Author's Ramblings: Technically this story has been told before on GameFAQs in the form of a CYOA that I ran as FireDragoon18 of GameFAQs. The last CYOA topic I created before its untimely demise can be found as of today on the Persona 4 Golden Message board. Just type in "CYOA" in the search box and you'll find it.

There was no real fitting conclusion to the story (mostly due to my own laziness and reader inactivity after the MC got paired off), so I decided to reformat the story into a full-fledged fanfiction so that the story would be a bit more cohesive and complete, not depend on reader input, and hopefully expose more to the story. However, I do stress that I am not the most knowledgeable person out there when it comes to English, so I apologize if the story is not as interesting as others on this site. This is probably meant for me to have a record that I actually did write a story so I can look back and say, "Damn...!"

REmembrance is just a reference to how this is a reformatting of the previous story and I guess Re: Chain of Memories popped into my head.

Stuff that's actually related to the story: This story is told in a second-person POV, namely the protagonist's to emulate the feel of the games. The story will include characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4. It will also be pretty damn long in terms of chapters because I like to ramble about certain things. And I like to utilize ellipses (...) to signify time has past and boredom in dialogue.

Again, I apologize if my writing is too horrific for human eyes.

Disclaimer: Persona 3 (c) Atlus

Persona 4 (c) Atlus

Prologue

The nurse wheeled in a man on a stretcher into the room. The man appeared to be unconscious, for the rumbling of the stretcher could not wake him. A man dressed in a white coat, most likely a doctor shouted, "Damn it, another one?!" He quickly attached the man to a heart rate monitor. He looked at the screen for a few moments and sighed.

"What's the condition on the patient?" the nurse asked.

The doctor announced, "He shows the signs of being in a coma. He's breathing and his body isn't deteriorating, but… he has no pulse."

"Are you sure there isn't a faint pulse?" the nurse inquired.

"There's nothing," the doctor stated flatly. "What's worse is this condition seems to be somehow contagious. This is the tenth one I've seen today."

The doors swing open again and another nurse brings in two more unconscious patients. The doctor mumbled, "What in God's name is happening?"

Chapter 1: Arrival

You wake up and find a new day has dawned on the town of Hisokuto. Not that it matters to you. To you it's another city which you will live in for a year, max. You have lost count of how many times you've had to move, but you think it's the ninth. You contemplate about your life and how it spiraled out of control ever since… that incident. Afterwards, your life was never the same. You've been juggled between relatives and schoolwork became an afterthought. However, this time, you've been allowed to live on your own. You found a rather cheap apartment within the city. The real challenge was trying to find a school that would actually accept you.

Once you're done brooding, you realize you have to get ready for school. You jump out of bed and open up your closet. You never were one for fashion, so the clothes in this closet will likely be found in next year's closet as well. You locate your new school's uniform, a white dress shirt and black dress pants. You waste no time in getting dressed. Despite being spring, it's quite chilly, so you decide to put on a jacket. However, you seemed to have misplaced your school jacket… You decide to wear your old, yet reliable jacket you've worn for years. A black jacket with a hood that cleverly has pictures depicting the white skeleton of wearer. Before you head out the door of your modest apartment, you look in the mirror. Your black hair hangs straight down like always, just above your blood red eyes (which you honestly think was a result of some freak mutation). You notice that some hair is sticking out on the back of your head, which often happens to you. However, you are often too lazy to brush it out… No wonder you were nicknamed "bed head" at your old school. You decide to exit your apartment.

Despite being in a new city, you find your new school with relative ease. It helps that the school is only a few blocks away from your apartment. The metal school gates are opened, allowing people onto the school grounds. You follow the wave of students to the school doors, but not before you hear some students gossiping about you.

"Hey, that new guy…"

"What about him?"

"I heard he got kicked out the last eight schools he's been to."

"Really? Is he a troublemaker?"

"No, I just heard he didn't do anything. At all. He wouldn't do homework or study. He still attended class, but he didn't talk to anyone."

"Wow… You can tell from that bed head."

"I heard…"

Normally, you'd let it go, but for some reason, you want to tell them off.

You turn around and face the girls who were whispering to each other about you. You walk over to them, intending to say something, but they scatter as soon as you enter their gaze.

