2025-08-09: Wrongness in Sumaru
- Log: Wrongness in Sumaru City
- Cast: Yukari Takeba, Ririka Kawase
- Where: Aoba Way, Aoba District, Sumaru
- OOC Date: August 09, 2025
- IC Date: Saturday, June 23, 2012 (Afternoon)
- Summary: Yukari and Ririka chance to run into Sumaru City and talk about how weird the city is, including the fact that it's legal for Parabellum to sell guns... but not to buy or carry them. But when Ririka tries to give Yukari a delayed warning about Niko, the discussion grows heated.
(|================================= Aoba Way =================================|)
-=================================================== Sumaru City/Aoba Ward ====-
Ample shopping can be found at the stores that dot Aoba Way, but not just the
normal kind. Aside from a door to the Velvet Room for Persona Users, one can
hear and spread all kinds of rumors at Kuzunoha Detective Agency. At the
internet cafe Double Slash, one can surf on the web to find some of those very
rumors *and* munch on various snacks served at the back bar by an apathetic
teenage boy. The blue carpeting and wall-to-wall aquariums lend the place a
relaxing atmosphere.
The bar Parabellum has a more noir vibe, with a mostly wooden interior, brown
leather seats, green glass lamps, and brick pillars along the walls. The elderly
barkeeper offers a number of unique mixed drinks, all named after weapons...
which might be a clever cover for the fact that, according to rumor, he sells
*real* weapons. The fashion boutique Rosa Candida offers the latest in trends
and (per rumor) armor, its decor stark yet stylish, with clothes and bags alike
on display for customers along the walls and on a central table. A pair of
changing rooms are naturally available; to use them, just get the permission of
the saleswoman in red first.
Etheria offers spa treatments to the weary among bright lamps, stained glass
windows, off-white decor, and an esthetician with a giant blue crystal crown.
The name of the place fuses "ether" and "materia," and the treatments are
effective: those who use this spa walk away feeling refreshed in mind and body.
And, of course, it's not Sumaru City without a local Satomi Tadashi Pharmacy
branch. This one looks the same as all the others: aisles and walls laden with
medicine of all kinds, overseen from the back counter where magazines are
available by one of seven identical sisters. Satomi Sister #1 runs this one; an
English-language piano version of the store's theme plays here. "Always in the
side of those who fight: our local... drug store~ o/`"
(|============================================================================|)
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
It's late Afternoon in Aoba Way and Yukari Takeba steps out of a door that most people can't even see.
That would be the bright blue door leading to the Velvet Room. You see, she made a Cardboard Dragon run this late afternoon to purchase a new Skill Card.
And now she's getting it attached!
However, as she steps out, she's taken aback by a tyke that's staring at her. "Why were you staring at the wall?" The four year old boy asks. "Is something there?"
"I wasn't?" She replies, looking sheepish, "But maybe you saw it that way? I'm not really sure what it looks like."
"Ohhhhhhhhh." The kid says in sudden understanding, "You weren't looking at the wall-" "Right" "-you were on your phone." "Wha..." As Yukari looks at her hand, that still has her flip phone in it, "Mom says that's all girls do these days."
"Uhhh, not really?" She says, "H-Hey, your Mom is around right?" "She's having a Ska day."
He says with a nod, as Yukari looked puzzled at the image of his Mom being an underground music conoisseur before, "Ooooohhh you mean a Spa day, right?" "That's what I said." "So... she's at Etheria?" "Uh-huh."
"Welllll... how about we walk that direction? I'm sure she wouldn't want you going too far." "'kay."
Yukari walks with the kid in that direction, a purse slung over her shoulder, and a shopping bag from Smile Mall in her other hand.
She's currently wearing her Gekkoukan Uniform, with her pink Cardigan tied around her waist, because it was a half day.
"Okay - you stick around here and wait for your Mom alright?"
Yukari tells the four year old, who's already distracted by a Cicada shell on the ground...
"Ahhh kids." She smiles as she turns around and walks away, looking towards the sky, "Was I ever that carefree?" Like she's not a kid herself.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka is out this way for one of several potential reasons. Most often it's to visit her sister, last week (and tomorrow) it's to head to Sumaru TV. Right at this moment, though... Ririka's checking out a clothing store she visited last week, because she remembered something she forgot to pick up...
She's not in her Gekkoukan uniform, though, because if she heads over to Kasu next she'd rather not have it on. She doesn't want to make more trouble for Ichika, after all. So she's dressed in a light jacket, band t-shirt, skirt, and sneakers instead.
She steps out of Rosa Candida, slightly baffled by the fact that they sell armor... and she happens to look right in the direction of the Velvet Room door when Yukari steps out.
