Somewhere in city of Iwatodai, many miles inland, stood an abandoned building. It stood tall enough that one could look out to the harbor and see the majesty of the sea, and the wealth of Tatsumi Port Island. It was also dilapidated and decrepit enough that most would walk by it, and the surrounding neighborhood, rather than spend too long loitering around it. Few men would dare trying to enter it.
A man with red hair and blue eyes, upon making sure he wasn't being followed, entered a side door and walked down a flight of stairs, completely shrouded by darkness. He knocked on another door at the bottom and waited.
After a muffled response, he opened the creaking metallic door.
Three figures sat there on the opposite side of the room. A shirtless pale young man with gray hair and piercing yellow eyes sat in the middle, a handful of flicking fluorescent lamps cast light on his emaciated form and tattooed arms, as well as the revolver sitting in his lap. To his right was a blue haired man about his age, dressed with orange glasses and a green tracksuit. To his left was a red-haired girl with a flowing white dress and distant brown eyes.
"Well?" The shirtless man with yellow eyes said.
"Yep." The red-haired man said. "I counted eight Persona-users last night at the station."
He raised a single eyebrow. "Eight? My goodness, so many."
The red-haired man chuckled. "Quit messing with me Takaya, you knew for a fact there were others like us running around. I wonder what else you're playing possum about?"
"Watch your mouth, Sho." The blue-haired man said.
Sho raised an eyebrow. "I was talking to you? No, no I wasn't, so keep your mouth shut, Shin."
The man in green snarled. "It's Jin, you pompous ass."
"Whatever." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. "Here." He tossed it to Takaya. "Should be enough to keep you all content."
Takaya took them out and scanned his eyes across them. "Oh my, do I count a few extra suppressors? You must be feeling extra generous this month." He signaled Jin, who begrudgingly gave an envelope to Sho.
Sho stuffed it in his back pocket and held up his hands in faux-surrender. "What can I say, I'm a nice guy."
"Yeah," the girl with equally red hair as Sho's drawled out, "real nice."
He smiled, even though his eyes didn't. "Nice to see you too, Chidori."
Takaya stood up. "Before you go..."
"Hm?" Sho turned around.
Yellow eyes met blue. "Are they like you and me, or...?"
Sho shook his head. "Nah, I'm pretty sure all of them had Evokers. Miserable, castrated Kirijo dogs, every one of them."
"I see." Takaya nodded, eyes glazing over for a moment . "Good to know." He closed his eyes and grinned. "Stay safe. You know how dangerous it is around these parts. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you."
Sho snorted, flashing him a peace-sign as he left.
"Fucker." Jin spat out.
"What now?" Chidori asked.
"We gather information and lie in wait." Jin said. "They outnumber us almost three-to-one, even if they're weaker and less experienced than us, all they need is one lucky hit and we're out. We have to play it safe, there's no way we can afford to blow our cover early."
"Indeed." Takaya said, his eyes glowing brightly for a moment before dimming. "We're in no rush. Besides." He stood. "We have business to attend to, don't we?"
Sunday, May 10, 2009, 11:58AM
Iwatodai Dorm Lounge
If Junpei had to describe the tension in the room, it was, in a word, suffocating.
Last night, he, Akihiko, Fuuka, Kotone, and Shinjiro had healed and carried the unconscious bodies of Makoto, Mitsuru, and Yukari from the station back to the dorm. At the time, everyone had been too exhausted from the operation to try asking any serious questions; now, everyone was too nervous to be the first one to ask said serious questions.
"Sooooo," Junpei said to the assembled SEES members, as he saw the TV announce that it was noon, "should we talk about it?"
No one else spoke. Fuuka looked away in embarrassment as everyone either directly stared at her, or, in Kotone's case, tried to casually steal a glance at her.
"I know it ain't comfortable but..." he shifted in his seat, "we should, right?"
Fuuka opened her mouth and then quickly shut it again.
"If it's alright with you," Akihiko said, "may I ask just one thing about last night?"
