Chained Trickster

Here's what Lala said to Sojiro about Arashi: https://fic.fan/readfic/6340-Chained-Trickster-Asides/10343

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Arashi took off the eye mask and sat up when his phone alarm went off. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, then looked over at Morgana. The cat was firmly asleep, seemingly unfazed by the alarm going off. But as he started to move around, Morgana woke up and stretched. “Oh, is it already time to get up?” Morgana asked, his voice slurred from the fact he was just waking up. “Yeah.” Arashi got dressed and ready for school, still despising the skirt and everything he wore. He really wanted to wear pants and shirts like plenty of other women but being hyper-feminine helped him stay safe and people were less likely to come after him or assume anything about him. He played the part and kept his head down. That was all that mattered. He headed downstairs with Morgana and sat at the counter, Morgana hopping up onto it. However, he blinked when he turned around and saw a… Well. They surelookedlike a woman, but something about them was off. They wore an overly lavish kimono (he wasn’t sure what type). He was just surprised to see someone in LeBlanc this early because Sakura didn’t open until after he left. He knew the hours by this point and couldn’t quite shake the feeling that this person wasn’t what they appeared. It was beyond strange to think Sakura had allowed somebody into his café earlier than his normal hours. Though even from here, the scent of cigarettes and alcohol floated off of them. Their bobbed purple hair definitely left a strong impression. He turned around and looked at Sakura, his eyebrows raised. “Oh, Honoka, I was expecting you, but I thought Lala would’ve left by now.” Sakura motioned between them. “Lala, this is my charge for the next year, Kurusu Honoka. Honoka, this is my associate, Lala Escargot. She runs the Crossroads bar in Shinjuku’s red-light district.” “Why are you here?” Arashi asked. He kept his voice low and soft, trying to not give away what he was. He was confused. Lala wore heavy makeup and some type of kimono. She was quite heavyset for a Japanese person… What kind of name was Lala Escargot anyway? It definitely wasn’t a Japanese one. It sounded like a name somebody would give to themselves as a showy type of name… A stage name. He had no idea who this person was. “Nice ta meetcha, honey.” That voice…was incredibly deep. Sakura was using she/her pronouns and the name Lala was feminine, but that wasdefinitelya male voice. He had no idea what to expect from this interaction. A bar…? Was that why she was here so early? Had she just gotten off work or something? He saw something in her eyes—some sort of recognition of something. He had no idea what it meant, but it almost felt like she was seeing through him. He shifted uncomfortably and leaned against the counter. He wanted to get out of here as soon as reasonably possible. He could definitely survive without a meal, but he could already smell that Sakura was cooking for him. “Um. Nice to meet you too. Why are you here so early?” He hoped that wasn’t too overbearing or personal. He just…wasn’t sure what to make of it. “I come here sometimes when I can’t sleep after work. Papa Grounds here lets me in even after hours.” Lala winked and he heard Sakura clear his throat. “Or before, in this case.” “We were having a good discussion about how things are going down at Crossroads,” Sakura said. Lala got up and walked over to the counter, bringing her cup of coffee and her meal with her. The scent of cigarettes and alcohol made Arashi’s eyes water to the point he wanted to get up. This close, it was impossible to ignore. Lala sat down at the other end of the counter, but that didn’t make it any better. “You might be interested in comin’ to Crossroads, love,” Lala said, looking at him directly. “Why…?” He looked at her, something inside of him quivering. He didn’t like this. He had defenses a mile high, but Lala could apparently see through them without much trouble. He still didn’t understand her. He really didn’t. That voice wasincrediblymasculine, yet she looked like a woman—if overembellished. He had never really forayed into makeup before, but evenhecould tell that Lala’s makeup was over the top. His head kept pinging with a million different observations and questions. He really had no idea what to do or how to interact with this person. “I think you know why.” Lala winked and got into her bag, then pulled out a business card. She offered it to him. He hesitated before taking it in both hands and bowing his upper body slightly. Even if he was beyond confused and terrified, there was no reason to be