Persona: World of Twilight

Strength Arcana

Natsumi stared down at the ground. Where should she start? "It's, um... Pyrrha raised me, yes. I've been living with her for as long as I can remember. When we first met, she had just lost her daughter. She was very sad."

"So you were the first," Akoto said, "But... she couldn't create shadows at the time. Ones that suited her daughter requirement, at least. Natsumi... Achlys said that you weren't a shadow..."

"I-I don't know what I am," Natsumi mumbled, on the verge of tears. "I always thought I was a shadow. Pyrrha told me that if I left this place, I would die... b-but that wasn't true, either! What... am I...?"

"There's another thing Achlys said that bothered me," Juichi interrupted, "She said that Pyrrha took in Natsumi... seventeen years ago. Natsumi just told us that she was taken in after her daughter went missing. Which means..."

"Pyrrha's daughter has been missing for seventeen years!" Ebizo realised, "We've been working on the assumption that her daughter only recently went missing. This opens up... actually, what does this open up? We just know that Pyrrha has been waiting a long time to see her daughter. Perhaps that's why she's getting so desperate."

"This is something that Pyrrha has been planning for years," Eriko grumbled, "I can't believe it! We have to do something! We can't let her destroy Jansaai in a bid to get her daughter back! No one else will be able to stop her!"

Koichi gave Natsumi a hug, noticing how distressed she was. "Can we... not talk about this in front of Natsumi? Or, at least, talk about it another time? She's not okay..."

"Ah... sorry, Natsumi," Aurora lowered her head to apologise. "You'll be safe with us. Besides, you've been living with Akoto, right? I'm sure her door is always open."

"It's not like I have any other roommates," Akoto shrugged. "I enjoy the company... sort of. Sometimes. She's getting better at cleaning up after herself, at least."

"Maybe we can ask Pyrrha about you when we confront her!" Hayasaki suggested, "Cheer up, Natsumi! You'll always have us."

"I still want some time to recharge, though," Chieko grumbled, "I wanna celebrate New Years! Can we wait until January before doing this? I want to get my nails done, too. I need to book ahead-"

"We have two options: wait until Pyrrha attacks us, or charge into Luethea to try and find her," Juichi said, "Why don't we try and decide on a date? One where we'll all free. No excuses. This is important."

"B-But surely we'll want as much prep time as possible!" Akoto exclaimed, "I don't want to go in too early! Or unprepared! I want time to warn my family, too. I don't want them getting hurt."

"If we wait too long, she could hurt people, though," Koichi pointed out, "Besides, um... we have a little bit of a warning. The earthquakes! When there's an earthquake, something bad happens!"

Ebizo shook his head. "Yeah, well... unless someone can predict earthquakes, we're out of luck. Let's head back before anyone starts to worry about us. We can decide on the specifics later..."

——

"This just in: seismologist Dr Tomomi Okamoto claims to have invented a machine that accurately predicts when earthquakes occur, up to twenty days ahead of time!"

Ebizo almost jolted out of his seat. He had absentmindedly turned on the TV once he had returned home to see if Jansaai was okay. What he didn't expect, though, was the answer to the group's problems.

The reporter turned to someone in a lab coat with drill-shaped buns. "Dr Okamoto, care to tell us more about your brilliant machine?"