A/N: This is the plot-heavy chapter that I've been slowly working on. The tonal difference between this chapter and its predecessor is implied, but I'm trying my best to be delicate with it. I apologize for that in advance if it comes off as jarring, I'm working to create smoother transitions, so bear with me! Each chapter has its own encapsulated theme, though I'm not sure how coherent I was in trying to imply that. I took some creative license with the Persona-Shadow concept, and I'll definitely expand on it some more in the future chapters (as plot naturally unfolds). Anyways, thanks for being patient with me, and I hope you enjoy this installment! Also, I'd like to give a warm shout out/special thanks to my beta reader, tumblr user andagainseeklove! I really couldn't have done it without you, and you were an enormous help in helping me solidify this! Thank you so much! Again, feedback is always appreciated. Please R&R!

Adachi wastes no time in roughly shoving Souji aside. The boy catches himself before he falls and looks just as disheveled as his "partner". Adachi's uneven breathing settles between the unspoken score between them, but it does little else. Souji's fixes his own grey eyes on the shaken Pierrot, and the latter wishes that he'd look elsewhere. Adachi's irises dilate; his mortified expression becomes static, and he's angry at himself for displaying vexation at all. He hisses a venomous "fuck you" in response to Souji's all-too-familiar smile. At this, the boy's lips form a thin line again; he's almost forgotten that his usual, borderline, sociopathic strategies were ineffective here. Still, he makes Tohru Adachi uncomfortable, and he realizes at the apex of this moment, that nobody else honestly could. Adachi's glare is enough to affirm this.

The detective briskly stands up and strides over to the entrance of his apartment, his mind as stormy as the literature purchased for him. He gives the doorknob a strong twist. A forceful push sends the door swinging, and outside, the wet tempest continues to pour. The diabolic weather, like the television world's fog, clouds the Pierrot's melancholy.

"Get out. The deal's off." Adachi snarls. If the little shit can come up with shit like...shit like this, Adachi doesn't want to doubt him for what else he's capable of. He swears mentally, but his eyes are cursing too. The crossdressing has nothing to do with it-Adachi doesn't give two shits about the hobbies that Dojima's nephew fancied himself with. The fact that Souji had explicitly tried to form contactwith him, however, upsets him. Souji Seta had learned nothing from their last encounter, and this above all, disappoints Adachi tremendously.

"Is it the costume?" says Souji quietly, his tone, to Adachi's surprise, convincingly apologetic. Adachi doesn't reply to the question, and for once, Souji can't assume anything. Slowly, the Fool regains his own composure, and gives Adachi the most self-incriminating look that the detective has ever received. Its sincerity never mattered; the fact that Souji had given it, however, did. The boy tentatively steps towards Adachi, who firmly stood his own ground by physically not retreating. No Adachi has ever shown weakness, and Tohru Adachi plans on retaining his family's honor-if he's had any honor inside him to start with. He grits his teeth visibly.

Rain pours onto a few inches of the carpet, and the draft outside begins rendering Adachi's heater ineffective. Yet, Souji does not make any sign to leave.

"Gomen, Adachi-san. I didn't want to make my presence uncomfortable for you."

"It's fucking weird. Why, for fuck's sake, would any normal person find that comforting?""

"Please don't take this as an offense, but neither of us are 'normal' people, I should say."

"Shut up.You don't know anything-"

"I know that you're alone here-I know that you have questions-"

"-about me. You don't know me. Nobody does; not Dojima. Not you. Get out."

His voice crawls to a hush, and Souji cannot, for once, decipher Adachi's emotional implications, even after his discovery of...of..."that". It's obvious that the detective is angry, but for what reason, the Fool can only guess. He picks his next words carefully, not exclusively because he's relying on them to stay here. Adachi, to some extent, needs them too. He convinces himself to see Tohru Adachi not as Tohru Adachi, but as anyone else. It was difficult, because primarily, Souji had always accepted Tohru Adachi as "the exception".

He'd have to compromise.

The rain outside was a tangible reality, and everything else that Souji knew, was simply the "Form" of an idea. He closes his eyes and opens them again. He needs to see Adachi Tohru as the same as everyone else. The man before him is Satonaka Chie, a self-conscious girl. He is Hanamura Yosuke, a self-conscious boy. He is Dojima Nanako, a burdened child. He is not Tohru Adachi, and therefore, Souji can speak to him differently. He can tell him about "that". He had been meaning to delicately reveal his secret to Adachi, rather, Adachi's secret to Adachi, but at this point, it cannot be helped. Souji knows that if he isn't aboveboard with his cards now, he'd never be able to be. It was a desperate gesture, but as a psychological gambler, Souji had become accustomed to taking risks. So he tries again, sidesteps, and minimizes the distance between himself and his "partner".

"You've grown used to building walls instead of bridges. This is a strategic time to build a bridge, even if you hate me."

He pauses.

"I know you have questions-Adachi-san, about your grandmother. About yourself. Doubt separates the Self from the Persona. I've been keeping track of Inaba's news. I'm not stupid enough to think that the murders stopped without reason."

The rain diminishes, the door creaks, and Adachi's hand falls to his side. He doesn't say anything, but to Souji, Adachi's silence is testament enough. Adachi turns so that he's facing away from Souji. The Pierrot feels more at ease this way.

After a pause, the door closes, and Souji breathes a small sigh of relief. Adachi's breathing is steady again, but Souji's conscious that the real tempest is premature.

