Greetings and welcome ladies!
Junpei: -ahem-
Oh... well... you're just my co-host for the first chapter, so stfu, you dont count.
Junpei: D Dude, not cool!
Anyway! GREETINGS! This is my first Persona fan fic. I'm writing this AS I am playing P3P for the 3rd, yes 3rd, time through. I will be quoting the game and adding things here and there as I see fit. There is no promise on consistency for when I post new chapters, I must warn you. But I'm too obsessed with Persona to forget about it like I did with Avalon Code... I'm still really sorry about that. I'll get back to it eventually so dont kill me! D:
BUT! This chapter has to go out to my Aigis. :3 she was the one who said it was a good idea. And even though I'm regretting the idea already, there's no turning back now! So you know, reviews do encourage me to continue... Junpei take it away.
Junpei: And Now, all you lovely ladies - and any gentlemen who decide to read this for some odd reason - Please enjoy the first chapter!
(4/6)EVENING
The train ride to Iwatodai was very long and boring. She'd been sitting on her ass for so long that it was going numb. She could have sworn she'd been staring at the same 'and' on the page of the book she was trying to read for the past half hour. If it weren't for the music blasting in her ears, she would have gone mad with boredom by now.
It was the City's new passenger train, call the "Anehazuru." It was a pretty comfortable ride, but she kinda wished things would hurry along. It was probably the third play through of the playlist on her MP3 player. Tearing her eyes away from the page of the book she'd been stuck on for a long boring time, she gazed out the window. The sky was pretty dark – it was really late.
There was a slight crackeling from the speakers in the car as the conductor spoke to the passengers. The brunette took her headphones off for a moment to listen. "Due to a malfunction in the switching system, today's rail schedule has been greatly altered. We apologize to any customers who were in a hurry. The next stop is Iwatodai…"
Putting her headphones back on once again, the brunette girl stood, turning to grab her bag and pull out the pamphlet with the address of where she was going. There was a slight screeching as the monorail came to a halt at the station. Along with two other people on the train, she walked to the doors and waited for them to open before stepping off.
"Iwatodai," the conductor announced on the train again to confirm the stop to passengers who weren't really there.
To those who would be waiting for that train to arrive, another announcement came on the speakers of the station. "This is the final train bound for Tatsumi Port Island. Please take care to board before our departure." There were maybe three or four people boarding at that moment, but other than that, everything was deserted.
With a sigh, the brunette looked around, and then to the address on the paper in her hands. It wasn't that far of a walk…or so it seemed. Taking a glance at the clock on her MP3 player, the girl rolled her eyes, "Great, almost midnight. I hope the doors aren't locked." She also hoped they didn't think she was a burglar and try to attack her from behind with a bat while she's trying to fumble around in the dark. That always ended badly too.
Just as her MP3 player hit twelve midnight, it died. She was just about to comment on it when all the other lights in the station seemed to dim. All electronics seemed to shut down and an eerie green tint settled down over everything. The air itself seemed to change, grow a little heavier. The brunette pulled off her, now silent, headphones and looked around as she headed for the exit. It was all giving her a bad feeling, so she decided she'd hurry to the dorm before she stopped to worry about it.
As she walked from the station something caught her eye. Looking over to the cross walks and the sidewalks, the streets were littered with coffins. Even cars on the street seemed completely still – not even running. It was odd indeed. "What the hell…?" Looking up to the sky, she was startled by the size of the moon – was it always so large? It wasn't it's usual white glow, but an eerie off-yellow color, casting it's strange glow on the green-tinted world below it. Which only seemed to help her notice the …blood stains? What appeared to be blood was all over the ground in puddles, some small, some large. All was bright and red, giving an even worse feel to the strange happenings going on.
Feeling rather nervous about walking around a city full of coffins and bloodstains, the brunette hurried through the streets, following the directions she'd looked up in advance to the dorm. Upon reaching the dorm, she paused, checking the address with the one on the pamphlet before entering. Taking a look around it was a pretty nice place… At least there werent any bloodstains inside the dorm…
"Welcome," a young boy's voice called
The brunette turned, looking around, only to spot a small boy behind the counter to the left of the front door. Short, black, messy hair decorated his head, making his pale skin stand out more. He had bright blue eyes – a beautiful shade that really stood out compared to his dark hair. He was garbed in black and white stripped pajamas that looked almost a little too big for him, and nothing more. A sweet smile decorated his face, his eyes locked on the brunette at the doorway.
"You're late. I've been waiting a long time."
"Oh, r-really? Sorry…?" Minako didn't know who this kid was, but maybe he was living at the dorm too and was waiting for her to arrive.
The boy giggled and walked around the counter to stand before her, that same innocent smile on his face the whole time. "If you want to proceed, please sign here. It's a contract," he said as he motioned to a paper on the counter. A pen lay next to it, all set up for her to autograph the 'contract' he was speaking of, "There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions."
Was that really it?
The girl took a look at the paper, stepping up to the counter to make sure she was reading it correctly. Just as the boy had said, the contract said only one thing; "I chooseth this fate of mine own free will." Below that was nothing more than a blank line where she was to sign her name. Since it didn't secretly say something like 'I forfeit my right to live and give the little creepy boy permission to chop me into little pieces', she decided that signing the contract couldn't hurt. What was the worst that could happen? Taking the pen in hand, the brunette signed her name at the bottom; "Minako Arisato"
With a seemingly brighter smile, he picked up the contract in the thin booklet it was encased in, closing it and holding it to his chest. "…Very well," he began, the smile staring to fall from his face. "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing wont make it go away. And so it begins…"
The small boy then seemed to disappear into the darkness, vanishing from sight. Minako was left to wonder what the heck all that was – but wasn't given much time to do so.
