Persona 5: Daywatch
Thursday, 11 August 2016
Afternoon
Togo's Temple, Court of NHK
Six Shadows lined up in the covered courtyard big enough to encompass Shujin. Enormous stage lights blazed down from above, which just seemed to highlight the black pools the Shadows collapsed into. Out of the center rose a green, muscled humanoid with gold eyes blazing. As it rose, the thieves saw a churning yellow orb in the gap where its belly should have been. Below, ragged brown leathers concealed what seemed to be legs just as powerful as the bulging biceps.
A figure in late-feudal shogun's armor, bearing a feline mask and red flag with a paw affixed to the back of its armor, formed behind the giant.
The other four rose as humanoid soldiers without heads. They wore faded tabards, and all wielded whips that looked more like spinal columns. As one they raised their spine-whips.
"A Neko Shogun!" Morgana unfolded his crossbow and crossbow and charged in one fluid motion.
Makoto summoned Johanna and charged into the furthest-right headless soldier, flames bellowing.
With the team leader tied up clashing bayonet to tantou with the Neko Shogun, Futaba and Ryuji looked at Akira. "Okay, let's make sure they have a line to fall back to. Oracle, can you hit more than one at once?"
She tapped that sleek bracelet built into the right hand of her suit and she disappeared up into transport rings as Marcus coalesced above. He held his scroll box aloft and the two canons shot long, cyan beams that raked over a headless soldier, the gigantic green bruiser, and Neko Shogun. The blow made the headless soldier shudder and fall back a step, but the shogun only flinched and the bruiser didn't even seem to notice.
"Pillar of Heaven!" His Persona twisted into being like an angry cyclone touching down from the ceiling, ripping out and tossing one of the ceiling stage lights, then zipped darkness into the beefy humanoid with a churning orb belly, and the two headless soldiers in front of it.
Undeterred, the headless soldiers swung their spine-whips. Yusuke parried the unnerving weapon, but Ryuji and Akira found themselves entangled when they tried to block with studded club and P90 respectively. The headless soldiers yanked, sinking sharp bone into the boys' arms and sending them stumbling forward.
One of the headless soldiers loomed over the fallen Akira and raised its spine-whip.
A thorned whip wrapped around the soldier, tangling its limbs and weapon against itself before lifting it up to slam the Shadow against another. "No you don't!" Ann snapped.
Akira rolled backwards, still bleeding from one arm as he snatched for his P90. "Thanks, Panther."
"Gotta hold that line, right?"
Akira nodded, his bloody fingers not quite responding. Personas it was, then. "Take this and hit 'em all!" He dismissed Pillar and summoned the strengthened Jack Frost, which hurled three javelin-sized ice shards at his teammate's sensual dancer Persona.
Starting with a growl, Big Green lifted its meaty forearms to shield itself and the orb swirled.
Carmen twirled her now unencumbered whip around herself, shattering the javelins of ice and growing a blizzard swirl around herself before lashing out. Frigid winds howled and thousands of small ice shards like a rain of arrows fell upon the whole Shadow party. Morgana leaped for what cover the towering green humanoid could provide and Neko Shogun found itself sheathed in a shell of blue ice.
Gunfire barked as Makoto zipped down the line, spraying haphazard shotgun blasts into the headless soldier Shadows. After the damage from the ice storm, the two shots she landed blasted the Shadows into dissolving smoke. Just to make sure, she swung Johanna around, drifting over another headless Shadow as her Persona gushed flames.
The enormous Shadow let out a bellow and snapped its arms wide. The orb which had been churning snapped into a tight swirl and opened like an eye, emitting a wide, blazing white beam. Akira and Ryuji dove away, but on impact with the floor it unleashed a thunderous explosion that still tossed the Phantom Thieves like leaves and expanded to engulf Marcus. Makoto was the only one quick enough to dismiss her Persona and drop into a braced crouch.
The hacker's Persona shattered into motes as she let out a cry of pain and fell.
Still trying to get his feet under him, Akira felt his heart drop until he saw Futaba fall into the waiting arms of Yusuke.
Before either could think to say something, Morgana's clarion call cut through the dull post-explosion ringing, "Rider, finish off the Neko Shogun before it has a chance to strengthen the rest!" She gave a nod and he leaped up to clap palms.
Makoto dropped down and that tank of a bike Johanna formed underneath her.
A headless Shadow stepped in her path, lashing its spine-whip across Johanna's armor plates and yanking to jerk the armored bike from its course.
The ice encrusting Neko Shogun cracked.
A bolt of plasma zipped into the headless Shadow, knocking it stumbling back. Makoto took the opportunity to race past the Shadow at her target as the cracks spread across its icy prison.
