2026-01-04: Held in High Regard
- Log: Held in High Regard
- Cast: Umie Akabane, Ren Amamiya, Morgana (played by Ren)
- Where: Mementos
- OOC Date: January 04, 2026
- IC Date: September 05, 2012
- Summary: The hunt to the mystery of Kazusa Motojima is on! Before a meet-up with Joker and Mona, Umie interrogates a poor Koppa Tengu, leading to an unexpected clue: Kazusa's Shadow is missing. Joker wonders if this case has anything to do with the newfound phenomenon of Homunculi and Ateliers, leading to a new angle to explore. However, questions still remain: what is a Mona, what do kappas have to do with anything, and can Umie beat Joker and Mona to the Mementos entrance? (Answer: No. She can't.)
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
----EARLIER----
>> hey, by chance, do you know someone named Kazusa Motojima at your school?
The text sits on Umie's phone, her finger hovering over the 'Send' button.
Try as she might, she just can't justify reaching out to Ren, who may be quite busy with school starting back up. What if he tries to investigate himself?
Whatever monster lurks inside the skin of the person named Kazusa Motojima could lash out, and, being a normal high schooler, he'd be defenseless, as will anyone that happens to be around him.
There's better ways to find out more information, beyond what she knows already.
Umie sets her phone down on the craft table, covered in paint-stained newspaper, carefully inserting a bent paperclip through the hole of a newly touched up mask, which she then hangs from a mobile to dry. The kintsugi mask will have to do for this; the fixative spray can't really be applied until the Dark Hour.
She'll just hop into Mementos a little earlier.
----LATER, IN MEMENTOS----
"Whaddaya want?!"
Remnants of ice still linger in the corridor; motes of dust float in the air, newly displaced by recent battle. The air down here is tinted with ambient miasma, coloring the light grey of Umie's jacket as she pulls the rope of her kyoketsu-shoge tight and kneels down besides the Koppa Tengu.
The winged demon struggles and wiggles as he lies, belly down, his wrists and ankles looped with a length of black rope. A lavender painted nail tests the bind; Umie's eyes briefly flick over to it, then back down, briefly nervous over the added complication of the small tengu's wings. It's just secure enough for now; she'll need to flee if she senses something else come along.
"... Funny that you're more chatty now than before," Umie murmurs--
....... damn it, is her mask beginning to slip *again*? Literally. It never fully recovered from the fight with Noriaki, and while she restringed the ties, this may be its last run.
With both hands occupied with the ring and bladed ends of her weapon, this has the potential to become very awkward, very fast.
"So. Kazusa Motojima. Does this name ring a bell?"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Umie never sends that text to Ren, so Ren never knows that Umie has already encountered Kazusa Motojima. That's fine, because Ren has already decided to reach out to Umie as Joker in order to ask her more about those other supernatural phenomena that Cardboard Dragon referenced to see if anything matches up with whatever is going on with his schoolmate. Ren... does not really want to get involved with her, but they can't really bring themself to look away if she's in trouble.
Even if this trouble apparently makes her way nicer. Go figure.
Really, though, not having encountered Kazusa since her apparent change, Ren can't really appreciate how severe it is, even with Ryuji having described it as wrong 'on a cosmic level.' Something like that sounds like an exaggeration. For all they know, maybe it isn't supernatural at all; after all, Tsubasa reported that Kazusa's been having family issues recently. Ren knows well how those can mess someone up. In case it is supernatural, though, they're out to gather information...
And that's why Joker is in Mementos today, to make contact with Umie through their own supernatural means. Funnily enough, there's no need to make use of it, because there's a commotion in Mementos. And when they and Mona track it down, approaching stealthily from the darkness in the meandering railways of the underground, there's Umie, bullying a Koppa Tengu about...
So. Kazusa Motojima. Does this name ring a bell?
Joker and Mona share a glance. A silent understanding passes between them: let's see how this plays out.
Maybe they'll find out more than they anticipated.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Like any mystery behind a locked door, all it takes is time, effort, and a means to bypass that lock.
Or, in this case, a noisy Koppa Tengu, as is the form this shadow has assumed, much to Umie's advantage.
"Do I look like a bird who chases high school chicks?!" sputters the tengu, his own faceless mask bobbing as he complains loudly. "I got taste, you know!"
The rope is pulled tight, as Umie's lips turn up in an impish little grin. "Oh? So you *do* know a thing or two. Could you tell me a little more?"
The tengu sweats. "Well, like, I'm sure if you were interested, I would've told you t'ask her yourself, but the problem is, she ain't here anymore!"
