🌒 [Open]

[wipingallout]

... ... ... ... ?

What is...?

I shouldn't... be awake...


[In the Velvet Room...]

[It's courteous of whatever's going on with Igor's plan here that Hamuko is dressed. She probably shouldn't even have a body... whatever she has going on now... did her body fall comatose without her? Did it die? If it was alive, she surely should be much older. ... ... ... Maybe that all doesn't really matter, right now. She's here, gifted a chance to be around others again. The pinboard catches her attention first, of course. Signs of other people... so many little notes, talking about multiple versions of the same person running around. That's... that's charming... that's fun. ...Even if the notes about Ken Amadas make her sad...]

Hmm... I don't see any other 'me' off the bat...

[She'll take a few minutes once given a pen and some pink paper to doodle a little version of herself, signed with her name and phone number, and add it to the corner of the pinboard.]


[Inaba, Central Shopping District]

[What a fun little town! A charming place... hey, isn't this the town she went to for the volleyball camp? She loved the accommodations, but it's so nice to actually wander the streets and see the little shops. This place is SO rural, Hamuko had never really visited a place this remote, even when jumping between foster homes.] Let's see... what's the good spot for the locals? [No point being a complete tourist shmuck!!]


[Shibuya, Underground Mall]

[Well, since nothing costs anything here... might as well get some cute new clothes, right? Who knows how long she'll be around here, and 'dreaming up' new outfits didn't seem to be a thing. No lucid dreaming here - somehow, Hamuko felt a lot happier with that in mind. Still... the fashion is so different!!]

I just want one cute orange top...!! Is orange out of style? Dang it...


[Iwatodai Dorms]

[Of all of the places she's been having fun goofing off and exploring in, the dorms... she couldn't quite get the courage to open the front. Not just yet.]

Not even Koromaru is out front right now. ...I've gotta apologize...

Comments

[wipingallout]

"Don't worry about it, Maruki-san," Hamuko assured, offering a more calm, steady expression. "Talking about it, being sad, re-experiencing the feelings fresh... none of those will break me. They'll make me stronger. And for researching places like this... it's important. I can be that for you."

With a small nod, keeping steady as she always did as the leader...

"I know what to expect, now. And I know now what sort of pacing we should do to not get overwhelmed by Shadows. What do you say?"

[takutomaruki]

"If you're sure," he looks away with his gaze softening. No point in trying to push really, all he can do is wait it out and let Hamuko take things down at her own pace. If it does come to shove he will have to make use of Azathoth to get out of here as soon as possible.

It's not like Maruki was actually planning to ditch this place entirely- that wouldn't have been right. This place holds a magnamimous key to how perception can distort an individual's views paired with the people around them. "I do want to unveil this mystery surrounding Nyx now," he grips his chin as he tries to consider how could Nyx simply overshadows the populace. "Her existence stemming from humanity craving for death seems...almost too absurd to me," he shakes his head like he was looking at an equation he knew he had studied for but couldn't conjure up a proper answer at the very end. No proof to bring uniformity.

He lowers his hand and returns her nod.

"Facing adverse situations and believing in yourself to come out of it on top is very admirable," he answers with a small smile. "I will try my best not to weigh you down then."

---

A hollow whisper of wind blows in the crevices of his mind, a touch too cold as his gaze drifts for a moment.

I am thou...
...thou art I.
Within the mind’s depths, thou seeketh solace for all suffering.
Thou hast uncovered a bond with the Death to dreams and despair alike.
May this bond guide thee to a future free of anguish—or consumed by it.

---

That same voice from earlier...

[wipingallout]

"Don't worry about something like that - the weight is grounding. I do my best work that way," Hamuko responded smoothly, confidently. And she wasn't lying - responsibility helped shape her to handle these extreme situations, to give her a reason to press onward.

And if Maruki was dangerous, or if he could uncover something to make a serious change... maybe they could come to an understanding. Maybe he didn't have to fall into whatever reputation 'other world' versions of him had fallen into...

Hamuko straightened a bit, hearing an old, familiar voice thrumming through her heart. Seeing a card descend... one she hadn't seen since those times playing with little Maiko, struggling through her parents' divorce. Not since seeing Chidori.

---

Thou art I...
and I am thou...
Thou hast acquired a new Bond.

The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed...

Thou shalt be blessed when summoning
Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana...

---

"...In the face of disaster lies opportunity for renewal," Hamuko spoke softly. The words... once spoken by the Nyx Avatar, the Appraiser, fresh in her memory and echoing almost softly from Thanatos.

