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[Empiricist]

"C-come on, let's get you back home."

A smile. Or at least she thinks it's a smile, hoped it was at any rate.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Should just be that way, yeah. Let's go."

[Dermonster]

Ryo looks suprised; nobody has ever walked her home before. She had vaguely hoped they would, of course, but she had assumed they would send her off alone.

"U-uh. Thanks. Again."

Time to travel?

[Sl4cker]

Mijimeki sticks silent once again, a sullen expression crossing his face as he stares up at that starry night sky. Perhaps he was thinking about having to explain this to his parents again. He walks next to Ryo, keeping a stoic eye on the girl.

[Powder Miner]

The walk to Ryo’s house isn’t a horribly long one; it is of course nowhere near to as close to the woods as Aoi and Mijimeki’s homes, which are very nearly adjacent to the woods, but it’s still a close enough distance that Aoi and Mijimeki will only feel uncomfortable on the way back late - and Kanade, who lives past Ryo but in the same direction, won’t have her walk lengthened by very much at all.

No one is on the streets as they walk the frightened and confused girl to her place of residence, except for the occasional car on one of the busier roads, but given that it’s in the dead middle of the night in a fairly serene little city, this time around that isn’t out of the ordinary — Aibo is an idyllic little place, which humd to life in the day and remains still and peaceful at night, if you ignore the grey-cloaked person kidnapping teenagers and throwing them into a ruined city, anyway.

There may be a tired haze among the four Persona-users just from the ordeal they’d gone through, but right now they were in calming and familiar territory.

[Dermonster]

Ryo bites her lip. The long walk has given her some much needed time to cool down, and she can think a little more clearly now that the surroundings are beginning to look familiar.

She looks at the sky. Divinations often used the positions of the stars to accurately chart the future, but she hasn't memorized them to any great degree. The moon is full, and beautiful.

Still, there has been a question that has bothered her for a bit. The only answer she can think of is unreasonable, so she feels she must ask.

"Why... were all of you in there? At that station?" she asks, returning her gaze to the concrete below her. "Was it chance? Were you searching for that man? Or..."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Like we told you earlier, you were next; those things came after me already and Aoi and Miji here, my knights in shining armor as always, came to get me out. We came for you."

[Empiricist]

"W-we felt something when near you... t-that's why we tried to warn you _{b-but you wouldn't listen}, and then, w-we felt something leading us to you like it did for K-kanade, a one-way portal... D-do you remember much about how you ended up there?"

[Sl4cker]

Miji... just nods. He's still staring at the night sky, though he looks to be relieved in that he doesn't actually have to say anything to Ryo for now.

[Dermonster]

Oh, right. Ryo vaguely recalls that incident from yesterday.

"I just thought you were all pulling some trick on me. I didn't remember it. But..." She wrings her hands together, struggling to find the right words. To put all that effort in to find her? That's... not right. That doesn't happen.

"Why?" she says, finally. "Why would you... for me? You almost died. I'm- I'm not someone people should get hurt for..."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Do we need a reason? It was the right thing to do."

[Dermonster]

Ryo blinks, incredulous.

"Yes! You can't just- that's not- 'The right thing?' That's crazy! You can't just jump headfirst into some hellscape to save someone you don't know, let alone me. I'd understand if one of your friends was in there, or family, or even some popular person you like. But why would you go through that effort? What do you get? I don't understand..."

[Sl4cker]

Miji shrugs. "You don't have to understand. In fact, I'm certain it'd be acceptable for you to just forget today ever happened." He continues walking past Ryo even as she stops. "I guess you could just say we're characters from a shounen." An expression comes across his face too fast to process. "Heroes."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Some popular person you like, huh? I'll keep that one in mind for next time. But no, you don't have to understand why we came for you. Just that we did and we would have no matter what."

[Dermonster]

Ryo glanced uneasily between the two. Shounen hero? Even after hearing the reason again, she just couldn't believe it. People didn't get rescued from all their problems just like that. Thas kind of thing only happened in books or cheesy movies. Not real life. Not to her.

Ryo smiled sardonically. Except, apparently, when a literal kidnapping (with a side of magic) happened. That was the limit. That was when people actually started to give a shit. And now that it was over, she should just 'forget about it'. Was she just supposed to sit right back down into the status quo?

She walked a few more blocks silently, and suddenly, they were there. Her house stood in front of her in all it's glory. She could even still see the light on in her room. Was anyone awake? If they were, she'd have one hell of an excuse to make up. If they weren't... then they hadn't noticed anything. Just like usual.

Absently, Ryo wondered whether all the candles had melted into the carpet. That was going to be awkward.

She walked up the pathway, leaving the other three behind. Coming to a stop in front of the door, a fleeting thought ocurred. Even if she didn't understand...

"Hey," she said, softly. "I... forgot to say it earlier. Um. Thanks, for trying to help. Nobody's done anything like that for a long time."