The first thing Hamuko does upon waking is reach for her phone. Base instinct has her typing out a number before she can even think about it – too caught up in a panic to know quite what she's trying to do – and praying that she'll get an answer.
We're sorry, this phone number has been disconnected.
She pulls the phone away from her ear and looks at the number in confusion. It's not one she recognizes, and it's clearly not in her contacts. Who did she call? . . . It doesn't matter. She switches to the contact tab and presses on the only person she can think of right now.
"Hamuko?" comes Shinjiro's hoarse voice. He sounds like he just woke up.
"Shinji," she says in a whisper, tinged with panic.
"Are you okay?" he sounds less tired this time, alert, concerned.
Suddenly she is aware of what time it is – almost 4:30 in the morning – and feels terrible for calling. Why had she called? Something about – about – "Minato. Where's Minato?" She tries to pretend she's not about to cry, but she's sure he can hear it in her voice.
"Fuck," he says quietly. She can hear rustling on the other side. "I told her this would happen. Gimme a sec."
"I'm sorry for waking you," she says meekly. She doesn't ask what he means – she's sure she'll get clarification soon, and if she doesn't, well. . . she was asked not to look into her past. This probably counts.
He huffs a little. "Don't be an idiot." More silence. She waits patiently for whatever he was going to do. Somehow, she feels much calmer now – something about the way he speaks has made her mind clearer and her worry less. "I'm going to hang up now," he says eventually. "Fuuka will be in touch."
"Alright, Shinjiro-san."
Sounding almost affectionately annoyed, he huffs again. "Go back t' calling me Shinji."
She pulls the phone away from her ear to see that he hung up. For just a moment, everything feels normal. She groans and heaves herself out of bed to get dressed for the day. Her pajamas are comfy, but if she stays in them, she'll end up lounging around until work, and she has things to do. Like, for instance, updating the journal that has sat untouched for the past couple days.
'Metaverse', she writes in clear print at the top of a new page. Centered below that, in smaller print, she adds 'The Depths of Mementos'. Then comes the problem of describing what she had seen in her dream, when most of what she can recall amounts exactly to what the rest of Mementos looks like – red and black, more red and black, and a dash of red and black.
Blue hair, out of place amongst its dull surroundings, muddied with dirt –
She closes her eyes and rubs her temples. This is the one time she could really do without the flashbacks, actually. She doesn't need those images flashing in her mind at any point. They add absolutely nothing to what she needs to know, only distress.
Maybe the setting isn't as important as what was said in the dream. It's not like she can do much based on what the bottom of Mementos looks like. They still won't be able to reach it.
What did the voice say that seemed so important?
"Know this, Arisato Hamuko. Without him, you are useless. And you will lose."
Without him you are useless.
Why is that sticking in her head?
Without Minato she is useless.
It feels terrifyingly accurate, as if the voice knows something she does not. And, considering how few memories she currently has, it almost certainly does. At this point, everyone knows something she doesn't – especially terrifying dream entities.
She racks her brain for anything else to write down, but nothing seems important enough. Her memory recovery has come to a frustrating halt recently, though that is to be expected, and she's discovering she's very impatient. She wouldn't even need to be writing in this journal if she just had all her memories from the start.
Why doesn't she have all her memories?
This is the thought that has been plaguing her from the start. She doesn't remember what happened before she woke up – that is, she doesn't remember what happened that created this situation. She woke up alone, confused, in Mementos. What happened to her? The others seem to think it was something terrible, but – if it happened immediately before, why weren't they there when she woke up?
Nothing seems to add up. She's forced to consider that there is genuinely something interfering – if there is, it has to have something to do with the Velvet Room. That's the only explanation she can think of right now, and it doesn't answer many of her other questions.
None of this leaves anything for her to write in her journal. Frustrating. She wants there to be more to write so badly, because then she'd be one step closer to knowing her own self. That's the most frustrating part of this endeavor – the list of people that know things about her does not include herself.
Hamuko picks up her phone and checks the time. She's been staring at her journal for nearly an hour, which is a bit ridiculous. There has to be something better for her to do – she has work in an hour, so maybe she can spend the extra time getting ready for real. She's already dressed, of course, but that doesn't mean she can't shower and get re-dressed. Maybe stop somewhere for breakfast so she doesn't end up eating curry for the millionth time in a row.
