2026-09-10: THE BEAST
- Log: 2026-09-10 THE BEAST
- Cast: Kanae Fuyuki, Shinichi Nagisa, Isabeau Fontaine, Yanagi Nagisa, Kikuno Kisaragi, Roger, Kazusa Motojima, Eriko Kirishima
- Where: Aoyama-Itchome Station
- OOC Date: September 10, 2026
- IC Date: January 07, 2013
- Summary: On the last day of winter break, while Kanae is distracting Shinichi's Homunculus with a date to Sumaru City, Kikuno and Yanagi lead a group to infiltrate the Nagisa home and find Shinichi's Thread. What they find on top of that is more disturbing than any of them could have imagined... though some are affected by different discoveries than others.
<Pose Tracker> Kanae Fuyuki has posed.
Kanae Fuyuki is now out in Sumaru City with 'Shinichi Nagisa', the Homunculus that has replaced an ordinary boy at their school. What she's up to now is anyone's guess. ...Hopefully not too big a guess.
But she has provided an opportunity: an opportunity this evening to break into Shinichi's house in Aoyama-Itchome. It is a clear day, and his parents are not home. It's a little illegal...
But isn't it worth it?
Better describe your approach.
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
The Nagisa family apartment could best be described as an Upper 'Middle Class Mansion' in the Minato Ward, just a hop skip and a jump away from Shujin Academy.
A quick bout of recon will allow one to easily mark their apartment on the second floor, by a green advocacy flag of the Japan Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Most Japanese families would consider living on the second floor 'a little uncool' but it makes things more convenient for getting inside one way or another.
Once one gets to the luxury complex, one has to figure out whether one desires to go in through the lobby, or finding another route to its second floor balcony, a route which carries certain risks.
But so too does going inside, signing in, or passing by his neighbors.
His parents are out tonight- at a charity dinner for the JMDA, which, has always been a struggle. The Japanese are infamously stingy when it comes to charity. But still, they persist at their work, in the memory of their daughter.
The daughter who is still alive and involved in planning this break-in into what would be her home if she hadn't died years ago. Fancy that.
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"I am not used to this kind of scrutiny," Isabeau admits. "The houses I explore are abandoned. But... there, do you see? The window, he is open." The window on the second floor. "There, I go. Walk in with purpose."
And what about her?
With surprising alacrity, Isabeau jumps up onto a dumpster beside the apartment block -- jumping up onto the upper ledge of an awning covering the first floor window -- and finding impossible footholds in the brickwork to take her up to that open window, where, in a flash, her large form disappears into it. Apparently, carrying extra weight does not preclude one from wriggling in through a window if you know what you're doing...
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Somebody has to live on the second floor. It may as well be the Nagisas.
Yanagi, as one of the Nagisas, is here; she is, after all, the one likeliest to intuit what Shinichi's Thread is. The Eye, University Hospital in Shibuya, is already known (or at least theorized; they'll need to bring the Thread there to confirm), and she called up Eriko for help, since the rest of Peacock Silk won't be here with her. Kikuno will, and Kikuno is their temporary Navigator, but that's another matter.
"Hmmm..." Yanagi gazes up from the ground at the green advocacy flag with lidded eyes as she pushes back the hood of her festively fur-lined red cloak; a thick, flowing, shimmery white dress billows underneath. Then she points at that window. "That one."
She smiles over at Eriko and the others, particularly Isabeau, who has spotted an open window. "Let me in once you're inside, won't you?"
Surely there's no question of why the young woman relying on a walking cane is going to wait until the hard physical work is done. Indeed, she watches Isabeau make the climb with patient calm, ceramic holly earrings swaying in the January wind.
<Pose Tracker> Kikuno Kisaragi has posed.
Finding the place hadn't been especially hard. A little more recon had uncovered the business with the flag and the particulars around it. Once she'd done a little work it hadn't been exactly hard to determine what sort of drama had gone down for the Nagisas, Kikuno had supposed. The flag, and the bit about the charity dinners had been a dead giveaway, if a little dive into public records hadn't put the rest of it together perfectly enough.
The details don't matter, in the end. Instead, this is where the parts that do matter come together.
Kikuno tilts her head up slightly, gazing at Isabeau as she ascends. Careful, now, that look may suggest, her eyes narrowing behind those large round glasses of hers. She herself is tucked away out of the light, watching the proceedings as it all happens. Getting up there like that is... best meant for a girl that's not like her, she considers, her expression dour.
She'd met Isabeau briefly. They had gotten on the way a bombastic girl and a sour girl would be expected to get on. Still, even if she's as pleasant as an oversalted meal, Kikuno is willing to play 'nice' for now.
Whatever 'nice' means, coming from someone like her.
"Get on with it," she remarks, as if Isabeau is somehow dawdling to her eyes.
She, it should be noted, hasn't an athletic bone in her body.
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
Roger is around as part of the Thread Extraction Team! He has an excellent sense for when a Homunculus is around. (This is not unique to him. Persona-users can largely intuit that. He just takes a slightly different sensory route to the same conclusion.) Odds are that more conventional senses would probably catch people coming home sooner than that supernatural sense, but.
"Wow," he says, eyes wide at watching Isabeau just goes straight into a bit of parkour to help herself in. She really is scary.
At the moment he is a mere presence, alongside some of the more decisively-minded among them.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa is not happy. She's actually rather worried (and was worried enough to say so to Kanae when she explained the plan.) She really doesn't like the idea of Kanae being alone with the Homunculus. But... this is also the best chance they're going to get.
She just hopes it won't end with anybody hurt after.
... This includes Isabeau, who jumps up onto a dumpster and starts climbing. "Wha-- Are you nuts!?" she blurts out before clamping her voice down again. "Sheesh," she mutters. "Extra much?" (It is kind of cool in a weird way, but Kazusa will absolutely not be validating Isabeau in this.)
