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Akihiko follows the strange group of people into this theatre. It’s a nice place and the people also stuck with them are nice enough. Hikari and Nagi kept to themselves but Hikari appears to always ask Ren Amamiya – the leader of the Phantom Thieves – about what happened. She seems worried and even fret over all the Thieves.
Kotone Shiomi and Makoto are speaking quietly down by the screen, always checking to make sure no one can hear them. Akihiko made sure to keep his distance even though he wanted to speak with Shiomi since he felt like he met her once before from somewhere.
Yu Narukami is sitting down and staring at the screen that they just came through. Narukami is much like Makoto in some sense. Another wild card like Makoto – how many are there? – But he seems more laid back and seems to allow everyone else to draw all the attention away from himself. It’s almost like Narukami is trying to slip into the background and become unnoticed.
Akihiko felt something tug at him, like a child trying to get their parent's attention. He looks back at the Wild Cards for just a moment before following the tugging. He steps into the hallway, taking a moment to look at the other theatres. There are two other movies before this one: Kamoshidaman and Junessic Land. He wonders what those are about.
Another tug. He follows into the lobby where almost everyone else had ended up. Ignoring the group, he allows the tugging to lead him towards another theatre door with blue doors instead the red doors. There’s no poster for what movie is playing here and something lurks below that this room was never meant to be like the others.
Slowly, Akihiko pushed open the door and froze. The whole room is blue; the chairs, the screen, and even the popcorn that was left behind. Something powerful lurks in this room, clawing and pulling at him as he slowly makes his way into the room. He stops when something comes slowly out of the ground; barely visible but Akihiko can just make out the grey and blueish-purple of the persona’s colouring.
And then it was gone as if it never existed in the first place.
Akihiko steps back, one step at a time, before turning around and leaving the far too blue room.
…
“You seem to be lost in thought,” Ryou said as he looks up from his own paperwork. “Is everything alright?”
It’s been about a year since the Marebito group was dealt with. Akihiko still doesn’t understand how Personas even work in Ayanagi City. It almost acts like one giant Dark Hour but it never turns off and anyone can be affected at any moment in time. Caesar seems to hum just beneath the surface of his skin at that thought.
“Yes, everything’s fine.” Though they both know that isn’t the truth, another war is brewing over the horizon and it’s going to call all the persona users together. Four groups of people with only three Wild Cards to spare. Akihiko had already tested Jun and Shin to see if they might be one but thankfully isn’t. He had watched the stress eat away at Makoto and the way that Yu kept hold of Ren when they found out he was a Wild Card.
Ryou simply hums and went back to his papers.
Akihiko shouldn’t be surprised to see Ryou back at work after being almost killed but it still worries him from time to time. He can almost feel the nails of children that shouldn’t even be in a hospital. He never left Shin’s and Jun’s side the whole time, refusing to leave someone that’s hurting behind.
…
The snow is almost completely gone as they moved into the spring months but there is still quite a bit left on the ground. Which makes it perfect to know when someone is coming or going from the house. Akihiko had spotted the footprints in the snow long before Ryou did but that’s mostly because he has been keeping an eye out on shadows.
Shadows aren’t common here but they still lurk in the darkness. Ryou loves to point out that the shadows only started showing up when Akihiko made his presence more known.
“I’m guessing the kids are playing outside.” Ryou opens the door and set his bag inside, offering to take Akihiko’s bag as well and putting next to his own, before shutting the door and following after the tracks. “I’m glad that they are acting like children again.”
Akihiko kept back a bit as they head around and found the two.
Jun is hiding behind a small snow pile, barely ducking out of the way of snowballs coming from the other end. Shin yelped when he was hit in the face by Seth, who let out a silent laugh and just barely dodging an attack from Abel. Each of them is throwing their own blows but are having fun.
Akihiko could only watch in awe at the sight of the personas. Another hum from under his skin causes him to step back. His own personas seem to be growing jealous of the freedom that Abel and Seth have. Suddenly, something flew through the air and smack into something next to him which causes Akihiko to snap his attention away from the fight to see that a stray snowball managed to hit Ryou in the arm, causing everyone to freeze.
Ryou slowly brushes the snow off before reaching down and rolling together his own snowball before throwing it, hitting Abel in the face. Laughter filled the field again as the fight continues. Ryou heads down the hill and joins Jun on his side, ignoring the shouts of how unfair that is from Shin while Jun seems to light up brighter at the sight of his oldest brother joining them.
Cain came slowly out of the ground, pulling the snow up with him and ready to fight.
“Akihiko!” Shin waves to him. “We’re going to war, you in or not?”
Akihiko quickly heads over to Shin’s side while the burning and humming seem to grow but he chose to ignore the protest. “Let’s show them what we’re made of,” Akihiko said once he by Shin. The two nod at one another and then the fight picks up back again.
…
Akihiko yawns as he leans against the archway of the kitchen. From where he’s standing, he can see Jun and Shin fast asleep on the couch with some movie playing quietly in the background. Ryou is stuck between them but doesn’t seem to mind as he appears to be nodding off.
Slowly, Cain came back out of the ground. Akihiko notices that the persona only does it when he was around; Ryou pointed out that it’s strange for Cain to come out of the ground instead of out of him as all the other personas do. Akihiko still doesn’t understand how they even summon their personas but that’s another question for another day.
Cain stands before him and…Akihiko knows where he has seen the persona before.
It’s been a long time since he even thought about the theatre. He thought it was nothing more than a dream since no one talked about it. Even Ken kept his mouth shut about the theatre. So Akihiko chalks it up to something relating to the personas and drops the matter. But there’s no way that he saw Cain before unless he met the persona once before.
The far too blue room with blue chairs and a blue screen. Even the blue popcorn littering the floors from where someone rushes off in a hurry. He can still remember seeing the persona float up through the floor and the feeling of wrong clinging to his very being, even remembering how he ran out of the room and shut the door so loud that caused Mitsuru and Naoto to come running over to see if he was okay.
“It’s nice to officially meet you, Cain.”
A soft purr seems to come from the persona before he disappears from sight.
Akihiko smiled lightly into his drink as the warmth from their first meeting came back. The wrongness is still there and pokes harshly at him but slowly it turned into something that he just can’t name. Light and airy? A connection with the Kanzato brothers? Who knows really? It’s nice and he wants to feel it again at some point.
He looks over at the brothers and knows that things are going to work out in the end.