Good Day Readers! Obviously, I do not own anything connected to the Persona series in general or Persona 5 specifically, I DO own Chiba Natsumi and Anais Ouvrard, along with Natsumi's immediate family members and the original Personas that will be showing up on occasion.

To Sodomi, I'm really glad you enjoyed the Strength portion of the chapter, in truth had this been Natsumi's or Rise's POV instead of any of the Velvet Siblings, I probably would have included the things you mentioned but it didn't feel natural to included them since I was writing from Margaret's perspective, at least you understand why I hadn't done them.

As for your question, I can confirm that good old bucket head – as I have dubbed the antagonist of this Persona game – does indeed know of the Betwixt, it has been mentioned that Fake Igor hasn't said anything and I don't intend for him to say anything, but let's just say that Fake Igor has done stuff to interfere without being overt about it.

I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy

Chapter 78: - Chariot, Tower, Star

Ryūji knew something was wrong, not with him at the moment, he was still trying to find Yamauchi and stop him from abusing the track team like Ryūji knew he wanted to. No, whatever was wrong had to do with Natsumi, there was an almost tense energy building in her which made Ryūji extremely nervous, it couldn't have been to do with Kaneshiro because nothing had been said, so what was agitating Natsumi so much?

"So, what are we doing today?" Ryūji wondered. They had met up for a few moments, but Natsumi hadn't said anything about the exercising that they were meant to be doing; instead, she had remained quiet and seemed almost distracted by something else, it had seemed to press so heavily on her that she was actually spooked when Ryūji spoke given that she flinched before looking at him.

"Huh?" Natsumi questioned. Her eyes blinked several times, as if she was coming around from kind of deep sleep which was really weird to Ryūji since she had always been more aware than the rest of them except Ren and Mona. "Sorry, I was lost in my own head," Natsumi apologised. That caused Ryūji to frown a little at knowing that something was clearly messing with Natsumi, which was pretty weird.

"S'okay… anything I can help you with?" Ryūji wondered. He was worried that Natsumi's shithead uncle had slimed his way back into her life and was trying to put pressure on her; there was no way that Ryūji was gonna let some creep like that continue to put pressure on one of his friends all for his own twisted wants. Ryūji was getting seriously pissed off just thing about people attempting to abuse any of the people that he cared about.

"Don't trouble yourself over me Ryūji, it's nothing," Natsumi insisted. She held up her hand as if attempting to forestall any questions that were forming in Ryūji's mind; the blonde punk hoped that it really was nothing as Natsumi claimed, instead of her just attempting to brush off what might be a serious situation for whatever reason she might have.

He went through the exercises they had planned for this session, but honestly Ryūji was barely paying attention to what he was doing with the exercises – which wasn't great since he mucked up a few times – as his mind kept turning back to Natsumi. She claimed it was nothing, but it clearly wasn't nothing otherwise it wouldn't be upsetting Natsumi was much as it so obviously was, but the real question was how did Ryūji get her to talk about it when she didn't want to.

The blonde punk knew he couldn't just plough headlong into that discussion, but thinking things through wasn't exactly his speciality. Best bet would be to get one of the others up to speed on what was wrong with Natsumi and see if they could get some way for her to open up. The real question was who was best to have that job. Ryūji was still thinking about that question when he eventually came to a finish with his exercises.

"Also, you should probably know that Takemi-sensei is looking into physiotherapy places for you," Natsumi revealed. Ryūji tensed up at hearing the name of that scary doctor lady; but upon hearing that it was actually regarding the issue of physiotherapy, which caused Ryūji to slump down slightly since it seemed that Natsumi was still determined to get him to go and see a specialist about his leg despite everything else that was putting him off doing such a thing.

"But I told you that they're too expensive for me or my mum to afford," Ryūji reminded. Natsumi sighed rather heavily and proceeded to give him an unimpressed look, but the thing that really unsettling about that look for Ryūji was that it wasn't like her normal expressions, this look didn't make him feel uncomfortable. No, this time around the look just caused Ryūji to still and stare at Natsumi with rather wide eyes.

The reason for this was despite a look that Ryūji was pretty experienced with since he tended to say something that more often than not earned him that look, it was different; but that was why Ryūji knew that something was seriously wrong with the expression that Natsumi had on her face. It didn't seem to carry the same weight that was typical of any of Natsumi's looks; even worse was that there seemed to be something that was weighing down on Natsumi completely.

