FEBRUARY EVENT PT 1

[citta]

FEBRUARY EVENT PT 1

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→ 2/2 Infodump

Three weeks have passed in the outside world since everybody had first entered the dungeons, and they exit to find themselves back in Hirajiro. It's quiet, late at night, streets dry around both the house and the clubhouse as they all trudge on home. For the rest of the night, everybody is encouraged to sleep, waking up to breakfast and in the late afternoon on the 2nd, an official team meeting is called. This time, there is no enforcement for people to come or stay, and food will be served after the bulk of the discussion is dealt with. Those who care will take things seriously, and those who don't are free to walk away.

To start, each team shares what went on in each respective dungeon.

(click to expand details) From the castle dungeon:
⬥ Room 1: The team finds Rio's, Yamato's, and Kido's omamoris that had been returned to the shrine back on New Years, and allows them to burn.
⬥ Room 2: In a war between Hirajiro and a neighboring town, Terry kills a hundred of the other town's soldiers with a single arrow and saves Hirajiro.
⬥ Room 3: In the aftermath of the war, the townspeople praise the Kotengu for saving them. They say he came to power half a year ago and can strengthen people and bring them back from the dead. In the offertory box in the forest shrine, Cyrus, Sasuke, and Jiro find a scrap of paper.
⬥ Room 4: In the aftermath of the war, Terry, Rei, and Yamato fight through a horde of zombies: the townspeople that Terry killed with his arrows who have been brought back to life- but wrong.
⬥ Room 5: In the aftermath of the war, Minato, Nero, and Red help out the remains of the town that attacked Hirajiro. These townspeople blame themselves for attacking and underestimating the Kotengu's strength. Red falls into ego death.
⬥ Room 6: In a war between the Kotengu and Daitengu, Hirajiro has been destroyed by active earthquakes and rockslides triggered by the Daitengu after the townspeople decide to side with the Kotengu. The team gathers up the remaining townspeople and bring them to safety at the shrine, where the Kotengu spirits everybody away to safety. Cyrus falls into ego death. Sasuke receives a second scrap of paper.
⬥ Final Room: In the boss' chamber, the team is met with the ghosts of all their old teammates lost to ego death and permadeath. Minato fully remembers and explains his contract: he and Souji became Attendants to help their Guests defeat the Daitengu and free to Kotengu, after which the Kotengu will use his powers to bring their team back from death. The Kotengu has the ability to bring people back from the dead and has been doing so for the Persona users. The Daitengu have the ability to shatter people's souls, which is the reason why there are Persona users who permadied and did not revive, and will not reincarnate. To restore these souls, the Attendants planned to use the Kotengu's power to access the Sea of Souls. Sasuke receives a third scrap of paper.
(click to expand details) From the shrine dungeon:
⬥ Room 1: In the main hub, the team meets the ghost of a young human boy who runs away and seals half the doors. In the first room, everybody meets doppelgangers of each person in the team, but defeat them and find a fourth scrap of paper in Souji's doppelganger's bag.
⬥ Room 2: In modern-day Hirajiro, the townspeople turn against the Persona users and burn down the clubhouse. Jiro and Ala fight through the crowd of townspeople who attack them with torches and farming tools and chase the two until they escape into the forest.
⬥ Room 3: During the Kotengu's rise in power, the lake is polluted and turned into a dumping ground for scrap metal and other trash, and only a small handful of people remain who argue against industrialization and the destruction of nature. The townspeople attack and drive away 45, Kido, and the few people who dare to disagree with the Kotengu.
⬥ Room 4: During the Kotengu's rise in power, students learn about weaponsmithing and war tactics instead of the usual subjects like math and science. Souji and Iris meet the boy from the hub. He introduces himself as Hiroto, and agrees to lower the barrier in the main hub.
⬥ Room 5: During the Kotengu's rise in power, the forest around Hirajiro is being cut down to light iron furnaces for smithing weapons. The forest animals are displaced from their homes, and take refuge in the beginnings of the Kotengu's castle, where Akira, Rio, and Wei Wuxian find a fifth scrap of paper.
⬥ Room 6: In modern-day Hirajiro, the team lives out their daily lives believing they are natives to the town, until they pick up on the discrepancies such as the isolation of the town. With brainwashing from the Daitengu, this is the idyllic life they could have, if they choose it over reality.
⬥ Final Room: The team meets Miyamoto-no-Yamazaki, who reveals he was originally human and went by the name Hiroto. Daitengu can be born as a Daitengu, as in the case of the previous three Daitengu, or they can be born as a human and turn into one, as in Hiroto's case. In the middle of the discussion, Jiro goes into anaphylactic shock and Hiroto sends everybody out of the dungeon, saying that every time one of them dies and is revived, their soul becomes more and more corrupted. He will reopen the dungeon on the 3rd for the whole team to come back. Jiro falls into ego death.

