Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 70

The duty of exploration. Then again, it was necessary when they wanted to make progress. And they were not just talking about themself here, no, it was them. This included Ole. Though he had not been exactly pleased when having heard of it with his very own ears.

"So, what you are telling me is that you were in the Metaverse all by yourself?" When he had asked he had a very sharp gaze, as if piercing his pupils through their body. He had even crossed his arms at that point. They had no words and couldn't come up with a counter. After all, was it exactly wrong? Was it so wrong to assume that they were all by themself? Not really and he was almost right actually. That was until the voice from their phone just barged right into this conversation.

"Haha, you're almost correct with your assumption. Though Annie had plenty of help from me~"

Ole's ears had wagged at that time, him having jumped up rather startled. "Wha– Who—"

"Oh don't mind me. I just decided to phone them up, nothing more~"

"Meow!?"

"Nice to meet you, Senior Ole. You can call me Pipistrello if you like."

"Wait... That's—"

They only nodded as a response. "Yes, that's the one. It's been with me since the first time I got there."

Ole only grumbled, nearly growling even. Honestly, it was a little tough to take him seriously when he was so tiny in comparison, looking more like their younger brother than an old man. The cat ears did not help it in the slightest. Especially not if they kept flopping like this. It was a little distracting. He was like an angry cat. Wait, right, he is a cat actually. It was easy to forget sometimes when in the Metaverse. Never had they imagined that they were holding a proper conversation with him after all.

"Now Senior Ole, you can trust me. They are alive, aren't they?" PIpistrello laughed. "I wouldn't let them end up dying in their own cold blood. That's a promise."

"Next time, find a way to notify me, will you!?"

All they could do was nod, a nod of shame. "Y... Yeah..."

"Aww, worried about your grandchild? But fine, if that's what you want. Welcome to the tour because we're going right now~"

And that was exactly how they ended up here with Ole now, this one having been caught up to speed on the way there as well as a quick tour on the rooms already visited. Long story short, Ole heard how this was a Palace, Miyuki's Palace, and that this was her little dollhouse, a replica of places. Though that was only what it looked like on the surface. Because the deeper one went, the more abandoned things became. Not just that but it also became colder and smellier. It was more a graveyard than it was a dollhouse, given the life it lacked in the end. There were barely any Shadows around, only those dolls which were standing in place, frozen in time, replicating everyday life scenes. Not a single life could be detected within this Palace. Not even the automaton they had encountered not too long ago... It was not a breathing being. Overall this place just lacked life overall... It was more like a display, a collection. 'Hey look at everything I gathered. All my dolls to play with~' It sent a clear message.

Though the key was to go deeper probably, uncover what Miyuki would not want anyone to see, including the potential treasure. Or so had been their conclusion. Even Ole had made this deduction. "Given how you describe her. she's probably the type who hides all of her skeletons somewhere. I think this 'treasure' you mentioned might be there too. Can't have people just see that, right?"

And they wholeheartedly agreed. "Yeah. It would make sense. Secrets no one is supposed to know about."

Then again, could that really be where the treasure lied? It was the best shot they had. Besides, the duo (or somewhat trio maybe) had taken a look upstairs but it was only more rooms resembling scenes in real life, frozen in time, dolls posed with the fitting props. They had even gone all the way up, only to find more of those rooms. But it wasn't exactly telling them anything about Miyuki herself. It was probably locations she frequented with faces she remembered, nothing more. Though some of the dolls had cracks in them. Heck, there was even one which was wet and smelled awful, a very strong scent. All with a tea cup on its head.