Fortune Reversed 2

Naoto's group worked it's way around the outside of the inn, going along the property wall where the fog stopped. It was eerily quiet with not even the sound of the wind, insects or birds being heard.

"Does anyone else see trees through that fog?" Kanji asked in a hushed whisper.

"I can't tell... It's too thick." Marie grumbled quietly.

"Why are we whispering?" Teddie asked in a harsh whisper.

"I assume it's because they don't want to attract the attention of whatever might be out here." Naoto said in a calm tone of normal volume. "While caution certainly is warranted, I think we should be more observant of our surroundings rather than try to make ourselves inconspicuous."

Both Marie and Kanji let out a breath, releasing the tension they held. They both took turns scanning their surroundings, looking for movement.

"Marie, Teddie, have you been able to sense anything thus far?" Naoto asked.

"The longer we're here the more this place makes my skin crawl." Marie shivered. "It feels like something's watching us..."

"I don't know about that, but it smells like there's something over that way." Teddie sniffed the air.

"The hot springs?" Naoto looked over at the direction Teddie pointed. "In the real world, the hot spring walls met the outer wall. If the same holds true here then we'll hit a dead end."

The group continued on, keeping the fog over the wall in view. The misty, dark atmosphere, even though it should have been daylight, made them nervous, except for Teddie; Teddie appeared to be oblivious to any danger, claiming he didn't sense any shadows. Marie kept looking over her shoulder as though she expected someone to be following them. Kanji appeared just generally tense and Naoto kept putting a hand to her thigh, where she would normally have her gun holstered, but grasped nothing but air since none of them had any weapons. Naoto had adjusted her kimono to allow her to move more easily, but she felt defenseless without her gun.

They came up to the wood wall of the hot springs where it intersected with the outer property wall. The lack of obvious threat had merely increased the tension the group felt. Both walls were high, too high to see over them without a ladder, so Naoto had Teddie sit on Kanji's shoulders to peer over the outer wall.

"Nothing but fog out there. I can bear-ly make out the nose in front of my face. The weird smell is still coming from over that way." Teddie pointed towards the hot springs.

"Uh.. Ted? Mind not moving around so much? I don't wanna drop ya-" Kanji started.

"Hee Ho!" A voice from the other side of the hot spring wall cried out.

Teddie barely dodged the snowball lobbed over the wall.

"Hey, Ted! Stop movin' around!" Kanji shouted.

Another snowball was flung and struck Teddie full on in the face, which caused him to lose balance and both he and Kanji fell back onto the ground.

Teddie and Kanji disentangled themselves from each other as they got up, Teddie wiped the snow from his face.

"All right, that does it!" Kanji cracked his knuckles, readying for a fight.

"And what are you going to do? They're on the other side of the wall." Marie pointed out, casually dodging a snowball.

"Teddie, You aren't sensing any shadows at all?" Naoto asked.

"None at all. I don't know who or what is in the hot springs, but they aren't shadows."

"They are definitely weird. How can you make snowballs in a hot spring?" Marie dodged another snowy projectile.

<Naoto!> The panicked voice of Rise burst in Naoto's mind.

"Rise? What happen-"

<I've lost contact with Yu! I can't hear him anymore and I can't see their location!>

Naoto's mind went blank as she tried to process what Rise was telling her. Naoto looked over at Kanji, Teddie and Marie who were arguing over what to do about the snowball thrower. The panic in Rise's mind was infecting Naoto as well, the idea that Yu, that their friends were lost was terrifying.

"We have to get back to the meeting room. Now!" Naoto shouted at the others.

***

"You LOST him? How could you lose him?" Marie yelled at Rise.

"What could I have done? They walked into a room and disappeared!" Rise yelled back.

Naoto's group had rushed back to Rise only for Marie to fly into a rage when Rise explained that she had lost contact with Yu's team.

"Marie, calm down!" Naoto put a restraining hand on Marie's shoulder.

"How can I calm down?" Marie shook Naoto off. "She lost Yu. She's our support, to monitor the situation and analyze our enemies, but she can't even do that! She had one job and she blew it!"

Rise flinched under Marie's anger. She looked away, fear and despari griping her heart as she couldn't refute what Marie was saying. Rise felt the same, felt that she was useless.