Big Green slammed a meaty fist down on Johanna's armor plate looking like a face, knocking the Persona off the ground in a spin.
The plates slid together and disappeared as Makoto dismissed her Persona, transforming her forced flip into a controlled dive at the encrusted shogun.
Ice shattered off its surface and its tantou blocked the martial artist's studded gauntlet. It held up the signal fan in its other hand and a shimmer passed over Big Green, which stood up with less of a sense of lumbering to its motion.
"Crap," Morgana said from beside the longcoated teen. "Spread out, everyone! Joker, Oracle, with Rider on the Neko Shogun. Everyone else, surround the big greenie and—"
Without the long preamble from last time, it spread its arms and the churning orb in place of its belly dilated, emitting a howling white beam. Unlike the last one, this narrower beam swept across the grounded thieves.
Ryuji and Yusuke braced behind their melee weapons, but Futaba fled into her Persona and up at the courtyard's ceiling. Lacking such ability, Akira and Ann dove for what cover an enormous, fallen flat-screen could provide. The beam swept over the screen, disintegrating it and smashing into the prone pair of thieves.
Akira felt himself tumble over polished floor paneling until crashing into the remains of what might have been a glass-encased mannequin. His back throbbed and he struggled to his feet as Yusuke and Ryuji flanked the headless Shadow.
"Zorro!" cried out from the cover of another smashed glass-encased mannequin. Cool motes washed over the boy, the bleeding wounds in his arm closed and spasm in his back ebbed.
"Thanks!" Akira shouted back as he hopped up. Pillar's curse energy did nothing. Futaba's cannons looked like the same energy as Ananta Shesha and that only seemed to make it stronger. Up ahead, Yusuke backed away from attempting to melee the humanoid monster to send lightning from Goemon. The blow struck, but the Shadow held its footing.
Makoto drove at the Neko Shogun behind Big Green, flames bellowing from Johanna, but the nimble general leaped over the flames and swung at the back of the armored bike.
Marcus swooped in, cannons discharging twin beams that raked over Neko Shogun.
Ann's boosted ice had frozen it, but they needed something that could really hurt the Shadow. Well, nothing to it but to go through the list. Leaving the others to tangle with Big Green, Akira summoned Raja Naga to help Makoto.
Neko Shogun leaped over Makoto's gauntleted punch, but spotted Raja Naga in time to divert his tantou from a stab into her back to parry the snakeman's first punch, then rebounded on the off-hand jab and back-flipped to evade a pair of radiation beams from Futaba's fly-by.
Great. This thing was as ninja as Morgana.
Makoto threw another couple punches, Neko Shogun dodging or parrying each one. Then she lashed out with her foot. The blow didn't connect, but her boot slid along the ground at it as she let out a battle cry and red flames spurted out.
Neko Shogun leaped back, swatting at its decorative skirt with its signal fan.
"Zionga!" Akira shouted. Raja Naga brought its hands together by its side, cradling a ball of lightning before unleashing it in a quick burst.
Neko Shogun stumbled back a step but was ready an instant later to parry Makoto's studded gauntlets. "No good!" she shouted. "Try something else!"
While she kept up the pressure, he dismissed his at the moment most powerful Persona. Futaba's volley hurt it but not much, and he'd seen Makoto drive past with Johanna gushing flames. He wanted to ask her how she conjured her Persona's flames without summoning the whole Persona, but that would have to wait. He reached inside himself for an older Persona. "High Pixie!"
The armored fey coalesced above the upperclassman and held out both hands. As if spilling from her palms, shredding winds roared down at the armored Shadow, knocking it to the ground with a growl of pain.
Akira and Makoto shared a look before the former shouted, "With us, Oracle!"
As the other Phantom Thieves played cat-and-mouse with Big Green with its guard up, the three took advantage of the distance their own battle had taken to deliver an all-out beat-down. Futaba swooped in, ringing out of Marcus in midair to slam the purple, viper-head-decorated end of her staff weapon on the support Shadow.
Then Big Green lowered its guard and that shuddering white beam roared out. It missed Ann, but the point of impact exploded, crashing over everybody. Makoto tried to brace in front of Futaba, but the blast still sent all of them flying back.
Instead of holding back like the last times it blasted them with the exploding laser of doom, Big Green leaped into the air. Ann saw and braced under her whip for all of a second before a sprinting Ryuji bodily slammed her out of the way.
Even from his distance, Akira could hear the snap of bones as the track star's right arm and ribs shattered.
