View source for 2026-04-07: Recovery and Subtext

*'''Log: Recovery and Subtext'''
*'''Cast:''' [[Kazusa Motojima]], [[Tamaki Uchida]]
*'''Where:''' Kazusa's Studio, Akihabara, Tokyo
*'''OOC Date:''' April 07, 2026
*'''IC Date:''' Sunday, October 21, 2012 (Morning)
*'''Summary:''' ''Tamaki was asked by Kazusa's brother, Kazuhiro, to look into his sister's odd behavior. Now that Kazusa is free of the Homunculus' control, Tamaki is paying her a visit to check on her recovery. They discuss various things, and Tamaki sees a few things Kazusa isn't quite ready to recognize...''

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 (|=========================== Electric Town - Main ===========================|)
 -========================================================= Tokyo/Akihabara ====-
 A sacred place for otaku, not just within Japan but worldwide. Here, it's so    
 mainstream to be a geek that it circles back to being cool again. That is,      
 unless you harass the staff of the businesses here whose job requires them to be
 a part of this culture, or the cosplayers who work so hard at their costumes    
 that it's practically a second job for them.                                    
                                                                                 
 Arcades and gaming shops alternate with manga stores full of merch that's so    
 pricy as to make any broke fan envious. Collectors line the streets for the     
 chance to trade for the rarest gachapon finds. Maid cafes and popups with menus 
 designed to profit off the latest hits in the weekly manga collabs and/or old   
 favorites from two decades ago cater equally to tourists and locals alike.      
                                                                                 
 Anywhere on earth may be a heaven or hell depending on who you are, but that may
 be truer than most places for Akihabara.                                        

 <Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
<poem>
Tamaki may or may not have heard about Kazusa's studio before now, since Hazuki put out a pretty open call for Persona Users to come investigate while Kazusa was still taken over by the Homunculus.

Regardless, when Tamaki contacts Kazuhiro to inquire about Kazusa's whereabouts, he can give her directions to Kazusa's studio. It's near Electric Town--not right in the miain hustle and bustle but a short walk away from it, where the noise dies down somewhat.

The address is for an old concrete building that looks like a former warehouse (because it is), with exposed steel beams framing the outside. It's been rennovated to be loft apartments, and the interiors are all concrete, with an old, rattling freight elevator that takes one up to the fifth floor.

Kazusa's apartment is the fifth floor, in the corner. When Tamaki knocks if her hearing is ''very'' astute she might hear an aggravated sigh from within.

The girl who answers the door is not the bright, unquestioning cheerful Homunculus Tamaki might have observed. She's much more like the girl Tamaki met in front of Shujin during the summer. A glowering stare, though her outfit is a lot softer: dark purple joggers, an oversized pink hoodie, and with her long straight black hair up in a loose, messy bun. "Oh. Right, Kazuhiro-kun mentioned you'd be coming."

There's a quiet moment and then she sighs, stepping back. "I guess you may as well come in."

The studio is a lfot apartment, long and skinny. A patch of unfinished concrete around the door serves as the genkan. Kazusa's wearing a pair of pink house slippers, and there's a pair of yellow sunflower ones that no doubt belong to someone--but also some generic light blue ones that look brand new. (They are, Kazusa bought them less than a couple of weeks ago.)

The main part of the loft apartment-turned-studio is finished concrete, along the left is a closet, bathroom, and kitchenette. By the kitchenette is a small round table with a pair of wooden chairs, with some folding chairs stacked nearby. Overhead silver ducks and wiring conduits fade into the far reaches of the ceiling, with a skylight overhead.

And right by the door is the loft--the part above it appears to have been used for storage, with blenty of boxes stacked up. But beneath it appears to be Kazusa's main workspace. At one end is a large 3-sectioned desk, with a pair of dual monitors and a keyboard and mouse, and a tower behind it. On the left side is a large digital tablet in a sturdy metal frame, and on the right side is an open space with tools lined up at the back edge of the desck and a light on an arm for more traditional work.

