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Who: The Investigation Team still in Hinoto-Ri; Yu, Yukiko, Chie, Teddie, and Yosuke.
Where: Dojima house
Summary: The leader's out of the hospital, but a good chunk of the team is missing now. Time to talk about how to get everyone back.
Warnings: There will be punching later.

The message went out yesterday afternoon in a text message: Dojima House, 5 PM, Sunday; need to talk about recent events. Of course, it goes out to all members of the Investigation Team, though some sends bounce back; no denying it now, Kanji, Rise, and Naoto were definitely missing.

Yu's there to greet everyone at the door as they come in, foregoing his cane in the house. It's hard to tell if walking back and forth that much bothers him, though he looks maybe a little too grateful to sit at his usual spot once everyone is all in. Dinner was provided from Mays: a big sushi platter for everyone to pick from, with soda all around.

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Once everyone's all settled, Yu speaks up first:

"Thanks for coming, everyone," he began. He glanced at them all, not sure where to even start with this. They had so much to go over, but with three of their number missing... "We've needed to talk for some time."

Sushi wasn't meat. It was fish. And it wasn't even cooked! Sometimes being Japanese was such a bother. Americans seemed to eat steak almost everyday (or so Chie thought). Even so, she still loaded up her plate with a few different kinds, slowly working her way through them.

"I'm still really far behind on everything's that's happened so far," she said, frowning. "You guys are gonna have to catch me up."

Once the important conversations end and everyone has gone off on their own discussions, Yu leans back a moment, taking it all in. It was good to be around his friends again, but...

He paused a moment, turning and catching Yosuke's eye. He nodded toward the front door, before getting up himself, pausing to put on a jacket and his shoes before heading outside to wait for his best friend.

Despite being worried that Sensei wasn't using his cane like he should have been, Teddie had gotten his plate and was picking at some of the things in the sushi. It wasn't his first experience with it, but it was still kind of a weird taste for him. Uncooked fish? Either way, he wasn't about to smack a gift bear in the mouth (or something like that)!

"Chie-chan probably knows as much as Teddie does. I think I'm beary confused about what happened." He said, popping a sushi in his mouth. He was sans bear suit today, just wearing his normal clothes.

To be honest, Yukiko wasn't so hungry at the moment. Her focus was too much on the task at hand to eat but she did take a soda just in case. When Chie and Teddie spoke up about what needed to be told, she wasn't sure what all they did hear. She would tell them everything but she wasn't sure if they wanted a repeat.

"I know everything seems to be going all over the place. First the Anoli and now all those people disappearing to who knows where. Maybe we should start from the beginning so everyone is on the same page."

What was worse: terrorist attack, friends vanishing or Adachi showing up?

"Yeah a lot of stuff's been going on recently, sorry guys."

Yosuke wasn't too hungry himself. While he'd recovered pretty nicely, like Yukiko he was more interested in the soda than the sushi for the time being, though that was sure to change later on when business was taken care of.

"Do you need us to go over stuff from the start of all of us getting here or just from what's happened recently? I mean... as far as the underclassmen going missing, I'm about just as lost on that as you are..." Which was really worrying to him. Naoto might have been making a speedy recovery, but she'd still been shot... He hoped Kanji was at least taking good care of the two girls.

Yosuke himself was just about to stick some sushi in his mouth when his gaze locked with Yu's and... a certain level of understanding hit him like a bag of bricks. Oh... he wanted to talk?

Stuffing the piece of sushi in his mouth anyway, Yosuke gets to his feet as he chews and pulls on his own winter jacket, adjusting the collar and the headphones around his neck.

He looks around at the rest of the team a little awkwardly before hurriedly running over to the door after Yu, slipping on his shoes and pushing past the threshold to where his best friend was waiting. There was a bit of a troubled frown on his face, like someone who was worried that a conversation wasn't going to go their way no matter what they said, waiting for the full blunt of it to hit him.

Yu had taken a plate, but he hadn't been in the mood for eating either. He picked at a piece of salmon absently with a chop stick, his stomach twisting in hunger but he still didn't eat. After a moment he let out a breath, setting the stick down.

"There is a lot to go over, and I think we should go over everything once the others are back."

There is complete certainty in his voice; there is no way that Rise, Kanji, and Naoto weren't going to make it back. He would never doubt their ability to hold their own, even if he was still worried about them.

"But we can at least go over some things," he continued. "Starting with how we arrived... I spoke with someone that seemed to know Philemon before coming here."

And... well, he was still piecing through the personal feelings in his head, but he still didn't like a lot of what was said.

