Disclaimer: Persona series belong to their rightful owners. The only thing I own are the OCs.
"Agi!" My opponent shouted as he summoned his persona to attack me. I winced as the fire burned through me and sent me flying.
"Kazuma Naoki is unable to keep fighting! Shinohara Hajime wins!" the proctor announced and I got up.
I was what you would call a dead last. A failure.
A-
"Of course I'd win. I was against the Dobe."
Yeah.
That's me.
The guy that I just lost to is Shinohara Hajime. He's kind of the top dog around here. Best grades during classes.
Strongest persona amongst the students here.
Some god or whatever.
Me?
Oh I don't have a persona.
I guess I'm special eh?
I don't even know why I'm in this school to begin with!
"Kazuma-san. Get up and go to the infirmary." The proctor spoke. I liked him.
He was fair.
"Why bother with yomawushi like him?" Shinohara spoke with a grin on his face "We shouldn't waste medicine on trash."
Wow. Charming fellow ain't he?
I wordlessly got up and after picking my sword I made my way to the infirmary.
The nurse there was kind to everyone who got there-
"Wow. Again Naoki-chan?" she asked. She was tall. Taller than me by a head with blonde hair reaching her lower backside. Her eyes were large, round and sky blue. Her face was round shaped and her body was shapely. I guess people would call her hot. I know some guys that were talking about wanting to ask her out. The only turn off was her chest. Or lack of…
I nodded. She pouted.
This was Mikan Ayasara. School nurse.
"I really hate when this happens." She said as she went and looked for the medicine for my burns "Just because you don't have a persona doesn't mean they should…" she stopped and sighed "Sorry. I know you don't want pity." She looked at me with her large eyes. I nodded with a slight smile. I liked her.
She was kind and fair. She stood up for what's right.
She sighed and looked down "Bad news Naoki-chan." I raised an eyebrow "We're out of medicine." I looked down. I knew what was about to happen now.
She held her hands to her chest and smiled slightly as the familiar blue card appeared. It was the Priestess arcana. She smiled widely as she clapped over the card, shattering it "Isis." She muttered as the persona appeared above her. She had long black hair with a face sporting royal features. Tied to her arms were two ornate wings colored red with golden tips. She wore red and golden bandages around her chest and hips along with her feet.
"Diarama." She said. The persona smiled before she flapped its wings and a golden light enveloped me. My wounds were healing quickly. The persona disappeared and so did the warm light. My wounds were almost healed "There. I know I'm not supposed to use personas outside of fights. But this was an emergency!" she winked and stuck her tongue at me.
I blinked.
"You're no fun Naoki-chan!"
I shrugged before looking to exit the room. She grabbed my wrist "Ah, ah, ah!" she wiggled a finger in front of my face "What do you say?"
I looked down before glancing at her. I nodded with a slight smile. She grinned and let me go "Now make sure to not stress yourself and those wounds! Oh and eat properly!"
I rolled my eyes at that before I finally left the infirmary and the school.
Guess I should explain all this to you huh?
The year's 2029.
After the Kirijo corp experimented with shadows and people experienced the Dark Hour for the first time everyone became a persona user. Some strong. Others not so strong.
To learn how to control our personas a school was created after the incident. There are four types of persona users.
First are the Nachuraru. The be all end all of persona users. They faced their shadows…their regret and guilt. After facing it they awakened their personas and can summon them. Like Ayasara-san does.
Then there are the Kyōsei. The middle ground. They want to face their shadows but they can't. They are too afraid. So they are given evokers. Special items made to summon personas but they're not nearly as strong as naturals. They force their persona out.
Then there are the rare Wild Cards. Pretty much they are those that can have multiple personas. No one knows how strong they are as they are extremely rare. You can count on your fingers how many of them are known and you'd still have spare fingers.
Which one am I?
Hate to break it to you but I got none.
No persona.
Just an ordinary guy.
That's the fourth type.
The forgetful ones. The faces in the crowd.
The cowards.
I opened the door to my house after the bus ride and sighed. It was a small apartment with two rooms and a bathroom. My kitchen and living room were combined into one and my bathroom and bedroom were across eachother. Wasn't much but it was all I could afford and still have money for food and whatnot.
It's a common thing around here. Common courtesy.
People would say 'Tadaima!'
And their family would say 'Okaeri'
If I were to say that, the rats would probably welcome me. I took off my shoes and rested my sword on the wall there. It was a common sword. Rusted all over.
Come to think of it, it was more of a club then a sword. I shrugged and prepared my food. It was ramen with both narutomaki and menma toppings. I liked to live dangerously. I ripped the chopsticks and prepared to eat.
It was at that moment that my door was busted open. I narrowed my eyes and looked at the calendar.
29th of March.
Payday.
