OH MY GOD, I'M SORRY... SCHOOL IS PAIN. BUT HERE IT IS.
YN: Hey Ren.
YN: You deserve answers.
YN: Meet me at my office if you have time.
"So I got to say, Ren... Thanks."
"It's what we do. Plus, he had Info on that other world. And we couldn't let that side."
"He went ahead and quit hassling me. He also destroyed the info he had, so I think he was working for someone else (1)."
"That's good. If that fails into the wrong hands..."
"That would be bad, especially if they can do what you guys can do."
Ren nodded back. "So...how much do you know? I mean... Aside from our group, the person causing mental shutdowns, and the cognitive psience researchers and their group, your the only person who knows about it."
"That is a really complicated question. So, show me how you get in."
"Wait, why?"
"I'll explain in a sec. Show me, please."
"Okay." Ren pulled out his phone and showed him the Metaverse Navigator.
"A phone app now..." Ren put his phone back. "At this point, I should stop trying to guess it."
"Now?"
Yu looked around and said "This is technicality government information, so you can't tell anyone else this. And I'm also breaking the law right now, as you don't have clearance. (2) Wow...that's something I never thought I would do..." He shakes his head " So, swear this stays here."
Ren nodded. Yu nodded back
"Okay, well, This isn't the first time a supernatural case this widespread before. Well, not this wide. But anyway It's really long. Prepare yourself" He paused. "While we believe there were earlier cases (3), the first reported case was in 2009, Tatsumi Port Island. It was the Apathy Syndrome case."
"That's supernatural?" Ren asked.
"Just wait, it gets worst. While I was not around for that, mostly because I believe it only happened on Tatsumi Port Island and I was young at the time (4), there was a phenomenon that ended a while ago that drove the cases, known as the Dark Hour. It occurred for an hour every night as a time anomaly that happened at 12:00 AM. Normal people turned coffins and remembered nothing that happened. Additionally, monsters we called Shadows-"
"You also call them Shadows?" Ren interrupted.
"Well, unless they're different from ours, yes." Yu nodded. "Continuing on... Shadows came out during this time. And attempted to somehow lure humans out of their coffins. Why I'm still not sure, but whatever the reason, attacked humans, causing Apathy Syndrome. If a normal person survived the Dark Hour without being attacked by Shadows, their memories were erased instead. Jeez, you're making me talk!"
"Well, you're telling me it."
"Fair point. I'm just not used to talking this much. It feels... unnatural. Let's continue." Yu said.
"Now, your probably wondering, "How do we know this, if memories of that time got erased?" Well, some people had the potential to summon a Persona-"
"You said the word." Ren irrupted.
"Yes. I said the word." Yu tilted his head in confusion. "What about it?"
"Well, it means you know about it, but I kinda expected that. It's just weird hearing someone other than my teammates say that. I know it's a real word, but still."
"Yeah. I know what you mean. I'll get to that in a bit. So..back to my long story...
In order to get a Persona, you had to awaken, and while it's different for everyone, a sudden danger prompted them to first appear. And to summon it to fight, you had to shoot yourself with what looked like a gun, called an Evoker. Yes, I know. Extreme."
"Not as bad as us." Ren shrugged.
"What do you have to do..." Yu worriedly trailed off.
"Ripping of masks. The first time involves a lot of blood." Ren calmly replied.
"That sounds both painful and interesting. Interesting because the word persona is french for mask."
"Scene were on that, why are persona's often gods? I still don't understand."
"Well, It's been theorized that since people's minds are what give Personas their forms, that's why they tend to take the forms of gods… The power to affect time and space. In other words, the heart's ability to draw a manifestation of itself into reality. Of course, that power will inevitably resemble a person's true self. (5) One could say that gods and demons exist not in Heaven and Hell... but in the hearts of humanity."
"That's...oddly metaphoric."
"It is."
there well silent for a little bit, with Ren disgusting the info he learned. Yu spoke up and broke the silence.
"There is still more. I mean a lot more."
"I'll stop interrupting you, then."
"A group, who I'm not naming for many reasons, knew about Shadows ten years before the Dark Hour, or 1999, and began researching them. A bunch of stuff went down, and the Shadows went berserk, destroying the lab, everyone within it, and caused the Dark hour. It ended but..." Yu looked down" I've been told we lost some people with it..."
Yu took a moment of silence to respect the fallen, and while Ren didn't fully understand, he followed along and let him have a moment.
"Well, let's move on to 2011, Inaba."
Ren wasn't sure what to say, while Yu stood there, saying the case was supernatural. It was big when it hit.
"That case I was involved in. And if you haven't figured it out yet-"
"You have a Persona, don't you?"
"Yeah." He nods.
"Say it."
"Ummm...no. I already did. Anyway, I'll keep going. We all know about the murder case in Inaba that year, but your never guess the cause. A dude throwing people in a TV."
"What?"
"Yep."
The two started at another, and the silence was broken by giggles from both of them, understanding the fact that the situation they had was something else otherworldly, yet they still laughed at the fact that fate had placed them to meet on their roads and the strangeness of that.
RANK UP! The World Confidant has reached rank 9.
Yu's Persona Boost: Earn extra EXP upon Persona fusion. (All )
"I have to go now. But, before you go, have this."
Yu pulls out a Soma and gives it to Ren.
"Why do you have this?" Ren asked.
"Because Healing?" Yu shrugged "You knew what it was, so make good use of it."
Ren nodded back. Even If Yu was a past-kid-in-the-same-boat-turned-adult with a persona, he knew their secret. And he would protect it with his life.
AN:
(1) Yes, this is Shido
(2) So, fun fact: Unlike Social Links in 4 and 3, which we just bonds, Confidants at least committed a crime, and were considered accomplices and thus held accountable for the Phantom Thieves case by the jurisdiction system.
(3) I'm not forgetting 2 and 1! After all, 3 was my first Persona game, But 1 was the first one I finished.
(4) No, you would have been 15-14 at the time, I believe. That's not Young! Why did I put that there? IDK
(5) This is almost word for word for what a Mysterious Girl says on the 3 Drama CD.
So sorry this took forever. School freaking sucks.