Chapter 8
Ellen took a deep breath and soon heard her phone ring. She answered and heard Yosuke say "H-Hey, did you see that!? That was Yukiko-san for sure! It looked like her...I mean, she even said her name! But didn't the stuff she was saying sound weird!? And she looked like she was on some low-budget TV show...Was it like this before, too? What's going on...?"
"...Try to contact Chie." Ellen said thinking that Chie should at least know about what's going on.
"Y-You're right! Let's get her to contact Yukiko-san! Tomorrow's Sunday, so let's meet up at Junes first thing in the morning!"
He hung up and Ellen went to bed. The next morning she came down in her street clothes, wearing a long sleeved black shirt, a grey skirt, and black dress shoes. She saw Nanako sitting by herself. "Good morning." Nanako said
"You're up early today." Ellen said.
"He woke up early, so I woke up with him. He said he's gonna be late." Nanako said.
"If I leave, she'll be all alone...but I still have to see the others today."
"Are you going somewhere? I'll be fine by myself." Nanako said.
She turns on the TV and saw the weather report. It's suppose to be sunny today. "Oh, the sun's gonna come out. I should do some laundry. Uh...weren't you going somewhere?" Nanako asked.
Ellen decided to head out. Ellen waited for Yosuke at Junes reading her book. After about thirty minutes, Yosuke came and said "Sorry for the hold up."
Ellen put her book away as he said "I found some stuff we can use in the closet at home. Take a look at these!"
He showed two different swords to Ellen shock. "We've got our Personas, but a gold club's not that reliable of a weapon. So, which one strikes your fancy?"
"The one that doesn't attract this much attention." Ellen said seeing all the people looking at them almost in fear.
"So the nata then. Interesting taste seeing your Persona wields that massive claymore."
"You idiot...I'm saying you shouldn't bring weapons here and wave them around like an imbecile!" Ellen thought to herself angrily.
Meanwhile Yosuke said "As for me...Wait, maybe both would be good, too. K-Kinda like this!?"
He waves the swords around saying "Or like this!? What about this?!"
"You...You know did you ever think about what would happen if-" Ellen tried to say.
But she heard a patrolman said "Two suspicious kids one male and one female found, one armed with multiple weapon. Requesting immediate backup"
Ellen smacked her head on the table saying "*sigh* If the cops see you with those."
"Huh...? Ohhh crap, I mean...No...no no no no, this isn't what it looks like. We didn't steal it...Uh, I guess that's not what matters...A-Anyway, we're not doing anything bad! We're just two ordinary kids who like weapons and...Ugh, that doesn't sound right wither. Ahaha..." Yosuke said.
Ellen kept smacking her head as the patrolman said "Put the weapons down now! We'll listen to your story at the station. Hands where I can see them, too! I said now!"
B-But...This isn't..." Yosuke said waving his hands with the swords still in hand.
"Are you resisting on officer of the law!? Y-You're under arrest!" the patrolman yelled.
"Oh my fu-" Ellen tried to say.
But she just took the swords from Yosuke and gave them to the patrolman saying "Here! Just take the stupid things..."
Even with that though they were still taken to the station. However Dojima saved them from any further questioning as he said "...You didn't seem the type to pull a stupid stunt like this."
"I'm not..." Ellen said clutching her fists.
"...Why is your forehead all red?" Dojima asked.
"She kept hitting her head on the car seat. Don't know why though..." Yosuke said.
"Because of you, stupid! What kind of moron brings weapons to a food court during a murder case!?" Ellen though angrily to herself.
"...I think I have a pretty good guess." Dojima said remembering Ellen's mother doing the same thing when she experienced something stupid.
"Anyway, you know what's been going on around town. We got men stationed everywhere. For god's sake...You're lucky I was around, or this would have ended up on your permanent record." Dojima said.
"We're sorry..." Yosuke said.
They heard a couple guys passing by saying "Wait, so the one that disappeared is the Amagi girl...?"
"Seems like it...But she's just a high schooler, you know. Could be that she decided to run away from home."
"Hey...Did he say Amagi...? Then...She really is..." Yosuke said.
"Hm? Who's what now?" Dojima said.
"Oh, uh, nothing..." Yosuke said.
"I'm sure you've seen on the news that there's an investigation in progress...We're sensitive about certain things. You're free to go. But this better not happen again." Dojima said then he left.
They were about to walk out when they bump into Adachi "Whoa...Pardon me."
He looks at Ellen and said "Huh? Aren't you the kid staying at Dojima-san's place?...Hey, your head is all red. You ok?"
"Yeah, just getting through stupidity..." Ellen muttered.
"Ooohhh...ok." Adachi said kinda getting it.
"Oh...! Uh, can we ask you something? It's about Yukiko-san...I mean, Yukiiko Amagi of the Amagi Inn...Did something happen to her?" Yosuke asked.
