froze. "Oh dear. Never mind. I take it back. It is... unworthy of consideration."
"Ha! Too late!", the cat taunted him from behind the 'protection' of Haru's arms.
"I am honored that you would say so, my friend", Yusuke promised their avian guest. "I had considerably less time to create that one."
Not letting Morgana off the hook either, Futaba sidled over to him. "Heeey, fair's fair, right? Didn't I overhear you saying that you liked the look of Galahad before? Maybe you two aren't so different, eh?"
"Oh, please", he insisted, though making no effort to pull away from her. "I didn't have the rest of these to compare it to then! Fine! If I had to choose one... that one! That's Dellingr, right? With all those gems all over it, it almost looks like a treasure."
"No surprise", Futaba agreed. "That one is pretty neat-looking. Too bad we can't see the real thing for ourselves."
The notion was obviously in jest, but half an hour later when the gifts had all been opened and all the curry consumed, Akira came to Aiko for another private talk upstairs.
"I spoke with the others in private. They all want to help, but they can't permanently move down to Kochi. Haru has her whole company to run, and Yusuke doesn't have the money to get his own place down there. Ryuji even offered to cancel his spot at the summer Olympics coming up, but Ann would have none of it. Maybe in a few months, some of us might be able to make a better arrangement, but..."
"I know", she nodded back, recognizing a foregone conclusion when she saw it. "I understand. You're all grownups now. You've got lives, families here. If we weren't around to handle things, maybe, but so long as we're able to..."
"We're always on call if something happens that you don't think you can handle", he told her gravely. "I've still got a lot of catching up to do at college, but the fate of the world is more important than that. Ignoring stuff is what started our problem in the first place, actually."
"We'll be fine, Kurusu-san", she promised, and was surprised by how much confidence she felt in those words. After conquering Reiha's dire Land, it felt like nothing could scare her any more.
Nothing Shadow-related, at least...
"Problem?"
Of course he would spot her distress, and recognize it. He seemed to have a talent for that. "I... Went to visit with my mom. We hadn't spoken for half a year, not in person."
"I heard about that. Everything go okay with her?"
"I'm not sure", she confessed after a lengthy pause. "I'm still kinda working it out in my head, to be honest."
Akira, it turned out, was an excellent listener, good at processing other people's problems without showing any slip displaying any kind of judgment, positive or negative. He waited until she was done elaborating before speaking again: "So you know the truth finally. That's good, right?"
"Maybe", she grunted uncomfortably. "Yes. No. I don't know."
"Very certain, then", he snarked before shifting into a more compassionate expression behind the glare of his specs. "You're hardly the one here with murdered parents. Haru. Futaba. Yusuke. Even on your own crew, there's Reiha..."
"I think...", she murmured into the cool attic air, eyes wavering. "I'm sorry, there's no way for me to say this without sounding selfish, especially with what happened to Hayato. But... In all the time I didn't know, my imagination ran wild. He was an unknown that I was eager to fill the blanks in with. Maybe he was a secret agent on some deep cover assignment. Maybe he was a big-time crook like Hayato's father, wiped out by the syndicate for messing up some job. Maybe-" Maybe he was Tongwa Byzael.
That particular thought hadn't actually come together for her until now, yet its validity couldn't be denied. With the way the grizzled old fishing captain treated her, teaching her to sail and how to fish, it was a reasonable enough assumption to make. A very welcome one, even. He had been the father she'd always wanted to have.
But Akira wouldn't understand any of that. "-Maybe, for all I knew up until now, I was another unwanted bastard spawn of Masayoshi Shido."
For the first time, Akira looked disappointed in her. Or possibly he was just disgusted at the ridiculous fantasies her imagination had attempted to create for her. "I suppose that could have been a genuine possibility, considering how strongly your mother tried to hide the information from you", he considered slowly. "But... if what we saw of Goro Akechi was any indication, then you'd be better off not knowing."
"I think I was better off not knowing", she looked back with a regretful smile. "You see? Deep down, I'm totally selfish. All this time, I really wanted to be someone special. Someone with a special father who was kept from them for some special reason. I didn't expect him to be so... so... ordinary."
Snorting, Akira adjusted his glasses. "My parents are perfectly ordinary. Am I?"
She didn't need to answer that for his point to be made. "Parents", Akira told her, "are a huge influence in our lives, whether good or bad. But they're hardly the only thing."
