Is it 'real' or 'fake'? The outside world is exactly as I imagined, with no difference at all. It can't bring even a single shred of surprise.
During dinner, Mobius, inhabiting the body of an ELF, rested her chin on her hand. She sat in a familiar posture on a proportionally shrunken black briefcase flyer, casually flew into the Raiden residence, and approached her contractor, Ren Amamiya.
Although Mobius was complaining in a lazy tone, Ren could feel that she was undoubtedly in a very good mood.
To be able to truly appear in the real world, to fulfill a long-held wish, and to obtain the freedom she had dreamed of, it was impossible for Mobius not to feel a surge of emotion, to be curious and care about everything in the real world. She was just being stubborn. In reality, she was happier and more satisfied than anyone else.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so eager to separate from Ren the moment she returned to the real world, to measure this world with her own body, and only now return to Ren's side at the Raiden residence, still feeling like she hadn't had enough.
"Eating, are you? Get me one."
Mobius flicked the green hair that fell beside her ear. She noticed the scattered fast-food containers on the table. Looking at the huge, football-sized mega burger in Ren's hand, from which a few bites had been taken, a look of nostalgia appeared in her emerald green serpentine eyes. She shamelessly demanded it from Ren.
As a researcher who spent most of her time in the lab, Mobius was no stranger to fast food. Drinking compressed biscuits and energy bars was a regular occurrence for her. A cup of hot instant noodles was already an improvement. Fast food like burgers and fries was a delicacy.
It had been fifty-five thousand years since she had last tasted a real burger. Mobius swallowed lightly, and her gaze on the mega burger in Ren's hand became even more intense.
This wasn't the fake food made from data in the Elysian Realm, but a real, delicious treat that exuded an alluring aroma and just the right amount of heat. How could it not make Mobius, who had long been satisfied with filling her stomach with fake data, feel incredibly expectant and eager?
"Is this your ELF? The construction technology looks very good, and the AI is also perfect. It's almost like a real person, but its temper is a bit foul."
Looking at the Mobius doll floating in front of Ren, Tesla's eyes lit up. She quickly approached and scrutinized Mobius's small, exquisite body, which was purely a crystal of technology. The fervent, inquisitive gaze, unique to researchers, made Mobius feel very familiar, but when she was the one being stared at, she only felt intense discomfort.
"Back off, you rude person. I'm a real human. I just transferred my consciousness into this doll's body. I'm not some created AI."
A look of disgust appeared on Mobius's face. She pushed away Tesla's approaching face and then moved closer to Ren.
"Um... Miss Doll, if you want a burger too, do you need me to order one for you?"
Kiana frowned slightly. She racked her brains to silently compose her words, then showed Mobius a gentle and friendly smile and proactively made a suggestion.
Besides Ren's universe-class mega burger, everyone else had chosen normal-sized burgers.
Originally, with Kiana's appetite, she could have easily eaten a universe-class mega burger of the same size as Ren's. But to maintain her elegant and refined persona, she had ended up ordering two normal-sized burgers like Mei.
Thanks to her time spent wandering the globe in search of Siegfried, Kiana had once worked at a burger joint for a while and had almost been fed to the point of vomiting by the kind-hearted manager. She had developed a great restraint for fast food like burgers. She was able to eat elegantly and slowly under Mei's somewhat horrified gaze, instead of gobbling it down like a hungry ghost.
After seeing Mobius ask Ren for a burger, Kiana first glanced at Mobius's small doll body. She felt that such a tiny person couldn't eat much, at most just a taste. So Kiana volunteered to help Ren break off a piece for Mobius.
"My name is Mobius... Don't treat me like some pet cat or dog. I've made a contract with this guy and become his Persona. As a Persona who must fight for him, is it too much to ask for a whole burger that hasn't been contaminated by someone else's saliva?!"
Although Kiana's tone was as gentle as possible, her carefully chosen words still made a vein throb on Mobius's forehead... Break off a piece for me? Even if Kiana intended to break off a part that hadn't been bitten, Mobius still felt as if she had been humiliated like a stray cat or dog begging for food.
"Here, have this. I haven't touched the food inside."
Just as Mobius was getting angrier and angrier, a slender and powerful arm reached out from behind her and handed her a hot burger that was still in its wrapper.
"Thanks, Hua. It's so much easier talking to you."
Taking the unopened burger from Fu Hua, and feeling the warmth in her hand, the increasingly hot-headed Mobius could finally suppress the anger rising in her heart. She sighed tiredly and subconsciously thanked Fu Hua for helping her.
"...Mm, it's nothing."
Mobius's overly intimate address made Fu Hua's eyes widen in surprise. Her gaze darted back and forth between Mobius and Ren a few times. In the end, she chose to remain silent, merely nodding and giving a vague reply before turning to go back to her seat in the corner.
"—Huh? Wait, Hua, what are you doing here?!"
As she tore open the burger wrapper and brought the burger, which was almost as big as her doll body and which she hadn't seen in fifty thousand years, to her lips, Mobius's genius brain, which had been distracted, finally realized that something was wrong. She whipped her head around and looked at the extremely familiar figure with a look of seeing a ghost.