Funny, because Yu had a sinking suspicion of the same; he had a lot he needed to say and... part of him was afraid that Yosuke wouldn't accept the apology that he deserved. It was ridiculous: Yosuke was his best friend -- probably the first person he could say that about with that much certainty -- but there was still that voice of doubt that told him he crossed the line and it took far too long for him to realize it. That even though he had rehearsed what he wanted to say and how it would go over in his head multiple times, it would all be for nothing.

He was silent for a long moment, even after he heard Yosuke come to a stop behind him. It felt like an eternity passed before he could take a breath, blowing it out softly.

"Yosuke... remember when you asked me to punch you? By the river back home?" he asked, finally turning around to face his friend. "...I want you to do that to me now."

"Not everything has to be a pun you know," she said, replying to Teddie. It was weird, se had just seen all these people only a very short time ago, but to them it had been much longer. Still, it was best to get up to speed with the current situation quickly. In all, it reminded her of hanging out at Junes discussing the case.

"Philemon, that guy who was in our dreams right?" She had seen that, and while she was freaked out a bit, it wasn't nearly the weirdest thing she'd seen.

"..you should probably start from the beginning, I'm still pretty confused about everything that's going on." She smiled awkwardly a bit, hating to admit that she wasn't as quick on the upkeep as the rest of the group.

"Well, I guess we can start from when me, Yu, and Kanji first showed up here. That was back in September so we've been here a while, trying to get settled... Man, so much has happened since then."

He rubs the back of his head a little as he thinks, fiddling with his headphones with his other hand. "Well all of us showed up the same way, by Philemon, that weird masked guy, showing up to us in a dream and basically pulling us here. When we first came here we got explained to us by the first people to come from outside of the city what was going on; people call them "The Seven" I think, they're in good with the government. The government gave us all apartments, told us about what was going on, stuff like that.

In October, something weird happened, where Scorpion demons started swarming the streets and this giant demon I had to help fight attacked in the Scorpio district. A lot of people who were Scorpions actually got brainwashed into turning against their friends.

After that, we were pretty well set until around Christmas..."

Yosuke glances over at Yu and Yukiko. "You wanna explain that one?"

Edited 2013-02-24 17:35 (UTC)

"Urk...!"

Yes, Yu actually let out an awkward noise at that, pausing to look around at Chie and Teddie, his gaze resting on Yukiko. Finally, he let out a faint noise, looking a little crestfallen as he began explaining:

"The Jack Frosts and Pyro Jacks brainwashed a few people into spreading a white or green Christmas. I was one of them."

And that was all he was saying on that.

"I've spoken with someone who's dealt with Philemon personally before," he continued, quickly changing the topic. "What he had to say was... disturbing, and I think we're in for a lot more here than what we've already been through."

They were in agreement; Yukiko certainly didn't want to explain the entire situation and she had a nagging feeling that Chie might find her copy of Green Christmas Style in her room. Then the mention of someone who's dealt with the butterfly man came up.

"Is this the same person who sent the message about Philemon 'ruining lives' after the disappearances?"

"Spreading a Green Christmas? What does that mean? That must have been scary though getting brainwashed!" She'd seen movies and the like about brainwashing, and it was scary to think that someone close to her had been affected.

"So I guess we can't just find where he's hiding and kick his butt until he sends up home?" Of course Chie would take such a simple route to a solution.

Yu couldn't help a small smile at that.

"It's not that easy," he replied. He wished some things were that easy, but he still wasn't entirely sure if Philemon was on their side or not. No need to punch the guy in the face if he was actually helping them, right?

He nodded to Yukiko. "He described Philemon as a representative of humanity that desired enlightenment, and Nyarlathotep as his shadow."

Yu paused again to consider how he was going to drop this next part, because he was still having trouble processing that one.

"I have reason to believe that we're also from the same world. Or at least, one similar to it."

Blink. "Wait, you mean that... if we're from the same world and they've dealt with Philemon and Nyarla...the other guy before, these guys are from our world too??"

That was a... creepy thought. That they had more than one meddling god messing things up for everyone in their world.

Uhh... That definitely wasn't what he'd been expecting to hear. Yosuke furrows his brows at Yu in confusion mixed with legitimate concern for his friend.

"... Dude, why would I hit you? Why would you ask me to do that?"

He looks around as if something in the area would explain the context he clearly missed here. "I thought we were gonna talk about... well, you know who..."

You know, because she had been responsible for getting Yu and Yukiko out of the tournament after everything went to hell.

