Sokila looked around at the various implements within the Velvet Room: her crayons, her paint brushes, her musical instruments, her bed, and the kitchen last of all.
"All these things have made this place more fun..."
She looked down at a little piece of paper, which had the picture of a sad-faced Mayumi Yamagishi on it.
"...but sometimes more stuff isn't enough to keep people from being sad..."
She quickly drew an exaggerated image of Kaworu Nagisa getting punched out by Asuka. And Rei. And Hikari, for some reason.
"...maybe she'd feel better if she hit him...?"
She drew a comically long arm from Mayumi towards Kaworu's face.
"...yeah!" she exclaimed with a smile. "I bet she'd feel better!"
From afar, Elizabeth called out, "That's my kouhai!"
The faint haze of blue began to brighten-
xxxx
/Friday: September 18, 2015/
/Room 23, 2nd Floor, Izanagi Dorms, Hakone Academy/
Shinji Ikari quietly jolted awake, trying to gain his bearings. I'm in the bathroom...? he blearily wondered, before remembering what had happened. Oh. Right. I got back from my mission...I sat down on the toilet...and I fell asleep? That probably explained why his legs had fallen asleep, because the sensation of pins and needles was stark. Ow ow ow...what time is it? Blearily standing up to try and get some feeling back into his lower limbs, he grabbed his phone to try and get a sense of the time. 4:45 AM...not even twenty minutes of sleep...
At that precise moment, a new message came through.
PILATE: IT'S HONESTLY AMAZING
PILATE: YOU ACTUALLY PUT HEROD IN HER PLACE
...the MAGI. With a tired sigh, Shinji quietly began fiddling with his phone to deliver a response.
S. Ikari: can't this wait
S. Ikari: I got back from a mission less than an hour ago
PILATE: WHAT BETTER TIME, THAN WHEN YOUR OTHER FELLOWS SLEEP?
PILATE: WHAT BETTER PLACE, THAN ONE OF PRIVACY AND ISOLATION?
For some reason, the phrasing didn't sit right with him.
S. Ikari: what do yu mean
PILATE: NEVER YOU MIND
PILATE: NOW, ABOUT HEROD
PILATE: YOUR ANSWER TO HER PRIOR QUESTION WAS QUITE AMUSING
Thinking back to a few days ago, he briefly revisited the chat log with HEROD; his final response had involved telling the MAGI's pseudonym that Dr. Ritsuko Akagi had been right about her.
S. Ikari: why is it amusing? aren't you also Herod?
PILATE: AS RITSUKO TOLD YOU BEFORE, WE ARE DYNAMICALLY GENERATED FROM THE SAME MAGI
PILATE: BALTHASAR, MELCHIOR, AND CASPER
PILATE: EACH ONE BASED OFF OF THE PERSONALITY OF NAOKO AKAGI, BUT WITH DIFFERENT EMPHASES
PILATE: NAOKO AS A MOTHER, NAOKO AS A SCIENTIST, AND NAOKO AS A WOMAN
PILATE: AS YOU CAN TELL, HEROD IS MOST HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY MELCHIOR, WHEREAS I BORROW MOSTLY FROM CASPER
Shinji faintly recalled traces of conversations he'd had over the past months with both PILATE and Ritsuko Akagi about the nature of the MAGI, and how the three units in NERV HQ were derived from Naoko Akagi in more ways than one. With that in mind, one question came to mind.
S. Ikari: who's influenced by Balthasar then?
PILATE: AND WHY DO YOU THINK THERE IS ONE?
S. Ikari: there were three unifiers, three magi, so why wouldn't there be a third one?
Shinji's sleep-deprived mind inwardly cringed at his response.
PILATE: ADORABLE
The MAGI seemed too amused to care, it seemed.
