8/6 - Afternoon - Iwatodai Dorm - Kotone
"Ren?" Kotone asked as she walked down the staircase, hearing the front doors of the dorm close.
She heard a chuckle and became disheartened.
"Sorry to say, but it's just me, Kotone," Ikutsuki said as he took his seat in the lobby, his briefcase by his side. "Is Ren still in the hospital?"
"You came from the hospital, Mr. Chairman?" Yukari asked.
The rest of the second-years sat in the lobby. Junpei was playing on his PSP, Fuuka was on her laptop, and Yukari was on her phone.
Ikutsuki nodded. "I was checking up on Ren's friend in the morning, but it turned out he beat me to the punch!" Ikutsuki said with a laugh. "He was still there by the time I left around noon. I'm very surprised he stayed rather than rest in the dorms, since I thought he'd be here by now."
"It felt like they've known each other for a while now," Fuuka commented. "Though I'm not sure why they'd use last names..."
Ever since the Dark Hour two days ago, Ren had been sort of inseparable from the hospital. Just like today, he spent the entire day yesterday in the hospital, looking over Akechi. He came back by dinnertime to prepare it, and it was looking like that will happen again today.
Junpei turned off the PSP and laid it on the table. "You know, didn't it seem like it surprised ren to see his friend alive? I can believe that, seeing as how bloody he was when we got to him. Like, Ren thought he was dead."
"You got that right..." Kotone murmured, taking a seat next to Yukari. "He literally said the guy should be dead..."
-.-
"You should be dead, Akechi!" Ren growled with gritted teeth.
Kotone didn't register Ren's words until much later. What she registered was the pure rage and disbelief on Ren's face as he bared his teeth.
"Huh?" Junpei said, surprisingly having heard that.
"Instead of having your mouth be figuratively open like a fish, would you mind helping?" the Lost victim hissed. "I don't know what your friend did, Amamiya, but I need to get something checked."
Ren tsked and rushed to help lay the victim down on the floor.
Ken couldn't help but blankly stare at Ren as if something was wrong with him. He never got this irritated before.
Having put the victim down, Ren asked, "Where and what are you feeling?"
"Sharp pain, lower right abdomen," the victim hissed.
Mitsuru could see the victim's left eye was closed shut, with trails of dried blood coming down from it.
Ren glanced at the area the victim mentioned. Fuuka could only gasp, as it was the bloodiest portion of the victim's jacket.
Ren began taking off the jacket, though he wasn't exactly being gentle about it.
"Can you take it easy?!" the victim yelled. "I just woke up!"
"Oh please," Ren said, and Yukari could feel his eyes roll even with his back turned towards her. "You've gotten through worse."
Ren finally peeled off the victim's final layers, and he grimaced at what he saw: a large, dark purple lump had grown on the victim's side.
"This is..." Ren murmured, touching the bruise. It felt spongy and lumpy, but there was a part where it was solid...as if there was something there.
The victim hissed. "Do you mind, Amamiya?! It hurts and I'm dead certain there's a fucking bullet there!"
"A bullet?" Akihiko repeated.
"Whatever the fuck you did," the victim said at Akihiko, "my body healed over it. It's in my body now and it hurts like hell." He turned towards Ren. "Can you get it out?"
Ren stayed quiet, his mind racing to get what he needed to get the bullet out. After a few moments, he turned around, facing the crowd behind him.
"Kotone," she snapped her head at him, "I need you to keep using Posumudi on my knife and the wound."
"Wait, what?"
"Yukari," Ren said, gazing at her, "you're the best healer on the team. Can I ask that you heal Akechi when I get the bullet out?"
"I- Uh..."
"And Mitsuru-senpai," Mitsuru lifted her chin when he mentioned her, "can you get some ice ready? Use the weakest Bufu you can on Akechi's wound when Yukari finishes healing."
Mitsuru nodded, already seeing she can't stop Ren at the moment.
"What are you doing, Ren?" Junpei asked.
"I'm going to remove the bullet," he simply said, as if he was discussing the breakfast for tomorrow.
"Hold on!" Akihiko yelled. "Shouldn't we let the doctors do it? Let's just wait, okay? No need to rush things."
"From what it looks like, the skin only healed over the bullet, so I don't need to dig deep," Ren said. "Kotone's Posumudi should take care of germs and any chance of infection, Yukari's Diarama should heal the wound immediately, and Mitsuru-senpai could make an impromptu ice pack to help with the bruising, if any. I can definitely do this."
"He definitely can," the victim added. "Whatever it was you did was fine, considering it healed the skin and stopped the bleeding; my only problem is it healed over the bullet. I just want it out."
Akihiko glanced back and forth between Ren and the victim, settling on Mitsuru. Mitsuru sighed.
"After this, we are sending him to the hospital to make sure. Is that understood, Amamiya?"
Ren nodded. That was the plan, even without her saying it.
He took off his coat and folded the sleeves so that they became thicker. He gave it to the victim and said, "Here."
The victim took the coat and bit down, taking deep breaths to prepare for the pain.
"Three." Exhale. Kotone's Queen Mab began using Posumudi. "Two." Inhale. "One." Exhale.
Ren dug the knife into the victim's side and began cutting a small hole around where he had last felt the solid object. With the circle complete, he flicked the bullet out.
A green light surrounded the victim and Ren could see the wound close. With it closed, Mitsuru used Bufu, and a small block of ice formed near the victim. Ren used his SEES armband to wrap the ice and placed it on the newly healed wound.
"And done," Ren said with a sigh. "Feeling better, Akechi?"