Ann lay there, staring through her mask for a moment before she loosed a scream of rage and sudden gale of snowy wind lifted her from the ground. Carmen coalesced above her and snapped out her whip as ice and blizzard snow roared at the towering humanoid Shadow. The temperature in the whole courtyard plummeted and for a moment Akira feared the whole place would be blanketed in ice.
Instead, the blizzard gale receded as fast as it came, though frost marred most of Big Green's front now and it moved with ponderous speed.
Akira spared a glance at Futaba, taking her staff weapon in hand and rising to her feet. With their newest member okay, he brought up his P90 and fired long bursts into Big Green as he raced closer.
Twin cyan beams shot from Marcus, but when they struck its chest, frost was gone and its scuffed flesh looked bright and fresh again.
"Stop hitting it with nuclear energy!" Morgana shouted as he leaped closer, shooting crossbow bolts as he closed on the downed runner. "Zorro!"
The burly Spanish thief Persona cut the symbol of a Z in the air. Warm motes settled down over all of the Thieves, sealing some of their minor wounds. Ryuji's less shattered rib cage jostled and he let out a cry of pain. Zorro then flitted in to stab Big Green all the way to the hilt.
The Shadow punched upwards with both fists, sending Zorro flying and Morgana tumbling.
Yusuke dashed at the backs of Big Green's leather-shrouded knees and powered a slice with his katana.
Big Green snapped out a side-kick to knock him to the ground, then raised a fist in preparation to pulverize the swordsman.
"Rakshasa!" Akira shouted, still drilling long bursts into the powerful Shadow. The red-clad swordswoman standing a little taller than Yusuke coalesced next to him and swung both her swords, slashing Big Green's elbow and passing through that churning yellow orb where its belly should have been.
The monstrous Shadow flinched and adjusted stance to power its fist down. Yusuke and Raksha both leaped backwards, and the fist shattered the wood flooring. "It seems resistant to our physical prowess, but lightning wounds it. Can you enhance me?"
"Enhance?" Futaba said as she came up alongside the longcoated boy.
Akira just nodded and switched Rakshasa for Raja Naga as the artist backed up and summoned Goemon. Akira's head pounded and his breathing went wheezy, but he pushed through the exhaustion. "Big thunder incoming, Raja Naga doesn't have small spells!"
Yusuke nodded and took a deep breath. When Raja Naga sent a churning lightning bolt with a white core at the kabuki-level flamboyant manifestation of the ancient thief, the large bolt forked and coruscated through the Persona. Yusuke fell to one knee, but stopped and shot a glare at Big Green. "Goemon!"
His Persona blew into its pipe and fog rushed out of it like steam from a tea kettle, sparking with energy even before discharging a gargantuan bolt wider than Yusuke into the towering Shadow.
At last, it wavered on its trunk-like legs. Morgana hopped with a fist in the air. "That's it! Joker, boost Rider next!" He folded his crossbow and sprinted after the fallen runner.
Shaky on her feet, Makoto still gave a nod that felt more like It's do or die than her being quite ready.
Still, Big Green was already turning back to Ryuji and Ann.
"Orthrus!" His vision doubled and his knees felt like jelly, but he struggled to stay upright. The others seemed more in tune with their one Persona, but switching around took a little out of him. His twin-headed demon dog spat a bolt of fire at Johanna, and the armored Persona flared with red flames from every line of tracery.
With a howl of her own, she blasted a good-sized fire ball at the towering Shadow. It took a stumbling step back, grunting with effort.
Swallowing her last gulp, Ann dropped the thermos and stood. "Carmen, Bufula!"
A pillar of ice shot up from the ground and slammed into the Shadow's chin like a fist, knocking it off its feet and into dissipating smoke.
The Thieves gathered around the fallen runner who's pained gasps sounded like last breaths. His hands and feet twitched, but glassy eyes under his skull mask stared up at the ceiling.
Morgana sucked in a breath, then blew it out his mouth. "This may be the last I've got, but—"
"Wait!" Futaba ran up, her staff weapon in hand. "I've still got some stamina left. You guys are the power players, you need to have enough left for the trip out." She turned her wrist and slapped that button on a bracelet, ringing her up into her Persona on a powered glider. Marcus took the scroll in a box and pulled out a length of it, which then trembled in a wind that touched nothing else.
Silvery motes showered down over Ryuji. His ribs knitted back together and his chest returned to a proper, round whole. He curled up on his side and gasped for several moments. After long seconds, he pushed himself up to sitting. After another beat, he flexed his limbs. "Damn, girl. You're a life-saver."
Slapping up her mask to wipe away tears, Ann let out a choked sob. She lunged and everyone tensed for an instant before she grabbed him by the red ascot around his neck and started shaking him. "You idiot! You could've died!"
