surgeworks

18 – November 1 | Table of Contents | 20 – November 3

____________________

Alternate Title: Sue Arrival

Suicide, self-harm, and pedophilia are brought up in this post. Please be aware.

Chris: What to even say about the last post? The Villainous count more than doubled, the entire plot thus far got turned on its head and looked three times as illogical for it, and we were left without any direction to go in. With our mission fucked to hell and back, let’s dive in with only Shinji by our side for support.

Shinjiro: Yo. It’s 11/5, right?

Chris: Yep.

> Yesterday was a shocking turn of events…

Don’t act like it was a good twist.

> You wonder if Mitsuru-senpai is alright…
> ……
> You wonder what else the future holds.

Another count I might should’ve used was “Ellipsis Abuse”.

Shinjiro: You’d never escape the spork.

Chris: At the gates, we overhear gossip about Mitsuru’s dad dying—not even eight hours after it fucking happened. Of illness, is the story. After school, we get a text from Akihiko telling us to meet in the command room as soon as we’re at the dorm, so we head home.

Once there, we find everyone but Mitsuru and Aigis. Fuuka says that Ikutsuki’s room was cleared out. Everyone discusses what went down last night, and how Mitsuru is probably dealing with the fallout among Kirijo Group herself, and Akihiko estimates she’ll be unavailable for at least a week. Everyone wonders what we’re supposed to do now. Specifically, Junpei wonders about Chidori.

Shinjiro: *aggravated* Alright, now this shit is starting to piss me off. He didn’t know me that well, but what happened the literal night before is kind of important. Ikutsuki went mad, Aigis went rogue, and Mitsuru’s dad fucking died! Pull your head out of this girl’s ass!

Romantic Plot Cancer: 32

Chris: Junpei asks if we’re “just supposed to wait for them to get their act together?”

WISTLH: 67

You insensitive piece of whale shit. Do not pretend that you of all people are suddenly concerned about our mission to this extent. If you don’t mind, your friend’s dad was murdered in front of her last night, you fucking dick.

They remark on how many unanswered questions there are, and we try to be positive about it. All that Akihiko can tell us is to train for whatever comes next. Everyone files out, leaving Fuuka and Yukari alone. The former stops the latter, and hands her a disc she put remnants of the chairman’s hard drive on, containing what Fuuka pieced together of the original, undoctored video. She’s handing it to Yukari to watch later, who thanks her.

Later in her room, Yukari does just that. The sound and video quality are much clearer from the get-go. According to Dr. Takeba, he interrupted the experiment, but accidentally set free a number of Shadows, which is a disaster but the only alternative to world destruction.

“I cannot stress this enough… You must not hunt the Shadows that have dispersed!”

I believe the alternative is letting them reform into Death on their own or just letting the mass lobotomization continue? The game never does explain this. What else, exactly, were they supposed to do?

Bad Game Design: 61

Ill Logic: 86

Seriously. Hunt the Twelve Shadows could’ve just been where this game ended and it would’ve been fine. But no, someone on the Atlus staff—probably Hashino—probably said that wasn’t deep and complex and intriguing enough. Two points.

The last words from Dr. Takeba are his apology to Yukari for not being able to survive, his insistence that the happiest days of his life were when he was with her, and a plea for someone to get the video to her. He says he loves her before the explosion happens, and she breaks down crying. But she was right to believe in him, she says.

Just like Akihiko, her tears eventually stop and she raises her head up. She tells her Dad that she’s gonna be okay, and her Persona ascends.

She says she’s going to fight for what she believes in, and the scene ends.

Although we can’t do anything tonight, we do go out (noticing that the Lost are still out in droves as we do) and sell a bunch of our crap and get our rewards, including a High Counter skill card, an Endure skill card, and an item that grants Invigorate. We also check requests and find several new ones.

Bring Theodore a Featherman action figure, available 11/21.
Scrubbing a bathroom.
Bring him gourmet dog food, available 11/12.
Bring him Oden Juice, from the girl at the persimmon tree.
Take him out to visit Gekkoukan High.
Get the last old document.
Get 2 Gold Medals from the golden hands in the next block, Harabah.
Retrieve 3 Moon Tablets from enemies.
Retrieve 6 Pink Feathers from enemies.

