[center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/684ddb45-4fc1-4da4-89c5-42f0263bd666.png[/img][/center][right][sub]April 10th—Afternoon[/sub][/right][hr]
It took a concerted effort on Emi’s part not to bury her face in her hands at Naomi’s response. What did she [i]just[/i] say?! She suggested that they avoid going all vigilante and [i]cooperate with the administration[/i] to speak to offending students and find the source of their unrest—and somehow all Naomi got from that was for them to go ahead and revert to the plan the rest of them had just went to great lengths to oppose. Emi couldn’t help but feel like the administration was going to be disappointed in what little help the Student Council could offer if this was how they coordinated their plans. 

Whatever; at least Naomi revealed some useful information with her weird proposal. It was further confirmation that Yamamoto’s behaviour was decidedly out of the ordinary—and further evidence for her own suspicion that Shadow activity might be the culprit. It was still too early to make conclusions, she reminded herself, but the pieces were there; that counted for something. 

Nakano stepped in with some authority, to Emi’s relief. Hopefully Naomi would listen; if she was right, and Shadow activity was behind this unrest, Naomi overturning the wrong stone in her aggressive push for answers could end in disaster—disaster Emi wasn’t sure she could deal with on her own. But she tried to take a page from Kudan-kun’s book and cross that bridge when she came to it: mulling over that disheartening prospect would do her no good until she was forced to face it head on. 

At Nakano’s dismissal, Emi said her goodbyes and started making her way out of the school, her pace slow as she thought over their conversation. However, all of a sudden, something in the air profoundly shifted, and she stopped in her tracks right there on the stairs. It was as if a weight had been lif— no, that wasn’t quite right. It felt as if a tangible tension had been suddenly released, like a quick breeze of fresh air had dispelled a bit of the dark cloud hanging over the school. It was a strikingly familiar feeling, one that formed a painful lump in Emi’s throat even as she breathed what she realized was her first easy breath of the day; this was what it felt like after a hard-fought battle was won, when she and her friends stood panting and exhausted over a newly-closed gate, and the Shadows were beaten back for one more day. 

But could it possibly be? That would mean that she was right and wrong all at once: that there [i]was[/i] Shadow activity riling up the school, but that she [i]wouldn’t[/i] be facing it alone. Had her friends found their way back? Could it really be? No, surely what little bit of Euryphaessa’s power she had in the real world would have sensed that—but there was no other way! Emi caught herself on the railing as her knees threatened to buckle beneath her, but nonetheless, a surge of hope energized her more than ever. She must have been right! Her friends [i]were[/i] trapped in the Reflected World, just like William hinted at—and they must have finally made some progress!

She let out a giddy laugh right there in the stairway, the hopeful sound bouncing endlessly off the concrete walls. Trapped in the mirror wasn’t ideal, but progress was! And being alive [i]definitely[/i] was! Oh, how she wanted to sprint through the school and search for them right then. But if they were still trapped on the other side, it was pointless; still, she could at last rest easy in the knowledge that her friends must be alive somewhere, and fighting back at last.

Ha, if she could even rest at all!
[hr][hider=The Velvet Room][center][color=steelblue]"Welcome to the Velvet Room."[/color]

Once more, Emi’s heart swelled with hope as William stood in front of her in a dream. Despite his polite greeting, however, Emi could feel his mood was more dour than before. [color=steelblue]"Despite the Awakened's efforts, the corruption remains. It will likely find a new host before the day is done. While they rest, I suggest you find it before it is too late."[/color]

He tapped some paper on a table. [color=steelblue]"That said, time is on your side. You will have until the day after next,"[/color] He assured her. [color=steelblue]"If you find yourself with no clues, I suggest you try finding my door in your world. It will not open until every Awakening has occurred, but you may find something useful until that moment happens. It is located in a place consumed by flames that should be no more."[/color]

[color=steelblue]"We will meet again, I am sure. Until then, take care of yourself."[/color][/center][/hider][hr][right][sub]April 11th—Afternoon[/sub][/right][hr]
Emi was abuzz from the very second she woke up, and hadn’t calmed down yet. She completely skipped class, her attendance record far from her mind; instead, she spent her day prowling around the school picking up the latest gossip. Of course, it was all about Yamamoto and nothing else apparently seemed to be new, but she chose to take that as encouragement: [i]everyone[/i] thought he was acting weird. She was extremely tempted to test that theory for herself, but even if she did want to completely disobey her own advice from yesterday and confront the boy, she couldn’t [i]find[/i] the bastard to do it. 

