Chapter Text
Minato and Minako were trying to figure out what exactly happened to Ken and Ryoko.
"What's going on?!" Minako is panicking slightly. "Where'd they go?!"
"Calm down big sis." Minato now seems less tired, and rather more focused. "So, his phone only brings in one other person."
"Do you remember how they entered that world? I remember hearing him say something as he was messing with it. What was it?"
"98.2... 77.9... and then 88.6... and then switch to AM... from what I can tell, it sounds like they were talking about radio frequencies."
"You think we should try that?"
"It's well worth a shot. Just need to find a radio in the dorm somewhere."
The two begin desperately searching.
Ken and Ryoko are waiting at the bottom of his dorm building in the Radio World. While standing there, Ken is playing with the coin he obtained before.
"A power within one's heart... Persona..."
Despite the explanation he received from Igor and the other Wild Cards, he still had trouble wrapping his head around the fundamentals. His train of thought is cut short though, as Kitsu is arriving down the street.
"Heya!" Kitsu says cheerily. "Sorry, but I kinda forgot your name, haha."
Ken sighs. "I guess that's fair, seeing as you only heard Ryoko-san call me by my name."
Ryoko recalls their first encounter as well. "Thinking back on it, we never actually properly introduced ourselves even though you did."
He reaches out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Ken Yanagi. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"And I'm Ryoko Souji. Hope we'll get along."
Kitsu shakes hands with the both of them. "So my red-haired friend is Ken-kun, and this short-haired girl is my other friend Ryoko-chan. Got it, I'll try to remember both your names." She smiles shyly.
"I'm surprised Kitsu-chan knows about shaking hands with others." Ryoko was quite observant.
"I may have been born in this world, but I've encountered a lot of humans. They teach me quite a lot of things."
Ken is leaning up against the wall of the dorm building. "Alright look, I agreed to help but I need more information here. What is going on with this world? Can you please go in depth more about what this world is? And more importantly, what was that power of mine? Persona was it? What is it?"
"It's going to be a long explanation. Are you sure you're able to sit and listen? It could be pretty dangerous, staying here for a long time. Although..." She looks at the dorm building. "You said you're staying here? Like, in your world?"
"Yeah, I am. Why, do you know something?"
"Well I'm sensing something from your place. Or rather, it's a lack of it thereof. Can we go up to your dorm real quick?"
"Ummm... sure? What're you planning though?"
"It's just a hunch, but if it's correct, we may be able to make things easier for us."
Ken's dorm is nice and tidy. His radio was still in the kitchen where it always was. He pulls out a chair at his table and sits down, crossing his legs.
"So, what is it you wanted to see?"
"Give me a moment." Kitsu closes her eyes. You can see her ears slightly twitching, almost as if she's listening for something. "It's just as I thought, this place is a Dead Zone."
Ken eyed her curiously. "A Dead Zone? What's that mean?"
"It means we should be safe here for me to explain more about this world." Kitsu sits down in another chair and Ryoko leans against the wall.
"What exactly were you doing just now Kitsu-chan?" Ryoko said curiously.
"What you saw earlier was me sensing the radio waves. When people enter this world from the outside, they give off a unique radio signal. That's what drives the Shadows insane. It seemed that your signals were pretty weak since neither of you had awakened yet. Otherwise, if you had awakened to your Persona, you would've ended up being swarmed."
"So after Ken-kun gained his power, we would've been swarmed by the Shadows if we stayed any longer?"
"Normally that's the case, but Ken-kun seems to be an exception. I'll explain why shortly. But fact of the matter is, Shadows in this world target people based on the signals they naturally emit."
Ken contemplates the concept. "If that's true, then why is that the case in this world?"
"That I can't answer. Sorry, but even with all the time I've lived in this world, even I don't know the answer."
"Alright, well back to our original conversation, what is a Dead Zone? I mean, I think I get the general idea. In our world, it's a place where no cellular signals or radio signals can reach, making it completely untraceable and completely cut off from all means of communication. Is that what this Dead Zone is?"
"Something along those lines, but it's a little different here. See, the signals work as a two-way street here. You send out radio signals, but for the Shadows to track you, they have to send a signal back. This constant relay allows them to always know your location. But in this room, there seems to be no signals coming in. I can still feel your signal being sent out though. Like as if it's a one-way radio call. Not only that, but back to my original point about not getting swarmed, it feels like as if you're an advanced model of a radio. You seem to be able to send out a masking signal as well."
"Masking signal?"
"I guess, think of yourself as a portable jammer that's able to filter signals. Somehow, you can cover our signals and keep the Shadows from finding us. Of course, this doesn't help when we're in their direct sight, but it should keep us from getting swarmed. But you seem to also be able to allow communication between us despite jamming others."
