Twisting and turning repetitively in his sleep, Adachi slid his back against the cushions of the couch. He looked around the empty room, letting out a sigh.
"Goddamnit.." the man stood up from his so called 'bed' and headed towards the kitchen. "Dreams aren't real..."
Currently, Adachi had woken up from a nightmare, which he thought was quite embarrassing considering how old he was, but he never felt too old for many other things, this wasn't one of them.
He wanted to distract himself from such a thing, casually helping himself to the fridge picking on every other food item he saw.
"Tohru Adachi, I presume?" a femine voice, known to be Margaret, asked from a distance.
"Is this your way of saying hello, Goldilocks?" before poking his head out from the fridge, Adachi swallowed his food and put down the can of soda he was reaching for. "What're you even doing here?"
"Your heart cried out to me, in desperation." the book that she was holding opened up as if a gust of wind were blowing the pages.
Adachi had a quizzled expression with hints of annoyed features. "To hell with that shit, I've got questions to ask you."
He took a step forward, approaching the lady. "Look here, I don't get why we don't have our Persona's anymore, and why is the Velvet Room accessible to all of us. Oh yeah, don't think that I don't talk to the Narukami kid, he told me about it."
He pointed his fingers towards her forehead. "And how do you know everything?"
The pages stopped, her hand swiftly snatched a specific page that stood upwards. "Take this paper and write."
Dumbfounded at first, Adachi solidified his voice. "That doesn't answer my questions. What am I supposed to do with a damn piece a shit like this?"
Adachi knew he had the ability to intimidate people, it was just something that came with becoming a homicidal maniac. He raised his voice louder, but made sure it didn't sound like a yell, but more like a heavy demand. "Why won't you answer the questions straight forward goddamnit, how hard is it!"
Despite his attempts, the young lady wasn't at all frightened. She closed the book and held the ends, the pages facing her.
She then swung the heavy novel against his stomach. Her expression somewhat frustrated. "You must learn to be patient, recklessness can distort you, as like overconfidence can destroy you."
Margaret then pointed at then the page. "Record your desires, they dont have to be grand, they can be as simple as buying a cabbage at Junes. After everyday, the words on the page will be erased so that you can write again the next."
Adachi clutched his stomach, bearing the pain momentarily. "What's the use in this lady? Wait where do you think your going?"
"Be patient, the answer may be closer than you think."She said, walking away. Margaret turned her head to take one last glance. "Go on with your journey, collect those artifacts, balance the two worlds and...one request, personally from myself."
-/////-
This time, he hadn't woken up from a nightmare, in fact he had slept quite well, much better than when he encountered Margaret. He woke to the sound of Minako's touch, attempting to wake him up as she called out for his name.
"Ugh..." he moaned, squinting his eyes at the natural lighting of the room which seemed to be quite bright if not covered but Minako's head.
"Adachi-san, it's an hour past noon, you need to wake up."
As soon as was conscious his surroundings, he took a brief intake of air, not a gasp but somewhat along the lines of one. Adachi was taken aback by her presence up close.
"Protect her with your life. Second Chances are what everyone wishes for."
"Goddammit..."he mumbled, slowly getting up form the couch. "I slept in pretty long huh?"
"Yeah, but it's okay, I sorta slept in a bit as well."the young female admitted, letting out a small laugh.
Adachi felt a bit uncomfortable with Margaret's request, it kept bothering him and he knew, it would continue on. Still, he let out a scoff.
"Well then kiddo, I think we should get the house ready, the kid will be coming home today." He ruffled Minako's hair.
"R-right!"
-/////-
For now, we return to the protagonist of this story, Nanako, while Adachi and Minako clean the house together. Nanako was up to something similar to Adachi, it was the night where she stayed over at Osaka.
Nanako had woken in the middle of the night, it was almost a habit niw, having to wake up just to attend the Midnight Session. It couldn't be helped at this point. Even so, the child wandered around, thinking that she might find something here, but it was okay if she didn't since, in her head, it made sense.
The lighting of the night was just as any other Midnight Session, but this time she wasn't afraid. One thing was for sure, Nanako wished ever so badly, that the floorboards beneath her wouldn't creak because, at times, she felt like something was following her. The skimppering feeling constantly tickled her spine, her breath became heavier.
She turned her head around in fear, feeling a strong gust of wind passing by her harshly.
Nanako reached over to where the wind was, grasping something almost wet but surely mucky.
"Sh-shadows here too?" The young teen ran down the lhall and opened a closet, quickly grabbed the broom and thrusted it towards the eerky figure.
Instead of causing damage to it, the broomstick went right through the shadow, its mucky substance staining the rod.
"What the-, I'm screwed." Nanako felt her palms sweating, she took a step backwards.
The shadow lunged towards the child, Nanako held the broom upward in hopes that she wouldn't get hit, it was quite foolish, she knew as she crashed landed on the floor, her hand dragged against the chipped wooden floorboard.
Nanako got up, blood gushing from her hand. Looking upwards, she felt another gust of wind pass her, but this time it felt much lighter and lasted less than a millisecond. It flew by twice, three times and a couple more.
"Nana-chan, you need to be more careful! Normal attacks won't affect shadows at all!" The voice had a bit of a rasp but the end was feminine.
