2025-09-02: Constants

• Log: Constants

• Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Yua Ooshiro, Miho Ijuuin, Remi Ryuuja, Shinjiro Aragaki, Umie Akabane, Shinobu Shimizu, So-young Park, Mio Kazama
• Where: Mementos, Upper Layer
• OOC Date: September 02, 2025
• IC Date: July 05, 2012
• Summary: Last Tuesday was a tragedy, but you still have to fight through the Dark Hour. Mere days after Team Cardboard Dragon was forced to reconcile with police brutality, Myunghon Yeo -- who should really be in bedrest and convalescing from at minimum their concussion, not to mention other injuries -- disappears from where they've been taken to for recovery with a note left on their bed. Their destination, not too subtly... is Mementos, and they're headed to a miserable choice that they might not survive to make in the first place. This scene has a content warning for at minimum: Suicidal ideation and thoughts, heavy emotional trauma from sexual harrassment and abuse and racism.

---

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    CW: Suicide themes/implications and ideations, misgendering

    Ultimately, there was no choice but to bring Myunghon Yeo to a hospital -- as much as some of the ones closest to them know that they're frequently cagey or frightened of doctors and hospitals. They get cold, guarded; they look at them like they're the enemy. And the reason is a very mundane one: the emergency department in Hirasaka Chuo Hospital is the only place that could receive them in short order, given the criticality of their head trauma and unrelated (but not not unrelated) wound the Reaper dealt them earlier.

    There was a bit of expected difficulty at first -- largely, that ER staff were unused to and couldn't find a Myunghon Yeo. They found a Miss Myorei Yukichi, though, something Remi would be able to namedrop, as much as Myunghon bristles, for the sake of pulling their medical record for treatment. But tragically, the morning hours pass, and those that escorted them there had to eventually return home, because it's a Tuesday and life had to inevitably continue. There's *school* and *work* tomorrow. There's gigs and shows people have already booked up. There was simply... the everything that is life.

    Then disaster struck, because on Thursday morning, the nurse contacted those who left their contact details with an urgent call:

    "We... we couldn't find Ms. Yukichi. She was very uncooperative and terrified when she woke up, and not responsive to our attempts to console or treat her. Later, the nurse on duty said she took her break, and when she returned to check on her, she was missing, she'd gone through the medical cabinet, and the window was open..."

    There was a note left on the bed, they explained. They're very concerned it was a suicide note. It reads:

    "You were all constants in the chaos of my life.
     My Hopes, each and every single one.
     Thank you for everything. But I can't live like this anymore.
     If I become a memento, I'm so sorry."

    Staff and security couldn't *find* a body, however they said there was evidence of someone escaping the hospital grounds. Then, on that same day, Rumourmongers heard someone agitated with a strange Rumour to tell:

    "There was a young woman with white hair and bandages and this black coat who looked seriously hurt hobbling up to me at the bus terminal just on the road outside the hospital...! I asked her if she wanted help, but then she took her phone out and-- and she disappeared! That has to be a vampire, right...?! I saw the vampire of Hirasaka Hospital!! A real Vampire, I tell you!"

    It all points to one location, between the note, and the rumour:

    Mementos.

    This 'vampire' used a place associated with public travel to flee to Mementos.

    The uppermost layers of Mementos is cognitively a massive, twisted version of the Tokyo subway station. It's entirely too easy to get lost here, between the hallways, the train tunnels, the barred-off dead ends and chains locking one away from one path or another. It's a mortifying place at times even with a well-prepared group.

    The 'vampire' is a lone, wounded person who has no business being here.

    Navigator senses pick out a presence further in -- and it isn't long before they come onto one of the many platforms nestled within everyone's unconsciousness; Myunghon Yeo, slumped against one of the plastic platform-side seats, having changed back into their soiled, bloody clothes from Tuesday, rather haphazardly so given the state of their injured shoulder. The bandages are fresh, nicked from the Hospital medical cabinet, but wrapped clumsily, hastily, imperfectly; their burn and scar tissue is showing underneath. They need a sling for that arm, likely; they do not.

    The newest part of them that's odd, then, is a fresh, new Cognitive Coat, one that drapes tight and possessive around them, somehow darker than dark, redefining how much light Black could devour, if it were to be truly Imperishable. It sure wasn't there the last time Yua left.

    When did they get it?

    And...

    Where... did they get that gun in their left hand? So-young could pick it out. It's the same gun she left in their care. They said they'd dispose of it. They didn't. They're staring down at it with a dull, lifeless look in their eye. They haven't noticed you. They look half-asleep. Fatigue has caught up with them, and they lucked into a rest area, not a nest of demons.

    But this is clearly not their final destination.

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    After Yua visited Myunghon, yesterday afternoon, she called Remi to invite her over for dinner again... though her tone was more grim, this time. When Miho gets home, she gets all three of them around the table, and shares all the details of what happened when she tried to visit the police department and demand justice for Myunghon. Those people -- or at least Sergeant Ezoe, and most likely Officer Ishiba beneath him -- are their people. Nonetheless, he's hurting Myunghon, to the point they can't bear it. By the law of the land... can't they intercede on the basis of these people meddling with their own operation? Yua's sure there must be some way. Exhausted as she is, she doesn't stop until they've found one.

    She left her details with the nursing staff, when she visited; they contact her, the next day, to ask if she's seen them... though the language they use is less considerate. When Yua hears the last line of that suicide note, she realises at once --

    There's a kind of pressure which precedes the Bride, Yumi, as she and hers enter the rest stop. (The confusion of Mementos' halls could not foil them, thanks to her searching senses.) Black veils cover her face, as is customary; she wears body armour over her grey wedding dress, her heavy, revolver-like Evoker holstered at its belt. Long, dark gloves decorate her arms, as one lifts to gesture to Myunghon.

    "A gun does not suit you," she says, her tone grave. "Bone does not shatter as the threshold does, to plunge into knowing-perish. You are weary... to cut, and to cut, and to cut, reaching one thousand as a tiresome bureaucratic exercise. Yes... these scars we carve into you. To cut, and to cut, and to cut..."

    Yumi's head lifts, imperious, though she's scarce over five feet. "They are butcher's tools," she concludes, stark. (Raving?) "They belong in our hands. Return what is ours and begone -- to gentler refuge, go."

    Her hand spreads, now, to indicate Myunghon's gathered friends. "... your escort," she explains, her voice stern.

<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.

In body armor and mask, Miyu too--the Groom--walks in beside Yumi. She is in gray, with a heavy sabre at her hip. She walks in silence until Yua breaks that silence. The gun...

"You have a fine new coat," Miyu notes. "...One would think it weapon enough."

Miyu is calm; it is hard to tell that she hasn't spent much of any time in Mementos so far. But she sees those bandages, the poorly wrapped wounds...

"This night is not yours," Miyu says then.

Her footfalls squelch slightly in the bloody, organic ground. She comes to a stop though.

She rests a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"This suits you not."

<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.

Remi, of course, had gone with her friend to see them to an emergency room. She knew Myunghon didn't like hospitals--Remi was no big fan of them herself, these days, and she was dreading what she would have to do in the morning. But she needed to get Myunghon care, and the simplest, most pramatic way to do that...

... was to give the receptionist the name that Myunghon detested. It felt like another stabbing betrayal, an injury she was forced to cause. First, she had covered up the trail of Kaneshiro's conenctions, and now... she had to subject to systems that would not care for their wants.

She had, of course, accepted Yua's invitation to dinner. It was a relief, after a day of examinations and lectures, with her arm tightly wrapped, to visit her friend... but then Yua had shared what she had learned. Ishiba was part of the NWO.

She had uttered some profanities under her breath, and then had shared something Ishiba had said that had stood out the night prior:

'I'm on the side of BIGGER things, Suou!'

Doing something about Ishiba would be tricky, for her... she would pay a price for acting against another of the NWO's assets, but... it was a price she was willing to pay. An out-of-control asset would do more harm than good for the organization, after all...

She, too, had left her contact details, though she'd been too busy most of Wednesday to come visit. And when she recieved that call, that Myunghon had gone missing... she didn't panic. She couldn't panic, because that would require fear. But she could still feel concern, and she reached out to Miho and Yua immediately.