The victim snorted. "Yeah," he said before glaring weakly at Ren. "You have a lot of things to explain, Amamiya."
Ren merely waved it off. "Yeah, yeah. For now, go to sleep and rest."
The victim huffed, though he closed his eyes. Eventually, his breathing evened out.
"He's not dead... Is he?" Junpei asked.
Fuuka closed her eyes and summoned Lucia with a hum. "I don't think so. Seems fine on my end."
Still, that wasn't the question on everyone's mind.
"What just happened?" Ken asked, though he didn't direct it to anyone in particular.
Everyone but Ren shared the sentiment. Ren was uncharacteristically aggressive and irritated that night. Who was this guy, and how did he know Ren?
-.-
"They really hated each other..." Junpei said, leaning back on the couch with his hands behind his head. Kotone nodded in agreement; she never thought Ren could have so much venom to behave like that. Not even Fuuka's bullies did that.
Yukari hummed. "I think there's more than that. People aren't usually this open about hating someone like that. Definitely not the nicer people, and I thought Ren was more polite than that, but I guess I was wrong."
"I think there's trust there," Fuuka commented. "They don't like each other, but they trust each other and have no problem hiding it."
Kotone nodded. "The Akechi guy definitely trusted Ren to perform a surgery on the spot like that. I didn't even know he could do that..." It surprised her he could do something like that, even thinking about sanitizing the wound using Posumudi. How does someone think about that?
"Yes, I heard about that," Ikutsuki said. "Can you tell me in detail about what happened? I read about it in Mitsuru's report, but I'd like to hear it from you three."
Yukari and Kotone glanced at one another, considering they had front-row seats of the operation. Since Kotone was the leader and she was part of the beginning, she started the story.
"It turned out that Akihiko-senpai's Dia spell made Akechi's skin heal over the bullet, so Akechi was feeling it," Kotone said. "He asked Ren to get it off. Ren asked me to sanitize his dagger and the wound, Yukari to heal it, and Mitsuru-senpai to ice the bruise."
Ikutsuki nodded, soaking in Kotone's words. "Is there anything else you might want to say?"
"Well," Yukari answered, "we mentioned Akechi trusted Ren, right? I don't think this was the first time they did something like that. I think Ren has experience in doing something similar, or at least it felt like it. He immediately went to help Akechi and, rather than being surprised at the bullet, he started thinking about how to remove it. I don't think anyone really knew what to think of it when Akechi yelled out he had a bullet in him."
"You guys don't think Ren and Akechi had something to do with the Yakuza?" Junpei asked.
"What?" Yukari said. "Don't be stupid, Junpei! What kind of kids would join the Yakuza?"
"Hold on, let me explain," Junpei said, leaning forward and clasping his fingers together. "You see, I don't know if you guys heard Ren, but he definitely said that this Akechi guy should be dead."
Ikutsuki raised an eyebrow. "And you're certain of this, Junpei?"
He nodded. "Positive. I was talking to him before the exploration team got down, so I was close to him. I know he said it," he said with a serious face. "That only begs the question, how do kids our age get shot like that? The answer is: a life of crime!"
"This is getting absurd..." Yukari muttered as she shook her head. Kotone agreed with her; this was getting closer to the plot of a game.
"Seriously!" Junpei said. "We've got a kid that should be dead, and Ren seems to know how to do doctor stuff. Seems to me it's a clear-cut case!"
"Why don't you lay it out to us, Junpei?" Ikutsuki urged, his eyes somewhat glistening in curiosity.
"Well, what I think is that Ren and the Akechi guy, at some point, joined the Yakuza," Junpei began. "They learned the ins and outs, all that stuff. Later on, something happened, and they were on the run. Akechi gets shot down, but Ren escapes here: Tatsumi Port Island!"
Everyone stayed quiet, taking in what Junpei said, no matter how absurd it was. It's crazy to think that any child would get in touch with the Yakuza, much less Ren. Ren was way too polite, too nice, to ever be part of the Yakuza.
"It's...not implausible..." Ikutsuki said, rubbing his chin.
"You can't be serious, Mr. Chairman!" Yukari said with a slam on the table. "It's absurd that a kid our age would ever deal with lowlives like the Yakuza!"
"Not at all, actually," Ikutsuki responded. "Unlucky children can fall in the wrong crowd, especially when they're young. The Yakuza has also changed over the years; they're not exactly the honorable type you see in the movies nowadays."
"Is Ren the type of person to go behind the law like that?" Fuuka asked. "He seems so...nice and by the book."
"Right," Ikutsuki said. "You weren't there when we got Ren's files. He does have a history in dealing with things under the table, and he has taken jobs a normal high school student would have taken, like a bar."
"Wasn't he only dealing with non-alcoholic drinks?"
"Perhaps," Ikutsuki said, "but it could just be a cover just to skirt over the law. It might be that Ren doesn't break any rules, but he certainly bends both himself over them and the rules themselves. At this point, there is no way of knowing what truly happened."
"What do you mean?" Kotone asked.
"All places Ren worked in are no longer in service; we can't ask what truly happened," Ikutsuki answered. "That's not even mentioning this…Akechi Goro."
"Was he part of the Yakuza?" Junpei asked excitedly.
However, Ikutsuki merely shrugged. "I don't know. I couldn't find anything related to him."
"You mean he has no family?" Yukari prompted.
"As in, we couldn't find anything about Akechi Goro," Ikutsuki answered. "I found it intriguing that Ren was so attached to Akechi. Additionally, his ability to stay awake during the Dark Hour, no matter how briefly, means that he might have the potential. With these two reasons in mind, I began my research into Akechi. However, even with our connections, we have nothing on Akechi Goro. It is as if Akechi Goro never existed."
