A.N. (2/8/24) - Still finalizing my post release schedule, might be something like 2-3 chapters a week.
Journey (5) - Recuperation
His previous estimate of how long it would take for him to recover appeared to be spot on.
During the week in which he was ordered to have time off, Nagi realized that he had been pushing himself too hard recently. Even though he no longer felt the effects of the Dark Hour, not having to participate in strenuous activities made him aware of how much stress his body was under from constant fights and patrols. Without anything to keep him busy, he was able to recover both his body and spirit in such a way that no healing item could compare to.
Except it wasn't just that his body was recovering, but he could feel himself getting stronger too. At first, Nagi attributed that to the fact that he never took time off to relax before. But eventually, he noticed that things weren't acting up. He always had a weak body ever since he was born, a constitution that he inherited from his late mother. Now, he could feel his lungs taking deeper breaths and his senses getting sharper. A jog to the convenience store took half the usual time than his previous outings and barely left him winded as well.
He wasn't superhuman. It was just that he was healthier and more capable than before. But such a drastic change left him suspicious as to what exactly caused it, and only one suspect came to mind.
I suppose barely surviving the Reaper in exchange for better overall health is a decent trade-off, Nagi thought to himself. Except I doubt improved fitness is what she had in mind when she called forth her main body in the Abyss of Time.
Naturally, the others also noticed this newfound change in him.
"Fight me!" Akihiko confronted him one day. "You're the strongest member out of all of us. This is a great chance to spar!"
"Mmgh!" Nagi almost choked on the sandwich half stuck in his mouth. Taking the time to chew, he eventually spoke to his junior. "W-What the hell are you talking about!? The only reason I'm stronger is because I trained my Persona more. There's no way I can beat you in a match in the real world."
Even though he was a few years younger, Nagi didn't forget the fact that Akihiko was some kind of bigshot school boxing champion. He had no desire in having the other boy wipe the floor with him.
"Don't try to pretend otherwise. I heard from Mitsuru that you used to be trained by a family of phantom thieves."
Nagi blinked. "She told you about that? No, wait! That's not exactly right. I didn't undergo the same physical regime as them, but was trained in infiltration and supernatural skills instead. If you want someone who can plan a heist or seal a cursed artwork, I'm the guy to call. Otherwise, you're better off looking elsewhere for a good sparring partner."
You couldn't call it pouting, but that was the best way to describe Akihiko's expression at that moment. Seeing that he was insistent on this matter, Nagi relented and decided to come up with a different solution.
"How about this? I know how to set up an obstacle course which utilizes a number of traps that can help train your reflexes and physical skills. If you promise not to recklessly run off on your own whenever we patrol from now on, I'll spend the rest of my weekend getting it ready for you to use."
"Deal!"
Hopefully, this will curb some of Akihiko's enthusiasm during their outings. There was only so much he could do whenever they ventured during the Dark Hour, and anything to make things easier for him was something Nagi wanted to support.
Besides, having Akihiko undergo the same training as a phantom thief might help improve his combat skills for the future. If anything, this was an investment so that they would be able to fight Shadows easier from now on.
Now if only he could get permission from Mitsuru to set up a pitfall and projectile hallway.
}-{
"Thank you for the update."
Takeharu Kirijo cut an intimidating figure with his stern expression and eyepatch. Currently, he was sitting behind his desk while Nagi gave a verbal summary on the team's current status and how they managed to discover two new Persona users. Such occurrences were rare since most of the time he only sent an electronic report to the busy man. But since both coincidentally had some unexpected time in their schedules, a meeting was quickly arranged for the two to meet alone.
Sometimes, Nagi compared the older man to Nick Fury with how both of them often acted in the background recruiting the real fighters to their cause. That did not mean that Takeharu was any less involved in the investigations of Tartarus. Rather than personally delving into the tower itself, he had a team of scientists and researchers look into the history behind it instead.
"Your report on the discovery of a new area temporarily designated as the Abyss of Time is something that I am personally interested in. Although you claim that it is not a threat at the moment, the fact that it exists at all worries me."
"Not that there's anything we can do to investigate it. The presence of the Reaper kinda makes going in a suicidal task."
"If I recall, you once fought against the Reaper in the past. How exactly did that encounter go?"
