XLI. The Scourge Jormungandr
That giant serpentine space-worm from the asteroid belt had shown up again, one of its fins slicing through the string above, and it opening its maw wide open looking to swallow this falling moon whole. Taking a stand against it this time was still impossible, especially as you were now separated from Kikuko. Needing that speed, you were inspired by Astolfo to switch to Orlando, whom with you promptly ran like Hell. As you kept running along this inner curve of this moon, little green aliens who you didn't have time to analyse popping out of it.
Once again, you found another one of those space guns at the other tip of this moon, inserted right below the surface of that tip. Not knowing what else to do, you slotted yourself into the space gun's barrel, and only then noticed it was already loaded and ready to fire.
You switched to the Gun-immune Hideyoshi and braced yourself, as you were then fired along with the bullet out into the distance, thankfully just before the star-worm could devour that moon whole.
You then splashed down into what seemed like a river, a river floating in the middle of space, somehow. You could see little glowing star-stones bobbing along on top of it, so you hoisted your soaked self up into one and looked down to see Kikuko again having done the same... below you, standing upside down at the bottom of the river.
"Kikuko, you okay? Er, why are you upside-down?" you called down to her.
She furrowed her brow, "From where I stand, you're the upside-down one", which made you flinch on hearing that.
"Anyway, some Shadow stopped by me and offered to guide me to you again, looks like he was being truthful" she then said, which made you turn around and see there was indeed another Shadow floating above you, er, below you, whatever, gravity was hard.
This Shadow had tiny, pearly clouds floating just above him, and hellish flames emerging from his feet. He wore a white toga that glimmered and glistened like the Milky Way, as if it'd been made out of the same substance. He had no less than a twenty-sided die for a head, which may've explained why he was hiding his face behind a book cover, and a laurel wreath on top.
You had PITT scan him, which told you this Shadow was Fortune Virgil, who resisted both Bless and Curse... but other than that his elemental affinities seemed to be random, though at least weakness to Physical wasn't among them.
This wasn't the extent of Virgil's surprises, as the Shadow then condensed into the form of...
"Hotaru?" you exclaimed.
"Well, I'd still be 'Jack of Pentacles' here," Hotaru's Shadow said, before he waved and dissolved into a haze of velvet blue mist, a tarot card flickering briefly in your hand. This moment so distracted you... that you didn't see this river in the heavens was about to reach a waterfall.
A bizarre waterfall at that, given that it seemed to swirl inward like a black hole to... somewhere. As you and Kikuko were too late to not get sucked into it, who else but that giant space serpent burst out from within it.
Luckily, you instead fell on the outside of it, your hands grabbing onto one of its giant fins. Although you had to wonder if being swallowed by it would've been for the luckier, as at least in its innards it wouldn't be able to knock you off back into the void.
<<BGM: World of Warcraft - Nightsong>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir8iLuzoxQ0
"Honoka!" You then heard Kikuko call out to you, her now standing on the other side of this fin, "I've had enough of being chased by this creature, it's past time we stood and fight!"
"What?" came your first reaction, "You seriously think just us two can take on a Shadow of this, this size?!" Of course, it looked like Kikuko would rather die than retreat or whatever, so you sighed and just called on PITT to analyse this thing.
"Okay, Judgment Jormungandr, absorbs Nuclear, immune to Ice. Wait, it's specifying the thing's gills?" you read out but then took a step back, realising PITT was only listing the health and power of a single part of this monster.
"Good enough for me!" Kikuko roared, having Tsuruhime unload a shrapnel volley right into one of Jormungandr's gills, before hacking at them with her sword. You yourself realised you'd need something with AoE attacks what with PITT showing multiple parts to this monster, so you switched to Orlando, had them trumpet out a War Cry to weaken Jormungandr as much as you could, before you then cast Megido.
Kikuko's and your combined assault did since to get a reaction out of this monster, as it roared and shook the both of you off into the void. Your helpless fall upwards into nothing was prevented though when Astolfo suddenly returned to catch, before helpfully throwing you back onto Jormungandr. Kikuko seemed to get similar support from a dark-skinned star-riding woman Shadow who caught her in a rope and lassoed her back.
You then returned to attacking that fin of Jormungandr's while Kikuko assaulted its gills, but you soon found that the sheer force of its size was not the only thing this serpent had going for it, as it lifted up some of is scales to spout forth an irradiated poison wave at you. You had to switch to Octobriana to take this toxic deluge, but the force of it still sent hurting hurtling back along the serpent's body, leaving you hurriedly casting fire spells to leap back to where you were.
Kikuko meanwhile was actually making progress, as she finally sliced this set of gills right open, the resulting eruption from inside its body shot out several chunks of asteroid, and what you figured were also pieces of that moon. As Kikuko jumped between all those, she then hopped in a space cannon that'd emerged from Jormungandr's guts, which she then used to fire itself right towards of the serpent's eyeballs.
As for you, you approached this ripped-open hole to peer into Jormungandr's insides, which looked like a whole river of radioactive ooze. Breathing deep, you then entered inside this monster with Octobriana's radiation immunity, making your way across the stomach sludge until you climbed aboard a fragment of the exploded star ocean liner. It looked like you'd have to move fast, as a Decarabia parasite or antibody, you didn't stop to check, was gaining on you.
Using what remained of your SP to propel the ship with Octobriana's fire spells, you rocketed all along Jormungandr's innards until you reached his mouth. Hearing Kikuko hacking and casting at his eyes above, you decided to turn your attention to this thing's tongue. Remembering what you knew about Jormungandr from mythology, you used up all of your SP by having Gretchen shock the tongue with Zionga. That was enough to do the trick, as it then left the serpent howling in pain, you having to hook yourself with your tonfas onto the tongue as he recoiled.
But your grip was only so strong, as you then found yourself falling upwards... onto what looked like the other side of Jormungandr's other eye. Not having any more magic, you instead opened fire with every single bullet you had onto it, and when you'd run out of ammo, continued to strike at the inside of the eyeball with your tonfas, Bastet's strength and speed supporting you.
Both its eyes being struck out of their sockets was at long last the final blow to Jormungandr, as his jaws crashed down on a lone, Voyager-esque satellite. You and Kikuko both hopped off onto it as the entirety of Jormungandr gradually dissolved into darkness.
Entering the airlock of this Bakelite satellite, both you and Kikuko couldn't help but see that each of you was completely covered in eyeball gunk. "The moment we're off the Gameboard, your first task will be to give me the most thorough bath possible" Kikuko shuddered.
You then saw that this satellite came equipped with an escape pod, even though it otherwise looked unmanned. the pod was positioned at a ringed gas giant, which you guessed was your way further into this Empire, but the door to the pod wouldn't budge. Stepping back, you almost tripped over two prone puppets that had apparently been spat up on the satellite by Jormungandr, one a wooden carving of Mary Queen of Scots again, the other of Virgil.
"-Virgil-," came the creaky voice of the Mary puppet, "For your services to the Student Council, you've more than earned the title of Jack of Pentacles".
"Er, thank you -Mary-, but really it was nothing," the wooden Virgil said, "I just was acting like any helpful student would".
Kikuko then pointed out something else in this satellite, an old-timey screen who static shifted to a sepia new report. "This just in, folks, there's been a murder at Bouquet Academy, a murder I tell you! That dastardly Student Sheriff," it panned to an image of Hotaru, "Has murdered the lovely Council president!" it flashed to show Rin's corpse being carried out in a coffin, "We'll give you the whole story later tonight!" The screen then switched off.
Kikuko was then quick to declare "So Rin's murderer was none other than Hotaru all along. Plenty of students were quick to blame him after her death, but until now there was no actual evidence to back that up".
"Hold on, there still might not be," you had to speak up, "I mean, if people enough thought that, this being a cognitive world you know, then that report could just be broadcasting what all those students think happened, not what did".
"Or maybe it is in fact broadcasting the inner truth that lay concealed" Kikuko shot back with.
Not that you had much more time to ponder here, as your entire field of view then, out of nowhere, started breaking down into static...
* * *
When you came to, you'd appeared straight back in the Velvet Room. "Where's Kikuko?" you blurted out, seeing her nowhere.
"Not to worry, you'll find her again the moment you return to the physical world. For now though, my attendant has requested an audience with you," Igor said.
"Thank you, Honoka," Lauryn then said, "With the defeat of Jormungandr, one of the great Scourges that has festered within my Empire is defeated. I cannot thank you enough".
You sighed, "Yeah, he really took a lot out of us. But ugh, now Kikuko's thinking Hotaru was the one who killed you or something", you seemed hardly reassured.
"...I find that very unlikely," Lauryn then said, "I cannot think of a single motive for him, and if he was acting out on some dark emotion, I would've spotted it within him sooner. Well, rash impulses aren't unlike Kikuko, so it's something I can see her leaping to".
"What happened we came across some news report in your Empire, out of nowhere too," you explained, "Which accused Hotaru of being the killer".
"Hmm, well the Empires didn't spring up from the Aces' minds, they come from everyone's perceptions of them too," Popo then spoke, "So I reckon what 'appened was all those thoughts about Hotaru being the killer got all mixed up in Lauryn's Empire, hence well, that guff you saw".
"So, Honoka, has delving into my Empire... changed your own perceptions of me any?" Lauryn had to ask, a shiver running through her as she did so.
"No, not really, mostly I now know that you had to put up with a lot of the same crap I did," you ultimately said, "I did already figure that from what the other All-Aces are like, but only now did I see confirmation of that, what with those clockwork dolls. Also, er, no offence, but Jormungandr kinda got me wondering if you had an undiagnosed tapeworm or something before you died?"
Lauryn just winced at that, saying "Er, pretty sure the Scourge symbolised something else. Regardless... you've now seen right into my memories, huh?" She then took a step back, before she coughed and continued "Guess I can't help but be embarrassed, even though you did help me out a lot just now".
You tensed, "Sorry to say this, but even with Jormungandr gone, your Empire does seem to be falling apart. Like, you've got spaceships exploding, the Milky Way or whatever falling into itself, and of course that black hole at the centre's still slowly sucking everything in" you went over.
"Oh wait, I'm not gonna have to jump into that black hole or something at the end of this, am I?" you suddenly exclaimed.
"...I think you'll see when you get there," Lauryn cryptically stated, nervous at telling you the answer.
"So that's a yes, then?" you had to say.
"Anyway, Miss 'Onoka, your venture into the inky beyond has netted you quite the Personae," Popo then said, "And phwoar, these two are some real big lads, scary lads too I'll add".
I am Fortune Virgil, the imperial poet," Hotaru's Shadow then manifested, "With I as your guide through the Inferno, you need not leave your fate to the dice alone.Virgil
[Fortune X]
Elements: Resist Curse and Bless, all other resistances and weaknesses randomised (except Physical)
Stats:
- Strength: |
- Cognition: ||||
- Agility: ||
- Luck: ||||
- Endurance: |||
Skills:
- Agilao, Bufula, Garula, Zionga, Psio
- Fortune Bonus: Makakaja
I am Judgment Jormungandr, the serpent encircling worlds," rasped that titanic Scourge, "On the last battleground shall both our sagas conclude.Jormungandr
[Judgment XX]
Elements: Null Nuclear and Ice, resists Curse, weak to Electricity
Stats:
- Strength: |||||
- Cognition: ||
- Agility: ||
- Luck: ||
- Endurance: ||||
Skills:
- Mafreila, Mabufula, Stagnant Air, Poison Breath, Cruel Attack
[ ] Select Virgil
[ ] Select Jormungandr
[ ] Select both
[ ] Store both
[x] Fuse both? (Tower Heracles)
[ ] Write-in
If selecting:
[ ] Write-in Persona(e) to exchange
I am Tower Heracles, god of ancient heroism," bellowed a giant man with a lionskin cloak above a girdle, a quiver of snakes for a feather-stained bow, a bracelet of bull horn and boar tusk, a bronze or brass belt buckle, and a necklace of five dog heads, "You face a trial beyond strength? Hah, intriguing tale, sister.Elements: Null Physical and Bless, resist Electric and Curse, weak to Nuclear and Psy
Stats:
- Strength: |||||
- Cognition: |||
- Agility: ||
- Luck: |
- Endurance: ||||
Skills: Power Charge, Herculean Strike, Mazionga, Bolt Shot
- Inherit: Makakaja, Stagnant Air
- Tower Bonus: Poison Arrow, Tetrakarn
"I suppose it's not you I should worry about seeing my Empire, but rather Kikuko..." Lauryn then started muttering.
"Um, yeah, well I only brought her along because, ah, she's my Ace now, so I felt I kinda had to," you then told her, "She kinda went ballistic when we stumbled upon an old conversation you had being replayed, and wrecked a bunch of your clockwork dolls. Er, sorry about that".
Lauryn simply sighed at that, but she then added, "Yeah, I recall you saying Himawari got expelled... something I have no idea how could ever happen. Still, form your words, she seemed a much better fit for you than Kikuko".
"Oh yeah, Himawari's expulsion. Guess that had a lot to do with Nightshade," you said, "Still says something when even her 'criminal' side is still the nicest of the surviving Aces".
"Nightshade?" a confused Lauryn had to ask.
"Right, er, that may take some explaining," you said, with you now wondering if Nightshade has come about as a result of Himawari processing Rin's death.
"Either way, you'll be waking up soon, so I'll have to cut this meeting short," Lauryn then said, "But all the same, thank you Honoka, and once you return to my Empire, you should find the way further in opened. That said, you'll want to wait until you head deeper, conserve your energy, as it'll be no smoother sailing past that satellite".
- Death has Journeyed to Rank 4! -
* * *
"Nakamura... Nakamura, wake up!" you could hear loud and clear Kikuko shouting at and shaking you.
"Okay, okay, I'm up!" you said, fortunately just back in the Lounge that same night, and not having woken up in the sick room the next day again.
Kikuko just nodded at your recovery, but then had to say "Empires remain after death, as one's legacy lives on though they themselves may be gone. We weren't just exploring the shattered fragments of Rin's psyche... those were the scars left on our, the Aces', own minds that we witnessed and fought in. You could've never known Rin, so I have no clue what everything there meant for you".
You kept quiet on knowing Rin, and instead said "I think I got the gist of it".
"Oh wait, I've gotta give you a friggin' bath now or something, right?" you then realised.
"Do not dismiss the godliness of cleanliness, Honoka. We have just been through the legacy of a dead girl made manifest. After coming that close with death, purification is a necessary" Kikuko was swift to state, "I would usually do so beneath a waterfall... but right now, I think an onsen would be easier on you".
All this talk with Kikuko did remind you of one thing. "Oh yeah Kikuko... I guess you would've prepared that new place I'll be moving to by now, huh?"
"You guess correct. We'll need an auspicious date for your relocation to happen thought," Kikuko then said, "Hmm, the 1st of June, also being the first of Summer, I feel would be a natural choice".
"That's this Wednesday, huh?" you reacted, which on top of the move, also got you thinking about what to prioritise next week:
[ ] Drama Club, you should stand up to Azuma.
[ ] Tea Ceremony Club, you'll be seeing a lot of Kikuko anyway.
[ ] Class Rep duties.
[x] Rehearsing for Nightshade.
[ ] Keeping on with Cricket Club.
[ ] Studying with friends.
[ ] Seeing what's with Computer Club.
[ ] Doing your part-time job at the tabletop store.
[ ] Taking that part-time job at the sweets shop.
[ ] Maybe doing that modelling thing.
[ ] Training yourself physically.
[ ] Traversing the Gameboard without needing to sneak in.
[ ] Write-in.
<<BGM: Silent Hill 2 - Theme of Laura (reprise)>>https://youtu.be/JozVfR-XavQ
"One more thing, before we leave," Kikuko then said, "Have you heard the name Yoneyama Ikue anywhere around?"
You nearly froze, but then said, "Er, kinda. Heard she's a skier who was offered a position as All-Ace, or at least a Jack, but turned it down".
"Good, you have been keeping alert of the goings-on at our school," Kikuko nodded, before she explained, "We assumed that pretend European had been pushed into disgrace and obscurity after refusing us, but I've heard mentions of her name increasing around school since the Sports Festival.
As my Jack, I am giving you the responsibility of eliminating her Shadow," Kikuko proclaimed, sending a chill through the air, "Hermit Skadi, that is its name, a former subject of Eitaro's Empire now claimed by me. I will give you to the end of June to execute her Shadow, that should be generous enough, take any longer and I shall have to step in".
Sheesh. Well, best case scenario is I'll have a new Persona waiting for me, out of this, you glumly thought, only saying, "Fine, I'll see to her".
"Also, as Ikue now has the shame of being on the cricket team, that reminds me. I've also heard their batter is a silver-haired girl. If you will, find out more about her and execute her Shadow too," Kikuko said to your amusement.
Well, that was something of a ray of sunshine, learning your disguise had worked. "Yep, alright then, I can totally kick her loser arse," you replied, hiding your internal laughter.
"Do not mock me," Kikuko stated, before you two left.
* * *
Talking with Megumi in your flat that morning over instant coffee, one of these last days it'd be 'your' flat, you decided to bring up the good news to them first.
"Hey, Gumi, you know that whole 'get a date' thing we were talking about?" you began with, as you flicked through your phone until you found a picture of you with Colette, "Well, here she is! Her pen name's Colette Claudius, we've known each other a while but we've only just started dating".
"Oh, I remember her! That goth girl from when we went to see Nightshade," Megumi smiled in recognition, "I mean, after all this Ace stuff and your low Sports Fest turn-out, it's good to hear something's finally going right in your world".
"We're gonna have quite the start to our relationship too, our plan's to try and get all the way down to Tokyo for the day, probably via a train and, ugh, plane combo," you went on.
"Wow. Normally I'd make a crack about rent, but well, you're being 'relocated' so I guess that's no longer an issue for you," Megumi's expression shifted to being downcast.
"Yeah, about that," you then had to address, "Kikuko hasn't said anything about me forking over money for my new place, but I definitely know the All-Aces demand payment in, er, other ways," you gulped. "Oh, guess I should bring this up. First of June, that's when I'll be leaving".
At first, Megumi only nodded, but then said "At least you don't have to worry about me being lonely here. Ryouko was having troubles at her place too, you can tell by the extra jobs she was working, so we've arranged for her to move in here. I mean, I suppose a high-schooler and a college student sharing a place always looked a little weird".
"Hey c'mon, don't say that," you told them, "And like you said, I know where you like to hang out, so this is hardly the end for us".
"And on the bright side, I also shouldn't have to have to worry about those Aces snooping around here anymore," Megumi leaned back and grinned, "So um, what's Colette like? What makes you totally into her?"
You bit your lip, "Wow, that's quite the question. Hmm, I suppose it's..."
[x] -How she exudes confidence, even when the world should've otherwise beat her down".
[ ] -How she noticed I was going through grief and was there for me, at a time when most students would've said nothing."
[ ] -That, while others look up to me or I look up to them, Colette and I see each other as equals."
[ ] -Okay, to be shallow, I love how her aesthetic sense, how she looks and what she's into"
[ ] -Um, does it have to be any one specific thing? Can't you just like someone?"
[ ] Write-in.
Megumi didn't say a word, but still smiled along.
XLII. Abyssa and the Lady Devils
"Seriously, we have a Cricket Team?"
"-God, Mid-Term results are in. Please, be gentle."
"That was, er, an odd cheer routine at the Sports Festival-"
"-Wait a sec, a Jack scored higher than an Ace?"
Entering school again to check the publicly posted exam results, you indeed saw that you'd landed in the top 200, more than above-average given the Hanataba student population of around seven-hundred, and probably the highest you'd ever scored in one of these exams. Azuma and Kikuko had predictably scored leagues ahead of you, but you did see you were the highest-scoring Jack, just ahead of Shinsuke... and even ahead of Melissa, who'd come in at about 300th, and this was after you'd intervened from her changing her score.
"No way!" one of the tanned blonde kids here exclaimed, "Melissa was outscored by Honoka?"
"Honoka? Oh, I know her, that redhead who hangs out with the All-Aces," another student near you said.
"Well, then she's gotta be an Ace herself! Cause like, what else could she be?" was a comment you'd particularly picked up on.
You felt the need to step in. "Ah, you guys are all talking about me, right? Yeah, I'm Nakamura Honoka... and no, I'm not an All-Ace," In more ways than one, "Just some Jack," you clarified, smiling and shrugging.
"Come on, Honoka, no need to be modest," Suzako then came up and smiled at you, "You did pretty good, if not great. But hey, Yuuya and I both got past the halfway mark, so even if we could've scored higher, we're proud of that".
"Okay, what the Hell is everyone talking about, that Honoka beat me or something?" Melissa was quick to storm in after hearing all the hubbub.
"Ah, er, we were just talking about test scores," you were quick to explain.
"Ugh, I need a sec to process this. Okay, so Honoka here did better academically than me... and people are liking her for it?" Melissa said, having to clutch her head.
"Well, yeah, people respect you for scoring well on tests," Yuya entered and told her, "Kinda thought that'd be obvious".
Trying to move on and not make more of a scene of yourself, you were soon thwarted in that as a crowd of students started following you, whispering their impressions of you all the while.
"You're a Class Rep too?"
"That red hair of yours is really striking!"
You felt so relieved once you were in class away from that crowd.
* * *
Hurrying out at the end of that school day, the only thing on your mind right now was finally getting around to meeting up with Nightshade again.
Calling her up on your phone, you nervously began with "Ah, hey there Himawari! Hey look, I'm sorry, I've really been meaning to catch up with you, see how, y'know, you've been getting along..."
"Oh Honoka, hi there! And please darling, you can just call me 'Nightshade' now, that's who I've been 24/7 since all that shit went down," you heard the voice of indeed her as Nightshade, "You're still up for rehearsal though, right? Your bass thumping hasn't gotten rusty on me since, has it?"