"Naoki, Naoki! Where you at boy!?" a gruff voice spoke "C'mon out brat! I know you don't have enough money to get out of this shithole!"
Meet Kondo Hamura.
Grade A prick.
And my landlord.
Near the end of every month I gotta pay him money to stay here. Bad part is I always have to pay more for…protection.
Seeing as I don't have a persona and all.
I sighed and went to him.
"There ya are!" he breathed.
Great. He was drunk.
That meant double the pay.
"I want my money!"
Two thousand two hundred and fifty yen. Give or take. For this 'Shithole'. I reached into my back pockets to get my wallet out. He watched intently. My left hand was behind me. Chopsticks still there. I was cautious. I took my wallet out. A simple black one. Cheap too.
I counted the money before giving him the desired amount. He pushed me into the wall and took the money. He counted it before scowling "What do you think, I'm stupid?! This ain't all of it.'
I raised an eyebrow.
"Protection you piece of shit. I can't promise that some guy isn't gonna sneak in and kill you or trash the place in your sleep now can I?" he smirked as his hand slithered towards my wallet.
I narrowed my eyes and clenched my hands into fists.
"That's more like it." He took out the rest of my money before finally leaving me alone. I frowned before punching the wall there.
Life wasn't fair.
Not with people like that asshole living around.
I sighed and looked at my hand.
A bit swollen and red.
Great. I needed to bandage it.
My stomach growled.
…
It could wait.
Stomach first.
And so I sat down and started eating.
For that moment I was at peace. It was…pleasant.
Unfortunately all good things come to an end.
I went into the bathroom and bandaged my hand. After that I changed into some casual clothes and went to watch TV before going to bed.
"-in other news. Known criminal Yukimura Aya has escaped from prison. The authorities advise you against getting in contact with this person. If you have any information about the person on screen, please report it to the police." The woman on screen spoke as a picture of the criminal appeared on the screen.
Yukimura Aya.
Short, twenty years old, short red hair, green eyes and a mean look in them.
I felt a shiver down my spine.
That's a woman I don't want to be caught alone with.
I yawned as I looked for the remote.
"She was last seen near Kabukichō di-" I closed the TV and went to sleep.
Her family dead.
Her mother torn up by a vicious persona.
Her father frozen solid before blasted into chunks.
She had to get away.
The horrible, child-like laugh was heard before a card was shattered. Her path was blocked by a wall of ice.
"Now, now~" a voice sang creepily. She knew that voice. All too well. She ran from it for thirty minutes after all "Can't have you escape now, can I?" the voice seemed to smirk.
"P-Please! What did I ever do to you?!" she yelled and backed up into the cold icy wall.
"You, my dear. Didn't do anything. I just can't have any witnesses you know?" the voice explained like it was talking to a child.
The wall exploded suddenly and she ran.
"Kuso! She planted a small explosive charge and distracted me." The voice muttered before it gave chase.
She got to a shady looking apartment. It was a perfect hiding place. She climbed the stairs and tried every door silently.
Clank.
Clank.
Clank
Clank.
My eyes fluttered open at the annoying sound. Someone was trying to get in. I silently went to the door and looked through the visor. A girl was looking left and right as she tried to open my door.
A thief?
I suppose I could humor her. After all I didn't really have anything valuable to steal. I frowned and turned around.
Thud.
Shit.
I hit my shoes.
The noise alerted her and she started speaking.
"Please! Please let me in!" she whispered.
I sighed. She was scared. I opened the door.
As soon as she heard the click she busted in and closed it. She panted.
Sweat was dripping from her face and onto the floor.
I blinked.
She looked at me.
The two of us were in our pajamas.
Mine consisted of a black T-shirt and blue pants.
She wore a frilly light pink dress.
100% a rich girl.
Her hair was dark purple and of medium length. It reached a bit lower than her shoulder blades. Her eyes were also purple and her face was heart-shaped.
"S-Sorry to bust in like this. Someone's following me." She looked through the visor and sighed out. She remembered where she was and looked at me "Thanks for opening the door." She smiled.
I shrugged and went to get something to eat.
"You don't talk much do you?" she asked with an amused smile.
I shrugged again.
No point in talking anyway.
"What's your name? Mine's Mioda Sayaka."
I blinked and pointed to my Student ID.
"Kazuma Naoki-san?" she asked and I nodded.
"Good to mee-" she stopped as everything got colder.
"Here girly, girly, girly~" a voice sang from outside "Come out and play~" something scratched the metal rail outside.
"Oh no." she whispered and panicked "She found me. She found me. She found me…" she kept repeating. Over and over. She was scared. I put my hand on her shoulder and she gasped. She calmed down when she saw it was only me. I pointed at the window behind us and she got the idea. I went there and opened it before I motioned for her to jump.
It was only the first floor and there was a balcony just below my apartment. We could use it to drop down safely.
