Persona 2129 Quest #50

You are Takashi Wakui, a sixteen year old Japanese high school student. In your world, half of humanity possesses a Persona—the corporeal manifestation of one’s personality as a supernatural entity. You had been an unlucky ordinary at first, lacking the potential to summon your Persona. Then the application AETHER was forcibly installed on your smartphone. It sucked you into the nightmarish realm of the Blackened Void, where you fought monsters and awakened your Persona in the process.

You are now the Wild Card of the 22nd Century. You possess the Fool Arcana, giving you the power to draw strength from bonds and wield multiple Personas at once. Already this places you in great danger, as the Fool Arcana is seen as an impossibility by the common masses. Revealing your newfound power to the common world would immediately land your head on a dissection table. To make matters worse, you and several others have been cursed as the Void’s Chosen, fated to traverse the wastelands of the Blackened Void until the end of the game. For what purpose does AETHER exist, what mysteries lie within and how is victory achieved?

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IT LIVES! Devil a best

[8:00 pm, 5-Jun-2129 (SUNDAY)]

>>Takashi: Spend some time with Aria.

After wiping away the moisture from your eyes and cursing the very existence of the clan of invisible onion cutting ninjas, you prepare yourself to do that. It isn’t going to be exactly the hardest task in the world. What you do is pull up a chair and sit next to her bed. Aria reacts at first, her eyes widening and a flinch trembling through her pale skin, both with surprise. Guess she wasn’t expecting that, you think to yourself. Then, no, you realize a second later. It’s neither a guess nor an assumption; it’s the simple truth.

That’s the kind of thought that would have made your past, cynical self chuckle dryly, so you cast it out of your mind and speak to Aria instead.

“Are you going to start drawing now?”

“Yes.” Aria responds, a hint of pride, but mostly joy, present in her voice. She then falters, wary. “But…will it bore you?”

“Nah.” Is what you end up saying, because you’ve never done watched anyone draw before. “Besides, I made the choice to come here. I’d be a pretty terrible guest if I complained about something like that.”

That’s the truth, at the least. She grins a little at that statement, and you internally congratulate yourself on a job well done.

“Sketches, then.” She says, picking up the plastic stylus and resting the tip of it on the flat screen of her tablet. “I…have to do them first.”

“Cool.” You reply. That sounds right. Gotta lay down a good foundation before moving onto the rest of the work. God, it sounds so lame in your head. “What are you drawing, then?”

“Oh, um, a girl.”

“Really?” You ask. “What from?”

“Show. I mean, watched it.” She shakes her head, and her cheeks are flushed with a tinge of pink. “Never mind.”

“…what show?” You can’t help but ask.

“…not important.”

“Come on, tell me about it. I might’ve even watched it. Anyway, I’m not going to laugh.”

She looks at you, blinking. “Promise?”

You’re a little taken aback by this. You asked something pretty innocent, a standard response to anybody about their favourite hobbies. It’s the kind of bullshit you humor Takauji with whenever he goes on about those pre-Awakening vintage action movies of his.

Well, Aria’s different to the rest of the girls you’ve met, so you shouldn’t be too surprised. In response, you shrug your shoulders.

“…sure?”

She leans forward and whispers the name, then a bit of detail to follow up. Oh, you realize. The show is a cartoon. An anime, in other words. Of course it is, you think to yourself. What other medium could support a sky battle between two rival demon princesses wearing extremely frilly dresses without irony?

“I don’t think I’ve seen that…” You end up saying.

“Oh.” Aria says, looking a little disappointed. “Can show you…if you would like?”

“Huh? Uh, sure, if that’s okay with you.”

You’re not entirely sure where this is going. But now you do, because Aria has just handed you a sample.

From the pages you’ve been given, it details the romance between a silver-haired demon princess and a perfectly ordinary commoner. You see roses. Lots and lots of roses surrounding several monochrome panels. Also, comically large eyes and strangely elongated fingers. The romance is saccharine to the point of rivalling Celeste's chocolates. Some of the anatomy presented could give the school nurse an aneurysm. In all honest opinion, you have no idea what the appeal of stories like that are. It is a girl thing, untouched by masculinity? Shizuka tears up at those B-list soap operas of hers, doesn’t she?

“Fun. It’s nice. To watch…” Aria mumbles.

Whatever, your friend is smiling, so you’re okay with it.

“S-sorry…didn’t mean to...” she mumbles, embarrassed. “I…I’ll draw some more now…” She puts aside the manga and picks up the stylus again. You lean forward and look towards the screen.

And so, the rest of your time with her flows by. A gentle pattern of chatting with her and watching her create grey lines across virtual paper. The room smells of flowers mixed with hospital disinfectant. Her words are soft and you aren’t exactly boisterous either. If an analog clock had been in the room, it would have come dangerously close to drowning out your collective voices.

