A/N: I had been replaying Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker to gain some inspiration for my first fanfiction "New Possibilities," but I ended up wanting to write about some OCs. Well, here it is.

01-1: Amaya Kuze

Amaya had no idea how she ended up in the current situation.

"Be good and be sure to study hard."

Honestly, she had resigned herself to her fate when nothing had changed after three months.

"Make sure you listen to your teacher, OK? I don't want to be called in from work because you're causing trouble."

And now, she was entering her first day at school, a.k.a. kindergarten, in the world of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2, as Hibiki Kuze's twin sister.

Amaya gave a silent nod while her brother mumbled a soft "okay" to show understanding.

Their mother smiled slightly, almost invisible to the naked eye, and gave both of them a pat on the head before walking away, not sparing a single glance back.

"Let's go," Amaya said to her brother, who was grasping her sleeve tightly, and walked towards the mass of children surrounding a young woman.

Amaya had always believed in reincarnation. She just hadn't expected it to happen to her, and with all her memories to boot. Accepting that she had been reborn was the easy part; accepting the fact she had been reborn into a video game took a little more time.

Glancing at the boy at her side, she quietly studied him in contemplation. Hibiki's face showed awe as he stared at the other children, his eyes darting between faces. Only seconds later did the nervousness bubble up and he quickly stared down at the ground, his fists around her sleeve growing tighter.

Hibiki was a shy child in his early years, more so than what Amaya had expected. She could faintly recall from the Animation that Hibiki was written that way in his back story, and that he was bullied in school. In fact, didn't Daichi save Hibiki from the bullies, thus forming a beautiful friendship between the two of them?

No matter, Amaya didn't know how much she could rely on the game and the Animation. Furthermore, which storyline was this world following? If she could recall properly, the overall plot was the same between the two, but there were still a few noticeable differences. For one, Hibiki had summoned Byakko off the bat in the Animation, but was forced to start from the bottom in the game. Secondly, people were dependant on demons in the Animation, but in the game, app users could use skills to fight without completely relying on their demons.

And the most important of all, Hibiki's life had seemed to be in more jeopardy in the Animation compared to the game. Like hell she was going to let Hibiki die.

Feeling a tug on her sleeve, her mind zoomed into focus and her eyes met her twin's. Hibiki beamed at her with a smile that seemed to light up his entire face, and she quickly averted her eyes. Fighting to keep the blush down, she cursed at whatever entity out there.

God, how could Hibiki be so cute.

"Alright, children! I'd like your full attention, please!" The adult clapped her hands two times, and the rambunctious children slowly quieted down.

She smiled widely as her eyes purposely met contact with her students' eyes. Some unconsciously smiled back; some did not, but the overall ambience was much calmer and warmer than it had been only minutes ago.

"My name is Ms. Aki and I will be your teacher for the year. I'm happy to welcome you all to your first day of school! Now follow me; I'm going to show you how to get to our classroom so that you all don't get lost in the future."

Obediently, every child stayed close to Ms. Aki just like how ducklings would waddle after their mother. After entering the classroom, Ms. Aki gave further instructions, and everyone ran to varying tables to find a seat. Amaya quickly followed suit and pulled Hibiki along to the nearest table that still had two seats available.

The following activities were fairly standard kindergarten affairs. Ms. Aki first listed the rules of the classroom, which were then followed by a multitude of activities: a name game to introduce students to each other, a good half hour of 'reading time' followed by an hour of 'nap time.' Then, some time was spent practicing hiragana.

Amaya sighed in her mind. She had been nineteen before she had ultimately died and then been reborn. One would think that with her advanced mental state, she would find kindergarten mind-numbingly boring, but it was quite the opposite. In her past life, she had not been a Japanese citizen, neither had she even known how to speak Japanese, much less read and write it. In other words, Amaya was struggling to absorb new information when her mind was still fixated on English, her dominant language in her previous life.

"Are you okay?" Hibiki asked after Ms. Aki had released everyone for recess.

With parents that were always busy with work, it had been Hibiki who was unknowingly teaching her the Japanese language. He was her constant conversation partner.

"I'm fine," she replied after a stretch of silence.

Growing up in the Kuze household, the twins were quiet children. Hibiki was often silent due his shyness. Amaya's circumstance was a little more complicated. She barely spoke partially because she still hadn't gotten a good grasp of the language, partially because knowing that this was her second life left her often perplexed, and partially because she had always been a reserved person, even in her past life.

Their parents' absence in their life, Hibiki's insecurity, and Amaya's feelings of misplacement in a different world were all reasons for the twins' dependency on each other. This dependency brought the two of them closer than ever, and their relationship tighter than ever.

