Chou Yoshihisa [義久蝶] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
childofblue) wrote2013-05-22 01:31 am
childofblue) wrote2013-05-22 01:31 am
Entry tags:
History [Shadows of Humanity]
✎ Persona 1/Persona 2
Everything started with a creature known as Philemon, beginning at the very start of the Persona series with an unchanged Persona 1 & Persona 2.
With those two wins to Philemon, Nyarlathotep was beginning to get more and more agitated. The desire to beat Philemon, to prove that humanity was beyond salvation, burned in him more than anything; but the Crawling Chaos had his own patience, and all he could do was wait.
And, eventually, this waiting paid off.
✎ Pre-Persona 3
The head of the Kirijo family had a heart poisoned with darkness even far beyond that of most humans. Seeing his chance, Nyarlathotep whispered into this man's ear, urging him along with experiments and dangers to find what he desired: oblivion. Eventually, the man's ambition led to experiments on Shadows themselves, including very powerful ones that each represented one of the Major Arcana. The man found that bringing all these together would call upon "The Fall," an event which would wipe out all the life and desires of humanity, leaving them as only empty husks. This event would be brought about by a creature known as "Nyx," which only delighted Nyarlathotep more.
Nyx, once a beloved servant of Philemon in ancient times, had expressed distaste and hatred for the growing darkness of humanity. Nyarlathotep had jumped on that, tainting her further so subtly that by the time Philemon had noticed, it was too late. In fear of what she might do, Philemon wiped her identity and consciousness away so she could rest in peace as the servant she once was. However, even he couldn't dissipate her body, now tainted with Nyarlathotep's power. Rather than leave it, he sealed what was left within the moon so that it could never harm those he watched over, causing Nyx to become the "Mother" of Shadows in reflection of her duties of bringing (necessary) death and night to humans. Unfortunately, though sealed in the moon, Philemon's very nature made it so that the seal could not be permanent; Nyarlathotep knew that manipulating the humans to call down her terrible might would allow them to activate her powers on their own and Philemon's game would be lost by default... and by a creature he had once held in high esteem!
Unfortunately for the Crawling Chaos, Philemon was far from a fool. He had known it was only a matter of time before Nyarlathotep tried something with Nyx, and once his "darker half" made his move, Philemon made his. Finding a man by the name of Okazaki -- a man whose strong heart already questioned the experiments -- the Butterfly God gave his courage a gentle nudge, driving Okazaki to sabotage the entire thing to the point of explosion. Unfortunately, Philemon had underestimated just what an explosion of Shadows would do and was caught in the ensuing blast.
Though he was only scuffed physically, something far worse had happened. The once neutral guardian God had been infected by the explosion, tainted with the one thing he had never truly experienced for himself: emotion.
Anger was the first thing that Philemon ever felt.
It was this anger that drove him to Nyarlathotep, attacking the Crawling Chaos in a rage-haze frenzy. The two fought viciously, ripping and tearing into each other until both lay still, nearly dead. Nyarlathotep slunk off, eventually possessing Odin, while Igor and the other Velvet Room assistants quickly whisked Philemon back to his realm, sealing him within a room of his preferred "home," the Velvet Castle.
Though Philemon was terribly wounded, it was not fatally so; for a god, those wounds would heal in time. The true problem came not from the gashes on the body, but the taint in the heart. Having never experienced anything of humanity first-hand, Philemon feared that the emotions would still get the better of him. To be able to harness them, he would have to truly experience them... and there was only one way he could do so safely.
Philemon broke off the part of him that held those emotions to give it the form of a young teenage boy. Entrusting Igor with what needed to be done, Philemon used what little power he had left to seal away his memories in his real body and transfer his mind into the body of the boy, leaving his true form dormant. Knowing that the boy would need exposure and time, Igor took him in as an assistant in the Velvet Room.
✎ Persona 3 & The Answer
For the events of Persona 3 and The Answer, Chou acted as a secondary assistant to Minato, handling skill cards and helping Minato take them from his Persona. Persona 3's history went along similarly to the game, though there were some major changes.
While Elizabeth was the attendant in the Velvet Room, Theodore was also there, though his requests entirely focused around Chou -- objects with butterfly themes that could be given to their "youngest brother" as gifts, requests to take Chou places to help open him up, a suggestion to introduce him to a friend of Minato's, or other things alone the same lines. Chou needed exposure to humans and emotions, after all, and only Minato and SEES could provide that.
