Shin Megami Tensei: Sinful Innocence

Chapter 1-New Home

April 9, 20XX

Tokyo, Japan

"What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?"

"It's the truth!"

Kurusu Marise watched with faint interest at the two young girls standing by the train's window as they continued to converse with one another. He wasn't sure why he got warped into their conversation in the first place but at the least it provided a way of distraction from his current predicament.

What was that again? Oh yeah, the fact that he was now on his way to the heart of Tokyo after what he would call a minor dispute but then replaced with the title of criminal offense. The drained faces of both his grandmother and aunt were going to be burned into the root of his memory for the next few months if he continued to think about them.

He wasn't exactly that flustered by the fact that he was going to have the charge on his permanent record but more so the fact that now he had to leave his family for the next year of his life. It was stupid, him being a seventeen year-old, to feel so irritated that he had to leave them but that was probably him just being an idiot in his own words.

Slender fingers tapped rhythmically on his phone as he waited for the text message from his aunt that hopefully would come in the next half an hour or so. She had promised Marise that contact between them would be a top priority for her while he was alone to defend himself in the city.

That was five days ago.

'Stop thinking about it Marise. She's probably just busy. Yeah, that's it!'

Marise smiled to himself in such a subtle way that it seemed like he had merely twitched his lips. Hopeful thinking was a step in the right direction for new situations and people. At least that's what his therapist said.

"The train will be arriving at Shibuya Station in approximately five minutes. Thank you for riding with-"

The boy stopped paying attention after that, carefully sliding his phone into his pant-pocket and slinging the duffel-bag that sat beside him over his shoulder. He waited patiently as both of the doors creaked open in a mechanical groan before walking out.

From enough practice having to walk everyday in his old hometown, Marise was able to manage coming out of the train being one of the first passengers to exit. He waited until everybody had left the train.

Once the station was less crowded than a few minutes earlier, the raven-haired male took his time time climbing the concrete steps into the eternal abyss that would be his new city for the year.

Exiting out into what was famously called "Shibuya Scramble Crossing," Marise felt his eyes widen at the amount of people coming and going from every direction. Not one piece of terrain was left empty from the clustered groups of businessmen/women to the skyscrapers that reached towards the heavens.

"This… is my new town…?" He didn't mean to spell it out into the public but couldn't help the words slip off his tongue. He had of course seen pictures and videos of Tokyo but to actually be there was something that you couldn't take just from a mere photograph.

His stomach twisted after the thought, causing him to pull at the rubberband on his wrist repeatedly as he walked further into the center of the square. People pushed and pulled to every which way as he continued his journey.

A vibration came from his pocket after a few moments, which he found was to be from a text that his new "guardian" had sent him.

"I'll be waiting at Miyashita Park in the Shibuya district."

'Miyashita Park? I've never heard of that before. Guess I should directions for it.'

Marise tapped out of his messages, moving to his maps with a swift movement of his index finger. After tapping in the address of the park, he watched as a yellow line jutted from his location to another a few blocks away or so. It would take around half an hour or so. 'Not that bad of a trip. I've done worse.'

He began to head towards the location before noticing something peculiar on his screen. Where the kilometers were normally displayed now had an application of stores pulsating in a motion of two every few seconds.

'What in the world?'

It had a black eye in the middle with the pupil being a star, black streaks coming out of it as it was displayed on a red square. Every time it pulsated caused the "application" to become larger until it took over his screen completely.

A fast succession of thumb tapping on the screen proved fruitless as the new artwork didn't react at all to the interference of the user. Marise attempted to use the home button to exit out but again didn't receive any payment for his attempts.

Did he download it and forgot? That didn't sound out of the question since it was him he was talking about but that was certainly taking it to a new extreme. He didn't notice it during the train ride so either it was some sort of virus or his phone had gotten a new update that was shit.

'Well it's something I need to fix now if I wanna get to the-'

There was something wrong when he looked up from his phone, enough to end his line of thought. Everything around him had taken a pregnant pause, to the point where the previously flowing wind had ceased to an incredible stop.

Pedestrians were glued to the cement below, some in mid-conversation while others were looking down at their phones indefinitely. Everything that he could see was affected by this invisible curse.

