Chapter Text
Akira was honestly feeling a little out of it.
He had no idea why. Kotone was feeling better after the typhoon had given her a cold for the past few days, and she wanted to check something out in Tartarus... Right?
Why did Kotone feeling better seem so... wrong?
"Hey, you okay?" Akihiko asked, snapping Akira out of his funk.
"Oh, uh... yeah. Sorry." Akira said. "Just spacing out."
Kotone was in the velvet room fusing some personas. Though of course, to everyone else, it looked like she was just standing in place.
All of a sudden, the sound of a bell rang out in the lobby of Tartarus.
"W-What is that?" Yukari exclaimed, alarmed.
"It sounds like a bell." Mitsuru said.
Not long after it started, the sound stopped.
"That's never happened before..." Junpei said.
"Everyone, stay alert!" Mitsuru instructed.
"I'll scan the area with my persona... just in case." Fuuka offered.
But before she could summon it, the environment around Akira changed suddenly. He was... in the velvet room?
The first thing he noticed was the mysterious woman that he'd never seen before. She was clearly an attendant, her clothes made that clear, but Akira had never seen her before. Her hair was short and she wore a hat not unlike Theodore's. Igor also wasn't in his usual spot.
He didn't have much time to dwell on that though, as the surprised gasps from around him made something else clear.
Akira wasn't the only one who had been brought into the velvet room. Everyone else had too. They were understandably panicked, questions falling out of their mouths as they took in their new surroundings.
Akira made his way through the crowd until he was stood next to Kotone, who seemed just as surprised as anyone else. He turned to face Lavenza.
"Hey, uh... what's going on? Why is everyone here?" He asked.
"I... do not know." Lavenza replied. "I've never seen uninvited guests in the velvet room before..."
"Okay... what about her?" Akira asked, pointing at the strange woman. "Who is she?"
"My sister." Lavenza replied. "But introductions can wait. It seems that your friends are calming down."
Sure enough, the noise from the others was starting to die down. Going by the looks on their faces, they were looking for answers.
"Greetings!" The woman Akira didn't know called out. "I am Elizabeth! These are my younger siblings Theodore and Lavenza. We are attendants of this velvet room."
So her name was Elizabeth. Why was she talking like she owned the place?
"Velvet... what?" Ken asked.
"It is a room where we attendants assist our guests to create and cultivate many personas." Theodore explained. "We usually do so with the help of our master, but he happens to be absent at present..."
"My brother is tasked with assisting your leader, while I assist Akira-san." Lavenza continued.
"Wait, you two have been coming to a place like this whole time?" Junpei asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Sorry, we... couldn't figure out how to explain it..." Kotone said sheepishly. "We thought it would just confuse you."
"Never mind that." Shinjiro spoke up. "Why are we here now?"
"We... do not actually know. We were not the ones who summoned you here." Theodore said.
All of a sudden, the elevator stopped. It stopped. That had never happened before.
Before anyone could do anything though, the entire room started to drop. Fast.
Panic immediately filled the room. Everyone was shouting at each other, trying to figure out what to do when...
Everything went black.
When Akira opened his eyes again, he was in a school he didn't recognise. Students were wandering down the hallways and chatting. The halls were decorated for some sort of event... it was all so baffling that Akira didn't know what to think. However, when he took a closer look at their uniforms, he did recognise something.
Why were they at Yasogami High?
The first day of the culture festival had not been very successful.
Not a single person had come to visit the 'Group Date Café'. Not even after that act they'd put on to try to attract people. Though playing the role of a girl would probably be good practice for tomorrow...
It was nearing the end of the day and everyone had just decided to hang out in the classroom. No one was visiting, so it was actually a pretty good place to chat.
Well, they were missing one person. Akira hadn't been able to come because he had school, but everyone else was gathered in the classroom.
"You know, this was kind of a genius idea Yosuke-senpai." Rise said. "Making an attraction so unappealing that we have a quiet place to chat?"
"That wasn't my intention and you know it!" Yosuke retorted.
"Isn't the point of a festival to go around the displays though?" Yukiko asked. "It seems like a waste to just talk in an empty classroom."
"We have tomorrow for that. Akira will be here as well, so it's probably better that way." Yu pointed out.
