"Don't tell me you've all decided to let me live… You're all going to risk your lives on a battle you can't win. But, you're the only one here right now, so…
"I'll say this one more time. If you kill me, Tartarus, the Dark Hour, and your memories of the battles will all disappear. Tomorrow, you'll wake up a normal high-school student. You'll be able to live in peace until the moment of the Fall. But if you let me live, you'll spend every waking moment until that day in fear of your inevitable death. Nyx cannot be defeated… It's useless to fight her…"
The room was still for a few seconds. There, I stood in front of my so-called friend. Hah. We'll see what happens next.
"…Are you still thinking? Or, have you already made up your mind?"
I have.
I whipped out my Evoker as fast as I would in battle. Mochizuki Ryoji never even saw it coming.
He staggered backwards as the Evoker tore a hole in his head. Black ichor splattered on the wall behind him, and he fell to the ground with a dull thud, still bleeding out of his head.
…Damn, there's no satisfaction in this at all. I thought he'd bleed as a human, not as a Shadow…
In the Velvet Room, where time and space are irrelevant:
"Our guest has fulfilled his contract, and must now face the consequences of his actions. Still… I wish I could have seen the rest of his potential. He was by far the most interesting guest we've had here, wouldn't you agree?"
"Indeed." Elizabeth sighed, as the memories of the boy washed over her mind like the waves meet the shore. The time they went to Paulownia Mall, and Naganaki Shrine, and… well, those would be just memories now. She frowned. "Still, I myself did not expect that he would kill him, and so brutally at that…"
Igor nodded. "Perhaps I misread his initial arcana. Maybe he wasn't a Fool as much as he was a Jester. But with all that said and done, he still has to pay the price for his actions, even if it means dooming all of humanity… not like there was a choice in that." The long nosed old man gave a theatrical sigh as he leaned back on his seat. "With the rest of humanity about to die off, perhaps it is best that we close up shop –"
An explosion from outside the Velvet Room rattled the elevator they were in, stopping it in its tracks. Alarm klaxons sounded as red lights turned on, giving the room a purple hue.
"Elizabeth! Margaret! Theodore! On the defense, now!" With those words, two more velvet-clad beings sprang into shape. Holding their grimoires, they started letting their magical energy flow into the books as the Personae within were about to cast the most powerful spell in their arsenal. Each stared at the Velvet Room's door, waiting for the intruder to burst through.
"My, I was never the type to try to make such a dynamic entry…" came a voice from behind all of them.
The three Velvet Room attendants all turned around and fired their spells. Three simultaneous bursts of pure light like miniature suns suddenly appeared on the figure.
"Stay on your guard! Something that dangerous could still be alive!" Margaret said.
"Surely nothing could have withstood three Megidolaons at once?" Elizabeth said, lowering her grimoire just a little. However, as the light faded, the woman was still standing – now sprinting – towards Elizabeth, and with her right hand she lifted Elizabeth up by the neck and slammed her into the ground. With her left, she held a glowing orb. Elizabeth was bruised but she wasn't bleeding, and she tried to punch the attacker in the chest.
"Enough!" Igor cried out. "I was wrong to have ordered my servants to attack so hastily, however, I was alarmed that you would create such a stir in this room long forgotten to most." He stood up and bowed before the woman, and Margaret and Theodore stood down, putting away their grimoires. The woman offered her hand to Elizabeth to help her up. Elizabeth took it, trying to crush as many of the woman's fingers as she could, but if the woman felt anything she didn't express the pain.
"I'll be brief here, Igor. I need the contract that the boy signed this year." The woman gave the orb she was holding to Elizabeth. "Keep it, it may come in handy. Now as I was saying, I'm here for that contract because I need to break it."
"Ah, but you are the Archduke of Contracts. Surely you have a copy of this contract in your castle?"
"Nay, for if I need to break a contract I need either the original copy or any of the signees to do so, but since Arisato Minato is dead and I can't be bothered to bend more rules than I have to, I decided to go here instead. Sorry for the explosion; I'll fix what I broke on my way out." She put a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Except, of course, for the contract."
Igor walked to his cabinet and took out the contract gently, as if it were made of glass. With both hands he presented it to the Archduke, who took off her left glove, took out her quill, and pricked her left ring finger with it. Blood trickled out of the wound and the quill drank of it until the wound closed. With the quill full, she sat down on Igor's chair and began to write over the contract in a language anyone can understand but nobody can pronounce or repeat to another. Over Arisato's name she signed her own, in Roman letters, but in such calligraphy that nobody could know her true name. As she dotted the "I" in her name, the paper started to smolder from that point, slowly spreading until the whole thing was consumed in black fire.
"And with that, I can perform the next step of my plan. Would you care to watch, Igor?" the woman said, and she took out… something, from herself.
Igor gasped. "But that's the…!"
