Part 26: 5/18/09-5/23/09

5/23/09

Well, exams are finally over with.



Gossiping Student: Come on… You don’t need to lie about it every time.
By the way, did you hear? Our PE teacher was hospitalized.
I heard a signboard fell on top of him.
Loud Student: Whoa… Wait. Who cares about our PE teacher?
C’mon, we’ve got five minutes! We can memorize ten vocab words!
> The first bell has rung.

Honestly they were pretty easy.



> The questions are just too easy.
> ……
> Your pen won’t stop moving!

They took way too long though.





At least they didn’t slip a bunch of trick stuff that hadn’t been discussed in class or in the reading.





I swear at my last school the teachers seemed to enjoy making the exams ridiculous.





But here they’re pretty reasonable.





The delivery from Tanaka’s show got delayed in shipping somehow, took until the last day of exams to show up. Oh, Akihiko came up to me on the way into school with some good news.



If the doctor gives me the O.K., I’ll be able to fight with you guys again… finally.
By the way, I have a favor to ask.
You’ve been doing a good job leading the team in Tartarus…
Would you mind continuing after I come back?
That way, I can concentrate on building my strength.
Leave it to me!
I already talked to Mitsuru, and she was fine with it. Good luck.
My lifestyle’s finally gonna be back to normal starting next week.
Oh, if you wanna grab food sometime, I’m bored after school on Mondays and Fridays since there’s no club meetings.
I’m usually near the clubroom building, so… Hey, wasn’t that the warning bell?
Well, see you.

I’m glad nobody overheard him, because I’m pretty sure the jealousy of the Akihiko fans might actually be strong enough to kill me. Anyway another easy day of exams and everything was over.



This is what matters about exams! Not those little numbers they put in the corners!
But man, I bet I’ll be depressed once I see my scores…

There is this really weird girl who hangs out by the student council room, she’s kind of creepily obsessed with Mitsuru.



Female Student: She drove me around on her motorcycle, and we cruised around town at midnight.
It was so cool! I wish I could ride with her like that for real!
I would be happy just to be run over by Mitsuru-senpai! Bring on her burning hot wheels!

Oh, I went down to play with Maiko for a while after school.



Sure, let’s go.
Yay! I can’t wait! I wonder which toy they’re giving out today…
> Maiko cheered right up.
> You decided to take a trip to Wild-duck Burger.

It seems her parents really are getting divorced.



This is yummy! I love going out to eat!
…’Cause Mom and Dad never argue when we go out to eat.
They never used to argue! You have to believe me…
But, why would they get a divorce?
Ask your parents.
I asked ‘em already and they said it was a matter for adults only.
> Maiko is about to start crying.
I don’t want them to get a divorce!
…Do they really hate me that much?
Divorce is dumb! I hate it!
Waaaaaaaaah… * sob *
> Maiko is sobbing loudly. What will you do?

I guess everyone’s got problems with parents in their own way.



> You tried to calm her down.
* sniff * I’m sorry… I know it’s embarrassing when I cry…
I’ll try not to cry anymore.
> Maiko is trying her best to smile.
> Your relationship is stronger now!

Still, it’s a shame they don’t realize or don’t care how much this is hurting her.



Um… I guess I should go.
Thanks for playing with me today.
> You returned to the dorm after walking Maiko home.

Akihiko looked pretty excited when I got in, seems he’d gotten the good news he’d been waiting for.

Video- “Akihiko’s News”

Watch

> Akihiko has returned from his hospital stay with a cheerful look on his face…
Ah, you’re back.
Senpai, I hear you’re fully healed!
Congrats, man!
I need to catch up on my training. I’ve slacked off for a whole month.
Shouldn’t you take it easy, though? You don’t wanna reinjure your arm.
I’ve already wasted precious time.
Besides, we found another Persona-user.
We did!? Sweet!
Is it a girl…?
Actually, it is. She’s a junior who goes to our school.
Fuuka Yamagishi… Do you guys know her?

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her around school, I guess she’s missed a lot of days because of her health.