Pulling up a dusty chair, he flung his body around it. "You already know what happened to me. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I'd like to think that almost any kid my age, in my position, in my circumstances, would have made the same choice, and ended up the same way I did. I just so happened to be chosen by some malevolent God to play a rigged game of his."
"But-but you're the leader of the Phantom Thieves!", she pointed out like it was obvious. "You changed people's hearts. You created a revolution that changed the landscape of this country! How many people can say that about themselves?"
"Just one", he said. "But you're missing the point here, Tsuruga. Who your parents were didn't make you special- whatever that means. What you do does. And from the sound of it, you've been doing quite a few things to set yourself apart from the crowd since you got to Koashimizu academy. Things that don't really have that much to do with the whole 'Persona' thing."
She thought about it more. The more she did, the more memories that should have saddened her brought back the spark in her eyes and the smile to her lips.
"Damn", she remarked at last. "Wow. Did anyone ever tell you that you're really good at that?"
"What?", he asked innocently. "Cheering people up when they're letting their own doubts eat them up inside? A few times, I suppose. And yeah, I did do that without a Persona, without having to go into Palaces and steal hearts. Just had to use my own words, usually, and let people vent to a sympathetic ear. Kinda shoots down the Masked Circle's whole theory, doesn't it?"
Finally giving in, she laughed back at him. "Totally! Not that I ever agreed with it anyway. I said I wanted to be special, not... well... 'superior'. Like, having a Persona doesn't automatically make me better than the people who don't have one, you know? Just luckier, I guess."
"Not too many people would consider it 'lucky' to have to fight for their lives against Shadows before they graduate high school", Akira pointed out cheekily. "But yeah, that's what we did. It's what you did. More times than we can count. Because we couldn't stand what might happen if we didn't do that. I guess that's the trade."
"A trade I'd make again", she had to admit. "Just so long as I can protect people."
"Sounds like you've got it all figured out then", he commented, watching the sun set from the attic window together with her. "I hope you've enjoyed your time here, Tsuruga."
"More than anything I can remember enjoying", she admitted. It almost felt like a shame for them to return to Tosashimizu now, to leave behind the beautiful, legendary capital city she'd grown up in and go back to the tiny port town with just one mall and a population less than a hundredth the size.
But that idea was only a momentary fancy. Tokyo was nice, but her earlier words to her mother were completely genuine. Besides, she had incomplete business back in Tosashimizu. An unfinished school year, for starters. A nightclub run by three evil Persona-users for another. And the mystery of the hidden ocean beyond human sight, where worlds of dreams held sway.
"This... has been a wonderful time, Kurusu-kun", she panted, suddenly exhausted. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll always remember it."
"Any time", the former Phantom Thief promised, the smile on his own face devoid of mockery or falsehood. "I know you'll do your best."
7/31 Friday
Afternoon
The southern shore was stormy today, but Shukiji Niyoga already knew that it wouldn't become a rain storm. Not yet. The atmospheric pressure and cloud cover, which he'd measured on the previous evening, wasn't quite right for that.
It would likely at least be a few more days before the storm broke properly.
Still, just the sign of it had brought the majority of Tosashimizu's wary fishermen back to the coastline just in case, a dozen boats of varying sizes and types all hunkered down in the sand until it was safe to move again, the gray waves crashing against each of them as if trying to pull them all back into its gullet. Ignoring them, Shu made his way across the beach towards the Yume Bay.
The barriers were still there, but of course no one was there to monitor them now. The supposed dangers of this place had already been relegated to the back of humanity's collective memory, a mere few months since the last supposed 'disappearance' from its shores. Supposedly, the bay was cursed. Shu considered it much more likely that the unique shape of the coastline allowed the ocean to come in much closer here than anywhere else along the land mass, surprising visitors with the sudden powerful undertow.
It wasn't cursed. It couldn't possibly be cursed. Because curses didn't exist, any more than blessings did. Curses and blessings and fortune were all superstitions made up by imbeciles who couldn't take any responsibility for their own actions.
Shukiji sighed at the water and the overcast sky. That particular sort of foolishness did seem to be standing out to him more and more these days, becoming increasingly grating on his nerves. Particularly considering that he supposedly lived in a country which was known to the world as being notoriously level-headed otherwise.
