Dear Reader,

[insert generic greeting here]

Ha-ha-ha. That was a joke. I would never begin a letter to you with anything other than a genuine expression of feeling. My thoughts committed to text are not the extracted process of computer code, despite how they may appear on your screen.

'But Aigis,' you may ask, 'aren't you a robot? Surely your thoughts are the result of some sort of complex machine process, and therefore are no more different than the boilerplate greeting template inscribed above?'

To you, reader and responder, I say, shut up. Stop talking. Don't talk to me. That was really mean. Don't try to contact me ever again.

I accidentally made myself a little sad. Do you? I mean, do you ever do that? Please give me advice as how to not do that. This business with feeling is not a simple one.

I have a tale to tell, reader, so tell it I shall and dispense with the preamble post-haste. (This is a phrase I heard Elizabeth say once, that I have decided to steal.)

I met Naoto today.

Wait, no. I met Shirogane-san today. I have been referring to them as 'Shirogane-san' in my letters until now, so if I were to suddenly call them 'Naoto' it would be an example of code-switching that implies our relationship has rapidly changed. This would kill the suspense inherent in my telling a story, and lose my reader's interest. I should not have begun the story that way. Please forget that I did.

I was in Inokashira Park, looking at a tree. There are lots of trees in Inokashira Park. I didn't feel the need to do a survey, but I would estimate there are nineteen thousand, four hundred and sixty five. (There is a margin of error of .2% from my generated estimates.) I was looking at one tree, which I considered giving a name, but decided against doing so, for names are typically given to humans and animals, intended to differentiate or describe that human or animal in some way, and I could not conceive of a name to adequately describe a tree. Hence my concern.

The poet Ezra Pound gave a writing exercise to prospective students of the craft, that they would write a description of a tree without mentioning the name of the tree (larch, pine, etc.) so that the reader will not mistake it for the description of any other tree. I wanted to observe a tree with a similar poetic intensity, so that I may learn something about the act of observation itself, and perhaps apply it to human beings. And maybe even myself.

I was looking at a tree. I looked at it for two hours, four minutes and nineteen seconds.

The tree's leaves were green.

Beyond that, I could think of nothing.

This troubled me, but I tried to stay positive. One cannot hope to succeed at something on the first try without an inflated sense of self-worth. I did not eliminate every Shadow I encountered with a single bullet, or grenade, or missile. It took time. Hard work. Teamwork...

I decided to take a stroll around the park while I thought about the tree. After a short distance walking, I found the path before me blocked by yellow police tape. DO NOT CROSS. Sound advice, I thought, as I ducked beneath the tape and moved on to see what all the fuss was about. Shirogane was talking to a policeman, standing by a curious human shape etched in chalk on the ground. She turned, hearing my approach, and was alarmed.

"Aigis-san? What are you doing here? I'm sorry, but I must escort you off the site immediately. Important police business."

I took another glance at the chalk mural. There were three miniscule drops of human blood that lingered on the soil inside the shape.

"Someone has been killed here. Is that what you are investigating, Shirogane-san?"

Again, she was startled, nervously messing with the brim of her hat. "That...that is correct. You're quite astute. However, I must still ask you to move outside the site. Inokashira Park's exits have been temporarily cordoned off for the time being, so you will not be able to leave, but I cannot let you stay in this area at present."

I nodded, comprehending. "I comprehend. The murderer is still within the boundaries of the park, or so police believe. Do you believe that also?"

"I...I'm uncertain if that's the case, but I still need to comply with the investigation. Wait, why am I telling you this?" Shirogane was losing her initial confident stance. It was unclear if she could move me from where I was standing. I was glad we were getting the opportunity to talk.

"I believe I can assist you, Shirogane-san." I closed my eyes, visualising the park in accordance with map data I have saved on the area.

"Has the police department investigated the possibility of the culprit escaping by air?"

"By air? What do you mean?"

"I noticed from observing the chalk shape of the body you found was unusual. A body to lie twisted in that position was mangled in accordance with the breaking of bones incurred from a fall of considerable distance. The only way someone could receive such injuries in this park could be if they fell from the sky – there are no hills in the park area one could drop from to land that way." I looked up at the clear blue Tokyo skyline.

"It's a nice day, isn't it, Shirogane-san?"

She looked toward the sky alongside me, though not without glancing quizzically at me first. "It's... pleasant enough, I suppose. Everything seems peaceful."

"No airplanes have flown by here for several hours. The skyline is unblemished. The only reasonable conclusion is that the killer must've dropped the corpse of their victim from a hang glider."

Shirogane's eyes lit up. "Of course! That's why no-one we questioned saw our victim in the park alive...they weren't here...then..." She dropped into the furious silence of deep thought. It was fascinating to observe her furrowed brow. She lost any awareness of herself, as if her mind had somehow breached the boundaries of her body, left it for a moment to more clearly access the domain of Thought. It was something transcendental, yet quietly so. Unlike anything I'd seen before, and yet there was nothing unusual about it; nothing out of the ordinary. Then Shirogane smiled.

"Shinzo Kakizaki. The victim's brother-in-law runs a company that offers hang-gliding tours of the city. He used his experience with the aircraft to stage a crime scene in the park, when he could've killed them anywhere before that...The police needs to investigate his company building immediately." She turned, about to race off to the policemen in the area, before remembering my presence.

"Aigis-san, I don't know how you managed to come to your conclusions with such ease of logic, but I can't thank you enough. You've aided the investigation significantly. I can't talk now, but please come visit myself and Fuuka at our apartment this evening. With your help, we may just have caught a murderer."

With those words, she ran off, to fight crime in the name of justice everywhere. A soft feeling emanated from my chest, enveloping me in a cosy warm glow of happiness. And then I heard a strange voice come from nowhere.

Thou art I, and I am thou...

Thou hast acquired a new bond.

It shall become the key that unlocks new varieties of human experience.

With the power of the Fortune Persona, thou shalt open a new door.

Though it was unexpected, the voice comforted me. I smiled watching Naoto go. We'd shared something, made a connection, and now I knew our friendship would blossom and bloom significantly.