"... Eh?" Umie pauses, then, with a sharp tug on the bladed end of her kyoketsu-shoge, turns the Tengu over again. "Hold on. Run that back by me again."
"She's gone! Disappeared! Flew the nest!"
Umie's hands grip securely against the Tengu's restraints, her lips now gripped in a frown. "She was here? As in, you saw her?"
That moment of confusion is all the little Tengu needs, as one appendage remains within his control: his elongated white nose, long like a boyish puppet who's told a few too many lies.
The distended nose of the tengu's otherwise featureless mask clips past the loose mask on Umie's face, sending it flying through the air, to *plop* on the ground a few meters away.
Umie's grip on her weapon falls slack as she tries to bend back, and the wily tengu is making progress on getting one arm out, his black fingers fanning out to cast a wind spell.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
So Kazusa did have a Shadow here, but it's vanished...? Joker frowns from their hiding spot and shares another glance with Morgana. It doesn't surprise them to learn that she had a distorted worldview, but without a change of heart, how could it vanish?
The logical supposition is that maybe she did have a change of heart... but if that's true, why did Ryuji get such bad vibes from her now that she's supposedly nice?
The tengu's mask-nose shoots forward to clip off Umie's own homemade mask, and the motion yanks Joker and Mona's attention back towards the two. Umie loses control of the situation as the tengu escapes her grasp and starts to cast some stripe of Garu--
At least, until a bullet shot CRACKs through the air, grazing that long, long nose. Joker strides, slow and dramatic, from the shadows the next instant, their Makaronov trained on the Koppa Tengu's head.
"Is that any way to treat a lady?" they project, their deep voice smooth and calm. "Why don't we all calm down a moment before one of us does something they'll regret? After all..."
They smirk, and slide Umie a sidelong wink. This may or may not help her with her own fumbled mask.
"I'm curious to hear about this vanishing Shadow, too."
"And don't think you can just scamper away," Mona declares from where he'd snuck to the tengu's other side while Joker had it distracted. He, too, has his slingshot out, the sling pulled back and the shot directed right at that long-nosed mask. "Got it?"
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Definitely a mystery, and, if Umie's voice and mannerisms offer any explanation, it's not one she was expecting, either.
*BTOW*
The strangely humanoid fingers that were about to cast that Garu spell are stifled by a well-timed bullet; instead, it's now attached to that newly grazed pillar of a nose. "Owowowowow!"
Umie looks over her shoulder, blonde head no longer obscured by her hood due to the earlier scuffle. A bullet alone wouldn't be enough to confirm an identity, but she *did* expect a Joker to be here. She opens her mouth, attempting to make some quick quip of a hello, when the barest hint of warmth threatens to broach her cool, calm, collected (.... no) demeanor.
Her lips are perking up in a widening grin of her own, though; that much is clear.
.... Focusing on the gun instead helps. "I had everything completely under control up to then," Umie claims innocently, looking now to Mona, "I swear." (omg he has a slingshot she wants to hug him)
The long nose of the Tengu quivers as he stays put; Umie backs away carefully and stands, attempting to remember where her mask made its maiden voyage-- ah.
"I mean what I said!" the Tengu squawks. "Her Shadow was here, and then, a few days ago or whatever, it wasn't! I can't tell you anything else!"
"I *do* have more information than this, but both your guesses are as good as mine here." She picks up her mask, whaps it twice against her outer thigh to dislodge any debris, and fits it over her upper face, pinning it there with her elbow as she ties the string behind her head in a secure knot. "You have more experience than I do here; any of you three care to explain the significance?"
"U-uh...." croaks the Tengu.
Umie now squats besides the Tengu, grabbing ahold of either end of her Kyoketsu-shoge. "It's a shame, but I think he's tongue-tied."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
MONA IS NOT A CAT DO NOT HUG HIM HE IS NOT CUTE!!!!!!
...ahem.%T
"'Up to then' being the operative words," Joker quips back at Umie.
"Just be humble and say thank you!" Mona adds, a sharp, lopsided grin on his cartoonishly kitty face.
However, the Koppa Tengu insists that this really is as much as he knows--that Kazusa's Shadow was here, and then as of a few days ago, it no longer is. "So you claim you know nothing of why it vanished? No one approached it here in Mementos?" Joker presses. They slide a glance, no longer smiling, at Umie when she suggests she knows something more, but if she knew about this, she wouldn't have been trying to question the Shadow in the first place.