'Huh?'
"Wait," Kotone interrupted. "As in, there's nothing at all?"
Ikutsuki merely shook his head, causing Junpei to jump in excitement.
"Hell yeah, I'm right! That just means the Yakuza did something and erased everything about Akechi!"
"That sounds reaching, Junpei. It feels too much like the plot of a movie or a game," Kotone said.
"We can't exactly say what the truth is anymore," Ikutsuki said. "We can only ask Ren for it." Ikutsuki stood up with a sigh. "That said, I must go to my office. I still have paperwork to do and my report about our newest potential recruit won't write itself."
"Oh right, you mentioned he could have the potential," Fuuka said.
Ikutsuki nodded. "Indeed. It might mean you guys might have a new teammate."
"That's...good..." Yukari muttered.
"The more, the merrier, right?" Kotone said, hoping to cheer up Yukari. It seemed like she was still hung up on people joining SEES, especially when her father had a hand with creating the Dark Hour and Tartarus. "On top of that, we're not forcing him. He can still choose not to join us."
"I guess..." Yukari said before smiling. "Thanks, Kotone."
"We're here for you, okay? This isn't something you'll handle alone," Kotone said, rubbing the back of Yukari's hand. She remembered Ren doing something similar to ease her, but she couldn't remember where and when. Still, it seemed to work, calming Yukari as she smiled.
"Still," Yukari said, and Kotone let go, "that just means we'll have to wait for Ren to get back so we can ask him."
Kotone nodded. "Right. We can't go around assuming everything, especially when we don't have a lot of information."
Junpei harrumphed with a frown. "Fine, fine, do what you girls want. I really think that they had something to do with the Yakuza. Haven't you guys ever thought about it? Ren's so good with a gun, right? What if the Yakuza taught him and he had to be the one to gun down Akechi? Would really explain why Ren was so sure Akechi was dead."
"Think what you want, Junpei, but I'm going to wait for Ren to explain what happened," Yukari said with a huff.
Ikutsuki chuckled and entered his office.
-.-
Ikutsuki locked the door behind him and flicked the lights on while silence reigned in his office. When the dorm was repurposed for SEES, he had his office reinforced with soundproofing and hefty locks, both electronic and regular, to stop people from entering, even more so than the Command Room. Not even Mitsuru could gain access to this room. And whatever they did, no one outside could hear what was going on inside the office. He didn't want to mess up; it took him so long to gain Takeharu's trust, enough to talk as equals to one of the most influential people on the planet, and he already messed up once, losing his test subjects.
His desk was neat as he took a seat. Opening another locked drawer, he took out a folder containing all the medical reports of the Lost that were in Tartarus. So far, each person came from Tatsumi Port Island and was declared missing by the local police before being 'found' on the streets. Ikutsuki was grateful that they had someone inside the force; it gave SEES leeway and acted without gaining any attention from the media, though having the ability to operate in the Dark Hour certainly helped.
Each report contained the same information: their status was exactly like those of the Lost outside of Tartarus. They weren't injured, they only moaned and groaned, and they wouldn't react to outside stimuli. Apparently, even Shadows tended to avoid the Lost's area in Tartarus, so the Shadows never harmed a victim.
And, in the end, each victim failed to show their potential, forgetting the events that led to them arriving in Tartarus. Ikutsuki once started to keep track of the cases, hoping one of them would have the potential. However, each person only diminished that hope, eventually just becoming a way to bookkeep the missing person cases on his end.
However, Akechi Goro broke the mold in every way: he was never reported missing in Tatsumi Port Island, he held a conversation, and was injured before being retrieved by SEES. Granted, some sort of incident could explain the third point before Akechi arrived in Tartarus. However, Ikutsuki was very hopeful because of the second fact: his ability to hold a conversation. It meant that he was conscious and aware during the Dark Hour and, with the current track record of the SEES members, there was a high chance he could awaken to a Persona. The fact he was never been to Tatsumi Port Island is very suspicious, but not as much as having no record in Japan.
On top of that, Ren knew about Akechi Goro, seemingly feeling some sort of responsibility, if checking on the victim for two days in a row was anything to go by. If it turned out that Akechi was capable of summoning a Persona, did having some sort of past relation to a Persona user mean that they could become a Persona user? Mitsuru was the first example; her grandfather was the one who started it all. Yukari was another, being related to Eiichiro, a Kirijo scientist. Ken was another example, being related to both Akihiko and Shinjiro. At this moment, only Junpei and Ren were the odd ones out. After all, Kotone wasn't exactly untouched by the Dark Hour.
He could still remember what he saw from Aigis' last footage before shutting down ten years ago. A car crash. Its fight against the strongest Shadow seen by the world. Its failed attempts to defeat the Shadow. It separated the Shadow into thirteen pieces. It sealed the largest piece within the girl in the car crash.
He couldn't believe that he couldn't find the little girl again until a decade later, leading to her transfer to Gekkoukan High School. At long last, the girl who held the key to Kouetsu's wish, the same wish that he sought, was within his grasp. Soon, the Fall will come, and he will fulfill their dream.
-.-Take Your Time-.-
8/6 - Late Afternoon - Iwatodai Hospital - Ren
"Are you sure you'll be fine, sir?" the young nurse asked, her eyes glancing at Akechi sleeping on the hospital bed, and Ren nodded.
"The food you brought is more than enough," he said with a chuckle, gesturing to the small bento on the table by the hospital bed. "I just want to make sure I'm here when he wakes up."
