2026-07-09: Struggling Together
- Log: Struggling Together
- Cast: Minato Arisato, Yukari Takeba
- Where: Iwatodai - Subway
- OOC Date: 2026-07-09
- IC Date: Fri Dec 07 2012
- Summary: Yukari finally opens the discussion on how Minato's doing, after the incident at Aoba Park. Both of them are struggling, but at least they're struggling together.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
There have been so many weeks of Yukari Takeba not talking about things other than small talk, that the moment where she does- might be notable to Minato.
It's in the strangest time and place too. They both have a seat on the Monorail together, her bag upon her lap as one does in a crowded train to keep close track of it.
She'd been fidgeting a lot, as they both wait for it to take off. Until finally- she cracks with a sigh.
Minako had noticed- she'd really hurt her by avoiding her...
"Soooooo..."
Pause.
PAUUUUSEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
PAUSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
"... about what happened in Aoba Park. How are you- feeling about that all- you know... a guy who claims to be a God coming for you? I wasn't able to see- most of what happened."
Because she was knocked out immediately. Because she was utterly useless, when trying to protect him and return the favor. Because she's weak- when she needed to be strong.
Minako insists otherwise, but- it's hard to feel otherwise.
It's an odd time to strike up a conversation about this, but on a crowded Monorail, nobody is going to hear it- and if they do, they'll just assume it's two kids talking about an anime.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
It's rare as hen's teeth to get a seat. Mostly, there are disabled people or women carrying babies who get these... or people who just aren't paying attention.
Generally, that last one is Minato.
He sits quietly, looking into the middle distance at nothing in particular. What thoughts are crossing through his strange mind...? What innovations is he plotting?
Soooooooooo...
The gear chunks. Chunk -- chunk -- chunk. Chunk... ding!
Yukari's calling...!!!
And so Minato blinks, that vague not-quite-here expression dismissing with the gesture, as he turns to Yukari and tilts his head. "...?" He prompts, with a wordless hum, to explore what she's thinking about.
"..." Minato frowns, though it's as subtle as any expression on his face. "I was worried about you," he answers, a moment later. "That man... whether we call him Hisataka Shinjo or Takahisa Kandori, he was merciless. And, my sister... something happened to my sister." He doesn't know...?
There's a twitch, to his frown. "... I think about what could have happened to me sometimes, too," he admits. "I don't think it would have worked out very well."
And the prize for understatement of the year goes to--!!
... but maybe even understating it is a feat, when you're Minato Arisato.
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Yukari wonders how much Minato has been dwelling on this subject, it's hard to tell, with how he acts. Maybe it's just her who does this.
Maybe she's the only one who overthinks things, turning them over and over in her head like a perpetual anxiety machine.
When he responds, she tips her chin slightly to agree, her brown eyes watching his face.
"... Yeah..."
He doesn't know? He really doesn't?
She's silent, listening to him- "Well, I'm glad you weren't taken." She offers, as something. "I... really don't want to know what would have happened, I guess."
All the strangeness she's seen behind the NWO- a man with the power of a God having Minato in his custody. She shivers a tiny bit- but it's winter.
Of course she's going to be a little cold, she's almost always a little cold.
"... Well from what I heard- it was like... that night, where you used my Evoker for the first time." She lets those words leave her mouth gradually, like it was difficult for her to speak on it.
"And what came out- was similar to that, right?"
Her eyes remain on his face, seeing if he actually remembers- or doesn't remember.
It's difficult for her to remember that night. It's when she first became fascinated with him. But it's also the first time she was really made to feel like...
... like...
... how girls are supposed to be, protected by guys. It was the first guy who'd protected her since her Dad, since she refused that kind of protection.
But when it came down to it, he picked it up, and protected her...
... and she still feels like there's nothing she can ever do to return the favor...
... she'll forever be a girl that needs his protection from the world. Shouldn't she be fine with that, as a girl? Just like most girls are.
Shouldn't she?
It still bothers her that she doesn't know.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Minato's been thinking about it a lot. It's just... there's also a lot of time where he's not thinking about anything. Those are the times when he goes through the motions, like he's ten metres deep and the world's muffled by the music through his earphones.
He slips one out of his ear to talk to Yukari, though.
After all, it's Yukari, calling.
"Part of me is curious," he admits. "But... I'm worried it's something I wouldn't come back from."
His brow knits a little more, as she talks about -- the first time. "Mm," he hums, through lips pressed together, as those gears in his brain strain against the numb forgetting. Back then, the anger which poured from --
-- his eyes widen, just so, and then grow lax; the tension falls from his lips, too.