"Poorly," Nagi answered. "It was less of a fight and more of a desperate attempt to flee from it. I have no doubts that if we draw out the fight with the Reaper, it will display more abilities that it has yet to reveal thus far. Our current strength is nowhere near ready to match it."
He sighed. "Then I suppose we'll leave it alone for now. How about your investigations into Shuji Ikutsuki? Do you believe that he is aware that you are looking into him?"
"I hope not, but I did discover something that might be worth mentioning. For some reason, Ikutsuki has been making inquiries into a hospital in Inaba. That caught my attention since I noted that he did so under his capacity as a scientist of Ergo Labs."
The Kirijo Ergonomics Research Laboratory, shortened simply as Ergo Labs, was a disbanded group of scientists and individuals that were involved with Shadow research several years ago. At least, the group had disbanded on paper. In reality, there were multiple branches of the main group still functioning and performing illegal research without oversight from the Kirijo Group. It was during one of his investigations of Ergo Labs that Takeharu first discovered Nagi, which would later lead to him recruiting the younger boy after the events of Azumano.
Takeharu spoke with a grave tone. "Ergo research into the ability to manipulate time and space resulted in the creation of Tartarus. The fact that time travel exists is something I'm sure you are intimately familiar with. Every one of their inhumane experiments, such as the creation of artificial Persona users, are all done with the intention to further support their initial goal. If Ikutsuki is acting on his own without informing me of his plans, then it would be wise to look into this matter while he still does not suspect us."
Left unsaid was that the one leading the investigation would be Nagi. After all, he was the one most familiar with Yasoinaba due to his background.
"I'll make an excuse to my daughter and make arrangements for you to travel to Inaba. If you wish, you can even take a vacation to visit your family. That would be a perfect cover for why you would visit the place."
Nagi winced. "I'm not exactly on good terms with the members of my family there."
"I'm aware. Still, it only needs to hold up if Ikutsuki later learns that you visited. Your background is on our records, so he'll conclude that it is only a coincidence and won't think too much about why you would be there. His connections mean that I can't trust most of my people because of the risk that they may be spies planted there to control my actions. For now, you remain outside of his control. Let's keep it that way for as long as possible."
The meeting concluded on that final note. Exiting his office, Nagi wondered how Mitsuru would react if she ever learned that he was hired not in his capacity as a Persona user but rather as a personal agent to her father.
Then again, he had a feeling that she already had her suspicions as to his true role. She was an intelligent young woman after all.
"It's been a while since I've been out of town. Hopefully she'll understand that I won't always be available here."
In the first place, his original job was to coordinate with the other Persona users that they were friendly with. Takuto declined their offer to join and Touko was busy with her job, but that did not mean that they would not help out if times were desperate. Not to mention Daisuke, who wasn't technically a Persona user but did share similar abilities to one.
Suddenly, an idea came to him at that moment.
"I almost forgot about him. Maybe I don't need a Persona user to join us, but what about a demon?"
Since Dark retired from his phantom thief days, his demon companion Wiz had nothing better to do other than laze around and eat all day. Although Wiz wasn't a fighter, his auxiliary abilities would be an immense help in their patrols during the Dark Hour. He'll have to make some calls, but the idea seemed like a good one to him.
"Now the only question is whether anyone is available to drop him off at Inaba."
It would be nice to visit Azumano again, but Nagi didn't want to take too much time off from the team. If someone could deliver Wiz to him while he was investigating Inaba, then that would make things easier for him.
"Plus, there are probably a couple of Shadows wandering around there. It would help to have someone else with me to exterminate them." That limited his options to someone who could fight during the Dark Hour. "Guess that means it'll either be Takuto or Daisuke."
Takuto would be preferable since he has a stronger Persona and has already traveled to Inaba once before. Not to mention that he wasn't as high profile as Daisuke, so it would be easier for him not to get noticed by Ikutsuki or anyone else in his faction.
"Well, that settles it. I'll see if he can make the trip and bring Wiz along with him. The three of us should be enough to take care of the Shadows there too."
Finalizing his plans, Nagi departed with a satisfied smile. Even if this was because of his job, it would be nice to see old friends again.
While I'll reference other Persona users in this story, I'll only keep the main P3 cast for the majority of it. This side plot will be a bit of an outlier since it will involve Persona users that don't appear this early on in the timeline but will make their introduction in future stories.