Persona
Chapter 1
The "Truth"
Head pounding, I awake. My whole body is sore and I can't seem to find the strength to get up. I open my eyes to the intense light around me. I have not seen this place before, or anything remotely like it for that matter. I collect myself for a moment before forcing my legs to rise. My teeth involuntarily begin to grind and I eventually find myself standing. Strangely, after collecting myself, both my headache and pain seem to have faded. Now that my head is cleared, I turn my attention to my surroundings. All around me I can see only fog. It seems to stretch on for miles and miles. The ground below me is just as odd. A collection of red bricks form a pathway that cuts through the fog. Unable to do anything but proceed forward, I find my legs moving before my mind commands them to.
"Do you seek the truth?"a disembodied voice asks me. For some reason I find myself unable to answer. So instead I offer a reply in my actions and continue walking. "If it is truth you desire then come and fine me," the voice tells me. I can hear it quite clearly now, in fact, it sounds as though it came from just up ahead. An oddly constructed door obstructs my pathway. Its design is square like and as I approach it the squares begin to rotate and fold in on themselves. On the other side stands a silhouette of what appears to be a man. Strangely, I find myself getting intensely irritated at the sight of him and move to grab my... sword? When did I grab that? I move the weapon behind me, holding the hilt with two hands as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Have I done this before?
"So... You are the one pursuing me..." the voice disrupts my thoughts. My irritation returning the silhouette in the distance is now my one and only issue. The silhouette speaks "try all you like." A low growl rises from my throat and I raise my weapon. I charge towards the voice then force my sword in its direction. The sword does not make contact and instead I see that the silhouette has moved farther away. "It seems that you can see a little, despite the fog," it remarks. Annoyed, I move my hand and call out to my facade, my servant, my other self... My Persona. "Persona!" I yell, an important part in the ritualistic summoning of my secret power. The truth is that the summoning of my persona is more of a sub conscious action rather then one I need to focus on. Still, I can't help but find that odd. I know how to summon my persona and use a sword. But why? And where did I learn these things. Suddenly, my guardian Izanagi materializes. "Zio!" I order. Izanagi's eyes narrow and its body strains before releasing a stream of electricity upon the silhouette. The attack makes contact, but the silhouette still remains unphased. "I see," it continues. "You do possess and interesting quality."
The silhouette straightens and then begins glowing a strange dull grayish colour. I can fell the atmosphere changing around me and in shock I bring my weapon up to my face in defense. "But you will not catch me so easily," it taunts nonchalantly. "If what you seek is the truth, then your search will be even harder." I can feel the surrounding air getting moister as more and more fog forms around the silhouette until I can no longer separate the silhouette from the very fog that hides it. I lower my weapon and spread my legs in anticipation of an attack. The attack never comes though and instead the voice lectures me some more. "Everyone sees what they want to," it whispers. "And the fog only deepens."
"Izanagi!" I shout. My persona takes form and awaits an order. "Cleave," I tell it. Izanagi launches forward and slashes through the spot where the silhouette last was with his large sword, but his attack meets nothing but empty air. "Will we meet again?" the voice asks. "At a place other than here?" I can almost feel the voice's mischievous smirk. "I look forward to it," it laughs, before my mind blanks and I lose consciousness.
My eyes fly open and I throw off the sheets from the bed I'm sleeping on. Where am I? My eyes dart across the room. My heart slows and I exhale slowly. Now I remember, I'm living in my uncle's place in the small town of Inaba. This room is actually my room. I check the clock, 7:23. Shit. If I don't hurry I'm going to be late for my first day of school. I crawl out of bed and head to the bathroom to shower. My name is Toshie Narukami, I used to live in a big city with my parents but they had to leave on business and so I had to move to this small country town. I sigh thinking back on all the friends I left behind, I'll miss them but not as much as I'll miss the city. "The countryside huh?" I mutter. "What the hell? Why not?" I was never particularly popular in my old school, I was never the smartest, the prettiest or the most athletic. Instead I just blended in like everyone else. I can remember considered pretty cute though. I'm pretty sure it had to do with my big blue eyes and gray silverish hair. It probably wasn't my height, in fact I only stand at about 5' 6 and have creamy white skin. Nothing too special but attractive enough I suppose. "Toshie!" I hear my uncle Dojima call. "How much longer are you gonna sit and soap in there? School starts in little then under an hour, get a move on!"