And now she is here, dressed in an all-bleck fencing suit, complete with a black fencing mask. On her left hip, a sharp rapier, and on her right thigh, a heavy, dark gray revolver in a holster. She has been here in Mementos before, and she gave what intel she could to Miyu and Yumi to prepare them for this place. The Shadows talk... and can be negotiated with, or even flattered...

Tsurugi walks astride her two companions, silent until they each speak. It pains her to see Myunghon in such a state... except it can't, or that will get in the way of what she must do here. She looks at Myunghon... and then to the others. "Return the Rumormonger to their sickbed. There is nothing for them here."

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

It's been a long week. Shinjiro may have slept in a proper bed last night, but it wasn't enough to fully repair his emotional walls, not after his talk with Mitsuru and the harm he felt he did to her simply by existing.

So when he learned about Myunghon's escape, he dropped everything he was doing in the safehouse and rushed over to the hospital to group up. He took his evoker back with tension, not towards Umie but the situation and what Mitsuru had said to him.

"They're going to be okay," Shinjiro tells Umie. "I'll make goddamn sure of it."

As the group traveled to Mementos after hearing the rumor of the Vampire of Hirasaka, Shinjiro pieced through the letter in his mind.

He couldn't imagine Myunghon leaving them all to take on Ishiba alone. Why else go to Mementos to die? So, if they were planning to die... it was going to be a murder-suicide. That meant they had to be fast enough to stop Myunghon from also making a mistake they could never take back, once saved.

Once they're actually inside Mementos, he takes point-guard, having stolen the Cardboard Dragon's fire axe for Shadows alone. He had no intent to hurt Myunghon, but he *has* to stop them.

"Myunghon!"

Shinjiro can't help but roar out when he spots them sitting in that rest area, slumped over, looking like they were in bad shape. The gun catches his eye, proving his theory correct.

His body jerks forward, as he tries to get to them, even with the NWO there. He can't rush them. They're clearly not in a good state of mind, and he shows this by tossing a hand up, signaling not to overwhelm them. That coat...

Where the hell did they get it?

...wait, why *is* the NWO here? He recognizes all three of them, having once fought Miyu. They don't seem to be hostile, indeed, trying to get Myunghon to go with them, so while he's on guard, he does not ready the axe.

"...tch. ...Myunghon, they're right. Come with us. We won't make you go back to the hospital. Just... let's go back home."

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    One of the first things Umie did, upon meeting up with Shinjiro, was give him back his Evoker, unwrapping it from a nondescript taped up pillowcase. "Sorry for the presentation." She's not sorry at all; it worked, and that's all she needed. What was she going to do, try to use it? (... Yes, the idea did pop up in her head once or twice. Mai-chan didn't even need to say anything; Umie's curiosity was in overdrive.)

    WIth that matter over, she gathers her hands behind her back. "So, let's go save Merry-san from becoming a rumor themselves, hm?" The darkness in that bit of 'humor' is mirrored in the sober line of her lips and the way her eyebrows raise, like she's touching on something she knows has already become hot to the touch. "Make sure you keep me from clocking them in the face, too. I don't deal well with these sorts of things."

    The heavily applied monotone in her voice masks a lot: anger and guilt, mostly, but most of all, fear.

    Whatever force, whether high or low, that is torturing Myunghon, Umie would like to ensure that it does not win tonight.

    =========

    Meeting up with the others at the subway station, Umie doesn't waste a minute before she closes her eyes. "Give me a moment."

    A moment of concentration summons Badb's grey form over Umie's head, those delicate long red nails hovering over Umie's head as Umie attempts to fill in as 'navigator', a role she's only halfway qualified for.

    In these tunnels, it's better than nothing. "Can't guarantee a perfect path there, but I think I have a direction, maybe."

    More a gut feeling, like how a scavenger always seems to follow on the faint scent of blood and misery.

    Yumi's abilities would have ensured their group got here first, regardless of timing, but Umie's is able to bridge the gap between all and none, ensuring they arrive in a timely fashion at the very least.

    "Aragaki-kun." Her lips are firm. She *wants* to go forward, but she's more willing to listen to Shinjiro, right now.

    ... At least, until she sees Yua, Miho, and Tsurugi.

    She won't even wait for them to notice her; as she and Myunghon had talked about nights ago, her abilities work better at the beginning of a confrontation than in the middle. Unfortunately, one of these two states is more likely to have context, and it's not the one they're in now, as she rushes in.

    If only she had waited... a few seconds, at most?
 
    If Shinjiro manages to snag her as she attempts to dart past, her venom comes out as cross words, instead. "How about you three get *away* from Yeo-san?!"

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

Shinobu had received an urgent phone call. Myunghon had escaped from the hospital. She had been reluctant to leave them there in the first place. Should she have listened to her first instinct? ...But where could they have gone, with a wound like that? It was the only place that could have treated them.

...It's too late to worry about that, though, for the note they left behind is far more pressing. That note...

Myunghon, what are you planning...?

Shinobu reached out to everyone she could - though in all likelihood, others have done the same and managed to get in touch with her at the same time. And, there's a Rumor - a Rumor that might give them a clue.

At this point, Shinobu is willing to try anything, risk anything - even another dive into Mementos, after the previous one went so poorly.

Myunghon has a headstart... but they, at least, have a group. With luck, they might be able to make up for lost ground -

- and they do, eventually, find them, thanks to Umie's Navigation talents. Shinobu follows in behind Shinjiro.

"Boss - Myunghon..." Shinobu starts, uncertain. She takes a step toward them. A complicated expression crosses her face as she looks over Myunghon. She spots that new coat, and that gun, though she doesn't recognize it. And she also spots... the three masked figures addressing them. Yumi, Miyu, and Tsurugi...

It's only Shinjiro's signal that keeps her from drawing her staff on them, as much as her instinct is to immediately assume the worst of them.

"Why the hell are you here." She asks, states, eying them carefully - but she grimaces. She doesn't like agreeing with them on anything. But there's one thing she's sure of.

"...Yeah. C'mon. Let's go back." Shinobu urges.

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.

    So-young's heart hammers in her ribcage as she chases after the others from the Cardboard Dragon through the floors of Mementos, scattering demons in Icarus' wake as she cuts straight through them. Given that she's not especially nimble on her own two feet, she's not spending a whole lot of time on the floor, repeatedly jumping between the ground and Icarus' support as she lets her Persona carry her forward whenever there's space for it to fly - which is all too rare given the twisted version of the station around them.

    She's not really the sort of person to look too deeply or with much introspection into the note that Myunghon left behind. Shinjiro's contacts deduced Myunghon's likely destination, and Umie's got the rough directions covered, and that's all the impetus she needs to act, as hard and fast as she possibly can. She doesn't need to be told the text of a note left behind on an abandoned hospital bed to understand what it means.

    She lets out a sharp, wordless yell at the first sight of the battered figure on the next platform across, a sudden piercing cry from Icarus accompanying it. Without even stopping to think, one foot goes up onto the barrier next to her, and then she's launched herself across the intervening train tracks, a quick and sudden manifestation of Icarus giving her enough horizontal movement to carry her across the gap and--

    --and of course she's not a movie actress or a stunt virtuoso so she lands awkwardly on one heel, hisses with pain, and just kind of staggers down to a kneeling position some distance from Myunghon, only then apparently noticing she's essentially put herself at the mercy of the strange trio standing vigil over her sibling.

    Icarus abruptly stops circling above her and dives instead, and in a bizarre twist of spines and sheets that absolutely shouldn't work given its size and her position the Persona almost curves around her protectively. She glares over a line of covered slats, her grey eyes hard as her brow furrows. She's tired, frustrated, and above all extremely terrified. It's clear from her expression that she's not yet convinced that they're here to return her to the land of the living.

    And, oh, shit, Myunghon also has a gun. Her gun. And a distant look that makes So-young's blood freeze in her veins. Fuck. Why the hell did you bolt in, So-young, that was the most idiotic thing, why do you keep _approaching_ guns--

    "... even I can tell you don't solve this by just saying 'go home' until it works," she growls at the trio. She's not hiding her face nor her panic at all, her identity extremely clear to at least two of the figures, before she pulls her attention back to Myunghon.

