2025-10-31: Let Your Self Be Free I

• Log: Let Your Self Be Free I
• Cast: Roger, Hazuki Nakao, Minato Arisato, Reiya Aomori, Myunghon Yeo, Yukari Takeba, Umie Akabane, Katsuya Suou, Ririka Kawase, Fuuka Yamagishi, Akari Hoshi, Koh Katsuhiro, Saika Kikuchi, Pernelle, Yanagi Nagisa, GM'd by Tsumugi Kujaku
• Where: Taro Nakata's Atelier, The Big Top
• OOC Date: October 31, 2025
• IC Date: August 03, 2012
• Summary: Hazuki Nakao, her allies, and all the interested parties intent on solving the mystery of the Atelier arrive at the Big Top, intent on freeing Taro Nakata from the Thing that possesses him before it is too late. But how do you possibly stand against such a creature in a space that has become almost irrevocably warped into its seat of power...?

---

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.

                                            BEFORE

Welcome, friends, to the Big Top!

"Aha! Look, everyone!"

You're expected.

"Our special guests have arrived."

It's pitch black inside, when everyone has finally properly prepared to enter the Big Top of Taro Nakata's Atelier. Within the utter darkness, though, there is a distinct feeling: you are not alone.

And then that voice comes. A light ignites.

And within the pitch black, the spotlight shines for the man at the top of the hill, and him alone.

Illuminated by that lone, searingly bright light, Taro Nakata's Homunculus sits, dressed in the red-white pinstripe three piece ensemble of a ringmaster, his top hat skewed at a jaunty angle, the sash on it reading in simple English, 'AIM FOR THE TOP!' Ringmaster's baton settled in his lap, he is perched with prim arrogance on what looks almost like... a large Schiffli bobbin positioned horizontally in the air high above, its threads spooling outward to suspend it at one end of the Big Top to the other like an extremely avant garde tight rope.

From here, the Homunculus looks at his guests, a rictus grin on his face. The last time Hazuki saw the Homunculus, that clown makeup on his face looked like it was in the process of... melting off him. Before, it seemed like it was almost half-melted off.

Now, it looks almost entirely gone, save for a few, dribbling vestiges.

The Homunculus opens his eyes, that bright, glowing yellow of his gaze focusing on the Persona-Users even within the plunging dark of the tent. As if on cue, another spotlight ignites over them all, to shards of framing light in the dark. His head tips up, grandiosely.

"You're a little late, but not to worry."

A gloved hand lifts, thumb to middle finger.

"The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!"

*snap*

And then the whole tent just alights, revealing the great arena of the big top and the throngs of bleachers that encircle it, stuffed to the brim with a captive audience of Flegmat Humors, cheering and jeering for the latest unfortunate freak show to stumble into the Big Top...

... as one by one, cognitive beasts, clowns and circus freaks come into being in swelling bursts of pustulent, bruising black.

The Homunculus' grin widens.

"So... shall we begin the show?"


                          NOW

Things are not going well.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf6swWyqT2s

It's not really a matter of strength or skill. The cognitive creatures that the Homunculus arrays against everyone aren't particularly strong -- certainly not stronger than the Melanc Humors that had been guarding the Big Top. They're dispatched easily enough.

The problem is...

"Again!"
         "Again!"
                 "Again!"
                         "Again!!!"

Every time they destroy one of those cognitive creations, it's instantly replaced by another, with no end in sight.

Attrition is the name of the game. Warped, distorted strong Men and Sword Swallowers attack relentlessly, and every time one is destroyed, a gaggle of masked clowns burst into being just behind their dissolving bodies, giggling and spring-spronging into the fray; every time the clowns are taken out, a fire-eater is suddenly there, spraying the ground floor of the Big Top with flames.

And more and more, and more, of countless shapes and varieties. As if there was no end to them. The solution should be obvious:

Destroy the Homunculus. Take them out at the source.

And yet any time someone -tries- to even -reach- that Homunculus on its bobbin throne, it instantly repels them with the sweep of a baton or the casting of some powerful magic or simply a shockingly powerful insult, knocking them back into the show.

Monstrous, gangly lions have begun to prowl out of the shadows as the Homunculus cackles above, bouncing on his bobbin and planting gloved hands on knees as he leans forward in delight.

"You see, you see?! There's only room for one at the top of the hill! Everyone else--"

Lions spring, soon joined by clowns, strong men and other so-called freaks to the excited cheers of the crowd.

"--is just the fodder at the bottom!!"

Just how are they meant to win when the enemy decides the rules--?

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.

     From behind those who gathered, a show already unfolds around them as a number of local Sanguin Humors appear. The cavalry, as it were. Aware of the Homonculus' presence, and without enough of the hijacked Melanc Humors to stop them, they flood into the show. The ticket machine repairman, the soggy dunk tank occupant with a mouth on them, the ride operators, the rigged shooting game host, and others of their ilk shout the reflected vestiges of Taro Nakata's interests and desires as Coleric Humors flood in.
 
     No one has anything to fear about being surrounded, in the moment, as the Coleric Humors are directed around the gathered to directly engage the Homonculus' forces. A moment of hope, from the rallying cry of Hazuki's call of arrival and will that the gathered aren't going anywhere?
 
     "We're here at last!" Roger, the most familiar of all, that pig-like Sanguin Humor, pumps a fist. "Your terrible games are boring and not fun for anyone! It's game over, and you're out of credaaaaaah--!!"
 
     He is cut off by no less than a trio of slinking Coleric Humors trampling him. Another Sanguin Humor shoves him aside to a protesting series of squeals of both surprise and also distress.
 
     "Even now...?" Roger protests, anger and dismay giving way to disbelief - and not just because of the exclusion by what should be his peers within the Atelier.
 
     It is because the cavalry is quickly being routed by the Homonculus' influence. Coleric Humors dissipate back into the shadowy mists and disperse as they are defeated by the Homonculus' own loyal. Even one of the present natural Melanc Humors that were under the Homonculus' sway are not spared in the carnage, the Homonclus' need for them effectively at end at the cusp of overtaking Taro Nakata once and for all.
 
     Roger can only watch as exaggerated tears fly in horror, and yet, somehow, with clarity on what exactly is happening. "Oh no...! The Homonculus is about to fully take their place! I... I can't even recognize what those are!"
 
     Whatever the cognitions the Homonculus has created, it is clear that after a point, it's the Homonculus ripping and warping this length of the fabric of reality to their whims to something unrecognizable and... unnatural. Something that should not, and cannot, be.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.

THEN:

They're running out of time. Hazuki Nakao has sent the text to those she knows are involved: it's time to drop everything and save Taro Nakata.

As the Persona Users enter the Big Top, she leads the pack, clad in her full transmutation garb, orange and ash grey hair visually muddying her true appearance along with her golden eyes shining so brightly. Her wing pauldron guards her arm, as a gilded baseball bat with an infinity symbol on it rests against her opposite shoulder.

The pitch black darkness doesn't scare her. Right now, nothing scares her. But as the light ignites, Hazuki's shouting out. She doesn't know if he can hear her, but...

"Nakata-kun! We're here! We're not going anywhere!"

She let him down. She was pushy, clingy, selfish, and didn't notice his pain simply because she didn't know him. But to let that kill him, to let that be his last grasp of life... that's not okay. Even if he never forgives her...

He deserves a chance to shine brightly as another star in the sky.

The Homunculus is terrifying. He addresses them, so cocky, so confident.

The bat is swung into a point, straight at the Homunculus. There is no fear on her face, even if it exists in her heart. Just a determined glare. She might lose. She might die. They might both die. But as she told SEES, the priority is to save Nakata-kun.

She can't stand by and let him fade away.

"You've done enough. I, Hazuki Nakao, will strike you down!"

NOW:

Another clown tramples towards her. The bat swings out, smashing it away, as Janus floats ahead, the two-faced Persona having enhanced her attack power and speed already. It's not enough.

Janus fires another blast of light at a strongman, burning into it with the brightness of the sun. It's not enough.

At one point, she charges the Homunculus himself, and is thrown bodily backwards, sliding onto her heel and gritting her teeth.

"Coward! Face us yourself!"

The lions come out. Hazuki's getting worn down. A battle of attrition, for sure.

But she's not giving up, as she cocks her head to Roger. He can't fight. He's just a Sanguin Humor, a little pig who wants to try.

...but she's going to speak to him nonetheless.

"Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!"

Even if, right now, it's mostly an attempt to reassure herself, too.

GAME: Hazuki Nakao sets her Transmutation desc!

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    When the enemy decides the rules...

    "Takeba-san, left flank," Minato calls out, with that same calm nature which made him the leader to begin with. "I'll call their attention." An archer like her struggles when the enemies are crowding her out; that's why he's standing in front of her. His own weariness is a thing which isn't clearly conveyed in his manner; just a little sag of his shoulders here, a little extra puff of exertion there. "Katsuhiro-kun, keep them off-balance," he advises, in his next breath.

    He will get them through this. That's the image he has to project -- no matter what 'this' is.

    Minato once again makes an attempt to leap up to meet the Homunculus, only for a downright incisive comment on his emo hair to send him tumbling all the way back down.

    "Kawase-san," he says, without missing a beat as he stands again, "analyse the harmonic frequencies of his vocal assault." Did he put himself on the line to get dunked on JUST so their melodic Navigator could get another voice sample?! "Yamagishi-san, I know it's a lot to ask, but I need you to continue evaluating this new wave for weaknesses."

    Minato is kind of a weird guy, but...

    But Orpheus appears to strum his lyre and shower healing magics onto Hazuki -- the war-notes of Cadenza -- and it's clear he's used to helping others access their strengths. "Focus your attacks on the enemies with weak defenses, Kumamoto-san," he advises, to Moriko.

    "Aomori-kun," he calls to Reiya, as he looks sharply to him and the camera snaps that way, too, "you're up."

    (Of course he can Baton Pass! The fight has been going on for ages.)

<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.

Reiya Aomori is not uncomfortable in darkness, alone or not. But the light comes soon enough.

The ringmaster... And the show.

Reiya drops into a crouching combat stance, three needles in his right hand as he sways to be ready.

But...

More than once, Reiya tries it. He tries it directly, leaping up towards the Homunculus and somersaulting forward--only to be blasted back with the light of flame.

He sneaks up, coming around the edge while the others keep the Shadows busy--only for the spotlight to ignite upon him.

Again, and again...

Minato sets him up. Reiya rises from where he'd stood, heedless of his own fatigue. "Yes!" He answers, and summons his Persona with a shot of the Evoker to rain needles down upon some of the Shadows.

"Nakao-san!" he calls, looking to her in some concern--but sees her reaching out to Roger...

He sprints across the battlefield, to skid to a stop beside Hazuki.

"Roger-san," he says.

"...If there is something you can do..."

"Otherwise, this game may be about to end..."

He grits his teeth. "But Nakao-san, I will see you a way through!"

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    The Cardboard Dragon are here, in answer to Hazuki Nakao's text.

    Myunghon Yeo, Rumourmonger Merry, is of course draped in their resplendent black Cognitive Coat, surrounded by the rest of the team that they trust explicitly with their life. It's time for a turnabout big top, as they enter the Big Top itself...

    It's pitch black. They aren't alone. Myunghon is on guard, and then a light ignites.

    It's Showtime.

    So, this is a Homunculus... the way in which his dress embodies the struggles within is clear enough to see -- but that Schiffli bobbin... that must be the cocoon, then? Their objective. The way that clown makeup is melting off nigh resembles the way in which the sands from an hourglass tell them: They're almost out of time.

    "Our objective is clear, then. Subdue the Homunculus and free Taro Nakata from his Cocoon!"

    There's a wince as the Coleric Humours start to trample on Roger, and the Rumourmonger is swift to take action to defend him, the Cognitive Coat creating a lattice of cutting ribbons as they say, "Leave him alone."

    AND THEN

    "... ngh," Myunghon grunts as the Cognitive Coat ribbons rend and warp through Strong Men, one coming far too close for comfort as they find themself surrounded -- and boosts up into the air in a graceful moonsault all aided by the might of the shifting, flowing Coat. "Suou-san, Akabane-san, we must regroup," they call to their allies.

    "Plan C is of no use to us anymore. We must reconsider our strategy. Akabane-san, any thoughts?" Myunghon inquires to the other devious mind of the Cardboard Dragon. Culling the herd of Humours has no visible effect, and yet aiming for the ringmaster also has them repelled by a powerful barrier (as Myunghon themself has observed, blasted away by a SICK BURN that they had to use some Y Burn on.) They thrust their coat forward to analyse samples, tasting desperation and a single-minded, heady desire for triumph at the cost of all else...

    "Suou-san, Piercing and Fire attacks both shall work on these Shadows, yet--"

    Then that same Strong Man seizes Myunghon and throws them onto the other side of the top and they crash against the floor, rolling painfully before landing onto a thud. They groan and grasp at that chest, which is still throbbing hard from the battle with Hiroto and Tsurugi in the abandoned warehouse in Konan. Yet, they still rise to their feet, with difficulty.

    Roger falls into despair with exaggerated tears, as he claims that the Homunculus is about to achieve its goal -- they would fail. Hazuki shouts her encouragements to the Shadow-pig.

    "Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!"

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

BEFORE

Tickets. So many weird challenges to obtain tickets. And she's not even certain they were really required in the first place?

This place is infuriating. Even moreso when it's pitch black inside the Big Top, as she clutches her Evoker, with it pressed against her forehead. She stays in place, eyes trying to sweep around to pick anything out of the darkness... when-!

'Our special guests have arrived.'

Her lips close together. She can hear him, but she can't see him. And things you can't see are always the most frightening, even if they're speaking words she can comprehend.

And then, light!

Yukari's no longer afraid per se, but she is pretty bewildered. "Uhhhh..." She doesn't know enough about Homunculi to know if this will be like Kaneshiro, or otherwise. "What are you going to do? Put on a show for-" Rictus Grin, "-us..." It steals all that sassiness from her, to see it, the only thing that seems static amongst the dribbling paint. "Ew-eugh!" She recoils a step back.

'The audience is always eager to see someone try and fail!'

"... What's with this!?"

NOW

"This is hopeless! He's just replacing them as soon as we beat them!"

Yet, as Minato calls out to her, "Got it!" And she starts darting left, bow drawn, letting their leader make space for her. The bow is smoothly drawn, and lowered in a vertical position, before more arrows sprout from one of the sword-swallowers harassing Minato.

But she too is feeling the wear and tear from this battle of attrition.

"Should we fall back?" She asks him, as she draws another arrow and tries to send it at the throne, the Homunculus instantly shattering the arrow with a sweeping flourish of his baton. "Katsuhiro-san, to your right!" She warns, as she's delayed on covering him by her attempt to shoot at the Ringmaster.

The rules...

Something darkens upon her expression, as she thinks of those rules. One at the top of the hill, everyone else fodder for the bottom. An attempt to control time - her father, in her belief that he was fodder for that ambition.

Roger and Hazuki arrive, Roger, in tears. She's still not sure what to think of that weird pig thing. Hazuki? "Is that...?" She seems surprised, then something a little crestfallen appears in her eyes. This is why she didn't want her to come. "... it's done now." She says, something in her voice hardening.

What she tells Roger is inspirational, but it's not about 'sticking together' she thinks about. She focuses on that thought she had before.

"Gotta be brave." She whispers to herself, at that realization, "Io!" With a pull of a trigger, ephemeral glass shatters out of the back of her head like skull fragments, and the Persona appears, blasting a springing lion and a strong man back with the Magaru spell.

"... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?"

Maybe provocation isn't the right way to go, but either way... it's done now. She might as well try to give Nakao an opening... because if they're not retreating, the only way out is to win, by saving their friend.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    Umie Akabane has a general rulebook for how she navigates supernatural spaces, regardless of what they are:

    Rule 1: Do not be seen.
    Rule 3: Do not be expected.
    Rule 9: Every lock is simply a barrier.
    Rule 11: If the rules are set up just to force you down, make your own.
    Rule 13: _Failure is *not* an option._ (Because it means death, or, potentially, a fate worse than death.)

    'Oh my, I do love seeing you keep trying the same thing over and over and over...'

    Umie is one of many who try to directly try to subdue the Homunculus, suddenly in the air behind the Homunculus Ringmaster in mid-spin, bifurcated blade in one hand and a metal coin ring clasped in the other. Her intent is not to *kill*, as she's unsure of the consequences, but, as she found out the first time she attempted this stunt--

    "Grt--!" --you can't half-ass your approach.

    So there goes Umie, yet again, knocked like a ball by a burst of magic, rocketing over to land neatly in the hands of a warped strongman, who in turn tosses her in the air in an impressive throw aimed towards the hungry waiting jaws of a monstrous lion.

    Red-nailed hands land, palms down, against each row of the lion's viciously sharp teeth, as Umie's mouth silently mutters a mantra of 'shitshitshitshitshit' as she gazes down into a seeming chasm of a throat paradoxically lion-shaped, yet wide enough to swallow her whole. She bends her legs, adding onto it with a similar (shaky) bend of her elbows, attempting to produce the momentum needed by kicking and straightening them both. The coat's back falling over the back of her head is not helping much here, now is the two weights behind each end of the shoge.

