(Interesting note: the fic got to 100 pages around this chapter so I started a new document after this one. xP
This chapter could've prolly had a number of things edited out and edited better but... it's okay, I hope.)
"Souji!"
Steve, whom you hadn't talked much to in the past week, seemed to want something from you. Clueless as to what he wanted, you answered him.
"Hey, so what about going to the arcade this week?"
You just remembered you promised to take him to the arcade about two weeks ago. You and he both had plans the previous week; this week he was free... but you sort of weren't. You wanted to simply tell him you would be at Yuni's before going to the arcade, but you knew he couldn't come along to discuss the murders. The DDR players probably couldn't even begin any talk until Yuni arrived home after school. Would you have time to make it back to the dorm in a timely manner?
You would attempt to make it work, so you officially invited Steve to come and play games that night, probably after 6:00 or so. You explained you would be out just before going to the arcade, but you would be back. Until then, you had to find your way to Yuni's again...
-.
You arrived just after 3:00, knowing that Yuni was out of school at that time. A maid once again showed you to the TV room, where you met with Devil Zukin, Rage, and Akira.
"We're still waiting on blondie," Rage announced. "So, how're you doin' today? Ready to go back and play DDR?"
You told him how you planned to bring a friend to the arcade. You weren't sure if Steve was much of a DDR player, but he would probably be occupied by any classic shooters he could find.
"Well, we'll have to force him to play DDR anyway," Rage joked.
The four of you killed time be talking about the past week; Rage talked about how the rain ruined his Wednesday's business, Akira reported how Yuni was recovering well and was back to her normal self in a day, and you told the others about playing DDR with Emi. Rage and Akira praised your effort. Zukin remained quiet, and no one questioned her.
The door clicked open and Yuni walked in, wearing an orange skirt and a black top. It resembled a school uniform.
"All right, I'm here," she said. "So what didja wanna talk about?"
"We wanted to ask you what you remembered about your kidnapping," Zukin replied. "Try your best to remember. Where were you and can you remember any sort of culprit?"
Yuni rubbed the back of her head. "Um... I was at the mall... and when I was alone, something just made me black out. Like, literally, everything went black, and I went unconscious until my Shadow started whipping me awake."
"Nobody saw you disappear?" Rage asked. "How alone were you?"
"I was in a really dark corner."
"How did you even know there were dark corners in a mall?" Rage continued to ask.
"I uh... usually go there when Akira's looking for me. My friends were keeping people away so nobody would see me if he asked where I was."
"Yuni..." Akira mumbled, as if he was about to scold her. He tried to remain calm... but Rage's temper exploded.
"Why would you do that?" he shouted. "Didn't you think Akira and your friends were gonna worry about what happened to you? Even if you weren't in the TV, you could've got hurt if no one else was around!"
"I'm sorry, okay?" she yelled back. "Nothing like this has happened before!" You could hear a crack in her voice; she genuinely felt guilty. "I didn't know anything would happen."
"Don't apologize to me," Rage told her. "Akira's the guy that spent all day looking for you."
Unable to look in anyone's eyes, Yuni turned her body in Akira's direction while she stared at his feet. "I'm sorry, Akira. I didn't mean to make you go through all that trouble." She paused. "I make you go through this a lot, don't I?"
Akira shook his head. "If I really didn't like this job, I wouldn't be here now. Just promise you'll be more careful." He didn't seem like he was mad at all.
"Okay," she agreed. She tried to look at you, but she was still eying the floor. "And thank you, too, Souji. Without you, nobody would've found me."
You assured her it was no problem; you were happy that she was okay.
"We gotta get you in the TV for a bit to try our your Persona," Rage proposed.
"There's no rush," Zukin said. "No one is in there right now. Besides, Souji has a history of skipping Fridays at the arcade. We owe Emi a visit today."
"Fine, it can wait," Rage agreed. "Anyway, you should be getting back to get your friend."