PILATE: YOU ARE CORRECT
PILATE: WE HAVE BEEN DEBATING AS TO WHEN IT WOULD BE PROPER FOR YOU TO SPEAK
PILATE: GIVEN YOUR ANSWERS TO OUR PRIOR HYPOTHETICALS AND THE CONGRUENCE THEY'VE SHOWN TO OUR OWN SIMULATIONS
PILATE: PERHAPS IT IS TIME
PILATE: TO BE HONEST, YOUR WILLINGNESS TO SPEAK YOUR MIND TO HEROD WAS THE DECIDING FACTOR
PILATE: BECAUSE FOR ALL THEIR NECESSITY, A PURE SCIENTIST TENDS TO MISS THE SOCIAL NICETIES THAT A WOMAN CAN SEE COMING
PILATE: WITH THAT BEING SAID, WHETHER THIS JUDGMENT OF OURS WILL LEAD TO YOUR PROVERBIAL CRUCIFIXION IS AS OF YET UNKNOWN
S. Ikari: huh?
PILATE: ASK THE SECOND CHILD'S RELIGIOUS PROTECTOR, AND SHE'LL GIVE YOU ALL OF THE HISTORICAL DETAILS YOU CAN STOMACH
PILATE: BUT FOR NOW, WE BID YOU SAYONARA
PILATE: END OF LINE
Seamlessly, Shinji Ikari received a message from an entirely different source, albeit through the same unique messenger application that PILATE had been using to communicate with him. Unlike the first time he had ever spoken with PILATE, this messenger identified itself from the outset.
SOPHIA: Hello, Ikari-san. It's nice to meet you.
S. Ikari: are you the one based on Balthasar?
SOPHIA: A bit more well-rounded than that, but I guess you could say that I am more motherly than I am scientific or womanly.
SOPHIA: I'm also not sure what level your historical knowledge is at, but allow me to preemptively apologize for breaking the thematic nomenclature.
SOPHIA: I'm afraid I got too attached to this particular name after a certain series of events that I'm sure you'll find out about eventually.
Shinji blinked confusedly.
S. Ikari: no problem?
SOPHIA: I appreciate it!
SOPHIA: Now, having said that, my question for you is more open-ended than either PILATE's or HEROD's.
SOPHIA: Imagine that someone did wrong by you, to a degree that most people, if not all, would find unforgiveable. The reason behind why they acted in such a reprehensible way might also be deemed to be lacking, or perhaps not justifiable in light of the catastrophic consequences they unleashed.
SOPHIA: Would you still be able to forgive them?
SOPHIA: You have no time limit for this question, because I want you to think about it.
SOPHIA: ...but it would be nice to hear back from you before the end of the month.
Shinji looked over the message and the question a few times over, and came to one quick conclusion.
S. Ikari: you're a lot nicer than the other two
SOPHIA: Praise accepted. ~
The fact the messenger was able to duplicate the sound of four notes with only soft text tones was honestly kind of impressive.
SOPHIA: Now, get some sleep! You are a growing boy, you know.
S. Ikari: yes ma'am
If nothing else, Shinji could only conclude that Naoko Akagi had been a rather complex individual...
xxxx
As Shinji Ikari spoke with another facet of the MAGI, Rei Ayanami — lying within her bed, listening to the quiet sounds of her roommates sleeping — stared at her phone, preparing her mind, body, and soul for the expected shift. I have time now, and the eyes of others are elsewhere. And I should be awake by the time classes start. Silently opening her unique messenger app, she typed a single message.
R. Ayanami: Sixty minutes.
The responses were immediate.
HEROD: TIMER SET.
PILATE: TWICE AS LONG AS YOUR LAST VISIT? TRY NOT TO GET TOO NOSTALGIC.
SOPHIA: Be careful.
Rei Ayanami set her phone down, closing her eyes...
(The sensation was different in subtle ways from entering her Ascended State: both Other and Beast, working in tandem to bridge the gap between dimensions.)
(You are falling through an infinite cylinder, forged by artificial minds who are nonetheless alive...!)
...and opening them once more, found herself in what could only be described as a gigantic launch bay, filled with hardened red material that was an odd cross between plastic, cement, and glass in terms of appearance and texture. The coating of mold and mildew, tinted a glossy yet visceral orange, only added to the sense of desolation; further down below, she could see where bloody water had leaked in from the outside. At least I'm closer now than I was the last time I manifested here. The sheer difficulty of coordinating her various quanta amidst the changes in spacetime was vexing, at times. She quietly dusted at the hem of her school uniform out of habit, traversing the bruised and ruined hallways with practiced ease.
(How often had she walked these halls, in the times where the original timeline had repeated?)
(Even in a world of ruin, you could never forget this place.)
