2026-01-31: The Concerns of a Senpai
- Log: The Concerns of a Senpai
- Cast: Kazusa Motojima, Katsuko Yoshinaga
- Where: Shujin Academy, Aoyama-Itchome, Tokyo
- OOC Date: January 31, 2026
- IC Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 (Lunchtime)
- Summary: Katsuko still wants information from Kazusa, and decides to brave talking to her Homunculus to see if she can get it. (Spoilers: Nope.)
- Content Warning: Allusions to verbal/emotional abuse from a parental figure and misogyny
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
It's been a couple of weeks since the 'new and improved' Kazusa showed up for Fall Semester at Shujin Academy... and while she may be either a relief or kind of weird to the general student body, depending on their individual inclinations, for the Persona Users present, she is still a beacon of wrongness in a teenage girl's skin.
To look at her is to know that she is utterly not human, despite how she might smile cheerfully on the surface.
Today this utterly not human creature is outside for the lunch break, sitting on a bench under a tree. There's a nice breeze going, which is preferrable today to the stuffy classroom. (They are not like Gekkoukan, built only ten years ago and thus furbished with actual heatinga nd cooling.)
She has a bento box in her lap, one which seems to be arranged artfully with lots of vibrant colors, that she is eating from slowly. And in her hand is a brand-new smart phone (actually a prototype, courtesy of the Motojima Corporation), and she seems to be humming to herself as she scrolls through websites.
She's looking up fashion news and trends, if one peeks at the screen.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
It had been a while since Katsuko had spoken to Kazusa. It was, for the most part, for practical reasons. First it had been her needing to gather information on what exactly she had been confronted with on the first day back to school, and then it was due to matters concerning schoolwork itself. Those were the parts she would freely admit. However, there was something else that kept her away from Kazusa - something more instinctive, more primal, than simply being preoccupied. Kazusa - or, rather, the thing that had crawled into her body - put Katsuko on edge.
The first reason was the one that most, if not all, Persona users would have known about - the intense feeling of *wrongness* that pervaded the air whenever she was within Kazusa's vicinity. The very moment she looked at her fellow student, she could *feel* that the thing there was not human. It took Kazusa's form, certainly. It spoke with her voice. It looked out of her eyes. It gestured with her hands. But whatever puppeteered her flesh was no more human than a virus spreading into her cells was, or a parasite embedding itself into one's body.
The second was something far more personal. It was, by all accounts, a supernatural entity that she had little information on. Having not had the chance to call upon any of the people Hazuki had mentioned during their conversation at Kuroneko, Katsuko had not been able to gather information on the situation at hand, and form a plan of attack - if one was even warranted. While she would not have been going in blind, were she to be alone with the creature, Katsuko would not have had nearly as much information as she would have liked.
And she *hated* that.
However, as she strode out into the open air and caught sight of Kazusa, Katsuko did not appear to be anything but her usual, composed, self. Eyes cold and sharp as a knife's edge, her every movement seemed precise and deliberate, even when simply seeking a place to eat lunch. Watching her approach Kazusa, few would have been blamed for thinking Katsuko was the one possessed, with how much she moved like an automaton rather than a human being.
"Motojima-san." She said, inclining her head a little by way of greeting. "A pleasant surprise. I had been hoping to find a chance to speak. Might I eat with you?"
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa seemed mostly her normal self, at least outwardly--long straight black hair, but with a pink headband taht she never wore before. Her uniformis tucked i, with the suspenders, the bracelets gone.
She looks up to Katsuko with wide purple eyes for a moment. "Oh!" And then she smiles. "Yoshinaga-senpai, of course!"
She shifted aside on the bench a little to make room. "What can I do for you?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko's eyes flitted over Kazusa. Her phone, her fashion, whatever mannerisms seemed like they might be important to note, she drew her eyes to, making it seem like she was simply noticing someone's efforts with their appearance. It only lasted for a moment or two, and Katsuko was quick to nod, her own expertly-styled hair - trimmed so neatly it almost seemed to have been moulded around her head than grown - shifting a little with the emotion.
"Thank you." She said curtly. It was not intended to sound that way, but her tone sometimes came across as sharp as her gaze.
Katsuko sat on the bench beside Kazusa, and produced a bento box of her own. It was, as far as food and plastic containers could be, clinical. The box was a charcoal grey thing of modest size, its subtle branding indicating that it was of a reputable brand, touted for their durability and the quality of even their cheaper products. The food contained therein was arranged and packed neatly - too neatly, some might have said. Everything had been cut precisely, everything had been arranged to fit optimally, everything looked edible... But it lacked any soul, or artistic flair, that one might have found in a lovingly-prepared meal, or a lunch made by a student to fit their exact tastes.
