Chapter Text
2006 - METAVERSE
Jose could hear a strange noise.
He lifted his head from where he had it half-buried into his cart, pausing to listen past the rasping wind of this growing cognitive space. Mementos was still quite new; a tiny little puddle of human cognitive thought that was rapidly swelling into a lake, so strange noises weren’t actually, well, strange. Things shifted or spawned in response to the large influx of emotions and thoughts filling it up.
But this was different.
Jose hummed and ambled away from his cart. It wasn’t far, just around the tight bend he parked next to. He peered cautiously around it - because new or not, Mementos still had Shadows, and they were ornery on a good day - and blinked when he saw a shape- no, someone, curled up on the railway tracks, sniffling and hiccuping.
Was that… a human?
A very small human - not that much bigger than Jose, from the looks of it! He was intrigued and concerned. This was no place for a small human, he was sure.
He doubled back for his cart, let the engine purr awake, and for once exerted restraint in driving it. He trundled slowly around the sharp bend, pulling to a stop next to the possible human who was now standing up and looking very alarmed, if he was reading those wide-eyes and that pale face correctly.
Jose was still new himself, and still learning much about humans - but he knew enough to put a friendly foot forwards.
“Hello!” Jose greeted, climbing out of his cart. The small human took a wary step backwards, “I’m Jose. Are you a human?”
The small human blinked several times at him, tightly gripping their bag straps. Their hair was messy and down their shoulders, not at all hard and pale like Jose’s own, their eyes were red-rimmed and damp, and one of their cheeks was dark and swollen - which probably wasn’t normal for a human. It looked painful.
Jose hummed when he didn’t get a reply - the human looked too confused or wary to do anything - and made a point of looking about himself. There was no obvious ‘hole’ that he could see where the human must’ve tumbled through. How strange.
“Are you lost?” Jose tried again.
That stirred the human out of their blank staring. Their expression shuttered, and they shifted their weight as if contemplating in bolting. Thankfully they didn’t, because Jose was worried the first hostile Shadow they’d run into would turn them into a red smear, and instead said, in a very quiet, scratchy voice; “No, I’m running away.”
Jose tilted his head, “Running away?”
The small human nodded solemnly, but their eyes were darting about. They were clearly lost, even if they were ‘running away’.
Jose thought for a moment. Mementos was no place for a small human, and he still wasn’t sure where this place linked up to the human world, so it was up to him to take this human to a place of safety, wasn’t it? It was also a chance for a learning experience! Jose was learning so much about humans in this place, true, but he had a real live human standing right in front of him! He could learn a lot.
“Well, this place is a little dangerous for a human to walk about in,” Jose said, and pointed at his cart, “How about I take you somewhere nicer? It’s aboveground!”
The small human wavered, visibly tempted, but something made them hold back. They gazed at Jose, assessing and wary, and Jose just smiled back at them, demonstrating absolutely no ill-will. Eventually, the small human nodded a fraction, something like relief in their eyes.
“Great! Climb on in- oh, let me move this, ahaha, sorry, it’s a bit of a mess- there we go!”
The both of them now bundled into his cart, Jose let loose. The railway tracks thumped beneath his racing wheels, the wind whistled against his face, cold and losing that strained, screechy edge to it, and Jose made for the sky. Mementos was only a few floors deep, so it took very little time to drive his cart to the entrance.
“I’ll have to leave my cart here,” Jose says apologetically, climbing out the driver’s seat, “But we can walk the rest of the way- oh, are you okay?”
The small human nodded queasily as they climbed out of the cart on very shaky legs. Jose made a mental note that humans could actually go grey. Interesting!
“Let’s go!” Jose said, thinking a bit of fresh air and a walk would do the small human good. Reluctantly, the small human followed him up the stairs of Mementos, and into the dull, dreary world of the Metaverse. It, he supposed, was a mirror of the human world - but it looked so washed out! The sky was a dull, angry purple, the towering buildings a monotone grey that stretched impossibly high, and the wide, open space Mementos exited out into was unnervingly empty. It honestly spooked Jose.
The small human looked spooked too.
“Where is everyone?” the small human asked.
“You mean other humans?” Jose asked, “I think it’s just you - unless more fell in here. This is the Metaverse, so it’s usually only Shadows here.”
The small human just looked confused.
Jose got an idea. While not humans, Shadows were very good at imitating them - maybe he should bring the small human over to them! It might put them at ease. Nodding decisively at his decision, Jose put aside his usual reluctance to venture deeper into the Metaverse and strode confidently in a random direction. The small human scurried to keep up, almost treading on his heels.