He shoved her back. "Well you sure as hell would've! I'm the fastest and toughest mother fucker in the Phantom Thieves. I had the best chance." He lifted his arm and rotated it through a wide circle at the shoulder. "Hey, I think I feel as good as when we came in." He flipped Futaba a thumb's up. "Your healin's gotta be at least as powerful as Rider's."
Futaba blushed, her posture wavering. Then she looked around. "So… where's the quick-travel point back to the entrance of the dungeon? I mean, we just beat a boss!"
"That's… not how Palaces work. Without some kind of cognitively-appropriate system like mine carts in one palace, there's no shortcut to the entrance." Morgana picked up and capped what was left of the leaking coffee thermos. "We're low on coffee and pick-me-ups, but it's a long and dangerous journey either forward or back. The layout of the Palace is different, but I still think there's a building with a rain-pipe we can climb to the roof ahead."
The others nodded and fell in to the door on the opposite side of the battered courtyard. Ann read the placard, "Tool of thief, toy of queen. Always used to be unseen. Sign of joy, sign of sorrow. Giving all likeness borrowed." She stepped back and held her chin in her hand. "I can only think of one thing to call a 'toy of a queen' and I don't think Mitsuyo's naughty enough to know what those are."
"Eh?" Ryuji scratched his head.
Futaba let out a disappointed sigh. "She means a dildo, you ignorant ape."
Blushing deep, Akira, Makoto, and Ryuji choked on air.
When the boys continued to look like they were trying to asphyxiate themselves, Futaba slapped a hand against her forehead, glove clacking against her goggles, then pointed to herself. "Hello. Grew up on the internet." She looked up at the artist. "Even miss class president is pretending to be embarrassed. Why are you the only one fine with it?"
"Art requires a mind open to new experiences," Yusuke replied, sedate. "Sensei even encouraged us to experiment with mind-expanding substances to broaden our repertoire."
Makoto's jaw dropped. "Are you saying Madarame gave you drugs?"
"Um, guys." Morgana waved his little arms. "The palace door?"
Oracle re-focused. "Right." She scratched her head. "I kinda doubt she's thinking of laptops, even if that's what I'd say fit thieves' tools and queens' toys."
Akira glanced at his side to see the blonde crossing her arms, hips cocked to one side. He wondered if she realized how hot she looked doing that. "Uh… Used to be unseen makes me think of the One Ring, but that isn't an always thing."
Makoto pushed up her mask to rub her nose, but froze. Then ran the leather fingertips of her studded gauntlets along the hard edges of her iron plate. "Sign of joy, sign of sorrow." Her eyes widened. "Tears… Like the masks the Shadows in this Palace wear!"
The gate dropped into the floor with a wooden clunk.
Outside, a covered porch wrapped around their palatial building. A covered walkway meandered out and off to the left towards a gazebo with flowered planters spaced around its perimeter. A building melding the steel and sharp lines of modern architecture with the stone and curving gables of Muromachi-era shogun castles. A dark stone base peeked out of the fog, black pine trees dotting the murky space around.
Morgana leaped into the air. "Yes! There it is!"
Futaba peered into the gloom. "There what is?"
Morgana hopped up on the hacker's shoulder to point past the gazebo to the corner of the castle, where a covered walkway extended from an upper level and off into the gloom in the distance. "That roof connects to an inner perimeter which then gave me enough height to connect a zip-line to the lobby building. That was how we first escaped." He tapped a foot. "It was a lot closer our first trip in."
"The point is," Makoto explained, "we're close to a safe exfiltration point." She hefted her shotgun and jogged out, her gun-light casting a cone into the thick murk just past the covered walkway. The rest of the Thieves followed close behind.
Since the gazebo didn't seem to connect to anything and stood off to the side, Morgana called in a hushed tone, "Okay, only way in is through the fog. We'll have to scale one of the trees, but as Phantom Thieves that should prove the easy part. I'll connect a line to the castle with my crossbow, tie it off, and then we'll just have to navigate around to get to our exit. Stay close, I don't want anybody getting separated in this fog."
"For real," Ryuji said, light machine gun tense in hand.
As one, they stepped off the walkway, plunging a deceptive number of centimeters down to what splashed like wet marshland. The thieves paced slow, but their footsteps still squished and splashed. They got as far as the woods stretching beyond the base of the palatial castle before a deep growl rumbled from all around them.
A breeze swept through the wooded area just a little too sparse to call a forest, revealing a wolf standing well over four meters tall. Fangs as long as Akira's forearm bared as its muzzle wrinkled. A stark blue eye on the right and amber eye on the left stared into the longcoated boy. It took one indomitable step at him.