"Well back to the topic of a Dead Zone though, so it's basically a safe area? Shadows won't attack us here?"
"That's right. To them, Dead Zones are areas that don't even exist."
"So then why is my dorm a Dead Zone?"
"This is just my speculation, but it's also based on what I know about this world. This world is a world within people's inner soul. The Shadows here are all beings that exist within people's hearts. So this is just me speculating, but I think you're quite special. Because you see your dorm as a safe place, it creates a safe space for you to gather and to avoid the Shadows."
Kitsu looks at him with astonishment and curiosity. "You're clearly special. Which begs the question Ken-kun. Just who the hell are you? Is this all the power of your Persona?"
He doesn't even have an answer. How come he was so special? "You make it sound like I know the answer. But I'm just as clueless as you. All I know is that I made the choice to get involved in this whole affair. But I had no idea this whole affair was going to revolve around me. And also, I never got a clear answer, but what is a Persona?"
"Oh yeah," Ryoko says, recalling his awakening. "I remember when he first got that power, he said the word 'Persona' and that figure came out of him."
"That's right. See, many people see their lives as a product of circumstances. They resign themselves to being told what to do and eventually give up on their own desires and aspirations. Doing so piles on all the negative emotions of hopelessness and despair, causing them to run away from their true desires. A Persona however is a manifestation of your heart. By protecting your desires and aspirations, by accepting that your fate is your own to author, facing your true desires head on, and pushing forward with unwavering determination, you awaken to your power."
Her words make Ken recall his contract. I chooseth this fate, of mine own free will. He also remembers Jose's summary of the contract. "It's nothing big. It just states that you'll take full responsibility for your actions from here on out."
"Can anyone have a Persona?"
"That depends. While everyone does have a wish to take control of their own fate, not everyone has the potential. It takes a lot of willpower to awaken to a Persona, by any means. I'd say, in the whole population in the world, it's possible that even less than one percent have that potential."
"So then that makes Persona Users pretty special."
Ken then thinks about why he came to investigate.
"So you said people have been disappearing inside this world. But when we first met, you seemed surprised I wasn't awakened. Not only that, but you told us it was your first time seeing someone awaken in this world. Does that mean only those who have the power of their Persona are able to enter this world?"
"Normally that's the case yes. But It seems there's also been cases of people who've entered this world without a Persona. Lately well... I can hear so many voices over the radio waves. Persona Users getting overwhelmed and killed by Shadows... but among those voices I can hear different ones... they sound like... well... like their will is being drained out of them... and it sounds awful."
He can only imagine how they must sound. It must be terrible. Just what was happening in this world?
"By the way, I just remembered." Ryoko suddenly recalls her katana. "Did you see a sword anywhere around here? I'm not sure if I misplaced it or not?"
"Hmm? That's impossible. Wait, were you trying to bring in a weapon from outside?"
"Huh? Yeah I was, but what's that got to do with it?"
"Weapons brought in from the outside world don't work. If you tried bringing it in with you, it would've just remained in the real world."
"What?! Then how am I supposed to defend myself here?!"
"Only those with a Persona can fight against Shadows. That's how him and I are able to summon weapons." She summons her guandao.
"So in other words, not only am I completely defenseless, but I'm completely useless here too?!"
Ryoko is extremely frustrated but is stopped when Ken speaks. "It's alright Ryoko-chan. You can still come with us. Regardless, I think we've sat here too long. Didn't we come here to investigate?"
"That's right. Come on, let's leave the Dead Zone. We won't get any signals from in here."
Outside, Ken, Ryoko, and Kitsu are gathered together. Suddenly, Ken's phone buzzes. He takes it out of his pocket and sees the radio app.
New signal located. What could that mean? Ken opened the app and noticed it was making static sounds, and showed a wavelength on screen. He begins walking around. The wavelength seems to grow and shrink.
"Interesting..." He tries moving in a certain direction and the wavelength gets more frequent.
Kitsu looked at his phone in curiosity. "What's it doing?"
"This may just be a hunch but... I think it's trying to guide me somewhere. The wavelength gets more frequent if I go in a certain direction but gets more flat if I get further from it."
Ryoko is also eyeing his phone curiously. "So then what do you think it means?"
"I think it's a signal locater. And I think we just found our first point of investigation." He looks in the direction the signal is strongest. "We're headed that way."
Ryoko recognizes the direction they're aiming at. "Huh...? That way...?"
"Is something wrong Ryo-chan?"
"Oh no, it's nothing... let's go!"
And with that, the three of them set off into the great unknown.