Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I never thought I would be going to class again. Especially one in America. Of all the places I’ve moved to, they've usually been within Japan.

And this Japan isn’t exactly a great place to be in compared to the one I was familiar with. The complete destruction of one of the largest islands in the country by an apparent monster of extreme power. I have no idea how I would compare to these endbringers but their threat is to not be underestimated.

Well considering my previous track record, I suppose I should prepare myself to combat them.

As I mentally marked Japan as an unlikely place for me to go to, I decided to just stay at the place where I've found myself, Brockton Bay. With nothing else to do I enrolled into school. I never ended up starting my final year after all.

Arcadia High is the name of the school I’ve found myself in. With faked records of my existence to help me with transferring to here.

Minato Arisato. That was what I wrote upon the worksheet provided during class. It was rather lucky I already had a decent proficiency with English before being dropped off here, but it still felt strange writing my name in starting with my first name rather than my last name and in English rather than Japanese.

In fact I have mixed feelings regarding my new situation. Elizabeth had somehow freed me from the Great Seal and without having death encroaching upon all living things. I’m free to live my life as I please, without the threat of the end of the world on the line if I do nothing. However, I’ve been transported to a completely different earth. Earth-Bet as it has been designated by this world. A world where I no longer have the connections I once had, none of my friends are with me. I’ll likely never see them again.

But in the end, it’s not so different from when I was the Great Seal. I couldn’t see or visit my friends anymore previously either.

There’s no point in dwelling in the past, I know they’re alive and living their best life so I should live my own life to its fullest.

Despite the declaration of no longer dwelling upon the past, I couldn’t help myself as I stood outside during the middle of the night, looking at the clock on my new smartphone courtesy of the money that Elizabeth had left me. An accumulation of funds of my time within Tartarus and what I had spent on the compendium for fusing, all returned back to me and converted to the local currency of American dollars.

The seconds ticked as I stared down at the device.

11:59:58

11:59:59

12:00:00

12:00:01

I waited a few more seconds before putting my phone on sleep mode. I already knew there was no Dark Hour here based on previous nights but the ingrained habit of being wide awake at midnight during a full moon is difficult to break without checking that nothing was going to happen.

I slightly shifted my equipment so I could more easily put away my phone. It felt weird to just be standing outside with my combat gear when there was no Dark Hour but on the off chance something did happen, I wanted to be prepared.

It wouldn’t even be that weird wearing my uniform in this world considering the number of superheroes that run around doing whatever. In comparison I would seem rather mundane considering the fact that my outfit is just a modified reinforced version of my old school uniform from Gekkoukan. Although my sheathed sword, evoker, and armored SEES Armband would most likely raise an eyebrow. And my featherman mask I got from a festival back in my old world would definitely make me seem like someone with powers or a ‘cape’ as they call them in this world.

If I’m going to be standing outside with combat gear, I might as well hide my identity with a mask.

As I started to head back home, I spotted a mugging in the distance.

Hm, that isn’t something that I can just let slide when I can do something.

I used to be someone who was devoid of emotions and motivation. The day my parents died and Death was sealed within me, my life changed in a way I could have never foreseen. I was someone who was filled with apathy ever since I carried the harbinger of the Fall, but that person is no longer me. I slowly changed when I encountered SEES, when I reached out to others they became my Social Links and so I further changed. It was from such change that I was able to do the impossible and prevent the Fall.

Inaction was no longer something I could tolerate. An uncaring approach in life can lead one to an uncaring future. What is life if not a culmination of decisions and actions, to ignore what one can do is the same as ignoring your own life.

I readied myself as I switched to a Persona with high agility. The Universe Arcana pulsed within me, granting me a greater connection to my Personas as I felt their attributes affect me more than it should have been possible in a place with no Dark Hour.

There was no need for a strong Persona or to even summon it, I was only dealing with thugs. I once dealt with three times as many of them barehanded with Akihiko and without a Persona.

Matador was in the forefront of my mind as Auto-Sukukaja flowed into my body. The skeleton’s cackling echoed within my psyche as I ran, buildings blurred past me as I had already moved past them. Almost immediately after I started my run I was already standing in between the victim and the group of muggers.

“Hello.”

Silence. That was my only answer. Shock was clear on their faces as I stood there and waited for them to say something.

Seconds ticked by until I just came to a decision.

My fist moved in blinding speed, literally, because I blocked his vision with a punch to the face. His body crumpled onto the ground as he was knocked unconscious.

The outrage began, the muggers began to get aggressive as they readied pipes and knives.

Compared to Shadows, such actions were not very threatening.

My tone was calm as I said, “Come at me.”

It was lunch period as groups of students got their food and sat down at tables throughout the cafeteria.

“Hey, have you heard? There seems to be a new cape!”

That question wasn’t directed towards me but I heard it clearly enough as I sat at the same table along with some friendly acquaintances. There was certainly some discussion from a few others today about a new cape. It didn’t particularly bother me much, so I didn’t give the situation much thought. It’s essentially the equivalent of light gossip about public figures, the only difference being that it’s about me. Nothing much to fuss about.

I still would have preferred if the person I helped didn’t go online to tell everyone about me fighting gang members.

“Apparently he’s a mover with brute powers.”

“Really? Didn’t he just move really fast?”

“How else could he so easily beat up a large group of people?”

These classifications this world has for their powers is certainly interesting. I could probably fill up a decent portion of them if I bothered categorizing what I could do myself. What would summoning a Persona count as for classification of my power? Possibly make me a Master because of my control of my Persona. That feels weird though, ‘I am thou, thou art I’, that’s the vow that encompasses me and my Persona. They’re me and I’m them, saying I’m a master is like saying that I have the classification because I can control an aspect of myself. Whatever, I’ll just let the Protectorate decide what my ratings are when they find out.

A blonde teenage girl called out to me, “Hey Minato! What do you think of this guy?”

The girl who had just started a conversation with me is Victoria Dallan. A super heroine who has their identity known to the world. Unfortunately, her identity isn’t known to the wide multiverse so it flew over my head. During our first encounter, my confusion and reactions towards certain statements made it clear that I had no idea who she was and so I became a target of occasional teasing from her.

My lacking knowledge of Glory Girl almost made me perceive her aura as an attack upon my mental state the first time I experienced it. Luckily I was not one for immediate impulsive action but instead opted for caution and observation.

Her aura failed to affect me thanks to my Amritite Necklace’s effect of protecting me from status conditions, some of which include mental abilities. I had the habit of constantly wearing it on the off chance I needed it ever since I had got it. I did not want to deal with a similar situation that the Lovers Full Moon Shadow had put me in again.

My ignorance towards the local cape scene despite living in Brockton Bay could have a multitude of potential consequences whether it be small or large. It would mark me as unusual for having no knowledge that would be considered common sense, that would carry the risk of others casting light upon other things that may be considered unusual about me such as Minato Arisato not existing until a month ago. The lack of information could also potentially make me react in the wrong way to certain capes and create a bad situation.

Ever since the incident, I tried to at least keep somewhat up to date about the local super heroes.

So I do now have a general grasp of Glory Girl and her family’s team, New Wave. They had an initiative of revealing their identities in order to create accountability for capes and their actions. Victoria has her aura, flight, super strength, and durability, all apparently impressive according to the PHO forums.

“Hey, Minato! Did you become completely unaware of my existence again or is your music too loud?”

So impatient.

I took off my headphones and addressed her, “There isn’t enough information to say much about the new cape aside from being inclined in helping others.”

Despite her teasing, I didn’t mind Victoria much. I suppose she’s the closest person I could call a friend here. It feels strange trying to form connections without Social Links but it’s not like I’ve never done so before. It only feels so odd because I don’t have additional Social Links to attend towards constantly.

The blonde boy on Victoria’s right, her on and off boyfriend named Dean Stansfield, began to talk, “Well, I do think you could glean more info from his actions. For example, right after the cape finished fighting the E88 guys he continued to hunt down nearby bases of theirs.”

I replied, catching the implication of his statement, “He went after other bases of theirs, there could be a multitude of reasons for such action. Whether it be a vendetta or something else. His actions allow for too much interpretation and there’s a lack of reliable accounts.”

Of course the real reason for what could be considered to be overextending on my part is because the victim I helped informed me of the constant harassment the people in the local area have suffered through because of those E88 members.

I had interrogated the gang members for some information on that. They gladly shared what they knew since they didn’t want to risk getting hurt again. Hardened criminals they are not. They seemed to be on the lower totem pole and were trying to get into higher positions through increasing their ‘street cred’ by mugging, extortion, and threatening others. In addition, they were also trying to expand the E88’s territory since they assumed it would look good for their higher ups.

I took down multiple of the bases based on their information, although it was clear it was only small frys. No villains. That still sounds weird to say in a serious context.

The conversation drifted off on its own without me inputting anything else. I continued to eat the bento I had made for myself today.

A katsudon that I learned to make from Shinjiro. I ate the fried pork cutlet as I felt the nostalgia and hint of sadness that was associated with the dish.

I may have only known Shinjiro for a short amount of time but just like the rest of SEES, he’s someone that I will never forget and will forever treasure my bond with.

He hid his feelings and condition from the rest of the group, never truly knowing the depth and seriousness of the situation until it was too late. The guilt that had built up within him had never gone away. For years he held it in as he let those feelings of guilt and self hatred grow.

A part of me had blamed myself for not realizing the implications of both Shinjiro and Ken being missing upon that full moon operation. But I know that’s an unreasonable stance to take, I did not know the context required in order to properly act. On the other hand, a stance that I don’t think is unreasonable is that I should have been able to get Shinjiro to open up so that I could have the proper context to know that I needed to do something to prevent the situation. With the amount of experience I had doing that from other Social Links, I feel it would have been possible.

But… Shinjiro’s death has already happened. It’s not something I will ever be able to change. It’s not healthy to dwell on what I could have done.

The conversation that I was half paying attention to got directed to a girl with curly brown hair and freckles.

That’s Amy Dallon, Victoria’s sister, who’s also in New Wave. She has the ability to heal upon touch, which is apparently considered a rarity among parahumans. Seemingly more limited compared to my own healing.

Looking at her after I let myself think about Shinjiro made me think about some of the similarities between the two.

I can see the guilt, the resentment that she held within, and the self hatred that seems to have been built up over years. All of those things that she constantly tries to hide, but the mask she hides behind is nothing compared to my own experience in using masks. I can pierce through and see what she truly feels. I've had ample time to do such a thing as she constantly tries to hide such negative feelings.

As Amy begrudgingly continued the conversation after some prodding from Victoria, I was briefly reminded of Akihiko doing something similar with Shinjiro.

As I glanced at her, I was reminded of even more similarities to Shinjiro. She looked terrible in a way that was somehow worse than a man who was slowly dying from a constant usage of drugs.

Her complexion constantly seems pale and dark bags are often seen under her eyes, evidence towards the notion that Amy is constantly overworking herself at the hospital. Such obligation and seemingly fervent need towards healing others does not seem healthy.

It made me feel inclined to pay a visit towards the hospital soon. My healing is faster and can help multiple people at once. Doing so will help others and alleviate some of the stress Amy has.

But such action is not sustainable, I cannot constantly go and heal others and neither can Amy. This does not address the core of her issues either, I may not know what those issues are but I have experience diagnosing and helping people address such things through past Social Links.

I no longer have Social Links to use as a crutch but such a limitation is no problem.

Amy seems to be the opposite of another one of my Social Links, Keisuke Hiraga. Keisuke struggled with the expectations of becoming a doctor that were placed upon him by his father. Because of those expectations, he strived to find another field to excel in without external influence such as art. But in the end, Keisuke chose to continue his medical studies because he desired to and not because it was expected of him.

Instead of one person having high expectations, everyone who knows her expects her to continue in the medical field because of her power. Such constant pressure would make anyone’s mental health worse. It’s unknown to me if she even wants to heal in the first place. She’s seemingly unable to pursue anything else or to even explore possible new interests.

Her power allows for healing and so she feels obligated to heal. Others expect her to heal because of her power, putting her into further obligation.

If I had to guess, her guilt originates from that very obligation. Fear of failing to meet that obligation towards others.

School had ended, so I left the gates as I began to approach towards a destination I had in mind. I took my time in traveling as I walked and took in my surroundings. I was still unfamiliar with the area so I took the chance to familiarize myself with the surroundings more. I glanced around as I memorized locations within downtown and various other places.

When I was getting close to the largest hospital in Brockton Bay I ducked into an alleyway that was the nearest to me. I glanced around me as I shifted to another Persona.

Juno.

The Ultimate Persona of Fuuka Yamagishi, the navigator of SEES.

When I first found myself within this alternate universe, a few things stood out immediately. I had full access to every Persona I’ve ever used and fused. And considering that I completely filled out the compendium, that means access to hundreds. What was once a limit of twelve Personas is now gone.

Another thing was that I had access to all of the Personas of the members of SEES. It was strange to the highest degree, the notion that I could use a Persona that belongs to someone else just feels odd. It doesn’t feel like I can call upon them with the same ease that I could with other Personas, almost certainly because I’m not the true user of them. They are the complete representation of their other self so someone who isn’t them would of course have a harder time.

To compensate I have to change my mindset to embody them, something I’m already used to from changing Personas to match the Arcana of a Social Link. Doing so allowed me to more easily understand them and in turn connect with them. Despite that experience however, I need to go even further than just changing Arcana to match.

I close my eyes as I think of Fuuka, her kind and forgiving nature, constantly supporting others throughout her endeavors. Putting herself in danger to protect her bully who eventually became her friend because of those efforts. Her desire to help came from a feeling of being unable to truly support others and an inferiority complex that her parents had caused, such feelings became resolved through the help of SEES and her former bully and now friend Natsuki. The desire to constantly be connected to those she cares about, and having the ability to protect them is the very core of Fuuka and in turn Juno.

I open my eyes and Juno blooms in my mind with a kind of power I’m unused to, it’s not the sheer force some Personas exude but instead it gives me intense awareness that I’ve never experienced before.

I clasped my hands together as if I was praying, just like Fuuka would do when summoning and analyzing. There was no need for me to summon, I just needed the navigational power that Fuuka routinely used even when Juno wasn’t summoned or when it wasn’t the Dark Hour.

I checked my surroundings for observers or just anyone in general who could potentially find me. I combed through the environment with Juno and didn’t find anyone.

I felt safe from observers to do something I’ve never been able to do before coming here. Blue flame flashed around my form, enveloping me and just as quickly receding back into nothingness. And once again I stood wearing my SEES combat uniform along with all my other equipment. That also includes the featherman mask.

This new ability of mine came about from an improved connection to the Sea of Souls, as evidenced by my complete access to my whole compendium. And with a better connection to the Sea of Souls also comes with an improved connection to the Collective Unconscious. The two aspects are forever linked with each other.

The Collective Unconscious is shared with all of humanity and their minds. That allows for Personas to form within the Sea of Souls in the image of figures of mythology.

Just as human belief and cognition influence Personas, I can use my own cognition to always be able to form what I consider to be my combat uniform. If I ever need to explore Tartarus or fight the Full Moon Shadows, I will always default to my SEES outfit for my preparation. Because of that, I can use this cognition to form my combat uniform whenever I need it. The featherman mask is also included when I connect my cognition of my uniform to also be a superhero costume. A change like the mask is easy to make when this whole world has heroes running around, influencing the cognition of the Collective Unconscious here.

The Collective Unconscious has always held a connection to cognition, I’m just hijacking the connection for my convenience.

These changes I’ve come to experience recently came to be because of the Universe Arcana, its abilities are incredibly vague but undeniably powerful. Ultimately, what the Arcana that represents the ending of my Journey does is allow for me to perform a Miracle. But I have no need for a Miracle at the moment, so it’s quite possible the excess unused power of it improves various aspects of my abilities.

My new ability to summon the Personas of SEES may have also come from my strong connection with them and their Social Links. The Fool and Judgement Arcana Social Links come to mind. In addition, during the final battle with Nyx where I left SEES behind in order to fight her by myself, I had gotten injured from her attack. That’s when I heard their voices.

Though they could no longer follow me as Nyx’s gravitational force pushed them down, I could hear them trying to push back against Nyx and trying to help me in any way they could. Hearing them allowed me to heal and gain greater access to the Universe Arcana with each voice I heard. The bonds that connect me to them then and even now pushed me forward with a power that gave me a Miracle.

I can even feel those same bonds connected to me through their Personas that are now within my psyche. I may be extremely far away from them but I’m still connected as I feel a portion of them within their other selves.

I decided to stop reminiscing as I continue to scan with Juno. I ‘looked’ at the hospital and felt Amy there, but along with her was something else. Her power? It feels like something is connecting to her… allowing for some kind of expression that originates from that connection. That expression gives off a feeling of it being biological. Likely Amy’s power.

I see, it seems that there’s a connection to something unknown that allows for Amy to heal. Looking at it deeper, I found a name. Its designation: Shaper.

I would need to summon Juno and more time to get a clearer idea of what exactly is going on with the connection but there’s currently no strong need to.

It seems that I may have discovered how powers work here but it isn’t exactly relevant to me. What could I do with information like that right now? Not very much, there is the worry of what the owner of that connection could do considering that the parahuman isn’t the one with complete ownership of their powers but there isn’t exactly anything concrete for me to do in that case.

I’ll look into the situation some more with Juno later. For now, it’s time to head inside the hospital to heal some people.

