When the car finally parked in the student lot, Hikaru switched off the ignition but made no move to open the door.
"I... wanted to say, that I don't believe that factory you visited is within the tunnels. I-I mean, of course it isn't in the subway, but... I think... It's part of the real world."
"What?" Kumiko looked to the front seat through the rear view mirror. She could only see a bit of Seiya's face but it was enough, she only needed to point her confusion in her direction. "What do you mean that it's part of the 'real world'? How can it be? That fought a Shadow in there, but can it be a part of our world?"
"Wait, so we like teleported back somewhere in our world and fought against that....thing?"
Shiori was a bit confused by this revelation, that means that these enemies they though weren't just confined to the portals Hikaru showed them, but they could be anywhere. They could even be at school! But that wouldn't make any sense, if they were able to come out in the real world, and everyone else had fought them before, surely they would have come out to get them...It just served to make Shiori even more confused.
"...The real world?" Kojiro sat silent while the girls voiced their concerns. Seiya was very calm about this idea. That the Shadows could get out...
"They've gotten out before haven't they?" Kojiro looked up and leaned forward. "Seiya-senpai, has this happened before? How much time do we have before they spread...There were a bunch of little ones we couldn't fight off..."
Rhin frowned at Seiya's words and considered them for a moment. "But if they can be on this side why haven't they spread or other people noticed them?" She voiced her question in support of what Kojiro said.
Sorry for the delay, people. Is it just me, or is the whole forum experiencing some sort of end-of-summer blues?
"If you don't understand it, then I only have myself to blame for not explaining it more clearly," Hikaru twisted in the driver's seat to better face the others, "The tunnels that we explore, they're only one part. The biggest part, the most infested... But still only a single piece. The Shadows are born of humans, so wherever humans are they'll be."
Sensing some mild confusion, she continued: "All right, the tunnels are part of the metro, right? The mass transit system. The rails in Uramichi-cho move four million people a day. Four million people... Crammed into the cars, frustrated and exhausted and apathetic. Theft and assault run rampant. There aren't any good memories there, no one expects there to be. Nowadays, things that are necessary cause people to think, 'What could I be doing instead?'. It's such a burden.
"So those feelings fester like a disease, and they begin to mutate. And twenty years ago, our employer discovered the very first Shadow. He was, like you, answering the Call of his persona when he found it. We think that's what it is. Why people don't seem to notice or see these things hanging on their hearts and growing. That they suppress the sight of it, like they suppress their inner beings. If you still don't believe me, watch the news. Suddenly all the things that man made for himself are turning against him: cancer, radiation, mental disorder." She fell quiet for a moment, introspective, "...Kurado and I haven't been involved as long as all that, but we've worked really hard to keep the streets clean by striking at the source, in the tunnels. The smaller ones flock to the more powerful Shadows, and once they're defeated their troops turn to dust."
Kojiro sat still for a moment, 'So...we defeated the large shadow...the little ones should die, on their own, right?' He shifted in his seat.
"Wait...you said Shadows are born of people..." He looked over at Isoroku. "That time! In the tunnels, when we first answered our Persona's Isoroku fainted and said he had to fight his...If he had lost, Leviathan would be free wouldn't it? He would be a body on that train and Leviathan would be...just another over powered Shadow running lose. Just like yours...Seiya...These large shadows, all of them are-were people weren't they? Not just their malicious thoughts...but those thoughts consumed them, didn't they?"
Kojiro waited for an answer.
In case I didn't mention it here...my internet is dead at my house...so I am bumming it from friends when I can. Hopefully my connection will be up again soon...
Her thoughts seemed to be much the same as Kojiro's, her mind had traveled back to the first time they encountered Shadows. To when they all awakened to their Personas. Everything was connected and if what Seiya was saying was fact, then they were all just as close to being those 'euphoric' corpses.
"So all these...big...Shadow things we've been fighting...it's possible that they were once Persona users? Or am I just hearing all this wrong?"
"No, that's... correct. The Persona and the Shadows' origin are one and the same. But, don't think there's anything you can do for them now. They're gone on the inside... Tools of something even greater than them."
Yeah, everyone's probably preparing for school and stuff, but none of my RPs had any posts for like two days. It was boring.
This was a huge bombshell. Was it even possible? That massive amount of goo, those little tiny buggers that she shocked without a thought...could they have once been faces in a crowd that were just passed by? People she may have even met before? If her mind was reeling before, Shiori's head now contained a perfectly good axe grinder.
And there were other things raised by this. What if one of the members of the team were to become a Shadow? Kojiro said that Hikaru's Persona ran loose, could that happen to Rin? To Isoroku? To....herself?
No, it was a crazy thought. Ma'at had been nothing but protective of her so far. She wouldn't do anything like that. She wouldn't forcibly take her over, and turn her into something so black. It couldn't happen. It wouldn't happen.
