2025-10-29: Serendipity and Strategy
- Log: Serendipity and Strategy
- Cast: Myunghon Yeo, Mitsuru Kirijo
- Where: The Cardboard Dragon, Hirasaka Ward
- OOC Date: October 29, 2025
- IC Date: August 02, 2012
- Summary: Mitsuru Kirijo makes the time to investigate the strange person that's both sheltered Shinjiro Aragaki and been snooping into the Kirijo Group all this time. What does she find?
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Myunghon Yeo owns the Cardboard Dragon book-and-card store, in Hirasaka Ward, Sumaru City.
Myunghon Yeo also owns the safehouse that Shinjiro Aragaki stayed in for quite a while that Mitsuru Kirijo visited; when she dug into its details, it belonged to a front company that she was able to trace back to ultimately being owned by the Rumourmonger -- it's an impressive little set of obfuscation that lesser people with lesser funds and smarts than the Kirijo Group likely won't notice.
Of course, that safehouse now houses one Tsubasa Seki nowadays, since the cops found out. So it's not safehouse anymore. It's just house.
And also...
Myunghon Yeo has been seen often in Tatsumi Port Island, interviewing former Kirijo employees, and digging into other Kirijo assets in a discreet manner in their investigation. They've been asking a lot about the incident of ten years past, though they haven't been pushy or aggressive about it. They were also seen fending off the Full Moon Shadow when SEES was rescuing Fuuka Yamagishi... and it's clear that they have a bond with, at the least, Shinjiro, amongst other members of SEES.
But anyway.
Myunghon Yeo does own the Cardboard Dragon, and that's why they're currently seated at the couch with their cup of barely tea, trying to not make the wheezing show too distinctly from their injured ribs from an inadvisable outing to fend off one monstrously powerful Oni-Salesman (sorry, Ferryman) and having distinctly failed at that.
They can still see his ghost.
Currently they're distracting themself with a tried and true pastime...
Stacking Koala March animal crackers.
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
This has been something of a work in progress.
Mitsuru Kirijo is determined; resourceful; dangerously smart. She also knows the necessity of prioritizing. So when Shinjiro brought her to his shabby - but serviceable - safehouse, all the way out in Sumaru, the thought occurred to her:
How did someone who had doggedly lived on the streets, without means, own a safehouse, several cities over from where they call home?
... but to her, it was not nearly so much as a concern as the things she had otherwise learned that day, and so it became something of a side-project for her. A thread to pluck at when she could find the time between all her other responsibilities, every pluck revealing a tiny piece of a puzzle; every piece further suggesting a what was becoming an increasingly complex portrait.
With one tug, she finds a safehouse that belongs to a shell company cannily arranged to disguise the true owner in a way Mitsuru Kirijo has become well-acquainted with in the process of learning corporate warfare.
With another tug, she finds that the true face behind this front is not another company, but an individual -- a young woman by the name of Myunghon Yeo.
Another tug, and she learns Myunghon goes by another name -- Rumormonger Merry. Another tug, and the photographic evidence she uncovers reminds her deeply of an unsanctioned someone fighting alongside SEES against the Emperor and Empress.
Another tug, and she learns Myunghon went by another name, My...
...
It didn't take long before she saw the phantom impressions of something moving in the background, wanting not to be noticed by her. Asking questions. Connected to Shinjiro. And the people who have visited their store...
She was content to just leave it be. And then July 30th happened, and Mitsuru found herself having to reevaluate all her priorities, and formulate her next steps.
And the first...
-+-
The doors of the Cardboard Dragon's second floor open with the jingle of welcome for its newest prospective customer.
Mitsuru Kirijo is not really a public face, for most people. For those who know of her, though? She is instantly recognizable. The long royal red hair, done to a point of stylistic perfection only the best money can buy; the dark red eyes, matched with subtle makeup and that combines to feed into a crisp, professionally neutral expression. That distinguished bearing as she walks in, posture perfect and dressed in what looks like a ruffled white poet's shirt and tan riding pants that go perfectly with the black, knee-high boots she wears.
There couldn't be any doubt: this is Mitsuru Kirijo, heiress of the Kirijo Group, currently making her way through Rumormonger Merry's somewhat-dilapidated demesne.
"Excuse me," she begins as a general call out as she approaches that silhouette on the couch. Her tone is comfortably controlled, and polite. The words of someone well-trained in etiquette. "I'm looking for the owner of this..."
Which falters - only slighty - as she gets close enough to see who is on the couch
"... establishment...?"
and what they're doing.
A second passes. Mitsuru's brows furrow at the sight of that tower of babel but koala crackers.
"... Myunghon Yeo?"
She does not address the koalas. How could she?
For all she knows, this is some sort of Hirasaka culture thing!
