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.
I would appreciate any responses that you have, please enjoy
Chapter 55: - Councillor and Sun
I believe the saying is, no rest for the wicked, and while me and the others in the Phantoms might not be evil it certainly felt that way, considering that we still had school today and our final exams were next month so things would be getting more intense. Also, today was the day we changed to our school uniforms, so I ditched the polo shirt and jacket and simply made the commute in a light blue short sleeved blouse with silver-grey butterflies around the hem and sleeves, along with the rest of my uniform. Ren was simply wearing the school regulation white polo shirt, albeit untucked and sans the suspenders.
"Morniiin'!" Ryūji greeted. I turned towards him and frowned slightly from seeing him dressed in his winter uniform, even Ren seemed baffled by the appearance. "The response to Madarame's press conference was huge! Everyone's talkin' about the calling card," Ryūji commented. It had seemed to be on everyone's minds when we'd been on the train earlier, so he wasn't wrong. "Girls are checkin' me out today… maybe they can't help but sense my overflowin' pha-," Ryūji began to brag. Before Ren clapped a hand over the blonde's mouth, silencing him.
"I think they're staring because of another reason Ryūji," Ren pointed out. It was at that point that the punk seemed to realise what me and Ren were wearing, Ren pulled his hand away as Ryūji's widened with understanding about what Ren had been referring to and a curse immediately leapt from the blonde's lips almost like a knee jerk reaction, which probably isn't far off.
"We're s'posed to switch to summer uniforms today! I knew people were lookin' at me… oh, goddammit! I gotta go home and change, so you two go on ahead!" Ryūji exclaimed. With that, the boy ran back out of the train platform, me and Ren shared a look before the train pulled in and we quickly got on it; I hope Ryūji managed to make it to school on time.
The ride on the train was uneventful and the only noticeable conversation was about the calling card, luckily Ryūji caught up to us before we got to school, I decided not to tell him off for sprinting in his condition since he did regret it after almost being sick. Ryūji was now wearing a red shirt that read "NO MO RULES," which was quite fitting for him to be honest.
*Persona 5 Royal*
The break in the middle of the school day had come and we were all in Kawakami-sensei's classroom with the rest of the class talking about the calling card that had been sent which pleased Ryūji a great deal, but he wasn't making anything obvious. Ann came over to us with her having not forgotten the dress code change – thankfully – since she was wearing a white shirt with a blue jacket wrapped on her waist which made her skirt more visible. She had black socks with white lining and dark brown shoes on, her hairpin had been changed to a red one, and she wears a gold necklace with a clover pendant
"How's it going? Have you found our next challenge?" Ann asked. That was a bit sudden to ask, after all we had only just confirmed the success of our second challenge and it had taken over a months to locate our second target; even if more people did believe in us, it wasn't like we were suddenly going to get an influx of information about high profile targets and even then we'd have to ensure that they weren't lies before making a move
"I just started lookin' yesterday. No way I'm gonna find one that quick," Ryūji responded. He had an expression on his face that could either be him being annoyed with the lack of information that we currently had or the fact that Ann had only given him roughly twenty-four hours to actually try and find anything before asking; Ann's expression fell a bit when she heard so words, but she seemed understanding.
"Oh, yeah. I guess that's true," Ann agreed. Hopefully it wouldn't take us another month, but I wasn't about to hold my breath on that note. "By the way, Natsu-chan and I decided on the TV station. What about you two?" Ann wondered. I looked over at the two, curious to know what their response would be, Ren looked confused by the question while Ryūji seemed to think he was forgetting something important.
"What are you talking about Ann?" Ren asked. I guess that given his home's rural location the thing that Ann was talking about might not be a thing that his previous school did, or if they did do it then there was a chance that they scheduled it for a different part of the school year which wouldn't be that surprising either.
"The social studies trip. We choose locations and go as groups, but we don't need to stick with our classes," I explained. Ren nodded his head while seeming curious which at least meant it was something new to him; I wonder what it must have been like to live in the countryside, certainly seems like a nice change of pace compared to how hectic everything was here in Tokyo.
"Oh crap, the social studies trip! Ugh, I just wanna ditch it," Ryūji admitted. That was hardly a surprise, in fact it was probably expected that Ryūji would just up and vanish on the days of the social studies trip; however, the complaint proceeded to summon Morgana from his hiding place under the desk with an unimpressed glower across his face.
