[center][color=ff9815][b][h1]Nakano Nagi[/h1][/b][/color][/center] Nagi waved Asumi off as she left, even with her best friend not giving her a chance to respond or say goodbye. A moment later, Mune left too, telling Nagi she could handle the bird and that he'd be going home to get some rest. Not that she was exactly satisfied by that, but whatever. She'd let it slide this time. He was probably still tired from yesterday. [color=ff9815][b]"Alright, you."[/b][/color] Nagi muttered quietly down to the bird in her arms, opening her bag. [color=ff9815][b]"Get in. I'll leave it half open, but I'm not about to look like a crazy person talking to a bird."[/b][/color] She helped the crow in before pulling her phone out, raising it to her ear as she pretended to talk into it. No reason to walk around town looking like she was talking to either herself or the crow. Nagi started walking away from the school, heading off towards somewhere she knew wouldn't get much foot traffic. [color=ff9815][b]"Let's lay down some ground rules. You give me reason to think you're bullshitting me, I'm sending you back to Asumi with some suggestions on bird costumes. Now, start talking. Why can I understand you? The word Persona mean anything to you?"[/b][/color] The crow settled itself comfortably within Nagi's backpack. He wasn't the best option for the time being, but he stayed quiet as the girl laid down whatever ground rules she deemed fit. It was only when she mentioned Personas that he stuck his head further out of the backpack and blinked up at her. [color=red][b]"Personas? Know a lot about 'em,"[/b][/color] he cooed. A moment of realization came over him, and he narrowed his eyes at her and clicked his beak. [color=red][b]"Hey, wait a minute... how can you understand me and that other girl can't? Don'tcha think that's kinda weird?"[/b][/color] [color=ff9815][b]"Because I got one of those Persona things yesterday."[/b][/color] Nagi shot back instantly, inwardly relieved. Good. Maybe this thing could give her some real answers about her situation after all. [color=ff9815][b]"Me and the other guy did. Got sucked into some weird alternate version of our school. Asumi didn't. Don't freak out too much about her, by the way. I know she's overbearing, but she means well."[/b][/color] At Nagi's response, the crow fluffed himself up even more. [color=red][b]"So... you and 'the other guy' have Personas?! You somehow got into the Metaverse?! How?!"[/b][/color] Thankfully, his initial wave of shock didn't last long. He settled back down into her backpack and frowned. [color=red][b]"You and the guy are Persona-users, then. And you just got them yesterday, so you can't be them..."[/b][/color] He shook his head, sighing and sinking further into her backpack as if in defeat. [color=red][b]"Huh, just doesn't add up."[/b][/color] [color=ff9815][b]"So that's what the fucked up dimension's called?"[/b][/color] Nagi raised an eyebrow. [color=ff9815][b]"Good to know. We got in through this stupid app that just downloaded itself onto our phones for no reason."[/b][/color] She pauses. [color=ff9815][b]"You know what a phone is, right? Whatever. Anyways, who's 'them'? You mean there's other people like me running around in there?"[/b][/color] [color=red][b]"Of course I know what a phone is, I watch people use them every day! I might be a crow, but I'm not stupid,"[/b][/color] the bird cawed loudly. It looked like she had some semblance of what the Metaverse was, but not what it [i]actually was[/i]. Humans. Always quick to think they know everything... Her second question caught him off guard. He pondered it for a moment, then he shook his head. [color=red][b]"[i]Somethin's[/i] messin' 'round in there, that's for sure. Y'know the guy that-- that, uh, erm, 'sumi girl found with her friends? That wasn't a murder, not in your typical sense. No, that guy killed himself. I watched him walk into that corner of the road and slit his own throat. Pretty gross, if ya ask me... anyways, my name's Goji, and I'm hungry. Got anything to eat?"[/b][/color] He stared at the side of Nagi's face, eyes unwavering. It was quite obvious that this bird-- Goji --wasn't willing to talk anymore unless he got fed. [color=ff9815][b]"You were dumb enough to ask someone for their help not five seconds after insulting them. The fuck you mean you're not stupid?"