Persona: World of Twilight

The Ticking Crocodile

Ebizo let Aurora untie Koichi whilst being checked the area outside. Natsumi would take a while to explain everything, anyway. He was going to grow tired of explaining the same thing, over and over.

When he emerged from the tree, Ebizo was shocked to see the blue door of the velvet room, taunting him. He was sure that it wasn't there before. As he was contemplating this, Henry opened the door and stepped outside.

"Oh," he muttered, looking down at Ebizo's short stature. "You're... smaller than before. Almost as small as my sister! Ah, don't let her know I said that... anyways, you should come inside. If you need convincing, you should return back to normal once in the Velvet Room."

"Won't my friends realise I'm gone?" Ebizo asked him. An explanation wouldn't take that long.

"Relax! Time doesn't flow normally in there," Henry chuckled as he grabbed Ebizo's tiny arm. "Come on! We're not going to harm you, I promise!"

Ebizo didn't get time to argue. Henry pulled him inside the Velvet Room. His eyes took time to adjust to the sudden change in the environment. Looking down, he could see his hands were back to normal. Good. He was getting annoyed at his tiny hands.

The clock tower loomed before him. Unexpectedly, the clock had changed. Seven minutes past eleven. Fifty-three minutes to midnight.

"So, you return," Igor chuckled, sitting in his chair as usual. "I thought it might interest you to do a tarot reading about your fate."

Henry spread out a set of tarot cards on the table in front of them. "I like this bit. It's one of the things I can actually do. Feeling lucky, Ebizo?"

Biting his lip, Ebizo picked a card and turned it over. The star. Once again, he looked up at Henry to see what it actually meant.

"The star represents hope. Well, that's one reading, but.. I say you've all got a bit of hope to keep you going," Henry smiled at him, "You'll get out of this. I promise you."

"Yeah, having my normal body back would be great. I hate having tiny hands." Ebizo grumbled, "It makes fighting with a weapon annoying. We have to use our personas, and that just makes us more tired..."

Henry reached into his pocket and took out a soma. "Here. Use this if you need it - or when you get back. I'm not going to give you free handouts every time, though," he said, giving the soma to Ebizo.

"Thanks," Ebizo replied, "I better head back, now... my friends will need me, even if time doesn't pass in here or whatever."

Stuffing the soma in his pocket, Ebizo bid farewell to Henry and Igor. When he stepped outside, he was reverted to his childlike form. He hated it.

Aurora and the others joined him soon after. Natsumi and Koichi seemed more chipper than usual. Of course - a shadow that lived in this world and a teenaged boy that acted like a toddler would naturally accept the world they currently found themselves to be in.

"I wonder... how did this happen?" Aurora thought out loud as they began to head off. "Last time, we thought it was due to that weird shack being supposedly 'haunted' as the rumours put it. What sort of rumours would lead to a park being turned into some sort of film?"

Koichi cleared his throat so he could speak. "Well... I wouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly. About the rumour stuff, I mean. Don't you remember the sign at the gate of the park? It said that no adults were allowed - well, to play on the climbing equipment, anyway. The Japanese is worded really badly for some reason... like they just translated it online. No adults are 'allowed' here. We were turned into children, so I think we're kinda lucky...!"