Yu watched Yosuke leave for the day, for the mall in the neighboring city. Yosuke looked at various shops, his thoughts subdued. He was looking at a small statuette, made of ceramic and with a small amount of weight. It was small enough to fit in the palm in his hands
"Coward." a voice rang out from behind him.
"Hello to you too, Marie," Yosuke said looking up.
"Why are you so scared of facing your shadow?" Marie asked grabbing the trinket from the other's hand.
"It not that."
"It's Yu. the least judgemental person in all of Japan? That's what you're scared of?" Marie scoffed. "Why not go without him?"
"I can't." The suggestion was a nonsolution, to go alone was dangerous and breaking the rule that he himself had created. To break that was a betrayal that he would not even consider.
"Because he takes you all into that world or because he would trail behind you like a kitten."
Yosuke chuckled at him. "And I'm tired of getting my heart and insecurities ripped out and shown to others."
Marie was quiet for a moment. "It's Yu, though. You two might as well be the same person anymore."
"Careful, it's making me wonder what the shadow actually looks like."
"Then go and at least look at it," Marie smirked. "I don't want to deal with a sad and moping Yu."
"You are the only one allowed to mope, is that it?" Yosuke raised an eyebrow.
Marie gave him a cheeky little grin. "I will make no comment on this."
She placed the bobble back into his hand, flickering into the air around them, leaving a static taste to the air, a magic feel that he was still getting used to.
His phone rang. Yosuke looked down to see his old friend Katsuragi from before he moved. The old friend in his new class. A comfort that felt like burn cream in a bullet wound. Could help but not for the issue at hand. He wasn't the same person that left Tokyo.
Yosuke frowned. Between Marie and what seems like him reaching out, maybe it would be better to face this head-on.
Yu was putting things away in his kitchen when his phone rang, a familiar number from someone he never talked to.
"Katsuragi." Yu's voice was even. It wasn't that he hated the man, there was no possibility that he would come between Yu and his partner, but there was an uneasiness about a minor possibility of an attempt. That soft look that Yosuke was too nice to comment on. It didn't matter, not to Yu, it's just when one is wired to read people, it's too easy to see what you don't want to see.
"Hanamura isn't picking up his phone."
"He's working through something, I'll call him; thanks for letting me know," Yu said politely, his false sugary tone filling the air, followed by the sound of a phone hanging up.
Not long after, the front door opened.
"I want to go tonight." Yosuke's voice rang out.
"We can go now, just to be careful," Yu pulled two knives out of the drawer.
"What if you don't like what you see?" Yosuke frowned. "I don't even like it?"
"It's still you. The truth can be harsh but, hey-" Yu grabbed Yu's chin, pulling it to face him, angling it upward. "We are partners, nothing with change that. Nothing short of you deciding the fact is no longer true will change that reality."
"I know." it came out as a whisper. "I just- If I don't get a persona back-"
"Nothing will change the fact that we are partners," Yu repeated.
"Loyal to a fault."
"This isn't loyalty." Yu placed a kiss on Yosuke's forehead. He placed the knives in Yosuke's hands. "Let's do some… venting, as it were."
Their tv was off, as it usually was when they weren't watching it, opting for music as background noise. It was big enough for the two of them to walk in, a big new model, purchased for its size more than the quality of the picture, not that that was bad, those shows looked fine when they watched whatever movie Rise sent them or whatever tv show they managed to catch. Yosuke ran a knuckle over the screen, static building but his hand resting on this side of the glass.
Yu wrapped one hand around the hand laying against the tv, the screen giving way and rippling Yosuke took a breath, pushing foreward until the magic took over and pulled them in, Yu wrapping himself around Yosuke.
The flowers were still in the field, pure white. There was no fog, and it was comforting. Hills went on for miles, an eternity. In the middle of their view was a large cathedral, built from blackened iron. There was stained glass, the picture unable to see from this side, the magic stopping that from happening. The walls were covered in twists like the walls were not solid walls but twisted metal vines that were lined up in rows, splitting for the windows to perch on the branches.
"I think that's for me," Yosuke said, his tone quiet.
"For us, I'm letting you go alone." Yu shook his head, helping Yosuke stand, pulling a small sword out from under his shirt.
"You were ready."
"Always."