AN: just making a few notes here. Since Haseo's birthday is never mentioned, I'm making it so he has one of those funky ones so he is technically a year older than the rest of his class. You know those people. Also I'm playing with continuity a bit since this is taking place at Gekkoukan, and the years involved. Also I'm pairing Haseo with Alkaid since I don't want to steal from Minato's harem. Also other epitaph users will not be able to summon a persona. My reason for this is that Haseo is the closest to his Avatar allowing him to call upon it during the dark hour
June 12th
"And so, Misaki-kun will be spending the remainder of the term with us." Ryou Misaki (AN Haseo) bowed to the class. He got transferred to Gekkoukan High School by his dad who wanted to him to get the best possible education for when he takes over for his dad. He wanted to sigh at his predicament but since that would be very rude, he didn't. It had been a real pain to explain his red eyes and off white hair, apparently some people had never heard of partial albinism. Students started to pelt him with questions but he really couldn't hear them too well since they were all talking at once. The teacher calmed everyone down, but one stubborn person asked, "Misaki-kun, do you have any hobbies?" he held back another sigh, and he responded, "My hobbies include sports, and playing The World, and if you don't mind, I don't like being referred too with the Kun suffix." He asked the teacher Ms. Toriumi where to sit. She thought for a moment and said, why don't you sit next to Kuramoto-san." A girl in a pink cardigan raised a hand and called out, "Wait doesn't someone sit there already?" Ryou stopped listening and walked over to his seat. The lesson began and Ryou actually had to suppress a groan. He had been forced to learn this by his dad. He was contemplating falling asleep when the girl sitting next to him leaned over and asked him, "Hey Misaki-san, why do you not like the Kun suffix?" Ryou was tempted to not say anything, but decided that she was a gossip and the story would get out faster so he responded, "I know a guy online who's a major womanizer, his screen name is pronounced thee same way." She nodded her head in understanding. "Yeah, I think I know who you're talking about." Ryou raised an eyebrow but before he could ask anything he was called on to answer a question. He got it right, and people were impressed. Composition class ended and math started. He actually had to pay attention to the teacher since she was at around the same point as Ryou was.
Time flew as the classes went on, and then it was time for lunch. He would probably head over to the roof and eat his lunch there since he didn't want to deal with his classmates. Unfortunately for him he didn't get the chance as he was approached by a guy in a baseball cap who said, "Yo new guy, names Junpei Iori, pleasure to meet you." he extended a hand which Ryou ignored and instead flatly said, "Ryou Misaki, charmed I'm sure" Junpei irked and said, "Wow, giving me the cold shoulder." There was a subtle tick covered by Ryou's hair, and he really wanted to leave. Luckily he was saved by the girl in the pink cardigan. "Geez Stupei, leave the guy alone, he obviously wants to be left alone." Ryou nodded in thanks, and escaped to the roof. When he got there, there were some girls huddled together over another girl's phone. He walked over to the opposite corner of the roof and began to eat when his phone went off. It's just an email. He flipped open his phone to see what it was about. It was from Alkaid asking him how he's been doing and how her class just got a new transfer. This late in the term? Weird, but then again, here I am. He responded that his dad made him transfer to another school to help him better prepare him to take over the company, and aside from that, since moving his sleep hasn't been the best. He hit send. Immediately after he did, someone's phone from across the roof made a sound. No way, it couldn't be. He spotted one of the girl's eyes dart over to him from the corner of his eyes. It was the one holding the phone. Her hands started shaking as she typed something, and his phone went off again. "The school you transferred wouldn't happen to be Gekkoukan High school would it?" that confirmed it for him, but he had to make sure. He put his phone in his pocket, and picked up his lunch. He gave his best womanizer grin that he unfortunately learned from Kuhn, and walked over to the group of girls and said, "Hey girls, do you mind if I join you? Since I just transferred, I don't really know anyone, so it's a bit lonely by myself." He was mentally gagging at having to channel Kuhn, but in order to check he had to do the distasteful task. A couple of the girls blushed and they said he could. One of them asked why he transferred so he responded, "My dad is the head of a company, and he had me transfer here to help prepare me to take over for him eventually." He peaked at the girl with the phone, and her hands were white from gripping her phone, and she was looking a bit off. "Hey, Kuramoto-san was it?" her head shot up and she nervously said, "Y-yes ha-I mean Misaki-san?" Ryou was 95% sure at this point but decided to draw it out. "Are you okay? You look pale, do you need to go to the nurse?" at this point on of the girls snorted and said, "Don't bother Misaki-san, Chika-Chan here is hopelessly in love with an online friend, but she refuses to tell him." Ryou always enjoyed teasing Alkaid, so it would help to learn who her crush was. "Oh? Who is it?" another girl piped up and said, "Yeah, all she talks about is her online friend Haseo, I actually once managed to get her to admit it." Wait … wait, error has occurred, please restart brain. The girls then started chatting about how she plays the world, and how they met, but he already knew so he ignored them while he tried to parse that. Alkaid is hopelessly in love with me? No way, that can't be right, this must be some other person, no way could she be Alkaid. Alkaid is fiery and outgoing; there is no way she could be this timid girl on her phone. He finished his food and made an excuse to wander off saying his goodbyes before saying, "Oh yeah, before I forget, see you in class Alkaid." He then closed the door behind him as he left. He only took a few steps before he realized what he had said. Oh god, did I just say that?
