==~==

Mako raised an eyebrow at Sato's assessment of Spiky Hair, who was now to be known as Rokurou. He looked over at the taller boy, considered Sato's defense, and conceded that this was the first time he'd met them. Sato probably would know better than him, if they'd known each other for a while. Still, this wasn't something he could just ignore- if they had known each other for long enough, then Rokurou was being very uncharitable toward Sato for pretty flimsy reasons. Regardless, Mako decided to let it slide, just so long as Rokurou didn't make a habit of this kind of treatment. If he did, well, they'd cross that bridge when they came to it. He turned back to Sato.

"No, it's all right. I probably do need to take it easier on him. It's the first time I've met him, after all." His expression was still slightly darkened from earlier. "As long as he's not generally in the habit of treating you so poorly, I'll let it slide. I don't like people being rude to my friends."

He started almost imperceptibly at that- could he really consider he and Sato friends, when they'd only spent time together about half a dozen times? A few of those while not under the best of circumstances, at that. Sato didn't seem to mind him saying, so he shrugged inwardly. If Sato was fine with being his friend, then Mako didn't feel the need to correct himself. The two of them walked out of the archery range, and Sato paused for a moment, considering something. He turned to Mako.

"There's a good noodle place just by the shopping district. It's pretty quiet there, so it'd be pretty good for talking. What do you think?"

Mako nodded- that sounded like just the place to do this sort of thing.

"Sounds great! I could use some noodles, anyway. You can probably remember how bad that hospital food was..."

It was as they walked out of school grounds and to that obscure noodle shop that Sato reflected upon the quality of the hospital's food, Rokurou's asshole-ish tendencies, and, most of all, the words Mako had used to describe their relationship. On one hand, Sato wouldn't refer to what they were as 'friends' just yet considering how short a time they had known each other. For some reason, though, he didn't quite feel like he wanted to be 'friends.' Not that he didn't want to know Mako, but...

Anyways, soon enough the two highschoolers were seated at a table in a corner, the quiet shop empty besides the owners and a few other students that decided to do the same as Sato and Mako had. It was quaint enough, and luckily the other customers had the courtesy to space eachother out pretty well. After ordering-- Sato just getting soba-- it struck Sato how they were essentially repeating their last outing together. Discussing the cult activity over some food. It was, of course, different this time, now that they both had personas. The issue, of course, was getting Mako on the same page.

Sato tried his best to recap what they had tried to tell Mako back in the hospital, but it was a bit of a struggle. The fact of the matter was that it was hard to really understand unless you just went into the mirror world yourself, so Sato decided it best to focus more so on the real world part of the cult. While he knew they both had a pretty good knowledge of what was going on (the cult, obviously based in Warakuma, was kidnapping people and doing other such illegal activities, while recently they had been getting more aggressive with their actions), Sato realized that there were some finer bits of the story only the investigation team knew of.

"So," Sato started, the sounds of sizzling meals and dinner conversation in the background, "I'm not sure how much of this is common knowledge, but I'll fill you in on what we've learned about the cult, otherwise known as Junsei Sekai Tensei-- Perfect World Resurrection. I'll assume you know most of the 'normal' stuff for brevity, and just talk about the more obscure things.

"When we were rescuing one of the other members, we happened to corner a few of the cultists at the end of a dungeon. According to what one of them said, we think that the cultists believe the mirror world to be a 'new world' of some sort. While we confronted them, one of the men panicked and a shadow came out of him. It was suppressed rather easily thankfully, and it also didn't seem intentional. What that means, I don't know, but if the mirror world is their goal for the real world, then that's... concerning. Additionally, they made mention of some woman named 'Lady Asai'. We don't know much about her, but on the way they talked about her, it seems like she might be their leader. Any information regarding either their intentions or who the leader is would be essential to the case, but we haven't found much on either yet, outside of what I just told you.

"On a side note, after we saved you and others, an actual detective approached the team in warehouse, meaning he followed us there. Luckily he didn't do anything about us, and instead offered that we could call the police station if we ever needed to. I'm not sure about him, but I just told you that so you wouldn't be surprised if it ever came up." Sato let out a deep sigh. As far as he could remember, that summed up pretty much all of what they'd learned about the cult so far. It wasn't very conclusive, but they were good leads at least. "Now you're pretty much caught up. I still have a few questions, though. One: while a 'persona' is obviously some kind of representation of one's psyche, what is a shadow? I'd guess they were similar to personas, but what would they be then? The 'shadow' of who were are? Second, what are they really trying to accomplish? If the mirror world is the kind of paradise heaven thing they're trying to achieve, why don't they go in there themselves? Are they just being manipulated by this 'Lady Asai'? But that begs the question of what her intentions are..."

"But," Sato gave a slight smile as he leaned back into his chair. "I've been talking too much. Your turn."

==~==

Mako sat forward, processing what Sato had told him as he ate his meal- spicy Chinese-style noodles- thinking about the role he was now expected to fulfill. It was a lot to take in, sure; this cult, Junsei Sekai Tensei, was already incredibly dangerous, but it was worse if they were being manipulated by whoever this Lady Asai was. If they didn't realize what exactly the group's true goals were, then they wouldn't be able to get relevant information out of any of them, should they get the opportunity to interrogate. It did give them an opportunity to weaken the cult's strength by proving that the information they were being provided with was faulty, but how to prove that without pushing them into the Mirror World themselves? That ran the risk of one of them turning into a Shadow, and depending on whether or not the process was lethal, he didn't want a death on his conscience. At least, not unless he came across someone who really deserved it.

In short, while they knew more than before, they really didn't have any way of implementing the knowledge they'd gained. Mako tapped his finger on the table as he fiddled with his meal with the other hand.

"Well... thanks for the heads up, though it doesn't seem like we're any closer to finding out why they're doing this, does it? Hm." He took a bite of his noodles as he thought, finished chewing, then spoke again.

