Home
Morning
4/16
Partially Cloudy

“Mmm...”

”So step on up to the plate
Meet your fate”

My phone’s ringing. I pick it up.

“Hello...?” I ask, tiredly.

“Mikata, you were right! Nanako showed up, and-”

“Who’s thissss...?”

“Narukami. D-Did I call at a bad time?”

”Yeah, she’s pretty tired,” Pico Orphie stated.

“Ah. I-I’ll call later than. Thank you, Orpheus Picaro.”

”No problemo, amigo.” I think Orphie hit the “Call End” button. How can he physically press a button, even though he’s a just an extension of my mental state? Big questions for later. I pick myself up and shake the tiredness from me. ”You okay there, buddy?” I nod.

“I’m just really fuckin’ tired right now.” I yawn. “Lemme get breakfast, then I’ll call Naru back.” Pico Orphie shrugs and disappears back into the ether. Looking over to my clock, it’s almost 8 a.m. Naru’s up this early? Damn.

Trotting down the stairs to the first floor, everyone else is down here eating. Sitting down, Aki asked “The hell happened to make you wake up so early?”

I levitate my phone and dialed Naru. “Narukami called.” He picked up.

“Hey Mikata. You finally up?”

“Barely, but I'll live. So what’s up?”

“Right.” His voice got serious. “Nanako’s gone missing, and she appeared on the TV last night. She must be in Cognition. What should we do?”

Fuck. I forgot to check the TV last night. “We should meet up. Call Sparkle-shi as well. We need all the help we can get. I’ll go and buy my team some weapons at the Weapons shop in town, and pray to every deity in Neighpon that our Evokers phase into existence when we enter. Then, we go in through the main TV in our living room, and go from there. Okay?”

“Gotcha. Alright, setting the plan into motion. We’ll meet up at your place at...?”

“Noon. Be there, or be square.”

“10-4. I’m out.” He ends the call. I tell everypony what’s happening.

“So you said something about a weapons shop in town?” Shinji asks.

“Yeah. Surprisingly, even though nopony in Equestria beyond the Guards and some weapon nuts and my granny own weapons, there is a weapon shop in every town. Don’t ask me why, but it just happened.” I get up. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Wait!” Yukari yells at me. “You forgot to eat breakfast.” Oh. Right. Food. Ya know, for somepony who loves food as much as I do, why do I keep on forgetting to eat so often?

Home
Afternoon
4/16
Cloudy

I got the gang the easiest-to-use weapons I could afford, since none of them (minus Yukari and Aki) have used their weapons after the Dark Hour ended. I got Yukari a professional hunting bow, Aki some simple boxing gloves, Koromaru some kunai (he wields 2 knives in his mouth), Shinji a large metal mallet, Ken a spear, and Aigis, unfortunately, nothing, since the usage of guns isn’t known in Equestria. I also got some Medicine and SP-healing items. Checking my catalog of Personas, I realize I actually now have Jack Frost along with Orpheus. Igor said the entrance to the Velvet Room would be in Cognition, so I could fuse Personas there. And my catalog can still hold 16 max, which is good.

Everyone assembles outside the house. The 8 of the Inaba Investigation Team (Naru told me that that’s their name), the 8 of SEES, and Princess Twilight Sparkle.

I begin. “Any last-minute preparations or questions before we venture into Cognition?” Twilight raises her hoof. “Miss Sparkle.”

“How do you all fight those “Shadows”, as you call them?”

I levitate a short sword over to her. “Weapons and Personas protect us from the Shadows. Talk to Igor for more info on how to get more Personas and about fusion.” She nods. “Alright, anything else?” Nothing. “Alright, let’s go!”

Cognition

Dropping in, we find that my place is exactly how it is IRL, minus the thin fog and leaking blood everywhere. I didn’t notice the blood until now.

“Now that I look at it, it looks similar to the TV world/Now that I look at it, it almost looks like the Dark Hour.” Narukami and I state at the same time.