Two large industrial bookshelves fill the wall, crammed full of various magazines, books, reference, anime, manga, and video games on various topics and genres.

Kazusa herself is giving Tamaki space to walk in, but she still looks... tired, and a bit exhausted, even though she's trying to hide it somewhat. But a month in a supernatural space followed by two weeks of intense cramming for midterms hasn't really given her much of a chance to recuperate.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
    Tamaki's visit is at least in the service of making sure that Kazusa is doing okay after her ordeal. It isn't her first time in Electric Town, though she only rarely visits to pick some rare manga orders. She had a friendly Night Parade match with Roger when she was here last!

    There's confirming that Kazusa is back to her regular self again, for one, and additionally, she wants to offer her help in ... ''adjusting'' to her new reality. Kazusa doesn't have to go it alone. While she never met the cheerful model daughter Homunculized Kazusa, she's heard ''enough'' secondhand to know how stark of a contrast ''she'' was from her usual self.

    While she doesn't hear the aggravated sigh, she does notice that glowering stare of Kazusa's. Despite this, Tamaki returns the expression with the sunniest smile that she can muster as she walks in. "Hello! Motojima-chan, is it?" When out and about on business, she is usually -- with little variation -- in some form of business casual suit, this time in a wooden-brown blazer and slacks with a wine-red dress shirt underneath. "I'm just here to check up on how you've been doing."

    She glances around the studio, sincerely taking in the environment to get a better sense of what it takes for someone to partake in an artistic endeavor like Kazusa's. While games were still mostly 2D when she played them, that doesn't mean she can't appreciate where they've gone since. Her eyes narrow in focus when she spots a volume on the bookshelf that she thinks she recognizes.

    Tamaki is all too familiar with the difficulty that comes with re-acclimating back to a daily routine after an encounter with the supernatural. Her expression turns serious, and she adds, "And, you know ... maybe provide some advice, if you're willing to listen. You're not alone in what you've gone through."

    "Or what you're going through currently, for that matter. Has anyone explained to you about a new phenomenon you might now be experiencing at around midnight?"

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
<poem>
"Kazusa Motojima," she confirms. "And yes, ''that'' Motojima." On the bookshelves might be a few collector's boxes of various Night Parade releases, in fact! (She did actually pay for some of them hserslef, too.) "I'm... fine." She's not, and she knows she doesn't liook it, but she's telling the lie anyway. "... do you want something to drink? I've got water and... I think I have some canned coffees leftover."

There's an electric kettle in the kitchenette, but she's not offering to make tea.

As for what it takes, Kazusa's got some serious hardare on her desk, for a start--if you count the Qintic tablet as a third monitor, which it sometimes is. Her collection is wide-ranging, a long of the manga are from artists with detailed costume work in a varieties of genres.

(The eagle-eyed may spot that there are a few random romance manga volumes shoved haphazardly in the bottom shelf. None of them got more than 2 or 3 volumes in, though, and they aren't set up to be on display.)

Tamaki is offering to explain, but Kazusa doesn't look to be tripping over herself with gratitude. But she ''is'' listening, at least. "The Dark hour?" she asks in reply. "Nakao-san told me about it. I've..." She glances off to the side. "... been trying to ignore it. At least until midterms were over."

The world can have its weird creepy extra hour all it wants. Kazusa's got her own priorities.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
    Tamaki tries to keep her smile polite, but it grows more taut. "I am aware, yes. Good to see you again. The ..."

    She briefly glances away. Her smile fades. "... business I was helping investigate at Shujin has been resolved, also."

    "Ah! Thank you for offering, but I've got my own refreshment needs met." Tamaki's cheerful countenance returns as she beams at Kazusa and pats the bag she has slung around her shoulder. "I've been trying to cut back on my caffeine intake."

