[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]

We'll see how it goes, I suppose. [She's been pantomiming the action anyway...]

[otakuro]

Right.

[...]

Ah -- Sorry. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Atsuro Kihara - I'm from Japan, too. Just... a different one.

[greatseal]

It's nice to meet you, Atsuro-kun. I'm Minako Arisato.

Where in Japan do you live?

[otakuro]

Tokyo! Near Shibuya. ...And I guess the year is important, too, here - 2009.

How about you?

[greatseal]

I live in Iwatodai, the mainland part of Tatsumi Port Island. It was March of 2010 for me.

[otakuro]

[beat]

...Er.

We... we're talking about Japan still, right?

[He must have slept too long. Neither of those names mean anything to him.]

[greatseal]

Yes? It's a few hours away from Tokyo... [Come to think of it, Aoba-kun hadn't recognized Iwatodai either...]

[otakuro]

Iwatodai... Do you know the kanji for it? Otherwise... I guess it might just not exist where I'm from.

Was it newly built?

[greatseal]

巖戸台

[she types it out for him]

And not... really? The island itself was built by the Kirijo Group, but I was born in the city.

[otakuro]

Yeah... Sorry. I definitely haven't heard of it.

Parallel worlds are still pretty hard to grasp, huh? It's not just 'Japan, except with Personas'; there could be millions of differences that I'd never think to wonder about. ...Maybe you don't have the color 'chartreuse' or... the Great Barrier Reef is off Madagascar or something.

[Atsuro pauses.]

Hah, the earth might even be spherical where you come from!

[Hilarious.]

[greatseal]

[.....umm.....]

I hope you're talking about how the Earth isn't really a perfect sphere, not that your Earth is flat .....

[otakuro]

Ahaha, sorry. Bad joke.

...What was that you were saying about your island? It's man-made?

[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."