And suddenly, I lose my mind and make a Persona fanfic. For the record, this is set around the time in Persona 4 where Yukiko is rescued, but before Kanji get abducted.
*Grins* Let's see how this goes, shall we? Enjoy~
It was an average cloudy day, and as the sun got higher into the sky people came out of their homes to begin their days. Inaba was a quiet little town, where everyone knew everyone. There wasn't much to do, but the people who grew up in the quaint town always found something to entertain themselves.
This story begins with the arrival of a train in the early hours of the afternoon. A single passenger stepped onto the platform wearing a set of headphones and moving with a tired shuffle. He shook his head to move his long blue hair out of his face, and gazed at his new home with half-opened gray eyes.
He wore a long sleeve white shirt with black slacks, and carried the gray jacket he brought over his shoulder. His expression was gloomy as he looked around the station, but as the man's head cleared, a wide grin spread across his face.
He let loose a wide yawn, then pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He dialed a number, then waited a few seconds until he heard a female voice say "Hello, who is this?"
He chuckled a bit, saying "Did you forget my number, Fuuka? I'm heartbroken." The man hadn't contacted most of his old dormmates from high school in the last three years, so it wasn't really a surprise to him that she hadn't kept his number.
"Oh, Minato! It's been so long! So Mitsuru was talking about you when she told me to expect a surprise? Agh, I had no idea!" She sounded flustered, so he said "No worries, it was a last minute kind of thing. Could you let me know where your address is? I'll meet you after work, maybe?"
Fuuka Yamagishi, his girlfriend from high school, had moved to Inaba directly after graduating 2 years ago. Minato had lost contact with her, though he made sure to get updates from another close friend of his, Mitsuru Kirijo.
"Oh, uh . . . sure! I, uh, I'll see ya then!" She sounded distracted, and Minato could hear the clanging of metal in the background. "Gotta go, break time's over! I'll text the address!" she told him, then hung up. A few seconds later, Minato's phone buzzed with a new message.
He sighed with disappointment; guess he'd have to walk all the way downtown . . . Her address was somewhere in the shopping district, and that was a full hour and a half away.
"Ah, well," he said aloud, putting the navy blue jacket on and hefting his bag over his shoulder, "complaining won't do me any good. Time to walk."
This town really was a great place, Minato reflected, as he walked alongside the road into town. On his right was a steep hill that led to a large river, which sparkled in the sunlight. There were children playing in a grassy field on his left, and their carefree cries of joy put a smile on his face. Not much cheerfulness like that overseas, or in Iwatodai for that matter, he thought to himself.
At least he managed to stay in regular contact with Junpei and Mitsuru, though he kept all of his friend's phone numbers. No one else besides those two had so much as texted him in the last few years, but Minato wasn't sad about it.
Why would he be, when he practically deserted them after the incident . . .
He shook his head abruptly, refusing to dwell on past mistakes. Out loud, he told himself "Get a grip. This is a new town, a new life. Make new memories."
He arrived in town after about an hour of walking, surprised to see how deserted the streets were. He hadn't expected only 5 people to be around the shopping district, regardless of how 'country' the town was perceived as.
He stopped next to what looked like a ramen shop and walked in, immediately bombarded by the smell of spices and octopus. His stomach growled and he thought Eh, why not. Fuuka has a few more hours of work, and I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday . . .
He sat down on a barstool and, in record time, a young blue-haired girl asked in a dull voice "What can I get you?"
She looked gloomy and seemed to want to be anywhere else, but her posture showed that she was pretty strong for her age. Minato said "How about just a large beef bowl?", and she told him "Coming right up," before disappearing into the back.
Once again, he was reminded of old memories as he sat on the stool, breaking the chopsticks apart and digging into his meal. He and Junpei had frequently gone out for ramen runs, as had Hidetoshi, Rio, and a number of other friends of his.
Feeling even more nostalgic than before, he quickly finished his meal and paid the gloomy girl before exiting the ramen shop. He followed the instructions Fuuka texted to him until he arrived at a decent sized house across the street from a tofu shop. He didn't have a key to get in, but knowing Fuuka, she would probably keep a spare somewhere . . .