    Tamaki lets her gaze linger on the bookshelves a little bit more. The manga in particular catch her eye, and she perks up when she spots a title or two. "Oh, you've got the whole set of the ''Peony of Chantilly'' remake! I like the version from the '70s, though... but you've got the original run of ''Sapphire Knight'', wooow..."

    It appears that while Tamaki is only in her early 20s, she's a fan of the ''classics'', stuff from around the era when the medium was just getting its legs, let alone a certain subgenre. There's also a bit of a running theme with these titles, an undercurrent of sorts. ''Let's see if Kazusa can spot it.'' It does have ''something'' to do with the volumes that Kazusa has unceremoniously shoved below.

    Tamaki nods sympathetically at Kazusa's intention to ignore the Dark Hour. "Yeah, that's probably the best for now. You've been through a lot, I imagine, and I'd highly recommend taking the time you need to get your mundane affairs in order again."

    She lifts her head and half-closes her eyes. "But if and when things like that start circling back around to you again in earnest ... please feel free to reach out. I've tried for years to wriggle out of things, but I haven't found an escape."

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
<poem>
Kazusa stares at Tamaki for a moment as she mentions her ''other'' investigation. It's a questioning look, like she doesn't remember--which, given everything that's happened to her personally, she might be forgiven for forgetting--but evenlly something clicks. "... Oh. Right. That."

She is not going to ask. She's kind of full up on supernatural weirdness at the moment.

She just nods when Tamaki says she's set. "Okay." Well, she offered. She walks over to her desk and picks up an already-open can, leaning against it as she takes a sip. She ''should'' cut back, but caffeine was the only way she survived the hell of studying. Maybe now that midterms are over...

Kazusa glances over at her bookshelf as Tamaki spots the manga titles. "Um... yeah?" Hers is the discomfort of knowing someone else likes the same thing she likes. "It's... a good period piece. I liked the costuming." As for Sapphire Knight she just kind of shrugs. "I wanted to study the older art. I just lucked out finding reprints."

Okay she might have worked a little harder than that but she won't cop to it.

She might not be picking up on what Tamaki is thinking, though.

There's a quiet, dismissive snort at the idea of getting her mudane affairs in order. "Like ''that's'' going to happen," she mutters. There's stuff the Homunculus did that she has no idea how to undo without causing... a ''whole'' lot of trouble for herself. She lets out a long, weary sigh. "... at least I didn't totally bomb my midterms."

That last note of uncertainty in her voice might as well be screaming 'I hope.'

One hand goes up to press her palm against her forehead as she closes her eyes. "... I'm sure it will. As much as I'd rather it not." She takes a long, slow breath before dropping her hand again. "... is there anything ''else'' I should be watching out for?"
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
    Hahaha Tamaki was 'full up on supernatural weirdness' for nearly five ''years''! That's the problem, isn't it? It keeps coming and it doesn't abate. She is proof that there is no truly ignoring it -- not forever.

    Tamaki's own midterms are over, too, which is part of why she's cutting back. She did ... okay.

    About that 'period piece': "The costuming, huh?" Tamaki's tone carries a simultaneous mixture of skepticism and intrigue, a left-unstated 'is that all?' "The perspective shifts were pretty unusual at the time. The mangaka's a woman, so some of the scenes we might think of normal today kinda raised a lot of eyebrows back then. A lot of people reading it felt ''seen'' in a way that they rarely found in other works."

    "The older art?" Tamaki curls a finger over her chin. "I suppose, but what'd you think about the story? About the aspects of knighthood that were normally barred to Sapphire when she wasn't in disguise? The social mobility she had because she could duel others in the arena?"

    It is taking ''all of her restraint'' to not hijack Kazusa's tablet as a makeshift whiteboard to give a lecture on the history of illustration over the last two centuries right here and right now. There are whole museums dedicated to these authors' bodies of work. Not museum exhibits -- entire museums!