"…Who's there?" Another voice called out. Minako turned to look down the hallway to see a girl at the mouth of it, half hidden in the shadow cast down the hall. Stepping out, the light-brunette was able to see the girl at the entrance looking rather confused. It was easy to see that this strange girl was nervous and on edge, not only that, but she was really surprised to see Minako in the doorway for some reason. "How can you be…But it's…! Don't tell me…" Her expression suddenly got serious as her grip tightened on the thing in her hands…
Looking down to see what it was she was holding, Minako was startled to see a gun.
…
Wait a second – a gun? So instead of a metal bat to dodge it was a bullet? She was not Neo! She couldn't bend backwards and wave her arms in slo-mo and magically dodge the bullets because everything seemed to go way to slow to her. She was pretty sure a bullet was faster than her.
Well fuck.
"Wait!" another voice called suddenly. A redheaded mature looking girl walked up next to the edgy brunette girl in the pink shirt.
The girl in the pink shirt jumped, whipping her head around to look at the one who'd called out to her. Yeah, she'd been startled.
But then suddenly the eerie green tint to the world was gone, and the lights came back on. The headphones Minako had taken off and draped over her shoulders suddenly blared music, coming to life once again. Looking down at them oddly, she raised an eyebrow. Okay, so maybe her MP3's battery didn't die.
That was nice.
The girl in the pink shirt looked around, relieved, "…The lights!"
Patting the pink-shirted girl on the shoulder, the redheaded, mature-looking girl stepped forward, addressing the newcomer, "I didn't think you'd arrive so late."
"Oh, sorry. The train ran late…so…" Minako shrugged, taking a moment to pause her music so she wouldn't waste battery. "It wasn't intentional."
The redheaded one nodded, "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."
Minako nodded in greeting – at least she didn't get shot, that was the highlight of the day.
The pink shirted girl had put away the gun and was now throwing a look at the redheaded girl named Mitsuru. "Who's she?"
Mitsuru smiled, seeming to assure the other girl that everything was fine. "She's a transfer student, it was a last minuet decision to assign her here. She'll eventually be moved to a room in the normal dorm."
Ms. Pink-shit didn't seem convinced, "…Is it okay for her to be here?"
Yeah, like some swat team of monsters was about to break down the front door and maul us all. Minako rolled her eyes as she thought to her self.
Mitsuru only smiled again, shaking her head a bit, the perfect curl that hung over her shoulder barely moving at all with the movement of her head. "I guess we'll see…" Turning her attention to Minako once more, she motioned to the paranoid pink shirt with her hand, "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a Junior this year, just like you."
-shirt still looked like she was paranoid about the whole thing. What, did she have people out to get her or something? "…Hi, I'm Yukari"
With a nod and a slight smile, Minako answered, "Nice to meet you. I'm Minako Arisato."
It was then and only then that Pink-shirt's – I mean – Yukari's paranoia seemed to vanish. "Uh, y-yeah…Nice to meet you too," she answered with a smile finally coming to her face.
Taking command of the conversation again, Mitsuru spoke up. "It's getting late, you'll find your room on the third floor. Your things should already be there. I suggest you tuck in for the night."
What was she, four? Minako knew when it was bed time.
"Oh…I'll show you the way. Follow me," Yukari offered. Now that the 'oh my God who are you I'm gonna shoot you' moment had passed, it looked like they were actually going to become friends. Hey, it was better than getting shot at if she came back late again before being moved to a ….normal dorm.
Normal dorm… did that mean the didn't have guns? That would be nice.
Yukari lead Minako all the way up to the third floor, and then all the way down to the last door on the right down the hallway. Stopping in front of the door, Yukari motioned to it with her hand "This is it…Pretty easy to remember, huh? …Since it's right at the end of the hall." She laughed a bit, as if to make light of the slightly tense air between them. After a second she seemed to notice that it wasn't going away, "So, and questions?"
There were plenty of things that she wanted to ask – especially why Yukari had a gun when she first came in. Did the dorm get attacked by yankees a lot or something? Was this a bad part of town? And what was with all that crap she'd seen on her way over? But instead of asking all that crap that could take hours to answer completely, Minako settled for; "Does that boy live here?" Since she was tired and wanted to head to bed soon.
Yukari threw her an odd look, like she was talking about something weird. "What are you talking about? …C'mon, it's not funny."
So the question managed to answer only two things. One; Yukari got creeped out easily, and two; Minako had apparently been hallucinating when she'd talked to that cute but creepy little boy in the entryway of the dorm.
Wonderful.
"Um… Can I ask you something?" Yukari began, interrupting Minako's little contemplation on whether she was losing it yet or not. "On your way here form the station…was everything okay?"
"What do you mean?" Did she mean the creepy blood everywhere? The coffins? Or maybe the gigantic eerie moon that was a little too close for comfort? Or was there something else that she hadnt seen on the way over that Yuakri was referring to?
The light-brunette looked hesitant when replying, "You know what I –" She paused, unsure if she should finish that sentence. "…Never mind. It seems like you're all right. Well, I'd better get going…" She turned, starting to walk off probably towards her room, but then thought better of it and turned back for one last word to the newcomer, "Um… I'm sure you still have other questions, but let's save them for later, okay? Good night." Rather than walking off to her own room, she headed downstairs.
