Wednesday, July 22, 2009, 8:04AM
Yakushima Mansion, Kotone's room
"Comin~g." Kotone sang out as she sauntered over to the door. "Who is i-"
Yukari, with her tired, baggy eyes and limp shoulders, waved from. "Hey." She said quietly, to a wide-eyed, motionless Kotone.
Kotone hugged her before the other girl could react. "Are you OK? Are you feeling better? Can I do anything?" She asked in rapid succession.
Yukari sighed and sunk into the hug, resting in Kotone's arms as she lamely returned the hug. "I'm good." Yukari mumbled into Kotone's shoulder. "Sorry about last night."
"Don't apologize." She broke the hug. Yukari's tired brown eyes met Kotone's passionate red ones. "As long as you're doing OK right now, that's all that matters to me."
Yukari giggled. "Honestly, I felt the worst after the meeting last night, but now...well I think there's nowhere to go but up."
"That's good." Kotone smiled. "Honestly, I was a bit more worried when you went straight to your room than when you stormed out."
"I was just tried. I could barely stay awake. Heck, I'm still drained." She blushed. "Plus I didn't want to just walk back in after that outburst. That would have been pretty awkward."
Kotone giggled. "Well don't worry about that. We spend the rest of the meeting just talking about SEES stuff. I'll fill you in later when you're ready to hear it."
Yukari nodded. "Thanks." She yawned. "Sorry, still a little out of it."
"Well we got one more day left, so spend at least a little of it with us, will ya?"
The two laughed, as both felt a weight on their shoulder's lifting. "Give me some time to wake up and I'm all yours." She said with a wink.
The pleasant air and soothing rhythm of Yakushima's waves were always enough to put Shinjiro's heart at ease.
The first time he had visited the island had been at the behest of Mitsuru three years prior. Middle school was...rough even at the best of times. In hindsight the problem was just as much him as it was the other kids, but having Akihiko pal around more and more with some weird-ass rich girl made it even worse.
As he reached the crest of the wave, it reminded him of exactly what he thought the first time he met her. A tidal wave, strong and easily capable of sinking anyone who approached her without preparation. He only knew of her from gossip and second-hand information, the clique he hung out with convinced him she was just a stuck-up, hostile girl that probably spent all morning being primped for the common folk to gawk at. Someone who looked down on them. Someone who was probably only using Akihiko for her own twisted pleasures.
It took him an embarrassingly long amount of time to shake that image of her. For all of her faults, she wasn't nearly the cold, distant, calculating manipulator he had expected. She was an earnest girl fighting for something she believed in. She was someone trying to strike out on her own in that miserable little dorm, living away from the lap of luxury. She was a teenage girl who didn't understand how to make cup ramen on her own, until Akihiko had to teach her in excruciating detail.
She was also someone who did her best to accommodate the two of them and meet them eye to eye. He wasn't sure when it was exactly, but eventually he saw her less as "the rich girl" and more of just "the girl they lived with". By the time Akihiko and him had arrived at the splendorous Yakushima mansion, he had almost forgotten just how wealthy and distant from the average person she was.
In a way, that wealth, and especially her family name, alienated her from others. Even now, long after their lonely little dorm had become a real home, bustling with life and new members, did it feel like she was...receding, like the waves. All their new members were juniors, half of them were girls, one of them was a sensor like her, and none of them seemed to really be able or willing to connect with Mitsuru as peers.
Shiomi, Iori, and Yamagishi looked up to her, but couldn't stand next to her as equals. Makoto and Takeba, meanwhile, wouldn't for their own reasons. He understood why they held some hostility towards her, especially the latter. Nothing in life could be easy or simple, he learned that at a young enough age, when fighting Shadows for the first time, and a third time when deciding on a whim to try out surfing.
The good things in life came after much difficulty and suffering, that was just the way things were.
As he looked out into the wide blue sea, away from the island, he wondered if things were going to get worse before they got better. It wasn't his place to cast judgment on anyone, or to intervene in something this personal. The least he could do was stand by Mitsuru alongside Aki, and hope things would resolve themselves without too much turmoil.
"Boom-shaka-laka!" Kotone yelled as she spiked the volleyball right past Junpei's head. "Game, set, match!"
Junpei fell to his knees, as Fuuka ran over to get the ball. "Maaaaan."
Well you got your wish, Junpei." She said smugly, posing with her arms on her hips. Yukari rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep a smile off of her face. "Gave you a best of five, and you still couldn't get a point off us."