"Okay!" I yell back in reply. I turn off the tap and head back into my room to throw on my school uniform. It's a black and white skirt, it looks kinda nice and I can't help but feel it's just like me. Not too bad, but nothing really special about it either.
Now dressed, I head downstairs where I see my younger cousin Nanako waiting for me. "Good morning," she greets. "Let's eat." I take a seat opposite to her.
"Do you do the cooking?" I ask. She nods and then says,
"I can toast bread and cook sunny-side up eggs in the morning." She takes a small nibble of her toast and continues. "Dad can't cook, so I buy dinner." She pauses for a moment, and blushes a little bit. "This is you're first day of school right?" she asks.
"Yeah," I reply.
"My school's on the way so let's go together." She gives me an affectionate smile, it's heartwarming and I don't have it within me to refuse.
"That sounds great," I tell her.
Nanako and I walked together for a short distance before splitting up near the river that runs through the center of the town. I continue to walk, humming to myself and daydreaming about the friends I hope to make at my new school when I hear a loud yelling from behind me. I turn to see a biking student speeding along the street, his breaks seem to have stopped working and he panics as he smashes into a nearby stop sign. He groans in pain. Concerned and mildly amused I approach him.
"Are you okay?" I ask. But I can see from the look on his face that he's in too much pain to hear me. I roll my eyes and continue walking.
I step into my new homeroom as the first bell rings, followed my my home room teacher Mr. Morooka. I can tell from the moment I see him that he'll be nothing but trouble for me. He has greasy black hair and a horrible overbite which exposes his disgusting crooked teeth. He smells of alcohol and the area under his arm pits are stained. He's wearing a ridiculous blue striped suit partnered with a equally ridiculous yellow checkered tie. His entire persona just reads asshole. "Alright, shut your traps!" he yells in greeting. "I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!" He tells the class. "First things first," he continues. "Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons." I sigh in annoyance. "Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the drive snow!" The class gives a collective groan before allowing Mr. Morooka to continue.
"Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce this transfer student." I grit my teeth.
"This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage." My fists now clenched, I begin debating to myself whether or not I should club this guy. "And she's just as much of as loser here as she was there, so you guys better not think of hitting on her!" I'm irritated beyond words and so I just do some more of my breathing exercises and turn my attention back to the rest of the class, trying to block out this Duke of Assholes. "Tell 'em your name, kid," he tells me. "Make it quick." There are three things in this world I absolutely hate, being told what to do, being told to hurry up, and being prematurely judged. This idiot has hit each of those three right on the head. "Are you calling me a loser?" I ask before I have a chance to think about what I'm saying.
The entire class gasps and Mr. Morooka blushes. He's is at a loss for words, but unfortunately, only for a second. His embarrassment turns to anger and he immediately takes a disliking to me. "You're on my shit list, effective immediately." I roll my eyes, he ignores my rebelliousness and continues regardless. "Now listen up!" he tells me. "This town is miles away from your city of perverts and assholes, in more ways then one."
"Well the pervert part is true anyway," I murmur under my breath causing one of the kids at the front who heard me to giggle.
"You better not even of getting involved with the guys here," he continues. "Let alone abusing them!" I blush at that comment, what the hell does he know? "But what do I know?" He asks. Exactly. "It's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast." He continues the rest of his rant and I decide to tune him out. A short haired girl from the back of the classroom shuts him up. "Excuse me?" she asks. "Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?"
"Huh?" His rant now ended. "Yeah, sure."
I take my seat next to the short brown haired girl, she's wearing a green track suit with yellow lines that trace the center of the outfit. It's quite obvious that she's an exercise lover. "He's the worst, huh?" She asks me quietly. "Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class," she continues. "Well, we'll just have to hang in there for a year." I nod in agreement and can hear people around me having similar discussions. But I'm surprised to find that a few of the students are actually talking about me. A couple comments about how it sucks to be the transfer student, and if whether they have a shot at me or not. "Shut your traps!" Mr. Morooka yells. "I'm taking roll and I damn well expect you to respond in an orderly manner!"