2025-07-04: A Brother's Concern
- Log: A Brother's Concern
- Cast: Umie Akabane, Katsuya Suou
- Where: Triple Seven, Shibuya
- OOC Date: July 03, 2025
- IC Date: June 04, 2012
- Summary: A nightly customer to the Triple Seven turns out to be an acquaintance from Umie's recent past. There's a lot that's happened in Sumaru City in the last few weeks, including something involving his little brother.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It's been day.... whatsit, of Umie's employment at Triple Seven. While her job has her working part time shifts, they're often the sorts that they can't get high schoolers to take.
Which means... night shifts, naturally.
The lights of the kombini paint everything with a bright glow, painting the sidewalk with unnatural bright, tampering off into the twilight hues of city life.
It's Umie's first night shift, she's going to have to deal with the Dark Hour tonight.
She'll miss/not miss the demons of Sumaru. A demon could be negotiated with, but those shadows are another matter.
A night rain has made the customer count dwindle to a few stragglers, then none. Enough time for her to mop the floors. Her co-worker is back in the backrooms dealing with some stock as Umie settles behind the cash register.
It's not so bad. The co-workers are nice, and that high schooler -- Ren, that was his name -- make it interesting, without it settling into the shenanighans of 'Chick-tan mascot issues'.
..... which she's still paying off. How much did that damn thing cost?
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
It's raining, as is typical in early June. Fortunately, Katsuya hadn't forgotten his umbrella.
Smoothly shaking it out and ducking into the Triple Seven, a small chime announces his arrival.
It's only been a few days since the murder at Seven Sisters High, but he's assembled quite a bit of knowledge in that time. For one thing, there's the various contacts he's made, through Baofu's introductions or otherwise. Then there's the Velvet Room, as cryptic as some of their advice can be (and to be fair, some of their advice was very, very to the point). And then, there's also Darkside.
It's funny to think that even a week ago, he would have written off almost all of what he's learned as nonsense, but...
All the same, he wants to verify something with his own eyes. It's risky, but this 'life' has become risky.
He regards the display of pre-packaged food and drink for a few moments more. Seizing on an anpan and a canned coffee after some consideration (is caffeine good at this hour? does it matter, if he's 'on leave'?) he pivots then towards the cashier at the register.
Upon spotting her, Katsuya stops dead in his tracks. Isn't that... Akabane? He had last seen her at the festival. Yet, this recognition isn't the only reason he's frozen right where he is. This feeling is unmistakable.
"...Akabane-kun, you... have a Persona?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Welcome to the Triple Seven..." Umie's script is perfect and indiscreet. Not too much enthusiasm to be noticed by a malicious customer, but not so much malaise that you get looked down on by fellow co-workers.
By the time she looks up, Katsuya has already ducked into the shelves. Most people know what they want at this hour, or are nursing some condition that needs them to sit in one aisle or another to nurse their thoughts. 'Choice fatigue', was it?
Umie looks up at Katsuya as she hears him walking her direction, a hard-win instinct borne of at least one year in the kombini trenches. Her script is on her lips already.
.... and it falls out immediately when she sees who it is. While her hair isn't the shade of brown it was when he knew her (nor was it up in buns like this), there's plenty of ways for the detective to recongize her. She isn't trying to hide.
"Su... Suou-san?"
Wait, wait. He has the feeling. The feeling she knows. He never had that before. "Y-you..."
She seems as surprised as he is, right now; it takes a second for her to recover before she ducks in, looking to see where her co-worker is, then around the store.
Umie discreetly beckons him closer, and asks a terrible, terrible question.
"... what's... a Persona?" Is that what these are called?!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
What can he say, he likes to make absolutely sure of his options, when it comes to food from a kombini. It's not the healthiest of things he could be eating, but... sometimes what's cheap and easy wins out. Besides, it's not weird for him to prefer something sweet to go with the coffee. Plenty of people do that.
Now that he's not caught up in the froth of his own embarrassment and she's no longer half-clad in the attire of Chick-tan, he's able to properly note that her hair color has changed. Of course, isn't it the style for young people to dye their hair these days? He wouldn't -- couldn't, really -- but there's nothing strange about that.
She's still wearing long sleeves, he sees.
But far more pressing than any of that is the feeling that reverberates from her. A Persona calls out into the world, and is answered by his own: he can feel Helios stir. It can't come out here, even if he calls it: he's been aware of that ever since he left Sumaru for Tokyo (Darkside had said as much: it's yet another unanswered question for the Persona-user community, it seems).
