April 12th: 11:27 AM: Weather Heavy Rain
"God of cooks." Yamato mutters upon seeing the facade of the structure located under the shrine, "How far down did we go and does it spread under all of Ainoska?"
"I think we're in a space sort of like one of the Burrows, but it's not malevolent." Fuuka answers as she approaches the walls to study the stone reliefs. While Izumi's photos were good and all, she wanted to see them for herself. "Why…why is an image of Tartarus part of this building's wall?" She runs her fingers over the image, having never again forgotten the over 260 floor building that had been her school at night during the Dark Hour.
"You mean that prison pit in Greek mythology?" Izumi holds up her phone with the internet search, "Wait, how do we even have the internet down here? It even has five bars."
Fuuka slowly trails her fingers down the wall, wondering how much she should divulge to these three. They didn't really need all that much information, especially the sorted personal details linked to two of her friends. "First, I have a question for you, since it's an important part of what I say after. What if I said that there were once more than twenty four hours in a day?"
"I'd probably say you're making things up Ms. Yamagishi." Leiko remarks as her focus is taken up by the sight of a blue door against the blank stone wall by the stairs. She turns back to look at her teacher, "But after seeing Dread Burrows, I'd say there is probably some truth to it."
"Outside of school when focused on this place, I insist you can just call me by my first name, Fuuka." The woman answers, feeling like she was equal with her students in this place, "Yes Leiko, there is some truth to it. Due to a certain incident at Tatsumi Port, the Dark Hour began. It was a hidden hour starting at midnight, altering how the world looked and felt and shutting down all electronics. Tartarus was a tower that appeared at the exact spot the incident happened at the start of the hour. Only those with Personas were even aware that the Dark Hour existed."
"But nothing weird like that happens now." Yamato zooms in on the tower to get a better look at its detail with his phone.
"Because an entity and the Shadows connected to it was stopped in January of 2010 by my friends and I." The woman answers with sadness in her eyes. It wasn't the full truth, but the kids didn't need all the details; details that were classified at that.
"So that rumor from some dude on that shady old internet forum about Shadows in 2009 was accurate?" Leiko walks over to another relief, this one of a large cup with strange tendrils snaking out of it and into people's chest. At the center of the cup is a square which has an eyeball with a star iris at its core. Rays of some kind, jet out from around the eye.
"You saw that person's posts from back then?" Fuuka's shock is rather visible as she gently sucks on her lower lip. She really didn't think anyone would be looking at those since to most people they were just crazy. She made a mental note about looking into getting those posts scrubbed.
The pink haired girl spins on the spot, giving a nod, "I did Fuuka-Senpai. It sounds as if you knew who made that post back then."
"About that…" The teal haired woman starts, not really wanting to talk about the members of Strega.
"You don't have to answer that, Fuuka-chan." A female voice with a Kansai accent echoes from the stairwell.
The three teens turn to look for the source of the voice. A tall girl with silvery blue hair in drill pigtails along with headphones and ruby eyes, dressed in what looks like armor of some kind with wings on her back walks towards them.
"She's kind of pretty." Izumi whispers after eyeing her fully, looking concerned. "But what's with her feet?"
"Ya know, it's sorta rude to whisper." The girl scolds, giving each teen a once over, turning to Fuuka with a grin. "So how have you been Fuuka-chan?"
Fuuka smiles at the girl, mouthing thank you to her for the save from the question, "I've been well. Did Kirjio-san send you here to investigate this place, Labyrs?"
"That's partly why she and Aigis sent me, but they also want me to keep an eye on these three." The girl shifts a bit, looking at Leiko in particular. "And by keeping an eye on, I mean join them in whatever they are getting into. For the foreseeable future…I'll be staying at that dorm nearby and being a student at Orimasu."
"So you're finally following Aigis' footsteps like she did at Gekkoukan when wanting to stay close to all of us. Was this her idea for you to take this chance?" Was Labrys ready to be doing this? She pushed back this idea for well over fourteen years at this point.
