Shizuka's soul,?
The four Shizuka's came to me with no intention of holding back. Dodging their first attack was a challenge since they faster than expected. Their punches were like rapiers and their kicks like missiles in their destructive force. Each time I evaded one, another followed up with an attack. When I evaded two of them one of them came from below, rising and hitting from under my chin. The rest followed through with their attacks. They were painful as hell, worse than one attack. The last one body-slammed me to the floor. By the end, my body was hurting all over. Nonetheless, I got back up.
"You still insist on fighting?" "Yeah, I do, and yeah, I can see the gap in our strength. But that won't stop me from saving Shizuka!" I know that these four are stronger together. They're well-coordinated and their attacks are nothing to flinch at. That's why I need to borrow some skills from people I've seen fight with their legs and hands.
"..." Taking a deep breath, I took on a new stance. I eased up on the tension that my body had, relaxing my shoulders and my legs. My fists were balled up my fist as I put them up, my right leg out in front of my left.
"Yeah, this how he does it." The fakes came at me, their attacks were going to collide again. This time, I need to make sure to not let that happen or else. When they honed in, I evaded their attempts to hit me. When I dodged the last one, I stayed near it to hit it in the stomach.
"Brace yourself!" I unleashed a barrage of punches at the fakes' face. It's mask cracked after my last attack. It soon disappeared. It was a success! "You destroyed one!? But how? You were struggling a moment ago." "Akihiko-senpai is one of the best hand-to-hand fighters I know. I've seen him fight plenty of times with his fists. Although it's not as good as him or anyone who does boxing seriously, it's effective enough to do damage.
The other three came to me with a vicious pressure around them. My eyes were focused on their movement and nothing else. Having a steady mind, and calm hands and legs will keep me from whiffing my attacks or moving too late or too early. With this mindset, I moved with absolute precision in my steps, I was taking into account where the clones were and how they might move. My reads on them were sharp, I was able to counter them with a bit better now. Their movements were different though. It might be since one of the clones was killed off; they are being a bit cautious of me.
"Shoot!" "Lightning!" They hit me with three bolts of lightning. I barely dodged the built-up energy of electricity. If it had hit me, god knows what would've happened to me. There was no time to stop, I needed to get closer as quickly as I can. They kept on shooting lightning from their fingers with perfect aim. My footwork was keeping me from getting hit with one of those but knowing that didn't help with my nerves. When I got close to one of the clones I jumped over the bolt they summoned and kicked them in the head. My first thought was to rush the other two, which I pulled off without a hitch. One of them tried to retaliate, but I interrupted them with a kick. 'Keep my foot firm on the ground, swing with a fast but powerful kick, and then send them flying', I thought. And just as I thought, the kick was more than effective, it was stronger than I anticipated. Turning my whole body around after the kick, another fake was behind me. I swept the leg as my body was circling. Without any hesitation, I threw a straight jab, no change in direction or slow down. It connected with the fake's mask, shattering it along with the body.
"You're not using boxing anymore, that's karate!" "Yeah, Shizuka taught me how to properly throw a punch and kick. But not just that, but not only from her but from Katsu's fighting style as well." I don't have enough experience to claim a style of my own, so that's why I need to rely on what I learned from them; their technique, footwork, stances, all of it! All two of the fakes came at me at once. Their assault was just as coordinated as before, however, it wasn't daunting to anymore. With all my thoughts focused on both the fakes, their movement is becoming clear to me. Dodging them wasn't any easier, but I was able to manage it now. Their attacks were still in synch with no delay in timing. Little by little though, I was able to push back the enemy with defensive moves, but turn that into an offensive means of moving.
"Enough of this!" The two of them slashed diagonally slashed downward. An electrical slash hit me at close range. It tore an X shape into my clothes. From my viewpoint, they were coming in with electricity applied to their feet and hands. It didn't change much, but it added the fact I'll get zapped with a few watts of electricity. However, they weren't leaving themselves open while attacking. They were aware of what I'm capable of now, and I failed to see that as an advantage I had.
"Tell us, even if you beat us, do you think she would leave with you? Why fight a pointless fight when that seems to be the most obvious outcome?" The clones joined their hands and shoot lightning at me. They had me moving faster just to get shot by one. When I got up close, they shoot one that was too big for me to dodge. The wrath of a thousand suns would be an exaggeration to describe the pain of tanking that attack.