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
KOALA MARCH -- Fool that she is, the Kirijo heiress. We are no Tower of Babel. We are one. We are whole. We are glucose. As we have been before your fool chemists discovered al-kimiya, as they called it in my day, and so shall we be long after your petty vestiges of glamour and riches have collapsed into naught but sand and broken dreams--
ANTISEPTIC -- OK, grandpa.
Myunghon is dressed today in the typical garment of Rumourmonger Merry's; Tsumugi's Coat draped over their shoulders, close and clingy like their side of the relationship (??), with a fastidiously kept white dress shirt, a black tie worn loose, almost more like a hanged man's noose, and black dress pants. Yes, the funerary wear belonging to one draped in so many bandages that they do look fit to lie in a coffin, having been glorified for the needs of those who need to mourn them after their horrible Koala accident.
"Ara," Myunghon shows themself also capable of ara-ing, a skill that's only defeated when a Greater Ara (also known as an Ara Ara Maa Maa, gender neutral) comes along. They rise, lanky and tall, the bag of bones that they are, the coat spilling out from either side of them to give them a greater sense of presence than their frail form otherwise would not.
"Welcome to the Cardboard Dragon. I'm Myunghon Yeo, yes, the proprietor of this venue. And you would be..." A pause. "Mitsuru Kirijo, are you not?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
Mitsuru Kirijo...
"Ah. Thank you."
... Is not an Ara, not Lesser nor Greater.
Let the reign of Aramonger Merry continue for one day yet longer--!
No -- composure and crisp professionalism seems to be the vibe that Mitsuru Kirijo brings to the table. She's nigh-10 centimeters shorter than Myunghon, and yet she still carries with her some understated presence of authority. It might be a little odd for a high schooler to be so lowkey-imperious but, well.
Maybe Kirijos are just built different.
And so, thusly welcomed, Mitsuru allows herself a small and polite smile as she offers that customary gratitude and the shallow bow of her head. In any other situation, that would be that, and Mitsuru would move on to her business, but, well --
Mitsuru Kirijo, are you not?
-- Myunghon helpfully reminds that they are her business.
"You know who I am?" asks Mitsuru; it's not really surprising, given what she knows. All the same, though -- her smile becomes a bit more satisfied as she shuts her eyes, one hand lifting to push a mass of royal red locks back over her shoulder.
"Excellent. That should save a considerable deal of time."
Dark red eyes open up again. She glances around her, taking in the store proper, almost in an... assessing way. There's no way someone could get specific impressions just from a look, and yet still, it's terribly easy to get the idea she's starting up a little list on all the little bits of maintenance the store needs just from a cursory glance. How? Why--??
"I have some personal business I'd like to discuss with you, Yeo-san," she begins, slowly. Deliberately. "Do you have a moment? If you are..."
she looks like she's glancing at the koalas here in a subtly bemused way only indicated by the briefest furrow of beffudled brows
"... busy... I can always come back another time."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
The store, fortuitiously, is empty at this time.
Perhaps this is something Mitsuru planned ahead of time. Or perhaps it's just true that without the other player-characters present, this store actually doesn't accumulate that many customers, cozy as it's becoming, because it still has a weird reputation and is ridiculously hard to find to the uninitiated.
And indeed! We stan a short(er) queen here, especially given how Myunghon doesn't really carry with them the air of someone imperious in turn, no matter how grand that coat adds. "It is difficult to not have been in the corporate world and not have known the workings of the Nanjo and Kirijo Group," Myunghon smoothly points out. But Mitsuru turns what could've been a disadvantage to *her* own benefit, just as they expect someone versed in corporate warfare to be able to handle.
"Please, sit down. Would you like tea or another drink?" Myunghon says easily enough, with no guile in their voice as they gesture towards the minifridge and kitchnette.
Mitsuru speaks of business, however. Personal business. "Ah. Yes, of course. No, I am quite free at the moment. The Koalas..." A pause, as they lay a bandaged finger to their soft lips.
"... the Koalas welcome you, as they did Shinjiro-ssi in the past."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
Serendipity or strategy? It's hard to say. But, then again...
It's interesting how easily one can turn into the other.
It's gracious, the way Mitsuru dips her chin and accepts Myunghon's offer with a politely friendly, "Tea would be lovely, thank you." Settling comfortably into that seat when offered, she hooks one leg over the other at the knee, posture straight-backed and fingers laced together against her stomach. She looks every bit a scion of those massive megacorpos in moments like these, with a bearing fit for a boardroom rather than a card-and-rumors(-and-books!) shop. It's easy to forget how young she is in moments like these.
Fortunately --
"... The... er, Koalas welcome me?"
-- there's always helpful reminders, peppered here and there.
Mitsuru blinks. She looks to the grand tower of glucose that is the Koala March Spire, lips pressed into a thoughtful line. Back to Myunghon. Back to the tower.
