Hamuko shifts from her awkward position on the floor into a more comfortable sitting position. She can feel that she's back in the clothes she was wearing when they went to the Depths, rather than her Gekkoukan uniform. If she didn't know any better, she'd think the whole Ryoji interaction and subsequent trip down memory lane was all a dream. She unclenches her hand and lets the piece of cloth she's holding unfurl. It's the armband that Ryoji had handed her before they said their goodbyes.
"The final piece," he had said. "The last thing you were missing. Your friends."
And her memories, she supposes. Or, perhaps, her friends were the missing piece to unlock her memories. It doesn't matter either way – she remembers everything now. She gingerly folds up the armband and tucks it into her skirt waistband, just as she had done in the 'dream'. There's no putting it on since it's for a long-discontinued club, even if she were still in high school.
She looks around. This is the Velvet Room. Not only that, this is her Velvet Room. Well, hers and Minato's. It looks just as it did back when it served her, except is has clearly long been abandoned since then. The elevator is no longer moving. What was once Igor's chair doesn't seem to have had any recent use. Cobwebs decorate the corners of the room, and dust kicks up off the carpet when she shifts.
Is this what happens when the Wild Card is no longer under contract? She was under the impression that it morphs to fit the needs of each Wild Card, not that a whole new one is created. Is that where the doors lead?
A noise sounds from nearby. She looks around to find the source and spots Minato slowly waking up next to Aigis. "Min," she says with relief, making her way to kneel over him. He didn't succeed in sacrificing his life for her own, at least, even in the clearly terrible state he's in.
He doesn't look gravely injured, but she can see bruises forming where the chains were holding him. There's a small bit of dried blood trickling down from his hairline, and his face is gaunt. He coughs once, twice – either from the dust in the room or from a genuine injury – and his eyes blink open.
"Ham?" he says in confusion.
How long was he down there?
Logically, she knows that one can survive in a supernatural world for much longer than you'd think. Fuuka was missing for days in Tartarus – though it is arguable whether she was experiencing time the same way they were – and was perfectly fine by the end of it.
A month or more feels like it's pushing it a little too far, though. His under eyes are dark, looking nearly as bruised as his wrists do. He'd never gotten dark under eyes in high school, no matter how little sleep he got. That can't be a good sign for how long he's been in the Depths.
"Are you okay?" she asks him, glancing at Aigis while she waits for him to be a little more aware. The robot is still. Hamuko is no computer expert, so that will have to be dealt with later. Somehow. She wishes Fuuka were here right now, though she's not sure how exactly that would happen.
"It worked," he says instead of answering, definitely deliberately ignoring her question. It has always been his favorite question to dodge, especially when it's clear he isn't. He shifts to try to get up but winces and lays back down. "Ow. You're awake."
She rolls her eyes at him. "Idiot. Do you know how long you've been in the Metaverse?"
He hums for a second but doesn't take his eyes off her. "About as long as you've been re-alived?"
"So two months, now," she says with no small amount of exasperation. "And you're supposed to be an honors student, did you just say re-alived?"
"Not in school anymore," he says with a slight cough. "I go through the trouble of saving you and you repay me by insulting me. So much for being a good sister, I guess."
She leans back on her feet to give him room to breathe. "I could've just left you in the Metaverse if you wanted. Sounds like you really enjoyed being tortured or whatever was happening there."
He tries once again to push himself up, this time succeeding. He winces as he leans to support himself and grabs his head in pain. "Don't remember." He glances around the room, clearly just noticing all the blue. "The Velvet Room, huh? Why are here?"
Hamuko gets up off her knees and dusts them off. Now that she knows Minato is okay for the time being, she can fully investigate. "Your guess is as good as mine. I was thinking of checking the doors to see if they go anywhere."
He nods and leans over to check on Aigis. "Do you think she's alright?"
"She's been out of commission for a while," she says as she heads for the doors behind what was once Igor's chair. "Or she would've called for help, even if you gave her other orders. I think she'll be fine if we can at least get her to Fuuka, if not a Kirijo lab."
The first three doors she tries are locked. The fourth one opens the second her hand touches it, but not from her own input. It swings in, away from her, and out comes Theo and Elizabeth. She makes room for them to come out. "Oh good," says Theo as he enters. "You made it. We were afraid. . . never mind."
"Theo," she says with relief. If anyone knows anything, it'd be an attendant. "How did we get here?"
He doesn't answer. Elizabeth steps just a little too close, seemingly inspecting her. "So your mind was not lost to insanity in the process of being returned to your body. How unfortunate."
Hamuko has never claimed to like Elizabeth, no matter what Minato sees in her. She's just a little too – too – out there. Insane. (Similar to Hamuko.) The disconnect between the Velvet Room attendants and the real world has always been clear, but Elizabeth takes it to a whole new level. (Hamuko usually finds it amusing. She might just be cranky.)