    She's said before that she's not the sort to give rousing, sympathetic speeches. She has never felt more out of her depth than trying to figure out how to talk to an emotionally devastated sibling with a gun she didn't know she had until a few weeks ago without sounding demeaning or putting her foot so far down her throat it comes out her ass. "... hey," she tries with what she hopes is a quiet smile and not a panicked rictus. "I definitely agree with them on the gun. C'mon. You don't... need that, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.

[MEMENTOS]
[UPPER LAYER]

Jostling for first place at the vanguard of the Cardboard Dragon rescue operation, the motorhead cleric of Aoba Ward can be heard through the murky halls of Mementos long before she can be seen. A great, distant bass-heavy booming of localized earthquakes rumbles occasionally as the young lady clad in the raiment of shadows pulverizes every obstacle and Shadow that lies in her path. Without the blessing of Umie's guidance, this is likely where this paragraph would end for fear of repeating itself ad nauseum. But instead, with cooler heads and sharper senses to do the guiding, the rambunctious concert of hammer-blows draws nearer to the oasis of the rest area. There's no time to stop for breath. The raging in your chest and head will pass, but the loss you fear... that may be eternal.

So that is why the turnstile entry to the rest area goes flying onto the empty and opposite platform with a great wrenching of steel on steel, and the figure clad in black sprints through at high (but not maximum) velocity. There stands the young lady, resplendent in her garb of long, billowing black robes and silvery armour, melding and flowing such that it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. She has only now spied the forms of Yua, Miho, and Tsurugi, like phantoms looming behind Myunghon's frail form.

Myo, as she has taken to calling herself in her Cognitive Disguise, extends one hand in front of So-Young as if to shield them from harm. Or keep them from moving closer. "I think this is a trap." she rasps, breathless from the exertion and near-delirious from hours of mindless panic. "Let's pray I'm wrong."

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    "Yu...?"

    It's Yua's pressure that first hits Myunghon's senses, rouses them from that state of half-sleep which might have been fatal or injurious in its own way. Their singular eye widens as the Bride, Yumi, gestures towards them. They point out that the gun does not suit them, and speaks in metaphor. They look like they're struggling with both understanding and consciousness, which isn't too surprising given the deleterious state of their concussion. The Groom, Miyu, is here too -- noting their coat, which continues to quietly shift, the hem the coat pulsating and quietly shifting against broken, twisted Mementos flooring.

    Myunghon feels a sick, trembling sensation wash over them -- in part because they first think their closest friends are here to finish the job Ishiba can't. But then the Bride points out their friends. Miyu points out that this is not their night. And Tsurugi, too... ironclad and wilful in their firm voice.

    They're here to... return them...?

    "I'm..." Myunghon's voice droops fast before they even get more than a single syllable through that. They don't feel steady on their feet -- but that Coat is propping them up, almost like it's willing them even as their leg visibly sags.

    As if on cue, the rest of the team arrives -- Myunghon somehow knew Shinjiro'd be racing here. Why? He just got arrested. Who knows what they did to him in prison? What charges are still affecting the rest of his life? They've already messed it all up even further. He shouldn't be here.

    "I'm unable to simply... return home. I am committed to a grave sin."

    There's heaviness in the way they deliver that -- which requires some active, conscious thought on that front too. 'committed to', not 'have committed' -- they sure don't have anyone's blood on them but themself. It's pretty Myunghon to conflate the two already, though.

    But Umie, perhaps rightfully so, doesn't trust the members of the NWO being here -- and that seems to heavily alarm them. Myunghon flings themself forward, which prompts a somewhat predictable stumble because they shouldn't be on their feet, but again, that new Coat just autocorrects them and keeps them upright. It's a bit unnerving.

    "No... no...!"

    Right now, it feels as if there's a creature limpeted onto Myunghon's shoulder, guiding their moves.

    Why is Myunghon trying to intercept between them and the NWO, though? Either way, the thought of their closest friends and sometime-enemies and their other cluster of closest friends coming to blows purely because of their mistake is really, really, really frightening them, and bodyblocking is the only way they understand right now on how to defuse it.

    But Shinobu arrives not long after, and they look mortified about that too as they're reminded of one thing in particular. Their lips quiver as they tuck their head down, some great disappointment at themself hitting them fresh in their addled mind.

    "Shinobu... I failed... it's all ruined..."

    So-young flings herself to be by their sie, but her worry about THE GUN is very understandable given how terrifying the encounter with Ishiba and his gun is, thoooough... well, not that So-young is an expert on guns, but Myunghon barely looks like they know how to hold a gun and doesn't even have their finger on the trigger. It looks so alien on them, the way they're holding the object like it could be a mysterious artifact that can send people to other worlds.

    (It could.)

    "I need it. I've chosen to take the sin myself..." Myunghon doesn't sound particularly lucid in their response to So-young.

    Myo arrives, clad in her black robes and white domino mask. There's a sad, sad look towards Myo for a long moment, even as Myunghon wishes their friends weren't all looking at them while their bandages are fraying and coming loose, because the mottled, scab tissue-ridden face is somewhat visible underneath and that's adding a lot of terror to the situation too.

    "Even if I go home... it doesn't change anything.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    "Even if I go home... it doesn't change anything. I'm so... so afraid. I'm leaping at every shadow, every errant noise. It's suffocating, knowing how powerless I am...!" Their voice is warbling as the panic dials up a few notices, and they errantly tremble and wave that gun around, still without their finger on the trigger. They're sobbing, now.

    Then they draw the gun and holds it close to their face.

    "'You are the one with true power here...' I didn't understand, but..." Myunghon pauses, suddenly looking agitated and confused, looking for someone who doesn't seem to be here. Then: "Don't you see? I am already a sinner. I will always continue to be a sinner. You cannot undo the taking of a life... you know that, right, Shinjiro?"

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    So-young has an excellent point about their methodology; privately, inside herself, Yumi reflects that she'll make an excellent sister to Myunghon... even if she's starting the relationship a little late.

    But... if they make the argument that they should just go home, where they're standing, it frees Myunghon's visible friends to make better appeals.

    Of course she cannot verbalise this to her; they walk a tightrope, exposing themselves here at all. She cannot reach her with the recognition the feels. No, what she can do...

    "We feel regret that a person we had claimed was marred by the grasping hand of another," Yumi explains, archly, to the heroes' questions, "and anger, hence, that our plans were disrupted. It does not suit us to see them die today. Ask little more, lest lies consume you."

    There are things she can say... and things she cannot. But she was always the heart of their little group, in Seven Sisters; perhaps that's why she speaks first, instead of the Groom, who always seemed to be in charge.

    "A boon I offer, that you shall not distract yourselves: the Hydra's heads do not act in concordance. Each thinks, breathes, plots, as it is fed back to the fattened whole."

    Will they understand? Can they understand? It is a struggle to be understood, when everything happens all at once in her brain, a thousand sources of information each as important as the last. She knows she must be confusing Myunghon, right now; she is sorry. She cannot register that remorse in her voice.

    Myunghon stumbles up, and Yumi's fingers curl, as if suppressing herself from some act. Of course they know -- they must know -- 'You and me! Me and you!', she said it with abandon, back then, when they were young.

    "Your choice was prescribed to you by powers beyond your ken," she tells them, as she looks through them.

    "Our cruelty is such: we take this choice from you. Release the weapon. This is not the path you must take."

<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.

Miyu does not so much as stir at the harsh words the assembled Persona-users have for her and her compatriots. Instead, she turns towards each in turn, the faceplate of her mask difficult to read but facing each in their moment.

"if there is a trap," Miyu says to Myo, "Then it is not one of our making. I would've used the element of surprise if I wanted to fight a group like this."

To So-young she says nothing at first. "We aren't leaving just yet," she says to Umie, too. "You may vent your frustrations about this, but I will not initiate combat if you don't. This time."

She looks back to Myunghon. "'Sin' is only an illusion. You are what you are regardless of the way you feel about it."

"...And you have already chosen a different path than this. Walk it."

"I claim the life you seek to take for my own."

"It is as she says. ...But also true is this: your power is no longer death and violence."

"Look upon your companions. Would they move for one who had not influenced them?"

"I say no. So leave the weapon, and contest not my claim."

She nods to Tsurugi. "There is indeed nothing for them here. We are here to demonstrate this."

<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.

