บท 5: arcana and the team
As Haruma started to wake up, he felt like he was in the back of a car. He knows this is strange because he fell asleep on his bed last night. As he opens his eyes, he sees what looks like the back of a limousine and a fancy one.
It has navy blue everywhere, from the carpets to the seating and even the ceiling. In front of him, there are three figures. On his right, one looks like what he can assume to be the assistant for the velvet room. The one on the left looks like it is from the hat; he can assume it is a newspaper girl? He honestly has no idea who that is, but he really doesn't understand why he is here, either. Lastly, in front of him is the infamous Igor, manager of the velvet room.
He, of course, from the moment he saw what this place was, used his acting skill to make it look like he did not recognize this place but theorized what this was for his part. That was easy because he had never actually seen Yu's velvet room, only his brother's. Actually, the only person he knows in the room is Igor, and he doesn't even know if it is the real him.
As he was about to start asking questions, he heard a groan and looked over to his left and saw a familiar face, Yu Narukami. It seems that he was dragged into this dream with him.
"Welcome to the velvet room, my dear guests," Igor says to both of us.
This immediately got Yu's attention, and looks over at Haruma in surprise. His curiosity peaked because he had never had anyone else in this room, and when he tried to explain it to the rest of the team, they didn't really register what he was saying. It is almost like something is preventing them from comprehending what he is saying.
" ah… you might wonder why I have called someone not in a contract with me seeker." Igor spoke in the weird voice he has when he is released from the prison the false god put him in.
' thank god. That's Igor's normal voice, not that false Igor that was in p5,' Haruma said in relief inside his head—not trying to gain the attraction of the current people inside the vehicle.
" yes. That might be a good start." Yu said, trying to rap the mystery surrounding Haruma.
"Well, it has come to my attention that a special arcana has entered the field. And it would be my responsibility to explain some things… so what is the main thing on your mind?" Igor responded.
"How can he use his skills without needing his persona?" Yu asked Igor. Honestly, Haruma was about to ask the same thing. Igor paused, looking between Yu and Haruma, trying to decide to answer this question; at least, this is what Haruma could guess what Igor was doing.
"That would be because of his arcana... do you know what it is *chuckles*," he says while chuckling at the two occupants that side across from him.
'it's because of my arcana? I know almost every ability the main characters in p5 have, but none of them had this. Was it one of the side cast that had an arcana cause that really would have been helpful in the game?' haruma thought to himself, quickly reviewing all the arcana that might give that ability from his experience from P5.
As Igor says this, Yu and Haruma were theorizing what it could be. Yu doesn't really know that much about the arcana except the bond he has already formed. The investigation knows what they are from the information that was given to them when they awakened their person; however, Haruma was the exception to the rule.
" The world would be his arcana if that helps," Igor says, helping both teenagers.
This immediately got haruma to pause because of his knowledge about it; Yu, on the other hand, does not know the importance of that card and why it is so surprising for someone to have it. The World Arcana is the presentation of the end of one's journey. It is required to climb from the fool to all of the arcana to reach the world. In other words, a wild card needs to gain all of the arcana cards to gain the world. To have it as Haruma's arcana is too unreal for him.
"The World arcana can usually be represented as the end of one journey; however, for the young fallen he decided to reject the world around him. he probably doesn't even need such a power to traverse through the real world," Igor explained why Haruma's arcana is so unique.
'With that explanation, it would explain why I could use my skills without needing my persona. I am rejecting the world and walking my own path; my persona doesn't need to work like the rest of the persona users. I wonder what else I can do.' haruma theorized with the information provided by Igor.
" what he is trying to say is that the world arcana doesn't follow the rules of normal persona user." the calm voice of the assistant of the velvet room explained what he was hinting at for Yu.
" you probably have already seen it with the increase of power for the shadows, which I believe has increased up to 15 percent since Haruma gained his persona," she said, surprising both haruma and Yu. For Yu, it was that the strength of the shadows increased by four more percent than before the boss fight. Haruma, on the other hand, was thinking.
