2025-10-23: So You Are A Persona-user Now
- Log: So You Are A Persona-user Now
- Cast: Masao Inaba, Katsuya Suou, Ulala Serizawa
- Where: Kameya Alley
- OOC Date: October 23, 2025
- IC Date: July 30, 2012
- Summary: On a tip from Myunghon about an experienced Persona-user in the area, Katsuya and Ulala pay Inaba Dry Cleaning a visit to introduce themselves and ask for some advice, and to also ask after an event Ayame and her husband mentioned. However, some things should stay buried...
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
Welcome to Monday, July 30th. Another busy day in bustling Sumaru City, and somewhere there is an orange-hued Nekomata lamenting the existence of this day as they bury their face into a very specific kind of italian food. This is not that story, but this footnote nonetheless will be kept for the final copy.
Inaba Dry Cleaning is a newer business in the Hirasaka Ward, owing to the low rent (the true cost, some would say, is being in Hirasaka Ward). It's reputable, for its time here. The owners treat their family business with seriousness and care, and their son... has other passions and plans for his life.
But he's had to move back in with the family, and the early weekdays are some of the busiest. It's a humble-looking locale, and the son in question - one Masao "Mark" Inaba - is currently at the front handling orders. He is presently feeling the creative juices being sapped out of him, but he's had his entire childhood to be around and learn the family trade he was meant to inherit.
He exhales loudly at a break in the wave of customers, a pencil in his hand and a blank pad of paper as he idly tries to sketch and draw some patterns that come to mind while waiting for the next customer to show up. Something to keep the creative juices flowing, in the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
At long last, a long string of night shifts have come to their (apparent) end. This is a good thing, because it means that Katsuya is no longer a creature of the night, forever only seeing the sun in the evening and early morning. It really doesn't suit him at all.
(What he doesn't realize is that it stems entirely from a neutral passing comment from him to the Chief about said extended stretch of night shifts. Togashi can't move against against certain powers that be, but he does have authority over his own department, still.)
It also means that he's at last able to pay a visit to a certain dry-cleaning business in Hirasaka. Myunghon had mentioned that there was an experienced Persona-user here. Can he be so lucky for the mysterious 'Inaba-san' to be in? Well, it's worth a try, he figures.
He hasn't come alone. If they're going to work to make contact with other allies, it isn't something he should keep to himself. He'd mentioned it to Ulala, and then...
"This appears to be the business," he says, holding the door. Is it just him, or is that person at the counter familiar somehow?
Resonance, perhaps, may fill in the gaps here.
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
As the buddy* cop* duo (*barely buddies *Ulala is not a cop) arrive at the laundromat, Ulala Serizawa is in her usual green spiderweb outfit, as she steps in after him. "Thanks," she says about holding the door open...
And then her eyes widen a bit in recognition after a moment looking at Mark. "Hey! He's that street artist!"
Wait, *that's* where she remembers him first? (The art was very good.)
"Come on, Katsuya-san, I think this is the guy," Ulala says cheerfully as she approaches Mark, a gentle wave of the hand. "Hi, I'm Ulala Serizawa. I think we've met. Are you busy right now?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
The door opens, and the man who'd name himself Mark* (*this actually came from his mother, kind of, but shh) looks up suddenly from his sketching (which is not inherently sketchy by the other definition).
"Hey, welcome to Inaba Dry Cleaning--" Dutiful greeting, until the Resonance comes into play. One's familiar, the other... maybe, kind of? When Ulala more clearly steps into view with that voice, he stops. Being called 'that street artist' puts a bigger smile on his face, like there's color in the room again. "Heh. A real art appreciator! That's what's up!"
He settles a bit. "Yeah, we did, a while back! How've you been? As for, uh, busy, well... I'm on the clock, but, long as you two are the only people in here," one hand goes to his side as he stands up a bit straighter. "What's up?"
Beat.
"...Cool sunglasses."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
"The... street artist?" He, himself, can't quite remember that (he has other more pressing memories from that day), but he knows he's seen the younger man's face somewhere recently, though hardly so recently for Katsuya to recall the time or place or context--
"...Serizawa-kun?" He's left to stare after her, then, shaking his head, he brings up the rear.
"I'm Sergeant Katsuya Suou," he says, hesitating a moment as he readjusts his sunglasses. "Though... this has nothing to do with police business," he adds, realizing too late how that formal-formal introduction might have sounded.
