Persona: Rise of a New Wild Card

Chapter 10: September to Remember

Maki awoke from a very difficult nightmare. She'd been having these nightmares for the past couple days. Since she nearly lost everyone to Strega and the combined shadows Justice and Chariot, Maki has been struggling with loss. She didn't realize until now just how much she wanted to save everyone she cared about from dying. She stayed up the rest of the night trying to distract herself. She drew pictures, wrote in a notebook, she even tried watching TV in her room. Nothing seemed to keep her mind off the dreams though. While she was writing in her book her father Makoto was in bed as he dreamed of the Velvet room.

"Welcome back my friend. Time seems to always bring you back to me. It has been quite a long time since he have last spoken to each other inside the Velvet room." Igor was waiting for Makoto. Elizabeth was not in the room anymore but Igor was the constant. "Elizabeth has since moved on from the Velvet room. Do not worry about her, she is perfectly fine. As for you, fate will always catch up to you one way or another. Reality is faltering but you have one chance to save it. When the time comes you will know what it is you have to do. Farewell my friend." Makoto then woke up to see it was morning. He had to get to Gekkoukan for a meeting with Kenji about the status of the school. They had another school visiting Gekkoukan for a culture sharing event that both schools agreed upon. When Makoto got to the school Kenji was waiting outside the school gates for him.

"Good you're here. I received a call earlier this morning from a Narukami stating that his investigation team was coming to Gekkoukan. He said they were investigating some sort of cult group in town and wanted to start with the school. Makoto this is really bad." Kenji seemed like he was scared half to death about it. Makoto patted him on the back. "Don't worry, I know them. They're friends of mine. Though I doubt they know I'm the chairman of the school." right on cue two cars pulled up to the front of the school. One of the cars had on the side, TIB underneath the acronym was Tokyo Investigation Bureau. A man with bright silver hair in a black trench coat stepped out. "Makoto? What're you doing here? Did you hear about our investigation?" Yu Narukami, now one of the top investigators of the TIB was walking up to Makoto as they shook hands. "Yu, it's great to see you again. Yes and no though. I heard about your investigation but I'm actually the chairman of the school. You and I should talk without Kenji involved, I've got infor that'll help your investigation end very quickly." Makoto and Yu stepped to the side while Yu's two team members Rise and Chie talked with Kenji. 

"So what's up? It's been a long time." Yu asked. "Well the thing is your investigation is going to cause SEES more issues than we expected. You see the cult you're after is run by a long time enemy of ours. Takaya Sakaki, he's supposed to be dead but yet here he is alive and well. Apparently he's traveled from one timeline to another and has recruited one of the students here to his cause. He's been lying low lately but I have no clue how long that will last. SEES has things under control though. Don't worry, I'll give your office a call once this is all over." Yu trusted Makoto's word and so he returned to Rise and Chie and said they were leaving, that they had everything they needed to continue without being in Tatsumi Port Island or Iwatodai. Makoto waved as they drove off. Kenji was greatly relieved when they left without issue. 

Maki and Kojiro were looking out the window watching as everything unfolded. Maki made a personal note to ask her dad who he was talking to outside when class ended. The day was cut short thanks to the talk with Yu and Makoto. Maki walked out to her father and as they walked home she asked him. "Dad who were you talking to? And what was it about?" Makoto was confused how she knew about it. "Oh... I was talking to an old friend of mine. Yu Narukami, he's the head of Tokyo's investigation operations. He stopped by asking a few questions about things happening here. Next time he's in town I should have you meet him. Your middle name is actually homage to his younger cousin." Makoto smiled as he hugged his daughter when they reach the Kirijo transit station. The two of them got home and Yukari was relaxing on the couch asleep. Makoto left to the kitchen while Maki sat next to her mother. The second Maki changed the channel Yukari woke up. "Huh? Oh! Hi sweatheart how was school. I wasn't expecting you to be home so early." Maki and Yukari hugged as Maki told her mother about the short day and Makoto's chat with Yu Narukami. Yukari had trouble remembering the name till it hit her. She remembered Yu because they saved him and his team back when they were investigating the late night channel murders in Tokyo. Yukari made sure not to mention that being the reason they met but that Yu was a couple years younger than Makoto but was still a great friend to everyone in SEES. Maki went to bed after she ate dinner and prepared the the upcoming full moon battle.

Kojiro was eating a late dinner his father prepared when he felt a strange surge of power go through him. He heard a voice echo in his head, "Remember dear boy, the bonds you share with others shall be your greatest strength" He didn't recognize the voice very well but he did take the advice into consideration and knew he'd try and work on hanging out with more people than just Maki and the rest of SEES. Shinjiro gave his son another plate of food as Kotone gave him a kiss goodnight. The two of them were still madly in love even if one of them expressed it way to much and the other way to little. Kojiro soon went to sleep on their couch while watching the old airing show Featherman Rangers. He was watching it because his aunt Yukari was the main actor playing Featherman Pink. Kojiro would soon face a challenge that he would struggle with far greater than Maki thanks to his persona's weakness.