Chapter 1
04/07/09
"The Contract"
Anehazuru
"Do you think they'll care that we're late?"
…
"C'mon, I know you can hear me."
…
"Hellooooo?"
A pale hand stops the approaching finger that dared enter his personal space, lifeless fingers wrapped around a thin wrist and pulls it off without as much as a blink.
"You're such a buzzkill."
"And you're annoying."
"Fine, be a baby. I'm going to go to admire the scenery away from your depressing ass."
He watches her shamble over to the window without a care in the world, arms crossing with a huff, eyebrows scrunching together and a frown appearing like someone had just called her annoying.
...
Whatever, she would get over it like she always did. If not, then it was her problem for letting it get to her.
Minato adjusts his earphones, pulling them tighter onto his ears until there wasn't a difference between metal and flesh. Music blasted and deadened his eardrums, the surrounding landscape escaping his vision until it was just one and himself in an endless sea of vibrations.
The boy couldn't even hear the sigh escape his lips as he sinks further into the seat. Traveling, in general, was already a pain but now he was supposed to deal with the fact that his sister was going to be a nuance as per usual. Maybe at this point, he should've been used to it. He wished he was. But the pricking of irritation always poked him where it caused him the most pain.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned sister was staring at practically nothing if she said so herself. Cement walls after more cement walls were all she could see, like a flipbook from the mind of a blind man. So much for scenery, She didn't want drab gray splattered across the canvas for the rest of the train ride, she wanted something she could feast her eyes on away from everything that plagued her mind. Her brother, the train ride, what had happened before they boarded... The bubbling of a dangerous brew of doubt and anxiety pitted itself inside her stomach. Or maybe that brew was stored in that empty pit that people talked about. The vortex or black hole that sucked everything away.
She shakes her head.
This wasn't the time to get mopey. Instead, this was the beginning of a new horizon. Yes, that's what it was. Lips upturned, she turns away from the window and heads back to her spot next to her slumped brother, away from the blue butterfly that missed her roaming eye against that cold slab of cement.
A mutual silence falls between the pair. This wasn't anything unusual and yet, it didn't feel familiar either. Nothing had felt familiar that day if either really thought hard on it, not like they would. Both were inside their own minds, with their own thoughts, with their own lives that tried not to involve one another as much as possible.
"Our apologies for the inconvenience earlier in the day. Our next stop is Iwatodai, again our next stop is-"
Hamuko didn't need a second hearing to bounce up and retrieve her bag, throwing her brother's over into his lap. He jolts awake from the trance he been held in for the past ten minutes, eyes narrowing at his sister before tightly grabbing the duffel-bag and heaving it over his shoulder.
"Maybe you could be gentler with my belongings," he mutters while they waited for the doors to slide open.
She merely smiles at his statement, placing a stray brown hair behind her ear. "I'm glad to know you still retain human emotion. I thought I lost you there for a minute."
"You hurt me so," was his only response, pushing past her once the doors opened.
A chilling blast of air strikes the pair when they exit. Which was a contrast as they travel further into the subway station and find that the air had an unfamiliar stagnation in it, comparable only to a muggy day in the middle of a highway. The air was there and you could feel it course and touch your body with each step but it didn't retain much life to it. You were merely wading through it.
That should've been the first clue that something was off. Instead, both twins ignored it. Or, they didn't want to think about it. Or maybe even, they didn't notice it. After all, the sight of the lights going off at once was much more unusual than the state of the air.
Yes, at the stroke of midnight, the electrical hum of mechanical workings stopped and for the first time in a long while in Iwatodai, it was still.
Minato allows his earphones to collide against his chest while he glares at the state of the surroundings around him. The lights had all turned off at once obviously. His mind immediately went to the thought of a power outage. Even then, that didn't explain-
"That's… blood?" Hamuko says, as much as a question as it was an all-encompassing statement. He follows to where her stare landed and saw the remnants of blood splatter on the (broken?) clock that hung on the station wall, leaving a clear white to be clouded with crimson.
Taking a closer inspection around showed that the walls were leaking the foul-smelling liquid as well.