"You'd better go to your school activities. Didn't I tell you not to draw attention to yourselves?" Morgana reminded. I did indeed recall him saying such words, however there was a slight issue with what he was saying; Ryūji happened to have a certain reputation hanging around him which – to be frank – wasn't entirely undeserved unlike Ren's or Ann's reputation.
"Wouldn't me suddenly turnin' into a good student stand out more?" Ryūji asked. The boy had slumped down when he said those words, but he was pretty accurate in what he was saying as there was no way that Ryūji suddenly behaving himself wouldn't cause a few eyebrows to be raised by the teachers even if they assumed I was having some effect upon the boy's behaviour.
"He's got you there, Morgana," I commented. However, while Ryūji seemed happy about my words, though it wasn't like I was supporting him or anything, Morgana's brilliant blue eyes proceeded to narrow into a harsh glare and I just faintly heard the rumbling of a growl coming from the cat as he kept glaring at Ryūji.
"Quit bickering and go," Morgana insisted. Morgana certainly wasn't going to relax about this subject and it seemed our Electricity wielder accepted this despite his dejected energy rolling off of him, hopefully the teachers wouldn't become too suspicious of what was happening with Ryūji; gods know we don't need more people getting suspicious of us.
"Then let's all choose the TV station!" Ann suggested. Everyone proceeded to focus on the model who seemed excited about the prospect of us hanging out again even while at school. "I heard we're gonna get to watch them tape a show! Maybe there'll be actresses there!" Ann exclaimed. It seemed like there was going to be some interesting stuff happening at the TV station.
"Oh well. Not like I got anything better to do than waitin' for info to come in online. Plus, Morgana's right. Showin' up'll keep the teachers from getting' all suspicious of me," Ryūji agreed. The bell proceeded to ring which indicated that we should get back to our classes, so Ryūji hopped to his feet. "All right, I'm gonna head back," Ryūji decided. He kind of had to otherwise he would end up in trouble. "TV, huh… maybe I should get a haircut," Ryūji wondered. He proceeded to walk away from us.
"That guy is such an idiot… I hope nothing happens," Morgana worried. So long as we were with him then I'm sure Ryūji would be fine, the rest of us slipped back into our seats as Morgana pulled his head back into the under compartment for the table for the next lesson; of course, I didn't get very far before my phone proceeded to go off.
Ryūji: Feels pretty great having everyone talks about us, huh?
Yusuke: Madarame is the only topic of conversation at my school.
Yusuke: And as I'm his pupil, most of my peers have chosen to ignore me.
Ryūji: For real? That's bullshit.
Ann: Are you going to be okay?
Natsumi: Please let us know if anyone tries to hurt you Yusuke?
Yusuke: There is no need to worry.
Ren: Still, that's what we do.
Ren: We'll always worry about those we care for, so do let us know.
Yusuke: They had already been treating me differently from others as it stood.
Yusuke: This is nothing new to me.
Ann: Okay then...
Yusuke: More importantly, do we have any leads on our next mission?
Ryūji: You kidding? There's no way we'd find a target that quick!
Ren: We need to wait and see. If necessary, we can go to Mementos.
Yusuke: Understood.
Yusuke: I'll keep myself free. Please tell me if anything comes up.
The day continued to drag on but eventually it ended and I decided to stop by Maruki-sensei's office, we hadn't been able to finish our discussion from the other day due to me needing to have a break after opening up about Ouvrard's actions. Plus, it looked like Maruki-sensei could use the break as well; I knocked on the door and entered in to nurse's office.
"Now then, last time you were here, you mentioned how you met someone whose situation mirrored yours'. I assume you were meaning the mentorship issue," Maruki-sensei commented. He had clearly anticipated what I wanted to talk about and immediately got down to business the moment I had taken my seat; yet despite the seriousness with which he spoke it didn't seem to spread onto his face which was quite impressive if I'm honest.
"Yes, but I need you to make me a promise," I requested. Maruki-sensei obliged with a firm nod of his head, I had just needed to make sure of this promise, but more for Yusuke's sake than my own. "I'm going to be vague for the sake of my friend, but if you do figure anything out, please don't say anything to anyone?" I asked. Maruki-sensei adopted a caring expression and gave me a gentle smile as if trying to reassure me without any words.
"Of course, Chiba-san. Doctor-Patient confidentiality. Nothing leaves the room," Maruki-sensei reassures. I let out a breath of relief, feeling the tension in my shoulders proceed to leave me; I probably should have expected that he would give such an answer since Maruki-sensei didn't seem like the type to just randomly talk about such personal information, but it was a relief none the less to know that he was going to be keep the information secret.