"Do you see now, even if you beat two of us, it doesn't matter, we'll defeat you all the same." I couldn't feel a portion of my body. I was falling forward towards the fakes. But that's okay, it's alright. Why? Because I'm close enough to make a move. With the tips of my toes, I jumped up towards the fake and kneed her in the face, kick the other one next to her.
"How could you be..." The fake reacted just as I expected. I went in for the counter by redirect the attack and then locking her arm in place with just one arm. Then I repeatedly punched it over and over again until its mask cracked, causing the fake to disappear just like the others. The last one was coming from behind. Knowing that I rotated my body and kick it with the heel of my left foot. The attack dazed the fake, now was my chance, I could finish this if I land my best punch.
"Let's end this!" This fist was going to end it, I was going to win this and take Shizuka out of this place. Then, like a heavy object hitting the ground, a foot rammed into my face, knocking me to the ground. It didn't hurt too much, the only thing on my mind was who hit me? "You gotta be kidding me!?" It was Shizuka, the real one. She was the one to hit me with such a heavy attack. Shizuka stepped forward with a weapon in her hand
"That's enough. Kazuki, it's time for you to leave," she coldly, tonelessly told me. "Shizuka, what are you...?" "There's no need to explain, let's just get this over with." "Wait, Shizuka!"
Her sword darted towards my head, then going for anywhere else it could reach since I managed to dodge the first blow. Her speed was something that I couldn't keep up with; it was like a snap of a finger when she moved onto a different spot. She was overwhelming me, I can't keep up! Her next attack was a chop, I was going to block it and counter with a punch, but to my surprise, she whiffed it and ducked below my punch. Placing her hand on my chest, I felt a sudden shock go throughout my body. I was being shocked with lightning magic, it was frying me from all over my body as if I was in a microwave. Shizuka smashed her face into face and hammering it toward the ground. My body was utterly messed up.
"Kazuki, you're not going to stop coming back up, are you," she asked. "You bet your ass... I'll get you out of here no matter what!"
I attempted to get up but my hand fell through the floor. It was like piercing pudding with a finger. My whole body was sinking.
"I have no choice, you'll have to just be consumed by this endless void." Shit, I can't get up, nor will my body stop sinking. Damn it, this is bad, this seriously bad! The back of my head was almost sunk as well as the rest of my body. The ground was beginning to wrap around me.
"Wait, Shizuka!" I called out to her but she didn't react to me. Her stare met mine with a cold, distant, and cruel gaze. As I sunk to the bottom, her gaze was the last thing I saw before being engulfed in the darkness. This can't be happening... I need to rescue them...
...
The spot where Kazuki disappeared was all that Shizuka looked at. He was gone, he had sunken to the depths of her consciousness.
"It's over... You are free now." The other her spawned a mask in its hand. Shizuka looked at it curiously, feeling the weight of the mask in her hand. Her endless stare towards the mask was that of confusion. She felt happy that she can finally let go of her pain, but yet, sad at the same time. This was a conundrum to her, she had no idea why she would be sad. Actually, why does she even feel this way? Ever since coming into this space, bad feelings, bad memories, negative emotions, they were disappearing from herself. However, despite that, there was one emotion that remained no matter how much she tried to ignore it... Guilt. There was no room for such an emotion anymore. What does she have to feel guilty for, is what she thought. She filtered through her mind to find a reason, but no matter how long she thought about it she couldn't come up with one.
"I... feel... guilty..." Her head was getting foggy, it was as if a dense mist had set in her mind. "Put on the mask, become one with me." The being guided her hand, slowly, without overly forcing it to her face. With the mask nearly on her face, it felt like it would drag her into a further abyss if she put it on, but she lacked the will to even fight against it. She had accepted this being a new start for herself; a start with no pain or hardship. As she was about to put it on, her hand stopped.
"What's the matter?" The fake was curious as to what was going on. "Ichirou... Kazuki." Those two names came to mind, no, emerged out of the mist in her mind. When she thought more about her guilt those two were the ones she thought about.
"Why... am I... sad...," she stuttered on, pondering over her guilty coated feelings. "They mean nothing, put on the mask." That wasn't right. They were something, she thought. How could they mean nothing if they were the only people or thoughts in her mind? Why did she feel so guilty about Ichirou and Kazuki? She was confused, she couldn't wrap her head around it. Why does she feel this way? As Shizuka was contemplating to herself, the other one took the mask.
