Episode 20 Summary - Memories

In a world filled with a bright soft light around him, Jun walks towards a building that resembled his home. Entering, he walks into the living room and finds his older brother Ryo sleeping soundly on the sofa. Happy to see his brother again, he slowly reaches out his hand to wake him but a flash of painful memories force him to back off.

Back in the real world at the dorm, Shin was informing Akihiko about their encounters with Ayane and how the Whale's feathers were being scattered. At a glance, it appeared to be an ordinary feather but after analysis, they found it was composed of an unknown material. Shin continues about how they they are described in the "Feathers of a Whale" picture book that their parents wrote and how it was a lucky charm for their sister Yuki.

Akihiko also reports back what he has found out so far too. He had managed to get a hold some photos of Kyujo from President Hiragi to confirm whether Kyujo was someone he knew or not. Loading up the picture, Shin immediately recognised the young red haired girl that was next to Kyujo. She was Ayane Komatsubara, Kyujo's only daughter. Kyujo has once been a famed neuro and psychiatric doctor who had used her as an experiment to fuse multiple Personas together just like he was doing now with the Marebito.

Both Takuro and Megumi were shocked to hear Kyujo had did such a terrible thing. Shin asks if the girl they saw could be the same person but, Akihiko couldn't answer him. All he knew that from the sponsors group he met ten years ago was that she disappeared and that her whereabouts were still unknown. This made Shin think back to what she had told them.

Akihiko explains that Persona was a power that can take over its user and knowing that, a certain group is trying to make use of that fact. That is what Akihiko, Ryo and Inui has been working so hard trying to put a stop to together so far. By involving Shin and his friends, he hopes he can end it all once and for all.

Megumi begins to think that all the mysterious happenings around Ayanagi and Toyama are related to these experiments and Akihiko replies that it's possible. Perhaps the mass outbreak of Apathy Syndrome ten years ago may have been related to them too. For now, they must aim to retrieve those multiple Personas from the Marebito and disperse their organisation once and for all. Akihiko has prepared some simulations to train Shin and the others to face them. In the meantime, he also wants permission to search the Kanzato residence so that he can learn more about the family.

Leaving the dorm out of earshot from the others, Kunio asks Akihiko how he felt about the plans they currently had. Akihiko replies it would be a lie if he didn't have a single bit of hesitance but he had to explain to Shin and the others clearly about their situation. There was no other way. The Marebito were already too far into their plans. Kunio agrees and says that he will help in every way he can. It remarks that it must be tough for Akihiko to take Ryo's place in all this and hopes everything will end well and his superiors won't find out soon.

Later that evening, Saki was sitting in the car with Udou. He asks her how she had felt when Shin destroyed the Persona she had. When Udou hears it was as if she was freed, he suggests asking Shin to free them all but Saki says no. They would never be forgiven if they tried such a thing. They will just have to carry on the duties they have been given by Kyujo. Fudou tries again to convince her, saying that they don't know when Kyujo will awaken again if ever. However, this still failed to change Saki's mind who believed in Kyujo's goal and did not want her dear Touma's sacrifice going to waste.

The next day, Jun sent Shin a message in the middle of class to invite him out. He laughs when he finds out Shin had trouble making up an excuse to leave school. Shin was actually a bit mad being called out like this but Jun thought it was fine now and then. Before Shin could ask his brother why he was acting so odd lately, Jun walks off quickly with a smile.

The two brothers walk off to get some crepe before taking a walk together. White feathers were scattered everywhere and it was clearly bothering Shin. When Jun finally stops by a shop window and gazes admiringly at the white wedding dress, Shin realised their sister Yuki's personality that had taken over. He asks her if she was alone and what happened to Jun. For a moment, Yuki jokes that Jun had disappeared and didn't know where he was.

However, afterwards she lets Shin know that both she and Jun had wanted to be alone, separated as individuals but had never really thought about it. She feels that Jun was probably meeting with their older brother Ryo now and when she sees the concerned look on Shin's face, she comforts him by saying Jun will be able to return. Together they walk off again, unaware Fudou and Saki were tailing them.

Yuki and Shin end up going back the same way they came but Yuki didn't mind. She just wanted to spend some time wandering about together.

At the same time, Kanaru was dropping by Shin's room. She knocks on the door but finds it unlocked. Slowly opening the door, she starts speaking without looking in. She asks how Shin was feeling and tells him that she brought some leeks because she had heard they were good for colds. It wasn't long before noticed no one was inside. She looks about puzzled and suddenly a strange dizziness comes across her.

Later that evening, Shin and Jun are sitting down for something to eat. Yuki thinks back to the time Jun had to undergo an operation and remembers that Komatsubara was the same person who had saved them ten years ago. Hearing this, Shin can't help but think he's the only fortunate one out of them all because he hadn't been troubled by anything. Yuki tries to comfort Shin but stops when she sees the man they had noticed earlier was still waiting by the clock. They both then realise there were two similar looking clocks and that there was a woman waiting at they other clock. Immediately, they decide to take him to where his girlfriend was waiting.

