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gay-yosuke · 1 year

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i understand where the idea that yosuke is stupid comes from, i think, but i don't respect it. players don't learn until the very end of the game about how the visibility of the midnight channel varies, with how only people close to that person (or namatame) are even meant to be able to see anything. it might seem like the IT group on the whole is missing the obvious, because the player can pretty clearly see the victim's outline basically every time (they only really tried too obscure nanako)... and when yosuke, your dedicated partner, calls you and seemingly relies on you to come to conclusions for you, i guess that leaves an impression. there's also naoto, and the way it seemed like he was written to be the only one capable of coming to the right & intuitive conclusions when he's first introduced. people at this point might forget that previously yosuke did hold the same role and did a good job of it, and he remains a useful and insightful voice regardless. the final thing is something id want to confirm by going over the investigation discussion scenes again, but i always got the impression that after the very first push, when he is kind of desperate immediately after watching saki die, he's not super confident about proposing any intuitive leaps, he prefers to start the right discussions & be cautious about jumping to any conclusions-- and i think that is seen as an extension of the previously established perception that he's not willing to think for himself & would prefer to rely on the player. and i could be wrong about that, but.... anyway i have many thoughts abt how ppl slander my boy lol. it's possibly also bc he's the "best friend" character? which isn't accurate! he's the partner character!

im gonna have to go piece by piece here anon so bear with.

the visibility on the midnight channel varying is definitely something - i think namatame's ability to pretty much recognise them no matter what stems from both the fact that izanami gave him power (the same as yu and adachi, remember) and also the fact that, as a deliveryman, he would kind of know everyone in town.

yosuke is definitely pushing yu (and the player) into the correct direction. he has hunches but without being certain, he doesn't want to say them and sort've reinforce the idea that he's stupid. as the prince of junes, and being generally unliked by the public, obviously he's constantly fighting back against that, and any negative attention he draws (be it for small mistakes and the like, or for something bigger) will taint everyone's opinion of him. so, he asks his partner, his best friend, what he thinks with the information that yosuke has gathered. two heads are better than one, and yu's opinion holds far more weight over the rest of the team.

that's not to say that yosuke's opinion holds very little weight, considering he's not only the co-leader, but official founder of the investigation team (and he does take a leading position at times, though they're not always his best, ie. december 3rd)

naoto's position in all this you're right about - he's shown to be the smart, coolheaded detective who's working it all out, but up until the point he joins the team (which is early october), it's yosuke who does the thinking. it's yosuke who draws facts out and spearheads discussions. and yosuke even retains that position, like you say! when the group goes out for aiya and figures out the true culprit, it's yosuke and naoto who join yu outside.

the whole group is pretty cautious about jumping to conclusions in the early points, i think, and yosuke definitely is. he's not stupid - he knows he wants a clear answer for what happened, but without leads, he doesn't know where to begin.

but, with what information he does have, and what information the rest of the team might have, maybe there's an answer. so he offers his information up, and waits for everyone else to do so, so he can think of a possible solution.

yosuke doesn't rely on his partner. he cares for him, and wants his input on most things, sure, but that's because who wouldn't? you're in a situation where two people have died - one of them who you were close to! - and you're smart enough not to trust your immediate judgement, and instead, trust in the judgement of yourself, and your friends combined.

the "best friend" character thing is definitely a possibility (people see junpei and ryuji as stupid as well, but neither are) considering the way that people think about them. but i do also think its a culmination of people seeing yosuke act a little dumb at times, and mostly reading him at a surface level. i unfortunately can't do that because i've never loved a character at surface level in my life.

to put it simply,

#texty #anonymous #long post #thanks for this one anon together we have infodumped about yosuke #i wont put this in the main tag because thats just inviting demons into my home and im not about that #his intuition and problemsolving is probably why i lean a lot towards him training under naoto in my writing #naoto teaching yosuke how to use what he knows for more complex cases is what i fucking LIVE FOR #hes a complex character! all of them are! reducing them to surface level 'hehehe hes stupid lol' is a gross mischaracterization #at the VERY least!! i'll bat for any of them they're all complex in their own ways!! and they mesh sometimes and dont others!!#you can rb this if you want