"Well, on the topic of the Shadows, assuming your experience was close to mine, both the Shadow and the Persona seem to be a part of us. After I accepted mine, it looked like it... turned into my Persona. Like, by accepting my faults, I earned the right to change things, fix things. I'd have to read up more on psychology, but I've heard the terms "Persona" and "Shadow" before. Maybe I could do some research, let you know what I find out. If I really am supposed to get involved in this, I may as well make myself useful while I'm here."

He ate some more of his meal before going on. "At least that detective won't interfere with us. I mean, as long as we're not doing anything stupid or dangerous besides the obvious, I'd assume. Like, we can't just beat up one of the cult members in the streets, but we can go to this... Mirror World and do what we do. Speaking of, our Personas. We can only use them in the Mirror World, right? I tried calling mine out this morning, but it didn't work. So I'm gonna go out on a limb and say we're only superheroes on the other side. Speaking of, I noticed the people coming to save me had some weapons- I should probably arm up, shouldn't I...?"

He paused for a second, then looked at Sato, then sheepishly back down to his plate. "Er... sorry. I have a tendency to ramble when I'm thinking about stuff. I just thought it would be a good idea to get as much of this figured out as possible, before another victim gets taken... and I'm rambling again, sorry," he said, stuffing his mouth with another bite of noodles to shut himself up.

Their food arrived pretty quickly, though Sato didn't really take note until he had finished talking. Sliding his bowl a little closer, Sato took a mouthful of the noodles as Mako started talking. The first thing Sato thought of was that he'd much rather have Mako's noodles something as spicy as what Mako ordered. The fish dish he'd gotten was tragically bland, which was disappointing as the last thing he had at this place was pretty good. More importantly however, Mako confirmed that all that information, while clearly essential to the case, didn't really go anywhere yet.

Something Sato didn't really think about was psychology, but as Mako brought up, it was possibly relevant. It might've been confirmation bias, but the term 'persona' did seem vaguely familiar. They might've read something about it some time in school, but as far as Sato could remember, it was just something he didn't know.

"Now that you mention it, the dungeons and the shadows were eerily close. There's no way someone else would be able to find out about things like that, so it has to do with the victims themselves." Sato reiterated, propping up his chin with one hand as he continued eating the soba. It was almost... a good thing that they hadn't seen each other's shadows. It was a bit less awkward that way, but in a way, that left a bit of an awkward hole in the conversations. "I'll leave the research to you, as you seem to be a bit more knowledgeable on the subject. As the past proves, I'm not too great at this occult research stuff."

The third-year gave a small nod, a bit distracted by trying to get through his meal. It was a bit greasy too. Did they have a different cook this time? "Seeing as personas are indeed only usable in the mirror world, I'm going to say nobody's going to be creating tornadoes around down-town any time soon. But yeah, it's best to have some kind of weapon of your own, for both this side and that one. A persona can't protect you from everything." With all that said, Sato couldn't think of much more else they really needed to cover. There was still the matter of things like the weird velvet room, the key, the arcana, etcetera, but that was still beyond the comprehension of anyone on the team. Everything he could explain about the situation had been said.

Sato set down his pair of chopsticks, though he didn't look up from his food. "It was hardly rambling, at least in my opinion. Considering the danger of the mirror world, it's best you have as little confusion as possible. Though, nothing's gonna stop it from feeling like some weird nightmare at first. Or maybe that was just me... Either way. It'll feel bad at first, but we can't afford to slip up on a rescue, as it's only going to get harder from here on out. With the cult's activity on the rise, the team's only going to get more and more busy." The teen's eyes didn't falter from staring at the deep-fried shrimp littering the bowl of noodles. "Oh, and speaking of that, you'll get a call or text whenever the team needs to go into mirror world. You don't have to be there if you're doing something important, but every person we're down makes it a little more dangerous. Plus, not everyone is as dedicated as you or I might be anymore..."

"Funny how I started rambling as soon as I said you weren't." He gave a light laugh, amused by what he said. Even if the food wasn't particularly great, the outing was nice. Talking it all over with someone felt comforting, even if nothing was actually solved. It just made him feel a bit better knowing they were now equally confused. "Anyways, I never asked; how's your food? Mine's... not as great as I wanted."

==~==

Mako nodded at Sato's assessment- he hadn't used his powers quite yet, so he didn't know his limits, but it would be folly to presume he could simply use his soul as a weapon with impunity. He'd need to depend on his own physical prowess, for the most part, and using just his fists to attack seemed... unappealing. He'd have to consider something else, something more useful. Hmm. He looked back up at Sato.

"Well, if you have any suggestions for a weapon, let me know. I'm usually more used to using my fists, but I don't think that would work very well, if... my Shadow is any indication," He shrugged. "I suppose that's one of the perks of you being an archer, huh? Makes picking a weapon a lot easier... aaaaaand, now I know I'm rambling." He smiled up at Sato, which shrank a little as he got into his spiel about the dangers of the Mirror World, but didn't completely go away. He lowered his eyes to his partially-eaten dish, still only half-smiling.

"I don't see what could be worse than what I've seen. My Shadow- which, might I add, was the manifestation of all the anger and resentment I've kept bottled up inside since I was nine- tried to incinerate me, along with everyone who was trying to save me, and everyone I ever loved or cared about. Called them garbage, trash, etc. It sucked. Honestly, compared to that, some good old-fashioned monster hunting will be..." Here his grin turned savage.

"...Cathartic." He paused for a second, then looked back up at Sato, his expression turning sheepish.

"Er... sorry for going all, 'rawr, kill all the things,' on you, but... trust me. I'll be fine. Whatever comes, I'll deal with it." His eyebrow raised when Sato asked about his food, and he looked down again, looking between his dish and Sato's. Now that he was looking at it, Sato's did look rather less appetizing than his own. He thought for a moment, then pushed his plate over toward Sato. He smiled.

