2025-07-14: Back Alley Blues
- Log: 25 07 14 - Back Alley Blues
- Cast: Shinjiro Aragaki, Suzume Fukura
- Where: Port Island Station -- Back Alleys
- OOC Date: July 14, 2025
- IC Date: June 10, 2012
- Summary: Suzume locates 'Beanie-san' after her previous meeting to see if she can get some answers. Mostly she gets more questions.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
The darker side of Tatsumi Port Island is known. Side alleyways are full of troublemakers and criminals, the type of people that the city doesn't really abide hanging out in public. Sometimes fights happen. Sometimes drug deals. Very rarely, a death.
But none of those are happening right now.
Shinjiro Aragaki sits on a metal crate in his 'usual spot' in an alleyway near the station, underneath a partial staircase to a large shuttered door. He has a canned coffee half-full sitting next to him, as he skims his phone, reading something.
Finding him isn't difficult, because while most lowlifes don't want to snitch, apparently someone beat the crap out of the last person who wouldn't snitch on Aragaki, so there's a small 'okay we should just let him handle his own shit' demeanor going on. Therefore, asking where one can find the teen named Aragaki just gets glares, mutterances, and a point to the right alleyway.
He doesn't seem very alert. This would be a lie.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
This isn't the first time Suzume has been down to the rough side of Tatsumi Port Island. She doesn't come often. She's certainly not a regular. But the rumours that she's a bit more of a delinquent than occasionally ducking out of class are apparently not entirely wrong.
(It's not as bad as it sounds. The last time she went down here was on a dare. But it does mean it's not her first trip.)
Suzume doesn't come much though. Suzume is a high school student - more, she's a short, female high school student. There are plenty of reasons for her to not, even if she is brave (or has enough bravado) to never admit out loud that the danger is any sort of concern.
But once in a while there's a reason to do so.
The first sign Shinjiro would get that she's there, if he wasn't actually paying much attention, was the, "Hello, Beanie-san," she introduced herself with.
But since he is, it's not hard to spot her ahead of time. No way would Suzume wear her school uniform down here, though; today she has a pair of jeans and a dull green camo-coloured T-shirt that's a bit too big for her; it passes her hips and it's awfully baggy. It's definitely her, though. Same hair, purple, nape-length, and a little fluffy or shaggy. Same face, expression slightly challenging.
There *might* have been tension in her stance, but she's deliberately trying to not show it anymore, with an I-am-cool-and-relaxed slouch as she leans on the wall nearby (and immediately regrets it a little because it's not THAT clean a wall, though it's not obviously filthy either).
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro glances up as he first sees her. Most people, he wouldn't care, but this is clearly either someone stepping into territory they're not familiar with, or more likely, coming to see him.
He grimaces as he puts away his phone, leaving the Dark Side of Sumaru tab open within.
The grimace deepens when she greets him with that nickname.
"What do you want?" he asks without hesitation. His eyes cross to her leaning against the wall, mildly amused, before moving to make sure no one is nearby to overhear. Luckily, no one is, and he'd know if someone's hiding in his preferred spot.
"This isn't a place for students," he adds. But isn't he...?
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume's eyes are not sharp enough to recognize a site she's never seen before in the split second she saw it before Shinjiro turned it away from her and put it away. The Dark Side of Sumaru remains as mysterious as the dark side of the moon, to her.
"I saw three students on my way down," Suzume says in response to that, neglecting to say that she saw all three of them right at the closest alleys to Port Island Station and the reason they were there is because they had illicit cigarettes, not because of anything more than that.
What does she want? "Well, I had a couple questions I thought you might answer." Suzume has to look *way* up at Shinjiro. She hates it; she feels like she's going to get a crick in her neck if she keeps it up. "So let's start with an easy one."
"Why'd you tell me not to stay out too late? Nobody gives a warning like *that* except in the movies." There's not just shadows in the darkness... Somehow she can't see Shinjiro running around and giving many warnings like that.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Yeah, and I'd tell them the same thing," is what he says about the students. He does not make it easier to look directly at him.
Suzume gets straight to business, asking why he told her not to stay up too late. Shinjiro sits up straight, considering what to say. "You're in SEES, right? Had to say it somehow."
He's cutting straight to the fact of the matter. It's not impossible to have heard *of* SEES, the secret club in Gekkoukan no one knows the truth about. But this doesn't sound like he doesn't know what it is.
No, on the contrary, he *definitely* knows what it is..
"If so, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. But SEES doesn't know the whole picture. The world's wider than Tatsumi Port Island. Tokyo's got some bullshit, Sumaru's a special kind of hellhole... you aren't going to just be fighting monsters if you choose to get involved."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Bingo, Suzume thinks to herself, self-satisfied.
That's not *much* information. But it's clear Aragaki knows *something* - more than she did as recently as a week ago (god, has it only been that long)? She straightens up slightly. "You know SEES?" And then a pause: "That what you meant by 'the attitude'?"
Suzume's watched movies. That is her only connection with 'secret agent shit', which this is the closest thing to, as far as she can tell. Maybe she can get more out of him, she thinks. Knowing something they don't might stop people from saying she doesn't really know what she's getting into...