A yellow bolt shrieked from Futaba's staff weapon into the enormous beast, drawing a flinch from its face. Then the beast let out a "Wu-wu-waooo!" and Shadows burst out of the ground as if from rain, and rushed at them.
Futaba ringed into Marcus, her flying Persona raking its twin beams over the monstrosity before swinging around to lead the retreat.
Makoto held rear guard to give it one shotgun blast, then one at the encroaching horde, before she dove onto Johanna, kicking up flames as she raced back for the safety of the Hall of Interns.
Futaba ringed out of her flying Persona right at the gate and sprinted in as best an out-of-shape hacker could, but while the beast's size prevented its yawning jaws from catching them, the horde it summoned jammed through the gate. Looking behind, Futaba tripped on a shattered floorboard.
Yusuke let his rifle fall to its lanyard and, without breaking stride, lowered down to one knee to grab the hacker's arm and yank her up, hauling her up to her feet. Gunfire and wind roared as Makoto and Ryuji paused deeper in the covered courtyard to try to hold off the indecent vixens, straw-covered imps, and other Shadows pouring through the bottleneck of the gate. The Thieves paused as staggered pairs to throw delaying attacks into the horde, switching the hacker from Yusuke to Makoto, and kept the retreat until the ladder to the second level of the Hall of Interns.
Once back in the Section Chief's office, the Phantom Thieves slumped against any available furniture.
After a few minutes to catch his breath, Morgana called out, "Everyone okay?" The rest of the Phantom Thieves sounded off, and the group let out a collective sigh of relief. A few more seconds passed before the diminutive leader said, "Oracle? That was the big wolf monster Reaper was talking about earlier. Did you get the sense your Persona's energy damaged it?"
Futaba coughed against a bottle of water and, still out of breath, shook her head.
Ryuji trotted up with a smile, his eyes on the longcoated boy. "Better'n last time, eh? Damn monster wolf broke his arm jus' by bitin' his Persona."
Futaba spoke, a faint tremor in her voice. "Hol' up, broke his arm by biting his Persona?"
"A Persona is your inner self, the same as the palace ruler's Shadow is," Morgana explained. "It's a lot safer fighting with your Persona than personally, but there's still a measure of bleed-over. It is you."
Those crimson eyes narrowed on him and she hissed, "When did this happen?"
Akira looked over the history tomes of ancient warfare on the bookshelf for the excuse to avoid eye contact. "Earlier? It was before you and Byakko came and shot me."
"Shot you?" Futaba exclaimed, clutching her staff weapon.
Morgana paused a moment longer to listen through the door, then stood back. "The swarm is gone." With the longcoated boy drinking another cup from their thermos of Leblanc's house blend coffee, he looked over the group. "Okay, we have a couple alternatives. One is to advance and look for an alternate route through the fog. Another is to try that path through the Hall of Offering, the cognitive beast might not be there this time. Or we leave and try to effect a change in cognition, either to deal with the fog or that monster."
Akira swallowed the last gulp of coffee and screwed the cap back on the thermos. "I'm good to start an alternate path search."
Ryuji crossed his arms. "Bull. Shit. You were sweatin' back with that big green muscle dude with the laser orb stomach. An' wolfie busted you up jus' by bitin' your Persona last time. I get you wanna change this broad's heart, but you ain't savin' anyone by dyin'."
Yusuke took the coffee thermos. "He has a point, Joker. We don't even know if the rules of the palace could allow the guardian beast to be defeated. Even if we combine all our strength and manage to defeat it, it might come back after a single day of rest like the cognition with the gold stamp on his forehead in Futaba's palace. We might be better served by falling back and changing Togo's cognition, just as we did when we opened the door to Sensei's forgery workshop."
At the hacker's confused head-tilt, Ann and Makoto gave the abbreviated version of unlocking the door in Madarame's palace.
Makoto tapped a gloved finger against her chin. "The problem is, we don't know what real-world counterparts the fog or that super-wolf have."
Akira nodded. "Hifumi mentioned cram school on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, but I don't know what kind of schedule she might have over the summer. I'll call and see what she knows about her mother's workplace."
Ryuji switched his grip on the light machine gun hanging from his shoulder by a strap. "We prolly outta change up our weapons, too." His eyes fell on the serpentine Zat gun in Ann's hand. "Havin' a lightning pistol may be cool an' all, but ask Fox 'bout how cool it is to have lightnin' reflect back atcha. We ain't hittin' hard enough, an' if the rest of the palace is like these big-ass halls, we need some range."
Yusuke looked at the carbine in his hands. "This seems suitable, though it would be useful to have something to dampen the blows that we take when combat is upon us."
