This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to a person living or dead, or any events that were featured in this work are all completely coincidental, no bullshit.

Persona and Katawa Shoujo are not made by me. I have no right to use the franchise for my personal gain and I do not take any money from this work of fiction. All rights are reserved to both of companies that made those fine franchises.

Reviews are greatly appreciated and will (probably) boost how I write.

Although I could feel my head spinning, I couldn't help but to laugh. Not because I just heard a funny joke or watched a funny scene, but it's because I'm upside-down in the air. No, I mean, seriously.

Yeah… it's a long story.

As a man who liked downer endings in literary and literature, I couldn't find this likeable at all. I mean, who have a freaking sick and twisted preference of falling to their impending doom? That's just nasty. I rather see the heroine—as in Kenji, died instead of the hero.

Wait… is Kenji a heroine?

And who's Kenji? And why do I want to see him dancing like a ballerina in a tutu?

I would find it attractive, but… it's still nasty. Everybody's got double standards here.

Anyway, I think I've been caught up into something nonsensical again. I think I'm dreaming, still dreaming. The fact that I have the weirdest experience ever for the past few months, I think I would tell you ALL about it, but I guess I can't since… I'm falling.

Such is the end of the pitiful, friendless Hisao.

Woe is- SPLAT

Spare the Mask, Spoil the Heart

"Is this the man you wanted me to summon Liz?"

"Quite right, but it seems he lacks the certain… touch of a maiden's hand."

Am I still dreaming?

I thought when you die in your sleep you die for real, but I guess you just woke up into another reality, like that one movie about reality jumping and delusional and suicidal wife. The name of the movie doesn't matter really much, but the point still stands that if you died, I guess you woke up in another realm.

"Look, look, he's waking up!"

"I'll go serve him a drink, you can just prepare for your grand appearance Liz."

Well I hope this is not a trick by Misha and Shizune, because if it is I'm going to stab them in the heart with a wooden stake because I could tell from day one that they're vampires with anti-UV lotion applied to their skins. Then I'll prove to them that I'll be immortal after eating shizune's hearts because I think she's a cross of a vampire and a dragon.

As I could finally grasp the concept of "Where am I?" I come to realize that I'm in a room that looked like one of those VIP rooms I once watched in a movie.

Those three months I spend on reading books and watching action movies in hope that I could feel like being in action has proven me an insight on places. Doesn't have any real use in the real world, but I could use it for fun or when the condition specifically asked for it.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, may I take your order?"

A waitress bowed to me, or what appears to be a waitress actually. The woman in question wears a garb like that of a shrine maiden. White with black sash as a belt and her long, wavy white hair is very much shrine maiden-like, I dared to ask if I am actually in heaven.

"Excuse me, but is this heaven?"

She snorted.

Oh.

Oh, I get it.

"This is… this is actually hell, isn't it?"

She burst out into laughter. I knew it, when I found Shizune and Misha I'm going to bring the largest wooden stake I could find in Shanghai even if it's the last thing I'll do. But first, I need to ask a few questions about this… valved room.

I gazed at the shrine maiden waitress and she seemed to notice and tried her best not to laugh. She holds her hands over her mouth in an attempt to shut her voice in, but then she burst out, laughing like she is the one who invented comedy. And then she settles down with tears on both of her eyes. She rubs them off, and then she finally met my gaze.

"…I am truthfully sorry for my rudeness dear guest, but I am merely expressing the emotions of joy. I cannot lie that your reaction is very funny and enthralling. If I were to give you powers, any powers, what will it be? Will it be fame, fortitufe, or is it fear? Or is it a desire to give anyone you felt a bond to succumb to their carnal pleasure?" She giggled, "What an amazing desire you have, an ego of a monster yet a body of a miniscule."

I could only stare. Staring at her was the only thing that I could do, no, what I should do. I don't know if she's mocking me or if she's doing this out of her usual demeanor, but it scares me to think a woman this… supernatural could ever live to greet me as a shrine maiden waitress.

I reeled my mind. I tried to recall the last time I felt this… this… sensation. The last time I have listened to every sense of my nerves was when I was watching a scary movie, and it's shouting me to turn off the god-damned television. This is pretty much the same, but you have to change the "watching a scary movie" with "like watching a ghost"… no, "like watching a goddess" herself.

"Well enough with the chit-chat young master, what would you like to drink?"

"Strawberry milkshake," I mumbled, and then I spoke more clearly. "I want the best strawberry milkshake here."

I think I've made a safe choice. Girl's love strawberries, right? So if I ordered something like that I'll be safe in the clearings, right?

She banged her fist at the table and cracked one part of the round table.

Well it was worth the shot.

I hope I didn't offend her, since she looked like she's about to murder me. Oh who am I kidding, she's pissed isn't she? Is there a shortage of strawberries? Or maybe they don't serve strawberry here? Is it her customs to kill anyone who asked for strawberry dishes?

And then she smiled… like a waitress. She's as cold as an ice, and I don't think I should mess with her or else I'll be frozen. I smiled, replying her previous smile, and then she frowned. She clicked the button on her pen and began to write on a piece of paper, rip the paper, form a ball out of the paper and threw it to my face. It doesn't hurt, but that was very immature and uncalled for.

"What did you do that for!?"

"I'm mad because somebody ordered something I don't like."

Great! After all the talk on avoiding pissing her off, I pissed her off without me even knowing why before she states the reason herself. Before long, she turned around and shuffled her way into the kitchen, where explosions were heard when ten seconds haven't even passed since she went inside the kitchen.

I gulped.

"Nervous, aren't you? I bet you are. Goddess-san over there kind of doesn't like charming man such as you."