Chika Kuramoto was normally level headed; a tad impulsive at times, but level headed all the same. All that had gone out the window however, when Haseo had told her he had transferred on the same day that her class had gotten a new transfer student. Her hands had started to shake as she asked him if he had transferred to her school. When he didn't respond, and the new transfer had walked over asking to join them a lead ball had started to form in her gut. The conversation had gone over her head while her thoughts were moving a mile a second trying to figure out if Ryou Misaki was Haseo when the person in question said her name, "Y-yes ha-I mean Misaki-san?" she wanted to slap herself for nearly calling him Haseo in front of her friends. They knew she played the world, but she played on a different character when she played with them since it would be a pain if they knew that she had been the arena champ; so they didn't know she was Alkaid. There was more talking going on, but she wasn't paying attention. She saw Misaki stand up and start saying his goodbyes and she was paying attention again. It can't be him, it can't be him, it can't be him. As he approached the door he turned around and said, "Oh yeah, before I forget, see you in class Alkaid." Her eyes bulged to the point where it was almost dangerous as she watched Ryou Misaki leave. "Haseo." She whispered to herself.
Ryou took a walk to clear his head before heading back to class. When he got there Chika Kuramoto was at her desk right next to his. He sat down, and waited for her to start up a conversation. When she didn't, he tried, "al-Kuramoto-san-" he was cut off by her saying, "later." He nodded, and waited for class to start up ignoring that people were starting to gossip. When the teacher arrived, Ryou started to stop paying attention as he had covered this part already. He was called to answer a question about feudal japan he didn't know. Luckily Chika gave him the answer which was the book of 5 rings. He sat down and thanked her. She mumbled something incomprehensible in return. The lesson continued on with Ryou still not paying attention. The lesson ended, and the history teacher left as a scruffy looking man came in and started yammering on about magic and mana. Ryou barely suppressed a groan and decided to sleep. He was almost asleep when Edogawa started talking about the epitaph of twilight. Yata had once given him all the fragments he had found to read since it was so important to understand what was going on. It was clear to him that Mr. Edogawa had no Idea what he was talking about so when he asked for someone to name the eight phases of the cursed wave, his arm shot up so fast it stung a little. "Misaki-san, if you would." Edogawa said. Ryou cleared his throat and said, "The first phase, Skeith: The Terror of Death; the second phase, Innis: The Mirage of Deceit; the third phase, Magus: The Propagation; the fourth phase, Fidchell: The Prophet; the fifth phase, Gorre: The Machinator; the sixth phase, Macha: The Temptress; the seventh phase, Tarvos: The Avenger; and the eighth phase, Corbenik: The Rebirth." The rest of the class was impressed. The looks on various faces said they didn't know that. Ryou smirked when he saw Edogawa's face, which was impressed. He then started questioning him on where he learned that. Ryou had a sneaking suspicion it would lead to more headaches down the line, but he said, "An online friend of mine is a former dot hacker." Dead silence. Since the world R.2 was currently the most popular mmo on the market, almost everyone had heard of the dot hackers. The room then exploded in questions and noise. Ryou didn't suppress his groan this time as he buried his head in his hand. Luckily for him the bell marking the end of school rang, so he could escape. He ducked out the door, and hid in the crowd. He followed the crowd and retrieved his shoes. He then made his way outside, and escaped towards his dorm. His dad put him in a dorm so he could make connections since plenty of important businessmen sent their kids to Gekkoukan because it was run by the Kirijo group. He had no afterschool activities yet, though rumor had it that he would be required to join a club or council at some point. He went straight to his room when got back ignoring other people who had heard about him from friends. He locked his door, and turned on his computer, glad he had set it up the night before. He went over to the forums since it was a good way to learn new keywords for fields, and