Hey, y'all! New fic! New plot, new purpose, new characters, new everything. Best part? Writing for the heck of it. \o/ No, this is not a persona 5 assumption. Anyway, I don't own anything, read at your own discord. I honestly don't expect you to finish reading much less review, but... please...? Asking doesn't hurt, right? So, here's the deal. This is the last arc of this expanded persona series that me and Nightly 7 are doing. It involves Persona 3: Blood Lust and Persona 4: The Chaos Within, along with two other fics that have yet to be written. This clears out mysteries regarding both of these fics, as it explains a bit about the origin of this whole expanded arc. Okay, enough banter, on with it.

"Don't you dare turn to look back!" I almost barked the words into the microphone as the song demanded it and hit the last power chords, bringing the music to a close. The whole band halted at the exact time, for a change. The crowd roared and clapped and did whatever they did when they cheered every time after a faster song. That ended well.

"Thank, you Tokyo, you're awesome!" I shouted. The people were still cheering out loud. That was a good feeling. We were not even headlining and we'd be able to fit in a little encore. Things were going well.

I looked back at our drummer, the brown haired young kid behind the kit, who gave me a thumbs up. He was good and had some incredible stamina. Maybe I should talk to him after the gig, see if he's interested.

Then I glanced at my friend on the bass, who had a sweaty forehead, but still had a smile on his face. He was up for it.

The lead... he was going to play it, whether he liked it or not. Not like I cared. If he was in it for the money, he was gonna earn it.

"Well..." I adjusted the mic's height before running a hand through my hair to style it back again. Damn, it felt good to be back. "This is the part of the show where we get to have some fun, pay a little tribute to some of our heroes. Get ready," I briefly trailed off to adjust the tone. "To Ride The Lightning!"

As the crowd roared once again, the drummer gave the cue and we began the intro. I stepped away from the mic and glanced at the stage: The baseball stadium had a net of steel wires covering the whole stage, something prepared for the main show. They did warn us that it was going to be activated at least once before the main attraction, which sadly was not us. I noticed that some sparks and tendrils of electricity began running around through the net sporadically. Awesome! That was gonna add millions to the song.

Intro was almost done, so I stepped onto the mic and waited for the time to sing my lines. "Guilty as charged, but damn it, it ain't right! There's someone else controlling me!"

I turned my face away and spit on the ground next to me. Not out of disrespect, or anything. My mouth was watering really fast, I was getting tired. "Death's in the air! Strapped in the electric chair! This can't be happening to me!"

Fast key change, I leaned back a bit and looked at my friend. He was getting into it. Of course he was. I smirked and came back to the mic. "Who made you God to say, 'I'll take your life from you'?"

"Flash! Before! My eyes! Now! It's time to die!" A slight pause for the vocals and the chorus went on. Hell if the song wasn't fun to play. "Burning in my brain! I can feel the flame!"

Last bit of the chorus before the second verse. I gave a brief look at the people by my side. They were hanging in there fine. And by the sound of things, the kid in the back was doing great, too. I shook my head to get the hair away from my eyes and went back to sing. "Wait for the sign! To flick the switch of death! It's the beginning of the end... Sweat chilling cold, as someone's death unfolds! Consciousness my only friend! My fingers grip with fear! What am I doing here?"

And the chorus again. "Flash! Before! My eyes!" I sang before turning the mic towards the crowd. And they'd learned it! Well, most of them. Okay, maybe half of them. I did hear the lyrics clearly for them, and that was enough for me. I turned the mic back to me for the last line. "I can feel the flame..." I extended the words a bit for the beginning of the faster instrumental part, before I left the mic and walked towards my friend. He was rocking it, and the sparks up there only picked up. Man, that was perfect. I couldn't help but bob my head a few times to the beat.

I motioned for him to exchange mics with me, so I'd take the one to the left of the stage while he'd be on the center, where I was. He nodded and we switched places. I got to his stand just in time to begin singing again.

"Someone help me! Oh, please, God, help me! They're trying to take it all away..." I sang. Now was the part where me and him doubled up the vocals. I only had time to look briefly at the crowd and spot only one person who was not really into it. Eh... maybe someone had dragged him to our show, or he was waiting for the next band. Regardless, I kept on playing, but kept my eyes on that dude... he had raised his hand, for some reason.

"I! Don't want! To di-"

We were interrupted by a blinding light, then the sound of thunder really, really next to us. The feedback afterwards was so loud, it raped my ears. I look to the side to see if people were okay, but...

My friend had fallen to the ground and was twitching frantically, not to mention his charred clothes and skin.

What the Hell?!

No, no, not again...

I stopped playing immediately, unstrapped my guitar, threw it to the side and broke off into a run to his side.

"Riick!" I stopped and knelt by his side. "Get a damn doctor up in here, call an ambulance, something! Damn it!" I just stayed by his side... I didn't know anything about about first aid... or how to heal someone who had just been electrocuted, for Christ's sake!

The drummer had run off to call for help, the lead just stood there, stupefied, while the crowd screamed in terror.

I just sat there, frying my brain trying to think of what to do. But in the end I didn't come up with nothing until the ambulance came... or rather, when it was too late...

...

...

"The most recent act of terrorism has taken the life of heavy metal band 'Deadman''s bassist, Rick Kennedy. He was stricken by a bolt of lightning during the band's show, seemingly due to sabotage of one of the stage attractions for the festival's headlining band. Police are looking into further details, and we will keep you updated as the case develops. This is the third act in Tokyo, and likely the one to have taken the least amount of lives..."

The broadcast went on the big screen as the two boys kept on walking towards school.

"Run that by me again...? The guy was struck by a bolt of lightning right in front of you?" The black haired taller boy asked.

"Yeah, man! It was crazy! It all happened in the blink of an eye: The guy was up there, doing the backing vocals and suddenly boom! The bolt strikes and he's sent straight to the ground. I froze up and dropped the sticks right there and then. What really woke me up was Chris' voice demanding me to go get help. I ran to get help, but the roadies were already on it. The ambulance came shortly after that, and so did the cops. I was taken in or questioning, but I was scared shitless... they released me once they realized I knew nothing." The brown haired shorter boy replied before fixing his glasses.

"Damn... sorry to have asked you so many times, Kei... it's just that it's so unbelievable... I feel bad for you, man."

"Relax, Eiji. I'm still alive and well. I just hope Chris is okay... he and Rick were so cool, letting me join... I don't know when I'll meet people like that again." Kei replied, casting his eyes down.

After a moment of silence, Eiji spoke once more. "First the fire in the art gallery... then the blackout in the theater... now this. I dunno whether I want to leave home at all..."

"Yeah... things are dangerous around here. But still school refuses to give us a break... let's just stop talking about that, okay? I just want to look forward to the clubs, get my head off all this..."

The two continued their walk towards the school in silence with slumped shoulders in the midst of the numerous people murmuring things about the recent incidents. They soon reached the gates of Kishin high. They still had to deal with school...

The two sighed before entering the campus.

Aaaand first chapter's done. Some incidents are happening in Tokyo, things are screwed up. The song in the first part is Ride The Lightning, by Metallica, which I obviously do not own, before I someone sues me or anything. Anyway, If you do get to finish reading it and feel like saying what you think about the story, review box is down below. I'm Raidou the 16th. See you next time, whatever I write next.