Were anyone to take a picture at this very moment, they would likely recoil in shock and horror. At the stroke of midnight, a girl stood with a gun, aimed at the back of the head of a boy. The boy sat alone on a sofa with a maniacal grin on his face.
Across from him sat three people. One was brown-haired girl with blood red eyes who watched with an jaunty smile. On her left was a boy with blue hair and blue eyes, who watched impassively. On her right was a girl with green hair who watched with nervousness and worry in her eyes.
But to understand how this happened, one must look back several hours in this very room.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009, 8:41PM
Iwatodai Dormitory
As Yukari arrived home, she overheard Junpei talking loudly to the rest of the juniors. "I'm just saying man, that shit was loco." He shook his head as Makoto just shrugged. "Absolutely insane."
Yukari sat on the empty seat next to him. "What was?"
"That crazy-ass Shadow from last week!" He yelled. "Dude was like the freakin' Grim Reaper! I've had nightmares about that creepy-ass guy. Every time we go to Tartarus, I'm edge that we might see him again!"
She bristled, and saw the other three silently do the same.
Every night they went to Tartarus since then, the seniors had taken point and quickly proceeded through the floors, reaching new two-way teleporters as fast as possible and returning to the ground floor without a word. Their entire strategy had been warped around avoiding even the possibility of that thing returning.
And even though it had yet to reappear, its mere existence hung over them like a guillotine.
"Yeah, well, we're here and he's over there. So like, why bother thinking about it now?" Yukari pulled out a book from his backpack and cracked it open.
Junpei sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't get how you guys can just ignore this stuff. Don't you know guys, you know, lay awake at night think about it?"
Makoto looked up from his homework. Kotone and Fuuka stopped painting their nails and looked at him.
"Like, having a Persona is awesome, it's like being a superhero." Kotone grinned at that. "Ever since I summoned Hermes, I'm always thinking about stuff like this. Like what kind of cool crap can I do with Hermes, how can we fight Shadows better, why do they exist, or what treasures lie at the top of Tartarus."
Makoto shrugged. "Personas are a means to an end. Besides, we can't even use them around the clock. If we could...well, then it would be a lot more interesting."
"You guys got no imagination, I swear." He paused. "Hey Yuka-tan." She turned to him. "It don't matter whose Evoker you use, right? Like if I use mine or yours or Kotone's, I'll still summon Hermes, right?"
She put down her book. "Uh, yeah. That should be how it works. Why?"
"Well, what happens if you shoot me with it?"
Makoto, Kotone, and Fuuka turned to him, joining Yukari in looking completely confused.
"Like," Junpei scratched the back of his neck, "would it summon Hermes or would it summon uhhh," he paused for a moment, "Io?" The room remained quiet, as they all looked at one another, hoping someone else would answer. "I mean it should summon Hermes since I'm the one gettin' shot an' all but...I dunno, you know?"
Yukari squirmed in her seat. "I mean, I'm not sure. It should be your Persona, I guess."
Fuuka spoke up. "Perhaps we could test it out during the Dark Hour?"
"Hell yeah!" Junpei smiled. "I'd love to get shot in the head."
Yukari sighed deeply. "You're beyond saving, Junpei."
"Congratulations Junpei." Kotone said. "Coming up with plausible hypothesizes and testing them in the field, you're basically a scientist now."
Junpei simply responded with a toothy grin. Kotone giggled into her hand. Fuuka gave a weak smile, Makoto shook his head, and Yukari just sighed.
"This feels so wrong." Yukari shuddered as she stood behind the sofa, her Evoker aimed at the back of Junpei's head. "Like even more than usual."
"Don't lie." Makoto said, sitting cross-legged across the table from them. "You've been wanting to do this since you met him."
Junpei and Kotone both burst out laughing.
"N-No I haven't!" Yukari yelled at them. "Shut up!"
Kotone's chin rested on a tent of interlaced fingers. "Do it Yukari. Shoot Junpei in the head. Do it for science."
"Come on Yuka-tan." Junpei said with a smile that shone bright even in the Dark Hour. "Do it."