'That throws my theory out the window,' Minato thought.
Hamuko decides to take it one step further and runs a finger through it, flailing her hand afterward like she was attempting to swat an invisible fly.
"It's warm!" She exclaims. "Did we just step into a living subway station?"
She looks to her brother for reassurance that she wasn't the only one who was losing her mind but saw him walking up the steps of the station.
With an exasperated sigh, Hamuko stalks her way up the stairs and stops where her brother is. "Really, you decided to leave your precious sister down…" Her words falter once she turns her head upwards.
The moon had enlarged and taken over a significant portion of the sky, becoming a sickly yellow against a pale green backdrop. Thick swarms of clouds gathered together to hide the remaining portions of what was left of the Heavens above.
He wasn't showing it but she could tell that Minato was alarmed by the display that plagued both of them. Her brother gives a slow blink, then shrugging his bag into a better position onto his shoulder.
"Let's get going. It's no use to stay here, right? After all, we don't wanna be late." Hamuko smiles at her brother, knowing she wasn't going to get a response but needing something with a semblance of normality to hide the fact that they had literally just been dropped into a world different than their own. One that, had blood pooling at their feet and black shapes sprouting in the distance.
She tries to take a few steps forward but found that he wasn't moving at all, instead staring blankly into the open space. A few minutes of prodding, poking, coercing, didn't do anything to change the fact that he wouldn't get a move on.
Finally, she grabs his wrist and holds on tightly, pulling him behind her with all the might a sixteen-year-old girl could muster.
For once, Hamuko was thankful that he didn't have the strength to stop her.
Tatsumi Port Island
Navigating the city of Tatsumi Port Island proved to be a bigger hassle than either had expected. Forty-five minutes of walking (being dragged in Minato's case) and it seemed like they weren't anywhere close to Hanatoda street.
"I feel like we've been walking in a big circle," Hamuko grumbles, deciding to let her brother rest up against the side of a seemingly abandoned store. If she were to be truthful, she needed a bit of rest as well.
Attempting to navigate through rows upon rows of coffins that jutted through the ground like fingers desperately trying to grasp towards the ill-fallen sky was an eerie sight, one that ceased any chatter from Hamuko and somehow even more silence from Minato.
Finally, the blue-haired teen said, "I think we have." His bony finger directs towards an advertisement hanging on the window of a fast-food restaurant. "My third time seeing that."
"...Shit."
She rubs her eyes, irritating them even further than they were. God, this just had to be the highlight of her day, like it wasn't already just a clusterfuck of despair at every given opportunity.
"Don't cry, Hamuko," Minato says. His voice drawls, dragging the cry into an attempt at humor. An attempt it certainly was.
She shrugs it off, wiping her abused eyes. "I'm not crying! This is pure frustration coming out of my orifices."
"That frustration sure had the appearance of tears," he comments, pushing himself off the wall and stepping over to her.
"Yeah, they tend to be interchangeable," Hamuko replies, face brightening ever so slightly when she saw his lips crack from their blank facade.
Silence befell them again, and they continue their travels side by side. Time passes, the amount unknown as there was no sign of movement anywhere in the town besides their heels clicking against the blood-stained pavement.
And then, it was there. A mere blink later and the inviting light from multiple windows piqued them to draw closer like moths to a flame.
Iwatodai Dormitory sprung from the shadows straight into the sky, yellow squares dotting its surface in what should've been inviting, but instead gave a sense of uneasiness to both.
Minato did a double-check with the admission's pamphlet, confirming this was indeed the right residence. He wouldn't voice it, but a gnawing feeling ate away at his insides just at the mere thought of going inside.
"We made it… yay…" Hamuko throws a victory fist in-front of her, boot digging into the puddle she stood in as she pours over the new living space they would be living in for the foreseeable future.
"Ladies first," Minato says, climbing up the steps and holding the door for her.
She drags herself up the steps, letting out a loud sigh. "Always choosing the right moment to be a gentleman."
Hamuko enters the dormitory, having to shield her eyes from the piercing light that encompassed the living area. It was far too bright, saturation dialed up in an ungodly amount of white highlight that threatened to burn her retinas off.
