Player Choices
By psychored1911
Discaimer: I don't own Persona 4 or Persona 4 Golden
This is what happens when Yu Narukami strays from his scripted dialogue in Inaba. I hope that you enjoy. Now, on with the show!
4/11- Afternoon
One could say I don't have many close relationships with other people. It's not really my fault; I always had to move from place to place because of my parents' jobs. As anyone can see, I have absolutely no close relationships to speak of, no real friends, and no sense of belonging in anywhere.
Wow, I am a loser.
Anyways, now I'm supposed to go to my Uncle Dojima's place in this place called Inaba. I apparently met him when I was in diapers, but I don't remember much about him.
Well, I hope I don't get too connected to him. It will just end up like the rest of my relationships; I have to leave and abandon any sort of attachment I have for them. I've done this so many times I've lost count-
Oh god, I AM a loser.
Ah screw this; I'm taking a nap.
Hallucination
*Vrrrr…*
Uh… Okay, I hope I'm dreaming right now, because when I woke up, I found myself in what looks like the back of a limousine, with a lot of blue décor and lots of alcohol bottles…
Oh god, please tell me I didn't get drunk or anything with some total strangers, did I? This isn't like those messed up movies, right?!
After my somewhat panic attack, I noticed a dude with a huge nose and a lady in blue next to him. And by dude with a huge nose, I mean DAMN! That thing looks like it could poke an eye out or something! It looks like it's reaching right across the stupid table! What the hell!
"Welcome to the Velvet Room…"
The guy with the big nose started to talk.
"Ah… It seems we have a guest with an intriguing destiny… *chuckle* My name is Igor… I am delighted to make your acquaintance."
The atmosphere in the room is really weird. Where am I?
"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter… It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future. Now then… Why don't you introduce yourself…?"
I don't even know why I'm giving a stranger my name. I swear this is breaking those rules they taught in elementary school about talking to a suspicious looking old stranger in a back of a vehicle.
"My name is Yu Narukami."
"Hm… I see. Now, let's see into your future, shall we?"
He took out some tarot cards.
"Do you believe in fortune telling?"
Only when it says that I have good luck.
He then separates them.
"Each reading is done with the same cards, yet the result is always different…*chuckle* Life itself follows the same principles, doesn't it?"
He flips over one of the cards. It says XVI and it kind of looks like a tower that was hit by lightning.
"Hm. The Tower in the upright position represents the immediate future. It seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent. The card indicating the future behind that is…"
He flips over another card. This is one of the coolest magic tricks I have ever seen he didn't even touch any of them.
"The moon in the upright position. This card represents "hesitation" and "mystery"… Very interesting indeed."
He may say this but I really don't understand this kind of fortune telling.
"It seems you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed upon you."
Great…
"In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny… If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost."
That makes it sound worse…
"My duty is to provide assistance to our guests to ensure that does not happen."
He then makes the cards disappear from the table. Coolest. Magic. Trick. Ever.
"Ah! I have neglected to introduce my assistant to you. This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, like myself."
Did he just say 'resident'? He doesn't stay here 24/7, does he?
"My name is Margaret. I am here to accompany you through your journey." She said to introduce herself.
"Until then, farewell…"
The dream ended and I woke up on the train.
This may be the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me.
Later
After I got off the train, I walked out of the station and started to wait for uncle Dojima.
As I waited, I looked to my right; there were these two sleazy looking guys coming onto this girl with perverted looks on their faces. It was obvious that the girl looked uncomfortable, and that something really bad was going to happen.
"Excuse me," I got the attention of the two sleazeballs "I think you are making the little lady uncomfortable. Could you please leave her alone?"
Sleazeball #1 frowned "Why don't you mind your own business?"
Sleazeball #2 calmed down his friend "Now, now. We can let this guy have her after we have our way with her."
Yep, these douchebags are total pervs, and this girl looks like she needs help…
Call the cops
Beat these assholes to a pulp
I don't think I have enough Courage Yeah right, I have enough Courage for this
I ran towards Sleazeball #1 and slammed my fist into his face, knocking him onto his back.
