2025-07-01: Equal in Weight

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<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

Mementos.

Nobody really knows what Mementos is, and SEES is no exception. They know it's a supernatural space. They know that Shadows appear in it, though the Shadows are different from those they encounter in Tartarus. But they don't know how far it goes, or even if it has a bottom; they don't know what's in it, really; and they don't know if the Shadows can get out to join the ones that wander in the Dark Hour.

But they do know how to get *in*.

It's not hard: just use an Evoker at a transit station. Train or bus, it doesn't seem to matter. It doesn't even have to be the Dark Hour, so they might even be able to explore *and* get a full night's sleep. The hardest part will be not getting caught using something that looks like a gun in a place that is by its very nature extremely public. Maybe the bathroom really is a good idea... or around back, because you don't have to be inside the station. Nearby is enough.

Once the SEES exploration team is inside, though...

Even the upper floors of Mementos - Qimranut, the Thought-Robbing Path, though they might not know either proper name for it - are uncanny. It could be an abandoned subway track, if it wasn't for the fragmented blueness at the edge of vision and a constant, steady blowing of wind from... somewhere that seems to push you on.

But look around and it's less pleasant. There are weird growths at the top of pillars, and alongside the tracks; at a distance they look bloody. The tracks wander everywhere and don't follow any kind of sensible pattern, regularly dead-ending into walls or splitting and then rejoining later. It feels like the same kind of almost abstract shaping as Tartarus, like an organic pattern you don't understand - more grown than built.

At least you are not immediately ambushed. So there's that. But there is the sense there are Shadows around, and in the distance, they can sometimes be heard. 

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

Minako is slightly unnerved that using an Evoker at a transit station works. It's the sort of incongruity with the supernatural and natural world that is a reminder of how little they know -- of how rules exist but those rules don't quite follow the expected pattern.

She straightens up as they enter, back straight up; her Evoker is at her side, and a little blue mist trails after her. She was the one to pull the trigger.

Her crimson eyes scan over the strange look of Qimranut. Almost an abandoned subwaytunnel -- except that they turn bloody in the distance, spiral out into odd patterns, and there are growths here and there.

It reminds her of Tartarus, and not in a good way.

"...This place is weird," she says, her voice quiet. "I don't think I like it."

<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.

 
Hitomi Mandai isn't anyone's sucker.

She went into the bathroom stall to --

Which means that she manifests in a half-crouch, her arms immediately sticking out and flailing as she straightens herself upright and looks down, patting herself for a moment, glancing towards the others. "Wow," she says, as the mist dissipates. "It really worked!"

She puts the Evoker away.

After this, Hitomi breathes steadily, pausing to tighten the belt on the reinforced greave-like trousers and the arm guard. She snaps the top of the Evoker's holster down. "... It's so morbid," Hitomi echoes after Minako speaks. "Is this... Are we even still on the island?" As she says this, she reaches to the other side of her extremely tactical belt, putting her hand in a hard-sided pouch. Something clicks inside as she fiddles with it. With *them*. 

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    "Excuse me," Minato says, as he heads into the bathroom.

    He doesn't clear his Tired status, though -- for one thing, that isn't even a mechanic any more, and for another thing, the bathroom trip is a RUSE.

    Bang...

    Minato, for one, has no way to divine the proper name of Qimranut. He could ask Igor, maybe, except that Igor doesn't really tell him anything aside from how exciting it is he's gaining more Personas and some ambiguous statements about destiny or something. He does know one thing, though:

    This wind is terrible for his hair. His mop-over-an-eye is presently whipping around his entire face, and he looks mildly more displeased about it than he normally does. Maybe. Maybe it's just a trick of the wind, because he's not emoting that much.

    "Yeah," he agrees with Minako, suitably ruffled.

    He steps forward, anyway, pulling out a sword he was hiding in his bag before now, thank you very much.

    "Let's commence the mission."

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

"Uhhh..."
 
Yukari gripped her bag tighter, "I feel pretty weird taking this into a train station." She murmured to Minako. "Let's, do this in the girl's bathroom, and make sure noone else is there..."
 
She definitely seems worried about being caught, but more than that.
 
"I hope noone hears us and freaks out. Like - what do other people hear when we do this?"
 
Eventually the restroom clears enough that she feels - well not comfortable, but at least able to put it to her head.
 
'Just put it to her head and pull the trigger.'
 
There's a breaking noise within her head, like something shattering, the world around her distorts, as organic matter festoons the girl's restroom at the train station, everything changing before her eyes.
 
"AAAAAHHH!?" She shrieks, unable to help it, "What did I do!? ... This - this isn't like the Dark Hour at all! Oh- geez, where are we?"
 
Eventually she recovers enough to go into the station itself, and things are little better here.
 
"I don't like it either..." She comments, quietly, as she takes her bow out of the case, and strings it on the spot, "... I thought a place called Mementos would be less... horrible."
 
She checks her shoes, somehow she doesn't think it's adequate to the task at hand... she thought she was used to the pools of blood, but...
 
... now she doesn't even know what she'll be stepping in.
 
Minato tells them to commence the mission, "Uh, sure, the mission. Right behind you." She's glad she's not going first.

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

Mementos isn't a fun place to walk. Even if you follow the train tracks it's a confusing maze (and yes, Yukari, there are unpleasant things to step in if you don't watch your step), and there are parts where you can step away from them - side rooms not on the 'main line'.

In one of those rooms, there are two boxes, up on pedestals like treasure chests. One is locked and firmly closed, and nobody has a key that fits it. The other is open and empty.

But as the group from SEES begins their exploration of the shallow levels of Mementos, the sounds of Shadows become louder. And though most of the Shadows in here are strange blobby things that only form into something stable when their mask is removed, or when they attack, the group eventually hears *voices*.

"Hahaha!" There's laughter coming from down the way. It's high-pitched, girly, and delighted.

"Humans! Humans!" a Pixie says, and another behind her says, "They've got blood! Blood!"

"What color is it? What color is it?" says a third.

As it turns out, there's an entire group of Pixie-form Shadows, and on the other side of them is whatever they're interested in.

It's ugly, here--and the Pixies, while they're having a good time, don't sound especially friendly.

Because...

...there are people there. Not Shadows, but humans. And, perhaps surprisingly, it's people you might very well know.

