Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 164

A sudden knock echoed through the office. 

“Come in!” Right after Eli had said that he saw her standing right in the door. It was none other than Anja. She had opened the door yet only peeked in at first, as if still a little distraught. Yet she seemed to be in way better shape than before. She didn’t just stand there and shiver at least, he could tell that much. That was a good thing. “Please, sit down. We will probably be here for a while.”

He saw her nod before stepping aside from the door and taking the necessary step back into his office before closing the door behind her, then walking over to the chair to sit down. She faced him at the very least despite the clear tension in her body. But she was in better shape compared to when he found her. Honestly, that in itself was already odd enough but what she had said yesterday was equally surprising. This was something he had never expected out of her after all.

“ It’s about… The mental shutdown incidents… I… It’s a long story but… I… I… I know who the culprit is! ”

Anyone would be surprised to hear that. Actually, any other officer would have dismissed it as a sick joke. After all, these mental shutdown incidents kept the force busy for months now. A culprit they couldn't catch for ages. Until now apparently but he had his doubts. And now some girl walked up and claimed to know who is behind those incidents. It sounded a little too hard to believe. And yet something told him to stay and listen. She wasn't lying.She didn't sound as if she was lying. And honestly her actions told him just as much. After all, there had to be a reason why she had run away, trying to hide herself from the public eye.  If she truly knew then there may be the possibility of her becoming a target. So it would only make sense to disappear. But to think that she would have the answer… Now that was something he had not even dreamed of. But he had to keep his cool.

“Now then, are you alright now?” The officer asked the brunette. The response was only a nod but that was good enough of a start. “Alright. Shall we continue the conversation from yesterday then?” He was met with another nod. 

“Uhm… One thing before though, Sato–San.” She began. “What I will tell you… Uhm… I know that it will be a little difficult to believe. I won’t blame you if you accuse me of lying! Just… Listen until the very end. Please?” 

“Very well. If that’s what it takes.” Was he about to listen to some fairytale or something? Perhaps a made up story? He was starting to wonder about that a little. And yet if she started like this… Oddly enough, he was ready to believe her. As far–fetched as it was going to sound. Was he naive for thinking like this? Maybe. After all, no one could be convicted based on mere claims or a lack of evidence. And he probably wouldn’t get that. But if he could at least hear who was the culprit according to her, then maybe that was already a good start. 

“Thank you very much. Then I will begin now.” – A good start and a quick one. And here he thought that during his job as an officer he would have heard all types of stories. After all, people came up with a lot right on the spot. He heard everything, from shifting blame to switching up the story for an alibi. After all, who would confess to a crime? Or perhaps someone was covering up for another person. In any case, he expected something still grounded in reality. But no, just when he had thought that he had heard it all, this topped everything he had heard in every interrogation he had taken part in. 

Anja started talking, clearly at that. She got straight to the point as well, only barely stuttering around if any. And all while talking about all of this too, he didn’t even know where to start. The existence of another world known as the ‘Metaverse’, allowing to enter someone else’s cognition. The existence of ‘Palaces’ within this so–called cognitive world, apparently created when someone has an overflow of negative emotions in some way. As for how they got there, apparently some ‘being’ had been dragging her in this world, something Anja didn’t understand herself. She called it ‘Pipistrello’, that was its name. And thanks to that she had access to this other world and had been wandering around there since. But the most interesting part? She was not the only one who had access to this world.