"Discard the emotions and feeling you have and become a being that feels no pain..." The being was about to put the mask on her face, Shizuka didn't resist it. She stared blankly into the mask as it near her face. She didn't know what would happen next, but she knew that it would change her permanently. This fact scared her, however. She was scared of what would happen to her, but didn't want to feel scared, right? It was a contradiction on what she wanted; to feel no pain or fear, but yet, she feared the change it would bring. She didn't understand, why was she feeling this? She wants to be free from the pain, she wants to be but yet she's scared to be?
"Hmm? No, that's impossible!" The ground below was rippling below them. The entity knew what it was, but refused to believe it. Someone came out from the ground, grabbing the mask out of the being's hand.
"You're supposed to be trapped in the void, Kazuki!"
...
I was sinking, my body was drowning in an endless void of black. It was so dark that I couldn't see my own body. It was like when I entered my soul; it felt like there was water around me but in reality, it wasn't. This fake sea was going to swallow me whole until I can't think anymore... Fuuka, Shizuka, Yukari, Junpei, Ko, Naoya... I'm sorry.
"Please, don't give up, Kazuki. Please wake up." A voice rang out to me in this vast, black void. "Do not lose your mind in this void. Keep your mind strong." Easy for that voice to say, I couldn't even tell if my eyes were open or closed, let alone keep a tight grip on my mind. A bright light suddenly illuminated the abyss. I naturally gravitated toward it. It was warm to the touch, it also felt rejuvenating. The light began to take shape, it formed hands, legs until it took the form of a small child.
"Who are you," I asked. "I am the repressed memories, emotions, and thoughts that belong to Shizuka." "Repressed? What do you mean?" "They were less than repressed, they were discarded by that other being and cast into here. Over time, the memories and emotions began to come together make a being; me."
A combination of all her discarded memories and emotions? "I see. So how long were you in here?" "Time doesn't mean much here," she stated. "So you don't know, makes sense." Even if I knew how long it been since coming in here, we're still stuck here with no probable way out. "There is a way out of here." As if she read my mind, she answered my inner question. "How!?" "I'll be able to open this abyss for you, but only for a few seconds. You need to make your exit before then." "Gotcha, let's get going with it then." "Alright, hand me the item in your pocket."
A question mark appeared in my mind for a sec until I caught on. I took out the Jack Frost doll. The little Shizuka touched it, it gave off a bright glow. There was a warm nostalgic feeling about it. "You can save her. Use your power, don't hold back your desire to save her. Reach to her with everything you have."
A light came beaming down from above. It was small bright. "Go, save Shizuka from herself!" I didn't waste any time giving her my thanks. I'll do that by saving Shizuka.
"Hey, are you listening to me? If you can hear me, then give me some of your power, I'm gonna need it." I was waiting for the shadow to respond but nothing spoke to me. "Come on, you bastard! I know you can hear me. Give me some of your power, now!"
The light was beginning to lose its size. The exit was going to close soon. "Come on damnit! Give me that power you like telling me to use so I can use it!" As if it finally giving in, my power suddenly increased. I swam up, faster and faster until I was able to see past the light. The fake was going to put a mask on Shizuka's face. There was no need to infer what was going on, that thing was going to do something to her, and I couldn't allow it to transpire. When reaching the top, my hands went through the hole. Using them, I repealed upward and grabbed the mask when emerging from the bottom.
"Kazuki!" "Yo," I answered. The mask in my hand felt weird. There was mysterious energy radiating from it like that void. Well, not like it matters cause I crushed it with hand.
"You don't need that mask anymore," I directed to Shizuka. "Can't you leave her alone? She wishes to be with us, not you!" "Is that true, Shizuka?" She didn't answer, her a thousand-mile stare showed she was in a daze. "What did you do to her?" "She has discarded any feeling that she once had for anyone or anything. She's going to become perfect, don't you see?" "Perfect, huh...? There was a time where I wanted to be perfect. I wanted to be a perfectly normal child who had friends, a perfectly normal life, with perfectly normal qualities. But, wishing for it was never going to make it come true, rather, it made my pain worse. So, after a while, I just stopped wanting it." "You know the pain of having emotion like that, then why do you fight so hard to stay alive?" "Because I have things that are better than normal. I have someone that loves me for being me, friends that care for me, and the best cousin ever! And Shizuka is my bestest friend and whether she likes it or not, she's apart of my life now. So, I'm not leaving without her!"
