59 Metaverse again

Shin and Sho parted ways after getting out of the Metaverse. The red-haired man reluctantly accepted Shin's healing after finding out that he could barely walk on his own, since he had places to be in that same day.

The black-haired boy went back to LeBlanc, as he left a lot of questions unanswered.

Alibaba: Where have you been?!

Alibaba: I've been trying to send you a message for the past hour, but you didn't receive them.

Alibaba: Who was that guy?

Alibaba: And what are 'Personas'?

Alibaba: What the hell was that whole talk back then?

"Well, this is all a bit complicated. It'd be quicker to just show you the Metaverse." replied Shin.

Alibaba: This... Meta-thingy... how do you access it?

"Me and my friends have this app on our phones. We don't know how it works, but it gets us to Mementos or whatever Palace we're dealing with."

Shin sat on one of the couches in the cafe to relax for a bit while he waited for Futaba to reply, but her message didn't come.

"Alibaba?" he called out.

The boy waited a few more seconds.

"FUCK!" he shouted.

-INTERMISSION-

Once again in the Metaverse, Shin swiftly climbed up to the rooftop of a house nearby, and went around the neighborhood.

"Alibaba! Where are you?!" he shouted.

In actuality, he knew that she should be somewhere around Sojiro's house, but he couldn't just directly head there, since he wasn't supposed to know about Futaba at all.

There was no danger in letting her roam around this place, as the shadows only appear underground in Mementos.

Nevertheless, he couldn't leave her in here for long. Being alone in this world, where modern devices were pretty much useless, couldn't be good for Futaba's already deteriorating mental health.

It didn't take long for Shin to head to Sojiro's place, as he quickly got bored of looking at the same old buildings he saw everyday.

And it was good that he went there when he did. The boy found Futaba cowering in the hallway, with her shadow self saying something, seemingly making the redhead more depressed.

Shin silently approached and aimed his gun at Shadow Futaba's head.

"That's enough, don't you think? I can't let you bully that pipsqueak anymore." he said, cocking his gun.

And then he shot.

Shadow Futaba vanished immediately, all the while the real Futaba was looking at Shin with her eyes wide.

"Wha-" she muttered.

"Yo! You alright, Alibaba?" said Shin.

"Huh? Shin...?" slowly asked the redhead.

"That is me. This is my outfit in the Metaverse. Don't think too much about it."

"Why is it all black?" asked Futaba, her social anxiety being overwhelmed by confusion.

"Because it reflects the darkness in my soul!" shouted Shin, slapping a hand on his chest, near his heart.

"Pfft."

"This is Arsene." Shin summoned said Persona, deciding to tell her about his ability to have more than one Persona later, as telling her now would have almost no weight, which wouldn't really shock her.

"Ohhh!" exclaimed the girl, her eyes shining as she looked at the intimidating Persona.

"Now, I think it's about time we returned to reality. You go to wherever you used the app at, and I'll head back to LeBlanc." said Shin, gesturing with hands.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little note on Futaba's real name as well as her alias.

Futaba means "two" (*insert removed kanji here*) (futa) and "leaf" (*insert removed kanji here*) (ha/ba). "Alibaba" is a Japanese word puzzle to her given name. Ali or Ari (*insert removed kanji here*) means "to have," so the handle can be constructed as "have leaf leaf" (*insert removed kanji here*), in other words "have two leaves."

Who'd have thought I'd be here explaining the meaning of 'futa' to you peeps.

What the hell am I doing with my life?

(BTW, in case you're wondering, WN has a very accurate system that read those japanese kanji as chinese/korean. Very cool, WN, very cool.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsukiyomi is the lunar god in Shintoism. He was born of Izanagi's right eye as he bathed after his descent to the underworld, thus making him the brother of Amaterasu and Susano-O.

Tsukiyomi is the Persona of Sho Minazuki when he surfaces through a Plume of Dusk, and is, befittingly, of the Moon Arcana. During Sho's Instant Kill attack, Tsukiyomi's body is changed by the black substance attacking the opponent, replacing his white lines with red ones similar to Magatsu-Izanagi. His sword also resembles a scythe as it cuts through the opponent, disintegrating them. Following the True Ending, Minazuki disappears and Sho inherits Tsukiyomi from the plume.

In Persona 5, as a DLC Persona, Tsukiyomi itself references its original users, stating that madness (Sho) is in his right hand, and tenacity (Minazuki) in its left hand.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Confidants:

0. Igor (The Fool) - Rank 2

I. Morgana (The Magician) - Rank 3

1. Takuto Maruki (The Councillor) - Rank 1

II. Makoto Niijima (The Priestess) - Rank 2

V. Sojiro Sakura (The Hierophant) - Rank 3

VI. Ann Takamaki (The Lovers) - Rank 7

VII. Ryuji Sakamoto (The Chariot) - Rank 6

IX. Futaba Sakura (The Hermit) - Rank 3

XIII. Tae Takemi (The Death) - Rank 4

XVIII. Saki Yoshiko (The Moon) - Rank 2

XIX. Sho Minazuki (The Sun) - Rank 1

XX. Sae Niijima (The Judgement) - Rank 1

Shiho Suzui (The Hope) - Rank 8