ᯓ⭐ WEEK THREE MINGLE

Happy third week, lovebirds! Here's to hoping you're riding high on the wave of success of one whole pair being correct! Surely you must have an idea by now how to win this thing!

Probably?

The good news is that you're not going to have to find yourselves in any weird clothes this time around, except maybe that just leads to a strange sense of foreboding for a future scenario...? Who knows. You can't quite brace yourself for it this time.

But don't worry, it's not like there's nothing happening. On the contrary!

For the entirety of this week, you'll find yourself feeling... clingy. It's going to start feeling very strange if you're not leaning on someone, holding their hand, cuddling with them, sitting in their lap, stealing a kiss, or engaging in some other form of affectionate physical contact. And if it's someone you're already feeling fond of OR someone you actually can't stand, guess what?

That feeling is doubled!

You may realize this is an unusual feeling, but so what? Trying to ignore it is only going to make it feel stronger and do you really want to make yourselves feel miserable?

Shut up, masochists.

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That is something your match will have to contend with, yes.

[ It's a lot to take in. She takes a sip of her tea and lets the taste settle on her tongue for a few seconds. ]

I'm not sure I fully understand, though. How does one take control of reality?

[ Hm...how to explain it without overburdening the conversation with the technical jargon of cognitive psience? Even he himself had trouble understanding it at the time, but then again, he had only just awoken to his Persona. ]

Where I'm from, the will of the masses had coalesced into a...physical space in an alternate dimension, more or less. Not quite a different reality, but not quite our own. In essence, I was able to harness the willpower in my own heart to take control of that collective unconscious and enact a change of heart on those under its influence.

[ A shake of his head. ]

I know it doesn't excuse what I did, but I really only wanted to help people, in the end.

[ It reminds Yukong at least somewhat of what Fu Xuan can do with the Matrix of Prescience, creating spaces within the mind to relive memories or even try to reconstruct them. It's not quite the same, but close enough that she can somewhat follow Maruki's explanation. ]

In other words, you erased everyone's pain and suffering with one foul swoop. But that, of course, also takes away with free will, their personalities, everything that makes them who they are.

[ Perhaps a bit too quickly, reflexive— ]

Not quite everything. They were still recognizable as themselves, but...no, I shouldn't excuse it. It wasn't right of me to try to force people to live happier lives. Life is...complex, and I had forgotten how to recognize the beauty in that complexity.

It doesn't matter what my intentions were. I realize that, now.

[ It was a lesson hard learned, one that had nearly broken him, that had robbed him of his will to live, but...he's not that man anymore. ]

Recognizable as themselves, but we are made up of both the good and the bad, no? One means nothing without the other.

[ As much as Yukong hates to admit it, that is the truth of life, and if it was only happiness and good times always, would there even be any purpose to it all?

Such a simple existence is hardly an existence at all. ]

... I realize that you thought you were doing the right thing, that you only wanted to remove people's pain as a kindness to them. What made you realize the error of your ways?

[ That is the truth of life, and it wouldn't be quite right to say he had to learn that, so much as...he had to remember it. He had to face that within himself, because in the end, he'd just been running away from his own pain, his own sorrow.

But he too can embrace happiness even in the face of loss. ]

A group of former students I had counseled, actually. They were able to reach me, even when I didn't deserve to be reached out to.

[ ...After beating his ass into the ground, as is the JRPG way. ]

... I'm relieved that they were able to get through to you.

[ Yukong speaks softly. She means it; she's glad that he wasn't already too far gone, that he was still able to come back to himself. ]

Was one of them the boy I saw, in your memory?

[ Despite everything, he's glad, too. Even if he's still figuring out what he even wants from his life now, he's still glad to have the chance to make that choice at all.

A nod, his smile fond. ]

That's right. He was their leader, in fact. Our bond is really what saved me, in the end.

You were lucky to have them, in that case.

[ Perhaps without that bond, they wouldn't have even given him the choice to find redemption after what he did. He should be grateful that they chose to spare him, she thinks.

A pause, and then she shuts her eyes for a moment. ]

I imagine this was hard to share, but I think it's for the best that you did.

WEEK THREE MINGLE

ᯓ⭐ WEEK THREE MINGLE

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