For the sake of refreshing everybody's memories, Akira and Kido then go over everything they have learned about this world and how it's time to make a decision for how to bring everything to an end.

The Kotengu and Daitengu vied for power in the past, with the Daitengu being guardians of nature and peace and the Kotengu bringing war and advancement. The Kotengu was sealed away but has the power to bring in people from other worlds and make them Persona users. The last group include Minato and Souji, whose entire team was killed except for Minato: he was saved by the Kotengu, and signed a contract promising to lead the new Persona users to kill the Daitengu and free the Kotengu. In return, he and Souji were made into Attendants, and upon completion of the contract, the Kotengu will restore their team's shattered souls and bring them back to life.

Supported by multiple sources, the ofuda door in the castle is their way home. Both teams have been gathering up torn parts of the same ofuda, with five pieces out of six in their possession, and one more piece will complete the last ofuda needed to go home. All the ofudas, complete and incomplete, are given to Akira for safekeeping. As the Kotengu controls the passage, they may be able to open the door and leave without fighting, while the Kotengu is busy fighting the last Daitengu. If they stay and fight the Kotengu as originally planned, however, they must be aware that 1) the Kotengu may be able to seal the omamori he created, and 2) each time somebody is brought back to life by the Kotengu, he corrupts their souls. In the past, Souji and the rest of his team were able to summon their Personas without a medium like Minato's team required, and Souji promises to help figure out the mechanics so they no longer require the omamori. As for the second point... there's already been too many casualties, and it's unclear what corruption means, only that it terrified Hiroto.

Along with whether to kill the Kotengu (somehow) or forge a deal with him, they must decide on what to do with the last Daitengu. If they kill Hiroto, it's hinted that the Daitengu will never truly disappear from the world because humans with high spiritual energy may turn into Daitengu. Souta, the grandson of the occult shop owners, is a prime candidate for this, and the town may never be free of a Daitengu's influence. For those who want to stay in Hirajiro when everything is over, the world may retain its prison system and constantly try to boot any remaining Persona users out unless Hiroto or another Daitengu can rework the system.

And then there's the Sea of Souls, the possibility of bringing everybody back to life— Mondo and Hibiki and Naoya and all the dozens upon dozens of people who were dragged into this war against their will. Shattered souls, corrupted souls, they could all be saved. All this time, ever since they arrived here in the summer, the team battled for their lives and their freedom against the Daitengu and the Kotengu, pledging to kill the fucking birds and forge their own paths. But they need the Kotengu to go home. They need the Daitengu to stay in Hirajiro. It isn't so easy to drop the convictions they've poured so much into already. What shall they do?

Tomorrow, they speak with Hiroto, and make their first decision of whether to work together, or make a stand and fight.

→ 2/3 - 2/29 Around Town

Outside of the hidden hour, life goes on... Bundled up in coats and scarves, the townspeople flock outside for much of the month, catching up with each other and going shopping together, turning to the Persona users with warm smiles and exclamations that they're glad to see everybody recovered from their illnesses too— they've all been gone for weeks, after all, presumably stuck at home with the sniffles. The patients in the clinic have all started to recover over the past few weeks, with a little garden of medicinal plants started beside the community center now that there is no danger of frost, and construction is already underway to rebuild the hospital building.

For Setsubun on the 3rd, little bags of roasted soybeans and samples of ginger sake for the adults are given out in the marketplace, and at the mountain shrine, priests pass out sweets and small toys and envelopes of money to those who make the trek to the peak. Young men wearing nothing but loincloths parade around the lake before plunging into the freezing water for "purification." Tiny daruma with blank eyes are sold to grant wishes— daruma are so weird: you give the doll the gift of sight by painting in just one eye, write your wish down on its back, and then withhold filling in the other eye until the doll grants your wish through some mystical power. The townspeople believe in this sort of stuff, okay. But none of the townspeople seem to be able to see summoned Personas anymore, and when asked or shown anything out of the ordinary, the townspeople laugh and say you're silly, turning their attention back to the festivities. In the evening, a bonfire is raised by the lakefront with a stage set up next to it for musical performances, historical reenactments and dramas, and dancing all through the night until morning comes with the arrival of spring.

