...12/09/2009 Saturday; Afternoon...
The room fell silent as everyone settled into the sofas and beanbags.
The only sound was the soft click of the hard drive activating and the faint hum of the computer.
Mitsuru slid into the armchair closest to the screen, and Hiro took a seat behind her, arms resting on the back.
"How are you feeling?" Hiro leaned closer to Mitsuru's ear, his voice a gentle whisper.
"I'm fine." She turned her face slightly toward him, though her eyes remained fixed on Giyu and Ikutsuki. "The doctors said I just need some rest."
Giyu cleared his throat, the sudden noise causing everyone to lift their heads. He leaned over the keyboard and pressed the spacebar.
A map of the city appeared on the monitor, dotted with red markers. A blinking clock icon hovered over Gekkoukan High School.
"As you all know, Tartarus is located here." Giyu placed his finger on the center of the map. "When the Dark Hour began..."
With precise movements, he traced a path through the air, linking the three areas where S.E.E.S. had fought: the residential district, the long avenue leading to Moonlight Bridge, and the industrial zone.
"Aside from the industrial zone, the other two locations showed an abnormal increase in the number of souls," he continued, his voice taking on an analytical tone. "The Shadows were gathering coffins for a ritual... a summoning. That's what brought out that massive Shadow you faced."
He shot a brief glance at Ikutsuki.
"President, if you would."
Ikutsuki nodded and typed quickly. A file appeared on the left side of the screen, displaying a green-tinted, distorted image of the enormous Shadow that had nearly overwhelmed them.
"We discovered that this Shadow acts as a weapon of Tartarus," Ikutsuki explained, pointing at the profile. "When the number of pure souls surpasses the threshold, and the special Shadows fail to collect them, Tartarus sends this entity to consume everything. We've named it the Void Shadow."
Junpei slouched and mumbled to himself:
"More like Moss Shadow... that thing still gives me chills."
Fuuka raised her hand, curiosity clearly visible on her face.
"But Giyu-kun... what about those other Shadows? Even while staying at the dorm, I was able to see them through my Persona's vision."
Giyu raised an eyebrow and responded with a firm gesture.
"Fuuka Yamagishi, right?"
Fuuka nodded.
Giyu extended his hand, his fingers dancing across the keyboard. Within seconds, two new files popped up on the screen.
One showed the Samurai Shadow that Mitsuru's team had faced in the residential area.
The other displayed the grotesque werewolf that had attacked Minato's group.
"We call these Shadows 'Morphs,'" Giyu said firmly. "They form when multiple Shadows consume a human body, transforming it into something that can organize souls. When they fail to gather enough, Tartarus resorts to the Void Shadow."
Akihiko furrowed his brow. "So... if these things fail to collect... Tartarus sends the Void Shadow?"
"Exactly," Giyu nodded. "And more than that — during the metamorphosis process, the human consciousness is destroyed. The Shadow takes a shape based on the person's strongest sense of self. In the samurai's case... the victim was an elderly man, descended from samurai, obsessed with his lineage."
Minato slowly crossed his arms, his gaze distant as the words echoed through the room. His eyes unfocused for a moment — something had surfaced in his mind, a thought interrupted before the battle.
He remembered it clearly… before the tremor. Before that abnormal Shadow appeared.
"Sanada… I understood the increase in souls… but is there a way to influen—"
Minato turned his head. His eyes locked onto Akihiko with intensity, as if trying to pull that unfinished conversation from the past into the present.
Akihiko raised an eyebrow, noticing the stare.
"Hmm? What is it, Minato?" he asked, surprised.
Minato tilted his head slightly, eyes still fixed on him.
"Sanada… I was going to ask you something. A theory I had, about this surge in souls."
Hiro, listening intently, turned toward him.
"And what is it, Minato?"
Minato averted his gaze, shifting his attention to the man sitting across from them.
"President Shuji," he began, his tone heavier, "is it possible… to influence the Shadows somehow?"
Silence fell like a heavy curtain.
Ikutsuki pulled his eyes away from the screen and looked at Minato, confused.
"Influence them how, Arisato-kun? Be more specific."
Minato exhaled slowly, leaning back into the sofa, as if arranging his thoughts before speaking.
"Tartarus influences the Shadows. It shapes their behavior. But what if... one of us could do the same? Or if something existed that could guide them in a different way?"
Everyone fell silent. No one dared to interrupt. Even the sound of the air conditioner seemed to vanish. Minato's question echoed on their faces.
Hiro narrowed his eyes. Something had lit up within him — a spark of understanding, or maybe suspicion.
Junpei scratched his neck, clearly uncomfortable.
"I don't know if that's possible... but it's not a bad idea."
"But for that to happen," Hiro added, looking at him, "it would need to be something more powerful than Tartarus itself. Or... something it respected. The Shadows come from within it, so only something that could challenge it might work."
Ikutsuki snapped his fingers, a faint smile forming.
"Not exactly challenge. But rather... go with the flow."
Everyone turned to him, confused.
"What?" they all said in unison.
"Imagine a river," he began, gesturing with his hands as if painting the scene. "That river is Tartarus. The current is the Shadows. Now, if you try to swim against it, you'll be swept away. But if you build small channels… parallel paths that follow the flow but divert some of the water..." he mimicked a split in the current with his fingers, "you can control it, even if indirectly."
Mitsuru crossed her arms, thoughtful. "You're suggesting we guide the Shadows?"