She blinks and stares for a moment. "... Was that always there...?" she mutters to herself.
But Yukari helps a tyke along, and Ririka approaches her after that. "Hey, Takeba-san. I didn't expect to find you in Sumaru."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari is snapped out of her abstraction by a familiar voice, as she turns to face Ririka, surprised. "Oh! Hey Kawase-san..."
There's some suspicion on her features for a moment, until she remembers that Ririka's sister lives around this place.
"... well I used to live here for a while. Not for long, but long enough to figure out the shopping scene. Iiiii just know it better than Tokyo."
Is that really the only reason she's here though? Well no, but Yukari isn't exactly someone who's that forthcoming with her reasons for doing anything.
"What about you? Here to visit your sister?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Suspicion... Ririka blinks a little. "Is... everything okay...?"
"Oh, I see. Yeah, I get that, wanting to go to a place you're more familiar with..." Tokyo... that was certainly strange last night, wasn't it?
She nods about her reasons for visiting. "I'm hoping to, but I'm also here to pick up something at Sumaru TV. But I found this store last week, and wanted to take another look..." She frowns for a moment. "... Did you know this place sells armor? That's kinda weird, isn't it?" She holds up the bag to indicate the store.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Oh surreeee, why wouldn't everything be okay?" Is Yukari's easy response, now that she thinks Ririka isn't just following her around or something.
She's following along until Ririka mentions that store sells armor. Yukari's eyes flick to the Rosa Candida, then back to Ririka.
"Well... yeah, Sumaru City is like that, you know." Is her answer after a moment, "I don't really understand it. Everyone claims 'Rumors can come to life in Sumaru'... but I haven't exactly tried it. It didn't used to be like this, even though - back when I lived here they were big on 'Rumors' too."
Indeed, the idea bothers her, that people just accept the place - people changing like that.
But she hates Rumors for reasons that are far more personal too.
She cants her head at Parabellum, "Apparently that bar sells weapons too, like even guns. And the cops just... don't do anything about it."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Well you were looking at me like..." Ririka rubs the back of her neck. "... Nevermind."
Just like that. Ririka blinks a little. "Rumors can come true, huh...?" Then she frowns a little. "Most of the time when I'm here I just head to Ichika-chan's place, so..." She's not really exploring Sumaru for its own sake.
But before... "I wonder what changed...? I've heard about, like, Demons and stuff, I wonder if that's related to the rumors..."
She does a double take at Parabellum. "W-wait, what? That can't..." her fingers drum on her thigh as she thinks for a moment. She lowers her voice. "We had to go talk to Kurosawa-san, and he wanted us to keep things secret. How..."
She shakes her head. That's a new level of weird, for sure.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Uh-huh." Is Yukari's response to her 'Nevermind'. Like she's just not even going to address that.
"I mean, like I said, I haven't really tried it... but there's a lot of weird stuff that goes on in this city, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were true."
Demons and stuff?
"... Welllll... the Demons I've seen were mostly summoned by Persona Users. I don't know how they do it."
There's no reason not to share in that regard. "They just kinda do? They're real dangerous though..."
But as for Parabellum and the cops, "Right, but it's just Kurosawa-san." She replies, a little more hushed, "And he knows it's not really legal." Is Yukari's statement there.
"I can't really say why things are why they are, but... hmmm."
Yukari looks up for a moment, then down Aoba Way, towards a cop standing around. "Here... hold this and wait here. I'm going to test it out." As Yukari holds her purse over to Ririka, and steps up to the cop from a distance.
"Hey officer?" Yukari flags him down as she walks up to him, "... So, just saying this as a concerned citizen, but I heard some boys at the train station talking about how they were going to buy real weapons at that bar there?"
The officer turns around, regarding her with a strange look, "This isn't some prank right?"
"Why no! Not at all!" She says, looking startled, "Like, it didn't make sense to me - so, I thought I'd you know, say something just in case."
The officer gives her a long look, then, "I'll check it out." He then walks over to Parabellum, enters, as Yukari gives Ririka a look.
Then the Officer leaves the Bar and...
"All of his licenses are in order. So don't worry about it." "His licenses to-" "Sell Firearms. Not that it's legal to buy them or carry them around on the streets."
"I... huh?"
Yukari looks just confused at the logical contradiction. "Well okay then, if you say so Sir. Have... a nice day?" "Yeah yeah."
Yukari circles back around, before coming back to Ririka, taking her purse and, "... I guess... that kinda proves how messed up things are here."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Summoned by Persona Users? Really?" Ririka frowns. To herself, but out loud, she mutters, "... I wonder if that's how they got to Kasugayama..."
