Story so far: Prepared to confront Adachi, the team were sent off to train instead; a decision that proved particularly unpopular with Kanji, for multiple reasons.
In this part: Souji plans, Adachi waits, and Kanji and Naoto take a plunge.
December 14th, 2011
"I'm not cut out for this," Yosuke muttered. Jiraiya was in the air behind him, scarf billowing in an unnatural breeze and hands glowing with the remnants of a Diarama. Chie hadn't really needed it, not for a few knocks and scratches from an underpowered Minotaur, but if she had – if they'd been facing Adachi or any one of the Shadows he could apparently control – they'd be in trouble. Yosuke had been pretty good at this stuff once, but with Yukiko and Ted both tossing out Diaharans he must've fallen out of practice.
"You're doing your best," Chie said, and shrugged. "I guess Souji and Naoto-kun had a point about switching jobs."
Kanji wasn't convinced. It'd been a whole week straight of training, of rushing to Junes immediately after school and stumbling back out minutes from closing time. They'd fought their way up and down Heaven's Castle over and over, sometimes in pairs and threes and sometimes all eight of them together. It'd been Souji and Naoto's idea to practice the last one, too. Hadn't worked out. Senpai and Rise still hadn't been able to keep track and everyone had gotten in each others' way – Yosuke and Chie almost coming to blows one time when Jiraiya caught her with a mistimed Garudyne. There'd been other, sometimes successful new strategies, too: different formations, people changing roles, all this stuff Naoto and Souji spent breaks at school coming up with and then stayed outside Junes to recap each night.
But the team still hadn't gone near Adachi. Their Personas might work fine here in Heaven, but they hadn't figured out why his version of Inaba weakened them or how it managed to block Souji's wild-card ability completely. Meanwhile, the fog had all but swallowed Inaba and the end of the year was rushing ever closer. If the possibly-maybe-end-of-the-world wasn't enough to rile Souji up, Kanji had no idea what would - and the whole situation set his teeth on edge with frustration. Didn't help that Souji and Naoto were practically joined at the hip, and that – if she was going to choose – it made horrible sense that Naoto'd pick-
"Yo, dude, are you listening?" Yosuke waved a hand in front of Kanji's face. "Don't zone out, we've got four more floors to cover."
Kanji looked around at the narrow walkways crisscrossing empty space. Heaven was organized, floor after floor. Totally different to Adachi's sprawling, scattered version of Inaba. Where would they even start looking for the bastard?
"We shouldn't be wastin' time here," he muttered. He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but Yosuke's and Chie's expressions didn't suggest they disagreed.
Yosuke rolled his shoulders, gaze fixed on Heaven's upper levels. "Souji worries too much. We - okay, so I don't know if we can take Adachi, to be honest. But we've gotta try, and fast."
The reason was obvious. What if Adachi had been lying about when the two worlds would merge? Shit, it could happen tomorrow. It certainly seemed that way, when walking to school each morning was like swimming through the fog. You almost had to push against it, like it'd congealed around you.
"But Souji just doesn't want any of us to get hurt," Yosuke continued. "Like I said. Worries too much."
"I – I dunno. I just get the feeling that he –" Chie trailed off, biting her lip. "We - we used to really feel like a team, remember? But ever since Nanako and Namatame-"
"He still needs us," Yosuke broke in. "We're his friends, right?
Souji had always seemed like he had it together, more than anyone Kanji had ever met. But that'd been before November. Something had changed then, starting with Nanako's kidnapping and made ten times worse by the fight with Namatame, and Senpai hadn't gotten over it. He pushed the team away, pulled them back; was concerned enough to make them train for days, yet shut almost all of them out from the decisions and planning. But he was still the boss. The leader. Hell, the team even called him that. If you didn't have faith in the guy steering you into battle, you didn't stand a chance.
Kanji nodded, a little too forcefully. "Yeah. We are. An' Senpai knows the score. C'mon, let's keep moving."
December 16th, 2011
Kanji fidgeted against the plastic chair outside Nanako's room, stretching his long legs out into the corridor. Trying to make yourself comfortable on hospital furniture was hopeless. Knowing that he really didn't want to be here made it even worse – because what kind of jerk wouldn't want to visit a little kid, check she was doing okay?
Easy answer: a jerk who wanted to be kicking Adachi's ass instead. Kanji had been geared up for another day of training – maybe even a foray into that messed-up Inaba, or so he'd hoped – until Souji had told the team that he wanted to visit Nanako that night instead. Hadn't quite invited them to join him, but when Rise asked he hadn't said no. Most of the team were in Nanako's room right now. There wasn't enough space for everyone at once, though, and so Ted had wandered off, Kanji had opted to wait outside, and Naoto had decided to stand opposite him, hands clasped behind her back.
A month or two ago, the situation would've felt nothing but awkward – and it still was, but now oddly comfortable too. As many knots as he tied himself in over Naoto, he wanted to be around her, felt better knowing she was nearby. Maybe that was progress. Shame he couldn't think of much to say – and that she had as much talent for conversation as he did.
He turned his attention to the floor. Zoned out, he didn't hear the footsteps heading down the corridor until Teddie stopped right in front of him, coat pockets bursting with candy and vending-machine junk.
"Kanji-chan, you look miserable!" Ted thrust a can of Mad Bull toward him. "Here."
Caffeine wasn't really what Kanji needed right now, but he took the drink and cracked it open. "Thanks, man. You buy up everything in the machine or what?"
"I thought everyone might be hungry," Ted said, flopping down in the seat next to his and scattering gumballs on the floor. "We've been here a while."
"And you haven't visited Nanako-chan yet," Naoto pointed out. "Don't you want to see her?"
"I do! But..." The same look crossed Ted's face as last night, outside Junes, when he'd launched into his stumbling explanation of where he'd gone when he'd vanished and exactly what he'd figured out. He looked uneasy, vulnerable – and very human.
