A New World Fool (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

"Adachi, I need to speak with you."

Adachi looked up from his desk. It had been a long day, and he'd been having a hard time getting Takahashi alone. Especially in a way that wouldn't make him look suspicious. So he'd been spending the day doing what he usually did, which was being the entire station's gofer, and finishing up on paperwork. He stood up.

"Um, Takahashi-san, I can explain, I didn't mean to drop your--"

Takahashi shook his head. "Not here. There's a tape I need to show you."

"Oh."

Adachi followed Takahashi back into one of the rooms, where a TV and a video cassette player were set up. The screen showed a security tape, and Adachi paled when he saw the image on the screen from the doorway. It was hard to see, but he could just barely see a white haired, trenchcoat wearing figure slipping into an alley. Only barely. It was likely that had been the only image of Anpu Takahashi had managed to get.

"I did some snooping around, and I got some footage from a security camera from a bank nearby where we found the third kid. Adachi, we've got proof that kid you've been taking care of is doing these things," Takahashi said.

"...I see," Adachi said. Takahashi turned back toward the image on the screen.

"Adachi, the best thing you can do at this point is turn that kid in. Get him to turn himself in. Whatever," Takahashi said. "He might not get too long of a--"

"Have you shown this to anyone else?"

Adachi closed the door behind him and locked it. Takahashi wheeled around and saw a very calm Adachi stepping toward him.

"Adachi, what the hell are you doing?" Takahashi asked. He noted the expression on Adachi's face. He hadn't seen one like that from the goofball, well, ever.

"Well, you see, I've been having some problems, lately, problems caused by you. And you see, if you keep this investigation going, Anpu might just decide to take Bakura away. It's been becoming rather hard for him to stay at my place considering he always has to worry about you. You just figured out too much. So no hard feelings, Takahashi-san," Adachi said. Takahashi realized too late what Adachi was doing as Adachi ran forward and shoved him back into the television, changing the image on the screen into a black and white rippling effect as Takahashi fell, head first, into the foggy world behind the TV. Once the ripples disappeared and the screen returned back to the frozen image of Anpu slipping into the alley, Adachi chuckled.

"Been wanting to do that for a long time," Adachi said. He pressed eject on the VHS player, sending the video out of the machine. Adachi pulled it out, and dropped it to the floor before rather roughly stomping on it, cracking it in two. He picked up the mess and smiled in the creepy way only Adachi could.

"There. That's one less problem to deal with," Adachi said. He dropped it in a wastebasket, unlocked the door, and headed out. "Now, just gotta figure out how to do the same thing to that Ring..."

------------------------

Takahashi landed rather roughly in a deeply fogged area of the TV World. He groaned and slowly came to his feet.

That bastard. He'd said he wasn't going to kill anymore people. Takahashi groaned. Once a murderer, always a murderer it seemed. If Takahashi ever got out of this place, he was going to get Adachi and that stupid kid with the white hair arrested. And put in separate jail cells.

But first that involved getting out. And Takahashi's head was already starting to hurt from the strain this fog was putting on them. He couldn't see a thing. Goddammit Adachi.

[mugenginga]

Teddie wasn't sure how long he'd been missing from his friends. At some point, he was quite sure he had heard Souji ask if he was there. He had been unable to respond, although he'd wanted to very much. He had become tired of being alone what seemed quickly. He had no way of knowing it had been the same night he had taken a break from the group. He was still concerned about how things were going. The Fall was imminent according to Ryoji, but Teddie had decided to buck up and face it. And then that had happened.

Teddie wasn't quite sure what that was. It had not been a Shadow, but in the TV World that left one option. Someone on this side that wished to do him harm. There were few beyond Persona Users that could access the TV World. Teddie only knew of one for sure. But he was equally sure it had not been Izanami or Adachi-baby.

As it was, he was stuck inside a room. Sound could come in, but it did not seem to be able to come out. The room was of solid gold. On the walls were various images, Teddie didn't recognize them but they seemd important. The most common seemed to be a five pointed star in a circle. The point faced downwards. The circles were put on the walls in various fashions. Etched, written in charcoal, and more than a few of them looked to be painted in dried blood. The worst of them, and they were in the minority, seemed to be ever flowing fresh blood. Teddie had not been able to work up the courage to touch them.