"It's strange to us too," Mona says, masked eyes narrowed. "Normally people's Shadows don't vanish on their own like that--not unless this Kazusa Motojima crossed a critical threshold and became so distorted she manifested a Palace, but--"
"Would this Shadow really claim he doesn't know anything if that were true?" Joker cuts in smoothly. After all, the two of them shouldn't know that Kazusa is acting better, not worse.
Mona, thankfully, is quick on the uptake. "Right. Unless you've got something different to say?" he presses the Koppa Tengu.
Hopefully he'll think of something with Umie right in front of him, kyoketsu-shoge in hand... but if he really insists he knows nothing, that'll say something too.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
Up to then' being the operative words.'
'Just be humble and say thank you!'
In the face of Mona's sharp (not)kitty grin, Umie makes a show of deflating, as if giving in to some cruel, terrible demand. "Thank youuu," she says, bowing her head graciously, strands of hair falling forward.
"There's nothing to be grateful for here!!" sputters the Tengu indignantly, before a half-gloved hand gently whaps the top half of his mask'ed face.
"Answer their questions, if you would," Umie directs, calmly. "They're not as sweet and humble as I am."
(she's trying to keep from smiling there and doing a terrible job of it)
Seconds later, with the mask on, Umie tilts her head towards Joker and that questioning glance of theirs.
".... Some answers demand even more questions," Umie answers towards an unasked question, as her sneakers make quiet footfalls to the Tengu's side.
"It's not like I can be sure..." Umie considers, at Mona's words. "But when she came into the Triple 7, I could feel her. It was something completely new though... like, something was *wearing* the body of Kazusa Motojima. First time I've ever encountered that. Her brother was with her."
She points the straight side of her bifurcated blade at the Tengu's chin. "Seeing someone looking scared like that... makes me pretty thirsty for answers to give them. Wouldn't you agree, Tengu-san?"
The Koppa Tengu's head quivers under the stress of three interrogators. "N-no Palace, uh. I think? That's... the question.... right?"
Umie looks over to Mona, and then Joker. "Your guys' call: let him go, or..." She ends her sentence, and goes onto the next. "I don't have the same grasp of demons here than in Sumaru City... like, are they even demons to begin with?"
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Joker breathes a faint chuckle. She might not be quite as funny as Ann, but still, Umie's so funny.
Their humor fades when she weighs in on Kazusa rather than on the Shadow. She showed up at Triple Seven and... it was like something was wearing her body? Okay. That's creepy. They get what Ryuji meant by wrong 'on a cosmic level' now. "But her brother didn't seem the same?" Joker asks.
No Palace. That's easy enough to confirm; they just have to put her name into the Meta-Nav after this. Joker gives the Shadow a curt nod.
"They aren't--they're Shadows. Though it's easy to make that mistake, considering they act more like the Demons in Sumaru than the Shadows in the Dark Hour," Mona tells Umie.
Let him go, though, or...? Joker puts on a show of thinking about it. Then they smirk and hold out their free hand, beckoning back with their fingertips.
"You've got enough money to make this worth our while, don't you?" they taunt.
...Hey, they've all got expenses to pay. Except for Mona, who is a cat and is even more of a freeloader than Ren is accused of being.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
It's true: no one can surpass Ann.
"No," Umie says, on the subject of Kazusa's brother. "But he knew something was up."
There's more to it, but as her eyes look to the Tengu, she decides it's better to wait just a moment longer.
It's a matter of curiosity, after all-- she wants to see what she'd never thought she'd ever see, years and years ago: how someone else, other than her, with a Persona, handled things.
".... Huh. Not that much different at all," she says quietly, eyelids lowering.
----
Hiding out in dead end of a room with Mona and Joker, Umie sits cross-legged on a rock, chin held in the palm of one hand. "Looking at Kazusa-san herself, she acted... normal? Like, not even 'I am trying to pass myself off as normal', but as in, 'this is who I am'." She leans back on her palms. "I can't call myself an expert on reading people, especially when I don't have a 'before' to go on."
"There were other Shujin students there as well. but the other Shujin students that happened to be there seemed to be weirded out by her, but... not for the same reasons as me. Otherwise, I figure they *wouldn't* be just gossiping openly about it."
... There was another reason that Umie wanted to talk to Joker; with the conversation briefly brushing on the subject of Shujin Academy, if indirectly, it feels like a proper moment to briefly change the topic.
