Chapter Text
Haru Okumura
June 4th, 2014
“When it comes to animal classifications, there tends to be several specific levels, starting from domain and going all the way down to species. You might have heard that humans are closely related to apes,” Haru’s biology teacher rattled off. “Can anyone tell me what the three domains are? Let’s start with Niijima-san.”
“Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya,” Makoto answered in an almost robotic fashion. It was always the fashion of these lessons, always calling on the smarter kids first for the sake of trying to get the class on track before actively picking a student who wasn’t paying attention to make an example of them. Haru had been called plenty of times on both ends. The pros and cons of time traveling.
“That’s correct,” the teacher said with a smile. “Now, while things might be pretty simple early on, once we get down to lower classifications, people might have issues with properly identifying them. A blue whale has more in common with a bat than it does with a fish. Why is that? How about…Okumura-san.”
“Because they are both mammals,” Haru answered, recalling her study session with Makoto.
“Exactly. Now let’s ask a pretty popular question: are Orcas dolphins or whales? Akechi-kun?” The teacher called to Akechi, drawing all eyes to him.
“Dolphins,” Akechi answered with the same robotic certainty as Makoto.
“Actually they’re whales,” Makoto muttered, gaining Akechi’s attention.
“Huh? They’re dolphins,” Akechi repeated.
The other students started to mutter as Akechi and Makoto went at it. “Oh shoot.”
“The two smart kids are disagreeing…”
“I think whenever Niijima-san or Akechi-kun disagree on something we should ditch the question completely. It’s impossible to answer.”
“Well actually-” The teacher tried to continue his lesson.
“Orcas are called killer whales for a reason you know,” Makoto interrupted. “That is because they are a part of odontoceti group, the same one as Beluga whales and porpoises,”
“But Orcas are still a part of the dolphin family, which is a more specific classification than a group,” Akechi countered.
Shaking her head, Makoto stated, “But it still counts that they share a group, dictating they are whales.”
“By that logic then there is no difference between us and a monkey,” Akechi argued, leaving a pause where Haru had no doubts he ached to make a snarky comment. Haru sank her head down. When they entered Kuroda’s palace, Orcas were swimming around with all the whales, but she was surprised how much Makoto trusted the Palace’s information.
Finally putting a stop to the argument, the teacher interjected, “Well, you’re both right. Think of it like this: all dolphins are whales, but not all whales are dolphins, so an Orca being a dolphin means they are also a whale.”
“Right…” Makoto muttered, avoiding eye contact with the teacher.
“My apologies…” Akechi sank his head lower.
“Aw, look how polite he is even if he is correct.”
“Man I thought they were going to start a fistfight,” the students continued to mutter, not allowing Haru any time for her thoughts to drift away.
“It was rude of her to interrupt.”
“Goodie two-shoes.”
Haru grumbled to herself. She didn’t want to listen to the students badmouth her friend. What she should be focusing on was Wakaba Isshiki, her next target. Furthermore, once she reached Wakaba, then she would have access to Futaba. She should be a bit more active than Haru was used to due to her mother still being alive. Perhaps she would be able to go to school since she wouldn’t have been traumatized by or had the need to grieve for Wakaba’s murder.
Speaking of Wakaba’s death, Haru looked up and watched her would-be killer sitting in front of her, looking around sheepishly after his minor blunder in the class. From all the days she’d spent with Akechi as a classmate, she learned quickly that he was insecure about any time where he could even be perceived as being any less than perfect, either mentally shutting down or trying extra hard to make up for a blunder no one cared about. It was almost endearing, how he assumed the world would hate him even though the whispers were clearly on his side.
Haru couldn’t exactly blame him. After all, she was quite literally the overanalyst looking to villainize him in the way that he had been trying to avoid. Of course, no one else had anything negative to say about him, and it wasn’t like Haru had a logical reason to hate him besides his actions in a past timeline. He hadn’t proven malicious this time around just yet.
Yet, Haru would be a fool to not take account that while his attempt to make contact with Shido was foiled, he still attempted, there is always a chance he can or will find another opportunity when she wasn’t looking.
When they got out of class, Haru rushed over to meet up with Makoto, who was already speaking with Akechi.
