---

Daigo wasn't certain if the definition of bullying encompassed dragging the unwilling into supernatural danger, but he would definitely be petitioning the school administration to spread awareness about it. Y'know, if he could actually convince anyone that supernatural danger even existed. Hoshino - cruel, merciless Hoshino - denied him even the dignity to walk to his own death like a man; he chose instead to lead him there like an animal sent for slaughter. Must've learned that working at the yakuza konbini. At least Genki had the benevolence to not let him face his end half-blind. Not that fetching his glasses made their messy-haired classmate any better; that good cop act was transparent. He could frame their little excursion as fun and exciting all he wanted, but all that meant was that he was complicit in Hoshino's scheme.

"Thanks," Daigo timidly muttered as he slipped his glasses back on his face, his other complaints left unvoiced. Not that he was scared to voice them or anything. Nope. There just wasn't time and- jeez, eye contact was a lot more intimidating when he could actually see Genki's eyes.

Once they started in pursuit of the butterfly, the ginger surprisingly followed without complaint. It was better to just pretend he was holding hands with someone hot - not Hoshino, just... maybe someone that kinda looked like him - that totally wasn't leading him to his demise. Less stress. At least until his wicked jailer seemed to notice he had regained a modicum of peace in his heart and shoved him toward the girl's locker room in an effort to defile the last bit of dignity Daigo held.

"Wha- I can't-" Daigo sputtered aimlessly, then puffed his cheeks out in a childish pout, "I'm not girly..." They just didn't wanna get in trouble. Typical bullies.

The ginger opened his mouth to voice his protests, but he was stopped by something wacking his shoe and then outright stumbling into him. Excuses raced through his mind, though as tempted as he was to throw Noriaki to the wolves for forcing him into the girl's locker room, his assailant moved on with only a muttered apology. Whatever spirits that protected him couldn't have given him a luckier break. There was no way Ueno-senpai even registered who he was. There was no way they'd get in trouble for that. Even better, they couldn't expect him to go inside while the locker room was occupied.

"See! You can't make me go in there. She could already be shirtless and there's no way I'm going in there to look at that. That would be wrong." The redhead huffed triumphantly as soon as the locker room door closed behind Ueno. Looks like the shadow hands would have to wa-

There was a defenseless blind girl alone in a room with a demon.

No, it was fine. He could pop in, cover his eyes, put on a convincing falsetto, and tell her Nakano-senpai had been looking for her. Easy.

"I'm leaving the second she's safe, you hear me?" Daigo mumbled defeatedly as he trudged forward into what was quite possibly the last place he'd ever want to be on campus. It hadn't occurred to him just how dark the locker rooms were without power. Normally, that would've been a blessing in a place he didn't want to be caught, but the darkness was wasted when tailing a blind girl. Thankfully, he had the haunting luminescence of the butterfly to guide him toward his target, and the echoing rattle of cane on locker to give away Ueno's position. The lack of any sweeping cell phone flashlights or idle conversation suggested they were alone - and more importantly, he wasn't likely to stumble into anyone in their underwear - but he might be able to pass for a girl in the pitch blackness if spotted. Not that he'd admit it to stupid Hoshino.

Nervously, the redhead skulked down a row of lockers, mindful of touching anything that could possibly give away his position. The repetitive clatter of the cane had stopped, unluckily enough right next to the butterfly, if his ears served him right. That was bad. Assuming both locker rooms had the same layout, they were both by the mirrors. It took every ounce of restraint the boy had not to rush over, expecting some otherworldly horror to burst forth at any moment.

“What do you want, then?!”

Crap, had she heard him? No, even if she had, there's no way she could've distinguished him from any random girl that wandered in here in search of her phone or something, and that certainly wouldn't warrant her tone there. Had he missed someone? Daigo craned his head around the locker he had concealed himself behind and watched as the blind girl pawed at the mirror in silence, awaiting a response from whatever third party Ueno had questioned. Except she wasn't pawing at the mirror, was she? Everytime she moved, the light dimmed for a brief moment, as if muffled by her hand. She was grasping for the butterfly. She was talking to the butterfly.

"Y-you can see it too?!" The nervous boy blurted out in a more masculine voice than he intended. Abort, abort! Staggering back, Daigo made it an impressive two steps into his escape route before he toppled over a nearby bench and flopped onto the ground, the tile almost knocking the wind out of him. "I-I... uuuh. I c-can explain."

