Chapter 50
July 27, 2021; Saturday
MIrror Dimension; Floor 60
(Afternoon)
"What do you mean 'right now'? And what's going on with Nanako?" Kaz asked.
Daichi placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I think Iselin and I have some explaining to do."
Daichi and Iselin told the whole story to the group, starting from when they found her roaming around by herself to the day that they told her to take a break.
"We swear we had no idea what would happen," Iselin said
"We decided that we would help her get her Persona to manifest, nothing more!"
"And what would you suppose she would do after her Persona did manifest?"
"Um, not to be rude Kazu-nii, but I'm right here."
"Oh, sorry Toyoyama-sa- wait, Kazu-nii?"
Everybody turned to the Nanako look-alike with a confused look.
"Oh, sorry! It's just that Nanako-nee is like a big sister to me and she likes you and well-"
"WHAT?!"
"Yuriko, not the time," Kaz said.
Daichi turned to Toyotama.
"It does seem strange though. When we first met you, you were already a Persona but you didn't have a physical form. What happened to turn you back into a reflection?"
Toyotama held her chin.
"I don't know exactly when, but I remember Nanako-nee being really angry. Not at me, but she just didn't feel like herself at the time. My vision got darker and before I knew it, I was in this place."
Daichi closed his eyes for a moment.
"I've never heard of a case like this before. Already, I was confused on why you were invisible in the first place. Now that you're back to being a Reflection, things sure have taken a turn for the bizarre."
"Wait, what if it has something to do with turning Reflections into Persona?" Johei asked.
"Think about it, Reflections are turned into Persona when we overcome our mental obstacles and despair, but what would happen if we were to come across something that would mentally drain us?"
Kazuhiko snapped his fingers.
"Johei, that might be it!"
He turned to Toyotama.
"Toyotama, what was Nanako doing that made her so angry? And what has this got to do with Mitsuru Kirijo?"
Toyotama closed her eyes, but shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know entirely. All I know is that Nanako-nee is really mad with her… "
Kaz sighed then sheathed his sword.
"I guess there's no helping it then. Let's try to get to her before Nanako does anything drastic."
Meanwhile…
"*huff* *huff* *huff* geez, that was way too close. Now I lost her somewhere," Nanako said after catching her breath.
After stunning the group, she ran up about 2 more levels before stopping to catch her breath. Now, however, she had lost the only lead she had, and no amount of emotion could convey her extreme frustration. She looked around for any signs of her target, but to no avail; she couldn't be caught out in the open at a time like this, lest she wanted the tables to be turned on her and she'd be the prey to a pack of shadows.
Ducking into a nearby hallway, she pulled out her pistol; The snarling that could be heard from the recent area told her she would be waiting for some time. Sitting down, she tried to recollect her thoughts, but the only thing that she could think of was the look on Kaz's face before she ran away.
"I really am the worst," she said to herself.
After making a mental note to apologize to him after everything, she checked over her shoulder to see if the herd moved on yet.
"Well, if it isn't the final piece!"
"Wha-"
A cloth was pushed against her face. The nauseous smell overwhelmed her senses almost immediately and the last thing that Nanako saw was a cowled figure with the face of a person she couldn't bring herself to remember.
Floor 62
"That's weird, her signal's gone much further up"
Kaz was checking his phone, surprised to see the sudden change. To everyone's surprise, Mitsuru's Reflection seemed to shoot up to the 70th floor without any warning whatsoever.
"Are you kidding me? We've already gone up so many floors and now this? When is she gonna decide on a floor?" Johei whined.
"Stop whining, women don't like guys who complain."
"Any guy would complain about your nagging, Mika-senpai. Maybe that's why you don't have a boyfriend yet."
"Nice comeback, dude! Gimme five!"
*SLAP*
*WHAM*
Mikan slapped Johei's face while Skadi punched Loki's monitor.
"Ow! Okay, I kind of deserved that"
"At least you're learning that"
Toyotama looked at the screen.
"That's strange, should we keep going then or- ugh!"
Suddenly, she fell down to her knees and held her head in agony. Her scream echoed throughout the hallways, which, surprisingly, did not alert any shadows. Regardless, everyone tried to calm her down.
"Toyotama! What's going on?"
"It's… it's Nanako-nee! Sh-she's found her! She's found Mitsuru!"
"She what?!" Daichi shouted.
"This is bad, we need to get to her now!"
"But she's up at floor 70! We'll never get there in time!" Johei said
"No, I can sense her! She's just above us on the next floor!"
"Wait, what do you mean she's on the next floor? Mitsuru is on floor 70."
Toyotama cringed in pain again. Out of nowhere, a pool of black matter sprouted from the ground. Multiple hands grabbed at her from underneath and pulled her into the ground.
"Toyotama!"
Kaz tried to reach out to her, but couldn't reach her quickly enough. As Toyotama sank into the ooze, she forced her head to the top in a last effort.
"I don't know how but she feels very angry; the only reason why she would be this angry could only mean that she found her. She's forcing me to come back to her, but please help her. Don't let her kill Mitsuru!"