The game's time was also expanded significantly -- rather than being crammed together, the schedule of the Full Moon Shadows were as followed:
Magician -- April 9th
Priestess -- May 9th
Emperor/Empress -- June 8th (first match, failure)
Emperor/Empress -- July 7th (second match, success)
Hierophant -- August 6th
Lovers -- September 5th
Chariot -- October 4th
Justice -- November 3rd
Hermit -- December 2nd
Fortune -- December 31st
Strength -- January 31st
Hanged Man -- February 28th
Nyx Avatar -- March 28th
After the initial failure against the Emperor/Empress Shadows, there were two new additions to SEES in the form of Jun Kobayashi (Fortune) and Haruka Conte-Kuromatsu (Tower), then a later edition before the Chariot FMS in the form of Mako Okazaki (Hanged Man). Jun ended up replacing Fuuka in the story, though unlike Fuuka, her Persona also had decent fighting abilities (if not anywhere near enough to justify fighting instead of scanning); Mako, as well, replaced Yukari (leaving Jun to make that bond with Mitsuru).
Actual romances were set and happened as well: Minato and Aigis ended up together, Jun saved Shinjiro's life via his watch, and Haruka got together with Akihiko. In the latter case, Jun/Haruka followed the Social Link pattern from Persona 3 Portable, just without the actual Social Link connecting (being as they were not Fools).
Finally, Shinjiro recovered in time to rejoin the group and fight against Nyx's Avatar. His survival and still somewhat-decent state meant that he was also around and fighting in The Answer, seeing what had happened alongside everyone else. After they were freed and things were settled, Jun -- taking the lead and prodding him as before -- proposed, and the two ended up married shortly after; with Shinjiro's life cut short to an unknown year, there was no sense in waiting.
✎ Persona 4
Soon enough, a mystery of murder fell onto Inaba, coming with the arrival of a young girl named Azami Narukami. Azami was beckoned into the Velvet Room by Igor, as she had unknowingly made a contract beforehand, and met both Chou and Victor (the male attendant to Margaret's female). Chou, as he had done while helping Minato, continued to work with Skill Cards that Azami brought him, while Victor was the one who ran the Compendium. Elizabeth had left the Velvet Room for her own reasons, and Theodore was no longer needed to watch over Chou, as that burden had been passed to Victor.
Azami began to make friends in the school, warming up to one Yosuke Hanamura (Magician) alongside another girl named Sabiha Saiyoko (Moon). When Saki died, the three of them went into the TV to look around, meeting Teddie and being shoo'd out. Not too much later, Azami and Yosuke entered alone with Yosuke facing down his Shadow and the two leaving with their awakened Persona.
As time went on, more and more people began to fall into the TVs: first, it was a young woman by the name of Courtney Saga (Empress), then her closest friend Chikorin Okazaki (Sun). Following that was Kanji Tatsumi (Emperor), and then one of the sports team members by the name of Keiyama Ishisai (Strength). While Chie and Yukiko were still around and friends of the group, they were simply uninvolved Social Links for the Chariot and the Priestess.
During all of this, Azami brought Chou into the team/world proper, and he began to spend less time in the Velvet Room and more in the real world (beyond rainy or foggy days that he was forced to stay inside). By this point, the Investigation Team had been fully formed and was deep into trying to figure this out, working together and getting closer with each passing turn. Azami spread out to create Social Links with others as well, including a Hanged Man link with a strange man in a yellow suit that went by the name of "Baofu"; the man had been been instrumental in learning enough about Courtney to find her, after all, and seemed to know far more than he let on.
Eventually, the IT came into contact with four of the former SEES members: Shinjiro and Jun, living in Inaba for the quiet, as well as Haruka and Akihiko, just visiting them. The four were unable to properly join to help for their own reasons -- Shinjiro was too ill, Jun was tending to him, and Mitsuru needed Haruka/Akihiko for the Shadow Operatives -- but they none the less passed on information about the Shadows and what they knew. As well, Akihiko sent a note to Mitsuru about the new Shadow-fighting team to ensure she knew what was going on. The gift that came ended up being double-edged: an Evoker for each of them, on the off-chance that they found themselves unable to summon their Persona in the real world.
The next person to rescue after Keiyama was someone unexpected; Chi's brother, Judai. Judai, as it turned out, had a Persona more fit for scanning, and with Teddie's nose having almost failed them (along with Teddie getting his own Persona in the fight), Judai took over as their scanner (and, naturally, replaced Rise).