She's here dressed in a long black coat, a dark red sweater, black jeans, and ankle boots. She is athletic, but not this kind of athletic. She glances at Yanagi who seems to be just... letting it happen. Well, if anyone has any kind of right to object, it'd be her, Kazusa supposes. Kazusa crosses her arms. "I really hope this thing is here," she grouses.
<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
There are two things about Eriko Kirishima that it's very easy to discover. The first is that she is very loyal to her friends, and if one asks for help, she'll happily oblige. The other is that she'll take any excuse for an adventure.
Breaking into someone's home isn't her normal sort of adventure, but it's an adventure.
Work remaining thin on the ground remains a benefit. "I really should learn to pick locks some time, shouldn't I...?" She muses, quietly, looking up at the apartment. This would be a lot easier if Yanagi had a key, but if that were an option, it would have been explored.
Isabeau, however, picks a target of the second room floor, and Eriko- not knowing the young lady- is initially surprised, but she moves with a surprising alacrity. To be honest, Eriko is both impressed- and a little concerned- at how quickly Isabeau makes her way in. Sure, Eriko doesn't ever leave her windows unlocked, but it's that easy...?
(Eriko you live in an upper floor on high-rise apartments for exactly this reason, it would be very difficult.)
Still, given Eriko has no experience with most of the teens here prior to this, she doesn't really know what she's in for personality wise. But that doesn't stop her being a little excited. "I must admit, I didn't get to personally investigate the last Atelier I entered, I'm rather curious as to how this all works."
She hasn't brought her sports bag full of weaponry this time- there's not supposed to that part of things. Still, she's looking over the assortment gathered. "...I imagine it will get rather crowded in there quite quickly, though. With this number of people, are we even going to bother trying to hide a break in?"
...Why is the noted celebrity so calm about this? Who can say? (She can. She's done a little snooping.) "I understand private investigators try not to leave a trace, but that's not what we're doing after all."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
The balcony itself has some laundry hanging up. Sweaty jock uniforms in particular. Fortunately, its hanging out to dry, else the scent would probably be overpowering.
The balcony door opens to a relatively normal, tidy living room. It's a relatively normal, tidy living room. There's a TV hanging on the wall, and the decor could be best described as a 'bit nerdy' in that history nerd kind of way, and a kotatsu with several magazines about television programs upon it.
It evokes several different eras of Japanese history in the vases and calligraphy scrolls. Family pictures are apparently not kept out here, but can be found in the master bedroom if one so chooses...
But since one is here to find the thread, Shinichi's room is likely of much more interest. Enter- and you'll find an old lacrosse helmet on a shelf of trophies and medals.
There's posters up on the wall, mostly from various sports manga, but there's now several missing, ripped apart and thrown in the trash. Like someone was beginning redecoration.
There is a shelf of sports and Shounen Manga too- though if one pours through the area, they might find some torn up Shoujo in the trash. This one is especially shredded, as if something were disgusted by its presence.
Another shelf has various magazines, both sporting- mostly sporting, with notable gaps... of recently removed volumes.
The larger portion of one side of the room is taken up by a work table, laden with tools, with an old space heater that's half-assembled. A layer of dust shows this project has been idle for- quite some time.
This takes up, well- more of his room than his Futon. But the Futon is likely to draw more attention all the same, because its the one place in the room that's particularly untidy- no... more than that...
Pillows have ripped seams, protruding fluff, blankets are torn in places. And... is that a stain on the futon's cushions? One would have to dig through to figure out what's going on here.
And in the back of their ears, with those who have the senses, is the faintest whoosh- like blood rushing through their ears. The sound of a heart beat out of synch with theirs.
But where is it precisely? In the real world, such senses are 'imprecise' at best for exact locations.
They'll just have to search.
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
Isabeau is one of the biggest bitches in the room, here, let's be fair -- but she's working with Kanae, teeth grit as it may be, because the foe they're facing is worse. "Join me if you wish this criticise!" She throws over her shoulder, at Kikuno, as she heads up -- but she doesn't slow her pace to do so. (Neither to think through the grammar of her reply, evidently.)
Her opinion of Kanae's plan was expressed quite succinctly when she shoved her into the flowerbed on hearing it. Tragically, Kanae followed that with a convincing -- if somewhat pressured -- argument which Isabeau was forced to concede to.
... she does not give Yanagi shit about not parkouring up beside her, though she has been giving Roger a terrible death glare every time her attention falls on him. Even if he looks normal, something's wrong about that man.
Isabeau, though, is incredibly extra. It comes with being French -- not a lick of Japanese blood to her. If you asked her, Eriko's high rise would be a challenge, not a disqualifying attribute...
... though one presumes that her father would probably forbid her from scaling that many stories in the real world.
"Ugh," she mutters, as she pushes past the uniforms -- and mutters in French, as she doesn't expect anyone to hear her up here, "I'd rather be breaking into a haunted house..."
The loungeroom, though, is so normal -- and it doesn't take Isabeau long to navigate to the front door, and figure out how to open the latches. "In," she demands, of them, speaking Japanese again. To Yanagi, she issues: "The false Nagisa-san's room. Where is this?" (Isabeau never used to use honourifics; it's a strange, recent addition to her lexicon.)
With Yanagi's help, she'll find it...
... and her eyes narrow, to see the heater. "The true Nagisa-san's project?" She wonders, acidic. "The fake... he has torn up a lot. Cartoons, bedding...."
Isabeau, herself, investigates that torn-up bed. It involves less reading; she'd rather not. "... it is as if a beast has laid here," she remarks, distasteful.
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
Yanagi isn't objecting at all. Indeed, when Kazusa peeks at her, she smiles brightly back. To be fair, being unfazed by outrageous things does seem to be her norm--for all that she'd broken down in tears when she and the others came to Peacock Silk with news of the Homunculus they now hunt.
As for a key, the only person who'd be able to give her such a thing is the Homunculus, and Yanagi has no interest in asking it for such a thing. Breaking and entering is fine and even preferable. Crime is fun!