“Hey! The fog looks thicker around where the school is!” Sparkle announces. Everyone grabs their weapons and prepares for the worst. Vel Vel glows slightly with the Persona spirit raring for combat.

“WAIT!” Teddie shouted, startling all of us. “Wear these. The fog here is the same kind as the one from the TV world where I was born. These glasses are meant to cut through the fog there and give you some sight, so it should work here.” When we put on the glasses, like Teddie promised, we could see so much better.

“Awesome” I said. “Now then. Let’s get to takin’ out Shadows!” We ran off towards the school area.

Arriving there, a large high school similar to the Yasogami High building in Yasoinaba is stationed here. Cherry blossoms flutter down to the ground below. “I don’t think I’ve been to Yasoinaba during the cherry blossom season before” I state. “Last time I was here, it was summer, I think.”

“Yeah. I ran through the records, and I did find Gekkoukan High for the summer of 2009” responded Amagi.

“Yamagishi-chan, stay out here and scan ahead for us. Kujikawa-chan, do you think you can intercept and increase Yamagishi-chan’s sonar range?” I ask.

“I-I think so. I’ve never done it before, but Personas are designed the way they are for a reason, so a satellite dish for a Persona head should allow me to do that, but like I said, I’ve never done it before.” Rise responds.

“That’s all right. We can try now. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Alright team, let’s move out!” We have a battle plan with us. Since there’s now more of us, we’ll have 5 in a party. As leader, I choose who’s in the main party and who’s in the Reserves. I have Narukami with me, along with Kujikawa-chan, Takeba-chan and Sparkle-shi.

It was a fun little grind to the top.

Hacking and slashing through the hordes of Shadows honestly fills me up with energy. Most of the enemies I've known from Tartarus, and I remember their weaknesses. My weapon is a Pierce type, so physical attacks from me won't affect the Bestial Wheel, Wild Beast or Laughing Table, but everyone else minus Takeba in the main party can physical all the enemies and deal some damage. Though Rise can't use attacks from her Persona, she can still Bash enemies into extinction. With Rise's and Yamagishi-chan's assistance, we managed to enter the upper-most level with relative ease. From the look on Naru's face, he seems keen on helping out his cousin as much as possible.

When we reach the top, Naru's steel eyes almost lost its luster. Nanako lies there, on an altar, not moving. "Slowly, folks." I mutter. "A large shadow's here. Be on the lookout." The others, who were following us in groups (I made sure Teddie was in a group of guys) made it up with us, and I told them the same thing. Slowly creeping up, Narukami rests a hoof on Nanako's forehead. Her eyes flutter open when he touched her.

"Big... Bro..." she croaked. Her eyes diluted at the speed of Clint Eastwood, and a large blob skydived towards them at the speed of fuck. Grabbing Takeba-chan's bow, I load an arrow and fire, hoping I could hit it off course. And if by luck, it lands, even though my Perception was low. I guess playing Luck games at the Arcade increased Orpheus' Luck stat, making it land right where I wanted it.

It crash-landed next to them, and inside the blob was... a yellow-eyed Nanako, wearing an unbuttoned Gekkoukan High jacket with her dress underneath. A Shadow. One of its eyes has an arrow lodged in it. Shadow Nanako grabs it and pulls it out.

"Damn, that hurt." Shadow Nanako mockingly cried. "Didn't your parents tell you not to hit innocent little girls? Much less snipe them out of the air with a bow?"

"My parents're dead" I deadpanned.

"Whatever," she dismissively said. She picked up a knife from... somewhere and stated "I'm gonna make you pay." I raise an eyebrow to that. "Nopony's gonna marry my Big Bro but me!"

"You do know that marriage with two members of the same family is illegal in Equestria, right?" Twilight questioned.

Nanako stood up. "Please leave them alone, my look-a-like."

"Why should I do something for a whore like you? Wanting to marry your own cousin, who you even called a 'man-whore'! Why the hell would he marry you if all you've done was annoy him?" S Nanako was starting to raise her voice.