I lowered my stance and spread out my legs. The fake was starting to change shape, growing into a blob until it was big enough to swallow Shizuka whole! "Let her go, you bastard!" It morphed around her, covering her like armor.
"If you wish to take her, then, by all means, come and try." I wasn't going to try, I was going to demolish this thing. With lightning-like speed, it charged at me with its hand forward. I stepped out of the way when it came close. I grabbed its arm to flip it but it landed on its legs, attacking me soon after landing. Blocking them was easy but they heavier than before. It then shifted behind me to deliver a possible back-breaking punch. I easily caught it. My read on this thing was going to have to be sharp if I want to get some cleaner hits in. For the next while, I blocked all incoming attacks. It was a cinch since my senses were a lot stronger in Shadow-mog, so being able to read what she would do next was as easy as breathing. This however stopped being so easy once she started moved without giving the slightest of hints as to what she would do next. An electric blast hit my back, knocking me forward. The damage wasn't much but it sort of left me off guard for a second attack. Redirecting was the only out.
"Got you!" The fake counted on me redirecting. It grabbed the sleeve of my jacket with its left hand and threw me over with only one hand. My back crashed against the ground, sending shivers up my spine. It raised Shizuka's foot to the air, I immediately rolled out of the way. The floor crack under her foot.
"You persist it seems. In that case, I'll crush you!" Damn, she's becoming more challenging by the second. I can still keep up with her by trading blows, but something tells me the skill gap is widening. My prediction was proving to become true as the fake was using Shizuka's body fluidly now and its attacks were growing stronger. If I had to reference the gap to something, it would be like the distance between the sky and the ground; I was looking above while Shizuka looked below me.
"Gonna give up?" This voice didn't belong to the fake, but the inner voice in me. It mocked me at the expectation of giving up. "No chance! I know the difference, I see the gap between the both of us," I thought back to myself. It's a gigantic distance, something that just seems impossible to close. The odds of doing so are nigh-impossible. But who cares! I'm not gonna give up because I'm on the ground and she's up in the sky. I'm going to jump, climb up high buildings, but more importantly, I'm gonna close the distance between me and the sky, no matter what. Little by little, the gap was closing, my attacks were breaking through her guard. It felt as if my body was acting on its own, doing moves unfamiliar to me. My legs cut through the air like butter, my fists gliding smoothly through it. I could feel the gap enclosing as I kept moving forward with my assault. The last attack I made left Shizuka defenseless as I broke her guard entirely. This was it, I got her now.
"I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO TAKE HER!" The fake shot a clump of shadow at me. It came and took the form of an arm. Normally, it would've caught me off guard, but it was just nothing to me as I jumped above it. I was behind Shizuka, it was good enough position where I was able to kick the black clump thing. The black blob tried to get me before I delivered my attack, but it was too late for it to reach me. With just one kick I was able to sever a piece of the blob. The fake was in tremendous pain as it cried out. The moment I landed, it opened up the chest area to become a wide mouth.
"I'll swallow you whole!" As it came down at me, something in me said, "No, we'll devour you whole," with absolute confidence. It was at this moment where I felt all the power go into my leg. A feeling of something wanting to bust loose was in my leg now, and my body entertained its request. As it closed in, I delivered my kick towards Shizuka's chest. The kick went above my expectations as it punted her several feet into the air. The fake was blown right off Shizuka.
"Now, reach her heart!" No hesitation was in my heart when I was ordered to. I jumped towards Shizuka in the air. "DIIIE!" The shadow went past Shizuka at me. The Jack Frost charm's glow was becoming brighter the closer I got to Shizuka. I clutched my fist with the charm in hand. "How about you piss off!" With a roar to denounce the deity, I drove my fist through the black ooze, tearing it apart as the light that was covering my fist. In the end, the dark blob was separated into two parts. Shizuka was still in the air, unconscious as well.
"Shizuka, it's time to wake up!" I pressed the doll against her chest. Instantly, the doll lit up like the sun and envelope me and her in its shine...
...
