entranceway | 18th side; video

So... This is an event, right? Everyone's acting so weird, and that lady that showed up before...

[Yousuke's been having a particularly hard time with this one. He has memories, years worth of memories here in the mansion that suddenly feel like they don't exactly line up, with what people have been telling him and the theories they've worked out. And yet what he knew before, memories of his world-- they had to be true. The emotions he had then and the emotions they caused now couldn't possibly be fake.]

[Terrible things had happened. Terrible things because he wasn't good enough. Strong enough.]

[He's acting completely different than usual. The normally cheerful, bold and pushy Yousuke has given way to a sullen and shifty-eyed individual. Depressed, and unsure, like he can't even trust the words coming out of his own mouth.]

We know everyone else isn't right, but we're convinced we're the same-- how is that possible? Are we being tricked?

[Very quickly, that mistrust turns into shaky anger.]

I don't-- I don't like being messed with! Don't fuck with me! I want answers!

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I know I deserve it.

[Despite those words, Souji holds him more tightly.]

[...Slowly, Yousuke shakes his head.]

My mistake was just as bad. It was just for a different reason.

[Giving into anger instead of hopes of kindness.]

...It's the first time I ever yelled at you.

[It had taken a lot to get Yousuke to calm down. Under the circumstances, Souji's still not sure how he managed to stay calm enough to stop Yousuke, Kanji, and Naoto from killing Namatame.]

If you had been there, you would have yelled at me, too. Brought me to my senses.

I deserved it. I was out of my mind.

[He pauses, and looks up.]

Why wasn't I there? How did you keep it from me? From us?

...After we left the hospital, we went around trying to find new information. We even talked to Namatame about it all. But all of us were at Aiya, and we couldn't figure out anything new. [Souji's voice is vague, speaking his memories as they play through his mind.] Me and you and Naoto were outside and it started to snow and...I remembered the note.

The way it was written, it couldn't have been Namatame who wrote it. It was someone else, someone who could come to my house without anyone suspecting anything strange. And Adachi was over there all the time...

[His voice trails off and he's silent for awhile. As much as he betrayed everyone by helping Adachi, he was betrayed, too. And it was his own fault. Even though he spent so much time with Adachi, talking to him and learning about him, he got played just like everyone else did.]

[Leaving the hospital, going on a search, seeing the snow... no, he didn't have any of those memories. This was definitely where their paths separated.]

So you had a hunch, but you just didn't tell us? For how long?

[It was something even he or Naoto didn't figure out?]

...I never told you. Or anyone.

[Initially he'd kept it to himself because he wanted to ask Adachi himself, but then when he'd burned the letter...he couldn't tell anyone. And the longer he stayed quiet about it, the more impossible it became to broach the subject.]

...You were able to keep it a secret?

[The sense of betrayal in his voice is evident. He pushes away from Souji a little.]

What did that dumb cop ever do to deserve your misguided mercy...

[Souji lets his arms fall away from Yousuke.]

...I thought he was a friend. [He'd almost felt like family, at times.]

...One of those... bonds? That makes your personas stronger or whatever?

Yeah. But the person I thought he was was something I imagined.

[...]

[Yousuke doesn't know exactly how to respond to that. It's a mistake everyone makes-- a mistake we all fear making, because we don't want to lose something we care about.]

...You're dumb for destroying evidence. Giving him an out like that. Then no one can catch him.

[Souji's not sure what else he was expecting, but it's still like a physical blow to hear that.]

...I know.

So it's your responsibility now. If you don't want what happens in my future to happen to everyone... You have to figure out some way to stop it.

I don't even know how they're connected.

But he obviously does.

[Yousuke gives him A Look. Tie him up, point a gun at his head, I don't care. You'd rather let everyone suffer?]

[Souji isn't so sure. As far as he could tell, Adachi was just having fun in the only way that made him feel anything more than boredom. It was a pathetic, ridiculous motive for a crime, but it was what it was.]

What if he doesn't?

He does.

...But if he doesn't, you come to us, and you don't give up. I'm not exaggerating when I say we're the world's last line of defense.

I understand.

[Souji sighs and makes an abortive motion like he's going to adjust his glasses, though he's not wearing them.]

I rely on all of you. I can't do these things alone. [He pretty much proved that when he let Adachi get away with it.]

18th side; video

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