As they helped the couple together, Yuki thinks about how she and Jun has managed to live all this time. It was because they had become one together and Shin had accepted the fact that Yuki lives on inside Jun. Just before she leaves to do what she must, she embraces Shin and tells him how much she loved her brother.

Arriving back near the Kanzato residence, Yuki calls out to Ayane asking her to return Jun. Without Jun, Yuki can't summon their Persona and won't be able to ease the Marebito's pain. She continues to call out Ayane's name but she is no where to be seen. Just then, Jun's phone rings. It was Megumi inviting him out for a chat. Yuki accepts wanting to spend a little more time in the world before returning back to normal.

Meanwhile, Akihiko was searching Ryo's room while Kunio was looking through the rest of the house. As he talked to Tomohiro, he accidentally knocks over a pile of boxes and ends up breaking something. Tomohiro laughs, saying how it felt like they had gained Ryo's trust whenever he sees Akihiko and Kunio working together. Perhaps Ryo had wanted to entrust them with the classified information too.

Soon, Shin had also dropped by his own house and found Akihiko inside his room looking at his models. Akihiko apologises for the intrusion and reports that he found nothing in Ryo's room. There was nothing there as if he had cleaned it out before his disappearance even though he didn't. Taking one of Shin's model, Akihiko praises Shin for his craftsmanship. He then goes onto say how Shin and Ryo were very different and how Ryo had been one step ahead of them even though they all had the same goal. He doesn't know what Ryo had foreseen but he was sure he was now at the place that he had wished for.

Akihiko takes out a photo of young Ayane together with her father Kyujo and the rest of the scientists who had been involved on Persona research. He explains they had broken away from the main organisation to start their own research long ago. Looking closer, Shin recognised two of them were his parents much to his surprise. Akihiko explains that they were researchers before they had switched careers to become artists. Ryo had never told them about it but Akihiko believes that this maybe why Ryo had such a strong sense of duty to rectify what had been done wrong. And not only that, perhaps he was trying to hide something dangerous too.

Furthermore, Akihiko believes that Ryo must have faced Kyujo alone half a year ago, the researcher who had fused himself with Personas. If Ayane's words were to be trusted then, Ryo must surely be "by the Whale's side" now somewhere.

Returning downstairs, they find Kunio trying to piece together the broken pieces he had knocked over. Shin says it was all right because it appeared to have been shattered in the first place but, Kunio had almost put it back together again. As he put the final pieces together, he tells Shin that he too had a copy of the "Feathers of a Whale" book in his home long ago. His daughter really liked it for some reason and after reading over it again, Kunio had a strange mysterious feeling from it. To those who were lonely, it really was a nice book. Afterwards, Kunio shows them the figure he had put back together but it wasn't anything that Shin had seen before.

Back in the other world, Ryo was lying with his head on a desk in their parent's studio. When he sees Jun entering, he asks if he was alone and Jun nods. Suddenly, Jun was in tears as he remembers the memories that he had seen on Ryo's mind.

Meanwhile, Yuki's little meeting with Megumi and her friends was over. On her way home, she spots Kanaru a bit lost again but greets her normally. At first she uses "atashi (the way girls say "I")" but quickly changes back to "boku (the way young boys say "I"). Yuki teases Kanaru about how she must have wanted to see Shin again and reveals that everyone already knew what feelings she had for Shin. Only Shin didn't know. Just as Yuki was about to talk about how Mayuri has her guard up against people, she turns up before them.

Mayuri offers to drive Yuki home but Yuki tells her that she could no longer summon her Persona. Ignoring Yuki, Mayuri tells Kanaru to come along too for her very last job. She says something about reaching the end of the game they used to play together at school and then whispers something else into Kanaru's ear that causes her to pass out. Yuki cries out as Mayuri puts her into the car. Tomohiro immediately rushes out to see if Kanaru was all right but stands in horror when she summons her Persona.

Next episode, "The Remaining Time"

Having kidnapped Jun, the Marebito try to use his Persona to to surpass their limits so that they can stablise their merged multiple Personas. Meanwhile, Shin meets President Hiragi who was once linked to Persona research and from him, learns about the truth that only Ryo knew about their parents.

Thoughts

So Ryo is with the Whale... I don't think he'll be able to come back alive with the state his body's probably in by now although Jun will still be able to return. I wonder how the Marebito will be able to accomplish their goal when Jun (or should I say Yuki?) can't summon their Persona now?

On the other hand, I was right the Kanzato brother's parents were involved in the Persona research. I think they must have wrote the "Feathers of a Whale" book to describe what they were trying to achieve before they withdrew because they found it was more than they could handle.

Also, the operation that Jun underwent was probably one of Kyujo's experiments to merge multiple Personas together. I think that's the main reason why his records are sealed away. Seemed to have turned out fairly successful with the Persona they ended up with and being able to sooth others like that.