"So far, we've got an idol whose single rose twenty spots in two weeks, an eighteen-year-old winning the Loto 6 on his first go, two authors with bestsellers for the tenth week in a row, and some old lady with pictures of a UFO," you say, reading off of a collection of sticky notes that represent the sum of the Sleepwalkers' investigatory efforts. Today, everyone's gathered in your garage again to share what they've found. "Do any of these seem like they could be Shadows?"

"One of the authors, definitely," says Hayate, leaning so far back in his folding chair that he's about to tip over. "Nisekao and I found a post in the Book not too long ago that fits. Can't really tell which one of them it is, though."

"Yeah, I'm also not sure how exactly an author is supposed to be any help to the Yatabuya. As a matter of fact, none of these stories sound like they'd have anything to do with them," says Gin, wiping his face in his hands in frustration.

Yoko places a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Gin, ease up. Everyone's only working with what they're given. Even if it isn't a whole lot."

"It makes sense that they'd want to keep their heads down," adds Mariko. "Someone as secretive as the Boss wouldn't trust anyone who'd make a lot of noise."

"Then why are we still bothering to pay attention to the headlines? Are we just hoping that someone's gonna screw up?" Koharu asks. The ensuing silence answers her question well enough.

"We can't give up, though…I-I've still got a few more months of posts to go through, there might be something there," says Nisekao.

"Exactly. We already knew they weren't going to make this easy for us. The only thing we can do is be more persistent than they expect us to be. Or maybe take a break for a bit and try thinking about it from another angle," you suggest.

Mariko sits forward in her seat, a beaming grin spreading across her face.

"Actually, Yoko and I were talking about something like that. We've been at this for a while, and it really seems like we're all getting worn out. We've hardly taken any time at all to relax and let ourselves recharge."

Hayate snaps forward, and all four chair legs touch the floor again.

"You're talking about, like, taking a vacation, right?" His pupils dilate rapidly. "I'm in. Gotta be the beach. One hundred percent the beach. Tetsuo. Nisekao. Senpai. Uhh…" Hayate screws up his face as he points to Gin "…you. You're all with me, right?"

"You could at least try to remember my name if you want me to agree with you," says Gin, deadpan.

"And maybe try to be a little more subtle with your intentions," adds Koharu. "Although I'd rather be fed through a wood chipper before I let anyone see me in a swimsuit, least of all you."

"No, no, come on guys! Let me finish!" pleads Mariko. "We were thinking that, since we're on summer vacation, it might be a fun idea to go somewhere for a weekend."

"It also might be nice to have some time to get to know each other better, too. I mean, it's been a few weeks since we joined up, but we've hardly spent any time together. Feels weird," Yoko adds.

"And, while the beach sounds like a lot of fun, we had something else in mind," says Mariko.

Hayate pulls a face like he's experiencing the passion of the Christ, and the rest of you do your best to ignore him.

Yoko pulls out her phone to show everyone a photograph of a stout little cabin sitting on the edge of a pristine lake. In the background, the snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji thrusts into the clear sky.

"Breathtaking," whispers Shibutani, speaking for all of you.

"My, uh, family has this cabin on Lake Yamanaka. It's pretty high up, so the weather should be a lot cooler there. It should be all right if we use it for a couple of days or so," explains Yoko, twirling a lock of blue hair around her finger.

"Wow! It's so beautiful!"

"That actually sounds great right now – my room's been like a furnace lately."

"It's not the beach, but I can't complain."

Everyone seems to be on board with the idea, and honestly, it's hard not to get excited. You've never been on a trip with any of your friends before, let alone somewhere as picture perfect as this. As a matter of fact, you can't remember doing anything in particular. Last year already feels so far away that it's not really worth remembering anyways.

Koharu turns a skeptical eye towards Gin. "So…are you on board with this, too?"

To your surprise, Gin merely shrugs resignedly.

"You've already got me pegged for a spoilsport?"

Everyone else stares at him blankly.

"Sheesh, that's rough," he says, grimacing. "Do I think it's the best use of our time? No. But we're not making any progress right now, and I'd clearly get outvoted, so why not make the most of the opportunity?"

"Thank you, brother dearest!" croons Rin, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Oh, this'll be a blast! We are gonna get absolutely-"

"-charmed by the stunning vistas and crystal clear waters," finishes Gin, cuffing his twin by the ear despite his face going red as a beet. "Honestly, behave yourself."

"I second the idea," says Shibutani. "We should do our utmost to represent ourselves properly, especially if we're going to be borrowing someone else's property."

"C'mon, senpai, don't you wanna cut loose for just once in your life?" says Hayate.

