Akemi Meets Yuuki and Kai (Log4)

The full moon bears down upon Tatsumi-shi, set high above Port Island, the sky is clear and yet there are almost no stars, the lights from down below making it difficult to see those above. It is late in the evening, not long before midnight, and despite that, there are still people out and about, hanging out in their various corners whilst most have already retreated to their homes. Most of them are out far past their curfews, but most of them are left alone by the police that are supposed to be enforcing it, after all, approaching a group of delinquents is never an overly pleasant task.


 Two such individuals slowly walk by the fountain of the Paulownia Mall, the door of the Mandragora karaoke bar slowly swinging shut behind them. "Moonage Daydream was my favorite song for a while when I was a kid, Space Oddity is pretty damn good as well." Says one of them, the taller of the two and the one that looks more at home amongst the rest of the young individuals about. Kai takes a deep breath of air as they step out onto the streets, smiling slightly as he seems to savor the taste, "It's no Yumezaki, but it feels a bit like home... Not to say Inaba doesn't have its charms, of course." He says, grinning as he turns to look at his companion, Yuuki. He glances down at his wrist slowly, twisting his arm to get a better look at his simple, old-fashioned watch, "Ten-to-twelve." He says, his smile fading slightly as he takes on a somewhat introspective look for a moment before looking back up, "What shall we do, Yuuki? There's probably somewhere to stay around here, or we can chill for a while longer." He says idly, twisting around to face his friend, his hand moving to idly rest upon his dark brown leather satchel, which he keeps at his side. He tilts his head to the side slightly as he awaits a reply, his eyes flickering to glance down the road

         A quiet shrug comes from Yuuki, glancing around lazily and in a slightly bored manner. "Well, you said that we were here for twelve.." he lets out quietly, which barely escapes being lost in his yawn that shortly comes afterwards. His right hand drifts up to rub the eye of the same side as he glances downwards, his left hand slipping into his back pocket and taking out a white-cased I-Phone 5, his thumb patting the side before the screen lights up. "Well looks my clock's set on here." he offers with a shrug before finishing with, "We may as well just stay here.". His right hand slips under his hood to idly scratch at his cheek, "I still don't know why we're out this late. Yuuna's going to give me all sorts of trouble." he says with a slightly troubled sigh and a brief shutting of his eyes. "But I guess it's good for a change of pace." he says with a glance back over towards Kai and a lifting of his right brow, before he simply goes back to glancing around, hands slipping into his pockets, his phone with them.

Akemi Ohashi sits at the café, in a quiet booth at the window, drinking absentmindedly her cofee. Her true focus is at the crowd outside and, more importantly, at the watch at her wrist. The seconds ticked away. She scanned the crowd for those who could be people like her. She didn't know nearly enough such people to infer a pattern, of course. But she had her suspicions. These people, she suspected, would not be found among the mainstream bustle of humanity- and nor would they be older than perhaps twenty-five. So- eccentric teenagers.

        Well. That was unusual. She fixated on a pair of shoes in the thinning crowd. She'd never seen anything like them- and the wearer to whom they were affixed was most certainly under her cutoff age. And with scant enough minutes left to count on her hands, he was probably the most likely canidate she'd find. She payed for her cofee and left the café, walking up to the pair.

Kai lets out a brief chuckle as Yuuki speaks, giving an idle shrug, "Don't be getting sour on me now, you can't deny that I have a beautiful singing voice." He says with a crooked grin, "Besides, you and that girl kept eachother entertained, no? You're lucky you were with the shy one.." He says, suddenly frowning slightly and looking off to the side as bad memories of his overly-excited date rise to the surface. "Anyway, I say we go and chi-..." He cuts out as he notices an approaching woman, raising a brow slightly as he slowly turns to face her.

 As she draws near, he offers her a friendly smile, one of his hands idly pushing into his pants pocket. "Evening miss, can we help you?" He asks in a calm tone, which may or may not be surprising depending on one's perception of a young man walking about after hours. He idly reaches his hand out, tapping Yuuki's elbow to catch his attention, just in case he was spacing out.