The rest of the history goes much of the same up to Naoto's and Nanako's rescues.
Sometime after the Team went to the hospital, Chou felt a dark, foreboding presence in his chest. Ignoring Igor's warning, he ran there where he found them cornering Namatame, the man who they thought had committed the murders that had terrorized Inaba. Confusingly, Namatame seemed to recognize Chou, claiming the boy had bidden him on the TV at night; Chou, having stayed out of the TV World by Igor's command, had no idea what Namatame was talking about. He became frightened when the Investigation Team, already in a frenzy and following Yosuke's lead, turned on him, but Azami stepped in just in time, managing to talk them down. The group were forced to leave with Chou in tow, trying to figure out that -- if not Namatame -- who it could be.
Eventually, thanks to Azami's intuition, she began to suspect one of the officers by the name of Adachi. Upon seeing the man, Chou confirmed that the feeling he got from him was sickening and dangerous, which left little doubt in the minds of the Investigation Team, especially once Adachi fled when cornered. Unwilling to simply sit by, Chou offered to help as best he could, joining the others in the TV World; his first proper foray into it, his Persona, Baucis, was awoken almost immediately, much to everyone's confusion.
Despite the real killer being marked, Chou began to feel restless and uneasy. Though the Team -- and Azami herself -- had tried valiantly to help him, there had simply been no information on who he was or anything about him. This eventually led to him giving up on his identity entirely, leaving him confused, frustrated, and angry at nothing he could take it out on. This was especially worsened with the pain that would occasionally stab into his head when he came too close to remembering something; something that became obvious during a festival when Azami attempted to buy Chou a butterfly mask to match the yukata he wore and it ended up spontaneously burning itself while Chou thrashed on the ground in pain.
Eventually, Adachi was captured and the Team breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the simple peace was shattered with a violent shoot-out on the edge of Inaba. Following Courtney, who had rushed out on a feeling, the shoot-out was revealed to be between the wounded Baofu and another who looked like a Mafia leader. On accidentally identifying herself by calling out to the wounded man as "father," the other man threatened Courtney, much to the horror of the Investigation Team. With the feeling of death, fear, and rage in her, Courtney accidentally summoned her Minamoto no Yoshitsune, losing control as it rampaged and killed the mafia leader and his present men with a dark skill that she certainly had not possessed. Not wanting her to be connected, Baofu requested the Investigation Team haul both him and Courtney to the hospital and claim they found them elsewhere.
As the two recovered, Baofu revealed his name to be Kaoru Saga, and confirmed that Courtney was, indeed, his daughter (making her half-Japanese) -- having been pursued by men from the Taiwanese mafia, he had left her, her mother, and her sister behind by faking his death. He had only come to Inaba on a whim thanks to a mess of strange dreams with a man in a butterfly mask claiming that he was needed there. Courtney's exhaustion turns out to be from tapping into her heart's true power, as once Azami talks with her over it, Yoshitsune evolves into Tsukuyomi no Mikoto and the skill she had used ("Die For Me!") is accessible to her.
Sometime after this, the entire team plus Chou went on a skiing trip to enjoy themselves. But though Chou had spent simple days with them, the negative feelings twisting in heart hadn't disappeared. During the trip, while everyone else was occupied, a dark presence began to beckon him into the TV World, whispering icy promises of answers and help. Unable to resist, Chou followed and found himself trapped in a dungeon of his own design, the Hollow Castle. Though the place seemed infinitely familiar, he was given no chance to explore it, as the castle itself had sealed him on the throne.
Eventually, Chou's absence was noted when he didn't return one night, and the group went searching for him. This ended with Azami, Kanji, Yosuke, and Teddie stuck freezing in a cabin because of a sudden blizzard, bickering until the rest of the group managed to find them. The group was yanked into the small TV there because of Judai's strange feelings by Victor himself, who introduced them to the dungeon he had brought them to: Chou's very own Hollow Castle. Explaining the dangers and giving a cryptic comment that the Chou as he was would soon no longer exist, the Team agreed to explore the dungeon the next day and returned.