You do your best to make conversation. It falls upon you to start majority of it. Aria isn’t great at conversation. You are no ultimate public speaker either. Yet it works, somehow.

“Hey, when are you getting out?”

“End of the week. Sunday.”

What the two of you talk about is complete nonsense, fitting for two adolescents halfway through high school. The amount of worth it has compared to studying is almost zero. Then again, that’s part of the fun. How did you survive all those years in middle school without it?

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot.” You rummage around in your bag and take out a sheet of paper. Aria takes it. She frowns at the title.

“Veleis-sensei asked me to give this for you.”

“Homework.” Aria repeats, sounding disappointed. The word almost sounds normal coming from her mouth. If there’s ever one thing that unites all students across the National Empire of Japan, it’s the dread of homework.

“Sorry, you know how it is.”

Her face falls. “Maths. English. It’s…painful.” She mutters.

You laugh, remembering both your and Celeste’s despair against your weakest respective subjects. “You got that right.”

“Bad at both.” She says in tone that almost resembles a growl.

“I could help you, you know.”

“Really?” Her eyes light up, like bulbs on a Christmas tree.

“At maths, I mean. Don’t talk to be about English. I’d probably just mislead you further, hahaha…”

>it details the romance between a silver-haired demon princess and a perfectly ordinary commoner
You and your silver-haired supernatural girls. I swear, Thorn, you've got an addiction or something.

Also: Woo! Persona 2129 is back.

Sooner or later, visiting hours draw to a close. A quick check at the clock tells you that you spent way more time in the hospital than you intended. You pick up your bag and sling it around your shoulders. Aria notices the motion.

“Will you come back?” She asks. There’s a strange sense of hope in her voice, bringing to mind a candle flame struggling beneath the might of a snowstorm.

At that moment, you hesitate, and it’s the confirmation that Aria needs.

“I see. You probably have…many things. To do, I mean.” She mutters, quietly. “Studying. Other stuff. Better stuff.”

“Geez, Aria, I didn’t say no.” You reply, a little defensively. In the back of your mind, a small, sinister voice reminds you. The existence of schoolwork, training bonds with your other friends, explorations in the Blackened Void…the list of commitments just keeps growing and growing. How you detest that voice so much right now.

“It’s okay. I understand.” Aria replies back, forcing a small smile. “I…I had fun, Takashi.”

You’re determined not to let that voice get the better of you. “So did I.”

“It’s…more. More than I asked for. So, don’t worry…”

“I…Aria…look, I’m not piled up with work or anything. There definitely should be a chance for me to visit you. And since you’re my friend and all…” You deliberately draw out the magic word. “I’d feel pretty shitty if I neglected that. That’s not going to happen, because I’m not an idiot…I hope.”

She giggles, coughing at the same time. “Okay. Get it.” She says.

You give her another smile. “Get better soon.”

“I’ll try.”

“Then, I’ll catch you later.”

She raises her right hand, slowly, and waves. “Bye-bye, Takashi.”

>>Takashi: Exit.

>You can now visit Aria in the hospital! Doing so will progress the Devil Social Link and possibly allow you to increase your social stats. This event takes place every afternoon or night and will only last until the end of Sunday.

>So, in accordance with that…

>Your CHARISMA has increased by 3 points!
>Your UNDERSTANDING has increased by 6 points!

[10:00 pm, 5-Jun-2129 (SUNDAY)]

You step out of the hospital doors and crane your neck to the sky. It’s is fully black. The night air is warmer than usual. Summer is arriving. It’s still cold, though. It also reminds you that your end of semester exams approach in more than a month. You shiver at both before turning on your heel and making a beeline for the nearest train station.

The small journey is not without incident. Ever since you were branded with the title of the Void’s Chosen, nothing in your life has ever not been.

Half-way there, in front of the boundary separating a convenience store and a magic trinket shop, you run across a certain person standing in front of a vending machine. A man, just graduated from being a boy, with reddish-brown spiked hair and T-shirt with an obscenely bright logo on it. A man you recall running up to you at a traffic light, dressed in an apron and a chef’s cap. A very familiar person, no matter how you spin it.

Oh no, you think to yourself, it’s that guy from the Chinese restaurant you visited with Takauji. What’s he doing here?

>[CHARISMA] Act as if you hadn’t noticed him.
>[CHARISMA] Pretend to be interested in the nearby restaurants.
>[WILLPOWER] Greet him with your stoniest glare.
>Say hi.
>Run away as quickly as you can.
>Custom option.

>>[CHARISMA] Act as if you hadn’t noticed him.

>>[CHARISMA] Act as if you hadn’t noticed him.