Seeing such an ethereal beauty wasn't good for Yu's health. What if he died from a burst heart, a sickness of the blood? She was much like the fairies she danced as in her ballets. He almost regretted the fact she was here while his parents were in England. Maybe they could've seen one of her shows and wrote to him about it.

What wasn't good was the confirmation they all saw her. She was going to be kidnapped one way or another, so all they could do was continuously watch the tofu shop until whoever did this made some sort of move.

And it was boring.

"We've been walking around in a circle for an hour! Don't ya think someone will get suspicious from it?" Kanji eventually stopped and looked at the group.

"We have to keep going to keep an eye on people! The second we stop, the murderer might make their move!" Yosuke shook his head.

Yu sighed. "I hate to admit it, but this is getting us nowhere. We look silly. Maybe we should take a break and do something else. Why don't we get something to eat?"

The two girls, who were sitting on the steps of the shop, both immediately jumped up at that, nodding.

"Yeah, I want snacks! Let's get them from somewhere other than Junes." Chie said.

"Why don't we try the Chinese restaurant here? Or that quaint little place owned by that old lady?" Yukiko suggested.

"What does she even sell there?" Yosuke asked.

"All kinds of things! Mostly little decorations. She has the cutest little netsuke, inro, and ojime sets! I can't wear them, but they're still pretty to look at! Father wears one with his fall kimono that's shaped like a little hare." She gushed.

"I don't think that'll be helpful to us."

As they talked, Adachi wandered over, nervously tipping his hat at them. "Oh, what are you all doing here?" He asked.

"Scoping out the scene!" Yosuke said instantly. Yu nudged him.

"You can't just announce that!"

"Come on, I'm one of the good guys! Just your typical detective, Adachi-san." He bowed his hat at them again. "It's been painfully boring around here today, so mind if I just hang around here too? I'm sure whatever you're doing will be done faster with more eyes on the job."

"If you want," Chie shrugged.

"Look up there!" Yukiko shouted suddenly, pointing up at one of the lantern poles hanging above them. Yu looked up and saw a man trying desperately to climb up it, slowly sliding down due to the waxy material. "Who's that?"

"Does it matter?! Let's get him!" Kanji yelled. The guy fell off the pole and stumbled to his feet, running as fast as he could. Kanji and Chie caught up to him first, an impressive feat because she was restricted by her kimono. Yu and Yosuke got stuck almost tripping over a delivery man on a bike who was pedaling so breakneck he didn't see them either until he turned the corner. Yukiko showed up last simply because she was just walking rapidly.

"So you've been killing all of these people!" Chie challenged, holding up her fists. "I knew the murderer was going to be some kind of pervert!"

"Just put your hands up and we won't have an issue." Adachi said seriously, pointing at the man.

"Why?! I didn't even do anything wrong! I just wanted to see into the bedroom of The Blooming Rose! She's so illustrious you know?!" The man panicked, holding out his hands. "I wasn't doing anything wrong!"

"You were still murdering people!" Kanji shouted. "Pretty sure that's a crime!"

Adachi ran behind him and tied his hands together tightly, holding them behind his back. "We'll let the department be the judge of that!" He smiled at the group. "And thank you for noticing him! Now we can finally make progress with this case!"

"Oh, we should go tell Rise-san!" Yosuke suggested. "She has nothing to fear now!"

"We solved the case!" Chie cheered.

Yu was happy for the others, but if the case was truly solved, what then? He supposed he could just make himself busy with his kindergarten job, and the extra classes at school he has, playing soccer and being in band. What of the others though? Would they still make time to hang around, or would they go back to their own lives? Would Yukiko and Kanji go back to being barely visible relics in their homes when they were just starting to open up to others?

"Not here?" Yosuke announced, shocking Yu out of his thoughts. "She was literally just here though!"

"Well, sometimes she just likes to go out wandering. She has a lot on her mind, you know? She's more thoughtful than people think." Her grandmother explained, her head poking out of the doorway. "Was there something else you needed? I'm sure she'll be back soon."

The others looked at each other in a panic, running off in different directions the second her grandmother went back inside. Yu took to asking several old people he saw wandering around, thinking she'd be noticeable to them, but they all shook their heads in response. The group ran back after several minutes.

