Same day 11:28 PM
Leiko jolts awake from a sound sleep holding her head, while her Persona looks out onto the world. She knows immediately what has taken place and closes her eyes, frantically trying to zone in on the location of the pulsing thrum being sensed. "Yes, I see it. Midtown, a fresh Dread Burrow by some kind of shop."
The light of a waning gibbous moon shines into the room as it hangs above the hill where the shrine is and Leiko's mind begins to process what to do. Did she really want to jump into action and do something or just leave it be? She pushes herself to reach out a bit further with her scan to pinpoint the Shadow, only for her eyes to snap open in shock, beads of sweat rolling down her forehead after several minutes finally finding the target after numerous fumbled attempts.
The Shadow has gone for her classmate Izumi and is currently back in the Burrow, taking her to the center of it. "It's going to fill her with dread…" The girl's voice trembles in a whisper, "There's…time to prevent it from influencing her."
Leiko bawls up her fist, slamming it on the blanket. There is no choice in the matter, she has to go save her new friend, if they could even be called that. Sliding out of bed, the teen quickly dresses in a pair of brown heeled ankle boots, jeans and a teal shirt with long sleeves that covers her right shoulder, leaving her neckline and her upper shoulder bare with the sleeve starting right below her upper left arm and her usual purple windbreaker. Grabbing her backpack, Lekio dashes out the door, a glint of blue shining in its side pocket.
Ten minutes later, the girl rounds a corner, a mechanic shop and its sign coming into view several feet away, along with a sculpted mound with a shimmering field of energy as its entrance. In front of it, two large goopy beings with masks slosh about on guard. "No choice but to fight." The teen utters as she drops her bag on the ground, lifting out a practice kusarigama from within, the blade of the weapon fully dull with several cracks running along it.
She had taken a few martial arts classes years ago, even learning to use a kusarigama during that time, but with lack of practice, her skills with hand to hand and the weapon have deteriorated. With a gulp, she steels herself, breaking into a full run at the first shadow, spinning the chain rapidly.
Releasing the ball end, the chain wraps around the shadow with mild success. Sprinting forward to close the distance, she sinks the dull blade into the forehead of the mask, the shadow slowly dissolving within seconds. Without much time to prepare herself, the other shadow bears down upon her in a counter attack, Leiko's expression turning to one of fear as the shadow enters the edge of her vision. She had just fucked up her first combat experience and she tries to move to lesson the blow she would take.
The Shadow is within a foot of her when a fireball flies from a nearby roof and above Leiko's shoulder into the dark being. The Shadow writhes in agony as it slowly evaporates, leaving behind burning fragments. Leiko quickly looks to the roof, only for the shadow there to jump down to the street and walk into the light of the dying embers.
"Yamato! How did…" Leiko starts not even sure how to finish as his face shines in the remaining light. The young man in front of her is wearing an apron that was modded for combat with a kendo blade on his back.
The young man smirks, "I'm a Persona user, but why are you out here with that thing?" He gestures to the kusarigama. "Did you see those things and thought you could slice and dice them like an onion? You're a normal human you don't…"
Leiko summons her Persona, forcing him to stop mid sentence. "I'm not a normal human, I'm like you, just…not with a lot of combat experience and my Persona is mainly for analysis. You know, scanning the area, sensing things and tracking Shadows, with a tiny bit of offense mixed in. I'm just kind of shit at it." In truth, her Persona did have a combat ability, but she had never used Psionic before.
Yamato's eyes widened, "An analysis Persona? First time herring about one of those." This opportunity did offer possibilities, mainly avoiding unnecessary combat, "Then we have a chance to prevent the Shadow from pushing whomever they took further into dreading and influencing their future. Donut matter if you are bad with your sensory ability."
"It was Izumi who was taken." Leiko answers, winding her weapon up and stepping towards the Burrow.
"And why do you care, you're not even spuds." Yamato jokes while being serious. He had known Izumi since they were kids, so why should some transfer student that just met her care.
Leiko turns to face the cook with a determined resolve in her eyes, "I owe her lunch since I blew her off today. It's as simple as that. I'm not about to abandon a potential friend to be used by Shadows to ruin her future."
The boy chuckles, clapping softly as he breaks into a grin, "I like that moxy. You're a good friend to her, Leiko, caring this much. Let's not keep her waiting." He turns around and dashes into the Burrow's inky void, Leiko darting in right behind him.
The gray cobblestone walls of the Burrow are slick with slime and sconces hang upon the walls, holding crystals that emit dark shades of light. The sounds of eerie scraping and rattling echo from deep within, sending small shivers down Yamato and Leiko's backs.
Yamato scoops some of the slime off the wall to sniff it, but wriggles his nose at it, "Eww this stuff smells terrible." He shakes the slime from his glove, walking down the corridor with Leiko.
