2025-07-13: Hope You Know What You're Getting Into
- Log: Hope You Know What You're Getting Into
- Cast: Shinjiro Aragaki, Umie Akabane
- Where: Outside of Gekkoukan High School
- OOC Date: July 13, 2025
- IC Date: June 14, 2012
- Summary: Shinjiro shows Umie a little bit of what they're up against, and why finding Fuuka may be more difficult than it may initially sound. The two talk, and find some similarities between them.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
It is almost Dark Hour. It is the time for people to be in bed, or if on the street, not be teenagers.
Yet, a teenager is out and about. After the meeting at Peace Diner earlier in the day, one person there asked Shinjiro if he could show them more about the 'tower' in Tatsumi Port Island. He agreed, since he felt kind of bad charging them money even though he Needed To Eat To Live, so it made up for it in his mind.
Shinjiro Aragaki is hanging out on the sidewalk near the school, leaning against a fence blocking off an alleyway. He's dressed in his usual fit. He gave Umie a meetup location here for close to midnight, watching the school from afar. Not many people are out, but a few are, minding their own business.
He's got a canned coffee he's nursing, people-watching the night-time travelers and watching for coffins to spring up.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
This time, Umie's not wearing a mask, or any outfit to somehow obscure her identity. No, Shinjiro knows better now, and he knows her name, if by proxy, thanks to Julian's machinations.
Wearing thumbsleeves, a light windbreaker to hold against the ocean air, jean shorts, and sneakers, for once, Umie feels like she's not the one who's overdressed for the occasion. "Don't they enforce curfews here?" she says airily, a half-smirk on her lips as she sips from a can of iced tea. There's a crinkle of a bag, as she pulls out some spicy pizza-flavored chips from her jacket, which she opens and quietly offers for Shinjiro to snag some out of.
At least now, Umie also has an idea of why Shinjiro never summoned his persona: he can't. Not without an Evoker. Either he lacks one, or... he doesn't care to use them. "... So this is where that group of people work out of? One of them mentioned a shadow hunting group that operated out of here."
Gekkoukan is certainly impressive, and could be seen as 'tall', but Umie's not sure if a 'tower' would apply as a word for it.
Unfortunately, the chips are salty, which means she needs to take a drink from her can.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Yeah," Shinjiro says as Umie walks up. He's still ignoring the curfew, though! He's a DELINQUENT. But as Umie offers him a chip... does he take it? Does it make him look more Friendly than he should? Does it betray his emotions? Is it good?
He takes some chips.
"Yeah, they're all students here. SEES, you might hear as a name. Don't tell them I told you that." He's not firm about it, but it's important to mention.
"We're waiting for the Dark Hour to strike. Any minute now. ...you get here safe?" It's rare for Shinjiro to make small talk! But, hey, it cuts the silence.
He starts eating his chips. "...damn. These are... good?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It's alright. Shinjiro's secret is safe with Umie. That secret being: he likes spicy pizza chips.
As Shinjiro fills Umie in a little more, she's quietly amazed at all the little details Yukari was able to leave out, while also seeming like she was revealing everything. "SEES, huh? And don't worry about it. It's probably a good thing to know, since we'll be helping find that girl."
He mentions the Dark Hour and Umie nods. "I figured. I don't understand the specifics, but I imagine it's going to become clear once it hits. Not sure how someone can get lost in the Dark Hour, but..." Her tone becomes a touch more serious. "... Someone mentioned something about a 'Potential'. For her sake, I hope she has it, because it means she'll be alive." But how would someone become *trapped* in the Dark Hour? How can someone disappear into an hour, unless it was just a matter of their body just not being found yet?
He's checking on her safety? Umie makes an 'aww' sound. "You really are a bit of a softy underneath all that, aren't you?" she teases. "No issues. The ride here's got an impressive view, I'll say that."
As Shinjiro remarks on his chips, Umie nods, and chuckles. "I know, right? It's the kick that makes the flavor set in. Otherwise it'd just be boring pizza chips."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"This is their turf, so to speak," Shinjiro continues about SEES. "You'll see why."