One of them is a male student in a blue-green shirt that seems faintly shimmery in the uncomfortable fluorescent lights; some kind of stylish synthetic. He's noticably taller than the average, slender, and probably downright pretty under better circumstances than he's currently in. But right now he has hunched into a corner and is trying to make himself as small a target as possible for the Pixies - even his head is down... except for one leg he has stretched out.

This is Jiro Yamamoto, second-year Gekkoukan art student. He's not in anyone here's class but he's been around. He does painting: he practices fine art, though this year he's also joined the animation club out of interest.

In front of him is a much smaller student. A girl, currently wearing a billowy dark blue top tucked into a pair of slightly baggy, comfortable jeans held up with a belt. She has a somewhat incongruous pair of weapons: side-grip combat batons, like police use. Or like martial arts' tonfa.

This is Suzume Fukura, from 2-E, who has a reputation as a bit of a delinquent - she's cut class a few times, and though rumour says she's done more nobody can prove it. She isn't officially in any clubs at the moment except for a slightly unofficial gaming club and tends to ditch school as soon as she can, but she hangs out with some other students. One of them is Jiro.

She takes a wild swing at the Pixies and is rewarded with more high-pitched laughter...

> Suzume struck!
> But Suzume's attacks can't connect now...

Suzume is as terrified as Jiro. She has her right tonfa held length-out, so she can strike with it like a club, and her hands are clearly shaking; her eyes are wide and she's taking shallow, frightened breaths. But she can't run - well, *she* can, but Jiro doesn't look like he's able to rise, let alone run; by his and his leg's positioning, he tripped on the track and twisted his ankle.

There is no way Suzume can win this fight. 

AS: Junes has readied for combat with Pixie Mob! She is now fully healed! Ready for 4 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

"It's okay, Takeba-chan," Minako says. She glances sideways at her and smiles. "I mean... it's creepy. But we're all here together."

She looks at Hitomi -- looking for back-up. "Right, Mandai-chan?"

Minako swings her naginata down, one-handed -- the way she practiced, so she can carry her Evoker when she needs it. Which, in a space where she might fight, she probably needs both. Her Evoker is in her other hand.

"I'm with you, Minato-kun!" she tells her brother.

They begin moving. Minako frowns as the sound of the Shadows get louder -- and then there's laughter. She frowns, as she spots the ones in a Pixie-like shape. Her eyes widen for a moment, as she realizes who is behind them. She sucks a breath in.

She knows those people. Yamamoto-san and Fukura-san. Suzume is trying to fight with a tonfa. That prompts Minako to start running. "Both of you! Get away as soon as we make an opening! Minato-kun, I'm going in!"

It's an old tactic: she rushes in to distract the Shadows, let the others summon their Personas, and then do it next. Her Evoker goes into her hip holster, and she grips her naginata with both hands. As she comes behind the pixies, she swings her naginata out in a wide arc.

"HYAH!"

AS: Weapon! Minako Arisato has used the Slash skill Naginata Slash on Junes! 2 Hits!
AS: Minako Arisato's turn has ended.

<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.

 
The rest of them assemble. Hitomi looks at Minato, then towards Yukari... "That's right," Hitomi agrees with Minako, adding a "... i guess," at the end, which may mute some of its impact.

Even so, the mission commences. Eerie wind. Morbid decoration. Hitomi does not care for this place, even as she follows along with the others. She keeps click-clacking that pouch as she watches, as she looks, and as she hears something laugh.

And identify them.

And mention their blood. This is the point where Hitomi shoots Yukari Takeba an extremely Concerned expression. Classical C_C behind the glasses.

And a moment later--

"Shit!!" Hitomi exclaims. "Fukura, Yamamoto, how in the hell are you--" And then she can see that Suzume, who has something resembling weapons, is swinging them at the Pixies. Hitomi's mouth works faintly but thankfully Minako takes it better, or -- or something. Hitomi brings her hand up and takes a deep breath... And snaps her hand down!

There is a whack and a clatter and a couple of small red objects glint brightly as they ricochet off the ground and up towards the Pixies. On the rebound, they seem to glitter with red light! (Though, they were already red translucent objects on the way out - they're casino-sized dice, and the edges, presumably, are sharp.)

"Get behind me, nerds!" Hitomi then blurts, which is mostly 'loud' with a side dish of 'anxious'. 

AS: Weapon! Hitomi Mandai has used the Strike skill Casino Dice on Junes!
AS: Hitomi Mandai's turn has ended.
AS: Block Best! Junes takes 36 Slash damage from Minako Arisato's Naginata Slash. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Junes takes 45 Slash damage from Minako Arisato's Naginata Slash.
AS: Counter Best! Junes takes 18 Strike damage from Hitomi Mandai's Casino Dice.
AS: COUNTER! Hitomi Mandai takes 11 Strike damage in return for her attack! 

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    Minako handles reassuring the team. Minato reassures them by confidently striding forward. (He is not very good at the talking part.)

    Minato pulls out a glowing blue shard from his pocket, and shoves it in the keyhole of the locked treasure chest.

    "...", he says.

    "It won't open."

    That's because Twilight Shards don't open chests in Mementos, Minato!

    He turns away from the chest, and looks up, as he hears a voice. Two voices. Three...

    Minato approaches. Minato beholds the Pixie Shadows.

    Minato registers that the Shadows are talking, and then files that off to the side of his brain, because there are people here, and they're in trouble. Like that girl he just saw at the festival the other day. Isn't she from the class next door?

    She's trying to fight, but...

    Minato runs in, on the heels of his sister. "Orpheus," he intones, as he presses a GUN to his HEAD (it isn't a gun) and FIRES --

    and --

    What shatters isn't bone; it's glass. The strange, murky atmosphere of Mementos is briefly interrupted by blue, as another monster rises, behind him -- the Master of Strings, Orpheus. That doll-like creature strums his lyre, and the Tarunda tune he plays washes over the Pixies, to enervate them and make them less of a threat.

    He comes to a stop in front of Jiro, though he looks to Suzume. Hitomi tells them to get behind them, Minako tells them to get away; Minato doesn't waste his breath repeating their suggestions again.

    "You can't fight them like you are," he says, instead. "They're not human."

AS: Persona! Minato Arisato has used the Almighty skill Tarunda on Junes!
AS: Minato Arisato's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Junes takes 0 Almighty damage from Minato Arisato's Tarunda.
AS: Atk_Dn added!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

"Easy for you to say... they're together at the start of horror films too."
 
Yukari says to Minako obviously tense, Hitomi's muted comment failing to calm her at all.
 
