Author's Note: So, not going to take up too much of your time up here. This here is a chapter containing just over 10,000 Words. Consider this a peace offering for the long break I made my followers suffer through (although this also had to do with the fact that I could not find a good half way point that wouldn't make the first half feel like a nothing chapter). There will probably be a little bit of a pause between this chapter and the next, I am hoping to give myself a one chapter buffer going forwards. Either which way, please enjoy this extra long chapter. ~Noxmad
For as much fun as the club had been, Yo found herself in the bathroom lip locked with some woman she met on the dance floor. Mind clouded with hormones, adrenaline, and whatever drinks she had scooped off recently cleared tables. Wrapping her leg around the woman, Yo deepened the kiss and desperately attacked her partner. It was aggressive and it was a major turn on for Yo. The two of them seemed to be having a good time until the other woman separated their kiss. "Thanks for the fun sweetheart," she said as she got ready to leave. Yo looked at her confused for a moment.
"Hey, I thought this was going somewhere," Yo replied trying to catch her breath.
The woman however tossed Yo her wallet. "I have no intention of being a criminal. Go home, little girl," the woman told her. Yo held onto her wallet like it was a floatation device and she was drowning in a sea of rejection. Sinking down to a sitting position she was left alone feeling a little used. Looking in her wallet, she found most of her yen gone. Not only was almost all of her money gone, but her mind numbing entertainment had just left her alone with her thoughts. Yo climbed back to her feet as she headed for the door she caught her own reflection.
"So, that guy Shima mentioned the Mirror Game," Yo wondered out loud. Why was a guy like him thinking about participating in such a weird High School scam? He did seem far too into it for it be completely fake. Right? She stumbled out into the club and the lights suddenly seemed far too bright and the music too loud. Making her way out of the club Yo stumbled towards the train station she had left just hours earlier. Getting onto one of the last trains of the day to get back to Yasoinaba. She fell into the seat. "I miss being with them." She mumbled sleepily under her breath. The time they had spent growing up together had been some of Yo's most precious memories. Until Takeyoshi's mental breakdown broke the proverbial band up. Slightly irritated she let the thought pass. It was no use missing them at this point. It was not like they wanted her anymore.
A short ride later and she was back in her sleepy little town. Barely keeping her balance, Yo made her way through the train station. Upon coming close to the exit she found the little mirror wall just inside the terminal. "Hey, what can I say, I love a good rumor."
Walking over to the mirror surface she got a good look at her reflection and said to herself, "Ha! Hey there good lookin'. You are just looking cute tonight." She kissed her own reflection and then afterwards said, "Now, let's see if Shima saw me in his game, huh?" She giggled at her own joke perhaps a little too hard. Leaning against the mirror with one of her hands she said aloud, "Yo Misaka, Yo Misaka, Yo Misaka." The air was still for a moment. Then he reflection seemed to get a weirdly vindictive smile.
"Come here, good lookin'." The reflection said to her as it latched onto her hand and began to drag her into the mirror.
Upon her whole body breaching the surface she heard the sound of shattering glass and just before her consciousness faded she thought to herself, Shima-kun help me.
Nanako was on the phone and livid. "What do you mean you told her to do the Mirror Game?!" She asked angrily. She was alone at home that night.
Shima on the other end of the line sighed and said, "Exactly what I said, Nanako. We all agreed that if she needed to face herself like we all did. I am just making sure that she gets the help we all think she needs."
"We are not supposed to inflate the numbers of people being affected, Shima. It is possible that she could have not had to go through with this," Nanako said angrily.
Shima was quiet. "She misses you guys, maybe you need her to go through the Mirror World as much as she needs to go through it herself. The thing Shiho said made sense didn't it?" Shima finally responded.
Nanako was honestly taken off guard by his logic there. "Seriously, how is a guy as smart of you almost flunking out?" Nanako asked him again.
"Cause it isn't about intelligence," Shima answered.
Nanako then finished for him, "Just perspective. Right?"
"Now you are getting it. Look, the night you guys go and get her, come back by my place. I have something for you to take to her. A small hair tie she got for me. If she knows I sent you, it could possibly help calm her down some. Especially since I won't be coming with you," Shima told her.
Nanako hummed in affirmation. "I am sorry I snapped at you, Shima-senpai," she told him.
"I probably deserved it for some reason," Shima said in such a way where you could just picture him shrugging while he spoke. The two hung up and Nanako sat down in a huff on her couch. It still frustrated her a little that this was all happening at all. Despite the fact that she was certain that Yo-chan would be next based on Takeyoshi's observations, it still did not feel good that her friend was being led into that place. Nanako needed some air. As she headed outside, she heard sirens in the distance. Nanako walked over to her bike and decided to chase after the sound. She needed to see if she could confirm if this was one of their cases. Riding off towards the sirens, the residential district passing by like a dark blur in the night air around her. She found herself down near the Moel gas station when she realized where she was going. The train station where she and her dad had picked up her Big Bro all those years ago.
Nanako and Dojima were parked in the car at the train station. Dojima looked over at her and he seemed like he had something to say to her but was struggling to find the words. She looked up at her father expectantly. They were both getting ready to have a teenager in the house for the next year.
"You know Nanako, your cousin is going to need some help getting settled in. While I may be busy with work at times, you will need to step up and help him with that. Can I count on your help?" her father asked her. Nanako looked uncertain but simply nodded. "Let's see we got this picture from my sister. He looks a little uncomfortable in this uniform though."
Nanako looked at the picture seeing a version of her cousin that she has never known. He looked a little withdrawn back then. A lot less social than he ended up being. Her father tapped her shoulder and pointed over at a young man leaving the train station. "Ok," was all she said. Why did she say that?
Nanako was suddenly pulled forcibly from her memory as she found herself careening off the side of the road she was on and falling off her bike. Looking around she found herself at the far end of the shopping district. She blanked out so hard that she completely missed where she was supposed to be going. Nanako struggled back to her feet a little shakily. Looking down at her leg, she could see that it was scratched up, but none of it was too serious. Looking at her bike though, she could see that it was looking rough. Nanako sat down and leaned against the wall of the building she crashed near. Still trying to wrap her mind around what was going on, she missed that the lights that came on and the door that opened.
