And Koromaru was his Namaeru (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato frowned as Adil spoke. Just as he was opening his mouth to give a response, Adil ran off. He looked back toward Ryoji.

"...I think it was Nyarlathotep," Minato said. The name didn't quite come out right, and he took a few moments to make sure he could say the name right before continued on. "Nyarlathotep was this demon Abel sent to follow Souji a while back. Apparently he deserted Abel's army some time after you... left, but I think he's still following us."

Koromaru gave a whine. He didn't think it was a demon. He knew how demons felt, and this hadn't been one. The feeling had been a lot different.

[mugenginga]

"Nyaa... Nyaaru... what?" Ryoji looked very confused at the name.

He blinked when Minato continued and looked away at Minato's comment. A demon, in any case. He looked back towards Koromaru as he whined and gave a frown. He really didn't understand Koromaru as well as Minato seemed to. he returned his focus to Minato.

"Shouldn't we tell Souji-kun, then? If he was trailing him? It might be connected to Izanagi, right?" Ryoji shook his head, "I can't think of that name in any mythology I know of, though. But if he's following Izanagi, I'd think he'd be a well known demon..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato shook his head. He wasn't quite sure what Nyarlathotep was from, either, but that wasn't the main issue right now.

"I don't think it was following Souji because of the Izanagi thing. I ran into that demon even before Abel ordered him to start following Souji, and he always had this weird interest in both him and me," Minato said. "I can only think of one reason he would have been interested in both of us, and that would be our Wild Card ability... which Souji doesn't have anymore..."

His eyes widened. "Ryoji, if it was Nyarlatho-whatever, I think he's following me."

[mugenginga]

Ryoji was listening to Minato as he spoke. A demon with special interest in Souji and him? He looked confused, but he came upon the same conclusion Minato did at the same point. Minato spoke first. Ryoji had to regather his thoughts after being cut off before speaking.

"Minato, didn't you say Souji-kun had access to that Velvet Room place?" He gave a quick look towards Koromaru before continuing. Unless Koromaru had the Wild Card now too, it threw a wrench in his theory, but... "Maybe that Igor guy knows something about this? Is there any way you could get in touch with him? If there's a demon targetting you, we need to figure this out! Maybe Souji-kun knows more, too..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato frowned. "Igor's an option, but he's never been what you'd call revealing about details. All he ever did was make new Personas for me and help me save the world once, but he always was more of an observer."

He sighed. "I got more clues from you and the crazy psychic lady at Escapade than I ever got from Igor. Let's ask Souji instead."

Koromaru gave a whine. This was why he wished Aigis was here.

[mugenginga]

Ryoji actually remembered that woman. Looking back at some of her words, he would have used creepy far before crazy. At the time, it had just been one of those things that confused him. That fear she had of him. He gave a sharp grimace due to the memories and nodded at Minato's suggestion. He looked down at Koromaru.

"We wanted to tell everyone about Koromaru, anyways," Ryoji looked up, "And it might be better if Souji-kun keeps him, anyways, so we can ask about that."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato looked rather worried at the grimace. He'd already figured out what those grimaces and pained looks were in reference to 90% of the time. Neither Minato nor Ryoji liked thinking about things in the past, but Minato knew it hurt Ryoji more to think about things before he'd become separated from Nyx.

"Yeah, might as well," Minato said. "Come on, Koromaru!"

He started walking forward, and Koromaru followed after him obediently. The dog knew that it wasn't a demon, but he couldn't really express that, and so he continued on by himself. Besides, he wanted to meet the others.

[mugenginga]

Ryoji had fallen into step besides Minato, his smile returning when no issues had been pressed. Nothing jumped out at them and screamed about the dog as they went in. Despite the general layout of the apartments, the situation with Nyarlathotep had them heading to Souji's apartment first. Ryoji crouched down and gave Koromaru a scratch on the head as Minato knocked on the door.

"Coming!" Teddie's voice came from behind the door. Koromaru would be quite aware of him, although whether he put the voice and the sense together was anyone's guess. Teddie opened the door and gave a wide grin before turning towards the apartment.

"Sensei, it's Minato-kun and Ryoji-kun and... uh..." Teddie blinked and looked towards Minato, "Who's that?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Koromaru gave a slight whine of pleasure as Ryoji scratched him behind the ears again. It was that scratch that had stopped him midway through a growl. Not only could he sense a Shadow inside this apartment, but he could sense that same weird feeling he'd gotten from the Egyptian man before.

Minato grinned as Teddie noticed Koromaru. "This is Koromaru. He's an old friend of mine."

Souji stood up from off of the couch and walked over to the door with a confused expression. "Someone you don't know...?" He realized what Teddie met once he got over there and looked down at Koromaru. "Minato, when did you get a dog?"