"It's pretty good. Maybe you should try some? Here, I'll take a taste of yours, just to be fair to both of us." He reached over and snatched up one of the deep-fried shrimp with his chopsticks before popping it in his mouth and chewing. He paused, then pushed his plate closer to Sato.

"...Take mine, your noodles suck."

The two of them finished their meals- here meaning, Sato finished the rest of Mako's meal and they left his crappy dish cooling on the table- and walked outside, promising to talk more later. Mako and Sato stood awkwardly for a couple seconds as Mako considered how to end their meeting- he considered a handshake, but that didn't seem right for some reason. He stood there for a few more seconds, and just as Sato started to look concerned, he acted.

Moving forward, he quickly wrapped his arms around Sato's shoulders in a quick, but firm hug. He released Sato, quietly said goodbye, and walked off, blushing fiercely. He hoped he'd be able to go hunt some Shadows with the rest of the crew soon- he had some awkwardness that needed alleviating, and soon.

The mall area on Saturdays were always a bit more populated, the half-day at school helped with it as many students would take this extra time to hang out, go take care of club things, or do the week's shopping. Rui in this case was simply going around to places he hadn't gone to for awhile, like the maid cafe, or following up on Shizuka about the costumes... Well, knowing her, she might already be thinking of costumes for everyone in the team.

For now, he was at the arcade to play a few matches before heading off to the maid cafe. Maybe they should use that place as a "meeting place"... They didn't really have anywhere like that, it was always for awhile just wherever was convenient, not to mention Kami was always on the move so they didn't have that freedom, but having a dedicated place to gather would be useful with a group this size. Maybe he should talk to Shizuka about it...

Jun could feel the glare off the stall owner on her as she took aim through the sights of the BB gun and scored another hit. She was quickly emptying out his top prizes simply by being there for the past half an hour, scoring stuffed toys and cute figurines for a few of the lovely girls walking around. There was a small group of them surrounding her now, marveling at her skill and blushing when she offered them the right to choose a prize with the points she had scored. They hadn't been around when she threatened the guy to bring her bodyguards in to inspect his stall when it became apparent some of the targets were weighted down though.

She was used to the stares, even with the increased number of bodyguards. The kidnappings had her father worried, not to mention that in spite of his protests against her going out on the weekends to club and flirt with young women, she managed good grades anyway so he couldn't come up with anything better to occupy her time. A few weeks ago when he insisted she practise her kendo more diligently, one of his own lieutenants ended up in the hospital with a broken collarbone. So, he decided he would be just as much of an annoyance by putting so many guards on her that anyone would be uncomfortable approaching her while she was outside.

If only there was a way for them to do that here, in the amusement park. It was so crowded nobody could really tell she had the equivalent of a small army detachment watching her. As she handed off the prize to the last girl in the group, however, something felt amiss to her.

There's another group watching me... The kidnappers? No, this hostility is way too intense. Jun scanned the crowd by shifting just her eyes, hoping to spot anyone eyeballing her. She saw no one. Well, if they are looking for an opening to strike, let's give them one.

Slowly, Jun headed towards the less crowded areas of the amusement park - the horror attractions. She had no weapons to defend herself with, but she could always disarm someone and use theirs. The problem was that there were too many bystanders who would get hurt. She could do little more than be bait, and just wait for them to initiate the attack.

"Send a message to your father, little bitch!" A cry came out from behind her. Wakizashi. That crest. Seems familiar... Yakuza. Are they breaking the alliance? She mused, as she ducked in one fluid movement, spinning around as she dropped to floor in a low kick and observed both the traditional weaponry and the emblem proudly worn on the man's clothes. He was knocked off balance with the blow but then two more attackers jumped in. One straight for her and another... for the enemy?

Well, shit. Looks like there are two packs of wolves hunting me. A fight was out of the question now, as Jun's bodyguards closed in to try and protect her. She got back on her feet and ran, straight for the house of mirrors.

==~==

Mako tried to force himself to ignore the faint blush that had risen on his cheeks, and tried to resist the urge to fruitlessly try and straighten his unruly hair out more than it already was. He failed on both counts. He glanced again at his phone, and realized it was stupid- he'd get here when he got here, and no amount of fussing over it would change that.

...Goddammit, he thought, irritated at himself, checking his phone's screen. The same two-step conversation was there, just as it had been since he'd gotten out of school.

Hey, Sato. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at the arcade after school with me? Sato had promptly sent his response in the affirmative, and so here he was, waiting nervously, constantly pondering whether or not to wordlessly say, "Screw this," and take off running. And then mentally slapping himself for such a stupid idea. Unbidden, a thought came to his head, something his Shadow, of all things, had said to him.

You ran away and you threw yourself into whatever fake life you could come up with in an attempt to get away from me!

Mako winced internally. It was true, he had a tendency to overcompensate. He was definitely a lot more sedate now that that whole tragedy was over and done with, where his insecurities were concerned. But just because he knew his insecurities were there, didn't mean they were automatically fixed. Mako sighed, and focused on the here and now, rather than his jumbled-up past. Particularly, where his feelings lay in relation to his senpai.

There was something about Sato that made him feel at ease- what started out as a bizarre fascination for no reason was turning into... something else entirely, even if he wasn't exactly sure what. He certainly wouldn't mind finding out. And that, ultimately, was the crux of what he was doing here at the arcade, waiting for someone to show up for something that might ostensibly be called a date, if one squinted at it hard enough.

Sato Hashimoto and whatever strange feelings he was developing for the upperclassman was one of the only interests he'd developed that he could honestly call... well, honest, in a long time, even if he'd started out trying to force them down and ignore them. And in the interest of never falling victim to his folly of falsehood, such as before, he had to be willing to ignore his own embarrassment and awkwardness and see where these new emotions led.