"Yeah, 'course I'm up for practice," you told her, "But really, you haven't been 'Himawari' at all since? Like, wouldn't that make stuff like conversation, um, difficult?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, last I checked it still said 'Aoyagi Himawari' on my birth certificate, I haven't jumped bodies or anything," she said with a wink, but then got more direct, "I get it, what you mean is whether I've acted like a spineless little good girl like school made me do? Hell no, 'cause now the world has to accept me for who I am, and they can't do a thing about it!
Like, yeah okay, objectively my life's not looking good right now," she did have to admit, "But personally, I've been feeling great since having to ditch that school!"
As that sank in for you, the two of you then agreed to meet up back at the garage beneath your apartment block... which was another thing you'd have to talk with her about.
Entering your old rehearsal space and setting up your bass and amp, Nightshade then approached, with you seeing for yourself that her vibrant neon twintails weren't a wig anymore, and said to you, "Prompt as always, Honoka. Colette says she'll be arriving soon, but uh, for Ryouko..." she then bit her lip, "Yeah, um, I've had to let her go".
"Huh, whaddya mean?" you then shot up.
"Hey, nothing against her, like she was one of the few people to stick up for me that day, save me from prison," Nightshade began, but sighed, "It's just, her rep's gonna be in the gutter if people hear she's been hanging out with an expelled girl, so I can't drag her through all that just for my own sake. I tried to warn Colette of that, but heh, she said she couldn't care less. Well, least I've still got my rhythm section, eh?"
"Yeah, I guess," you murmured, "Well, I suppose I should fill you in on all the crap that's been going down at school, right?"
Nightshade tilted her head at you, then folded her arms and crossed her legs. "Ugh, I'd rather not be reminded of that dump... but I suppose you're gonna tell me anyway, huh?"
"Heh, I'll keep it short. The main thing is that I was made to choose another Ace, and er, I settled on Kikuko, but only because of who the alternatives were" you put it simply.
Nightshade couldn't help but snarl. "Whatever, like, if you're anyone's Jack you're mine, no matter what anyone says," she put it bluntly.
"But anyway, I should really be asking how you've been going," you said to her, "I mean, it can't be easy be expelled and all. Part-time jobs have to be a problem too, since well, er, no offence but-"
"-Most places won't accept employees with dyed hair, that what you were gonna say?" Nightshade filled in for you, before she chortled and said, "Believe me, there's still opportunities if you know where to look".
"Oh God, don't tell me you're a dealer," you said on impulse.
Nightshade just laughed at you and said, "What? Oh God no, it's not drugs or anything," before she came clean, "I've been doing sex work, dominatrix stuff and that, like I am of legal age after all. It's probably the highest paying thing for someone like me, and I mostly stick to online stuff too, if you're like super-worried. Who knows, maybe I can graduate to hostess if I work hard enough or some shit".
"Right, I can see," you just mumbled.
"Ah hello, I hope you can forgive me for being fashionably late," Colette then said as she arrived, "Oh Nightshade, Honoka and I were planning to make the long trip down to Tokyo this weekend, I do hope that doesn't conflict with your schedule".
"Hey, that fits perfectly!" Nightshade then grinned, "Like, I've already booked us in for a show in Hakodate on Saturday, don't worry, it's at a fancier venue than the one in Susukino, so we could squeeze the two in together".
"Err, think that'll be a bit little tight, but... okay," you muttered, hardly thrilled at being booked to perform somewhere before you'd even gotten back to rehearsing, "But er, Nightshade, there's um, something about me and Colette you should know..."
As you became lost on how to break the news, Colette stepped in for you and said, "Well, I first thought to keep this a secret, given they say, like work, that romance should be kept out of bands... but I admit it'd be simpler to be open about this. Honoka and I," she beamed and threw her arm around your shoulder, "Are now dating! True, only since yesterday, but that Tokyo trip is to be our first real date".
Nightshade was taken aback, but then said, "Oh, er, yeah, that's cool. And like, y'know, between my lead singer duties and, er, other stuff, I'm gonna be drowning in genitalia anyway. But hey, Honoka, the two of us can still be like... friends with benefits, can't we?"
You blushed bright red as she said that. You looked to Colette expecting her to be fuming, but instead your new girlfriend just looked amused, stifling a giggle.
"Er, sure, if you insist," you sighed, before you added unenthusiastically, "Maybe a threesome too, who the hell knows?" Nightshade still took that better than you were worried she would...
- The Devil has Journeyed to Rank 6! -
"Great!" Nightshade smiled, as she hugged the two of you. She then said, "Uh yeah, so I did tell Colette that we can't have Ryouko around anymore, which is a total shame. Yeah, she had zero guitar skills, but that's just how I liked it, ya know? Anyway, um, does mean we're gonna have to get a new guitarist quick..."
"More like a new drummer," Colette interjected, "If there's another instrument open, I'm taking it".
[ ] Colette can have guitar, and you'll just get a drum machine.
[ ] You'll do guitar, Colette can have bass, and a drum machine will do for now.
[ ] If Nightshade likes zero skills, can't she just take guitar?
[ ] Teach Nightshade bass, shouldn't take long, and you'll do guitar.
[ ] Doesn't Megumi play music or something?
- [ ] Get them on guitar.
- [ ] Get them on drums.
- [ ] Get them on keyboards even.
[ ] Er, Reina's not doing much, and she likes music and hanging around Colette:
- [ ] Write in instrument.
[x] The Sakurazuka family did say Tomomi needed to get involved in society more:
- [x] Write-in instrument: Tomomi on drums and Colette on guitar
[ ] Write-in.
"Oh, and I guess my band should have a name," Nightshade then said, "I mean, it's been weird just referring to you as the 'backing band', so hmm, how about Nightshade and the-"
[ ] Arcanettes.
[ ] Arcanoids.
[ ] Street Demons.
[ ] Flowers of Brimstone.
[ ] Chain Girls.
[x] Lady Devils.
[ ] Apocalettes.
[ ] Goddess Reincarnation.
[ ] Write-in.
"Wait, Azuma's sister?" Nightshade had to flinch.
"Oh come on, you've met Tomomi before, you should know she's nothing like him" you told her, then had to mutter, "She can keep to herself for starters".
"Indeed, we had a slumber party together, with... others. My point is, I can confirm these two apples fell on different sides of the tree" Colette added on.
"Hmm, okay, if you say so," Nightshade shrugged, "Your judgments are the most trustworthy I know. I just don't want goddamn Azuma of all people snooping in on our rehearsals", she crossed her arms.
"Oh, believe me, if Tomomi's with us, then Azuma's gonna be too disgusted to even look our way," you had to smile, before you then brought the other thing up.
"By the way, Nightshade, er..." you slowly began, "Since I'm Kikuko's Jack now, that means she wants me to move in under her roof".
"Ugh, yeah, I figured," Nightshade spat out, "Reason I didn't offer you the same is that, well, I seriously didn't want to put you through introducing you to my parents" she shuddered.
Colette seethed upon hearing that, "The Aces just have to keep on confirm all my worst suspicions about them, don't they? On top of that, I suppose this means we'll have to relocate our rehearsal space".
"The Sakurazuka Mansion's got more than enough room, but eh, I don't think Tomomi's folks will be the easiest to convince" you said, "Little out of the way too".
"Well this garage wasn't the only option we had back when," Colette brought up, "The abandoned temple, the town hall, the record store, the space behind the game store, these were all options we considered".
"Game store's out. If we're trying not to drag Ryouko into this, we can't drag in Hotaru" you had to say.
"Wait, the Student Council President works at a gaming store?" Nightshade couldn't help but give a devilish grin, "Wow, I always took the guy for a spineless wimp, and I guess he still is, but I wasn't expecting that. Gotta compliment him on even having space for a part-time job, what with all the Student Council shit.
But yeah, anyway, where to rehearse?"
[x] The abandoned temple.
[ ] The record store.
[ ] The town band hall.
[ ] The Sakurazuka manor.
[ ] See if that local bar, Darkest Desires or whatever, makes room for rehearsals too.
[ ] Your parents are pretty open, maybe you can practice at their place?
[ ] Write-in.
After that, you were left practicing all day, using a metronome for a beat right now. On Tuesday though...
God you did not feel comfortable being back in the Sakurazuka manor so soon, but the problem with Tomomi was that she wasn't exactly easy to get a hold of. Luckily Shinsuke came to personally escort you to her room, you'd been dreading Azuma for a second there, with you then knocking on her door.
"What?" was all Tomomi said through the door.
"Hey there, Tomomi, it's me Honoka. Himawari and Colette are with me too, 'cause we kinda need your help something," you tried to get through to her.
"Himawari?" Nightshade hissed at you.
"Look, she doesn't know about your whole identity thing, we can go over that later," you said back to Nightshade.
Slowly Tomomi opened her door, and mumbled, "Wow, okay, what did you drag yourselves all the way out here for?"
"Hmhm, why don't we really introduce ourselves?" Nightshade smirked and strutted up, "You can call me Nightshade now, and I want you to join the Lady Devils".
"Oh cool, didn't know you were into LARPing," Tomomi just went along.
"What? Er, look, Nightshade's a singer and she's asking you to join her backing band," you had to explain, "We were hoping for a drummer, actually, but we'll settle for a guitarist".
Colette outed at you for that last line.
"God, kinda don't know anything 'bout either," Tomomi had to tell you, "Like, I was made to go to music lessons as a kid, cello and oboe and stuff, definitely not drums. I did sneak over to bang on the timpani when I could, so er, I guess that counts? What kinda stuff you play?"
You selected the recording on your phone you had ready and then held it up to Tomomi's ear. She gradually started nodding along with it and said, "Okay, yeah sure, I'll help you out. My wrists will hate me for it, but eh, it's not like I've got anything else going on right now".
"Great, all taken care of!" Nightshade grinned, then said, "Alright, we now hold rehearsals at-"
"Quite some nerve you have, showing your face around here," Azuma's voice was swift to interrupt Nightshade, as he strolled over, "You and Colette, but let's focus on you for now, Miss Aoyagi. I'd honestly forgotten you were even still around, I had to remind myself you hadn't died along with Eitaro and Gakuto," he laughed.
"Get off her, Azuma. Nightshade's no longer at Hanataba, you have no power over her," Colette raised her voice.
"Y-yeah, that's right. Plus I've got one thing you don't, Honoka actually wanting to hang out with me," Nightshade steadied herself and rubbed that in.
Azuma hissed a little at that, before he looked you straight in the eyes and pleaded, "Honoka, I beg you, what does Himawari have to offer you? Drugs, crime, and the low life may appear glamorous in their own way, but are far more interesting for the spectators than the performers. Head down her path, and you may well be destined for an early grave".
"Drugs and crime? Woah, sounds friggin' badass," Tomomi had to pipe up.
"You realise you're sounding like an after-school special, don't know?" you had to say to him.
"Also, Himawari..." Azuma then went onto say, before he suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders, and said to Tomomi and Colette, "Ahem, I would prefer if us Ace-affiliated persons could have the following conversation in private".
Colette just snarled, while Tomomi just shrugged.
"Good. Now, as I was saying..." Azuma said, leading you away, "About having 'no more power over you', Himawari, I beg to differ. Last I checked, the remains of your Empire are still very much on the Gameboard in our Lounge. While it is there, it's now ours to do whatever we'd like with".
Nightshade stood up and snarled, "You wouldn't fuckin' dare!"
"Oh, but Kikuko, Melissa, and I would. Also, while you're here, 'Nightshade'," Azuma said as he gestured finger-quotes, "Drop the rebel act, would you? Your actress abilities wouldn't convince a Second Tree role, let alone me. For beneath all your bluster, I can tell you're still the same scared little girl I've always known you as".
Nightshade took a step back for a second, but then roared, "How dare you... you're asking to settle this with a Duel, aren't you, huh?!"
Azuma smiled and shook his head, "Your Empire now counts as dethroned, Himawari, I'm afraid that's not possible. You're out of the game".
As opposed to me? you instantly thought.
"Yeah well, I've still got Anastasia, and my own two fists!" Nightshade raged. Before she could say anything more, she was interrupted by yet another voice.
"Oh. My God. What the Hell is that 'Colette' skank doing in here?" Melissa suddenly emerged, apparently having just finished meeting with Rurina, before she set her eyes on Nightshade. "Wow, okay, apparently someone didn't tell me it was a whole skank parade in here right now".
"Er, Nightshade, Colette, and I will just be going right now," you then said before tensions could escalate even further, taking Nightshade by the arm, And before the Principal or whoever suddenly shows up here.
"We ought to seriously start looking into some better security around here," Azuma snarled on seeing Melissa, "This isn't exactly a public space".
* * *
"Well, we've told ourselves not to think of this goodbye, right?" Megumi said to you, at least helping move your stuff.
"Yeah, I still plan to keep in touch," you tried to give a smile, "Despite how some people say I should act".
They gave one last wave to you as you entered into the All-Aces' limo, with you looking back at your old apartment for as long as you could, and being silent the rest of the drive there.
<<BGM: Okami - Sei-an City (Aristocratic Quarters)>>https://youtu.be/WL3dYnhINOM
"Er, we're here!" Na-rae at the wheel said once you pulled up near the slopes of Mount Yotei, it being no surprise that Kikuko would base herself by the foot of the most Fuji-looking mountain in Hokkaido.
Kikuko's place was pretty much what you expected, an old townhouse that looked like it'd been air-lifted straight from Kyoto. "Huh, didn't know they built machiya this far north," you had to remark, as it did look like a nice place... if you could ignore who lived there.
"Actually, this residence was recently constructed to my demands, after I planned my transfer to Hanataba years back," Kikuko then said, her suddenly appearing right next to you the moment you got out of the car.
"Okay, okay, rub in how rich you are why don't you?" you mumbled, as you then asked, "Er, so where will I be staying?"
Kikuko just pointed to... one of the earthen storehouses? "I have set you up there as part of your learning experience. I've stored many great artifacts of culture in that shed, it would pay for you to get acquainted with them" she then told you.
A storehouse? you thought, but just said, "Ah, okay then..."
"It is quite trusting of me, truly, to give you that room. I don't place just any random object in there," Kikuko went on to say, before instructing, "Yomogi, help my apprentice with her luggage".
You entered that storehouse, your new room, with Na-rae to set your all your things up, unfolding a futon alongside. Well, you could see Kikuko was at least honest when she said there was some real historical stuff in there. A lot of cracked tea ceremony equipment and ornate scrolls mostly, but what stood out the most were all the weapons. Not just swords and muskets, but spears, naginata, daggers, bows, war fans, tetsubo clubs, and so on. There was even a set of old armour lying around.
"...Some place, huh?" was all your feeble self could say to Na-rae.
"That it be, Miss Honoka. Um, a mere maid like me knows a top place like this doesn't exactly feel like home to most people, but believe me, we'll- I'll do my best ta make you feel as welcome as possible here," Na-rae smiled at you.
"Hey, thanks," you smiled back, with you then saying, "It's great to know I can still find a friendly face all the way out here. But, um, 'Tsubasa'," you took a deep breath before you continued, "Now that we're both Jacks of Grails, well, there's something I ought to let you know".
Na-rae had to take a step back, "Jeanie Mac, Miss Honoka, whatever do you be meaning by that?"
You sighed. "I know your name's not 'Yomogi Tsubasa', it's Seol Na-rae. I learned that from Kikuko," you revealed, that last bit technically being true.
Na-rae stumbled back all the way to the wall after you said that, "...You know? B-but, that does sound unlikely, Miss Honoka, that Mistress Kikuko would tell you somethin' like... that," she stuttered out.
"Saw it in her room at school," you improvised, but you had too snarl, "I've learned people take names quite seriously around here, so what right does Kikuko have to do that to you? I mean, you're her servant, not her slave".
Na-rae crouched down, hugged her knees and said, "That's true, my name is Seol Na-rae... no matter what anyone says. Like, just two years ago, I would've been sixteen, I had an online 'job' being an ulzzang over in Busan, posted some fitness pictures and the like, guess you could tell from the gym. Got a fair bit o' attention too, but 'fifteen minutes of fame' employment like that's awful precarious, Miss Honoka. So when I got a job offer working for the wealthy Maeda, I had to accept, but then..." she buried her face in her hands and started crying, "I learned the only reason they wanted me was because they could pay a Korean worker less than a Japanese one".
You then knelt down to try and help her up, and you said to her in an embrace, "Look, Na-rae, it's okay. You don't have to feel ashamed for you are, not now, not ever".
Na-rae then looked at you with her tear-strewn face and said, "Thank you, thank you so much, Miss Honoka," before then correcting herself, "No, Mistress Honoka ma'am. If I have ta be anyone's servant, I'd rather be yours, even if I have to say I'm Kikuko's in public and to her. Like, I can set you up with a fitness routine, I'll drive you anywhere, you name it!"
Er, think you're getting a bit carried away, you thought, but said "Hey, thanks" as you two hugged again.
- The Hanged Man has Journeyed to Rank 3! -
"Honoka!" Kikuko called to you from outside, "Your lessons are to begin immediately! We shall start with equestrianship".
"Oh good Lord, horse-riding's not easy on first-timers," Na-rae muttered.
"Eh, how hard can it be?" you tried to add some cheer.
* * *
Turns out, pretty hard actually, as you swore you could still feel the chafing days later. Right now you were backstage at a venue in Hakodate called Sixth Heaven, still trying to pick out a costume for Tomomi. Well, you were, Colette had to change a broken string.
"Eh, I'm fine with whatever" Tomomi muttered, not really helping.
[x] How about a vampire girl? Might as well take advantage of being Azuma's sister.
[ ] Hokkaido's real snowy, so maybe the blue wig and the white yukata of a Yuki-onna?
[ ] The name of this backing band is 'Lady Devils', so maybe some styrofoam horns, wings, and sharp facepaint?
[ ] She's your drummer, so why not a bunch of lightning marks to look like Raijin?
[ ] You're kinda Harlequin-y, so maybe she could be a Pierrot sad clown?
[ ] Write-in.
"Okay, you girls ready?" Nightshade burst back in, having finished setting up all the 'effects', and grinned, "Since you're all dressed, then -ahem- as your Queen, I demand you perform your last rehearsal before the show, er, bloodbath!"
The second Colette had her new guitar all fixed up, the three of you immediately shuffled into formation and went through your opener.
<<BGM: Falkkone ft. Rena - Splatter Party>>https://youtu.be/G9vb-blk20Q
"Ah, right, good job there. satisfactory enough for peons, I would suppose," Nightshade smirked and put her hands to her hips. "Ooh, one last thing, I was thinking when I introduce the band, I could give all you stage names. Like, it's gonna look weird if I go 'I'm Nightshade Queen of Hell, and here's Honoka, Tomomi, and Colette', you see?"
"Uh, did you have to make us decide at the last second?" you had to question her, before you got into a huddle with Colette and Tomomi over this new development.
[ ] You'll be Jesterca, Colette will be Eclipse, Tomomi will be Imperatrix.
[x] You'll be Abyssa, Colette will be Volta, Tomomi will be Chronomena.
[ ] You'll be Fiend, Colette will be Aliceph, Tomomi will be Yuriko.
[ ] You'll be Tarocchi, Colette will be Zodia, Tomomi will be Bones.
[ ] Just 'the Lady Devils will' do.
[ ] You'll let Nightshade decide, it is her band after all.
[ ] You'll let the others decide.
[ ] Write-in.
"Great, then let's get out there!" Nightshade exclaimed.
As she pushed the three of you out onto the stage, she herself entered in what looked like a spinning iron maiden prop, bags of fake blood squeezed inside. Nightshade then cartwheeled up to the mic and cried, "People of Hakodate, your hearts, your souls, your darkest secrets, are all forfeit to me! Hit it!"
After plowing and fumbling all the way through your setlist carried over from back in Kuchinashi and Susukino, you then got a chance to launch into the number you'd just practiced, as Nightshade roared to the crowd, standing up on an amp, "By my command, you shall bow down before my fellow noblewomen of the night! The Lady Devils, Volta on guitar!" she gestured to Colette, who didn't know what else to do but bite into the strings, "Abyssa on Bass!", you gulped and sweated on being called up as you tried a little slap-bass routine, "and Chronomena on Drums!" Tomomi just shrugged and did a rimshot.
As you later headed backstage, you assumed you were all done, with there being a bunch of other bands booked to play that night... but the Nightshade took a hold of you again and said, "Oh no, we're not done yet, we're being called for an encore!"
"Oh, an encore. Great" you muttered, as you got back out on stage once again to practice a number Nightshade had reserved specifically for this moment.
"...We're all addicts, in a way," Nightshade then said to the crowd, "All of us damned souls here are. So, for those dead hearts who know the sweet thrill and bitter aftertaste of desire, this one's for you".
<<BGM: Falkkone ft. Rena - Full-Course for Candy Addicts>>https://youtu.be/SyC7RlDKNQQ
You felt just about ready to collapse now, your hands now had more blisters than normal skin. As you stumbled back into your dressing room, you then spotted Nightshade talking with someone which, as you approached, soon escalated into arguing.
"Ah, yeah, you think you Sendai girls with your friggin' gun-guitars can just waltz up here and take over our music turf!" Nightshade then burst out, "Your drummer couldn't even keep a waltz time!"
"...What the Hell is this?" you could only mumble.
"Pathetic. You're on the frontlines, maggot, this ain't the place to be playing dress-up parties!" said that militia-dressed singer who Nightshade was in a shouting match with.
"Apparently this girl's the lead singer of Corpse Corps, a war-themed band who mainly sing about historic battles" Colette explained to you as she approached, "Not personally what I would listen to, but at the same time, I don't really see Nightshade's sudden problem with them".
