Discovery (Event)

[harmonizenpc]

Who: Persona-users, Sayuri, ensemble NPC cast.
Where: Various.
When: Saturday, May 6, homeroom.
What: Something isn't right.


The Friday after Golden Week had come and gone without much fanfare. Things had rapidly returned to normal, save for some chatter about students' various adventures over the holiday.

Starting out, Saturday looked to be much the same, by and large. Students in 1-ho, 2-ni, and 3-ha might have thought it odd that they had substitute teachers for homeroom, particularly given that their regular teachers been present the previous day, but most shrugged it off without a second thought.

Snuck into the homeroom announcements was another blink-and-you'll-miss-it peculiarity: members of the Critical Thinking class were to report to the auditorium at the end of homeroom for a mandatory guest lecture.

Such events weren't unheard of; Chitoku's brochures had even mentioned them as a selling point. To the student body at large, this was simply the first thus far.

No doubt the students being called knew better.

Comments

[heirofkobe]

Shinichiro barely looked up at first, not batting an eyelash at the lecture. After Minoru was finished speaking, he waited ten more seconds before looking at the young man and smiling.

"Correction," he stated, voice firm but amused. "You are expected to sit. I am not expected to sit. They might WANT me to sit, but surely by now they don't expect me to do so."

Cue shrug. Cue grin. Cue stare that said "mind your own fucking business."

[harmonizefaculty]

"I appreciate the sentiment, Suzuki-kun, but I'm afraid there's no time to sit." Horaoku adjusted his glasses with a sigh. "Come up, and we'll explain the situation."

***
It wouldn't take long after entering the lab for the Persona-users to realize that something was very wrong.

Suwa, Takaoka, and Sawatari stood in the back, going back and forth between camera feeds and consoles blinking with incomprehensible data with varying degrees of urgency, while Maehigashi's gangly form towered over them; Horaoku was quick to join them. Ishichi, Sekimiya, Araragi, and Komatani were nowhere to be found. Yachiyo stood at the center in her usual spot, an eye of calm at the center of the storm, lips drawn into a thin line, keeping one eye on the tablet she was holding as her other hand fiddled with an earpiece.

The portal was open, and the awful twisted aura of the other world lent the whole scene a malign air.

After a sharp exchange with whoever was on the other end of the line, Yachiyo looked up at the group; her gaze, usually hard, was downright steely now.

"You're here. Good. Let me cut to the chase:

"Hazama Miyume is missing."

There was no time given to process this fact. Yachiyo simply plowed onward.

"According to our best information, she simply disappeared last night. Her roommate found her missing this morning. There are no video records of her leaving the room. And there's been no sign of her in the other world."

[acidhexagon]

Quick to understand the severity of the situation given the tension among his senior officers, Minoru, with brows furrowed, asked: "What can we do to help?"

[burningbow]

Mirai seemed troubled by this. He drew his hand down his chin and stared ruminatively at Suwa, Takaoka, and Sawatari. He kept imagining he could see Miyume looking at the blinking lights of consoles, or the portal that led inward to the other world. The loss was hard. He hadn't forgotten about her completely - her disappearance was bringing their last days together back to him so forcefully that he sidled away from the group before the explanation began.

He had no intention of letting anyone see how the situation was making him feel - and with utmost carefulness he did actually cut off around the back of the group. Or at any rate, he skulked over to Takaoka and Sawatari. Found what they were doing interesting and kept his back turned to everyone else.

[allisnothing]

Haruka's eyes fluttered. Her grip on her cane tightened.

Other than those actions, she was completely still. When she spoke, it was devoid of her snark...and much of anything, except a hard undercurrent.

"Then you don't even know if this is like something out of a closed room mystery or if it's other world related or even if Miyume-chan found a way out from under your noses?"

If that last one was the truth, Haruka'd find some cheer in that.

[fassade]

Miyume was missing. There was no record of her having of left her room, and there was no sign of her in the other world either. Her expression was... hard to decipher. The German's gaze was just as cold, just as hard... but there was an almost franticness to the way her eyes remained focused on the same wall. After a few moments, she spoke up, her voice a growl.

"Was her roommate the last to see her?"

There was a slight rushing in her ears. She was right across the hall from Miyume, and she hadn't heard a thing. She was RIGHT there, and she wasn't able to stop it. They needed to find the sickly girl. NOW.

[harmonizefaculty]

The look of cold disdain Yachiyo regarded Haruka with showed... well, showed everyone else, at least, what she thought of that comment.

She looked to the others, who were at least trying to be more constructive. "Yes. Sekimiya is talking to Inoue-san as we speak, but doesn't expect anything useful."

She paused at put a hand to her earpiece, looking over at the quiescent portal with a frown. "Imaizumi-kun, go meet Araragi in the other world. You may have better luck than our equipment. Suzuki-kun will escort you.

"We also need to examine her last known location for clues, but sending a group of adults would cause unnecessary concern. Abendorosu, Saiga-san, go and meet Ihoji outside the dorm building. I expect Inoue-san to be there shortly.

"For now, the rest of you will remain here. If we find anything, I want to be ready to act at a moment's notice."

[burningbow]

Mirai looked neither thrilled nor dismayed by Yachiyo's assignment of a classmate. He could only see that Minoru might keep him on his toes because he was a meddler. He could imagine how his classmate would take to the other world, as though he were on some mission. He could hear Suzuki talking about the emperor now. He hoped he wouldn't.

He hoped simply that Minoru would be a good thick wall. He could see how he could convince the other boy it was his civic duty. So would the adults with the guns, he thought. And so he had Minoru ready to wrap around his finger and ready to do anything in his defense.

But the part he had to play forced him to stay calm all the same. He walked through the portal with a frown and cast Yachiyo a glance. His half-closed eyes turned on the group - then he was gone.

[acidhexagon]

"Yes, sensei," Minoru replied, marking his obedience with a salute, though not as cheerful as he may have been. Not because of the company, he seemed indifferent if not dispassionate to be with Mirai, but the task at hand, a disappearance, was serious, and he seemed capable of regarding it as such.

He did, however, scowl a bit at the frown Mirai gave to his teacher.

No respect in this world. Perhaps in the other one, Imaizumi would prove to have some redeeming qualities.

[fassade]

Chloe merely gave Yachiyo a resolute nod, her piercing gaze flickering to Kisa for only a moment before she strode from the room at a very brisk pace. While not technically jogging or running, her long legs meant she had long strides, and that gave her speed. As she passed Mirai, the look she gave him was a strange one. It was not a look of hostility, as one might expect after the Archery incident. It was actually more akin to an uneasy 'Be careful.' than anything. They didn't know much about the other world yet, and with this weird stuff happening and this bad feeling in her gut, they all needed to be careful.

Meet Ihoji at the dorms. Find Miyume. With those instructions all but burned into her mind, Chloe was on her way as inconspicuously as a ridiculously tall German girl in Japan could be towards the girls dorms. She tried to keep her stride steady but looked back to make sure Kisa was keeping up alright.