"Hey, who's out there?" called out a familiar voice. Nanako flinched at the sudden voice. "Nanako-chan?" Coming into view was Kanji Tatsumi. He saw he bike and her leg. A sudden protective urge happened as he scooped her up and carried her into the textile shop. He carried her past the counter and up some stairs to the residential part of the building. He sat her down on a couch to look at her scratches. "What are you doing out this late?" he asked her as he proceeded to grab some tissues to wipe away some of dirt off her leg.
Nanako was hesitant to answer, but honesty would be the only route she could take at this point. "I heard sirens. I needed to see if someone else had been affected by the Mirror Game," she replied, trying not to flinch when Kanji touched the worst of the scratches.
"Thought we made it clear that we were going to deal with that," Kanji said with a hint of irritation on his voice.
Nanako seemed to get more obviously irritated and replied, "Is that we have saved another since that less than productive discussion?"
"You what?" Kanji asked louder than he meant.
From the other room the two of them heard, "Kanji, be nice. I am surprised that you all thought they would just stop because you told them to."
Walking into the room in a robe was Naoto Shirogane. Kanji looked over at her and seemed to deflate. "Is it so bad that we hoped that it would work?" Kanji asked walking over to the restroom and grabbing a first aid kit.
"We were once their age Kanji, we got told by people to stop to. One that even meant to cause harm to us if we did not relent. Last I checked we stayed in the game a number of years after that," Naoto answered as she took the kit from him and took over on helping the young girl.
Nanako looked at the two of them as they seemed to be "nicely" arguing. Nanako was trying to figure out what they were talking about in this case. From what she could tell, it seemed that they were referring to multiple instances of dealing with shadows.
"And if I remember correctly, we were the exact same way when the Shadow Operatives told us to stand down. Do you remember?" Naoto asked further pressing the point home.
Kanji scoffed and threw his hands up in defeat. "Alright, I get it. But this is Nanako we are talking about here. She should be living her best normal life now. Not dealing with… all of this," Kanji answered in a last ditch attempt to argue. Naoto stopped what she was doing and just looked at him. He sat down.
Naoto turned her attention to Nanako. "So, you are leading a group of Persona-users too then?" Naoto asked her calmly.
Nanako nodded.
"Then do you have the power to change your Persona?" Naoto asked curiously.
Nanako tilted her head. "Change my Persona?" she asked.
"That is a no then. Curious," Naoto said absently as she began to think.
"Why?" Nanako asked.
"Well a couple years ago, I was looking into what seemed to be potential shadow related incidents in Tokyo," Naoto began. "By the time I got around to them, they seemed to be fully solved. But there was group involved that from what I can dig up involved a group of teens. In fact, these teens went to a school that someone here in Inaba went to in the past."
"You're talking about the Phantom Thieves. The student is Shiho Suzui," Nanako said, connecting the dots for Naoto.
"Correct," Naoto said. "This group, much like ours and the Shadow Operatives before us, had a leader. And all our leaders have had the ability to use multiple Personas. So it is interesting that your case has been so different."
Nanako listened to Naoto talk about the cases and did not even realize that her leg had been finished by the time Naoto finished. "Are the Shadow Operatives related to Tatsumi Port Island?"
"You figured that out? How?" Naoto asked quietly amused.
"It was mostly Yuuta and Miwa who found it. But they realized that stuff that had been happening when you guys were around happened previously. But, Big Sis Naoto, we just wanted to help the people in our town. But so many of the people who have been disappearing have been my friends," Nanako explained. "We need to finish what we started."
Naoto smiled at Nanako and replied, "I know you do Nanako-chan. That is why I am telling both Kanji and the rest of our Investigation Team to not get in your way. And to help you in every way we can. I believe It would be what your Big Bro would have wanted us to do."
Nanako leapt forward and embraced the woman. "Thank you," she whispered to her.
"Why are you whispering?" Naoto asked. "Kanji left the room a while ago."
"I mean taking the time to talk to me like this since you two were very clearly doing something before this," Nanako said with a slightly mischievous voice. Naoto suddenly blushed deeply. "Do the others know about you two?"
Naoto blushed even deeper and replied, "We have not specifically mentioned it to them."
"I'll keep it a secret then," Nanako said. "I need to go."
Nanako got up to leave and as she headed back downstairs she saw Kanji who rather sheepishly said, "I'm sorry for my behavior. Isn't right of me, or any of us to try to keep you from livin' your life or experience something like this. If you ever need help though, don't hesitate to ask, y'hear?"
Nanako walked over and gave Kanji a hug. "At some point, Big Bro Kanji, I would like to have you sit down with a friend of mine," Nanako told him while they hugged.
"That bleached hair punk?" Kanji guessed.
Nanako nodded and said, "He's a good guy Kanji. I think he just needs some help finding direction. He's actually pretty smart even though he refuses to acknowledge it. I know that you figured out how to knuckle down and so I was hoping you could help him dedicate his energy to something."
Kanji looked at her and simply admitted, "Maybe you're right. When we got this Mirror World shit figured out, we'll schedule something."
"You are sounding so adult," Nanako said with a bright smile. She headed back outside and took a look at her bike. It was still ride-able. Getting back on the bike she got herself turned around. She headed over to the Train Station, or at least as close as she was willing to get to it on her bike. Which was quite a far way, due to the police presence. She tried to get just close enough on foot to see if she could overhear what was going on.
A nearby officer stated, "Another one. This is crazy. It is the disappearances all over again." That was all Nanako needed to hear. As she was getting ready to leave though she overheard another conversation with two very familiar voices. Her father and Big Sis Chie away from the scene having a pretty serious conversation.
"What do you mean we still can't find him?" Dojima asked.
Chie sighed. "I mean Yosuke, Rise, Teddie, Kanji, Yukiko, and Naoto have not been able to get into contact with him," Chie explained. "Yu seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet."