"I see," you nodded, before you turned to grab Nightshade, "Okay now, time to go, Nightshade. We'd like to do some sightseeing around Hakodate before it gets too dark, y'know".
Once you were in private, you then groaned at Nightshade and said, "You just got expelled you know, is now really the time to be getting into another fight?"
"Grr, that girl accused me of lying about my expulsion to look tough!" Nightshade exclaimed, before saying, "Yeah, well, whatever. Their music still sucks though" she folded her arms.
"Oh, some band vs band rivalry? Yawn, whatever, I'm going to have groupie sex while you little girls have your tantrums," Tomomi mumbled as she walked on through.
"Er, okay, you do that," you said, before looking back at Nightshade.
"Hmhm, I'll say you hadn't stopped me there, my little 'disagreement' with Corpse Corps would've gotten real nasty. I'd be throwing amps and instruments at them and everything, see how they do in a real showdown" Nightshade kept smirking.
"Wait, oh come on. Wouldn't that only get us kicked out of the venue?" you asked with a raised voice.
"That's exactly the point!" Nightshade chirped and grinned, "It'd be perfect for increasing notoriety, 'No Nightshade' signs and all".
"Nightshade..." you facepalmed, "If you're gonna keep acting out like this, couldn't you at least target your rage at something that genuinely deserves it? I've had enough of that petty shit from Kikuko and Melissa, I really don't need it from you".
Nightshade then hesitated and bit her lip for a second, but ultimately said, "You're a real killjoy, you know that Honoka? Ugh, what I am saying, I know I know, you're just trying to look out for me..." she breathed out and slumped against the wall, "And I guess I should be grateful at least someone is".
"God, Nightshade- Himawari," you then said sternly, "I know you're not trying to hurt me, or Colette, or anyone else... except yourself. Admit it, this is all some elaborate form of self-harm, isn't it?"
Nightshade sighed, then slowly said as tears started trickling down her face, "Couldn't have said it better myself. Damnit, where is my wretched little life going?"
She then breathed out and said, "When I was a little girl, I saw, well, a lot of old paintings of pain and martyrdom. Beheadings, old-time firing squads of archers, barbed wire across the tongue, you name it. I think that scared me- scared Himawari, out of her mind, conditioned her to be the polite little good girl she is. At the same time though, it sure as hell gave me a lot of inspiration for stagecraft and lyrics, so y'know, you take the good with the bad".
"...What are we going to do with you?" you had to chuckle.
- The Devil has Journeyed to Rank 7! -
"Honoka..." Nightshade breathed in, then said "Remember what I said about being friends with benefits? Well, I know officially you're with Colette, but while it's just us tonight..." she started to purr and fiddle with your collar, "You wanna make love? Oh, I'm not asking you to cheat on Colette or anything, I wouldn't do something like that, you can tell her beforehand if you wanna get down with me, I don't mind.
Oh, and Himawari doesn't mind either, if you're worried about that, in fact she's quite excited," Nightshade started nuzzling you.
[ ] "Er, sure, Colette's pretty understanding."
[x] "I'll ask Colette first, but I'm okay if she's okay."
[ ] "Yeah no, it's too soon to do that do Colette. I'm sorry..."
[ ] "Even if Colette's okay with it... I don't really think I'm up for it personally. Sorry, Nightshade."
[ ] Write-in.
XLIV. Phantom Investigation
"Yeah, the deaths of three elite students in quick succession is eyebrow-raising, I'll give you that, but I'm surprised that news about our high school is spreading so quickly around Japan- Oh, that's right, that friggin' documentary thing!" you then realised.
"Huh, what documentary?" Colette had to ask.
"Oh right, you weren't there that week. Don't worry, that was a blessing in disguise," you sighed out to Colette, "An NHK documentary crew came over to film for an upcoming look at high schools, us being the designated Hokkaido school. It basically was a whole week of stage-fright and 'just act natural' on our part. Then, y'know, Gakuto died immediately after, but I guess they thought they had the footage anyway..." you figured.
"That's basically how Naoto, detective friend of mine, found out about what's going on here," Rise told you, "It made watching that whole documentary feel a lot eerier than normal, I'll say. So I figured I oughta get up here before the cops close the place off to everyone else".
You meant no disrespect, but still had to restrain yourself from laughing, "No need to worry about that, our Principal's been bribing the police 24/7 to look the other way, lest our beloved's school reputation, and attendance numbers, go kaput. Though it sounds like word's getting out anyway" you put it.
"You aren't the first new teacher to show up because of the All-Ace deaths though, I'll say that. Probably the biggest lead I can give you would be to check out their personal lounge, but I guess that'd naturally be one of the first places you'd look... so what I just said was kinda pointless, I guess," you mumbled out.
"Oh no, not at all, every little bit of help counts, definitely when it comes to, ah, matters like these," Rise knelt down to smile at you, "So, ah, since I'll be your Music Teacher, do you sing at all?"
"Ah, not really," you gulped, recalling the last few times you'd done karaoke, "Just some backing vocals. Oh, I do play bass though".
"Guitar," Colette was quick to smugly insert herself, before she grumbled, "Oh right, drums too I suppose".
"Oh yeah, and Tanizawa-sensei, my homeroom teacher's, also plays guitar," you added, Well, she moves her hands over it at least. "She's out of a gig right now, so hey, maybe you'd get along?" Hopefully better than she did with Makoto.
"Hey, that's still great to hear! Although, um, I did hear the Choir's Leading Singer got, well, you know, so I guess they probably a lot of recovering to do," Rise went on, her bright tone fading at the end.
"...Yeah, she was our friend, too," you spoke up and looked down, "And since you're gonna find out anyway, yeah, she was an All-Ace though. Still perfectly alive, so hey".
"Okay, I guess I'm taking up quite a bit of your time, but you don't mind me asking one last question, right?" Rise piped back up, leaning in a little closer, "Have the deaths been punctuated with any, like, strange disappearances beforehand?"
"Nope. Okay, Gakuto's a little, but that was just for like the morning," you said.
"Huh, I see," Rise muttered, stroking her chin, "Well, I guess investigating that lounge tomorrow's the only lead I have right now, but I'll take what I can get. Hey, big thanks to the both of you, see you tomorrow!" she gave one last smile to Colette and you.
"Huh, these deaths elude me too, yet even I worry that our new teacher has no idea what she's getting into," Colette had to remark upon rise leaving, hand on her hip.
"I know, but... can't you have a little faith in her, Colette? She used to be a nationwide celebrity, so she's probably had to handle much bigger egos than the All-Aces," you came to Rise's defence.
"Hmm, I'll just say that I hope for the best... but have to expect the worst," Colette was frank with you.
Her words also did remind you, maybe she did have the right to know by now about the Gameboard? If you had to tell anyone out of the loop about its true nature, Colette made the most sense, having one foot in the occult world herself, and her own Shadow having once been targeted on it.
That still didn't mean you knew how to break the news about it at all to her...
* * *
<<BGM: Nick Holder - Summer Daze>>https://youtu.be/RpGZt9MJaMA
"Another new teacher this soon? Kinda suspicious-"
"She's cute though. Hope she really is that perky and doesn't turn out like Himawari..."
"Hey, that documentary finally came out, at like, the most inappropriate time-"
"-Oh boy, just found out the girl who attacked Gakuto's back. Way to honour his memory."
You were now dressed in your more streamlined, white summer uniform, the choice of colour to reflect the heat you assumed. Despite yet another new face in the faculty the day progressed as normal, like it was still the season before.
One thing you noticed though was Ryouko coming off as oddly put out, like there was just something bugging her all the time with the way she kept muttering.
"Hey, Tanizawa-sensei, you're not bothered by something are you?" you asked her once the rest of class had left. "...This isn't about you being let off the band, is it?"
Ryouko didn't say anything then, but did nod. Eventually she came out with, "Yeah, like I can get why Nightshade did it, wanting to make sure I still had a teaching career after this. It's just, well, it's not like I was ever super-invested in teaching anyway..."
That definitely made you take a step back, but you at least had to ask, "Hey wait, aren't you like, at least grateful for some of the students you've had? Like Suzako, or Colette," You tried not to look self-centred by saying 'and me'.
Tanizawa-sensei laughed a little at your words, then said with a smile, "Yeah, maybe I am getting a bit carried away. Like, I could do musician stuff I guess, but that's hardly stable, so I'm forced to admit..." that defeated tone of hers crept back in, "If not this teaching job, well, I'd probably have nothing now".
That did make you think, with you then saying to her, "You know, as a student I kept hearing about 'education should be fun' programs and stuff, especially when I was little. But like, they're always talking about how the students feel, not the teachers, then again I guess school is there for the students above all- Ugh, I'm getting tongue-tied".
"So, you're basically wondering how to make school 'more fun' for me, is that it?" Ryouko tilted her head and grinned at you. "Hey, Honoka, I appreciate the concern, though I'm afraid you'd have to pull off something real special to accomplish that for me," she chuckled again.
"Hmm, although, Tanizawa-sensei, have you met Rise-er, I mean Kujikawa-sensei yet? She's more than upbeat, and you do have some shared interests, so I think maybe you'd get along?" was your offer.
"Oh, the new Music Teacher, right? It's a bit soon for me to really say anything about her, though at least she sounds less uptight than Niijima's been. Eh, who knows?" Ryouko shrugged, "Fail to see how she could make things any worse".
"Yeah, while she's friendly and all, I gotta admit I still don't know much about her," you said, "Like, I dimly remember she used to be a big star, but that's long past now, at least in pop music time, so I don't think we'll get many students going 'Oh my god, our teacher's Risette?!' or whatever. Still, she does kinda remind me of, well, not who Himawari... Nightshade actually is, but rather what people thought she was like. Oh, except Kujikawa's older, so I guess it's the other way around?" you awkwardly finished on.
"Ah, well I totally bet my music tastes are way too intense for her," Ryouko gave a devilish grin, as then said snuck out her guitar from beneath her desk, plugged it in where the projector would otherwise go, and gave a windmill strum.
"Er, don't you think that could wait till after school?" you had to flinch.
"Hah, thought I was the teacher here," Ryouko smirked.
Been a while since you had a heart-to-heart with Tanizawa-sensei like this though, despite your Class Rep duties...
- The Priestess has Journeyed to Rank 3! -
* * *
Once you got some free time at school, you soon found Rise was too busy that day, it being her first day there. Peering to the music lessons she was giving just to check up on her, you did pick up on a bunch of students sighing "Man, 'hip' teachers are always so out of date". You could see that comment didn't escape Rise's ears either from her split-second flinch, though from there she tried to act like she hadn't heard that.
You were able to get a chance to talk to Makoto though, with you two arranging to meet up in the Prized Pupil Lounge once the All-Aces were busy elsewhere. Sitting down on one of the plush chairs there, teacup in her hand, Makoto had to gawk at the opulence of the place. "Wow, it's just at my old school, we would've never spent this much on students, it'd be an extravagance. On the teachers, maybe," she took it all in.
"Well, the All-Aces as an institute here fund a lot their stuff privately, given they mostly come from wealthy families. It's one of the reasons why the Student Council can barely touch them" you told her, sitting down opposite, trying to resist the temptation to spin around on this one chair.
"...That bad, huh?" Makoto muttered, but then brought up, "You know, I've been hearing all these positive things about your All-Aces from the moment I got here, yet every word you've said about them has been downcast. Then again, maybe I'm the one projecting my personal experiences onto them... or not, I'll give you that Lilian's been insufferable every time I've met her," she laughed a little at her words, you smiling along with her.
What stopped your smile though, is when she said, "Sakurazuka Azuma though has been quite courteous, like I think he's been the second guy in my life to compliment me on my beauty".
You could've froze up, but instead said, "Yeah well, appearances can be deceiving".
"...I see. That, and perhaps I gush too easily, being flattered like that. I mean, growing up it felt like my Big Sis was the one getting all the guys' attention, though true, she mostly seemed exhausted by it," Makoto went on.
You felt like groaning. "You look perfectly fine, Niijima-sensei," you had to tell her straight up.
With you standing up, you were now close enough to the circle around the Gameboard, that the burning blue tarot card flashed in your hands.
"Wait, was that a tarot card?" Makoto exclaimed.
"You were able to see it?" you gasped back.
Eyeing the Gameboard, Makoto stood up and moved closer to it, with your eyes widening as a tarot card flared up suddenly in her hand too.
"The Priestess..." you read out.
Makoto nodded, then peered down to see what Arcana you had... the instantly took a step back. "Yours reads Fool so, God, does that mean-?" she put her hand over her mouth.
"You- you know about the Wild Card?" you asked, as several other Arcana shuffled themselves out from behind the Fool.
"More like I know about a Wild Card," Makoto said, "The point is, you can use Personae, but where? In my experience, you can't summon them just anywhere".
You pointed straight down at the Gameboard, as you told Makoto, "Lay your card down on the board, and I'll show you where".
Within seconds the two of you had appeared in No One's Land, with Regalia of Makoto's own appearing on her, as a red scarf wrapped around her neck to extend into an entire flowing cape, a silhouette chitin-like corseted black silhouette fitted itself onto her body, sleeves cut off to show her musculature, and an iron insectoid goggle-mask covered her eyes.
"My suspicions really were true," she stated, looking down at herself to then say, "My outfit's changed a bit, but I suppose I can't wear the same clothes forever after all, even cognitive ones".
"Well, we just call this place the Gameboard," you said to her as you threw out your arms, gesturing at this dark expanse, "I've heard a whole bunch of explanations about what it's supposed to be, but you know the phrase 'this town ain't big enough for the both of us'? Yeah, it's basically the collective unconsciousness embodiment of that".
"Like... an arena where humanity's strongest wills are set to clash?" Makoto got the impression.
You shrugged, "I guess that sums it up. Don't know if I'd call the All-Aces 'humanity's strongest wills' though, well maybe around here they are," you gave it some thought, "Each of them has an Empire, even the dead ones still do, the incarnation of not just their willpower, but the power their will has on others".
"Even the dead ones?" Makoto took notice of those words, "You're saying a person can die and they'd still have a Pala- er, Jai- er, Empire?"
"Well yeah, like there's historical figures who've been dead way longer, yet still influence us. guess it's the same concept here" you figured.
"Hmm, well I have come across one situation like that before, on the complete other end of Japan though" Makoto remarked.
"The thing about this damn Gameboard is, only one Empire can hope to rule all of it at a time, for what prize I don't know," you snarled, "You wanna know what's been causing the murders? That's basically it". Well, not 'basically', but anyway.
"Huh, didn't expect to get something of an answer so fast," Makoto folded her arms and grinned, "Would've made my old job much easier if they, er, Shadows we fought were all at each others' throats instead of ours".
"Shadows?" you caught that word, "I mean yeah, there's Shadows on the Gameboard, but all the Empires are held by Persona-Users. Er, were held, in the dead ones' case".
Makoto suddenly went quiet. "Each of these Imperials have their own Persona? Well, ah, that complicates things..." she got around to saying.
<<BGM: Persona 5 vs Justice (pluffaduff) - Last Surprise vs Phantom>>https://youtu.be/vrxWOpnxToE
Speaking of Shadows though, one of them immediately swooped down from high above, bursting out into a sphere of flame as it neared the ground. You were now confronted by a crow with wings of smoke, its furthest feathers still on fire, with a beak and talons of coal, white dotted patterns adorning its body, and flickering stars for eyes. rather than swoop at you directly, it instead flew around you two in a circle, creating a ring of roaring flame.
A quick scan from PITT showed this Shadow was Magician Wahn, and you'd have little success using Fire and Wind. "Okay, so not the Morrigan, though I can't rule out her being involved" you noted.
"Morrigan? Well okay, that can wait, let's just deal with whoever this is first," Makoto spoke up before, rather than drawing any kanji in the air, instead just removed her mask, "Anat!"
One second you saw a motorcycle appear, the next it'd unfolded into a flaming blue mech whose limb movements synced with Makoto's. Rather than attack immediately, Makoto cast a red Marakukaja barrier upon you and her, which proved helpful as the crow Shadow tried to divebomb her with his beak, her blocking the attack with two spiked bracers around her hands.
With you ready to move, you then switched to Theodora to Sukunda Wahn, the Shadow then not able to dodge an oncoming left hook delivered by Makoto, knocking it back up into the Gameboard's 'sky'. The burned crow then started casting Garu spells down, not at either of you, but at the fires to feed them. You had Personae who could let you walk through the blaze, but you couldn't say the same for Makoto.
So you then had Theodora cast Megido upon Wahn, the raw power of the spell sending the crow into spiral, leaving it free for Makoto to play target practice with it after drawing her revolver. Switching to Octobriana let you run through the fiery ring, drawing your tonfas to strike back at Wahn in person.
However Wahn, taking one last look at the two of you, then fled through unleashing a heavy smoke cloud, leaving no trace of itself upon vanishing other than two flaming talon-marks.
"You really are a Wild card then, huh?" Makoto muttered, before she strode up to you and said, "You were about to say something about a Morrigan?"
"Oh yeah, the Morrigan. I'm told sees the one who oversees this Gameboard, the judge and referee you could say. She's also where the All-Aces' and my Personae came from, through her messenger anyway" you told her.
"Hmm, fascinating you learned the name of the entity behind this already," Makoto observed, "Perhaps she's more careless than... others, or she feels less of a need to hide herself".
You paused as her swords sank in, but you then said, "Don't know about that, I feel she would've shown up already if the latter was the case. Niijima-sensei, you make it sound like you got your Persona from elsewhere... so maybe that's why she or one of her subordinates sent that Shadow after us, as a scout".
Makoto smirked at that, "So she thinks I'm an invader, huh? Well, a little alarming to know I was spotted so quickly then," she said, before bringing something else up, "But the way, even if I'm not with my usual team, I have a request. While we're here, rather than 'Niijima-sensei' or 'Makoto', I'd like you to call me by the codename Queen. Helps draw less attention to me, from my experience".
"Er, okay," you shrugged, "Guess I'd be Jack then. Or 'Jack of Hearts', which isn't my current title, but I'd take it over Jack of Swords for, er, reasons and stuff. It's complicated," you said.
"You 'guess'?" Makoto smiled, "It's simple I'll give you, but it looks like you'd prefer a different codename".
You hesitated, but you then came up with:
[x] Mirror.
[ ] Dragon.
[ ] Saint.
[ ] Lancea.
[ ] Shroud.
[ ] Marotte.
[ ] Actually Jack's fine.
[ ] Write-in.
"Alright, so do you have any plans heading forth?" Makoto then asked, before groaning, "Ugh, also looks like we're gonna have to walk all the way on foot here".
That comment flying over you, you said, "Well, everyone at Hanataba has a Piece, a Shadow usually, on the Gameboard, except us Persona users, we're 'Players' or whatever. What Kikuko, the All-Ace I'm assigned to, wants me to do is beat up this girls' Shadow to 'neutralise' her, basically a hit, and if I don't do it by the end of June, she will. yeah, so obviously I'm not going through with that, but I will try alerting her Shadow about all this instead. She's all the way in Kikuko's own Empire though, so well, I wasn't planning to go there with just me and another".
"Ah, you want to increase our numbers first, is that it?" Makoto picked up on.
"Yeah, like there's one other teacher here I'm beginning to suspect might have something to do with Personae, she's clearly trying to solve the murders at least," you explained.
"I know someone who, well, doesn't exactly have a Persona, but she's certainly got a strong Shadow," Makoto had to say.
[ ] Wait till you can recruit Kujikawa Rise.
[ ] Find out who Makoto's referring to.
[x] Maybe both? Safety in numbers.
[ ] Maybe bring Nightshade in, though that's not easy to do in a school week.
[ ] Actually, you reckon Makoto's tough enough that you can take on Kikuko's Empire already.
[ ] Write-in.
Of course, finding a time that week when Rise, Makoto, and whoever Makoto had in mind could all be in the Lounge at once while the All-Aces were out, er, was not easy. Still, you were eventually able to arrange something.
"Okay, so we're all here to solve the mystery! Woo, already making great progress, gang!" Rise beamed, spinning around in one of the All-Aces' chairs.
Makoto's older sister Sae, however, was certainly in a less cheery mood.
"Kujikawa, is it? Would you mind acting like a professional, or at the very least your age? This isn't one of your concerts or whatever we're throwing, lives are on the line here," she hissed.
Rise's eyes twitched, with her retorting, "Hey, I've been in life-or-death situations before y'know. And I also know how what an emotional toll they can take on you, so forgive me for at least trying to cheer people up", she crossed her arms and looked to the side.
Makoto groaned, as she said to you on the side, "Knew something like this was going to happen. Don't get me wrong, I can't deny the talent Big Sis has in legal affairs, but... ugh, you can see she's not exactly a people person".
She then turned to her big sister and Rise and asked, "Ahem, perhaps you two would like to inspect this little antique board game they have in here? With Nakamura's assistance, I've managed to uncover some, er, telling marks on it".
"Hmm, I don't really see what a board game could possibly have to do with the string of deaths, but I do suppose we can't rule out any evidence" Sae said and approached.
"Well er, I've seen heaps of things used to kill people with, oh boy that came out wrong," Rise said then tensed, "So I wouldn't say a board game is too out of the blue".
The two froze as they approached, with the requisite burning blue cards appearing in their hands, Rise's reading Lovers VI and Sae's reading... Judgment XX.
"Alright, awesome!" Rise exclaimed, before she then took her card and crushed it in her hand... only for nothing to happen. "...Funny, that usually works," she mumbled.
You had to facepalm for a second, "Try laying the card down on the table," you stated.
* * *
The four of you then warped down onto the Gameboard, with the usually resolute Sae sent clutching her head at the shift. You also noticed she was still in her regular outfit.
