Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion. Also, Happy Easter everyone!
I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy.
Chapter 32: - Second Target: Located
When the day of the gallery exhibit opened, the heavens did as well, sending a deluge of rain hailing down onto Tokyo. So much so that I put on a thick leather jacket over my outfit and took my umbrella with me to prevent the thick water droplets from hammering down on me. I had been thinking of taking a picture upon meeting up with the others, but based on the heavy downpour, we all proceeded to run inside the building once we got there. Luckily there was a place to put coats and umbrella, so we left those there, leaving us to explore without trailing water.
"So crowded…," Morgana complained. Not that he was wrong, the exhibit was filled with all kinds of people from those dressed in high-end designer clothes like the Wilton Hotel – urgh, I think someone walked over my family's grave – to people dressed more like us, in regular but nice clothing. They were stood staring at the paintings; I took the opportunity to unzip my camera case and remove Mirai's camera whose batteries were freshly charged.
"It'll be a pain in the ass if someone sees you, so don't stick your head out too much, alright?" Ryūji insisted. I wasn't entirely how these people would react to the presence of Morgana, but better safe than sorry in this case, Morgana let out a small grumbling groan, but agreeing with what the boy said, as he promptly pulled himself back inside the back, which was just as well since Kitagawa chosen that moment to rush up to us with a smile on his face.
"You came!" Kitagawa happily greeted. He was dressed in a grey blazer striped with thin white vertical lines over a white, long sleeve shirt with red and pink detail, black pants and black ankle boots. Ann was surprised by the exuberance that the boy was displaying to her presence and stumbled slightly over a confirmation. "You really came," Kitagawa blandly stated. His eyes were zeroed in on Ryūji, but I felt that comment was also directed towards me and Ren.
"What'd you expect when you left us those tickets!?" Ryūji responded. A fair point for him to make, after all to not use the tickets would have been a ridiculous waste; although the sparks that seemed to be flying between the two boys was a little bit extreme even taking into account their dissimilar personalities.
"Make sure that you don't get in the way of the other visitors," Kitagawa insisted. His eyes were firmly set into a glare as he said those words before spinning back to look at Ann and his expression lightened into one that was much more pleasant one. "Come now. I'll show you around. I'd like to speak more about the picture I'd like to draw too," Kitagawa insisted. His tone was perfectly pleasant, lacking all the vitriol it had contained before… I was starting to wonder if he suffered from mood swings.
"Kitagawa-san, would it be alright if I took some pictures?" I requested. The blue haired artist looked at me with a blank expression, conveying neither disgust nor joy, I lifted my camera as if to help clarify any confusion he might have had. "They wouldn't be published or anything, more for capturing my own memories," I explained. A look of contemplation came upon the painter's expression as he remained silent for a few moments.
"I don't see anything wrong with that, some press are here so pictures will naturally be taken," Kitagawa agreed. I smiled brightly at his agreement, with that Ann bid us goodbye and walked off with Kitagawa, at that moment Morgana wriggled out of Ren's bag with what looked to be a worried expression on his face; given what I knew about the cat-shaped thief, I think I know what he was worried about.
"Will Ann-dono be alright!? What if he drags her behind some painting and tries something funny?" Morgana panicked. It was rather sweet of him to care about Ann's safety, but Kitagawa didn't give off those kind of alarm bells. Okay, yes, he stalked her from the train station, but he had only asked for the girl to model for a painting. Besides, there was a little thing that the boys probably weren't aware off.
"Then Ann-chan will promptly drive her fist into his throat and probably aim a blow between the legs then run back to us," I answered. Both Ren and Ryūji violently flinched at the second attack I mentioned before giving me a baffled look from Ryūji and a raised eyebrow from Ren. "I talked her into getting self-defence lessons after the whole Kamoshida mess. I'm hoping to do the same to Shiho as well once she clears her physiotherapy," I explained. Ren let out an 'ah' in understanding while Ryūji turned to glare at Morgana.
"Also, I told you not to come out!" Ryūji snapped. A strange sound escaped the cat before he proceeded to yank himself back inside of the bag; this allowed our Electricity wielder to look at Ren with a dejected look on his face. "Are we really gonna 'appreciate' the fine arts? Can't we just go home?" Ryūji whined. I restrained an eyeroll at his complaining, I know this might not be his preferred activity, but he didn't have to sound like we were attempting to torture him by boredom.