"Hey! What the fuck is going on out here!" Kondo yelled from outside the door. He gasped "You…" before a squelch sound was heard and something dripping.
"Wow. He didn't even summon his persona." The voice laughed before the owner kicked open the door. The owner saw us "There you are! And you got yourself a boyfriend too!" I didn't look to see who it was. I just jumped down alongside the girl. I rolled to absorb the impact and looked to see if the girl was okay. She was on her feet the next second and we started running.
Don't know where. We just ran.
"Go ahead!" a voice whispered "I like a good hunt."
We got some good distance between us and the criminal before we stopped to catch our breath. The girl panted like there was no tomorrow. Again.
Rich girl. Completely sure about it.
"The hell did I ever do huh?" she asked "I never hurt her. She just came and murdered everyone. I would've died too if I didn't run." She collapsed and cried "I should've stayed and fought. I should've died with everyone else. I SHOULD'VE DONE SOMETHING!" she screamed and continued to cry.
I honestly didn't know what to do.
Should I comfort her?
She's still a stranger.
I sighed and gave her an awkward as hell hug. She stiffened before she clung to me and cried, soaking my shirt.
A few minutes later she stopped and looked at me with red, puffy eyes "Thanks. I needed that." She got up "Sorry I ruined your shirt."
I shrugged.
"Well! Isn't this an emotional moment?" the voice said from behind us.
I stopped as well as the girl.
I turned around and there she was.
Yukimura Aya.
With her persona behind her. A Grim Reaper.
I gulped as the persona seemed to smirk at me.
Mioda-san was clinging onto me. She was scared.
So was I.
"Not gonna run anymore?" Yukimura spoke with her head tilted to the side. She gave feral smirk "Good."
"P-Persona!" Mioda-san yelled suddenly and a persona appeared behind Yukimura. The persona had silver colored hair with orange streaks along with a white and orange wolf mask. Her clothing consisted of a white kimono with pink floral designs. Tied to her left arm was a shield emitting flames while tied to her right hip was a small sword "Amaterasu. Agi!" the persona nodded silently before from her shield a small ball of fire was launched towards Yukimura.
She cursed as her Evoker was launched in the air.
I widened my eyes and jumped after it. I caught it and held in in my right hand.
"Dammit. How about you give me that evoker before my friend here gets mad?" The Grim Reaper seemed to snarl.
I smirked.
What was going on?
I pointed the Evoker to the right side of my head.
What was I doing?
I was sweating.
Was I gonna die?
No.
This time it was different.
There was something in the back of my mind.
Clawing to get out.
When everything was too much to bear I uttered the one word that would change everything about my life.
A word filled with power.
Beyond any comprehension.
"Per-"
It was exhilarating.
"So-"
I had all the power in the world.
"Na!"
And then I pulled the trigger.
With a giant grin on my face.
The shot echoed loudly. My face was set into a shit-eating grin. The blue shards I was so accustomed to seeing around everyone else were finally spiraling around me.
ME!
I was summoning a persona!
ME!
The shards formed.
My persona was out.
And. It. Was. Beautiful!
"Thou art I-"
He was all black with white strips going down vertically. His face was made out of a golden mask pointed downwards. His eyes were a piercing scarlet. On top of his head was a crescent moon pointed upwards made out of black flames with white veins along the surface.
"I art thou-"
The clothes he wore were some sort of Victorian cloak with a red inner shirt. The cloak and the shirt both had a high color bent down.
"From the darkness of thy soul I cometh-"
In its right hand was a katana made out of the same bluish black flames that formed the crescent moon on top of his head.
"I am Tsukuyomi God of the Moon!"
My persona stated proudly as he hovered above me.
"S-So what if you got a persona? Big deal! You just awakened it!" Yukimura yelled before she commanded the Grim Reaper to attack.
I smirked and nodded to Tsukuyomi. He simply raised his sword and dashed at the oncoming threat.
"Celestial Scar!" I yelled suddenly. Tsukuyomi seemed to smirk before kicking the Reaper away. He set into a stance as if he was drawing a sword.
"What the hell?!"
He closed his eyes before opening them roughly and dashing at the Reaper, sword drawn and flickering wildly. He flicked it as if cleaning it and disappeared soon after.
The reaper screamed in pain before he was vaporized.
Yukimura yelled and soon vomited on the ground "You…YOU FUCKING BRAT! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!" she screamed before running away.
I smirked and looked at the black and red Evoker.
Yeah.
This was going to be great.
I passed out soon after.
"Kazuma-san!" I heard a voice yell but I didn't bother to listen.
I woke up to a soft violin and piano song. I opened my eyes and saw only blue. I looked around. A blue plane interior I think. I looked ahead of me.
A man and a woman stood there.
The man in the center. And the woman to my right.
The man smirked and looked at me.
"Welcome…to the Velvet Room."