Why indeed? Tsurugi won't offer any answers to the unasked question, though she does take note of Shinjiro. She was sure he would have been arrested, but he's out already... curious.

Tsurugi looks at Umie as she barges forward. She answers back in her own monotone, her voice flat and stern. "... You presume too much. Take the rumormonger and go, and we have no quarrel."

They look to Shinobu next. Tsurugi has helped, hindered, and then helped her again on several occasions. What is she up to today? The masked figure won't offer simple answers. "We were here to keep your Rumormonger from making a mistake." What mistake? She doesn't say.

She looks to So-young who rushes in, and then calls her Persona to herself for protection. Where the conductor is panicked, Tsurugi is calm. "If we did not want you to find the Rumormonger, you could not. If we did not want you to depart, you would not," she states simply. "Take the Rumormonger and go."

A turnstile entrance goes flying, and Tsurugi looks over in that direction to see Myo emerge. "There is no trap." She won't offer much else in the way of ressurances. As she explained... Yumi isn't working her tricks today.

Myunghon speaks of being committed to a grave sin. A sin that will fill at least one grave, if not two. And she frowns behind her mask as Myunghon throws themselves forward, trying to protect the NWO agents from the others. And when Myunghon brings the gun to their face...

... Tsurugi does not outwardly react, simply standing with their arms by their side. They're not moving to take up their rapier or Evoker. She feels plenty of anger, her blood boils that this has happened to her friend... but this is not anger she must direct at them, nor anyone else present.

She listens to Yumi and Miyu as they deliver their messages. So much that can't be said, yet some they might, if phrased just right. She doesn't look towards them, but she listens.

She looks to Merry again. "... Your friends will share your burdens, if you let them."

It may sound like she is telling Merry to go with the others, to let their friends help them. And she is saying that... but there are other friends who are here, to help them in ways the others would not.

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

As Umie tries to lunge forward, and Myunghon reacts, Shinjiro moves to *grab her*, preventing her from starting a fight.

"*Umie, stop*!" He first name yobisutes in his attempt to make sure she listens.

These are friends of Myunghon's, it seems... everyone has their own friends. That's fine. He doesn't care who they are. Something else hits him.

"A grave sin...?"

Then, Myunghon calls out to Shinobu. They failed...

"You can still fix it, Myunghon. You were looking forward to spending time with her, don't give it up-"

They're addled. They barely know how to use that gun. His axe is lowered even more, as he tries to figure out what to say.

And then, Myunghon addresses Shinjiro again.

His face falls. He's frozen, silent. Even if their words, assuming what they meant, could be read as a breach of trust, that's not what he's thinking at all. That's not remotely what's in his mind, as Shinjiro tries to take a step forward, axe dropping to one hand and pointing to the floor.

"...then I'm a sinner too, aren't I? And I'll never stop being one. So... if that's the case, shouldn't I be over there with you?"

It's a bold tactic. One that needs to be followed up with...

"...no, I think you should be over here with us. We can help you. We can find a way to stop this nightmare, we can be your strength. You don't need to be powerless, Myunghon!"

Even so, his heart hurts. Myunghon think so little of themself... much like he does. It hurts to see your reflection in someone you care about, telling them things you'd never listen to yourself.

Yumi mentions a boon, as they tell them not to press. He won't. "They're not our enemy. Fighting is only going to hurt Myunghon," he tells the others. Instead, he commits the boon to memory, to sift over later.

Miyu says that they would not move if Myunghon did not influence them. "...she's right." He files away more info, as he elaborates. "You're the only reason we're here."

And Tsurugi... mentions sharing burdens. Shinjiro ends on that note.

"Let us help you."

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.

Her breath is still catching up with her, and the way Mementos makes the edges of reality feel all fuzzy isn't helping matters. (God,) Myo thinks as her eyes dart left, then right. (We've really stepped into the lion's den, this time.) She's squinting beneath the mask. Yua and Miyu's words tug at the edges of her understanding -- their roundabout way of speaking is a cold breath on the back of her neck. And yet, she must try. Ever the blunt instrument in both word and deed, Myo tries her best to defuse the situation for once. By which we mean that she actually listens to what they're saying and thinks on it.

"Okay. We're... just all here, then. To help." she speaks slowly, almost as if expecting the words themselves to spring the trap that has been repeatedly proven not to exist. Such wariness, girl. It's unhealthy for the soul.

Whatever relief this revelation has brought, it is short-lived. Myunghon has brandished that gun in a manner that suggests turning it inwards, and Myo's veins feel as though they have filled anew with ice. It is the second time in a very short span of time, relatively speaking, that such an implement has emerged. The sickly feeling of dread and panic surges within the young lady's lungs and stomach once more. It is twofold: for one, the imminent danger to Myunghon's person. For two, the sight of their dear companion in so drastic a state of disarray, of misery.

"Merry-san," Myo's outstretched arm returns to her side, practically lost amidst the swimming shadows of her strange habit. She swallows and concentrates. Let nothing remain left unsaid, lest it be a regret later. "Whatever sin you feel rests on your shoulders, it--I promise you this: it is not eternal! You are more to us, and to many more besides us, than your mistakes and transgressions." her voice is quiet, determined, but she's still fighting for breath from running all the way here. A gloved hand gestures gently towards Tsurugi, first. "If not me, then--listen to them. To all of us!"

In time after Shinjiro, the white-masked figure adds. "There's so much more for us to do... please come back with us. I swear there's so much I want to tell you and do with you!" and she folds both hands over her chest, feeling in the moment that she needs every advantage she can get in this situation, including the diminishingly miniscule chance of divine intervention.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    Shinjiro's hand grabs Umie; an act of passion does not mean an act that's done smoothly enough to avoid the hand of someone who is quite ready to stop her, as well as use her first name as a means of shocking her further still, giving the short young woman precious seconds for reason to play catch up.

    'A boon I offer, that you shall not distract yourselves: the Hydra's heads do not act in concordance. Each thinks, breathes, plots, as it is fed back to the fattened whole.'

    Umie, hearing that analogy she's often used herself for every problem that's been more complex and persistent the further one looks at it, lets her mouth thin into a hesitant, disagreeable little line, nostrils flaring slightly.

    Oh, she hates it, but she realizes she may be in the wrong here. "It's true," she further relents, as Tsurugi mentions that there is no trap. "If she--" Umie gestures with her chin towards Yua, "--used her powers, we'd be a lot worse off."

    'You cannot undo the taking of a life... you know that, right, Shinjiro?'

    At that, Umie angles her head up towards Shinjiro. The wording is vague enough that he could deny it, but in Umie's mind, it solidifies one singular thing: ".... No wonder," she murmurs, barely loud enough for his ears to hear, before turning back.

    "If this about that app, or that asshole... forget about them." Umie starts, her two examples seeming blunt, if not for the further meanings left unsaid. For Umie, it's not about the Meta-Nav app, but what powers might be beyond it, tailoring a fit for all 'blessed' by its appearance. It's not about Ishiba-san, either, but the powers that be behind him, as well as the racism entrenched within culture. "Yeo-san. You can't 'force-quit' these things. The mystery will continue on without you, and it'll continue to spin on out and claim more people. You get one token to play here; one chance to make your move." She was never big on arcades growing up like some of her friend group was, but the term fits here. "Throw it away, and you can't get it back. Nothing gets equalized. No debt will be paid."

    Umie doesn't need to be held back, now. She just stays by Shinjiro, hands slipping into the pockets of her jacket. "Don't try to humor it with those ideas; pain and despair don't work like that. You think I liked protecting that coffin that night? I *hated* it. Felt like some that stench of his bullshit was going to rub off on me and never come off. But a life's a life. One time is enough to make the second time easier. The second? Even better, especially if it's an asshole."

    She directs with her chin around her.

    "Look at all these people willing to dive onto swords for you, Merry-san. I think I see a few that may be calling my name. But that's not why we're here, is it? It's for you. You going to give up now, after that wild ride we've all had with you up to now?"

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

"A mistake, huh..." Shinobu mutters as Tsurugi speaks. She's always been sceptical at best of her, after that fight on the beach - even if they've ended up on the same side after that. The disbelief on her face, then, likely comes as no surprise.

...So-young is right, though - if this could be solved by just asking them to come home, then none of them would be here in Mementos right now.