As Umie wonders about the girl, Shinjiro considers. He steps forward a bit, shifting to give her room near the fence. "Because of how Tartarus works. It's... you'll get it in a moment. If she was locked in the school, then-"
His phone alarm goes off. 11:59.
"We'll see momentarily."
And then, while they're waiting, Umie SAYS FIGHTING WORDS. "Tch, you don't know me as well as you think." He can't be a softie. That's dangerous.
"Besides-" he starts to say, but before he can continue, the phone ticks. Tick. Tick.
Click.
The world goes green.
Shinjiro tilts his head towards the school, drawing Umie's attention. He pockets his phone. Within their gaze are several Coffins, but they also have a clear view of the school.
Windows start to duplicate, spreading outwards like an urban infection. Pieces of building start adding, stacking, *undulating* as the school seemingly 'rises', but more accurately, expands.
What is left at the end, as it continually grows, is a tower that metaphorically reaches to the moon. A horrific urban sculpture, less a school and more a monstrosity.
Shinjiro, for his part, has little reaction. He's seen it long enough, he's used to it.
"We can get a closer look, if you want, but we're not going in tonight." A beat. Welcome to Tartarus."
He's not ready to leave her quite yet, though, which is weird for him. Perhaps he has more to talk to her about...?
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
As Shinjiro gives her space to get a better look, Umie nods, obliging him by moving towards the fence.
But not without a little teasing. "Mmn?" Umie's grin is like a small scythe, her eyes lidding slightly as she munches another chip. Like a crow, sensing blood on the field.
It stops, as Umie realizes that the Dark Hour is about to start. Casting a look towards the coffins, she then directs her attention to the school itself
Why does it feel like her heart's in her throat now?
Why does it feel like the first time she's ever experienced the Dark Hour, all over again? Has she gotten so used to the Dark Hour that she's forgotten what this feels like?
One. Two. Three. It's like a growing, organic creature, a worm extending from the ground. Umie nearly falls backwards, both from shock and from craning her neck to find the top of the tower.
It's like she's back in that hospital room all over again, not understanding the rewritten logic of the world, or how things like 'safety' and 'reason' can ever be understood to exist ever again.
It may be satisfying, given Umie's teasing earlier, that something that Shinjiro is so used to manages to draw such a reaction from a young woman so determined to appear calm at all times.
She swings around. "'Sumaru City isn't normal' my ass!!" Umie exclaims with her best impression of Yukari's voice, while pointing to the tower behind her with animated gusto. "Sumaru City doesn't have a _giant tower_ growing from a school!"
It does make Yukari's information about there being a 'shadow nest' make more sense, however.
She calms, rolling up her chip bag and placing it back into her jacket. "... Tartarus... Like in Greek myth? That's a pretty appropriate name. Yeah, I want a closer look. But I don't want to go in yet, either."
How would any of them be able to find one girl in all of that? Potential or no... Umie can't begin to understand how anyone would be able to survive.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro has noticed the Umie-crow searching for BLOOD IN THE WATER. Thank god a murder tower has risen first!
But as Umie reacts and nearly falls over, Shinjiro instinctively moves to lend a hand to stabilize.
"Careful. Can't have you bashing your head while the hospitals are closed," he jokes dryly, unaware of her Experience with them.
About Sumaru... "It's a different kind of weird. Stuff here doesn't prepare you for stuff there. First of all, Tartarus's 'demons' don't talk," Shinjiro explains as they push forward, his eyes scanning for the gym.
"If she was in the gym when it transformed... stands to reason that's where we have to go tomorrow."
No Shadows out here right now, but the entrance is right there. He tilts to bring her to a more secluded corner... in case SEES shows up. He doesn't want to have to explain himself.
"Tell me something, Akabane. You wear a mask most of time- you some sort of vigilante? I don't really care, but..." Shinjiro considers how to phrase it.
"Death's a part of this life when you chase trouble. SEES has claims on this territory, right? Been operating here for a few years now. But even their hands can't be entirely clean."