"Look," Dojima started, "it is clear that something here is happening that is a whole deal more like the the disappearances and the serial murder case back when you guys were still in High School. I don't know what that all means but if you have any ideas on this that we can turn into a real physical case, this whole situation could cause social unrest the likes we have not seen since back in those days."
"I know, Dojima-san. But as we have learned back in the day, not all of this stuff can be just explained away," Chie told him. "This case may not have a real world culprit. It hasn't yet. Not every case is going to have an Adachi."
Nanako knew she needed to get away now. Let the others know that it had happened and they had a new person to go and save. Heading back to her bike, she went off riding back home. Upon arriving she left her bike back in its dedicated spot and headed into her living room. Sending out a group text with the dtails she learned and instructions to meet tomorrow at the Junes Food Court to plan ahead for the next rescue mission.
The following morning Nanako waited for the group to arrive at Junes. Shima, with hair tied back, and Shiho arrived at the same time, the latter pushing the former's wheelchair. He seemed to be a little irritated about it, but it seemed like he was tolerating it for her. She on the other hand seemed to be as happy as Nanako had ever seen her. This sight made Nanako grin. They clearly cared about each other and their history together was clearly written on their faces. Yuuta arrived next and looked exhausted. Nanako could see that he had already been working through the night to make money. Miwa showed up escorting Takeyoshi from his home. The same outrageous sunglasses on his face and his clear distaste for the world around him. Meanwhile, Miwa looked like she was exaggerating excitement to try to get him to be more open to leaving his house on his own whims. The group was finally completely here.
"So, there has been another disappearance?" Shiho asked as the group settled in around the table.
Nanako answered, "Yes, it happened at the Train Station."
"Last night?" Shima asked.
"Correct," Nanako mentioned.
"So," Takeyoshi started, "it was Yo-chan then?"
"Affirmative."
Miwa then stated, "And we are going to be two people down?"
"Yup," Nanako said starting to get a little uncomfortable with all these questions being asked about stuff that she thought was already pretty clear. "Are we all on the same page now?"
"Question: Do we have any idea what we might encounter when we go after Yo-chan?" Takeyoshi asked. The group was kind of quiet in the face of this question.
Nanako shrugged. "We really never have much of an idea what we are going to encounter when we come after those who have been taken. I mean the only thing we called about your situation was that it would take place in an altered version of the Okina Courthouse where your parents' divorce was finalized," Nanako admitted. An awkward breeze blew through the group. "Otherwise no chance on a pre-warning."
"Now that you have finally gotten a question you could say no to, can I ask some 'non-yes or no' questions?" Takeyoshi asked impatiently. Nanako shuddered at how accurately he could read some people. She nodded. "Ok, so you guys summon your Personas and then fight shadows right? How do you guys know how to do that?"
Shiho answered, "Well it wasn't really like we had to learn, really. It was more of that the ideas just kinda came to us. Or at least that was what it was like for me."
"Ditto," Yuuta added.
"So what does it mean if my Persona has given me no information on how to fight?" Takeyoshi asked again.
Miwa replied, "Well your Persona did not look like a fighter. Maybe it has different powers?"
"Like…?"
"Thinking… stuff," Miwa said half heartedly. "Teach you had to screw? I dunno, why you asking me?"
"I," Takeyoshi started off-balance, "am done talking to you about this. Anyone else?"
Yuuta suddenly exclaimed, "You are our supercomputer back-up like in Featherman! When we have trouble, you feed us information about the enemy. When we encounter the unknown, you give us hope. And when it is time for us to kick butt, you give us power!"
Takeyoshi looked at Yuuta for a moment and then to Nanako and his two upperclassmen, "Any ideas?"
Shima shrugged. "Yuuta-kun's makes sense to me," he said.
"Yeah I am on board with that," Nanako added. "Anything else, anyone?"
Shiho and Shima both shook their heads. "If that is all, I better get this grump somewhere else then," Shiho said gesturing over to Shima. He looked like he wanted to say something but took it well and let her have her fun. The two of them left together. The underclassmen all sat together.
"So, before we get going. Nanako, we should talk to Takeyoshi and Yuuta about the box," Miwa said trying to be a little bit sly.
Takeyoshi however caught on immediately responded, "You are referring to the friendship box correct? The one that you and Nanako-chan kept? The one has stuff in it that important to our little friend group before my unfortunate accident?"
"Is that what we are calling it?" Yuuta asked still not impressed by Takeyoshi writing him off earlier. "I thought we were calling it the Psychotic Break? Mental Shutdown? Brain Malfunction? Tell me when to stop."
"Come up with one more," Takeyoshi challenged.
"Um, uh," Yuuta struggled. "Lobe Lambasting?" Takeyoshi was impressed. He handed over 1000 Yen. "Sweet," Yuuta cheered for himself.
Nanako and Miwa waited for their little moment to end and then Nanako finally spoke up, "So yes, that box. What we wanted to do was run an idea by you guys since the box was kinda as much yours as it was ours. After we get Yo-chan back, we were thinking about getting together and repurposing the box for all of us, including our senpai. That way we can all get a new start together."
"Sure," Yuuta said. "I think Shiho-senpai would probably like it more than Shima-senpai but it might be nice to give us all a creative output in these times."
Takeyoshi added, "Sure, on one condition. We must all agree on what the first item we add to the box will be, before we add anything else. And that does include Shima-senpai. If we are gonna make this a group project then I steadfastly refuse to carry this project on my back like a school project."
Nanako and Miwa liked the idea. "Deal," Miwa said. The group all sat around for a while longer and they just enjoyed each other's company. Miwa had to leave with Takeyoshi who decided he needed to go home. Nanako and Yuuta were the last to leave.
"Nanako-chan, thank you again. My mom is starting to get a little better. But hopefully I just need to work a little extra hard for a few more nights and we should be all good. Are you sure you will be ok two members down?" Yuuta asked her.