".... By the way. Joker. I think... I owe you another thank you, to you and your friend, for showing up when the Old Maid attacked." Her upper body leaning forward, she bows her head in front of her. "I'll be keeping an eye on Maria Sakurai for a little longer to make sure of a few things." The solemn moment passes, and that quiet, thankful Umie soon leans back into a smirk and she shrugs. "It's not like I've done a great job of hiding my damn identity there."
They have more to get to; Maria is safe, but another monster lurks the halls of Shujin Academy.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
"He would, if he's used to her acting one way and she's suddenly acting another," Joker muses.
But that was a while ago. Now they, Mona, and Umie are seated and/or standing in a dead-end room. It's huge enough that they won't get trapped even if a Shadow comes barging in, though--they'll just have to Scooby Doo around some before making their escape.
Joker nods to Umie as she describes her experience with Kazusa--she's always so eager to talk, bless her. "You said you'd never experienced anything like what this Kazusa Motojima is before. Does that mean the rest of Cardboard Dragon has no experience with it either? Or else--Rumormonger Merry spoke of things called Homunculuses and Ateliers. Does this have anything to do with them, or another one of the various and sundry supernatural things you all have encountered?"
They don't really see a connection either way themself, but those are some of the key words Myunghon shared before. Umie can at least confirm or deny if they're relevant here... they hope.
"Normal, huh..." Mona meanwhile remarks. "It's true there's no way of comparing 'before' and 'after' for someone who doesn't know her already." Yusuke had made that very observation earlier that day over the group chat, even. "But if her brother seemed unsettled by her, that seems like a pretty clear indication that something's wrong. Unless he seemed happy about the change?"
Which is possible. Someone can be weirded out but also happy. But then, if Umie's comparison is on the mark and this isn't Kazusa but something wearing her skin... it might not matter if her family likes the new her or not.
"Hm?" Joker looks over at Umie when she changes the subject. When she makes it clear what the thank-you is for, they give her a solemn nod of acknowledgement. "Good. I'm unacquainted with that girl," aside from that one time they did a shift at Chagall Cafe Shibuya together, "so do make sure she's well." They chuckle. "I don't know why you bother. Still, to each her own." Their smile fades. "So you're aware, whatever is amiss with Kazusa Motojima, we had nothing to do with it. It doesn't sound as though she's undergone a change of heart, but rest assured, we will look into the matter."
Though if they were at least pointed towards someone(s) informed about Homunculi, the Phantom Thieves could gain more information that way... Does Umie know enough to do that, though?
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
For all that she tries to pretend otherwise, never underestimate the ability of Umie Akabane to talk (especially when that person is Joker).
"The brother's name is Kazuhiro Motojima. A sharp enough kid; if he wasn't searching for answers himself, I doubt he would have bought my excuse to separate him from his sister." She holds one knee in front of her. "His sister didn't seem to notice a thing-- not that she could exactly sneak up on me." It's not really a point she can brag over, as much as Umie'd like it to be; it was like trying to ignore a klaxon horn. "He said it started a few days ago, which matches the timeline established by our 'friend'; she was depressed over something. Then, she seemingly 'got better'."
Like a true 'Detective-san' though... Joker supplies the one consideration Umie had failed to consider.
"..... A homunculus... that's... gotta be it!" The more Umie muddles over this, the more the pieces she's gathered begin to click together. "Whatever made her depressed... something must have happened then. The reason she feels the way she does now is because it's a false self. The real Kazusa is in danger."
Which means... "Hazuki Nakao, I think her name is. She was close to the person that nearly was 'got' by a homunculus. It may be worth it to reach out to her... though I'll be doing the same, so." She shrugs. "Who knows? She may be a fan. I'm just some person who showed up uninvited."
At least it's in theme for Badb, Umie considers.
"It wasn't like it mattered up until a few months ago," Umie mutters dryly. "You think demons particularly cared who I was?" Wiggling her fingers, she continues, "I'll think of a cool name and force everyone to call me it, including you."
Her reasons, however, she holds closer to her heart: the more she struggles, the more the NWO looks her way. Would a name, or a mask, or the Badb's abilities be able to even begin to tackle on such a task?
They know already. The distance between her parents and her won't be enough to last forever, and those around her may not be so lucky, should another agent come after her.
The brief flash of melancholy in Umie's eyes may confirm that much, in the aftermath of her 'threat'.
It's wiped clean away by Joker's next words, which stiffen her expression into a frown. She wants to object.
(No, but she *did* fear they'd come after her heart once, didn't she?)