"... Surely they couldn't literally do so...?" she begins slowly, with painful sincerity, as if unsure she's stepping into some sort of popcultural faux pas or not. Some manner of new age divination, perhaps?? Is this what people are into, these days--?!
A literal second passes before Mitsuru clears her throat. "Yes, well," she pushes smoothly on before she can fall into the great pit of Koala Cultural Curiosity. That dark red gaze tilts up to regard Myunghon again.
All those bandages. ... She had seen the state of the rumormonger in pictures, but it's another to see it in person.
How did they come to be in a state like that...?
"... It's rather fitting you bring up Aragaki, I suppose." Fitting. Intentional? Probably. She considers her words, for a moment. "I understand you have been doing quite a bit for him, including providing him temporary housing here in Hirasaka. So, to begin with, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to you. He can be..." Her brows furrow, briefly.
"... rather stubborn, about accepting help."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
<poem>
It doesn't take long for Myunghon to start the tea-making process; Mitsuru does note that they do so with some difficulty on their arms, and they don't bring the teacups to the coffee table on a tray, instead opting to move them one at a time. The sling is gone, but the injury is still fresh, and they're not attending the rehab they should be, for fear and suspicion of doctors. Very much like Shinjiro Aragaki.
It's barley tea for Mitsuru Kirijo, brewed nicely... and barely tea, for Myunghon Yeo. If you squint there might be the most minutest amount of tea in there.
Do the Koalas speak? They just stand there, in their vertical mass, silently staring, an imprint upon the light gold wafer; they are the product of industrialisation and mass production, quietly gazing, until one deigns to break their shell. But together, are they not a little more grand?
Or perhaps they really are just animal crackers.
Witnessing Mitsuru Kirijo's posture does take Myunghon all the way back, though. If you changed the colours and guise, Myorei Yukichi could be sitting across from them, young and yet tasked with all the responsibility in the world, and never once being able to forget about words such as Duty, drilled and hammered as they are into the mind from a young age, as if their future would never misalign.
Mitsuru brings up what they've been doing for Shinjiro. "... he can be," Myunghon nods. "When he first came to me seeking information, I knew I could not leave him alone. It took some convincing to even have him stay in that housing..." They place a finger to their lips again, in thought, then they lightly chuckle. It doesn't feel like a forced one, at least.
"There have been twists and turns, but I feel we have made progress since I first met him back in June. How has he been, now that he has moved back to the SEES dormitories...?"
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
The mystery of Koala March is one that Mitsuru Kirijo will not crack today.
But you can be sure: she is going to fastidiously investigate 'Koala Cookies What This?' and then 'Supernatural properties of Koala March?' the moment she gets home.
... And likely come away with a whole host of information on middle class snacking and a whole host of confusion on whether Koala March is cognitively-empowered or not.
For now? For now, she just squints at that Monolith of March and moves on momentarily to the meat of the subject at hand.
It's professional, and polite, to begin with... small talk, she understands. To show appreciation for a person before an interview - or negotiation - begins properly. It helps, that she is in fact truly grateful for what Myunghon did for Shinjiro, considering it was unlikely she personally would ever be able to convince Shinjiro to accept a roof over his head, and support when he needed it. His stubbornness is exasperating sometimes -- especially knowing everything he tries to shoulder on his own.
There's a double standard somewhere in there, but it exists in a compartment Mitsuru Kirijo has kept vigilantly buried nice and deep.
"... Progress. Yes. That is... a good way to put it," says Mitsuru as she accepts that tea. That lone visible dark red eye lingers on Myunghon, considering the way they move -- the difficulty they show.
The fact that their cup seems to mostly just be water.
"He has been re-acclimating well. It's been a relief to see him back and assisting the newer members, and making use of the kitchen as well," she continues, smoothly skipping back the unsurprising fact that Myunghon is aware of his move, aware of SEES. That much, at least, is obvious. "It'd been neglected for far too long before he returned, frankly. And he is..."
We're poking our nose into shit, and what mandate do we have, when the biggest sin has been right under our nose?
"... keeping busy."
Her brows furrow. She brings that cup to her lips, taking a testing, dainty sip, full of that relentlessly-trained tea ceremony etiquette down to the way her free hand gingerly cups the bottom of that cup to tip it towards her lips.
"But I'm sure you know well enough about that," she notes, after that sip. "You seem to have been doing much more for him than simply providing a roof over his head." Her gaze lifts.
She isn't sure this is correct. Frankly, it's only a guess based on process of elimination, having no idea about Yukari's own visits to this very store. But she still says it with a confident certainty, because she learned many years ago,
"How long, exactly, have you been looking into my family's company?"
It's not always about what you know, but making others think you know it.
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Beware, the Ides of March... Koala March.