Her smile warmed, a bit. Maybe that was a sign that she was still deeply connected to her role as the Seal, still firmly in place to protect everyone. While she'd logically assumed she'd have to be, there was a calm that settled as she finally sensed just how deep and unbreakable her wish was.

"Looking forward to seeing where your research goes. I'll share everything I know about Nyx to help."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki watched her carefully, unsure of how much of her words was her simply coping with the situation with her unfair past or a true resolve like any other. The need to take on burdens after sacrificing herself for the greater good of humanity didn't seem as farfetched then he had originally expected. "Like the textile ruined by my Takoyaki sauce?" He joked carefully in regards to finding opportunity for renewal, trying to wave off the unsettling voice speaking in his head. There were so many things he wanted to dissect in that dialogue, permeated into his head by a deep voice that transcended time and space. "That is a healthy outlook though so I suppose we might be able to make it past the gripes of this place after all."

Meeting your own shadow or the perception of yourself here...could he run into a cognitive double of his own? Shadowed by the echoes of this place?

The gears in his head turned before he focused on Hamuko and his expression stilted. "Technically, I should be paying you back or citing you in my papers but I am not too sure how would I be able to explain that my thesis was ran through a multiversal peer review process if I ever truly brought cognitive pscience into academia..." he furrows his brow as he grips his own chin. "I suppose I will cross that bridge when I get there-!"

With that he digs his hand into his pocket and holds out the same box of Apple juice from earlier, holding it out as a little token of appreciation. "I usually have more snacks on me but if this helps you recover some of your energy, have at it-!"

[wipingallout]

"Thanks," Hamuko took the offered apple juice with a small laugh, balancing her naginata on her shoulder to poke the straw through. "No matter what you do for a citation, I can easily see Mitsuru - my senpai, that is - knocking on your door for answers the second it came across her desk. Tell her I'm sorry for me, if that happens," she laughed lightly as she took a sip. "For leaving so abruptly."

'Leaving', right...

"And that I bet she is SUPER pretty-- actually nevermind, that'd be too weird coming from some man she doesn't know."

[takutomaruki]

Maruki smiled softly as Hamuko took the apple juice, glad he could offer at least a small gesture of help. It wasn’t much, but it was something. He watched as she poked the straw through and took a sip, balancing her naginata like it was second nature.

When Hamuko trailed off with her laughter, Maruki’s brain went into overdrive. Mitsuru... Kirijo? The name immediately rang a bell. He tried to keep his expression neutral, but a flicker of recognition crossed his face.

His mind flashed back to a conversation he’d had on the net. It had been with none other than another Goro Akechi, and though they had spoken only briefly, Akechi had mentioned that a Mitsuru Kirijo had approached him after winning against him. Maruki’s pulse quickened at the memory. The Kirijo Group, a massive trading company, had been whispered about back in Maruki’s grad school days. Rumors of human experimentation had floated around—nothing confirmed, of course, but just enough to make any cognitive pscientist’s ears perk up.

Hamuko’s light comment now seemed anything but.

Maruki blinked, swallowing hard as he tried to keep up. Her mention of "leaving" sounded far too final for comfort. His face paled slightly. He opened his mouth, stumbled for words, and finally managed, "I-I wouldn’t... I mean, yeah, I don’t think I’ll be passing that exact message on. But I’ll keep it in mind,” he said with a sheepish smile, carefully writing down the name Mitsuru on his clipboard. Even though the tragedy woven into Hamuko’s words weighed on him, he tried to push through it for the sake of the conversation.

Testing the name on his tongue, he glanced up at her. "Mitsuru... Kirijo? You’re talking about the head of the Kirijo Group, right? In my world, they’re primarily known as a large trading company. But when I was a grad student, there were... well, rumors. Nothing I ever put much stock into. Something about their family being involved with human experimen—"

He stopped himself abruptly, realizing how that must sound. His eyes widened, and he immediately raised his hands in apology. "Ah, sorry! I-I didn’t mean to imply anything. I don’t know the full context, and I certainly don’t mean to dredge up anything painful."

"I’m just trying to keep up here. Cognitive psience has its complexities, but I’m a little out of my depth when it comes to corporate conspiracies."

[wipingallout]

"No, you're right, that is something that was being done under her grandfather and by her grandfather's co-conspirators. She didn't say how much her own father knew, but by the time I knew him, he had resolved to change things a lot - and Mitsuru took over."

She shrugged a little, but her expression was a bit severe. What the Kirijo Group had done was horrid. Mitsuru carried a heavy burden, trying to right the sins of the past.