"I don't share information like this with people I dislike, Joker-san." Her lower eyelids crinkle up, lending her smile a mischevious edge, "Your group has a lot of heart... for one that claims to 'steal' them."
That may not be why he said that, at all.
She'll say it anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Kazusa and Kazuhiro... Joker senses a budding theme in family names for the Motojimas. Hopefully it's just the kids.
(It's not just the kids.)
A few days ago does match what the Koppa Tengu said. And Tsubasa said that Kazusa was having issues with her family... Presumably her brother would know something about that, but they doubt he'd tell a stranger the dirty details. But then they ask about what Cardboard Dragon knows, and Umie pounces on it. "A false self?" they echo.
"What exactly is a Homunculus?" Mona asks, paws folded. "We'd never heard of them or Ateliers before Cardboard Dragon brought them up. How's it putting Kazusa Motojima in danger?"
"You're not insinuating... it's literally taken over her body from the inside?" Joker asks slowly. "How does that work?"
Hazuki Nakao. Joker keeps their cool externally, but they know that name. She's a friend of Ren Amamiya's, after all--and a classmate of Ryuji Sakamoto's. If she's got experience with these Homunculus and Atelier things, then she ought to be able to tell for sure if Kazusa, also Ryuji's classmate, is a Homunculus. (Is? Is possessed by? Joker doesn't know how this works yet.) "We'll remember the name," they reply. They don't offer to approach her along with Umie.
They do chuckle as Umie insists she'll get a cool codename of her own. "If you say so, Umie Akabane," they tease, ever so lightly. ...Their smirk fades at that brief look of sadness in her eyes. Joker doesn't call her out, but it does shift the mood some.
But she soon recovers, and they shrug a bit, smiling faintly back. "Your high regard is a treasure," Joker jokes. "Then may we continue to cooperate."
"If we find anything out, we'll send you a message," Mona adds. "The Phantom Thieves are gentlefolk--we don't ignore innocent people in danger!"
...Even if it is someone as unpleasant as Kazusa, neither of them says aloud--but they sure are thinking it. Hell, it wouldn't even be the first time Joker's put their life on the line to protect someone they personally dislike.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
A false self. Umie thinks back on the battle with the Atelier, and the bits of logic she's managed to glean during the investigation, and the battle itself. "From what I understand, it's like a version of the self that is 'preferable', in some way. Whether it's what the person themselves think is 'better' or something else, I don't know. Eventually, that false self becomes the real one, and the original is gone." She looks to Mona. "It's not turning over a leaf, or a 'Change of Hearts', but something more like a 'changeling'. Except, instead of fairies spiriting away a human baby, it's something more grim. I doubt it's consentual, either. "
And ateliers? "You could think of them as being like a Palace, but where Palaces have a Ruler, this is a manifestation of the self. However, in this case, the old self is losing, so it's like arriving in the tail end of a regime change." Umie adjusts her mask, taking a moment to itch underneath a flared edge. "The last one was about a circus, and we had to deal with parts of that person's psyche. Or, I guess, like the 'defense system' of it. Have either of you heard of the Four Humors? They're tailored around that, which each class having a different role. I guess, it's a cognitive representation of things being 'out of order'."
Thankfully, approaching alongside Joker (or Mona) was not in the cards as far as Umie was concerned; that would add complications, especially their secret identities. "There's another person that you may want to seek out, if you can: Roger." She looks over at Mona now. "Kind of reminds me a little of you? He's a real sweetheart, and stronger than we were giving him credit for, seeing as he Awakened while we were fighting the Homunculus."
Which is a whole other bag of beans, signaled by Umie's upper body beginning to deflate with a long, long sigh. "I'm just going to let Nakao-san explain the whole 'getting into one'. It'll make Palaces look like a walk in the park in comparison, and that's saying something. And fighting that thing was just..."
Kerokero.
... Umie is covering her face at the memory. "I don't want to be turned into a kappa again...." she mourns, into her fingers.
It's... a whole thing.
---
There'll be a time and place, perhaps, for what lies behind those attempts of Umie to hide, when it seems all but a foregone conclusion.
But, seeing Joker sense that, Umie lies still on that exchange just slightly longer.
It's not that time, but she can feel thankful that her decision can be based on what is more time-sensitive, rather than because she's trying to hide something.
.... It feels... freeing.
And that may be why that smile happens when it does. She laughs. "Is that it? Well, I guess, it all makes sense, then."
'we don't ignore innocent people in danger.'