"Aww, but I was so excited to check everything out! You've all been busy all of today..." Teddie said.
"You just gotta wait a day, man." Kanji said.
All of a sudden, the sound of a bell rang out around them.
"Ooh, was that the 'school bell' I've heard about?" Teddie asked.
Naoto frowned. "No... that sounded more like something you'd hear from a church or a belltower... But there are none of those anywhere in Inaba..."
"I think I heard that there used to be one though." Chie said.
Naoto nodded. "I heard the same from the principal at some point. Though it was demolished years ago."
Yu frowned. He was getting a bad feeling... "Maybe they were just playing the sound through the intercom system?" He suggested, unable to even make himself sound like he believed it.
"Eh, who cares?" Kanji said. "I'm bored, and no one's comin' here anyway. Let's just go check out some of the displays."
"I guess we might as well." Yosuke sighed. "You're right that no one's coming..."
Teddie whooped. "Finally! Teddie gets to experience a festival!"
Yu pushed down his worries. Everything was probably fine. They weren't in the TV world, so how could anything strange be going on?
As they all walked down the hallway, Yu did a double take when he saw a familiar shade of blue.
Before he could find a way to lead the others away, Margaret spotted him and walked away from what looked like a fortune telling booth and over to him.
"Ah, Yu." She said. "Greetings."
Yu was speechless. Why was Margaret here? Why was she approaching him in front of the others?
"Hey, Senpai! Who is this? Why did you never tell me you know such a beautiful lady?" Rise demanded.
"Uh, she's... an acquaintance..." Yu managed to say.
"Well, it's true that you have some weird friends..." Yosuke said. "Don't you know a nurse at the hospital?"
"Yeah, I once saw him talking to some really old lady, so this doesn't surprise me." Chie said.
Margaret regarded the others with a nod. "My name is Margaret. I suppose 'acquaintance' is an adequate way to describe our relationship."
Thankfully, she didn't go into any more detail than that before turning back to Yu. "More importantly, did you hear that bell ringing earlier?"
Yu's stomach dropped. "Do you know something about it?"
Margaret nodded. "That sound did not come from reality. I believe... something is about to begin. I hate to ask, but could you come with me to my booth? I ask that your friends come as well."
Yu winced. "The booth... could it be connected to...?"
Margaret nodded. "The booth is a simplified velvet room."
Yu sighed. There was going to be quite an explanation in order...
After a short walk, everyone stepped into the booth and...
Were suddenly on a platform floating in mid-air.
It certainly felt like the velvet room, the abundance of blue made sure of that, but it was very different from what he was used to. The thing that caught his eye most though were the two heavily chained doors at the corner.
"Woah... what is this place?" Chie asked.
Right.
Yu gave the others a short explanation of the velvet room. There wasn't really any getting around it at this point. They seemed to accept it, though some of them were slightly annoyed that he hadn't told them earlier. There was no time for that though. He turned to Margaret.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" He asked.
Margaret shook her head. "This is not how the room appeared before. I believe something summoned us here, though I couldn't say what..."
"Summoned? Wait, so are we not in Yasogami high anymore?" Chie asked.
Margaret frowned. "I would like to investigate this. You should look outside. See if anything has changed from what you expect."
Yu nodded. "Alright, let's go look around everyone."
Once they left, everything seemed normal at first. But there was an underlying feeling of... wrongness that Yu couldn't shake.
They started looking around... or rather, they got dragged by Teddie to see the 'Cosplay Café' that he'd apparently walked by earlier.
As they walked, Naoto looked out of the window and gasped. "Hold on, look out there!"
When Yu turned around, he was shocked to see a massive clocktower in the middle of the schoolyard.
Before he could properly react, he heard an outraged exclamation from nearby.
"I... I swear this is where it was!" Teddie was saying, standing in front of one of the classrooms. Instead, the display read 'You in Wonderland'.
"So there wasn't a cosplay café here..." Yosuke said.
"But I saw it in the pamphlet..." Rise said.
Yu and Naoto caught up with the rest of them. "There's something going on here." Yu said. "There's a huge clocktower in the schoolyard." Yu said.
"This room might be another anomaly... we should check it out." Naoto said.
Everyone else, after looking out the window and expressing their own shock, nodded in agreement.
"Senpai, if you would..." Naoto said to Yu.