"You want a best of seven?" Yukari teased.
Junpei grumbled under his breath and turned around. "Makoto!" He yelled.
Makoto waved back from his beach chair under his umbrella, comfortably laying back on it as he sipped on a Piña Colada. "I'm not playing against a real volleyball player." Makoto said, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. "I already told you."
Fuuka frowned. "Don't be a stick in the mud, Makoto-kun."
"Too late." Makoto said as he flipped through his MP3. "I'm firmly planted into the ground."
"You're sitting in a beach chair!" Junpei yelled. "On the beach!"
Makoto chuckled. "Yeah." He blasted some Lotus Juice and zoned out, completely ignoring them as they tried in vain to get him to play. Instead he elected to watch them play a best of seven, nine, eleven, and eventually thirteen, before Junpei ran away into the ocean, never to be seen again.
Or at least until lunchtime, either or.
"So what's going on exactly?" Junpei asked as he and the rest of the juniors wandered in the living room. The three seniors and Ikutsuki stood next to a blonde girl in a blue dress.
Ikutsuki smiled and tipped his hat. "Ah, hello everyone, I have someone I wish to introduce to you."
Dark blue eyes met bright blue eyes. "Oh," Makoto said as he recognized the girl from yesterday, "hey."
"Hello." She said, just as impassively as before.
Ikutsuki walked over and placed his free hand on her shoulder. "This is Aigis. She is what we call a 'mechanical maiden'."
"Mechanical maiden?" Junpei scratched his head. "What, is she a cyborg or sumthin?"
Ikutsuki chuckled. "Close actually, for you see, Aigis is an android."
"What!?" The entirety of SEES yelled at once, half of them proceeding to start barking questions at him.
The Chairman backed up and hid behind Aigis, who stood perfectly still even with the noise and attention directed at her. "O-One at a time, please!"
"Hold on a minute, what do you mean she's an android?" Yukari asked, eyes wide in shock. "Y-You don't mean that she's actually a robot or something, do you?"
"I am Aigis." She said serenely. "My mission is to destroy Shadows. I have been assigned to SEES, effective immediately."
"What the hell?" Junpei muttered.
Ikutsuki stepped out from behind her. "She was the last remaining Fifth Generation Anti-Shadow Weapon. All of her generation, the remnants of the third and fourth ones, as well as her design team were- well, they are no longer with us. They were either destroyed or taken from us that fateful day ten years ago. Aigis is the last one that was even semi-functional." His eyes closed and he sighed. "We lost a lot of institutional knowledge with their passing, and only recently have we been able to rebuild Aigis to a new form. Much more sleek, with this model capable of passing as a human."
She placed her hand on her chest. "I, Aigis, am capable of operating the Persona 'Atalanta'. I hope to be of use to you."
Mitsuru inspected her top to bottom. "Mr. Chairman, is this the new member you were talking about the other day? I was certainly not expecting this of all things."
He chuckled and scratched his head. "Well uh, to be honest, not quite. They kind of sprung this up on me without any warning. I only just got the details, or 'deets' as you kids call them, about Aigis being ready earlier today, if you can believe it or not."
"A robot." Kotone whispered in awe. "This is so cool!" The rest of SEES gathered around Aigis, asking numerous questions or inspecting her, as Makoto's stomach churned.
"Ah, Ms. Takeba."
Yukari turned to see Takeharu, standing at the end of one of the mansion's numerous halls. "Oh, um, hello sir." She gave a short bow.
"I wanted to apologize to you regarding yesterday." Takeharu said, bowing deeply. "In hindsight, it would have been better for me to have shared that video with you privately. I...did not properly consider your feelings on the matter."
Yukari sighed. "No, it's, it's fine." She mumbled. You and your daughter are experts at not considering people's feelings. "I just wasn't expecting it is all."
"I also wanted to give you this letter." Takeharu pulled out an old, yellowed envelope from his coat pocket. "It was written by your father."
Her eyes went wide. "Dad wrote this?"
He nodded. "I found the contents of it a few days after the incident and put it inside this envelope soon after. It was dated many months before the incident, and aimed to you and your mother. It is not an exculpatory letter, but it is one that places his actions in a more understandable light." His eyes dimmed. "Many people went into this project with the best of intentions. I...truly hope you do at least read it once, despite what you may think of your father."
"O-Of course." She said, staring at the unopened letter in a daze. "Thank you sir."