Akira thought back to the Velvet Room twins telling him about the ability to transform shards of power into protective charms. "I may have an angle on that, too."
Morgana nodded and paced along the length of the section chief's desk. "I don't want to risk too much on a foray here when we have no idea how far it is to the Hall of Adoration. Let's leave the palace for now. We have a few points of investigation to pursue, and it might be worth visiting Gun About to practice and decide what upgrades might be most relevant for our next push into the temple."
Thursday, 11 August 2016
Evening
Yongen, Leblanc
Sojiro looked up as the bell rang, letting out a breath when he saw that troublesome but well-meaning transfer student come through. Then he drew in a breath when Wakaba's little girl came behind him, huddling close under his two-man umbrella. She stamped her feet against the mat at the front to knock off water from the rain still pouring outside. "Futaba! You're outside again!"
She stomped again before stepping in, dropping onto a bar seat, and slumping on the counter. "I hunger! Curry me!"
Heartache shot through him at how much that awkward, spunky kid reminded him of Wakaba.
Akira folded his umbrella and closed the door before setting his umbrella in the can. "Actually, we didn't eat all day." He stepped out to walk down the customer lane. "But I need to use the bathroom."
"Toldja you didn't need all the rest of that coffee," Futaba called out after him as if they'd been teasing classmates for years. As if to punctuate the statement, she set the thermos those kids bought this morning on the counter. It took several seconds for her gaze to swivel around to the proprietor, refusing to pick her head up from the counter. "We're not out of curry, are we?"
"N-no," he babbled. The middle-aged man adjusted his apron to try to give himself some reassurance that the physical world he knew still existed and this wasn't some kind of dream. "I'm just… so happy to see you out. I'm still just trying to wrap my brain around… how?"
Futaba came up out of her slump, still resting both elbows on the counter. Her gaze flicked to the bathroom where the sound of water ran. Then those dark eyes came to rest on him. "It was… just time?"
Oh no. Please don't let his little girl's coming out into the world at last have to be tied to that troublesome boy. Sojiro stepped closer, as if a change in angle could help him divine what could have happened to bring her out of that shell she was falling into. "You and he aren't…?"
She kicked her feet against the base board of the bar counter. "He's already head over heels for another girl." Before the proprietor could express the amount of concern that stirred in him, especially as it wasn't a 'no', Futaba unleashed a toothy grin. "If I play my cards right, I'll have nephews before I'm out of college." Then she let out a very Wakaba-like cackle.
Sojiro didn't know whether he should be afraid to see Wakaba's same teasing mannerism in such a small package, or glad it wasn't directed at him.
The washroom door swung open and Akira trotted out, gloves in his pocket as he shook out his hands. "Your roll towel machine's jammed."
Futaba thudded her fists against the counter. "Curry time! Curry time!"
Sojiro couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "All right, you kids. Siddown and I'll serve up the last plates of the day." He retreated to the kitchen, head still buzzing as he scraped out the last rice from the cooker and then ladled on some curry.
The boy didn't complain about his smaller-than-normal serving of rice, but ate with an eagerness that reminded the proprietor of many a hungry teenage days. He still maintained a dignified pace and savored the curry going down.
Futaba, on the other hand, dug into the meal like a starving soldier. No shame or reservation held her back. If Wakaba had been here, she'd have slapped the girl's wrists with a wooden spoon. Sojiro was still too shocked by her being out of her room to try to enforce decorum.
While the kids ate, Sojiro crossed his arms and thought about the one thing his mind could latch onto that didn't make him feel like having a heart attack. So Akira was in love with another girl, huh? The proprietor thought through the young ladies he'd seen with the boy. That smart girl with the braided hairband? There was plenty of tension between the two, but none of those longing, sidelong glances. The shapely blonde? Definite interest going both ways, but they both kept each other at arm's length. It was possible they kept anything intimate out of sight, but it still felt like something was missing.
Futaba's spoon hit the plate with a clatter. "Mm! I'm gonna be dreaming of curry tonight." She reached up to rub at her eye under her glasses. "But it's time to hit the hay."
A meow uttered from under one of the chairs at the bar.
Futaba's shoulders hunched up a bit and her hands closed into loose fists. "T-tomorrow? What about that whole rest day thing?"
Akira swallowed his last bite of curry. "Tomorrow is a rest day. But a fighter can still train on a non-match day. C'mon, helping out around the store will give you a counter between you and any weirdos but still give you valuable experience in front of strangers."
She jabbed her fists down. "B-but working the lunch rush would be like… super hard mode!"
Akira rolled his eyes. "Please. Tell me when you're ready for Son of Sparda difficulty."