He nodded and prepared to open the door. "Okay... opening it now!"
As soon as he opened the door, he was met with a blinding flash of white. Once it faded, he and everyone else were standing in...
Well, it was certainly way bigger than a classroom.
Yu actually had no idea what to make of it. The decorations did look handmade, though it would have to be by a very skilled hand. This was way too much for a simple school festival though.
"Rise-san, scan the area with your persona." Naoto instructed.
"Huh? But we're not in the TV world." Rise replied.
"No, I think she's right." Yu said. "There's no way this can exist in the real world."
"A-Alright..." Rise nodded. "I'll try... Persona!"
As soon as she called out, her persona appeared behind her. After the initial surprise, she concentrated.
"I can sense shadows here..." She said. "Yu-senpai was right, this isn't the real world..."
Teddie sniffed exaggeratedly. "She's right! There are tons of them!" He exclaimed.
"Seriously? What do we do?" Chie asked.
"We should investigate." Yu said. "I don't know how big this place is, so we shouldn't go far... but we might find something if we look around a bit."
"In that case, I'll support you from here." Rise said.
"I'll stay behind too. In case a shadow decides to come to the entrance." Kanji said.
"There's something I wish to investigate elsewhere." Naoto said.
"I'll go with you." Yosuke offered. "Wouldn't want to leave you by yourself."
That left Yu, Chie, Yukiko, and Teddie to look around. Okay, that worked.
The groups split up. Yu noticed immediately that this place was very much like a labyrinth. There were lots of winding hallways. It would be hard not to get lost here if it ended up being really big...
After some walking around, Rise spoke up using her persona. "Guys, I sense something that isn't a shadow!" She announced. As if on cue, the faint sound of crying could be heard.
"I-Is that a person?" Yukiko asked.
"Come on, this way!" Yu commanded, running towards the noise. If someone was in danger, they had to save them!
They opened a door and were met with two people. They looked to be a guy and a girl, around their age. They both wore Yasogami uniforms.
Upon seeing them, the guy immediately aimed a crossbow at them. He was wearing a spiked collar that covered his mouth and actually made him look kind of menacing. "Who are you?" He asked, his voice serious.
"H-Hey, don't point that at people!" Chie exclaimed.
"We're not your enemies." Yu said.
The boy seemed to relax a little. "Who are you?" He asked again.
"My name is Yu Narukami." Yu replied. These are my friends.
"Are you two okay?" Yukiko asked. "Have you seen any shad- um... monsters?"
The boy nodded. "We were attacked, but I managed to drive them away."
This surprised Yu. Could he really drive away shadows by himself, with just a crossbow?
"We thought we heard crying. Are either of you hurt?" Chie asked.
The girl, who had been silently hiding behind the boy until now, blushed a little and spoke up. "T-That was me... I'm not hurt, just scared..."
"Right, it must be scary getting attacked like that." Yukiko nodded.
"We were planning to head further in, but..." The boy trailed off. Clearly, he'd figured out how dangerous it was in this place.
"If you want to go further in, we can do it later." Yu said. "All of us can fight those things, but we should to go back for now. We have other teammates that we should regroup with."
"Y-Yes... I want to go back..." The girl said. Her voice was shaking, which clearly got through to the boy.
"Alright. He said. "By the way, My name is Zen. This is Rei. That is what we call each other."
'Call each other'...? Whatever, that could wait. Yu led Zen and Rei the short distance back to the entrance and back into the school. Rise and Kanji were already there. Apparently, Rise could use her persona if she was right in front of the door. It was good that she didn't need to come in with them.
Yosuke and Naoto were back too, so after some quick introductions, they started talking.
"So, what were you two doing in there?" Chie asked.
"We were looking for a way out." Zen said.
"Huh? Out of the school? Just use the front gate, dude..." Kanji said.
"No, we can't leave that way." Naoto spoke up. "In fact, we couldn't get out using any of the usual exits."
"So... we can't leave?" Chie asked.
"That's right." Naoto replied. "We looked at that clocktower that appeared in the schoolyard too. We thought it might have a clue, but there was no way to get inside."
"But if we can't leave, wouldn't all of these people start panickin'?" Kanji asked.
"They are not people." Zen said.
"Huh?" Yosuke exclaimed.
