2025-10-22: J'accuse
- Log: J'accuse
- Cast: Yukari Takeba, Shinjiro Aragaki, Fuuka Yamagishi, Mitsuru Kirijo, Reiya Aomori
- Where: Iwatodai Dormitory
- OOC Date: October 22, 2025
- IC Date: July 30, 2012
- Summary: Mitsuru has a good time: Yukari brings together people she's recruited to investigate the Kirijo Group. They present their case that she's hiding secrets from SEES. Reiya supports Mitsuru and the Chairman makes puns as the tension grows sharply.
(|============================ Iwatodai Dormitory ============================|) -================================================== Iwatodai City/Iwatodai ====- A large four-story dormitory used by the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, only five minutes from Iwatodai Station. Upon entering, one passes a desk with a sign-in book for guests to find a large carpeted common room that's well appointed for co-ed gatherings. A TV is usually on with the local news or a movie that's been loaded into the DVD player for a student to enjoy. A table for shared dinners, or more often study sessions, takes up the other half of the dorm, as well as a kitchen should one dare to show off their skills to their fellow students. There are two winding staircases on either side. The one on the left simply says 'Boys' while the other on the right states 'No Boys Except By Invitation.' The implicit threat of execution need not be written down for those who violate these rules. The second and third stories are living spaces divided by gender with common spaces that have study areas and bookshelves available. The fourth story is the command center with surveillance capabilities for not just different parts of the city but each room within the dorms. The Chairman has assured all who live here that this capability is strictly necessary. BGM - Dormitory Theme - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-FrFI0qnM <Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Thankfully finals were now over. So that might mean the release of tension and stress at the advent of summer vacation, right? And it does! Until... Monday morning, two people received a message. A card is slid beneath two doors.
'Meet at the Command Center tonight at Nine.'
'Don't tell the rest of SEES.'
These two doors were those belong to Mitsuru Kirijo and Reiya Aomori. Thus, there's little conflict of interest between them if Reiya tells Mitsuru, or vice versa. Whoever sent it figured one would certainly tell the other.
Who else in SEES sent the card might remain a mystery to them. Unless they want to resort to handwriting analysis or fingerprinting or the like. If they did, then they'd figure out it was Yukari Takeba - PROBABLY. ... The Card Stock is pink, after all.
That night at nine. Shuuji Ikutsuki is seated in the command room when Mitsuru and Reiya arrive, and he has tea prepared, indicating his own invitation to this affair. A tiny bit has spilled on a saucer as he takes a sip, and he sets it down. "Despite my clumsiness this is still quali-tea." Then as the door opens to indicate more have arrived, he adds, "And now to get this par-tea started. Come in, come in."
And who should enter but Yukari Takeba first of all. Then perhaps surprisingly- Fuuka Yamagishi behind her... and then finally and maybe most surprising of all, Shinjiro Aragaki.
The door is shut behind them, that's one heavy wooden door. Nothing from this meeting is likely to get out to the rest of SEES, even if it's possible someone spotted them on the way up.
"Welcome. The three of you then? I was wondering who slid that card under my office door. Then there's the three of us. Well, what's this about? Why all the secrecy? Sit down, I'll pour you a cup. It's... Tea-riffic."
Yukari sighs like she's already regretting inviting the Chairman, before glancing to Fuuka and Shinjiro, and then... taking the offer to sit down. After all, she promised Shinjiro that she wouldn't be too hostile. "The three of us are here because of all that's been happening lately... we feel like we've just been getting dragged along without really understanding anything. But the three of us did some digging... and now? We want answers."
Sitting forward in her seat, her eyes are on Mitsuru Kirijo, "You've been hiding something from us, haven't you, Senpai? ... The Dark Hour, Tartarus...? ... They're connected to that accident from ten years ago, aren't they?"
She isn't looking at Reiya, despite it all, she didn't share the identity of one of her... accidental sources on the matter. But perhaps, he's what gave her something to begin her fruitless investigation all over again. As for why she's keeping this from the rest of SEES, it's because Shinjiro tried to convince her that if Mitsuru is hiding something, it's for a good reason in her mind.
And while the idea galls her that there could be a 'good reason', she's going to at least hear it out first.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
There's conflict in this for sure. Is it a betrayal of Mitsuru to confront her? Shinjiro's grappled with that ever since he knew the plan, but he decided, there's a few options. One, she doesn't know, in which case it only supports her. Two, she knows and is hiding it for a good reason, which means that their paranoia was justified but that they can clear it up. And three, that she knows and is hiding it for a bad reason...
Well, he doesn't want to believe that.
He's dressed in his red coat and beanie as he steps into the meeting room behind the other two. He nods once, before taking a seat next to Yukari and Fuuka. He doesn't speak on the matter, just yet.
Shinjiro's gonna let Yukari lead... he's here both to make sure she doesn't take any consequences by herself, and to divine the truth.
Instead, he shakes his head to Ikutsuki. "No, thank you." Tea was never his thing, anyways, but it doesn't feel right to treat this like a normal little tea party, either.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
A private meeting had been set up. Fuuka is... a little nervous about it. She is, by nature, not a very confrontational person... but it wasn't something she could ignore. The need for answers outweighs her inclination not to rock the boat. She follows Yukari in as they're called into the room.
"Hello, everyone... Thank you for meeting with us." Fuuka greets with a polite nod. She pauses, when Ikutsuki offers them all tea. "...Um - no, thank you."
She does, however, take him up on the offer to sit down. She takes her seat next to Yukari - and then listens, as she takes point and sets everything on the metaphorical table.
And then, she waits to see how the others respond.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
Before
Mitsuru Kirijo is reading when she hears the soft 'shhffff' of cardboard sliding across carpet.
"Mm?"
She blinks. She sets down her book - Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract (written, of course, in the original French) - and slides a curious, bemused stare towards her door, where the slightest slip of a card's backlit silhouette makes itself known blocking a scant sliver of light from the outside world.
She frowns. Gets up, Picks up the card. She inspects the message. And her brows furrowed, troubled in a telltale way that betrays a certain expectation of what this is all about.
Who could have sent this, exactly? There's any number of ways she could find out, and well before the scheduled time.
Instead, she contemplates the sheer pinkness of the stationery, and sighs.
Some detective work is more self-evident than others.
Now
Mitsuru is there, of course, when Yukari, Fuuka, and... Shinjiro arrive. In the intervening time, Ikutsuki has found barren soil for his clever puns even moreso than usual - Mitsuru hasn't even provided an idle observation on the fact that the Chairman very obviously and deliberately wasted tea for the sake of wordplay.