The room smelled awful. Something like how something burning would smell. Teddie couldn't know the smell was of brimstone. There was what appeared to be a door to the room, but a lock seemed to be made of some unknown black material and bone kept it shut. It also had an etching on it as well. A six pointed star. Teddie had tried to remove the look. He had gotten a nasty shock and a burnt mitt for his efforts. No amount of ice skills from his Persona cooled it, but at least he had been able to heal the shock burn. All because he'd been blindsided by... something. If it had been a Persona, it had been very powerful. The fact that Teddie felt it could likely stand on equal footing with Izanagi-no-Okami, at least in Persona form, made him feel ill.

----------

Far distant from where a depressed Teddie stood trapped, there was a teenage boy. He had been bored for some time. He had come to this world because it had seemed a good idea at the time. Someone was tugging with the strings of fate, and he wanted to see. He knew he could return to one of his parent universes at any time, but he kept getting a nagging feeling he'd miss something exciting if he left.

It had been rather interesting at first. He had run into a Shadow, a type of creature he knew well thanks to some of his home universes. It had not looked like an ordinary Shadow. He hopped around his linked universes a lot, so he had only a vague idea of what it had been. One of those odd cases of a Shadow gaining sentience. He wouldn't have admitted it, but he had been startled. He had been wanting a chance to test his skill with his facade, anyhow, so he had 'summoned' a 'Persona' named Lucifer.

The bear-like Shadow had managed to stumble into the manifestation of the world he had created. He knew at least one deity had done the same for herself, so it had seemed like a good idea. The Shadow had been knocked out quickly. So he had become disappointed and tossed the Shadow in an inescapable room. Well, it could be escaped from, but the bear didn't really have the means to do so. He could let the Shadow out at any time, and he had been sitting at what appeared to be a distorted Shinto shrine thinking about doing so.

He had jumped up when he felt someone else enter the world. A grin like one might expect a happy little boy to have spread on his face. His eyes were all but sparkling, not that most could see it with the thick fog over the area. He had known something was going to happen if he waited in this manifestation of a psyche long enough. He made his way out of the area, heading towards a large building that seemed to be a Japanese style mansion. Or as much as it could be for the twisted nature this world had.

(OOC: FF, sorry about doing this on you. XD Tell me if I have to change it. I basically made Takahashi's world a screwed up version (I avoided specifics so you could handle that) of the town in Higurashi. The two most prominent locations being the messed up Oyashiro Shrine and the messed up Shinozaki estate (as a Higurashi fan you'd get why - the latter is cause of Ooishi's theories about the Shinozakis). My rationalization being that if Takahashi had anything suppressed, it would be annoyance or some other strong negative emotion at never having figured out what happened to Ooishi. If you decide you want to have Takahashi's Shadow show up, you can work with that. I figure we'll only be running into the Shrine and Estate. Feel free to work in some reference to the "poison gas" as well. X3

Oh, and since Takahashi probably only saw these locations via pictures, I think we could mess them up even more than his emotions towards the places already have. I'll handle the detailed version of Lucius' description next post.)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Takahashi had been walking around in this area a bit. He was trying to find the way out of this mansion. Instead he kept going in circles. But there had to be a way out. At least he could see the walls and sliding doors, but most of the rooms were empty, aside from the various torture devices held within. There were torture devices everywhere. Torture devices and spiked clubs. At one point, Takahashi wandered into a bathroom, and found a tiger striped loincloth on the floor. The bathroom was also covered in blood, and there had appeared to be a dead person within the tub, thankfully concealed by the shower curtain. Takahashi had seen enough crime scenes to know to leave that the fuck alone.

Adachi never mentioned that the 'other side' was Hinamizawa... Takahashi thought to himself as he proceeded through the halls. He heard something crack under his shoe, and looked down. There was a picture of a green-haired girl on the floor. Takahashi picked it up and examined it before tossing it behind him and heading back through the halls. He needed to get out first of all. Adachi had said there was no escape from this side, but he'd had to get out somehow, hadn't he?

Still, this possibly explained a bit. However, if the 'other side' was really some other side of Hinamizawa (perhaps reached through Onigafuchi swamp) then perhaps the legend about the demons and the humans intermingling was true.

Takahashi finally reached a large set of double doors, which were being held closed with a human arm. The arm had several nails driven into several points in it, and Takahashi found himself gagging.

Focus, Kenji, focus. You've seen worse, Takahashi thought to himself. He closed his eyes and kicked the arm out of the slots it was in, and pushed the double doors open.

