The shrill sound of an alarm rouses Mitsuha from slumber. She swings her legs to get out of bed, only to painfully slam her heels right onto the floor.
"Ah—!" Mitsuha begins to exclaim in pain and annoyance, but quickly silences herself with a hand to her throat when she realizes her voice sounds wrong. She can feel a subtle lump that she's certain was never there before.
She looks down at herself, frantically patting at her chest, the familiar soft swells instead replaced with a flat, alien surface.
She shifts slightly, suddenly becoming hyperaware of what's between her legs.
"S-something's there. . ." she murmurs in apprehension, one hand slowly reaching down.
The moment her hand touches that something, she recoils in shock and horror, letting out perhaps the shrillest shriek of her life despite it being with a voice far deeper than her own.
Mitsuha stares at herself in the mirror. Or rather, the boy whose body she's in. One of his cheeks is bandaged, which she gingerly touches. She immediately winces at the contact with the tender flesh.
"Big Bro? Are you there?" a young girl calls out.
Mitsuha follows the sound of the voice downstairs, where she finds an elementary school girl eating breakfast.
"Big Bro, I'm going to go to school, okay? Make sure to clean up once you're done eating. And remember to go to school, even if you're late!" the young girl says as she dons her backpack.
"Uh, right. . ."
Once the front door swings shut and she's alone again, Mitsuha returns to the bedroom she woke up in. The beeping from a cellphone notifies her of a text message.
Yosuke: Partner, didn't see you on the way to school. You coming? Better hurry, or you'll be late!
"Yosuke. . . ? Who's that?" Mitsuha racks her brain but comes up empty. Either way, she might as well get ready for school. As she grabs the uniform hanging on the wall, she falters.
". . .I have to pee."
One nerve-wracking and embarrassing trip to the bathroom later, Mitsuha rushes out the front door. The moment she steps outside, she feels her heart stop.
The omnipresent greenery. The small, almost claustrophobic streets. The squat little houses, reminiscent of traditional Japanese architecture. The familiar, earthy smell.
"Is this. . .no, it can't be. . . ! Am I back in the country again?"
Mitsuha is most definitely late for school, but she hardly cares. It was easy enough to figure out where the school was, but she was in no rush to get there. The despondency of being seemingly trapped in the boonies saps her energy, and she only arrives at the school at lunchtime.
The next problem: figuring out what classroom she's in. Thankfully, that question is answered when an energetic brown-haired boy wraps and arm around Mitsuha's shoulders.
"Hey, Partner! Finally made it to school, huh? You sure took your sweet time. Come on, Chie and Yukiko are waiting." The boy guides Mitsuha away from the classroom, presumably to where this Chie and Yukiko are.
"You must be Yosuke," Mitsuha says, mostly for her own benefit.
"Uh, yeah?" Yosuke shoots back.
Realizing how strange that must sound, Mitsuha flushes crimson. She just can't catch a break.
On the rooftop, Mitsuha sits in a circle with the other three, weathering a barrage of questions.
"You sure you're okay?" Chie asks her. "How'd you forget your way to school? You lived your whole life in Tokyo, it has to be infinitely harder to get around there than it is here!"
"Perhaps he's not feeling well," Yukiko demurely says. "Yesterday was. . .quite eventful."
"The other side sure is something else, isn't it?" Yosuke asks rhetorically. "I'm still a bit sore from the beating your Shadow gave us, Yukiko."
". . .I apologize that you had to see something so unsightly."
Shadows, Mitsuha recognizes. But what is this 'other side?' Mitsuha has a sneaking suspicion about what these other kids are going through. "Uh, what are you guys talking about?"
"Don't tell me you forgot everything, Taki?! Did Yukiko's Shadow do something weird to your head?" Chie asks, half joking and half serious.
"Wait, Yukiko has a Shadow?" In Mitsuha's experience, she'd never encountered a person with a Shadow—only the regular monsters that roamed Tartarus, and the two Full Moon Shadows. But never a person.
"'Had,'" Yosuke corrects her. "Maybe there is something wrong with you. We could go to the TV World and check it out, try a healing spell or two."
"TV World. . . ?"
Inside Junes, a supermarket chain Mitsuha has never seen (thanks to Itomori being so far from 'civilization' and the Kirijo Group's stranglehold on everything on Tatsumi Port Island), she finds herself face to face with a massive television.
"Here we are," Yosuke almost says proudly. "Come on, let's go!"
Mitsuha peers around the backside of the television, unsure of what to do. "Uh, does this need to be on or something?"
Yosuke takes her hand. "Man, what's up with you today? Well, we'll find out if you're okay soon enough."
Unexpectedly, Yosuke steps forward and into the television, passing straight through the screen in a ripple of static. More shockingly, her own hand sinks in as well, and Yosuke's pull sends Mitsuha tumbling through the screen.
After a brief descent through pitch-black nothingness, Mitsuha lands in a painful heap in the middle of a surprisingly large area. She only goes as far as righting herself before staring at her surrounding in wonder. The color yellow is almost blinding, if it weren't for a very faint fog. The immediate area features what look like spotlights and catwalks, giving the whole place the look of a television set.
"Hey, Teddie! Where is that damn bear?" Yosuke shouts.