"Y-You can ask anything you want." She said meekly. "I just don't know where to start." Her eyes darted all around.
Akihiko stole a glance at Shinjiro, who was pretending not to notice his friend. "Alright then," the silver-haired student leaned in towards Fuuka, "did Makoto lose control of Orpheus?"
Shinjiro flinched, drawing the silent attention of the other students.
"In a word, yes." She said.
"He-" Shinjiro choked out. "He did? Makoto lost control of his Persona? You're sure?"
Fuuka nodded. "It was horrible, I think the Shadows had some kind of emotion manipulating ability. Before they appeared, Yukari-chan and Kirijo-senpai were getting really angry. They said some really nasty and personal things about each other. When Makoto-kun used Patra, it seemed to break the spell the Shadows had over them."
She brought her knees up to her chest.
"During the fight, Makoto-kun didn't just get angry, it was like he- like he became a wild animal. He was screaming how much he wanted to kill the Shadows. Orpheus... I-I thought he was a Shadow given how he was. Just this horrid aura I could feel even without Lucia present."
Shinjiro closed his eyes and looked away.
Junpei rubbed his neck. "Man, when I first saw him, I didn't even realize it was Orpheus. Between the Dark Hour's creepy-ass lighting, him being all red and black, and all the fire, I thought it was another Shadow."
Fuuka looked down. "Orpheus, it was like he was dying. He was screaming so much, and the red pouring out of his eyes, and the black out of his body..." she shuddered. "It was horrible."
Junpei glanced over at Shinjiro. Muscles tensed up, jaw tightly closed, head turned away. Even though he hadn't known the senior student for too long, he could tell something about the conversation was making him painfully uncomfortable.
Kotone stood up. "OK, listen up."
A series of loud and aggressive knocks roused Makoto out of bed. He sluggishly made his way over to the door. Before he could say anything, Kotone poked him in the chest the moment he opened the door. "Get dressed." She demanded.
He blinked, still half-awake. "Huh?"
"Now." She turned around and left, leaving him standing there confused and bleary-eyed.
The walk to the Naganaki Shrine was conducted in complete silence. Makoto saw none of his other dorm mates as he walked downstairs, and barely anyone on the walk to the shrine. The warm sun and pleasant gusts of wind did nothing to ease the sense of dread in his stomach as he trailed behind a power-walking Kotone.
The shrine itself had only a handful of people coming and going, no children, only a handful of adults praying on the opposite edge of the bench Kotone dragged him to, and a few crows near the fox statues.
"When I joined SEES, I...didn't do a good job." She said, breaking the silence. "It took me a while to gather the courage to even use my Evoker. When it came to fighting Shadows, the first time was..." she looked down, "it was with Mitsuru-senpai, and...I froze up."
Makoto looked at her, trying to decipher her melancholic expression.
"We were walking around the neighborhood, trying to get me used to operating in the Dark Hour. When a Shadow showed up, I tried to pull out my Evoker, I tried to stand my ground and prove I could do it, but...I couldn't. I was a sitting duck. I needed her to protect me." She gave a bitter chuckle. "I was so embarrassed and so scared, I spent the entire night crying in my room. The day after, Shinjiro-senpai and Akihiko-senpai told me that, you know, it happens. They all made some big mistakes when they were starting out. They weren't great starting out."
She kicked at some leaves that were on the ground.
"It took me a while to accept that they were right. That, you know, things happen. You can't always be upset with yourself when stuff goes wrong. And the same goes for you guys." She turned to him. "These full moon Shadows, they're weird even by Shadow standards. What they made you guys do, it's not your fault, OK?" She leaned forward and poked him in the chest. "None of you are at fault, understand? I don't want you to feel like that, OK? What is your fault is how you act afterwards."
Makoto looked down. "Yeah, I get it."
She frowned. "You don't believe me, do you?"
He shook his head. "It's not that, it's just..."
Makoto sighed and leaned back on the bench. He counted the clouds in the sky and tried to put it into words.