    "Hup!" But land on her feet Umie does, springing back a few steps. Then, hunching down, she casts her gaze about, looking for some shadow or another to hide in.

    There are none, of course. This is a circus, and a proper show needs proper lighting.

    '... It's like having my own cute little clown~'

    That's... not a bad idea, Umie thinks, to Mai-chan's sweetly whispered words in her mind. Not the clown part, but... "... That's it!" Anyone close to the short young woman may be perplexed as to what Umie is responding to, though, in the rush of things, it may not even matter.

    "... Katsuya-san! Merry-san! If this is all a stage... Maybe we need to appeal to the crowd? Everyone loves an underdog, so...!" (That may just be you, Umie.)

    Like many of Umie's strange experimental ideas, it may be boom or bust.

    There's just one problem: unlike the showmanship she displayed earlier, the actual *thought* of grabbing an unseen crowd's attention... For some reason, it's scarier than directly grabbing the Old Maid's attention, or some other opponent that she can see and percieve herself.

    '... Afraid of the spotlight again, Umie-chan?'

    And this weakness has someone being *extra* chatty tonight.

    'All those eyes, seeing you, perceiving you, changing their perception of you, changing you?'

    Umie *had* a mask. It's not there anymore, lost somewhere between the second attempt, or was it the third attempt?

        'Though I suppose you don't have to worry about it if you're dead~'

    She tries to dig into the pockets of her jacket. She had a spare, she know she does, somewhere... "They can't see who I am..." she hisses, under her breath.

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    He had come when Umie had called him. There had been a development with the Atelier, a phenomenon about which it seemed even veteran Persona-users knew very little about, beyond the basics of how to enter on. That is, beyond the apparent nature of the 'Homunculus' and its threat to the holder of the Atelier.
    She'd wanted him along.

    It was just days ago that someone had made a disturbing post onto the Darkside BBS. That person had recounted a tale that, if true, had some unsettling support for the fact of the Homunculus's 'self'.

    But... now it's possible to enter the Big Top at the heart of the Atelier. What in the world does this mean? He could speculate, but speculation is useless at this state--

    BEFORE

    "I can't see anything...?"

    Still, he wouldn't have expected complete and total darkness within. He's read about the perfect darkness found in the depths of caves, but this--

    Even with sunglasses, when there is, shockingly, that one point of brilliant light, Katsuya squints at the Homunculus, the master of the Circus. It's a hideous sight.
    And around them, too, there is light. He takes a quick look around, drawing his own conclusions about the supernatural realm in which they now stand. "If this is a circus, then there should be an audience," he states, pointing at the Ringmaster Homunculus. Surely, they aren't the 'guests'.

    Ah.

    "I think... that I understand. If they are the audience, then we are--"

    NOW

    When you're not the one who controls the show or the viewer, then you're the participant.
    Whether you like it not.

    But for each Melanc Humor they dispatch, there's another taking its place. It's attrition writ plain. "At this rate...!" Katsuya declares, aiming his firearm towards the ground in the wake of the Sisyphian task of felling another sword-swallower Melanc. They'll run out of resources or stamina before they can make a dent in the horde. If... even that is possible.

    "Appeal to the crowd... The Homunculus seems to believe there is only room for one to stand out, while the rest are 'faceless'. Is it just being exceptional that matters? As it stands, it can't be touched!" he wonders aloud, snapping up his gun to draw a bead on one of those Melanc lions. "Or--"

    Do they need to appeal to the Homunculus's logic, or do they need to disprove it? Which one is correct? What are the 'rules' here?

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

BEFORE

Hazuki had sent out the call, and Ririka was here with SEES to respond. Apparently time was running out, so they had to act. Ririka just hoped they were ready for what came next.

She was nervous. Scared, even. She tried to swallow it down, to set her jaw and to draw from that well of confidence she used when she was on stage performing. It wasn't endless, but hopefully it would carry her through this fight.

She's dressed in her new SEES uniform--it looks, at a glance, like the regular Gekkoukan uniform, with some important differences. Her jacket has a purple ribbon instead of red, a red SEES arm band and shoulder plate on one arm and a metal plate on the other. She has a pair of gloves and boots with metal bands, and a belt with both a holster for her Evoker and a scabbard for her katana.

She draws up short when the Homunculus comes into view, fighting a shiver. "... that's it," she mutters to her fellow SEES members. "... that feels like what I felt at the arcade."

But Shadows are summoned to start the show, and Ririka pulls out her Evoker and puts it to her head. She closes her eyes for just a moment, her grip tightening in the instant before she pulls the trigger. "... Amphion!"

A stone man manifests in blue flame and shattering glass, clutching a golden lyre. "I'll support everyone the best I can!"

NOW

Minato puts himself in a position to be attacked, and calls on her for analysis. "R-right!" She's got a pair of headphones on her head, courtesy of Amphion, and she clutches at them with one hand while playing something rapidly on an invisible keyboard in front of her. "... I can't find a way to counter it! It's too strong!"

She's flagging. She's been using every trick she could to boost everyone's defenses, to rap them up in melodies to continually mnd wounds and restore stamina, and even sharing her own energy directly with others in need.

And she's starting to run out. "Arisato-san, we need a new plan."

A short-lived cavalry attempt arrives, spearheaded by Roger, the friendly (?) Shadow they met before. "Roger!" It feels weird to be concerned for a Shadow, but she is. "Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!" Earthly energy flows up to embrace Roger and fortify his defenses.

he knows the place best. He's their best insight into what's going on.
Aigis has arrived from Historia: The White Chronicle.

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

Fuuka Yamagishi knows what it's like to be trapped in a hostile, supernatural environment against your will. Whether trapped in Tartarus or within one's own mind, it eats away at you, leaving you with nothing but your fears and insecurities...

For Taro, right now, it may be even more literal than it was for her. That's why she wants to help him - even though she doesn't know him. SEES had said they would do what they can... but it feels personal, too. She wants to prove she can help people in the way she was helped.

And that's what brings her here today. The last time she was here, it was just for reconnaissance... but today, she's ready for a fight - and so, she's dressed this time in full combat uniform. It's largely reminiscent of the Gekkoukan winter uniform, but a few changes have been made - the sleeves of her turtleneck are fitted more closely around her arm, rather than widening out with dangling tassels. The simple club armband has been replaced with a sleeker, longer one, covering her upper arm and shoulder. Accompanying this is a black, hooded shoulder cape, with zippers on each side. Resting over her ears is a set of silver headphones bearing a gold SEES label, to better keep in touch with her team even in the middle of supernatural conflict.

...And right now, they're all in the middle of a fight - one that has been going on for quite a while, by this point, as every time they seem to be making headway against the flood of Shadows, more seem to appear.

Fuuka stands behind her allies. Lucia surrounds her, arms outstretched wide as her globe protects her. But a crack is beginning to form on its surface, the metal forming the eye ring growing tarnished and worn through exhaustion.

"More enemies coming in...!" Fuuka announces. "They just keep coming... Is there no end to them? There has to be something we're missing..."

Fuuka closes her eyes, breathes in, and exhales. She tries to relax and focus. Fortunately, Minato's voice cuts through the din of battle. She nods, her gaze sharpening once more.

"Understood, Arisato-san." Fuuka replies. She turns her eyes onto the enemy once more. "There are multiple weaknesses... Let them pinpoint them for you, everyone."

One advantage, however slight, of having so many foes is that there's no shortage of targets. She relays the information she has to everyone, allowing them to pick their own with a bit more insight.

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

The Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, returned from the depths of eternity (because it's easier for Akari to pronounce than perpetuity) has been here with Hazuki the whole way. She braved the Atelier with her on the first trip, and she was off like a shot as soon as she knew tonight was the night. She was eager for an adventure after her (extremely) lackluster showing on her exams; they may just be middle school exams, but...

But THAT is a problem for NOT NOW.

"You foul demon that hides in the darkness, concealing your true face behind another's..."

"It is I, the Legendary Magical Warrior Ixquic, who has come to help! You, who have taken another's place, an echo of corruption... I'm going to kick your butt!" When the lights come on, Ixquic is already posing, holding her gigantic golden sword - now with a tassel of ribbons tied to the hilt - and pointing the tip directly at the Homonculus. All the gold on her outfit - bracers, belt, the sides of her helmet - is polished, and she gleams, her red cape billowing despite the lack of obvious wind.

It's like she was made for the spotlight.

NOW

Ixquic is feeling significantly less spotlight-positive.

Ixquic's general strategy is to hit hard, take out her target, and move on. She has momentum on her side with the gigantic sword and her motorcycle-centauride Persona, Quixote. Well, she can take out as many as she likes, but it *doesn't matter*. She's tried to get into the Homonculus twice, once by running and once in a leap off Quixote's ... back? saddle?

Either way, she has managed to get thrown once by said Homonculus for her trouble (the other time a Strongman grabbed her out of the air so she didn't get there at all; when he threw her she nearly hit the SEES team but stuck her sword into the ground and spun around it three times, drilling a divot in the floor with the angled tip, before she got her feet under her).

Even Akari, bottomless well of energy that she is, is struggling...

But she has another idea.

"Hazuki-chan!" Ixquic calls, waving her arms. One of the arms is still holding her gigantic golden sword so it looks vaguely threatening, though she manages to turn the backswing into using the flat like a shield to take a stray shot.

"This isn't working! We just need to get there, right...? To knock him off?" She's starting to get an idea... "We need an opening! I have a plan though! It's genius! But it needs you too!"

But 'get an opening' is harder than it seems...

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

THEN

"Oh," Koh says, once light burns away the darkness of the big top and he's blinked away the afterimage burnt into his eyes.

"Better put on a show, then." His lips cut into a smile that carries more confidence than he feels.

NOW

False bravado has given way to exhaustion, both physical and spiritual. The needlessly stylish SEES combat uniform that Koh just recently received is already in need of repair, but the bright patch remains at least untouched.

Minato's request is met with a, "No problem!" despite there being very many problems. Koh twists out of the way of a flung bowling pin at Yukari's warning, flashing his teammate a quick raise of hand in thanks before his evoker fires again.

Dancing behind him, reveling in the melee, his Persona gleefully siphons his remaining reserves into another malignant wall of vapors.

The next few Shadows that breach close enough to SEES formation will at least do so unsteadily, as likely to tear into each other as the two navigators.

"A little low!" He calls in warning, though it's clear by the heavy breathing and sagging posture.

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.

Coward! Face us yourself!

The answer to that taunt is bald-faced, contemptible laughter, seeming to almost distort at times like a strained, old digital note. It's a fact that Ririka, tuned and so focused on such things, can tell:

Just like the Homunculus itself, it doesn't sound - for FEEL - natural. Like natural noise being replicated and blasted through an old speaker.

"Oh please! Why would I bother with trash? You're the entertainment! So -- ENTERTAIN ME."

And entertained the Homunculus seems, throughout all their attempts to reach him -- throughout all their struggles against his seemingly limitless creations. The Flegmats seem to respond to his amusement, cheering and clapping in increasingly higher volumes the more and more exhausted the Persona-Users who have rallied with Hazuki become.

Reiya continues with increasingly canny methods to try to reach the Thing wearing Nakata's face directly -- and yet every time, it seems to have a new way to repel him, even as he puts those vaunted talents for moving in the shadows to use.

The others: Minato, Myunghon, Umie, Hazuki -- they all experience a similar fate.

And every time, the Flegmats call out,

"Again!" "Again!" "Again!!"

As if demanding they continue to try, and fall flat.

Like this entire world lived to see them struggle and fail.

Not that anyone here is going down without a fight. Between Myunghon, Ririka and Fuuka, they are managing to keep a lock on the vulnerabilities of the encroaching cognitions: the rapid-fire of Yukari's bow pierces through the Strongmen attacking Minato -- and one additional lion, attempting to pounce in from behind.

Katsuya's efforts and trusty firearm takes out another sword swallower before it can brandish its blade against him.

The flames of a fire-spitter buffet wildly against Ixquic's massive sword, the heat broiling against cognitive metal that refuses to yield against the onslaught.

Koh's Persona all but sings in the chaos, ripping through approaching cognitions, at one point destroying one before it's even fully spawned out of its bruising blotch of befouled, cognitive energies.

Minato's healing helps to power and bolster Hazuki, the supportive magics that the natural-born leader of SEES wields helping to keep them all in the fight a little bit longer.

But the more they fight that fight, the more it might feel like there's only one possible end. The cognitions simply keep coming, fueled by the Homunculus' increasingly iron-fisted grip on this space. Myunghon is right -- a change of strategy is necessary. A direct approach simply isn't working. But then what can they do?

Appeal to the crowds? Work within the Homunculus' rules? ...

Above, the Homunculus leans forward, its yellow-eyed stare focusing on Roger with a faint frown.

"... Annoying," he mumbles beneath his breath, a thick, greasy driblet of paint dropping off the tip of his nose. "Annoying. Annoying. What are you..."

But, suddenly--

... You're at the top? Don't make me laugh. If I'm the fodder, then why are you so ugly that I can barely stand to look at you?

"... What?"

-- he finds himself distracted from his reverie.

Yellow eyes glide towards Yukari, the exact second she spits out that insult. That gaze narrows, as lips almost free of a clown's ruddy red paint pull into a tight frown.

"Who are you?" he asks, his voice a crackled snarl. "WHO ARE YOU? I'm ugly? You're NOTHING. You think you can laugh at me??"

That seems to have gotten his attention.

The Flegmats hush in reaction. His gaze darts to them for a moment, and frustration becomes apparent on his features. Maybe it is like Umie says -- maybe turning the crowds against him will work, if only for the sake of his ego. The others' ideas about distracting him - Ixquic's idea about unseating him - might just be on the right track. But--

"... You can't stand to look at me, huh? Fine. Fine. FINE. Let's make this the last time you have to, then."

The Thing Wearing Taro Nakata's Face sighs, head slumping into a gloved and waiting palm, fingers squishing a paint-grease smeared cheek as the unrightful ringleader of this captive carnival stares on at the chaos in with a bland, half-lidded stare.

"This isn't fun anymore." it states flatly, to the audience? To itself? Perhaps only one of those answers truly matters. "So let's just end it here, shall we? What a shame, Nakao. All that tough talk, and in the end, you're just like the rest of them. A small, inconsequential loser."

The Homunculus sighs. It lifts its free, gloved hand up, thumb pointed sideways.

"But let's be fair about it. The people will get their say. So, people!"

The Flegmats in the audience all fall silent. As if just -- waiting.

"Should we put an end to these little losers?!"

     "KILL THEM!"
             "Kill them!"
                         "KILL THEM!"
                             "kill them!"
         "KILL THEM!"
                     "kIlL tHeM!"
                 "do a flip"
 
                               "KILL THEM!!"

"Well."

The Homunculus leans forward, yellow eyes widening with inhuman delight. A grin of cartoonish proportion grows on its scarcely-painted lips, spreading almost to the very corners of its eyes, pearly white teeth far too wide and far too pointed.

"You heard 'em."

Its gloved hand tips down. It swipes its cane, flips to a standing position on that bobbin, and swings that cane downward.

As, just above, a TREMENDOUS circle cannon seems to just unmeld from the tent top, fuse lighting in preparation to deliver the coup de grace upon all gathered.

"Guess that PERFECT CLEAR is just out of reach, Nakao! YOU LOSE--!"

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.

 
            "Here comes a new challenger, mother****!"

INSERT MUSIC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrUuKehpGuQ - NOT FOR CHILD

This interruption comes from someone who is hauling ass from the front of the big top. A late arrival? Covering a flank unannounced? A dramatic hang-back? Something of all of these?

Either way, Saika Kikuchi is on the scene. Many have seen her, but perhaps this is the first time she has been seen *clearly*. Saika is running, sort of; but it's more like a leaping, skipping motion, momentum as well as some power in her legs meaning that she leaps *over* people on her way forwards.

It puts one in a great position to read some of the things on the back of that long white yankii coat she has on. Flowery kanji that doesn't *exactly* suit what's being expressed, block-printed in vivid, glossy black. One in particular stands out as her leaping bounds move from covering ground to rising in height:

        'Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I
        can make you so wretched the light of day will be hateful to you.'

As Saika's skipping motion bursts past the ragged, bloody edge of those assembled's conflict with the terrifying power of the Homunculus, she vaults up - planting a foot *on top of the Homunculus's head* on her way upwards. As she rises, she turns round, legs spreading halfway-apart like scissors to grasp around the gaping barrel of that deadly cannon.

Like an acrobat, one hooks over - Saika reaches up to lash her arm to the cross-barred ankle with the chain she carries wrapped around one hand and wrist. And after that:

"hrrrrrr--"

The cannon sinks slightly out of true from the additional 10X pounds of Saika it's sprouted. There is a subtle groaning.

"Come ON--"

The groaning isn't coming from Saika.