But she eases up some as they go, it's a horror film but it's not too unlike Tartarus.

"What if-"
 
Yukari takes out a Twilight Fragment only to see Minato already got the same idea. "Good thinking."
 
But - The Locked Chest Remains Locked.
 
"Worth a shot." She sighs. It works in Tartarus, but... the chests there had a mechanism for it. "Wish I'd brought some hairpins..."
 
She looks at Minako's hairpin but doesn't - make that suggestion. It'd be like someone asking her to take her Choker off, or Minato to take his earphones off.
 
And then things change... rapidly, as she hears voices, "What's that...?" She whispers, because Shadows don't... talk, in her experience.
 
Coming upon Pixies bullying people is surreal to her, "... Huh? Blood?" She shares a glance with Hitomi, like 'What did we walk into!?'
 
They're- is someone in here!?"
 
As Minako charges in with Minato, Yukari stops as she looks puzzled at Suzume, does she look familiar? "No way... someone else!? Hey! Leave them alone!" But, no time to contemplate, as she puts the Evoker to her head...
 
"I can do it..." And pulls the trigger, with a sound like thunder in her head. It's like sinking through your own head, before something shatters!
 
And Io comes out, a fey girl chained to the hollow in a bull's skull. "Let's see how you like it!"
 
She says to the Pixies, as energy floods the area, in twin spirals from other side... flooding them with a narrative of maddening erratic panic caused by continuous torment.
 
Hopefully that should keep them having time to get any bright ideas, like holding normal people hostage, and make them easier targets.

AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Almighty skill Pulinpa on Junes!
AS: Yukari Takeba's turn has ended.

AS: Take! Junes takes 0 Almighty damage from Yukari Takeba's Pulinpa.
AS: Panic added!

<Pose Tracker> Junes has posed.

Shadows, in these forms or otherwise, are far too much for ordinary teenagers. The SEES members start running, and it's a good thing, too.. Suzume's attack couldn't connect, and that Pixie's hands started crackling with electricity as she prepared a spell--

But Minako slashes across her, and catches a second in the bargain. The first dissipates into shadow stuff.

"RUDE!" says the other pixie who was just hit--only to get brained by the dice and shove some ground back at Hitomi.

"Greedy!!" another says to Minato, and they start whirling on the main group. "Ugh, as if!"

They have, for the moment, turned their backs to Suzume and Jiro, focusing on the Persona-users before them. But one is still dangerously close to Jiro...

And lightning bolts crfash out for Hitomi! Another Pixie waves her hand, and strange blasting lights erupt from her fingertips, a spray of riotous color meant to confuse. Another just charges Minato, though thanks to his debuff, it won't be as bad as it could've been.

And the next? The next just prays. "Patra!" she calls. 

AS: Persona! Junes has used the Elec skill Zio on Hitomi Mandai!
AS: Junes takes 27 damage from Panic!
AS: Persona! Junes has used the Almighty skill Tentarafoo on Minako Arisato and Yukari Takeba!
AS: Weapon! Junes has used the Strike skill Demon Bash on Minato Arisato!
AS: Persona! Junes has used the Recovery skill Patra on Junes!
AS: Junes: Panic removed!
AS: Junes's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Junes takes 0 Recovery healing from Junes's Patra.
AS: Block Worst! Hitomi Mandai takes 46 Elec damage from Junes's Zio.
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Junes gains 1 Limit from Schadenfreude!
AS: Take! Yukari Takeba takes 0 Almighty damage from Junes's Tentarafoo.
AS: Panic added!
AS: Block Neutral! Minato Arisato takes 39 Strike damage from Junes's Demon Bash. Critical Hit!

AS: Take! Minako Arisato takes 0 Almighty damage from Junes's Tentarafoo.
AS: Panic added!
AS: Junes gains 1 Limit from Schadenfreude!
AS: Yukari Takeba spends Limit on Shift! Minato Arisato can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

Suzume squeezes the tonfa grips harder, her knuckles whitening slightly as the fairies - well, Pixies - continue to threaten her. And Jiro.

She's not going to leave Jiro. She got him in here. And even if she's frightened, she can't just run and leave him. She'd never be able to live with herself afterwards.

Though at this point she's not quite sure she's going to survive at all. The Pixies are getting awfully close, and they can do something with electricity; the last time they only shot the tracks, but this time...

...

"...what??"

Suzume snaps toward voices - human voices, not Pixie voices. At first, sans context, she doesn't even recognize them; one of the Arisatos with a *naginata*, Takeba with a bow (well, okay, that one makes some sense), Mandai with dice (that one does too)...

"What are *you* doing here?" Suzume would normally be prickly at a time like this, but she's just been given a chance to survive. Even she isn't *that* ungrateful. "Why are you here?" She didn't exactly answer the questions asked of her.

And then Minato runs in front of her and SHOOTS HIMSELF with a GUN.

Suzume freezes for a moment. It's not a normal reaction for her, but she can't help it - she bit back a shout, or a scream (she will never, later, admit which one) as Minato summons something instead of falling to the ground, dead. As does Yukari, a moment later.

"You just - you shot - " And it summoned something. Some power... and Minato says she can't fight.

She brings her tonfa up again. Her hands are still shaking. "I have to," she says, a little unsteady. "I can't - can't leave Jiro." But she hasn't managed to swat a Pixie yet, and whatever *they're* doing is working, impossible as it is. This whole day is impossible.

Suzume steps back, still interposing herself as if to cover Jiro from Pixies. Her instinct is to act aggressively, decisively, but she's useless in this, and she hates it even though she's afraid of it. "C'mon, I can't lift you anymore - " Jiro appears to be more shocked than Suzume is, perhaps more like people they have seen in Tartarus; he doesn't say anything as Suzume struggles to get him up, supporting his weight with her shoulders. It's awkward, because of the size difference between them. 

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

"We just have to make sure we don't split up, then," Minako says to Yukari, flashing a smile.

She was disappointed that the Twilight Fragment didn't work. What do they do here? Do they need to find keys or something?

As she charges the Pixies -- ducking aside, a little uncertainly, of Hitomi's dice toss -- she realizes on Yukari to, in fact, 'do' it. Her brother does likewise.

Her strike takes out one of them -- the other calls her rude. She frowns, before she looks at a Pixie -- which sends forth a spray of color that hits her. She stumbles back, eyes wide. "Oh, hell, there's a lot more than I thought!"

