Into the Metaverse

Friday 29th April

Fortunately for him, nothing did happen in the interim. Wel—he got news back from various sources that his little interventions on their behalf had worked, so that was something, but otherwise nothing had gone badly wrong during the week. There was still no information on the mystery Metaverse user, but there was no creepy intervention from his least-favourite demonic presence either, so he was taking the policy that no news on that front was good news. It was about time he started gathering more information on the rumours he'd heard but… for now, he had a couple of bigger goals. The first of which he was dealing with now.

"So," said Haruto, gliding into Wakaba's lab, "you got that mic up and running?"

"Of course," said Wakaba, glancing at him as he stepped in. "And an earpiece too, being as you'll need to hear me. The mic's all wired up to the bracers. You'll notice a new fancy button on top."

He certainly did. On the left bracer there was now a bright blue button, with a little picture of a microphone on it, and lying next to it, a slick black earpiece. Fortunately it looked just small enough to fit under his mask.

"Where do you get all these gadgets?" he chuckled, picking up the bracer and strapping it on carefully.

"Well, a woman's gotta have her secrets, hasn't she?" said Wakaba, smirking at him. "Now then, I'd like you to test it out before you get too deep into that place, so make sure it works once you're in the cognitive world fully, alright?"

"Can do," said Haruto, picking up the other bracer and strapping it on, then carefully inserting the earpiece.

From there it was only a quick procedure to shift and identify a flashpoint, and then…

Ah, back in the depths again. Lovely.

A shock rang through him as a tiny chime came through his earpiece. He quickly raised the bracer to mouth level and pressed the button.

"Hi? Is it working alright?" he said, feeling more than a little awkward.

"Perfect!" Wakaba chirped over the line. "Okay, that should be everything all set for your infiltration. Be careful in there!"

"I will," said Haruto, before releasing the button, and presumably their means of communication.

That's going to be weird, said Arsène.

No kidding, Haruto thought back.

For now though, he had only one objective. Get into Shido's Palace. Mash his soul into tiny little pieces. Easy.

***

Remember you can get hurt in here! snarled the Trumpeter, deflecting a blast of electricity from a Barong.

"I know!" Haruto hissed back, leaping out of the way.

Another blast of nuclear energy sent it reeling to the ground, dissolving into smoke in front of Haruto's eyes.

Hide! hissed the Trumpeter, but Haruto was already well ahead of him.

He leapt behind a wall, willing himself to remain invisible as he spied the man he'd been trying to trace ever since he entered the Palace: the politician Ooe—he first of the letter—holders.

His earpiece crackle on.

"Haruto, that's enough for today," said Wakaba, her voice uncompromising.

He sighed and raised the mic to his face. "But I'm so close!"

"Go any further when you're this tired and you're going to get badly hurt."

She was right, of course, and about half his Personas were screaming it at him too, but…

Haruto desist, thundered Arsène, louder than all of them. This is too much. Don't be foolish.

…Alright. 

It was true he was tired and… ugh, he really just didn't want to have to deal with another hospital visit.

"I'm on my way back," he said into the mouthpiece.

"Good," sighed Wakaba.

***

Leaving the Palace turned out to be a whole lot easier than entering it, and it wasn't long before he was standing in Wakaba's lab again—this time slightly more intact than he had been before. Next time… next time he'd finally get that damned politician.

"Same time again, next Friday?" he asked, removing the bracers and earpiece.

"If you're up for it," said Wakaba.

Her face was set in a frown, her manner concerned—he couldn't let her think he was flaking now.

"I won't abandon you," he said.

Wakaba smiled a sad smile, then got up from her computer and walked over to him.

"I really appreciate this, you know that, don't you?" she said, grasping his shoulder gently.

"I know," said Haruto.

And he did—it was obvious, now he knew about it. The tension in her shoulders, the lines forming along her brow, the constantly tired, dull look in her eyes whenever she mentioned her work—he knew the agony she was going through. And he knew that this, however slow and frustrating their progress was, was at least something. Something after a very long time of nothing at all. So he knew. And she knew it too.

She nodded, rubbing his shoulder. "I hadn't imagined this would be so dangerous, but… it's almost a relief to finally be doing something against him."

"I understand," said Haruto. "If I was in your position I'd want him gone too."

Wakaba smiled again, but this time it was sharp around the edges. "Oh, I don't doubt that. You're a determined one."

"So are you."

She laughed, releasing his shoulder. "True! I suppose that's why we get along so well."

She took a deep breath, then glanced around her lab. "Hey, you wouldn't mind sticking around and helping me clean up, would you?"

"Of course," said Haruto.

"Be careful not to lift anything with that injured arm," she said warningly as she began unplugging the equipment.

"I won't!"

"Good." She smiled. "Now if you could get started over there…"

***

As usual, it wasn't long before Metaverse exhaustion began to set in when he got back.

"Long day?" asked Sojiro bemusedly as he walked in.

"Long day," Haruto confirmed, heading directly towards the stairs.

In less than a minute he'd reached the top, closed his make-shift door, and dropped flat onto his bed.

He just didn't have the constitution for long-term stress like this.

You're lucky you didn't get hurt, said Arsène.

"I know," sighed Haruto. "It's just frustrating to be so… useless! I'm usually so much better than this!"

You still need to take care of yourself.

Akria sighed and rolled over, facing the wall. "I know that. I just have a lot on my plate at the moment. Speaking of…" He drew his phone from his pocket and checked his calendar. "I have tomorrow free. Time to see if I can find out more about that bastard, Madarame."

That should be somewhat easier than the task we were faced with before. 

"No kidding."

He'd been somewhat hamstrung in looking into it during the week, between various 'I'm a normal human-being' activities he liked to do to keep up appearances and having to work to catch up on the rent payments he was beginning to slip behind on. But no one was going to bother him this weekend, which meant he had plenty of time to work out precisely what Madarame had done to gain such an ominous-looking Palace.

They've been getting worse lately, don't you think?

They'd certainly been getting more… grandiose, that was for sure.

"I have a feeling it has to do with our friend that lurks in the depths," said Haruto, clicking his phone off.

I think you are right, said Arsène, quietly. …But I also hope you are wrong.

"Yeah," muttered Haruto.

If that thing was gaining more power somehow, it could only mean bad things. It was a stable situation for now—the only truly disastrous Palace he knew of at the moment was Shido's but… if it got worse…

We can check Mementos another time, said Arsène. For now, rest. You need to recover.

Haruto turned over and closed his eyes, but he had a feeling that for all Arsène was right, his sleep wouldn't be easy at all.