Probably to talk to that Mitsuru girl.
Turning back to the door, Minako opened it and walked inside. Her things were indeed there already, waiting for her like the good little inanimate objects they were. Dropping her school bag by her other things as she closed the door and walked to her bed, Minako didn't even bother undressing, she kicked off her shoes and fell on the mattress. Not even a minuet after her head hit the pillow, she passed out.
(4/7) EARLY MORNING
The morning seemed to come all too soon, but once Minkao was awake, she was up for the day – and that was that. She'd gotten up, washed her face, changed her clothes to her uniform. She was just finishing putting her hair up when there was a knock at her door. Taking a glance over, Minako put the last clip in her hair and walked to answer the door.
"It's Yukari. Are you awake?" Yukari's voice called through the door just as Minako reached it. The door was then opened to a more cheerful looking Yukari, "Good morning. Did you sleep okay? Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school. Are you ready to go?"
With the way she was talking, it was as if she had never been about to shoot Minako the night before out of nerves.
With a smile, Minako nodded her head, "Totally!"
She was all too eager to return that smile with one of her own, "Okay. Then let's go."
Yukari lead her down the stairs and out the front doors of the dorm. It was a nice morning, the sky was bright and sunny. There were other students walking from other nearby dorms, but not many. The walk to the Iwatodai station was accompanied with Yukari's commentary about the neighborhood and what was near by, like the convenience store and what not.
The wait for the train wasn't long at all – it seemed like things were back on schedule unlike last night. Boarding, the train was only moderately crowded it wasn't like there was no sitting room, but Yukari and Minako stood anyway, watching the scenery pass by the window as they spoke to one another.
"We have to take the monorail to get there. Bet your last school wasn't like that, huh?" Yukari began, smiling the whole while. Suddenly, her face seemed to brighten, "This is my favorite part…when it feels like you're gliding over the sea." A look out the window gave a lovely view of the ocean, the light of the sun sparkling off the surface of the water. "Our stop is Port Island Station at the end of the line. From there, we walk. Have you ever heard of Tatsumi Port Island?" She waited long enough for Minako to shake her head 'no', "It's a man-made island. They built our school right in the middle. Oh look! You can see it now!" Pointing out the window, both girls looked to see the white building just off in the distance as the monorail pulled up to the station.
It wasn't all that far to walk to get to the school, and there were so many other students walking around, chatting with their friends. Things seemed a lot more lively now. A few students were looking their way as they walked, but Yukari didn't seem to notice, so Minako decided not to make a comment on it.
"Mornin'!" a female student called to Yukari, waving as she passed.
"Morning!" she called back with a wave before turning to Minako as they reached the gates, "Well, here we are…Welcome to Gekkoukan High! You're gonna love it here!"
Minako smiled, happy to see someone so enthusiastically welcome her to the school. They walked onto the school grounds from there, entering through the front doors and to the shoe lockers where they changed their shoes. After they got that taken care of, the two stepped out of the way for the other students.
"You're okay from here, right?" Yukari asked, looking at Minako, "You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is right there to the left…And that concludes the tour. Do you have any questions before I go?" Apparently she had some stuff she had to go do before school started.
Minako looked around for a moment, "Where's my classroom?" If she knew the room, then she'd probably know who her homeroom teacher was, right?
The brunette shrugged, "I think they're posted on the bulletin board, but I havent checked yet either." Then that easy-going look to her face disappeared and she looked nervous again. Oh God Minako hoped she didn't have that gun again – not at school please. "Hey…About last night… Don't tell anyone what you saw, Okay? …See ya later."
Okay, false alarm.
Minako walked over to the bulletin board. It was crowded with other students looking for their class – probably checking to see if other friends would be in their class as well. Minako looked and looked, only to frown as she was unable to find her name on the board. She tried looking again, but it was still missing. She was about to give up when she spotted a small note stuck to the side of the board with her name on it; "Minako Arisato – Class F." Looking at the list for class F, Minako also noticed the name 'Yukari Takeba' on the list. With a slight smile she turned away from the board. At least there would be someone she knew in the class.
Wandering down the hall that Yukari had pointed out, Minako paused a moment when she saw a teacher wearing a Sengoku Era Helm on his head. That was rather…odd. That, and he was talking rather energetically with a blonde foreign student. Shrugging it off, Minako entered the Faculty Office, looking around before a young woman called her over.
She was tall, wearing a pastel-ish pink dress suit. Her hair was short and light brown, like Yukari's. "Oh are you the new student? Minako Arisato…11th grade, correct?" She flipped through a few papers on a clip board she had on her – which was apparently Minako's file, "Wow, you've lived in a lot of different places…Let's see in 1999… that was what, ten years ago? Your parents - -" She gasped, putting the papers back, looking a bit sad, "I'm sorry… I've been so busy, I didn't have time to read this before hand. I'm Ms. Toriumi, I teach Composition. Welcome to our school."
Honestly it didn't bother Minako that she'd almost brought up the fact that her parents were dead. She'd lived with it for ten years, it wouldn't kill her to have someone point out the obvious. "I'm pleased to meet you."
's face seemed to light up as she smiled, "My, aren't you polite? Girls like you should be an example for others. Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're in 2-F; that's my class. But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me." With the teacher already taking a shine to Minako, she lead the transfer student out of the Faculty Office and to the auditorium. Ms. Toriumi pointed out a seat for her and had Minako sit down as she went to go sit with the teachers.
