Yusuke's Shadow resided on the third layer of Mementos, not deep within the depths but deep enough that Haruto usually zoned out on the way down. Usually. Today, however…
Get off the train, Arsène commanded, spotting it almost at the same instant Haruto did.
He was racing out of his seat and onto the platform in a second, the train zipping away mere moments later. He could see it right there—clear as day. The door that had been closed as long as Haruto could remember—the reason he had to portal through to the trains to get anywhere in Mementos at all—it was open. Clearly, unmistakably open.
But how?
He crept over to it, half afraid it might suddenly slam closed as he approached, but… there it stayed. Open. Open as he stepped cautiously onto the other side, open as he descended the escalator. Descended to the second floor.
Trains rushed by on the other sides of the walls that closed in all around. An eerie hissing seemed to come from deep within. This was the central chamber alright—where all the lost and lonely Shadows gathered—not so corrupt as to have Palaces, but not quite resigned to the depths either. Yusuke was waiting somewhere on the layer below.
Haruto glanced back up at the escalators, ascending into pitch-black darkness. The doors were open. The doors were open. Nausea began to choke his chest. The doors were open, so did that mean that creature—that monster—had already gotten the upper-hand? Even as he stood here, was it extending its tendrils out of the depths, waiting to destroy all he held dear? Had he… lost?
"Haruto." A voice, hovering next to him, now manifested fully. "We can't afford to linger. The Reaper—"
"Damn the Reaper!" Haruto snarled, whirling around to face Arsène. "The Reaper is nothing compared to this!"
"We don't know yet if all the doors are open," Arsène pointed out, his voice as cool and detached as ever. "Get on a train and ride down to the next platform. Then we can assess whether or not to panic."
It was a bit late for that. Haruto was trembling, his hands cold, his breaths sharp and laboured. But Arsène was right—he had to check. No matter how terrible the truth waiting for him might be.
"Alright," he said, exhaling deeply. "Alright. Let's go."
He headed over to the walls separating the inner chamber from the trains that raced outside, then, latching onto the power he held deep within, pushed-pushed until the wall was no more—until he had enough space to leap through and—
He caught the train door, hanging on by his fingertips as it careened down the track, holding on so tightly he thought his fingers might break from the stress of it.
Then it began to slow down.
Slowly-achingly, painfully slowly—he reached for the mechanism which would release the train door, and as it clicked, quickly made his way inside—slamming it behind him with a bang!
He dropped into the nearest seat, legs trembling uncontrollably beneath him. He felt so cold, even with the weight of his cloak pressing down on his shoulders.
"Two more stops," said Arsène, appearing beside him.
Haruto nodded silently. Two more stops to find out if the entire world was doomed or not.
One stop passed. Then the second.
The train rattled and screeched in the tunnel.
And then…
The train only took the briefest of pauses at the stations with the doors, but it was enough for someone like Haruto to dive off in time.
And then he was standing on the platform. Staring up at a large, solidly closed door.
So they were safe… for now.
His legs chose that moment to signal to him that that was enough for them, and he dropped so quickly he didn't quite realise what had happened until his hands caught him before he face-planted into the concrete. He was trembling. He couldn't stop trembling. Stomach-churning nausea had woven its way through his insides, and he swallowed copiously, trying his best to repress the overwhelming urge to throw up.
It was safe. The beast was still trapped. Still trapped, but…
"It has to be because of them," said Arsène, crouching next to him to offer his hand. Haruto quickly took it, letting his Persona wrench him upright again. "These people might be more dangerous than we'd feared."
"No shit," spat Haruto, still trying desperately not to vomit. "What were they thinking? Beginning to open up this place like this? They have to be on its side-there's no way—"
"We can speculate all we want," said Arsène, "but the truth of it is that we have no idea what their motives are. All we know for sure is that they've figured out brainwashing, took revenge on their teacher and are now attempting to do the same thing to Madarame, for reasons unknown."
"And they can open these doors," said Haruto, glaring at the imposing mass.
"Yes."
Well. All the evidence suggested to him that they were on the creature's side but…
"Come," said Arsène, ushering him onto the train that had just stopped. "Let us speak with Yusuke's Shadow before we consider our next move with regard to these people."
"Alright," sighed Haruto, dropping into a seat. "Yusuke first. Then the imposters."
"Exactly."
It didn't take long for the train to stop at one of the lower platforms, and Haruto quickly hopped off, before making his way across to the other side and burning out the glass so he could access the inner chamber. No matter how many times he took the damned windows out they had always regenerated by the time he got down there again. So irritating.
Then it was only a quick trip up the escalator before he was on the right floor. Yusuke's Shadow was definitely lurking around here somewhere. All he had to do was find it.
Mementos was a funny place—all flickering shadows and ghostly wails, but Haruto found he could usually tune it out well enough to detect the people he needed to. The huge portals that appeared in the walls whenever he got close to a particularly brooding Shadow definitely helped too.
It wasn't long before he found one he recognised.