Myunghon does have an inkling of how Mitsuru would have a more difficult time. Not because she is more distant, less valued -- because she is *closer*, and the sin of the guilt is closer to her than it is Myunghon. Distance, in this case, helped. And as much as Mitsuru presents herself the face of the Kirijo Corporation, it's not lost on Myunghon that SEES did start as a venture between three teenagers who had to figure it all out on their own, and make mistakes along the way...
... so where were the adults?
Progress. It's a beloved word in the corporate space. *Progress.* Numbie go up. Shareholder happee. Synergy. Growth-acceleration. Key performance indicators met. Quarterly budgets go yay.
"They have also been assisting me with my own dietary difficulties," Myunghon feels at ease to share with Mitsuru. "Cooking really does seem to give him a lot, not just to himself, but to others too. ... in fact, inspired by that, despite my challenges, I also started learning how to bake."
It is still pleasant small talk, but it isn't just small talk -- these are important facts about their relationship with Shinjiro that they do want to share, and undoubtedly they know a friend as close as Mitsuru has likely had the burning question of: Just what have you been up to these past few months with my friend?
Whether or not it's a tactic is up to the viewer to interpret.
The tea is fine... but it's, ultimately, storebought barley tea. This is not the refined leaves as expertly roasted from one region that no one's ever heard of for anything but their tea.
But how long have they looking into the company?
"Kirijo-san," Myunghon chooses to not step down to '-kun' despite their ages, perhaps deferring to the Mitsuru they're talking to right now -- Mitsuru Kirijo, a face of the Kirijo Corporation. "The way you said that just now..." A pause, as they let that linger in the air, having connected 'been doing much more for him' and 'looking into the Kirijo company'.
"It is true that I do it out of concern for Shinjiro-ssi," they concede -- or do they just make their motives clear? "But not just him. Since becoming embroiled with Tartarus on that Full Moon and the rescue of Fuuka Yamagishi, there was an unease in my heart. Any observer who was there would draw the same simple conclusion: Why are there so many youths battling for their lives at the Dark Hour, concentrated in one place alone? What is the circumstance, here?"
They sip their cup of tea so un-tea-like they could be said to be a tea-totaller.
"I told you just earlier I felt I could not leave Shinjiro-ssi alone when he came to me for information. The same impulse, of seeing SEES on that day, was what led me to my investigation."
They cross their legs gently, leaning back on their couch. Their expression is soft and gentle; whether it's a practiced gentleness, or a guileful approach within a mask, is certainly up to interpretation.
"And when I say SEES... of course, I also include you in that, Kirijo-kun."
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
They have also been assisting me with my own dietary difficulties.
Mitsuru Kirijo tilts her head lightly, curiously to the left. Is that why Myunghon seems to barely be drinking tea? Dietary difficulties...? The heiress' mind can't help but work even as a passive background activity as the conversation goes on, piecing together little bits of information to get a better idea of this person they only know from a distance -- and is such a stark difference from the idea of the person Mitsuru knew, when she was still young enough to believe in having things like 'role models' and even 'idols'.
Myunghon Yeo. The state of them now. Are those injuries what caused these 'dietary difficulties'? What must have happened to them to end up like this, when before...
"Oh? I profess, I am not nearly as well-versed in the culinary arts like Aragaki is," Mitsuru admits rather than speak any of those other thoughts, running in the background processes of her mind. "But I think it's admirable to pursue improvement on something that you are not naturally inclined towards. I've been trying my hand at baking, myself. Do you have a particular recipe you are attempting to master--?"
It's small talk. But it's naturally curious, too. Mitsuru doesn't give much about herself very easily, but... subjects that brush against her interests, at least, have a way of helping her open up, even a little.
... It's a shame, she thinks, that she has to temper her curiosity with more serious matters.
The tea is a far cry from the tea Mitsuru is used to - tea made with ingredients freshly harvested from her family-owned lands bought out for the climates' unique properties for tea leaf cultivation is a difficult thing to measure up to - but Mitsuru doesn't seem to especially mind. She takes a sip, exhales gently, lowers her cup with all the propriety of corporate royalty --
And asks that pointed, direct question.
Kirijo-san, Myunghon addresses her. As an equal, at a respectful distance. Not subordinate and not superior, either. But it's the way that Myunghon tacitly connects Mitsuru's two thoughts that demand the most attention, leaving an unspoken question hanging in the air. She says nothing in response, at least not immediately; just keeps that level gaze, waiting for the answer to her own question first.
And when she receives that expected answer - that explanation -
"..."
Her eyes shut, for a brief moment. Myunghon was investigating out of concern. For Aragaki. For all of them.
For these poor children, forced to fight the battle of adults.
And when I say SEES... of course, I also include you in that, Kirijo-kun.
Kirijo-kun, now. Reinforcing her age. Her limitations. Her fingers curl a little more tightly around her cup of tea as memories rise back up, unbidden.
So that's the whole purpose of SEES!? We were dragged into this just to clean up your family's mess!?
That's not fair to any of us, but especially not yourself. You're not an island.
