❀ Memory 10: Significant Neutral

[mysong]

Luring in Yoh and 'playing' with her

Earned: Day 166 midmorning from The Queen of Hearts' judgement game.
Taken:
Shareable: Yes, 4/4 uses left.
Form: Heart-shaped raspberry jam tarts.

WARNING: memory involves rape so please be aware of that.


The Memory Itself

2:55 to end

The sudden sound of her phone ringing is what pulls her back from the brink of despair.

It's a text message. There's no title, and the sender is --

"Oumi-chan!?" Yoh cries out in shock.

The message itself, however, is even more baffling.

"Do you want to know about Sakisaka Fuminori? If so, come to his house alone. Tell no one."

"......"

The message bears no trace of Oumi's personality, but Yoh can't deny that it was sent from Oumi's phone.

She takes a deep breath to calm herself before typing her reply, taking care that excitement doesn't cause her fingers to slip.

"Is that you, Oumi-chan? Where are you?"

Yoh presses send -- the screen shows that her message was received successfully.

As she waits for a replay, her mind fills with questions.

Is someone else using Oumi's phone to send text messages? If so, why to her?

Something suddenly occurs to her.

She and Oumi have exchanged countless messages, many of which contained the sort of embarrassing confessions that close female friends share. At times when her hidden feelings for Fuminori grew too strong to contain, Yoh often put them into words for Oumi to read.

Did Oumi put a password on her phone? Even if she had, the person who sent the message was obviously able to unlock it -- which means that whoever it is has full access to the messages that she and Oumi have sent to each other.

"Do you want to know about Sakisaka Fuminori?"

Yoh reads the strange message one more time. Whoever sent it must believe that Yoh has an interest in Fuminori.

The phone suddenly rings again, startling Yoh, but she quickly recovers and looks at the screen. There's no title, and the sender is Takahata Oumi.

"I'll tell you everything when we meet. Come alone. Tell no one."

It's not Oumi. She would never try to scare Yoh with such a mean-spirited prank.

Anxiety has brought Yoh almost to tears. Her mind isn't made to deal with such an incomprehensible situation.

Who is using Oumi's phone and promising to reveal Fuminori's secrets? Who is it!?

Yoh is helpless on her own. She desperately wants advice from Kouji -- from anyone. She even starts to dial Kouji's cell, but a sudden suspicion stops her.

The sender might b somewhere nearby, watching her at this very moment. A cold chill runs down her spine as she looks furtively around the cafeteria.

"Come alone. Tell no one."

The lifeless characters on the screen are like a knife against her throat.

However -- Yoh clutches her phone and forces her heart to stop pounding.

Isn't this cowardice exactly what she was just cursing herself so mercilessly for?

Doesn't she want to know what she's capable of? Doesn't she want to do more than just sit and wait?

Yoh realizes that her hand holding the phone is shaking.

How easy it would be to just give in to her cowardice, to convince herself that everything -- even Oumi and Fuminori -- is beyond her reach.

That is what she truly wants. Even if it means abandoning all sense of dignity or loyalty, she wants to flee from the unknowable.

However -- she also knows that even escape is beyond her.

Yoh understands herself well. She knows that, no matter how far she runs, regret and self-loathing will consume her after everything has fallen to pieces.

In the end, Yoh is unable to overcome her cowardice alone. She lacks both the willpower and the courage to run.

Beginning to end

The silence of the afternoon neighborhood seems somehow forbidding.

A stink is in the air, as though someone's garbage has been left out for a long time.

Even this perfectly normal residential area appears ominous to Yoh in her current state. She feels like she's standing in the middle of a ghost town, where everyone in the surrounding houses has died......

Yoh pushes her fear aside and presses the buzzer on the Sakisaka house's front gate.

She didn't see Fuminori in class today. Is he at home?

He couldn't be the one who sent those awful messages, could he?

--- she doesn't want to even consider the possibility, so she forces the unwelcome thought from her mind.

There's no response from the intercom.

Yoh doesn't know, of course, that Oumi stood in the same place one week ago, staring at the silent intercom with the same confusion that Yoh is experiencing now.

Yoh, however, is not forced to wait as Oumi was.

The phone in her pocket suddenly rings, catching her completely off guard.

"......!"

It's another untitled text message from Oumi's phone.

"Come in. The door is open."

Yoh looks around quickly, a shiver running through her as she realizes that she's being watched.

Searching fearfully for her observer, Yoh spots movement out of the corner of her eye. On the second floor of the Sakisaka house, a tightly-drawn window curtain just fluttered slightly.

