Persona 4: Flip the Script
A group of teenagers, regular people, thrown into a supernatural world full of life-threatening forces and unbelievable powers.
Like the others, I was just a normal guy until the day we discovered the power of Persona.
This day - this normal, peaceful day - was the start of our perilous journey.
Chapter 1: A Day in the Life
Yasoinaba. What a beautiful place it is. Lively in nature, with a small town community, and just a peaceful sense in general. Nothing could sheathe a person's appreciation for the bright, sunny days that...
"It's raining again," came a small voice from the opposite side of the room.
"Big surprise," my tired voice answered with a yawn, "You wanna get me some water, Ken-kun?"
"No problem," was his abrupt answer. I raised a hand and rubbed my eyes until they focused on the calendar ahead. It read April 12, 2010.I stood up and fiddled with the blinds of my window until they revealed what was outside. The quiet pitter-patter of rain drops hit my window with the aggression of an automatic weapon. Yeah, it rained in Inaba. It rained a lot in Inaba.
I heard small feet work their way up the stairs outside my door before my little brother showed up with a glass full of water. "Here," he immediately said as he offered the drink my way. Ken wasn't the typical obnoxious little sibling most people pictured when I'd mention him. Rather, he was more of a loyal dog. Except he was human. He'd do anything to make my day better. We didn't even have the same biological parents, yet we made our own brotherly connection.
"Quick on the draw, little guy," I replied, messing up his hair using the palm of my hand.
"You know it, Ketsui." Glad he called me that. I hated using honorifics within the family. Or at all, for that matter.
I sleepily made my way down the stairs from my room to the washroom, hoping not to fall. Having a room at the top of the house was great, even more so since our house was huge, but if I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, there was a chance of me falling and breaking my neck on something.
I blinked my eyes into focus as I looked through the mirror. I didn't feel too good, and my appearance reflected that at the moment. Under my plainly brown eyes were the bags that I earned for having an inconsistent sleeping pattern. I raised a hand to scratch the top of my dark brown head of hair, which was always cut to the perfect length of being just long enough to naturally poke out. It was like a gift from the heavens. Never had to spend time on my hair as long as I kept it around this length.
Fifteen minutes later I was decent enough to leave the house. My Yasogami High uniform didn't call for much order. The only rules I had to follow were to wear black pants and the uniform jacket. I threw on a yellow dress shirt before adding the weather-appropriate jacket. On my way out of the door, I spotted Ken gazing at the TV across the room. "Since when did you not have school?" I asked, picking up an umbrella.
"Don't worry. I have time for this," he calmly responded. 'This' being the morning news.
"You're like ten years old, watch some cartoons," I recommended with a chuckle. He didn't really care for it. "Alright, well, tell Mom that I'm taking the good umbrella!" I called before I made my way through the door.
The rain was much louder outside, almost to an annoying level. Almost. When you lived in Inaba, the rain wasn't a part of the weather, it was a part of the air.
Not ten seconds into the walk to school my phone had gone off. I nabbed it from my pocket with my spare hand.
It read, "Newwwww sem starts 2day! Stay awake, Ketsui!" The message was from one Yumi Ozawa. Friendly as she was, I would have never let that girl get anywhere close to me. She was an active Drama Club member. That spelled trouble. I would have sent her something back, but as far as she knew, my hands were full.
Reaching the front gates of Yasogami High, I took a deep breath, knowing well that for the rest of the year, I'd have to deal with him. On my way to the classroom, I found myself with two hands on my shoulders. "Don't go in there," warned a familiar voice. "Our homeroom teacher, it's..."
"Morooka. I know, I know. You'll survive, Junpei." I made some distance between my panicked friend and I. Junpei stood upright and adjusted his cap.
"They had crappy teachers in my old school, ya know, but none as horrible as that guy!" he complained. "Oh, but there's some new transfer student from the city."
I gestured for him to head back to the classroom and I followed. "Like you, huh? Might be interesting."
With utmost bravery, the two of us entered the classroom, us trying to not to look toward the front desk, where the very manifestation of pure evil was likely to be standing. My eyes scanned over the room, and the monster was nowhere to be seen.
"Guess King Moron's not around yet," I commented, before turning around to face Junpei, and I saw the door slide open behind him.
"Maybe he went to see a dentist for once," Junpei joked. My eyes widened and I raised a finger, pointing behind him. "It's hard to tell if that monster can eat at all. Uhh... what's the matter, Ketsui?"
The aforementioned monster was standing right behind Junpei. "...It's right behind me, isn't it?" The two of us erupted in childlike laughter as Morooka's hand found its way atop Junpei's shoulder.
"Very funny, Iori. You can tell that one again when you're in detention tomorrow!" grumbled Morooka, with the lack of excitement simply oozing from his eyes.
Junpei and I took our seats as some of the other students had a laugh over it.
