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The Honeypot: Side A; [Single Post - Eri Charinko, Kyo Charinko]
Topic Started: Dec 24 2017, 12:00 AM (138 Views)
The One True Nobody
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"...does this clockwork hand follow you... or guide you?"
This post is the start of the event mentioned in this planning thread. It takes place immediately before Dancing at Dawn.

---

Four days in a row this time. The same person every time.

Kyo hadn't chosen the building by accident, even if she hadn't noticed the built-in joke that her neighboring offices added to the thing until later on. She'd intentionally sought out a location where, if the Black Hoods came for her, it would be easy to see them coming and even easier to hold her ground or escape. The fourth-floor window was too high up and too out-in-the-open to be an entry point (and the glass, far too sturdy for the Molotov approach that Nana had fallen to; Kyo had made that one of her top-priority renovations). The other three offices belonged to confirmed non-users, meaning the Black Hoods couldn't use a method of attack that caused much collateral damage. There was only one way in or out, so there was only one direction to watch. Kyo and Eri spent most of their time at the computer in a side-room, away from that front window, removing much of the danger that they might glance out the window and see someone watching the place.

Not that anyone would necessarily know that, unless they had the ability to detect and locate both of the occupants' Personas.

Kyo stared at the monitor on her desk, elbow propped on the mousepad, surveying the borderline-indecipherable image with a grumpy expression. "That's gotta be him," she muttered aloud. "Same guy, every time. He couldn't fuckin' wait until we managed t' get our hands on a better camera, could he? This's the kinda footage you'd get out of a convenience store robbery case. In a ghetto."

Kyo had been stuck on how to watch the building without appearing to for a long time. What she had finally settled on was a hidden camera hooked up to the computer in the office, which displayed several views of the street below as well as one of the back lot, one angled for a clean view into the mouth of the alley with the best view that the Black Hoods or any other Morinaga attackers might want of her office and its only street-level exit. The budget contraint that had kicked this set-up in the head had been the sheer of expense of finding, purchasing, and setting up cameras that could serve her purposes but also be hidden around the exterior of an office building like this. She'd handled the grunt work on her own in the dead of night (Kyo doubted the building's other occupants would understand the need for such an extravagant measure), but in order to fit everything into the Kirihara Corp's assigned budget for this, she'd had to settle for something in the mid-low range. The cameras couldn't capture audio, and their resolution was too low to get a clear picture of anyone at any sort of distance. The only camera she had set up outside that could do that was the one in the back lot, which she'd concealed on one side of her own parked motorcycle, inside what appeared to be a tear in the cargo pack on the rear.

They were wireless, and they had range, but the sacrifice was quality. She could even connect to the cameras with her mobile phone, but what good was that if the cameras wouldn't show her what she needed? And keeping them all powered on was a real pain in the ass, too.

"...Kyo-chan, we should contact the others. If you're right, and we can corner him here —"

Kyo looked to her left, where her mother sat, oriented closer to the monitor displaying the security feed than to the computer. Eri Charinko was stiff in her seat, shoulders straight, staring fixedly at the twenty-five-percent of the display that showed the man in glasses they'd seen so consistently over the past few days. The image flickered and stuttered a little (hiccup in the signal, probably), but the man was still there when it snapped back to full strength. Kyo watched her mother, scratching her chin, considering what seemed to be the obvious option... then, shook her head.

"If this really is Control, or someone workin' with him..." Kyo said slowly, "he'd sense any Persona-users comin' and leave. He might have access t' the Blotter, too. A regular post on the forum might be seen, or it might not, but that's no way to get in contact with anyone quickly. And if I contact Saya... well, not that I'd want her in this kinda danger, but she couldn't get here fast enough. Neither could the police, except all the ones we don't want involved and who have no reason t' find this guy guilty of anythin' yet."

The teen girl looked at the screen, scowling at it as it flickered for a second time. Abruptly, she stood up (the movement that the man outside noticed). "I'm goin' in. If I can so much as snap a picture o' that guy's face without him realizin' that's what I'm doin'... maybe record him, like we did with Kogane in the ruins..."