 Yuuki would indeed have been glancing off, his mouth hanging agape as he'd have been scanning his eyes over ad plastered onto a window or another, blinking as he shuts his mouth and moves to look back over towards Kai with a questioning look. He glances at him for a second, before following his gaze back over to the approaching Akemi. He blinks for a second, idly glancing her over from head to toe immodestly before he leans his head over to the side, murmuring to Kai, "Just for the record, I was pretty bored." he says with a idle glance towards Kai's face before he looks back over to Akemi, staring at her for the moment as he awaits a reply from her regarding Kai's question.

Akemi Ohashi clears her throat. Idle chit-chat was not exactly her forté. But it was only, what, five minutes? Surely even she could handle that.

         "Good evening, gentlemen. I'm looking for participants in a study on sleep I'm conducting, and you happen to fit the demographic for which I am searching. Will you agree? You will be duly compensated!"

         Same lie. Would probably work again, too. People so willing to jump at the promise of money- especially teenagers.

Kai tilts his head to the side slightly, before tilting it the other way, and then he shrugs, "What exactly are you performing the sleep-study for, I don't think either of us have insomnia, or narcolepsy..." He pauses, glancing off towards Yuuki for a moment, "Unless you do, and this woman is clairvoyant." He smirks slightly, slowly looking back towards the woman, "We're going to have to ask for some pretty tasty cheesburgers and fries as payment though, no pickles of course, I'll take water." He continues, without waiting for an answer from the woman, and then glances back towards Yuuki with a grin, clearly excited at the prospect of free food, "You want some water, too? I remember you like it simple, as I do." Afterwards he looks back at the woman, smiling calmly once more, expecting replies from just about everyone at once.

Furrowing his brows Yuuki would look over to Kai in a slightly agitated manner at first, listening to him speak and converse with the woman, occasionally glancing back at her as he seems to be uncomfortable with the conversation at hand. However, the moment food is mentioned, all his worries fade to nothing but a hungry glimmer in his eyes. He fades off into a little world of his own, no doubt imagining what he'd be doing to the cheeseburgers and fries in question before he snaps back to reality when Kai asks him a question. Blinking for a second, he doesn't seem to know how to reply before his eyes widen slightly, prompting him to look a bit more awake as he says, "Oh, yeah." he says, before looking back over towards the woman, lowering his gaze a bit, "If it's not too much.." he asks with a slight pleading from his eyes, not really answering the question concerning any troubles with sleep or not.

Akemi Ohashi 's eyes widened. And here she thought she'd be lying to the poor sobs. She could totally afford that, even on her pauper's income.

 She glanced at her watch. Only about a minute left to midnight- she hoped her huntch was correct- else they'd see her disapear when the clock stroke 12, which was a fantastic way to get rumors started about oneself.

 She turned to Kai. "You misunderstand, I suspect- my research is not on sleep disorders, at least not directly, and so I am not appealing to sufferers from sleep disorders- in fact, I require my participants to be perfectly healthy in this respect. My research is on the effect of oxygen concentration on the sleep cycle, and to that effect..." she trailed off. The clock struck midnight.

As the clock strikes midnight, the change is harsh and sudden, but the first thing Kai notices is the fact that his watch has stopped ticking. All around them the area has taken on a green hue, reflecting the light of the moon above them, which stretches across a far larger portion of the sky than what is considered normal. A few feet from them, what had once been a simple puddle was now a small pool of what appears to be blood, and past that, in the distance, a single coffin stands in the middle of the street, where a man had only just been crossing moments ago.