"Nobody knows where she went!" Chie worried. "What should we do?!"

"Not even her neighbors saw her." Yukiko added sadly.

"But we found the guy who did this!" Yosuke said. "There's no way she got kidnapped!"

"Well, it rains tonight, yeah? We just gotta check the pictures." Kanji reminded them. Yu sighed.

He didn't want to see whatever grotesque visage Rise would turn into, what troubling secrets she'd be forced to lay bare, not her, but he also knew he didn't have much of a choice.

Dinner was quick and fine, something Yu just wanted to get over with. He paced the room and once he was sure Nanako went to bed, he headed back into the living room and pulled apart the colored tabloids, finding what he was looking for and holding his breath.

Rise was indeed there, colored differently from the others. Yukiko and Kanji looked more traditional, the flat colors used in woodblock art, while Rise seemed more vibrant, colors that popped. Colors that looked more comfortable being placed on those posters Yosuke showed them.

Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail with a single curl that perched on her shoulder lazily. Her outfit was a tight pale pink bodice with a frilled white off-shoulder design and a matching skirt that just barely covered her knees, showing off her long legs. No stockings or shoes, just completely barefoot. She stood perfectly on her toes, holding out her skirt like she was about to flash the readers. She had a giant speech bubble that covered the random thoughts that otherwise littered her body, particularly on her legs, cleavage, and covered crotch.

"I bet you'd love to see what ballerinas have under their skirts, right? I'll only ask for one necklace in return this time! Oooooh, you want my top to come off too?! Sly, that's a pair of earrings then! You're so naughty! You love us young girls, don't you?"

Yu only briefly read the comments, finding what Rise was saying unsettling enough.

"They dance and sing so well! Hey, have you ever taken a ballerina mistress yet? They're all the rage!"

"She looks like an angel, her feet don't even hit the ground when she dances! But can she suck it like an angel? I should corrupt her,"

"I want a quickie with her behind the curtain. Just lift the skirt up and stick my dick inside. They don't wear pantalettes! Easy enough!"

What's happened to her? She really had sex with people for money?! Isn't that like, prostitution?! Yosuke wondered.

Well, she is a Western dancer. Maybe that's part of their act, Yukiko suggested. But, maybe not. The Westerners who visit the inn are prudes. Even the idea of the hot springs weirds them out!

What sucks is we tried to warn her but this still happened! Yu said. We couldn't remain one step ahead. Even Adachi-san was useless.

That's why you can't trust the new government! Kanji said, like he was imparting some great wisdom. They all agreed they'd head there first thing in the morning and Yu laid down to try and get as much sleep as he could.

After eating breakfast, Yu headed to Junes and jumped into the camera with everyone else, finding Raccoon sitting in the corner hiding his face, making sounds and motions like he was sobbing.

"Are you okay?" Chie asked.

"You guys left me here all alone and you never visited…I've been so lonely here! All I can do is think, but thinking makes me sad because I don't understand anything. So then I try to cry, but I can't even cry! I don't think a yokai can shed tears. I thought I was useful to you all, but now I feel I'm starting to lose my spark!" He cried.

"Maybe you're just stressed from thinking. And of course you can't cry, you're an animal!" Yosuke said.

"I am not! You're an animal!" Raccoon snapped back.

"Isn't this your own world? Can't you control whatever in here?!"

"I don't know," He rubbed his eyes. "I think I can sense someone, but only vaguely."

Yukiko and Chie walked over and gently rubbed his stomach to cheer him up. He smiled at them.

"Can I give you guys the gold now?"

"Sure," Chie teased.

"I wish you'd stop bringing that up." Yukiko sighed with a frown.

"It sounds like we're going to have to find a clue to learn more about Risette. We get to ask people about her!" Yosuke perked up.

"I'm sure that just breaks your heart." Chie huffed.

The group split up again once they left the camera, running around town looking for information. Yu headed down to the river and saw a man wandering around with a big bag on his back and went over to him.

"Can I help you?" The man questioned.

"What's in your bag?"

"Oh, nothing suspicious. It's a camera, see, and some notebooks." He motioned to one of the tripod legs sticking out. "I do reports on celebrities."