The shower is refreshing, at the very least. She gets re-dressed and packs up to head out, making sure her headphones are draped around her neck and both her evoker and old phone are tucked safely into the waistband of her skirt. It feels wrong to go without them.
Her phone dings just as she's opening the door to leave.
Friday
11/25
5:42am
Lucia : Hello. Are you free? I know it's early.
Arisato Hamuko : I'm on my way to get breakfast. I have work at 6:30.
Lucia : Where are you going for breakfast? We can meet you there.
Lucia : That is, if you want your answers now.
Arisato Hamuko : We?
Lucia : Mitsuru and me.
She deliberates for a moment on whether she can wait and decides she can be a little late for work. She gives Yamagishi the directions to the diner in Shibuya she frequents, and then texts Boss to let him know she'll run a little late and that she'll work later to make up for it. After receiving the okay from both, she continues heading out.
The diner isn't very busy, having only been open for an hour or so. Most people are either asleep or don't have time to stop, so it's easy to find the red hair she knows to look for – the only thing she can think of to identify Kirijo and Yamagishi – since she doesn't know what Yamagishi looks like at all.
Kirijo clearly spotted her before she came in, because by the time she sees them Kirijo is calming waving her over. She goes over hesitantly, wanting answers but only now realizing she's nervous to receive them.
Hamuko slides into the booth across from Kirijo and a teal-haired woman – presumably Yamagishi – and gives what is probably a shaky smile. "Hello, Kirijo-san, Yamagishi-san," she says, bowing her head a little. It feels improper not to bow. Kirijo is an heiress. "Thank you for meeting with me."
Yamagishi giggles and pushes a plate towards her – breakfast. They must've ordered for her. "You can call us by our first names, Hamuko. You may not remember us, but you're still our friend."
She won't justify that with a response, but her first instinct is to tell them no. She technically doesn't know them. But – she had conceded for Shinji. "Shinji said you'd tell me about Minato," she says instead of acknowledging the request. She'll think about it. She pulls a bowl of rice toward her and starts eating.
Yama – Fuuka glances at Mitsuru, who gives a small nod. "He went on a mission a little over a month ago," she starts gently. "Sanctioned by the Shadow Operatives, of course, but he wouldn't actually tell us what he was doing. Just that it was life-and-death, and he would tell us when he got back."
Life-and-death. And they let him go alone? Figuring that's a bit rude to start with considering she doesn't have all the information yet, she settles for a different question. "The Shadow Operatives?"
Mitsuru fields this one. "A band of Persona-users sanctioned by the Kirijo Group. Investigators of Shadow activity."
"And he never came back from this mission?"
"He said it could take up to a year," Fuuka says softly. "Until then, we weren't to look for him. We thought it might worry you, even assuming you remembered him in the first place."
"But I do remember him. And I am worried."
"I'm sorry, Hamuko, that's all we know. He didn't give us any contact info. He left his phone behind."
Her mind flashes back to the original memory.
Promise me you won't try to sacrifice yourself.
Something in her tells her that Minato never intended to keep that promise. She doesn't know what happened – she doesn't know what sacrifice was made, but something is going on here. Her anger rises a little at the thought, and she can't help herself from bursting out a little. "So he could be in danger and you just wouldn't know?"
"Aigis is with him," Mitsuru replies smoothly. "But she follows his orders, not ours. He doesn't want to be looked for until the year is up, so she wouldn't answer if we tried. If he were in danger, though, she would come back."
Hamuko has absolutely no idea who Aigis is, so this is almost zero percent reassuring. It's clear that they can see her frustration though, as Fuuka gives her an apologetic look. "That's all the information I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?" she asks them.
Fuuka frowns. "We're sorry. That's all the information we have."
"But there is something we wanted to talk about," Mitsuru continues. "Shinjiro said you believe in the justice of the Phantom Thieves."
"I do," she replies without hesitation.
Mitsuru nods in understanding and does not push for reasoning. "Then they have enemies. They'll need protection. Do they know you have a Persona?"
"They found me in the Metaverse."
"So they do. Have they asked you to join them?"