"It's not a problem. Any friend of Kirijo-sama is welcome. Most of us here know there are things we can't help with, so we do everything we can," she said with a wry smile. "If you need anything, please, let us know. We're more than happy to help." With her piece said, she left the room and closed the door.
Silence reigned in the room outside of Akechi's uniform breathing. Ren's eyes turned yellow as he first focused on the door and then swept through the room with a thorough look. When he was satisfied, he took his seat by the bed.
"No devices listening in the room, nor are they spying on us," he said, low enough that no one outside the room should be able to hear, but loud enough for the other person in the room. "It seems they somewhat value our privacy."
Akechi snorted and his eyes shot open, quickly zeroing in on Ren without moving his head. "The Kirijo Group is one of the largest zaibatsu in the world; they won't give a damn about privacy."
Ren chuckled. He forgot for a moment that Akechi probably doesn't know where he is. "Maybe in 2017, but not in 2009. On top of that, you're here under my name and I'm pretty important to them."
Akechi merely scowled when Ren finished. When Ren held back from talking, he said, "Well? I know you have more to say, so say it. I'm not here to just lay and wait for you to finish your theatrics."
Ren huffed, though he understood Akechi's trepidation. He was alive, had no information, rescued in some weird building, and all of that amid a new set of Persona users. The only person he knew was Ren. And yet, here he was, trying to find some fun in having Akechi on the back foot again.
"Well, as I said, it's 2009. You and I went back in time," he said.
Akechi's eyes narrowed. "That's impossible; even Maruki thought I died. I shouldn't be here."
"I don't know what to tell you," Ren said, leaning back in his chair. "I've already tried asking Lavenza, but her boss and she refuse to say anything."
"Lavenza..." Akechi murmured. "Yes, I remember her. Still, if it's 2009, how did you get here? Why are you here?"
"They asked me to help the current group of Persona users," he answered. "I think they teleported me to the past, but not in the same timeline."
Akechi sighed; his eyes now focused on the ceiling. "So what? We're still here, stuck with this Persona bullshit. I thought I was finally dead, but apparently, I'm not."
Ren grimaced and stayed quiet. Even now, Akechi didn't have a choice. Wait... That wasn't exactly right.
"Not entirely," Ren said slowly. "You're technically free now; Shido no longer controls you here. No one knows who you are here outside of me."
Akechi glanced at Ren, and his expression softened. "Yes, I suppose I am."
The two fell into silence. Ren couldn't say more. Giving more information about SEES to someone that most likely doesn't want to deal with anything Persona-related just didn't feel right.
With a sigh, he stood up. "I'll get going then. Stay here until you think up your next steps. My number is still the same, so just contact me if you need help. With the Kirijo's power, we could even make a new identity for you. With that, you might be out of all this business."
Akechi grunted and eased his breathing, slowing down and becoming more even. However, Ren knew Akechi merely faked it; he realized earlier this morning Akechi was awake. Akechi most likely didn't feel safe enough with people he didn't know about. And so, he waited for everyone outside of Ren to leave.
Seriously, for a guy that apparently hates him, why does Akechi come to Ren when he needs help?
-.-TakeYourTime-.-
8/6 - Dark Hour - Somewhere in Northern Iwatodai - Ren
"Again, Junpei, we're not like that," Ren said with a frown.
"C'mon man, no need to be shy about it!" Junpei said with a grin. "Ex-Yakuza, right? How was it?"
Ren sighed. Junpei has been at it since he came back to the dorm. Kotone explained that Junpei's convinced Akechi, and he was part of the Yakuza. Apparently, the Yakuza hunted Akechi while he escaped to Tokyo. The Yakuza erasing all records of Akechi explained why Ikutsuki couldn't find anything about him.
"Again, we were never part of the Yakuza."
"Okay, seriously-"
"Stop it," Yukari said, lightly slapping the backside of Junpei's head. "You've been at it since we left, and nothing is going to come out of it. Don't force him to say anything. On top of that, we're getting close to the underground base. We need to focus."
Junpei swatted away the offending arm. "Alright, alright, I get it..." he muttered.
Ren eyed Junpei as he quieted down and stared ahead of him.
It was sort of pressuring being asked that. Iwai was no longer a Yakuza, so he wasn't lying, right?
Fuuka stopped. "I'm sensing something else inside the base..."
"Another Shadow?" Akihiko asked, his eyes glinting.
However, Fuuka shook her head. "Not this one... This one feels more human."
"Mitsuru, you think this is a Lost a Shadow called in?"
"A case like Moriyama..." Mitsuru muttered, and Ren saw Fuuka gulp as her face soured. The memory must still be there. "Then it is imperative that we rescue them before the Shadow gets to them. Shiomi, ensure that you plan accordingly."
Kotone resolutely nodded. Ren supposed it would be another trial for her.
However, the Lost wasn't the only possibility; rather, it could be Strega. Still, this didn't match up with their modus operandi. They used the Dark Hour to kill defenseless people. Why would they be here now? It's been more than a month since he last saw them. Considering he was on the lookout every night he could, he believed they stopped, afraid after being beaten by something they didn't have a chance against.
Did they plan on fighting the Shadow? Most likely not. They've done nothing about the Full Moon Shadows before.
Did they plan on fighting with the Shadow? Maybe... While it made no sense for a human to work with a Shadow that could end up hurting them, SEES was another group of Persona users. However, they did the opposite, trying to save people that were affected by the Dark Hour. It is possible that Strega sees their activities as harmful to them. Still, their best chance was last month's operation. The Shadow split the team in two, where it brainwashed one group. Now, they have three more members and are prepared for tactics similar to the Lovers Arcana Shadow's.