"Let's say I'm in SEES," she says, glancing around as if to see if anyone was in earshot. She keeps her voice down, too. "So I'm listening. You've got something to warn me about. Tell me something I don't know and I'll tell you something you might not."
"Because you've sat through the Dark Hour too, haven't you." Not much of a secret, but Suzume is also thinking of something else... "That *feeling* when we met. That's related, isn't it."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro sighs, as she mentions the 'attitude'. "Yeah. SEES has been around for years," he explains, without explaining WHY he knows that. "Has more members than it used to, though."
Though, he realizes she's intending to seem 'cooler' than she likely is, but... he doesn't interrupt. If she trips herself up, that's better than calling her out. "You want something you don't know? Alright."
He stretches out to grab his coffee, taking a drink. "In Sumaru, if enough people believe a rumor, it comes true. There's 'rumormongers' you can share rumors with, who'll make them popular. Kasugayama High School? Gets haunted by demons at night. Seven Sisters? If you have one of their emblems, you're immune to the Joker Killer. These seem like bullshit, but they're real right now."
A beat.
"Go see Rumormonger Merry at the Cardboard Dragon. They're in the know and seem pretty reliable," he says, indirectly confirming he does, in fact, experience the Dark Hour.
Though, about the feeling... "SEES calls it Detection. Other Persona Users call it Resonance. It's a vibes sense, almost. I don't know all the details."
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"*Years*? I knew things had been happening for a while," because she was told that much, "but I didn't know SEES was in it that long." Almost nobody in the dorms except Kirijo and maybe Sanada (she never asked) have been there for more than this year...
That, apparently, was something Suzume didn't know. Let alone the rest of it. She looks doubtful at first as Shinjiro spills some beans, but she doesn't interrupt and she doesn't object, until -
"The Cardboard Dragon..." What are the odds? "I've been. My friend and me," she means Hitomi but she can't remember if Aragaki has ever heard her name, "went to buy some cards." She does not mean skill cards. "She bought some, I didn't. But I know who you're talking about. I didn't know they were anything special, though."
But the rumours...
"I don't know if I believe you about all of it. But I believe you in general, because... OK, I promised," Suzume admits. "Rumours aren't just in Sumaru. Do you know about the Mementos dare? You go look in a mirror in a station and you say it five times. Most people can't do it, apparently, so nobody knows what happens if you do it."
A beat. "I did it. You go to some - some fucked-up subway dimension," Suzume fumbles for words. "It's all maze-y and the train tracks don't make any *sense*. And there's monsters in it. But," and she decides to push it given he just mentioned Detection, so she lowers her voice again: "You don't actually need to have a Persona to go there. Except you can't find your way out, then."
Let's see what he says about *that*, she thinks to herself. If he wants to warn people about things, now he's got a whole new thing.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...how's the new set?" Shinjiro asks. Did he... used to play card games? (He clearly doesn't now. He doesn't have anywhere to put them.)
As Suzume indicates she doesn't know if she believes it all, he shrugs, though as she brings up Mementos...
"I've been there. Be careful. I almost got shot in the face the other night by a giant grim reaper," he says with actual hints of worry.
But he chews on the information a little. "Civilians, huh? That's not the case with the Dark Hour... wonder why it's different. Dark Side of Sumaru says it's connected to some Metaverse, but no one knows what the fuck that means."
A beat. "It's the big supernatural site. Cut through the bullshit fake postings and you'll find the real stuff."
And then, suddenly, he's looking clearly at Suzume with determined eyes. "Why did you join SEES?"
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"...?"
Being asked about the new set was about the thing Suzume expected the *least*. She doesn't quite double-take. But she comes close. "It's OK. Mandai bought some. I didn't have the cash on me. This was a couple weeks ago though." She hasn't been back to the Cardboard Dragon since - it's quite a ways off, after all!
"I didn't see a grim reaper," she says, a little worried despite herself. There's MORE in there? She had enough trouble running away from Pixies... "I don't know about a Metaverse either," Suzume admits. "You mind sharing that site? I don't have much to give you for it, unless you've got some more questions."
And then, of course, Shinjiro asks one of those questions.
Suzume shoves her hands in her pockets so she doesn't fiddle with them. A moment later: "Remember how I said I went into Mementos? I didn't know anything then. It was me and my friend, Jiro-san - Yamamoto Jiro." She doesn't know Shinjiro's name to spot the similarities.
"A different one of my friends dared me to do it, so Jiro was there to prove I'd done it. Except when I finished we both went. SEES found us in there," she admits. "Jiro'd twisted his ankle, we couldn't run, and we couldn't find the way out. So there was a fight. I - "
Suzume can't talk about the Evoker. What if Shinjiro doesn't know about those? "...I found out I had a Persona. Jiro doesn't. He doesn't even remember it all clear now. But I do. So I went back with them, and here I am." That's half an answer, at least.
A pause, and then another question, right back: "How come you know about SEES?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Damn, was hoping it was at least similar to Raven Caw." Oh, he used to play *years ago*, that's the 2005 set. "I don't have anywhere to store cards, so. They'd get stolen if I tried." Wait...