Nanako just smiled and said, "It is fine, Yuuta-kun. We have done this so much already. Practically experts by now."
That night, Takeyoshi, Miwa, Shiho, and Nanako all arrived at Shima's house as it was still a place they were comfortable using to enter the Mirror World and was still the closest of all their houses. When they arrived, the found a ramp had been set up at the steps of the house and at the top of that ramp was Shima.
"Hey," Shima said as they approached. "So, when your ready we'll go up."
Miwa however decided to address the elephant in the room and asked, "So how do you go up the stairs to your room?" Nanako looked at her with what could almost be described as the most confused and slightly outraged look on her face.
Shima however wrote it off with a simple, "I climb them. Oh, Nanako. Here is the hair tie she bought me. Maybe if she feels like I sent you she'll be more open to letting you help. She really misses you guys even if she has resigned herself to being alone."
"Probably would have been easier if you could have come with us," Takeyoshi said matter-of-factly. "If I had to guess, us going alone could also make her Shadow even more mad since Nanako-chan has revealed that you kinda planted the seed for her to play the Mirror Game in the first place."
Shima shrugged.
Shiho however was quite a bit less pessimistic about the matter. "If it means getting to rekindle her friendship with her childhood friends, I think Yo will be a whole lot more accepting of that fact," Shiho suggested.
"One can hope," Miwa commented.
The group followed Shima inside. There was a brief moment of anticipation for everyone but Shima and Takeyoshi as the three girls were rather curious about how he was going to climb up to his room. Using his good leg and half hopping and half climbing up them, it was actually rather mundane. The group followed up after him and into his room. Nanako noticed that his guitar was now on his bed. A small smirk found itself on her lips. The four adventurers passed through the mirror and they found themselves on the other side. The group passed through the Mirror Version of Shima's house and out into Inaba proper. They all very quickly realized that finding Yo-chan was not going to be all that difficult as spotlights and lasers seemed to be rhythmically from the direction of the Train Station.
"Well, that's not a surprise," Takeyoshi commented idly as his eyes began to take on a strange blue hue.
"Takeyoshi-kun?" Miwa asked.
"Persona!" Takeyoshi suddenly called out. "Interesting… I think Yuuta-kun may not have been too far off about my abilities. As bizarre as that comment may seem. Looking around I am seeing a whole lot more than I was just a moment ago.
"Of course, my intellect is vast and my vision is as all encompassing as the sky above you. Now my intellect is yours, young one."
"I see. Thank you, Coeus," Takeyoshi said to his Persona. "So let us see, I am sensing quite a few powerful shadow pressences around here. Yo-chan obviously, but also 7 others. They seem to be wandering aimlessly around this Mirror World."
"The reflections maybe?" Shiho offered.
"7 of them?" Miwa added.
Nanako thought about it. "We know that two of them are based on Teddie and Kanji. Could the rest of them also be my Big Bro's friends?" she asked.
Takeyoshi however seemed to be focusing on something, "There is more. I don't know what some of these things are, but I will keep it on looking at it when I have free time. Shall we get going then?"
The group made their way across Mirror Inaba and with Takeyoshi on navigation they did not even run into the minor enemies. However during this time, Miwa began to get other concerns. "Do we really think we can do this with only three combatants? I mean, Shima's Shadow messed us up pretty bad," Miwa commented as they approached the Night Club that had replaced the train station. Shiho's attention was focused at this point since she had not heard too much about the previous excursions into the Mirror World and had only participated in one previously.
"Shima's shadow was also the precursor to a battle heavy Persona," Takeyoshi commented. "My point being is that I am pretty sure any competency from battle that it had probably came from Shima himself. I have been doing some research on Psychology. I had heard the term persona before at some point or another and it originates in that particular field of study."
Nanako was perhaps the most interested in the turn conversation had taken as probably the second most booksmart person of the group. "What did you find out?"
"And here I was thinking you would never ask," Takeyoshi commented sarcastically. He knew someone like Nanako could not resist that kind of bait of knowledge. "This concept during this particular era of psychological understanding was established by one Carl Jung. He founded the concept of Analytical Psychology and quite a few terms that we are familiar with in this world are directly related to his work, believe it or not. For instance, the term Persona was coined to be used as a representation of the idea of wearing a social mask. So specifically, the version of ourselves that we actively express to those in our immediate environment. Another term I ended up finding had origins in this school of thought was the term Shadow. And this one was a doozy. To put it succinctly, the Shadow refers to any part of us that is unconscious or not an active part of our active identity. So does it surprise anybody that our hidden parts are the things our Shadows most actively decide to focus on. It was by mere coincidence that I found out about another term however. It is most commonly used in conjunction with the observation of narcissism."
Nanako realizing that he was wanting some kind of indication that someone was still listening asked, "Which term would that be?"
"True Self," Takeyoshi answered immediately. "While there was some minor overlap between Jungian Psychology and this concept, the most interesting thing that I found was that when our Shadow's claimed that they were the 'true self' the were basically stating that they were all of the person they represented. If the world was not seeing our dark sides, then we're denying them. The worse we denied them, the greater their power grew and the more they would separate from us. Or to simplify, they were the pieces of our Persona that we hid, which is why we did not have the power we have now, until after we accepted them and resolved to live as whole beings. Because that was the primary focus of Jungian Psychology, it was like a psychoanalysis version of finding oneness."
Miwa seemed to have a question but was not given an opportunity to ask when the group saw the entity they knew would be the shadow version of their target.
"Well! If it isn't my old friends," Yo declared almost sarcastically, not even looking at them as they approached. Her appearance however was the thing that caught the attention of everyone there. Her outfit seemed to be split right down the middle. The left side of her body was a scantily clad clubbing outfit including a bolero style black jacket with neon blue trim, over what seemed to be a neon blue sports bra and nothing else. There also was what appeared to be half of a glowing music note emblem on the back of her jacket was continued down and looked almost embedded in her bare back. White shorts, perhaps shorter than anyone's parents would be comfortable over fishnet tights. However, this was directly juxtaposed by a dark black cloak-like jacket that hung from the shoulder and revealed long black pants. The shoes seemed to be identical on either side following the same coloring scheme of her left side jacket, however the right side's hood covered her whole head.
