Day 46: Breakfast

[repeatingfate]

For the second time, Rika found herself waking with a start. She blinked at the grey light streaming through the windows, and looked across the room. Anise was still asleep. So. I'm still here. Let me just check...Rika put on her slippers and walked over to the desk, checking the drawer and breathing a light sigh of relief. Good, the knife was

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[foolishmessiah]

Minato was awake before he opened his eyes. He found it difficult to move, as if his body rejected the idea of leaving the bed. It didn't take long for him to remember why; through a painful haze, he recalled being pulled out of his room, dragged down the hall and up the stairs, and then...

There was an uncomfortable gap in his memory. If he thought about it hard enough, he could almost hear mumbling...

But that was it. The next thing he remembered, he was being equipped with his school uniform, evoker, and sword, and then sent off to be stationed in the Sun Room. He had stepped into the music room, listening to his player for awhile before moving back into the larger room. And from there, he had become an antagonist, attacking other patients with some unclear, nonsensical objective in his head. Now that his mind was [relatively] clear, he guessed that he had deserved those injuries he had received.

Minato squeezed his eyelids tightly at the memory, slowly levering himself up onto his elbows. His head ached terribly, and for an altogether different reason than previous days. As he tentatively touched his head, he was surprised to find it bandaged. That tall man from last night must have left him concussed. Fortunately, the arrow wound had been healed by Kohryu last night, though he could feel some tension in the shoulder that had been pierced. The rest of his fatigue was familiar, from using his Personas' more powerful spells several times in one night.

He repressed a groan as he saw a nurse enter to lead him to the cafeteria. Shuffling around the institute didn't sound appealing at all today. Even the thought of a warm breakfast did little to elevate his mood as he dressed and followed -- slowly -- after the nurse.

[For Souji]

[no_arcana]

Last night had been... well... incredibly uneventful. Nothing at all had happened, and despite himself, Souji had not stirred from his bed all night. He felt horrible about it this morning; he'd expected to get more done, and what if Kanji had been left alone? Ah, he was a terrible team leader nowadays!

But when he rushed into the cafeteria, as though the energy spent now could make up for the wasted time of the previous night, he both saw and felt something at the same time. He felt a subconscious tug, and that tug led him right to Minato Arisato, the other wielder of Persona and the other one capable of utilizing the gifts from the Velvet Room.

The problem was that he looked terrible, and he was shuffling behind a nurse like some kind of Shadow zombie. Concern furrowed Souji's brow, and without second-guessing himself, he trotted right to Arisato's side, speaking quietly and yet with a remarkable degree of openness. Well, not so remarkable for him. "...You look terrible." With the unspoken implication that Souji was there if Minato wanted to speak... or, more probably, have someone carry his tray. The nurses were not people that Souji trusted, after all.

[foolishmessiah]

His nurse had explained away his headache as him falling out of bed and hitting it hard against the side of the bed frame. While Minato had silently taken those lies in, he knew all too well that the nurses wouldn't acknowledge what he had gone through last night. He wondered just how they could do such things.

Minato kept his eyes on the ground in front of him as he walked, as that helped keep his headache to a minimum. However, a different ache caught his attention as he walked through the cafeteria, and he glanced to one side to see Souji beside him.

"Rough night," he sighed, watching the nurse in front of him. She seemed relieved that someone else was talking to him, moving to one side so he could access the food line.

[no_arcana]

By this point, Souji was used enough to the headache that he barely acknowledged it. He adapted pretty quickly, and it was only a dull ache anyway. He was more concerned about Arisato- it took him a moment, but when he realized that he was probably just making it worse, he started to sweat a little.

"Er, am I making it worse?" He tapped the side of his head, certain that the other boy would know what he was talking about. And if he was, he wouldn't mind giving Minato some space. ...well, he might, a little bit, because it was frustrating as anything to be unable to help someone who clearly needed it, but he would.

[foolishmessiah]

Minato waved a hand dismissively, not wanting to aggravate his headache anymore than necessary. "It distracts from the bump." Thankfully, the bandage hid the swelling well.

He plucked breakfast items somewhat mechanically, briefly musing whether or not he would actually eat all of it. The knowledge of what had happened last night, along with his various aches, didn't give him much of an appetite. Meanwhile, he spoke in a hushed tone to the other boy. "I was brainwashed last night."

[no_arcana]

And from everything else... Souji couldn't see too much, but the bandages were definitely a sign of something having gone pretty badly. He was worried, but he was hungry too, so he started in on the waffles- with plenty of fruit, because otherwise Nanako would have scolded him- and then frowned around the fork when he heard that hushed statement. "'ainwashed?"

The implication was pretty bad. Sure, he'd been charmed by his share of monsters and woken up in a bad situation- or been slapped out of it, either way- but this sounded a lot worse. And clearly, he'd run afoul of someone.