"-- Frankenstein's-- Monster," Saika grunts, and the shadowy form of the Monster of legend appears, although curiously enough, he's inverted, just like Saika. His eyes cross over Hazuki's and Minato's in particularly, it seems, before that groaning sound rises to a shriek.

The barrel of the cannon is bent. Slightly 'squished', bent six degrees or so from true. Saika exhales hugely. She looks satisfied, momentarily calm.

Her eyes open. A moment later she is throwing the legendary Double Deuce at the Homunculus with both hands, *still dangling from the cannon*, her tongue hanging out of her mouth as she cackles like a harpy. "Kahahaa!! Nice show-piece, but I guess it's PRETTY USELESS NOW, HUH!?"

The cackling continues for several seconds.

After that Saika's head turns to look at the assembled. Her hands go to rest on her hips. Her hair and the long end of the chain dangle. She does not seem concerned.

"Man! That piggy was working his tenderloins off, and it's a pretty good thing he was, given what I'm seein' up here. There were like eight thousand Flegmats in here! Round of applause to all of you!" Her head turns around, looking over the group. "You know what, save that for when we win." Saika leans forwards (upwards) like a monkey, hugging the barrel with one arm as she transfers her weight from a leg-lock to an arm lock around the barrel, talking over her shoulder. "Pernelle! Yanagi! Tell 'em what's up!"

"Back to work," she says, as she lets go to fall feet-first at the Homunculus's head. As she does, she lets out that damn LAUGH again.

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.

"And if you would so kindly turn your attention to our left -- oh, no, my mistake, your other left -- you will see..."

A peacock soars onto the battlefield after Saika, his wingspan catching the light in shimmering iridescence. Ah, but Pernelle is not merely a peacock, and here in the Atelier, everyone can see him for what he is: a peacock in stylish clothing. Admire him in his beautiful indigo vest. Adore him in his fluffy neck scarf and orange-tinted glasses. Appreciate his trendishly tattered tricorne, adorned with his own feather.

"... none other than splendid, splendiferous me!"

Every one of Pernelle's movements is more cartoonishly articulate in their range and expressiveness. He lands upon his footclaw with a graceful twirl to pivot toward a group of enemies. This bird can fight, and fight he does, steel glinting within his wings and train feathers. He opens that train -- eye spots actually blinking -- like it were spring loaded, cutting into a nearby masked clown for him to follow up with a one-two slice of the feather blades hidden in his wings with all the fluidity and elegance of a dance.

"Anqa, darling!" he calls, flourishing a deep bow as a sparkling butterfly passes by his vision. He snaps his long neck out, chomping down upon it fierce with his beak to devour as the space above him shatters into the form of a beautifully stitched, golden doll of a bird, like him her body's silhouette, but unlike him in her falcon's head. Pernelle sweeps into her, wing to wing, and Persona and User dance together before Anqa lowers Pernelle in a deep dip, her gemstone eyes set upon the enemies before them.

The seams of her head explode open, revealing the darkness within her plush skull as Mafrei bursts out and into group of sword swallowers with all the brilliance of fireworks.

"Ha HA!" Pernelle laughs joyously as he dispatches his foes. "Delightful fun!" He spins to face the others with such enthusiasm he nearly falls over before righting his balance. "But do you see? All style and not a dash of substance! This battle, my friends...

"... is a charade!"

A creature that squawks loudly enough to wake the neighborhood at 2am shows the advantage to his sonorous voice as it carries over the din of battle. These are the moments that truly count. Who needs sleep in the hours before dawn when Pernelle is here in your moment of need?

"Your target is not the Homunculus, it is the cage of silk he would call his throne!" Pernelle cries. "That is where the genuine article slumbers, captured by his counterfeit!"

Pernelle sweeps out his wing, pointing to the bobbin that the Homunculus bounces upon, its threads spreading out as the tightropes of the Big Top.

"You must aim for the Cocoon!"

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.

    And behind Saika and Pernelle is Yanagi, the support for her own group and therefore the logical back row resident. Where Saika runs and leaps on into the fray, and Pernelle flies in in grand style, Yanagi walks leisurely along, her walking cane supporting her every step.
    
    Like Saika, Pernelle, and Hazuki, she doesn't look like she usually does, though her face is recognizably her own. Her pale skin is still pale, but her ashen hair is now a brilliant sunset pink, hot and vibrant and shaded in the dark lavender of twilight. Her lead eyes are peacock green, bright and shimmering with hints of deep blue. Her outfit is rather like a magical girl costume, with a wrap around her waist, a skirt shorter in front than in back, enveloped by a stained glass-like coat that hoop around her reinforced thigh-high boots. With each step she takes, that long hair of hers seems to undulate like the sea, waves upon waves cresting in her wake, a circlet on her brow and glittering with jewels on her temples.
    
    She looks upon the circus with calm--from the Homunculus that would be Taro Nakata and his clown make-up that is very nearly gone, to Hazuki and her pig Shadow friend, to members of SEES and members of Cardboard Dragon and more, to the relentless hordes of Shadows that replace themselves as soon as they're felled.
    
    It's clear that they can't sustain this, whatever plans they try to pull off. But that's all right. Yanagi waves jauntily at Saika when she encourages her and Pernelle to follow up--but then settles her attention on the Homunculus and smiles sweetly.
    
    "Oh, my! You're almost there. Just a little more and you get to be 'Taro Nakata,'" she calls to it. She tilts her head, both hands settling on the head of her polished cane. "Or rather... Just a little more, and you would have gotten to be 'Taro Nakata.' After all, doesn't the audience love it best when the one who seems to be on top... takes a sudden, dramatic fall?"
    
    A butterfly of light materializes before her, fluttering across her path. Yanagi raises her cane--and it becomes apparent that the inside is hollow, a muzzle that flashes when she pulls the trigger. The butterfly shatters just as she lilts, "Giselle!"
    
    A ghostly ballerina bride with catheter needles for arms and legs materializes behind Yanagi, spinning an endless, graceful pirouette. As she remains en pointe, tiny origami angels materialize around her... then vanish, only to reappear around the Homunculus, tittering as they float and sway and vanish and reappear like motes of golden dust in the darkness. They can do no harm, but they are quite annoying--and so sure to draw the Ringmaster's attention.
    
    The Homunculus isn't the only one approached by these little paper angels. Hazuki and everyone else has one each materialize in front of them too. They unfold out of their angel form into a crumpled but flattened piece of animation paper, which frames the Ringmaster... and then pans down to the strange Schiffli bobbin on which he is perched. The thing that Pernelle just spoke of, to which he'd just pointed. It glows briefly red, before the animation cel fades.
    
    This is what they must target: the Cocoon in which the true Taro Nakata is trapped.

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.

     'Don't give up, Roger! We're all connected here! As long as we stick together, we'll get a perfect clear!'
 
     'Roger-san,' '...If there is something you can do...' 'Otherwise, this game may be about to end...'
 
     'Yes. Hazuki is right. We aren't defeated yet. This is yet another ordeal in which we need to find the thread to lace through the eye of the needle...!'
 
     'Hang in there! Amphion, Rakukaja!'
 
     Roger snorts pathetically as he tries to sit up. He's been turned into a spectator without realizing (albeit one with a cushy Rakukaja buff). On on eside, the failing Humors defending what is left of the Atelier that could conceivably belong to 'Taro Nakata' and not 'the Homonculus, which is that ringmaster monstrosity.' All of them have treated him like he was an outsider, not a fellow Humor and denizen of an Atelier. On the other side, the many strange, but fun, friends who have all gathered with their amazing powers of Persona. The way SEES plays as a team is remarkable (even scary). The flashy, cool, confident ones with their own daring strategems...
 
     "Eeee..." Roger sniffs. "I really don't know... I..." He looks up to Hazuki. "If anyone can get that 'perfect clear,' then..." If anyone. If any... one. He presses his fingers inward as he peers down. He feels like all he can do is watch, somehow surrounded by the Flegmat Humors that have warped to the Homonculus' will even though he is not in the stands.
 
     He's... not getting to play.
 
     "Aaah!" Roger squeals and stuffs his hands into his face, starting to panic-dance back and forth, side-to-side, as the Homonculus points that enormous cannon down at them, but then---
 
     Here comes a new challenger, mother**** indeed, with the cannon undone... and Pernelle's keen eye for the cocoon'd guy... and the distracting teasing and marking of what the Homonculus is protecting...
 
     Even with Saika's praise of all of his efforts, Roger continues to look downcast as what remains of the Shadow hordes that appear to reflect the real Taro Nakata's psyche continue to throw themselves into the thick of it.
 
     "But... what can I do now? I'm not..." He gets drowned out over the sound of a familiar Sanguin Humor who fulfilled the role of a ticket machine repair specialist screaming bloody murder about tickets as the opposing Shadow hordes obscure him.
 
     What (incidental) support the Atelier itself is attempting to leverage, Roger has no hand in - and never did, as far as anyone knows.
 
     "Hazuki-chan... everyone... this is what separates us, isn't it..."
 
     They have their true target, and he still can't play.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.

The SEES crew is doing their best. The Cardboard Dragon is doing their best. Roger is doing his best.

What is Hazuki doing?

She's scared. But she shouldn't be - that's just vestiges of the mask she wears, telling her it's okay to be scared.

But inside, she knows she shouldn't be. Because as Reiya vows to see her through...

"Don't worry, Aomori-san. I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life."

Reiya and Yukari, as well as any others paying close attention to Hazuki, may realize this isn't just adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism.

It's a certain sense of *surety*, a combat high that comes only from someone who feels like they were born for this. Someone freeing herself from all shackles, piercing the darkness that veils her with the light of a thousand stars.

A sense of mania that only comes from someone who this is a natural environment for. It's nothing like that gloomy girl who apologizes and is nervous on every word.

Ixquic's words cause her to snap those golden eyes over. "Okay, Ixquic-senpai! Let's set it up!"

Yes, she calls the middle schooler senpai.

But, as they push, the Homunculus Taro gets *angry* at Yukari. He gets bored. He tells Hazuki her perfect clear is out of reach, as that cannon prepares to kill them all.

She's defiant, til the last. She's still showing a determined face, as she starts stepping towards that cannon, prepared to try and defuse the brunt of it with her bat. It's insane. But if they're going to die if they do nothing...

And then comes FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!!

Peacock Silk's appearance and the destruction of the cannon gets Hazuki shouting out. "Kikuchi-san! Nagisa-san! Pernelle-san! Not a moment too late! Thank you!"

it was ABSOLUTELY almost too late are you kidding

As Pernelle declares the charade and Giselle frames that bobbin for them, showing it in red as the target, Hazuki's turning towards the one person she personally brought here.

"Ixquic-senpai! We need to get to that cocoon!" She's rushing towards Ixquic, preparing a team-action, as...

"ELIGOR!"

Janus fades out, and in fades a demonic spear knight in red armor, riding a black horse. He has two horns.

Hazuki Nakao truly was a Wild Card.

"Make it count!"

Eligor casts an attack-boosting spell on Hazuki and Ixquic, energy washing over them and preparing her for her future assault!

"Nakata-kun! I'm coming for you, just hold on a little longer!"

And as Roger looks downcast, Hazuki's turning back to him, a grin on her face.

"Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!"

It sounded cooler in her head, but for a gamer, it's inspiring nonetheless. The message is clear: either way, you can still play.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    Umie does have a plan -- cognitively, if this is all a stage, and they are but actors upon it... then are they playing the incorrect role? Katsuya himself seems to be struggling with what approach in cognitive logic they must take. There's no time to hesitate, however. They do understand the implicit weakness in Umie's own plan -- Umie would prefer to be in the *shadows*, to nto be seen. Even now, she's struggling to find her mask--

    "I'll cover you, Akabane-san." They listen to Katsuya's logic. "It is all a zero-sum game to him. Only either a winner, or a loser," they remark. "But what Akabane-san says is true in that there must exist a logic in which how the 'winner' is determined. If we can pull upon that thread like the earth from underneath him, then this cognitive superiority may very well be disproved."

    They saw it, after all, with Kaneshiro -- he was seemingly invincible until his money ran out.

    But -- it's Yukari's taunt that seems to have wormed its way into the Homunculus' skin. Perhaps it is as Umie says. Unseating him, as Akari says. But the Homunculus is now more enraged, still wielding the power in this cognitive big top, and it stirs the audience, the frenzy, into a bloodlust as they chant for their deaths.

    Myunghon recognises the threat of the cannon moments after it manifests, and they raise the ribbons of their Coat to prepare Trafuri once more. "I'm calling a retreat. Takeba-kun, SEES, can you evacuate?! We can't afford to remain here--"

    But then--

    HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

    Myunghon's eye widen as they exclaim, "Saika?!"

    This time, Saika's draped in a long white coat that has various yojijukugo imprinted upon it. No, it's not quite -- they remember that passage from... the Mary Shelley novel?

    And as if confirming that, Saika's call is for the Monster itself -- appearing, as if from myth, from fiction, as it just about goes and up and tangles the cannon until it's naught but a decoration. The show isn't over, though, because Saika calls for Pernelle -- for Yanagi --

    Their heart skips a bit.

    Does that mean they are here too?

    Ah. And how splendiferous indeed Pernelle is, iridescent in clothing adorned just for him, right from the vest to the tricorne hat! Pernelle, too, summons a Persona -- Myunghon had been wondering all this time if the Peacock is awakened -- and Anqa rises, as if in dance between two birds, and the two work in tandem to make nuclear fission happen.

    This is how the world ends: when fowl play is involved.

    Pernelle's advice is salient -- aim not for the Homunculus... but the Cocoon.

    But Saika graced a third woman for entry -- and of course, Myunghon does watch with rapt attention; it's Yanagi Nagisa, walking in leisurely grace, but like how they'd chatted about colour, what was once ashen hair is now vibrant, sunset pink and lavender, eyes peacock green, her outfit magical and transmutative and wondrous. It is breathtaking.

    "Yanagi...!"

    Yanagi taunts the Homunculus dramatically, speaking of the dramatic fall that awaits Taro Nakata -- and Yanagi, too, manifests a Persona from... that flash... is that a-- Before Myunghon can wonder if that is some kind of custom-made Evoker, their attention is drawn to the repeated motifs of the butterfly, and the ghostly ballerina that pirouettes behind her.

    Is... Tsumugi not here, then?

    ... they're not ...pining... or anything.

    Hazuki has an insistence that she'll end this, without losing a single life. There's something within her words that reminds them of how they become, as Rumourmonger Merry -- it's not an adrenaline high, or reluctant confidence, or a coping mechanism... it's the surety that is seeded within her the way it was seeded in them. The certainty of what it is they must do in life--

    Much like how Rumourmonger Merry must replace their flesh and blood with light and Hope.

    Roger is struggling further, swallowed by that self-doubt as the Shadow hordes seem to threaten to drown him. Myunghon is finding it difficult to care and look for everyone else and they're relying on Hazuki for Roger's safety too. They think of how Roger couches everything in entertainment and play...

    "Your Game is nowhere close to Over, Roger! Are you satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'?! If you are out of 100-yen coins, then I shall lend you more change!"

    The Rumourmonger dramatically flips a coin across the battlefield, which lands at Roger's front. It's a Mon coin, Myunghon's precious, used to pay for ferriage across the Sanzu river.

    A dangerous grin is on Merry's face as they look to roger. "My life shall be the 1-Up to let you continue!"

    "... the plan hasn't changed -- we're shifting..." Merry rings the coccoon with their index finger and thumb, as Yanagi's little beautiful origami angel points out, that Revolutionary smirk on their face. "There," as Pernelle pointed out as well.

    "Suou-san, Akabane-san, I'd like you to prepare the strongest force that you can muster when we do. I'll empower you!"

    And then the Rumourmonger does just that, as Kudlak rises from within the vast, inky blackness of their form -- and Trafuri fires off, and the three of them are teleported across the battlefield in short order, at a more opportune angle to aim for the Schiffli bobbin, the Cocoon... empowered by... CRIME!

    Can you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud, Katsuya Suou?

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    Yukari's the one who draws the Homunculus's ire, eventually, and Minato regards her affirmatively for it. It doesn't matter to him that they've decided it's time for them to die -- she found the key trigger to move this creature to its next stage.

    He doesn't malign her for that -- he regards her highly. Now... how to survive the next stage... that part is his job.

    Except -- the trick is -- Fools never act alone...!! And so, in a flurry of style...!

    Orpheus, floating behind Minato, regards Saika -- just as Frankenstein's Monster beholds him. The cannon is bent, and...

    "Cool," Minato decides, with a stern nod.

    Cool, as well: the peacock soaring in. "... he can fight," Minato notes, with his usual dull expression. Surely he is impressed on the inside, though, for he was moved to speak on it.

    "You, too..." He regards Yanagi with recognition. "They helped us, when the Emperor and Empress attacked," he explains, to the others. "This woman, and her peacock friend. They helped give me the strength to withstand the Full Moon Shadows."