"I knew the Shadows were doing something. I knew they were manipulating Kirijo and Yukari. And I knew they were manipulating me, but, in the moment," he turned to her, tired blue eyes meeting curious red ones, "I just didn't care."
"...oh?" Her eyes widened a bit.
Makoto sighed again. "It's not that they were trying to brainwash me, they weren't putting thoughts into my head, they were pulling them out. All the stuff that annoyed me in the last week, or pissed me off in general, or...was just stuff I just didn't want to think about, it was like everything was boiling up to the surface all at once." He bit his lip. "The Shadows wanted to mess with me, and I thought, OK, fine, I'll pay them right back. I'll make them suffer for trying to do that." He shook his head. "Stupid idea, absolutely dumbass mistake. I knew they were playing me and I fell right for it."
"That's what transformed Orpheus, isn't it?" She asked. "All of your anger and sorrow were bursting out of him."
Makoto said nothing.
"Your Persona is you, and you are your Persona." She mused. "I guess it makes sense what you feel would affect him."
Again, he said nothing, but the look on his face told her everything she needed to know.
Kotone looked off to the distance, watching one of the crows circle around the shrine, mulling over what he said. "And if those Shadows didn't put stuff in your head, only pulled them out...then all the things Yukari-chan and Mitsuru-senpai said to each other..."
"I don't know what Yukari's deal is with Kirijo is, I can assume but..." he shook his head, "I don't know if it's my place to ask, let alone step in."
"You don't like pressing people about stuff, do you?"
Makoto shrugged.
She grinned and poked him in the rib, making him jump up and yelp. "Well I do. I asked everyone else to go try and talk to Yukari-chan and Mitsuru-senpai." She said. "Even if they don't wanna talk, they need someone to remind them they're not alone and mistakes happen."
The minutes rolled by, the clouds providing them some some respite from the sun. "Hey Kotone?" She turned to him. "...thanks." He whispered out.
She giggled. "No problem." She stood up and held out her hand. "Now come on, let's go home." She said with a smile.
He smiled back and took her hand, as she dragged him home.
"We're baaaaaaaack!" Kotone announced.
Aragaki and Sanada waved them down from the other side of the floor. "Yo, you good?" Aragaki walked over, carefully looking him over.
"I'm good." Makoto said.
He nodded. "Good." He turned to Kotone. "It was like pulling teeth, but we got them to at least leave their rooms. Mitsuru and arrow girl are still a still little, uh..."
Makoto and Kotone looked at each other, knowingly.
"They ain't looking at each other, won't even be in the same room as each other, and they ain't talking much about what happened last night."
"Maybe it's best to let them come to grips at her own pace." Makoto said carefully.
"Is that your prescription, Doctor Yuki?" He asked with a lopsided grin.
Makoto shrugged. "Beats me, you know Kirijo better than I."
Aragaki snorted. "Some stuff is just hard to talk about." He said quietly as he turned and walked back to Sanada.
Makoto and Kotone looked at each other once more and shrugged.
"Yukari's still not comfortable talking about last night, but," Junpei rubbed the back of his head, "at least she's OK to go back to school tomorrow."
"I say give her some space. If she isn't talking now, maybe later." Makoto said. "Different people respond differently to stuff like this."
Fuuka nodded. "That's a very mature way of looking at it, Makoto-kun."
He shrugged. "I dunno, not really. I just don't think there's a point in trying to make someone talk about something if they don't want to talk about it. If she's not interested, there's no point in forcing her."
"Fair enough I guess." Junpei said. "It was trying to open a bear trap getting her to talk. Can't believe we spent all day doing this." He sighed. "There goes my Sunday plans." Junpei pitifully looked out the windows, as the sun was setting outside.
Makoto scratched his head. "Well, I guess nothing to do for the rest of the night but study for midterms.
"Midterms?" Junpei shot up in his seat.
"Yeah, they're the Monday after next." Kotone said.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Junpei screamed to the heavens.