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igutranslations · 7 years

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exist†trace : Goddesses Opening a New Door (FOOL’S MATE, May 2009)

Interview: Yuki Sugie

Beyond just their handsome appearance, this band has a powerful heavy sound and live performance combined with the sensitivity and beauty than only women possess, making them a recent topic of discussion in the streets. Their name is exist†trace. If you’re one of our core readers, you may remember them from the many times they’ve appeared in our supplement issues of FOOL’S MATE EXPRESS. After closing out a brief period of underground activity, since last summer they’ve set out once again into energetic action. On April 22nd, they released their first original sound in a while, “VANGUARD -of the muses-” (mini album), and this year you can expect more and more efforts from these 5 as their most recent activity is revealed!

- This is exist†trace’s first time appearing in this magazine, but ever since your formation your band members have only been women, which created a rare style in this scene.

Naoto: From the beginning, I liked music and I liked bands, so initially I also connected with music as a listener. But eventually I started thinking that I wanted to try the expressive side myself, to have my existence recognized, and so it was the result of thinking about a lot of things. Also, I wanted to try something no one else was doing, so the thought occurred to me, “What if I try forming a band with only women?” And so this band began.

- But even if you say that, even just finding girls who play instruments wasn’t that simple, right?

Jyou: Naoto and I happened to go to high school together so we talked about it pretty early on (laugh).

Naoto: Our drummer, Mally, also went to elementary and middle school with me, so by the time we were forming the band it was easy to get her involved.

- Mally, did you play the drums even before you were invited to join the band?

Mally: No. Before this band started, I kinda had a little experience with it, and from that stage I got the idea that “this is definitely the instrument for me”. So when I heard from Naoto that she was thinking of starting a band, I was like “ok, I’ll take this opportunity to try out the drums!”

- After that, what are the details on how you decided upon guitarists?

miko: The thing that allowed me to become a member of this band was the FOOL’S MATE member recruitment page. I found a recruitment ad taken out by Naoto there.

- Do you remember what it said?

miko: To start, it said “Women only!”. And then I remember it was something like, “Let’s make a dark world together!” (laugh).

- It’s a huge honor that this magazine is what tied your fates together.

miko: It’s us who should be thanking you! It’s thanks to FOOL’S MATE that exist†trace exists as we are here now. Additionally, we’re really happy to be appearing in this magazine like this.

- While this was happening, I heard that Omi was the last member to join.

Naoto: We met Omi via internet member recruitment.

Omi: In my case, I was more interested in writing lyrics than guitar at first so I started music through that. When I gradually felt more earnest about wanting to be in an original band I left my hometown for Tokyo, and I was able to meet everyone while looking for a band that suited me. At that time, I wasn’t especially thinking that it had to be an all-women band or anything, but the more I continued, the more I thought that this was the best atmosphere for me.

- However, in something like high school, isn’t the atmosphere in a co-ed school totally different from an all girls’ school? Or in adult society, there are things like rivalry between cliques and bullying among groups of office ladies. There are a lot of examples in the world of troubles and disputes that arise from “women only” relationships, aren’t there? In the case of this band, are those things unrelated?

miko: I don’t know if it’s the same for other women-only bands, but we don’t have that in our case. In relation to that, we’re relatively “unfeminine” (laugh). With all of our members’ simple personalities together, we have a pattern where if we disagree about something we totally forget about it the next day.

Mally: Also, if it’s something important we calmly discuss it together.

- Must be nice not to have the unpleasant battles beneath the surface that are typical to women’s society (laugh).

Mally: Since we’ve come this far by overcoming our problems one by one when we have seriously clashing opinions, I think we’ve definitely seen the birth of a really strong unity.

- That’s really lovely. Although… if I can say this as a fellow woman, since this is a scene where the foundation is all men, don’t you sometimes have experiences where an outlook like “despite being women” comes to light?