"Indeed," she said, and snapped it in two.
A double honk of the train's horns woke me up. Over the train's speakers, the train conductor spoke. "…We apologize to any customers who were in a hurry. The next stop is Iwatodai…"
Oh… A vision of a blue butterfly. Oh dear, am I… Was it all a dream?
"…This is the final train bound for Tatsumi Port Island."
Okay, focus, Minato, I told myself. You're a genius by now so you should be able to figure out what's happening. When did I ever leave Gekkoukan High School? And didn't I kill Ryoji? Did I run away from them afterwards – nah, that would imply I was too much of a coward to not stand up for what I do.
Time travel? The idea is absurd, but just to be safe, I checked my cell phone. It is set to 06 Apr 2009. The big glowing characters tell me that I'm either being pranked, or I really did travel back in time. Then again, Shadows were originally exploited as something for time travel.
I checked my pockets. A small pocketwatch, a ballpen, and some string, along with my music player, playing "Burn My Dread"… That's basically it.
The train stopped and I stepped onto the platform. I looked at my pocketwatch. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. My cell phone and my music player die on me and the world took on a green tint. The humans around me turned into coffins, with what appears to be blood leaking out of some of them. Well, I'm pretty sure that the Dark Hour is back.
And that's a huge moon, as usual. Wish I had a weapon right now. If there were any Shadows, or even Strega, I may as well have painted a huge "Kill Me" sign on my back right now.
I ran to the dormitory. If I at least had a sword! On the way there I saw a coffin on the street side. Hah. Must be some drunk guy or a hobo. I don't see the problem in standing the coffin upright. Maybe it'll get them back on track with their life. Alternatively, I could have been just waiting for the Dark Hour to end and have this slop fall to the ground. Maybe the hard concrete will teach him a lesson.
Eventually, I reach Iwatodai Dorm. I use the key given to me and unlock the door with a twist. As I step in the lounge, the voice I've been expecting speaks.
"Welcome." Oh Pharos. The only Social Link I completed. He's such a nice, cryptic little boy. Too bad I killed him in the future… or was it my past? It gets complicated. He continues. "You're late. I've been waiting a long time." Does this imply that this part of me was not aware of time reversing itself? He was separated from me before I went back in time, so perhaps. And then he held out the contract to me. "If you want to proceed, then please sign here. It's a contract. There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions." Last time I was in this situation I was scared, I admit. I read what's written on the contract again.
I chooseth this fate of mine own free will. Though there's a post-it attached to the contract. Wait, what? It's handwritten in English, in slightly messy handwriting. The future must be. Don't screw up this time, it says.
Okay, that is honestly creepy. Pharos gives no indication that he's aware of the post-it note on the contract… I'm not entirely sure if this loophole will work, but I sign it in one of my pennames just to be sure.
Yuuki Makoto. Surname first. If only I knew how screwed up that decision would make the rest of my life…
"Very well… Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away. And so it begins…" I think he had a grin like the Cheshire Cat at that point, and he might as well have been, because he disappeared like he melted into the darkness.
"…Who's there?" Yukari said. Well this brings back memories. Now, should I tell them that I came from the future or not…? Perhaps not. It would only make Ikutsuki more suspicious of me.
She stared at me. "How can you be… But it's…!"
I messed around a little this time. "Oh, the extra hour every day? I'm used to it." Technically, true. "I did a lot of things at this time of night." No need to mention that I killed the most Shadows while they gawked. "Why do you have a gun? Does everyone in this dorm get a gun for their protection?"
Yukari looked stunned, and I had a smile on my face. If I had the choice it would be a smirk but I can't afford to look hostile and unbalanced… not here.
"Wait!" Mitsuru shouts out. She steps down from the stairs and strides next to Yukari. And as if on cue, like last time, the lights turned on at that moment.
"Please, have a seat," Mitsuru said. "I didn't think you'd arrive so late."
"The train got delayed. My apologies," I reply.
"No problem. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm." She looked at me intently. "But you… have already been aware of the Dark Hour?"
I told the truth. "I've been aware of this Dark Hour, as you call it, for the past year of my life. I mostly used it as a guideline to tell me to get some sleep, because I get tired much more easily even just studying at that hour, though I exercised most during this Dark Hour of which you speak." I didn't break eye contact or fidget in the slightest. Only those who are weak enough to need to lie do that.
"Who's he?" Yukari said.
"He's a transfer student. It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to a room in the boys' dorm."
"Is it okay for him to be here?" Yukari looked at me as if she were afraid for me.
"I think so. Yuuki here is already aware of the Dark Hour. We'll just have to see if he has a Persona."
"Of course I have a persona," I said. They stared at me like I had just grown another head.
"Wait what?" Yukari said.