"Do you know anything about Kujikawa-san?" He instantly asked. The man's lips curled up.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Maybe you should tell me something interesting about her before I spill mine."

Something interesting? What did he know about Rise that nobody else didn't? Aside from the fact she looked tired, and Yosuke insisted she was nothing like in her posters….would that work? Yu said that, hoping it would.

"Yes, I think most have noticed that. Kujikawa builds herself up as being a perfect being, but the few who get close to her notice she's completely different from that image. I think she's just suffering from the two identities fighting with each other. Isn't that just how it goes?" He said.

"So you're saying that's just a persona of hers?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Anything else I can help you with? Then leave, I don't have the time to deal with you."

Yu didn't understand the rudeness of the man, but it hardly mattered. They had information for Raccoon! He called everyone back using the mind communication and said they should spend the day inside the Other Realm, looking for Rise. The four agreed, nodding.

"Let's do this!" Yosuke announced before they all jumped into the camera.

First things first, they had to check in with Raccoon.

"Oh! Did you get information for me? I can tell you did!" He greeted cheerfully. "Oh, so she's like me, hm? A gentle and thoughtful type!" He paused and sniffed the air. "I think I have something! Follow me!"

They ran after him, running through the yellow halls until they ended up in a dark hallway, red oil lanterns barely lighting up the way. The scent of flowers and opium tickled their nostrils, and sheets and veils were hung up everywhere, sheer with the images of stars.

"It's so dark in here…" Chie said.

"Hey, isn't this a brothel?" Kanji asked.

"So she is a prostitute?!" Yosuke gasped. Yu facepalmed.

"Even with the glasses, it's hard to see in here." Yukiko sighed.

"Let's get to it!" Yu tried to encourage them, and they nodded and posed with their weapons. Or what they thought counted as weapons.

If somehow, Yu got to retell these events to someone else, he knew the one detail he would always skip would be how the battles went. Even when they were fine, they were just too monotonous and numerous to recount. Nothing interesting happened, like last time when Yukiko used her vomit to destroy a monster. Yosuke almost broke his wrist after landing poorly and Chie tried to convince him to take the morphine they had in a bottle, but he declined because he thought it would dull his mind too much.

"Well yeah, that's the point of medicine!" She insisted.

"Numb pain?"

"Yeah!"

"What if you're having diarrhea or something? You're still expected to take something to numb your mind?"

"Why would you want the memory of diarrhea?"

"Besides, this air is filled with opium. If I take that, it'll knock me out!"

That was the most interesting conversation that happened, and it was made better by Kanji getting fed-up with their back-and-forth and saying the smell of morphine made him sick because that's what hospitals smell like, and that he'd never take any of that stuff for as long as he lived, herbs were all he needed. Finally Yukiko somehow got them to focus by reminding them they had more important things to worry about.

The halls were pink and showed off posters of gorgeous girls, primarily Rise in short versions of famous ballet and opera clothes. A sultry voice sung from somewhere high above them.

Yu pulled aside one curtain and found Rise standing there in the glow of the lights, wearing her dress. It was a pure white and lacy and her hair rested on her shoulder.

"Oh my, there you are! You all are super excited to get a taste of me! I promise I'll service you all and give you a private show, as long as you make me the star! I want to play a main role!" She stood up on her tiptoes and spun around gracefully, posing with one leg in the air. "I hope you got to see that I'm not wearing anything! Not pantalettes, not a corset, or my shift! I'm bare under here! How scandalous! Just like my skirt!" She gently placed both feet on the ground and ran off, leaving the group to stand there.

"Don't tell me I was like that too…it's too much." Kanji lamented.

Loud applause sounded from around them.

"If people are truly reading this and checking in…we have to do something now! Let's save her!" Chie said, and the group nodded and kept running.

After a few more battles, they finally reached a long blue curtain made from silk, patterned with golden stars. Yu slipped through it and found a small stage area with seats in there, gold and red. On the stage was a trembling Rise, still dressed in her green waitress kimono, and glaring down at her was her Shadow.

"Everyone is here! Now everyone can truly watch me expose everything!" Shadow Rise laughed.