She looks at Suzume -- and then there's a nervous laugh, but she tries to sound impressive. "We're here to save you two."

She frowns, before she reaches down. She draws her Evoker out. Her eyes are wide; panic is setting in, making her breathe hard. Her eyes, though, focus -- and then she puts the Evoker to her head. She squeezes the trigger.

Blue glass explodes out of the side of her head, as she cries out: "Linos!"

And it's the sister to Orpheus who appears. With a golden body, long brown-red hair, and a scarf -- and a harp on her back -- she takes form, and then throws both hands up over her head.

Then, crimson light erupts around Hitomi Mandai -- and the world seems to come into sharper focus. "Mandai-chan!" Minako cries out. "Knock 'em dead!"

AS: Persona! Minako Arisato has used the Almighty skill Tarukaja on Hitomi Mandai!
AS: Minako Arisato takes 27 damage from Panic!
AS: Minako Arisato's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Hitomi Mandai takes 0 Almighty damage from Minako Arisato's Tarukaja.
AS: Atk_Up added!

<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.

 
(The diversion to investigate the treasure chest got Hitomi watching, though she didn't join in on the approach. It's like a dead end, it's not like they're going to run off with a sackful of Incan gold. Maybe they'll find something good? Or useful? Oh, no. "Huh," she had observed, at the lockpicking failure.)

BUT:

Hitomi is sweating, but she sweats kind of easily. (Fortunately, the Kirijo group has access to UNIQLO Airism technology, allowing her to dry out easily between battles. This has been a sponsored promotion.) After the dice rebound, she says to the Pixie who talked back to her, "Shut up!!"

A witty rejoinder indeed. The Pixie's argument of a lightning bolt gets a "Ghhhk!!" from Hitomi as she staggers back a pace and ends up sinking to one knee-- head lolling forwards, trembling visibly, even as those red dice clatter back to her immediate area. With a fumbling tremble of the fingers, she reclaims them.

Her heart's pounding. The lightning, maybe. And then Minako's encouraging her. Oh no, pressure. Hitomi's eyes cut towards Fukura, and towards Y--

No, that's not what Suzume said, is it?

"... aha," she wheezes through the numb, tingling feeling throughout random stretches of her body, passing over and around things like the soft fibers in a car wash.

Hitomi's lips twitch back for a moment. It might be a grin, or a rictus of pain. With a lurch she pulls herself back upright, still trembling, which isn't that encouraging. "F-fine--" She raises a hand up to her forehead -- which is at least not shooting herself in the head. There is a pulsation of something like blue around her, the ambient reddish light putting some purple on its fringes, as she says, "Tyche--"

"Get them all!" The light pulsates for a moment, and the manifestation comes over her as well. Perhaps this one is less horrifying - it just looks like a Greek statue out of a textbook, if one with something oddly like a magatama cradled in one outstretched hand. And then there is a sudden hiss-FLASH as flames gout outwards towards the cloud of Pixies, even as Hitomi starts lurching towards Jiro and Suzume. 

AS: Persona! Hitomi Mandai has used the Fire skill Fire Breath on Junes! 3 Hits!
AS: Hitomi Mandai's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Best! Junes takes 14 Fire damage from Hitomi Mandai's Fire Breath.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Junes takes 41 Fire damage from Hitomi Mandai's Fire Breath. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Junes takes 28 Fire damage from Hitomi Mandai's Fire Breath.

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

Yukari begins to wonder why these weird little Pixies talk like they're horrible twisted teenage girls. But you know what! Some questions are better left unanswered.

"Wait - I thought you realized there were this many!?" Yukari says of Minako's comment on there being a lot more than she thought, "Geez!"

Suzume asks a question of them, on what they're doing here. Yukari briefly considers all versions of the truth on how to respond.

We just wanted to check this place out?
So we were carrying a GUN into a TRAIN STATION when we put it to our heads-
So our club is actually a secret organization dedicated to-

All truthful options = Bad! That's Great!

"Look that's not important!"

What is important is figuring out how Hitomi's dice work!? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?

The riotous spray of color strikes her, and suddenly, something just wells up inside of her, confusion, panic! "Whahuh!? What's going on!? Well of course I'll pay the fare!"

Yukari loses 2278 yen!

"I'm not some kind of freeloader!" She says, after she hurls yen out of her coin purse at the pixies.

Suddenly her pupils dilate, and it wells up into her throat, as she puts her Persona back to her head: "Someone! Anyone!?" And pulls the trigger...!

Io appears, head whipping wildly in the wind it summons, as Yukari pulls back her bow, and starts firing arrow after arrow at random - AT RANDOM!?

In mid-air, each projectile gets imbued by Io's Wind energy, suddenly accelerating as they become a deadly barrage.

"Do something!"

In her fear and confusion, she may be calling out to anyone, but she's looking right at... Minato as she says that last comment. After all, he protected her before on that rooftop.

AS: Tandem! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Stinging Torment on Junes! 2 Hits!
AS: Yukari Takeba takes 27 damage from Panic!
AS: Yukari Takeba: Panic removed!
AS: Yukari Takeba's turn has ended.
AS: Block Best! Junes takes 34 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Stinging Torment.
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 68 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Stinging Torment. Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    "Got it," Minato says, as Yukari shrieks for someone to do something. She must be pressured, if she's paying the fare.

    "Persona."

    Once again, he fires his Evoker against his temple; once again, Orpheus rises, because an Evoker doesn't shoot bullets into a user's brain. His lyre isn't just host to some sick beats, -- he can also just take it and physically slam it over a Pixie's head.

    "We're exploring," he explains why they're here, simply, apparently going through none of the internal monologue Yukari did to get to that answer. "And an Evoker isn't a gun." Which would explain why it's not shooting bullets and he's not presently showing the Pixies what colour his blood is.

    The Pixies don't take kindly to him doing something, though. One charges him, and he staggers as he's knocked back, his Evoker scattering from his hands and falling behind him. "Ugh," he grunts, as he straightens up. His hand is empty, but the Pixie is still there, in front of him -- and Jiro and Suzume are still behind him.

    He won't stop.

    Minako said they're here to save them; Minato follows through, grasping his shortsword and slashing at the gossipy Shadow with a quick one-two-three.

    He specifically targets the one Pixie who Hitomi landed a critical hit on, because that's tactics, baby.