---

@Asura@Lord Orgasmo@Obscene Symphony

---

Glasses in hand, er, on face, Daigo got up and was promptly dragged along by Hoshino by the wrist, almost like a prisoner to a warden. It was time to move. The trio headed towards the shining azure insect on the door when they were stopped by a sudden running young lady, who passed them as quickly as she had appeared, and headed straight through the doors. The butterfly, seemingly disturbed by the slamming of the door, took off, fluttering around for a few brief seconds before eventually picking a direction.

The trio followed behind the butterfly as it fluttered off towards the locker room. The girl's locker room. Not good. How were they going to get in there? Genki glanced over at Hoshino. He was bigger than most of the guys, so he'd certainly stand out. Though he certainly looked pretty athletic. He could probably get in and out of there pretty quick. Though the group needed to investigate, not get in-and-out quickly. Genki himself had much of the same problem: he was way to big do not stand out. His eyes flicked to Diago. His height certainly fit the bill. And while he didn't look exactly feminine...

There was a quick shove by Hoshino as he pushed Diago ahead, claiming he was the only one fit for the job, which... made sense. Just as Genki was about to speak up to agree, Ueno had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, bumping into Daigo. After a quick apology, she darted into the girl's locker room, cane flailing wildly as she felt her surroundings. Well... shit. That was going to make things way more difficult, and would make for one hell of an awkward conversation.

Genki looked over to Daigo with a slightly worried look on his face. Was this really the best idea? Maybe they could talk this out, say something about a basketball or something accidentally rolling in there as an excuse. But, in the end, Diago bit the bullet and headed on inside, claiming he'd be out the second he confirmed that she was OK. Genki stood silently, his worry for the poor boy increasing by the second.

Seconds passed ever so slowly. Was the mission a success? The slight, dampened sound of Ueno's cane was his only clue. Suddenly, there was shouting from the inside, followed the sound of something fleshy slamming to the ground. ["Shit!"] Genki instinctively ran towards the noise, seeing Diago on the ground after just a few steps. "Is there a shad-" He looked into the room. The butterfly was still there. Chances are Diago tripped over something in a flustered panic."...Oh. Uh..." Genki was glad the girl was blind, his face was practically strawberry colored. "I promise I can explain!"

---

---

Emi wanted to shout more, to demand the wretched little creature give up William’s game and show her to her friends already, no matter how crazy it would make her sound. And she probably would have, too, if she hadn’t been startled by a sudden voice behind her.

"Y-you can see it too?!"

Head whipping around to the sound, she clutched her cane like a weapon in defence, frozen in place as a series of fleshy thumps from a few feet away signified her mystery visitor falling to the floor. She didn’t bother remembering that it was dark and they probably tripped or even noticing that the voice was suspiciously male – now that she was pulled out of her single-minded chase, she finally had the chance to notice something nagging at her Euryphaessa sense. Or rather, assaulting it. It was hauntingly familiar, much louder than the presence of any normal person, calling out to something inside her that rose its voice to answer...

The Persona user!

Emi dropped her cane altogether, a sharp gasp escaping her as it clattered to the floor. There was no mistaking it – this was one of the boys from the Cooking Club, one of the ones whose presence felt so similar to her friends’. The ones she dared to hope were fellow Persona users, even though it boggled the mind to think there were any left beside herself. Seconds later, the door banged, the sound echoing off the tiled walls as another person barrelled in – another person with the same screaming presence. And another one she recognized – the other one from the Cooking Club!

"Is there a shad-"

Emi caught the newcomer’s words faster that time, and her face split into a wide, disbelieving grin. “A Shadow?” she questioned, excitement rising in her stomach. Not bothering to retrieve her cane, she carefully stepped toward the duo, groping out until her hand found the top of one of their heads – probably the one who’d fallen down.

“‘Can I see it too’ – you mean the butterfly? You can see the butterfly?!” Giddiness snuck into her voice, and Emi knelt next to the person she’d found and felt around for his shoulders, unable to help herself. It was like she wanted to confirm that he really was… well, real.

“I can’t believe it..!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands over her mouth in amazement before turning her head toward the door when it opened once again. A third person strode in, and again they bore a presence that screamed out Persona. This one, though, Emi didn’t recognize, and he added his two cents to the mix, more condescending than the others.

Emi paid no mind. “I can’t believe it!” she repeated, getting to her feet once again. The line of questioning went in one ear and out the other, the pink-haired girl too occupied with the amazing discovery before her. “I knew it! You’re the two boys from the Cooking Club – Hinari and Mori! I knew it!”