"My friend has artist inclinations just like me, my friend had a mentor who also pursued the same artist school and that mentor used my friend's artwork as his own," I explained. Maruki-sensei grimaced at my words but other than that, he showed no other sign, so I ploughed forward. "Unfortunately, my friend was taken in by this mentor at a young age and raised by the mentor, my friend believed that the mentor deserved to take the fruits of my friend's efforts," I carried on. If possible, Maruki-sensei looked visible unwell, not that I blamed him in the least, it still made me feel nauseous. "My friend truly believed the mentor loved my friend, but I found evidence that the mentor didn't think about my friend at all," I admitted.
"What evidence?" Maruki-sensei asked. He had a concerned look upon his face as he said those words, almost as if bracing himself for what I was about to say; now this I did have to pause and think about because there was no way that I could simply tell him what had actually happened so I needed to take my time and think about the exact words to convey what had happened and still cover up the Phantoms activities.
"Let's just say… it was a despicable monument to how the mentor saw, not only my friend, but all the students of the artistic approach they all pursued. The mentor viewed the students as property and believed that the students weren't even worth living unless they gave up their work to the mentor," I explained. Maruki-sensei proceeded to grip his head and looked as if he wanted to sick at hearing what I had just described to him.
"Gods, I feel so sorry for your friend to have gone through such a thing," Maruki-sensei admitted. I grimaced in understanding; it really was awful the kind of thing that Yusuke had been forced to endure at Madarame's hands. "I can also see how you would feel a resonance with that person," Maruki-sensei commented. At least he managed to see the connection without me having to go into more detail, since that would have put me in a pickle as I was out of ways on how to explain the situation. "How did you feel meeting someone with such a similar backstory to you?" Maruki-sensei asked. I took a deep breath as I recalled the way I had reacted.
"When I saw that monument… I panicked, my body started itching and it seemed to be heavily focused in my throat, my vision seemed to shrink, I heard Ouvrard's voice repeating what she normally said about my voice, my knees went numb and I collapsed. Luckily, my friends were with me at the time and calmed me down," I explained. Maruki-sensei's expression became serious as he proceeded to lean forward with a worried glint within his eyes.
"Sounds like a classic PTSD episode, I can give you some treatment for it, but that will come later, after this session," Maruki-sensei admitted. Surprisingly enough, hearing that there was actually a diagnosis and even more so that there was treatment for it really relieved me as at least this meant there'd be some way to avoid the situation happening again; or at least curb the symptoms.
"Well, at least it's treatable… at the time I was just numb, but afterwards… I was pretty scared of what happened, I didn't know what it could be and if it might happen again," I admitted. I had considered going to Takemi-sensei about it, but even though she knew about my vocal training, she was unaware of the details behind it and I didn't want to explain it to another person, I just felt safe enough with Maruki-sensei to actually open up about what had happened to me.
"Now… how is your friend?" Maruki-sensei asked. I smiled at his move, probably wanting to pull us away from the dark topic that our conversation had ended up drifting towards in light of my revelation; but it was also a smile of relief as I recalled Yusuke's current situation, it might not be the best but it was by far an improvement over his previous one and something to be celebrated in my mind.
"Free. My friend realised the mentor never cared, best of all… my friend can still pursue their art," I admitted. I even went as far as to slump into the comfy chair as the last of my unease proceeded to bleed out of me as I recalled the gentle expression upon Yusuke's face as he gazed upon the unaltered Sayuri; he had been so happy to have a hold of it after so long of not knowing the truth.
"Well, that's good news and perhaps its' a sign for you," Maruki-sensei stated. But hearing his words caused me to sit up slightly as I looked at him, the confusion on my face must have been extremely obvious given the smile that was on Maruki-sensei's face. "If your friend can continue down their art path, perhaps you can return to singing one day," Maruki-sensei explained. My eyes widened at this sentence.
"I hadn't actually thought of that," I admitted. I'd never once thought about how Yusuke's determination to keep heading down the path of an artist would appear to me; I'd been more concerned with making sure that he never ended up like me, but how did I really feel when I thought about how Yusuke felt towards painting?
"You said it was tainted and a miracle would be necessary for you to return to singing. But you've met someone who can keep going down that path," Maruki-sensei reminded. No, as I thought about it, there happened to be a very sizeable difference between me and Yusuke that made our paths divergent, Yusuke still had a pure and whole attachment to his chosen path that I didn't possess, that I never had possessed.
