2025-08-18: Moving Forward
- Log: Moving Forward
- Cast: Umie Akabane, Shinjiro Aragaki
- Where: Shibuya Parking Lot, Tokyo
- OOC Date: August 18, 2025
- IC Date: June 25, 2012
- Summary: Shinjiro picks Umie up from the hospital to get burgers. They talk about the Joker Killer and his true identity, which turns into a show and affirmation of trust and trying to move forward... as far as Shinjiro can, anyways.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"... Aragaki-kun. It's me, Umie." That's the first words Umie says to Shinjiro, seemingly out of the blue, and from an unknown number, no less. "... Still had your number in my coat pocket. Can you believe that...?"
If he was feeling especially paranoid, especially after how the Kasugayama High case was reported in the news, Shinjiro may have taken notice of a strange arson case out of Shibuya, especially with the details of noise complaints and 'noxious chemicals'.
... Especially since it's close to where Umie works, at the Triple Seven. However, how many crimes happen here without a single person being nonethewiser? It's just one ward of many, and all are equally big.
"... Can't talk a lot. Getting released. We need to meet up soon." There's something tired and thick in Umie's tone, even over the phone.
-------
Umie's lack of specifics may have enabled this situation to happen.
Pale, bedraggled, but unwilling to stay one more night in a hospital (ESPECIALLY AFTER LAST NIGHT), Umie exits the sliding hospital doors, her jacket hanging over her frame.
Unfortunately, her work uniform was not an applicable outfit for Umie to be released in, and so, the gift shop had to make due. Consider the ensemble:
<A APPLE ADAY>, proudly proclaims the t-shirt in English lettering, and above it is an apple, with a cartoon worm coming out of it. Grey sweat pants with the hospital's logo on it complete the ensemble, as well as her work shoes, still scuffed up but wearable. Her jacket covers the Mark on her right wrist and hand, but bandages ensure a flash of that brand doesn't happen as she moves around. Her hair is brushed and washed, but otherwise unstyled; it's likely the first time Shinjiro's ever seen how long Umie's hair actually is.
(... It's about below shoulder length; nothing spectacular here.)
Do you hear that? The Fashion Police are coming to arrest Umie now.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...Akabane? Hm?" was the first thing Shinjiro would hear.
As Umie revealed she was 'getting released', Shinjiro pressed her for details. Released from *where*? Meet up *where*?
And indeed, as soon as Umie got out of the hospital, the Fashion Police were waiting in their own horrible style. Red coat, beanie, and grimace in all. "Akabane..."
Instead of asking her what happened, though, he immediately sees what state she is in compared to usual. He frowns. "We're getting some food in you. Come on."
He had so many questions. But those could come later.
Shinjiro would lead Umie to the nearest burger shop he could find. WcDonald's, Big Bang, it didn't matter as long as they had takeaway. He insisted on paying, even despite being broke, though he let Umie pick what she wanted and just got himself a burger and small fry with a bottled water.
A nearby small parking lot, overlooking the hospital, became the destination, currently with cars and without Shinjiro giving a crap about loitering there. He leaned against a wall, not yet eating but ready to when she did.
"You wanna talk about it?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Oh no, it's the po-po! As in Shinjiro.
"You didn't have to come all the way here," Umie grumbles, for what is likely at least the third time. "You got SEES kids to look after too, you know. And it's not like this information is limited time only." 777 speak is leaking into her words; while she's well enough to be released (something that may have been helped by her panic attack one morning), her skin is pale.
With how she's covered up right now, she could be mistaken for being in the same 'gang' Shinjiro's rolled in from.
Clue #2: "'kay." Umie doesn't even fight it, after having hospital food.
But she did try to justify paying for it. "I got my wallet on me still. I can't let you just..."
Ah. This must be Tatsuya's revenge, for any time Umie has insisted on doing the same for him.
She relents, insisting on getting a package deal with--
Okay, she did get a soda. She's been craving one.
"Got attacked by the Old Maid," Umie says, simply, before she bites into her hamburger like it was the best damn hamburger ever on the planet. "... Some Persona-users noticed things were happening, and helped me escape. Tried to report it, but they just kept saying 'it's an arson'. Lucky that they didn't blame me for it. What did they expect me to do, gracefully wave away any help and come in half dead and covered in slash marks?"