"At any rate," says Yoko, stepping in before Shibutani can launch into another tirade, "we'll need to make sure we're stocked up on supplies before we go anywhere. My…um…dad doesn't use the place very often, so there won't be any food or toiletries or anything. I'll be going on a grocery run before we go, but anything else you need to bring is up to you."

"Sorry if this is a stupid question, but how are we getting there? Is there a bus that runs close by?" Nisekao asks.

"You could take the bus, but you don't have to." Yoko's eyes light up. "I've actually got my license, so I can rent us a truck and drive everyone up there."

"Man, you got a stinkin' rich family, lakeside property, and a license? That's incredible, Yoko-senpai!" says Hayate.

"You're embarrassing yourself," mutter Koharu.

From there, the conversation devolves into a mass of excited chatter over what to bring, what to do, and how much everyone wishes that the weekend was here already. For the first time, your summer vacation is actually beginning to feel like one.

• • • • •

The night before you're set to leave, you're just finishing up folding the last of your clothes into your duffel bag when you get a text from Yoko.

[Going to the store early tomorrow morning for food. Don't want anything to spoil. Gonna need help carrying stuff. You in?]

You're wondering why she didn't ask either of the twins, but it's ultimately not that big a deal.

[OK. Where are we meeting?] you reply.

[I'll just pick you up at your house. Six.]

Right now, it's just a little past eleven, so you'll need to get to bed soon if you're going to be able to even consider getting up that early. Inwardly wincing at the idea, you zip up your bag and toss it next to your sleeping bag. Yoko said that there were beds at the cabin, but she didn't remember how many.

Just then, the sound of the front door sliding open drifts upstairs. Mom's home. But instead of hearing the clink of ice, the pop of the cork on the bottle of brandy, and the sounds of late night talk shows, there comes the sound of heavy footfalls trudging up the stairs. Soon after, Mom appears in your doorway looking much the same as she ever does – ruffled blouse, raccoon-like rings around her bleary eyes, and stooped posture.

"Hey, Mom. Is…everything okay?"" you ask. She cracks a wan smile and rubs at her eyes.

"Come on now, Tetsuo, you're not supposed the one asking me that," she says without meeting your eyes. "Dad just told me last night that you were going on a trip this weekend."

"Mmhmm. Me and a couple friends. One of their dads has a cabin on Lake Yamanaka."

"Wow. Must be really pretty up there." She shifts her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "And you're going with friends, too. That's wonderful. I really did worry about how you were getting on this year after…after…" A puzzled expression flashes across her face. You don't know what she's talking about, either. She doesn't smell like booze, so it's not as if she was out drinking with the firm. She waves a hand in front of her face dismissively. "…Anyways. I'm…glad you're going to be doing something fun this summer."

An awkward silence descends between the two of you. There's something indescribably sad behind her eyes as she fumbles for something to say, but you can't even guess at what would make her feel better.

"Are you…? Uh…have you…you know, packed enough clothes?" Her gaze flits around your room, desperately trying to fixate on anything but you. She raises a knuckle to her mouth to gnaw on. "Do you think you'll need…I don't know…maybe…?"

Without warning, she collapses against your door frame and starts sobbing. Big, ugly tears roll down her cheeks as she makes to hide her reddening eyes with her hand.

"G-God…listen to me…I don't even remember how to be a parent… Wh-What am I doing?"

"Mom!" you cry out, as quietly as you can, so as not to alert Dad in the next room. "What is it? What's going on?"

She stares up at you plaintively, as if searching for the answer to an unspoken question in your eyes.

"I'm…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This case is too much. I can't stand it anymore. My client…every time I talk to him…" Mom tents her hands over her nose and mouth and takes a ragged, deep breath.

"I should have never taken this one in the first place. He's a murderer. He's a goddamn murderer and every single thing he says proves it. I can't…I can't put together a defense for him. There's no point. Why am I defending a man that's going to be convicted? Why do I even bother?"

Her outburst takes you aback. For your entire life, your mother has been the single strongest person you've ever known. For her to break down like this feels alien, like something you weren't meant to witness, and it's squeezing your heart so hard it feels ready to burst.

"Maybe you don't have to? If it's doing this to you, maybe it's not worth it," you venture, not sure whether that's an option or not.

"Oh, honey. Tetsuo. I want to. I want to so badly. But I've got no choice. He needs to be represented by someone, and I've got to earn my salary. It's just the way it has to be. So please, Tetsuo, even though I can't be around, even though I can't spend the time to be your mother…please don't hate me."

"I don't…hate you, Mom. I get it. One day, it'll be over, and things will go back to normal," you say, knowing full well that it's a lie. No matter what the case, she'll still have to come home late. She'll still be trying to drown her humanity in alcohol so she can come to work every day with a straight face. She'll still never have the time to spend with you unless it's like this – a crying wreck in your doorway just before midnight, unable to maintain the façade of being put together for even a moment more.

