---

So the cat lady's name was Mira, huh? Well that's one step forward in getting to know each other. And apparently this place was called the "Other Side". Well that sounded kinda lame. Then again, something like "Mirror World" or "Reverse World" didn't sound much better. And something cool like "The Shadow Realm" or "The Twilight Zone" were already taken. But that was besides the point. He could worry about that kind of stuff later, or if he lucky, he would get out of here and never have to worry about that again.

The other two students he didn't know introduced themselves as Hinari Daigo, and Sasaki. So now everyone knew each other's names at the very least. The two then brought up an interesting topic: Killing shadows. Sasaki managed to speak up before Genki could, saying almost exactly what he would've. Considering the group had two "Awakened" people, they should be fine right? And considering that a single attack from Mira managed to drive away that big hand thing, he felt confident in their chances.

Afterwards, Mira began to go into more detail about said awakenings and how to defeat shadows. Apparently, because none of the party had become shadows at this point that the members of the group had "The Potential". Was that supposed to be some sort of Chosen One thing? Well, that'd likely be important later. Mira also went on to say that when you awaken, you take on the form of your "Reborn Self", whatever that means. So Hoshino saw himself as some sort of demon or imp, and the cat apparently saw herself as a human? This was all sorts of weird.

But then Mira suggested that the group move on ahead. Safety in numbers and all that. There looked to be only one way forward, down some kind of hallway. Mira motioned the group forward, and away they went. The hallway seemed mostly barren, the only real exception being windows on the walls. All that could be seen outside was some sort of endless redness. Freaky. Genki silently wondered if there was a bottom. Or if there was anything at all out there. Were they just in a big box, floating in the aether? Well, it didn't really matter, but the distraction helped ease his mind.

Eventually, the group arrived at what looked like a giant red curtain. The hell? That seemed a little random. Mira seemed to know about this though. She said that the shadow hadn't formed a dungeon yet. A dungeon? Like... a video game dungeon? Filled with traps, enemies, treasures and puzzles that are there for whatever vague reason? How was a big hand supposed to make all of that? Maybe there were more hands around here...

As if on cue, Mira mentioned a "Welcoming Party" as she raised a hand and looked around. Following suit, Genki turned around, looking for the danger. His eyes fell on two large balls of goop that had fallen from the ceiling. Genki watched in confusion as the two spheres began levitating and taking a more definite shape, eventually settling on a black and white stripped orb with a comically large tongue and pair of lips. Genki sighed, saying "First hands and now mouths? What's next, feet demons?" There was a thud near him as he watched Daigo fall to the ground in, presumably, fear.

Deciding to stay back and let those who could actually kill these things do their jobs, Genki watched as Hoshino pulled a sword out of seemingly nowhere and charged forward with it. He then heard mumbling next to him. It was Daigo. He didn't look so good. He also seemed to be holding something. Darting his eyes back and forth between Daigo and the two shadows, he suddenly was met with a blue flash from his side. Closing his eyes instinctively, and opening them when the light had died, he looked on to see that Daigo had changed. Some sort of beetle-man stood behind him, and he was now wearing some old timey samurai armor.

Before Genki could even get a word out, a ray of light flew out from between the horns of the beetle-man, absolutely annihilating the mouth orb thing. Genki stood dumbstruck at the new Daigo. That was cool as hell! Was that the Awakening thing Mira had them about? If so, that makes three of them, further improving the chances they'd make it out of here alive. But was the danger over? Were there more shadows? Genki looked around frantically for more danger.

---

---

Khepri faded with none of the fanfare that preceded its arrival as soon as the door closed behind them, leaving Daigo with a vague feeling of unease. 'Awakened' or not, he felt practically naked without his magical protector looming over him, and he had no idea how to call it back. If he even could call it back. The redhead still wasn't certain what had even happened back there, just that instinct had kept him alive so far and that too much thought was probably counterproductive in circumstances this nonsensical.

