Hardly a Shadow Anymore

Suddenly, the decision to boldly approach the wheel that Michio made is regretted as bright hot flames swirl around them and leave burns all over them. Their clothes are scorched and they have taken a significant amount of damage. Huffing angrily and holding back tears, they summon Kuebiko with a loud yell of;

“PERSONA!” 

Kuebiko arrives at the call, and Michio points at the Strength Shadow with a grunt of pain. 

So soon after that fight gone wrong, things were still a bit… rough. Everyone was in less than high spirits about it, the bear could tell, though that much would hopefully improve over time. At least by now it seemed like their group was more or less set.… evidently, on the less part.

Another new arrival, and this time Teddie had likely seemed on edge to anyone initially around him. Even in the real world he kept his sensory abilities, able to pick up on odd signals. Though typically dulled down, there was one kind he could pick up strongly still.

A TV-world Shadow. And he was picking up on just that.

While the bear opted against actually saying anything, he still followed the scent of a shadow, which concerned him that it led to the Medbay. And then confused him to see what, exactly the source was as he peeked his head into the room.

Isn’t that… Naoto’s shadow? Why was that one, of all shadows, here?

“…Hello? W-what are you doing here…?” He’d be lying to say he hadn’t expected to be the only true shadow here. To see a friend’s shadow self arrive…? it was raising a lot of questions. And concerns. One would think a fellow shadow wouldn’t be so darn confused…

Isn’t it… usually a bad thing for the original person when a shadow self become so independent from their person? Though maybe the rules are different where they’re from.

He’s going to choose to think of that being the case, rather than the grizzly alternatives.

Michio looked up from their lap upon hearing the door to their room open. They did not recognize the person standing there. Yellow eyes displayed confusion and worry. Did this person know that they were a shadow from another world? Their eyes would certainly give it away if this person didn’t already know.

And then he asked them a question. An unexpected one at that, although Michio was used to adverse reactions to their presence in the real world by now. So many people had confused them for Naoto in their world--why would this world be any different?

Yosuke was stuck in the Med Day for a week or so, no thanks to his Shadow taking over his body and causing trouble. It had been absolute boring hell in there, but thankfully he was allowed to be discharged. For now. He had a white bracelet on his free hand to keep him under surveillence just in case something went wrong again.

While he was hanging around the common area, he decided to check his phone to see how the group was doing and after a bit, he discovered that Michio had been taken to this compound as well for some reason. It was odd, however, he was slowly getting used to new people arriving here. Of course, he was happy yet another familiar face from his timeline showed up. So, he got up and hurried to the Med Bay as they had agreed to meet up.

Taking off his headphones and putting them around his neck, he entered the Med Bay and looked around for them since they didn’t specify the room they were in. “Michio-kun! It’s me, Yosuke. Where are you?”

Michio still didn’t know where they were, or what was going on. But it seemed that the new app on their phone had at least a few answers. They chatted with the people on the app for a while before discovering that Yo-senpai was here too! What a relief that they weren’t the only one that ended up here...

They sat patiently in their bed, waiting for Yo-senpai upon telling him where they were. The door was partially open, so when they heard the familiar voice calling out for them, Michio carefully got off the bed and made their way to the door and exited the room. Seeing him, they smiled.

Ow ow ow ow ow...

Their throbbing head and roaring stomach wake them from a dead sleep. As their eyes flutter open, unfamiliar surroundings greet them. This is not Naoto’s apartment. Where is Ash? Where are they? 

Michio reaches down to feel their body, still not fully aware of their surroundings. The stiffness of the fabric covering their body is unfamiliar too. They open their eyes fully, and look down at their lap. It’s covered by a blanket, and they are wearing a hospital gown. 

A hospital gown? When did I end up in the hospital? But this...is a medical bay?

Michio looks around some more, and notices that their clothing--blue slacks, white dress shirt, and their Junes Smock is on the table next to them. Their phone and wallet are set on top of that.

Tossing the blanket aside, Michio moves to get out of the bed, but their head starts throbbing again, stopping them in their tracks. Once the pain and whispers die down, they stand slowly. That’s when they notice the bracelet. They tug on it, trying to take it off, to no avail. What the hell IS this place?