Is that... resonance? Has he felt this before, somewhere? "You are... 'Inaba-san'? Yeo-san mentioned you to us," well, to him, to be more specific, but this is a group operation!
"I had thought that we should," he starts to say, when Masao compliments his sunglasses. This derails him for a moment.
"Thank you," Katsuya says, at last. It's hard to tell for sure, but he seems somewhat... pleased, maybe? Usually, people seem to want to make fun of his eyewear!
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
"Oh, right, you weren't there! He did really good street art for that festival..." Ulala explains to Katsuya, before turning to Mark. "And I am most definitely not a cop!" In case he was worried about that.
Instead... the Resonance feeling also trips her up a bit, but, it's a good thing! They all feel safe, at least. "I've been alright. We actually wanted to talk to you about... that side of reality, I guess?" She scratches her cheek, unsure how to put it, before turning to Katsuya as he gets derailed.
"He's got this look to him, right?" she affirms Mark. She might bully him but his sunglasses *are* kinda cool. Except when he wears them indoors. But now's not the time for bullying!
"Anyways! We're more... new at this, and have been looking for people who might be able to share support. It's a small, scary world, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
"Yep, I'm him," he confirms to Katsuya. "Are they all right?" If they're sending people his way on their behalf about something...
Ulala helps pick up the slack about discussing why the two of them are in here, and the street artist nods along. "Heh, well... you're not kiddin', it's a weird-ass world sometimes, yeah. So... I'm guessin' you both played the Persona Game too, right? That's how it happened for me, some time back."
There is a sudden interruption. The woman who is best described as the elemental embodiment of a clingy mother figure happens on in.
"Maa-kun, we're heading out for a short while to speak with someone from-- oh, you have customers! Excuse me." She goes up to Ulala and Katsuya with an apologetic bow. "We're sorry! Something's come up. For the inconvenience, we'll handle your next order without cost. Maa-kun, please take care of the rest."
She helps herself out with Mark just sitting there being all...
"Well, there you have it." He laughs. "Okay, we got some time just like that! Right!" He claps his hands together. "If I gotta be honest, it's not really somethin' I've thought 'bout having to do, but... what do you need to know? 'cause from what I remember, you put up a good fight on the beach there against..."
He trails off. "Well. Another Persona-user," to put it diplomatically.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
So it wasn't that festival to mark the closure of the park? "Ah, I see. I had thought..." But he shakes his head. "Well, it doesn't matter." Ulala asserts that while he's a cop, she is most certainly not, and he glances over at her, his own expression carefully neutral as he tries to conjure that image in his mind. It's...
Well, it's something, alright. Perhaps he can rest assured that it probably wouldn't come about. She might be a natural at interrogations, though.
He nods, as Ulala explains. "Yes, it is relating to 'that sort of thing'," he says, using a rather broad euphemism. "If you are available to talk to us now, we would appreciate it. Otherwise, we can arrange another time?" They did sort of drop in out of the blue, but he wasn't even sure of the man's identity outside the place of work. Calling ahead wouldn't have helped very much.
Are 'they' alright, though? If he hadn't had that discussion with Tsubasa, he wouldn't have thought twice about it, but when he speaks of Myunghon like that, it does make him wonder. ...He'll file this away for later, however.
He does wear sunglasses indoors and at night. But admittedly, that's because he sort of has to. Light sensitivity is a heck of a thing.
"Yes, it was like that for the both of us, too," he says, gesturing as he refers to the same sort of story. "So, you also played that game. I had begun to wonder if we might be the only ones who had," he finishes, thinking back on the other Persona-users he's met and how varied their means are. "You--"
And into the room steps Masao's mother.
"Please, it is no matter," he says, shaking his head as she bows and excuses herself.
"I see. So there is no risk now of anyone else overhearing." He pauses. "You... were also there? Then, I owe you my gratitude. Because of you and everyone else, we were able to save the life of my colleague." And also his own! He keeps forgetting that part. "Well, perhaps that may be so," he says on the matter of 'putting up a good fight', "but we have only been Persona-users for not even two months. What we have learned we have largely had to teach ourselves. If there is anything you can think of that may be useful information, we would appreciate it."