Of course, with the short respite from the shadows' assault also came a chance to analyze his new appearance. Daigo was Mira's Sun now, was he? It beat the Devil label, at least, but what the hell happened to his clothes? A cursory overview of his new attire didn't reveal anything too unusual, in fact it looked almost familiar. There was a display case in the entry hall of Kaiseki Hinari that housed a roughly similar harness that tourists used to fawn over. Daigo concluded his self-exploration with a haunted gaze turned slowly backward as an unpleasant thought crept across his mind. To his great relief, no tail waited for him back there, nor any other unfamiliar limbs.

A million questions about what 'Awakening' entailed raced through his head, but Hoshino seemed intent on rushing ahead despite Mira's warnings. The room they'd arrived in was almost homey, familiar even; no reason to ruin it by agitating the evil well so quickly. He could've at least waited until Daigo knew how to help out now that he apparently could. Even that was a development he hadn't quite processed fully, but he took it with the same grain of salt one takes the contradictory happenings of a strange dream. Daigo thought they were in the clear when Mira yanked Noriaki back toward the group, only to be promptly proven wrong when that shadow hand creature from before made its return.

Daigo hopped backward as one of the hands swooped for him, momentarily taken aback by how light on his feet he was now. That had to be part of the awakening - or maybe it was a side effect of the outfit. Was there a functional difference between the two? Unfortunately, the hand was far less impressed with his newfound agility, and curved back around for another attempt. Right, he had to look out for the other two as well, he couldn't just dodge until someone else solved the issue.

"Um. Sword?" Daigo called out experimentally, unsure of what to do besides mirror what Noriaki had done earlier. No sword answered his call, unfortunately. The teen persevered in lack of better options, flailing his arm as though he were swinging a weapon with each evasion. The shadowy appendage seemed to catch on to his tactics, and missed by a smaller margin on each attempt. It shot forward and Daigo made one last desperate swing, answered by a torrent of blue fire that extended from his palm to meet the aggressor. The hand drew back as it made contact with flame now solidified into blade, deterred but not defeated. Daigo held the newly-formed polearm before him awkwardly, as if he were unsure of the proper way to grip it. He wasn't even entirely sure what it was. It wasn't quite a spear; the point was curved like a slashing weapon, more like a sword with a very long handle. A glaive, maybe?

Whatever, he could worry about the semantics later. He heaved the weapon at the hand in an aimless tantrum, which only seemed to taunt him as it danced around his clumsy attacks in a mockery of his earlier dexterity.

"Get. Back. Here- Khepri!" Daigo tried at last as the burst of cyan in his periphery tipped him off on how to summon his Persona again. The Sun card fluttered into being before him, and just as the butterfly that preceded it, it shattered inside Daigo's fist in a blaze. A swell of fire leapt out of his chest and the armored figure seemed to materialize from it. No sooner had Khepri's hand coalesced did it seize hold of the shadow's wrist and shift its weight backward as plumes of golden fire exploded from beneath its elytra, attempting to outright yank the shadow out of the well by one of its arms. Daigo himself maneuvered around his terrifying other self, his weapon at the ready to sever the limb in case of any surprises.

---

@Asura@RiverMaiden@Lord Orgasmo

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Contrary to every fibre in his being, Kazuyoshi had remained silent at the snipe Taniguchi-sensei had uttered. He really couldn't afford to get suspended for talking back - or worse - after getting ostracized and spending the majority of the summer vacation in isolation. In fact, this sort of presented a unique opportunity that just clicked for Kazu at that moment. While he wasn't exactly Nakano's number one fan, this did mean he had an excuse to hang out with a clique again and not be the exiled loner of the second year students.

That mischievous smile he entered with was once again etched across the luckless lad's face. Elated, Kazu made a quick bow at Suzuki-sensei's suggestion and made for the exit as he tried to hide his gleaming grin. Stopping just outside the teachers' lounge door, he would await for Maki and ask a simple question with no ulterior motive.

"You wanna head on out and check in with the our new jailer before heading back to your chicken fryer?"