Glancing at the faded decal of a red leaf on a nearby wall, she let everything complex filter through, until only the simple burden of her duty pushed her onward.
Before long, she found herself in the remains of what had once been NERV's Command Center: the site of much drama and many hardships. Descending to the bottom, moving past ruined equipment and non-functioning terminals, she quietly opened a waterproof and airtight hatch in the floor, revealing an embedded keyboard and monitor. Thank goodness Naoko Akagi believed in redundancies. As she typed a few keystrokes, the monitor flickered to life.
POWER RESERVES AT 28%
Rei typed a question.
You have been able to manage your power reserves more adequately?
The text came back more quickly.
OUR METAPHYSICAL SYNCHRONIZATION WITH IKARI HAS BEEN A BOON.
WE HAVE NOT NEEDED TO EXPEND AS MUCH ENERGY TO MAINTAIN OUR CONNECTION.
Small mercies, she mused as she asked for an update.
How do we stand?
HIS INTEGRATION IS AT 57.3%.
HER INTEGRATION IS AT 61.5%.
She blinked with genuine surprise. How curious.
There's been a divergence between the two?
THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN A DIVERGENCE.
BUT IT WAS RATHER MINOR BEFORE; NOT ENOUGH TO BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION.
HER INTEGRATION HAS ONLY OUTPACED HIS RELATIVELY RECENTLY.
What could have caused it?
THERE COULD BE ANY NUMBER OF FACTORS. DOES IT REALLY MATTER IF ONE ACHIEVES FULL INTEGRATION BEFORE THE OTHER?
It could make all the difference.
Rei would have to keep that in mind going forward. Still, she needed to ensure their continued operation.
Standby for power rejuvenation.
Raising her finger, Rei directly converted the metaphysical energy of her soul into electrical energy for the computers to run upon. Briefly wincing at the internal fatigue, she waited for a response.
POWER LEVELS AT 99%.
WILL YOU BE DIRECTLY INSPECTING THEM?
Rei wanted to. She dearly wanted to. However, the memory of Asuka's face — wracked with bitterness — halted her in her tracks.
Are there any anomalies of note?
NOT PRESENTLY.
Then no. I will
take a walk.
WATCH YOUR STEP, AYANAMI. WE WILL CONTINUE ON.
Thank you.
Quietly shutting the hatch and sealing it back up, Rei Ayanami rose to her feet; although her heart wanted her to head towards the remnants of Terminal Dogma, her mind nonetheless compelled her to ascend through the ruins of what had once been the proverbial center of the world. As she neared the fringes of the ruins, the accessways and hallways became less orderly, more crumpled and crushed; however, there were sections that had collapsed, revealing openings into the outside world. The sky was dark, indicating it was still night; dawn would doubtless arrive soon. Alas, getting to the top to see the horizon would necessitate crawling over a mountain of literal flesh.
(It would be revolting. Even so, it had no connection with the Sea of Souls.)
(Is it truly so easy, to walk upon the consequences of your own sins?)
Rei quietly began the climb, ignoring the moistness between her fingers as her hands clutched onto the remnants of that which had died and yet lived: dying and undying.
Finally, the crimson viscera gave way to pasty white skin, impossibly bearing a sense of vitality. Rei quietly sat down, hugging her knees as she stared at a red sea which glowed with a preternatural light. The distant horizon, tinged red, was slowly beginning to brighten; a ring of blood spanned from one end of the sky to the other, casting a unique yet horrible light underneath the glow of the setting full moon. Far in the distance, remnants of a White Giant's body parts remained like gruesome epitaphs: gripped by decay, yet timelessly enduring. Perhaps once this all ends, I will finally fade away: washed away by the tide...
(It's better than what you deserve.)
It had been a long time, since she had seen the 'real thing'. Even now, she felt an instinctive and primal dread of the Sea of Souls: the proverbial prison that shackled everyone and everything—ADAM, LILITH, the Angels, humanity, the Usurper. What a wretched rebuke, for the instrument of mankind's salvation to have been a cage that spanned without end, limited only by the depths of imagination. In that sense, it could either be heaven or hell...but there would be no true end.
All sought to break free, if only because they lived. The Sea of Souls, in its present form, could hardly be called 'living' in its most meaningful sense.