AS: Weapon! Minato Arisato has used the Slash skill Strong Slash on Junes! 3 Hits!
AS: Persona! Minato Arisato has used the Strike skill Assault Dive on Junes! 2 Hits!
AS: Minato Arisato's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Best! Junes takes 12 Slash damage from Minato Arisato's Strong Slash.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Junes takes 27 Slash damage from Minato Arisato's Strong Slash. Critical Hit!
AS: Avoid Worst! Junes takes 30 Slash damage from Minato Arisato's Strong Slash.
AS: Block Best! Junes takes 25 Strike damage from Minato Arisato's Assault Dive.
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 39 Strike damage from Minato Arisato's Assault Dive.

<Pose Tracker> Junes has posed.

"She told me to shut up!" the Pixie cries, scandalized at Hitomi. "She actually told me to shut up!"

"Rude!" calls one, "Rude!" calls another, and another, and another. The lightning makes them feel a little better--but not for long. Minako's Persona comes out and supports Hitomi, which gets a few murmurs of discontent from the Pixies--

Before Hitomi's Persona sets fire to the cloud, and another of the Pixies detonates outright. "Noo!"

"Oooh yay!" says another, and picks up Yukari's money. It will never be seen again.

But Yukari's arrows do hit. The Pixie is able to block one--but the second powers right through another, and the crowd is definitely thinning to something a little more manageable at this point, especially after Minato and Orpheus strike back, slamming more of them backward and away. Except... for... The one near Jiro and Suzume advances on them, floating as ominously as a cute girl in blue can--and as it turns out, with the bloodlust in her eyes, that's pretty damned ominous. Don't worry about that yet: there's more attacks to come.

"Ugh you make me so MAD!" one says, and they all suddenly rise up into the air except for that one. "Haaaaah--!"

Light begins to course around the Persona-users ahead, brilliant mirrors rising from the ground--and shining enervating light upon all of them in an effort to destroy them outright!

But Minato, away with Jiro and Suzume, gets a blast straight to his face of lightning--and this will prevent him intervening directly with the one advancing even now on Suzume and Jiro again... 

AS: Junes spends Limit on Blood! 
AS: Junes spends Limit on Break! 
AS: Persona! Junes has used the Light skill Mahama on Yukari Takeba, Minako Arisato, and Hitomi Mandai!
AS: Persona! Junes has used the Elec skill Zionga on Minato Arisato!
AS: Junes: Break removed!
AS: Junes's turn has ended. It's time for an All-Out Attack!
AS: Block Best! Minato Arisato takes 128 Elec damage from Junes's Zionga. Critical Hit! Weak!
AS: Paralyze added!
AS: Block Worst! Hitomi Mandai takes 121 Light damage from Junes's Mahama.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Minako Arisato takes 81 Light damage from Junes's Mahama.
AS: Avoid Worst! Yukari Takeba takes 122 Light damage from Junes's Mahama.
AS: Minako Arisato spends Limit on Shift! Yukari Takeba can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Minato Arisato spends Limit on Shift! Minako Arisato can use another Weak skill this round!
AS: Hitomi Mandai spends Limit on Shift! Minato Arisato can use another Weak skill this round!

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

When it's someone Suzume has known since she was about eight, AND she's busy trying very hard not to die, she can be forgiven for leaving the honourific off of Jiro's name.

Also, of all the things she thought to question in Mementos, why bloodthirsty pixies talked like some of the mean girls at school was not one of them. That was pretty much the only thing that made perfect sense to Suzume.

Suzume's first instinct is to snap that she doesn't *need* help, but, well. She *does* need help. "How did you know I'd be in here? *I* didn't know I'd be in here! I don't even know where 'here' is!" Oddly, having something to yell about helps make things feel... nothing in here is normal, but it's at least something she's used to.

Though something appears to have gotten to Yukari, too. Freeloading...? This place doesn't take tickets!

Suzume has gotten Jiro to his feet, which seems to have roused him slightly. He lets out a hiss as he puts his foot down wrong, but he can't look away from the Pixies, and all the Personas. Suzume might have had the guts to defend herself, even in the face of a demon she cannot hurt; he does not. Pressing himself against the wall, he hunches along it, Suzume moving with him.

And they might actually have managed to flee, except for one thing. One Pixie, with bloodlust in her heart.

Jiro flinches away from the light and the thunder. Suzume sees the bolt connect with Minato, the light surround some of the others, and her instinct is to lunge *forward*, not back -

A gun skitters across the floor. She nearly puts her foot on it before she realizes it's there, jams her right-hand tonfa through a belt loop, picks it up, and points it at the Pixie like a pistol. Suzume does not know how to use a pistol; she's holding it like they do in the movies.

*click*

Nothing happens.

Minato said it wasn't a gun, though. And how have all of the others been using it?

She slowly turns it around to point it at herself. "Nobody dies to rescue me," she says, nearly inaudible. "I'll do it - myself..."

Something wells within her. Not a memory, just an instinct, as she jabs the Evoker under her jaw, angled upward, hard enough that she feels the flesh dimple a little bit but not hard enough to hurt. None of this is a good idea, but since when has Suzume let that stop her?

"...Persona! Come out...!"

"Atalanta!"

Suzume squeezes her eyes closed, and squeezes the trigger, all at once.

The explosion of breaking glass is loud in her ears as it *shatters*, shards rising up and away from her. And there's someone there, a woman wearing a short tunic with a decorative silver-and-steel breastplate, matching greaves and bracers and belt, a golden bicep band. She has a lionskin cloak, a furred mane forming the upper bounds of it, which her blonde hair falls into, the two of them nearly indistinguishable. And she has cats-eyes, very very green and vertically slit.

She also has a *bow*, or at least a bowgun, mounted on her right arm, which she raises, firing at the Pixie approaching Suzume and Jiro. It doesn't fire anything as mundane as an arrow, though; it releases a shockwave of cutting wind, as much slashing as gusting as whirling wind whips around Suzume herself.

AS: Persona! Suzume Fukura has used the Wind skill Wind Cutter on Junes!
AS: Suzume Fukura's turn has ended.
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 79 Wind damage from Suzume Fukura's Wind Cutter.

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

"Good job, Mandai-chan!" Minako calls out to the glasses-wearing girl. Then, she looks sideways at Yukari. There is a moment's pause. Then, she laughs sheepishly. "I-It's fine, really!"

That may not be very convincing. And then she looks at Yukari -- and she hesitates. She is really panicking. And looking at Minato. But, her brother is moving in calmly.