I switched to Orpheus as I let myself release the impression of Fuuka I was holding. I let my hands fall from the praying position they were in and instead put them in my pockets as I began walking out of the alleyway and towards the hospital.

The name of the hospital was already in view, Brockton General. It was only a short distance away so it only took a few minutes for me to enter through the front doors. The lady at the front desk immediately noticed me and gave very concerned looks.

Honestly, I should have expected that. Unknown armed person with a mask enters a hospital and of course people would be worried.

Various people who were waiting in chairs were now staring at me. At the same time, a security guard walked towards me while palming his holster on his side but kept a cautious distance.

The guard said, “What is your purpose here? And you can’t bring weapons in here.”

“Ah sorry, habit,” I let my sheathed sword and holstered evoker disappear in a flash of blue flame, “I can heal.”

The guard startled and tensed at the blue fire, his gaze immediately jumped back to where my eyes would be if I didn’t have a huge mask covering it when he heard the healing statement.

“You a cape?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’m new,” I could see his hesitancy about me, “Hero, I’m the one who took out several E88 bases the other night.”

“Oh?” He relaxed slightly as he had confirmation about my allegiance, “Okay, follow me and we’ll see if Panacea can verify your healing.”

What came next was verifications of what I can do, how much I can heal, the exact mechanics of how I heal, etc.

Honestly I couldn’t answer some of the questions. I only ever healed during the Dark Hour and before I acquired the Universe Arcana so I’m not sure how different it would be. And for the exact mechanics, I’m fairly certain I’m using the very concept of healing from the Collective Unconscious to facilitate its effect but saying it is conceptual sounds too unbelievable so I just made up an answer that sounds plausible.

Once I was finished with that, they directed me towards where Amy is. It seems that she was informed ahead of time about my presence since she was waiting for me outside of a hospital room.

The grumpy girl was wearing her costume as Panacea, a white cloak reminiscent of healers in fiction.

She waved me over as she began talking, “Okay, I got an overview of your apparent abilities, you can restore people to a previous healthy state and can flush out things like poisons from their systems,” she stared at me skeptically, “Anything else I need to know?”

“Nothing else in terms of healing.”

It seems that she doesn’t completely believe that I can heal. Understandable considering the rarity and my own lack of reputation. She may even possibly believe me to be a fan who tried to meet her by lying about my own capabilities. Such worries of her’s should be dispelled as soon as I actually heal someone.

“You have a cape name?”

“The Fool.”

Amy just stared at me unimpressed and with slight confusion, “Is that supposed to be some sort of joke?”

I shrugged, “It was either that or the Universe. I’m just used to being the Fool more.”

I’ve also started a new journey here on Earth-Bet so it just felt more appropriate.

Death or Judgement may have also worked but the former would just seem ominous and the latter would make me out to be a harsh judge of others.

The Universe as a name may seem arrogant but I don’t particularly mind that interpretation, it’s the greatest explanation for my full capabilities and my very endpoint. The creation of the universe is a miracle in itself after all.

The Fool is my starting point, who I was for the longest amount of time as well as my most natural state. It allowed for the power of the Wildcard, the act of using multiple Personas. I don’t care if others consider it a silly name, it’s about what it symbolizes to me.

I could have used the names from my Personas such as Orpheus, but being called the same name as a Persona I regularly summon would just cause confusion. Besides, I have multiple Personas that fully represent me, just picking one of them for a name feels like leaving out other aspects of me.

Her face just scrunched in confusion more, “Those names are polar opposites of each other. And they just seem stupid, you’re fine being called a fool? What kind of name is the universe?”

“If you’re interested, just research Tarot Decks and the Arcana.”

She just sighed, “Whatever, just follow me.”

I wasn’t bothered by her reaction. Confusion over my title is understandable, for those unfamiliar with Arcana it may just seem like nonsense. The actual name itself doesn’t help either. It’s in the name after all, who can take a Fool seriously?

She opened the door to the hospital room. Heading inside I could see multiple people injured in beds along with a doctor and nurse attending to them.

Amy walked towards the center of the room to introduce herself in a more professional manner than how she was earlier, “Hello everyone. My name is Panacea. I’m here to oversee a new healer to verify his effectiveness. If there is anything that may go wrong, I assure you I will be able to fix it.” She nodded towards me.

I stepped up next to her, “I go by the Fool. I can heal.”

Once again there were looks of confusion over my choice of name, one person even had a look of mockery.

Amy placed a hand upon a man who had visible injuries covered in bandages and wore a cast around his leg. I would guess broken bones and other more minor injuries.

“I’ll monitor the process to understand his way of healing and to check for abnormalities if you are fine with this arrangement.”

The man only stiffly nodded his head.

In singling out one person at a time for healing, it made me realize I should have opened up with this earlier, “I forgot to tell you this but I can also heal everyone here at once, do you want to continue with healing one at a time or multiple?”

That took Amy off guard as her face shifted to a multitude of different emotions that were hard to decipher before she forced her face to stay neutral, “Just… One at a time for now.”

The surprised and partially incredulous looks from the medical staff makes me think they don’t believe me. Makes sense considering that Amy can only heal one at a time, at least if they aren’t right next to each other so that she can touch them both at the same time. Actually, could she really heal two people at the same time like that? Eh, I don’t know the mechanics of her healing and I don’t care that much.

That kind of reaction makes me think that I may have overestimated the abilities of healers in this world if my statement got this kind of reaction. I suppose it makes sense, healing is already a rarity here and more powerful and versatile applications of it would be even rarer.

I’m an unproven cape as well, I’m guessing they believe that I’m just boasting. It’s likely that beginners have overconfidence in one’s own powers, leading them to believe that they can do more than what they actually can. If they assume me to be a novice in my power and am vastly overestimating myself, the doubt makes sense.

“In order to heal them I need to bring out something using my power, it’s not dangerous.”

Just like how Fuuka almost never used her evoker for summoning, I also technically don’t need to use my evoker. It does make it easier for me though.

But since I am going to be constantly using my evoker for theurgies and easier summoning I might as well get some people used to the notion.

“Well, it should be fine. But what’s with the ominous clarification?”

I let the blue flames manifest around my waist and they traced something that turned into my belt holding my holster and evoker before the fire dissipated.

“Because it looks like a gun.”

Amy looks flabbergasted, “I can’t just let you–”

“It doesn’t shoot anything, I won’t even aim it at anyone,” as I said that she grew even more confused. I took off my holster and handed it to her, “Here, you can check it yourself.”

As multiple people were tensely watching what they thought was a firearm being handed over, Amy began to look it over as she released the strap that acted as active retention allowing her to draw the evoker. She looked it over before saying, “I’m not the best judge for guns. I can’t exactly confirm if it’s real or not.”

“Well, I can just shoot myself to prove it’s fake.”

She gave me a horrified look, “Isn’t there some gun safety rule about that?”

“Yes,” I would know them. Officer Kurosawa firmly went over them with me when I was purchasing firearms for Aigis and Aigis herself went over them with me again when I was trying out every weapon SEES were using. I blandly recited a summary of what the two of them had drilled into me,  “Always treat the firearm as if loaded, point in safe direction, finger off trigger, and know your target.”

It was definitely a bad idea for someone using an evoker to carry a real gun, too many bad habits that would transfer over. But I did want to try out the sniper rifles and grenade launchers Aigis had used. She usually uses modified versions in order to mount them on her arm, but it was apparently easy for her to reconfigure them to have the standard grip and trigger. Ended up not really being my thing but it was interesting, it felt significantly different compared to the melee weapons that the majority of SEES had used.

“Okay,” Amy began slowly, “It sounds like you’re not following any of those rules.”

“I know,” I brought out a hand for the evoker and waited for a moment before Amy reluctantly gave it back along with the holster. I put the holster back on before starting. I mentally switched to a dedicated healing Persona as I lifted the evoker to my head, “It would be inconvenient if I let those rules stop me.”

“Wait! Just show us by shooting a limb not your—!”

“Persona.”

The sound of glass breaking erupted as I pulled the trigger. A gentle power comes forth from me, a sense of mischief and pranks bubbled within as my Persona revealed herself.

I am Thou, Thou Art I.

From the Sea of Thy Soul, The First of Many Have Come.

I am Pixie, the Master of Pranks.

A tiny humanoid with wings and wearing a blue leotard, gloves, and thigh highs flew around the room. Pixie has arrived.

Everyone was gaping at what they witnessed. A man who just shot themselves (me) with a self proclaimed fake gun somehow equated to summoning something. That would seem unusual.

“Pixie, did you really have to copy Orpheus’ title almost exactly?”

The mischievous girl just flew towards me with a smile, “Please, I get to be the first Persona to debut here! I need to really rub it in that guy’s face since he hogged all the attention last time. And if he has a problem, then he shouldn’t have such a simple and easy to steal template!”

Personally, I think Thanatos was the one who had the most attention during my first summoning. He did force himself to be summoned by breaking through the inside of Orpheus. It was rather unnerving. And painful.

Thanatos’ harsh inhuman laughter reverberated in my head, his amusement being directed towards Orpheus.

Orpheus' only acknowledgment was a slight feeling of annoyance. Despite Pixie being summoned, she still has a connection to my psyche so she still noticed his response, “Aww, don’t be so annoyed. I’m sure you’ll be summoned when we need to fight.”

Probably. There is the worry of Orpheus’ face being too similar to my own but my own identity being exposed isn’t something that I’m that worried about. First off, his face has some inhuman features that distinguish it. And secondly, my civilian identity is a nobody in this world, there are very few people who personally know me since I only started existing here weeks ago. In addition, when I would need to summon him, the rush of a fight and my Personas moving around would make the face more difficult to connect if he isn’t completely still.

I could tell there was an incredible amount of confusion about the conversation we were having, even more when Pixie had responded to Orpheus when they didn’t hear anything else. Having no context would do that.

Amy began to sputter, “What was that about! And you said it can’t shoot anything but it sure looked like it did! Something shot out of the side of your head and your body recoiled as if actually hit!”

This time I pointed the evoker towards the ground, which Amy flinched at seeing me move my arm, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

I holstered the evoker, “See, it doesn’t shoot anything.”

Amy paused for a moment and then sighed, “Okay, fine. I’ll just take the assurance that it’s safe. But what’s with the flying fairy?” She narrowed her eyes as she waved her hand towards Pixie.

“Hey! I have a name you know! Are you actually going to treat the Persona that’s going to help you with healing in such a rude way?”

Amy raised her eyebrows, “She’s how you heal? And Persona?”

“Yes, she’s a manifestation of an aspect of my personality, a mask that one uses in the face of hardship. A Persona.” I turned my head and nodded towards Pixie, “Diarahan.”

“You got it boss.”

Pixie raised her arms and healing energy gathered around the stunned patient. He relaxed as his injuries mended.

Amy, who was touching the patient for monitoring, began mumbling, “What? All of his injuries are gone nearly instantly. The way that the wounds mend…” She trailed off as I couldn’t hear her properly anymore.

“Am I allowed to continue healing the others now?”

Amy snapped out of her inaudible mumbling, “Ah, as long as I continue observing. I still need to confirm how your healing interacts with different types of injuries.”

I nodded as I mentally directed Pixie to continue healing.

Amy continued to monitor as she did before. We moved through multiple rooms where Pixie had healed a variety of injuries, ranging from stab wounds to severe alcohol poisoning. Thanks to the latter, I’ve learned that most types of overdoses can most likely be cured through Amrita Drop, possibly because of the similarities to the poison status effects I’ve experienced during combat against Shadows.

Diarahan and Amrita Drop are not usually a part of Pixie’s normal moveset but I decided to completely change it when I fused her again. I have a fondness for her as she’s among the first Personas I’ve obtained. Adding to that it seems that she’s a favorite of Elizabeth as well. Instead of going for almighty damage like Elizabeth had done, I opted for the opposite with having Pixie specialize in healing. It would be difficult and time consuming to get her to the same strength as my strongest so she became one of my utility Personas that I mostly used outside of battle.

The latest patient had a multitude of bruises, broken bones, a bad concussion, and was unconscious. I didn’t feel the need to use Samarecarm since I didn’t want to talk to another person if I didn’t need to. Waking him from his unconscious state using that spell would also be rather jarring for him. Using Diarahan would allow him to eventually wake up anyway since he was only unconscious because of his wounds, no injuries means that his body no longer needs to conserve energy for self healing. It didn’t seem like something I was unable to heal so I did so. However, it seems that Amy disagrees.

“What?” Amy widened her eyes before shifting to a pensive look as she asked me something, “You managed to heal all of his brain damage?”

I raised an eyebrow at her that went unseen behind my mask, “Yes. I don’t think it was anything special.”

“Not special?” Amy’s face leveled me an intense stare, “The brain is an extremely complicated organ, it’s responsible for our memory, motor skills, thought processes, and a number of other functions that allow the human body to properly work. How were you sure that you were able to seemingly perfectly and instantly heal the brain without accidentally changing anything in the process?”

Healing skills that Personas use have never failed me in the past. No matter what, they would at least heal something and never make anything worse. Empowered as I have been recently, I have even less reason to doubt my own ability to heal others.

That kind of answer wouldn’t satisfy her however, she’s likely asking more about how my healing works that would allow for healing brain damage. Considering that I myself am unsure of the exact mechanics of it, I don’t have a satisfactory answer.

“There’s always a connection to previous iterations of a person within that sea that we share.”

Oh? There’s a general sense of agreement from my other Personas about that statement by Pixie. It seems that they have elected her as the spokesperson since she’s the one summoned right now, allowing for Amy and the doctors to hear it too.

Although, I don’t think they would understand what she means by ‘sea that we share’. As evidenced by the questioning look from Amy towards me that seems to be asking for elaboration. As for me, I’m starting to understand what Pixie is getting at.

The Sea of Souls has the Collective Unconscious of humanity. Human minds are connected to that sea, allowing Personas to use their thoughts as a template for themselves.

What about the reverse? When healing we use their connection to the Collective Unconscious to access previous iterations of them to use as a template to restore them to their prime state. As humans are always connected to it, younger versions of themselves should be able to be accessed as their thoughts are constantly influencing the Collective Unconscious. That’s also ignoring the other possible interactions that the concept of healing from the Collective Unconscious may have upon the power of Dia spells.

Such a thing isn’t far-fetched considering that Shadows are able to influence time and space, as evidenced by the Dark Hour and Tarturus.

Explaining that to the others would be a bit much, my power draws upon humanity as a whole and that sort of scope isn’t usually something parahumans can do. I’ll just change the explanation to make it make sense without needing the intimate knowledge of Personas that they lack. It won’t be entirely correct but it’ll be close enough.

I nodded at Pixie to show my agreement with her, “As she said, it’s through previous iterations of that patient with no brain damage that allowed for me to heal him. The body remembers and so, Pixie will heal him according to past records from that body.”

Amy got even more serious at that as she pushed for more information, “If it’s the case that you're basing your healing based on past records of the body then won’t the patient end up losing memories of after the time he had gotten brain damage? He has records of having brain injuries even before this concussion.”

“No. They won’t follow the template fully, only to the extent of what needs to be healed. They won’t affect memory.”

“Yep! Don’t worry about my competency lady, I’m confident that I did a great job!”

Amy stared at the both of us before she sighed once again, “Okay, it does seem like nothing had changed besides the damage but I don’t have a previous point of reference for this patient.” She turned to the doctor in the room, “We should keep a close eye on the patient to see if there’s any side effects.”

The doctors nodded at Amy before turning to me to speak excitedly, “If there’s really nothing wrong and there are no side effects, that would be amazing! Panacea herself is unable to heal brains, so for you to be able to do so was rather shocking.”

Amy can’t heal brains? As far as I know, she can basically heal anything within the human body. For her to be unable to do anything about brains seems strange and arbitrary. Perhaps it’s because of that complexity that she had previously mentioned, she didn’t want to risk doing something wrong to such an important aspect of a human being.

Well, powers work differently here. It could just be a limitation that her power has that she can’t change. Impossible for me to really know.

Amy turned to me once again and said, “I’ve reviewed enough of your work to reasonably say that there should be no problems with you healing others without my supervision.”

I nodded, “Understood,” I briefly thought about the amount of time healing individually would take, “Do you mind if I heal everyone at once?”

“What? You mean everyone at once in this room? If that’s the case then it should be fine. I still haven’t seen how you heal multiple people at once.”

Not exactly what I meant. Well, going for something smaller in scope first can help me prove I can do it on a larger scale.

“Mediarahan.”

Pixie raised her hands, and the three patients within the room that were still injured glowed with a green light that intertwined with their wounds.

Amy began checking everyone else, confirming that they were healed.

The doctor on standby exclaimed their excitement, “Healing multiple people at once instantly! You’re an incredible healer!”

“Do I have permission to heal everyone in the hospital?”

Amy stared at me as her face slowly shifted to comprehension at what I was implying, “Do you mean healing everyone at once?”

“Yes.”

The doctor looked at me with a dumbfounded look. Amy herself looked as if she was contemplating something about me. Perhaps about the possibility of what I’m suggesting.

Amy furrowed her eyebrows as she talked, “...We can only heal those who give permission for parahuman healing.”

“That’s fine, just give me a list. And tell them what I’m going to do so they don’t freak out.”

They complied with my request as I now had a list of names and general relevant information about them. I am once again stared at with doubtful eyes. Once again, understandable considering the feat.