' since I have Sukuna, I can assume some of the laws of JJK might be the same in this world. I can assume the world is trying to give the shadows a boost to catch up to me. Something similar to the birth of Satoru Gojo and how the world tried to get the rest of jujutsu society to reach the plane that Gojo existed on.' haruma thought, trying to justify this explanation with all the bullshit that had been happing to him.
"Are you saying that the world where shadows are formed is trying to catch up to me in terms of strength," Haruma asked after contemplating what he could infer from the information that was given. This question got the assistant to stop explaining what Igor was trying to say to Yu and turn to him with a surprised face.
"Finally, someone who can understand these two," the third occupant who sat across from both Yu and Haru spoke in a rebellious tone that seemed done with everything.
"That would be correct, fallen...on another note, we would like to offer you a temporary contract like our seeker here which you could access the same facilities he can... however, you must inform us what you can do with your abilities," Igor says towards Haruma.
"Why do you want to know about my abilities? Who are you, and where am I?" haruma questioned
"ha, yes... my name is Igor, the proprietor of this velvet room, which is a room that exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those bound by a ''contract'' may enter.... to my left is my lovely assistant Margaret, and to my right is a new addition to this room." He quickly explained who they were and what this place was; he was cut off by the other women in this room.
"shut up.. he doesn't need to know my name. Bad enough, one of them knows it," she says, cutting off Igor, which it seemed he didn't mind; however, Margaret did care if the sharp look directed at the girl meant anything.
"But back to your first question, I have only ever met one other world arcana before, and he was powerful... He had similar abilities to you, where instead of learning new skills, they started weaker and grew more powerful with his comfort in performing them... We only want to understand your power because I did not get the pleasure of witnessing them from the beginning of such a power...so what do you say, fallen? Do you agree to this temporary contract?" Igor says. haruma was determining the options. One, he doesn't take the contract but has the chance to enter this room if he finds a door, and he could reget the rules of this room and enter; however, this was him just grasping at straws. On the other hand, if he lets Igor and Margaret review his abilities and how they work and potentially tell him how to increase his power and familiarity with his skill, it could help him in the long run.
'I know what option I am going to pick with both of the options, pros and cons. I hope it doesn't bite me in the ass.'
"Sure, I'll take the contract but don't expect me to come here daily. I might only come here once a month, okay?" Haruma responded to Igor, accepting the temporary contract.
"Well, it seems everything is in order... seeker... fallen... I'm afraid that's all the time we have." Igor says, not caring the more questions both Yu and Haruma have about the situation, and both visions go black.
.
.
.
As both teenagers leave the velvet room, Margaret turns towards Igor and questions him about his choice of letting Haruma have access to the velvet room.
"I am sure of it... we need to understand the nature of his arcana... the last time I met, a world arcana was already developed all the way... In addition, I do not wish to witness another door being kicked inward again." Igor answers Margaret's question of letting Amamiya into a temporary contract.
After saying this, Margaret gets a thoughtful look, remembering something her sister told her; however, the third occupant started to stare at Igor when he mentioned someone kicking a door inward.
.
.
.
Haruma then wakes up to the normal ceiling in his apartment and begins to scan the room to make sure everything is the same. He looks for shadows, weapons, murders, and a freaky old man that has a nose Ponoko would show pity for. He comes to the realization that everything is normal and he is not in the TV world.
He then remembers what he had planned for today when he is supposed to meet up with the investigation team so they can give him a rundown about everything that is really happening. he then gets ready for the morning and goes out for his daily run around the town.
'Man, I really got to find out if they have a gym or something here. Just running is not really doing anything for more. Now, there is the option of benching a shadow, but I don't know how much those weigh, so I really don't care.' haruma thought after running around the street.
