No Longer a Magician

Yosuke hummed in thought again. “I see interesting. So other worlds really aren’t just like mine. That’s very interesting.” 

He scoffed. “You see. You being here is a problem for me. You see your boring me and let’s see if this is something you have heard before. I’ll destroy anything that bores me.” He chuckled slightly. “Obviously you aren’t really that observant or are just playing dumb but either way, you have interrupted my meal and lucky for you it’s already dead. If it had gotten away cause of your distractfullness then I would be really pissed. I could just send you into a Merge point. But I have a feeling you would be able to fight your way out. Though seeing you try might actually be entertaining. I’ve been pretty bored with keep tabs on those damn thieves. 

But first I do have a question now. Sense other worlds are different. Tell me. What did you think of Saki Konishi?” 

“Right. What most of us seem to agree on as ‘normal’ is everyone is human and there’s no arcana swapping around.”

You explained, thinking to Kunai and Mage’s timelines instinctively. Though when he started talking you suppressed the urge to groan. You’ve heard those words more than once and you had them burned into your mind. Though at his threat of throwing you into a Merge point, you weren’t phased. You were armed with your kunai and you had your Personas to back you up. The good thing about being a Wildcard is that you’ve had experience holding your tongue in situations. 

“Yes, I’ve heard it and I’m very familiar with the phrase.”

You decided to ignore his comment and continued to playing dumb for now.  If you could get him to think that you were just a stupid high schooler then you might have the upper hand in a confrontation. As far as you knew, you were the only Yosuke who had the Wildcard that was active in the multiverse. If that was true, then only a select few would know how you fought. While you did have the ability to switch Personas, you didn’t fight like your partner which could take people off guard. Though at the mention of Saki, you took a deep breath and forced yourself to stay calm. 

Yosuke hummed slightly. “I see. Fool huh? That’s… an interesting nickname. Wonder how you managed to acquire that.” In reality, he only actually cared slightly and his voice sounded pretty uninterested. 

 “I haven’t had the pleasure. You see I haven’t really actually left my own world. Speaking of which what brings you here. Oh, wait you had just mistaken me for a friend of yours… Which means you were looking for another alternate correct? You’re not bothered by the blood or my fangs it seems. So another vampire perhaps? That must mean mine and his must be identical. Interesting.” He started talking to mostly himself by the end of it. 

He suddenly looked back at Fool. “You seem to have found yourself in a pretty bad predicament here buddy. You see I can’t really have you blabbing about me to anyone else here in this world. That would cause me a whole lot more trouble then I am willing to deal with today. Then again I could just let you. You’ll just be captured though they’ll easily tell your not actually me. Hmmm. What to do? What to do?”

“We weren’t the smartest or most creative when we first started picking nicknames for each other.”

You replied shrugging your shoulders with a frown on your face. It was technically true, you and the others didn’t have the best nicknames at the start. Though instincts told you to keep the specific reason behind your nickname a secret. If this did end up with a fight, a quick Persona switch might catch him off guard and give you an opening. He didn’t seem like he was interested in the details which meant you weren’t going to push to tell him.

“I do a lot of timeline jumping so it takes a lot to phase me. There are several timelines where things are far from normal there.”

Your thoughts immediately went to Scarf and Sora’s timelines. There were some other timelines that are drastically different than what’s considered ‘normal’ but those two came to mind first. The last thing you wanted to do was to tell this guy about Sora. Who knows what could happen if he found out about Sora. Though if he’s never left, maybe he didn’t know how to leave.

“I’m not here to cause trouble, I just ended up here by accident. My friend is probably getting worried so I should get going.”

She smiled unconsciously at the text she received back. Good, meeting at his place like it was an usual hangout situation won’t raise any suspicions. Not to mention this was sent from my personal phone, not work cell phone. Call her paranoid, but she used two separate phones to avoid her information being tracked without her will. She wanted to control at least something, which had been a reason she had chosen this flat herself and placed it as far from the threat as possible.

Also, the prospect of her having an extra opportunity to see Yosuke again was exhilarating. Maybe she had some ground-breaking news this time but it didn’t take part of the joy from her: more like opposite.

To: Yosuke-san

THAT’D BE IDEAL, THX IN ADVANCE. I’D LIKE THAT. IS NEXT THUR @ 4-5 PM OK?

[Text @ Naoto] [1]: sure ill be done b4 then [2]: what do u want 2 eat

Thursdays were your short days thankfully so you’ll have time to get home, get cleaned up and have dinner either ready or started by the time she came over. You were already coming up with a backup plan if she decided to give you the ‘I can’t decide, surprise me’ routine. A small smile came onto your face as you realized what you were doing. Already slipping into ‘leader mode’ without even realizing it. It seemed like some habits died hard, or in this case, don’t die at all.

The shadow chuckled again. “Hmmm? Oh, yea? I suppose that is true. I guess that just makes us a failure. He had a stick shoved so far up his own ass that we fucked up that relationship! It’s hilarious! How Idiotic we are!” He was practically doubled over in laughter. “You would think that he would have learned from the first time he fought me!” 

He suddenly stopped laughing, standing straight up, grinning. He snorted slightly. “Who cares about a changing opinion. Those are never good.” His grin turned into a full-blown smirk as he noticed he was finally starting to get to him. “You out of all of us should know what it’s like to know the truth. As a shadow, I only speak it. What he’s really feeling. What he doesn’t want to admit. His truth is that he’s just gonna end up alone in the end. Yet he tries so hard to change. That’ll never happen. I am proof of that. Of the one thing he can never accept cause it would kill him. You think you could help him with that don’t cha? HA! It’s a worthless cause. He’s a worthless cause you shouldn’t even be bothering with.”

If you didn’t know better it was starting to sound like it was Kinsho talking to you and roasting your ass. While you were expecting some similarities due to both being Yosuke, you weren’t expecting to hear things hitting so close to home. 

“Relationships between people are freaking hard, I should know that better than anyone. I’m not going to list the number of times I almost fucked up a Social Link.”

You grumbled, knowing that count was higher than six which was saying something bad. Then again most of the Social Links that almost ended in disaster was during an incredibly tender time. However, you managed to avoid having total reversals by some miracle and those bonds just got stronger because of it. Though the past aside, it didn’t matter now. You had Sora’s true Shadow in front of you and that took priority. 

“Yeah, I know that the truth sometimes hurts... sometimes it stings and other times it’s a full blown crotch shot.”

Experience was a painful teacher, but something that you’ve grown to appreciate as time goes by. Though as the Shadow continued to talk, your eyebrows narrowed in thought.  

“Dude you know that the minute one person starts stripping the entire town is going to be naked within the hour.”

“Mara is useful….”

"Thank god for that, otherwise this relationship probably wouldn't last much longer" ~Shadow

"I wouldn't even let that thing into my Compendium."