Disclaimer: Pretty much all of the characters in this story, most of the plot, and a lot of the dialogue belong to Atlas. There may be an OC or two, and changes to the plot, but other than that, Persona 3 Portable is Atlas'. I just want to write a novel for it.
"Tatsumi Port Island…heh, it's been a while since I was last here," the girl mutters to herself as she gets off the train. There had been power outages, as the announcer on the train said, and it is now nearly midnight before arriving at Iwatodai Station. The early April weather is usually nice, but in the middle of the night the wind picks up. The girl rubs her arms to warm herself up before checking her phone.
"Okay. I'm looking for Iwatodai dorm number 6…I hope it's not too far, it's cold," she says to herself. She reaches to her mp3 player to turn down the sound; it was far too loud without the background noise from the train. She looks at the time on her phone. 11:59:30. The seconds change. Putting her phone back into her bag she walks in the direction of the dorm.
I believe so strongly
That tomorrow never falls away
Moonlight
It still awaits.
12:00:00
"Huh? What the…I swear I put a fresh battery in this an hour ago…" the girl wonders out loud, looking at her now dead mp3 player. She looks around. The streetlights are out. The cars have stopped moving. There are no people. Only coffins. The moon looms above her. It's far too large to be real. She grabs the back of her head. A sharp pain courses through it.
"Uhg…déjà vu. This is like that dream." She pinches herself, thinking she fell asleep on the train. She feels the pain. She is not asleep. Uneasy, the only thing she can do is walk to the dorm. The surroundings are eerie. Puddles of what looks to be blood are everywhere. It is quiet. Dead quiet. This is a quiet that one never wants to hear.
After what feels like forever she arrives in front of the dorm. The near full moon above her illuminates the sign out front. Gekkoukan High School Iwatodai Dorm No. 6. She pushes open the door; the door creaks, and startles her. She looks around. No one appears to be in the front room she entered.
"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you."
The girl almost jumps out of her skin, and whips around to the front desk. A young boy stares at her with large, blue eyes. The boy's eyes give off a light, and pierce through the darkness of the room. The boy smiles. She looks around again to make sure no one else appears out of nowhere. The boy is now in front of her. He snaps his fingers, and points his hand back to the desk.
"Now, if you could, would you please sign this? It's a contract. Don't worry; all it says is that you will accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff."
The girl wonders if that is indeed what is usually on dorm contracts. She didn't have to sign a contract at the last dorm she stayed in, so she doesn't know. She picks up the pen, and signs her name. Michi Arisato. It's dark, and she almost messes up the 'chi' of her given name, but finishes and puts back the pen. Michi looks up, seeing the boy is behind the desk again.
"No one escapes time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug you ears and cover your eyes." The boy giggles softly.
"Do…do I know you?" Michi questions the boy. Something about his appearance seems so familiar to her. Not just his appearance. The very way he feels in front of her. She has no way of describing it. The boy giggles again.
"I have always been with you." The boy smiles again, and picks up the red contract book. As he moves it parallel to Michi's face, it disappears into thin air. "And so it begins."
The boy is gone. Michi feels like she was in a trance. She blinks several times, as if to see if the boy would reappear. He doesn't.
"Who's there?" A voice pierces the silent. Michi turns to see girl in a pink sweater. She has a gun at her side. Michi takes a step back. A person. With a gun. Not the best situation to be in.
"Takeba, wait." Another voice. And another girl. She puts her arm in front of the girl in the sweater and looks up. The lights flicker back on, and Michi's mp3 player begins playing again. The light hurts Michi's eyes, and she blinks back the tears.
"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm." Michi flinches at her family name. Kirijo.
"Who's she?" The girl in the sweater asks Mitsuru.
"A transfer student. It was a last minute decision to assign her here. She will eventually be put in a regular dorm."
"Is it okay for her to be here?"
"We'll see," Mitsuru turns to Michi, "This is Yukari Takeba. She is a second year this spring, like yourself."
"…hey." Yukari looks uneasy talking to Michi.
"Hello. I'm Michi Arisato," Michi replies. A girl from her year. Good. She can possibly make a friend within the next couple of days. It makes the weirdness almost worth it. But, there is that gun, "Why do you have a gun?"
"Huh? Well, umm, I guess you could say it's a hobby…well, not a hobby, but…" Yukari doesn't seem to be able to answer her. Mitsuru quickly comes in with an answer, "You know how it is these days…it's for self-defence. It's not a real gun, of course."
As Michi begins wondering if Iwatodai is actually dangerous enough to justify carrying around a fake gun, Mitsuru spoke again, "It's getting late, so you should get some rest. Your room is on the third floor, at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there." Yukari volunteers to show Michi the way.
Walking up the stairs, Michi desperately wants to say something to Yukari. It is not until they reach her room that she thinks of something.
"Well, this is it. Pretty easy to remember since it's at the end of the hall. Make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it. Uhhh…do you have any questions?"
"Yeah…does that little boy live here? He had me sign a contract, and then kinda disappeared…" Michi trails off, realizing how crazy what she is saying sounds.
"What are you talking about? Little boy? Contract?"
"No idea, huh? Heh, maybe I saw a ghost."
"Don't even joke about that!" Yukari seems distressed. She calms down a bit before continuing, "When you were coming from the station…was everything okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is…oh never mind. You seem okay. Well, I'm going to go to bed. If you have anymore questions, save them for tomorrow." Yukari yawns with her last words. "If you need me, though, I'm just down the hall. Good night."
Yukari walks to her room down the hall. Michi grabs the key out of her bag, and opens the door. There are suitcases piled near her desk, and a long stick covered in a cloth bag is leaning against her bed. She grabs the stick, and unzips the bag. A blade is revealed. A naginata.
"Oh good, this is safe. If this got broken in transport, I'd throw someone." She smiles to herself, zipping the bag back up, and leans it against the wall.
"Too bad there isn't a naginatajutsu team at the school here. No classes either. I guess I'll have to train on my own…" Michi trails off as she yawns. Digging through her suitcases, she pulls out her pyjamas. Putting them on, and unpinning her hair, she looks outside the window. The moon looks normal, not the eerie yellow it was when she arrived. She wonders what is going on, but decides that would be better for when she is awake and coherent.
Author's Notes: And here is begins. I went with the name "Michi" instead of one of the more popular fandom names because...well, I thought it was cute. It also parallels Minato, which is "Port", a sea related term. "Michi" means "road/path", which is (usually) a land related thing.
But I mostly just found it cute.
Yes, there will be a lot of dialogue taken directly from the game. But there will be a lot of stuff not in the game/things I will rewrite. This is based on P3P. It isn't going to be exactly it. Though, this can still be considered "Persona 3 Portable: The Novel".