Eri flinched. "You want to do that again?" she said. "The voice-chat recording thing? I'm not sure I feel comfortable doing that sort of thing out here in the city —"

"It's the only way to guarantee that if something happens, the evidence survives and makes it to the others," Kyo said sharply. "We talked about this, mom. You said you want to help me. So get set up. I'll send a message t' Atsuko just in case, and —"

"I said I wanted to help you, not help you get yourself killed!" Eri cut in, slapping a hand down on the desk and standing up to look her daughter in the eye. She had to fight to keep her voice down, so what would have been more comfortable as a shriek came out as a hoarse squeak.

Kyo looked over to her mother. There was a hint of apology in her eyes, but she shook her head, and slipped her phone out of her pocket. A quick text message was all it took:

There's someone watching my place. It might be Control, or something working with him.
I'm going in. If you don't hear back from me in an hour, CONTACT MY MOTHER.
Bedlam username: Penelope. She'll be available.

DO NOT POST PUBLICLY ON THE FORUM. DO NOT USE THE BEDLAM BLOTTER.


She slipped it into her pocket and grabbed her leather jacket by the coatstand in the corner of the side-office. She slung it over her shoulder, and... stopped. Eri had seized her arm.

"Don't," she heard her mother whisper. "I have... I have a bad feeling about this. You shouldn't go."

Kyo felt a humorless grin twist her lips up, and she turned to look back at her mother. "You sound like the sorta script that Wei's probably gonna be dealin' with," she said. "I can take care o' myself, and I doubt his Persona's all that powerful if he's been spendin' all his time up here instead of in the ruins. I'm more worried about him runnin' off before I can get to him than about him doin' me any serious harm. And if he does... I'm the one with Mediarahan here, yeah?"

Eri's lips tightened in frustration, but Kyo only turned and clapped her mother on the arm.

"Get set up. I'll open the call once I'm in position."

And for the first time in her life, Kyo leaned in and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you, ma. Now let's get ourselves in gear and take this son of a bitch down."

The surprise of that act must have loosened Eri's grip, because her hand fell away when Kyo turned again. Before Eri had a chance to object again, Kyo was out the door and strolling down the stairs to the back lot, whistling a random tune from a video game to herself, for all the world as if she was off to pick up a packet of instant ramen at the corner store.

---

Eri watched the door for several seconds, wrestling in silence with a paranoid delusion: it felt like her daughter had not only stepped out of the office, but stepped out of the world. It felt like she would never see Kyo again.

Conscious acknowledgement of this feeling galvanized her into action. She moved to sit in the seat Kyo had previously occupied, and without touching the recording software that was keeping an archive of the security footage, she opened the audio recorder and the voice-chat application. She had done this only twice before, once to learn how and then again to record the meeting with Yellow (which had ended up being a talk with Gold, instead). In truth, Eri had become quite comfortable operating as what Kyo called her "mission control specialist." It was something that she could do to help her daughter in spite of the massive gulf of power that separated the two of them. And it was easier to go along with her daughter running headlong into danger when she was keeping an eye on things while they were in progress. This way, Kyo had said, she could send out a Blotter distress call on Kyo's behalf even if the situation didn't allow Kyo enough time to get her phone out herself. It was like being a police dispatcher and a super-spy's radio contact all in one, Eri had suggested enthusiastically.

Right y'are, Colonel Campbell! Kyo had laughed. Eri hadn't the foggiest clue who Colonel Campbell was. Knowing her daughter, it was probably some American thing.

It was only about half a minute later that the voice-chat program sounded the tone of an incoming call. Her hand shaking slightly, Eri slid the mouse over and clicked the pick-up button, sighing in slow relief as the call connected and she could hear the muffled background noise of the city from what sounded like the back lot of the office building. Kyo had probably set up on her way down the stairs and connected as soon as she could so that it was all set up before she was in her quarry's direct line of view.

Eri sat, tension holding her entire frame stiff and upright as the ambient silence stretched on; there was no intrusive sound of wind, as Kyo's jacket acted as a wind filter, but Eri could hear the eb and flow of the traffic sounds that indicated that Kyo had stepped out onto the sidewalk out front... was crossing the road... Eri's eyes went to the monitor on which the cameras' views displayed. She could see it as Kyo turned down the opposite sidewalk, paused and yawned hugely at its mouth, and turned down it while pretending not to notice the man who had slipped out of view just before she got there... and who slipped out to follow as she disappeared out of sight herself.