... Girls. You never will understand them.

You leave the girls be for now and head on into the school building. A friendly boy in a school uniform hold the door open for you. His long dark navy hair reaches to his shoulders. He smiles to you as you enter the door. You thank him and proceed on your way.

So this is Meguro High school. This will be the hellhole you'll be attending for a year. Hooray.

You take off your shoes and put them in the school's designated shoe lockers. You advance further into the building and find it's rather old fashioned. A wooden floor extends horizontally from where you stand. In front of you a group of students swarm over what appear to be the classroom assignments. You locate the list for class 11 and scan it for your name.

You find the number, "201" next to your name. That's probably your classroom number.

You notice a blond ponytailed girl next to you. Her bangs frame her face and her ponytail is long enough to wrap around her neck. She mumbles, "Hmm… 201?" She suddenly bursts away from the crowd.

Being a master of reasoning, you deduce that she must be heading to room 201.

You figure she's heading for room 201, so you decide to follow her.

After you follow her up some stairs, you see her immediately enter a room on the second floor. You walk over to the blue door and see a small wooden sign, showing the number "201". This must be the place. You promptly open the door.

Behind the door lies a rather basic classroom, virtually the same as the classrooms of your eight other schools. The floor is brown hardwood with some 30 desks lined up in 6x5 rows. The desks on the far right have three large windows displayed to their left.

In your old schools, you typically found a seat in the back, and this time is no different. You find a convenient window seat in the back and sit down. The other students, dressed in their black uniforms, are talking to each other enthusiastically, sharing their stories of how they spent their breaks. It's as if everyone here has known each other since elementary school… You feel like an outsider.

You turn your head to the left and look at the scattered trees that decorate the school's courtyard. Nothing passes through your mind… At this moment, you're pretty much spacing out.

Your thoughts or rather, your lack of them is interrupted when someone pokes your head. You turn your head to find that blond girl sitting backwards in the desk in front of you.

Once she's sure she's got your attention she smiles and says, "Hey there, you must be that new kid everyone's been talking about!"

You can only wonder what they're saying.

"Oh, mostly about how you slacked off and got kicked out of every school you've been to.

There's also a rumor about how you once stayed in school overnight because you were too lazy to move out of the seat!"

You roll your eyes instinctively. The girl giggles, "I can just see that slacker spirit from how you roll your eyes. And of course from that bed head of yours."

... Another instinctive roll.

"Don't let it get to you. The students at Meguro High are famous for their gossip!"

She taps her chin as if she's trying to remember something. Soon, she pulls her fingers away and snaps them, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself! My name's Misako Yamamoto, nice to meet'cha!"

You decide to show some manners and tell her your name.

"Kaito, eh? If you don't mind, I'm going to call you Kite-kun," she replies with a smile.

You have no objections. It's a better nickname than "bed head". The classroom door swings open and the same boy with navy blue hair enters the room. Misako raises her hand to the boy and shouts, "Hey, Hiro-kun, over here!"

The boy walks over and greets Misako.

"Oh... Aren't you that guy I met at the entrance?"

You nod.

"I see you met Misako here." Misako smiles at the mention of her name.

"Anyways, my name is Hiroshi Mori. What's yours?"

You were about to reply to him, but Misako interrupts, "This is Kite-kun!"

"Kite-kun? Oh I see... Another one of your nicknames..."

Misako tilts her head in confusion. Hiroshi sighs and states, "Don't you realize you have a strong tendency to nickname other people? You've done this since grade school."

"Hmm...? Really? I haven't noticed that."

Hiroshi drops the issue and turns to face you again.

"I'm kinda surprised we got a new student. No one ever comes to Hisokuto anymore. Once a prospering town with a strong agricultural foundation. Now a bustling city with arid soil that is struggling to find its strengths. That's life for ya."

The bell rings as he finishes his story. Everyone in the room shuffles to find a seat. Misako decides to find a seat in the middle while Hiroshi takes the front desk in the middle.

... Five minutes into class-time, the teacher breaks into the room. Her long green teal hair trails behind her as she comes in with various folders that she promptly lays on her desk. She fixes her spectacles before addressing the class, "Sorry I'm late! I got stuck in traffic!" She writes her name and the date on the white board behind her in green marker.