"Huh, I thought she'd be used to leaping into cognitive worlds?" you asked Makoto.
"Er, not exactly," Makoto had to admit, "She was more, how do I put this, involved through second-degree".
Rise however now donned a fur-lined red robe with a golden crown on top of her head, her holding a microphone stand like a sceptre and dressed in a black, pink-frilled flamenco dress beneath. "Yes, woo-hoo, this is comeback tour material!" she exclaimed, but quickly correcting herself with "Er, not getting all excited due to the deaths and stuff like that, just getting to use a Persona again. That's all".
"Huh, I've only heard of these things you call Personae, yet even I suspected their presence here," Sae deduced.
"Uh yeah, so we might want to get going, before the Morrigan gets alerted again and sends another of her scouts down to us," you said, looking around.
It turned out you didn't have even that long, as already a figured had swooped down right in front of you. This new Shadow looked like a cross between a woman and an airplane, a cross between organ and exhaust pipes decorating her hair and legs, though some of them mounted on her shoulders you could see were brass instruments. She held up a lily in her right hand, while in her left she brandished a giant mask like a shield.
<<BGM: Persona 4 - Reach out to the Truth (Eurobeat Remix)https://youtu.be/Kv6Y6wkBIg8
"Okay, let's do this! Kouz- er, Kouzeon?" Rise flinched as she saw her Persona mutating right above her, her telescope becoming a planet-smashing laser rifle with the head of a dragon, her skin now made of stars and clad in a blood-red gown, the solar system around her now a Milky Way, and her now riding atop a blazing orange eagle-like phoenix using wispy cloud-reins.
"No, I know you... Jiutian Xuannu," she realised, before she said, "Okay, Analysis now".
"That's strange," Makoto mentioned, "Anat came forth same as always for me..."
Sae meanwhile clutched at herself and collapsed on her knees; a spiked helmet having materialised on top of her.
"Hmm, it looks like something is has at least loosened that mask's grip on you, compared to, er, before," Makoto observed, before she bit her lip and said, "...Forgive me for this, Sis, it might hurt a little".
Makoto then wrenched that helmet right off of Sae, her face now cast in shadow and her eyes glowing gold.
"I art thou... thou art I," you could hear her reciting, before she stood up again and proclaimed "Sovereign!"
XLVII. Kikuko Confrontation
Whispers around the school through the remainder of the week about you having beaten Kikuko in an airsoft duel certainly caught your ear, with you also not being surprised to hear some students insist that the whole thing had to be rigged. Which they weren't wrong about, admittedly, which gave you some thought as to whether to come clean by placing the blame rightfully on Azuma and Melissa. Then again, while maybe you could get away with accusing Melissa, you had no idea if people would believe you, if not turn on you, if you accused Azuma.
So you decided to stay silent and bask in the burst of adoration you got from having people think you genuinely beat Kikuko at something. Of course, you weren't the only person who'd suddenly gotten a helping hand from a figure in power (oddly, given that was how you got into this very mess), so you now thought to meet up with Colette again to see how the process of her book being published was coming along. It'd been what, about two weeks since your Tokyo trip?
* * *
Ringing Colette up, you asked her "Hi, er, you feel like going anywhere today? Like, er, I had Hakodate on the mind, city's got a lot of festivals and stuff on, and we didn't have much time to walk around while we were there last". You didn't immediately leap to the book deal, which you figured was the smart move.
"Hmm, funny you should ask that, as I do believe the Mt. Io Festival is being held in Kaminokuni today. While its famous torchlight procession is hosted during the day, for the most spectacular view we must simply come at night," she said to you, but admitted, "Of course, the two is about two hours from Hakodate, let alone here, so I can understand your apprehension".
"Hey look, it's cool, I can manage that," you were quick to say, eyeing the time and trying not to think about that curfew Kikuko had set for you, "Um, though maybe we can meet in the middle and make it more an evening thing, that sound good?"
"Ah yes, perfectly reasonable," Colette chirped, but then sighed, "Of course, I don't believe Kaminokuni even has a train station, so that does place another hurdle..."
"You think there'll be a bus or something, given the town has a festival going?" came your first thought.
"Well neither of us can drive, so that's probably our best bet," Colette went over, before brightening back up with, "Either way, let's convene at the station".
It was on that train ride down to Hakodate that you thought you should probably bring up that book deal already. "So, er, Colette, any word on your book getting published by now?" you tentatively asked.
You could see Colette scowl for a second, but she was swift to shift to mere disappointment. "I've received no word back yet, but of course I must remind myself that the publication world moves slowly. That Nanjo did admit that publishing wasn't his field, to give him that" she said in a restrained tone.
"Ah, okay, I was worried about that," you mumbled in response, "Strange thing is though, I don't think you've even told me anything about this book, even though you've got the manuscript all written and everything?"
At your words, Colette haughtily grinned and said, "Ah, I figured I'd keep its contents a surprise for you until publication. Of course, that's publication even happens," she then muttered. "However, I could happily share some of my other stories with you if you so desire".
"Oh wow, that's great," you smiled, "I'd love to hear them".
"Not here though," Colette said in a swerve, "I'd figured we'd visit Hakodate's Higashiyama Cemetery, that would be a much more fitting site to recite my writings to you".
You were a little taken aback, but you could at least understand Colette's logic. She was usually fastidious about setting a scene, hence all your work preparing the Occult Club.
While it was a little too late for the Morning Market, and more than a while to the night-viewing on Mt. Hakodate, you did the bell chimes from the Haristos Orthodox church, and the star-shaped, former fortress of Goryokaku Park was easily accessible on your way to the... Cemetery.
Sitting on a bench there under a blossomed tree overlooking the moat, there was another, more uncomfortable question you did feel the need to bring up with Colette. You at least did so with some food to ease the tension, Colette having ordered the blackest of squid ink ice-creams, and since the seafood in Hakodate didn't stop after the morning market, you had:
[ ] A squid ink ice-cream, the same as her. [+2 Perception}
[x] Red caviar. [+2 Etiquette]
[ ] The snow crab, which you were well aware of by reputation. [+2 Education]
[ ] That 'dancing' squid. [+2 Resolve]
[ ] A salt ramen dish littered with seafood. [+1 all]
[ ] Write-in.
So, while relaxing with the food, you brought up with Colette, "Er, more personal question. Um..." you kept hesitating.
"It's alright, best to say it sooner rather than delay," Colette told you.
"You've been on HRT for years now, right? Because, oh God, I should be safe from any risk of-" you began mumbling and losing your words again.
"Ah, you're worried I may have impregnated you, is that the issue?" Colette straight-up asked.
You slowly spoke "...Yeah. but like, I guess it's wrong of me to assume that, I mean it's not like I've been showing any signs of pregnancy or anything, so it's probably just some stupid worry".
"Indeed. As I am, I would have to spend three months off HRT if I ever wished to produce an offspring, and I have no desire to do either of those," Colette confirmed, "If I ever do have time for a child, adoption would be my preferred method".
"Yeah, me too," you smiled at her, having sighed with relief.
Colette then formed a cat-like grin on her face, "My, I take it you raised this question as you've been gripped by the urge to make love to me again?"
You didn't technically say anything in reply, but you did blush a bright red and even began sweating.
Colette was left giggling, but she picked up on you and said, "Ah, I have the perfect thing. Since we were heading to the cemetery here, why don't we consummate again there? Hmhm, no need to worry, the place is bound to be deserted at this time of day".
You had almost no idea what to say to that, but you managed "Er, if you're absolutely certain no one will be around... sure".
"Delightful!" Colette smiled at you, but still brought up, "Honoka dear, I can... completely understand your concerns over becoming pregnant. So, know I wouldn't have minded if you breached the topic with me on our first night together".
"Y-yeah, well the thing was-" you started saying, but cut yourself off with just an "Um, thanks".
* * *
Having indeed gotten lucky in that cemetery, in more ways than one, you were now leaning against a tree having exchanged shirts with Colette, although this was way too elaborate to simply be called a 'shirt'. Stiff too, you imagined Colette could only move around in this thing due to being long experienced with such clothes.
"The thing about cemeteries is, you almost always see the graves divided into groups," you then felt the need to bring up, "For example, local ones will usually delineate us from foreigners, and even among Japanese we'll be separated by wealth and occupation. Overseas though, I've heard they're mostly divided by religion.
Thing is though, like, when you're dead... should it really matter who you're buried with? I mean, you're not gonna know," you finished on.
Having paid attention close attention to your words, Colette remarked, "Ah, quite thoughtful of you Honoka, as I'd expect. Regrettably though, while the people here may be dead, their relatives and descendants may certainly be alive to raise a fuss. That said, would you not want your relatives to place you without care if you died?"
"Yeah, true," you sighed, "Just that I wouldn't care which class I was buried with, that's all. Oh yeah," you then had to change the topic, "You said you were gonna share one of your stories now, weren't you?"
"Why, indeed I was," Colette said, as he then scrolled through her phone to a certain page and began reading to you.
The little piece she showed you was called Mortui Sanguis, and was set in the 19th century, or at least a 19th century world, with Vampires roaming around and using their blood to bring back historical figures as Ghouls. The main story began when Dr. Gavriel Trevelyan, the manager of a Bedlam-like institute, decided to run an experiment on whether a patient thrown in there, for being neither man nor woman in that world, could become a dhampir and fully resurrect historical people?
You did have to think that premise was a little convoluted, almost like it had been two stories mashed together, but it was... definitely Colette, and you felt you could see where she was coming from with certain things.
You two also had time for Colette to tell you about another of her stories, which concerned Emily Bronte after death becoming sucked into a world of glass she'd help create in childhood. However, she wasn't the only one, as for some reason for authors from history were getting sucked into this same world. This was much more obviously a draft, which may be fitting given its source material.
"I haven't done much with this, I admit. It's hard to find info on the Brontes' creation of Angria and Gondal, even here in Japan, given what little of their childhood work survives" Colette confirmed your suspicions. "Er, well regardless, what did you think?"
[x] "Sounds great, actually"
[ ] "Hmm, interesting"
[ ] "Look, to be blunt with you..."
[ ] "Think I'd need to know more"
[ ] Write-in.
* * *
It was a tight squeeze for time, but you were able to catch buses back and forth from the town of Kaminokuni to watch the torch procession for the festival, which looked simply spellbinding in the soft purple evening. It was once you'd come back to the Hakodate station for the train back to Kuchinashi though, that a real incident reared its head.
"So, here you are," Kikuko snarled, as she stood atop a flight of stairs glaring down at you, half-shrouded in shade. "I was aware you had headed out of town, Nakamura, but to find you disobeying my orders beyond just curfew..."
You froze on the spot, as the very thing you dreaded would happen since Russia, was happening here and now, as Kikuko had Colette in her sights as well.
However, Colette was at least one of the more fortunate on Kikuko's list to be caught with, given how she clearly hadn't taken Gakuto's abuse lying down. Going up against Kikuko though, her being armed, would require more tact.
"What right have you?" Colette spoke, standing firmly between you and Kikuko, "You are neither Honoka's parent or guardian, you are not her mayor or any political authority, nor are you Hanataba faculty, and you are certainly not her slave-driver or some nonsense. I'll ask again, what right have you to control her like this?"
Kikuko hissed on being challenged like that, before she said, "I am her Ace, her senior, the Head of Tea Ceremony Club, her economic superior by far, and she has agreed to be my apprentice. Just ask her, I may have the most authority over her that anyone ever has!"
"'Her Ace'?" Colette focused in on that first one, "Be honest, Kikuko, how many people honestly recognise Jacks and Aces as valid terms beyond the confines of Hanataba, and maybe Kuchinashi? Ask anyone around here, for instance, and they'll think you're just referring to playing cards".
You could see Kikuko start to tremble, having to try to remain composed, "I was sent to your school, all the way across this country, for its very prestige. Who are you, a suspendee and Head of the least reputable Club in school, to question the authority I have?" she seethed.
It was then you had to speak up, "Kikuko, how of much of an area does the Gameboard cover? The world, Japan, Hokkaido? Not even our town, it's mostly just our school. Face it, how limited your power is goes beyond just Colette's words, we've got cosmological proof of it".
"Gameboard?" Colette quickly whispered up at you.
"...I'll tell you about it one day," was all you said back.
Kikuko began breathing rapidly in and out, as she muttered, "The Gameboard... it can't just be Hanataba, it's too powerful for that. A-and even if it was just this school, it would still be my solemn duty to master it to my utmost without retreat, to win or die trying! You have no idea of the stakes in it, holding no Empire of your own!" she spat that last part out.
"Hah, listen to your own words, Kikuko," Colette then said, "As an author, I have the task making clear to my reader what is truth and what is fiction. You, however, believe you can spout out utter nonsense and treat it as total fact. And to think you dare claim mastery over Honoka".
Now hyperventilating, Kikuko was on the verge of screaming, as she then drew her sword right in front of the two of you in rage... only to then realise that everyone at the station had seen her do so.
"This- this is an honest misunderstanding, I can explain," she tried to tell everyone there, while Colette and you just quietly slipped past her as she felt more and more people's stares.
Upon you arriving back in Kuchinashi again, you stared at Colette and had to ask, "...Was that part of your gambit? To get Kikuko so riled up that she'd completely lose face in public?"
Colette chuckled, then said "Well it worked, did it not?"
'I mean, yeah it did, but..." you groaned, "Did you have to nearly risk our hides to do so?"
"Hmhm, don't think I didn't notice you joining in on it too," Colette did point out, "Besides, it was relatively less of a risk than punching out an All-Ace as I did before, so I admit my perspective may be skewed".
"Yeah, but well... Gakuto was barely able to fight back, at least not physically anyway. Kikuko, on the other hand..." You sighed.
It was then Colette had to confess something. "I will admit, Honoka, there are times I have been frustrated with you for not taking more of a stand against the All-Aces. But... I'd like to apologise for that," she then changed tone, "I now realise I was indulging in the exact kind of victim-blaming I despise. You are right, perhaps I was too hasty in aggravating Kikuko like that... but you could argue desperate times call for desperate measures. No, forget that, I am sorry".
Does 'being responsible for two of their deaths' count as taking a stand? you had to think, but you then looked at Colette and said, "You did have a point, originally. It was better, relatively anyway, that you took a stand there, that whole situation could've gone even worse if you'd said nothing... So, er, thanks for that. Hey, see you at school tomorrow, um, I love you".
Colette had to smile, and blew you one last kiss for the night.
- The Moon has Journeyed to Rank 8! -
As for school tomorrow, and the final week that could be called 'relatively uneventful':
[ ] Drama Club.
[ ] Tea Ceremony Club.
[ ] Occult Club.
[ ] Cricket Club.
[ ] Band duties.
[x] Class Rep duties.
[ ] Checking on the Computer Club.
[ ] Checking on the Tsutsuji Dojo.
[ ] Part-time at the Tabletop store.
[ ] Part-time at the sweets store.
[ ] Keeping an eye on Melissa, dragging Yuya and Suzako into this.
[ ] Internet 'research'.
[ ] Touring colleges.
[ ] Household maintenance.
[ ] Gameboard
[ ] Write-in.
* * *
Part of you honestly felt like, even out of school, you'd become stuck in your role of class representative, given that seeing to other people's problems seemed to be most of what you did. Granted, you did seem to be genuinely helping, and them helping you in turn beyond just granting more Persona power, but, well, you just had to wonder.
But speaking of class rep stuff, getting to look over Class 2-C's did have you noticing that, while Colette had gone back to going strong and you were still doing decent, Yuya's and Suzako's grades were in fact slipping. Staring at their results, you naturally began wondering if this was intentional sabotage on Melissa's part, or simply a side-effect of now being forced to do Jack stuff for her.
After class, you had your two childhood friends group together in a huddle and asked them, "Hey, like I've been doing Jack stuff for various Aces since the start of the year, so... if Melissa's been putting you through any shit, please, don't hesitate to tell me".
The two were silent for a while, but eventually Yuya spoke up with, "She essentially wants me as a doormat and Suzako as a punching bag, or at least as someone she can keep outshining".
You tried to look into Suzako's eyes, difficult as her gaze had sunk downwards. Having trouble getting through to her, you instead looked back at Yuya and asked "Hmm, does she demand you appreciate for letting you only be her fake boyfriend, even though you don't want a girlfriend to begin with?"
Yuya let out a sigh on hearing you ask that, and nodded his head.
"Melissa once told me that students get good grades are, of all things, shunned in American schools. I have no way of verifying that, but was it something she ever tried to press upon you?" you then brought up.
Suzako shrugged, "I don't think she even cares about our grades enough to bring it up".
Even after your talk with your two friends, which ended up feeling more like a class rep intervention than just you three talking, you still found yourself sitting in your desk, head held in a slump, trying to think about what you could possibly do about this situation.
The day after, you went to have a personal talk with Ryouko about, well, this whole All-Ace thing. "Hey, Tanizawa-sensei... question. The whole All-Aces thing, like the Jack system and stuff, like, don't you as teacher have the authority to intervene?" you attempted to ask her, despite knowing it was likely to be in vain. I mean, if any teacher here could've actually done something about the All-Aces, wouldn't they have by now? Okay, Rise and Makoto sure, but they're... exceptions.
Ryouko just groaned on hearing those words. "Look, after seeing the way they've been treating you, treating Colette, and everything I've heard second-hand from Megumi, believe me, if I could've done something about them by now, I would've. Alas..." she broke into a groan, "The title of 'All-Ace' has been a thing at this school almost since the place was founded. That, and like every All-Ace is from a super-influential family, whereas I'm renting on a teachers' salary. But hey, look, is there any specific reason you've come to ask me about them?"
it took a little while for you to vocalise it, but in the end you said, "It's basically Melissa, namely how she made two of my friends Jacks too just for an excuse to torture them, that and use Yuya in some go-nowhere scheme to make Azuma jealous. Like, can't you at least intervene in the whole friggin' Jack thing?"
Ryouko looked at you a second, then had to ask, "Well, it's good to see your concern over your friends, but... I'm wondering why you're asking this only now, given you've been Jack quite a while? This despite the fact that really the only positive words you've said about them have been half-hearted ones, well, Nightshade aside anyway.
Oh yeah, that must be it," Ryouko hit upon, "She was the only thing making you want to stay a Jack, right?"
You had to think about that, but you settled on, "Well, Nightshade was the only reason I was staying willingly, I'll say that. Really, I think it mostly comes down to money and status, like you said, I just can't afford to tell the All-Aces I want out, monetarily or socially. That, and Kikuko tried to pull a sword on me the other day, so there's that". You figured that was probably the most accurate explanation you could give, without the sheer disbelief incurrence that'd come with bringing up the Gameboard.
"Huh, I still don't get it. I mean, well, no offence Honoka, you're great and all, but... why did they single you out? Like, all of the students to suddenly make a Jack out of nowhere, let alone what the Aces' motive was for doing so in the first place," Ryouko was forced to admit.
Now that was a really hard question to answer without mentioning the Gameboard, but you ultimately settled on, "I think it's because I was essentially an Anti-Ace. I wasn't hated or anything, but that's because back then I wasn't even noticed at all. Keiko and Yuya were the only ones who really knew me, and even then I had no idea if we were on a course to drift apart or not. This meant for the All-Aces, especially Azuma, I could basically be their little pet project to mold into whatever they felt like, a... a friggin' doll" you let out.
That started a bit of a rant from you, "Kikuko's apprentice, Azuma's pretend romance, Eitaro's punching bag, Melissa's lackey, Gakuto's... God I don't even want to think what" you then collapsed and screamed into your hands.
Ryouko bit her lip, then said, "Only thing I can think to do is petition for the board for a new principal, since they'll be no getting through to the All-Aces with Junichiro still around. Even then though, given their lineages, it's likely if the All-Aces go down, the whole school will be dragged with them, especially with them... dying. Little faculty secret for you, we've already seen enrolments for next year slowly dropping".
So, is the only way to stop Azuma's advances, to stop Kikuko's domineering, to stop Melissa humiliating my friends... really just for them to die in Duels? that thought seized you, and not for the first time.
"Hey, well, I have got some bright side stuff for you," Ryouko then tried to change the mood, "Like, about music, er, Rise says it's okay if I accompany her on guitar sometime. Just for a little jam session or something, even though I think she just sings. And hey, there's a cello and double-bass in our music room, I don't think she'd mind you joining in".
You did have to smile at that, especially to see Ryouko getting along with at least one of the newcomer teachers. "Yeah, that'd be great. Probably a change from the Nightshade repertoire too".
Talking with Ryouko at least made the wait till the weekend a little smoother. Like as little as she could do against the All-Aces, at least your own classroom felt like something of a haven from them. True, it had its share of jerks too with some students, but none of them All-Ace levels of influential.
- The Priestess has Journeyed to Rank 4! -
And about that weekend, you could blow off some steam with:
[ ] Reina.
[ ] Suzako.
[ ] Yuya.
[ ] Colette.
[ ] Na-rae.
[ ] Megumi.
[ ] Hotaru.
[ ] Takako.
[ ] Mum & Dad.
[ ] Koyomi.
[ ] Nightshade.
[x] Or sneaking onto the gameboard:
- [ ] Rin's Empire.
- [x] Himawari's Empire.
- [ ] Eitaro's Empire.
- [ ] Gakuto's Empire.
- [ ] Azuma's Empire.
- [ ] Kikuko's Empire.
- [ ] Melissa's Empire.
[x] Write-in: With Nightshade
XLVIII. Criminal Empire Dethroned
"H- Hi, Nightshade," you gulped as you began your phone call with her, "Um, I guess you'd be wondering what's been going on with your Empire after you... left, huh?"