When they finally managed to navigate through the strange, blue-velvet halls and trials, they found Chou in pain and confused near a broken throne; he was separated from them by some kind of seal, what appeared to be faint white ribbons keeping him prisoner. Unfortunately, Yosuke accidentally broke the seal keeping Chou prisoner before they were prepared, allowing the Crawling Chaos -- who had been waiting for just that -- to attack and attempt to devour Chou. With some difficulty, as Azami noticed... though they couldn't stop him, whatever the ribbons were burned him before he could tear them aside. In terror and confusion, Chou drew on a power he hadn't been aware he possessed, covering himself in a crystal even as the shadows wrapped around him. Nyarlathotep manifested a horrifying body around this "prison," attacking the others in an attempt to stop them from saving him. As he watched everyone give all they had, something faint in the back of Chou's mind clicked, and he finally had the answer he had wanted for so long.
I... am Philemon...
After some struggle in the battle, the IT managed to free Chou from Nyarlathotep's grip. Determined to try to tap into the strength he could feel just on the edge of his consciousness, Chou grasped at it desperately -- and found it responding to his call, drawing in a warm feeling, but unknown, presence. Throwing all of the gained power into that presence, Chou called upon a brilliant, oddly heterochromic Persona, using its power to weaken Nyarlathotep and strengthen the team, evening the battlefield to give the group a chance. This completely exhausted him, however, causing his body to fail and consciousness to fully slip from him. The group continued to fight against Nyarlathotep, but now that Philemon's power -- and, Judai had noted, an unknown second one -- had been involved, the Crawling Chaos had no hope and was forced to retreat.
Chou, being pale, barely breathing, and apparently dying, caused a panic in the team which only increased as the Castle began to fall apart. Seeing a door to the Velvet Room appear -- one that the group could see as well -- Azami quickly directed everyone inside and the door almost caught Yosuke's foot even as it slammed shut. Igor marveled at the fact they were all there, then assured them that all Chou needed was a little rest. All would be clear later, and for now, the team could do nothing but return to their lives, leaving their friend to the care of the mysterious man... though Azami noted the appearance of a strange ring on Chou's finger that hadn't been there before.
Once recovered, Chou returned to the waking world to explain what little he knew to his friends. Expecting questions, concern, or even just another accusation, he was shocked when they accepted him all the same, promising that nothing would ever make them abandon him as a friend. Now feeling a bit more firm in who he was -- even if his memory was still almost blank and he couldn't explain his Persona, that power, or the ring -- Chou was able to fully bond with Azami, tying the two of them together forever through thick and thin.
The rest of the lazy days he enjoyed deeply with the Investigation Team. When the time came for Azami to leave, however, she gathered them up and proposed her unease, her feeling that something was left. Though Chou didn't quite understand what she meant, he admitted that there was a strange feeling in the town to him still, something he hadn't yet noticed until she brought it up. The group spread out through Inaba, trying to discover anything they could.
Eventually, Chou felt a sharp spike of power and rushed to the Shopping District, only to find a shaking Azami. She explained that someone named Izanami had opened a challenge to her, and that everyone needed to meet back in the Food Court to get ready to go in.
Chou took her to the Velvet Room first, citing that he felt it was right to speak to Igor. His feelings turned out to be true, as Igor provided Azami with an artifact he felt she'd need for the upcoming battle. Though Chou expected to be told to stay, Igor instead encouraged the opposite, saying that only with Chou's presence could the last mysteries truly be finished.
The group made their way to Izanami, but despite everything they threw at her, she simply wouldn't fall. Azami's orb revealed Izanami's true form, showing that she was an undying creature of hell. Her mask no longer in place, Izanami began her attempts to drag Azami to hell as well, but one by one each of the Investigation Team was taken instead. Despite Azami's attempts to continue fighting, she too was dragged to hell, left in a quiet sort of limbo.
One by one, everyone she had met and bonded with came to speak to her, encouraging her to keep going. Chou was the last to do so, speaking softly of the memories she gave him as his body shifted, showing his real form. Encouraging her that she had more strength than she knew, Chou lent her what power of his he could alongside everyone else.
Azami took this power and used it to evolve Izanagi to Izanagi-no-Okami, feeling Philemon's spirit call to her; a connection, she knew, had been remade, even if she had no idea what it was. Using her heart and strength, Azami defeated Izanami, purifying the TV World and saving her friends.
As everyone reappeared, Chou -- now in his true form as Philemon -- came as well, congratulating the team on a job well done and thanking them. Because of his bonds with everyone and Azami's courageous heart, he had been able to rejoin the two halves of his soul into one, with an understanding of himself, humans, and emotions.
When it came time for Azami to leave, Chou promised her that he would always be within her heart, and that she ever felt in need of support to call out for him, and he would come. Azami left Inaba with a bright heart, closing her eyes as the train pulled away with a smile on her face.