"Stop…" Rise pleaded weakly.

"Why? You like this, don't you? You want to be like this!" She twirled around the stage. Her voice was incredibly high and childish. She was wearing stockings and shoes, unlike before. "You like it when people touch you, you like the nice presents they give you!"

"No I don't…stop!"

Shadow Rise laughed again, lifting her skirt up before dancing away. "You want me to stop? Ha! I can't! Don't you realize I'm you? This is who I truly am!" She bent over and let her skirt fall over her knees, slowly untying her slipper. "I'm the true Rise, not you! I'm tired of being a cliche! I'm always stuck in the same roles. Be an ethereal spirit! Be a gorgeous fairy! Be the helpless girl-child! Be the saucy young girl! In fact, be only that! Be the seductive and witty girl that gets the men going! That's all they want from me and that's not me!" She threw her slipper into the air. "You're not Rise, or a lark, or a rose! You're me!"

Rise very slowly stood up, wobbling.

"And now, it's time for my striptease!"

"S-Stop it! You're not me!" Rise shouted. The room froze at those words, while Shadow Rise cackled meanly.

"Of course I am! And I'm going to show you why!" She spun around at a dizzying speed until she became a flurry of colors on her skin with a thick veil shielding her face from view. She loomed over them and curtsied with her skirt. "Let's go! If I win, you die, but you'll still get to look up my skirt!"

Rise collapsed at that moment, though shockingly didn't pass out. Yosuke hurried over to her.

"Please tell me I wasn't like this…" Kanji grumbled. "It's creepy."

"Let's go!" Yu said, and the trio got ready, posing again. She was much too big to properly attack with their weapons, so they summoned their Personas, Yu sighing at the splitting headache he was already getting.

"Take this!" Chie kicked her leg and sent out a flurry of ice while Yukiko shot out flames from her Persona. The first attack barely hit, but she dodged the second one entirely.

"My! Are you even trying?" She squeezed her breasts together and shoved her hand into her crotch, moaning. A wave of ice blasted from her chest, knocking them down. "I forgot to mention. I know all your weaknesses! So how will you fight me?"

"For real?!" Chie yelled. "How do we fight her then?!"

"Can…can we even do it?" Yukiko hung her head.

They kept firing their elemental attacks at her, but none worked. Even Yu trying to sneak up behind her failed and she flicked him out of the sky like a bug. They laid in a broken pile together.

"You guys!" Raccoon cried, covering his mouth. "Don't tell me this is the end! I don't want you to die!"

"Well, we might. She's tough." Kanji groaned.

"No! You can't die! I don't want to be alone again!"

"Now I'll finally be rid of you for good! Here comes my final attack!" Shadow Rise pulled up her skirt.

"No! I won't let you!" Raccoon ran in front of them and yelled, surrounding himself in a bright fiery light and knocking her to the ground. At least, that's what Yu assumed happened. His head was down and everything happened so quickly, but he thinks that's right.

Shadow Rise returned to her regular appearance, collapsed on the ground. When the dust cleared for Racoon, he was a tiny raccoon-dog with a little hat to show who he was.

"Are you okay?!" Yukiko asked.

"I…I think so…" Raccoon trembled. "Did….did I do it?"

"Yeah, you did." Yosuke smiled. "But you're different now."

"Eh?! But I liked my old body! I was so big and soft!"

Rise very slowly opened her eyes and rubbed at her temples, trembling. "Is it over? What happened?" She croaked out. "I didn't want to cause trouble for anyone…." She carefully stood up and held out her hand to her Shadow. "And I'm sorry for causing you pain. I refused to admit you were there. I was trying to discover who I truly was, but…I think I went about it the wrong way. You, me, Risette, everyone else…they're all a part of me. I don't have a true self."

Shadow Rise smiled and the two held each other's hands, twirling around together until her Shadow fused into her body and transformed her. Rise's Persona was a tall featureless figure in a long white dress completely buttoned-up with a veil on her head, pulled away from her face. Goggles for the opera were held in her hands, but the most striking feature were the four-parted gossamer white wings that unfurled from her back, which Rise stared at in wonder.