[/b][/color] Nagi grumbled in displeasure, but paid attention to the rest of the crow's words nonetheless. Messing around in there? What, could you just screw with someone's head in there and make them off themselves-wait. Nagi recalled the douchebag with the hat's words from earlier in the day. Kids suddenly worshipping Okamoto despite the fact the bitch was completely worthless. Well, shit. Maybe it was plausible after all. Of course, that meant there was someone else besides Okamoto fucking around where they shouldn't be. She sighed at Goji begging for food, her phone still held up to her ear like she was taking a call. [color=ff9815][b]"Fine, what do you want? I'm only feeding your ass because you've been actually helpful so far, so don't get used to it. Name's Nakano Nagi, by the way."[/b][/color] [color=red][b]"It's not like I thought you actually understood me at first..." Goji muttered under his breath.[/b][/color] Nakano, huh. He had heard that name before. Was that a good thing or bad thing? He wondered if he should ask her. Nah. If she was offering to feed him that meant she was probably not that bad of a human to begin with. [color=red][b]"I want steak. Well-done. Cut into little pieces so I don't gotta work too much for it,"[/b][/color] he rasped. [color=red][b]"By the way, where you takin' me? To your place?"[/b][/color] He sure hoped that she didn't have a cat. The one at Asumi's place was definitely going to try to have a go at him. She was smart enough to keep him out of reach, but still! He could feel the thing's glare from across the room. It was sheer luck he didn't end up its dinner. [color=red][b]"Oh, and you don't got any pets, right? Like cats? I hate cats. They're worse than people. At least people don't want to eat me, y'know?"[/b][/color] Nagi's eyebrow twitched at Goji's reply. Little shit was getting real presumptuous. [color=ff9815][b]"If I didn't need you to tell me more shit about Personas and the Metaverse, I'd feed you to Asumi's cat myself."[/b][/color] She grumbled, shaking her head. [color=ff9815][b]"And yeah. Your prissy bitch requirements for steak mean that I'm gonna have to make it myself. Not gonna be caught dead ordering that well-done. You can stay up on the roof or something from my window for now until we figure this Persona shit out. I wanna go back in tomorrow. Got a score to settle."[/b][/color] Oh boy, home-cooked food. That was the icing on his cake. He smirked at her before he ducked the rest of the way back into her backpack and said nothing else until they arrived at her place. It was a normal person place, not a big deal. He had sense worse, but he had also seen better. Eh, she was going to cook for him, so there was no room for critique. Goji settled himself on the windowsill to her room, his sprained wing making him unable to fly up to the rooftop. The bird waited a little while for Nagi to return with his meal. In the meantime, he wondered if telling her all of this was a good idea or not. For all he knew, he could be confiding in the wrong person. Where would that get him? When Nagi returned with his meal, he snapped back to attention. [color=red][b]"Thought that you ditched me out here. What took you so long, huh?"[/b][/color] By the time Nagi had returned home, it'd been about time for dinner anyway. Cooking club and hanging out with Asumi, Masa, and Mune after had taken a good while anyways. So she'd grilled up steak skewers and vegetables for herself, her dad, her lunch, her dad's lunch, Asumi's lunch, and the fucking bird. Frankly, the steak bits she made for Goji were a god damn crime, considering she'd just ruined good beef by charring it well-done. But if the crow wanted to have shit taste, it'd have shit taste. Her old man had returned home while she was cooking too, and Nagi had to be occupied with having dinner with him for a while. All in all, once cleanup was done, she knew she was a bit later than she should have been with sneaking Goji's food over to her room. [color=ff9815][b]"Eat a dick, I had to cook like six meals and then serve two."[/b][/color] Nagi grumbled, shoving the plate of well-done steak cut up into baby-sized pieces onto the windowsill. [color=ff9815][b]"You want some cheese with that whining, too?"