He crawled on the floor, screaming something to his friend. Blood oozed out from the wound, making him felt extremely uncomfortable. He smelled ironic, tasting it in his mouth. He felt lightheaded.
His friend tried to defend him from the monsters. However, he alone was too weak to fight them. Without power, both of them would die.
Dying...he shivered by the thought. He couldn't imagine how worst they would die under this condition. From the news he had read, he knew those victims of the monsters died unrecognized.
No...no way! He didn't want to die like that! Both of them didn't deserve that!
They were simply high-school students. They were yet to enjoy their life! Why…why those monsters appeared out here!?
His friend screamed, blood splashed on his face. Stunning, he lifted his head, only saw his friend fell to the ground. He let out a loud gasp, voice stuck in his throat.
The monsters were moving closer to his friend. They were going to rip him apart!
This was his fault. If they went back home straight after school, they wouldn't bump into these monsters. His friend would die because of him!
No...he couldn't let that happened...he couldn't watch Ryuji died!
"No...NOOOOOOOO!"
A surge of energy wrapped around his body, and then his world went blank.
Akira stared at the cup of black coffee in front of him. His mind was blank due to lack of sleep, but now wasn't the time to doze off.
He took a sip of the coffee. The fragrant kept him sober, yet it didn't reduce the pain of the wound. Recalling the visit to the hospital, he couldn't help but bite his bottom lip. Seeing Ryuji laid on the bed with severe wound made him guilty and sad. Ryuji's family blamed him for this. Although it wasn't his fault, part of him couldn't forgive himself.
Ryuji didn't deserve that. If somebody would be, that's him. It should be him. The guilty killed him from inside. He just hoped that he could simply vanish in the world, ignoring everything.
He kept drinking the coffee and sank into the guilty, until a certain boy took the seat at the table opposite of him.
"...?"
The boy was charming and mystery at the same time. He had poker face, a strand of blue hair covered the right part of the face. He seemed almost the same age as him, maybe even younger, perhaps due to his height.
He took out a book from the bag, simply reading it calmly.
Akira couldn't move his eyes off from this boy. He was extremely out of ordinary in this town. His attire was modern and smart, completely unmatched with this town.
"...Is it something on my face?"
Without looking up, the blue-haired boy asked. It made Akira blinked for a while. Nobody was around, meaning the boy was talking to him, right?
"There are only you and me here. Obviously, I'm talking to you."
The boy closed the book and put it back to the bag. He folded his arms together, staring at Akira with suspicious shined in his silver eyes.
"N-No, is just that…" Damn, what kind of situation he had put himself into. "You...you look unfamiliar."
"...You're the kid from this town?" The boy asked, which Akira replied a nod. "It's true I'm an outsider. I have some...business to attend in this town."
What kind of business? This thought raised immediately in Akira's mind, but he remained silent.
Was it a coincidence? He and Ryuji just bumped into a group of monsters a few days ago, and now there was outsider appeared in the town…
"I-I see…" Trying his best to pretend calm, Akira took a sip of the cold coffee. He immediately regretted and grimaced.
"Kid, is there anything odd happened lately?"
Akira frowned at the word 'kid'. Pardon, but he didn't look much older than him.
"...No, nothing odd happened lately. What do you mean by that?" Akira groaned lightly. "By the way...I'm not a kid."
The blue-haired boy spared him a glance, and then raised a grin as if mocking him.
"Is it because I look younger than you?" He raised his brows. "Unfortunately, I may look younger, but I'm 23 years old."
23 years old!?
Akira stood up from the seat, dumbfounded.
How could it be!? Because the baby face made him looked younger? Akira rubbed his hair, feeling that he's been toying by the boy.
"Something happened to me and I was hospitalized for 5 years. I'm still far from recovered. Perhaps that's made you think I'm younger than you."
It seemed there's a story behind it. Akira had a feeling that he was coming for the monster thingy.
"...Are you…" Akira gulped. "Are you coming for-"
"Minato-san!"
A short-haired girl ran into the cafe. Behind her, there were two more people, a boy, and a girl. The short-haired girl looked around the same age as Akira, but the other two were obviously older.
"You're late, Makoto."
"I'm sorry…"
"Don't blame her. The train was late." The tall boy with grey hair said. "By the way, how are you feeling, Minato-san?"
"Not good...I guess it still needs time to fully recover."
"Don't push yourself too much." The blue-haired girl with hat smiled. "Anyway...who is he?"
They all directed their eyes to him. Akira stunned for a while, looking to the boy named Minato.
"...Just chatting. He is a local kid." Minato turned his head to Akira. "Just now you said nothing odd happened recently...are you sure about that?"
Four pairs of eyes locked on him as he gulped. Should he tell them the truth? Or should he just ignore them?