But Myunghon stirs and Shinobu's attention is immediately drawn back to them. They're 'committed to a grave sin'... Shinobu grimaces. The wording doesn't escape her. The distinction between planning and already having done.

And to her, they say... They failed. It's all ruined. Shinobu shakes her head. She glances toward Shinjiro briefly, then back toward Myunghon.

"No, you haven't... It's alright, Myunghon. Nothing's ruined." Shinobu tries to assure them.

Yumi, Miyu, and Tsurugi speak. Shinobu doesn't trust them - but she does trust Shinjiro's assessment that fighting them now is only going to hurt Myunghon. Tsurugi hadn't elaborated on the 'mistake'... but the picture forms in her head from their words, as well as Myunghon's words.

Their fear, and powerlessness... The sin they've chosen to take on themselves...

"...I'm sorry. We should've been there for you. If anyone's failed here, it's us. You haven't done anything wrong." Shinobu mutters - and her blood runs cold as the gun is drawn to their face. Their finger isn't on the trigger, but it feels like one wrong movement could cause a tragedy. She freezes in place - but she nods quietly, agreeing with Shinjiro.

"...Everyone has to lean on someone else every now and then. Even me, I've been helped up more times than I count. By you, even. If you feel powerless... then rely on us." She shakes her head. "Even if you're a sinner, we aren't going to just turn our backs on you."

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.

    So-young has been impeccably glad for Myo being with them in their race to find Myunghon. She's always dreamed of being able to just bash a wall down ever since first trying to navigate around the real Shibuya Station, and it definitely helps her panic to know that they're not necessarily beholden to the maze of Mementos, that sometimes brute force really is an acceptable answer. Plus, she's now got someone standing in between her and the strange trio, and that's something of a relief while she tries to figure out what the hell to even do.

    "_So_ sorry for events to not suit you," So-young mutters under her breath to the Bride's comment. So-young! This is not the time to act petulant and contrary! That's what she's yelling at herself deep in the back of her mind, but she can't really help herself when faced with a situation like this - it's half a personal attempt to defuse her feelings, half an automatic rejection of the whole situation, and wholeheartedly a part of herself to bite back at moments like this.

    But she leaves it at that - for as much as she grimaces at how blunt they're being and how much she doubts it will help, they _are_ apparently on Myunghon's side here.

    So-young's intake of breath is audible as Myunghon lifts the gun to their face. Icarus twists momentarily, but she holds it back with an effort. "Nothing!-- nothing's... set in stone until you pull that trigger," she has to try a couple of times before the quiver leaves her voice, one of her hands held up in surrender. "There's nothing saying you've got to do this," she tries her hardest to keep her voice steady, and absolutely nothing in her acting training prepared her for something like this.

    You can see the sympathetic bob of her throat as she takes in the extent of Myunghon's disfigurement, but she forces herself to take her eyes off of it. She's genuinely not sure whether 'act like it's normal' or 'don't panic Myunghon further by focusing on it' is the right idea here, and her gut isn't giving her anything to go off but bile.

    She opens her other hand to reveal a set of keys - the ones she took for the Cardboard Dragon. They jangle softly. "I looked after the place while you were sleeping. It's all still there, all still intact. You've got a place to go back to. If you feel unsafe, there's my place too. It's a whole city away, no-one'll come knocking for you there. Uh, if you can deal with my mess," she rasps out.

    With a swallow, she shakes her head, feeling a bitter taste in her mouth. "... I still don't know you that well, and-- I know we came from completely different backgrounds. Maybe I'm not all that qualified to say anything, but... it's pretty clear that a lot of people trust you and look up to you."

    Her focus is narrowed enough she can barely hear everyone else's arguments and pleas. The sight of the gun in Myunghon's face is too large, filling her vision completely with a sight that feels far too concrete and real, far too human for anything in Mementos.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    Myunghon's gaze rests on Yumi for a singular moment as she continues to speak in that veiled manner of hers. A part of them does understand, of course, why: even such before in the hospital, Yua already was speaking too much. Yumi, now, is risking more punishment by having to explain. And they know it isn't just punishment to her that she fears -- but to Miyu as well, given her position.

    Later, when they're less scrambled, they can intuit the meaning clearer. Right now, they're barely struggling to keep attention and not have their limited consciousness drift them off. But Yumi's imperative remains clear in their head: Release the weapon. Miyu says as much.

    Sin, they say, is only an illusion. You are what you are regardless of the way you feel about it.

    This prompts a hard scrunching on their face; one that's mixed with no small of admiration underneath, too. It's clear that their relation is a complicated one. But the steadfastness in which Miyu, the Groom, walks is one that they can't help but have strong feelings about, as someone who repeatedly claims to only exist as a patchwork series of masks to other people.

    "They all expect me to walk a path of death and violence..." Myunghon mumbles. It isn't clear who the 'they' is, but Miho, with her unusual insight, probably understands a bit better. The Traitor from the 'Other Side', who became a dangerous and lethal element of crime, more than twice as worse than Kaneshiro could ever be, ruling with fear, not money. "When I said 'no', it has always been full of consequence..."

    A consequence Miho is very familiar with.

    But... Miho says that she'll claim the life for her own.

    This rattles Myunghon quite a bit -- should they be ecstatic that the problem is going to go away? And if not, why not? Just as they're about to spiral, though, Tsurugi dictates how it is -- if they truly wanted Myunghon spirited away, they could. They should know what she means, but right now, implications of power are very scary. They're trying to hold it together so hard, knowing what their friends-enemies in the NWO are trying to do.

    Because they can't show their intent and has to veil it behind threat and power.

    It's like Yua said. They, too, are merely a piece on the board... Tsurugi advises them that their friends will share their burden. It cuts, especially as Shinjiro affirms it: they can still fix it. But also-- as they feel their words and care slipping, he affirms as he drops his axe that shouldn't he be on the other side?

    "No, don't--"

    There's something that terrorises Myunghon about Shinjiro revealing his cards. It's a powerful but simple piece of logic, because he knows Myunghon would say, 'no,' to that, while realising their hypocrisy-- so to have it be then turned around... that's the kind of logic that would just work on them, especially right now, doesn't it?

    They're not walking a path of death and violence. They chose to reject that this time and walk a path surrounded by friends.

    ... because when Kaneshiro asked for help and was out of money, no one came to rescue him. Someone dangerous and mysterious tried to kill him. Myunghon couldn't have anticipated everyone to scramble and come here. But isn't that the power of respect and kinship? The fact that you don't HAVE to meticulously manipulate everyone and predict their behaviour? Isn't that what Tsurugi's point is about?

    "I was..."

    Myo makes her appeal. It must be really difficult to not leap at the chance and indulge the fury. Being constantly on edge isn't good for anyone's soul, is it? "But a mistake should not be so easily undone..." Myunghon looks confused again, like they're still unsure whether or not whatever it is they're feeling awful about has already happened.

    Umie appeals to them with logic, appealing to some of the things *she* knows frightens Myunghon -- it's not the app, but what's behind it -- it's not... well, okay, it's not not Ishiba-san... the terror is physical and here and now, but it's also knowing that there's so much more that backs him, too, they can't deny.

    Even if they 'force-quit' here, the mystery will go on. It'll claim more people. This isn't some kind of zero-sum game; Umie points out how once is already enough to make the second easier. It's...

    "... I am already a killer, Akabane-san," Myunghon trembles, more panicked than before. Unlike their words with Shinjiro before, this one is plain and unavoidable. "I did not kill people with a gun... but you are correct. The first time was mortifying. Then there are people around you, so called colleagues, who tell you it's normal, that you did well finding that loophole..."

    They tremble halfway through that. The memory being dredged up is too much. That wasn't Human. That isn't Human! They refuse to believe that is Human... oh, it is Human. But they turned away from a life of death and violence and was punished. Is this time going to be any different? They're so scared. What if the moment they relent, something else horrible happens? But....

    Shinobu tries to assure them that they haven't ruined anything -- and it's their fault for not being there. That same instinct that makes Shinjiro's argument work makes them want to jump and reassure them it isn't, that it's all *their* fault... but...

    But even Shinobu has to lean on someone sometimes. Even them! If they feel powerless... then rely on them.