Labrys shakes her head, "Na, this was my idea and Aigis approved of it. I've already got my cover set up. I'm a transfer student from Inaba's Yasogami high school and I'm a reserve member now. Yosuke-kun lent me a hand, allowing me to act as his little sister." She leans in close to Fuuka so only she can hear, "You know I wanted to know what going to a real school is like. So I can do this and…maybe I can fully understand my new allies better. Yukiko-chan also gave me some clothes to help me blend in outside of classes. Some of her older clothes from 2011."
"I think they forgot we're here." Izumi utters rather unhappily, looking between her teacher and this odd girl as they continue to converse.
"They really shallot have introduced herself first." Yamato agrees, turning to the lone door, poking the coin by the handle, then trying to turn said handle. The door doesn't even budge. "Think you could give me a hand here, Leiko?"
Leiko gives a nod, "Might as well give it a shot. Probably best to let our new friend with the Persona to chat up her old friend."
Leiko and Yamato start pushing the door with their shoulders, ramming it gently and trying to tug it open, even Izumi joins in with them trying to kick it down.
"I'm out of ideas." The boy yells, throwing up his hands in frustration, "I don't think our Personas' can do anything to open it either."
"I wonder why this coin is here. It doesn't really match the door does it?" Leiko ponders, lowering herself to one knee to get a better look. "Doesn't even appear to be anything special." She slowly brings the tips of her fingers to it, feeling the metal of the coin vibrating with her touch.
Tilting her head curiously, she rotates the coin counter clockwise with her index and middle fingers. The coin slowly begins to yield, scraping loudly as it reaches a full one eighty.
"Spinning the coin actually worked?" Yamato's mouth drops open in amazement, why hadn't he thought of that? "Mind if I give it a spin." He chuckles a bit while Izumi rolls her eyes.
Leiko releases her hold and backs away, "Go for it Yama. It was vibrating when I touched it and a bit more when it was turning."
The cook looks at the coin, taking note of its position, placing his fingers on it to spin. The coin wasn't vibrating at all. He strains himself to move it, but it doesn't move or make a sound. "Damn it! Leiko, why was it only responding to your touch?"
Leiko shakes her head and shrugs, "I don't even fucking know."
"Maybe it's something to do with her resolve or maybe it's due to Badb being an analytical Persona?" Izumi offers as she herself kneels down to rotate the coin. Said token neither vibrates nor moves and Izumi steps back from the door. "Yup, it's something special to you oh fearless leader."
"Yamato is more of a leader than I am Zumi." Leiko really didn't want to be a leader, she was fine being in the backseat. The idea of even being a leader and worse the expectations she was the leader causes the stress that she had been feeling the past few days to rise.
"Maybe someday you will be Lei." Yamato says to her gently with a smile, turning his head to Fuuka and Labrys, his smile fading away, "Yup, they forgot about us. They're still talking."
Trying to push what Yamato had just said in the back of her mind, Leiko resumes her position by the door, the vibration upon the coin stronger than before. The girl quickens the speed of the object's rotation and with it the scraping gets just a bit louder. With one last final twist, the token pops out of the socket and into Leiko's wanting hand.
The girl gazes at the palm sized coin glistening in the light of the flames, turning it over in her hand, she spies a raised gear like pattern on the outer edges with the words at the center of it, "Halls of Unstitched Tomorrows, Clotho Key."
Both Yamato and Izumi hover behind her shoulder, trying to get a good look at the object.
"Wasn't Clotho one of the fates in Greek mythology? She spun the threads of fate I think." Yamato ponders thoughtfully, checking for information online.
Behind the trio, the shut door dissolves in a sickening hissing sound, smoke rises from the remaining debris to form the image of a woman wearing an aqua blue robe, with a water shaped ornament in her dusty brown hair, her jade eyes shining bright.
"Please, protect…future of humanity…hope…inner sanctuary of the Halls of Unstitched Tomorrows. Shadows…invaded…influencing cer…stitches with dread."