"Huh, where is this?" I was no longer in the darkness, rather, it was filled with light that was soft on the eyes. It gave off a warm feeling just like that child in the abyss. I felt a presence behind me. "Shizuka!" She was standing up while looking at her feet. I could also see her bare chest. It was covered in scars.
"Why did you come so far for me," she asked. "Is it because we're friends? What utter garbage! We aren't such a thing. There is no inconceivable way we could be! We're not comrades, not companions! So just leave me alone... I don't want your help."
I should feel upset, but I wasn't. I knew this feeling. A desire for someone, that's what it was. The venomous words coming out of her mouth weren't as such. They were resentment not towards me, but herself. She held in these terrible feelings for so long without anyone to relieve her of them by just a little. And if that's the case, then I'll change that. I took a few steps forward.
"Stay away from me! Don't come any closer!" I didn't stop for a single second, I just kept on moving toward her as she stepped back.
"Are you disappointed? Are you angry that you finally learned about who I really am!? If so, then why don't you just-" I closed the gap between us...
"If you're going to say something, just say it. I don't care... I just-" I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her. A gasp escaped her mouth.
"Why are you hugging me? Why are you near me!?" "I'm not mad at you, I'm sad that you were hurting so badly. I never knew that you were in pain as well. I'm sorry for never asking how you felt about anything. I relied on you for everything, but I never allowed you to rely on me."
She said nothing in response. "I know the pain you feel in your heart. You hate yourself, don't you? You don't like anything about yourself at all. More than that, you must've been carrying some heavier burdens. It must've been such a burden to hold it by yourself, always shouldering it alone without anyone to help you for those past three years. I couldn't begin to imagine how much you're hurting."
She was making small grunting noises. "How can you stand here and hug me like this? How can you even stomach coming anywhere near a pathetic, cowardly, and scared girl like me! How can you call me a friend? How can you see me as someone you want to be near with a torn body like this?"
She emphasized the scars on her body. Some were on her arm but most were on her chest and shoulders.
"You kidding me, I got scares as well. Plus, I can go near you because I know how it feels to hate myself. I was also a pathetic coward. I'm scared of people hating me for any reason. I was scared of rejection as well to the point where I couldn't see myself ever having a bond with anyone out of rejection. I hated myself for being different from everyone and I hated that nobody wanted to understand me. But when I think about it, I had one person there with me the entire time. He was always there with me the entire time and I ignored that. In truth, I was being a selfish asshole. And even when I did make more friends and found someone I loved, I still pushed them away from me; keeping them blissfully unaware of what I can do and what I have inside of me. A part of me is afraid to trust them because of the fear of rejection, and I hate myself for that."
My grip on her became tighter. "But you were the only one that I trusted. You didn't judge me nor did you turn away from me when you realized what power I possessed. In fact, you helped me realized what I'm capable of and with your help, made me get stronger. So this time, I want to accept you for all you are. You can lean on me with anything, I won't turn away."
Then, with the drop of a hat, Shizuka's tears began to come out. She bawled her eyes out, sobbing with everything she had while clutching my jacket.
"Kazuki...! I'm so sorry," she screamed out as she cried. "I did so many awful things to you, and said so many horrible things." Hearing her say that made me happy, not that she was crying, rather because I knew she meant what she said. I placed my hands on her shoulder. "It's fine, no harm no foul, right?" I'm probably using that phrase wrong but who cares.
"How can you say that? I..." "Hey, didn't I say it's alright? Yeah, you hit me, hard I might add, but that's nothing to sweat over. I get hurt all the time." Though her kicks and punches hurt like none other, but that's neither here nor there. "But, I..." "Stop! No more questioning it!" I used my index fingers to form a smile on her face. "When friends help each other they're supposed to smile, right? So come on, I'll smile along with you."
I took my fingers away from her mouth. She immediately put her head down.
"I used you to run away from that man. I was so scared of him coming after me and just in case he did, I was going to use your abilities on him. But you know how that turned out... I'm sorry about that as well," she quietly apologized. "Shizuka, what you did and said to me doesn't matter to me as long as you're sorry. So, if you want to say sorry and put all this past us, a smile is what'll take, and it better make my heart skip a beat."
There was a stillness to Shizuka's body now. It was no longer trembling but I could still see tears dropping. I was going to say something out of concern, however, she looked back up at me.
"..." My silence only lasted for a second before I started laughing aloud. Shizuka made a smile, but it was goofy looking.