"These other students. We have tried talking to them, but they do not reply. I assume they are merely a part of this place." Zen explained.
Yu was just getting more and more confused. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to stop anytime soon. He felt a presence behind him and turned around to be met with a group of people who weren't wearing a Yasogami uniform. And among them was a familiar face.
"Akira?"
This school was really strange.
Akira was told by the others that the decorations were the kind of thing you'd expect from a culture festival. But all of the students were acting really weird. None of them even reacted to Koromaru or Aigis, which you would very much expect them to. They didn't respond to anything they were saying either.
The group wandered around, trying to figure out what was going on. The velvet room attendants had disappeared when they suddenly got put into the school, so they were on their own.
Eventually, they walked by a display that seemed to stick out more than the rest. A group of people were talking in front of it, and one of them turned around when they approached. He looked directly at Akira.
"Akira?" He said.
Now this was strange for two reasons. The first was that this was the first person who had acknowledged any of them since they got there. The second was that Akira had never met this person in his life.
Upon hearing Akira's name, everyone else who was talking turned to face the new arrivals.
"Woah, that is him!" A girl with short hair and a green jacket said.
"But... doesn't he look a little different?" Another girl with long black hair said.
Akira frowned. "Uh... who are you?" He asked.
"How do you know Kurusu?" Mitsuru asked sternly.
"I mean, didn't he say Inaba's a pretty small town? Maybe it's the kind of place where everyone knows each other?" Junpei offered.
Akira shook his head. "No, I can't think of a single highschooler who would know me by name..."
A look of confusion washed over the faces of everyone in the other group.
The guy who originally called out to him frowned. "Something weird is going on..." He looked intently at Akira for a few seconds before locking eyes with Kotone. "Sorry, but could you tell me what year it is?"
"Huh?" Kotone exclaimed.
"Please." The boy said.
"Uh... 2009." Kotone replied.
This seemed to surprise many people in the group, but the boy in front just nodded. "I thought so... There's someone we need to talk to. Please, come with me."
"Hold on, we aren't just going to follow you because you told us to." Yukari protested. "I mean, you guys are really suspicious."
"Will it help if I told you I want to go to the velvet room?" The boy asked.
After that, no one could really protest. They followed the boy to a blue display. Upon entering, they entered a large blue room that was suspended in mid-air. Inside, Akira could see Lavenza, Theodore, and a few people he didn't recognise.
"Ah, you're here." One of the women Akira didn't recognise said.
"This place looks different from before..." Akihiko said.
"Yeah, there are more people too." Junpei added.
"Can you explain what's going on now?" Mitsuru asked.
"Before that, I believe introductions are in order." The member of the other group who wore a hat stepped forward. "You're the Specialised Extracurricular Execution Squad, right?"
Just how much did these people know about them?
Everyone in the other group gave their names, which did help ease the tension. They also learned that Zen and Rei weren't with the rest of them. After they were all done, everyone in SEES felt comfortable enough to make their own introductions. For some reason, several people in the other group shared a look when Shinjiro said his name, but they seemed otherwise unphased. Almost like they knew what their names were already...
"Alright, can you please tell us what's going on now?" Yukari asked.
"I believe I can handle that." Theodore spoke up. "This school appears to be a 'haven in the rift'. In other words, a place connected to the collective unconscious. Put more simply, it is outside the realm of time and space. As such, your two groups are from two different times. Mine and Lavenza's guests, as well as ourselves and Elizabeth, come from 2009. However, it appears that Margaret's guest comes from 2011."
Kotone's eyes went wide. "Wait, so... you guys are from two years in the future?"
"That appears to be the case..." Naoto replied. "That is how we know Akira-kun. In our time, he's a member of our team."
"There are going to be shadows in Inaba in two years?" Akira asked.
Yu nodded. "That's right."
"Wait, why aren't I with you now then?" Akira asked.
"We were at our culture festival when we got pulled in. It's Saturday, so you're at your own school." Yosuke replied.
"Prolly a good thing... It would be confusing if there were two of ya..." Kanji said. Akira was inclined to agree.
"But... why were both of our groups pulled in here?" Ken asked.
"Nothing in the velvet room happens without a reason." Margaret spoke up. "I do not know what it is, but there's something you must do. You won't be able to leave otherwise."