"Well, she's looking for ones that either do it cheap but good or maybe even if they're a non-profit type of thing," Natsumi explained. Even just hearing that explanation caused Ryūji to become slightly unsettled since he wasn't sure why Natsumi seemed so determined to ensure that he actually went and saw one of these people which was a little weird to the blonde. Add on that scary doctor also being determined to find someone and it kind of felt like Ryūji was being almost boxed in by them.

"I just don't know if it's worth all the hassle, I mean my leg is fine now," Ryūji admitted. Alright, so maybe his leg wasn't in as top shape as it could be and his stamina was also absolute crap given how hard he was working to get himself back into shape with Ren; but hearing how hard Natsumi and the punk doctor were working to find a place for him to keep getting some more kind of recovery.

"Frankly, I would say it is not fine Ryūji, there's only so much we can do and you need a professional to look at it," Natsumi insisted. Once more, her looks were completely lacking with their usual intensity and Ryūji was starting to get more than a little worried about seeing her look so different to how she normally was. "So, what's really bothering you?" Natsumi challenged. That just caused Ryūji to stare at her in confusion as he tried to figure out something.

"Huh? What're you talkin' about Natsumi?" Ryūji questioned. He seriously needed to know why Natsumi seemed to think that he was being held back by something, it was seriously confusing as to what Natsumi was gettin' at because there wasn't anything like that in the least weighing upon Ryūji's mind. No there was something a lot more worrying that was pressing upon the blonde punk for him to actually focus properly on the words that Natsumi was speaking.

"Ryūji, you need to stop letting the past hold you back, whether it be the incident with Kamoshida or your injury. I told you that getting better was true revenge against Kamoshida and I stand by that. But it's also the right thing for you to do," Natsumi insisted. But the longer that Natsumi spoke to him, the more convinced that Ryūji was becoming as to what was bothering Natsumi as he focused upon the way the girl held herself.

Natsumi was tired. There seemed to be a heavy weight dragging down her shoulders despite how much effort she was putting into seeming like she was completely unconcerned by whatever must have been bothering her. There was a rather dull look within her eyes which was at odds with the normal spark within her eyes and weirdly enough there seemed to be some prominent dark circles around her eyes that Ryūji was convinced she had been lacking the last time they met.

Ryūji wasn't sure if Natsumi said anything else as he kept staring at her silently; eventually Natsumi started to walk away from him while Ryūji remained completely frozen by what he'd realised. He dearly wished that he could have said something, but the words just kept getting trapped in Ryūji's throat, refusing to move anywhere close to actually escaping him.

By the time his voice managed to unstick itself from whatever had caught it, Ryūji couldn't even say anything because Natsumi had proceeded to vanish; Ryūji sighed, but he wasn't about to give up on something like this. In this sort of situation, Ryūji knew exactly what he had to do, just like all of the times he was in doubt.

He needed to find Ren.

*Persona 5 Royal*

Shiho was feeling slightly better today about her physiotherapy session, but only because Natsumi was intending to come and visit today, hopefully she would have been able to find something that could help with her legs. Shiho wondered if she should also try and get some answers out of Natsumi about how weird she had been acting the last time she managed to visit, the door opened and Shiho quickly turned to see who it was.

"Afternoon, Shiho," Natsumi greeted. While Shiho was normally willing to give a quick greeting back, Shiho couldn't help but fall silent as she stared at Natsumi, because Natsumi looked extremely different to how she normally was. There was something lacking in her that was normally present, Shiho couldn't exactly tell what was missing but it was enough to cause a pit to open in Shiho's stomach.

"Hi Natsumi," Shiho returned. She had to work around her suddenly dry mouth as she tried to understand what had happened to cause Natsumi to look so out of sorts, Shiho didn't know what had happened as Ann had never mentioned anything which meant either Ann didn't know something had happened or it had happened after Natsumi had left Shūjin. That just made Shiho more worried about what had happened to her friend.

"Any therapy today?" Natsumi asked. Shiho didn't know what Natsumi must have had happen to her for it to be weighing so heavily on her mind, but Shiho was rather upset that she had decided to focus on Shiho instead of tending to whatever was going on with her. But the thing was, Shiho didn't quite have the words that would ensure Natsumi would open up to her about what was bothering her; there was also another thing going on as well.

"Yeah and you're just in time too," Shiho admitted. That other thing was the physiotherapy was starting now as evidenced by Shiho catching sight of the nurse coming to the room, which definitely forestalled any attempt at conversation until they were back in some kind of privacy since Shiho was certain that Natsumi would be unwilling to talk about something when Shiho was trying to get better.

