So against my better judgment, I've decided to rewrite the monster that is my first completed tome of a fanfiction, "Never More." If you've read that one and are now looking at this one, then hi! Welcome back! If you're new, then I'd tell you not to read "Never More" because it makes me cringe and it kind of really sucks, but there's a slight chance you won't listen to me.

So there's going to be some changes from the old version:

This will probably be shorter. I'll probably gloss over the less important Social Links and fight scenes, and I'd also like to think that I've gotten better at pacing within the past year (hopefully). This also means that chapters will be shorter in general, so you won't have to deal with monstrous 10,000- to 15,000-word chapters. Huzzah.

I happened to be way off with some of the finer mechanics in "Never More" regarding the Social Link system and Personae in general. So in this one, Aika's going to start out with the Fool Arcanum and evolve to the World, like Souji/Yu does. Her Personae will also be different and more relevant to Izanami in general.

Aika will be a lot more stoic and quirky in the new version to better reflect her canon personality, though she'll undergo similar character development. More emphasis on her awkwardness, and less on her shyness, if you will.

And with that, I hope you enjoy this (hopefully) improved version!

The limousine was lined with blue velvet.

Aika supposed that it was strange that she had no idea when, where, or how she had entered the limousine in the first place, but her head felt comfortably fuzzy enough that it didn't bother her at all. It was impossible to see outside with all the fog that clouded the windows, but the road was so smooth that the only sign the vehicle was moving at all was the quiet hum of the engine.

A woman sat on a couch a little ways to the side, flipping absentmindedly through a large tome. Her wavy white-gold hair and striking yellow eyes made her look like someone out of a history textbook or even a fairy tale.

The man that sat directly across from Aika, hunched over so that his abnormally long nose looked like it was almost at a normal length, raised his head ever so slightly and grinned.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

"Yasoinaba," said a man's voice on the intercom.

"Mm," Aika said as she stirred. Her body felt stiff, and her neck ached slightly from the way she'd been leaning against the window. She couldn't open her eyes all the way yet.

"Yasoinaba," said the voice on the intercom again, and Aika rubbed her eyes. She'd had a good dream, maybe, but it was hard to tell. When she stood up, she swayed unsteadily on her feet for a moment and had to use the seat in front of her to balance herself. Though the train ride had been nearly five hours, she'd slept far too deeply.

Her cellphone indicated three missed calls – one from her mother, and two from her father. The phone suddenly buzzed in her hand with another call from her mother. "Thanks for answering our calls, Aika-chan," her mother whined before Aika could say a word. People tended to wonder how someone as crazy as Masami Nakamura managed to raise a semi-functioning daughter.

"I fell asleep," Aika said as a way of greeting, already used to her mother's shenanigans. "Sorry."

"Ah, that's fine," Mom said. "Did you get sick?"

Aika exited the train, dragging her suitcase behind her. The station was practically empty, but that was to be expected with such a small town in the middle of nowhere. "No, I was fine."

"And you're feeling okay now? Not vaguely pukey or anything?"

"Nope," Aika said. "I'll call you back when I get to Uncle's house."

"You better!" Mom shouted before the line went dead. Stuffing her cell phone into her pocket, Aika searched for the exit.

When she stepped outside, the cold spring air hit her like a punch in the stomach. A thick layer of clouds blocked out the sky, and a single cherry blossom tree scattered petals everywhere. It was too cold for spring.

"Over here!"

Aika's uncle was almost exactly as she remembered him, except with a little more grey hair and a lot more stubble. She nodded in his direction and walked quickly toward him. He'd shoved his hands into his pockets, and he grinned at her in the way he always did. "Well, you've certainly grown a lot since I last saw you."

Aika bowed her head respectfully. "It's nice to see you again, Uncle."

Uncle chuckled, though it sounded strained to her. "No need to be so formal," he said a little awkwardly. "I know it's been a while, but I haven't changed much."

The girl hiding behind his leg peered at Aika with a blank expression. The second she noticed that Aika was staring back, she gave a tiny gasp and went back to hiding behind Uncle's leg.

"H-Hey!" Uncle said, though he didn't sound annoyed in the slightest. "Don't be rude, Nanako. Say hello to your cousin."

Nanako tilted her head so that it was no longer obstructed by Uncle's leg. "H-Hello," she said in a small voice.

"Hello," Aika replied stiffly.

"Well, uh…" Uncle said uncertainly. "You girls will have plenty of time to get used to each other. Let's get going, shall we?"