The watcher -- the person who has been sending the messages -- is inside the house.

Only now does Yoh realize that every other window has its storm shutters completely closed.

No matter what happens inside, no one will ever know.

This time, she is nearly overwhelmed by the intense urge to run away and never look back.

However, the terror she feels towards the invisible eyes starting at her is many times more powerful.

She has nowhere to run.

Yoh bursts into tears, unable to take one step forward or back.

The phone rings again in her hand, as though demanding that she enter the house at once.

She steps through the gate, her legs so shaky that they hardly seem connected to her.

When she enters the house, an undeniable stench assaults her nostrils.

The house is dark, even though it is the middle of the day.

Fuminori must be out, as his shoes are not in the vestibule. However --

Yoh catches sight of a different pair of shoes stuffed behind the shoe cupboard.

They look familiar, so she pulls them out of the shadows for a closer look. As soon as she recognizes them, her mind tries desperately to find a way to deny reality.

They are definitely the same as Oumi's favorite shoes. Yoh has seen her wearing them any number of times. However, that doesn't mean that Oumi is here in this house. They might belong to someone entirely different, someone who bought the same shoes from the same store. There's no way Oumi could be here ---

In a sudden flash of insight, Yoh presses the most frequently used speed-dial button on the phone still in her tightly clenched fist.

The phone dials Oumi's number.

It takes only a second for the signal to reach the nearest relay station, and then......

A familiar melody echoes through the house -- the unmistakable sound of Oumi's phone.

It's coming from the second floor. Someone must still be up there in the room with the moving curtains.

Oumi's phone only rings for a few moments...... and then it stops, as whoever is holding it realizes Yoh's intentions. For the first time, Yoh feels the definite presence of her formless guide.

"......Who's there?"

She gathers her courage and calls out into the house, but there is no response. Whoever it is must not want to be seen.

Swallowing hard, Yoh walks down the hallway to the staircase.

Maybe it's Oumi. Maybe it's Fuminori. Surely it's just the two of them playing a prank on her, Kouji might even be here with them.

Yoh's mind fills with comforting images. Whether or not they are possible, she wants to believe in them. Otherwise, she would not be able to take another step.

"Oumi-chan...... is that you? Sakisaka-kun, are you there?"

As she climbs the stairs one at a time, Yoh calls out in a voice choked with tears.

When they see her sobbing, they'll probably laugh and make fun of her. Let them; it would be the happiest moment of her life. She just wants this torment to end as quickly as possible.

She tries to move faster, but her trembling legs force her to move at an agonizingly slow pace, dragging the crushing silence out even longer. With each second, she begs for release from this nightmare.

After enduring what seems like an eternity of stillness, Yoh finds herself standing in the second floor hallway.

No sound greets her. There is only the gloom, brimming with silent malice.

"Oumi-chan...... Oumi-chaaan......"

She shuffles forward, calling out in a weak voice.

"Come out already, please...... I can't...... take this anymore......"

The door in front of her is half open. It probably leads to the room that overlooks the front gate.

Yoh watches helplessly from a corner of her mind as her body, seeming to move of its own volition, slowly opens the door.

The room is empty.

The damp, stinking air clings to Yoh's skin.

"Please...... stop this......"

She is at her limit, unable to take a single step more.

Her spirit has been completely crushed -- perhaps her tormenter was waiting for this very moment.

Something grabs Yoh's arms from behind --- something flexible and strong, like slime-covered rubber.

As things binds her limbs, fingerlike appendages tear roughly through her blouse and force their way inside.

Yoh screams at the top of her lungs, amazed that she still has the strength to do so. Responding to her distress, primal energy surges through her body as she flails wildly, trying to free herself.

However, the grip of the thing behind her remains unbreakable.

With escape impossible, Yoh can only scream even louder as something cold and wet slips under her bra and wraps itself around her breasts.

Yoh is helpless to resist as the invader mercilessly squeezes her breasts and sucks at her nipples, which have gone stiff with fear under the horrifying onslaught. Her ears are filled with the sound of something slimy sliding over her skin and between her breasts.

As the loathsome assault on her breasts continues, the unimaginable terror threatens to drive Yoh utterly mad. Her throat is already raw from screaming, and now she can't even breathe as she struggles desperately against her attacker.

Suddenly, the thing releases its grip on her breasts and pulls out from under her bra.

Yoh falls to the floor, unable to support herself on her unresponsive legs.

