Captain Blues: As Vi would say, It's time for Angst!
Persona V: Reversing the Wheel of Fate
Chapter Eighty-Five
[Opening Scene: Shinjuku – Streets of Shinjuku (Late Morning)
Theme of Loss: Aoba Park from Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP)]
Makoto numbly watched as the ambulance loaded Ryuji's unconscious body onto it. She could feel the workers cleaning the blood off of her face, she could see Ren, Shiho, and their group of friends conversing, and she could even see Zenkichi and Sae in front of her, trying to get anything out of her, but she couldn't speak.
She couldn't even sum up the energy to even blink.
She had caused this. She had dragged Eiko, Tsubasa, Eleonora, and Ryuji into her own selfish desires to bring down the criminal who had murdered her father and in the end, Ryuji was beaten to near death, Eiko and Tsubasa were held hostage, and now she, Eleonora, and the rest of her allies, were deep in Kaneshiro's pockets.
This was all her fault…
How could she even begin to fix this situation?
"Makoto," Sae's stern voice called out after snapping her fingers in her sister's face, but Makoto just stared blankly ahead.
Sae sighed with slumped shoulders.
It had been a long time since she had seen her sister in this catatonic state.
The last time was—
No, she didn't want to rehash an old scar. Not when she still had work to do. But still, she couldn't help but wish she could console her sister like she had done back then…
But that time was over.
"Makoto's not going to talk," Sae told Zenkichi. "Let's go talk with the other kids."
Zenkichi nodded and the pair walked over to Amamiya Ren and his group of friends.
As she drew closer, she noticed that Ren was questioning that up-and-coming TV star she had seen on one of Tae's favorite television shows, a Japanese adaptation of South Korea's Are You Human Too?
Who would have thought she would be interviewing a mini-celebrity? Especially the lead actress. If only she could tell Tae. Her….friend would be deeply jealous.
"Hey kids," Zenkichi greeted with a wave, breaking apart the group as Sae and Zenkichi came to a stop. Sae noticed with a hint of annoyance that Ren, the possible leader of the Phantom Thieves, had stepped in front of a clearly emotionally compromised Eleonora, who was being held by an emotional Takamaki Ann, in an attempt to protect the two girls.
"Seems the Shield is hard at work," the darker half of her noted.
Sae didn't acknowledge the voice and instead said, "It seems no matter what happens, you bunch are always at the center of some sort of incident."
"It's not like we ask for it," Ren defended.
"I'm sure you don't," Sae retorted.
The two glared at one another before Zenkichi cut in."We have some questions for you regarding what happened. We tried to speak to Niijima-san. The younger, not the older, but she's currently not all there…"
"We don't know much," Ren admitted after a moment of silence.
"Liar…" Shadow Sae whispered.
"Why are you talking for your group of friends?" Sae asked him. "They have mouths which they can use to answer our questions. You don't always have to be the point man, Amamiya-san." She turned to Suzui Shiho and asked, "What happened here?"
Shiho, who Sae noticed was staring at Makoto, jumped in surprise before she asked, "I'm sorry?"
"My partner and I were asking what happened here," Sae explained.
"Um…honestly, it all happened so fast," Shiho revealed. "One minute, we were watching the news, and the next, Makoto called."
"My sister reached out to you all?" Sae asked.
"Yes," Okumura Haru spoke up, her voice calm and controlled, compared to Shiho's shaky voice. "She was distraught. Said some men attacked her, Eleonora-san, and R—" Sae noticed as a wave of emotion overcame Haru for a moment. "Ryuji…" Haru finished.
"That's when we raced down here," Tōgō Hifumi continued. "Ryuji-san was badly injured. Mishima-san was the one who called the ambulance while Haur, Ren, Ann, and Yusuke tried to find the men. They were unsuccessful."
"I see," Sae responded.
She didn't know why but their statements…All of them seemed to be rehearsed somehow…
"What happens now?" Yusuke inquired. "Makoto, Eleonora-san, and Ryuji were attacked by unknown assailants and both Makoto and Eleonora-san are clearly shaken up."
"Well…." Zenkichi pondered. "We'll need to take both Makoto and Eleonora in for question, as they were the victims a—"
"No!" Eleonora cried as she clung to a teary-eyed Ann. "I just want to go home…I'm tired of all of this…"
"We get that," Zenkichi softly replied, his tone empathetic. "But this is a very serious crime that has just happened to you both. All we'll ask is a few questions. That's all. I promise."
Eleonora bowed her head and nodded. "Alright," Eleonora whispered.
"Would it help if one of us came with you?" Ren softly suggested.
Eleonora nodded.
"I'll go with her," Mishima offered. "I'll bring her and Makoto back to Haru's place once they are done."