Jyou: There’s still… a ton of that (bitter smile).

Naoto: There’s really a lot of it… (laugh).

- Right? This probably isn’t limited to the world of bands, but I feel like even now when women try to be taken seriously in their work, there are a lot of times where really stupid things get in the way.

Mally: It’s definitely getting better recently, but in the past fellow bands at tai-bans looked at us differently… and things like that (bitter smile).

- It’s possible to sell idol-style girl bands on appearance alone, but for a band like exist†trace, if you don’t try even harder than your generation’s male bands, it’s probably hard to get people to truly assess you on your merits.

Naoto: Well, that was something we understood before becoming active as a band, so instead I think we went with things that only women could express, in our past choices and also in the contents of our lyrics. So we just went down a path that we believed in with determination.

- Then if you put exist†trace’s fundamental concept as a band into words, what would you call it?

Naoto: It’s in our band name too, so the words “exist†trace” are really important to us. Literally translated, it means “traces of your existence” or “proof that you lived”. In short, the thought that we want to carve out an existence and leave signs of that remaining is our concept.

- With that kind of thought as the influence for your work, you’ve now completed the 6 track album “VANGUARD -of the muses-”. Incidentally, isn’t this current album following a brief hiatus?

Naoto: We took a hiatus last summer for about 3 months so that our members could have some steady discussion, and readjust our viewpoint.

miko: In this case, the things we were able to make after our hiatus have been a big deal for us. To tell the truth, before the hiatus everyone in the band’s minds were pretty jumbled, and the fact is that things had gotten complicated.

- I think it’s pretty common for bands that have been together for many years to have times like that.

miko: It probably would’ve been no good if we’d just continued on like before. Since we were able to take a little time to rethink everything this time, and reaffirm the direction that we should be aiming for, there have been a lot of good effects on the band.

- More concretely, what were you able to reaffirm?

miko: Generally, I think a lot of the people who listen to our music are women. Because of that, we thought we wanted to act as a “VANGUARD” for those people.

- I see. Consequently, the album title “VANGUARD~” was tied to that idea.

Jyou: It’s almost like we’re calling ourselves “muses (goddesses)” with this title, so at first I was wondering, “is it really ok to make such a statement?”. But after seeing the album completed, and thinking that we would be confidently putting it out into the world, both my hesitation and conflicted feelings disappeared.

Mally: Before we’d gotten to this point, there’s some truth to the fact that we thought we had to be manly, and that we also, strangely, had decided to compete with male bands. But it isn’t like that, because based on the fact that we’re all women, we began to think that frankly, there were things that only we as women could do.

- So there were reasons like that too. Compared to your previous works, your sound on this album seems to have grown into something really powerful. To state it simply, it gives the impression of being the result of exerting yourselves.

miko: I think that’s exactly what it is. Since we were able to express lyrics perfectly from a woman’s point of view this time, the amount of empathy that we were able to put into the sound ourselves increased.

Omi: I wrote the lyrics and music for the song “Requiem” this time, and I think that it’s a song that women will feel sympathetic to when they listen to it.

- Even if you only change the lyrics this much, can’t the songs can also end up very strong?

Jyou: Definitely. I had begun to sing songs with a richer expression. Before, I had tried to hide the fact that I was a woman all that I could when I was singing, but this time I didn’t do that. I was able to face the lyrics head-on this time when I sang.

- For example, in the song “Orleans no shoujo”, you’re trying feel the same things as Joan of Arc? (Note: Joan of Arc is a historical figure from medieval France who is referred to as a goddess of victory).

Jyou: She would have had to be extremely strong to have that mindset of “I will become the vanguard”. I got that kind of powerful feeling when singing “VANGUARD”, the title track of this album, as well.

- So that you can experience for yourself the world where exist†trace is your vanguard, a oneman live “Genesis Vanguards” will take place on June 6th at Meguro RockMayKan. I’m looking forward to it as well myself.