The figure fades away, and silence returns to the outside of the hall.
"What the hell did ya three do?" Labrys demands, marching up to Leiko poking her in the chest.
"All we did was open the door to this place while you two talked." She answers defensively, glaring Labrys in the eyes, looking away moments after, "Not like we know anything like that would happen when we took this token from the door."
"Let me see that please?" The girl asks as she looks away as well, holding her arm, "I shouldn't have gone off on ya like that Leiko. I'm sorry."
Leiko holds the item out to the blue haired girl, "Let's try to get along alright? Uh, what is your name? We never got it when you and Fuuka started talking." Deep inside, feelings of being overwhelmed are building up alongside the stress giving way to distress, enough so that she didn't want to speak for a while.
The blue haired girl takes it and begins to scan it, "I'm Labyrs, a fifth generation anti shadow suppression weapon developed by the Kirijo Group and a member of the Shadow Operatives."
"So she's an Android?" Izumi questions as her eyes brighten a bit. "Wait, the Kirijo group, you must be kidding right? What are these Shadow Operatives?" The Kirijo group has their finger in all sorts of pork buns, but making robots was on another level.
"Yes, she's a robot that has a heart, a human personality and the ability to use a Persona. As to why, I can't tell you that." Fuuka explains, wanting to head off the flood of potential questions. "While Labrys shouldn't have mentioned either of those, the Shadow Operatives deal with Persona and Shadow related events, I can't say anymore on that."
"That explains the foot issue you want to know about, Zumi." Yamato crosses his arms as he wraps his head around the operatives, "So uh, did we just screw up by escalating this enough to let someone else handle this. And can we get clearance to all the stuff we shouldn't know now since we're kind of a part of this?"
"Naw, none of you kids screwed up." Labrys finishes up the scan, dropping the token back into Leiko's hand, "I might need to file a report once I get set up in the dorm. Clearance is something that the Shadow Operatives will decide if they think it's necessary."
"I can live with that." Yamato answered with gusto, though he really wanted some extra transparency from a group they were going to be working with. He glances at Izumi and Leiko, who both nod at him, being on the same page.
"So…why don't we head back to the dorm so that Labrys can get to know you all. We can recharge a bit and maybe make some lunch." Fuuka offers as she glances back at the walls of this new mystery.
"I could eat, we sort of need to talk about our next course of action." Izumi chimes, heading for the stairs.
"No sense worrying about this place on an empty stomach." Yamato rushes after her, wondering if he could whip something up at the dorm, never having been there before.
"I look forward to learning about you all." The robot girl follows close behind them.
"Fuuka you can go on without me. I need…I need some time alone to think." Leiko answers, holding her arms close to her chest, her distress mixing more with being overwhelmed by everything going on. There were other feelings as well, being left in the dark being chief among them that just ate at her. She could feel herself at a near breaking point.
The woman nods to her, a look of worry written into her eyes, "Don't take too long Leiko. You don't want to miss out." Fuuka heads up the stairs, leaving Leiko alone.
With a sigh, the girl walks over to the blue door, slowly pulling the scrunchie from her ponytail and clutching it tightly in her hand as her hair falls loosely about her back and shoulders.
"Guess it's time to use the key I was given." Inserting the key into the lock with her free hand, she turns it and the door swings open. Pocketing the key, she walks through the portal, wondering what Igor would say to her.
Upon entering the Velvet room, Igor is nowhere to be found, but Leiko's attention is drawn to the newly lit up wall with three glass tubes, one with a thick blue thread, one with a golden thread and the third being a mixture of red and black. The latter of the two tubes stretch from floor to ceiling with the threads moving slowly. She slowly wanders over, reading the name plates aloud, "Makoto Yuki: The universal seal, Yu Narukami: The seeker of truth and Ren Amamiya: The rebel phantom of heart."