'Thankfully, the police didn't get involved because that would be an annoying phone call from my parent demanding that I return home from this place. Now that I think about it, did they ever call or text Ren in P5? I get it that Japanese society really hates lawbreakers, but seriously, it's your own son. When it happens, and I know it will happen because I know fate is a bitch, ill transfer to shunjin academy, and they should accept me if I continue with my grades and join clubs to increase the chance of them accepting me on the ground of me watching over my brother.'
'now that I can think of last night's dream, thankfully, I know about the velvet room and how it works, but I know it was not just a simple dream but a real place. Yu might still be wondering if it really exists or not; I really don't know that much about Yu. Anyway, the confirmation of my arcana was a huge piece of information, and what they said about it will bring a lot of theories into my head. I'm going to have to get a notebook to write things down in and track down what I invest in. I know that Excel works better in simplistic ways, but I like to keep a paper copy of everything.'
'Also, why is Yu's velvet room a limousine, and what are those nicknames, seeker and fallen? I know Ren's nickname was Trickster. From my experience with JJK manga, I know that the fallen refers to Sukuna, so that's mine; however, why seeker for Yu? Whatever, I can see my place from here, and I need to make breakfast.' Haruma ended his train of thought by entering his apartment.
After everything is ready for the day, haruma looks at the clock and sees it around 10 o'clock. He then decides to pick an outfit to go out in. he finally decides to go out in something that is not his sportswear, uniform, or comfy clothes. He chose a maroon bomber jacket with a red t-shirt underneath, a blue pair of jeans, and brown boots.
After this, he looks at a map he was given when he moved from his city to Inaba. He found where Junes is, and he figured he should at least show up early to look around this supermarket. After figuring out his plan for the day, he left and made it to the Junes around 10:20 and began to look around the store to familiarize himself with it.
'This really is just the Walmart for a middle-of-nowhere town, huh? It is around 10:50 ish. I can order some food in the food court and should find someone there, right? Now let's think, going off the way P5 went, there was at least one main event involving a character in the cast. That means it should be something similar to this. There were two events, including mine, that happened, and I don't think there was going to be any more forecast involving the rain, so there was no midnight channel to look at. I guess I could train in my dungeon until the next case happens.' haruma thought to himself while paying for a burger combo in the food court.
As he got his food, he noticed a group form with Yu, Chie, and Yukiko. he then headed over there with his tray to sit down. As he is heading over there, Chie spots him and waves him over to them. As he sits down, Yosuke ends up joining them at the table, saying something like his old man needs to talk to him.
After a little bit of talking like normal teenagers and not kids who are fighting for their lives and the lives of others, they begin to shift the conversation to the investigation that is happening,
"Well, I guess you are a part of the team now, Amamiya-kun," Yosuke said towards the teen who was eating his food.
"you know the food here isn't that bad, but ya glad to be a part of the team," Haruma said in response to Yosuke's statement.
"Thanks for the review," Yosuke said,
"Why would you need a review?" haru asked Yosuke
"it's because his family owns the Junes here," Yukiko said before Yosuke could respond to Haruna's question.
"oh...good to know, but what is this meeting really about?" Haruma says, trying to see where this meeting was going. He was wondering how much they knew about that world and how much of a difference the meta nav in p5
"the meeting here is mostly trying to see if you remember what happened when you were pushed into the TV world. Yukiko here doesn't remember anything when she was kidnapped and thrown into that world." Yu said, directing the conversation to ask about Haruma's experience with the mysterious person throwing into the TV.
"oh, that might be a problem," Haruma says with a slight frown, which catches the rest of the team of guard.
"Why would that be?" Chie asked with a little bit of concern.
"Well, there definitely was a person trying to get into my apartment; however, before I even thought of letting them in, I really don't know how, but after looking at my TV. I went into a dream-like state where I knew something was wrong but ignored it, and when I woke up, I found my hand in the TV and was pulled from the inside and then landed in that palace." haruma said, explaining his side of the story to the team.