"You're late."
An unfamiliar voice drifts from the left, causing Hamuko to stiffen in her position. Slowly, her head bobs to the source, eyeing a young child. Polished red eyes stared expectantly at the teenage girl, pale hands gripping both cheeks with an upturned smile.
"I've been waiting for such a long time."
Minato stares blankly into the chilled eyes of the young boy, looking away quickly and taking a step towards him. His movements slow, mind drawing a blank. Why was he here?
"If you wish to proceed…" A snap of fingers and there laid a booklet on top of the counter, feathered quill and a glass jar of ink sitting neatly beside it. The young girl pats the book, subdued brown curls bouncing as she gave an expected look to Hamuko.
"It's a contract," the young boy explains, a childish laugh leaving him at Minato's quizzical expression. "Don't worry, there's no need to be scared."
"All it says is you'll take full responsibility for your actions."
Their mind fogs.
Quill dips into ink, the book flipped onto the correct page. The contract.
I chooseth this fate on my own free will
Ink to paper.
Arisato Hamuko
Arisato Minato
"Time is something no one can escape."
The booklet appears in the boy's hands, clasped to the chest. He takes a step back, a snap of his fingers and the booklet vanishing into the air.
"It delivers us all to the same end," the young girl continues. The sickly green reached into the room, the lights turned off now. When had they turned off? It didn't matter now. The shadows were overtaking the girl's body, reaching and twisting around her form until she was one with it.
"...And so it begins."
They were gone.
Minato blinks, standing in the doorway of the dormitory while his sister stood in front of him, twirling a brown hair around her index finger.
"What just-?"
"Who's there!?"
Earlier - Iwatodai Dormitory
"I just… put it to my head…"
Actions spoke louder than words, and that was certainly proven to Yukari. Her head knocks against the cabinet, handle digging into the back of her head. The pallid sky shines through the window, encasing her in a faint green glow, sweat shining on her pale skin as she attempts to do the deed.
"...And pull the trigger…"
She could barely hear her instructions over the gush of liquid coming out of the sink above her and the sporadic beat of her heart coursing the same fluid throughout her body. Why was this so difficult?
Cold steel presses against the middle of her forehead. Sliding hands tightly holding the grip of the weapon, pressing the barrel further in.
Just a mere twitch away from pulling the trigger.
There was no harm in it.
Besides her brains being blown out all over the room, leaving a corpse to rot and congeal.
'Stop thinking and just do it!'
All of her blood pouring into the cracks of the floors, flavoring the wood with her trace that was here, she pulled the trigger, and that trigger led to her being-
"I-I can't!"
The gun skids across the floor, leaving her to choke back a sob, the beginnings of wet eyelashes forming. She stays on the floor for a few minutes, finally collecting herself enough to turn off the sink and make sure that she is at least in a semi-decent state of appearance.
`It would be fantastic to have Kirijo-senpai see me after a crying fit.'
That stops any remaining tears from exiting. Yukari begins to fix her cardigan but before she could continue, however a loud creak hisses from the first floor. Adrenaline floods her body. Who could've been opening the door at this time?
She swallows dryly, laying down on the floor and places her ear against the wood. A few moments of silence follows. Then, hushed whispers creak through the cracks.
Yukari stands back up, about to exit. She pauses for a second, noticing the fallen gun. She picks it up and places it into her holster.
One hand on the handle and another opening the door, she shouts "Who's there!?"
...
No response.
Current - Iwatodai Dormitory
"How can you be… But it's..!"
"I think there's a misunderstanding!" Hamuko exclaims, hands raised in a suggestion of peace. "We're not here to rob the place!"
Minato shoots a glare at his sister for putting the idea in the clearly unstable girl's head. Unstable meaning, her fingers were itching over a gun that was hoisted on her thigh. A bloated moon, freaky little prison boys, and now a teenage girl ready to blow his head off two minutes inside his new living space. He was having the time of his life.
Hamuko meanwhile was attempting to find the best position to try and wrestle the girl into the ground without having a chunk taken out of her. Given how she didn't have it in her hand yet, Hamuko took the chance and bounds over.