"I truly did always intended to surrender this letter to you personally in the event that you proved knowledgeable of the Dark Hour." Her eyes flickered up to him, jaw clenched, nose wrinkled, and eyes just barely looking away from her. "I...wasn't sure how to best handle it after last night. Had I known you joined SEES earlier, I would have contacted you then."
"Yeah." She mumbled out. "Would you mind if I..."
He nodded. "Of course not." He turned and left, leaving Yukari with her father's letter.
She ran to her room, sitting on her bed, and carefully opened the letter. Her eyes briefly scanned through it, instantly recognizing her father's handwriting. To Yukari, it was unmistakable in how rough and sloppy his penmanship was. It triggered memories of mom teasing him over it during dinner, as he protested otherwise and tried to get Yukari to read some of his writings. The look on his face when she called it scribbles, and how loudly mom laughed, it was something she hadn't thought of in years.
She let out a small laugh, and brought the letter close to her chest, relishing the small but precious memory of better days.
She took a deep breath, wiped her eyes, and mentally preparing herself.
March 6th, 1999
To my wonderful family,
Thank you for being patient with me. I know the last few months have had me away from home longer than any of us would like, and I anticipate the next few months will be just as time-consuming and stressful. Coming home every night knowing you two are here waiting for me always lifts the burden on my soul, and reminds me what I am working for. A better world, where we will have time to spend with one another, time to live and laugh as a family.
Isako, you've always been my partner and my dearest friend. The day you accepted my proposal was the happiest day of my life. I promise we'll visit Fukuoka again and visit all of our favorite restaurants as soon as I get time off. I know you've been saving up money for it, and I know Yukari will love it too.
Yukari, you're so small right now, it's hard for me to believe you're almost halfway to adulthood. I want to see you blossom into a fine young lady, beaming with radiance like your mother. Never lose your smile, it's what gives papa the strength to continue after a long day's work.
You two are the most important thing in the world to me, and why I work as hard as I do. I want nothing more than to provide the best life possible to you both. Kirijo-san has provided me the opportunity to truly make a difference not just for you two, but for the world itself. Life is fleeting, and the most sacred thing we have, so I am determined to-
Yukari dropped the letter, tears streaming down her eyes. "D-Daddy." She hugged her knees and rested her head on them.
Hours later, the collective excitement and interest from Aigis' reveal had abated. Makoto had gone back to his room, Fuuka, Junpei, and Akihiko had binge-watched several of the foreign movies that were available via satellite TV, while both Kotone and Shinjiro attempted to socialize with Aigis.
"At some point you think we'd run out of things to be surprised by." Shinjiro muttered as he looked over the girl in the blue dress. "But you honestly takes the cake."
"Will my presence be a problem?" Aigis asked.
Shinjiro snorted. "I didn't say that."
"So can you, like, shoot bullets from your fingers?" Kotone asked, eyes glowing with excitement.
Aigis shook her head, moving in exactly forty-five degree increments each way as her eyes stared forward. "My apologies, the current model I was designed with contains no heavy artillery."
"Can they upgrade you?" Kotone asked as she grabbed the other girl's hands, feeling not just how soft and indistinguishable her skin felt like from normal human's, but also how heavy her limbs were.
"My apologies, they did not inform me of that."
"You sure apologize a lot."
"My apologies for apologizing too much." Aigis said, without missing a beat.
Kotone burst out into laughter as Shinjiro shook his head and sighed. "Oh boy."
In an instant, everything went dark. Kotone and Shinjiro tensed up, as the sounds of Akihiko and Junpei yelling the next room echoed in. Aigis' blue eyes almost shone in the darkness.
"Fuck me." Shinjiro muttered. "I hate when it happens outside of Iwatodai."
Kotone shuttered. "Tell me about it."
"Maaaaan." The three wandered out of the movie room. "You think the Kirijo Group coulda figured out a way to keep the TVs on during the Dark Hour."
Akihiko rolled his eyes. "Why exactly would they do that Junpei?"
"If they can build a friggin' robot, why couldn't they!?"
"I didn't say could, I said would."
Aigis suddenly turned. "I detect Shadows."
"Where?" Akihiko asked, as they all immediately prepared for combat.
"A kilometer away, on the beach." She responded. "I can also detect a Persona-user near them."
Kotone's eyes went wide. "Wait, isn't that where Yukari-chan went!?"
Akihiko bit his lip. "Alright, we'll go grab the Evokers." He turned to Fuuka and Junpei. "You two go ahead with Aigis and back up Takeba."