"Right…of course," she says, wiping at her blotchy face and playing along with the lie. "I'm so sorry, Tetsuo. I didn't mean to put all of that on you. I guess I've been keeping it inside for too long."

"Is there anything I can do?" you ask. She shakes her head, wearing an infuriatingly sad smile.

"No. Don't worry yourself about it, honey. Just having you listen has been enough." She glances at your clock. "Oh! Look how late it is! I'll let you finish getting ready. Good night, Tetsuo, and have fun tomorrow."

"G'night, Mom."

Despite the late hour, you spend the longest time that night with your eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.

• • • • •

The next morning, you awake from fitful dreams in a groggy stupor. Dad is already downstairs with a plate of toast and eggs and a mug of coffee waiting at the table. The latter helps immensely to jumpstart your brain and put you in a more coherent state of mind. As you finish the last couple bites, the sound of a car horn blares from outside, signaling Yoko's arrival. Dad winces.

"Kinda wish she wouldn't do that. Some people are still sleeping here," he says with a glance towards the stairs. That worries you. Usually, Mom would be up already. "Anyhow, that's your ride, right? You guys make sure to have a good, responsible time, all right? And bring me back a souvenir! Or at least a nice photo of Mount Fuji."

"I can try," you say, shuffling your bags over your shoulder.

"What, to the 'responsible' part, or the souvenir?" He chuckles. "I'm only kidding. I know you'll do both. See you Monday, bud!"

"See you!" you say, and slide the door shut behind you.

Outside, Yoko is leaning out of the window of a huge, silver pickup. It must be American, because you don't see cars like this all that much.

"Get in, loser. We're going shopping!" she laughs in a tone that's far too chipper for six in the morning. She opens the door to the backseat for your stuff, and then, with some difficulty, you hoist yourself into the passenger seat next to her. It's higher off of the ground than you expected.

"The others'll be ready for us around eight, so let's get moving," she says as you buckle your seatbelt and the truck rumbles off down the street.

"Glad you could come along, by the way. I'd have asked the others, but Gin's way too controlling about food, and Rin would just pick out junk. Besides, you seem like the reliable sort," says Yoko. She pauses. "Also, I wanted to apologize for leaving you to deal with Mariko's Dreamweaver that one time."

"Oh. You're still thinking about that?"

"Well, yeah. By all rights, we kind of sent you off to die."

"Huh?"

Yoko gives you a sidelong glance. "While we were getting Nisekao to the Cloud's entrance, Gin started really freaking out. His Persona can do all kinds of stuff like read enemy weak points and gauge their strength. He kept yelling at me that Mariko's Dreamweaver was way too powerful for you. And, to be honest, I believed him. He's not the kind of person who would exaggerate something like that. I have no idea how you defeated it, but…I'm really glad you did. Don't think I could have lived with myself if something happened to you."

You think back to your fight with Mariko's Dreamweaver. Try as you might, the memory has grown fuzzy, and trying to remember is like trying to grab a handful of soap suds – most of it slides right past you, and any fragments you manage to grasp pop right away.

"Actually, I don't really know how I did it, either. But all's well that ends well, right? I'm still here, so don't let it bother you."

Yoko breathes deeply, and seems relieved. "I guess that's true. I don't know if you're really that good, or just lucky, but things sure do seem to go your way, Tetsuo-kun."

Yoko pulls the truck into a small lot, and it only just fits into a parking space that was clearly designed for much smaller cars. The grocery store is across the street, a low, wide building nestled in between two offices. You pick out a cart with the fewest squeaky wheels and set about picking out food that looks tasty, but also easy enough to make. As you toss a packet of curry mix into the cart, a thought occurs to you.

"Hey, who's going to be in charge of the cooking while we're out there? Did we ever decide on that?"

Yoko shoots you a devious grin. "What, isn't it going to be you? Your dad's an ace cook, so some of that must have rubbed off on you, right?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You realize that means I don't cook any of my own meals, right? That's way too much pressure to be putting on me all of a sudden."

She laughs. "Settle down, I was just messing with you. Gin'll be taking care of the food. You might not guess it, but he knows his way around a kitchen. He gives me his leftovers for lunch every now and again, and even those are fantastic."

"Gin? Really?"

"Well, he and Rin live by themselves, so someone had to be the cook."

You hadn't known that, but it's also the kind of the thing that feels inappropriate to pry into.

"Oh. How about yourself?"

Yoko studies the back of a box of lemon-flavored cookies intently.