She finally sank beneath the surface and the ooze retracted, leaving the tiles the way they were. The rest of the party, however, remained shocked as to what happened. Kaz knelt down to the spot where Toyotama disappeared and pressed his hand on the tile.
"I promise you, I won't let Nanako do anything. I could never live with myself if she ended up doing something she regretted."
Everyone stood in silence until Yuriko broke the silence.
"Well, you heard her. Let's get going."
She walked down the hallway with her head bowed down. Iselin turned her head towards her in slight confusion and followed her.
"Hey, Yuriko-chan, are you okay?"
Yuriko stopped for a moment, but then turned around to show a bright smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why'd you ask?"
Iselin continued to look at her face before Daichi pushed past her.
"She's already decided so let's get going for now; we don't have a lot of time."
Everyone followed in suite, leaving Yuriko behind. Yuriko's eyes lingered on Kaz as he delved deeper into the labyrinth.
"I won't lose," she said while pumping her fists.
Meanwhile, at the front of the group, Kaz was well ahead of everyone, marching in a set pace and his eyes set only forward.
"Kazuhiko, are you alright? You seem stressed."
"This is nothing, Tyr; I'm always stressed whenever we're going to be in a confrontation."
"Well, you seem more stressed than normal. What's eating at you?"
Kaz sighed.
"I guess this just hit harder than the other times; before, it was helping people in need that I never knew before, but now that my childhood friend's involved… "
Tyr nodded in understanding.
"I see. Now I know why this seems more pressing for you."
Kaz continued walking, but then cast a look back at his Persona.
"You're not gonna tease me about what I just said?"
"No, I believe that your feelings towards this are justified. Besides, I feel as if I should push myself more to save her as well."
Kaz smiled.
"Alright then, let's both do our best."
Floor 63
"I did not expect a door this big," Daichi said.
As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, they were greeted by an enormous and intricately designed door.
"Master Daichi, can we even open it with our strength?"
"Of course we can, it's just a door!" Johei said as he placed his hand on the front but was quickly stopped by Munin.
"Wait! Don't strain yourself, Johei! You could hurt yourself trying to open a door as big as that!"
"What?! What makes you think I'll hurt myself by opening this door?"
"The fact that you're physically the weakest out of all of us contributes very much to that reason" Hugin cawed.
"Shut up you stupid bird! I am not the weakest of us all!"
"I can verify that Hugin's claims are correct," Mimir said.
"You're physically weaker than everyone present"
"Can it! Besides, I can still open this! Watch!"
Johei put his hand on the handle and pushes it with all his might to no avail. Everyone watches him with looks of pity.
"Wait wait! I learned from last time! This is a pull door, isn't it?"
He then proceeds to throw his weight in the opposite direction, but the door still stays shut.
"We told you! He lacks the proper strength to carry out this task!"
"I DO NOT! I'm definitely strong enough! It's just that this is jammed somehow!"
Yuriko stepped forward and pushed him aside.
"There's a latch on the door here; you just had to remove it then push."
The doors clicked and swung open with ease, leaving Johei stunned. The rest of the party just shuffled by him, leaving Johei behind.
"Come on! You're lagging behind!"
"Oh you've gotta be shitting me!"
They walked into the room to see Nanako chained to a spot with Mitsuru on the opposing side. She was screaming curses at her while fighting against her restraints while Mitsuru was kneeling and looking down at the ground.
"You bitch! I'll have your head for covering that up! Curses on you and everyone you care about! Curses on you, your ancestors, and your entire future generation you goddamn tyrant!"
"Nanako!"
She stopped her verbal assault on the Kirijo head and turned to Kazuhiko.
"No… no, you can't be here… " she whispered to herself.
Nanako backed away from them, trying to hide herself, but the chains would only let her go so far. Instead, she resorted to scooting towards the wall and hiding herself with her hands.
"Don't look at me… please don't look at me now, Kaz… "
Kazuhiko stepped up to her.
"Calm down, Nanako. I'm only here to try to help you. Please look at me."
Nanako continued to cover her face with her hands, refusing to meet his eyes. Kaz knelt down to her level and put his hand on her.
"Nanako. Please, won't you look at me? I'll promise everything will be alright. I'm here to get you out of here. Please, let me help you? Let your bestie help you out?"
Slowly, she brought down her hands and looked at Kaz.
"There we go. Let's get going, hm?"
Looking at her chains, Kaz tilted his head to Tyr.
"On it", Tyr said while raising his axe.
With a few swings, the chains were off and Nanako was helped to her feet.
"Now, let's get you back outsi-"
*BANG*
Nanako's eyes went wide as Kaz suddenly fell forwards, leaning on her.
"Ugh! What the hell?"
Blood started pouring from his side with no signs of stopping. Everyone turned around to the other side of the room to see Mitsuru holding Nanako's pistol.
"No… she's… she's taken something from me… she's taken something from me again!"
Mikan stepped up, holding her hands up.
"Wait, Nanako! Calm down, I can heal him!"
But she didn't listen; nothing was processing into her mind now. Shadows started to cling onto the chains that were broken off. They started to coat the links then climbed onto the cuffs and eventually covered Nanako's entire body. As her figure ascended into the air, Kaz went right along with her, getting morphed into the amalgamation.