He pauses again, then adds, "Actually, Yeo-san had said you had been a Persona-user for a while. An acquaintance of ours had mentioned an event in Mikage-cho a few years ago that they felt might have been unusual in some manner. The information I have been able to find has been piecemeal. Was that event before your time as well?"
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Ulala actually did mean that festival, but miscommunicated about 'meeting him there' and not 'being there'. She should not be trusted with telephones.
"Yeah, when I was in high school," Ulala confirms about the Persona Game. But then, Mark's mom! "Oh, it's no trouble, ma'am."
Once she's gone, Ulala sighs away any tension a mundane may have caused her to build, as she nods along with Katsuya. "Yeah, she seemed... out of it," Ulala says much more diplomatically to Mark than she had when she first met Yua. "We'll take all the info we can get, if you've got any."
A glance to Katsuya as he mentions Mikage-cho, and another nod. "There's been a lot of stuff going on over the years, huh? How far does all this supernatural stuff go back...?"
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
"I'm glad your colleague got out of that mess okay," Mark says of that, with all sincerity, but he's listening at the mention that Katsuya and Ulala have been Persona-users for 'not even' two months, but in time it starts to feel like he's about to get grilled by one of Lieutenant Baldy's underlings over something he did. (Rest in peace, Baldy.)
Then, more detail about what he was told by Myunghon, and an acquaintance talking about an event in Mikage-cho a few years ago that was 'unusual.'
"Huh? No, it was, uh... around that time, yeah," Mark rubs the back of his head. The pause in his voice would likely not be missed by a thorough detective! "But if I had to be honest with ya, I don't think they make textbooks for, 'So You Are A Persona-user Now,' or whatever."
"Uhhh... first rule, if I had to speak from personal experience, don't go overusin' your Persona if you gotta be out in danger. You don't wanna find yourself surrounded by Demons who you can't fight off," he looks off to the side, "yeah, that... that's the kinda thing that really sucks."
He will conveniently leave out the part that it was because he was raiding the police station for firearms, which he and his friends then proceed to take together and somehow not shoot one another (unless it was a Demon that reflected bullets).
"The second... well. I dunno if this'll make sense to you, and maybe it's not supposed to, but... you just gotta be your true mind, be who you are. Pro'lly not much of a revelation, not like I'm... some kinda wise ol' sage guy, right? I'm an artist, that's just who I am."
"Third!" He interjects. Does he have a third? Is he trying to speak over probing further into Mikage-cho? "Uh. The lyrics in that pharmacy song at Satomi Tadashi, they're tellin' the truth. Took me a while to catch onto that," because every time he was in one with Kei, Kei would be very firm about his low opinion regarding that song and everything about it. He laughs. "Yeah, the medicines and stuff there'll do a lot more heavy lifting than you'd think..."
Come on, fourth? Fourth? Can he list a fourth? Unfortunately, that's a gap in the conversation that's interruptible!
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
To be fair, there have been a lot of festivals that Katsuya has not been able to attend due to work or other obligations. The fact that some of those other obligations have involved trying to placate demons remains off the official record for now.
"Thank you, Inaba-san," he tells Masao. Fortunately, everything had been alright, but...
"The young man I fought off seemed strange, himself," he says, of Shiryuu, though he does not think he was taking anything... illegal, in the way that 'Yumi' may have been.
Masao makes an odd pause on the subject of Mikage-cho. Katsuya will remember that.
As prompted, Masao launches into a few tips about being a Persona-user. "No, I do not think they could publish anything like that. There is 'Darkside' of course, but... I find myself skeptical of some of the accounts mentioned there." Sure, he's dealt with things like magic subway mirrors and talking peacocks and, well, a 13th hour that shouldn't exist, but he has to take some things with a grain of salt if he can't verify.
First off, it's best to conserve use of their Personas. "Noted. It would not be good to become overwhelmed. I've encountered a few demons that appear to resist bullets," he remarks, shaking his head.
Be who they are, though? "Hm..." Katsuya frowns, as if thinking this one over. But what if...
Masao has a little more wisdom to dispense. Like the... lyrics of the drug store song? "Is that true?" he asks, skeptism writ large across his face. "The medicines in there are useful, but... couldn't it be from a rumor?" Perhaps someone else who took the song a little literally??