Shiori tried to convince herself of this fact, but it still remained. The facts were clear, if it could happen to Hikaru, it could happen to any of them, including her. She was going to question Hikaru about it, but Kojiro and.......and......what was her name? Kimiko? Whoever. They did the questioning for her. She looked at Hikaru hoping for an answer as well and when she got it, she still didn't know what to do with it.
"So....does that mean that we're ticking time bombs? One wrong move and we become giant blobs?"
Hikaru looked at first reluctant to answer Shiori's questions, "Well, you see... I can't deny that it is a possibility. It's the reason why I strove at first to keep Ishikawa-san and his friends from the tunnels altogether, but, I suppose the calling was too strong. They continued to wander in to do battle." She fixed the group with a look of disapproval, "So when I saw you were nearing the same goals, I thought it best to... to give you allies, and equipment to help you rather than shut you out. The AMPs give you power. And they stabilize your connection with your Persona. Mine has always been volatile. ...While it isn't rare, it isn't the standard, either."
Isoroku scowled at the implication that he was somehow less "stable" than the rest... Like he was, as Shiori had said, a ticking time bomb.
Eber straightened, asking, "So... This place that we explore, it is obvious from your maps that is does not abide by the laws of the 'real' world. Does it... how do you say... Shift? Is the path always the same?"
"Well... Parts do. They all focus around the emotions upon which they were built. Why?"
The German shrugged. "Just asking." Though now he felt he had a better grasp on the hospital room he and Kumiko had discovered earlier.
"Sooo...the tunnels change depending on the emotions of people?" Kumiko felt that she had not quite understood what Seiya meant by that. If they Shadows were the creations of people's minds and so were Persona, then the tunnels were the same? She bit her lip in frustration for lack of comprehension. "Is there a chance that we might run into a room or tunnel or whatever that is created from one of our minds?"
She still didn't get it and she didn't know if any of her question would yield some clarity on the matter.
Could be. Could be. Maybe Clooney has served his purpose here...
Shiori didn't like the fact that this was the first scenario she had gotten right. She didn't even want to see anything like the blob anymore, let alone become the blob. But according to Hikaru, the sensei of the group, it was a very real possibility. It made her uneasy.
She focused on the new questions coming out of her clubmates, maybe they would hold some better answers.
Rin furrowed her brows slightly as she considered Seiya's words. She was doing her best to keep up with it all, but couldn't seem to think of a good question to ask at this point. She decided to wait and see how Seiya would respond to the others questions.
"...You're right. All of the tunnels, every room you've seen except for the ones that still look like the subway... They're all based on the collective unconscious. Some rooms more specifically targeted than others... They shift, and change at their own whim." Hikaru frowned, adding, "You must have noticed... Eber-san, the rooms you and Mizushima-san and Yamada-san explore... And Ishikawa-san, the ones you and your friends explore... Don't they remind you of the way we imagine Heaven and Hell? All the lost souls that wind up down there... They try to pretend there's an afterlife for them, too."
"Well. I hope there is when we vanquish them. I hope they're able to move on." The secretary sighed, opening her door, "It's late. Everyone, go back to your rooms. I'll see you tomorrow after class."
Kumiko inclined her head to Seiya, bowing a bit. She felt that she saw a few more these discussions in the foreseeable future. But pressing further into it was going to get no where if they just asked the same things over and over. If what they were seeing was some sort of adaption of the perception of heaven and hell, then what the hell was that hospital wing?
Heading to her room, Kumiko's head was still buzzing with an inquisitive nature. Yet, when she got in bed, her eyes became heavy and she fell asleep quickly. Perhaps working overtime to make up for Yamada's lack of vigor finally got to her.
Rin gave a small sigh as the conversation seemed to come to an end. She would have liked to know more, but at the same time she just wanted to shower and sleep. She bid Kojiro and Hasegawa goodnight, and thanked Isoroku for his help during the slime monsters attack.
'Why do I get the feeling morning is going to arrive far to quickly.' Giving a small sadder sigh she made her way quickly back to her dorm.
Kojiro made his journey back to his room, quickly and quietly. 'How terrible...they've been killing people...' He flopped onto his bed and frowned. 'But I guess like she said...they are already gone...We've freed them...' He rolled over and closed his eyes.
"Sure," Shiori answered. "See you in class tomorrow, Seiya-san." She forced her frame out of the back seat, happy to not be crammed back there anymore, but unhappy at the connotation that she may have literally just traveled to Hell and back.
She made her way up to her room, tossing her weapon aside as she quickly rolled into bed. 'At least now I guess if I want people to go to Hell, now I can give them directions. Still, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone...' She closed her eyes and tried to get at least a bit of sleep before the day tomorrow.
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