Persona 5 - The Jester's Point Of View

Scene 173

“There's one Palace I need you to investigate. It stuck out to me for a while. You won't mind looking, will you?”

That was a rhetorical question. If they both refused, who knows what consequences that would entail. Then again, it sounded like the usual stick. They didn’t think much of it, having grown used to the concept of Palaces and exploring them. Not even the request told them much. After all, they had pursued Ishikawa–San under Pipistrello’s request, this one shouldn’t be so different. 

“Whose Palace is it?” They had asked the being. Yet in its old fashion it didn’t really give them any response. Not directly at least.

“Aww, don’t worry about that dearie. I will lead you there myself this time~ You just do what you gotta do.”

“Do what you gotta do, huh…” Akechi muttered, him being the only one who seemed to visibly not trust this whatsoever. He didn’t hide any hint of skepticism. “What game are you playing?”

“Oh just my usual boy. Nothing else.” Pipistrello said, the grin on its mask uncomfortably wide yet again. “It’s your choice. Do you want to back out?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.” He scoffed. “I’ll go. Not like I got anything else to do.”

“Purrfect~ Then let me show you the way!”

And where it led them was surely something else. It felt a little different form the Palaces they had seen so far. At least the ones Lukanja had seen. Usually they were all massive buildings, in width and height. There would be so much space to explore, so much to go through. But this time? It was a little different…

The place was small, very small. At least in comparison to the dollhouse, the spaceship, the castle ruins and the cruise they had seen. It was also standing around within some white void. When looking around there was nothing to be seen. Literally, nothing at all. It was just an empty, white space. And this small building was right in the middle. 

From the outside it looked a little old yet not as old as the castle ruins from the second last Palace they were in. It was still standing, made out of gray bricks. It had no windows so there was no way to look inside. And the door itself was also closed off. It was hard to judge what that building was. Yet there was an uneasy feeling lingering within, at least when Lukanja had looked at it. But they shrugged it off just as quickly, not wanting to think about it. There was probably no reason to think about it.

When looking at the clothes however they were surprised. Well, maybe not themself because maybe Pipistrello just didn’t feel like giving them a wardrobe this time, especially if it’s not for any fighting purposes. But when looking at Akechi… He was wearing his casual, everyday clothes. That one with the blue vest. In fact it had changed the moment they stepped within the territory of this Palace. His black outfit was completely gone from one moment to the other. And when they had asked him about it… 

“This just means whoever this Palace belongs to doesn’t see us as a threat.” 

And that didn’t change when having walked over to the Palace and opening that massive, metallic door. In fact it looked like a door to some vault. Yet it wasn’t closed, oddly enough, it was open. One quick shove and it opened in one go. And when stepping inside the sight was… Not what they had expected to see. It looked like a mere contrast to the outside.

Because what seemed like a lifeless place was the opposite when looking at the interior. There were several shelves plastered right next to another leaving little space for any of the walls to peek through. And all of them were filled with books. Nothing but books. Some thinner than others and yet there were some which were awfully thick. Books, books and more books as far as the eye could see. Not just that but the ground was also filled with paper. Some had words written on them, others had doodles and drawings on them. Some seemed to be in mint condition while others were crumbled or torn apart somewhat. It was all just a mess. And it was impossible to avoid them so they were just stepping on each paper, one after the other.

Lukanja was a little amazed, to say the least. Such a massive book collection. They even removed some books from the shelf, just to see what was in them. And they had not paid attention to the contents at first, only spotting drawings or words in them. And it was all done per hand which made this even more impressive. It was all manmade work. Not with a digital device but from the own hand. Either this ruler had a place hidden somewhere to make people work their hands off until they fell apart or it was all done by themself. 

Then again, the more books they looked at, the more the latter seemed to be true. The handwriting never changed, no matter what book they looked at. And the drawings were of the same artstyle each. The work of one person… That was impressive.

Yet while they were looking at everything with amazement in some way their gaze wandered over to Akechi who unlike them looked a little… Dare they say uneasy? No, maybe not exactly that. But they could tell that he wasn’t exactly in a great mood when looking through it. 

He picked up a few of the papers from the ground and eyed them closely. He wasn’t saying anything, only staring at those papers almost calmly. And yet the one he was holding at that point nearly crumbled in itself, all because he held very tightly onto it. The sight was a little awkward and they didn’t know what to say to that. So to break said silence they decided to speak up and just ask ahead.

“Hey, do you have any idea who this Palace could belong to?” But there was nothing, no answer of any kind. He didn’t even try to look back at them. No grumble, no sigh, not even a glance. Just silence. They were confused, not having seen this reaction of his in any way before. What was that about? Why was he reacting like this? Then again, maybe he was just deep in thought and didn’t hear them. If that was the case then they may as well step closer. And that’s what they did while about to ask one more time. “Hey, Akechi–Kun! What’s the matter? Do you know—”

“Oh, are you guests to look at our story book collection?” A voice would however not let them finish. It came out of the blue, literally. A voice sounding different yet also kind of familiar to their ears. One in a higher pitch, resembling a more feminine tone. 

“Rare for visitors to show up, ain’t it?” Another voice would continue, the tone deeper yet sounding familiar, even somewhat like the feminine voice. Yet it had a more masculine undertone instead. The sound of… Twins? Twins inside a Palace? Now that was a new one.

Though shortly before they said another word they both chuckled. It got the duo’s attention, enough to turn around while the two strange voices said something at once, together, making them sound like one whole being. ” Welcome! Would you care to listen to one of our stories? ”