The cat gave a meow that sounded like distinct reproach.
Akira stood up reach for her plate, then grabbed his on the way to the sink. "I'm sure Ryuji's rootin' for you. Only way through it is to do it." He pulled out his phone and scrolled up and down.
She grumped for a few moments before spitting at him as much as the tired girl could, "You're still a demon." A yawn crawled out of her mouth. "What's wrong?"
"She's not responding," Akira mumbled back. "Hasn't even read my texts."
That was enough for the proprietor. Sojiro pointed her to the closest booth to the door. "Sit down for a couple minutes and I'll take you home." He looked over to the transfer student taking dishes to the sink. "So about the lunch rush… You sure you're ready to be out and about so soon, Futaba?"
Akira set the plates in the sink. "She needs to get out a little more, experience the world. So she wanted to work here to meet strangers in a controlled environment."
Futaba stamped a foot in tantrum. "Liar. Demon prince!"
"That's General of the Steel Legion, to you," he tossed back over his shoulder before turning on the faucet.
Crossing his arms, Sojiro rounded on the transfer student. He sorted through how to kick the bastard into the rain. "You asked me about bringing her to work in here. You didn't say you were forcing her into it. If you think you can push Futaba-chan around, you can take a long, wet walk and not come—"
"W-wait!" Futaba dashed around the counter and grabbed the proprietor's elbow. "I… I do wanna do it. I…" Her chocolate eyes fell. "I've just been hiding away so long, I'm still nervous."
Sojiro cycled through a deep breath and lay a hand on her shoulder. "Don't you worry. You don't have to—"
"I do!" she said, her eyes looking even wider under her glasses, the lenses also magnifying the tension in all those small muscles around her eyes. "I'm never gonna get enough XP to fight bosses if I never take on tougher mobs."
The faucet turned off and the transfer student's steps came to a stop next to the proprietor. "It's always harder before you start, Futaba-kun. I'm not going to say it'll be easy, but you'll be surprised how much simpler it is when you're doing it." He held out his left fist.
Futaba stared at it for an unblinking couple of seconds before she lifted up her hand to tap a fist against his. Then her jaws dropped wide and a huge yawn moaned out.
Sojiro wanted to keep telling off the boy, but he'd have to be blind not to realize how attached the girl had gotten. Instead, Sojiro patted her shoulder. "If you're really okay with it, then I'll do everything I can for you here. But it's no good for kids to be out late." He pointed to the closest booth to the exit again. "If you can wait a couple minutes, I'll close out the register and take you home." He turned on the transfer student. "I'm sure you'll have no problem closing up tonight, right?"
If the transfer student felt any threat from the tone in the proprietor's voice, he showed no sign of it. He gave a simple nod before turning back to the sink.
Sojiro counted the money in the register and did the few things he didn't yet trust the transfer student to do yet, then retrieved his white umbrella from the can and took Futaba home.
Thursday, 11 August 2016
Late Evening
Yongen, Leblanc
Akira scrubbed in regular up-and-down motions with the mop, reaching the corner at last. He stood back in the kitchen and took in a breath as he admired his handiwork. The caffeine high was coming down, and the cleaning helped work out some of the lingering tension from Togo's temple.
"Not bad," Morgana said from his perch on a chair at the bar. The floor and counter sparkled. "I'm sure Boss will appreciate the extended effort."
Alliance Force, Assemble! sang from his pocket, so Akira drew his phone to see who would call this late at night. The other Phantom Thieves seemed too tired after a palace run, and Futaba seemed like she was minutes away from collapsing when Sojiro guided her home. Caller ID said Sakura, so he connected. "Self defense training, can I connect you to Claude N. Skretchem?"
Sojiro grumped. "Do you do that to everybody who calls you?"
Akira stood straight even if the adult couldn't see. "An experience tailored to each customer."
The restaurateur let out a huff that couldn't quite hide his amusement. "You cheeky devil. Boy am I glad you and Wakaba never teamed up, you'd have been a duo of terror. That or you'd have been at each other's throats every waking moment." A long breath passed. "Futaba's asleep. Didn't even make it to bed. First time I set foot in her room in six months." Another beat passed before he added, his voice thick with nostalgia, "She liked the curry."
Akira leaned his hip against the counter. "Proves Futaba had good taste."
This time Sojiro let out a short laugh. "She would've appreciated that."
Akira blinked. "Would have…? You just said Futaba-kun's asleep."
"I mean Wakaba." A groan and shuffle of upholstery came through the speaker. "I did tell you the curry was formulated by a scientific genius."
Akira shifted his weight to his other foot. "Yeah, I just figured that was marketing."