Except him.

"What the fu…?" He couldn't even finish his sentence wither as both eyes became wider by every passing moment. His mind counted as soon the pause passed being a few seconds to becoming two minutes.

Letting the rubber smack against his wrist, Marise hesitantly took a step forward as he touched the shoulder of a man on his phone. As expected, nothing happened besides the teenager becoming more flustered than he wanted to be on his first day.

He ran fingers through his unruly hair. 'Am I having a mental breakdown right now? What else could this be!? God give me strength right now…'

A crackling noise broke the eerie silence that Marise was almost starting to get comfortable with, or at the very least aquateince. Eyes flickered to a cluster of buildings where something was brewing.

That thing that was brewing was a massive inferno of tendrils that cracked towards the sky with sickening effect. The flames were a light blue, which indicated something factual and interesting. At any other moment than that.

"Blue fire…? Wait, fire!?" His boots thumped back a few steps, outstretched hand over his chest as his breathing became more rapid. Shaking nerves made him drop to a knee as he pulled at the fabric of his jacket, desperately trying to breath more clearly.

By now the burst of color had shifted and twisted into a more humanoid shape. It vaguely represented a slim figure, maybe of a woman but Marise was frankly not concentrated on that as his coughing became more frequent ot the point where getting air into his lungs was becoming difficult.

Fumbling with his bag, he unzipped the side compartment and brought out a small contraption. He brought it ot his mouth, taking the biggest breath he could at the moment as he pushed down on the trigger.

A rush of relief flooded through his organs after the release of the medication into his body. Marise shoved the inhaler into his coat pocket, shakily getting up with the help of a living statue near him.

It almost seemed normal when he finally brought his body back up but found that was not the case when his eyes met an identical pair.

Except, they were golden.

Standing before him was… him. A doppelganger or twin or shapeshifter or whatever the hell it was. Bright eyes lined with long lashed stared at him with hostility, pink lips pulled into a tight grin. It wore the same clothes as him, a pair of black trousers and a simple red jacket. Same chocolate-brown hair messed into a sorry state with the same pale and fragile body that he always had.

Even with the replica being so close, it still was shoved into a section of the uncanny valley. Not taking the clearly different eyes, the "thing" flickered in and out of existence periodically from time to time.

'Almost like a VHS tape that got manhandled.'

It didn't make any attempt to speak at the quivering male that stood before him, instead grinning like a good joke had just been told or he finally got a date with his crush. Except that wasn't happening. Instead, everything known to mankind was frozen and an evil twin straight out of Goosebumps had come to haunt Marise.

"Did you hear that Rissette was coming here soon?!"

"I do have those tax records…"

"...Nah, she totally will want…"

Just like that, the world was calm for the time-being. It had been a mere blink of his eyes that had been enough for the environment to become what he had expected as he rode the train to Tokyo.

'What...What just happened?' He waited expectantly for the space around him to shift back into whatever it was previously but the change never came, leaving him with a deep pit that sunk into his stomach.

Cool air caressed his face softly, rustling his hair. He looked down to his phone, finding the weird application to have disappeared from the map. Marise took it as a blessing in disguise and decided not to not look a horse in the mouth for the time being.

'Whatever happened, it can wait until I've made it to my living space for the time being. I can't do shit about it right now.'

With one final breath for guidance, Marise started his journey down the populated scramble towards the park, thoughts now filled with questions but no answers.

Miyashita Park

The time that it took to the park was far longer that Kurusu had expected once he arrived. Instead of being an even thirty minutes it soon changed to an hour just from the sole fact that everywhere he went, people were there with no room to spare.

A quick glance around the park showed it to be much more controlled than the ones back home. The ratio of shrubbery to cement was far more even than he thought a park was supposed to have but it still gave a serene vibe that he enjoyed considering what went down during the past hour.

He took a seat at one of the park benches, pulling his bag off of his shoulder and setting it to the side. His foot tapped on the pavement as he looked around for a sign of someone that could represent what was going to be his parole officer.

'So… I think what I need to be looking for is a woman in her late forties, early fifties maybe? Grandma said that she had job in the government so formal-looking I guess.'