No; it's like she doesn't even hear him. She's off in her own world, a contemplative look furrowing her brow and creasing her lips into a frown as she folds arms under her chest, index finger rhythmically and compulsively tap-tap-tapping against her elbow.
It's a look that's faded into that more distant and professional neutrality that she is always so possessed of by the time Yukari walks in through the door. It might be frustrating, the lack of surprise there as she looks at Yukari -- how that expression doesn't shift even as Fuuka walks in.
No -- it's only when a much much taller silhouette enters the room just behind them that Mitsuru Kirijo's brows furrow in the briefest blemish of that mature calm.
For as thoroughly as she's been trained to keep her emotions close to the vest -- even that slightest of shifts is like being blindsided by a runaway train.
"..."
Fuuka thanks them all for coming. Mitsuru's eyes shut, an exhale slipping past red lips.
"You're welcome," she says simply, as if etiquette were still paramount. "I suppose this is a matter you couldn't have simply approached me about."
... Maybe it's better that way, that they see her as that unapproachable.
The three of us are here...
But the three of us did some digging...
Dark red eyes crack open, focusing on her cup of tea.
"Oh? The three of you?" she wonders, in a way that really just singles out one.
But otherwise, she listens, lips a thinned, neutral line of thought as Yukari levels her restrained accusations.
You've been hiding something from us, haven't you, Senpai?
Brows furrow, just a bit.
... The Dark Hour, Tartarus...? ... They're connected to that accident from ten years ago, aren't they?
And she spares a brief glance Reiya and Ikutsuki's way for a brief moment, as if weighing both their reactions - their moods - before she answers, simply and close-endedly,
"... Yes."
For now, at least, it's all she says. It gives the impression of someone guarded, and giving a cold shoulder.
... Even if it's simply that she's attempting to organize her thoughts.
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Even Reiya has to sleep eventually. ...So the message got under his door. He has his suspicions, of course. There are few in SEES who wouldn't ask him questions openly, and fewer of those who would use pink cardstock. But he doesn't move to pre-empt the conversation, either. But there's not really time for detailed analysis, so he doesn't. Instead, he listens to Ikutsuki's puns as the otehrs come in. Reiya doesn't even blink at par-tea.
Instead his eyes are on Yukari--then Fuuka--then Shinjiro. He watches impassively at first, his expression impossible to read as anything other than 'present'. With all that's happened...
Theyw ant answers.
Reiya says nothing at first. She doesn't identify him, but Reiya knows that he contributed to this particular knowledge set.
He already has tea, as it happens. It's proof(?) that it isn't poisoned. ...Not that anyone here would poison tea.
He looks back to Mitsuru at that moment--his reaction is completely unruffled, but there is a slight concern in his eyes. His mood is... contemplative.
Mitsuru says 'yes', and Reiya...
He sets down the teacup after a deliberate drink.
"And yes," Reiya confirms. "...I'm also aware of that fact, and have been for some time."
"...Senpai," he asks. "Would you prefer that I handle these questions?" To Mitsuru, of course. He's quick to fall on the metaphorical sword for this one, for some reason.
Either way he looks back to Yukari, after that.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"It wasn't." Yukari says brusquely to the idea that they could have simply approached her. Indeed, that is how Yukari sees her, as unapproachable.
The Chairman does look vaguely disappointed, as Yukari doesn't even answer him on the tea - whereas Shinjiro and Fuuka turn him down outright. "No? A shame. Can't we all just get... oolong?"
Yukari is in too intense a place to even groan about this one.
'... Yes.' Mitsuru tells her, 'And yes,' '... I'm also aware of that fact, and have been for some time.' Reiya follows, as one might expect.
He is quite loyal.
It feels like vindication in a way. Ten years of knowing that her father was wronged. Ten years of knowing that his reputation was left to be dragged through the mud. Ten years of believing in him with her whole heart, no matter what anyone said.
To hear that Ten Years ago was connected to that... it feels like she's closer to knowing that truth.
Reiya asks if she'd like him to field those questions, and Yukari doesn't think Mitsuru Kirijo will let him 'take over' for her. Either way, she begins again.
"... What happened with Fuuka-chan made me wonder. There's no way this hasn't ever happened to anyone before, right? Not getting stuck in Tartarus..." She clarifies, "... but those girls involved collapsing near our school."
Her eyes do side eye Reiya for a moment, "And well, you ask the media, and they say Apathy Syndrome only started happening about... three, maybe four years ago at most? But, recently I came to find it's been happening for longer. And it all lined up with an explosion near our school... where a lot of people died. I asked Fuuka-chan to look into what happened after..."
As she then looks sideways towards Fuuka, "... Fuuka-chan, can you tell them what you found?" It's clear that if Fuuka wanted her to, Yukari would just do all of this, take it over. But... she came to respect Fuuka's resolve after her rescue from Tartarus. As shy as she is, she thinks Fuuka would likely want to do this.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro sighs as the oolong pun is made, but he's paying closer attention to Mitsuru than he is Ikutsuki. The slight furrow of her brow, the way she says 'the three of you', he takes it personally... and he frowns, a little bit of guilt in his expression that quickly washes away to a stony neutrality.
"No, I don't think that would have gone well," he admits about approaching her. He doesn't see her being *as* unapproachable as Yukari might, but there's still a barrier between them ever since two years ago.
As Yukari and Fuuka start, Shinjiro is watching Reiya when he offers to take over. He also expects Mitsuru to take charge of her own situation, but he's curious how much Reiya falls into this, what with his connection to the Ergo Labs where the Evokers were made that he told Shinjiro about.
So, instead, he looks over to Fuuka, giving her a supportive nod. If they have evidence... they need to present it.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka's eyes shift between Mitsuru, Reiya, and the Chairman, wincing as the latter responds to her rejection with another pun before falling back onto Mitsuru as she responds to her thanks. She nods again - and looks briefly guilty, but shakes her head even as Yukari confirms that it wasn't.
The 'three of them', Mitsuru wonders - and then the question is asked, and she confirms it. Reiya confirms that he knew, too.
She isn't really surprised... but she doesn't know what to think about it.
Yukari starts to explain. There's no way this hasn't happened before. She meets Yukari's glance, then looks at Shinjiro as he offers her a nod - and then, looks back toward the others. She takes in a breath.
It's true that she could have asked Yukari to take over. But... she wants to take responsibility for her part in this, too - and she doesn't want her to have to take the full brunt of their scrutiny.