Having taken yet not fulfilled the Sengoku-era helm request and the Lilith with Mabufudyne request, we can only take one, and I choose scrubbing the bathroom. Remember the Scrub Brush item we got from Theo earlier in the year, that Ken’s been using as a weapon? That we could’ve sold at any time but didn’t because we’d lose out on being able to finish this quest and have fucked ourselves over? Yeah, we need that for this one. We also check out some weapon fusions—Thor, who we got from Rio, could be used to fuse Mjolnir, which would’ve given Shinjiro electric attacks and some assloads of damage output.

Shinjiro: Wait, what? Even I get a fused weapon and I never get to use it? That’s such bullshit!

Chris: I know, buddy. It wouldn’t have been much use against the Hermit, though.

We can also fuse some spears for Ken, but we’re going to wait until we can see all of his options, because if I’m not wrong, he can get three.

With nothing else to do, we go to bed early. We get a Dark Hour cut-in. What is it now? It’s not Pharos, as he’s gone. We get that zoom across tiled flooring until we fly through an open door, and find ourselves in the Velvet Room.

Igor, Theo. Igor would like to bring attention to a change in us, in our mentality. He slides us our contract, binding us to responsibility for any choices we make and reminding us we chose this fate of our own free will. No, he still doesn’t explain it.

11/6. We are greeted with Chidori’s hospital room. God damn it. Of course, Junpei walks in. ...Fuck this, you take over, Shinji.

Shinjiro: *irritated* Really? Up ‘til now I was doing fine just sitting on the sidelines. ...Fine.

Iori walks in, surprising the Strega chick. He apologizes for not being able to come lately, despite the fact that, ya know, he still shouldn’t really be here or have time to be here. ‘A lot’s been goin’ on’, he says. Yeah, two deaths of people associated with your group. Not that you care as long as this girl’s around.

Romantic Plot Cancer: 33

She doesn’t answer. Iori figures she must know about Sakaki and Shirato, and that he was planning on telling her, since they were her friends. S’zat supposed to make me feel for her? They attacked SEES, not the other way around! And no one made them jump off the bridge either! Besides, Takaya fucking shot me!!!

Romantic Plot Cancer: 34

She doesn’t answer again, and Iori asks if that’s not it. She just says “I’m scared ...It hurts”, and asks him what he’ll be doing in two years. Why two years? He hasn’t really thought about it, he says, and asks why she’s asking. Before she can answer, he notices and draws attention to the fact that she’s stopped cutting herself.

Romantic Plot Cancer: 35

Relationships, romantic or otherwise, don’t just make suicidal or self-harming behavior go away. I would know. And he just pointed out how her friends are dead.

He says that’s good (that she isn’t cutting herself, not that her friends are dead), because she’s got beautiful hands. Apparently he touches ‘em, and she recoils and tells him not to touch her.

Romantic Plot Cancer: 36

She says it’s too painful, and says it used to be fun when he came to visit.

Chris: Really? I just got the impression you were largely ignoring him, giving him vague answers when he asked questions, and still cutting yourself given his visits.

Romantic Plot Cancer: 37

Shinjiro: Butt out.

She says it hurts inside and that she can’t breathe. Well, I know that feeling. She stammers out that she can’t take “this” anymore, and Iori’s as confused as we are. She then tells Iori, very plainly, not to come here anymore. He protests, but walks out. You want me to keep going, or is that it?

Chris: Keep going for just a bit, I need a moment to recover.

Shinjiro: The scene ends and we’re handed control. The guide says we need to talk to Iori today, but he’s not anywhere that we can find, so we do other things. Mr. Ono still ain’t at the faculty office, but Mrs. Terauchi is. Then we head over to TPI station and use that damn scrub brush to clean the bathrooms with the cleaning lady there. Chris gets a maid outfit for Yukari...wait, why the hell does your bellboy friend have that?

Chris: Bell boyfriend?

Shinjiro: *visibly irritated* Bellboy friend! And?

Chris: I’ve learned not to ask questions here. I’ll take over now, if you don’t mind.

We take Theo out this time for one of his visit requests, and this time it’s to Gekkou High. When taken to the gates, he remarks on how hard it is to imagine this nice place turning into Tartarus at night. The students leaving school stroll out, and Theodore suggests that their gazes, which are a mixture of glazed over, awestruck, and burning jealously, are signs that even they can sense our power, and offers us to stay closer to him for protection, which we gleefully do, getting more furiously envious stares in response before Theo says he wants to head inside.

Shinjiro: ?!? Dude! What about me?!