✎ Persona 4 Arena
Coming soon!
Everything started with a creature known as Philemon, beginning at the very start of the Persona series with an unchanged Persona 1 & Persona 2.
With those two wins to Philemon, Nyarlathotep was beginning to get more and more agitated. The desire to beat Philemon, to prove that humanity was beyond salvation, burned in him more than anything; but the Crawling Chaos had his own patience, and all he could do was wait.
And, eventually, this waiting paid off.
✎ Pre-Persona 3
The head of the Kirijo family had a heart poisoned with darkness even far beyond that of most humans. Seeing his chance, Nyarlathotep whispered into this man's ear, urging him along with experiments and dangers to find what he desired: oblivion. Eventually, the man's ambition led to experiments on Shadows themselves, including very powerful ones that each represented one of the Major Arcana. The man found that bringing all these together would call upon "The Fall," an event which would wipe out all the life and desires of humanity, leaving them as only empty husks. This event would be brought about by a creature known as "Nyx," which only delighted Nyarlathotep more.
Nyx, once a beloved servant of Philemon in ancient times, had expressed distaste and hatred for the growing darkness of humanity. Nyarlathotep had jumped on that, tainting her further so subtly that by the time Philemon had noticed, it was too late. In fear of what she might do, Philemon wiped her identity and consciousness away so she could rest in peace as the servant she once was. However, even he couldn't dissipate her body, now tainted with Nyarlathotep's power. Rather than leave it, he sealed what was left within the moon so that it could never harm those he watched over, causing Nyx to become the "Mother" of Shadows in reflection of her duties of bringing (necessary) death and night to humans. Unfortunately, though sealed in the moon, Philemon's very nature made it so that the seal could not be permanent; Nyarlathotep knew that manipulating the humans to call down her terrible might would allow them to activate her powers on their own and Philemon's game would be lost by default... and by a creature he had once held in high esteem!
Unfortunately for the Crawling Chaos, Philemon was far from a fool. He had known it was only a matter of time before Nyarlathotep tried something with Nyx, and once his "darker half" made his move, Philemon made his. Finding a man by the name of Okazaki -- a man whose strong heart already questioned the experiments -- the Butterfly God gave his courage a gentle nudge, driving Okazaki to sabotage the entire thing to the point of explosion. Unfortunately, Philemon had underestimated just what an explosion of Shadows would do and was caught in the ensuing blast.
Though he was only scuffed physically, something far worse had happened. The once neutral guardian God had been infected by the explosion, tainted with the one thing he had never truly experienced for himself: emotion.
Anger was the first thing that Philemon ever felt.
It was this anger that drove him to Nyarlathotep, attacking the Crawling Chaos in a rage-haze frenzy. The two fought viciously, ripping and tearing into each other until both lay still, nearly dead. Nyarlathotep slunk off, eventually possessing Odin, while Igor and the other Velvet Room assistants quickly whisked Philemon back to his realm, sealing him within a room of his preferred "home," the Velvet Castle.
Though Philemon was terribly wounded, it was not fatally so; for a god, those wounds would heal in time. The true problem came not from the gashes on the body, but the taint in the heart. Having never experienced anything of humanity first-hand, Philemon feared that the emotions would still get the better of him. To be able to harness them, he would have to truly experience them... and there was only one way he could do so safely.
Philemon broke off the part of him that held those emotions to give it the form of a young teenage boy. Entrusting Igor with what needed to be done, Philemon used what little power he had left to seal away his memories in his real body and transfer his mind into the body of the boy, leaving his true form dormant. Knowing that the boy would need exposure and time, Igor took him in as an assistant in the Velvet Room.
✎ Persona 3 & The Answer
For the events of Persona 3 and The Answer, Chou acted as a secondary assistant to Minato, handling skill cards and helping Minato take them from his Persona. Persona 3's history went along similarly to the game, though there were some major changes.
While Elizabeth was the attendant in the Velvet Room, Theodore was also there, though his requests entirely focused around Chou -- objects with butterfly themes that could be given to their "youngest brother" as gifts, requests to take Chou places to help open him up, a suggestion to introduce him to a friend of Minato's, or other things alone the same lines. Chou needed exposure to humans and emotions, after all, and only Minato and SEES could provide that.