He grew hopeful whenever a woman that matched his mental description walked by but none seemed to be looking for anyone and instead were enjoying the park more than he was at the time.

His focus shifted to the skatepark behind after awhile of waiting, watching a pair of teenagers grind against the railing around the ramps. 'I could come here to skate if it's close enough.'

"Kurusu-san?"

Marise broke free from the sight behind him to the woman standing before him. Her hair was a silver-gray, parted to one side that reached to the length of her neck. She wore a black business-suit and turtleneck that fit well on her frame. Brownish-red eyes scanned what Marise felt was well, him.

'This, is my guardian!? I was expecting someone's grandmother, not a woman a few years older than me.'

Personal feelings aside, he stood up and bowed politely, giving her a tight smile. "Yeah, that's me. My guardian I take it?"

Her head nodded in response, purple fingernails tapping her arm as she crossed her arms. "Yes. I'm Niijima Sae." She introduced herself with a flair of wanting to get this over with and possibly leaving him on the park bench for the next year.

"Well… It's a pleasure to meet you." Marise replied. It wasn't the truth but not a lie either. Meeting her in itself was fine but the fact that she was here to be his personal parole officer changed the feelings on the matter to a new form.

A smile tighter than his graced her features as the maroon eyes looked over him. Sae was having a hard time believing that someone that fragile could ever be sued for anything remotely assault related. 'Looks are deceiving I suppose.'

"If you don't mind, I think it's time we leave. I'm sure you're tired from the trip. Follow me." With that, she turned on her heel and went straight towards the exit; leaving Marise to scramble for his bag as he ran to catch up with the quiet woman.

One Month Earlier

Niijima Sae hunched over the dining table as she ran a hand through her hair in distraught. "Could you please tell me why I was your first thought on this manner?"

A sigh came from the other end of her phone, a slight shakiness framing the woman's words. "Unless I want to entrust him to go to juvie and be sent back in a bodybag from the other boys in there, I need somewhere that he can still continue his education. Frankly, a change of scenery would be good for him. It was only time he did something stupid because of his aunt."

Sae paused as she took in the woman's words, pinching the bridge of her nose. "So you're saying that his aunt caused him to get an assault charge on his permanent record?"

"No, what I'm saying is that after the years of torment she inflicted with her questionable morals and even more questionable choices in life, she's influenced him to go beat a stranger up in the middle of the night."

'I'm sure you didn't have any effect either.' Sae wanted to hang up on Elise Kurusu harder than the time she was forced to be stationed as a secretary in her training years. "Whatever the influence may have been, it still doesn't change the fact that you're asking me to be his guardian for the next year. I already have my sister to take care of, not to mention the fact I have an ongoing-career."

"..."

A pregnant pause as shuffling came from the other end. Elise replied finally, abit more solemnly. "I-I know it's a difficult task. He has a criminal record not to mention his… condition but I have no other options here. But-!" There always was a but in every conversation with the eldest Kurusu it seemed as the condescending tone returned to her voice. "I've saved your father's ass more time than I could count down the years without asking anything in return. I know he isn't here now to pay back his debt from me and it isn't fair to shift it to you but what would you do in my position?"

For once, Sae wasn't sure how to respond. She didn't have any children of her own, let alone grandchildren in this case but she did have Makoto. Would she really want to send her sister off to juvenile hall if the same twist of fate happened upon her?

…

No, she wouldn't. But it wouldn't even happen in the first place with Makoto unlike the "Marise" that Elise spoke about. Still, it's not like she was asking her to be taking him in for the next ten years. Only one. Unlike the many she has to face with her sister…

"-isn't that much of a problem besides the usual teenage angst that they all go through at-"

"I'll do it."

"Excuse me?" Elise seemed taken back the impromptu acception of Sae. "You'll do it?"

"Yes. I have a feeling I'll regret this but I'll finish what my father couldn't do."

"You're a good woman Niijima-san. I wish my own daughter was like you. He would be proud of you if he was still here."