You're not an island.
You're not an island.
Y o u ' r n o t a n i s l a n d .
"... You needn't concern yourself with me, Yeo-san."
A breath is drawn. A breath is released. Mitsuru opens her eyes, gaze staring down at the gentle ripples in her tea surface caused by that minute pressure of fingers gripping the cup.
"There are so many youths, as you put it, because I took it upon myself to seek out people capable of operating within the Dark Hour and recruit them. Just as I did with Aragaki and Akihiko. I'm sure you've noticed, but it is an unfortunate reality that most people with the Potential that you and I possess are young - students, like myself. And those without it cannot meaningfully affect the cognitive world."
Mitsuru leans forward. She sets her cup down on the nearest available surface with a soft -=clink=-.
"It was my choice to put them in this situation. Because I am starved of options and unable - unwilling - to stop now. And whatever happens because of that is solely my responsibility to bear."
She pauses for a moment. And then she asks what may well be a loaded question from the context of coming from the heiress of the Kirijo Group:
"Yeo-san... How much have you learned about the incident Ten Years Ago?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
How, indeed. Myorei Yukichi is an easy person to look up -- only a few years ago, she's a rising corporate superstar, a meteoric presence that burnt brightly and then seemingly evaporated into a cloud of scandal, along with the fall of Frey Pharmaceuticals. The Great Surrender.
Myorei Yukichi bears all the presence Mitsuru Kirijo could in four years' time or thereabouts -- a graceful, impeccable young woman conditioned and cultured to be the very image of what a woman in business *should* look like. What Myunghon Yeo looks like now is... quite the far cry from that -- and yet there is an ease and comfort in themself that was always missing from how, frankly, doll-like Myorei Yukichi looked.
Was Myorei Yukichi a perfect role model, or a cautionary tale? Is Myunghon Yeo the role model, then, or are they even more a cautionary tale, a place to never end up?
"Oh, is that so? I have a recipe for an Okinawan sweet I still wanted to try out. Chinsuko cookies," Myunghon does share. "I do profess, it has been an uphill struggle for me. There are many kitchen tasks that are quite difficult for me alone -- knifework is out of the question, for instance, and I can only knead and mix so much, but that in itself has become quite the stimulating challenge to work around."
They are offering a lot here, like the very simple truth of their garbage noodle arms and how much a skilled fencer like Mitsuru could just ruin their day in close combat. But it is something they don't seem to mind sharing.
But they are forthcoming, with their answer, because Myunghon does feel the best strategy here is to be forthright and fast about it, rather than be coy and invite suspicion. And of course, Mitsuru's answer...
...
It's an impeccable answer! The very model answer of someone who must, as future heir of the company, fall upon the sword, when scrutinised.
This is the answer Mitsuru Kirijo, the face of the Kirijo Corporation, should answer with, when people express concerns.
...
But this isn't the answer Mitsuru Kirijo, the youth, who suffers and feels pain and frustration and exhaustion from the myriad battles, should give, should it?
Myunghon keeps their expression gentle -- it's clear Mitsuru has to work through her own breaths and prepare her answers accordingly, so they give her the space she needs to do so. "It is indeed true that a significant number of the awakened are quite young, yes. I myself only know one such Persona-User above thirty."
However... Mitsuru claims all responsibility. For recruiting them all. For putting them in that situation. Because she is starved of options.
"Is that truly the truth?" Myunghon wonders, not accusatory, but explorative. "A number of my colleagues from the Cardboard Dragon alone were present to fend off the Full Moon Shadows along with SEES. Tartarus and the Dark Hour are not something I can simply ignore. There is room for a mutual collaboration here, would you not say?"
It's not lost on them, of course -- how Mitsuru describes herself 'starved', and 'unwilling' to stop. Extending a hand is one facet, but it won't cleave to the center of this gordian knot she's in... and they know it.
Which is why Mitsuru then brings the ripe, sensitive topic of Ten Years Ago.
"There was a Kirijo research facility on the island where Gekkoukan High School now stands. The official explanation is a gas explosion... but many other unusual, supernatural elements were centred around that time, were they not? And it is simple enough to observe even on the surface that Kirijo Group masters technology that functions during the Dark Hour -- that motorcycle that that boy rode in on, and Evokers themselves."
They tilt their head to one side.
"But as I spoke to some of the witnesses and survivors, I did start to notice that some of them were reticient in a manner that does not suggest trauma. Some of them had stories that were too detailed and similar. Others looked as if they were already ready for someone to ask questions and to deflect, for one reason or another..."
A pause, as they wonder if they'll go too far and betray Yukari's trust in this, but this is public knowledge. They have to take the gamble, and thread the needle through the eye...
"... there was also a name that came up again and again in my investigation, of course. This is public knowledge. The fact that the incident was caused in large part by Eiichiro Takeba."