there was always the chance a lost ground was discovered. As it turns out the forums had exploded about the friend of a dot hacker was at Gekkoukan. Luckily for him, posts containing real names were removed by the mods so he was safe –ish. He checked Apkallu for art and saw a cute one of him and Alkaid, and winced. He left the forum and saw he had a new email. There was something from Bo about a quest he was interested in, and one from Alkaid. He opened it up and read, "I'll be at Hulle Granz. Meet me there around 18:00." Alkaid, I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship. Ryou logged in, and spawned in net slum. Haseo went over to the chaos gate, and did some new bike missions that were added recently while he waited. He had just beaten Gabi's time by a full 3 seconds when the timer he set for himself went off. He returned to town and set the server to Delta. He warped into Hulle Granz and entered through the giant door. There waiting in front of the pedestal was Alkaid. "Alkaid…" she turned around and said, "So, Ryou Misaki, huh?" He nodded and quietly said, "Yeah." She walked over and leaned against a pew. "You know," she started, "ever since that day during the Cubia invasion, maybe even before that, I've had feelings for you. I never said anything though. I was worried that you wouldn't return them, or that you were already going out with someone. Going by how you acted around Atoli and Shino, I figured you were dating one of them in real life. I had actually considered at one point that you might be dating Endrance." Haseo shuddered at the thought. Alkaid saw and nodded in agreement. "But the funny thing is that it was impossible to tell. You always danced around it without seeming to realizing it. It was like you were afraid of making a connection like that. Later on, when I heard about your past with the Twilight brigade, I understood why you never wanted to get too close to someone. You were scared of losing them, like you did Shino; but I have to know. How do you really feel? Because, I really love you Ryou." Haseo closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds. "I'm not going to lie and say I have no feelings for Shino and Atoli." Alkaid's face fell, and she looked like she was going to cry. "But, they are just my friends." Alkaid's face jumped up and she began to stare at Haseo. "Shino was my first true friend here in the world, and Atoli was the first person to actually accept me after my level was reset. Even if I was a bit of a jerk to her, she was still trying to get me to open up, and I appreciate that. Despite that, a relationship wouldn't work. Atoli's … well Atoli. Our personalities are very clashing. She drives me nuts. I have to constantly actively remain calm when hanging out with her, online or otherwise. As for Shino, I don't actually know. When I first started out, she was like the older sister I never had. I will admit, we had been getting kind of close before she became a lost one, but I don't know if it would have lead anywhere. It's like you said, after she became a lost one, I was afraid of connecting with people. I was worried that if I became too close with someone they would leave me as well. When you became a lost one, I was absolutely crushed. You had gotten around all the walls I had put up. For the first time in a while, I was able to just be myself. When you had shown up that day after I thought you forever lost, I honestly could have kissed you there." Alkaid blushed and stuttered something. Haseo walked over, leaned against the pew she was on, and put an arm around her shoulder. Alkaid leaned against Haseo who whispered, "I love you too Chika." They stayed like that for a while until Alkaid had to go eat dinner. When Alkaid had left, Haseo composed a flash mail to Yata saying, "I know you were watching that through the serpent of lore. If I find out that you told Pi or Kuhn what happened, I will Sic Piros on you Wiseman." he received a response soon afterward saying, "I wouldn't dream of it. By the way, I recommend researching Apathy syndrome; it's remarkably similar to being a lost one." Haseo frowned at the last part not liking the implications. He returned to town, and saw that Sakubo was online, he assumed it was Bo and sent an invite. He was right, and it was Bo. Since he needed a third person, he decided to invite Silabus since it would be helpful to have another physical damage dealer to protect Bo, and because he didn't want to deal with Piros who was also online.