Hamuko pauses at this and considers her answer carefully. She's not sure where the line of thought is going, but she decides that Mitsuru likely means no harm. "They have."
"You'll need to accept."
"I can't –"
"The only way to keep them safe is to have someone on the team," Mitsuru says firmly. "You're the only one in that position. We'll need to know when they're in the Metaverse and where they are in order to have any chance of preventing disaster."
She hadn't considered that. Mitsuru, frustratingly, has a point. "I'll need your contact info if you want me to do that. And I need to get to work."
Mitsuru hands her a business card and looks at Fuuka, who pulls out a bag and hands it to Hamuko. "It's a phone," the teal-haired girl explains. "It'll work to send us messages in the Metaverse."
Hamuko tucks it into her purse and bows goodbye. The time on her phone reads 6:43 am – so she needs to head straight for work. No time to stay and ask anymore questions. She does not give Mitsuru or Fuuka time to say goodbye and instead rushes off. Momentarily, she feels bad for lashing out earlier. Momentarily.
She ends up reaching Leblanc just before it hits 7, and she manages to work until 4 without being disturbed by any of the Phantom Thieves – Akira apparently having decided to stay in his room all day.
"I assume you'll need the shop to be closed," she says in lieu of greeting as Futaba pushes open the door. Futaba nods and heads upstairs, so Hamuko goes and turns the sign to 'closed'. It's not as if they had any customers anyway.
The rest of the Phantom Thieves file in over the course of the hour, with Akira, Futaba, and Morgana making their way downstairs eventually. Everyone keeps glancing at her – she can feel their eyes on her even as she makes them coffee – and she's mentally bracing herself throughout their meeting for them to finally work up to asking her the Dreaded Question.
"So, Hamuko," Ann begins with an air of false nonchalance. "Have you thought about joining?"
"We know the keywords," Akira continues imploringly. "We've been inside. We need your help."
Hamuko takes a calming breath and looks around at the Phantom Thieves. They watch her with earnest hop – they know what is inside this next Palace. They say they need her help. If the Palace is that bad, perhaps she should –
But it isn't your story, the voice inside her head reminds her.
"The only way to keep them safe is to have someone on the team," Kirijo had said. "You're the only one in that position."
Perhaps it'd be better for her to meddle a bit.
"Okay," she says at last. "I'll join the Phantom Thieves."
Akira grins. "Great! You start right now."
Akira genuinely meant right now right now. They stand in front of the Diet Building, which is apparently where the Palace is. Hamuko texts Mitsuru as inconspicuously as possible to let her know the details – the location, and the codewords as she hears them being entered.
There's a warping sensation, just as there had been when she went into Mementos for the first time, but nothing seems to change. After a moment of confusion, she's turned around by Akira, who is now wearing his Phantom Thieves outfit.
Oh.
It's a cruise ship. They're on the deck, surrounded on all sides by water that reaches the horizon. The only sign of land – or the previous existence of it – is the tops of the Tokyo skyscrapers peeking out as the cruise ship meanders by.
"His distortion is centered on the Diet Building," Akira had said on their way over. "But it encompasses all of Tokyo."
In context that sounds pretty reasonable. After all, the Palace itself isn't that big – not all of Tokyo big – and she hadn't even noticed the change at first. Looking out upon the never-ending water, though, she can't believe it's just 'all of Tokyo'. All of the world, more like, with the way the water has flooded. It's like a hellish Noah's Ark comprised of only the richest and skeeziest.
The Palace may not be big, but the distortion is bigger than she could've ever though possible. What sort of twisted mind could have created something this large?
. . . She shouldn't think too hard about it.
"Are you ready?" Akira asks.
She grips the naginata that had been provided to her and braces herself. "Yeah, I'm ready."
He nods and motions for everyone to enter. She feels out of place without a costume – she's just a regular person in regular clothes – but isn't sure how she'd feel about her Persona suddenly deciding she needs one. She decides to just focus on the task at hand and follow everyone else's lead.
Sleazeball number 1, 2, 3, and 4 pass without relative incident, unless you count them being disgusting. There's the occasional need to turn into mice to get through the ship, which does not seem foreign to the rest of the Phantom Thieves, so she decides not to question it. Something, something, cognition, something.