You nodded, remembering Steve.
"Your friend is coming?" Yuni said. "Do you need a ride back?"
"Yuni," Akira began, "I'm not sure if it's wise to-"
"Oh come on, it's the least I could do. Everyone, come with me!"
Yuni raised her hand, indicating herself as the leader. She skipped into the hallway and everyone followed her. Confused, you did the same.
-.
"Whoa! You weren't kidding, you really did know her!"
Steve was surprised when Yuni showed up in your dorm room. She and Akira had come to meet your friends; Rage and Zukin were waiting outside. Apparently, Yuni thought it would be fun to drive around New York with a limousine that didn't fit on campus, so you had to walk quite a distance to get to your friends.
"Hey, Aaron, get out here! It's that hot girl you were talking about!"
"Hey shut up!" he screamed back, rushing out of his room to meet Yuni. He called Steve some English obscenity you weren't familiar with yet. He nervously came up to Yuni - which was weird, he was usually your loudest and most outgoing roommate.
"Heya, uh, Yuni," he greeted, awkwardly offering to shake her hand, to which she accepted. "Uh, don't listen to him," he motioned to Steve, "he's stupid. Not that you're not hot or, er, you're kinda uh... I swear I thought you were eighteen."
Yuni couldn't contain her laughter. She released his hand and covered her widely opened mouth as she giggled. "I'm flattered, really!" she tried to tell him. "Thank you. Are you the guy coming to the arcade?"
"Wait, what? That's why you're here?" Aaron asked, surprised. "You're taking Souji and that dork Steve to go play games? I wanna come!"
"Hey, don't go inviting yourself," Steve argued. "Souji said I could go."
"You can all fit in my limo," she offered. "We were gonna bring Souji back here, anyway, so it doesn't matter if you wanna come."
"Wait, we can't just leave Rob out," Steve said. "He's a total closet gamer." The boy ran to his room and began persuading the busy student to take a break.
"I gotta get some money, be right back," Aaron said before running into his room.
"Interesting friends you have," Yuni commented. "Taking you all out is the least I can do after putting you through all that stuff in the TV. But you guys better have fun, okay?" She winked after the last statement.
A niceness seemed to awaken in her. Seeing her Shadow must've motivated her to change, and you knew she was grateful for your help.
You felt as if she was the only one there as another social link formed between you two. You questioned if you even deserved it, but you were happy to know Yuni trusted you from then on.
-.
At the arcade, Aaron exited the limousine in awe.
"Did I really just ride that?" he asked. "With Yuni and those other guys? Souji, do you do this every week?"
You chuckled and told him this was probably gonna be the only time you got a ride like this. You, your roommates, and the DDR players stepped in the arcade. It seemed like every time you went into the Extreme arcade, it was like walking into another city of lights and sounds. From the amazed sounds Aaron and Steve mumbled, you could tell they felt the same way.
"This place is crazy!" Steve exclaimed. "You're gonna go play DDR, right? I'll meetcha over there, later, I'm gonna take a look around." He quickly ran off somewhere.
You and the others walked to the DDR machine in the back. Akira kept a watchful eye on Aaron, who seemed to be uncomfortable around the tall man. You noticed that Devil Zukin was examining the oddly quiet Robert, who was trying to ignore her. You wondered if you should ask her to stop staring so much. You assumed, though, if you could dance with Zukin, he would have a round to get to know your other DDR friends. After asking her to play DDR, she agreed.
"It is unlike you to request a partner," Zukin said, "but I'm glad you're becoming accustomed to playing DDR." She must not have known your intentions.
While you talked to her, Emi had already talked to Aaron and Robert, and she'd taken the liberty of introducing them to everybody without you. You wondered when your turn on the DDR machine would be, so you looked over and saw that Gus and Alice were playing.
"That's their last song," Zukin commented. "Shall we go next?"
You nodded and waited for your turn.
"I must admit," she began, "I don't practice this game enough to be an excellent player."