The pink-wearing girl grit her teeth, took a deep breath, and-
"Woah!" With a flash of blue light, Hermes was summoned. Junpei fell to the floor, his body curling up into a fetal position as he grasped his head tightly. "Ohhhhh..."
Yukari let out a heavy sigh and sat down as Hermes stood before her, proud and tall unlike his wielder at the moment...or ever, in her eyes. "Phew. Well, there's that answered." She turned to a groaning Junpei and tilted her head. "You OK?"
"Y-Yeah." He lifted his head, eyes clenched shut. "It's like when I summoned him the first time, but even more disorientin'." Hermes fell to one knee and patted him on the back before disappearing.
Fuuka walked over and offered Junpei a hand up. "Are you alright Junpei-kun?"
"Yeah..." Junpei groaned as she helped him off the floor.
"Well," Makoto stood up and stretched, "we now have our answer. I expect us all to write up a five page essay on how we can use this in Tartarus by the next full moon."
"Um, no." Yukari snapped her fingers. "I have actual homework that needs to be done this week."
"Detention it is!" Kotone yelled.
Yukari turned to leave. "More like bedtime."
Thursday, June 4, 2009, 4:21PM
Gekkoukan High School
Just as Yukari was about to leave the school, she heard the speakers announce something.
"Saori Hasegawa of class 2-C, Kotone Shiomi of class 2-F, please report to the facility office at once. I repeat, Saori Hasegawa of class 2-C, Kotone Shiomi of class 2-F, please report to the facility office at once."
Yukari turned and looked up at the speaker system. "Kotone-chan?"
"Yukari!" A club member called out from outside. "Are you coming or not!"
"One sec!"
"The big meet's next year, so you've got time." One of the third year track members said as Makoto arrived to the nurses office. "Just don't overdo it."
The other one turned to Makoto. "Oh, hey, Yuki right?" When Makoto nodded, he gestured toward Kaz, sitting hunched over in a chair. "Why don't you leave practice early and take him home today?"
"Sorry." Kaz mumbled out, unable to look any of them in the eye.
The two left, and Makoto sat down in the chair next to Kaz. He looked at the other boy and, between his clenched teeth, sweating brow, and shaking knee, could tell he was trying in vain to hide his pain.
"What're you looking at?" He asked defensively. "I'm fine. It's probably just my anemia acting up."
"Anemia you say?" Makoto asked, staring him dead in the eye.
Kaz looked away. "Y-Yeah."
Makoto sighed. "Alright, I won't pry further."
Kaz bit his lip and hesitantly looked up at Makoto, the latter's lazy gaze belying both disbelief and disappointment. "Man, I-I can't lie to you. It ain't anemia." He exhaled, looking smaller and weaker than Makoto had ever seen the proud, energetic boy. "It's my knee. It's been feeling all screwed up for a bit. Med don't help, wrapping it up don't help. Shit just keeps hurting no matter what."
Makoto leaned back in his seat. "Doctor say anything?"
He shrugged. "It's not that bad, I don't gotta go."
"Maybe skip a few sessions and go home?"
"No way!" He yelled. "I'm fine! I just gotta push through it, it ain't that bad. Next year is nationals, if I stop training now, I'll never catch up in time."
Makoto moved to say something, and instead just deflated.
"A lot of dudes on the team are nosy as hell, man. If they find out, they'll never stop bothering me about it." He looked Makoto dead in the eye. "Please, keep it a secret. For my sake."
Makoto looked away. "Alright."
As Junpei snacked on his chips, and as Yukari nervously checked the door every few minutes, Makoto simply laid back in the sofa and pondered his situation.
Kaz...really cares about track. Who am I to tell him to just skip just because I don't care much for it? It might just be some growing pains or something like that. There's no reason for me to assume the worst case scenario. It's probably nothing...
The sounds of the door being opened and slammed into the wall snapped Makoto out of his thoughts. Kotone stomped in, her fists balled, her jaw clenched, and her face blood-red.
She was pissed.
