Persona 3/Persona 4: Mask of Existence

Orpheus attacked the other shadow with his sword-like harp. Yukari stared in awe as she helped Ryoji regain himself, she softly whispered, "Minato..... Arisato....."

 

Izanagi soon disappeared as Yosuke ran to them. "Whoa... Wh-What was that!? Did I hear you say 'Persona'!? WHat was it-I mean what did you do!? Hey you think I could do it too...?" Yosuke asked too quickly.

"Slow down Yosuke, you are asking wya too fast and we don't have a clue what happened so how can we answer those questions." He said to him and Teddie nodded. "Calm down Yosuke, you're troubling Sensei!"

Yosuke was confused. "S-Sensei?" He asked him as Teddie stared at ARisa and Souji. "Gosh almighty! You two are amazing, I'm one impressed bear! I cna't believe you two hid such an amazing power! No wonder the SHadows were afraid of you! Are you two the ones who can bring people into this world?"

 

Orpheus disappeared and Arisa returned to normal. Yukari and Ryoji stared at her, wondering if they really saw Minato for that brief moment.

 

Souji nodded at Teddie who smiled. "Hah! That's what I thought! This is really something. Don't you think so Yosuke?" Teddie asked him.

Yosuke walked up to Teddie and pushed him as Teddie fell but rebounded. "Dude, you call him Sensei and then don't show me any respect!?"

"Sorry."

"W-Well, your support wasn't bad...I gotta give you credit for that." Yosuke said to him, smiling.

"H-Huh? R-Really...? Heehee." Teddie was soon blushing.

 

Arisa patted Teddie's head.

 

"All right, you three keep it up and, I think we'll be fine from here on out. Now let's get back to the investigation!" Yosuke said with a smile and walked towards the entrance of the liquor store. "Man, I wonder what coudl of happened to Senpai here." he said until they heard some echos from somewhere.

"I wish Junes would go under." One echo said as another spoke. "It's because of that store..."

Shinichi looked around. "What the?" He asked himself aloud as another echo called out. "Oh, I heard Konishi-san's daughter is working there" then another came. "Oh my... How could she, with her family's business suffering like it is...?" then another echo sounded after the last one.

"I heard their sales have gone down because of Junes."

"St-Stop it...." Yosuke said as another echo spoke. "That poor father...to have his own daughter work for the enemy." then another spoke. "What a troublesome child..."

"Hey... Hey, Ted!" He called out Teddie who turned around to stare at Yosuke. "You said this place is reality for those that are here, right!? So... does this mean this was Senpai's reality when she wandered in here...?"

"I...only know about what's over here." he said as Yosuke turned back to the entrance. "Fine...Whatever's going on here...we'll find out ourselves!" he said as he ran inside the liquor store and Souji, Teddie and Shinichi followed.

 

Arisa, Yukari, and Ryoji followed them, Yukari was still wondering about Arisa's metal hand.

 

Yosuke looked aroudn until he heard more echoes. "Damnit, not again." he said as it was different as it was yelling and judging by the sound, it was male.

"Saki, How many times do I have to tell you!?" as Yosuke thought about it. "Could this be...Senpai's dad?" he asked himself and Shinichi spoke.

"Sounds like he's not in a good mood." he pointed out as the yelling continued. "You know what the neighbours say about you, right!?" Aren't you ashamed of yourself? Your the eldest daughter of a family who's owned this store for generations! Is it the money? Or did you meet some guy there? Just tell me why you have to work THERE, of all places!"

Yosuke stepped back a bit and looked down. "I...I can't believe this...She seemed like she had fun at work...She never said anything like this to me...You're telling me THIS was how Senpai really things!?" he yelled and noticed something and ran towards a table.

"Hey...these photos...is this...?" He asked himself and picked one up. "It's a photo with the other part-timers at Junes we took the other day...Wh-WHy is it cut up like this...?" he asked himself as a different echo sounded but Shinichi regconziged it. "It's Saki's!"

 

Arisa listened to her voices as she talked about working at Junes, she said that Yosuke was a pain in the butt. With a sigh, Arisa stared at her metal hand.