She begins looking at the tube of blue thread which frays into smaller strings and recombines into a knot at its end, like it was meant to tie something up or together. She gently places a hand upon the glass and visions assault her mind of a boy with blue hair with an apathetic look and headphones moving into a new dorm.
She sees him and his friends battling against twelve unique shadows, traveling the floors of some building, while dealing with struggles of a personal nature. She sees the loss of allies and foes, witnesses the bonds Makoto built with people, and his interactions with Strega. She then witnesses the true revelations about Nyx, the moon and what Makoto did to stop the dark hour.
Pulling her hand away from the glass, Leiko stumbles with a sob, her fingers sliding against the case for the gold colored thread. The visions return, but this time it's of a boy with gray hair with a calm yet charming smile.
Leiko witnesses as Narukami views something called the midnight channel, traveling into a weird realm inside a TV and trying to solve a large murder mystery with friends that he helped deal with their other sides to gain their Persona. She watches the bond created with others and how important his cousin was to him. The many mysteries are eventually solved, revealing that a rotting goddess saw that humans desired oblivion due to a detective named Adachi that she had granted power to, the same power she had given Yu and one other.
What more, another incident called the P-1 grand prix follows, forcing those from that small town to fight against and then with those that fought with Makoto to push back against an entity that wished to destroy the world. In the end, Labrys, Yu and that murderous detective Adachi ended Hinokagutsuchi for good.
The girl drags her hand away from the tube, whimpering deeply, her stress building from what she has witnessed. As she falls to her knees before the final tube of glass, there is a small thwip. The scrunchy in her semi closed hand snaps apart, forcing her to open it and the shreds of it land upon the blue floor. Reaching for the side of the wall, Leiko's arm makes contact with the final thread holder.
This time the girl observes a young man with black hair and glasses being arrested and placed on probation, only for him to end up in a place called the metaverse due the eye symbol from the wall on his phone. The girl sees Ren struggling with his allies to open palaces, stealing treasure to change their target's heart, people looking down on him for his unearned reputation and sparking new bonds in unexpected places, all while this boy remained sort of playful and being a cold and logical tactician.
The vision shows betrayal of an ally, the push to stop the one who had him falsely arrested from using an abusive power and then the biggest shock of all, the appearance of the holy grail to control people and that fact Igor was also a victim of the cup. Then there is an even bigger shock, a man Ren and his friends trusted changed the cognitive reality on his whim to give them some happiness. The teens fought back against to bring back the reality they lived in, no matter how much it may have hurt to have loved ones last again.
With the vision breaking, Leiko slides to the floor, holding her arms around her legs and burying her face in her knees, bawling loudly as her overwhelming feelings of distress flood out from what she had just seen. "I…I…can't…it's just too much!"
"It's cruel that the master let you witness the trials of your predecessors." A motherly voice says from a distance as their footsteps approach. "It worsened the stress you were under."
"It's beyond worse." Leiko sobs, lifting her head up to look at this person through teary eyes. The person in question doesn't look any older than a twenty year old woman, wearing a long silken skirt with a halter top of blue with stylish ankle boots. Her eyes are yellow and she has long platinum blonde hair, styled in Chinese hair buns.
"The expectations are suffocating, I can't be what any of them want me to be!" Leiko shouts through the tears, tugging at her shirt's collar, "Why did the Wild Card have to be mine? I'm an abrasive brat with nothing to offer, unlike those three." She turns her gaze to the threads behind her.
The woman sits down next to Leiko, "Having the Wild Card is a heavy burden, but you have more to offer than you think. Yes, you're self-assured and willing to speak your mind. And some people might call that abrasive. But that ferocity and passion burns bright and inspires hope and agency in others. That quality is what brought you together with your friends and if you ask, they will let you lean on them for support, even shouldering the burden of this power." The woman smiles at the pink haired girl, holding out a handkerchief, "You don't have to live up to any kind of expectation with that power, especially in regards to those three. Just be who you are, an intelligent teen who can be a bit salty who draws to inspire others."