The outside wasn't much better. Still foggy. At least he was in the courtyard now. However, he was still unnerved. He had seen something moving in the shadows several times while he was inside, and he had a rather bad headache forming. Plus, he was starting to lose track of time. He wasn't sure how long he had been in here and he didn't have a watch on him.

[mugenginga]

Lucius saw Takahashi far before the man could see him. Far before the man would be capable of seeing him. After all, it wasn't normal to be able to see this well in the fog. The man was rubbing his head, and he looked rather stressed. Lucius knew about the effect the fog was supposed to have on people. Really, it even effected him some. He was human like this, after all. The only reason he wasn't stumbling around and getting into trouble here was because he was expressing some of his own powers.

There was another issue to be had. Lucius was pretty sure the normal shadows were getting agitated. From more than just the new arrival. He stopped walking and thought for a moment. Right, the way this world worked meant that it was probably going to rain soon in that other place the people that had made him want to come here usually stayed. The "real world" so to speak.

Lucius took a step forward again when he realized it might be a good idea to not pick his way around so well. He muted the powers allowing him to see and his vision flooded with the fog. He couldn't make out Takahashi anymore, nor could he be sure the occasional movements were the man. His mild headache jumped straight into migraine and he grunted as he grabbed his head. Damn, that Shadow bear was lucky. He wondered if it was really worth it to conceal himself like this.

Takahashi probably heard the grunt. If he made his way towards it, he would still have trouble seeing the source until he was all but on top of it. The fog was rather thick. Lucius' height made him seem like a highschooler despite his supposed fourteen years of age, and the angle meant Takahashi would probably see the upper part of his shirt first. It was a glorified bloodred vest with tanktop like sleeves that came down to a slight point at the bottom. The construct meant the side of his chest was a bit shown on either side. It was held shut with red buttons, but the way the vest folded over made that hard to see. His pants were faded blue jeans, the buttoms rolled up a bit but still showed signs of being tattered.

Around his neck on a small silver chain was an unimpressive silver cross. His yellow hair was pulled back in a low ponytail of a style not unknown for guys to wear. From the front, especially in this fog, he'd seem to have short hair. The bangs were pulled back into the ponytail, which was held with a plain white band. His shoes were unimpressive tennis shoes.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Takahashi looked around and squinted his eyes at the fog. This was way worse than he'd imagined. And now he was sure he hadn't been imagining it. There was something shuffling around in there. And not only that, but he could have sworn he heard footsteps behind him. Footsteps that matched his footsteps, trying not to be heard.

Kenji, stop it! That's how that Houjou kid lost it, remember? Mumbled something about hearing footsteps behind him at the station that day before he went missing, Takahashi thought to himself. He looked up as he heard a grunt and started heading toward it.

It wasn't until he was right on the kid that he realized someone was there. And upon seeing the kid's appearance, Takahashi stumbled back. Blond hair and a red vest. Blond hair and a red vest. Ooishi had often said that the Maebara kid had acted way too much like the Houjou kid who had gone missing for one's own comfort. Takahashi thought he had a heart attack at the kid's appearance. It took him a moment to realize that this wasn't Satoshi Houjou or Keiichi Maebara, just someone who looked damn close to them.

"Who're you?!" Takahashi demanded.

[mugenginga]

Lucius almost fell down from the panicked yell. It felt more like someone had taken a nail to his head and hit it with a hammer. Why had he thought it was a good idea to supress his powers, again? He managed to not fall down, but he gave a significant wince and took a large step back. Well, the man had seemed panicked before. He supposed it made sense he'd reacted like that.

"You don't have to yell, sheeeeesh," Lucius muttered in fluent Japanese, "My name is Lucius Starr, who are you? I haven't seen anything human since coming to this fucked up place..."

Despite his Japanese, his western name was said with perfect English pronunciation. It was a bit of a jar when placed among the Japanese. It probably wasn't comforting to Takahashi that Lucius had a dialect that fit with some of the more country villages. Although really, his dialect was the least of the problem. Lucius hadn't said he hadn't seen anyone. He'd said he hadn't seen anything human. Total truth, but Takahashi could take that in a manner Lucius hadn't intended...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Takahashi scowled. The kid even had a country accent. Though his western name and way of speaking was what Takahashi was focusing on a bit more.

"I'm Kenji Takahashi, detective of the Void City Police Department. And you should speak more politely to your elders!" Takahashi stated. "And did you say you hadn't seen anything human?"

Again, that was more than a fair bit unsettling. Again, because of stupid Hinamizawa, which was what this place looked like. Nothing human meant there were definitely demons down here. Just his luck. He got pushed into another world by his subordinate and it turns out to be Hell.