"I'll accompany them," Shiho also offered.
Ren nodded.
"Good," Sae concluded. "Eleonora-san, please allow Zenkichi to take you to his squad car. I will grab Makoto."
Without waiting for a response, Sae marched over to her sister, whose face was now cleaned of blood, and said, "We will be going to the station for questioning. Silent or not, we will need your testimony."
Makoto remained silent.
[Scene Change: Shibuya – Hasegawa Temporary Residence (Afternoon)
Theme of Hasegawa Temporary Residence: Puzzling from Persona Q2 New Cinema]
"So, why are you still in our house?" Akane asked as she and Sumire sat at the kitchen table, with Sumire sitting on Kasumi's lap. "It stopped raining this morning."
In a normal situation, Sumire would have already been at home, but her parents were concerned with her well-being after being found unconscious by Ren and told her to remain there so they could pick her up after her father got off of work.
It was during this wait there Sumire found herself speaking to Akane. Truthfully, none of this was Sumire's business. That other world she, Ren, and Morgana had been in yesterday and the world she and Morgana investigated just last night but she couldn't put it aside.
It was like being in a whole new world and a new fantastic point of view. She wanted to dive deeper into this world and her new abilities. And maybe…just maybe… she wanted to focus on something more to keep her mind off of her talk with Kasumi and the eventual talk she would have to have with her misguided but very well-meaning parents.
"Well, your dad—" Sumire started.
"Do not call that man my father," Akane spat with hostility, her irises flashing yellow for a brief moment.
Sumire was startled by the venom in the young girl's voice. She was far too young to hate something like this. In her lap, Sumire felt Morgana squirm in discomfort. She petted his back to ease him down and said, "I apologize," Sumire sincerely told her. "I didn't mean to offend you."
"It's whatever," Akane shrugged.
"I'm waiting for my parents to get off of work. After my fainting spell yesterday, my parents decided to pick me up after work so I don't run the risk of fainting on my own again," Sumire gently explained.
"It must be nice having parents that actually care," Akane commented before taking a bite of her bunny-shaped pancakes. "I wonder what that's like…"
"Does Zenkichi-san not care about you?" Sumire asked. She immediately realized she was stepping into something she should have and hastily added, "If you want to talk about it, that is."
That look of rage appeared on her face again. "All he cares about is blowing me off, flirting with that teacher, and getting drunk every night. Can't even catch Mom's murderer!" Akane revealed, her irises flashing once again. This time, however, Sumire heard the faint whispers of another girl fluttering about.
What does that mean?
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that," Akane apologized, the anger once again leaving her voice. "It's been such a long time since I hung out with someone other than me, myself, and I'm already blowing it…"
Sumire felt a pang of sympathy for the young girl."What about your friends?" Sumire asked.
"I don't really have any friends here," Akane admitted with a tiny shrug but Sumire could hear the creeping loneliness in her voice. "We only recently came back to Tokyo so Zenkichi could help that lawyer with her case. After that, we should be going back home to Kyoto."
"So you have no one to talk to?" Sumire asked.
[Theme of Sadness: Living with Determination from Persona 3]
Akane shook her head. "No, I don't. And that's okay. I can handle this alone. I have to handle this alone…" Akane replied, talking more to herself than to Sumire.
Sumire saw the subtle sadness on Akane's face and Morgana, who had popped his head up to glance at her, let out a soft, almost sad, sigh. "She looks like she's carrying the world on her shoulders," Morgana commented in a whisper.
"It feels like it," Akane voiced, startling both Morgana and Sumire. Akane then looked at Sumire and said, "Ever since Mom died, I've been so exhausted. I'm not having fun with stuff like I used to. All my friends from back then ditched me. And with Zenkichi being so worthless and my grandparents in Kyoto, It's just been me…"
Sumire stared at the small girl for what felt like a long time. She didn't know why but she could see herself in the small and lonely fourteen-year-old. And without thinking, Sumire spoke."I know how you feel. I've been lonely since my sister passed away."
"Your sister?" Akane softly asked.
Sumire nodded. "She died, saving my life from a car," she explained. "At the time, I was so mad at her for not understanding how I felt. When she died, I was so sad that I did and said things that I can't take back…" Sumire struggled not to imagine a beat-up Ren in his jail cell, tears falling from his eyes as she berated and screamed at him. "I even pretended to be her, all so I could avoid facing the fact that I murdered my best friend by being an idiot."
Sumire let out a shaky sigh and said, "She wouldn't like that I call myself that but it's true. I spent so much of our later life being jealous of her and everything that she was that now, I have so many regrets. had I known her true feelings…had I known I would lose her t-the way that I would, I would have shared so much more with her…"
The two sat in silence for a moment until Akane whispered, "That's how I feel with Mom…"
Sumire gazed at the girl.