Sae didn't respond to that, fingers curling into a fist as she attempted to calm her breathing. 'She doesn't know. Don't be rude…'

"Anyways, now that there's no going back unless you want to feel my wrath of vengeance for the next ten years like my ex-husband had to endure, I should tell you of some of the quirks of Marise. Nothing too major I assure you, just something that might be worth noting…"

Yongen-Jaya

Driving through the dense streets of downtown Tokyo gave a fresh perspective to Marise's southern eyes; finding that once again as shown by the sidewalk, every inch was covered with hunking metal unleashing toxic chemicals into the already polluted air.

Speaking of pollution, it became worse the farther Sae drove through the condensed streets to the point where she had to roll the windows up for the sake of Kurusu not dying in the passenger-side an hour into his stay at Tokyo.

They didn't discuss anything during the ride, a combination of shyness on Marise's part and just plain annoyance on Saes. At the very least she didn't show it on her face. Much. Whenever his blue eyes grazed at her direction, a permanent frown was on the older woman's face.

'I'm not sure whether I should be grateful or not she isn't talking more to me. At the very least, she's been polite. What more can I ask for under these circumstances?'

An hour has passed before Niijima pulled over into a residential area. "We're here." She unclasped her seatbelt and left the vehicle, leaving Marise to get his bag and fumble out of the side.

He didn't notice at first but now came to realize that the area they were in was significantly more posh than he had ever been exposed to in his short time on Earth. A few second-story buildings littered the street but Sae was stopped at a rising apartment-complex that took up most of the terrain around him.

She turned back, expecting him to be by her side but found he was still standing by the car, mouth slightly agape as he viewed the apartment with a twinkle in his bright eyes. "Is something wrong?"

Kurusu snapped out of his stupor, quickly shaking his head in disagreeance. "No… I'm just not used to such high-end places." He gave a weak laugh as she merely shrugged, folding her arms.

"My job has its perks I suppose. C'mon, I'll show you your housing." Sae stated. Marise followed her as she opened the glass-door for him into the ground floor of the building. His eyes wandered the clean and simple appearance of the main level and found it to be rather modern. Modern usually meant more expense from his experience. Whatever her job was, she seriously brought the bank in.

Once in the elevator, Sae pushed the seventh floor button without another word to the teenager. He danced from foot to foot in an attempt to relieve his stomach's bundle of nerves. Both doors open to show a plain hallway, colored a flawless white with only one door on each wall facing each other.

'Two units per floor? That's seriously ludacris.'

Sae walked over to the door on the right and fished out a key from her pant's pocket. It was silver in appearance, much like her hair but besides that wasn't anything that significant. That is, until she unlocked the door.

Again, she held out the door for him in a polite attempt at hiding her true feelings on the subject matter which fooled him for the time-being. More so because instead of seeing what he assumed was going to be a den filled with furniture and family heirlooms was instead completely empty.

White walls shined brighter from the clear windows to the right of the room, reflecting gray carpet underneath the soles of Kurusu's boots.

He took a step inside, holding his bag strap tighter to his chest. "Uh, did you get the wrong key? It's… bare in here."

She walked in, closing the door behind them. "No, this is the right place. For the next year, you'll live in the unit next to mine. Make sure to thank your grandmother for the decency of paying the rent this month."

Marise turned to her. "You mean this whole space is mine?!" He was not really sure what to think of the subject at the moment. On one hand, it was rather liberating he didn't have to live with his parole officer in her house for a year. But on the other, this seemed way too good to be true.

Sae nodded, examining the den. "In short terms, yes. But, there's always a price to everything in life. And, ironically at that, the price for this is that you'll need to help pay for the expenses each month. Now I don't expect you to be able to pay the rent of this place fully." She smirked slightly. "So in exchange for me helping to pay for the rent and general facilities like electricity and plumbing, I expect you to keep the place clean, your grades to be suburb, and to have a part-time job by the end of the month. Do we have a deal?"

If there was ever a moment in life that Marise really wanted to slam his head against the wall, now would be the time. He never had a job before, his grandmother never trusting him enough to do anything. Now he was expected to take care of a house, keep his grades in check, have a job, and manage to not be arrested again for something idiotic? 'Holy shit.'

There wasn't anything else he could do though. Unless he wanted to live on the streets for a year, it was this or that. Scratching his chin, he sighed softly before looking up to the woman. "I accept. Can I ask a question though?"

