Chapter 1: To Roadless Travel Together We Go

The passenger train rattled gently through the Japanese countryside, bearing various members of the public wherever it was their various paths would lead them. Amongst these passengers a young man sat, he was different than the other passengers, a fact that he was very aware of and was the reason he was gazing implacably out the window as the countryside went by, as opposed to gazing about the cabin at the ever diminishing amount of fellows. Many things set the young man apart from his fellows, if he had been standing the first thing that would have been noticed was his impressive height, he stood at a solid 198 cm, and as such towered over most other people; however sitting down the most obvious difference would be the most apparent, the young man was clearly not completely Japanese. His features, a mix of many different peoples and cultures, light brown skin and jet black hair were contrasted by deep silver eyes, framed by large round rimmed glasses had always set him apart from his peers, and still did to this day. Having dealt with the subtle glances and well-meaning but still slightly hurtful questions his whole life he was used to them, however he didn't enjoy them, and as such continued to determinedly stare out the window trying his best to ignore them as they happened over his shoulder. He occupied his mind by imagining what kind of place he would be going to and only succeeded in making himself melancholy as his mind wandered back to the place he had left.

"Now as you're all aware this young man here will be transferring schools at the end of the semester, due to personal issues."

The young man in question snorted quietly, personal issues was a polite way of phrasing it.

The low muttering that erupted around the room barely registered in his memories, as the thing that held his mind fast was the sharp feminine gasp he heard coming from a few rows back. He remembered forcing his head up to glance at the source and the hot wash of shame he felt as the beautiful girl who had made it met his eyes and in just a short second sent all of her pain and rage towards him, he hadn't told her about his leaving as he had been hoping to disappear and leave her unaware. The final days of his semester had not been pleasant. As he continued to jog down memory lane, Narukami's eyes began to feel heavy and he found himself entering into a light doze, at least until he heard an unmistakably eerie voice mutter something across from him.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

A particularly loud trundle startled him awake, and he took a short second reengaging his brain. The dreams he had experienced had been bizarre, almost feverish, he vaguely remembered a long nose and something about a calamity; he swore he could recall snippets of something else, something sinister, a women struggling, screaming, and dying. He shook his head to divest himself of the unpleasant shiver that crawled down his spine and he stood and retrieved his bag. While he had been lost in thought the train had slowed to a stop and he began to make his way towards the door, duffel bag in one hand and mobile phone in the other. The station was tiny and also completely empty and the young man sighed internally to himself.

"Another year, another school and yet they couldn't send me to a place that had more than 10 people living in it, wonder if they even have pretty girls in this place?"

Moving swiftly and surely towards the end of the platform, he found his way to the exit and stepped out, catching his first glimpse of his new town. It was pretty enough in a plain sort of way and he found himself grimacing slightly.

"Yep, definitely no pretty girls here, I'm doomed."

"Hey you, over here." A gruff voice cut into his ears, grimacing at the use of what he mentally called "cop voice" the teen glanced up as an older man and young girl made their way towards him.

"Well, you're more handsome in person than in your photo." The older gentleman held out his hand. "Welcome to Inaba, I'm Ryotaro Dojima I'll be looking after you."

The double meaning of the statement was not lost on him, yet he felt that diplomacy was his best option.

"It's been a long time Uncle, but I didn't forget you." The youth took the proffered hand and shook it, a wry smile crossing his face.

Dojima chuckled slightly while pushing the young girl who had taken shelter behind his legs forward.

"Fair enough, but you two still haven't met, this here is my daughter." He looked down at her expectantly. "Come on Nanako; introduce yourself to your cousin"

The girl glanced up at him shyly before muttering a quiet hello and shuffling back behind her father. Her cousin smiled patiently at her, but he was scowling internally, he had never been very comfortable around children.

His uncle made a joke at his daughters' expense and let out a startled yelp when he was on the receiving end of a vicious slap.

"Maybe we should get going, my cars over here."

Smiling politely the new addition began following his family, barely noticing that somebody had passed by him until he heard a quiet voice behind him.

"Hey… you dropped this."

He turned around was almost immediately struck dumb by the vision of beauty who stood in front of him. She was young, about his age, chin length black hair accentuated her face; a red collar with a gold lock rested around her neck and as his eyes drifted further down an internal voice whispered some incredibly unflattering things in his subconscious. A tight white shirt stretched across her chest, and if her plaid skirt got any higher it would be criminal at the least, thigh high socks and striped sleeves finished her attire, it was as he was glancing at the sleeves that he noticed the girl was holding out a piece of paper towards him.