One cop, but he knows it's not legal. "Right... that... makes sense..." Okay, it's still wrid that he does it, but at least he recognizes the weirdness about it.
Ririka takes hte purse. "Okay. But--" She blihnks, and then hisses through her teeth as Yukari moves to approach the cop. "Takeba-san--" Too late.
She straightens up a little, a bit tense as Yukari engages the cop, and then the cop goes and checks... and all the licenses are in order.
That's weird.
But it's still illegal to buy them or carry them. Ririka stares, and looks to Yukari with a wide-eyed, slightly confused expression. Silently she mouths, 'Wha...?'
She gives Yukari her purse back, but she's keeping a wary eye on the cop still as he goes ack to his business. "How can it be legal to sell them but not to buy them..." She sighs. "Takeba-san, please don't mess with the cops..."
She's a little concerned, and she's drumming her fingers on her thigh, over her skirt now. (It's got the same rhythm as the store them in Rosa Candida.)
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Yeah. And... probably? It's not normal for us to be able to use our Personas in broad daylight, but they do something and..." She shrugs, "Suddenly we can. And Demons are around."
Ririka tries to warn her away from the cops, but she doesn't listen and-
"Oh calm down. You worry too much." She says as she takes her purse back, "One of the Persona Users I know from this city is a cop. He's... actually pretty helpful? All this confuses him too."
Is that why she was so bold about it? Or does she just figure the cops are going to help a pretty girl? It's hard to say.
"He didn't even arrest me for having to use my Evoker... though he did inspect it. And I mean - it's definitely not legal." Is all Yukari says, "Think about it. You think our government would let people sell guns near a bunch of flammable liquor?"
She looks down the way at the cop, "Which means either the cop is lying or... it's just part of what this place is like."
She does look suspicious...
"... and I don't think he's lying, that lie is just... too out there, right? Who would think that anyone would believe it?"
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
They do something, and suddenly they can summon Personas. Ririka frowns a little. "That kind of sounds like what happened at Sumaru TV on Sunday..." Something happened, and then they could summon Personas. "... I didn't notice any Demons, though."
Did anybody tell Yukari about that? Ririka doesn't know, but she's not exactly hiding it.
Ririka looks at Yukari skepticaolly as she says she knows a useful cop. "... really?" She frowns a bit more. A copy that's a Persona User... that doesn't exactly make her feel easy.
"I didn't know you knew other Persona Users out here."
"Well I'm glad he didn't arrest you, at least," says Ririka. "Yeah, and it's probably really dangerous to use a gun if you've been drinking..."
She looks at the cop again. Lying or... Quietly she mutters. "... someone put him up to it, maybe." Still, even she has to realize it'd be hard to buy off an entire police department, right? So maybe it is something weird...
But she nods. "Yeah, it's..." Drumming, drumming. "... I don't know what to think. I still get nervous carrying my Evoker and I know it's not real. A real gun..." She shakes her head.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Hmmm..." Yukari says of the matter of Sumaru TV, giving Ririka a searching look, like she's not entirely surprised. "... Well that's not that unexpected. It was kinda like that before... the Demons appeared later, when they were trying to escape."
She pauses for a moment, not seeming that disturbed really, just more asking, "Was there a woman there with a weird Evoker... and another that... fights like a Fencer?"
'I didn't know you knew...'
"Well, you didn't ask. There's a whole wide world out there, right?"
Re: Knowing other Persona Users. "Well I mean more that the whole place would be an explosion hazard, but that too." On drinking and using firearms.
Someone put him up to it? Yukari gives Ririka a questioning look, "Well what makes you think that? Like I said... it's a pretty out there kind of lie. You'd think if he was being forced to - they'd have gotten their story straight with something more plausible."
That last part? Well, "That's pretty normal." She says of carrying her Evoker around, "I didn't used to during the day. Now I feel I kinda... should. It's like anything can happen."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka rubs the back of her neck. "Did they...?" She asks of the Demon. "Once they escaped I, uh... kiiind of passed out, so... yeah."
She blinks and nods. "Yeah. How did you know? The one with the weird Evoker had a Persona with bars coming out of her arms..." She frowns a little. "She told me to use Analysis on her? It seemed like she was helping me out..."
She didn't ask. "Fair enough, I guess..."
What makes her think that? Ririka shrugs a little. "Dunno. But it's a possibility, right? Maybe if you just get enough people to go along with it...."
Anything can happen. "Yeah, it's..." She sighs. "Just... seeing all these weird things, trying to figure out what it all means..." She frowns for a moment, thinking. "Like..."