"No, my friend got lucky and got away before their attachment to art was completely perverted. I don't have that fortune," I pointed out. I'd loved singing just for the sake of actually singing, to me nothing was more fun than getting all the words in my favourite songs right; Yusuke had been directly pursuing the majestic beauty captured within his mother's self-portrait.
"Ah, I see," Maruki-sensei commented. I wasn't entirely sure if he did actually understand my words, it might be that he was only trying to be accommodating towards my certain rejection instead of trying to convince me to actually see things from his perspective; but there might actually be a way to see things from his point of view, just slightly different to what he must be thinking.
"But… there might be someone," I admitted. Maruki-sensei considerably brightened at my words as I sat up a little straighter as I thought of what I was saying. "I met someone else recently, someone who might be able to understand what I'm going through. They went through something similar not that long ago and might understand a bit more," I explained. Rise-san had stopped being able to sing but she had clawed it back, if anyone could help get rid of this curse then it was her.
"Have you spoken to this friend about what happened to you?" Maruki-sensei asked. I hadn't actually done that, we spent most of our previous interaction discussing the difference in how our Personas were obtained and the different worlds we had ended up interact with – there's one in the TV! – so my voice hadn't really come up in the discussion.
"Not in detail," I answered. I'd definitely have to explain what had gone on with me, but if I could just get rid of this darkness Ouvrard kept casting over me, then I'd be glad; being able to sing again was a pipe dream that I wasn't even going to bother entertaining, I just wanted the lingering shadows to be banished for good.
"Well, I think you ought to start, if you can connect through the burdens you've shared, it might help you to start healing the wounds you've suffered," Maruki-sensei advised. It was certainly seeming like a more attractive idea the more that I managed to think about, hopefully everything would go okay once I got to talking with Rise-san.
"That sounds like a good idea, it's something I should probably do the next time we meet up," I agreed. Maruki-sensei quickly set about writing down the treatment I could use for my PTSD symptoms, most of it seemed mental based which I would definitely have to leave in Maruki-sensei's hands, but I could at least talk to Takemi-sensei about the two possible medications for me to look at.
I stood up and left the room, right as I closed the door, my phone proceeded to go off. I quickly pulled the object out of my pocket and opened it up to see what was happening in the Chat; to my pleasant surprise the whole thing had been kicked off by Ann, but the moment I opened the Chat up, my eyes narrowed in anger at something that Ryūji had put up.
Ann: You haven't heard anything from the student council president, have you?
Ren: Nothing.
Ryūji: Miss Honour Student must be busy kissing ass somewhere.
Natsumi: Don't be so harsh!
Yusuke: Natsumi, are you alright?
Natsumi: Fine. It just seemed unnecessarily cruel.
Ren: Maybe, but she is keeping an eye on us for the scummy principal.
Ann: She's definitely suspicious of us.
Yusuke: Are you sure it is not merely a result of Ryūji's general misconduct?
Ryūji: Shuddup!
Yusuke: Though to be honest, the four of you most certainly stand out.
Yusuke: Do try to be careful.
Yusuke: I cannot be there to look over you at school, you know.
Ren: Don't worry Yusuke. Morgana, Natsumi and I are there to keep an eye on the other two.
Ann: And I'll make sure to keep an eye on Ryūji too.
Ryūji: Why do you gotta single me out?
Seeing that the conversation was over with, I moved to close the electronic device when another Chat notification suddenly popped into existence, I checked it and saw that it had come from Rise-san. I quickly opened it up and my eyebrows raised when I read the message that she had sent to me, it looks like I'd be trying out Maruki-sensei's suggestion sooner than I thought I would end up doing.
Rise: Hey Natsu-kun, I'm coming down tonight.
*Persona 5 Royal*
Rise moved down the pathway, her mind still a whirl with what she had learned last time. Gaining a Persona by rebelling, it was so completely different to the way she had gained a hold of her Persona that it had thrown her for a loop and she'd ended up explaining how she got hers in a way that it almost felt like having an out of body experience as she spoke those words.
'Perhaps it's in response to the enemy orchestrating everything. Our enemy was a deceiver and we each got ours by confronting a truth we wanted to deny and then accepting it. Fuuka-senpai told me that their team awoke their Personas upon facing death and fighting to get passed their fear of it, their enemy was a death bringer. So perhaps whoever is behind all this, is an oppressor of some sort.' Rise wondered.
Of course, getting answers about Personas wasn't why Rise was here, she wanted to properly talk to Natsumi this time, about her voice and singing. It was mere chance that she ended up here when another group of Persona users were running around and, apparently, stealing Hearts. It was not the weirdest possibility considering what she knew about the Other World, but it was still something she still had difficult to wrap her head around.