    Minato, leader of SEES... is vouching for them!!

    But Roger is struggling, and Minato turns to that Shadow who has a mind of its own, that anomaly in his universe. "If there is nothing more you can do in this game," he suggests, "start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures."

    Hazuki, meanwhile, summons another Persona from the sea of her soul, and Minato nods, firmly, once. "That's it."

    With that, he turns -- and fires his Evoker against his skull, unflinching. "Naga!" He invokes, as a slithering snake-man rises up behind him to inflame the fighting spirits of SEES. "Katsuhiro-kun, addle the enemies so no one interferes. Takeba-san, I need you to revitalise our forces. Kawase-san, Yamagishi-san, can you work together to find the best way to break that cocoon? Aomori-kun, follow their directives with a direct assault."

    He's not shaken in the slightest...!

<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.

'Without losing a single life.'

Reiya is not so sure, but he knows she'll try--at the cost of her own, if need be. That's part of why he must be here.

And... Maybe Yukari's insults are the way to go. Reiya can respect her sharp tongue--it's a skill he simply doesn't have... and his own skills seem not to be doing the trick. No matter how stealthy his approach, it isn't enough. Even his ability to cloak his Resonance isn't sufficient.

But the audience...

Reiya is not one to appeal to the crowd; as it happens, it seems this challenge requires the opposite of his skillset. He isn't a performer for the stage; he's the technician who makes them shine.

But just as Reiya tries to find a way to do just that--The cannon. "Tch," Reiya says. "We're not here for your 'fun'!" he shouts, defiant, the least composed he has been seen to be thus far.

The cannon is ready... until, thanks to Saika and Frankenstein's Monster, it isn't. Reiya blinks at the double deuce. He blinks at Pernelle approaching. No substance?

And Yanagi. Yanagi, again, but different indeed. Reiya recognizes her...

"...So this is the question I should've asked," Reiya reflects, looking over Yanagi's form and the Cocoon as it has been revealed, staring at the little paper angel.

"I should've realized," Reiya reflects. "To protect your most precious vulnerability..."

"Provide another target, instead. Basic."

But Roger... Roger doesn't know what to do. Reiya looks at him. Is there anything a Shadow can do? ...Hazuki seems to believe in him. And after all...

It is his home. And yet...

"The game isn't over after all," he comments.

Minato vouches for them, and Reiya might too. ...The soul of a gamer, though...

Hm.

"Direct assault," Reiya repeats. "On it, Leader."

Reiya starts upward, weaving around obstacles so that he can get in position to attack.

"On your signal!" he calls to Kawase and Yamagishi, pulling three needles into his hand again and preparing to throw them on his way forward.

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

Nakao shows surety, and Yukari seems bewildered by it, given the desperation inherent in the situation. "... How can you be so confident? That's your friend up there."

That got it's attention. She quakes inwardly, some part of her, but the Homunculus' worldview is so repulsive that she manages to steel herself, and say, "... You're too pathetic to even laugh at."
 
His talk is frantic, it promises violence, it promises loss - it promises that at the end of the day Nakao won't have a friend any longer.
 
He asks the crowd.
 
The raucous chorus of 'kill them' is met with a cannon's appearance, and a fuse being lit- even as Myunghon calls for retreat, "What's the call, leader?" She asks Minato.
 
And then- "An acrobat!?" As she worries now suddenly they'll have targets coming from above! But, instead, the cannon sinks as the figure-
 
"Wait she's a Persona User?" She seems taken aback, as they're saved by some weird cackling Persona User. "Uh, thanks?" Before 'our left-' Yukari looks left- then Yukari looks her other left- "Make up your mind?"
 
And a Peacock!? "Wait... He's wearing... clothes now!?" Anqa, darling! "And he has a PERSONA?"
 
Just imagine if you will that conversation with Mitsuru Kirijo not long before, when she asked about Shadows, now with the addendum of a Peacock wielding a Persona.
 
She has the feeling that Mitsuru would only stare at her like she was a crazy person.
 
'a charade' "What do you mean?" 'You must aim for the Cocoon!' "And how do you even know that!?"
 
Another Persona User makes their instance, and for some reason, "Wait - they're all from that weird boutique?"
 
And then Hazuki shows a Persona and- it's different from the one she came in with, "Really? Does she have the same power as the Arisatos?" She says, sounding shocked by the thought of it.
 
Like 'her'???
 
She didn't want to bring her here at all- and now... that surety. Will it be like when Minato took up her Evoker?
 
That insecurity creeps in again, and a need for it not to go that way, and as Minato calls for her to revitalize all of them, taking her out of such self-pitying thoughts.
 
She pops a soul drop in her mouth, before putting the Evoker to her head, and pulling the trigger, "Right!" And as Io arrives, suddenly a wave of healing washes over all of SEES, from a Mediarama spell, "... You don't need to worry about me pulling my weight."
 
No one was of course, she says that more to herself, as she that wave of healing brings them up and makes it clear they're ready for round two.
 
"Let us know once you've given the Cocoon a good hard look Fuuka...!" She calls out, after Minato and Reiya, "... I want to be really sure before we start taking battle strategy from a talking bird."

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Koh calls that he's a little low, and Ririka glances over to him. "Katsuhiro-san! I've got you! Amphion!" The Persona strums his lyre, and the enchanted melody carries with it a fresh little bit of strength. It's not much, but... she's been doling out what she can for a while now.

The Homunculus laughs, and Ririka listens carefully, hand on her headphone to help her sort through the sounds of the rowdy crowd. Like an old speaker... does it mean something besides the obvious? She's not sure.

And of course she can't fail to hear the angry shouting that Yukari prompts. "Well you got his attention," Ririka murmurs. She hopes Yukari had a plan to go with that.

But the thing wearing Taro's face leaves it up to the crowd, and she doesn't need Navigator-aided hearing to hear the judgement. "Craaaaap," she mutters as that large cannon manifests.

But someone new emerges, and Ririka whips around to see Saiaka bounding, and then she plants a foot on the Homunuclus and goes for the cannon, all she can do is stare, mouth agape. "What the--"

Round of applause. "Um..." Ririka blinks, and then glances over to see Pernelle. "Wait, Pernelle?" She's looking dubious at his claim of 'fun', but she does direct her attention to the Cocoon. And Yanagi emphasizes the point, by summoning butterflies that unfold and guide their attention.

She doesn't have answers for Roger, but Hazuki's surety... Ririka takes a deep breath, lets fresh air fill her lungs and sets her jaw as Minato issues orders. "On it! Let's do this, Yamagishi-san!"

Ririka reaches out, and at her fingertips piano keys made of light spring into existence as she starts to play a fast-paced tune. She's listening to how the sound bounces off of the Cocoon, looking for weaknesses, reaching out to Fuuka to share the information she's getting in real time.

She's too busy with that to make an appeal to Taro directly, but... some here might recognize the tune she's playing: it's an up-tempo version of the stage music for Kappa, Taro's best Night Parade fighter.

"Almost there, Aomori-san! Stand by...!"

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    Again, and again. And again.

    If it weren't a cognitive space, he would have exhausted his bullets by now. "If it were possible to prove that the world is not a zero-sum as it thinks," he articulates, gazing up at the Homunculus, "then, maybe... But is it as simple as that? Will it listen? If we can undermine its logic in some way, and play its rules against it--"

    He snipes another sword-swallower Melanc as it closes near. "--How the 'winner' is determined? Is that it? But, do we know how?" he asks of Myunghon.

    That may be the question of the moment.

    Alas, it's also a moment that is quickly slipping from their grasp. "--We're out of time," Katsuya says, his gaze on that cannon overhead. His glance turns sharply Myunghon's way. "Yet, if we retreat here, Nakata-san may not be able to hold out much longer! Surely--"

    But in this moment, they are not alone. One among their number is someone that Katsuya knows on sight.

    "--Saika-san?" ...He's on first-name basis with her? (Admittedly, it's the only name for her he knows.)

    Yanagi. Where has he heard that name before? And is that-- surely it's not. Even though Saika calls him by name.

    "There is... no mistaking that personality," he admits aloud to himself as Pernelle makes his own arrival and explains the truth of the tableau before them. Katsuya's gaze lands squarely upon the thing which the Homunculus rests upon. "That thing is... a cocoon?! Has it been shaped by the Atelier, or--"

    Now is not the time for such things, though. Shaking his head, he's just in time to turn his head towards Myunghon and say, "Then we must--" as they declare that the strategy has shifted, and the spell takes them

    right across

    the battlefield.

    He's obviously taken by surprise, his initial sudden movement suggesting he's not entirely sure where he is in relation to the Homunculus at first. "Right there?!" he calls out, his gaze tracing a path towards the bobbin upon which the Homunculus perches. As much force as possible. Then he knows what he needs to do. Touching his fingertips to the bridge of his glasses, Katsuya calls out, "Helios! Come forth!"

    The felinoid shape that rises behind him trails blue flame, ascending but a short distance before its shots ring out, one after another, and aimed for that bobbin alone. If what they're saying is right, then this should decide it. But, what if they're mistaken?

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

Yukari's words seem to catch the Homunculus's attention. Fuuka can feel it as the Flegmats fall silent. It's ominous.

"Something's coming...!" She gasps - and as the Humors call for their deaths, the Homunculus calls upon something. It's... a cannon. Fuuka's eyes open wide.

"That's just not fair...!" She gasps. "I'll - try to think of a countermeasure, but-"

Fortunately, she won't have to. Suddenly, they receive unexpected help - the employees of Peacock Silk are here.

"It's you...!" Fuuka observes. She recognizes Yanagi and Pernelle, from the night of her rescue - Saika, however, is a new face. She certainly knows how to make a good first impression, though - the cannon is squished!

More Humors are dispersed... and important information is dispensed.

"The Cocoon..." Fuuka repeats. Her attention turns toward the paper angel that appears in front of her. The bobbin the Ringmaster is perched on... She looks up at it. Their true target was hiding in plain sight all along.

"...I understand! Thank you!" Fuuka calls out. Their target is set, and Minato gives the next order. Reiya and Yukari are counting on her

"Yes. I'm beginning analysis of the Cocoon now, everyone. Let's work together, Kawase-san!"

She focuses her attention on it, as if she could pierce it through with her eyes - to look through it layer by layer, to get a better understanding of it on a spiritual level.

"Tell me... What are you? What secrets do you hide? How can we save the soul hidden within you...?" She murmurs. Ririka establishes a link - and Fuuka meets her on the other end of it. What information she gathers is passed to her in turn. From the outside, it might be as if the communication happened instantaneously - if they notice it happening it all, as they do their best to reach a consensus.

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

Ixquic has been trying to keep an eye on the people she knows - Umie, Roger, Yukari, Myunghon, among others - but she has been mostly sticking with Hazuki -

Well, scratch that. She has mostly been trying to fight and then *returning* to Hazuki. They're a team, if not as experienced as SEES, as unified as the Cardboard Dragon. Hazuki is the only person who knows even part of the true secret of Ixquic...

Ixquic lets out a little whining sound - quiet, easy to miss - when her planted sword functions as a shield; it's certainly broad enough, but while the sword remains intact, Ixquic can still feel the heat radiating from it. If she didn't have gloves on she would probably regret hefting it again, but she does.

"You can't just end it like that!" Ixquic calls, with the (lack of) clarity of youth, as he threatens a cannon: "That's not *winning*!" Sorry, Ixquic, while this may have worked on some of the Shadows, it certainly isn't going to work on the Homonculus. What can she even do against a cannon? If she was up there she could hit it, but even with Quixote she can't get there in time - Quixote can jump but she can't fly -

Because Ixquic has her full helmet on, her expression is impossible to read. But the way she angles her head to look at Saika implies she is staring. They even have... "Peacock Silk!" she blurts out. "You're here!! At the last moment, a hero comes, dressed in finery...!"

She looks from Saika, to Pernelle (who she doesn't actually recognize at first) to Yanagi to the little scrap of paper. Bringing her sword up, she points again, thrusting it forward. "All right! I, Ixquic, will stand firm against the darkness!"

Ixquic spares a glance for Roger, nodding as much to herself as him. "They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! We're all together here. You don't have to play alone!" Ixquic is less of a video gamer, but that doesn't mean she knows nothing, and with the others supporting him.

She has her own role to play.

Ixquic's original plan was to try to slam the Taro-Homonculus off his throne. But with this new information... she can change the plan. And it'll work just as well... maybe better. "Right! It's time for the last charge! To stake it all on this single blow! QUIXOTE!"

The centauride-motorcycle appears... and stays, this time, revving her engine loudly as Ixquic literally swings herself up. She slides as far forward on the seat as she can as she pops a wheelie (!) and tears out, Quixote leaving a trail of sparkling light behind her as Ixquic accelerates.

She swerves dangerously to one side, reaching out with the hand that's not holding the sword - for Hazuki.

"Hup!"

Ixquic is a lot stronger than she looks - a lot stronger than most middle schoolers. Maybe it's because of Quixote's aid; she certainly doesn't seem that strong normally, despite her size. But she boosts Hazuki up onto the seat behind her without slowing down. Quixote's engine changes pitch slightly...

...but keeps accelerating.

"Hold on!" Ixquic calls, over the noise. "I'm going to pass by it on the left! Swing to the right! I can't, I need to steer!" Ixquic CAN swing off Quixote - she's done it before - but she'd probably elbow Hazuki right off the seat, so best not to try.

And, ultimately, Taro is Hazuki's friend. It feels *right*. Yes, Akari thinks, a warrior fighting for someone who claims to hate them, to bring them back to the side of righteousness! A fire burns in her that isn't JUST the Tarukaja...

"One! Two! Three!"

Ixquic ramps off a Strongman cognition, Quixote leaving a short-lived trail of light now in the air instead of along the ground. Ixquic does not use her sword - but at the last moment, she swerves Quixote, adding force and impact to whatever Hazuki chooses to do and causing that light to *shear* off in a cutting line!

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

Koh flashes a quick grin when Ririka passes over a little more juice. It doesn't last long, though.

"Takeba-san! I think you made him mad!"

The cannon is a problem. Koh can staunch wounds, but that's so far been predicated on he and his allies remaining in a whole piece. "Uh, Aristao-san, everyone"

But Saika's daring acrobatics save the day before the grand show is brought to a premature end.

"Haa. Awesome."

Peacock Silk arrives to bring a brief reprieve! The bird calls to aim for the Cocoon, and the paper angels reinforce the message. They seem to know what they're doing. Minato says so too and Koh believes it.

"Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san."

Koh gets to work, revitalized. "Hey, Aomori-san! Good luck!" As Reiya makes his ascent Koh provides aid; clouds of toxic smoke explode to deter pursuit, not as immediately deadly as Yukari's bow but still a potent deterrent.

To SEES leader he calls, "I can take over when when Kawase-san and Yamagishi-san are ready!" The Wild Card will be able to do more real damage on offense than Koh, no doubt.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    Umie isn't the only 'shinobi' here; Reiya's tactics are following along similar lines. And someone Marked in the way Umie is would find themselves all too eager to fall into the pattern of trying and failing, over and over, while something watches-- _perceives_, even -- with growing amusement.

    To keep trying would be the natural fate for someone destined to fail.

    Is this what they call a 'flow state'?

    Time for a new game.

    If Saika's loud disregard for the Ringmaster's show of superior firepower isn't bolstering enough, or Pernelle's stylish avian self pointing out the trick-- "_You have got to be fucking kidding me_," Umie mutters below her breath --or Yanagi's soft (and yet savage) words pointing out one trope an audience would certainly love--

    If there's something that could bolster a scared Umie, it's the fear of something feeling equally small and vulnerable. Scared, even.

    Tutor-sensei hears your fear and is going to respond, Roger. You will not be separated from your friend.

    A clown? A performer? An acrobat? Nope. The worst way to disrupt a show was there all along: be Yukari Takeba! .... or not. Umie Akabane is not Yukari Takeba, but she can *certainly* be _Umie Akabane_. "Meh... I attended a circus not too long ago, and it was worlds more exciting than this." She turns over her hand, examining her nails. "Food, attendants, mystery, danger, even a tent where you got your fortune told. It was scarily good." Her other hand swings the metal ring to and fro, like a metronome.

    "So I'll take a page from that place and tell you your fortune," Umie says, her lips splitting open in a curved grin. "You'll succeed in freeing yourself. A new life unfolds in front of you, full of possibility." She taps a finger to her chin. "Ah, wait, no, that's the fortune for * Taro Nakata*, not a _Ringmaster_. <My mistake.>" Umie raises one of her half-garbed hands overhead as Badb appears overhead a burst of blue light, the split halves of the white being's shawl fluttering out in an impossible gust of rushing wind. "Yeah, my bad, yours is completely different."

    "You got a rough night ahead of y--"

    And she's suddenly shifted to another point entirely, courtesy of Myunghon.

    "--ou... shit." Umie palms her face.

    Of course her timing was off.

    Thankfully, she has some help. Red brown eyes focus as one of Yanagi's origami angels floats by her, Umie barely getting a moment to wonder at its construction before it unfolds into an animation cel, framing the bobbin.