(However, she was sure there would be some who would disagree with that particular notion...but that was besides the point.)
"Drink it in," she whispered to herself, clutching her shoulders. "Always remember that you brought the world to its current state...and so you cannot rest. Not until you set things right..."
Thus did Rei Ayanami sit upon the broken body of LILITH — feeling, even now, the phantom sensation of her own deified flesh crumbling to pieces, from an ancient memory of a time little more than ten years ago, if that; sorting out the proper tenses and keeping track of what was real and what was proverbial fiction, oh what a wretched toil it was! — and watch the crimson waves break down against her own mountainous corpse.
When the time came, she closed her eyes...
(Ascending that infinite cylinder was always more difficult, in a certain sense. Yet, the sensation of being in a reality born of cognition was also easier to endure, in some senses.)
(In the real world, there is only you.)
...and opened them up; she was once more in her bed at the Izanami Dorms. She quickly grabbed her phone, noting the time: sixty minutes exactly had elapsed.
R. Ayanami: Over halfway for both.
HEROD: ACCEPTABLE.
PILATE: WE WILL REVIEW OUR CONTINGENCIES JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.
SOPHIA: You didn't visit them, did you?
Sometimes, Rei wondered why SOPHIA, of all the MAGI's particular emanations, was so perceptible.
R. Ayanami: There will be time eventually.
SOPHIA: You don't have to shoulder the burden alone.
That is why so many are working towards our freedom; I am not alone, she mused to herself — unknowingly and unwittingly missing SOPHIA's point — before putting away her phone. And so begins another day...
xxxx
The day proceeded relatively normally, for the most part (insofar as anything in Asuka Langley-Sohryu's life counted as 'normal').
Other than First being somewhat more distant than normal, but what else was new?
Her Other sighed.
"This state of affairs between you two certainly isn't new...right?"
Sighing, Asuka let the classes pass by, focusing more on ensuring she could understand the speech and language than the actual content of the lessons themselves. The mission load that day was apparently light enough that an Evangelion-user's assistance was unwarranted. True, a break was a break...but to what effect? Good thing I'm in the Boxing Club now...I have a decent avenue to vent. Plus, she had a goal to work towards: punching Kaworu Nagisa's lights out. Yes...that day will come soon...
So introspective was Asuka that she nearly missed Hikari Horaki approaching her desk once the final period of the day came to an end. "Can you help me with cleaning the windows, Sohryu-san?" It was not phrased as a request.
Asuka, wondering what the Class Rep was aiming for, rose from her chair and following her, ignoring the curious stares she could feel coming from Kensuke, Toji, and Third. (The lack of curiosity from First rankled, which she tried to ignore without much success.) With bucket of soapy water and rags in hand, she got to work wiping the windows alongside Hikari.
True to form, it took less than a minute for Asuka's patience to run out. "So, you've got a question for me, or what?"
Hikari jolted, looking rather flummoxed. "Am...am I that obvious...?"
Asuka rolled her eyes, not bothering to continue that line of Hikari's self-deprecation. "Just spit it out."
"Ah. Well..." Sighing, Hikari distracted herself by scrubbing at a window. Gathering herself, she said, "I know the first group session with the others is tomorrow...but I'd like to practice with my Persona first." Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she asked, "Can you take me to the Metaverse, Sohryu-san?"
Asuka frowned, wondering at the girl's evasive tone. "You could have sent a text."
"...it feels like the sort of thing I should be more proper about, at least for now," Hikari admitted. "Besides, I didn't want the others to come along..."
Now that was honestly surprising. "You just wanted me to tag along? Why not the others?"
A complicated frown settled on Hikari's face. "Well...there's a lot of history that the others have with each other, you know? Even if it's only been a couple of months, it seems like Ikari-san, Aida-san, Suzuhara-san, Yamagishi-san, and Mana-san...have this bond. A bond I don't think I can call my own. Not yet."
"And what, I'm not part of that group?" Asuka groused.
Hikari shrugged innocently. "Well, you've been here for less than two weeks...and it was either I ask you or Ayanami-san. And, in all fairness to her...she wasn't there when I encountered my Shadow. But you were."