"I found records from ten years ago that match up to what we're experiencing today." Fuuka explains. "Just like it was after my disappearance, students were found collapsed. They were admitted to the hospital, but all of their records end there. No evidence of discharge, or further medical records..."
She shakes her head.
"...I can show the records to you. If you want to see them for yourself." She offers.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
No, I don't think it would have gone well.
Mitsuru says nothing. She just unfolds her arms, settling her hands with prim perfection in her lap.
"..."
Reiya speaks up, confirming his own knowledge on the matter. And while he offers to take up the answering of those questions -for- her, Mitsuru doesn't immediately respond; dark red eyes instead track toward Yukari and Fuuka, the former as she talks about the unusual matter of Apathy Syndrome and its timeline, a question spurred by the incident with the Emperor and Empress Shadows. And the latter... as she talks about the evidence she's accrued.
Records that Fuuka likely shouldn't have access to -- medical records, after all, aren't simply given out. Records that she has ready and apparently immediate access to, from how she offers to supply them. That keen mind of hers is working, that sharp stare distant as she considers.
They've been at this for some time, haven't they?
... Yukari has been at this for some time, hasn't she? Fuuka provided her the smoking gun she needed, but it must have been her who wanted it -- needed it.
In which case, the best move here would be...
"No; that's not necessary, Yamagishi," Mitsuru says simply. Controlled. Deliberate. "I'm already aware of the details."
And it's here that she looks Reiya's way, inclining her head towards him in a subtle gesture of gratitude.
"... Aomori... thank you. But I think it's best I handle these questions. You may... fill in the gaps if you think I've missed anything relevant."
These -particular- questions. She -needs- to answer herself.
She draws in a slow breath, holding it for three seconds. And then:
"For the record: I wasn't trying to hide anything from you."
Reiya knows; Akihiko knows. Shinjiro would have too, if it hadn't been for...
... everything that happened.
No doubt she would have told everyone else who joined SEES, in due time.
"It just..."
... But then she saw the name 'Takeba' among their list of prospective members.
"... never felt pertinent."
Some things, some people are better off not knowing.
"But you're correct. Cases with symptoms just like Apathy Syndrome have been occurring for roughly a decade now. Ever since the incident at Gekkoukan."
For a moment, she looks almost troubled. Or perhaps simply lost in thought. She looks Ikutsuki's way, before shaking her head.
"... I'll tell you everything," she claims, finally. "But I'd like to ask you all something, as well: what exactly do you know about Shadows?"
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Reiya is loyal. That's true. But why? Why would he be so loyal to her?
Well, that's not going to get answered this instant.
He watches Shinjiro, as he mentions that it wouldn't have gone well. He tries to study his reaction. There's not much to study of Mitsuru's, he's pretty sure. But Yukari continues, and she looks at him, and he looks back to her. Fuuka has the information...
Reiya's estimation of Fuuka increases somewhat. It wouldn't have been easy to get that information. He looks at her thoughtfully, in a new light.
But Fuuka found the evidence...
"All right," Reiya answers Mitsuru. "I'll do that."
He would've taken it on... but it's true that this is Mitsuru's place to answer. He wouldn't have held it against her, but he respects that this is the choice that she made.
"...i wasn't going to share if Kirijo-senpai didn't," Reiya admits when she finishes. "I already know more than I should. ...And have already let on more than I meant to."
He bows his head, once, acknowledging Mitsuru and Ikutsuki. "I let it slip to Takeba-san that my father was affected by what we know now to be Apathy Syndrome."
"...Ten years ago. And he died."
"I apologize for my indiscretion. ...But I knew about that, yes. And that's why I'm so intent upon SEES's mission. Now that I know more of the truth..."
"I will see it carried out."
He then quiets, and waits for the answer to Mitsuru's question.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari doesn't smile at Fuuka as she relates what she found, merely nodding instead as if thanking her for her hard work.
She had no reason to do this for her, not for a group she just joined - that she felt grateful towards.
But she did. Because she felt it was right.
Her eyes look at Shinjiro, as if assessing where he is right now, before Mitsuru starts to speak, bringing Yukari's attention front and center.
Like she thought, Mitsuru doesn't have Reiya take over for her.
... but Reiya apologizes? "Let it slip? It was your Father. Why would you need to apologize for that?" Yukari's eyes look upon Reiya like she's actually seeking a real answer for that too.
Why would anyone need to apologize for that, unless they were being forced to cover it up? But even if she's upset about him keeping important secrets from them, she knows that he has every reason to be here.
Her expression is stony now, as she's told by Mitsuru she wasn't trying to hide anything from them. 'It just... ... never felt pertinent.'
She's reined in all of her impulses until this moment, but in that, her eyes grow fractionally wider, and she stands up immediately, shouting, "Never felt PERTINENT? How can you even say that!?"
And Mitsuru will understand why she's so upset, for the same reason that she held back before.
"It's not your fault." Shuji says to Mitsuru in this moment. Not her fault for the accident? Not her fault for hiding it? Words of support, which aren't followed up on.
It takes a moment, her eyes close, and she takes a slow breath herself, letting Mitsuru confirm - validate, what they found out.
Only the two of them know why Yukari is so invested, nobody else. So it's easy to see her anger as something different from what it is.
She only sits down then, when Mitsuru says that she'll tell them everything. Yukari begins awkwardly, like she's not quite feeling bad for the outburst, but more she feels weird about shouting then coming back down.
"... Uh... mostly what we've been told, but-" Yukari does eye Shuji for a moment, then Mitsuru, "-we found out pretty recently that people have Shadows too. That was pretty surprising? Like I thought they were just... mindless monsters."
A beat.
"Then again... these Shadows of people were pretty monstrous. Just, not the same." She rubs one of her arms with the opposite arm. "Not the same at all."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro listens intently to Fuuka, nodding along affirmatively. But as Mitsuru starts, Shinjiro takes a breath both at that... and the mention of Reiya's father.
Before Shinjiro can respond, Yukari is set off. Only once she starts to calm does he chime in, looking from Reiya to Mitsuru. "Look, I believe you. But... don't call it an indiscretion. It's the secrets that often hurt a person the worst."
A double edged sword, perhaps. But Mitsuru will know *exactly* what he means, as secrets have more or less ruined his life and hurt his friendships with the others. Both his and the ones the Kirijo Group created.
But then, there is a question. What do they know about shadows?
"There's several types, as Takeba said. The mindless ones we fight. The ones that people possess. That talking pig inside the Atelier was one too. But other than that? The basics, more or less."