Is he homeless?
But, Shinjiro reads between the lines. She doesn't explain her motive... but why mention a friend who almost died if you weren't doing this to help people? "...you've got a good motive. But don't get yourself killed. This is a deathtrap of a world we're in... and he's lucky he's alive. It's just not possible to save everyone."
Though, she asks a question. This might make the hint he's homeless even more befuddling, as he says-
"...because me, Aki, and Kirijo founded it, way back when." Why is he telling her this?
Maybe she reminds him of himself, when he was younger. Maybe that's dangerous.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Suzume hasn't been playing that long. It takes her a moment to place the set. "Huh," she says to herself. But she doesn't say more than that. As for Jiro...
Suzume had refused to abandon Jiro, back then. She probably *could* have gotten away without him, after he twisted his ankle - just left him for the Pixies - but she'd gotten him into it, and she was going to get him out of it. She's stubborn, even before she picked up an Evoker and made it work. She'd brought him up because she owed SEES for getting both of them out of it, but...
That didn't mean she hadn't been trying on her own, even if it was doomed to failure.
Shinjiro's comment makes her bristle. "Doesn't mean I should sit on my ass and do nothing," Suzume snaps, before letting out a long breath that makes her cheeks puff out. She can't bring herself to apologize for snapping, though. "Not like I'm doing much else." And that wasn't really meant for him.
What is: "YOU founded it?" Suzume pushes off the wall she'd been leaning and looks - really looks - at Shinjiro. He does look like a third-year, so he'd be about the right age, but he's clearly not in school. She's not even sure he has anywhere to live, based on what else he's said - or maybe he's couch-surfing, or staying with someone else. Either way, it's not *his* home. He doesn't look that healthy (it's the clothes; Suzume reads dressing up that way in summer as having caught a chill, like burrowing in the blankets) but he's clearly in decent shape so he's probably not too sick for school or anything.
She considers all this and more for several long moments. "Huh," she half-says, half-grunts, after that long, uncomfortably penetrating look. "So I guess that's why you didn't want me to tell Kirijo-san I'd met you. Or a truant officer. Still want me to not tattle?"
Critically, she does not ask why he's not, now. Not yet. She wants to know, but there are things she doesn't want to talk about and she figures it's mutual.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Suzume doesn't know Raven Caw? Huh, he thought it was one of the better ones.
Weirdly, her bristle doesn't get him to bristle. He understands it. "You're right. But you don't have to keep going, either. You're entering into a world of pain. Up to you if you can tolerate it." It seems to be meant... encouragingly? Like he's encouraging her to figure that out.
Her deep stare as he reveals is also expected, though that clearly makes him uncomfortable. He considers how to respond, settling on, "We were a trio of terrors. Aki always led from the front, but Kirijo was the real leader." He sighs when she asks about tattling, and settles on... "Honestly, I don't care what you tell Kirijo. She can't get me to come back anyway. ...truant officer, on the other hand..." That would be a Problem.
"Give me something to call you," he finally settles on. He's not necessarily asking for her name, just an Address so he isn't in a disadvantage of being Beanie-san forever without being able to identify her.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
"Mmm."
Suzume, of all people, understands what it is to have people have expectations about you because of who you are, or who you're related to, or who you hang out with. So she does not immediately make plans to tell Kirijo, though she *does* want to at least pass on some of the information. Rumours in Sumaru...
(And she's definitely not going to tell a truant officer. One, that's Shinjiro's decision, and two, he'd be able to pick her up too. While she's not exactly anywhere near as absent as he is, she does occasionally skip class and she doesn't want to have to talk to her parents about it.)
"You're not the only person to tell me that," is what she settles on. "But you're the only one that's not trying to get me to ditch while they do it." She doesn't want to go back home, though. And there's the rest of it...
Her name? "Fukura," Suzume says. "Suzume Fukura." Her name is not exactly a secret; she knows Hitomi used most of it anyway, and even if Shinjiro wasn't really listening she doesn't know if he's already got it. But she doesn't like being known by just her surname; even if they only address her by Fukura, she at least wants to be *known*.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro waits for her to continue, nodding as she does. "It's not my business. Everyone has their own reasons for what they do."
But as she gives her name, the surname is familiar, but he doesn't place it. Been too long to jog his memory on that alone of whatever he's thinking of. Instead... "Shinjiro Aragaki. Don't get killed out there."
That's his version of 'stay safe'.
<Pose Tracker> Suzume Fukura has posed.
Shinjiro. Suzume will remember that.
"I don't intend to," Suzume says. She even manages a grin - slightly crooked, it lights up her face compared to her normal slightly sullen expression. "Thanks for the tips." She might have to go back to the Cardboard Dragon...
She pushes herself away from the wall again, using her shoulders. "Gonna head back," she says. How does she put this... "If you ever need more info off me, I guess you know where I live now." Is she going to invite him to the dorms? No. But this is close, in some ways.
Truthfully, though, she does want to get back before it gets too late. This *isn't* the good part of town, and even though Suzume would disagree strenuously with the judgement, she doesn't exactly look imposing.