She turned her head in the third boy’s direction, furrowing her brow. “I don’t know you, but – ah, it doesn’t matter!” It took all Emi had not to bounce on her feet, although her words came out a mile a minute. “So you’ve Awakened, then? Have you been seeing William too— have you seen Mineri?! Wait—”

Emi interrupted herself, clutching her chest. “If you’ve Awakened, how did you get to the Other Side? Did the mirror let you through? Did someone help you? Tell me everything!”

---

---

The plan couldn't have gone worse. All three of them managed to expose themselves and, while Daigo was thankful he wouldn't be going down alone, he'd never manage to slip away now that all his compatriots were involved. Did she know what a Shadow was? Or was Ueno merely scoffing at Genki's excuse? If she did, one would think she'd know to avoid mirrors.

Unfortunately, Daigo got his wish; she stepped away from the mirror - toward him. She was going to kill him. He'd die to blind samurai kung fu. When the hand plopped down on the top of his head, the squirrelly second-year raised his hands in preparation to block a knee to the face, only to lower them again when her hands clamped down on his shoulders. Even worse, she'd snap his neck like they do in the movies! Or- or do a shoulder... death... touch...

Okay, he probably wasn't in immediate danger. Daigo only tuned in to Emi's hysterics when Noriaki decided to antagonize her for some reason and the ginger heard his name excitedly squealed. Nevermind, he was still going to die - just by school administration rather than angry woman. They were caught. Busted. Cornered- did she say William? Ueno didn't even seem angry; quite the opposite, in fact. They were saved! Exonerated! Some... other positive word!

Though it begged the question of how she knew about William. Had she signed the contract too? Seemed like a waste to give a blind girl a Persona. Though, she could evidently see the butterfly so... maybe demons or Shadows or whatever are visible to everyone? He didn't know what a Mineri was - wait, no, that was one of the girls that died, wasn't it? Maybe her house was the one they found miraculously repaired, and Ueno had been there too.

"W-William yes, Minoru- err, Mineri, no," Daigo sheepishly answered in hopes that acquiescence would spare their disciplinary records, "A demon... hand... shadow... thing came out of a mirror in the gym the other day and pulled me in, so when we saw you and the butterfly going into a room with mirrors I- well, I mean, err, we, I guess- uh, followed you into the, um... g-girl's room." Though Ueno couldn't see it, the echoes of a shoe feverishly tapping against the floor announced rather blatantly that the redhead's nervous ticks had come out in full force at the admission.

"I promise I'm not a pervert! I don't even l- uh. I'm sorry!" The boy's face had easily surpassed his hair in redness, and his cadence picked up to match Ueno's. "C-can someone else take over? I think I'm... rambling too much... or-digging-my-own-grave..."

---

@Asura@Lord Orgasmo@Obscene Symphony

---

Well, now all three of the boys were in the locker room, and all three of them had revealed themselves, so there was that mess. Hopefully some form of divine intervention would strike and this would all just become an embarrassing story he could tell five years down the road. He heard the sound of something clattering to the ground, likely Ueno's cane. Oh boy, he was really in for it now.

Except, the torrent of words from Ueno wasn't one of anger, frustration, or otherwise disciplinary. They were of excitement. It took a second for Genki to catch on, but it looked like, or rather sounded like, she recognized Diago and himself from the Cooking Club. She flailed her arms around towards them, before landing them on Diago, still speaking the whole time about them and the butterfly. So... was she a persona user too? Genki silently wondered if it was some sort of ironic awakening, like a blind archer from Samurai Jack.

Then she mentioned William. He'd only met him a couple of times now, and it was mostly just him speaking cryptic nonsense that he didn't remember a lot of. She mentioned another name, but that one didn't ring a bell. There was another bombarding of questions, which, Diago attempted to answer, but quickly turned into studdering, nervous gibberish before begging either him or Hoshino to take over. Looks like it was his time to step in. Hoshino at this point would probably end up making Daigo actually cry.

"Uh, well first there was this cat who stole Hoshino-san's shoe..." Genki took a brief second to remind himself of the events that transpired. "Then it ran into the gym where all those broken mirrors were. There was a butterfly there, too. Then the mirror turned black and a bunch of hands came out and started dragging Daigo-kun here into the mirror. " He nudged Diago with his shoe, though he quickly realized Ueno couldn't actually see that action. "We all grabbed on, but that didn't slow it down and we all got dragged inside. Then in turned out the cat was a lady, who could shoot ice. Mira, I think she was called?. And as we explored the, quote, 'dungeon' as the cat lady called it, we got attacked by shadows and started awakening. Except Hoshino-san, he was already awakened. Eventually though we reached the end and fought some big mask thing. After we defeated it, Mira threw something on the ground and we got out that way."