    "... should've just shot the thing instead of making a damn production out of it," Umie grumbles, summoning Badb once more, which lets out a shattering shriek of dark energy at the
 same time as Helios' shots.

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.

"YOU--"

Here comes a new challenger, mother****!

"--LOSE--?!"

The damning order of the Homunculus claiming Taro Nakata's life becomes less an authoritative declaration ringing with finality, and more a surprised and unsettled squawk as uninvited guests show up at HIS Atelier. Surprise manages to take him for a brief, rare moment -- Saika, in that familiar white garb, leaps on and -past- him before taking dramatic hold of that cannon.

"You can't--" he begins, bluster giving way towards a taunting tone -- before with the power of the Creature of Frankensteins' mad works at her beck and call --

a loud shrieking SCREAM of metal heralds the truth: that she does what the Homunculus was sure would be a hilariously suicidal attempt --

she bends that cannon barrel, seconds before firing.

Soon enough, nuclear flames are washing the grounds, incinerating several sword-swallowers as they still, mindlessly, try to charge their targets. Peacock Silk's dramatic entrance brings a hush to the crowds of Flegmats ringing the audience. They look almost uncertain -- as if the Homunculus' hold on them has been shaken if only briefly in its surprise.

They are silent. The fuse on the cannon, despite the barrel being bent, continues to burn down.

And as Saika lunges off that large, cognitive apparatus of destruction?

As that cannonball ignites and then backfires creating a dramatic, rolling SHOCKWAVE of an explosion that becomes her backdrop as it ripples throughout the carnival?

The Flegmats all suddenly cheer, applause ringing throughout as Saika comes at the Homunculus, feet-first.

Maybe it's like Umie suggested - like that taunt Yanagi assailed against them -

The people yearn for a show. And what's a bigger show than the fall of the one at the top?

And perhaps Saika is prepared to give just that--

"Back to NOTHING. NOTHING!"

*tap*

A baton touches the soles of her boots.

"NOTHING!!"

And her entire momentum just -stops-.

"You think you can stunt on me?! Steal my spotlight!? NO!"

The baton swipes DOWN.

"BACK TO THE BOTTOM!"

And suddenly, flying out of the sky --

*HONK HONK*

-- an entire clown car stuffed to the brim with clowns all holding cartoon bombs just FLIES out of the sky to ramrod into Saika, to send them BOTH crashing groundwards with a harrowingly cartoonish explosion.

And there the Homunculus stands on top of its bobbin throne - no, on top of the COCOON, the prison in which the true Taro Nakata resides - its eyes wide, its pupils beady, its top hat slumped forward as

"SHUT UP!"

the cheers of the Flegmats instantly cease.

"So what. So what? So WHAT! So what that you have reinforcements now?! You're all the same! Unremarkable! Insignificant! Look at you! All you can do is babysit that-- that--"

The baton swings, pointing directly at Roger.

"--pathetic, sad slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it feel better will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me."

It leans forward, yellow eyes bulging. Distracted, it does not notice Katsuya and Umie being shunted across space below it.

"The world will remember MY name, even if I have to MAKE it! Because I'm--"

Helios! Come forth!

"--number ONE--?!"

Helios, in all its feline glory, manifests. Babd summons forth, hot on its heels. Screams ripple into the Cocoon; shot after shot rings out, and hits the thing, dead center. It wobbles in place, threads fraying; and though it doesn't quite break--

--the Homunculus stops dead in its tracks as it lurches forward on its throne.

"what -- no! Stop that!"

And suddenly it's just -there-, wheeling around, LUNGING at Katsuya and Umie's Personas.

"STOP TOUCHING THAT."

It grips Helios within a strangling grasp of its gloved fingers, disheveled bangs draping over circular glasses as it tries to HURL the Persona groundwards. The Homunculus hits the arena grounds with a CRASH of impact. The assault might not have been a complete success, but it accomplishes two, critical things:

it proves that what Pernelle and Yanagi are saying is true -- the Cocoon IS the key.

And...

"I'm DONE with this show!"

... it takes the Homunculus off the perch it had been guarding that very Cocoon over, and onto the ground below.

And as Ririka and Fuuka pour their attention onto the Cocoon, they'll see it too. That Cocoon -- it's a supernatural space, encased in some kind of strange, cognitive material that makes up the bobbin-like form itself. And within --

They'll sense it. A Shadow. A real Shadow. No, not just that--

The real Taro Nakata, too.

A fact made all too clear for Ririka as the Kappa's theme plays, and the Cocoon -reacts-. The Flegmats all hush again, like they're uncertain - like they're not sure what to follow, or who to root for.

They just need to search a little more, and--

--and there!

Fuuka and Ririka will be able to see it:

The threads attaching the Cocoon to the Big Top on either side of it. That's where its weakest.

They need to be severed at the same time!

On the ground, unaware of what the Navigators are doing, the Homunculus sneers, wiping its face -- the dregs of clown makeup not wiping off, but seeming thicker now, more there, like they were building up in direct response to that reaction of the Cocoon to Ririka's Persona.

"You brats. 'That's not how games are played,'" the Thing Calling Itself Taro mock-whines. "This is EXACTLY how games are played! 'A rough night'? Your prophecy is garbage. Garbage! GARBAGE! I'll be the real Taro Nakata soon! I'm the one who decides what the future holds! The ones at the top decide the rules! Decide who wins! And I'm--"

It looks down, towards the ground it stands on.

"--I'm--"

And up, towards where the bobbin hangs in its tightrope position. Unguarded.

With Ixquic fast on the approach, preparing something immense.

"--I'm-- no! No--!!"

It springs, surprise and fury and -- fear on its face. Cognitions rally, clowns piling on top of each other to create a huge hill of bodies for the Homunculus to race up, towards Ixquic.

Its baton swings back, ready to summon something evermore heinous--

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.

    'Come on! If you can't be Player One... be Player Two! I believe in you, Roger! This is your home... it's time to save it!' Roger muses over just how much of the place felt wrong the moment he was acutely aware there was a loose Homonculus.
 
     A coin is flipped across the battlefield, following Rumormonger Merry's declaration that the Shadow's Game is nowhere close to Over. Is he satisfied with this outcome without even picking 'Continue'? He receives that Mon coin, that 1-Up.
 
     'If there is nothing more you can do in this game, start another. No one game lasts forever... but the soul of a gamer endures.' Roger has to wonder... what other games are there left to play, now?
 
     'The game isn't over after all.' Roger snorts, playfully exaggerated puffs of steam escaping his nostrils.
 
     'They're right! Listen to Hazuki-chan! we're all together here. You don't have to play alone!' Right now, he is standing alone - not in the stands, not allowed to join the rest of the Humors that should include him on their team, and he lacks a Persona like Hazuki-chan and her friends.
 
     'Arcade's not closed yet, Roger-san.' Somehow, this feels more apt to him in the moment than the carnival he calls home.
 
     "Rrrr...! Nakata, here I come...!" Roger dives back into the fray, and... well.
 
     It goes as well as one might expect. Let's save some paragraphs here, for expediency - it ends with Roger being ejected ham over hock, bouncing against the ground and wall like a gnarly tennis ball serve by the collective wall of violence.
 
     '--pathetic, sad slab of a mistake! It shouldn't even exist! And you think trying to make it feel better will do anything?! The world doesn't care about rejects like you! It'll grind you up and spit you out and no one will remember your names! Just like Nakao! Just like that -stupid pig-! But not me.'
 
     "Ooooh..." Roger grunts out, splayed out on his belly as he suffers the most recent round of lumps in his ineffectual efforts to participate - to be - as if the whole of what were going on were a game he was simply not invited, not able, to play - even if the others seem to want it (and do).
 
     He's a Sanguin Humor. He should be a reflection of the desires and wants of the Atelier's true owner, and yet he cannot will the Coleric Humors present. The other Sanguin Humors - though not holding their ground that well - don't even acknowledge him among them.
 
     "Why can't I play..." Roger whines, squeals, and rolls up to a seated position with little tears going down his eyes. "Now, of all times... I want to play..."
 
     "..."
 
     "..."
 
          "..."
 
               "..."
 
     That means Nakata still does too, despite being at the cusp of full consumption and destruction, right? He still wants to play.
 
     He wants to play!
 
     Somewhere in this big top show gone pear-shaped, the air shimmers and distorts around him. Fabric surrounds, entraps, obscures - cocoon-like. He squeals the once in surprise and shock as the helpful (or at least, well-meaning) Sanguin Humor - a mere Shadow - looks to be the next victim of the darker forces of a corrupted Atelier. How easy would it be for the likes of Roger to be dispersed into the cognitive aether of this supernatural space? He's not a human. Just a reflective facet of this environment, with hardly the substance of a human being.
 
     It may already have happened...

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.

INSIDE THE COCOON
 
     It's dark in there. Lonesome, distant. Sensations of sound, sight, smell, and touch are murky at best. It's a void suitable for Shadows to disappear into, their existence and capacity for perpetuity as an entity not... easy, or simple, to gauge.
 
     The one sense that they have feels foreign, heavy, uncomfortable.
 
     Thought. Like an anchoring point. A tether. A chain? A prison? A thing, holding them. Is it stopping him - them? - it? - from going where a Shadow is supposed to go? A cage?
 
     ...A handhold?
 
     "I."
 
     I, I, I. This is a haunting sentiment, not to have it heard, but to have it originate from this point. I. I...
 
     I want. Want. Want. I want. I want want want.
 
     Play. Want. I. Play I want play play I play want I want.
 
     I want to play.
 
     This sentiment echoes to no audience, no applause, no criticism. The void seems too vast for this sentiment... but also, too small, too tight. Too constricting. Like a space that isn't meant, specifically, to be filled.
 
     I want to play. The sentiment persists, as if a flailing morass of instinct and desire were clawing violently at a picture. A form. A need. A goal.
 
     I want to play... with everyone. With everyone. With everyone. I want to play with everyone as...
 
     Someone. To play with.
 
     This entity can be. This entity...
 
     Reaches, a now familiar-looking hand with a sense of object permanence towards something that wasn't quite a void, at closer look. Because this entity...
 
     Is.
 
     A vivid tapestry of colors seemingly unreachable, unrecognizeable, prior, forms inside one's undeniable, unalienable being.
 
     I AM THOU
     THOU ART I
     A GREAT CHANGE BECKONS... DECLARE YOURSELF AS COMPETITOR TO THE WORLD WHOSE HEARTS CHALLENGE YOU...
     I AM KAMAPUA'A... HE WHO PURSUES HIS DESIRED PLACE WITH OTHERS...
 
BGM Shift: Trails of Cold Steel IV - Burning Throb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pulPN_-3y1s

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.

BACK OUTSIDE THE COCOON
 
     This entity... "Roger." Their name is Roger. His name is Roger. Human or Shadow, that is who he is, and he wants to play with everyone as someone.
 
     The cocoon's make latches around him, defining his shape - his existence - his very being that is here. Roger's shape whirls to something... significantly more humanoid, if eccentric (to put it charitably). Heavy-set, an upturned nose, highly expressive eyebrows that any artist would simplify as carets. His shadowy self's chrome-silver eyes seem to have some flecks of orange-gold in there. He has a noticeable underbite, giving him a large chin. His body's flesh color takes on a cartoonishly bright reddish hue, as if reminiscent of the limited color palettes of ancient electric arcade games. His hair is a short black with, strange as it may seem, reddish reflective highlights in the way jet black hair would normally show light against it as blue.
 
     The swirling fabric parts to reveal a vibrant red and black shirt of erratic patterns and mild orange-gold accents - more accurately, a sports jersey - with the name 'ROGER' printed in reflective eye-catching silver. (His number, if any, is not seen in this shot.) It cuts off around the elbows. His hands are adorned in bright white gloves. His shorts are a match in color, terminating above his knees - his legs seem a little small for the weight they're supporting - into black socks with red and orange-gold stripes. They end in cartoonish-looking white and red cleats that are also on the verge of being too small to pass for being worn by human(-like?) feet.
 
     Fabric continues to part as a lengthy white towel drapes across his shoulders, bars of red, orange, black, and silver, as a silver-hued whistle dangles on a chain from around his neck. Finally, the fabric parts around what he soon holds in his hands - an entire tennis racquet, slightly oversized, in his right... and an equally over-large tennis ball held in his left.
 
     "I'm not playing your game any more...!" Roger declares - that is his voice! - as he points the tennis racquet towards the Homonculus. "Now the ball's in our court instead!"
 
     Behind him is something unmistakable based on the blue aura emergent around them - a Persona. A stout(er) masculine figure of brilliant black and yellow hues, spines flowing vertically up their back and scalp flowering with kukui leaves. A blue helmet, terminating in a sharp point between their eyes. Their blood red face would be seen as handsome, even with a pig-like snout and strong elongated chin. They wear a short-sleeved outfit marked with yellow stripes above the waist, and black and blue from the waist down - all exposed skin blood red, legs terminating in hooves.
 
     Roger throws the tennis ball up, as a phantasmal blue butterfly finds a momentary perch on its ascent before the racquet smashes it into dispersing sapphire blue motes, and the Persona moves in turn - Kamapua'a - as a Wonderful Aques-empowered wave of water envelops the tennis ball sent careening towards one of Taro Nakata's imprisoning cocoon's weakest points - going for a killer shot on the rebound if deflected or deterred.
 
     Not out of the duty of being a Sanguin Humor - but as a teammate of those who have come together to save him from this unwanted guest that has long overstayed their welcome in this Atelier.
 
     "I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!" He declares with a big, piggish blunt-toothed grin. (Only mildly less disturbing than his native Shadow shape's own smile. Mildly.)

AS: Roger has readied for combat as Kamapua'a! He is now fully healed!

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.

Yukari asks how Hazuki can be so confident, as she mounts Ixquic's Persona.

"Because he's my friend... that's why I'm confident! If I wasn't... then that'd be giving up on him on the spot! Instead, I'll believe with my whole heart that I can do anything!"

"Because we're a constellation of stars, and even a single one going dim... I can't abide it!"

Hazuki points that bat towards the Homunculus as Akari rides forth, Quixote pulling them along. Then, she readies for a swing...

She's ignoring the Homunculus as it comes forth, even if she doesn't want to. She has to trust Ixquic will make it through, and she'll hit that thread!

While this is happening, Roger awakens, and Hazuki catches that flash of cocoon, that flash of light.

"Roger..."

She smiles, so genuinely, so strongly, that it shows her confidence was not misplaced.

"Roger! We're all going to play... right now, this is our game!"

As Roger goes for the thread, Hazuki's going for the other one with Ixquic.

"Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!"

She readies for the swing.

"I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because..."

A wide grin, right as she closes in. Janus suddenly manifests to the side, channeling light into her own bat.

"You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow..."

"UNLIKE THIS FAKER!"

The bat goes to *smash* into that bobbin thread, light suffusing out like a powerful supernova, explosive in all its impact.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    Katsuya does provide the very essence of the issue with retreat: if they flee, then Taro Nakata is doomed. ... that Myunghon made that call does mean something -- whether or not that is reasonable or not, Myunghon saw a need to ensure that they survived to see another day, because the Revolutionary can only become legacy not in obscurity, but in the lime of the light. Perhaps that selfishness is what embodies Kudlak within them, the creature of the night, an ill omen in the society they are born.

    Their decisions killed Akira Hayashi, after all.

    But this time, Hazuki gets her wish -- no one has to die. Katsuya pours as much force upon the bobblin with fire and gunfire alike, all the while the questions hang upon them -- what if they are mistaken?

    ...

    Then Rumourmonger Merry will bear that mistake too.

    That Ixquic is here isn't lost on Merry either -- but she seems to be supporting Hazuki at the moment, and it's better that people work with at least one buddy they trust. And it turns out her plan involves... motorcycles! If only Merry had a motorcycle, they'd... probably just be found flat on the ground, completely dead. Yes, they never renewed their motor license for the loss of an eye. Katsuya would be mad at them for driving without.

    Umie isn't quite ready for the shift, and Myunghon does think they could do with smome more practice if they're going to make this a regular thing -- but fortunately, with Yanagi's help, she's able to still pull it off. "Danger?" Myunghon does aside to Umie, having missed the whole fiasco with Thelaire's circus.

    "It's having an effect...!" Myunghon calls, as the Homunculus is clearly quite annoyed at both Helios and Badb's advances upon the Cocoon. SEES is doing their own investigation, and if they can attract its attention long enough, together, they can all work this miracle.

    But the Homunculus is full of wrath, and Myunghon is ready to heal and sustain Katsuya and Umie as they bear the worst of the assault. Ixquic's assault brings fear upon its face, even as Cognitions pile for her --

    "Tsk...! Ixquic, get out of there--!!"

    But the surprises don't end there. The words they're providing to the Shadow-Pig seem to have spurred something within him, and he shouts his desire to dive back and-- even if he's batted back over and over again, he still laments his inability to play... come on... come on!