To whit: "You should! It's such a useful skill," she chirps at Eriko. Roger's low 'wow' gets him an encouraging pat.
The question gets a shrug. "I'm not concerned." Any trace of her will get drowned out by the noise of everyone else, and anyway, only one of them broke in and can just unlock the door for the rest of them to walk in normally. "Besides," she continues aloud, "this is the only time we can do this. Homunculi can leave their coffins at will, you know."
So going during the Dark Hour is not an option. Everyone here knew about that, right? Right??
...Once everyone is inside the apartment, Yanagi can feel it. That familiar sense of a Thread nearby... Her dark grey eyes shut as she takes it in, Isabeau's question washing over her. A moment later, she follows the sensation over to what turns out to be Shinichi's room, fully ignoring everything else.
It's a mess in there. So many things torn up and tossed out. Yanagi's eyes narrow at the sight, but she doesn't remark. Isabeau puts it rather succinctly, anyway.
"It's in here," she announces instead. "Though I don't know exactly where. We'll have to look."
<Pose Tracker> Kikuno Kisaragi has posed.
There's not much to say about Kikuno's appearance. Heavy, shorter girl in cglasses, dresses like she's never heard of proper colors (outside the red ties on the end of her black braids). Outside Yanagi, the other girls here are all perfect strangers to Kikuno. Other than Isabeau, there's Eriko (older, probably close to her own age) and Kazusa (reminds her of her least favorite sort of person). And then there's Roger, who Kikuno has been apparently studying on the sly, when she can get away with it without much notice. Of course, as a Navigator, perhaps she's picked up something about him.
"Tch," she hisses, as Isabeau hurls a volley down from the roof (verbally).
"Your first time at this leg of the job?" she says to Eriko, then shakes her head. "This is the easy part. The next step is harder. Prepare yourself." As if Eriko hasn't done the other part of it at all (she did, and probably the most dangerous part!).
But the door soon opens, and once inside, the place is very normal. Kikuno, other than a pause here or there to sweep her gaze over the room, barely bats an eye. No, the rest of the house isn't important. It's what's upstairs that's the nest for that thing.
She enters somewhat hesitantly, as if she's uncertain what she's going to find inside a boy's room. Elements of destruction here and there aside, though, it's almost blandly normal.
Kikuno, as befits a nerd, beelines to the bookcase after a cursory glance at the rest of the room. She pulls one of the shounen manga off the shelf and pages through it, pausing to linger on a certain page. After a moment of this Kikuno just as hurriedly shoves the volume back away. "..."
"...typical tastes, I see," she says, readjusting her glasses agitatedly, like a cat who has just fallen off the table and is pretending that it meant to do that.
Pulling away going through his manga like a weirdo, she instead turns her attention back at the rest of the room. "...Ripped seams? Ugh, really, a stain..." Kikuno says, twisting her mouth in disgust. "I'm not touching that." It's probably not what they're looking for anyway.
"The Thread is in here somewhere," she declares, turning away from the messed up futon and cushions. "We know where the Needle is." But where's the former? The trophies? ...No, she decides after a moment's study of the shelf. The Homunculus seemed more invested in that than the original Shinichi apparently had been...
What's in the trash can here? Something's been shredded. Kikuno might be unwilling to deal with a stained cushion, but the contents of his trash apparently aren't off-limits--
"Is this... shoujo?" she remarks, spreading out a few of the torn pieces on a nearby surface.
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
"Oh! Don't worry," Roger turns to Eriko as she expresses curiosity in knowing how this all works, with an emotional exuberance more akin to a younger man happening upon a topic of great interest. "I can walk you through it! Um." He presses his fingers, thinking about it. "...I guess most of us here could..."
Still! They can all get inside, now.
(At one point in Kikuno's own look-sneaking, at one point he waves 'hello' guilelessly.)
The odd man born of a Shadow that came to grips with the concept of 'I,' a desire, and a willingness to change to accomplish these things, takes in the sights with a certain sense of novelty. (Object permanence is a hell of a drug, even months later.)
He won't need much help being herded upstairs.
"Eh? ...Shoujo?" Roger tilts his head. "Oh. Is this one of those 'manga'? I don't really know the difference between them..."
Panels before swine.
"Is that a young girl?"
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa glances sidelong at Eriko as she comments on not getting to explore the last Atelier she went into. "... whose Atelier was that?" she asks. If she sounds a little defensive it's because she is. But at the question of a breakin she immediately says "Yes. Of course we are. You don't want to tip that thing off, do you?"
If she sounds a little angry, worried, and/or upset... well...
Isabeau shoving Kanae into a flower bed wouldn't surprise Kazusa. Sadly. Though she is keeping an eye on Isabeau when she's glaring at Roger. Kazusa may not really 'get' Roger, but Roger is on her team, as far as she's concerned.
Yanagi doesn't really get the people who work at Peacock Silk, either. But that's probably fine. Still... "You're more cheerful than I thought you'd be." (She did, in fact, know about the Dark Hour thing.)
INSIDE
But they get in, and Kazusa pulls her coat closed so she can't knock anything over. They find the room and... the bed is a mess. "What the heck...? Someone please tell me all boys don't live like this," she says, to the group of mostly women (and Roger, who might not know the answer, for reasons.) "Why'd he rip up the bed? My Homunculus didn't do that..." she mutters, but it's still loud enough to be heard.
She's glad someone else is investigating the bed. Instead, she's looking around, and sees Kikuno take a manga off the shelf. "Hey," she snaps. "Don't touch anything you don't have to." (Probably not doing herself any favors in the 'least favorite sort of person' category, probably.) "Looks like just a bunch of sports and shonen stuff anyway." But she does note the empty spaces... and frowns. "But he's getting rid of stuff... that tracks."
But at Kikuno's utterance she moves to look over the other girl's shoulder as she spreads out the torn up pages. "Wait, really...? He read stuff like that? Makes sense why the Homunculus would get rid of it..."
She nods to Roger. "Yeah. It's a style of manga normally aimed at girls. Guess he was a fan." She even manages to say that mostly neutrally, for once.