Chris: Listen, it’s part of the game…

Shinjiro: I’m in a coma at the hospital and you’re snuggling up with this pretty boy?

Chris: Hear me out! It’s necessary for the hundred percent! Besides, you can’t deny he’s damn fine, and polite to boot! And it’s a trip getting him to think all sorts of things about the normal world!

Shinjiro: *placated, but only slightly* Tempting, but I’m a selfish guy… And I don’t like how good-looking he is.

Chris: This is a 100% run. This way, everybody wins. There’s no one that’d ever replace you in my heart, man.

Shinjiro: *turns over in his hospital bed* I’m going to sleep.

Chris: *Sigh* Hate having to choose between my Persona guys. I hope he comes around…

We see the school store first, and he marvels at the vendor, and tries to buy a school lunch from it, which unfortunately is more the cafeteria’s thing. They do have bread though, and he gets a little disappointed about that, but buys one to take back to Igor anyway. After that, he wants a tour of the school proper.

A classroom is our first stop, and Theo sits down in a student’s chair, and I can only imagine how ridiculous he looks. Some teacher-student roleplay promptly begins *eyebrow waggle*. We head over to the podium and ask a question.

> “What war was in 1467?” (Unfair, he doesn’t know much about the outside world.)
> “What title did Masakado claim?” (This we can ask, because not only was it a test question, Masakado is a Persona we can use).
> “What food do I like?” (Unfair, there’s no reason for him to know this.)

He actually gets it wrong! Or, I dunno, maybe he gets it right if you translate to Japanese, but he says “New Emperor”, when I recall Masakado claiming the title of Imperial Prince. But then, the text informs us he’s right. So maybe I’m just dumb. I probably am.

We then head off to the art room, where Theo observes a plaster human figurine. He wonders innocently why there aren’t real models instead of fake anatomical ones. Some days, in some classes, Theo—the lucky ones. The music room is next, where he innocently disparages the music choice on the sheets. Then, the sports field, where he speculates that people run in circles to demonstrate a philosphical viewpoint. Then, it’s time to wrap it up at the gates.

Theo’s excited as usual, wanting to have another chance to come, but quiets down quickly, a somber look coming over his face. He asks himself why he came here with us, and seems to be afraid of wanting to learn more about us than the human world. He brushes it aside, apologizing for having us chaperone him everywhere, and takes our hand as we go back to the Velvet Room.

He does it again when we’re back at the Velvet Room, after he tells us why they can’t have bread delivered there. He gives us the object needed to fuse Hell Biker this time. Before we leave, we take advantage of our maxed Tower Link to fuse something with a Pentagon spread...Mara. An evil demon in Buddhist myth, and also a giant penis monster in SMT lore.

It absorbs Pierce, is of the Tower Arcana, and is weak to ice. It also gains the strongest Pierce-type attack in the game, Primal Force. He’s particularly fond of, not just physical skills, but arrow-named skills, I can’t imagine why. Theo has this to say:

“…. Wh-Why do you have that… thing… equipped? It’s very… unladylike.”

We spot Chi You, a Persona we can’t make for another six levels, and Shiva, which we can’t make yet but which is fucking amazing. We also take a request to water some flowers at Gekkoukan, which are on the roof and for which he rewards us with Mitsuru’s maid outfit. Then we take the dog food request.

Finally, we go to the shrine to boost our Ken Link. Then, we get back to the dorm, where we get a call from Theo about a new path opening up in Tartarus. This confirms we can start going there, of course, and we talk to Fuuka. She says that Aigis is back, and feels bad, and we should forgive her.

> “Sure."
> “No! I don’t wanna!”

We’re then told to stop acting like a child and just forgive her. Bitch, I forgive nothing.

Up on the second floor, Junpei’s pouting. He thinks Chidori hates him now (accurate) and doesn’t know if he should continue seeing her.

> “Go see her.”
> “Just give up.”

Yeah, you read that right. Why am I encouraging Junpei to go see her? Because this is a 100% run, which means I have to. To see everything in this game and all of its “rewards”, you have to encourage Junpei to go and see a girl who has explicitly expressed to him not to ever come back and see her. And that earns one of these:

Romantic Plot Cancer: 38

Because Atlus, or rather, our producer Katsura Hashino, doesn’t think that’s wrong. Hashino doesn’t think Junpei shouldn’t see her. You’ll see why. And I’m giving it one of those each time it comes up. Not only because it’s a crap thing to encourage, but because it goes against what Atlus has now established about Junpei with his Social Link: that he’s a guy who cares about a girl’s privacy and consent, as demonstrated by his anger that someone was violating ours by taking pictures of us unnoticed. Here, the “right” choice is to encourage him to violate another girl’s privacy and consent.