"What happened?" Yukari immediately asked.
Kotone pulled out something from her backpack and smacked it on the table. "Ekoda's a piece of shit, that's what happened." It was a magazine, with a headline that read, 'The Continued Corruption of Our Nation's Youth: Rampant Sexuality in 'G' High'. A girl in a Gekkoukan uniform and a black bar over her eyes was in the corner of the article.
"Wazzat?" Junpei asked. "Some kind of trashy gossip mag?"
"This 'trashy gossip mag' got my friend suspended!" She spat out. "It's a bunch of lying bullshit!"
Yukari gently placed her hand on Kotone's shoulder. "Calm down."
Kotone shook her off. "Like hell I'm going to calm down! I'm gonna break that fucking paparazzo's nose!" Kotone yelled.
Yukari flinched. "Kotone-"
Before Yukari could finish, Junpei jumped up and declared, "If you're up for it, I'm up for it."
"What!?" Yukari yelled. "You can't be serious."
"I am!" He yelled back. "We got all this power to fight Shadows in the Dark Hour, but we just gotta sit still when crap like this happens outside of it? We gotta tolerate douchebags like Ekoda and these scumbags? Like hell!"
"You don't even know what you're doing!" She protested.
Kotone walked over to Junpei and stood by him, side-to-side. "I know the sleazebag photographer was hanging out around the mall. I'm gonna go find him, give him a piece of my mind, and if he doesn't fix this..." Her hands balled up into fists.
She stomped off with Junpei in tow.
Yukari sighed and fell into the sofa. "Jeez. What's wrong with them?"
With a grunt, Makoto stood up. "I'm going to go after them."
"Not you too!"
Makoto shook his head. "I'm not going to attack anyone. I want to make sure they don't do anything rash." He turned away from her. "Do you think...if I had said anything, I could have stopped her?"
Yukari shrugged. "I mean, I dunno, probably not? They're stubborn and dumb, both them." She muttered out.
"Hm."
Makoto trailed them from a distance, all the way from the dorms to the Paulownia Mall. Kotone was too angry to notice him. Junpei was level-headed enough to meet eyes with him exactly once, nod, and pretend not to notice him during the ride there.
Alright. Makoto thought as he sat near the fountain. If I were a sleazy paparazzi-type looking for teenagers, where would I be hanging out? The arcade I guess, the karaoke bar...maybe Club Escapade once that opens?
Out of the corner of his eye, Makoto noticed an old man with a cane, wearing a gray bucket hat and drab green clothes. He beckoned Makoto over.
"Hi there sonny, sorry to bother you, but would you happen to know which way the pharmacy is?" His beard alternated between white and gray, and one eye remained permanently shut as he spoke.
"Yeah, it's just down the way next to the antique shop." Makoto pointed behind him.
The old man tilted his head and mumbled something.
"Sorry, what was that?"
The old man shifted his weight a bit. "I um, I'm none too good with directions, especially in unfamiliar locales, could I bother you to take me there?"
Makoto suppressed a sigh and nodded. "Of course, let me take you there."
"Thank you. Oh! Where are my manners?" The old man said as they walked. "I didn't even ask your name before bothering you. My name is Kazuo Ikari."
"Makoto Yuki."
"Makoto eh? Good name, I'd say." He chuckled, for reason's beyond Makoto's understanding.
As they arrived at the Aohige Pharmacy, Makoto turned to the old man. "Here we are. If you'll excuse me, I need to go look for someone."
"Anyone in particular?" The old man asked. "I might got one good eye, but my memory is still as sharp as ever."
Makoto paused. "It's...not someone I actually know, I'm looking for a photographer. Like for a magazine."
"A photographer eh?" He scratched his chin, hidden under his big bushy beard. "I did see someone with a uh, one of those newfangled cameras hanging around his neck, asking people for pictures."
Makoto perked up. "Oh?"
"I think it was in that coffee place back yonder. They were nice enough, the young'uns there. Good service, clean seats, delicious brew." He said wistfully.
"Chagall Café?"
The old man nodded. "That'll be it."