Hopefully, Sato enjoyed his company enough that he would be willing to let him do so. Lord only knew how frustrating it would be to have these feelings and not be able to act. He turned again toward the street as he waited just inside the arcade's entrance, hoping to catch a glimpse of his senpai.

...Perhaps I ought to stop being so goddamn early for everything.

JULY 4TH 2015, SATURDAY
Afterschool
Admittedly, he probably should've looked it up beforehand. Sato had forgotten where the arcade actually was besides the general location, so it took a bit of wandering around to find it. Not that he particularly minded walking around longer than needed, as the weather was pretty nice out, but the fact that he was holding up Mako made it a problem. He didn't want to come off as a truant person, seeing as this was the first time they were meeting up without being face-to-face already.

Or, perhaps, Sato did know where the arcade was deep down, and was merely ignorant to his own hesitation. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Mako-- quite the opposite in fact, but that was the very thing that made him nervous. He didn't want to mess up what they had going, and so Sato's first instinct was to leave everything alone as if he could just stand back and enjoy what little there was to the relationship. But, of course, the nature of relationships is one of constant deterioration. If it's not being actively taken care of, a relationship will just fall apart on its own. Kind of like a road that goes through the seasons, fractured by the cold and torn apart by the heat.

Sato frowned. He was most definitely overthinking it, but that's nothing new. Inbetween school and worrying about the investigation, all Sato did was overthink it. Maybe it would be obvious to someone else, but Sato found it difficult to understand why he was so happy to see the text Mako had sent him. He wasn't usually so eager to respond when his other friends texted him. Was it that his other friends weren't actually his friends...? No, that probably wasn't it. Despite what his shadow had said, Sato made it a point to just be, well, friends with his friends. Friendship. The word friend started sounding weird in his head and that only made him more frustrated with himself. He just couldn't seem to keep his head on straight long enough to figure out the answer to his feelings towards Mako. Another thing he couldn't answer was why his lungs stopped when he saw Mako standing at the entrance to the arcade.

Sato walked up to the underclassman, having to remind himself to try to breath again. Hopefully the school dynamic didn't carry over into their relationship. "Hi, Mako." Sato lead with, giving a weak wave as he approached, but that was all he prepared to say. He couldn't help but wonder how his face looked. Probably nervous and confused, just like how he felt. "It's, um. Good to see you again."

Sato tried to convince himself that nobody wouldn't suspect a thing with that stellar performance. At least Mako didn't seem to be particularly confident himself, which was oddly comforting. Not comforting enough to carry the conversation though, so Sato paused to think of something else to add so he didn't start off with just a super generic greeting. He reflected back on what had been on his mind while walking to the arcade.

"You're hot out." He blurted out, before he could even consider his words. Shit, was all Sato could think. "W-wait, I mean the weather, the weather's hot! Not that you aren't hot, I mean--"

"I'm going inside!" Sato pushed past Mako and hurried through the door of the arcade, the dimness of it a pleasant change from the sun, except he still felt like he was burning up. Covering his face with his hand, Sato could feel his blush. Was this how he died? From embarrassment? In an attempt to try to move on from that fuck-up, Sato surveyed all the machines lining the arcade building. He'd been here before, but it still escaped him what most of these were. Probably wasn't the best idea to rush in without Mako, seeing as he had to wait for him anyway.

"Shirohane-senpai, could you kindly inform Harvester-senpai that... I'll be unable to attend club meetings for an indefinite amount of time...?"

Shizuka Otonashi || Warakuma High: Classroom 1-1 || July 4 SAT: After School

Just as the previous kidnapees in their class had been treated, once Shizuka had returned to attending classes since Wednesday, she was bombarded with curious or concerned questions here and there. Once it got out of control from time to time, her friends Nozomi and Rinko were there to break up the crowd, giving the maiden back her own personal space. After the whole ordeal in her dungeon, the secretive girl slowly opened up, which obviously meant telling her two best friends about her 'frowned-upon-by-general-society' hobbies. To her surprise, or not so surprise, the two actually accepted the fact but with shocked expression on their faces. It was indeed unexpected for a girl like Shizuka to be into those sort of things but it didn't mean they would think different of her. Shizuka was still Shizuka, as Rinko would say.

As the week slowly ended, the questions thrown towards her slowly died down. With her not attending the agriculture club meetings, Shizuka busied herself with other activities she had not been doing recently such as swimming, tennis, and practicing on the violin. As previously mentioned, the young mistress may have indulged into different sorts of activities in different fields, but she was pretty average in terms of expertise for most, if not all of them. With how busy she was with these activities, she informed Kenji, the manager of the cosplay cafe who thankfully just came out of the kidnapping incident with injuries, that she hoped to lessen her shifts to just weekends. He understood, after giving another comment about enjoying her spring of youth to the fullest, as he usually did.

Seeing as she had no plans for the day, Shizuka was just about to head home when she realized that she had yet to drop a visit at the manga room and hopefully, if they were still accepting club members, would let her join in. It was probably not a club meeting day but if she were lucky, she might catch one of the members in the club room if they were as devoted to the club as... An image of Matt flashed across her mind as she immediately shook her head to get rid of the image. This was not the time to feel depressed, get a smile ready and make a good first impression on whoever was around, .... if there were any around.

Before sliding the door to the manga club room open, Shizuka politely intruded, "E-Excuse me, is anyone here...?"

Ryan had decided to head to the Anime and Manga club for some study time and then maybe he would do a bit of reading on his phone when he took a break. He had been studying all week and he had felt pretty good about his academics at this point, good enough to start slacking off slightly on these last few days. You're not supposed to study the last day before a test anyways, it says so in some online study he read. Yeah, that's how he would justify it.

Ryan smiled lightly as he put his notes down and began to put his stuff away. Suddenly a voice penetrated the door, causing Ryan to jump slightly as he wasn't expecting anyone to come on a Saturday. He only came because he had nothing better to do.

"E-Excuse me, is anyone here...?"

