Chapter Text
The first time had been an accident.
He’d only just moved to Inaba, was still trying to figure how to live with his taciturn uncle and his painfully shy niece. Chie-san and Amagi-san had walked about halfway home with him, drilling him about city life the whole way. Strangely, no one in Inaba was all that worried about the announcer’s death, much preferring to chat with the new kid about the crazy big city. The murders made for great gossip, it seemed, but none of the gossiping housewives or excitable teens seemed all that bothered by the fact that there was a murderer in their midst. Even Chie-san and Amagi-san would rather listen to his vague stories about city life than hear about the very real murder that had occurred only a few days ago. Maybe it was because none of the people involved were from Inaba themselves.
It was as if a blanket of sleepy calm lay over the entire town.
He’d excused himself early from Satonaka and Amagi's company. They were sweet girls, but Souji still felt as if he were intruding- sure, he was welcome, but he wasn’t particularly needed. Likewise, Yosuke was nice, if a bit awkward, but Souji just couldn’t bring himself to really try. It didn’t matter all that much either way; he was only here for a year. He may as well just focus on his studies. Friends were nice, but not necessary. Moving around so often had given Souji plenty of opportunities to reinvent himself: he’d been a ghost, moving around the school unnoticed, and he’d been a star, hardly able to take two steps without someone begging him for a minute of his time. He hadn't noticed much of a difference either way.
Lost in thought, he’d only noticed the rain when it began to soak through his outer jacket. What the hell, he thought, is going on in Inaba? This weather is ridiculous. He ducked into the closest store, hurrying to get out of the rain. Nanako-chan had said she liked to do the laundry, but he really didn’t want to have to ask an eight-year-old to do extra laundry for him on his second day living in her house.
The restaurant he ducked into was almost entirely empty. It was warm and brightly lit, with a frankly delicious aroma wafting over from behind the kitchen doors. The walls were lined with wood and adorned with nothing but a pattern of blue butterflies who created a path from the doorway towards a set of partially obscured stairs near the back of the restaurant. Souji sighed contentedly, happy to wait out the rain here so long as the food tasted as good as it smelled.
“Table for one?” A bright, pleasant voice interrupted his thoughts.
Souji nodded silently, watching as the server turned and led him to the very back of the restaurant, where she sat him down in a booth. Her eyes were warm where they settled on his face.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your order. Yell if you need anything!” And with a wink, she was gone.
Souji furrowed his brow in confusion. The girl was vaguely familiar, like a childhood friend found again after years apart. But Souji hadn't had any childhood friends, and he was sure that he hadn’t met this particular girl before. She had a distinctive face, and her strange red eyes were far from common. Not that it was completely impossible. Souji had gotten used to losing people in the endless throng of new neighbours and classmates. Had she been in one of his old schools? No, if she was working at a restaurant, she was definitely too old to have been in any of his classes, and he’d hung out enough with the older students that he would have remembered meeting her if she’d been one of them.
“So, this might sound strange-” The girl was back, hovering over his table with a menu in hand and a smile on her face, “but... have we met somewhere before?”
He looked up, surprised to have his thoughts spoken out loud.
“I don’t think so...” Souji paused, suddenly realizing that he didn't know her name. She'd been moving too fast for him to read the nametag.
“Minako.” The girl said, and in defiance of the laws of physics, smiled even wider.
After that encounter, Souji found himself frequenting the place, when he could.
Minako’s kind but distant demeanor was a welcome change of pace from the rest of his friends. He liked them just fine, but he could see the path of the entire conversation from miles away: what to say, how to say it, when to look into their eyes and when to let them languish in silence. He was never going to see these people again after this year, and he was so bored that dozing off mid-sentence is a becoming a legitimate worry. And his new friends made it so easy, with their borderline worship for the mysterious transfer student who showed up just in time to save the day. Even the other people in the town, from his soccer teammates to the mother of the children he babysits, were so open and needy. They half-hid their insecurities, dissembling only enough to keep it from being public knowledge, but not nearly well enough to hide it from anyone who looks at them for longer than a few seconds. They all wanted someone to notice and help them, without putting in even the slightest effort to ask for help themselves. Which is par for the course, he supposed.