Of course, the moment Souji got over to the door, Koromaru started barking. He had been growling for a moment there, but it was only once Souji got over there that he started barking.

"Koromaru, calm down!" Minato said. "That Egyptian guy was bad enough, but come on, Souji and Teddie too?" He was smiling as he said this, though he looked a bit concerned. He looked back at Souji. "Sorry, he's been like this all day... not sure why."

"It's no problem, really," Souji said. He did look more than a fair bit concerned himself, though. Could the dog sense things? It wasn't like he was trying to keep it a secret, but Minato had mentioned Koromaru barking at an "Egyptian" man too.

[mugenginga]

Teddie's eyes widened and he gave a glare at Koromaru as he started barking. Ryoji had looked startled at the loud reaction to Souji, but the realization hit him pretty quickly. Ghost, right? So a shadow and a god made sense, and even further seperated any similarities he'd drawn between himself and Teddie in the past. Teddie seemed less startled and more angry.

"Hey, just because I'm a Shadow doesn't mean you have to be so rude! And Sensei's not a bad person! And no there isn't a ghost in here, why would you even bring that up?!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Souji had opened his mouth to ask what was up with Koromaru, but any conversation that had been about to start cut off the moment Teddie started talking to Koromaru. Minato and Souji both gave Teddie startled looks, and even Koromaru seemed a bit surprised.

"Did Teddie just...?" Minato started.

"I didn't know you could speak dog, Teddie," Souji said.

And why should I trust you? You said it yourself, you're a Shadow, Koromaru growled. I have dedicated my life to fighting Shadows such as yourself. Explain why I should trust you or your "Sensei".

[mugenginga]

Ryoji had given a startled look to match Minato's and Souji's. He opened his mouth, but thought better of it just as Minato asked his question. There... really wasn't another explanation, was there? He hadn't known anyone could "speak dog". There seemed to be a fight going on, though....

Teddie looked towards Souji in confusion. That... wasnt' normal, then? It hadn't been any problem for him to understand what Koromaru had said. A quick glance towards Ryoji and Minato seemed to get the same reaction. He looked back at Koromaru as he continued to express his distrust.

"Be... because... Because we're friends! Me and Sensei and Minato-kun and Ryoji-kun! We fight Shadows too, but only when we have to! I mean, Shadows aren't... aren't bad... And Sensei helped save the world once!" Teddie looked like he was struggling. He looked towards Minato and Ryoji, feeling that he wasn't getting through to Koromaru.

"Minato trusts them," Ryoji said. He looked concerned but didn't want to leave Teddie hanging, "And Teddie-kun can summon a Persona too."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Koromaru still looked rather suspicious of Teddie. The Shadow was rather well spoken for his kind. Koromaru had never seen a Shadow that could speak before Ryoji, after all. And he could use a Persona, according to Ryoji. And his 'Sensei' had saved the world at one point.

Souji frowned. So the... dog fought Shadows? That was the impression he was getting from some of what Teddie was saying. How could a dog fight Shadows, though? He'd need some kind of Persona to do that...

Koromaru seemed to consider what Teddie and Ryoji were saying. He stopped barking for a moment before giving a wary growl. What is "Sensei"? He doesn't feel human, but he doesn't feel Shadow either.

[mugenginga]

Teddie looked very annoyed with Koromaru's continuing suspicion. Why did he have to give him a good reason? He was with Minato and Ryoji, so wouldn't Souji being their friend be enough? It was the wariness that bothered Teddie. Ryoji looked nervous. He couldn't figure out why this was going worse than it had with him, not after the memories Koromaru clearly still had.

"Sensei is sensei!" Teddie said, his annoyance coming through with his voice.

Ryoji's eyes widened and something clicked into place, "Koromaru can sense gods too?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Koromaru was getting annoyed. What on earth did the Shadow mean by that? Now he was just going in circles. At Ryoji's comment, just about everyone looked toward him.

"Y'know, I didn't think about that. That might be it," Minato said. Souji frowned and crouched down to Koromaru's level.

"Is that the problem?" Souji asked. "I guess if you could sense that, that would throw you off, especially if you couldn't tell who I was." He held out a hand. "I'm an incarnation of Izanagi. But my name is Souji."

Koromaru looked confused for a moment. Actually, the dog wasn't quite sure how to react to this. While Koromaru stood there confused, Souji looked up at Minato.

"You said he reacted the same way to an Egyptian man earlier. Did that Egyptian have blue hair and a weird jacket?" Souji asked. Minato shook his head, and Souji looked back toward Koromaru. So who had the dog been reacting to? A different one of the gods?