The principal soon took the podium and began his speech, "As you begin the new school year, I'd like each of you to remember the proverb, "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well." When applied to student life, this means…" This guy apparently had no skills in public speaking, but really enjoyed to hear himself talk. He droned on and on, and the tone of his voice made it difficult to pay attention without getting sleepy.
It wasn't too far into the speech when Minako could hear students nearby chatting. At first she just heard two boy's whispering to one another.
"I heard we got a transfer student."
"Yep, I've seen her too," the other replied, "She came to school with Yukari."
The tone of his voice seemed to imply that seeing her and Yukari walking to school made a party in his pants.
Um…ew?
A rather snobby-looking teacher with a voice to math spoke up then, "I hear talking. I believe it's someone in Ms. Toriumi's class…"
Ms. Toriumi was not happy to hear that – and maybe it also had something to do with her not liking the teacher who spoke up. "Shhh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble!" she scolded the students.
However, only more chattering seemed to follow, more rumors spreading around. Here and there Minako picked up the word 'transfer student', making her face grow red to hear she was the hot topic of the morning. Slouching in her seat a bit she tried not to be noticed…
AFTER SCHOOL
Homeroom had finally ended, so the afternoon lesson was going to start after the break. Minako leaned back in her seat. Introducing herself to the class at the beginning of Homeroom had had her stomach in a fit of butterflies. She was almost afraid that if she tried to speak they'd all see the opening and fly right out her mouth.
"'Sup dude?" a voice called, making her jump. Minako turned her head to the right to look at a kid in a blue baseball cap. He was grinning and laughing, "Haha, you look like a deer in headlights."
Oh, sorry, thought you were some sort of creeper, that's all. Minako shrugged off the thought, "Who are you?"
The kid looked at her as if he hadn't been expecting her to ask….dumbass. "Me? I'm Junpei Iori, Nice to meet ya," he answered, suddenly all grins and smiles again, "I transferred here when I was in 8th grade. I know how tough it is being the new kid…So I thought I'd check up on you, make sure you weren't freaking out on your first day."
Minako was just about to open her mouth to reply with a thanks and all that when she was interrupted before she even began by – you guessed it – Yukari.
It started with a long exaggerated sigh as she walked in on the conversation. "At it again, huh? Honestly, is there any girl you wouldn't hit on?" she remarked rather coldly. "Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?"
Speaking from experience, Yukari?
"What?" Junpei looked at her surprised. Now who looked like a deer in headlights? "But I was just being friendly."
The brunette rolled her eyes, "If you say so. Anyway, some coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, huh?" she said as she turned her attention to Minako, a smile on her face.
"I'm glad to have a friend." Minako responded with a smile of her own.
Yukari looked confused for a moment, "A friend? Oh… you mean me. Yeah I…I'm glad we ended up in the same class too."
Junpei apparently didn't like being left out of the loop. "Um, hello? Did you forget I'm in this class too? C'mon, let me in on the fun!" he complained – which was kind of amusing in it's own way. "By the way, do you guys know each other? I heard you two came to school this morning. A couple of cuties walking to school side by side… the whole class was buzzing about you."
Oh…joy.
It seemed Yukari had the same opinion on that comment from Junpei, because she didn't look all that happy at all. "Ugh… could you just cut it out? I hate dealing with rumors like that. I mean, I'm used to it, but she just got here, you know? Don't you feel bad, spreading rumors like that?" She pinched the bridge of her nose for a second before shaking her head, trying to get rid of the rising urge to probably smack Junpei with his own hat. "Well I've gotta go take care of some archery team stuff. Don't try anything funny, you got that, Junpei?" She threw him a slight glare before heading out of the room for that 'archery team stuff' she had to go do.
There was a disbelieving look on Junpei's face as he watched Yukari storm off to do whatever. "What is she, your nanny…? Well just to clear something up, I seriously didn't come over here to hit on you or anything. If you ever have a problem, you can tell your ol' pal Junpei about it!" Once again he was grinning. Minako got the feeling that he was a very…carefree guy, able to smile at almost any time, and took little to nothing seriously.
"I'll remember that," she answered happily. Two friends in once day – talk about nice.
"Heh, cool. Well, I'll be seeing you around, then."
So Junpei went off to do some stuff, and after noon classes started up after that – or something like that. First day of school was always the same, no work really, but lectures on what the year would have in store for them, getting them their classes and what not, and picking up P.E. uniforms. So since all that stuff was boring, Minako put her headphones on.
Thank God for music.
After school let out, Minako was heading to the school gates when Junpei caught up with her. There was a short toss of words where he easily convinced her to let him walk her back to the dorm. Since she hardly remembered the way there, there was no harm in having someone used to the area giving her some assistance in accurately remembering the route back to the dorm.
They were just barely reaching the gates when a group of students in P.E. uniforms went jogging by. "Woah, check out the jocks on the run…" Junpei commented with a slight chuckle, "Hey, did anyone tell you about the school clubs yet? Girls can join too, so why not do it if you're interested? You'd be joining as a new member though, so you wouldn't be able to apply for a little while."
"Really? Sounds neat – I'll look into it," Minako replied with a smile. "Are you in any sports, Iori-kun?"
Junpei looked at Minako funny as they continued walking to the station, "Dude, just call me 'Junpei', and nah, I'm not in any sports. I'm not really into that kinda thing, ya' know?"