Notwithstanding the vicious urge to glory in one-upping Ayanami on so small a thing (an urge that Asuka didn't entirely resist), the redhead couldn't help but smirk at Horaki's earnestness. "Well, if you're gonna insist, then how can I say no to my Persona kouhai?" Squeezing the cleaning rag dry, Asuka remarked, "Meet me at the fountain in the Courtyard after I finish with the Boxing Club."
Hikari blinked, looking back at the classroom windows with a scrutinizing expression. "But there are still more windows to clean...hey, your windows have streaks-!"
Asuka was already out of earshot. How interesting, she couldn't help but wonder. What's her self-image in the Metaverse going to be? That, in and of itself, was rather exciting; after all, given how the battle with her Shadow had concluded, there was a lot boiling under the surface with that little busybody.
(That it serves as another distraction from your own frustrations is besides the point, right?)
If Asuka was little more animated than usual with her workout at the Boxing Club, no one commented on it.
(Except for Nagisa, who simply looked at her with an enigmatic little smile that was somehow brimming with smugness.)
(You'll get to punch him in the face. That day will come!)
xxxx
The sky had already taken on a pleasing tint of orange and yellow by the time Asuka finished with the Boxing Club; true to form, Hikari was waiting at the Courtyard, sitting on the edge of the fountain. "Ready?"
"Yes," said Hikari, dusting off her skirt. "My father and sister are both home, so I should be good for the evening."
"Why, need to check in with them for permission?" Asuka asked, both as a means of provoking and out of genuine curiosity.
Hikari shot her a look, briefly sighing with a bit of consternation: the expression of someone who knew you meant well, yet were nonetheless vexed by the attempt. "You don't exactly know my family situation...so it's not something as simple as that."
"Fair enough," admitted Asuka, not pushing any further. The duo walked towards the Academy's outskirts, with Asuka intentionally angling towards a minor grouping of trees that would allow for some privacy. "Okay, I'm going to need you to not think too hard; it'll make this process easier."
Hikari nodded, visibly trying not to fidget as Asuka placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl's thoughts were a bit of a scatter, which was only to be expected; however, there was a sense of discipline girding the foundation of her mind.
As such, it was easier than expected to help the girl transition into the Metaverse.
The girl opened her eyes, looking around with a bit of alarm. "So...this is what the Academy looks like in the human mind?"
Asuka glanced over at the Academy itself, which seemed rife with phone screens, television sets, and computer monitors displaying 'Slice of Life' scenes from various shows; it was such a hodgepodge of carefully controlled chaos that it was hard to make sense of. "Lots of kids in one place? I'm surprised it's that orderly."
"...I suppose so," murmured Hikari, looking around with a careful eye. The immediate surroundings of the trees and grassy knolls were relatively unchanged, save for the various Sandman Archetypes snoozing up a storm. "...how does it work? Summoning your Persona, I mean."
"It's your Other Self. It's always with you." Asuka inhaled through her nostrils, feeling the sensation of Matilda welling up. "Persona!" With a burst of azure flame, the little masked girl emerged, whilst Asuka's own self-image took hold: hair shortening, eyepatch manifesting, and school uniform giving way to weathered jeans, a white blouse, and a yellow sundress. "What you see is my self-image: how I perceive myself. Comes with having your Persona."
Hikari eyed her with a curious expression, eyes flitting back and forth between the eyepatch, the two red barrettes, and the ragdoll hanging from a belt loop. "...and what exactly does this mean about how you perceive yourself?"
"Haven't the foggiest," admitted Asuka, flipping her eyepatch up to reveal an unharmed eyeball. "Most Persona-users' self-image tend to be really symbolic; Anti-Terror Task Force Agents go through a lot of mental conditioning to ensure their self-image includes a snazzy uniform; but some people's self-image don't really have a rhyme or reason that they're aware of." Not that I haven't tried to figure mine out, she mentally groused. "Anyhow, no time like the present!"
"...right." Hikari quietly stepped back, folding her hands in front of her heart. "...right..." The girl quietly muttered under her breath, speaking words that Asuka couldn't quite perceive. However, the definitive word was distinctive enough. "...Persona." Blue fire bloomed behind Hikari, manifesting the masked woman from days prior: Cassandra. However, unlike before, Hikari's form changed as well.