"Minato-san, you're scaring him." The grey-haired boy took a step forward. "I'm sorry, but we're actually Shadow Specialist. My name is Yu Narukami. This is Minato Arisato, while this is Naoto Shirogane, and this is apprentice Makoto Niijima."
The boy named Yu introduced politely to Akira. However, to Akira, it didn't matter what the names they were, he only focused on the word 'Shadow Specialist'.
"You're Shadow Specialist!?" Akira grabbed Yu's arms, clearly flustering. "Could you please help my friend?"
Yu was shocked, turning his head to Minato, who narrowed his eyes and stared at Akira.
"So...the both of you were attacked?"
Akira nodded.
He brought the members of Shadow Specialists to the hospital without the knowledge of Ryuji's family.
Two days ago, he and Ryuji were on the way back from club activity. They were supposed to go back right after that, but Akira insisted to have dinner on the way. When they finished the ramen, the day started to go dark, and that's the time they bumped into those monsters.
Those monsters - Shadow appeared out of nowhere. Akira didn't even know where they were coming from, they simply ambushed them from behind. First, Akira injured. To save him, Ryuji tried to defend him from the Shadow, yet it caused severe wounds on Ryuji instead. In the end, Ryuji fell unconscious.
Akira didn't know how they were safe from those monsters' hand. When he awoke, Shadow was gone, and Ryuji was laying on the ground with blood all around him. He screamed for Ryuji's name, trying to get him up until the ambulance came.
Even now, there's no trace for Ryuji to wake up.
It disheartened Akira, pushing him to desperation. He hugged his head, completely have no idea what he could do to save his best friend.
"...I don't know what to do now...I don't know how the hell I can save him…"
The silence filled the room as no one could answer that question. Yu, Naoto, and Makoto lowered their heads, speechless. Seeing that, Minato let out a sigh and took a step forward.
He patted Akira's shoulder.
"...I feel sorry for you, but you should leave him to the doctor." He said coldly. "We're Shadow Specialist, not the doctor. I know you're desperately wanted to save your friend, but we can't do anything."
"Minato-san…!"
Yu stopped Makoto by grabbing her arm. He shook his head to the girl, telling her to keep it down first. Makoto bit her bottom lip, looking to Minato and Akira with a sigh.
Akira twisted his face. How could he be so cruel to him? His words stabbed into his heart relentlessly and made him even guilty.
Was there anything he could do for Ryuji? Waiting for the others without doing something...that feeling was killing him from inside. He felt suffocated over everything.
"If you really want to help your friend, there are more you can do." Minato kneeled down in front of Akira, forcing Akira to look into his silver eyes. "Tell us where did you encounter Shadow. You can save many others from Shadows...you can prevent many more victims like your friend."
"I…!"
Akira couldn't stand it anymore. He pushed Minato aside, running out of the ward. Makoto and Naoto tried to stop Akira but stunned when they saw the expression on his face. At last, they let Akira ran off.
"...I'm sorry, Minato-san. We let you do the most difficult thing." Yu scratched his head, sighing.
"...No worry. I wanted to tell him the truth, too. Plus...we're short on time. We have to find the Shadow as soon as possible." Minato sighed. He looked at the short-haired girl. "Makoto, go after him."
"...Okay."
After asking people around, Makoto finally found Akira.
The wind gently brushed against her face. She used her hand to comb her hair down while walking closer to the boy. The rooftop was a nice place to calm the mind down.
To tell the truth, Makoto had no idea what to say to Akira. She felt sorry for him and his friend, yet the problem of Shadow needed to be taken care at once.
The longer the Shadow being left out, the more dangerous it would become.
"...Here you are." She said. "Can I sit down here?"
Akira decided to ignore her.
"...My father was a victim of Shadow, too." Makoto gently told. "He was the police. That day, a woman was attacked by a Shadow when he's on duty. He protected the woman, but in the price of his life."
Akira widened his eyes, lifting his head and looked at her.
"Normal people have no way to defend from Shadow. Only those possess the power of Persona can defeat Shadow." Makoto turned her head to Akira, giving him a soft smile. "...It is sad to lose my father, but knowing he died by protecting others, I feel proud of him. I want to prevent it from happening, that's why I join Shadow Specialist."
"...You possess the power of Persona?" Weakly, Akira asked.
"...Sadly, no." She shook. "But there are many things you can do even without Persona."
Akira lowered his head. He lost the ability to think. He didn't know what is right. He didn't know what he should do.
He thought asking the professional would help Ryuji, but they could only fight those monsters. He knew it from the beginning, yet he was seeking the dim hope from them. The Shadow Specialist wasn't the one to blame, but he did. It was like...blaming them would help to erase some of his guilt.
What a shame.
"I feel sorry for your friend, but I do agree with Minato-san. You can, and you should prevent that from happening again."