Oh man, what was he supposed to do in this situation? He was supposed to let them in right, invite them to the club and have them sign a form or something right? Oh man, where were the forms?

"C-come in!" Ryan called out as the door slid open to reveal Shizuka Otonashi, one of his classmates and a member of the Investigation Team. "Oh, h-hello Shizuka-san. What can I do for you?" He started to calm down somewhat upon realising it wasn't a total stranger who had entered the clubroom.

Akane Hanazawa // Warakuma High // 2-2 Classroom ----> Manga Club
Saturday, July 4th, 2015
After School

With the sound of the bell, the school day is over with and Akane can finally escape the classroom. Packing up her things in a quickened pace, she bolted from the room. On her way to the manga club room, she stopped at one of the vending machines and as she was putting in her change and getting her drink started to think about the upcoming comiket. Due to the whole dungeon exploring they've been doing lately, the event totally slipped her mind. With each case, Akane made a number corresponding chapters so she has a good deal of content but considering this will be her first event solo (she worked with her upperclassmen last year) it would be best to compact it and put out a one-shot first.

For the one-shot, she'll be going in with the idea of producing 50-70 or so pages for this one. Quite lengthy for a typical one-shot, especially since she's not an established artist, but considering all the content she's dealing with, it'll take AT LEAST that much to make sense of it and she's not one to cut corners. Granted, given the amount of characters and shadows, it might quite the challenge to get all of them across in that amount of pages (at least as much she'd like) but if it wasn't challenging, it wouldn't be fun. Then again, she can just focus one 1-2, maybe even 3, shadows and if it gets a good reaction, continue as a series of one-shots. Who knows, if the one shot gets a great reaction, she can try prettying it up and turning it in to an editor.

Finishing her drink, she continues on her way. As she makes her way towards the clubroom, the girl they saved last week popped into her head. Even if she didn't really expect anything with that open invite, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd actually drop by. Unless she read her wrong and wasn't interested, it has been a few days since she returned to school after all. Though, if she wasn't, it'd be a rare case for Akane since her intuition is usually spot on. Arriving at the club building, she made her ways towards the room before stopping upon the sight of a seemingly unfamiliar girl standing in front of the clubroom. Taking a better look at the girl, it came to her and she smiled. So she came after all.

Taking advantage of the fact Shizuka hadn't taken notice of her yet, Akane snuck up from behind her and, moments after opening the door, placed her hands on Shizuka's shoulders, leaned it and whispered into her ear. "H-e-l-l-o...", intentionally dragging out the letters for effect.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma High School: Classroom 2-2 | Saturday, July 4 2015 - After School

Given that it was a Satuday, when the bell rang to signal the end of the day's lessons it was still early - though the usually joyful atmosphere at that prospect was a little dampened with the ever-looming finals creeping closer with every day; a fact that the teachers were only too glad to remind every single student of - in particular the unlucky few who happened to catch their attention through inattentiveness of their own. Kotori, luckily, was not among them - though she still couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, no matter how often she checked her notes at the end of the classes, paid attention during them or studied at home. Although a small measure of that unease probably stemmed from not entirely academic sources.

An inaudible sigh escaped Kotori's lips whilst most of her classmates had already vacated the room - things had taken a turn for the awkward at the agriculture club after Shizuka had approached her briefly on her first day back at school after being discharged from the hospital to ask her to let Matthew know she wouldn't be showing up at the club meetings. The very fact that Shizuka was using her as an envoy rather than tell Matthew herself directly had left Kotori to wonder a little - though she didn't say anything at the time, seeing as Shizuka didn't seem all to comfortable with talking about it. This suspicion only grew when Matthew himself seemed a little out of it on the subsequent meetings sans Shizuka - and who seemed to take the news with little more than a nod of acknowledgement, leaving the rest of the meeting a rather awkward matter that Kotori tried to pass over by using the time to study.

It seemed that ever since Shizuka was kidnapped, something seemed to have happened between the two - but without anything to go on or wanting to intrude on private matters between them, Kotori was left with little more to do than worry from afar. Shaking her head in a vain attempt to clear it of the thoughts, she instead focused on more upbeat matters - such as the fact that it seemed that no one had been kidnapped this week, seeing as there had been no messages from Rui or Kaminari on the matter; leaving her carefully hopeful that just maybe the cult was stepping down with the kidnappings - and not going even further after the triple case of the previous week - even if she didn't quite find it entirely convincing herself.

So lost in thoughts, Kotori only now noticed that in the meamtime the classroom had emptied out completely; leaving her to quickly pack her things and head out as well.

Kotori Shirohane - Warakuma: Ferrero Mall | Saturday, July 4 2015 - After School

Kotori occasionally glanced up over her glasses to make sure she didn't accidentally walk into anyone as she peered down at the small shopping list in her hand. Her mother had asked her to pick up some things up from the supermarket in the mall on the way home - and with little else to do, Kotori was only too happy to oblige. Still, navigating the mall wasn't quite so easy, seeing as it was quite a popular meeting space on any given day but particularly a Saturday afternoon - though at least most of the visitors seemed to be drawn by the more fashionable locales such as the various clothing shops or cafés.

Unsurprisingly, she saw several fellow students, though most only recognised as such due to their uniform or a vague passing familiarity - though on one brief glance about she noticed a familiar face not far ahead in the form of Rui, who seemed to be headed for a café and didn't appear to have noticed her. For a moment, Kotori was conflicted over greeting him or leaving him to his business when she had none herself - at least until the awkward atmosphere surrounding the agriculture club and her fellow members came to mind. Though he was not an actual part of the club, Rui did seem to have a knack for knowing what was going on with people, even if in occasionally slightly eccentric ways - and as such, perhaps he might know more.