"S-Stop. Big Bro, you love me, r-right?"

"Of course I do" Narukami responded to Nanako's question. "You're my little sister, and I will be with you through thick and thin." He smiles like a big brother should.

"Bleh!" S Nanako mimics throwing up. "Who needs that man-whore anyways? Who needs anyone, anyways. I'm done playing the kind, young girl everyone thinks I am. I am similar to a lion cub. Cute when left alone, but if pushed too far, the claws come out and the teeth are laid bare." The knife is now levitating. "I'm gonna kill all of you."

"No, stop it! I won't allow you to do this to them, me!" Her hooves are spread out, along with her wings, making a small barrier between the knife and us.

"And what're you gonna do about it, then?" Nanako faltered, and S Nanako threw the knife at Narukami, hitting him in the shoulder. Blood gushes out onto Nanako, and the look of horror on her face reminded me of when Shinji got shot by Mr. Revolver Jesus. Ken looked like he was about to throw up. That's how Nanako looks now.

"B-Big Bro?"

Narukami fell over.

"Big Bro?"

No response.

"BIG BRO!"

"Damn, Naru's out. Shinji, take his place. Take out the Shadow." I shouted. "Amagi-chan, focus on healing Narukami-kun."

Nanako grabs the knife and yanks it out of the wound. Amagi bandages up the wound before using SP to heal it. Nanako looks up at the Shadow and starts the "We're gonna go into combat, prepare your asses" moment. "I hate you. I hate you beyond all levels. I'd never harm my older cousin. Because of that..." She looks the Shadow dead in the eyes and points the knife at it. "You are clearly not me."

The Shadow chuckles. "Hahahah... Aha-hahahahahahahaaaaa! Yeah, I'm not you. I'm my own self now! Prepare to die!" The knife in Nanako's hoof fades away as masses of Shadow form around the main bad. Amagi grabs Nanako, throws her into the main party, and drags Naru-kun off to safety.

"What's the boss gonna look like this time, I wonder?" Shinji mutters.

By the Gods. It looks like you took Uke Mochi from Food Fantasy, poured blood out of its mouths and eyes, the fork was splattered in blood, and it was 12 meters tall.

Amagi cried from behind all of us "Give me about 12 minutes. I might be able to heal Narukami-kun to full health."

"Roger. Team, let's go!"

As my favorite song plays, I rush up and start hacking up Uke, as I'll call it. A small amount of damage, but not enough.

"Rise, Yamagishi, scan it!"

"Roger!" both shouted. Shinji summoned Castor and uses Teardrop.

"JACK FROST!" I summon Jack (finally), and blast it with a good old Bufu. It did alright damage.

"It's weak against Zio. Strong against Bash. Light will harm it, but won't insta-kill. Darkness does nothing. Don't attack, Kujikawa-san." Fuuka yells.

"Looks like you're up, Sanada-san!" I yell.

"Right. Polydeuces!" Akihiko summons his Persona to use Zio. Shadow Nanako gets knocked down.

"CHAAAAAARGE!" I yell, rushing towards the 12 meters of bull. When I get knocked back as Uke gets back up, something falls out of my pocket. I don't know what it was, but it was small. Picking myself up, I look off to Shinji's watch. "6 minutes left... Hope Naru's okay." I pop an SP item on Amagi-chan as she was running low. I then turn and dodge as one of the meaty tentacles attempts to carve me a new vag on my forehead. I promptly slice it off. Unlike what I expected, the tentacle doesn't grow back. "GUYS! TARGET THE TENTACLES! THEY DON'T GROW BACK!"

"Damn you, you little shit! Take this!" Nanako's Shadow threw another tentacle at me. I hacked it into bite-sized pieces, and promptly take a bite of one. I then promptly spit it out because it tastes like shit. Akihiko strikes another bolt down, so we go in for the damage. It was now when I realized what happened with the thing in my pocket.