Why would they blame Umie? Well, it's a secret, thankfully covered by her bandages! She wasn't supposed to say anything.
As for the other part, reframing 'the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' as 'some Persona-users' may be a contender for the understatement of the year, but if it works, it works. Shinjiro would be familiar with it, with how SEES sometimes spreads out into other activities, especially lately.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"I do not, and it's not about the information," Shinjiro lies about the SEES kids even if he's telling the truth about the latter. He's not looking after them! He just protects them sometimes!
As Umie starts and then bites into her burger, Shinjiro starts with a grumble that rolls into words soon after. "Shit." A breath hitches in his throat, he takes a moment before continuing. "Thank god you had support."
He could pry more, try to learn some things, but for a moment, he's more worried about *Umie*, which seems weird to part of his brain that it's taking precedent over stopping the Joker Killer and avenging Miki.
"How bad are you feeling? Think you'll be okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Yeah, yeah," Umie says, challenging Shinjiro's street cred. _She knows better, he just proved where his priorities are_.
"Oh yeah, I said the exact same thing, when I got that note." Hunched into a squatting position as she eats her meal, Umie has fully engaged her gremlin nature: sardonic humor, flat tone, and unladylike behavior all around.
But still, she's not completely unable to appreciate Shinjiro's concern, however. "Sorry, couldn't warn you over the phone," Umie says, her eyes focused on her half-eaten hamburger. "For obvious reasons."
How bad is she feeling?
"Terrible, but I'll survive. I think I told you; my first Dark Hour was after a major surgery. Usually I'm okay, but... considering how Old Maid can come and go? It wasn't fun."
Umie devours her hamburger with ease, pausing to take long sips from her soda straw.
".... I didn't think he'd teleport. I barely got out of work before he started going after me."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro's street cred is very flimsy. Please humor it.
"At least you're in good humor," he laughs slightly. "it's fine. We're just lucky you're safe..."
Shinjiro finally starts eating his burger, listening between bites. He's nodding, but when Umie mentions *he can teleport*, Shinjiro almost chokes. He swallows the bite down, hitting his chest with his fist for a moment to get it down. "I'm sorry, what?"
A pause. She was serious.
"Holy shit. Holy... shit. That's it. That's how he does it..."
He trails off for a moment, trying to piece this all together. If he can teleport, he can leave the sanitarium... right? That's the missing piece for him and Akechi.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"What, how else can I be? I got chased around by a guy wearing a paper bag on his head. You *have* to laugh at it sometime down the line."
She reflects. Yes, she was lucky. *Insanely* lucky, in ways she can't express to Shinjiro. If she had given up or passed out at any point before when the Phantom Thieves could jump in, she wouldn't be here right now. Either that was the earliest point they could intervene, or they had to wait for enough of their group to show up.
Umie can't blame them one bit for that; it was a close call.
"Whoah, whoah. Slow down." Umie straightens into a standing position, wax paper bag in hand with her fries and drink in the other as she moves alongside Shinjiro against the wall.
Only when Shinjiro confirms he's okay does she continue. "He can teleport. Yeah. Otherwise I would have lost him. You saw how my Persona works. He can't disguise his resonance either. I'd be the one person who'd be able to escape from someone like that."
She slowly turns her head, watching his expression.
Was that the piece he needed, all this time?
"There's another part."
She frowns. "You realize, there's no way someone could summon their Persona in Shibuya right? For exactly the same reasons you guys can't in Port Island. I thought I'd have time to round up a whole bunch of you."
"And yet, I just told you: I used my Persona. Hell, even if I didn't explicitly use it, remember that surgery? It was to correct heart issues. I wouldn't be running for long, without my Persona's natural abilities."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"Good." Shinjiro said about the laughter, but... once he's done coughing and thinking about the teleportation, he's listening to Umie. Another part...
"...you're right. That slipped my mind," he says genuinely. "But... then the only way that could happen is if it became supernatural. But it's not now... is this like Sumaru? Is it spreading?"
He pauses. He could help Umie here. But it'd be giving up his *only* Joker Killer leverage. Though... if he doesn't do this now, he might never get a good chance. And if Umie dies...