 Kai slowly looks up from his watch, before his eyes widen as he realizes that the woman before him has not transmogrified, his foot slides back sharply, his body twisting with it; which is when he notices Yuuki. For a moment he simply remains still, blank-faced apart from his somewhat wide eyes, and then after a few moments he slowly exhales and straightens up, his hand lifting out of his pocket to slowly slide down his face, "I'm not even going to ask..." He says slowly, towards Yuuki, and then he shifts towards the woman once more, gazing towards her silently for a moment before he begins to speak, "So, what is it you really want?" He says, apparently choosing to ignore his friend for the time being.

Yuuki Hikaru stiffens up, practically freezing as his pale features become even more pale and his eyes widened like saucers. His jaw drops as he takes a step over to the side, violently swiveling around as he takes in the green-biased hue that soaks into his vision. His eyes dart around before landing on the coffin. Simply staring for a few moment, his mouth contorts itself as if he had intended to say something, but just couldn't bring himself to words-- and he stops this when his gaze falls a bit to land on the blood red colored puddle. His breath begins to accelerate for a moment before he harshly swallows, his head tilting back to stare up at the tower looming now from Port Island. He furrows his brows for a moment, confused before he shakes his head, taking half a step towards Kai as if to question him before he asks the woman in front him her intentions, and as such he can't help but look over towards her and stare, his hands moving over to adjust his bandana over his mouth as if to conceal his features, despite how useless such a thing would be by this point, before they fall down to his side and simply curl into light fists.
Akemi Ohashi glanced at Yuuki and smiled. It was nice, not being the one woefully underinformed this time, even if it was just about a particular element of the weirdness that had hijacked her life.


 She turned to address Kai. "Well. The science is real, though the study is bullshit. The compensation is also real. Simply put, I'm doing research into a power called 'Persona'. I trust you've heard the word, or at least experienced... how to describe it... a foreigner's ghost suddenly emerging from behind someone?"

Kai Takigawa slowly looks the woman up and down, keeping a neutral expression. He remains silent as she speaks, looking off to the side to look at Yuuki once more, particularly as the woman mentions 'Persona', trying to gauge his reaction. Regardless of what he sees, after a few moments he slowly turns to look back at the woman, closing his eyes and exhaling slowly, before he reopens his eyes, a slight smile coming to his lips, except this time it is less friendly and more morbidly excited, or curious. "I'm interested... But would like some more information, first." He says, glancing off to his side once more as he glances up at the tower in the sky as it ceases moving, having finished construction itself, "Still, surely there are better places we could talk?" He says, shifting his gaze back towards the woman as his hands slowly move back into his pockets, "I'm sure Yuuki here could use an explanation, as well." He finishes, continuing to gaze at the woman as a scream sounds off in the far distance, which he doesn't seem to register.
A quiet, brief growl emits from Yuuki at the mention of the word Persona. He frowns, his brows drooping down as his right hand reaches back, grabbing his phone and patting the button on its side.. Only for it to not work. He tries this three times before letting out a quiet, 'tch', and settling it back into his pocket and rather taking out a wallet, which he simply holds onto for the time being. "This is worth a double cheeseburger at the very least.." he lets out in a quiet rasp as he growls around, his eyes darting around, and widening at the sound of a scream which fades out soon after it had began, looking to the two on th e talk of better places to talk.

Akemi Ohashi hears the scream but fails to acknowlege it in any way."Right, of course. I have an appartment- reletively spacious and, more importantly, very close by. It's dangerous out here, and so of course you should accompany me? We can discuss compensation, schedual further meetings, share our knowledge on the subject, and conduct the requisite tests there."
Kai remains silent for a few moments before nodding, smiling slightly at Yuuki's reaction to the situation thus far, "Very well, lead the way, if it pleases you." He says, taking an idle step forward, and then pausing to look back at Yuuki once more, "I assume you're coming? If this is your first time in a dark hour, I don't think you want to be alone... Especially because it feels stronger here." He says, before looking back at Akemi, nodding at her as he waits for her to begin leading, and for Yuuki's reply.