He folds his hands onto the table, tapping very lightly.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka can feel their eyes on her as she explains. She's able to make her way through it despite that, though. In the end, Mitsuru says that it isn't necessary to show her the records and Fuuka nods. She glances toward Reiya - and then back toward Yukari and Shinjiro, nodding back to them. She appreciates Yukari's gesture.
Mitsuru says she wasn't trying to hide anything, but it never felt pertinent - and Fuuka practically jumps in her seat as Yukari stands up with a shout, surprised by the sudden outburst.
"Yukari-chan..." Fuuka murmurs quietly. She looked between her, and Mitsuru - then Reiya, as he explains about her father. That lines up with her suspicions, starting from when Yukari first brought the matter to her.
"I think... It's important for everyone to be on the same page." Fuuka starts, after Yukari sits back down. "Information can hurt, or be distressful, but... it's better to know."
Mitsuru says she'll tell them everything, but she has a question first - what do they know about Shadows?
Yukari gives her answer, and Shinjiro gives his. Fuuka nods in agreement with both of them.
"Yes. And these different type of Shadows often have subcategories of their own, as well." She adds. "Like the different Humors in Ateliers, or the variety of Shadows in Tartarus."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
... Ah.
So that was the thread that helped Yukari truly start to tug.
And yet, even though Reiya apologizes, Mitsuru is swift and firm to dismiss it with the shake of her head and the certainty in her tone as she says,
"You have nothing to apologize for, Aomori," in a rare echo of Yukari's own sentiment, delivered with that naturally commanding presence of the Kirijo Heiress. "You did nothing wrong."
She can accept that indiscretion - see it as something that doesn't need to be forgiven - just as much as she can weather Yukari's subsequent, angered outburst towards her and accept it without a word (even if that might simply make it worse):
Because she understands entirely too well why they did it.
No; it's only when Shinjiro admonishes her about the pain of secrets and not excusing all this as simple indiscretion that Mitsuru frowns, faintly. And after a moment... simply inclines her head.
"... I'll keep that in mind," she says, and little else besides. Unfortunately - or fortunately - it's advice with an asterisk besides it, for her.
There are some secrets she has given her word to keep, despite her own opinions on the matter. And there are others... she is certain would do no benefits for the parties so zealously seeking them.
And so Mitsuru Kirijo just unnecessarily shoulders another burden as Ikutsuki assures her it is not her fault.
The others offer up what they know. Much of it doesn't seem to surprise Mitsuru, despite it being a revelation for others -- like the fact that humans have Shadows all their own. ... She knows that fact quite viscerally. And so...
There are human Shadows.
There are mindless Shadows.
There are many kinds of Shadows and these Shadows, too, have their own subcategories.
Mitsuru nods once.
"Yes. Exactly--"
There's a talking pig Shadow.
"... What?"
Mitsuru stares at Shinjiro like he just very casually mentioned he thinks Porky Pig is real. Her lips purse. A second passes.
"--Yes, well," -she immediately presses on unwilling to acknowledge this fact-, "that underscores the point, I suppose." does she believe the talking pig thing because it sort of sounds like she's just humoring (ha ha ha) shinjiro here-- "There are a tremendous variety of Shadows; the Kirijo Group has spent years studying them, and yet there is still an abundance about them and their nature, and their ties to humans, that remain a mystery.
"For example... there is evidence to suggest that the properties of Shadows allow them to manifestly affect and alter time and space. In other words -- the power to shape reality."
Mitsuru falls silent for a few seconds after this, as if to let the prospects - the scope of such a statement - truly sink in.
"What if you viewed Shadows less as an enemy to be destroyed, and more as a resource to be exploited? If someone could find a way to harness the properties of Shadows, the power they could wield would be unfathomable. Wouldn't it?" Mitsuru Kirijo frowns, faintly.
"That was the line of thinking that the former leader of the Kirijo Group, Kouetsu Kirijo, pursued. ... My grandfather." Legs uncross. Mitsuru leans forward faintly, the shallow incline letting her watch the way the tea in her cup ripples faintly as she speaks.
"For four years, my grandfather obsessively chased after this idea -- that with the power of the Shadows, he could usher in a new golden age of human prosperity. He dedicated large swaths of the Kirijo Group's resources to that end, collecting a large number of Shadows to experiment on in a single spot in order to achieve a... threshold where his dreams could be made reality, I suppose."
That dark red gaze glances briefly towards Reiya, before she speaks next. It's only then that she looks back towards Shinjiro, towards Fuuka.
Towards Yukari.
"But ten years ago, there was an accident. They lost control of the Shadows and the machinery used to harness them. And in the ensuing chaos, the laboratory exploded. ... The critical mass of all those Shadows going out of control rippled outward, altering the very fabric of the real world."
That gaze narrows.
"You've all seen the results of it. Countless times."
It's a blunt confession.
Even though she fails to mention how the experiment went awry.
Or more to the point... who caused it.
It would be very easy, based on the information given, to assume that it was her grandfather, in all his hubris.
And to those in the know... perhaps that's by design. Mitsuru asked Reiya to fill in information that she might of missed that was relevant, but...
Maybe he can see, given present company, why that particular piece of information might not be relevant in Mitsuru's mind.
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Yukari says there's no reason he should apologize; Mitsuru says he doesn't have to. "...All right," he says. "But it technically violated my mother's--Dr. Aomori's--agreements to share some of the information she did with me," Reiya answers Yukari, after a look at the Chairman. "They declined to punish her for it, given the circumstances. But it still wasn't my set of secrets to share." He then looks to Shinjiro. Don't call it that? "...Noted."
He can accept it, but he'll still work harder as a result.
'What if...?'
Reiya doesn't react to the potential properties of Shadows. Did he know this, too? ...Or is he just good at poker face?
"..." He reacts more to the idea of Shadows as a 'resource', his mouth thinning into an angry line.
Reiya looks back at Mitsuru, but only briefly.
Instead he keeps in his mind how Yukari reacts; how Shinjiro reacts; how Fuuka reacts. The blunt confession of the Dark Hour's origins...
"My mother worked for that man," Reiya says more quietly. "The only reason she survived is that she was pregnant, and on maternity leave. ...So she wasn't there, at the time of the accident. But it still struck my father. He was one of those affected, one of many as you found."
...Later, he'll give his report on Roger. Later. Right now, instead:
He looks to Mitsuru once more, and nods, before looking to the others.
"..."
