2026-05-05: I Forgive You
- Log: 2026-05-05 I Forgive You
- Cast: Jun Kashihara, Maya Amano
- Where: Alaya Shrine
- OOC Date: May 05, 2026
- IC Date: November 04, 2012
- Summary: Jun and Maya climb Mt. Iwato to find forget-me-nots, the flower Jun believes the spirit of the Purple Mirror desires. On the way, they find a different blue flower--the nemophila, which in the language of flowers means 'I forgive you'...
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
It's been a couple weeks or so since Jun investigated the rumors about the Purple Mirror with Maki and Akari--and only about three weeks since Tatsuya Sudou perished aboard the zeppelin and Jun set the lilac he'd once given him upon him as a memorial, leaving them both behind. During his investigation, a florist told him there's a flower on Mt. Iwato that would perfectly satiate the spirit of the Purple Mirror...
At the time, Jun went inside Mt. Iwato, not atop it, where flowers would grow. Now, on a Sunday at the tail end of the season where flowers can grow, he's made his way to the foot of the mountain, dressed in his favorite green pinstriped button-up shirt (light enough for summer, long sleeves for spring and autumn!) and black slacks. There is no flower set in his breast pocket to replace the one he left behind. None of the offerings at his usual flower shops have felt right.
That is, of course, the Alaya Shrine. He stops before it after passing through the torii and gazes at the wooden structure. It's not as strong or nearly as agonizing as it was before, when he came to investigate, but... there's still a painful ache in his chest, just being here.
Why...?
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
When Maya was a child, she and her father visited the Alaya Shrine frequently. Those visits stopped after his death, but started up again once Maya moved back (though only really on holidays). But ever since their encounter at the Sanitarium, she found herself visiting more frequently. She had just finished a prayer at the altar and was on her way to the exit when she caught sight of a familiar face.
"Jun-kun~" Maya calls out in sing-song, clasping her hands behind her back. She leans forward and smiles, a faint breeze catching her hair. "What are you doing here? It's a little too late to be saying your prayers for midterms!"
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Considering it's a shrine open to the public, the fact that there's someone else here hadn't struck Jun as odd, so between that and the feeling that ached in his chest, at first he hadn't so much as glanced at Maya's back as he approached. However, she now calls to him, and he blinks down at her in surprise.
"Oh! Amano-san, how wonderful to see you again," he replies, smiling reflexively back at her. Something about her is just so soothing to him. He doesn't get that sense of déjà vu from her anymore, not since he awakened to Argeiphontes, but she's just such a cheerful person that he can't help but be cheered by her presence in turn.
Consequently, he chuckles at her question. "Oh, no, I already did quite well on midterms. No, I'm about to head up the mountain to look for some flowers before the season's done." His smile fades. "Have you investigated the rumors about the Purple Mirror yet? It's in regards to that."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Maya brushes a strand of hair behind her ear. She's not surprised at all to hear that Jun was at the top of his class rankings. He definitely gave the impression of being a bright kid right from the first time they met -- and he's never proven that wrong since.
"I have, but what does a flower have to do with it?" Her eyes narrow slightly, glinting with a playful mischievousness. "Don't hold back on me!"
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
So she hasn't heard. That makes sense; Jun only found out because of--well, he's about to explain it.
"When Sonomura-san, Ixquic and I investigated, we ended up at a local flower shop. While we were talking to the florist there, she said she knew of a flower blooming on Mt. Iwato that would capture the Purple Mirror spirit's interest. Mt. Iwato has an interesting clime that allows flowers to bloom out of season on top of it, so I believe she meant the forget-me-not," Jun replies.
Maya, being conversant in flower language, would know both the obvious meaning of the flower--'don't forget me'--and the lesser-known one--'true love.'
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Maya nods, an almost comically serious expression on her face. "Team Whoop-Ass had their own investigation, too." That actually led them to the same store, in fact! So they both seemed to have the same intel!
"You know about flowers, too, don't you?" Jun's fascination with flowers hadn't gone unnoticed by Maya. "Do you want any company? Between the both of us, we should be able to find a forget-me-not easily!"
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"Yes, I'm well-versed in them and the language and symbolism that represents them," Jun replies, smiling again. A beat. "...'Team Whoop-Ass'...?" But then he shakes his head slightly. "Company sounds lovely, thank you."
He looks back towards the Alaya Shrine. "...There are demons and Shadows inside there, after all. There may be more atop Mt. Iwato, too." He smiles back at her. "Shall we go, then? I believe there should be a path up the mountain behind the shrine."