Night time is another free time, so we’re gonna visit Tartarus in this post so that it doesn’t get overlong. We go to bed early.

11/7. Gossip on the way to school informs us that Apathy Syndrome has started to spread outside this area. Mr. Ekoda asks us what a phrase means, and it’s “Winter mornings are pleasant”. We also head to the antique shop and see a new fusions: Mara produces the “Evil Gloves” for Akihiko, which have more than a hundred attack points over the Sabazios and add 10 to all his stats, hot damn. Then we go to the shrine to boost Akihiko’s Link. We go for a walk with Koromaru and Yukari once we’re back at the dorm. She speculates that Koro doesn’t come to the shrine because he’s grieving, but to show the priest he’s okay and has friends.

11/8. We go visit Akinari today. First thing out of his mouth is how we feel about a pink alligator. Man, we love pink alligators. He has decided that one will be the main character of a story he’s writing. This alligator was born in a green forest, but was born pink. Being so brightly visible, he can’t hunt for food easily, so he’s always hungry. His coloration makes him an outcast, so he lives alone, but then he makes a friend. Said friend is a bird that can’t fly. So, the bird stands on the gator’s back and practices its flying. Akinari admits that this story idea is embarrassing to talk about, but asks our opinion anyway. We encourage him, which makes him happy. He’s never written a story before, and is a bit afraid it’s going to suck. But that doesn’t matter, because he’s writing it for himself. Attaboy! And he wants to show us the entire novel one day. He then admits that he wanted to write an upbeat story to cheer himself up, and that maybe if he could find some meaning to life, he could put it in his story.

He then says that when he writes, he sees us in his mind, like we’re telling him not to die just yet.

We rank up. He then says that the wind’s going to pick up soon—his body can tell those sorts of things now, and that he’d better go, wondering if he’ll have enough time left to finish it.

11/9. Gossip tells us there’s a new student, and he’s hot. …… *sigh*

Right on cue, Ms. Toriumi informs us we have yet another transfer student, which of course is code for “important character”. Ms. Toriumi frowns when no one laughs at a joke, and has Ryoji Mochizuki introduce himself.

The mere sight of this dude has Aigis bent out of shape for some reason. I understand her feelings, but frankly not for the same reason, and I had them when she came in too, so… Anyway, he’s flirtatious, and she refers to him as dangerous.

Remember how Aigis got her own count for this game? This is the other character I considered doing it for. In fact, I really should’ve. If you split this character in two, you’d get Marie from Persona 4: Golden and Teddie from the same game. I don’t like him.

Later that afternoon, we’re told there’ll be a school trip next week to Kyoto. We stay awake through a lecture.

After school, we still aren’t free. Junpei has called us over to inform us that Ryoji is just the damn coolest thing ever, yo. We welcome him, and he says he has the strangest feeling when he looks at us, like we’ve met before.

If there’s one thing this game could use a sharp dose of, it’s subtlety. We shake his hand, and form a new Social Link: Fortune. Aigis, who’s working very hard to use this opportunity to get into my good graces, declares him a threat and calls for him to step away from us.

Aigis I’m Stuck With You: 27

Because she won’t go that far for anyone else, just us.

Finally free, we check the faculty office, and Mr. Ono is finally back. He spent all this time looking for things not related to Masamune to give us, and found none, so he’s very reluctantly considering giving us his hat, as it didn’t belong to Masamune personally. We receive Kanetsugu’s Helm, which we take back to Theo for a maid outfit for ourself. We also accept the Oden Juice request and talk to the girl (who’s not interested in anything we have to say), and pick up our Evil Gloves for Akihiko.

Speaking of, time for his final rank-up! We choose to spend our afternoon time with him.

We go to the beef bowl shop, which he laments is not a good place to have a serious conversation. We protest that both of us like this place, and he agrees, but he has something he wants to give us. It’ s a rabbit doll. He insists that it looks like us, and confesses that for a long time, he thought he was seeing his little sister in us. But when he bought this doll, he knew it wasn’t like that.