    Play! Play your heart out!

    Within this space, it's a Friday night, your parents don't care if you stay up all night long, and you have a 2-litre bottle of soda and a large Bomino's pizza, Roger!!

    And then it--

    Happens.

    Roger.

    The identity is asserted. He's not playing the Homunculus' game anymore -- in manifestation, Roger, too, obtains a rsplendent outfit, cartoonish and fun, as is his wont, sporty and trendy, brandishing a tennis racquet in reflection of Hazuki's baseball bat. And his persona is... awe-inspiring, the very essence of the Hog-Child of Hawaiian mythology, washing the tennis ball back with aw ave of water!

    "Now that's the kind of game I'd pay to see," Merry calls out.

    Hazuki pours her heart out -- and her metaphor is that of a constellation of stars, and that even one of them going dim would break the whole chain. She implores for Taro Nakata, the real one, the one trapped within the cocoon...

    "The variables for our plan are all known. We can save Taro Nakata... we only need to execute upon it! Akabane-san, Suou-san, I'll support us once more!"

    Merry makes a graceful gesture with their arm, extended upon the Cognitive Coat in a column of rich blue as Kudlak lurches forward in the form of two massive maws each stretching out to carve away where the tendrils are weakest, leaving open vulnerabilities for their allies to exploit.

    "Kudlak... CONSUME!!"

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    It shouldn't even exist... it certainly shouldn't have a Persona. The thing is -- Minato hears the Homunculus, and -- he can appreciate the perspective where it's right. Shadows shouldn't talk; shouldn't want to play games. Roger, by all accounts, is an anomaly to his experience.

    ... even so. "Roger-kun has something to say," Minato replies, smoothly, recognising him as a fellow young man in the process. "We can at least do him the courtesy of listening."

    And as someone to play with emanates... a Persona manifests.

    "A Shadow with a Persona," Minato marvels.

    "... all right."

    With a stern nod, and heeding the advice of his Navigators, he calls out to SEES: "Let's back Nakao-san and Roger-kun up! Split up and follow them both in!"

    He will follow Hazuki up, as Naga slithers towards the bobbin-thread, a Seal Bomb piercing into the cord at his full power.

    What Hazuki has to say to the boy inside there... is something only she can say, after all.

<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.

Stand by... Reiya continues moving for the Cocoon, and he does recognize the music. He sees what she's doing, he thinks. The officer over there is already fighting again. He'll work on Ririka and Fuuka's information.

But a friend... Reiya thinks that Hazuki is too ambitious--that there's no way she can have everything she wants. But it's nice to see her try. "Good luck," he tells her. "I hope that you achieve all you wish."

...Hope. It's a good thing to have, in a battle like this.

"Go with it, Takeba-san!" Reiya suggests. "The girl's information," Yanagi, "Has checked out so far!"

Pernelle... Don't worry about it.

But Roger? Roger shows...

"A Shadow with a Persona?" Reiya says in wonder. "How is this possible?"

He wants to play...

"...Very well. I will not be left behind!"

He hears Hazuki speaking, and he agrees with some. "...All of the people here deserve to live," he says. "To live free of such monsters as this!"

"And I will see it done!"

Minato gives out his orders; Reiya falls in line next to Roger, despite the fact that he's a Shadow. "Persona!"

Kunimitsu appears, and Reiya throws his needles. They ignite in purple flame, darkness suffusing his attacks as he throws again, and again, and again.

Straight for that thread.

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.

 
("What can I say," Saika answers Ixquic airily as she had passed her by, giving her a grin in the way. "We took our time!")

Saika's praise for that fine swine who put his bacon on the line cannot be reupped. Some things can only happen once. Also, she's begun her attack run. It's a high enough fall that she's probably descending towards the Homunculus, accelerating under the pull of Earth's yellow sun (or something) all the while.

She doesn't look up, but when Myunghon calls her name, Saika does bring her chain-wrapped hand up to throw a big finger-- no, a big thumb! A big thumbs *up*, don't worry--

At this point, the cannon explodes.

Saika does not change her expression but the sudden burst of flame right above/beside her, and a moment later:

And is stopped.

Perched involuntarily on that Baton, Saika looks down at the Homunculus. "Look," she begins, before an entire clown car full of exploding bombs held by soon-to-be-exploding clowns smashes into Saika. "BARF!!!" she vocalizes, before smashing into the ground.

                    * C H O O M ! *

Afterwards, Saika is sprawled on the ground, head thrown back, contorted in that same way as a Gothic-era engraving intended to communicate the Torment of the Sorrow of the Horror of the Pain of something. She is also lightly caked in soot.

"Pain in the ass... Ugh," Saika continues, heaving herself up to one elbow and standing upright with some initial difficulty -- stiffness at least. "Why'd'ya even have to do a thing --" But then a few things happen in quick succession. Something becomes clear. The Homunculus speaks - others are moving. An increasingly deep clownstack is thrown forwards, the Homunculus heading towards that -- legendary warrior? (I can't judge, Saika tells herself, by way of reminder.)

But that little piggy - what's up with him? Saika can see him struggling. Her eyes turn away then... and towards the Homunculus whom she addresses in a loud voice. "HEY! Are you complainin' you get this kind of competition? Cuz a lot of these games ain't open ended, you know! Rules are just a structure! Sometimes they keep you in..."

At this point Saika's broken back into the same loping, leaping pace she'd had before, each smash of her leg like displacing weights, leaving divots in the sawdust and clown-giblet flooring. Closing, closing, running upwards; another crouch and Saika throws herself forwards.

"And sometimes--"

("Monster!" The great shadow looms again, smashing one fist with an explosive PWAP into the clownheap Saika seeks to ascend in a single great leap; this seems to help Saika start twisting, hips turning... another scissor-leg move?)

"-- You jump off 'em!!!"

(Nice, thinks Saika. That sounded tight as *hell.*)

As she says this, Saika's legs come around and when they are more or less on either side of the Homunculus's neck, they snap shut. Suddenly anchored to the Homunculus, Saika keeps flying with hurtling momentum. Something's got to give.

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.

How delightful a battle these woken ones rage! Hazuki in her optimistic defiance continues. Pernelle watches her with a particular curious eye before turning to witness the others in their skills and moxie. Ah! Even precious Myunghon? He promised So-young a bit of worry on their behalf, did he not?

Pernelle shall watch their flank, swooping in with Anqa screaming out fiery bursts while he tosses bladed feathers at the clowns that dare close in on the left, and any jokers approaching from the right! Twirling past Yukari with his Persona, because of course the bird has a Persona, he gives her a wink.

"My knowledge is as vast as my beauty!" he explains, explaining nothing. Anqa disperses, leaving Pernelle to drop from his next dip and roll upright, where he waves the tips of his feathers like fingers at Katsuya. "Fancy meeting you here, detective-chan."

As Minato vouches for him and Fuuka recognizes him, Pernelle lowers a deep a bow toward them both, wing outstretched. "You still stand, passionate ones! May the flames of your souls burn through this battle and to the next!"

Ririka's surprise receives a simpler response, but one brighter with Pernelle's blinding enthusiasm than most others like it were his favorite thing to say in all the world: "Me!"

Yanagi points the fighters true, and Pernelle laughs delightedly, interrupted by gigglefits which is just more laughter while the fake Taro Nakata, the thing wearing his face, gets more and more discombobulated by the events to follow. He takes off his glasses with a wing, wiping under his eye with the other. "Ah, it never gets old."

But then something...
truly
beautiful
...begins to happen.

"Bravest boar!" Pernelle calls to Roger. "She is she, I am I, and you, Roger dodger, have found the youest you! Go forth! Your job is done... now... have your fun!"

Pernelle shall have his.

While the threads are left in the care of these intrepid heroes, Pernelle spreads his wings and launches into the air with a single flap of them, turning into a corkscrew spin. "PER - SO - NA~!" he sing-songs, and once again Anqa breaks forth beside him, two birds rising in an aerial dance, grabbing each other's clawed feet. Pernelle twists and swings Anqa even higher -- level with the Homunculus as she explodes at every seam into a dizzying display of brilliant, iridescent flames like firework-missiles in a dazzling display to give Saika as much of an opening as possible.

"Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!"

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

"That..." Yukari says, to Nakao's description of why they're so confident including the metaphor of a constellation of stars, as she starts, then stops, then continues, "... really doesn't make any sense?"
 
In Yukari's world, the idea of failure, death, just looms too large to be confident.
 
Whereas Pernelle twirls past her with a... "Did that Peacock just wink at me?" Yukari says, astounded. Hoping he's not going to be hitting on her too, "Uhhhh... okay?" She says, to Reiya's idea to just go with it, based on Yanagi being credible.

The thing that is wearing Taro Nakata's face, it begins to break down, as it loses it's sense of control over everything. "You think we're the brats when you're throwing a tantrum...? ...Honestly. Where's all that big talk now?"
 
His way of being continues to rub her the wrong way.
 
She's still readying herself, after healing SEES, before asking Minato, "What's your call?" And then- Roger, is he really putting down the poor pig?
 
She still thinks the pig is... weird, but he was nice enough, and he did help them. And then the pig-!
 
"Roger! Hey! Stay back. Let us handle this!"
 
And the way the Shadow ridicules, belittles him, "Leave him alone! You have no place calling him pathetic when you're acting like this yourself!"
 
And Roger, he's not... he's not moving, he's whimpering. All of a sudden, the Cocoon latches onto him, and- "Wait- hat's it doing to him?"
 
Her mouth hangs open as the transformation happens and in the aftermath, "Excuse me? Roger has a Persona too? What is even going on anymore!? This is too weird!"
 
And then - Minato gives his orders, "Right...!" For Yukari's part, it's more simplistic, towards the same thread that Minato is working on.
 
An Evoker to the head, and Garula, after Garula. Consecutive spells of slicing winds assaulting from that direction.

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.

    'I'm gonna end this... without losing a single life,' Hazuki swears.
    
    Yanagi tilts her head her way. "Oh?" Her gaze lingers for a moment... and then she smiles. "A 'single life,' hmm..." She raises a hand to wave to her as she shouts her gratitude for their arrival. "We simply couldn't miss this!"
    
    And likewise... she couldn't miss how Hazuki would handle this battle. Sure enough, she calls forth another Persona, like a few certain others Yanagi knows, and she watches, enraptured, as Eligor casts his strengthening magic on Hazuki and Ixquic. Yet another one...!
    
    She isn't the only Wild Card here, either. Yanagi smiles warmly at Minato when he recognizes her--though she then blinks in surprise when he also vouches for her and Pernelle. "Oh! We didn't do anything of the sort..." She smiles anew. "But I'm happy to know you think so!"
    
    It'll make him and SEES more pliable in the future if they've already decided they can trust them. Likewise Reiya, to whom she chuckles as he realizes what she'd been hinting at before. "That's right. You can consider this one on the house!" To Fuuka, she echoes back an effusive, "It's us!" She and Ririka are working together well, too...!
    
    Her vivid gaze settles on Myunghon, and she smiles for them too. That look of wonder is quite splendid, but... "No, they aren't here today," she tells them conversationally, almost as if reading their mind--but no; it's simply a good guess based on their previous conversations. "You'll simply have to settle for us."
    
    Yukari remarks/questions in shock about Peacock Silk and its employees' true nature. Yanagi jazz-hands one-handed across her face. "Surprise~!"
    
    So many of them are encouraging Roger the Sanguin Shadow, even as they change their focus to fire upon the Cocoon. As they do, Yanagi settles her attention on Roger for a moment, colored lips pursed thoughtfully. Having never been one for video games, most of the theming is lost on her, but it's clear that it's tailored to him. Is it enough? When she'd first encountered Roger, she'd paid him little mind, but he immediately made it clear that he's no ordinary Shadow. Will he surprise her again?
    
    However, the Homunculus is not content to just sit back and let everyone counter him. Explosions rock the Big Top, and Saika is clowned on by a clown car, a fact that gets Yanagi to gasp in concern for a moment--but Saika's much tougher than that, and she soon smiles again as her dear friend drags herself back upright.
    
    For her part, Yanagi remains on her feet, thanks to the impeccable balance of the Persona behind her; it gives her something to balance against, where she might have otherwise fallen. The Homunculus leaps down from its bobbin throne at Katsuya and Umie, snarling about how insignificant they all and in particular Roger are. One invective in particular, though, makes her burst out laughing in tandem with Pernelle.
    
    "Ahahahahah--oh, my, forgive me, but I couldn't help but laugh," she wheezes, wiping away a tear. Pernelle leaves his mirth at that, but she adds, "It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something--" She flicks her finger to one side, smiling sweetly. "--that shouldn't exist."
    
    Hazuki's Awakening had been the first Yanagi had been privileged to witness. It's no less marvelous the second time as she witnesses Roger's. She raises a hand to her crowned brow, eyes wide as countless threads cocoon around him, then part as fabric to reveal his glorious Transmutation. "Oh my!" she gasps, eyes sparkling. Her smile brims with welcome as she enthuses, "Welcome to the game, Roger!!"
    
    She, she gets it. She gets the joke.
    
    For all her taunting, though... her brilliant eyes take on a brief pity as the tides turn against the Homunculus.
    
    She gets the joke... including the punchline.
    
    As the others aim to cut down the threads connecting the Cocoon to the rest of the Atelier, Yanagi rests her hand on her chest. Behind her, Giselle continues to spin, guiding and summoning and calling back the little origami angels that spirit about on her--their--behalf. The Homunculus is in a rage, charging, racing, out to inflict terrible violence on everyone here--
    
    A delicate snow begins to fall. One flake, two, four, eight--and then rapidly onwards, until a blizzard hails down on the Ringmaster to freeze its joints and slow it down long enough for Saika to scissor her legs around its neck and Pernelle to hurl Anqa forth in a fireworks display of flame. It isn't time yet to take it out... but they'll need to keep it busy until it's time for the true battle.
    
    "Come now," Yanagi calls, delicate voice rising along with her hand. "You who should not exist--may you see red!"

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    He might be right. If they run, they might doom the young man whose atelier this is. On the other hand, if they stay, they could all die and it might amount to the same but worse. Which option is the right one to take?

    Except, it never quite comes to that.

    There's another way presented to them, right in the nick of time. Katsuya will wonder about that, later on. In the moment, there's no time to think otherwise.

    Well, except to wilt slightly at 'detective-chan', that is.

    Translocated across the field (does... teleportation actually exist??) he manifests his Persona to have at the Homunculus' cocoon. Helios in all his finery unleases shot after shot at the fragile thing. Perhaps they are mistaken. But it's too late to second-guess things. They need to act, and take responsibility for their actions--

    A grimace crosses his face as Helios is seized bodily; dashed to the ground, it vanishes in a circulating flare of blue flame. Recovering from that strike, Katsuya jabs one finger towards the being, and tells it this:

    "Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?"

    You know, speaking of 'taking responsibility' and all. Better he keep its attention towards him, and open the floor to the others!

    "We're on the right track!" he calls to the others. "Attack the Cocoon, there!" Another point of the finger!
    Though it will be those with the Personas best suited to see it precisely where it's the weakest.

    But then, Roger -- that Sanguin Humor, that Shadow, the one who had guided them through the outer limits of the Atelier, is simply swept aside and engulfed into the stuff of the Cocoon. "Wait, what's happening--"

    Katsuya will get his answer, a scant few moments from now. Humans, he knows, can have Personas. He has scant little experience with the fact that other beings can have them as well. "He-- has a Persona!" he remarks, once the transformation -- the affirmed identity -- is completed.

    "Then-- in that case, let us work together!"
    He is pragmatic about such things in the end.

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Ririka and Fuuka have talked about how their experiences with Navigator powers varied from each other. But this might be the first time they've worked on something in tandem like this, and it's interesting getting Fuuka's version of the data she's gathering within the link like this.

"Got it, Katsuhiro-san!" Ririka calls to her fellow teammate.

But Saika's curb (homunculus) stomping is cut suddenly short, and the Homunuclus grows irate, calling them out for protecting Roger. A mistake. A reject that the world doesn't care about. "HEY!" snaps Ririka. "Don't project your own issues on Roger! I'd rather hang with a guy that just wants to have fun over a guy ready to put others down!"

But she quiets down a moment later as the picture inside becomes clear. A supernatural space, a Shadow--and a person.

Yamagishi-san, so you see it? She thinks to Fuuka. That's him, isn't it? And those threads...

She hears the reaction of the crowd, too, the way they react to her song. "Amphion," she utters out loud, shifting her song on the fly as her Persona joins in on his lire. Holographic strings spring to life at the Persona's touch, providing a fast, up-tempo accompaniment to her piano-playing.

Suddenly her thoughts are shared with everyone present. We need to sever the strings holding up that Cocoon. Both sides, at the same time. You can use my song to gauge the timing. Congrats, she just added a new game to the mix: a rhythm mini-game.