Genki sighed, his ramble finally over. "There was actually another one of us, Sasaki-Something, but yeah. There are probably a few details that I missed, but I think that's the gist of it. Unless Hoshino wants to add anything."

---

---

Emi listened hungrily as the boys explained themselves, slowly sinking onto the bench Hinari had tripped over. It was a bizarre experience, their descriptions of events being at once intensely familiar and strangely foreign. Shadows popping out of mirrors and dragging people in she was familiar with, but all this butterfly stuff, the cats, and William were all as new to her as they seemed to be to the boys.

When “Hoshino”, as Mori referred to him, finished his piece, Emi was silent for a moment, gripping her knees as she thought through all they’d told her. How much should she disclose? Her initial thought was everything – maybe they’d have some idea what happened to her friends if they had all the information. But did spilling it all risk scaring them away? Surely not; they’d seen the horrors on the Other Side and still came back for more, they could handle it. Right?

Not wanting to wait too long to find out, Emi decided to err on the side of more information. But for all her enthusiasm, her tone started out measured, almost somber.

“Thank you for telling me all this,” she began. “And let me be the first to say that… I’m sorry. I know firsthand how awful it is to be faced with Shadow, and now all this responsibility has been heaped on you that you never asked for. You probably feel like freaks, or like you’re crazy – at least, that’s how I felt before I found others like me.” She sighed.

“I should explain. You’ve probably guessed it by now, but I’m like you – Awakened. I have a Persona, and I’ve also fought Shadows on the other side of the mirror. In fact, my friends and I used to make a habit of it.” Emi chuckled, though the sound was weighed down with melancholy. “And I think I should take some responsibility here, too. That ‘demon woman’ you mentioned – she sounds familiar to me. I can’t tell you exactly why, but I know she was important. I think… I think my friends and I were trying to… track something down…?”

Suddenly, Emi pitched forward, hands clutching the sides of her head in evident distress. “But I can’t— remember!” She spat, frustrated. “It’s so important, but I try and I try and it’s all just a blur…”

She drew a shaky breath, blinking back tears as she regained her composure. She hugged herself, her wounds freshly opened now that there was finally someone to whom she could tell the full story.

“I’m sorry. I should start from the beginning.” Emi took a slow, deep breath, stretching out the tension in her chest before launching into her explanation. “Like I said, I have a Persona. But I wasn’t the only person at Hinotori who had one – or even the first. There were five others – Mineri-chan, Makoto-kun, Hanami-chan, Reiji-san, and Kudan-kun. Maybe you knew some of them; Reiji-san is Nakano-san’s older brother, and Hanami-chan was going to be the student council president this year. Anyway, we all had Personae, and together we spent most of last summer rooting out corruption and slaying Shadows as a team. But then… well, you all heard about the fires.”

Emi’s hands twisted the hem of her uniform skirt as memories of the wreckage came rushing back, the smell of smoke and soot as clear as if she were standing right in front of it. She shook her head. “Everyone insists they’re dead, but that can’t be the case. Some lousy fire isn’t enough to kill a single one of them, mark my words. But that leaves the question: what happened to them? And why did whatever it was let me escape?”

She shook her head, reaching to massage her temple. “My memory of that night is hazy – I know we were on the Other Side, and I think we’d finally found something important. I think there was a fight… but then the next thing I knew, I was in my house and my parents were telling me my friends were dead.”

Emi looked up at last, fixing a look of unexpected optimism in the boys’ direction. “And that’s why what you’ve told me is so important. You say you met William in the flesh, in what used to be a burned out house? Can you tell me which street that house is on?” The question was aimed at Hoshino (or at least, in his general direction), and then she turned where she thought the others were. “See – notwithstanding exceptional circumstances – we always accessed the Other Side through a mirror in Mineri-chan’s house on Akaitori, not super far from here. Obviously, hers was one of the houses that burned down. Ever since, I haven’t been able to cross over into the Other Side at all. But then William’s dreams came, and I swear I saw – well, ‘saw’,” she made air quotes, “I don’t know how to explain it but trust me – I saw Mineri on the stage. Then William comes back and tells me ‘the previous denizen of the stage’ has ‘returned to my world’, and I’m inclined to believe him. If your mystery cat woman is familiar with William and the Other Side, maybe she knows something about my friends’ whereabouts.”

