There's a reference to a real Shin Megoomy Tensay game in this. (As real a Shin Megoomy Tensay game as Digital Devil Saga is...)
In which Hiyori's role as a mere passenger in this story is cemented as her own story takes a back seat.
"Hiyo-chan, on your left!"
Hiyori clumsily swung the rapier Mitsuru had given her in the Shadow's general direction. She misjudged the distance and stumbled, the rapier's weight almost sending her crashing to the ground. Her body moved slowly and sluggishly – not gracefully like Yukari's when she let arrows fly at her enemies. Hiyori needed to eat more of that meat Shinjiro had made her earlier that day – or maybe she just needed to sleep.
Junpei swung his own sword like it was a baseball bat. It was crude, but effective – the Shadow quickly disintegrated into a mass of black liquid.
"You okay?" Yukari asked as she fingered the trigger of her Evoker. She was panting only slightly – she'd cast a few too many healing spells, and likely wouldn't be able to cast any more if they kept asking her to fix every minor scrape.
But before either of them could answer, Hiyori saw another Shadow approaching Yukari from behind. She didn't even bother with the rapier – she went straight for her Evoker, letting Aeacus finish the Shadow off with a Bufu spell. When her Persona disappeared, Hiyori suddenly found it very difficult to remain standing.
"That's enough for today," said Mitsuru's voice in their minds. "Come back to the entrance."
"Aw, already?" Junpei whined. "I was hoping we could actually go to the next floor…"
Yukari huffed in annoyance. "Come on. Let's head back."
The first floor of Tartarus hadn't exactly been sprawling with Shadows, but there was still a fair number there. But now, as they slowly dragged their feet back to the entrance, the first floor was conspicuously empty.
Hiyori's knees nearly buckled when she saw Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Shinjiro in the atrium. "Good job," Mitsuru said with a proud smile.
Akihiko frowned sternly at Hiyori. "You need to train more."
"She just got out of the hospital yesterday, you numbskull," Shinjiro muttered. "Give her a break."
"So are we coming back here tomorrow?" Junpei asked excitedly.
"Wait, you actually want to come back?" Yukari cried. "Geez, we were barely in there for half an hour, and I'm already starting to feel sick…"
"Well of course we'll explore Tartarus in moderation," Mitsuru said, "but you three need to train in case we have to fight any Shadows like the one that attacked the dorm."
"Oh yeah, what was that about anyway?" Junpei asked.
Hiyori sighed as Akihiko launched into an explanation. She felt weak and feverish, and she wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for the next day. She almost groaned at the thought of going to school the next morning, but she couldn't fall even further behind.
And then, something at the side of the atrium caught her eye.
It was a door – a door illuminated by blue light that hadn't been there when they first entered Tartarus. Hiyori walked toward it and placed her hand on its cool, metallic surface.
"What's that?"
Hiyori startled. She hadn't noticed Shinjiro following her, and all of a sudden, his presence was too large and too imposing. "I-I don't know…"
"Huh? What're you guys lookin' at?" All of a sudden, the rest of SEES was standing behind her, and Hiyori felt very, very small.
"Mitsuru, was this always here?" Akihiko asked.
"It's the first time I'm seeing it…" the club president replied.
"I don't like this…" Yukari mumbled. "Let's head back."
The door seemed to vibrate under Hiyori's touch, and there was warmth coming from inside, if not in a physical sense. "It's okay," she found herself saying, and it was as if there was no one there in the lobby but her. "It should be fine. It doesn't feel like anything malicious."
It wasn't until the words were out of her mouth that Hiyori remembered everyone else there – and how little sense her words probably made to them. Her face flushed scarlet as everyone blinked at her. "How do you know?" Mitsuru asked, always practical.
"I…" All confidence Hiyori had felt before was conspicuously absent, and she wrung her hands together. "I don't know…"
With one hand on her shoulder, Shinjrio gently pushed her aside and grabbed the doorknob. "Shinji, wait!" Akihiko yelled just after Shinjiro yanked the door open.
And then, Hiyori found herself in a room swathed in blue velvet.
"Wh-What is this place?"
"This definitely wasn't here before."
"Whoa…"
"This is incredible!"
Hiyori walked to the center of the room, tilted her head upward, and closed her eyes. She felt safe here, like she did on the nights when she could see Ryoji. There was a woman singing along to a piano – a soothing melody that made Hiyori feel like she was dreaming. When she opened her eyes, there was a shimmering golden butterfly fluttering above her. It flitted down close to her, so that it was at eye-level with her, and simply hovered there for a few slow moments.
