madimpossibledreamer

Main Points: Persona 4 .hack inspired AU
chapter summary: yukiko insists that she be able to help for a friend, while chie's more hesitant. in the past, souji and nanako meet saki-senpai.
word count: 1910
rating: T

         He continues his story. “I was adventuring, I ran into the NPC Teddie…” Which reminds him, what happened to Teddie after everything? He’d run away because he was scared, but had Yosuke actually found him and told him everything was all right? Did he even remember that the NPC had been there? As Ceirahn, would he even have cared?
         “Oh yeah, that weird bear! I keep wondering about him, because he’s not that useful and he doesn’t really seem like an NPC that our good devs would make. But then, who knows what they’re thinking a lot of the time.” They’re still treating this like it’s just an MMORPG. He’s fairly certain that there’s a lot going on in the game that the devs don’t know about, and that the devs hadn’t actually created Teddie. Magic is real, and unless the devs are some sort of cultists it’s highly unlikely that they intended the game in its current form. Maybe he’s making a mistake trying to tell them about this.
         However, Yukiko speaks up, quiet. “Chie,” she chides. Maybe they’re not both oblivious about their safety.
         He continues. “And Teddie was worried about something, so I followed him, and one of the Immortals was there. Having killed a lot of players, and possibly created more Coma Players.” How can he indicate the gravity of the situation? “Ceirahn pulled me in, and I was experiencing the world of innocent sin from the inside. I could smell the blood. I was in my character. And then we fought.” It’s unlikely that he’ll ever forget any aspect of the fight. It’s due to the adrenaline, he remembers. Adrenaline, good or bad, cements memories in your brain. It’s a survival instinct. And then he thinks about the word ‘survival’ and the end of the fight, and the blood under his character’s feet that was his because with the carotid severed, he’d probably nearly died from blood loss. “The Blue Room’s real, too. If not for Margaret, I would have died.” It’s only just now that he realizes, completely and utterly, that it’s very true, and yes, he could have died. He’s suddenly shaking and can’t quite stop. “I—I don’t know what would happen if you die while your consciousness is in your character, though I suspect the bodies on the ground may have found that out for themselves…maybe that’s what causes you to become a Coma Player…”
         “Don’t push yourself too much,” Yukiko replies, pulling out a blanket that she’s apparently stored in her briefcase. Why she has a blanket in there and how the hell it even fits with all the writing supplies and notebooks and her lunch is a mystery he doesn’t feel up for contemplating at the moment. For all he knows, she’s magical too.
         Chie’s watching with wide, scared eyes. “But even knowing that, you’re going to try to help Yosuke anyway?” Maybe that’s the normal question, but he’s never been normal and he’s not going to try now.
         He remembers the flirting. Realizes that yes, it’s true, I’d like to see him smile, truly smile again. That’s enough to start with. And that even as he’s already risked his life for his friend, he doesn’t intend to stop. He can’t turn away and pretend none of this has anything to do with him.
         “I barely knew Yosuke, but Koual is a good friend, and I’m not going to abandon him. I’m not asking you two to help. It’s dangerous. You’re probably better off never logging in again. I just figured you were owed an explanation as to what’s happening.” He’s never felt such fierce determination for anything in his life before, which probably helps with the feeling of this is right. He’s found something in his life worth the time. After no longer having assurances, it’s worth everything he has.
         Chie nods. “M-maybe we should go—”
         Yukiko bites her lips, but she meets his gaze with the same determination he feels, and it’s shocking. “I—I have a friend in real life who’s trying to find the truth. The very first Coma Player was her brother. And we weren’t really nice to Yosuke-kun, even though he’s better than most of the people we know. None of them deserve this. I’m going.”
         “But—” Chie argues, and Yukiko meets her terrified gaze with a glare.
         “I’m going. People’s lives are being affected. We’re lucky, but so many others lost their minds or their souls, and we’re just sitting here safe.” She glances at Souji, as if daring him to object, too. She looks dangerous, which is almost enough to make him believe it’ll be all right.
         His cheeks feel warm. He’s actually blushing. Her reasoning is so much better than his. He hadn’t even thought about all the other Coma Players, just Yosuke, and how selfish did that make him?
         But maybe he can learn by example. He was given this power for a reason. He should use it to help others.
         He sighs. “Yeah, okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He’s got his weird powers, and assuming they can get ahold of Yosuke quickly, the two of them will probably be enough to keep the two safe for the time being. He can’t dictate their lives.
         Yukiko just waves lazily. “Pff, we’ll be fine.”