"Huh? Oh, umm...Am I allowed to say...? Well if you're friends with Ms. Amagi...Keep this between us, okay? We got a call from Ms. Amagi's parents yesterdays evening saying they couldn't find her anywhere. since it was the weekend, the workers at the inn were extremely busy, and no one saw Ms. Amagi around that time. Oh, but that doesn't necessarily mean this is case just yet! But people've been turning up dead on foggy days...So we're really sensitive to stuff like this. By the way, did she say anything to you guys about maybe going trough some hard times?" Adachi asked.
"Uh...? Hard times?" Yosuke asked.
"Well, that announcer, Ms. Yamano, was staying at the Amagi Inn before the first murder. Seems Ms. Yamano had some harsh words for the manager about the staff's attitude towards guests. The stress of it caused the manager to collapse and with Ms. Amagi being the manager's daughter...She must've felt pretty strongly about the incident, y'know? By the way, did Ms. Amagi ever hint that she might be leaving the house? 'Cause if not, there's been some theories floating around that she's laying low for some reason or another...Crap, I think I've gone too far. You didn't hear that, okay?" Adachi said.
Ellen shook her head and said "You got it all wrong, Adachi-san."
"Oh? How so?"
"There's a couple of things to this theory that's working against it. Mainly the timing, I'm going to assume that this fight between the announcer and the manager happened the evening she got murdered. If that's the case then their would have been no time for Yukiko to grow a grudge and that's another thing too. Being the manager's daughter, she must have seen her mother work with customers like Ms. Yamano all the time and must have been taught in some way on how to deal with them. How can she take over the inn if she doesn't know that, right? Then finally it's the matter of physical traits, from what I've seen Yukiko seems to fragile to perform an act such as murder without the use of a weapon and even if she could the thought of her carrying Ms. Yamano's dead body on to an antenna on her own are slim to none..." Ellen said.
"Woah...I never even thought of that, I-" Adachi tried to say.
But they heard Dojima yell from an office "Adachi, what the hell are you chatting with civvies for?! And where's my coffee!?"
"S-Sorry! I got it right here! Psst! Forget I said anything! Please! And also I'll think about what you said." Adachi said.
Then he went off and they walked out as Yosuke asked "Do you think that was a good idea to say all that stuff? Doesn't that make you a little like a suspect?"
"Yosuke, if you think about it, I kind of already am a suspect simply because I'm new but, again timing and the lack of knowledge for the first two victims save me. I said that stuff to at least give us more time before the police do anything rash." Ellen said.
"I see...kinda of. But hey...you had the same idea as I did, right? That the detective thinks that Yukiko-san- " Yosuke said.
"There you are!"
They looked to see Chie standing there. They walked over as she asked "Sheesh, what're you guys doing!? I've been looking everywhere!"
"Uh, well, there was a slight misunderstanding...We'll tell you about it later." Yosuke said.
"Mr. Moron here thought that bring weapons into a food court would have no consequences whatsoever." Ellen bluntly said.
"What?! I thought it was fine! How was I suppose to know?!" Yosuke asked.
"There is a murder case going on." Ellen said.
"I know but-"
"And that way of thinking got us arrested and almost had it on our permanent records." Ellen said giving him a glare of death.
"Uh...*sigh* I'm sorry." Yosuke said giving up.
"You are forgiven." Ellen said going back to her straight face.
"Anyways, something's up with Yukiko-san!" Yosuke said to Chie.
"Huh? You know already!? I kept calling her cell, but she didn't pick up...So I went to her house, and it turns out Yukiko really did disappear...!" Chie said.
"I guess we've got no choice, but to go now...But that aside, the cops are saying some weird stuff. They think Yukiko-san's hiding to "lay low"...Apparently Yukiko-san's mom collapsed because that announcer lady bitched her out. They think that gives her a motive, and the fact that the announcer died right after makes her even more suspicious..." Yosuke said.
"I bashed the theory a little bit with one of the detectives but, I do not know this police force well enough to know how long that will stick..." Ellen said.
"What!? They think Yukiko did it!? What the hell is wrong with them!?" Chie yelled.
"Dude, don't snap at me! Yukiko's the victim here, dammit, not the suspect..." Yosuke said.
"Look, we need to calm down and think this through." Ellen said.
"Y-You're right. So...what're we gonna do?" Chie asked.
"With the police totally on the wrong track, we've gotta handle it ourselves." Yosuke said.
"I'm going too! And that's final! I'm going to save Yukiko no matter what!" Chie said.
"Are you gonna be alright...? But man...They just confiscated out weapons. We can't go in empty handed..." Yosuke said.
"And I wonder who's fault that was?" Ellen said.
"Will you let it go already?!" Yosuke yelled.
Ellen laughed a little and said "Sorry...Sorry..."
"Weapons...? I know just the place! C'mon, follow me!" Chie yelled.
They ran all ran into to be in a blacksmith's shop. "Here we are!" Chie said.
"Wh-What kinda shop is this...?" Yosuke asked.