The woman in the office observing all this had to work hard to control her breathing. Kyo was strong, she reminded herself. Kyo could handle herself, she insisted to her brain. It was insulting not to have faith in her. Eri would not make that mistake again. No. She needed to believe in her daughter. Her daughter was strong. Her daughter was smart. Her daughter could take this son of a bitch.

The ambience of the outdoors faded to near-silence. There was now only the faint rustling of Kyo's clothing as she walked. Then, after a good few minutes of walking, even that stopped. This anxiety-tickling silence was broken by an odd squeaking sound. Metal? It sounded like something turning on a spoke that needed oiling rather badly.

And then Eri heard Kyo muttering to herself. Or was it really to herself? Kyo knew that she was being recorded. Was she putting on an act for her stalker, then?

"This city is rotten," she said quietly in a mumble. "What a mess we've made, eh? ...Fuck, Nana, maybe you even had the right idea. Why'd ya have t' go gettin' yourself killed on some mad justice crusade? It'll be a miracle if I can keep that ragtag bunch from fallin' apart without that spark y'had. You coulda been so much more. You coulda been better than the best of us. Lord knows you coulda done more than me."

Eri felt her heart go out to her daughter. Was Kyo still hurting because of her friends' deaths? Eri knew the basic outline of why things had been the way they'd been and how they'd ended the way they'd ended, but she still didn't understand what had led Kyo to care so much about Aleksandria Fyodor and Nana Samurakami. Still, Eri wondered why her daughter was voicing such thoughts when she knew full well that a man, probably the leader of the Black Hoods, could probably hear her.

There was another of those odd metallic turning-squeaks. Eri had a sudden vision of her daughter standing in a children's playground, idly pulling on a rusted merry-go-round to spin it. There was an old park nearby, and Eri thought it was secluded enough for an ambush... or a trap exactly like the one Kyo was luring Control into.

As Eri thought this, Kyo kept talking, sounding as if she was talking to Nana through the veil.

"Remember when we first saw each other? It was a sad little fossilized playground just like this. I was so scared when ya caught me watchin' y'all that I went and cut my foot on a broken bottle tryin' to get away. If we hadn't met, would things've been different? If I'd still been the good little girl with pigtails, would I've been the sorta person who'd have awakened a Persona? What kinda person would I've been? But I guess I can say that about more than just you, eh, Nana? If I hadn't met Kenshin, I imagine I'd've been a real bitch, still. Might even've been the kinda person you'd have made it your business t' put down, just like Aleksandria. Or maybe just the sorta person you wouldn'ta given the time o' day. Slime on your boots, maybe. Yeah, that sounds right..."

There was another squeak. Eri's confusion mounted, and underneath it, a sudden, nameless fear began to well in her chest, like a trickle that threatened to explode into a full-blown geyser.

"I feel like this is the end, somehow. Like this is where my road ends."

"Kyo, what are you saying?" Eri hissed at the screen, leaning forward. It was a futile gesture. Kyo would have muted her phone to prevent any sudden noises on her end from alerting Control. In evidence of this, Kyo continued as if her mother hadn't spoken.

"I should be cocky as hell right now. I did it, right? I one-upped you again. I found Aleksandria. I helped drive her crazy father away from our city. I found Isoroku. I found Kyomu. I found Saya. And I outlast you. I outgrew you, Nana Samurakami. You, who were so determined t' walk right on t' your death. And now I'm lookin' my own in the face, and I don't want it."

Eri flinched, and almost stood up. Only one thing stopped her: the knowledge that Control might still be able to sense her from wherever he was at the moment. If she moved overtly in response to anything Kyo said, it could give her away. Kyo had been very specific about that. They needed to watch their movements when they believed an Analysis-user was watching the office. It was the reason the computers had been set up in a side-room, and they had done little drills on how to act and react without arousing suspicion.

"I wish it would go away. I want it to leave me alone, just a little longer. There's stuff I still feel like I needta do."

"You'll still be able to do it, Kyo, just get out of there and come back to me!" Eri ground out through her teeth, her hands moving to grip the chair's armrests. Don't move, don't move, don't move, her brain cried over and over, reminding her.

"I haven't fixed what us Persona-users did to this city yet."