What fell out of my pocket was an old butterfly knife I kept with me. It was the first weapon I used against the Magician Shadow all the way back on my 3rd or 4th day in Tatsumi Port in 2009. It got replaced with a Naginata when Junpei got introduced to the team. But I always kept it with me as a good luck charm/backup weapon. Now, it's in the hooves of Nanako. She flipped it open, locked it, and ran with us during our most recent All-Out Attack. She's dealing more damage than any of us are doing. Probably because the owner of a Shadow is attacking his/her Shadow directly.

For the next like 5 minutes, we continue to wail on it, sometimes using skills or items. It was boring, so I'll spare you on that. But the moment Narukami jumped into the fray, Nanako's Shadow was close to being defeated. "IZANAGI! ZIO!" With a strike of lightning, Shadow Nanako has been knocked out.

"No... Noo... NOOOOOOO!!!! I can't... lose..." The monster dissipated, leaving the form of a young filly wearing mix-matched clothing where it once stood. "Damn it all..."

"You... You're supposed to be me, right?" Nanako asks. S. Nanako nods. The non-Shadow Nanako just sighs. "Listen. It's true that I..." she starts blushing. "...fantasied of marrying my older cousin. And it's true that I'm tired of ponies treating me like some little kid when I'm more grown up than most of them." I look to Ken, who said similar words back in 2009. "...But I've just accepted that I won't marry Narukami. I'm okay with that. But I must prove to everyone that I'm not just some kid to protect. So let's do that..." Nanako's pissed face melted to that of one who has found peace within themselves. "...Me."

Shadow Nanako glows with a blue and yellow aura and dissolves into those colors. When she re-materializes, she looks more like Uke Mochi from SMITE. A slab of meat hangs from the bowl, and she has a Neighponese Okami mask on the back of her head.

"Uke Mochi..." Naru-kun placed a hoof on Nanako's shoulder. She stiffened and slowly turned around. "Big... Bro..." She hugs Narukami hard. Everyone decided to not split them up, so Takeba, Rise, Shirogame and I used our magic to lift the two of them and we left Cognition.

Home
Afternoon
4/16
Semi-Cloudy

Surprisingly, Nanako didn't pass out at all. She's a strong girl, I'll give her that. Pretty sure the exhaustion will catch up during the night, though. It's weird how willpower alone can give ponies enough energy to blast through fighting one's self.

"Alright. Naru and crew oughta prepare for tonight. It's already 3, so you have about 4 hours of prep time." I stated. It was now of all times when Nanako finally passed out.

Naru-kun caught Nanako, and asked me "Yu- Mikata. Can you drop off Nanako with Dojima-san? It'd be a great help."

"Sure. Why not." I pick up Nanako and the Investigation Team left. Heading with them, I ask Naru-kun a question that's been nagging me. "Say, Naru? Did Nanako tell you about the... marriage thing?" Rise looked like she wanted to know as well.

"Y-Yeah. That was 5 years ago, though. She didn't understand the concept of marriage properly. But right now... I don't know what to think." Naru used his right wing to pinch the bridge of his muzzle. "When she wakes up, I pray she explains herself. Though this'll be hard for her, I can tell..." We made it to the motel. It was rather simple. It's essentially 6 rooms set up side-by-side, so you can see the 6 doors. Naru pointed to 5 and said "Dojima-san'll be in Room 5. The guys'll be in Room 2, and the girls'll be in Room 1, as you know. See ya."

Hanamura-kun walks up and quickly whispers into my ear "Never mention today again. Narukami's got some... issues with what Shadow Nanako said. Just trust me on this." He backs off and walks into Room 2, waving with a wing. I take a deep breath when everyone from the Invest Team entered their rooms and knock on the door.

Dojima looked horrible. Like his unkempt hair was even more messy, his tie was, well, untied, and he looked like he was drinking. A lot. Of alcohol. He was also probably crying or something, because his eyes were bloodshot. I lifted Nanako, and his face lit up instantly. "Wh-Where'd you find her? Ah, I'm so happy!"

