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“I know this world isn’t real.” Nanako admits hesitantly, waving her hand in the air, “but can you really look at Futaba-chan and tell her that her mom is dead? That Makoto-senpai’s dad is still here taking care of them instead of Nijima-san bearing the burden of doing both? That—“ She bit her lip.
Joker—she refused to say Akira— frowned, not against her, because he knew her point of view, he knew what she was saying was true, but this was a slippery slope they were going on and…
“Nanako, I understand—“ He tried to cut in, but she scowled at him, breaking her normally cheery demeanour,
“No, you don’t understand!” She steps back from him as he stiffened, face falling into a defensive look, “You don’t get it!”
“Akechi-san wanted to be dead!” She cried out in desperation, “My big bro’s friends never got a chance! Him and his friends were supposed to be happy— supposed to grow up with dreams— and that didn’t happen because someone didn’t care enough about human lives or—or relationships or happiness!”
“Akechi-san did that! He took away lives! And now he’s telling you to drop the fake world!” She sobbed, trying to wipe away her tears, trying to stop this weak, pathetic form, but it didn't help.
“You’ve met my big bro.” She whispered after a long tense silence, “You’ve seen his blank face. You’ve seen how he doesn’t smile, he doesn’t speak, he just—“ Her whole frame shudders, “He just doesn’t do anything…And we see him here. Happy. Finally happy. With all his friends. People I haven’t seen in years. Alive. Can—Can you blame me for wanting to stay?”
They fall into a tense silence as Nanako’s lips thinned. Joker doesn’t say anything, though he crosses his arms and turns his head away.
A well of guilt settles in her gut, and her throat feels dry as she stares back at him, but she stands her ground, for the first time in a long time, she goes against someone she cares about. It doesn’t feel good. She feels like that child, that small little kid who ran away because she thought her father didn’t care about her.
In the end, Joker leaves, but not before he says somberly, “His happiness isn’t real.”
Nanako clenched her fist.
She knows that Akechi is right around the corner.
Nanako rested her head on Souji’s shoulders, discomfort clawing at her throat as she tried to look at his content expression and believe that everything was okay. She tried not to feel empty when he laughs, fake and predetermined, like an extra piece of code for an NPC character.
He moved, talking about things she would never hear her real big bro say ever again.
“I’ve been so busy in my programs, I haven’t had the time to sit here like this with you, remember that time when you were younger?” He chuckles, a wisp of air that should’ve brought her warmth, but only sent dread running down her spine.
“You were obsessed with Junes, Yosuke always abused his employee discount for you.”
Nanako stilled. She hadn’t thought about Junes in years. Remembering all this, these memories pushing everything to the forefront, it scares her.
“Really?” She mumbled, picking at her sandwich as Souji continued eating.
“Mhm, you’re like a little sister for him, like Teddie is, though he’ll never admit it.”
“Where did Teddie come from?” She turned to look at his eyes, begging an answer for something she didn’t know, if he answered— would she even know if it was truth?
He looked at her confused, a haze falling over his eyes, “Teddie… come from?”
She nodded.
He hummed, expression smoothing over. “We found him abandoned in an alleyway.”
Her breath shook, “Why did you take him in?”
—
“Hey, big bro? Where did Teddie come from?” Her childlike curiosity burst as she poked her head out from the couch.
He blinked at her, a drip of sweat falling by his cheek though it wasn’t that hot.
Surprisingly, he laughs. None can tell, but she knows it’s because of the awkwardness that he does. She doesn’t know why it would be awkward though.
“We found him in an alleyway.”
“But,” she paused, knowing her next question might be irritating, “why did you take him in?”
His eyes focused on the origami paper that he’s holding, he… hesitantly shrugged, “It seemed right to.”
She knows her dad was also wondering where he came from—in such a small town, it seemed impossible to not know a person, let alone a full teenager with no relation to anyone.
—
“It seemed right to.” He said with a shrug, but not that… awkward, unsure shrug from before. It was decisive. Like he was sure that this was the right reason, like…
That was the exact truth of Teddie’s origins. But as she remembers the bear, his jokes, his mannerisms, it didn’t feel so right.
Teddie looked human, sometimes, but he didn’t feel human.
And she could feel her resolve to stay in this world faltering. She still knew Joker was right.
…
The true Souji was still suffering and blank.
His eyes soften as she tucks her face into his shoulder, this would be the last time she’ll ever see him feel so alive again.
“Why did you have to say it like that?” She whispered.
“Like what?” He asks her, his hand resting on her head for comfort.
“Exactly like my memories.” She sniffled. “Like… you’re confirming that you’re just made up. By me. Because I don’t truly know where Teddie came from, and that scares me. It—It makes me mad.”
He hummed, surprisingly, not in a confused way. He was good at that. Reacting in strange situations in funny ways.
“You’re real.”
“I know that.” She uncharacteristically scowled.
“Nanako,” he starts quietly, and she doesn’t think he’s going to continue after a long period of silence, but he does and it shocks her in place, “This world isn’t real but you are.”
Her eyes widened as she turned to look at him, he acknowledged it? Usually everyone would glaze over once they heard about the fakeness of this world.
Her voice came out small, “What?”
Souji’s shoulders sagged in place, the straight posture showing his confidence faltered, breaking the image of his character.
“I’m not your Souji.” he admitted as he leaned back.