Emi blinked a few times, not sure if anything she said sounded remotely sane or if these boys, even with all their knowledge, would write her off as crazy like everyone else and back out of there, never to be found again. And there was still so much more to say, and so much she felt she needed to tell the boys – about Shadows, about Personae, about everything – but she figured it was best to let them catch their breath. “Am I making sense? Forgive me – I didn't think I'd ever find somebody I could tell all of this to.”

---

---

Daigo's head was swimming as Ueno recapped her story; none of this felt real. Which, if the past week was anything to go off of, meant it was absolutely, without a doubt, real. Worse, it made the stakes that much higher. Not only did he have to worry about some shadow monster eating him while he gallivanted around the mirror world on the whims of some butterfly, there was also a chance it could decide to burn down the restaurant and kill him in his sleep. And it would kill him - Ueno was crazy if she thought her friends were anything but Shadow food right now. It was a small comfort they had a veteran of supernatural combat to consult in place of a demon cat with questionable motives, at least.

At her mention of Mineri's address, the redhead shot to his feet in alarm, "Akai- that's the house! The one that William was in!" Not that he had any idea what that meant, but it had to be important somehow. Probably. Maybe the appearance of her dead friend was a clue for her to find the - what was it? Linen Room? Or... that blue door had been a portal to the afterlife and William was some jailor of the damned waiting to collect on their souls in the fine print.

Suddenly very conscious of the gravity of the situation, Daigo nervously fidgeted with the hem of his shirt as he thought. If she couldn't remember what started those fires, they could easily find themselves repeating it. The price for a breach of contract was apparently memories, but Ueno clearly remembered plenty about the Other Side, so that couldn't have been it. Maybe the demon lady sealed her out because she'd survived the fire thing somehow.

Ugh, speculation hurt his head and nothing made sense anyway. Better to just keep with the plan until William gave them another cryptic piece of nothing to ponder over. "Don't worry about it, we'll probably figure it all out when we're inside. The Shadow pulled everyone touching me in too last week, so if one of us drags you in... it should work the same, right?"

Conjuring a veneer of false courage, the diminutive boy approached the mirror. It crumpled almost immediately. Even with his posturing, the reflection that stared back at him didn't look very confident or heroic; just a scrawny little kid made even smaller by timid posture and glasses that were too big for his face. A bout of lightheadedness pulsed dully across the back of his skull. These people were so composed and here he was, the same coward he was when that damn hand had grabbed him, ready to collapse and cry at the first hint of adversity but too afraid of becoming a burden to follow through.

So what did his contract with Khepri mean?

"Ueno-senpai," He mumbled soberly as he searched for the words he could assign to his worries, "What- What's the point of all this? Persona. What is it?"

---

@Asura@Lord Orgasmo@Obscene Symphony

---

“Really?!” Ueno jumped to her feet after Hinari, but while he seemed alarmed, she was ecstatic. “That’s Mineri-chan’s house! Oh, this has to be a sign!”

Her cheerfulness was a shock even to her own senses, a stark contrast to the mood of the rest of the room. And despite the foreboding concept, Emi was no less excited for Hinari’s mention of getting dragged into the mirror. “Do you think so? Excellent!” she exclaimed in delight. She wouldn’t say fights with Shadows were fun, but she had enough experience that they no longer felt like the death sentence they made themselves out to be – especially not now that she had new companions to stand beside her.

I’ll find you yet! she thought to herself, wondering if William and Mineri, through whatever weird dream magic they were using, could hear her.

Hoshino spoke up then, further confirming her suspicions. Emi couldn’t believe what she was hearing; at long last, finally some concrete proof that she wasn’t crazy! She had been getting signs from her friends, they were still out there somewhere. And now she had a solid lead!

"Ueno-senpai," Hinari’s voice sounded from a little farther away, his somber tone cutting through Emi’s haze of blind optimism. "What- What's the point of all this? Persona. What is it?"

Emi’s excitement fled her then, the tone of Hinari’s voice and the vibe emanating from him making her feel a little guilty. She hadn’t noticed how nervous he got. Maybe it was insensitive to celebrate so soon. After all her time searching and all her experience with this crazy parallel world, she didn’t consider just how scary this all must be for him.