"AUGH!" Sleazeball #1 scrambled back to his feet as Sleazeball #2 helped him back up. "Shit! This son of a bitch just broke my nose!"
"You little prick!" Sleazeball #2 pulled out a knife from his pocket and pointed it at me "You're so dead, you fucker!"
Yep, should have thought this through…
Grab the girl and run
Stand your ground
I quickly grabbed the girl's arm and bolted away from these sleazeballs as fast as I possibly could.
15 minutes later
When I thought we were far enough, I stopped and took an actual look at her. She was, in a word, unfriendly-looking. Okay, that's two words, but yeah. Though I have to admit, she's really cute.
"Tch, I didn't need your help! I could've handled it on my own!" The Unfriendly Girl spat.
"Right, like you so had it covered."
The Unfriendly girl blushed, before yelling "S-Shut up! Ihateyoustupidjerkface!"
"It's good you're safe." I said as I walked away.
"…Hey."
I turned around to look at her.
"You dropped this." She said while holding a piece of paper.
I could have just said "Thank you." I could have also said "It's not mine." Words cannot describe why I smiled and said what I had said next.
"You really wanted my attention that badly that you pickpocketed me? You really are something."
"What?! I didn't- S-Shut up!" she seems really flustered when I said that, all red and blushing like a tomato.
I should probably stop teasing her.
"I appreciate it, cutie." I said as I took the piece of paper from her hand. Again, I have no explanation for why I said that.
"What does that mean?!" she screamed. I ignored her and left for the train station. I was late anyway.
I got back to the train station. No one was there. There are only two explanations for that. Either they didn't arrive yet or they left before finding me. Knowing my luck, it was probably the second one.
"Hey! Over here!" I turn around and see a middle aged man and a little girl and I walk over to them.
"Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo. Welcome to Inaba. I'm Ryotaro Dojima. I'll be looking after you. Let's see… I'm your mother's younger brother… and that about sums it up."
I could have said "It's nice to meet you.", "it's been a long time.", or nothing at all. Oddly enough I was concentrating more on the kid next to him.
"Hello, who's this little lady?" I said with a smile. I don't know why but the kid looked kind of afraid of me. I wanted to make her feel comfy near me, we were gonna share the same roof after all.
She hesitantly came out from behind him and took out her hand. "I-I'm Nanako."
My uncle looked at me with a surprised look. "Would you look at that; she's taken a liking to you already."
She punches him in the arm.
"Ow, hahaha. Well then, let's going, my car's over there."
5 minutes later, in the car
"I got to go to the bathroom." Nanako tugged at Uncle Dojima's shirt.
"Ok, we'll go to the gas station." He said as he pulled over to a gas station.
"Can you go to the bathroom by yourself?" he asked.
"Uh-huh" she replied as left the car. He then turned his attention to the gas station attendant
I got out as well out of complete boredom.
The gas station attendant then directed his attention to me. "Are you in high school? Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is out here?"
This guy now has my complete attention.
"There's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast. You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs. Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now."
This guy then comes closer to me. Oh god, I think he's coming on to me.
"Give it some thought, why don't you? We don't mind if you're a student."
He extends his hand out. I start to think that he was only going for a handshake. Whatever. I shake his hand. Not even two seconds after he leaves, I start feeling ill. That bastard! He must have gave me something. What kind of jerk does that?
Nanako looks at me and asks: "…Are you okay? Did you get carsick? You don't look too good…"
Okay, the gas station attendant probably didn't give me anything. I do feel a little dizzy though. Maybe I'm just exhausted.
Dojima then looks at me and says "What's wrong? You okay?"
Three things came to my mind the instant he said that to me:
I'm just tired
It's nothing
I just felt lightheaded
So I don't know why I said "I think I caught something from the gas station attendant when I shook hands with him."
He starts laughing.
"Wow, that's pretty funny. But out of all seriousness you don't look well. Just go take a short walk, gets some fresh air and let me know when you're ready to go."