Ten metres deep, he says: "Yeah. Something... happened."
And he's not looking to Yukari, as he says it.
"So, something... happened. Something..."
He looks up, into the carriage. "... I wonder if that's fine."
Perhaps there are still things Yukari's more capable of seeing...
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
Leave it to a Wild Card to be underwater in the Sea of Souls- most of their existence.
"... Yeah. Or... worse, maybe you would."
Perhaps she doesn't need to explain why that would be worse. She doesn't trust what this kind of science can do to people.
The way he comes back, might be worse than death.
A fate worse than death is hard for Yukari Takeba to imagine, but imagine it she does.
"We won't let that happen to you, either way." She says with a raw sort of conviction held in the words. It's hard to imagine what she could do against a God like that, but do it- she might.
And she's just watching his face, his expression, in the way it looks like he woke up from a long sleep, before being lulled back to being ten meters under.
"Well..." She struggles to articulate a response to it, if he's having a hard time remembering, should she push? "... what happened saved me, back then, because you were there."
She admits, her own weakness.
"And what happened with Minako-chan, saved you- because she was there."
As she admits, her helplessness.
"I'm not sure if it's fine, or what it is- but-" She looks forward, feeling self-conscious, is this an admission of defeat? "-I am grateful."
No. It can't be. She'll find a way to return the favor and protect him back from what is coming. She has to.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"... I wonder if people come back," Minato says, thoughtfully.
He doesn't know how close he is to it, of course; he doesn't connect the health check-ups Kirijo offers them with that kind of thing in the slightest.
He doesn't know where to look... or what certain boys are leaving unsaid.
He doesn't know where that strange foe of his came from, either.
... and yet, despite knowing nothing, he wonders.
But that conviction -- it drags Minato to the surface, if only for a few moments, to look to her and find her eyes again. "... I believe you," he says, quietly. "When you protected me... you were fighting for me, and... if it hadn't been that man, it would have gone differently."
There's a little shake of his head. "... I would have been the one collapsed, if I'd gone first instead. Even Kirijo-senpai... I don't think any of us could have ended it that quickly." Even Mitsuru, whose ferocious power is legendary amongst them...
"... even so, you didn't hesitate. I'm grateful."
He can worry about her, too -- but he can't tell her not to throw herself into danger. Not when they're so alike... there's no way.
And it's a bit of a shift, there -- from them all to her. Of course, saying they wouldn't let that happen is just as true: he remembers Mitsuru's stand, alongside all the others'. He is grateful to them all... but right now, he's talking to Yukari.
Yukari is grateful, too... and Minato tries.
"Something... powerful," he says, with a moment's pause between the words. "Something that's inside us... me and Minako-chan. It's... weird, right? Even with the 'Wild Card', it's strange I had the power to take on a Full Moon Shadow alone... but I couldn't let you die. I knew that for sure."
He hums, looking down to his lax hands, folded on his knees. (He's keeping them together. He's on public transit! No need to be boorish!!) "... I'm a little scared," he admits. "Because it feels like losing control... and... what came from Minako-chan was powerful, wasn't it? If it's like that... I wonder what would happen if there wasn't a powerful enemy drawing attention. Why do... we have a power I can't look at directly? Mm."
He shakes his head. "... I wonder if Shinjo-san knew about it, too," he says. "I don't know how he could... but if it was just the 'Wild Card' he was after, that's not a power only I have. And if it's that... will Minako-chan be okay, now he's seen her do... something like that?"
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"I don't know if he's really a god or not but-" She stretches out her legs fractionally, so as not to bother anyone, her chin looking up to search for answers beyond the metallic lid of their train.
"-if he is... I'd say there's a chance they can. According to... everyone else, he died- and is back."
So there's nothing saying he can't do the same for someone else, she doesn't say, but she doesn't need to.
'When you protected me... you were fighting for me,'
"I didn't though." She says so softly, as to nearly be inaudible, as her eyes fall towards her bag.
'I would have been the one who collapsed, if I'd gone first instead.'
'... even so, you didn't hesitate. I'm grateful.'
It's all complimentary, in all the ways she'd want to hear- unfortunately, she doesn't feel worthy of them.
"I... didn't really do anything." She says, a little more audibly now. "I tried but-"
'I failed' she doesn't say, unspoken.
"It was more like, you protected me, really. The fact that I woke up at all." She adds, not quite in the realm of being 'upset' at him- instead it's directed inward right now.
"Me not hesitating- it was more like something Junpei-kun would have done." She looks away, "Kinda dumb, really. I'm not- that kind of fighter. What did I expect to do shooting a guy like that with a bow and arrow?"