The maximum number of people I have healed at once was ten, everyone within SEES. But the amount of people has never proved an issue for me, the limiting factor is distance for multi target healing spells. There’s no difference between healing two or ten for my Personas.

I could push the distance, allowing me to heal everyone within the hospital. The actual issue I’ll have to deal with is specific targeting, I never had to deal with specifically excluding certain targets when healing.

I’ll have to lean on Fuuka once again.

I dismissed Pixie as she waved goodbye towards the others, “See you later!”

Amy and the doctor were surprised by the action. Likely because they assumed I was going to keep using Pixie for healing. Not in this case.

What I need is Juno.

With slightly more ease than before, I changed my mindset to embody Fuuka. And so, her Persona’s power bloomed within my mind once again. I scanned the hospital and with such a small area to cover in comparison to the 264 floors of Tartarus, Juno easily and quickly found those listed.

I loaded a magazine into the evoker, activating the theurgy function as a slide pulled out of the back. A red glow emitting from both the backside and where the ejection port of a regular gun would be.

Amy objected, “Hey! What are you loading? Don’t tell me the reason it didn’t shoot before was because it was empty!”

I shook my head, “No. The function of the magazine just gives me more options. It doesn’t load bullets.”

Amy’s face contorted into exasperation as she opened her mouth as if to shout before she paused and breathed in order to take a moment to think on it, “Fine. You used that gun thing to shoot yourself to make a projection so I guess other functions like reloading would do something unusual too,” she mumbled under her breath, “Seriously, what kind of tinkertech device functions like that.”

With Amy momentarily assuaged of some of her worries and the doctor deciding to follow her lead, there were no longer any interruptions.

I raised the evoker to my head, “Juno,” and pulled the trigger, “Revelation.”

Juno enveloped me as her body provided protection and gave me increased insight into everything surrounding me. I ignored the extra superfluous information and focused on what I wanted this theurgy to do as it can be rather random. There is a way to influence it however, through the user’s will and what is needed most by the recipients of Revelation.

I can already feel the effect that has been chosen, a full recovery and a removal of all ailments.

I jolted in surprise as I faintly saw an image of Fuuka in front of me clad in her SEES uniform, hands clasped together and eyes closed before opening them as she looked above her. A small orb of light rose as it began to get enveloped with more lights, then one final layer circled around it making its appearance similar to that of water.

The orb dissipated into the air and I knew the targets I specifically chose had been healed.

I glanced back down towards Fuuka where she began disappearing, but even still, I managed to see the smile that she sent towards me.

I took a moment for myself as I breathed out. My mouth curving upwards in a slight smile.

I did not expect that, but a possibility like this should have been considered. Especially since there’s a precedent for this through Chidori appearing in Junpei’s second theurgy, Blaze of Life.

Just as Chidori fused her Persona with Junpei’s and in turn giving Trismegistus aspects of Medea, I’ve been given access to the SEES member’s Personas through the strength of my bonds. Those Personas are still a reflection of them, allowing for appearances such as Fuuka to show up. It’s likely that Theurgies are the only way for the other SEES members to appear following previous examples.

I allowed for Juno to dissipate and switched to another Persona I felt more comfortable with as my default.

“...Who the hell was that?”

“One of my friends,” I looked at the doctor, “I healed everyone listed.”

The doctor was staring at where Fuuka had once stood before looking away and responding, “Ah yes, I’ll go and confirm with the others.”

With me having healed everyone who needed it and had given permission for it, there was nothing else to do besides wait for full confirmation that everyone was healed and that there were no complications.

There was already a tentative belief by the doctor that previously was with us that I was able to heal everyone with no mistakes. But there was still a need to completely make sure.

As a result, that led me to waiting within one of the private break rooms. Amy also joined me after I suggested she take a break and after she confirmed the condition of the closest patients affected by the theurgy.

Amy looked at me with a rather intense look. I have a feeling that the only reason she even agreed with the break suggestion was because she wanted to interrogate me. It seems like she’s still formulating how to ask what she wants.

If I go by her pace, the conversation is just going to end up rather one-sided. If I want to properly address her situation and how it’s already negatively impacting her, I need to have a bond. She won’t let a stranger help her. An interrogation is not a good start to a proper friendship either.

So let’s change the tempo, “Do you want a drink?”

That took Amy off guard, “What? I mean… I guess I am sort of thirsty.”

In the same way that I could let my cognition form my own outfit whenever I need it, I can also use an aspect of the power for storage purposes. I let the blue flames manifest a thermos filled with luxe night tea, something that Mitsuru used to brew for me.

I unscrewed the cap and set it down onto the table where I poured the tea into it. The relaxing floral scent of the still hot drink perfumed the room. I pushed the tea towards her.

“Go ahead.”

She grabbed the cup and brought it close to her nose as she took in the herbal scent. After that, she brought it to her mouth as she took a small sip, “Oh, this is pretty good. I just had some coffee but having tea for the additional caffeine is nice.”

Does she have a caffeine addiction?

I pulled out a small bento box filled with Karume-Yaki from my internal storage. A type of cookie that Mitsuru had shown me how to make that goes well with the tea. It’s a rather simple dish to make, a majority of it being entirely sugar and only requiring microwaving for the cooking part. The sweet, crumbly, and melt in your mouth cookie makes for a nice contrast compared to the mild tea. I placed it upon the table as I took off the lid.

I gestured towards the dessert for Amy to take some as she raised an eyebrow at me.

Food helps make for comfortable conversations.

So how shall I go about this?

In order to better facilitate this conversation it’s preferable to switch to a Persona that matches her Arcana. It would allow me to have an easier time understanding another’s perspective. It’s also easier to grow a stronger bond with others through matching Arcana. If looked through a psychological perspective, mimicry of another person during conversations makes the mimicker more easily liked. The reason being that people like seeing similarities of themselves within another. It’s the same principle with matching Arcana.

I already instinctively know what Amy’s Arcana is. A symbolization of hope, renewal, and healing. And when reversed, it symbolizes a lack of faith and despair. The culmination of those elements being the Star Arcana.

I can already see how that Arcana matches her.

Hm, a foundation for a solid bond can’t have a mask preventing the other person from knowing who they are. There’s the risk of the constant thought that the person who’s masked is not acting as their true self, just pretending. It’s not impossible for a bond to stay strong through such doubts but I rather not have to deal with it. And besides, I’m already acquainted with her in my civilian life so trying to juggle how to act in two different relationships with the same person sounds tiring.

I switched to a Persona of the Star Arcana as I let the previous Persona go back to my internal mindscape.

I took my featherman mask off and let it disappear in a flash of blue flame in my hand. I reached over for one of the cookies and tossed the whole thing in my mouth. The real plus of unmasking myself is that I can now partake in my own snacks and tea. Can’t exactly eat with the featherman mask.

Amy was staring at me with her mouth wide open, “Wha– you– huh?”

“Yes?”

“Minato?”

“That is my name.”

“Don’t get snarky with me,” Amy rested her face on her hand as she sighed, “I was just surprised to see that the weird cape that did all of that bullshit today is actually the quiet kid that sits with me and Vicky at lunch,” she lifted her head as she waved her hand at me, “Why even reveal your identity to me? It’s not like we really know each other.”

I shrugged, “I don’t care.”

“What? You don’t care about revealing your identity? Seriously?”

“Even if you were to tell everyone who I was, I would only feel slightly inconvenienced.”

Amy stared unconvinced, “I’m doubtful that’s actually the case. If someone with bad intentions finds out who’s under the mask you wear, they could target your family for leverage or a grudge.”

“It helps that I don’t have any family.”

Amy flinched hard at my statement, “You don’t–? I mean–. Uh. Sorry, I didn’t know.”

I waved my hand at the apology, “Don’t worry about it, it’s been years.”

Besides, that isn’t the main reason why it wouldn’t be much of an inconvenience.

It’s simple, anybody who tries to take advantage of my civilian identity will simply have to deal with being set as an example. That way it’s a one and done deal, less effort with maximum profit. It won’t stop some people from bothering me in such a scenario but it will stop the vast majority.

Just like when Akihiko and I had beat up those gang members thoroughly, they stopped bothering us after that. Previously they would constantly hound Akihiko since he never fought them properly, the closest being just dodging their attacks. Shut someone down completely then they’ll sometimes give up.

Of course there are situations where that isn’t the case, such as Strega. We had defeated them but they never gave up until their bitter ends. Takaya even believed he won during the final battle too, that Nyx had won against SEES. I don’t think he even realized that a miracle had been achieved, that she had been sealed.

“What’s with the gun?” I looked at Amy as her question interrupted my internal monologue, “With how you use your power, I was wondering if that was an intentional choice. It’s… kind of worrying.”

Is that her way of subtly asking if I’m suicidal? Either that or she just means seeing me use an evoker is uncomfortable for her to witness. Both thoughts are understandable.

Now I’m wondering if everyone I talk to when acting as the Fool is going to ask me about it. The benefits of being anonymous to the general public during my time with SEES no longer apply to me.

“It’s a reminder that I’m mortal. To face death in order to truly live.”

Amy looked at me confused, “What? How is that relevant to summoning your projection? It just sounds like you’re telling me about your own personal philosophies.”

“Because it’s part of the reasoning why it’s shaped like a gun,” I paused in order to sip some of my own tea, “Tell me, how would you react if you were to put a gun to your own head and wanted to pull the trigger, despite knowing it’s unloaded.”

“Well, I guess I would be nervous, stressed, doubtful if it was actually empty, and…,” Amy shifted around in her seat as she became clearly uncomfortable at the thought, “Scared…”

I nodded, “Yes, when faced with imminent death and the stress that comes from it, my Persona comes forth automatically for self preservation.”

There’s also the Plume of Dusk within the evoker that acts as additional aid towards summoning. Without it, the evoker would just only be a convenient way to immediately get into a mindset of facing death and would be much more stressful upon the body.

Now that I faced Nyx, I can tell that the Plume of Dusk is a fragment of the Night Goddess. It emanates a somewhat similar feeling to her, albeit significantly and incomparably weaker. It feels strange to know that I’m carrying a piece of the deity that I had fought and sealed away.

“You’re essentially forcing yourself to feel like you’re about to die in order to summon your projection for self defense? Are you serious? That does not seem good for your mental health.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already faced Death countless times. I’ve seen what it can do towards myself and those around me. The grief that arises from such incidents pushes a person towards self destruction, whether it be physically or mentally. But it’s also through working through that grief that one may find themselves with a self realization, a change in mindset that strengthens their heart as well as honor the dead the way they think is best. Those who had died had left behind an impact upon the people they interacted with, and they will never be truly gone as long as their loved ones remember them.”

The images of the members of SEES who directly dealt with death before awakening to their ultimate Personas flashed in my mind. Akihiko, Ken, and Junpei.

I closed my eyes while reminiscing about my journey as I continued speaking, “It’s through that experience that my perspective has shifted, for death is a part of life, and only a singular aspect of it. It’s not something to let consume your whole life. And because I understand that, I can truly live life to its fullest with others. With no regrets, even if such experiences are short,” I opened my eyes to look at Amy with a soft smile, “My mental health is in no danger of deteriorating from me metaphorically shooting myself. I just see it as a sign of my determination.”

Amy looked truly bewildered, “...I’ve never thought I would hear you speak so much at once. Especially about such a heavy topic like that. I don’t usually hear such a well defined and philosophical perspective on death, or rather hear it discussed in that kind of way at all. Whenever people talk about that subject in the hospital, it’s usually about factual statements like the cause of death.”

“I was faced with my own mortality before, and I was friends with people who knew they were dying. For me to not have a defined perspective on the topic would be an impossibility.”

Amy was quiet for a moment before she began to speak, “So, those experiences of knowing people who were dying… You said that it lets you believe that you should live to the fullest with no regrets. What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Exactly as I stated.”

“But isn’t there a contradiction between living life to the fullest and having no regrets while doing so?”

“What makes you say that?”

Amy gathered her thoughts for a moment before she said, “If someone were to theoretically live as they desired to chase a full life then they would be ignoring all of their other obligations and responsibilities that they don’t want to do. Doing things like that would have consequences that they would end up regretting.”

I hummed at her as I pondered my response. My own interpretation of living to the fullest, is to pursue what I believe is important and act upon my feelings so that I won’t regret doing nothing. But even so, regrets still happen because life is unpredictable and everything will never go according to one’s desire.

Based on what I know of Amy, I can see how she would end up with such an interpretation for my words.

“To escape feeling any sort of regret is impossible,” Amy opened her mouth to interject, likely because of the contradiction with my earlier words. I interrupted her, “But living life with no regrets is a real possibility.”

“What? That makes no sense.”

“Regret is something that can be overcome and in doing so, disappears. Those feelings are a response towards a situation that you feel sadness, disappointment, guilt, and other negative emotions from. They can be addressed.”

That night upon the Moonlight Bridge where my parents had died and I had survived, being unaware of the situation between Ken and Shinjiro which led to the latter’s death, allowing Ikutsuki to manipulate us to bring about the Fall, and the feelings of inadequacies of being the field leader because of these regrets I had.

But I had done as well as I could have and allowed for one of the best endings possible for me. The regrets I mentioned still happened and I felt their effects but they don’t define what I achieved. They were mistakes and failings on my part but I continued to strive to do better and live how I wished to live. I resolved myself to fight Nyx even when it seemed pointless, but most importantly I did it so that my friends would be able to live out their lives. And so when I died, I died with a smile on my face. Content that I could spend the last moments of my life with everyone in SEES.

I had my regrets but I seeked to learn and try to grow stronger from them. I forgave myself for my failings and realized that it was unreasonable for me to have such hindsight at the time. They helped shape my view on life and pushed me to be better.

Amy furrowed her eyebrows, “Okay, I’m starting to get what you were saying before. But someone addressing all of their own regrets doesn’t sound feasible.”

I took a cookie and broke it in two, “Anything involving one’s own issues is never easy, but in the end such feelings are a product of a person’s own cognition. It’s still possible even if it seems improbable. You can leave it be and let the regret fester,” I placed one half of the cookie back with the others, “Or you can address the root cause of such feelings and no longer allow it to affect you.” I ate the other half of the cookie in my right hand.

Her voice was low as she said, “It doesn’t seem so cut and dry to me. There’s a number of issues that come up from trying to live a life however a person wants.” Her voice rose to nearly her normal volume, “What if the regret is not just based on the mindset of the person but also outside factors?” Her voice rose in volume once again, “What about the other people that makes an ideal life impossible because of their reactions?”

I’m fairly certain now that she’s speaking from her own personal thoughts regarding dealing with regrets and not hypotheticals. Some of her thoughts and responses are too comprehensive and specific for it to not be about herself. Well either that or she’s basing her responses on another person she knows well.

My assumption is that she wants to do something different from her current activities but is afraid of the backlash and regret that would arise. Most likely those activities are healing based on the context of what she said.

I do wonder however, who is she specifically talking about with that last sentence? Perhaps she’s referring to the general public? Or maybe some other specific people in her personal life such as family members.

“Then either find a compromise between all of the available choices, decide on one path that you believe to be best, or create an option that doesn’t exist to live a life without those obstacles. There’s always going to be outside factors and other people, work around them or directly confront them.”

Amy sighed, “Minato, that’s not exactly helpful with all of those vague options.”

I shrugged, “I can only give a detailed response if I have those details in the first place. And besides, it’s up to the person themselves to decide which way is right. I’m not here to solve everyone’s problems, but instead help them along the way.”

She leaned back as she slumped into the couch, “What are you, a therapist? All of that stuff you said doesn’t sound like something a teenage hero would say.”

“All therapists are heroes to those they help.”

Amy snorted, “You're not even denying being a therapist? I doubt that a parahuman high schooler is certified in that field.”

I smiled at her as I remembered what my baseball cap wearing friend had said once, “Well that’s only for normal cases. For me? They call me Minato Arisato, Ace Therapist.”

Amy barked out a laugh at what I called myself, “Really? That sounds so stupid.”

As the conversation drifted towards lighter topics and occasional jokes, the tea and snacks were gone as the both of us consumed them. Even the broken cookie that I had used as an example earlier symbolizing regret had been eaten.

Eventually the doctor came and informed us that there were no problems with the healing. I had already put my mask on before he came in as I instinctively knew someone was coming. It seems that Juno can still help me even when not selected as my main Persona, even if in a more limited manner and only through my instincts.

As the two of us left the hospital since there was no one we needed to heal, my thoughts drifted to how I handled the conversation. I do not expect Amy to suddenly be okay with all of her problems over one chat, if that did happen then that’s the equivalent of me making and maxing a Social Link in a single day. It’s inconceivable. I haven’t directly addressed any of her problems either, only referred to in a tangental manner or as if it wasn’t in reference to Amy.

But this is only the first step, the equivalent of rank 1 of a Social Link. It’s also a sign for me to do what I’ve always done, help others and in this case, help my friend.

Chapter Text

[Amy Dallon]

Amy picked at her food as she sat at a cafeteria table. Right next to her Vicky was having a totally riveting conversation with Dean and what kind of date they were going to have.

A feeling of jealousy surged before she forcibly suppressed it. A glance from Dean indicated that he had noticed. She pretended that it didn't happen in the first place.

She focused her attention on something else to distract herself from the conversation. Her eyes almost unconsciously looked towards Minato.