Katsuko considered the question posed to her. A simple enough one, but not one she could answer with the truth. She suspected that telling the Homunculus she wanted to know what it intended to do in the waking world would go over poorly. So, instead, she decided to don the mask of a concerned upperclassman, speaking the words with as much concern as she cared to muster.
"I've heard you weren't feeling well during the break, and I wanted to ask how you were feeling." A blunt approach, but she supposed it had its merits. It showed concern if she cut to the heart of the matter, did it not?
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa was patient for the moments Katsuko looked her over. She glanced at Katsuko in turn, but not in great detail--she's wearing the uniform, she's kempt enough, she doesn't see anything that stands out...
... and she's definitely not scrutinizing Katsuko for her motives.
Kazusa's bento box has a fair bit more aesthetic appeal, but then again, she didn't prepare it herself.
(The one thing to never do, if you suspect someone of being a Homunculus, is to ask them if they are. At best you will offend them and at worst you will offend the Homunculus.)
But Katsuko mentions the summer, and Kazusa's new-found seems to falter for a moment. "Oh... well... it had some ups and downs, but..." The smile brightens again. "But that happens to all of us, right? I'm doing much better now, but thank you for asking!"
She takes a bite of her own lunch and chews on it for a moment. "... how was your summer, senpai?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko was, simply put, impassive. There was little to indicate her motives beyond what she said out loud. Her flitting eyes had only landed on details that stood out, such as accessories (or the lack thereof), while every movement she made was done so as if to minimise any unnecessary motion and lacked any notable hesitation or deliberation. She did not even have a Resonance to detect, were a fellow user in the area. She appeared as she always had - a woman with all the expressiveness of a grey rock, and all the passion of one too.
Katsuko retained that manner as she listened to Kazusa speak, her face only shifting when she took a small bite of whatever piece of her lunch she felt like eating at that moment. Were one to look closely, they might have noticed her going around it in a certain pattern, though it did not appear to mean anything beyond letting someone infer her preference of flavours. Behind the mask, her mind worked overtime to figure out how best to broach the subject of Kazusa's father. Even if it wasn't her behind the wheel, so to speak, it acted like it was human. Pushing too hard might have scuppered things before they had a chance to go anywhere.
"Uneventful." Katsuko lied. It was easy for her, to the point where she did so with the same ease as one might breathe. "I attended a few events, and spent some time with my father, but nothing much of note." Some of that wasn't a lie. She *had* attended a few events - one of which was the con that Kazusa had been at. She *had* spent some time with her father - though she was not inclined towards elaborating on that part, only raising it to see if the mention of fathers provoked a reaction. "What about you, Motojima-san? Did you do anything fun?"
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is not, in fact, watching Katsuko eat that closely. She might ask what she was having for lunch in a moment, but Katsuko had started off the topic of conversation first.
But Katsuko spent time with her father. "Oh, how nice!" she says brightly. "I'm sure he works very hard."
Kazusa doesn't even know Katsuko's father. Is this just... a general opinion she has of fathers as a whole? Is this what she thinks of her father?
There's no way she thinks that, given what Katsuko saw at the con in question. ... right?
"I didn't get to spend much time with mine," she say with a note of distinct disappointment. "Since his work keeps him really busy. But I did get to do some fun things--like I got to go see some movies with my friend Waka-chan. And that festival was nice, too, but it's too bad it got rained out..." Though she doesn't sound terribly upset by it.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Mentioning fathers didn't seem to have much of an effect at first, but as Kazusa continued on, Katsuko wondered if there was more to that reaction that she hadn't seen. She also wondered if she was simply overthinking things and Kazusa had just said it to be polite, but at the same time, Katsuko knew she'd not mentioned what her father did to Kazusa specifically. Would it have been possible to find out by asking around the student body and investigating whatever files one could get their hands on regarding her? Most certainly - it was hardly a secret, after all.
But Katsuko was almost certain that neither Kazusa nor the Homunculus cared enough about her to go to such lengths.
Moreover, the lack of reaction might have been something worth keeping in mind as well, Katsuko supposed. Kazusa's father had had a reaction that stunned all in attendance, and Kazusa's friend had not seemed to fare well after the con either. She kept it from showing on her face, but Katsuko felt a sense of consternation as she turned the thought over in her mind. If the Homunculus' perception of Kazusa's father was warped, could she be relied upon to hand over any information regarding him? Katsuko didn't know enough about the relationship between the possessed Kazusa and her father to make any judgements, but the available evidence did not look good.