And then, there was a spark in her mind, accompanied by the same waves of burning, searing pain as there were the night she first awakened her Persona.
"Oi!"
Shinjiro caught her as she fell. The pain faded much more quickly than it did the first time, and she didn't feel quite as drained afterward. "S-Sorry," she gasped. "I'm okay." Somehow, she felt more energized now than she ever had in her entire life.
Shinjiro didn't let go of her even as she tried to push him away. His large hands gripped her shoulders, anchoring her firmly to the ground. "We shouldn't be here," he said in a low voice. "We shouldn't have come here at all."
The golden butterfly continued to hover by Hiyori. "I'm fine," she told it, even though it didn't say anything. As if her response had satisfied it, the butterfly flew upward, away from her. She stood up without Shinjiro's assistance and exhaled slowly.
At the center of the room, in a large chair, there was a man with white hair and a long nose. A boy and a girl – both with white hair and golden eyes – flanked his sides, staring impassively forward. The man with the long nose slowly looked up to meet Hiyori's eyes and smiled. "Welcome to the Velvet Room."
"Let's head back," Yukari said again. "Senpai's right – we shouldn't be here."
The man with the long nose chuckled. "Oh, but you should. If you were not meant to be here, then you would not be here – it's quite simple." He chuckled again. "My name is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance."
"Can you explain what this place is?" Mitsuru asked. "Why are we here?"
Igor's smile widened. "This is a place that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. My master has granted you all the privilege of requesting my services."
"And what exactly do your services entail?" Mitsuru asked.
Igor grinned. "Are you aware of the many and varied selves within you, the gods and demons you harbor?" he said cryptically. "These selves… we call them Persona."
"You said there's more than one self," Hiyori said. "So that means… there's more than one Persona in us?"
He nodded. "Correct. Think of your Persona as a mask you wear for the world to see. Is it reasonable to expect one mask to fit every situation in which you find yourself?" With Igor's words, Hiyori suddenly became very aware of her fellow club members standing behind her. The mask fell back into place, after a brief respite where she was allowed to forget where she was and lose herself in the Velvet Room. "That is where our role starts."
"Then we will return when there is a need for new Personas," Mitsuru said briskly. "Now we really must be going. Come, everyone."
It wasn't until they were out of the Velvet Room that anyone spoke up. "Hey, you never said you could use more than one!" Junpei wailed.
"I didn't know that was possible," Yukari added.
"I don't think it is," Akihiko said. "It sounds like a scam."
"It isn't," Hiyori interjected. She looked back to the glowing silver door and resisted the urge to break away from the group to go back inside. Shinjiro didn't stray too far from her – and it only just now occurred to her how strange it all was.
"How do you know, Mikage?" Mitsuru asked again. "Have you been there before?"
The mask fell back into place – Hiyori couldn't say when she'd lost it in the first place. She was causing trouble for everyone – leading them to the Velvet Room had been a terrible idea. "Never mind," she said quietly.
Mitsuru and Akihiko exchanged uneasy looks. Yukari frowned quizzically at her. Junpei rubbed the back of his neck in confusion. Shinjiro sighed.
No one pressed the issue.
Elizabeth was the first to break formation after the party had left. Theodore exhaled sharply just seconds after, slumping forward. "Was that everyone, Master Minato?" he asked.
Master Igor had closed his eyes – whether he was conscious to witness this conversation or not, Elizabeth couldn't tell.
"Yes." Minato stepped out from the shadows, his expression a tad bit more serious than usual. "At least… everyone who could conceivably be here at this point in time."
His face was half a shade paler than normal, and Elizabeth could see through it to the wall behind him. "It seems your power is waning," she said.
"Don't worry," he said – he said that a lot to her these days. "It always does around this time in the cycle."
"Master Minato…" Theodore said, concern evident in his expression. "You shouldn't push yourself."
"Would it be easier if I fought it again?" Elizabeth asked.
Minato waved his hand. "No, that's not necessary." The smile he gave her now was no different from the first that she'd seen. "You don't have to waste your strength like that, Elizabeth." He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. "I should be fine soon." He said that a lot to her these days, too. "Besides – it's better if they defeat it when it's at the peak of its strength."
