Persona 4- The Progeny
Chapter 1 – History Repeats
A/N: So yeah, more Persona Related stuff. This'll probably be the longest thing I've written out since I'm still not 100% on how it's going to work XD I saw a similar fic somewhere else on the site (And will now be forever called a ripoff merchant but there you go). Apologies on the slow start. Beginnings are really hard for me XD Hopefully this i'll properly get my head around it soon and then it'll start picking up steam :D Regardless, Enjoy :)
xxx
*BeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBe-*
The cacophony of noise would never be welcoming. It served its purpose though and once it did, a slender arm reached from within the covers of a nearby bed to flick the switch on the alarm clock.
*CLICK*
The girl, with some effort, extricated herself from the tangled mess of bedsheets she managed to get herself into in her sleep, somehow. She really had to figure out why she did that…
"Hikari! Breakfast!" a female voice came from outside of the girl's room, dulled by the door.
'Mom's cooking? Ugh…'
"Okay!" the sleepy girl, Hikari, yelled back to the voice. "Just let me wash up!"
She snapped on the light switch and was immediately blinded by the bulb (Which was apparently brighter than a million suns or something). After regaining her eyesight, she sat down in front of a mirror and started to apply makeup to her heart-shaped face. People had described her as pretty at school (She didn't see it, but then she was a teenage girl, of course she had self esteem problems). Long, auburn hair fell over her pallid face and obscured her grey eyes slightly. Her long fingers brushed her bangs out of her face and reached for a brush.
"Hikari!" a young voice exploded along with a series of sharp bangs on her bedroom door.
"You don't have to yell" the girl said to the voice seemingly trying to bust it's way into the room.
"Mom says to hurry up!"
"Tell her I'm almost done, OK, Tatsuya?"
And that was true, all that was left was her school uniform, neatly ironed and washed. As she put it over her slender frame, she couldn't help but feel scared. She wasn't used to the Yasogami High uniform yet. It was still so raw for her.
"Hikari, I won't tell you again!" The female voice from earlier echoed up the stairs.
"Coming!" The high schooler bellowed as she grabbed her bag and made her way out of her room. Not without muttering "Jeez, give me a second, will you?" under her breath.
When she arrived at the dining table that sat in the middle of a small kitchen, she noticed a place had already been set for her. Some fairly watery eggs sat on some somewhat stale toast. To the left of the plate was the girl's brother, already digging in to his meagre offering as if it was his first meal in years. Opposite him, her mother, looking at her expectantly. Directly across from the food, was an empty chair.
"Where's dad?" Hikari asked her mother.
"He had to get in extra early. He wants everything to be perfect for his first day on the job" the older woman giggled slightly as she replied. "Come on, Hikari, eat up or you'll be late" she said, suddenly snapping back in to mother-mode.
"Okay" Hikari sighed. She'd just have to eat it. In her mother's defence, she'd got a lot better at cooking over the years. She just always preferred her Dad's.
"You excited to start your first day at Yasogami?" Her mother asked as Hikari put some of the food in her mouth (Which did nothing to excite the palate)
"Kinda" she replied. "I'm really nervous though… How did you handle it, mom?"
"Well… I met your dad" her mother blushed as she confessed. "He was a really good Senpai, helped me through a lot of the problems I had with transferring schools and stuff. If I were you though, I wouldn't change anything" she smiled "Ryu-kun is going to be there, so you'll have someone to talk to"
The Ryu that she referred to was Hikari's childhood friend. Apparently, their parents were friends so it was only natural they'd grow up together. She always thought he was sweet, if a little impetuous and quick to anger. His heart was always in the right place though. There was this one time when they were kids that he tried to fight a boy that told Hikari she was ugly. He got beat up pretty bad, but it was still a nice gesture.
"Yeah, I guess. I hope we're in the same class and stuff…" Hikari said, poking at what remained of her breakfast.
"What about you, Tatsu?" Her mother asked, turning her attention to her son "You looking forward to going back to school?"
"No! Can I go to a new school like Hikari is?"
"No, honey, not until you're a little older" His mother bargained with him, trying to appease the child.
"Man… Suki-chan's gonna tease me again…"
It was at that point that Hikari's phone started buzzing. She only had four numbers in her phone, so she had a pretty good idea who it would be. Sure enough…
"Hey
Sorry I'm not there to see you off, but have a great day at school, sweetheart
Love Dad x"
That message meant a lot to her. Her dad seemed to command some kind of crazy aura that could make anyone feel better, even if he wasn't even in the room. It was one of those times she was proud (and relived) she had such a great father.
"Come on, Kari, you'll be late, get going" her mother enthused.
The older woman wasn't what one would call a traditional mother. She was gorgeous, bright and bubbly, unlike other mothers in Inaba. She always did her best to lighten the mood and look out for everyone in her care. She was popular in the neighbourhood too, thought that might have something to do with her former career as superstar idol Risette. Hikari sometimes felt jealous of her mother, Rise, but it was fleeting. They always had a good time together, and she never failed to help Hikari through difficult times.
She couldn't ask for better parents.
Rise moved to clean up after Hikari so she could get out the door, but her daughter noticed she had trouble standing due to the 6 month old baby growing inside her. She almost toppled over whenever she stood.
"I got it, Mom, just get some rest. I'll see you later"
Hikari gave her mother a quick kiss before dropping her plate in the sink and heading out the door to face her new school… A terrifying quest. Hikari had a secret weapon however.
Her Aunt Naoto had given her a pair of high quality headphones for her birthday last year, and they were perfect for the walks to school. She could drown out the noise from other students, hide behind her hair and block out the world. Music was her saviour. It had gotten her out of countless awkward social situations and also given her something to focus on besides schoolwork. She blamed her mother for this particular hobby. She put on some music from some English band she'd heard about on the internet as she walked along the floodplain towards Yasogami High.