She had to investigate further, and press for more information on what their relationship was like. But to ask so brazenly would have aroused suspicion at best. Her mind whirred for a moment, and she chewed slowly, pretending that her good manners were not simply a way to buy time and formulate a question in her mind.
"I remember. It's nice that they held another one, though." A remark that closed off that part of the conversation, but did not dismiss it, Katsuko hoped. Polite enough to show she was listening and had her own thoughts, but blunt enough that it did not invite much further discussion - perfect for allowing her to pivot to a different topic.
"I heard there was a convention too. One sponsored by the Motojima corporation. Did you happen to go there?" For once, Katsuko hoped that her slight awkwardness in regards to small talk worked for her, rather than against her. The question was - to her mind - oddly-phrased and a little blunt, but she was an odd woman and a little blunt besides.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
The Homunculus certainly didn't. It might be an open question whether Kazusa herself had, though.
It might be more than just having a warped perception of her (Kazusa's) father--the Homunculus' reaction to discussing fathers isn't at all in line with how Kazusa reacted to her own father finding her at the con. Namely: fear.
There doesn't seem to be much of that fear in her at the moment, though.
They held another festival. "Yeah, but..." Kazusa looks down at her bento box for a moment, poking at it with her chopsticks. "... I wasn't feeling well, so I couldn't go."
But she pauses when Katsuko brings up the convention. "... probably. Our family's company sponsors a lot of events, you know? Or they provide equipment for them to use, so..." She tries to put on a smile, but this one is faltering. "... wouldn't surprise me."
Kazusa freezes at the next question. 'Did you happen to go there?'
She keeps her gaze resolutely on her bento box, poking it with her chopsticks."... no," she says quietly, in a blatant lie. "... they're not really the type of thing my father approves of, even if they're good for the company."
It's a a blatant lie, since Kazusa saw her there, but what's more, the undercurrent to her words is a mix of sorrow, regret, and shame.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
A faltering smile. A frozen expression. A bare-faced lie, delivered with a sorrowful tone that all but begged Katsuko to dig further in. What exactly did the Homunculus think of Kazusa's father? How did it act around him? What made it spit falsehoods out, and in such a tone? Katsuko's mind buzzed with questions, each one declaring itself more pertinent than the last, until she took a moment to assess the situation and think rationally about it. Again, she pretended as though Kazusa's answer had fallen into the middle of Katsuko chewing on a morsel of food, despite her having timed it thus to give her a crucial few seconds to consider what came next.
"Does he not?" Asked Katsuko, her brow arching some fraction of an inch. It was the closest thing to a quizzical look she could manage, and as much as she was willing to risk feigning. Anything more, she feared, would come across as disingenuous. It was as much a request for confirmation as it was her subtly hinting that she wished for Kazusa to elaborate. Whether that hint would be picked up was another question entirely, and not one that Katsuko dedicated much thought to. Not when she tacked another question on. "What about you?"
Katsuko knew, of course. She'd been there. She'd seen the costume and the routine, she'd spoken to Kazusa's friend - she knew well that Kazusa had at least *some* interest. But it was not about ascertaining that. She wished to poke and probe, and see just what information - if any - could be gleaned from the monster using Kazusa's body. However, it had already begun to show itself as something unreliable. Katsuko feared that, despite it being marginally more pleasant to deal with than Kazusa herself, it would need to be disposed of.
And such a task would require her to tell Hazuki she'd been wrong, and that she wished to help - a prospect that was arguably worse than any life-threatening situation.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Katsuko asks about her father. "Oh, well, you know... he's so busy with work and all. But... I'm going to start focusing on my Rhythmic Gymnastics more, and he said he would try to make it to one of my competitions!"
That skill that she had tried to harnes for her own, unapproved interests... would she really be willingly leaning into it so much so now?
IOs that really enough to bridge the divide between father and daughter?
But Katsuko asks what she thinks, and Kazusa shakes her head a little. "My father says they're a waste of time for someone like me. I have to start thinking about my future, like with focusing on my rhythmic gymnastics."
Kazusa and Wakana must have spent months on the cosplay, to say nothing of the routine they coordinated. Why would she suddenly think it's a waste of time now?
However Katsuko feels about what she says, it may not be good news for her anyhow--Kazusa, or at least her Homunculus, seems willing to fall in line with what Kazuki wants.