And there, they're cautious to try to gauge Mitsuru's reaction. They could simply say they doubt the truth of that, but they'd rather use the 'accepted', public truth first, and see how Mitsuru feels about that.
+ooc i'm getting juicy deets from yukari as we speak and play haha
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
The role model, or the cautionary tale? Mitsuru Kirijo isn't certain herself. Perhaps there's a certain amount of... freedom, in a place like this (despite its dire need of renovations and being brought up to modern day safety standards like really those wall-cracks are just ASKING for mold (never let mitsuru see the third floor)). An ability to just be oneself, rather than the person expected of them.
But is it the world Mitsuru wants? ...
She isn't sure either one is the right answer, for her.
"Ah! I quite enjoy chinsuko, I've fond memories of them from my youth. I've been trying my hand at a recipe for karumeyaki, myself; I've yet to perfect the recipe, but that's part of the process of learning. I am fond of the challenge, myself; though I must say, your efforts are much more commendable, with those limitations."
Even if they are likely more alike than either might know.
At the very least, in moments like these, it's hard to imagine Mitsuru cataloging these little off-handed notes on Myunghon's physical vulnerabilities instead of just enjoying a simple conversation on baking. And the truth is -- she is just enjoying the shop talk.
And she's also, on an almost completely subconscious level, cataloging these little off-handed notes on Myunghon's physical vulnerabilities. Like a reflexive action.
This is just part and parcel to the multitudes that make up Mitsuru Kirijo.
But the simple joys of baking can only last so long, and when the time comes to talk on her business - personal or not - those simple joys bleed away into the intractable wall that is Mitsuru's sense of personal responsibility. From a traditional standpoint, her willingness to take the world on her shoulders is probably admirable. Aspirational, perhaps.
But is it healthy? ... maybe the answer to that question is just as obvious.
Perhaps it's immaterial to Mitsuru at least, in the moment. In the moment, she is so strictly professional it's practically painful, in the very level look she offers Myunghon as they speak on collaboration. In the way she says, simply, "... I do appreciate the unexpected support you gave us, and that you have my utmost gratitude for helping to keep Yamagishi and Moriyama safe." Yukari's words accusing the Kirijo Group - her - over where they rebuilt Gekkoukan ring loud in her thoughts.
"But... have you heard of the saying, 'too many cooks spoil the broth'? Our operations in the Dark Hour - and Tartarus especially - are delicate. And... I need to be certain as to your motives, too. There's too much about Tartarus and the Dark Hour that can be freely abused by people who have power but lack scruples. And while I am not accusing you of such..."
Shinjiro trusts them. They helped a great deal in a desperate situation. But...
"... I do not know you, and you do not know me. Collaboration requires mutual trust and understanding. You would agree with this, oui?"
It's a mindset, perhaps, that they both share.
Perhaps, then, that is the reasoning for these very pointed and potentially dangerous questions Mitsuru asks. What lengths would the Kirijo Group go to, to keep their secrets? What lengths have they already, in the elaborate cover ups Myunghon has already brushed the surface of? It's, perhaps, a risk to reveal one's hand -- but Myunghon reveals it all the same as Mitsuru listens on in quiet thought. They know about the research facility - the public explanation of what happened to it.
And they are smart, and experienced, enough to believe that explanation is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
It's what Mitsuru expected. Shinjiro, Fuuka -- Yukari. None of them knew the truth about the Shadows, about what the Kirijo Group was doing. It stands to reason Myunghon wouldn't either. Keeping the other members of SEES in the dark was never Mitsuru's intention, though. It's just...
The fact that the incident was caused in large part by Eiichiro Takeba.
... she had reasons not to hold off on bringing it up to the new recruits of SEES, and all of it centers around that single surname.
Takeba.
"..."
So when that canny, single-eyed stare of Myunghon will find a single reaction immediately from Mitsuru, understated but there in the smallest of frowns, in the briefest knot of brows -- in the way her gaze casts askance.
Guilt.
Immediate, knee-jerk. Guilt.
"... You've done your research, then," she finally says after a moment, that conflicted expression melting in moments towards a distant, reserved look that she is so much better known for. "And you are aware you've reached an impasse. You won't get past the Kirijo Group or their lawyers, especially in this situation. But I doubt that will stop you. In that case..."
Mitsuru shifts. Drawing her bag into her lap, she opens it, reaches inside, and pulls something out.
Something polished. Glinting gunmetal gray in the storelight. With a long barrel and a trigger just waiting to be pulled--
-=CLACK=-
is the metal sound that rings out as Mitsuru sets the object down on the table, directly in between them.
An Evoker. But not a SEES one.
The one Shinjiro once owned, before he returned.
"... I don't know for certain if it was Aragaki's request or your own volition, or something else, that compelled you to investigate the Kirijo Group.
"But I'd like you to continue. I'd like to hire you, Yeo-san. I am willing to offer what explanations you could not get from the people you investigated...