Hoping that such a thing wouldn't be considered delving into others' private matters, Kotori drew close enough that her greeting, quiet though her voice may be, might be heard over the amibent noise of dozens of other mall-goers: "Ah, good afternoon, Shinichi-san." Kotori gave a brief bow - before realising that her plan did have one small catch in that she didn't really know how to broker the subject, seeing as just flat out asking about whether he might know anything about Matthew and Shizuka seemed rather abrupt, leaving her to glance about as if that somehow might produce a helpful answer of sorts.

"Uhm... I-I hope I'm not being a bother, but I was, uhm, wondering if you might be able to help me with something...?" she finally asked, though doing so was quite evidently not her forté.

==~==

Mako had to remind himself to continue to breathe- and his heart to continue to beat, for that matter- as he watched Sato approach the arcade. Thankfully, the upperclassman seemed just as nervous about this get-together as he did. Hopefully it was for much the same reasons as Mako himself was nervous. That would take much of the tribulation out of this... whatever it ended up being. He smiled warmly as Sato walked up and greeted him, trying for both of their benefits to seem as at ease as possible.

God, he's cute, he thought freely, which was a pleasant turn of events from trying to squash down such thoughts and emotions.

"Hi, Mako." Sato lead with, waving weakly. "It's, um. Good to see you again."

"Yeah... yeah, it's good to see you again, too. Thanks for coming to hang out with me," said Mako, trying to force a bit more confidence into his speech. Shockingly, it was working, at least a little. He could do this. He could get through this.

There was a long, awkward silence as the two of them apparently wrestled with their inner turmoil (he couldn't speak for Sato, but judging by his expression, it wouldn't be unheard of), until Sato finally started to speak again.

"You're hot out," his senpai blurted out. Apparently without thinking. Mako felt his face turn a magnificent shade of crimson while his brain tried to unfuse from hearing what he'd just heard. Sato must have noticed this, and started blushing fiercely himself.

"W-wait, I mean the weather, the weather's hot! Not that you aren't hot, I mean--"

What is happening--

"I'm going inside!" Sato practically shouted, pushing past Mako and into the arcade. Mako let him, his mind still trying to process what had just occurred. When he finally did come back to coherence, his blush deepened as he pondered the implications of what his senpai had said.

Uhh... huh. I guess... Don't say it. Don't even think it-- Senpai noticed me...? God FUCKING dammit. Still, as awkward as all of this was, at least it answered some lingering questions Mako had been pondering. It seemed that Sato was at least somewhat attracted to him, which made this whole thing a lot more manageable. Now all that was left was to not fuck anything up. High bar to clear, but Mako was nothing if not ambitious. Taking a deep breath, Mako did an about face into the arcade, eyes searching for Sato. Thankfully, he hadn't run too far in, pointedly examining some arcade cabinets. Mako walked over, his smile now seeming just slightly more confident.

"Well, at least you ran in here, rather than away," Mako said, sidling up to his senpai's side, still unable to completely eliminate the nervous tremor in his voice. "Might put a damper on this... date," he forced out, "if you had."

Another pause. Mako did what he did best and muscled on through it.

"It's okay if you're nervous. I am, too. I've never done this before- not with anyone, least of all... well. I must have had to convince myself not to run a dozen times before you showed up. But I didn't, so here we are, so... let's just try and have fun. Okay? We can worry about other stuff later. Does that sound good... to you?"

Sato cringed to the seventh degree when he noticed Mako sidling up to him. Not because he was approaching, but because he was approaching. Despite the seemingly unfazed smile, Sato could still see the blush on Mako's face. It was a bit comforting to see that his Freudian slip mess-up was embarrassing to them both. Even Mako's voice was a little shaky. And his shaky voice made Sato's body shaky when Mako suggested that their little outing was a date.

For some reason, his first instinct was to laugh. And then it was to hide his face with his hand. Sato tried to say something, but his vocal cords failed to produce a sound. The only voice of his that he heard was the one in his head, screaming at him to calm down. He decided to not do that, and instead took a clumsy step away from Mako, backing into a Street Fighter cabinet. The situation was fairly trivial-- anyone else would've probably just laughed it off real awkwardly, but Sato didn't do anything but hide his face like some schoolgirl. It felt like... he was digging in the dirt with a shovel and accidentally hit something, but it was a pipe that started to leak a suffocating black smoke from the hole he made in it. As abstract the metaphor was, Sato had to remind himself yet again that he could breath. The question of what these feelings were sprung into his head again, but Sato realized that he had already known the answer. He'd just chosen to ignore it on the hopes of remaining 'normal'. Looking up from behind his fingers, Sato glanced at Mako again, and like it was a cue Mako continued on to explain himself.

Sato took a deep breath as he listened to what Mako said, standing back up straight once Mako suggested to 'worry about other stuff later'. That was probably for the best, leaving that for when they were in more private circumstances. He'd already acted like a drama queen in front of Mako, a fact that was almost as embarrassing as what he was worrying about in the first place, so it'd be best to try to save face while he still could, but... It reminded him of what his shadow said. About trying to act like something he wasn't or whatever. He took a deep breath and reminded himself not to be upset over breaking some kind of (for lack of better word) persona.

"Um, I..." Sato managed, still unable to look Mako in the eyes now that he realized the true nature of his own feelings and their relationship. Instead, his eyes wandered over to what was essentially the rest of the arcade. He barely recognized any of the games that filled the room, seeing as he rarely indulged in playing videogames. There was, however, one game that he distinctly remembered playing.

Sato grabbed Mako's wrist and lead him to the back of the arcade where a familiar bunch of games stood. At the top of the calm blue cabinets was the logo of 'Persona 4: Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold'. It was several months back that he'd went to the arcade, and played a few rounds of P4U. He got demolished, of course, but it was kinda interesting. It was actually the first time he had met Rui and a few of the others, funnily enough.

He pointed to the title of the game and looked at Mako with a weird mixture of determination and nervousness. "Have you ever played this one? If so, c-could you teach me how to play it?"