I jumped out of reflex. A woman suddenly appeared just the opposite of my side of the table. She crosses her arms and looked at me. No, it's more like that of gazing. She's gazing deep inside my soul. It's as if there's something… something amazing hidden inside my soul, no, something dark and abysmal, fiendish and full of atrocities, as if defying the law of humanity itself.

Then I know that she's not smiling kindly at me. I sense a dark will full of hatred coming from her.

This white-haired, blue uniformed girl… I finally know that this is not heaven, nor is it hell after just a glance to both of her eyes.

"How does it feel to be inside my velvet room, little man?"

"Valved room?"

"Actually, it's called velvet room and it's spelled with the word "Fell-Vet." instead of "Fall-fed" and "Room" instead of "Rum"." She leaned back at the chair she's sitting on and raised her right hand in a grand manner. She held her palm open in the air and before I knew what happened, a deck of cards fell into her palm.

"Do you believe in fortune telling, little man?"

"I don't."

The card fell down her hands. Sliding down the air and then hitting the ground in a large flush of sound. The woman's face gives the expression of shock. I couldn't help but feel sorry for her when she slowly picked up the cards lying on the ground, disgruntled.

I… I can't, this will be a large blow to my conscience. Even if she's probably the personification of evil, I can't just break a personification of evil who's using a girl's body as a personification's heart!

"Maybe a little. Yeah, just a little."

The girl's eye flashes brightly and began to pick up every card energetically. She then slams the deck of cards into the table and stands triumphantly on her chair she was sitting on. She waved her hands all over the place and a hexagram appeared on top of the deck of cards, enlarging itself and then stopped after it became the size of the table.

This… is not how you do a tarot reading, isn't it?

"I shall show you how to open the door to your future," She clapped her hands and the hexagram flew up with the deck of cards hovering at the center. The girl slices her hands upwards and six cards slides from the deck to the six ends of the hexagram outer lines.

One card opens up. It was the card in at the top of the hexagram, a man hanged down, upside down with his feet on top of the card, and the head on the bottom of the card's illustration.

"Ah, the hanged man," she looked up, "This signifies that you're in a grief sorrow."

Damn right I am.

"Let's open the second one," she flips one on the bottom left corner of the hexagram and it shows the card featuring a tower being struck by a lightning. "Oh my, it seems that your journey will be full of hurdle, I never liked this kind of development."

Well that's unfortunate.

"How about we open the third one?" She points at the top right card, "I could show you the card, but I'm afraid it will make things easier for you without any advantages for us, so how about we save this after your first ordeal?"

"What ordeal?"

"Well, this is about your… less fortunate conditions."

I get it. I get it where this is leading.

"You're so to say… dead, being a mortal that you are." She clicked her fingers and an image of a crime scene shows up, or probably what's supposed to be a crime scene. "Please look at this video. It is live, on-scene, captured through the vision of one of my helpers."

What I see on the screen moments later didn't shock me, or at least, it fazes me. For what I see there is a man with its head bending with the neck in the wrong direction and angle. I looked at the woman and she giggled playfully before nodding as if excited.

"Here's your strawberry sundae, young master."

I looked at the sundae before me. It's cold, fresh, and is probably going to be the tastiest thing I have ever tasted in my whole life. But if what I'm thinking is right, this is probably going to be my last meal before moving on.

As I looked up to see the shrine maiden waitress and the girl in blue uniform, I have just realized that they're probably the only ticket to get out of this mess. So I stand from my seat, and kindly asked them.

"Am I dead?"

Two nods.

"Can I go back?"

Two nods.

"What should I do?"

I panicked, like an idiot I stuttered, and shivered out of fear. Tears began to run on my cheek as I laughed pathetically, and I think I could feel my lower body losing its power and about to tremble. For as long as I live I have never been into this mystical situation. This strange phenomenon has left me speechless without words. I've grown out of my strong and willful persona that I've been donning my entire life.

The girl in the blue uniform smiled from ear to ear. She waves her hand and made a card slides out from the card deck on the table and throw it to me. I caught it by reflex and analyzed the content. A sweat trickled down on my chin and fell to the ground as I realized that this card's illustrations, is summing up my purpose to them.

On the number there was zero. I realized then that I was given a task much bigger than what I could comprehend. I watched as both of the girls are smiling curiously.

"We could revive you back and turn back time just before you're dead." The shrine maiden waitress said, "But, it's not free. Firstly you have to accept your inner self, or what we call a persona. The next thing to do is to acquire the persona and learn how to use it. Can you do that?"

"I assure you that you are not having a deal with the devil himself." The blue uniformed girl said, persuasive. "I presume that you're not dumb enough to turn down two sincere offering of a lady, aren't you?"

And then there were silence.

Should I accept this proposal?

Will this be worth my trouble?

'Call my name'

A voice so deep and powerful called to me.

'Call my name master, and I shall forever be your loyal dog.'

There it is again.

Is this coming from the card?

Why does it sound so… familiar?

I feel like I know who he is.

I feel… light.

I feel… heavenly.

"Your name…"

I know him well enough.

I know what he is and I know who he is.

A part of myself and a part of my soul, aren't you?

"Is Reaper, right?"

'Then I shall be your loyal slave. I shall take the form most suitable to you, for I am a part of your mind, body and soul.'

I nodded, and the voice disappeared.

"Congratulations, that was your very first persona."

A girl's voice came to congratulate me. It was the shrine maiden waitress's.

I nodded and give her my thanks before sitting back on the chair, took a sip off of my strawberry sundae—which tastes very out of the world, and with a bright smile turns my face to the girl in blue uniform.

"You got yourself a deal."

She smirked before giggling playfully.