"Kaz!" Yuriko yelled.
She readied her scythe to try to cut him down but was quickly stopped by Yoichi.
"Yuriko, don't do it! You could hit them on accident!"
"I can make it! Just get me up there!"
"No, the matter is too dense. I can't even tell where their bodies are in that mess" Mimir said.
Yuriko bit back a curse but stayed put. As the shadows solidified, the form could be made out clearly.
The creation looked like a humanoid about six feet tall, stitched together with parts off both an angel and a devil, all except for the face which was of a human head. Despite its mouth being sealed, its voice was clear. It had four arms; in one of its right hands, it held a scale while one of the left held a sacrificial knife. In the other two hands, they held two books; one labeled hate while the other was labeled love.
"I have lost so much already. How much more will this world take from me before it's satisfied? No, it's time that I started fighting back… If anyone dares to take anything precious from me, I will put them to judgement before Justice!"
Johei readied his spear, but seemed to be more hesitant than before.
"Well, what do we do now? Kaz's stuck in there somewhere. How are we gonna function as a team?"
"We should move to free Kaz as soon as possible. He was still bleeding before he got stuck in there so he takes priority," Daichi said.
"See where he is, Yoichi? Mimir?"
"I can't see anything in there. We're gonna have to make shallow cuts before dealing real damage."
"Fantastic," Mikan muttered.
"I guess I'm not gonna be much offensive use for now. I'll focus on support and healing."
Iselin rubbed her eyes to focus.
"Yuriko, you'll be the one to cut him free once we figure out where he is. Whatever happens, remember that Kaz is counting on you. He's counting on all of us right now."
Yuriko nodded and brought her scythe into position.
"Okay. Leave it to me."
She looked at the shadow in the air.
"Hang tight, Kaz. I'll be there soon."
Aaaaaaaaand we are BACK! Happy 2020 everyone! It has been ages since my last submission and I will get to the reason why very soon, but for now, I just want to wish you all a late Merry Christmas and an equally late New Year. The reason I was so late was because, well, I had to attend to some very sad events. Recently, an old coworker of mine was killed in a DUI hit-and-run while he was on the way home from work. It really hurt me a lot since he was a person I was very close with. This happened a few weeks before Christmas so the funeral service was very impromptu. Additionally, one of my good friends has been relapsing into another stage of depression and I felt that I should be there to support him. He was one of the very people that I am writing this series for, so I felt that this should take a quick break. Finally, after the first week of this new year, one of my coworker's father passed away recently. Honestly, I feel like everything is just happening too fast for me and I'm at the age where everyone I know either leaves my life forever or dies. Thankfully, my friend is on the way to recovery so I'm glad that I'll still have someone by my side. But, other than that, I've been having a great new year. I hope everyone is doing fine and is looking forward to the new Persona games! Shoutout to all of you who have favorited this story since the last submission and thank you all for your continued support! I'm putting Part-time Lovers on hold for the time being due to my writers block on it, however I will continue writing both P:OLP and Getting Along for the time being. In the meantime, here's your omake! Seeya!
Persona: One Last Promise; Bloopers Reel
Stun Grenade Scene
Take 1
Nanako: I'm sorry, bestie!
*Nanako attempts to turn her coat inside out, but accidentally bumps her head on one of the stun grenades*
Nanako: Ow!
Take 2
Nanako: I'm sorry, bestie!
*Nanako fails to turn her coat inside out again, but manages to succeed in pulling the pin. All that can be seen is a flash of light inside the coat*
Nanako: AAAAAGH!
Kaz (between laughs): Oh my gosh! Nanako, are you okay?
*Johei is laughing his ass off, trying to stay standing while everyone else is in stitches*
Nanako: My eyes! They burn!
Berating Mitsuru scene
Take 1
Nanako: I hate you! You took everything from me you… I'm sorry, what were my lines?
Take 2
Nanako: I… Sorry again, but this is just pretty hard. How am I supposed to insult her?
Take 3
Nanako: I hate you! Disrespect on you! Dishonor on you, your family, your ancestors, your cow!
DangstaBOI: Hold up, was that a line from Mulan?
Nanako: Dammit! This is tough to do, can someone please give me actual lines instead of making me do improv?
Shadow transformation
Nanako: How much more will you take from me!?
DangstaBOI: Alright, now begin the transformation sequence!
*A bright light is shown before revealing Nanako in a detective's outfit*
Johei: Wait, why do I hear idol music?
Music in the background:
Kowashitai daijisou ni kakaeta watashi o zenbu
Kimi ga kono kodoku o itami o iyasu no
Reincarnation Realization
Reincarnation kiete shimaitai
Nanako: Magical Girl Detective Loveline here to perish all of your evil desires! Prepare for justice!
*Everybody starts laughing uncontrollably*
Nanako: Magical Girl Detective Loveline, a new costume available for Tokyo Mirage Session #FE Encore! Coming your way this February!
DangstaBOI: Cut! Nanako, I'm sorry, this wasn't for an ad, everyone just wanted to see you in that outfit.
Nanako: What?! I actually took the time to memorize those lines!