"Ms. Yamagishi

April 11th, 2022"

Apparently this is her first year teaching, but she's managed to be the supervisor of both the health and technology clubs.

... The rest of class goes on without a hitch. And so do your other two classes. Well probably, you weren't paying attention.

It's lunchtime. You head over to the school vendor and use what little money you have to buy a sandwich.

You really need a job...

You look around and see everyone enjoying their lunches and their company. You sigh as you tear into the wheaty flesh of the sandwich in your hand. Hopefully the bread gods will forgive you for disgracing one of their children in your filthy mouth.

You locate the stairs you used to reach the second floor and begin climbing. At the top of the stairs, you note two restrooms standing side by side. As usual, one is for males and the other is for females. You decide to take a look in the restroom.

... It's become a bit of a ritual for you. At every school you've ever been to, if the restroom is in bad shape, you've had a relatively easy year. If it's absolutely spotless, the opposite happens. You sigh when you find that the restroom is absolutely spotless with no graffiti in sight. Looks like a fun year ahead of you. You decide to continue on your way, gnawing on your sandwich as you do so.

You eventually find the stairs to the rooftop. And just like every other antisocial loner in popular culture, you decide that it will be best for you to sulk out there and get out of everyone's…

… You quickly close the door. Apparently this school doesn't follow common logic because it appears that the rooftop is actually quite populated. You rub your forehead and decide to just wander about to pass the time.

As soon as you do that, the bell rings. You quickly finish your sandwich... Which did its job. Sort of.

... The next three classes fly by. The only one that you remember being in was the last one and that's because the teacher was absent, leaving only a substitute to prep the class.

You go back to the entrance and find your shoes in the lockers. You take a few minutes to put them on before heading out the door.

The crowd of students diffuse outside the metal front gates. You push your way to the front of the crowd, albeit with some difficulty.

As soon as you're free from the crowd, you let out an audible sigh. Well, that's the first day of school for ya. You lower your head to try and catch your breath.

Your heavy breathing is interrupted when someone say, "Excuse me, young man?"

You look up and see a young police officer with a head of bushy brown hair swayed to the side. He's wearing the trademark gray uniform the Hisokuto policemen wear. He doesn't look to be older than his early twenties. You notice he's holding a few white flowers behind his back.

"Do you know what room number is Ms. Yamagishi's?"

Despite your often indifferent attitude, you've always had respect for the authorities. You were about to give him an answer when...

"Amada!"

The officer cringes at this shout and turns around. A decorated police women approaches the officer. Her black beret covers her short brown hair that curves around her head. She doesn't look to be that much older than the young police officer. You would place her around the mid to late twenties.

She's not wearing the gray uniform, instead it's black and says... Inaba PD?

She barks at the officer, "What do you think you're doing, Amada?!"

"C-captain Satonaka...! I was just..."

"Socializing! What you need is more discipline! No wonder they transferred me over to this place for the year, you're all a bunch of lazy..."

She shakes her head. The officer stammers, "N-no, Captain Satonaka, I was just...!"

"I've heard enough. We're doing some extra training tonight!"

She pulls the officer away by the ear. The officer yelps in pain as he's being dragged off.

... Well that was certainly interesting. You notice the officer has dropped his flowers on the ground. You decide to pick them up. It's a bit ironic seeing a police officer littering. Albeit unintentionally, but littering all the same.

"Hey, Kite-kun over here!"

You look up and see Misako calling to you. Hiroshi is standing right beside her. You decide to walk over there.

"You wanna walk with us Kite-kun? It must be lonely on the first day!"

Hiroshi has no objection and looks forward as if he's itching to go. You decide to take them up on their offer.

... Five minutes into the walk and you've already seen about ten of Misako's acquaintances.

"Hey Tomo-tan!"

"How's it going Taka-kun?"

"Aki-senpai, good luck this year!"

"Oh hi there Ryo-kun!"

"Did you cut your hair Kusu?

... And much much more.

Hiroshi leans over to you and whispers, "See, she nicknames almost everyone. Even people she doesn't know too well."

Misako turns to the two of you and asks, "What are you guys talking about?"

Hiroshi sheepishly laughs, "Oh, nothing!"