rude. Apparently she could see through him somehow… He knew exactlywhathe was, but nobody had picked up on it so easily before. He really didn’t want to out himself. Could she really see through him? Was it really that apparent he was trans? His mind continued to whirl around like a tornado and he felt panic rising in his chest. His breathing started to shallow and— Morgana jumped on his lap witheverybit of his weight, knocking Arashi off balance mentally. “What was that for?!” Seriously, what was Morgana doing?! “You were panicking.” He sighed. He couldn't exactly start having a conversation with his cat in front of a complete stranger; it’d look like madness. Still… It had cut off the panic attack. “When you got time, honey, feel free to come down to Crossroads.” Lala smiled at him again. Sakura and Lala started talking again about boring business details that didn’t interest him. Sakura gave him his meal and he ate as quickly as he could, then bolted from the building. He found his way onto the subway and made it to Shujin. He sat down at his desk, then looked at the business card. It was bright pink and flamboyant with the bar’s logo on the front, then Lala’s name and contact information on the front. The front had part of a slogan that continued on the back. “For the Ones Who Wear Two Names” on the front under the logo and “Where The Night Says Yes When The World Says No” on the back with Lala’s contact information. It had the address of the bar in Shinjuku as well. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to enter the red-light district by himself though… That soundeddangerouswhen he was so small and easily overpowered. He did have Arsene, but he wasn’t sure how well the Persona would work in the real world and not the Metaverse. “Whatcha got there, Kurusu?” Arashi startled a bit when he heard someone speak to him. It was just Takamaki, though. She sat in front of him, though leaned over her chair to look at him. “Oh, uh, a business card. Nothing important.” He slipped it into his desk. He really didn’t know what to make of the card. Why was it so flamboyant and what did the sayings mean? Those who wore two names… He technically did. Did it mean that? He just had no idea. The world saying no…? It didn’t make any sense to him. He was so confused by everything with Lala. His head still spun with a million questions, but he had to try to put them away in order to focus on school, Takamaki, and everything dealing with Kamoshida. Hehadto put all his questions related to Lala to the side and focus on what was more pressing and important. Takamaki nodded. “Did you want to pick up the origami at lunch today after we finish eating?” Ori—? Oh, right… She had been teaching him to make cranes. “Yeah, sure.” He just hoped she had enough discretion to not try to talk about the Kamoshida stuff while surrounded by other students. He was alreadyso tiredof dealing with Sakamoto and how he flew off the handle at everything. Arashi had his own anger issues, sure, but he knew how to tamp them down. Sakamoto just threweverythingoff whenever he felt it. It was sobeyondfrustrating to deal with. He wished he could just kick Sakamoto out, but he knew better than that. Sakamoto provided him with an additional body and help in the team. Arashi preferred to handle things alone, but he knew it wasn’t always possible to do everything on his own… He was still worried about Takamaki coming into the Palace with them without a Persona, but she hadjustas much of a goat in this race as Sakamoto did. He still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with her outside of Kamoshida wanting to molest her, but she clearly hated himjustas much as Sakamoto. She smiled at him. “Honestly, if you wanted to come over to my place at some point and see some of my more intricate creations, you could totally do that!” “Wouldn’t your parents be mad you brought someone over without permission?” Takamaki sighed. “It’s not like they’re home enough to hate it…” He winced. “I’m sorry.” So she was neglected by her parents just as he was… Well. It sounded like they at leastcaredto some degree, but his parents hadn’t even gonethatfar with him. They just tossed him out on the streets as soon as they learned he was afreak.He wasn’t so sure about her parents but… Takamaki shrugged. “It is what it is. They have to travel a lot for business.” Apparently she was used to it… “It’s usually just me and the cleaner.” His heart went out to her, it really did. He knew what it was like to not have parents that cared in the slightest. His had completely abandoned him when he told them he thought he wasn’t a girl. He really felt bad that her parents weren’t home a lot… There did seem to besomesort of care there because they