"Yeah, well, I kinda thought that I'd done my job in thoroughly torched any last goodwill the school had of me, so... I was kinda suspecting it didn't exist anymore, or at least barely," she answered.
"No, I've still been seeing it on the Gameboard," you told her, before twitching, "True, er, not sure if you're gonna like what's become of it. But still, you're alive yet your Empire's 'dead', so hey, thought that may be cool to check out".
"Hah, now I wonder why you didn't bother contacting me about it sooner?" Nightshade asked.
"Ah, mostly had like a whole bunch of other stuff happening. Friggin' Russia trip, Mid-terms, Sports Festival, all that," you went over.
"Right, Megumi told me about that. Sheesh, all outta nowhere too," Nightshade muttered, "Oh, when it comes to sneaking into the school, sure, I can easily still do that. Done it before after all, and it's not like they can do any worse for me, they're too chickenshit to put the school's reputation on the line".
That sorted out, you convened at the school, Nightshade's usual swagger faltering when she looked upon it again after all this time, and got to work sneaking in up through the vines and the window. Huh, to think she was one who first showed you how to even get into this place, all those months ago.
It was upon heading back into the Prized Pupil Lounge that you could see Nightshade really starting to get dizzy, even clutching her head.
"Bad memories, huh?" you tried to get through to her.
"Ugh, yeah well... at least some good ones too, y'know," she did have to say, "Though most of them came at the expense of the people in this room, heh".
That by now it had essentially become tradition to break into the other Aces' private rooms while sneaking in, it occurred to you that Eitaro and Melissa's rooms were the only ones you hadn't seen yet, even though for Eitaro you expected his would be mostly cleared out by now.
It was due to this that Eitaro's was easiest for you to open. There wasn't a password or lock or anything. but strangely not even a doorknob, just a whole load of force on you and Nightshade's parts needed to push it open. That sent the two of you crashing down along with it, but once you'd picked yourselves up you could see that the place was expectedly spartan, though without even the historical flair that characterised Kikuko's room. Of course, the whole death thing probably didn't help here.
It was more a private gym than anything, with a treadmill and everything, and on the far wall a whole archery target with photos of various people, rival archers and football teams, weak players on Eitaro's own team, even... you, used as practice. At least he had the grace to not outright shred them up like Azuma.
"Huh wait, who're these?" you asked, pointing to a photo of a man and a woman with features and hair colour close to Eitaro's, the man in a JSDF uniform and the woman in a suit. "Eitaro's... parents?"
"Can't say much about them, but yeah, the guy always got pissy when they were brought up, so we made a habit of not trying to. Well except Kikuko, who kept mentioning them just to prove her own authority over Eitaro," Nightshade delved into, "Not that I can blame him, given my own folks, although heh, I almost wish mine were divorced like his, it's not like there's any love between them. Of course, Eitaro being left with his Dad meant his Grandpa ended up being his real parent".
"...I see. Well, maybe we'll try squeezing our way into Melissa's little chamber now?" you tried to move this along, figuring there wasn't really anything more to gain from Eitaro's room, given the most prominent feature of it now was dust.
Melissa's was harder to break into, given the security system she'd installed was a lot more elaborate than Eitaro's 'just bash it down'. You mainly resorted to Nightshade using both her overgrown nail and a spare guitar pick to gradually loosen the lock, and as it finally clicked open, you half expected a series of lasers to pop up.
Making it into her room at last, you immediately found it hard to move around it there, given she'd stuffed it with so much stuff, clothes changes (at school?), furniture, car models, old trophies, photographs, various indigenous paraphernalia you'd doubted she knew the significance of (well, neither did you, but at least you admitted it), perhaps this was the real second layer of her security system?
One possession that truly caught your eye was a padlocked pink notebook, overly cursive thin gold handwriting reading 'My Diary' on it. Your first thought was why Melissa didn't just have a blog or an extra social media account instead... until you remembered Gakuto's prior existence, which likely explained why.
"Well, shall we lever it open?" Nightshade grinned.
You took a while to answer that question, torn between strategic advance, bile curiousity, and... well, not paying awful to awful, but you eventually said:
[ ] "We'll take it with us, try opening it later"
[x] "What, no? I can't do that to her... even if she probably would to me?"
[ ] Write-in.
Either way, there was one loose page that fell on her desk, which from what you ended up glimpsing of it anyway seemed... strange. You expected it'd just be some hateful rant against whoever she didn't like, but that turned out to be only half-true. Instead, it mostly looked to be a back-and-forth list of insecurities:
Honoka's grown so much... yet doesn't give me any credit.
Eitaro knew the value of hard work... yet ignored how much I've suffered.
Azuma's so dreamy... that he can't see a real girl in me.
Kikuko's the only girl I can call my equal... so why's she always so drab and gross?
Adriana's so stylish... yet thinks she can replace Mom.
Daddy looks after me... like I'm a possession.
You put it down, more than getting the gist.
"So yeah, Gameboard, let's get you back to your Empire," you leapt at the chance to talk about anything else, before realising in your head, If it even counts as yours anymore...
* * *
<<BGM: Rule of Rose - A Love Suicide>>https://youtu.be/xavw2D8Gf6E
Well, er, finally seeing Himawari's Empire again after her 'fall', you could see something had been doing a lot of renovation work.
The crooked and dirt that'd defined much of the houses and alleys in her old Empire was now gone, with neat, orderly lines everywhere, the blacks, purples, and reds that'd been the main colour scheme around her now replaced with pastel pink and inoffensive white.
Predictably, Nightshade was seething. "What's next, flower-patterned wallpaper? Jesus, how can you not call this vandalism?!" she spat out.
You practically had to heave Nightshade forward to get her to go further in, her too sickened to see how much her Empire had fallen. Your first stop was that exclusive nightclub you'd all been invited to after your, er, first Duel, but once you got in, you saw it'd been replaced with an... old malt shop, like what you'd seen in Americana stuff from decades back.
The plush red seats and polished checkerboard floor were typical, but what wasn't were all the party decorations strewn about, banners and balloons, though instead of reading something like 'Happy Birthday' they read 'We're Free!' and 'The Queen Is Dead!'
Heading in slower, you went around to where that stage had been, the place where she performed. It seemed empty, but you then glanced up to see a crucifix hanging over like you'd in in those Christian schools. A crucifix with a figurine of Nightshade nailed onto it.
Gasping, you turned around only to see Nightshade running away, only for her to find the path blocked off by an extensive set of roadworks, you figured yet another part of the renovations.
Nightshade in typical fashion not caring, she called on Anastasia to blast her way through them with ice, you trying now to keep up with her, until you both found yourselves in a broad street lined with even older architecture, like from back before the first World War.
Slowly marching down this old-timey street was a whole parade of what you recognised as the Shadows Jack Frost and Pyro Jack, each singing merrily yet each slightly off-key, with stiff movements and at unnaturally high pitches. Suddenly, one of them got left behind in the parade, then suddenly burst out in a surge of darkness and began gobbling all the other Frosts and Pyros up.
Soon enough, Nightshade and you now found yourself facing a purple, red, and black animatronic automaton, still giggling 'Hee-ho!' with its rusted mechanical voice, the bells on its jester's cap chiming coldly.
"I'm Black Frost! I'm like you, hee-ho, I can't stand this niceness any longer. The Queen is dead but not gone, so I'll finish the job and obliterate her and her knight! Hee-ho"
[x] This thing's a Jack Frost, right? It should still be weak to Fire, shouldn't it?
[ ] This is Nightshade's journey through here, stick to buffing and healing her.
[ ] Stay back, guard and analyse, see what this Shadow does.
[ ] Can this thing be reasoned with, if its 'just like you'?
[ ] Just make a break for it, there should be more than enough room to dash around and escape.
[ ] Write-in.
You brought out Santabarbara to start shielding Nightshade with Rakukaja, whilst Black Frost predictably started by trying to freeze the whole of this main street. While that did sting you, Nightshade via Anastasia was able to very easily shrug it off, but it turned out just pelting her with ice wasn't quite what Black Frost had intended.
The animatronic dark Fae then used all the ice on the ground to speed itself up, wind its fist up like a windmill, and deliver a star-inducing 'Miracle Punch' onto her, making that Rakukaja certainly a good call.
You switched to Dahaka to cast Diarama on her, as she took advantage of the frozen floor to give Black Frost a taste of his own medicine, sliding right up to him and having Anastasia hit below the figurative belt with a Kidney Smash.
However, like many Shadows, Black Frost seemed insured against his own tactics. Anastasia had dealt a little damage to him, but nowhere near enough to make him lose any balance.
Since you were acting as Nightshade's support right now, you decided to get off the frozen street and up onto a higher ledge, preferably a rooftop. However, Dahaka not being quite the fastest Persona, Black Frost was suddenly able to hit you with an upsurge of flames, making your weakened self collapse all the way onto the ground into the skin-searing heat.
Having suffered a major blow, Black Frost then tried to seriously finish you off with a total Mamudoon eclipse. However, his ingenious scheming ran out there, as it barely scraped Nightshade and outright fully healed you instead, due again to Dahaka's affinities. Using an area of effect spell on him may have been overkill, especially on your SP reserves, but you had Dahaka bust out a radiant, all-basking Makouga anyway, barraging the darkness with light.
That finally scored a serious hit on Black Frost, with Nightshade then stepping in with a flurry of throwing axes. As a coup de grace, you two struck as one and pounded Black Frost into the ground in a cloud of dust. Black frost wasn't finished yet though, as the moment he got another chance to attack, he struck Nightshade with a final fiery surge, finishing her off.
"Himawari!" you used her given name on pure instinct, making the switch to Asherah. Black Frost was able to get off another attack as he then landed a Miracle Punch on you but, as much of a blow as it struck, you suddenly became able to hit back in an instant thanks to Asherah's inherited Counter skills, dealing an aggressive physical blow right back at him that somehow bypassed his normal resistances.
"Hee...ho," Black Frost wheezed out his last words, as he at last fizzled, blew out, and collapsed right back into darkness.
You had enough time to cast Samarecarm on Nightshade, completely reviving her, though with the side-effect of reducing your SP to nothing. Not that you didn't have items to get around that, like weird cooking from your Mum or teas from Kikuko and Colette, however you could only carry so much on you at once.
Nightshade sighed with relief and grinned wide at you, "T-thanks, don't you what I'd do without you, heh" she tried to make light.
"Yeah well, I appreciate it, but we're gonna have to stick to stealth for the rest of our time here," you said on instinct, "If that Shadow's any indication of the sort that's taken over your Empire. Or not, maybe we just got unlucky and he was just some exception, who knows?" you shrugged, but still said, "Couldn't hurt to assume he was the former though".
"Stick to stealth?" Nightshade raised her voice, having trouble admitting, "Like, I get your point, but this is my Empire, why the hell should I stoop to doing that?"
Was your Empire, you thought in an instant.
From there you were able to spot a few clean cafes of minimal design, fancy enough for your liking but admittedly scrubbed of any character or flair. Chain cafes too, if the logos on them were any indication, though you had no idea who'd be running a café chain on the Gameboard. Melissa?
Further down this street you came to a large warehouse which, looking inside atop a stack of crates, you could see was filled with more animatronic marching dolls, Jack Frost and Pyro Jack included but also weird variants like a Strawberry Frost, Lemon Frost, Melon Frost, whatever a 'B. Hawaii Frost' was, and even a giant 'King Frost' float. "Hmm, this place ever appear in your old Empire?"
"Yeah, but not as storage space for any Destinyland parades or whatever," Nightshade scoffed, "Place was where I kept a lot of my gear, y'know like amp towers, PA systems, lightshow rigging, that sorta thing".
There were still some instruments kept here, but they were decidedly much closer to marching band stuff like sousaphones, strap-on glockenspiels, and the like. In a way, they did remind you of a heavily cutesified version of the Terracotta warriors you'd expect to find in Eitaro's Empire, although them being mechanical instead of sculptures made you wonder...
You switched to Heracles and cast Mazionga through the opened window, taking control of the animatronic marchers as well as opening the warehouse door. You soon saw the Frost animatronics picked up speed as they paraded, with their presence slowly covering the ground in ice. This eventually led to them spreading out and crashing into various golden gates and covering up the roadworks that cut off much of this dethroned Empire, opening up whole new sections that'd once been locked.
In particular, it led to you and Nightshade reaching what had once been the dueling Heart of her Empire, the concert grounds which, due to renovations, were now entirely indoors, and all the ice sculptures melted into a series of little fountains outside. The place was coloured pink and white like a dollhouse, and on the far wall was a mural picturing both Himawari and 'Nightshade' in chains, each extending from an anchor bound to sink into the breaking ice.
On the whole this new hall looked much closer to a place for classical orchestras then what you associated with Nightshade's style of music, so naturally you expected her to burst into rage. Instead, that mural seeming to really get to her, her hair then started reverting back to her bluer, more natural tones, with the more respectable dress she wore to attend your Duel with Eitaro spreading back over her rebel outfit.
"Honoka," she said as she looked at you, "Heh, it's only now occurred to me, after all this time..."
"W-wait, what's occurred?!" You blurted out, fearing the worst for a second.
"You've always performed with Nightshade, but I don't think you've ever accompanied me when I was, well, just Himawari," she explained, looking into your eyes, "Er, the Gameboard may not be the safest place to do so, but I feel this concert hall presents the opportunity to finally do so anyway. Maybe any Shadows around will be pacified by my singing, who knows?"
"Oh," you said and stared, not really expecting this, "Y-yeah sure, I can do that. Like, you've kinda done that sort of thing before, granted that was when this place was under your control..."
"Under Nightshade's control, you mean," Himawari sighed, "this Empire, even Anastasia as a Persona, was always hers, not mine".
Come on, is that really true? you thought, feeling for a second Himawari was being too harsh on Nightshade, and herself.
Still, Himawari and you both headed up on this new, refurnished stage anyway. As she started clearing her throat, you looked around for a bass or any other instrument yet found nothing... except a baton, to which a chorus of invisible instruments and backing voices suddenly reacted from nowhere when you gave it a wave.
Okay, um, conducting's mainly about keeping time and indicating dynamics, right? I think I've got this... you shuddered.
Whether you could or not, you were thrown in the deep end anyway as Himawari started singing:
<<BGM: DECO*27 - Coward Montblanc>>https://youtu.be/HC_HR0J6yz0
You almost looked ready to collapse after conducting through the entire song, but the weird thing was happened to the Empire once you'd both finished. The dollhouse-like concert hall took itself apart once you'd finished, letting you gaze upon an Empire filled with Shadows, still very much undefeated, but definitely appearing pacified for the time being.
Himawari smiled at the sight, saying, "Wow, Honoka, our first real performance together! True, Colette, Tanizawa-sensei, and Tomomi couldn't be here, but well, I'm not sure if that was exactly their kind of music anyway. Eheh, you know for a second... I felt I could almost see Rin in the audience, smiling at me. But again, just for a second".
You kept the thought to yourself, but you had to doubt that, as you felt you definitely would've noticed Lauryn showing up here. Then again, your back was turned to the orchestra this while time, so maybe Himawari was onto something?
A gentle snow then began falling over the whole of this dethroned Empire, turning it to something of a 'winter wonderland'. A blushing Himawari then approached you and hesitantly asked "...Honoka, once we get back to the school, if there's nobody checking the Prized Pupil Lounge, I... well, it's tricky to explain. When we... made love last time, I was okay with it, but it was Nightshade in control at the time. So once we're back, ah, would you, um, since Colette's okay with it, do the honour of-"
"Yeah, of course!" you grinned at her, before she then changed the topic to something else, something you'd been fearing.
"I've decided, Honoka, that the last time I'll perform as Nightshade... will be the last. It's gonna be quite the occasion though, as what I wanted to do was record a whole album as her, as I feel she deserves at least one to commemorate, heh, even immortalise, all our work together before I, um, retire her," she came out with.
You didn't say a word to that at first, but you gradually managed, "Ah, okay. Er, did you have anywhere it mind to record this album?"
"Eh, well that's the part I hadn't quite figured out yet, hehe," Himawari twitched.
[ ] Record it on some computer, technology makes that more than possible these days. It'll also preserve Nightshade's 'rawness', plus will be way cheaper.
[ ] Try to get the money for a studio, like the money Shadows give is surprisingly decent.
[x] Why not a live album, to package it with one final concert for her?
[ ] Write-in.
- The Devil has Journeyed to Rank 8! -
* * *
You woke up fairly late, having had quite the dream about a Himawari snowwoman and a Kikuko fire-elemental tugging on your arms to pull you towards them as you all floated in the air. You then expected Kikuko to barge in and yell at you for sleeping in late... but she was nowhere around. Granted, her estate here was of a decent size, so there was always more places to look, but still...
Na-rae being happy to drive you down to Hanataba, with you taking advantage of Kikuko suddenly vanishing to not have to ride a friggin' horse again, you then got the strange notion of whether hormonal teens sticking their genitals in snowpeople was something they ever did in say, America? Sounded like the sort of thing you'd regret soon after.
Arriving Hanataba, you stumbled back when you saw Azuma right there at the gates, eyes fixed on you.
"Well, Jack of Swords," he unusually greeted you with, since he tended to just use your name or some flowery epithet, "I'd advise you head to our Lounge pronto, as your Ace is in quite the situation there".
Flinching for a second, you did as he said and headed straight for the Prized Pupil Lounge, even though you should've been in class by now, to find... what otherwise seemed normal, Kikuko and Melissa both being in a heated argument.
"Oh, don't you lie to me, you little bitch! Who else would've broken into my room yesterday? You did the same thing before to Gakuto, remember?!" Melissa spat out.
"I bear no responsibility for this," Kikuko hissed, arms folded, "I was quite occupied yesterday with training, studying, and the precise arrangement of my stone garden. Not to mention, why ever would I care for the contents of your private room?"
Your urge was to step in and clear this up... but even if you did convince Melissa, you were afraid all her anger would just be placed onto you, along with everything she could do to you.
At that point anyway, it became about more than merely yesterday, as Melissa burst out with, "Do you have any idea how much easier my life would be with you were just... gone, Kikuko, like if you never existed? You've never had a single nice thing to say to me since I came here, since we even met back in Honolulu as kids. Then you make me look like an idiot to everyone at the sports festival, you get more boys than me then rub it in my face, you turned me into your freakin' maid, you definitely vandalized my Empire, and when I helped you out against Azuma's sister, you treated me like shit! Argh, do I have to dye my hair black and put on a kimono for you to even respect me at all?!"
That was... eerie. While not quite how you would put it, more than a few of Melissa's complaints could've easily been yours.
"Perhaps that would be a start. Lilian, you want to know why I show you no respect?" Kikuko said as a tarot card materialised in her hand, her then, as you feared, throwing it to the ground, "Because you've done nothing to earn it. Rin's death set our school back enough, the last thing we needed was for her t be replaced by a shrieking harpy. but fine, I'll do the honours as you've so clearly been begging for this: Melissa Lilian, I challenge you to a Duel!" Kikuko then drew her sword, "Given our usual week's wait, how curious you'll die on your national holiday".
Melissa, don't-! you immediately thought, but before you could say anything-
"You are. So. Freakin'. On!" Melissa seethed at Kikuko, rolling up her sleeves and throwing down her own card.
Neither Kikuko nor Melissa even noticed that you then slumped to the ground, head in your hands. True, it's not like this came out of thin air or anything, but still...
You figured for now the only thing you could do was focus on what you could control. Namely, what you had in store today after class, this Monday rather than next.
[ ] Occult Club.
[ ] Drama Club.
[ ] Being Class Rep.
[x] Recording the debut, and final, Nightshade album.
[ ] Studying [+Education].
[ ] Eating out:
- [ ] Somewhere new [+Resolve].
- [ ] Somewhere fancy [+Etiquette].
- [ ] Somewhere local [+Perception].
- [ ] Write-in.
[ ] Part-time at the tabletop store.
[ ] Part time at the sweets shop.
[ ] Tidying with Na-rae.
[ ] Gameboard:
- [ ] Azuma's Empire.
- [ ] Eitaro's Empire.
- [ ] Gakuto's Empire.
- [ ] Himawari's Empire.
- [ ] Kikuko's Empire.
- [ ] Melissa's Empire.
- [ ] Rin's Empire.
[x] Velvet Room (can be taken with other options).
[ ] Write-in.
XLIX. First Album, Last Concert
Entering back into the Velvet Room again, Popo piped up the very second with a "Greetings, Miss 'Onoka, we've got quite the Persona gent comin' your way, so I'm figuring you'll be wanting ta make some room for this one".
"Oh hey, Popo, Lauryn. Igor," you tried to smile but nearly stumbled, "So yeah... we've got another Duel happening already".
An aghast Popo covered his face with his wings and skidded back, before slowly opening one to mumble, "Oh d-d-dear, please don't tell me..."
"Well, least I'm not involved this time," you said, before later stating, "Not directly anyway. It's between Kikuko and Melissa, er, the new Ace who came in after you... left, Lauryn".
"I am aware of her," she told you, before she muttered, "I'm not surprised to hear that Kikuko's involved, in fact given her... temperament I'm surprised she didn't get herself involved in this sooner. But not 'directly', ah, I do recall you telling me you were her Jack now, right?"
"Yep, though really only because she was the lesser of the three evils," you admitted, "So hey, on the bright side Popo, that means I can guarantee you'll still be seeing me again after this week, well, I think I can guarantee anyway. Still though, I think I should at least be doing something to stop this, but... then again I don't really know what I can do other than finally meet the Morrigan".
"Well, the Missus hasn't quite made herself easily available, I admit, hmmm, but like, Mister Azuma's the one right there pushing this whole Dueling idea, 'e always has been. So I think the most immediate solution would be to get through to him but, er, that itself's a sticky subject. Plus, Mistresses Kikuko and Melissa seem to have taken to the whole idea like ducks to a pond, so even gettin' through to Mister Azuma may not necessarily get though ta them" Popo went over, finding himself back at square one.
