Persona 3 Portable: A New Perspective
Chapter 1: The Transfer Student
4/6/2009 (6th April), Monday
"Itowadai. This is the final train bound for Tatsumi Port Island. Please take care to board before our departure."
The passengers started to depart and alight respectively onto the train and the platform. Particularly, a teenage girl with auburn hair styled in a ponytail was one of the passengers who alighted from the train. She wore a light orange sweater, a red plaid skirt, black leggings and red boots. A red scarf was also worn around her neck and there was a MP3 player with a strap that was worn around her neck as well. On her ears, there was a set of red earphones which she was hearing music from the MP3 player around her neck. She made soft hums as she listened, keeping to every beat.
As she passed by the platform entrances, the station clock struck midnight. Now, the girl noticed that it had gone quiet. All lights in the station were switched off. The booths stationed near the entrances to the station platform. She was no longer hearing any music either.
'Did the batteries die?' The girl looked at her MP3 player. The screen was completely black. '…What happened?' She sighed. She reached out for the sling bag she was carrying. Opening the zip, she took out a pamphlet and zipped the bag up. 'Okay… Itowadai Dormitory… So, I should go forward first after leaving the station… After all, I'm not on schedule after that malfunction earlier on the switching system…' she began to take steps forward as she looked at the pamphlet. As she left the station, she took notice of the environment around her. The city looked completely deserted. Above her, the moon looked… green? It felt eerie just looking at it. Her head then looked in front of her at the road, noticing the objects that were in front of her.
'Huh…? Are those… coffins?!' The girl stared at the objects that rested on the road. Some were even in the vehicles that rested lifeless on the road. Not only that, there were splotches of red on the floor and the walls of buildings. The girl soon lets out a yawn. 'No… I must be hallucinating… It is, after all, midnight…' she thought, rubbing her eyes. 'I'd better get to the dorm before I fall asleep!' Dismissing her thoughts of the ominous atmosphere around her, the girl hurriedly went on her path.
"Oh!" She stumbled and lost her hold of the pamphlet, which landed in front of her. As she reached to pick it up, a hand reached down to take it.
"You dropped this."
As she looked up, a young man with short black hair and grey eyes stood in front of her. He wore a blue shirt along with a lighter blue jacket with an open zip from the middle, darker blue jeans, blue shoes and a blue and black-striped scarf worn around his neck.
"Oh, thank you." The girl said, taking her pamphlet from him.
"…." The man says nothing, walking off in a direction that led him further from her. The girl looks back at her pamphlet. "Without this, I'd probably be still wandering around in this city." She said to herself as she followed the directions stated in the pamphlet.
After a while of walking, she has finally reached Itowadai Dormitory. "I'm finally here…" The girl spoke, before letting out a yawn. "And thank goodness… I feel like I am about to collapse…!" She reached for the door, pushing it open and entering the building. She looked at her left, where a counter was present, and then to her right to see two tables with chairs.
"You're late." A young voice spoke.
The girl hears the voice which came from her left and turned to the counter. A young blue-eyed boy with short faded black hair stood by behind the counter. She could spot a mole just below his left eye, and noticed that he was wearing black and white-striped pajamas. 'I didn't see him there… how did he…?' The girl thought.
"I've been waiting for you for ages." The boy said. Nonetheless, the girl does not recognize him at all. "You have?" The girl asks. The boy simply smiles and snaps his fingers. The girl blinks just after he snaps his fingers and he is no longer behind the counter. He is now in front of her. 'How did he get there?' She thought.
"If you want to proceed, please sign your name here." The boy says, directing his hand to the counter. The girl looks at where he was pointing at, and notices a small red file. That wasn't there either when she first looked. The cover then flipped open by itself, and a sheet of paper rested on the file. "There's nothing to be afraid of." The boy spoke in an assuring tone. "It just says that you'll accept responsibility for your decisions from now on. Typical contract stuff."
The girl looks at the contract and grabbed the white feather pen beside where the contract was placed. She began to write her name on the contract.
Contract
Time never waits.
It delivers all equally to the same end.
I hereby agree to the statement above,
and I chooseth this fate of mine own free will.