“Oh, Okumura-san!” Makoto waved her over. Haru wished she would ask Akechi to leave, but she went over to them anyway. It wouldn’t be smart for Haru to try to use a Metaverse excuse to get him to leave. She still needed to prove to Makoto she genuinely wanted to be her friend for reasons other than just Metaverse activities. If it were literally anyone else in the class she was speaking to she would be fine.
It just had to be Akechi.
“Hello!” Haru greeted them, putting on the friendliness smile she could muster.
“I was just about to ask Akechi-kun about the school trip, which I’ve been meaning to bring up to you as well actually… Which of the two locations are you planning to go for the social studies trip they mentioned today?” Makoto asked.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Haru asked, facing Makoto. “Have you made a decision?”
“I’m planning to go to the art museum myself. I’ve already been to the TV station a few times,” Akechi answered, giving Haru a knowing glance. He definitely could sense her disdain for him. She never marked him as someone who wasn’t perceptive, so this was far from unexpected.
“You have?” Makoto asked. Akechi paused for a moment, slightly stiffening before offering a smile.
“Um… My father actually works there,” Akechi laughed, trying to act casual. Haru did not miss the hesitation he had for the word “father.”
“Your father works there? My father has been interviewed there a couple times. Where does he work?” Haru asked, her smile almost taunting him. Akechi caught it, giving his own subtle grin in response.
“I don’t believe he would have any connection to yours. He doesn’t interact much with the guests,” Akechi responded, giving a small chuckle. Makoto, completely obvious to the unseen hostility between her two acquaintances, laughed with him.
“My dad used to take me to the police station all the time when I was younger, so I don’t blame you for getting sick of the place,” Makoto commented, gaining both Haru and Akechi’s attention. “So does that mean you’re going to the art museum?”
“Unless something changes, that is my current plan,” Akechi confirmed before turning over to Haru. “How about you Okumura-san?”
Haru paused, put off by his question. If Haru chose the TV station, she might be able to look into this parent of Akechi’s, most likely a foster parent, and that information might help her better know how to deal with him. Perhaps she could check if he had a Shadow, and ensure that Akechi won’t be passed off to another household.
On the other hand, if she said she wanted to follow him, it would put Makoto in a rough spot, because that would leave a fifty percent chance that Makoto wouldn’t choose the same option as Haru. Or, even worse, Makoto would believe that Haru was trying to pit herself against Akechi, and she would choose Akechi out of spite.
“I want to choose the TV station,” Haru mustered out after thinking it over. “I’m curious about what kind of other guests they bring and what they might talk about.”
“Ah, well, I might be able to spoil the surprise if you would like,” Akechi offered, giving Haru a look.
“I’m actually quite curious, myself. It might help my decision more,” Makoto leaned between the two. “And of course you two make it difficult, choosing different places.”
“Oh, I apologize,” Akechi laughed. “But to answer your question, the guest for the next week will be Ko Sakata, a cognitive researcher. The school specifically requested someone who would be more educational. They were also trying to get a different one but he was busy.”
“Ko… Sakata…” Makoto repeated, casting a glance at Haru before taking a deep breath. “Well, then I think I should go to the TV station.”
Raising an eyebrow, Akechi inquired, “Really?” his tone more of curiosity than offense.
Makoto nodded, “Yeah. I’ve been looking into that sorta of thing recently, and with Kojiro Kuroda’s sudden change of heart I was curious about what a researcher might say.” Her words were slow, with her casting a few glances at Haru as she spoke. Haru had heard stories of Makoto’s poor stalking skills, though usually those stories were overshadowed by the poor acting skills of some of the other Phantom Thieves. It made Haru realize that perhaps Haru only thought Makoto was somewhat decent because of how low Ann made the bar. Akechi raised an eyebrow at her tone, but he just gave another fake smile rather than questioning her.
“I see. I hope you enjoy yourself. It’s a very interesting place, especially when looking at what happens behind the scenes,” Akechi responded. Makoto looked back at him, sensing no offense from the boy.
“Right, are there any secrets you could depart on us?” Makoto joked, causing Akechi to look off in thought.
After a moment, he deadpanned, “Don’t drink the coffee. It’s terrible,” Both girls got a good laugh out of that.
“Don’t worry, I’m more of a tea person myself,” Haru agreed. Besides, she knew that nothing could top Leblanc’s coffee for her. She could even recall Akechi admitting that, despite only being there to watch Ren, he grew to love the coffee.