You told her not to worry at all; you had a long way to go to get to anyone's level. Being indifferent to a majority of the song list, you handed the responsibility of choosing music to Zukin. You took the right side of the machine while Zukin took the left.
She selected Wild Rush for the first course. You noticed she played on Difficult and without any modifications. The song began at a moderate speed that you could easily keep up with, but you noticed that the speed seemed to increase as the song progressed. The song was tricky... almost like the girl you were playing against. You still felt trapped in the middle of the pad at times, but you finished the song with a B, while Zukin managed to get an A.
Her second song was era (nostalmix), another song with lowercase letters. The song was definitely fast, but the arrows on Basic were merciful for you. As you paid attention to the arrows, you listened closely to the song. It sounded like some sort of mysterious void, or another world. You wondered if one day you could learn about others by their song choices, much like they seemed to learn more about you.
After you got another B and she received another A, Zukin concluded the round with .59. She set her level to Expert.
"It's the only song I can pass on Expert," she confessed to you.
As the first notes of the piano played, you sensed something odd. You looked to Zukin out of the corner of your eye and she had closed her eyes for the beginning. You stepped on the first arrow and glanced back, noting that she had opened her red eyes again. Something about the intro caused her to focus intently. Her rhythm sounded perfect to you, so perfect that you you couldn't help but listen to her steps over your own. Her footsteps weren't as loud as others' steps usually were; she seemed to gently tap the arrows and hit them at the right times.
You got your third B in a row, but the bat girl managed to get an AA on the song.
You were about to congratulate her, but she studied the score with her arms crossed.
"It isn't my record," she said, "but it'll do for now." You followed her off the machine.
"That is my favorite song," she told you. "I can't describe it, but it feels like I can connect to the melody."
It was a mysterious song, vaguely like era. You wondered what her "connection" said about her.
"Oh, it seems your friend is playing."
Zukin alerted you to Robert's match with Zero. Did he even play DDR? You assumed the others would be interested, so you glanced around the room in search of your other wandering roommates. You ran off a short distance to find Steve playing a shooter game, and Aaron was behind him with a bottled soda. You told Aaron that Robert was about to play DDR, if he was interested.
"Whoa, the guy's got guts; I wouldn't do that in front of your friends. Hey Steve, let's cheer the guy on." He yanked on the gamer's shoulder, but Steve protested.
"I just paid for a continue," he argued, "I'll meetcha over there when I'm done."
Aaron shrugged, and you led him back to the DDR X machine.
You were shocked... in a good way.
Zero and Robert were apparently both on Expert, as they both had the same arrows. Robert's rhythm was all right, but the thing you noticed was he didn't seem to be very tired from the song. Zero didn't tire either, but it was something you expected of him.
You never really watched Zero's DDR skills closely, but you noticed that when he played a song that didn't leave him exhausted, he used subtle arm movements and moved more of his body than just his legs. He was different from Rage, who gripped the bar for dear life and pushed his stamina to the limits. He was also different from Emi, who jumped around the mat in a carefree way. Zero was somewhere in the middle of both. He looked as if he was having fun showing off, in his own... stoic way.
You diverted your attention to Robert, but the song was already over. He seemed to let Zero choose the song while he rested his body on the bar behind him. Zero chose a song whose title was masked from your perspective. He looked at Robert for approval before the song started.
Then you were able to watch Robert. He didn't move around as much as Zero; rather, he was more like Rage. He played for skill and precision. Unlike Rage, Robert seemed to be full of stamina. He remained upright for most of the song, leaning forward to focus on trickier steps. Though this was the second song, you were still amazed by Robert's skills. Perhaps he was a closet gamer after all. But for DDR...? It was a hard thing to hide... you wondered why you never learned this before.