But Umie asks him a very important question. What's a Persona?
Katsuya blinks. "You, er..." Was he mistaken? Did he-- surely he didn't hallucinate that feeling! But, no. He's sure of it. He can feel the echo of it ring out even now.
"Do you," he starts and stops, uncertain how to phrase his response. He glances behind her, as if to check for another person here. "Are you in the possession of 'another self'? It..." He trails out again. His shoulders sag slightly. He must sound like he's lost his mind...
"This is hard to explain, I'm afraid..." He fidgets with his sunglasses. If only Amano or Serizawa were here. Maybe they could explain it better. "I suppose, have you found yourself able to use 'strange powers' recently?" Surely it's recently. Surely she hasn't had this power for years and years.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It's unmistakeable, the moment Katsuya thinks to pay attention to her. The crow, when noticed in the eye of the soldier, becomes part of the battlefield. In turn, does Badb, the crow of battle.
That moment of silence that follows Katsuya's question may tell on itself, even to someone as green to being a Persona user as Katsuya is. He's not a green detective. What he makes of it is another matter.
For Umie, it's the silence of someone trying to decide where Katsuya fits, in this world she's kept secret for so long.
Is this a consequence of opening herself up the night before?
"Yes," she decides to say, not offering further clarification on whether it was 'recently' or not. "This happened recently to you?"
Despite that confirmation, the feeling from Umie seems to slip away like quicksilver from a gloved hand. It's reflexive; she seems to not even realize she's doing it.
"Did something bad happen?" It's weird to see something asked so seriously, from someone garbed in the bright red and green uniform. "... I've moved away, so... I'm out of the loop. That festival... it was a favor to a co-worker."
Her shame dictated that she had to explain *that*, but not that she's already thinking of several things that could have happened to Katsuya.
Including... no. *No*.
Her eyes flick to Katsuya's wrist; it's clothed, but if she were to look for some signs of makeup...
Nothing. Nothing that she can see. It took many tries to find a concealer that could cover the parts of her Mark that she couldn't conceal with clothing, even in this lighting.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
There: palpable relief.
[EMPATHY]: Aha. She knows what you're talking about. She might not have known what the word for it was, but she is well-acquainted with the concept. That's good. You were starting to worry you were sounding like you had a nervous breakdown again.
"Yes," Katsuya answers Umie. "Just last week." Should he tell her? Then again, he doesn't know how 'green' she is. It might be better to wait and see how this goes.
Did something bad happen, though? He wonders, at first, if he should tell her about Tatsuya. Or ask her about Tatsuya! Maybe she's heard something. Maybe...
What are the odds that Tatsuya's old school tutor would be the key to solving his brother's disappearance? Not high, Katsuya has to admit to himself.
Instead, he looks away, fidgeting with his glasses with his sole free hand. "You might say that. There was a murder at Seven Sisters High School. Perhaps you might have seen it on the news, Akabane-kun. The principal was killed." Hopefully she's not as out of the loop as that, but...
So that's why she was there. Just a coincidence: not because she lives in Sumaru anymore.
It's hard to tell, at a glance. He's wearing a suit jacket, and under that, a long-sleeved button-down shirt. But there's no hint that he's covered anything with cosmetics on his hands: the rain would have made their use as clear as day, even with the use of the umbrella Katsuya left by the door (it's rude to drip water all over a store's floor, and it's unsafe, too. Someone could slip and hurt themselves!).
"It happens that I was following up a lead on the recent killings in Sumaru. We believe they're connected. It was at Seven Sisters that we met the killer, but..." He shakes his head. "He isn't a normal person. Are you familiar with 'demons'? As it happens, #501 makes use of them to kill his victims."
To anyone else, he would sound as if he'd lost the plot. But for someone with a Persona and the experience to know otherwise, it's a different tale.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"... Yeah..." Umie blinks. She'd heard about it, but in the rush of everything else... It wasn't like he was the greatest guy around, or anything.
But that didn't mean he needed to die.
"... It was screwed up, for sure..." Umie curses herself for just assuming it was a mundane cause. The reasons why they weren't were already there, if she had just looked! "... The killer summoned demons." She recognizes something, there. Could it be? "Suou-san, this is important. Don't mess with--"
She trails off and looks up, holding up her hand.
"Akabane-san! You okay at the front there, hon?" A face of an older woman pops through the back door.
"Yeah," Umie says, casually, her expression masking any trace of the fact of what they were just chatting about. "Just catching up on news from Sumaru."