Having used up all of the strength that her body had held in reserve, she now feels like a marionette with its strings cut.

The creature that just grabbed her from behind is still here, lurking in a dark corner of the room.

Yoh can feel it watching her, but she can't bring herself to turn around. She knows full well that seeing it will likely destroy the last vestiges of her sanity.

From close by comes the muffled tapping of buttons being pressed.

Yoh hears a cheerful electronic sound, terribly out of place in this room, and sees the phone in her hand blink coldly. A new text message has arrived.

She is powerless to stop herself from reading the characters on the screen.

"You're pretty, and your breasts are so soft and big. Your body must be quite useful for tempting males."

Now she has her answer. The messages from Oumi's phone were sent by the thing that just mauled Yoh's breasts......

"God......"

Yoh curls up into a tiny, sobbing ball, unable to raise her voice or even move.

"Oh God...... please save me......"

The creature hiding in the darkness makes a burbling sound.

Yoh somehow understands that it is laughing contemptuously at her.

"That must be how you tried to tempt Fuminori. You tried to steal him from me, didn't you? You thief."

2:56 to 6:07

--- Speaking of which, how is Yoh doing? Kouji hasn't seen her today.

He didn't say a word to her about his trip to Tochigi. She might be worried, especially so soon after Oumi's disappearance.

Thinking to check up on her, Kouji dials Yoh's number...... and is surprised when it keeps ringing longer than it usually does.

Did she forget her phone somewhere?

Just as he's about to give up, the call connects.

The first thing Kouji hears is a strange sound. It's not signal interference, but some kind of wet, distorted noise -- like the voiceless groans, or perhaps sobs, of someone far away.

No, these really are sobs. Whoever is on the other side is crying in misery.

"T-Tsukuba? Is that you!?"

"......Who......?"

There's a response, but is that really Tsukuba's voice? It's too twisted with agony for Kouji to tell.

Panic surges through Kouji as he realizes that something is terribly wrong.

"It's Kouji. Tonoh Kouji! Tsukuba, is that you? Where are you!?"

After a short period of nothing but pained moans, words start coming through the speaker one by one, as though each takes an act of will.

"......I was...... attacked...... by a monster...... and now...... there's...... something wrong...... with my...... body......"

"What...... What happened!? Hey, you alright!?"

Yoh must be delirious or something, because Kouji can't understand a thing that she's saying. Her gasps and wheezes, however, are enough to tell him that she's in unimaginable pain.

"I'm...... rotting away...... my skin...... is melting...... My...... ear just...... came off......"

Unable to make any sense of this, Kouji feels despair seizing his heart in an iron grip.

What the hell is happening to Yoh now, over a hundred kilometers away?

Only her voice gives Kouji any hint of what she's going through, and -- there's nothing he can do for her.

What the hell is happening to Yoh now, over a hundred kilometers away?

Only her voice gives Kouji any hint of what she's going through, and -- there's nothing he can do for her.

"......Help me...... Tonoh-kun...... This..... This isn't...... how my...... fingers...... are supposed...... to look......"

"Tsukuba, call the cops! Call for help!"

"......No...... I can't...... let anyone...... see me...... like this......"

Yoh suddenly breaks off into a violent hacking cough, as though she's trying to expel something filling her throat.

"Tsukuba!"

Kouji screams into the phone, his reason overwhelmed by the unimaginable horror that is befalling Yoh.

--- Which is why he is unable to react quickly when the phone is suddenly knocked out of his hand, and also why he didn't notice Fuminori sneaking up on him until it was too late.

(I couldn't get the game to start on my laptop cause fail, but since what's missing from the playthrough is the more graphic H-scenes, I think I may just...leave them out and assume that the Personae are refusing to touch that part.)

What Saya learns

❧ Fuminori is her's.
❧ Yoh tried to tempt Fuminori away from her.
❧ She can change someone's entire body.
❧ Large soft breasts are excellent for tempting males.

What this means

Given all the morality-related talks Saya has had in Aather, she may realize that what she does in this memory is pretty damn horrific. Especially after her talk with Swift about how changing someone's brain is worse than death, which can be extended to the rest of the body as well. Though she could also just as easily try to justify the fact that Yoh was trying to take someone from her, but she's been self-aware enough in Aather that I think she'll at least...think about it.

This memory also makes it very clear that Fuminori is very important to her -- important enough that she felt need to take action when he felt that their relationship was threatened.
+ 1,000,000 possessiveness?