"Control your attendant," she tells Minato.
"Can't," he says, shifting his weight again and grimacing at the movement. "She's just like that all the time."
He's clearly had to put up with the attendants for the entire time she's been gone. As much as she loves Theo, and in some part Elizabeth, the concept is not exactly her idea of fun. Speaking of the entire time she's been gone – "Hey, not that this is relevant, but how old are we?"
Minato considers the question for a bit. "What month is it?"
"December."
"Twenty-four," he says after another while.
She rolls her eyes again. "Did you just have to do the math for that? You've only been gone for a couple months."
"I haven't been keeping track," he defends. "You wouldn't have either. Anyways, you could've just done the math yourself. Surely you know when we were born."
He may have a point, but she would rather die a second time than admit it. She tends to think herself a very humble person who accepts mistakes with grace, but she puts the bar at admitting she's wrong if Minato is the one that is right. She's older than him, and therefore always more correct than him.
Theo finally notices the bruises on Minato's wrist and his general un-wellbeing and goes over. "Ah, let me heal you." He presses his palm to Minato's forehead and the bruises start fading away, along with the general grime he had been covered in. "There."
"When did you become an automatic cleaning service?" she asks with some amusement.
"The grime was a result of the Metaverse," Elizabeth explains. "My brother simply removed all traces of the Metaverse. You're welcome."
Minato stands and brushes himself off. He clearly hasn't changed much since they were younger, wearing an outfit that closely resembles what he would have worn in high school – a navy-blue turtleneck and a pair of jeans – though his coat is notably missing. He gives him a once-over to make sure he's not simply pretending to be healed.
(It's not that she doesn't trust Theo, it's that she doesn't trust Minato.)
"You're going to get cold," she says eventually, satisfied with his range of movement and (notably terrible) posture.
"You're not wearing a coat either," he replies. "And unlike me, you knew it was December."
He's right, but once again, she'd rather die than admit it. She goes to retaliate –
. . . She's looking up to talk to him.
Dammit.
"Aren't twins supposed to be the same height or something?" she complains. "Why are you taller than me?"
He gives a smug smile. "I've always been taller than you."
"Yeah," she says indignantly. "That's why I'm mad."
"I'd say you might have a growth spurt, but we're 24 now," he says in amusement. "You've lost your chance."
The world is cruel and unjust, she decides. She sacrificed herself to save it, and it couldn't even give her a few extra inches so that she's not shorter than her younger brother. "At least I can rest easy in knowing you're shorter than the rest of the guys," she says, immediately drawing a glare.
While they're talking, Theo is checking over Aigis. Hamuko isn't sure what – if anything – he can do for the robot, but if he can do something, it's better than nothing. She hates seeing Aigis shut down. While Theo is doing that. . .
"So what did you do?" she asks with a more serious tone. "Why am I here?"
He knew she was going to ask eventually, she can tell, but was clearly hoping she wouldn't. "Elizabeth said. . ." he trails off and gives the woman a glance, but she doesn't speak up. "She said I couldn't have been the one to sacrifice myself. It had to be you because you drew on 'the strength of your bonds'. I didn't have enough bonds to draw on."
"Yeah," she says in confusion. "One friendship for every major arcana. And?"
"But before," he says, "if you don't include the bonds, it could've been either of us. Aigis sealed Death in both of us - we're practically interchangeable. She said -"
"You occupy the same space in the universe," Elizabeth interjects. "For all intents and purposes, you are the same person."
He nods. "So. . . all I needed was more bonds."
They're interchangeable.
She hates his phrasing and hates even more what he is clearly dancing around. "You were going to sacrifice yourself to save me." Her voice is flat and her glower absolute.
He looks a bit sheepish at her tone but doesn't falter. He was determined to do this, she can tell, which makes it even worse. "If it came down to it."
"Minato -"
"But it didn't come down to it!" he says a bit louder, defensively. His voice rarely gets louder than a whisper, so this is more of a normal talking level than it is a shout, but it makes her go quiet anyways. "I - I don't know why, but it didn't, so you can't be mad."
Elizabeth hums. "The most likely thing is that you still had a little bit of Death in you. How interesting. Instead of one of you sacrificing your whole, you both sacrificed your half."
There is no sense in which Hamuko can make sense of whatever Elizabeth just said. She's sure it makes sense to Elizabeth herself, and maybe Theo, but definitely not to her. Even if it did make sense, it would do nothing to calm her anger at Minato.
He promised.
"You both shared the burden of Death," Theo explains distractedly, still looking over Aigis. "And now you share the burden of the Seal. We are not sure of the long-term effects, but for now you are both alive and should remain that way."
The concept doesn't make her any less angry, as predicted. They didn't know that that's how it would happen. Their stupid plan -
Their. . .