"Takeba-chan! It's okay, just... just focus!" she calls out. "You can do this!"

Mirrors rise up all around Minako. Linos, half-faded from view, whirls after her as the red-haired girl looks to her left and right quickly. Then, light explodes outward -- slamming into her and knocking her to and fro. She yelps, wincing with the pain. Her eyes dart to Minato.

She sees lightning engulf her brother; sparks fly. She smells ozone. She sees red, feels a pounding in her ears. Then, she looks at the Pixies.

Her eyes flash with anger. "Persona!"

Linos rematerializes behind her. This time, she swings her harp out -- and graceful, doll-like fingers strum across its strings. The notes it plays are light, beads of bright blue-white light flying out -- and shooting between the group of Pixies.

Then, they explode out into bright bursts of nuclear flame, blueexplosions rippling amongst them. And Minako leaps up after that. Her naginata spins over her head -- and as it spins, Linos throws her hand out. Flame wreathes across the blade of the naginata.

As the explosions clear, she slams down, slashing the naginata's blade across one of the Pixies.

She lands, swings her naginata out behind her, and then she looks up -- at Suzume and, indeed, at Atalanta. "She--"

Oh.

Her crimson eyes widen -- then she cracks a smile, and she nods to Suzume. "You've got this!"

AS: Persona! Minako Arisato has used the Fire skill Trio Freila on Junes! 3 Hits!
AS: Minako Arisato takes 27 damage from Panic!
AS: Tandem! Minako Arisato has used the Fire skill Firebrand on Junes! 2 Hits!
AS: Minako Arisato's turn has ended.
AS: Avoid Neutral! Junes takes 32 Fire damage from Minako Arisato's Trio Freila.
AS: Avoid Best! Junes takes 18 Fire damage from Minako Arisato's Trio Freila.
AS: Block Neutral! Junes takes 34 Fire damage from Minako Arisato's Trio Freila.
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 45 Fire damage from Minako Arisato's Firebrand.
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 45 Fire damage from Minako Arisato's Firebrand.

<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.

 
Some things are terrifying to consider, Yukari. What matters is that they *do* work, somehow. There are probably videos of Hitomi demonstrating near-zero talent for any combat weapon as conventionally understood on some Kirijo hard drive somewhere.

"YOU'RE rude," Hitomi shouts back at the Shadows. She probably shouldn't, or at least it feels that way, but at the same time, these are Pixies. Ridiculous little things. Vapid airheads floating in the air. Creatures that wonder just what color your blood is.

She pays for it. The light becomes enormous, suddenly. Too bright, game-cafe-to-outside and it only gets worse from there - she lets out another yelp of pain, and it might have been a scream, if the paralytic waves washing through her didn't mean that it doesn't hurt quite as bad afterwards.

Hitomi doesn't even fall over.

Blinking through the glare, she tries to see Suzume and Jiro. She tries, at least. It's probably stupid, because the enemy's in front of her and still seems to be overmatching them. But she's --

Hitomi's eyebrows lift as Suzume points the Evoker at herself.

What will happen? She hasn't been told.

There was a safety briefing, of course. These things were valuable and could be disruptive. Only use it on official detail and for club purposes.

But what *happens*?

What happens when someone picks an Evoker off the ground and points it at themselves?

Well, one answer is revealed. "ohh," Hitomi says to herself, before shaking her head once and saying, "Get 'em, Fukura!!"

At which point Hitomi raises her hand to her forehead again - her palm faces outwards, incidentally, when she does this, and it hides one of her eyes almost completely - and there is another of those auroral glows. Tyche manifests again, looking downwards, perhaps with just the slightest of smiles, before the fireburst screams outwards, for the center of the 'cloud' of Pixies. 

AS: Persona! Hitomi Mandai has used the Fire skill Agilao on Junes!
AS: Hitomi Mandai: Paralyze removed!
AS: Hitomi Mandai's turn has ended.

AS: Mind Up! Junes's SP +8!
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 115 Fire damage from Hitomi Mandai's Agilao.
AS: Haze added!

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

She's definitely gonna wonder if Hitomi is using those weird Shadows later. SHE WON'T SAY IT, but she's definitely gonna THINK IT!

'Got it,'
 
And at that moment when Minato calls his Persona, Minako calls out to her, "It's okay - I'm okay." Panic loosens from her, cast off with her assistance, her breathing calms down just subtly, and she notices...
 
"He really..."
 
Did he do it because she was upset, and freaking out? Or... did he do it because she asked?
 
She didn't ask him specifically, and yet...
 
It's a disquieting moment, for her as the Pixies complain about being told to shut up, or call another Rude!
 
"Mad...?" Suddenly, light courses around them, brilliant mirrors rising, and Yukari tries to move, but before she can, the light converges, slamming into her with intense searing pain.
 
Io perhaps takes the worst of it, shattering in that moment, as she sees - Minato's Evoker slide away.
 
"You think YOU'RE mad?"
 
She's furious-! And- "Wait..." Suzume picks it up and- her eyes grow wide, "Be careful with that-! Don't just-" Not because she's afraid she might hurt herself...
 
... but because once you do that...
 
... there's no going back.
 
It happens, and while she's impressed with the results. She's also... sorrowful, and angry on some level in equal measure.
 
Noone ever really has a choice, even when they think they do.
 
Her Evoker is put back to her head, and- "Please help, Io!"
 
Blue flames erupt, and Io, despite being shattered moments before - reappears. The Wind she summons comes forth to back up Atalanta, a great Tempest, focused on a small area, trying to shred a Pixie apart.
 
Then, with her eyes still aglow with borrowed power, she does what she truly is best at...
 
... Io spreads her arms wide, and a blue - healing glow spreads over Hitomi, Minako, and Minato, knitting wounds and stealing fatigue away.

AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Wind skill Garula on Junes!
AS: Persona! Yukari Takeba has used the Recovery skill Media on Hitomi Mandai, Minako Arisato, and Minato Arisato!
AS: Yukari Takeba's turn has ended.
AS: Take! Minato Arisato takes 91 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit from Supporter!
AS: Take! Minako Arisato takes 91 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.
AS: Yukari Takeba gains 1 Limit from Supporter!

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    "It's unclear why you're talking," Minato points out, to the Pixies, when they fuss over being told to shut up. Is this rude, too?