He won't forgive himself. He already is harboring quiet guilt for not being capable of doing anything.
"Akabane, what I'm telling you now, you have to be *extremely* careful with. It is information that could get people killed more likely than not. But I think it's better to know than not."
A breath. He takes a drink of his water, before...
"Have you heard the name Sudou?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"No. It disappeared not too long after he was forced back."
A potential slip of information, there, but Sudou had to retreat at Kasugayama, as well. Enough people and he'll fall back.
She sips her drink, then gestures upwards with it. "But you'd definitely know it when he opened one." A second slip, but one that'd hardly be noticable: someone who uses a Mark would draw that reaction from others, whether those others had the Mark or not.
Super secret information? "Hit me with it," she murmurs, having enough sense to put her drink and bag down, so she can face Shinjiro entirely.
'Have you heard the name Sudou?'
"...?!" Umie's resonance flares, briefly, a sign that her emotions have overwhelmed her latent cloaking abilities, despite her relatively subdued reaction of: 'make sound with widened eyes'.
".... _what's that wrinkly old bastard got to do with this_," Umie hisses, with a quiet intensity.
..... wrong Sudou, Umie, but your spirit is appreciated. And suspicious.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro nods again to the information slips. "So he can make them... maybe it has to do with the dogs that were with him. Demons, perhaps?" He's considering. And then...
Well, Umie takes it poorly. Suspiciously poorly. Shinjiro tenses up a little at the resonance flare. "Akabane, what's wrong? Thats's-"
He takes a breath. Continue, or she'll get more upset. "Tatsuzou Sudou is some minister of Japan. Ten years ago, there was an 'accidental' fire that burned down my orphanage." What do these two facts have to connect each other? That makes no sense. "It took my friend's sister."
Another shakier breath. "I believe Tatsuzou Sudou's son, Tatsuya Sudou, is the actual culprit. I also have reason to suspect he's the Old Maid. His father covered up the orphanage fire as an 'accident' and locked him in a sanitarium... where he's been to this day. Obviously, then, he cannot be a serial killer..."
A glance to the side follows. "Unless, of course, he can teleport."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"... Dogs?" Umie blinks. "... Demons."
Ah.
Umie's eyelids lower, that brown-red gaze tripping away from Shinjiro's own.
It's only the beginning, a primer for the rest. It's the same quiet rage Umie displayed in the Sumaru TV station, echoed through Badb. Every shriek and yell the Badb has uttered has a source, and that source was, and still is the young woman in front of him. "I know who the fuck he i--" She stops herself, allowing herself a few breaths, her head hanging down. "... Sorry. That's not a problem we're here to deal with. Please, keep going, Aragaki."
Exploding on him right after he tries to tell her a secret is not what she came here to do, or the sort of person she wants to *be*.
This is important to Shinjiro; Umie can see it in his shaky breath, and the way he speaks.
A fire. An 'accidental' fire. Tatsuya Sudou. (Ironic, for them to have the same first name.)
His friend's sister.
".... Was it that pale-haired guy who looked after you that night after we fought those shadows?" It's a shot in the dark, but a valid one, seeing as how Akihiko (not that she caught his name) seemed familiar with Shinjiro's tendencies. "... I know about Tatsuzou Sudou's son, vaguely, yeah."
If she wasn't still recovering from her emotional outburst as well as her general condition, she would have omitted that.
"As much as I want it to be somehow connected to that old coot," she murmurs, "if it's someone that can teleport, you'll need more evidence than that. The pool's been expanded to anyone, now."
Anyone.
"..... Shinjiro," she says, softly. "This is important." And a little stupid, but she may as well confirm. "I need to see your wrists, please."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"...Yeah," Shinjiro says, a little concerned that she almost exploded on him. He needs to help her, but now's not the time. What can he do, if she knows Sudou? Should he trust her?
He decides yes.
"...yeah. We've known each other since we were small. Like brothers..." Shinjiro flinches at this, as he's hurt Aki so bad.
Though, as Umie says 'you'll need more evidence than that'... "I've seen the police file. Sumaru PD believes it might be him, too." But... how?
Though, Umie gets worried. She needs to see his wrists? What does that even mean? But if he doesn't... there might be a problem. And more than that, he'll hurt Umie, make it so she doesn't trust him.