The emotions that flooded her then were painful, but not foreign. Elizabeth clenched her fists. "Master," she said. If Master Igor had heard her, he did nothing to indicate it – and even if he didn't, then Master Belladonna and Master Nameless could tell him later. "I shall be leaving the Velvet Room for some time. There is something I need to take care of."
"Elizabeth…" Minato said, and his voice sounded so fragile and broken that it hurt even more.
There was something foul in the air – something foul had been stewing in the air for a long time – but Grand Master Philemon had done nothing to vanquish it. Or maybe he could do nothing – Elizabeth wasn't sure. Either way, she had to see for herself what exactly it was. She left without saying another word.
Hiyori's lungs screamed as she flopped down tiredly on a bench near the Naganaki Shrine. "Hey, don't just sit down like that," Akihiko chastised her. "If you don't cool down and walk it off, you'll make yourself sick." He pulled her up with a seemingly effortless yank on her arm and didn't let her sit down again until she paced around the shrine's perimeter twice. "So, half a rep," he said. "Not bad for a beginner." But his voice was a tad bit strained which meant that, yes, Hiyori was absolutely hopeless in the physical department.
"I'm sorry," she said instead of gasped – she wasn't quite so out of breath anymore.
"Don't worry," Akihiko retorted. "You're still starting out. You'll get better."
"I couldn't even finish."
"I didn't expect you to." He glared at the cast on his arm. "I'd train with you too, if Mitsuru wouldn't bite my head off…"
According to Yukari, Akihiko's Persona was Achilles, a primarily physical fighter with a few Zio spells under his belt. It was Akihiko and Achilles that had weakened the Shadow that attacked the dorm to the extent that Hiyori could finish it off. But there were weaker Shadows in Tartarus that Hiyori couldn't defeat on her own and Akihiko had insisted that he'd barely done anything to the first Shadow, which made her victory over the first Shadow all the more bizarre, and… it made her head hurt just thinking about it.
Shinjiro had a Persona too – Patroclus, Achilles's brother – but he didn't use it, and no one was allowed to ask about it.
"You should join a sports team," Akihiko said. "They should be recruiting soon." Hiyori resisted the urge to groan – she and P.E. didn't quite get along well, to say the least. "Your Persona's supposed to get power from the strength of your heart, or something. But you can't rely only on that. Physical strength is everything." He punched the air in front of him with his uninjured hand for emphasis.
Hiyori couldn't help the tiny giggle that bubbled from her at that, and Akihiko grinned triumphantly. She stopped it before it could develop into full-blown laughter – Akihiko probably hadn't been trying to be that funny anyway.
He gave her a strange look and reached down to pat her head like she was a small child. Her first instinct was to duck away, but Akihiko was faster, and his fingers soon weaved through her sweat-soaked hair. "I'll join a sports team," she said, because he'd assuredly stop… whatever this was if she protested.
"Good," he replied. "It'll get most of this basic training out of the way, and then you can focus on fighting Shadows." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Hmm… you didn't seem to be doing all that well with Mitsuru's sword last night. Maybe you can ask Yukari about joining the archery club?"
"Um…" Hiyori mumbled. "I-I'll just see which clubs are recruiting and go from there."
"Okay." He extended his arm toward her and grinned. "Let's jog back to the dorm."
Hiyori resisted the urge to groan.
Jin Shirato didn't react when Takaya casually strolled back into the apartment as if he hadn't been absent for the past day. There weren't any official rules between the three of them, but it was generally agreed upon that you weren't supposed to ask about each other's business. Not that there was much business to report on – Chidori had her painting, Takaya had… whatever it was he did, and Jin had his internet. Everyone had access to the Revenge Request site, with Jin having slightly more access than Takaya and Chidori by sheer virtue of being the site's creator.
But something was different this time – Jin couldn't quite put his finger on it. He knew that there'd been a request, even though Takaya had yet to say a word. Chidori picked up on it, too – she laid her paintbrush and easel down on the floor beside her.
"We have a job tonight," Takaya said uselessly. It was something huge and powerful, judging from his wide, almost deranged grin. "We're to eliminate a very special little lady named Elizabeth."
"Elizabeth?" Chidori echoed. "That sounds foreign."
"She's foreign in almost every sense you can think of," Takaya said. "I hear she's not of this world at all."
Something wasn't right, but Jin couldn't say why it was wrong or what was wrong about it. "Takaya…"
His leader looked to him, probably not intending to look quite as cold as he came off. "Is there a problem, Jin?"