Passing by toy stores always made him think of Miki, and he kept trying to forget her. I...can’t really relate with that, but whatever man. He says that he saw this, thought of us, and then thought of Miki smiling. According to him, if it hadn’t been for us, he might never have gotten over what happened. In a variety of phrases, he basically says that we’re a team, we’re friends, and we’re going to have a good future together. He laughs, and we reach MAX Rank.

The music plays, and we’re informed that we can fuse Helel, the Light-Bearer (well, it actually says Helel, the one who holds up light, but this way sounds better).

I’d love to comment on this Social Link and this Arcana, but there’s not much to it. This scene didn’t even have any voice acting, like Yukari’s and Fuuka’s. The Star is best represented as personal insight and glimmers of hope after disaster, which works well with Akihiko trying to move on past his sister’s death, but the Emperor—the Arcana of his Persona—would’ve worked just as well, considering he struggles to differentiate the typically masculine roles he fills, of big brother versus lover. Overall, it’s a nice Link, but I didn’t feel that Akihiko’s character benefited all that much for it. Also, despite us being forced to wait until after Shinjiro dies to complete it, there wasn’t a single mention of him in the MAX Rank scene, despite him also being someone precious to Akihiko that he’s lost. But hey, Helel’s a great Persona, so he’s worth it.

We go back home to the dorm, where Junpei gushes about Ryoji, and we have another Social Link to max, Koromaru’s.

When taken for his walk to the shrine, he runs off behind it, before returning with something in his teeth. It’s a dirty collar, and we ask if it’s his. Obviously, he can’t answer, but he wags his tail and seems to indicate that he wants us to have it. When asked if he wants to wear it, it’s an emphatic no, but he wants us to hold onto it. We ask if this means he’ll stick with us, and he gazes at us with big….blue eyes? The text said blue, but they’re red...err, anyway, having been given a cherished gift, we reach MAX Rank.

This time, we are informed we can fuse Siegfried, the Bearer of Victory. We play with Koro a little longer before heading home.

This Social Link is much simpler than the others, and not just because Koromaru is a dog. The Strength Arcana represents, simply put, compassion—it represents emotional strength to contrast the more physical and direct strength of the Chariot. Koromaru was a great choice for this, because dogs are made of compassion, man. They’re full of love and life and goodwill. A perfect fit, especially for Koromaru.

11/10. Yukari tells us at the gates that Mitsuru’s coming back today. She’s going to need our support after what happened. Today is free time, with no scenes to endure, so what should we do? We’re behind on the Justice Link, but we can’t advance that one during the afternoon. We go hang out with Bebe. It’s a deviation from schedule, but we’ll have plenty of opportunities to go to the Oracle to boost Ken soon. Incidentally, this is also our MAX Rank for this guy, too! I’m a little disappointed, because of what this means. Maybe I should’ve waited?

We’re sewing hard, and with a flourish, Bebe informs us he’s finally finished the kimono. He’s sure that when his uncle sees it, he’ll definitely let him come back to Japan! But...to actually give it to him, he has to leave for a little while. As in, out of the country for a little while. He’s sad to have to say sayonara, but he gives us a money pouch to keep. He made it from leftover material, and wants us to have it to commemorate our friendship. He tells us to wait for him, as the best memories of Japan that he has are all the times we hung out. We say that we’ll wait, and he starts to cry tears of joy. We reach MAX Rank, the music plays, and we’re informed that we can now fuse Yurlungur, Governor of the Heavens!

It’s an aboriginal rainbow water snake, apparently, but it looks like a worm. Bebe promises to meet with us soon in the future, and says goodbye, as he leaves tomorrow.

Of this Social Link, I have no complaints. It doesn’t change much from the original, and it represents its Arcana well. What I do feel needs to be noted is that had we waited until we were supposed to finish this Social Link, we’d be seeing Bebe at Kyoto during the trip. Since he has to leave now, we won’t. Sorry!

Mitsuru’s back, but she went straight to her room looking tired, according to Aigis. We go out to eat again with Ken. We get outside the dorm doors, and this time he wants to let us choose and him pay. However, a boy who knows him from class walks by. The boy asks if we’re his sister, only for him to get defensive and say no a little too quickly and harshly. When Ken tries to identify our relation to him, he stops short. We fill in the blanks for him, saying we’re team mates, which his classmate calls weird considering how much older we are. Ken insults him and gets insulted back, and the classmate runs off after calling us a hag. Shit man, we didn’t do anything. And yes, the whole scene has a very…uncomfortable vibe to it.

He apologizes for what that brat said, and we tell him it didn’t bother us. He hangs his head, again saying we’re not very close in age, and yet again asks why we bother with him.