    Kids these days!! (tamaki calm down you are like, what, 4 years older)

    Tamaki shakes her head and shrugs at the dismissive snort. "... eh, give it time. Speaking from experience, things'll shake out. I had to transfer schools entirely after what happened with me. More recently, I've already had to break off one marriage engagement. I'm doing fine these days, though. It'll level out, take my word for it." She glances around the apartment as she feels a pang of jealousy in her chest. "Take note of the small mercies where you can."

    What else to watch out for ... "Hmm. Sumaru City is its own brand of strange; stories there have a tendency of becoming real ... even rewriting history itself, I suspect. The Dark Hour's at least a little bit more dangerous around Iwatodai and Port Island. There's that rumor about Mementos and bathroom mirrors, that one's true."

    She extends a hand as she finishes up. "That covers the every day stuff, but past that, if history's any indication, sooner or later, something bigger is going to come sniffing its way around the corner. I don't know what it'll look like, but it always does. The interpersonal has a way of creeping into the supernatural."

    Tamaki calmly tilts her head and smiles amicably. "So catch up on your studies and try to keep ahead of them. This way, you're at least not fighting an uphill battle when that time comes."

</poem>
 <Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
<poem>
Kazusa will be very distressed to hear that. Please don't tell her about that she is still bone tired from a month of captivity.

Kazusa hasn't gotten her results back. She knows she didn't do as well as she wanted. She's just hoping she didn't bomb. The other her's notes weren't... as helpful as she would've liked.

But Kazusa just stares at Tamaki blankly as she gets into the specifics of Peony of Chantilly. Part of it is her really just not picking up what Tamaki is putting down. But to be fair a part of it is also that she's just still recovering. After a moment she pinches the bridge of her nose. "... yeah, okay. I guess if you look at it in the historical context but the original is older than both of us and I'm not in the mood for an art lecture right now. I thought you were a detective."

There is a long sigh. "Yeah, the story's cool too, sure. I haven't really reread it since I was younger. Yeah, it sucks that they won't let her fight. Why do you think I main Kaguya-hime?"

That's one of the characters from Night Parade--it is, in fact, one of the two characters who normally headlines the box-art, opposite Yuki-offa. Who just so happens to be Hazuki's main.

Not that either of them know this yet.

And there's definitely nothing to be read into the fact that Kazusa plays a moon princess in Night Parade given the theme and context of her Atelier.

She might not have had much chance to visit those museums--she's had to keep a lot of her interests hidden from her father as it is.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Kazusa bristles at things shaking out, but she takes a moment to calm herself. "... That stupid other me told my father she's try for the olympics. There's no way I'm getting out of ''that'' without..." She gestures vaguely, as if to indicate 'causing a whole ''thing'''.

She looks at the studio, and her expression softens for a moment. "... I thought I'd lost it," she says quietly. "... that other me gave my father the key. If it hadn't been for Kazuhiro-kun..." For once her voice is somber, and reflective. "... He got baa-chan and jii-chan to change the lock. They're the ones that pay for the studio."

"... Okay, so Sumaru and Iwatodai are both weird too. Great. Good thing I'm never down at Iwatodai at ''Midnight''... What would I even be ''doing'' there that late..." she mutters.

She pauses and looks at Tamaki. "Wait, ''what'' and bathroom mirrors?"

Another tired sigh. "Something bigger. Wonderful. I feel like I need to sleep for a week straight still and I'm going to have to go right back into classes and practice tomorrow."

She just nods. "Now that I can make my own study notes again, I'll get right on that. Is there any ''good'' news that comes from all of this stupernatural stuff?"
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
    Oh, yeah, there's a reason Tamaki didn't say anything out loud in that regard.

    Tamaki waits for a couple of moments and quietly sucks in through her teeth. She's not going to get too much further in the details about ''Peony'', then; some aspects should remain for Kazusa to figure out at her own pace.

    "''Apprentice'' detective!" she cheerfully corrects. -- wait, tamaki, that's not ''better'' -- "I'm still in university, myself. Oh, and I practice fencing, but I'm just a hobbyist. I play a lot of chess online, too ..."