It was probably nothing, Jin reasoned. Nothing outside the ordinary job, nothing that could inspire such alarm. He was just overreacting, even though there hadn't been any notifications on the Revenge Request site for more than a week, even though this job had come out of nowhere…
"No. Where will we find this Elizabeth?"
Takaya's grin widened. "You and Chidori can relax. I'll find her."
"Hey, transfer student!"
"Yuko, wait!"
Standing by the classroom on the opposite side of the hallway were two girls – one with brown skin and her dark hair tied into a small ponytail, and the other with paler skin and her darker hair tied into a longer ponytail.
"Oh, come on, Rio!" said the girl with darker skin. "She can totally help us!"
"She might not be into sports clubs, though!" the girl with longer hair protested.
"Hey, transfer student," said the girl with darker skin again, looking straight to Hiyori. "You interested in joining a sports club?"
Hiyori opened her mouth to protest, but then thought back to Akihiko's words the previous day. If she didn't follow Akihiko's advice, if she didn't catch up to Yukari and Junpei in the physical department, then she'd only be a burden on SEES.
"See?" the girl with long hair said. "She's not interested!"
"What kind of sports club?" Hiyori asked.
The girl with dark hair smirked triumphantly at her companion. "Naginatado," she said. "A little unconventional, but kind of cool, don't you think?"
"We'd only meet twice a week," said the girl with long hair. "Maybe Tuesdays and Thursdays. You'd be working with Yuko," she gestured toward the dark-skinned girl, "and me."
"So how 'bout it?" Yuko asked excitedly.
"Okay," Hiyori answered easily. A naginata was a weapon she'd be able to use in Tartarus, at any rate – and if she were to be trained in it, then it would certainly do her more good than Mitsuru's rapier did.
"Great!" both girls said in unison. "I'm Rio Iwasaki, by the way," said the girl with long hair.
"And I'm Yuko Nishiwaki!"
"I'm Hiyori Mikage," Hiyori said quietly. "Um… I'll do my best."
"Yes!" Yuko cheered, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Now we just need one more!"
"Two more," Rio corrected her.
"Kaz can be our team manager or something," Yuko said dismissively.
"Yeah, but did he already say that he'd join?"
"He will."
"Yuko, that's not even the same thing."
"Then why don't you ask Kenji to join?"
"A-Absolutely not!"
"Um…" Hiyori chimed in. "I could ask Mitsuru-senpai. She might know of… someone…"
"Oh, that's right," Rio said. "You're in Kirijo's club, aren't you? That special one."
"The same one Yukari-chan's in, right?" Yuko asked. "That's perfect!" She paused and rubbed her chin. "Wait… doesn't student council meet today? We could ask her right now!"
"I don't think she'd appreciate it if we just barged in and advertised our nonexistent club, Yuko…" Rio muttered.
Still, they made their way to the student council's meeting room. Yuko gave Hiyori a gentle push in the door's direction. "It's all on you, Hiyorin."
"Hiyorin?" Hiyori echoed.
"Nicknames are essential in a club setting, Hiyorin," Yuko said sagely, holding her finger in the air.
"Oh yeah?" Rio retorted. "Where's mine, then?"
"I'm still working on it!" Rio snappd.
"Excuse me…"
A girl with long hair and glasses stood before them. She didn't quite look directly at them – instead, she fixed her gaze on the floor. "Yes?" Rio asked her. "What is it?"
"You're… kind of blocking the way…" the girl mumbled.
"Hey, you're Chihiro Fushimi, right?" Yuko asked. "That super smart first year who's in student council and everything?"
"Um…" the girl said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Please join our club!"
"Yuko!" Rio snapped. "Don't just spring it on her, just like that! I'm so sorry, Chihiro-chan…"
Mitsuru stepped out from the room that Yuko was blocking, her hands crossed over her chest. "Is there a problem?" she asked.
"Um…" Rio said slowly.
"W-Well…" Yuko stammered.
Mitsuru sighed. "Mikage?"
"W-We're trying to start a club," Hiyori explained. "A sports club. For naginatado."
"Naginatado?" Mitsuru echoed, raising an eyebrow. "I don't believe we have a club for that at our school."
"Exactly!" Yuko said cheerfully. "So we've got four members so far—"
"Kazushi hasn't agreed yet, so three," Rio interjected.