She gets sick a lot, from what I heard… I don’t see her at school very often.
She was at the same hospital as me. That’s how we found out about her.
But, maybe she’s not cut out for battle.
I had an Evoker made for her, too…
What!? We’re giving up on her already!?
I was gonna offer her some private lessons…
You’re like an old perv.
Hahaha! Oh man, I’m always thinking the same thing!
Yow! Retract those claws, ladies!
I’m totally a hip, happenin’ teen! You dig!?
…Loser.
Wh-Why’re you lookin’ at me like that?
……
C’mon…
I’m a guy. Whaddya expect!?

I’m just going to pretend that Junpei’s not kind of terrible as much as possible from now on, easier that way.



Yeah, it’s pretty disappointing.
Right? Right?
And you and Yukari would want another girl around, right?
I’ll be happy, you’ll be happy… it’s a win-win situation.

I guess Junpei seriously told Akihiko that he’d rather have this new girl than him, though, which makes it hard.



Or, did you want her to join instead of me?
Don’t be crazy!
Really…? Oh, that’s good. Junpei said he wanted Fuuka instead of me.

I think we’re all a bit disappointed if it turns out she won’t be able to join us, though.



However, it can’t be helped if she’s weak and unable to fully participate.

The Shadows are only getting stronger, so we need whatever help we can get.



I feel the same way.
Well, I guess it would be nice to have another girl in the dorm.

Oh, I should talk about Akihiko a bit. He seriously just goes up and punches Shadows, it’s kind of amazing.



His Persona, Polydeuces, uses electrical attacks.



We headed down to Tartarus, I didn’t want us to get rusty.



But, that doesn’t mean you can slack off, alright?

We started out hunting after these weird cloaked Shadows for some lanterns Elizabeth wanted.



As you know, this room is poorly lit.
So, these will help immensely with my reading.
Please accept your reward.
> Obtained Umugi Water x 2.

Oh, and I already regret letting Junpei wear that ridiculous thing he’s got on.



I look damn good in it, don’t I?
Feel free to fall for me anytime. I won’t mind!

Yukari wasn’t very happy with it either.



…Unlike that one attention whore.

As we pushed on, Mitsuru was having trouble getting any clear readings.



……
……
…Sorry! I can’t get a clear reading.
I may have reached the limit of my ability…
Sorry, but can you continue to the next floor?

She could tell one thing, though, that the Shadows were getting more powerful.



Their numbers are increasing, too…
You had better find an efficient way of defeating them…

We even saw one of the red Shadows Akihiko had warned me about. It was powerful, but nothing we couldn’t handle.



As we pushed up, Mitsuru was able to detect our next major opponent.



I detect a source of great power somewhere above you…
But, I can’t determine the exact floor… Sorry.
Please proceed with caution.

Sure enough, several floors later we found ourselves in the same sort of ominous open area that warned us a guardian was present.



It’s relatively strong, so be cautious.

Relatively strong was an understatement, it was by far the most powerful Shadow we’d encountered.

Video- “Change Relic”

Watch



Boss Battle: Change Relic
This thing is a real asshole. Let’s go over what it can do. It’s got a Pierce based normal attack, which is not very threatening but something to keep in mind. It can buff its defense with Rakukaja, which makes things take longer. It can poison the party with its Poison Mist attack, which can be very annoying if you aren’t prepared with a lot of Dis-Poison items. If that was all it did this would be pretty easy. The hard part about this is its Garu skills. It drops Magarulas all over the place, and anyone who isn’t resistant to Wind will be taking heavy damage from this on Hard. It’s probably worth it to get a Persona that resists Wind with Media if you’re doing this on a first cycle. One nice thing is that Junpei doesn’t have to sit, since he can Defend and negate his weakness to Wind.

Still, we defeated it and were able to push on to another dead end.



Good work. Return to the entrance.

There was another strange old document there.



Elizabeth was interested in it, so I showed it to her.



You may be wondering how these documents ended up in such an unusual place…
I believe that answer lies within the tower.
Please accept your reward.
> Obtained Recarm x 1.

I still don’t know what these documents are supposed to be telling me, though. I suppose I’ll need more of them.