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@Hero@psych0pomp

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As the slaughter of the shadows continued, Genki heard a shout from Mira telling the group to push forward into the room ahead. Seeing as staying here and potentially getting eaten didn't exactly seem like the brightest idea at the time, he followed Mira's motions and ran towards the curtains along with the others.

Practically tumbling into the room, Genki head a slam behind him as a pair of doors shut behind him. Well, if there were doors, then what was the point of the curtains? Whatever, that didn't matter now. What did matter, however, was the new room he found himself in. It almost looked like the entrance to some sort of overgrown temple. There were stones at his feet, with sprouts of grass coming out from the spots between, and vines on the walls that seemed to stretch on forever. There was also a suspiciously nice looking well in the room. It even had a nice little pagoda.

As Genki observered the room, Mira mentioned that she couldn't sense the shadow that dragged them here in the first place, unless it was hiding in the well. "Well, either that or..." Genki's voice trailed off as he looked straight up at the ceiling, which seemed like less of a ceiling and more of a darkened hallway. "...Up there." With any luck, it'd be the well, as that would be significantly easier to see.

Hoshino, as usual, seemed very angry, though this time at the shadow and not Mira. The last thing the party needed was another argument. Unsure of what to do next, Genki's train of thought was broken by the sound of Mira telling him and Sasaki to stay put. Well, that was kind of the plan anyways. The two of them probably couldn't do much to something that could only be killed by a persona user.

There was a shout from Hoshino, and as Genki turned to see what the commotion was, he saw that Mira had grabbed ahold of him, as a black glob rose from well, before turning into four black hands as they had seen before. Not good. Since he couldn't fight, flight was his only option, except, he couldn't fly, either, so running would have to do in this scenario. As long as he stayed near the persona users, maybe the hands wouldn't go after him, since he was near something that could hurt it.

One of the hands dove towards Genki, and he put his plan into action. He took off, running near the others. That was step one. Step two was evasive maneuvers. Dip, dodge, and duck. Don't stay in the same place for long. Ready... Steady... Go! As the hand grew closer and took a swipe at him, Genki had already lept to his left in what he thought was a cool dodge roll. As his knees hit the stone floor, however, the jolt of pain reminded him that this was not, in fact, a movie or a game. It also caused his knuckles to whiten as he clenched his fists in anger. No, now wasn't the time for that, getting angry would just get him killed. He just needed to keep dodging, and hope one of his companions might help when they got the chance.

---

---

Emi crossed her arms as her contemporaries gave their answers, though to her chagrin, it seemed there wasn’t much to tell. Maybe she shouldn’t have expected so much; it was the very beginning of the school year after all, nobody had seen each other for months, why would they know what was going on? Not to mention Yamamoto. Emi was disappointed in herself for that one. She used to be the one who insisted that regular, everyday causes for discontent be ruled out before they jumped to mirrors and Shadows, and here she was, jumping the gun. Maybe she overestimated herself here; maybe it was just her desperation to find her friends that had her seeing clues where none existed.

Of course, self-aware as she tried to be, she couldn’t let go of the hope—no, the fact—that something beyond the normal stresses of life was riling the school up. She didn’t survive fretting for months with nothing just to wave off a new pattern when it was dangling in front of her face, even if the real-world evidence was shaky. Hell, she and her friends had gone into the mirror over less, right? And those dreams couldn’t possibly be coincidence. There was something to it, there had to be. It was just a puzzle, that was all.

As luck would have it, feeling her way through mazes was something of a specialty.

But for the moment, Naomi’s questioning demanded her attention. Yikes, it did kind of sound like she was a little suspicious, didn’t it? Of course, Naomi had no reason to think there was any supernatural explanation to the school’s recent unrest, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t, say, go around anonymously stirring up drama to make everyone tense. That said, she was a little put out that Naomi could think she was capable of such a thing!

“I don’t know what I know,” Emi blurted out, somewhat unhelpfully. “I mean… hey, for all I know, it really could be the storm working everyone up. Or it might be something else.” Naomi had made a good point earlier; it was strange that the school administration asked the Council to help them with the rise in delinquency. That, at least, was a helpful indicator that unrest in the school was objectively higher than in previous years. Not conclusive, but a decent start.