“You, um,” the small human began, “You’re Jose?”
Jose beamed, “Yup!”
“...I’m Akechi,” the small human said, “Goro Akechi.”
“Nice to meet you- um, should I use Goro or Akechi? Or both?”
The small human, Goro, looked a little startled and shook their head - then nodded. It was very confusing, “Just- Goro’s fine. I guess. Um.”
Goro fell quiet. Jose hummed thoughtfully.
They hit one of the streets, and the first signs of life appeared at long last. Shadows ambled around - most were featureless, just the background concept of a crowd to give noise and movement to a well-known location. But a few looked like people, notably those manning the ‘shops’. Jose had curiously poked at them a few times, but the things they sold were very confusing. Their shops reflected the cognition of their customers, after all.
Goro looked overwhelmed. They were staring at the featureless crowd aimlessly moving around them, their eyebrows drawn together. They were clutching his bag straps so tight their knuckles were almost white.
“Those are Shadows,” Jose said helpfully, “They like imitating humans doing their thing. These are just ‘crowd Shadows’, though, so they’re mostly there for atmosphere… oh, this one’s a shopkeeper! They can talk, see!”
Goro’s visible bewilderment only deepened as Jose nudged them towards a shopkeeper Shadow. It was a tall lady, maybe too tall for a human, with a wide, plastic smile and bright golden eyes. Her apron was pink with a cheery bunny embroidered on the bottom corner, and her hands were clasped politely in front of her.
“Welcome!” the Shopkeeper Shadow trilled, “How may I help you today, valued customer?”
Goro froze, blinking rapidly.
“Oh my, what a terrible bruise!” the Shopkeeper Shadow continued, apparently not needing any input from Goro. She leaned down - Goro shrank back - and studied their face for a moment before nodding and straightening up. “I have just the thing to save a cute little face like that.”
She procured a small stone out of nowhere - a Life Stone - and held it out with a pleased trill of; “¥755, please.”
That jolted Goro out of his staring, and on automatic they patted at their coat’s pockets. Jose watched avidly, taking in this exchange as the small human paid for their purchase, completing an important social ritual when the Shopkeeper Shadow dropped the Life Stone into Goro’s waiting palm. She bid them good day, and Goro quickly walked away to put some distance between them.
“What did I buy?” Goro asked, sounding hopelessly lost, “Jose?”
“A Life Stone,” Jose said, keeping to himself that Goro paid far too much for something that you could practically find on the ground, “It can heal injuries. Let me show you.”
Jose took the stone and held it close to Goro’s bruised cheek. The stone flashed then melted into fine dust that sprinkled over the injury, and slowly the swelling and bruising went down until Goro’s cheek was only faintly pink. Not completely healed, but enough that it shouldn’t hurt as much anymore.
“See!” Jose said cheerfully.
Goro touched their cheek in wonder, and for the first time that dark, wary look in their eyes gave way to wonder. They looked about themselves in heightened interest, then focused on Jose again as they asked in a hushed voice, “Are- are you spirits?”
Jose tilted his head. Well, in a manner of speaking… “Um, yes? Kind of?”
Goro seemed quite pleased to be amongst spirits for some reason. Or maybe relieved. Jose was a bit confused, but he was just happy that Goro didn’t seem so glum anymore. It looked like his decision to take Goro out for a walk in the Metaverse was a good idea. Maybe showing them more would make them happier?
“There’s more to see,” Jose said, and gestured for Goro to follow. The small human did so happily, “And some stuff to warn you about if you’re going to stay. Are you staying?”
“Yes,” Goro said with such vehemence it startled Jose. There was a hard look in the small human’s eyes, a deep, bitter darkness that left Jose curious. What could have happened to chase a human into this puddle of human cognition and not wish to return to their real home…?
Well, Jose had time to figure it out, he supposed. For now, he’ll help them out. It was sure to be a good learning experience!
2016 - METAVERSE
“WE’VE FOUND YOU, INMATE!”
Goro almost jolted out of the tree he had been resting in, scrambling comically before catching himself at the last minute. Bright red and pink leaves fluttered free and flew away as butterflies as he poked his head out of his hiding space with well-experienced wariness.
“Ah,” he said when he spotted a snarling Caroline prowling the base of his tree like a hungry predator, “Good morning, Caroline.”
“It’s the afternoon!” Caroline raged, smacking her baton against the tree, “And you’re LATE!”