"This about what you told us yesterday? You bein' a Shadow?" Kanji would've been lying if he'd claimed to have seen Ted's confession coming. But with everything else going on, did it really matter? Whether Teddie was a Shadow or not, he sure as hell didn't act like one.
Ted's gaze fell to his lap. "Nana-chan doesn't know. I don't think she even knows what Shadows are. And Sensei's uncle definitely doesn't."
"Dojima-san believes you to be an exchange student," said Naoto. "I see no issue."
"Yeah, quit makin' a big deal out of nothing. S'like Naoto and Chie-senpai said - you're pretty much human now." Not just because he had a human body, but because he was in the same damn boat as the rest of the gang: trying to figure himself out and trying to do right by everyone else. "You're one of us, yeah?"
"But it's like I lied to everyone, even if I didn't really know." Teddie leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and let out a sigh. "Except I think maybe I did. It's bear-y confusing."
"Who cares what you are?" Kanji insisted. "It's what you do that matters."
"Smart talk, Tatsumi."
He'd barely noticed the door to Nanako's room opening behind him as he'd started to speak, so he hadn't expected Dojima's response. "Uh. Yeah. Th-Thanks."
Naoto nodded stiffly. "Dojima-san."
"Shirogane," Dojima said, returning the nod, his expression pitched somewhere between exasperation and resignation. "Listen, I've chewed Souji's ear off over all this already, and I still barely understand what the hell you kids've been doing. And more explanations won't fix that," he quickly added, with a pointed look at Naoto. "But from the little I get, it sounds like there's practically nothing I can do to help. I can't go in there with you and I can't send anyone from the force in either."
"An accurate summation," Naoto said.
Dojima's expression turned grimmer. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."
Truth was, Kanji didn't either. Sure, he wanted to make Adachi pay – but the fact that a bunch of kids had to handle it, that they were the only ones who could, just didn't seem fair.
...Which was a seriously pathetic thing to think. He stood from his chair and turned to face Dojima. "Don't worry, yeah? We got this. We've been doin' it most of the year."
"Souji said basically the same thing. Not sure he believed it," Dojima said. He let out a sigh, one hand rubbing at the stubble on his chin. "I'd say you should've told an adult months ago, but I can't think of a single one who'd have believed you."
Uehara stepped through the open doorway, with Souji two steps behind her. "Dojima-san, I thought you were heading back to your room?" she scolded.
"Yeah, yeah. On my way." Dojima looked first at Souji, then at Kanji, Ted, and Naoto in turn – his stern glare softening just slightly. "You're good kids. Keep yourselves safe."
"Seconded," Uehara said." And if there's anything I can do..."
In some ways, it felt good to have two people outside the team who knew about what they'd been doing. In others, it seemed kind of pointless. Uehara and Dojima couldn't really do anything to help. Souji probably knew that too, but - being Souji - he still gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Uehara-san."
December 20th, 2011
Stay home tonight, Souji had told them after school. Get ready for tomorrow. He hadn't needed to say what for, and Kanji hadn't been able to think of much else since.
He'd tried sewing, cleaning the store, even watching dumb TV game shows, but his heart hadn't been in any of it. He wondered what the others were doing tonight to take their minds off Adachi and the thought of fighting him. Chie had mentioned a kung-fu movie marathon that she'd somehow roped both Yosuke and Ted into. Yukiko and Rise would probably be working at the inn and the shop. Souji – Kanji had no idea what Souji would be doing, how a leader prepared himself, but he strongly suspected it had something to do with Naoto. Not wanting to think about that, he threw himself back into attempting to clean the store, ignoring his mother's protests that the place looks just fine, Kanji-chan, and went outside to clear the front steps of snow for the third time that day.
As usual, the streets were clogged thick with fog. His glasses would've cut through it, but by now he rarely wore them outside the TV. Sometimes you just didn't want to see through the fog, not when it all that offered was a clear view of people cowering in the streets. The rest of the team seemed to be leaning the same way, or at least nobody had bothered to put their glasses on when they'd left Junes last night, even though it'd been too murky to see more than a few paces ahead. Rise had left hers off all the way back to the shopping district, but then he supposed she didn't need them. Rise, Kanji thought, was a prime example of why seeing through the fog wasn't much of a blessing at all.
Maybe he'd text her later tonight. Check she was doing okay. He was debating contacting Naoto too, and might've spent a long time doing so if the small figure approaching through the fog hadn't settled the issue.
Naoto walked up to the steps and looked up at him, the difference in height more pronounced than ever. "Kanji-kun."
"Oh. Uh, hey. What're you doing here?" Kanji asked – which probably wasn't the politest way he could've started the conversation.
Naoto didn't seem to care, though. "I was passing nearby and wanted to check you were prepared," she said. "Mentally and physically."
She'd bothered to come check on him? He rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, then propped the broom up against the shop wall. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."
"Good."
The silence after that was tangible, the kind that he felt he had to fill up with something – and maybe it was that need that lent him a shot of bravery. "You, uh...wanna hang out?" he asked. "Take our minds offa it. I –" But Naoto's eyes seemed to have widened a fraction, so he quickly added, "Rise's probably free too."
Naoto opened her mouth slightly, then broke eye contact. Her hand moved to the brim of her cap – all of which, in Naoto-speak, he knew as an impending refusal. "I have to be at Souji-senpai's house in half an hour," she said, quiet and rapid. "Finalizing our plans."
Bravery gave way to bitter stubbornness; something Kanji distantly registered as a bad sign. "So I'll go too. Maybe I can help."
She shook her head. "That won't be necessary. You'd be better off preparing for tomorrow. You aren't—"
At his sides, he felt his fists clench. "Aren't smart enough?" he broke in.