<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
Eriko might be asking Isabeau later, you know. For her own piece of mind, rather than technique. Sadly, parkour is not a recommend sport for fashion models. (Eriko doesn't really have the build or fitness for it.) Still, when Isabeau does do the hard work of breaking so the rest of them can get on entering, Eriko is thankful. "Merci beaucoup," Eriko says, in her best French- unfortunately, it's not as good as her English. There's a long way between 'fluent' and 'knowing the basics', and for this one, Eriko's in the latter camp.
"It does seem to come in handy. Might be fun, too." Eriko Kirishima why are you like this. Yanagi Nagisa why are you encouraging her. If she's not concerned... "...Well, if you say so. I still think we should be a little careful."
...Is that why Eriko's choice of fashion today contains full length pants and gloves? Who can say.
"I've been there for the middle, but I missed the beginning and the ending I'm sorry to say. I have experience with the supernatural, but all of these have their own rules. I think it's best to understand as best as I can."
Eriko smiles back to Roger, who seems polite enough- even if she hasn't fully put together that this is the pig they met in the circus. Give her time! "I will take you up on that, later, I think! I do rather like this sort of thing." Kazusa asks which Atelier, though, and Eriko frowns. "The Circus- though I don't imagine I've missed many. There's simply so much supernatural going on in the region that even these can get lost in the chaos."
As Eriko enters the room, she frowns. "You know, most of those stories about boy's bedrooms being disaster zones are exaggerations," Eriko murmurs as she surveys the scene. "This one, not so much." The horrid feeling that comes up against her resonance, though. That's still awful. "...You can definitely tell that something not human dwells here."
She nods at Yanagi's reminder. "We are on a schedule, after all."
Her eyes scan the walls for what was removed, but with Kikuno going for the trash and shelves, and Isabeau going for the futon, that leaves the workbench as the obviously untouched place.
"Now, now, Kazusa," wait as soon as she learned the name she went to first name basis? "It could be anywhere, yes? And Yanagi has some expertise in these matters. We're going to have to touch some unpleasant things. If you're really worried-" Eriko reaches into her hand bag and pulls out... disposable rubber gloves? "I do carry spares, you never know when you have to tear through something unpleasant!" ...She says that with such a chipper tone. "I mean, you could go rummaging in his underwear drawer but frankly I'd doubt there. Too much chance of his mother finding something, I suspect." She looks to the workbench with it's long idle project. "Here, on the other hand... It doesn't even look like it's been cleaned lately."
With that, of course, Eriko starts looking over the things on the workbench, and failing that, any drawers attached to it.
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
Yep, it's Shoujo manga. Ripped to shreds, but it's unmistakable due to the art style. Kikuno may even recognize some of them, depending on her own tastes.
Some of the artstyle evokes a particular one named 'Hana yori Dango' aka the idiom 'Dangos over flowers' meaning 'function over beauty'.
Which rather tells you what it's about, doesn't it?
Eriko checks the workbench, and mostly it's bits and bobs, pieces of things he took apart and put back together. Apparently the Homunculus finds it 'acceptable' but not something he's leaning into, given that it's mostly untouched, with a layer of dust over most things.
Look long enough though and you'll see something out of the corner of your eye, Eriko.
It's leaned up behind the work benched, hidden well- an umbrella that's black and white, with the motifs of a cute mascot???
A panda?
It's unusually out of place. The kind of 'kawaii' and 'girly' thing that would clash with his image. And yet- it hasn't been thrown away.
It's been hidden, as if to utilize it later for something or another.
Isabeau checks the bed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT4FY3NrhGg
If she isn't careful, then her check of the pillows will draw blood to a finger, because there's a knife in there.
Knives actually. Of several different kinds. A Kitchen Knife, a Pocket Knife, a Gardening Hori-Hori. Even one piece of metal that's been filed down into a serviceable shank.
There's blood on several of them. And not all of it is hers.
Within a carved out space in the Futon cushion are photographs hidden. Real analog photographs... of several girls, and one guy. Each is in a slight different film, as if they were taken by a different photographer and bought by him.
Most are in their school uniforms...
Kazusa
X
Motojima
Makoto
X
Niijima
Itsuki
X
Hayashi
Katsuko
X
Yoshinaga
Kikuno
X
Kisaragi
... except the last one, who's in winter casual clothing.
There's blood marked upon each of them, dabbed on their features like some psychopathic artist, blotting out their eyes and mouth, and a large X drawn over them like some macabre revenge list.
Well, that's another one down!
Which leaves- the closet, and the dresser mostly.
Or somewhere entirely outside the box. Did the Homunculus hide it?
... Or did Shinichi himself?
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
Isabeau does not know that the homunculus can leave its coffin at will... because she's left the party to let them in!
This will never come back to bite her. Don't even worry about it.
"Eh?" Isabeau's cheeks redden, when Eriko thanks her. In French, she barks: "I--I'm taken!!" A beat later, and she scowls, as she realises what happened, and chastises Eriko in Japanese: "Ou, that is an ou sound, do not fumble to merci beau cul, you will -- give the wrong impression!"
Not that Isabeau doesn't have a nice ass, but Eriko's a bit old for her, isn't she???
"What does that say about him?" She asks, over her shoulder, as Kikuno finds the shoujo. It's a pointed question, and it might just sound like a barb...
... but Isabeau actually doesn't know much about manga reader stereotypes. "Of course I know the difference," she adds, quickly, and sharply, when Roger (MONSTER MONSTER THAT'S A MONSTER THERE'S A MONSTER RIGHT THERE NEVER SUFFER A SHADOW TO LIVE THAT'S THAT SHADOW IT'S THE SAME RESONANCE IT'S WEARING HUMAN SKIN) says it doesn't, either. "I am asking if she does!"
She and Kazusa will just have to agree to disagree on how stabbable its face is. Unfortunately, she has to work with it for now...