Leiko takes the handkerchief with a shaky hand, wiping her tears away and sniffing, "I thought I was having pressure put on me, thinking there was a need to emulate the two Fuuka mentioned since they did great things. I became so lost in my own head, thinking that I needed to become something I wasn't. I just felt isolated, unsure what to do. What the threads showed me amplified those feelings even more."
She looks up at the woman, trying to smile at her but failing, "You're right. I just need to be myself, with the good, bad and the salty. I've got two great friends and a potential new friend I can lean on for support. This power isn't what defines me or makes me special, it's my art and connections to people that do."
The girl slowly stands to her full height, feeling some of the mental weight slosh off her, though the pressure of that message still remains. "Thank you for helping me through that."
"My pleasure as one of the attendants and as one who governs power of the Velvet Room. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Mina Safie, though you may call me just Mina, just Safie or both. And the three others by the master's desk are my brother and sisters. Theodore, Margaret and Levenza." Safie smiles, standing up, a book evident under her arms.
Leiko's head turns slowly to look, her face red with embarrassment at others having seen her in that crisis moment of hers. She recognizes the women and the girl from what the threads had shown her. Theodore on the other hand, had not appeared in any of the threads. "Uh hello."
"It seems you have things well in hand Safie with helping Leiko." Margaret says to her sister.
"You and Elizabeth are excellent role models, I am just doing what either of you would have done to help our guests' well being." Safie half bows to her eldest sister, "Are you three going to be sticking around?"
"Master has asked us to remain on standby." The small girl in the maid outfit answers. "Said there were tasks only we three could perform."
Theodore scoffs slightly, "It would be we four if Elizabeth wasn't out there doing whatever. We should be off to the master's study." The man bows and walks away behind a pillar followed by Lavenza and Maraget.
"So what exactly are your duties here?" Leiko eyes the books in Safie's hand for the briefest of moments.
"I'm glad you asked since that is exactly what I was going to speak with you about during this visit. My only duty for now is to catalog Personas you've tamed. The master seems keen on building up your personal compendium, maybe it has to do with fusing that you'll be doing." Safie answers with a kind smile.
"I'll do that on my next visit." Leiko answers with a guilty feeling that her distress had kept Igor away, "So how do I leave? Just through the door I came in from?"
"Correct. From now on, if we need to get in touch, I'll be calling you." The woman takes out a phone to send a message to Leiko's phone, just as she reaches the door, "The Velvet Room has an unusual nature, in the case the threads that imparted information about your predecessors journey's shall be expunged. Once you leave everything you didn't know already will bleed away. You might have flashes of vague names and faces in rare instances."
"Honestly," Leiko softly starts as her focus starts on the thread and quickly trails back to Safie, looking rather relieved at this news, "Forgetting what the threads showed is a blessing, all I need are the words to just be me. Next time I come, I'll be sure to ask Igor about that book and this token my friends and I found." The girl swings open the door, stepping across the threshold.
"Sorry for taking so long." Leiko enters the dorm, taking a seat next to Fuuka on the couch, eyes still red from crying earlier.
"Leiko, are you alright?" Izumi sits up in her chair and scoots closer to her, "You look upset, what happened?"
The pink haired girl nods to her, "I sort of had a bit of a breakdown after you left. Ever since Fuuka mentioned her two friends had the same ability I do that did great things, I sort of been wondering if I could ever compare and be like them." She begins wiping her eyes a bit, "But I chatted with someone I ran into outside that said I just need to be me, so I'll be doing just that."
Fuuka looks ruefully at Leiko, "I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you like that. I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me for it."
Leiko smiles cheerfully at her, "Of course I can. I know you weren't trying to put pressure on me."
"You mentioned Yu and Makoto to them?" Labrys stands up, pointing her index finger in an overly excited manner at the teal haired woman, but soon breaks out laughing, "I mean I don't see the harm in naming em, not like those are classified or anything."