The restaurateur scoffed. "Well, it all started one innocuous day up at the executive break room at Blue Cove. I always enjoyed impressing the ladies, so I brought in my curry. That was the first time I remember surprising her – really surprising her. It was after a long day for her, so she asked for a cup of my coffee on a lark. Wakaba took a bite, then a sip, then grilled me for the ingredients and cooking method. I don't think I even gave her the full recipe. She went home and didn't come back for days. When she returned, she'd reworked the recipe to synergize with my coffee like I'd never imagined. I never put them together before."
Akira took off his glasses to wipe a fleck of soap from the lens. "She whimsical that way?"
"Oh, she was trouble, you can be sure of that," Sojiro said. "Wouldn't call it whimsical. She was very logical, and she'd let you know it if you asked her to walk you through it. She just had her own thought process. The human mind was an enigma to me, but it was a Rubik's cube to her, something to pick up and puzzle over but something she knew she could solve. She was quite a woman. I had pick up lines that could get women all around town, but she didn't fold to a single one."
"Yeah," Akira said, "I can imagine her passing by when you used the 'low in Vitamin U' on her."
"Jesus, kid. I don't even have one that bad in my playbook. Promise me you'll never use that on a woman you aren't expecting to slap you."
The transfer student slunk onto a bar stool. "I don't think I'm really a pick-up line guy. I just have groaners to break the ice."
To his surprise, Sojiro chuckled. "I guess all men are fools. We chase after what we can't have. Wakaba rejected me over and over, and my greatest victory over her was the day I accidentally introduced her to coffee and curry together." He chuffed. "She still won that one. By miles. Kept making it at home, up until… you know."
When the restaurateur's voice choked, up, Akira decided not to let the silence drag on. "That's why you got all misty-eyed when Futaba dug into the curry?"
Sojiro cleared his throat. "See? Even you can be smart once in a while."
Morgana laughed from the next bar seat over.
Akira responded with sign language – only one finger needed – then headed up the stairs. "So… despite what happened to her mother, she got to wake up to some of what she'd been missing out on. I'd say that's a small victory."
The restaurateur huffed. "Optimism? From you? Maybe there is something to all that Phantom Thief heart change mumbo-jumbo."
This time Akira gave a huff. He came to a stop at the table in front of the couch, shogi board set up laying flat across it. He could almost see Hifumi sitting across from him, that excitable smile that made her already gorgeous eyes light up. "Sojiro? W-what would you do if you met a woman who was totally out of your league?"
Now he let out a belly-full laugh. "That was Wakaba if anybody was. She already had Futaba by the time I met her, after all, but a man has to go for what makes him happy. You never know how long you'll have it."
Or how long you can fool such a pure vessel of wisdom.
His stomach twisted and he had to clench the table and strain to breathe without throwing up for several seconds.
"Kid?" Sojiro said, followed by the sounds of hands changing grip too close to the microphone.
Morgana hopped up on the table. "What's wrong, Joker?"
"Just a little sick," his mouth said before he could reign himself back in.
"You don't think it's the curry?"
He struggled another breath in, then out before he could throw out as if intending his slip, "Yeah. Once I found out love is the secret ingredient, I think that would make anyone sick."
Sojiro harrumphed. "See if I feed you any more, then. Looked like Futaba's willing to have your share."
The evaluation in the check-up the other day came to mind. "She needs a balanced diet. Doctor Takemi said she'd been getting too much salt and starch-carbs. I don't know how to correct that, most of my studies have been physical therapy. I'll have to check with a few people."
Sojiro's smirk made it through his tone alone. "Look at you, being all responsible. Don't forget that cooking can be a labor of love. Something you do because you enjoy the process as much as the result. Or maybe the one you're feeding."
The mental image of him handing a boxed lunch to Hifumi and seeing her beaming face sprang to the fore. Akira's face felt like it burned. "Y-yeah."
"Well," Sojiro said before the team leader with a scheming face could do anything, "it's getting entirely too sappy in here. Time for this old man to hit the sack. Make sure you get plenty of sleep, too. You and Futaba were out in the rain and the flu can still hit you even in an off-season."
AN: P5 doesn't let you conduct an all-out attack unless all the Shadows are down, but Strikers does and it can make a huge difference without making fights easy because you're often fighting five to fifteen Shadows at a time so they spread out. I thought it made sense and will incorporate it when the Thieves can separate and knock down a lone Shadow. The concept of flank and rear guard as well as real-time simultaneous action is already a thing, just like Strikers. I love turn-based tactical and strategy games, but in the end it's a gameplay organization and not way the real Metaverse works based on every cinematic shown from P3 on.