Yuuki stares at Akemi for a moment with a slightly confused expression at her lack of reaction to the scream as well, before baring his teeth slightly from behind his bandana and glancing over his shoulder once. When Kai speaks, he looks back to him, staring at him near blankly as he speaks before just letting what he said sink in. He blinks for a moment, staring at him for a few seconds, and then at Akemi for a moment or two before he quietly shuts his eyes and inhales deeply for letting out a slow sigh. "At least warn me about this type of shit beforehand." he says with a annoyed rasp, glaring off as he offers a simple glance to Kai-- one that he'd know would be the sign that he's following.

[OOC] Akemi Ohashi says, "I'm going to jump the scene to Akemi's appartment yes/no"
[OOC] Kai Takigawa says, "I am completely fine with this."
[OOC] Yuuki Hikaru says, "Alright with me."
[OOC] Kai Takigawa says, "Le Kai will have explained the basics of the basics to Yuuki along the way."
[OOC] Kai Takigawa says, "DARK HOUR 12 O CLOCK SHADOWS EAT PEOPLE PERSONAE FUCKIN KILL SHIT"

Unfettered by shadows, Akemi led the way to her appartment. It was untidy but not messy, with a profusion of bookshelves and papers cascading their way down the dining table and across the sofa which furnished the shared living space. The presence of a second bedroom (and the fact that the room was not, in fact, filthier than Akemi's hair) indicated another occupant, and a collection of framed pictures would posit that it was a brother. Eschewing social norms about the sanctity of a girl's bedroom, Akemi shouldered the door to her room open, revealing much of the same. Her bookshelves were an esoteric mix of medical, scientific, and psychological books and science fiction paperbacks, frequently in French. Featuring conspicuously were a couple of small cylinders for the confinement of gas, hooked up to a breathing apperatus. Her bed is unmade and furnished with gray sheets.


 "Come in, gentlemen. Make yourselves at home. My brother doesn't get home until late, and he already knows I'm doing some sort of experiment, so there's no worry in your being questioned."


 She kneels by the gas cylinders, fiddling at knobs. Her hands go into her bag and withdraw a composition book into which she writes numbers in charts.


 "I'm anxious to begin."

On the way to her apartment, Kai hangs back a little with Yuuki and speaks to him a little on the topic of the dark hour, explaining briefly when it occurs, and what happens when it does, finishing up somewhat prematurely as they reach Akemi's apartment. As they are invited into the woman's home, Kai slowly glances around, taking in his surroundings until they step into her room. He isn't overly pertubed by violating the sanctity of her bedroom, either, and slowly looks around, his gaze settling upon the breathing apparatus for a few moments before he looks back towards the girl. "Before that, I would ask your name. And I'm interested in participating in whatever experiments you plan to run so long as I get to see whatever results you come up with... I imagine Yuuki would expect the same, should he still desire to participate." He slowly strolls over towards her bed as he speaks, and takes a seat on the mattress, his shoes noticeably missing, as he apparently took them off at the door. He glances between the two in the room silently after he says his piece, keeping a slight smile.

Yuuki Hikaru listens carefully as Kai recites all of his knowledge concerning the dark hour to him, though his facial expression still fully shows that he isn't quite fond of what he's hearing at the moment. He perks his gaze when he heres Kai come to a close and when they reach the apartment, glazing it over quietly for a moment with a absent stare before he follows the two in. When they're lead into the front, he takes care as to remove his shoes and continue forward on his socks. As he notices his surroundings, notibly the bookshelves, his gaze is a bit locked onto one of them for a moment as he continues along. When he finds himself lead to the door frame of the girls room, he doesn't pay much mind as he simply enters, and his eyes almost automatically lock onto the literal cylinders of gas. His jaws drop, looking over to the apperatus that the cylinders are hooked up to as his bandana shuffles around enough to simply drop, allowing everyone to witness his expression. He purses his lips, staring at the tools infront of himself for a moment before he lets out a slow sigh, looking over towards akemi as he doesn't dare to sit down just yet, "I honestly just want to know why so I can get this over and done with, without being in the total dark about what I'm being tested for.." he says as he stands his ground.