"It'd be a waste to just leave; we should at least look around. Besides, we might learn about Madarame," Ren insisted. Ryūji slumped down but agreed to go along with us, activating my camera, I quickly snapped a picture of a painting that had been recently cleared of spectators which meant that I could get to see it without interference. "Enjoying your photography?" Ren asked. I turned to look at our leader who was softly smiling at me.
"Yes!" I happily answered. I then snapped a picture of him and Ryūji quickly before walking off into the gallery, photographing the pictures that were clear of people; I spotted Ann and Yusuke stood by a picture with Ann's face turned slightly back so you could only see a slight portion of her left features while Yusuke was gazing with an almost dream-like admiration cast to his eyes. I quickly snapped a picture of them, the lights almost seemed to be setting off a small halo around Ann's bright curls.
"Hm?" Ryūji let out. All of us came to a stop and looked at the blonde only to see that his eyes were focused upon the person a small distance away from us. "It's that old man from the other day," Ryūji stated. It was indeed Madarame and he seemed to be speaking to a TV crew, likely to make an interview given how much coverage the gallery was getting before it even opened. They were talking about how many different styles the man produced, there was a significant diversity in his styles of painting.
"Well… it is rather difficult to put into words," Madarame admitted. Ryūji began to walk towards the man, but Ren stopped him by grabbing his arm and pulling it back slightly to stop his momentum. "They naturally well up from within my heart like bubbles rising one after another in the spring," Madarame claimed. Suddenly, a haze of gold settled over the man with something like a topknot stretching from the back of his head. "Such magnificent pieces I've created," Madarame's voice claimed. But there was a very creepy fact that I couldn't ignore. "What's important is to distance oneself from worldly desires such as money and fame. My atelier is a modest shack, but it is more than enough to pursue true beauty," Madarame admitted. Those words had been spoke at the same time as the other set of words.
"Shadow!" I hissed. Ren turned to look at me with wide eyes while Ryūji seemed surprised by something. "He has a Shadow," I repeated. And it had been frighteningly clear as well, all kinds of alarms were shrieking around within my head at this revelation, Ryūji turned to look at us and saw the tension draped over the two of us like lead blankets. He opened his mouth, but Ren sharply shook his head in order to silence the false blonde as his expression set into a hard look that Joker normally bore.
"Outside! We can talk there!" Ren commanded. We proceeded to try and rush out the gallery to the small courtyard there, although we ran into a slight problem in that a large crowd of people surged towards Madarame as we tried to get away. The mere act of trying to push against the crowd caused an issue for us as we tried to get away with feet treading on my toes and arms or elbows landed jabs into my ribs which stole my breath from me. And the tight press of bodies meant I couldn't even try to dodge let alone actually succeed.
Eventually we made our way back to the door and grabbed our stuff, we darted outside and immediately cracked open the umbrellas until we reached the large tree which shaded us from most of the rain and allowed us to slightly pull our umbrellas back. I reached over to one side of my torso and gingerly rubbed a spot that had been struck one too many times. Neither Ren nor Ryūji were any better as the blonde practically collapsed onto the stonework that surrounded the tree like a bowl while Ren leaned against the edge of a table that was also hiding from the storm.
"That old lady totally elbowed me," Ryūji wheezed. I shot off a quick message to Ann so she wouldn't get confused about where the four of us had disappeared to, Morgana wriggled his head free of the bag that Ren had set onto the table. "Anyway, I remember something I read on the website thanks to what Madarame said," Ryūji admitted. That must have been what he was so surprised about.
"You better find it so we can show it to Ann when she gets here," Ren insisted. He then turned to me, a tense look was clear upon his face and along the lines of his shoulders, he looked like he might be trembling slightly, though that could be from the cold wind blowing through despite it being May. "You're sure it was a Shadow you saw?" Ren asked. I sharply nodded my head to confirm this fact, but figured I'd better explain what I had seen and what that may entail.
"Yeah, it doesn't mean he has a challenge though. Plenty of Shūjin students had one but they never had challenges, but this one was very clear and dressed differently. Something I've only seen on Rulers, so it would be wise to investigate," I answered. Rulers was at least something I could speak out loud about since people might just think we're gamers discussing a game we happened to be playing.
