Persona Q: Embarrassing Bathhouse Labyrinth

The world has a secret. There is more to reality than what humanity can see and touch. Persona Users know a little of this truth, having found some means of accepting to call forth a mental reflection of their own minds for strength and power. Often this is a result of confronting some mental reality that has somehow touched upon the human world, often unseen yet influencing the minds and behaviors of normal people nonetheless. Rejected thoughts take on personality and form in such places, entities known as Shadows. And yet this is only scratching the surface of the reality of the collective . Go deeper you will find the Sea of the Soul, a vast multiverse of mental landscapes each shaped by different aspects of the human psyche. Each "world" born from the Sea is unique and affects the real world differently- one might be a hidden hour of gloom where normal humans become frozen in coffins, another might be a fog ridden world hidden behind a TV where the visitor creates a reality from the truths they deny themselves, while still a third might be a Palace in which the most vile and greedy part of a person manifests as the absolute ruler. The Sea and its individual realities are, in the end, as variable and mad as the dreams and desires of humanity itself- since they are indeed one and the same.

Amongst these myriad strange and unique mental realities are the Labyrinths. At times a lost human soul is found by a denizen of the Sea. Such souls are often troubled, confused, traumatized and in pain. On occasion an entity from the Sea, for its own reasons, will choose to isolate such a soul from itself, closing them off from the outside world and their own pain. Often this is intended as an act of mercy on the part of the entity- although a being born of a mad may have a definition of mercy very different from that of a mortal. Other times may be more malicious. There are many enemies born from collective human thoughts that are quite cruel and uncaring in their motives.

Some entities simply want to embarrass and humiliate the soul for all eternity...

In any case, the result is always the same. The soul is taken to a place outside of the flow of time, and they are often made to forget their own lives. The Labyrinth soon begins to reflect this fading memory, forming mazes and passages in which manifestations of the past are formed and lie hidden away. But even as a part of the soul seeks to forget and hide from traumas and pain, another part yearns to be whole again. And so the Labyrinth begins to reach out into the past and future, seeking those rare humans who can call upon their personas. In this it must abide by certain limitations. It cannot interact with the outside world except during moments of synergy with the Labyrinth. For example, a Labyrinth formed around the theme of festivals can only seek Persona Users who are attending festivals or at least would be hosting one if a Tsunami hadn't ruined their plans.

A Labyrinth born around shame and humiliation, centered around the theme of a hotspring or bathhouse? It too must play by the rules of its own nature.

Late in the year 2009 in a bathhouse in Kiyoto a small band of students known as the Shadow Extracurricular Execution Squad (or SEES for short) has just experienced something of a group schism. Several male members of the group, some in ignorance and a few by deliberate intention have found themselves caught by the females in the public bath. By this time men are supposed to have left the area. Unwilling to listen to excuses, the men are 'executed' by Mitsuru Kirijo, entrapping them in a block of ice. The other female members of the team, Yukari Takeba, Fuuka Yamagishi, and the team leader Minako Arisato, look on in anger and embarrassment. By the time any of them notice how much thicker the steam of the bath has become, obscuring their surroundings, they have already been swallowed by the Labyrinth.

In 2012 a group of amateur sleuths calling themselves the Investigation Team are celebrating a victory at a certain mountain ski resort. They have just successfully rescued a denizen of the Hollow Forest, a girl named Marie, from an otherworldly attempt at suicide. Back in the real world, the girls of the team, Rise Kujikawa, Chie Satanoka, Yukiko Amagi, and Naoto Shirogane are basking in the warm glow of the resort's hotsprings after subjecting the men of the group, in particular one Yosuke Hanamura, to a savage pummeling of snowballs in the aftermath of their victory. They also take time to admire (and perhaps do more than a little oggling in the process) the body of Marie as she washes up and prepares to join them. The mood is interrupted as the fence dividing the men and women's sections comes crashing down as the men are trying to do some oggling of their own. Marie, a being of some power, repays them with a deadly lightning strike. The girls are far too distracted by their embarrassment, vindictive glee, and a certain degree of nervousness that they may have gone a little too far in retaliation to notice that the smoke and steam have grown much too thick to be natural. A moment later they vanish into the Labyrinth.

A few years later (minor spoilers for Persona 5: Scramble), a group of Phantom Thieves are relaxing in their own hotspring while on a Summer trip. Almost a year ago the group faced a massive conspiracy of twisted individuals trying to take over the government, spearheaded by a certain powerful entity masquerading as an ally. The group is struggling with a new mystery, however, as a series of incidents similar to the mental shutdowns of the previous case and the Thieves own ability to steal a heart and a confession has them to work with a police detective to find the source and clear their own names of suspicion. History alas repeats itself, the men foolishly overstaying their welcome in a shared bathing area and being unable to sneak out before being caught by their female counterparts. The girls of the Phantom Thieves, Ann Takamaki, Makoto Niijima, Futaba Sakura, and Haru Okumura, are indignant and cold despite attempts at explanation. Makoto demonstrates the potency of her martial arts by soundly knocking the group of men (and the cat) . The girls turn to leave, and to find themselves shocked and confused to find their surroundings altered and unfamiliar.

And this is where the story begins and branches out. The male Persona Users have been whisked away to hidden locations within the Labyrinth, much like previous Labyrinths have hidden mementos of the past. The girls are currently very confused and very embarrassed, as they are to timidly wonder the halls of a mysterious bathhouse without any weapons, armor or items. SEES and the Phantom Thieves are at least lucky enough to have a handful of skimpy towels to keep some tiny illusion of modesty. The Investigation Team doesn't even have that much, as each of them were completely naked at the moment they were taken into the Labyrinth. They are likely to bump into one another soon, and in the process will discover some strange properties of this particular labyrinth. Specifically, their memories of previous encounters with the Labyrinths are not erased this time. Apparently, whatever controls this realm has no interest in causing them to forget their experiences. As such, all the girls will recognize one another (even SEES, despite this version of the characters technically never meeting the Phantom Thieves, inexplicably have the memories of their counterparts from the Cinematic Labyrinth. This realm plays particularly fast and loose with space and time, it would seem. How much so remains to be seen...