Now they were talking about science. That was Akemi's element. She turned to Yuuki. "My appologies- some degree of subterfuge is necissary, not least because if I nailed the request for volenteers to the biology department's door I am liable to be carried away to a mental ward. Not to mention that most subjects I would get from that method are liable to be complete failures- I was outside during the Dark Hour, searching for participants almost every night this week before I found you two. Speaking of which- you are both users of this 'Persona' I have previously described, aren't you?"

 Remembering Kai's question, Akemi debated using a fake name, before realizing that it would do more harm than good, concidering that they knew where she lived. A move to a less personal location might eventually prove neccisary. "Akemi. Akemi Ohashi. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Kai listens to her speak to Yuuki before she speaks her name, and as she does, he offers her a light tip of his head, "I am Kai Takigawa, it is a pleasure... And yes, I bear a persona." He says, slowly shifting his gaze over to Yuuki, "As for my friend here, I'm afraid he'll have to answer that question himself..." He adds, the corner of his lips tugging up a tad into a more sly setting, as if he already knew what was to come. He remains silent afterwards, and idly readjusts his position on the bed, his gaze drifting over her bookshelves, examining the individual titles to see if he recognizes any books, and eventually he does, especially prevelant to him are the psychology and science fiction books, as one can see by the way he looks at them, as if pleased by the fact that he knows a few of them.

A sigh escapes Yuuki as he furrows his brows, his gaze dropping down to the floor for a moment as she speaks. He perks his gaze up to look to Akemi once she has finished, looking over to Kai as asks the question concerning persona's, and when she answers his earlier question regarding her name. Whilst Kai's lips may tug up, Yuuki's are only pulling down for now, lowering his brows he scans him over before he looks back to Akemi, "Yuuki Hikaru. And I do indeed have a persona, Ohashi-san." he says in a brisk, and slightly pissed of toned as he glances around for a moment, before he slumps forward and takes a few steps to seat himself down besides Kai with a sigh that slowly fades out into a yawn.

Akemi Ohashi 's eyes light up with the undiluted fire of scientific mania. "Excellent! The crux of the issue is this- I, who wakes during Hour 13, do not. Inquiries with certain other Persona users have made it apparent that this is unusual- and that, moreover, I am weakened significantly by my lack of a Persona. Being who I am, I seek to rectify this through technology. Essentially, I've been told that fear is a key instrument in summoning Personas, and have obtained a compound inciting primal fear known as carbogen. Inhailing it may awaken my latent potential- but, of course, I would like to check this on a confirmed Persona user. With that in mind, if you would please summon your Personae now?"

Kai's gaze is slowly torn from Akemi's bookshelf as she seems to become excited, he smiles despite himself, and listens in silence as she speaks, raising a brow slightly as she tells him of her situation. He remains silent as she speaks, and is momentarily distracted by the fact that Yuuki has passed out besides him, he blinks at this, but moves on quickly, slowly moving to stand. "Very well... I hope I don't burn anything." He says, before he silently brings his hand out in front of him. In the palm of his hand floats a single tarot card, the magician, one would not know from where he procured it from and it almost seems like it had always been there. Kai slowly inhales, before exhaling, his fist clenching sharply, crushing the card in an instant, the sound that accompanies the act is strange, like shattering glass that is heard throughout the room, and in the next instant a being materializes before them, accompanied by a sudden, almost harsh warmth in the chest, one that could almost burn for a moment to the unprepared, perhaps supplying adrenaline where there was none before. Before both of them stands a hooded figure, clad in a dark robe with white lining, a leather chestpiece worn over his torso, dark bracers worn over his wrists. Flame flicks up around him, although it seems somewhat calm in comparison to what it resonates, and it its, or rather his hand, it holds a long yari spear, which also seems to give off the occasional flicker of flame. "Jehoel." Kai says in a low tone, as his persona stands before him, facing towards Akemi, a few feet taller than both of them, "This is my Persona..." Kai continues, slowly walking forward and standing besides him, "Is that all you needed?" He asks, smiling at her.