Sure enough, there is a stone path well-obscured behind the shrine that leads up the mountain. It's steep, and there are no handrails, but it's better than no path at all.
The clime atop the mountain is unseasonably temperate, and nice and warm. (It may become apparent why Jun decided to wear season-friendly clothes.) The higher up they go, the more flowers there are in bloom in between copses of trees--at least to a certain point. After that, it changes to barren rock, as it often does for mountains, but neither of them are going that high up.
"Have you been investigating anything else lately, Amano-san?" Jun asks as the two of them climb, looking back and forth in search for spring flowers. He wants to ask if she's seen Tatsuya at all since the zeppelin went down, but... on that mark, he holds back.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Not really," Maya admits. "The Joker Investigation was my focus for so long now. But if I am going to have any hope of becoming an investigative journalist, I have to fish up new stories to dig into. If you hear anything good, you'll let me know, right?"
Maya grins.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"I understand. It was such a big case, and it all came to a halt all of a sudden... I imagine you must be working on your articles," Jun replies. When she grins, he of course smiles back. "Absolutely. We Persona Users should do all we can to cooperate with and help each other."
Those Persona Users who aren't part of a conspiracy, anyway. That thought once again makes his smile fade--but there's an adjacent thought there, and he focuses on that instead.
"By the way, you saw the news spot with Long Wang Chizuru about how there's supposedly more than one Joker Killer, right? Considering that voice we heard as the zeppelin went down, what do you think that means?"
[OOC] Jun Kashihara says, "blu-ray Wang Long Chizuru"
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"I did, but to be honest, I'm not sure if it's true. There's been a lot of rumors about the Joker Killer over the last few months, and there's been a lot of false leads. Plenty of people have made up stories, just for the attention."
Who knew that people would go on the internet and tell lies?
Maya rubs the curve of her ear. "Maybe I should see if someone can get me in touch with her..."
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Who would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?
"Neither am I. I truly hope not," Jun admits. "However, Wang Long Chizuru is famed for having extremely accurate fortunes. Even if she were making it up, the public has enough faith in her that it might well become true."
He has a nasty feeling it is true, though. That voice--Tatsuya's voice--that emanated from the remains of the JOKER Persona...
The fear has been spread. The Joker... won't die!
...That alone makes Jun believe it's probably true--that whatever god or demon was behind Sudou sent that energy into the world, and Wang Long Chizuru picked up on it through her fortune-telling and, in her efforts to warn people, inadvertently spread it. Why else would she announce what she did only after Sudou died?
Maya suggests speaking with her directly. "That's a good idea. I'm sure she could give us more insight," Jun muses. "I believe she was interviewed at Sumaru TV, where my mother works. I could try asking if she could introduce us to her? Or even just you. You are the reporter; she'd have more reason to meet with you than me."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"You think you could do that?" That definitely would make things a lot easier -- some of Maya's contacts required a lot of massaging before they were willing to stick their neck out for her. "That'd be a HUGE help!"
It's then that Maya catches sight of something amongst one of the large swaths of flowers between the trees. "Ooh! Hold on a second!"
Maya scrambles into a mess of flowers and plucks one. When she turns around to face Jun, though, she's not holding a forget-me-not.
"You know this one, right?" She offers it to Jun and a tingle of déjà vu traces its way up her spine.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"Absolutely. You helped save me before from Sudou-san, and this is for the good of everyone," Jun replies firmly. "My parents aren't aware of the supernatural, but Wang Long Chizuru is popular these days; Mother wouldn't think anything odd of a reporter wanting to meet her." He smiles again. "And I have something of an interest in Wang Long fortune-telling myself, although I prefer astrology."
He pauses, footfalls halting on the stone stairs when she all but dives into a patch of blue flowers. Easy to see why--they're baby blue, with a light-colored center... Even before she plucks one and holds it out to him, though, Jun can see it's not a forget-me-not. It's...
You know this one, right?
Jun accepts the flower and breathes in its scent. A shiver runs down his spine, but that's all. No flashes or feelings like he should remember. Argeiphontes is doing his job well.
"The nemophila. In the language of flowers, it means 'I forgive you,'" he murmurs. "Not what we're looking for, but... a beautiful flower nonetheless." He pauses. Then he looks over at her. "Why did you choose this one, Amano-san?" Maybe she just mistook it for a forget-me-not--they do look a little similar--but if it isn't that...