"Ah, okay."
It was quite easy to make small talk with Junpei on the way back to the dorm. He even pointed out some of the places by Iwatodai station to her, like Hagakure Ramen, Wild Duck Burger, the Takoyaki stand, and even the Book On; Manga Café.
EVENING
Mitsuru welcomed Minako back when she entered through the front doors of the dorm. She was seated on the larger couch, with a book on her lap. Of course her attention was on Minako, a slight smile to her face. "You really shouldn't be outside on your own at night. It's too dangerous. Anyway, you must be tired. You should get a good night's rest."
"Oh, okay," Minako answered with a nod. Wandering through the lounge, she entered the dining room. Yukari was sitting at the table, idly flipping through a magazine. Walking up behind her, Minako peered over her shoulder to see it was a fashion magazine.
Yukari seemed to notice someone looming over her and turned to look over her shoulder at the darker-brunette. "Oh, hi. What're you doing?"
Minako shrugged, "Nothing."
With the way she reacted to that, one would thing that Yukari was expecting Minako to ask her some questions or something. "…Oh. You're probably pretty tired, huh? Maybe you should go to bed early tonight."
Was everyone trying to get rid of her or something? With a sigh and a shrug, Minako parted from Yukari, "Yeah, I suppose," waving over her shoulder at Yukari, she headed for the stairs, "See you tomorrow morning then." Then there was the super exciting hike up two flights of stairs, and the trek down the hall and into her room. Deciding to spend a bit more time with the awake world, she unpacked a few of her things, making the room look a bit more lived in before she changed into her pajamas and crawled into her bed.
(4/8) EARLY MORNING
The next morning, Minako walked to school by herself. Apparently the rumors did more to her than they bother Minako. Maybe she'd have to ask Yukari why they didn't walk to school together later. Either she was avoiding the rumors…or she had some more 'archery team stuff' to take care of. As she reached the gates, she paused, overhearing a few students gossiping.
"Did you hear the rumor…?" one girl started.
"Oh, um, something about…a bathroom?" the other replied.
"N-No! Not that one, I mean the story about the first-year student! Not only did she stop coming to school, she does nothing but sit and stare at the walls all day. If her mother tries to talk to her, she only mutters to herself 'It's coming…it's coming…!'" the first girl answered.
"Huh. How about that."
"You don't believe me…?"
The first bell rang soon after, so Minako pushed their odd conversation aside and hurried in to change her shoes and get to class on time.
AFTERNOON
Ms. Toriumi was teaching today. She was a nice enough teacher from what it looked like, "Open your textbooks and we'll take a look at the first novel by… Zenzou Kasai… Ugh, why him?" Apparently even she was picky about the stuff she taught. Funny. "I'd rather teach Utsubo Kubota. He became famous as a singer, but he's also produced fine literature. I wonder why it's not in the textbook. We'll I'll just bring Kubota's book next time." Grumbling a bit to herself as she turned the page, the teacher did a sweep of the room with her eyes, "…Hey, Junpei! We're you listening? Who did I say was my favorite author?"
Junpei, yet again, looked like a deer in headlights. "H-Huh? U-Ummm… Psst!" Minako looked over to see Junpei casting a hesitant glance her way, "Who does she like?"
Leaning over a bit so he would hear her easier, Minako whispered back, "Utsubo Kubota." Which Junpei immediately reiterated loud enough for the teacher before he forgot it.
She looked rather surprised that he'd gotten it correct. "That's right! So you were listening to me after all!"
"Eheheh…Well, you know how I like to pay attention!" Junpei laughed. Then as the teacher turned back to the lesson and started talking again he turned to Minako with a grateful smile and whispered, "Man you saved my bacon, Minako!"
Minako smiled…and then noticed the rest of the class started whispering.
"Minako gave him the right answer…She must pay attention in class!"
Suddenly she felt so much more popular – not that she'd wanted that to begin with. Turning her attention back to the actual lesson, Minako went back to taking notes and answering questions. The lesson slowly consumed hours of the day, and eventually school was over before she knew it. Ms. Toriumi was great at explaining things in a way that made it easy to understand, so Minako had no complaints with the homework assigned.
After class had ended, Minako packed up her things and leisurely headed back to the dorm. There was really nothing else for her to do. Yukari was off to Archery practice, and Junpei had been out the door as soon as the last bell rang.
EVENING
Of course, even though Minako had left first, Yukari was already at the dorm when she got back….okay, so maybe she got a little lost on her way back. It was only her second day, who could blame her? Some of her classmates had found her by the shrine a few blocks away and pointed her in the right direction, so she wasn't a complete lost cause.
Yukari was sitting on the loveseat, talking to an unfamiliar man who was in the arm chair. "Oh, she's back," she pointed out to the man.
If this guy was some sort of pedo…
The man had slightly wavy, light brown hair. He wore a turtle neck and glasses. Never mind, he looked more like a nerd than a pedo. Then again… "So, this is our new guest…Good evening. My name is Shji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school." He smiled gently at Minako as she walked over and took a seat next to Yukari and away form the stranger danger. "'Ikutsuki' … Hard to say, isnt it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even I get tongue-tied sometimes…I apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a while longer before you receive the proper room assignment. Is there anything you'd like to ask?"
Obviously there was one main question everyone must ask a strange man that suddenly appears in the home like quarters one lives in. "Why did you come here?" Looking for small children? I'm sure there aren't any here, nope – because that creepy little boy doesn't live here. That's it, isnt it? Yukari tattled to him about her asking about the little boy she'd seen and his pedo sences went off the charts!