[/b][/color] She left Goji to his meal, pulling her textbooks out of her bag and starting to work on her homework. [color=ff9815][b]"Anyways, once you're done, start talking. I can work on this shit and listen to you at the same time."[/b][/color] Nagi grunted, scratching away at her math homework. [color=ff9815][b]"The fuck's a Persona? Why do I suddenly have superpowers?"[/b][/color] The crow was pleased to see that Nagi had done just as he wanted, down to cutting the steak into minature pieces and everything. He never had a human serving him before. It was a delicatable experience, even in the face of all of her complaining. And the steak was delicious as well. Much better than rooting through the trash or fighting other birds for scraps. He practically devoured the food that she had given him, down to the very last piece of over-cooked meat. When he was satisfied, he let out a belch of thanks and stepped inside of Nagi's room. He carefully picked his way across to her before he settled down into a bloated, yet content, mass of feathers. [color=red][b]"That's a loaded question. Main question is how you got that app on your phone, and how you got into that Palace,"[/b][/color] Goji replied after a long silence. [color=red][b]"Personas are easy to explain. You ever feel so angry in the face of somethin' unfair that it just drives you crazy? Like you wanna just beat the crap outta someone or crawl outta your skin? When you get like that in the Metaverse, you awaken your true self-- a Shadow. It calls out to you in that moment, when you rebel in the face of injustice. It forms a contract with you, and you and the Shadow merge as one, which grants you a Persona-- which is kinda like a manifestation of your willpower."[/b][/color] [color=red][b]"You must've been really upset for that stuff to happen,"[/b][/color] Goji grumbled, his eyes half-lidded. Damn, that steak was really good. He was suddenly so tired... when was the last time he got food fatigue? [color=red][b]"That other guy, too. You got beef with someone, or somethin'?"[/b][/color] [color=ff9815][b]"Shed on my desk, and no amount of information's gonna save your ass."[/b][/color] Nagi jabbed her pen in Goji's face for a moment before listening to the rest. [color=ff9815][b]"As a matter of fact, yeah. I don't know how that app got on my buddy Mune's phone. According to him, it just happened. It dragged us into your fuckin' Metaverse where some weird double of our history teacher tried to get us to be her bitches. Don't know what set Mune off, but she talked shit about my family. Dunno about all that injustice shit, though. Okamoto just pisses me off."[/b][/color] Nagi trailed off, working on solving another math problem for a moment before speaking again. [color=ff9815][b]"According to some shit I heard today, could be that she's fucking with people's heads in there. Some self-important dickhead told me that a good number of former students of hers practically worship her. In a way that ain't normal. So yeah. Gotta go back in there and nip that problem in the bud before it screws us over."[/b][/color] She paused for a second. [color=ff9815][b]"You think that's actually her in there? Because I'll tell you, the Okamoto out here and the Okamoto in there definitely ain't the same person. The one in the Metaverse has fake tits, of all fucking things."[/b][/color] Goji grumbled a curse under his breath and snapped his beak at Nagi's pen when she shoved the thing into his face. What kind of person did math with a pen anyway? Weirdo. Nevertheless, he bundled himself up into a tighter ball, attempting to keep his movements minimal as to not soil her precious desk. What she said did make sense, though, for someone who had just awakened their Persona. Maybe he could put more trust in this girl after all. When she mentioned the teacher manipulating students from within the Palace, he shook his head. [color=red][b]"That's impossible. The real world affects Palaces and the Metaverse, not the other way around, so seems like teacher lady's been having a grasp on her students for a while. What you're seeing in the Palace is how she views them, since Palaces are distorted perceptions and cognitions..."[/b][/color] [color=red][b]"Which means the teacher lady in there isn't the same as the one out here. Remember when I said that you got your Persona 'cause you merged with your Shadow? That's [i]her[/i] Shadow. And it lives smack dab in the middle of the Palace her screwed up congition created."