Persona 4 Arena: Shadow of the Sun
Chapter 1: The town call Inaba...
My name is Tatsuya Suou, I'm a detective. I've done well for myself I think. I'm actually doing very well in this corporate ladder. I still prefer the good old blue uniform though, I should start wearing a suit considering my position but well memories are important to me.
This is the story of how I gained even more important memories back and how my sorrow and the dark burden of them were erased.
At least for the most part.
It was a crazy turn of events.
It all began when I was called in to take reports of a serial murder case in the little town of Inaba. It had been a year since then but questioning had in no way near ended.
There was little to no evidence of the murderer committing his crimes despite his confession.
It was supposed to be a normal job.
I'm happy it turned out to not be. I'm truly happy.
The place was rather out in the country but the place had a nice clean and very refreshing air to it.
I went over to the local police office as soon as I could and met with the detective that had worked on the case the most Ryotaro Dojima the culprit was in fact his partner Tooru Adachi.
That feeling must be complicated, I could only imagine what it was like to be betrayed like that.
"I know this is Golden Week so I'm sorry that I've had to call you out on this case again. Especially considering who the culprit was. It was regrettable, I hope we can get through this quick so you can go home soon. You have a daughter right? Being a single dad must be tough."
He smiled at me. "Yeah and my nephew is coming to live here for the holidays too, he's actually coming over today. He's a great kid and helped me a lot with the issue last year."
At that he stopped and then lightly stared at me with a little bit of intrigue and a bit of fear. I pretended to not hear his slip of the tongue
"You actually remind me of him, you know? Just being around you makes me want to speak honestly. I'm sorry, that must sound weird, we just met."
I smile and shake my head. "Nah, sometimes you just meet people you just sort of click with. If he's coming over today I'll try my best not to keep you."
It ended early, all he said was the usual as the previous reports indicated. I wouldn't say I was particularly frustrated or anything but my bosses may be when I get back to them. It was getting late so a bit after he left I decided to stay overnight here.
I heard there was a brilliant inn in this town so it couldn't hurt to relax though my brother may be a bit of a pain about this. Since there isn't much evidence he kind of worried there may be a cover up. He hates the idea of a person being shamed or framed and tries his best to clear peoples names in that case. I understand though because of what our family had been through.
Dad, Katsuya and I we are all we have and after finally solving our issues he would hate for someone else to fall into such a trap.
Amagi Inn, I opened the door to be greeted by a young girl with beautiful black hair wearing a kimono.
"Oh! What are you here for?" Oh right. I was still wearing my uniform.
"Ah sorry. I'm actually from out of town, I'll be staying the night here so I was hoping you'd have a room?" She perks up a bit and nods and leads me over to the register.
I write my name into it.
I fell to the floor and yelled.
It felt like my brain was being ripped out of my skull!
I heard the girl scream and that was all I remembered before I blacked out.
I awoke or maybe I dreamed. I'm not entirely sure. I found myself in a room. It was beautiful and blue. A piano, a microphone upon a stage, a canvas and a brush. A couch. I stared at that the most.
There was a man on it. He had a long nose and bloodshot eyes.
I cried. I think. A blue butterfly fell from the ceiling into my hands.
"I never thought I'd see you again." I nodded. I didn't know him or I didn't remember him. It may be silly to say this but I felt like my heart knew him. "My name is Igor and you don't really remember me." He lift up a... tarot card? It was The Sun. He lifted three more after that. The Hanged Man, The Fool, The World.
He smiled almost sadly. "It seems that you may be free soon. He will open the path to a brighter future for you. The journey ahead of you shall be one fraught with peril. You'll need your power again, though in truth you never lost it."
He throws a different card to me. I can't read the words on it.
I turned up to look at him again but I saw someone else. I saw me!?
No, wait this... he looks much younger than me. He's wearing my old red biker jacket.
On instinct I grab my lighter from my pocket and flip it open, the flame burned bright and he had done the same. His face had an odd look to it. He wasn't sure how to feel?
