[Again, Ryuji could get by with skinned knees and a bruised arm, but he wouldn't live with himself if he came crashing down with Erika on his back- so he's still careful not to take this too far, even though he really, really wants to go faster and throw caution to the wind. It's still experimental for him, too, since he hadn't really touched his skateboard at all, in years, until it decided to show up one day on the station as a grim reminder of what he was missing back home.

Just a little bit further, and the sight of the hangar's entrance is within view. Admittedly, it is kind of fun, and he thinks for a second about doing a loop around the entire deck just for the hell of it. But Erika has stuff she wants to accomplish, and carefully, he starts letting his board slow down naturally without kicking off more velocity to keep the wheels going.

And it's not that much of a riddle for Ryuji, but the quickness at which he gets it is definitely telling, in a way, since he's slow about a lot of stuff, but shadows? He knows shadows. How to kill them, how to steal their hearts, how ambush them. Not so much what makes them tick- cognitive psience wasn't entirely refined back home yet, but he answers pretty simply:]

You got your shadow holdin' onto it?

[Which is a new piece of knowledge for shadows in general, since he's always known the ones of the personal variety doesn't really cooperate that well with their real versions.

Which means, if Erika is on good terms with it... then it means one of two things. She's persona enabled, or a self-actualized person. He has to ask about the former first.]

Hey... you didn't go in there and find a mask on your face, right? One that was stuck on tight and shit? Can't pull it off without ripping yourself to shreds? I know it's an "out there" kinda question, but... Yeah.