Souji was not without sympathy, but there'd always been something of a disconnect. He could see exactly where a person is coming from, knew exactly how to support and cajole and empower, but he just could never quite bring himself to feel as strongly as those around him did.
So it was a relief to find Minako, who seemed to be perfectly well adjusted and have no need for any sort of consoling. In fact, Minako seemed to never be perturbed by anything at all. When Saki-san’s mother had burst into tears in the middle of her diner, Minako had swooped in, all comforting smiles and reassuring whispers, staying with her until the old lady had collected herself. Souji had watched as Minako kindly told the woman that her meal was on the house, that she should come visit her more often and teach her how to distinguish good wines from bad, and that Minako was always available if she wanted to talk. left. Only moments later, she’d served him his coffee with her customary blindingly bright smile.
He'd always been a fan of making lists. In a list, everything was ordered, controlled, framed within his own cognition. He'd begun to make to make a list about Minako the moment he'd walked into her diner.
Things he knew about Arisato Minako: she came to Inaba from Tatsumi Port Island, she was a great cook, she lived with her boyfriend and their pet dog, and she moved with an almost inhuman grace that made him wonder.
Things he did not know about Arisato Minako: why she'd moved to this sleepy rural town, why she smiled so brightly when there was no reason to, and whether or not her boyfriend really was, as the rumours said, a gang leader with a penchant for setting fire to kids who caused trouble in the area.
He was perfectly fine leaving his questions be. Minako, unlike almost every other person in Inaba, did not seem to need his help.
Today, Souji had arranged to meet Yosuke and Chie at the diner. Just across the street from Junes, the diner was close enough to be a convenient meeting spot, with the added bonus of being far less suspicious than having a group of kids spending every afternoon at the local department store. That the food was exquisite was simply a final, unneeded, benefit.
Souji looked up just in time to see Chie and Yosuke walk into the store, wearing twin expressions of annoyance. He was constantly amazed by how two people who were almost frighteningly similar could argue so much. Somehow, neither was capable of recognizing their own mix of overconfidence and insecurity in the other.
Minako quickly intercepted them, grinning and asking if they’d like a table for two. Chie immediately flushed red and shook her head wildly, while Yosuke stammered out an explanation about how they were here to meet Souji. With a shrug, Minako led them to Souji’s regular table at the back.
“So,” she said once everyone had been seated, “What can I get you three?”
“Oh,” Chie said “We’re fine-”
“Actually, uh, what do you recommend?” Yosuke butted in, clearly trying to speak in a husky voice, which mainly made him sound like he had some throat disease.
“Well, most high school students like the coffee. Oh, and our chocolate quinoa cake is pretty awesome.”
“Huh...” Yosuke said slowly. “I didn’t know this was a popular hangout spot.” He glanced towards Souji, who furrowed his brow in response. If other students were liable to overhear them, then they’d need a new meeting spot.
“Oh, it’s not.” Minako admitted easily. “They’re all scared away by Shinji, I think. I was just going off Souji here, since he’s our only repeat customer your age.”
The corners of Yosuke’s lips turned down, and he glanced once more at Souji from beneath his lashes.
“That’s great. We’ll be fine without anything. Thanks.” Chie said, her voice hard.
If she was offended, Minako did a great job of hiding it. She responded with only a smile and a nod, skipping off to the counter. Souji sighed inwardly, already expecting Yosuke’s indignant remarks and Chie’s cutting responses. It wasn’t her fault, he thought. Out of all of them, Chie was the one closest to Yukiko. Sure, he and Yosuke wanted to save Yukiko, but Chie was her best friend. Losing her was probably a recurring nightmare for Chie; seeing it come to life in such a horrific way had to be rough.
