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~Shinpachi Saito, Master of the Dark Persona~

"I don't think Ishimaru's as bad as all that." Saitou retorted, thinking about their new teammate. He wasn't exactly a member of the gang yet, because he'd neither adapted to the people around him, nor had he experienced the...bonding...the rest had gone through at the end of the Iwadate era, but that didn't mean he couldn't come to stand beside them as an equal. "It's just like the old days when we would pick up new members. Nobody blended in right away, and sparks flew a couple times. Everyone came together when it mattered though, because their hearts were in the right place. I think Ishimaru's kind of like that..." Saitou glanced over at Lira to gauge her reaction, one which probably wasn't all smiles considering he'd just blurted out an Aesop. She was probably somewhere between dead serious on what she'd said, and simply grumbling about their teammate, so his response was a little too straight-laced for all that. "...of course the next time he barks about the rules, feel free to tell me and I'll make sure he learns how tall our Dorm really is. The long way." Saitou whistled to imitate the drop, waving his hand through the air to mime Ishimaru's fall down to the cold hard pavement. Plop! That was definitely his fate, if he tried to wake Saitou up again...

~Shinpachi Saito, Master of the Dark Persona~

"Well, it's not like you have to passively accept his intrusions, either." Saitou admitted, shrugging when she agreed to give him a chance. "Compromise makes the world go round. But that doesn't mean we're wrong either...or that we ever were. We had to do what we did, and I still don't think we were wrong for listening to Tsukuyomi. Just..." Saitou paused in his talking and tried to glance away, knowing his eyes would give away the next thought. He just wished that their path hadn't come at such great cost, that the sacrifices they made had never happened. They hadn't even accomplished their goal, and many of them died never knowing that he would fail them...but if the old path was necessary for this new one to open, then he could accept that. Or at least, he had to. Though he told himself that, it didn't mean he never thought about how things could have changed, or how he might have done things differently...

"Think about Mashiba, if you have to. Although we crossed swords, I never hated the leader of their Light Team. In his own way, he only wanted the best for everyone. Although we're on the same side now, I couldn't have known that at the time. And yet...it was just never in me, to feel real spite for him." Saitou explained, deciding that if he were going to be a leader, it would be best if he were open with his teammates. Especially one who'd been along his side as long as Lira had. "I feel the same way about Ishimaru. He may not be the easiest man to understand, but he's trying to look out for us, in his own way. It may be you need to draw some boundaries...but at least try to remember that he's doing his best, for you, not against." Saitou felt a bit awkward defending their loudmouthed new teammate this long. It wasn't like he meant to continue any longer, but still; he'd always felt like a lead by example kind of guy, and here he was trying to talk it through to his teammate instead. Couldn't he just solve it by hitting something, instead? 'No, no Saitou. You're not Noelle, you don't need to DESTROY everything...'

~Shinpachi Saito, Master of the Dark Persona~

"This doesn't look like the place to buy school supplies." Saitou said, although he expected a quick shake of the head at that, considering he'd stated the obvious. Meh, he knew that this was going to happen...and he liked to go with the flow (and then show the flow he was better than it, sometimes, but particularly when it was an Imagawa and a baseball player), so he didn't mind following Chronicle inside and glancing around. "I'm not sure this place will have many skull ite...ms...hm?" Saitou paused as he passed a shelf, eyes widening as he glanced at the merchandise. It looked like a real, life sized skull. Why would a shop full of random goodies even have...? Saitou held the object in one hand, and realized it was surprisingly light, although thinking on it not a lot of people probably had the experience he did holding real human skulls in his hands. Again, Yomi was kind of a strange place...he had to admit, he was probably at least a little strange for having felt comfortable there, once upon a time. Well, 'comfortable' might not have been the right word, it was just as draining as the Dark Hour the world experienced now. But the point was, he wondered what sort of material it was made of and-*SQUEAK*