"Yusuke lies within," Arsène confirmed, looking at the nexus of red and black energy. "Be careful, Haruto. He is fragile right now, after all."
"I know," said Haruto, then stepped through.
His first thought was that Yusuke really, really wasn't doing well. His Shadow was curled in on itself, staring blankly at the floor like it held all the secrets in the world. Not a good sign to say the least. Haruto carefully made his way over, trying not to startle it.
"Yusuke?" he called out, and the Shadow turned its head to look at him. Piercing yellow eyes stared into his.
"What do you want with me?" it demanded. "What sort of creature are you?"
Ah, yes, he'd forgotten the mask. He carefully lifted it, revealing his true face to the suspicious Shadow.
"It's me, Haruto, remember?" he asked. This was hardly the first time he'd spoken to Yusuke's Shadow, after all.
The Shadow sighed, then pushed itself into a standing position. "Such a dreadful costume you wear," it muttered. "It reminds me of a ghost."
"I'm real enough," said Haruto, drawing a bit closer. "But what about you? Not planning to turn yourself into a ghost anytime soon I hope?"
The Shadow gave a laugh that wasn't at all reassuring. "How can I go on like this?" it spat, its face contorting with pain. "How can I go on now that I know the depths of that man's depravity?"
That… didn't sound quite right.
"Has he done something else?" asked Haruto.
Yusuke's Shadow gave another demented laugh, his hands covering his face, almost seeming to claw at it.
"Something else?" it muttered. "Something? Everything! Everything I ever understood about him was a lie!"
There was something dangerous in its tone now—something volatile in its yellow eyes. Haruto couldn't remember when he'd last seen a Shadow so beside itself that hadn't proceeded to descend into some more monstrous form. But Yusuke's Shadow remained stable. Just.
"Calm down," said Haruto, acutely aware that something must be going horribly wrong in Yusuke's psyche in real time if this was happening. "If you can just talk to me—"
"What use will talking do?" it demanded. "I'm faced with a rotten, fiendish creature that never cared for me—never cared for any of us! The only option is to-to—"
It suddenly gave a hideous howl, a sound that chilled Haruto right down to his very bones, and began all at once to shift.
At first, Haruto thought it was finally mutating into a monster but instead… oh.
This was far worse.
Instead it seemed to be melting—collapsing in on itself as it struggled and flailed, and all the time the screaming—the terrible screaming—blood seeped from its fingertips, and it screeched and screeched until, finally, blistering light exploded from within—blinding Haruto completely.
And when he blinked his eyes open, trying desperately to see what had happened…
It was gone.
He rushed over to where Yusuke's Shadow had been, but there was no sign it had been there at all—no Treasure from a budding Palace, no nothing. Just… emptiness.
The fabric of the Metaverse around him was beginning to warp and change as the creator of this pocket dimension faded, but…
"Haruto you need to leave," Arséne said, but Haruto could barely hear him, even as his Persona grabbed him and began to drag him outside.
It just… didn't seem real. One moment he was there, then next he was… he was…
There was a sucking, popping sound as the Metaverse reconstituted itself where Yusuke's Shadow had once been. And now he was staring at a grimy wall. No sign he had been there at all.
He was gone.
He had seemed to be in… such agony. Did that mean…? Could he possibly have…
Arsène hovered worriedly at his side. "He seemed to be having a breakdown just as we were talking to him. It's possible he saw something that finally pushed him to—"
"Don't say it," Haruto hissed, his blood pounding in his ears. "I don't want to hear it-I don't-"
"We can't discount the possibility," Arsène snapped back. "We knew he was unstable—we need to check—"
"His Shadow just vanished!" Haruto roared. "We don't need to check anything—it's obvious what happened-everyone has to have a Shadow—the only way to get rid of a Shadow is to… Is to…"
Tears were running down his face, making it hard to see. He dragged his mask down to conceal it, to hide the face that had caused all this. He should have been sharper—quicker—should have tried to speak to Yusuke in person instead of going to his Shadow in the hopes of answers. And now he was…
"Haruto," said Arsène, now standing next to him properly. "If Yusuke really is… dead… he's most likely still at Madarame's. He's already had at least five students commit suicide. Another, living in his own house, no less, would ruin him, especially now. We need to hurry, or the situation might become worse still."
Haruto didn't want to think about it. Didn't want to consider that Yusuke, who'd been so brilliant—had such potential, if he could only have escaped—might have been snuffed out by the weight of his own despair, but… Arsène was right. If that was the case, and Yusuke was still in Madarame's house, then… the least he could do to make up for his failure was to make sure Yusuke's body found a safe resting place, and that the truth of his death was known. And then, after that… Madarame would die.
And Haruto did not intend on granting him the painless extinguishing of life granted by the Metaverse—oh no. He would know fear in his last moments. He would know the same agony Yusuke must have felt at the moment he chose to suffer no more. He was just a flimsy old man, but Haruto… Haruto had more than enough time to plan out the perfect demise to such a wretched existence.
Step one: recover Yusuke's body.
…Madarame was going to regret ever having been born.