Reconsiderations (Shiina)

She hated it. Absolutely. To rehabilitate Psyche-Terrorists sounds like a good idea on the surface. But they were also a risk that even the higher-ups had to reconsider. Why did it sound like that they were so sure of its ability to turn people? The Cadet wasn't exactly sure what a rehabilitation meant, but there was a lot of it that she didn't agree with it. It was a threat to everyone involved, a ticking time bomb. At the same time, she could understand. No matter how depraved and dangerous the Psyche-Terrorists were, they were still human. They were criminals, but they weren't demons.


She muttered to herself angrily. Her heels were clacking harshly against the hallway floor while moving through the corridor full of sororities. Maria was on her way to her own declining club room. It was at risk of closure, but at least she wanted to head over there to fume a little and to check her own private space in the school a bit. None of this sat well with her, as suggested from her furrowed expression.

It was just her for now in this hallway. But little did she know, someone else would come by.

For a moment there, she was almost oblivious to her surroundings. There was frustration and anger that brewed in her. But her hearing wasn't completely dulled when the Cadet heard someone address her. She turned towards the source of that familiar voice to see the Wild Card, Shiina Tsurinai. Maria had a rather surprised look on her expression, she wasn't really expecting anyone here as of this moment. Being self-absorbed in anger had that kind of tendency after all. "Oh, Shiina. H-hi there..."

At first, she felt a little bit embarrassed to exhibit such a behavior. Seriously, the whole affair got to her. Maria breathed in a little and then out before forcing herself to remain calm.

"Indeed," Maria replied back with a nod, "Though I rarely have any meetings..."

It was a rather frank admission, perhaps her frustrations were seeping through. And speaking of that, she still had to deal with the issue regarding her club's own eminent demise. What a busy week. Cadet missions in one night, then an attack in the next with the threat of her own small club being shut down. It was entirely getting to be stressful for her.

She shook her head at Shiina's pleasantries.


The rankings haven't exactly sunk completely into her yet. Being the person to be in charge was rather... frightening. It meant more responsibilities for her. Maria wasn't really used to that, she was more willing to take orders and to eliminate enemies without too much thought. The scenario with Julius was just her not being able to fit in with the Cadets easily due to her different training.

"Are you planning to train?" Maria eyed the gym bag on her person, "His Majesty said to take it easy today. We will be having exercises tomorrow."

Even despite she said this, the Second Class could actually sympathize that kind of restlessness. Failure was scary. If it only affected yourself, then it wouldn't be as bad. But as a Cadet, it meant more than that. Those responsibilities were something that would follow each one to their grave.

She returned with a sympathetic smile, as she learned that it wasn't her alone that bore the burden of a declining and unpopular club. Maria would have to find another place to hide her coffin now. The gym might've been alright, but even there she felt like it wasn't going to be a viable place. Though the Class Zero building, maybe it could work if Julius didn't mind...


Those misgivings won't go away so easily for her. All she ever wanted to do is answer the call of duty and to follow orders. But if this was what the Lord intended, she'll take it willingly even despite her inexperience and uncertainties. Leading the Belfry was out of mere necessity since she had the training and experience none of her fellow Cadets had back then. She was sure that there would've been someone more capable, at least at first before hearing the reports on the other fronts. But given time, hopefully they will shine brighter than she would. After all, they had a Persona and not her.

"Being in shape is a good thing. It's something important to maintain the longer we work as Cadets. I'm sure your hard work will pay off, as my master once said, it won't ever betray you," she replied with a nod of approval.

Being out of shape should definitely be grounds for extra courses within Class Zero or even expulsion. They were working with and against dangerous forces here, after all. Talking about this reminded her a bit about Lisa, how she was working hard in the gym back then. Would she be working hard still?

"I... I just had a disagreement with him. Especially about dealing with Psyche Terrorists," Maria supplied with some hesitation, "He seems rather keen to rehabilitate them and give them a second chance it seems... One of them came by my home and an attack broke out. I was lucky enough to neutralize the threat before it got any worse."

She sheepishly shrugged at Shiina's praise. It didn't necessarily make her feel any better. It was something that was in a way still self-evident to her. Adaptation was something necessary on this planet. Nothing remained in stasis forever, it can only prolong that time until the inevitable phase of change. It brought up several questions for her. What point of "change" would come to her? And when? For now, she had made the first step to be a Cadet. What was the next? A Royal Guard? Maybe it was an inevitability, or that it was inevitable she would never become one. It was change that made her nervous of what came next, a commonly shared fear.

"Mental exercises, huh...?" Maria repeated with a pondering look on her face. She wondered why Shiina was able to use multiple Personas. What exactly was the Wild Card ability? The Cadet remembered hearing that from the user's own lips, but never could she find anything substantial to illuminate her ignorance on the topic, "Is that why you're able to use multiple Personas?"

She found herself blinking, then realized in her own unfiltered frustration that she did something wrong. How unprofessional. It just revealed what she still lacked despite successfully leading a team in the Dragon's Maw incident. But Maria wasn't sure what to make of Shiina's remark, trying to decide if she really agreed with him or not. Or perhaps it was in the middle. But nevertheless the postulant gave a nod and led her towards her club room.

"Please, come on in."

She allowed Shiina to enter first and gestured her to sit at one of the pair of chairs near the only desk. Maria moved towards the electric kettle that she had stationed at a nearby sink and cupboard. As the device began to work with the teabags sitting near it, her head towards the Wild Card.

A gift from God.