"Yo-chan," Nanako uttered in almost disbelief at the person before her. Not only did Takeyoshi call it, but she had really changed over the last year. When Yo-chan's shadow turned around the left side of her face was put together like it should be going to club. The right side however was darker, tear stained mascara and lightly smeared lipstick. The kind one might see on someone who had been recently kissing someone with a full makeup on. Her hair seemed to be two toned. The left side blue and the right red. As she spoke, her right eye seemed to glow in time with her words.
"Is that really all you have to say to me, Nanako Dojima?" the shadow asked, taking a rather offended tone. "After all this time? Sure it has been barely more than a year. But a year can feel like a lifetime when you spend it as alone as I have. Look, come to the party or don't. I don't care." The shadow turned and made her way inside the club.
Miwa stepped forward as if to chase after her, but hesitated at the steps. "She seems completely different," Miwa observed sadly.
"Shima said that she seems to miss you guys. If these feelings are to be believed then a part of her must feel abandoned. We will have to appeal to her desire to be friends with your group again. Let her know that she is as accepted in your eyes as she was back before all this happened," Shiho told the three younger high school students. "Afterall, chances are that nobody knew her like you three. I will help in any way I can."
These words seemed to bolster the confidence of the group as they finally made their way within the threshold of the club's entrance. Looking around, the halls they found themselves within seemed to share the same duality of their creator. On the left, it looked like the entrance to a club. Mood lighting, aesthetic decorations, and all the normal bells and whistles that made entering a club interesting and just made you feel pumped for whatever was happening on the far end. However, the other side was the same club entrance but its lights were off. The decorations were tattered, broken or just plain missing, and the type of atmosphere felt more like the type of place that had been long since abandoned. As they made their way through they found themselves at a door. Like the shadow, the emblem was half present on the door. The other half of the door looked desolate. Nanako took the hair tie from her pocket and put it around her wrist for safe keeping, then she threw open the door.
Inside the room they found themselves in what felt like a large maintenance room. Cleaning supplies, an electricity switchboard, and what seemed to be some kind of water pump or water heater all located in this immediate room. The four of them all looked around and it was not until Takeyoshi gasped that any of them realized what it was that they were meant to find.
"Hey," Takeyoshi said aloud getting the attention of his three allies. "I will fully admit that I am no expert on the subject… but is that what I think it is?" He pointed down at his lace-y discovery. Miwa, Nanako, and Shiho all walked over as curious as one could be considering that Takeyoshi was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of whatever it was that he had found. All three of them immediately felt their hearts sink when they saw it.
Shiho especially seemed to be taken aback as it was sight that she did not want to see again in a dark back room like this. "Th-th-those are... " Shiho trailed off as dark memories began to flood her mind.
"Discarded," Miwa commented. "I had heard the rumors that she was… active. Y'know, like that. But this is…" Before she could find the will to finish, a familiar voice filled the air around them.
"I knew it was a mistake the moment it was over. How could it have not been a mistake? I was a soon to be high schooler, he was about to be a third year. But at the time, I didn't care. I needed something to fill the emptiness I was feeling. At that time, I thought it needed to be something physical. By the time school started, practically every guy in the third and second years knew about my first time screw. Let's just say, I received a lot of… requests. I suppose I should have just been grateful that it did not result in anything else, but still… if I had felt lonely before, this only made it worse. But this is what I get for finding myself on the wrong side of my friends' emotional walls, now isn't it?"
Nanako gasped and fell to her knees. "Yo-chan," she said trying to hold back sobs. "I never wanted to make you feel like you were not wanted."
However, Miwa walked over to her, kneeled down, and said, "Nanako, there was nothing we could have done. Had she just asked us about it we could have told her that everything between us was fine. It isn't like we did anything to actively push her away."
"But we didn't reach out to her," Nanako replied, now weeping. "We didn't push her away, but it isn't like we fought to keep her near either."
"Nanako-chan, Miwa-chan! We have a problem," Takeyoshi called out to them. They both turned to see him looking over at Shiho would looked like she was close to having some kind of a panic attack.
"Oh no, Shiho-senpai!" Nanako exclaimed. Her sadness over Yo-chan needed to take a back seat for a moment.
Takeyoshi looked on and asked, "What is wrong with her?"
Nanako rushed over to her and began trying to calm her down. So Miwa answered, "Shiho has a history with dark rooms like this. It was part of what she was dealing with deep down."
"Shiho," Nanako said to her. Shiho's eyes were wide with fear, but it looked like she was not seeing Nanako. No, she was looking right through her as she was now lost in the past. "We need to get her out of here. She has completely shut down."
"But then we will be down three people. We have never only had two people fighting," Miwa said nervously.
Nanako shook her head and replied, "With Shiho like this, it would still be the same, Miwa. She cannot go into danger like this."
"Nanako's right. We take her back to the mirror, send her home. If we have to then we come back another night," Takeyoshi added.
Nanako shook her head again. "No, I cannot leave Yo-chan here. Not surrounded by this. I cannot let her feel like we have abandoned her again," Nanako retorted. "We send her home and then we come right back her. Yo-chan is leaving here tonight."
The three underclassmen worked together to guide Shiho out of the club. Takeyoshi once again navigated them flawlessly back to Shima's house in the Mirror World. As the approached, Shiho seemed to be finally coming back to her senses, though she was still completely spooked.
"Wh-what happened? Did we get her?" Shiho asked as she came back to reality.
"Not yet," Miwa answered. "You started having flashbacks and you completely froze up. We are sending you back and then we will finish saving Yo-chan."
"What? Just the three of you?" Shiho argued. But they were not having it.
"Shiho-senpai," Nanako said to her quietly, but firmly. "I am not going to subject you to your worst nightmares. But I am not leaving Yo-chan here. We have to do this." The led her back up to the mirror version of Shima's room and guided her into the Mirror.