The game's time was also expanded significantly -- rather than being crammed together, the schedule of the Full Moon Shadows were as followed:
Magician -- April 9th
Priestess -- May 9th
Emperor/Empress -- June 8th (first match, failure)
Emperor/Empress -- July 7th (second match, success)
Hierophant -- August 6th
Lovers -- September 5th
Chariot -- October 4th
Justice -- November 3rd
Hermit -- December 2nd
Fortune -- December 31st
Strength -- January 31st
Hanged Man -- February 28th
Nyx Avatar -- March 28th
After the initial failure against the Emperor/Empress Shadows, there were two new additions to SEES in the form of Jun Kobayashi (Fortune) and Haruka Conte-Kuromatsu (Tower), then a later edition before the Chariot FMS in the form of Mako Okazaki (Hanged Man). Jun ended up replacing Fuuka in the story, though unlike Fuuka, her Persona also had decent fighting abilities (if not anywhere near enough to justify fighting instead of scanning); Mako, as well, replaced Yukari (leaving Jun to make that bond with Mitsuru).
Actual romances were set and happened as well: Minato and Aigis ended up together, Jun saved Shinjiro's life via his watch, and Haruka got together with Akihiko. In the latter case, Jun/Haruka followed the Social Link pattern from Persona 3 Portable, just without the actual Social Link connecting (being as they were not Fools).
Finally, Shinjiro recovered in time to rejoin the group and fight against Nyx's Avatar. His survival and still somewhat-decent state meant that he was also around and fighting in The Answer, seeing what had happened alongside everyone else. After they were freed and things were settled, Jun -- taking the lead and prodding him as before -- proposed, and the two ended up married shortly after; with Shinjiro's life cut short to an unknown year, there was no sense in waiting.
✎ Persona 4
Soon enough, a mystery of murder fell onto Inaba, coming with the arrival of a young girl named Azami Narukami. Azami was beckoned into the Velvet Room by Igor, as she had unknowingly made a contract beforehand, and met both Chou and Victor (the male attendant to Margaret's female). Chou, as he had done while helping Minato, continued to work with Skill Cards that Azami brought him, while Victor was the one who ran the Compendium. Elizabeth had left the Velvet Room for her own reasons, and Theodore was no longer needed to watch over Chou, as that burden had been passed to Victor.
Azami began to make friends in the school, warming up to one Yosuke Hanamura (Magician) alongside another girl named Sabiha Saiyoko (Moon). When Saki died, the three of them went into the TV to look around, meeting Teddie and being shoo'd out. Not too much later, Azami and Yosuke entered alone with Yosuke facing down his Shadow and the two leaving with their awakened Persona.
As time went on, more and more people began to fall into the TVs: first, it was a young woman by the name of Courtney Saga (Empress), then her closest friend Chikorin Okazaki (Sun). Following that was Kanji Tatsumi (Emperor), and then one of the sports team members by the name of Keiyama Ishisai (Strength). While Chie and Yukiko were still around and friends of the group, they were simply uninvolved Social Links for the Chariot and the Priestess.
During all of this, Azami brought Chou into the team/world proper, and he began to spend less time in the Velvet Room and more in the real world (beyond rainy or foggy days that he was forced to stay inside). By this point, the Investigation Team had been fully formed and was deep into trying to figure this out, working together and getting closer with each passing turn. Azami spread out to create Social Links with others as well, including a Hanged Man link with a strange man in a yellow suit that went by the name of "Baofu"; the man had been been instrumental in learning enough about Courtney to find her, after all, and seemed to know far more than he let on.
Eventually, the IT came into contact with four of the former SEES members: Shinjiro and Jun, living in Inaba for the quiet, as well as Haruka and Akihiko, just visiting them. The four were unable to properly join to help for their own reasons -- Shinjiro was too ill, Jun was tending to him, and Mitsuru needed Haruka/Akihiko for the Shadow Operatives -- but they none the less passed on information about the Shadows and what they knew. As well, Akihiko sent a note to Mitsuru about the new Shadow-fighting team to ensure she knew what was going on. The gift that came ended up being double-edged: an Evoker for each of them, on the off-chance that they found themselves unable to summon their Persona in the real world.
The next person to rescue after Keiyama was someone unexpected; Chi's brother, Judai. Judai, as it turned out, had a Persona more fit for scanning, and with Teddie's nose having almost failed them (along with Teddie getting his own Persona in the fight), Judai took over as their scanner (and, naturally, replaced Rise).
The rest of the history goes much of the same up to Naoto's and Nanako's rescues.