“The real Souji,” He said, continuing before Nanalko could interrupt , “is in his own palace. I am not him. This world is not real. Margaret is protecting him, but… he won’t be safe for much longer, the longer you keep him in this fake world, the worse this world will become.”
“What?” She mumbled.
“Nanako.” He repeated, taking her hand into his.
She rips her hand away from his, “W—what?”
The corner of his lips lifted, but his eye brows remained downturned, sad, pitying.
“Lavenza asked her sister for help, and I’m here. To help.” He admitted, “You can call me Yu.”
“You’re not real…?” She whispered, “You’re not big bro?”
He nodded, “I am, and I’m not.”
Yu takes out a notebook and pen as he notices her confusion.
“Think of the linear progression of time, a person moving from point A to point B. Then,” He drew a path separating into two, “In one line, he chose the left, and on another, he chose the right.”
He pointed at himself, “I… am one of those alternative pathways, a fragment of the path that came before me.”
Her eyes widened as she took it all in. “You’re Souji?”
Confusingly, he shook his head, “Not exactly. A … different route can open up at any point in time. One of those periods is… when I was born. Any variation of DNA could have formed my personality, my name, my circumstance. In one timeline, my parents raised me with love. In another, they didn’t.”
She didn’t know what to think.
He pulls her into a hug, gently, allowing her to push him away and leave if she desires, but she doesn’t, and she crushes him with a tight hug.
“This isn’t real.” She whispered in fragility.
“No, it isn’t.” He whispered back. “Souji is still… broken.”
“He’s not! He—He’s…” She frowned, feeling the negative connotation of the word, ‘Broken.’
He doesn’t correct her.
“His friends aren’t real.” He says instead, “ You don’t know what they were really like, so you’re just assuming from your memories.”
“Are you telling me they’re bad people?” Her voice wavered.
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I just meant, they’re not their… true selves. You don’t know what makes them… them. You don’t know what their goals were.”
“… isn’t what I remember enough?” She mumbled, only saying it for the sake of rejecting this idea. There was no gusto in her voice.
“Where did Teddie come from?” He asks her instead.
“You said you found him in an alleyway.”
“Did we?” He pushes her with his question, “Did we really?”
—
“I seriously don’t understand how you did this…” Yosuke gave Teddie a creeped out stare. They haven’t seen her yet, so she hides behind them curiously, wanting to surprise big bros friends with a grin.
“Well~~ it’s a bears secret!” He jumped up, his gorgeous blond hair practically floating in the air with sparkles in the sky.
“You were empty before… now you have….. this face.” Yosuke grimaced, Nanako didn’t understand.
Teddie gives him a playful pout.
Younger Nanako tilted her head.
Older Nanako asks.
—
She knew Teddie was more unusual than she believed as a child. She didn’t want to face it.
“No.” She admitted.
Yu sighed—not harshly— and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry, Nanako.”
She flinched, crushing him back into a hug, “I miss you.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want to go back to the real world.”
“You have to.”
“But…”
Yu gave her a stern look, “This isn’t real. His happiness, your dad’s happiness, your—“ he pauses, and softens his tone, “—your mom, please, listen to me. Listen to Amami—er— Joker.”
“But everything will be worse! Everyone is happy here!” she frowned.
“You still have a chance to make it better.” Yu reminded her, “Souji is still here. You’ll be living in stasis here. This isn’t…” he paused, thinking, emphasising, “This isn’t paradise.”
Paradise.
A strange vision flickered in her memories, and a flash of pain struck her temple, she winced.
“This isn’t Heaven.”
“What?”
“Go with Joker.” He pleaded.
“I don’t understand.” She said, nearly in tears for the third time.
Yu only smiles sadly, not replying.
Instead of pushing, she concedes defeatedly.
“We did find him in an alleyway.” He said after a long bout of silence and no signs of leaving anytime soon, “Just not Inaba’s alleyway.”
She blinked at the answer, “Not Inaba’s alleyway?”
He nodded. She notices that he’s quieter than Souji, yet… still feels like her big bro.
“It’s a hint.” He tells her, “for when you get out of here. Find out our truth.”
For the first time in the past few hours, she laughs, and she promises with her pinky, that she will discover their truth.
—
She panted as she reached their meeting point, surprisingly being the second to arrive next to Joker…
Akira.
He also seemed to blink at her.
“I’m sorry.” She says instead.
His eyes go wide, before bowing her head forward. She could see him smile sadly behind his messy hair.
“I know it has to be difficult.” She nods towards Akechi in the distance. “It must be.”
He admits, “You were right though. I don’t really understand your experiences, I can hear it all I want, but I can never experience what you experienced.”
She lets out a soft giggle, agreeing.
“I’m sorry too.”
—
Bonus scene i didn’t know how to fit in;
everyone is in danger and almost losing when they hear—
“Teddie— heal them!” A familiar, shocking voice echoed in the palace, a strange bear jumping up from behind the wall.
Nanako’s eyes widened, “big bro Yu?”
Akira’s gaped, “That’s what Lavenza meant by support?”
Teddie only giggles, waving at Nanako before seemingly summoning his persona without a mask or anything.
To his side, Nanako almost cries at the sight of Yosuke breezing in with his…. skates??
“Hold on—“ Yu suddenly bursts from a random direction, “Yosuke, Rakunda!”
Yosuke grins, raising up a weird gun (evoker) alongside him, “On it partner!”
“PERSONA!” ….. who !?!?!?
“Izanagi-no-okami, MYRIAD TRUTH!” Damn that’s long title
!?!?!?