Naoto's gaze snapped back to him – but where he'd expected a flash of indignation, he saw only hurt, stunned confusion. "That isn't what I said. You have your talents, as I have mine and Senpai has his." She gestured to herself with one hand, the other gripping her shoulder in a pose that looked horribly defensive, as if Kanji's words had badly stung. "I'm - inexperienced in battle compared to the rest of you, but strategizing is-"
"Something the rest of us ain't good enough to do, thass what you're sayin'." Naoto could rationalize till the end of time, but it'd never change what she was actually saying – what she probably said to Souji, too, whenever they got together without the rest of the team. The smart ones together. "What's so special about fussing over that crap anyway?"
Naoto stared up at him in awful, heavy silence. "I don't understand," she said, thickly. "Senpai and I have worked together before. Why are you – Kanji, this is hardly the time for petty disagreements."
Later on, he'd realize she was right (as usual) and that he'd been making a big deal out of stuff that wasn't his business. But right now – worried about tomorrow, still stung by the rejection, and most of all feeling completely useless – Kanji couldn't rein in his temper. "Whatever. You – you said I was stupid before. Guess you meant it," he muttered.
"I didn't. You simply don't..." She gave a single, sharp shake of her head, already turning away. "I have to go. Good night."
Kanji turned away too, and grabbed the broom from its place by the shop wall. He didn't bother to watch her leave.
December 21st, 2011
The inside of Mayumi Yamano's TV-world apartment looked much the same as before: torn faceless posters lining the walls, the noose dangling from the ceiling, and, on the far side of the room, the familiar red and black of the portal to Adachi's Inaba. Thanks to the fog and the resulting lack of customers, getting in and out of the Junes TV without being noticed was a lot easier than it used to be – but jumping through this portal was, for Kanji, proving a lot harder.
Chie was bouncing from foot to foot, staring at the swirling, rippling surface. "So...are we ready?"
"Of course!" Yosuke replied, but his grin was a split-second late and too taut at the edges.
"We should be cautious," Naoto said. "We don't know exactly where the portal leads."
Yosuke gave a stiff shrug, still with that same grin. "It goes to Adachi. Good enough for me."
Deep down, Kanji doubted any of them really wanted to do this. Sure, he wanted to smack Adachi into the middle of next year, had been itching for the opportunity all the way through Souji's endless rounds of training - but Adachi as he was now wasn't just Adachi anymore, and facing him down with Personas that weren't at full strength or, in Senpai's case, couldn't be called at all...saying it'd be tough was an understatement.
It still wasn't fair. It wouldn't ever be fair. But what choice did they have?
Kanji punched a fist into his palm. "Yeah. Let's roll."
With a quick, tight nod at them all, Souji stepped forward, sword held ready, and – without a moment's hesitation - stepped into the portal. The team quickly followed, one by one.
Fortunately, and despite Naoto's concerns, they spilled out of the portal by the ruined Moel garage, so they at least had some way of getting their bearings. What was left of the shopping district stretched out ahead of them, and there were more fuzzy black angles against the skyline; as if Adachi's twisted Inaba had expanded while they'd been gone, sprouted more wrecked buildings and half-familiar piles of debris. The fact that Kanji could see them meant the fog here had lifted even more, probably because it all seemed to be rolling into the real Inaba instead.
"I can't tell where Adachi is." Himiko was already at Rise's back, visor held over her face. "Everything here's so loud."
"So we keep looking," Souji said grimly. "We'll check the shopping district first."
They started walking. Though Kanji had expected Shadows, like last time, the only sound was that of their footsteps, and even that sounded muffled. He glanced at Naoto, who was checking her revolver as they walked - opening the chamber and counting the bullets, though they'd never really helped against Shadows. Maybe they'd work against Adachi. It was a grisly thought, but one Kanji had to keep in mind – because when they found the bastard, who said he'd just give up and come quietly? It might've helped to ask Naoto what she thought would happen, except she and Kanji hadn't spoken since last night. Hadn't even acknowledged each other when the team had met by the school gate, ready to head to Junes. If there was ever a good time to pick a fight with someone you cared about, it wasn't the day before you tried facing down a crazy Shadow-controlling murderer.
Speaking of which, how come they hadn't found any? There were always Shadows in the other sub-worlds, even after the team had fought whoever's other self was in charge. Why weren't there any here? Was Adachi pulling a Namatame and drawing them all somewhere else?
The team soon reached Aiya. The shop was little more than a pile of rubble, a few tacky decorations visible among the wooden debris, junk Otsu probably picked up cheap in Okina – and somehow that was what made Kanji's stomach twist in on itself. The Tatsuhime shrine was unreachable, its entrance blocked by sharp black branches. Marukyu Tofu was at least still standing, though he couldn't bear to look through the door. He kept his eyes on Rise instead, who focused her own firmly on the ground - yet he couldn't resist glancing inside the textiles shop as they passed. Its front was cracked clean open, and the inside was coated in the same black filth he'd seen in Daidara's. His stomach clenched again at the sight, and he turned his head on reflex and caught Naoto's eye for the first time that day.
"It isn't real, Kanji-kun." Yukiko was suddenly at his side, one hand on his forearm. "You know that."
And sure, of course he did, he'd walked through the damn district this morning to get to school, but knowing that didn't help. Far worse was the fact that Adachi wanted Inaba to be this way, that this might actually happen if the team couldn't- -
"Yeah. Course." Kanji stared straight ahead, if only to end the conversation – then noticed the tall building on the horizon, looming ahead of them in the faint fog. It'd seemed to appear so suddenly - and so much in the wrong place - that it took him a few moments to recognize it as Inaba Municipal Hospital. Thing was, it wasn't supposed to be here. Going by the real Inaba's layout, they should've been approaching the old residential district, all narrow roads and low-roofed houses.
Yosuke let out a low whistle. "Whoa. Adachi's geography is majorly screwed up."
"I don't know...it might be here for a reason." Souji glanced over his shoulder. "Rise?"
"There's way too much power radiating from it..." Rise said, voice barely a whisper. "It – it's hard to hear anything else." The knuckles on her clasped hands had turned porcelain white. "And I can sense – two presences inside."