As simply drunk in her surroundings and listened to the rock music currently bombarding her ears, she saw a man with a sandwich board across his chest with the words "THE END COMES" hastily painted onto it. She paid him no mind, there were always loads of them in the city, so she was used to this. Among him were droves of Yasogami students, some new, some old. A few looked like they were really lost, whereas others were just laughing and joking with one another.
By the end of the next track in the playlist, she felt someone clap her back from behind, almost knocking the expensive headphones off her head in the process.
"Hey, Kari-tan! How loud you have those things, I was yelling for ages" The interrupter, it turned out, was Ryu.
"You must have looked really stupid"
"Since when did I care about that?"
The boy puffed out his chest and looked at his friend with pride, and she had to giggle a little at his bravado. He was kind of dorky looking, his shirt was untucked, his light brown hair was tousled and his glasses were askew (Probably from the running). He didn't miss a step as he walked in time with the fairly quick paced Hikari.
"When did you become so athletic?"
"Noticed my bulging muscles did you?" He said, flexing.
"No! I didn't mean like that I ju- I meant that-"
"Relax, I know what you meant" Said Ryu. He knew how to handle his somewhat awkward friend. "I was working out all through the break. Mom said that it'll help me in the long run. Dad said that it'd help me get girls" he laughed, and she joined him. That did sound like her Aunt Chie and Uncle Yosuke.
"So what class are you in?" he asked once their shared joke was over.
"Um… Hang on…" she said before leafing through her bag. Underneath her books, pens and all the other stuff she thought she might need, she found her class assignment. "Class 1-2" she answered after scanning the list for her name.
"Cool! We're in the same class"
"Oh great, another year with you…" she joked. She was relived however, that someone she knew would be there. It would make life a lot easier.
"Madam, you wound me!"
"You sounded just like your dad then" she said, bursting into laughter
"It's not that funny…" he said, genuinely hurt by her comment.
"Oh come on, it was"
Ryu just pouted.
"I'll buy you some steak after school to say sorry, alright?"
"You better…"
Just like his mother, the quickest way to his heart was meat…
xxx
As Hikari sat in her new classroom, she was surrounded by people, most of them new. Some of them she recognised from Middle School but the majority had come from one of the other schools around Inaba. There were only about 3 other schools however, so she'd probably at least seen them. That did nothing to belay her worries. What happened next however, did.
The bell rang and the students all took their seats. Moments after that, a man dressed in a plain white shirt and black slacks entered. He was in his mid-twenties, but moved with such confidence across the room, one could easily mistake him for a thirty year old. Perhaps most striking though, was the grey hair that adorned his head, and the matching grey eyes that scanned the room.
"Hello everyone, welcome to Yasogami High. I'm Narukami-sensei and I'll be your homeroom tutor for the next year. I hope we all get along" He smiled.
Some rumblings went on through the class for a moment, which the teacher seemed to let slide. Some of the girls were saying things like "He's so hot!" whereas the guys weren't saying much at all. Except for Ryu, who leant over to Hikari.
"Did you know your dad would be our homeroom teacher?"
"He never said anything" Hikari said, just as shocked as Ryu to see her father, Yu Narukami, standing in front of her, ready to fill her mind with knowledge.
"Settle down, guys. It's registration today, so we're going to spend the time getting to know one another, alright?"
The general consensus from around the room seemed to agree with him. Narukami picked up a piece of paper which Hikari assumed to be the register and read the first name on it.
"Aoi Hinata?" he asked, projecting his voice across the whole room.
A boy near the back stood up to address his teacher.
"Yes Sensei?" he said, he looked terrified. Apparently, Narukami picked up on this.
"It's alright, Aoi. Why don't you tell everyone a little about yourself?"
"U-Um… I'm Aoi Hinata. I really like soccer and reading. I hope we all get along." The boy said. It was the most clichéd answer ever, but it was still an answer
"That's great Aoi, you can sit down now" Narukami smiled at the boy and he sat down, relived.
Narukami read out more names and one by one, each student stood up to introduce themselves to the class.
"Ryu Hanamura?" he eventually called.
"Yes Sensei?" Ryu said, already on his feet.
"Care to tell us about you?"
"Yes Sensei! I'm Ryu Hanamura. I really like Kendo and drawing and I hope to be a police officer one day"
"Thanks, Ryu" Narukami laughed "I appreciate the enthusiasm"
"Thank you Sensei" Ryu said, in a militaristic fashion before sitting back down.
A few more names were read off before it got to the point that Hikari was dreading.
"Hikari Narukami?"
Hikari stood up slowly, her knees almost knocking together as she did so.
"U-um… H-hello. I'm, um, Hikari Narukami… Um… I like music, I guess, and… um… I can sing a bit too. I-I hope we can all be friends…"
"Thanks, Hikari" Narukami-sensei smiled as she sat back down faster than a speeding bullet. Before the teacher could continue, there was mumblings again.
"Wait, is that Sensei's daughter?"
"She's that Hikari Narukami? I thought it was just a coincidence?"
"Risette is her mother right?"
Narukami-sensei simply cleared his throat and the mumbling ceased. He then read out another name from the register and a giant of a boy stood up. Hikari simply buried her head into her arms and felt like playing in traffic…
xxx
Meanwhile
"Well? Do the people know?"
"Not yet… Soon they will"
"If they won't help us, they will be destroyed in the end"
"Of course, brother. For now, spread the fear. Continue to tell them of Her coming"
"Yes, brother. What of Gehanna?"
"It is still feeding. Continue to spread the word and I will keep you updated of its progress."
"By your order"
"One last thing, brother?"
"Yes?"
"Detective Dojima"
"What of it?"
"Deal with her"
"By your order"