A transfer student that didn't have any immediately noticeable traits. Quiet and soft spoken, with dark blue hair that swooped in a way that covered one of his eyes. Emo might have been another word she would describe him as. Minato acted how you might expect an introvert who had no issues with talking would interact with others.

Just one of those people that is considered an acquaintance and is just around because he knows similar people to herself. Not having any major impact on her life as they don't really have much to do with each other.

Her previous impression of Minato has been completely flipped on its head now. She glared as she saw how he was eating from a box filled with a chicken sauté over rice and drank from a thermos. A thermos that she had just seen a few days ago flash into existence within a blue fire a few days ago…

Minato is the cape that had healed everyone in a large hospital all at once. Far outstripping her own range and speed for healing. And he did so with a stupid name too.

Amy did actually end up looking up tarot decks to see what sort of justification there would be for calling himself a fool.

Some surface level research led her towards the fool's journey, and the arcana that would guide the fool towards the conclusion of the world. The meanings of the cards that lead to self discovery with each step.

Calling himself the Fool kind of makes sense since he is at the starting point of being a cape. Although it wouldn't make as much sense when he's not new anymore.

But there's also his other potential name of the Universe. That isn't part of the standard deck and is instead just a replacement for the World card. It signifies completion and the end of the cycle. Why that particular version of the XXI arcana anyway? Did he finish a journey of some kind before debuting?

There could be just a superficial reason for the alternate version of the final arcana, like having an appreciation for space so he was considering having the Universe as a name.

The Fool and the Universe, the beginning and the closing finish. Complete opposites, what kind of significance would that have on Minato? Having two potential names with that kind of separate meaning just seems contradictory.

Naming yourself an enormous concept such as a Universe would also have some far reaching reactions to something like that. There was a reason why grand names like that aren't normally used. They create certain expectations and connotations that bring scrutiny from everyone.

Strong, well known, established capes like Legend have names that have a gravitas that fit them, that feels appropriate considering the scale of their power and and their accomplishments. If Minato had actually gone for that arcana to be known as, it wouldn't have surprised her if some villains had decided to pick a fight with him because of how grandiose the Universe would be as a name.

And there's the whole 'persona' thing that he calls his projections. She knows about the general concept of what a persona is so it's not like it's totally foreign to her. But that's more like putting up a public face to interact with her patients, not whatever Minato does with that ridiculous gun of his.

What kind of maniac is even totally cool with pointing a realistic gun right next to their own head and pulling the trigger? She held the gun herself, it sure felt like a real metal gun. It didn't seem fake either when she saw the recoil and shards of blue that came from being fired on himself. What kind of mechanism does that gun have to simulate actually getting shot? Is there even a purpose for that kind of thing? He acted as if it was completely normal to do that kind of thing.

She has seen the result of many gun related injuries. Sometimes they just passed through the flesh with barely any notice from the victim themselves and other times they can shred body tissue as the bullet expands leaving shards of metal spread near the origin of the wound, fragments of bone splintering everywhere, and organ damage on account of having a hole in them.

Hell, even blanks can kill someone if pointed close enough to a person. She's actually seen to one injury from a blank because of the stupidity of the teenager playing around with a gun he had found. The teen had assumed the blank had made it safe to point around with. The explosive gasses that shot out of the firearm had enough velocity to make him know that he had assumed wrong when he was pointing it at his junk.

What a dumbass.

So all of her prior experience told her that Minato's gun is a dangerous weapon that should not be pointed towards his own head. So when his head actually recoiled once he pulled the trigger, her heart dropped as she feared the worse for a split second.

But he ended up completely fine. No visible injury or detrimental effect upon the body. And his 'persona' appeared beside him, Pixie was what she was called. A mask that one uses in the face of hardship, and a manifestation of part of his personality. Didn't really seem like any part of his personality that she knows about.

Amy has a hard time seeing the connection between the cheerful self proclaimed prankster Pixie and the seemingly apathetic soft spoken teenager. Well, apathetic isn't exactly the right word to describe him considering how many people he had healed and his understanding temperament during their conversation. She just considered him an apathetic kind of guy beforehand, but she can clearly tell that it is definitely a wrong assumption to make about Minato just based on his actions these past few days.

Maybe Pixie only shows part of his own personality, and not an actual full representation. It would make sense, if only because of the sheer contrast between Minato and her. That and he had already shown to be able to summon multiple Personas with Juno. There's the implication that each one is a different aspect of himself by how different they are from each other. Likely also allowing him to have different parameters in terms of healing ability. Pixie healed those he was close to and Juno being for long range healing.

Although that doesn't explain who that girl that showed up was… Another parahuman helping him? But she didn't have a mask… She did seem to have a similar outfit to Minato as the Fool, is he a part of an actual organization? Or maybe… if she extrapolates what he described his power as, was that girl another part of his personality that had manifested as a light blue haired teenage girl?

Well, his projections have varied wildly in terms of appearances just between Pixie and Juno so she supposes a completely normal looking humanoid isn't that strange…

But ultimately, what really stands out to her is the actual method of healing that he employs.

The way that Minato does it… It would be impossible for her to imitate the specific way he went about restoring those patients back to full health, and the method goes further than what seems probable through just healing.

One of the most glaring parts was a complete disregard for how a body is supposed to heal, even more so than her own power. He restored missing blood in an instant without stimulating any of the natural human functions needed for that, malnutrition was treated through vitamins and nutrients somehow appearing within their system, another person who was missing a finger from an accident during their childhood got it restored with no issues despite the disparity between then and now as an adult, and there so many more examples of this kind of thing.

Minato isn't converting matter within the human body into something else to help with the current problem. No, if anything he's creating something out of thin air and adding it to the patient with no sign of rejection. That's different from how she herself is able to do, for one thing she needs actual extra substance to convert something into what the body requires and she actually needs time to do things like preventing rejection of new material.

The speed in which he healed everyone is another point of absurdity. That in combination with his sheer range makes him out to be the most efficient healer in the world. Probably the best one too depending on what kind of limits he has. Based on observations, probably something like a lack of in depth knowledge of the specific issues within patients, considering that it's unreasonable to be able to process all of the problems patients have when healing hundreds at once.

Minato being the greatest healer in the world. Now that's a thought, those that know of Panacea generally consider her one of the best healers if not the actual best one out there and now she recently met someone who outstripped her in most categories.

That's not even getting into the casual go at healing brain damage. Now that's a subject that she feel's a substantial amount of conflict on.

That he could just heal brain injuries with the same ease as other injuries… Does he have that much confidence in his own healing that he doesn't need to put extra care towards making sure he didn't make any abnormal changes? There didn't seem to be any abnormalities… But the possibility that he could have changed something by accident, or even the implication that he could change something about the fundamental identity of a person…

There's a reason why she has a personal rule against working on brains.

"Hey Ames," Vicky whispered into her ear as Amy forcibly suppressed any stronger reaction that threatened to erupt outwards, "You seem to be staring at Minato there for a while now, is he your type?

The healer almost immediately hissed back, "Of course not! I don't like him like that!"

Vicky just raised an eyebrow, "Whoah, that was a strong response. I was just wondering if Minato was going to be a regular on our double dates now."

"I told you that I don't have time for that kind of thing."

"Really? Didn't that new cape start healing everyone at all the other hospitals, which gave you more free time?"

"...Yeah."

"Then it should be fine for you to have some fun right?" Vicky gave her sister a smile.

Amy had to look away from Vicky's unfairly pretty smile as she felt her cheeks heat up slightly.

Damn you Minato… As soon as he had finished healing at Brockton General, he went around to all the other hospitals to heal everyone there too… leaving her with basically nothing to do.

She knows that she shouldn't be feeling this frustration from someone else finally helping with healing and giving her a large amount of free time but… she still feels that she should be doing something to help someone.

What else was she supposed to do when there isn't anyone who needs her to heal them in the hospitals? Go walking around, all the while hoping for someone to get hurt in front of her so she can do something to help? Yep, that won't happen for a whole host of reasons. It's unlikely for that kind of situation to happen in the first place.

Maybe there's something else that she can do…

Amy sighed as she thought back to the conversation she had with Minato after he had healed everyone. 'Live life to the fullest with no regrets'.

What does that mean for someone like her?

Whatever she does, it feels like it'll come back to her regretting her decision. Constantly heal, take some time off for herself, or even… Her eyes glanced back at Vicky before looking away again.

Well, as Minato said himself, she could work on addressing those regrets as they come. But that's easier said than done. And she would rather not have to deal with the actual consequences that come from certain actions.

At this rate, Minato will be constantly leaving her with nothing to do for as long as he continues to work as a cape and lives within the same city as her. Which makes all the more worrisome for herself if she can't properly see what she can do in the future that doesn't involve constant healing.

Maybe she should start traveling in the future, to go on a healing tour across the world. But doing that would involve leaving Vicky…

How does Minato feel so self reassured about himself when she herself is filled with doubt?

As the school day passed, Amy was still pondering about her own circumstances.

As soon as she left the faraday cage surrounding Arcadia, she called multiple hospitals to confirm if they needed her aid. And just like the past several days, there was no else to heal except for the ones that declined parahuman healing. The Fool had beaten her to the finish line.

She would question how that was possible considering Minato was in school the whole time but it's been clarified that it was a projection of his that did the actual healing. The Fool wasn't there in person.

Amy sighed as she reluctantly decided to go home.

And so time passed as she holed up inside of her room, doing anything that would seem like it would relieve her boredom. Her most recent activity was mindlessly scrolling through social media while lazily lying down before a knock came from her door.

"Amy, can I come in?"

The aforementioned girl straightened up to a sitting position on her bed as she said, "Go ahead."

Vicky opened the door and walked into the room.

"Hey Vicky, what's up?"

The blonde girl plopped onto the bed next to the healer, "Nothing much, I just was thinking about the whole bunch of extra free time you've gotten recently."

Amy withheld a groan at the reminder, "Yeah, a ton of free time that I have no idea what to do with."

Vicky hummed as she looked at her sister, "Really, nothing?"

A sigh, "Well, Aleph movies are pretty interesting?" Although she hadn't watched any of them in a while.

"Then let's watch some movies!"

"Oh!" Some personal time together with Vicky! "Yeah sure, I'll set up my computer."

As she turned on the laptop, the healer thought back on the teenager who had seemingly upturned her life in a matter of days. It feels wrong to not tell or confide in Vicky about the details for something that had obviously affected herself, excluding certain secrets that she'll take to her grave.

In order to tell her sister, she would need to give context for some of her feelings which might include things like the Fool's identity. Minato may not care all that much about revealing his secret identity, but to tell Vicky without consulting him first wouldn't be in line with healer confidentiality. And it feels like at least someone should care about hiding his secret.

What is her sister's opinion on him in the first place? She doesn't actually know how the two became friends or much of how they interact.

"What do you think about Minato?"

"Oooh?"

Wait, shit, "T-that's not what I mean, you know, like he isn't the type of friend you normally have. And he had just transferred in so it was a surprise that you befriended him that fast."

"Yeah sure, I believe that you didn't mean it that way Amy," Vicky was smirking with a teasing undertone, "But if you really are that interested then I can tell you some things about him," she ignored her sister's denials as she thought about her past interactions with him, "Well, he may seem kind of moody but he's actually a great listener!"

Amy thought back on her previous interactions with him, "Yeah, that seems to fit."

"Yep! He actually got between an argument I had between me and Dean. Helped the two of us see each other's perspectives. Although it was kind of embarrassing for a stranger at the time to help with something like that."

So Minato helped them not go on another break from their relationship. She attempted to steer the conversation back to the emo looking teen and not about her sister's romantic life with Dean, "Huh, Minato seems like an attentive person."

"There's that, and he also has one heck of a poker face!"

Amy tilted her head slightly at that, "What do you mean?"

Vicky laughed, "What I mean is that his face didn't move at all when he talked the two of us down. That was really surprising considering that I was accidently letting out too much of my aura during that argument so he definitely should have reacted to it. But no! He just had a passive look on his face the whole time!"

That does seem a bit unusual. Generally when someone first experiences her sister's aura, they would react in some way even if they're usually not very expressive. But considering that Panacea knows that the Fool is Minato, maybe something about this power helps resist the effect?

Maybe with how her aura induces certain emotions and feelings to people surrounding her is mitigated by how he has multiple Personas. Considering that Pixie seemed to be rather different from how Minato would act, it would stand to reason that they would clash in terms of feelings on certain subjects. So it would seem likely that he would be used to other sources of external emotions.

Vicky continued on, "A bit later, I actually found out he had no idea who I was, even after telling him my name. Can you believe that? It wasn't a lack of recognition but that he straight up didn't know me or the rest of New Wave. It's not like Glory Girl is that famous, but it still stings a bit you know."

Really? That's rather uncommon for someone in Brockton Bay to not know about their team. He is a transfer student though, so he could have been from out of the country. He does have a Japanese name which is another point towards him just being unfamiliar with American things.

"Don't worry about that, you're plenty famous enough for the both of us."

Vicky suddenly hugged her from the side, "What, is my dear Ames showering me with praise about my popularity when you're the one who's the best healer in the world?" She let go of the hug as she nudged her sister to answer.

The healer calmed her heart rate from the sudden physical contact as she said, "Didn't you hear? That's no longer the case anymore."

"What? You mean that new cape? The one who was helping you at the hospital and for some reason wants to be called by a weird name like Fool? Isn't it a little early to say something like that though?"

"I don't think his ability is as all encompassing as what I can do but that barely matters considering how much of a longer range he can apply healing through and the sheer speed he's displayed with it."

"Well, you're still my favorite healer no matter what," Vicky hummed as she thought about something, "What do you think about Fool then? Considering he seems to have taken your whole shtick recently."

The healer was caught off guard as she didn't think her attempts at trying to figure out her sister's opinion on him through his civilian identity would be turned against herself like this.

She scrambled to find an answer that wouldn't obviously be influenced by what she knows about him through his school life.

Amy slowly said, "I don't have anything against him for basically taking my job. The more people healed, the better."

There, an answer that wasn't particularly descriptive and instead is mostly directed towards his influence from his cape identity.

But as a whole, she believes that Minato is a good guy that has a weird amount of confidence in himself despite being a rookie hero. He seemed more like a seasoned cape than anything, along with keen insight towards others that she suspects might be partly from how his powers cleanly separates the multiple personas of his that grants him greater understanding of differing perspectives.

Saying that though, a part of her can't completely accept all of the generally positive thoughts she has on him. Besides the fact that it doesn't make much sense for what should be a fresh trigger to be so stable and seemingly experienced, it's still because of him that she can't heal anyone right now. She knows that thought isn't logical, but she can't help it.

Amy had resented healing others. She wasn't able to admit it before, but an ample amount of free time and days of not healing at all made for an obvious contrast that she couldn't ignore.

But despite that, now she wants to heal others again, or just look at someone's biology… To do something, anything.

She doesn't even know why she's being so contrarian.

"You say that, but you have a bit of a complicated face when you were talking," Vicky pointed at her, "Why don't you just leave most of the healing to him. Try to have some fun and enjoy your time in highschool some more. School isn't just about studying ya know? It's also about having fun when you're not supposed to be! Maybe even with a special someone…?"

Can Vicky please stop insinuating that she's into Minato? Or just anyone in general? Just because she herself asked for her sister's opinion about him does not mean she likes him like that. It's because of his abilities that just made her curious about him.

And to just have the Fool do all of the work so she herself can enjoy highschool life… That isn't right for her to do. It's unfair to him and a waste of her own power.

…And the main purpose of school is to study, not have fun messing around.

You know what, she'll just think more on the whole healing thing later. She'll just follow Vicky's lead and not bother disagreeing with her. If there is any positive towards getting an ample amount of free time, it's that Amy can have fun with Vicky without Dean more often.

She decided to just enjoy herself watching a movie with the most important person in her life, which in itself is already proving Vicky's point earlier.

As the computer had booted up and password typed in, Amy clicked on the web browser icon.

When she had shut off her computer previously, she didn't bother exiting out on PHO. As a result, the website loaded back in instead of the default home page.

It wasn't a big deal. She was just going to watch some movies with Vicky so it didn't matter much in the first place.

These thoughts evaporated upon seeing a new post and the attached picture.

'There's a huge cape battle that's exploding buildings near the docks! I even got close enough to take a photo of a cape I don't recognize!'

What was shown was a photo of Minato in his Fool identity, wielding an ornate sword with black wings acting as the guard that looked as if they're encroaching upon the blade. Flames surrounded him while rubble was strewn all upon the ground, him standing relaxed with blood dripping from his sharpened steel.

Her mind briefly blanked as she stared at the photograph. She then rebooted as she finally comprehended what she was staring at.

A large cape battle? Extensive collateral damage? Isn't the Fool a cape with a focus on healing!?

What the hell did you do Minato!?

[Minato Arisato]

I resheathed my sword back into the scabbard on my side as I stared at the downed figure in front of me.

I yawned as I sat on the ground for a moment. I idly thought to myself if I could steal a nap now that there wasn't anything pressing, before deciding to just lay down.

I flopped onto the rough concrete with my limbs outstretched as if I was a starfish. Hm, fish… Now I just noticed that after all the exercise I just participated in I'm rather hungry. Are starfish edible? If not, I'm sure that I can just use Amrita Drop to cure food poisoning. Probably.