    As she recounts the number of interests she has, the pang of jealousy from earlier fades. Kazusa's family is far more strict than her own was -- Tamaki at least didn't have the burden of great expectations weighing on her own shoulders.

    " -- point is, people are more than just their job." She angles her head to the side. "Unless you think it's fair of me to say 'I thought you were a student' and not an aspiring game developer."

    Tamaki narrows her eyes and folds her arms when Kazusa remarks on Sapphire Knight. "Some stuff is timeless, historical context or not." (Granted this is from coming from a woman who will quote novels from the early 1900s at the drop of a hat.) "We have things in common with people going as far back as forever ago. There's recurring themes, leitmotifs, and so on. These days, you've got more outlets than video games for fighting, but fighting's not the thing I'm getting at. It's ''allegorical.''"

    She rubs the back of her neck at the mention of Kaguya-Hime. "Ahh, that's cool. She used to be who I played back in the first one. I stopped playing for a long time and I'm trying to catch up now. I've been jumping around the roster a bit again -- Kaguya-Hime, Master Koto, the cats in a trenchcoat -- anyway."

    As for that 'allegory', Kazusa's talk of her father elicits a muted sigh from Tamaki. She's so ''close'' oh my goodness this is torture.

    Still, Tamaki lowers her head as if to silently concede that there's no getting around trying for the Olympics. "Didn't say it would be painless, nor that it wouldn't be a 'whole thing.' I didn't mean to sound dismissive there, sorry. Saying things'll heal eventually doesn't do you much good in the here and now."

    She cracks a slight smile. "... you've got a good brother, even if he's a bit of a goofball. He's the one that came to me about your imposter problem. I was an only child." Her expression flattens as she intones deadpan: "Don't tell him I complimented him. Please."

    Tamaki nervously chuckles at Kazusa's responses to her 'everyday' supernatural advice and waves a hand. "Ahh, we can get into all that later! I honestly think you're doing the right thing in focusing on your normal life. There's a balance to maintain. Like -- "

    Tamaki squints as she tries to figure out a way to phrase it to someone else who ''also'' has a Persona strongly related to the moon like Arianrhod is. " -- daytime and nighttime. Waking and sleeping. Mundane and supernatural. Waxing and waning lunar phases. You've been deep, ''deep'' in one side, got all off-balance, so it's okay and encouraged to shore up the other side again."

    Pessimistic as she is, Tamaki is hard-pressed to find the silver lining in all of this mess. Still, she ''does'' have one. "... The good news is: because you have a Persona, you're not defenseless. There are people out there who would completely steamroll us if we didn't have that particular avenue of fighting back. Powerful men and women seek even more power, but by moving in such a manner, they leave themselves exposed where they otherwise wouldn't be."

    She holds up a finger and smiles brightly! "You know, like in Night Parade when someone gets greedy and goes for a heavy hitting move but it leaves them open for a whiff punish."

</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Kazusa Motojima has posed.
<poem>
'Apprentice' detective. Kazusa arches an eyebrow at the older (by only a few years) woman. No, it's not better, and she might not be saying it but she is thinking it very loudly.

"I see." She takes another sip of her coffee. "... My grandparents make games for the Motojima Corporation. I like what they've made, but... my father doesn't." She doesn't say it, but it's her grandparents she'd like to take after. But she gestures at the desk and computer. "... This was all from them."

"Fine, you can be an apprentice detective who likes art on an apprentice basis." She sighs. "... I'm an aspiring ''artist''. Who happens to want to make art for video games. There's a difference." After a moment she sighs. "... point taken, though. Sorry. Things have just..."

She lets that sentence trail off without finishing it.