“By two years, two months and two days,” the softer voice of Justine piped up. Goro shifted his gaze to see Justine loitering near the gate of the garden, clutching that thick tome he had come to fear more than Caroline’s flailing baton, “This avoidance of your rehabilitation will only serve to extend your sentence, Inmate.”
“Hmph!” Caroline whacked the tree one more time and glared up at Goro with her hands on her hips, “It’s inconsiderate, is what it is! Me and Justine are very busy-”
Goro snorted in disbelief.
“-and we have a new prisoner to worry about too!” Caroline brandished her baton, “We can’t waste time chasing you down for much longer, Inmate!”
Goro perked up at that, “Does that mean you’ll stop chasing m-”
“NEVER!”
Well, worth a shot.
“As I’ve told you two before, and will keep telling you,” Goro said loftily, “I have never committed a crime in my life. I’m innocent of all and any wrongdoing-”
Caroline made a noise like an over boiling tea kettle. Goro hid a grin - riling Caroline up never got old, even if his shins ached something fierce whenever she managed to get the jump on him. Despite having the body of a child, Caroline’s arm strength was terrifying to behold.
“Inmate,” Justine wandered over, hugging her tome to her chest as she gazed up at him imploringly, “Surely you are tired of evading us for so long? All we wish is to help you-”
Goro stopped listening. He heard this spiel from his bizarre stalkers multiple times over the past two years - which he only knew as Justine was very precise in telling him how many days it had been since he had first encountered them - and it was getting very tiring now. As much as he enjoyed the entertainment value of the comedic Caroline and Justine duo, it was beginning to get a little stale and obtrusive now.
He had been sleeping, damn it.
“Yes, well, I have things to do, places to be,” he drawled over whatever Justine had been saying, “It sounds like you have a new victim to harass, anyway. So, I better leave you to it-”
“DON’T YOU DARE RUN AWAY, INMATE, OR I’LL-!”
Goro leapt out of the tree and bolted before Caroline could finish screaming her threat. His two stalkers immediately pursued, but he had the advantage of longer legs and raw determination to not get locked up. He vaulted over the garden fence, landed in next door’s garden, dodged the Cerberus guard dog, and scurried up the drain pipe like a gecko. Once he was on the roof, he mapped his escape route leaping between buildings until he found a good spot to drop back down into ground level - a back alleyway leading towards the more populated areas.
He brushed himself off as he trotted at a languid pace into the featureless crowd of a main street - Shibuya, ah, he was near Mementos then - and let himself relax when he couldn’t hear Caroline’s dulcet tones. He had evaded them yet again.
The Shadows were sluggish today, the air humid and sticky hot. Goro took advantage of their grogginess to admire their wares - today, Shopkeeper Shadow was selling some interesting cold drinks and foods alongside some pretty gems. Goro had no use for gems, but sometimes they looked nice and could be used for negotiating with more even-tempered Shadows, so he bought a watermelon ice cream and a few choice stones of varying colours before moving on his way.
“Another busy day,” Goro mused to himself, pausing to admire his reflection in a nearby store front. His hair was getting too shaggy and long, reaching past his shoulders - he’ll have to ask Jose to cut it again, who, thankfully, had gotten very good at being a pseudo-hairdresser over the past few years. He raked his free hand through his hair, tugging a few leaves and twigs out of where they had gotten tangled. Yes, it’s definitely too long now.
He also hoped he will stop growing in body, too. Getting new clothes in this place was expensive, or required raiding Palaces which was always a mixed bag, and required Jose to use his cognitive magic to adjust them accordingly. Goro studied his face, noting the mature cut of his jaw and the lingering puppy fat in his cheeks, and wondered why he continued to grow up when Jose, Caroline and Justine remained the same.
It’s not fair, he grumbled, puffing his cheeks out at his reflection before turning away, they never have to worry about outgrowing their clothes.
He left the busy streets of Shibuya behind and strolled towards Mementos. He finished his ice cream by the time he reached the gloomy entrance and stealthily crept down them. The bright blue door was there, as per usual, radiating ill will, and Goro skirted it as much as possible. Luckily Caroline and Justine weren’t there - probably still looking for him back in the Metaverse.
He breathed much more easily once he was inside Mementos proper, and whistled idly to himself as he hunted down Jose.