And sure enough, by morning, the snow has all melted, the sun shining brightly in a clear blue sky, though the air is crisp and the nights still get cold. Several townspeople have been hard at work building rowboats, which can be rented to paddle out into the lake, the water so clear one can see several meters into the depths where schools of freshwater fish now swim about, and birds can be seen floating on the surface until a boat comes too close and scares them away. At the community center, a soup kitchen has been set up by a group of volunteers, with hot stews and freshly baked bread served in a large room filled wall to wall with tables and benches, the townspeople enjoying lunches and dinners together with donations going towards the hospital and covering the costs of patients so no one needs to worry about affording treatment. The illness has abated and winter has ended, hope alight on each person's face.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ A lot of the information detailed in the infodump has been repeated ad nauseam over the course of the game, but is presented here for summary and completion, and so all characters will fully understand the situation and can make an informed decision about the ending. The team meeting does not have to the played out unless people are interested or have something they want to discuss.
⬥ The encounter with Hiroto on 2/3 will be threaded out in the toplevel below. Whether Hiroto lives or dies will be determined by the characters volunteering to talk to him, and they will receive the last ofuda piece from him regardless of their decision.
⬥ The townspeople have reverted back to their previously oblivious state regarding Personas or anything supernatural.
⬥ This month, the full moon occurs on 2/8 - 2/10, when Personas are stronger but more difficult to control. This is an optional mechanic.

Comments

[flowerclips]

That'd be nice! It'd make me really happy if you came to visit.

[ She'd get excited and time her break so she can spend time with him, maybe even have a quick snack as well. Rei loves her food so she always tries to eat when she can and speaking of food, Himiko finally returns with two plates of omurice. She thanks them for waiting and sets the plates down. Toki gets a cute cat in a heart drawn in ketchup on his while Rei gets a rabbit. Her portion is also significantly bigger than Toki's, packed right to the very edge of the plate. ]

Thank you, Himiko-chan! Ehehe, look at how cute yours is, Tokidoki!

[yokeye]

[Toki makes a little squeeing noise when the plates are set down. He missed cute food.]

They're adorable, Himiko-chan~!

[He digs into the omurice, cutting off one of the cat's ears, but not having a single thought about whether or not it's sentient and will scream, only audible on some other plane. Those kinds of thoughts are gone, banished along with memories of another life.]

It's really good! I'll save some for you, Rei!

[The cat omurice will taste no different from the rabbit, but Toki expects Rei to finish her gigantic portion first and then he'll feel her eyes on his plate. He might as well offer now.]

[flowerclips]

[ Toki is absolutely correct in assuming that Rei will finish her plate before him. One of these days, she will choke on her food, but that's something that Future Rei will have to deal with while Present Rei just gets to enjoy the moment. Past Rei would have been so jealous of this moment. ]

So fluffy!

[ She wonders if her omurice is as fluffy as this one. She'd have to watch the chef in the kitchen, now that she's interested in cooking. ]

It's okay, I'll order another one after this! I'll feel bad if I take your food.

[yokeye]

[They'll just keep ordering more until the cafe runs out of rice. It's a good breakfast, just sitting here with Rei and looking out the window. Toki finds himself daydreaming though, and now he can once again be distracted by shiny things and movement. When he refocuses on his food, it's only half-finished and gone a little cold.]

[flowerclips]

[ She'll make sure to stop after a second plate since they should watch how much they spend. Ever since she started living with Terry and seeing how hard it is to make enough money to buy things like... a bed, she has been a little more stingy. If they plan on living here, they need to save every penny and make sure that it lasts. Solely working as a maid won't be enough to support both of them for long. ]

What were you looking at?

[yokeye]

[Toki will have to consider a job as well, but he's not particularly good at anything, and is usually a disaster waiting to happen in any situation. He has two lucky day bonuses, and maybe using the power of them together, he could get a job with decent pay.]

Oh, nothing! It's just... so sparkly...

[He waves a hand at the window. The sun glints off the ice on the trees and the roofs.]

Winter's really nice, even if it's cold.

[flowerclips]

[ Let Toki be lucky and happy with a nice job. 🙏🙏🙏 ]

Mmhm, I really like it. The snow always looked so nice, but I only ever saw it from my window. I didn't know that it can be so soft and light but also hard and heavy.

[ She was only four when she was admitted into the hospital so any memories of going outside during the winter are faded and gone. She can't remember too much of her time outside. ]

It'll be spring soon. I hope that they have cherry blossoms in Hirajiro. I want to see them up close.

[yokeye]

I liked to watch it from the window too. Snow's never the same.

[It was only pretty from the window, though. Outside in the city streets, it just became slush and dirty. Toki was sent away from his rural home when he was four or five, and never saw the countryside again until Hirajiro. Except virtually, in Edo, but it was spring and summer there.]

