2026-09-02: Delusional
- Log: 2026-09-02 Delusional
- Cast: Jun Kashihara, Niko Kirisaki
- Where: Aoba - Main
- OOC Date: September 12, 2026
- IC Date: January 08, 2013
- Summary: Niko spots and stalks Jun, eager to try to provoke him into a reaction. However, Jun refuses to play along this time, and both of them end up leaving angry and convinced the other is delusional. Their personal definitions of 'taking responsibility' are just too different, and they can't understand each other.
(|=============================== Aoba - Main ================================|)
-=================================================== Sumaru City/Aoba Ward ====-
To Sumaru's east is Aoba Ward, where fashion and commerce abound. The city's
fire department headquarters is based here too. Ample shopping can be found at
the stores that dot Aoba Way. Past it, Aoba Park is a popular place to walk
around and relax, especially since there's an outdoor concert hall located
deeper within where one might catch a live concert.
Various programs are filmed at Sumaru TV, where famous stars like veteran
actress Junko Kurosu, talk show host Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi, and popular model
Eriko "Elly" Kirishima might be spotted. Along the way, one will pass Kismet
Publishing, where popular publications like hot teen magazine Coolest are made.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
New year, new hopes and dreams... That's the normal logic of society. Jun isn't so odd an individual that he doesn't share in this, though. He's gone with his parents to pay his respects at one of the local shrines and pull an omikuji for the new year's fortune, then split off from them to pay a visit over to the Kuzunoha Detective Agency in Aoba Ward to see if there's any new work he can do.
At least, that's where he's headed towards now. Jun's in a good mood--his fortune, while not promising stellar luck, at least didn't forecast misfortune--and the air is nice and crisp. His breath rises in white wisps as he strolls down the street from the train station towards Aoba Way. He's bundled up in a sleek flower-printed coat with a scarf and winter boots, thanks to some recent snow, and fluffy earmuffs on his ears.
Hopefully he won't run into anyone who might ruin his day!
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
For Niko Kirisaki, this year did not start with the usual New Year's traditions. Though that was technically her own decision, she didn't feel as if she had much of a choice in the matter. Because she wouldn't be able to do things the way she would have wanted, the way she'd always done, before. So what's the point? It wouldn't feel genuine, not real. Like so many other things in this stupid world. It lies, constantly, so what meaning would any fortunes it tells you really have?
No, she'd much rather keep herself distracted as much as possible, have fun where she can find it. While she waits for chances to make a difference, in the ways that might truly be significant. She'll look for opportunities wherever she can find them. And sometimes... sometimes, opportunities find her. Whether they wanted to or not.
Niko just so happens to be chilling out on a bench near the local train station, always a good place to scope out people that might be of interest, when she spots a familiar face passing by. So to speak. She only saw a glimpse of it, mostly looking at the back of his head... but she wouldn't mistake the boy that held Sudou's strong interest. Now that she knows what that was all about... good excuse to investigate this matter herself. In the only way she knows how: directly.
Niko isn't exactly the stealthiest, wearing her bright pink scarf, but she has the advantage of not being in direct field of view, approaching from behind. Not too close, not too far. And not for too long a distance, before she makes her presence known, in her own special way.
"Joookeeer-chaaan~"
If this prompts Jun to turn and look, he'll get to see a particularly wide grin on Niko's face. She'll take any response to that name as an affirmation, regardless of any denials afterwards.
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
After everything with Sudou, Jun's more spatially aware than he used to be--and he was still reasonably aware thanks to the bullying he used to endure. However, with earmuffs on and Niko approaching from directly behind him, he doesn't properly notice her until she lilts to him from behind.
He freezes up. He knows that voice. It's been a while, but some things you simply never forget--especially given how she chooses to address him.
Which prompts a vein to bulge ever-so-gently in his forehead for just a moment. However, when that moment passes... she hasn't come running up yet. She must be trying to get a reaction out of him.
So he continues walking forward without looking back. He fully expects her to chase after him now, and the tension in his back and walk make that clear even if the way he'd clearly reacted to the address hasn't, but he won't dignify that address with a response.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
Oh, Niko will give chase alright. Even if Jun doesn't see that cheshire grin, like the animal associated with it, she finds prey to be that much more interesting when it moves. She doesn't literally pounce, at least... although there may be a worry of that, given the sudden sound of running footsteps, rapidly closing the distance.