The co-worker nods, seeming to be assured by Umie's words, as well as Katsuya's whole demeanor. "Just let me know if anything comes up, will ya?"
"Will do!" Umie smiles back, nodding.
She waits, just a moment, then hunches in close. "... I can tell you one thing, Suou-san. Anyone who can summon demons..."
It sits there, on the edge of her tongue.
Does she invite this? Should she?
".... I don't know much," she says, quietly. At least in this, she's not lying. "But I've... had experiences. But I doubt I can tell you anything you don't already know. Please be careful, Suou-san. For your brother's sake."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
The principle had looked like he'd been ripped to shreds. Some of the victims had been badly mutilated, but until now, he'd thought that they had 'merely' been dealing with a twisted person. Or possibly, a group of people.
He'd been half right and half wrong. There was more than one party involved, technically. It's just that they weren't human. No wonder forensics hadn't had a firm statement on even the weapon used in the killings. In most cases, it wasn't something that even existed in this world.
Umie looks concerned about something, in this moment. This is important? She's got his full attention.
Which is of course when the other person here pops out to ask if everything is alright. "Nothing at all is amiss, ma'am," he says, his gaze turning her way for the moment. He's nothing if not carefully poised: there's nothing at all wrong to see here.
When it comes to playing this role, Katsuya is a natural.
Umie doesn't quite finish her sentence, even when her co-worker vanishes. 'Anyone who can summon demons'...?
"Please, do not worry. I intend to get to the bottom of this," he says, when she urges him in the end to be careful. "I will bring the killer to justice, even if he can summon demons." He nods, as if to underline that sentiment in his own head. "...Speaking of Tatsuya..."
He takes a step closer to the counter and lowers his voice. "You haven't... been in contact with him, have you?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
There is only one way Umie knows that demons can be summoned. There can be more; she didn't even know what a Persona was, and she's had more conversations about the supernatural with demons than she's ever had with actual people.
Maybe... that's why she's so messed up...?
But beyond that, if it involves something like whatever's on her hand, then, the NWO would be involved.
Which is exactly the reason *why* she moved away, to Shibuya. Definitely no NWO presence in Shibuya. Nope. None at all.
Umie's co-worker, at least, provided a good cover for her to think through this.
She can't tell him everything. But she can at least confirm he understands. Beyond that...
'... It's out of your hands.'
Speaking of Tatsuya...
"Mn? ... No. I haven't. Is he okay?" Curiosity instantly shifts to genuine concern on Umie's face; regardless of how Tatsuya may've viewed her, she did take a liking to him. It's no wonder some mutual friends passed on the word to give him some aid; he's likable, in his own way. "... The killer didn't attack him, did he?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Is he okay?
Katsuya's hesitation might tell her everything she needs to know. He says, at length, "Actually..." He looks away from her. "He hasn't been to school lately. He is... it isn't the first time," he admits, unable to completely hide the pained look that flashes in his eyes. "Unfortunately, even our parents haven't been able to get in touch. I do not think anything is amiss, yet, but... if you should see him, please tell him to call home. I am sorry to trouble you with this," he finishes.
Yet, he might listen to her, since they're older in age.
What in the world is his brother doing? Running off like this is going to drive their father into an early grave at this rate. And what happens if he gets expelled for non-attendance?
With these thoughts kept to himself, he sets at last the things he selected down on the counter. "Ah, but I should not keep you. I'm certain once the rain lets up, you'll have more customers. Just these two, please."
Anpan, and canned coffee. At this hour, a drink for someone who likes coffee, is immune to caffeine, or needs the pick-me-up.
And a snack for someone with a sweet tooth...
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Umie feels relief, when Katsuya confirms otherwise. She shakes her head, allowing herself a small smile as Katsuya's eyes expose his brotherly concern. "He's stubborn. But he's a good kid. Well... I guess I can't get away with calling someone who's that tall a 'kid', really." There's only a two year difference, but it's enough that it colored her perception of him.
She's still the senpai of this tutoring social link, damn it.
"Don't worry about it. It's not like I can promise anything. I'll keep an eye out for him and pass the message on." She gives Katsuya a wry, closed mouth grin. "Who knows? He might just listen to me."
She'll do more than that. If Katsuya is concerned enough to ask her, it has to be important.
"Anyway, if the Dark Hour hits while I'm on shift in Shibuya, well, you know where to get some supplies," she shares, as she rings up his items. "No freebies, though. I can make do without the cash register well enough."