"Yasushi-kun's room is not nearly so frightful," she assures Kazusa, which is its own concern, really -- she's been to his room?!
Isabeau, as it happens, is careful -- so careful, she's put on leather gloves. They save her from a nasty prick, as she pulls back the layers -- her breath hissing through her teeth. "He has marked his prey," she says, her green eyes narrowing. "You, and you," here she looks to Kazusa and Kikuno, in turn, "... and Makoto Niijima, and Katsuko Yoshinagi, and... Itsuki Hayashi," her scowl deepens, on relating that last name, her hand curling to a fist beside her.
(Itsuki is a first-year in Tennis Club -- perhaps it's no wonder she'd feel particularly protective of him.)
"Those who have turned him away, I expect," she says, and her stomach churns to think of it -- of the implications for herself and Kanae. In French, again, she mutters: "Piece of shit! You know-it-all... you're stubborn as a mule, don't come crying to me when he's got a fire in his ass." Oh, it all sounds very beautiful and elegant in French -- all sac à merde, donneuse de leçons, tête de mule, avoir le feu au cul -- but the venom is unmistakable, regardless of how many ribbons it's dressed in.
... she's pissed because she's worried, of course, but it's the anger which shows.
"Those people, though... they are normal," she scowls, deeply. "... we will need to watch them. They cannot defend themselves." So busy is she thinking through how to do that, she pauses, at the bed... someone else will have to help Shinotchi out of the closet today.
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
"Hmm? Why?" Yanagi asks Kazusa, seemingly in all sincerity. She then gives Kikuno a thoughtful look when she warns Eriko to prepare herself.
She gives her a similar such look when Kikuno browses one of the manga and hurriedly puts it back. "Oh, was it porn?" she wonders without an ounce of embarrassment or shame, even in her own brother's bedroom.
If it was porn, good for him, really. Unless it's the Homunculus's porn and not Shinichi's. Then it's distasteful.
...and then a third such look at the mention of the 'Needle.' "Hmm? Needle?" Though, in context, she must mean... "Oh, the Eye!" Yanagi considers this for a second or two. "Hmm, 'Needle' is a better name for it, isn't it?" She smiles brightly. "Needle and Thread~!"
She looks over to Roger. "But you've known about it the longest! You can go ahead," she says generously--especially since Eriko takes him up on his offer anyway. More importantly: "But we're calling Eyes 'Needles' now. Make sure to remember!"
After all, considering there's a different kind of Eye that Peacock Silk values, Yanagi is extremely okay with updating the public lexicon.
She leaves Kazusa to explain shoujo manga to Roger. She also leaves the others to do the actual searching. There's a lot of them and only so many places they all can look, anyway. However, when it seems like there aren't any results on the Thread--though Isabeau finds something else very ominous instead in the bed--she looks around the room again slowly, frowning just a bit. She looks at the closet and the dresser...
...then looks past them, at the walls...
...and then the floorboards...
...and then the ceiling.
"Hmmm."
A beat.
"Check for hidden panels or loose boards," she recommends to the others. "Behind the dresser, under the futon, in the closet. Something that might come off."
Another pause. She looks back at the now angrily muttering Isabeau and approaches to look more closely at the knives and the photos. Sure enough, there's a couple of familiar names and faces there, for all they're marked out in blood. "Hmmm... It's really angry at you, Kazusa, Kikuno. What did you do?" Her tone isn't accusatory, merely curious.
<Pose Tracker> Kikuno Kisaragi has posed.
At one point, Kikuno gets a wave of 'hello'. Kikuno had startled as if caught then glared back to then pointedly look away and stare at a telephone pole instead as if it were far more interesting.
Was it porn, though?
The look Kikuno gives her is, in a word, startled. She recovers fairly quickly: "No," she says, though her tone suggests she would have been a touch more invested if it had been.
"Most boys are disgusting," says Kikuno primly, sliding the manga away. "I'm surprised it wasn't worse." She hasn't yet forgotten the threat of gum on the gate. Even if it was just a jest by Kanae. She narrows her eyes at the remark, though. "He's not on the ball enough to set traps. Besides, I would have noticed," she says, shaking her head.
"The 'Eye'?" She regards Yanagi a moment, as if thinking it through. "Ah, of the needle. No, that's confusing," she states bluntly. "Needle and Thread will do." Who died and made her boss...
At least Yanagi seems into it.
"Haven't you heard of it before? It's aimed at girls," Kikuno says, giving Roger an eye, someone who certainly never read those as a kid. Never ever! "Hmm... not the usual thing that draws in boys. Either they're interested in short skirts or they're..." She makes a face. "Probably not either if he's reading this, though..." She glances at Yanagi. "It seems the fake doesn't approve. But this isn't the thread." She sweeps the pieces to one side, off into the trash again.
But what does that say about him?
"The boy's a sap," she tells Isabeau, curtly. "Or was."
Isabeau finds something.
It's not the Thread. Instead, it's--
"Ah. That's our little monster," she deadpans, gazing at a photo of herself that's been horribly mutilated. "Charming."
What did she do, though?
"Hmph. I merely spoke to him," Kikuno explains, shaking her head. "I had to confirm something for myself." And to do that, she'd had to make him mad.
<Pose Tracker> Roger has posed.
Roger goes quiet at the mention of the Circus, as though some element of the whole thing is still a bit strange to think about, as is the idea of lingering on that over-much. Nonetheless...
He flinches when Isabeau looks sharply at him. But the difference is given! The target audience of 'shoujo' manga.
"Heard of it? Um... yes, but I'd never really looked at it," he says, straight-faced without any idea how strange that sounds for anyone who might have had a normal point A to point B childhood. (Something A MONSTER lacks!!) "I'm more into games," he says, but even so...!
...
'He has marked his prey.'
"Huh?!" He flinches at the intensity in which Isabeau speaks of even a number of people in this room. "A Homunculus willing to get rid of more than the friend they'd steal a life from... that's just unforgivable!" Roger snorts, but softens some as Isabeau mentions the targets are 'normal.'