"What would make getting through to someone like Azuma even possible?" you hissed, clenching your fists as you said, "Seeing his Social Link through? Yeah, like I wanna spend any more time with the guy than I already have to. And as for Kikuko, yeah, forgive me if I don't wanna make nice with the girl who pulled a sword on me and my girlfriend at a train station".
"I'm no supporter of Duels either, but it seems to me," Lauryn spoke up, "That for you, All the remaining Aces killing themselves would be the best-case scenario. At least, from the way you're making it sound, you don't like it, but you think it'd be the simplest solution".
You were about to protest, but Popo beat you to being your defence first, "M-Miss Lauryn! I can assure you, that is absolutely not what Miss 'Onoka would consider ideal! Every word she's ever said in this room only backs that up!" he exclaimed.
"Are you sure that's true? I'm- I'm not trying to accuse Honoka, well okay, in all honestly maybe I am, but my point is she seems so disillusioned by the All-Aces that," Lauryn stopped to turn and address you, "Would you really care if they all finished themselves off, and are you just saying you wouldn't to appear moral?"
"What the- the Hell are you implying?" you shot up upon hearing, but then backed down and said, "Look, regardless of how shitty the All-Aces are, your All-Aces are remember, doesn't mean I want them to die, but... as much 'cause I don't want anyone to die".
"...I suppose it was wrong of me to drag you into this little ethics debate," Lauryn admitted, "Regardless of your intent, what would proving it or otherwise even accomplish for me here? Or for you, really, other than giving you yet another thing to think about?"
Popo did turn to you again and tried to say, "Look, cheer up, 'Onoka. I suppose to you this whole mess would've seemed awful far-fetched from your first day, but well, if it seems completely out of the blue for you, then I assume somethin' just as unlikely as a solution to this has to be out there too, right?"
After all that you smiled and said, "Hey, thanks Popo, it was... good to hear that".
- The Tower has Journeyed to Rank 7! -
"Right, new Persona, comin' up," Popo then got to business, as the monster fairy animatronic from Nightshade's Empire appeared.
Hee-ho! I'm Devil Black Frost, black sheep of the frost family-hee," he icily ringed out, "I get to be-hee your mask too, hee-ho!Black Frost
Elements: Absorbs Ice, Nulls Curse and Fire, resists Physical, weak to Elec and Bless
Stats:
- Strength: ||||
- Cognition: ||||
- Agility: ||
- Luck: ||||
- Endurance: |
Skills: Mamudoon, Mabufula, Maragion, Miracle Punch, Bufudyne
Devil Bonus +8: Resist Nuclear, Resist Psy
(Black Frost exceeds capacity, store or fuse a Persona. Current Capacity: Fool Theodora, Priestess Santabarbara, Priestess Circe, Emperor Dahaka, Sage Merlin, Devil Anastasia, Tower PITT, Tower Heracles, Moon Carmilla, Judgment Asherah)
[ ] Store Black Frost.
[ ] Fool Theodora + Sage Merlin = Hierophant+4 Yurlungur (Null Magic)
[ ] Sage Merlin + Priestess Santabarbara = Rebirth+5 Izanagi (Elec and Almighty)
- [ ] Switch Circe for Santabarbara
[ ] Emperor Dahaka + Devil Anastasia = Justice+5 Fariedone (Physical and Fire)
- [ ] Switch Black Frost for Anastasia
[ ] Emperor Dahaka + Tower PITT = Star+4 Barnumbirr (Wind and Bless)
- [ ] Switch Heracles for PITT
[ ] Emperor Dahaka + Sage Merlin = Death+4 Gabriel (Ice and Bless)
[ ] Priestess Circe + Priestess Santabarbara = Priestess+4 Baba Yaga (Curse and Wind)
[ ] Emperor Dahaka + Sage Merlin = Lovers+2 Helen (Physical and Psy)
[ ] Devil Anastasia + Sage Merlin = Chariot+4 Huitzilopochtli (Physical and Nuclear)
[ ] Priestess Santabarbara + Tower PITT = Hanged Man+3 Faust (Psy and Curse)
- [ ] Swap in Circe.
- [ ] Swap in Heracles.
[x] Special Fusion: Empress Tsuruhime + Emperor Richard III + Hierophant Octavian + Chariot Qin Shi Huang + Strength Anjou + Devil Anastasia = Fool+7 Albion (Physical and Almighty)
[x] Write-in: Store Priestess Circe
"Wait, Lauryn, one last thing," you then asked her, "Er, Himawari tried to give a performance in her dethroned Empire yesterday, but said she saw you there. Is that, um, the case?"
Lauryn shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't recall being there anytime soon, you must be seeing things".
"Although, it is not unheard of for our Staff here to still spend time in the outside world," Igor said, "However, I can confirm our Lauryn with in here the whole time".
"Y-yes," Lauryn then said, "I... sort of don't know how I'd handle going back to school, let alone the Gameboard, or how other people would handle the sight of me, more to concern".
"Figured you say that," you muttered.
* * *
"I can't believe I'm doing this..." you muttered later that day, as you stood in that abandoned temple trying to get the power to work for the amps and a laptop, so that your recording device wouldn't be limited to you phone that could cut out at any moment, what with the reception out here.
You had gathered a whole bunch of people you knew, and could presumably still trust to not immediately rat you out for still associating with Nightshade, on rather short notice into the temple to be there at Nightshade's 'farewell' performance and solitary album, solitary live album at that, including Reina, Suzako, Yuya, Megumi, the Occult Club members, Takako, Kaneto, and so on. The more antique-loving Colette was admittedly stumped by most of the electronics you'd been asked to wrangle, but at least tried to give you a helping hand.
Honestly, that you were mostly performing in front of people you knew, while giving you some reassurance, also made you more nervous in a way, given they'd now know what you looked like in full rocker regalia. Then again, it's not like some of them hadn't seen you in more embarrassing costumes before.
Well, it finally came time to head out on stage, though from the looks of it Nightshade wasn't interested in performing much of her on-stage antics, having more an air of 'let's get this over with' than a last hurrah.
"I've got a soul-scarring, black-hearted confession to tell you all," she began oddly, having at least smeared some fake blood on her forehead, "They say if you're gonna die young, then you might as well not die quickly. So, ah, you could say I'm performing a human sacrifice here tonight," those words made you flinch, "That I, Nightshade of- of the Lady Devils, am going to die, so that the girl Aoyagi Himawari may live. But I'm going down on my terms! Ah, what the Hell, hit it! 1-2-3-4!"
<<FalKKone ft. Rena - The Fox's Wedding (Symph-Metal cover)>>https://youtu.be/A4sgkndTF_s
After that number, Nightshade introduced you all one last time, "On guitar, Volta! On drums, Chronomena! And on bass... Abyssa", with each of you playing a solo in turn. "There's one guitarist of ours who couldn't be here this day, so we're dedicating this one to her!"
You then ran all the way through your regular setlist, and even a few old numbers as well. Finally, the end was upon you... and you dreaded to think of what Nightshade had planned to get herself to go out on.
As she stood in the centre, an all-shrouding blast of blood red smoke was released, her being nowhere to be found once it had subsided. Well, at least this meant you wouldn't have to do encores.
"Colette! Tomomi! We've gotta find Himawari quick," you whispered to both of them as the entire audience started looking around, "Of course she'd pull something like this for Nightshade's 'farewell'."
"Wait, hold on, what you do mean by 'farewell'?" Colette gasped, "I was absolutely not aware this was part of the arrangement!"
"Huh, figures she'd bail on us, in more ways than one," Tomomi muttered.
"Y-you mean she didn't tell you?!" you stared blankly. Like, was she expecting me to do that, or did she just not get around to it?
"Look, let's search for her first, then we can discuss what the Hell's going on," you just told the two.
As Colette quickly and Tomomi more sluggishly went to either end of the old temple, you started looking for Himawari out in the woods. Fortunately, you didn't take long to find her, as you spotted her kneeling into a waterfall pool, trying to wash all the dye out of her hair.
"Oh hey, Honoka. Um, yeah, I'm sorry to pull something like that on you, but I was just thinking like, what would Nightshade do? Er, I dunno I don't think I was really able to give her the send-off she deserved, I think I got nervous and just couldn't conjure up the inspiration".
"Hey, look, you did fine, we did fine," you insisted, but sighed, "Just, y'know, even as Nightshade, you could've laid off the whole friggin' suicide imagery. Yeah, you did some really unhealthy, regrettable things as her, but y'know, two wrongs don't make a right".
Himawari gave an awkward smile, before drawing a pair of scissors out of Nightshade's outfit, "Er, Honoka, while I'm fortunate I didn't dye my hair to my roots, there's still, er, a whole bunch of places where I can't get the dye out, mostly the ends. So um, could you help by cutting them off for me?"
You cautioned her with, "Ah, you know I'm not a barber, right? Like, I dunno..."
"Hmhm, it's okay, I'll make it easier for you," Himawari giggled as she put her hair up in tails much like as Nightshade, leaving you to more easily cut them off in, er, admittedly a few snips more than you expected.
Himawari, now with straight, neck-length hair framing her face, still smiled and said, "Thank you, Honoka. I- I wanted this to be the end of Nightshade, but I don't know. I still need a break from her, to start performing as myself, but... I guess there's other people out there who'd still want to see her, who wouldn't want her to just go away- Oh God, now I don't know want to do" she cupped her face with her hands.
Taking hold of her and looking straight into her eyes, you smiled and said, "Hey, it's okay. I mean, I guess either way you go, you've got me with you no matter what", you blushed at those last words, before you and Himawari leaned in for a kiss.
Giggling and blushing, she then asked, "Perhaps you'd like come swim in this pool with me, Honoka? The water's crystal clear, and don't we deserve a little fun as part of Nightshade's, er, 'retirement'?" You coming in closer, she slowly started helping you undress.
"Ah, there you two are. You'll be pleased to know that the recording process went mostly without a hi-iitch..." Colette then ran up to you but stopped when she saw both of you in the forest pool together.
Even if you knew Colette was okay with this sorta thing, that didn't stop you from being utterly embarrassed being seen like this.
Himawari however took it surprisingly well, as she just smiled at Colette and said, "Oh hey, that's good to hear! Hmhm, care to join us, Colette?"
* * *
The moment you'd gotten back to the temple to see the audience off, you got some, er, odd stares.
"Er, oh hi Honoka, ah, I guess it's 'Abyssa' here," Yuya tried to start with, "It's... kinda strange, I've known you really my whole life yet, well, I never knew you were into as extreme music as... that".
"Hey, y'know, more power to you, Honoka! I mean, my parents are mostly cool and all, yet they'd probably freak if they knew I was at this sort of concert," Suzako chimed in.
"Well, ah, this was just as much about helping out a friend as it was the music," you told them. Perhaps not the most integrally artistic thing to say, but honest enough.
"Oh yeah, I totally get that," Reina piped up, "Like, usually this sorta thing wouldn't be for me, but knowing you and Collette were performing, I had to be here!"
"For someone actin' all modest now, you sure put a ton of energy inta your performance," Takako told you, "And hey, ain't that what really matters?"
You had to smile at all compliments, amongst the confusion, coming your way, topped off by Megumi then saying, "Hey, that was Nightshade's farewell performance, wasn't it?
Okay, I get her not feeling up to this anymore, that sorta thing happens. But like, Honoka, where are you gonna go from here?" they asked.
You shrugged and said, "Well, I did tell you a... while back now, that I couldn't really a future in this for me, so I kinda saw this coming, really. Plus, Colette's got her writing and Tomomi her parents' money, so I think we'll all be fine".
"Yeah, still kind of a dick move though," Tomomi grumbled as she walked in, "Oh by the way Honoka, how'd your threesome go?"
You gasped and blushed beet-red, before hissing at Tomomi, "Do you have to bring that up in public?!"
"Eh, whatever, figured stuff like that wouldn't be too surprising in this business," she mumbled, before asking, "Oh, by the way, Colette and, ah, Himawari are asking you if you had any thoughts on the album name?"
You hesitated upon hearing that, before answering:
[x] "Alpha and Omega? Y'know, first and last performance and that?"
[ ] "Something crazy like 'Queen of the Fifteenth Hell'?"
[ ] "Hmm, instead of Live, maybe 'Undead' or 'Undying'?"
[ ] "Just 'Nightshade' will do. Maybe stick 'Live' on"
[ ] "Nightshade and the Lady Devils, like it was a team effort in the end"
[ ] "Eh, can't really think of anything, so I'm fine with your ideas"
[ ] Write-in.
- The Devil has Journeyed to Rank 9! -
Well, after a concert like that:
[ ] Maybe get to studying, as a counter to it?
[x] Head out with Megumi for the night, since they're here and all.
[ ] Hit the Arcade or something fun like that.
[ ] Go for Karaoke. Seems redundant, but your music career might not end here.
[ ] Na-rae will probably be serving Kikuko dinner, assuming Kikuko just doesn't go hunting for it.
[ ] Sneak onto the Gameboard
[ ] Just get to bed, that took a lot out of you.
[ ] Write-in.
<<BGM: Tokimeki Tonight - Opening Theme>>https://youtu.be/dDt0ltwWy_A
The concert over, it was Megumi you then turned to and asked, "Hey um, long time no see, I guess. Ah, how've things been?"
While Megumi was smiling on the outside, it looked like they were stuck pondering exactly how to answer that question, "Hmm, well actually living with Ryouko's kinda cool, and she's a lot more, how do I put it, 'livelier' a roommate. Not saying that to be against you or anything, just an observation, y'know," they got around to answering. "As for studies, well, I think the worst of my essay-writing is over, for now anyway, still waiting on the results though".
"Oh, er, what was your essay about?" you asked out of habit, perhaps dragging up some unpleasant memories for Megumi. Though come to think about it, you'd never asked them much about their studies, presumably because Megumi never really liked mentioning them.
"Eh, economics stuff mainly, course might as well be called 'How Supply and demand justifies Corporate Bullshit," Megumi just said, eyes looking side to side, "Important to note that it was a course I only took 'cause a future accountant job would be 'respectable' enough to get my parents off my back".
"Yeah, it's not exactly ice-skating, is it?" you had to remark.
Megumi cocked an eyebrow and then asked, "Huh, you seemed to have weirdly zoomed in on that one childhood dream thing I said way back, haven't you?"
"Well, it's... er, charming," you tried to say to them, holding your hands up to the sides, "And like, it's an actual plan for the future you might like doing. I mean, who dreams of being an accountant, right?"
"Ooh, I dunno, maybe I could be banker or financial manager if I work hard enough," a rolling-eyed Megumi said with a shit-eating grin, before asking, "Hey, um, an abandoned temple's a weird place to be discussing college and jobs, wanna go somewhere more casual?"
"Oh yeah, like how about the Arcade, that could be fun?" you brought up.
"Eh, not exactly what you'd call appropriate either, but what the Hell," Megumi went along with you. Of course, them not having a car and their bike not exactly built for two meant that it was quite the walk all the way back through the forest into town, so along the way you had time to discuss a couple of other things.
"Hey, y'know it's not like I can just snap back in to doing ice-skating stuff," was the first thing Megumi brought up, "I was never the most athletic kid back in school, hell the exact opposite. And you know how much practice just about any sport can take, let alone skating".
"C'mon, you've still got your entire life ahead of you, you could have plenty of time to practice" you chimed in with.
"Yeah, well, have to spend that life eating and sleeping, y'know, and I can't just do that by practicing," Megumi retorted with, "Though hey, I don't see you bringing up your dream job around me much".
You froze for a second, but then said, "Well, Ryouko might've told you that I told her that I didn't really have any plans for the future. Except maybe Nightshade's band, but well, you can see why that's not gonna be happening. I mean hey, I'm still in second-year, so I figured I could put off deciding all that next year, like most students".
"Like most students? Yeah, touched a nerve there," Megumi then grinned at you, "I told you ice-skating was mostly a childhood dream job, in high school on the other hand I had no idea what I was gonna be, er, job-wise anyway. I told you doing an Economics course, on top of a bunch of other things, was a way to placate my parents, and that's true. But I also thought on a whim that I could use what I learned to make some money, to the point I could just do whatever I wanted... heh, you can guess how well that turned out," they laughed.
When you both reached Kuchinashi's old Arcade, most of whose machines were held over from the 90s or even 80s, one you figured was even late 70s, you briefly saw flickering images appearing on random screens, most of which were tinged with see-through green. Shaking the sensation off, but also making a mental note of the whole thing, you pointed out one of the dance pad machines to Megumi.
"Er, okay then, if you'd like? What, are you planning to stealthily help me practice figure-skating?" they chuckled, "But sure, I get enough comments on my legs regularly, could put them to some actual use".
You'd certainly run around back and forth enough on the Gameboard to ensure that you could still move swiftly enough here, but of course these dance games were just as much about hand-eye coordination and memory as they were speed, so... you didn't exactly make it through without hearing a few harsh buzzes of failure.
Megumi on the other hand shocked you, them being almost a natural at this, which was weird since you never thought of them as especially agile, thought they did bike around a lot. When this round was over, Megumi actually came in slightly ahead of you, despite all your training on the Gameboard.
Afterwards, the both of you treating yourselves to a tub of popcorn, the local cinema located nearby, a now exhausted Megumi had to ask you, "Oh yeah, er, didn't wanna ask this too soon, but how's Kikuko treating you?", trepidation in their voice.
It didn't help that all that dancing had arguably taken more out of you than Megumi, even if the whole thing at least proved they acrobatic talent wasn't so much a pipe dream. Anyway, as for Kikuko, "Oh god. I guess a step up when it comes to facilities, but a step down when it comes to everything else, not just personality but also location. Well, at least it means I get to live with Na-er, Tsubasa by extension, the maid who came to our place one day, she's pretty nice, so that helps" you gave a rough summary.
"Also, Kikuko keeps forcing me to do a bunch of random crap 'proper ladies' apparently do, like horse-riding may be the worst, er no disrespect to the horses," you also had to bring up, clutching your knees.
Megumi had to restrain themselves from laughing at that, but it was help to help given your expression. "Ah, I can see where you're coming from. Honestly, not having to worry about all that gender shit anymore was a load off my mind, internally anyway, much as parts of society look at me funny for it. Though yeah, I lived with you long enough that I can tell that's not your path, but one good thing that'll come with you graduating is that you won't have to put up with all these aristocratic All-Aces anymore," they went over.
"Hmm, even before graduation, they'll all going to college soon won't they, being third years," you observed, which made you wonder, "No idea if the school's gonna usher in a whole new bunch of Aces or what, I mean the ones I know have hardly been the first generation" Also, what they're gonna do if the Gameboard goes from their possession, if they haven't 'won' it by then, a dark thought came to you.
"Hey Megumi," you then asked, "The next time we meet, maybe you could show me around your university? I mean, I'd planned to go to Sapporo and yours is down in Hakodate, but it can't hurt for me to see the other options, can it?"
"Ah ah, oh boy, were I more cynical I'd tell you not to worry. As long as the college in question has a good ranking, then from there it doesn't really matter which on you go to," Megumi spoke bluntly but still kept their spirits up, "Nevertheless, not that having you around the campus wouldn't be cool, I could show you all the- er, interesting places, hehe," they were quick to finish that "Yeah, I can arrange it".
"Hey, good to hear that, especially since, er," you mumbled as you looked down at the time, "I've gotta get going, if I'm not back for dinner a second time in so soon, Kikuko'll freak. But thanks Gumi, and au revoir!"
"Gesundheit," they smirked back and waved.
- Temperance has Journeyed to Rank 5! -
Afternoon:
[x] Tea Ceremony Club (Empress).
[ ] Cricket team (Sun).
[ ] Hang out with Reina (Magician).
[ ] Meet with Himawari (Devil).
[ ] Class rep duties (Priestess).
[ ] Part-time at Tabletop store (Fortune).
[ ] Part-time at Sweets store (Lovers).
[ ] Train at Tsutsuji Dojo (Chariot).
[ ] Gameboard.
- [ ] Write-in Empire.
- [ ] Write-in Party.
[ ] Write-in.
Evening:
[ ] Megumi's College (Temperance).
[ ] Studying.
[ ] Internet.
[ ] Arcade.
[ ] Karaoke.
[ ] Stick around Kikuko's place.
[x] Gameboard (sneak-in).
- [x] Write-in Empire: Melissa's
- [x] Write-in Party: Kikuko
[ ] Write-in.
LII. Possibility of Promotion
Green flashes on screens, hmm, the only thing you could think of was the A.I. of Gakuto's, Koyomi, and... how she'd killed him. Granted, that was technically her Shadow, so maybe she herself would never have done it, but given what Shadows inherently were, she would've deep down have thought about it.
Like, you could barely name a single good thing Gakuto had done, and what little you could think of, like him getting you and Kikuko back into your correct bodies after the teleporter malfunction, he had to be coerced into doing. Still, did that justify at all the fate Koyomi's Shadow had dealt him?
Looking around Kuchinashi's local Arcade, you decided at first to keep a low profile and just hit up a couple of cabinets, waiting for any sign of this static image to show up. Your first choice was a taiko-style rhythm game, which you figured from all that time you'd spent practicing and playing bass you'd be a natural at, but you soon were shocked at how much the rhythm speeded up, forcing you to drum so much that your hands ended up throbbing red messes.