"Unless it pertains to you getting out of our agreement, go ahead." Sae gestured for him to continue.

"Why can't I stay at your apartment?" His eyes widened. "N-Not that I don't appreciate the gesture and our deal. More just curiosity than anything." Hopefully she wouldn't be offended.

Her head tilted, a hand raking her hair with purple nails. "It's a combination of two reasons. One, being that your grandmother wanted you to learn responsibility for the "real world" while you stayed here and…" She paused, face becoming more downcast as it left the state of neutrality. "Frankly, I didn't want someone with a criminal record to be around my sister. If that's all you wanted to ask, I'll leave you to unpacking." He watched her open the front door, placing the silver key onto the counter where the den and kitchen separated and then leave.

He set his bag down, ruffling his hair in exasperation at the situation. Being plucked out of his small townie life to now being a part-owner to a unit in an expensive complex was boggling him harder than he wished it was.

A cough escaped his lips, now just noticing the sour smell of vinegar. He bent down, getting a whiff of the carpet and found it to be the culprit. 'Please just tell me that it's from a steam-cleaning. I'll personally rip the carpet out if this lingers.'

The kitchen was to the right of him as he observed his new living-quarters, two doors to the left with a good amount of space in the middle between them. Someplace to put a flat screen he thought. If, he had one.

Opening the first door to the left, Marise wasn't much surprised to see a bedroom with nothing inside except blank space. 'Empty bedroom one.'

A door was at the right of the room, which upon further inspection showed to be a small bathroom. All of the works were in there; a shower, sink, toilet, etc. His hand found the knob of the door horizontal to the one he entered from.

That lead to empty bedroom two except this one wasn't so empty. Inside was a bed fitted to the side and one cardboard box in the middle of the room. 'So much to unpack. Well that seems to conclude the house tour. It's pretty cool if I gotta be honest besides the whole working under parole officer woman. What else was I expecting though?'

Marise flung his jacket onto the bed, pulling at the sleeves of his t-shirt. Bending down to the box, he carefully picked at the tape until it was successfully ripped off of the cardboard.

"Let's see what we have here…"

Inside was just a few basic necessities like clothing, a toothbrush, comb, all of the usual stuff. He was somewhat surprised to find a feather-duster, whirling it around before tossing it aside. At the very bottom was a note folded tightly.

Unraveling it, the sharp letters of his grandmother flooded his mind.

Dear Marise,

I see that you've completed the first task of getting settled into your apartment; that being opening the box I sent you. Congratulations, i'm proud. You'll find all of your medication in the fridge and your machine in the smaller box. I know you probably have a few questions to ask me about your living situation with Niijima Sae and such but I'm sure you'll work them out.

Before this letter becomes too lengthy, I just wanted to inform you that in-order for me to pay the rent and other fees for your unit, I've sold anything I deemed unnecessary in your old room. This should be enough to get groceries and help with any other basic living cost for the next month. The rest of the money I have from that will be divided between college and your rent.

Call me so I know you made it safely.

Love, Grandmother Elise.

Marise held the letter in trembling fingers, folding it back into its original form as he flopped to the floor in a defeated mess of tangled limbs. The audacity that she decided to sell his room off dry was flat-out outrageous in itself.

"I'll leave the call for another day…"

Placing the note back into the box, he retrieved the smaller package and then the envelope of cash. Inside was a hefty sum of 5000 Yen.

…

Yeah, he really was going to need that job sooner or later. Sooner being preferable. Marise opened the closet built into the side of the room and began to place all of his clothing in according to color; afterwich putting the cardboard boxes into the side of it to keep them out of sight.

It wasn't that much work in retrospect but to him he was completely exhausted after the task; finding himself soon after to be lounged on his bed now dressed in a pair of black sweats and a gray t-shirt.

Orange light fluttered into his room though the window, making him realize that he took much longer than he expected to unpack everything he needed to do. It gave him a small amount of accomplishment at the very least, which was something that he couldn't deny.

He opened the blinds of his room, looking out to a view of Yongen-Jaya in all of it's glory. Most of the houses were smaller than he originally thought now that he got a bird's eye view of the place. Still, it gave him a piece of memory that clicked into his old town.