"So what's your story with your Persona? When did you awaken to its power?" The cook asks in a tone indicating how tense he was and trying to lessen it. "Me, I woke mine up six months ago when someone working closely with a Shadow came to me and started filling me with dread since I was so indecisive, but once in the Burrow they were seriously trying to influence me and made fun of my cooking saying that could never make people happy. I snapped and formed into the partnership with my other self and beat that Shadow they were working with. The person was an assistant manager of marketing at a Junes. What about you?"
"Mine was woken up five years ago, but I was tricked into encountering a Shadow outside of its Burrow by two friends and their associate. The Shadow played on my insecurities about being in a bad school, my weakness and my future to influence me. I decided I wasn't going to lose my agency to the Shadow, so my Persona was born with my resolve." She answers softly, having closed her eyes to scan the tunnel ahead, finding it easier to locate the shadow at this close of a range. "We had to fight the Shadow and its small army, but after they were defeated those friends tried to force me to join them. I told them no several times due to their suspect goals and went on with life, moving to Canada with my parents and my sister as planned."
Yamato nods at all this, his eyes flashing in anger, "They sound like jerks, serves em' right that you left them in the dust. So what did you decide you would do with your future?" Since he shared his future plans, it was only right Leiko did hers. Seeing a pair of shadows ahead, the two teens slid down a side hallway.
"I'm working towards being a Mangaka." The pink haired girl answers, walking past several empty alcoves, "I want to write and draw stories that bring joy to people and inspire hope in them so they can grasp their futures with both hands so they don't have to dread anything." Leiko scratches the sides of her cheek, rather embarrassed saying all this.
The girl stops in her tracks, quickly stopping Yamato with a hand to the chest, "There is a Shadow guarding the way ahead. Looks like one of those hands like creatures."
"We'll give it more than a slap on the wrist for getting in our way." The teen answers, begins to think of a plan. "I think I've cooked up a solid battle plan. I'll explain it to ya as we go." They proceed on their way, talking semi animatedly.
The two teens talk quietly, approaching the guarded gateway. A hand shadow with a bowtie skitters to and fro, tapping on the dirt every so often, seeming bored.
Yamato playfully tosses a rock in his palm, "Catch this." He quips, pitching the rock at the hand shadow's center of mass. The hand dodges at the last moment, proceeding to rush at the teens unexpectedly. Unsheathing his kendo blade, the young cook takes a swipe at the hand, but the shadow catches it in its palm, its full body now in the air shaking.
"Don't get so handsy with my blade!" Yamato kicks at the shadow several times, but it won't budging at all.
Leiko's eyes glow and a spiral of colors rush in towards the hand and it releases the blade in pain upon being hit. The hand gestures angrily at the two teens and snaps its fingers, small chunks of ice form aimed right for the pink haired girl.
She tries to dodge the ice to lessen any kind of damage, but takes the blow to the shoulder. A sudden chill takes over her entire body and she stops moving.
The hand dances indelight or maybe a taunt at what it had done, "Time to grill you! Agi!" A flameball drops down on the hand, not only burning it, but dispelling the chill around the pink haired girl.
"Thanks Y…Yama." Leiko manages to spit out as she swings her kusarigama's blade downwards at the hand's wrist several times. The burning Shadow goes limp and it slowly evaporates, leaving behind a blue glowing mist.
"That's new." Yamato pokes the mist, but nothing happens. Mystified, he shrugs at it, "Maybe it's nothing important? What do you think?"
"It might be…" Leiko almost inaduly says, reaching towards it. The blue mist feels so familiar to her. Upon the tips of her fingers touching it, the mist swirls around her as her eyes glow for a matter of moments.
"What the grill was that Leiko?" The boy questions with a look of fear. That wasn't normal was it?
Leiko blinks, feeling the presence of something new in her heart, summoning Badb and a Pixie with red hair in a blue leotard with matching gloves and stockings, who administers rudimentary first aid to the two of them. "I…I've got a second Persona? How? Just how?"
"I'd love to know that too, but I guess we can figure that out later. You know after we saved Izumi." Yamato chides, "Come on, we're almost there."
Leiko just nods, but feels rather confused, "R…right right. Let's go." She begins to walk in silence wondering what is going on with her now.
"It should be a head." Leiko breaks the long silence as the hall gives way to a domed stone room and at its center is a gray colored statue of a shrine. In front of this statue are Izumi in her pajamas with her legs curled up to her chin and a green Shadow that is floating like it's made of wind.
"What's the game plan here?" Leiko directs at Yamato. That Shadow really felt unnatural over any other she had seen.
"I could put it to sleep that might buy us time." Not waiting for an answer, Yamato summons his Persona Iwaka-Mutsukar, who is wearing an orange and teal robe with a traditional chef's hat and a green and yellow mask, while wielding cooking tools of old. Iwaka's strong voice produces a lilting lullaby to put the Shadow to sleep.
The shadow is unphased by the ability, causing it to laugh, "These people don't see what you are good at and they just see you wasting away not doing what your parents ask by taking over the machine shop. You can trust me when I say you'd be better off by letting me help you with a tiny bit of influence. Does the city really need all that lore and history? What good has that shrine even done for the town? Let it be forgotten."