"Okay."
Shinjiro starts by unfurling his jacket sleeves, one by one. He shows as much arm as he can, of each, just to be safe.
Both arms are bare, pale, and honestly, he looks... weak, the more skin you see. Like he's not healthy.
"...I can take off my jacket, too, but I'd rather not." Normally, he'd be more aggressive. But he can *tell* Umie's not in good headspace. So he wants to be kind.
"If there's something I can do to help you... please, just tell me, Umie." First name yobisute... it might be improper, but it's to get across how worried he is in this moment, especially after she did it herself.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Ah." Despite Umie's earlier outburst, she smiles. "... I'm glad. One of these days you'll have to introduce me to him properly." She pauses, seeing that flinch, as well as to reflect on her own recent action, "... well, after you've confirmed I'm not some angry idiot that yells about old men every time you say a random last name."
He's seen the Sumaru PD files. "... I see." Has he been working with Katsuya, maybe? Though, she can't outright *ask* Katsuya that. "Maybe that's why it keeps being covered up. Shibuya I can see, kind of; who wants people to know some serial killer's been roaming around when his actions make no sense? But Sumaru City..." She presses her fingers to her chin. "Even if his father's happy to confine him in an institution and throw away the key, it's still something that'd come back to haunt him if his son has been *somehow* getting loose. But if this is the case, I doubt it's going to stay that way for long. One day, Sudou Jr.'s going to fly the coup completely, and we'll wish he had at least one barrier to getting outside."
"No, that's okay. That's enough." She doesn't look closely; it's as if whatever she was trying to find would be something she'd immediately see. Something obvious that'd need no closer examination to confirm it.
All she's confirmed is that he's sickly; no wonder he covers up.
And now he's looking at her, but instead of the obvious question of 'now show your wrists', he's concerned about her.
Oh. She *did* literally ask a teenager, who keeps covered, and has shown signs of something else he's hiding under the surface, often mimicking some of the things she's dealt with in a way that feels startlingly similar, despite how different the two of them look. Same goes for their backgrounds, she knows now. Her parents, while distant and enabling in their unwillingness to deal with the issues the NWO has caused in Umie's life, are still *there*. She could, at any time, take a train back to Sumaru City, walk in the door, and let life be the way it had been, for years. He and Akihiko were, and maybe still are orphans.
"Oh, uh, it's... not like that, if you meant..." She sighs.
He just called her by her first name. Shit; she's weak against this.
".... Let's just say this: Tatsuzou Sudou, many years ago, did something to me that I can't forgive him for." Realizing how *that* may sound, she adds, "Something that exists no law for, or against. I hate him, and would love to see him fall. But there's no chance of that happening, so I'll settle for being a complication. An annoyance, that he may not even remember. But he's not the one killing people, or teleporting, or summoning demons."
(She never did say that's what Sudou was doing, did she?)
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro glided over Akihiko, and even more over the rest of the Sumaru PD files. Though, he does say something. "Do not go to that sanitarium without me. That's something I need you to promise." It's worry, not demand, in his voice.
But as Umie responds to his reaction to being asked to show his wrists, he's sleeving back up, shivering a bit. He listens coolly about Tatsuzou Sudou. He can't know what he did to Umie, but...
"Okay. I won't pry. But I am going to talk now." It's the first time he's really been assertive tonight, but it's something he thinks he has to do now.
"I want to trust you. I get why you just asked me to do that. Some sort of sign, or tell, or something, right? I think we need to work together if we're going to stop the Old Maid."
A long pause. His food's getting cold. He doesn't care anymore.
"I'm not worried you're some sort of enemy or threat. Don't worry about that. But you just said 'there's no chance of that happening'. I don't know if there is. I guess... what I'm worried about is that you've already given up." A pause. He's being hypocritical in ways Umie can't possibly know. But... his situation is different.
"...have you? Because..."
He trails off. He can't say it. He can't say 'because if so, you shouldn't fight' like he often does. But even so, he wants to hear that she still has hope.
Because he sure as hell needs something to hope for right now, for her and Myunghon and Akihiko's sakes and everyone else's.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"Wh...?!" Umie laughs. "Aragaki-kun, what kind of person do you think I am? I know I can't take him on by myself. I personally know what it's like to be played around with by him; if anything, I'll probably have to take some time to recover."