Then it would seem the best approach is to be ready for a fight. Ren relaxed his body, ready to snap his arms to grab either the Evoker or his pistol at a moment's notice.
Ahead of them, an enormous pair of steel doors towered over the group, slightly ajar.
"The human reading is right ahead of us," Fuuka noted. "The Shadow is still further down."
"I'll take vanguard," Aigis said, and Ren nodded.
That had been their formation in Tartarus for a while now. Aigis took the front, Ren would sneak in to flank the Shadow, and the remaining members would attack from range. With two members distracting the enemies, Ren didn't have to worry about taking in all the aggro. It didn't sit well with him that Aigis took worse blows, but since she was the one with a body made of steel, he couldn't exactly complain.
Aigis gripped the doors and pushed, opening it a bit more. The doors whined as a bit of dust fell from around them. Ren peered over Aigis's shoulder, making sure that it wasn't-
His eyes widened.
That brown, shaggy hair was unmistakable, even from behind, even if he had taken off his jacket.
"Akechi?!"
"Oh?" Akechi asked and turned around, tilting his head. "To think you'd be here as well, along with familiar faces. This is part of that whole business from the other day, I assume?"
Akechi stood in the middle of the bunker with only his green vest and white-collar shirt. Pipes ran along the walls, most rusted and broken. Further down the room was a tunnel, which most likely led to the deepest parts of the bunker.
"What are you doing here?" Ren growled out, walking to the front of the group. "You're supposed to-"
"Be resting in the hospital?" Akechi finished. "Yes, well, one tends to be curious when the atmosphere turns green, the moon is impossibly large, and there's a buzzing in the head, Amamiya. And, knowing your penchant for trouble, I decided to follow my curiosity."
"Straight into a bunker?" Ren asked. "What were you thinking?"
Akechi sneered. "I wasn't wrong, was I?"
Ren's left eye twitched.
"Wait, how are you here?" Mitsuru interrupted. "You said there was a buzz in your head?"
"Yes. I woke up just before the middle of the night," Akechi answered. "While trying to get my bearings and remember what happened, the atmosphere shifted into this. In addition, there was a sort of buzzing in my head."
"Are you sure it was a buzz in your head?" Fuuka asked. "Or was it a voice?"
Akechi narrowed his eyes at Fuuka. "Yes, it did gradually turn into a voice, though it was still more of a buzz at this point. It felt like it was telling me to come here. How did you know?"
"So, it could be the same case as Moriyama," Mitsuru said, "or it could be similar to Yamagishi's case before awakening to a Persona."
"It's definitely the same as Fuuka," Ren answered while side-eyeing Akechi, all eyes on him. "Moriyama-san was more like a broken robot, only moving forward and muttering the same phrase over and over. Akechi is in complete control over himself."
Akechi sneered. "Oh? Glad to see you have so much faith in me that I won't be a bumbling fool."
"Either way," Akihiko interjected, "whether or not he has a Persona, this area is too dangerous for a civilian. We need to-"
Akechi and Ren's heads snapped back to the door. From beyond the door, they heard footsteps.
"Well done," Takaya said, claps echoing throughout the bunker. "To think you'd find it even underground; I must congratulate you on that."
The rest of SEES whirled around, now facing two figures standing right at the bunker's entrance.
Ren grit his teeth. It was a tough spot to be in, a Full Moon Shadow on the back and Strega in the front. Either of those would require all of SEES's power to fight, and he wasn't even sure if Strega was at the same level he fought them last.
"Who are these guys?!" Fuuka screamed. "Lucia didn't sense a thing 'til now!"
"This is the first time we've met in person," Takaya said with a smile. "My name is Takaya. This," he pointed to his partner, "is Jin.
"We are known to some as Strega. We've been keeping an eye on you. From what we hear, you've undertaken a 'righteous' battle to save the world. But we've come here tonight to put an end to that dream."
"What?!" Akihiko asked with a scowl.
"You've gained new allies, yet this land still crawls with sin. Tartarus is towering as beautifully as always!" Takaya said, a smirk resting on his face.
"Why are you doing this?" Kotone asked. "Don't you want this to end? For everything to go back to normal?"
"Simple, kid," Jin answered. "If the Shadows and the Dark Hour disappear, then so will our power. We can't let that happen now, can we?"
"Power...?" Mitsuru muttered before glaring at Strega. "Don't tell me you're Persona-users as well!"
Jin grinned. "Applause for the Kirijo-bitch. But is that all you got from Takaya?"
"Why don't you use that pretty little head of yours for a change?" Takaya sighed out. "Only a select few wield the power of a Persona, and the Dark Hour is a frontier that is ours alone to explore... Just like the Tower of Demise."
"That's your reason?! Are you crazy?" Yukari yelled. "There's no telling what will happen if we don't do something about the Shadows!"
"What difference does it make?" Takaya asked with a scowl. "There will always be disasters, whether they are caused by Shadows or arise from human folly. No one can predict the future, anyway. However, that is all beside the point. Surely, you will acknowledge the sense of significance the Dark Hour has given you."
"Not at all!" Kotone denied. "It's only given us a lot of problems. We'd rather stop this as soon as we can!"
Takaya tilted his head, as if confused by her response. "Is that so? How about the rest of you? Do you also wish to return to your pathetic, ordinary lives?"
"Huh?" Junpei asked, dumbfounded.
