We had no idea what we were walking into. The trees rose over us like a dome, blocking the red-striped black sky. Adachi and I walked ahead of everybody else, quietly. Adachi spoke up suddenly, giving me a jolt.
"So, how is Nanako?"
He said so without looking at me, but I could hear a tint of nostalgia. "Fine, fine. She's getting old now."
"Me too. I've been wasting away."
"How has your trial been going?"
He grinned. "Well, shit, I could be out in the next few years if I play my cards right. They convicted me of voluntary manslaughter. On the grounds that my methods were crazy, they've been more than lenient."
I smiled. "What every happened...? With that whole... Sho incident?"
Pausing, but continuing a moment later with that grin he gives, "Some things I can't explain. But we're dealing with stuff a lot more... dire than what we've been used to in the past."
"Excuse me, but I think I'm getting something." Yamagishi piped up from behind us.
"What is it, Fuuka?" Yukari put a hand on her friend's shoulder.
Her brow furrowed, and as she called her persona, her eyes grew wide. "It... it's insane... underneath us!"
"Huhn?!" Adachi took a step back, as a large, sharp metal object sprang from the ground.
"Adachi-San!" I called Izanagi, who grabbed the metal thing, and propelled it back down into the ground with a throw.
The next thing we knew, an imposing shriek resonated through the forest, and the ground started to quake. I looked at the rest of the group with panic. "What's happening?!"
Fuuka tried to answer, but was cut off by a larger foreign object; a long, silver arm breaking through the earth beneath us, and taking a grab at Yukari. She scoffed, and fired a flurry of arrows into the thing. With that action, she elicited another scream, this time sounding all too familiar. "That's..."
Adachi groaned. "It's the old man's shadow, eh?"
"Y-yes!" Fuuka stuttered, catching her breath.
A large clearing sat before us, with the red light creating a godlike ray of foreboding atmosphere, cast down into the clearing, of which was filled with purple flowers. Standing in the middle was, who else but my uncle.
"Uncle Dojima!" I called out to him.
He flinched, and turned slowly to me. His face looked hollow, and it was obvious that he'd been crying for some time. In his right hand was... his gun?!
"Whoa! Dojima-San, put that down!" Adachi yelled out to him, quite out of character. Then again, if my friend had been visiting me in prison to keep me company, I'd have grown a strong bond with them in no time. I understood Adachi for the first time in a long time then.
"...Why?" He answered back, with a voice more empty than the look on his face... that face of a man who'd given up. "What good does the gun do me, other than taking a life...? If I leave here now, then I can see her again."
A lump formed in my throat then. He was going to kill himself. What did his shadow say...? I had no need to ask, because a large, metallic torso rose from the ground. Its arms stayed confined in the earth, but its head was of fire, eyes hollow, almost reminding me of Kagutsuchi, whom I'd fought years prior.
"Oh, Ryotaro, come and see me again, I miss you..." The shadow spoke, with a woman's voice.
"Son of a bitch... it really is her..." Adachi said.
"What do you mean?"
"He told you about his wife, how she died? Shit, when he talks about it, I can feel her energy. She was a persona user... Philemon figured that the easiest way to draw out his shadow, and this is a guess, but I think good ol' Philly reanimated Dojima-San's wife's ego..."
My mouth hung open. "So then, if you're right... that's...?"
"Well, that's as alive as she's ever gonna get again..."
Tatsuya Suou set his helmet down on the coffee table. The room was very bland, the obligatory traditional shit he wasn't used to seeing. He sat on the floor, and reached for the remote, before deciding against it.
"I should get some food. I wonder if there's any room service?" He spoke to himself, checking the guest pamphlet."... Huh, no dice. A bath sounds good anyways."
Collecting the necessities, he made his way to the springs. Lucky for him, it was a slow night, not really packed. Figuring a place like this would be bustling, it was a pleasant surprise.
He proceeded to undress, and made his way into the open air. "Holy hell, nice place."
Setting himself gingerly into the water, he began going over all of the thoughts he'd had that day, and all of the events that just kept happening. "So... Philemon. Narukami, Marie, Arisato and now he wants to bring Naoya into this? I'm going to loose my mind if we get anyone else in on this travesty..." He sighed to himself.
"Excuse me, who are you talking to?"
"AH!" He launched out of his own thoughts and into defense mode. Taking in the situation, there was a pretty young woman with a pink Kimono and raven-black hair standing above him. As he made a move to cover his unmentionable areas, she laughed.
"Oh, I apologize, I never meant to scare you, I'm the manager here at the Amagi inn. My name is Yukiko. Yukiko Amagi." She bowed courteously.
"Uh, that's dandy, but you've put me in a fix young lady. I'm actually bathing right now."
Realizing the situation, she covered her eyes, embarrassed. "Oh my goodness, my apologies!"
With an uneasy laugh, Tatsuya spoke, "No big deal, why are you down here anyways? Isn't it guy's turn?"
"Oh, of course... to be honest though, I didn't think anyone else would be here... my sincerest apologies!"
Tatsuya stood, and quickly clothed himself. As he returned into the main bathing area to speak with the woman, another girl had arrived, who looked strikingly familiar to Tatsuya. Was that... the pop idol Risette?! "Rise Kujikawa!" He almost squealed as he approached her. "Oh, w-wow it is you!"
Rise was taken aback by this random dude who decided to fanboy at her with unmitigated fervor. "Oh, hello, always nice to meet a fan, just not in odd places like this."
Tatsuya realized where they were... a bath house. "Let us go to the lobby then?" Yukiko spoke.
"Sure, great!" Rise smiled.
A starstruck Tatsuya had no other plan, so he followed them, with a smile.
3 a.m. Again, she found herslef staring at the damn clock. Three in the morning, every time. Running both hands through her navy colored hair, she sighed. "He's gone again. In the T.V. He's looking for something... or someone..." She tried to roll our of her bed, but dropped to the floor with a heavy thud which resounded through the upper floor. She squeaked in pain as well, which prompted someone else, whom Naoto though was sleeping, to knock on the door.
"Naoto-San? Is that you?"
She stayed silent for a moment, emarrased. "...Yes, Nanako-Chan. I need help, I can't... get up..."
Nanako immediately opened the door, and rushed over to Naoto's side. "What happened?"
"Oh... I've been stressed lately... I think it's a dissociative disorder..."
"What is that?"
"I... it's when you get stressed and... I need sleep."
Nanako smiled, melancholy. "Okay, that's fine. Sleep well, Naoto-San."
As Nanako left the room, she turned towards the stairs, Marie standing there, a sad expression on her face. "Are you ready to go? The longer we wait, the deeper into trouble your family gets."
"Yeah. I'll get to use my persona this time?"
"Of course Nanako-Chan. Are you sure you're ready?"
"Yeah. With your Himiko, and my Kikuri-Hime, we can handle anything."
"It wont be easy. These guys are unlike anything you've faced yet."
Nanako nodded. "No problem. After what we've been through... I know I can count on you."
Marie smiled. "Wouldn't expect anything less from my student."
They made their way downstairs, and then, into the T.V just as they'd been doing for a full year.
My apologies for the short chapter, I wanted to get something out before the middle of October. I will always update this story no matter what, but school comes first. With some of my preliminary exams for college and stuff over with, I have more time, so I'm not saying expect more from me, I'm just implying it. I love you all for reading this, it means the world to me. I hope you guys know that. So uhh, thank you. :)
-Sky