I took him up on that offer. There really wasn't much that stood out to me. A bookstore, a grocery store, okay a blacksmith shop kind of stood out but I didn't see much inside. The one thing that did stand out to me was that unfriendly looking girl from earlier. I don't know what it is about her, but I want to get to know her a bit more. I try to approach her.
She looks at me and says "Hm…? Have we met before?"
Out of the things I could've said, I could have told her "I met you just now.", I could have asked her "What were you doing at the station?" and I could have said "It's just your imagination."
For some reason, I blurted out the lamest pick up line that has ever come to my mind. It wasn't even a good pickup line. Not that there are any, but still.
"I'm your husband from a past life."
…
…
I can see her face getting redder and redder with each second- I'm starting to wonder how on earth that line worked in the first place.
"Whatiswrongwithyou?! Inevermetyoubeforeinmylife!"
Jeez, it was just a joke! I didn't think she would overreact that much!
"Yeah, we've never met, cutie." I said as I walked away. I wonder why I called her cutie again.
As I walked away, I could tell that she was still blushing. I went back to Dojima and we left. It took only a few minutes for us to arrive. It was a small two story house. For the next year, this place will be my home… It looked pretty cozy, actually.
Evening
We all sat down for dinner. It was the first time something like this had happened to me in a while. Dojima then started to talk:
"All right, let's have a toast. So… Your mom and dad are busy as always… They're working overseas, was it? I know it's only for a year, but getting stuck in a place like this because of your parents… It's rough being a kid. Well, it's just me and Nanako here, so it'll be nice having someone like you around. So long as you're here, you're part of the family, so make yourself at home."
I could have answered him; "I'll do just that", "thank you for your kindness", "yes, sir!" or even nothing at all. But for some reason, I chose to say; "I'm going to be the best family member both of you have ever had!"
"Uh…" I can tell that Uncle Dojima had no idea how to respond to that...
"Hee hee…" Well, at least I made Nanako laugh, that's a good enough consolation prize if you ask me…
"Well… anyway… let's eat." He said. Suddenly his phone rang. "Ugh… Who's calling at this hour?"
He goes on talking to the guy on the other end. "Sorry, but I gotta go take care of some business. Go ahead and eat without me. I don't know how late I'll be. Nanako, you help him out, okay?"
"Okay." She looks kind of upset when he leaves. She turns on the TV to the news; it's raining tomorrow.
This awkward silence is killing me. I'm alone with Nanako. What should I say? I could ask what her dad does, say "It must be tough.'' Or I could have also said I could have not say anything at all. I choose to say; "Are you always alone?"
"Yeah, but it's ok. I'm used to it." She replied. I feel really bad about asking that. There is an awkward silence in the room. C'mon TV do something interesting. I can't take this awkwardness.
"And now for the local news." The TV announcer stated
Ok, there's no way that the news could be bad, it's local news, how bad could it get?
"City council secretary Taro Namatame is under fire for an alleged relationship with a female reporter. His wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiiragi, revealed to this station that she will likely pursue damages. In response, Eye television has decided to cancel all of announcer Mayumi Yamano's televised appearances. Until allegations of an affair with Mr. Namatame are reolved, she'll Remain off the air and out of the public eye."
…Really? In a small town like this? What are the odds?
Nanako took the remote and changed the channel. "This is boring."
A commercial started to air. "At Junes, every day is customer appreciation day. Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products! Every day's great at your Junes!"
Nanako sang the part that she had heard. "Every day's great at your Junes!" She seems to like it.
She then looks at me and asks "…Aren't you going to eat?" I would feel awkward if I didn't.
Later
I went up to the room that I'm borrowing from Dojima. I'm tired. I just want to sleep. Starting today, I'm living here for a year. I wonder if everything will be all right… School starts tomorrow, I'm going to sleep.
A/N: And done! Now, I have to say this right now; I don't sound like this in real life at all, I swear! In fact, most of this flirty dialogue comes from my twin brother, who sounds like this in real life. He also comes up with most of the comedy bits in most of my fics, so I have to thank him for that as well.. Anyways, writing this really got me out of my funk, and well I just hope this goes well. As always, please review!