How does he know all of this? Whose blood had to be spilled for him to realize this?
"Just be careful what you're getting yourself into. You seem too nice for this shit," he says glancing out at the moon.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Shinjiro's point is made, at least, all without a possible concussion. "... So, a little like Shibuya. No demons there, as far as I could tell. But there's nothing like Tartarus there, or anywhere I've been." It's valuable information; shadows need a different hand than demons.
Shadows are likely everywhere people are, because... that's what they're...
"... I'm not looking forward to that. Feels like throwing myself into the back of shredder right as the switch is flipped. But I doubt we'd be able to search all those floors otherwise. Apparently my senses stretch out a little more than other people's, but it's only going to cover a few floors at the most. I heard SEES has someone like that on their team too, so... if they couldn't find her, I won't either." Still, assuming the floors stay consistent, eventually the maze would become solved, right?
She follows Shinjiro to a more secluded corner, finishing her drink. Dark hour makes everything taste a little more sour, it feels like...
And the questions aren't any better.
"... I'm not sure if I could call myself a vigilante," Umie says truthfully, after some thought. "There was a masked woman that joined us during that Mementos run; not too long afterwards, she was helping a group of people that tried to use Personas to silence someone with valuable information. If she strolled in with no mask on during my shift and pointed a gun at me... I wouldn't know. Not in Shibuya. No one asked the people the Joker Killer killed if they were chasing trouble; they probably were just going about their lives like any normal person would. Tatsuya Suou is supposed to be a normal rebellious teenager in his senior year. This girl... somehow, she got stuck in the Dark Hour through no fault of her own. Trouble finds you; it's better to be proactive about it."
'That's not the real reason.'
Instead of focusing more on that, Umie turns the question around. "Why do you, Aragaki-san?" It feels like the wrong moment to advance to some cutesy nickname, especially when she's redirecting a question right back. "You fight without a Persona, even though you clearly are one. I'd say it's because you're an Evoker user, but... you don't have one."
Even SEES' hands can't be entirely clean.
".... you don't know me as well as you think." The words are intentionally the same as his.
And there, while she props up Shinjiro's words as a mirror, she finds herself reflected on the back. "...." She looks down, placing her hands in her pockets.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"I'm not talking about that, about saving the innocent," Shinjiro admits. "I'm talking about what happens when you mess up... the people we don't save."
"The fact you said that at all, though? Tells me you're pretty nice, even if you don't think you are." Shinjiro doesn't push on that, though, instead...
He can feel it. If he fucks up here, he might alienate a new ally. He doesn't care. Why should he? She's just some woman.
"I don't," he starts with. "I quit SEES two years ago." Ah. That explains where the knowledge comes from. "Gave up my Evoker and everything. But I still have to live in this damn hour, every night, and know people are getting hurt. I ask myself - do I dive in, knowing I'm risking myself every time? Or do I stay in my alleyway hovel watching *fucking paint dry*, while people are getting killed?"
The answer is obvious, based on his actions, but Something Is Missing from the context... why did he quit?
He takes a breath, even as he knows he's getting emotional. He's tight on information usually... but he senses a kindred spirit, perhaps, even if it's just because something doesn't add up about her... and nothing adds up about him. The mask makes sense the way she explains it, but she's using the killer as an excuse, when she only appeared *after* the fact.
"When someone dies and you can't save them, it's like their soul anchors you down. You can claw your way out, but who knows if you even deserve to? This world fucking sucks, Akabane. But maybe someone like you can help make it better. But you gotta stay alive to do so."
Not that he can do either of those things. He's already down in the abyss.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Who said anything about saving everyone?" Umie says, looking back at Shinjiro. "For all we know, the only thing we'll find of that girl is her body. Bringing that back is better than nothing. An answer is better than always asking why."
That line of reasoning comes terribly close, too close for comfort.
She listens to Shinjiro's answer, squatting down into a sitting position, even if it only widens the gulf of height between them.