Sometime after the Team went to the hospital, Chou felt a dark, foreboding presence in his chest. Ignoring Igor's warning, he ran there where he found them cornering Namatame, the man who they thought had committed the murders that had terrorized Inaba. Confusingly, Namatame seemed to recognize Chou, claiming the boy had bidden him on the TV at night; Chou, having stayed out of the TV World by Igor's command, had no idea what Namatame was talking about. He became frightened when the Investigation Team, already in a frenzy and following Yosuke's lead, turned on him, but Azami stepped in just in time, managing to talk them down. The group were forced to leave with Chou in tow, trying to figure out that -- if not Namatame -- who it could be.
Eventually, thanks to Azami's intuition, she began to suspect one of the officers by the name of Adachi. Upon seeing the man, Chou confirmed that the feeling he got from him was sickening and dangerous, which left little doubt in the minds of the Investigation Team, especially once Adachi fled when cornered. Unwilling to simply sit by, Chou offered to help as best he could, joining the others in the TV World; his first proper foray into it, his Persona, Baucis, was awoken almost immediately, much to everyone's confusion.
Despite the real killer being marked, Chou began to feel restless and uneasy. Though the Team -- and Azami herself -- had tried valiantly to help him, there had simply been no information on who he was or anything about him. This eventually led to him giving up on his identity entirely, leaving him confused, frustrated, and angry at nothing he could take it out on. This was especially worsened with the pain that would occasionally stab into his head when he came too close to remembering something; something that became obvious during a festival when Azami attempted to buy Chou a butterfly mask to match the yukata he wore and it ended up spontaneously burning itself while Chou thrashed on the ground in pain.
Eventually, Adachi was captured and the Team breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the simple peace was shattered with a violent shoot-out on the edge of Inaba. Following Courtney, who had rushed out on a feeling, the shoot-out was revealed to be between the wounded Baofu and another who looked like a Mafia leader. On accidentally identifying herself by calling out to the wounded man as "father," the other man threatened Courtney, much to the horror of the Investigation Team. With the feeling of death, fear, and rage in her, Courtney accidentally summoned her Minamoto no Yoshitsune, losing control as it rampaged and killed the mafia leader and his present men with a dark skill that she certainly had not possessed. Not wanting her to be connected, Baofu requested the Investigation Team haul both him and Courtney to the hospital and claim they found them elsewhere.
As the two recovered, Baofu revealed his name to be Kaoru Saga, and confirmed that Courtney was, indeed, his daughter (making her half-Japanese) -- having been pursued by men from the Taiwanese mafia, he had left her, her mother, and her sister behind by faking his death. He had only come to Inaba on a whim thanks to a mess of strange dreams with a man in a butterfly mask claiming that he was needed there. Courtney's exhaustion turns out to be from tapping into her heart's true power, as once Azami talks with her over it, Yoshitsune evolves into Tsukuyomi no Mikoto and the skill she had used ("Die For Me!") is accessible to her.
Sometime after this, the entire team plus Chou went on a skiing trip to enjoy themselves. But though Chou had spent simple days with them, the negative feelings twisting in heart hadn't disappeared. During the trip, while everyone else was occupied, a dark presence began to beckon him into the TV World, whispering icy promises of answers and help. Unable to resist, Chou followed and found himself trapped in a dungeon of his own design, the Hollow Castle. Though the place seemed infinitely familiar, he was given no chance to explore it, as the castle itself had sealed him on the throne.
Eventually, Chou's absence was noted when he didn't return one night, and the group went searching for him. This ended with Azami, Kanji, Yosuke, and Teddie stuck freezing in a cabin because of a sudden blizzard, bickering until the rest of the group managed to find them. The group was yanked into the small TV there because of Judai's strange feelings by Victor himself, who introduced them to the dungeon he had brought them to: Chou's very own Hollow Castle. Explaining the dangers and giving a cryptic comment that the Chou as he was would soon no longer exist, the Team agreed to explore the dungeon the next day and returned.
When they finally managed to navigate through the strange, blue-velvet halls and trials, they found Chou in pain and confused near a broken throne; he was separated from them by some kind of seal, what appeared to be faint white ribbons keeping him prisoner. Unfortunately, Yosuke accidentally broke the seal keeping Chou prisoner before they were prepared, allowing the Crawling Chaos -- who had been waiting for just that -- to attack and attempt to devour Chou. With some difficulty, as Azami noticed... though they couldn't stop him, whatever the ribbons were burned him before he could tear them aside. In terror and confusion, Chou drew on a power he hadn't been aware he possessed, covering himself in a crystal even as the shadows wrapped around him. Nyarlathotep manifested a horrifying body around this "prison," attacking the others in an attempt to stop them from saving him. As he watched everyone give all they had, something faint in the back of Chou's mind clicked, and he finally had the answer he had wanted for so long.
