Persona 5: Daywatch

Wednesday, 13 April 2016
Afternoon
Location: Unknown

Breathing heavy, Ann slid to her knees in the gold-gilded bedchambers of the twisted king. Her eyes locked onto the short, bipedal creature approaching them from the door, she managed, "Wha… what are you?"

The half-meter black and white creature looked over Ann, its eyes widening. "What a meowvelous woman! Fierce and beautiful."

Ann braced a hand on her knee, only then looking down and noticing her form-fitting red leather bodysuit. Wrapping her arms around herself for all the good it would do, shouted, "What the… when did this happen to my gym uniform?"

The cat-kid held a hand up at her. "That is the shape of your will of rebellion against the injustice of the world."

Still favoring his left leg, Akira came to a stop just a pace from her. "But… red leather?" When Ann shot to her feet, shoulders back and posed to throw herself into a fight, he raised his hands in surrender. "Not that it doesn't look good on you."

"Everybody constructs their lives with the building blocks made available by the world around them," the catboy said. He gestured at Akira. "Much as you."

A clatter of plate mail from the door heralded the appearance of a group of gray knights. "There they are!"

"Quick," catboy snapped, "Follow me!" Drawing a fist-sized canister from his belt, he threw it and smoke billowed.

The sounds of metal charging in rang, but the smoke obscured everything. A voice echoed out of a metal helm, "Where are they?"

Struggling to squint through the dense fog, Akira spotted the diminutive form of catboy and followed him out the door. Pausing, he turned to see Ann at his back. Satisfied both of them were safe enough, he followed catboy to a vent, then through that to a narrow, smudged servant passage.

Once they all stood in relative safety, Akira put his hands on his hips. "So who are you?"

Pausing to glance around warily, catboy looked up at him as if hoping not to say. "I'm Morgana."

Akira brought his hand to his chest and inclined his head. "Akira."

"Ann," she introduced in likewise fashion. Staring out at the narrow corridor, she asked, "What is this castle? What happened to the school?"

Morgana's ears fell slack against his broad skull. "The school is the castle. This is the distorted reflection of your school in the heart of the palace ruler."

Akira straightened his longcoat. "Well, you did say Shujin was his own private castle."

Ann's eyes widened. "I didn't mean it literally!"

Akira focused on Morgana. "But… What about the girls? Especially Suzui? There's no way a nice girl like that would be caught dead with Kamoshida, much less half-naked in some… pleasure house," he spit, "and gushing over how wonderful it would be to wait on that shit-head. I know it's dangerous, but we've got to go back and bust 'em out."

Morgana tilted his head. "Girls?"

Akira frowned. "He must've had the whole female volleyball team there in that gold-caged sex dungeon."

Ann rolled her eyes. "I think you mixed a few metaphors there."

"Up yours!" he snarled back.

Hopping up and waving his arms to get their attention, Morgana said, "Whoa! We can't go back up there. There's nobody to rescue."

"The hell there isn't!" Akira reached for Morgana, who danced out of his grip. "I saw… it must've been twenty girls." A flush of heat spread over his cheeks.

"And that…" Ann shivered. "…look alike." Her mouth twisted into a grimace. "I'd never wear something like that for Kamoshida."

Akira stared off. "She sure filled it out."

Ann glared at him.

"I…" Akira stepped back. "…just noticed…" He pressed a palm against his eye, then hissed and flinched away from the darkening bruise over his face. "I must have foot-in-mouth disease."

Morgana's eyes snapped wide. "Oh, I think I understand what girls you're talking about. Like that cognitive image the Palace ruler had of Lady Ann?"

Now Akira's eyes grew wide. "Cog… are you telling me they were all cognitive constructs formed from an amalgamation of his conscious and subconscious desires?"

Morgana crossed his arms, his gaze narrowing to slits. When he spoke, his tone was nothing short of accusatory, "You catch on… very fast."

Akira scratched his neck, eyes on his feet. "I… didn't exactly have a lot of choice in whether to learn about psychology."

Ann crossed her arms. "How do you know so much about this place, cat?"

Ruffled, Morgana bared his teeth. "I am not a cat! I am Morgana." He held up his hands, ears curling down as he flexed his fingers. "The Metaverse has been distorted by something lately. That's what changed me into… this."

Straightening to try to inject some calm neutrality, Akira looked Morgana in the eye. "When did that happen?"

Morgana looked away, his ears pressing against his skull. "I… don't know. Maybe it's because I've been here so long, but…" He held his arms down and looked Akira in the eye. "I can't remember anything from very far back. A matter of months, maybe a year. The distortions that turned me into this also robbed me of most of my memories."

Akira shoved his hands into his pockets. "Man, I wish I could get that."

Both Ann and Morgana turned scathing looks on him.