Chie arched her eyebrows. "Two?"
"Yeah. I-I think one of them's Adachi, though I'm not positive. The other...it sounds like a whole bunch of different Shadows merged together."
"Like with Namatame?" Souji asked. "When he drew the Shadows to him?"
Rise shook her head, visor moving with the motion. "Different. I could still hear him underneath. This one...all I can sense are Shadows."
"Yeah, that sounds just great," muttered Yosuke. "So what do we do?"
Souji stared at the building a moment, as if weighing his options, then turned back to the group. "Chie, Yosuke, Yukiko – stay out here with Rise." He tipped his head toward the doors of the hospital lobby – glass, like the real thing, but smeared with something dark and slick. "Kanji, Naoto, Ted, you're with me."
Neither Chie nor Yosuke seemed pleased with that idea, but it was Yukiko, brow furrowed and expression anxious, who spoke up. "Shouldn't we all go together?"
"If something happens in there, I don't want all eight of us caught up in it at once - especially not in an enclosed environment. You guys will be our backup while we scout for Adachi." He smiled at her, though it looked tight and forced. "Don't worry, I've got a Goho-M. We'll portal out before we get too far up."
"Teddie had trouble creating a portal last time," Rise pointed out. "Do you think the Goho-M's gonna work?"
"One way to find out." Souji tilted back his head, gaze fixed on the top floors of the hospital. "Either way, we need to check this place out. Come on, guys." He started walking toward the hospital entrance, and Kanji, Naoto and Ted all quickly followed.
Despite the goo covering the glass, the lobby doors still slowly slid open. It was hard to make out much of anything inside at first, partly because of the stuff staining the doors and windows, but mostly because the overhead strip lighting didn't seem to be working. Everything was cast in dim red light instead, the same way everything in Naoto's base had looked a weird shade of green, except this was somehow worse. It felt foreboding – especially as Kanji's eyes adjusted, and he noticed the figures sitting stiff and motionless on the lobby chairs. Plastic mannequins, he quickly realized, not Shadows, but knowing that only made them more creepy. The one nearest to him was posed with its elbows on its knees and its head in its fingerless hands. Dark liquid trickled down its blank face and pooling on the floor below; same consistency as the stuff on the windows. He hadn't been able to tell what it was before, but the thick, metallic smell clogging the air was a gruesome clue.
"Better skip the elevators." Souji was already by the lobby's main reception, eyeing the bloody mannequin propped behind the desk. "We'll have to find the stairs."
"So we look for fire exit signs," Kanji said. For some reason, Souji raised his eyebrows at that. "What?"
Souji shrugged. "I just hadn't thought of doing that. It's a really good idea."
And something about that really pissed Kanji off. Like big dumb Tatsumi needed to be patted on the back for an oh-so-rare sensible suggestion. He might've expected that kind of answer from Naoto, given she often showed about as much tact as he did, yesterday evening included - but not from Souji. Senpai never acted that way. Or at least, he didn't used to.
Kanji felt his jaw clench, the muscles working under his skin. "Yeah. Sure."
The exit signs were hard to spot at first, half-hidden under the blood stains on the walls and coloured a shade of green that didn't show up well in the red light, but after being shown the first one Ted was able to pick out the rest pretty quickly. He seemed to have less trouble with the lack of light than the rest of the team, who had to pick their way through the corridors around the mannequins, upturned chairs, and pools of blood and Shadow . The unnerving part was, they didn't find any Shadows, though they tried to check inside every room they passed. Each looked as filthy and cluttered as the corridors, but some were blocked off with yellow police tape, like you saw in cop movies. Kanji figured it was just a stupid joke the first time – as if tape would ever stop anyone - then smacked into an invisible wall when he tried to enter the room. Couldn't see anything blocking the way. It was like someone had covered the doorway with a pane of spotless glass, except his shield didn't even make a dent.
"He's directing us," Souji muttered. He lifted his head and spoke to the empty air. "Rise, you were right. We haven't found any Shadows on the ground floor. They must all be drawn to that presence you sensed."
"Yeah. I can sense Adachi, too, higher up the building...but it's really hard to hear anything over the other one. Be careful, okay?"
At that, Naoto stopped walking, and turned around to face Ted. Though still fairly neutral, her expression was tinged with a wary curiosity. "Teddie, do you feel the same draw? The urge to follow those other Shadows?"
Ted blinked at her. "Huh?"
Beside her, Souji winced. "Naoto."
"Senpai, I – it's a valid question," Naoto protested, but added, "I mean no offence, Teddie. We must only be certain you aren't being influenced by whatever is drawing the Shadows."
"Ohhh." Ted's dawn of understanding sounded accepting enough, though Kanji caught a flicker across his expression; something close to guilt, or maybe resignation. He pressed a paw to his temple – just like Senpai sometimes did in thought – then gave a shrug. "I think I'm okay. I didn't feel anything like that when we fought Namatame either." Cringing slightly, he glanced at Souji. "Except for – you know."
Kanji clapped a hand against Ted's back. Man, it was fuzzy. "You weren't alone there, dude."
Naoto looked away, her neutral expression shifting to a small, troubled frown.
"No, he wasn't," Souji said – softer than expected, maybe even gentle, and Kanji had the strangely uneasy feeling that Ted wasn't the only one he was talking to. He turned away and continued walking, eyes scanning the corridor for more fire exit signs. "Come on. Let's keep going."
The emergency exit was around the next corner, but once inside the stairwell they could only climb three flights. The steps to the fourth floor were blocked off with the same police tape as before, and the same invisible wall. Two mannequins sat on the steps; the police tape wound tightly around their necks.
Kanji had one hand on the stairwell door when Souji grabbed his arm. "Remember, Adachi's pushing us this way," he said. "Rise. Can you sense anything on the third floor?"
Again, Rise answered inside their heads, but this time it was garbled - like static on a badly tuned TV. "Sen...something in th...erful, please ke..."