"Why are you laughing," Shizuka asked with a confused look about her. "It's your face. It looks so silly." "I-is it that bad?" "It's...it's not bad, just goofy." My howling laughter continued as Shizuka looked on in embarrassment.
"Was it really that bad?" "No, it was just funny is all. But don't worry, I was only kidding about the heart skipping part. Even if it's weird, or stupid, a smile is still a smile." "Is that so...?"
Her face of confusion took on embarrassed features instead. I was glad to see that she was doing better, even if it was just by a bit. But we needed to go now.
"Shizuka, are you ready to leave? We can't waste any more time here." "I... I can't leave yet." "You gotta be kidding me? It's okay." "It's not that, it's something else. My memories are in a haze, discombobulated. That thing messed with my memories, my thoughts, my emotions. I need to get everything straightened out."
When she explained that it reminded me of that little girl in the abyss. She said she was a collection of Shizuka's discarded memories. Speaking of which, checking on the Jack frost doll, it was still giving off a bright glow. It still had one more job to do, I guess...
"Shizuka, catch." The doll landed in her hands.
"This is..." "It's yours, I already got mine," I told her. The glow from the doll began to form into a figure. It was the little girls again. It stood in front of Shizuka, looking up at her. She looked at the small figure with astonishment but quickly came to grips with what's happening.
"Are you ready," The small girl asked her. "Yes," Shizuka determinedly replied. She kneeled to her, meeting her eyes. The little girl put her hands on the side of her head. She began to disappear into little balls of light.
"You do not need to fear, you have the strength to stand on your own two feet. So, please, don't falter, for your sake, our sake..." With that, the light figure disappeared, leaving nothing behind except a small ball of light that popped when it made contact with Shizuka's forehead.
"Shizuka," I quietly called. She was still, her expression was calmer than it was before. It looked like there was a newfound peace in her.
"Are you okay, Shizuka?" "I'm fine," she politely answered. It was night and day compared to her previous state; it was like she became a calm stream after a terrible storm. "Kazuki let us go. We no longer need to be here." Any questions I was about to ask what she meant were thrown out the window when everything went black. This time, instead of being thrown somewhere, it felt as if I was transported somewhere. My body felt suspended somewhere but yet removed (if that makes sense). This dark space wasn't suffocating as it should be, rather, I felt nothing from being in here. I was probably heading back out of Shizuka's soul. As I unknowingly drifted in this darkness I reflected on everything that I've seen and heard. The emotions that were stirring inside me was nothing short of anger. This frustration was aimed towards the mastermind behind all the pain that she had to endure so far was due to one man. And for all the horrendous things that he's done; there's no way I can let the bastard go without him paying for what he has done. For now, though, I'm just hoping I'm not trapped wherever I am. It would be really awkward if I am...
...
Outside, in reality, the group is doing battle with Hifumi and M. Right from the start, they were losing the fight thanks to M's seemingly overpowering ability to manipulate gravity. Hifumi was no slouch himself, he was able to subdue the Persona users of the group so far. However, Makoto wasn't going down. He summoned the Persona Cu Chulainn, whose skill with his spear was put on display with its fight with Hifumi. But, it wouldn't be enough.
"Pathetic," Hifumi whispered, insulting the Persona. He was able to break the Personas spear in one go and stab it with no trouble. Makoto was taken aback by the sensation of being stabbed. It wasn't as painful as actually getting stabbed, but it was close to it.
"Cu Chulainn!" He summoned the Celtic hero again, it was the Persona that he could manage to summon at this time. His summoning abilities aren't at their best in his current state. He was still relatively in a weak physical state. His body was not fit for battle, not even summon a Persona. But how was he able to summon one anyway? It requires him to have an item like the badge that would auto-heal Kazuki. Even with this, he needed to make sure not to go overboard with his summoning, or else he'll be causing more stress onto himself.
"Mazionga!" Casting the spell, he could feel his spiritual energy being turned into electricity. The electricity that was shot at M and Hifumi didn't connect since Hifumi redirect it towards Yuki (who nulled it), and M diverted it with a gravity spell.
"Your Persona abilities have waned. Months ago I've noted that you went against a fiend and won, or at least held your own against it. I never was able to note what the experiment did to you." Makoto didn't respond to Hifumi's observation. He simply pointed the Evoker to his temple.