It was then that I woke up and found myself in a bed. I groaned and looked at a clock. It was midnight. The TV then turned on by itself! I watched what it showed me.
A bunch of high-school kids and some sort of mascot bear pushing them on.
"Yu Narukami?" If I remember right from the reports that was the last name of Dojima's sister?
Was he the nephew he was talking about earlier? Oh and the girl that helps run this inn was in on it too... something felt odd to me. I was going to investigate this first thing in the morning and passed out.
I woke up rather early and then asked about the girl earlier. She dragged to the room I slept in, so I paid my fare and then said I wanted to find her as I would like to thank her for the trouble she went through, a good excuse works when investigating. I heard she was going to meet up with her friends, one of which just came back into town, at the place called Junes.
I headed out. If that guy was Dojima's nephew then maybe all this is related to the case a year ago!
I found them rather quickly, it wasn't hard to ask the people around here especially in my uniform, though I technically have no authority over them. I saw the people who appeared on the channel last night, well four of six of the high-school students hanging around the electrical section. They were all crowding around a large TV...
They were watching out for people? Yeah they definitely were. They're actually quite skilled at it. Like they've done this a billion times before. I know how to get around this though. They are ways to see without being seen.
I watched them. Something incredible happened.
Something you have to see to believe.
They stretched their hands into the TV and as they did its screens surface became like the water in a pond. A ripple of light... they nodded and leapt in it!
I stood there dumbfounded for a moment. I had no idea what was going on!
I steeled myself. I needed to try it out myself. I stretched out my hand to the screen. It fell apart like water. I took a deep breath.
Something was calling me.
I too leapt in.
It felt like I hit my head on something hard.
Then I found out I did hit my head on something hard. It was a classroom desk. I haven't seen one of these in a real long time.
...The last thing I remembered was jumping into a TV.
I looked around. So I shouldn't be in a school.
Well jumping into a TV is rather unbelievable, the idea of being knocked out by a bunch of high-school kids and then dragged into their school seemed far more likely than that.
Though the thought was rather shameful and still rather absurd.
I got up and opened the door to the hallway. No one was here.
I heard footsteps and a saw a girl with red eyes and light blue hair in a ponytail.
We stared at each other.
"Are you a student here?" She answered my question with a question, in a Kansai accent no less.. "Seven Sisters High? You look like you're in your late twenties at least though..." Huh?
I looked down...
I was wearing a larger version of my old school uniform!?
"What is going on!?" I'm utterly shocked. What was... something flashed in my mind...
A shrine, the thought is at first pleasant but then... the scene grew dark and fire consumed it. I heard screaming and yelling. Metal.
I fall to my knees. Something is wrong. Seriously wrong.
My head is ringing. A monitor dropped from above showing that bear things face.
"...An unexpected person came in. I'll need to think of a way to deal with you."
The girl then yelled at the screen. "As student council president holding this P-1 Grand Prix is against regulations! Stop it at once!" The bear laughed at her.
"Oh I hear a little dog crying." The screen went away.
I take a deep breath. "So you're the president? Then you can tell me where those guys competing in the P-1 Grand Prix are right?" She glared at me. "I don't know, that's why I'm looking for them to stop this. Fighting on school grounds is against the rules."
I take out my lighter on reflex. I feel a cold hard stare from her.
"Oh... I don't intend to smoke, at least here. I just... this is a habit of mine. I don't know why I do it."
A small pause. "Well don't burn the school down or smoke alright? I won't forgive you if you do. I need to go now to stop those guys." She ran down the corridor.
I began to chase after her, I had some more questions for her... but as I did I smashed into something. It felt like a wall. I fell on my ass... sigh it may become a habit or something at this rate.
I punch the wall and it seems to shake a bit but I can't seem to pass... I wonder why that girl was able too though. I hear footsteps from behind me and see a girl wearing green... oh the Carnivore that Discarded Womanhood, Chie Satonaka.