> “You’re a special friend.” (The right choice.)
> “It’s because I like you.” (NO!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! HASHINO, YOU CUT THE PEDOPHILIA SHIT RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!!!!!!!!)

Bad Game Design: 62

Yes, if you haven’t picked up on it by now, Ken is a love option. This ten-year-old kid is an option as a lover for you, a seventeen-year-old, and there’s a wait-for-me promise in there, not that it makes it any better. Fuck you, Atlus. This alone is reason enough to never buy one of your games.

He’s confused that we can be a special friend despite not being able to relate to us the way an older person would, but thanks us regardless, and calls us kind and strong and someone he wants to be like. We RANK UP. We’re at 8, and supposed to be at 9, so that anyone who’s confused knows. Ken forgot he has homework, so no dinner after all.

...It’s probably a good thing Shinjiro left early on.

11/11. Gossip tells us for the fourth (yes, fourth!) time already how hawt Ryoji is. We go to the shrine to boost our Ken Link. Unfortunately, we get a bad message. “You will have the worst luck. You are headed towards financial disaster. Your health is in grave danger.” Holy shit. We lose 5,000 yen and suddenly get tired. At the dorm, we go to bed after encouraging Junpei to go talk to Chidori again.

Romantic Plot Cancer: 39

11/12. There is no rest for good men—the scene we’re treated to is of the goddamn monorail we take to school! The one we haven’t seen since the beginning of the game with Yukari! Ryoji has decided to greet us.

What a coincidence, we dryly say. He instead calls it destiny, and draws our attention to the sun shining off the water, which he says lifts his spirits. We agree, and are immediately flirted with for doing so. He laments that we’re already almost at school, and he says that school’s a lot of fun when we ask. He flirts again, saying he feels better there because he can see us there, and we RANK UP.

That fucker Edogawa is teaching again, and talks about Indian magic and asceticism, and asks about a magical text called the Upanishads. After class, Junpei dejectedly says he sometimes starts going to the hospital to see Chidori without even realizing it. Get over it, kid.

Romantic Plot Cancer: 40

Hasn’t gone to see Shinjiro once, though!

We go fuse Garuda, who has Amrita, a skill that heals all ailments, and Saturnus, who has Growth 3 (full EXP while inactive), and use our Temperance Link to create Yurlungur, and use our Priestess Link to fuse Scathach—the latter of whom also has Amrita. Better yet, both Scathach and Yurlungur have Mabufudyne! We can finally finish the Lilith request! We do exactly that through a painstaking process—fusing Scatchach into Succubus (she ends up with Mabufudyne, Magarudyne, Megido, and Power Charge!), then using that to fuse into the other Devil Personas. Once that’s done, we fuse all but Mokoi into Lilith (and even then, it’s a bitch trying to get her to learn Mabufudyne). We get a Sacrificial Idol for it, which grants Enduring Soul as an accessory! ‘Scuse me while I slip that in my pocket. We’ll be doing much the same process as with Lilith later on with Thanatos.

We boost our Ken Link again, then at the dorm, we talk to Koromaru, who gives us some of his dog food, which we give to Theo, who realizes unpleasantly that this is something his sisters have tricked him into eating before. We get dog armor for it. Then, we spend time with Ken for another RANK UP.

This time we’re not eating for once, and instead visit the shrine. He says he likes it here, it’s cool in the morning and smells like nature in the afternoon. But it’s the best at night, where he can be alone and feels like he can be true to himself. He brings up an essay he was supposed to write about dreams for the future, but he couldn’t think of anything to write, so the teacher made him stay after class, but he still didn’t think of anything. Given that he had to turn it in right then, he just wrote that he wanted to be a soccer player to get out of it—something the guy next to him wrote. He climbs up on top of the jungle gym, and invites us up there with him.

He knows now why he couldn’t think of what he wanted from his future, and says that we’ve made him realize he’s never bothered to think about it, and appreciates us listening to what he has to say and not treating him like a kid or an object of pity. It’s not just growing up that matters, it’s how he does it, he says. We tell him hey, no rush. He blushes as he asks us to be by his side and help him more. We rank up. He wants to visit the shrine to pray for everyone’s safety before heading back.

11/13. We spend time, against our will, with Ryoji today.

He’s surrounded by girls as he leaves, and flirts his way smoothly around them. He has zero qualms about calling us his princess in public despite us being virtual strangers, nor holding our hand as he leaves.