The crackling and sputtering reminded me that I was surrounded by some small flames, now I can't help but imagine what roasted starfish would taste like if I end up cooking it over that fire. Perhaps like a roasted fish but sweeter and with a tougher texture? It does seem like a sweet sort of food to me.

Should I do something about the fire around me though? Eh, nah. It's not spreading and it's not like I haven't already extinguished most of it during the battle, some of the remaining ice in the area would make it even more unlikely for it to spread. And someone else is definitely going to show up considering the relatively loud and bright battle that was going on in the middle of the night. Whether it be heroes or firefighters, someone is going to get here to take care of it.

I clipped the earphones that were knocked off earlier back onto my ears as I pressed play on my music player. Resuming a song that I put on my pause.

I attempt to get into a more comfortable position on the ground as I put my hands underneath my head. The scattered rubble and holes in the ground, along with the water from melted ice soaking into my clothes make it slightly more difficult than usual.

Well it's not the worst place I've ever napped in before.

I closed my eyes to the star filled sky as I let the music soothe me to sleep.

"...Another wander in the night. Let me paint the view. Color a town with my light…"

-{}-

[Several Hours Earlier]

-{}-

"...For every moment shared with you. Not out in the day. But never fully gone. Going to be back again. Until the coming of a dawn…"

I opened my eyes to the orange light of a sunset piercing through the streets, casting long shadows across the floor.

I lowered the sound of my MP3 as I was nearing someone I needed to comfortably be able to hear. Doesn't mean I'll pause the song though.

I hummed along with the lowered volume of my music as I walked with a Labrador dog wearing an orange collar beside me. As I turned the corner I saw a worried woman pacing back and forth.

I led the dog towards her as the dog began barking and hopping around energetically in clear excitement, "Here you go miss."

"Kenny! You're okay!" Relief was apparent on the owner's face as she rushed forward and hugged her dog.

The dog is named Kenny? Now I can't help but think of Ken and Koromaru combined into one. Well Kenny is certainly energetic enough to match Koromaru. He's also wearing an orange collar just like how Ken constantly wore orange in every outfit he can get away with.

The woman smiled widely as her dog licked her in an act of affection. She let go of her hug but still gave Kenny scratches and pets.

She turned her head towards me, "Thank you so much! I couldn't find him anywhere and you managed to do what I couldn't in an hour! Was there any trouble in finding Kenny? If so, I'm really sorry for the inconvenience."

"Hm," At her question, I recalled the numerous gang members that stood in my way from rescuing the injured and abused animals within the dog-fighting rings, "There wasn't any trouble. No need for the apology."

Besides, I'm used to completing miscellaneous tasks for Elizabeth depending on whatever catches her attention. With such requests ranging from feeding stray cats, finding specific items she was interested in, and the destruction of a large amount of shadows. Putting down a group of thugs to find a dog is in line with what I've previously done.

If anything I was a bit more enthusiastic than normal in taking the offenders down because of my own fondness for animals, especially dogs.

Seeing how the current situation has been resolved, I waved goodbye as I began to walk away.

It's been somewhat busy for me recently. What with healing at the hospitals and finishing before Amy even got there, and helping anyone who needed aid even if it was for a rather mundane task. I did things like find lost items, buying food for the homeless, healed that one person in the street who had been attacked, right after I got the same attackers arrested who were apparently trying to rob people for drug money, and a few other things.

A drug issue within Brockton Bay… The users waste away their life through addiction and side effects when they partake in narcotics to such a degree. I have an even more personal distaste for the practice because of Shinjiro using Persona suppressants that eroded his own health and lifespan.

Those thugs looking for drugs were apparently from the Merchants. A gang known for being drug dealers and actual drug users themselves.

The issues in this city I'm not exactly used to dealing with in comparison to Tatsumi Port island. I had to deal with apathy syndrome, shadows, and Strega, which are clearly different from gangs and drugs.

I do wonder, however, if I could get rid of drugs within a person's system then I might be able to do the same thing for addiction. It does seem like a stretch to me though, I wouldn't really consider addiction to be a status condition that could be cured through Amrita Drop or Salvation. That does make me speculate if Amy would be able to do something about that though considering that she apparently has more awareness of the internal workings of the body.

Speaking of Amy, I haven't spoken to her since that day in the hospital. I suppose I should follow up on how she's doing. It must be rather unusual for her to have so much free time. I do wonder if she took any of my words into account or just dismissed them. Nonetheless I do hope that she takes the time to find what she wants to do.

Now shall I continue on with my initial investigation?

I recently had a conversation with some homeless gentlemen whom I had built a rapport with when I bought lunch for a sizable group and spoke to them about their troubles. Apparently a lady friend who was also homeless that they knew hasn't been seen by them for a week. That made them worried enough that they asked me if I could find her and check on her.

I was given the locations she liked to be in. A wanderer is what she was portrayed as. In addition they described her appearance to me, black hair in a ponytail with a beauty mark on her cheek and often wore an old faded New Wave hoodie. Her name being Michelle.

The location I had just checked out was a park where I had met an unrelated lady who was trying to find her missing dog, which ended up with me having a detour to help her.

Now to check out the next location since I didn't find any clues or the actual missing person herself. Apparently Michelle often explored the docks but from what I know, that isn't exactly a small area. Not exactly an area that's been taken care of either.

As I traveled towards my destination, I spotted from the corner of my eye a dash of red. A color that used to be a normal sight for me because of the Dark Hour. But during the day with some light remaining, it caught my eye.

A streak of blood on the floor within that alleyway, with it ending after a certain point. Either because the wound stopped bleeding or someone lifted the victim off the floor so they weren't being dragged.

As I stepped closer to the scene, I spotted a ripped white piece of fabric partially soaked in blood.

Hm, a white piece of cloth. The woman was described to have often worn New Wave Merch and the team likely do have white on their merchandise because of its prominence on all of their costumes.

If I go by the assumption that this material is from a New Wave hoodie, then this could be from the person that went missing. Even if it isn't Michelle, a situation like this compels me to investigate the area because of the worrying implications of such a scene.

But how shall I find this unknown person?

A Persona moved closer to the forefront of my mind, catching my attention. I felt their familiar comforting presence giving me an answer.

A method like that should work.

I closed my eyes and focused my thoughts. A loyal and friendly companion, always by SEES side. A friend to the monk at the local shrine before he passed away. He had already undergone a personal resolution of self before even meeting SEES, most likely when he decided to defend the shrine even after the monk's death. The one who awakened to an evolved Persona on their first summon.

Koromaru.

"Cerberus."

The sound of glass shattered as a blue and black three headed dog with pitchforked legs materialized in front of me.

Koromaru's Persona bent down to sniff the ripped piece of cloth and the blood. They took a moment before raising their heads in unison and continuing to sniff. Cerberus moved further inward towards the dark alleys near the docks. The three headed dog moved past dilapidated buildings and litter while continuing to hunt down the scent. The heads paused before turning their body towards me, motioning with one head in my direction.

It seems that Cerberus has locked down where the scent is coming from.

"I guess it's time to go, eh?"

I jumped on top of Cerberus' back before we sped off, following a trail that only one with a keen sense of smell can follow. We reached speeds that would be unreasonable for any normal dog or even other animals specializing in that category to follow.

It wasn't long before we finally stopped in an area. The light from the sunset finally vanished as night set in.

I was further into the more dilapidated areas of the docks, where I would assume not many would typically hang around.

But considering there's two people near the entrance of a building just standing around, clearly my initial assumption wasn't entirely correct.

Cerberus is leading me towards where the two men seem to be guarding. So the question now is how am I going to handle this? Well, let's attempt to not get caught straight away. I've never attempted stealth before but it's likely better to do so in order to not risk the missing lady, Michelle.

My decision set, I prepared something to take care of the presumed guards, "Mamudoon."

Cerberus raised all of their heads as they howled, the dark magic appearing underneath the two at the entrance.

Dark thorns and skulls surrounded them, "Wh–" empty eye sockets flashed with an unsettling glow as a pillar of darkness erupted. And just as quickly as the dark magic appeared, it started to dissipate as they fell onto the ground.

Hm, it seems that insta-kill magic has become stronger, if I didn't hold back upon using Mamudoon it would have actually done far more than just knock them unconscious. I suppose it fits more with the name of the category for this magic now.

Nonetheless I double checked the condition of them to confirm if they were alright. And yes, they were only unconscious, just like how members of SEES were affected by insta-kill attacks back in my old world.

I'm fairly certain I'm still in the clear, the howl of Cerberus would just sound like any other dog howling and the only other noise was just some bodies falling onto the floor. Not particularly obvious to others that something is wrong unless they see something.

I hop off of the Persona as I head to the door. I cracked it open to look through the gap, finding nothing within sight I decided to walk further in. It was a relatively empty room with nothing much to show.

Cerberus pointed me deeper within the building.

I passed multiple rooms and there were a few people that I knocked out with either a Mamudoon or brute force. So far it seems that I was doing rather well in terms of not alerting the whole building.

And it seems that I just disproved my own notion of how well I was doing in stealth when I opened another door to a whole group of people.

The one closest to me spoke in accented English, "What? Who the hell are you!?"

A glance around the room informed me that they seemed to be coordinating something based on their movements and papers strewn across a table that multiple people were crowded around.

More importantly I see a group of women bound and visibly injured on the floor. One of them with a ripped New Wave hoodie with dried blood on the article of clothing and on her black hair. Cerberus confirmed that she was the one within the Alleyway, and most likely the Michelle that was missing.

It's time to make this quick.

I mentally commanded Cerberus to attack when I jumped towards the closest enemy and dropkicked them in the face.

My shoes sent him crashing into the wall as I landed on my feet, "Always wanted to do that," the guy who just got sent flying only briefly raised their head while groaning before slumping downward, knocked out.

Cerberus sent out a Mamudoon at the same time as my attack that unfortunately only got some of them. Whether it be from dodging in time or the fact that the dark magic doesn't have a hundred percent chance of working. It's one thing if they weren't aware before casting like earlier but that's no longer the case now.

Well, I'm used to that spell not hitting everyone so I just had the Persona thrash the rest of them with their physical strength. There wasn't any need for actual physical skills since that would just be overkill for unpowered thugs.

As Cerberus tore apart everyone else by tossing them around the room, I headed towards the single person that was guarding the captured women with a single knife.

The man in front of me swung his knife around erratically as if it would keep me at bay, "(S-stay back, u-unless you want to die!)"

Hm? Japanese? Unexpected to hear after weeks of speaking exclusively English.

He attempted to stab my right side which was sidestepped easily. As a result he overextended his arm while doing so, allowing me to grab the offending limb to control the knife and knee his stomach. The man spat saliva as he gasped from my attack and let go of his weapon from the pain.

I released his arm as he stumbled back grasping his stomach. His head was down, before it raised up. That included raising up his whole body too because I just uppercutted him into the air. He was almost floating before gravity took hold and had him fall onto the floor with a crumple, unconscious.

I gave him no further notice as I knelt down on the floor to properly look at the kidnapped women as I said, "You're okay now, I'll make sure you're all safe," I turned my head towards the woman wearing the New Wave hoodie, "And to confirm, your name is Michelle correct?" She looked surprised before nodding her head, "Your friends asked me for help so make sure to thank them later."

Michelle began tearing up, "T-t-thank y-you so much. I'll-I'll make sure to do that"

I nodded as I stood back up. Cerberus trotted next to me as I pet and scratched them. The three headed dog gave a satisfied sound before backing off and dematerializing back into my mindscape to let me change Personas.

I switched to Pixie and prepared for extra strain and energy cost since it didn't seem wise to use an evoker next to traumatized victims.

The sound of the barrier between my mind and reality shattered as my Persona materialized beside me.

Pixie flew around the group before deciding to just land on top of my head, waving her hand towards the confused group of women.

I sighed at her antics as I asked her, "Pixie, can you please use Mediarahan?"

She patted the top of my head, "Of course I can, grumpy pants," the tiny winged girl raised her hands as green light gathered.

The healing magic spread across the group as wounds disappeared without a trace, leaving behind amazed and grateful people.

Once Pixie was finished, she flew towards the women and said, "Hope you have the best! See ya!" Once said her goodbyes she decided to pose with a wink and her tongue out as she tapped her tilting head with a fist. She let herself come back into my mindscape while holding that display she presented.

I think I saw someone do that in an anime before? I guess she was just trying to be cute.

As Pixie returned, the feeling of tension within got released as I didn't have to deal with an evokerless summon anymore. It wasn't something that was difficult to maintain, especially for a Persona that wasn't particularly strong, but it was certainly more than I was used to for a single Persona.

It's a good thing that it's not that taxing because I'm going to do another evokerless summon right now.

As I began escorting the women outside of the room, I switched and summoned a new Persona outside the view of those I was guarding. I left him to do his task when I swiped a phone from one of the knocked out thugs. Using the cellular device, I dialed the police to take the kidnappers to jail and requested an ambulance for the victims.

I led the victims outside of the building and stayed with them to discuss topics that got their minds off of what had happened to them. I was speaking about my recent attempts at recreating the dishes that my friends had made for me in the past when I heard the sirens of emergency response.

As they arrived and they looked over the abducted women and arrested the kidnappers, they also took a statement from me. I informed them of the lead that I received and how I was searching for one of the victims which led me to the current location.

Once the police officers were satisfied with my account they let me go, allowing me to stew over what I learned from the Persona I summoned to gather info.

I am thou, thou art I. This vow encompasses me and all of my Personas, and so it allows me to have an awareness of what they experience even when apart from me. The words that the Persona imparts to me when recalled only solidify what I had learned.

As the Persona returns to my inner mind, he whispers to me softly, "My, my, what a situation the citizens of Brockton Bay have found themselves in. I found some interesting information when I charmed the mind of that Japanese fellow who tried to stab you. The ABB gang has a whole operation of human trafficking, where they do the majority of that business in one location, which the charmed man ever so graciously told me where the area is."

I inhaled, then exhaled.

Human trafficking… In a first world country? Or perhaps it's just Brockton Bay? Well it seems that the ABB is the very source of in this city at least, they're apparently a gang that has its own identity as an Asian gang that recruits based on every Asian ethnicity despite the difference in language and cultures.

Well nevertheless, it seems that I need to do something about this shouldn't I?

I walked away from another location that had just been swarmed with police officers. In addition to the main location where their human trafficking was centralized, the charmed man had also informed me of multiple other smaller areas where they were also conducting their operations.

So I decided to take down the other places first. If by the off chance I accidentally let someone inform the main location of what's going on, it would be a more complicated affair for the ABB to go underground and hide considering the likely increased complexity of a larger operation.

That led me to several illegal brothels that had the woman there forced to work there.

…It's confirmation for the depths the ABB would stoop to. And from what I hear, not every one of their victims even end up going to such establishments. But instead they are sent outside of the country for sale.

The feeling of righteous fury surges as many of my Personas unite under that one emotion.

Orpheus strums his harp in a soothing melody that calms me and the rest of the mindscape down. A reminder to not be rash in my actions and to not let emotion consume me towards unnecessary violence.

A breath was taken as I internally gave my thanks to the Persona that embodies many of my own traits from the start of my journey. Orpheus only nodded.

I'm going to have some… words with whoever is leading this operation. I'm guessing that the leader of ABB and the leader of this shitshow are the same person considering I've solely only seen members of that gang in this situation.

This is certainly a different sort of mankind's darkness that I haven't dealt with before. Before it was apathy and nihilism that begs for the death of humanity as a whole. Now I'm dealing with the exploitation of one's fellow human beings for their greed and the satisfaction of lust through the forceful kidnapping of others.

For the previous location that I had just visited, I sent the gang members who were acting as pimps towards the police and the victims to safety. In addition, I had… persuaded those criminals to be honest in their confessions for how far their crimes had actually gone rather than 'just' illegal prostitution.

As I finished up the previous place, I made it to the final location of their main branch.

It was a nondescript warehouse in a similar vein as the first location I had gone to.

I jumped upwards as I landed on the window sill from which I crouched down on, in front of me is the inside of an worn down warehouse that the charmed gang member told me was their central location.

I looked inside the building as a group of four were lounging around seemingly being on the lookout, albeit doing so poorly. I opened the window in preparation for my next action.

I raised my evoker as I called for a Persona, "Narcissus."

As the trigger got pulled, a beautiful long haired blonde man with a flower atop his head wearing only a red cloth around their waist appeared behind me as he rested himself with his arm on my shoulder, "My, what an atrocious residence that befits scum that partake in uncouth behavior such as them," the pleasant looking man jumped into the building and landed with a grace and beauty that seemed unnatural, "Now let us all partake in my dance. My Sexy Dance."

The gang members jolted into attention at the appearance of the beautiful nearly naked man, they were bewildered at the situation before the Persona started to shift in a way that made him the only thing that they could concentrate on.

Narcissus wrapped his arms around himself and moved with such elegance that it entranced the confused members of the ABB. He finished with a twirl and a rising of his arms outwards as charm magic began infiltrating their minds, bringing them to our side temporarily.

I unseated myself from the second story window as I dropped down beside my Persona as I stared at the mind controlled thugs.

I pointed to one of them, "You, bring me to where you keep the victims," I looked at the other three, "The rest, go outside and wait for the police to arrest you."

With a guide in tow and some liberal usage of charm magic, the way forward was basically clear. I was led to an underground area where I would soon bear witness to further acts of depravity.