"Interference," Naoto said. "We know that this place compromises our Personas. They may not be able to hear Himiko in full – or, equally, she may not be able to transmit clearly."
Dammit. Last thing they needed was to walk out there blind. Adachi must want them to explore this floor, meaning there had to be something bad waiting for them. But if they had no choice but to follow his route, why not get it over with? "We headin' out?" Kanji asked, and after Souji's nod of permission, pushed open the door. It led directly onto a long corridor, identical to the one outside Nanako's room and Dojima's room and probably most rooms in the whole damn hospital. Every floor of that place looked more or less the same. Aside from the blood and black slime on the walls and the occasional weirdly-posed dummy – all of which Kanji was getting disturbingly used to - the same was probably true here.
"Hang a left," Souji said. "There's got to be more than one set of stairs in here."
If this had been the real hospital, the corridors would've been like a maze – but there was only one route through, all alternatives blocked off with invisible barriers. The team turned corner after corner, searching for new exit signs and checking each room they passed. Some contained mannequins lying on bloodied hospital beds or slumped in plastic chairs, but others were strangely empty. Like Adachi's mind hadn't bothered to finish the hospital, and this was just window-dressing as he led them nearer to him. Maybe all those other areas they couldn't reach were empty too. Either way, it seemed like he wanted to fight, or at least wanted the team to face him in person - or maybe, Kanji thought, all that was just wishful thinking – the type of thing a real man would do, not some gutless bastard - and all Adachi was really doing was leading them right into a trap.
Midway along another nondescript corridor, Souji stopped. "You hear that?"
Caught up in thought, Kanji hadn't noticed anything other than their footsteps – but now, straining his ears, he could hear a strange sound low in the background. A hum, maybe, though so deep it verged on a growl.
"I can't just hear it, Sensei, I can feel it," Teddie said, with a shiver that passed visibly over his entire suit. "But I can't tell what it is."
"Then I guess we'll find—"
Floors above them, something roared with energy.
No, not roared – exploded. The sound of masonry smashing, the building creaking – and seconds later, on top of it all, Rise's panicked, distorted voice. "Senpai! ...Reaper Shadow heading dow...hit, watch out above you!"
The last four words were all that mattered. "Turn back!" Souji yelled, and began running in the same direction they'd come from. They made as far as the previous corner when the second roar came, and the corridor ceiling burst open.
Fragments and dust showered down. Ted was thrown by the impact, bouncing off the floor and tumbling past Souji – who'd evoked on reflex, a hazy, flickering Izanagi tearing into the air behind him and immediately taking a full-on blast of energy from the gap in the ceiling. A Shadow plunged through: tall, dark, and draped in chains that clanked as it leveled one of its two guns at Kanji.
He leapt back, expecting another energy blast. Instead, a wall of fire swept across the corridor, cutting him off from Souji and Ted. Through the flames, he could see Senpai was on his knees, and that Teddie had evoked too, his new Persona Kamui looking surprisingly solid. Ice shards shot out from its claws – and were immediately swallowed by a second Agidyne from the Reaper Shadow, this one blasting Kamui straight into Izanagi.
Kanji willed his card into his hand, and crushed it. "Take-Mikazuchi!"
His Persona burst into being as commanded, though his connection with Kanji felt flimsy, like a string split into thin threads. Kanji clapped his hands, Take-Mikazuchi mimicking the motion, and a Ziodyne crashed down into the Reaper - actually staggering it, with a follow-up slash from Sukuna-Hikona's sword almost knocking the gun out of its right hand. The response – almost instantaneous – was a spear of ice that slammed into Sukuna-Hikona and nearly reduced the flickering Persona to static. Behind him, Kanji heard Naoto yelp with pain but didn't dare turn around. What the hell was this thing?
Focused on the Shadow, he never saw Teddie behind the flames, but he heard his frantic warning. "Kanji! Watch out! It's going to—"
Wind blasted from the Reaper's guns. Kanji was vaguely aware of being thrown backwards, tumbling down the corridor, and smashing into a wall - the impact enough to knock what breath he had left out of his chest.
Another blast, closer than it should've been, and the smell of burning plastic. Seconds later, Naoto was at his side and trying to pull him onto his feet. "Get up!"
Kanji pushed himself up on both hands and launched into a staggering run. The Reaper followed. Naoto was a few steps ahead, gun drawn, but didn't stop to shoot. Instead, she darted around the next corner – then slammed to a halt in front of the police tape blocking the way. Dammit, he'd forgotten those fricking barriers! With nowhere else to go, he grabbed Naoto's arm and hauled her into the nearest room. They were barely through the door when the corridor wall exploded.
Debris flew into the room, concrete and wood and dust, clogging his lungs – dammit, how powerful were those guns? – and flinging blood and slime against the remaining walls and across the scattered hospital beds. There was this creaking sound, like they'd heard earlier but louder, as if the building were shifting; hairline cracks now visible on the floor and ceiling.
"Naoto!" he yelled. "We gotta go, this place is gonna—"
The Reaper burst into the room, left gun held above its head, the barrel glowing brilliant white.
Oh, shit.
If he knew that light, Naoto knew it better. "Megidola! Move!"
Kanji threw himself sideways, tumbling over one of the blood-stained beds, and screwed his eyes shut.
Even behind his eyelids, the light was searing. The sound was worse. A roar of energy louder than any thunder, enough to set his ears ringing – only it kept going, just as the room kept shaking around him. The light gone, he opened his eyes just in time to see the faint cracks beneath him turn into jagged lines. There was one final blast – the Reaper, firing a shot where Naoto had been standing only a moment before – and the floor split open. Kanji tried to roll aside, but the tiles beneath him were already shattering, pieces tumbling through the widening gap. As he swung one arm uselessly, reaching for Naoto over three meters away, the rest of the floor crumbled completely.