"You! You jumped into the TV didn't you?"
She turns to look at me.
"Are you not effected by it?" These were the words that left her mouth. "Effected? By what?"
The monitor came down again. "...Intruder seems to somehow interrupt my power. Assessing threat... may hold a Persona." The word Persona... my head began to burn.
"You can understand me? Oh thank god. Everyone else I met so far have their voices controlled or something! I'm relieved... I don't know why you're here but you got hit by that invisible wall right? This fighting tournament thing only allows the winners to move pass them."
This is quite a bit to take in. I look at her.
"Hey, you didn't answer my question. You jumped into the TV right? That means you and your friends might have something to do with the incident last year! I'm taking you into questioning!"
I pull out from my shirt pocket my badge. It seems that it was still here at least.
"Ah! What! Uh... I have no idea what you're talking about!" I grimaced. She was obviously lying.
"I'll be taking you in then." I reach for my gun. What came out was a katana.
"...What is going on!?" The girl charges at me. I don't know why but her eyes seem to burn.
"I'm sorry but I'm gonna knock you out!" A powerful kungfu kick!? A well formed on at that!
Shit. I rose the blade to protect my head...
The blade bounced her feet away and spark flew into the air! "Metal shoes!?"
I was shocked... this girl knows how to fight and had the equipment for it. I had to know what was going on!
"Protect me Tomoe!"
A yellow figure arose from Chie, wielding a naginata and having a biker helmet? The appearance was ridiculous...
Its blade began to fall upon me. I couldn't match those precise and quick movements! I... am I done for? That was what I thought but... I wasn't going to let her off this easily!
I roared. I roared as deep as I could from the depths of my heart. A name that felt familiar and yet distant. I roared. I roared "Vulcanus!"
A being made of metal rose from my body. It was like a ghost of the past.
Pipes blared out funnels of flame and its yellow eyes shone like the mornings rays.
A gas metre was stuck on its green and black shirt. It grabbed the naginata, and then blew the woman away with a surge of flame!
"I am thou... Thou art I... From the sea of thy soul I cometh... The bearer of the inferno that burns away impurity, Vulcanus! My Other Self it is good to be called upon once more!"
Vulcanus placed its hands upon its hips posing rather dramatically.
"Carnivore Girl! I will not permit you to harm my Other Self! The winner here will be us!"
Chie seemed shocked that the creature was talking. I should have been shocked. I mean I was but-
this felt so familiar to me.
A sword of molten lava seemed to burst forth from his right hand. "We shall apprehend her!"
I lift the katana in my hands, it felt so natural. I wasn't afraid. I felt braver than I had ever been.
I launched myself at the girl and slashed together at her and her Other Self.
The blow threw her up into the air spinning and then she crashed into the floor.
"What was I thinking! I just cut down a highschooler! Shit why did I go all out? Damn, this is bad... I might get arrested." A kick to my face.
Blood streamed from my nostrils. I was sent directly into a window... which blasted me back towards one of the classroom doors. Thud.
I got up and saw she barely seemed to be hurt. "My Other Self, those who bare our power are as strong as demons or Gods. You can go all out she can take quite a beating."
I understood. I drew my sword again and resolved to knock her out.
I charge and we perform an overhead slash! It was blocked by her left boot and the naginata!
"Gotcha!" I drop the sword and sweep her legs!
"MARAGI!" Pyres of flame erupted from the floor and lit her aflame!
"Your ten years too young to face me." I take out my lighter, flicked it open and then snapped it shut. The fire dispersed and she was unconscious.
I exhale. Those fighting moves weren't simple self-taught fighting. They were really powerful and well-formed attacks. The whole fighting style reminded me of Lisa.
I smile remembering Lisa. They seem a tad similar personality wise.
...Lisa? Whose Lisa? Why does she remind me of this girl...?
I turn to my Other Self. "Vulcanus? What exactly are you?"