Back in reality, Shima had not left his perch next to the mirror in his room. Suddenly, Shiho stepped out of the mirror alone. "Shiho? What happened? Where are the others?" he asked her.
"They are going on alone," Shiho said as tear began welling up in her eyes. She seemed to lose her balance and Shima reached out to her and guided her to a sitting position next to him at the end of the bed. "Shima, it was so terrible. We found Yo-chan's nightclub nightmare. Inside we found, d-d-discarded panties in a room. I couldn't help focusing on them and when I did, I was right back in that janitor closet with Kamoshida." Shiho's breath was ragged and her tears became accentuated with sobs. Shima wrapped his arms around her and simply held her as she cried into his chest.
"You're alright," he said as soothingly as he could. "I promise, I will never let anything like that happen to you again. I will make sure that you never have to fear that." As he held her, his thoughts began running at a million miles a minute. Nanako, Miwa, and Takeyoshi were alone in there. They would need support. As her tears calmed, he let her go and then began fishing around the side of his bed and began preparing to put on his prosthetic.
"Shima?" Shiho asked with uncertainty. "Are you doing what I think your doing?"
"They are going to need back up. I can't sit idly by and let them go in there alone," Shima told her as he slipped on a sock over the end of his leg stump. He flinched in pain when the sock dragged against the tender spot at the point where he would be resting his weight.
"But, if it gets worse, you could lose more of it couldn't you?" Shiho replied.
"How do you-?"
"I looked it up after you announced that you had been medically ordered to stay off of it. I needed to know what it meant for you," Shiho replied. "Figured you wouldn't be listening to those instructions if they weren't important. When I realized what it could mean for you and your leg, I knew then that I needed to make sure I kept you from trying to use it early."
"That's why you have been pushing me around all day?" Shima asked somewhat shocked. Shiho nodded. He looked down at his leg and realized that she had cared so deeply about his condition that she had looked up information on how to help him with it. He looked at her and she was looking at her feet almost as if she was ashamed of what she did. Shima suddenly reached out, guided her gaze to his and then leaned forward. In a moment that surprised both of them, he kissed her. It was quick, no more than five seconds. But to both of them it could have been five hours for all they knew in that moment. Both of them blushing deeply he finally said, "Thank you." He then reached into his pocket and fished out his cellphone. "I have an idea. Think I could borrow your contacts list?"
Nanako, Miwa, and Takeyoshi found themselves back outside the club.
"I hope she will be ok," Nanako wondered out loud.
"Shiho-senpai will be fine," Takeyoshi answered matter-of-factly. "Shima may be some kind of rough and tumble delinquent, but for her he would probably fight the owner of the Tatsumi Textiles shop in a fist fight. They get each other like I have only seen two people dedicated to each other can. Let's just focus on the matter at hand."
The three of them entered the club again. They quickly made their way through the first hallway and then walked straight through the room that they had to turn away from previously. Passing through into the next hall they marched on through until they found a second door. Within the room on the far side of it, they found themselves in a train car and it looked like it was racing down some tracks.
"Shima-kun said something interesting to me. Something that seemed to really mean something to him and to be honest, the way he said it made me want to believe it. 'You know, I hear that waiting for someone to save you is only a temporary fix.' It made me wonder if maybe that is what was wrong with all of us, you know? All of us were just waiting to be saved like Nanako had been. Maybe we were expecting it. But what if we are too far gone? Too far gone from a life worth saving? Maybe I should just go for one last big night and then… well who knows what my next adventure would be like. Not like anyone has comeback to tell us about it," the voice of Yo said out loud in the train car.
"Was she really thinking about that?" Takeyoshi asked aloud. "Yo-chan, felt so alone that she was on the verge of desiring death? Had I not been so paranoid about her wellbeing, we might not have sent Shima to her. If we hadn't reached out to her, she might have tried to end her life before she ever tried the Mirror Game."
"Did he know about this too?" Nanako wondered aloud. "Maybe he recognized what was broken because he had lived with it himself."
"Maybe, or maybe we were all just really lucky," Miwa commented. "Let's save her. Now."
The three moved to the far end of the train car and as they threw open the door they found themselves on a dancefloor. On the dance floor was the shadow version of Yo Misaka dancing along to what the group could only describe as noise. Not in that old person complaining about the music the young people are into, no whatever was playing had no rhythm, no melody, and even lacked any kind of distinct instrumentation. It literally was just noise. However, the shadow was dancing like there was no tomorrow. Meanwhile, the group could look up and see that up in the DJ Booth looking both frightened and like she had not slept in hours, was their Yo. Her blue hair however did seem to be two-toned now. If she had noticed it, it had long since past where that was her primary concern.
"Yo-chan!" Nanako called up to her. "We're here. You are going to be fine!"
The music suddenly came to a screeching halt. The Shadow stopped mid-dance step and then seemed to rotate towards the team without even taking her feet off the ground. "Well, well, well. Not gonna lie, Nanako-chan. It feels good hearing my name coming out of your mouth so loudly and passionately. But what can I say, I have always been willing to swing both ways for a cheap thrill," the shadow taunted.
Nanako shook her head. "Yo-chan! Please listen to me, I know you might be embarrassed by this. But we don't judge you! We all miss you so much. Please, know that!" Nanako called up to her friend again.
"Oh puh-leeese! You really expect to me to believe that after more than 12 months of radio silence. And Takeyoshi… to think my life got ruined because of your fragile little mind. Not to mention that you Miwa never even took the time to think for yourself about leaving Nanako's side. You trying to swing for her?" The shadow taunted again.
Yo started pounding on the glass up above, "Shut up! Stop talking to them like that!"
"Why?!" The shadow version of her bellowed as she turned to face herself. "What had they done to receive any kind decent treatment. They abandoned us! They turned away from us when we needed them most! Why do they deserve anything other than the worst treatment possible!"
"Shut up!" Yo screamed. "Don't say that shit like you know me! You know nothing about me! You could never be me!"