…. A-Anyway.
"To welcome you, of course," he answered innocently with a smile. But Minako wasn't buying it. "Speaking of which… Where's Mitsuru, Yukari?"
"She's upstairs," Yukari answered simply. Yeah, Yukari probably didn't have a problem talking to Ikutsuki because she's too old for him…or maybe the wrong gender entirely – OH GOD.
Minako decided she should really stop thinking about those kinds of things and take this seriously.
Ikutsuki chucked a bit, "As diligent as always. Although, it doesn't hurt to come down and say hello…" Turning his attention back to Minako he asked, "Do you have another question?"
Well, even though she'd basically asked Yukari already, she might as well take another approach to finding out without tipping the Pedo off, "Who else lives here?"
Ikustuki answered as if there was nothing wrong with her curiosity, "There are only four students in this dorm: You, Yukari here, Mitsuru…And a senior named Akihiko Sanada. I hope you all get along. Do you have another question?"
Okay, this was getting a little annoying. He was answering really easily, but that was a given if he was the chairman. "I saw something odd…" she began, trailing off.
"You saw something strange? … Like what?" Ikustuki asked, feigning interest in what she was supposedly going to say.
Yukari suddenly looked uneasy, like she wanted to interrupt and say it was nothing, but restrained herself. It seemed that the nervous look tipped off Ikutsuki to what Minako was talking about – something they all knew about but Minako wasn't filled in on.
"You were probably just tired. I wouldn't worry about it. It's bad for your complexion, you know."
That answer was obviously a lie. He was avoiding the subject before it would even be properly explained. They were hiding something, and Minako didn't like the uneasy feeling it gave her.
"Do you have another question?" he asked as if nothing were wrong.
"No, not really," she answered, ready to leave and get to work on her homework.
"Then, I hope you have a successful school year. Now if you'll excuse me… You must be tired from all the excitement. You should go to bed early." He suggested as he stood, "As they say, "The early bird catches the bookworm"! …Please forgive the bad pun." He chucked at his own terrible joke, thinking himself to be rather humorous.
Yukari rolled her eyes, not at all finding the joke to be funny. "…. You'll get used to his lame jokes," she explained.
"I hope so…" Minako replied as she stood, "I'm gonna go get some homework done before I head to bed. See ya." Bidding Yukari farewell and waving to Ikutsuki, Minako headed up to the third floor and headed back to her room.
It was a few hours later that Minako went to bed, curling up in the covers and closing her eyes. She'd always been fast to fall asleep – dreaming was her favorite part. But this time it was different. She could hear something…a voice? Yes, it was a voice, calling to her. "…Master…Master Minako Arisato…"
Suddenly it was as if she was flying. She could see a checkered floor passing beneath her, black and white tiles making up the floor as she was slowed and set down just as a door at the end of the mysterious floor opened before her. Curiously walking inside, the door shut behind her, making her turn. Okay, this was starting out something like Alice in Wonderland mixed with a slight horror twinge to it. The room was … well it looked like an indigo room – the shade lingering more towards a blue appeal, with a metal backing that had a rather large clock. It kind of looked like large elevator, with a comfortable room built inside for the residents. There were five doors, two on her left and right, and one behind her. There was a table in the center of the room, along with a love sofa on one side, and a single chair on the other side. The chair was closest to her, so Minako walked over and took a seat.
It was then that she saw the other resident of the room. He was a creepy looking man with wide eyes and a long – like really long – nose. He was missing a lot of his hair and looked like a real creep. He was short, wearing a suit, and seated on the couch on the other side of the table form her. "Welcome to the Velvet Room. My name is Igor. …I am delighted to make your acquaintance."
Shit, this dude even spoke like a creep. She could feel the shiver run up her spine. What was with all the creeps? Maybe transferring to Gekkoukan was a bad idea.
"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place..." the creepy man named Igor explained. He motioned to the paper on the table, and when Minako leaned forward to try and get a better look, she could see that it was the contract that cute-but-creepy little boy had asked her to sign.
So she hadn't been hallucinating. Well that was swell.
"Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room," Igor began again, "You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so. I only ask one thing in return…that you abide by the contract and assume responsibility for the choices you make."
This was a little creepy…well more like a hell of a lot of weird, "I understand," Minako answered. She didn't think she'd come here often…but it seemed like something that might be useful for when she needed it. Now…if he would just tell her was his 'services' were.
And if it had ANYTHING to do with him and something 'R' rated…
"Hold onto this…" Suddenly there was a key on the table before her. When it got there she had no idea – but hey, this place was like a dream, so weird shit was bound to happen right? Leaning forward again, Minako picked it up and looked at it. It had a little label on it…'Velvet Key'.
Oh, okay.
"There is still one more resident of this room, who could unfortunately could not be present for your arrival," Igor pointed out, which made Minako hope he didn't have a twin brother hidden some where in the attic….if there even was one. "But I'll make sure you two are properly introduced. Another time, perhaps. 'Till we meet again…"
(4/9) EARLY MORNING
Minako sat up in her bed suddenly. What the heck had… Looking up, she noticed the sun was lighting up her window. It was morning, and time to get ready for school. Scratching her head through her bed-head-hair, Minako wondered what the heck was up with that dream… only to find the Velvet Key on her desk as she was getting dressed. Okay, that was hella creepy. Stuffing it in her pocket as she grabbed her bag, she headed out the dorm and to the school, trying not to think too much on the weird dream…thing she had the previous night.