But she keeps playing even as her attention is drawn to something startling. "An Awakening...?" She glances over her shoulder to behold Roger's new form--and his new Pesona--as both emerge. "I think we got room for one more," she says with a small grin. She's hoping this is a good omen, even if it's weird and inexplicable in the moment. "Roger-kun, here--" She shares about the weak points with him, too.

She keeps playing, fingers flying across imaginary keys as she keeps her theme up to try and keep swaying the audience, but as the others go in to attack, she does have something to add. "Amphion," she says quickly. "Magnara!"

A few strums and stones lift from the ground around Amphion before flying off to make contact with the threads.

<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.

It's certainly a fascinating experience on Fuuka's end, too. She's used to working with and testing audio equipment... but the data she receives from Ririka is like nothing she's seen before. It's remarkable, seeing - hearing? - things the way she does.

I do. Fuuka confirms to Ririka. Yes... He needs our help. Now, more than ever.

What is the nature of the Cocoon? See can see it, its weakness laid bare - and together, they come to the conclusion.

"...I see. Everyone! The Cocoon's weaknesses are the threads on either side! They all need to be severed at once!" Fuuka calls out, as Ririka does the same through the link.

...But another Cocoon begins to form here today. This time, around Roger.

"...What's this feeling...?" Fuuka gasps, surprised. And Roger emerges from his cocoon, changed - and Awakened.

"Roger-san... You have a Persona, too? That' s incredible...!" She gasps. He is a Shadow - and yet, he has a Persona.

How is it possible? She has so many question... But right now, they have a pressing matter.

Her attention turns back to the Cocoon that remains.

Ririka leads one group with a rhythm game.

"I'll take the other side." Fuuka says. She focuses. She hears the rhythm of Ririka's song. They need to act in unison. And she waits until the right moment, for -

"Now, everyone...!"

<Pose Tracker> Akari Hoshi has posed.

Akari isn't sure what she expected from Roger, but that is not it. She's never seen anyone come into their power with a Persona before, and she's only sorry that she does not have the attention to spare for it now.

"It's fine!" she calls back at Myunghon. "The Legendary Warrior Ixquic can handle anything! He gave me the spotlight when I came in," though they all had the spotlight, "so I'm going to steal it! A legendary warrior, aiding a new hero - more than one new hero! We'll save him - together...!"

Steering Quixote seems like it would be easy but it's actually surprisingly challenging. It takes a lot of Ixquic's focus to keep on task. And speaking of that, a hill of bodies appears in front of Ixquic.

Ixquic's response is to grin in response - slightly mad behind her helmet, not that it shows, as in a situation like this she is absolutely going to wear the whole helmet with the faceguard.

A normal person might back off. A slightly less normal but still determined person might swerve. Ixquic does neither of those. She instead raises the front wheel of Quixote and -

- drives -

- STRAIGHT UP.

So Hazuki ends up not only having a clear shot, but having a clear shot in *midair* as Quixote makes an improbable leap, slamming down with a bounce enough to nearly knock Ixquic off of her seat as they land with a loud whoop of excitement.

And at the end, even though she said she wouldn't, Ixquic raises her sword again.

"Quixote!" she calls, and Quixote raises HER sword, bringing it down in a tremendous slash!

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'STOP TOUCHING THAT.'

    "Sorry, I think I heard 'keep touching'," Umie retorts right back with a snicker, all fear gone.

    That viciously heady bragging is cut off when Umie recognizes Katsuya's Persona being snagged; her own moving alongside her as Umie dodges back, allowing hers to escape the same fate. "Katsuya-san!"

    'Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime!' If Katsuya was going to say anything, let it be that. He's definitely okay, if he's going to talk like that.

    But where is Roger? Umie's gaze flicks around, but doesn't see him, just another Cocoon--

    Umie's senses, while not as developed as the Navigators here, still catches that signal of something new coming into the battle; a 'shadow' with a Persona. "Maybe we're using the wrong terms here?" she mutters, below her breath. He doesn't *seem* at all like a Shadow.

    Meanwhile, the Homunculus has moved from his perch, and the Badb in Umie has her zeroed in on this exposed weakness in the unprotected bobbin.

    "Oopsie~" Umie taunts, eyelids lowering halfway. "So whose prophecies are garbage? Not mine. The stars are in Orange-san's favor." Orange-san being... Hazuki?? "I'll be calling your end before long, Ring-lea-der-san!" Yanagi's not alone in commenting from the sides of the battle; it may as well be one of Umie's favorite pasttimes, as long as she's not being the one focused on. (Not unless she wants it to be.)
    
    Yamagishi-- where Umie's journey to insert herself into this world theoretically began, points to the best point and time to strike.

    Given her position, Umie opts for support.

    "The end's come for you! Bloody Revolution!"

    Those who are aiming towards the threads will find the spirit of bloodshed and war sharpening their strikes, strengthening their heavier attacks, or making their magic attacks just that much more threatening.

    All in the name of excessive violence, of course.

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

The sudden shift of resonance, the sharp tug in his gut, even among the chaos draws Koh's eyes to the cocoon, mouth opening in surprise as the Shadow he knows as a carnival mascot is swallowed up.

And then he's back!

Animals and Shadows with Personas? What's next!?

But there's no time to dwell further on it when Fuuka and Ririka call out their findings and Minato gives orders.

But there's time for this: "Welcome back, Roger-san!"

They attack! Most of SEES, anyway, the threads reach heights best left to magical attackers or those like Reiya, Akari, Saika, and Pernelle. Creatures unburdened by things like gravity.

But he's not useless. Madness follows in Minato's wake. Clowns now unicycling under the influence smash and pile into each other in a heap, which might provide convenient stepping stones. "Got you covered!" And anything that draws too close to the three spellcaster soon finds a knife embedded into it.

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.

It's too funny, the concept of you railing against something

that -shouldn't exist-.

Clawing its way up its every-growing tower of interlinking clowns, the Thing Calling Itself Taro snarls out something in an incomprehensible scatter of what sounds like 'frustrated static' at the barbs Yanagi digs into its ever-fragile ego.

Homunculus! Stealing another's identity is a serious crime! Are you prepared to take responsibility!?

"No. N-no. No. This identity is mine. What crime is there in taking something that's being wasted? You're wrong. You're wrong. You're both wrong! I will exist," it huffs as it lunges across clown after clown, stomping on heads, using them as springboards for its own personal glory in the ascent towards Ixquic.

"I will exist."

        "I will exist."

            "I WILL EXIST!"

Closer and closer, it chases. The clowns all reach towards Ixquic. The Homunculus raises its baton in preparation--

--and then--

--it begins--

--to... slow...--

"What? What--" it begins, until it realizes: it's cold. Frost builds up rapidly around it as snowflakes drift, a few at first rapidly becoming a blizzard unto itself. It freezes at its joints; makes excess, cognitive moisture cling at its heels, fusing to its clown-linked ascent.

"No--!"

Clowns swipe the air futiley near Ixquic as she rises, barely missing Quixote as she ferries her magical mistress and Hazuki Nakao straight up into the air to clear the path for Hazuki's shot.

The Homunculus' frustration grows. Frost snaps and shatters. It won't hold the thing for long--

But it doesn't need to, as nuclear flame washes down like a tidal wave through that rising bridge of clowns courtesy of Pernelle and Arqa, the heat of it BAKING at the Homunculus' skin, burning at the tailcoats of their jacket as they are bowled backwards across their increasingly shrinking makeshift tower of bodies.

Ahem, as I do believe the gamers say... get pwned, noob-chan!

"Who -- even says that -- anymore--!!"

Sadly -- the Homunculus' criticisms about the most eldest of internet memes is lost within the flames, proving that if nothing else,

Pernelle truly has pwned that noob-chan.

A static roar. A gloved hand punches through the heat.

And that is when Saika -vaults- over the heap of clown bodies courtesy of the creature to -SNAG- onto the Homunculus' neck.

She keeps moving. The Homunculus tries to resist, feet digging in.

And even as it attempts to--

It can see it.

It can FEEL it.

The way Roger turns from some strange anomaly into some STRANGER anomaly, leaving the Homunculus crying out in dismayed bursts of static, "WHAT -- ARE YOU--?!" even as Saika's legs find their neck.

It can see - it can FEEL - the way the Navigators coordinate the others, one for either side of that Cocoon.

As Ririka makes a rhythm game out of the guiding notes of her music.

As Fuuka aligns her mind to direct the other side to attack in perfect sync to that rhythm.

As Umie empowers them all with the bloodthirsty power of revolution, even as the Homunculus lets out incoherent invective to her taunts.

As Koh fights from the ground, attacking cognitive creation after cognitive creation, smashing through clowns on unicycles, lions and their tamers, flame-spitting monstrosities; at one point, an entire, (cognitively) sentient strength-testing machine tries to just up and drop on him as the creations get stranger and stranger, only to be rent asunder as the weight of the thing hits the bell with a triumphant CLANG.

He keeps the others safe, while--

On one side...

Needles impale into thick, metaphysical threads. With the ignition of Kunimitsu's purple flames, string after string of connective fiber burn towards thin lines and snap.

Ririka's stones smash into burning threads already weakened by Reiya's opening salvo, snapping yet more still.

The Cognitive Coat of Myunghon Yeo forges the massive jaws of Kudlak, snapping away at -both- sides of the Cocoon, chewing away thread after thread.

And on the other side...

Minato leads the charge, a well-placed Seal Bomb bursting with kinetic force to send cord after cord snapping as the tensile force is shredded into so much nothing.

Yukari follows after, wind blades building on that weakness, Garula after Garulla snapping thread after thread.

The mighty sword of Quixote, Persona of Ixquic, Magical Guardian of JUSTICE, swings forward in a titanic slash, CARVING down what Myunghon, Yukari and Minato do not reach until all that is left are threadbare vestiges on both sides--

'I'm Roger, and I'm bringing the A-Game with everyone else here!!'

'Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!'

Between ball and bat, water and light, Hazuki Nakao and the freshly awakened once-Humor Roger launch dual, synchronized assaults on the remaining threads holding that Cocoon aloft. Light flares.

...

...

In a sea of scarlet, Taro Nakata drifts, curled in on himself in a fetal position. He can hear them. All of them. So many voices he doesn't know. Speaking... on behalf of him?

... Why?

Why...

The compulsion to shut them all out is so strong. It takes so much effort just to keep his eyes open. Isn't all life like this? So much effort. And for what?

To be ridiculed again?

To be dismissed again?

To be used as a prop again?

To have people decide his life again?

Why should he...

Nakata-kun! I'm sorry!

Behind glasses, Taro Nakata blinks once. Nakao. She said she was his friend. She never even asked. She probably just liked how easy it was to beat him, over and over. Shut your eyes, Nakata. Just let something better take over. Just--

I shouldn't have been so pushy and declared myself your friend! I never really knew you... and I insisted I did! You were hurting inside and I only made it worse...! I don't care if you never forgive me, if you want nothing to do with me, because...

let it

You still deserve to live! You deserve a chance to shine! You're a human being, through and through, and I'm going to make sure you see tomorrow...

END

UNLIKE THIS FAKER!

"NO!"

Taro's eyes fling wide.

"I want to live!"

His hand reaches out.

"Nakao-san--!!"

...

...

In the Big Top,

the last two threads snap at once,

                               "Nakao-san!!"

It happens so fast. The moment those last threads snap, ALL the threads start to recede. In Saika's grasp, the Homunculus lets out an agonized sound, and suddenly goes limp. With all her momentum, she simply RAGDOLLS the thing, sending it hurtling to SMASH into the rent fairgrounds and rebound once before rolling and coming to a seemingly lifeless, inert stop...

All around it, the grounds of the Carnival start to split open as massive THREADS of corded fabric RIP out of the ground before rapidly shriveling away, as if like an unseen infestation being suddenly revealed as it dies.

The Cocoon shakes, QUIVERS in a strangely fluid way.

And from the center of that would-be tightrope now undone, a hand PUSHES through the mass of fabric just as it all BURSTS apart.

"I want to live!!"

And in mid-air, Taro Nakata - the REAL Taro Nakata, does the one thing that could save a life in free fall:

He reaches out.

<Pose Tracker> Hazuki Nakao has posed.

Yukari says she doesn't get it. Hazuki just sighs, smiling. "You don't need to! It's for me to get."

And then, it all happens at once.

The threads snap. The grounds are shaking. The cocoon is opening.

Hazuki instinctively knows what to do. As she sees that hand destroying the fabric, she moves forward to reach out, grab Taro by the hand, and pull with all her strength.

If she can get him down safely, she will. She'll apologize again, where he can respond, later. For now...

"Nakata-kun! If you want to live, then you'll live! We'll live! That's my promise to you!"

She'd rather herself die than let him die, in this moment.

But she doesn't think either will have to happen, and so she makes a promise to that extent.

<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.

    Roger cheers in earnest as he joins the fray alongside the rest on equal... ish... footing. Even if the existential state of a Shadow having a Persona is beyond bizarre and worrisome for some - for good reason - his conduct throughout to this point should cast little doubt in the heat of the moment:
 
     This stranger to humanity is a friend, and wants to play, as someone.
 
     The other Humors - if he even truly still is one of their number - hardly seem to acknowledge or react to him in the span of time presented. The cocoon that houses the true Taro Nakata - one who was close to oblivion - is seen to freedom in the caring hands of the friend who did not give up on him.
 
     Roger gives a cheer, pumped fist, and a little circular dance as he watches the fairgrounds start to evaporate from under the Homonculus' hold... and that dance slows down, moment by moment, watching it all disappear. As he said to everyone when asked, looking up - it feels weird to look up, somehow - this Atelier already felt strange and wrong. He pinned it on the Homonculus, which made sense.
 
     For the reasserted shape and landscape of Taro Nakata's Atelier that should be inevitable, he should feel like... he knows what to expect.
 
     ...he's full of doubts, concerns, worries, second-guesses, and anxieties, even in a seeming moment of triumph. (it's very strange and foreign a sensation. thinking is hard. being someone is... something.)
 
     He snorts the once, pig-like, even in the more human-like guise of his Transmutation, coming to grips with how to express these complicated thoughts... but will he have the time to do so, in the moment?

<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.

    The Homunculus snarls in static, insisting that it will exist, it will exist, it will exist!!
    
    And that's why that pity crosses Yanagi's eyes.
    
    As wretched a creature as a Homunculus is... who can fault it the will and desire to live?
    
    "You won't," Yanagi replies, shaking her head slowly. "No matter how much you wish to live a life of your own... your wish will never come true. You poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all that is... Do you understand why? Why you will not have this life, no matter how desperately you crave it?"
    
    She stretches out a hand as if towards it--but not truly. Not while it's getting washed through with nuclear flame, not while Saika is seizing hold of its neck, not while every last thread strangling the Cocoon is severed in turn until Roger and Hazuki release it.
    
    Certainly not while the true Taro Nakata rips a hand through the strange fabric and reaches out. Not while Hazuki reaches out in turn.
    
    Yanagi levels her hand towards that, as if to put it on display.
    
    "That is why. If that makes no sense to you, then know this:
    
    "You will come to an end before you were ever truly born... without ever understanding why you failed."
    
    Yanagi layers her hand atop her other hand, on the handle of her gun-cane. This time, though, she looks at her dear friends. "Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it?" She smiles fondly. "Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3"

<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.

Yanagi's jazz-hands across her face and Yukari seems a little stunned by the flippancy of the gesture, "... Get serious." How can people take life or death conflicts so unseriously. "...It's not some surprise birthday party..."

"... Sure, alright." Yukari replies to Hazuki, remembering the times she heard Junpei practicing 'cool lines'. Maybe it's like that? Either way, the logic doesn't make sense to her.
 
Though the conversation perhaps matters little in the grand scheme of things, it does provide one thing, as they all work to sever the cocoon threads.
 
And as they break, the cocoon flares.
 
She doesn't know Taro Nakata, she doesn't know anything about him other than what she was told. She only met him with a Homunculus wearing him like a creepy skin puppet.
 
But... the others do reach out to him, and- the real Taro Nakata bursts free, "Wait... it's not his..."
 
Shadow? She was trying to say, but she's not certain what's going on, how is the real him even here?
 
Hazuki takes their hand. And she finds herself surprised, because - it was so desperate, that she was sure there was no way for them to win.
 
And, they managed to prove her wrong. It doesn't mean she thinks her logic was wrong? But - irrational confidence, irrational belief...
 
... perhaps they are what saved the day.

<Pose Tracker> Myunghon Yeo has posed.

    Saika's thumbs-up is indeed inspiring, a superstar in the midst of all the action, wearing the very words that inspire her upon her coat as she continues to get physical as, much like the rest of the Peacock Silk, she's quick to remind: sometimes... the rules are just there for your benefit.

    Don't worry, Saika, that'll leave a lasting impression on Myunghon.

    Pernelle reveals that he has a command of Gamer Lingo, much more than Myunghon can fake with their '1-ups' and 'continues'. "P-poowned...?" they momentarily stammer. You're at risk of becoming another Sassy-san at this rate, Myunghon.

    SIDEQUEST UNLOCKED: Learn Gamer Lingo from Pernelle

    But.... should you?