Shiho worked hard at her exercises as she often did, trying to get her legs back into fully functioning order, but a part of her mind was not interested, it was more concerned with worrying about Natsumi's condition. The exercises ended and they returned to Shiho's room, there wasn't anything that Shiho wanted to talk about and she was a little busy formulating the questions to start asking Natsumi.

This silence allowed Natsumi to start working on Shiho's legs, a small part of Shiho was glad that Natsumi had somehow managed to learn what massages would be most useful to alleviate the lead weight feeling her legs could take on. Shiho could almost feel the heaviness start to fade as Natsumi carefully explained and demonstrated the massages Shiho could do on her own when neither Ann nor Natsumi were around to help. Eventually she finished and Shiho finally had something to say.

"Shiho, I was wondering, how would go about convincing someone to undergo physiotherapy when they don't seem to want to?" Natsumi asked. Shiho had to clamp her mouth shut at those words, she had been prepared to start asking questions; but it seemed something had made Natsumi open up to Shiho. The girl could only hope that whatever Natsumi was talking about would be the same thing burdening her friend.

"Well, it depends on the situation, each person is quite different after all," Shiho admitted. Shiho could understand why Natsumi was talking to her about this since she was in the best position to give some advice to aid Natsumi in help whoever it was she was trying to get to physio. "Who are you trying to convince?" Shiho wondered. If Natsumi was unwilling to tell her then that was fine, but the more she knew about this person then the better Shiho figured she'd be able to help.

"Sakamoto Ryūji," Natsumi revealed. That was a surprise, Shiho knew that Natsumi and Ann were friends with Sakamoto due to the things Ann had said when she came to visit, she was surprised that Sakamoto was the one Natsumi was talking about. "His leg might be healed but he still needs help, but I think a personal situation and his guilt is keeping him back. I can't solve one but… I'm wondering if there's any way to deal with his emotional issue," Natsumi explained.

"Okay, well, hmm…," Shiho began to think. Shiho wanted to help even more now, Sakamoto had been Kamoshida's first victim in a way – or first obvious victim – as it was after the assault on Sakamoto was covered up that Kamoshida started to do more cruel acts out in the open. "I know, why don't you bring him here on your next visit, it should really help if he talks to someone in a similar position to him," Shiho suggested. That was probably the best way Shiho could help, to let Sakamoto see that someone was vouching for this type of therapy while knowing the pain he went through.

"That's a good idea, thank you, Shiho," Natsumi admitted. However, despite having Shiho's support in helping Sakamoto, the weariness didn't leave Natsumi at all and it caused Shiho to bite her lip as she worried about the fact that something was pulling Natsumi down. There had to be something that Shiho could do to help after the way Natsumi had helped her so much to keep working hard on her recovery.

"Um, Natsumi, you know," Shiho spoke up. Though she was a little worried about overstepping whatever boundaries there might be about this friendship they had struck up; yet how good of a friend was Shiho if she didn't speak up about the pain Natsumi was clearly in. Would it be Ann all over again? Not finding the way to speak up for her friend so that she didn't have to go through things alone.

"What is it Shiho?" Natsumi asked. She seemed better, the weight wasn't gone but it seems to have moved to the back of Natsumi's mind as she focused on Shiho, but the girl knew that wasn't going to last once she managed to actually say something. Whatever was haunting Natsumi had to be dealt with, and quickly at that or Natsumi might just keep it bottled up within herself not realising how much that might hurt her.

"You always listen to me and I'm really grateful for it, you help me to see things from a different perspective," Shiho admitted. Natsumi nodded her head to show that she was listening, but the expression Natsumi bore showed that she was confused. "I just want you to know that you can trust me as well," Shiho insisted. Shiho needed Natsumi to know that she could be trusted with this, just to try and figure out what could possibly be worrying Natsumi so much that she seemed to be exhausted because of it.

"What are you trying to say Shiho?" Natsumi questioned. Shiho was actually rather surprised that Natsumi seemed oblivious to what Shiho was attempting to get at without actually saying it; Shiho wondered if Natsumi was unaware that something was causing her to look like it was dragging her own; Shiho decided to take the much more direct route since the other one was apparently not working.

"I can tell something's bothering you, more than I think anything has, so you can talk to me if you want to," Shiho offered. Natsumi's expression became pinched and she raised her hand up to run the fingers through her dark hair as she looked off to the side, Shiho wondered if the pins and needles in her legs were from the massaging that had been done or the anxiety that was pulsing through Shiho at the response.