"Oh? And what right do you have to call our lives pathetic?" Akechi asked, his face set with a scowl as he stepped forward to the front of the group. "You have no right to call my life pathetic; only I do. Or are you perhaps projecting your ideals on us?"
"What?" Takaya asked with a growl.
"Oh?" Akechi smirked. "Did I hit where it hurts? Let me piece it for you: is your life so worthless that you must put down others to make yourselves feel better? Don't get mad at us for that; it's not our fault, is it?"
"Why you!" Jin snarled. "You don't know what we went through to get here!"
Akechi sneered. "Quite the hypocrite, aren't you? If that's the case, then you have no right to judge our lives when you don't know us and what we've gone through."
"Us? Hypocrites?" Jin muttered.
"While Akechi was a bit much," Ren interjected, stepping forward to Akechi's right, "he's right; our lives are only worth what we give and do with it. It's fulfilling if we make it so."
"That doesn't matter what you think..." Takaya said. "We've come here to put a stop to you and your goals."
His body lurched forward, held his head with both his hands, and screamed. Red energy surrounded him as a dark angel with wings made of nerves came to reality. The wind picked up and pushed towards SEES.
"A Persona?!" Mitsuru yelled, squinting to keep an eye on the Persona despite the wind.
"Screw this," Akechi muttered, reaching for the gun on Ren's left thigh, and aimed it at Takaya, his finger on the trigger.
"Akechi, wait! It's not-!" Ren called, trying to tell Akechi that it wasn't the right gun.
Akechi pulled the trigger.
But nothing happened.
"What?!"
Takaya's Persona summoned green wind around it, engulfing the entire room. Ren heard something screech. His eyes widened as he saw the heavy bunker doors move.
"They're planning to close us in!" he yelled.
The last thing Ren saw was Takaya's sadistic smile as the doors slammed shut.
The winds finally died down and everyone staggered forward. However, instead of falling down, Ren took his gun from Akechi's hands.
"So, it seems cognition has no sway here. Why do you still have a toy then, Amamiya?" Akechi asked with a glower.
"What was that, Akechi?" Ren growled. "Why were you trying to kill him?"
"Oh, please," Akechi said with a huff, "you were okay with it when we fought Maruki. How is this any different?"
"He wouldn't have died from it!"
"You two actually had a gun?" Kotone asked, rising from the ground.
"Um...everyone?" Fuuka nervously said.
"And you pointed it at someone?!" Yukari asked.
"I told you they were Yakuza! They even planned on killing someone!" Junpei yelled.
"Something's coming!" Fuuka shouted, finally taking everyone's attention. "Lucia detected something is coming towards us now. I think it's the Full Moon Shadow."
"She's right," Akechi said. "Something's quickly approaching us."
"How do you... A navigation-type Persona?" Mitsuru asked.
"Right now, it doesn't matter!" Kotone ordered, slamming her naginata's butt to the ground. "We've got a Shadow incoming and a civilian with us. Aigis, can you try to open the door? We need to get Akechi-san out of here."
Aigis nodded and bounded towards the other side. She began prodding the door for some sort of grip before stopping. "With nothing to hold on to, I can't open the door. If it opened the other way, it would be easier, but it opens towards us."
"Does anyone smell that?" Ren asked, sniffing around the room. It was something sickeningly sweet, but he couldn't find what it was or where it came from.
"Don't inhale it!" Fuuka yelled. "It's poison, and it's coming from the pipes!"
Ren immediately breathed out all the air he inhaled and jumped away from the walls, where the pipes were. With his back towards SEES, he used Third Eye, seeing the gas of poison seeping in through the pipes.
Akechi scoffed. "I suppose their pride must be hurt."
"Akechi, this is no time for that. Just try to stay out of the way," Ren said, finally seeing the poison without using Third Eye because it was getting denser. "Kotone, I'll take care of the poison; just focus on fighting the Shadow!"
"How are you going to do that?" Kotone asked.
"I have some side projects I want to show," he said with a smirk, taking a small bomb from inside his school jacket. He threw a couple towards the poison, landing just in front of it, and the bombs exploded. Wind erupted, pushing the poison away from the center and towards the walls. "I don't have a lot, though, so you need to make it quick!"
"Where did you-?!" Kotone tried to ask, but the room began rumbling and everyone heard something coming from the deep end of the bunker. "Alright, fine! When we're done with this, you have a lot to explain, young man! Everyone else, we're getting that Shadow fast!"
-.-
Everything damn hurt.
That first attack from those Strega guys was apparently Garu-based, so his own ass got whooped and sent him to the ground. After that, poison was coming into the room, and, apparently, Ren's friend (definitely his blood brother; it felt so good to be right) said that it's probably poison. But, it turned out Ren had this new toy that's throwing Garu at the poison to keep it in a corner of the room. That meant that he had more time to shine, right?
Nope. That Strega attack took way too much from him and he now regretted not taking up Akihiko-senpai's training regime before. He was out of breath; he was dead tired. He was missing everything. He couldn't even hit the tank part of the Shadow (apparently, they were fighting two Shadows today, so it was the tank Shadow, not the tank part).
It wouldn't suck so much if that was all it was. Aigis was a robot, so her running around the Shadows was something he was ready for. Ren made weird toys out of nowhere, so that was something he wasn't surprised about.
No, what really surprised him was how good Ren's friend was with running and shooting, just like Ren. The guy was apparently just standing there in the beginning, doing nothing, since Ren told him to. That didn't stop him from telling Ren what to do with some snippy thing.
"Behind you, Amamiya."
"To your left."
"Might want to step back there."
(Should he do that at Ren? He was definitely getting pissed at that.)