Akira shrugged. "I don't exactly have a diary full of warm memories."

Sighing, Morgana waved it aside. "If I could just find the Treasure, I could topple this palace and right at least a little of the distortion."

"Huh?" Ann blinked, her crossed arms loosening.

"Palaces form when a ruler has a focus of warped desires." Glancing up, he noticed both costumed teenagers giving him blank looks. "Think of a Treasure like an anchor. It's a core of their desires. If it gives rise to a Palace, it could even stop them from being able to go anywhere in life, forcing everything to circle around that one primary obstacle in their mind.

Akira blinked, seeing double Morganas and Anns. "Could you four do me a favor? Stop wobbling."

Ann raised an eyebrow. "Wobbling? We're both standing still."

Hot red flames washed over Akira, returning him to his gym uniform, and he fell to his knees.

Morgana maintained a calm, analytic stare. "Huh. I knew he was burning up a lot of energy, but I didn't know his power was still so unstable."

Kneeling next to Akira, close enough to see perspiration beading across his skin, Ann glanced back at their short benefactor. "What's going on?"

Looking her in the eye, Morgana's held a serious tone. "If that was your first time summoning your Persona, you won't be far behind. We need to get both of you back to your world, quick."

Bracing a hand against the wall to come back to his feet, Akira couldn't find enough strength or coordination to push Ann away. "No argument there."

Ann looked to Morgana. "Is it because he summoned his Persona three times?"

"Once you've awakened, it should just depend on how hard you're pushing your Persona." Morgana glanced between them, then his eyes snapped wide open. "Wait, are you saying he just awakened too?"

"Why?"

"That's very dangerous. I'm surprised you can still walk so soon after calling out your Persona for the first time. If he forced his out three times today," Morgana opened his mouth, then closed it, then waved his hands in the air. "I don't even know what could happen. Worse, he's vulnerable to the palace distortions now."

Head pounding, Akira grunted. "What's that mean?"

"That…" Morgana swirled a hand in a circular motion, "outfit you wore. Think of it like armor that protects you from the effects of the palace ruler's distortion. It's a reaction of your will against his."

Akira tilted his head, hammers still pounding the inside of his skull. "So… those threads were how Kamoshida thought of me?"

Morgana shook his head. "No, your appearance is determined by your self-image, as well as your perceptions of how others view you. Now hurry, follow me before you forget you came from the outside."

Struggling against the headache and rubbery sensation in his knees, Akira followed Morgana to the castle entrance, relying on Ann to steer him in the absence of his glasses. They came to a place much brighter than the halls of the castle, and Ann stopped, staring out. "No way, it's Tokyo!"

Morgana came to a stop in front of them. "Now you just have to use the same artifact you used to get here and you'll return to your world."

Ann threw her fists down to her sides. "We don't know how we got—"

"Wait," Akira said, a tinge of elation joining the throbbing headache. "My phone said something before we wound up here." Digging around, he pulled out his smart phone and stared, baffled, at the bleeding eye icon taking up the screen. "The hell?"

Morgana stood like a sentinel by the vent they used to escape the castle. "Just don't forget that I helped you when you needed it."

Ann gave him a serious nod. "Okay." Refocusing on Akira, holding a hand against his head, she said, "Let's go home."

His thumb tapped the screen and the same mechanical voice from earlier read, "Returning to the real world. Thank you for your hard work."

Red and darkness tore across their vision, but after a blink the bustle of Tokyo stood all around them. At least outside the narrow alley across from the gates of Shujin High. Both struggled to breathe for a moment, shocked at the journey they concluded. Caught up in the euphoria of victory and return, they embraced.

Akira glanced down to see her purple bra peeking out.

Ann glanced down to see her split shirt. Jerking apart, her hand lashed out and slapped across his face.

Akira stumbled back into the air conditioning units, hands going to the one side of his face. His split lip started bleeding again as he let out a moan of pain.

"Sorry!" Ann grabbed her gym jacket and zipped it up. "Look, about that castle fiasco… the things that cat said…"

Akira searched around through every pocket for his glasses until finding the half a frame without a cracked lens. Holding it up over his eye, he turned to Ann. "Morgana. Yeah. We need to check it out again. I know he said they weren't real, but… if there's even a chance Shiho's in danger, I can't just sit it out."

Leaning her forearm against the brick wall for support, Ann scanned his face for a few moments, her eyes coming to rest on the purpling bruise on the left side. She took in a deep breath, but something about her pose seemed more relaxed than the transfer student had ever seen her. "You really care about her a lot, don't you?"

The wistful hint in her voice sent a feeling of fire through his face and he coughed against a tightness in his throat, unable to meet her azure gaze. "N-no! It's just that… Anybody who would have stuff as sick as that in his head is somebody too dangerous to leave unchecked."