Jyou: I think you’ll understand just by looking at our current photos, but my outfit is a “commander”. I’ve been in Commander Mode ever since we were recording this album, and so as exist†trace’s commander at the live as well, I hope I can pull you all in.

- As for that digression, if we say Jyou is the commander… what about everybody in the musical instrument team?

Naoto: I think you can see it in our clothing design too, but the guitar team are the squad leaders and the rhythm unit is the ground troops, right? (laugh)

#exist†trace #interview #vanguard -of the muses-

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cuban-feminist-that-gives-a-hoot · 7 years

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Okay! (MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 5)

So, I beat Persona 5 a few days ago and I have thoughts. Lots of them. They’re going under the cut because spoilers! Seriously, there are spoilers in here. Do not read until you’ve beaten the game. Short answer for what I’m about to say is this: I love Persona 5. It is the best Persona game ever and makes Final Fantasy XV look like a goddamn weak shit of a game (well, more than it already does)

On to the spoilers!

Now that we’re under the spoiler category, let’s talk about the twists and everything else in it.

1. Akechi’s plan to get back at Shido is probably the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard of a supposedly smart person come up with. So he hires himself out as an assassin for him in order to get close and gain his trust, and decide that, once he becomes Prime Minister, he’s going to shame him with the knowledge that he’s your dad?

*takes a deep breath* Why in all hells on this earth did he think Shido would feel shame for abandoning him and his mom? Hell, Shido’s shadow flat out admitted that he was going to kill him after becoming Prime Minister. What the fuck was he going to do about that? This plan of his is convoluted and dumb and he is dumb for coming up with it in the first place. The only reason why the plan isn’t any dumber is simply because Akechi’s a teenager and even the smartest of teenagers do not always come up with great plans.

2. The twist about Akechi being the one selling you out and the killer is, well, one that is obvious if you’re paying attention. Yes, it’s mainly the Pancakes bit in June and it’s the biggest clue the game throws at you. Remember this about Persona 5: If something in the game seems off, there’s a reason for it and it will be explained.

3. Getting on the path to the true, good ending is far easier than in vanilla Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden. In Persona 4, you had to stop them from throwing Namatame in the T.V, name Adachi as the culprit, and don’t go home when you’re prompted to on the last day that you’re in Inaba. However, the answer choices are not so simple and clear-cut in that game compared to Persona 5. In Persona 5, it’s easily just this: Don’t cut a deal with anybody and don’t sell anyone out. You do those two things and you’ll get the good ending with no trouble at all.

4. Goddamn, Shido’s a fucking prick. This asshole wants to do all this shit simply because he wants to be Prime Minister? Seriously?! When the most minor of shit that he’s done was frame you for something you didn’t do, it makes all of Shido’s other shitty actions all the worse for it. I will say, however, that it was sweet, sweet retribution when I kicked his ass for all the shit he put our beloved Trickster through. Also, I can’t be the only one that felt massive shades of Donald Trump in this entire thing with Shido, right?

5. The playable characters: Holy fucking shit, I love them. There is not one character in the Phantom Thieves group that is boring or bad. Everything about these characters are lovable and I want to protect them. There was some neat stuff too, like Ryuji having his moment in Shido’s palace by getting the lifeboat for the team or Makoto coming up with the plan to trick Akechi at the police station to Futaba using a character quirk to bug Akechi’s phone. Like, I am so happy that this team is not a bunch of idiots. Akechi’s smart, but the Phantom Thieves are way smarter than they appear to be. They almost figured out that Akechi was sketchy since the Pancakes incident and they planned for the Trickster to get caught and be interrogated by Sae. This is some meticulous planning done by the team and I love it. <3

Now, onto the characters themselves:

- Ryuji’s a sweetheart. He’s a lovely mix of Yosuke and Kanji. Not exactly an idiot, but someone loyal and determined to stop Kamoshida. He is someone that would’ve sacrificed his life if it meant saving someone. He’s a hero and someone that didn’t deserve the bullshit he went through. I didn’t realize it at first, but after @ominous-musings mentioned it, he also reminds me of another blond, secretly smart hero: Zell Dincht from Final Fantasy VIII. And no, I am not kidding about Zell being smart. Because he is. He’s very smart.