"I'm going to the washroom," Amaya informed her brother, who nodded reluctantly. He didn't want to separate from the only person familiar in this unknown place, but he knew that he had no need to go himself, so he could not accompany his twin or prevent her from going.

Hibiki watched her ask the teacher for permission before she left the classroom. All he could do was wait patiently for her return. Unfortunately, it was not going to turn out as he hoped.

Noticing a few presences beside him, Hibiki looked up in trepidation and presented a wobbly smile. "Um… hi…?"

Analyzing the scene, Amaya couldn't understand how this had happened. She was gone for only seven minutes to relieve herself, so how had things escalated so far?

She saw how a group of three boys surrounded her twin brother, and how Hibiki seemed to curl up with every word that left their mouths. Why on earth were a bunch of kids bullying another kid so early in their life? It was only the first day of kindergarten; what good reason could they possibly have?

Amaya looked around the classroom, noting how other classmates did nothing to help, and finally found Ms. Aki out in the courtyard with some of the other children. She could go and get the teacher to deal with the problem, but seeing Hibiki's pitiful state; Amaya steeled herself and marched right in the middle of the thick of it.

"What are you doing?" she asked defensively as she stood between her brother and his tormentors.

Hibiki, with tears threatening to spill from his eyes, looked assuaged by her appearance and he immediately latched on to her.

The three boys looked from her to her twin, quickly comparing their similar appearances.

"Having your sister save you?" the obvious ringleader asked in a derisive tone of voice. "What do you think you can do?" he asked Amaya, "you're a girl."

Amaya leveled him with a flat, unimpressed stare, and he fidgeted at the weight of that single look. She would never understand how boys at that age thought that being a girl was an insult.

"L-leave them alone!"

That was when all chaos ensued.

Hibiki and Amaya watched in surprise and slight alarm as a small boy with brown hair smashed into the ringleader where they both crashed into the ground. Sounds of shrieks filled the air and then a loud shout of "teacher!" was followed by the pounding of feet.

As the bully had a larger frame, he quickly got the advantage and pinned the smaller boy under him. Ignoring the bully's two followers who didn't seem to know what to do, Amaya rushed forward, unceremoniously yanking Hibiki, who was still firmly attached, along with her when the bully raised a fist.

"Stop it!" Amaya yelled, grabbing the arm with all her might to prevent him from punching the boy beneath him.

"What is going on here!?"

At that authoritative voice, everyone froze and the entire classroom became soundless with the exception of heavy breathing coming from the small boy underneath the bully. All eyes laid on Ms. Aki who had a thunderous expression on her face. Her angel-like persona from before almost seemed like an illusion.

"Amaya, release that arm! And Itsuo! Get off that boy!"

Amaya let go as though she had been burned and the bully, now named Itsuo, slowly stood up. The boy underneath him breathed out and also stood up, albeit shakily.

Ms. Aki took deep breath before speaking in a calmer tone, "Now, I want someone to tell me exactly what happened here."

Itsuo immediately raised his voice, but the teacher shook her head. "Not you, Itsuo. Someone who was not involved, but was watching what happened."

"It's all Itsuo's fault!" one of the bystanders called out and then pointed to the two other bullies, "those three were bullying Hibiki!"

Another voice spoke up in agreement, "Then Amaya came and tried to protect her brother."

A second pointer finger towards the small, brown-haired boy was followed by a lengthy explanation, "he slammed into Itsuo to save them, but Itsuo's bigger and stronger, so he quickly lost and was about get hit, but Amaya grabbed Itsuo's arm to stop him. Then you came, Ms. Aki."

Having gotten a hold of the situation, she sighed. "Alright. Itsuo, come with me."

"B-but what about them?" Itsuo protested angrily, feeling unfairness in their teacher's action.

"Everyone involved will be punished accordingly," Ms. Aki said, "In addition, I'll be phoning all of your parents. But right now, I want to talk to you first, Itsuo. There's no need to worry about the others."

After telling Amaya and the others not to move, the surrounding crowd of uninvolved children dispersed, and the two bullies that were with Itsuo moved a table away from the three of them.

"Thank you… for saving us," Hibiki spoke up first in the silence towards the brown-haired boy.

"Are you hurt?" Amaya asked, right after her brother.

"I-I'm fine," he replied to the both of them, "You don't have to thank me. It was wrong for them to bully you and no one else tried to help you, so I got mad."

Scrutinizing their 'savior,' Amaya thought that he looked somewhat familiar. Did they sit at the same table before recess or something?

In a surprising burst of confidence, Hibiki introduced themselves, "I'm Hibiki Kuze. That's my twin sister, Amaya."

The boy smiled, happy to have made new friends. "I'm Daichi Shijima!"

Oh. That's why he was so familiar.