In truth, she panicked more than anything, at the thought of him being taken somewhere where SEES could not reach him.
It was desperation.
"'Wild Card'." She echoes, from his explanation, "Even that night, you had more than one Persona in there."
In his head, she means? Psyche? Consciousness?
"It gave you the power to save me... I've heard more than one person say it, outside of SEES. Even if you're special though- it doesn't make sense to me. According to what everyone else said- he only wanted you, not Minako-chan."
If it were just the Wild Card, then why only him? Why not 'Joker'- or Maya Amano, or Minako.
"I don't get it really."
Bu he admits he's scared, as she looks at him, surprised, before, nodding, "As powerful as- what came from you, given what people said. But- they also said he just- he treated her with so much contempt. I wouldn't be surprised if he still only wanted you, I guess."
There's a pregnant pause, as she thinks about things, then starts again, speaking from what she remembered.
"I remember you that night. The look on your face. It was the first time I saw you smile- from the exhilaration of it all. I was so scared myself of what would happen when I pulled the trigger."
A beat.
"And there you were, smiling like a fool- while you were fighting for my sake. But, then it hurt you too, after."
She draws her knees back together, looking up, "Maybe the thought of losing control is terrifying but... I think it made it easier for me to pull the trigger too, later, knowing that it could make you smile like that. Just seeing- what someone else went through, the first time they did it."
It made her think she was overthinking it all along. Just like everything else.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Come back from the labs, come back to life...
Minato can believe those things are connected.
"I wondered about that," he says. "Him being a 'God,' I mean. I wondered... what makes a person into a monster, when they had that kind of power. If things were different... would he have remembered people matter? Or would he have always turned out that way? That woman... Sonomura-san. She sounded like she wanted to reach him... I wondered if he was someone she lost. ... it didn't sound like it felt good."
But quietly, quietly...
"You're still alive, Yukari-chan," Minato points out, then. "So long as you're alive, there's still a 'next time'. Well, if it feels like me protecting you... you were different, that time, to the roof. You were ready to fight. It is like Junpei-kun, right?" Now that Minato's on a first name basis with Yukari, he's gotten a little more comfortable with extending that out... a little. Junpei, at least, has gotten a first-name address. "But I don't think that's a bad thing, either. He can lose his cool, but his heart's in the right place... and he is brave. Though, I guess you might say that's reckless... but you weren't acting without the team or anything."
He just can't view Yukari as negatively as Yukari views Yukari, man! He can't do it!
"... it is weird," he agrees, of the Wild Card. "And... I think... I forgot why he wanted me. I... was trying to tell Nagisa-san, the other day... why I could do what I do, with the Wild Card. I thought I remembered things, but they didn't make sense... like, I thought of the Dark Hour, but... there was a car crash. Cars don't work in the Dark Hour," he says, and it's the most obvious statement in the universe. "Everything... felt mixed together, and... my head hurts when I think about it. I was worried I was sick... maybe that's part of why my check-up took so long, too." The one which ended with him getting caught out in the Dark Hour, that is -- and fighting a powerful Shadow alongside Takaya Sakaki.
He shakes his head, again. "I hope Minako-chan will be okay," he admits, quietly, reminded of Kandori's kontempt. "... I'm worried." Worried about her... he spends a lot more time worrying about other people, huh?
"When I was on the roof... when I stepped in front of you... when I picked the Evoker up." Minato locates himself, haltingly, and with effort. "On the ninth of April... during the Dark Hour. I wanted to save you... and..." Minato trails off, a moment; it would sound too insane, he's sure, to say there was a boy who seemed so eager to see him come out.
"It felt like... being honest," he says, at another of those great pauses. "Persona... it's a very honest power. But it all came out, and... I... I don't think I could stop it, but maybe that's what I needed back then. Since it came down to me... so I couldn't hold back. But... why was I smiling...? I think... it's because it was a relief... like waking up after sleeping a long time."
(Yukari knows very well how long Minato can sleep when he really gets knocked out...)
<Pose Tracker> Yukari Takeba has posed.
"I'm not... sure." Yukari considers the idea, failing, mulling the thought over, her arms hugging her bag. "Maybe it's just because he wanted the power of a god- for himself, and himself alone."
Perhaps that's how a human becomes a monster, by isolating themselves.
In that case, wasn't she half a monster herself?
Well... she did always consider herself 'different' - 'the Other'.
"Maybe she did that because she remembered him when he was still human." She posits.
'You're still alive, Yukari-chan. So long as you're alive, there's still a next time.'