"Yes and no," Ikutsuki replied, touching his chin. "It's just a theory. Shadows know that Persona users are a threat. But… perhaps with an Shadow Arcana, something like that might be possible."
"Which isn't our case," Hiro murmured, his gaze darkening.
"Even so," Akihiko said, looking at Mitsuru, "it's good to know Tartarus isn't the only possible influence."
Mitsuru nodded. "You're right. We can't discard this possibility." She then turned to Giyu, who had been quietly observing everything.
"Giyu. Go on."
Giyu nodded, turning to the terminal. His fingers danced across the keyboard with precision, and the screen behind him zoomed in on the industrial zone — the exact location where the Void Shadow had been defeated.
An icon blinked over the map, and a data file appeared beside it.
"When you took the Void Shadow there and defeated it," Giyu began, pointing to the screen, "we detected an unusual artifact inside it. Something that... drastically increased its power."
He looked back at the group.
"I think everyone here already knows what it is."
Hiro looked away, as if swallowing a bitter truth.
"The prototype Evoker..."
A few more keystrokes, and an image appeared: a sketch of a different kind of Evoker. A design reconstructed from all the collected information.
Ikutsuki adjusted his glasses.
"This model is known as Project Akuma. And if my hypothesis is correct…" — he stared at the sketch — "any Shadow that contains this Evoker… becomes nearly immortal."
Yukari turned to Minato, murmuring:
"That's why it kept regenerating… even after his attacks…"
"And do we know if there are others?" Hiro asked, his voice low but steady. "Or if we can locate them?"
Ikutsuki shook his head.
"No. It's as if Tartarus swallowed them. Or... maybe they were lost inside. For now, it's impossible to say."
Silence hung over the room like a dense fog.
Mitsuru rested her elbow on the side of the armchair, her fingers brushing her chin, deep in thought.
Her gaze dropped to the carpet, but she wasn't seeing anything there. Still echoing in her mind were her father's words about the Evokers... and now, Hiro's voice also echoed like a drumbeat in her head.
How many Evokers were out there? Was that one the only one, or were there more hidden within the twisted floors of Tartarus?
"Is there anything else to report, Giyu?" — her voice was firm but soft, like someone still wrestling with her own thoughts.
Giyu adjusted his tie with a restrained and respectful gesture before replying, "No, Mitsuru-sama. That's all the scientists were able to uncover."
Aigis rose from the pouf, her posture as upright as ever, eyes fixed on the man in the suit.
"Giyu-san," she began, taking a few slow steps toward him, "there's still something we need to discuss."
Giyu turned his head to face her. "And what would that be?"
"The intruder," she said. "The one who entered the dorm and attacked Fuuka-san... Noir."
Shinjiro furrowed his brow, surprised. "That's right. I had forgotten about that guy..."
"Guys..." — Fuuka's soft, hesitant voice made them all turn at once.
She had one hand on her head, fingers pressing into her temple, as if trying to grasp something buried deep in her mind. The light in her eyes shifted slowly as fragments of memory began to surface.
In her mind, a flicker of memory — her seated in front of the monitor, the video paused at the exact moment the footage began to distort. A name appeared... red text in the corner of the screen.
"Project Akuma... something capable of triggering a Persona more aggressively..."
Back in reality, Fuuka suddenly stood up, eyes wide. "Kirijo-senpai!" she called, breathless. "The video! The one Noir erased when he attacked me... didn't I send it to someone?"
Yukari, standing near the wall, widened her eyes. "You're right... we totally forgot about the video!"
Mitsuru stood quickly from the armchair, her eyes narrowing like blades. "That video..." she muttered. "It might hold something that explains all this."
She strode toward the computer with determined steps, closed the external hard drive tab, and opened the browser.
The others gathered silently around her, as if the answer was just a click away.
The screen filled with emails. Bureaucratic titles, student council requests, announcements from Gekkoukan High's administration — nothing unusual.
Until there it was: a message sent from the command room account.
As soon as the email opened, all eyes locked onto the screen... and soon narrowed in confusion.
"Oh, come on..." Akihiko ran a hand down his face, frustrated.
"You gotta be kidding me..." — Hiro clenched his fists. "You've gotta be fucking kidding."
"T-The file..." — Mitsuru narrowed her eyes, the cursor hovering over the play button. "Is it corrupted?"
A window popped up over the video:
[FILE CORRUPTED. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER]
Aigis shook her head, her eyes analyzing the screen. "No... it's not corrupted."
Minato looked at her from the side. "Then what is it?"
"The email most likely has a size limit for attachments," Aigis explained calmly. "Normally, the file wouldn't even go through. But..."
"But because Fuuka rushed to save the video..." — Hiro crossed his arms, staring at the screen. "The system must've trimmed part of it."
"Exactly," Aigis nodded.
Fuuka looked at her, unsure. "So... what do we do?"
"I can try to recover a portion of the video from what was sent," Aigis replied, already stepping closer to the keyboard. "But I can't tell which part."
"It's not much," Mitsuru said, her gaze now resolute again. "But start with that, Aigis."
With a small nod, Aigis began typing. Her fingers danced over the keys with mechanical precision, opening windows, lines of code, progress bars.
Tabs multiplied across the screen — data recovery programs, decryption tools, video editors layering bits and frames.
And there, in front of everyone, she began her work.
If there was anything left to salvage, Aigis was going to find it.
TO BE CONTINUED...