[mugenginga]

Takahashi was still yelling. Lucius couldn't help but think about some saying or another. He couldn't remember the exact thing, but something about the weakest dog making the most noise? He might have smirked if he couldn't feel every pulse of this form in his head. Takahashi seemed to be doing better than he was. Well, it was possible it was from that being his true form.

"I can talk to you however I want, old man. As for the question, yeah. Seen a few... well, monsters I guess, but no humans," he looked around. His face was turned from Takahashi as even through the pain he grinned. Might as well stroke his own ego while he was at it. The fog would conceal the expression, but the movement would make it seem as if he were looking around, "Wouldn't be suprised if there's some kinda demon around here, either."

(OOC: The word he used was "akuma" - It can be translated as demon OR devil. Lucius purposely used the double-play of translation because so many Persona resemble/match demons. XD He actually doesn't realize how fitting the phrase is to Takahashi's paranoia, he's referencing himself. XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Takahashi glared at Lucius as he insulted him and then continued that manner of speaking. Kids these days. No respect for their elders. And then the kid said that there were monsters and demons around. Demons. Lucius wouldn't be able to see it because of the fog, but Takahashi's face paled at that.

"Did you say demons?" Takahashi stated. "What kind of demons!? Like ogres?"

He thought about something for a moment. This kid was in the other side, but he didn't seem to be bothered too much about it. Almost confident in fact. No, more than almost confident.

Takahashi's thoughts moved to those mysterious murders they had been unable to solve. Two people, both working at the mall, had been found dead, hanging in much the same way that Adachi's victims had. Only people with the ability to summon a Persona were supposed to be able to access this world, not counting the people who were pushed in. And there supposedly wasn't a way out. So why wasn't this kid panicked?

[mugenginga]

Lucius turned back to Takahashi. The man was trying to control his pulse, but Lucius didn't have to see the man's pale face to know his panic had gone up a few notches. After all, Lucius was a demon himself, at least in part. Not that his power level meant any but the most powerful of demons could sense even the slightest bit off about him, but the "teenager" had certain... senses. He would have allowed himself another one of his child-like grins had he not been so close to the man.

"I didn't say I'd seen any... well, not for sure. I mean, some of the monsters looked pretty Shinto, but there is this screwed up shrine over thataway," Lucius pointed, not really caring if Takahashi could see the motion or not, "So it might have something to do with that. I think its one of those shrines for a minor regional kami. Oyashiro, I think it was... You know it?"

Lucius turned back towards Takahashi. His facial features were still hard to make out. So he focused instead on the pulse of the man. He could feel it, and it was going a bit fast. His last question was meant as a taunt, but his tone and body language didn't change in the least. The man's condition meant it wasn't needed for the taunt. Of course the man knew it, this was a world made from his own psyche after all. The man had to have some pretty messed up suppressed emotions and memories to make a world like this, though.

Takahashi would likely not miss the lack of honorific on Oyashiro's name. Even for those that knew nothing of Hinamizawa, it was more than rude. The teen was talking about a shrine god the same way he was treating Takahashi. Like he didn't care about any power the entity might have...

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Takahashi was still glaring at this strange kid. And then, of course, Lucius had to bring up Oyashiro-sama, and Takahashi took a step back. Everyone on the force back then knew about Oyashiro-sama. Takahashi had tried to forget about it. He thought he'd put that chapter of his life behind him. Hell, he thought it had been long behind him. For twenty years now! It wasn't his fault he'd been demoned away to this place before he could do anything to help Ooishi.

"S-Show a little more respect to the shrine god! If you're gonna call it by name, call it Oyashiro-sama!" Takahashi barked. He looked away from Lucius, and then looked back at the kid. He still couldn't see him well, but he had been on the force long enough to know that there was something up with this kid.

"How the hell did you get down here anyways?!" Takahashi yelled. His heartbeat was further accelerating. What the hell was going on down here?!

[mugenginga]

Lucius' face would have broken from reverse pressure had he not given a grin at that. At this rate the man was going to work himself right into a heart attack. He found himself thankful for the thousands of years he had been alive. Otherwise, Takahashi might have been dead and the entertainment ended. Calling the man terrified at this point was an injustice. It seemed he not only knew of the shrine god, but had more than a few bad memories about it.