Souji buried his head in his hands, trying to block out the noise coming from the opposite side of the table. Ever since that night when he’d summoned Izanagi, he’d become so much more sensitive to lights and sound. He’d blocked out his bedroom window, and spent most of his time with his door shut to block out the noise of Nanako’s shows. The moment he’d called up Izanagi, the moment he’d felt the power, the call, the refrain of fightfightfightthisiswhoyouweremeanttobe pounding in his blood, he’d known there was no way of going back. His every sense had been heightened - colors were bright enough to hurt, and he could hear things he could not before. In the shadow world, it had been an advantage. Out here, it meant he spent half his time wishing everything would disappear.
Chie and Yosuke were getting louder, moving on from arguing about Chie’s demeanor to an in-depth evisceration of Yosuke’s foot-in-mouth syndrome. Suddenly, a hand slammed down on their table. Souji glanced up to see a man with hard, flinty eyes towering over them, a scowl prominent across his face.
“If you plan on yelling,” He said darkly, “you’re gonna need to get outta here.”
Both his friends seemed to have been struck dumb by the man's appearance, leaving Souji to defuse the situation.
“Sorry. We’ll quiet down.” Souji said.
The man stared them down for a few seconds before turning away with a “Tch.”
The three students stared at his back as the tall man stalked away to the kitchen at the back of the store. Did that man really work here? He couldn’t imagine Minako working with someone so surly. Souji waited for a few moments to be sure he was out of earshot, before turning to ask the others whether they knew who the man was.
“I’m surprised you haven’t heard, Partner. I would’ve thought you’d know all the school gossip,” said Yosuke. He leaned forward, eager to tell the story. “He’s a newcomer, just moved in from the city. He’s pretty shady, and from what my dad says I’m pretty sure he has a stick up his ass. I think his name is Aragaki or something.”
“Shinjiro Aragaki, to be exact,” Minako said.
Souji, Chie, and Yosuke jumped, startled by Minako’s sudden reappearance. Souji could’ve sworn he’d seen her serve a table on the opposite of the restaurant just seconds ago. Just how fast was she? She seemed rather cheerful, despite the rather unfortunate timing of her appearance. To his side, Yosuke looked like he wanted to sink into the cushions and disappear forever.
“Don’t worry,” Minako said “I know he can come on a bit strong at times, but he means well. And, well, yelling at the top of your voice about Amagi-san’s disappearance does make you seem pretty suspicious.”
“Geez, I didn’t know we were being so obnoxious. Sorry.” Chie said, visibly striving to make herself sound normal.
Souji agreed; hearing three teenagers argue about the disappearance of a high class heir to the town’s inn must have been rather alarming. So why did Minako seem perfectly calm, and even a bit relieved?
“It’s alright. And, um-” Minako paused for a moment, as she bit her lip. “You guys should be careful, if you plan on getting involved in things like that. They might seem so important and precious when you start, but... sometimes they just keep getting bigger and bigger until they consume you. ”
She looked up then, straight at Souji. For a moment, she held his gaze, as if she wanted to tell him something. He stared back at her, trying to make sense of the inscrutable look in her red eyes.
Yosuke coughed. The moment shattered - later, Souji would think that he could pinpoint the exact moment when whatever vulnerability Minako had shown was pushed down and locked away. Perhaps it he'd simply imagined it. Maybe there'd been nothing in her expression except his own mix of curiosity and anticipation reflected back at him. He could have sworn that he'd seen Minako frown in his periphery, but he must have been wrong, because when he turned to look at her she was smiling again.
“I read that in a book last week- sounds cool, huh?” Minako said.
She giggled, and twirled away from the table, heading back behind the kitchen. Souji watched her go, well aware of the stares he was getting from both Chie and Yosuke.
“…So,” Chie said, breaking the silence. “I think we’re close to the top of the castle- that has to be where Yukiko is, right?”
“Yeah. I think today’s the day we get her back. We should be careful though- we have no idea what’s waiting for us up there.” Souji said, glad for the change of topic.
