Igor chuckled at my expression. "Indeed. One might call it fate that you met. The young Runaway has not yet had the opportunity to explore the potential she possesses, but perhaps, if she is willing, you may yet be able to assist her in this way."

"But… what do you expect me to even do?" I asked. "I barely understand anything about this Wild Card business as is."

"Understanding will come, dear Anomaly," Igor told me. "No gains are ever made without trial, whether it be of the body, mind, or heart. Your time of trial will come, as will hers. When the moment comes, you will know how to help."

My eyes blinked open as the dream of the Velvet Room faded. Igor was being cryptic as usual, leaving me with more questions than answers. Par for the course when it came to that place. Regardless, I at least had something of a new mission.

I pushed back the cover of my futon, brought my legs back, and rolled forward onto my feet. The Amagi inn certainly earned its reputation, with well-made meals, polite service, and cleanliness that rivaled my mom's efforts. The cherry on top? The assistant manager, Yukiko Amagi, was one of Yu's teammates.

As I entered the bathroom to put some clothes on and use the facilities, a smirk crossed my face and the memories flashed across my mind.

"This is Yukiko Amagi, the assistant manager of the inn, and another one of my teammates," Yu introduced her. He was no longer in his Rebel's Garb, having dropped it when he'd escorted the class inside. Yukiko was certainly a traditional Japanese beauty, with long, straight black hair and a soft, pale complexion, and she was even more stunning thanks to her elegant red kimono.

"It's good to meet you all," Yukiko beamed with a formal bow. "I assume this is for the Class 2A reservation?"

"That's right," Kawakami-sensei replied. Yukiko handed her a sheet of paper that most likely included everyone's room assignments. "Thank you very much, miss."

"We got two more," Yu added, pointing to the two pickpockets. "They're Persona-users, but they're also runaways who are strapped for cash. I'll be paying for their stay."

Yukiko gave a cheerful chortle. "No need. As soon as my mother hears about new Persona-users in town, she'll insist on letting them stay for free anyway. Speaking of, how's Chie?"

Yu smirked. "If her fellow officers weren't afraid of her before, they certainly are now that she's capable of calling on Haraedo-no-Okami. Last time one of her coworkers made a pass at her, she cracked a wall."

Yukiko giggled, "That's so Chie."

"Good thing there's no danger of that happening if someone tries hitting on you, right?" Yu asked jokingly.

Yukiko opened her fan and tapped it against her chin thoughtfully. "Well, I certainly might not break a wall. Perhaps… medium well?" A scattering of pink sakura petals started swirling in the air around her.

"Knowing your cooking, they'd probably only get off once they're charred black," Yu noted, completely deadpan.

That hit a sore spot. Yukiko snapped the fan closed, and the petals vanished into crimson fire. "My cooking's been getting better!" she protested. "It now takes almost thirty minutes before the kitchen staff kick me out!"

Yu was quiet for a minute. "Impressive."

Yukiko swatted him with the fan before turning to the students. "Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your stay."

I chuckled a little to myself as I slipped on a green t-shirt. Yukiko Amagi might've been gorgeous, but Yu's comment about "charred black" had certainly caused any boys in the class with unsavory intentions to think twice. Chief among them was the class pervert, Yuichi Niwa, a hopeless case who hit on any girl who was even halfway pretty. The only thing keeping him in check was girls like Arisu. Something about being on the receiving end of that glare of hers had traumatized the poor boy, and he was now absolutely terrified of any girl who might be capable of kicking his ass and inclined to actually do it. Evidently, that didn't just apply to girls his age.

When I emerged from the bathroom, the other two guys I was rooming with were still conked out. I shrugged and grabbed my schoolbag before heading out. Hopefully today wouldn't be as chaotic as yesterday.

It was not. But then again, it honestly wasn't much better. The entire morning was taken up by lectures from the teachers at the local high school, Yasogami High. Most of the teachers were fine, but Miss Kashiwagi's overly sensual mannerisms were just insufferable, not helped by how the lectures were on some fairly boring stuff, mostly about farming and land management, and other stuff that people do for a living in the countryside. I'd perked up when there was a brief forestry section, but somehow they'd even managed to make that part boring.

Now it was lunch, and the Pack had gathered around a table in the cafeteria. We'd just finished eating, and were now just sitting and chatting, bored out of our minds.