Signature block
Minako Arisato
The girl, dubbed Minako Arisato, closed the file and passed it to the boy. "Here you go." She said. The boy holds the file. "It's true. Time brings an end to all things." The boy says, bringing the file up so that it was covering the right side of his face. "Even if we plug up our ears and cover our eyes." He lowers his hand down slightly to his left, and the file disappears into thin air, surprising Minako. As she looked behind him, she noticed the silhouette of the room gradually growing behind him. With a wave of his hand, the boy says "And so, it begins." before he disappears into the darkness, as if melting into it. All the appliances giving off light switched off as well.
"Was that boy some sort of magician? I'd better get some sleep now. I'm… tired…" Minako said to herself.
"Who're you?!"
A voice catches Minako's attention. She turns her head slightly to her left to see a female standing by the end of the longue. She had neck-length light brown hair and brown eyes. Her attire consisted of a pink sweater jacket, a loose red ribbon, a black mini skirt, black stockings with white lines and a heart-shaped white choker. But the first thing that Minako's attention was brought to was a beige gun hoister tied with two black straps on her right leg with a gun resting in it.
'A gun?!' Minako thought, taking a step away from the counter as she looked at the brown-haired girl. The brown-haired girl had her hand steadied beside the hoister. Her hand was trembling as she stared at Minako. It seems that she was nervous. Hastily, the girl makes her move and reaches for the hoister. But before she could pull the gun out of the hoister, a voice calls out to her.
"Wait, Takeba."
The two girls hear the voice and the brown-haired girl looked behind her. Minako was also looking at her direction as they saw a long red-haired woman standing by at a staircase. The long red-haired woman wore a white blouse with a large ribbon worn in front of her neck. She also wore a black skirt and black knee-high high-heeled boots. And just as the red-haired woman calls out, the lights turned back on, and the MP3 player hanging around Minako's neck started to play. "Oh? The MP3's playing." Minako hears the song that she was listening to just after she arrived at the station some time ago.
"I didn't think you'd arrive this late." The long red-haired woman said.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Minako apologized. "A malfunction happened on the switching system and I took longer to get there!"
"I see." The long red-haired woman nodded. "Anyway, my name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."
The brown-haired girl walked to Mitsuru. "Who's she?"
"She's a transfer student." Mitsuru replied. "It was a last-minute decision to assign her here. She'll eventually be moved to a room in the normal dorm."
The brown-haired girl stared at Minako with some sort of doubt in her eyes. "…Is it okay for her to be here?" she asked.
"I guess we'll see…" Misturu said to the brown-haired girl before turning to meet Minako. "This is Yukari Takeba." Misturu introduced the brown-haired girl. "She'll be a junior this spring, just like you."
The brown-haired girl, Yukari, looked at Minako. "I'm Yukari." She said. Her eyes, however, still showed some suspicion. 'What did I even do to get this unfriendly vibe from her?!' Minako thought as she read Yukari's body language. 'Should I ask about that gun? They also said that I'll be moved to a normal dorm… so this dorm isn't normal? Or should I just give a greeting?'
"Hello?" Yukari said, snapping Minako's thoughts.
"Oh. It's nice to meet you. My name is Minako Arisato." Minako replied. Yukari looked surprised but replies with a bow. "Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you too."
Mitsuru gazed at the clock at the wall. "It's getting late. You'll find your room on the 3rd floor. Your things should already be there. I suggest you tuck in for the night." Mitsuru said.
"So, uh, which room will I be staying in?" Minako asked.
"Oh… I'll show you the way." Yukari said, walking to the stairway. "Follow me."
"This is it."
Yukari led Minako to the third floor. They were now standing in front of the door at the end of the hallway. "Pretty easy to remember, since it's right at the end of the hall." Yukari said. She rested a hand on her hip. "So, any questions?"
"I signed a contract…" Minako said the first question that came to her mind.
"Huh?" Yukari looked surprised. "What's this about a contract?"
'She doesn't know about that contract?' Minako wondered. "Ah, never mind." She spoke.
"So… can I ask you something?" Yukari asked.
"What is it?" Minako said.
"On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"
Minako's eyes rose. While she travelled towards the dorm, she saw all those ominous things. It's hard to believe that creepy stuff, especially since she's sleepy. And that guy in blue. Who was he? 'It's just my imagination…' She nodded her head. "Yeah."
"I see…" Yukari said. "Well… I'll be off, then." She began to head to the stairs before stopping briefly to look at Minako. "Um… I'm sure you still have other questions, but let's save them for later, okay? Good night." Yukari then headed to the door that was two doors away from hers and headed into the room. Minako turned to the door and pushed the door open to enter her assigned room.
"Finally…" Minako mumbled, as she plopped down on the bed mattress. "Now I can get a good night's sleep…" But before she closed her eyes, her mind drifted to the kid and the contract. 'But… what was that about? With that kid and the contract?' she thought. 'Oh, yeah… and that man that I met back at the streets…' She let out a yawn. '…I'm too tired… I'd better get some sleep soon…' She finally closed her eyes as she drifted off to slumber…
4/7/2009 (7th April), Tuesday
*knock* *knock*
As Minako finished tying the ribbon into place on her uniform, her door was welcomed with several knocks. "Who is it?" Minako asked, heading to the door and twisting the handle to open the door. She saw Yukari standing at the corridor in front of the door.
"Good morning, did you sleep okay?" Yukari asked.
"Of course. I had a good and nice sleep." Minako replied. She looked at Yukari's right leg. 'At least she isn't carrying that gun with her…' she thought.
"Mitsuru-senpai asked me to take you to school." Yukari said. "Are you ready to go?"
Minako nodded with an upbeat voice. "Totally!"
"Okay." Yukari gave a nod. "Then, let's go."
After taking the New City passenger train, Anehazaru, Minako and Yukari stood at the school gates of the school they are attending, Gekkoukan High. "Welcome to Gekkoukan High! You're going to love it here!" Yukari told Minako and noticed that she was holding a camera and clicking the trigger located at the corner of the camera. "Oh, and what's the camera?" she asked.
"Oh, this?" Minako said, looking at the camera she held. "I want to record moments by snapping shots, you see. I believe that these memories are irreplaceable and when I look through my images, I will remember those treasured moments even if I may forget them…" She lifted her camera and took another shot of the school. "I see…" Yukari said as they entered the school.
After the school assembly, which began the school curriculum, Minako looked through the photos she took during the time she has spent recently at the class she is in, 2-F. Of course, the assembly didn't allow photography and it disappointed her to be unable to record that. As she looked at a photo, someone called her. "'Sup, dude?!" She left her attention on her camera and faced the one who called her. It was a young man standing beside her seat with grey eyes and a goatee. He wore the Gekkoukan uniform with a blue collared shirt, a baseball cap, a silver necklace and a chain attached at the left side of his jeans.
"Who are you?" Minako asked.
"Me?" The male student said. "I'm Junpei Iori." He leaned forward with a friendly expression on his face. "Nice to meet ya."
"You're too close..." Minako told him. Junpei stood up straight and started to speak. "I transferred here when I was in middle school. I know how tough it is bein' the new kid. So, I wanted to be the first to say hello!"
He leaned forward towards her again. "I'm a good guy, aren't I?"
"You're too close again…" Minako repeated.
A sigh was heard. "At it again, huh? Honestly, is there any girl you wouldn't hit on?" A voice spoke. Junpei and Minako heard the voice and turned around. Yukari Takeba stood by beside a seat, shaking her head. "Don't you think you might be bothering her?"
Junpei leaned back to stand straight. "What? I was just bein' friendly." he insisted.
"If you say so…" Yukari rolled her eyes and headed to Minako's seat. She gave a smile before speaking. "Anyway, some coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, huh?"
"Yeah, I know." Minako said.
Yukari nodded. "Funny, huh?"
"Umm, hello?" Junpei reminded the ladies of his presence. "Did you forget that I'm in this class too? C'mon, lemme in on the fun!" He at least relaxed as he spoke his next sentence. "By the way, do you guys know each other? I heard you two came to school this morning. A couple of cuties like you, walking side by side… The whole class has been buzzing about you."
Yukari pressed a hand on her head. "Could you just cut it out? I hate dealing 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 said. She looked at Minako. "…Well, I've gotta go take care of some archery team stuff." She told Minako before turning her attention towards Junpei with a stern face. "Don't try anything funny, you got that, Junpei?" After finishing her conversation, Yukari headed towards the classroom doors and opened it.
After Yukari left, Junpei scratched the back of his head and mumbled. "What is she, your nanny…?" Minako couldn't help but giggle softly at that remark. Junpei then looked at her. "Well, just to clear something up, I seriously didn't come over here to hit on you or anything."
Junpei patted his chest with a smile. "If you ever have a problem, you can tell your ol' pal Junpei about it!" he said.
"Okay, I'll remember that." Minako replied.
Junpei nodded. "Heh, cool. Well, I'll be seeing you around, then." He said, leaving the classroom as he left Minako to take images of the classroom.
The after-class session has ended and plenty of students were already swarming out of Gekkoukan High School for their respective things to do. Minako was at the school gates, taking images of the trees. "Hey!" a voice called to her. She momentarily stopped to see Junpei beside her. "Did anyone tell you about the school clubs yet?" he asked her.
"Well, I may have heard of them." Minako said, as she looked at her camera and resumed taking images at the school field. Junpei nodded. "Girls can join too, so why not do it when you're interested? You'll be joining as a new member, though, so you won't be able to apply for a little while."
"Yeah, okay. I'll think of that." She told him. "But I still haven't read through the clubs. So, it'll take some time for me to decide on a club I would like to join."
It was evening by the time Minako had arrived at the Itowadai Dorm. She had immediately headed off to her room to sleep because the first day was still tiring for her. Taking a shower and dressing into her nightwear, Minako immediately fell asleep on her bed after she drew the blanket over her.
…
…Master Minako Arisato…
Minako opened her eyes. She realized that she was no longer in the dormitory, that's for sure. The room she was in was a deep blue, with chain-linked walls that seemed to be moving up constantly. No, that wasn't right. The room itself was moving upwards. She found herself sitting on a strange chair, resembling a lyre. At the other end of the room, behind a table draped with purple cloth, a short old man with a ridiculously long nose sat on a very comfortable looking couch. And at the left of the table, there was one empty blue chair.
"Welcome to the Velvet Room." The man said.
'Velvet Room? Is this what this place is called?' Minako thought. 'Oh… If only I had my camera now…' Nonetheless, she decided to speak. "Who're you?"
"My name is Igor." The man introduced himself. "…I'm delighted to make your acquaintance."
"What is this place?" Minako asked him.
"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter…" The man, Igor, explained. "Only those who have signed the contract can enter this place…" As he finished speaking, he waved his hand over the table, and a red file appeared. One that was familiar to Minako. The contract she signed when she first entered the Itowadai Dorm.
"Isn't that…?" she started.
"Henceforth, you shall be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You're destined to hone your unique ability, and you'll require my help to do so. I only ask for one thing in return… that you abide by the contract, and assume responsibility for the choices you make." Igor said.
"Well… the contract said something about 'chooseth this fate of mine free will'…" Minako said, before nodding. "But, I understand."
Igor nodded. "Hold on to this." After he spoke, a brilliant flash appeared in front of Minako and a golden key was now floating in front of her. She caught the key on her hands. She then faced the empty seat beside Igor's table. Igor noticed her looking at the seat and spoke.
"There are still two more residents of this room, who unfortunately could not be present for your arrival." Igor said. "But I'll make sure that they will be properly introduced. Another time perhaps. 'Til we meet again." Igor waved his hand, and Minako felt sleepy. She easily closed her eyes as everything darkened around her.
Well, hello! Ridin Valon here!
As you can see, I am trying out a Persona 3 fanfiction story. It's something that's way off my usual writings, but I'll make sure that I do my best. This, of course, is styled on the Portable version in the female protagonist route. And… the man in blue that Minako met at the beginning is an OC that I made for this story, I hope that you'd appreciate him! (Think of it like Persona 4: Golden, okay?)
And I haven't given up in writing the Tales of Faith story! I am just so absorbed with school work… Until next time!
