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It's a peaceful day at Leblanc. Sojiro has a couple customers in his shop, both sipping coffee, one eating a curry. Mellow music is playing, the lighting is cozy, and the coffee is as good as ever.
He nods a greeting as Akira enters the shop on her way home from school.
Akira grins when she sees the plushie, and outright grabs it from Julie and hugs it close.
"I missed you, Mimi." She squeezes the plushie and skritches it behind the ears.
"A well-deserved reunion. chérie. I'm sure Mimi missed you as well."
She smiles at Akira's adorable behavior, then looks back down into the drawer and starts pulling out cables and coiling them neatly.
Most of the cables just disintegrate once disturbed, but there does seem to be a single device in here that's intact and solid: an onyx charging cradle with a cord to plug into the desktop computer's USB slot. It has the same deep red swirl patterns as the Arcana device.
"Aha. This appears to be what we were looking for, mon cœur."
She sets it on the desk.
Akira picks up the cradle and plugs the USB cable into the computer's front USB slot.
"Alright," she says. She pulls the Arcana reader out of her pocket and slots the device into the cradle.
The computer's black case cracks and becomes glossy, shot through with the same deep red swirls as the cradle itself. It boots up; a moment later the display cracks through and becomes made of the same glossy crystal. Large red letters flash onto the screen.
PAIRING WITH FUSION ROOM
Akira startles, then nods. "It seems to be working, whatever it's doing..."
PAIRING COMPLETE. WELCOME, AKIRA KURUSU.
The computer screen flashes up the same two-button menu as the phone has.
"Parfait, chérie. That should be useful."
She kisses Akira's hand softly and smiles.
Joker comes back into the room a moment later, and looks over the resulting setup. "Ah," she says. "You got it set up. Cool."
A graffiti-styled two-panel interface appears, with a list of Personas in the smaller left-hand panel, and information on the selected Persona in the right-hand one. Each Persona has elemental affinities and weaknesses listed, along with capabilities, stats, and the Arcana they belong to.
The Arcana they belong to...
Does that mean there's some connection between her friends and her Personas...?
"Julie, Joker, what do you make of this?"
"That... is likely to be related. That awful man spoke a great of strong relationships, strength of heart, and Personas, yes? In a manner suggestive of a belief that they were all connected?"
"I think it's pretty obvious. You're a different person around different people, yeah? When you connect with someone they strengthen you in some ways and weaken you in others. It's natural that Personas would react to that shift in who you are."
"That does make sense. I wonder if any of these Personas are connected to Arcana I have relationships for..."
She browses the list. Julie is Fool, Pixie is Lovers, and Jack'O'Lantern is Magician. All three of them are cards that are glowing...
"Magician or Lovers next?"
"Oh, alright."
Akira pops out the Ressurection card and inserts the Lovers card.
And the picture updates to Ann.
Lovers Confidant
Name: Ann Takamaki
Persona: Carmen
Rating: ★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆
Bio: Though she may seem vulnerable at first, Ann has a core of steel. Dedicated and deeply devoted to those she cares about, she's as fierce on the battlefield as she is beautiful. She seems smart enough too, even if she hasn't looked too engaged in class. Though her primary is Shiho, she's still interested in dating me for reasons I do not fathom.
Recently: Proposed that everyone in the Thieves date each other, thus realizing a dream of mine I had not really expected to come true. I feel so grateful to her for keeping my secrets and being so kind.
"Interesting. So there's some connection between Ann and the Pixie persona..."
Julie squeezes Akira and Joker gently, humming thoughtfully. "The only thing that comes to mind is fusion. If every Persona has an Arcana — and now that I consider it my instincts say they do — then perhaps the result of a fusion is stronger based on the strength of the relationships matching either the source or result Personas. Not sure which."
Julie smirks and shakes her head, giggling softly. "Oh, you'll get me on the table soon enough, moitié. We can let our chérie rest and recover a little longer before pulling her along to discover new kinks, non?"
"Oh, alright." Joker rolls her eyes. "Let's at least make her put the Lust card in the machine though."
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