    He doesn't much think they're friendlier just because they're talking, though. Citation: the look in her eyes. Minato grasps his blade, moving forward to strike at the Pixie menacing the civilians --

    AND THEN --

    *zap*

    "Gah!" Minato barks, as he's knocked onto his rear end by the force of Zionga. Little stars dance around his head, and he's no help as a protector at all. Suzume will -- Jiro is going to --

    By the time Minato blinks the lights out of his eyes and looks back, Atalanta is come. "...", he says, staring at her as she rises up and assaults the Pixie.

    You can't fight them like this... that isn't a gun... Persona. Did he know she had the Potential, when he told her all those things? No. But some part of him, intuitively, might have recognised that she had the will to fight in the face of her own demise. It must be the same part of him which isn't surprised, looking at her Persona made manifest.

    She is... someone who can fight.

    Thankfully, Hitomi has the words which are taken from him, as he registers that the death he thought he'd witness was averted. (Thankfully, Minako is here to cover him, during those moments he was Knocked Down.) "Right," he agrees, with Hitomi, as he pushes himself upright again. Io's winds wrap about him, and he nods, to Yukari. "Thanks."

    And much like Yukari and Suzume are united in their Wind skills, Minato joins the chorus which Minako and Hitomi began, as Orpheus rises behind him -- his previous Summoning still strong enough to call him out -- and strums his lyre, summoning flame upon flame.

AS: Persona! Minato Arisato has used the Fire skill Agilao on Junes!
AS: Persona! Minato Arisato has used the Fire skill Agi on Junes!
AS: Minato Arisato's turn has ended.
AS: Mind Up! Junes's SP +8!
AS: Avoid Worst! Junes takes 134 Wind damage from Yukari Takeba's Garula.
AS: Haze added!
AS: Mind Up! Junes's SP +8!
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 97 Fire damage from Minato Arisato's Agilao.
AS: Mind Up! Junes's SP +8!
AS: Block Worst! Junes takes 70 Fire damage from Minato Arisato's Agi.
AS: Haze added!
AS: Junes is unable to continue fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Junes has posed.

This place indeed doesn't take tickets. But it'll take lives, if it can.

Atalanta appears, and that broken glass shatters to allow her entry into the world. The Persona's bow manifests, and releases a shockwave of cutting wind--the Pixie that was approaching Jiro and Suzume takes the blast full-on. "Nooo!"

Blue explosions rock the rest of the pixies, one after another, even as Minako and Linos slam their next attack. Another Pixie turns to dust. And Hitomi, too, throws a fireburst for the center--which is blasted even further apart and spreads thanks to Yukari's Garula.

Finally, even as Yukari heals the other, Minato's Orpheus blasts the remaining pixies into dust.

...It's not quiet, here. It's still windy. The danger hasn't passed.

...But nobody's died yet, and probably won't in the next few moments. The Shadows are gone.

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

None of the Pixies remain.

Neither does Atalanta, who has vanished in the wake of Suzume's first, unpracticed summoning. Wind still spins around Suzume for a few moments, tornado-like, before even that breaks up, Mementos' usual steady wind tugging at her hair instead of the whirling breeze.

Suzume is one who can fight. She doesn't know any way to handle her problems except directly. It's just that, this time, just this once, she had the opportunity to hit some of them instead of them being problems that she can't just deck.

"I think," Suzume announces into the sudden silence, "that I am going to fall over now."

She doesn't, quite. But she does take one step back and then drops to a sitting position, head down as she tries to catch her breath. She brings it up a moment later, but doesn't rise. Her eyes are red, whether from stress or simply the wind.

It's Jiro that speaks first, though. "I want to get out of here," he says. "I want to go home! I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place!" He takes one hobbling step, and winces, unsteady at best.

Suzume agrees, but: "I don't know why you were here - I mean, really. But you came in here. So... I owe you." She holds up the Evoker. She still doesn't know what it is, really... Or what she did. Is that something she can... just do? She doesn't try it, though she turns it over in her hand once or twice. "Hey," she calls, toward Minato.

She rises, holding the Evoker up. "This is yours. I'll give it back..."

"...for some answers." She doesn't quite meet anyone's gaze. Not Minato, whose Evoker this is; not Hitomi, who she knows better than the others and has apparently been keeping a secret; not Yukari, who just bailed them out with healing magic (so weird!); not Minako, even though she's just been encouraged by her.

Especially not Jiro, who is looking at Suzume like she's grown a second head. Who wants to know MORE?

"I mean, you have a sword," she admits, a moment later. "You could just take it away, I guess. But it seems like it'd be more work than it's worth to save me and then stab me." Some of her defensive prickle is coming back. 

AS: Take! Hitomi Mandai takes 91 Recovery healing from Yukari Takeba's Media.

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

Healing light washes over Minako. By now, she is familiar with this -- but she is still grateful. She glances sideways at Yukari, then she gives her a quick nod. "Thanks!"

And the Pixies are all dispatched. Yukari lets out a sigh, wiping at her brow with her hand. A few droplets of sweat are brushed to the floor. "And that's a wrap!"

She brushes her hands off. Then she turns, looking at Suzume, then at Jiro. "We need to get you both out of here. And--" She frowns, at the threat of withholding Minato's Evoker. But, no, be cool. "...there's some people you should talk to, I think."

She glances at her other SEES allies, then back at Suzume. "We'll get you caught up. Can you come back to the dorm with us?"

<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.

 
The bursts of flames and wind - especially the wind, which has a tendency to fan the flames - eventually clear out the Pixies. Destroying them outright! ... Perhaps not; Shadows are kind of confusing, at the best of times.

Even as the healing rests on her, Hitomi's shoulders sag.

She scratches the back of her neck. She also does a cross-body pass in order to put her... ...dice, back in the pouch, which she doesn't mention, even as her eyes return to Suzume and Jiro's position. Jiro speaks -- and he's freaking out. Hitomi seems to understand this. Her eyes don't rest on him, but rather on Suzume.

It's an appraising look. For some reason, Hitomi seems like she's smiling, even if it doesn't quite reach her lips. She takes a deep breath and rests a hand on her hip, still looking at Suzume even as Minako speaks.

"You really ought to," Hitomi says as she walks forwards, towards Jiro -- crouching down a little to get his arm over her shoulders. "I can't let you die here," she continues, pushing her glasses up her nose, "I still have your booster paaacks."