"Once we bring the Thread to the Needle, they won't have the chance!" He adopts this new terminology rather quickly, all told, without confusion or questioning or friction.
'Check for hidden panels or loose boards,' he hears from Yanagi.
"Okay!" He helps himself to the dresser, rubs his hands together, and gets to trying to move it.
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
"Circus...?" Kazusa frowns. "... Must've been that other guy." She at least seems to relax a little. There's no way her Atelier could be confused for a circus.
Though there is a little bit of a stare at Eriko as she just... calls her by her first name. She arches an eyebrow. "We barely know each other." Oh he's being extra prickly right now. It's fine, she's just on edge from the... everything. "Yeah, I brought gloves too," she huffs. But underwear drawer? "Ugh. Gross. This situation already sucks, please don't be gross on top of it."
It doesn't help that Kanae insists on calling this stalking.
"... If we have to do that I vote Roger does it." Though she glances at Isabeau as Isabeau offers a correction on Erik's French grammar. "What's the difference?" she asks, and there's a note of genuine curiosity that slips through her normally stressed and disdainful tone.
And it's gone in the very next breath. "You've been in his room?" she says while staring at Isabeau. "Do we have to explain what that says about the two of you?"
But she pauses and stares harder. "Uh, prey? I know you have the whole 'Hunter' thing going on but not everything is about--" As she says that she's taken a few steps over to Isabeau to see what she's looking at.
And lets out a very shocked and audible gasp as she recoils, hand flying to her mouth. There is a strangled noise that dies in her throat as she stares at the photo, and she seems to be shaking a little. It takes her a few moments of hard breathing to reach any semblance of composure. "I know Yoshinagi-senpai, I... I can keep an eye on her." She draws in a sharp breath. "Oh god. Kanae is on a date with him. But she can't..."
Kazusa would rather Kanae stop. But she's doing the horrifying math to realize she can't. Not like this. Normally, she'd be leading with anger like Isabeau, but Shinichi's Homunculus is one of the few things that actually scares her. He's already hurt her once...
And she finds herself second-guessing her decision not to play along.
(She will worry about the terminology update later. Right now she's a bit preoccupied.)
Yanagi asks what happened. Kazusa doesn't like talkinga bout this, but she's reeling a bit and out of sorts. "He approached me in the club room. I tried to scare him off, but he just said--he thought he knew what I was really like, because... because of my Homunculus. He got me against the wall, grabbed my chin, he... H-he..." She's hugging herself now. "... I tried to throw a club to distract him. It hit him in the head I just ran, but..."
A hand comes to her mouth, and Kazusa's voice is growing more unsteady. "Later he cornered me in the hallway. Slammed me against the wall, wanted to make me apologize dogeza... i-if it hadn't been for a teacher, a-and that counselor..."
Yanagi instructs them to look for hidden panels, and at last Roger is on the case. "Guys!" she gets out, her voice picking up new urgency. "Whatever we do, we have to put everything back exactly the way it was. We can't let him know anyone was in here, and we have to avoid him realizing the Thread is gone for as long as possible. Wh-when you went to my studio--" There is a moment's hesitation before she continues. "--someone let on to her that they were getting the real me back. She-- s-she--"
She takes in a few rapid breaths. "She went to my best friend. To confirm that she'd given it up. She-- she threatened..." It takes her a moment to compose herself this time, and she's too rattled to finish that sentence. She's gotten the point out, anyway.
She's hugging herself and rubbing her own arms as she looks around to help search, now suddenly feeling very hyperaware of her own presence within the bedroom.
<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
Eriko is- initially- thrown by Isabeau's sudden reaction, before she realises and- switches back to English, then Japanese. "Oh my, I'm sorry. I shall have to work on my pronunciation." She frowns- at herself- and then nods. There are times it's appropriate for a model to platonically compliment another woman's ass, and this is not it. Also correct, Isabeau is too young AND Eriko is not interested. "I shall do my best to not make that mistake again." Especially if it sends the sort of message Eriko thinks it does, based on Isabeau's reaction.
Indeed, while she's investigating, one can see Eriko mouthing the word to herself a few times, trying to get it correct. She's not going to pass up the opportunity.
Yanagi asks if it's porn, and Eriko blinks. "Oh, really? I understood that Japanese boys hide that under their bed. Refuge in audacity, I suppose." Look, it's easy to talk about in the abstract, but she can't say she's interested to look. "Couldn't you split the difference?" Eriko asks, somewhat amused. "The Eye of the Needle is as poetic as it is practical- though we will have trouble if someone's thread turns out to be a camel." She titters about her own joke, for a second. She'd suggest it to Brown, but she suspects it wouldn't get much traction here, despite being about on his level.
"Ah, my apologies Motojima-san," Eriko says, a little genuinely. "I'm afraid that I still forget my honorifics. I hope you weren't offended." There is commentary on what 'Isabeau knowing what her presumed boyfriends room is like' and she rolls her eyes a bit. "I think that's between Isabeau and her boyfriend, isn't it? Rather rude to assume." Besides, Eriko went into her old high school boyfriend's room all the time, and all the did was hang out and talk.
While the workbench doesn't have anything itself, it's what Eriko finds out of the corner of her eye that catches Eriko by surprise. "...Hm? There's something there. Would one of you give me a hand please?" She asks- after all, a workbench is heavy and strength isn't Eriko's strong suit. Still...
"...The homunculus destroyed all that shoujo manga, didn't it? But this is a very stereotypically girly umbrella, isn't it? Why hide it?" She pauses, debating if she should move it or simply point it out to people. "...I wonder if there's anything else back here." Rummaging seems a bad idea, but they should at least check.
What Isabeau finds makes the colour drain from Eriko's face, her pupils widening. Those looking closely at her can see a tremor in those suddenly clenched fists. "...That's sick," Eriko says, as memories come unbidden. She bites her tongue- hard. She needs to focus. "...Is he stalking them?" Eriko asks, a mix of anger and fear in her voice. Four girls, one boy, all high school age...?