 

Another voice sounded and it was sniffing. "It's so sad...I feel sorry for myself...boo hoo." From somewhere within the room.

"Is it me or does that sound like...Yosuke?" He asked and noticed another Yosuke with a strange aura behind it but he also had yellow eyes. "I'm the one who thinks everything's a pain in the butt. Hahaha..." Other Yosuke said as Teddie looked from one Yosuke to the other.

"T-Two Yosukes!?" he asked surprised as Yosuke ran to the Other him.

"Who are you!? I-I wouldn't think that..." he said and the Other Yosuke laughed. "Hahaha... Yeah right. How long are you going to keep deluding yourself? Screw the shopping district, and Junes too! You're sick of everything, especially living out in the sticks!"

Yosuke was surprised. "What're you saying...? That's not true. I-" he was interupted by Other Yosuke. "You put on a good show of being carefree and happy-go lucky 'cause you are so terrified of being alone. The more the merrier, right? You've gotta be surrounded by people to block out the pain of isolation. And what's that checking this world for Saki-senpai's sake? Hah, I know the real reason you came snooping. Other Yosuek said.

"S-Stop it!" Yosuke cried out but Other Yosuke continued. "Hahaha, why so panicked? Or maybe I do know everything your thinking! Why's that...? Because I AM you!" as Yosuke shook hsi head.

"Y-You can't be me!" and The Other Yosuke laughed. "That's right, I'm not you anymore, I'm me now!" as it soon transformed into a creature. "I am a Shadow...The true self...I'll crush everythign that bores me...Starting with you!" as Yosuke fainted.

 

Yukari carried Yosuke away while Ryoji stayed with Arisa and the others. Arisa pulled out a card and Orpheus appeared again, but he gripped himself and coming out of him was a demonic robed creature with a demonic scythe in its hand.

 

"The hell is going on?" SHinichi said as he backed away and Souji summoned out Izanagi as the Shadow cast Wind of Oblivion and Souji fell onto his butt as the Shadow charged his power.

 

The demonic creature slashed its scythe at the Shadow.

 

The Shadow was attacked as it swayed back and forth in a rhythm as SOuji got back up and pointed his hand out at teh Shadow. "IZANAGI!" He called out as Izanagi cast Zio, a thunder spell upon it as the Shadow punched out two fists to attack both Persona's as Izanagi used it's sword to defend itself.

 

The creatures held its scythe to shield itself from the attack.

 

The Shadow cast another Wind of Oblivion upon the group as it's power was sigficantly increased as Izanagi attacked with another Zio upon it, weakening it.

 

The creature destroyed it with a one swing of its scythe before changing back to Orpheus, Ryoji smiled at it. 'That's my boy....' he whipsered

 

Izanagi was recalled as Yosuke awakened from his fainting spell. "You alright Yosuke?" Shinichi asked him.

"Y-Yeah...W-What...happened...?" He asked as Teddie noticed something and Yosuke turned around to notice Other Yosuke standing there, silent.

Yosuke shook his head. "You...You're....not me..." He said and Teddie spoke up. "That thing came from you, Yosuke...You'll have to admit it or it'll go berserk again..." he said and Yosuke seemed relucuant to accept it.

"you're still yourself." Souji said to him and Yosuke looked at Souji. "Myself...Damnit...it hurts to face yourself..." He said quietly and walked to his Other self.

"I kniw I was lying...But I was so ashamed I didn't want to admit it...I'm you...and you're me...when you get down to it, this is all me." He said as Other Yosuke nodded silently as it transformed to a differnt form as it became Jiraya as Yosuke caught ahold of his card.

 

"We all have certain secrets we cannot reveal to others. And I believe, if you're trapped here, those secrets become your Shadow self." Arisa said.

 

Yosuke bent down to his knees. "Maybe that's what Senpai's been keeping deep down inside...hahaha. 'a pain in the butt' huh? What a way to find out, this is so embarassing..." he said to himself and looked up at them.

"if you guys weren't here, I don't what woudl of happened...so...thanks." he said smiling.

"This world wasn't made for humans, it's not for you comfortable here. I don't hear anymore voices, so let's go back." Teddie pointed out