Part 182: 12/4/09

12/4/09

I can do this. I can be as strong as I need to be.



Loud Student: I heard the same thing. It puts people at ease, right?
Gossiping Student: Yeah… It certainly does for me. You think it’s some new religion?
Loud Student: What, are you taking this seriously?
Gossiping Student: O-Of course not!
> The first bell has rung.

Everyone else sort of went off their own ways after school. As much as I wanted to just talk with everyone and find a way through this, we probably just all need more time.



* sigh * Let’s get going.

And really, it turned out to be a good thing that everyone was out.



I’d been wanting to talk to Elizabeth again for a bit, so I was pretty excited when she asked me out.



Ah…
I’ve been expecting you. Shall we be on our way?

Or, well, asked me in I guess. We did go to my place. Whatever.

Video- “Acceptance”

Watch

So… This is the student dormitory where you spend your days?
……
> You showed Elizabeth to your room.

So yeah, we headed up to my room.



……
Anyway… regarding my request to “visit your room”…
Well… Did it make you a little suspicious?
It surprised me a little.
In truth… there’s something I’d like to talk to you about…
> Elizabeth seems unusually hesitant…
> You decided to listen to Elizabeth’s story.

It’s funny, because thinking back even though she’s obviously not a normal person I was never uncomfortable around her.



All of them are treasured memories… Each one, a polished, glittering gem.
Walking around the crowded Port Island streets… sampling the local cuisine…
Idling the hours away at the shrine… Even attending your school for a day…
That’s… when I came to a realization.
I had subconsciously been requesting to visit places that were… more and more central to your life.
And so today, I requested to visit the one place in your world that I could learn the most about you…
I requested to visit your room.

Maybe it’s because, when you get down to it, I was the one who asked her to be here with me on this journey.



> Elizabeth clasped your hand.
Do you recall the day you gave me a tour of your school…?
How I mentioned that I “felt very fulfilled” when I touched you?
I remember.
It was the first time I ever felt that way.
Why did I feel so fulfilled…?
After coming here… I can finally answer that question.
I believe it’s because I could feel what you feel, and truly experience your life, for the first time.
We who reside in the Velvet Room wait with great anticipation for “guests”…
Their arrival is our only link to the outside world, and gives us a reason to be.
By touching you like this… I can have that all for myself.
I think I get it.

A past full of lies and a future that ends before spring…



I have an older sister, but these feelings are different even from what I feel for her…
In fact, you are the only one towards whom I feel this way.
……
This feeling…
It’s… only regarding you…
What am I to you…?
……
Please, say no more…
I’m… frightened…
I… am feeling rather fragile… Indeed, I may already be broken…
……
> ……
> You spent time alone with Elizabeth.

I feel like I’ve, I don’t know, let both of those things go. Like I don’t need to be anyone but me anymore.



……
If I stay on this side any longer, I fear I will forget my duties entirely…
And that would put you at a severe disadvantage, wouldn’t it?
That is why… I’ll draw a line under my visits here, and remain on my side from now on.
…Thank you very much for acting as a guide on my journey of discovery.
I’m very grateful…
Now then, though the sorrow may be sweet… let us part.

And if the price I’d have to pay to ‘die in peace’ or whatever it was that Ryoji was offering is to forget everything that’s happened, well that’s the one price I cannot bear.



Thank you so much for showing me your room.
……
About what happened…
……
E-Excuse me. I suddenly remembered…
Please… keep what happened in your room a secret from my master.
To show my gratitude for indulging my curiosity to the end, I have something truly special for you.
With this, you can fuse Kartikeya.
It’s a beautiful, birdlike Persona that glides over the battlefield.
Higher and higher it rises…
It, too, is part of you… while I can only gaze at it from below.
……
But, I…
I am willing to stay by your side, no matter what heights you reach.
I will overcome any ordeal that may stand in the way of my goal… That is what I believe.
This will be the last of my requests to explore your world.
Thank you very much for everything you’ve done for me…
Please accept your reward.
> Obtained Rainbow Feather.

It’s funny to say this with the end of the world bearing down on us, but for the first time in a long time I’m actually feeling okay.



…Oh, you’re back… My bad.
Could last night just have been a dream or something…?
……
No, probably not, huh…?

I was bending myself into pretzels trying to be who I thought everyone wanted me to be.



Saying the world is going to end out of nowhere…
The Appriser!? What the hell does that mean, anyway?

I should have been happy that I’d helped some others find good things in their lives, but I’d neglected myself so badly it all just started to feel hollow.



What happened to Aigis.
After the incident, Aigis was taken to the laboratory.
The researchers are tending to her. But with the injuries she sustained, it’s going to take a while.
Why Aigis was hostile to Ryoji.
Aigis lost her memories of the battle she waged with Ryoji Mochizuki ten years ago…
However, I believe she still sensed that he was a Shadow…
…an incredibly strong Shadow she had fought before…
Why Ryoji looks human.
That is an excellent question. Ryoji Mochizuki is a Shadow…
The same Shadow Aigis sealed inside you, ten years ago.
Over those ten years, that Shadow changed…
It gained the appearance and characteristics of a human being.
And that is why it gave us a “choice”.

I’d lost track of what was good in my own life.



Um, is there something you want to ask me?
Increase in Persona-users.
…According to Ryoji-kun, the reason was because of your existence…
You came here with Ryoji-kun inside you, bringing us all together...
…as well as the Shadows that had been dispersed to different locations.
My existence.
Ten years ago…
…you happened to be present when Aigis and Ryoji-kun were fighting.
Aigis couldn’t defeat Ryoji-kun, so she decided to seal him inside you.
……
What a tragic fate…
Revival of the 12 Shadows.
When you moved here…
Ryoji-kun began to awake… and the 12 Shadows appeared.

So yeah, I’m going to give my friends the time they need to think through all this on their own. Especially since we’re still… missing someone I need to talk to.



We’re all confused, and we need to make sense of what happened…
Can we avoid the Fall?
He said it’s impossible…
Nyx is death itself, so we can’t avoid it…
…or defeat it.
What if we let Ryoji live?
…If we let Ryoji-kun live, we’ll have to face Nyx.
…And he said that Nyx is undefeatable.
S-So then, how can we win…?
What if we kill Ryoji?
The coming of the Fall may be delayed by a little…
…but our memories related to the Dark Hour will disappear…
It may be the easiest way, but I don’t think I can do it…
What can we do?
I don’t know…
…but I won’t run away…

But as for me, I’m not afraid anymore. Because now I know that fighting against Death is the easiest thing in the world.



I remember the other time I wished everything was a dream…
……

I mean, we all do it every day.



…We have to think about what’s going on…
The Shadows’ purpose…
Shadows are pieces of Nyx… and their sole reason of existence is to revive her.
What’s The Appriser?
…The Appriser is the one who summons Nyx.
The appearance of The Appriser is a sign that the Fall is near…
…and all humans will become members of The Lost.
…I guess everything that’s happening right now is just the beginning.
Who is Nyx?
According to Ryoji, it was Nyx who brought death to this planet.
…Nyx will turn every human being into a member of The Lost…
…and we’ll all die.

Just gotta get up and live. And sometimes it might be hard, but that’s why you don’t have to do it alone.

Oh shit, there are cameras in this whole stupid dorm. Okay, nipping off to erase some tapes real quick…