Fuuka pouts at her, "It's you who said their names! I just mentioned I knew two people." She quickly tosses a small pillow at her, giggling herself.
The robot girl takes the pillow to the face and she falls to her knees, "I've been damaged. Someone, protect me! Where is my Knight when I need him!?"
"I cast oil and food upon you for recovery!" Yamato shouts from the kitchen, "Hey Leiko, does the dorm have any orange sauce in the pantry? I'm whipping up some homemade vegetable ramen."
"I've no idea. The dorm mother is barely here and I've not used the kitchen all that much aside from making breakfast and the occasional udon." Leiko grabs the TV remote, turning on the local news to the end of a news story about former pro footballer Nori Fujitsu turned EMT and the start of the next story is about the cancellation of Orimasu's community service day with the CEO of Okumura Food's making a statement.
"I'm rather disheartened that this event won't be happening in our community here in Ainoska. The people of this city welcomed our cafe with open arms over eight years ago and it was only right to give back to them by supporting special programs, including this day of service with the school. I hope next year we can renew our commitments to each other." The auburn haired woman remarks on the screen, looking visibly saddened.
"I said it might not happen, but that's truly disappointing." Fuuka says in bemusement, making a check on her email, "The city forced the school board to cancel the event. They just couldn't agree on a location to clean up."
Izumi huffs at the news, turning away from the TV, "When did they even decide this?"
"The same day you suggested to me about fixing up the shrine." Fuuka answers with a head shake of disappointment, "The board decided to just call school off that day."
Exiting the kitchen, Yamato places a tray down with bowls of ramen on the table, little cups of orange sauce on the side, "Everyone was looking forward to it to unify the school right after the student council elections."
"Oh right that's coming…" Fuuka is interrupted by her phone, causing her to jump up, "I'll be back in a moment. Important phone call." The teal haired woman hastens to the door, ducking outside.
Labrys takes Fuuka's seat, smiling at the three teens, "Since we were going to talk about what our next course of action would be, how about we use that new day off on the twenty second to explore the halls."
"I was given the day off from the cafe by Ms. Okumura herself, so going wouldn't be a bad idea." Yamato leans back in his chair, "I'll try picking up some supplies for our survey of the place."
Izumi checks her phone's calendar quickly for her plans, "There's nothing else planned on my end for that day outside attempting to read some of the scrolls at the shrine. I'll just make sure to read them sooner, if school permits me that is." She gives herself a motivating nod, looking confident in her ability to speed read.
"Probably best I just stay on to scout ahead and keep an eye out for Shadows that day. My crappy weapon sort of…fell apart on me three days after the Burrow. Not like I'm very good in combat aside from using support or attack abilities." Leiko pours the orange sauce on her ramen, determined not to hold her friends back.
The android girl closes her eyes and nods, "And what weapon were you using? Having asked on the way back here, I know Yamato is using a kendo blade, Izumi is going with a large wrench with a ofuda tag attached to it. I might be able to help you learn how to properly use it, unless it's firearms. That's more my sister's thing."
"A kusarigama. I'm better off relearning close quarter combat or some other kind of weapon. The kusarigama is rather dangerous and requires so much skill to use, skills I don't have! It's dangerous too in retrospect." Leiko grunts in stressed frustration, knowing she had to do everything she could to improve.
"I can help you learn any weapon you chose, but what do you think would fit you better?" Labrys asks beaming, "Whatever your decision, there is a chance I can procure what you want. Take your time deciding." The gear would be from the Shadow Operatives, a contact within the police, or some blacksmith shop, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them that. "Now get eating! Your ramen is getting cold."
The three teens start eating, conversing and laughing with their new found friend Labrys. Fuuka peaks through the lobby door, smiling at the trust and bonds being built, while nodding to whomever she is on the phone with.
A/N With the theme of strings and threads going on within the story, i felt Labrys and her persona fit in rather well. plus she deserves to be used more. Hope you've been enjoying the story thus far.