There is a theory forming in Eriko's head that might not be safe to state out loud. ...Hell, it might not be safe to speak even to Yanagi, should they manage to save the boy whose body was stolen. And it could simply be a false positive, but... Surely if it was just a matter of pissing him off, wouldn't there be more men?
Either way... "...It doesn't take much for a normal stalker to escalate to physical violence. A stalker that doesn't bother with the rules of humanity at all..." Eriko seems shaken. "...You're right. They're all in danger. And it doesn't matter how strong a Persona user you are, it won't help you if the stalker attacks you in the real world." She frowns, fiercely, and briefly wishes she had her sword. "And despite the legislation, the police won't be any use. Court orders take months, and even then..." Eriko frowns. It might not hurt to reach out to Katsuya anyway, though...
Kazusa's reaction, however, seems to elicit a response in Eriko and she moves over to Kazusa and steps in front of her, taking up her field of vision. "Kazusa, please, look at me." Eriko says, suppressing the shakes in her own voice. "Listen to me. I know how frightening this is." Her brown eyes stare into Kazusa's, and she raises her hands slowly in front of her. "Sit down, please. Is it okay if I touch your shoulder?" She's... calm isn't exactly the right word. Empathetic is more accurate. Very empathetic. "Can you take some deep breaths for me? In and out, as slow as you can make it? You need to breathe. It's really scary, I know. It's okay to be scared. He's dangerous- but we're not inexperienced. We can keep you safe as well as them until we can act, we just need to work out how. So for now, just focus on right now, if you can."
<Pose Tracker> Shinichi Nagisa has posed.
Depending on one's view, the idea that no porn is found in a boy's room may cause all sorts of strange feelings.
Was Shinichi simply that repulsed by his own desires? Was it a kind of self-flagellation of sorts?
... More importantly, there's not a single piece of media with boys kissing. What a shame.
Indeed, it's more than just alarming that the Homunculus has targeted several people in this very room for death. For the simple act of fighting back, or defying him.
He told Kikuno he would kill her last of all, when she came to hunt him.
Fortunately, Eriko has some wisdom to offer, from her own experiences- within her own life. That may offer Kazusa some solace. That might help them protect themselves.
If anyone can.
Even with the dresser moved, Roger will have to spend some time searching, as it looks like just a solid wall. Tapping on it might reveal it though, in the differences in the sounds. Then push your hand against it, and a hollow panel doesn't just come off- there's an audible click- then it slides up on some internal fixture he's hinged in from a hollow he's made in the wall itself.
And inside is a box, with faded wrapping paper surrounding it- within that is an almost toyetic music box. Except, it's more well-crafted than that. Like some limited edition, high quality collectible.
Open it up, and inside is an anime ballerina that dances as a tune named 'Twilit Elegance' chimes, as she spins around in a graceful arabesque.
A gift never given. Listened to eternally out of regret.
<Pose Tracker> Isabeau Fontaine has posed.
"Tchah... 'Needle', is it? As you like." Isabeau is quietly relieved that Kikuno has found more sensible terminology, as a foreigner trying to grapple with the language, but she'll never hand it to her.
"Was," she informs Kikuno, in turn, when she talks about how Shinichi is-slash-was a sap.
And then... "You have skipped details," she notes, looking to Kikuno, when she insists they just talked. "... it is fine. I will not be speaking of my dealings with it, either."
They're a matter of gossip throughout the school, of course -- the way Shinichi slapped her until she apologised properly, and even made up with her nemesis Kanae. Something which humiliated her so totally, she ended up accepting an invitation to go to lunch... just so that she could have one person who did not loathe her so.
"I wonder what is your forgiveness," she frowns, to Roger, before she shakes her head. "... never mind." Yanagi might have heard about the time she visited Peacock Silk just to ATTACK PERNELLE FEROCIOUSLY... though of course he won, with glitter.
"This is not your business!" She snaps, to Kazusa, in turn -- and it's Eriko, in fact, who saves her ass (much more appropriate) as she defends what they have to do together. "As she says."
Kazusa, though, is having a moment... and Isabeau turns away, allowing Eriko to handle it, arms folded tightly.
She's more disturbed than she lets on -- and not just about Kazusa's story. Someone else will have to help Roger...
AS: Kikuno Kisaragi has readied for combat as Beatrice! She is now fully healed!
<Pose Tracker> Yanagi Nagisa has posed.
It's interesting to see how different Kikuno and Kazusa's reactions to the photos are. Kikuno is dismissive, explaining in only a few words; Kazusa goes into much more detail, and is far more rattled, insisting that they must put everything back exactly.
Yanagi nods once, more to acknowledge her than to agree, though she's not against it either. Yes, that makes sense for the kind of thing that this Homunculus is. It had tried to threaten her too. Sadly for it, she fears neither pain nor death. Threatening her with those things simply isn't effective, as the Homunculus experienced for itself.
She leaves it to Eriko to comfort Kazusa. Her suggestion of splitting the difference gets a shrug. "It's all right, I don't mind," she reassures her. Kikuno is right; Eye or even Eye of the Needle is confusing.
When Roger moves the dresser and finds that hidden panel, though, Yanagi goes over to join him. (She did hear of Isabeau's ferocious battle with Pernelle! She was defeated by glitter and all is well, no hard feelings. Yanagi has noticed her hostility towards Roger, but she hasn't outright attacked him, so she's not concerned for now.) The feeling is stronger over here. She'll carefully unwrap the present that was never given to her four Christmases ago now, and...
"..."
The hidden present is opened up, and Yanagi's cheer vanishes in an instant when she sees what's inside--winds it up and listens to the melody it plays. The ballerina has a princess-like quality to her, as well as being a bit reminiscent... of a goose.
"...Shinichi..."
Despite the clips that hold it back, Yanagi's hair falls over her face just so to shade her eyes from view. Even without how it registers to her senses, she knows.
"This is the Thread."