"Me? I just eat out a lot. I know it's not healthy, but I get a lot of exercise fighting Shadows, and…" She sighs. "Dinner at home is…not so great."

"Your dad, right?"

She nods. "Not very subtle, am I? Honestly, he's not the reason I don't spend much time at home. He doesn't even live with us."

You nod silently. Considering that you've never heard of Tanaka having a family, it doesn't take much imagination to fill in the blanks.

"It's just me and Mom, and she's…pretty intense. She's absolutely obsessed with Dad. She's spent so much of his hush money buying fancy cars, nice clothes, memberships to country clubs…crap like that. All so that one day, maybe he'll finally pay attention to her. It's pathetic," she says, punctuating the thought by flinging a bag of rice into the cart so hard that you're surprised the bag didn't burst open.

"Wouldn't be so bad, actually, if she would just stop trying to drag me into it. She's got it into her head that I need to get myself on television, too, so I can't even sit down for a simple meal at home without her pestering me to do all these stupid auditions. I'm sure it would just make her pleased as punch to see me crammed into one of those tiny little idol getups or laughing at some host's dumb jokes, but all it makes me wanna do is puke."

Inwardly, you think Yoko would actually be great doing either of those things. She's stunningly beautiful to the point of standing out, but after hearing her talk, you wonder if that's part of how she was raised.

"Well, what do you want to do? You're a third-year, after all. The teachers are probably already bugging you to start thinking about a career," you say.

Yoko chews on her lip for a moment before answering.

"Promise not to laugh, okay?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever watched any streamers online? Like, the kind that play video games or talk about pop culture and stuff?"

"Yeah, actually. Like GaGotoku, SSonic2.0, EOMillenium, those guys? You want to do that?"

It's a bit embarrassing to admit, you actually spent a lot of time watching streams by yourself last year. You're not sure why you're only just remembering that now.

"Oh, so you know! Yeah, like them. Actually…I've been doing it for a while now."

"And your mom doesn't know?" you ask while looking for a carton of milk with the furthest away expiration date.

"I don't think there's any way they could. I've actually got a couple of friends that are helping me with this new kind of technology that hides what you look like. Instead of putting yourself on camera, you use this virtual avatar instead! It's still really weird looking, and she doesn't move all that much, but people seem to like it. Here-" Yoko says, holding up her phone to you.

Yoko's virtual self has the same vibrant, aqua colored hair she does and wears a more high-tech looking version of the wetsuit she used as part of Nightmare. It reminds you of the kind of bodysuit a mech pilot would wear in anime. She's strikingly cute – and you recognize her instantly.

"I knew it! When I heard your voice – I thought I remembered you from somewhere! You're Elloid?"

Yoko blinks and her eyes go wide as golf balls. Then, she busts into a fit of stifled giggling.

"Pfft, really? You're a fan, Tetsuo-kun?"

"What's with that reaction? Yeah, I am."

"No, sorry, I'm not making fun of you. I didn't think you were the type is all. A lot of my fans are…pretty intense, and you don't give off those vibes at all."

"To be fair, you don't seem like the type to be into streaming," you retort.

"What, I don't?" Yoko sticks her hands on her hips with mock indignation. "Granted, I'm not super big into video games like some of the other streamers, but it's what everyone's doing right now. I guess what I really enjoy is getting to interact with other people and play a character. It's a lot of fun to get away from being Yoko," she says, and her gaze drops to the floor.

"Elloid is cute, and quirky, and best of all, no one wants her to be anything more than just that. It's going to sound messed up, but I think that if I used the Book of Avalon, my Shadow would be just like her."

"You seem fine the way you are now," you say. "I don't think I could fight a Shadow that looks like Elloid, anyways."

That seems to brighten Yoko's mood a little. "Of course I wouldn't do that to you guys. Elloid is still me anyways, when you get right down to it. I'm hoping that if I can make it big online with her, I can prove to Mom that I don't need to do any of the stuff she wants me to do. Maybe then she'll let me be me."

After checking out, you help Yoko load the bags into the bed of the pickup and stash the cold food into a wide cooler. As Yoko starts the truck, she turns to you.

"Thanks for listening to me complain. It got a little heavy for a bit there, didn't it?"

"That's okay. It's actually pretty exciting to know that I'm friends with Elloid."

Yoko pinches your ear playfully. "Hey. That's still a secret, you know. Don't go around blabbing to everyone or I'll leave you behind. Capiche?"

"Gah! Yeah, capiche!"

"Good. Now, let's go grab the others and get this show on the road!"

Thou art I...

And I am thou...

Thou hast established a new bond...

It shall grant you the strength to open thine eyes...

Thou shalt be blessed under the sign of the Lovers Arcana…