Their plan.
"You were going to let him do this?" she asks relatively calmly, considering the circumstances. "You were going to let him trade his life for mine?"
Theo winces, which tells her all she needs to know. "We –"
"Not only were you going to let him do it," she interrupts, "you told him how he could."
"It was my idea, Ham," Minato says softly. "Don't blame them."
Her anger softens, but not by much. "I'm blaming all of you. Why did any of you think this was a good idea, especially –" she pauses, realizing something, and then switches topics. "What happened – the phone calls -?"
"My brother and I are not currently in the graces of our Master," Elizabeth explains. "As such, we are not technically allowed inside the Velvet Room. Theodore's final attempt to contact you was right as we were discovered and sent to the Velvet Room by Yaldabaoth."
She considers this. "And your mistake?"
"Getting discovered. My dear brother meant to find you and help you, but a lapse in judgement led to our capture."
That seems a bit underwhelming for how dramatic the phone call had felt at the time, but that's not anyone's fault. They wanted her to be warned, she supposes. Plus, it's equally not their fault that there had been interference. That one is likely on the Treasure God – who apparently is Yaldabaoth.
Theo finishes whatever he had been doing to Aigis while they were talking. The robot blinks once, twice, and sits up methodically, glancing around the now defunct Velvet Room. "Recalibrating," she says in a very robot-y voice. Both Hamuko and Minato wince. Hopefully, the recalibration makes her go back to normal.
There's not much they can do about that one except wait, so she goes back to her line of questioning. She wants to have all the facts before moving on to what they're going to do about the fun evil god fucking shit up.
(She is allowed these swears. She is very angry.)
"Okay," she says and takes a calming breath. It doesn't work very well. "Okay. So what happened to you?"
Minato frowns. "I don't know. I was – it was the top level of Mementos, and I was waiting for you to wake up. My next clear memory is here."
"You were there? Waiting for me?" she asks. She hadn't thought about the possibility of that, though it makes sense. There's no reason for Minato to have gone through all the trouble of bringing her back if he wasn't going to be there to greet her as she woke up.
He nods. "And Aigis."
"He likely suffered the same fate as my sister and I," Theo says. "One Wild Card is dangerous. Two is more than Yaldabaoth would want interfering with his game."
Something niggles at the back of Hamuko's mind. She's been so distracted by the past that she'd momentarily forgotten everything that happened in the past few months. Including, but not limited to, being told Minato did not tell anyone what he was going to do.
"You thought you were going to die," she says incredulously. "And you didn't tell anyone what you were going to do?"
Minato winces. "They told you that?"
"You thought they wouldn't?"
"I thought –" he winces again and pauses, probably thinking whatever he's about to say through. "Well, if I had died, I wouldn't exactly be there for them to be mad at me."
So much for thinking that through. "And your plan once you realized you hadn't died?" she asks him with an even glare.
"Uh. . . lie about it."
"Minato."
He opens his mouth to defend himself further but is interrupted by Aigis finally standing up. "You are. . . alive," she says in wonder, staring at Hamuko.
Hamuko promptly throws herself into hugging Aigis. The robot immediately returns the hug – a testament to just how human-like she has become since their first introduction on Yakushima. It's only when she pulls away that she realizes she's crying.
"Where was this energy for me?" Minato says with a roll of his eyes.
"You know what you did," she replies, then gives a teary smile to Aigis. Aigis, who has always felt like home, like the three of them are their own little family – or, going bigger, who is a piece of the much larger S.E.E.S family. This is what she has been missing these past few months. Her family.
"She helped –" he starts.
He's interrupted by Theo. "We have spent enough time here," he says. "This area should not still exist. It may be unstable."
"Fine," says Hamuko. "We're all talking about this later, though."
She dutifully follows the attendants out of the room – notably taking a different door than the one they had originally come through. One of the three locked ones.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room," says Igor as they enter. "Or perhaps I should say welcome back."
He's sitting behind a desk, surrounded by a circle of cells. This is Akira's version of the Velvet Room, she supposes. Knowing that the Velvet Room is a reflection of one's heart definitely makes the jail more interesting. "A jail, huh?" Minato mutters from behind her, eyes on the – is that a guillotine? "That's not scary at all." She hits him on the arm. Akira is her friend, and. . . she can understand why this might be the reflection of his heart.
It certainly is a lot more on the nose than an elevator, though.
Aigis pushes in front of them and looks around the area, fingertip guns fully out. "Analysis complete. There does not seem to be any danger here."
"I honestly though you'd give up on the protecting thing at some point," Hamuko says. "Or at least calm down a little bit."
"It got worse after. . ." Minato trails off, clearly avoiding the topic of her death. "She's just like this now."