Still, Minako’s warning was still replaying in his mind. She might have said she’d been quoting from a book, but the way she’d spoken…
He shook himself out of his stupor; there was no time to ponder the mysteries of an overly cheerful waitress. Somewhere, Yukiko Amagi is waiting for them to save her.
When all was said and done, Yukiko’s shadow was more… problematic than he thought it would be.
He’d seen it transform, seen the phoenix and the cage, and known then that this would be harder than he’d expected. With Chie and Yosuke, he’d understood so perfectly everything that had plagued them. Shadows were thoughts, weren’t they? Thoughts that humans could normally only ever think in the dark of the night, the thoughts they’d bury down immediately in the light of the day. How could he battle Yukiko’s shadow if he didn’t really understand it?
A phoenix in a cage. He’d never known much about cages. He’d always been rich, and clever, and handsome, with parents who either didn’t notice him or didn’t care. There’d been very little he couldn’t do, and even less that he wouldn’t. Sure, he could objectively tell that Yukiko felt caged in by her parents’ expectations, but he didn’t understand it the way he had Yosuke’s boredom or Chie’s resentment.
It had been easy then, to anticipate the shadow’s every move. Ideas, even ideas taking the form of a monster about to rip him to pieces, had the disadvantage of being very predictable. Of course, this only applied when he could wrap his head around the idea, which was not much help as he stood there staring at Yukiko’s shadow.
Souji shifted onto the balls of his feet, ready to move. He glanced once to his side and caught Yosuke’s eye. Though he’d worn a worried look only seconds ago, Yosuke immediately brightened up, grinning and sending Souji a thumbs up. On his other side, Chie only had eyes for Yukiko.
There was something running through him, something strong and strange and primal; it felt like a current of lightning running through him. He sensed Izanagi behind his eyes, waiting to be unleashed. Souji took a deep breath, coiled and ready to spring. He let Izanagi's blood lust run through him, turning the edges of his vision red.
“Persona!” he bellows, lightning crackling through his veins.
More than anything, Yukiko is tired of the pitying looks.
Both Chie and Yosuke had looked at her with pity, when they’d finally seen her for what she was; a scared little girl waiting for someone to rescue her. She wants a prince, someone to save her and love her enough to let her leave and come back on her own whims.
Her parents are caught between worrying about her and worrying about the inn. She does not begrudge them this; the inn is their child as much as she is, and Yukiko has never had issues sharing. Still, things around the inn are busy enough that they cannot afford her much time off, though they have no similar concerns about school. They were proud of her for trying hard at school, the same way they would be proud of her for pulling off a particularly impressive cartwheel; an accomplishment that is essentially useless. Yukiko does not need to try in school-her future is already set out for her.
And so she is sent off, only days after returning to her parents, to go greet the new restaurant owners in the area in the name of maintaining good business relationships.
The restaurant itself seems unremarkable, distinguished only by the pattern of blue butterflies painted across the wall and the upbeat pop music playing throughout. It's small, tucked in between two other stores, but it makes up for its nondescript appearance with the energetic music pouring out from the doorway.
Yukiko announces her presence with a quiet “Hello?”
She makes her way to the back of the restaurant, looking for any sign of the owners. Passing by rows of plain black tables and slightly worn down chairs, she reaches the back of the diner, which is filled with a series of rather comfy-looking booths. Finally, she spots them in one of the corner booths. They were a funny looking pair: a young girl asleep with her bangs brushed over her eyes, looking like a Raphaelite painting adapted by a moe artist. She was leaning on her companion, a tall man big enough to almost entirely hide the girl, who in turn sat stiff as rod, his dark face looking down severely at a cook book.
Unable to hold in her giggle, Yukiko falls into peals of laughter.
The larger, thuggish looking man immediately flushes, tucking the book into his pocket and drawing himself to his full height.
“Oi!” He whispered, his voice harsh and full of malice, “What the hell are you doing here? Can’t you read? We’re closed.”
Suddenly, the situation seems much less funny. The man is easily six feet tall, and just because he’d been reading a cookbook did not mean that he isn’t very, very dangerous. In fact, what if he’d been the one who kidnapped her? He was certainly frightening enough; she could easily imagine this man stealing her away in the night and dropping her into a TV.