He waits for reactions.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
She's perhaps a little surprised when Mitsuru agrees with her on Reiya's confession, but perhaps that surprise fades with the realization that it might as well be an admission of guilt on Mitsuru's part.
"Agreements?" She says softly to Reiya, "It should never have to be kept a secret in the first place. ... It was your Father." There's something the two have in common, at least.
At least she can calm down in the moment. She's still staring at Mitsuru with something smoldering beneath the surface. But... she can calm down enough to talk.
She has to calm down, or else she might say something unnecessary. She looks Fuuka's way briefly as she calls her name, then listens to her exhortation. She's right, she knows she is.
But it's hard for her to keep it so impersonal.
"... Oh right. The pig." Yukari says to Shinjiro, as that draws her out of it, to identify that weird talking pig. And indeed, as Fuuka talks about subcategories, she thinks of what the pig said about 'Melanc' 'Coleric' and 'Sanguine'.
Mitsuru however begins to explain, and she sits up to pay attention, as she says, incredulous, "... What?" The idea that Shadows are some key to time and space, to altering reality feels more like the plot of some kid's show than reality.
Then again, she would have thought talking pigs are something out of a kid's show too. Or Peacocks for that matter...
"A resource?" She echoes, like she's veering towards healthy skepticism, or incredulity with every statement, though Mitsuru seems to be wearing it down.
More and more this unsettling feeling brings up goosebumps as she hears about the Kirijo Group's former head - Mitsuru's Grandfather. It's like Mitsuru can see her drawing the lines of connection in her head.
And she doesn't like it.
"Then..."
Her father was the head of that laboratory, wasn't he? That's why everyone holds him responsible.
"..."
Her hand curls up tightly as Mitsuru's gaze settles upon her, her fingernails digging into her palms. An accident. They lost control.
The laboratory exploded.
Eiichiro Takeba is responsible...
They'd said...
Eiichiro Takeba is responsible...
Everyone knew that...
Eiichiro Takeba is responsible...
Some part of her feels cold. A contrast to the heat of her anger. She refuses to believe it. Even now. He was there that night.
That means he was in charge of what happened, wasn't he?
I don't believe it.
I won't believe it.
He's not responsible. He's not!
"..."
Yukari says not a word, like she's having to bite her tongue to keep from yelling at Mitsuru Kirijo, with all kinds of invective, the stored up feelings of ten years of ignorance and resentment; and being so numb that even if she let go of it - she might not be able to even get the words out.
She knows what she's seen, countless times, the connection only ratches up the chill she feels right now within her heart.
Eiichiro Takeba is responsible...
Her eyes drift to Reiya as he explains how his Mother survived, how her Father died... not on the same night as hers... but through a slow, agonizing one as apathy syndrome claimed him for what happened that night.
Eiichiro Takeba is responsible...
But something doesn't sit right with her... and she unclinches her hand, and finally after a deep breath finds her voice. "I'm sorry for your loss." Words she says to Reiya quietly, that she's never heard for her own Father.
As meaningless as they might end up being, what else does one say in the moment towards someone they've never met? "... You mean Tartarus. So... why?" Yukari asks softly... and she remembers her Father at the opening ceremony for the Moonlight bridge, pointing across the bay towards where he works.
Just to show her, since she couldn't visit him at work.
Looking across it from that same view, it always bothered her that it was different in one distinct way. She could attribute it to ten years passing, memory being imperfect... no one can remember everything from childhood.
But her mind greedily tried to preserve everything it could of that time with her Father.
And so her eyes level towards Mitsuru and she asks, "... Why did the Kirijo Group build our school on the site of where that accident happened?"
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro just nods once, a little surprised Mitsuru accepted what he had to say to the two of them, but... appreciative, nonetheless, that it wasn't dismissed out of hand.
And yet, the pig thing gets him sighing. At least Yukari confirms it's real! So instead he's looking between himself, Yukari, and Fuuka, before looking back.
He listens to Mitsuru's story. Reiya's addendum. Everything was because of...
*Everything* was because of...
"Everything was because of fucking corporate greed?" Shinjiro suddenly balls his fists, angry. "Apathy Syndrome? Us having to fight since middle school? *The people who have been lost because of this bullshit*?"
He's not mad at Mitsuru. He knows, in his heart of hearts, this wasn't her fault. And yet... no, not that's not fair, Shinjiro.
He suddenly exhales, closing his eyes, taking a shaky breath. "Sorry. This isn't your fault, Kirijo. I..."
He trails off. He can't push the blame for this onto anyone else. He's the one who committed all of his own crimes, after all... he takes another breath, opening his eyes to look to Yukari, and listen to her question.
Why *did* they build it there...?
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Mitsuru starts to explain. The properties of Shadows affecting time and space - shape reality...
It's a concept she's seen time and time again in fiction. To think that it could possibly be real - but such an act would be unfathomably dangerous, too. What kind of person would be willing to risk that...?
Her grandfather, as it turns out. Fuuka listens as she explains - and as she mentions what happened.
...She exhales sharply, clasping a hand over her mouth.
"That's... awful. So much destruction. Everything that happened... for that." She says, shaking her head. She looks toward Shinjiro at his reaction - and then at Yukari.
...She had said information could hurt, or be distressful, but that it was to know. Her own words come back to her, now - was it better to know this?
...In the end, she thinks... 'yes, it was', as difficult as it is to hear how and why.
"Aomori-san..." Fuuka murmurs, turning her sympathy toward Reiya, next. He lost his father to it - and very well could have lost his mother, too, if the timing were just slightly different.
Yukari asks a question, then. Why build Gekkoukan where it happened? She looks again to Mitsuru for the answer.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
How awful...
It's not your fault, Ikutsuki had said.
But those words in no way prevent the subtle look of guilt that laces Mitsuru Kirijo's expression as Reiya talks about what happened to his father.
She feels no less guilty about it now than she ever has.
"Yes," she exhales. "... My family has a considerable amount to account for."
-She- has a considerable amount to account for. Who else could?
It's a small frown, the thing that drags the corners of her lips as Shinjiro rails against the greed of corporations. It's not a disapproving thing, but more... troubled, as if the condemnation sends her lost in thought.
Corporate greed...
She remembers her grandfather, and how he was. ... And then, what he became.
...
No.
There's a reason why she warned them all of one simple fact:
Humans are often infinitely more dangerous than any Shadow.
So, when Shinjiro tries to apologize? Tries to tell her, like the Chairman, that it isn't her fault?
Mitsuru shakes her head once, firmly, her expression steeled.