The attendant at the Moel gas station in the shopping district was a wisp of a woman, with waves of silver hair and a too-large uniform that seemed to swallow her. Her features were plain, unassuming, except for her piercing red eyes. Aika felt like the woman was staring directly into her soul.

"So, you're from the city?" the attendant asked. "Must be exciting… not like this place at all."

"I guess," Aika said blandly, trying to appear nonchalant as she avoided eye contact with the woman.

"I bet you're thinking something out of a manga when you think 'rural town,'" the attendant continued in an obviously forced attempt to keep the conversation going. "You know, riding bikes over hills, everyone friends with each other, dark secrets… stuff like that. But there's so little to do here, you'll probably get bored fast."

"Maybe," Aika quipped.

"Well, then…" The gas station attendant held out her hand and gave Aika a smile that sent shivers down the smaller girl's back. "Allow me to officially welcome you to Inaba."

The woman's hand was ice cold and so smooth that it was hard to believe that she worked at a gas station of all places. "Thanks," Aika replied. The woman gave her one last grin before heading back to work, and Aika sighed. A little ways away, she could see Nanako walk slowly back to the car. Uncle was still smoking his cigarette by the street.

And then, a wave of dizziness slammed into her, and it felt like the floor had dropped out from under her. The strength in Aika's legs was suddenly gone, and it was all she could do to stumble over to the car and lean against it. "What's wrong?" she heard Nanako ask, as if from far away.

Aika forced herself to take deep breaths as the dizziness slowly faded into an annoying lightheadedness. "I-I'm okay…" she gasped.

Nanako tilted her head to the side, concern evident in her expression. "You don't look okay… Did you get carsick?"

By now, Uncle had returned, and the frown on his face made it obvious that he wasn't going to let this slide. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You okay?"

"It's nothing," Aika said, her voice shaking slightly. "I-I'm just a little dizzy."

Before she knew what was happening, Uncle's hand was on top of her head, pressing into her braid, and she felt six instead of sixteen. "You must be exhausted, huh?" he said. "We're almost there. Think you'll be okay for another two minutes?" Aika nodded, though the slowly worsening nausea said otherwise. "All right, then. Let's hit the road."

There was fog everywhere. There was so much of it that it was impossible to see more than a few meters ahead, and it was so, so cold. There was nowhere to go but forward, so Aika walked.

"Do you seek the truth?" a woman's voice asked. The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, perhaps from the fog itself, rather than from one person at one location.

An elaborately ornate door appeared in front of Aika as if from out of nowhere. A series of red and black squares overlapped each other, increasing in size from the center. From a certain angle, the door almost looked like a vortex. Aika raised her hand experimentally, and the squares rotated as the door swung open.

The fog was even thicker inside, and the air was even colder. A faint silhouette stood in front of her, imposing, yet so shrouded in fog that it was impossible to tell what it was. Aika clasped her hands tightly together, and her heart thudded in her chest. "Everyone sees only what they want to see," said the same voice from before, "and the fog deepens… Will we meet again?"

The fog grew even thicker, and within seconds, Aika could no longer breathe. Dark silhouettes seemed to dance within the fog, each one slowly approaching Aika. She stayed rooted to her spot, unable to summon the courage to even move. One of the silhouettes raised something like a limb in the air and brought it down…

… and Aika woke up with a strangled gasp, her body drenched in sweat. In all of three seconds, she somehow managed to untangle herself from the blanket and sprint to the bathroom, where she emptied her stomach until there was nothing left to bring back up. The face in the mirror didn't look like her own – it was too pale, and the dark circles collecting under her eyes were too prominent.

She pressed a hand to her throbbing temples and leaned against the sink. I didn't get that carsick… Did I? The clawing nausea that demanded her attention just a few minutes ago was suspiciously absent now, though the headache had yet to fade. Everything came back to her at once – she'd arrived in Inaba the previous day and gone straight to bed after coming to Uncle's home. She splashed cold water on her face to look less like someone who belonged in death's clutches and brushed her teeth to get rid of any evidence that she'd been violently ill just moments before.

Nanako was already downstairs, watching TV from the table in the living room. "Allegations continue to pile up against announcer Mayumi Yamano," said the announcer on TV, and the image of a short-haired woman filled the screen. "Sources say that Ms. Yamano was caught in a sordid love affair with councilman Taro Namatame. Mr. Namatame's wife, enka ballad sensation Misuzu Hiiragi—" the picture of a woman with a red kimono and too many layers of makeup replaced Mayumi Yamano's, "—has reported that she will likely pursue charges."