As Jun fled into the House of Mirrors, so did her pursuers. The amusement park was met with a tense atmosphere as park-goers watched the House of Mirrors empty as the thugs ran in after a certain girl. People called the police as the events unfolded, but as soon as the police had arrived, they were met with an empty attraction and almost a dozen broken mirrors... They were gone, everyone who had gone in. The back door was locked and hadn't even been forced, almost a dozen people entered, but no one emerged... From this day on, the House of Mirrors was deemed a cursed attraction for the months onwards from this event.



Flashes of what seemed to be consciousness came to Jun as she saw the world around her, blurred and dark as her head pounded with pain, a serious headache. Though her ears were functioning, so she could hear tidbits of what was going on,

"Why're we still taking orders from a mirror? I'm not sure if it's magic, or some kind of trick...",

"Magic, don't doubt it. He speaks to us from the promised land. I was one of the first members, this is truly him",

"I see... Well, he's always holding that hand mirror and...", Jun's hearing and vision began to fade once more.

As Jun came to, she was met with a strange world, as she walked around she would realize the area around her was familiar... Warakuma...? But everything seemed reversed, which was why she didn't recognize it, but soon her vision faded, and perception of time warped as her dungeon began to form around her.



"Just one person...?", he questioned, but everyone seemed pretty serious. It seems there was more to it than that. Everyone had been gathered and some were coming late, but based on the messages, this might require a lot more people than just four as forward team.

"Y-yes... I've had Ayano confirm though, it seems there's... Almost a dozen people, but the dungeon has a very distinct theme. It seems the ego of one person has influenced the other people in there too", she explained. This was a strange phenomenon...

"Well while we wait for everyone to arrive... Might I ask Rui... What is that?", all eyes were on him as they addressed the elephant in the room. Perched on his shoulder was a Japanese sparrowhawk.

"... You tell me... He followed me here and refused to go away", Ayano and Megumi recognized it as the bird that appeared during the last time they were in the mirror world.

"W-well, in any case, he seems to want to help... He doesn't seem willing to listen to some of us here, but he seems taken by you...", as shown by Kazuki having difficulty in approaching the bird.

"I guess so. Maybe you should be more cooperative to everyone else Zeke?", he was addressing the bird, now known as Zeke. The bird cooed in affirmative response, but there was a tinge of sarcasm in it somehow... Like it reluctantly agreed.

"You named him?",

"Yes. Just now in fact", Kazuki grasped his forehead and closed his eyes like he was having a headache.

"... Well in any case, we should get moving. Having air support is reassuring, so I'm feeling a bit better about our odds in there. The situation in there seems unusual, so I suppose that calls for some help of our own", good reasoning.

After that was all resolved, the party prepared to move into the Mirror World. Everyone was mostly just getting weapons and supplies ready before heading in, it was already made clear, more than 4 people would be sent in to advance, while everyone else was to deal with threats coming the way of the home party. Still, it didn't feel like this would go normally. There were a lot of people in there after all...

Kotori Shirohane - Abandoned Warehouse | Sunday, July 5 2015

Receiving the message about the gathering for yet another Mirror World excursion did not exactly do wonders for lifting Kotori's spirits, particularly when she'd been cautiously hopeful that things may be taking a turn for the better with the kidnappings just the day before - only for those hopes to be completely dashed when she arrived at the warehouse and it was announced that there weren't three kidnappees this time but rather near a dozen, albeit with some strangeness surrounding the dungeon that formed.

Furthermore, there was the yet-unresolved matter between her two fellow Agriculture Club members, Matthew and Shizuka, which left her to glance between the two whilst trying not to draw any attention to herself doing so or, in turn, them. Her unexpected meeting with Rui on the matter had, unfortunately, not revealed a way in which to help the situation - she thought that may be partly her own fault for not being too clear on the matter as she hadn't wanted to reveal too much about the lives of others without their consent, though her attempts at subterfuge by cladding her words with things like 'hypothetically speaking', 'asking for a friend' or 'I read in a book that...' The last one at least was true.

Still, the best course of action, it seemed, was to simply wait and leave it to the two of them - and for Kotori to hope that things turned out well in the end. After all, it was something that only they could figure out. Still, seeing them being the way they were did little to brighten her mood, even as Megumi explained what they knew of the dungeon this time around - but despite all that, Kotori couldn't help but steal an occasional glance over at Rui, even before he was addressed. Or rather, the bird on his shoulder which was the cause for said addressing in the first place. She was not ornithologist, but the bird - Zeke, apparently - did seem vaguely familiar in some way, leaving her to wonder if it was perhaps the same bird that had aided them in the previous dungeon. Given how much of a help it had been back then, Kotori was only to glad if it remained on their side; not even realising the rather bizarre nature of the whole situation after everything that had already happened in regards to the Mirror World.

With their newest and perhaps oddest addition yet thusly inducted, preparations were at hand - and following that, splitting up into groups. As ever when a dungeon trip was in order, Kotori's worries began to surface - but after a few moments, she put them aside with a deep breath. With a somewhat shaky confidence, she stood ready to begin - all the while hoping that everyone would once again return safely, that no one got too badly hurt and that they'd be able to save whoever was caught in on the other side of the mirror.

Ryan walked into the abandoned warehouse with a sense of apprehension and sadness that yet another person got kidnapped. He couldn't imagine what the motivation was, this all seemed so pointless. That wasn't a thought for now though, now was the time for rescuing.

Ryan quietly reflected on yesterday's debacle during the Anime and Manga club and grimaced. He probably could've handled that whole situation better, definitely something to ruminate on later.

Ryan suddenly noticed what appeared to be a hawk perched on their fearless leader's shoulder, apparently named Zeke. "Senpai, aren't you supposed to wear a shoulder pad or something when handling hawks? Otherwise their talons sink into you right?"