So er, you tried to find something less physically intensive for your second game, and you figured you may have found it. Taking a turn left past a crane machine and an old space shooter, you located a quiz game that, thanks to all those hours you'd spent studying you guessed, you were able to get a pretty high score on, even if one question seriously stumped you:
Input how many islands there are in the Philippines:
[ ] 5,500
[ ] 6,400
[ ] 7,200
[ ] 8,100
[x] Write-in: 7,641
After enough just hanging about though, you finally got a glimpse of what you were looking for, as the cabinet behind you suddenly hissed with static. Turning right around, you approached the enigmatic black cabinet with barely any details about what game was played on it, and had Aimoto Koyomi flash up on screen.
"What the-what are you doing here?!" you tried to keep your voice low.
"I was curious," Koyomi put bluntly at her regular speaking volume, telling you, "I wished to observe the outside world, as my time had mostly been spent limited to my creator's personal computers. But with him having not logged on in almost two months, I came to the conclusion that he would not notice if I expanded my horizons".
"Yeah, it's well, great you get to do, it's just-" you looked all around you, "Can't we talk about this in a more private place?"
"Sensors indicate that there are few people within the current vicinity," Koyomi stated, which did make you notice that the Arcade was indeed clearing out, before she continued, "However, I can certainly go somewhere more secluded with you, if it will assist in easing your concerns."
You then fumbled back and gasped as Koyomi downloaded yourself into your phone, as her ever-electronic voice chimed "We can now speak outside, if that would suit you".
"Uh yeah, it would. Just... it wouldn't hurt if you warned me next time that you were gonna do that," you groaned.
Heading outside to find a nearby grove secluded enough, Koyomi then projected herself out of your phone as a hologram and intoned, "Would this be a suitable enough location to converse?"
"Yeah, it would, but... Ahem, is the robot talk really necessary?" you felt yourself needing to ask, "Like, please don't tell me that was the way Gakuto programmed you to speak".
"I-I'm not sure," Koyomi hesitated, "Without his direct input, I find it difficult to say what part of me is me, and what part was as my creator coded".
"Come on, there has to be some part of you that's, well, you," you tried to get across, Like I highly doubt Gakuto programmed you to kill him.
"The best course of action would be to go ask my creator, if anyone around here knows, it would be him," Koyomi had to say, which sent a shiver down your spine.
"Uh yeah, er, I hate to be the one to tell you this, Koyomi," you gulped, before breathing out and saying, "But unless we can find a spirit medium anywhere around here, ah, that ain't gonna happen".
"You mean to imply he's d-d-d..." Koyomi started crackling and fuzzing out, as only then did you remember that Gakuto, for whatever utopian reason, had not bothered to program in a concept like 'death' to her. You kinda assumed that, given what her Shadow had done, the concept would've seeped into her cortex by now.
"Look, the point, we can't get in contact with him," you told her firmly, And frankly, you wouldn't want to get in contact with him. "I dunno, maybe we can get you to his old Computer Club if you need anything? But the point is..." you paused as you tried to think of how to explain death to someone unfamiliar with the concept, like you were... every parent ever "When humans get put through too much, whether its age, injury or, in your creator's case, high voltage electrocution, they... stop working. They're gone".
Maybe that was too tactless, like you needed to work on your etiquette more, but you had no idea how else to explain it.
Koyomi almost glitched herself to pieces processing what you'd said, but ultimately did regain her composure and told you, "I- I believe I can understand what you mean".
"I'm, er, glad we got that out of the way," you tried in vain to smile, before you said, "Hey, you said Gakuto ordered you to stick to just his computer, right? Well, ah, I'm not like that, if you wanna take a break from rooming in my phone and wander around the town's, er, internet, feel free to". Would probably help me save on data too. "Just, y'know, try to be careful out there, like I've got no idea how folks around here would react to finding out humanoid A.I.s exist".
"The students of Hanataba believed I was a 'ghost', is that right?" Koyomi remembered, "In that case, if anyone asks, I shall simply tell them I am a spectral apparition".
"Uh, yeah, you do that," you had to restrain yourself, "Hmm, I could actually give you a tour around town someday, even show you down to Sapporo and Hakodate, the big cities near here. Right now though, Kikuko probably wants me bac at her manor before curfew or whatever, so I've gotta head there. You know Kikuko, that girl I was with the first time we met?"
"I am highly aware my creator was apprehensive about her, most of his notes on her detailed arranging her into combat with someone else," Koyomi went over.
Well Gakuto, you finally got your wish, just a bit too late, you could only think. "Anyway, I have to get going, so goodnight Koyomi. Er, you see 'sleep' is when-"
"It is powering down but for biologicals, yes I am fully aware," she said, glaring somewhat at you.
"Good, glad you're up to speed," you smiled at her to diffuse things, though did see her perspective, as you didn't like it either when people explained what you already fully knew about.
It turned out your first one-to-one meeting with a killer A.I. had gone surprisingly well, all things considered.
- The Hermit has Journeyed to Rank 2! -
Looking at your phone, you figured you might want to plan your schedule for Friday tomorrow... the first of July, the day Ikue would've otherwise been destined for a mental shutdown. Actually, maybe you could ask Koyomi to program it in for you now, save a little time on typing?
[ ] Occult Club.
[ ] Drama Club.
[ ] Tea Ceremony.
[x] Checking in on Reina.
[ ] Class Rep duties.
[ ] Part-time at the Tabletop Store with Hotaru.
[ ] Part-time at the Sweets Shop with Yuya.
[ ] Velvet Room (free action, Skadi awaits)
[ ] Gameboard:
- [ ] Write-in Empire.
- [ ] Write-in Party.
[ ] Write-in.
And in the evening:
[x] Cleaning with Na-Rae.
[ ] College tour with Megumi.
[ ] Around town with Koyomi.
[ ] Studying.
[ ] Getting to bed.
[ ] Karaoke.
[ ] Bushwalking.
[ ] Gameboard:
- [ ] Write-in Empire.
- [ ] Write-in Party.
[ ] Write-in.
* * *
Arriving at school that morning, still dreading what Kikuko would say when she found Ikue and that 'silver-haired girl' still very much cognizant, you later saw the first All-Ace to approach you, right there at the school gates, was not Kikuko, nor even Melissa.
You narrowed your eyes, "What is it now, Azuma?"
"Is that truly how you react to someone who's arranged a great favour for you?" He laughed you off, before clearing his throat and announcing, "I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that, after this Monday's Duel, we most likely will be down one Ace. In that case, I've arranged something with Kikuko, though naturally I had to prod her constantly to convince her. It is no secret that, under our tutelage and influence, you have blossomed from mere wallflower to a dazzling, if obstinate, rose".
"Get to the point," you told him straight.
"Obviously you being in our vicinity has done wonders for your popularity, but with the additions of you surpassing Melissa in test scores and defeating Kikuko in single combat, though with assistance I may add, your star now burns ever brighter. See for yourself," Azuma said, not getting to the point as you requested, but instead pushing you out in front of a crowd.
Immediately a whole herd of your fellow students surrounded you, saying "Oh God, isn't that Nakamura right in front of us?", "Yeah, the girl who went from zero to thirty", "She gives me hope", "She gives me fantasies".
Azuma then immediately dragged you back, upon which he told you, "So Honoka, should another Ace fall come next week, your time as a Jack shall finally pay off, for we shall have no choice but to promote you to Ace. Of course, whether or not the Gameboard grants you an Empire is beyond our control, but privileges you shall have nevertheless. Your own private lounge, the ability to appoint your own Jacks, and so on".
You paused, having no idea how to process that. On one hand, it meant you wouldn't have to take orders from Kikuko, or Azuma or Melissa, anymore, you'd be equal to them rather than their lackey. Plus, it could come with the opportunity to exact some serious change at this school.
On the other... knowing you'd now hold the same position as Azuma, Kikuko, Melissa, Gakuto, and Eitaro couldn't help but repulse you, especially knowing another would have to die for that to even happen, the exact thing you hoped you and Dead Hand would be able to stop.
"As for your 'Ace of' title, well, we already have our own ideas, but you are entitled to your say," Azuma smiled at you, "Naturally, let us first see how this Monday proceeds".
* * *
Azuma's words that morning only made you rush to the music rooms the minute the bell rang to track down Rise, as despite you having little love for either Kikuko or Melissa, you were determined to stop this needless Duel with all the help you could get.
Before getting to talk with Kujikawa-sensei though, you had the fortune to run into Reina again, who had just come out of the music room after having apparently stayed for an extended time. "Oh, hey there, Honoka," she was quick to beam at you again, "Ooh ooh, Kujikawa-sensei said today that my singing certainly was something!" she jumped up and down a bit.
"Er, yeah, technically I said that," Rise tried to feign a smile.
"Hey, I've got the greatest idea," Reina kept smiling, oblivious to Rise's hesitance, "If Kujikawa-sensei's free after school, maybe us three could all go down for karaoke? I mean, it would've been a dream come true for younger me".
"Well, ah, maybe I can convince her, if she has time? Right now I do need to talk to her a little in private though," you made clear to Reina.
"It's okay, I've got, well, nothing really much going on anymore. Sure, I don't think I've actually done Karaoke in a while, it kinda would've been redundant," Rise came out with, before she ushered you in, "So, Honoka, um, what exactly was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Reina giving you two some privacy, you took a deep breath and said, "I know when the next Duel's gonna be, and who it's gonna be between. You know Maeda Kikuko and Melissa Lilian, right? Yeah, them, on no less than July 4th, Melissa's Empire".
Rise then had to say, "That's this Monday. Wow, er, I don't mean to make light of this, but it's something when you know straight up when a killing's gonna take place. When I first got my Persona, we had to do a whole bunch of detective work to find who was being targeted and where they'd be, while you just get told flat-out. Then again, you've got a much tighter deadline then what I used to have, so I'm definitely not gonna say that you kids have it easy these days".
"That putting it mildly," you yourself put mildly, before you asked, "Hey, Kujikawa-sensei, what was it you did 'back in your day'? Like I know you were a Persona-user and got involved in Persona stuff, but other than it had something to do with crime, that's all I know?"
"Hmm, the same thing really as you're doing now, stopping Collective Unconsciousness-assisted murders before they could happen. Okay, kinda simplifying it, like we had TVs instead of board games, but you get where I'm coming from," Rise summed it up.
"Yeah, but like, who were you surrounded by? Your fellow Persona-users?" you had to ask.
"Ooh boy, it'd take ages for me to sum my old friends up. If I had to keep it short, I'd say they weren't what you call paragons exactly, but still I wouldn't have traded them for anyone," she smiled on remembering.
Lucky you, that thought seared through your brain.
"Funny thing is, you even kinda look like me when I was in high school. Okay, maybe that's kind of a stretch, like my twin-tails were a little more pronounced, yours are more wispy, and your expression's a little more dour, and-" she kept going on.
"Ahem, shouldn't we get heading out with Reina now? Like I've given you the lowdown on the Duel thing, and we've kinda kept her waiting a while," you felt the need to point out.
"Ah yeah, suppose you don't wanna listen to a veteran reminisce," Rise sighed, but then came with you and Reina out of the gates and down to the closest karaoke venue.
All the way through the streets and into the venue, Reina could barely contain her excitement, but once you were in the booth, Rise looked dumbfounded once she saw the song list. Not wishing to rain on Reina's parade, the once Idol leaned over and whispered to you, "This... may be a problem. I barely recognise any of these tracks".
You didn't know what to say, though weren't really surprised, so tried to reassure Rise with, "I think a lot of them are regional, stuff that was all the rage in Sapporo, but never really made it down south".
"Kinda strange titles for Hokkaido hits, but okay," Rise said, your cobbled-together explanation not really soothing her worries.
Rise then tried her best to keep up with some of Reina's favourites, despite them being unfamiliar territory for her, with you mostly speak-singing in the background hoping not to be noticed. Eventually though, Rise had to ask, "Hey, I know this one's like ten years out of date, but... you mind if I put it on?"
Reina seemed all for it, her eyes and grin widening as she said, "Really? Oh yes, oh please oh please oh please!" as if this were exactly what she'd been waiting for.
<<BGM: Persona 4: Dancing All Night - Shadow World (Kozuka Remix)>>https://youtu.be/LKjtXTQFdhs
Both Reina and Rise equally at home, the train of good feelings and bonding got brought to a screeching halt as Reina then looked right at you and asked, "Hey Honoka, I don't think you've chosen a song yet?"
You could've frozen right there, but got some direction when one song in particular caught your eye. Is that... one of Nightshade's? And an original too, not one of our covers either, though still not one of the songs I'm proudest of, you got to thinking, but on instinct went with it anyway.
That... may not have been the smartest idea, as once it'd finished your friend and teacher just looked at you dumbfounded. "Ah, forgot for a sec that you were into that genre of stuff, Honoka," Reina tried to speak up.
"I admit I'm a little biased here, since it's one of my band's, which somehow ended up here," you told them. Then again, what other acts are in this town?
"Ohmigod, I remember your band. That song was one of yours?" Reina's expression went back to high energy.
"Well, backing band technically, and it's more that I was. We lost our original guitarist, then our singer went through a bunch of stuff and decided she needed a change in direction. So yeah, less some miracle happens, our future's kaput really," you broke the news to them.
"Kinda makes me look dumb, getting all worried about being washed-up," Rise then had to say, "I ought to remind myself that I'm one of the lucky ones, that most acts don't even get off the ground, and I may have only done so 'cause I had connections".
Heading back out onto the streets, your luck took a turn for the worse when the three of you rain straight into Melissa.
"Like, seriously Honoka? You're hanging out with my freakin' leftovers?" she snarled at you, "Oh. My God. And with a teacher too, the has-been singer slut at that? Jesus Honoka, I've put in so much effort trying to pass you off as cool, but no, you have to keep jeopardizing yourself, don't you? You are so lucky I'm not exactly on speaking terms with Kikuko right now, else I'd totally rat you out".
"Melissa," Reina then said with an uncharacteristic snarl, "If you have anything to say about me, you say it right to my face, leave Honoka out of this".
"Really? You of all people trying to act tough, Reina? Besides, do you realise how much your flings risked damaging my good name, that you could've ruined my whole reputation by association? How would I have been able to explain your little harlot lifestyle to the school, to my parents, to my future college?!" Melissa shouted down to Reina as she loomed over her.
"Lilian," Rise spoke quite firmly, "Back off, or I'll have you suspended".
"Oh yeah, like some old bag who's barely started teaching has a hope of convincing the board to suspend an heiress like me," Melissa smirked at Rise, "On top of an aging has-been like you probably only teaching here to perv on high-schoolers. But fine, I can tell when I'm not appreciated".
"Yeah, don't you have someone's Mum to fuck?" you hissed at Melissa. As Rise raised an eyebrow at you, you turned to simply tell her, "Er, long story".
Melissa gone now, Rise did have to reflect on herself and say, "Huh, I sounded like a real teacher there. Never thought I'd ever need to channel King Moron one day".
"King Moron?" you had to ask her.
"Morooka Kinshiro. Bully at my old school, except he was a Philosophy teacher rather than an exchange student," Rise told you, "There was also a girl called Hanako, but well, nobody really liked her except one teacher, not like Melissa. Nobody liked Morooka at all, then well, he died..." she was reduced to mumbling.
You then approached Reina again, knelt and said, "Reina, please, don't let her get you down. You standing up to Melissa was probably the most remarkable thing you've ever done, more remarkable than any of her actions".
"Th-Thank you, Honoka," Reina smiled, "Yeah, you're right, there's no real reason why she should get me down. I've got my friends who genuinely care for me now, and um, awkward as it was, I got to meet and sing with my childhood Idol. I'm- I'm not as popular at school as I once was, but otherwise, my life's been better than ever!"
Unable to resist the moment, the two of you leaned forward and hugged each other.
"Ah, kinda feel like I'm coming in late on something, but hey, you're one of my most... eager students. So if you're happy Rei, I'm happy!" Rise beamed.
Reina did feel the need to pick up on something. "Huh, 'Rei', nobody's ever really called me that before," she muttered.
"Er, don't know where I got that, must've been a slip of the tongue, eh heh," Rise blushed a little.
Being a teacher now, Rise only had so much free time, so as she left, Reina thought it'd be a good time to part ways too. As you all said goodbyes for the day, you couldn't help but feel that chance meeting with Melissa earlier had been eerily fortunate. Considering what was coming up on Monday, it may have been for the best that Reina was finally able to get some closure with her, especially as Rise had given her someone she could finally look up to.
- The Magician has Journeyed to Rank 7! -
* * *
Afterwards, you made a quick stop at the Velvet Room, to finally pick up a Persona you'd been reminded to once you'd seen that burden removed from Ikue.
"I am Hermit Skadi, Ice Giantess of the Northernmost Lands," the icy yet strong voice of Ikue's Shadow stated, "The harshest of tundra we shall cross, the harshest of beasts we shall hunt".Skadi
[Hermit iX]
Elements: Absorbs Ice, Null Gun and Curse, weak to Fire
Stats:
- Strength: ||||
- Cognition: ||
- Agility: ||||
- Luck: |
- Endurance: ||||
Skills: Hailstorm, Masukukaja, Tetrakarn, Bufudyne, Heavy Shot
- Hermit Bonus: Ice Amp
[ ] Write-in Persona to store
[x] Store Skadi
[ ] Write-in Personae to fuse
Once that was finished, you started the long trek back to Kikuko's mountainside manor, where walking around the front yard, you heard shouts and cries coming from Kikuko's personal dojo.
Heading in, you saw your Ace quite furiously wailing on your fellow Jack, as Kikuko dressed in armour and flowing trousers hacked forth at Na-Rae, dressed more normally in her gym clothes and desperately parrying but making no real moves forward. You were at least relieved that they were both using wooden swords.
Of course, your sudden entrance ended up throwing both of them out of whack, leaving a frustrated Kikuko to storm out. Na-Rae then came up to you and said, "Ah, Mistress Kikuko was rather on edge, as she was training for something quite important just then".
Hearing that, you took a deep breath before you asked, "Er, did she tell you exactly what she was training for?", fully knowing the answer.
"Oh no, Miss Honoka, much of an Ace's activities are quite confidential, doubly so in Mistress's case," Na-Rae gave the expected reply.
You had to groan, wondering how to break the news of Kikuko's possible death this Monday, let alone the Gameboard's existence beyond an antique, to Na-Rae. Finding no words, you instead brought up the other big piece of news today, one which may hopefully allude to what was really going on.
"To change the subject, some good news came in, well I think it's good anyway," you mumbled, before clearing throat and saying, "Next Tuesday, I may be getting promoted to being my own Ace. That's, ah, certainly something".
Na-Rae had to take a step back, "My, that is something. Naturally though, Miss Honoka, I suspected 'twas only a matter of time. Congratulations!" she smiled, "Ooh, I suppose I may have to call you 'Mistress' too now?"
"Yeah, hmm, about that," you then cautioned, "If I do become Ace, there's a risk Kikuko will go from seeing me as an 'apprentice' or whatever, to an outright threat. Like, you saw how she got along with Himawari and Melissa".
"Aye, she can be like that," a now downcast Na-Rae shuddered, "Er, well, to focus on the bright side for now, have ya picked out an Ace title for yourself? That is, um, assuming they gave ya the option to choose".
"Yeah they did, but... I don't know, I feel like right now I've got so many thoughts about the 'promotion' swimming in my head, before we get to what I want to call myself," you told her.
"...I take it if you do get made an Ace, you won't be living with us anymore?" Na-Rae had to ask.
"Not likely. Guess I'll be able to get my own room in the Lounge," you said, before taking a good look at Na-Rae and saying to her, "You know, with you dressed in your fitness gear and your hair in a ponytail, I don't think anyone would even guess you're a maid if they didn't know otherwise".
"Ah, what you do mean to imply?" Na-Rae asked.
"You know what? Nothing," you lapsed back into mumbling, head in your hands, before you looked up and said, "At least with Kikuko, if we do become enemies, I think I can trust that she wouldn't force me to go through you first. She's not Melissa, it's not her style".
"Miss Honoka, I..." Na-Rae began, then said, "I don't think I could ever bring myself to truly fight you, at least I could never imagine having any desire to".
"It's not whether you have the desire," you intoned, "It's whether you'll be able to say no to Kikuko". To be your own woman.
As uneasy as this conversation was, you did feel like you'd at least breached new ground with Na-Rae, confronted her to an extent about a fear you'd had, and may possibly not need to have.
"Well, should my stay here end, I can say, Na-Rae," you looked right at her, "That you've been the best thing about my time with Kikuko".
Na-Rae's smile grew wider, tears forming in her eyes.
- The Hanged Man has Journeyed to Rank 5! -
Well, that left tomorrow as your last free schoolday, half a schoolday anyway, before the Duel:
[x] Occult Club.
[ ] Cricket.
[ ] Computer Club.
[ ] Catch up with Suzako.
[ ] Class Rep duties.
[ ] Gaming store with Hotaru.
[ ] Sweets store with Yuya.
[ ] Seeing your parents.
[ ] Try tailing Melissa.
[ ] Gameboard.
- [ ] Write-in Empire.
- [ ] Write-in Party.
[ ] Write-in.
And tomorrow evening, with half the day off:
[ ] Show Koyomi the sights.
[ ] Meet back up with Megumi.
[x] Spend more time with Na-Rae.
[ ] Get around to the Tsutsuji Dojo.
[ ] Sleep.
[ ] Study.
[ ] Gameboard.
- [ ] Write-in Empire.
- [ ] Write-in Party.
[ ] Write-in.
LVI. The Judgement Arcana
Your arrangement to meet up Himawari again was made somewhat awkward by a competing schedule, as you caught up with her at Café Okumura with, er, the lead singer of Corpse Corps, that war-themed band that Nightshade had gotten into an argument with back in Hakodate.