"Hamuko!"
"Takeba!"
An electrical hum runs through the dormitory, lights flickering back on to a peculiar sight.
The gun was no longer in the original owner's hand, instead finding it now in Hamuko's steady arms. She backs away from the now gobsmacked female, dropping it to the ground and kicking it to the side.
"I didn't think you'd arrive so late."
A feminine voice drifted from the stairs, brown eyes scanning the scene that lay before her. Her heels clicking against the wooden staircase, she stands next to the brunette.
"My name is Kirijo Mitsuru. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."
Mitsuru offers a smile to the twins, seemingly not peeved by what she had clearly seen occur just moments ago.
"Arisato Hamuko," Hamuko greets, attempting to pretend that she hadn't just disarmed someone a second ago. "That's my brother, Minato."
Minato steps over to stand next to Hamuko, merely giving a slight nod, then beginning to staring at his new surroundings. He makes a point to avoid eye contact with either of the new faces, some more observant of the fact than others.
"Who are they?" The brunette asks, eyeing Hamuko and Minato with suspicion, a mixture of fear more so when looking at the girl. Her view trails over to the fallen gun.
"They're transfer students," Mitsuru explains, crossing her arms. "It was a last minute decision to assign them here. Eventually, they'll be moved to normal dorms."
"Oh… I see." The girl whispers something inaudible under her breath. "So… is it okay if they stay here?"
Mitsuru shrugs, only offering another smile, one that Minato feels was more forced than anything. "I guess we'll see." She gestures to the other. "This is Takeba Yukari. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you."
"...Ah."
Hamuko snorts at the awkward response her brother gave, pursing her lips to keep any laughter from escaping. "It's nice to meet you! Even if the circumstances were less than… normal."
"Yes, It was quite a sight to see coming to meet the new tenants," Mitsuru muses, proceeding over to the gun and picking it up. She walks back over to the group, removing the magazine to show that it was empty. "Don't worry, no harm would've been done."
"Oh!" Hamuko gasps, looking over to her brother. He merely gives a glance, not seeming too perturbed by it. "So it's kinda like a scare tactic?"
Yukari smiles. "Y-Yeah! It's not like I could own a real gun. It's just to scare off any potential threats."
"Wow, that's pretty smart. You played the part well, too!" Hamuko compliments. She was beginning to be thankful that she decided on a simple disarming than a full-on takedown. That wouldn't end well.
"Thanks…"
"Anyways, it's getting late," Mitsuru interjects. "Takeba, why don't you show him to his room while I escort Arisato to her room?"
"Me?" Yukari questions, blinking in thought. She gives a small shrug. "Okay… follow me."
"Goodnighhhhtt Minato-chan. Don't let the bedbugs bite!" Hamuko waves to her brother, bidding him goodnight.
"Uh-huh," was his only response, brushing past his sister.
"Takeba." Mitsuru grips Yukari's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. She places the gun in her holster. "Don't forget your prop."
Iwatodai Dormitory - Second Floor
"This is it…"
Yukari leads Minato up a level of the dormitory, stopping once they had reached the last door to the right. Arisato notes that there only seemed to be one room occupied on the floor, belonging to someone named "Sanada."
'With all the commotion that happened earlier, it's odd that 'Sanada' didn't try and see what was going on. Either he really doesn't care or he isn't here. If that's the case, would they willingly let someone out this late at night?'
"...Or you'll never hear the end of it. Now, any questions?"
Minato realizes that he had completely ignored what she had said for the last minute. He furrows his eyebrows in an attempt to look like he was trying to think of something, avoiding any eye contact with her.
"Um…no questions," he replies, internally cringing at how pathetic he sounded.
"Okay." She pauses afterward, leading to the pair standing by one another in silence. After a moment, Yukari says "Um… can I ask you something?"
"...Alright."
"On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"
Now that certainly was an interesting question. He blinks in succession, attempting to formulate a response to that. It was peculiar she was asking that, with what had happened when he and Hamuko were heading through town.