She doesn't need to tap into the supernatural to be fast. In no time flat, Niko's circled around, and come to a stop in front of Jun. Once she does so, her bearing returns to a perfectly casual stance, conveying that she's not spoiling for a fight... but she's not going to let Jun pass her by, either. Nikos cannot be ignored, they must be addressed.
"Hey, hey, what's the rush? You can't run from who you are, you know. Or, are supposed to be, anyway. Not that I can blame you for embracing the lie. Got a pretty good deal going here, don't you?"
Now that she has his attention - forced his attention to be on her, rather - she clarifies, perhaps needlessly, "Ojisan told me everything about you. Deny it if you want, but you'd only be lying to yourself."
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun does try to move past Niko once she races ahead of him, at least. Presumably she moves to block his way each time he tries, though. While it'd be possible to run into the street to get past her, the traffic around here isn't so light that that'd be safe for either of them. Jun sighs, aggrieved, and removes his earmuffs to set them on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry to speak ill of the dead, but Sudou-san was delusional. He clung to a version of me that doesn't exist in this world, and I refuse to become it," he says coolly. "If he couldn't manage that, you won't be able to either. Now, if you'll excuse me."
Once again, he tries to move past her, prepared to sweep her out of the way with one arm if need be. Unfortunately, Niko is significantly more muscular than he is, so no doubt it won't be so easy.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
If Jun wants to insist on advancing, that's fine. Niko won't physically keep him from walking. She'll just walk backwards at the same pace. Perfectly ready to keep talking for as long as she needs to. Niko is not a problem you can ignore to make it go away, is the point she's making here. She can do that much just fine without resorting to direct force.
She chuckles, at the accusations of delusion. "Funny how you don't deny that there is another world, with another part you played in it. Doesn't sound to me like you believe he was half as delusional as most people do."
When Jun makes a move to try and pass her, the only warning he gets is a subtle narrowing of the eyes. Lashing out his arm only results in her catching it with one hand, grasping it tightly. The moment doesn't last long if it's up to Niko, she's only interested in using that one hand to shove him back, releasing him at the same time. Losing the playfulness in her voice, her tone turns several degrees colder.
"I'm not done talking to you. If you think I'm trying to do the same thing as Ojisan, you're wrong. I know you'll never be who you should have been, not in this world. I just want you to understand what that means. How lucky you are. And how unlucky everyone else is because of it."
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
"Delusions come in many forms," Jun replies, still coolly. "His was thinking he could bring it about again--or that it would have been good for him."
After all, the god that he'd been answering to betrayed him in the end... not that Niko knows that. Jun doesn't plan on telling her about that part, though.
At least, not for right now. Who knows if she might pressure him into it.
The warning doesn't come quickly enough, for all that he's swift of mind and light on his feet; after all, he's trying to dismiss her. She grabs his arm, and he can't help but make a pained noise before he grits his teeth against it before she shoves him back.
This time, he simply glares at her as he rubs his hand. When she comes to her conclusion, he lifts his chin to peer down at her imperiously. It's times like this that Jun Kashihara does bear a passing resemblance to Master Joker... not that Niko would know that either.
"'Everyone else'? Are you sure about that?" he replies. "Don't you really mean 'yourself'?"
He doesn't know what Niko's deal is, but it was like this with Sudou and the Bride and Groom. They're unhappy with their lot in this world, therefore they assume that their selves on the Other Side must be much better off. It's a fair guess to think Niko might be the same way, at least in Jun's view.
"Though I doubt you really know what the Other Side was like. I don't know either, and I don't care to know," Jun continues. "I am lucky to have the life I have now, and if you feel differently about yours, I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about that."
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
The fact that Jun remains defiant despite the violent rebuke doesn't intimidate Niko. In fact, it seems to restore a small measure of her good cheer, if the burgeoning smile is any indication. This Jun is far more interesting than the Jun she met before. The one that had seemed so... normal. Boring. Not even worth the effort. But then, it's obvious that at least one thing has changed between then and now.
"Well well. Look at you, biting back. Think you're hot shit, now that you've got a Persona? Dude, you're nobody, not in this world. That's one way you're better off." She chuckles, spreading her arms as if to invite him to try getting by her again.