"I mean that inn was really nice," Shen was saying, "but seriously, why did this have to be the school trip? I wanted to maybe go to America, or home to down under, show off how well I can speak English. But nooo, we get to go to a tiny town only four hours from Tokyo all because some people wanted to see an idol fight supernatural monsters."

"I think it was that Niwa's idea," Arisu supplied. "He mentioned he'd want to come here to see Rise, and then it all just took off from there."

"Really?" I asked. "I thought he was terrified of strong women ever since you put the fear of God into him."

Arisu glared at me. "I did not 'put the fear of God into him', I just turned him down. Also, I think he might be a closet masochist, he just doesn't really want to show it."

"Niwa?" Shen asked. "Is he that guy over there? Needs a haircut, swaggers like a pop star?"

Arisu looked where he was pointing. "Yeah, why?"

"He tried asking me how to attract girls the way I do. I didn't know what to tell him, and he seemed to think it was something more than just me being an honest guy who knows how to treat women with respect."

Arisu snorted. "If he actually managed to get his head out of his ass, he might actually find someone willing to go out with him."

"Unlike me," I commented softly. I'd hoped the others either wouldn't notice or would just brush it off, but Shen sighed at me.

"You gotta stop doing this to yourself, man. I keep telling you, you're an amazing guy and any girl would be lucky to have you."

"Keep telling me that enough times and eventually I might start to believe you."

Arisu looked confused by the exchange, and Shen was about to continue to protest, but he was interrupted by Yu Narukami walking in. "Alright everyone, before we release you for the afternoon, we're going to be going on a short hike. If you'd all follow me."

Yu ended up leading the class on a walk up a path just outside of town to a hilltop with a view overlooking the town. Waiting for the class there were a middle-aged man with graying hair and stubbled chin, alongside a young woman with short black hair and narrow glasses. The man was wearing a slightly rumpled gray dress shirt and red tie, while the woman wore a more formal white blouse and pencil skirt.

Yu turned to the class. "Everyone, this is my uncle, Ryotaro Dojima. He works as a local police detective. And this young lady with him is the local weather reporter, Mariko Kusumi. She decides the weather around here."

"My friends call me Marie," Kusumi-san said cheerfully, walking over and cozying up to Yu's side.

"Hope you big-city kids aren't too bored out here in the middle of nowhere," Dojima-san joked.

"Anyway," Yu continued, "You may have noticed there haven't been any Shadows around town."

He was right, now that I thought about it. I hadn't seen a single Shadow since we'd arrived in Inaba.

Yu continued, "That would be because this area is protected, and I don't just mean by the Investigation Team. If we had to deal with Shadows popping up all over town, we wouldn't be able to do regular patrols of the surrounding countryside."

"So that's my job!" Kusumi-san announced. "It's a little bit tiring, having to protect all of my land from the Shadow incursions, but it's no sweat really. There's a lot of people here that I care about after all, and I've made a lot of fond memories of this town. So I've got to do my part in keeping it safe."

Now everyone was confused. "Uh, sorry," Kawakami-sensei spoke up, "but what do you mean by 'keeping it safe'? Are you a Persona-user as well?"

"In a sense," Kusumi-san answered.

"Just forget it, you're not going to get a clear answer out of her," Dojima-san sighed. "She just showed up one day, won over the weather station reporters, and now she practically runs the place. And somehow, she's never been wrong. Everyone has different ideas about what's up with that; some think she has some kind of trick to it, others think she's some kind of meteorological genius, and there's a certain percentage who seem to think she's some kind of literal weather goddess."

Kusumi-san openly laughed at him. Yu smirked fondly and continued. "Anyway, I brought you out here so we could show you the limits of where it's safe to travel without encountering any Shadows. Basically anywhere within half a kilometer of the town is safe ground. Any further out than that, than this, and you can get Shadows doing their best to sneak in. Since you're all high schoolers, I'm assuming you all know how to make smart decisions, and that means don't try to fight Shadows unless you have a Persona. They may not be as smart as most people, but even lesser Shadows are more than strong enough to kill you in only a couple hits. So I will say it again: do not try to fight them. If you see any Shadows, your best bet is to either hide, and take advantage of their poor senses, or to run back to town, and they won't be able to follow. Do I make myself-"

There was a scream from one of my classmates. A few black figures had popped up out of the trees, shaped like bodyless cloaked entities with eyes like pinpoints of red. Reacting quickly, I had Gryphon summoned in a flash of blue and blasted the nearest one with a burst of Force magic. The rest of them surged forward to attack-

CRAK-THOOOOMM!