Yet, everywhere he looked now, he saw it, blaring out at him like a soul-weary scream of the world's sanity.
Maneki-Neko statues, cutesy white depictions of cats- overbearing cuteness being another personal pet peeve of his- with boxes beneath them promising 'good luck' to the one who put money inside. The same for the countless ancient shrines decorating the country, trying to convince people that visiting them might change their fortunes for the better going forward. Every single day and month and year on the calendar was given a 'special' spiritual significance, the implication that certain types of people or animal would fare well on certain days.
Everywhere that Shukiji went, that he looked, there was superstition and fakery and worship and self-deceptions, all designed to part gullible fools of their money and waste their time. Imaginary gods used to control others. It made him sick. Sick to see so many supposedly educated people relying on chance or calling on Gods or going to shrines to pray.
It had even infected him too, in a way. That was likely the reason he was feeling so agitated about it now.
Aiko Tsuruga's idiotic fantasy story about another world, a hidden dark ocean- the one that she'd made Jiachi Rosea, Mirambela Sorano, Reiha Hayato, and even his old friend Noel Vitienne cooperate with, had left him disgusted, but not yet beaten. Clearly, something was happening out here if the police were involved. And it was something that they'd made great efforts to turn him away from.
But they weren't here now. They were on vacation to Tokyo, he knew. They couldn't stop him from examining every detail and deducing exactly what was going on here. I will find out. There is no knowledge in this world that I shouldn't possess.
It was even more disgusting to find himself actually studying the muddled waters of the Yume bay, expecting the 'door of green light' that Tsuruga had described to appear out in the unstable tide. This was the time she had mentioned, the time that the afternoon sun sank into the ocean before him, its light merging with the sea and supposedly opening a gate between two worlds.
Of course, nothing at all appeared in the light. Nothing. Of course not. Why would it? This was just a childish fantasy story fed to him by Aiko Tsuruga, and he felt ashamed to have believed it even for an instant. Stay focused now. We can go over the myriad foolishness of Tsuruga and her friends at another time.
"Enjoying the surf, Niyoga-kun?"
The sharp words came from nowhere and for a moment he feared a cop was here on duty after all. Instead, it was a familiar face, if not exactly friendly. "Kujou-san", he noted in polite surprise. "I didn't think I would see you again. I thought you'd have moved out by now. Tokyo awaits you."
Benihime's height seemed especially pronounced against lack of it among the various weather-beaten rocks, curtains of ocher moss flapping in the breeze. It felt like she'd followed suit, untying the usual arrangement of her luxurious dark hair to let fly freely. As usual, she made for an enticing, beautiful sight... assuming that one didn't already know her true nature as the cruelest, most vindictive student in Koashimizu academy.
"I thought about it", she remarked, examining her polished nails casually. "Didn't really work for me."
"Interesting", he noted, humoring her. His initial scan of her suggested she'd been eating properly and getting a fair bit of exercise. Curious. "And did your father Daisuke agree to such an idea?"
The mention of her father only seemed to bring a wistful smile to her wide face. "We've parted ways. He no longer has any say in what I do."
Very interesting. So Kujou's consuming need for revenge had even gone so far as to lead to the parting from her family's household entirely? He would of course have to check with Daisuke to learn the full truth of the matter.
The most likely explanation was that she was merely being the spoiled brat she had always been, running away from home, futilely hiding out here in order to avoid being taken away to Tokyo- ironically, the very place her 'enemy' was currently at.
He was confident that her opinion of this plan would change after having to spend a few days and nights without a roof over her head. Particularly if this storm continued to pick up the way it was.
And yet... There was also the matter of how she had come to him at all. How she'd obviously known, and been waiting for him to get here. He'd told no one at all. How had she guessed?
Desperate for some level of rationality, his eyes scanned the cove and found something that quieted his alarm. "The cave? You've been staying in there, have you?"
Kujou laughed, and his warning sense gradually returned. While he didn't believe in blessings or curses or anything like that, he did know that human instincts had been honed across thousands of years to sense and warn them of danger before it appeared.
Such as now.
"That cave? Really? And you say you're a genius? As though I'd stay in a damp pit like that. No, I've been staying over with some new friends of mine. They're very accommodating. One of them even told me you'd be here, in fact."
Another mystery. Another challenge for his mind. Who would willingly take in Benihime Kujou, and hide her away from her father and the police, risking arrest by doing so? How would they know how to find him?