    "I was so scared... I was so frightened! I was back in the White Room... Yuarin tried her best to stay as long as she could, but they still forced her to leave!" Visiting hours are over. While their use of 'White Room' has some very clear capitalisation and meaning, it's not... too difficult to discern what they mean.

    So-young reminds them that noething is set in stone until they pull that trigger. The trigger... the trigger... it's like So-young's words have reminded them there's a *dangerous* artifact here, one that nearly took the life of one Officer Suou, who was just trying his best--

    "The White Room is... frightening and lonesome at night... the Dark Hour comes... every single day, trapped in those hellish wards, rows of beds full of coffins..."

    The gun clatters to the floor, and mercifully doesn't discharge... though given that Myunghon hasn't even figured out you need to actually pull the trigger in their confused state, it's also very likely the safety is also on.

    ... a black ribbon inches out from the Cognitive Coat's hem and picks it up, coiling around it for a moment, then tosses it away in a further direction.

    "'Make him realise your power'..." Myunghon seems stuck on those words, sounding distant and confused. "Did I not... understand correctly...?" They're looking for someone again that doesn't seem to be here. Who is it that they're referring to?

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    So-young is angry; Yumi spreads a hand. "Under these circumstances, I will allow you these transgressions. Your anger is not misplaced; still are we your enemy. But as Badb's companion assures you... if we wished to keep you from the Rumourmonger, elsewhere would you be. We are here to advance our ends. Be assured that in this moment, they are not incompatible with your own."

    Myunghon is right to realise her conflict, as she speaks with such hostility. But... the show must go on.

    And... because she had to leave, they were all alone again...

    It is lucky, in this moment, that Yumi's face is obscured by all those dark bridal veils.

    "Yes," the Bride affirms their feelings. "When the doctors grow still, and their victims are left to wait out the night... it is fear of what lurks which binds you, then."

    Yumi has faith that Miho will claim the gun; it is not suited to her fingers.

    Rather, she engineers the environment for death.

    Through the arena, through a spreadsheet...

<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.

Despite Myo, Miyu expects no divine intervention for Myunghon here today.

Unless they count themselves.

Miyu waits through what everyone says, but only one thing really matters to Miyu in the moment, and it is neither Shinobu's stoicism nor So-young's sharp words to Yumi.

If it helps, it helps. That's good. But Miho is the one who knows the Other; the one who remembers. The one who understands. Remi and Yua may also be friends, but...

Miho knows of Myunghon's admiration. But she notices, Miho, how Myunghon reacts to it. She considers it, for now.

"To be frightened is no great sin," Miyu says. "You have reasons to fear."

"And the Dark Hour is only one."

Miho walks to the gun and picks it up. She eyes it. Its tasteful fake diamond studs glimmer in the light as she opens the cylinder and removes the bullets into her hand. She pockets them, and eyes the barrel, ensuring nothing remains in the chamber already.

She displays it to the others.

"This is what we came for."

A pause, as she looks to Myunghon.

"Your tormentor has earned a reprieve," Miyu says. "I will not kill him today."

"But his life belongs to me, and he will know that."

"Come." She gestures to Yumi and Tsurugi both. This, perhaps, is a burden she will share.

<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.

Shinjiro moves to stop Umie, and Tsurugi's head turns to watch her. She is not making any motion to attack... but neither is she being inattentive to the potential for a more direct confrontation. But there is a slight nod as Shinjiro tells Merry to go with him and the others.

But Shinjiro, Miyo, and Shinobu seem to agree with her message of letting the burden be shared, at least. Tsurugi is thankful that it was a lesson she was reminded of so very recently.

Umie relucentatly agreed with her on the matter of the trap. "Precisely." If the others can see that this is, in fact, not a trap... that will make this easier.

Tsurugi offers no clarification to Shinobu. She is not surprised by the skepticism, either way.

They listen to Myunghon silently. She's not fully clear who 'they' is, but she does surmise the meaning of White Room, capitalization and all. Nights spent alone, hospital beds filled with coffins... She wants to reassure Myunghon, but... her hands are tied, in this moment. Even just being here...

She has a part to play, no matter how confusing it may seem on the outside.

There is a small release of breath, of tension, as Myunghon finally lets the gun go, and it is tossed away. One danger solved--or will be, momentarily.

She does spare a glance for Yumi, though. So she had visited, and then been turned out... Tsurugi knows it would eat at her, if she had been in that position.

But she turns her head to watch as Miyu goes to retrieve the gun, and then empty remove the bullets... she nods, once that is done. "Very well." She looks to Yumi next. She will let their Navigator take the lead, of course... and she will bring up the rear, just in case anyone gets antsy about letting them leave.

"Take your friend and leave this place," she advises the others. "... it will not help their recovery."

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Umie's words hit Shinjiro hard, even as he lets her go, he can pick up the implication as she says she wanted to kill Ishiba. Did she, too...?

How many people are like him...?

Myo says there's so much more she wants to say and do. Shinjiro nods once, trying to back up her sentiment.

Shinobu get an equal nod... leaning on each other puts a bile taste in his mouth, the memory that he has hurt others by refusing to lean on them at all...

So-young pulls out the keys. Shinjiro glances to them, before looking back. "You've given me a place to stay... don't you remember? Your kindness is so much more than your sin."

"...A mistake like ours can't be undone," he finally says. "Does that mean you need to be undone?"

His hypocrisy writ large, even so, he believes it truly of Myunghon.

"You live with that, and make it better. You become more than who you were. That person they think you are, the one you shudder from being referred to as, that's not who you are. You're Myunghon Yeo, our friend."

Myunghon insists they're a killer. That's true. Even if it wasn't a gun, they killed a child.

But who gives a fuck, Shinjiro thinks. "Does that define you?" It's a horrible crime, but... Myunghon has only shown better traits than that around him.

Even if the act of taking a mother from her son forever defines Shinjiro... they're not the same.

The gun falls and is thrown away. Miyu empties it. Shinjiro finally exhales a bit of tension, as guilty as he feels for ever suggesting they go to Parabellum.

The three NWO agent are leaving. Good, but... they might not have pulled this off without them, either.

But who is Myunghon looking for...? No, that's not relevant right now. Instead...

"...maybe your power isn't some sort of raw and vengeful violence." He takes a risky, difficult step forward. He's trying to approach Myunghon, hands splayed forward and open, one step after another, one careful approach.

"Maybe... it's hope."

<Pose Tracker> Mio Kazama has posed.

Myo's brow knits further behind her mask. All that fretting and planning, trying to think of a way to get even with the foul lawman responsible for all this pain and heartache, and the answer was here all along. Apparently, this is the high power he claimed to answer to. She glances up at Miyu, clawing back the urge to make demands on the man's life or condition in the emotion-driven moment. Now is simply not the time. "Since you kept your word here... just remember, your man is mouthing off about who really holds his leash." she cautions in a calmer tone of voice. Is selling him out directly the same as killing him? Perhaps. The whole interaction has left her on edge, but... she would have to admit, later, that they seemed quite trustworthy in the moment. The waters only muddy further.

With that, the hooded girl in black turns her attention back--quickly, even--to Myunghon. Her hands are still clasped at her chest, for the record. "You know--you don't have to go back to that place, either." she's even taking a step closer, and another. The better to prove that the people here aren't just reaching out with their words, but with their deeds, their proximity is as physical as it is social. "If the White Room is too scary, you can rest with us." she's kind of forgetting her disguise, the formality slipping from her words like snapped bindings. "If it's too lonely, we can keep you company somewhere nicer."

Is it not her place to speak about sins any further--for she doesn't know what it's like to commit them. In time, perhaps moments like these will teach her that this quest for revenge is a fruitless, terrible thing. But that's not tonight's story, so let's park that thought there. To summarise, it's better to let Shinjiro, whose words and soul are heavy with experience that someone his age simply shouldn't have, speak of these particulars. What she can speak of is how the future looks to her, and promise to share that.

"And, you know... you should have seen how fast everyone ran to come find you. We see someone special in you, even if you can't see that in yourself. Will you trust our faith and return with us...?"

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'I'm am already a killer, Akabane-san,' Myunghon says. Umie wants to pursue on this readily as she would a weakness in a fight, but alas, her methods are better suited for needling in and picking apart than they are for support in delicate situations like these, as would be expected of 'Badb's companion', as Yumi would put it.