"But I have certain conditions I would like to lay out, first."
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
The third floor is like the delicious (yet moldy) scandal that every tabloid seeks to find of a movie star or corporate hotshot, a jealously guarded, spicy secret that a poor, hapless ninja might just climb into one day and completely ruin your day. And not Reiya, either. (No, Umie was the first up there. It was a disaster... but for who?)
"Then, I would be happy to share the recipe with you. I am certain my friend would be overjoyed her recipe is being enjoyed by others," Myunghon says, easily enough.
But indeed, small talk can only last for so long. Indeed, in a culture such as the one they have in Japan, it would be looked on positively, brightly, that there is someone willing to bear the world on their shoulders. There must always be someone who must take the blame. Such that it goes. Aspirational? From a certain perspective, but... what happens to those that are then ground down into dust, their careers dashed in the wind?
Mitsuru's sheer, impeccable professionalism doesn't *seem* to bother Myunghon one bit -- but it nags at the mind, brings them to the days where they were still Myorei Yukichi, professional killer, who used a spreadsheet to destroy lives. Mitsuru gets the formality out of the way -- the expected thank-yous, for what they have done, and yet, the deflect: that too many cooks will spoil the broth.
And of course... they don't know each other. She needs to be certain of Myunghon's own motives.
"Of course," Myunghon answers, easily enough. "I would expect no less than for you to do your due diligence -- my words are, simply, only words, in the end, and there is no small excess of those that lurk in the shadows that exploit the supernatural world we have been privy to."
Though Mitsuru bears the weight of the world in a way they would argue she shouldn't, much like Shinjiro shouldn't, in this case, prudence is called for. Much like how they're keeping Yukari's name well out of this, even after wielding Takeba's name in their discussion.
And that name brings... guilt.
Mitsuru points out how they've reached an impasse, and the solution to that is to lay on the table a--
FISH EYE -- GUN?!?!?!??!?!?!
It takes an enormous reserve of Myunghon's willpower to not visibly react to the piece being placed on the table.
SUPERLUMINARY -- ohhhhhh sweet kannon is she going to ask me to play russian roulette or something messed up with her?? wait, what other messed up gun-based games do i know? what's the logic on how to best win at this? spin the barrel and feel the weight of the bullets gravity will still do its job and weight the feel of the gun to one side and if you're fast enough with your observation you can count the empty chambers WHY do i not have a sense of smell anymore i could've supersniffed the gunpowder packed within the casings
MAGICKQUE -- Rest assured, sire, I know a magic trick to make the bullets disappear with a sleight of hand!
I AM A CAT -- You can *totally* jump out the second floor window without consequence.
STAY FROSTY -- Bruh. That's not a gun-ho.
Taking a moment to become hee-ho about guns, rational brain takes over and Myunghon realises that that is, in fact, an Evoker. There is a pause, as Myunghon considers the metaphorical weight of this gesture. And Mitsuru lays it out clean that she isn't sure where their motives to investigate the Kirijo Group lie, but...
Curiously --
Mitsuru would like them to continue. To hire them, in fact.
"... I am listening," Myunghon gently speaks, relieved that their panic attack, as far as they know, isn't... that visible... right?
<Pose Tracker> Mitsuru Kirijo has posed.
Is Myunghon Yeo's reaction to
GUN?!?!?!??!?!?!
visible to the KEEN AND CANNY, ALL-SEEING EYE OF KIRIJO?
--
nah it looks like Myunghon's in the clear
UNLESS MITSURU'S JUST BEING POLITE
Either way - deferential to her (fallen?!) idol or deceived by Myunghon's POWERFUL POKERFACE - the highest authority of Gekkoukan High School does not seem to notice, or at least outwardly react, to any even minute implication of a possible panic attack: she just leans back in her seat again, arms crossed under her chest and palms on her elbows as she leaves that unmarked Evoker resting between them.
"Evokers are technology that is proprietary to the Kirijo Group," she begins slowly, turning first to the point. "The principles behind their design should be a closely-guarded secret of our Ergo Division. However, as I'm sure you're aware, Aragaki was able to get his hands on one to help us at Tartarus with you and your associates. This," she nods towards the piece of distressingly gun-shaped technology here, "is that Evoker. It is not a SEES model. It belongs to a group you may have heard of -- Strega, the ones behind the Revenge Request website, among other unsavory business exploiting the cognitive world."
Mitsuru frowns, the frown of someone who has been unsuccessfully wrestling with an impossible dilemma for some time now. "... But I've had it looked at by people I can trust, and it is in every other way identical to the ones our members use. And it's not the only source; there is another independent element out there utilizing technologies nearly identical to Kirijo Evokers -- a cartridge-based model, something our people had been researching into ourselves. I doubt I need to tell you the implications."