"Naoto-san!"the child rushed towards the detective. "Thank you, but doesn't that mean your attacks were useless as well?"
"Yes well, I have something that does work. I hope, it's been a while anyways." Naoto tipped her hat, letting a small grin escape her teeth from under. She raised her hand upwards, reaching for the sky. "Persona!"
Immideatily, the shadow lunged towards her, knocking the adult off her feet just as harsh as Nanako. "Nghn, damn it."
"Nao-san!" Nanako kneeled over, tending to the fallen.
The shadow grew bigger, it was starting to take shape. It looked familiar, something from the past, from both of their hearts.
Naoto's expression changed drastically. It was a mix of anger but she also felt anxiety, was she...afraid?
"Yu...kiko-chan...?" Her name was a struggle to slip out of her mouth. She then stood up, staggering a bit due to her imbalance cause by an old mission. "Your not my shadow, but why are you imposterong Yukiko-chan. You have no right to do so!"
Her anger slowly grew on her, Naoto held a fist by her side.
The shadow grinned widely, her eyes looked as if they were smiling. "That's right Naoto-san, I'm Yukiko. Remember Yukiko?"
With ever word that came out of its mouth, the shadow got closer. "Remember all the things we did together, remember how I killed your loved ones?"
Nananko took a step forward, ready to defend the detective, but Naoto blocked the child with her arm.
"Nanako, stay out of this." Her voice as firm.
Nanako faced her, she held onto her arm. "But Naoto-san! You-"
"I'll deal with this imposter by myself!" The detective pulled her gun out once again and started to shoot recklessly.
"What's wrong Naoto? Are you disturbed by my presence? I thought we were friends!" As it was being shot, the shadow Yukiko was laughing maniacally.
"I thought that as well...and I still want too.. but it's far too late." A tear escaped her eye, Naoto quickly wiped it away.
"Aw, are you crying? What are you gonna do when you arrest me huh? Surely, you can't do this!" The shadow spread enormous waves of darkness, it rapidly swarmed the area, causing harm to the two girls. They kept coming, one after another, repetitively like waves of an ocean on a beach. Tides, fierce, it felt like a hurricane was taking place inside. The shadow was also mocking Yukiko's fighting style.
The pain overcame both the detective and the child. The both of them were now on their knees, helpless and kn the verge of losing consciousness. All they could see was darkness, endless darkness, because then, their eyes closed on them and their bodies let up.
Konohana-Sakura, Senbonzakura
The darkness started to clear up just a bit, the detective sat upwards. Her eyes widen, it was out of the question to believe what stood in front of her, even if she could she the back.
But there was no mistaking it, that red cardigan was iconic.
"Yu...kiko..chan?" Naoto felt breathless.
She turned her back and giggled. "You must have a lot of questions huh? I can finish this off in a second."
And just as she said, in a matter of seconds, the shadow had been defeated. Watching her fight brought tears to the detective's eyes, and we all knew she was never one to cry. It was too much, she questioned herslef why am I crying?
The elegant female the sat om her knees right beside her blue friend. "Nanako-chan is here too? She,s grown so much."
"Yukiko-chan..." Naoto kept her head down, she had no courage to look her old friend in the eyes.
Before she could continue, the female hugged her somewhat masculine friend. "It's okay Nao-chan, I miss you too."
"That's not it at all!" Naoto returned to her assertive tone of voice, pushing Yukiko away. This might've been another trick to kill her, pity the victims and they will catch the bait. "You've killed everyone, there is no way I would ever forgive you. And your hugging me, what type of logic is this Yukiko!"
Yukiko the held onto her arm, looking down. "It wasn't me..."
Naoto's expression was turning into disgusted, annoyed much. "What are you, a child?!"
Yukiko kept her calm tone of voice, despite Naoto's. "Let me...explain. There's something going on, something interesting with our lives. It has already, with me. Someone, something, I'm not entirely sure. But please watch out in the future. It already has, you saw me...and I'd never kill to keep Senpai for myslef, even though I feel affectionate towards him. I want to apologize, it wasn't in my control. I...I.."
Yukiko started to cry, much more than the detective. She started to bawl her eyes out. "I even killed Chie! I'm terrible, but I couldn't do anything! I...I..Chie..."
Naoto felt her friends emotions, the atmosphere was filled with it. This was something none of them wanted to remember and yet he they were.
"Yukiko-chan...I'm son sorry for accusing you..."
"It's alright...I just...I need to tell you something, but I can't give it away fully. I'm under a death will, a contract with something I don't even know, but just know one thing please...don't let these shadows fool you. There always illusions of what you feel, of what comes from your heart. This may be the last time I'll ever talk to you, but it was worth it. Nanako-chan looks so beutiful, she's a freshman now right? She really has grown up."
"Yukiko...I'm..." Naoto slowly approached her, scooting over with her legs, and held her friend into a gentle embrace. "I'm so sorry, for everything. And I forgive you. I promise, we'll make things better so that we can live a better life together."
Yukiko held on tighter, niw crying on Naoto's shoulder becaue she was the smaller one between them. "Thank you... and please keep this one thing in mind..."
-/////-
"The Arcana is the means which All is Revealed."