She hums in response and takes Aigis's hand reassuringly. There doesn't seem to be a sign of the Phantom Thieves, though she's not quite sure why she expected there to be, aside from Akira. Actually – how did they get there? She turns to task Theo but is distracted by movement in her periphery.
Aigis releases her hand to point her fingertip guns at the movement. Hamuko immediately grabs her hand again and gives her a Look. Akira walks out of a cell on the opposite side of the circular room, still wearing his Phantom Thief gear. "Oh, thank god, you're alright," he says to her, giving Aigis an odd look. "We couldn't find you."
"We were in. . ." she trails off and glances at Theo and Elizabeth, who seem to be deliberately avoiding the gaze of Igor. They did say they weren't exactly in his graces at the moment. "Never mind. Where's everyone else?"
Akira nods his head at the cell he had come out of. "Back there. We were waiting for you." His eyes catch on Minato and her intertwined fingers with Aigis and smiles easily. "Your brother?"
"Oh, right," she says. "Minato, Kurusu Akira. Akira, Arisato Minato. And. . . Aigis."
Aigis shifts a little and her grip on Hamuko's hand tightens lightly. "Arisato Aigis," she corrects.
"We had to give her a last name," Minato says softly. She's not even sure anyone but her and Aigis can hear him. "She wanted ours. I thought. . . it seemed like something you'd let her do."
She can't help the giggles that bubble out. "Aw, Ai-chan, that's so cute! You're like a third sibling."
Akira gives her another odd look, and she realizes that with all her memories she's reverted to high school Hamuko, not the memory-less and mostly withdrawn Hamuko that the Phantom Thieves know. "She doesn't have a last name?" he seems to gather from the way they're talking.
"My name is Arisato Aigis," Aigis responds firmly.
Hamuko giggles again. "Legally it's Arisato, I guess. But no, she didn't have one back in high school."
Her favorite pastime has always been deliberately confusing people, and she takes no small pleasure in the befuddlement on Akira's face. "Anyways," he says eventually, shaking away his confusion. "We're going to go defeat the Holy Grail. You coming?"
"Wait," Minato says behind her. "Evokers."
She lets go of Aigis's hand to pull the Evoker from her waistband and show it to him.
He grabs it and inspects it. "This one's mine."
That explains why it wasn't near her when she woke up. She'd found it near the tracks, hadn't she? But still, she doesn't see how that might be relevant. "Does it matter?" she says exasperatedly. "How do you even know?"
"I dented it a year ago – anyways, Theo has yours," Minato says and glances back at the attendant, who dutifully produces the Evoker in question. "I gave it to him to keep safe."
Assuming that he would die, is what he doesn't say, but she narrows her eyes at him anyways and accepts her own Evoker. She knows, just as well as Minato does, that it doesn't matter who uses which Evoker, but she's glad it worked out this way. If she hadn't been carrying his, there would only be one Evoker between the two of them, which would be a significant power cap.
She tucks the Evoker into her skirt, just as the original one had been, takes Aigis's hand again – it really is very comforting – and nods to Akira that she's ready. They follow Akira to where the rest of the Phantom Thieves are waiting for them, without the attendants. Minato takes one look at them and physically recoils. He hates crowds, she knows, especially ones full of strangers. He'll have to suck it up for a bit.
"Oh, Hamu-chan, there you are!" says Ann excitedly. "We were worried."
Hamuko gives her a bright smile. "Thank you for worrying about me, but I'm alright." She hears Minato mutter something about costumes from behind her but pays him no heed. The Thieves can explain that later.
Akira looks over everyone. "Now that we're all here, we should go. There's no telling what will happen if we do nothing."
Everyone gives their agreement, and they head out the strangely heavy industrial door at the top of the stairs.
Hamuko takes one look at the world around her and winces. The city is bathed in red, in blood, and there are structures seemingly made of bone shooting out from the ground. A drop falls on her face, and she wipes it away to find her hand covered in red, too. She shudders. That better not be real blood.
(She remembers the puddles in the Dark Hour and wonders why the supernatural loves grossing her out.)
The Phantom Thieves are discussing the implications of the Velvet Room door and the origins of the Velvet Room. She pauses and takes out the phone that was given to her by Fuuka, sighing in relief when it shows that she has bars. Its programming works still. Minato comes up behind her and looks over her shoulder. "Your phone works?"
"Fuuka made it so it'd work in the Metaverse," she says, already navigating to text Mitsuru their coordinates. "It makes sense that it'd work now."
"I can send a message to the others," Aigis says. "My coordinates will be more accurate."
Right. She'd forgotten about that. "Thank you, Aigis. Please do."
She texts Mitsuru anyways, just to say that she's remembered everything and has located Minato, and turns her attention back to the world around them. The city is going about their business as usual, seemingly completely unaware of what is happening. Unaware, even, of the Phantom Thieves themselves, despite the odd getup.