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Jun is right all around -- a reporter chasing after a big name like Wang Long Chizuru was natural. Especially when that reporter was the writer for a teen magazine. Fortune-telling was all the rage now among the junior high and high school demographics.
But Jun being interested in astrology? That comes as a surprise to Maya! She'll have to ask about it later. For now, she should focus on answering his question instead of bombarding him with some eof her own.
"I don't know," Maya admits. She had been drawn to it, almost as if by some supernatural force. "I guess I just felt that it suited you!"
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun slowly twirls the nemophila between his fingers, absorbing this answer. Tatsunoshin Suou, Maihime Amano, and Junnosuke Kuroda... Those had been the names on the little Shinto shrine Umie and Tamaki had showed him on Mt. Katatsumuri. Before then, Jun had felt as though there was some kind of unknown past between him and Tatsuya; it was only then that he started to suspect that perhaps Maya was involved too.
If Tatsuya saw him accept this flower right now... what kind of face would he make?
Still, Jun smiles. 'I forgive you'... It's a heart-warming message. Perhaps the so-called Other Side wasn't quite as terrible as he's been led to believe. Perhaps there can be absolution for an innocent sin.
"Thank you, Amano-san," he says softly. "I'd like to think it suits me, too." He affixes it to his breast pocket, as he's done so many flowers in the past; no doubt Maya remembers that he used to wear a variety of different flowers, including a yellow lily. Gently, he caresses the tips of its petals with his fingertips; then he smiles up at her. "How do I look?"
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Maya claps her hands together. "Very good," she says in accented English. "Maybe you should wear one on your next date!"
Had he seen Tatsuya since the incident at the museum, though...? Tatsuya disappeared almost immediately and she hadn't heard anything about him from Katsuya since.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Pink rises in Jun's cheeks, and he brushes his hand back along his silky black hair. "O-oh, thank you--but I'm not going to go on any dates anytime soon. I don't have a boyfriend," he explains.
He understands why Maya said that, though, so... his brown eyes flick to the ground between them, a bittersweet little smile curving his lips. "...Although I wish it were otherwise, Tatsuya and I aren't... together," he murmurs. "We simply shared a promise... that's all."
Well. That's not all, Jun is sure. However, he respects Tatsuya's wishes and will let it be.
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
Maya turns to continue down the bath, her eyes scanning the patches of flowers for some sign of their target. Nothing yet.
"Have you heard from him at all? I know Katsuya-kun won't admit it, but I'm sure he's worried about his brother." More than sure of it; she was positive!
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun follows after her. They have to remember why they're here--but he must admit, it feels good to be wearing a flower again. He's gone without for far too long.
That's one thing that feels good, at least. "I'm afraid not," he says reluctantly. "I doubt he would reach out to me unless absolutely necessary, however. Most of the encounters we've had have been a result of some catastrophe."
Most? Is it most, even? Isn't it 'all'? Jun realizes he can't think of any run-in the two of them have had that wasn't like that.
"I'm sure he is. He seems to care about him a lot. However... Tatsuya seems to not return the sentiment," Jun adds. "Please don't tell Suou-san I said that. I've already mentioned as much before, and it upset him."
<Pose Tracker> Maya Amano has posed.
"Don't worry -- my lips are sealed." Maya pantomimes zipping her lips shut. "If you do hear anything about him, let me know. Tatsuya-kun seems wrapped up in everything I get wrapped up in too." Plus there was that persistent, strong feeling of déjà vu she got around him. And the bruise on her chest that seemed to ache more when she was around him.
"There's a lot more flowers up here!" Maya says cheerily, before the conversation can get too gloomy. "If we don't find the forget-me-nots here, there might not be any."
Whoops, that wasn't very positive, was it?
"Let's give it our best, okay?"
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"I will," Jun promises. If his hunch is correct, then she's just as involved in this as he is. She has a right to know, just as he'd want to know if their roles were reversed.
She points ahead to another flower patchy, and he follows where she indicates. "Ah! So there is. Let's take a look, then."
It might not be that positive, but it is realistic. Jun appreciates that. Still, he'll have faith. There was a nemophila, and it and forget-me-nots are both spring flowers. If it was here, surely they'll find some forget-me-nots too.
'Don't forget me'... and 'true love.'
"Yes, let's!"
And in that sea of flowers, they do indeed find a large patch of forget-me-nots, blooming as sweetly and fragrantly as if it were the middle of April. The weather up here truly is mysterious. There's no need to pick them immediately, but once they're all ready to deal with the Purple Mirror, this will be a good place to return to.