He stared into my eyes and I saw my own look solemnly at me.
"I am your Other Self. Your Persona. A Persona is a "mask" people have, their emotions and personality taken shape to face the hardships in the world. I am you and you are I. However I remember another life I lived too, I don't know the complete specifics but that is all I know... and the girl known as Lisa. I am remembering her now as you do. I can know what you hide from yourself but this is very different."
This whole school feels odd to me and this incredible thing occurring before my eyes.
Flames erupted from the vents on Vulcanus's body and flickered like candlelight. The wind blew them towards the end of the corridor. "...The strongest card is waiting. I don't know what that means but we must find him."
I find myself nodding. I look at the girl at my feet as she roused awake...
"Tell me what you know about what's happening. Please." I bow towards her. It seems to shock her.
I really need to know more about all this and I believe she can tell me.
"Only if you won't promise to arrest me or my friends! We did nothing wrong... without us the case last year couldn't have been solved. Adachi did it so..."
I study her for a moment. "I don't think your lying, but it's my job to find out the truth. I won't hurt your friends any more than I did too you. So please, tell me everything you know."
I learned that last year a the murders that took place was the work of a Persona User that being Adachi and that I was inside the TV World, which reflects the hearts of people. The shows that appear at Midnight are usually based off a persons Shadow.
Some sort of thing that is all your dark emotions and regrets blown out of proportion and by accepting them they become Persona.
The bear thing is in fact one of her friends but it seems that he wouldn't be the type of person to pull this thing off, at least not this seriously.
Those students together saved one another and defeated the culprit and made him hand himself in to the police. Only they could deal with the problem and no one would believe them if they told them the truth. It all made sense and I was 95% sure she wasn't lying. Being a detective gives you the skill to pick lies up almost all the time.
The bear is the only person who can let anyone out at any rate and he should be in the announcement room.
"Okay I'm going on ahead. Only the winner can move forward right? I'll end this all myself."
The last line by me felt like hate spilled from my lips. We both tried to ignore it.
"So take care of yourself. It's an adults turn to take responsibility for the action of children!"
I smile at her, "Think Positive!"
I ran down the corridor and upstairs. As I walked by a classroom I smashed into another wall.
I sigh. I guess I should be more careful. I turn to the classroom and open the door.
Inside was a man wearing nothing but shorts and a red cape.
He smirked. "So your my next opponent huh? Well we can't leave without fighting so let's get this over with!" He charged at me and threw a straight with his left arm!
I ducked and rolled away and drew my blade.
"...Your not one of the kids. Who are you?" I take out and flash my badge.
"Huh? Your with the police? Well maybe you'll be a decent fighter then, that'd be great these kids aren't half bad but an adult combatant with a person? This'll be fun. I'll probably need to take you to Mitsuru later though so once I knock you do me a favour and sit tight."
Damn this guy is ruthless! ...I'll accept that challenge though!
I throw out a crescent slash with my sword and face him head on!
He fires a rush of jabs! Is he crazy!? To face a katana like that...
His first punch knocks my sword out of my fingers! The second hits my stomach. The third under my left rib. The fourth to my right shoulder. An uppercut to my jaw.
It takes my body a second to process the damage. I can't help but yell in agony.
This guy was strong. He reminded me of Ulala? Another name I can't but can remember.
My body was in the air. I felt so light and so heavy at the same time. "Vulcanus!"
Fire spewed out of my body and flew me through the air like a jet! I gritted my teeth and punched him right in the face! A metal sword fires out of his body! A Persona? My burning sword rises to meet it! The shock-wave separates the two of us!
"Caesar? A human who rose to sit in the same seats of the Gods. If that man is his other self then he is an exceptional foe who earned every bit of power he has."
Desks fly and dust rises.
I can see it now. A white warrior holding a sword in a hand and the world in the other and laurels were worn upon his head and its red eyes burned with passion.
This battle was only beginning.