"No," she insists. "The onus is on me all the same. It's just as Yamagishi said: what happened was awful. And it is the sins of my family that caused all of this, and it is our responsibility to fix it. ... I don't have the luxury of simply turning a blind eye and absolving myself of guilt."
If not her, then who?
She can see it, in the peripherals of her vision: the way Yukari's mind is rapidly moving behind that brown-eyed stare. Connecting dots in much the same way that likely brought her back to Tatsumi -- that brought her to SEES -- that brought her here, sitting across from the Kirijo heiress she places so much blame on, demanding answers. Part of Mitsuru wishes she could just make Yukari stop it. That there could be some combination of words and pressure points she could use to make her abandon her line of thought and the trajectory it's taking her down.
But she knows that's an arrogant thought; a foolish one. After all...
... would she stop, if their positions were reversed?
And so Mitsuru says nothing as Yukari draws mental string from one point to the next, towards a perhaps inevitable question. All eyes turn towards Mitsuru.
"The entirety of the Dark Hour itself was the consequence," she says in the face of Yukari's observation. "But yes. Tartarus, too, was directly created as a result of that failed experiment."
So then... why?
Why build the school there?
"You have the order of events wrong," is Mitsuru's answer as she looks up from her cross-legged ruminations to consider the three of them, the finger tapping at her elbow pausing. "I'm sure those medical files you've appropriated," because there's no point sugarcoating it now is there, "mentioned that many of the victims ten years ago were our age, yes? Students. It wasn't that the Kirijo Group built an entire school over their research facilities -- it's that they built their research facilities next to a school."
Dark brows furrow. Mitsuru glances askance as she continues, lips pulling towards a thin line. "At the time, it was seen as something like an adjacent research wing to supplement the school itself. The Kirijo Group owned the school, the land -- Tatsumi was highly populated. And their influence over the city was outsized. It was ideal for 'hiding in plain sight,' so to speak. They could essentially do as they pleased."
Her arms draw a bit more tightly inward.
"So yes. When the accident occurred, the nearby school was caught within what was effectively ground zero for the Dark Hour's birth -- to say nothing of the physical consequences of the explosion itself. The successors to the Kirijo group after the death of my grandfather and his followers decided that rather than leave the area an ugly, bleak scar of what happened, they would instead make something of it, and so they rebuilt the school, expanded it into the land the facility once occupied, and renamed it Gekkoukan High."
Her brows furrow, faintly, but her expression retains that professional neutrality that it had so briefly lost to her guilt. "It was only after that, that the Kirijo Group decided to take a more direct hand in the school."
Because it was, effectively, the epicenter of their failure.
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
"Some secrets," Reiya says, "Are dangerous. ...The nature of Shadows has fallen into the wrong hands at least once already." So that's why he kept his father's death a secret, too? ...It might add up, and it might not.
Yukari clearly feels something. Reiya can see it. And she says it to him quietly. "...Thank you," he says, just as quietly in return.
Corporate greed, Shinjiro calls it, and Reiya looks to him unflinching. He doesn't contradict him. But Shinjiro says it isn't Mitsuru's fault. Just like the Chairman did.
"Senpai," Reiya says. "My family followed yours into this horror. We will continue to join you in the responsibility to fix it. Regardless of 'fault', that has not changed."
He looks to Fuuka after that, of all people. "Thank you," he says to her as well.
The Dark Hour...
"My father taught at that school," Reiya explains after Mitsuru mentions the school's locale.
"...It would have been irresponsible to allow that land to lapse from their control," he opines, "Or take too much notice. The presence of Tartarus and the Dark Hour doesn't hurt the people who don't experience it. But what if someone investigated more thoroughly? Not to seek answers for their lives, like you, but to repeat those same mistakes?"
"...That's why I called it an 'indiscretion'. I respect the choice to share this information--being honest... I think that SEES deserves to know it. But at the same time, I would keep these secrets again, from others."
"...My mother still works for Kirijo. She is committed to this cause, as am I. And for us..."
"We will have our justice," Reiya says, and the words may as well have been etched in iron, for how he says them.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Her family has a lot to account for...
Shinjiro's anger... well, Yukari can feel that. The thing is, while it's upsetting, she can abide by it at least. It's... an explanation. That's what she's here for.
It's not really to hold the Kirijo to task, it's to clear her Father's name. Even if it's only to herself. But she'll happily do the first thing too...
But... she can sense something more personal in it...
Who died, that affected him that much?
She's not going to ask.
And Fuuka... Fuuka she can feel how saddened she is by it. It hardly seems like a good enough reason...
... but it remains an explanation.
But now she needs to know, perhaps in a sense, for Fuuka's sake. For the other student's sake... as she had thought that night when they hatched their plan to rescue Fuuka from Tartarus.
'How had this not happened before?'
Well, the answer is explained to them, and Yukari for one doesn't look ashamed about the appropriation of medical files. It's a crime, but she's pretty certain that what the Kirijo Group did there was a much bigger crime. So is it a crime to 'un-cover up' a greater crime using illegal means?
She'd say no.
But it's also very personal to her.
And as Mitsuru explains why the school... and Reiya notes that it would be irresponsible to allow that land to lapse from their control, "But... it's a school! Every night... every single night! That's so..." She's not even finishing her thoughts there, as the outrage creeps back into her tone. But, even as she becomes coherent again, the rage is no less present, it's just something she can articulate, "So that's the whole purpose of SEES!? We were dragged into this just to clean up your family's mess!? A mess that's getting even bigger - dragging more people like Fuuka-chan into it every day!"
Indeed, she sees it as irresponsible to do something that drags more people into the supernatural. If looks could kill right now...
"You lied to us!"
Shuji settles in, keeping his teacup down, like he might actually consider interjecting sometime soon, but for now he leaves this to the scion of the Kirijo family.
Conflict management amongst subordinates is an important skill for her to learn, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro doesn't even notice Fuuka or Yukari glancing at him at first, but... as Mitsuru responds, he's silent for a long moment. It might seem as acceptance, for what she and Reiya say of taking responsibility.
The school is discussed. The lab there.
Yukari lashes out. And... Shinjiro doesn't, quite, but it's a different kind of anger than he ever usually has, which is usually the hot, loud kind. This is cold, bleak. The caustic kind that sets in his lungs, even if once again, he doesn't truly blame Mitsuru or Reiya.
"Bullshit."
He places his hands flat on the table, leaning forward, which is very easy because he's tall.