Mitsuru responds with an affirmative and that they are on their way. Hamuko looks up to see Mona glowing, and the city finally noticing something, at least – they're remembering the Phantom Thieves. Not everyone, of course, but some. That has to be a good, sign, right? The Thieves seem to think it is.
"Over there," Mona points. "The bastard from earlier should be in that temple."
"Wait," Hamuko says. "My friends are on their way."
Akira quirks his head. "Your friends?"
"The Persona-users," she explains. "The ones that came to get Akechi."
"We can surely do without those two," Makoto says. "This is time-sensitive."
"Not two," Hamuko says, shaking her head. "The Shadow Operatives, sanctioned by the Kirijo Group. It's more like. . ."
"There are many members of the Shadow Operatives," Aigis says. "Seven will be on their way, as well as Koromaru-chan."
Just the members of S.E.E.S, then. Makes sense. She gives a pointed nod to Aigis. "It shouldn't be too much longer. They're very quick."
Futaba speaks up. "They're coming," she says. "I can sense them moving nearby."
Minato taps her and nods behind her. She turns around and there her friends are. Ken spots them first, waving excitedly. Koromaru gives a bark and races over. Shinji –
Oh. Shinji.
She throws herself at him - like genuinely throws, as in he has to step back to compensate for literally carrying her now. He seems to be expecting it, though, because he steadies them pretty quickly, returning the hug. "I missed you," she murmurs into his neck. To hell with the subject they'd been dancing around in high school, honestly. She's sick of avoiding topics and making up excuses.
He sets her down and gives a warm laugh. This is - he's changed, she can tell. She could tell before she remembered, of course, but now it's so much clearer. He's not nearly as intent on his imminent death - one that never came to pass - or on how stupid she may or may not be for liking him. "You just saw me," he says, eyes crinkling.
"Not the same," she says resolutely. "Since I didn't remember you then."
In the corner of her eye, she can see Akihiko embracing Minato in a much calmer reunion. They must've gotten together sometime after she died - either that or they are very close to doing so, considering the way Akihiko is looking at her brother. Either way, it makes Minato's lack of communication with their friends even more frustrating.
Which reminds her. . .
They can get the rest of the reunion out of the way later. Not only is there a semi-pressing matter to attend to (the end of the world can only be considered semi-pressing now that it has tried to happen to her twice), but their friends don't know what Minato had been doing in the time that he was gone. While she may consider agreeing to hide the full detail of it all, they need to know that they should be - rightfully - angry at him.
"Minato is grounded," she says, catching the full attention of the rest of S.E.E.S and a glare from her brother. "And that is an order."
Aigis, who has always been partial to her in disputes between her and Minato, nods. "Understood."
Mitsuru looks at Minato consideringly. "May I ask why?"
"For reckless and terribly thought through behavior."
Minato crosses his arms. "It wasn't terribly thought through -"
"I mean, you could tell them what you did and see what they think," she says, quirking her eyebrow at him. "But they might be angrier with you than I am."
He remains silent, and the others take this as proof that he definitely did do something reckless and terribly thought through. She knows they will ask him what he did later, just as she knows he will at least tell them part of the truth, and then all of them will be mad at him for a few weeks. Par for the course.
"I'll take Hamuko's side on this one," Akihiko says apologetically.
Minato glowers even more. "This is domestic abuse," he says flatly.
So they are together, then. That's honestly more than she'd ever expected, considering how emotionally constipated they both are. "I'm disowning you," she says to her brother, laughing a little. "Aki is my new brother now."
"After everything I did –" he starts.
"Which you are grounded for," she interrupts.
"Do you think if you die again, you'd go back to being the Seal?" he asks thoughtfully. "Just wondering. In case I change my mind."
"Alright, break it up," Shinji says. "If you two keep bickering the world saving is gonna happen without us."
Right.
Semi-pressing matters to deal with.
Mitsuru hands her and Minato their weapons. When Hamuko was helping the Phantom Thieves before, she'd stuck purely to items and magic. Her grip on the naginata is firm, comfortable, and all too relieving. She'd missed this.
She turns to where the Phantom Thieves are waiting for them, a ways away, clearly discussing their plan of action. She notices Akechi amongst them, donned in his Loki gear. He must've escaped her notice because of her distraction. Haru and Futaba are clearly keeping their distance, but the rest of the Phantom Thieves seem to be relieved to have him on their side.
"We're ready!" she calls out to them. Akira nods and starts heading to the place Morgana had pointed out earlier, closely followed by the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Her and Minato assume their place at the front of the S.E.E.S group without so much as a glance at each other and start heading over, too.
They end up standing at the bottom of a long ramp made of large bones. The actual Velvet Room door stands at the bottom, glowing and all, with a pint-sized attendant that she hasn't seen before. She takes a long look at it before turning to Minato. "I assume you have more than two Personas," she murmurs, continuing when he nods. "Good, because I don't."
