Part 13: Intermission One: Cause and Effect

Intermission One: Cause and Effect

Last time on Persona 2...

Maya and the crew went to the Sky Museum, where they saved a group of schoolchildren from the villanous scheming of Tatsuya Sudou, the homicidal psychopath known as the Joker. Thanks to the power of a rumor, they were able to escape the Museum's destruction by flying on a model zeppelin; Sudou followed them, but after a heated battle on the zeppelin and with the help of a mysterious young man named Tatsuya Suou, they finally managed to kill Sudou.

Still, an ominous air hung over the team, and Maya teamed up with Baofu to find out more about Sudou, the Joker, and Tatsuya. She headed back to Kismet Publishing in order to see if she could get more information.

She's always mad? Yeah, that sounds about right. Maya rushes up to the Chief's office.

She finds her meeting with a mysterious dark-haired woman.

Bitch!


Oh god, not MORE Wang Long.
You, my dear, have a peculiar aura about you. You must let me read your fortune...You...You are feeling that you are not yourself? You are worrying about a younger man...Tell me, do you enjoy life? Are you glad you came into this world? This world is made to punish humans for their sinful pasts. They are put through an endless cycle of reincarnation. Where were you before...in your past life? Another country? Or maybe...another world...Humans are connected. Not only to the past, but to themselves in another world. You will change...along with this world...
Well, that made a lot of sense. Not.


Chizuru leaves on up out of here, which gives Mizuno a prime opportunity to continue being a gigantic bitch.

God, I hate you so much. Maya steps outside, planning on completely ignoring Mizuno and searching for information on Tatsuzou, when she notices her coworkers huddled around a nearby television.



Who the Joker is? But we just killed hi--

Wang Long Chizuru: In Wang Long, the Joker is "Joka", which denotes a human possessed by Kegare, a negative energy such as sin or jealousy. Joka is a dragon, filled with Kegare. The Guardian Dragons will absorb bad luck during this cycle...Kegare calls forth more Kegare, causing Joka to perpetuate crime...As people commit crime, the Kegare escalates.
Wait, so what does this all mean?


...Oh shit.

We fade to black...


...Don't bother...He's not even worth it...Hm...There are no changes in our plans...Hm...I leave the rest up to you...

We fade to black again...




Katsuya walks in on Shimazu and Togashi.

Damn it Katsuya, we've TOLD you not to report this stuff...
Katsuya: Sir! Then what about that blimp?! Something that wasn't supposed to fly WAS flying?!
Shimazu: The matter is under review. The sanitarium fire was a gas explosion...No survivors, and there was nothing left of the corpses.
Katsuya: What fire?! What are you talking about...I was just there!
Shimazu: I'm not in charge of this matter. I don't have time to listen to your babbling.
Suddenly an officer rushes in.

Katsuya: That can't be...
Shimazu: I want those crime scenes picked apart! Well, what are you waiting for?! Get moving!

Togashi calmly turns to glance at Katsuya.

Well shit. Katsuya stalks off silently, and we pan to the man from the Sanitarium, who's been lounging on the couch observing all of this.

Shimazu: Heh...Like father, like son...Right, Chief?
Togashi: ...

Man with scar: Serizawa...? This woman, too? Double oh shit.
Shimazu: Don't bother. She can be used for something else.

We cut to black.


Ulala is bashing away at a punching bag and trying to calm herself down, when suddenly...

That if you do the Joker curse, you actually become a Joker, right? But, do you think it's true?
Ulala walks away without a word. Back at Kismet...

Ah...we have just recieved news...Earlier today, there was a fire caused by a gas explosion at the Morimoto sanitarium. The bodies of workers and patients have been recovered from the rubble. There are no survivors...the death toll is...

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Maya chats with her coworkers before heading downstairs.

They say the patient's condition can affect the counselor's mindset too...Insanity could spread in this way...This'll make a great story...So that's what the Chief was investigating. There's still time...Gotta stop the presses!

Oh, trust me, you'd better start believing things.

Maya wraps up her conversation and takes the elevator down. Baofu's there waiting for her.

She tells him what's happened.
Dammit...he's already done it...The media is full of shit! It's Tatsuzou...That bastard torched the sanitarium to destroy the evidence. Even on the blimp, he must have had someone watching over his son...That bastard has got his hands everywhere. I tapped his home telephone, and they were talking about plans to finish someone off. I couldn't tell who the "mark" was though.


Not like there's many other options at this point, and Katsuya's .

If that woman's fortune telling airs, the whole city could be in danger...Damn...what a pain...
Ain't that the truth.

COMING UP NEXT: Two new districts' worth of shopping!