Kazusa is massaging her temple again as TAmaki makes a firmer point about allegory. "The only thing I can think about is all the cramming I did for midterms because apparently my other self wasn't good enough to leave me any study notes I could actually ''use''." She crosses her arms. "But ''fine''. Yes, it's still relevant, but not all of us get disguises or magical transformations to get around the things their closed-minded fathers won't let them do even though his mother did the exact same thing because I ''tried'' that. That's how I ended up with my father yanking me out of a con and how that--''thing'' got a hold of me. So if you don't mind I'm really not in the mood for escapist fantasy when I'm still trying to figure out how to survive my own life."

"Baka-duo," Kazusa supplies, as if by reflex. "They're good if you like that whole 'Mountain Climbers'-style gimmick." She considers for a moment. "... if you haven't run into the diagonal air teleports for Kaguya-hime look those up." There's a funky motion you can do mid-air whip attacks that either pull her to her opponent or pulls them to her. "They're tricky to use, but really handy for mixups."

After a moment she adds, "... my grandparents work on that game. So I know a lot about it from them."

She waves off the Olympics comment. "It's... I'll figure something out. There's a bunch of things she did I'm still trying to figure out what they were. I'll manage. Somehow." At least now she knows she has her brother in her corner.

Tamaki asking her not to tell him he'd been complimented actually gets a small laugh from Kazusa. "Yeah, well... he deserves more of those from me, but I won't tell him what you said." She gives Tamaki a look. "... as long as you don't share what I've told you?"

She listens as Tamaki speaks of balance, in all its forms. There's a sigh, but something seems to settle. "Well, I'll keep trying, then. Coming back the week before midterms... did not help me much. Sorry if I'm being short with you, I'm... seriously frayed. And thanks for showing up to fight that thing."

 Kazusa has no idea who these men and women seeking power might be. And is too tired to care. But, softly, she says, "... Mina Harker won't help me with my father, though."
 
 Kazusa just stares at Tamaki for a moment. And then, despite her best efforts to hold it in, there is a quiet snort of amusement. "Wow. You sound like a nerd saying that." Says the girl who was just talking about mixups. But she's actually smiling a little as she says that, and it lacks some of her typical venom.
</poem>

 <Pose Tracker> Tamaki Uchida has posed.
<poem>
    And yet, here she is, grinning like her correction improves things.

    She pensively taps a fist against the side of her cheek. "Wonder why the enthusiasm seemingly skipped a generation, then ..."

    She happily nods at Kazusa's clarification between gamedev in general and the more specialized skillset in making assets for them. "I appreciate you informing me of the distinction!"

    Tamaki raises her hands placatingly and chuckles at her response to more discussion on Sapphire Knight. "Okay, okay, I'll let it rest for now. You've been through a lot lately! Let it percolate." It isn't quite what she was getting at, but Kazusa is understandably a little strained. She'll give it a rest for now!

    The finer points of Bakaduo play are maybe a bit ''too'' advanced for where Tamaki's skill is currently. She's not a total beginner and knows some of those words, but ... She smiles, presses her hands together, and lightly sticks out her tongue. "Ahahaha. I just like them because they're cats!"

    Her grandparents work on Night Parade. Tamaki nods slowly. "That makes sense. I know a bit about advertising from my parents' line of work."

    Kazusa will figure things out. "Exactly what I was saying!"

    Tamaki makes a zipping motion over her lips. "I won't, don't worry. Just as long as you tell him what you wanna tell him yourself."

    "I know how it goes. Trust me on that." Tamaki shrugs. "It's a marathon, not a sprint, and it's always rough at the beginning." She smiles at the thanks. "Of course. And if you need help, you've got people who can pitch in. Remember that."

    Mina Harker won't help with her father. "Well, not so directly, no ... but give it some thought."

    Finally, she manages to connect with her on something! "Haha! I was trying to translate a fencing analogy to fighting game terminology, but I think you got the gist."

    She purses her lips and steeples her fingers. "You've got the Agency's contact info, right? Or your brother does. If anything weird happens, give us a call and we can help out. Seriously. We take on anything." With a grin, she gives a wave and steps closer to the door to leave. "Good talking with you!"

</poem>

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