tvk | 3rd Cheer [Video]

[It's the Dark Hour, and any of you lucky citizens of Prospero without anything better to do are treated to another video call by the town's resident spunky and somewhat bubble-headed cheerleader. She's in her dorm room again, and there is what looks to be a lucky cat statue floating beside her. Anyone who bothers to actually look will notice that the 'statue' is animate, slowly smiling and waving at the screen as Sakurako speaks.]

Hey! Something weird happened to me tonight! You guys will never believe it! I was out a little late and kind of lost track of time, and I ended up in that Dark Hour thingie everyone's been talking about. I think I saw a Shadow along the way, but this weird song popped into my head all of a sudden, so I started singing it. Then there was a really strong wind, and when I looked, the Shadow was gone and there was this little cat sitting there. It followed me all the rest of the way home, even in that windstorm! I think it's because I kept singing to it. I'm going to name him Muffin!

[At this point, the statue speaks up.]

But my name is Maneki Neko! I am thou, and thou art I!

[Sakurako just laughs, reaching over to ruffle the fur between its ears.]

Oh yeah, and it can talk! And fly! Isn't it the coolest cat ever? I hope they'll let me keep it in the dorms.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Man, I honestly expected you to at least get severely injured before you manifested one.

Guess I just got a lucky break!

...Wait. Manifested what?

That weird cat thing. That's a Persona, right?

I don't know... is it?

[Sakurako stares over at Maneki Neko, who nods and flails its arms a bit.]

Yes! I told you before!

Chatty little guy, isn't he? Brünnhilde only ever spoke when I first called her.

Yeah! Guess he really is like me.

Well supposedly these things are part of your brain.

So what's it doing outside my head?

Attacking Shadows, usually.

...

You know, I've never seen someone's Persona stick around outside their heads when they weren't immediately attacking something. Are you sure there's not something wrong with your head?

[Sakurako turns to look at Maneki Neko, blinking a few times. As if on cue, it starts to fade away, the air around it shimmering lightly.]

Ah! Where'd he go?

Like watching a cartoon character realize there's no ground under him...

Well, I guess this means I can help people fight those Shadow things now!

Yaaaay.

Wanna team up sometime?

Yeah, you and Hello Kitty can run interference for me and the queen of the damned Valkyries. That seems like a sensible matchup.

Sounds pretty good to me!

[Asuka's face is going to get stuck like this, isn't it?]

[Probably. Since you two are clearly best friends now.]