"If the Kirijo Group is under Mitsuru, then it's trustworthy. Without her, I can't be certain. Before her, it was horrible - and it's her grandfather that had captured Shadows in an attempt first to figure out time travel and later, to summon The Fall. There's a good chance that in your time, Mitsuru is still working on understanding Shadows and keeping people from being harmed by them - I believe completely in her integrity."

...

"And her ability to crush dissent in the group under heel. No way she will tolerate another incident like Ikutsuki."

[takutomaruki]

Oh, there was a lot shared in that single moment. Maruki quickly extended the name Mitsuru up with a placeholder to a grandfather, as if mapping out a quick family tree. Taking up notes was something he really did particularly enjoy and that trait had really come in handy during counselling sessions too. His mind whirred. Time travel. Summoning the Fall. Capturing Shadows. The sheer breadth of Kirijo’s past dealings staggered him.

To hear other people researching into cognitive psciences, to hear that he might not have actually been the first perpetual psicentist in anyway...still considering the fact that those researchers brought about the Fall- "Hm...time travel and then? Calling onto the harbinger of death...right..." he nods ever so slowly as he makes notes while his mind wanders. "That is certainly a jump from one goal to another-" he couldn't help but honestly be baffled by the sheer possibility of it.

Time travel...could very well be possible though. By rewriting certain events into cognition metaphysically, we could change perception to the point of exemplifying the effect into the material world. He knows Azathoth was capable of it, judging from how it created cognitions and other copies readily.

Still, something in Hamuko’s words made him uneasy. She’d mentioned Mitsuru’s integrity and her ability to crush dissent in the group. But what really drew his attention was the way she said...

“‘Another incident like Ikutsuki,’” he repeated slowly, as if turning the phrase over in his mind. “Did he do something in particular outside of dabbling in these phenomena?"

He didn’t know the full story, but Hamuko’s tone had been heavy with past betrayal. And if he were to bring up his own research to Mitsuru... was there a comparison being drawn?

[wipingallout]

"He was a loyalist to the group that wanted to bring The Fall. He posed as our mentor and guide, a supporting researcher, and both withheld information and manipulated it to cause us to accelerate The Fall, making us think we were working towards ending the Dark Hour."

He was dead, fallen off of Tartarus' impossible heights, but the betrayal still hurt. No one likes to be played for the fool, let alone what he'd done to doom all of mankind.

"He thought he'd be a part of a system of control over the world of The Lost. He attempted to sacrifice us all on one of the roofs of Tartarus and he shot Mitsuru's father dead. So, needless to say... if your world's Kirijo Group doesn't have Mitsuru at the head, there is a long history of violence, fanatical nihilism and manipulation in the group that needs someone with the resolve to actually purge it out.

"To put it more succinctly: I trust Mitsuru. I do not trust the Kirijo Group, especially without her."

1/2

[takutomaruki]

Maruki listens intently, one hand gripping his chin with the clipboard now tucked underneath. His gaze shifts to the side, carefully adhering to the description she laid out about the rather...strange man. "I am really sorry to hear that," his eyes soften.

“Of course, my experiences weren’t anywhere near as harrowing as yours. But… I do understand the pain of being betrayed by someone you trusted.” His mind drifted briefly to his own past—his college professor, the mental shutdown cases, and how his research had been exploited by people with dark agendas. Even though he hadn’t physically taken part in those horrors, it still stung.

Ikutsuki’s actions, though, seemed like the stuff of dark fiction. A mentor posing as a guide, leading those who trusted him straight to doom. “He sounds like a rather despicable man,” Maruki said with a faint frown, his expression clouded. “All that effort—just to bring about the Fall? What a… dismal, meaningless cause.” Perhaps he misintepreted her or she still had reason to suspect him. Either way, Maruki didn't have any hidden agenda as melevolent like that.

He adjusts his glasses. They click on the bridge of his nose.

Still, the mention of Mitsuru Kirijo gnawed at the edges of his mind. He couldn’t say for sure who led the Kirijo Group in his own world—he had heard of her, but only vaguely, and many years ago. But Hamuko’s trust in her spoke volumes.

“I can’t say for certain where Kirijo-san stands in my world,” he admitted. “But if she’s as strong-minded as you say she is—carrying the weight of her family’s past while fighting to right those wrongs—then I believe she’s more than capable of steering the Kirijo Group down a better path.”

A faint smile touched his lips, lighter this time. “Honestly, I might refer to her for a citation if I ever make it back.”