Looking straight into her reddish-brown eyes, Akira could see a strong determination. Even a girl was stronger than him. Even she lost her father, she could still move on with her own determination.
She was dazzling.
Mocking himself, Akira let out a bitter smile. He stood up from the position, finally making the decision.
"...Alright, I'll help you."
Kyoto Shopping District.
This was the most lively street in Kyoto.
Two days ago, Akira and Ryuji were having dinner at the shop here before going back. The back alley - the shortcut road to Akira's house.
"...By the time I was going this way, the Shadow ambushed me from behind."
"May I know what kind of people will gather here?"
The alley was dark and narrow as if a place forgotten by the sun. There was smell of cigarette and alcohol around. Judging by the environment, it was a suitable place for the negative emotion to gather.
"A perfect place for the gangster."
"Don't tell me you go back home using this back alley?" Yu raised his brows, asking with disbelief.
"N-No, I rarely walk here. I don't know what's got into me that day…"
"Alright, we'll be going to the back alley. Thank you for telling us the location, Akira." After saying this, Minato turned around with Yu and Naoto. Seeing that, Akira quickly stopped them.
"Can I come along?" Akira couldn't stand it anymore. He couldn't stand the useless self for not being able to do anything. He couldn't help Ryuji, and now he could only turn his back, leaving everything to the strangers. No way. "...I'm a local kid, I know this place more than anyone of you."
The three elders exchanged a glance while considered the suggestion of him. It seemed Minato was not willing to take him along, but Yu and Naoto had the different opinions.
"...I don't think there is a problem with this. Furthermore, he has the point." Naoto voiced her opinion, which agreed by Yu.
"You can think it as an insurance."
"...Alright, whatever you say." Minato sighed and looked at Makoto. "Makoto, he's on your hand."
"Roger."
With that, Akira tagged along with the Shadow Specialist further into the back alley. As they walked deeper into the back alley, Akira started to have a bad feeling. Normally, this place was bustling with people around, like those gangsters. But today, they were nowhere to be found.
Gulping, he carefully moved with the others and keeping alert.
"Akira-kun, are you okay?" Seeing the pale face of the boy, Makoto asked with a worried tone.
"N-No...I'm alright."
"Akira-san, how much do you know about Shadow?" Thinking to distract his mind, Yu decided to start off a topic.
"No…"
Yu smiled, explaining to Akira.
Shadow appeared in this world was around 6 years ago. The first Shadow was defeated by the specialist in Kirijo Group led by Mitsuru Kirijo. Under her command, Shadow Specialist formed and invited volunteers to join.
Kirijo Group divided Shadow by groups, started from Foul level, Devil level, Nightmare level, Death level to finally, Overlord level. Most of the Shadow fell under Foul, Devil and Nightmare level. However, sometimes some powerful Shadow would show up or evolved from low-level Shadow to high-level Shadow, such as Death and Overlord level. Overlord level Shadow appeared 5 years and 2 years ago, which almost destroyed the world.
"But, Shadow Specialist prevented it from happening." Naoto continued behalf on Yu.
"But...what is Shadow?" Akira voiced out his question.
Naoto took over the topic. She was more professional than Yu on this.
"Do you know the theory of Inner World and Outer World?"
Honestly, those were too far from Akira could understand, even he had heard about it before.
"Shadow manifested from human's negative emotion. When the negative emotion reaches a limit, Shadow will be born. But before that, where is Shadow located? There's a theory said that the world separated into two, one is the Inner World, and one is Outer World, where the world we're living. Negative emotion could never be seen by eyes, but they actually exist. They exist in the world our eyes couldn't detect, that's Inner World. You can simply think it as the parallel world."
"Parallel world…?"
"6 years ago, the accumulative of negative emotion became stronger and started to erode into the Outer World, that's the first time human encountered Shadow."
By the time Naoto finished explained to Akira, Minato and Yu stopped their paces.
"...Shhss…" Yu turned around to signal the group to stay silent. "Something is over there…"
Akira trailed his eyes to the front. It was dark and he could barely see nothing. However, something was definitely there. The sound of biting and chewing gave him a shiver down to the spine.
"It seems this is the place where you were attacked. Look at the trace…" Naoto touched the small holes in the wall, saying. "Trace of needles…?"
"Naoto, we can leave that later...get ready."
The tension increased and Akira started to sweat.
Hello...I know I shouldn't start off another story while I still have other stories on hand. But this idea keeps lingering in my mind and I couldn't get it off.
Alright, this is the crossover between P3, P4, and P5 (not sure will add P1 and P2 or not). I am yet playing P5, so the characters may appear OOC in this story.
And then...don't expect me to update this story very soon. I will try to update but don't ask me when.
That's it for me today. I apologize for the typos and grammar mistakes here and there in the story. And thank you for reading it.