“Shinji?” A small voice called out from behind the man. “Shinji?”
Yukiko peered around the man known as Shinji, getting a short glimpse of the once sleeping girl. She looked so fragile now, rubbing her eyes blearily and looking up at her tall companion, but her skirt was short enough that Yukiko could see the toned muscles of her legs, as well as the scars that adorned them. Her fingers did a strange thing, an aborted motion that looked like she'd wanted to grasp at something before reconsidering.
The girl stood up, stretching languidly before she latched firmly onto Shinjiro. With her other hand, she waved brightly at Yukiko. Shinjiro did no such thing, only gripped Minako tightly and shifted her slightly behind him, as if Yukiko were the real threat here.
“Oh, hi there! I’m Minako. How can I help you?”
Yukiko had been wearing masks her entire life, had understood honne and tatemae years before she learned the words. Yukiko demure smile and shy eyes were a precious part of the Amagi inn service package. But this girl was like the sun; so bright and warm and beautiful that it hurt to look at. So bright that it burnt out the image she’d seen just a moment ago, of Minako scared and fragile and weak. Surely that could not have been this girl who was all smiles and liquid red eyes?
“I-I’m Amagi Yukiko. From the Amagi Inn.” Yukiko lapses into the sweet sounding spiel that she’d memorized from infanthood, welcoming them to the town and running through what little there is to know about Inaba.
Shinjiro looks at her blankly throughout her speech, while Minako nods and oohs and aws as if it’s the most interesting speech she’s ever heard. When she pauses to take a breath, Minako quickly cuts in.
“And how are you, Yukiko-chan?”
Yukiko, taken aback both by the sudden question and the familiarity with which she spoke, did not respond immediately.
“I am fine.” Yukiko said, smiling graciously.
"Mmm,” Minako pouted “Still, there’s no shame in needing some time to deal.”
Yukiko’s throat is dry, her mind suddenly blank. What story had Souji wanted her to parrot in these situations? It had been a good one; she’d been duly impressed when Chie had relayed it.
Minako is still looking at her, still wearing that unfamiliar mix of invitation and reassurance. Her eyes reminded Yukiko of a fire moments away from burning out.
“Thank you.” Yukiko said, unable to think of anything else.
She wishes Chie was here with her. Chie, with her warmth and reliability and support. If Chie was here, she would have diverted Minako’s attention, would not have let this strange woman look at Yukiko as if she owed her some explanation.
Behind her, Shinjiro leaned silently against the wall, apparently content to let Minako do the talking.
Minako leans in and opens her mouth to speak. Her eyes are bright now, her entire body focused towards Yukiko. Her fingers, which had been tapping a cheerful tune against the table, curled into a loose fist.
“How was it in there?”
Minako asks questions as if they are dangerous, as if the answer can destroy her. Maybe it could. Yukiko cannot wrap her head around Minako’s strange mix of fragility and steel, of daisies and knives.
It makes her want to protect her and obey her. The effect is heady, like smoke that she can’t quite cough out.
“In that world- Your persona- How was it?” Minako said, her voice sugar sweet and her eyes razor sharp.
Yukiko does not respond. Silence is her last defense.
“Konohana Sakuya.” Shinji said, his gruff voice startling Yukiko.
Minako glanced at her companion with surprise, as if she hadn’t thought that Shinjiro would care enough to interrupt.
“That’s the name of your persona, right?” Shinjiro asked.
“I-what?” Yukiko gasped, a second too late for it to believable.
“Look, Yukiko, we just want to help. We’ve dealt with something really similar to this, and we think we can help put a stop to it.”
Minako stares her down, sincere and kind. Yukiko can believe it, that this lithe little girl with the dangerous eyes and this strange man with the protective streak have done something incredible. She wants this to be over, though it has barely started. She wants this to be out of her hands.
God, is she still so weak?
Yukiko closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and tells them everything.