"That's not your responsibility!" Eri whispered.

"I still have a happy life with Hiroko-kun to live."

"Yes, you do!"

"The Morinaga are still out there. So are the Sadako."

"And we'll deal with anything they throw our way! Together!"

"And me, I'm not happy with how this me has turned out just yet. Not by a long shot. I was gonna be a journalist; I was gonna go out into the world and put this snoopin' talent o' mine to good use changin' the world for the better with truth, justice, and all that idealistic bullshit that made you wanna throw up but which, deep down, you wished you could believe in."

Eri snapped, and yelled out, "You still will be! You will be a journalist! You'll blow Japan's socks off, Kyo-chan!"

It was only her grip on the armrests that kept her from springing to her feet and running to the door. Her shout deafened her to the sound of another squeak from the voice call, this one louder, more abrupt, almost violent-sounding. Audio peaks marched on in mute commentary as the recording continued.

"But this feels like the end o' the road. Can't explain why, but it's felt this way for weeks, and right now it feels like... time to say goodbye. So, Nana, thank you. Aleksandria, thank you. Kenshin, thank you. Hotaru, thank you. Ayane, Treo, Isoroku, Kinzaki. Naoya... Maki... Chika... mom. And you, Hiro-kun. Thank you, all o' you. Everything good in me is there because o' you. I'm sorry, and thank you all. By the way, Aleks, remember that trick I pulled on your father when he tried t' get away?"

There was a rustling sound, and a rushing noise that Eri recognized as the sound that typically accompanied a full manifestation of one's Persona. Then Kyo, sounding suddenly vicious instead of contemplative:

"And thank you for coming. We haven't had the pleasure o' meetin' yet, yeah? I'm Kyo. And you would be Control. Nice t' see you on our side of a radio speaker for a change, ya lyin' cocknozzle."

There was silence then, for a moment that seemed to stretch on for an eternity to Eri. The park was secluded, and shielded from the wind and sound of cars by surrounding buildings. Then a new voice spoke, a voice that sounded ordinary save for the slight, odd buzzing undercurrent as it spoke, as if the audio quality of the call inexplicably took a dive whenever this voice entered it. She had never heard the voice before, but she was as certain as she was of her own bones that it was Control.

"We have, Kyo Charinko," said the voice. "You just don't recall. That was a touching send-off. Do you anticipate not walking away?"

There was no mocking, no sarcasm in his tone, and that scared Eri more than anything. Eri had no time to contemplate this, because Kyo spoke immediately, and there was definitely sarcasm in hers.

"We have? Oh, we have. How could I forget," she said, sounding unsurprised as well as flippant. Eri blinked. And Kyo launched right on into her next thought, as she always did. "I guess that confirms it, then. I thought long and hard about who or what you might be, and the only thing that kept comin' back was that you must be a Persona-user with a really dangerous unique ability. Nothin' else made sense. And I thought about the different abilities other Persona-users had, and none of them made sense... then I started thinkin' about the different powers I've seen Shadows use and what kinda things a guy like you might be able t' pull if you had 'em. I mean, it makes sense. Anything those monsters can do, a Persona should be capable of at some point... in theory, anyways."

Eri's lips parted, leaving her mouth hanging half-open. Kyo had told her nothing of any such theorizing. Had Kyo figured something out? Why hadn't she shared it, if so? The logical answer to that brought the woman's lips together again in a thin, grim line. The logical answer, after all, was simple. Kyo had known, whatever it was she'd latched onto as a hypothesis, that Eri would not go along with her if she shared it.

"Dammit, Kyo Charinko... don't do this to me..." she begged in a low whine at the screen, leaning forward and clutching the edge of the desk with her hands. "Don't make me listen to this if you're going to... if you're... if..."

Eri was shaking. The voice chat audio marched on, as mercilessly as a snowstorm in mountains.

"I suppose it won't matter if I were t' notice anythin' distinctive about ya, then. Like that, right there. Right about here, right? Ouch, that stings. The neck's a scary place for a scar, even if that one's pretty small."

A scar on his neck. Kyo had stated it out loud for no other purpose, Eri knew, besides logging the observation in the recording. A scar on his neck, but where? Eri couldn't see where Kyo had indicated, but there was a wincing quality to Kyo's voice, as if she had felt pain as she spoke.