at least hadn’t tossed her out on the streets, but it wasn’t like that was a high bar to clear… “I’m sorry.” She shrugged. “Like I said, it is what it is. They do love me and think they’re doing the best for me they can but…” She looked down. No matter what she said, it clearly still bothered her. It was hard to believe there was love there if they were just abandoning her like that. He had once known love from his parents, but it was pretty much a faint memory now. All he knew was the hostility and emptiness that came from having lived on the streets and being forced to live by himself as well as sneaking into the house that heshouldhave been living in. His heart really did go out to her. A teacher entered the classroom and Takamaki turned around to pay attention. Classes were relatively stagnant and boring, though Arashi was struggling to keep up. He hadn’t had a consistent education until now, so he really had no idea what most of this stuff was. He took notes furiously but he had a lot of questions and question marks in his writing. He left gaps in his notebooks where he could fill things in later on. He really needed a tutor, but he doubted Sakamoto or Takamaki could catch him up to where he needed to be. And he doubted Sakura could really pay to have a private tutor for him. He was doing his best, but he justdid nothave the knowledge necessary in order to keep up. He really just wanted to be a good student, but that was pretty much impossible with how far behind he was. By time lunch rolled around, he had his head on his desk, holding it. He was struggling so badly. He could do so much on his own, but something this wasn’t what he was capable of by himself. “Hey, Kurusu, what’s wrong?” Takamaki’s voice was quiet and gentle. “You’re clearly upset, so what’s wrong?” He sighed and looked up. There was no point in beating around the bush. He showed her his notebook which had large swaths of blank space for his questions. “I’m struggling and need a tutor.” At least it was early enough in the school year that he could find a tutor that could hopefully catch him up. He could barely read a lot of the kanji because he was so far behind. He had known he struggled, but seeing the past several days… Well. It was now apparent justhowfar behind he was. He could read hiragana and katakana just fine since he’d learned those before getting punted onto the streets. Some kanji, but he was just… He was struggling. Takamaki brightened. “Actually, I think I know who would be perfect for you! We can go eat then see if we can find her.” Arashi tilted his head but nodded. He ate as quickly as he could, then followed Takamaki to the floor for the third years. They went to the student council room which had an ominous feel to it. He wasn’t trying to attract the ire of the student council. This was really thelastplace he wanted to be because it would put him directly into the line of fire with Principal Jabba. Hedid notwant to end up in a bad place because he was dealing with Jabba’s lapdog. A girl with short, brown hair and a braid going over top of her head sat and talked to some other students, but she blinked and looked over as he and Takamaki approached. “Excuse me, do you have a meeting with us?” The brown-haired girl’s voice was polite but professional. “No, I don’t, but we have someone that needs help, Niijima-senpai.” Takamaki motioned to him. “This is Kurusu Honoka. She’s the new transfer student.” A murmur arose in the students nearby. “The juvenile delinquent…?” He could see the question in her face that Sakamoto and Takamaki had asked to his face. But she seemed too polite to want to ask it herself. “What does she need help with?” Rage boiled inside of him and he wouldn’t be surprised if his eyes flashed the dangerous yellow that came with suppressing Arsene. Niijima’s eyebrows shot up and she pursed her lips. Damn it, she’d caught that apparently. Takamaki nudged him forward, though. “Um, hello, Niijima-senpai was it?” He kept his tone soft and averted his gaze a bit. The less forward he was, the better. Hehadto keep his head down. If anybody clocked him for what he was, he knew he was in danger. Nobody could know how he identified. He’d only get treated horribly. There wasn’t anything he could do about it if they decided to out him to the entire student body… Takemi-sensei knew, but that was as far as it went. Though Lala seemed to have picked up on it somehow… “Yes, I’m Niijima Makoto, student council president. What do you need, Kurusu-san?” “I haven’t had the best education up until now, due to being out in a very small, rural village. I need help with general knowledge and especially kanji.” He didn’t want to say much more than that, really. Plus, it was just pretty objective