A thin finger poked my shoulder from behind. "Don't you think you two get enough detentions already?" asked the voice of Yukari Takeba, being the upstanding student she was. Other than just being a hard worker, she was upstanding in her own ways. She always boasted shorter skirts than everyone else as well as a thin, shapely form partially hidden by a pink cardigan that she wore over her uniform. Being a childhood friend of mine, I never seriously flirted with her, but any other guy would.
"Nah, not really," Junpei answered, "but I think Ketsui over here's gotta balance it out and get one for himself."
I took that as a challenge. "Just watch me," I proudly added with a grin on my face.
My eyes moved up to the front desk. To the side stood a male student with odd dark-grey hair. He wore the uniform as anyone else did, with little to no customization aside from leaving the jacket open. It was likely that his old school had stricter uniform policies. I immediately identified him as the new student.
"Alright, alright, shut yer traps!" snapped the voice of Mr. Morooka. The room found silence within seconds. "I'm Kinshiro Morooka," he spat, "Your homeroom teacher from today forward!" My eyes went up to his barren forehead equipped with a badly hidden comb-over on top. "First things first! Just 'cause it's spring, doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons!" Baboons? Really?
"That's what I'm lookin' for," I quietly uttered just loud enough for my two nearby friends to hear. I skimmed the room for a proper assistant in pushing the creature's buttons. My sight stopped on one Mitsuru Kirijo, who was sitting to my right, paying more attention than most of the people in the room. She was ideal for it. She was prim and proper, with charismatically bouncy red hair that went down most of her back, falling past her face in curls. She wore a white knit sweater over her uniform, leaving much to a teenaged boy's imagination. The girl was always perceived as a beauty by the alumni of Inaba, appearing as the ideal portrayal of elegance. Although her manners were always top-notch, it made me wonder if she had some sort of repressed 'wild side' that I didn't know about. She and Yukari were close friends, but she was always so focused on working that she almost never talked to anyone in class.
The freak show of a teacher continued, "As long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!"
Chance given. Chance taken. "Hey, Mitsuru-san," I interrupted, making myself comfortable by leaning my chair back into Yukari's desk.
"Uh-um..." The girl was clearly distracted and didn't expect to hear her name and held no comprehensible response. After a second used to process what I said, she replied with a "Yes?"
I felt King Moron's squinting look on me, and I smiled. "I just wanted you to know that I think you look absolutely stunning today," I started. She smiled and released a small laugh. I continued, "I hope that if you were to not be as 'pure as the driven snow,' it would be my doing." Mitsuru's eyes widened, face slightly turning red, and the short-haired girl sitting next to her cupped her mouth as she giggled.
"Uhm... Thank you," was her answer, voice clear and calm despite the surprise. She turned her attention back to the front.
"Didn't you hear what I just said! I'll see you in detention tomorrow, Kibo!" barked Morooka.
"That was a bit much, don't you think?" Yukari scolded, "Even for you, Ketsui!" Ignoring the girl's disapproval, Junpei proudly patted me on the back.
"Relax, Mitsuru knows my sense of humour," I told Yukari, before turning my attention to Morooka.
His arm stretched out and he pointed to the lone student beside him. "Now, this sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage!"
"Wow," Junpei whispered, "I'd be pretty pissed if I was him."
Morooka continued, "...and he's just as much of a loser here as he was there, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on him!"
"Just wait for him to pound King Moron right in the face," Junpei added, sounding ever more excited.
The transfer student stepped forward and introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Souji Seta." He then pointed at Morooka with his thumb, "But is this guy seriously our teacher?"
The other students were surprised to see a new kid outright insult to Morooka. I was impressed. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship," I told Yukari, "Tell him to sit beside you. No one's there, anyway." Yukari nodded, still not impressed with the people she had befriended.
"Hrrn," Morooka growled, "That's it. You're on my shit list, with those other two ruffians!" he informed, pointing at Junpei and I. "You've got detention with them after classes tomorrow. Now, listen... This town is miles away from your big city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one. So you better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them!"
"What is he talking about?" asked Yukari.
I raised a hand. "Mr. Morooka, did you just accuse our new friend of being a woman-beater?"
He turned his head to match eyes with me in an instant. "Be quiet!" he ordered. "Go take a seat," he said to the transfer student.
Yukari took her queue. "Sit over here, new guy!"
The grey-haired student made his way to our little square and sat next to Yukari. She whispered, "He's horrible, huh?"
Souji touched his forehead. "Tell me about it."
I offered him a fist-bump. "Nice to meet ya, Souji Seta," I said as he wordlessly returned a fist. "I'm Ketsui Kibo, this here's Junpei Iori, and that munchkin is Yukari Takeba."
"Nice to meet you all," he politely replied.
Yukari seemed distracted by something else. "Munchkin?"
"Yeah, munchkin," I confirmed.
"Why 'munchkin'?"
"'Cause that's what you are, Yuka-tan! You've always been our little munchkin!" Junpei answered for me.
The intercom tone played, interrupting the light laughter that had erupted within the three men in our group. "All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."
Chatter rose within confused students as the sound of sirens came to our ears. A number of students gathered at the window, one of them noting how close the sirens sounded.