I... am Philemon...
After some struggle in the battle, the IT managed to free Chou from Nyarlathotep's grip. Determined to try to tap into the strength he could feel just on the edge of his consciousness, Chou grasped at it desperately -- and found it responding to his call, drawing in a warm feeling, but unknown, presence. Throwing all of the gained power into that presence, Chou called upon a brilliant, oddly heterochromic Persona, using its power to weaken Nyarlathotep and strengthen the team, evening the battlefield to give the group a chance. This completely exhausted him, however, causing his body to fail and consciousness to fully slip from him. The group continued to fight against Nyarlathotep, but now that Philemon's power -- and, Judai had noted, an unknown second one -- had been involved, the Crawling Chaos had no hope and was forced to retreat.
Chou, being pale, barely breathing, and apparently dying, caused a panic in the team which only increased as the Castle began to fall apart. Seeing a door to the Velvet Room appear -- one that the group could see as well -- Azami quickly directed everyone inside and the door almost caught Yosuke's foot even as it slammed shut. Igor marveled at the fact they were all there, then assured them that all Chou needed was a little rest. All would be clear later, and for now, the team could do nothing but return to their lives, leaving their friend to the care of the mysterious man... though Azami noted the appearance of a strange ring on Chou's finger that hadn't been there before.
Once recovered, Chou returned to the waking world to explain what little he knew to his friends. Expecting questions, concern, or even just another accusation, he was shocked when they accepted him all the same, promising that nothing would ever make them abandon him as a friend. Now feeling a bit more firm in who he was -- even if his memory was still almost blank and he couldn't explain his Persona, that power, or the ring -- Chou was able to fully bond with Azami, tying the two of them together forever through thick and thin.
The rest of the lazy days he enjoyed deeply with the Investigation Team. When the time came for Azami to leave, however, she gathered them up and proposed her unease, her feeling that something was left. Though Chou didn't quite understand what she meant, he admitted that there was a strange feeling in the town to him still, something he hadn't yet noticed until she brought it up. The group spread out through Inaba, trying to discover anything they could.
Eventually, Chou felt a sharp spike of power and rushed to the Shopping District, only to find a shaking Azami. She explained that someone named Izanami had opened a challenge to her, and that everyone needed to meet back in the Food Court to get ready to go in.
Chou took her to the Velvet Room first, citing that he felt it was right to speak to Igor. His feelings turned out to be true, as Igor provided Azami with an artifact he felt she'd need for the upcoming battle. Though Chou expected to be told to stay, Igor instead encouraged the opposite, saying that only with Chou's presence could the last mysteries truly be finished.
The group made their way to Izanami, but despite everything they threw at her, she simply wouldn't fall. Azami's orb revealed Izanami's true form, showing that she was an undying creature of hell. Her mask no longer in place, Izanami began her attempts to drag Azami to hell as well, but one by one each of the Investigation Team was taken instead. Despite Azami's attempts to continue fighting, she too was dragged to hell, left in a quiet sort of limbo.
One by one, everyone she had met and bonded with came to speak to her, encouraging her to keep going. Chou was the last to do so, speaking softly of the memories she gave him as his body shifted, showing his real form. Encouraging her that she had more strength than she knew, Chou lent her what power of his he could alongside everyone else.
Azami took this power and used it to evolve Izanagi to Izanagi-no-Okami, feeling Philemon's spirit call to her; a connection, she knew, had been remade, even if she had no idea what it was. Using her heart and strength, Azami defeated Izanami, purifying the TV World and saving her friends.
As everyone reappeared, Chou -- now in his true form as Philemon -- came as well, congratulating the team on a job well done and thanking them. Because of his bonds with everyone and Azami's courageous heart, he had been able to rejoin the two halves of his soul into one, with an understanding of himself, humans, and emotions.
When it came time for Azami to leave, Chou promised her that he would always be within her heart, and that she ever felt in need of support to call out for him, and he would come. Azami left Inaba with a bright heart, closing her eyes as the train pulled away with a smile on her face.
✎ Persona 4 Arena
Coming soon!