- Ann’s a sweetheart and watching her tear her mask off and getting her Persona was so, sooooo satisfying (hell, just about all of them were). I like her. She’s amazing and the only reason I didn’t date her was because Morgana was so in love with her and I honor the bro code immensely.

- Speaking of Morgana... OMG, I am so, so glad that Morgana’s origins were explained. He is such a darling and, despite the name and the voice, is male. He clearly identifies as such, so no need to assume that Morgana’s anything but male. Cutest Persona mascot ever. Teddie has lost his throne as the cutest and, so has Koromaru (and don’t get me wrong, I love them both. Who doesn’t love Combat Dog and Pun-making Shadow Bear?). I am so happy that he didn’t die in the end. Also, he gets the best moment in the true ending. Clearly, he could work as a mechanic in the future. XD

- Makoto, holy shit. She is awesome. Her codename is Queen and she exemplifies it. She is the goddamn queen and brains of the operation. She is amazing. Were it not for the next character, I would’ve made her my girlfriend. Everything about her is amazing. <3

- Holy fucking shit, Futaba is a darling, protect her from all the evils in the world! She is such a sweetheart and I love her. I made her my girlfriend in my first playthrough and I do not regret it. She is amazing and darling. I love her persona, both initial and ultimate. I just love her. *_*

- Yusuke is a goddamn weirdo. He is also a bit judgy as hell, but you know what? I like his weird, judgy ass. He’s got some of the best lines and his weirdness just fits in so well. Also, his mask is really nice, merely because I am a sucker of the fox motif he has going on with his costume.

- Then, there’s Haru. Now, Haru unfortunately got the short stick in characterization, but the little bit we do get is that she’s sweet and kind. She probably has one of the best Thief costumes out there, but her civilian outfits are... well, even with money, you can’t buy good style and fashion sense. Also, her hair is nice. I like her hair. <3

- Goro Akechi. *takes a deep breath* How dare he presumes to be the second coming of the Ace Detective?! There is only ONE Ace Detective out there and that is Naoto Shirogane! If anyone should be the second coming of the Ace Detective, it’s Makoto Niijima. *clears throat* Beyond that, Akechi can be an irritating tit even before his betrayal comes out. Too bad the twist of him being a villain doesn’t surprise the more observant. I mean, for hell’s sake, his codename is Crow. I have learned to never trust anyone named Crow in any context. Also, apparently Akechi/MC is the most popular ship on Ao3. I get why, I really do, but I don’t like it. :P

- And finally, we have the Trickster himself. And wow, he is pretty. He’s prettier than both the P3 and P4 protagonists and has a bit more of a personality to him. I’m glad he does say a bit more too. He’s cocky, a show-off, and has one of the best smirks around. Also, he has an amazing sense of justice (Hell, all of the playable characters, save Akechi, do). The reason why he got probation was just to save someone else that was being attacked and yet, because of Shido’s dickishness, he got arrested and charged for something he was innocent of. His thief outfit is so damn slick and very well-designed. Also, Arsene is one of the most slickly-designed starter personas ever. And I can’t wait for a 2nd playthrough, just so that I can have Satanael in my party. *_*

6. The Confidant links are also amazing. Just about all of them are good people. My favorites was the Sun, Hierophant, Moon, and Star arcanas. Mainly because all the people with them are just amazing, especially Yoshida and Sojiro.

Holy shit, Yoshida’s entire link is amazing. He’s a politician that has fucked up in the past, but is determined to become an honest, truthful politician that wants to do the right thing. Given the political climate, we need more politicians like Yoshida.

