Chapter Nine
Yume begins her Tuesday night researching a couple surnames. She starts with Okumura.
"I am an idiot," Yume groans, head hitting the area beside the keyboard.
Okumura Foods is one of the largest food brands in Japan, and has been since the last decade of its second president. The third president, Haru's father, created a chain of fast food restaurants called Big Bang Burger a few years before Haru's birth. While Okumura Foods isn't exactly considered a worldwide name, Big Bang Burgers is slowly working towards that. The reborn girl's problem with the whole situation is that she didn't realize Haru's surname is on the corner of her cereal brand.
If she missed something this obvious, Yume doesn't want to know what else she's missing.
Niijima comes up with a name of a cop from one of the lesser corrupt precincts. This search restores Yume's faith in her skills, because she only glanced at the name when she was searching for the names of easy-to-pay-off cops; just in case things went sour fast. There are none in Niijima's precinct, which is both good and bad. Good for obvious reasons; bad because Yume doesn't have an adult to claim as her babysitter yet. She'll need to stay a good distant from Makoto's father until she can get an alibi.
Yume sighs and covers her tracks. After a dinner break, she does one quick hack into another nearby database. Ms. Eguchi isn't back from the hospital and the girl's curious. A simple check into the records show what she wants.
Eguchi Midori
A healthy baby girl.
Hitoshi even made it in time to be named godfather over Jiro.
Yume easily covers up her online fingerprints once again. She sits back and sips her juice box, flexing her fingers.
I love that the internet-security crackdown hasn't happened yet. Everything is so simple when your skills are more advance than time.
Yume puts the juice box down and starts into the red-eye app code once again. She definitely doesn't go into this without every precaution raised. Even if it seems the maker of the app – human, demon, or other – didn't care about adding any security, there's no point risking her life by letting them find out what she's doing.
Treasure Hoard
Now that's an interesting name.
The Treasure Hoard is actually a list of names, locations, and key words. She can narrow the locations down to Japan, and then has to switch searches.
Why is 'Dark Hour' a key word? Better yet, 'Midnight Channel'?
The words make her brain itch, but she ends up ignoring them and scrolls far down. They don't take place in her city, so she doesn't have more than a passing interest. Besides, there are a lot more 'locations' in Tokyo than outside of it. 'Hayao Genis; Tokyo: Side Street; Nightclub' is one, and the girl can guess which side street it means. In fact, almost all those places she saw last night have a name on this list.
The name Okumura appears, too. Haru's father has a castle. Yume blinks at the date his castle was added, and then scrolls up a little. The list isn't ordered by anything telling, which means the author must have something else updating this log. Yume hesitates for a few seconds, and then digs a bit deeper.
Okumura Kunikazu is lower on the list because he has a weak dungeon.
"So Haru should be safe," Yume mutters, backing out and eyeing the list at a new angle. She doesn't like the thought of the older girl so close to this… but Haru is showing a spine. Yume will step in and help the girl if anything changes. Scrolling to the very top, she frowns. "Now, who to avoid…?"
'The Public Opinion; Under the Earth; Mementos'
Yume blinks.
Rubs her eyes.
Blinks again.
"Well, the sheeple have spoken," Yume says with a nervous laugh. As its third down from the top, it is terrifying that the public have a collective dungeon. She shouldn't have expected easier from a Persona world. She should be glad it isn't worse. And of course the top name on the list is different from the rest. She makes a written note to never visit Tatsumi Port Island and surrounding areas, just in case. "I don't even want to know what the white dot means. Like, no thanks." She scrolls down and covers the first log – the 'Dark Hour' log – and goes back to reading. "Not worth it."
As long as the public is third on the list, should she really be scared about the white dot beside the first log? Should she be scared about the 'Midnight Channel' being second on the list?
"They don't take place here," Yume says fervently, trying to reassure herself. "I don't need to worry about them."
But, barely five minutes into reading the other dungeons, she scrolls to the top again and stares at the top three strongest places in Japan's otherworld. Yume swears loudly as everything comes together in her head. She swears once again for good measure.
"Personas three and four," Yume says out loud, blinking at the screen. "This place has already had at least two end-of-the-world scenarios." She swears again. "Three and four. And probably five, six, seven… oh my gosh. I'm going to die. Again."
She tries to rack her brain for answers, head only being held up by her hands. She pulls her hair in frustration. It's one thing to think there's a plot. It's different knowing the world is ending and she can't do anything about it.
"Okay, that's dramatic," Yume says, trying to calm her breathing. She takes her sweet time getting out of that demonic database before she starts falling apart. "Deep breath. These protagonists have it. These high schoolers have it."
Yume curls up on her couch, digging her nails into her bandaged road rash until the pain snaps her back into reality.
The world isn't ending, Yume tells herself. Persona five was a game made in her last life, so the world didn't end. Rumours of Persona six were out there, so this world wouldn't end. It hasn't and won't be ending. This isn't Shin Megami Tensei. The girl laughs a little hysterically at the thought. This is Persona. You defy those stronger than you, you win. You play it smart, you play it true. You save the world; you make it to the end.
"I can do this," Yume cries quietly, head burying into her knees. "The world hasn't ended, and it won't end. They won't let it end."
The 'they' in question are the high schoolers. Kids who never should have dealt with world-ending problems of this magnitude. The people with friendships and romances, with guns and magic. People who… aren't her.
But I wasn't going to be them anyways, Yume thinks darkly, tucking her knees further to her chest. I was going to take loot and sell that online for a living. I was going to do things I couldn't do last life.
I still am.
Except now, Yume is preparing to survive past the next world-ending crisis.
Persona Three.
Sometime before 2010. Look for a corporation that sponsors extremely specific school activities.
Persona Four.
2011; small rural murder town.
Persona Five.
The one that takes place in Tokyo.
The longer she thinks about it, the surer Yume is. She won't get involved. She won't leave her little niche in Tokyo if she doesn't have to. There's no reason to get involved. Everything worked out fine in the games. The protagonists will win, because that is what they do. Nobody needs her.
And if I meet Tetsuya, oh well, Yume nods to herself, picking at her bandage. I'm four years old. It's more likely I'd be stuck in some hospital then part of the team. A dying, motivation character. A martyr.
She isn't going to take that.
Screw them all.
Yume wipes angrily at her eyes.
To all you blank-slate jerks, I'm Yume. I'm not dying so you get motivated to win.
Her gaze fastens to computer.
I won't let anyone decide my fate but me. No cops, no heroes, no other worldly creature.
She sits it down and boots up her usual programs. Carefully, she adds spending money to her parents' forgotten credit card.
I'm going to have fun.
She looks up locations for second-hand shops and cheap, don't-ask-questions, equipment.
I'm going to make long lasting friendships.
She goes to bed with her head held high against the nightmares waiting for her.
I'm going to cheat my way through whatever 'game' gets thrown in my direction.
Yume chuckles, settling into bed. She's never been accused of cheating at life before. Can the Velvet Room members press charges? Is it cheating if she doesn't know the rules beforehand?
Is it cheating if she isn't a player?
Disclaimer: I don't own Shin Megami Tensei . All rights of belongs to its respective owners.
A/N: Thanks for reading!
Thank you, Guest, for your review! I honestly don't know how much longer I can keep the speedy updates, but I'll keep trying! Again, thank you so much for your review! I hope you enjoyed the chapter