She sighed, twining her hands in front of her. “I’m sorry, Hinari-kun. I wish I could tell you. When it was me and my friends, we thought it was to root out corruption wherever we found it. We felt like characters in a show, vanquishing evil and bringing light to the shadows – we even called ourselves the Torch Bearers.” She chuckled darkly, the irony of their childish notions not lost on her. “But clearly, we were wrong. And now… I don’t know. All this stuff with William is as new to me as it is to you. I don’t know anything about contracts or butterflies or the Velvet—”

Emi’s eyes went wide. “The Velvet Room! I forgot!” she exclaimed, reaching out for whoever was closest. “If you’re dreaming of William, you must be dreaming of the Velvet Room too. And the music that plays there – that was Mineri’s song! She used to hum it all the time, and she'd only ever say that she heard it in a dream.”

Of course! She’d thought of this before, but now she was certain! Mineri must be connected to all this Velvet Room contract nonsense – and if ‘Mira’ frequented the place too, then she must know something!

Suddenly the door creaked, and Emi felt another living presence in the room. It was strange; small but insistent, she didn’t think it was a person, but it announced itself too loudly to be some common pest. A meow identified the presence as a cat. Was that the one Hoshino mentioned? It must be – no normal animal had a presence that screamed Persona.

Emi couldn’t follow its movements by sound, but she didn’t have to. As soon as the mirror was permeated, it was like someone opened a door leading out to a typhoon, the new passage in the room unmistakable to Euryphaessa’s lingering senses. Emi’s heart jumped into her throat, and when nothing came from the mirror to grab her, she approached on her own, reaching out an exploratory hand.

It passed through the mirror unimpeded.

“Ha—!” an astounded sound, like a laugh mixed with a gasp, escaped her throat, and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Finally!

She turned back to the boys, smiling. “Come on then, I’ll protect you!”

---

---

Genki leaned back on a nearby wall as the stories from the others unfolded. There was that burned down house that he had completely forgotten about from William. Guess that was a little more important than he thought. Maybe he should take up William on his next offer. Though he'd probably need to write it down somewhere so he wouldn't forget. According to Hoshino, and, by extension, William, this butterfly they've all been following around is possibly some sort of mastermind behind many of these events. Oh, and Sasaki was out. So there was that.

Them Ueno's story. Apparently she and her friends were all part of some Featherman-esque group that fought shadows, but her friends all mysteriously all had their houses burned down and went missing. And apparently Ueno also had a case of memory loss, to boot. Another thing she said was that "saw" one of her friends on stage, with William spouting more nonsense he wasn't smart enough to figure out. Given the circumstances, Genki silently wondered if he was part of a B-Team now, and that he'd meet the same fate as Ueno's previous group of friends. Nah, no way.

Daigo spoke up again, confirming the address of the burned house, and wondering about the whole point of personas. Which was a pretty good question, all things considered. He thought back to the speech Xing Tian gave him. What was it supposed to mean? He'd have to think on that. Or better yet, maybe he could ask Xing Tian if they ended up back in the Mirror World.

The rest of the group continued talking about Mineri, and their encounters with William. Apparently he was in some place called the Velvet Room. Sounded like some sort of high end Cabaret Club. But that was besides the point. As the group continued talking, Genki heard the door open behind him. Uh oh. Another girl? This likely wouldn't end well. Then again, Ueno was on their side, maybe she'd cover for them?

As fortune would have it, it was a cat that came through the door. Genki let out a sigh before immediately recognizing what that meant. It was time. He watched as the cat, presumably Mira, jumped into the sink, causing the butterfly to sink into the mirror, before quickly following after it. Ueno quickly hurried over, placing her hand into the mirror, sounding quite excited, even exclaiming that she'd protect the group. Having someone with some actual experience would certainly be helpful.

"Hey, I'm ready if you are. Basketball was getting boring anyways." He leaned off the wall and perhaps a little too eagerly stepped towards the mirror and Ueno. This little adventure could answer a number of questions the group had. And while it was probably a life threatening journey, he had to admit, it sounded almost fun. Was he crazy for thinking that?

---

---

That wasn't the answer Daigo wanted. Like always, he was given no answers and ended up with twice as many questions as he had when he started. He supposed it was slightly comforting that William wasn't behind their Personas after all, though. At least, Ueno had one without ever visiting the Velvet Room or signing a contract. But Mineri had and now the Velvet Room exists in her house. Or maybe it always did and the arson was an attack on William? But then why burn everyone else too?