Rise was coming upon Natsumi's house as she tried to think about how to convince the girl to talk about her voice, she was unfortunately coming up short on what to do. Rise felt like groaning in dismay at her inability to think of a way around this; unfortunately, Rise was not Yu-senpai, she wasn't capable of untangling the complexities of people's emotions to reach the heart of the matter, or be capable of basically reading a person's thoughts to interpret what they were trying to say before they got it out.
"Good evening, Rise-san, come in," Natsumi welcomed. The girl had opened the door before Rise could finish thinking of ways to help and Rise could only smile at the girl, the idol stepped inside and proceeded to slip her shoes off; as she did, Rise observed Natsumi seeing that there seemed to be a kind of lightness to Natsumi that hadn't been there before, as if she had made a decision or some kind of weight had been removed from her.
"Nice to see you looking so well," Rise commented. She did seem rather well, though Rise didn't know what the reason behind it was, Natsumi just smiled and led the way into the dining area where steaming cups of tea were already waiting for them; the two of them sat down and Rise reached for the cup of tea as she tried to come up with a way to broach the conversation about Natsumi's voice.
"I was wondering if we could talk about what happened to me," Natsumi suggested. Rise felt like a weight had just been yanked from her shoulders with those words and it caused her shoulders to slump down slightly as Rise realised that she didn't need to think of anything now; for whatever reason Natsumi had decided to open up herself and Rise was rather relieved that she was doing that. Perhaps she could hear what Natsumi had to say and she could go from there.
"Of course, Natsu-kun, whatever you feel happy with," Rise agreed. Natsumi smiled, but it was a strained smile which set Rise on edge because she just knew that whatever Natsumi was going to say it was going to be bad. Of course, nothing Rise thought of could have prepared her for the tale Natsumi told her; adoption by an uncle who sounded like a tyrant from the little Rise learned, singing training which practically tore apart her throat as a result.
Rise couldn't help but feel like she was going to be sick, Rise had never heard of a more disgusting situation, even the reason she had been trawling through Yongen wasn't this horrific. Rise also felt rage, there was a deep desire for her to find both the singing teacher and the uncle, to punch them for daring to ruin this girl's love of music with their actions. But seeing the bubbling tears that Natsumi refused to let fall and hearing the strained and cracking tone as she used to describe her experience brought another emotion to the forefront.
"Oh, Natsu-kun," Rise breathed. Immediately, Rise got up and move over to hug the girl tightly. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, it's… there's no words to describe how awful that was," Rise admitted. Right at this moment, Rise knew the important thing to do was hold the slowly cracking girl together until she felt that she could stand on her own two feet once again; a hand gently reached up to grasp the area just below Rise's elbow.
"Not nearly as bad as losing sight as one's own identity," Natsumi stated. But Rise didn't like hearing those words, she knew that Natsumi was only trying to be kind in the way she was acting but the idol didn't want her to just diminish the pain that she had been put through because of other people; it wasn't something that she liked to hear anyone doing after learning what Kanami had gone through.
"Don't," Rise stated. The idol pulled back ever so slightly so that she could give Natsumi a stern look while proceeding to wipe away the tears that were sliding down her face at last, seems like the girl wasn't one to cry by her own desire. "Don't go comparing pain, just because we went through different pains doesn't mean we didn't suffer the same pain," Rise stated. Natsumi swallowed whatever the lump must have been in her throat before speaking up.
"Thank you, Rise-san," Natsumi admitted. Rise proceeded to hug her before moving back around to sit down across from her, Natsumi took a shuddering breath and a large gulp of tea before seeming to have gathered herself together in order to keep talking. "I was wondering if you would be able to help me, I don't know if I can ever sing again, but I'd like to at least get over this issue," Natsumi explained. Rise smiled brightly, more than happy to help with this
"I recovered by escaping to my hometown in the countryside, making friends there who saw the real me, working through a mystery together and me realising how much I loved singing through a fan. I eventually accepted just how much I was actually Risette," Rise explained. While omitting several details truthfully but Rise didn't want to go into the crazy details that had happened to her while in Inaba since this was meant to be focused on Natsumi not Rise.
"I can't leave, I have no one to go to outside of Tokyo, beside there's something I have to do here," Natsumi admitted. Rise felt uncomfortable knowing that the girl was trapped within this city when it might be best for her to leave, but she also knew that there was another thing hovering over Natsumi that meant she couldn't leave the city even if she wanted to or was able to.
