Nerusona

Chapter 16

“You’re the one who’s been manipulated, and not only by Idola,” responded Teddy, hiding behind his older sister.

“Just because you’re doing poorly in school doesn’t mean you have to take out your anger on me.” Idola glared at the fake Mamoru. “You’re pathetic. It hasn’t been a month yet and you’re already bombing your class.”

“I don’t understand how someone who’s rarely at home can complete her homework on time.” The doppelganger returned back to where Mamoru was, lightly kicking the original. He gave a dull sigh. “I guess this truly is the real me: someone who is only good at giving into orders yet struggles to complete them.”

“But you’re not me…” protested Mamoru, staring up at his Shadow self defiantly. “I’m not like that—”

Shadow Mamoru grinned at the original’s words; as if on cue, he was enveloped with a thick haze—only a faint silhouette was visible. The Shadow grew in size, and its head split in half to form two heads. The haze blocked out the rest of the transformation, but soon it dispersed to reveal a grisly creature in front of the five students. It had two heads, with both faces sealed with steel masks. The Shadow’s body appeared as if two bodies had been sewn together into one; both torsos were facing against each other. It had four arms in total—two hands held each other while one part of the Shadow carried a pencil-shaped sword and the other held a large paintbrush dipped with blood. The monster had four feet in total too, and it seemed as if it was trying to separate one body from the other.

“I am a Shadow, the true self,” it announced, knocking several desks over and almost stepping on an unconscious Mamoru. “I will take back my childhood dreams and throw you all into the gutters!”

All five party members turned towards Tanaka. The dog-eared male readied his sword, trying to think of a strategic plan as soon as possible. “Yamaguchi, Raku, stick together and head to the left side of the Shadow,” he ordered, pointing for emphasis. “Teddy, Idola, stick with me.”

The two females darted off to where the male pointed, and Teddy and Idola followed Tanaka as he ran over to the right side of the Shadow. Having five teammates had its advantages; everyone could gang up on tough monsters. As for disadvantages, well—

The Shadow swung its enormous paintbrush in Tanaka’s party’s direction, and Teddy was unable to avoid it. The weapon knocked him off his toes and several feet away, causing the child to temporarily lose grip of his weapons. Shadow Mamoru attempted to attack Teddy again, but both Teddy and Idola summoned their Personas to deal a swift counterattack. Raku continuously fired bullets at the Shadow while Yamaguchi used Seth to stop the pencil sword from harming Raku or herself.

Several minutes passed, and the team of Persona users made little progress defeating Shadow Mamoru. Tanaka couldn’t determine what the creature’s weakness was, nor could he find its weak spot. The Shadow was trying to attack both Yamaguchi’s party and Tanaka’s party at the same time, but because its mobility was limited, its accuracy wasn’t so great. When Tanaka looked at the Shadow more carefully, he noticed that it looked as if it was trying to act as two bodies and separate itself. An idea popped into Tanaka’s mind.

“Everyone, gather together!” he commanded, waiting for Idola and Teddy to regroup with Yamaguchi and Raku first. Once everyone did as he said, Tanaka faced his sister and said, “Let me borrow your knife.”

Yamaguchi handed Tanaka her weapon in exchange for his wooden sword. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

“You’ll see.” He gripped the knife tightly, stepping back to avoid getting hit by the Shadow’s weapons. Once the opportunity was available, the dog-eared male charged at the Shadow and stabbed the knife into the creature. It shrieked loudly and started to flail, so the male held onto the knife’s hilt and started to cut through the body to forcibly separate Shadow Mamoru into two separate beings.