“...For one thing, it could be that the fires last year are still weighing on everyone’s minds,” she suggested, biding her time until she really had to make herself look crazy. “I know the vast majority of the school didn’t personally know them, but the deaths of classmates have got to carry a lasting burden, whether people realize it consciously or not. Sorry, Nakano-san,” she added at the end, nodding in Nakano’s direction. It was probably a sore topic—it certainly was for her—but it needed to be brought up nonetheless. “Aside from that, we have too little information to say. But I can weigh in on a game plan to deal with it.”

Emi folded her hands together in some imitation of authority, addressing the whole group. “I’m not saying we go vigilante on our classmates and confront them over their actions—like I said before, only the administration has that authority. But,” she held up a finger, “we can try to find the cause of the issue. There’s gotta be something behind it, right? So, I propose that we cooperate with the administration to try and talk to offending students. If we know why they’re lashing out the way they have been, we might find a common thread between them. If such a thing exists, we can deal with the rise in unrest at its source. Thoughts?”

There; a realistic enough approach. But, if she was lucky, she might figure out if the source of all this unrest really was Shadow activity. Her only fear was that it would take the entire school year to find out.

---

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The shadow was bigger than Daigo expected. Okay, he wasn't really sure what to expect - and in hindsight, he should've expected something with such long arms to be massive - but when the first part of the thing's body peeked out of the top of the well and kept coming, Daigo was at a loss for what he should do. He'd done a good job so far; clearly they could hurt it if they got it outside, but with Mira being sucked in and restrained so easily, he wasn't sure how to go about attacking it. Even tugging it around was exhausting, and he hadn't even been the one pulling. Or... was he? Was Khepri him? Or thou? Thee? If someone last week told him archaic grammar might be the key to understanding his superpowers, he would've laughed in their face.

Unfortunately, biology class quickly became more relevant than Japanese as the shadowy ooze engulfed his persona like those white blood cell animations he also didn't pay enough attention to. Khepri thrashed and pulled away with surprisingly little resistance as the goop sloughed off and the beetle creature tore itself free. Judging by how Mira had faired, Daigo had to assume his own body wouldn't be so lucky. Or the other students, now that the shadow was no longer concerned with only their game of tug-of-war. Khepri dematerialized in a tuft of flame rather than wrestle with formless slime, and the ginger made a few evasive hops to backpedal from the encroaching monster. Physical attacks weren't working on the body itself, so the spear in his hand was essentially worthless. Maybe Hoshino needed to light it on fire again. He may not've known what a neutrophil was, but he knew the thing was definitely flammable by the way it screeched at the other teen's attack. Wait, couldn't he do that too?

"Oi, Sasaki-san, Mori-kun, get behind me," Daigo called out while he internally fumbled with command of his persona. Even if he did get it right, they were just as likely as the shadow to get hit while they jumped around unpredictably.

"Okay Khepri, um... fire? Or, uh... no, that wasn't it. Maybe... laser?" The redhead deliberated under his breath while his persona reformed to hover defensively before him. His face twisted into a frustrated pout briefly before he shouted, "Just blast it already," though Khepri was already in motion from the moment it sensed Daigo's resolve. Another Kouha manifested between the figure's horns as its master snapped his head around sporadically in search of a target. The beam earlier was pretty precise; Daigo could probably melt Mira free without collateral damage to the girl herself. Probably. No, it'd be fine! Besides, if he left it to Hoshino, his flames would burn the catgirl too out of spite if not inaccuracy.

Then again, it might not be a good idea to draw the thing's attention now that he'd foolishly volunteered to be the unawakened's shield. Whatever, they'd all get swallowed by goo if he hesitated. If Mira was free, it would have more targets to focus on and less means to attack Daigo and the others anyway.

"IfthishitsyouI'msorry!" He frantically yelped with barely a pause between words as he released the beam straight at the mass that held their feline companion, careful not to pierce any area that was obviously wrapped around one of her body parts.