That small levity didn’t last long.

Something shifted. The hairs on the back of Maruki’s neck prickled—a sudden, involuntary reaction, as though the air had changed. His breath hitched. He felt a strange pressure coil around him, like a low hum vibrating through his chest. Then, faintly…

2/2

[takutomaruki]

Listen...
To my voice

He froze, one hand instinctively flying to his neck. His eyes widened behind his glasses. “I—did I hit my head or something? I swear I just heard—”

....bellowing voice...

He blinked rapidly, as though trying to clear his vision or shake off a dream. His brows knitted together. “I think I heard a girl’s voice,” he murmured, more to himself than to Hamuko.

[wipingallout]

Hamuko halted any response, quieting to turn her head, try and catch the voice on the wind. There was a subtle shift, wasn't there...?

Voice...? Bellowing...?

"...I think... we can go deeper. Let's see what that is. We have more battles ahead of us - I'll focus on physical damage, if you can try for elemental. Do you know how to do an All Out Attack?"

[takutomaruki]

Azathoth would have been able to easily cover all of those attacks.

This place means nothing to us, doctor.

Why?

Are you ashamed of yourself? I am you after all.

For a split second, Maruki gritted his teeth a little before schooling his expression back to normalcy.

"An all-out attack?" he frowns, a question mark hanging off on his head. "I have... no idea what that means-! Is that some sort of fighting strategy?" he laughs in hesitation.

[wipingallout]

"That's right. When all of the enemies are knocked prone, a team can rush in and gang up on them - you hit them with everything you've got, pummel them while they're down! You can do a TON of damage that way, sometimes even killing the whole lot of Shadows," Hamuko explained with a nod.

[takutomaruki]

"Honing in on the fact that an enemy can be knocked down by potentially landing their weaknesses, which will affect their chances of landing an attack and then you overwhelm them," he nods- frighteningly following along with her. "I will keep an eye out for any potential weaknesses and direct them to you."

"Do I...get to practise my Aikido skills at the shadows?"

[wipingallout]

"Yep - and don't hold back. Hit them as hard as you possibly can!! I like venting out any and all anger sitting in me in that moment. And don't worry - I won't lose track of you in the scuffle, so just focus on swinging and shooting as much as you can."

She had pleeeeenty of experience being battle-aware enough to not accidentally stab him in the pile-on.

"Alright. Follow my lead, Maruki-san. We'll get further in to hear that voice."

[takutomaruki]

Hamuko's drive was infectious for sure. On the first few months of his arrival the only thing that had driven him up a wall is to gain his memories back so he could realize his true potential. His goal to remove the very flaws that wrung their reality dry and seek the root of his memories. Ones that Azathoth had flashed in his mind- fuelling his drive to tear through the different levels of Mementos so that he could make it to the bottom floor.

Things had changed from then.

If he approached this correctly, he should be able to benefit from this whole ordeal. Even if it didn't serve in the end results of his research, Maruki would never deny the opportunity to learn about people's metaphorical hearts.

Though his expression falls a little from the mention of shooting. "I don't think that peashooter would even be able to make it to any of the shadows." Yes he was still sulking from the gun now residing in his pockets. If it wasn't there, its probably lost in his pants.

Still-! No time to argue. "Roger that, leader," he answers dutifully as he looks on ahead, his left pupil once again glowing as he casually holds his clipboard from the top and follows Hamuko's lead.

She was a ghost. Someone who had just fought through hell itself probably and yet she was here, standing tall- leading him. There was something deeply moving about it all and all Maruki felt was the punctuated weight of her sheer will. It was passionate.

And so damn intriguing.

---

Listen…
To my voice
My shouting, bellowing voice

Here I am
Pouring my blood into my words
Yelling at the very edge of the world

I am the little mermaid…
Unable to return, the little mermaid…
Fated to foam, the little mermaid…

"Fated to foam, huh?" he grimaces- quite sure Hamuko could hear that voice just as clearly as he did. "There's a degree of helplessness here that is reflected upon the entirety of this place."

"That could explain why we have the worst weapons and zero items to our disposal." This is quite literally a physical manifestation of depression.

[wipingallout]

Fated to foam...

Yelling at the very edge of the world...

Hamuko nodded at Maruki's assessment, slowing to a walk before stopping in front of the next shimenawa and placing her hand on the rope. Same as before. Binding something in, keeping it away from anyone else.

"You always wonder what it really looks like when they say something like walk a mile in someone else's shoes," she said softly, nodding a bit. She understood this place. "This is so different from the Dark Hour. The Dark Hour feels like you're being watched, ever and always, and everyone else is asleep. But here... a person's heart shapes everything else around it. It's incredible."