[foolishmessiah]

He nodded in confirmation that time, picking up his tray with a surprisingly normal amount of food. He paused at the end of the line, taking his time picking up plastic utensils. "I was attacking other patients."

He had not really heard of this from others before. But after what he had seen in the recreational field, he couldn't say he was surprised.

[no_arcana]

"Attacking other patients? With...?" He made a vague motion with the back end of his fork, pointing it to the side of his head. That was where their Personas lay, or at least, that's where Souji always assumed they were. Even if he wasn't right, then the other boy would surely understand what he meant. Of course, it was entirely possible that Arisato had just been forced to fight with whatever he would grab... that'd explain the wounds, at least. He didn't look like he'd be much in a melee...

[foolishmessiah]

Minato gave a slight nod when he saw Souji make that motion. With his tray ready, he headed towards an empty table. He was quiet along the way, focusing on keeping his balance and trying to explain what had happened. Of all ways that he could have been made to fight against the other patients, using his Personas was perhaps the most disturbing; not only had they managed to subject him to brainwashing, but they had done it in such a way that his Personas' powers weren't affected.

Now he could hear them stirring in his head, unlike the last few days and especially last night. The headaches had made it less obvious they had been sitting dormant since he arrived in the institute. "I didn't know they could do that."

[no_arcana]

Souji followed Minato, putting down his tray and gazing into the other boy's eyes with a worried expression. He wasn't sure what Minato had lurking in his head, but if Souji was ever caught in a situation like that, then there'd most definitely be some problems. But that then begged the question of why and how.

As he slowly sat down, Souji frowned. "Me neither. How can they play with something that's part of us?" Taking away his sword, yeah, that Souji understood, same with removing his armor and the like. But taking away his Persona? That was like a lobotomy, a part of his soul sliced away. And now hearing that they could be brought back and controlled, just like that... it worried him. A lot.

[foolishmessiah]

"I don't know." As he said the words, Minato kept in mind that his friends had been around longer than himself; his conversation with Yukari also made it sound like Souji's friends had been around for awhile. He chopped at his waffle with his fork, looking at the nurses under his bangs to once again check if they could be overheard. "I damaged the Sun Room, too. A lot. But now it's completely repaired."

[no_arcana]

Honestly, if Arisato hadn't mentioned anything, Souji wouldn't have guessed that there had been any fighting at all going on in the Sun Room. When passing through there, he hadn't seen even a single couch out of place, let alone the kind of damage that Personas should have been capable of.

In his experience, there was only one explanation, and yet he offered it only tentatively, not sure if it even applied in this situation. "Well, if this is like the other world, then it'd be repaired fully..." But normal humans didn't do well in the Other World, and there wasn't that fog either...

Of course, as he thought about that, he looked up at Minato, a sudden thought occurring. One could almost imagine the "!" flashing above his head as he asked, "Hey, are your Personas dormant now, or...?" Of course, the widening of his gray eyes could be because of the throbbing of his headache. But he preferred to think of it as having a brilliant flash of insight that might just serve to help both of them.

[foolishmessiah]

Confusion briefly flitted across Minato's face his headache led him to rub at his temples. What other world? Was he referring to the Dark Hour? It wasn't as if their term for that unknown time was broadcast across Japan. "It's still strange," he commented almost under his breath.

The tone of the conversation changed noticeably at Souji's question. There was almost a thread of urgency in there. "Yeah." They were quiet now in his mind, voices muted by something he couldn't discern. "Do your headaches get weaker at night?"

[no_arcana]

That it certainly was, and Souji wasn't sure what kind of answer to give. He was pretty sharp, certainly the sharpest kid in Inaba, but this wasn't exactly something covered in the average textbook. There just wasn't enough information to go on. ...well, there might be, if Naoto was still around, but he wasn't Naoto Shirogane.

That sense of urgency caught Souji off-guard, and he mutely nodded his head in response. The headaches were almost completely gone when night fell, but in Souji's case, it was because things felt almost normal again. Izanagi's voice could be heard in his mind, and he was certain he could call his Persona forth then. Right now, though... there was nothing but a throbbing ache where his Persona should be.

[foolishmessiah]

"The ache left after I summoned." Minato glanced around briefly as he said the last word, knowing it might garner attention from anyone nearby. He wasn't sure if it would be the same situation for Souji, but maybe the ache was related to his multiple Personas being suppressed. The institute left them with more questions than answers.

[no_arcana]

The statement had an obvious implication, and Souji considered it carefully. Minato summoned his Persona and the ache was gone, which implied that he'd had the ache even when he'd had his powers back. Maybe it was like a kind of pressure, and releasing it made the ache go away, releasing the tension and leaving nothing but peaceful calm behind.

...wait, was he thinking about Personas or certain kinds of 'social links'?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, then he spoke again, a thoughtful tone to his voice. "I'll try it tonight and see if it works for me." Though he didn't say it, getting to speak with Minato without the headaches would be nice.