Part 214: 1/21/10

1/21/10

I don’t really know what to say about today. It all seemed pretty normal until Mitsuru came in to our class after school.

Video- “The Flower of Happiness”

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I’m sorry to ask you so suddenly, but… Can you come with me, Tolstoy?
There’s… something we need to discuss.
Uhhh, you want all of us, or just her?
Just her for now…
> …..?
> You wonder what she wants with just you…
> Regardless, you decided to follow her…
Come with me to the Student Council Room, Aelita…
Isn’t it… kinda weird that she’d only want to talk to her?
Probably some big, important Student Council business. Ehhh…
Maybe so, but… Senpai was acting a little weird…
She has that look she gets when she’s keeping some terrible secret.
Ahh, you worry too much.
Well, if the high muckety-mucks don’t need us, might as well go home.
Hey, wait a second, Junpei. According to the seating chart, if she’s not here, you have to clean up for her.
Have fun sweeping the hallway!
Whaaat!? Where did that rule come from!?

So yeah let’s just get this out of the way, Chidori’s alive. As in she’s not dead.



> There is no one here but you and Mitsuru…
There’s something you have to know.
Do you remember the girl named Chidori, who was with Strega?
I don’t mean to alarm you, but…
The fact is… there’s a chance that she may wake up today.
> ……!?
> Chidori might wake up…?
I know what you’re going to say… And yes, we did see her die in front of our eyes.
However… her body began to undergo Transmogrification a few days after the incident.
For the past few weeks, she has been in a state that is neither living nor dead.
How did this happen…?
I don’t know.
It may be related to her Persona abilities, but that’s mere speculation.
But what I wanted to talk to you about… is your opinion on how to break the new to Iori.
You see, she’s probably—
> Mitsuru’s cell phone rang.

Seriously that is a thing that is true.



…I see.
…Yes, I understand.
That was the hospital.
They say she’s just awakened.
It’s unbelievable… but although we had confirmed her death, it seems Chidori has come back to life—
D-Did I hear that right…?
Iori…!?
Chidori is…?
Huh..? I-Is this a joke? Some kinda trick…?
No… it’s not a joke, or a trick. She is currently recovering in the same hospital as before.
But… Iori… She probably…
Chidori…
Chidori’s… alive…?
……
> Junpei ran off.
Uh, hey, Junpei! What about your cleanup duty!?
Geez… what’s gotten into him?
Tolstoy…
Well, I guess it’s a moot point now…
But… perhaps it’s best that he found out this way.
I think I’ll head to the hospital after this, too. Could I ask you to come along?
> You decided to go to Tatsumi Memorial Hospital with everyone…

So yeah we rushed after Junpei.



> You caught up to Junpei, who was taking deep breaths outside the room, and pulled him outside…
……
……?
> Chidori is sitting in bed, looking thinner than before, but with a healthy complexion…
Doctor: Her damaged endocrine system and other internal organs have completely healed.
She’s still weak… but there’s no more danger of her dying in two years.
Is it… really you, Chidori?
I’m not dreaming… am I…?
Dreaming…?
* sniff *
It’s true… It is you… Chidori…
……

Because just as Mitsuru feared her Persona ability was gone, and with it most of her memories of the past year. Still, maybe that’s for the better…



Huh…? What…?
I thought as much…
Transmogrification is the proof that one lacks “potential”… I suspected that this might be the case.
Doctor: This is Mitsuru-san and Junpei-kun. They were your friends last year.
Friends…?
……
…My name is Chidori Yoshino.
I’m sorry… It hasn’t quite hit me yet, but it seems I don’t remember any of the past few years…
It’s as if… I was dreaming for a very long time.
Chidori… Yoshino…
Doctor: It seems all of her memories after she awakened to her Persona are gone…
She remembers everything that happened before then, but as for you all…
……
Iori…
Nah… I think… It’s better for her that she doesn’t remember.
All that stuff about fighting, and pills…
When you’re having a nightmare… It ain’t a bad thing to wake up.

Because it turns out there’s some things that are impossible to forget.



It was a dream of meeting a king, warm person at the end of a long tunnel…
I can’t remember it clearly… But I wanted him to be happy, and I…
I think… there were flowers… A room filled with them…
Ngh…
Chidori! Take it easy. You don’t have to force yourself to remember.
Doctor: Flowers in a room…
If she remembers that part clearly, then maybe…
…?
Doctor: Do you remember when she’d use her power from time to time to make flowers bloom again?
She’d always do it for the flowers in her room on the days when Junpei-kun would come.
Any flower she touched would be mysteriously preserved…
That’s why I kept them all, for research purposes.
But after the autopsy… I put them all on her chest as a tribute.
And thinking back on it, it may have been that night that she began to Transmogrify…
The power to share one’s life with others…
Could it be that she reclaimed the life energy she’d given to those flowers…?

I think it might have been the other way around, the flowers her love had kept alive returned that love to her.



Doctor: But compared to how she was before, she’s changed. The loss of her power is part of it, but more than that—
Excuse me… Are you talking about me?
Doctor: We were talking about how you want to live now…
Huh…? What do you mean by that? Of course I want to live.
I have to find the person in my dream someday… I can’t lie in this bed forever.
Supposing you do find him and meet him… what then?
That’s…
……
That’s none of your business.
Chidori…

So yeah, miracles can still happen in this world.



No… it’s a victory.
* sob * Chidori…
H-Hey… Why are you crying?
I-I can’t help it…
Th-This…
This is seriously the happiest moment in my life…!
Waaahhhhh…
* chuckle * Small surprise…
……?
* sob *
* sob *
> You can hear sniffing from outside the hospital room…
* chuckle *

I really don’t know what else to say.



Today is the best day of my entire life so far…
* sob * * sob *

But it’s good to see that we all still have hope.



I think we’ve all got a new energy now.



I’m so glad for him…

Just one more reason why we have to win this last battle.



Because those two were meant to be together, no questions asked.



That’s a promise.

And I’m going to make sure that can happen.



Sorry… Every time I think about what happened today, I start to tear up.

That’s a promise.