It's still odd being on a first name basis with a boy. With a girl, it's just fine- it's a familiar place, with a guy... it almost makes her blush just from the act of it.
Still.
"Next time." She echoes, like she's trying to agree, but her heart doesn't seem in it. Next time - he'll protect her again. Then the time after that too.
The scales will never be balanced. That's the difference between boy and girl- or at least, it is in her case. Minako could pay him back- and did. Mitsuru certainly could.
Not her though.
"I guess I can be reckless too." She sighs, "Though... it's not like you didn't already know that." She says, as if remembering, "After all, he didn't want to go into that alley and- I charged right in."
And he got hurt for her recklessness.
It's true! Few people can view Yukari as negatively as Yukari! And him- he's probably least able to view her negatively of all people.
"You... forgot?" She seems surprised, giving him a discerning look, like- did they have some sort of relationship she was unaware of.
She thinks back, to how he lost his parents ten years ago- how Minako, the same.
How Aigis was so attached to someone she should not know- could not know.
Unless it was that night. The same night she shut down.
"If it hurts to think about it, then maybe- you should leave it alone for now." Her eyes dart to the side, away from him, "There's-ah-probably a reason."
She pauses, thinking- could that night be why Kandori wants him too? Was he there that night as well?
It all makes logical sense.
"... Yeah, me too."
She feels like she failed her as well, after all, and because of that- she had to go so far. What does it mean to go so far- to put it in a place where Minato can't even remember what happened- how exactly he protected her.
And indeed, he shows it. He shows it- he tells it. "Being... honest?" Yukari is looking closely at him again, like she's trying to parse that.
Is that why she had so much trouble? Because she has difficulty being honest?
So why was he smiling?
"Well they say a 'Persona' is like a mask you wear to get through your daily life. So, maybe it's because- the mask you were wearing, made it so nobody could see the real you."
It's partially projecting, but she doesn't think she's wrong either- after remembering what he said the night the Emperor and Empress attacked. "Maybe you were scared to show the real you. But- you got past that." By putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. For her. "And it felt good. It felt good to not be afraid to- let yourself out."
To let someone know, he actually does care, quite a lot.
The announcement chimes overhead, that they're about to reach Iwatodai Station, and she lets herself smile.
She can't help but feel good about it- despite the conflicted feelings over being deep in the muck that is gender roles.
"I think I'm not worried about you losing control. You let out something that you- hadn't before. But- you've changed since then."
He's not afraid to let it out, so much. He's not afraid to let it show. Part of her thinks, that might be enough to ensure he won't lose control.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Yeah... maybe it's about your motivations," Minato agrees.
The boy he's thinking of... Pharos. He and Minato admitted their friendship, recently... and he's friends with Minako, too. Minato wonders if that means he'll be all right... well, not that Minato can really be sure who Pharos really is.
But it's why he'd be preoccupied with the notion.
"Remembering people after they're lost... is it immortality, or a curse? It must be painful, but... I can't feel as if it's bad to keep someone in your head. So long as you remember... there's still meaning, right?"
Maybe Yukari can pretend like Minato's just trying to move to a little more familiar address with everyone, but...
She knows he said her name first, after all.
Somehow... Yukari doesn't sound very energetic. Can she really not believe in herself...?
You wonder if she's feeling disconnected, too...
"... it's a pretty discouraging situation, right?" He ventures, looking forward, rather than directly at her. "Well... I think it's fine to be frustrated. I'm frustrated at myself, too. No matter how you look at it, that mission wasn't a complete success... since they took the Hierophant. Not that I can call it a failure, since I'm okay, but... I wish I'd figured something out. Everyone was going all-out, but they were only able to save me, and I was busy having a hard time. Since there's room for improvement... that's why I'm believing in next time. Let's both do better at the rematch."
Yukari's doing her best for him, so Minato should push himself a little, too... even though there's that hint of anxiety, at the back of his mind, suggesting that trying might just make a fool of him.
"Yeah," Minato nods, as he focuses on his hands again, flexing his fingers. (Yeah, they're still attached to his body. Weird.) "I'd better leave it alone... but I thought I should tell you, since you're good at figuring things out. It would be weird if I just mentioned that stuff to an adult..."
You admitted that you trust Yukari with matters that are weighing heavily on you, too.
You feel a little braver...!
"Yeah. The 'real me'... it's not so bad," Minato agrees, and even offers Yukari the ghost of a smile, as he settles on it. "It's getting complicated, but I think things will work out. Besides, you're right... ever since then, we haven't seen that power."
Chime, chime...
"So I guess I've gotten stronger, too."
... he still thinks that of Yukari, even if she can't believe it for herself.