She's sure she could go summon some, but she's not sure how much of a strain that will put on Theo and Elizabeth, given that they are currently in trouble with Igor. They'll just have to compensate for Minato doing most of the casting between the two of them, then.
She makes her way over to Akira. Together they stare up the looming, winding road. "Alright, this is it," she says. "This is your battle to fight, not ours."
"We'll hold off the Shadows on the way up," Mitsuru says, more of an order than a reassurance. "You –" she gestures to the Phantom Thieves – "go and end this. Hamuko is right, this isn't our battle."
Everyone starts picking their way up the winding road. She sort of hates the height of it – thinking back to the Tartarus rooftop – but presses on regardless. They make it about halfway up before they're attacked by a powerful Shadow. "Why is it –" Minato starts, frowning, but Hamuko shakes her head. She doesn't know why these Shadows take the form of Personas, but she's not about to find out. It's probably for a weird or creepy reason.
"Go," she shouts at the Phantom Thieves over the whistling wind and the sound of battle. Akira lingers for a second, clearly hesitant to leave them to it. She exchanges looks with her brother.
"Messiah!" they both call, Evokers to their head. Two Messiahs burst forth, combining into one. She waves Akira on as the combined Messiah attacks the Shadow. The Phantom Thieves run past, along with some of S.E.E.S, probably under Mitsuru's orders. She falls into the groove of battle, directing the others – Shinji, Ken, and Koromaru – as necessary and combining skills with Minato as often as possible. They're more powerful together.
She takes a brief moment to worry about the Phantom Thieves, but she has to believe that this will turn out alright in the end, without the need for a sacrifice like her story had. They're almost on par with her own power – without Minato – now. She has to believe in them.
The second the Shadow in front of them is dispatched, she's back to making her way up the ramp. She finds Mitsuru directing the remaining S.E.E.S members against yet another strong Shadow but makes her way past them. They have Fuuka with them, which is an advantage, and she's sure Mitsuru has been managing just fine in battle without a Wild Card – either of them – present. Plus, she at least has all four of the main elements on that team.
Once they dispatched the first Shadow, noises of panic had started emanating from the city below them. So defeating these Shadows does something, huh? She's willing to bet the quicker they can dispatch these Shadows, the quicker the Phantom Thieves can get to fighting the god.
Guards start appearing around them, but they're much weaker than the larger Shadows, and are easily dispatched. The adrenaline of battle starts to hype her up. She's slightly embarrassed to say that she finds these sorts of battles exhilarating, danger and all.
They find the Phantom Thieves fighting a third large Shadow and relieve them, watching as the rest of S.E.E.S goes ahead as well. The screams from the city get louder. They must've gotten rid of the second large Shadow. More and more people below are noticing what 's happening. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but she finds herself somehow thankful that no one was around for Nyx's arrival when she was younger. That would've scarred public for life.
The world starts trembling, and a blinding light shines from the temple before them. The Phantom Thieves have started facing down the Holy Grail, then. Good. She grabs Minato's hand and nods to the temple. He nods in understanding and they once again raise their Evokers in synch, this time casting Salvation. It should reach the Phantom Thieves from here, with their combined power. She is at least allowed to hope that it does.
Either way, it gives an extra boost to her friends, and they finish the third Shadow quickly. The fourth, and apparently final, Shadow looms ahead, already being fought by the other half of S.E.E.S. This one seems a little more powerful than the ones before it. Hamuko makes sure everyone is prepared and joins the fight. This is nothing compared to Nyx, she knows, but still rather time consuming.
The Shadow seems angered that the Phantom Thieves have slipped past it, and even more intent on making sure that they do not manage to do it as well. It heals an annoying amount and summons reinforcements and altogether is very annoying and tedious to get rid of.
Hamuko is nothing if not resilient, though.
She throws herself head-first into directing her friends, and half the time they respond before she gets the order out. This – battling, commanding, fighting side-by-side with her friends – this is home. She settles into her role as co-leader just as easily as riding a bike and enjoys the rush she gets from avoiding attacks.
They get a little banged up but manage to defeat the Shadow eventually.
Just as they do, the world trembles again. The Phantom Thieves have clearly done something. She hopes that they did something right, rather than something wrong. (She believes in them, of course, but the world trembling is rather ominous.)
The temple walls in front of them start opening to reveal the Holy Grail transforming into – something – Yaldabaoth? – and the Phantom Thieves standing apprehensively in front of it. As the thing continues transforming, she's impressed by how large it is. The transformation makes the temple grow higher, higher, until she can no longer see the Phantom Thieves and they couldn't reach them if they tried.
There's nothing they can do.