There were indeed people loved by the Lord more than the others. Some of these signs manifested as the positive result of a scenario or a goal. Others displayed his love by being born with talents and potential that were unlike the others. Maria's case was a complicated one as she pursed her lips in thought of Shiina's reply. But it was something to think about later. Right now, she was talking with a fellow Cadet over an important discussion.


She narrowed her eyes at Shiina at first about her arguments on keeping them alive. Had this been the complete jurisdiction of the Church and not the Cadets, Takeru would have died so long ago and they wouldn't be having this discussion in the first place. But she closed them for some moment of consideration. Then she opened them again. "You may be right... Yes. But that means a use of valuable resources for a potential risk in the future. I don't feel I trust this approach enough after hearing the chaotic nature of the Psyche-Terrorists... and after what happened with the Queen Bee. But... orders are orders. I will put up with it in any case. If it all works out well in the end, then I won't complain."

She sighed and listlessly glanced at the electric kettle, it still wasn't done as evidenced by the unlit indicator. Maria drummed her fingers against the desk as she was sitting near Shiina. "I suppose it is just another test from the Lord that I will have to pass somehow... and an opportunity for me to test out my 'authority'."

The Cadet grimaced at the thought. With rehabilitation, she had little doubt that he would join the Cadets with his abilities. That said, it meant she was going to be even more busy with these growing responsibilities. But that was the price for the power she clamored for those five years ago. It's honestly worrisome, having someone with training that gave her a different ideology and approach from the Prince's. "Help me spread the word to the rest of our colleagues. It's best that they're informed in case anything goes wrong."

"I have reason to believe she's quite capable. She was a Cadet longer than any of us and she was given command of us initially," Maria supplied as she began to get up. The kettle finally was ready when it beeped once. She began to get up from her seat to finally draw out the paper cups stuffed inside the long plastic sleeve. "But it seems to be there's a third party involved. His Majesty said there could be an unidentified group of Psyche-Terrorists after all."

She wondered who these people were. In the end, they were never able to verify them. And that was a gross disadvantage when they were better aware of their capabilities. There was a reason why the Church rarely practiced mercy, those left alive will always figure out a way to defeat you and that was a risk.

"I have orange, green tea, and lemon. Which ones would you like?" Whichever one Shiina chose, Maria would act accordingly before putting in one for orange. The cups seethed out tufts of steam as they were being filled with water and the respective teabags. She allowed them to steep after bringing them over to the desk. The Cadet found herself raising an eyebrow of these supposed 'Gods', but it didn't hurt for her to explain them to her, "By all means, share."

It didn't hurt to expand one's knowledge, but at the same time she wanted to learn a little bit more about the young Tsurinai. She seemed rather mature beyond her years and even held herself to be reliable and capable. It really surprised her that out of all the people, it was her team that failed. But it was a testament that these Psyche-Terrorists required every Cadets' guard to be up.

Maria dipped the teabag in and up thoughtfully. Then allowed it to fully sink to the bottom as the tag continued to jut out off the rim. "You're right. Perhaps it is best that you keep it silent. We don't want to trigger anything that might undo any results of the rehabilitation."


Maria could tell Shiina didn't exactly have a normal upbringing just as she did. The claim about having some kind of mental training didn't sound like what every kid willing do on a general basis. None of the other Cadets actually had a background that really prepared them for any of this, perhaps other than Lisa. She wasn't very sure about the rest of them, but once time comes by, she likely will grow to trust them more.

"Also having an extra eye out helps, especially when said eye is reliable," she finished with a nod.

"They will have to. The city's safety depends on our success after all," Maria replied as she softly blew on the tea as the steam wafted from its surface. Her thoughts wandered towards the image of the gruesome corpses from this morning's meeting. It felt painful to watch, to feel that feeling of failure.

She silently sipped from her tea as she listened to what the Cadet had to say. The existence of the two gods shared the same kind of dualism that other religions possessed. But what got her interest was the term of "masks" used here to describe them. It sounded like they were somehow connected to them, both the Cadets and the Psyche-Terrorists.

When she finished Maria was silent for a moment, only making another sip from her cup before staring at it thoughtfully, "It is indeed troublesome to have something that plays a hand in our fate and our own decision-making. It makes the concept of free-will sound like a mere farce to use against us."

It was a concept that she never really dabbled very far into to begin with in these five years. Mindless years of training was the only thing she knew when cooped up inside the Sunlake Palms Church. None of that ever mattered when she was busy being beaten half to death by several of her stricter and brutal teachers to discipline and harden her. But Father Jorge had been there to nurture her when she needed it.


"Sometimes legends are just warnings of an existence beyond our initial understanding," Maria continued, "At the same time, they may just be a mere parable that gives us sparse clues of our distant past. Whatever the case, it matters little to me right now. I will eliminate both of them if they happen to be a threat to Endymion."

She said this rather nonchalantly, but Maria was serious. It didn't matter if said enemy was Satan himself. If they stood in the way, they are to be eliminated. It was as simple as that, usually. The postulant cracked a small smile at her, "The feeling is mutual, Shiina. Let's toast. To our future and our success."

She held the cup up towards the Tsurinai and offered to do as she said.

At first Maria was confused about why the Tsurinai was laughing. But then she was beginning to realize how ridiculous it sounded in another perspective, about killing gods. Maybe that was pretty far-fetched. It was how she was feeling right now and what she was trained for in the first place. But in the end, she began to grow a smile and sipped the remains of her tea. Perhaps she found a new friend in the Tsurinai.


They would continue to talk for a while until it was time for either one of them to go.

[Exit]