He took Nanako into his hooves and she muttered "Daaad, don't... drink so much... You reek..." All Dojima did was chuckle.

"Thank you for f-finding my daughter, Mikata. Also, w-what's up with the glasses?" I forgot I had those on. Time to put my Charisma to the test. I think the glasses actually increase the stat, so I pray that this'll push me over the edge and make things alright.

"I have poor vision up close, so I need to wear these glasses. I was reading a book before Naru-kun told me he found Nanako. She was knocked out somewhere, and I think she was supposed to be sold." My story was bought.

"Wow. Equestria might be a bit on the dangerous side. But thanks f-for getting her out of that p-pickle. I should go freshen up, don't w-wanna miss the show today." He gives a halfhearted smile and trots back in with Nanako in his hooves. I feel accomplished. Smiling, I trot away, when I bump into the hooded pony from over a week ago.

"Sorry" he said, in a deep voice. It's clearly Neighponese. He's trotting away rather quickly.

"Chotto matte kudasai!" I said, which means 'Please wait a moment!*' or 'Wait up!*' in Neighponese. "Anata to ohanashi ga shitaidesu!" Also in Neighponese, which means 'I want to talk to you!*'

"...What do you want?" He responded in Neighponese.

"I remember you from last Thursday (the 13th). Why'd you bump into me, say nothing, and just run off?" I rose an eyebrow.

"...I don't wanna explain anything." he stated. Too bad I'm gonna make him.

"Listen, man. I don't wanna force it outta ya, but if I gotta..."

"Okay, okay. Jeez, woman. I was running back home from a massive breakup with my girlfriend. There. Happy?"

"Very." I don't believe him, but I don't have the heart to tell him that.

"Good. Well then, I'll-"

"Wait. I wanna talk to you again."

"...What?"

"I wanna hear life from a pony's perspective who's lived in Equestria." Even though he's from Neighpon. "So, can we meet again?"

"...Yeah, sure. I have very important stuff to do, so I'll only be able to talk to you on the 16th of every month outside of the Town Hall. See ya..." And he left without another word. Strange pony. But we will meet again, and I'm glad for that.

[GLASS BREAK SFX]

I am thou, Thou art I
Thou has forged a new bond

It shall guide thee closer to the Truth
And shall assist in dispelling Falsehood and Death

We, as the Embodiment of the Tarot, grant thee the uniquely powered arcana of the Aeon
Treat the Aeon with respect and dignity. Use this power very wisely.

A unique message? That's cool! So I know for a fact he's the Aeon. Unique. Well, probably should go and prep up for tonight.

Town Hall
Late Night
4/16
Cloudy

Nanako was on stage. She danced really well. She also announced she might be joining the Kanamin Kitchen.

Returning home from the performance, I crash into a pony with really soft fur. Like velvet soft. Landing on my ass, I shake my head a little bit. "I'm sorry. Here." A dark blue hoof extends out to me with a... star-white fetlock? Grabbing it, I look up to see the Princess of the Moon picking me up.

"A-Arigato" I mutter.

"Think nothing about it. I wasn't looking where I was headed. Wait, you're that pony who was in that bush." I nod, slowly. She just sighs and shakes her head. "Listen, young lady," she started like a mom who's done with her child's shit, "You know that eavesdropping can be classified as a felony, right?" I nod. "So don't do it again. We're letting you off the hook this once, but I may not be so forgiving next time."

"Gotcha," I mutter, too tired to register the threat. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." I fall unconscious yet again. I really oughta get some sleep before these missions.

Author's Note

Don't question the title.

Took longer than expected, but future chapters may come out faster, because they'll be shorter. Also because I'll have more time during school. Maybe. I don't have Wi-Fi at home now.

*Taken from Google Translate: English to Japanese. If any errors, please tell me.

Also, who's mister Arcana XXII? Guess you'll have to wait. ;)