Out of nowhere, a blast of lightning arced down from the sky and incinerated the entire group of Shadows on the spot. For a minute, I was just standing there staring, Gryphon still hovering in the air over me, Shen's hand still on his Shackle. Everyone was staring at me.

"Uh… that wasn't me," I said.

"That definitely wasn't me," Shen agreed.

"Seriously!? Again!? Aaaarrgh, I just hate it when they manage to sneak this close!" Kusumi-san fumed. She and Yu were the only people who were completely unfazed by the whole thing. "This is the best spot overlooking the town! How dare they interrupt every single time I come here just so they can foul up this place with their filthy presence! StupidsmokybuttheadbastardsIhatethemall!"

I let Gryphon vanish as everyone's attention returned to Kusumi-san. Pretty much everyone had drawn the same conclusion as to where that bolt of lightning had come from.

"Still mad about getting interrupted the last time we came up here?" Yu asked. "As I recall, one tried to grab your bag…"

Kusumi-san blushed furiously and hit him in the shoulder. "StupidnosyjerkIhateyou! I keep telling you there's nothing in my bag! You don't need to know what I have in there, so keep your nosy to yourself!"

Yu laughed at the abuse. "Alright, alright. Settle down. You'll end up making it cloud over again."

Kusumi-san still looked a bit flustered, but she managed to compose herself. Yu turned to the class. "Alright, I think that's about everything. Enjoy the rest of your day here in Inaba. If our local shops and such aren't enough to entertain you, there's preparations for tomorrow's gymnastic's event going on at Yasogami's gymnasium. Although, come to think of it, one more thing: any Persona-users," here he turned to me, "will be able to find me at the local Junes if they wish to enter the world behind the TV."

There was a flash of blue fire, and Yu was back in his Rebel's Garb. He stepped back to his motorcycle, which leaned against a nearby railing, put his helmet on, and started to roll off back down the hill. "See you!"

About thirty minutes later, Shen, Arisu, and I were walking into Junes. It seemed just like any other ordinary two-story shopping center, with an open-air food court, different departments for various goods, and even a few select departments that sold goods that were locally produced, in partnership with several of the other local shops.

"Why'd he say to meet him here?" Arisu asked, glancing at a few racks of women's clothing.

"If I'm guessing right, probably the TVs," I told her, keeping my eyes on the overhead signs. "If the Garden of Hearts is on 'the other side of the TV', then they probably used a big flatscreen to get in."

"And in a big shopping center, they would be able to meet up while blending in," Shen inferred. "Clever."

Not long after, we reached the electronics section, which included several televisions on display. Unfortunately, they were kept up on a high shelf, well out of reach of any Persona-users who wanted to experiment.

"Well that blows," Shen remarked.

"Well, Yu said to meet him here," Arisu pointed out. "He's probably nearby."

"Or one of his friends is," I added. "At least a couple of the Investigation Team work here. One of them's the bear mascot, Teddie. The other's a spiky, brown-haired guy named Yosuke."

"Spiky-haired like you?" Shen japed.

I shook my head. "Nah, not quite. Longer hair, lighter brown, sticks out and down more than straight up."

"Do you have photographic memory?" Arisu demanded.

"Something like that," I replied. "I haven't really interacted with him, but I did my best to commit everyone's faces to memory back at the big meeting earlier this week, and I managed to remember him. Anyway, let's split up, start looking."

Arisu's aimless wandering inevitably took her back to the women's clothing section she'd been eyeing when they first came in to Junes. Arisu, unlike a lot of girls her age, didn't really do very much shopping, and whenever she came to a store with her mother, it was almost always for an efficient routine of gathering everything their family needed for the next month. She'd never really had any sort of opportunity to shop for herself just for the heck of it, particularly with her family's almost nonstop urging for her to focus on her studies and employment value.

…but then again, they also wanted her to "express herself through her actions", and they hadn't said anything when she'd decided to dye the ends of her hair purple, so it was probably okay?

With a breath of apprehension, Arisu dove right in.

As Arisu wandered between different racks and shelves, looking between different articles of clothing, she found herself unconsciously visualizing what she thought of each piece, both in terms of its utility and how she would look in it. Casual ripped jeans of course were terrible in both areas, both because they were already ripped open and because the "clawed by a leopard" look wasn't her style at all. There was a dark blue cardigan that she thought her parents would definitely approve of, as it would make her look very official, but there was a much lighter red one with purple accents right next to it that would match her hair very well.