"Mom was my best friend too. Zenkichi was always working late, being the idiot that he is, so it was just Mom and me," Akane started. "We would do so much together. Watch J-Dramas, go get ice cream, go to the movies, the works. The last thing we ever talked about was Zorro, her favorite h-hero growing up…"
Akane's shoulders began to shake as Sumire noticed the young girl struggling to hold back her tears. "The last thing I said was how boring he sounded…And then she was gone…I-I never even got to tell her how much I loved her before she was killed…" Akane sniffled. "And the absolute worst part is, her killer is out there, roaming around after taking her life and that coward won't even stop him!"
Sumire didn't know what possessed her to do it. One moment, she was sitting in her chair and the next, she had gathered up the clearly distraught girl into her arms, giving her a tight hug. But almost instantaneously, Sumire found Akane's arms around her as she began to cry against her.
Sumire closed her eyes and held the girl as her own tears began to fall from her eyes.
[Scene Change: Shibuya – Okumura Residence (Afternoon)
Theme of Loss: Aoba Park from Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP)]
The group of teens walked into Haru's home, all of them wearing various expressions of exhaustion. Today was supposed to be a day filled with triumph. Both Madarame and Mitsuyo had confessed to their crimes and yet, the Phantom Thieves felt more defeated than ever.
Makoto was catatonic, the newly introduced Eleonora was defeated, and they were in the pockets of a Yakuza member. Not only that, from what Eleonora explained while they waited for an ambulance, two of her friends had been kidnapped by Kaneshiro.
"What do we do?" Ann asked once the group made it to the living room. "Ryuji's been hurt, two girls have been kidnapped, Niijima has gone into a waking coma, and all of us are in the debt of the Yakuza."
"We hardly even got a chance to celebrate our successful missions," Haru muttered.
"Such the life of Phantom Thieves, I suppose," Yusuke murmured.
"I just don't understand why Makoto would do something like this," Hifumi said with narrowed eyes. "She's so much smarter than that, getting entangled in Yakuza affairs."
"Revenge," Ren answered, snapping the attention of his team. "I found out that Kaneshiro was responsible for her father's murder."
The group gasped in surprise.
"Her father was a cop investigating a gang of his when she was a kid. He apparently got too close to the truth of their crimes and Kaneshiro killed him," Ren explained. "I should have known when she gave the perfect explanation for Yusuke, Hifumi and I going missing but I didn't even question it to her. I just kept it close to my chest…"
"But why?" Ann asked. "Why would she go through all of this to begin with?"
"I don't know, but we have to stop him," Haru said.
Ren remained silent for a moment as his mind went back over the day's events, only to remember Arsène's words.
"It will be difficult to fight a man who thinks he owns all of Shibuya. Especially one that acts like everyone within it is his personal ATM machine to withdraw money to put it in his own bank account. But you can do this, Ren. If I was able to, so will you…Good luck. And don't expect this good fortune to happen again…"
Ren took out his phone and saw the pulsating app that would lead them to the Metaverse. "Ren, what are you doing?" Ann asked.
"Arsène told me something before we went to save Makoto," Ren said. "It will be difficult to fight a man who thinks he owns all of Shibuya. Especially one that acts like everyone within it is his personal ATM machine to withdraw money to put it in his own bank account."
"How cryptic," Yusuke muttered.
"That's Arsène for you," Ren said. "Something about what he said has me wondering. The conversation was all but done, and yet he said that. Something in my gut is telling me that it's important but what could it be?"
"Perhaps if we put our minds to it, we can think about what it can be," Yusuke suggested.
The group nodded and sat in silence for the next twenty minutes as they thought about Arsène's message.
"Ugh," Ann groaned. "I can't think like this. Too many things are roaming through my head…"
"Agreed. This is quite aggravating," Yusuke muttered.
"Put a battle map in front of me and I can figure out ways to defeat our opponents but this? This is outside of my scope," Hifumi frowned.
"I can't think of anything either," Haru sighed.
"Ren, is there anything more your gut can tell us?" Ann asked.
"My mind is just too frazzled," Ren admitted. "Going through Madarame and then having to save Sumire from that mysterious palace has me just tapped."
All eyes turned to him.
"Mysterious Palace?" Haru asked.
"Sumire?" Ann followed up. "Ren, what are you talking about?"
"Oh, right…I didn't even get into all of that yet," Ren sighed.
This day was about to get longer….
Captain Blues: I originally had plans to add more but I hit a nasty writer's block so I think this is where I'll end it to close out the year. If all goes right, the next chapter will involve some sweet Shiho/Makoto moments and maybe even the bank in the sky. Until then, happy New Year and time to set sail.