"A persona is the mask one puts on for the sake of interacting with different people. For instance, you would act much differently towards someone who bullied you than to someone who you like and gave you chocolate for Christmas or Valentine's day." It wasn't every day that I could appear to be more academic than Mitsuru, so I continued, just to have fun. "It also applies to your persona as a student, and your persona as one who obviously stays up at this hour of night with a gun in hand, apparently waiting for a threat. We all put on different masks to interact with other beings. Exposing one's true self to others could be… threatening, so to speak."
I gave a pause at that. The time I shot Ryoji…
Yukari looked confused, but Mitsuru just laughed. "I see you've been brushing up on Psychology. But no, we talk of a different sort of Persona." She stood up. "Can we talk about this tomorrow? You'll see what we mean by then."
I remain seated, and put a hand to rest under my chin. "I have one last question."
"Ask away," Mitsuru said, sitting back down.
"Why did you call me Yuuki?"
Mitsuru looks bemused. "Because that's your name, of course. Yuuki Makoto. It says so in the forms that were sent here as well. You are enrolled to Gekkoukan High School under the name Yuuki Makoto." I lost momentum with that, and she stood up again. "If that will be all, I think we can get some sleep now."
I stood up as well. "But it's not my name. My name is Arisato Minato."
"What a kidder," Yukari said, and laughed. "Come on, I'll show you to your room. Your things should be there already."
I follow her. "Thanks, Yukari," I said.
"No problem," she replied, and we head up the stairs to the end of the hall on the second floor. "Well, here we are. Pretty easy to remember, huh? It's right at the end of the hall… Uhm. Any questions?"
"None," I said.
Yukari fidgets with her fingers a little, and says "Uhm… Can I ask you something? On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"
"Yeah," I said. My persona should be able to stop me from giving my intentions away.
"I see… Never mind, then." Yukari smiles at me and I smile back. "Well, I'd better get going."
"Good night, Yukari," I say.
"Er… Good night then, Makoto." She walked down the stairs, and I entered my room. The box full of my things were now boxes. Hm.
I open them up. Oh god, they're still here. The hairs on the back of my neck raised in both excitement and terror. My most favorite weapon out of all the swords I'd gotten. The Deus Xiphos. All the other weapons I had gotten my team. The Juzumaru, among other katanas from Tartarus. A couple of bows for Yukari. Aegis's guns, Akihiko's gloves. All still here. And… about ten wallets full of cash, amounting to about three million yen.
Though all the other things I had, like the food, and the cards that were stuck with it… They got spoiled on the trip, so I'm not touching those without three-mm thick gloves. Though I think I'll save this odd morsel for a certain fat bastard.
I also saw a small brown cardboard box on my study table. I cut the tape on the top with one of Koromaru's knives and saw a collection of CDs in their original, unopened cases by some group named Kalafina. A post-it on the top CD in the same pen, apparently, but in Japanese this time, read For your listening pleasure. …Some of these CDs also come from the future, even after I went back in time. Seventh Heaven, Red Moon, After Eden, and Consolation… Wow. I'll listen to these when I have the time.
I was tired, so I went to sleep without even putting a single sheet over myself.
I didn't have any dreams of the Velvet Room or anything strange that night, and I woke up on time. A little after I had washed up and taken a bath, Yukari knocked on my door.
"Hello? Are you up?" I chose to ignore her, and she knocked again. "Hello! Please answer the door, or I'll get in trouble!" Like I care. Still, I had to open the door sooner or later.
"Good morning," I said, in my most informal tone.
"Good morning," she replied. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Yeah, I guess." I put my hands in my pockets, trying to fish for my pen, just in case.
"Oh, good. Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school. Are you ready to go?" Her voice wavered a little, a sign of hesitation.
"I can find it myself," I said. I was still busy trying to rip the CD's songs onto my music player, and it had been going on for the better part of my morning.
"Oh, are you sure?" There was that wavering again. Then she spoke more firmly. "But you don't wanna risk being late the first day, do you? Come on, hurry and get ready!"
Oh boy. Here we go again. My hands were already itching to grab a sword and my Evoker. I need to kill some Shadows soon or I might end up summoning a Persona with an actual gun. Or someone else's Persona.
Author's Note: Hello. So to answer a few questions. The Archduke of Contracts is a reference to another video game. Should be easy enough to guess, I think.
In short, this is based on a New Game Plus from the Bad End where I decided to kill Ryoji. In that game I'd already maxed out every Arcana available at that point except for Fool (of course), Priestess, Empress, Lovers, and Fortune, but for story purposes we'll assume that Minato (Makoto now, thanks to that new movie) was actually a psychopath. He was at Level 74 when I got the bad end, and the latest fusion I had made there was Michael, who, without Heaven's Blade, was useful only as Weapon Fusion fodder.
Any questions? Do leave a review, please. It's really the only motivation I have for writing.