She sobers, though, when she responds, "Alright, I'll cop to that. Wanting my life back. Wanna blame me for it, go ahead. But it's not just me." She doesn't know who else Jun may have met that the same thing applies to. She's talking in general.
Then Jun makes his final assertion, and she just straight up laughs in his face for it. "That right there's the real lucky break, not having to remember what things used to be like. Everything you did, how you used to feel. If you did, maybe you and I would get along better."
With a headshake, she continues, "But never mind that. Why're you making this about you and me, huh? What exactly makes you so sure that I'm not right to say 'everyone else'? Haven't you thought about what's happening at all, the way it relates to you?"
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Admittedly, back then, Jun had been trying his hardest not to provoke the three dangerous-looking individuals by being as cagey as possible--and indeed, he hadn't had a Persona back then. One on one, with a Persona--even if neither of them are in a supernatural space right now and so can't summon it--is another story.
"You're accusing me of being arrogant? When you originally cornered me, while I was Unawakened, with two of your friends?" Jun bites back.
He narrows his eyes, though, at her implication that she does remember. She can't possibly be telling the truth, can she? Or is she operating under a delusion of her own? Hm. He doesn't want to ask her directly, but maybe...
"What makes you so sure you are right?" he thus counters. "If your only answer is that Sudou-san told you so, you really don't have a leg to stand on."
He has thought about it--as much as he's dared, anyway. He doesn't plan on telling her that either, though. She's trying to bait him into something, and it's making him more cautious.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
"That's my perogative," Niko responds unrepentantly about her past actions, putting her arms behind her head when it doesn't seem like Jun's interested in pushing his luck further. "Like, hello, have you looked at me? What kind of person do you think this world expects me to be, huh? You're lucky I don't lean into it more than I do."
Not doing so may be her own attempt at defiance. That's the fundamental difference she sees between her and Jun. She rejects her place in this world, while he rejects his place in the other world. So similar, yet completely opposite.
"Pff," she makes a dismissive noise at going fully by Sudou's words. "I could ask you the same thing, what makes you so sure I'm wrong? Isn't it just based on what you'd like to be true? At best, that makes us the same. Unless..."
She leans forward, bringing her arms back down to tap her temple with a finger. "I do know more than you do." Leaning back again, she crosses her arms. "Got no way to prove it though, no point in arguing about that. That's why I want you to think about what's happening. Really see the proof in front of you."
With a little sigh, she starts, "You're really keen to deny everything Ojisan said, but hear me out here. I'm sure he must've told you why he acted the way he did. That he was acting as your replacement. Take that at face value for one second. What do you think that implies?"
She doesn't give Jun much time to answer, before she gives her own. "It implies that there must be a Joker Killer. It's a rule of the world. Even if the world changes, the rules don't." With a shrugging gesture, she pre-empts the obvious response with, "Don't believe me? Then what immediately happened after Ojisan died, huh? Didn't another form of the Joker Killer appear?" With one more emphatic hand gesture in Jun's direction, she rests her case. "Tell me again how this doesn't make everything worse for everyone else."
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun scoffs and rolls his eyes at Niko and her prerogative. She says he's lucky she doesn't lean into it more, but to his view, she's still doing it at all. If she really wanted to defy the role society would force her into based solely on her looks, she wouldn't do that much either.
In truth, though, societal expectations are so complex that it's difficult to fully fulfill or defy them. Doing either would hollow one out as a person and turn them into a caricature instead. Jun's not in a position to appreciate that for either of them, though.
"He also said he was a poor replacement who could never really fill my shoes. That implies that what he was doing in this world isn't necessarily whatever the 'Master Joker' was doing in the other world, or if it was, that he was doing it incorrectly. Another form of the Joker Killer appeared, yes--but it seems to me that's more due to the machinations of those who manipulated and ultimately killed Sudou-san than anything to do with me."
He folds his arms and looks her in the eyes. "You weren't there when he died. However, I was. If both of us are basing our conclusions on indirect evidence, I do believe I know more than you after all."