I sent the mind controlled criminal outside with the others just to make sure that the victims wouldn't mistakenly believe that I was in league with their kidnappers. It would make the situation a tad more complicated if they come to that sort of conclusion.

As I walked down the stairs and opened the door to the room, I saw women bunched up into jail cells where they were bound in locked shackles and chains. Injuries aplenty and a despair potent enough to feel in the surroundings.

One of the women was outside of the cells being shoved around and seemingly played with by two guards. The two of them were obviously enjoying the control and power they had over her, and were likely considering doing something more heinous than just harshly pushing her judging by the looks on their faces.

Before a single other action could be taken by the two scumbags I was already right next to the two of them.

A single "huh?" came out of their mouths before I slammed both of their heads together, "Gah!" knocking them out.

All eyes turned to me since I suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The room became quieter as the original source of the noises before were from the guards that 'somehow' walked into each other hard enough to knock themselves unconscious, and what little noise the victims were making basically disappeared as they were unsure of what to make of me.

Finally, the one who was just being attacked began to speak as she stared at me, "Are you here to save us?"

I looked directly at the girl.

There was only one answer, "Of course."

As I threw the Trafuri Gem up in the air, a bright light flashed as the item activated. Teleporting the group outside of the building, on the opposite side from where the charmed criminals are.

Trafuri allows for short range teleportation to escape undesirable scenarios. It wasn't something that I had often used back during my first journey, considering how large Tarturus was and the limited range of it. Couldn't move towards unknown areas or across a whole floor, and seeing as how Tartarus was constantly changing to different terrains, it wasn't the most useful except for when I'm near death against a shadow.

But such limitations are fine for a situation of just needing to get people out of a building quickly and quietly.

There are still some uncharmed ABB members within that building so not alerting them would be preferable. And I doubt that the victims would want to stay within there any longer than necessary.

"I've informed the police of this location, so they should be here soon with other emergency personnel as well," My words interrupted their surprise and shock of being suddenly teleported right after being healed, "I still need to catch the rest of them. Will everyone be fine on their own for a short time?"

There was some hesitation and then the previous girl who talked to me stepped forward, "Yes, we'll be fine. Get those bastards. I don't want to see them walking free for as long as they live."

Rather feisty words. But I'll make sure to oblige your request as best as I can. Perhaps I should be more liberal in using force to break their legs?

I had cleared the majority of the building so far without alerting the other thugs of what was occurring.

There was nothing that warranted any particular special effort which is a bit unusual for a huge operation such as this. I expected to encounter one of the ABB's capes considering the mess I've made for them across multiple locations. Perhaps they're just somewhere else? I do recall finding information that suggests that the gang doesn't have many parahumans, which they instead make up for through the sheer power they possess.

How accurate is that notion? I'm unsure. I only looked through a short summary and not any specific details. I wasn't exactly planning on fighting the ABB this quickly, but not everything can be planned and accounted for. This is just par for the course.

My gaze was drawn to another room within this warehouse. Specifically the last room that I didn't check yet. And considering the two now charmed guards that originally were blocking the path, I suspect that there's something important past this door.

I went for the doorknob and turned.

Or attempted to turn it considering that it's locked.

Welp, going quiet seems to be off the table. I raised my leg and forcefully kicked the door.

The door broke off its hinges before being pushed down onto the ground with cracks spreading across the floorboards.

A group of people were sitting at a table seemingly discussing something before their attention headed towards me from my loud entrance.

Not a fan of all these looks that I'm getting, so if you are so inclined to do something about this Narcissus, "It would very much be my pleasure to let them experience my unmatched beauty, Fool," the blonde Persona that was trailing behind me raised his hands as charm magic saturated the room.

In a short amount of time everyone targeted became under my control temporarily. And so I attempted to begin to issue commands similar to previous ones such as 'bind yourselves and wait for the police'. But I stopped once I noticed something.

One of them was no longer under the effects of charm.

A figure moved forward from the very center of the group, as they kicked the large table towards me.

The table flew relatively fast but it wasn't really that noteworthy. So I simply took a step to the side as the furniture missed me and damaged the doorway instead, temporarily blocking it.

"Narcissus."

The Persona followed my unsaid command as he motioned for a Marin Karin towards the uncharmed gang member.

This time, I felt it. He resisted the effect of the magic.

Strange. The skill worked just fine before, even if he recovered abnormally fast to the point where it seems as if he had the passive Insta-Heal.

Now it seems like his mental defenses are ramping up towards what I'm doing.

Does he have powers? It would explain the abnormality.

His appearance is that of a large shirtless man covered in tattoos and wearing a dragon mask. Judging by what he looks like, he seems to be a cape which almost certainly confirms he has powers.

He also seems to be growing ever so slightly larger and is gaining some inhuman features at the same time. I'm beginning to see scales and the like. That would be an obvious inclination towards the conclusion of him having powers.

In the middle of my observations the cape created fire in his hand and threw them at me. Once again I dodged the attack and let the flames ignite the table behind me.

Despite having the appearance of being a human plant, Narcissus is not weak to fire. But changing to a Persona that blocks the element wouldn't hurt.

As I dismissed Narcissus, Jack-o'-Lantern came into the forefront as I took his characteristics. The signature words of the Jack Bros was brought upon my lips as I took a hold of the burning table, only feeling like a warm piece of wood, "Hee Ho!" And threw the piece of furniture hard enough that it looked like a fireball.

My throw nailed him right in the face as he stumbled backwards, growling.

I rushed forward while channeling what I learned from Akihiko through observation and took one final step with my left foot leading as I twisted my body and legs in order to put as much force as I could in a straight right punch towards the man's face.

The hit landed while once again making him stumble back a few steps more. I took the chance to issue a command to the other ABB members I had under control, "Leave the building and wait to be arrested!"

Since the exit was no longer blocked by the obstruction because of me using it as a weapon, they began leaving the room, the dragon masked cape looked around in surprise at their actions and shouted at them, "Hey! Come back here and fight this bastard or else I'll kill you!"

His demands were met with silence and no acknowledgment.

He turned his head back to me as he became very visibly angry as he said, "You damn Master. I'll make you pay for this!"

The Dragon Mask threw a flaming punch as I blocked it with my forearms, only feeling a bit of pain from the physical hit and not the fire.

I kicked at his leg in an attempt to unbalance him, he took the hit without flinching. At my failure to make him move, he raised both his fists to strike me down to the ground. I jumped back as I felt the wind from the attack all the while it barely missed me.

As I landed a short distance away I observed him while pondering on my next move. He seems to be growing slightly bigger and ever so more dragon-like with each attack received and given. My kick didn't do anything in comparison to my earlier punch. Granted, I put a decent bit more force and took advantage of body mechanics to deliver the straight right. But based on my initial gauge of his durability, that kick still should have done something even if it only slightly moved him.

The most obvious answer? He's gaining more durability the longer the fight drags on.

Well that does seem vaguely familiar. Did I read about a cape with that kind of power?

I'm sure I'll properly remember when the time comes. What matters right now is subduing this parahuman. There is an issue, however. How much force should I use to knock him out if he's constantly becoming more durable? I do have a preference towards not killing someone if possible, after all.

Status ailments have a limited use against someone that can quickly recover from them, so I suppose I'll just have to beat him down until he stays down with increasingly strong attacks.

Evoker thrusted towards my head and trigger pulled with barely any time for the enemy combatant to react, "Orpheus!"

A mechanical man with a face that looked like my own appeared before me as he raised his harp immediately after being summoned and attempted to strike at the enemy.

The Dragon Mask's body language suggested confusion as he saw me use my evoker, which meant a slower reaction time. As evidenced by a loud crunch of ribs breaking as the large musical instrument sent him flying towards the wall. As he impacted, the surface crumpled against his body as he further tumbled out the second floor of the building.

The man landed on his feet once he was outside, changing further as he was seemingly almost a meter taller than his initial height now. Or a few feet if I'm going by the imperial system that America uses.

I emerged from the building as I jumped down towards where he was, only for him to fire a large stream of flames at me.

I made no attempt towards moving out of the way as I switched from Orpheus and let the inferno envelope me, and in turn the Dragon Mask lost sight of me.

"Cerberus!"

The three headed dog surfaced out of the attack with me on their back as the hellhound grabbed onto the draconic enemy with its mouth, making sure there's no escape as sharp teeth dug into his skin.

We jumped and sped through the area to somewhere less populated.

There were too many people, from criminals and the victims, for any large-scale fight. And I might need a few more powerful attacks to deal with this cape, something that would be more inconvenient to use if surrounded by people I wouldn't want to hurt.

Only a somewhat short distance away from the initial location, the Dragon Mask pried himself out of the jaws of Cerberus as he seemed to grow larger in size and strength allowing him to more easily free himself.

He dropped back onto the ground as we stopped upon a more abandoned area of the docks. The bruising, broken plates of scales, and teeth marks seemed to be already healing themselves as the man seemed ready to charge me with his hands raised up, allowing me to realize that he has further transformed as his hands have turned into claws.

Let's add those new observations into the ever growing list of abilities this guy has. Regeneration, augmented strength, ever increasing size and durability, and a transformation of some kind.

But all of that is secondary to his role in this mess. Based on the way the chairs and table were positioned within the room he was in earlier, it suggests that he was heading the meeting within. Adding on to that, he tried to command the other gang members to attack me. And lastly, he seems to be the only cape that's part of this human trafficking. The Dragon Mask is either the leader or a high up member of this operation.

Ah, the leader of ABB. I remember now. That's who this Dragon Mask is, he's Lung. Transforming dragon that escalates in power the longer he's in a fight.

Well it doesn't matter if he's Lung or someone else, since I told myself that if I ever encountered the person in charge I would have a conversation with them about their… business.

I dismissed Cerberus for now as I asked, "Why did you engage in human trafficking?"

Lung paused in his aggression before he growled at my question, "Is this what this is about? You're asking about something like that in the middle of a fight?!"

The half transformed man launched himself at me with his claws raised.

I stepped forward as I grabbed my sheath in one hand and the grip in another hand, and moved my hands opposite of each other. One pulled the sheath off and the other drew Lucifer's Blade in a quick motion that was faster than the standard way of unsheathing and allowed for easy deflection of the sharp blades that had come my way.

Deflection doesn't mean the momentum of his charge was canceled though. So the man barreled through with his body only, as I dodged with a small step to the side as I let his movement help push the blade through his own stomach. Blood splattered out of the wound and drenched the sword.

Lung ignored the injury as he turned back to me and threw out various different attacks, punches, slashing, stabbing, and fire. I ignored the element as I was still immune to it as I focused on dodging and parrying the other moves that could actually hurt.

I forewent any additional attacks as I decided that if a large slice that would have been likely fatal for normal people was completely disregarded, then it was pointless to try for minor cuts in between his onslaught. Especially when he's already mostly healed from that injury based on a casual observation.

Since no meaningful progress has been made on both sides, it seems like the perfect time to continue the conversation, "I just want to know your reasoning."

Lung didn't respond immediately, only continuing his assault. Muscles tensed more and his moves became even more ferocious.

There was a brief pause that I did not believe was an attempt to start a dialogue, but instead he was readying something.

A massive explosion of flames erupted in our area. I jumped back and the very edge of it still caught me. There was still a concussive force to the attack but its origin is categorized close enough to the element that I still ended up nulling it.

Didn't want to make it too obvious that I was immune to one of his major forms of attacks. So instead of completely fireproof, I would seem fire 'resistant'. And as good as my defenses are, it doesn't really do much for our environment considering the sheer amount of fire that's melting buildings and asphalt.

Lung huffed, "Still alive from that it seems."

"And I'm still waiting for my answer."

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" The draconic man growled, "They're a source of money and resources for me."

"Hm. No particular feelings regarding your actions?"

"Hah! If you're that interested, let me tell you this. The fear that I instill in others is its own reward. I couldn't care less about their situations."

I see. A man only caring for his own wants and disregarding others as he looks upon them with apathy. Reviling in his own power as he strongarms and scares others. Similar to Strega in a way, only interested in his own wants with no care for the rest of the world. The consequences of Lung's actions result in trauma and ever lasting consequences upon the victims. Potentially years of their life gone and he couldn't care less.

He's only a symptom of this whole scenario. One who takes advantage of the situation for his own gain at the cost of others. In this city alone there are Nazis, dog fighting rings, a gang of drug dealers, and an absurd amount of capes too. The question is, why is it that there's so much bad when apparently heroes are constantly fighting the good fight?

Do villains keep popping up with everyone getting arrested and taken down? If that's the case then we should be treating the disease and not the symptoms. Why do people resort to crime? It's when they feel like they have no choice, feel beaten down by their circumstances, or all kinds of reasons. But it's often the result of an imperfect society that causes strife.

Afterall, why did Nyx come upon my world to enact the fall of humanity? It's because people desired it, felt that there was nothing for them in life and as a result were partially complicit in the extinction of the human race. What had caused something like that? Mitsuru's grandfather and Ikutsuki were among the people who wanted to cause such a catastrophic event for reasons only known to them. This had rippled out and affected society and the people in various ways. The formation of Strega that originated from the cruel experiments done on orphan children, the murders that same group had done, and the Apathy Syndrome that had spread throughout the populace while causing distress and ironically furthering apathy when the misfortune of others became desensitizing. All of this was piled upon all the other societal woes that weren't caused by shadow related incidents. Through that perspective, of course there were humans that had craved death.

Despite this world being filled with superpowers, it feels like it has only made their problems more apparent as it amplifies the situation and their results. It's just another thing to pile upon the plates of everyone.

Perhaps this world needs to undergo their own sort of Journey.

I raised Lucifer's Blade at him, "Thanks for telling me," the grip I held on my sword tightened, "But you should know this: You chose your path, and one must take full responsibility for their actions."

Lung scoffed at me, "A cocky upstart like you is threatening me?" As he spoke he slightly moved his line of sight to my side, "Others have behaved with too much confidence like you. Want to know what happened to them?" He growled, "They died."

A sound of a blade cutting through air whistled out as I dodged the attack from behind at the last second. I retaliated with a cut to the arm of the assailant, only for him to disappear into white ash. I looked around and now saw my new attacker from where my blind spot was before.

Lung had reacted slightly earlier when looking at something else. So I assumed someone might have been attempting an ambush. And considering that a man in a black bodysuit and a Japanese oni mask tried to stab me in the back, it seems that I was correct.

This seems to be Oni Lee, the second parahuman of the ABB. From what I read, I believe his power was something akin to teleportation. Doesn't seem like what I would use through Trafuri though, considering that I don't see any sign of the injury I had just inflicted.

During my musing, the oni masked man disappeared from my field of view as I felt a presence behind me. I turned while deflecting another stab which had me using enough force to cause his short blade to fly out of his hand, a tanto based on my brief observation. The sound of a metallic ping brought my attention to another one of his weapons.

A grenade was dropped, its pin released.

So I kicked it upwards, sending the explosive high into the air. And with my leg up high, it allowed for an axe kick downward towards Oni Lee. It had landed onto the capes head and he once again turned into white ash.

Didn't expect to see another grenade user in my first cape fight. Let's hope he doesn't have any esoteric or nonstandard grenades like Jin did. It had made some of that Strega member's attacks unpredictable.

A violent strike shoved me down onto the ground as I rolled across the concrete, my side throbbing from the attack and earphones that unclipped themselves from the sudden movement. I was unstable with only one leg on the ground earlier and it seems Lung had taken advantage of that. I righted myself back up into position as I prepared for a two on one scenario.

The earlier grenade finally exploded high up in the air and at the same moment Lung shot out two pillars of almost blue looking fire at me, both curving in a way that suggested they were going to hit me from my left and right. Oni Lee appeared at my side once again with another grenade at hand, actually several more of him had just appeared to surround me on all sides with all wielding explosives and knives.

They're trying to trap me for a massive attack. Lung is assuming that instead of being immune to fire, I'm just a high durability Brute which I also technically am. So he's just stacking as much as he can with Oni Lee acting as multiple suicide bombers to take me down.

It also seems that the oni masked man isn't just a teleporter, he also clones himself while doing so. Something to take note of when I'm not in the middle of a massive attack.

But since they seem to be putting in a lot of effort to take me down, I believe that it would be appropriate to switch to a Persona that would counter all of that work.

As power flowed through me and my perspective ever so slightly shifted, I let all of the attacks connect.

Knives bounced off, grenades were completely ineffective as their shrapnel and explosions were seemingly ricocheting back, and finally the two flaming pillars coming at me had just gotten repelled back towards Lung. The clones turned to ash as the damage they would have done just got reflected back at them and the draconic man looked like he was trying to stop the flames coming towards him to no avail. His own attack only swallowed him and his surroundings up, before he re-emerged out with only minor injuries.

I had switched to the Arabian mother Goddess Alilat, a Persona that symbolizes the bond I have with Mitsuru as it's the ultimate Persona of the Empress Arcana.

Alilat repels all physical and innately learns a repel fire passive. In terms of resistances, it's one of the best Personas for it. But it seems I'm not the only one with resistances considering the ABB leader basically tanked the attack that was reflected back. It makes sense for one to be resistant to their own element.

I spotted Oni Lee farther out and on top of a building seeming like he was hesitating, or perhaps just waiting. In fact the same could be said for Lung as well. It's only been a few seconds since I repelled their attacks back but they're not immediately putting on any pressure with additional attacks. That's likely a sign that they're unsure of how to proceed if they'll just hurt themselves if they continue.