The fall seemed to take an age; his stomach lurching, limbs flailing, beds and mannequins and debris plunging with him level after level as the concrete rubble smashed through each floor of the building. He'd blindly latched onto one of the falling beds, as if that'd somehow help, and found himself practically riding it downward.
But it wasn't the bed that broke his fall. A second before impact, Kanji felt a familiar wave of energy pulse up from below him. It was enough to slow his fall, though not to stop the bed from collapsing inward on impact. Eyes still screwed shut, he heard the metal buckle – felt pain burst through his left leg just as the air rushed out of his chest - and then all he could breathe was thick, choking dust. Several long seconds passed before it settled and he was able to gulp a few deep breaths.
Breathing hurt – not just his body, though he felt like he'd bruised every part of him on the way down, but his damn leg. Must be the motion, meaning he'd hurt it bad. It was a few minutes before he could bring himself to crack open his eyes, prop himself up on his elbows, and inspect the damage. He'd kept hold of the bed frame all the way down, and along with the weird energy wave it'd mostly broken his fall. It hadn't stopped the debris that'd fallen through after him. Looking at the lumps of masonry next to his leg on the bed, he figured one of them had scored a direct hit.
Okay. So his leg was hosed. He'd earned a lot of new bruises. In an effort to keep his head straight, Kanji kept the checklist going, and next were his glasses – which he'd dimly noticed falling off at the last minute. Glancing sideways, he spotted them on the floor, a half-metre from the bed.
Slowly, carefully, he sat up, pushed himself off the mattress - cursing under his breath with each movement – and eased himself onto the ground. It felt dirtier than the man-made hospital flooring, and a little softer too – which might explain why his glasses were mostly intact. The frames looked a slightly bent and one of the lenses was scuffed, but he'd be able to see. The items in his pockets had come off worse. The can of Orange Smash tucked inside his coat seemed okay, but the gel he'd picked up at Shiroku had been squeezed out of its tube, and the vial of medicine had cracked open and soaked into the lining of his side pocket. Crap, it'd take a week of cleaning to get that out, stuff smelt fricking terrible and tasted even—
Wait. Where was Naoto?
The whole floor had collapsed from under them, she had to have fallen too – so where was she? "Yo, Naoto!"
No answer.
His stomach seemed to do a sudden, wrenching back-flip. Of course she was fine, this was Naoto, she was always- "N-Naoto, dammit! You there?"
There was a long pause, long enough to leave him on the verge of calling out again, before he heard footsteps moving across the floor. Moments later, Naoto emerged from the dim murkiness to his right.
"Please stop shouting," she said, in a low but urgent voice. "The louder you are, the easier it will be for that Shadow to find us again."
And maybe she was right – but his leg hurt like hell, he swore every part of him was bruised, and his temper wasn't doing much better. "You weren't answering! Th'hell was I meant to—" The rest dissolved into a hiss. He'd accidentally shifted in place mid-rant, sending pain spiraling up his injured leg.
Naoto moved closer. "Kanji-kun? What's wrong?"
The stubborn, 'man's man' part of him debated lying, but shit, she wasn't stupid. She'd figure out what'd happened as soon as he tried to stand. "My -my leg," he managed. "Left one. W-When I fell, it – I-I dunno. Somethin's wrong with it."
"Is the pain severe?" Her voice was almost gentle. It threw him more than he wanted to admit.
"N-No – I mean – ah, crap." Hell, who was he kidding? "It's - pretty bad."
Naoto's eyes narrowed at that. They glanced away a moment later, and he heard fabric rustle as she rifled through her pockets. A moment later she pulled out a small thin object, though it wasn't till she flicked it open and dim light caught on the blade that he realized it was a penknife. A penknife which was now moving down to his injured leg.
"Hey, no amputations, yeah?" he joked, before realizing she was slicing through the cloth of his pants - which was seriously not cool. "Aw, c'mon, don't ruin 'em!"
"Your leg's badly swollen," she said, like he couldn't tell that already. The knife worked its way down from his knee to his ankle, creating a flap in an otherwise perfectly good pair of pants. "No point in constricting it."
Kanji stared down at his leg. After Naoto's impromptu re-tailoring, he could see that even in the red light the skin looked shiny, like it was stretched too tight over his muscles and bones. "You – you think it's broken?"
"There are no obvious or compound breaks, but there may still be a fracture." More rustling, and Naoto held out her hand. "Here." She was holding a small plastic vial: one of the medicine containers they'd picked up at Shiroku. Helped if you were a little tired or scraped up, but with how bad his fricking leg hurt...
He shook his head. "I-I dunno if that'll work on this, man."
"Try it anyway."
Still seemed pointless, but to hell with it, it wasn't like it would hurt so he uncapped the vial, closed his eyes, and tipped the bitter liquid down his throat. Warmth spread from his head to his fingers and toes, and though the throbbing in his leg dimmed for only a second, his other scratches and bruises hurt a little less.
He opened his eyes to find Naoto staring at him, brow furrowed. From the collection of objects beside her – five or six bullets, her penknife, a set of keys, and a handful of what looked like Soul Drops – he guessed she'd been searching her pockets for something better. "Do you have any other healing items?"
He shook his head. "Just a soda. Broke the good stuff in the fall." That and maybe his leg too. Still, given the distance he'd probably gotten off lightly. He squinted at the hole in the ceiling, trying to see back up to the third floor, but the light was too bad to make out anything higher than two levels up. No sign of the Shadow, in any case. Had it gone after Souji and Teddie? "H-How far away d'you think Senpai and Ted are?" he asked.
Naoto paused. It went on for a strangely long time. "I don't know. I can't -" Another pause, though this lasted only a moment. "How far did we fall?"
Kanji figured someone so observant should already know the answer, but then the fall had been pretty chaotic. He'd only been able to count in retrospect, by remembering the number of levels they'd plunged through. "Hell, every time we hit a floor it crumbled. Think we went through – five, maybe six."
"There shouldn't have been that many. We started on the third floor."