The boy's frown only deepened as he considered the scenario. Ueno seemed to have no such objections, and beckoned them on as eagerly as could be. As skeptical as he was about the protection a blind girl could provide, he figured she had to have been capable of something if she survived inside the mirror world for a whole summer. Plus, if they wanted to find answers, at least Ueno would know what questions to ask in the first place.

On Genki's approach, Daigo shuffled in place for a moment, as if debating whether to get out of the other second year's way or not. It looked like everyone was ready except him; better to just rip the band-aid off. The redhead hoisted himself onto the counter and raised a hand experimentally, stopping short of actually touching the mirror. Still deliberating - even though he'd already seen the cat dive in like it was water, and Emiha still dangled halfway between hell and earth for him to plainly see. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and crawled forward into the mirror.

The impact of glass on forehead never came, and when Daigo opened his eyes, he found himself inexplicably back in the gym, with the basketball games audibly back in full swing.

"Why can't I-"

Oh. This wasn't his gym uniform. He wasn't in the gym. The boy raised his hand in front of his chest and willed whatever shred of determination had gotten him inside to come forth. Cyan flames burst from his palm, and that sun card once again rose from the blaze to dance tantalizingly before him. Khepri. Reassured but not comforted, Daigo let out a shaky exhale as he let the card descend back to the depths of his soul.

"Oi, Mira-chan, where'd you go?" He wondered aloud, too timid to raise his voice in fear of attracting Shadows. He received his answer moments later when his gaze followed the source of the noise to the open gym doors and the feline girl that had evidently opened them. "I always knew they'd have sports in hell," Daigo lamented softly as he approached.

---

@Asura@Lord Orgasmo@Obscene Symphony

---

Genki turned towards the mirror, watching his two other male classmates head in. He couldn't exactly turn back now. In one quick motion, he hopped onto the counter and dove through the mirror. Which, in hindsight, probably wasn't the best idea. He briefly recalled his foot and shoulder hitting part of the mirror, sending him tumbling into the mirror as the light engulfed him.

There was a sligh sense of dizziness as Genki opened his eyes. He was on the floor, face down. "Not... my best moment..." He groaned, rising to his feet. There was a brief sound of the clinking of metal as he rose, as well as the crackling of fire as they rippled off of his armor. It was... a little heavier than he remembered. Or maybe he was just tired from the basketball. Then there was a sudden weight on his left arm as his shield appeared, strapped to his arm. Did he really need to lug this thing around?

He looked around his landing point to see both Daigo and Hoshino waiting, along with Mira, in what looked suspiciously like the gym they were all just in, with odd silhouettes darting around. Why a gym? Was the big bad of this dungeon going to be some jock demon? Either way, Genki headed over to the trio, catching Mira near the middle of her speech. Apparently, it was going to be much like last time, find the big bad and kick its ass to make the dungeon go away. Shouldn't be that hard, if the last one was anything to go by. Minus the whole not-being-awakened part for the first half.

Though Mira did make a point that this place was likely a little bigger than the last dungeon, and more coherent. There was also the problem of all the shadows in the room. They seemed docile, but as Mira stated, causing too much of a ruckus could put attention on them. "So what's next? Stealth isn't exactly my forte, especially in all this." He gestured down to the mostly gold-colored scale armor he wore. "And I sincerely doubt they want to play basketball against us."

---

---

Well, the mirror gym certainly didn't look like it did the last time they were in there. Daigo would've thought the familiarity to the actual gym would've been a good thing, but Mira seemed to think otherwise. Then again, that was a lot of shadow students. If they all turned hostile, the group would be dogpiled before they could even call their Personas. And even that was better than playing more basketball.

At Genki's complaint, the redhead anxiously swiveled his gaze across the gym in search of anything that looked like a viable route. Even if they were stealthy in their dumb costumes, the open gymnasium didn't exactly have much cover for them to hide behind. Plus, their track record of being unable to sneak around a blind girl in a dark room didn't inspire confidence. There was a balcony, which meant there had to be stairs somewhere, and staircases were usually compartmentalized from the rest of the building.

Wait, couldn't their Personas fly? Trying it in the gymnasium proper was probably a recipe for getting knocked out of the sky with magic basketballs, but the locker rooms should have doors that led outside. Assuming they still existed on the Other Side, anyway. Ugh, but what if there were more shadow students changing? He'd already been put through one harrowing trip into potential-naked-lady-land today, and Hoshino's suggestion that he just take his glasses off was even less appealing when the people he was accidentally peeping on could turn into monsters.