I hope so too! We can have a picnic under the falling petals!

[They'll just get in the food, but Toki thinks they're edible, so it wouldn't matter.]

[flowerclips]

That sounds like a great idea! Ehehe, now I can't wait for spring to arrive.

[ It'd be her first real spring outside. After March, she'd be able to say that she has finally experienced each of the seasons properly. She's excited. ]

[ With Rei's plate finished, Himiko comes back again to check if she should bring another or if Toki needs anything. She can heat up Toki's plate if his food is a bit cold now, but she will also finally notice the matching wedding bands on their fingers and scream at the top of her lungs. If Toki was holding something, he better hold onto it tightly because Himiko will quickly usher everyone over so each and every single maid can also scream. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki is about to say that he's fine with the cold food, but then Himiko screams, so he screams. He flails around, trying to find the source of the terror. Are they being attacked by Shadows?]

What is it!? What is it!?

[flowerclips]

[ Rei shortly joins in with the screaming, repeating "what is it?!" alongside with Toki because she is just as started as he is, but her voice is drowned out by all the maids continuing to scream. ]

[ After a few more seconds of that, Himiko finally manages to ask (very loudly) when did they get married! Rei-chan, you never told us about this! You! (She refers to Toki.) Introduce yourself properly to the new girls! Are you treating Rei-chan kindly?! Hey, give us your qualifications for marrying her! Let's hear about family, money, physical strength, all that! Get talking! ]

[ Rei does not get a chance to get a word in because some of the other girls are bombarding her with her own questions. ]

[yokeye]

[This just results in more flailing, because it's too many questions at once.]

I'm Toki!

[Which is not at all a proper introduction, but it's blurted out, followed by the answers to all their questions.]

I love Rei and I will always treat her well, even though I like hurt her a few times, but I didn't mean to and I didn't know why I was doing it and that's like not an excuse or anything, but see, that Toki wasn't really me! I mean, of course it was me, but not like me me and anyway, that doesn't matter! What was the next question!? Qualifications! I don't have any qualifications! What kind do I need!? Is there like a test before you get married!? I didn't study! Can I take it now and like retroactively apply it to the marriage!? Or not now because I'm not ready, but after the fact is what I meant! I barely know my family and like they're poor maybe and maybe they farm like soybeans or something! I don't know! I have money, but I don't know where it came from because that house wasn't mine, but like it was and it wasn't, you know? I'm really weak and I can't help it!

[flowerclips]

[ Oh boy. Himiko shoots a look to the girls questioning Rei. The girls look back and nod before they pick up Rei and usher her to the break room. This is honestly not the first time that they have done this to Rei. One of those times was right in front of Terry and even he was powerless to stop it, so off she goes, yelling the entire way, to be interrogated on her own while Himiko handles Toki. ]

[ She takes Rei's seat and places her arms as menacingly as she possibly can while still in uniform. The other maids stand guard in case that Toki decides to run. The other customers are left to their own devices......... ]

[ All right there, buddy, let's take things one at a time. What do you mean by hurt because if you hurt a single strain of hair on Rei-chan's head, they're locking her up in the break room forever where she will be safe and sound. (Faint screaming can be heard from said room. Rei wants to leave.) ]

[yokeye]

Rei!

[But they've already whisked her away. Toki's starting to panic as Himiko and the maids close in.]

I just- I... I didn't touch her hair! I like... I...

[He mimics scratching his forearms, the incident he's first thinking of that hurt Rei. When he was paranoid for days. He can't say it out loud because he can't breathe. How did this day go from perfect to dreadful?]

[flowerclips]

[ Because this is Cetana. At least Himiko doesn't dig further into that because hey, she asked about how you hurt her, not whatever you guys did in bed, ew, Rei-chan's like her little sister. Also, she notices that Toki isn't properly breathing? That's easy enough to notice since the dude was practically speaking non-stop just seconds ago so hey? Are you all right? Do you need water? Don't pass out in the cafe. Rei-chan's going to kill them if you pass out. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki tries to answer the questions, but nothing comes out except wheezing. Himiko's voice sounds far away and muffled, while he rest of the noise in the cafe is almost too loud. Are the lights dimming?

Rei will have to deal with the maids, because Toki does pass out, with his face half in the cold omurice.]

[flowerclips]

[ Nice. Rei gets to kill the maids. ]

[ The next time that Toki wakes up, he'll be in the break room, propped in a chair. Rei won't be in the room since she's still chewing out her ex-coworkers and this is probably the leverage she uses to get the group date to be hosted at the maid cafe. ]