"DON'T LISTEN TO IT IZUMI!" Leiko shouts, stomping her foot down, both Persona's blazing to life, "This shadow is trying to take away your agency and stopping you from taking the path for the future that you want. This Shadow seems rather keen on influencing you to forget that lore, history and the shrine it just mentioned."
Izumi scoffs at the other girl, her eyes glazed over, "I'm a mediocre mechanic and that's all I ever will be. No one is interested in lore like that, especially if it's linked to a future that isn't possible. Not even my friends want to…"
"I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THAT LORE!" Leiko screams at the top of her lungs, taking Yamato and the shadow aback. "I count you as my friend Izumi and I want to hear it. I know I blew you off today during lunch, but I was following the path for my own future. That lore and history means something to your future and that is not something you should ever give up on! So what are you going to do? Because the decision is yours here!" The pink haired girl pants, unsure if she got through to her new friend
Tears begin to flow down Izmui's checks, full of sadness and happiness. What she likes does have value, the path to the future does mean something. The girl struggles to her feet and a look of pure rage and hate enters her eyes upon gazing at the Shadow, one of her hands gripping her forehead in pain.
"I art thou and thou art I. You who would secure your future from influence, say the words that are your hope." A voice projects in Izumi's head.
"I won't let my future be stolen by some green wispy puff of wind! My future, it's nothing anyone can decide for me but me, and no one can tell me otherwise with their influence! I have to push through my own ineptness to arrive where I want to be as a Shrine Miko of Ainoska. I will prove to others I'm worthy of that position every single day. PERSONA!" Eyes now blazing yellow, a blue light envelops Izumi as a woman in a brown skirt emblazoned with an ankh and a simple brown leather top and skirt with a sun disk crown and staff appears.
"Hathor, Zio!" Izumi holds out her hand and clenches her fist. The bolt of electricity crashes down, stunning the creature.
Yamato smirks, casting a fireball at the hurt being, while Leiko piles on with a psi attack.
"I've fai…iled to prevent…shrine…" The Shadow splurts as it slowly fades away and its remaining essence is sucked up by the anchor.
Panting heavily, Izmui slowly leans sideways, falling to the ground, only for Leiko and Yamato to catch her and hold her up right. "Thanks guys for believing in me and giving me that push towards my future as the town's shrine miko." She chuckles softly.
"How about we all take out that anchor as a team? That is if we want to be a team in dealing with this stuff. You know cuz we want to retain our agency and all." Yamato couldn't help but feel like this event helped them bond in some way.
Leiko closes her eyes, but breaks into a smile, "I like the sound of that. What about you, Izumi? Want to be a team?"
"Sure do." She weakly answers with a nod, tugging a ofuda tag from her pocket, the kanji upon it glowing red.
Looking towards the anchor, the three use their Persona's powers to crumble the anchor into dust.
The Burrow dissolves as a dog howls in the distance and the three teens re-materialize on the street in front of a garage like they had always been there.
"I'll take Izumi home. You head back to wherever you're living, Leiko." Yamato offers, shifting Izumi onto his back.
Izumi rolls her eyes, "Don't be such a drama cook Yama about getting me home. I never asked, where do you live, Leiko?"
"Well…" Leiko starts, mentally sweat dropping, "I live in the dorm just by the shrine. Talk about a huge coincidence."
"That's so cool." Izumi says weakly, half asleep now. "See you at school tomorrow. Yama, to my window."
Yamato rolls his eyes, "She'll be asleep by the time I get there. I used to take her home like this all the time. See you in school tomorrow." He marches down the road until his silhouette is out of sight.
Leiko yawns and heads for the dorm, while checking her phone. It was now just past midnight. Hopefully she'd be able to get up in time for class.
Several minutes prior in a house nearby, Fuuka Yamagishi scans the street outside her partly opened window, a phone to her ear while in the shining orb of her Persona. "Kirijo-san, sorry for calling you so late." In the middle of the street is a sculpted mound that was dubbed a Dread Burrow. She had been monitoring this Burrow with Juno since she detected the power of its build up several hours ago.
"Yes, it is related to a recent Dread Burrow here in Ainoska. One of my homeroom students was taken into the Burrow by a Shadow, but the situation has escalated with two more of my students going in. They did battle with the two Shadows outside and destroyed them, they're definitely Persona users." Fuuka scans outside again looking worried while listening to her friend speak when the Burrow vanishes and the three students reappear.
The woman breathes a sigh of relief to see the three teens safe as she places a hand to her chest, "You don't need to send anyone Kirijo-san, my students have taken care of it." Fuuka nods as Mitsuru speaks to her, "No, I'll handle it. They are my students after all, so I'll reprimand them for being reckless. You and Aigis don't need to get involved at all."
The voice on the other end says something to Fuuka, "Yes, if things get out of hand, I'll let you know or ask our friends from Inaba for a bit of help." She hangs up and ponders when she should talk to those three.