The quest took a couple hours since it involved going through a special area that had a field that required killing everything, and led into a dungeon. When the quest finally finished and they got their reward, (which was a text of wisdom) it was 23:00. Haseo gave his farewells and logged off. He was hungry, so he walked to Iwatodai station since it was close. Once he got his food he walked over the shrine to eat since it was quiet. He saw there was a dog there and he played with it for a bit once he had eaten. While he was walking home someone in a tracksuit jogged passed him. The person waved in greeting before continuing on. He had just passed some other dorm when midnight hit. He was drinking a water bottle at the time, and he spat out what was in his mouth. "The hell, blood?!" he was still spitting out blood when he saw it. Floating black dots were flying around him. "AIDA!" the dots began to consolidate into something when a tentacle appendage shot out at him. He leaped to the side and the tentacle hit the door. Ryou wanted to do something to protect himself, but he wasn't in The World, how was he supposed to get at AIDA from this side, he didn't have his avatar. When he saw the AIDA it had turned into some kind of humanoid with wing hands covering its body and wearing a jester hat, and a blue mask. He heard the door behind him open and footsteps as people rushed out. He heard people gasp, and heard his name mentioned but he didn't care, "You want to dance huh? Okay; BRING IT ON!" and just like it was listening, it started to attack, it rushed over and tried to hit him, but it was slow compared to what he had fought. He easily strafed to the side. He saw it undulate as fire started to from in front of him. He leapt back and avoided it. A wild grin had blossomed on his face. "Come closer, I'll show you the terror of death." He taunted the AIDA as it kept trying to hit him. He kept strafing around it making sure he was never caught; but he could tell he was starting to tire out, and once he stopped dodging, the AIDA would get him. He was back in front of the stairs when another fireball started to form, "Hah, too easy!" he leapt back only to crash into someone else. "Damn it!" he called out. He scrambled to his feet only to see that a circle of darkness had formed beneath him. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and grabbed for it. When he wrapped his hands around it, the wild grin blossomed again. It was a gun. The circle burst into anti light, and everyone cried out expecting something to happen, but nothing did. Ryou began to strafe around again. He pointed the gun at the AIDA hoping to stun it. "Wait!" someone called out, "It's not a real gun!" Ryou stopped moving and cried out, "What!?" as soon as he finished, the AIDA hit him, sending him flying back a few feet. "Misaki-San!" it was one of the girls that called out. A person with dark blue hair rushed over and helped him to his feet. *bump bump* Ryou felt that familiar feeling in his chest. There you are. He heard Skeith say in his mind. *bump bump* his grin returned once more, this time bigger than ever. He stood up straight and clenched the gun under his chin, "Come on, come on." The AIDA approached Ryou, and used a powerful strike to knock down the blue haired kid. "I'm right here." It was in striking of distance of Ryou when he called out, "SKEITH!"
When Fuuka heard something impact against the door, she jumped. There was supposed to be nobody active during the dark hour aside from those who could use personas. She had her evoker on her in case of emergency, so she summoned Lucia. *gasp* there's someone out there! "Everybody!" she called out through her persona, "There's a shadow and a person outside the dorm, please come quickly!" the response was immediate. There was shuffling and crashes as people fell out of bed and got ready for battle. Minato was the first one down the stairs followed by Akihiko, and then Junpei whose shirt was only half on. Yukari and Mitsuru arrived at the same time. Mitsuru called out, "Arisato, you lead!" he nodded and said, "Yukari, Akihiko, Junpei, let's go. Mitsuru, you come too in case we need back up. Fuuka stay in here where it's safe." everyone nodded and they opened the door. Minato opened the door and the al rushed out in position to fight. When Minato, Junpei and Yukari saw who was out there they gasped in surprise. "Misaki-san!" Yukari called out. But he ignored her. "You want to dance huh? Okay; BRING IT ON!" he cried out. Fuuka gaped at him taunting the shadow, but was monitoring them from inside. Akihiko was surprised as he started effortlessly dodging the shadows attacks, even dodging an Agidyne. Junpei's jaw dropped from the display Ryou was putting out. Yukari was frightened, even though she had faced shadows in the past; she had never dealt with something like this where there was an innocent in immediate danger. Mitsuru and Minato were calmly watching him strafe around waiting for an opportunity to kill the shadow. They both saw the savage grin form on his face as he taunted the shadow again. Mitsuru was the one to notice him start to slow down. He's starting to tire. She saw him end up in front of the stairs. From her position, she saw that it was casting as he jumped back crashing into Junpei and knocking his evoker into the ground. "Damn it!" she heard him yell. Everyone started to scatter getting ready to fight the shadow. Mitsuru helped Junpei to his feet when she saw a Mudo form beneath Misaki. Minato barked instructions as Misaki picked up the evoker. The Mudo detonated and everyone cried out expecting him to fall. But he ignored it. Is his persona immune to dark? Mitsuru groaned when he ran back into the fray disrupting the team's entire dynamic. He began to dance around the shadow again and pointed the Evoker at the shadow, damn it; he thinks it's a real gun. She called out to Yukari who saw and called out, "Wait! It's not a real gun!" Mitsuri winced as she saw Misaki stop moving. He yelled something but she couldn't hear what it was. Unfortunately the distraction was exactly what the shadow needed as he was sent flying back by the shadow's strike. "Arisato!" he looked over at her and she pointed over at the downed Misaki. He nodded and dashed over to help him up. Fuuka sensed something was coming but she couldn't tell what.