The shadow grinned a deep grin. "You are right. I am just me now!" Almost as if in time, darkness swelled around the shadow version of Yo at the same time the same noise from before continued to play and the group braced themselves to avoid being pushed back by the force of the energy around them.
As the energy began to recede the group found themselves in confronted by perhaps the most intimidating of the enemies Nanako had seen. Yo's shadow had taken on the giant form of a woman who wore robe half on simply covering her bottom half. The robe was made of wind and lightning. Across her top half was a sequence of leather belts that did very little to actual cover the entity before them. The horizontal straps just barely covering her chest but leaving plenty of viewing room to completely remove any kind of obscurity of her form. However her burning red eyes were the thing that demanded the most attention as they seemed to be exposed through cracks through the side of her head. They seemed to glow in time with her words just like before.
"I am a shadow. The true self. With the power of Clymene, Titaness of Fame and Infamy, I will rebel against those who created my current reputation. Starting with all of you!" Shadow Yo cried out.
"Uh… guys," Takeyoshi started. When Nanako and Miwa looked back at him they found he already had his Persona at the ready. "This thing doesn't seem to have any kind of weaknesses. No matter what we hit it with, it is all gonna hit for just about the same amounts of damage."
Nanako looked back at the enemy. "Fine, we do this the hard way. Come, Persona!"
"Persona!" Miwa called out. Both Themis and Rhea appeared beside their summoners.
"Another of the Titans corrupted. Why do I even bother being surprised anymore?" Themis remarked. Themis pulled her hammer up to a battle ready position. Rhea without comment brought her staff to hand. Themis dashed forward and with heavy swing tried to bring down her opponent by sweeping the legs. The large shadow simple jumped over the attack and lashed out with her foot. Themis dodged the attack but Rhea took the brunt of it.
"Ok, that was weird. She seemed to be trying to predict your moves and dedicating herself to performing counter attacks. Try to aim center mass. She'll have the hardest time moving out of the way of attacks there," Takeyoshi advised.
Rhea's staff took on a colorful hue and Nanako along with her Persona took on a Red, then a Blue, then a Green hue. "Try this," Miwa said to Nanako.
Nanako had her Persona charge forward again this time moving faster than she had before towards the enemies chest. The attack was successful the enemy was pushed backwards against the back wall. However, the counter attack still came and Nanako felt the brunt of it as she could not get Themis out of the way in time.
"Why do I feel like she is hitting us a whole lot harder than we are hitting her?" Nanako asked holding her head.
Rhea's staff began to glow again soon followed a by a storm of ice and the shadow felt itself beginning to slow down in the ice storm. Nanako and Miwa were able to keep their Persona's from feeling the brunt of this shadow's counter attacks this time. Suddenly, the cloak around the enemy's waist whipped a heavy wind storm that threatened to blow both the Persona users away. The shadow then did a quick spinning kick and the distracted Persona users stood no chance in trying to dodge the incoming attack. Themis and Rhea were both sent flying backwards. Nanako and Miwa followed suit. Struggling to her feet, Nanako started having doubts about coming here with so few people.
"Come on, get up! Or am I not worth bringing your "A" game?" the shadow taunted. Miwa also struggled to her feet. Looking up she saw that the enemy had reached out to grab the two Personas and began squeezing them. Nanako and Miwa both fell to the ground screaming out in pain.
"Yo-chan! Stop this!" Takeyoshi called out. The shadow looked at him, amused. "I understand your hurting. But it isn't going to make you feel better to hurt others. I would know, I did that to all of you for over a year and I was still miserable."
"Shut it!" The shadow yelled. "You don't care about me! You never cared about me!" The shadow got ready to swing her leg at Takeyoshi. A light suddenly burst through the door to the room and when the Shadow swung her leg forward, it met a resistance she had not been expecting. "What is it now?!"
"Yo-chan, it is time to stop!" shouted a familiar voice from out in the hall. When the dust settled, standing in front of Takeyoshi and his Persona was Hyperion. His chariot wheel shield having absorbed the brunt of the attack. Walking into the room from behind him was Yuuta.
"Yu...uta," Nanako barely managed to say as she was writhing on the ground.
Yuuta looked up at the shadow and then looked past it to Yo-chan who was seeing everything that was happening below her with terrified eyes. "Hyperion, help me up there," Yuuta commanded. The Persona grabbed the boy and took off into the air. As he flew up, he swiped at the hands of the shadow forcing it drop the two Personas it had in its grasp. Then, Hyperion balanced Yuuta on his shield and held him up in front of the DJ Booth.
"Yuuta-kun, you- your- how-" Yo tried to say between terrified gasps for air.
"Yo-chan, please just listen," Yuuta said to her. "It is ok to hurt. We understand. Everything that has happened here has been a side effect of all the shit we have all had to deal with. If you can find it within yourself to accept that this darkness is there in you, we can all work together to deal with our personal demons. We're friends. And while we haven't been doing a very good job at being there for you, we want to be there for you now. All four of us, and our Senpai. Both Shima-senpai and Shiho-senpai want to be there for you too. If it were not for circumstances outside our control they would have been here too."
Nanako between bouts of trying to keep the shadow somewhat in line listened in to what Yuuta was saying. When he mentioned the upperclassmen Nanako remembered the hair tie around her wrist. She lifted her arm as she yelled, "Yo-chan, Shima sent us after you. Look! This is the hair tie you purchased for him, right? He wanted you to know that even though he could not come and save you himself, he still only wanted to see you safely home."
Yo looked down at Nanako and saw the hair tie. Looking back at Yuuta she saw someone she did not quite recognize. When did Yuuta become this… cool? All of them seemed to have grown up so much during their time apart. What happened to them? Did this happen to them, too? She then looked at her shadow and yelled, "Stop it! Please, I won't deny you anymore. Just don't hurt them!"
The shadow turned around and floating up as it seemed to begin shrinking in size. "Why do you protect them now?" the shadow demanded.