"A metalworks...I guess? They sell all sorts of metal crap...like katanas and stuff." Chie said.
"Doesn't that seem weird to you!? Why would you know about a place like this anyway? Oh, I get it...You watched one too many kung-fu movies, and..." Yosuke said.
"It's not that at all! I overheard some guys in our class talk about it. They said this place sells weapons and armor." Chie said.
She looks at a piece of armor and says "Here, this one looks good, but it might be too heavy..."
"I dunno, Chie...I still think it's too dangerous. I know how you feel. but-" Yosuke tried to say.
However Chie yelled "You don't! You don't know hit about how I feel...Yukiko might die from this, for crying out loud! I'm going, and that's that!"
"...Fine." Ellen said.
Chie turned as Ellen said "But stay behind us. That world is dangerous. It's a place where you can lose yourself easily..."
"Psh, I'll be fine! My reflexes are second to none!" Chie said.
"Promise me..." Ellen said.
"I said I'll be-" Chie said.
"Just shut up and do it." Ellen said getting tired of her being stubborn.
"...Ellen...?" Chie said looking worried.
"Anything can happen in there and I...won't let any of you die...Not while this case still stands...so please..." Ellen said thinking of all the dangers including herself.
"Listen...she's right. You don't know what it's like in there! If you're not gonna listen to our warnings, we're leaving you here! If you insist on coming, just make sure you have something to protect yourself." Yosuke said.
Ellen herself didn't like the idea of the dragon and it's possibility of going crazy. Chie nodded and said "Ok, I promise..."
They picked out there weapons and soon after Yosuke said "You know...if we wear this stuff around town, we'll just get picked up again. But it's not like we can waltz into Junes with a sack full of gear and expect no one to notice, either..."
"Why not conceal them under our uniforms? I don't think people would notice." Chie said.
"I agree." Ellen said.
"Okay...Let's try that. Alright, let's split up and get ready. The store'll be crowded until the afternoon sale ends, and if we walk around together the cops might get suspicious." Yosuke said.
Ellen laughed a little and Yosuke asked "What's so funny?"
"...It's nice to see you're using your brain." Ellen said smiling a little.
Yosuke hung his head down and said "Your never going to let it go, are you?"
Ellen laughed a little and said "Maybe not."
"Anyway, I'll see you guys at the Junes food court!" Chie said.
They all agreed and left. Chie and Yosuke walked together and Chie said "Is it just me or is Ellen opening up more?"
"Yeah, I've notice she's been talking more." Yosuke said kind of wishing she didn't talk that much.
"I think this is good...she may not want to say it but, I think she really does care more than she's letting on...kinda surprising." Chie said.
Meanwhile Ellen was meant with a blue door appearing in front of her. No one else can see it, it seems. Then she heard a voice say in her head "So it finally begins...Now, if you'll give me a moment of your time..."
She saw the key glow and soon used it to go into the Velvet Room. She soon saw Igor and Margaret in their same spots but, also this unfriendly girl sitting next to Igor also. "We have been expecting you. The catastrophe that is headed your way...It has already taken human lives in its approach towards you...But you have nothing to fear. You already have the power to fight against it. It seems that the time for you to use your Persona has come...*chuckle*" Igor said.
"Your Persona ability is that of the wild card. If you strengthen your bonds properly, their power will help you overcome any ordeal. Our role is to facilitate that." Margaret said.
"My contribution...it to give birth to new Personas. By mixing together multiple Persona card, I can transmute them into a new form...This, in other words, is the fusion of Personas. You have the power to hold multiple Personas and to use them accordingly." Igor said.
"Huh...an interesting thing to use but, I'm confident in Teresa's skill." Ellen thought to herself.
They talked more about fusing and then Margaret said "I would like introduce a new resident of the Velvet Room, who will be helping you on your journey."
Ellen looked at the girl who remained silent. "...Marie?" Margaret asked.
"Yeah, I can hear. Nice to meet you." Marie said.
Ellen nodded and Margaret said "Excuse her. This is Marie. Her soul is still very young and-"
"Shut up! Don't tell her any more about me than you need to." Marie said.
"...As you can see. She may be brusque at times, but please understand that she is only an apprentice and forgive her for her impoliteness" Margaret said.
Ellen just shrugged her shoulders and Margaret continued saying "Marie will be dealing with "Skill Cards." Using these cards will allow you to provide your Personas with new powers. Also, I am sure she will help you form a bond between yourself and the "outside world." Marie will contact you at a later date. Please feel free to speak with her here when you wish to use her services."
Ellen nodded and Igor said "*chuckle* Do you recall my words to you before?"
"About the coming year being a turning point?" Ellen asked.
"Exactly, I meant precisely what I said. Defeat in battle is not the only way your journey may come to an end...Please do not forget this. When next we meet, you will come her of your own will. *chuckle* I look forward to it. Until then...farewell." Igor said.