"Marie!" Naoto forcefully grabbed Marie by her shoulders. "Rise did not do anything wrong. No one could have predicted this. Rise is not to blame. No one is."

"I-I know that!" Marie looked away from Naoto, wrestling with her frustration. "I just... I HATE this place! What are we supposed to do now?"

"Calm yourself. We'll think of something," Naoto said, holding onto Marie.

"Sensei said we should look for a way out." Teddie said tentatively.

"We are NOT leaving without Yu!" Marie declared breaking away from Naoto.

"But we cannot split the group any further and there are other beings here so leaving Rise by herself is too risky."

"You found something out there?" Rise looked apprehensive.

"Yeah, something from the hot spring baths were throwin' snowballs at us. Dunno what it was though." Kanji shrugged.

"Rise, you said you could see into the baths, could you see who or what it was?" Naoto turned to Rise.

"It doesn't really work like that. I can see the general area, like a map without the details and when someone from the group is in a room, I can see enemies, but they only show up as red lights. When you fight, I can see more details about the enemy through my persona's analysis ability. After Yu's team disappeared from my view, they fought something, but I couldn't really analyze it. They beat them too quickly. I could still see their status, I can still see it right now. I just... I can't see where they are and I try to reach them, but either they can't hear me or they can't answer back."

Naoto paused to consider their options. She felt they couldn't split the group up, lessening their strength would only make things worse. They couldn't leave Rise on her own because there was something else out there that had shown hostility. Yu and his team were still alive, but they didn't know where nor could they contact them. And then there was Marie's increasing anxiety and aggravation, which Naoto felt could cause any number of problems and could be a reaction to the supernatural environment. If Marie was having such a violent reaction to this place, would the rest of them succumb to similar emotions as well?

There was only one of two courses of action they could take; either continue searching for an exit or stop that and search for Yu's team.

"Uh... So is it like bad reception or something?" Kanji asked. "Is there anything we could do to boost the signal?"

"I'm not a tv, Kanji." Rise put a hand to her temple in exasperation.

"Maybe we could boost the signal, though." Marie mused.

Everyone turned to stare at Marie incredulously.

"Well, if Rise had a focus or something. Something that had some connection to Yu, it could allow her to find him more easily." Marie shrugged. "We might find something if we checked his room..."

"It needs to be something connected to them?" Kanji asked.

"Yeah, the closer the better."

"I think I know just the thing. Give me a second." Kanji dashed off towards the storage room.

The rest looked after him in confusion. Kanji quickly returned carrying a small box. He placed it before the group, opened it and picked out one of the items. It was a little crafted cellphone tchotchke that resembled Yu.

"Oh that's adorable!" Rise cooed. "Your handiwork, Kanji?"

"Yeah, I uh... I made one for everyone." Kanji replied sheepishly. "Will it work?"

"Possibly?" Marie shrugged as Rise snatched the Yu ornament out of Kanji's hands.

"Only one way to find out!" Rise declared, hugging the mini-Yu to her chest.

"Depending on what Rise finds, we should find Yu and focus on finding a way out." Naoto mused.

"Well, the bad news is I still can't reach Yu." Rise said after a few minutes of focus. "The good news is I have a better view of where they are. The other bad news is that the corridors don't seem to be connected to the rooms."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if we walk through a door, we could end up on the other side of the inn and the actual size of this labyrinth is huge."

"Ok then." Naoto sighed. "Rise, we are going to find Yu. Do you think you could guide us?"

"I think I can show you what paths they took, but no guarantee the corridors will lead to the same rooms." Rise cautioned.

"Wait, so we're all going together to look for 'em?" Kanji asked.

"There is no telling what is out there or how aggressive it could be. Having Rise with us could help us avoid unnecessary fighting. We can't afford to split our strength any more."

"You had better not slow us down." Marie glared at Rise.

"Ha! I'm not defenseless. I'll knock 'em dead with my greatest hits!" Rise declared proudly.

"We should get any supplies we can from the kitchen. If we are fortunate we will be able to regroup quickly." Naoto suggested.

They went back to the kitchens and grabbed some snacks and water bottles, Naoto being the only one who could carry anything because of her kimono. Rise led the way down the hallway to where Yu's group had originally left.