Lucius couldn't recall knowing the name, there was a reason he'd referred to it as a minor regional kami. The kind no one outside its area of influence would have ever heard of, more than like. Whatever world this man was from, it wasn't one Lucius had jurisdiction over it seemed. Lucius remained quiet for some time, allowing the amusement of the situation to fade a bit. The endorphins this form carried combined with the energy he was receiving from Takahashi's current state of mind had cut the headache down to a dull throb. After a few moments, he let the smile drop to a bored smirk. He made an exaggerated shrug so Takahashi could see it through the fog.

"What's the worst that can happen, it'll curse me? Jeez, you're paranoid. You act like you expect something to pop up behind you out of thin air," Lucius teased, "As for how I got in here, I think I could ask you the same thing. I suppose you could say I was cast here, though..."

More with the play on words, not that Takahashi would have a clue what Lucius was referencing. However, Lucius was aware something had begun to stir about ten feet back from Takahashi as he asked what the worst that could happen was. He had to grin again. It was a Shadow, he could sense that even if he couldn't see clearly in the fog. The timing was better than Lucius could have planned.

He held a hand behind his back and a blue flame appeared, materializing into a card with an angel winged entity on it. It was possible he'd be showing this power of his next, and for a split moment his expression was anything but what a teenage boy would wear, the pupils of his eyes slitting. It returned to the punk kid smirk after a second or two, but Takahashi wouldn't be aware of any of that. Lucius found that the fog was more an advantage than not. In fact, he was pretty sure Takahashi hadn't seen his eyes yet, either... the split colors tended to get interesting responses.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Takahashi was feeling like he was going to hyperventilate. This world wasn't helping. This kid wasn't helping. And not only that, but he was feeling worse than sick. And all this fog was giving him a headache. This kid didn't seem to realize the danger of Oyashiro-sama's curse. Takahashi hadn't believed in curses. Now? Not so much. He'd been demoned away, for christ's sake. There was no other way to explain it. He'd been demoned away twice. Damn Adachi and his power.

"You were cast here? Did you get a look at who did that to you?!" Takahashi asked.

However, Lucius wouldn't get a chance to taunt Takahashi further as at that moment, the shadow struck. Takahashi realized something was behind him just in time to dodge out of the way as an oni wearing an odd mask struck down where he had been standing with a spiked club. Takahashi screamed.

"A-A demon!" Takahashi said. Not just a demon. An oni. Probably a maneating oni. Like the ones that had left Onigafuchi Swamp and attacked the villagers before Oyashiro-sama saved them.

[mugenginga]

Lucius didn't bother to open his mouth to respond. There wouldn't be time. It was possible the man would be injured. He didn't seem the type that would die from one blow, though. So the only reaction as the Shadow rushed forward was the teenager's fingers twitching closer together. The Shadow swung its weapon down and Takahashi managed to dodge. While Lucius was maintaining the accuracy of this form, his "power" was based upon the harnessed incarnations of creatures that could see just fine in the fog.

"LUCIFEL!"

Takahashi would hear that shout as his pulse hit new levels of racing. Even through the fog, he'd see the bright flash of light as Lucius crushed the card in his hands. He wouldn't be able to make out the figure that appeared above the teenager well, but he'd see the light that all but exploded off it. The "angel" known as both Lucifel and Helel flew forward, its wings extended. Takahashi would feel the wind created by them as it flew past.

The "Persona" raised its hand and an area of energy appeared above the "demon". It crashed down in an explosion. Takahashi would feel the massive energy blow past him, but none of it would harm him. The "demon" melted into the shadowy mass that made of Shadows before even those traces melted into the air. Once Megidolaon had been cast, Lucifel vanished in a flash of light. Lucius felt his knees go a little weak, but managed to stand. This form sucked sometimes. He peered over to where he assumed Takahashi to be.

"Hey, old man, you okay?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Takahashi jumped back as the Persona was summoned. He didn't need to be able to see it clearly to realize what it was. The kid had yelled its name. He had managed to hear something akin to glass breaking. And a glowing form had appeared nearby the kid. All this lead Takahashi to conclude that this kid was a Persona user.

He winced as he felt the fog blow past him from the sheer force of Lucifel's attack. Once the shadow and the Persona were gone, Takahashi turned toward Lucius.

"That was a Persona!" Takahashi said. "How the hell can a kid like you use a Persona?!"

That little bit of info brought up a whole bunch of fun new possibilities. Takahashi again thought of the strange murders. People had been found hanging from telephone poles.

And only Persona users could push people in...