On the way she's picked up some bread for breakfast. Freshly baked melon bread. Boy, oh boy, did that stuff taste great. She didn't care if it made her seem a bit childish. She loved the stuff, so that's why she ate it.
At the school gates, Junpei caught up with her, waving as he came to a stop next to her so they could chat before class. "Yo… Man, I'm so sleepy today," He pointed out as he yawned to prove it, "In times like these, it's best to sleep during class! You ever notice how sometimes taking a nap in class makes you feel more refreshed than when sleeping at home?"
Minako laughed, it wasn't like she'd never fallen asleep in class before, "I know what you mean!"
Junpei was all grins again at her response. Maybe he'd expected her to be against the thought of sleeping in class since she paid attention. "Right? You go from dead to being completely full of energy again. It's such a great feeling." Junpei's smile faltered a bit then and he sighed, "…Then again, I'm not listening to the lecture, so I'm screwed later! Oh, but we have classic literature today… That means we're stuck with Mr. Nasty ol' Ekoda…"
MORNING
Who would have thought the mini-description given by Junpei would be so accurate. It turned out that this 'Mr. Ekoda' was that snobby teacher who had tried to get Ms. Toriumi in trouble at the opening ceremony. Minako sighed and slouched a bit in her seat. This didn't seem like it would be a good class.
"Ahem… I'm Mr. Ekoda. I'll be teaching you Classic Literature," he began, "I'll be teaching you about good old Japan all year. Some people say Classic Lit isn't relevant to everyday life, but oh, how they're wrong! The students, the other teachers… Wrong, wrong, wrong! Nobody really understands Classic Lit…"
Yeah, he sounded boring to her. Minako rolled her eyes. She already knew enough about classic literature. She didn't want some snobby teacher lecturing her about how everyone else was apparently stupid because they didn't spend all their time studying classic literature. She wondered if his wife had the same passion for it or if she just put up with it. Heck, maybe he didn't have a wife because he scared all the women off with his boring talk about classic literature.
One thing was for sure, his lecture put Minako to sleep easily.
AFTER SCHOOL
After class had ended and the students started leaving, Minako headed to the shoe boxes, only to run into Yukari there. "Oh, hey," Yukari called with a smile. She was in the middle of taking her school shoes off to switch them with her outdoor shoes.
"Hey," Minako replied, stopping at her shoe locker to switch out her shoes. "You want to walk home together, or do you have some other plans?"
Yukari laughed a bit, "Nah, I'll walk home with you. I can show you the Paulownia Mall on the way."
"Awesome."
Putting her outdoor shoes on Minako left the school grounds with Yukari. There was some idle chatter, but most of it was complaining about Mr. Ekoda and how lame his class was. That man's class was probably going to be the most painful of classes according to the stories Yukari was telling about the other teachers.
The mall – when they got there not to much later – was crowded with students on their way back from school. The shops were bustling with activity from the students – but that was mainly just the arcade. Some students were just standing around chatting with friends, and other students were sitting by the fountain in the center, cracking jokes and making plans.
"Have you come here before?" Yukari asked, seeing Minako looking around much like a tourist. Hoenstly she hadn't even taken the time to explore, "A lot of Gekkoukan students come here after school. There's a Karaoke box, and a CD shop. Oh, and a really great café, too! There's also a night club, but that's kinda not for us yet."
"Well I can imagine – just think of the kind of rumors people would start up if they saw us going in there?" Minako rolled her eyes, "They'd probably think the worst, and if the rumors spread to the teachers…." She shuddered. "Thank God Mr. Ekoda isn't our homeroom teacher…"
EVENING
Mitsuru was at the window to the left behind the counter. She looked away from whatever it was she'd been looking at when Minako and Yukari entered. "Welcome back" she called. Minako stopped to chat with her while Yukari went and took a seat on the couch. Mitsuru was happy to chat a bit, and smiled, "The moon is beautiful tonight. It might be nice to read a book by moonlight once in a while."
"Oh, that sounds nice," Minako mused, "Sitting by the window, a cup of tea to the side, a blanket around your shoulders and a good book in your lap."
Mitsuru smiled, "Ah, I see you get it."
After that the conversation somewhat died, so Minako meandered over to where Yukari was sitting. She took a seat for a moment, letting her feet rest. Yukari took the opportunity to strike up another conversation. "There used to be a dorm mother here to do stuff like cooking, but there's just us students here now. It'd be great to have somebody like that doing stuff for us, don't you think?"
So that would explain why they had to deal with dinner and breakfast on their own. "You're right," maybe then they could have a healthier menu for some meals.
"I mean, I'm not a good cook, and Mitsuru-senpai just doesn't do things like that…" She threw a look at Minako as if trying to give her a hint. But when Minako didn't say anything she just decided to come out and say it. "You know, if you're handy around the kitchen, I bet you could really do something with this place!"
Minako laughed a bit, shrugging, "Maybe, but I'm not really that great of a cook."
Well, more like she didn't want to become the slave of the dorm.
Spending some time downstairs with Yukari, the two of them did their homework for boring ol' Ekoda's class. With their combined powers, they managed to finish quickly. Bidding Yukari farewell again, Minako headed up to bed for another early night.
Sometime past midnight, there was a loud noise out front that startled Minako awake. She sat straight up in her bed, looking around the room wildly. "What the…" Throwing the covers back, Minako hopped out of bed and pulled on some actual clothes. She was going to check this out. Pulling her hair up quickly in a hair tie, she headed for the door.