The two nodded and immediately left with her.
Yukari sat crouched on a rock, looking out at the cerulean ocean as it tapered off into darkness. The waves crashed against the rock, the moonless sky providing her neither light nor comfort as she sat alone.
"It's not fair." She muttered. "Dad didn't deserve this. He was a good person. He tried to do right by us, by everyone...but, but he is responsible. Him and everyone else were just as guilty as what everyone accused them of. Good intentions or not..."
She looked down into the water, first seeing nothing, and then her reflection in the waves. A reflection with no face. "From the very beginning, you knew there was no guarantee that the answer you sought after would be the one you wished for." The other her said as the waves crashed into the rock, her form now that of Io, yellow eyes glaring at her. "Shall you stand and continue to fight to the end, knowing what you now know? Or have you fired your last arrow?"
"I-" Yukari looked away. She curled up into a ball, wanting nothing more than to cry and to tell her other self to be silent.
"Can you bear to fight for, to fight alongside, the very family that lead you to pain and despair? The one responsible for turning your father into their accomplice?"
Yukari flinched.
"Or will you turn your bow on them out of spite and anger?"
"No!" She yelled. "I can't do something like that! I won't! I refuse to spend the rest of my life angry and bitter!" Yukari stood up and stared back at her Persona. "Dad, I love him but...I can't just leave his mess alone. Just like Mitsuru is trying to clean up her family's mess, I have to clean up his. I'm not going to abandon my friends, I'm not going to abandon anyone else to the Shadows. Not even the Kirijos."
Io disappeared as the waves stopped, the Dark Hour commencing. She looked up at the sky, sickly and green, its nauseating hue complimenting the blood-red ocean. Yukari sighed. Despite the argument she had with Io, with...herself, in some twisted way, and despite the hellish landscape she now found herself in...Yukari felt free.
The worst-case scenario had come true, her father was just as guilty as everyone had said, and worse yet, she was the reason why he had worked on the Shadow project. His good intentions did not absolve him, it did not change anything about SEES' fight, but it lightened the burden on her soul. The hatred and pain in her heart had been alleviated. She would always love her father, even if she felt...disappointment in him. Or at least disappointment in how things had turned out.
Yukari let out a deep sigh. She was alive, and he wasn't. She could help mend the wounds he had caused. She did not ask for this role, but here and now, she swore to herself, and to him, that she would see it through to the end. She would not give up, so long as she had even the smallest bit of strength left in her.
Behind her, something slithered out of the still ocean. Multiple long, serpentine Shadows the length of ten men, and the width of two crawled around her, while one stood tall, baring its fangs.
"Yukari!" Fuuka yelled out from the distance as they ran towards her. "Look out!"
The Shadow lunged at her. But before it could reach her, a violent whirlwind picked up around Yukari, blanketing her like a gale coat as sand sprayed in all direction. Io appeared above her, and glowed a magnificent green light.
Junpei and the others stopped. As they summoned their Personas to protect them, they saw Yukari's own transform.
Io was no more. In her place, levitating above Yukari, was a proud, regal figure. Atop her head was a tall, conical ivory crown. Underneath her crown was hair longer than she was tall, flowing like a river, radiantly shining the color of lapis lazuli. An ankh was engraved on the back of both hands. In her left she held a jade-colored jug of water decorated with carvings of antelopes, and in her right a golden scepter. On the front and back of her lilac dress was a set of four hieroglyphics.
"Satis." Yukari announced. "Destroy them!"
With a swing of her scepter, Satis commanded the air itself to rend the Shadow behind her asunder. One of them retreated back to the ocean, as the other two crawled towards the trees.
"Magarula!" Yukari yelled.
Satis swing her scepter again, as the air violently contorted and destroyed them along with numerous trees.
Yukari turned back, seeing the Shadow burrowing through the frozen ocean. "Oh no you don't! Panta Rhei!" Satis held up her jug, a hurricane blasting out from it into the ocean, splitting the water and shredding the Shadow down to thousands of pieces. Yukari fell to the ground, catching her breath as Satis disappeared.
"Yukari!" Kotone ran up to her. "Are you OK?" She asked, kneeling down next to her friend and holding her.
She huffed, sweated, and smiled. "Yeah. I'm good." She gave her a thumbs up.
Persona Compendium:
Satis: The embodiment of the rising of the Nile. She guarded Egypt's southern border with her arrows. The Greeks considered her to be one with Hera. Her name means "She Who Runs Like An Arrow".