The other one, Sojiro, is the dude that took you in and stuffed you in the attic above his coffee shop. He, like all the other adults, does not have a good first impression, but holy shit, by the end of this game, you want him to adopt you. This is the kind of dude that would’ve adopted the entire group and have them as his own misfit family if he could. He’s such a sweetheart with a gruff exterior. He adopted Futaba after the last relative, a shitty uncle, treated her so horribly that he paid a lot of money to get her out of there and give her a loving home. And then when he finds out that they’re the Phantom Thieves, he’s worried for them, of course, but he’s also accepting of them. Sojiro Sakura is, without a doubt, the best parental figure in a Persona game. Move over, Dojima, we have a new parental figure. <3

All in all, if you haven’t played this game, then what the fuck are you doing reading this? Go get this game and play it! If you only have a PS3, I promise you that it doesn’t look bad on the PS3 at all. It looks excellent on both systems and is worth your time in playing and beating it. If you want to see what a good story and good character development looks like, play this game. Unlike FFXV, where I kept asking myself, “WTF did Squix spend their time on with this game?!”, I don’t have to ask where Atlus spent their time on this game. How they spent their time was making a masterpiece. *_____*

#persona 5 #persona 5 spoilers #seriously I am warning about the spoilers #I'm not spoiling the other big twist #but the twist I am spoiling about is still pretty big #seriously do not read this if you have not even beaten this game

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dornishsphinx · 7 years

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twenty-two meetings that never happened (2/22)

2. THE MAGICIAN

Yosuke swiped his finger across the screen to bring up the email again, just like he had done at least five times already. Meet your assigned partner at the clock outside the main building at 12pm sharp! Once more, he found himself checking the time. With a little notebook-style flipping animation, it ticked over from 12.29 to 12.30. God damn it.

He shifted from foot to foot; his right, his left, then right again. Had his assigned partner forgotten about the meet-ups? It would be just his luck if he had - though maybe at least it would be a good anecdote for his first call back home.

Home. Huh. Yosuke folded his arms across his chest and leant back against the wall, letting his gaze drift upwards to level with the roofs of tall buildings which loomed over the plaza. So, Inaba was home to him now? Weird. The city had been what his default image of home was for the longest time, even months into the provincial life.

Things here were different to how he remembered them, though. He’d assumed he’d get back into the swing of things soon enough when he first arrived, but now it was undeniable, even for him: the city of his earlier years seemed to have melted away in his absence. Before, he’d had stable roots: parents to go back to at night; old friends he could chill with; the quickest routes through the wide streets firmly memorised.

Now, though? That easy closeness with his friends had been shaken by years’ worth of texts gone unanswered, and he wasn’t quite sure how to fix it, or if he even should. Several of his old haunts had been shut down - while he hated to empathise with the those among the residents of Inaba who’d shunned him and his family, he had to admit to finally gaining a glimmer of understanding the moment he discovered his favourite takoyaki stand had gone under. As for his parents, they were still in Inaba and had no plans on returning, their city house having been sold when they left town. He’d rode past it, once, when going to see one of his oldest friends from the neighbourhood, like muscle memory had forced him to go past his house. A strange kid had been playing outside. He’d avoided going that route since.

“Yo! Sorry I’m late!”

He snapped to. A friendly looking guy was waving over at him. Presumably it was his assigned partner - thank god, he wasn’t going to have to decide whether or not to leave. Yosuke flipped close his phone and plastered on a grin.

“Hey, no worries, I was kinda late too!” he lied.

“Yosuke Hanamura, right? I’m Kenji Tomochika. They sent your name and photo so we could find all you lost newbies.”

“Oh, cool! Good to meet you, senpai!”

God, what the hell was his voice doing? Why was it so high and panicky? Had Tomochika noticed? He hadn’t seemed to, but was he was just being polite?

“So, hey, you wanna come see the canteen first?” he said. “Food’s not great, but it’s hella cheap. I’ll pay. I’m the reason your lunchtime’s been cut in half, after all.”

“Sounds good. Senpai.”

Tomochika grinned. “Awesome, I’m starving! We can do the tour after, ‘kay?”