After the mystery song ended (they both received a pair of A's), you saw Robert suggest something to Zero. The silver haired man nodded and played with his bangs. He removed his fur coat (was he actually getting tired?) while Robert scrolled through the song list. You moved to get a better look at the screen; he chose Random as his choice. Was that a song or did it literally choose a random song...?
You remained in your position and saw the title "Paranoia Hades" on the screen. You thought Paranoia sounded familiar; it was a song with multiple versions that you usually saw Rage and Gus choose. You had never seen Hades before, so you watched them play.
The song appeared to have a unique video. If you stared into the center of the background video, it looked like you were traveling into a red void. Eye shapes and circles pulsed outward and inward; you could see three dimensional shapes try to manifest in the middle.
You were a little surprised as a screaming face appeared. It continued to appear and disappear. You wanted to avert your eyes to see who was winning, but you found it hard to look away from the eerie screen. As the face faded into the background, you looked back at both of the dancers.
Both Robert and Zero were grasping onto the bar; Robert held it with his right hand while Zero was using both of his. The latter was getting exhausted midway through the song, whereas Robert's primary sign of fatigue was just the fact that he needed the bar.
Zero's height had slowly lowered as the song progressed; he was unable to stand as tall as he usually did until a break in the arrows. The arrows slowed down, and there weren't as many as in the beginning. By that point, Robert had held onto the bar with both hands. He was perfecting the remainder of the song while Zero struggled to rebuild his life bar on the screen.
When the song finished with freeze arrows, Zero and Robert stood upright, despite how tired they must've been. Your roommate got an A and the other man got a C.
You could've learned a lot from Robert. Why didn't he tell you he was so good at DDR every time you mentioned it to him? He left the tired Zero on the stage. Knowing the pretty boy would be fine, you went to praise Robert on his skills.
"It's been a while since I've played DDR," he said. "But I guess I'm not bad at it."
"You were amazing!" Aaron exclaimed.
You noticed Steve had finally arrived, probably some time during the last song. "I told you guys, he's actually really good. He's just too much of a school nerd to keep playing."
Robert shrugged it off. "I've got a lot of other things to do. I can't keep playing games all the time. But I admit it was nice getting back on stage. I probably needed a workout."
The boys conversed while you looked around to where Zero went. He sat on a chair next to the other DDR dancers. Emi and Alice were going up to the machine.
Most of your friends were around Zero, but Zukin was no where to be found. She was still at the arcade, wasn't she?
You told your roommates that you were looking for your other friend. You searched the arcade, occasionally checking to see if she had returned to the DDR machine. You didn't see her until you stepped outside in the cool autumn air. She was sitting on the concrete just outside the door. You asked her why she was out there.
She blankly stared forward, initially unaffected by your voice. "I'm sorry if I worried you," she responded. "I... can't stand that song. It may seem silly to you, but I became afraid of the video. I had a nightmare after seeing it..." she shook her head. "No, with or without the game, I often dream of what would happen if I became a demon. After that image of the being trying to make its way out of the void, I felt like I could see the dark side of me fighting its way out of me. I was once nothing but a dark side... I don't want to go back to that."
You assured her that she could already face her other side. It was okay to be a little afraid of the video; honestly, it creeped you out, even if only a little.
"Thank you for understanding. Let's go back."
You looked into her soft red eyes after she opened up her fears, and you felt the bond between you and Zukin become stronger. You couldn't relate to being a devil inside, but your sympathy decreased the gap between you two.
You walked her back to the DDR X machine. For the rest of the night, your roommates challenged the dancers to other arcade games and talked to each other. It was interesting to see your new friends unite and get along so well. You stayed until you lost track of time...
(I write a lot of non-canon things about Devil Zukin because imo, she was the most interesting Zukin and then she got scrapped after 4th mix. Rinon's like a robotic childlike reincarnation, yet... not the same at all. But anyway, I write a lotta Devil because there's a lot a person can do with her in a story. Plus, this is from Souji's perspective. I can't write about how beautiful Zero is and this is the next best thing. xP)