All the more for me to take advantage of the situation.

"Come to me!" The wall between reality and the Sea of Souls shattered as I used my evoker to summon–, "Jatayu!"

The red vulture materialized and cawed at our enemies as it casted Masakunda on them, two green orbs sunk into their bodies as it decreased the agility of the two. Although I specifically had Oni Lee in mind when using this since he seems to enjoy being able to run away before getting hurt.

The aforementioned man tried to teleport the effect off as he left a clone where he originally was as he reappeared a short distance away but unfortunately that's not how debuffs work. They're basically impossible to miss with, and they aren't exactly something that can be resisted like one could with status effects.

I let Jatayu return back into my mindscape as I immediately switch to another Persona, some semblance of an idea of how to take out Oni Lee before he buys enough time for Lung to ramp up to an annoying amount.

My next course of action decided, I ran to Lung as he shot out more bursts of flame. Attacks that had become all the easier to dodge with a Masakunda even affecting projectiles of the person who was debuffed. I rolled under one, shifted my body to the left for another, and jumped over the last one. I was still airborne as I was right above the man who's becoming more dragon than human as he threw a powerful stab with his claws towards me.

The flat of Lucifer's Blade blocked the strike but by the nature of physics I was sent flying high in the air from the force. If neither item nor body gives, then energy needs to be transferred somewhere. Any other more mundane swords would have been broken into pieces if I tried a similar stunt with them but there's a reason why I would often default to this weapon.

Wind rushed past me as Lung became smaller and smaller in the distance as I went higher, until a few seconds later I had finally stopped ascending and instead started descending. Being this high up provided a perfect vantage point for everything.

It's unlikely for Oni Lee to have a long range teleportation considering that everytime he retreats or moves, he's still somewhat close by. His cloning allows for him to escape injuries as they're indistinguishable from his original body and he has them take his place seamlessly. So if my assumptions are correct and if I have a view of the entire battlefield, there's no way he can escape my attacks.

As I was falling I drew and used my Evoker, "Persona."

"Hee Ho!"

Ice filled the field as it hit everyone at the same time. There wasn't a chance for Oni Lee to teleport away, especially with a Sukunda affecting him. And even if he did manage it, a Mabufu targets every enemy in sight, so just using it again would likely get him since it would hit all of his clones and the original body concurrently.

The Oni and the Dragon of the ABB both got blasted with ice magic but it seems that there were varying results from that. The former has practically no durability so the attack easily knocked him around until he laid on the ground unconscious while getting rid of his clone. The latter only took a step back as ice broke apart on his scales and then instantly turned into water vapor from his heat.

One down, one oversized lizard to go.

Now the next part of the plan. A flying Persona that's physically strong.

Persona switched once again, "Pazuzu," a muscly humanoid with the head of a lion and wings of a bird appeared behind me, "Throw me."

"Hmph."

The Mesopotanium Demon King obliged my request by grabbing me and twirling me in a circle to generate more momentum before letting go, sending me flying at high speeds downwards. Lung was in my sights and he was looking like he was possibly three times my size now, with an elongated neck that made him look like a dragon even more and a pair of long legs to go with it. A perfect target to aim for.

I let my sword go back into my internal storage as I switched to a different weapon. One that Shinjiro only briefly used before it was left alone to gather dust. Mjolnir.

The large double sided hammer was summoned as I grasped it with both hands. My target is nearly in my range now as I readied for a swing.

I practically flew past the draconic legs as I felt and heard the visceral crunch and squelch coming from Lung as he toppled onto the ground.

As for me, I finally made it to the ground as I did a numerous amount of rolls to bleed off all the momentum from being thrown. When I felt myself slow down enough I forcibly stopped my propulsion and stood back up as I stared at the down figure. His lower limbs bending in the complete opposite way they're supposed to in various spots.

Broke his legs. Nice.

He's affected by the Shock status condition too. In addition to Mjolnir giving extra strength, it also has a high chance of paralyzing the enemy when hit.

With the hammer having done its job, I let it go back into my internal storage as I take Lucifer's Blade out in exchange. Instead of just strength, the sword boosts every single one of my stats in addition to increasing the output of my magical attacks. Considering what I'm planning, the extra punch that it would give would be appreciated.

Lung won't stay down for long, but I figure there's a few ways to actually win the fight other than going for complete obliteration of his whole body.

So, my very first idea–

"Cerberus, Virus Breath."

–is to completely overwhelm his healing factor.

The three headed dog materialized in front of me as it sent a wave of almighty energy. It covered Lung with it battering his body as I noticed that I also successfully poisoned him with the attack. He growled as he tried to move but couldn't because of the completely deformed legs that he was still attempting to heal and the Shock status effect still making it difficult for him to move.

His legs are non functional, paralyzed, poisoned, and now he's about to be frozen. I inserted the magazine into the evoker. The theurgy function activated, "King and I."

"I am thou/thou art I!" Two voices spoke in unison as a large snowman with a crown and a much smaller black colored snowman were summoned, "King Frost is here to lend his kingly aid, hee!/Black Frost to the rescue for those in need, ho!"

And just like they always do, the gigantic form of King Frost knocked me to the ground during the theurgy. Black Frost rallied the king towards working together as they raised their arm and staff respectively, summoning a multitude of ginormous snowmen reminiscent of Jack Frost and in turn themselves too.

The snow and ice forcefully dropped with speeds impossible to react to as it enveloped the whole area in snow, extinguishing the majority of the fires that came from attacks I dodged, as well as completely engulfing Lung and in turn freezing him solid.

The temperature plummeted as my breath turned misty through condensation, and the majority of my theurgy cleared up as I saw a completely frozen dragon that laid on the floor. But by the very nature of how the status condition works, it won't knock him out of the fight with just this but his regeneration won't be working in such a state.

I stood up as I shook off the excess snow that fell on me. I nodded my head towards the two snowmen as they waved goodbye, returning back into my mindscape.

I stared at the dragon ice sculpture as I raised the evoker, "Orpheus," the trigger was pulled as one of the very core of my being was summoned forth, a command sat upon my lips, "God's Hand."

The Persona raised his harp, a giant golden fist formed above as it emerged from clouds that suddenly emerged, I readied my sword. Energy enveloped the instrument as he slammed downward, the golden fist fell from the heavens, and Lucifer's Blade sliced through as all three attacks collided upon the still dragon.

A triple impact. From the harp, to God's Hand, to the blade.

Ice broke as we made contact. Bones broke, scales destroyed, and flesh parted. The dragon was crushed into the ground as debris exploded everywhere.

Energy surged through me as I felt it. A critical hit. One More.

He isn't quite unconscious but he seems close. Just one more push.

Switch, "Bishamonten, Vile Assault."

A red skinned man in golden armor appeared as he took the place of Orpheus, holding a miniature pagoda in one hand and a blunted short spear in the other. One of the Four Heavenly Kings and guardian of the North raised his spear and swung it down. An arrow-like energy attack shot out as a light purplish hue traced its path, Lung couldn't even react when it slammed into him and caused his whole body to jerk back for a moment before slumping onto the ground face down.

I waited for a moment but I was already sure. Lung is knocked out.

I was a bit worried that I was going overkill for a second there. Bishamonten is on the stronger side compared to all the other Persona's I've been using in the fight excluding Alilat since I only used her passives. There was Pierce Boost and Amp powering that attack up, including the fact that Vile Assault has an extra multiplier on top of everything if the enemy is downed.

Well the moderately sized dragon survived, so I clearly didn't go that much overboard.

And speaking of dragons, it also seems that his powers turn off when unconscious since he's clearly transforming back into a human.

Plan A worked out. What a pleasant surprise. I was a bit more unsure of how to go about Plan B too so that's a relief.

Escalating durability shouldn't affect the need for air so drowning him was my next idea. I am near the ocean after all. However it would have been difficult to keep a dragon underwater by virtue of him fighting back and super strength. That and the fact that I would need to breathe too.

Bishamonten nodded at me and then turned to walk away as he dissipated back into my mind.

That left me all to myself. With property damage everywhere and two villain capes down, I'm not entirely sure what to do now. Should I wait for someone?

Well, with all the commotion someone would have called it in.

I resheathed my sword back into position as I had a pressing question for myself.

Should I take a nap?

Chapter Text

A man sat at a desk looking through a computer screen, wearing a black skin tight bodysuit with a white snake pictured coiling around his body.

He suddenly jerked his head upward. A sudden, painful migraine had him hissing while he gripped his head.

A fist slammed onto the rather expensive desk, “Dammit!” The action caused him to flinch as the pain flared up. The man took a breath as he nursed his head, “This can’t be happening…”

Another timeline had just ended with no warning. Completely collapsed with no initial possible reason, or input from him. Automatically choosing a timeline for him to stay in with no active choice. That doesn’t just happen, no, his power has never failed so catastrophically and consistently before.

The issues that would arise from continuous failures of his power to actually work properly range from being a minor inconvenience to a massive detriment to his organization. Or rather, have already occurred, considering this has been ongoing for weeks.

Such problems come from the nature of how this costumed man’s power worked. From his perspective, he split the timelines in two and was able to perform two completely different actions at the same time. This allows for a second try for certain situations or to allow him to gain information without risk, and when he’s done he can choose one of the timelines to stay in as he closes the other one.

It significantly reduced risks and essentially allowed him to be in two places at once. It can even be used to indulge in certain actions that would be an inconvenience if he couldn’t throw that timeline away. Such benefits will no longer be on the table if his ability to split timelines becomes unreliable.

This cannot continue.

What is the cause? Is he being targeted by some unknown parahuman? Some sort of grudge by someone?

Unlikely, the majority of capes he has made contact with are carefully vetted by him and his connections. The exceptions being those that should have no reason for doing this to him in the first place, setting aside the question of them having the actual ability to disrupt his timelines, he had fulfilled his debts and has not made an enemy of that specific organization.

There shouldn’t be any power from those that established contact with him that should be able to do anything close to what’s currently happening to his own power. That is if they even know who to actually target. He doesn’t make a habit of revealing who he is to others more than it’s necessary.

It’s more likely another reason for why his power has been failing.

A new trigger.

A new player that has come onto the board. Someone with some sort of parahuman ability that he’s unaware of, something that could disrupt his power.

An unknown. And he has to get rid of them, all the while dealing with faulty timelines in the process.

The urge to relieve some stress by using a throwaway timeline was strong, but he stopped himself. The risk wasn’t worth the luxury of enjoying some torture, murder or just the scared and bewildered reactions to random acts of cruelty that are inflicted.

Hopefully such luxuries can be relished soon with the disappearance of the nuisance that’s causing such disruptions. And he has an idea for the potential suspect.

He began to continue looking for new sightings of a certain individual as he browsed through the web. Very deliberately not attempting to split into a new timeline.

The man’s attention was grabbed by a new post on PHO, a picture of a male wearing a ridiculous Sentai Elite inspired mask and holding a bloodied sword with flames in the background. The poster included extra details that suggested that the situation was ongoing and had only recently started.

Considering the timing, between the failed power usage and now this? All the more evidence towards his suspicion of who the culprit is, as coincidences and incidents pile up the more sure he became.

The failures tend to correspond with certain trends, and based on his research, there’s one glaring common point between his failed timelines. And it all started in the middle of March, not even a full month ago, the very second it turned midnight.

Whenever one of his timelines failed, it was just before encountering certain information. How does he know this? Because he investigated right after without using his power at all. And the results were infuriating to no end. Any picture, written report, an encounter that influenced the result of something that he observed, or just some sort of word of mouth about the subject would immediately end the timeline.

This man, or possibly even teenager, within this picture was acting as if some sort of memetic hazard for his power.

One after another, his power kept failing as it caused him to lose progress within the political-like climate of the protectorate. He couldn’t do what was needed to secure the groundwork needed to take over as director and discredit Piggot at the same time, so some annoying compromises had to be made. Additionally, a few of his moles within the gangs had even gone caught through both his power failing and this new threat capturing them incidentally.

Does this Fool think he can get away with this? Messing with his business, messing with his plans?

The supervillain named Coil will most assuredly get rid of anyone who gets in his way of his grand vision.

Make an enemy of him, and he will make it so that they will regret it.

[Minato Arisato, The Next Day]

The school hallways were bustling as the lunch bell rang and let us roam. The feeling of walking among a large group of people and pushing past them for my locker had a sense of nostalgia that was still hard to shake despite being here for weeks already.

Time may have been difficult to interpret within the Seal, but it still felt like a long time to me. So this sense of normality is comforting. It also serves as a break from the shackles of compulsory education. That wasn’t something that I particularly missed, although it seems that American schooling is more lax in comparison to the Japanese counterpart.

As I walked, the halls thinned bit by bit as I moved further away from where the cafeteria is.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Can I talk to you?”

I turned to see Amy with her standard grumpy expression. Although there seemed to be more to her current mood considering the slight narrowing of her eyes and what looked to be her biting the inside of her cheek.

I had wondered when she was going to approach, she was following for a while now. Wasn’t exactly being subtle. Perhaps she just didn’t care if I noticed?

“Of course.”

“Okay, can you follow me somewhere with fewer people?”

As I nodded and began following the curly haired girl, I pondered on the possible reasons for a private conversation.

A few popped in my head, perhaps an elaboration of my abilities, my plans for healing in the future, or maybe wanting to know what had happened last night? All probable motives.

“Hey Amy! Whatcha doing with Minato there, hmm?”

Victoria floated into view as she propped up an arm on Amy’s shoulder. I suppose if everyone knows she has super powers and has the ability to fly, hovering everywhere she goes is perfectly reasonable and natural for her to do. It still feels strange to see how normalized it is for Victoria to be flying around in school, even knowing the context of it.

It does make me wonder about my own ability to fly though.

Before my thought process goes further down that line of pondering over my own barely explored flight, Amy gave a response to her sister, “Vicky… I thought you were going to eat lunch with Dean.”

“You know, when my dear sister gave such a poor excuse to leave I couldn’t help but get a bit curious over why you’re being so sneaky. Saying that you’re going to ask a teacher a question with that kind of shifty look, it didn’t really look natural you know?”

While Amy just grumbled under her breath, I wondered if she didn’t want her sister to find out about this conversation. Is it because of the insinuation of being romantically interested in me or because she doesn’t want Victoria to know the contents of what’s going to be discussed?

It’s probably both.

“Victoria, do you want to join us?”

The flying sister faked gasp, “Minato, are you asking me to join in a private moment between you and my sister? Maybe even a… threeway?” She shook her head, “I’m not sure if I can intrude–”

“No.”

“Aw, you didn’t have to shut me down so fast.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Did you want me to play along?”

“Well~, seeing you all flustered would have been entertaining.”

I shrugged my shoulders and decided to turn up some of that charm I cultivated over my final year at Gekkoukan. I slightly shifted the way I walked, with me straightening out my back as I began to move with a more precise and purposeful stride, and in that same moment I brushed aside my hair in a more presentable manner so that one of my eyes wasn’t completely covered up.

Instead of my regular lazy and flat way of speaking, what came out was much smoother and actually had me expressing some modicum of emotion in a nuanced way but not too different from how I normally sound to be offputting, “I prefer to reciprocate when I know that a caring girl like you doesn’t already have someone. You and Dean make an excellent pairing with how well he matches you considering how often he watches out for others and empathizes with them,” I turned my head to stare directly at her, “You’re overflowing with passion, so you should share that with Dean.”

That took the girl off guard as she shifted around, “Ah, I-I see. That’s kind of nice to hear,” she tilted her head, “Didn’t expect to hear something like that from you.”

“Well if you want to fluster me, then you should expect some push back. Genuine praise seemed to be the way to go.”

Victoria barked out a laugh, “Hah, you got me. In a completely opposite way from what I said too.”

Subtle shifts in appearance, perspectives, and confidence can go a long way in seeming charming to the average person. And in doing so, it makes it easier to convey certain ideas and nuances. It can come from consistent practice in speaking with others like with my Social Links, but drinking Chagall coffee certainly made me feel more charming while I was sipping it.

Of course I can purposely turn the charm up but I like to think I still have some of it by default, simply by my sheer confidence in my ability to not care about what some people think and sleep in class anyway. Actually, I think that just mainly increases my courage, but I like to think that it helps my charm as well if only so I have more incentive to sleep more.

I slouched back down as I returned back to my typical flat tone of voice. I turned to the other sister to focus on the previous point of discussion before it got derailed, “So Amy, are you fine with Victoria joining us in this conversation?”

“...Well, including other people not involved with the main topic would just make it more complicated.”

Said ‘other person’ just pouted at being excluded in such a roundabout way.

I didn’t feel like being vague and dancing around the subject so I said, “Is the main subject about me and what happened last night?”

Amy’s eyes darted between her sister and me, “Yeah… So we can’t really–.”

“If you’re only worried about sharing my private information, don’t be. It’s a pain to talk around it.”

The freckled brunette gave a withering look, “You’re pretty lax about something so important, to the point that it stresses me out. And your reasons for being like that are just making it worse.”

“Do you trust Victoria?”

Amy looked surprised before her face shifted to a slight glare, “Of course I do.”

“Then it’s fine.”

“Well~,” Victoria cut in, “It seems you guys got pretty close in a really short amount of time. Close enough to share intimate secrets that you don’t want family members knowing about?” The blonde girl had an amused smile as she poked fun at us in a teasing manner.