".... Maybe it's the same for me," she concedes. "Part of me wondered if things'd change if I move to Shibuya, but it was the same there. Part of me was relieved, and that scared me. A time when it's just you against the world. No consequences. But I know for a fact that isn't true."
Umie stares up at the tower. "You try to look out for the other members. You even did it with me, though...." She pauses, craning another one of those sharp grins up at him. "You... *do* know that I'm not a 17 year old, right?" She's playing with him.
She knows he doesn't need that as his reasoning.
She also knows a very possible reason he left, though she doesn't voice it.
Someone who goes into battles refusing to use their Persona, or refusing the means to use their Persona, is doing it for a reason.
".... Tatsuya Suou said he had something he needed to atone for." She feels cheap, using a clearly haunted young man in order to avoid talking about herself. "I see now why you reached out to him. That and... he saved your life, of course."
She's quiet. Thoughtful. Perhaps, a part of her likes the Dark Hour because of this impossible quiet.
"I see a little of myself in the girl here, in this tower. The first time I remember the Dark Hour, it was after a surgery. I was still healing." She's not lying, exactly. "I didn't know what was going on. All I could do was hope nothing opened the door to my room. There was no one around who could explain anything to me, and the next day..."
The next day, she realized that was exactly the sort of thing they wanted to hear from her.
"If SEES finds her, she's not going to have to go through that. She won't have to make everything up as she went along, or do something she regrets."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"If she's been in there this whole time... it's likely only been ten hours, not ten days. Given the tower only exists during the Dark Hour" Shinjiro reasons. "I think she's alive." It doesn't mean much, but...
"...I get it. Everywhere we go, it fucking haunts us. Maybe it'll get better. Who knows?"
But, the grin gets to him. He laughs. "You're, what, 20, 21? Clearly live on your own, work at a konbini, so."
But, Umie brings up Tatsuya. "That's not it... my life isn't *that* valuable. He just seems like a real decent guy." He doesn't answer on the atoning part, though he grimaces slightly - she's right on the money.
But, the girl in the tower... "I'm sorry to hear that. SEES can take care of her, for sure."
He turns, as if to lead them back out of the Tartarus zone. "But maybe they shouldn't have to do it alone. Fuck if I know, anymore. I can't go back. But I can't just let them die saving that girl, either."
Shinjiro seems conflicted. "Either way. Someone has to get it done."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"So it only 'exists' during the Dark Hour. Huh." It makes sense, and yet, it doesn't. But isn't that the Dark Hour in a nutshell?
Shinjiro is able to tell it in one try. "Bin-go. 20. Make it to that, and you'll find life opens up a whole long more. You're, what..." She squints. Just.... how old *is* Shinjiro?
Alas, Umie finds herself unable to accurately tell age. "... You're... clearly high school, still," she says.
'My life isn't *that* valuable.' "Not buying it," she says, dismissively. "But yeah. He is." He was, and still is.
And so is Shinjiro.
"It's fine. I didn't find myself in a giant shadow nest tower," she says, waving a hand. "But maybe you're right. It's because I feel like I can make a difference here, instead of hiding away from the world."
'Someone has to get it done.'
"Then why not do it with an ally, eh?" There's a crinkle, and that bag of snacks pops back out in offering, which she holds up for Shinjiro's convenience. "You'll need someone who can look around. I'm more a 'stand behind and do my thing' kind of gal, so I think we'll be a good fit if we get one or two others willing to do the same. You don't need your Persona out. I'll take care of the magic and 'fog of war' parts. Deal?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Seventeen," Shinjiro admits, amused at her inability to guess.
Though, he doesn't touch on her dismissiveness. That's certainly something that'll take Real Work to untangle from his trauma.
But, Umie offers a deal. An alliance of axe-man and Persona user. She wants to make a difference... and so does he, even if he can't use his Persona, can't trust it right now.
Shinjiro takes a chip.
"It's a deal, Akabane. ...I hope you know what you just got yourself into." And what did he get himself into? Either way...
He can't keep watching paint dry until he dies. If he dies saving this girl... that was worth it, wasn't it?