'She must know something. Why else would she be asking this? Though from the looks of it, maybe it would be better to feign ignorance. After all, she almost did shoot me.'
"I got lost," was his final verdict of a response, finding it to be technically correct as they had been but not revealing too much. He scratches his neck, then looks at his fingers, avoiding her stare.
Yukari stiffened pose visibly relaxes after his response, a genuine smile appearing.
"Sometimes the streets can be confusing. Especially if it's your first time here. I'm sure you'll be fine once it's light out."
"Yeah, probably." He goes from checking his fingers to his watch, startled to see that it was around a quarter to one. Time was not on his side today.
"Well, I should be going," Yukari states, reaching inside her cardigan's pocket and handing Minato a key. "Be careful not to lose it, okay? Good night."
She walks off, leaving Minato to unlock his room. The door creaks open, the smell of disinfectant and wood hitting him. He closes the door with a jab of his shoulder, throwing his bag onto the bed and unzipping the traveling case.
Inside, he pulls out a monochrome laptop and places it onto his desk, alongside a charger which he promptly plugs in.
His mind wanders to the events that occurred over the course of the day, deciding that it was simply best to just forget about them focus on the now. After all, who would believe any of that actually happened? He wasn't too sure if he did.
Turning off the lights, he proceeds to sit down and turn on his computer.
'1:20? That gives me… six hours give or take? Plenty of time.''
The room fills with a dull glow.
Iwatodai Dormitory - Third Floor
"...And here is your room, Arisato."
Mitsuru leads Hamuko down the hall of the girl's floor, handing the girl a key. She explains a few rules to the new girl, ranging from no running in the hallways to not leaving the dormitory past a certain hour. Hamuko paid attention, not wanting to make an even worse impression than she knew she already had.
'She hasn't mentioned anything about it but I really don't want to start this off on the wrong foot. I can't imagine being on her bad side.'
Kirijo was quite beautiful, with her red waves cascading down her back and non-blemished skin. Hamuko had been dazzled seeing her heels click against the floor as they were walking, leaving her skin tingling and burning red.
"I'll admit Arisato, you've made quite a first impression," Mitsuru says, arms crossing and a smile slipping into place.
"Oh y-yeah? I hope we're talking about a good one," Minako replies, giving a hollow laugh that quickly dies out.
"Interesting might be a better description. I'm curious, where did you learn to disarm an attacker so easily? Not everyone can do that with such fluidity."
Hamuko flushes. "Honestly? It just seemed like the right course of action. I just let my body go free reign and I ended up on top," she explains, pulling at a stray hair.
Mitsuru considers this, finally nodding. "I see. I thought there may have been more to it but this explanation is satisfactory. For now." She chuckles at Hamuko's bewildered expression. "I'm only joking. I shall let you rest for your first day tomorrow. Good night, Arisato."
"Goodnight, Kirijo-san! Thank you for taking me to my room," Hamuko bows, giving a small wave as she watches Mitsuru walk back to the stairs.
'Shouldn't she be going to her room? Why is she walking upstairs? Actually, what IS upstairs?'
Hamuko saves the questions for the time-being, filing them away and entering her new living quarters. She places her bag down, promising herself to put everything away once she got home tomorrow.
'And Minato's things too if I know him.'
There was one thing she needed from the bag though, something that couldn't wait until tomorrow. A small zipper inside the main section of her bag is pulled, opening to a small container, around the size of her palm and silver in color. She picks it up, unscrewing the lid.
She took a sip from the container, sighing once she felt the warmth spread through her body.
Hamuko thinks about the little girl as she lays down, drink in her outstretched hand. Maybe it was from the lack of sleep, or maybe her habits were finally getting to her.
She takes another sip, giggling once she feels the flames burn throughout her.
Wow, I'm finally publishing the first chapter to a long series! This is exciting. So yeah, this is my take on Persona 3. There's definitely going to be a lot of headcanons and my own characterization on many characters, especially the twins. Plus, I'm planning on diverging from some points and adding in extra backstory for characters. I hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter because I'm actually almost done on the second one lmao. Anyways, thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions if needed. See y'all in the next chapter!