She hangs back with Futaba and tries to take a backburner approach to fighting, only coming in when they really need her help – after all, she's there to make sure they're safe, not to fight their battles for them. Even then, she tries to utilize her healing skills more than she utilizes her fighting skills.
The boiler room gives them trouble.
The Cleaner is a powerful enemy, and Hamuko needs to step in more often – mostly healing like before, but occasionally needing to send out a good megidolaon. After what seems like forever, Akira delivers the final blow, and they receive the last envelope they need to make it in and get Shido's treasure.
"What now?" Hamuko asks.
"Once we see the treasure, we leave and send a calling card," Futaba informs her. "Then we come back that day and steal it."
That seems simple enough, even knowing they always get caught and have to fight. According to Akira, at least. Doesn't seem very thief-like to her, but who is she to judge? She's only a temporary Thief.
They exit the room the Cleaner was in and are faced with –
Akechi Goro.
He smiles calmly. "Long time no see." Ignoring Ryuji's exclamation of surprise, he continues in a level voice. "I'm impressed that you managed to deceive me. It seems I underestimated your abilities. You truly are interesting. . . quiet, yet possessing the courage and determination to take action. Under different circumstances we could have been great rivals. Or perhaps even friends."
It is hard to read Akira's emotions as Joker at the best of times, but his voice is softer and his stance less defensive than usual when he responds. "Don't be ridiculous."
"How wonderful," Akechi says with a laugh. "You don't allow yourself to be enslaved by such things as human relations or past selves, and so your heart is always free. The exact opposite of mine. To be honest, I'm envious." He pauses and muses, quieter. "I wonder why we couldn't have met a few years earlier, Akira."
Akira takes a step back, as if genuinely startled. He opens his mouth and closes it, unsure how to respond. Ann speaks up in his stead. "Akechi. . ." she trails off worriedly.
Something in Akechi seems to shift. "But there's no use talking in hypotheticals. That didn't happen in reality."
"Akechi," Makoto says. "Why are you cooperating with someone like Shido? Don't you see what this Palace looks like? His true nature is. . ."
"Cooperating. . .?" Akechi asks with a small indignant laugh. "What are you talking about? I don't care for Shido, or this country. All of this is to make Shido Masayoshi – my father – acknowledge me. Then I will exact my revenge on him."
His father.
That. . . makes an unfortunate amount of sense.
"Shido is your father?" Yusuke echoes her thoughts.
"Remember I said before," Akechi continues in his pseudo pleasant voice, "how my mother had been in a relationship with some good for nothing man? So I'm his bastard child. My very existence is nothing but a scandal. My mother's life turned for the worst after she had me, and she died. I was a cursed child for her too.
"I resented him, but he was already a high-ranking official by then. A kid like me could do nothing. But that's when it happened," he breaks off into a chuckled, opening his arms for dramatic effect. "That's when I learned about the cognitive world! Someone, be it god or demon, gave me a chance! I couldn't contain my laughter."
Hamuko watches as the Phantom Thieves react restlessly. This is reminding her of something, but she can't put her finger on it. So familiar. . .
"Who cares? My targets were all doing the same damn thing in this eat or be eaten world. All I did was remove their evil from society. How is that any different from the Phantom Thieves?"
"We're not murderers!" Ann calls out.
"So what? Shido Masayoshi is finally within my grasp! Once he reaches the apex of his power and acknowledges me, I'm going to whisper in his ear – I'll tell him the truth of who I really am! And that's when I – an utter disgrace to the world – will rule over him. I will prevail!
"In just a few weeks, my plan would have come to fruition. . . but no, you just had to interfere. I can still take it back, though. I'll just need to kill you."
With that, Akechi rips off his mask and summons some Shadows. She's not sure how he does it – how he bends their will to his own like that. He shouldn't be able to do that.
Even with the added element of facing down a Persona-user, it goes much the same as every other fight has so far, if a bit harder. Hamuko defaults to just healing everyone as much as she can, occasionally taking a moment to restore her strength.
Akechi continues talking throughout the fight, but she's too focused on trying to keep everyone alive to know exactly what he's saying – only taking note when his entire outfit changes and he starts going harder at the Thieves. Haru starts taking every opening to distribute medicine, which is good because at the rate Akechi is going Hamuko isn't sure if she can keep up.
