Part 20: 5/11/09

5/11/09

I’m feeling a lot better today, and I think the others are as well.



That was crazy though, the day before yesterday.
I’ve never had that kinda thrill in all my life…
Don’t you think it’s been getting more exciting lately?
Yeah, definitely!
Totally.
…We won the battle and saved the city…
How sweet is that!?

Exams are coming up next week.



If you paid attention during class and studied diligently at home, you should have no problems.
Of course, the best way to prepare for a difficult exam is to sleep through class, like Junpei here.
Hmph…
If you choose to neglect your duty as a student and waste your life in idleness, then be my guest…
> His talk continues…
> You feel tired…
In my day, society was nowhere near as rich and abundant as it is today…!
That’s hwy we worked so long and hard; to better our lives. Can you young people say the same? Hmm?
Our society’s material wealth has come at the cost of its spiritual wealth…
In “Ise Monogatari,” on the contrary…
> You stayed up and listened to the lecture…

Rio asked me if I was going to practice at lunch.



Practice is today. You are coming, aren’t you?
I plan on going.
Okay. I’ll see you later, then.
> Maybe you should go to the practice after school…

Junpei’s just realizing the exams are coming now.



That’s why everyone’s been so quiet.

We have to ride that same monorail in every day, it’s a bit disturbing.



…This morning, before I got on the monorail, I took a look around.
When I did, I realized how dangerous that night was.

I went by the Velvet Room briefly after school, Elizabeth had something to tell me.



I’ve been asked to inform you about the Persona Compendium.
You may register any of your Personas in this book, and for a fee, you can withdraw them at any time.
Please speak with me to view the compendium.
> You are now able to use the Persona Compendium!
…It seems you enjoy a challenge.
Don’t worry. You’ll find my fees for withdrawing Personas very reasonable.

She wanted me to create some kind of weird Persona, a frost fairy that can heal.



Igor told me it had an item in it, I’ll need to keep it around.



This Persona seems to be holding something within itself…
…Things such as this occur every now and then.
Go ahead and raise this Persona.
In time, it will produce a special piece of equipment.
Jack Frost: I’m Jack Frost! Nice to meet ya, hee ho!

Feinne’s Fourth Wall Lectures:
The game has given us a few new mechanics, now. The first is the Persona Compendium. We can register our current versions of Personas and pull them back out again for a price. It’s very helpful, and we’ll be using it a lot.

We’ve also seen our first Heart Item. These can pop up when we fuse certain Personas, and we’ll get them when the Persona learns its last skill. The Heart will actually be saved in the Compendium, so we could even get the item more than once. I’ve already done a lot of gaming of this last time, and we’ll do a bit more this game as well.

I brought the Jack Frost to Elizabeth.



Well done. Your reward for this is a special type of armor.
I have never worn it myself, so please do not concern yourself with that.
Please accept your reward.
> Obtained Battle Panties.

I’m not sure I could possibly con Yukari into wearing this thing Elizabeth gave me, so I’ll just have to see myself if it’s good armor. Oh, I went to volleyball practice, things got kind of crazy.



> …Most of the members are missing…
Is this it today? Where’s everyone else?
Member with glasses: No clue.
……
Girl’s Voice: Excuse me! Could I borrow some of you guys’ tape?
Oh, Yuko…

Yuko’s connected with one of the guys’ teams.



…Doesn’t look like you have too many people here today, huh.
…Yeah.
I wonder where they heard about that group date…
Seriously, I don’t know if I should be appalled or jealous…
Member with glasses: Hey, you idiot!
…Group date?
Oh… Ohhhhhh… You didn’t know…
Sorry, I heard the girls in the tennis club talking about it at the shoe lockers…
So, everyone went to that?
Member with glasses: ……
That’s stupid…
…Why’d they hide it from me? All this running around behind my back is so irritating!

Things just got worse and worse from there.



Of course I’d get angry!
W-Well, calm down…
Member with glasses: What a pain… They’re just taking a breather. What’s wrong with that!?
You call a group date “taking a breather?”
Member with glasses: Yes! I don’t expect someone who’s never been in a relationship to understand it, though!
And what’s with that attitude of yours all the time!? Who do you think you are!?
What…!? I’m your leader! You’re the ones that nominated me! Or did you all forget about that!?
Member with glasses: If we knew you’d turn out like this, we never would’ve nominated you!
What…!? Well, it’s too late now!
Member with glasses: Screw this! This isn’t worth my time… I’m done with this stupid club.
You’re a pain in the ass, and I don’t care about keeping up with you. I bet everyone else is gonna quit, too.
> The other members left…
Hey! I’m not done—
……
I-I’m sorry about that…
…It’s not your fault, Yuko.