"Oh hi there," that girl said to you in a cheerier voice than last time, "I'm Ayanami Yaeko, frontwoman of Corpse Corps, and you're Abyssa, right? Hey look, I really wasn't clear with Nightshade the last time we met. Like, I've got nothing against her, that whole 'band rivalry' was just meant as a publicity stunt but, well, we kinda ended up getting carried away."
"Ah, okay, well stuff like that isn't unheard of," you muttered back.
"Yeah, I'm embarrassed I didn't pick up on that," Himawari grinned awkwardly, "Oh, I should say that it's Himawari and Honoka offstage".
"Yep, got that. Reason I'm here is I heard your debut album, wow, and a live one too. That can't have been easy," Yaeko spoke up, "I mean, sound quality is, er, not promising, but I'll be charitable and assume that was what you were going for. All stuff that could be fixed with your next album anyway, but I guess it's too soon to be talking about that, huh?"
You and Himawari had to look at each other, at first saying nothing, before Himawari broke it to Yaeko, "Er, you see, the thing is... There's not gonna be a next album. Nightshade and the Lady Devils are, well, basically over".
Yaeko had to do a spit-take at that, before going "Wait, why? You were like, on the cusp of breaking through! I mean, breaking through would mean you'd have to deal with a bunch of arsehole fans, like we went with the war theme 'cause I liked machinery, but man does it bring out some weird creeps- ah, guess I'm rambling".
"For me it's, um, hard to explain," Himawari began, staring down "Way back, I like being Nightshade way more than being me because I thought, well, Nightshade could do anything, stand up to anyone. But the more I performed as her, well, the opposite happened. I started doing a whole bunch of stupid, self-harming things because I kept thinking it's exactly what Nightshade would do. I needed her to stand up to people, but... I couldn't stand up to her".
"So, um, you're gonna keep performing, right? But like, just as Himawari?" Yaeko had to ask, with you dreading that this meant the end of Nightshade altogether.
"Yes and no," Himawari surprised you by saying, "Like, if some small town Catholic girl like me can be a dark devil queen or whoever on stage, then I figured, I could be anyone on stage! Like, these are just off the top of my head, but I could be a singing gynoid, a witch's catgirl, the cosmic rockstar Symphonie Metallique, the possibilities are endless! Just as long as I'm the one who has the final say, and remember I don't have to be any one thing.
That's not to say I'll never be Nightshade ever again," Himawari then said, "She's a part of me, I could never get rid of her... just that I feel it's time to give another part of me the stage, they've been waiting a long while".
That made you feel relieved, and Yaeko had to smile too. She said, "Well, that's cool to hear. Ah, I kinda have to go now, booked to perform in Sapporo and stuff, but it was great I got a chance to clear things up with you. Looking forward to what you do next, Himawari!"
As Yaeko smiled and turned to leave, Himawari looked up at you and said, "Oh yeah, that reminds me. We mostly put our album up online, but I did personally print off a few physical copies. Here's yours, Honoka, and um, would you mind giving these three to Colette, Ryouko, and Tomomi?" she handed the copies of Alpha and Omega: Nightshade Live ft. The Lady Devils to you.
You smiled at her, saying, "Himawari... thank you. Ah, speaking of which there's been a lot going on in my world too, recently, stuff I kinda had to talk with you about alone. Melissa, well, she's..."
"Dead?" Himawari quickly filled in, "Sorry, I guess with the Gameboard that's what I've been trained to assume".
"No, you got it right the first time," you confirmed for her, "And well, giving all the absences, Azuma and Kikuko felt they needed to appoint a new Ace, and well, that left me by default. So yeah, I'm Ace of Fools now, er, so I was hoping for some advice".
"This, well, may be a bit irresponsible of me to say, but I guess no longer having to deal with the greater Persona Game was one definite upside to being expelled," Himawari began, before she mumbled, "I felt like I barely knew Melissa really, like she was the last of the Aces to join, before you, then I got expelled, and now she's gone too. I wanna say something like 'If only things had gone better'... but I've got no idea how that could've happened. Oh, what advice then did you need?"
"Basic stuff, like decorum, dealing with constant onlookers, how to pick a Jack, y'know, all that," you went over.
Himawari seemed to struggle coming up with a reply to that, "I don't think the crowds around you, sycophants, stalkers, or people with a grudge, ever got any easier for me, I sort of just tuned them out and let Nightshade deal with them, at least in my head. An well, there were some girls in Choir who could've been my Jacks, as you can tell they cut off contact with me after my expulsion, hehe, but the only Jack I had was you, and you chose me.
Look, maybe I'm the wrong person to ask, but then again, what other option do you have? But you don't need me to tell you that being an Ace never worked out for me" she finished on.
"Yeah, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask," you sighed, before asking something else, "Hey, um, look, it's great that you have a future in mind for you singing, but... ah, what about those yakuza? Like, they kinda seem too big a detail to overlook".
"Oh, don't worry about them," Himawari laughed, "They abandoned me soon after my expulsion. Obviously, not that they're opposed to criminal behaviour, but they're definitely opposed to embarrassments, which is, well, what I was to them. It's my parents that are the issue," she mumbled, "Even if I've gone back to being a 'good girl', well, they still won't accept me. I'm now their ultimate disgrace no matter who I am from here."
Nevertheless, she then smiled, "Still, I know not everyone abandoned me after I was expelled, you, Colette, Tomomi, even Ryouko, I mean, I was the one who abandoned her, er, you could say. My point is, because people stood up for me when I was at my lowest, and still do... I just know I'm gonna be fine in the end!"
<<BGM: Persona 5 - Swear to My Bones (Guitar Cover)>>https://youtu.be/3RobL-ZavJk
You could then see a blue aura glowing around Himawari, as Anastasia and another, glass-like, Persona rose up above her and were fused together in a blinding flash, combining into a glittering female knight with flowing orange hair and a belt of souls, pairs of wings made out of shields wrapping around her, carrying a lance like a giant icicle and a sword like a baton in her hands, sitting side-saddle atop a ghostly wolf.
"I am Devil Brynhildr, the valkyrie that heralds the end," her voice resounded, "The one who was Anastasia and Antoinette. Our voices in harmony shall sing the swan-song of the world."
She wasn't the only voice resounding in your head:
"Thou art I... I art thou
Though thy kingdom fall, thou hast gained a champion who shall not leave thy side
We bestow upon them a piece of thy crown,
And on thou, the road to Ahriman, Ultimate Persona of the Devil Arcana"
- The Devil Journeys Anew at Rank 10! -
You then heard the sound of a gate unlocking far in the distance, and one last ethereal voice saying, "Ace of Fools, I'm waiting. All secrets shall be revealed..."
"I am thou... Thou art I
Thou anointest a new Knight to defend thy Crown
Thou shalt take the mantle of the Judgment Arcana"
"Hey, Honoka, everything okay? You kinda spaced out there for a second," Himawari said, her eyes meeting yours.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," you just said, "Had a whole lot to think about. So, er..." you paused a little, "Before the stress of all this career-resuming stuff starts, mind one last jam session, maybe?"
"You're on!" Himawari and Nightshade beamed.
* * *
"You're taste in music is... intriguing. It does not otherwise match your appearance" Koyomi went on to tell you, you only realising to late that she'd probably stumbled onto your whole music gallery, on top of the jam session.
"Yeah, well, actually I don't think I have any taste in music, really," you had to admit, even after all you'd been through with Nightshade, "People with much more opinions on it, like Himawari, Colette, and now Rise, kinda dictate what I listen to, even if I don't mean to.
Of course, at times I don't think that's such a problem. Like I wonder if feeling really strongly about music in turn means you feel really strongly about all the music you don't like, and that ends up making you both angry and miserable," you mused on.
"I was about to say that's one way in which I am fortunate, but not really," Koyomi remarked, the hologram leaping out of your phone, "I was not programmed to feel sadness, anger, or any other such emotion, there are not written in any of my ones and zeroes, and yet I have often felt them regardless".
"Dunno. Like, I'm not a neuropsychologist, even less a programmer, but it's like, er, if you can think and interpret stuff, then emotions are gonna come your way anyway," you tried to put your thoughts into words.
Kuchinashi being a mountain town meant there was only so much ground you could cover in an evening's walk, but Koyomi already familiar with your school, you thought you could at least fit in a good walk along the main shopping street, most of it old buildings perched along the river.
"So like, Kuchinashi's a mix of old Japanese architecture and western influences, like a lot of Hokkaido towns built around the 19th century," you gave your attempt at being a tour guide.
"The category of 'Western' is quite broad. Perhaps you could narrow it down, say to French, German, Italian, Canadian, or suchlike?" Koyomi had to ask.
You shrugged and went, "No idea, even though I've lived here all my life. Ah, come on, think we went over this in school... uh, English and American, I guess? Okay, we do have a local history museum- oh wait, the place has like, the most irregular times, I'm betting it's shut right now," you groaned.
Tumbling Dice was already shut for the night, but you still could at least show Koyomi where it is. Well, she probably could use GPS or something to just find it herself, but it's the thought that counted.
"Okay, so this is where I sometimes work. Ah, guessing Gakuto told you all about games, right? 'Cept these aren't video games, they're-" you began, but Koyomi cut you off.
"Tabletop RPGs, yes, I have now downloaded all the necessary information," Koyomi spoke, before telling you, "Towards the end of my creator's, ah, lifespan, he personally felt overwhelmed by how far his backlog of computer games had grown. So as to remain current with the gaming community, he would often have me algorithmically complete most of them to the fullest percentage, including disseminating their coding, while he used titles he was more familiar with as a way to destress".
"Oh, right then. Er, I at least take it he paid you, somehow, for doing all his work for him?" you had to ask.
Koyomi remained silent at first, before saying, "He didn't see why I'd need to be paid, computer games are intended as entertainment, so I felt it was a privilege I was even getting to play them".
"Figures," you mumbled, before at least trying to lighten things with, "Ah, so what was your favourite out of all of them?"
"Favourite?" Koyomi paused, "What criteria in this case are we using to determine 'favourite'?"
"...Nevermind," you just let out.
After at least showing her where the town history museum was, closed as expected, you then showed her over to the town sweets shop where you knew Yuya worked... only to remember to late that AI don't eat.
"Consuming this food brings you pleasure, then? A pleasure I suppose I am inherently unable to experience," Koyomi sighed out.
"Yeah, well, holograms get to do cool stuff like phase through walls, so I'd say it evens out," you tried to cheer her up, before pointing to the window, "Confectioners can still put a lot of effort into the design of their candies, so you've still got that. Especially since most of these storefront candies are fake, being ads, so I can't eat them either. Hmm, think most of these fake foods come from the one town near Nagoya, forget the name though".
"Gujo-Hachiman," Koyomi was able to tell you after a quick search.
"Right, yeah, that place," you mumbled along.
Since she already knew the Arcade too, the last place you checked out were the clothes shops you'd frequented with Reina.
"Yeah, take it you can just alter your appearance whenever, but us fleshbags have to buy outfits, wigs, makeup, all that stuff if we wanna change how we look" you told her.
"I would not say places like these are useless to me, they can still serve as inspiration. For example," Koyomi looked at a yukata on a mannequin in the window, and within seconds had materialised it on top of herself.
Wait, you stopped to think, Is, is what she just did theft? I mean, the actual clothes are still there on that mannequin, so I guess not, but she has that outfit without paying for it, and- ugh, I'm probably just thinking too hard about this.
"Okay, this is hard to explain, but like, human legs can only walk so far before getting exhausted, and- well I guess you kinda have the same thing, but like you have to watch out for range instead, right?" you instead brought up a different topic with her.
"It can be an issue, but I can see you'd need to rest, and I ought to review security on my creator's computers. But I do feel positively about us having this experience," Koyomi said to you.
- The Hermit has Journeyed to Rank 3! -
"Er, yeah, me too" you just said back.
Well, tomorrow you felt you should get around to:
[x] Checking up on Kikuko at the Tea Ceremony Club.
[ ] Taking Koyomi in to the Computer Club.
[ ] Practicing Cricket.
[ ] Class Repping for Ryouko.
[ ] Giving the Sweets Shop a proper visit.
[ ] Starting that new RPG at Tumbling Dice.
[ ] Gameboard:
- [ ] Write-in Empire
- [ ] Write-in Party
[ ] Write-in.
And in the evening:
[ ] Checking out Megumi's university.
[ ] Going over your room with Na-Rae.
[ ] Seeing what more you can show Koyomi.
[ ] Studying.
- [ ] Write-in study partner.
[ ] Sleeping, and dreaming.
[x] Gameboard:
- [X] Meet the Morrigan at the heart of Himawari's Empire.
[ ] Write-in.
* * *
Meeting with your now fellow All-Aces that morning, all two of them, there was of course the issue of explaining away Melissa's death, plus her upcoming funeral.
"Already taken care of," Azuma smirked and leaned back, "Having what was essentially a gang war between cliques that day, plus several blades already stored in the Tea Ceremony clubroom, turned out to provide the perfect cover for explaining away the Ace of Coins' death. As for the funeral, it was her request to hold it in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood Hills".
You paused to take that in. "Not, er, Texas State?" you asked, basically the only Texan Cemetery you knew of, and even then only after an Internet search.
"It is not uncommon for the elite to be buried in cemeteries far from their homes, Jim Morrison in France for instance," Azuma commented and shrugged.
"It's a wonder Melissa even took the time to consider her death before our Duel, perhaps she put the slightest thought into it after all," Kikuko had to say, making you flinch at her words.
"Oh come on, you never heard me shit-talking Eitaro after our Duel," you had to protest her, "Show some respect for the dead at least".
"You saw how Melissa fought. She faced death completely without dignity, like a coward," Kikuko sneered, folding her arms, "Why should I respect her?"
"Well er, well y-you're one to talk, your Shadow did most of the work for you," those words came out of mouth in an instant, and you immediately going "Oh God, s-sorry, I shouldn't have said that," afterwards did little to calm Kikuko.
An unstable looked almost ready to draw her sword on you, before Azuma sat her down and said, "Come now, our corporeal Lounge isn't the place for settling disputes".
You had to facepalm. Yet another reason why you should've watched your mouth, that trying to interrogate Kikuko would then provoke her, thus playing directly into Azuma's hands.
"Right, er, does this mean we're gonna have to fly all the way out to America? 'Cause like, isn't it twelve hours flying to LA?" you had to bring up, changing the subject pronto.
"Already arranged. We will be leaving at 9AM Saturday, then returning Monday, giving us an entire day in Los Angeles" Azuma explained, "I imagine it's not every day you get to go on a trip like this, Honoka, and of course it'd be most courteous of you to show up, so I trust you'll consider it?"
Okay, more time off school was at least tempting, especially since you were eagerly awaiting Summer Holidays at the end of next week. But other than your usual issues with flying, there was also that this was all happening over the weekend, the only time your parents were free enough for you to visit them. Yeah, your skeptical self felt that couldn't be a coincidence on Azuma's part, to the point where you started getting paranoid, wondering if he knew of and was trying to control your Social Links.
True, you could always call your friends and family while in the States, even though international phone calls were, well, y'know.
[x] "Okay, I'll go with you"
[ ] "No thanks, I'm staying here"
[ ] Write-in.
* * *
Definitely feeling the need to keep your eye on Kikuko, you followed her down to the Tea Ceremony Club that afternoon to talk to her about, well, things.
For most of the club's allotted time though, it seemed like she was just giving you random tasks to keep you distracted or something. 'Highlights' included sticking you on bonsai-pruning duty, then having you practice precision calligraphy on paper thin enough that it'd rip if you tried to go back and correct anything. At least all that time spent rooming at her place meant that you'd at least had training in these fields, but then came the tea preparation.
This being the first time you'd ever brewed, er, or 'steeped' tea, you kinda stood there with no idea what exactly to do beyond your basic method for making coffee. It didn't help that the normally perfectionist Kikuko had given you next to no instructions whatsoever, almost as if she automatically expected you to know this stuff, being a fellow Ace and one time apprentice, yet would likely yell at you if you so much as messed one thing up.
Like, is she trying to get me back for me questioning her this morning, dueling Melissa first, or can she just not stand another Ace being in her Club? that though went through your head.
Fortunately, while Kikuko wasn't looking, Shion sided over to you and asked, "Heya, just got off sword-polishing. Need any help?"
You instinctively turned your head side-to-side to check Kikuko was still occupied, before saying, "Yes please, I could really use it".
"Okay, so you see, it looks like these are gyokuro leaves, wow did Kikuko go all out. Okay, so with leaves as fine as these, what you wanna do is steep it with the temperature turned down and just for a little while, but here's the thing, you gotta do it in multiple spurts. Got that?" Shion went over.
You were silent for a second, before saying, "Yeah, shorter and cooler, but multiple times. I think I can remember that, thanks," you nodded and smiled.
"Oh, by the way, it's hard not to take two steps around school without hearing you're the new All-Ace. Awesome, so what's that like?" Shion beamed at you.
You had to sigh. "It's really not as glamorous as it looks. Like, I guess 'cause I was only just made All-Ace, the other two still treat me like shit, even though I'm technically their equal," you let out.
Shion at first didn't know how to take that in, but she then whispered to you, "Huh, that does sure sound like Kikuko. Hmm, I guess I can kinda understand now why Ikue ultimately turned them down, the way you put it. Ah whoops, gotta go, but hey, it looks like you've got this!" Shion gave you two thumbs up before ducking out of there, just as Kikuko was about to glance over.
Later once you got the chance to serve the tea, your clubmates seemed to like it fine enough, there wasn't any gagging or 'Excuse me's. True, the tea itself was only one part of the ceremony, but given that everything in it was closely analysed, getting even one part right was something of a relief.
"Hmm, the tea itself isn't bad, Nakamura, quite impressive for your first try," Kikuko complimented you.
Yeah, no thanks to you, you had to think.
"However, your pouring of the tea, and the stance you take while serving it, could clearly use work," Kikuko was quick to mutter, though since you'd barely spilled anything, you had to wonder what she was talking about. She then had to add, "I could let this slide coming from a Jack, but it's uncharacteristically poor form from an Ace".
"Hey, like your form is any better, Maeda," you could hear one of your clubmates murmur.
"Look, I'm no Ace insider," Shion finally had to talk some sense into Kikuko, "But have some respect, won't you? Honoka's your equal now".
Even Na-Rae had to react to this. While not saying anything, she still glanced knowingly at you.
Feeling the gazes of at least half the club turn on her, Kikuko, trying to keep herself composed, then said, "Anyway, it is close enough to the bell. Perhaps it would be prudent to suspend activities here for the day".
You were surprised to see that many people question Kikuko back, Wasn't like a third of the school fighting for her sake on Monday, including most of this Club? Or no, that could explain otherwise, that maybe all that stupid fighting, plus Melissa's death finally got people to start being wary of her?
Either way, you waited till everyone else had filed before you had to speak with Kikuko in private.
"Kikuko, look, you lost control of your own Shadow. Like, I know from Niijima-sensei and Kujikawa-sensei that there is a greater Persona-user community out there, I've even seen books on Cognitive Psience. I'm telling you, you need to seek professional help, for your own sake! You've got more than enough money for it" you looked straight at her as you told her.
"Are you insisting I'm weak?" she hissed at you.
"I'm insisting you're gonna end up a vessel for your own Shadow if you keep going down this route! Like, do you wanna hand Azuma the Gameboard on a platter?" you kept pressing on her, before saying "What you're doing, planning to charge back into battle like nothing's happened, that's not courage, that's basically suicide! Please Kikuko, take it from your former Jack".
Kikuko just stood there seething for a minute, before she had to say, "Fine, I'll meet with those teachers on the way out, see if they have anything to say about the subject".
She was soon able to contact Makoto and Rise and have them meet with you two in the Prized Pupil Lounge. Both of them looked kind of awkward accepting refreshments from Na-Rae and Shinsuke, them being a maid and butler after all, but Makoto kept professional as she asked, "Alright, Maeda, I take it there's a reason you brought us here?"
Kikuko didn't know what to say at first, but eventually mumbled out, "You've been told I lost control of my Persona, right? given you have contacts to the greater Persona community, I was hoping you could put me in touch with a professional Cognitive therapist".
Makoto hesitated a little, but then said, "I do know one name back in Tokyo. I did hear something your group going all the way over to Los Angeles for Lilian's funeral, perhaps you could stop by his practice on the way, assuming you have time?" she then wrote down his number and address for you.
"I know quite a few people who could count as cognitive therapists, well, none of them do it professionally, but still. While we still keep in touch, we're kinda scattered all over Japan right now. What's important is our main piece of advice," Rise said to Kikuko, "That, well, at the heart of things, all you have to do is accept your Shadow for who you are, then it'll accept you too. Do that, and you'll have Persona back like that".
"Hoo boy," you had to let out, "Kikuko accepting her Shadow would mean her admitting she's basically Melissa in denial, a person she hated enough to stab. Yeah, you can see the problem there".
"That's..." Kikuko began, leaving you trembling at what she was about to say, "Not even the full extent of it. I don't know what exactly my Shadow said to you, Honoka, but its source of power is proof it comes from more than just whatever I may feel for Melissa".
Makoto groaned at this backtracking, before saying, "Well, that therapist I know is certainly well-versed in his field, I can ensure he'll at least do soemthing".
Kikuko just nodded at that, before calling her maid with, "Yomogi, we'll take our leave now. Niijima, Kujikawa... I do at least appreciate your support".
The easiest thing for Kikuko would be to just not touch that board anymore, you thought, but naturally it occurred to you, Of course, her pride means that's easier said than done. Plus her Shadow's still going off to run around on there, meaning Azuma or anything else could still target her.
I can't put off meeting with the Morrigan any longer, now that the door in Himawari's Empire is open. It may be the only way to get out of this without further deaths...
- The Empress has Journeyed to Rank 7! -