It takes longer than they were originally planning on spending in the Metaverse, but eventually Akechi is on the ground panting. "I've had enough, he says raggedly. He looks up and meets Akira's eyes. "You're so lucky. Lucky to be surrounded by teammates who acknowledge you. And once Shido confesses his crimes, you'll all be heroes. As for me, people will find out my past deductions were just charade. My fame and trust will vanish.
Morgana makes a small noise of understanding. "So you were turning people psychotic, then solving the cases yourself. And you did that by joining forces with Shido."
"In the end, I couldn't be special," Akechi says bitterly.
All at once, she's reminded that this is a child – verging on adulthood, sure, but still just a child. They're all children. The same age as – as –
"It pains me to admit," Makoto says, "but your wit and strength far exceeds ours. We only defeated you by teaming up. I was honestly envious of your natural ability. It was frustrating to see how much my sister trusted you. . ."
Haru glances at the others before speaking up. "I have no intention of forgiving you for what you did to my father, but I sympathize with you. I wholeheartedly understand wanting to get back at the adults who took from you."
The rest of the Phantom Thieves agree with Haru's sentiment, which is understandable. From what she knows, they founded it based on getting back at crooked adults in the first place. The Thieves and Akechi are more similar than either ever thought, she supposes.
"We're gonna take Shido down," Ryuji says. "What're you gonna do?"
Akechi laughs in disbelief. "Are you all idiots? You should get rid of me if you don't want me getting in your way. You are all truly beyond my comprehension."
From the shadows steps a man in a light brown suit –
Bound hands, the whistle of wind, and a voice proclaiming that the end of the world is near –
"Did you truly believe you'd be spared after all the murders you undertook?" Cognitive Akechi asks in a flat tone.
"Kill them," says the man in the brown suit.
"Here, I'll give you one last chance," Cognitive Akechi says. "Shoot them."
Two shots, both ringing true –
Mitsuru sits on her knees, cradling the body of what Hamuko knows to be her father. The brown-suited man takes two steps, three steps, four steps backwards, pressing his hand to the bleeding wound in his chest. "You'll see," he says in promise. "You'll see."
He steps off the rooftop.
Akechi stands shakily and aims his gun directly at Akira.
A child sits huddled over a still body much larger than him, bathed in a familiar green glow. The child is sobbing, covered in blood – whether it is his or the figure's, she doesn't know. Movement in the corner of her eye draws her attention to the man standing nearby, gun still raised and metaphorically smoking. The man grins – crazy, wild-eyed – and takes his leave, knowing she will not be able to give chase.
She takes a hesitant step forward, bringing the body's face into full view.
Shinji.
He takes a shuddering breath but does not awaken.
Cognitive Akechi grins. "Yes, that's the you our captain wishes to see."
She is standing in front of an impossible structure, twisting and turning and jutting up into the sky much farther than should be possible. At the top of a set of steps stands a girl and a boy hugging. The wild-eyed man steps out of the shadows, giving that same familiar crazed grin.
The same gun raises up and shoots.
Her eyes follow the bullet –
"You misunderstand," Akechi says, and in that instant she knows what he intends to do.
A man stumbling backwards, a child crying, a baseball cap soaked in blood –
"Akechi, no," she says involuntarily. Quietly, too quietly – he does not hear her. No one hears her. No one sees what he is about to do.
Time seems to slow. Akechi turns his gun to Cognitive Akechi and shoots twice.
"No," she shouts. She's not sure when her Evoker goes up to her head, but Orpheus-Telos is reacting just as Akechi turns in the other direction, shooting a control panel she's sure she noticed on their way to defeat the Cleaner.
A hand grabs her and pulls her back, farther away from the double Akechis, jerking her head away in the process. She yanks it out of the grasp – noting the red gloves – and turns back toward the scene. She misses the split second between the announcement and the wall coming down, but by the time she recovers she is staring at Akechi's startled face as he leans against the wall he brought down.
"You saved me," he says in disbelief.
She glances nervously at the others, but they don't seem angry with her. Akira actually looks relieved. "I've watched too many people die."
Akira gives her a gentle smile and turns his attention back to Akechi. "Come on, Akechi. Let's go figure out the rest of your life."