Akemi Ohashi frantically takes notes on the flipside of her notebook, seemingly oblivious to the danger posed to her belongings by a massive flaming Biblical angel. "Okay, everything conforms to expectations so far, Takigawa-san. Now, the vital questions are 'how did you do that' and 'have you ever managed to summon your Persona any other way?'"

 As she speaks, she returns to tinkering at the gas cylinders until she has reached a point of satisfaction.

As Akemi speaks, Jehoel disappears, seeming to shatter into multiple pieces as Kai begins to speak, "As for how I did it... It is something that feels like a natural movement, I suppose you could say I will for my Persona to appear, and then the card comes, and I break it in order to summon Jehoel." He slowly steps back as he speaks, taking a seat back on the bed, "The first time I summoned my Persona, it was more automated. I was going to die, but I didn't want to die... And thus Jehoel appeared before me, without me having to summon my card. Every time after that, however, has been much the same as what you just saw." He says, leaning forward slightly and propping his chin against the palm of his hand.

Akemi Ohashi grins widely, clapping her hands together in a gesture that probably breaks any notion of her lasting sanity. "Excellent! You are, then the perfect subject. This is proof that a near-death-experience is sufficient to summon a Persona in at least some people- consequently, the physiological effects of my treatment should produce the desired effect. Charbogen, essentially convinces the brain that you are suffocating, though you are fine, and consequently incites feelings of abject terror. Also, hallucinations, although with the limited treatment time the effects of those should be minimized, and their geometric nature renders them easy to dismiss to even the unhardened mind. I invite you to put on the breathing mask connectted to these cylinders, and then we will know whether or not artificially-enduced primal terror is effective as a method of Persona invokation."

Kai looks the woman over slowly, smiling slightly at her reaction, listening in silence to her subsequent speech. He remains silent for a few moments as she finishes speaking, before slowly moving, "You are quite the interesting creature, Ohashi-san." He says, before slowly approaching the breathing mask, which he proceeds to lean down towards and slowly pick up, "I must warn you that should you remain in this room during this... I may lash out with Jehoel and kill you, so I imagine it would be beneficial to not be right next to me should this go as you plan." He says, before smoothly pulling the mask over his mouth, and securing it in place. Afterwards he slowly takes a seat against the wall, slowly contracting one of his knees and resting his arm atop it, leaning into it as he does as he awaits the effects of the Charbogen, a substance that he finds himself unfamiliar with, although he doesn't seem to mind. In fact, he seems quite excited by the prospect of the whole situation, which may bring his sanity into question, just as hers is.

Akemi Ohashi bites her lip for a second. If only she had one of those phones that loads apps instead of a prepaid one with twelve keys she bought at a convenience store... Though she supposed it wouldn't matter, the Dark Hour being what it was.

 Her eyes lit up. She rifled through her bookshelf, knocking numerous texts onto the ground, until she found a disposable camera- the sort you bought while on vacation. "This! It even has an autotimer! If I just set it to take a picture every couple seconds, I should be able to gain photographic data without having to directly subject myself to, you know, dying. Huh. I should probably be more alarmed by the prospect, but honestly- running around like this without the power to defend myself is going to get me killed with far greater probability than whatever mishaps you may have- that being said, do your best not to kill me!" Setting the camera on a particularly tall stack of papers, she flees her room like a frightened gazelle. "Alright, Takigawa-san! Turn on the gas, press the shutter of the camera, and breath normally! It'll feel like you're suffocating, but that's sort of the point- and do shut it off if your persona doesn't manifest within, oh, ten breaths!" she shouted from the safty of the sofa. The standard does was five to six breaths, but she had to allow for a sufficient margin of error, of course.