"Fine, three members so far," Yuko corrected, "and we really want Chihiro-chan to join!"
The first year's face turned bright scarlet, and she stood behind Hiyori in a familiar stance to make herself look as small as possible – a stance that Hiyori was mirroring almost perfectly as she tried to hide behind Rio.
Mitsuru looked thoroughly amused as she glanced from Chihiro to Hiyori. "I don't see why not," she said. "It'll be good for you, Fushimi."
"Ah…" Chihiro stammered. "Y-You think so, Senpai?"
"If you can get the paperwork to me by the end of the week, I'll sign you off," Mitsuru said. "Now, Fushimi, we still have some business to take care of."
"R-Right away!" Chihiro said. She bowed to Hiyori, Yuko, and Rio. "Excuse me…"
"We'll be in touch!" Yuko called after her cheerfully. She clapped her hands together excitedly as the door to the student council meeting room slid shut. "Now, even though we don't have equipment and stuff, there's no reason we can't start training a little early."
"You know what, Yuko?" Rio said. "I couldn't agree more."
This time, Hiyori did groan.
For the first time in a long, long time, the Velvet Room was silent. Theodore stood by Master Igor's side as he was supposed to, hoping that he didn't look quite as anxious as he felt. Even Master Nameless had stopped playing the piano and Master Belladonna had stopped singing – something had to be terribly wrong.
Grand Master Philemon looked even more translucent than usual, fluttering in the corner of the room as he always did. Master Minato was nowhere to be found.
"Theodore," Master Igor said, looking to him from the side of his large eyes. "Tell me – where is your sister?"
"I-I do not know, Master," Theodore answered. "She left last night, saying she had some business to take care of, b-but…" But she never said what exactly her business entailed. Was it defeating that monster again? No, Master Minato had specifically said not to engage it in battle, and there was no way Elizabeth would go against his orders.
Master Igor closed his eyes. "If she does not return by tonight," he said, "then I will have to ask you or Margaret to go search for her."
"That won't be necessary."
Master Minato didn't usually announce his presence, but he'd never quite suddenly appear in the Velvet Room as he did now. His body looked more opaque than it did the night before, but his expression was somber. Crumpled in his hands was a small blue cap.
Master Minato didn't have to say another word for Theodore to know exactly what had happened. "No…"
For the first time in a long, long time, Master Igor looked truly angry. "Tell me," he said in a shaking voice. "Who is responsible for this?"
The answer was obvious, but that didn't make it hurt any less. "Th-This has never happened before… has it?" Theodore asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"No," Master Minato answered.
"So we can fix this!" Theodore continued. He didn't care about how hysterical he probably sounded. "All we have to do is go back once more, and—"
"We can't," Master Minato said. His voice was dull, almost hollow. "And even if we did, it still wouldn't bring her back."
"No…" In that moment, Theodore abandoned all sense of professionalism. He sank to the floor, as if his legs could no longer support his weight, and didn't bother suppressing his sobs.
That night, the tune that Master Nameless played was a sorrowful one. Tears streamed down Master Belladonna's face as she sang, but her voice remained as clear and pristine as it was always supposed to be.
The next day, Takaya dumped the case for a computer game into Jun's lap – Avatar Tuner Online. Jin didn't play MMO's, but gifts from Takaya were rare, and Takaya's exorbitantly good moods were even rarer, so Jin couldn't bring himself to complain.
The fight the previous night had been brutal. The girl Elizabeth had been a small, doll-like thing, though she proved to be nowhere near as delicate as she looked. The look she'd given them was harsh and cruel, filled with so much hate that Jin couldn't help but wonder what he had done to wrong her. She summoned Persona after Persona after Persona from that tome of hers – that tome that Takaya had so gleefully claimed after it was all over.
As always, it was Chidori that revealed the cracks in Elizabeth's defense, few and far in between as they were. As always, it was Jin who pried those cracks open, weakening her even though there was no way he could defeat her on his own. As always, it was Takaya who led the assault, landing blow after impossible blow, drawing from strength that Jin didn't even know his leader had.
In the end, it was shock displayed on the girl's face as she went down. Jin shared her sentiment – he couldn't believe that they'd won either.
And for the first time in years, Takaya laughed. He laughed so loudly, so openly, so freely, like he was a child in an amusement park. Chidori visibly trembled as her face went utterly pale. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, as if to hold herself together.