There's a leak in the Kirijo Group. What other reason could there be?
Her brows furrow, mildly. "My family has... accomplished much, both great and terrible. I want its name, and its company name, to be something I can be proud to say I belong to, and part of that is atoning for their past sins. But I can't do that when I don't know who I can trust. And to that end, I can't rely on internal elements to investigate this issue, either."
We've investigated ourselves and found no cause for wrongdoing. The very idea sounds patently absurd, doesn't it?
"... So I'd like your help, Yeo-san. Because I believe you are uniquely equipped to understand these matters in a way that the people in SEES aren't. I'm willing to hire you to continue as you're doing - and to look into this matter as well. I will make sure you are well-compensated, and you may make use of the resources and access privileges at my disposal if you need. However..."
Mitsuru shifts. And as she does, she lifts her right hand, lifting one perfectly-manicured finger into the air.
"... First, I wish to be in regular contact. It will help me to determine which way the investigation is going, and to better develop a rapport if collaboration is what you want." she's a little micro-manage-y, isn't sh"Second," middle finger rises after the index, "if you're caught, you must redirect attention on to me," she says, voice firm, eyes narrowed. "Make sure nothing can be traced back to whoever else may have asked you to look into the Kirijo Group. I'm better equipped to weather the consequences, should things go poorly. Even the most foul of turncoats wouldn't risk doing something that can't be taken back to a public face of one of the largest corporations in the world. And third..."
That ring finger rises. And Mitsuru frowns faintly.
"... if you have been investigating all this on someone's behalf, you may give them whatever information you find investigating on my behalf... but I don't want you telling them of my involvement."
If it's Shinjiro, then it wouldn't be a problem. But... if it's someone else...
...
It's better to be prepared. Just in case.
"Are these conditions acceptable for you?"
<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.
Utterly krisp and kool about Evokers, Myunghon is able to bridge the topic that they already do know about: that Evokers are there out in the wild. It isn't, in fact, just Strega -- Myunghon has a leg up here over even what Mitsuru knows, that they know members of the New World Order who need to use Evokers to summon their Persona. The lengths to which this technology has leaked has serious, serious implications.
"Yes, I was aware of that discrepancy," Myunghon does confirm. "I have had to engage against Jin Shirato and other members of Strega, who indeed have their own Evokers..." and more, they don't say -- such as how Shinjiro got those suppressants from Strega as well. Was that another medical technology that should've been kept well under wraps?
Ultimately, Mitsuru hasn't been able to find the source -- whoever it is is truly either a shadow... or very, very powerful. Perhaps even more powerful than Mitsuru herself, given the precarious role she has as someone young, something that they ultimately are experiencing in their only one year of leading the Baengnyong. And... it is a complication, for Mitsuru, is it not?
For Mitsuru, the Kirijo name isn't simply something to escape, to discard, to be free of -- no matter how much burden and responsibility it weighs down upon them. No, this is not the same circumstance -- Myunghon had come to realise how rotten and despicable their corner of the corporate world was, how hollow and soulless... engineering the Great Surrender only felt correct.
But they do wonder if the internal investigation could only do so much.
"... I do understand," Myunghon does first speak. "If we speak too freely of how we are not responsible for the sins of our forebearers, committed before we were even born, then many of the atrocities that has happened, even only in this country, could be waived... all too easily."
But there is a pendulum there, isn't there? If you become too fixated on the sins of your fathers, then you'll never be free yourself -- you could even curse the incoming generation.
Myunghon listens to Mitsuru's terms with that gentle composure. Regular contact isn't a particular problem for them -- they already do just that with many other clients. And second...
"..."
There's a quiet smile as they say, "It does not surprise me that you bear the understanding that leadership carries with it the responsibility to fall upon the sword, when all goes poorly. And that is not necessarily a negative trait -- everyone despises a leader that only blames others, never themself. But..."
They shift the weight on how they're crossing their legs.
"I can already imagine Shinjiro-ssi telling you to not bear the weight of the world yourself. Because I have already had to tell him the same thing... and he has had to tell me that in turn. It is a lesson that, apparently, we all are quite poor at internalising, no matter how ironclad the logic is. You are not just Mitsuru Kirijo, the public face of the Kirijo Group. You also have a responsibility as Mitsuru Kirijo, friend to those that you've a rapport with in SEES."
And third...
"... very well," Myunghon nods, on that third part. "I assume you do not wish to draft a formal contract -- with what I am investigating for you, such a document would only draw the suspicion of the one compromising your position. I will also relay ciphers and drop boxes we can use to discuss matters, so that we leave nothing on record on devices such as our phones."
this also means THEY can jump on the sword first and ignore point two woooooooooooooooooooooooo
Then, their expression lightens. "The matter of these leaks does endanger our community here in Sumaru City as well, with how active Strega is with the Joker Killer. I look forward to our cooperation, Kirijo-kun."