Misako raises and eyebrow but says nothing. She takes notice of the flowers you're carrying and asks, "Oh, what are you holding those for, Kite-kun?"

You look down and quickly realize you're still holding these over-glorified plant reproductive organs and quickly try to formulate a plausible excuse inside your head.

Hiroshi rolls his eyes towards you and asks, "Oh, you're one of those types of transfer students."

You attempt to explain yourself, but then you realize you've arrived at your apartment complex.

Hiroshi stares in awe of the absolute horrid conditions of the apartment and simply says, "So... You live here?"

"Wow, Kite-kun has guts!"

You look at both of them in confusion. Hiroshi looks away from the apartment complex and whispers to you, "Don't you know? This is..."

He looks to both sides of him before continuing, "Yakuza territory."

Oh... Is that all? Your face remains as stiff as a rock. You tell them you'll be fine and wave goodbye to them. You have a sorry looking face so people tend to ignore you. Hopefully that'll be enough to deter these, "Yakuza".

As the two of them walk away, Hiroshi looks glances back at you. He quickly turns his head forward once again to continue his walk. You hear him mutter something, but you can't make it out. You ignore this and walk up the stairs to your apartment.

You reach the third floor. Your home is the third door on the right. Before you enter your room, you notice your neighbor's door is open. Curiosity getting the better of you, you decide to take a look.

You see a big, muscular man folding his laundry. His head is shaven and you can see various tattoos decorated all over his half naked body. The one tattoo you can make out is definitely Yakuza related...

The man turns his head to you and you see one of his eyes is covered with an eye patch. You get frightened and run into your apartment.

You sigh in relief.

You decide to rest your behind on your creaky old recliner. This chair is the only thing that has survived all your transitions from one town to the next. You position your seat in front of your tiny TV your uncle gave you. You quickly locate the remote and turn it on.

... Ah the glories of black and white. You flip the channels to find something interesting until the batteries in the remote die. You sigh, but you're too lazy to get up from your seat and find new ones... if you even have some.

So, you decide to settle for whatever's on TV. Which happens to be a Japanese gameshow where wrong answers result in a slap to the nads. What fun.

... You spend quite a lot of time watching men fall to their knees in pain. Last time you checked the clock it was 11:55.

… You find yourself in a dream... You think. It's not like you're thinking to yourself, "This is a dream."

You're surrounded with a vast, flat white landscape surrounded by thin white fog. You wander around aimlessly for who knows how long until you find a figure in the distance.

You race over to the figure, but it simply raises its hand. You stop in your tracks and see the figure is cloaked, but you're suddenly overtaken with a sharp pain in brain. You grab your head as you struggle to endure the pain... but...

You're... surrounded by a familiar feeling. A feeling of impending doom... You open up your eyes in a car. For some reason the fabric in the car is eerily familiar. You look forward and...!

You find your dad driving your car, while your mother is making cute (that are somehow insulting at the same time) faces at you.

… It can't be.

That false sense of security you felt that day is swept away when you hear a loud crash. In response you cover your face with both your hands. When the subsequent noise is gone you pull away your hands slowly.

... Your hands shake as their being pulled away and they feel... wet. You open your eyes once your hands are in arm's length and find them absolutely drenched in blood. A sudden chill runs up your spine. You tilt your head to take a look behind your hands and find both your parents lying dead on the floor. This is... your parents' blood...! Horrified by this, another sharp pain comes to your brain. You struggle to contain it, but you impulsively bring your hands to your head again. As soon as you do that, from the corner of your eye, you can see the blood dripping down the side of your face.

This is that moment... that changed your life forever...

The pain is too unbearable...!

The horror of finding your parents dead was something you never wanted to experience again. You feel your heart sinking as the pain and your tears synchronize in intensity. Your head convulses with such intensity, it feels like your mind is about to burst.

You throw out your hands in front of you and yell in pain towards the heavens. You take a look at your hands again but this time... Something is in it...

It's a card... It depicts a mask with a dark and light side in front of a blue background. Somehow you're calmed by this card and... A word appears in your mind.

You've never heard this word before yet you're compelled to say it... This three syllable word...

As you shed your last tear, you catch your breath and say...

"Per… So… Na…"