Umie nods as Shinjiro asserts his right to speak. She folds her arms. "Shoot your shot. I'm not going anywhere."
He wants to trust her. He understands why she asked him to show his wrists.
".... I meant..." 'There's no chance of that happening'-- did he think she meant... oh. "I meant Sudou elder, with that. He's a political leader."
Maybe, someday, he'd be someone the Phantom Thieves could take on. But that may mean taking them into things that she can't predict, with the amount of shady things the NWO is involved in. "I haven't given up hope; trust me, if I had, I wouldn't be here." Oh, that would be taken the wrong way. "... I'd be in Sumaru City, living a normal life, while hiding the rest of me from everyone else."
"Besides...," she breathes, "I just gave you that lead. All of this is amounting to something. Many somethings." Never would she have thought she'd be rescued, quite like that.
But hasn't that group felt like a small inspiration, in a way, from the very beginning?
"Let me put it this way," she begins, "I consider someone like Tatsuzou Sudou less of a priority than the people who've made my life a whole lot richer than it's been in a year. Tatsuya Suou has been a priority for that reason too. Giving up would be to think the only reason to go forward was to see someone fall. I'm...."
She's not innocent, herself. Nor can she say her future is certain, beyond what her will can conceive of. "... here to live. Just like you are, Shinjiro." First name, again; she's not backing away, this time, for all the first time was a slip. "That's why you tried to find Yamagishi-san, right? Now the momentum's so strong you can't go back. I understand that feeling."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
"A stubborn one," Shinjiro says. He says that because he's a stubborn one. Though, he takes her reassurance with a nod.
And then, Umie explains herself. He's a political leader, she hasn't given up hope... his grimace goes away, as he nods, though he does not smile.
A frown falls on when she says *Shinjiro's* here to live. He could just not address that... but she might notice his frown. He could lie, but... that's not fair. But he can't tell her the whole truth.
"I can't promise that. But... I think you're right. The current's washed me away. I tried to stay out of it, but you, Myunghon, you've all pulled me back in. And for that... it hurts. I don't know if I deserve that."
A pause.
"But I can't die having done nothing."
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"It doesn't sound like you prefer it any other way, Ara-gaki-kun." After she says his last name in that singsong way of hers, Umie displays a wry grin, like she's just heard what she's wanted to hear, from him.
Manipulation? It could be, in a way, if that smile doesn't persist into something gentle.
"It's a lot easier to be by yourself. You can have an entire Dark Hour to yourself. No one's there to hold you accountable but yourself. But it's lonely, and we're the worst judges of all, because we know all our own tricks."
Umie's hand quietly rests on Shinjiro's shoulder; her expression, solemn.
".... It's supposed to hurt a little, to connect with others. I've met a lot of people this past month or so, and I can't say I've liked all of them. Could've done without the Old Maid, but..." She lingers on that, then moves on. That's not something she needs to say anything about until it's needed. "If I hadn't already been involved, I wouldn't have anything to show for it, would I?"
Her hand falls to her side. "You know my persona, right? The Badb isn't really a goddess in the traditional sense, just if you try to stuff it into the same categories a lot of mythologies are applied to. She's an amalgamation. You could call her a goddess of death, but it's easier to say she's someone who calls people to face forward, and keep moving. It's only morbid if you think death's the only outcome." In some ways, it is; her prophecies weren't exactly happy depending on the source.
"... So I'm your Badb, telling you right now: keep moving. I'll help you. Maybe that's not hopeful, but it's definitely the more proactive option."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro hears that singsong. He grimaces. Oh no. He's gonna get bullied.
Sadly, he doesn't, wait, no, that sounds wrong. Either way, Umie rests her hand on his shoulder, and his tension from earlier finally loosens. "I think I understand, yeah. Part of this is just... natural pains of being human." The other part is his sickness, but...
"...keep moving, huh?" He doesn't address thinking death is the only outcome, because it is. "...then we'll do that."
"Now, I need to eat a cold burger, so, sec." He is going to just chow down on his burger and fries in a moment, because damn is all this heart-to-heart making him hungry.