Yosuke was, as expected, busy carrying out his duties at Junes. He didn’t hate working there as much as he used to. He had changed quite a bit thanks to Yu and his friends’ support. It’s been a year since Yu left for the city and he was now a third year at Yasogami, working hard to get out of there, graduate and go to music college.

He had been working all morning and figured it was nice for a well-deserved break from customers and part-time workers begging him to do their work for them. Some of them were so lazy, he wondered why his dad even hired them.

It was none of his business, though, so he entered the break room on the second floor to find Michio there, busy writing something.

“Hey there, Michio-kun.” He waved at them with a smile and sat down beside them to rest up. “What’re you writing there? Need any help?” He leaned in to take a closer look, curious.

Michio looked up from their page, having only written a couple of (possibly well thought-out?) sentences. Seeing Yo-Senpai there made them grin.

“Hi, Yo-Senpai! Break time?” They asked, setting their pencil down. “Uh...maybe? I saw that they posted an opening for a floor supervisor, so I’m applying for the position! But...”

"They're staring at a picture on their phone. It's not obvious right away who the image is of. If one were to get a good look, it would be obvious. Arashi-Sensei.

Rai-nii told them he'd be back one day, but so much has changed in so little time. Would they even recognize him? Would he even recognize them? It's hard to say...but they have hope.

Michio is sitting in the break room today. There is a piece of paper in front of them, and it's only half filled out. There's a large section at the bottom of the page that reads: Why would you make a good floor supervisor?

It appears that this paper is an internal application for a job. When Michio started at Junes, they had never anticipated wanting to move up in the company, but with Yo-Senpai's training and their hard work, they had now been here for a year. Hanamura-San had even recognized their hard work on a display last week!

Aiko was planning to go to the Samegawa Riverbank to do some fishing however she wasn’t expecting to run into Michio at the riverbank.

“Oh hey, Michio… How are you?” She greeted the other shadow with a smile.

Michio looked up and smiled upon seeing Aiko. They hadn’t anticipated seeing her today, but it was still a nice surprise.

Fuuka watched her eyes trailing the humongous beef bowl she had seen in… …never! Fuuka blinked a few times, staring longer than she should, as it was topped like the way Akihiko Sanada would top his–vegetables, eggs, meat, you name it–and the way they were eating it so…easily it reminded her of her old leader. Fuuka shook her head and turned her eyes and body back forward, knowing that staring was not polite at all.

And yet, she felt something tugging herself towards the petite person next to her. Fuuka stared at the person through the corner of her eye, the aroma almost pulling her towards them and she closed her eyes. 

Focus Fuuka. It’s not… …they are just a normal person. Just because the two accidents that happened here dealt with shadows, it doesn’t mean one got out…

Fuuka barely heard her bowl clicking down in front of her as she turned her full attention back to Aiya. “Thank you so much for the food.” She nodded quickly, as she broke her chopsticks, and not realizing how big the food actually is. Fuuka let out a sigh, knowing she was possibly doomed from the moment she was given the coupon from Akihiko.

Michio happily ate their meal, probably a little too quickly. They had been waiting all day for this beef bowl, they had even skipped lunch in preparation for eating the monstrosity in front of them. A couple times they caught the teal haired girl staring at them, but they didn’t think anything of it.

Once the bowl in front of them was empty, Michio stretched their arms above their head and let out a groan of satisfaction. That was delicious. Looking to Aika, they smiled. 

“One ginger tea please, Aika-chan,” they spoke. Their gaze moved over to the teal haired girl. They were curious, after all--they had never seen her in here before.

Yo-senpai. He liked the sound of it– so cute and he was getting used to hearing it, his smile widening. “Of course, you did a great job unless someone else I know who loves goofing off.” If Teddie was here, he’d glare at him, but he guessed he was probably taking a break as well elsewhere.

“Alright, beef ramen it is! Let’s go.” Going up to the food court, he got them the beef ramen cup and handed it to them. Finally, he sat down to breathe a sigh. “Man, it’s getting hot out. Want a soda too?”

Michio waited the three minutes that it took for the ramen noodles to cook rather impatiently. They sat on their hands to prevent themselves from eating it too soon. They swung their legs back and forth under the table.