"Why'd you leave without me?" Ann's voice called. We turned to see the model walking over to us, her reddish-pink umbrella raised over her head until she stepped underneath the boughs to join us in relative dryness; with her closer now I noted the annoyance that shone within her bright eyes along with the thin pursing of her lips as she looked between three of us for an explanation as to our disappearing act.
"We needed to talk about something urgent, plus we were also getting crushed by the press of bodies," I answered. My hand impulsively returned to the likely bruised area, causing Ann's eyes to immediately dart there as her eyes softened with concern, she looked at Ren and Ryūji for any sign of obvious injury before lifting her eyes to Morgana who seemed overjoyed that she was back to us.
"What was so urgent?" Ann asked. Her tone was tense, but not with annoyance, she had likely guessed what the urgent matter was since there was only one thing that would be major for all of us to rush to somewhere semi-private without telling her beforehand. Ryūji shifted around for a bit and winced slightly before focusing on Ann with a slightly wary look on his face as he held his phone out to show the Phan-site's familiar red background.
"Natsumi saw a Sh- OW!" Ryūji began to speak. Only for Morgana to pounce on the boy's head with his claws slightly stuck out, Ryūji writhed a bit before Ren plucked Morgana off the blonde's head. "Natsumi saw something and I remembered seeing a post. This post might be about Madarame. 'A master of the Japanese arts is plagiarising his pupil's work. Only his public face is shown on TV'," Ryūji read. My eyes flew wide as did the others'.
"Plagiarising!" All of us exclaimed. That was pretty serious, to take the credit of someone else's hard work, dreams, determination, and hopes was an abhorrent thing. It might not be the worst crime in the world, but it could be pretty soul crushing for someone to see their work being taken and praised as someone else's while they are completely ignored.
"I didn't think much of it when I first saw it, but hearing 'shack' and 'Madarame' triggered my memory of it. 'His treatment of the pupils who live with him is awful. He teaches nothing and bosses them around. He treats them inhumanely, as if disciplining a dog,'" Ryūji kept reading. This wasn't someone trying to slander another person, this was someone speaking about a genuine truth, someone who had experienced it; I felt sorry for the person behind the post… I wonder if this was Kitagawa, or was Kitagawa kept separate somehow, treated differently and not harmed… he didn't seem hurt or in some kind of lasting physical pain, but abuse had many versions and many left no physical marks.
"Do you think Kitagawa-kun posted this?" Ann tentatively asked. So, someone else had suggested this possibility, her expression became filled with concern as she looked at the ground; as pushy as Kitagawa might seem, he certainly didn't deserve to be a victim of plagiarism, no one did, but to be forced to ensure this from someone he seemed to whole-heartedly respect must have been awful. But it was that genuine admiration that made me question his situation. "I mean he is a pupil of his," Ann reminded.
"Who knows? It's anonymous and all…," Ryūji admitted. Could Kitagawa really be unaware of how Madarame was treating the other pupils while living with them? Even Kamoshida's victims had been aware of the horrors of their own treatment despite them attempting to play it off, nothing about Kitagawa's actions implied that was an act; even based on my possibly skewed understanding of emotions, the two cases were so opposed that it was difficult to compare them.
"Given that Natsumi saw a clear Shadow and this post references a master of Japanese arts, it's possible the Madarame we heard about in Mementos is referring to the same one," Morgana suggested. It would line up with what Nakanohara implied, the name was the same and given that the Shadow had said things like being 'used and disposed of' and 'tossed away like a worthless thing' which would line up with a plagiarism accusation.
"A man like that, doing such a thing?" Ann muttered. She seemed confused and unsure, but I couldn't blame her as the accusation of plagiarism and abuse was deeply opposed to the kind, gentle, slightly jovial old man we had met only yesterday, he had also seemed humble when talking to the interviewer; even Kamoshida had let his mask slip on random occasions, yet Madarame's seemed iron clad and airtight. "I wonder if we can ask that… opponent from earlier about this," Ann suggested. That was a good way to refer to our non-Palace connected enemies.
"Doubtful. The opponent won't be around, he'd be in reality though. But getting a hold of him might be difficult," I admitted. Sure, we knew he worked at City Hall, but even if we did find him it might take too long to see him; then, even if we did get to see him, that would lead to an entirely different and more troubling issue that we'd have to solve if we truly wanted information about Madarame.