Kai slowly reaches his hand out towards the valve as she speaks, smiling for a moment longer before it slowly fades, as he prepares himself for what he is to face. His hand rests over the valve for a few moments before he begins to calmly turn it, taking a deep breath in before he leans over towards the camera, his hand hovering over it for a moment before he pushes down the shutter, slowly leaning back up against the wall afterwards. He takes slow deliberate breaths, and his index and middle finger slowly begin to tap the air as the effects begin to become apparent to him. Within five breaths, his two fingers are moving like a blur, his eyes focusing on them as he attempts to keep himself focused on the task at hand. Two breaths later and his fingers suddenly stop, and he jerks forward slightly, his eyes slowly widening as his vision goes fuzzy, and he finds himself unable to focus properly. It happens suddenly, and almost without warning; in one second there is a tap as Kai's fist hits the ground, accompanied by the sound of a thousand glasses shatter as his eyes shoot as wide as they can go, and in the next, an unnatural scream tears through the building, in sync with Kai's own, and the room is bathed in a searing flame. In the center of the inferno stands Jehoel, hunched forward as he screams, and then suddenly the ear-piercing sound cuts out, and he is gone. Kai is several feet away from the cylinders, the mask which he had only just been wearing now burnt to a crisp.


 He remains on his side, cheek to the floor as he takes in great heaves of air, sweat beading down his brow and his eyes still as wide as saucers. It takes a few moments before he can even get a coherent thought together, and when he can all he can manage is to roll onto his back. Akemi was quite safe behind her sofa, despite the searing heat that she most likely felt, in fact, the entire area seems largely unaffected by the charade, the only sign of it ever having happened being the heaving young man in the center of the room and, of course, the memory.

Akemi Ohashi laughed manically. "Yes! I did it! I'm a genius!" she cried, ignoring the obvious hindsight bias inherent in that statement, as well as her ethical violations of her subject's wellbeing. Oh, and the potential fire damage to her extremely expensive textbooks, obviously. Not to mention the borderline-irreplacable university medical equipment, and her eyelashes which were currently some irritating ash specks smeered on her face. Recalling herself after a moment's triumph, she rushed like a river over the sofa and into her room, where she assessed the damage as minimal. Except for, probably, her subject. "Fuck. Takigawa-san, are you alright? I need to ask you some questions, although I of course understand if you need time to recover."

Kai stares upwards for a few moments, before he slowly begins to smile, turning over to his right slightly as he begins to snicker quietly, idly throwing his arm over his eyes. He grins quite widely, unnaturally so actually, and he releases a surprisingly amused-sounding chuckle, as if he were trying to stop himself from joining in on Ohashi's manical laughing. After a few moments he slowly stops chuckling, and rolls back over onto his back proper, his arm slowly rolling off to the side, revealing somewhat red eyes. The experience had apparently made him cry, although there was no longer any traces of tears, "My heart's pounding." He says, smiling.


 He remains silent for a few moments afterwards before he attempts to sit up, only to feel the back of his head hit the ground a few moments later, "The valve's... Still going." He says slowly, before turning his gaze towards the woman, offering her a grin that he hopes is reasurring, "Ask away."

Akemi Ohashi shuts off the valve- not that there was much danger of something that was basically just a cylinder full of exhalation killing them all, but medical grade carbon dioxide was somewhat hard to get at. She jumps onto her bed after briefly inspecting it to make sure it was structurally sound, and takes out her customary notebook and pencil. "Right, Takigawa-san. The first question is the most important- how did this method of summoning differ from both your first time and the subsequent times in terms of your own internal feeling. Moreover- what caused your Persona to run amock?"

"Well..." He begins, watching her take a seat on the bed, "To begin with, my mind was much clearer when I first summoned Jehoel, I admit that I wasn't particularly coherent the first time, either, but it was certainly a step up from what just occured.." He pauses as he slowly attempts to sit up again, exhaling slowly as he does so, and giving a light grunt when he succeeds, "This time it felt like my one and only purpose was survival, pure instinct with no purpose other than... Well, securing my livelihood. Previously, I suppose I had more direction, I knew what I wanted to kill, and I was confident that I could do it as soon as I knew that I had Jehoel. This time using my persona was more like an act of desperation than anything."