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
If only Jun could see the other side of Niko's activities, how many she's managed to convince that she's not at all the kind of person her looks would suggest. ...Granted, all for self-serving reasons, but still. As she's trying to show, trying to fight one's role in the world entirely isn't in anyone's best interests. The world will notice, and start fighting you back. It's... similar, to that view on societal expectations. She's just taken it to a level that most would call her crazy for.
That's fine, though. She can't blame anyone for not being able to see things the same way she does. Most simply can't see it, and it's better for them that they don't. There's a limit, though, to the amount of willful blindness she can forgive.
"I see. So that's how you've explained it to yourself. A conspiracy theory. Makes it easy, doesn't it? It's all because of evil people in the shadows pulling the strings, it's got nothing to do with you."
Her body language doesn't really change, but the complete lack of mirth or respect in that tone makes her disgust obvious. "I know all I need to. YOU, however, should take another good look in the mirror. Imagine you did remember being a crazy murdering psycho. The way you felt about doing it. Would you still feel like all of this wasn't any fault of yours?"
She throws up her hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Fine, whatever, you're right. It's not really your fault, no reason to blame yourself. Should put the blame where it really belongs though. If you're not gonna fight the actual cause, just the consequences, we'll be here forever." In more ways than one.
At last, it seems as if Niko may be done talking. Stepping aside, she leans against the wall, arms crossed, no longer looking directly at Jun. Only still muttering, half to herself, "'least take some responsibility."
<Pose Tracker> Jun Kashihara has posed.
Jun's lips thin as Niko looks at him with disgust for blaming it all on a conspiracy theory. He looks at her with disgust right back, because he knows he isn't 'explaining it away,' there actually IS a conspiracy and it actually IS responsible for Sudou's death--and while it's hard to say how much Sudou's sponsor and Sudou's father had to do with each other, it seems to Jun that they're hardly unconnected, based on what the Black Mask said.
Of course, that in itself is at least partially a misunderstanding, but once again, that just means he and Niko are committing the same sins here.
"Sudou-san didn't tell you that much, I see," he observes. "Nothing about his father, or Nyarlathotep, or the New World Order and their goal of a 'world without sin.'"
In fairness, Jun didn't hear about any of those things from Sudou either, only observed them around him and found explanations from others later. He doesn't feel like being fair to Niko right now, though. If anything, he feels like he's being generous for telling her about any of these things at all--even if it's just to spitefully rub in her face how incomplete the picture she's looking at is.
(And once again, there are some echoes of the Master Joker in Jun Kashihara... Those traits didn't come from nowhere. This Side and the Other Side only branched off ten years ago; the roots are still the same.)
However, privately, he does have to acknowledge that he really doesn't know how much Jun Kurosu ruined the Other Side, or how much his actions contributed to a need to make This Side. There is a 'responsibility' there. It just isn't what Niko seems to think it is.
"Agreed. There's no point in us discussing this further," he states coldly. He moves to walk past her once she steps aside to lean on the wall. "But I am taking responsibility, even if you don't see it."
The responsibility of ensuring Tatsuya's efforts don't go to waste, by sacrificing the past they shared together once upon a time.
<Pose Tracker> Niko Kirisaki has posed.
"I know all I need to," Niko asserts once again, in response to what Sudou may or may not have told her, without confirming or denying any of the particulars. Though she actually does know more than what she's spoken of. She knows there IS a conspiracy, she just thinks of it as a consequence, rather than it having anything to do with the reason why things are happening the way they do. They too simply have a role they're expected to play in this world.
...Nyarlathotep, however. The name behind the voices Sudou was hearing. It's indeed quite likely that there is some relation between that entity and the rules of the world. Would it be friend or foe, for her purposes? All she knows for sure right now is that it was giving her bad vibes. And yet, she can't dismiss the possibility. If it's the only way to achieve her goal, then...
Well, that's for her to mull over. All it means for right now is that Niko fails to show much of an outward reaction to what Jun thought to observe. She just feels kind of tired now, and looks the past, just kind of deflated against the wall like that. Why does she even bother, trying to open the eyes of the blind?
Jun at least agrees that this is pointless. As for responsibility... "Yeah, good luck with that. We'll see how much of a difference it makes." None, are her obvious expectations. Nothing new there. No reason to change her outlook. That in the end, it will be up to her to set things right. Even if no one will thank her for it.