"Besides, even if we did find him, how are we gonna go about explaining that? Tell him about Me- training?" Ryūji added on. At least he bit his tongue and changed the word when Ren glared at him – sans glasses too which heightened the effect – Morgana seemed contemplative as he looked at the ground before looking at us.
"Besides, if we make a move out in the open, there's the possibility that Madarame will find out," Morgana warned. Ann understood the risk but seemed a little upset about it from her down cast expression, we were certainly stuck in an awkward position. Our need for more information against our need to remain anonymous about our Metaverse related activities, we needed to find a way to balance these two things.
"Hey, what do you think about Madarame? Doesn't he seem suspicious?" Ryūji asked Ren. He proceeded to pulled himself up as he faced Ren head on. "If this post is legit, ain't this the kinda target we've been waiting for?" Ryūji questioned. He was getting excited, perhaps too excited, true it was exactly the kind of thing that would remove the blockage down in Mementos; we had yet to completely agree or even know if Madarame had a Palace to begin with, it could have been at the stage just before a separate Palace formed after all.
"It's too early to say at the moment. The post could be fake, but Natsumi's observation lends it some weight of truth. Madarame seems like a courtesy and pilot gentleman, but appearances can be deceiving. I think we need to speak to someone who really knows Madarame, not just the face he shows to everyone else. We need more information," Ren decided. His argument was thoughtful and persuasive, easily balancing both sides while discounting no possibilities.
"Someone who knows him… our best bet is Kitagawa-san," I suggested. Primarily it was because he was the only one we actually knew in the physical world, approaching Nakanohara for information was substantially more dangerous than approaching Kitagawa, although getting the information from Kitagawa might be more difficult, especially if he was unaware of the cruel things Madarame was doing.
"Well yeah… but… is that post really true? It's not that I doubt you Natsumi, it just seems so weird," Ann admitted. I understood her concern, I didn't feel insulted either since my Second Sight was pretty unusual and it wasn't like I could just loan out my eyes for them to use… actually the power might not even transfer if I did do such a thing since it was linked to my soul and only transmitted through my eyes.
"By the way, what did you do about the whole modelling thing?" Ryūji asked. He looked at Ann while I proceeded to raise an eyebrow at that question, Ren seemed perplexed as he also stared at Ryūji while Morgana's hackles started to rise at the mention of the modelling. Ann for her part just looked confused as she slightly shrugged her shoulders before opening her mouth.
"Kitagawa-kun gave me his contact info and the address to his sensei's atelier," Ann admitted. That would mean we'd at least be able to find the place, although whether it was the same shack that Madarame's other students used was up for debate, it was also possible that this place could be the site of a Palace or it could just be an ordinary place. Ryūji suddenly grinned rather widely at Ann's words.
"He said he lives there, right? Perfect timing. Let's try goin' tomorrow. We're off to Madarame's house right after school!" Ryūji declared. My eyes widened at Ryūji's declaration while Ren gaped at him, Ann proceeded to flinch backward in shock at those words; not that any of us could be blamed since it was so unexpected the suggestion even if it did help us in the long run… to just turn up there suddenly without any announcement beforehand.
"Huh?! You want me to model tomorrow!?" Ann questioned. She had every right to be concerned by what had just been suggested, there was probably no way we'd be able to even get in the building without Ann consenting to the modelling request which was something she didn't seem too keen to be doing. "This is too sudden," Ann complained.
"Ann-chan's right. That seems really sudden, we have to wait for Kitagawa-kun to agree. And besides, Ann-chan's comfort should come first," I insisted. Ann gave me a smile in response to my support, I didn't want Ann to be forced into an uncomfortable situation after having just escaped such a horrible thing that she'd been enduring for far too long.
"What? We're just gonna go talk to Kitagawa," Ryūji insisted. He sounded honestly confused as to why Ann was so against this, it seemed he didn't understand the things we would likely have to do if we wanted Kitagawa to actually talk to us. Actually, talk to Ann, since while he seemed neutral at best to me, he definitely didn't like Ren or Ryūji.
"But Kitagawa-san might not be willing to open up. He needs to get comfortable and painting Ann might make him comfortable. But if Ann isn't comfortable then going is pointless. We're not going to force anyone to do anything they don't want to do. Even if it is to pursue a challenge," Ren insisted. Ann beamed at our leader who gave her a soft smile to show his reassurance that Ann would not be forced into something she hated.