Ryan immediately wished he hadn't said that, Rui was obviously fine as shown by the fact that he wasn't trying to get the bird off. Suddenly something clicked in his mind as he recognized the bird.

"W-wait a minute! That hawk was in the mirror world last time! Does it seriously have a Persona?!" If so this was absolutely ridiculous. It was hard enough accepting that people had the ability to manifest psychic mind ghosts, but animals was really pushing it. What did it's Shadow even talk about, it's inability to hunt well?

Jun awoke with her head spinning, sweat covering her body and her clothes damp as she registered the sweltering heat around her. Where am I? She pondered as she got up, looking around to find an alien land. It looked like a mountainside inn, but something felt strange, wrong. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she tried to see through the thick steam and see if there was any hint as to what happened.

The last thing she remembered was the sound of fighting between her guards, the rival yakuza and strange hooded people. Someone had managed to grab her in the chaos and pushed her into a mirror. She blacked out soon after, but a quick examination of her face with her hands revealed no bruises or cuts or anything that might indicate she was hit hard enough to knock her unconscious. Nothing that indicated she had crashed against glass.

This must be where they bring the kidnapping victims. She realized, figuring the hooded people had to be the culprits. There was no other reason why they would intervene with an attempt on her life otherwise. They needed her alive. For now, at least.

Jun continued walking around, and soon found herself at the edge of a hotspring. No sooner had she bent down to try and get some water, did a hand spring out and grab her wrist, causing her to recoil back as a woman rose out of the water. No, not a woman. A... mermaid? She had a mask on but somehow Jun got the impression that she was pretty underneath the mask, despite the scales where skin should have covered her body and a fish tail where there should have been legs.

"Come join us, Jun." The mermaid spoke, and other figures began rising out of the water. Feminine looking, strange creatures that seemed to carry an unearthly charm about them. The blonde girl reacted quickly and ran, not knowing what was going on. Were her captors here? What were these strange creatures? Was this all some delirium induced dream?

She didn't get very far before running into samurai. They shouted something and ran towards here, drawing their blades. "Oh, fuck me." She cursed as she turned and ran again, hoping to find anyone familiar.

==~==

For a moment, Mako was worried that he'd said or done something wrong- Sato seemed to be having some sort of panic attack, by the looks of things, and dread wormed its way into his mind. Did he read this situation wrong? Was Sato's slip of the tongue just that? Did he really just call this outing a date without confirming whether or not it was?! He choked down his fear, forcing himself to be calm- it wouldn't help in the slightest for them both to be freaking out. Thankfully, as things progressed, and he explained himself further, Sato seemed to calm down and start rationalizing things. At least, that's what Mako hoped was happening- he may have superpowers now, but that didn't make him a mind reader.

"Um, I..." Sato still refused to look him in the eyes- hopefully that was still just nerves. He looked over the rest of the arcade, seeming lost in thought. Just when Mako was about to say something, however, Sato grabbed his wrist, dragging him over to the back of the arcade, toward a line of cool blue cabinets. Wait a second... I recognize these. His mind drifted back to a few months ago, when the arcade had held a tournament for this very game. Mako had done well- not good enough to win, mind- and he'd certainly enjoy being able to play again, even if it had been a while since he had. He turned to Sato and smiled, hopefully in a reassuring way.

"Huh. Good choice. Sure, I can teach you. I will warn you, it's been a while since I've played it- I may be a little rusty. Hopefully that's okay with you?" He slotted a couple coins into the machine, starting it up for the both of them. "Don't worry. I'll walk you through it, okay?"

The day progressed much smoother after they got started playing- Sato wasn't bad at the game, per se, just inexperienced, and he learned fast enough that he was hopefully still enjoying himself. Hours passed by in a blur as they played, and Mako felt much more at ease as time went on. Huh. Maybe this was actually a good idea after all.

Eventually, the time came for the date or whatever it was to come to a close, and the two walked out of the arcade, still quiet, but comfortably so. Mako turned toward Sato, smiling warmly.

"I had a lot of fun with you today, Sato. Thanks for coming." He paused for a moment, pondering his next move- that is, how best to end this excursion. Granted, he knew what he wanted to do, but considering Sato had nearly had a panic attack just from being told this outing was a date, he decided to perhaps have a bit more tact. So he contented himself with reaching out and squeezing Sato's hand affectionately, saying goodbye, and going off on their separate ways. He walked toward home, unhurried for once, hoping they'd get to do something like this again.

==~==




==~==

Mako ground his teeth as he stood in the warehouse, amongst what he assumed were now his peers. There was Kotori from his class, one of the boys who'd saved him during his first trip to the Mirror World, Rui- who had a hawk on his shoulder, for some reason- Sato, of course, the people who'd been rescued along with him, and a bunch of other people Mako didn't know all that well. He wished they could have been meeting under better circumstances than this.

Well, that didn't take fucking long at all, Mako thought grimly to himself, testing the edge of the hatchet he held with a thumbnail. It was more out of nervousness than anything else; he'd already been meticulously sharpening it the night before, in preparation for the next outing into the Mirror World. He just wasn't anticipating it to be so soon. Wrapped around his left hand and wrist was a length of heavy chain, a makeshift bracer for defense- and possibly also beating up on some Shadows. Truth be told, the hatchet was more of a backup plan- he didn't exactly know how to fight with it, so punching things was his go-to choice of offense. Still, it couldn't hurt to have something that hurt more than his fists or a chain. Always be prepared, after all.

He stood solemnly, listening to the briefing, so to speak, about what the plan was. There were a lot of people in there, this time around. And not all of them might be friendly, either. He turned toward Sato, trying to suppress his concern. If anything, his senpai should be worried about him- he was the new kid here, along with the other two. Everyone else was much more experienced than he was when it came to this whole Persona business. So, he stood, quietly, no matter how much he wanted to charge in and start hacking away at Shadows. If he wanted to live through this, then he'd have to listen- he was no good to anyone dead.