His eyes began to close, opening back up each time but the pace of the motion becoming slower as his head sunk into the pillow. He didn't open his eyes after that.

Niijima Residence

Much like her previous position a month ago, Niijima Sae sat at the dining table with documents spread about shuffled neatly into piles according to their reveleace at the current moment. Tucking a loose piece of hair over her ear, she relined into the chair and yawned into a closed fist.

With the ongoing environment, political wise and just in general for the state of Tokyo, her workload had been doubled than it was previously causing a rift between her times of relaxation and her work.

'Picking him up wasted enough time for me. Thankfully he didn't ask more questions.'

She continued on her steady pace, sighing at the mention of the recent subway accident that occured a week ago. Every case of it seemed the same; conductor suddenly "losing" control of their body and mental state, causing them to hit another train head-on. A reoccuring link between all of them was the fact a black substance was left behind, thicker than blood but enough to run freely.

Her thoughts became interrupted as the front-door opened, revealing a younger girl to enter. Her brown hair was mussed, likely from the windy environment outside that had been hitting Tokyo harder than usual.

"Hey sis." Niijima Makoto greeted pleasantly, unbuckling the brown boots she wore and putting them in the cupboard besides the door.

Sae merely gave her a nod of acknowledgement as she pressed further into the paperwork she was assigned. Which, it shouldn't have been in the first place. As her supervisors called it, "Cronie Work." Still didn't change the fact that she was given it even after being a prosecutor.

Makoto finished taking off her blue jacket and proceeded to walk into the kitchen, pulling out a pan from the cupboard and placing it on the stove. She hummed softly under her breath as she proceeded to take ingredients from the fridge and arrange them.

…

"So, did you pick up the boy already?"

It was inevitable that Makoto asked the question that Sae had been dreading on answering. She wasn't one to keep things away from her sister but the subject of him was one that she didn't want to discuss. The more she blocked him from her mind, the better.

She played with her thoughts for a moment before answering. "Yes, he's currently settling in next door. Why, did you hear something?"

Her sister shook her head, stirring the contents of the pan as her face changed into one of puzzlement. "No, the opposite actually. It's eerily quiet. Not something I was expecting from a boy; and a delinquent at that."

Sae mused, beginning to put away her paperwork so no spills would occur during dinner. He wasn't that talkative during the ride nor even at the house besides the shock-factor. She settled on that he was just shell-shocked by the move. "He's a quiet-type I presume. Better for my piece of mind."

Makoto giggled at that, maroon eyes crinkling in the corners. "Better for me as well. I hope that he won't be coming into the office every other day for a disturbance."

"I was meaning to ask you actually…" Sae innterupted, shifting her torso to look directly at Makoto. "While, I can keep an eye on him just fine at home, my influence doesn't exactly extend to school. Will you look after him at school if possible?" Her lips tilted as Makoto's eyes widened into dinner-plates. "I don't mean 24/7 surveillance Makoto. Just, small updates."

The brunette masked her face temporarily from her sister as she thought over the request. She already had enough on her plate being the president of Yasogami's student council and her studies concerning future branches into college. Makoto couldn't disappoint her sister though.

"Of course. You know I'm always happy to help."

"Thank you Makoto. Speaking of him…" Sae looked down at her watch, surprised to see it was almost eight already. He didn't have any groceries didn't he? It contradicted her feelings on wanting to keep him as far away from her sister as possible but letting him starve wasn't going to look great for her.

"I'll be right back."

Kurusu Residence

Marise's nap (or deep slumber if he was going to be honest), was disturbed as a fast succession of three knocks echoed throughout the empty apartment. He slowly brought himself out of his bed, fumbling with the bedroom door and going into the den.

He wasn't terribly surprised to see Sae standing at the door frame, arms still in the internal lock of being crossed. She looked a little worse for wear, eyes strained and kinda bloodshot.

"Greetings." Marise mumbled, too warped to be properly polite as he leaned against the door-frame.

Sae inhaled a deep breath, letting it exit out after a stagnant pause. "Would... you like to eat dinner with me tonight?"

Marise didn't grasp what she asked until he was actually inside her house, sitting down at the dining-table with two woman who looked similar facial-wise.