He didn’t know why Jose hung out here to ‘learn about humans’ when the Metaverse did a good enough job imitating it, but he didn’t question it much. Personally Goro felt like Jose just enjoyed speeding around the twisting tunnels of Mementos - something he wouldn’t get away with topside, as the Police Shadows cracked down on traffic violations (something he had learned painfully when he had stolen a Shadow’s motorbike on an impulsive whim).
“Jose!” he called, his voice echoing down the cavernous tunnels of Mementos. A few shambling Shadows lifted their heads at his shout, but they were too groggy and slow-witted to react as he slipped past them. They were small fry anyway, barely worth his time to steamroll.
“Jose!” he called again, and perked when he heard a far away answer. He broke into a loping run, ducking and weaving past a few more Shadows and turning a sharp bend to find Jose nestled in a cosy looking deadend, his cart overburdened with bits and bobs he picked up inside Mementos, his little starry tarp stretched out for the day.
“Goro!” Jose greeted with a happy wave of his hand. He was sipping Flower Juice, something Goro had tried once - and only the once.
“I see you’ve found more flowers,” Goro noted.
“There’s been a lot of them recently,” Jose said agreeably, finishing his drink and letting the remains of the flowers disperse into the air, “And I found someone to help me!”
Goro tilted his head at that. The Shadows of Mementos demonstrated little interest in Jose and his flower-hunting quest - in fact, the Shadows of Mementos gave Goro the creeps, which was why he barely spent any time here. They were usually so depressed and apathetic, and if not that then they were always super pissed off about something. It was too much of a hassle to deal with.
“Really?” Goro asked curiously, “Who? It can’t be a Shadow.”
“Nope, it’s a Mister,” Jose said, hopping off his cart, “Hmm, in fact, he looks a little like you.”
Goro frowned. There was never anyone ‘like him’. He was a unique category amongst the shifting, morphing population of Shadows, and he wasn’t like Jose, or Caroline and Justine either - and he definitely wasn’t any of these humans the Shadows kept muttering about. They sounded positively monstrous and disgusting, which Goro wasn’t, no matter what Jose insisted.
But, another like him… as much as the thought of it rubbed him the wrong way, he was intrigued. Things had been getting boring recently
“What’s a Mister?” he pressed, “And like me? What does that mean? Stop being mysterious, Jose.”
“I’m not being mysterious,” Jose said, leaning over the edge of his cart and procuring a notepad and pen, “Look, I’ll draw him for you.”
Goro eagerly leaned in to watch - and groaned when he remembered too late that Jose’s artistic skills were, well…
“Ta da!” Jose held up his masterpiece, a mangled mess of lines and scribbles that arguably had four limbs and a set of eyes amongst a very… V-shaped face? Goro took the notepad and squinted at it, tilting his head this way and that to try and parse the visual puzzle. It looked… what the hell did it look like?
“He looks nothing like me!” Goro huffed in offence, brandishing the notepad about, “What the hell is this meant to be, anyways?! A walking potato!?”
“Don’t be so fussy,” Jose scolded, taking back his notepad and looking a little protective over it, “Mister isn’t a potato, he’s- hm, well, maybe I did draw him a little too short…”
Jose attempted a few more sketches - each one more deformed than the last - until Goro couldn’t take it anymore. He snatched the notepad and pencil off of Jose and curtly told him to describe ‘Mister’, sketching out an approximation of the mysterious person. His artistic skills were impeccable, must to his pride. The result of his labour was far superior and more enlightening than Jose’s earlier potatoman sketch.
“That’s him exactly!” Jose said proudly, tapping the edge of the paper, “Wow, Goro, you’re always so good at this.”
Goro preened, his ego suitably stroked, and took a moment to scrutinise the person he drew. He looked… like Goro, he could admit. The proportions were the same, and the hair was different, but he didn’t look like a Shadow. He was wearing a mask, though. That was a very Shadow thing to do.
“Why do you say he’s ‘like me’?” he asked quietly, “This could just be a very clever human-shaped Shadow. There are loads of them topside.”
“He uses Persona,” Jose said, “Just like you.”
And Shadows didn’t have Persona.
Goro mulled over this, taking this person in with new eyes. To encounter another entity like him in this strange world…
After all these years he had accepted that he was the only one, a unique concept within this sea of human cognition. But now that was proven false. Where has this mysterious ‘Mister’ been? Goro had roamed far and wide, to the very borders of the Metaverse where it swept sharply downwards into the Expanse (a forbidden zone, Jose had told him many years ago), and had never seen a hint of him. Had he been hiding in one of the many Palaces seeded throughout the Metaverse? Been trapped somewhere?