...Good point. He hadn't really considered it before, but it would explain the even dimmer light here. Kanji looked around, taking in the space where they'd landed. It was half-filled with crap from the upper levels - crumbled masonry, ruined beds, crushed mannequins - but there was dirt in place of the hard floors of the hospital, and from what he could make out in the gloom, the corridors had been replaced by narrow tunnels. "Yeah. Guess we're underground, then."
"Which means we need to find a route back up. Or a place to take shelter, assuming the others are able to come to our aid." She let out a long breath. "...Though right now that may be an unreasonable assumption."
An unreasonable idea, too. Kanji couldn't even stand; how was he supposed to go searching for anything? The thought of being left alone down here – unable to move, waiting for a Shadow to come finish him off - scared him shitless, but there was no sense in both of them getting themselves killed. Naoto was sensible. She'd get it.
He swallowed, trying to find his voice. "Naoto – I don't think I can move, an' you can't carry me."
The answer started before he'd finished the sentence. "I'm not leaving you."
"S'the only thing you can do! You gotta fetch help."
"Don't be ridiculous," Naoto muttered. She slipped one arm underneath his and tried to haul him up, but all the effort did was jolt him, a bolt of pain shooting up his leg in response.
He tried to pull away. "Whoa, whoa! I already said y'can't carry me!"
"I have no intention of doing so." She still hadn't let go, and she tugged at him again. "But I can support you. You are going to walk with me, Kanji-kun, and we are going to search for a way out."
And it sounded so adamant, Kanji could almost believe her. In reality, sticking together just made them a bigger, slower target – but Naoto made it sound like the only option. For her, maybe it was.
...No. Stupid thought. She probably just thought that she'd be equally defenceless on her own, what with Sukuna-Hikona being pretty useless in one-on-one combat. Except, he realized, that was uncharitable and untrue; the little guy had bailed Kanji out before and could punch well above his weight. So could Naoto. She was staying out of choice.
"Th-Thanks," he said, not quite able to look at her. With his teeth clenched, one hand on the rubble, and one arm round Naoto's shoulders, he was able to push himself upright.
Their steps were unsteady, at first. Doubting Naoto was able to bear much of his weight and doubting even more that she'd let him know that, Kanji was unwilling to lean on her too heavily. The height difference didn't help their balance, either, and every step he took brought a fresh burst of pain – but slowly, laboriously, they stumbled across the room and into the nearest tunnel. The ceiling there was low and the walls were almost completely obscured by mingled blood and black slime, making it even more difficult to see. Both of them stayed quiet, listening closely for any sounds of Shadows. At least there didn't seem to be any barriers down here; maybe Adachi's ability to make them only stretched so far, or maybe he figured Kanji and Naoto were as good as dead anyway. Maybe he just didn't care, provided he got to face Senpai. In the end, Souji was always going to be the most important.
It hit Kanji then, as they were hobbling in silence, that what with the Shadow, the fall, and his leg, he'd completely forgotten that he and Naoto had been trying to ignore each other. Seemed like she had, too, or at least she hadn't been pissed off enough to leave him sprawled on a pile of debris. Part of him still wished she had, that she'd just find a way out before that Shadow came down to finish the job – but the rest was profoundly, guiltily grateful that she'd stayed behind.
He glanced down at her, though all he could see was the top of her cap. "Doin' okay?" he asked.
"Fine," she answered, through what sounded like gritted teeth. Stubborn even by Naoto standards.
Kanji had his fair share of stubbornness too. It got him through what felt like an hour of wrenching pain – though it was probably more like ten minutes – before he finally needed to rest, or risk dropping and taking Naoto with him.
"Hurts," he muttered. "G-Gotta stop for a bit, yeah?"
Naoto nodded below him, and between the two of them, they clumsily lowered him to the ground. They'd stopped in the middle of a tunnel, so he figured she wouldn't let him wait here long – but he just needed a little bit, some time to steel himself for another go. Kanji scrubbed at his face, trying to wipe away the sweat, then stopped. His hand smelled like blood. Crap, had he hurt that too?
But he would've noticed it before, back on the floor right after the fall – and unless it'd been a deep wound, the medicine would've taken care of it along with his other minor cuts and scratches. He definitely hadn't touched any of the walls, and when he'd pushed himself up in the first room the ground had felt dry. After that, he hadn't really done anything with that hand, just kept it gripping Naoto's shoulder while she tried to haul—
Kanji paused. "Naoto. C'mere."
Naoto hesitated a moment, then knelt down beside him. "Is something—" she started, then jolted back when he cupped his hand against the left side of her head. "Wh-What are you doing?"
He drew back his hand and peered at it. In the red light, he could see a faint smear across his palm. "You're fricking bleeding, dumbass!"
"Yes, I know," she said, in a tone just short of an exasperated sigh. "The cut isn't severe. I'll be fine."
"You never said you were hurt!"
"As I said, it's a minor injury. Nothing as disabling as a potential leg fracture." Still kneeling, she straightened and adjusted her cap with one hand, tilting it a little as if to avoid the injured side of her head. "The amount of blood from a head wound is often a poor indicator of its severity."
"Cracking your head ain't minor, 'specially if you were out cold."
That, if nothing else, caught Naoto's attention. She tipped her head slightly, frowning in what now looked more like curiosity than frustration. "What makes you think I was unconscious?"
"Pretty damn obvious," he muttered, thought to be honest, it was only true in retrospect. "Thass why you couldn't remember how far we fell."
It was hard to tell in the light, but he swore Naoto smiled, just slightly. "I was unaware of your powers of deduction."
Torn between feeling proud he'd impressed her and being pissed that he had, Kanji settled for a dull glare at the floor instead. "I ain't a total idiot," he muttered.
"I know," Naoto said, and left it at that. "I'm sure the pain is severe – but could you try to contact Rise? I can't hear her."
Kanji grit his teeth, trying to focus past the white-hot throbbing in his leg. "Yo, Rise?"