Haru let herself relax a little as Makoto and Akechi continued to talk about some other things, their little debate from class showing no lasting effects on their relationship. If it wasn’t for the fact that this was, again, Akechi, Haru would’ve been happy to see Makoto find someone so similar to her. Eventually, Akechi got a message on his phone and bid the duo farewell.
“His parents seem super strict,” Makoto observed. Haru nodded, her curiosity about his current home life ever growing. Hopefully she could find some answers if she snooped around the TV station a little.
“You seemed aware of the guest at the station,” Haru noted, watching as Akechi turned the corner.
“He’s a cognitive researcher. A co-worker of Wakaba Isshiki,” Makoto stated, her voice lowering. Haru felt her heart skip a beat, turning her head towards Makoto. “I thought that it might be useful for the next target.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to choose purely because of that!” Haru cried, her fears that Makoto only saw their friendship was a Metaverse thing coming to fruition. “I’m just going to snoop on Akechi’s personal life!”
Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to admit that, at least it gave Makoto a chuckle.
“I still don’t know why you don’t like him,” Makoto sighed, giving Haru an asking look.
Trying her best to come off as not a creep, Haru glanced away and muttered, “I- he just rubs me the wrong way.” Makoto shrugged her off, offering to head to a more secluded area to discuss the Metaverse business.
The girls managed to find a small cafe with few customers before taking a seat near the back. Makoto was already on her phone, pulling up a couple things to show Haru.
Haru took the phone, scrolling through what appeared to be Wataba’s official profile. She was a researcher at a nearby college along with her co-worker, Ko Sakata. Haru pulled out her own phone, putting his name inside the Nav. It was a hit.
“There is one more major researcher in cognition, Dr. Takuto Maruki. If my guess is right, they were trying to get either him or Dr. Isshiki on the show, but both refused,” Makoto theorized. “Maruki works at another college, so I’m not sure how much he interacts with Isshiki, but Sakata could lead us directly to her front door.”
“Yeah…” Haru agreed, almost cursing out Makoto’s thorough research. What she wanted to do was try to bring Makoto to Futaba, and to use Futaba as their way in, but to Makoto’s logic, Sakata might be an even better entrypoint. The only issue is that Haru didn’t want Sakata to suddenly awaken, She wanted Futaba.
Putting aside the urgency of saving Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba was arguably the only other member whom she could easily access. At least, she was the only person who Haru actually knew the general area in which she lived.
If she couldn’t get to Futaba now, then she wouldn’t have any reasonable excuse to access Futaba later, and Haru wasn’t doing this without Futaba. She couldn’t.
“Well, we need to look deeper. Can you look into her personal life?” Haru requested.
Makoto raised an eyebrow, eventually taking the phone back and scrolling through a page. “She’s a single mom to one daughter. Lives pretty modestly-” Makoto began to say before Haru already found her excuse to bring Futaba up.
“That’s it!” Haru exclaimed, both to surprise Makoto and in revolution. She just had to convince Makoto to go along with her to convince Makoto to make contact with Futaba. “I knew there had to be someone.”
“What do you mean?” Makoto questioned, looking more concerned than curious.
“Remember when I mentioned those visions? The ones my Persona gives me? Well, recently I kept getting more of them, one involving a girl inside Wakaba Isshiki’s palace,”
“You mean that hostile Metaverse user?” Makoto perked up. Right, she did mention that. Haru was really digging herself into a hole, wasn’t she?
“No… I keep getting them of a girl helping us, and a separate one of the one who’s trying to kill Wakaba Isshiki,” Haru attempted to explain.
Makoto put a hand to her chin, her mind deep in thought before responding, “So the dangerous Metaverse user is someone you’re getting from those visions? Strange… I’m not getting anything of the sort.”
“That’s probably because our Personas are different!” Haru said a little too quickly. “While yours is suited for travel, mine helps me see in the future!” The whole lie felt kind of forced in Haru’s opinion, but it had to work. At least if Futaba awakens to the same Persona as before, it’ll keep the theme of each Persona being specialized.
“I guess that might make sense…but is that all you know about that Persona user with the black mask?” Makoto asked, “I thought you actually knew him?”