Adachi's lips twitch. What comes next comes easy.

"And what's your conclusion?" he smirks, and gives Souji the same misogynistic leer that he gave to that fucking reporter. It's easier for him because the boy is in the guise of a woman. It's also harder for him because Souji's vestment is merely a costume, and nothing representative of his true self. Souji squats down beside Adachi, and leans back against the same wall. Exhaling, he finishes laying down his cards, and weariness washes over his blank features.

"My best guess?" asks Souji, quiet. He removes his wig.

"Yeah," answers Adachi, who really wishes he had a cigarette at this moment.

"You no longer resonated with your Persona. It became a shadow again."

A second silence falls in place.

"Yeah," affirms Adachi, and Souji smiles into his wrists.

He honestly didn't expect that to be the truth, but the evidence argued otherwise.

"Would you...Would you like me to tell you what I know?" Souji carefully says. "About your situation?"

Adachi gives him a sideways glance. "That I'm a liar? Go for it."

"Is it possible to 'lose' a Persona?"

Igor smiled at the question, and tilted his head to his assistant expectantly. The blonde woman, in response, gave Souji a sharp look before returning to her task. There was always something about this...this visitor in particular that bothered her. Whereas Elizabeth had been infatuated with her Fool, Margaret wanted little to do with her own. The eldest assistant flipped through her compendium, bookmarking an "Alice" and "Oberon" offhandedly. She gave Souji a fleeting glance before she conjured up an answer, as vague as it may be. Truthfully, she didn't like the question, not because it was unusual, but because it was asked dishonestly. There was always something about the Fool that Margaret didn't like, but she never openly exhibited her feelings. Perhaps that was why she made an effort in being monotonous towards him. Regardless, she shut her book and fulfilled her responsibility as a Velvet Room assistant.

"'Lose', no. Once attained, a Persona cannot be lost," she corrected. "Simply put, if its user doubts their Self, their Persona may come to doubt its authenticity and cease to be effective. It will return to its original state, and become a Shadow again."

Perplexed, Souji leaned back in his limousine chair. "And that results in...?" he breathed.

"A secondary shadow experience," comes her dulled reply, and Igor adds on.

"A 'secondary shadow experience' is different from a primary shadow encounter." Igor continued, burrowing his nose further behind his fingers. He grinned toothily. "It occurs when a Persona user subconsciously 'rejects' their Persona, because they doubt their accepted 'Self'. Their turmoil resurfaces, and if they cannot face it and accept it a second time, their Persona de-evolves into its original Shadow form."

"Mm. If that's true, why have my friends avoided these experiences?." Souji quizzed, brows furrowed.

Igor gave a small chuckle.

"Dear visitor," began the devilish manifestation, "all Personas need to be nourished. Your friends have your support, and your care for them fosters the strength of their Personas. It works both ways. Personas provide mutual support for each other through Social Links."

"If you lack Social Links, then your Persona cannot grow, and the likelihood that it will become a Shadow again may increase," Margaret explained. She clicked her nails. "We stress the importance of Social Links because ignoring them is detrimental. Social Links prevent Personas from reversing into Shadows."

Souji mulled over this with a slow nod.

He leaned forward, and slowly revealed the question that he'd been holding back. "Could... someone with a Persona-Turned-Shadow still enter the other world?"

Margaret gave him a hard look.

"No. They'd need someone with a Persona to bring them in."

"Mm... So if someone's Shadow self appeared in the other world again, it's likely that they can no longer enter the other world again on their own, and it's also likely that they cannot use their Persona?"

"Correct," Margaret hesitantly replied, not because she was unsure of her answer, but because the Fool's question was strange. The boy before him had asked nothing of the sort, if Elizabeth had truly told her as much about him as she'd claimed to. Still, her answer satisfied Souji, and when she looked up from her compendium again, he'd left the Velvet Room.

"A 'secondary shadow experience', huh?" says Adachi softly.

"That's what it is, Adachi-san," Souji agrees. "You doubted your actions after I let you go. I was still able to enter the television world while I was in Tokyo."

Adachi laughs.

"You do realize that I'm a police officer, and that lying to me would be breaking the law." he darkly answers, pressing his palms to the carpet. "There's no way you'd be able to find my Shadow if you entered the other world through a random TV in Tokyo."

"But I get it, like I got it two years ago." He grabs Souji by the forearm and tightens his grip until his knuckles go white. "You're still playing detective."

Souji winces and fails in brushing the detective off.

"No. It's like you said two years ago. I'm on your side. I'm on the killer's side. I understand what that means."

The Fool tries to chuckle off the Pierrot's suspicions. "Your Shadow found me. An important event in your life took place in Tokyo, didn't it?"

Adachi crumples slightly, though his gaze does not waver.

"How...much did he tell you?"

"Enough to be disappointed and interested in you. He seemed a lot more passionate about the killings than you during our last encounter-in the police station."

"And what do you want with me."

"I'm your accomplice; what you want is what I want. Do you want to continue? I can help you enter the television world again. If those murders were your long-term goal, then I underestimated you."

The silence, this time, feels shared. Adachi isn't sure whether Souji's reply warrants anything personal, but trusting him is a necessary risk. His eyes finally meets the younger Persona-user's, and they remain focused there.

"I want you to first get dressed. Get out of that thing." He gently says. "We'll talk after."

He purses his lips and swallows.

"You...You can stay."