"Kanji-kun! Th—fighting out—Chie-sen—"
After that, nothing. "Dammit...I lost her," he told Naoto. "She - she said something about a fight, and Chie-senpai."
"The Reaper. It must be attacking them." Naoto's expression had turned deeply troubled. "I – don't remember what happened before the fall," she admitted. "Did Souji-senpai and Teddie escape?"
"Didn't see...but they must've. Why?"
"If that same Shadow is attacking Rise and the other senpai, then either Souji-senpai and Teddie were able to evade it, or..." Naoto drew a sharp breath.
Kanji shook his head. "Don't think like that. Senpai's fine."
"Of course," she said, voice low. A few minutes of silence later, she scooted toward him, slipped her arm under his again, and helped him up.
They'd continued the same pattern – searching, then resting, then searching again - though for exactly how long, Kanji couldn't be certain. Twenty minutes, maybe. He only knew that they'd stopped three more times, that the periods of walking had decreased between each one, and that they still hadn't found a way out. Hadn't even passed any other open spaces; aside from where they'd landed, this whole floor seemed to be endless, snaking tunnels. They'd been searching for stairs, but who knew if there were any? They'd only ended up here because of the floors collapsing, and it looked nothing like the hospital above. The one thing they had in common was monotony: if the corridors up there had looked similar, these tunnels were nearly identical.
"...So, which way?" he asked. He'd let Naoto take the lead, right from where they'd landed, but they'd been standing at this particular junction for at least thirty seconds.
She didn't respond. She seemed to be getting tired, or at least they were moving more slowly. No surprise after half-dragging a big lug like him around. But she'd also started hesitating at each junction, like she wasn't sure where to go – which she probably wasn't, to be fair, but it was still slightly unnerving. Especially since the pause stretched out longer each time.
"Yo, Naoto?"
"Sorry. Turn left."
They'd done that the last five junctions. The tunnels were curved, though, not like the perpendicular corridors of the hospital, so maybe that was okay and they were heading in the correct direction. Kanji kept this hope up as they staggered the full length of the tunnel, until it opened out onto a large, open room – a room missing most of its ceiling, and scattered with concrete, mannequins, and broken beds.
Shit. They'd come full circle.
"Dammit...we gotta stop! We don't know where we're going." He pushed away from her, steadied himself on a nearby pile of debris, and lowered himself to the ground. The motion aggravated his leg further, leaving him half-sprawled against the rubble and breathing hard.
Naoto blinked down at him."What do you mean?"
"Man, look around! This is where we started!"
"I – it – " She glanced around the room as if seeing it for the first time, until her eyes widened in recognition – then shook her head, clutching at it a split-second later. "I-I must've made a mistake. We should try again."
"I – I can't, alright?" Kanji managed through clenched teeth. He'd been counting on Naoto to lead them out. "I'm tired, my leg frickin' hurts, we don't have a Dia between us and—"
"Do you have any healing items?" Naoto cut in.
His heart sank. "…No. Broke what I had in the fall. Told you that earlier."
"Of course you did. R-Remiss of me. I apologize." The same formal crap as usual, except she stumbled over the words like they didn't fit in her mouth.
...When he'd jumped in the TV and promptly gotten his ass kicked by Adachi's Persona, she'd been worried he had a concussion.
He squinted in the light, trying to make out her expression. "Naoto. Something ain't right. How bad did you hit your head?"
It was the wrong thing to say, or maybe just the wrong way to say it. Naoto swept her hand through the air, sharp and dismissive. "Kanji, we don't have time for this! We need to find a way back up. The others – Rise and the senpai may be under attack, and we have no idea what happened to Souji-senpai and Teddie!"
Like he didn't know all that, and feel like a total waste of time for not being able to help. But he was in no position to rescue anyone – and Naoto, he was starting to suspect, might be in equal trouble. "I know. But I'm going nowhere right now and I'm too heavy for you t'carry. Now siddown."
Naoto held on to her glare for several seconds before it finally faltered. "You're - if, if this is for my benefit-"
"Just – take a rest, okay?" he coaxed. "No point in you draggin' my lame ass around if we don't know where we're going." He paused. "And let me look at your head."
Maybe Naoto knew there was something up too, because the anger and frustration seemed to ebb out of her as he spoke. She carefully sat down beside him and pulled off her cap. "...Very well."
It was difficult to see in the low light, but he quickly realized there wasn't really a deep cut, but instead a vicious scrape a short way above her ear and what looked like a hell of a lump forming. Her hair was slightly matted with dry blood, but when he cupped his hand against her head again, it came away free of fresh smears.
What else had she done when she thought he'd had a concussion? Something about his eyes? Checking the pupils were the same, something like that – but it'd be too dark here to tell. "Well, you ain't bleeding anymore," he told her. "How'd you feel?"
"Tired. Sick," she admitted. "I...don't think I'm doing well."
Nausea and confusion. She'd mentioned those, too. At a loss for anything else, Kanji reached inside his coat and pulled out the slightly dinged Orange Smash. "Here. Might help t'drink something."
Naoto took the can, but didn't open it. She did, however, lean in slightly closer against his side. It might've freaked him out any other time, but he found that, right now, none of that crap seemed to matter. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and tried to support her against the rubble – wanting and wishing he could do something more, something that would keep her safe. Some hope, when he hadn't even taken care of himself.
But it was okay. They'd just rest a little bit. Figure out what to do next. Kanji told himself this and tried to believe it – but with him half-lame and Naoto not all there, how the hell were they supposed to get anywhere? The brawn was crippled and the brains couldn't think straight, he realized, with a humorless, airless laugh.
"When we start again," she said. "You have to-I, I can't remember. Direction."
"Thass why we were goin' in circles, huh?" he said, gently.
"Can't remember," Naoto repeated. "I-I'm sorry."
Kanji pulled her slightly closer, squeezing her shoulders; his gaze fixed on the gap in the ceiling and the darkness of the upper levels. "I know. S'okay."