"I…I can fly…? Himiko and I can…fly?" She very slowly lifted herself off the ground with a dainty jump, fluttering them and gasping at how easily she could hover. She flew from one end of the room to the other, finally settling back on the stage. "I really can fly….." Rise smiled at them. "You're the guys who came to the store the other day, weren't you?"

Yu nodded. "I wish we could've done more."

"You've been plenty of help!"

"We need to get you back-" Chie started to talk, only to be interrupted by Raccoon mumbling worriedly to himself.

"There's…no real me? No true me? I'm…not real…?" He fussed.

"Raccoon-kun…" Kanji worried.

"Guys, get back! I sense really strong energy!" Rise warned in a serious tone.

"There is no real you? Foolish." A deep voice cackled, and out from the shadows formed a Raccoon who looked just like theirs except with vivid yellow eyes. "You are correct in that aspect. There is nothing to you. There's no truth, nothing, everything is hidden in a murky fog. Even when you try to reach for it, it's useless."

"Is that his Shadow?" Yosuke asked.

Rise nodded. "Yes, but…I feel another presence. Something darker and with more power."

"You're just using big words because you know I'm not that smart!" Raccoon protested. "That's not fair! I'll have you know I've been thinking really hard! Hard about all kinds of things!"

"And that's the point. You deny who you are because you know that deep down, you can't accept the truth. The truth that you're nothing but empty and hollow." Shadow Raccoon continued.

"Shut up!" He charged at the Shadow, but got kicked away unceremoniously.

"Raccoon-san!" Yukiko cried.

"The same goes for you too. You suffer from pain because you constantly seek the truth, even when there is no truth to be found. Why meander pointlessly like this? Why waste time when you don't know what you're looking for?" Shadow Raccoon turned his eyes to them.

"The truth always exists!" Yu said, ignoring the shivers going down his spine at its voice.

"I can't understand your determination to suffer, but if that's what you want, then I'll grant you one truth. You all will die here in your pursuit of the truth!"

"How can we fight without Raccoon's guidance?" Chie said.

"I can help! Let me return the favor and rescue you now!" Rise pulled the opera goggles onto her face. "So let's go!"

The floor broke around them and the Shadow transformed into a giant monster, crawling out of the resulting hole in the floor. He had long claws and his clothing was torn, his hat completely gone, with two blue-violet eyes floating in the middle of his face, unfocused on anything.

"I will give you the truth you claim to hold so dear…you will die here. Accept your end with grace and dignity!" His voice turned into a deep growl.

"I can't believe such a creepy thing was inside Raccoon…" Chie pouted before she spun around on her toes, releasing a spray of ice from around her waist and hitting Shadow Racoon right in the face. Kanji pounded his fists together and struck it with lightning. Yukiko fanned herself before unleashing a wave of fire onto the monster.

"Why do you keep resisting? Even if you win, you won't like what you discover."

Yosuke punched the air and sent a force of wind out, knocking Shadow Raccoon to the ground and forcing him back to his normal form.

"We did it!" Rise gasped weakly.

"To think even he had something to hide…" Chie said.

Raccoon turned to face his Shadow, who was looking down at him. "Maybe…you're right. Maybe there really is nothing to me after all. But I still exist here, right?!"

Yu smiled at him in encouragement. "You'll discover who you truly are some day."

"We'll help you!" Yukiko smiled too.

"You guys…I'm so lucky!" Raccoon sobbed. Before their eyes, he transformed into his regular form again, this time surrounded by a golden glow and wearing green and red samurai armor with a long sword at his side. "Kintoki-Douji!"

"A Persona?" Yosuke wondered.

"Well, he faced himself, right? So why wouldn't he have one?" Chie reasoned.

"Yours is so cute…I can sense strong power from it.." Rise suddenly collapsed.

"Are you okay?" Yu hurried over to her side, helping her up. "Your Persona just awakened too, we have to get you outside."

"What about Raccoon?" She asked weakly as they led her to the entrance of the realm.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay here?" Kanji asked. "You took quite a hit."

"Yes! I have to keep working! Hone my powers even more! Become the strongest tanuki you've ever seen!" Raccoon announced.

"We can take Rise-san home," Chie offered before there was a loud growl.