"No need to shout!" A squeaky bouncing sound draws Mitsuha's attention to someone behind her. She's taken aback when she comes face to face with some sort of bear mascot thing.
"Did that costume just talk?" Mitsuha points at Teddie in horror.
"Sensei!" the bear whines, hurt. "You know I'm a bear! Not a Shadow, and definitely not a costume!"
Mitsuha scratches her head, bemused. "Right. . .sorry."
"Anyways, could you scan Taki?" Chie requests. "He's been kind of weird, we're worried something happened to him yesterday."
After a short moment of concentration, Teddie shakes his head. "Nope, nothing wrong!"
"Well, that's weird. . .you feeling up to do some exploring, Partner? Chie and I were thinking Yukiko could use the chance to get used to her Persona," Yosuke suggests.
Just as she'd predicted, this group of high schoolers also had Personas. In another person's body, however, she wonders what Persona Taki has. And would she summon her own instead? That would bring up way too many questions. And what if that mysterious Persona that burst out of Orpheus appears again?
"I think I'll be fine," Mitsuha agrees. "I think I'll try to avoid using my Persona today, just to be safe."
Chie offers her the handle of a sword. "Sounds good to me! More practice for me and Yukiko!"
Mitsuha uncertainly takes the proffered blade. Well, it'll be like using a naginata, just shorter, right? She did pick that up pretty quickly, maybe this won't be too bad.
Mitsuha nervously adjusts her grip on the sword, the weight of a weapon in just one hand unfamiliar to her. Coupled with the self-imposed restriction on summoning Personas, and she's been having a rough time.
"Partner, you're up!" Yosuke calls after knocking down a Shadow. "Finish it!"
He just had to pass the baton to her, didn't he? She runs forward and, wielding the blade with both hands, delivers an overhand strike that's more momentum and weight than skill. Thankfully, it's enough to cause the downed Shadow to dissipate into black mist, concluding the skirmish.
Yosuke watches her with a critical eye. "That was, uh, an interesting technique. You're usually more, what's the word. . .graceful? Yeah, graceful. I was surprised how well you wielded a sword at first."
"I guess I'm feeling a bit under the weather?" Mitsuha lies. "Yesterday sure was rough. . .I guess."
". . .Yeah, guess so," Yosuke hesitantly agrees.
"If you aren't feeling the sword, I could totally teach you some kung fu moves!" Chie offers.
Yukiko sniggers, the action contrasting with her usual ladylike demeanor. "Didn't you teach yourself by watching some kung fu movies? Maybe you could just lend him your DVDs."
Chie doesn't catch Yukiko's joking tone, taking it as an actual suggestion. "Hey, that's not a bad idea, Yukiko! And I'm sure Taki would actually take care of someone else's stuff with respect," she adds with a venomous glare aimed at Yosuke.
Yosuke winces, hands instinctively moving to cover his crotch. "Look, I said I was sorry! Can't you just let it go?!"
Mitsuha smiles to herself. They aren't SEES, but they sure act the same.
"So, think you have a feel for things now?" Yosuke asks Yukiko.
"I think so. So, you said I appeared on the Midnight Channel before I disappeared?"
Yosuke nods. "That's right. And after what happened to that announcer lady and Saki, we're sure there's a pattern."
"And so the next time somebody shows up, we'll be here to save them like you saved me," Yukiko logically concludes.
"That's right," Chie confirms. "If you need anything, just ask our leader, okay?" she says as she points to Mitsuha.
Well, at least that's kind of convenient. Mitsuha's experience in SEES will hopefully translate to leading this ragtag group. "So. . .I guess we'll call it a day, then?" Mitsuha decides with her newfound status. Mainly for her own benefit, as she feels her arm becoming more and more like a limp noodle with each swing of the sword.
Yosuke looks at her, still uncertain. "Yeah, that's probably for the best. We'll go a bit further when you're feeling more yourself."
Mitsuha hasn't felt this exhausted in a long time. Not after the fight with the Priestess, or even when she first evoked her Persona on the roof of the dorm. Even just rolling out the futon in the bedroom was a struggle. She made enough a of a ruckus that the young girl that called her 'Big Bro' had come by to investigate.
She had eventually laid everything out and gratefully collapsed onto the futon, ready to finally get some rest. It had been one hectic day, trying to figure everything out, not to mention having to learn how to fight with a sword on the fly. The familiarity of the futon is especially comforting, after a few weeks of sleeping in a bed it's enough to make her nostalgic for home. A little.
Scrolling through Taki's phone, Mitsuha stumbles upon a journal or diary of some sort. Every day, without fail, Taki had faithfully recorded the events of each day. Some days were shorter than others, but after a quick read Mitsuha feels as though she understands him. She can certainly sympathize, as a fellow transfer student suddenly thrust into some grand supernatural scheme.
On a whim, she opens a new entry for today and begins typing, describing as much of the day in as much detail as she can muster. Once done, she closes the application and lets the phone fall to the soft blanket, satisfied with herself.
As she lays there, trying to avoid laying on her sore arm too much, Mitsuha remembers that question in her notebook.
Who are you?
Spurred by a sudden idea, she sits back up and retrieves a pen from the desk. It's a bit difficult since she's using her nondominant hand, but she manages to write her name legibly enough on her other hand.
"What a strange dream. . ." she sighs, before drifting off to sleep.