    She finally allows the others around her to speak for her, rather than let her own tears and warps speak for her. She's said her piece, and now, the mystery of who Myunghon is (and perhaps was) expands in front of her.

    Someone so different from her, but similar in the specific ways that made Umie confide in her a secret of hers, if just to trade for how Myunghon bared a secret of her own, despite Umie giving Myunghon a way to back out.

    "...." Umie winces. looks downwards the misshapen flooring beneath her, as Myunghon talks about the 'White Room.' Mai-chan was there, those harrowing nights Umie was in the hospital room following her 'awakening', and similar such nights that followed. She was never truly alone; Mai-chan just liked to come and go, just to be mischevious. (Umie's long since forgotten to ask herself 'where' Mai-chan 'goes' or 'comes' from, if she even actually does so at all.) ... As if to reinforce that to not have Mai-chan there, it was a punishment, not a reprieve.

    "... I'm... not a fan either," Umie admits reluctantly. "... Even if we have different reasons..." She trails off. To compare a mark on the wrist, something that could be hidden easily enough, to Myunghon's bandages... they're too different, for everything that seems to rhyme. "Of hospitals, that is. But I don't think it was that that brought you here."

    A pause. "... You used your coat to get out, didn't you?" Ah, Umie, you're doing it again. Looking for answers instead of support. There's times for these things.

    .... 'Make him realise your power'.

    ".... We need to get Yeo-san out of here now," Umie urges as the three leave, seeming disturbed by Myunghon's words. "I don't like this." Myunghon didn't have the Mark, but paranoia dislikes to be accompanied by reason.

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

'Their own ends'... A frown crosses Shinobu's face. She knows Yumi is right as she speaks to So-young, that if they wanted to keep them from Myunghon, they would still be lost in Mementos... but it doesn't mean she has to like it.

She meets Shinjiro's glance, briefly. Myunghon continues, then. 'They' - who is 'they'? Shinobu doesn't know - but 'they' expected Myunghon to walk a path of death and violence.

There's a lot she doesn't know about them. Everyone has a past, and things in it they might want to hide... Shinobu had never dug into theirs. They're already a killer - but not with a gun. Shinobu frowns - but it's with sympathy. It seems like an awful, painful memory. To do such a thing, and to have people congratulate you. But Shinjiro speaks with experience. A mistake like 'ours'. She watches him for a moment - and then looks back.

And their fears... Shinobu grimaces sympathetically. It's not hard to imagine how that would leave scars on you - subjected to that sight, and being left alone in the dark with nothing but coffins.

"...I'm sorry. They've got no idea how to treat people right." She replies, shaking her head. And Yumi agrees with how terrible it is. "...It's awful. You shouldn't have to see that."

She nods, agreeing with Myo's words.

"...Yeah. We can think of something else together." She agrees. "If those people give you trouble about it, let us deal with it."

...The gun, finally, clatters to the floor - and Myunghon's coat tosses it away. Miyu claims it, and empties the chamber. Shinobu releases a breath she didn't realise she was holding. It feels like they're all off of the knife's edge, finally, even if the situation is still precarious.

Their tormentor's life belongs to Miyu... A complicated look crosses her face. ...Frankly, she doesn't give a damn if Ishiba dies. But it leaves a bad taste in her mouth, owing anything to these people and letting them do what they want. She remembers what they tried to do before. She grimaces and looks away. The three of them are leaving, now - and she won't try to stop them.

A frown crosses her face, though, at Myunghon's distant words. She massages the back of her neck.

"...I dunno. Maybe it's just a bit too deep for me, but... 'Make him realise your power'... That just sounds like the kind of person who uses force to get their way. Is that who you wanna be?" Shinobu asks. It feels a bit hypocritical to say that, given her own actions from time to time. A 'raw and vengeful violence', as Shinjiro says...

She thinks back to her fury toward the Joker Killer, her assertion that she'd kill him for threatening her family. Does she have any right to ward anyone else away from that path?

...Of course she does. She's their friend, after all.

She looks toward Shinjiro, then, as he offers his own reasoning.

"...Yeah. 'Hope'... That's better, I think." Shinobu decides with a nod.

She looks toward Umie, then, at her urging.

"...Yeah." She agrees, looking back toward Myunghon. "Are you ready?"

...Tsurugi also advised for them to leave, but she's more willing to give credit to Umie than to her.

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.

    The gun is gone. The gun is gone. The gun is gone. That fact repeats in So-young's mind, and she has never been more happy with the knowledge that she is once more free to fuck up. She lets out a deep breath as she sags down, having been so focused on the immediacy of the threat that she needs a few moments to replay the rest of Myunghon's entreaties back in her mind.

    Even then, her mind is racing and it's difficult to pull Myunghon's meaning out of her words. So-young immediately feels the weight of history, maybe, or perhaps the enormity of the Dark Side of Sumaru, or-- she's not sure how to put the distant feeling of the relationship between Myunghon and the strange triad into words. Words don't feel like they matter much right at this moment, anyway.

    At least with the _gun gone_ she can look up towards the Bride and their compatriots with a little less of that hawkish manner and a bit more in the way of careful observation. Her brow furrows slightly - she's obviously still rankling a bit at how blunt they're all being, as if 'picking this moment to boast about how awesome you are' or 'hell yeah be scared shit's scary' are both arguments so ridiculous in the moment she simply can't process them. (This is, of course, a biased viewpoint. She would, and probably will, do the same sometime. So-young Park would never claim to be hypocrism-free.)

    But the tension is leaving her shoulders, and So-young can at least appreciate how close Myunghon came to a cliff there. "... thanks," she rumbles out with a nod to the three of them. She's new to this - all she has against them is that they were standing over Myunghon and speaking in blunt riddles. That's not enough for her to hold a grudge for long, not when the adrenaline is slowly working out of her system.

    She simply cannot process Shinjiro of all people waxing poetic about hope right now. Once she has managed to do so in the light of day, she may never let him forget it, especially whenever anyone he knows is around. Be prepared, Mitsuru Kirijo, because So-young is ready to weaponize some woob at you.

    "No hospital then," So-young puffs slightly as she manages to intuit that much about Myunghon's words, rocking back as she nods along with Myo's comments. "If you can discharge yourself and push all the way down here, I think you can call that done with your bedrest. C'mon. We've got your back."

    She recoils slightly when her hand touches the ground to push her to her feet, and she finally grimaces at what she's been sitting on for the past few minutes. Her face is suddenly drawn as she looks to Umie, but only because she's doggedly trying to put on solemn airs of 'let's be serious and get Myunghon out of here' and not 'oh god it's meat. why is it meat'. "... and I think they're right. Being down here isn't doing anyone any good right now."

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    Myunghon can't do much about any barbs being thrown between them -- right now, it feels as if their body is the tightrope upon which things won't come to blows, even as Shinjiro and Shinobu both appeal to reason that a fight wouldn't help anyone, let alone themself. It feels a bit like having the shouting and yelling from the night they were struck on the head sail over their head.

    But Yumi is allowed to, in that veiled manner of hers, empathise on why hospitals are terrifying. Yes. Because they are the doctors' victims, both of them.

    But Miho disarms the gun in fast, efficient fashion. The bullets are gone. As it is now, it's nothing more than a hunk of metal and fake diamonds and pink for some intrepid errant Let's Positive Thinking Maya to bumble into and absorb, so they can be defeated in a random encounter for some other Let's Positive Thinking Maya to obtain as a weapon upgrade.

    Miho *knows* Myunghon is alarmed that Miho claimed Ishiba's live, though, and it's that guarantee that he won't die today that seems to relax them... though it still leaves them mixed, more than they're already mixed up. After all... what does it mean, knowing someone has designs to end his life?

    Tsurugi might not be able to convey any of her desire to reassure right now, but... there is something within their stoic calm that helps anchor the situation. Because, just as Ariel deflected So-young from taking a wound earlier, there is a manner in which a stoic silence can help reassure them.

    Shinjiro asks if they need to be undone, just because they have mistakes that can't be undone. They quiver, through bandages undone, revealing the grotesquerie underneath; the thing they'd wanted to hide for so long, that's now exposed to all of them. ... it's not lost that Shinjiro picked them out singularly, though.

    "... we don't need to be undone," Myunghon affirms tremblingly. "You said you didn't want to be on this side."