"Thank you very much." He replied, his hand extended if its own accord and retrieved the paper.

"Whatever, all I did was pick it up." The girl stared at him for a short moment before swivelling around and stalking off without another word.

"Well isn't she a friendly one," the youth mused as he watched her walk away, paying particular attention to the way her skirt swayed as she moved. He heard Dojima call for him, and turned hurriedly, he didn't want his uncle to think he was perving on some innocent small town girl, even though it was exactly what he was doing. Stepping into his uncles' car he glanced back, only to find the girl had vanished from sight. With a sigh he leaned back into the chair and let himself drift as the car began to move. They hadn't gone far before the car slowed down again, and he opened his eyes to notice they had pulled into a gas station, or more appropriately, the gas station. He took a moment before stepping out of the car after his uncle and cousin and just barely caught the tail end of some stupid conversation about how to tell which side was left. His uncle and the gas station attendant continued to speak, he believed about himself, but he was frankly too irritated to care and stared down the street in mild irritation. It took him a while before he noticed his uncle had wandered off to smoke and the attendant had taken it as an excuse to come and speak with him instead.

"Does it surprise a city boy to see how little there is to do around here?" the young man made a vague grunt of assent and was dismayed that the attendant continued to blather on. "You'll either be hanging out with your friends or doing part-time jobs." The attendant held out his hand, and the teen, seeing an opportunity to end the conversation took it and gave it a quick shake. The shake was quick and simple, and the attendant than excused himself to do his actual job of pumping gas. The young delinquent smiled and attempted to enjoy the peace and quiet, but his relaxation was interrupted by a sudden spike of nausea and pain, his head felt like it was about to explode and it took everything he had not to lose his light lunch on the pavement.

"Are you alright, you don't look so good." Looking up he noticed Nanako was looking at him with undisguised concern and he forced a small smile onto his face in an attempt to reassure her.

"I'm fine, just a bit lightheaded; I probably just need to lie down."

"Well we can get you home in just a moment," interjected Dojima, who had just wandered back into the conversation after his smoke break. "Sure you don't want to take a quick breather around town first?"

"I'd rather just get home, rested and better."

Dojima nodded in affirmation and they all re-entered the car, as the vehicle cruised down the street the young man though he caught a glimpse of the girl from the station, but she vanished again and he chalked it up to the nausea and pushed her from his mind.

The Dojima household was nice, modest certainly, not something his wealthy parents would ever live in, but beautiful in an understated way. Dinner was also fun, and in a way comforting as they dined together, his parents often didn't have time enough that the whole family could eat together. It was shortly after Dojima had happily welcomed him into the household that the gruff older man's phone rang, and he excused himself from the table.

"Dojima speaking," the youth couldn't hear the other speaker but it was evident by the look on his uncles' face that whatever was being said wasn't good.

"I understand I'll be right there." Dojima made his apologies and began to walk out the door.

"Sorry, business, go ahead and eat without me."

Nodding the teen narrowed his eyes, yes that was something he was familiar with. He was filled with a slight disappointment, that was only overcome when he realized that he was trapped alone with a small child, and he had no idea what the hell to do with himself.

Nanako had turned the TV on and yet he had the ominous feeling that he should say something.

"Must be tough, him going out like that?" He slapped himself internally for asking such an insensitive question and looked back down at his food.

"It's always like this, dad's a detective." Nanako began, however a loud new broadcast, something about some councilman distracted her and she trailed off. "This is boring, let's watch something else." She turned the channel and the jingle of the store that the boy most despised came blaring from the television.

"Every day's great at your Junes." He sighed audibly, but he wasn't heard by Nanako as she herself had also burst out singing the Junes tune.

She turned back to him a wistful smile on her small face as she began to eat her sushi again. He also returned to his meal and they passed the rest of the evening in companionable silence.

After the meal the young man trudged upstairs to the room he had been given for the year, it was decently spacious even crowded with all the boxes and assorted things scattered around. He maneuverer his way around everything and settled down onto his futon, deciding to unpack later when he was less tired. Settling down comfortably he began to drift off into the downy blanket of sleep, but as he finally faded he could have sworn he heard a sinister mutter directly into his ear.

"Do you desire the truth?"

A/N: So yeah this is my rewrite of WCUYS starring the P5 Protag, obviously this will change how the events of P4 unfold, things will start to look a bit different when we finally get him into Yasogami, also I need to come up with a name for him, since it seems a bit uncouth to call him Chair-kun or Potter-Kun. You can check story progress on my personal blog, link is in my profile. Anywho as always thank you Atlus for giving me such a great series to ruin, and all you readers without whom I couldn't do this.