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko was not an expressive woman. The extent of her emotions was usually a slight twitch of her lips, or her brow shifting a hair's breadth in one direction or another. But when she heard the question being avoided, and noticed Kazusa simply deferring to her father without offering an opinion of her own - despite being asked for it - Katsuko could not help but twitch her lips into something that vaguely resembled the beginnings of a frown. Not because the question hadn't been answered. The possessed Kazusa parroting her father's thoughts, eagerly or not, said enough that her distrust of the Homunculus was all but cemented in that moment. It was the idea that a potential avenue for information had been cut off from her, and she would have to risk her life to take it back.
Katsuko was only interested in Kazusa's relationship with her father insofar as it affected the ways Katsuko could try and pry information from Kazusa. But even she had to pause as she digested all of the information she'd been given. She'd heard rumours of how hard Kazusa worked at her craft, and seen the proof of it at the con - seeing it twisted into a tool to please her father was... unpleasant, she supposed. She could not dream of her own father - for all his faults - doing such a thing to her, and the thought alone left a bad taste in her mouth.
Rumours... Katsuko was reminded of one, in that moment, that might have been able to get Kazusa to keep talking. To say more, or shed more light on how best to approach things. She'd already decided that she did not trust the Homunculus, but any additional information could be useful in ascertaining how best to do away with it.
So you won't be going to any more cons?" Katsuko ventured, letting the question hang in the air for a moment before speaking again. "Sorry. I didn't mean to assume. I'd simply heard you were at Level Up."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
A Homunculus actualizes some version of the person that they possess that never came to be. This version of Kazusa is certainly far, far different from the Kazusa that was... and it might be clearer and clearer what this version's values are.
Or rather, whose values she reflects.
It wasn't so much a rumor as Kazusa and Wakana talking (sort of) openly about the effort involved in their cosplay. But the rumors floating around school about how Kazusa got caught at a con are still useful cover.
Kazusa tenses up again as Katsuko brings up the convention, looking away. Her mood dips once again, and it doesn't rebound as quickly this time. "... yeah, I was there, but... it was a mistake. I shouldn't have gone.
Dropping a club during a routine is a mistake. Spending multiple months on a costume and routine... can hardly be considered just a 'mistake'.
"It was childish of me to go," she says. "I need to be more responsible and think about my future, and my image..." She looks up to Katsuko with a chagrined smile. "Besides, it's not really proper for girls to be interested in things like video games, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko was not a tailor. She was not a gymnast either. However, she understood the effort that went into a routine like that. She was familiar with the time and energy and passion that went into crafting costumes like the one Kazusa had worn that day. She knew artistry, and devotion to a craft - and she knew that what Kazusa had done that day was no mere mistake. That alone would have been enough to cause her lip to twitch in frustration, but Kazusa carried on, and Katsuko's fingers twitched upon her chopsticks just a little more harshly than usual.
"A lot is not considered 'proper' for girls." Katsuko forced herself to say. It was a vague and noncommittal response that only sounded like agreement when it wasn't thought about too hard. Yet even that fence-sitting reply caused Katsuko's lips to tighten a little, and for the feeling of rising bile to prick at the base of her throat. She managed to look Kazusa in the eye while she said it, but anyone sharp enough would have noticed that she could only do so by forcing herself to look forward. They might have even made a note of the shifting in her expression, as subtle as it might have been.
"But I think we are all allowed to indulge in a little childishness if it does not get in the way of our future and responsibilities." Katsuko said, unable to completely stop herself from biting back at Kazusa. "I can't say what's best for your future, though. That's your decision."
Unwilling though she was to argue with Kazusa's Homunculus openly, she allowed herself to indulge in the childishness of a jab at Kazusa's father as well.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is not going to think about it too hard, sadly. "I know you'd understand, Yoshinaga-senpai!" They are of similar stations, after all, both daughters of wealthy corporate families.
But Katsuko continues, and the monster that is pretending to be Kazusa looks up to her. She shakes her head briefly. "No, I... I wasted too much time on frivolous things. I'm going to have to work really hard as it is to make it with my rhythmic gymnastics."
<Pose Tracker> Katsuko Yoshinaga has posed.
Katsuko did understand. She did not, however, approve. What her father did had put a roadblock in her plans, and for a reason Katsuko did not find to be acceptable in any capacity. Similar though their stations may have been, she could not help but wonder what other differences lay in their upbringing. It was a question that only lingered for a moment, however, as Kazusa's other response caused her to stop, think, and wonder just what exactly the thing piloting Kazusa's body thought and felt.
"I hope you can continue to pursue your passions, Motojima-san." She eventually said. Another vague sentiment, given with a flat tone and unassuming expression. It was about as close to encouragement as Katsuko was willing to get for a person she wasn't sure could even hear her.