The canteen was a blocky, grey building, with some weird murals painted across it that only made the rest of it look all the more industrial. Inside, it was swarming with students; all the ambient chatter made the air hum. Yosuke hesitated, but Tomochika pushed on ahead into the queue to the hot food section.

“Hey, you should get the curry rice,” Tomochika shouted, “It’s actually okay. The rest of the stuff here pretty much sucks.”

His voice carried; the server shot dirty looks at him. Yosuke winced and brushed it off with an embarrassed grin - he’d been on the other side of the counter so many times, after all. Still, it wasn’t as though the guy was wrong: casting an eye over the other options, it became super obvious that none of these options were gonna be appetising. At all. Pretty much immediately, he decided to go with the suggestion - though not before his attention was caught by what looked like they were supposed to be steak skewers. Weirdly, he found a small, nostalgic smile had started tugging at the side of his mouth at the sight of them.

Then, his attention got snatched away from them by a polite cough. He snapped his head around to see the girl ahead of him already walking away and the cashier looking at him pointedly. He could take a hint.

Tomochika was after him in line - as he waited for him to pay, Yosuke scanned the room for any potential seats. Yeah, no, this place really was packed - like, the impossible to move, let alone find a seat kind of busy. But then again, Tomochika was swanning off like he knew what he was doing, and Yosuke didn’t have half the experience he did, and so he followed him. Magically, he found two seats. Yosuke leapt for his, just in case someone else spotted it before he managed to park his ass.

His stomach grumbled. Tentatively, he lifted out some of the rice - twisted his wrist around one way, then the other - and took a bite. (You didn’t encounter Yukiko Amagi’s cooking and not check for suspicious patches of colour or lumpy bits that shouldn’t be lumpy in every other meal you ever had.) Flavour - sweet, spicy flavour - burst over his tongue.

“Huh, not bad,” he said in surprise.

“I know, right?” Tomochika exclaimed, brandishing his own chopsticks in a way that would make anyone with the slightest care for dining etiquette wince. “Trust me, if you’re coming here to eat, you wanna stick with that. Someone should profit from all those terrible lunches I went through my first year, when I was testing all the options.”

“Hey, it can’t be as bad as some of the stuff I’ve had back-” He paused. It was one thing to call Inaba home to himself, quietly in his head. Hell, he might tell his friends, if it came up. It was another thing to say it out loud to a stranger he was trying to impress. “-In the town I was living in the past couple years. Seriously, it was like they thought steak croquettes were high cuisine.”

“What town’s that?” Tomochika asked, seeming genuinely interested.

“Uh, Inaba? It’s pretty tiny, it’s kinda near-”

“Whoa, wait, I think I know that place! I mean, unless there’s a whole bunch of little towns with the exact same name. Which could be the case, I guess. Lemme see, uh… is the school called Yasogami?”

Yosuke’s jaw dropped. How? How the ever-loving hell did this guy know Inaba? It was Inaba. Nobody knew Inaba. Mom had pitched a fit when she’d figured out how remote the town the company had been moving Dad to was, and that had only been after a boss-difficulty-level google search to actually find the place.

“Yeah,” he said, dumbfounded. “Uh, wow. How do you know Inaba? It’s like, in the middle of nowhere. It probably doesn’t even show up on maps.”

It was only after he said it that it occurred to him: it wasn’t as though Inaba was as unknown as it had been when he moved there. It couldn’t be. Not after everything that had happened last year.

“Oh, our school did an trip there in second year, to exchange ideas on learning styles, or some bull like that. It sure was, uh. Quaint?”

Oh, so it wasn’t because of the murder spree - well, that was certainly unexpected. Ugh, wait, why was he even thinking about that? It had been more than a year ago; this was a completely different place; and he was over everything that had gone on then. Forcibly shoving the sudden pit in his stomach away, he twisted his face back into the jokey way he’d had it before.

“You’re telling me. I had to move there because of my dad’s job - from this city, actually. Wasn’t exactly an easy adjustment.”