WISTLH: 68

We don’t fucking know you!!! We ask him why he did that, and he falls silent and looks away with an apology. We say we’re not mad (we are, though) and he reiterates that he’s sorry before gripping our hand tighter while leading us away.

WISTLH: 69

He remembers that Aigis’ll get angry if she sees his hand in ours, and comes down with deja vu for her too, as a matter of fact, feeling like he knows her but can’t remember her. We RANK UP. He perks up and asks to be shown around the city.

At the dorm, Ken says Junpei’s probably seeing Chidori, idly wondering with a bright smile if Chidori’s Persona tried to kill her again. Oh, so he knew about that? And still never considered that Shinjiro’s Persona might’ve gone berserk?

WISTLH: 70

Ill Logic: 87

With nothing to do, we go to bed early.

11/14. Edogawa’s up again, and no, I’m not describing it. After school, we get a scene. Yukari walks up to the roof, where she finds Mitsuru. I swear to god if she’s thinking about jumping…

But no. Yukari’s bright and cheery, and says it’s rare for her to miss a student council meeting. They chat idly about that and the Kyoto trip, and Mitsuru says she’d only spoil the fun if she went. Yukari wonders if, then reprimands her for, then forbids her from thinking of skipping the Kyoto trip, surprising Mitsuru. Having worked in an opening, Yukari tries to relate to her, despite herself, saying she knows what it’s like to lose a father. With that in mind, she’s decided to be more upfront with Mitsuru.

Ryoji walks in. Goddamn it. Despite flirting, or appearing to, he says he was asked to find Mitsuru so the school trip doesn’t end up canceled. And then he definitely flirts, asking her out to dinner. Mitsuru’s taken aback, and Yukari hurries her off. Disappointed, he then turns to Yukari, offering to take her to Shirakawa Boulevard of all places. That asshole gets smacked for his insensitivity and rudeness.

WISTLH: 71

Good on you, Yukari. We go to the shrine to boost our Link with Ken and then get back to the dorm, where Mitsuru seems to have taken up her normal routine. Junpei reports that he went to see Chidori yesterday, and that every time she looked at him, she looked pissed. He wants to stop visiting her.

Romantic Plot Cancer: 43

One for the glaring looks she’s giving him, one for the encouragement I just gave him, and one for him declaring upon perking up that he’s going to go visit her whether she likes it or not. Fuck. With nothing else to do, we take Koromaru for a walk.

11/15. Somehow, Ryoji got my damn number and called me. Worse, the schedule says I have to take it. Fuck!

He invites us out, and sad music is playing when we get to the cafe. He likes being there, and we guess accurately that he was going to say it was because we were here with him. He notes a lot of couples filling the cafe, and talks about how a lover is supposedly someone to whom no one matters more to you in the world.

Ryoji, in a move that is quite suspect and raised my eyebrow, has this to say.

R: “I would still like you, no matter if you were a guy or a girl.”

(I was actually going to screenshot this, but I don’t think Chris Caine actually got this far in the Ryoji link, a decision I wholeheartedly support. I have a capture card now, so I could’ve gotten it for myself, but alas, my Vita has neglected to power on recently. I think its time might be over...)

I want to believe that’s Atlus embracing a bisexual male character, but I feel like it’s just a line they dropped that was allowed to be suggestive. There’s certainly been no evidence since Persona 2 that they’re relieving their harsh attitudes towards gay and bi men.

He sobers up, and says that being with us gives him the feeling that he might find out how he knows us, and we’ll get closer. And yet, that makes him want to cry. We RANK UP.

*dragging hands down face*

Shinjiro: What a drama queen.

Chris: *jumps a mile in the air* When did you get back?!

Shinjiro: Been back a while, figured you’d need some help with this dude before you exploded.

Chris: *warily* Much appreciated...even if it is the end of the post.

He wants to go out again sometime, and specifically alone with us. Sigh. At the dorm, we head to bed early.

11/16. The school trip is tomorrow. Aigis has started using contractions in her speech. We go boost our Ken Link again, then go take Koromaru for a walk. Aaaaand this is where we stop the post. Next post, we’ll be going on the Kyoto Trip, finishing up the Ken Link, and hopefully going to Tartarus. And hopefully, Shinji will be here for more than just the beginning and end, right?

Shinjiro: S’long as I don’t have to hear about any bellboys, I’m good.

Counts: