Day 1

I sighed. "Jeez, I'm bored. Can't there be a timeskip or something?"

Maybe I should give you some background. My name is Minato Arisato. I'm sitting on a train going to Iwatodai, the place where my parents died and, more importantly (for now, at least), the location of the school I will be attending for the next year.

The train arrived at the station, allowing me to get off the train. And right when I did, the world went green. "Fan-friggin-tastic. Status. Okay, everything's at full. Inventory." I pulled out a gun.

Oh, I forgot to mention, didn't I? I have a weird ability that makes me like a video game character. I have skills, levels, an inventory... The list goes on.

"Time to get some XP."

However, I'm not allowed to use my ability if people will notice something's amiss. (If I do, a multitude of bad things can happen.) Because of that, people with powers like mine developed the ability to create "illusion barriers" which makes people not notice something's going on. We're allowed to cut loose in illusion barriers, since no one will notice anything.

When the clock strikes midnight, a sort of global illusion barrier is created. It lasts for an hour. People turn into coffins, so there's no one to see abilities being used.

"Alright. Persona!"

I have another unique ability as well. I can summon a being called a "Persona"-in essence, they're a physical representation of my mind. Having a Persona is rare in and of itself, but I'm also a Wild Card-someone able to have and use multiple Personae.

Eventually, I arrived at the dorm I would be staying in for the rest of the year. When I walked in, a little kid greeted me. "You're late." "My train was delayed." "I understand. Normally, you would be signing the Velvet Contract right now..." "But I've already signed it, so there's no need, right?"

The Velvet Room is a place only Wild Cards who have signed the Velvet Contract can enter. It's where I can fuse new Personae, as well as buy back Personae I've registered into the Compendium.

Pharos (the kid) said, "Correct. I don't suppose I need to tell you to keep your commitment, right?" "No, you don't. Anyways, see you around?" "Yep. Wanna join in on what I said in the baseline?" "Sure!" And we said together, "No one can escape time. It delivers all equally to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes." Pharos stepped into the shadows as we finished with, "And so it begins." With that, the shadows swallowed him, leaving me alone in the lobby.

However, that was not to last. I heard a girl shout, "Who's there?!" I turned around and found a brunette girl in a pink cardigan with a gun, preparing to draw. 'Course, this wasn't a real gun (how would a schoolgirl in a dorm have a normal gun?). The gun was actually an Evoker, a device designed to artificially call out a Persona by putting the user in a stressful situation. I wasn't supposed to know that, however, so I kept quiet and readied myself as she drew.

A voice yelled "Takeba, wait!" right before the lights turned back on. The voice belonged to a redhead coming down the stairs. "I didn't think you'd arrive so late." "Blame the train schedules." "I understand. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students living in this dorm." She pointed to the brunette. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you." "...Hey," she greeted reluctantly. "Nice to meet you." "Uh, yeah." She laughed nervously.

"I don't blame ya for being on edge. Green Time's pretty dangerous." "Green... Time?" "Yeah, that time when everything turns green. Also could be known as Coffin Time, the Hour of the Dead, or the Dark Hour." Both girls flinched slightly when I mentioned the last name. Not surprising, considering that that's the name they know it by. "Meh, whatever. I'm goin' to bed. Where's my room?" Mitsuru recovered quickly enough to reply. "It's the last one on the second floor." I quickly proceeded up the stairs and got to my room. I got on the bed and slept pretty much immediately.

A/N: What do you think? I actually wrote this story with people who don't understand the Persona games in mind. Therefore, expect more description than is usual. This story was actually written as a hybrid between Persona 3 and the webcomic The Gamer, so if you've ever read that, you'll be right at home here. Also, unlike my other fic (which I'm rewriting right now), there won't be loads of cursing. 'Course, this is still Persona, so I rated it T. Might boost it to M, depending on how things go. Anyway, I've written enough in this note. Bye!