"Does it always get this foggy?" asked Souji, pointing toward the window which we couldn't see two feet out of.
"Sometimes. Never seen it this thick, though." I answered.
My attention was turned toward Mitsuru, who was being approached by a short student who looked like he was looking for something big. "Excuse me, is it true that Mayumi Yamano is staying at your family's inn?"
Mitsuru held herself well. "We have a policy against releasing personal information to the press. While you aren't exactly press, I still can't discuss these things."
"What's that guy talking about?" asked a curious Junpei, who was scratching his goatee.
"I think I heard about that," Souji answered, "Some politician was having an affair with an anchor lady or something. That Yamano woman."
I remembered Ken watching that on the news the other day. "Yeah, the guy's name was Taro Namatame. He's married to that enka singer, Misuzu Hiiragi, and he still cheated on her," I explained. "Guy's got some balls."
To the side, I noticed Yukari and Mitsuru talking about something I didn't know about. Naturally, I was curious. "Did you try that thing I told you about the other day? You know, that thing about rainy nights?"
Mitsuru scoffed. "Yukari, you know I've never been the superstitious type."
"Well, it's just... I heard a guy in the school say something like 'That newscaster, Mayumi Yamano is my soul mate!'" Yukari explained... whatever she was explaining.
The intercom played its tone again, telling us "There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone."
Yukari brought Mitsuru to our little group. "Nice little stunt there, Ketsui-kun," spoke the redhead, "but I suggest you choose a different object of affection next time, alright?"
"Pfff, it's your fault, y'know? You're the one who's gotta go be so hot all the time," I joked. Mitsuru gave a short laugh and shook her head.
"Oh, anyway, Souji-san!" I called over to the new guy, "This is Mitsuru Kirijo, my long-time friend of... a long time."
"Pleasure meeting you," was Mitsuru's introduction.
As I had expected, her passively attractive behaviour left Souji tongue-tied with his messy introduction of "N-nice meeting you, Mist... uh, Mitsuru-san."
"Yo, Souji! You wanna come grab a bite with us?" Junpei offered, implying he was going to pay for anyone but himself. Souji took the offer and we soon left the school.
When our group of five reached the entrance gates, a strange-looking boy approached Mitsuru.
"You're Mitsuru, right?" was his question. The kid was just plain creepy. Everything about him seemed normal, except that he had these empty, colourless eyes that reminded me of a fish's. Judging from his suit, he wasn't from Yasogami High. "Y-you want to go hang out somewhere?" Terrible. That was terrible.
"Excuse me?" asked Mitsuru, trying to stay as polite as possible, rather convincingly.
A few other students crowded the scene. "Hah! Guy's trying to get a date with Mitsuru. Good luck, buddy," said one of them.
"A date, I mean," the kid piped up, "Um, so... Will you come or not?"
Mitsuru didn't need more than two seconds to respond with "I'm sorry, but no. I'm busy at the mo-"
"FINE!" screamed the boy, almost like a toddler would, as he stormed off away from the school.
The five of us watched until he was out of sight, absolutely confused.
"Sorry about that," Mitsuru apologized, reclaiming her usual well-held posture.
"Man, I remember when she shot me down," uttered Junpei. "At least I could say my approach was better than that."
"I don't actually remember doing that, Junpei," she answered, sounding serious.
"Oh, well in that case, you wanna go out sometime?" he asked with a smile.
She abruptly answered, "...No."
"Ouch. See that? That is what you did last time."
Seeing as a small crowd was gathering over the scene that the strange kid made, we decided to continue walking. "Damn, this fog is really thick," I commented as we progressed.
"Yeah, it's messing with my eyes," said an irritated Junpei.
We walked along some crop fields when Yukari brought up the subject of our small town. "There really is nothing here, is there?" Then, she thought for a moment. "Oh, but there's the Kirijo Inn. Mitsuru's family runs it. It's pretty much the pride of Inaba."
Junpei thought it was a good time to interrupt. "By that, she means that it has a hot spring bath."
Souji sounded interested for the first time in a while. "Sounds great. I'll check it out sometime."
Yukari, being the voluntary assistant she always was, decided to pop open a can of an unnecessary question. "So, you think Mitsuru's cute, huh?"
Souji stopped walking for a second. Seeing as he wasn't gonna react to the question fast enough, I covered, saying "Yukari! You've got it all wrong. You're the cute one. Mitsuru's the beautiful one."
Yukari didn't seem to like that. "What? I'm not beautiful? Is that what you're saying?" she accused in hotheadedness.
Mitsuru made the recovery, claiming "Yukari, it's just Ketsui. Don't listen to him."
"Actually," Junpei broke in, "Yukari herself's pretty popular around our school, but she's never had a boyfriend! What's up with that?"
I was expecting an irritated retort, but instead, Yukari seemed distracted by the commotion down the street. The five of us headed toward it. I spotted a large number of people as well as a few police cars. I listened in on the commotion, eavesdropping on a conversation between two middle-aged women.
Nothing seemed too interesting, until I heard, "I can't believe a dead body showed up around here..."