Fuuka was awake late that night, even staying up during the Dark Hour. Most of the time she and all of her teammates used that extra hour to sleep when they didn’t explore Tartarus. But on some nights, like tonight, Fuuka used the extra hour to work on her hobbies. Staying up later or getting up in the middle of the night wasn’t good for her sleep schedule, but the Dark Hour never was. S.E.E.S. would, hopefully, destroy the Dark Hour soon anyways, so better to use it for something fun while it was around.
Tonight, Fuuka was working on her cooking! Or, rather, she was working on handling cooking ingredients. Aragaki-Senpai was always able to cook so fast, he measured ingredients, seasonings, and spices so effortlessly! If she was going to be as good at cooking as him, she had to emulate all of his skills. Measuring ingredients and such always slowed her down a ton, and slowing down made her nervous and slowed everything else after down too. Becoming quicker and more decisive had to be a good way to improve her cooking!
- - - - - - - - - - - -
That same night, you were not having a good time. You had an uneventful day, a really boring day that almost put you to sleep. Moving over to this man-made or whatever island was supposed to be a new and exciting experience. But, somehow, you ended up with the lousiest job working the day shift at the island’s only club. Which could have maybe still been cool if the place ever opened during your shift!
It would still be dead, but people might come in sometime and give you something to do or someone to talk with. But no, the club had to open at two in the afternoon of all times. By then you only had thirty minutes left in your shift and had to spend it filing inventory reports of what exactly you set up for business hours. The club never even stayed open past one in the morning! Those hours sucked, even if most of the club’s business came from the local high school students.
Just living in a pretty cool new place kept you entertained for a while, but repeated boring days were becoming more and more frequent. When you went to bed early that night, you decided that you’d wake up extra early and go out for once. Your work was closed for business, but you could start and finish your shift early. Then you’d go do something crazy and new for once! But crazy got to you first.
It happened when you were going into the club through the back door. Everything was normal when you came in, you even passed by another worker getting ready to go home. But when you got to your boss’ office, there was only a huge floating coffin inside! It scared the hell out of you and something in the air was already making you feel hazy, so you booked it out of there. You ran to the main clubroom and the place was full of coffins just like the other one! Beyond freaked out, you sprinted back the way you came in. You threw yourself at the back exit, not wanting to slow down for even a second. And that ended with you crashing right into the coffin of the worker who was leaving when you got there and passing out!
You woke up some time later, and things had only gotten worse for you. You had been shrunk! When you collided with that freaky coffin earlier you were worried that you were going to turn into one, or die, but this was almost worse. And now that you weren’t freaking out, you realized that everything felt… off. Something was wrong, and it wasn’t you getting shrunk or those freaky coffins. Coffins that you were unhappy to find all over the place outside too.
“Are those all… people?” You muttered, disturbed. “What the hell is going on!? Why is everyone like that and why did I shrink!?”
You had more questions too, but no answers for any of them. The only thing you did know was that you wanted to get away from the weird shrinking coffin that was practically right above your head. As far away as possible from any coffin would be preferable. You recalled the back rooms of the club had mostly been empty when you got in, so inside was the safest place for now. Thankfully your mad dash to escape had apparently broken the back door, the old lock giving out to your original size’s weight. You walked through the ajar open space into the, hopefully, relative safety of the building.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Fuuka was feeling a little nervous being outside by herself in the middle of the Dark Hour. Even though she had spent several days in Tartarus all on her own, she practically never went anywhere without at least one of the others during the Dark Hour anymore. But she wasn’t in Tartarus, and the only thing she could sense with Lucia was that strange small signal she picked up while practicing in the kitchen. The only people who could be awake during the Dark Hour were Persona users, with some exceptions. But exceptions didn’t give off signals like this, so she had to investigate! If she brought in a new Persona user, she could be a big help to the group for once! Her scanning ability would be useful if her team didn’t always guess the shadows’ weakness before she finished.
Whatever was giving off the signal was mercifully close. She probably wouldn’t have been able to detect it if it had been any further. She wouldn’t have been comfortable going alone to investigate either. Fuuka never went into the club before, she’d always rent CDs or browse in the electronics store instead, so she wasn’t sure if the back door hanging open slightly was odd or not at this time of night. But she was sure that things were safe, so she went inside, closing the door behind her.
Tracing the signal, Fuuka found its source inside some kind of storage room. But no one seemed to be inside, even though there shouldn’t be anywhere for someone to hide. She used her Persona to scan the room again and after she was sure this was the right place. The scanning pinpointed the source to somewhere on her left side, but she still couldn’t see anyone.
“Um, hello? Is someone in here?” She called, having no clue what else to try. “Don’t be scared, I’m here to help. I-I can explain what’s going on.” Fuuka noticed some sudden movement on top of a small crate close to her left. She moved closer to it and couldn’t believe what she found on top of it!
“Hey, I’m here! Can you see me!?”
“Huh!?Wh-what happened!?” Was the only thing Fuuka could say to seeing a tiny guy less than a couple inches tall.
“I-I got shrunk!” You answered, intimidated by the giantess’s size. “Can you really help me?”
“I… think so?” Fuuka composed herself, kneeling down to get closer to your level. “This was not what I was expecting when I followed your signal.”
“My signal? I didn’t send any signal… I don’t think so at least. Nothing makes sense right now.”
“That’s a normal reaction.” Fuuka answered, internally running the conversation through her head. She wanted to explain things to you like she had them explained to her, but your being shrunk was really throwing her off. That was weird, even by Dark Hour standards. “Would you mind telling me your name?”
“I’m (Your Name).” You answer, trying to be polite to your potential savior. “What’s yours?”
“I’m Fuuka Yamagishi.” She answered with a smile. She had to be gentle with you in a stressful time like this. Especially with your… extra problem on top of learning about the Dark Hour. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you. I just need you to-”
Suddenly, Fuuka’s body tensed up as if she was sensing something…
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