The Mystery of the Aeon

April 19

Now that we've saved Yukiko, it's time to relax. Well, as much as I can at least. Maybe I'll go get drunk in the Velvet Room. I Wonder if Igor will let me?

I stepped inside the entrance in the shopping district.

"Welcome, to the Velvet Room." Igor said. "Well then, I shall tell you about how I can offer my "Assistance.". I can gather a number of monsters and personas you capture using the D4C system and fuse them together, to either make stronger Personas or weapons and armour." He said

"Ok, but what's the D4C system?" I asked

"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. It allows you to use the power of Personas by transforming your body into a shadow, and taking on different forms of Personas. It may also allow you to duplicate yourself, should the need arise." Margaret said.

"Interesting, I'll, get back to you on that." I said.

I left after that, quickly realizing that maybe I should see what's up with that Marie chick I went back in.

"Oh, you came. You must come here a lot huh. Whatcha want this time? It doesn't matter to me." Marie said

"Excuse us. Marie you must learn to restrain yourself." Margaret said.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Stupidtightblockheadtwerp." She said

"I truly apologize, she is too unruly for me to handle." Margaret said

"I feel for you." I said

"*chuckle*, you are quite right. However this is all to help you on your journey." Margaret said

"What do you mean?" I asked

"This Room is inseparable from your fate. Nothing in this Room happens without purpose. It seems you and Marie has already met before you encountered her in this room. Encountering one who is not of man, and communicating with her, your fate has led you to this meeting." Margaret said

"One who is not of man?" I asked

"Indeed. This room is the crossroads of your fates. You, the customer, and she who is not of man, who has wandered into this place. Where will this meeting lead? Excuse me for saying so, but we too are interested in the outcome. Though she was in this land before you, Marie is not of Man. In other words, her understanding of the world which you live is incomplete. Therefore, I ask of you to please take her outside of this room, if you would. Ok Marie?" Margaret asked

"...whatever." Marie said. "Nevermind. Look, I'm sure you already know I want you to take me somewhere. It's small it's dark, the Nose never says anything. It's stuffy in here. I'm not really supposed to leave the room, but Margaret said it'd be ok if I went with you. I uh, well Nevermind. Will you take me somewhere?"

It seems Marie is intent on going out, if I become closer to her she might be able to tell me something.

"Sure." I said

"Don't you think you're giving in too easily? I'll have you twisted around my finger if this keeps up.... that's the saying right? I've been studying. Well let's go."

We went out to the shopping district, in front of the steak shop.

"Phew, I can finally breathe. It's stuffy in that car. Y'know, I feel weird. It's like, Nostalgic, for the smell and all." Marie said

"Nostalgic?" I asked

"Yeah, Nostalgic. That's what I said. It just, feels that way. There's a lot of stuff that I've never noticed before. A "steak skewer"?" She asked as she walked up to the shop. "Hey lady, I want one of those skewer things."

Oh this is gonna be entertaining.

"Oh, hello that will be 320 yen please."

"Threee hunnert twin, bleh that's hard to say. You can't eat without money?" She asked

"Do You want me to pay for it?" I asked

"You have money? That's awesome, you're awesome!" Marie said

Yosuke came walking by.

"Yo Y/n, getting your steak on, Huh? She's cute. What? What's going on here? Who's this!?" Yosuke asked

"She's... my litt-BIG sister." I said. Don't want to cause any more confusion than there already is.

"Sis!? Well, she does have your eyes." Yosuke said

"I'm not your sister why are you lying?"

"Awww I totally fell for that one. Man don't BS when you know I'm gonna find out. Oh yeah, I'm Yosuke Hanamura. I'm his friend, his partner you know?" He said

"I thought you were Yu's partner?"

"I can have more than one can't I?" He asked

"I suppose." I said

"Partner? You mean like a close friend?"

"Heeheehee, yeah that about sums it up. Er, what's your name?" Yosuke asked

"Huh? Uh, Marie."

"Hmmm, Marie chan is it? You want a steak skewer? Alright this one's on me." Yosuke said

"You mean you'll buy it for me?" Marie asked. "Is that ok?"

"There's no reason to decline." I said

"Hey don't worry, I got a little extra on my last pay check. Three steak skewers, one for each of us." Yosuke said

"Oh my! Business is booming! Just a moment please."

Later.

"Phew! Is that a bellyful or what? This place always has such huge portions. So Marie Chan, what did you think of the local specialty?" Yosuke asked

"It's really weird. It's tough, hard to bite and it got cold as I while I was still eating it. It was delicious." Marie said

"Oh, uh that's good. Didn't sound like you liked it at the beginning there. But, all's well that ends well." Yosuke said

"Hey why's it called steak anyways? Is it short for something?"

"It's short for Beefsteak." I said.

"Beefsteak? Huh. But if you drop the word beef from it you don't get a sense of what it's made of. It should be called Fstake." Marie said

"That's uh, not much better. Marie chan's a strange kid huh? Well that makes her cute, I guess?" Yosuke said

"You eat this every day?" Marie asked. "No fair. I should've come earlier."

It seems like Marie has taken a liking to Steak Skewers. I made small talk with Yosuke and Marie for a bit.

"Ah crap! I left my key back in my locker at work! I gotta go back to Junes! See you later Y/n, you too Marie chan." He said

Yosuke high tailed it over to Junes.

"Your "partner" is a funny person. But he bought me meat, this makes him a good person. That is a fact. Hey, let's go somewhere else, somewhere with a nice view."

We went to the hill overlooking town. After several times where I lost Marie the moment I took my eyes off her, I managed to bring her here.

"Hmmm, it's really green here. Green and green, and some brown, and darker green? Leaves of green fly away, farewell to you, clouds of the sky. I fly as well, lost as the day. Farewell Moon of the Night." Marie murmured to herself. She quickly turned in embarrassment. "N-no! I wasn't making up a poem! It's just words that I was thinking! That's all, yeah!"

She blushed.

"ShutupIhateyouyoustupidjerk! D-don't snoop on me!" She said

She darted over to the best view in town.

"Wow, it's pretty big. I don't know why, but I feel good about this place. It reminds me of something. Are there other places we can go? I want to see more!" She said

"I'll show you around." I said

"Please do. I notice a lot of things when I'm with you, it's pretty fun." She said

I'm starting to understand Marie a little better.

Thou Art I and I am Thou

Thou hast established a new bond.

It brings thee closer to the truth

Thou shalt be blessed when using the power of The Aeon Arcana.

Aeon Social Link: Rank 1

I walked Marie back to the Velvet Room, and headed home for the day