"You have protected me for too long," Yo said to her shadow sadly. "Hey, I am sorry I made you suffer because I was too weak to face the world alone. But we don't have to be alone anymore. Together, we can set our friends right and continue looking like total badasses while we do it. It was not fair to either of us, but what is even less fair is for us to deny them forgiveness when they have done so much to try and make up for it here. Let us give them the second chance that they are giving us, huh?"
The glass between them vanished as the shadow returned to normal size. The shadow landed down in front of her sitting down on the turntable that had been between them and it returned to looking that way it did before. "Promise? No more in-fighting?" the shadow asked.
Yo smiled at her other self and hugged her. "Uh, for you good lookin'? Anything," she said goofily. Her shadow seemed to get teary eyed as is began to glow. Appearing before her now was a Persona clad in a blue cloak over what seemed to be some pretty punk looking clubbing attire. It was a perfect match to Yo's personality.
"I am Mnemosyne, Titaness of Memory and Remembrance. With my power, you will learn to keep in mind the most important things, and let those memories help shape the person you are meant to become, be learning from the person you once were," the Persona said to the young lady in front of it. Yo took on a blue glow as the Persona disappeared and reunited with her.
"Lovers Arcana..."
"Yo-chan," she heard Yuuta say. Looking up at him on his glowing chariot wheel, she saw his hand extended. "Let's take you home." Yo took his hand and let herself be carried down by Yuuta's Persona. When they got down to ground level, Nanako and Miwa both rushed over to her as well as their tired bodies could and they wrapped their arms around her. Even Takeyoshi who was not known for a being a touchy-feely person walked over and joined in on the group hug. After more than a year, their group had finally reunited.
After they broke the hug, they began leading Yo back out of the Mirror World. Nanako however had to ask, "Yuuta, what are doing here? What about your work?"
"Yeah, I thought you needed the cash to cover for while your mom was feeling ill," Miwa added.
"I did, but without worrying about tonight's rescue mission I was able to really focus on my work. In fact I was so focused, I finished my quota early. As I started getting a head start on more of the work, I got a phone call from Shima-senpai. I did not think he actually had my number, but there he was calling me. He told me that you guys were headed in an additional member down and that I needed to go back you up. He wanted to come himself, but with the infection threatening his leg, he could not come in after you," Yuuta explained.
Nanako laughed a little. "Well then, I guess we will have to thank him with a day pushing him around in his wheelchair," she joked.
Takeyoshi letting the joke go over his head retorted, "He barely tolerates Shiho-senpai doing that. What chance do you think we have?"
"She's kidding, Takeyoshi-kun," Yuuta said deadpanned.
"I am sure she is," Takeyoshi replied sarcastically.
Yo listened to this back and forth. She just gave a tired smile as she listened to the people who meant the most to her talk. Their voices sounded just like they used to and for the first time in more than twelve months, she felt at peace.
The group arrived back Shima's house in the Mirror World. They walked into the building and when got up to the room, they found Shiho sitting on the bed just inside the Mirror World.
"Shiho-senpai? What's wrong? Are you ok?" Nanako asked rushing over to her.
Shiho looked at her and nodded. "I am doing better. Shima's mother seems to be up and about, because she tried to come into the room while we waited for you guys. Shima had me hide in here until he could get rid of her," Shiho explained why she was there.
"Teenage boy hiding a teenage girl?" Yo joked sleepily. "Sounds like young love to me."
This made Shiho blush heavily as she seemed to suddenly be unable to make eye contact with any of them. This caught Miwa's attention. "Shiho-senpai… did something happen while we were away?" Miwa asked slyly. Nanako's eyes went wide when she realized what Miwa was insinuating.
Nanako turned to Yuuta and Takeyoshi and began ushering them out, "Give us some room, we need girl time."
"What? Why?" Yuuta complained for a moment.
Takeyoshi had accepted his fate and simply said, "Hey Yuuta, want to learn about Jungian Psychology?"
The four girls found themselves alone now and Nanako was ready with a question, "What happened after we left you here?"
Shiho, still blushing, explained, "Well, Shima saw how upset I was and he held me to calm me down. After I started regaining my composure, he started getting ready to come after you all. I stopped him, because I know that if an infection gets bad enough, especially on a limb that had been previously amputated that it could need further removal. When Shima realized that I looked up this information for him, he uh… kissed me. It was really sweet."
"Aw, that is so cute!" Yo suddenly declared in her tired slur. She moved forward and gave her a hug. "Y'know, you got yourself a good one."
"We really need to get this one home," Miwa commented. Shiho just nodded as she hugged the tired Yo.
Shima's head soon came through the mirror and he was surprised to see the increased size of the people here. "Alright, come on through, you'll need to go straight through the house out the front though. I don't trust my mom to not come back again," he said in a hurry. Miwa fetched Takeyoshi and Yuuta and the group made their way through the house into the night air. Shima followed them back downstairs and sat down in his wheelchair. He followed them out to see them all off.
"Shima-kun," Yo complained tiredly, "when we hung out on Saturday you didn't mention that you had a girlfriend."
"To be fair," Shima replied in as gentle of a tone he could must, "I didn't have one then. If I made it seem like I was trying to make more of our day together I will apologize now."
"Aw it's alright," Yo replied.
"Get home safe for me, would ya?" Shima said to her.
Nanako and Miwa however answered for her and said, "She will."
Yuuta looked over at Takeyoshi and said, "Need help getting home?"
Takeyoshi considered the risks of trying to go home alone at this hour and then said, "Please."
Shiho saw them all off and then looked back at Shima. "Shima, I guess this is goodnight then?" she asked.
"I guess."
Shiho hurried up the steps to him and gave him a kiss. "Goodnight, Shima," she said sweetly and then scurried away. Shima just sat there blushing until he finally turned around and headed back inside.
Post Chapter Note: Thank you once again for all your patience. I hope you are enjoying the story as much as I have been in writing it. Hope you liked that little look into the adult lives of Naoto and Kanji. While that section probably could have been removed for space, I did not want to deny you guys more Investigation Team time in a less antagonist light.