"... You know that boy from the launch party last night? Taro Nakata?" It's hard to forget the boy who shouted at Hazuki over losing a match.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Hmmm." She makes a noise as Ririka describes the pair of them, then answers, "... Welllll that'd be because they showed up at Ebisu beach and tried to murder the cop I met. I guess I kinda saved his life? Though I'm not the only one."
She's starting to work out the details then. The Fencer is the one that summons Demons. The other can create places where they can use their Personas.
"...Huh."
...
"I dunno. It might be the easiest explanation, but I don't think even the worst cop out there would try a lie like that? If he were just trying to brush me off, he'd not even have gone inside right? He'd have just thrown his weight around trying to get me to stop asking questions."
Yukari's expression is just thoughtful, as she looks towards the Parabellum, "Something's just wrong with Sumaru City, Kawase-san."
There's a small pause, then she looks back Ririka's way, "Well yeah? I had Aomori-san follow him. There was something... off about him, I guess."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
"Ebisu Beach..." And Yukari saved a cop. Well, it's not like Ririka wants to see a cop killed, even if she's skeptical about there being a 'good' one. "... I'm glad you were able to help, then."
Yukari doesn't think the cop was being put to it, and Ririka just shrugs. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Just... forget I brought it up."
"Yeah... demons and supernatural spaces just popping up out of nowhere..." Ririka shakes her head. "... and the thing with the weapons..."
"You had Aomori-san follow him...? So that's where he went." Ririka considers that for a moment. "There's something really wrong with him. I could hear it. Just... something strange and distorted, but I'm not sure what it was. I was trying to tell you guys, but there were too many people around."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Hmmm. You really don't trust the police."
Is Yukari's observation, like she's definitely not just 'forgetting it'.
She doesn't ask on it further though, just comments.
Ririka's really in deep right away. Yukari can't help but feel pretty upset about that.
But she's not about to just bring it up.
"Yep. Just... how this city is now." Is what she remarks upon instead, before they speak about Taro and...
"Well, yeah. He's good at that sorta thing." Following people around, she means. "Hmmmm." She gives Ririka a peculiar look for a moment.
"Well there might be a reason for that, but - guess we'll see what he figured out."
She's not gonna say what Umie and Merry both saw with Kaneshiro. It's not exactly what Ririka says about feeling something wrong about it, so it might be unrelated - or it might just be the same thing and Ririka perceives it differently.
"Either way there's no sense worrying about it until then. He lives in Tokyo right? It's not like we can just - keep following him around every day."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka shrugs a little. "You said they're acting weird, right?" She glances aside a little. "I'll just be careful not to get caught buying a gun or whatever. It's fine."
Sumaru is weird... and she knows Ichika's faught Demons before. That doesn't really lessen her concern for her sister any.
"He's good at... following people around...?" Ririka looks to Yukari skeptically. "Isn't that kind of a weird thing to be good at...? How did you know he could do that?"
Weird, but if it helps... "Well, I guess if he can find something..." She nods. "That's true," she says of him going to school in Tokyo. "But I still don't know what could make someone change like that..."
Maybe if she ever gets a chance to talk to Myunghon or Umie they can compare notes.
Talkinga bout last night reminds her. "Oh! And, you know that woman with the really brightly dyed hair that was talking to you and then played a match with Fukura-san?"
"... You should be careful around her. She's dangerous."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Hmmm..."
It's clear from the way Yukari is looking at Ririka that she absolutely does not believe her. After all, Ririka told her not to approach the cop before Ririka knew they were acting weird.
"... Right. Well if you say so."
How does she know he could do that? "It's pretty obvious if you watch him." Is all she has to say on the fact that he's a KIRIJO NINJA because she's not going to actually say that.
"What, you didn't realize?"
Yukari asks, like she's surprised Ririka didn't.
"... I really don't know either." On what could have changed Taro so quickly, "It's possible that Nakao-san just doesn't have all the information, but if you felt something..."
Well, she doesn't settle on any possibility, but then Ririka warns her about that woman. "Like dangerous in what way?"
She asks, clearly not put off necessarily by the warning, but also a little guarded, "I can take care of myself you know, if it's just that she's really forceful."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka did try to warm Yukari off before they knew, it's true. And she was also really reticent about going to a cop to gear up before the mission to go rescue Fuuka.
But back to Reiya. "I..." The drumming on her thigh intensifies a little. Should she have known that...? Well that's another thing to keep an eye out for, then. "... guess I've just been busy lately. School, rehearsal, visiting my sister..."
She shrugs a little. "Guess I haven't seen him around a lot."
"I definitely felt something... and it got a lot worse when he yelled at Nakao-san."