"Thank you, Shiho, truly. But this is something I know how to deal with. I have dealt with it for three years," Natsumi admitted. That didn't sound good, it meant Natsumi knew exactly what was causing the issue and she didn't seem to be willing to do anything to get out of it; maybe before she couldn't do anything, but this time around there was no need for Natsumi to keep herself isolated.

"Well, maybe you don't have to do it alone this time," Shiho suggested. Shiho wanted to ensure that Natsumi knew that someone was here to listen to her when there was something bothering Natsumi just as much as Ann and Natsumi had been there for her. But a strained smile curling its' way onto Natsumi's face made Shiho worried about what was going to come from the dark haired girl.

"I don't want to force anyone to have to do something they don't want to," Natsumi stated. Shiho was horrified to hear that Natsumi assumed whatever was bothering her would be something that any of the group of friends Natsumi had made would cause them to feel like they had been forced. Shiho was so frozen with horror that she was silent as Natsumi stood to her feet and proceeded to leave the room without another word.

"Oh Natsumi," Shiho cried. The tears streamed down her face and Shiho knew that there was nothing she could do while stuck within the hospital; instead, Shiho reached for her mobile and immediately called Ann, she would know what to do.

*Persona 5 Royal*

Hifumi wasn't entirely sure what had possessed her to agree to the lessons she would give Amamiya and Chiba, but she had done so and figured it was best for her to follow through with her promise to train them in shogi. She was waiting in the church for Chiba to arrive since the girl had agreed to meet up tonight, Hifumi had come a little more prepared than the first time they met. Bringing a proper timer that she had also brought when meeting Amamiya previously, Hifumi waited and was not disappointed when Chiba promptly arrived to let them get started.

"Vanguard of my Tōgō Kingdom, go forth to the front lines! Trample upon them all!" Hifumi declared. She seized a pawn and moved it forward, but Chiba soon surprised Hifumi with her first move. Instead of opening up the bishop or rook for movements, Chiba instead moved her left silver general diagonally forward, so it rested in front of her left gold general. Ureshino's opening, an interesting first gambit.

In spite of her interesting opening movements, Chiba's skills had not necessarily increased to actually presenting a challenge to Hifumi. Chiba made several blunders, but she wasn't greedy and recalled the first proverb of shogi so she could be taught, yet Hifumi had easily managed to capture several of her pieces with ease while Natsumi struggled to do the same. But Hifumi could credit the girl with managing to blockade any attempts to promote her more powerful pieces.

"Can you hear them? The wailing of dying soldiers, echoing throughout the battlefield. With a mediocre queen, a soldier cannot show his true bravery. Time for you to suffer!" Hifumi lambasted. The girl had more capability than Amamiya did, but she was still woefully incapable of allowing her soldiers to fulfil their duty to the utmost of their abilities.

"Why do you talk like that?" Chiba asked. The sound of Chiba's voice was enough to shock Hifumi, it broke the trance like state that Hifumi always fell into when she was engaged in a match, her tunnel vision of the board and the moves had been cracked like glass when Chiba spoke. Very few people actually spoke during her shogi matches, which meant it had been a surprise to hear someone ask the question.

"Ah, I did it again. My apologises, I did not mean to annoy you," Hifumi spoke. She closed her eyes and flinched backwards, even though it was a bad idea to be so distracted – especially on her opponent's turn – but she couldn't help herself, she was certain that there was bound to be judgment coming her way about her strange habit.

"That's not what I meant Tōgō-san," Chiba stated. Her calm voice caused Hifumi to open her eyes and she saw that Chiba's calm expression had not once wavered. "It was a curiosity, not an annoyance," Chiba clarified. Hifumi glanced down at the board and saw that Chiba had used Hifumi's distraction in order to promote her bishop; that was a problem that Hifumi needed to deal with, but Chiba's words remained circling within her mind.

"Oh," Hifumi sounded. Chiba suddenly set the timer on its' side to stop the sand from falling any further, Hifumi blinked in confusion at such an action, but it was clear that Chiba expected to have a discussion about Hifumi's bad habit and she didn't want it to interfere with the match. A part of Hifumi was annoyed, wanting to avoid discussing it, but she could appreciate that Chiba wished to clear the air about this before they continued the match to avoid distractions.