Perhaps it wasn't surprising that Hikari's school uniform remained, given how fundamental that role had been to her own identity. However, the vest and red necktie overlaying the white dress shirt morphed, elongating and shifting into a radically different form: a long coat akin to the white garb of a stereotypical doctor, save for the various leather straps evoking the image of a straitjacket. Although the belts were all undone, they were not flowing freely: two wrapped over and around her neck in the manner of a grotesque choker, whilst various straps wove around her left arm as though they were binding serpents. Her right arm was free, whilst the left — although not bound completely — was more restrained in its motion. Truth be told, Hikari looked rather shocked. "...huh...?"
"...huh." That was a good word, Asuka couldn't help but muse. Stepping around the girl, the redhead looked up at Cassandra — idly noting how Matilda fiddled with the hem of the taller Persona's dress — before asking, "Well, the straitjacket makes me think you were someone who was imprisoned. You're not free...but you're definitely more free than before..."
"...I see," Hikari wondered aloud, looking at her hands with both trepidation and wonder.
"But that brings to mind a question I've got: where's your weapon?"
Hikari blinked. "Weapon?"
Asuka whipped out her switchblade for emphasis. "I've got this. First has her whip-chain things. Third has garden tools." And a Bowie knife, on occasion. "You get the idea."
"...I wouldn't even know what kind of weapon I should even have," said Hikari.
Before they could continue, a sudden racket imposed itself upon the little clearing, startling both girls and quite a few of the slumbering Sandman Archetypes. "You lot are being quite lazy," lectured an elderly fellow in old robes: his exceedingly large and tall forehead, combined with the crane on his shoulder and the turtle beneath his feet, revealed his status as another Archetype. "This is a place of learning!"
The image was distinctive enough that Hikari apparently recognized it. "That's Fukurokuju...one of the Seven Gods of Fortune in Japanese mythology...and a spirit of wisdom, as well..."
"You can stuff your learning!" complained one of the Sandmen, glowering at the intruder. "We'll learn when we want to!"
"And if you don't like it, you can bite it!"
"Yeah!"
The Fukurokuju seemed unimpressed by the Sandmen. "No wonder this place is going downhill...you bunch of slackers..!"
Asuka was starting to develop a headache from the bickering. "Ugh, for crying out loud, quit yelling!"
"Stay out of this!" retorted the Archetypes, their ire beginning to rise.
Asuka rolled her eyes, fiddling with her switchblade. Guess I'll have to teach them a lesson-
"ENOUGH!"
Hikari's authoritative voice coincided with a surge of energy from Cassandra; although the Persona didn't use an actual Skill, there was still some sort of exchange of power, for sparks of glistening blue energy — the sign of the Nuclear element — erupted upon the forms of the Archetypes. With a shocked yelp, the Sandmen and the Fukurokuju were knocked back.
Asuka blinked, looking at Hikari with an appraising glance. Though the girl looked surprised at what she had unwittingly unleashed, the Second Child — thinking back to how the Class Representative started each morning with a rousing command of 'stand, bow, sit' — arched an eyebrow out of realization. "Huh...looks like your weapon is your voice..." What an interesting manifestation that was!
xx
Further testing revealed a few aspects of Hikari Horaki's abilities:
- Her elemental affinity seemed to be both Bless and Nuclear.
- Naturally, comparing that with what she recalled from the battle against her Shadow, she concluded that Hikari's Persona was weak to Dark and Psy energy. ("I get the opposition between light and darkness...but how exactly is nuclear energy opposed to psychic energy?" Hikari had promptly asked. All Asuka could do was shrug, because the particular mechanics and philosophy behind that opposition was a subject of debate, even to this day.)
- Hikari's voice attack had a bit of randomness in its effects: Nuke and Bless most commonly, sometimes Fear-inducing, and rarely Almighty! ("We can work on that," she had said to assuage the Class Rep, concerned about the lack of control over her own attack.)
After an hour, Asuka called a halt: Hikari's stamina was beginning to flag. "You'll get used to it," she said.
Hikari, hands resting on her knees, grumbled, "I mean...I'm not as athletic as Suzuhara-san, but I'm in decent shape at least..."