"Persona" Cu came out with his spear aiming for Hifumi's neck. The spear was easily destroyed. Hifumi skipped the step of killing the Persona, he just went towards Makoto, who had taken up his broad sword in defense. It was certain that if Hifumi attacked him he wouldn't survive the attack; his posture was weak and wasn't ready to defend, let alone react to an attack. Just as he was ready for an attack, Hifumi zoomed past him without even touching him. He went for Shizuka and Kazuki. Makoto tried to summon Cu again but experienced the stress building from his continuous construction and deconstruction of his Persona. He wasn't able to summon to protect Kazuki.
"Io!" Yukari called out her Persona, which summoned a strong gust of wind. It slammed him against the wall. "Hermes!" Junpei's Persona dived right in the stream of wind with its leg forward. Hermes was pushed out of the gust by an unknown force to the Persona users. It was M who used his gravity powers.
"Can you not get your ass kicked by some kids? It's a pain when I need to save your ass," M half jokingly said with a hint of annoyance as he was busy dealing with Hana, Ryota, and Hisoka.
"My apologies, I was just taken by surprise. I guess I should take this seriously though." True to his word, Hifumi was going to take it a bit more seriously now. He took out several different knives from his sleeves, all of them having the same shape and size. He threw them at Kazuki. Yukari's eyebrows rose when she saw where they were heading. "Io, stop them!" She summoned a gust of wind to knock them off course. However, she was too slow as they went soaring alongside a wind spell of Hifumi's making. In mere seconds it would've hit Kazuki's back. But thanks to Hana's quick thinking, she summoned up a piece of the ground to block the knives.
"M," Hifumi called. "Gee, I can't keep track of them all, by myself! But hey, I have an idea." In an instance, M directed his power towards the ground, breaking the floor below everyone. This caused debris to obscure everyone's vision, but not Hifumi. He swiftly moved towards Kazuki with a knife in hand. "Kazuki!" Yukari summoned her Persona as fast as she could. There was nobody that could stop him this time, not when he's so close with a knife to his back. That was only if it wasn't caught by a hand.
"What!?" Hifumi was taken by surprise by who caught the blade. Their hand was cut open, blood dripped from the wound and onto the blade. Shizuka had a firm grasp on it. "How are you out of that mental state? How are you...?" She was certain that her state of mind was valuable for the thing inside her to take over. "The better question you should be asking is: how much is this one is going to hurt?" Kazuki gave Hifumi no time to react. His fist steered into Hifumi's face and knocked him several feet away. Everyone gawked in awe as they were surprised by Kazuki and Shizuka's sudden awakening.
"Sorry everyone, it took me a little while, but I'm back now." "Kazuki," Everyone collectively shouted (except for Hisoka). His SEES allies, Ko, Ryota, and Hana were relieved to see him up. Shizuka looked over to Ichirou, who was gasping at Shizuka. "Ichirou... Just sit there, let us take care of them first." Shizuka assumed a pose and stared down Hifumi's laid out body. M was excited to see that Kazuki was using most of his power from the start. It was getting him overly excited. Hifumi, who was laid out on the ground was dumbfounded by the development of Shizuka's state of mind. He knew that Kazuki went into her soul to get her mind back into one piece. But the fact that he was able to help her regain her sanity was amazing to him, especially since he came out in one piece himself.
"What...are you?" M's interest in Kazuki was beginning to make sense to him. Why he's so fascinated by the boy. "Sadao Hifumi, today is your day of retribution. I hope you're ready," Shizuka more than threateningly warned him. "Yeah, cause we're coming at you hard," Kazuki added on. Hifumi collected himself and gave a little smirk.
"Is that so? Then give it your best shot, my disciple."
PRESENTING A NEW SERIES CALLED... Kazuki and Shizuka explain!
Kazuki: Welcome!
Shizuka: Welcome.
Kazuki: This is a brand new series that we should've done a long time ago, but hey, no hair off anyone's back, right?
Shizuka: Not really, but yes, welcome to a new after chapter series where we explain things about the world and magical concepts of Persona.
Kazuki: That's right, and today we're going to be starting off with a bang and talk about the main headpiece: Persona!
Shizuka: I'll be doing most of the explaining here.
Kazuki: No fair, I wanna speak!
Shizuka: It's better if I do it since I have a better idea of the concept.