[/b][/color] He sighed and sagged his shoulders. [color=red][b]"'s all really complicated. But if she's causin' so much trouble, I have a theory on what we can do to get you and that other guy outta this mess."[/b][/color] Nagi frowned as she listened, punching some numbers into her calculator. [color=ff9815][b]"So what, you have to be fucked up in the head to make a space for yourself in the Metaverse? There goes me making my own secret clubhouse, then."[/b][/color] She groused lightly before perking up at Goji's next words. [color=ff9815][b]"Look, if you've got a way out of this, I kinda need to fucking know. Does it involve beating the shit out of her? Please tell me it involves beating the shit out of her."[/b][/color] [color=red][b]"You can try taking the physical form and source of her distorted desires, her Treasure,"[/b][/color] Goji responded. [color=red][b]"If you take it, I think there's a chance it can change her... that's my theory, anyways. But she won't let you just steal it, so you'll get the chance to rough her up a lil'. That's bettin' if you can even get past the Shadows and locate the Treasure itself."[/b][/color] [color=ff9815][b]"So basically we go in, find something that looks big and important, and steal it?"[/b][/color] Nagi sighed, finishing up the last of her math problems and leaning back in her seat. [color=ff9815][b]"Sure, fine, whatever. You're gonna have to repeat this whole thing to Mune tomorrow."[/b][/color] A pause as she thought some things over, her mind replaying the events of the previous day in her head. [color=ff9815][b]"...Be straight with me, what's our chances with just two people? I'm guessing there's no guarantee that anyone else we drag in with us can awaken a Persona, yeah?"[/b][/color] [color=red][b]"Why do [i]I[/i] have to repeat it? Don'tcha have a mouth?"[/b][/color] Goji asked, exasperated. Her next question was another good one, and one that he had to think of for more than a few moments. [color=red][b]"Based off what you told me, seems like teacher lady has a hold on the entire school, so her Palace has to be swarming with Shadows. Not to mention the size of it. Two people can do it, but it'll probably take a while."[/b][/color] He shrugged before he gave her a large and rather loud yawn. [color=red][b]"If you wanna push people into the Palace and see if they get Personas so they can help you, you can. There's always a chance they get Personas, but there's also a chance that they get seriously hurt or worse. And don't go askin' me what's the best choice, 'cause honestly I don't care about what happens. I'm only in it to see if my theory's correct."[/b][/color] [color=ff9815][b]"Yeah, that's fair."[/b][/color] Nagi could only shrug in response. [color=ff9815][b]"Ain't like I give a shit about you, either. Just how it is sometimes."[/b][/color] She folded her arms in thought, trying to decide who exactly she and Mune could drag in with them for potential backup. Asumi was absolutely out of the question. Nagi knew her best friend wasn't exactly a fighter. No fucking shot. Masa was more of a definite. In the years Nagi had known him, she'd always suspected he had far more of a taste for violence than he'd let on. And...fuck it, why not? Hat kid. He seemed to be enough of a bleeding heart that he'd probably jump at the chance to be cannon fodder if it meant getting a scoop and doing something good for the school. [color=ff9815][b]"Alright, think I got an idea of how to do this. You can rest on the windowsill outside for the night or something. Do whatever the fuck you want around town until after class and clubs are done tomorrow."[/b][/color] [color=red][b]"Aight, I'll leave it up to you. Time to turn in for the night."[/b][/color] Goji got up to his feet, stretched, and picked his way back over to the windowsill in a lopsided manner. Damn it, he would have to get used to his sprained wing for the time being. He'll hitch a ride on either Nagi or Munehisa while they do whatever they do in the Palace tomorrow. From there, he'd be more focused on giving them suggestions and less on how he'd be getting around. He sat down on the windowsill and tucked his beak under his wing. Within a few moments, he was sound asleep.