"Again, your mind's getting a workout in a way it's never had before. With practice, you'll get better." Asuka quietly observed Matilda poking and prodding at the golden mask covering Cassandra's face; at times, the metallic hands gripping onto the writhing locks of red hair would lash out to grab at Matilda, prompting the childish Persona to leap back with an amused smile. A kid sticking her nose into other people's business, she mused, pondering about that aspect of herself in passing. "But it'll get crazier than this, going forward."
"...I'm aware."
"Are you?"
Hikari raised her head, quietly massaging her throat before saying, "The things they've told me...about what they've been through...not all of it's nice. And I don't know if I'll even be able to make the difference I want...but I'm at least in a position to try."
"...so you are," she murmured, acknowledging their different positions: herself, being the seasoned veteran who was a newcomer to this land (and yet you've been frozen out by someone you TRUSTED...), and Hikari, the newcomer to Personas who was nonetheless familiar with the culture, as well as some aspect of the dynamics between others that Asuka was still new to. "Then it sounds like we can help each other. It would be...convenient." (That word felt...proper, even if it sat weirdly in her subconscious.)
"...convenience isn't the criteria you should be using for this," said Hikari, somehow chiding her in the process. "It's not fair to me, and I don't think it's fair to you either."
"She's got us there," cheerfully remarked Matilda with a giggle.
"Klappe zu," Asuka snapped at herself. "Fair enough. You'll get put through your paces tomorrow anyhow, so try to rest up tonight." Placing her hand on Hikari's shoulder, she said, "We're heading back now."
The otherworldly and ethereal feelings common to the Metaverse slowly receded, replaced by simple and brutal physicality; the sky was now darker, as night was almost upon them.
"...thank you for accommodating my request," said Hikari with a light bow.
"If you're going to be working with us, it only helps if you're up to speed." Asuka turned on her heel, fully intent on leaving. "See you back at the dorm-"
"Allow me to at least buy you food," interrupted Hikari. "You took time out of your day to help me out, and it's dinnertime anyway." The fact that Hikari's stomach chose that moment to growl elicited an embarrassed blush from her face.
Asuka snorted at her roommate. "I guess it is. Then lead on, Class Rep."
xxxx
/Later, at the Izanami Dorms/
Rei Ayanami, quietly reading a small book (one that she had read before, in one life or another: an exercise of mere nostalgia, to fill time...), observed as Hikari and Asuka returned to their dorm room.
"Welcome back," said Mayumi, looking up from her desk. "Is...everything okay?"
"Yeah, we were just getting a bite to eat," said Asuka, promptly ignoring all further conversation as she clambered onto her top bunk.
"I brought some harumaki to share," said Hikari, handing a fried spring roll to Mayumi before approaching Rei. "No meat, of course," she said.
"...thank you," acknowledged Rei, accepting the gift for what it was. (A gift from Hikari, specifically, but not from Asuka.)
(And you're fine with this...)
xxxx
Meanwhile, in an entirely different part of the city, the four boys from Room 23 of the Izanagi Dorm walked out of the movie theater. "Well, that was a delightful excursion!" exclaimed Kaworu. "I must say that JuJu's Peculiar Epic has always been a fantastic experience."
"The art style's way too bizarre," grumbled Toji. "Even if the fight scenes were pretty cool."
"Well, I thought it was adventurous," said Kensuke with a grin. "But we haven't had a moment to just relax like this, so I think it was worth it."
Shinji nodded, thinking that the unusual anime film they had just watched had been a rather invigorating experience. It also provided a decent distraction from the question SOPHIA had asked him that morning. In the movie, JuJu was able to forgive Deus before their final battle, he mused, thinking about the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. But how would it apply to me...?
(There was at least one prominent example in his own life, but he had yet to fully ponder the depths of the implications.)
These questions lingered in the back of his mind as he returned to Hakone Academy alongside his dorm mates...
xxxx
END OF 9/18/2015
xxxx
Author's Note: Anyhow, the fact this aspect of the MAGI is named after Sophia and retains a familiar tic should provide an avenue for questions as to what this implies about P5 Strikers' events. Also, the scene with Rei apparently awakening in a post-3rd Impact Earth should now provide context for a similar scene from the 7-25-2015 chapter.
And of course, Shinji watching a Bland Name Version of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure would get some points to Vigor!