Previously:
         The next time he gets on, Koual’s not on. He frowns. He had gotten an instant message about whether he was busy through the forums, which usually meant that the kitsune was just waiting around to hang out.
         “Big bro?” Even Nanako-chan looks confused when he glances over.
         He’s about to shrug and suggest that they just check out one of the lower level St. Hermelin quests they haven’t cleared out yet when he hears the chime of someone messaging him. He eagerly looks back, expecting it to be Koual, and then frowns at the screen.
         “Sorry it took so long~” It’s…
         “Saki-senpai?” he types cautiously. He’d seen the posts, but…why was she getting on now? What about that stuff about her CP friend? Was that just for attention, or was it real? Why talk to either him or Nanako at all?
         “Friends of Koual-chan’s get to just call me Saki!” she responds, and—ah, he couldn’t make it, so he asked Senpai. For some reason that hurts a little. He shoves the feeling into a box to be examined later, when he’s in private.
         She uses the /crouch emote. “And, aww, is this your cousin? Her character’s super cute~”
         Usually, Nanako’s very shy, but she manages to type “Thank you!”
         He looks at the character type. She’s a Silver Tongue Spellslinger, level 120. Same as Nanako, except she’s got a much higher character and is just a human. For some reason that makes him feel better.
         He eventually settles on, “As a senpai, are you sure you have the time to be playing with us?” as a private message, so Nanako-chan will only see if she glances over at his screen.
         “Aww, you’re worried about my grades!” she replies, and he feels vaguely sick. Is she flirting with him, after how she’d treated Koual in several of their exchanges on the message boards?
         He feels upset on his friend’s behalf. He also feels vaguely insulted.
         “Don’t worry, I cleared my schedule. I can’t do this too much, but sometimes I just need to take my mind off things.”
         He tries not to grit his teeth too obviously.
         Nanako is being oblivious, meanwhile, and inviting her to the party.
         “Anyway, Koual-chan said the two of you were having trouble getting Trait cards? I know just the dungeon to go get them~” She pauses her response for a while. “Sorry about that, I’m pretty popular, and even having gone invisible in the settings isn’t enough to stop people from realizing I’m online and saying hi when they see me.”
         Everything about her is rubbing him the wrong way, but he makes an effort for Nanako’s sake.
         “All right, team~, we’re headed to the Mikage Ruins. Only the first few levels; after that point I’m not entirely convinced I can keep the two of you alive even with the Aqua Heal I’ve got. I’ve got enough HP I can serve as a tank, but only if I can keep aggro, and if I keep one-shotting everything, I’m going to be the person who gets the most loot, which is problematic when some of it binds.” If Koual were here, he’d go off on one of his informative tangents about how the dungeon was one of the few that has a huge level range, and some of the history of the game too. He’s missing that unexpectedly.
         “I could try healing,” he says doubtfully, but he’s only picked up one heal along the way, and depending on how much damage the enemies do that won’t be enough.
         “I’ve heard you’re pretty good at that and being a tank,” she responds, and he’s definitely getting the feeling it’s flirting.
         Nanako-chan chimes in with “Big Bro’s the best!”
         Saki /pats Nazoko’s head. She starts explaining about demon Orders and how it influences what Cards drop, which is interesting and useful information, and he could almost pretend it’s Koual on another fascinating information tour, but he really could do without the really…only partially subtle flirting. The Nacht Kobolds absorb elements, so he basically has to end up fighting them himself, and his Blessed Bullets do nothing to several of the other enemies in the dungeon, so they’re kept on their toes even with an extremely high leveled character looking out for them.
         Eventually it’s Nanako’s bedtime. Dojima-san still isn’t home, so she tries to talk him into letting her stay up later, but he goes and tucks her in instead. When he returns, to his surprise, Saki-senpai’s still there and hasn’t logged off or anything. He hopes she’s been doing homework or something as she waits.
         She talks to him the second he moves his character. “I’m sorry if I’ve been making you uncomfortable. It’s just—Koual-chan’s talked so much about you, I felt like I know you, and he was right. You are an interesting guy. But you’re not interested, I get that.”
         He stares at the screen for a minute. It’s been long enough, apparently, that she feels she needs to add more. “You’ve been good for him, though. Koual-chan’s a good guy, but he can be a bit nosy. You have to tell him to his face when he’s annoying you.”
         “It’s not like that,” he types back angrily, resisting the childish urge to add an angry emoticon to punctuate his words. “He’s a great guy.”
         She pauses, too, and then responds, “I never said he wasn’t.”
         Then she sends another message. “He’s lucky to have you looking out for him. He doesn’t get to hang around people much, so I think he’s probably a little lonely. You’re a good friend, though, so please continue to take care of him~”
         She waves and logs out before he can even reply, and so he’s left staring at the computer screen, nonplussed. That was weird even by innocent sin standards. He can’t help but feel like there’s something he’s missing, and he’s still trying to work it out by the time Dojima-san comes home. “Try to get to bed early for once,” he repeats, already sounding resigned, like he knows it’s not likely to happen.