r o y a l t y.

                  She’s not expecting anything – least of all from him. Despite it? She’s not surprised. Remembering birthdays without effort and going to this length… It’s just like Souji. 

                                                                       But even knowing that does little to stop the genuine look of shock on her face.

                     “I – to tell the truth, I don’t recall telling you my birth date… That is some prime detective work on your part, senpai.” And it’s not as though he could have read it in her medical records that time they all went in for check ups – she burned them all after taking them back from Teddie! Best let a detective, even a novice, keep his secrets, though. It’s one that she doesn’t quite mind him solving; Naoto is thoroughly impressed.

                    She takes her gift, somewhat eager to open it, and yet not quite greedy enough to do so just yet. It’s so nerve wracking – but why? Perhaps the nuance of receiving a gift from someone that isn’t her grandfather. “I’ll…I’ll open this later,” he says, but utters a small gasp when her words ring through to her and she realizes how inconsiderate that may come off. “Not that I am ungrateful, senpai, I simply…must process it, I suppose.” Is this going to be like the chocolate situation all over again? God, she hopes not. 

                 Ah – an excellent question posed! “Not necessarily, senpai. I would first assess to make sure there were witnesses to the event. And if not, I would ponder where you were before and after where your memory goes blank.” It’s morbid to think about, but there are such drugs that can make people forget otherwise traumatic events that took place. Naoto only hopes this question is purely hypothetical.

“I mean, the Adachi you tend to see on a daily basis at times is pretty much the same as the one I see at home, minus the..drunk part. He still has a pretty happy attitude. Sort of goofy..” But, Souji himself has seen Adachi with a more serious type of attitude. He had met him on more than one occasion out in the streets at night time, where their conversations had become pretty serious..and relatively dark even.

“You and Dojima-san have a lot of similarities, honestly. You’re both so focused on the case and try to find as much evidence as possible. You’re both hard working and don’t seem to ever want to sit down and take a break. Sometimes I worry about that..” Even though he was also trying to do as much as he could, what with school and having to make time to spend with the others.

He started to move a bit more through the store to pick out the foods and such things they would need for the meals, all the while listening to what Naoto had to say to him, and it made him smile a little bit when she mentioned how kind he was. It was the least he could do for the people around him he cared for.

“..thanks, Naoto. Honestly, I think..you could afford to have even more friends your age. Sometimes I think there’s a thing as growing up too fast. I look at Nanako and think that all the time. She’s very mature for her age, but I also don’t want her to miss out on all the things she can do as a child. Even right now..the same goes for you. You might work with a lot of these older people on the force, but..don’t forget who you are outside of it. It’s alright to just..lay back and act your age. I don’t mean to act irresponsible or anything, but don’t lose yourself within your work.”

                “Sounds like what I would expect.” It comes as no surprise, really. If he’s already so carefree and goofy when at work ( in quite a serious profession, at that ) then naturally he would be so when away from the work desk. Naoto doesn’t really get it, how he can be like that. She’s come to know that not everything has to be so serious, sure, but should everything be so...silly? Perhaps there’s more to him than what meets the eye. 

                  There’s seriousness in her eyes when Souji says he worries and she glances up at him. Is it really that bad? “I like to think I have a good grasp on myself, senpai. But... Well. Should it ever come down to it, can I count on you to let me know when I’m doing too much?” She sighs harshly, hating to sound so dependent. Hating to need help, but if things get too wound up as they did before, she doesn’t need to go out being reckless again. It happens, despite her typical calm and cool demeanor. She wants something, she makes sure she gets it. And although her reckless stunt wielded her helpful results and a Persona, she could have so easily would up dead. “I can at the very least promise you that I won’t be running off to allow myself capture once again, of course.”

                   She distracts herself from the darker topic for a bit, grabbing the last bit of what they need for their little cooking session that’s to come. To think, they’ve held such a conversation while grocery shopping. It’s one of the most mundane things to do, and yet Souji makes even that interesting. Come to think of it, she’s actually getting hungry seeing all this stuff in the shopping cart. The sooner they start cooking, the better!

“I don’t need your help you little twerp.” The truth was the shadow was bored staying in her club, there was no one to look at her or entertain her. The other shadows was way too much work she figured the small one would be the most entertaining.

@deductune was promised a started a while ago

“You doin’ okay, Naoto? You…look kinda tired.” Kanji raised an eyebrow at the detective, seeing her hunched over the table beside him. He set down his DS for a moment. “Want a snack? I’ll go get ya somethin’.”

A detective looking for information, yet not about legal things? The only other thing within Akira’s reports was information on the Metaverse, and anything related to it that could be used against Masayoshi Shido at the time. 

A sighs escapes through his nose as he stares down into his coffee for a moment, debating on what to say next. He can tell Shirogane wasn’t stupid– and neither was he. Was there any point in trying to hide it?

He decides to not beat around the bush. 

“You speak of the Metaverse, Shirogane-san?" 

                 That’s it, from what the case files said. Metaverse... Ha -- it’s a much more extravagant name than the other world she was accustomed to in her teenaged years. The TV World... Not much ring to it. Very literal. Metaverse, however, has a multitude of implications and theories. It isn’t enough to read about it through case files. Can it still be accessed, she wonders?

📺| [ “i do, but i don’t wanna.  nobody’s there,” taiki looks at the other shadow for a moment.  “and, well… y’know.  i like seeing kanji’s shadow, but he’s a bit busy.  and i like seeing chie and yukiko’s shadow fight, but it gets boring.  rise’s shadow kinda… eh… i wanna like the stripping but it’s super aggressive.  teddie’s shadow scares the shit outta all of us.  but you… i dunno, nobody really seems to come around and i haven’t really met you yet.” his smile is crooked, but somewhere near megawatt.

         he lays back, draped over the examination table vertically to its horizontal.  it lets his hair fall and stretches out his back in a quite pleasant way.  “yo, do you ever just, like, scream?  like, you just lay back like this and let loose?” the question is completely earnest.  “it’s super fun.”

                     “And so that leads you to me. I am your last resort.” If all the others weren’t so terrible, then he wouldn’t even be here, essentially. That means he’s already exhausted them. Pfft! Doesn’t he know that will just happen here with them as well? He’ll get tired of the experiments, be done with whatever they need from them and leave them high and dry. Everyone else does!