Yukari says she can handle herself. "No, I know, but. You know that 'gang violence' at Kasugayama a few days ago? It wasn't gang violence, it was Persona users attacking the school. And she was one of them."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Hmmm."
Yukari nods as if in acceptance of that excuse, and her expression darkens as she tells her that things got worse when he yelled at Nakao-san...
... but then... Yukari looks taken aback by the revelation that Niko was a Persona User caught up in all that, "Wait, really? Why didn't you say anything!?"
Now she actually looks a little upset, "I could have had Aomori-san follow her instead."
Well, that perhaps makes it immediately clear what her priorities in that situation were.
"She was just playing games with Fukura-san like it was no big thing, and you didn't even think to say anything?"
Yukari crosses her arms, despite still holding a shopping bag, and is glaring at her some now.
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Yukari gets mad at her though. "Hey, I tried saying something to Fukura-san but she went right up to her anyway! And, you know, there were a bunch of normal people around. Was I just supposed to start talking about Personas in front of them?"
"What was I supposed to do? Walk right up to you and tell you that the woman you were talking to was some kind of crazy Persona user? She'd have recognized me!" Beat. "She did recognize me, right before she left. I felt her staring." Ririka shivers a little.
She's still not used to that feeling.
Ririka crosses her own arms. "Hey, I've been at this for like... six days. Nobody told me what to do in I saw someone I fought against at an arcade. Do we have a... a... code word or something I should know about? At least I'm telling you now, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"Oh for the love of-" Yukari just looks exasperated on her excuses, "-maybe use your head a little? Consider sending a text message? We all have phones! Or you know - maybe lower your voice some? So what if Fukura-san ignored you? That's on her! The rest of us were all there too."
Turning sideways, her posture shift just makes her look more aggravated at that, "What kind of excuse even is that? And what if she was there to start something - did you even stop to think that some of us might not have had our Evokers with us in a Tokyo Arcade?"
Her expression softens somewhat on her saying she's only been doing this six days, but only subtly. "Sure - but what if something had happened? What if she'd turned the Arcade into... who knows what? You're the one who told me you wanted to be a part of this even when I told you you shouldn't be. So stop acting like you just 'didn't know the code word' or were 'helpless' or you were just 'too scared' to even think about using your head."
...
"You're a part of a team now. And you say it's because you want to be here, so act like it..."
She could relent right now, but no she's not going to actually.
"... or you're going to get someone killed."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Ririka's cheeks flush a little. She hadn't thought of texting. Does she haven everyone's numbers? She's not sure, but... the thought hadn't crossed her mind. "I-- But." Well she can't retort that one.
"Yeah, well--" She's started getting in the habit of carrying her Evoker to Sumaru. Since, you know, Demons. Tokyo, on the other hand... She glances away. "she's an Evoker user too, by the way," she mutters.
Looking away means she misses the subtly softening look. But she looks back. "Hey, I didn't say I was too scared. I'd like to see how you handle hearing supernatural stuff going on around you constantly. Those psychos had a land mine. I saw a guy on a motorcycle get blown up and I still went to go help. So don't tell me I'm too scared."
Part of a team. "Fine!" Ririka throws her hands up in exasperation. "So I could've done better. I guess I'm supposed to just... magically know what to do in every situation and know to send a classmate to follow people like it's a totally normal thing to do."
And then... Yukari does not relent.
Ririka just stares, stunned into silence. Then she looks away, and takes a half step, as if she's getting ready to leave.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari absorbs the fact that Niko is an Evoker User, "Good to know." There's definitely an edge to it though.
"... You do realize that only makes it worse that you didn't say anything to the rest of us - right?" Yukari says of her not saying anything about the people who blew up someone with a Landmine.
But Ririka throws up her hands in exasperation, and Yukari looks less and less impressed by the minute as she pushes back, "No - I don't expect you to know exactly what to do. I do expect you to do the bare minimum of warning people who might know what to do."
Looking at her, like she's about to bolt though... Yukari just decides to turn away from her first, to break eye contact.
"... You know what? I don't know why I even bother." And just starts walking in the opposite direction, assuming Ririka hasn't already run off, "Do whatever you want."
<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.
Makes it worse that she didn't say anything. Ririka winces. It does, doesn't it, but-- "Well maybe if you'd stop getting on my case about this I could explain more!"
Bare minimum. "Fine. Since you apparently have all the answers, I'll just let you figure everything out next time."
But Yukari is splitting, and so is she. "I don't know why I bothered either, if this is the thanks I get." She only stops long enough to pull out a pair of headphones, putting them on and turning them up to full blast as she takes off down the street.