"A world like ours, at least," Yu replied with a nod. He fell silent a moment, not sure how to proceed, except be blunt as usual...

"He said that the world outside of where he lived, Sumaru City, had... ended," he continued, plowing right into everything that boy had told him. "In order for them to save it and stop Nyarlathotep, they needed to reset the world; make it so that whatever caused things to fall apart would never happen so that the world could continue.

"And this happened back in Nineteen-ninety-nine."

"Because," Yu began, having trouble actually looking his friend in the face, "I... wanted to stay neutral, to approach everything with an open mind... but I let things go too far. I let myself trust her and... I didn't even think of what that would mean for you."

He paused a moment, taking a shuddering breath.

"Yosuke... this... version of Adachi that's here... he's from a version of our world where I didn't tell you all that he was the murderer."

He had to keep going; everything had to be out in the open, right here, right now. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much Yosuke might hate him for it, he had to tell his best friend everything.

"This version of 'me' that Adachi knows even went so far as to burn the only evidence we had that he was the killer," he continued, letting out another sigh. "...and I still can't even bring myself to hate this Adachi..."

He shook his head. "I... have made some bad choices, but I didn't realize how capable I was of ruining everything until Adachi came here. I realized then, when he mistook me for the 'me' that he knew, that I... that I was doing the same thing to you. I was betraying you."

Yu let out a breath; he was usually a little more eloquent than that, but hopefully it got his point across. He reached up, running a hand through his hair.

"...so that's why I want you to hit me," he finished. "Because you deserve it. Because I deserve it."

Whoa whoa whoa, holy crap this was a lot to take in and get dumped on his head all at once.

"Adachi is here?! A different version of him??" Yosuke's fists clench tightly, his face full of shock and horror. An Adachi that... in another time, Yu had sympathized with? Just that idea alone is confusing and infuriating to him.

"You... you would never do that to us! You're my best friend!!" Of course, Yu had been stressing him out and hurting him by showing friendliness to Izanami... as if Yu hadn't trusted him.

Yosuke looks down at his feet and folds his arms over his chest. He's quiet for a little while, thinking it over, trying to get his thoughts straight. It's almost unreadable, as to what he's going to do...

"I... I don't want to hit you... I was angry with you, I was hurt and annoyed and just... I couldn't believe that you wouldn't trust me on this. But you're... you're still my partner."

Yosuke looks up at him with a kind of sad look. "You're telling me you're sorry... right?"

That was a bombshell right there.

"It...ended?!"

Yukiko couldn't think of any constructive to say because it's hard to beat 'end of the world' as an excuse. But the persona users reset time and made it all better, right? Everyone was ok? But hearing that, it sounded like Nyarlathotep is no pushover. They need to tread carefully before doing any major plans.

Yu finally looked up then, meeting his gaze, though the words stuck in his throat. He nodded, forcing himself to breathe, hoping that would help.

"...yes," he said softly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Yosuke."

Yu nodded, not wanting to voice his confirmation, because it made it that much more real, and as much as he didn't want to admit it... that was so very terrifying for him, considering how close they had come to the same thing...

"What's more, he said that, 'if you see an unusual butterfly, that's probably Philemon'," he continued. "I've seen them, on our world; sparkling blue butterflies that always seemed to appear when I needed a moment to stop and reflect. I don't think any of you ever did, and it usually appeared in the TV or across from where the entrance to the Velvet Room is in our world, so I thought it was just... another quirk of that place."

How wrong he was, if that was really Philemon...

"That's why I believe our worlds may be similar, if not directly related," he pressed on. "This person sacrificed everything he knew and loved, just so the rest of the world could have a chance. So we could have a chance."

"... I know you're a great guy... I know that, no matter what, you try to look at things from all angles. That's why you're our leader, that's why we were able to find the Truth... Still, I just... just listen to me when I say someone is bad news. Izanami, she..."

He wasn't sure how to put this, exactly. The immense hatred, the sorrow, the fear...

"...I'm scared of her. Illusion or not, she killed me that day we fought her. I can't face her alone, okay, Yu?" Yosuke holds out his hand in front of his chest, elbow bent, for Yu to grip.

"I need you by my side, partner."

"I wanted to keep an open mind, but... things escalated too far," Yu admitted soft. "I... I need my best friend. That's much more important."

He grabbed Yosuke's hand, holding it tight, before pulling himself over, dropping his head on his best friend and partner's shoulder. He had to admit, he was... scared; he never thought he would come so close to losing himself and losing someone that mattered a lot to him.

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Meeting

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After...

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oh boy...

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sorry for the late tag >A<

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It's okay~

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