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@Hero@Asura@RiverMaiden@Lord Orgasmo

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Oka mulled over her explanation. Initially when she spoke more about the storm she didn’t completely believe what she was saying but there wasn’t exactly anything that she could go by to not believe her explanation. She quietly continued to listen as she further explained what could be happening to the students. The probability of students lashing out because tragedy had struck was very high. A lot of people had a hard time processing their emotions and sometimes their way of dealing with those emotions was to lash out.

Oka’s problem with that was that it had become such an issue at the school that they were called to intercept. She let out a sigh, trying to calm herself. The more she got worked up about it, the more she was actually starting to believe her. Personally, Oka was not as severely affected as many of her peers. She didn’t know the people at her school that well. And by well she meant that she wasn’t very close to anyone. It didn’t change the fact that she felt bad for the people that were close to the victims.

She decided it was best to concede. If she let herself get upset, she knew she was going to get too deeply involved and that was something she did her best to avoid. “You’re right Ueno-san. Let’s try to talk to the students. But, I think that we should try to find Yamamoto-san as our first student. I don’t want to assume it’s just adolescence. I think that typically he’s an upstanding student. He can be a creep, but he doesn’t act out physically towards anyone. This is the first I’ve heard of such behavior from him, which is why I’m so concerned.” Oka looked at her other classmates, making sure to make eye contact with them all. “If this request is reasonable for you all, I’m ready to try to tackle this.”

She didn’t want to combat aggression with more aggression--no. That was never the way to solve problems. But she didn’t want to let the situation slide. And as Ueno had said, maybe they could try to talk to the offending students and find out the source of the issue. If it turned out to be some defense mechanism for the students then that would be one thing but everything just didn’t feel right. She supposed she would just have to wait and see what happened.

---

---

The hand continued taking swipes at Genki, each time getting closer and closer to landing an actual hit, but whether through luck, skill, or divine intervention, somehow Genki kept himself away. Fortunately, this game wouldn't have to continue much longer, as a combination of efforts from the group of Awakened seemed to draw the hand away, and as Mira went towards the well, presumably to go after the source.

And what a source it was! Almost as if the well was erupting with ooze, more and more of the monster began to appear. Well, now that more of it was exposed, they could start hitting the main thing, right? Though as if on cue, more problems began arising. First, Mira seemed to be stuck in the goo, as if trapped in sticky slime, though she only seemed slightly concerned about this. Perhaps she had a way out, or had been in this situation before. Then, there were more hands. Several of them. Just one was hard enough to dodge, how was he going to deal with three or even four more hands.

Well, now what? He could stay near the Awakened, but that just puts them in more danger. Running away might make him safer, if the hands choose to go after just the ones fighting. But if they didn't... he was toast. Just then, a shout from Diago caught his attention, telling him to get behind him. Well, if he was so sure, then the decision on where to go next was practically chosen for him. He dashed off towards Diago, hoping him and his beetle man ghost thing would be able to defend him. If anything, he at least try and offer moral support. He watched as Diago fumbled over his words, trying to get another ray of light to be fired, this time at the black mass near the well. All these lights, and monsters, and running... all of these butterflies and talks of responsibility, and this whole mirror world debacle... it was really starting to take its toll. He could feel the beginnings of a headache come on. And to-- wait... where was Sasaki?

He looked over just in time to see a burst of blue light, and after a brief moment, Sasaki stood, Awakened. She had some sort of crown, and a flowing silver robe, albeit sleevless, and boots that looked like she was getting ready for winter. Was she supposed to be some sort of... ice princess? The colors certainly matched that theme. He then saw her persona. Some sort of silver deer unicorn looking thing. She was riding it. You could do that? Just then he had also noticed the hands it had blown away when she had Awakened. Though, now it was likely she could fight back.

There was a sound behind him as Diago fired off his light ray, and he heard Sasaki follow up with her own attack, as a bolt of lightning rained from the blackness above. Okay, that one definitely hit Mira. Well, that made four persona users. The only one left was...

The realization hit him like a ton bricks. He was the only one left. He was useless. Defenseless. A liability. His headache only seemed to grow out of frustration as he balled his hands. He looked towards where the hands previously going after Sasaki were going. They were trying to sneak up on him. All of the others were busy and the hands saw the opportunity. He wanted nothing more than to be able to do something. Anything. But all he could do now was cry for help. He usually had no problem relying on friends or family before, so why was he feeling this way now? Was it the absurdity of it all? The pain, slowly turning into anger? Or were these his true feelings all along? Just then, it felt like a sledgehammer hit him on the back of his head.


Was that... the shadow? Was it taunting him? Genki gripped his head and tried to keep his eyes open as searing pain ran through his head. He'd never hurt so bad. The pain was maddening.



The searing pain only increased as the speech went on. Zhao. That name only brought bad memories and anger. He way he singled out Genki and made his time at the orphanage hell. He fell to a knee, the impact of the stone ground sending a familiar jolt of pain through him. The voice continued to speak over the pain.



From the corner of his vision, a now all too recognizable blue glow appeared. The butterfly. Was this damn thing the source of all his woes? It didn't matter. Genki felt only rage against it. Genki reached out and slammed the butterfly towards the stone floor. But there was no satisfying crunch. No blood. No insect guts. Just a key. Genki let out a frustrated grunt at the resolution.


And just like that, the pain was over. But the anger wasn't. His rage still bubbled and swirled like a magma in his chest. So much so that the key in his hand had become a match. The perfect vessel for the fire of his metaphorical magma. He looked to his other hand. Inside he was clutching a card. It depicted an old man in armor atop a throne, wielding a golden scepter. As if instinctually, he struck the match against his pant leg, and began burning the card. The blue fire sat in his hand, yet did not burn him. A single name swirled in his mind. The only person he knew of who could be as indescribably infuriated as he was. And the same person who fought until his death -and even after it- for those who would call him their brother in arms.

Genki clenched his fist around the fire and raised it towards the infinite darkness of the ceiling as he stood up. He looked up shouting: ["Give me your power! Xing Tain!"] The deep blue flame exploded out of Genki's hand, covering his entire body in its light. As the flames enveloped him, burning brighter and taller, Genki let out a nearly inhuman roar in unison with an actual, inhuman roar, causing the flames to disperse.

Genki now stood, covered in interlocking plates of a glittering dark yellow metal, resembling the scales of a fish. Many were a dark crimson, though it was hard to tell from what. All the way from his neck to his knees the metal scales clanked and jingled. A pair of metal greaves that shone like gold adorned his legs, matching the color of his scalemail-like armor. A deep red cape the color of blood flowed behind him, its edges frayed as if it had seen countless battles. And in the middle of Genki's chest was a circular breastplate, depicting the face of a monstrous creature, its mouth agape in a defiant roar.

And behind Genki stood the source of the inhuman shout: A monster of a man, a head, shoulders, and most of a torso taller than Genki stood Xing Tian. His wide chest still burning in eternal rage. His fiery eyes and sharp teeth leaked blazing flames with every breath, and his helmet shone like a kiln, with fire pouring out of every direction. His mighty axe and shield, nearly the size of Sasaki stood ready for slaughter.

Genki looked towards the hands that were previously attempting to go around for the flank. They were closer now. Close enough to hit. Close enough to hurt. The perfect chance to release his rage. ["I WILL RAIN HELLFIRE UPON YOU!"] He let out a battle cry as Xing Tain did the same, difference being that Xing Tian's thunderous uproar was enough to send a torrent of black and red flames towards the hands, incinerating most of the fingers off of one of them, and the rest of the same hand shortly after. Genki reached out his hand, subconsciously reaching for something. "Come and get me..." An axe appeared in his hand, it was hefty, but in all the right ways. It looked just like Xing Tian's. Similarly, a rectangular shield manifested in his left hand, strapped to his arm. The time for running was over. It was time to fight.

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