"Hey", she whispered, having suddenly drawn closer while he was thinking until the warmth of her breath could play across his throat. "Wanna see something cool?"
A sharp hissing rang out, some kind of timed-release mechanism she'd dropped on the floor surrounding them with vapor. His first thought was some kind of hallucinogenic vapor, but the cloud surrounded them much faster than any normal inhalant should have.
Then he caught a glimpse of something else behind him, a brief flicker of light catching his eye, and he knew his hypothesis to be correct.
There was no possible way that this could not be a hallucinogenic.
The portal of green light gaped wide before them, its symmetry hampered by the raging waves but not disrupted by it. Instincts blaring out of control now, he moved away from it only for something to catch his foot, tripping him.
"Why leave, Niyoga-kun? We're only just getting started now! Come, PERSONA! Rise, O Ravenous Rusalka!"
Standing, he beheld yet another impossibility. An extremely tall, eerie, pale-skinned woman straight out of the most gripping of ghost stories, her stringy hair hung down in messy, disheveled tangles that blocked her eyes from view. Blue serpent scales enclosed the creature's bottom half, while several serpentine arms jutted forward with various blades in hand, one empty limb reaching up to pull another straight out of her own spine.
Having no time for ghost stories, he shut his eyes against it. "No. This is not real. This is a product of whatever hallucinogenic you've forced me to breathe. An illusion."
But the arm that suddenly lashed out and swirled around his leg to pull him up off the sand did not feel like an illusion at all. It felt slimy, cloying, alive. Like a nautical predator had him in its grip.
"Insulting Rusalka", Kujou scolded him, her voice suddenly jubilant, "is insulting me too, you know. And vice versa. But I can still spare you, Niyoga. Introduce you my other friends too. After all... you helped me meet them!"
He stared back, fighting what his eyes were telling him, trying to understand and failing. There was no possible way that this powerful creature had somehow been summoned by Benihime Kujou, of all people, and placed at her command. It was impossible. Even if such a creature truly existed outside of mythology, no one would be that irresponsible. Would they?
The creature's shiny ruby lips opened, revealing a moray eel's revolting arrangement within, a vile gray tongue eager to feast on him.
"Beg me for mercy, Niyoga", Kujou offered eagerly. "Bow down to your queen and beg me for mercy, and I'll let you go. You can meet the others then. They can help you."
Fear. It had been a long, long time since he'd felt true fear grip his heart and leave it beating much faster than normal. The regular life of a high school student- particularly the one with the highest grades in the entire district and no romantic aspirations to speak of- had comparatively little to worry about when it came to fear. Certainly, he'd felt pangs of it when the idiot bully Hajitara had been beating him up in that abandoned locker room, but that had happened weeks ago, and his unavoidable disdain for Haji had dampened his dread of the older boy.
Regardless, Shukiji fully believed that his lifelong devotion to logic and cognitive process had vanquished the greater power of his fear, his ability to feel shock or panic completely, and left him in a calm state where it always felt like he did not feel those things nearly so acutely as most other humans around him did, even adults. Fear is the mind killer. My mind has killed my fear.
Apparently, he'd been wrong.
It took a while, but eventually, he felt this fear fade away as well, his practiced knowledge coming back to banish all irrationality and slow the rapid beating of his heart back down to a normal rate.
"This is not real. This is impossible. You're trying to trick me."
The tentacle that he knew didn't actually exist tightened up on his leg until he heard something snap and it threw him up higher until he could peer down at Benihime Kujou's insulted-looking face as it transformed into a savage, leering grin.
"A shame. Oh well, I'm sure you'll find lots of new things to discover in there. You should be thrilled! ENJOY!"
This is not real. This is impossible. This is a trick. This is not real. This is impossible. This is a trick. This is not real. This-
The hideous creature smiled like its master and released, throwing him with the force of a motorcycle into the portal's open maw.
A/N: Yay, back after 9 months. At least that's faster than my muse Dowdz's Crimson, but he has a much better excuse.
I was writing another story but I hope to be able to stay on to get lots of work done on this one now. Very long chapter with a lot of refresher material for past events, but hopefully interest for this hasn't completely died out in my absence. I'd also like to point out that I re-planned a fair amount of things coming up because I considered them to be too 'grimdark' even for me.