"You mean the whole Phantoms thing," Rise stated. Natsumi choked on her drink when Rise said that and pretty much gave her a deer in headlights expression, causing Rise to grin brightly. "Remember, you're talking to a Persona user, it wasn't that hard to figure out once I realised you were a Betwixt," Rise explained. Natsumi seemed like she was struggling to say something and her eyes were darting about a little. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, you're doing good stuff, a bit unusual but good because those people need to be stopped," Rise admitted. Natsumi seemed to lose her energy and slumped onto the table.
"Please don't scare me like that again Rise-san," Natsumi pleaded. Rise couldn't help but giggle at the girl's plea, it seemed like Natsumi was hyper focused on making sure that no outsiders found out about her and the other Persona wielders activities, quite different to how any of the Investigation Team had acted since they hadn't cared about anyone listening in on them or learning what they were doing, people wouldn't have believed them anyway. But things were quite different this time around.
"No problem Natsu-kun," Rise cheerfully chimed. Still, this at least gave Rise something of an idea to work with, Rise had long denied having any attachment to Risette when the opposite had in fact been the truth, perhaps Rise could use that to help Natsumi recover her voice properly. "First of all, why don't you try to sing," Rise suggested. Natsumi's eyes widened and she seemed to start trembling in place at the suggestion.
"Rise-san, I told you, I can't sing," Natsumi insisted. Despite the shiver that wracked her entire frame, Rise was surprised by how shockingly calm she actually sounded but Rise knew that she needed to push here; if Rise didn't know how much of that was true then she wouldn't be able to help Natsumi recover and that was Rise's primary goal here.
"No, I want to know if you can't sing or won't sing, if there's a mental block or you just think you can't sing," Rise insisted. Natsumi looked down to the side, as if she was uncomfortable with the mere idea of actually opening her mouth to start. "It doesn't have to be a song, just a vocal exercise will do," Rise added on. Natsumi swallowed thickly but – thankfully in Rise's eyes – she still proceeded to open her mouth.
Rise waited, in silence as she didn't want to miss anything that Natsumi allowed to escape. But nothing came, Natsumi closed her mouth and tried again but no sound escaped her and Natsumi seemed confused if the hand that reached up to rub at her throat was anything to go by. She leaned forward one would almost think she was silently choking from the open mouth-slumped over position that she had taken. Rise felt her heart sink as that information settled in and she reached out to take one of Natsumi's hands in her own.
"I'm sorry to do that you Natsu-kun," Rise apologised. She really felt horrible about having done that, Natsumi closed her mouth and lifted herself up with wide eyes that seemed slightly sacred; Rise frowned as she gently began to rub her hand over the back of Natsumi's own. "Still, I can definitely tell that it is a can't sing issue for you," Rise admitted.
"Is there anything that you can think of to help me?" Natsumi tentatively asked. She seemed a little wary after what had just happened, but Rise didn't hold that against her, instead the idol was simply grateful that the cracked girl was still willing to ask for her help in overcoming this; whoever had convinced Natsumi to go through with this idea, Rise was very grateful towards them for doing so.
"Off the top of my head, no. I'm not someone who specialises in helping people through things like this," Rise admitted. In times like these, Rise and the rest of the Investigation team would turn to Yu-senpai for aid and even though he was out of the country at the moment, he still seemed like the best avenue of help. "But I do have a friend who helped me through my issue, I can call him and ask for advice from Senpai," Rise suggested.
"No," Natsumi answered. The answer had been swift and cut, so much so that Rise actually flinched back since it almost felt like she had been physically struck with a blade instead of words. "It's not that I don't trust you Rise-san, it's just… I don't know this friend of yours' and no matter how much you trust him; I just don't feel comfortable anyone talking to my issues with a complete strange, at least to me," Natsumi explained. That Rise could completely understand, but she already had another idea brewing in its' place.
"That's fine, I actually expected this answer but that was my best idea to help you, I've already got a back-up though," Rise cheerfully revealed. Even winking at the end, this caused Natsumi to blink owlishly at the idol and she even proceeded to tilt her head to the side, no doubt confused by what Rise could possibly be getting at with her words.
"What back-up?" Natsumi wondered. Rise grinned broadly and proceeded to stand up, she could feel just a little bit more of Risette's mannerisms flowing into her as she did this; but there was a certain peppy energy to the suggestion she was about to make so it came as no surprise to Rise despite the confusion that was on Natsumi's face.
"How about you come with me to the studio I work at," Rise suggested.