"Hey, what's the deal with these two?" Shinjiro asked, gesturing towards Zen and Rei. "If they're not from either of our groups, where are they from?"
"Oh, right. What year was it when you got pulled in here?" Yukiko asked.
"I... dunno..." Rei replied.
"We do not remember anything prior to being here." Zen said.
"Wait, seriously?" Junpei asked.
"I remember that they were taken by someone..." Rei explained. "But we don't know who."
"We weren't just looking in that labyrinth for an exit." Zen said. "We thought we might find a clue about our memories."
"Well, it seems our interests align." Naoto said. "We need to leave this place, and that labyrinth seems like the only place likely to have a clue."
Zen nodded. "We have explored every other part of this school."
"I... I want to leave too." Rei said. "I don't wanna be here anymore..."
"In that case, please allow us to accompany you in the labyrinth." Zen addressed everyone. "I can fight, and I will make sure to protect Rei."
"Do you have a persona?" Mitsuru asked.
Zen furrowed his brow in confusion. "I... don't know what that is. I have abilities that I can use to fight. Rei has abilities that can cure and strengthen others. I do not know why we have them, but they are the reason we were uninjured when you found us."
"We've never encountered anyone who can fight without a persona before..." Mitsuru said.
"Well it's for the best, ain't it?" Kanji asked. "More fighters is a good thing."
"Yeah! I say it'd be great if you joined us." Junpei agreed. Even Koromaru seemed to bark in agreement.
"Then... I hope we get along!" Rei said, some of her earlier shyness disappearing. "Anyway, now that that's over..."
Rei took a box of Takoyaki out of nowhere and started eating happily.
"Where did that come from?" Ken asked.
"If I know one thing, it's that happiness comes in the shape of Takoyaki!" Rei replied, her mouth full.
"That didn't even answer the question..." Akira said.
"In any case, we should prepare before heading back into the labyrinth." Yu said. "We were all at school, so none of us have our weapons. I know we're unlikely to find any around here, but..."
"We don't have any either." Kotone said. "When we woke up in this school for the first time, they were gone."
"So we need to find some weapons..." Yosuke said.
"It should be enough if we can find a place to make some makeshift weapons." Naoto said.
"Oh! I might know a place!" Rei piped up. "Come on, follow me!"
She hurried out of the velvet room, Zen hurrying after her and calling for her to wait.
"She seems to be 'full of energy' as they say." Aigis remarked.
"Let's just go after her." Akihiko said.
"I will help in any way I can." Margaret said.
"As will I!" Elizabeth added. "I have never had a guest before, so this will be exciting!"
Everyone left the velvet room and followed Rei to wherever she was taking them.
The place they ended up was the art room. According to the sign, they were putting on an exhibit where you could craft your own toys using various materials. Something was wrong though...
"Why are there so many weapons here?" Fuuka asked.
"There's weirder shit than this in the school. 'Sides, these are all toys." Shinjiro said.
"About that... There might be a way to imbue these with the power to fight shadows." Margaret said, having followed them to the room. "I believe the shadows you fight should drop materials that I can use to make weapons, armour, and useful tools."
"Materials... such as this?" Zen took out a small lump of... something from his pocket. "It came off of that 'shadow' while I fought it earlier."
Margaret took the object out of Zen's hand. "Yes, this should work nicely. Hold on a second..." She went to one of the tables and started doing something or other with the object Zen gave her. She finished quickly and returned with a longsword. "Here. Bring me more materials, and I will be able to create new weapons for all of you. Of course, I will require compensation for my efforts."
"Are you... asking us to pay you?" Yosuke asked.
"Indeed." Margaret nodded. "Don't worry, the shadows should drop money as you're used to."
That hardly seemed like it was the point... wasn't she supposed to be helping them?
"Do we have a place where we can recover?" Kotone asked. "Usually, we have at least a whole day to get our energy back after leaving Tartarus, but I have a feeling that we're going to be in this labyrinth for a lot longer and more often."
"Ah, yes! I have found a place that I believe is suitable." Elizabeth said. "Please follow me."
She took them all to the school nurse's office, which made sense.
"If you bring your weary bodies here, I will heal your wounds and your exhaustion!" Elizabeth said. "Though, just like my sister, I will ask for compensation."