“Um…” Haru muttered, looking down at the phone and notebook Makoto put in front of her. She searched the page, looking for anything she could naturally be interested in more than answering her question. If she didn’t, Makoto would be able to tell she was hiding something; though, at this point she would be surprised if Makoto didn’t suspect something.
Luckily she did find something that caught her attention. Haru picked up Makoto’s notebook, rereading one of her notes. “‘Dr. Maruki was granted funding for his cognitive research after finding repeated success in his counseling patients?’”
Makoto’s attention went back towards the notebook, taking it from her and reading it over again. “Ah, yeah. It’s the only time I heard about this cognitive research being practically applied. In one of his papers he talks about using altering cognition to alter your mind to ease trauma. Crazy stuff.”
“Yeah…” Haru said. “I wonder if it has any connection to what we’re doing.”
“I think it does, which is why I’m willing to go along with heading into Dr. Isshiki’s Palace, because…” Makoto began but eventually trailed off, thinking over her words for a moment before telling her, “Can I be honest? I don’t truly understand your motives right now… but I’ll trust you at the moment. You… I’m in your debt.”
Haru simply stared at her in silence, taking a sip of the tea she ordered a few minutes prior. Makoto still didn’t trust her… She didn’t see her as a friend but just an ally. Did she do something wrong? Should she have played dumb? No, there was no way that could work. Should she just be upfront? How could she explain that she went back in time? That they were friends back from when she came? That the person she is acting all buddy buddy with is a revenge driven murder who killed her own father?
“I… I’m sorry,” Makoto muttered, sensing Haru’s distress.
“No! It’s fine… I just…” Haru quickly apologized and lowered her head down. “I can’t explain everything… Not yet.”
“Why can’t you?” Makoto asked. Because she wouldn’t believe her? Because she’s scared?
Haru looked away in shame and pleaded, “I just… I can’t… but please believe me that I do want to be your friend! And that…once I can, that I will explain everything, just…”
Makoto put her hand over Haru’s, giving her a weak smile. “Ok, I believe you… I just… I guess I’m just… heh, even I can’t put my thoughts in order. How about this. Could you tell me what you know, and while I can’t blindly believe you, I’ll take that into account, so we can formulate a plan,”
“I… I guess that can work,” Haru eventually agreed. “Maybe it’s better for you to ask some questions.”
Makoto nodded, pulling out another notebook, making Haru feel a pang of guilt once she saw how many questions Makoto must have had.
“I guess the first one is, are you human?”
“Huh?”
“Like… Jose seems to be non-human… and I wrote that before I awakened myself… but I still want to confirm that,” Makoto explained nonchalantly.
“Oh… well, yeah, I’m human,” Haru began to explain. The girls went through a few more questions, and Haru answered as truthfully as she could. Haru explained she’d been a Metaverse user for about five months prior give or take, she had not physically met with the Black Mask metaverse user, but she was aware he exists, and that this same vision source allowed her to be aware of people she needed to come into contact with. She was sure to be vague about any details that revealed the whole truth, but overall she wanted her story to be as close to the truth as possible.
Closing her eyes, Haru tried to describe, “What I believe…is that when the time comes, my Persona is guiding me to certain people, to connect with them, and to prepare for something, something greater than Shido, but we have to take him down first.” She opened her eyes and pointed at Makoto, concluding, “You were the first, and I believe that Isshiki’s daughter will be the next.”
“Ah… I think I get it…? Well, as much as I could at least,” Makoto muttered and shut her book. “No more questions at the moment…but please, be more open.”
“Right, I promise,” Haru quickly agreed, happy to have hopefully worked things out. “Should we go back to Isshiki’s Palace?”
With a frown, Makoto reasoned,“It’s hard to say. like with Kuroda’s, there’s undoubtedly a deadline, but we have no idea when that is. “So far I think it might be best if we can investigate Isshiki’s daughter and then wait for the school trip to see if Sakata can give us any other information.”
“I think that’s a decent plan,” Haru acknowledged. “I’ll look on my end to see if I can gather any information through my Mementos targets. Sakata has one so it might be a good idea to see if I can access that.”
“Yeah… and… please tell me I don’t have to come with you on that,” Makoto’s head sank. Seeing Makoto so young and scared of the dark was quite endearing all things considered. She hoped eventually Makoto would get used to it and come with her to those trips, Jose also took a liking to her, but she wanted to let Makoto take her time.