<Pose Tracker> Kikuno Kisaragi has posed.
"Hmph. I suppose not, looking at you," she remarks (unkindly) to Roger. "Games, is it. I suppose you're more typical than any version of this boy, at least..."
Shinichi, probably, didn't deserve that.
"There won't be anything interesting in there, anyway," Kikuno remarks, of the underwear drawer. Given the rest of the room and the shredded manga she finds in the trash, she doubts they'd be so lucky as to find something interesting in here. "Or 'under the bed'. How dull..." she sighs.
She glances at Kazusa, sidelong, just as the other finishes explaining that they have to be careful putting things back in here, and just off the tale of her own woe against the possessed Shinichi. "So you were also a host? Hmm." Her own eyes lid heavily; unlike Eriko, she doesn't evidence much sympathy for the obviously distraught girl. "Well, you heard her," she says, shaking her head. "I think he's not as careful as that. Still, I can't allow sloppy work."
Her gaze turns to Isabeau. "So have you. But I don't care, either way," she says, bluntly.
"If he's going to do anything, he should act quickly," she says, of the pictures, which is not likely to earn her very many friends. "We'll be just in the nick of time to stop the infection. He won't get the chance." Unless he wins, is the unspoken statement: but even Kikuno is not willing to outright talk about the possibility that they all lose. Shinichi's terrible fate aside, losing her shot at the Homunculus simply isn't allowed.
Homunculi hosts aren't the only ones on a timer, even if hers is longer than most.
Roger find something. A secret panel? Kikuno arches an eyebrow. "Well, well..."
But what gets brought out is fairly pedestrian, if elaborate in its construction. This speaks of...
Things left unsaid. A present ungiven. A loss. Kikuno stares at the thing, her own face a mask.
"Yes," Kikuno agrees at last, relying on the sense of the thing itself more than any knowledge that Yanagi herself might possess. "This is the Thread."
<Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
Kazusa isn't in the mood for jokes about camels, and she's also a little bit past worrying about being offended by Eriko being overly familiar. "It's... whatever." But when she pushes back about the bedroom thing, she stares at Eriko for a moment. Darkly, she says, "... you don't know her boyfriend." Isabeau is right there.
But her attention is drawn again when Eriko comments on the umbrella. Her eyes widen and she takes a step closer. "... that's... I know whose that is. Something must have happened--" There's a flash of anger, but there's just as much worry, too. "I told her to be careful... That belongs to Makoto Niijima. She's a third year at Shujin a-and the Student Council President."
Isabeau says it isn't her business. Kazusa, in the moment, is entirely willing to let that one go.
A talker that doesn't bother with the rules of humanity at all... Kazusa shiers. "A court order won't do a thing if the Homunculus ignores it." But she looks up when Eriko steps in front of her and stops. Her eyes are a dark purple, and she might be just on the tipping edge of tears. "Don't want to sit. It might leave a trace." But she does nod to the question of touching her shoulder, "... okay." And she does, in fact, take those deep breaths.
Iinnnnnn and ouuuuut. She doesn't look entirely better but she's not shaking quite as much. It's really scary. "... yeah." She nods slowly as Eriko says they can keep her safe, too. It's actually a tremendous help to her to hear someone say that, in the moment.
Unlike Yanagi, Kazusa very much does fear pain. She is actually used to it, to some degree. Given her sport of (not quite her own) choice, injuries are extremely common. But her run-ins with the Homunculus have made it clear just how vulnerable she is, to someone that will ignore her Demon Queen mask.
"... yeah. I was," she replies to Kikuno. If she notices the lack of sympathy, she doesn't comment on it. (She probably doesn't notice it in the moment.) He might not be that careful, but... but if Kikuno advocates for clean work anyway, Kazusa won't argue.
If he's going to act, he'd better do it fast, Kikuno says. Kazusa looks down. "... classes start tomorrow," she says in a hollow voice. "... he's class representative of my class. H-how am I supposed..." She starts getting worked up again but then forces herself to take another slow breath.
"A music box...? That's what it's hiding..." She stares at it in mute silence. She's out of brain space to process much more than her own imminent danger, in the moment. There's a quiet nod, when Yanagi confirms that it is, in fact, the Thread. "... good. Let's... clean up and get out of here."
<Pose Tracker> Eriko Kirishima has posed.
It's a little odd, for Eriko, seeing all these young Persona users at odds with each other. Certainly, Kei and Mark fought a lot and Reiji was standoffish for a long time but in general... the group had one goal. That does not seem the case for these Persona users. But... there was a singular outside pressure for them, not many different ones.
Eriko frowns as Kazusa doesn't seem to leave things alone quite yet. Maybe there's something going on there, but right now, the tinder is close to sparking enough as is.
Eriko seems to have no issues with Eye and Thread, but she's weird. Apparently folks have decided on needle.
For now, though, Eriko is focused on dealing with Kazusa's breakdown as kindly as she can, but she can't help but glance at the 'Thread'. A music box and a ballerina. "...We're good to leave then, Yanagi?" There's clear concern in her voice for her friend, but perhaps getting out of here, now, would be a better move.
She blinks as Kazusa recognizes the umbrella, but, well... "...That's the school several of you attend, yes? Do you think she'll listen to one of you?"
Eriko does place her hand on Kazusa's shoulder, attempting to provide a grounding presence. "We have what we need to stop him," Eriko says, gently. "We can do what the police and the courts can't."
Eriko frowns, though, as Kazusa talks about her class situation. "...You can't," Eriko says, after a moment. "Don't worry. We can make a plan." After all, even when there aren't supernatural entities involved, there are plenty of mundane ways to keep a threat at bay until it's over.
Still... she knows the sort of powerlessness that Kazusa must be feeling right now- and maybe others do too. "...For now, we have to look at getting the next step over with. After that, we can talk about making a plan for those who need one. Or want one."
She's got enough money to pay for a cab or two if need be (or if she expenses it). It feels like a good time for no one to be travelling alone.