"D'you think there's a way to get outside? We'd bypass all the sports and Khepri and... uh," Daigo's voice tapered off briefly as he looked to the transformed Noriaki. Nope, still creepy and terrifying. Genki wasn't much better, but the ginger supposed he didn't really have room to judge given his own attire. "His angel... baby... thing might be able to make it up to the roof." The gym did look a bit bigger than it did in the real world, though - no telling how high up the roof would actually be when they got there.

"Either that or... sneak under the bleachers somehow." Daigo punctuated his disjointed musing with a noncommittal shrug. Mira and Ueno were the experts here; he wasn't even sure what the 'rules' of this place were yet. "Wait, there's not gonna be pocket lint shadows under there, is there? Like, is everything here dangerous?" If it kept with the sports theme, he doubted there were any wells full of evil hands, but evil sinks were still a possibility. Or maybe volleyball nets that entangle people. Or just regular sports without any malicious additions at all - that was torture enough.

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@Hero@Asura@Lord Orgasmo@Obscene Symphony

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Pushing through the mirror, Emi gasped as the familiar sensation of change enveloped her; her uniform, once trim and neat, fell away into a white empire dress that floated around her, and all over her skin, unseen by her but announcing their presence all the same, crawled vibrant tattoos of lotus blossoms, moving subtly as if in a breeze. The air was different from the changing room, more still and stifling, and the large room she’d apparently emerged into echoed loudly with the concussive sounds of bouncing balls and thumping feet.

The foreboding environment didn’t seem to deter her, however, and the first thing she did upon stepping into the Other Side was stretch out her hand, where a card bearing the Moon arcana sparked to life.

“Euryphaessa, on the lookout!”

Emi crushed the card in her palm, and at once a swarm of black-and-white butterflies burst out in a blaze of cyan flames, dispersing like mist into every corner of the space until they were hardly noticeable.

For Emi, the effect was like taking a bag off her head. In an instant, her awareness of her surroundings multiplied exponentially; having previously gauged the size of the room by sound, she now knew its precise boundaries, was acutely aware of its occupants and their exhausted behaviour, noted the balcony and the doorway, and pinpointed each of her companions. But more than that, she could tell the dispositions of their Shadow companions, that there were more rooms beyond the gymnasium they were currently in, and most importantly, that something big and menacing was waiting for them at the end of it all.

The awareness was almost overwhelming, having been away from it for so long, but at the same time it was only now that Emi remembered how completely blind, deaf and numb she was in the real world compared to the Other Side.

It felt fantastic to be back.

Remembering why she was there in the first place, Emi stopped revelling in her reclaimed power and returned her attention to the group. She had missed whatever was said prior as her senses recalibrated, but she did tune in for the very end - including Hinari-kun’s nervous questioning.

“No,” she replied confidently, taking a few more steps into the room. She zeroed her attention on the Shadows running laps, noting their attention was on something other than her companions, but that something dangerous lurked underneath.

“They don’t want to be disturbed. They’ll get hostile if we mess with them, but if we sneak around them and leave them alone, they shouldn’t be a problem.” She glanced back to her companions, now notably better at pinpointing exactly where they were. “There are five rooms in this dungeon; this one, and four more. Something big is waiting for us at the end of it.” She shook her head at Hinari-kun. “There is no outside. The only way out is through.”

Despite the serious tidings, her tone was nothing of the sort; in fact, Emi was genuinely struggling to contain her glee at finally getting inside the mirror again. ‘Feeling’ around the room, as she called it, for any thread of evidence that her friends had been nearby, a shockingly familiar presence practically shouted out to her from the middle of the room. It was really a miracle she’d missed it - she must have been a little out of practice with Euryphaessa’s senses. The discovery made her forget all about the shadows, the dungeon and the foreboding presence at the end of it.

“Mineri..?”

Emi gasped, her Euryphaessa senses confirming it was true. It wasn’t a perfect match - a little fuzzy around the edges, so to speak - but even if she was a little rusty, there was no mistaking the leader of their little band, the one who started it all, and the one who would hopefully lead Emi to the rest of their lost friends.

“Mineri!” she exclaimed again, running up to the girl and pulling her into a hug. The tattoos all over her body rippled, the lotus flowers falling away to be replaced by cherry blossoms. “Oh, I knew you were alive! You sent me those signs and I knew! Are you alright? What happened?? Where is everyone else?!”

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