    Shinjiro reminds them of what it is they've been working so hard to achieve, cognitively and socially -- hope. ... and that's true. The thing about hope they've always embraced is that it by design needs to grow far larger than the actual bounds of the flesh and mind. The revolutionary martyr that lives on for decades after they're shot down by fascist forces is bigger than the person they are, that historians try to figure out.

    ... dying here isn't in service of that. And as pragmatic and blunt as that may be, logic is sometimes what soothes Myunghon.

    Myo tipping off that Ishiba was mouthing too much -- something Tsurugi was also privy too -- kind of goes over their concussed head right now. It's too much to think of how they're complicit in someone being cleaned up because of a conspiracy right now -- is the way they ultimately still wear that guilt. But Myo directs them to how they don't have to go back to the hospital. So-young's suggesting her own place, in Tokyo, after all.

    They're not really sure, right now. They'd like to just go home, but... they've likely aggravated their own wounds and still needs some form of medical treatment. That's, surely, something someone can work out. "Okay..." Myunghon seems a bit more pliant on that front.

    Myunghon confesses a secret to Umie. In a way, they probably feel like showing the bandages were enough, but this is more about the mystery of their life now, something for her to pick away at. They can't know about Umie's own hospital experiences, about Umie's own experiences with death. But she correctly intuits... it's not that which brought them here, is it?

    ...

    "... mm mm," Myunghon nods quietly, like a child caught in the cookie jar. "I was given... I was given...?" A pause, as they lapse in the middle of that, looking confused again. "The hospital is a supernatural space enough... it wasn't hard to use the ribbons down from even the third floor. It looks like I learnt from you a bit too quickly, Akabane-san..."

    But it's too late. Umie can notice how they didn't HAVE that coat when they were struck down by Ishiba -- they had the old, burnt coat. Myunghon never left the hospital between then and now. So where did this new coat come from?

    No hospital, So-young affirms again. They're clearly healthy enough to run all the way down here, so that's enough bedrest. They'd certainly like to believe that's true. ... it might not be true. Someone who has more privy into Myunghon's expenses might point out they might have extra money for nice healthcare if they weren't keeping like twenty people afloat, but that's Myunghon, now isn't it?

    Shinobu comforts them on their fear of hospitals, that they have no idea how to treat people right. They can think of an appropriate place for them, that isn't the hospital again. It's softening them, letting them go of all that tension that's coiled up so tightly, wounding them up into likely more danger and self-harm.

    "O-okay. I don't have to return there..." they seem to be believing that now. It's hard to process all these things, in their state. There's been a lot of lapses, of Myunghon reacting a bit too late, Myunghon staring at people like language just stopped being a thing for three seconds. It's not a good state for their mind right now.

    But doesn't that phrase sound like someone who uses force to get their way? Is that who they want to be?

    "... no," Myunghon admits. "But they said..." They hesitate again, as their confusion ramps up. Who's the 'they'? 'You are the one with true power here...' 'Make him realise that.' These are insidious words being whispered. Is something whispering in Myunghon's head...?

    Hope fits them better. Myunghon finally slacks and -- that Coat, which seems to have been propping up on them, somehow deflates, and they tip over and collapse onto Shinobu's side.

    Mio points out that everyone ran so fast to get here, and the Rumourmonger takes a moment to regard every one of them, tremblingly, as the three of the NWO leave.

    Their shining stars. Their hope.

    They really are... the constants in all their chaos.

<Pose Tracker> Yua Ooshiro has posed.

    Miyu takes the bullets, takes the gun, and Yumi nods, beside her. Ishiba's fate is the Groom's to decide, it seems; she stands in quiet support of her decision.

    "We go," she confirms, to the heroes present. "And do not mistake us. Next we meet, we may not be so reasonable... but this day are we satisfied with this."

    Tsurugi handles telling them to take Myunghon and go; Yumi plays her role by turning, and with confidence, striding out of the rest stop. (If only she could stay; if only she could reassure them. Her recognition of the horror of doctors... will have to do.)

    ... if they happen to clear out the Shadows nearby on their way out, it's not because they're trying to be helpful.

    At least -- not if anyone asks.

<Pose Tracker> Miho Ijuuin has posed.

Miyu turns to Myo. "I wll remember," she assures the masked Myo. "But Merry's 'power' today to show that man... I will respect it. And unless it becomes necessary, I will not take the life I have claimed."

"And he will know your power."

She does not attempt to stay and reassure anyone.

Miyu leaves, with Tsurugi and Yumi both.

She does not look back.

<Pose Tracker> Remi Ryuuja has posed.

'Ariel' called Shinjiro reckless, the other night... but she also noted his consideration for Tsubasa, who would otherwise have been left to Ishiba's whims once the Dark Hour ended.

Tsurugi is content, for the moment, to leave Myunghon in his care.

Myo has a warning, and, indeed, Tsurugi was already privy to that information. But she can't reveal that she was there to those that are here... though she did share that with Miho and Yua earlier.

She leaves with the others, and... she will feel no guilt about clearing out shadows. It might just do her some good, to finally have an outlet for the anger she has been keeping in check for two days.

<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.

Myunghon starts to calm, as they all speak. But they say something that strikes at Shinjiro's heart once more.

"... I-...heh." is all he says, deflecting from the fact he still doesn't believe that they're right. But this isn't the time for him to wallow in self-hatred. This is the time to get Myunghon help.

Umie is saying they should go, and indeed, Myunghon heard from someone to make him realize their power. "...we can talk about it later. For now, we need to get you home."

Maybe Shinjiro will cook everyone something, once they're somewhere safe with a kitchen. Of course, Myunghon would need something crunchy or chewy or car-y but. That's fine.

They've still got time left to figure everything out, even if for some, it's not all the time in the world. And that's good enough.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'The new coat... it's your weapon, isn't it?' Umie wants to ask as the coat relents. AT the last second, she thinks better of it, forcing herself to bite her tongue.

    "Yeo-san's not going to be able to relax fully until they're out of here," she points out instead, despite it being obvious enough.

    Persona: a thing that manifests to protect yourself from supernatural threat. The ways they manifest vary from person to person, but, in the conversations she's had with Myunghon, Vesper, and others in the last week, it's soldified things she's never considered before.

    What the heck is all of this?

    'Nothing that relates to you. Why think about it? You make things so complicated, Umie-chaan.' A pair of puffed up cheeks framed by long black hair appear in the back of Umie's mind. She pays it no mind.

    "So, we just have to go out the way we came, right?" She gestures towards the 'exit' with her hands still in her pockets, lifting the front of her jacket slightly. "Easy enough. Let's go."

    She's already walking ahead, but that seems to be the norm for Umie.

<Pose Tracker> So-young Park has posed.

    "Blehhh," So-young blows a raspberry to the trio, but only after they've left, and only under her breath. This is a twenty-seven year old professional.

    It's not their fault, and it's not really her fault either, it's just all she's got left in her right now. She feels drained, though certainly not as much as Myunghon surely is. Still, some core of stubbornness makes her rise to her feet, stretch up her arms, and work out the kinks in her shoulders. She glances aside to check that Shinobu has Myunghon's weight alright, then puffs out a breath as she calls Icarus above her.

    "Want to test the ceiling next?" she grimly asks Myo, a fierce light of 'hey I want to break something too' in the back of her eyes. "Bet it'll be the quickest way outside."

<Pose Tracker> Shinobu Shimizu has posed.

The hospital was enough of a supernatural space...? ...Well, that's Sumaru City, Shinobu supposes.

"Yeah. We'll figure something out that works better for you." Shinobu assures, as Myunghon comments that they don't have to return there. "I'll go through my contacts, I think I know a few folks who can do in-house work."

It might mean owing some people... but, that's a small price to pay.

Her brow furrows a little, though, as Myunghon explains. Who is 'they' this time? The one who said they were the one with true power... She frowns - but that frown is quickly replaced with concern as Myunghon starts to tip over.

"Easy there, I've got you." Shinobu assures, as they collapse into her side. She supports them carefully, mindful of their injuries.

"...I don't think any of us will." Shinobu agrees with Umie with a nod. "...Yeah. Let's go."

She meets So-young's assessing glance, offering her a nod to assure her that everything's fine.