A long, gray ponytail that fell to her waist, a pair of dull and somber, turquoise eyes, a slender and well-proportioned yet explosively powerful body that had long since stopped growing, an existence so faint that it was easy to overlook, like a background character... Without a doubt, the person who had appeared before Mobius was not someone who just looked similar, but was undoubtedly one of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers, Hua herself!!
Ren wiped the sauce from his cheek and gave Mobius and Fu Hua a questioning look.
Mobius looked extremely shocked, staring at Fu Hua on the other side.
And Fu Hua, who was being stared at by Mobius, was silently biting her lip, her gaze shifting elsewhere. Ren saw in her the same guilt she had shown towards him, and a lowliness that she had never shown when she was alone with him... and even a sense of loneliness?
"Mobius, do you know Fu Hua? Could it be that you were also betrayed by her?"
From Mobius's and Fu Hua's expressions, it was clear that they were not strangers, and something had definitely happened between them. Ren raised an eyebrow and proactively asked Mobius.
Although Fu Hua was also a Persona user, the fact that her clothes did not change when she used her Persona power indicated that she had not awakened her Persona in the Mementos. Therefore, she should not know Mobius, a shadow from the deepest level of the Mementos.
However, when Ren posed this question, he was met with an incredibly surprised look from Mobius.
"You don't know?... I see. You haven't met Hua yet."
Mobius seemed to have suddenly understood something. She nodded slightly and seemed to relax a lot. She even began to slowly tear at the burger that was almost as big as she was, and answered Ren in a light tone.
"If you're asking if I know Hua, then of course I do. Hua should know me too, but from her expression now, it's clear that she's already forgotten all about me."
Faced with Mobius's seemingly emotionless and cold statement, Fu Hua slowly lowered her head, and the atmosphere around her became even more gloomy and dejected, but she did not deny Mobius's words.
"As for why Hua and I know each other... because Hua and I are good partners in the Elysian Realm~~~~"
Mobius, who was mercilessly tearing at her prey like a python, raised her head. A cold and evil smile appeared on her face, and a blood-like liquid slowly trickled down the corner of her mouth.
Although Mobius's expression was very intimidating at the moment, Kiana could not understand the deep meaning of her words at all. She could only stare at her expression.
The thought that Mobius was actually burying her face in a hamburger and getting ketchup all over it, yet putting on a cold and evil act, was so comical that Kiana couldn't suppress the smile on her face. She almost laughed out loud. Fortunately, everyone in the living room was focused on Mobius and Fu Hua, and no one noticed Kiana's little slip.
"You mean, the Elysian Realm?"
Ren frowned slightly. He seemed to have realized something, but he couldn't quite believe the faint guess in his heart.
"That's right. It seems you've already guessed some of it... In the Elysian Realm, there's another being who looks exactly like her, or to be more precise, is even more naive than her."
Mobius turned her back and, like a python devouring its prey, swallowed the burger in a few bites. When she turned around again, her stomach was only slightly bulging, which made Kiana's eyes widen in amazement.
"Could it be that Fu Hua is a shadow like you, who has gained a body and left the Elysian Realm Palace to walk in the real world?!"
Ren's gaze was completely locked on Fu Hua. If Fu Hua was also a shadow that had become a person, then the reason she could awaken her Persona power and not automatically change into a phantom thief outfit when she entered the Mementos would be clear.
However, when Ren stated his guess, a look of genuine confusion appeared on Fu Hua's face as she looked up, clearly not understanding what he was saying.
"That's not it. I, Mobius, am the only one who wanted to leave the Elysian Realm and succeeded. Hua's situation is a bit special... You should know that everyone in the Elysian Realm Palace has a counterpart in the real world, right? She is Hua's reflection in the real world, and also the source of Hua's existence in the Elysian Realm Palace."
Mobius absentmindedly took a napkin from the table. She casually wiped the corners of her mouth and face, and explained in more detail to Ren.
"In other words, although I know Hua, I only know the Hua in the Elysian Realm Palace. This Fu Hua who exists in the real world is not someone I'm familiar with."
"So, Fu Hua is not a shadow that has gained a body in the Elysian Realm Palace, but the legendary prototype that the shadow is based on?"
Ren gradually understood everything, but looking at Fu Hua's slender and thin figure, and thinking of her clumsy and honest nature, he found it hard to accept that she was the prototype of some mythological figure.
"Then the reason why Fu Hua has lost all her memories of you is because of my cognitive modification in the Elysian Realm Palace? Can a cognitive modification on a wild shadow also affect its legendary prototype in the real world?"
Based on Mobius's initial capture, she clearly thought that Fu Hua should still remember her. And Fu Hua's subsequent attitude also showed that she was aware of her memory loss.
Regarding Fu Hua's memories of Mobius, Ren subconsciously thought of his cognitive modification in the Elysian Realm Palace.
If Fu Hua was really some mythological figure, then it was very reasonable for her to be aware of her memory loss at the same time as she lost her memories.