"That's bullshit. We're teenagers. None of us should be responsible for that, for the sins of the past. Takeba is right. Telling us that our goal is to help people? To be some sort of protectors? What mandate do we have? We're poking our nose into shit, and what mandate do we have, when the biggest sin has been right under our nose? There's people who are *dead* because of this, because of people like me, Kirijo, and you're still trying to claim it's all your damn fault? Take the blame squarely onto your shoulders?"
Shinjiro clasps one hand onto the other, still unreasonably 'cool' to the touch. "That's not fair to any of us, but especially not yourself. You're not an island."
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka sees Mitsuru's reaction to her words - and it wasn't her intent to make her feel guilty about what happened. But... that's what happened anyway.
Mitsuru has more to say - a correction. Fuuka... looks away just briefly at the mention of 'appropriation'. ...Frankly, she's glad she put it so politely - or at least so professionally. She knows it's a crime - one they're well aware she's willing and capable of, now.
"I see. That... makes sense." Fuuka admits reluctantly. They didn't built a school over their research facilities - they built their research facility next to a school, and then rebuilt it and expanded it after the incident. It's pragmatic in a way she can understand, even if she doesn't agree with it.
Yukari feels outrage - and Shinjiro expresses his own, too. For a moment, Fuuka feels inclined to shrink back. This is the part she was afraid of - but, she doesn't. She resists the urge.
"...It isn't fair to either of you." She says, looking between Mitsuru - and Reiya too. "It shouldn't have to fall on you..."
...But maybe that's something she can only say because her family is something she can get away from.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
Some secrets are painful.
Some secrets are -dangerous-.
It's not a sentiment Mitsuru disagrees with, as Reiya puts it forward. Just look at the nature of Shadows, and what they could do -- what they HAVE done, on -accident-. And she knows it could have been considerably worse.
... Look at all the things Strega has perpetrated with technology that should have been secret. Another sign of things still amiss in the Kirijo Group.
"When the Dark Hour comes, the school is almost always vacant. It seemed the safest - and least conspicuous - route, rather than risk businesses that might be more active building up in its place," Mitsuru says. "And, yes, as the epicenter of the Dark Hour, we had to continue to monitor it. The masses of Shadows that were splintered off from that accident are still out there -- and somehow, Tartarus is tied to their existence. ... It needs to be handled."
No; Reiya's right. Some things are better unknown. Some truths serve no purpose but to hurt.
So Mitsuru weathers the frustration and anger, directed at her or not, even as she offers a simple, "... Thank you, Aomori," to Reiya at his show of dedication in the name of himself and his family.
She weathers it
But... it's a school!
even as Reiya insists upon how overlooking the property is safer in the face of Yukari's outrage drowning it out
Bullshit.
even as Shinjiro rails against the thing she has dedicated her entire life to
We were dragged into this just to clean up your family's mess!?
even as Yukari attacks her
--dragging more people like Fuuka-chan into it every day!
for the thing that keeps her up on so many nights
There's people who are *dead* because of this, because of people like me, Kirijo, and you're still trying to claim it's all your damn fault?
even as Shinjiro drags up the ghosts of the past
she weathers it
because she was taught to
but she's still
You're not an island.
You lied to us!
"And what would you have done?!"
not unbreakable.
She's not bedrock.
She's just a young woman, forced to grow up too fast.
The words come, sudden and fierce. Mitsuru doesn't often yell -- but the way the volume of her voice rises as her emotions get the better of her come dangerously, frighteningly close to it. Her shoulders are squared. Her fingers are so tense that manicured nails dig in to the dense corners of her elbows, knuckles white.
Her eyes are wide, for a brief, trembling moment -- and then she looks away.
"... I'm sorry. That was uncalled for," she exhales slowly. She just barely keeps her voice from trembling in the taught line of tension her entire being has become in this moment. "You can think what you like, but you're right: the decision to withhold all this was mine and mine alone. It wasn't my intent to deceive you... but I acknowledge that intent means very little in face of outcome, and you're right to be frustrated. I am truly sorry."
Her grip tightens.
"However..."
Her jaw sets.
"... I won't abide this claim that we have no responsibility here. I will not." She tries. She tries to remain calm. "It isn't fair. None of us should be responsible for any of this. But the fact remains we are the ones with this power. And I will always prioritize recruiting those willing to fight to rectify this. Personas are the only things capable of destroying Shadows -- the only chance there is of fixing any of this! Who else will eliminate the Dark Hour? Strega? The Phantom Thieves? I can't - I WON'T - put the crimes of my family in anyone else's hands! Do you think I asked for this? I didn't choose this -- it never mattered whether I wanted this power or not, only the fact that I had it! From that moment, there wasn't any other road for me but this!"
She rises from her feet, red gaze burning, hands clenched to fists at her sides. If only she WERE an island -- if only she could handle all of this on her own--
"I-- I..."
-- if only she didn't have to drag people who just wanted to enjoy their life into her family's mistakes--
<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.
Safe, and less conspicuous. It needs to be handled. These things are true; Reiya nods with them.
...She thanks him, but Reiya feels it's not enough. He's not doing enough. Not in the face of these things, this frustration. Not in the face of--
'And what would you have done!?'
Reiya looks to Mitsuru. He sees that set of emotions, when he so rarely sees them from her. He sees the wide eyes, the fact of her youth. Until that moment where she looks away--and apologizes.
Reiya knows that if he stepped in there, he would only do damage. He is sure of that much. But he wants to. He wants to, because it starts to make him angry, the things put upon her here. ...But is that really wheere that anger belongs?
But 'However'...
However, Mitsuru speaks of responsibility, and she has to try very hard to stay calm. And then--then, that repeated 'I'....
"That is enough," Reiya says, rising to his feet and looking to the Chairman--at the Chairman--before he turns his eyes to Yukari, and Fuuka, and Shinjiro in turn.
"She is right," Reiya says.. "Whether or not we should have the responsibility... We do. And while you do not have to stay and continue in light of this knowledge, I for one will. I will keep my oath. I will do my duty." The word lands harshly, but what matters to Reiya is that it lands. That it is there.
"...I need no other mandate," he says as he looks at Shinjiro. "I do not object that it is unfair," he says to Fuuka. "...And I would go much farther than this, if it meant the end of the Dark Hour," he says to Yukari.
Reiya is not so tall as Shinjiro. But now that he is standing, he does not move from his spot.
"...What you will do is your own choice."
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
It's hard for her not to blame Mitsuru. It's more a function of name - of proximity. Of being the only target she can reach. She doesn't even know the names of who else would be responsible that aren't dead men.