Amy just sighed at her sister’s antics and said, “Come on, let’s go somewhere with less people,” the girl began moving and the two of us followed her lead.

She brought us to an empty classroom, no students inside hanging out or eating lunch.

“I heard that this class is on a field trip right now, so it’s pretty unlikely for someone to barge in,” she said, answering the unspoken question of whether the room has the privacy needed for this conversation.

“Good enough for me.”

The three of us entered the room, the interior was just like that of other classrooms with its own specific quirks, just like how it seems that this teacher likes to have four of their desks put together to form a large table and that they tend to close the blinds.

As the door was closed and I flicked the lights on, two of us stood and the third person floated in a silence that began to stretch out as no one started the conversation.

I yawned and just took a seat on a nearby chair and rested my head on my arms while I slouched down onto the desk.

Amy sighed, “Seriously?”

I only gave a shrug, which was difficult to interpret as one considering my current position.

“Soooo~, are you guys going to say anything? Or am I going to have to pretend I know what’s going on?”

I looked at Amy and saw she had a hesitant look on her face before she glanced back at me.

I raised an eyebrow but I understood the reason for her hesitation.

My head shifted on my arms so that I was looking at Victoria instead, “I’m the Fool.”

The floating girl’s face shifted to surprise as she remained silent for a few seconds. Then her face changed once again.

“Snrk,” Victoria stifled a laugh as she said, “Sure, you totally seem like the super hero type. I’m sure you have the motivation to do anything other than just nap the day away after school. Now what were you guys really going to talk about? If you don’t actually want me to know, just tell me. I can go if you guys need privacy,” the floating blonde ended with a smirk.

Amy groaned and face palmed, “Minato… Being blunt like that does not work all the time.”

“But it’s easy.”

She sighed. And I felt some vague amusement from her reactions.

Her sister’s smile faltered, her face turning more uncertain, “Wait, were you actually being serious? I just kinda assumed that it was a joke at first,” her voice began to pick up more energy, “And if Amy is backing you up then it’s definitely true!”

“Yep.”

Victoria’s smile came back even bigger than before, “Come on! Show me what you can do!”

I stood up from the chair and let my evoker manifest from blue flames in my hand. A gasp was made, and when I pointed the gun shaped device at my head Victoria unleashed her emotion based aura at the same time her hand jerked upward as if to stop me.

I raised my free hand up towards her, “It’s fine.”

“Ah, yeah, I mean…” Her previous happy-go-lucky attitude was replaced with a more unsure and anxious bearing, “I heard about the whole thing with the gun, but seeing it is pretty different from just hearing about it. And kinda reacted without thinking about it first. Sorry about that.”

Her hand lowered and aura was turned back off.

I nodded my head, there wasn’t any real reason for her to be sorry as the reaction is understandable. Her aura didn’t even affect me at all because of my status effect nulling accessory I still have. So no harm, no problem.

I raised the evoker back to my head and felt the cool metal upon my skin. My finger rested upon the trigger, “Orpheus,” and pressed down.

My head jerked back as the sound of glass breaking indicated that the walls between my mind and reality broke down to allow me to summon my initial Persona. A mechanical body with a human head appeared beside me.

Victoria’s smooth float turned into a jolty one as she yelled, “Holy shit!”

“Vicky!” Amy said in a half shout, half whisper, “Quiet down, we don’t want anyone to walk in when Minato has his projection out.”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that,” she said in a much more reasonable volume, “I was just surprised by how much it seemed to mimic a real gun with the recoil, the noise, and how something actually seemed to shoot out of your head. That’s not even including the ‘Persona’ thingy that popped out of nowhere.”

The brunette sister sighed, “Yeah, I had pretty similar thoughts the first time I saw it,” she took a good look at Orpheus, “Hm, I haven’t seen this one before. His face kinda looks like yours.”

“That is my face.”

Victoria’s face scrunched up, “Huh. Weird choice, risky too.”

“Not my choice.”

“Really? You don’t get to control any of…” She waved her hands towards my Persona, “This? The design just came like that?”

I only shrugged, “Kind of, he’s my first Persona and one of the most like me. So the design was at least partially influenced by my subconscious.”

“I guess it kind of fits you. There’s that instrument on its back. That because you like music?”

“Yes.”

Orpheus strummed a short calming melody that was a variation of the song that always played within the Velvet Room.

“Ooh,” Victoria nodded her head, “That’s a nice song. Really should have been obvious too. Didn’t really need to ask,” she hummed in thought, “So you just pick a random name too? It kind of sounds familiar.”

“No, another influence that Persona takes on comes from stories and mythology.”

“Huh, that really is a weird power.”

Amy cut in, “Okay the reason I brought Minato here isn’t to have a Q&A for Vicky, it’s his power and he doesn’t have to share the details about it. There were some things that I needed to bring up.”

“Oh come on Ames, this stuff sounds pretty interesting and he seems completely fine with telling us. And isn’t there something you wanted to ask too,” her flying sister said.

The healer faltered for a moment before saying, “Yeah, I was wondering about Orpheus’ mythology connecting to Minato but we don’t have infinite time. I would prefer to get what I wanted to talk about out of the way.”

I nodded, “Go ahead.”

“It’s about the whole thing yesterday with Lung.”

“Yeah?”

She grabbed my shoulders, “What the heck was that?! Weren’t you a healer? How did you even beat someone like Lung!”

“Woah there Ames, calm down. Weren’t you just telling me not to make too much noise?”

Amy clenched her eyes shut and breathed for a moment before reopening them. She let go of my shoulders and gave back some of my personal space, “Right, it’s just that there’s a lot going on and considering how you constantly heal everyone before I can, it made me think that you were a healer, so hearing about what happened last night made me kind of react strongly.”

Right. I don’t believe that.

Or at least not fully.

“I don’t just heal, each Persona has a specific skillset and I switch whenever the situation calls for it. ”

“Seriously?” Victoria said, “That’s basically Eidolon’s power! You’re a trump!”

Eidolon… I’ve heard that name before. I guess he’s a popular hero. And a trump is the classification for manipulating powers right? How is switching Persona’s considered being a trump though?

“Vicky, assuming that his power is just like Eidolon with only a vague description is getting ahead of yourself.”

Can’t personally say either way since I don’t know the guy’s powerset. But if you want more details, “Well, I have various elemental and physical attacks, buffs, debuffs, status effects, the occasional miscellaneous ability, and the healing that you guys are already familiar with.”

I suppose it’s time for a demonstration. I have Orpheus create a ball of flame from an Agi as one hand lets go of the harp. And as I allow the fire to go out, I channel Bash into the harp as the instrument begins to glow. As that skill started to fade too, Orpheus strummed his harp as the red energy of a Matarukaja flared around and flowed into the three of us.

With that, I finally dismissed Orpheus as he returned back to the Sea of Souls.

They both stared for a second before noticing the change in their strength, “Woah! I feel strong as hell!”

“What the fuck…?” Amy grasped her sister’s hand, “There’s no physical change in the body itself but there’s some sort of… something… seeping into the muscles that I can’t understand. It’s affecting the muscles but in a way that doesn’t seem like it changes anything except for the end result… somehow. No visible increase in muscle mass. Is it caloric energy? Some sort of combination of protein and vitamins used to fuel the effect?”

I coughed, “It’s temporary, but it lasts for a few minutes. It gives an increase in damage for all attacks, including those that don’t rely on muscles.” Like magic.

“How does that even work?”

I shrugged.

As Amy ignored my response, she went back to her own observations. The healer let go of Victoria as she headed for the large heavy desk the teacher used, books were placed on top of it along with various knick knacks, and lifted. She almost seemed surprised she managed to do so when both arms raised it up with only some effort.

“Holy shit, I’m a brute now.”

She placed it back down before looking down in thought.

When no one began talking, I was beginning to think I needed to initiate before Victoria asked, “What was that about miscellaneous abilities?”

I took a moment to think, “There’s long distance sensing and an improved sense of smell for tracking.” From Juno and Cerberus respectively.

There was silence for a brief moment before Amy asked a question herself, “And all of your powers are strong? In the same line as your healing? Or even just the extra strength that you gave us?”

…What’s with their reactions? Are my powers that out of the norm on this version of earth?

“I used a few to decent effect in my fight with Lung. I personally wouldn’t call any individual aspect of my abilities to be weak. So yes, many of them I believe to be in the same league as my healing.”

Victoria whistled in appreciation at the confirmation, “Hoh man, it sure is starting to sound like Minato here might be joining the big leagues pretty soon. That sounds like a power on the tier of the Triumvirate,” noticing the slight tilt of my head she continued, “And I’m not even sure you get what I’m trying to say, but if you’re not exaggerating what your power can do then that’s unbelievable. People who have a bunch of different powers normally have them be super weak. Eidolon is pretty much the exception where he can use all kinds of powers that are strong. And he’s one of the strongest heroes ever along with the other Triumvirate.”

Oh, well it’s nice to be compared to strong people I suppose. In a way, it shows some of the fruits of the journey I had gone through. A tangible result of something that I otherwise have little physical proof of. It serves as a reminder that no one can refute the existence of.

“You know, one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you was because of the possible consequences of what happened with Lung and Oni Lee,” Amy took a breath, “After hearing about what you can do, I feel like I traded one concern with another.”

Consequences? I admit, I wasn’t exactly thinking what may happen when getting rid of them. It seemed more important to deal with the gang’s human trafficking and those that profit from it. I know that I’m not exactly a long term planner, so there are likely some things that I would have missed.

I nodded, “Go ahead.”

Knowledge from someone more experienced in the field and having a differing perspective would be beneficial. Especially when I’m personally so new to having to deal with superhero aspects compared to just fighting shadows and building bonds through Social Links.

“Getting rid of the capes within the ABB is definitely a positive but I wanted to let you know what could happen because of it. I think this is going to create a power vacuum that’s going to cause chaos. There’s nothing stopping any other gang or random villain from taking over the ABB’s territory by force, it could cause a war fighting over ground.”

I see. That wasn’t something I considered. If I had accounted for this kind of possibility beforehand, it would be unlikely for me to have not done something to stop the human trafficking but I could have planned and proactively done something to reduce the chance of a gang war happening.

Amy continued, “I was worried about whether you could fend off being targeted by other villains because of what you did, but it seems like you’re stronger then I would have thought even knowing you beat Lung. In a way, that might make you an even bigger target if it gets out how varied and powerful your powers are.”

Huh, kind of thought it would be the opposite, “Wouldn’t beating whoever tries anything in an overwhelming fashion work as a deterrent?”

She thought for a second, “That might work for some small fry but you’re likely going to be a target for recruitment by gangs or the PRT, otherwise some villains might just want to kill because of how strong you are. The exception might be if you’re on the same level as the Triumvirate and can prove it to everyone, in which case more capes would be cautious in approaching you with bad intentions.”

Well that’s a hassle. So basically the idea has merit but only to a small effect, except if I become known to be one of the strongest superheroes then that’s when people will actually start leaving me alone.

“You know,” Victoria said, “I think you guys are overthinking this a little. It’s only been a day, there’s a chance all this stuff might not even happen. And you could even beat up some other villains and get them arrested before anything like this gets started. You got both Lung and Oni Lee in one fight so I think it’s possible to stop something like that.”

Huh, a simple solution that’s not really wrong. Of course the issue is finding and defeating them in a short time frame to prevent a possible gang war.

“Vicky,” Amy sighed, “It’s not really that easy you know?”

I said, “No, it’s a decent idea. Complex solutions are all well and good but they often take time to create and execute. Speed seems preferable to deal with possible imminent gang wars even if the result isn’t perfect.”

The healer made a face before asking, “Don’t you need help?”

I paused at the question as I pondered an answer. I’m used to working with a team but that’s with other Persona users that I know the capability for and with people I’m used to working with. Other heroes would have abilities I’m unfamiliar with and vice versa. It would also mean getting to any level of teamwork to the same degree I’m previously used to would take time.

So not with more people fighting with me. But helping me in another way would be ideal, “Some support with scouting and capturing other villains would be appreciated.”

Victoria said, “Oh! I can help convince New Wave to help out.”

I nodded my thanks before pondering my own few contacts. I had actually spoken and obtained the contact info of two PRT Heroes when I was trying to fall asleep after the fight with Lung.

I’m a bit unsure of their willingness to work with me seeing as I’m unaffiliated with them. That and I had not made the best first impression since I attempted to ignore their attempts at recruitment in favor of my nap.

As I sensed a natural end to our conversations, I decided that I should likely bring up what I had sensed from Amy a little while ago.

“Amy, Victoria. Can I bring out a Persona to scan you guys and confirm something about Parahuman powers?”

“Huh? Well, I mean…” Amy trailed off a bit hesitantly.

“If you’re uncomfortable with it, then it’s completely fine for you to refuse. I could ask someone else if need be.”

Victoria chimed in, “I’m okay with you doing that with me. You’re a good guy so I’m confident that you’re not gonna really do anything bad.”

“Well,” Amy paused in thought, “I want more information before agreeing to anything. Tell me what you’re looking for first. What made you want to ‘scan’ someone?”

I nodded, “When I briefly used Juno, I had sensed a second intelligence behind your powers. I was worried about the possible implications of what that could mean.”

“Wait, seriously? Like Passenger theory? You actually found something pointing to that when there’s basically no evidence for that?” She asked in disbelief.

Passengers? “I suppose what I sensed could be called passengers. But to me they felt more like… Shards. Shards that had fragmented from something larger.”

Victoria scrunched up her face as she thought about my statement, “Huh, that sounds crazy. But I want to see what else you find out. Might be true, might not be. It’ll still be interesting to hear about.”

“I guess it would be,” Amy agreed, “I don’t really think you actually sensed a passenger but if you’re just looking for that? Then you have my permission to scan me.”

As I received permission, I had Juno come to the forefront of my mind once again and summoned her, “Juno.”

I felt her body envelop me and allow me access to the incredible scanning capabilities Fuuka had used, with that I looked deeper into the connections the two girls had to their powers.

As I took my time to sense the situation, I became increasingly concerned with the source of parahuman powers. Victoria’s ‘shard’ as I’m beginning to call them, seems to be a newer and lesser shard in comparison to Amy’s. Lesser only in comparison because their actual power in whole dwarfs what is shown with the two sister’s abilities.

In terms of influence shards have on people though, that’s harder for me to say. It’s difficult to separate if the shard is affecting their minds in any way or it’s just helping them control their power.

Although, from what I can tell Amy’s shard is definitely doing more than what Victoria’s shard is doing. To the point where it feels like it’s pushing her to do something…

I dismissed Juno, “Thank you for your cooperation. If you’ll accept it, I have something to give to you two.”

I reached for the necklace I had hidden under my clothes and took it off. I held out the Amritite Necklace to them, an accessory that nulls all ailments which include things such as charm. An ailment that controlled the actions of another.

Hopefully this can do something to help.

[Lisa Wilbourn (Tattletale), Days later]

Lisa Wilbourn, known as the villain called Tattletale, was someone who liked to consider herself the smarter person in the room. With her power, it basically made that to be the case if you subscribed to the belief of knowledge equaling intelligence. She was part of a supervillain team called the Undersiders that was controlled by Coil, which was unknown to most of them. And her team certainly felt Tattletale’s desire to be the smartest one there.

Her power allowed to find out all kinds of information about her surroundings and even people. It essentially acts as a hyper intuition that allows her to extrapolate details from the smallest of data. She could know what year something was built in, or the specific worries a person had at that specific moment.

Of course, Tattletale’s not always right. But she’s correct often enough that it doesn’t matter that much.

When her power does reach wrong conclusions, she can usually follow the reasoning for why it had gone to the line of thought. But this? It directly contradicts what she had just seen a second ago.

The Fool is not a Parahuman.

Yes he is! Tattletale had just seen the Fool’s projection smash that guy into the ground!

When she refocused her mind on other aspects of him, it was clear that her power still seemed to function on him.

The Fool is a male teenager in high school.

His English is accented in a way unique to native Japanese speakers.

His abilities are augmented to different degrees depending on the projection fighting.

He is not a Parahuman.

There it is again! Useful information on how his power works before an immediate contradiction that he’s not a parahuman.

Coil had sent her and the Undersiders to try to gather more information on the Fool. Whether it be from simple conversation or just provoking him into a fight. With a guarantee that if they did get arrested that he would get them out.

She was actually planning on seeking him out on more controlled terms. Terms that she could actually control and factor for. Not what was happening right now. She and the Undersiders had coincidentally come across the Fool when he was taking out Hookwolf. They were only watching for a few moments before the cape had called them out.

He has a sixth sense.

Yes power, that was kind of obvious.

The Fool tilted his head at Tattletale.

He has noticed you using your power on him.

“Hm, you’re collecting information on me.”

Decided to try a new–

Blank. That’s all that her power gave. Her power got cut off mid-thought.

She concentrated more and stared at him.

Nothing. Her power is giving her nothing. Panic began to set.

She looked anywhere else.

Grue, leader of Undersiders. Is becoming increasingly worried about the current situation. Wondering why Tattletale has barely talked.

Her began to subside slightly at the confirmation that her power hasn’t suddenly short circuited.

Okay her power is still working, but for some reason is no longer working on him.

Lisa is beginning to think that this whole situation is out of her depth.