    Much like the last time they were in battle, Yanagi spares a moment where their eye(s) meet. But Yanagi is seemingly psychic! She's treated to a cute moment where Myunghon dead pauses for two seconds, before remarking, with just a bit of bashfulness, "I-- I was not thinking anything of the sort. Settle? I'm rather pleased to see you, and am charmed by all your powers, Yanagi."

    But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus isn't lost on them either. The concept of them railing against something that... shouldn't exist.

    ...

    Those words have a certain gravity soft belied by her levity, but Merry doesn't have time to dwell upon this at present. Because Katsuya does insist that, yes, a Homunculus can be charged with identity fraud, and will in fact be having them take responsibility for it!

    The Navigators organise the group to correctly strike at the right time, and Umie's chosen support as her choice this time -- a choice well spent, as Kudlak's very ribbons feel that much more powerful and bloody, as is befitting the legend of the vampire, under her will.

    But as their attacks work in tandem, in concordance to Ririka's rhythm and Fuuka's seeming prescience, there's a moment in which the sounds of battle are washed out, all, that they find themself distracted by something they didn't think they'd be distracted by.

    The topic of the Other that shouldn't exist is a common and extremely loaded one in media. Often manifesting as something like a demon or a youma, some silly little villain-caricature that's there for the magical girl to beat up, to entertain children for exactly 23 minutes plus an op and ed, and commercials, to something as deeply unpleasant as an author's barely veiled thoughts about who should live when and where.

    It's one thing when it's in the realm of fiction.

    It's another thing when, at the cusp of success, Myunghon is now just thinking, more than a Palace Ruler, which is someone's Shadow that will safely be absorbed back into the being it distorted from, more than the Shadows of Tartarus, which seem more like creatures of mindless instinct, more than the Demons of Sumaru, which they do acknowledge and barter with on a regular basis and thus understand them to have a place to exist in the world...

    ...

    Who is this? What is this?

    I will exist.
     It shouldn't exist.
     I will exist.
     It shouldn't exist.
     I will exist.

    They're so distracted by this they almost don't acknowledge Taro Nakata's desire to leave, to reach out, Hazuki's own imploration that if he wants to live -- then they'll live. That's her promise to him... it's a good thing that they're not being actively attacked at the moment, but their eye is cast upon Yanagi's form again.

    The thing that shouldn't exist.

    Yanagi pushes it further, bringing to words what they're silently having a miniature panic attack about. No matter how they wish to live a life of their own... their wish will never come true. A poor, pathetic creature, undesired by all... why? Yanagi answers why they won't ever have that life:

    Because of Taro Nakata. The true Nakata, reaching for Roger and Hazuki.

    It will come to an end before it was ever truly born... without understanding why it failed.

    ... then what was it???????

    Then, just like that, Yanagi sweetly cheers for bringing Tsumugi back something special.

    ...

    Myunghon allows themself a cold, terrified, timorous tremble of their body for a moment, then they let Merry force the the feeling pass, because they're still conducting combat at present. They're still on guard -- these spaces have a tendency to collapse, for starters, and they're not certain they're out of risk yet...

<Pose Tracker> Reiya Aomori has posed.

Teamwork. It's the only way to bring this battle to a close, and Reiya will do his part.

...But Yanagi's words to the Homunculus sit ill with Reiya. What is a creature that can never truly exist? What is a creature that can only take from others...?

"Did it choose to be this way?" Reiya wonders. "Or is this all it oculd ever be?"

A Shadow. A creature of pain. But at the same time... Roger.

Reiya looks to Hazuki and Taro. "A promise kept..."

"...My duty was to eradicate you," he says to the Homunculus, turning towards it. If it cannot exist...

"But I will watch your end. I will observe it."

"...If you can be nothing else, you will be a memory."

<Pose Tracker> Pernelle has posed.

Pernelle lands on a single claw, bringing the other down and sweeping both wings out as his train lowers horizontal to the floor.

"It is as she says," Pernelle asserts to the Homunculus as he rises back up to look at the Homunculus, in the wake of Yanagi's words. He has his own pity in heart and in his eyes. "Take pride in the moment you fought to break the shell of your egg... Or do not, if you acted without true pride at all."

This judgment of his own given, he turns to Yanagi. Pernelle half spreads his wings from his body and taps his clawed feet up and down in his habitual tippy-taps.

"Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?"

<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.

    The Homunculus... will never have been born, and Minato regards it, with his cool blue eyes.

    "Sayonara," he bids it adieu.

    But the cocoon unravels by Taro's own hand, and Minato watches, as Hazuki grasps his hand and guides him to safety.

    "To live is the fullest essence of humanity," Minato says, as he steps up to them, though his eyes are on Taro. "I'd like to get to know you, Nakata-kun. So..."

    So, live, is the implicit end of that sentence.

    But Taro's the one who needs to finish it.

    He will stay close to Taro, now he's broken free; he will help Hazuki defend him. Though... there doesn't seem to be anything left to defend him from, now.

    "Congratulations," he says, to Roger. And to Yanagi, Pernelle, and Saika, he looks to them, and says: "Thank you."

<Pose Tracker> Ririka Kawase has posed.

Ririka is releived to hear that both she and Fuuka have come to the same conclusion about the Cocoon. Now, more than ever, she says, and Ririka nods. Right!

It's handy, that they can both combine and split their efforts, and both of them guiding one side comes naturally.

She appreciates Koh keeping an eye on those of them not rising--literally--to the challenge of attacking the threads, though. She's rather a bit distracted, after all.

Everyone attacks, threads snap, and Ririka keeps playing until--Taro declares he wants to live. And with that, the Homunculus ragdolls, and Ririka stills her hands for a moment, letting them drop to her sides as the light from her holographic keyboard fades.

"Whew..." She starts to rub her wrists, stretching out the fingers. Hazuki reaches for Taro, and Ririka watches. She hopes Taro will feel better after this ordeal.

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as she listens to Yanagi's words. "Bring back something nice...?" she mutters to herself. Somehow she doesn't think they mean more clown skins. (Which are still a weird thing to ahve.)

But she watches the Homunculus, too. That desperate will to live... makes something ache a little. She once thought she couldn't go on... and some days she still isn't sure she can, even if she's trying. Is it cruel to deny that for someone else? She stays silent with her thoughts.

<Pose Tracker> Saika Kikuchi has posed.

 
Hearing Yanagi talk mad (and wholly justified) mess to the Homunculus brings a smile to Saika's face. It's not like it takes a lot for it to come back even as fiery incineration bursts through clowns, filling the air with the curiously grease-painty smell.

But she keeps moving. As she flies she looks back the way she came. She can see Roger but the vision makes no sense to her, not in the flashing instants that occupy her life. Others are moving. Threads tear, bite, bombed, snapped, a mighty sword smashing down on one side, water and light on the other.

And something snaps.
And something else snaps.
And the Homunculus goes from present to past tense as Saika looks down

And Saika doesn't really like it, but she can feel her mouth splitting in an enormous grin, wide enough to be slightly painful. A satisfaction that can't be beat.

After this Saika hits the ground. She has no reason to keep the Homunculus but she's kind of stuck with them for about a 180 degree rotation before the creature comes loose, unspooling apart. 720 more degrees of rotation later, Saika pushes herself to her elbows.

"Welcome back, Nakata," Saika says -- not shouts -- and she smiles, somewhat more normally.

And after that, Saika gets up and walks a few steps over, towards the others, even as the world starts to unspool around them. "You know," she answers Reiya, "I understand where that question's comin from, and it does you credit." She walks past the purple-eyed boy, giving him a brief clap on the shoulder -- unless he dodges. "Don't let 'em get to you."

Saika smiles then at Pernelle and Yanagi as they come closer. "I guess Hazuki over there lived up to her brag, huh? Pretty awesome. Yeah, let's get it over with."

It is perhaps notable that Saika has put herself between Yanagi and Pernelle and the body of the others, but that's the kind of thing *Reiya* might notice -- because she has nothing ill to say, just a smile and a brief thump of her chest at Minato. "Thank *you*. I'm not gonna say it wasn't hard... but phew! Havin' this much support makes everything easier. You guys should come by Shimokita sometime, I like the cut on your --" Saika seems to not want to commit to a word so she sort of makes a back-and-forth gesture. (Their outfits. She can probably tell the quality. Possibly a lot about the quality.)

Another grin from the stitched-face woman, and she turns to walk with the others. More quietly, only to them, she says: "Gets harder to keep track, though... would'a sucked if those clowns came from both sides. Uuugh, my shoulder's aching already..."

("And I heard your question, Pern, and I'm pretty sure the answer is 'yes they would')

<Pose Tracker> Katsuya Suou has posed.

    Can you charge a Homunculus with identity fraud? Is there a court in Japan, or in the entire world, who would or could hear that case?

    Perhaps, the logistics of such a claim don't matter in the moment. Perhaps, what matters most is the way that the Homunculus's attention is grabbed and pulled towards him, towards others to call it and its designs out and undermine its pride and sense of control. It leaves the Cocoon bared to the sights of the other Navigators and to the attacks from others who are here gathered.

    Even if. The Homunculus tries its level best to defend itself.
    Or the idea of 'itself' as a concept, at that.

    "If you desire an identity, then create one of your own!" Katsuya declares as the Cocoon shudders under the onslaught. "To resort to theft of another's-- civil society cannot tolerate such a thing!"

    ...is this really a matter of what 'civil society' wants, though...

    Yet, there, the Cocoon shudders, trembles, and rips apart. The Homunculus goes limp like a puppet with its strings cut. Here the real Taro Nakata tumbles free.

    "Nakata-san!"

    Hazuki, though, is already surging to grab his hand.

    Is it-- can it be over?

<Pose Tracker> Koh Katsuhiro has posed.

Koh watches the gathered Persona users tear into the threads, and then the result of Hazuki's heartfelt efforts.

Taro Nakata is free and the Homunculus, no matter how much it wanted to live, will not. Maybe it never even had a chance.

But, isn't that just the way it goes?

A breathless, hacking laugh escapes the boy's lips. More relief than any genuine amusement at the events unfolded.

"Guess we won, huh?" Nobody's dead, that's what's important.

<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.

    'Saika... Pernelle... it's about time, isn't it? Let's bring Tsumugi back something special. <3'
    'Quite so! Do you think they'll notice if I have a little taste first...?'

    Umie's cheshire cat smile disappears, in the blink in an eye.

    As adrenaline seeps out, the garden in Umie's heart lies still, and like weeds, paranoia sprouts and blooms.

    It's a covered path a certain creature walks down with soft footfalls, sweet and deceptive as the scent of almond.

    'You think it'll be that easy, Umie-chan?'

    Mai-chan's words could be one of her many veiled insults/encouragements, never fully leaning towards one side or another.

    Here, they just encourage doubt. "... We don't know all the rules here, do we..."
    
    Reiya's oath to watch the Homunculus's end is noted, his visit fresh in Umie's mind.

    Saika, the other part of Peacock Silk, stills Umie's suspicion of them, but her paranoia still stalks, eager for another focus.

    "...." Umie hunches down, like a nervous spring ever pulling tighter.

    It's tradition, after all: if death will not be accepted peacefully by a samurai, then someone has to come in and bring it to an end for them.

<Pose Tracker> Tsumugi Kujaku has posed.

Hazuki takes Taro's hand. It's clear from his face he really isn't sure what's happening - frankly, he isn't even sure this is Hazuki, given how she looks, and yet...

... when they finally land safely, the bespectacled boy just... smiles an exhausted smile.

Minato says he'd like to know him. Him. Taro blinks. "Um. I w-would, too. I -- I think."

But thinking is getting more difficult; it's hard to process just everything he's seeing, and yet so much of it feels so... familiar. He can't for the life of him say why; he can only focus on Hazuki's promise, as whatever strength he managed to summon up fades, and he slumps forward with a heavy exhale.

"Good... I'll... keep you to that..."

He doesn't know if this is a dream or not. But it feels...

... good. To know people want to know him. To know someone really sees him.

To know people who really care.

...
...

The Cocoon is destroyed. Taro Nakata is freed. And his Homunculus--

"no. no. no. no."

... is still here.

He's there, still wearing his face; dragged back up from his inert position, he is kneeling on the grounds of the Big Top arena as his cognitive creations dissolve all around him. The Other Shadow is bent over, face completely overshadowed and gloved hands planted on the ground.

No. Not planted.

"it's mine. it's mine. it's mine."

Clawing at it. Scraping fingers against hard earth, even as Yanagi, Pernelle and Reiya address him, until his gloves split at the seams. Until he's dragging bloody furrows into the cognitive earth.

"IT'S MINE!"

Anyone who has had encounters with a human's Shadow knows there is one thing consistent across all of them: those bright, almost glowing yellow eyes. It's been true of every Palace Ruler. Any Shadow encountered in Mementos. And it was true of Taro's Homunculus, too.

But as the former, false ringmaster of the carnival whips around to face them, face now fully painted up in exceedingly fresh clown makeup, with wide eyes unhinged in fury--

They aren't yellow.

"GIVE IT BACK TO ME."

They're a blazing scarlet.

"I deserve this life. ME. I deserve it! Why should he have it and not me?! That pathetic alsoran deserves to wriggle through life like a milksop worm, accomplishing nothing?! I'M the one that ends here?! Just some SAD MEMORY for you all to hold until your brains rot away?! I won't accept that! I should have the life he could never have!"

His arms wrap around his trembling body. Those glowing scarlet eyes have shrunk to pinpricks as he violently grinds his teeth.

And looks up.

The Flegmats in the audience, now freed from the Homunculus' influence, shrink backwards, as if sensing some horrific force on the horizon. Some of them turn. Start to flee.

"I. WILL. Have. It."

Too late.

It's surreal, the way the Homunculus' borrowed body moves. The way its mouth widens suddenly and cartoonishly like a snake unhinging its jaw. The way it inhales...

... and the sheer, sudden suction force of it creates a vortex within the Big Top. The fabric of the tent walls ripple and bend inward towards the Homunculus' inhale. Those gathered will have to fight to not be drawn in -- but they'll manage.

The Flegmats, all of them flinging from the bleachers through the air towards that waiting, open mouth... are not so lucky.

With one singularly harrowing gulp, the Homunculus swallows them all. Those red eyes blaze.

"Even if I have to tear him apart."

And everything goes pitch black. Nothing, absolutely nothing is visible --

save for the Thing wearing Taro's face, visible only as a silhouette in saturated scarlet.

                                  i am the other self

A silhouette that distorts. Distends. Shifts. Joints bending in ways they shouldn't. Body bulging in violent expansion.

Until it b u r s t s.

Light suddenly returns to the Big Top as a concealing red mist gushes outward from the epicenter of that explosion. And within the haze...

                          the you that should be

Something emerges.

Large. Monolithic, even. That's the first impression as that towering and ungainly-looking silhouette pierces through the dissipating fog of scarlet. It seems to almost... teeter into being, the sheer weight of it swaying forward before tipping backward, as if struggling with its own weight.

The reason for this soon becomes clear as that strange, blocky form emerges from the haze. It isn't a creature, per se: it's a vehicle. It looks like a tremendous palanquin or litter, fashioned out of arcade machines:

The base of it, from which the support rods extend, is a large flat horizontal arcade machine, sculpted in pure royal whites and golds.

And the 'cabin' of that litter? A classic arcade tower colored in aggressive neon green and pink, the garish colors almost evocative of old, 90s aesethetics. The screen of it occasionally flashes between scenes of what looks like samples of Night Parade fights, except distorted and somehow unsettling to look at directly. On the corner of the machine, the Homunculus' top hat hangs.

Like a proper palanquin it, of course, has guards: to anyone familiar with Night Parade, they look almost immediately familiar. Kaguya-hime. Master Koto. Nukekubi. Bakeduo-Neko, even. And more besides -- all of them looking almost like... real people, cosplaying the characters. People from -- Shujin? Anyone familiar might be able to identify them as the bullies in Taro Nakata's life.

They're all there... except for two characters in specific:

The first: Kappa. He's there -- in fact, there are -many- Kappas. Not amongst the guards -- but carrying the Arcade Palanquin, countless scaly-green, beaked, shell-bearing, sad-looking Kappas struggling and straining to support the overbearing weight of the machine carriage, all of them wearing rounded glasses.

All of them looking exactly like Taro Nakata.

And the last?

             i am

She sits on the top of the arcade tower, leaned back and one foot planted, knee-bent on the top of the tower, lounging in all her glacial splendor like royal on the throne made for her. Pale skin. Blue lips. Eyes closed. Long black hair. An outfit in purple and black, with gray jeans and high-heeled sneakers.

Yuki-Offa. Yet like the others, her facial features are more reminiscent of someone else: ... Hazuki?

This is...

                            i am the other self                            

                            u                 r                            

                            n   Nanghaithya   e                            

                            i       the       v                            

                            t    Discontent   e                            

                            e                 s                            

                            fles rehto eht ma i                            

                                homunculus



TO BE CONCLUDED...