“He wasn’t the only one either,” Jose continued with his bombshell, “There were others too.”
“Tell me what they look like,” Goro ordered, and flipped to a new page in the notepad.
It wasn’t long until he had mugshots of these new interests. Jose had described them to the best of his ability - which was very good, as his memory recall was perfect - and even had names to attach to them! Mister was in fact ‘Joker’ (did that mean he was funny?), the slouching skull-faced one was ‘Skull’ (unimaginative), the female with the crimson bodysuit and tail was ‘Panther’ (didn’t panthers have black fur?), the lanky beanpole with a foxface was ‘Fox’ (unimaginative again) and finally, some bobble headed cat thing was ‘Morgana’ (pretty normal for the Metaverse).
“Joker, Skull, Panther, Fox and Morgana,” Goro murmured, scanning each face as he said their name, committing it to memory. He felt excited. This was very new! Something to finally shake up the monotonous rut his life had tumbled into after Caroline and Justine’s stalking became stale.
“They come round to help me collect flowers,” Jose said, easily sensing his interest, “Do you want me to call you when I see them next?”
“No, that’s okay. I’ll catch them when we cross paths,” Goro said, making a mental note to slip down into Mementos more frequently from now on, even if it meant dodging past that creepy blue door, “Thank you, Jose.”
“No problem.”
“Oh,” Goro abruptly remembered the reason for his visit. He folded up his drawings and stuffed them carelessly into his coat pocket before turning back to Jose, “I need another haircut.”
“Already?” Jose blinked, “But I didn’t cut it that long ago.”
“It keeps getting in my eyes,” Goro grumbled, puffing at his fringe pointedly. Irritated, he tugged at the goggles that hung around his neck - a present from Jose long ago that mimicked his own - and used it as a pseudo-headband, pushing his too-long fringe out of his face.
“I’ll go collect some flowers for you?” he offered, even though he found that an extremely boring chore. Jose taught him all about quid pro quo. It was the only way to convince him to do things, “And I’ll let you keep my hair when you cut it.”
Jose agreed easily to that, and Goro went skulking deeper into Mementos to pick flowers.
One flower-picking trip and a haircut later, Goro skirted past the creepy blue door of Mementos and stepped out under the dark, purple sky of the Metaverse. He also got tackled by a howling Caroline and was sent sprawling on the floor with the little beast latched around his legs like a demonic limpet.
“We’ve got you now, Inmate!” Caroline bellowed, “Justine! Cuff ‘im!”
“You little brats! Let go of me!” Goro spat, struggling like a snared wildcat when Justine swooped out of nowhere to grasp his wrist, an opened cuff glinting in her other hand. Despite their childish forms, they were superhumanly strong! Goro had no chance of wriggling free under his own strength!
“Please stop struggling,” Justine said tightly when Goro smacked her full on the face, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she tried to snap the cuff around his flailing arm, “We don’t wish to hurt you.”
“Well, I want to hurt you!” Goro snarled, managing to wrest one leg free to kick Caroline in the ribs. She hissed and bit his leg through his trousers. “OW! You fucking-! LOKI!”
“INMATE, DON’T YOU DARE-!”
Loki surged into being with a throaty roar and Justine wisely backed off as the Persona swooped down with a vengeance. Loki all but peeled Caroline off Goro's leg, snarling right back at her furious hissing - and promptly launched her back into Mementos like she was a baseball primed to explode.
“IIIIIIIINMAAAAAAAAAaaaaate…!”
“Caroline!” Justine gasped in horror.
Goro didn’t hang about to see the fallout of yeeting Caroline into the abyss. He scrambled to his feet and bolted like the hounds of hell were after him - which turned out to be true, because not a split-second later he heard Justine’s quietly furious voice say; “Fenrir!” followed by a bellowing roar and heavy paws thundering against concrete rapidly gaining on him.
That blasted tome of hers!
Goro reached the closest streetlight and promptly scrambled up it like a monkey, narrowly avoiding the Fenrir’s snapping jaws inches from his ass. He reached the top and peered down to see Justine calmly walking over to him, her face set like stone as her summoned Fenrir prowled a shark-like circle at the streetlight’s base.
“Inmate,” Justine said softly, “Come down.”
“No.”
“Inmate.”
Goro ignored her, eyeing the closest streetlight. He could reach it.
“Please stop resisting, Inmate.”
Goro jumped the gap.