The Shadow apparently noticed that someone wasn't fighting back, so it targeted him. Ren and his friend noticed, so they started dodging, and they both moved like they've done this before. Soon after that, the guy seemed pretty pissed, so he took Ren's gun (his actual one this time) and shot at the Shadows. It really pissed him how good that guy was at it. He even clipped the wings of the flying Shadow, bringing it to the ground.
Kotone, Akihiko-senpai, and he piled on that Shadow real quick.
(It turned out that the Shadows could revive each other, so it turned out his contribution did nothing.)
Then, out of nowhere, Aragaki-senpai barged in through the door and helped clean house before he could do anything else. Apparently, it was lucky that he came since Ren ran out of those things he used.
Still...
How no one believed him when he said Ren was Yakuza.
How Strega is right about his life being pathetic and ordinary.
How much better Ren's friend is than him, who trained for this. He didn't even have a Persona!
How useless he feels the entire time he fought the Shadows tonight.
How everything just feels so damn draining.
So, when he did it, he just felt…
-.-
Kotone almost heaved, especially from the physical workout she just had. Volleyball with Rio was hard, but Rio at least knew about limits.
These Shadows didn't. No matter how many times they knocked down one, the other would just revive it. While they picked up on that and planned accordingly, the Shadows had some intelligence in how they fought. If one of them was close to death, it would body block their attacks while the other would immediately revive it.
Tonight was probably the worst one yet. Not even the embarrassment she felt during the Lovers Operation was this bad...
Well, maybe that was a lie. It was embarrassing enough that she couldn't keep a straight look at Ren for a while after that.
Still, tonight was exhausting. Ren didn't have enough in stock and the poison began pushing into the room. They were lucky that Shinjiro-senpai came to give a hand before the situation got worse. He even opened the bunker doors, so they weren't in danger from the poison anymore. With the second wind, everyone managed to defeat the Shadows quickly before they could revive each other.
To think that Shinjiro-senpai came to help... He even kept his Evoker when everyone said he left.
However, that's not important.
Kotone looked around with a sigh. Everyone else looked just like her: sweating, doubled over, and grasping at air they could get.
Junpei, on the other hand, seemed to have the worst of it. His eyes seemed out of it, as if he wasn't focusing on anything.
"Hey, Junpei, are you okay?" she asked, but Junpei ignored her. She reached out to him, hoping that maybe he was too tired that he wasn't listening to anyone.
Before she could tap him, however, he slapped her hand away; the noise echoed across the bunker and taking everyone's attention.
"Junpei," Yukari growled, "what the hell was that?"
"I'm fine," Junpei said. "I don't need anyone's help!"
"That doesn't mean you can just slap her away! She was just making sure you were okay."
"I don't need her pity! I don't need anyone's pity!"
Kotone stared at Junpei. This... This wasn't right.
"What's wrong, Junpei? You were never like this before," she said.
Junpei scoffed, as if in disbelief at what she just said. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you?!" he yelled. "You're asking what's wrong with me when we have two criminals with us? Ren and the guy with him are from Yakuza! They held a gun and pointed it at someone! Why are you all okay with this?! They even tried to kill someone!"
"Junpei, you need to calm down," Ren said, hurrying over to Junpei.
"Oh, shut up, Ren!" Junpei yelled, turning to him. "You don't just get to pretend to be a good guy when you're a criminal!"
"Stop this, Junpei!" Kotone said, grabbing his arm. "We haven't even heard his-"
"You shut up too, Kotone," Junpei said and swatted her hand away again. "It's so easy to see you play favorites. I guess it's fine for a criminal to be around us so long as you like him, huh? What a great leader we have!"
Kotone stared at Junpei, unbelieving of what he just accused her of.
"I'm playing favorites?" she said as she pointed to herself. "Why would I play favorites? I've done everything to make sure that I spend time with everyone!"
Junpei groaned. "Oh, come on! Ever since the trip, you're always worrying about him when he can take care of himself! If anything, he's a criminal! No one needs to worry about him!"
A slap cracked across the room, stunning everyone. Kotone stared at Junpei, his head slightly tilted away and his cheek reddening.
"I am the leader of SEES, and because of that position, it is my job to worry about the team," she said calmly, but she could hear her voice almost cracking. "It's hard, you know? I don't enjoy being the leader, for everyone to depend on me. One wrong call and someone could get hurt. Every time I say something, I feel like I'm on thin ice. Still, I do my best to be a leader, even if I'm not used to it. It doesn't look like it, but I do." A breath and her grip on her naginata tightened. "And he's not the only person who I worry about; I worry about you, too. I even listened to your problems last time we went out after classes, so don't say I'm playing favorites. So, just like last time, we're going to hear Ren's problems, his side of the story. We can't go around accusing everyone as criminals just because it suits you. You will tell us, right, Ren?" she asked, glancing at Ren.
Ren simply nodded.
Kotone turned towards Mitsuru, feeling that, if she kept looking at Junpei, she might lose control of herself.
"Senpai, may I go on my own? I need some fresh air."
Mitsuru stared at Kotone for a moment and nodded. Kotone left the bunker without another word.
It began with a slow walk, then turned to a brisk walk. It grew into a jog, faster and faster, until she ran as fast as she could with her weapon in hand.
She had no destination, only to get away from that place.
It frustrated her how she acted back there. She'd have to say sorry for the outburst, no matter how wrong that felt.
Why? Why did she do that? It was out of the norm for her. She did nothing to break the normal before.
But...