"So, the anime-esque declarations of intent are…?" Chiba asked. Her gaze was quite penetrating even though she leaned more into the pew than she had previously, the opening of her question was a little embarrassing since it unknowingly connected to some of the comments thrown at Hifumi, but the trailing off at the end was clearly meant to show that she was willing to let Hifumi continue the conversation or shut it down right there and then.

"An embarrassing habit I have. During a match, I, um… I tend to get very aggressive. It's as if I assume the role of a queen of a kingdom," Hifumi explained. To Hifumi, such a mindset actually aided her in knowing how to utilise the pieces to the best of her abilities while ensuring that the causalities were kept as low as possible, thinking they were real was the best way to ensure victory in her battles.

"Well, I suppose the point of view is not wrong, after all shogi does seem like it could be a game used to aid in warfare much like any other tactical game I suppose," Chiba commented. Hifumi perked up, seeing that Chiba didn't seem bothered by the things she had explained, Hifumi stared at the girl in quiet shock. She was desperately trying to figure out what was running through Chiba's mind.

"It really doesn't bother you? How strange I am?" Hifumi marvelled. The easy acceptance, the relaxed expression, there was nothing to indicate that Chiba was at all repulsed by the things that Hifumi had said to Chiba while being swallowed by her bad habits. Instead, when Hifumi asked, the girl allowed a smile to form on her lips as Chiba looked at Hifumi.

"Tōgō-san, with the things I've seen, you are the least of the strange things I've encountered," Chiba insisted. That was a peculiar thing to say and Hifumi almost wanted to press for more information. "But how exactly did you develop such a habit, was it too many animes?" Chiba wondered. Hifumi couldn't stop it, a laugh escaped her no matter how much she tried to muffle it with holding her breath and covering her mouth, it came out as a snort instead.

"No, no such thing," Hifumi stated. The earnest way Chiba had spoken those words couldn't dredge up any annoyance at the implication, she meant it seriously and honestly, which was why Hifumi had laughed. "It's just that my father had me do image training exercises when I was younger, to help me learn the rules. I gradually began to view the shogi board as if it were my own kingdom. I had fun coming up with stories and strategies for my, um, subjects… however… I've heard that people make fun of me on the internet. People think I'm weird, or that I'm an otaku, or that I'm just crazy, I mean I can't blame them… certainly I think I'm weird too," Hifumi admitted. She glanced down, feeling the old shame that always haunted her whenever she thought of that habit rising up.

"Does it really bother you that much?" Chiba wondered. Those words cut through the shame and drew Hifumi's attention back to their discussion and she spotted the confused expression upon Chiba's face. "The words of unimportant, faceless people who don't know anything about you," Chiba clarified.

"When you put it so bluntly, I suppose I shouldn't be concerned, it's just hearing those words weighs on me," Hifumi admitted. She had never truly thought about whether or not such words were important or not, she'd been too embarrassed when she saw such things happening online to think about how she really felt. But her words were true, the insults did weigh very heavily upon Hifumi's mind and she tried so hard to break her bad habit.

"If people knew I could wield a naginata then they'd likely think me weird as well," Chiba stated. That startled Hifumi and she stared at the girl in surprise, she hadn't expected such an admission to suddenly be brought into their discussion and Hifumi was extremely glad that their game had been put on hold otherwise she would have been disqualified due to how distracted she was at those words.

"You… can handle a weapon?" Hifumi questioned. If this was true, then that would certainly explain why she had felt something like a warrior coming from Chiba despite it not making much sense when she had described it the first night they met; Chiba nodded her head to give the answer, but Hifumi still felt confused by the development.

"Much like you dad, mine had me do training too, though it was in physical combat instead of strategic board games," Chiba explained. It seemed there was a bit of similarity between the two of them that Hifumi hadn't been anticipating there to be, Hifumi could only hope that was where the similarities actually stopped there instead of continuing.

Hifumi decided that the conversation was over for now, she tipped the hourglass back up and proceeded to make her move, easily capturing a knight that Chiba had been foolish enough to leave undefended with her rook. She'd soon be able to promote it given the proximity to the promotion zone, but Chiba proceeded to seize a hold of a silver general and moved it close to the end of the promotion zone.

"My silver guardian shall prevent your dastardly advance!" Chiba declared. Hifumi was startled by the words, since no one had ever responded to her, Chiba gave her a tentative smile. "Hey, I might as well respond, right?" Chiba insisted. Hifumi tried to fight it down, but the smile that Chiba's words had caused came onto her face to show the warmth that had stirred within Hifumi's chest.

Hifumi won the game easily, but she also felt like she had gained something a bit more important thanks to talking to Chiba.