"Sorry…I've been starving ever since I woke up in here…I was about to eat dinner before all this happened…!" Rise just smiled weakly.

Despite everything, they did manage to rescue Rise and made great timing with it too. Once she recovered, she'd be a new member of their team. But would she be able to answer their questions, or just leave them stranded with more? Yu didn't know.

He made dinner for Nanako again that night, looking forward to the unconscious, dreamless sleep he always had after they entered the Other Realm. Whatever that place was couldn't have been good for their bodies, surely. He was in the middle of serving Nanako when drunken voices got carried over from the streets, slamming the door.

"Is someone here?" She wondered.

"Why are the roadsh sho rocky?! I almost tripped thirty times coming home! Are kids just throwing rocks at random now for fun?!" Dojima grumbled in a drunken slur as he was walked into the room by a tired-looking Adachi.

"I think that's the fault of nature, not kids." He sighed. "Oh, can you get your father's cot ready?"

Nanako nodded slowly and ran from the room, leaving Yu to stare in half-hidden disgust at the state of Dojima, completely red in the face and disheveled. How much did he have to drink?!

"He had too much to drink." Adachi said, like it wasn't obvious. Dojima hiccupped.

"How 'lse am I supposed to deal with this?! Stuck-up snotnose, thinking he's better than me! I've…I've been in this line o' work before you were even born!" Dojima shouted.

"Since we haven't made much…or really any progress on the case, we got sent some backup support in the form of a private detective. Isn't that a fancy title? But I was shocked when I met him in person! He's definitely smart, but only your age!" Adachi explained.

"Smart or not, he a brat. All he doesh ish walk 'round like he owns the place and tells everyone their work isn't good. And he dresses like shome kinda homo. All those bright colors. I don't care what he doesh, we ain't got time to babysit little kids." Dojima continued to rant. "Condescending bastards-" He hiccupped again.

"The kid said he'd work on the case for no reward at all. He just wanted to help out. As you can imagine, the higher-ups really liked that and gave him the job."

"Quit talkin' like that! You're still in trouble for bringing in that obsessive fan!" Dojima smacked his back. "And you're in trouble too! You constantly hang around crime scenes like you're looking for trouble!"

"I'm sorry, Uncle Ryotaro." Yu hung his head in embarrassment. They really should try to be less obvious next time.

"I got his bed ready!" Nanako announced.

"Perfect! Come on, you can go to bed!" Adachi tried to nudge Dojima, whose head had fallen forward and started snoring loudly. "Oh boy…"

"It reeks like alcohol in here," Nanako whispered, and Yu nodded.

He went to his room and began composing the letters to his friends and mother. They were long overdue.

-Netsuke, inro, and ojime are all decorative cases used for males in their kimono as they didn't have pockets. Inro were the actual cases while ojime were the buttons keeping them together, and netsuke were decorative models just used to add some personality.

-Concert band was brought over to Japan by the Russians and Ukrainians who were sought out for their fine arts expertise. As a result, most bands from the 1870's-1890's played church songs and other Western pieces.

-Delivery has a long history in Japan, dating back to the 1700's. Bikes made the trips much faster and they were primarily used for delivering food to houses from stores and stalls in town.

-Now we get into the unsettling territory, most of which will be expanded on in Rise's POV. During the 1800's, ballerinas were shamed and worked to the bone. Their costumes were seen as scandalous, and they worked in terrible conditions. Many burned to death due to flammable costumes in halls lit by lanterns and most were used by their patrons as 'mistresses' or hookers. Ballerinas were gifted luxurious gifts and sometimes even roles if they slept with their patrons. That even started drama if a ballerina declined a role or gave away the gifts she was given.

This took way too long to write, serves me right for trying to write another fanfic, update another, and write my original novel all at the same time. On top of reading too, then getting sick, bleh.

Question time! Ever seen a ballet or musical onstage? I've had the absolute privilege of seeing Les Misérables, 1776, and Anastasia because my town has a huge fine arts interest. Anastasia was even a huge event, they bussed people to it. The only ballet I've seen onstage is The Nutcracker in second grade as a school field trip for Christmas but I disliked it because I couldn't see anything because back then I didn't have my glasses.