When Minato dashed over to help up his classmate, he didn't expect whatever it was that happened. It was like the sea of souls had quieted down in expectation of something amazing. Misaki's savage grin returned in full force as he muttered something. The shadow approached so Minato got into a fighting position ready to defend him. The shadow reeled back and struck knocking him down, Damn; it's stronger than it looks. He shifted his head when he heard Misaki say something clutching the evoker right under his chin. The Shadow was in range to hit Misaki. Minato wanted to say something, but that strange feeling stopped him. Misaki pulled the trigger and he called out, "SKEITH!" the sound of glass shattering resounded through the air as his persona materialized behind him. It was big. Bigger than most personas, and was black and red. It had curved horns and three red dots in a triangle on its face. It had a red cape with circuit designs on it floating behind its legs, and yellow spikes coming from its knees. In its hand was a scythe. Its handle was black with a red stripe along it, and it had red spikes poking out from the back. Its blade was seven floating segments in the shape of the blade. The persona roared in challenge and began to swing at the shadow. It tried to dodge, but it was too slow. Skeith ripped into the shadow with its scythe and tore it apart. While this was happening, Misaki was laughing maniacally. As he shouted, "More, more, more! Tear it to bits!" that was bad, he had become drunk on the power of his persona. He had to calm down; otherwise, he was going to collapse from persona exhaustion. "Fuuka!" he called out, "We need to calm him down before he collapses, what is that thing weak too!?" Fuuka immediately responded, "Give me a second to scan It." the shadow had been reduced to goo as Misaki turned his head towards Minato. Minato saw confusion on his face. There was a chance he was calming down, but he wasn't sure. "I've got it!" he heard Fuuka call out. "Go!" he responded. "His persona is called Skeith; it's resistant to strike slash and pierce, and immune to Darkness. It's weak to light." Fuuka gasped as she said, "It's arcana is death." That gave Minato pause; he hadn't seen anyone other than him have a persona of the death arcana. "Everyone, get ready," he said, "He's power drunk, we need to calm him down without hurting him too badly." everyone nodded, but Junpei said, "Sorry, dude, I have to sit this one out, he has my Evoker." Minato nodded and everyone got into position. He switched to Ares since a random skill change had given it auto-sukukaja. Skeith floated above Ryou waiting. Switching his mind to battle mode he noticed something, where once the sea of souls was waiting as if in bated breath, now it was like it was roaring in challenge. Ryou's persona seemed to notice, as its eyes glowed, and the battle began. Minato's auto-sukukaja went off, and he switched to pyro jack. Agilao! A fireball exploded on Skeith. Then hell broke loose, everyone called their personas and they started to fly around. Polydeuces tried to hit Skeith but it dodged, and struck Polydeuces. Mitsuru was trying to charm it, and Minato groaned. He had told her that it was too unreliable to be useful. Mighty Swing! Skeith swung and the power caused Mitsuru to fall down when it hit her persona. "Mitsuru Sempai is badly hurt." Minato's eyes widened, one hit, and Mitsuru was almost unconscious? Akihiko ran over to help her up. This had to end soon or else someone could get seriously injured. He dismissed his persona and mentally switched to archangel. He put the evoker to his head, and pulled the trigger. JUSTICE! Archangel and angel appeared and did their move, lighting up the area. Skeith reeled back and Ryou fell down. "The enemy is down!" Fuuka called out as Yukari called, "Here's our chance for an all-out attack!" Minato nodded and they rushed in, trying to literally beat some sense into their classmate. A cloud of dust comically appeared, and when it faded Ryou was on one knee, and looking mighty annoyed. Whatever confusion he had before was replaced with rage. He roared, and resummoned his persona. Mighty swing! Skeith swung at Yukari who summoned Io in self-defense, and was struck. "Be careful, Yukari san is badly hurt!" Minato grimaced and was about to try justice again when Fuuka called out, "Careful, Mitsuru senpai, and Akihiko senpai are frightened." Minato audibly groaned when he asked, "Fuuka, what was that?" There was a pause, before Fuuka responded, "I don't know, there is something preventing me from seeing his skills." Minato huffed annoyance before using a me Patra gem. I still don't understand why a pharmacy has these. Mitsuru and Akihiko called out in thanks before summoning their personas again. Yukari tossed him a snuff soul, which he used before switching to Orpheus Cadenza! Orpheus and Apsaras appeared, and healed everyone, but Minato was feeling tired, two fusion moves in one battle was exhausting. He switched to archangel again, and summoned it hoping to finish the fight. Hama! The talismans appeared around Skeith, it tried to get out of the way, but it was too slow. It let one more roar, and then faded. Misaki collapsed, and Akihiko came running to check his vitals, "He's okay!" everyone let out a sigh of relief. Mitsuru then took charge, and said, the dark hour's almost over, let's get him to the hospital, and see if he wants to join us when he wakes up.