Just as she was about to reach the door knob, someone knocked on it hard, startling her. Yukari's voice sounded from the other side, "Wake up!" she called. She sounded like she was in a panic, "Sorry, I'm coming in!" Minako had to jump back to avoid getting hit with her own door when it swung open. "I don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here, now!"
Minkao was pretty sure she didn't want to know what the problem was if Yukari was shouting like that at her. Wasn't she worried about startling the neighbors? It was almost like they'd found a bomb in the kitchen and it was going to go off in two minuets if they didn't get out in time. "Okay!"
"Hurry! Downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!" Yukari turned to lead the way out, but then paused. "Wait! …Take this, just in case." Yukari handed her a long, thin implement…It seems to be a Naginata. Well whatever, if it worked…
Wait, was there really monsters or something? No, they were getting robbed, right? And they had to fight through a mob of thugs to get out alive? "Wait… what's- -"
"Okay, let's go! Follow me!" The two of them ran downstairs to the first floor, and then through the dining room to the back entrance to the dorm. "All right, we should be safe now - -" Yukari was interrupted by her communicater going off with a quick line of beeping. Minako couldn't hear what was being said on the other end, so she just judged it based on Yukari's reactions. "Y-Yes! I hear you!" More conversation on the other end the Minako couldn't hear… "What!" Yukari shrieked.
Okay, so apparently it was bad news.
Suddenly there was a loud pounding on the back entrance to the dorm, the ground beneath their feet trembling a bit, making the both of them jump. Yukari gasped, throwing a panicked look to Minako, "L-Let's pull back!" The two of them headed up to the second floor, looking around. Suddenly there was the sound of glass breaking. "What was that!" There was rumbling and crunching as if something large crawling over the glass and down the hall towards them, "It's getting closer!" It seemed to have heard Yukari, and the sound picked up, the thing heading towards them faster, "K-Keep moving! Hurry!" The turned and headed up the steps again. Minako took a glance over her shoulder, but all she could see was something massive and black.
Before too long, they reached the rooftop. Yukari shut the door behind them and locked it, pausing a moment to catch her breath. Finally she sighed, relieved, "The door's locked. I thing we're safe for now…" Suddenly there was some eerie sound akin to that of a roar, making the two gasp and turn to face the rooftop before them.
From the edge of the building a large black hand raised, holding up a mask. It turned back and forth, as if it could actually see with it. Which apparently it did, because once it 'saw' them, it stopped, and a whole 'nother set of hands shot up, holding a mass of swords and more hands pulled it onto the rooftop.
"You gotta be kidding me…! It climbed up the wall…!" Yukari shrieked. "That's the thing that attacked this place… We call them Shadows! O-Oh yeah… I have to fight… I … I can summon mine… No problem…" She was trying hard to keep her cool, it was easy to see she was fighting panic underneath it all. "Here goes…" she pulled her gun thing up to her forehead. Minako was about to ask her what the hell she was going to do when the shadow attacked with fire, knocking Yukari back and making her drop her gun with a cry.
Minako stared down at the gun at her feet, sitting in the small puddle of blood on the ground. Something seemed to click in the back of her head. It made sence, the gun wasn't a real gun, Yukari wasn't trying to kill herself with it, she was trying to summon something. Crouching for a second, Minako picked up the gun. Time seemed to slow then. She could see the shadow turn towards her, ready to go and attack. Placing the tip to her temple, Minako took a deep breath. "Per…so….na…"
And pulled the trigger.
Thou art I, and I am thou, A figure with long brown hair, and a heart shaped harp on it's back. Suddenly, the figure froze, and a sudden swell of power flooded through Minako. Grabbing her head, she let out a sharp cry, falling to her knees. Ripping itself out from within Orpheus came a frightening looking creature with a halo of coffins around it's shoulders.
Letting out a harsh roar it lunged at the large shadow. It swung at it with it's sword, hacking away a few pieces of it's many arms. Reaching out it grabbed an arm and ripped it off, the limb squirming in it's grasp before dissolving in it's firm grip. It tore and ripped and hacked away at the shadow, tearing it to shreds ruthlessly until it was a dissolving corpse, struggling to squirm away in it's last moments.
The frightening figure lifted it's head in another roar, and a split second later it was back to the first appearance that had come out of Minako as the surge of power resided…
Yukari looked around nervously. "Is it over…?"
If only things were that simple. Two of the remaining pieces of the large shadow suddenly took form of their own, squirming and wriggling until movement adapted and came easily.
Yukari gasped, squirming back, "It's still moving….!"
The two pieces of the shadow then began to make their way towards Yukari to attack. Yukari began to panic, left without her gun and any other weapon. "No… G-Get away from me!"
Minako jumped in the way, pulling the gun up to her head again and summoned the thing from before. On her call, it attacked the creatures with a fire attack… 'Agi' was what it was called, or so it seemed. With the help of the thing, Minako managed to kill the things, watching them dissolve into nothing.
With a sigh, Minako looked back over her shoulder to see Yukari was safe. She smiled, relieved – however, the battle took a lot out of her for some reason, and she could feel her mind slipping. Her eyes became unfocused, and she dropped both her Naginata and the gun, falling to the floor.
The last thing she could hear before she blacked out completely was Yukari gasp and call out to her, "Are you okay! Come on…! Please…! Can you hear me! Answer me!"