"Good morning," Nanako said in a dull voice. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Um…" Aika mumbled, despite herself. "Y-Yeah, sort of… Sorry for the trouble."

Nanako shook her head. "It's fine," she said. "Aunt Masami said that you get carsick a lot. She was kind of mad at first because you didn't call, but then Dad said you weren't feeling good, so she said it was okay. I think you're supposed to call her later today, though…"

"Y-Yeah," Aika stammered, running her hand through her hair exasperatedly. Her mother's wrath wasn't something she wanted to provoke anytime soon, least of all by accident. "My bad…"

Nanako stood up and made her way to the kitchen. She picked up a plate of slightly burned toast and a glass of water from the countertop and held them both out to Aika. "I heard that you're supposed to eat dry stuff if you have an upset stomach," she said, "and you should eat something, or you'll get hungry at school."

Aika nodded to her. "Thanks." They sat in front of the TV together, and Aika nibbled on the bread, not entirely trusting her stomach not to rebel at any given moment.

"At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day!" said an entirely too cheerful voice on TV. "Come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products!"

"Every day's great at your Junes!" Nanako sang along with the commercial.

"Really?" Aika asked, staring at the TV as the Junes commercial faded into something else. "They have a Junes here?"

"It just opened a few months ago," Nanako explained. "I can sing the song the best in my whole class!"

"Really?" Aika asked. "That's, uh… That's great."

Nanako seemed to physically wilt at Aika's less than enthusiastic response. "Thanks…" she said glumly.

Aika sighed as she tore her bread into smaller pieces, glaring at it and pretending that it was her own head. You're off to a great start…

"We should go soon," Nanako said. "School's going to start soon."

"Y-Yeah…" Aika mumbled in a half-hearted response.

Aika knew from the second class ended and not even the class rep bothered to talk to her that it was going to be a long year.

It wasn't that she expected to be the paragon of popularity, of course. She was too plain, too awkward to be anything more than a wallflower that people either ignored or overlooked entirely. She'd resigned herself to this fate long ago, back when she'd stopped bothering trying to make friends whenever she moved because it was inevitable that she'd move again anyway.

So here she was, packing her things by herself and getting ready to leave, while the short-haired girl in the green jacket, who'd been nice enough to save her from being the butt of Mr. Morooka's lecture in the morning, was talking enthusiastically to a dark-haired girl in a red sweater.

A tall boy with light brown hair approached the girl in the green jacket hesitantly, holding a black DVD case gingerly in front of him. "Uh…" he said slowly. The girl looked up at him expectantly, and he thrust the DVD into her hands. "HiChiethanksforlettingmeborrowthisitwasreallyawesomebye!"

He moved to sprint away, but the girl Chie tripped him to stop him. "Hold, it," she deadpanned as she opened the case, and then she gasped loudly. "Yosuke, what the hell?" she screeched. "It's completely cracked!"

"I'm sorry!" he yelped. "I'm really sorry! I-It was an accident! I fell on my bike this morning, a-and—"

"Oh yeah, I heard about that," quipped the girl in the red sweater. "Are you okay?"

"Yukiko, don't sympathize with him!" Chie yelled. "I hate you, Yosuke! My Trial of the Dragon!"

"I'm sorry!" Yosuke said again. "I-I'll make it up to you somehow…"

Chie pursed her lips. "Beef bowl from Aiya's by the end of the week. Otherwise, you're getting a critical hit to the 'nads."

"Yes ma'am!" Yosuke yelped.

"Attention," a voice over the intercom said suddenly. "There's been an incident on school grounds. Students, please remain calm and head home immediately."

The class was abuzz within seconds. "Wow, wonder what happened…" Chie said slowly.

"Maybe it's not such a good idea to walk home alone…" the girl Yukiko mused. "Yosuke-kun, do you want to walk home with us?"

"Really, Yukiko-san?" Yosuke gushed. "You want me to walk home with you?"

"Ugh, forget it," Chie groaned. "What about you, new girl?" Aika jumped when Chie addressed her, trying to look like she hadn't been listening in on their conversation just seconds before. "Wanna walk home with us?"

"Um…" Aika said, words remaining annoyingly out of her grasp. "S-Sure, I guess…"

"Your name's Aika, right?" Chie asked. "I'm Chie Satonaka, and this is Yukiko Amagi."

Yukiko bowed her head politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"And I'm Yosuke Hanamura," Yosuke said, flashing her a grin. "I'll walk with you guys to the school gate, but I gotta go to work after that."

"Me too!" Yukiko gasped. "I have to help out at the inn later!"

"How are you two so crazily busy on the first day of school?" Chie groaned.

"Oh, so you had to move because of your parents' job!" Chie said. "That makes sense." It was already a somewhat long walk back home, and making small talk with Chie and Yukiko made it even longer.

"Are you staying with relatives while your parents are away?" Yukiko asked.

"Yeah, my uncle and my cousin," Aika replied. "So… have you two always lived here?"

"From the day we were born," Yukiko answered sagely.

"Not me!" Chie refuted proudly. "I was born in Okina City, thank you very much." Yukiko simply gave Chie a flat stare.

A little ways ahead, a group of people was gathered by one street. "What's going on over there?" Aika asked, more to herself than to Yukiko or Chie.

"No idea," Chie answered anyway as she jogged ahead to join the crowd.

"It looks like something serious," Yukiko said quietly. "Maybe we should…"

"Yeah," Aika agreed as she and Yukiko went to join Chie.

Just as Aika stopped, a man shoved past her, collapsing to his knees a little ways away and emptying the contents of his stomach. "Adachi!" a familiar voice snapped. "How long are you gonna act like a rookie? You wanna be sent back to the central office?"

The man Adachi groaned and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "S-Sorry, Dojima-san…" he muttered.

Uncle approached them then, looking more annoyed than angry. "Aika? What are you doing here?"

"W-We were just heading home," Aika answered shakily. "Um… What's going on?"

"J-Just…" the man Adachi answered for Uncle. "There's a dead body over there, and—"

"Adachi!" Uncle scolded. "You don't just go around blabbing information like that to civilians! What's wrong with you?"

"S-Sorry, Dojima-san!" Adachi yelped.

Uncle sighed. "Just… go wash your face," he said. "We need to collect more information." He sighed again and scratched the back of his head. "You three need to head straight home. Aika, don't forget to call your parents."

"Y-Yeah…" Aika mumbled.

"Oh, so this is your uncle?" Yukiko asked as he walked back into the street. "The one you're staying with?"

"Ouch," Chie said sympathetically. "He's going to be crazy busy because of this, huh?"

"Probably…" Aika mumbled, clutching her bag tightly.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Mom shouted as soon as she answered the phone.

"I'm fine," Aika snapped. "I didn't get to see the body, but Uncle was there and he seemed kind of annoyed about the whole thing."

"When is Ryo-chan not annoyed about something?" Mom deadpanned. "So, onto less depressing stuff… How was school? Make any new friends?"

"Uh, yeah, sort of," Aika answered. "Whether they'll stay my friends is debatable, though."

"I love it when you think positive." Aika refused to dignify her mother's statement with a response. "C'mon, say it with me! Let's positive thinking!"

"Wasn't that from some weird cult or something?" Aika asked, despite herself.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure the person who originally said that didn't mean for it to be used by a cult," Mom deadpanned. "But I'm being serious here, Aika. You should put at least some effort into making friends."

"I'm leaving in a year," Aika pointed out.

"Yes, but you have family in Inaba, which means you'll be coming back one day," Mom replied. "Wouldn't you like to have someone besides Ryo-chan and Nana-chan to return to?"

"I guess…"

"And you'll have to get used to making your own friends in college," Mom added. "And, just a little bit of incentive, if you do make friends, you can stay in Inaba for your third year, too."

Aika nearly fell off the couch, and Nanako gave her a strange look from her spot at the table. "Seriously?"

"Yep!" Mom replied cheerfully. "Your dad and I were talking about it, and we both thought it was a good idea. You're probably sick of moving around so much, anyway." Aika opened and closed her mouth several times, but no words came. "Speaking of which, we need to finish packing. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

Aika exhaled slowly. "Okay. Bye, Mom." She dropped the phone on the couch after hanging up, then looked from Nanako, to the TV, to the front door, then back to Nanako.

Can I… really stay here?

Something I tried to convey in this first chapter was Aika's social awkwardness in general, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded. She's still shy, but she's not a blushy, stammering mess.

Crossing my fingers that you enjoyed this more than the old version. Please review and tell me what you think!