And Jin – Jin had sunk to his knees and emptied his stomach of everything he had eaten over the past day. Takaya later attributed it to the strain of the battle, but Jin didn't dare voice his thoughts. What they had done was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, but Jin couldn't, for the life of him, explain why – after all, Elizabeth wasn't the first person they'd killed for a job, and she likely wouldn't be the last.
The previous night's battle had taken so much out of him that he couldn't bring himself to get out of bed for most of the day. The image of Elizabeth's mangled body, shock and horror written permanently on her face, kept flashing through his mind, and every time it did, he'd have to make a trip to the bathroom to empty the contents of his stomach, even when there was nothing left there. Takaya attributed it to a stomach bug. Chidori made him drink water even though the mere sight of it made him feel sick.
He'd clearly done something horrible – but it was just another job. It shouldn't have been anything to worry about. If it made Takaya happy, then wasn't it all for the best?
Jin was half sure the light of his laptop screen would make him sick again, and yet he inserted the disk Takaya had given him anyway, if only to get his mind off things with mindless entertainment. A grey landscape offset by continuous rain appeared on the screen.
There was no one online, save for one other person. Jin didn't expect Takaya to be an expert on MMO's, but it was nice that he at least remembered Jin's favorite game as a child. The game's popularity had waned over the years, and now it did little more than collect dust on the most die-hard fans' shelves.
A black-haired girl dressed in grey and orange appeared on the screen. "Welcome!" she said. The avatar bounced with a cheerful smile. "I'm so glad you're here! I didn't think anyone else played this game…"
Jin smiled a little wistfully at her perfect spelling and grammar. She – maybe he, since it was hard to tell – was clearly trying to make a good impression on him. "Oh, you haven't created your character yet," said the text bubble above her head. "I'm Sera. It's nice to meet you!"
Sera, huh? The name Serph came easily, and thankfully, the handle wasn't taken.
Sera: "You played that game too?"
Serph: "yeah they let me play it in the hospital"
Sera: "The hospital? Oh no, were you sick?"
Serph: "something like that"
Sera: "I'm sorry… Are you feeling better now?"
Serph: "yeah i guess…"
For a moment, Sera said nothing. And then, for another few moments, ellipses flashed on and off by her handle name as she typed. Jin didn't wait for her to finish. He had to talk to someone – Takaya would get angry, and Chidori wouldn't understand.
Serph: "what's the worst thing u ever did?"
Sera: "That's a strange question…"
Sera: "IDK"
Sera: "I've never really thought about it"
Sera: "HBU?"
Jin groaned as he drew his knees to his chest and buried his face in them. When he looked back at the screen, there were several more messages from Sera.
Sera: "Is everything ok?"
Sera: "Do you want to talk about it?"
Sera: "Serph?"
Sera: "Are you still there?"
He had a feeling that he'd regret what he was about to do – and yet, he couldn't stop himself.
Serph: "i just did something horrible last night"
Serph: "i can't take it back"
Serph: "my brother's really happy about it tho"
Jin looked away from the screen again. It was unreasonable to fear a stranger's response, and yet that was exactly why he couldn't look back at the screen. He hadn't revealed anything he'd done, but Sera probably hated him anyway.
Sera: "if you think its wrong then its probs wrong"
Sera: "apologize if u can"
Sera: "try to make things right"
Sera: "don't worry about what ur brother says"
He couldn't help but laugh at the conspicuous absence of the perfect diction Sera had displayed earlier.
"Jin?" Chidori peered into the bedroom he and Takaya shared. "I'm going to the convenience store. Do you want anything?"
He looked back down at Sera's responses. She was typing something now, but he closed the laptop before she could finish – he'd apologize to her later. "I want to burn incense for someone," he said.
"For Elizabeth?" she guessed.
Jin winced. With how often Chidori spaced out and shrunk into her own little world, it was easy to forget how perceptive she was – though it was probably more Medea than Chidori this time around. "Yeah," he said. It was a gamble but maybe, just maybe, she'd take his side over their leader's. "Don't tell Takaya."
Her expression turned somber, and in that moment, Jin knew that Chidori felt exactly the way he did. "I won't," she promised.
It wasn't until long after she left that Jin opened his laptop again. There was a clumsily worded goodbye from Sera typed in all lower-case letters and riddled with missing punctuation, but she'd been offline for a good twenty minutes by now.
Serph: "Thank you."
Serph: "You saved me."