How far back does it go? He shakes his head. "I cannot say. There are others who are more experienced than us, surely, but it is not easy to tell how long or how far back it goes," he remarks to Ulala. "But, speaking of 'how far back it goes', I am curious, Inaba-san..."
"You had hesitated when I first asked you about the incident back then. Why is that?"
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Mark deflects on the Mikage-Cho stuff. Ulala doesn't notice it as well as Katsuya, unfortunately, but does notice something else that leads to the same conclusion.
"So... don't overuse your Persona. That makes sense. True mind... Satomi Tadashi..." Her brow furrows on that last one. "That's helpful, but...
Katsuya starts about the hesitation. Ulala flashes Mark a sympathetic look. "Look, if there's something you can't share, that's fine. We just... we're trying to stop the Joker Killer. We need anything that can help us do that... if he's not stopped, more people will die. The police can't do shit about it..."
She doesn't even look at Katsuya with that last one. He knows!
<Pose Tracker> Masao Inaba has posed.
'You had hesitated when I first asked you about the incident back then. Why is that?'
Mark goes quiet. There may be a prolonged period of a verbal stand-off--
Ulala chimes in. The Joker Killer. Anything that can help them with them. That the police can't do shit about it.
"Fuck that guy!" Mark says. "I'm with you on that! I don't want him runnin' free killin' people either!" It sure is good they have the place to themselves! That shouting would have drawn Mother Dearest down on him, and then everyone would have probably been embarrassed to some state of subconscious thread-hanging for their lives. He exhales, looks off to the side, and...
"So look. The 'Joker Killer' shit's been news for me since I came back to Japan a few months back," he turns to face the both of them, "I don't have any clue or whatever you don't."
He shakes his head, looks down at the counter, and...
"All I'm gonna say is that some things just ain't worth dwellin' on any more. Sorry, guys, it's... I'm guessin' you were hoping I'm some kinda amazing hero guy 'cause I'd been a Persona-user for some time, but, nah." He looks up with that smile. "I'm an artist! That's just how I live, y'know? Just..."
"...I'll keep an eye out, 'n keep in touch if that'll give you all peace of mind."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.
Masao goes silent. Did he press too hard, Katsuya wonders, regarding Mark in silence of his own.
Fortunately, Ulala fills the gap, and explains what it is that they're trying to do, even as Katsuya glances her way.
It's slight, but he winces when Ulala says that last part. "Serizawa-kun, there is no need to be so..." Direct, he'd have to admit, if pressed to finish that sentiment. Unfortunately, it's true. Even if there were no hint of 'outside' involvement in the force, it would remain true. What use would an ordinary officer be against the Joker Killer?
It's only because of his Persona that Katsuya himself didn't die.
But it's that last part that gets a reaction from Masao, the first burst of anything extreme from the younger man in the time they've seen since they walked in here. "Inaba-san--" It's not Mark's language he objects to or anything like that (please regard Ulala there and get back to him). It's surprise.
But Mark collects himself and says he doesn't know anything about that.
And that some things ought to stay buried.
"I... see," Katsuya says at last. "Then, if that is the way you feel, I cannot compel you otherwise. Still, if there is anything that comes to mind about what you can share..." He shakes his head. "But it's quite alright. It seems as if we may be of like mind. If I am able, I want to bring the killer to justice."
But he's had the distant, nagging sense that it might not be possible. Not really, not in the way he'd prefer. Someone with that kind of power...
But to Masao's admission that he's no hero and that he probably hasn't really taught them anything new, Katsuya says, "Actually, to the contrary, Inaba-san. I had hoped perhaps you might be able to tell us a thing or two, and you have done that. Indeed, perhaps more readily than some others."
He may be, again, thinking about Baofu and his own 'figure it out yourself' sort of philosophy.
<Pose Tracker> Ulala Serizawa has posed.
Mark finally responds to Ulala. She nods once, but he says he doesn't know anything, and isn't some hero... "Hey, don't worry about it. We won't pry. But... there's no such thing as an amazing hero guy, is there? We're all just people..." She gives a sympathetic smile, if awkward, and then nods to Katsuya.
"Yeah, thank you. We'll let you go. Just, don't be a stranger, alright? You have anything, the Kuzunoha Detective Agency can put us in touch. Actually..." She realizes she can make it quicker, pulls out a piece of notepad paper, and jots down a number. "Call here, okay?"