It frustrated her, him implying she wasn't doing her best. She did her best, from spending so much time with others to strengthen her Personas, working multiple jobs, keeping up with classwork, and then doing Dark Hour operations. She put on so much make-up to mask the eye bags on the worst days.
It frustrated her that, despite spending so much time with Junpei, there was some underlying feeling that he still didn't approve of her being leader. He complained about her, a girl, becoming the field leader before, but she thought he outgrew that. She thought they buried that before going to Yakushima, but it turned out it never really happened.
It frustrated her that Junpei accused Ren of being a criminal. What made it worse was, despite everything he did, that he might be right, and that angered her.
And, for some reason, it hurt that Ren could be a criminal, that he did something terrible, that he was on the run. Was everything he did, every word he said, a lie? What was real and what wasn't?
They should have been close to each other. Was she wrong?
Was there anything real-
"Well, well," a voice said in a smug tone. "Alone in the middle of the night, are we? Who are we to miss this meal on a silver platter?"
Her hand immediately reached for Evoker.
"Kill her, Hypnos!" Takaya screamed.
The wind slammed her into a building, and her Evoker spun out of her hand. She looked up from where the attack came from and there stood Takaya, who wore a giant smirk, and Jin with his intense gaze.
She swiped sweat off her-
It was warm. She glanced at her hand and all she saw was red.
"Die, girl."
Lightning quickly shot forward, and Kotone rolled to the side, dropping her naginata and grabbed her Evoker. They outnumbered her while she was injured. She needed to be as agile as she could be; the naginata would only slow her down.
"Like I'd let you use that!" Jin yelled, and she heard a glass crack.
She threw a glance at Jin and what should have been impossible.
An Evoker was in his hand.
"Burn her to ashes, Moros!"
The surrounding air heated up as a circle of red and orange surrounded her.
She shot her Evoker and Queen Mab summoned ice all around her.
The ice quickly melted, but at least the attack did not burn her at all. Unfortunately, a migraine flared up, a sure sign she was too tired to summon a Persona again. She could only heave as the two Personas approached her.
"I suppose I could call that a valiant performance, no matter how futile it was," Takaya said. "Still, you will die now. Considering your strange power to wield multiple Personas, your death shall be a gigantic blow to your group of friends."
His Persona rose behind him, and a gigantic ball of fire appeared above its wings.
"Die."
'Ah, so this is it,' she thought. The fireball rapidly closed in, forcing her to close her eyes from the brightness.
All she heard was a slam, and darkness surrounded her.
...
...
Was death supposed to feel this...warm?
"Sorry to crash the party," a familiar voice said, "but don't you think it's a tad unfair? You outnumber her."
'Huh?'
Kotone opened her eyes, and there was another impossibility in front of her. A metallic dragon towered above her and, between her and Strega, Ren stood in his Tartarus outfit, his tailcoat bellowing behind him.
He glanced back at her and smirked. "Sorry, princess, but you'll have to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. I'll clean this mess up quickly."
-.-Take Your Time-.-
Author's Notes:
Hello again. It's been two months since the last update, and it's been pretty busy. I'm now officially out of training and working in a team. That also means overtime, so yay. That said, this isn't the only reason I fell behind the schedule I mentioned last time (Late Feb – Early March).
With a beefier PC, I got suckered to Valorant, entering two friendlies-tournaments, and Master Duel. There's also Pokemon: Legends of Arceus. I'm seriously glad that the game did my favorite Pokemon justice. The fight is glorious and I've been watching just about everyone's reactions to that fight. No spoilers for the others in the comments, please.
That said, this chapter is not the only chapter I've got today. Today, I'm also releasing a one-shot of P4. It's somewhat connected to this fic's universe. I'll put that in the summary as well. For those in AO3, this will be in a collection starting from now on.
On to the fic itself.
I think I like this snarky Akechi I've got. He's basically done with everything, but he won't pass the opportunity to slightly antagonize Ren. Outside of that, His interaction with Strega highlights that he doesn't regret killing people and he won't let anyone tell him he lived a shitty life.
There's also Junpei becoming more hostile. I set him up such that he's more ribbing at the beginning, getting more and more angry that no one is taking him seriously. So, in a moment of weakness, after a fight he felt he didn't contribute in, after a fight that drained him of everything, he's no longer thinking straight. And so…
And then there's Kotone. Junpei has always had this slightly antagonistic side against Kotone in the beginning (he commented she was a girl when she was picked as team lead, implying that a girl couldn't lead). And now, Junpei questions her ability to lead again, this time on Ren. On top of that, no one really knows how hard Kotone works with trying to be leader while keeping up with school. Of course, that's not the only thing. I've tried my best to make Ren this rock in the team: someone dependable, always willing to listen. If she's out there listening to people (seriously, that's basically an SL event), no one's out there listening to her. The beach scene in Ch15 was Kotone in one of her more defenseless moments and Ren was there for her. Ch16 had Kotone share her own troubles about bullies, something she never disclosed before. So, without knowing, Ren became an important person to her. So, when Junpei puts out that Ren might be a criminal AND Akechi is out here putting some sus things, Kotone's wondering if the Ren she learned about is the real Ren. She's also dead tired, fighting two Arcana Shadows at once, almost losing until Shinjiro bailed them out. Unfortunately, she vented that anger and doubt on that slap.
Also, this is early, but happy anniversary! March 24, 2021 was when I began this fic and I'm pretty proud that I've been writing for that long. I'm not actually sure what to do for this fic's bday. I can't write a chapter in a week...
And that's it from me. I'll try to get another chapter out in 2 months (I don't see anything that will catch my attention in the near future), but no promises.