The ceremony for the unveiling of the Grand Prix memorial goes off without a hitch; it was a small event, in that it wasn't much of an event at all. It took place in the morning and the early afternoon of the 15th. The Mayor showed up to give a speech in honor of the dead, which everyone agreed dragged on for a minute too long. His secretary and the law enforcement were honored once more in what they could do, then they lamented what they could not, and members of the grieving families were allowed front and foremost positions during the whole affair. Security was tight, for fear of retaliation, but nothing came.

The monument itself was elegant in its simplicity: a wall on the outside of the stadium had been put aside for it, the material replaced with something akin to black marble, and the names of all of the deceased listed along its surface. At the top, in the center of the wall was an engraving of a lion, its fangs bared not in hostility, but protection; and just underneath it was Bunrakuken Karube's name, along with his tournament title, praising him as the Invincible Champion of the Persona Grand Prix.

All in all, a rather mundane proceeding, though sobering for the populace. It was broadcasted on the airwaves live, and there was hardly even a hair out of place. The entire city thereafter seemed to be rather quiet that afternoon; the concert revived the life of its crowd, but even the 13th Hour seemed to be less abuzz than normal for the districts away from the music. Though the hour picked up back to its regular pace as the night wore on.

What was really interesting, now, was what happened afterwards.

Overnight, the monument had been vandalized. Nothing was broken; but before anyone knew it, everyone that happened upon the Aries district found the monument had been covered in graffiti. Beside the engraved lion was two quickly painted, blank expression masks, with many more of the the same thing littered all over the name wall and on the edges. Some were theatre masks, some were half-masks, but they were all simple shapes that could be recognized as false faces, and were likely done very quickly. In the middle of the name wall, underneath the center crowned with the lion's image, was one particular image and equation:



Overnight, that same image and equation had appeared all over the city, not just on the monument. People woke up to it in nooks and crannies, abandoned alleyways, old buildings, new buildings-- anywhere there was an empty surface, and sometimes even where there wasn't. Though the city had no lack of graffiti in the more grungy districts, the same equation had found itself even in the cleaner government locations and shopping areas. With so much crime and activity already present in the city, no one could pinpoint the source of the vandals. Though the more savvy knew what was already heavily implied.

With this new anomaly dotting walls and streets, the sober stiffness of the city carried into the next morning (though to be sure some of them were simply partied out), as if all the civilians were still holding their breath. But as they slowly started to release that breath, cautious and wary murmurs could be heard throughout the city for at least the whole weekend. Though no one seemed to dare to talk about the defacements at more than a whisper, they all seemed to share a common concern--

What did it mean?

(OOC: Remember, though the monument is unveiled on the 15th, the graffiti does not appear until the morning of the 16th.)