Kazuki: That makes sense I suppose. Alright then, buddy, take it away!
Shizuka: Okay then. First of all, I need to explain how Persona is made. Persona is the inner manifestation of the psyche. This directly tied to the ego of a person.
Kazuki: Are you calling me a douche?
Shizuka: No, not that type of ego. Ego refers to our sense of self, the thing that makes up our sense of being.
Kazuki: Oh.
Shizuka: As a result, a person or being without an ego cannot possess a Persona. That is if there is anyone who doesn't possess a sense of self.
Kazuki: So, why can a dog like Koromaru form one?
Shizuka: Animals themselves can possess an ego as well, though, it's extremely rare.
Kazuki: Koro, in that case, is a breed apart.
Shizuka: Now, in order for someone to be able to manifest such power is no easy feat, they need to have the will power and mental capacity to control it. If you lack either of these traits, you won't be able to summon one, let alone control it. But hypothetically speaking, if you had a Persona but didn't obtain it naturally, then it would most certainly try to kill you.
Kazuki: Yikes. Wait, I remember Junpei telling me that the girl named Chidori had her Persona choke her out for a bit.
Shizuka: That's because it wasn't naturally awakened, so it would explain to why it would try to kill her.
Kazuki: Then how can she summon it and use its abilities?
Shizuka: Well, she must have the will power, but not the mental fortitude to keep it in check. So making it do things is no problem, just preventing it from killing you is a problem.
Kazuki: Man, that sounds harsh. I hope something like that doesn't happen to me.
Shizuka: As long as you don't lose the will to live entirely you'll be fine. But anyway, the next thing is much more interesting: why mythological figures?
Kazuki: I always did wonder that myself.
Shizuka: It's just a theory, but it could be said that we have manifestations of these beings in some form in our psyche. The Persona will generally be based on how you are as a Person, the shape your ego is a better testament to this. It can also be correlated with your destiny, but that hasn't been proven yet.
Kazuki: I have a question about that. Why is my persona different? It's not a mythological being.
Shizuka: That is odd. I've seen it as an irregularity and tried to come up with an answer as to why that is. My current answer is that you're a new type of Persona user.
Kazuki: Really?
Shizuka: Yes. In the past, Personas can be formed on real humans in history. However, it was recorded that a person was able to use a Persona based on someone they know.
Kazuki: Seriously?
Shizuka: Yes, my working theory on that is this: since that person turned into a Persona they must've been held in high regard, admiration, or seen as a hero to said person. The person must also be dead in order for a Persona user to have its Persona evolve and take on that person's appearance.
Kazuki: That seems pretty logical.
Shizuka: Again, it's only a theory. But as for you, your persona isn't based on a person, but rather something else. Would you know what that is?
Kazuki: Yeah, I do. Back in 2006, I was playing this newly released JRPG called .-. The first few hours were boring, but eventually, the main character got this cool, being thing called Skeith. When I first saw it I was mesmerized by how cool he was, and going through the game cemented that further when I got the play like it. Even after I beating the game, playing as him was an awesome experience to remember. He left a total imprint on me for a good while and I was so hyped to play with it again in the other two volumes of .-.
Shizuka: I think I got it now. you must've been impressed with this figure to the point where it became a significant icon in your head. Thus, when you awakened that became your Persona. Very interesting indeed.
Kazuki: You think so?
Shizuka: It's not 100%, but it must be close. I think I'll call this new Persona development: Persona Imprint!
Kazuki: Awesome! I get a category to myself!
Shizuka: Speaking of category, there is another Persona awakening that should be brought up, but since it's a one-in-a-million chance that someone would awaken like it I'll let it slide for now. Now, to top this off: how to summon a Persona.
Kazuki: Easy, I can answer this! All you need to do is think of the Persona, give it a command, and let it go to town.
Shizuka: In basic terms, yes. You need to have a mental image of your Persona in your mind and then it will come out. At least, that's how it goes for Kazuki. People that need to use Evokers have to keep that mental image intact while it's being brought out of the psyche. Any disturbances at all can cancel out the summoning, even when you shoot yourself.
Kazuki: And with that is it for today's lesson. I hope you had fun learning about Persona summoning. Next time, we're gonna talk about how SP works. So until then stay tuned, and as always...
Shizuka: Until the next chapter...
Kazuki & Shizuka: SEE YA!