Hitomi's attention turns towards Minato and Yukari. "... Games club stuff," she explains, before straightening up (which may jerk Jiro a little, but he can, potentially, cope). "Um... We're heading back now, yeah?"

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

"Any time..." She says, managing an awkward smile at Minako and Minato in the aftermath, like she's still... thinking about what just happened. "Yeah. Let's get you two out of..."
 
...
 
"... What's a booster pack?" She asks Hitomi, surprised.
 
But what Suzume does next? Minako tries to deescalate things.

...
 
"Uhhhh... wellll you don't really need to hold it hostage or anything." Yukari notes, awkwardly, at Suzume's offer, "Now that you did what you did, you're gonna get answers."
 
A beat.
 
"Whether you like them or not. And Arisato-kun isn't the kind of guy who would just... stab you."
 
Yukari definitely didn't like the answers she got. Even if she's yet to receive all of them.
 
"That's... not what we do here, which... you'll find out."
 
Hitomi however does explain things shortly, "Oh. That makes sense." She's still trying to work out the context there some.
 
Then she remembers the dice.
 
"You're not like, gambling on school property or something, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    Minato is not surprised that Suzume wants to fall over. That's very common. Even he fell over, eventually.

    But... she holds his Evoker up, and he steps over to her, reaching out to take it.

    And to offer her his other hand. (He put his sword away on his belt before he approached. He'll need to hide it in his bag again before he leaves the bathroom. It's fine.)

    "Come with us," he says. "We'll explain everything to you."

    A look, to Jiro, who Hitomi's already aiding.

    "And we'll get you out of here," he adds, for the art student.

    Is Hitomi gambling? This is a questiom Minato does not linger on, though he looks between Suzume and Hitomi, for a moment.

    He wonders what Mitsuru would think.

    Silently, the Arisato's life of crime is delayed another day.

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

Suzume, who has absolutely hustled a couple other students at poker, elects to let Hitomi answer Yukari instead. But she *does* meet Minato's gaze when he looks between them instead of looking elsewhere. Just for a moment.

Jiro accepts the help from Hitomi. His ankle isn't broken, just strained; he'll be hobbling for a few days but, with aid, he's able to stand and move with her. He's also just enervated from being in Mementos. So he might end up missing a day or two 'sick' (or end up at Tatsumi Memorial Hospital for the fine doctors that get paid by Kirijo Corp to look at) but he'll be fine. "Appreciated," he says, followed by: "I gave Suzume the money already, to give to you."

Suzume looks more or less innocent. She has not paid Hitomi yet.

Suzume is less injured but more worn down - just better at hiding it. She's got both tonfa hooked through belt loops now to keep her hands free. She clearly is not used to doing it, though; they keep bonking into her thighs. "I can," she agrees with Minako. "My parents will probably get annoyed, but too bad for them." Suzume does not stay at Gekkoukan dorms, usually. (Jiro does - just a different dorm, so he assumes that he's going there.)

She accepts Minato's hand... to give him the Evoker, anyway. It is his, after all. 

<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.

 
"Eeh," Hitomi answers Yukari's question, with that weak watery smile you give when you're trying to be agreeable but really don't want to get into it. She takes a deep breath and lets it out -- only to wheeze for a moment as she says, "No!! This is a game we play! You buy cards, and then you -- buy more cards, so you can put them together for game strategies," with a hastiness and a flush to her face as she continues onwards:

"But in the leagues there's more rules about that since they want to keep it fresh so some cards become illegal, but at home or in clubs you can use whatever you want because they called it 'kotatsu Magic' or something like that, I read it in English, but yeah then you might find that some cards you got last year are super expensive now, and you can -- I mean, that's just, um, that's just like investment!! You can't tell!! A lot of rares are total dogshit!"

Hitomi stops after that, looking off to the side of the evil railroad tunnel. The wind tugs loose a strand of her hair. 

<Pose Tracker> Minako Arisato has posed.

Minako blinks when Hitomi says 'games club stuff.' She isn't really sure what a booster pack is -- but of the Arisato twins, she isn't the one who will stay inside all day and play a video game. Her brother, now...

She does look at Yukari, though, at the question. Minako considers this for a second. "I'm sure Mandai-chan is innocent!" She glances at Hitomi. "Right?"

She looks back at Suzume -- and then she nods. "Yeah. Well--let's get headed back, then. And... we'll get you caught up."

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

"It's like video games with expansions, just on paper," Suzume adds, with a slight bit of embarrassment at being found out to actually like CCGs. "Or, I don't know, Team Fortress guns."

Suzume that is worse. 

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    "Video games on paper," Minato echoes Suzume, his gaze focusing in on her. He waits a moment to see if she'll accept help getting up. Another moment. Three, and he holsters his Evoker, and turns to Hitomi.

    "Now we have two critical briefings for the dorm."

    Minato didn't know about card games. Until now.

    This mission-critical status will at least mean he ushers everyone out of Mementos right quick.

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

Yukari gets momentarily take aback by the 'Buy cards then buy more cards then put them together for game strategies...'
 
Then Minako says she's innocent. "Saying that kinda makes it sound more suspicious... Arisato-chan."
 
More is forthcoming though. "Uh..." Well her opinion has changed some... as Suzume and Minato further backs it up. After a moment...
 
"I see... I think?"
 
That's probably the end of it, or at least it would be, but on the way out of Mementos, she drifts towards Hitomi and...
 
"Uh... Mandai-chan, are you sure you're not being scammed out of your money? The way you describe it reminds me of the time a girl I knew in middle school joined a cult..."

<Pose Tracker> Hitomi Mandai has posed.

 
"No way, this is way too lame to be a cult," Hitomi answers Yukari, which is perhaps the worst possible answer in the universe. 

<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.

Suzume does indeed accept the hand up. She shoves her hand in her pocket afterwards. It's not rude, it's habitual.

"She plays them more than I do," Suzume admits to Yukari. The reason is because Suzume is broke (barring any poker shenanigans, or as she with the last set of cards, money matches at Punch Boxer) and Hitomi is at least slightly less broke. Some particular spark of mischief makes her add, glancing over at Hitomi, "It's only a cult if you go to Worlds."

She doesn't talk much for the rest of the trip out of Mementos, though. She has so many questions whirling around her brain that none of them come out. She does drop back to check on Jiro, but otherwise exits in more or less silence unless addressed.

Suzume keeps the tonfa though. But she has to borrow someone else's bag to put them in so they won't get spotted, because she did not bring hers.

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