"Are these attendants of yours always so stingy?" Rise whispered to Yu, just inside of Akira's earshot.
It was decided that Theodore would help Margaret out at the workshop, while Lavenza would help Elizabeth at the nurse's office.
There didn't seem to be anything else to talk about, so everyone stepped out to discuss their plans for the labyrinth.
"We've met a whole other group of persona users and we don't even have time to talk about it at length..." Mitsuru lamented.
"Well, it's not like we won't need breaks." Yukiko pointed out.
"Right. I wanna check out this festival more anyway, since ours got cancelled." Junpei added.
"Yeah! We're gonna talk so much!" Teddie said. "I wanna know more about you guys."
"...Okay, I didn't mention it before, but... what's with the suit?" Yukari asked, addressing Teddie.
"Oh, do you not like it? Then behold the handsome boy underneath!" Teddie removed the top portion of the suit and grinned.
"Explaining him would take too much time to be worth it." Yosuke said. "Besides, I think your team has ours beat when it comes to weirdness."
"Yeah, but you guys already know about us." Ken said.
"It feels weird that you guys know a future version of me..." Akira said.
"It's weird to us that we're strangers to you." Yu replied.
"The weirdest thing is that we're from two different times in the first place!" Chie said.
"Oh yeah, I guess you guys know what happens with us in the end, huh?" Junpei said.
Everyone in the other team suddenly averted their eyes, though Akira noticed their gazes occasionally darting towards Shinjiro. Something similar had happened when they were all introducing themselves too, hadn't it?
Ken seemed to notice too, and his face went slightly pale. That just made Akira more confused.
"W-We wouldn't want to create a time paradox or anything..." Yosuke laughed nervously.
"I don't think you need to worry about that." The voice was Lavenza's having apparently approached the group while they were talking. "Chances are, once you all leave this haven in the rift, you won't have any memory of ever being here."
"We won't remember it?" Fuuka asked.
Lavenza shook her head. "It would affect the timeline of your world otherwise."
"Then that is an even bigger reason why we shouldn't learn anything about ourselves." Mitsuru declared.
Kotone nodded. "I agree. Even if we learned, it's not like we can do anything about it. We would just end up worrying, and it might take our focus away from fighting."
Akihiko nodded. "Well put. Let's just focus on the fights here and now."
Akira noticed that everyone in the other group looked incredibly relieved. That just made him more curious, but Mitsuru and Kotone made a good point. If it was something bad, he'd just end up worrying about something he couldn't change.
"In that case, I think we should talk about our leadership." Yu said.
"Oh, right. Each of our teams has a leader, but having two leaders kinda defeats the point." Chie said.
Kotone looked at Yu and said something that surprised Akira. "I think you should lead us. You're from the future, so you have at least some knowledge about my team. I don't know anything about you guys."
"You're sure?" Yu asked. "I'd be happy to, as long as everyone in your team's okay with it."
"Fine by me." Shinjiro said gruffly. "She's right that it makes more sense for it to be you."
"It might take some getting used to, taking orders from someone else, but I'm okay with it." Junpei said.
Koromaru barked his agreement just as everyone else nodded.
"How about we make Kotone-san our co-leader?" Fuuka suggested.
"Oh, like the co-pilot on a plane or something." Ken said. "Yeah, that works."
"And what about our support?" Naoto asked. "I don't know about you all, but having two people talk in my head at once sounds distracting to me."
"Oh, we were actually talking about that!" Rise said. "I did a quick scan of the labyrinth earlier, and the layout seems way more complicated than what we're used to in the TV world. We thought that one of us could handle navigating you through them, and the other can give support in battle. That way, we don't have to split our focus."
"Well, you're the ones that know best." Akihiko said.
"Right. I trust your judgement on that." Yu said. "And if there's nothing else, I think we should go into the labyrinth straight away."
Kotone nodded. "There were some weapons in the workshop that we can use until we have the materials and cash for better ones." She said. "They won't do much, but they're better than nothing."
No one had any complaints, so they all grabbed some weapons and met in front of the labyrinth. They decided that, since there were so many of them, it would be best to form a team of five to go ahead and clear the way for everyone else to follow. That way, no one would get in each other's way.
With that decided, Yu opened the door and the full group entered the labyrinth...