Letting out a heavy breath, Ann leaned fully against the brick wall opposite Akira. She brought a hand up to clutch her head, wincing. "I'm feeling dead on my feet."

"I feel like I'm ready to collapse as soon as I sit down." His head pounded like oni took turns slamming each side with warhammers. Looking back to Shujin, he said, "I'll see what I can find tomorrow. Want me to message you if I find anything?"

Ann hesitated, then looked to the bruise darkening on his face. "If I can't trust you after that, who can I trust?" Taking her phone out, they exchanged contact information. Glancing up at the sky, deep crimson giving way to purple, she gaped. "It's that late? I am so dead!"

She dashed back inside the school and Akira followed at a more measured pace.

Wednesday, 13 April 2016
After School
Shujin Hallways

Shiho shifted her grip on the stack of books in her arms, tired even before having started them. A familiar stride approached and she turned in the empty hall to see Mishima, favoring his left foot just a little.

Some recent swelling kept him from fully opening his left eye, but he looked up at her with the same tender worry as he did back when he used to meet her after volleyball games. "Shi-chan… are you leaving?" He reached for her shoulder.

"Sorry, Yuu-chan," she said, the act of having to send away the most supportive person in the school almost painful. "I've got too much studying to do." She looked over his bruised face and cast her gaze away, shrugging his hand off before her mind could start whirling through that fearful cycle of wondering what happened that he wouldn't talk about. She glanced up and down the empty hall, but couldn't help but notice the way her heart sped up at his touch. "C'mon, we can't be seen like this at school."

Mishima took his hand away. "Go."

Shiho blinked, turning to her pillar of gentle support. "What is it?"

Mishima flinched and turned further away, a tremble entering his hands. "Kamoshida's asking for you. He's in the PE Faculty office."

She swallowed, trying to push away the rumors of what happened to people he called to his office after practice. After all, she was the starter. The star of the girls' volleyball team. She didn't make any mistakes. He had nothing but praise for her, even if he was a little harsh to the other players. "What did he say?"

His trembling hands clenching into fists. Mishima turned further away, his body tense as a violin string. He whispered, so quiet she hardly heard, "Go."

"Yuu-chan…?" After several seconds of him looking away from her, doing nothing but tremble, she let out a breath. If anybody would tell her if something important was up, he would. Taking another moment to glance around the empty hall, she stepped closer and reached out but couldn't actually cup his bruised cheek. He looked more worried than the night he met her mother. "What is it?"

Mishima swallowed and straightened, but just when he was about to look up at her he cringed and looked away. His limbs shook so much she was surprised she didn't hear his knees knocking together.

When he refused to speak, she drew her hand back, her patience thin. "Yuu-chan, I don't have time for this." Shiho shifted her grips on her books again. "I have books I haven't finished reading that I need to check back in to the library." Glancing at him, he refused to turn to her and a spike of annoyance shot through her. Yuuki, the one friend she thought would always talk to her, stood there looking like a beaten dog. "Yuu-chan, he's got to know I'm here today."

Mishima opened his mouth, then closed it. "Kiriko…"

The long-haired senior sprang to her mind's eye. Vice captain of the girl's volleyball team last year, president of several clubs and a shoe-in for student council president in her senior year. Until she dropped off the face of the earth. "You heard what the student council VP said, she was over-extended and exhausted herself. Nothing happened." She shuffled a half-step to one side to try to look him in the eye, but he turned his face further away. Shiho sighed. "I can't just skip school every time you get nervous. If I keep vanishing every time he wants to see me, he'll kick me off the team."

Mishima's fists tightened. "He just said to the come to the office." His hands trembled and eyes clenched shut, turning his face all the way away from her. "I can't do it again!" Glistening light appeared at the corners of his eyes before he turned and fled.

Baffled at his refusal to speak to her, she took the books to the library, finished the chapter for her upcoming history essay, and returned them. Knowing she had no other excuses to get in the way, she took the hallway to the practice building.

Echoes of the whispered rumors passed through her ears. Two students keeping their distance from the office glanced at her, to the door, then made themselves scarce as if a monster chased them.

Shiho straightened, muttering to herself. "The tournament's going to be starting soon. I'm the starter. He wouldn't do anything to me. Those rumors are wrong."

It still took all her will to lift her hand and open the door. She stepped inside, and the door closed with a low click far louder to her ears than it should have been. "Kamoshida-sensei?"

Kamoshida took his time standing out of the stunted chair in front of his desk, stepped around her, and locked the door.

The towering man looked down at her, his tongue running over his lip.

Shiho backed away, her limbs feeling cold and heart racing. "P-please…"

Her sobbed scream echoed through abandoned halls.