That thought gave her pause. Without realizing it, a part of Arisu had suddenly begun to rear its head, whispering various rose-scented and stereotypically "girlish" thoughts at the back of her mind. That part of her wanted to try on that sleeveless dress at the end of the aisle, decorate her hair and ears with jewels, prance in front of the boys and let them gawk at her while at the same time repelling any unsavory eyes or intentions with her namesake glare.

Startled by her own thoughts, Arisu shook her head and clapped her hands against her temples to reassert her mindset. She wasn't just a dolled-up damsel, she was a strong woman who didn't need to look pretty to get things done.

"Hey there, babe. Got some issues deciding what looks good on you?"

As if on cue, an oily and unfamiliar voice reached her ears. Immediately, the Storm Girl returned, and Arisu cast a contemptuous eye on the man who'd spoken to her. Average height, black hair, black leather jacket, sunglasses on his head, way too much hair grease. Arisu opted to simply ignore him, looking away without a second glance and refocusing her attention on a pair of jorts, similar to ones she was already wearing.

The guy was miffed by the inattention and tried to press on regardless. "C'mon, babe, I'm an upstanding guy. I'm just saying, I'm happy to help if you got trouble."

"Nothing for you to concern yourself with," she said casually, doing her best to hide her irritation. "Please leave."

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that," he pushed, stepping even closer. "A pretty lady all by herself would be easy prey for any Shadow or unsavory guy who crossed her. I'm just-"

Arisu cut him off, "The only unsavory guy around here is you, creep." Still refusing to look at him, she made to walk away.

The man caught her by the arm, stopping her in her tracks. "Now listen here, bitch-"

"No, you listen," came a new voice that interrupted right before Arisu could simply punch the man on reflex. The newcomer was another young man, this one with light brown hair cut short and somewhat spiky, and wearing the brightly-colored Junes employee's uniform. He was looking rather pissed-off. "If you're going to come in here and start harassing the customers, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Hey now," grease man protested, releasing Arisu's arm and holding his hands up, "I haven't done anything wrong. The little lady and I were just having a friendly chat."

"Looked more like you were harassing her to me," the employee shot back. "And if we were to ask the lady herself, what would she say?"

"He's harassing me," Arisu answered promptly, arms crossed. "I've told him multiple times that I'm not interested, but he refuses to take 'no' for an answer."

"There, you see? Get lost."

"You ain't the boss of me, kid."

"Maybe not, but I do have manager status. So I can still kick you out for harassing the customers."

Grease-man sighed, reaching inside his jacket. "I don't think you understand this situation here, kid." He produced a knife from his jacket and started flippantly toying with it. "I'm a reasonable man. As long as I get what I want, no one gets hurt, everyone's happy. So here's-"

CLANG!

Faster than Arisu could blink, the Junes employee's hand slashed in an upward diagonal arc, and there was a ringing of metal on metal as the knife was struck from grease-man's hand as he cried out in shock. The Junes employee reached up and snatched his own knife out of the air as it ricocheted back to him.

"No, you're the one who doesn't understand what situation you're in," he spat. He stepped forward to look grease-man in the eyes, and Arisu noted with some satisfaction that grease-man was a few centimeters shorter. "You think greasing up your hair, playing with knives, and harassing girls makes you tough? News flash: it only makes you a loser. Try a stunt like this again, and I'll call the cops. And if you turn into a Corporeal Shadow, I'll hunt you down myself. Now get out and don't come back!"

Grease-man stumbled back and then bolted. There was a moment of silence before Arisu started to clap. "Nice speech at the end there. If I were more of a romanticist and you were about a decade younger, this would be the part where I would ask you out."

"Haha," the employee said sarcastically. "I'm only 24, you know."

"Close enough."

He snorted before picking up the knife he'd knocked out of grease-man's hand. It was a simple field knife, and the blade had been badly notched by the impact. He stowed it inside his apron before flipping his own blade, an elegantly curved silver dagger, stowing it back up his sleeve, and saying, "Anyway, sorry about all that. I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Anything I can help you with?"

Arisu blinked in surprise before starting to laugh. What were the odds? "Well, my friends and I were wondering how to enter the TV world. Would you mind helping us out?"