She nods towards Mona then. "Alright then. You'll probably see me around too. I'm afraid I have a bad habit of involving myself in things I shouldn't." She shrugs. "I told him things would get better, after all. What a terrible adult I'd be if I didn't at least try to make sure of it, eh? Even if I have to become a kappa again."
<Pose Tracker> Ren Amamiya has posed.
Joker has to privately admit that a Kazusa who isn't a snooty jerk does sound generally 'preferable'--even if her style of bullying didn't really hit them that hard, Kasumi did have trouble with it, and Joker doesn't like people who mess with their friends. Still, there was something to Kazusa that pulled some--pity sounds condescending; let's say concern--out from their heart. And if it's family issues, well... Those are hitting particularly hard for them right now. If this Homunculus is trying to replace Kazusa with a version of her that's more pleasing to an overbearing father or mother, they can't stand for that.
"A changeling... That sure does sound like bad news," Mona remarks grimly, meanwhile. "We may steal hearts, but we draw the line at stealing entire lives. Especially where the life of a young lady is concerned!"
Joker touches a hand to their chin. A 'regime change' is an odd way of describing a cognitive world, but if it's a person getting taken over by another version of themself, they think they get it. It probably won't fully click until they've explored one for themself, though. What are the 'Four Humors,' though?
"Oh, the four humors of the body?" Mona says with unusually solid confidence (as opposed to his brittle confidence). "I'm only passingly familiar, but it's a lot like the blood type-based personality tests that are popular in this country. In short, four bodily fluids determine the health and temperament of a person--blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. Too much or too little of any of them will make you sick, supposedly."
"...How do you know that?" Joker asks slowly.
"I... don't know," Mona admits, tail wilting.
Fortunately, Umie distracts both of them with something even stranger.
Wide-eyed, Joker utters, "Kap..."
Tail frizzing, Mona mewls, "...pa?!"
...ppappaaaa!!
Some very strange things go on in Ateliers, clearly. If Palaces represent an artistic madness, to paraphrase Fox, what will Ateliers be like?
"Hazuki Nakao and Roger, huh? Got it," Mona says. "If this Roger is anything like me, I'm sure he's quite the gentleman!"
"How responsible of you," Joker says in wry amusement at Umie's promise to Kazuhiro. "I'm sure we'll see each other soon, then."
Mona says, "C'mon, Joker. Looks like we'll have to turn back early today."
Joker nods once--then turns sharply, coattails flapping in their wake as they begin to stride away.
<Pose Tracker> Umie Akabane has posed.
"I don't remember the specifics of how a Homunculus starts, but frankly," Umie begins, looping a strand of hair back behind an ear, "the idea of it scares me. We all have 'selves' society would prefer us to be, and we may even think those are the people we should be. Maybe that's all it takes."
There's no previous Kazusa to compare it too; Umie can't assume a Homunculus is someone who is the 'opposite' of someone. "In my eyes, it's stealing someone's future. The ability to change should always be in the person's hands, even if they need a 'nudge' to do so."
Did Umie wink there? She did.
Mona's knowledge draws a grin on Umie's face, as she leans forward, settling her chin against an upturned palm. "<Correct.> Gold star for you, Mona-san."
How does Mona know that? Umie looks between Joker and Mona. Blinkblink. "Maybe he read it...?"
..... though, how does Mona.... no, more like, how does a Mona... no, nonono.
What is a Mona???
(... Besides a gentleman thief who is perfect in every way, Umie is not biased, no.)
More mysterious still is the matter of the kappa.
Umie nods solemnly, keeping a level stare back at the two of them, raising a finger and tapping it against the air with each syllable. "Kap. Pa."
.....
(Now someone needs to turn into something outrageous or Umie will look like an idiot.)
Gentleman? Roger seemed gentle, certainly, but it'll be up to him to decide what he wants to be. Umie decides to leave it in the air for now. Roger may appreciate someone like Mona, at the very least. "He's a fan of games."
"Responsible? Hah." A joke almost follows, but instead, she breathes a sigh as she stands up and stretches. "... More like a sucker for someone who looks lost."
Tapping each sneaker against the ground, Umie pulls her hood up over her head. "Yeah... I need to get back myself. If I find out anything else, I'll try to pass the word along. If you guys are getting involved... be careful, okay?"
.... She feels silly, saying that out loud. Of course they'll be fine. She has to think about herself first.
"I have one more question, though, before you two leave." She looks over her shoulder, and raises a finger. "... Which of us could make it to the exit first, I wonder?"
Sure, Joker and Mona would likely win, but why not at least open the field to the idea of a little contest?