With Justine patiently stalking him, her Fenrir in tow, Goro leapt from streetlight to streetlight until he reached the closest building. Like everything in the Metaverse, it loomed at a strange slant towards the purple sky, and he scaled it cautiously until he reached a balcony. He peered down to see that Caroline had rejoined them, furiously waving her baton and stomping her feet in a full blown tantrum.
“Nice try, stalkers!” he jeered, confident that he was now safe. Justine could summon a flying Persona, but the distance between them was too far. Her strange Persona summoning using the book had a miniscule range, thankfully, “Better luck next time!”
“WE’LL CATCH YOU ONE DAY, INMATE!” Caroline screamed up at him, and though she was too far away to see it clearly, Goro could clearly imagine her face scrunched up and crimson with overwhelming rage. It warmed his cold, shrivelled heart, “JUST YOU WAIT!”
“Like I haven’t heard that before,” Goro drawled, and promptly broke into the apartment attached to the balcony.
It was fairly standard for a Metaverse apartment. It had a main living area with a TV and an attached kitchenette, and two doors leading elsewhere. Goro curiously studied mysterious stains on the walls and floors, and how the windows rippled like there were bars trying to materialise there. A human-shaped Shadow was curled up on the floor, sobbing quietly. Goro could sense the first hints of a forming Palace - just the foundations, very loose and malleable.
The whole room gave him super bad vibes.
“Excuse me, coming through,” he said, gingerly toeing over the sobbing Shadow like it was a volatile landmine. The apartment door was locked, but it was nothing that a good kicking didn’t solve. He stepped out into a narrow hallway and grumbled when he found it sharply sweeping downwards like a ramp. Fucking Metaverse architecture.
He broke into the opposite apartment to avoid the suspicious pit the ramp-like hallway led into. The place was completely empty with the exception of a lone human-shaped Shadow staring blankly at an inert wall-mounted TV. Goro paused on his way to the window to curiously wave his hand in front of the human-shaped Shadow’s face. It didn’t so much as blink, its face slack with dull-eyed apathy.
This room also gave him super bad vibes.
Uneasy, Goro left the human-shaped Shadow alone and climbed out of the window where the fire escape was. He was encountering more and more Palace-to-bes in the Metaverse, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Palaces were fun to poke around in, but they were dangerous and annoying for a reason. He didn’t need two simultaneous Palaces trying to spill over into Shibuya High Street. He liked to hang out there!
“Humans need to stop being so shitty,” he grumbled under his breath as he climbed down the fire escape, keeping an eye out for his stalkers, “They’re spilling their negative vibes all over my home. Inconsiderate. Hmph.”
But that’s what humans did, he supposed: being inconsiderate, shitty assholes. He hadn’t yet seen a positive reflection of them here in the Metaverse, and despite Jose's optimism, he felt there was nothing worthwhile to learn about them. Who wanted to learn about such a selfish bunch of people like that? What was the point? Everything Goro heard and saw was just downright depressing.
“Ugh,” he grumbled once he was back on street level, quickly melting into the featureless crowd of Shadows, “What a day. They’re getting too persistent, those stalkers…”
Unlike everything else in the Metaverse, Goro was beholden to such mortal vices like ‘sleep’ and ‘eating’. That meant Caroline and Justine’s slow war of stalking attrition was wearing at him a little. He shoved his hand into his pocket and withdrew the pictures he created earlier, smoothing them out to study these strange creatures Jose had met. Maybe, if he made a deal with these people…
Safety in numbers, right? And maybe he can find out where they’ve been hiding all this time. It was rude to leave him all alone here if there were more like him out there.
what if they’re humans, though? A little voice whispered, humans are awful and scary.
This was true. Goro had vague memories of humans from Before: his mother, who had been the only Good Human. She had a bright smile, and brighter hair - everything else was fuzzy, but he was certain it was just as bright. Then she died because the other humans tormented her to death - something he never forgave them for - and Goro had been forced to live with evil strangers that had hurt him until he ran away.
Ran away to here, where there were no humans, only Shadows who reflected them, and Jose who was kind. They were strange and unpredictable, but Goro didn’t mind them. The human-shaped Shadows were dangerous, though. Goro didn’t like them, with all the horrible things they spewed and hissed and wailed. If they were a reflection of humanity as a whole then… yikes.
Goro’s wariness warred with his curiosity. Maybe he shouldn’t seek them out. Or maybe he should? Maybe just a peek. If he observed them from afar, then he could judge if they were safe to approach.
Decision made, Goro put away his pictures and lengthened his strides. He needed to find a home to break into for a well-deserved nap.