Akemi Ohashi 's hands flew, noting each detail of Kai's testimony. Her notes were, of course, in Hungarian shorthand, rendering them unintelligable to almost everyone in Japan. "Right, okay. That make sense, I suppose- the Persona being called in as a bullwork against death. Very good thing to have. But, I speculate too much. More importantly- do you believe that, if this treatment were administered while you were near, say, a Shadow, or some other eminant threat, that you would be able to control it without almost burning down my house? Not that I would actually test that with you, of course- I have taken at least one ethics class before, of course."

Kai Takigawa glances upwards slowly as the adrenaline dies down, and he slowly slumps forward, releasing a short sigh before speaking, "It is possible, yes. I imagine I would direct the outburst towards the most apparent threat, but I do not think I would be able to fight properly, and judging by what just happened, if there were any friendlies in the vicinity, they would certainly be in danger.." He says, slowly turning to look towards Akemi once more, "Plus, it takes too long for it to kick in, if you wanted to make it more viable, you'd need something that could jumpstart the system nigh-on instantly, whilst simulating a similar kind of... Fear." He finishes as he looks away once more, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his neck.

Akemi Ohashi frowns, still scribbling away. "Disapointing- of course, still a viable proof-of-concept. I will investigate more expedient methods- potentially, breathing in a low-oxygen mix for some time might reduce the amount of carbogen required to produce feelings of suffocation. Regardless, I thank you for your time and sacrifice. I imagine that a trip to the Wuck Burger would seem at this time inadequate?"

Kai smirks despite himself, and slowly moves to stand. He is quite unsteady on his feet, considering the amount of magic he just abused, regardless of how much choice he had in the matter, "How about next time I'm here, we go out to dinner instead?" He asks, grinning as he glances at her, not quite as embarrased by the proposal as a highschool student aught to be, although he barely counts as one at this point in time, he stumbles a little regardless of that fact, before he manages to straighten up, giving his head a little shake. "I'm not very hungry at the moment, for some reason." He says, taking a deep breath as he steadies himself, finally regaining his footing.

Akemi Ohashi narrows her eyes. "Next time. Right. You're not scared off?"


 Dinner... Akemi hoped her subject wasn't getting the wrong idea. The short hair wasn't just practical- it served a useful role in social signalling that he seemed to be ignoring.

Kai Takigawa smirks slightly, before slowly rolling his shoulders, trying to get rid of the drowsiness, and the numbness, "Scared, yes. Scared off? Sadly not." He glances back in her direction as he wonders where Yuuki went, and she wonders if the street-kid knows about social norms, but doesn't bother asking, "I'm one of those people that don't live for very long because being scared often leads to something called adrenaline, which is my drug of choice." He says, exhaling idly once more as he finally begins to feel some degree of normalacy return to his joints, which he is obviously grateful for.

Akemi Ohashi 's eyes continue their narrowing. "Right, then," she says. She scribbles her number on a page in her book and tears it out. "While I can't exactly call that behavior 'healthy', I do require further investigation, and you do have a Persona. So, I suppose I'll see you later?"


 She extends the page with one hand and beckons towards the door with the other.

Kai glances down at the paper, before stepping forward and grasping for the piece of paper, looking it over with a neutral expression before folding it up and pushing it into his shirt pocket, "I suppose so, Ohashi-san." He says, offering her a slight smile before he turns away, rolling one of his shoulders slowly as he steps out of the room, looking around for Yuuki, whom he finds passed out in the middle of the apartment. He drags his friend out of the building along with their shoes, stepping out onto the streets and glancing up at the bright green moon. It wouldn't be long before the dark hour ended, but simply going off the somewhat dangerous-looking smile he began to wear, his night was not quite done, not yet at least.