[Video | Public]

[otakuro]

Hey.  Looks like I've got this working.

[Atsuro's face appears on the network under somewhat inadequate lighting.  An astute guess would place him in his room illuminated only by the backlight of his laptop.] 

Everyone get out of that first mission OK?  I can't speak for anyone else, but geez, I think I slept for a few days straight there.  If they, uh, wanted a report or anything, the research labs are fine.  ...Probably.

[He stifles a yawn before continuing on, the camera zooming out slightly to reveal a lot of bedhead and a conspicuously absent trademark floppy hat.]

Hnn...  Sorry.

So!  Anyway.  I've been thinking a lot.  About what they've told us and about... what they haven't.  Hah, I'm still surprised this place isn't some weird hallucination.  It's a little unreal, right?  Like they're asking us to act out a game or a fantasy novel.  But... even if it seems like it might be fun to stick around, I think we need to find out what it is we're really getting into.  ...There's something I want to say about all this.

You've all run into the monsters by now, right?  They talk, they cast magic, they do tricks.  Not all of them are bad, but they're things we've heard of in myths and stories from different cultures all across the globe - Cerberus, the hound of Hades.  British pixies and kobolds.  Nekomata and other youkai from Japan.  So... what gives?  What're they doing here?

...I'm not gonna get into details, but I should say that these guys - the exact same identical demons - have popped up in at least two other worlds that I know of.  And both times.... they showed up because the world was about to end.

I'm not saying this place is the same way, but... maybe that's why they need our help badly.

[addendum a few minutes later]

Ah, someone reminded me - if you guys want to see a database of all the demons I've ever met, you can drop by my room.  Libra 5-07.

Comments

[greatseal]

[nerd jokes. gotta love them ??]

That's right... Most of the city is still on the mainland, actually, but my school and the mall are on the island itself.

[otakuro]

Any reason someone would go to the trouble of building an island? Japan's not really overpopulated in your world, is it?

[greatseal]

Well... [about that.] actually, ten years ago the Group was using the island to conduct Persona experiments. I'm not sure if that was the reason it was built but it turned out to be the best place they could go and not be questioned by anyone.

[otakuro]

...Gotcha. It makes sense if it was, though. No Personas, so... no Persona experiments. No one needed a separate manmade island.

[Though he wouldn't put it past Naoya to have built one to test his demon summoning in.]

So how many people would you say could summon Persona back in your world? Definitely not everyone, right?

[greatseal]

No, it's nothing like this. Only a few people even knew about it. I didn't think there were any Persona-users outside of my group of friends and Strega before I met Yu-kun here.

[otakuro]

So... Either they deliberately picked people who had the potential for it to come here, or there's something about this place that makes it easier to summon.

Do you mind if I asked how you first summoned it back home?

[greatseal]

From what I've been told so far, my guess would be the former. But it sounds like Philemon-san has always had the power to give people Persona even in my world.

[as for the question...] I don't mind, but it's a little complicated to explain.

[otakuro]

Ah, I don't mind listening if you don't mind explaining. It's not like I've got anything else to do besides figuring this place out.

[greatseal]

Mm, well... I'm sure you've probably been awake for what they're calling the 13th hour by now, right?

[otakuro]

When the demons come out in force, right?

[greatseal]

We had something like that, only there weren't any demons, just Shadows. We called it the Dark Hour.

[and... she's going to refuse to call this anything else. It's not even really the 13th hour, it's the 25th!]

[otakuro]

...Right. He mentioned that name - the guy on stage. He's probably from your world, too.

Are Shadows like demons at all? Or completely different kinds of monsters?

[greatseal]

Mm, he is. [And that's. All she's going to say about Mr. Kirijo.]

Shadows... aren't really sentient. Not usually. What makes them dangerous is that they basically feed on people's minds. Sometimes they call normal people into the Dark Hour. If the person isn't rescued soon, the Shadows get to them, and the person becomes like a vegetable. ...We called those people "The Lost."

[otakuro]

W-Wait, so... anyone who leaves their house after midnight could just get... turned into a zombie? Can they be, uh, found again?

[greatseal]

It's not that simple; the Dark Hour's everywhere, not just outside. I'm not sure what made some people more susceptible to entering it... [although she has a few theories, like worry or doubt-] but Persona-users enter the Dark Hour as well. And when we destroyed Shadows, the Lost started recovering, too.

[otakuro]

...That's a relief.

So a Shadow is... [He grapples with the concept for a moment.] Something mindless that feeds on... thoughts? Or. I guess you could even call it a soul.

1/2

[greatseal]

Something like that... [Although, she still thinks that isn't the full story. Something she'd seen when using the Universe - and what Yu had told her about 'shadow selves'...

...Well, maybe she'd have to talk to Yu again, later. ...Or Minato.

She also decides not to complicate things by talking about Ryoji.]

[greatseal]

But anyway, you wanted to know about how I got a Persona, right? I started entering the Dark Hour when I moved back to Port Island, and some Shadows attacked the dorm... Yukari-chan dropped her Evoker, I picked it up, and well - about a year of Shadow fighting later, here I am!

[otakuro]

A whole year?

[...He had enough trouble staying alive for seven days. Hopefully, it wasn't quite as intense with the Shadows.]

Wow. You ever think you'll be able to stop them for good?

[greatseal]

Well... Shadows have been around a long time, a lot longer than the Dark Hour. But we took care of that just before I came here. People shouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

[otakuro]

[This was all too much unknown territory for him, but he'll try to make as much sense of it as he can.]

They don't have any influence outside the Dark Hour, then? Even if they're still there, they can't do anything?

[greatseal]

I don't really know about that.... you'd probably have more luck asking Yu-kun. He said he was fighting Shadows two years after me, so they couldn't be related to the Dark Hour.

[otakuro]

A-Ah... So they went and hid in televisions after you got rid of the Dark Hour. ...Totally logical.

Well, congratulations anyway! Even if they're still around, you've still done a lot to ensure the safety of your world.

[greatseal]

[She kind of agrees with him on the.... "logical" part.]

Mm, thanks... but if you were dealing with demons, you must have done the same, right?

[otakuro]

Hah... It was a little different for us. More of a sudden catastrophe than... becoming aware of things you'd never known were always there.