After a few minutes of searching, he found a spare key inside a pot next to the front door and let himself inside the house. It was about the same as he expected; it was moderately clean with some food cans and bowls next to a table piled with damaged and warped metals. He took the time to tidy up the dirty dishes and laughed to himself at the trashcan filled with failed 'creations' that she had cooked. Same old, same old, eh?
Once he finished the dishes, he checked his phone to see that he had another text; this time from Junpei. -Grats on your college degree, I heard you moved down to Inaba. Gonna hook up with Fuuka again? ;D- He texted back -'Course I will, though thats not all I'm doing here. Wouldn't have made it through college without Mitsuru's help, though. Helping Fuuka out with chores atm, I'll ttyl-, then put his phone away after seeing he still had an hour until Fuuka got off work.
After making sure the living room was tidy, he sat on the couch and rested his head against the comfy leather, reminiscing again. This time, the memory was of him and Fuuka sitting on the old dorm couch, just talking about random things to pass the time.
Either he sat on the couch for longer than he thought or just thinking of her summoned her, but the door creaked open and Fuuka called out "I'm home, you here Minato?"
He sat up, saying "Yup, over here. Good to see you again," he added with a smile and a hug. She laughed, teasingly asking "What's this? Has 'Moody Minato' finally crawled out of his shell?" He released her and observed as she moved around the house, commenting on his job in the kitchen; she had definitely changed from the shy girl back in Gekkoukan.
She moved around the house with an energetic attitude that he had rarely seen before, moving into the kitchen to help as she cooked some simple ramen. Her once-fumbling actions have given way to confidence in every stride she made.
Her aquamarine hair had grown longer, and Fuuka had put it into a braid at some point in the last couple years. At the moment, she wore a light blue poncho over a black turtleneck sweater and a blue skirt, both of which were dusty from working all day.
As they cooked, he asked "So how's work? Sounded hectic over the phone." She sighed, stopping what she was doing for a moment to rub the side of her face with a hand as she said "Deidara's working me pretty hard. I got into metalsmithing recently, and we've been having a good amount of customers. Collectors, martial artist, and - oddly enough - a specific group of high schoolers."
He raised an eyebrow, asking "High schoolers? How could you tell?" She glanced sideways at him before stating "because they had the Yasogami High uniforms," as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He coughed in awkwardness, changing the subject to "So what do you make, anyways? Not much you can make with metal, other than weapons."
She nodded, setting up the table in the living room as she said "Yeah, weapons and armor. We get some pretty interesting materials, as well as interesting customers. Come on, let's eat!" He laughed before sitting down at the little table, enjoying some ramen as he listened to Fuuka animatedly describe her days.
She had shown him a spare bedroom he could use, but he slyly wriggled his eyebrows in a suggestive way while asking "Couldn't we share your bed, like old times . . ?" Her cheeks colored, and she stammered out "Oh, no. You don't get to disappear for three years, and suddenly everything's fine. You gotta earn it again, mister."
He snapped his fingers, muttering "Drat" with a slight smirk on his face. "Oh well, had to give it a try. See you in the morning, Fuuka." He put his bag in the bland room, seeing the small television, the bookcase with several books on it, and a futon lying in the corner.
He pulled a few things from his bag, setting them on the bookcase for the night, and paused when he pulled out the long orange hand-knit scarf that he always carried around with him. This brought back even more memories.
Minako . . . She had given the scarf to him one winter morning, laughing as she had wrapped it around his neck. She told him it was a personal project of hers, and that 'You're going to wear that whenever you get cold, and you will be damn pleased when you do! You got that?'
He frowned slightly, resting the scarf next to the futon before laying down in the mat. Tomorrow, gotta let the Yasogami staff know I'm here. Maybe I can start working soon, get to know my way around town.
His mind set on his goals for the next day, he drifted off to sleep, awaiting the first day of his new life.
A/N: I've never been all that good with introduction chapters, so do tell me if I can improve on some things. My style is to tease out details and be as vague as freaking possible, so don't worry about what looks like detached thoughts here and there.
Cheers~