The team, on the other hand, was surprised because he was just like Yu, who had his hand on the TV when they discovered that world. Yu could understand what haruma was talking about because, in his first experience with the midnight channel, he was almost pulled through his TV.
''Well, that really doesn't tell us anything, huh," Yosuke says while slumping down from not getting any more clues about this case.
"if you guys want clues about this case, then the only way I figured out how to get on that midnight channel is to be on the news the day before a rainy day or something around that. honestly, Yukiko, here was the last clue for me before I found that out." Haruma says, giving out all the things he could figure out about the midnight channel.
Chie and Yosuke were blinking at him, trying to understand what Amamiya was saying to them fully, but after a little bit, Yosuke started to get excited about finally beginning to get some clues about who would end up on the channel and if they could help them. They previously had thought the murder was only targeting women connected to the first murder.
However, with haruma becoming a target, that changed their theory about who could be chosen to be thrown in there. On the other hand, with that new piece of knowledge, they can look at the news and the midnight channel and assume whose figure they see based on the news the previous day.
The rest of the team began thanking Haruma for the information he had just given them. They began to talk about normal things after that, which brought the question to Haruma's head that he really doesn't know anything about the people in front of him.
"Oh, my name is Yosuke Hanamura, but you can just call me Yosuke," Yosuke introduces himself. He has brown shaggy hair and brown eyes. he is currently wearing a white jacket with fur in the hood of it. He also had red headphones on his neck and was wearing some jeans.
"The name is Chie Satonaka, but just call me Chie, okay." a girl wearing a green and yellow striped jogging jacket over her normal clothes and a grey skirt says towards haruma
"Yukiko Amagi, it is a pleasure to meet you, Amamiya-kun." the refined girl said towards Haurma, which she is wearing a red ribbon with black tips around her neck and a red dress.
"nice to meet you, sempais," Amamiya replied to his new friends, who surprisingly are all one year above him.
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Hey, it's a shorter chapter than the 3-5k words I usually do, but I really wanted to get this over with but still give you guys some answers about the reason why haruma can do all of those things. The next few chapters will be his experience with school and some of the social links, so don't expect a new dungeon until 3-4 chapters. Also, I had to look up the dates for specific events and try to stay true to them. The only thing that I had to change was when Yukiko recovered so she could help rescue Haruma.
The world arcana is Haruma's arcana. I guess if you read the synopsis, you could infer this because I wrote, "This arcana has never blessed those at the beginning of their journey until the end of one's adventure," I know that you only gain the world arcan the end of the supposed journey, but when has there ever not been an outlier.
From what I mentioned, he had the ability to use the skills of his persona without summoning Sukuna with a lessened pay but weaker power, if that makes sense. If you guys read the previous chapter carefully, you would also know that he can see through the fog, which isn't really an important factor right now, but it is funny, too, since he can reject the effects of that world. More effects of having this arcana will be revealed, but if you think about it, it is not as strong as the wild card.
Now, don't get me wrong, the way I will be developing Haruma will make him overpower, but having a fully developed wild card is insane, like all the final personas each arcana can offer you, is unreal. Basically, the world gives you many benefits in my story, but if you don't have a decent persona, you are trash; however, with the wild card, you can wield multiple personas with different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Basically, it is the ultimate cover for any persona user in that world.
I was initially going to add another scene with that unknown person in chapter 2 but decided against it because it might spoil some things. I have gotten past Rise's dungeon, and yes, I am calling their palace's dungeons because, in my opinion, the palace has taken hold of that word for a long time, like a parasite. In contrast, these dungeons are something that has just settled in. I don't know if that makes sense, but for me, it does.
That scene with Igor originally I was going to have him reject it, but Igor would want to know more about the beginning of a world arcana. Yes, Igor has seen a world arcana, but not the beginning of it. Will there be another story with P3 after this one? Who knows.
Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.
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