that smaller towns tended to not have the best education compared to somewhere like Tokyo. There was more to the story than that, but he just wanted it to seem like the quality of education hadn’t been great and that was all. He wasn’t entirely certain that would fly, but he hoped she wouldn’t press any further than that. But hereallydid need the help as well… “You need help with kanji? I have some potentially unorthodox methods that could help with that, depending how well you learn with movement. As for general knowledge, well, I can also help you with that. Can you show me your notebook?” He hesitated before taking it out of his backpack. He showed it to her and she flipped through it. It was more written in hiragana than kanji due to his lack of knowledge on the subject. Movement learning though…? That was a thing? He had no idea. It was weird to think that someone would be able to teach like that… But if it helped him, he wouldn’t complain by any means. “Hm… There are a lot of gaps here. You clearly didn’t have a good education.” She snapped the notebook shut, then handed it back over to him. “I am very busy due to being a third-year and student council president, but I could probably tutor you for maybe an hour each day after school. You’ll still have to put in work on your own, of course, and don’t expect me to go easy on you.” Arashi shook his head, keeping his gaze down. “No, of course not, Niijima-senpai. I’ll put in the work to the best of my ability.” He wasn’t lying there; hewouldput in the work. Plus, it didn’t help that Shujin was a private school versus the public schools in his small village. The school was much more rigorous than what he was used to. He was doing his absolute best to deal with this, but he was definitely behind… His parents tossing him out on the streets at such a young age had had a massively detrimental effect that would probably ripple through the rest of his life. Hewaswilling to put the work in to graduate. He really was. He justneededhelp…even though it was difficult to ask for said help. Niijima nodded and smiled. “All right then. We can start meeting today after classes let out. Though I will have to cut our sessions short on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have aikido after school.” His eyebrows raised a bit. Aikido…? This polite, mannered girl? Then again, people always wore some kind of mask in his experience. He was still surprised that Takamaki was so kind despite what Kamoshida was doing to her… He just had no idea what to expect out of Niijima now. There was more going on with her than he knew. Probably the same with Takamaki. He focused for a moment and tried to see if he could pull up anything on her. He felt an energy from her, but that was all he could get. That and there was a heaviness and weight to her. Something was clearly holding her down, but he had no idea what it was. He couldn’t ask her about it, either, since they had just met. It would becreepyto have someone ask about one’s issues and roadblocks. He just didn’t have the ability to parse out Arcana from people yet. He wouldreallyneed Morgana’s help on that. It would takea lotof time in order to figure out what people’s Arcanas were. At least he had gotten that far on his own… “So it’ll have to be a short session today then?” he asked. Niijima nodded. “Yes, it will be. If you wanted, I might be able to find another third-year to help with your studies. There are a lot of bright third years here.” Arashi nodded. “That would probably be good…” Plus, learning from different people would teach him different things. Everyone had a different way of handling things. One person might struggle in one area while another would excel in it. He really did need to getwhateverhelp he could at the moment. It was still within his first week of starting, so he hadplentyof time to catch up. He would definitely need to put time in on his own, but for right now, starting with people who were already caught up and evenaheadof him would be good. Then again, probably pretty mucheveryonein his grade was ahead of him. He didn’t want to be behind… Hewantedto be a good student. Life had just tossed him a shitty hand of cards… He fiddled with his pocket where his Tarot deck sat. Niijima looked at him. “What do you have there?” “N-Nothing! Nothing important!” he said, his voice cracking and becoming even more girlish and high than it’d been before. “That looks like a drawstring Tarot bag.” He blinked. “You…know about Tarot?” That was…unexpected. She was into aikido and the mystical nonsense of the Tarot? Well, for him, it was a practical skill. He needed to learn the Tarot so that way he could identify people and their Arcana. But most people just used it for mystical