Even so, that didn’t put a damper on her mood; if he was causing so much trouble, she was confident she’d find her way to him one way or another. Instead, once she realized gossip hunting wouldn’t teach her anything new, Emi took some time in the resource room with the braille typewriter, making a list of everything she knew so far. Ito’s message on the board, Yamamoto’s incident, the accident in the gym, of [i]course[/i] every word William said, and the release of tension yesterday—it was all listed out, along with any and every other minute detail that might have even slightly coincided with anything suspicious. She had quite a few pages when she was done, and by the time she pulled it all out of the typewriter, the end-of-day bell was clanging in her ears. Wow, time flew faster than she thought.

After collecting all of her notes into a folder, she flicked out her cane and made her way out of the resource room, contemplating her next steps. William’s words still echoed in her mind: [color=steelblue][i]The corruption remains. Time is on your side. Try finding my door in your world.[/i][/color] Ah, just thinking about it was enough to distract her with glee—there was no way the “Awakened” he was talking about weren’t her friends, fighting valiantly in the Reflected World to banish even more Shadows—but she had to focus. But what to do first? She wanted nothing more than to leap into the mirror and use Euryphaessa’s full strength to track her friends down, but another attempt this morning showed her she was still trapped on this side for the time being. Look for William’s door, then? He said it wouldn’t be revealed until every Awakening had occurred, but that condition was already satisfied, wasn’t it? She and her friends had all awakened their personae over the summer or before; but William’s messages definitely updated with time, so why would he say something that was out of date?

Unless… there were [i]more[/i] Persona users? 

Emi frowned at the concept, deep in thought. She supposed there was nothing she knew that [i]eliminated[/i] the possibility of more Persona users, but the very concept sounded so bizarre and unlikely it beggared belief. How could another Persona user be present, and she and her friends not know about it? Emi assumed Euryphaessa’s power would pick up on that in a second, but was that a fact, or did she just assume that because she could pinpoint her friends so easily? Well, William did say that whoever it was had yet to Awaken—maybe that’s why she didn’t sense them. Or maybe she was totally off-base with all of it, who knew? This was normally the time she’d bounce those ideas off her friends, weigh Mineri and Hanami’s outlandish proposals with Reiji and Makoto’s more measured suggestions, but unfortunately for now, she’d have to figure things out on her own. 

Who knew all those kid’s shows about the power of friendship had a point?

Her mind was running circles around the issue when a weird tension tugged at her third sense, asserting its presence strongly enough to interrupt her thoughts. Pausing for a moment, Emi turned a few times, trying to determine the direction it was coming from before taking off down a hallway toward the source. It seemed she was right, and the feeling got stronger and stronger until the tight thread of tension snapped, and a scream echoed down the hall. 

Startled, Emi rushed toward the noise, her cane tapping a feverish rhythm until she found the source of the noise, coming to a sudden halt in an unfamiliar doorway. [color=E5C4CD]“What ha—ah!”[/color]

She interrupted herself with a sharp gasp, her breath catching in her throat as a new feeling altogether barged its way to the forefront of her senses. There were four people in the room in front of her, but two stood out starkly from the rest; she couldn’t quite describe it, but it was like their presences screamed to make themselves known to her, and something inside her rose its voice to meet them. What shocked her most, though, was that the feeling was frighteningly familiar—that was what it felt like when her friends were around. 

[color=E5C4CD]“I—s—sorry,”[/color] Emi stammered after a long moment of silence, suddenly remembering there were actual people around. Her mind was on fire, racing to explain what she felt—that [i]had[/i] to be the feeling of Persona users, right? Dammit, she couldn’t know for sure, but part of her was certain! But what was she supposed to do now? Start rambling about mirrors and Shadows and oh by the way, had any of them seen five other Persona users stuck on the other side?! 

[color=E5C4CD]“Sorry,”[/color] she repeated, trying to recover even as her heartbeat in her ears threatened to deafen her. She cleared her throat, standing upright at last from where she’d caught herself on the door frame, cane in hand. [color=E5C4CD]“I, uh... I heard a scream. Is everything okay?”[/color]
[hr][right][sub][@Hero] [@Scribe of Thoth] [@Lord Orgasmo][/sub][/right]