Apparently, she was asking if he wanted to eat dinner and Kurusu just didn't understand that until the last second. His shoulders were like stone, frigid in appearance. His eyes wandered around the room, attempting to keep them off of the two girls before him. It dawned on him the rubber-band on his wrist was gone which didn't help his nerves.

Everything about the room screamed modern with the main use of black and white for coloring, plants sporadically in the corners o0r crevices. He felt like he was in The Jetsons invited for dinner which was, technically half-right.

A waft of warm air hit his jaw suddenly. He looked down to find a plate of curry and rice before him. 'When did this get here?'

The younger of both woman sat down, food placed before her and Sae. Marise noticed her eyes tinted similarly to Sae, having that same "knowledgeable" appearance that some people had. She was obviously Sae's sister, but it didn't take away from that fact that she was pretty in her own way much like the oldest Niijima. Not that Kurusu would ever admit unless he wanted to be found in a lake twenty feet under.

His blue eyes looked up to see both girls staring at him. He hadn't been paying much attention and started to redden. 'Great, my first impression is already crumbling. God help-'

"Are you alright, Kurusu-san?" Sae asked, eyebrows furrowed quizzingly. She had watched the boy stare at his food for longer than a minute without much indication of… well anything.

He nodded swiftly. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just a little… homesick I guess? Still, my apologies." He watched as Sae and her sister lock eyes for a moment, seemingly having a mental conversation with the use of facial expressions.

'This is going to be commonplace, isn't it?'

"That's understandable. I'm sure you'll adjust soon." Sae reassured. Her head tilted to the brunette in a motion of gesture. "Since you're both in the same room, it would be appropriate to introduce my sister." She again, did a tilt of her head. "This is Makoto, my younger sister and the president of the academy you'll be attending."

Makoto gave a smile, polite but brief to Marise. "It's nice to meet you. I'm sure you'll come to like our school."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too." Kurusu replied, not achnoldeging the second part of her introduction. He looked back down at the food once again.

…

Silence filled the dining-room as both sisters began to eat, attempting to keep their eyes away from the withdrawn boy. He eventually got over his wariness of eating with, for lack of a better term, strangers and started to slowly pick at his food.

'I really need to get my own groceries if it's going to be this awkward.'

Marise idly watched as Sae and Makoto spoke to each other in soft whispers, barely audible for him to hear unless he strained.

"...Awfully quiet…"

"Shell-shocked…"

"...Delinquent?"

"I need to finish unpacking if you don't mind." He abruptly stood up, face blistered with crackling heat as embarrassment wheeled inside of him. Pushing in his chair, he bowed half-heartedly. "Thank you for the dinner. It was good."

With that, he walked out of the apartment. The slamming of a door soon followed afterwards as Makoto visibly cringed at that.

"...Maybe it wasn't right to talk about him when he was right there." Makoto sighed, getting up from her chair and retrieving the dishes.

Sae stretched her arms, undoing her suit and wrapping it over her arm as she got up as well. "Perhaps that was a bit on the nose. Still, he'll have to get used to that if he wants to survive a year at school."

"You're probably right, sis."

"I know I am."

Author's Note: Thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of Shin Megami Tensei: Sinful Innocence. I hope to continue this story until the end so stay tuned.

Anyways, I wanted to get a few things out of the way for those who might have questioned it. Yes, Akira is now named Marise. It was more of a stylistic choice than anything but the meaning is actually "Infinite" which is fitting for the protagonist of this story in my opinion.

Another thing you may have noticed is the fact that Kurusu has his family more involved than originally in the game. I wanted to expand on that with my own twist because the lack of any communication was odd for me. It was justified in Persona 3 and even in Persona 4 somewhat but not really in the fifth.

Then there's the fact that his grandmother's name is "Elise." I made Marise mixed in this for reasons that will be developed later on so don't you worry. Anything that's new in general will be explained later on.

Last but not least, there's the fact that Marise is now living in the same apartment complex as the Niijimas with Sae being his probation officer. I learned about the choice that he was originally supposed to be a neighbor of them so I wanted to try that out.

With that being said, I don't have more to add so I hope to see guys in the next chapter.