"You got a weird voice, too. Wonderin' if those two're connected, like you got machine parts stuck in your throat."

...So the buzzing wasn't the audio...? As if to answer her, Control's voice invaded the broadcast again. It sounded like he might have started walking as he spoke.

"Machine parts, really?" he asked. "Sounds more like a...buzzing insect to me. But I'm hearing it transmitted through bone and viscera. Could sound mechanical, I suppose."

The sound of footsteps ceased. Eri tensed.

"So how do you want to do this? We 'end it right here?'" said Control, sounding sarcastic at last, though in a weary way. "You waste time until the cavalry comes? You don't seem too interested in trying to get me to talk."

In spite of herself and her growing fear, Eri felt her lips upturn into a tooth, feral grin. Or maybe that in itself was a fear reaction? By the feeling of her own face muscles, she imagined she looked quite mad in that moment. But he was talking, and Eri was listening. And soon, every Persona-user in the city would know whatever he revealed of himself here. It seemed like Kyo was trying to goad him into something... something specific... something she didn't think she would escape...

The grin fell away as soon as it appeared. Control finished his thought in the heartbeat between grin and grin's death.

"I realize you can't learn from your mistakes, but I'm starting to notice patterns. It's really exhausting." A finger-snap faintly registered on Kyo's microphone. "I've got an idea. How about a game? You like games, right?"

"A game, yeah, might as well," Eri heard Kyo respond easily. There was a soft crackling that might have been Kyo's knuckles. Eri could just imagine her cracking them with a stretch to appear unperturbed before her enemy. "Can it be a guessin' game? I'm good at guessin'. Even better when the clues're there. I'm also really good at tricks and traps. It's too bad I wasn't here when Aleksandria was runnin' around all military mad scientist, really. We'd have caught her before the park incident happened, and then neither of us'd be here, facin' each other down right now."

Eri couldn't help a disapproving, but confused frown. Why was Kyo speaking that way about Fyodor? Hadn't the two of them been friends? Was it part of some act? Or did Kyo really believe that if they had moved to the city sooner, she would have been enough to tip things in favor of Aleksandria's enemies before the Ruwashi Park disaster had a chance to happen? It seemed egotistical... but maybe, Eri admitted to herself, Kyo had developed an ego after everything she'd been through.

But Kyo went on without pause, rambling through her thoughts as was characteristic of her: "But I'm only a Persona-user at all 'cause a specific person died that day. Ever since it's been one guess after another, one secret and then a second secret, and you know what? I've already exposed yours and you don't even know it."

"Kyo!" Eri heard herself say to the empty room and the unfeeling monitor. It was a harsh admonishment. If her daughter carried on that way, it would all be for nothing! Except —

"Maybe you ain't looked up many Wiki pages when you wrote up our files, or maybe my new Persona was too late t' make the cut. Can ya guess what video game Ame-no-Uzume is from?"

It seemed Kyo was starting the "game" that Control had proposed. She asked the question in a light, relaxed tone, as if she saw no danger in claiming that she had already exposed Control's secret. But she hadn't exposed anything! Except that he had a scar on his neck, maybe! The question seemed to annoy Control.

"I can't say that I do. I always found them to be a childish pastime...and you're ignoring the mythological root. She's featured in the Kojiki." There was some barely-audible, indistinct shuffling or rustling that Eri couldn't identify. "Point to you. We'll go to three. That seems fair to me. So, a softball one to start off. Why am I doing this? You've dealt with enough people like me that you should be able to come up with a reason."

Kyo's voice was heavy with irony when she said, "The answer was none, so you actually win that one. Although if you know that much, I'm baffled as to why you came here."

And then, a mock-lament. What Kyo said next brought a reflexive wince to Eri's face.

"Last time a plan came together this well I was in a pink wig with a mobile phone jammed up my butt... wish that one had been this simple."

This had been in reference to the successful scheme Kyo had hatched to substitute herself as Natsumi Aizawa in order to keep a young yakuza girl occupied while the real Natsumi accompanied the police detective Sanda and others into the kidnapper's hideout to rescue Natsumi's best friend, who had been kidnapped and held hostage in exchange for Natsumi herself. Apparently this had been some mad plot on the part of whatever-her-name-was to ritualistically kill Natsumi, who she considered a friend, and collect her skull for some traditional... madness. Kyo considered it her proudest accomplishment, just slightly above punching Mikhail Fyodor in the face in the middle of a burning theater. In spite of the danger Kyo had put herself in, Eri was secretly proud of Kyo for pulling it off, too.

"As for 'why you're doing this,' I'll read that two ways and give ya two answers. 'Why am I lying about what's going on in this city, turning perfectly good people inta murderers?' Because you were either at the park or knew someone who was, and you decided it was the right thing t' do. You might even've been caught by the butterfly in the middle o' the event... would explain why no one noticed you awakenin', considerin' most of the Persona-users at the time were prolly in a mad scramble t' stop what was happenin' and heal the wounded."

Eri's eyebrows shot up. Suddenly, the nonsensical planning Kyo had done with her over the past few days, the different scenarios they had considered and their responses to them, made sense. One plan in particular, which Kyo had put emphasis on... which involved the use of a recording...

She put her face in her hands and nearly wept. She didn't know why Kyo was doing this. But she understood what she hoped to accomplish. She understood, then, what Kyo was trusting her to do with this recording once all was said and done.

But she wanted Kyo by her side when that happened! She wanted it to be a triumph they shared together, as mother and daughter!

She didn't want it to be revenge for her daughter's death...!

As Eri despaired, she barely heard the next part of the recording, Kyo going on to give the question a second answer. "But if I also read that another way, as in 'Why am I standing here so unconcerned, only focused on you,' it'd be because you're immune t' whatever my Persona can throw atcha in terms o' spells, yeah? That'd be light and darkness. You must be pretty confident that you can resist a Charm spell, too, but I don't have any intentions o' messin' with your mind. That'd mean puttin' myself on the same level as you, after all. So I guess if we did fight, it'd be a pure match of human versus human unless you used your own Persona."

She lifted her head. Kyo's words penetrated her sorrow. Putting herself on the same level? Messing with his mind...? What did those two things have to do with each other? Did Kyo suspect that Control's power was a form of mental control?

"If I read that a third way, as in 'Why am I going after the obvious honeypot today,'" Kyo said finally, "it'd be because you don't put enough stock in the meanin' of someone's Persona. You might even have the devil in your head right now and not even get what that says about you. Sad."

There was a pause. "Close enough," said Control, "point. But you're too smart to think I'd go for a fair fight. And 'Honeypot' implies that you've got a cavalry coming. You're a valuable enough target in your own right."

The next pause was longer, and Eri had time to inhale, deeply and completely, holding her breath. She suspected Control was scanning the area, and sure enough:

"You don't, by the way. Have any cavalry coming, I mean. I would see it coming. So we're at one to one. Your move."

The next pause didn't last nearly as long, and it was Kyo who spoke next. The tone of her voice was such that Eri knew that she had only been delayed from speaking because she had given him a look. Eri had been on the receiving end of that look far too many times in Osaka, but these days it was a look Kyo mostly reserved for enemies and idiots.

"...I'm fightin' a Persona-user with analysis magic, dipshit," Kyo said, blunt as a hammer to the face. "Of course I'd stick to methods your Persona can't detect. Sorry t' say it, but your downfall isn't fancy magic or a legion o' superpowered sentai rangers today. Maybe you can noodle out what the honeypot was designed for. But it's too late to avoid it: I've already seen your face. You're in checkmate, you idiot. Try to guess what pieces I've cornered you with."

Eri bit her lip. Another pause, then Kyo's voice again, muttering: "Shit, that's the last time I ever use a chess metaphor for something like this. Note to self: chess-mastermind talk is for edgelord losers."

What Control said next confused Eri more than anything else she'd heard up to that point.

"I figured someone as perceptive as you would have picked up on it. We've met before, and seeing my face has never done you any good. This must be...the fifth? Sixth?...time. I don't really recall, but I remember better than you do."

Remember? Fifth? Sixth? What...?

Forget. Mom, don't forget. Remember, mom, don't forget. Don't forget forget don't forget don't forget don't don't don't don't

"No," Eri said in dull monotone. "No. No, Kyo, you can't be serious. The Shadow that Chika...?"

A second's pause filled the beginning of Eri's panic, and then in tones of fake disappointment, Control's speach broke that panic wide open. The geyser burst.

"I guess the game is over," said that buzz-distorted voice. "If you're not going to do anything with that sharp mind of yours, I can't really stand to see you wasting it like you are. So, come on. Let's get this song and dance over."

"No. No! NO!"

She stood so quickly that the chair upturned, thumping loudly against the wall behind her. She was out the side-room door and opening it before the next word sounded, before the fallen chair's momentum had played itself out. She heard it, muffled as it was by distance and a skewed angle to the ajar side-room door, though. Her daughter's voice, speaking quickly, urgently: "His Persona's a demon! Black wings, pentagram on forehead, horns and..."


"F̨̝̼̾ͦ͜o̴̼͉̤̦͓̖ͨ̐͌̓͊͐ͧ̏ͅr̸̺̗̠̾ͣͯ͟ģ͚͔̌e̜̞̬̖̾̑̋̊̀̔̃̏̃t͍̠ͪ̒ͬ̂̕."


No! No! No! No! Kyo, don't do this! Don't do this to me! Tell me this wasn't what you were planning all along!

She knew it was already too late as she rushed down the stairs as fast as she could, taking them two at a time, nearly tripping and falling at the bottom. She was gone, out the door with it closed behind her, too soon to hear the words that followed a mere moment after. Kyo's voice had seemed to fade into something dazed and unaware of itself, completing its thought slowly and drunkly, "...and fire..."

And then, in the now-empty and uncaring office, the sound of the axe falling.



"F͉̘̬͎̝̿ͬ͌ͨͪ́͝ͅo̷̴͓͙̥̯͇͛ͯ̃́r̥̼͎͉̺̮̬̈́ͮ̌̕͜g͑̋͏̥̗͔ͅe̡̢͍͓̞̋ͪṱ̰͙̣͇͑̍̂̓̏̀̀̚͟ ͙͍̙̺̖̋̈̊ͣͤ͘e̍̃̍҉̟̭͎̺v̤͓ͬͣͬͬͤ̑̚͞e̫̿̒̍̉ṟ̶̣̣͓̝͉͚̳ͬ̅͛̏͑̎͑ͪ͞y̨͖̜̖̯ͤͤͬ̍͢͡t͎̮̩̦̦͖͓̗̗̄͊̽͂ͪ̋͑ĥ̷̬̰̘ͮ̊͆͋͊ͬ́ͅḭ̛̝̜̩̖̆ͤ͑̓n̷̹̝̮͉̙͂ͮg̢ͧͨ̓ͯ̅̿̊̐͏͓͚̟̳̭͠"



There was crackling, then nothing. Then the sound of staggering. A short, metallic thump-and-squeak as if something had fallen on the merry-go-round. A sound, then, like a low, angry, building hissing noise, with Kyo's vocal likeness its only distinct characteristic.

---

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Please no. No no no no no no

She could not vocalize this thought outside, but she dearly wanted to, especially when she burst out of the alley and found the crosswalk light stuck on stop, cars driving left and right, preventing her from flying to her daughter's side. She stopped, waiting with teeth gritted, fists clenched, nails digging into palms. Her eyes fixed on the alley's mouth, where she had seen Kyo disappear, and had seen Control slip out of hiding to follow.

---

There was a rushing, whooshing sound. Kyo's voice burst out, "AGH! Another whackjob?!" Another thump on metal, faster, harder... then, choking. A slip of cloth. More squeaking. An almost deafening, audio-spiking metallic clack. The phone had fallen out of its hiding place and landed on the merry-go-round. A loud tap, also audio-distorting. The microphone had followed the phone.

---

Traffic stopped. The light changed. Eri Charinko was running. Running, her lungs burning with exertion she was by no means fit for, but she ignored it. The alley rushed by in a tunnel-vision blur. As she turned the final corner and came into view of the park, she saw him, just for a moment: the man from the camera recordings, her back to her. Her face twisted in a silent snarl, she extended a hand to cast Gry and lay him out flat on the ground... but magic flashed around him and before she could get her spell off, suddenly he wasn't there anymore.

---

Coughing, hacking, gulping down the oxygen that had rushed in to replace that which had burned away. Kyo turned to try to get her bearings. The hack-job memory alteration had done much, so much, but like a shotgun blast at mid-range it had missed at least one vital area. Kyo had no idea why she felt so strongly that she needed to get back to the office. That was where her mother was running that treasure-under-the-rainbow project of hers, right? Kyo shook her head and got up, wobbling at the knees as she stood. A faint rush of tingles had run down her body in response to her lungs being deprived of air, but she could feel the circulation restoring her. She could also feel a hell of a headache coming on. There was a stinging sensation under her neck. She reached up, rubbed at it, and it came away bloody...

Dia... I should heal —

No. Leave it.

It wasn't a voice, not really. Her Persona didn't sound like that. Never so forceful or purposeful... or knowing. Kyo covered her neck with her hand, gritting her teeth and trying to ask herself why she would want to leave a bloody scratch on her neck unattended. But she couldn't remember the asshole who'd tried to burn her physically attacking...

...she looked around for said asshole as she thought this, but all she saw or heard was her mother coming at her, running pell-mell up the alley yelling "Kyo! Kyo, are you alright?! You're singed! What happened?! Tell me you still have your —"

"Mom, when'd you quit dyin'—when did you stop dying your hair?" Kyo blurted out, the sight of her uptight mother with bold green curtains around her head too much of an incongruity. She was certain she knew this, but couldn't recall the information... and her head gave a sharp pound as she tried. "Ugh, never mind, never mind! We need to get back to the office. What we talked about on Monday... what did we talk about on Monday?"

Something about what Kyo had said prompted a response that was even more puzzling than her mother's hair. She heard her mother whisper, "On Monday, you told me to get the audio on a phone as soon as I could... to make sure that when they come, it's ready for — you told me to make sure not to forget... you said it three times..."

Kyo felt her face twist into an expression that matched the baffled confusion she was feeling. She didn't remember any such conversation, only that there had been one, and that it was important. She remembered repeating to herself, over and over in front of the bathroom mirror. You talked to your mother on Monday. Get back to the office. Your mother, you talked to her on Monday. Back to the office. It had gone on for over an hour. Why had she done that? It made no sense. Parts of it blurred away, probably from boredom, but she remembered checking the time afterward and thinking, inexplicably, a whole hour should be enough, with some relief.

Why? She shook her head, burying it in her hands. Her mother began to sob, and Kyo let out a yelp as she felt arms thrown around her, the shaking cries of her mother. "Oi! Oi, oi, oi! I'm bleedin', here!" she said, then suddenly, sharply: "Don't heal it, though!"

She shook her head. Looked up at the sky, squinting at the dull twilight fading to night. Night. Night.... sunset...

"...we need t' get... we need to get back to the office," she said. Eri twitched, straightened up. Kyo looked at her. Her bottom lip was trembling and her eyeliner was all messed up from the outpouring of tears. She tilted her head to one side, and without knowing why, felt guilty.

"What's up with you?" she asked.

"Never mind... what we talked about on Monday..." Eri said shakily. She took her daughter's hand, and gave it a tug. "I'll do it. Pick up your phone, Kyo-chan. We need to be quick."

"I don't even remember what that was about, can't be that important if I forgot," Kyo protested. "My head's killin' — killing me. Don't you keep aspirin or ibuprofen or something in your purse, mom?"

"There's some in the office, honey," Eri said softly, somewhat unconvincingly, but it was hard for Kyo to tell through her still-shaking voice, and she wasn't in any state to determine whether it was something she'd imagined. Kyo nodded glumly, bent to pick up her phone. Wait, why was there a microphone plugged in? Oh, that's right (her brain told her as the pieces clicked into place), she'd been testing it out in the park to see if it would work for her mom's project. She'd been on voice chat with her mom, telling her she'd be back soon... that must have been why she wanted to get back to the office. And when she'd been jumped by another whack-job Persona-user... just like that Atsushi clown or the time that one vampire freak had almost bit her neck...

A thought crossed her mind and then passed her lips without a second thought. "Really, with crazy people like that guy around, I sometimes think the Black Hoods have the right idea."

Eri's grip on her hand tightened, but her mother said nothing more until they were back at the office. What was her mom's deal right now, anyway? She was acting almost concerned and worried, which was so weird to see. Nice, though. Yeah. It was nice...
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