Yosuke Hanamura (p4) 22/06

"Closer it gets, y'all know how everything reflects.

Your soul and spirits lost pretends gets rejects

Look man you are one who actually you detest

I guess they're good reasons why you can't see next- reach out to the truth

A shadow is a side of yourself that you don't want other people to see.

A persona is the mask you put on to face the world with. A mask to cover for the shadows that everyone holds within.

You first awoke to your Persona by facing and accepting the shadows you hold within. Yours was raw insecurities, mixed with all the thoughts of other people you have and never want them to know.

You want to be a good Japanese son, and have worked hard to be one, but all that stands out to you in your teenage years, are all the little ways you are an exception.

You are a forginer, as far as Inaba is concerned. Spaces where you fit in well within the city became ways that you stood out in the country. You tried not to let it get to you, because people who hurt you want to see that they have succeeded in making you cry. So you smile. You act like you are at the top of your game, as you separate who hates you for being city from the suck ups who want you for your connections. And amongst them you try to find friends.

Chie seems like a good start. She has one best friend, and few others, and is happy to loan you her favorite movie, in hopes that you like it as much as she does. Watching a martial arts movie in the name of friendship is a small price to pay.

(You thought Saki was another. But maybe she wasn't. It's so wrapped in teenage insecurities it's hard to tell anymore)

So you tell yourself that two friends can be enough. It's not like you have a lot of spare time anyways, with all the work you put into the store.

Then along comes a stranger from the city. He seems a little distant, but polite enough. Or perhaps that is the city boy in him, and you were getting used to the country faster than you thought.

Your early experiences in getting to know him were embarrassing. All the embarrassing secrets and insecurities like the blood and water from that Jesus guy people in other parts of the world worship.

You think after all that, he's not going to want to be around you much, but if anything, the experience has made you closer.

And he takes you with him to help other people with shadows, and you see their shadows too. All the little ways they don't fit with what society wants from them.

It forms a bond that is perhaps stronger then one you could have forged through normal means. After all, the friends you had back in the city never called you, despite their assurances, and you used to worry about it wondering what you did wrong. Sometimes you would call them, and then worry you were being too needy, too clingy, and maybe that's why they didn't want to talk to you. So you waited for them, and when they didn't, you assumed you were right about that.

The bonds Investigation Team foraged bonds that were built on exposure of self, and the bond survived the murder investigation, high school, arena fights, and every cringe prejudiced thing you all did as teenagers. Retrospectively, the last one is the true miracle. You like to think you have grown out of a lot of old shitty views, and you know now that you will look back on the age you are today and find several things lacking.

Rise says that everyone has to learn to forgive their past selves to move forward. You think before you can truly forgive past you, you should apologize for some of the things he said.

So that's why you are with Naoto, Kanji, and Rise at the Pride Parade. Highschool you would have died at the prospect of coming here. But today you are proud to be here with your friends.