"..." Saitou squeezed the plastic skull again, and again it squeaked out loudly. He wondered a couple things quickly, like how exactly this counted as an accessory, or who thought that a squeezy toy skull was a good idea, or exactly what sort of shop would stock a couple -*SQUEAK*. Nevermind. "...oh look, some pirate flag cell phone straps. I wonder if they follow a theme, like Black Beard's, or such." Saitou pointed at a shelf nearby, and although pirates weren't exactly the same thing, the fact that their standard image was a skull and crossbones did bridge the interests between the two a little bit. And back in Iwadate they had talked about getting a ship once upon a time, so the idea of a little cellphone strap with a flag did appeal to him. The most important thing was making sure Lira was finding something of interest though, so he made sure to glance over at his teammate, to make sure he wasn't getting too far astray. Aaand maybe he'd "forgotten" to put down the squeaky skull along the way. My mistake. *Squeak*

~Shinpachi Saito, Master of the Dark Persona~

"Oh I don't know, think of the many combinations. Like...uh...some sort of stealthy, piratey combo. Like Pirate Assassins!" Saitou tried not to be direct as he thought of this game he'd played recently. A game from 2013, and thus shouldn't have existed in this time-space continuum yet...but siiiilence! "...say, Lira..." Saitou's eyes roamed over a shelf full of items, but out of the corner of his eye he made sure that his teammate hadn't wandered too far, although at the same time he felt it difficult to continue. "What do you think about them? Our new team, I mean. Not just Ishimaru...but more like, Haruto, and Noelle." Inwardly he hoped that she was just like him, willing to accept the turn fate had dealt them, but he understood if there was a lot of resentment built up from what happened. They'd been fighting for so long, and even with that aside, there was the Massacre...it was entirely possible she was looking for someone to blame for that, and their enemies at the time, their new teammates, would be a good outlet for venting her feelings. 'If they weren't in our way', and 'if we weren't fighting, then it might not have happened'. If she had thoughts like those, then eventually someone might try to use those feelings to manipulate or hurt Lira. If there was something like that, Saitou would rather prepare for when the time came, or keep it from happening altogether. He would take responsibility for his surviving team, no matter what. "I know you haven't exactly been on speaking terms, but...I'd like your opinion, at least." Saying 'I'm worried about you' would probably sour the mood a little too much, wouldn't it?

~Shinpachi Saito, Master of the Dark Persona~

"I understand that." Saitou frowned, wondering just what she meant by 'the dead begging her for help', but it wouldn't have been normal for any of them to recover without a couple unpleasant memories of the friends they were missing. And he didn't need a nickname like 'The Necromancer' to hear the voices of the teammates he'd lost along the way, urging him on this way or that. Even if they were separated, and very far apart, they were always connected in this world... "I think I'll feel a little better when we're in action. Right now I feel like these Shadow Ops. are just telling us to wait in reserve, and keeping us on hand like some sort of weapon. But I won't forgive the one who did this to us...even if I end up crossing this team, I swear I'll let our friends rest in peace." Saitou gripped his forearm as he thought about what he was willing to do to reach his objective, even if he wouldn't necessarily have to. It was an uphill battle, and although Mitsuru Kirijo had promised to help them climb that mountain, he was just as prepared to shove the distractions away if it turned out they really couldn't understand where he and Lira came from. He actually trusted Mashiba now, as if they were always on the same team, but some of the other ones...well, he didn't say any of that though, because he needed to show Lira it was alright to trust their teammates. He had to be brimming with confidence, just like before. "You too, you know. I'll keep you safe, so just rely on me if things get difficult." Saitou smiled, although it was small and to most people would barely even register. For Saitou though, it was one of those acts of normalcy he'd found hard to do long ago, and just showing this much showed how deep he really felt their camaraderie was. And it was a pretty shmoozy boast, but then again, this was a guy who's Persona literally took the weight of the world on its shoulders. You could expect him to overburden himself a bit by that logic, right? Right.