Tomochika winced at that. “I am so sorry.”

The response rubbed Yosuke the wrong way a little. It wasn’t Tomochika’s fault, obviously: he was just going along with the atmosphere of camaraderie to keep things from getting awkward in that oh-yeah-we-are-actually-complete-strangers-aren’t-we sorta way. Still, he’d found himself missing the little place over the weeks he’d been back, quaint and tiny and murder-y as it had been. Even the steak croquettes, at points. (Hey, he’d never said his feelings were rational.)

“Nah, but it wasn’t really so bad. Like, there was a city not too far away - I mean sure, it wasn’t convenient like here or anything, but I wasn’t completely cut off from the world or anything.”

“I mean, I guess that’s not as bad as it could have been, but still. I can’t even think about going back to Tatsumi Port Island now that I’ve lived here and the city there’s actually pretty big. Oh hey, so if you’re from here, maybe you should be the one showing me around-”

Yosuke interrupted him: “Tatsumi Port Island? I’ve been there! Well, I went to the school, at least. Maybe it was the same programme you went on to Inaba?”

“You visited Gekkoukan? Man, that must have been after I left. I wonder if anything’s changed since then.”

Wait. If Tomochika had been at Gekkoukan High a few years before Yosuke went on the exchange there, did that mean he’d gone to school with those Shadow Operative weirdos who’d shown up to take Labrys away? Naoto’s investigations, at least the ones she’d shared with the Investigation Team, had pointed to Gekkoukan as their old base of operations, and it would be around the right time, considering the guy only had a few years on him. Hell, was he one of them? Those guys had been pretty suspicious, after all, so it wouldn’t be completely out of the left field if they sent one of their own to spy on him.

Oblivious to Yosuke’s minor freakout, Tomochika laughed, brushing aside the matter that he’d got tongue-tied over.

“But man, that is so weird, like, we visited each others’ high schools and didn’t even know it. You think maybe the organisers looked into our backgrounds while matching us up, to see if people have anything in common like that?”

“Seems a bit much for them to bother with, doesn’t it?”

He peered at Tomochika, waiting for a reaction, but he just shrugged. “Huh, I guess you’re right.”

Maybe he wasn’t some Shadow Operative secret spy after all. Weirdly, he found himself a little disappointed.

“So,” said Tomochika, dragging out the sound, “Inaba. I heard that’s where that crazy murder case happened last year? You’d have been living there at that point, right?”

Oh. Yeah. Of course he knew. It was stupid to think he hadn’t: it had made national news.

“Yeah. I was.”

“Oh, wow, no way! Musta been pretty scary, huh?”

“Yeah. I mean, I guess.”

Something in Yosuke’s face - or voice, or maybe even just his aura - must have tipped Tomochika off, because he winced and in a hushed voice, he asked: “Ah, you didn’t. Uh. Know anybody who was, y'know…”

“I did, yeah.” Tomochika winced. “Oh. Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up,” he said, and to his credit, he actually sounded sincere about it. “I mean. I lost a friend in high school so, I know it’s not easy. I mean, he was closer to other people and it’s not like he was murdered but- I’m making this worse aren’t it? Sorry. I’ll shut up now.”

“It’s okay, man,” said Yosuke. “We weren’t really that close.” Well, it was true, even if only on her end.

“Still,” he said, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Honestly, it’s no sweat. You didn’t know.”

Tomochika smiled back, a faint edge of nervousness creeping in at the edges. Oh, just awesome, he’d managed to freak out the guy he was supposed to be impressing. What the hell happened to him always being the most normal guy in the room? Though, looking back, maybe it had always just been in comparison to those goofballs he called friends back in Inaba.

Though. Maybe he could lean into it a little? New place, new people, new him? Oh, what the hell, why not?

“Hey, Tomochika-senpai, did you by any chance tune into the LMB Fest this summer?”

#persona #kenji tomochika #yosuke hanamura #p3 #p4 #22 meetings

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