Shinjiro calls Mitsuru for the bullshit of making each of them responsible for this mess. But indeed he's trying to claim it's not Mitsuru's fault.
Honestly, Yukari wishes she'd claim more fault. Rationally she knows she's not at fault, but it feels like every iota of fault that is attributed to her is a little less to her Father.
And so too does Fuuka.
Yukari isn't nearly so charitable. Because she still doesn't know the truth. And she's afraid if she voices that desire... that...
'And what would you have done?' The ferocity of that yelled interjection, interrupting them all, suddenly taking Yukari aback a step.
And she listens - she listens to what she says about responsibility, and their role. Her priorities.
'There wasn't any other road for me but this!'
In this moment, she feels no sympathy. Because she felt the same, even before she came into this power and it's right after that she interjects. "I don't really know what I would have done! But..."
Something dies down in her voice, "... Not that. Not lying to us from the start. The fact we're the only ones who can do this... that's hardly the point!"
Reiya indeed interjects at that point, speaking of duty, of responsibility, of how far he'd go to end the Dark Hour, "But that's..." Not the point, she might have finished, of what she was trying to convey. But she doesn't. Something in her runs cold again, because she feels like she's being scolded, and not being listened to.
Like she's being regarded as the child in the room. Ordinarily she'd be angry... but she doesn't have the luxury of storming out. Not if she wants to focus on her goal.
And now after that glance at Shuji from Reiya. He finally... interjects with a little 'ahem' of clearing his throat. "Everyone, it's only those in the past who are truly to blame. And they lost their lives as a result of what they did. We're all in the same boat, here. Whether we deserve the burden is immaterial... next to ending the Dark Hour itself." As he nods to both Reiya and Mitsuru, as if to say 'I have your backs, fam.' (No). "And to that end, I have good news."
Shuji looks, a little excited actually, like a scientist who's come into a 'Eureka' moment and finally gets to share it with everyone.
"As noted before, we saw the Shadows that came upon the night of the Full Moon caused changes in Tartarus. What if I told you that I now believe, these Shadows are the cause of everything? The Dark Hour... and Tartarus... which means...!"
"That... beating them will do away with the Dark Hour?" Yukari says softly, like a student in class unenthusiastically answering to a pop quiz. Shuji enthuses, "Exactly! So there's no need to speculate any longer. We can do what we set out to do!"
"... Can that really be true?" Yukari asks, cautiously again, as the consummate skeptic, as Shuji smiles even more broadly and says, "There's evidence to support it! And this is where our true battle begins! So let's not focus on what should have been done or could have been done in the past - and instead on what we can do now-!"
As he raises his tea cup to everyone as if toasting the room and- "With enough Tea-mwork from everybody, we can make it happen."
<Pose Tracker> Shinjiro Aragaki has posed.
Shinjiro still feels the rage building, but it's not rage on his face when Mitsuru lashes back, 'what would you have done'. It's *surprise*, and quite a bit of guilt. As she apologizes, he stands up only to match Reiya, but he's visibly calming, taking cleansing breaths.
He doesn't apologize. He probably will, but he doesn't have it in him to do so right now, while she's insisting there was no other road for her than this because of the power. She's right, in a way, and he knows it. He's only here because he had the power, because Aki had the power, and because he refused to let his best friend fight alone. They had no other choice.
Ikutsuki cuts in as the fighting is gonna get worse. Reiya's words, however, are what he hones into, as Ikutsuki claims they can defeat the Dark Hour still and teamwork will make it happen.
"I'm still going to fight. My fate's long been sealed. But..." Another breath. "No. I think that's enough for now. We've said our piece."
He won't leave until Yukari and Fuuka are ready to do so, as much as he wants to step out that door right now.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
'And what would you have done?!' It's so rare to hear Mitsuru raise her voice, or seem anything other than poised, that when she does Fuuka startles. Reiya says his piece, too - and she looks away, guilty, as she listens to them both.
"...I'm sorry, too. That was... insensitive of me." Fuuka apologizes.
She looks toward Yukari, then, listening as she speaks in turn. She doesn't know what she would do, either. Certainly there are things she can say... but it's different sitting here on the other side of it.
Ikutsuki interjects, then, adding his own information. The Shadows...
"...They did seem abnormally powerful..." Fuuka notes. "But can it really be so simple...?"
She isn't sure... but if there's evidence, at least, then maybe there's a chance. Ikutsuki caps it off with a pun - and Fuuka winces. She doesn't know if he just can't read the room, or if he's too good at it...
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
There's a limit to everything. Even, it seems, to Mitsuru Kirijo's self-control.
Even if she wishes there wasn't.
There's a long period of time during that period where Reiya cuts in on her behalf, as the others speak, where the Gekkoukan Student Council President says absolutely nothing. Lost in that stalled precipice that stands at the crossroads between guilt, uncertainty and sheer frustration, she just... -stands- there, her entire body a tensed coil that doesn't -feel- like it's ready to spring, and yet somehow feels all the more dangerous for it.
It's there, in the way her fists tremble faintly; in the way she just -stares- that withering, complex cocktail of a stare as Yukari starts to answer that impulsive, angry question of hers. In the rigidity of her stance.
In the way those scarlet lips don't dare part, for fear of what words might leave her thoughts and manifest into reality the moment they do.
No -- that tensile coil never springs, one way or the other. Not even when Fuuka apologizes - not even when Shinjiro makes reference to his sealed fate and certain realities she still refuses to accept. Mitsuru never acts on anything, despite desperately feeling that she needs to yell at the top of her lungs. She does nothing...
... until Ikutsuki conveniently offers that balm in the form of the potential end to her long journey they've finally discovered.
That the death of the Arcana Shadows will bring about the final, real end of the Dark Hour.
Could it really be true? Could it really be that simple?
Mitsuru's lips finally part. She composes herself. Focuses on an anchor point to moor herself in.
In her mission.
"... It's certainly possible." It has to be. "The Twelve Shadows were created when the Dark Hour was born." It has to be the end. "We still aren't certain why it took them a decade to start to appear again but..."
She has to be able to give people a light at the end of the tunnel.
She falls silent again. And, right hand clasped to her left forearm, she looks away from everyone else, and squeezes her eyes shut.
Don't focus on what should have or could have been done.
"... Right."
Focus on what she can do now.
They can make it happen.
"Yes," she says simply. Curtly.
Her hand clenches a little tighter.
"... We must."
(at no point, ever, even at her emotional lowest, does she acknowledge one of ikutsuki's puns)