Rio was going way overboard, though all those girls who ran out were being jerks too.



You… really should make peace with them. I’ll try and help, too…
They’re the ones that are wrong.
Uh… That’s true, but…
…Oh.
> The girl approaches you and whispers something in your ear…
You’re Aelita-san, the transfer student, right? Can you keep an eye on Rio?
She doesn’t know how to interact with people sometimes… To be honest, I’m kind of worried about her…
I try to lend a hand when I see things aren’t going great, but I don’t know much about your club…
…Oh, by the way, I’m Yuko Nishiwaki. I’m the manager for the guy’s team.
Nice to meet you.
> Yuko left, still concerned about Rio…
Aelita-san… You’re not gonna leave?
…Sorry, but I want to be left alone right now.
Not gonna do it.
Haha… You really are strange.
> Rio looks ready to cry…
> Rio seems hunched over and sad…
> You feel like you understand Rio a little better now…

She wants to act like she doesn’t care that they all walked off but she’s just so sad.



> You finish up with the club and decide to go back to the dorm.

Mitsuru had something she wanted me to look into.



It seems some of the equipment in the command room is malfunctioning.
Could you take a look into it? It shouldn’t take long.
I asked Akihiko and Iori, but judging by their responses, I doubt they were taking me seriously.
This isn’t an order, just a favor. If you have nothing else to do, I’d appreciate this.
Thanks.

I’m glad it seems we’ve helped the Apathy Syndrome victims.



Newscaster: Family and friends are overjoyed that they are returning to normal.
That’s all the news today. Tune in next time, for Action News.

Yukari wasn’t interested in helping me look into the problems in the command room.



She wanted one of us to check on it.
Huh? Me?
No way! I don’t know anything about that stuff.
Are you good at tech stuff? If you are, could you go look? Pretty please?

And Junpei wasn’t going to be any help.



Computers ain’t my field, dude.
All I know how to fix is a TV. You just smack the top and voila!

I headed up to take a look.



> The surveillance camera seems to have turned itself on…
> Watch a recording?
> … > … >
> 05/10/2009 01:23:02 Beginning playback

They have cameras all over this place it seems. I’m not sure who to tell about that, or if I should tell someone. I mean they might all already know.

Video- “Ikutsuki”

Watch

> It’s the command room. Ikutsuki is alone, writing something.
Hm… A Shadow in the middle of town… It managed to take over public transportation…
I should investigate whether this means it’s finally begun…
Monorail…
Listen to the monorail in monaural…
* giggle * Heehee…
Oooh, I must make a note of that one…
Luck played an uncomfortably large part in the victory…
Especially towards the end… if she hadn’t guessed at the right controls, things could have been very bad.
For Shadows to work in a group to overrun large machines is unprecedented…
The engine…
That was an engine-ous move!
Hee hee hee…! What’s with me today!? I’m on a roll!
Oh yeah, better write that one down too…
One should always wear bright clothing at night…
Otherwise, the Shadows could make it dangerous to walk near traffic!
Whoa, I’m getting a little off subject… but who cares!?
Hey… I should write all these down and show them off the next time everyone gets together!
……
“Don’t care for seafood? They also serve GROUND beef!”
Hee heeee! This has nothing to do with the status report anymore, but I’m having a blast!
Let’s see, what else…
> …Ikutsuki’s momentum just isn’t stopping…
> The recording ends here…

I’m still not sure what Ikutsuki’s deal is, he’s really weird. And now I’m going to have to pretend to laugh at bad jokes that weren’t funny the first time. I went down to the mall, the one lady at the club offered to tell me my fortune again.



Yes, please!
Woman: Very well…
A long rail under the empty sky… On it stands youth in disarray…
You seem to live a tumultuous life…
What do you see at the end of the rail…?
Farewell, then… May your future be bright…

She does seem to know something. Anyway, I worked a bit at the café.



> You were given a cup of the café’s signature Pheromone Coffee during your break…
> Your Charm has increased.
> A drunken businessman came in and picked a fight with you, but you did your best to deal with him…
> Your Courage has increased.
> Obtained 2500 yen for working part-time.

Things are looking pretty calm for now, hopefully we’ll get through exams without more monsters arriving to kill us all.