nonsense from what Morgana had explained. Divination… It was all a bunch of bullshit. Fate was cruel but nothing was set in stone. He still had no real idea what Igor was going on about when it came to ‘ruin’ and ‘rehabilitation,’ though. It wasn’t ominous in theslightest.He needed to interrogate Igor at some point, but those two damn loli wardens kept him from asking any questions. He just wantedanswersand being in a jail cell only aggravated him even further. Niijima nodded. “I’ve been studying for years. I have two decks: the Universal Fantasy Tarot and the Ghosts & Spirits Tarot. The latter is my favorite, but it is a bit macabre, so I tend to use the Universal Fantasy Tarot for most people. It is a silly thing, yes, but it can be fun.” “Well, I’m learning… Maybe you could help me sometimes?” He averted his gaze again, his hand resting in his pocket. “Why don’t you give me your number and we can talk over text?” “Okay.” They exchanged numbers but she looked at him. “What deck did you get? I’m curious. There are thousands out there, but still.” “Um…” He walked over and slipped the deck out of his pocket, then showed her the artwork. “It’s the Chrysalis Tarot.” “Oh, that’s alovelydeck. I’ll have to show you my two decks at some point.” She smiled. “Anyway, I do have a lot to do…” He could tell he was dismissed, so he withdrew from the room, deck still in hand. He put it back into the deck bag, then slid the small package back into his pocket. “Wow, I never would’ve guessed that Niijima-senpai was into Tarot. Or you. Why are you into it?” “I’ll…have to explain later. It has to do with you-know-what.” He looked around, not wanting anybody to overhear. Thankfully, Takamaki nodded and led the way back to their classroom. By time they got back, lunch was nearly over, so Arashi sighed. He had honestly been looking forward to trying to learn to do cranes, but thiswasmore pressing. Plus, it wasn’t like there wouldn’t be lunch tomorrow either. They would have plenty of time to go over the cranes while they ate lunch tomorrow. Oh, right. He texted Sakura to let him know he had a tutor and would be meeting with her after school. Good on ya, kid. I unfortunately wouldn’t have been able to afford a tutor for you, so glad you found someone. It’s okay to be late. You know the rules, though.Don’t get caught… He was definitely more than a little afraid of Niijima catching them now, but hedesperatelyneeded the help. He really did.Also if you want to go to Crossroads at some point, I’d suggest it. Lala will be able to help you.His heart froze in his chest. He had no idea what that meant. I’ll think about it.He had never been in a bar before and alcohol made him uneasy. He’d attempted to be assaulted by drunken menfartoo frequently. He would be walking into the lion’s den if he went to Shinjuku’s red-light district by himself.I wouldn’t be safe there. Couldn’t you bring your friend? Sakamoto?He frowned. That was definitely an option, but he still wasn’t confident that Sakamoto wouldn’t attempt to assault him once they were out and about. Fate was a cruel thing, but he might have to consult the cards first.I’ll think about it.He wasn’t sure if he would go to Crossroads at all, but having someone to protect him would definitely be helpful. Takamaki was fairly slender and he wasn’t sure how well she’d do in a protective role either. She could probably do more than he could, but still… He really didn’t want to be around drunken people by himself. He really needed someone to make sure he was safe. Arsene could be called on in this world, but he had no idea how it’d impact him on a physical level. But he also couldn’t risk hurting somebody again and getting his criminal record brought back up. If worse comes to worse, there are regulars at Crossroads. I could have Lala ask one of them to come pick you up. That…would be helpful.He really just needed somebody to escort him to and from. Especially with the hyperfemme clothing he wore and his size, he would attract the looks of men as they stumbled around the bars and went from place to place. He wasn’t sure if Lala would have a bouncer or not… He just… He didn’t know why Sakura was pressing on him to go to this place. He still wasn’t sure what to make of Lala in general. She definitely didn’t have a feminine appearance, physically and in her voice, but she acted and dressed like a woman. He had no idea what was going on there. I think I’ll just contact her and see if she has anyone that can escort you. That’s probably better. Probably.The class started to shuffle around and get together which meant lunch was ending. He put his phone on silent and paid attention as best he could, though him behind was definitely impacting his ability to keep up…