"I see." Makoto whipped his his phone. "Thank you sir." The old man nonchalantly waved Makoto off as the boy started walking to his destination. "Hey, Junpei? It's me."
A scruffy man, somewhere in his mid-40's, walked out Chagall Café, a sneer plastered on his face as he muttered about over-priced coffee and bad service. A black digital camera hung around his neck.
"Hey you!" A voice called out to him. He turned to see two students from Gekkoukan High, a boy with a blue cap, and a girl in front of him with puffed up cheeks and her hands on her hips.
He turned and kept walking "I'm tired, kid. I'll take your picture some other day."
The girl strutted up in front of him and poked him, rather sharply, in his chest. "I don't care if you are tired you jackass," he flinched back, "I've got words with you. Since you're the reason Saori is trouble."
The paparazzo took a step back, reeling from the sheer hostility he could feel from the girl. She may have been a head shorter than him, but her eyes radiated pure murder. "Do I look like I know who that is?"
He walked backwards until he bumped into the boy with the blue cap. "You make it a habit of shooting teenage girls, bro?" The boy asked, annoyance radiating off him.
"L-Look." He backed up until he hit a wall, as people pouring out of local businesses started to stare at them. "I'm just a photographer, I dunno what they do with my stuff after I hand it in. They ask me for a general idea, I photograph it, I give it to them, they pay me. I dunno what goes on, I promise!"
"You lying ass!" Kotone screamed, inspiring even more attention. "I know for a fact that's not what you told her!"
"Oh shit." Makoto grit his teeth as he saw Kotone began to harangue the man. Kotone's probably going to punch this guy soon? I...need to do something.
As he took a step forward, a familiar voice called out to him. "Just wait right here, Yuki." He turned and saw, to his shock, Kirijo and Yukari.
"Senpai!?"
She quietly walked past him, and the growing crowd of onlookers, directly between Kotone and the paparazzo. "Pardon me." Kirijo said as walked between the three. "Mitsuru Kirijo, of the Kirijo family." She introduced herself as she handed him a card.
"Huh!" The paparazzo took it and read it. "W-What's this?"
"My family's lawyers," she said coolly, "they will be in contact with you and your magazine shortly."
"Lawyer!" He screeched. "Wait a minute, I di-"
She turned and began to leave. "You may discuss any concerns you have with them. Shiomi, Iori, with me." She ordered, tone ice cold enough to melt even their passions. The two quietly followed.
As the five students assembled, a handful of onlookers hung around, keeping watch. Kirijo ignored them, and turned to Kotone. A red-faced Kotone, this time burning red with embarrassment rather than anger, "Shiomi, next time, please consider legal avenues before resorting to vigilante violence."
The brown-haired girl furiously, and silently, nodded.
"Iori, Yuki, next time, please do not encourage her bad behavior. Or anyone else's for that matter."
They nodded, incapable of looking at her.
"Very well. I understand this situation is not what anyone would consider ideal, but I need to remind you that just because some tabloids accuse our school of false controversies, that doesn't mean you all should create real ones." She turned to leave.
Kotone opened her mouth, poised to say something, but just quietly shook her head and left, dejected and quietly humiliated. Junpei rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling something, and left in another direction.
Makoto and Yukari's eyes met. "So...you called Kirijo-sempai?"
Yukari froze, and turned away.
"I'm not calling you out or anything, it proved to be the right choice." He scratched his head. "I'm just surprised you actually went to her for anything."
"It was for Kotone-chan's sake." She mumbled out. "Didn't want her to do something she'd regret. Didn't want to embarrass her like this either, but..."
Makoto chuckled. "You're a good friend."
"W-What's with the sudden flattery!?" She yelled defensively.
"Nothing," he said as he started to leave, "let's go home."
She looked back. "What about them?"
Makoto shrugged. "They'll find their way home. Probably best to let them walk off the embarrassment."
AN: Up until just about the last minute, I was going to name this chapter "I'm gonna break that fucking paparazzo's nose", but unfortunately good taste prevailed.