She shakes her head and starts helping Fuuka with bandaging and handing out medicine to everyone. They've all exhausted their magic, anyway, even if they could reach the Phantom Thieves. She sets herself next to Yukari, who is nursing an injured knee, and starts rubbing ointment on it.
"Do you think they'll be okay?" Yukari asks, eyes to the sky. "They're just kids, after all."
"So were we," Hamuko replies. "It all turned out all right."
"You died."
"But I'm here now."
Yukari doesn't dispute this but doesn't take her eyes off the looming god ahead of them. "I'm glad you're back," she says eventually.
"Me, too," says Hamuko.
A bright light passes over them. She winces – it reminds her of the Megidolaon light, but more menacing, which cannot at all be good. The sounds of battle resume, however, so she lets herself relax again.
It's an interesting feeling, not being the one who is depended on to defeat a literal god. She can't help at all, even, nor would she unless absolutely necessary if given the chance. She is a bystander in all this. It makes her sort of giddy, actually. She's been given a second chance at life, and she doesn't need to use it to save the world (again).
"My control will not bow down to ruin," Yaldabaoth's voice echoes around them. "My control is the ultimate truth of this world."
The light shines again – though it may be more accurate to say it is dark, tinged with red – and this time Hamuko is genuinely worried. That one seemed so much stronger than the one previous. She hears the Phantom Thieves scream and jumps to her feet. She can't quite see them from here, and there's nothing she can do, but she readies herself anyways.
"There's no way up," Fuuka tells her softly. "I'm sorry."
Another wave of darkness goes past them. Another round of screams from the Phantom Thieves. She winces and looks up at the tower above them with increased worry. They have no way to help. She takes back what she said about the relief of not being the one defending the world – at least then there was something she could do.
The darkness doesn't dissipate. Yaldabaoth laughs from above them, clearly winning. Fuuka does a scan and winces, not even bother to say something about the state of the battle. The crowd below them starts muttering, but she can't quite make out what they're saying. It's clearly not good, though.
Then, amongst the screams below them, a voice rings out clear and true.
"Take it down, Phantom Thieves!" yells what sounds like a high schooler.
There's a pause, and then the crowd starts chanting the Phantom Thieves' name. This – it can't mean anything, can it? She can see the Phantom Thieves symbol appearing on the mega screen down in the city. It's flickering but getting stronger as the cheers get louder.
Hamuko remembers when she was facing down Nyx.
It had been hopeless – they knew that from the start – but she had managed it because of the cheers of her friends. They provided her the strength she needed to finish the fight and seal Nyx away. The strength of her bonds. . .
The Metaverse was affected by public perception. The Phantom Thieves were only allowed down further as they got more popular. This – this is their bonds. The public makes a difference in this fight, and. . .
She is part of the public.
"You can do it, Phantom Thieves!" she yells at the top of her lungs.
The chorus of voices below them gets even louder. The image of the Phantom Thieves logo gets even sharper. The rest of S.E.E.S seems to realize what is happening, just as she had, and join in too. The sky gets lighter and lighter.
A blue light comes from the top of the tower, growing larger and larger until it ultimately forms into a massive Persona, the same size as Yaldabaoth. She starts laughing in relief. This has to be Akira's doing – Akira the Wild Card, Akira the world-saver. There's hope yet. The fight will end, and it will end the right way.
The crowd goes crazy, clearly realizing exactly what she had. She feels herself get stronger, clearly healed by the Persona. Yaldabaoth sends out another wave of the dark light, but it doesn't do anything. "Preposterous!" it echoes. "You dare rob the people's wishes?"
Akira's new Persona points a gun and shoots.
Yaldabaoth falls.
They appear back on the ground, waist high in the weird blood stuff. The sun comes out, illuminating the world around them. She hadn't even realized the sun was gone. A bright light envelops them, and then –
She's standing in the middle of Shibuya Square, surrounding by the people of Tokyo and her friends. The other members of S.E.E.S glance around in surprise. "They did it," Minato says softly.
"They did it!" Hamuko repeats a lot louder, drawing some curious glances from the strangers around them, but ultimately getting ignored. "Where are they?"
Mitsuru gives her a gentle smile. "You can find them later. For now, I believe it would be nice to relax. It is Christmas Eve, after all."
Hamuko shivers from the sudden snow – ignoring a pointed look from Minato about her attire – and smiles back. Mitsuru is right, the Phantom Thieves can wait. She's just got her memories back, and she's missed a lot in the past few years. It'll be nice to just have dinner together.
She intertwines her fingers with Shinji's and lets Mitsuru lead the way.
Akechi turns himself in.
He gets a light sentence in exchange for information on Shido, of which he has plenty, even pretending the Metaverse never existed. The police can't attach him to any of his crimes, of course, but they take his word for many of them because he has details no one else would have.