[takutomaruki]

"My profession certainly takes that sentiment and ramps it up a notch," he agrees as he follows closely. "And the mile she seemed to cross seemed to be...already..." -doomed he wanted to say while watching her movements. Her experience shows in the way she commands the field while remaining headstrong with her ideals.
In comparison to her, Maruki always held a rather clinical case. An academic driven by thought, function and observation with ideals that some of the most stubborn men won't be able to keep up with- simply for the emotion underneath.

He looks around. Accessing. There's a flower petal that falls to the ground and Takuto leans forward- fingers grasping the small stem before it disappears and melts away. "Mementos in Tokyo has something similar to this place so maybe the theory of Nyx governing other people's cognition might be the true exception," he hums. "I wonder how much of it remains a godly influence and how much of the perception of a god is envisioned by the masses. Even counting the ones who are asleep."

He really should go to Tartarus one day.

"Ah-! I may have found a chest!" He practically calls out to her the moment he sees the glinting shine in the fog. Making his way over to it, surprised by the lack of a lock (which Azathoth used to promptly break) as he proceeds to pull it open.

A singular item. Is that...a bell?

"Fascinating," he tries to grab it then slightly flinches when he feels a prick of electricity course right through his fingers. "Ouch-!"

While he almost drops the item, the keyword remains almost because now he's holding out the item to the young woman.

[wipingallout]

That caught her attention! With a blink, a soft sound of glass shattering, Hamuko switched her persona from Messiah to Vishnu, who was immune to electricity. The bell thrummed in her hand as she gauged it, feeling its fragility but potent magical power.

"Something to use in a pinch," she observed with a nod, tucking it into her fanny pack. "If we run completely out of stamina and can't use spells from our Personas, this might be the ticket to claw our way back out without getting TOO caught off guard. I'll keep an eye on it but feel free to dive for my pack if things are looking hairy," she assessed with a thoughtful nod.

[takutomaruki]

"You are telling me these induce elemental attacks?!" Maruki's eyebrows hiked far up behind his glasses. "...why a bell though? Would we be able to strike a lightning bolt on the shadows if we ring it- oh-! Actually don't tell me, I might make use of it later on with our exploration."

Its then he remembers something. Something stemming from his own explorations in Mementos that makes his hand fly up to his face in exasperation. "Oh my god and now I used to wonder why the shadows always threw those coils and dry ice at me-!"

Those dealt elemental damage-! He just-! Threw them away. Well aside from the Zener cards- they were good for pysch exams but still.

Maybe it will be useful for Morning too... so that he can protect himself if he ever stumbled into these places without a persona.

"And here I used to think those shadows were just rude." He shook his head at his own stupidity. "Most of them were...honestly."

[wipingallout]

"Well... look where we are," Hamuko gestured, the bell tinkling in her hand as she did. "There's a lot of deeply historic Japanese influence here. Bells are always used at shrines and in rituals, right? I never learned more than that, but it makes sense that bells would have to have some measure of meaning and power here."

She did laugh a little at him griping about rude Shadows, though.

"If they're all the subconscious parts of people, well... I guess that explains why they're surly."

1/2

[takutomaruki]

He supposes that did make a lot of sense given the context of a shrine and its roots into Japanese culture. It didn't make it any less weird that a bell was connected to electricity but- gah-! How is he supposed to make breakthroughs if he's stuck on little things like this?

"Oh they are really surly. And inappropriate. Some of them are hilarious though," he does quietly add at the end, grinning ear to ear as he remembers his encounters with some of the friendlier shadows. "Alive." Even the more mischievious ones like the ones from the Jack Frost family as Maruki had coined in some of his reports. How some of them had shared marshmellows with him in the depths of mementos or how some of the shadows had his snacks while recieving counselling.

"You know what?"

[takutomaruki]

"You are right. A person's heart...it's...quite incredible."

[wipingallout]

"It is! I hope wherever this person ended up... they're at peace. If not, I hope we meet here in this strange place Igor brought us - I'd like to talk to her. Maybe she and I could bond a little."

She wouldn't have to feel entirely alone, in what she'd gone through...

"Mkay! Time to beat up on shadows again - I'm going in with physical attacks and hoping for critical hits. Another Persona of mine is better suited for it," she said, a blink of her eyes creating that blue glow, that clinking of shattering glass as her 'mask' shifted immediately.

"Let's get further in and hear more of her poetry if we can."