Akira turns himself in, too, for much less valid reasons – though unfortunately understandable ones. As far as she understands it, he violated his parole. The older Niijima manages to get a retrial set for a few months from then. Hamuko helps where she can, but that mostly involves "having Mitsuru pull strings," and not much else.
The Phantom Thieves tell her that Mona was an intrinsic part of the human cognition, and therefore is no longer with them. He was born in the Velvet Room, apparently. She makes a mental note to ask Theo about it when she gets the chance, but ultimately leaves them to their grief.
She spends the few weeks following the near end of the world fielding calls from her school friends. "I'm so glad you're awake," they all say. "It's been years, everyone had lost hope. Do you remember me?"
Mitsuru tells her that they're not sure why or how, but that the world has adjusted to accommodate her continued presence. She didn't die on the school rooftop, all those years ago – instead, she fell into a coma. This is what is written on medical records, and this is what her friends remember. Well – her friends that have no experience with Shadows.
"Of course I remember you," she tells them brightly. "We should get lunch sometime!"
She means everything she says, and even makes plans to fly to France (on Mitsuru's money, for now) to visit Bebe. The hectic scheduling and planning puts her at ease. She likes having things to do, people to see. Idling isn't her strong suit. Everyone she meets up with is relieved to see her recovered so well and accepts her vague answers as to what exactly was wrong with her.
Mitsuru takes care of everything ID- and passport-wise, making sure she once again legally exists. She's forced to go to several doctors so they can make sure her physical health is up to par, purely to satiate Mitsuru's worries. She nearly gets executed when she calls Mitsuru an overbearing mother, but it's worth it.
She makes sure to give Junpei a hug, being the most affected visibly by her memory loss. (She gives everyone a hug, really, even Minato when she stops being too mad at him, but she gives Junpei extras.) He regales her with tales of his career in baseball in America, and of his long-term relationship with Chidori. She listens with hunger, desperate to gain the knowledge of what her friends have been up to, and what they have become.
Shinji – with some amount of embarrassment – offers her a place in his house, and a temporary job at the restaurant he works at. She accepts, if only to stop being a burden on Haru, under the condition that he lets her pay rent. (Minato, somehow, disapproves of this, and is not swayed by the fact that she has her own separate room or that Ken and Koromaru also reside in the home. She supposes she can't call him a hypocrite, since he lives with Aigis and Aigis only. Either way, he's not the boss of her.)
Minato, she discovers, is a model – something she takes great joy in, actually. He defends it as something he doesn't have to talk a lot to do, something Yukari dragged him into, and something Tanaka was very set in him continuing. She's sure all three of these things are true, but that doesn't stop her from finding it very amusing.
Yukari laughs when Hamuko asks for her signature but gives it anyways, on a Featherman Rangers poster. Hamuko immediately gifts it to Futaba to cheer her up. It works at least in some part, as far as she can tell. The girl gets a little easier to talk to, at the very least.
Akira is released in February.
Hamuko doesn't attend the full reunion, but she stops by Leblanc later in the night to say hello. She's greeted by Morgana when she pushes the door open. "He's upstairs," says Morgana.
"Thank you," she responds. Pause. Look back at him. "I thought you were missing."
"I, uh," he starts, embarrassed. "I was avoiding coming back. I was so dramatic when I was saying goodbye. . ."
She laughs and picks him up, much to his dismay. "You stupid cat." She makes her way upstairs, Morgana in her arms, and grins at Akira when she sees him. "Hey, did you know your cat is the most prideful animal I've ever met?"
"He told you his reason for not coming back?" he responds with a smile. "Also, hello."
"Hello," she says warmly. "I heard you got out, so I came to say hi." She puts Morgana down and leans against the dresser by the stairs. "And bye."
"Bye?" Akira asks, eyebrows quirked.
"Shinji's thinking of starting a restaurant," she explains. "The one we work at now is nice, but it gets a little too busy. Most of my friends are only in Tokyo because of the Phantom Thieves. It'll be nice to return to where I'm from."
He hums. "Iwatodai?"
She nods and pulls a piece of cloth from her coat pocket. It's the armband Ryoji had given her. It serves as a representation of her friendship, of her memories, but it serves her no purpose now. S.E.E.S, as it were, doesn't exist anymore. Even if it did, she wouldn't be a part of it, being long out of high school. "I wanted to give you this," she says, handing it to Akira.
He takes it and inspects it. "It's an armband," he states plainly.
"S.E.E.S was the name of the club I was in in high school," she explains. "The one that fought Shadows. I don't need it anymore. I thought I'd give it to you as – I guess as a token of our friendship."
"Thank you," he says, closing his fingers around the armband. "Really."
She starts making her way back down the stairs, pausing halfway. "Goodbye, Akira."
"Goodbye, Hamuko."
She leaves Leblanc ready to take on her newfound life.
